уАКDimensional DescentуАЛ


 Chapter 1: Leonel Morales

    Leonel barreled down a set of spiraling stairs. With a leap, he cleared the railing, foregoing the last of the steps to land in a living room. Jumping over a couch, he rounded a corner into the kitchen to snatch a bottle of foul green liquid.
    "Thanks for the daily dose of cow shit, dad. Really appreciate it."
    A middle-aged man looked up from his tablet, pushing his glasses up with a couple fingers. He was lounging behind the large glass doors that opened from the living room into the backyard when his son's usual defamatory statements entered his ears.
    "In another rush toward failure?"
    "I'll succeed this time!"
    Instead of launching himself out the front door, Leonel actually made his way back up the set of spiraled stairs.
    "That's what you said the last over hundred times."
    Leonel didn't wait for his father's next sarcastic statement. He pushed opened the attic doors and swung himself out of the three-story high triangular windows. His actions looked no different from an attempt at suicide, but his hand just barely caught the ledge, swinging himself upward to latch onto a weakening water drainage pipe.
    Like a spry monkey, the plastic lid connector of his bottle hanging from his teeth, he climbed to the roof, landing on the angled tiles with a practiced ease.
    [Subject: Leonel Morales]
    [Infraction Code 118.67.2 - Unauthorized scaling of a residential building. Under the Parkour and Freerunning Act of 2034, this is classified as a Type 1 Misdemeanor]
    [It is advised that subject Leonel Morales immediately cease illegal activity to avoid charges]
    Leonel ignored the beeping female voice emitting from his wrist, his eyes having locked onto his next target.
    The suburb Leonel and his father lived in was decently well off and could be considered a part of the upper middle class. However, the location of their home could only be described as odd. Or, rather, the entire suburb community was out of expectations.
    The community existed on a large flying platform that orbited a main city below like the Moon did the Earth. These so-called Floating Paradises acted as a solution to the housing crisis of 2066, effectively fixing the problem by creating more surface area for housing.
    Nowadays, only the obscenely wealthy could live on the surface. Leonel's destination happened to be this lofty surface world. Though, while most who lived on these Floating Paradises could only catch a glimpse from time to time, Leonel traveled down almost everyday.
    'бн 17 seconds.'
    Leonel crouched on his home's roof. His and his father's home happened to be at the very edge of the Floating Paradise. Of course, there were several safety measures taken. But, that wouldn't stop Leonel.
    Despite his vantage point, he couldn't see the backyard his father had been sitting in. In fact, his home looked completely empty from the outside due to a privacy setting.
    He swung his head back, taking a big swing of his dad's green concoction. In that moment, not only did his tongue seemingly light on fire, but even his lungs burned. One would think he was breathing in a raging fire's smoke instead of drinking a smoothie.
    "Aghбн Really outdid yourself this time, old man."
    Leonel suddenly took a leap. At first, it seemed that he wouldn't make it very far. He'd fall three stories and come out with a broken leg if he was lucky.
    However, that was when a sudden gust of wind crashed into his body. If it wasn't for its sturdy straps, the backpack to his back would have been flung off entirely.
    A fierce WHOOSH filled Leonel's ears as he was taken into the skies.
    His arms and legs spread out, a refreshing smile playing his features as though he didn't realize that he looked no different from a madman to any sane observer.
    He was a lone man above the clouds, free falling without a care in the world. His clothes whipped against his own body, revealing a hidden toned torso.
    When it seemed that Leonel would be falling hundreds of meters to the surface below, his body tucked and rolled, bursting through a layer of white clouds that spritzed a refreshing dew across his face. His last bit of fatigue vanished without a thought.
    With a dull thump, he rolled across the hard ground. It only took a moment to realize that this wasn't in fact the ground at all, but rather the very top of a sky scraper that seemed to hold up the clouds.
    "Perfect score." Leonel grinned, praising himself.
    [Infraction Code 213.13.1 - Unauthorized entry to the surface. Under the Sky Island Act of 2071, this is classified as a Type 7 Felony]
    [Subject Leonel Morales, 17, has been targeted for capture. It is advised that subject remain where they are to avoid added charges]
    [Subject classified as a minor. Guardian Velasco Morales has been contacted]
    [Error. Communication failure. Attempting reboot]
    Leonel's grin widened. Having a retired Tier 5 government official as a father had its perks. For example, any crimes linked to a retiree of such prestige was directly handled by the Bureau of Intelligence and Protection, or BIP for short.
    Since Leonel was a minor, all of his crimes were forwarded to his father to be vetted by BIP. With his father's name at his back, small crimes like this were directly ignored. Unfortunately, though, his eighteenth birthday was coming up soon.
    Leonel popped up, grabbing a silver framed bicycle hidden in a corner. He leapt from the building's side, swinging his bike's seat between his legs just as he firmly landed on a cylindrical glass structure attached to the side of the skyscraper.
    Due to the suffocating lack of space and the obscene price per square footage, almost every building on the surface was interconnected in some way. The skies were filled with glass tunnels, towering structures were sometimes no more than a meter or two apart, and personal vehicles were incredibly rare even for the rich who could afford to live here.
    "Get to school the normal way, boy!"
    Leonel's laughter rang out as though there wasn't a several hundred meter drop beneath him.
    "Screw off, Lenny. I'll start taking the tube the moment you agree to pay those ridiculous fees for me."
    "My name isn't Lenny!"
    Leonel pedaled away to duck away from the old man's next round of nagging. He still didn't know how the old man always managed to know when he arrived and also had no idea where his voice was being projected from either, but he could only assume that he was sulking behind one of those one-way viewing windows.
    Streaking across the high rises of the surface city, Leonel sped through the dense metal forest far faster than many thought possible. Eventually, the tall skyscrapers began to shorten and Leonel had no choice but to change his tactics lest he get caught by some busybodies.
    Finding his usual back alley, he dropped three or so meters as a time, hopping his bike from glass tunnel to balcony to light post before eventually landing on the ground.
    He took his backpack from his back, pulling out a pair of grey slacks, a recently pressed white shirt, and a navy blue blazer.
    He quickly stripped himself of his sports wear. After leaning a mirror the size of a piece of paper again a large garbage disposal bin, he slicked his hair back with his accumulated sweat.
    "Refresh."
    A UV light swept over Leonel's body. In a flash, his accumulating body odor was killed off, replaced by a neutral, refreshing scent.
    In a moment, he had put on his grey pleated pants, buttoned up his shirt, and slid on his blue blazer. After putting on his bag, he stood up to his full height of 6'3".
    He smiled toward his propped up mirror. It wasn't because he was overly satisfied with his own appearance, though he could be considered to be quite handsome. Rather, he was testing to see which smile came off the most charming.
    His skin was a tanned bronze, his short hair swept freely in the wind with its dirty blond almost amber color, and his eyes were a pale green.
    Leonel was not only tall and toned, but his frame was both lean and well-built. Despite this, he had a kind and inviting disposition. His presence made others feel comfortable.
    In truth, if others knew he was practicing his smile, they'd think he was crazy. He was more than charming enough, was there a need to practice anymore?
    Surprisingly, almost an hour ticked by before Leonel's watch beeped once more. Realizing he would be running late if he wasted anymore time, he hopped on his bike. But, his pace was much slower this time, not wanting to ruin his effort by sweating once more.
    He didn't have long to go. The streets leading to his school were nothing like the congested communities he had passed through before. It was like entering a whole new world.
    There was greenery all around, ancient trees vibrantly recovering from the winter months, and winding paths that led to beautiful architectural feats.
    This place was the third ranked academy on Earth, a prestigious place only for the elites of the younger generation бк Royal Blue Academy.
    "Leo!"
    "Good luck!"
    "We have bets on you succeeding this time!"
    Leonel grinned as he passed by a few groups of students preparing to head to their classes, waving in acknowledgment.
    Soon, Leonel's gaze landed on a massive dome-like building. It stretched hundreds of meters in every direction and had several entrances just from the front.
    Even among Royal Blue Academy students, there were different separations. To be able to step into this building, only the highest ranked seniors could do so.
    However, even with such a masterpiece before him, Leonel's view was completely filled with the sight of just one young lady standing near the top of a wide set of white marble stairs.
    She looked like a dainty fairy descended from the skies. Her long, flowing black hair gently waved in the wind, only resting at the small of her back every so often. Her eyes were a warm amber that bordered on gold, making her seem like a goddess separated from the world.
    A small group of friends stood around her. Their banter caused her to smile a shy smile that gripped Leonel's heart and refused to let go.
    When she looked up and met Leonel's gaze, he felt that the entire world aside from her had turned various shades of white.
    Her delicate tanned yet fair skin, the small slope of her nose, the way the wind gently caressed her thigh-length dress, revealing the curves she so modestly hid.
    Though not an inch over 5'7", she had a presence that captivated the world, one larger than even Leonel himself believed he had.
    The young fairy blushed profusely when she saw that it was Leonel, a crimson tide waded from her slender collarbone and up her neck, coating her soft cheeks.
    "Ainaбн" Leonel's voice was powerful and filled with emotion as though this was the very first time he was doing this.
    "Ah, he's here again." One of Aina's friends teased.
    "Stop enabling him." A fiercer friend rebutted. "Poor Aina has been getting harassed to death by him for the last four years. Get lost!"
    Leonel seemed used to this good-cop, bad-cop routine. But the truth was he couldn't even see or hear them. His senses were incomparably focused.
    "I won't stop until I have a real answer from you." Leonel's gaze burned. In that moment, his pale green eyes seemed to gain a new light, becoming a green more vibrant than even the trees around him. "I must be your man. Will you have me?"
    The surrounding students all simultaneously stopped as though collectively holding their breaths.
    Aina's cheeks grew several shades of red darker, almost becoming as ripe as a tomato. Her small lips trembled before she turned and ran up the steps, disappearing into the Academy halls.
    Leonel gained another glare from Aina's fierce friend before she and the much kinder young lady rushed after the embarrassed Aina.
    In the end, Leonel could only sigh. Seemed that today was yet another failure.

 Chapter 2: Expendable Profession

    Leonel's depressed mood didn't last for long. Soon we was smiling as though nothing had happened.
    At that moment, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Considering how easily the culprit had done so, it was obvious that he was even taller than Leonel.
    "Another failure, how many is that already? 520?"
    "521." Leonel muttered.
    "Almost every school day since first-year, huh?"
    The culprit laughed, leading Leonel up the stairs.
    "There are too many young noble women looking to get into the good books of the 3021st bachelor of the Eligible Minor list. Yet you've been solely focused on one girl for four years, think of all the hearts breaking across the world."
    Leonel laughed. "James, when you have to say such a large number, it makes the accomplish ring hollow, don't you think?"
    It was quite funny. It was nice to be ranked, but being told that there were 3020 men better than him didn't exactly have a nice ring to it. Plus, this was just the Eligible Minor list, once he turned 18, he might not rank on the true Eligible Bachelor list at all.
    More depressing than that was the fact there were several snotty-nosed brats no more than 13 or 14 years old ranked ahead of him.
    "Bah, forget that damned list." James spat. "Who knows what perverted grandma ranked a bunch of minors on their eligibility? Load of nonsense."
    "Must be nice looking down from on high like that, Mr. 1034th."
    James laughed pervertedly, shaking Leonel side to side with his arm.
    [Scanningбн Security procedures underway]
    [Student Leonel Morales recognized]
    [Welcome future Five-Star Quarterback]
    Leonel heard the usual mechanical voice ringing in his ears. Though he knew no one else could hear it, he still felt a deep disgust whenever he heard this introduction.
    "Think about it this way," James continued as they entered the grand hallways of Royal Blue Academy, "There are over three billion people on Earth who are under 18. Half of those are men like us. Yet were in the top percent of a percent of a percent of them.
    "You gotta stop chasing after this one girl. There are too many who want you."
    "As long as she rejects me, I will leave her alone. But in four years, she's never said a word after one of my confessions. She always just runs off." Leonel swiped his finger under his nose a few times. "It's obvious she likes me."
    James was stunned for a moment before bursting into another fit of laughter. It seemed the students were used to his boisterousness because no one batted an eye to his ridiculous laugh.
    "I don't know why I waste my words, I know you don't care about these surface things. I should have known nothing would affect your state of mind for the big game."
    James pulled his arm from Leonel's shoulder, pounding a fist to the latter's chest.
    "Those preppy boys can just wait patiently for their fourth National Championship loss in a row." Leonel grinned, pounding James' chest in return.
    Leonel caught a bit of a complex light in his best friend's gaze. James was easily three inches taller than him and had been his partner in crime ever since they entered Royal Blue Junior Academy together. Leonel would never miss something like this, he knew him too well.
    "I do have something to talk to you about бк."
    James' voice was cut off by the ring.
    "бк Dammit, there's a test today!"
    Leonel shook his head as James ran away like a madman, likely trying to find someone he could cheat off of. Without thinking much, he pulled out a binder from his backpack to cram for his own test while he walked to class.
    Unfortunately, he and James weren't in the same class. While Leonel ranked third academically across all subjects, James was near the bottom of the barrel. If it wasn't for the fact his Gene Analysis decided that his fateful career was that of a 'Five-Star Tight End', he wouldn't be allowed to enter this building at all.
    Royal Blue Academy took these separations very seriously. Due to this, it was already a miracle that Leonel could make it into Senior Class A to begin with.
    When Leonel was young, like every other child at the age of three, he took a mandatory Genetic Analysis Examination. Among other things, this test was meant to decide your optimal career path while weighing your benefit to society. This career path would be graded from one to five stars depending on several factors.
    Ultimately, a One Star Professional was average. This person wouldn't cause any waves in their career path, but they would be able to stabilize its foundation, allowing the innovators at higher star evaluations to drive progress.
    Five Star Professionals were on another level. These were people that would revolutionize their fields. In a single generation, there wouldn't be more than a hundred children with this level of evaluation, and not every profession was guaranteed to birth one either.
    It should have been great that Leonel had such an evaluation. He too was a Five Star Professional. The trouble was that he had no interest in joining the National American Football League and becoming a Hall of Fame Quarterback.
    People like him were categorized as 'entertainers'. He would be rich and live a great life, but he would never be taken seriously outside of his sport. This was part of the reason he was ranked so lowly on the Eligible Minor list. Many ranked above him were only worth three stars to their professions, but they were still more valued.
    Of course, this wasn't the full reason or else James wouldn't be ranked so much higher than he was since he too was an 'entertainer'.
    Leonel walked into class just on time. He smiled lightly to greet a few people before burying his head back into his binder of notes.
    Though many liked to socialize with Leonel, they could only shake their heads when they noticed their school's star quarterback cramming as he usually did. His personality was really too odd. He had just been confessing his undying love to Aina, yet now he sat right behind her in class as though he didn't know who she was.
    At the same time, the shy Aina who blushed whenever she saw Leonel on the steps hardly reacted to his entry into the class either. Could this fated couple be bipolar?
    Since those in Senior Class A didn't even total 20, they could be considered quite close knit. They had become quite invested in the Leonel-Aina romance. Unfortunately, the two gave them no food for the soul in class.
    "Alright, all books away. The test will start now."
    The seemingly normal desks surfaces flickered and became screens. They were designed to block light projection in every direction but the test-taker's own perspective. So, cheating was effectively impossible.
    Leonel's amiable gaze completely vanished. It was like he entered a battlefield as the class was filled with his suffocating presence.
    By now, the others of Senior Class A had become used to it. After all, they had journeyed up with Leonel from Freshman Class A. But it would be a lie to say they didn't still break out into a cold sweat every time.
    It was just a test, was there a need to take it so seriously? They really couldn't understand how Leonel was evaluated as a Five-Star Quarterback instead of a Five-Star General. Even if he was evaluated as a Four-Star General like his father, it would have been a much better use of his talents.
    As usual, Leonel finished with blazing speed, only taking half an hour to complete a two-hour test. Without a choice, he pushed up from his desk, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
    The rest of the class breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could start taking the test on their own.
    "Sorry, teach. I gotta go."
    "Don't worry about it, Leo." Ms. Deen, an amiable lady getting on in years, smiled lightly. She was quite fond of this young one. "I know you athletes have a lot on your plate. Go on now."
    Leonel was about to jog out of the classroom door when he suddenly thought of something and paused. He looked up to the ceiling and muttered something as though he was gathering strength. With a grit of his teeth, he turned back.
    With purposeful steps, he made his way back to Aina who was still focusing on her exam. His finger tapped the metallic watch on her small wrist before she could react. There was a light glow that signaled from his watch to hers.
    She sat in a daze for a moment before she looked up and realized it was Leonel. For a moment, she didn't know how to react.
    "I know you probably won't go, but I thought I would try anyway." Leonel smiled lightly. His disarming smile seemed to warm the air. "We can celebrate our win tonight together."
    Without another word to Aina, Leonel turned and jogged away. Pressing his hands in apology to Ms. Deen for his disruption, he left with an embarrassed smile.
    Leonel sprinted out of the building, hopping onto his bike to cut across campus with blazing speed.
    Unfortunately, this was the true reason he could only rank third. He never had the time to listen to lectures. With the Information Restriction Act of 2072, knowledge was restricted the further away from the surface world you were.
    The government's reasoning was that policing Floating Paradises was difficult, especially the poorest regions that existed the highest in the sky. So, it was impossible to monitor how this 'sensitive' knowledge was being used. Therefore, the government concluded that it should be restricted.
    However, when had the reasons governments gave for doing things ever not been bullshit? Even the official reason they gave was so terrible.
    In the end, the only time Leonel had to study was the time he spent on the surface world. Otherwise, this oh-so 'useful' watch on his wrist watch would censor his textbooks.
    Still, this wasn't the worst of what Leonel had to deal with. In order to enter one of the top three Academies' main campuses, there were extremely strict requirements. One had to be a Three-Star Professional in what were known as the 'Essential Professions', things like engineers or surgeons, or a Four-Star Professional in an 'Auxiliary Profession', careers such as lawyers or business men.
    If one wanted to enter the main campus with an 'Expendable Profession' like Leonel's, Five-Star was the minimum.
    What did all of this mean? It meant that Leonel was only allowed to enter the same building as Aina based on his credentials as a star quarterback. He had no choice but to follow the athlete recruit's curriculum which was obviously not academically centered.
    James' so-called 'test' this morning was only for the basic knowledge every adult should have. Over 80% of his workload was actually evaluated at Royal Blue Academy's state-of-the-art athletic facilities.
    The logic was sound. Since his career path had already been decided as a muscle-brained jock, what did he need physics, maths and literature for?
    Leonel sped into a massive glass-panned oval-shaped arena. After entering the locker room, he was greeted by the moans of dozens of grown men.
    Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed like a disappointed parent.
    ""Captain!""
    "You're all too embarrassing, I don't want to be your captain anymore."
    "Don't be like that, cap. These Four-Star Masseuses have the hands of angels!"
    "Come on cap, you gotta try this. They only hire these goddesses for the National Championship game. If you don't take advantage now, you'll have to wait until you get drafted by the NAFL!"
    "Well, since you're all so sincerely begging meбн"
    Soon, Leonel's own moans filled the locker room.
    An eruption of boisterous laughter shook the arena's walls. It didn't seem that the biggest game of the year was just a few hours away at all. And why would it? Leonel had led them to victory three times before already, this year would be no different.

 Chapter 3: The Game

    [Don't worry for those who don't understand most of what happens in this chapter. I know American Football isn't exactly an international sport. Rest easy, this is the only chapter the sport will have relevance in :) ]
    "Good evening gentleman, I hope we can have a good game today. Everyone knows the stakes, so play free and play safe. Stay within the rules as we don't have to have a problem."
    The crowd was deafening. The thumping of feet, the boisterous chants, the heated anticipation boiled in the air, shaking the very stadium they stood within.
    The Royal Blue Academy's Royal Stadium sat within a massive glass structure formed of curved triangular panels. It danced with the setting sun beautifully, capturing dark reds and oranges that played across its reflective surfaces.
    The green, white-striped football fields were completely empty with the exception of 11 men who stood on the 50-yard line facing one another. Clicking and flashing cameras sounded, trying to capture every moment.
    Leonel stood proudly, two of his teammates to either of his sides. He calmly smiled at the arrogant sneers of his long time opponents from Angel Wing Academy, his helmet tucked under his arm.
    His football pads and jersey fit on like a knight's armor, glistening a beautiful deep blue. The only exception was the number on his chest which stood out as a bright white. The number 3.
    "Here is the coin we will be flipping today." The Head Referee continued to speak, stretching out a beautifully designed coin that was about half the width of his palm. "On one side we have a football decorated with the flag of the fallen American Empire. This will be tails.
    "On this side we have the Paradise Palace. It will be heads.
    "This coin was designed by a Four-Star Metal Worker. It was given the name 'Uniting'. It represents our Ascension Empire's ability to ingratiate all of its past conquests, leaving a place for all."
    The Head Referee allowed the ten players to see both sides.
    "Are you prepared to lose?"
    A gaze filled with confidence bore down on Leonel. The culprit was a young man with long flowing blond hair. His white jersey was almost blinding under the lights, making one have to squint just to maintain eye contact.
    This young man was a Four-Star Quarterback prospect, Conrad Siegfried.
    "The result will be just the same as it's always been." Leonel replied faintly.
    "You know the drill. Royal Blue, you're the home team. Call it in the air."
    The Head Referee tossed the coin into the air.
    Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The piercing gazes of two young men met across space, a spinning coin falling slowly between them.
    "Tails."
    The coin landed with a soft thud on the grass below.
    "The result is Tails. Royal Blue, would you like to receive or kick?"
    Leonel grinned as though the answer was obvious.
    "We receive."
    "Angel Wing, pick the direction you'd like to kickoff from."
    Conrad casually pointed. He hadn't let Leonel's comments bother him. If it wasn't for Leonel's birth, it would be him who would be the best of this generation. Others would let this fact crush them, but it filled Conrad with a burning desire to win by any means.
    Leonel turned, heading back to the sidelines. He grabbed his helmet's face mask, sliding it onto his head like a knight's helm.
    In that moment, his aura completely changed. A violent pressure suffocated the Royal Blue sidelines as almost a hundred pairs of gazes landed on Leonel's dark, tinted visor.
    Soon, the entire stadium fell into an eerie quiet as Leonel met each one of their gazes head on.
    "Respect the game. Persist to the end." Was all Leonel said.
    "Respect the game. Persist to the end."
    Royal Blue repeated these words as one. The crowd joined in, a torrent of momentum climbing to infinity.
    A rush of emotion filled the air, a wild cheering shaking the very ground once more.
    "Let's go."
    [And here we go again. The fourth year and the fourth National Championship appearance for Five-Star Quarterback Leonel Morales and his Royal Blues. Will it be another victory? Or with the star quarterback end his tenure with the only blemish on his resume?]
    [I think we all know the answer to that, Phil. In case you've all forgotten, let me remind you. This is THE greatest quarterback prospect to ever be birthed. This young man was throwing darts in his diapers. He could sleepwalk through this game and still win by 30]
    [Don't think we don't know what you're doing, Rick. You're just hoping your Los Angeles Sewer Rats trade up to pick him in the 2198 draft. Well let me break it to you. We have the number one overall pick this year!]
    The entertaining commentary of the Phil-Rick duo was in full swing, the liveliness was intoxicating.
    [And here it is! The kickoff of the 119th National Championship Game!]
    Angel Wing's kicker did a light jog up before unleashing a booming kick that soared through the air, landing out of the back of the end zone for a touch back.
    With that, the game had truly begun.
    [Here we go, the first play]
    [It seems that Coach Owen is really letting Morales have full reign now. Immediately entering a five wide set, not even using a running back]
    [Ha! Morales is all the running back they need]
    Leonel shifted his gaze from left to right, checking the defense. He could see the vicious gazes of the Angel Wing defensive line. Their middle linebackers gaze locked onto Leonel's. He was a Four-Star Professional in his Junior year. Unfortunately, much like his quarterback, he had been played to death by Leonel for the last two years.
    His eyes swiftly met James' as though in tacit agreement.
    "Blue 80. BLUE 80. Set. Hut!"
    Leonel clapped his hands, his leg slowly raising and setting into position as he accepted the snapped ball.
    He glided backward effortlessly. His back leg had hardly planted before he cocked his arm back and released a laser.
    [A corner blitz!]
    [Morales didn't check the play, he actually threw it directly over the corner's head!]
    [James dropped the ball?! That could have been a 20-yard gain! How unlike him]
    [Heyбн!]
    The loud blowing of a whistle sounded.
    "Unnecessary roughness. Roughing the passer. Number 21. 15-yard penalty, first down."
    Leonel felt that the wind had been knocked out of him. Having opened up his chest to throw the ball, he had been completely blindsided by the blitzing corner. Of course, he had known it was coming, but he couldn't throw and dodge at the same time.
    "Gonna be a long night, pretty boy." Number 21 grinned down at Leonel just as another whistle blew.
    "Unsportsmanlike conduct. Number 21. 15-yard penalty, first down."
    The corner raised his hands in mock defeat, swaggering back to his side of the field.
    "You good, cap?"
    One of Leonel's offensive lineman helped him up.
    "No problem." Leonel said with a cold smile.
    The team huddled in.
    "Sorry Leo, you took a hit for no reason." James' gaze was filled with shame.
    "Don't worry about it, it happens." Leo hit his shoulder pads. "Head up. Didn't we just gain a free 30-yards anyway?
    "Since they wanna play games, let's play games. The play goes бк Trips right, red under seam, wide out bang. On two, on two. Break!"
    The huddle broke, leaving Leonel to jog to the line.
    He paused in shotgun, waiting for his team to get set. Usually, he would scan the defense. But this time, his head turned to the right, his gaze piercing toward just one side of the field.
    He raised a finger pointing at number 21. He had never seen this player before, so he must have been a freshman. Considering his cockiness, he was most definitely at least a Four-Star recruit. It seemed Leonel would have to teach him to be more obedient.
    [Ooooo! He's done it now]
    "Blue 21. BLUE 21. Down set. Hut. HUT!"
    The whistle blew.
    "Offside. Number 21. Five-yard penalty, first down."
    [He's toying with the rookie now. You think the little guy thought Leonel would just try to force the ball toward his side of the field? He's too naive. Football is a game of the mind]
    [Excellent use of the hard count to deal with an overaggressive rusher. What is Angel Wing thinking sending a corner blitz twice in a row?]
    [From now on, Morales is in control!]
    And in control he was. The first drive was no less than a masterclass in timing, accuracy and precision. In just 12 plays and 7:36 minutes, the Royal Blues found the end zone.
    [Even with his star tight end having two dropped passes, Morales finds pay dirt, stacking one touchdown to the stat sheet]
    The game became a back and forth affair. Though Royal Blue had Leonel and James, not only did James seem to be having a bad game, but Angel Wing had far more Four-Star recruits than they did. Aside from the dynamic duo, Royal Blue was mostly constructed of Three-Star prospects. After all, they were only ranked third of the Academies while Angel Wing was ranked second.
    However, Leonel pulled the team from the depths of despair time and time again.
    [What a bullet over the middle!]
    [Morales is really carrying the load of the offense, but he's taken a lot of hits this game. You have to wonder if it's worth it, he has nothing left to prove at this level of football]
    [That's just part of his charm. Would he really be Leonel Morales if he pulled himself out of this game?]
    Time ticked and the fourth quarter came around, a score of 35-31 in favor of the Angel Wings hanging on the scoreboard.
    "What the hell are you doing out there, Bennett?!" Coach Owen grabbed James' chest pads, fury billowing through his thick mustache. "You choose the biggest game of the year to shit the bed?!"
    James' head hung low.
    "I get it." Coach Owen took a step back. "You've already won three times, this game is probably meaningless to you already. But think of your juniors. This may very well be their only opportunity in their lifetimes."
    "Coach, that'sбн" James wanted to defend himself, his gaze flickering with a complex light.
    He simply couldn't find the courage to do so. He already had five dropped passes this game alone. That may be as many as his whole academy career from the start to now. He really was playing out of character.
    Leonel came over with a smile. In truth, if one ignored the happy expression on his face, it would be easy to see the kind of sorry state he was in. He had already been forced to tape up his ribs at half time after yet another late hit.
    "Come on coach, you know he'll step up when it really counts. If we didn't keep this game a bit close, wouldn't the crowd be too bored?"
    The sound of a whistle came from the field. The Angel Wings kicked off, leaving the ball in their possession for a final drive, 1:15 sitting on the clock.
    "Isn't this what we live for?" Leonel's grin sent a wave of calm through the sidelines. "Let's go win this."
    Leonel slid on his helmet. Like a general leading his army, he stepped out onto the field, his mind incomparably focused.
    [And here we go. Scoot up to the edge of your seats everyone, this is the final drive to decide it all!]
    [A nice and easy run on first down. It's clear the Royal Blues are taking their time, settling the pace, looking to end it on their own terms]
    [Excellent timing on that out route. 87's been a key piece with Bennett's down game. He may only be a Three Star prospect, but he's stepped up big today]
    [0:47 on the clock and the Royal Blues are already at midfield. Morales has them running like a finely tuned engine]
    [Oh no! 56 whiffs on a block, letting a rusher free!]
    [Morales spins out of the tackle, rushing to his right]
    [A work of art, nothing less! A slight flick of the wrist to send the flying 40-yards right between the numbers]
    [87 tip toes out of bounds at the opponent's 6!]
    [0:03 on the clock, my blood is boiling! Can they do it, can they seal their dynasty with a victory?!]
    "This is it boys, leave it all out there. Respect the game. Persist to the end." Leonel's gaze blazed. "Alright. Z personnel, Y boot swing over, motion zig fade. On one, on one. Break!"
    Leonel walked to the line, his heart as calm as a lake. The blaring cheers of the rocking stadium, the countless flashing cameras, the sea of white uniformed enemies glaring at him like a piece of meatбн It all rolled off his shoulders as though they weren't there at all.
    With a light smile, Leonel turned his head to the right of the field, his arm slowly raising to point at a familiar freshman.
    [It can't be! Morales is doing it again!]
    [Ahaha! This is the spirit of the game! To call out your opponent on the final play, what guts, what imposing grandeur!]
    "Blue 21. BLUE 21. Down set. HUT!"
    The ball spiraled through the Royal Blues' center's legs, hitting Leonel's palms perfectly.
    [It's a designed boot to the right! The Royal Blues really are targeting the rookie this time!]
    [The rookie slipped up! He thought Morales was going to hit him with the hard count again and got caught flat footed! There goes Bennett, sliding past him for the corner fade!]
    [Morales sees him! This is it, Bennett is wide open!]
    Leonel rolled to the side, the football between both his hands. The Royal Blues hadn't run a single designed boot all game, the defense was caught completely off guard. By the time they realized what was happening, Leonel was practically alone on the right side of the field. The only others with him were the rookie, 21, and James who had faded to the corner of the endzone.
    The rookie was caught in no man's land. He had no idea whether he should rush after James, or if he should try to get a hit in on Leonel, ending the game.
    In the end, he rushed forward. He knew it was already too late to catch up to James, but maybe he had a chance at Leonel who was rushing toward him. Unfortunatelyбн Leonel smirked. With a flick of his wrist, the ball soared over 21's head, landing right in James' hands.
    [Morales does it again! Royal Blues Wбк]
    The deafening crowd fell into an eerie silence as the ball slipped through James' hands and the clock hit triple zeros.

 Chapter 4: Confrontation

    James grabbed his helmet with both hands, dropping to his knees in despair. At a time like this, Leonel could only sigh.
    However, under the silence of the arena, a resounding boom of two clashing bodies sounded.
    Leonel grimaced, feeling his already fractured ribs break cleanly as his vision was filled with sights of the moon above.
    It was then a loud whistle blew through the silence.
    "Unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer, number 21. Half the distance to the goal, still first down."
    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, grasping at his chest with his eyes squinting in pain.
    The rookie stood over him in shock. At first, he had let his frustration get the best of him. He had never for a moment thought that James would drop such an easy layup of a pass, so he unleashed everything he had on Leonel, knowing they would lose the game. Never did he think that his actions would give the Royal Blues another chance with zero seconds on the clock.
    The medics rushed onto the field. Despite the Royal Blues gaining new life, the stadium still remained silent. The sight of Leonel writhing in pain made many send furious gazes toward the rookie and James.
    "Bennett, get the hell off the field! Rook, you're in."
    Coach Owen coldly benched his Five-Star prospect. He didn't know what was wrong with James today, but he was clearly in his own head too much. It was impossible to use him for this final play.
    The medics quickly lifted Leonel's jersey, undoing the bandage wraps from the first half to reveal ghastly purple and green bruises. It was simply impossible for a bruise to spread so quickly. The only explanation was that Leonel had suffered this injury very early on in the game.
    "Don't." Leonel grabbed the hand of the middle-aged male medic who tried to take his pads off. "There's just one play left, I got it."
    Coach Owen who had rushed onto the field frowned deeply, his arms crossed over his well-built chest and his mustache billowing.
    The team stood around Leonel's slowly rising figure, solemn expressions on their faces. They knew that everyone made mistakes, but at the moment, they were having a really hard time forgiving James.
    "What are you all pouting for? An injury timeout doesn't last forever, let's do this. Line up!"
    Seeing Leonel's resolute attitude, the medics and Coach Owen had no choice but to jog off the field under the silence of the crowd. In those moments, the heavy breathing of the players who stood on their last legs was all that remained hanging in the air.
    Leonel's fiery gaze lit a fire under them all, filling them with a strength they didn't know they had.
    On the sidelines, Conrad looked on with a gloomy expression. Victory had been in his grasp, yet it slipped away, just like that.
    Leonel slapped his hands together, standing behind his offensive line as though he wasn't injured at all.
    "Blue 80. BLUE 80. Down set, HUT!"
    **
    Leonel sat in the locker room breathing heavily. The sounds of celebration surrounded him, causing a light smile to play his handsome features. Who knew how they did it, but the guys managed to get their hands on a few dozen champaign bottles. Their wrist watches were probably beeping away with talks of the Underage Drinking Code.
    Unfortunately, he couldn't take part too actively. Though he could forcibly ignore his pain if need be as he did on the final game winning play, it was probably best he didn't move too actively, lest his ribs puncture his lungs.
    "Stop moaning and groaning, cap. You're not getting out of partying tonight!"
    One of Leonel's O-lineman, Three-Star Center Milan Inga, slapped his shoulder without regard for his grimace. He swung back a flask of vodka, his massive fat covered body somehow appearing ripped of muscle at the same time.
    "Oof, I already promised I'd come. No need to kill me first."
    The guys laughed, hopping in the showers one after another.
    Leonel gingerly took off his sweaty pads and undergarments, taking his time. He planned on hopping into the showers last. Although he was pretty certain that Aina wouldn't come, he still had to put his best foot forward just in case. Luckily, he had already prepared a decent outfit. It wasn't as flashy as what those rich boys could bring out, but he was still happy with it.
    'I'll probably have to have one of the medics re-bandage this for me.' Leonel thought to himself.
    Hearing a sudden plop by his side, Leonel turned from his locker to see his coach half dozing off, a strong scent of alcohol leaking from his mouth.
    Leonel laughed. "Coach, you're gonna get yourself fired going around like this."
    "Bah, fuck those preppy pricks." Coach Owen tipped his flask up as though mockingly toasting the very people he insulted. Leonel almost didn't understand his slurring words.
    "Look at you, how embarrassing. You get like this every year."
    "What's it to you? You're gone after this time anyway, off to the bright lights of the NAFL. This old man will just stay in his little town."
    "Pft." Leonel couldn't hold back his laugh. "You're the coach of the best Academy football program on Union Continent. Your salary is enough to retire now and live a life of luxury until you finish putting that other foot in the grave."
    Usually, Coach Owen's mustache would blow and he'd have another witty comeback waiting for Leonel. But this time, his response was completely unexpected.
    "бн Thanks for choosing Royal Blue, kid."
    Leonel was stunned silent for a moment. He very well could have chosen Angel Wing, allowing him to attend the second ranked Academy. But, he chose Royal Blue because he liked Coach Owen's straight forward personality. As for the first ranked Academy, they didn't have a football program, seeing the entertainment path as something beneath them.
    In the end, Leonel smiled lightly. "Don't thank me, thank that dead rat on your lip. If not for how fun it is to poke fun at it, I would have never come here."
    Coach Owen laughed uproariously, slapping Leonel's back even harder than Milan had.
    "Finish drinking that green vomit your old man gave you, kid."
    Ignoring Leonel's grimace of pain, Coach Owen walked away.
    "бн Enjoy it while you canбн"
    Leonel was too busy trying to calm his pain with ice to hear Coach Owen's last words. But, they were never intended for him to hear to begin with.
    After his pain pangs slowly faded, Leonel dug through his locker to find his black bag. Pulling a familiar bottle of green sludge out.
    As far as Leonel knew, his father worked in a government division that focused on nutrition and enhanced nutritional supplements. The Ascension Empire believed that while their technology advanced rapidly, the human condition lagged behind. So this unnamed division worked toward maximizing human potential with food.
    This gross concoction was one of his father's creations. According to his Gene Assessment, he was slotted in to grow to six feet tall. But, after drinking this poison everyday, he superseded that by three inches and might very well gain another inch or two by the time he reached his twenties.
    Of course, Leonel's father was actually a Four-Star General. He only went on to work in this unnamed division after he retired from military service. Then he proceeded to retire once more from said division.
    After chugging what remained of the bottle, a familiar scorching pain seared Leonel's chest. But, at the very least, his aching ribs dulled down a bit. It would probably take a normal person about two months to heal, but Leonel would only need about three weeks.
    Time ticked by and Leonel was finally the only one remaining. Though he could have used the 'Refresh' ability of his watch, he preferred taking a shower as did most people. There was just something about it that felt cleaner.
    Taking his time, he scrubbed every inch of his body before walking out with a towel around his waist and one hanging loosely over his head. Slightly obscured with a pattern of green, purple and brown bruises, his torso rippled beneath the heated steam.
    Leonel rubbed the towel through his hair, wincing as he struggled to keep his arms above his head.
    Reaching into his locker, he put on a pair of deep blue jeans, a skin-tight white turtle-neck sweater, and draped over a long black trench coat.
    'It's only 8 pm right now, dad won't kill me too much if I'm home by midnightбн'
    Leonel slung his backpack over his shoulder. But the moment he turned, his footsteps stopped.
    "What are you moping around for?" Leonel smiled toward James.
    "Iбн"
    "If it's a struggle for you to tell me, then just don't tell me. There's no need for you to be sorry, that rookie would have hit me like that whether you caught the ball or not."
    "бн"
    For a while James didn't know what to say. But, he didn't move out of the way of the door either.
    "бн You knew you would get the unnecessary roughness call, right?"
    Leonel's smile dimmed a bit, but he didn't respond.
    "I know you too well. You don't like to lose, but you're too soft-hearted to call me out on my bullshit too. So, you'd find a way to protect our friendship and ignore it, all while winning the big game anyway. Am I right?"
    Leonel sighed. "Is there really a need to know the answer?"
    "Of course there is!" James' voice rose. "If you knew I needed your help, why couldn't you just lose this one time?! This is just a game, isn't it? You've already won three times, did you really need to win for a fourth? You don't even want to be a quarterback!"
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. "Whether I want to or not is irrelevant. In everything that you do бк."
    "I already know! I've heard it a million times. Respect and persistence. Respecting this garbage hand you were dealt, you're definitely the first. Congratulations!"
    Leonel's eyes flickered with a hint of sadness.
    "James, why are you being like this? You didn't even try to talk to me beforehand, we could have come up with a solution together. Did you think using being late to class as an excuse was enough?"
    James' expression rapidly changed, flaring with anger, then shame, then finally, capitulation.
    "бн I'm sorry. I lost my cool. There are just some things thatбн Never mind. It doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done."
    James shook his head, recollecting himself.
    Turning away, James reached for the door. After a pause, he turned back with a bright smile as though nothing had happened.
    "Come on, all your adoring fans are waiting outside to crucify me. The party's going down in Blue North Dormitory. We gotta get there before all the booze's gone."
    Before Leonel could respond, James ripped open the door, unleashing a sound wave of flashing cameras and the shrieks of groupies.
    In the NAFL, reporters were allowed into the locker rooms. But, since they were minors and the bigwigs were worried about optics, they were forced to wait outside at the Academy level.
    At the same time, Royal Blue Academy's campus was usually locked down from outsiders, but there were rare occasions like today where those who paid obscene amounts of money or had appropriate connections could come.
    Like this, Leonel was forced to wade through a sea of reporters and fan girls with a bitter smile on his face, James' sinister laugh sounding off in the distance as he ran away.

 Chapter 5: The Incident

    It wasn't until at least half an hour later that Leonel managed to slip away from all the onslaught of questions. Since he was pretty much locked in to the first overall pick in the coming months, it was no wonder he was being hounded like this. That said, just because he understood, didn't mean he liked it.
    'Dammit, I'm late. I don't want Aina to misunderstandбн'
    Leonel pedaled madly across campus, his silver bike streaking like a comet across the skies.
    About five minutes later, he finally made it to the Northern Dormitories. Since there were too many outsiders on campus today, he clicked a hidden button on his bike's frame, causing it to fold in on itself and becoming a silver rod about two meters long. In the end, it further collapsed, splitting into four pieces that neatly fit into his bag.
    The blaring of music could be heard even from Leonel's distance away. He hadn't even entered the apartment-style building yet, but the sounds of clattering glass, laughter and club music was impossible to miss already.
    Blue North Dormitory was the male boarding house of the Northern Dormitories. It had the greatest luxury and accommodation of them as well.
    Usually, women wouldn't be allowed anywhere near this place, as their dorms were located in the south. But, nearing the end of Senior year, there was an unspoken rule among supervisors to let some of these things slide. At the very least, Leonel could see many of these blooming beauties through the windows and even strewn around outside, sneaking away with their lovers.
    Seeing these sights, Leonel sighed. Would Aina really come to such a place? Maybe he was asking for too much. Thinking to this point, his footsteps couldn't help pause.
    These were some of his last chances to capture Aina's heart. If he failed now, who knew when he would see her again?
    Aina was a Five-Star Professional. Leonel didn't know of what profession due to certain protections. In order to protect students from being poached and harassed by conglomerates and distracting them from their schooling, this information was usually sealed. Leonel was a special case in that he was an Entertainment Professional. As such, his protections weren't as great.
    Considering how high Aina's protections were, she was definitely destined for a very important industry. The only reason Leonel even knew she was Five-Star at all was due to simple coincidence and a slip of the tongue.
    Leonel clenched his fists.
    How well did he know Aina? What were her hobbies? Her favorite foods? Favorite color?
    Leonel didn't know the answers to any of these questions, however he was enamored. There were other women just as beautiful as Aina, some of whom had even tried to deliver themselves into his arms. But there was something about this woman in his heart that overshadowed them all.
    'If my profession isn't enough to be by her side, then I'll toss it aside.' Leonel's aura blazed almost like a beacon under the night skies.
    Just as Leonel was about to take another step forward, the sound of a crashing window shook him out of his thoughts. The screams of the female students shot across the night sky. However, the blaring music hadn't come to a stop.
    Leonel's gaze shot upward to a body half hanging out through a fourth floor window. A young man's lower back scraped along the now jagged windowsill, his body barely being suspended by the hand grasping his collar. However, it was clear that his hand wasn't trying to save him, but was rather likely the reason he was in such a position to begin with.
    "Jamesбн?"
    Leonel didn't wait even a moment. Breaking into a sprint, he tore into the dormitory.
    Those who likely didn't know what was happening upstairs due to the loud blaring music tried to greet him, only for him to blow right past, shooting up the stairs.
    Leonel reached the fourth floor in a flash. He had completely ignored the screaming pain that ran across his chest and torso. A fall from the fourth floor was no joke.
    "Conrad!"
    Leonel burst into the fourth floor's lounge room, his voice carrying a biting cold that overshadowed even the music that shook the walls.
    The room was quite luxuriously decorated. Soft carpets, a Four Star Chef who stood behind a curved bar nonchalantly as though nothing was happening, and several table games from pool to foosball.
    However, Leonel's gaze landed on the very young man he had faced on the field just an hour ago. Four-Star Quarterback Conrad Siegfried.
    "What do you think you're doing?"
    Leonel's voice simmered, but it was somehow still possible to hear him clearly.
    He scanned the room quickly, trying to get a read of the situation. He immediately noticed that there were several members of the Angel Wings here. This in and of itself wasn't a problem, but he had never heard of a losing team joining the winning side's after party like this. What could they be here to do if not cause trouble?
    It was then Leonel froze. 'Aina?'
    He was stunned. He had really been fully prepared for her not to come, yet she really was here. Not only that, but it seemed like her and her two friends were somehow involved in this scuffle.
    Seeing Leonel's genuine happiness the moment his eyes met Aina's, many inadvertently smiled despite the situation. Aina herself blushed and looked away, trying not to meet Leonel's gaze.
    "Oh, so she's yours? It's no wonder why this guard dog reacted so furiously to my casual words."
    Hearing Conrad's words, Leonel's expression once more became cold. He was smart enough to understand what must have happened.
    James was likely here accompanying Aina and her friends knowing that Leonel would be a bit late due to his actions. At some point, Conrad came and tried to make a move on Aina, causing James to lash out.
    It seemed that James was a bit too drunk, or else with his size and strength, there was no way Conrad could put him into such a situation.
    "Let him go, are you trying to commit a murder with so many people here?"
    It was unknown who exactly, but the surround sound system of the fourth floor was turned down to the point only the music from the other floors reverberated through the walls.
    The members of the Royal Blues gathered around Leonel without him saying a word. With their leader here, there was nothing that needed to be said.
    No matter what, the Angel Wings were outnumbered here. Leonel didn't know what was going on on the other floors, but there were twelve members of his team here and only seven of them.
    "So what if I do? Do you think I would be punished for it?" He asked his question teasingly, as though he really wanted Leonel's genuine opinion.
    Conrad's response caught Leonel completely off guard. He considered himself to be an intelligent person, but he was completely blindsided.
    After considering for a moment, he finally understood. Hadn't he committed a Felony just this morning? And that was just with his father's retired status. What of the Siegfried Family that was powerful enough to make the mere Four-Star Conrad rank higher than Leonel on the Eligible Minor List?
    It wasn't that Leonel had never thought of this, it was rather that he never realized that someone could use this loophole to get away with murder. Weren't there limits?
    Leonel's crimes were completely innocent and put no one but his own self in danger. But Conrad actually wanted to cause the death of another person for nothing more than an exchange of words?
    Leonel fell silent under Conrad's sneer. He didn't notice that from the side, Aina observed him with a slightly curious gaze.
    "Alright, drop him then."
    Conrad's eyes narrowed. "Do you think I won't?"
    "No, I'm certain you would. However, you'll have to face the consequences."
    "Consequences?"
    Conrad's tension dissipated, a laughter shaking his body. James' body tipped further out the window, nearly disrupting the balance that kept him alive.
    "And here I thought the mighty Leonel Morales was intelligent. It seems that you're just a fool."
    Leonel expressionlessly watched on as Conrad laughed. Several seconds ticked by before an uncomfortable feeling started to well in the latter's heart. Soon, even the remaining six Angel Wing players felt too stifled to laugh.
    "Yes, consequences." Leonel replied plainly. "If you drop my partner from that window, you seven will follow him right after."
    Conrad choked on his own breath. Leonel's biting cold gaze pierced through his heart.
    "бн Do you really think you can say such a thing? Do you know who I am? For just this threat alone, the consequences you speak of are far beyond your wildest imaginations."
    As though on cue, a voice once more sounded in Leonel's ear.
    [Infraction Code 22.31.4 бк Murderous intent detected. Under the Speech Moderation Act of 2034, all manners of Hate Speech and Threats are classified as a Type 9 Misdemeanor]
    [It is advised that subject, Leonel Morales, rethink his coming actions. Any murders committed by subject in the next hour will not be considered in self-defense and can only be tried as second and first degree murder]
    "I don't particularly care. Drop him." Leonel replied without taking a pause.
    Everyone could see the flashing lights of his wrist through the black coat that slightly covered it. The warning red lights only appeared as a warning to bystanders who may get caught up in the coming actions.
    He really meant it!
    Conrad finally froze.
    "I may go to prison for the rest of my life. I may be placed on death row even as a minor. But you seven will be dead, so what chance are you going to get to gloat?"
    Those who weren't involved in this sudden clash suddenly felt that their whole worlds were taken over by the sight of Leonel's silhouette.
    Leonel was maybe the person with the lowest standing of their Royal Blue Academy. There were others who entered only by their own merits, but none shined as brightly as he did. Yet, in such an elitist society, he had made friends with them all. There hadn't been an occurrence of Leonel being bullied for his background in a very long time.
    He was a peer they respected, one who made them forget about how powerful their mothers, fathers, and families were, simply to enjoy his companyбн Seeing him stick out his neck in this way for a friend regardless of the consequences, it made their eyes redden.
    Incredibly moved, several more individuals stepped forward. There were no words spoken, but Conrad went from facing just twelve, to feeling the emotional tidal wave brought forth by almost thirty.
    At this moment, Conrad was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he took a step back, he would look weak. But, if he continued along this pathбн He might really lose his life.
    It was then that it happened. Centuries from now, historians would come to know this event as the Dimensional Descent. It was the day that Earth evolved and their plane of existence morphed. It was the day they ceased to be the top of the food chain.
    A loud blaring noise cut through their silence and the wall-shaking music of the other floors.
    The expressions of everyone present changed, their wrist watches vibrating with several, continuous warnings.
    [Warning. Warning. We have entered a Code Red: Class 9 state]
    [Warning. Warning. We have entered a Code Red: Class 9 state]
    Everyone present knew exactly what this meant.
    Code Black. It was the lowest and most normal state. Class 1 was a normal day while Class 9 was used in situations like the spread of a minor virus. At most, the worst death totals would be in the few thousands to tens of thousands.
    Code Blue. It was a medium state of alertness. It was usually used during rebellion by one of the Paradise Islands or the Satellite Moon societies. The worst death totals would number in the hundreds of thousands, potentially millions.
    Code Red. This was a cataclysmic event. It was a situation where the Ascension Empire's efforts had to be focused on solving the problem as opposed to protecting its citizens. As a result, there would be very few individuals in position to help themбн
    The death totals would be within the billions. And Class 9 was the highest of them all.
    A sudden blinding light streaked across the skies. For a moment, it seemed it was day rather than night.
    Everything trembled. The ground, the air, even their bodies as though an inexplicable pressure was bearing down on them.
    Gravity seemed to increase by at least 10%. The air grew heavier, a lack of oxygen making those around feel stifled. At the same time, their gazes grew foggy as a dizziness overwhelmed them. It felt as though they had entered an elevator that decelerated far too quickly.
    Then, everything shut down. The music, the lightsбн their wrist watchesбн
    The world fell to darkness.
    At that moment, hundreds of Paradise Islands across the planet plummeted from the skies.

 Chapter 6: Changes

    While everyone was distracted, Leonel had already moved, making it to Conrad and James in a few steps and grabbing a side of the latter's collar himself. Another person might have chosen to fight off Conrad first, but Leonel was well aware how foolish such a choice was.
    No matter what just happened, securing James' safety came first. No matter what happened between them, James was still his best friend. And, luckily, he had the now darkened lights on his side.
    As expected, Conrad wasn't able to react. Seeing that Leonel now had a firm grip on James himself, he could only let go, allowing Leonel to pull James up.
    "Leoбн?" James' words slurred.
    It was only now that Leonel realized James had actually been unconscious. It was likely his head that had smashed the window apart, it wouldn't be surprising if he was diagnosed with a concussion. Coupling that with the fact he was drunk and it was a recipe for disaster.
    "Heeey, maaan. You're late, my sister-in-law was waiting on yoouuбн"
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath through his teeth when James heavily leaned on him. He was really in no shape to be taking on such a burden, but he still carried him out, letting him sit on the couch.
    "Chef, do you have any gas burners back there? We need some light." Leonel called out.
    The Four-Star Chef who had not said a word even when James' life was on the line finally looked a bit shaken. He didn't seem to know what was going on.
    "бн Yesбн We use a blow torch for the finishing touches of certain dishesбн"
    He absentmindedly fumbled through the dark, pulling out the draw of a hidden compartment to take the torch he was speaking of. But, before he could think to hand it to Leonel, it happened.
    In that few minutes, it felt that the planet would collapse. A cacophony of booms so loud Leonel had no choice but to cover his ears sounded. The earth beneath their feet trembled fiercer, the building swaying wildly from left to right.
    It was then that Leonel froze. He didn't need to think to know what was causing thisбн
    The Paradise Islands!
    'Dadбн'
    A bout of worry seized Leonel's chest. No Paradise Islands were allowed to have routes that crossed over important landmarks. The top ten Academies, government buildings, and historical landmarks all fit this description. So, they were safe, for better or worse.
    However, Leonel didn't care about his own safety. He was worried about his father.
    Higher class Paradise Islands like the ones him and his father lived on had several safety features in case an event just like this one happened, however they weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. This was especially so considering the scope of this power outage.
    The only slight hope was that Leonel and his father lived on a Paradise Island very close to the surface бк the closest they could get, in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers first, it could slow its descent enough to save his father's life. These skyscrapers were exactly the very last line of defense for these disasters. They were built with this potential cataclysm in mind.
    In the end, Leonel could only force his worry down.
    If it was a normal power outage caused by some sort of system-wide failure, he would immediately run out of here, even leaving Aina behind. However, before everything happened, their wrist watches had warned of a Class 9 Code Red. It was very obvious that there was nothing normal about this event.
    Setting his jaw, Leonel weathered the shaking earth with his hands firmly clasped over his ears. It was lucky that their buildings were built with the highest earthquake technology, or there was no way it would have lasted this long.
    The atmosphere became gloomy. Students who could go here didn't think often of the Paradise Islands above their heads. They would occasionally obscure the sun, but no more invasively than the clouds do.
    However, this time, with each crashing boom, they became more and more aware that each represented the deaths of countless innocent people.
    Completely unprovoked, several began to heave and vomit. A putrid smell filled the fourth floor lobby along with mute sobs almost completely obscured by the vicious torrent of sounds.
    Whatever catastrophe the Ascension Empire warned of had yet to even begin, yet billions had already died. What kind of sick joke was this?
    A few who managed to keep their bearings looked toward Leonel with unconcealed pity. Even though he had closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, keeping his visage expressionless as he covered his ears, they knew well what he must be feeling.
    Some of them were in the same boat. Even if their families were affluent enough to have a home on the surface, not all of them were able to have a home in those protected zones. Their families might very well die by being crushed by those falling Paradise Islands.
    Over ten minutes later, the booms finally stopped, the earth still swaying beneath their feet. Maybe it was only now that they had become aware of just how many of those islands hovered above their headsбн of just how many lives they hadn't even cared for to now.
    When they did, Leonel began to work as though nothing had happened. He carefully took James' shirt off, being mindful to support his head.
    As expected, not only did James have a concussion, but the remnant shards of glass on the bottom ledge of the windowsill had left deep gashes to his lower back.
    Accepting the blow torch from the Four-Star Chef, Leonel borrowed a few scented candles from a resident of the dorm and lit them, finally giving them a semblance of light.
    Leonel wasn't a medic, but he had taken a few first-aid classes. He was unsure if the medics they had on standby for the game were still here, or if they had left to their homes. After all, it had been over an hour, approaching two, since the game ended. He didn't have the luxury of looking for them.
    Cleaning out James' wounds to his lower back as best he could, he slowly removed pieces of glass stuck in his flesh. Finally, he wrapped them after disinfecting with some cooking wine he got from the chef.
    "Love you, manбн"
    James' drunk voice faded, only to be replaced by his light snoring soon after. Those here couldn't help but think he was the luckiest one of them all. Even if they tried to sleep now, they had no doubt that they'd fail.
    Leonel smiled and shook his head, his gaze turning empty for a moment. What should he do now?
    In truth, he knew that the best answer was to stay put. Everyone else knew as well. As one of the protected zones, they could obviously be among the first to receive government assistance.
    But, what was this Code Red? Was it just a worldwide power outage? Leonel had a feeling that it was more, but he had to admit to himself that he had no real evidence for this being the case. It was just thatбн how could the mighty Ascension Empire which unified Earth not be ready for such a thing?
    It made Leonel think that there was something that caused this outage actively. It wasn't a mistake, but rather an event even their Empire had no means of stopping.
    'The good news is that we have room and board. The academy also stockpiles several years worth of food in an abundance of caution thanks to previous rebellion and hostage situations.
    'The bad is that the campus is current above its usual carrying capacity due to the game and the after party. Also, without power, the large freezers will slowly lose their heat. It'll be even faster if people are constantly opening and closing their doors.
    'It would be possible to take preemptive action and cure what we can. But, not many will listen to my words, they'll believe I'm being overly paranoid. The food here is enough to last a month easily before they start to go bad, no one would think that the Empire would be unable to recover in that time, so they wouldn't be willing to make sacrifices.'
    Leonel's thoughts spun quickly. A part of him wanted to act frugally out of caution, but another part understood that unless people had evidence toward how dangerous this situation was, they wouldn't listen. This was simply the way human beings were.
    In truth, Leonel didn't want to deal with any of this. He only wanted to go and see if his father was alright, he didn't care about anything else.
    "Damn, I can't stand this smell."
    Conrad's high-bridged nose wrinkled. As soon as the swaying of the building normalized, he didn't want to stand there a second longer. Usually such a mess of vomit would be cleaned easily with their high-tech. But, this was obviously impossible now. It wasn't even a guarantee that they still had running water.
    Leonel didn't stop Conrad from walking away, and why would he?
    Unfortunately, it seemed that Conrad wasn't destined to get very far.
    The building quaked once more. For a moment, Leonel thought that the foundation was too shaken by the previous earthquakes and that the dormitory was collapsing. But in the next instant, he saw something he would never forget in his life.
    It was a spatial tear. Leonel was absolutely certain. He had never seen one, nor had he ever read the description of one, but he had a vivid enough imagination to know that if there ever was a spatial tear, it would look exactly like this. Maybe the only thing that deviated from his fanciful image was the fact it lit up the night sky as though it was day.
    Other than that, everything else was the same. The abrupt cognitive dissonance, its black, starry innards, the way it seemed to have no, and simultaneously endless, depthбн
    Leonel's expression changed as it watched it through the shattered window.
    'It's expanding! We can't stay here!'
    "Milan!" Leonel reacted quickly.
    Understanding what he meant, Leonel's big offensive lineman strung James over his shoulder. Leonel would have done it himself, but his ribs were in no state to be taking on such a load. However, just as they were about to run out of the building, Conrad's voice cause Leonel to pause his steps.
    "What the hell are you doing?! Do you know who I am, get the hell off of me!"
    Leonel was taken aback. The very same young girl who had vomited during the fall of the Paradise Islands stood in the way of the closest exit, her gaze vacant. No, that wasn't accurate enough. Her irises had completely turned white, even her pupils followed suit.
    Her expression was cold. Leonel instinctually felt that it was impossible for the same girl who vomited just at the thought of dead bodies to display such a visage. Just what was happening?
    Her small frame suddenly took a step forward, her palm slamming into Conrad's chest.
    By all rights, nothing should have happened. Conrad stood an inch taller than even Leonel and spent everyday of his life training as all their athletes did. In addition, he hadn't been injured in the game like Leonel had. At the same time, the small girl was just a Junior dragged to this party by one of her seniors and was barely 5'4".
    Yet, it seemed the illogical was the theme of this day.
    With a dull grunt, Conrad was pushed back hard enough for him to fall to his back, a stunned expression on his face.
    "Youбн"
    A mixture of embarrassment and anger reddened Conrad's face. To make matters worse, he had slipped and fallen right beside the pool of vomit, causing him to inwardly retch.
    "Heyбн!"
    Leonel's head spun in another direction, only to see yet another student with a gaze as vacant as the small girl's.
    In a moment, one became two. Then two became three. In a flash, ten pairs of white irises shimmered under the blue light of the spatial rift, dully gazing toward them all. Among them, there was even one of his own teammates.
    Leonel's expression turned serious.
    "Aina, Yuri, Savahn. Come here."
    This time, the abrasive Savahn had not a single word to say. The nervousness in her expression was clear as she slowly entered Leonel's circle of protection along with Aina and Yuri.
    A spatial tear grew to their backs, their white pupil'd peers blocked their fronts, and an inexplicable feeling of uncertainty and fear pervaded their hearts.

 Chapter 7: Spatial Tear

    Though Leonel's heart was assaulted with a whirlwind of confusion, it didn't show to his face.
    'Ten of themбн Not overly dangerous but definitely uncontrollable variablesбн The Chef is most definitely the greatest hazardбн'
    Unfortunately, the Four-Star Chef was among these white pupil'd individuals. Though he had yet to move from behind his curved bar, Leonel didn't need much of an imagination to think of just how many sharp kitchen knives must be back there.
    A few of the Angel Wings helped Conrad up, the tense atmosphere steadily growing.
    The white pupil'd individuals didn't move, and neither did they. Leonel would have thought that they were observing them had it not been for the fact their eyes were too vacant. It didn't seem like any thoughts were going through their heads.
    But if that was the case, then they should be acting on instinct. So, just what was this instinct?
    'They don't want us to leave this room?'
    The steadily growing spatial rift to their back waned and growled.
    Leonel's eyes widened. He realized in an instant that this sound wasn't from the tear, but rather the groaning of the building as it was being slowly sucked inward.
    'Dammitбн'
    However, even as everyone began to panic, Leonel grew calmer. His rational mind told him that there was a logical progression to all of this, there was a design to it.
    First their electricity goes out, second came the spatial tear, then there came these odd mutations to their peers and acquaintances, and now they were being pushed toward this spatial tear.
    If the goal was to kill them, why wouldn't these white pupil'd individuals directly attack them? They even had the backing of the Four-Star Chef. However, they chose not to do this.
    Just when Leonel was going to resolve him to hop into the spatial tear, a shard of glass flew from the windowsill James had just hung from. It collided with the spatial tear, ripping into pieces with a chilling noise.
    No matter how steely Leonel considered himself, he couldn't help but shudder. Is that what would happen to his body if he entered?
    'Dammitбн' He thought to himself a second time in just as many seconds. 'бн We have to make it past.'
    Leonel knew that James was right about him, he was too soft hearted. He had actually almost made such a reckless decision because he would rather risk himself on a gamble than fight his classmates. But he realized now he couldn't do this, he had to steel his heart.
    'Focus on the known commodity.'
    Leonel's jaw set. "Let's go."
    Without another ounce of hesitation, Leonel took a strong step forward, heading toward the petite girl.
    Crossing by Conrad and his teammates, he appeared before the girl more than a head shorter than him. Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain, he quickly pulled his long black coat off.
    Holding onto its shoulders, he whipped its buckled ends toward the girl's head. He didn't know how intelligent these white pupil'd people were, but he emphasized his speed and cunning. At the very least, his first gamble paid off. The others weren't quick enough to react to his sudden movement.
    Savahn covered her lips in a gasp, wanting to call out to Leonel and stop him. But, it was already too late.
    The little girl's dull eyes didn't seem surprised at Leonel's action. Or, maybe it was just that she wouldn't be surprised about anything in her current state. Without much thought, she reached forward in a lightning quick motion to grab the ends of Leonel's coat before he could react.
    But it seemed Leonel had been expecting this. Following the curved path he flung his coat forward with, he wrapped around to the girls back. He used her own grip against her, pulling the coat across her back and around.
    In a flash, the frail girl had her arms tied down by Leonel's coat and his arms.
    "Let's go!"
    As Leonel spoke, the other white pupil'd individuals began to move. However, Leonel had already thought this would happen.
    Pulling the knot he tied with his coat around the girl tight, he pushed her forward into her own pool of vomit.
    As expected, she regained her balance quickly with inhuman reflexes, only to slip when her soles touched the pool. Without being able to recover again, she fumbled and fell amidst Conrad's group, slowing their forward momentum.
    Conrad's group had been the closest to the exit. It was no doubt that they would take advantage of Leonel's actions first. For men who had almost been complicit in his best friend's death, he wouldn't be soft on them.
    As for the white pupil'd mutants, Leonel could only push his guilt down. He subconsciously felt that it wasn't their fault, but if he made concessions for them, he would be putting the life of him and his friends in danger.
    By the time these things happened, the members of the Royal Blue, the party goers, and Aina plus her friends had made it to Leonel's side, pushing through to the exit.
    Leonel signaled Milan who still had James over his shoulder with his eyes. The big guy reacted immediately, kicking the couch James had been laying on over and creating another barrier.
    "Leonel!" Conrad's enraged roar tore through the commotion, his gaze reddening with rage.
    Unfortunately for him, Leonel had already turned away, causing Conrad's heart to go cold. He suddenly regretted his previous actions. However, what he regretted wasn't the fact he threatened James' life, but rather that he hadn't taken control of the white pupil'd girl before Leonel got to her. He had been the closest initially, why was he always lagging one step behind him?!
    Leonel didn't have time to worry about Conrad's thoughts. The white pupil'd individuals were just an afterthought. What really shook him to his core was the spatial tear. He hadn't felt that death was this close since the first time he sky-dived from his Paradise Island.
    Butбн Leonel had made a mistake. In all his calculations, he had forgotten one important fact: they were on the fourth floor.
    "Dammit, they're everywhere!"
    Zavier, a Three-Star Safety of the Royal Blues, shouted from the staircase. His words were like the whisper of the grim reaper to Leonel's ears.
    Leonel hadn't taken into account that if such odd occurrences were happening on his floor, how could they not be occurring on others?
    Rushing into the stairway and slamming the door shut behind him, Leonel looked forward with a grim expression. The problem was worse than he had first believed. On the stairway, three pairs of white pupils were waiting.
    The lights were far dimmer here due to a lack of windows and the fact the power was still out, so they almost looked like floating orbs in the night, sending a shiver down Leonel's spine.
    Milan stood to Leonel's right, his back against the door just like him. Before them the three girls were already half way down the flight of stairs while Zavier and a few others were ahead of them and steadily backing away from the the three mutants.
    Leonel bit his lip, almost drawing blood. It was one thing to put some bruises and broken bones on the line on the football field, but it was another thing entirely to have death looming over his head like this.
    He still didn't know if his father was alive. He still hadn't shed the stigma of his profession. He still hadn't heard Aina's answerбн
    Leonel's gaze shifted to her back. Even in the dim light, she had an alluring charm. Her figure held a steady maturity to it.
    Aina had always been like this. She was shy in the face of his naked adoration, but she was the only one who seemed capable of continuing to write her exams under his presence.
    The leaning of the building grew fiercer. By now, Leonel knew it was already too late.
    A banging on the door came from behind him. With each passing moment, it grew fiercer before it suddenly stopped entirely.
    Leonel sighed. Conrad and his group had probably been sucked in first due to the open window. There were no large windows in the stairway, nor were any of them broken open, but it was still only a matter of time.
    He faintly hoped that in their last moments, even if he couldn't see his father, that Aina might say the words that could put a smile on his face even now. But, her small frame seemed to have no intention of turning.
    'Maybe I was wrong. I guess she doesn't like meбн'
    These were Leonel's last thoughts before the building gave way, snapping off from its foundation and flying into the spatial tear.
    There was yet another thing Leonel was wrong about, though. The spatial rift didn't take everything. The moment those with white pupils touched its surface, they were safely rebounded away.
    The grotesque sounded of sheering metal, brick and foundation sounded through the air, in an odd way, it almost sounded like chewingбн As though the spatial tear was having a good meal as it smacked its lips.
    All around Earth, similar events occurred. Many shared the same thoughts of agony and despair Leonel had. Many more had suffered terrible acts of revenge, guilt and sometimes even both in just those spare few minutes.
    The world was changing in a completely unprecedented way. There were some who managed to escape the tears, but it was impossible to tell if their situations were any better. In a world filled with white eyed mutants, normal humans had suddenly become the minority.
    The odd mutations continued, even transcending the human race and affecting the other animal kingdoms.
    However, even as their population grew, they did nothing. They stood silently, their pale eyes gazing vacantly toward empty space. Even those who stood just a few steps from another of their kind didn't speak, as though they were all collectively waiting for something.
    The so-called government response never came. Ascension Empire's Paradise palace stood majestically, spanning hundreds of meters to the left and right, but it too was silent. Only the slight whipping of its high masted flag moving with the wind could be heard for several kilometers.
    If one wanted to speak of the death of a world, it seemed that such a description could be any better. However, the world hadn't ended. Not just yet, anyway.
    Leonel and his group lay unconscious on a bed of eroded limestone. Around them, half broken pillars stood, etched with ancient runes impossible to decipher.
    An odd energy swirled around them. At first glance, it seemed to be much more like fog than anything else. However, it behaved completely unlike fog. Instead, it moved and almost breathed like a living entity.
    Over half of this 'fog' surged toward a delicate sleeping beauty. Compared to the disheveled appearances of the others, she looked as though she was doing nothing more than taking a sweet nap. Her visage made many want to scramble to protect her, the light smile on her pink lips causing a twitch in the hearts of those lucky enough to see it.
    A fifth surged toward a young man with long blond hair and a high bridged nose. Even in his sleep, he scowled fiercely as though facing an enemy. The disdain was almost painted onto his lofty cheekbones.
    Another fifth descended toward a tall young man with bandages wrapped around his torso. He snored loudly, rubbing his stomach without a care in the world as he turned over.
    The remaining portions spread out evenly, seeping into the bodies of the remaining unconscious youths completely unbeknownst to them.
    The hours continued to tick by. And eventually, it became days. However, they all kept a comfortable smile on their faces as though it was a soft cloud and not hard rock they slept upon.
    Finally, on the fourth day, the first of them began to stir.

 Chapter 8: Awaken

    Leonel stirred awake. His eyes blinked for a moment before he sat up far quicker than he should have, something that he instantly regretted.
    However, the sharp pain he expected from his ribs never came, causing him to look down at himself in confusion.
    'My injuries are healedбн? Wait, where am I?'
    Leonel was bombarded with a sudden wave of sensory information. The limestone beneath his butt and hands, the odd wind that gently blew against his exposed skin, even the ancient smell in that hung in the air, almost reminiscent of a copy room with a slight mustiness to it.
    The feeling made Leonel keel over, vomiting out the contents of his stomach. It was just that his belly happened to be quite empty at the moment, so he could only dry heave.
    By the time his body finally stopped convulsing, Leonel was left with a bitter feeling of confusion. Everything seemed too loud, too bright, too textured, all at the same time.
    No matter how much Leonel willed it away, it didn't seem intent on disappearing. He sat there for hours, feeling sicker than he had in all his life.
    The world had suddenly become too detailed for him take in. It was as though he was staring at an optical illusion puzzle, one that if you gazed at long enough, it would appear to be moving. Yet, this wasn't an optical illusion, it had become his reality.
    Half a day later, Leonel felt his throat burning. He felt a thirst he had never felt before in his life, but there was simply no water here, there was nothing but ancient ruins and the unconscious bodies of his friends. He would go look for water if he could, but every time he tried to stand, his head would spin.
    Not only did the world give him more detail than he could handle, but his body did as well. He could almost feel thoughts forming in his mind, he could feel the electrical pulses going from his brain to his limbs, he could feel the powering of every cell as they contracted. Just simple movements felt worse than even observing the world around him.
    Out of desperation, Leonel slowly slung his backpack off of his shoulder. Luckily, when he had been forced to use his coat to bind that girl, he had taken his backpack off and hung it from one arm. If not for this, he didn't think he could manage to do even this simple task.
    Taking out a familiar bottle of green sludge, he brought it to his lips, drinking shakily. Unfortunately, he could only feel a wave of despair, remembering that he had finished the rest of it after Coach Owen reminded him to.
    Never in his life did he think he'd miss his dad's vomit brew.
    Parched, he still tilted the bottle as far back as he could, licking up the faint drops that touched his tongue. He didn't know if it was because of this sickness that had taken hold of him, or the stress of the past day, or maybe it was just pure frustration, but Leonel's chest welled up with rage, his eyes watering.
    'Dadбн I miss you.'
    Why was any of this happening? Why did the world suddenly collapse? Why was it that his friends wouldn't wake up no matter how hard he shook them?
    Leonel laughed self-deprecatingly. How pathetic of him. He didn't know how long he had been out for, but as for how long he had been awake, it was not even a full day, yet he was already breaking down like a fragile baby.
    At that moment, something fell from Leonel's tipped bottle and left a paper-cut on his nose, causing him to wince. That was nice to know, apparently his pain was amplified several times over too. A little micro cut and he felt worse than when his ribs had cracked.
    With slow movements, Leonel once again lowered his arm, delicately picking up what had fallen. It seemed like a rolled up piece of flexible fabric.
    'Waitбн Is this paper?'
    Leonel was stunned. Paper had been made obsolete a long time ago. In fact, it was all but illegal. Though paper itself wasn't banned, the use of trees and other plant life to manufacture products had been heavily restricted in the Nature Protection Act of 2046. How had his dad gotten his hands on something like this?
    In truth, Leonel wouldn't even recognize it had it not been for his robust education. If others knew he had this, both him and his dad would be in a lot of trouble.
    However, thinking about the state the world was likely in right now, Leonel couldn't be bothered to care. His wrist watch also no longer had any ability to monitor him.
    Using delicate movements, he unfurled the roll of paper, wiping the bits of green sludge that stuck to it away.
    'By the time you read this, I'll already be gone.'
    Leonel's heart stopped beating.
    "Dadбн"
    'Haha! You probably thought I meant I died right? Be honest, you started crying, right?'
    Leonel's mouth hung open for a moment before he started gritting his teeth.
    "Damned old man! Don't let me catch youбн"
    For a moment, Leonel forgot about his odd sickness. He scolded his father relentlessly, but the smile of relief that hung from his lips was clear.
    'Don't worry, there's no one on Earth who can threaten me. Those folks haven't dared to bother me for a long time already.'
    Leonel raised an eyebrow, but he could only keep reading.
    'There's not much I can tell you here. I was tempted to make like a father in anime and disappear without a word, but I thought you were too much of a crybaby to survive through that.'
    Leonel opened his mouth to refute, but remembering the mental breakdown he almost just had, he swallowed his words. In the end, he just laughed, his poor mood dissipating completely.
    His dad had always been a big anime fan, they often watched all the oldies together. Still, only he would make such a joke during a time as serious as this.
    'So, I will be quick.
    'First, don't bother trying to wake up your friends. You've likely woken up long before them, and they won't wake up for at least several months. Focus on yourself for now and use your nepotism to your advantage.'
    Leonel's expression flickered.
    'Don't wonder too much about what I mean by that. Just know that your mother isn't dead, nor has she abandoned you. I also haven't abandoned you. We both love you very much.
    'Your body is different from others in this dimension, and the scar across your right hip isn't there by accident either.'
    A frown set in on Leonel's brow. He had a faint scar near where his liver would be. But, he hadn't thought about it in a long time. In fact, most people would miss it even if he had his shirt off. He didn't know why his father would mention it now.
    But the idea that his mother was alive took over his thoughts. He felt an agitation he hadn't felt in a very long time.
    He had faint memories of his mother. His father had never explicitly told him that she had died, so he always assumed that it was to spare his feelings about her death. Or, maybe to spare his own feelings because she had left them.
    Hearing the truth, Leonel felt a weight he hadn't even known he was holding onto fall from his shoulders.
    'Second, your awakened ability is related to your senses and mind. I don't know the details since I had to suppress it in your youth, but it should be fully bloomed now. It can be overwhelming, but simply meditate until your body reaches equilibrium.'
    Leonel blinked. Meditating wasn't complicated, it was just about emptying your mind. The military taught a version that allowed you to sleep and rest your mind while remaining alert.
    Leonel's father had learned it while he was a Four-Star General and taught it to him because he was curious. He hadn't used it in years, though.
    Without waiting, Leonel tried it, emptying his mind. Slowly, the overwhelming feeling dissipated, replaced by a sharpness that stunned Leonel. Feeling much better, he turned his attention back toward his father's note.
    He was shocked by the fact it felt he was reading the words through a magnifying glass. Just what was this 'awakened' ability?
    'Third, I've left you two things in the basement. One is the truth behind what is happening here and the second is an heirloom of our Morales Clan. Unfortunately, until the Metamorphosis begins, taking these things out to hand to you directly is too dangerous. So just take it as this old man giving you a little quest.
    'Stay safe, son. The trial you'll face now isn't like anything you've faced before. I've taught you some things, but I definitely haven't taught you everything. You'll have an advantage being the first to take it, however with advantages will always come disadvantages.
    'Love, dad.'
    Leonel sat silently for a long while. He lost count of how many times he re-read his father's words. Unbeknownst to him, he had actually completely memorized it the first time, a fact he didn't realize until maybe the sixth or seventh read through.
    His memory had always been goodбн but it definitely wasn't this good.
    Finally, Leonel felt he had wasted enough time. His father said it was an advantage for him to wake up first and that it had somehow happened because his constitution was different from others. At least that's what he gathered from his words. Since that was the case, sitting here for any longer would be throwing away his good fortune.
    Leonel took in his surroundings.
    Like everyone else, he was on a crumbled limestone platform that seemed a cross between pale yellow and brown. The pillars that surrounded the platform were severely eroded, most of them not even standing to their formerly full height.
    In the four cardinal directions, there were four flights of stairs downward. It seemed that they were atop a temple of some sort. But, what was truly shocking was the fact that beyond this temple, there was nothing but formless space, an endless black without mass or substance.
    As though sensing Leonel's intentions, four portals not much different from the spatial tear that brought him here appeared.
    None of them seemed to separate themselves from the other. Leonel couldn't tell if this was because they all led to the same place regardless, or if this matter was purposely left to chance.
    'The ancient runes are definitely Mayan script. But why would they appear here?'
    Gritting his teeth, Leonel put his bag down, switching out his jeans and turtle neck for his gym equipment. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he felt that sweats and compression clothing would be far more helpful to him now.
    His gray sweats scrunched at his ankles, his black long-sleeve compression shirt clinging tightly to his toned torso. He felt more free now, he just wished he had had the chance to wash them before he had to wear them again. This smell was terrible.
    After hesitating for a moment, he also took out the three-piece silver rod his bicycle was formed out of, screwing them together back into their combined two meter length.
    Leonel wasn't exactly a martial arts expert, but he felt for someone as inexperienced as him, having a longer ranged weapon would keep him relatively safer. Whether or not that was true, he didn't know. But, he did know that the frame of this bike was strong enough to withstand his jumping down several meters without giving way. Considering he weighed over 200 pounds, it was definitely a strong material with some heft to it.
    Facing a randomly chosen portal, Leonel steeled his heart. However, after a moment, he hesitated again.
    Turning to Aina's sleeping form, he gently placed his bag under her head and covered her frail arms with his turtleneck sweater. He couldn't help but smile when her nose scrunched up with disgust, likely catching a whiff of his sport's wear.
    He had never been this close to her before. In fact, this was also the first time he had ever touched her. He tried his best not to take advantage of her despite the softness of her supple skin and long black hair.
    Her faint lines of makeup showed signs of fading after so many days. But, Leonel realized that Aina had actually used some tricks to downplay her beauty. He couldn't see it all, but it was enough to grip his heart firmly. He even felt an impulse to wipe off the rest, but he held himself back.
    'I hope that you'll show me your true self one day.' He thought to himself silently.
    Without another moment of hesitation, he stood and walked to a portal.
    'I may not come out from this alive, but at least you'll have something to remember me by.'
    Leonel's thoughts sounded morbid, but his heart was more relaxed than it had been in a long time. Knowing that his father was alive, and that even his mother was too, he felt as light as a feather.
    Until he saw them again, until he heard Aina's response, he had no intention of dying.
    With that, he took a leap into the whirling pool of blue, vanishing.
    The temple he had left behind fell completely silent, the portals shrinking and finally disappearing. This silence would reign for many more months.

 Chapter 9: Mayan Temple (1)

    Leonel felt a slight dizziness that soon disappeared. He could vaguely feel that his quick recovery was anything but natural, however he didn't have much evidence to back this.
    He found himself in a long corridor, dimly lit by flickering torches that hung from the walls. Large irregularly shaped stones formed the bricks that built the surroundings, giving the place the feel of an ancient tomb.
    Just as Leonel was about to take a step forward, something completely unexpected happened.
    [Subject detected. Leonel Morales, 17]
    [Credit: First to enter Sub-Dimensional Zone. Accomplishment recorded]
    Leonel stared blankly at the wrist watch on his arm.
    [Earth is currently in a state of metamorphosis, ascending from the Third Dimension to the Fourth. Its present state is that of an In Between Dimension. To complete the evolution, certain requirements must be met. The Ascension Empire will rely on its citizens more than it ever has before, Godspeed]
    To someone else, maybe these words would have had a calming effect. But to Leonel, his chest tightened as he tried to suppress the desire to simmer with rage.
    Leonel didn't know what was going on, but what he did know was that whatever 'metamorphosis' was happening didn't account for this oh so 'helpful' aid on his wrist. This meant that the Ascension Empire knew that this change was coming and did nothing to prepare for it.
    No. That wasn't accurate. They had prepared. It was just that they felt the lives of the billions who fell from the skies weren't worthy of protecting. The Empire was capable of creating technology that worked in this 'In Between Dimension', yet they hadn't made it widespread.
    Eventually, Leonel's anger turned to laughter, his grip tightening around his metal rod to the point his knuckles turned an unhealthy shade of white.
    [Subject: Leonel Morales]
    [Ability detected: Sensory Type]
    [Ability grade: D]
    [Warning, margin of error for subject Leonel Morales is outside reasonable bounds. Only 5% of DNA recognizable. Abnormality recorded. It is advised that subject not trust his life to this data]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Mayan Tomb. Spanish invasion]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: F]
    [Clear requirements: Enter Chief Priest's Sacrificial Room. Save Chief Priest]
    [Side Quest: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [Reward: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    Leonel reined in his rage.
    His initial instinct was to smash the watch on his wrist, however he knew this was foolish. His deductions told him that it wasn't normal for one who entered a Sub-Dimensional Zone to gain so much information without doing much of anything.
    'If this is a process of a world evolving from the Third to Fourth Dimension, I have a hard time believing that this is the first time such a thing has ever happened. Something about this is too systematic, too planned. It doesn't have the erratic nature one would expect from organic evolution.'
    Just how many instances of trial, error and failure were there in the evolution of a species? Too many to count. But something like being teleported into a new sub-dimension and having quests to clear sounded too phony. Leonel would die before believing this wasn't created by someone. And, he also had a feeling that said someone wouldn't expect its new batch of evolutionaries to have technology capable of doing such a thing.
    So, Leonel concluded three things.
    First, the things that appeared in his mind from his wrist watch were just guesses. They likely wouldn't be 100% accurate. But there was a good chance they would be mostly correct.
    Second, if his watch was already struggling with what it deemed an 'F' grade Sub-Dimensional Zone, then it likely wouldn't be useful for very long. Maybe by the time it got to the 'D' grade, it would be completely unable to tell Leonel much of anything.
    And third, since his watch was so limited, the likelihood of these changes being caused by the Ascension Empire were incredibly low. Butбн That didn't stop Leonel from keeping in mind the possibility that the Empire he had grown up in had saved the best 'systems' for those they deemed the most worthy. In such a caseбн
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    'Good, then I'll let you stay for now. Once you stop being useful, I won't hesitate to destroy you. Monitoring my movements and giving me nothing in return? I'm not so cheap.'
    In the past, destroying this watch was as difficult as ascending to the top of the world. However, Leonel had a feeling that with these changesбн The Ascension Empire's control was just that much weaker. Maybe they themselves knew this as well, or why else would they allow so many to dieбн? Maybe they wanted a more manageable populationбн
    The sound of footsteps suddenly shook Leonel out of his thoughts. What was he doing? He was in the middle of a hostile environment with his life on the line. It was then Leonel remembered something even more horrid.
    The Spanish had guns!
    'Dammit!'
    Without hesitation, Leonel sprinted forward, his mind oddly clear. Every time he passed by a torch, he unceremoniously put out its fire.
    'First important point, temples are always built with many false turns and dead end pathways. Second important point, guns from this time period can only fire once as long as I don't give them time to reload. Third important point, my ability is a sensory type, I'll do better in the dark than they can.'
    As though greeting Leonel's thoughts with open arms, the echoing footsteps and the sounds of armor clanging bounced off the walls and into Leonel's ears.
    It was a magical feeling. Leonel could almost draw a perfect map of the trajectory the sounds followed, etching a path from his position to that of the Spanish with a line of three turns. It was as though he had gained a sonar ability, but it was much more complex than this because the sound wasn't coming from him at all.
    Compared to the heavy armor the Spanish wore, Leonel's sneakers were almost completely silent.
    'They just split apart, good. One group is headed toward me, there are three of them.'
    Leonel's heart beat wildly. He hadn't felt this way since the very first time he stepped onto a football field. The way his sweaty hands slid across his silver rod, the butterflies the flew through his stomach, how his heart seemed to want to burst from his ribcageбн
    Leonel slammed his back against a wall at the edge of a corner, holding his rod tightly to his body with both hands.
    The path he was on was the horizontal line of a 'T', while the Spaniards were walking toward him along the vertical line. He had managed to put out all the torches through the horizontal path, but had only made it halfway through the vertical portion before he was forced to run and hide here.
    Luckily, he was correct about his sensory abilities. Making his way through the dark wasn't an issue at all.
    Words Leonel couldn't understand entered his ears, causing him to inwardly curse. He knew how to speak three languages. English, French and Latin. He had a choice to learn Spanish, but because Aina chose Latin, he hadn't. Plus, he thought French was the language of love, so he had to learn it, right?
    Who knew his hormones would come back to bite him like this?
    Throwing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Leonel focused with all his might, steadying his breathing.
    He heard the sound of metal scraping on metal, but it was much different from the sounds of armor he had heard before. Following this, the distinct sound of a sword being unsheathed followed.
    'That first sound should have been one of them pulling out a torch from the wallбн'
    Leonel's jaw clenched. A faint part of him had hoped they'd be too stupid to think of this solution. But he knew that was asking for too much. Still, this put him in a better position. It wasn't possible to aim a musket if you only had one hand, let alone reload it. That was one less gunmen he had to worry about.
    'Come onбн Come onбн Turn rightбн Turn rightбн'
    And of course they turned left.
    However, Leonel was ready. As expected, the one holding the torch was in the lead. Without hesitation, Leonel swung down his rod fiercely, aiming for the hand that held the torch.
    A swarm of words Leonel didn't understand entered his ears, but he didn't need to be intelligent to know the torch wielding Spaniard was alerting the other two.
    In order to properly wield their guns, the Spanish wore a armor that combined aesthetics of the medieval era and leather guards. Of course, these leather guards were on their hands and wrists. With Leonel's rod weighing just a bit over 30 pounds, did the soldier's wrist even stand a chance?
    'The barbarians are scuttling around like rats! AGH!'
    The torch fell to the ground. Leonel kicked it away as far as he could without hesitation, collapsing the T shaped pathways into darkness once more.
    Though Leonel's actions were smooth and without pause, waves were inwardly flooding his heart. He was certain of it, he was several times stronger than he had been in the past. But, his ability wasn't related to the strength of his body, so what was going on?
    Leonel didn't have more time to think. The sound of sharply whistling wind rang out in his senses like a blaring horn.
    Without hesitation, he dove backward. The feeling of a blade just barely tearing his compression shirt and into his skin played in his head in slow motion.
    Sparks flew as the sword hit against hard limestone.
    Another cry of pain sounded. They were normal humans, after all. If a mortal man swung a weapon full force at a stonewall, what do you think would happen?
    The sword clanged, dropping to the floor. It wouldn't be a surprise if the Spaniard who had attacked broke his wrist just like his companion. But what choice had he had? With them descending into darkness, his only chance was to swing where he had seen Leonel last.
    'Two injured, one in full health. Can't let them retreat to the light.'
    With a roar, Leonel didn't retreat at all. Raising his rod far above his head, he swung down as hard as he could, bashing it against the head of the Spaniard who had held the torch originally.
    Every muscle of Leonel's body flexed to its utmost limit. He squeezed so hard that the line of blood that ran across his chest spurt out like a waterfall.
    The sickening feeling of the metal helm bending under his rod made Leonel shudder. For a moment, he froze completely, his hands trembling.
    He hadn't thought about it before. Butбн Were these people real?
    Leonel wanted to retch, but he simply didn't have the luxury. As one Spaniard crumpled to the ground, the shifting sound of leather sliding across metal caught Leonel's attention.
    'That's the sound of a musket's strap being pulled across chest armor!'
    Leonel's mind had completely memorized the appearance of the Spaniard's in the split second the torch had lit them up. He remember instantly that they had all had their rifles strapped to their backs. It was the only thing he could associate this sound with.
    'I can't sweep my rod from left to right, I'll end up hitting the wall firstбн'
    Leonel immediately dropped to the ground.
    He choked up his grip on his silver rod, sweeping it upward through a pair of legs and turning it like a corkscrew. In a moment, the rod had swept across the back of one knee and the front of another.
    As the Spaniard that broke their wrist against the wall tumbled forward and to the ground, the last Spaniard turned to the sound of the noise, blasting their single round.
    Unfortunately for him, both his partner and Leonel were on the ground, causing him to miss completely. However, the instant flash of light had allowed him to lock onto Leonel one more time.
    His leg swung forward, hitting the kneeling Leonel across the chin.
    Leonel's mind spun. It didn't need to be said. The feeling of a metal covered shoe kicking you anywhere wasn't very nice, but this was especially so for the face.
    The sound of a sword being unsheathed snapped Leonel out of his stupor. Maybe it was due to the fear of death being too great, but Leonel felt it was something else. When he was transported here, hadn't he recovered from the dizziness incredibly quickly as well?
    Leonel's mind worked quickly. His rod was still trapped between the legs of the fallen Spaniard, he didn't have time to pull it out. Plus, pulling it out would bring him closer to the rampaging Spaniard.
    Using the momentum of the kick, he allowed himself to fall backward, landing near the sword of the Spaniard who had broken his wrist against the wall. The vivid image of it clanging against the ground had already been mapped in Leonel's mind
    Leonel accidentally grabbed the blade, but he could only suck it up.
    Flipping it in his hand to the handle, he ran it across the neck of the of the Spaniard he had tripped with his rod. The latter was confused about how he died even as he breathed his last.
    In that moment, the last Spaniard was swinging wildly. He knew that Leonel had to be in front of him. If he kept going, he was sure that he'd hit him.
    However, his swinging arm suddenly stopped.
    Completely shocked, he looked down in the dark, visualizing the sword he knew must have just gone through his heart. Till the end, he had no idea how Leonel had done it through his wild swings. How could he know that every time he swung, he was giving Leonel more and more information about his positionбн?
    Leonel collapsed to the ground, looking up at the darkness of the ceiling above him.
    He slammed the back of his head repeatedly against the sturdy stone walls as though trying to forget what he had just done.
    His hands fiercely trembled. Even in the dark, he could feel the sticky liquid substance coating his palms. But, there was nothing he could use to wash it off.

 Chapter 10: Mayan Temple (2)

    Leonel's breathing was erratic. For a long time, he felt a shortness of breath that didn't match with the abundance of air around him, nor his extraordinary physique. He could run a mile with a sub 5 minute time, yet this single exchange left him in shambles.
    Of course, he knew it wasn't because he was that exhausted, but rather because of his emotional state. Even if this was a 'game', it was too real. No matter how much he willed it, the dead bodies around him weren't disappearing.
    In fact, Leonel knew the blood on his hands was actually his own. He had cut his palm on the sword he picked up from the ground the wrong way. But it still made him feel dirty.
    'Waterбн'
    Leonel knew he had to pull himself together. Who knew how far away the group they split from had traveled. They had gone too far for Leonel to hear their footsteps anymore, but the screams of these Spaniards had obviously been much louder than footsteps.
    Steeling himself, Leonel could only push his dark thoughts to the back of his mind. Maybe he was lucky that he was dealing with such a moral dilemma in such a situation, at least he didn't have the luxury to sit and sulk.
    After making up his mind, he jogged over to the torch he had kicked away during the fight and brought it over.
    Rummaging through the bodies, Leonel found three flat circular shaped containers of water. Without hesitation, he drained two completely before strapping the third to his waist.
    The wound on his hand and chest were pretty bad, but none of them seemed to carry bandages with them. Luckily, what they did have were flasks of alcohol. Leonel didn't hesitate to grit his teeth and pour it over his wounds.
    Afterward, he left his chest alone. But, for his hand, he snatched the leather guards the Spaniards used for himself. He also slipped on a chest plate and a helm. Of course, he chose the undamaged ones.
    He took both muskets from the two Spaniards who had broken their wrists. He had no idea how to reload them. But, he did know how to aim and shoot. Safeties shouldn't have been invented in this era, he didn't think.
    Either way, he would get two shots out of them before discarding them.
    Finally, he took the two best quality swords with him, changing his silver rod back into a bike. Blades of this era likely lost their edge and chipped really easily. Having more than one, especially for attacking armored warriors, was definitely the smartest move.
    Leonel took a seat on his silver framed bike, closing his eyes and steadying himself. Soon, the sound of rushing footsteps reached him once more. However, it seemed the reason they had taken so long to get this close was because they were lost.
    After making a mental note to himself to memorize every path he crossed, Leonel's mind flashed with a plan. Not waiting another moment, he got to work. Not even a minute later, he pedaled his bike hard, reaching a dead end quickly.
    At that moment, the next group of three appeared. They too had brought a torch with them, noticing the darkened tunnel.
    'What the hell is on the floor? Who pissed themselves?'
    'Those barbarian bastards!'
    It seemed the Spaniards had finally noticed the corpses of their companions.
    'Over there!'
    One of the Spaniards pointed toward Leonel who was sitting on his bike in the distance. But the reason he had noticed Leonel in the dark at all was precisely because Leonel was holding the same torch he had kicked away in the previous battle.
    Unfortunately, by the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late.
    A line of fire raced across the stone floors, swallowing the line of alcohol Leonel had drawn and reaching the three Spaniards and the three corpses in a flash.
    There was no time to react. A harsh explosion sounded, burying the screams.
    Using the flames as a light, Leonel brought a musket forward to aim, his hands trembling. However, he knew he had no choice but to shoot. There was no better opportunity to test the range and accuracy of these weapons. The flames had engulfed all three of them, but it likely wouldn't kill them in a short time.
    Steadying his sights as best he could, Leonel fired.
    The recoil wasn't as bad as he predicted. In fact, he had overcompensated for it far too much. Still, his aim was terrible. There was little he could do about his trembling arms.
    Leonel could actually see the round bullet fly through the air. It was moving at speeds far beyond the limits of humans, but he could inexplicably track it. He didn't even need for it to land to know he had missed.
    But that was when the unexpected happened. In their agitated pain, one of the Spaniards fell right into the bullet's path, allowing it to travel directly through his throat.
    Even as he crumpled to the ground, Leonel bit his lips so hard he drew blood.
    'Come on, Leonel. You're better than this. Maybe this is why that Gene Assessment slotted you in to spend the rest of your life throwing balls. That sort of safe profession is just right for someone as pathetic as you.'
    Even as Leonel was berating himself, he still raised his second musket.
    This time he learned his lesson. His brain did calculations he wasn't even consciously aware of.
    When aiming, you had to not only account for where your target was, but also where said target would be.
    With his second shot, the bullet stayed true, flying right through the eye of a second flame covered Spaniard.
    Throwing the rifles aside, Leonel gripped the handle of one of his swords. He pedaled down the path lit with flames, not worried that his tires would melt. His bike was far more resilient than that.
    Like a horsemen holding a lance from his steed, he sped toward the final Spaniard with a speed nearing 25 mph.
    However, even as he did so, he knew he wasn't ready to experience that feeling again. He couldn't stand the disgust he felt as a life dissipated under his own hand.
    So, in an act of madness, he threw his sword forward with all his strength.
    It perfectly arched in the air, spinning several times before its sharp edge entered the mouth of the screaming soldier. Like that, the hall fell into silence once more. Except this time, Leonel didn't have the luxury of darkness. He could only dully skid his bike to a stop, looking toward the pile of six corpses blankly.
    Leonel couldn't help but replay everything that had happened in his mind. The moment he remembered the fact guns of this era needed to be loaded with gun powder during every reload, the rest was simple. Everything from the alcohol flask to his use of the torch was perfectly calculated.
    But once again, his actions had taken away more lives. It was fine to plan something like this out in your mind, but actually seeing the results painted a picture of something other than success for Leonel.
    His throw in the end was something that really surprised him. He had subconsciously felt that he could count the number of turns his sword would take in the air and exactly where it would land before it even left his hand.
    A part of this probably had to do with his years of playing quarterback, but the much larger reason was definitely as a result of his new awakened abilities. He now knew he had great talent for throwing weapons.
    If he recalled correctly, the Mayans were well known for their throwing spears. If he could find their weaponry, it would be of great help to him.
    Leonel knew he had to slowly adapt to reaping the lives of others. If he didn't get over his apprehension and fear, he was doomed to die one day. The world outside was no longer the world he had come to know, and the Ascension Empire wouldn't protect him.
    After yet another deep breath, Leonel took his musket straps off, tossing them to the side. They were no longer useful since he had no idea how to reload them. He would rather not have gun powder blow his arm off.
    Withstanding the scorching heat, he pulled his sword from the Spaniard's throat. Then, he pushed his bike backward to gain some distance before building up momentum to leap over the six bodies.
    Only taking a single glance backward, Leonel didn't look again, pedaling down a new corridor to blow out a new line of flaming torches.
    The cycle continued. Leonel never attacked a group of more than three, always waiting for them to split down different corridors before he made his move.
    Eventually, he found a group of Spaniards who carried small hand axes with them which inevitably replaced his throwing swords. Though he could be accurate with either, the hand axes were more convenient. They were lighter and were better weighted, easing the pressure on Leonel's throwing arm.
    Aside from this, there also came a point where Leonel carried no less than five or six rifles on his back. His look would have been quite comical had it not been for his pale face. He had hoped that the longer he spent in this Sub-Dimensional Zone, the more accustomed he would become. But the reality was that his guilt only grew.
    Finally, on the third day, carrying bloodshot eyes, Leonel descended a flight of stairs far too narrow for his broad shoulders and found the weaponry he was looking for. Unfortunately, it was flooded with Spaniards. Leonel counted at least 12. To make matters worse, there was no way he could use his normal darkness tactic here.
    However, there was good news. The narrow stairway he was on was purposely made this way to act as a hidden path. It seemed the Spaniards had yet to notice that the meter tall stone that covered its exit was a false wall.
    From here, Leonel was able to peek through the gaps to get a read on the numbers he was facing.
    After a moment, he gingerly turned, careful not to make any noise as he made his way back up. Though his sneakers were still silent, he had too many things on him now. It was lucky that the Spaniards were laughing it up and having a great time, likely comparing how many 'barbarians' they had killed, or someone would have already noticed the odd scraping sounds.
    Leonel reached the top of the stairs, re-entering the floor he believed he had cleared. There was nothing but darkness and the stench of blood in this place.
    Taking out a water jug, he emptied it before tossing it aside. Then, he carefully placed the stone that hid the top of the stairs back into place. He wanted to rest after not sleeping for an entire three days, but doing so in that narrow corridor was foolish. If anyone found it, he was finished.
    So, Leonel back away, rounding a few corners to sit in the dark corner of a dead end. His nerves were still tight, but at some point, he grew too tired to avoid sleep any longer. Luckily, he managed to enter the meditative sleep state his father taught him before his consciousness slipped away.
    The way he looked now, even if a Spaniard somehow managed to stumble upon him, they'd likely believe he was another of their fallen comrades.
    Blood coated Leonel's face and armor, numerous burn marks, bruises and cuts running along what small part of his skin were exposed. His sweat pants were in tatters, suffering several cuts through to his thighs and calves due to his lack of experience and recklessnessбн
    Leonel had no idea that this Sub-Dimensional Zone wasn't meant to be cleared alone. There was a reason four portals had appeared...
    He could only cling onto his last bit of sanity as he slept in the darkness.

 Chapter 11: Mayan Temple (3)

    Leonel's eyes snapped open. He didn't know how long he had slept for, it was impossible to tell. There were no windows in this temple. He had only roughly guessed that he had been here for three days.
    Using his silver rod to stand, he stood to loosen his stiffening limbs.
    Leonel's jaw set. His mind had regained its clarity. He hadn't even noticed that his senses had severely dulled the more tired he became. In fact, he felt that he was even sharper than when he first entered this Sub-Dimensional Zone now.
    Without a word, he began to get ready.
    He took his six rifles, strapping through across his left shoulder than the remaining three across his right.
    Two days ago, he had almost lost his life because he trusted that these muskets were always loaded. He ended up aiming and firing one without a bullet, a mistake he could thank for the deep gash in his thigh.
    Since then, he learned to tell whether the rifle was loaded or not first. His method seemed simple, but maybe he was the only one on Earth who could do it. There was a very slight weight difference, maybe fractions of a gram, between a loaded and unloaded gun. If a gun was too light, he didn't keep it.
    Once the six muskets laid organized on his back, he accounted for the eight hand axes around his waist and finally clutched his silver rod.
    With a deep breath, he slowly made his way back toward the hidden path. It seemed that during his sleep, others entered this floor once more through the main stairway. Leonel could only clear them out first in order to avoid any untoward variables.
    Though his heart was still heavy, he managed to control his trembling hands this time. Without having to account for his wavering aim, his efficiency reached a new level, his throwing ability especially.
    Half a day later, Leonel felt that he had emptied the floor once more. With how many Spaniards he had taken it, it was definitely only a matter of time before their leaders realized that something was wrong.
    As expected, when Leonel went to peek on the weaponry, the 12 number he had counted before had increased to 18.
    The weaponry was the largest space Leonel had come across to now. It was a rounded room with a single exit. All around, weapons hung from the walls. But, compared to the Spaniards, they were incredibly crude.
    The Spaniards turned their noses up at these weapons. Not even a single one had been touched. But, who could blame them. It was obvious that Spanish weapon technology was more than a single level higher.
    They had set up camp in this space for only two reasons. One was to stop the Mayans from regrouping and recouping strength. And second was to set up camp.
    It seemed that this Sub-Dimensional Zone had deviated from history. There was much more of a stalemate than there should be. An internal battle was taking place within the temple between the two parties.
    What Leonel didn't know was that this was only due to his actions. He hadn't wanted to count the number of Spaniards he had killed, but it was over a hundred. There were only two thousand in total. He had single handedly taken down a good percentage of their army.
    As a result, the Mayans had been able to put up some resistance. And, due to losing so many soldiers, the Spaniards had taken a step back, trying to re-evaluate the strength of their enemy.
    Leonel took a deep breath. When his eyes opened once more, his eyes had completely stilled, glowing in the dark like a predator stalking his prey.
    First, he took apart his silver rod. He didn't split it into all three pieces. Instead, he only took a single third of it. Using the small ledge on either side of the narrow staircase, he balanced both ends across it.
    It was nearly a perfect fit, just barely over two feet apart. The remaining part of the rod was just over four feet in length, but it was enough. If Leonel was lucky, he wouldn't have to use it at all.
    Ducking beneath the bar, Leonel nodded to himself. Then, he began to pour several flasks of alcohol through the small cracks in the false wall, drenching it as quickly as he could.
    'Hey, do you smell that? Smells like some good booze, who's holding out?'
    'Drunkard. What booze?'
    'Wait look over there!'
    The highest ranking officer of the Spaniards waved his hand, forcing them to fall silent. He wasn't dressed much differently, but his armor was definitely shinier and he strapped a pike across his back and a long sword strapped to his waist.
    Suddenly, the stone was kicked over. It fell with a loud boom, kicking up dust that obscured the dark pathway.
    'Enemy attack! Form up!'
    A strong WHOOSH followed a flame erupting from the falling stone and the edges it had just been hidden between.
    Leonel steadied his breathing, kneeling behind the flames, he aimed his first rifle. He had seen everything he needed in that split second. And still now, he could see faint pictures of the changing situation through the flickering flames.
    He knew he didn't have long. The alcohol would be burned away quickly and he didn't have any other sources of fuel with him. But he was already ready.
    Through the short one meter high doorway, he aimed toward the leader and pulled the trigger.
    BANG!
    The leading Spaniard who had just been giving out commands froze, his last words being lost in a spurt of blood that came from his eye.
    Leonel didn't pause. The moment he pulled the trigger, he retreated, leaping to up to the ledge above him and to the silver rod piece he laid across them.
    He squatted down, balancing on the balls of his feet as he crouched across the silver rod.
    As expected, a rain of bullets sounded and instant later, ricocheting off of the steps below Leonel.
    'Oneбн twoбн fiveбн sevenбн tenбн elevenбн sixteenбн seventeen!'
    "No way that barbarian bastard survived that!"
    The moment the Leonel locked onto the 17th fired gun, Leonel jumped from his perch, charging through the wall of already waning fire. He would have put his rod back together, but he simply didn't have the time.
    He swung the second rifle from his back aiming it with a single arm.
    BANG!
    He tossed the musket aside even as a Spaniard fell. Without hesitation he pulled out the third rifle.
    BANG!
    With every breath and step, Leonel pulled out another rifle and another Spaniard fell. Five steps, five breaths, five rifles, five deaths.
    Leonel dove across the room the moment he dropped his final musket, making it to the side of the leader he had killed. With inhuman strength, he ripped the rifled from his corpse, his lip twitching when he realized it was too light. How could the leader be the only one without a loaded rifle?
    However, the other Spaniards didn't know this. Leonel couldn't allow himself to be surrounded, so he aimed the gun toward the closest soldier, causing him to retreat with fear coloring the eyes hidden behind his helm.
    Without hesitation, Leonel tossed the musket aside without bothering to fire, reaching with his now free hand into his belt and pulling out a hand ax.
    His back drew tight and his arm cocked back, his hand drawing a silver light across the air as he rocketed the ax forward.
    The very same Spaniard who had retreated had his face destroyed in the blink of an eye, falling to the ground lifeless.
    Leonel worked quickly. His quick movements hid the dread that loomed over his heart with every life he took.
    In a flash, there were only four left.
    Leonel picked up the leader's long sword from his corpse, holding it in one hand and his silver rod in the other.
    With quick steps he retreated to the secret passageway.
    The fear Leonel's marksmanship put into the Spaniard's was profound. Several of them thought of running, but the punishment for retreat was too severe. They could only hold out and hope the noise would capture the attention of the others.
    Most of their numbers were working on breaking through the Shrine Room. Only a few of them were tasked with guarding and resting here.
    However, when they saw that Leonel had run out of things to throw, they could only steel themselves and charge.
    Leonel's heart beat quickly. He had become used to fighting many opponents at once, but that was when they couldn't see him. This was completely different. Not only could they see him, but there was one more than he dared to fight alone even in the dark.
    'Calm downбн'
    Over these several days, Leonel had realized something important. These Spaniards were just normal humans, they didn't have an 'awakened' ability. This was where Leonel's advantage lied.
    Leonel didn't wait for them to close in. He had been planning to retreat to the narrow staircase and take them on one at a time, but this wasn't smart. It might give them time to reload their muskets. He had to stay confident and not give them time to think.
    In a flash, he ran up to the closest Spaniard. Yelling as though to force all the fear out from his chest, he swung down the long sword with everything he had.
    If a swordsman saw him, they'd probably look away so as not to cringe. Not only was Leonel wielding a two handed sword with just one, but his wide stance and telegraphed movements were terrible even for a beginner.
    However, this wasn't an anime. No matter how good a mortal swordsman was, there was a limit to how well they could respond to wild movements, especially when their attacker was so much stronger than them.
    A scream of agony escaped the Spaniard. His arms hadn't been able to block Leonel's strike.
    The long sword cut into his shoulder armor and into his collarbone before stopping. Such an injury left a normal human completely crippled. His death was only a matter of time.
    Leonel ignored the aching in his wrist, pulling the short sword from the fallen Spaniard, he threw it with all his might across the room, nailing the closest Spaniard in the chin. The blade split his lower lip and jaw in half, leaving him to fall over бк dead.
    The whistle of a swinging sword came from Leonel's left, but he was prepared. Raising his silver rod, he braced himself with all of his strength. Remembering what had just happened to the Spaniard he cut down, he knew the danger of failing to block properly.
    A sharp clang came. The Spaniard was shocked when he saw that his sword actually chipped against Leonel's seemingly simple rod.
    How could the alloys of the 2100's not be far better than those from this era?
    The rebound was violent, but Leonel used his larger frame and power to his advantage, recovering quicker and slashing across with his long sword. Another life fell beneath his blade.
    This time he had learned his lesson. Cutting through metal was too difficult. This time, he only targeted the exposed vitals, using his great control to emphasize accuracy over power.
    Picking up another short sword, Leonel turned his hips quickly and reaped the last Spaniard.
    His chest heaved, hot air billowing into and out of him. A scorching feeling filled his throat and lungs, but he didn't have the luxury of resting.
    He sprinted with all his might toward the rounded opening of the weaponry. It was easily two and a half meters tall with a width that was just as large. Its door was a stone circle so massive it should take at least ten men to move. But, Leonel had no choice but to do it on his own.
    The door was designed to be a size larger than the doorway. As long as he rolled it over from the inside, it would be impossible to open from the outside without destroying the stone first.
    The sounds of shouts and footsteps filled Leonel's ears. The time he had left was too little, but he dug deep, pulling every ounce of strength he had left out.
    "ARRGGHH!"
    Leonel roared with all his might. His senses could pick up on his muscles tearing beneath the pressure, but he had no choice.
    He pressed hard against the rolling door, finally feeling it move just the slightest bit.
    The footsteps got closer and closer before Leonel could distinctly hear the shift from walking to sprinting.
    'The barbarians regained their weaponry! Stop them from closing the door!'
    Under the strain, blood flowed from Leonel's nose. His teeth clenched tightly against each other to the point his gums began to bleed.
    A final roar escaped his lips, snapping the door into its closed position just as a Spaniard attempted to dive through. The ghastly sight of a man being cut in half was the last sight Leonel saw before he blacked out.

 Chapter 12: Mayan Temple (4)

    Leonel awoke with his body on fire, the slight whiff of something catching his attention. The smell made his stomach growl furiously, his mouth almost dripping with water despite how dry it felt.
    Leonel didn't know how his friends were being sustained, but he did know that he hadn't felt the need for water until he woke up. And, now that it had been over four days since the last time he ate, he finally couldn't suppress his hunger anymore.
    It was only then that Leonel realized that the Spaniards had been roasting a full pig when he initially entered. He must have not smelt anything before because it had just started to cook.
    Leonel struggled to pull himself up, peeling all the heavy armor he wore from his body. He hadn't felt this light in a very long time.
    Luckily, since there was no one to tend to the fire, the embers had died off while Leonel slept, sparing the pig from being overcooked.
    It was inevitable that it was still burnt in some places, especially since no one had been there to turn it, but Leonel could hardly bother to care. He ripped off a leg, devouring the meat madly.
    Initially, he had believed that a leg or two would be enough. But before he realized what was happening, he had already cleaned away half of the pig. Leonel had always been a big eater, but it was always within reason. Something like eating half of a 20 kilogram pig was far beyond his means.
    "I want you to find that damned entrance! There's no way that barbarian entered from the front, there must be a hidden entrance! Look at how many of our people those savages have killed!"
    Words Leonel couldn't understand drifted from the hidden entrance. It became obvious quickly that he didn't have much time. All those who saw him come out of the hidden staircase were already dead. But, it was only a matter of time before they started looking for false walls.
    Because Leonel had knocked down the false wall on this side without replacing it, it was much easier to hear things than it had been in the past.
    Moving quickly, Leonel replaced his armor with that of the dead leader's. He was going to pour some more alcohol on his wounds first, but he was shocked to find that many of them had faded. In fact, the aches in his body from his torn muscles had become quite dull as well.
    'бн Food. It must be food.'
    Leonel bit his lip. Where else would he get food so easily? There was no point in carrying this pig with him because it would go bad in at most a few more days. Plus, considering the pace at which he ate it, it wouldn't last that long either.
    'The only option is to continue to steal food or to leave this templeбн'
    Leonel couldn't come up with the perfect choice now. He had to hurry.
    'I came here forбн there it is, the atlatl.'
    Atlatl's were essentially sling shots for throwing spears. They were a wooden attachment one could slot a spear or 'long dart' into to gain more leverage. Then, using the same throwing motion one was used to, it was possible to throw more than double the distance and with much more speed and force.
    To think such a thing was invented over 20 000 years ago, even before the era of the Mayans.
    Leonel abandoned his hand axes, using the belt he had stolen from a Spaniard to slip in a few atlatl's. Considering they were reusable, it was unnecessary to have more than one. However, Leonel had learned to plan for the unexpected.
    He kept four atlatls with him on one hip and strapped a short sword on the other. He would have taken the leader's long sword, but he had his reasons for not.
    Along the walls, countless barrels of throwing spears fitted for the atlatls. Well, to call them spears was a bit inappropriate. They looked like sturdy arrows one might fire from an large-scaled crossbow.
    However, Leonel obviously couldn't carry them all. He realized after carrying around his 30 lb silver rod for so long that his body's limits were far higher than they had been previously. However, it wasn't to an exaggerated extent.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel chose a square backpack shaped of wood. It was about a meter and a half in length and by Leonel's estimations could hold about 50 atlatls darts or spears.
    He filled it quickly. His initial instinct was to try and overfill it, but he knew this would be foolish. If he failed to pull out a spear at a critical time, it would be too late to regret it.
    'Let's test it.'
    Leonel took out one of his atlatls, fitting an extra spear to it, he held its handle like a javelin.
    The spear sat atop the atlatls. As for the atlatls itself, it attached to the end of the spear, allowing it to sit upon it. The body of the atlatls, which Leonel held, curved back around like an 'S' drawn much too tall and lanky.
    Flexing his arm, Leonel bowed his body and launched the spear. But the results left him stunned silent.
    The metal tip of the spear stuck into the stone wall, vibrating back and forth wildly.
    'It covered a 20 meter distance in 0.4 seconds. That's an average velocity of 50 meters per second or 180 kilometers an hour. It was even still accelerating when it hit the wall, so it still had more left. The effective range is easily anything within 200 metersбн'
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. First he was surprised at his sharp calculations, but he was even more surprised at just how much the atlatls improved his throwing ability. Such a simple technology, yet so effective.
    Snapping out of his stupor, Leonel ripped the meter and a half long dart from the wall and hid it within the barrels of spears. In case the Spaniards made it to this room again, he didn't want them to be able to figure out his limits.
    After that, he dug deep and lifted the stone that covered the hidden entrance back up and into its place. This way they wouldn't be able to tell which path he came from. Of course, he only did this after retrieving the last third of his silver rod.
    That was right, Leonel had already found another hidden entrance in this very room. In fact, he counted a total of five. It could only be said that the Spanish were too negligent. Either that, or his senses were simply too sharp.
    Following this, Leonel left through the hidden pathway with the least activity on the other side, slipping away to unleash hell on the Spaniards.
    In the following weeks, he mapped every floor of the temple with the exception of the lowest which he believed must have housed the Sacrificial Room.
    As time passed, Leonel's senses grew sharper. He could hear footsteps from further away, and from those footsteps he could tell everything from the height of the soldier in question to their weight. At the same time, his control over his body reached great heights. He no longer threw will his full power every time, only using just enough to maintain his stamina and slay his opponent.
    About two days after he left the weaponry, he did manage to find a path outside. Once he had mapped out the hidden pathways he could use to reach it, he exited frequently, hunting for his own meals before returning.
    He realized that he simply had no chance fighting the Spaniards from the outside. Without the ability to take advantage of guerrilla tactics, it was a futile effort.
    Unfortunately, as time passed, the Spaniards grew more and more wary, making it difficult for Leonel to find small groups to attack. As a result, he had no choice but to begin assaults on groups of four, five, eventually even groups of ten were the smallest he could find.
    However, at the same time, his skill grew more pronounced. His throwing ability was already at a near unconscious level, but it was his combat ability that took the greatest leap forward. He learned to keep his movements reserved, yet firm. Simple, yet potent.
    He had never been formally taught in any martial arts, but as his mind spun and his deductive abilities deepened with his growing senses, he felt as though it didn't matter.
    With every encounter, a new possibility was stored in his memory. With this additional data point, he would adjust his fighting style ever so slightly to account for it. Months later, Leonel no longer had to rely on his throwing prowess to gain victory against large groups. Even when battling a group of ten Spaniards, the combination of his inhuman senses and battle experience was enough to take them on.
    By this point, Leonel was certain that his wrist watch's assessment of him bordered on fraudulent. He wasn't entirely sure how the grading system worked, but if others had higher grade abilities than what he was already able to accomplish, it would be far too exaggerated.
    Leonel reached a point where with a single glance, he was able to categorize his opponent by giving them an athleticism score. He broke down his categories into Strength, Speed, Agility, Coordination and Stamina.
    Strength was simple, just how much power a person could generate. However, with how many different ways strength could be applied, it became incredibly complex. Leonel chose to weigh this category by how much power a person could generate by swinging, throwing or using their best attack. In this case, it would be how hard a Spaniard could swing their sword or stab their pike.
    Speed was something Leonel categorized as straight line running velocity.
    Agility encompassed both acceleration, speed in changing direction, and how quickly a person could use their weapon бк how fast a sword swung, etc.
    Coordination was mostly hand-eye coordination. How precise a person was in using their strength, speed and agility. How accurate were the swings of their weapons. So on, and so forth.
    Finally, stamina was the most straight forward. How long could you maintain your optimal fighting strength?
    Leonel ranked all of these from a scale of 0 to 1, where 0 was having this ability completely crippled and 1 represented the pinnacle of the human race. This pinnacle was something Leonel used the limits of his own body to extrapolate and estimate.
    By Leonel's estimates, an Olympic athlete of Earth would have a 0.5 in the category they needed the most for their event.
    As for the Spaniards, they averaged about 0.4 in every category. And Leonelбн
    [Strength: 0.67; Speed: 0.51; Agility: 0.55; Coordination: 0.82; Stamina: 0.63]
    After a few more weeks passed, Leonel felt it was necessary to add a sixth category: Reactions. Unexpectedly, it ended up being his highest 'stat', sitting at 0.91. This category not only encompassed reaction speed, but also factored in the instinctual movements battle experience gave you. Of course, most of the reason Leonel's Reaction was so high wasn't due to his experience, but because of his inhuman senses.
    Leonel found that when he broke down his opponents systematically with his self-created method, taking them down became even easier. He shamelessly targeted their weaknesses without remorse.
    For those with great speed and agility, he overwhelmed them with strength. For those with great strength, he overwhelmed them with speed and agility. For those with great stamina, he left them to last, allowing them to tire themselves out first before he dealt the finishing blow.
    Before Leonel realized it, he had grown numb to the slaughter. After breaking down their lives to mere numbers floating in his mind, it suddenly became easier to do what needed to be done. At the very least, it became easier to use the excuse that the Spanish committed terrible atrocities in this era to bury his guilt.
    Emboldened by his growing strength, Leonel began to assault the Spanish from within the temple and in the camps outside under the cover of dark.
    Their numbers continued to fall quickly. Leonel had no idea how much time he had spent in this Sub-Dimensional Zone, but it was enough for the Spaniards to start calling him 'El Diablo'.
    He might not have known much if any Spanish, but he definitely knew what that meant. It was a name that let his actions over the last months truly set in.
    His numbness turned to cold.
    On yet another seemingly monotonous day, a drastic change finally occurred. With the number of Spaniards drastically lowered, the Mayans holed up within the Sacrificial Room burst out, leading a mighty counter attack of their own.
    Leonel watched the battle play out from one of the few small windows he had found in the temple. He felt a wave of relief overcome him. Maybe he would be able to head home soonбн
    But, that was when another question struck him. Did he have a home to return to now?
    Sighing, Leonel made his way through the network of hidden tunnels. A few had been found by the Spaniards in this time, but many of them were still intact.
    Slowly but surely, he finally entered the only floor he hadn't. Victory seemed close at hand, but Leonel knew that the Chief Priest was currently in the greatest danger now. He had led enough football comebacks to know that people were the most vulnerable when they believed victory was at hand. So, Leonel chose to watch silently behind a false wall.
    He had found this tunnel long ago but had never exited it. There was no point. He couldn't communicate with the Mayans since he couldn't speak their language, so it was better if he helped from the shadows.
    But, who knew that the first things Leonel would see was an old man with wrinkled brown skin, standing over the body of a youthful beauty who seemed to be trying her best not to cry.
    Her nude form could just barely be seen by Leonel, as could the knife the Chief Priest held high in the air as he chanted something he couldn't understand.
    Leonel was so stunned that his face drained of all color. That girl was about to die, and the reason she would was in part his fault. Had he notбн
    No, that didn't make sense. Wouldn't her fate at the hands of the Spaniards be even worse? Just forget it, they're not real people anyway. Just finish the quest.
    Protect the Chief Priestбн Just protect the Chief Priestбн
    Before Leonel knew what he was doing, he had kicked down the false wall in a maddened rage. Guilt he had suppressed in his heart for months came spilling over in a bloody killing intent built from the deaths of hundreds of Spaniards.
    His left arm reached into the container of long darts, his right gripping his atlatls as he hooked in his first attack.
    "Die!"
    This was the first time in Leonel's life he truly wanted to kill. Even with Conrad, his intent hadn't truly been there.
    But the result was far beyond his expectations. The chanting Priest turned toward him with a stunned expression, but reacted quickly, a barrier of something Leonel couldn't see appearing to block the piercing spear.
    Leonel stood frozen.
    [Chief Priest]
    [Strength: 0.12; Speed: 0.13; Agility: 0.15; Coordination: 0.42; Stamina: 0.33; Reactions: 0.73]
    Not only was the Priest's reaction the highest Leonel had ever seen aside from his own, it was the highest score Leonel had ever given, period. On top of thisбн Leonel suddenly felt that he was missing a seventh categoryбн
    Just what was that wall of energy?

 Chapter 13: Priest (1)

    The Chief Priest wore a tall head guard, beautifully decorated in all sorts of bright feathers and fabrics. His chest was bare except for the cape that hung across his collarbone with finely polished jewels and precious metals. His lower body was covered by a skirt which first wrapped around him like a loin cloth before extending into two long pieces between his legs that stopped just below his knees.
    He had no weapons aside from the crude sacrificial dagger that seemed formed of obsidian. However, he still felt like the most dangerous opponent he had ever come across.
    The Priest began to speak words Leonel had no ability to understand. Still, the latter's nerves remained tight, whatever senses he had honed to this point being pushed to their upper limits. The strain even caused blood vessels in his eyes to burst, coloring his whites in red.
    With little more hesitation, Leonel knocked another atlatls dart. This time he used more power, pulling back with as much as 50% of his strength.
    Out of habit, he hadn't gone all out with the first strike because the physical stats of the Priest were so low. But now he knew this wasn't a normal enemy.
    Seeing that his attempts at communication failed, the Priest's brows furrowed as he raised his dagger once more. But this time, he aimed it toward Leonel, chanting with a calm rhythm.
    The nude young lady strapped to the table watched on blankly, her gaze, once filled with fear, turning dull. She seemed to believe that no matter how this all ended, her fate was already sealed.
    Leonel's spear shattered against an invisible barrier once more, but this time Leonel could faintly feel it condensing. It wasn't a feeling as sharp as his touch, sight or hearing, but it was there.
    'A sixth sense?'
    Suddenly, Leonel dropped down at his fastest speed. A moment later, a loud boom shook the Sacrificial Room's wall, leaving a deep impact.
    A cold sweat matted Leonel's back as he hopped up, sprinting to the side as he knocked another dart.
    He dove forward, sliding his arm across the air sideways and causing another dart to whistle across the air with a sharp sound.
    'Dammit, I thought I would only have to fight normal humans in this place. Could it be that ancient humans found these awakened abilities too? Or maybe is it that these Sub-Dimensional Zones aren't as historically accurate as I originally believed?'
    [Anomaly detectedбн Recalculatingбн]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Mayan Tomb. Spanish Invasion]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: C]
    [Clear requirements: Enter Chief Priest's Sacrificial Room (Complete). Save Chief Priest]
    [Side Quest: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [Side Quest: Defeat 100 Spaniards (Complete) бн Reward pending]
    [бн Recalculatingбн]
    [Side Quest: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [Side Quest: Defeat 1000 Spaniards (Complete) бн Reward pending]
    [бн Recalculatingбн]
    [Hidden Quest: Defeat the Chief Priest]
    [бн Recalculatingбн]
    [Reward Upgraded]
    [Reward: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [It is recommended that subject, Leonel Morales, complete this quest with a minimum of three other individuals. Subject's D-grade ability is too low]
    For a moment, Leonel almost forgot his rage toward the Priest. He wanted nothing more than to throw this broken watch across the walls till it broke. How was this considered a system? How could it be anything other than a jumbled mess?
    Instead of telling him that he should enter in a team of 4, it waited until it was already too late to tell him. Instead of telling him what the side quests were, it waited until he had already completed them to tell him. And, it couldn't even get the grade of this Sub-Dimensional Zone right. What absolute bullshit.
    'Forget it! Focus.'
    Leonel's father's note told him that his father had to suppress his awakening during his youth. What if other people besides him had experienced this as well? The only problem with this theory was that his father had also said his constitution was different than othersбн But who was to say there weren't others like him?
    Leonel's dart was blocked once more, but his sharp senses caught the fact the Priest was forced to slide back, albeit a minuscule amount.
    With a flip, Leonel took advantage of his own centrifugal force, landing on his feet and not losing a single dart carried on his back.
    'I only have 47 more darts. If I can't see any results by the time I have 25, I need to take the risk and get closer.'
    Leonel maintained his strength perfectly, never using more than 50%. He realized that this Priest was entirely reliant on his odd energy. The old man getting on in years didn't make any large movements. Aside from shifting his feet every so often to face Leonel and raising his arms, he did nothing else.
    'It can't be endless, I don't believe that he can do this forever.'
    Suddenly, Leonel felt a strong sense of danger from his back.
    Immediately he knew he had made a mistake. He dodged the Priest's last strike, but he hadn't heard a loud boom to his back like he had heard every time previously. He hadn't accounted for the possibility that the Priest could control the trajectory of his attacks!
    Leonel managed to leap out of the way just in time, but his pack of long darts didn't survive.
    The sound of splintering wood followed the ugly expression Leonel wore. Just like that, the 40 some odd darts he had left were shattered to pieces, leaving the Priest grinning an ugly yellow toothed smile.
    Leonel sprung upward a moment later, running for his life.
    Without having to divert his attention toward Leonel's darts, the Priest completely unleashed his strength.
    Leonel dodged like a mad man sprinting around the room as though he was on a racetrack and not in a temple. His mind spun trying to think of solutions.
    'First important point, every strike takes 2 seconds to charge and fire. Second important point, it only seems possible to control one strike at once. Controlled strikes take 5 seconds to charge but can be prepared as lesser strikes are being fired. However, a normal energy strike cannot be formed while the controlled strike is being maneuvered.
    'Third important point, these strikes carry a strength of 0.82. I should adjust his strength before I figure out how to rank this seventh category. The speed of these energy strikes is at 0.89. The agility of the controlled strikes are only at 0.46.
    'If I want to keep surviving, I need to dodge before he sends out his strike or I'm finished. Luckily I've overestimated the Priest's coordination. If his control over his energy strikes are factored in, it's dropped by 0.03 to 0.39.'
    Leonel continued to run, taking out three silver rods he had strapped to his left hip and twisting them together, discarding his atlatl completely.
    In a smooth motion, he shrugged off what remained of the box of darts, leaving about 20 pounds behind.
    Gripping his silver rod, Leonel abruptly changed directions. The moment he ducked the most recent controlled energy strike, he leaped into the air toward the Chief Priest, his silver rod morphing into a bicycle before he landed on the ground.
    The Priest was stunned for a moment. Where could he had ever seen such technology? Luckily for Leonel, his silver rod worked with folding technology and not electrical technology, or it would have lost its morphing ability long ago.
    The Sacrificial Room was quite large, being about 200 meters in diameter. The distance between Leonel and the Priest was currently just over a hundred meters. Even if he ran full tilt, it would still take him over nine seconds to make it. However, with some momentum built up and his bike, he could cut it to eight.
    'One secondбн two!'
    Leonel tilted his bike to the side so far that his knee scrapped against the ground. Sparks flew as the metal fitting he placed over it skid.
    With an abnormal feat of strength, Leonel slammed his palm into the ground, pushing himself and his bike back upright. He had fought with his life on the line for too long to feel the same shuddering nervousness. There had been nothing but him and his own thoughts for months. There was no way he was going to lose to the first person he consciously chose to kill.
    'The next strike will very likely target my bike itselfбн two!'
    Leonel's thighs flexed, his bike hopping just over meter in the air. His instincts from countless battles kicked in. All things considered, only having to account for just one opponent at a time was marginally easier despite the godlike abilities of this Priest.
    'Here it comes.'
    The controlled strike finished charging, shooting toward Leonel like a bullet.
    Vaguely formed in Leonel's head, he could see the difference almost as though they were vibrant colors of their own. His eyes were slowly gaining the ability to see the shifting energy through the air, the pale fog circulating around the Priest.
    Maybe if this was really a game and not real life, Leonel would get a notification achievement about awakening this level of sight before even gaining mastery over the energy.
    The energy sped toward him. But this time, it was no longer a vague feeling Leonel got. He could see it cutting through the air from his right, curving for his head while slicing down in an arching path.
    If Leonel jumped, it would destroy his bike. If he ducked it would take off his head.
    The Priest likely realized that Leonel was previously only able to get a vague sense of where his energy was coming from due to the fact Leonel had taken more drastic actions than what was necessary.
    Not only did he start taking control of the energy strike before it met Leonel this time, but he also actively dissipated its energy, trying to confuse Leonel about its exact location.
    Unfortunately, the Priest could have never imagined that Leonel's senses would evolve once more at this very moment. Even more unfortunately, Leonel was well aware how low the agility of the controlled energy strike was.
    Leonel suddenly skidded his bike to a grinding halt, the tail of his back wheel spinning to the front and whipping around.
    His maneuver was perfectly timed. The controlled strike sped by his right side across his face and out into the distance toward the left.
    The Priest's eyes widened as he quickly tried to control the energy strike to turn back, but Leonel's bike had already finished its spin and furiously sped forward. Though in a straight line the energy strike had a speed of 0.89 and Leonel's speed was only 0.51, there were two important factors Leonel had already considered.
    First, the time it took for the energy strike to slow, turn around, then gain its top speed once more was long due to its low agility. And, secondбн Leonel's speed on his bike obviously just wasn't a mere 0.51 anymore.
    The Priest was too late to realize this. Leonel was already 2 seconds away and he still hadn't abandoned his controlled energy strike. He didn't have enough time to prepare another strike.
    In a panic, the Priest grabbed the naked girl on the table and threw her toward Leonel who had just unsheathed a sword.
    Shocked, Leonel squeezed the hand-breaks of his bike as hard as he could catching the girl in the air.
    'Dammit!'
    Analyzing the situation, Leonel knew his time sensitive plan was ruined. He also realized something else. The Priest's strength was too low to throw a girl who must have weighed at least 110 pounds across 10 meters to him. That meant the Priest had another method of amplifying the strength of his body directly.
    In that instant, the Priest's strength stat rose toбн 0.97!
    'The Priest still doesn't know I attacked him to protect this girl. If he knows this, he'll use it against me.'
    Leonel recovered from his apprehension quickly, battle instincts he had honed for months kicking in as he apologetically dropped the girl to the ground without hesitation. It might have been cruel, but a drop of a less than a meter was better than whatever attack she would have to suffer from the Priest otherwise.
    His plan worked just as intended. The Priest completely ignored the girl, believing that Leonel wouldn't care about her life one way or another. However, by now, he had already prepared another strike.
    Leonel clicked the button on his bike, turning it back into a pole and rolling out of the way.
    It was already too late to build up momentum with his bike again, he had to cross the last few meters himself.

 Chapter 14: Priest (2)

    Leonel's senses were like sparks running through his body. He could feel his Reactions increase again, reaching 0.93.
    With another dodge, he entered the two meter radius of the Priest, swinging downward with all his might.
    'His controlled strikes are interrupted when he has to form a shieldбн But if the shield is made, it can sustain itself for a period while he creates the nextбн!'
    A sharp reverberating strength traveled through Leonel's body as his silver rod violently crashed against the Priest's barrier. It was painful, but his body was resistant. The glow in his eyes only grew fiercer when he saw the barrier give way a bit.
    The Priest's next shot was at point blank range, but Leonel's reactions were too quick. The former's arm had only barely twitched when Leonel shifted his body, dodging the next strike.
    At such a close distance, the controlled shots had become meaningless. With their poor agility, if Leonel timed a dodge well enough, the Priest could end up hurting himself.
    'He can only shoot these strikes of energy from the hand wielding his dagger. But is that true? Or is it superstition? When he threw the girl over, he clearly used a hand without the dagger in itбн'
    The Priest's arm suddenly shot forward. Maybe believing that his shield would be down soon, he preemptively struck, his strength soaring past his base stats once again.
    But Leonel was ready. With the Priest's poor coordination, catching Leonel off guard was too tall a mountain to climb. At the same time, however, the Priest was more clever than Leonel gave him credit for.
    The instant his arm punched toward Leonel, another strike of energy was sent forth. Except this time, there was no two second wait like Leonel was expecting.
    Caught completely off guard, Leonel's eyes widened in shock. In those split seconds, he managed to tell that the strike was shooting forward at a speed of 0.94 and it was completely impossible for him to dodge.
    'That daggerбн it can charge and store attacks tooбн Shit.'
    Leonel managed to shift his shoulder out of the way of the Priest's punch, but the flash of energy barreled into his left hip, treating Leonel's armor like scrap metal and fracturing his hip bone before its strength dissipated.
    A cold breath rushed through Leonel's teeth as he spun like a top. He had never felt such excruciating pain in his lifetime. He was certain that the him of just a few months ago would blackout in an instant.
    'бн If he has another oneбн'
    Leonel's heart trembled. But luckily, even with his vision growing foggy, he could sense the Priest gathering energy once more. Whether it was because his dagger's ability had a timer, or because he didn't feel it was necessary to use it again, or maybe because he couldn't, it didn't matter.
    With a wince, Leonel collapsed to the ground, but he had already pulled out another atlatl.
    All this time, the Priest had completely forgotten about his ability to throw. How could he not, Leonel made a big show of throwing his atlatl away as though it was useless to him. Those action made the Priest completely miss the fact that Leonel had three more to his right hip. And just now, he just so happened to have landed by one of the darts the Priest blocked when he first entered this place.
    As for whether it was by coincidence or notбн If someone asked his best friend Jamesбн He would emphatically choose not.
    Leonel took control of his senses, forcefully sealing the pain in his hip from traveling to his brain.
    Rolling over, he plucked the damaged dart from the ground and fitted it into his atlatl.
    By the time the Priest noticed that something was wrong, it was already too late. He was in the middle of conjuring another energy strike and he would have to cancel it in order to form a shield. But that singular second was all Leonel needed.
    With a roar that expelled every drop of energy he had left, Leonel balanced himself on his only good hip and butt, angling his torso up as he finally threw his first full force spear toward the Priest.
    The speed was blinding. It was as though a line of brown had been drawn from Leonel's arm to the Priest's neck. The splintered wood of the dart lodged into the latter's throat, causing a fountain of blood to rain down as the Priest collapsed, his dagger falling along with him.
    Seeing this, the last bit of will that held Leonel together collapsed. He fell back, a familiar pain returning to his left hip that almost made his eyes roll back.
    He knew he couldn't stay. The Mayans had gone out to fight, but there was no telling when they'd be back. He needed to move.
    'Has the quest ended? Send me out of here.'
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Mayan Tomb. Spanish Invasion]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: C]
    [Clear requirements: Enter Chief Priest's Sacrificial Room (Complete). Save Chief Priest (Failed)]
    'Oh for fuck's sake. It can't be that they won't teleport me out because I failed, right?'
    If he had the strength, he would definitely smash this watch now regardless of the consequences.
    Breathing heavily, Leonel rolled to his right again. He found his silver rod to his side and gripped it. Using it as a crutch, he slowly pulled himself up, relying on his one good leg.
    He slowly made his way to the dead Priest, pulling the fallen dagger to his side and wasting what must have been at least a good ten minutes picking it up. He didn't know how it worked, or if he could even use it, but he knew it held some power in the eyes of the Mayans without a doubt. Maybe if they came rushing here, he could scare them away with it.
    Finally, Leonel hobbled to the still naked girl who sat dazed on the ground. Now that the fight was over, his teenage hormones seemed to want to kick in. She was truly a beauty with delicate brown skin, though it was now covered in bruises and scrapes. She should have been around 20 years old, so though she was young, she still held a maturity to her that too easily swayed boys as young as Leonel.
    However, Leonel snapped out of it, trying his best to avert his eyes from her most treasured places though she didn't seem to care anymore.
    "Are you alright?" Leonel asked.
    The moment he did, he started kicking himself. She couldn't understand a word he was saying, what the hell was wrong with him? If Aina saw him babbling like a fool here, she'd never talk to him again.
    The young woman seemed to shake out of her daze, looking up at Leonel from her seated position as though shocked he was before her. Still, what shocked her even more was his kind gaze. She hadn't seen such a thing in a long while. Even her own parents had only looked toward her with sadness and grief after they learned she was the chosen virgin for the Chief Priest's sacrifice.
    Though Leonel's face was mostly obscured by his metal helmet, it was still the best she had seen in a long time.
    She reentered her daze for another long while as she recalled what happened. Looking toward the Priest's dead body, her body suddenly started to tremble.
    Her breath quickened, her breasts undulating beneath the far too fast beating of her heart.
    Leonel snapped out of his embarrassment and bent down with a worried expression.
    "It's alright, you'll be fine now."
    Leonel knew she couldn't understand him. But he hoped that a soothing voice would do something.
    Howeverбн What he didn't expect was for his heart to stop beating completely when her gaze met his own next.
    It was an inhuman gaze. A reddish, devilish stare that looked like a madwoman intent on seeing the world burn.
    She shrieked, lunging at Leonel's neck with both hands. No matter how quick Leonel's reflexes, with almost one half of his body being completely useless, and with how close the two were, there was absolutely nothing he could do.
    A sharp pain shook Leonel's body as he fell to his back. The breath was knocked out of him as he gasped in shock. But he noticed a second later that he couldn't breathe. His throat was completely sealed by this seemingly frail girl.
    She was almost like a rabid dog, snarling and screaming as she squeezed with all her might. It was as though the only wish she had in this world was for Leonel to die.
    Leonel was in shock. Hadn't he just saved her? What was she doing? Even if she didn't thank him, she shouldn't be trying to kill him, right?
    Leonel's eyes reddened both due to a lack of oxygen and a slowly building anger. He didn't have to step out and save her life. In fact, his quest didn't ask him to anyway.
    Because of her, months of toil and pain were completely wasted, yet she was trying to kill him? How dare she?!
    His silver rod and the dagger still gripped in either arm, all Leonel had to do was drive the dagger into her ribcage. Just like that, she would be dead and he could breathe again.
    His hand raised, his emotions bubbling over, but that was when his gaze met hers again.
    He could see them. The tears falling from her eyes, the sheer desperation. He could even faintly see the glint of his knife in the corner of her eye, something that made him certain she saw it. All she had to do was drive her knee into his shattered hip and he would probably lose himself to pain, unable to do much of anything.
    Yet she did nothing. It was as though she was hoping he would just end her life.
    Leonel felt his vision blackening, his dagger still raised in the air. His hand trembledбн He knew that her delicate skin wouldn't be able to last even a split moment against the sharp edge of the blade, yet he couldn't bring himself to do it.
    His hand fell back to the ground, his body finally succumbing to his injuries and lack of oxygen. As his consciousness faded, he could only see a sea of black.
    'Maybe this is just what I deserveбн'
    [Side Quest: Defeat 1000 Spaniards (Complete) бн Reward pending]
    In his last moments, this was what he thought of.
    'Defeat'. What a nice way to put it. In reality, he had slaughtered them all.
    Were they fake? Leonel could no longer fool himself into believing this. The emotions that colored that girl's eyesбн They were too real. He could almost peer into her soul and see through her secrets, her insecuritiesбн How could they be fake?
    'Oh, today's my 18th birthdayбн' Leonel thought. 'бн I guess I'm an adult now, right? You don't have to feel bad about my death then, dadбн you officially finished raising meбн I'm no longerбн your responsibilityбн'
    Leonel no longer had the strength to form anymore thoughts. So, he slipped away.
    The naked girl sat over his torso in a daze, looking from Leonel's handsome face and to the dagger he hadn't used and back again. Now that his helm had been knocked off in his fall backward, she could see him clearly. She was stunned to find that he was even younger than she was.
    The tears that fell from her cheeks grew into a torrent, her savage shrieks turning to maddening sobs until she collapsed, unconscious.
    It was then that a white light enveloped Leonel and his body disappeared.
    [Quest cleared. Subject Leonel Morales being sent to бк]
    The wrist watch's mechanical voice cut off. Clearly, wherever Leonel was headed, it had no ability to exist.

 Chapter 15: Rewards (1)

    Leonel was beginning to see a new pattern in his life that he wasn't very fond of.
    Battle to the point of death. Fall unconscious. And finally, wake up without knowing where the hell you were.
    Once again, Leonel found himself in a similar situation. Except this time, it was even weirder than appearing atop a Mayan temple, if you could believe it.
    He sat on the ground, or what he perceived was the ground, in a blank white space. If it wasn't for some kind of gravity telling him which way was down, he would have a hard time distinguishing just which direction was which.
    To make matters weirder, it was hard to tell if the ceiling was a centimeter from his head, or if it was miles away. Was there even a ceiling? He wasn't sure.
    However, maybe it was due to his ability, but Leonel found that he adapted quite quickly. Soon, that feeling of disorientation faded and he began to slowly stand with the help of his silver rod.
    'Hold onбн'
    Just when Leonel was feeling that the process was too easy, he realized that his hip was no longer broken. In fact, he felt better than he ever had in his entire life. The only discomfort he felt in his hip was due to his deformed armor pressing into it.
    Without much of a choice, Leonel took it off. He wasn't sure where he was, and equally unsure if he still needed to be alert. But, this armor was no longer any good to him in this state.
    'Waitбн Why am I alive? Unlessбн I'm not?'
    This sort of white space, wasn't it just like every stereotype of heaven he had ever read about? Maybe he really was already dead.
    Leonel sighed. After unbuckling his armor, he set it aside. He really did smell quite terrible, but after so many months, it had stopped bothering him as much. His sweat pants and compression shirts hadn't lasted, so he was currently wearing so odd leather pants he snatched from a dead soldier. His chest was fitted with chain mail, but other than that, it was bare.
    To sum it up, he was a mess.
    'My scars seem to be gone tooбн'
    The number Leonel had accumulated were definitely not few. His body had become a canvas of bullet wounds and blade scars, but they had vanished.
    "Oh? It's quite rare for someone to regain their bearing so quickly in this place."
    The sudden voice snapped Leonel out of his own thoughts. His tension still running high, his neck practically broke off from his torso turning toward the sound, his silver rod and dagger being gripped tightly.
    "Whoa there. It wouldn't be the first time someone attacked their Guardian, but I'd prefer not to be added to that list, please and thanks."
    A handsome man that seemed carved of precious stone had appeared a few meters from Leonel. He was more perfect than any human should have been. Leonel had a hard time believing that he was anything other than an ascended being. He somehow managed to wear a gold plated armor without looking absolutely ridiculous to a man of the modern era like Leonel.
    "Guardian?"
    "Mm, yes." The man said. "It's my job to hand you the rewards you've earned in your Sub-Dimensional Zone. In return, I receive a bit of Karma."
    "Karma?"
    The man waved his hand. "Guiding a baby isn't part of my job description."
    With that, the man unfurled a golden scroll. Maybe it was due to whatever it is he read, but he froze for a very long time.
    'He seemed to be speaking English, but his lip movements were nothing like English. Something is translating?' Leonel thought to himself.
    "First to clear a Sub-Dimensional Zone in your world, huh? Not badбн Oh, that's unfortunate. It seems that someone skipped ahead and took the World Spirit for themselves, or else you'd have a right to a fourth of it. Shame, your world has Eighth Dimension potential, its World Spirit should have great talentбн Not bad, a Third Dimensional world that can create rudimentary Sub-Dimensional Zone analysis technology definitely has a bright future ahead of it.
    "Just who couldбн Oh?" The man's brows raised as though he saw something amusing. "Is Morales your maternal or paternal name?"
    "бн Paternal."
    "I seeбн I seeбн"
    "Excuse me, sir. Are you saying that my reward should have been this World Spirit but someone else took it?"
    "You could say so. But it's less about the World Spirit being taken away and more about it choosing its master. You shouldn't feel that it's unfair, it can only be said that this person is more gifted than you are. Or ratherбн That's not definitive. After all, this World Spirit was taken even before you were born.
    "Also, being the first only nets you a reward of a chance to gain the World Spirit's recognition and the equivalent of a fourth of its power. Many worlds still have the power of their World Spirit split into four, passed down through generations of the same Clanбн Not that that matters much to you, now."
    "Oh, I seeбн"
    "бн Entering a Tier 4 Black Ranked Sub-Dimensional Zone on your own for your first try? With a pseudo Fourth Dimensional world's constitution for a body? You must be insane."
    Leonel opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't make heads or tails of what the man just said. His watch ranked the world he entered a grade 'C'. How did that translate to this man's ranking system?
    "It was a Tier 4 Black Ranked Zone meant for four people? What the hell is wrong with you kid? No wonder it took so long for me to fix you up. Leave these kinds of things to youths born in higher Dimensional worlds. It's my job not to be prejudiced against you, but I'm giving you advice. Your world has a lot of potential, more than mine by a good margin. Take your time and stop rushing things."
    Leonel was shocked by the care in the man's voice. It seemed out of placeбн Or maybe he was just a good guy, or was just fond of his accomplishments.
    But, he could still only smile bitterly at the man's words. He hadn't known anything before he stepped in. Plus, his father had implied that he should enter. How could he know his old man would send him to his death?
    "бн Alright, I'll stop nagging you."
    "Sir, can I ask your name?"
    "My name is Montez."
    "Thanks for the advice, Uncle Montez. I'll do my best."
    Montez blinked in shocked for a long while before he laughed heartily.
    "Uncle it is, thenбн Hm, your rewardsбн
    "Clearing both side quests. Activating the hidden quest. Completing the hidden quest. Clearing the objective."
    "I cleared the objective?.. I thought I failedбн"
    "You would have, had you killed that little girly. But it seemed you didn't."
    Leonel's face twisted with a weird expression. What kind of quest was that? Wouldn't it go on forever then?
    "The quest objective was to repel the Spanish and save the girl."
    Leonel's expression darkened. The wrist watch told him to save the Chief Priest. What kind of sick joke was this?
    Had he known the true objective, he wouldn't have gone into the Sacrificial Room without a plan because he would of deduced the Priest would be his toughest enemy. If he was prepared, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state.
    Montez began to laugh, eventually wiping tears from his eyes.
    "I told you it was rudimentary Zone analysis technology. How could it be completely accurate?"
    Leonel took a deep breath. "Before my rewards, do you mind explaining two things to me? What exactly are Sub-Dimensional Zones and how does the ranking system work?"
    "Well, I'm normally not allowed to explain these thingsбн But I think I can get away with it this time.
    "Zones are key points in history which connect your Third Dimension to the Fourth. Due to a sort of buffer the Universe has, these Dimensions were 'stored' in time so that they couldn't influence the timeline too much. In order for your world to successfully evolve to the next Dimension, these instances in time must be resolved.
    "If they are not resolved, they will begin eating away at your timeline, altering important events in history until your world is unrecognizable. If the problem becomes severe enough, your world could collapse."
    Leonel's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the problem to be this severe.
    "So I'm guessingбн the reason why you higher worlds help us little guys out is so that one day you'll have more help with clearing your own Sub-Dimensional Zones?"
    Montez couldn't hide his mouth hanging open in shock.
    "бн Yesбн That's exactly right. It's in our best interest to unite in this matter. A world with as much potential as yours will receive a lot of help. In fact, there should be a lot of influences from other worlds in your own alreadyбн You're quite a smart boy, but I really can't say much else. Influencing your timeline too much can have its own poor effects.
    "To answer your second question, Black Zones are assigned to Fourth Dimensional events, Bronze to Fifth, Silver to Sixth, and Gold to Seventh. My own world is only of the Seventh Dimension, so I don't know much more."
    Leonel had many more questions. Like the man had mentioned 'world potential' before, and even said that Earth had the potential of an Eighth Dimensional World. On top of that, he said that Earth had more potential than his own world. But if that was the case, and his world was already of the Seventh Dimension, shouldn't his world's job be done? Since there was no hope in reaching the Eighth Dimension for them, why did they still help lower worlds?
    And if his job wasn't finished for some unknown reason, wouldn't his Seventh Dimensional World be facing Eighth Sub-Dimensional Zones right now just like Earth as a Third Dimensional World was facing Fourth Sub-Dimensional threats? So why did he not know anything about Zones above the Gold grade?
    There seemed to be a secret here that was nagging at Leonel's heart. Butбн He knew better than to ask.
    "Each rank of Black to Gold is divided into nine level, one being the lowest and nine being the highest difficulty. In addition, the chosen difficulty is ranked by how many are allowed to enter as well. The Zone you completed had an entry limit of four since it was relatively stable and could support that much influence without collapsing. But, you completed it alone, so it was more like a Tier 5 Black Zone to you."
    Montez clapped. "Alright, that's enough. I wasted much of our time together with too many words.
    "I'm sure you know by now that the reward system is separate from the Zones. It's something us higher worlds created. Only Silver and Gold Zones can form rewards of their own, kind of like that dagger in your handбн Though that dagger will disappear once you leave this place. That's the difference between low grade Zones and higher grade ones."
    Leonel couldn't help but inwardly smile. Every time Montez swore he couldn't tell Leonel anymore, he would continue to drop tidbits of helpful information.
    "Either way, since this is a four person Zone, you can normally choose four Tier 4 Black rewards for a minimum clear. But, since you completed the hidden quest, that's good for a Tier 5 Black reward. Including the two side questsбн the clearing 100 Spaniards reward is another Tier 4 Black reward, clearing 1000 is a Tier 5 Black reward.
    "I also have to factor in the fact you were the first of your world to clear a Zone, and that's worth a Tier 9 Black reward. So, five Tier 4 Black rewards, two Tier 5 Black rewards, and one Tier 9 Black reward.
    "You are allowed to trade down by handing in a higher Tier for three lower ones. You can trade up by using five. Don't ask why it's like this, you know people at the top are misers."
    Montez clapped his hands. A moment later, a counter filled with treasures Leonel was practically blinded by appeared. Maybe the most shocking part was the fact this 'counter' extended for hundreds of meters to the left and right.

 Chapter 16: Rewards (2)

    Leonel was overwhelmed. How could he possibly sift through so many treasures?
    "What do you suggest, Uncle Montez?"
    Montez smiled. "First, I don't suggest you trade in your five Tier 4 Black rewards for a Tier 5 one. In your current state, you can't afford to be picky. If you have to rely on 'treasures' you pick up in the Zones you enter, you won't last very long.
    "In addition, as I said before, the things you picked up from there will disappear once you leave this place. In this present state, not only are Zones dangerous, but your world itself is dangerous too. You might have run into the Invalids alreadyбн"
    Leonel opened his mouth to answer but only nodded in the end. He had almost forgotten about the weird changes in his white pupil'd peersбн So they were called Invalids. He didn't have to think much to understand why that was.
    Unfortunately, he was running out of time, so he knew he couldn't ask Montez about it. It also seemed that Montez was purposely not answering as well.
    "Do you have the ability to narrow these down by my needs?" Leonel asked.
    After seeing Montez nod, he immediately organized his thoughts.
    "How would you categorize these treasures?"
    "Hm. There are defensive treasures that range from armors to one time use tokens. There are offensive treasures that range from weapons to, again, one time use tokens. There are techniques that touch on anything from improving your strength to your defense to your offense.
    "You can trade for Sub-Dimension Zone analyzing treasures to get a more accurate read on the Zones you enter. These are categorized as detection treasures, the best ones can be used outside of Zones as well.
    "You can also trade for information. It can be information about where Zones will appear in your world, or even information about other worlds. It's also possible to buy a ticket to another world, though it would cost you your Tier 9 Black reward."
    Leonel's eyes flashed with a sharp light.
    "Can you show me your Tier 9 Black techniques? Preferably the ones that teach how to use the same energy as the Priest I just fought."
    "Hohoho." Montez smiled a smile that wasn't a smile, but his eyes seemed to give away that he was extremely satisfied with Leonel's choice.
    The counter magically shrunk down, leaving a pile of hundreds of booklets. It was clear at a glance that though a Tier 9 Black technique was valuable to Leonel now, it definitely didn't mean much to Montez.
    Though the options were narrowed down, Leonel still felt lost. If only his sensory type abilities were able to seek out what he needed.
    At this thought, Leonel raised an internal eyebrow. What if it could? He didn't know anything about his abilities currently and he was actually tempted to ask for a treasure that could tell him about it. But, he subconsciously felt that this wasn't the best idea.
    One thing that was clear to him about these treasures is that none of them were perfect. He most certainly couldn't expect a Black grade treasure to be so. If he found such a 'helpful' treasure, it might lead him down the wrong path. And, even if it was correct, it might limit him by boxing in his thinking.
    Leonel closed his eyes, trying to tap into the same sixth sense he used to battle the Priest. Once he locked onto that feeling once more, his eyes flashed opened. In that moment, the seemingly ordinary piles of books became a violent storm of raging colors.
    No. Once again, they weren't truly colors. Leonel's mind only interpreted them as such, almost like an odd form of synesthesia.
    Leonel realized now that compared to these books, the Priest had been a joke. But this made sense, he was only the 'Boss' of a Tier 4 Black Zone, while these were Tier 9 Black techniques.
    However, he soon found differences between them. Among even these high tier techniques, there were separations. Leonel immediately discarded the worst of them and focused on the five that shone so brightly that even while being buried beneath the pile, they exposed themselves.
    He stepped forward and pushed all the other away, leaving five.
    'Shitбн I can't read what бк'
    Just as Leonel was thinking this, the words on the five thin booklets rearranged themselves, becoming legible English.
    "There's still a small bit of fairness in the world." Montez laughed, hiding his shock. "Anything you take out of this world will remain translated for you."
    Leonel nodded, thankful.
    "I pick this one."
    At this point, even Montez was stunned to the point of no longer being able to hide his reactions. Leonel hadn't deliberated for more than a split second before he put his hand over a booklet, taking it from the counter.
    Leonel shrugged. "I felt this one could help improve my ability. I had already chosen before I knew its name."
    "[Dimensional Cleanse]бн It can indeed improve one's ability. But how did you know that?"
    "I dunno. Just felt it."
    Montez's eyes narrowed. He could tell that Leonel wasn't lying. But, even if he was, Montez wouldn't press him regardless.
    "The others are powerful as well, so why this one in particular?"
    "They gave me auxiliary abilities I didn't need. Before I think of gaining extra stuff, I want to focus on my own. I feel that it's very powerful."
    Montez couldn't refute. He had never seen someone with a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional Constitution do what Leonel just did.
    "For my two Tier 5 Black rewards, can you show me some flexible armors?"
    Leonel wanted to look through [Dimensional Cleanse] now, but he refrained. He felt that Montez had reminded him about the time for a reason. He likely couldn't stay here forever.
    Montez clapped his hands once more, causing the counter to shift. This time, there were even more items to display. Not only were there more, but they also took up a larger space individually than small booklets did. In addition, it was a lower tier of treasure, so it made sense that there were so many.
    Leonel narrowed down the options in the same fashion. He eventually settled on a skin-tight armor not much different from his compression shirt. It was a sleek black and the only difference was the fact it was dotted with small hexagons that flashed an imperceptible black light every so often.
    For his second Tier 5 treasure, Leonel chose a pair of shoes that had the ability to camouflage themselves into his chosen design. Not only did it have a small bit of defense, but it could increase his speed and agility by 0.1 each.
    When Leonel got to his Tier 4 treasures, he realized why Montez advised him not to trade them in. He could think of so many things he needed that he almost felt depressed that there were just five choices left.
    First, he chose a container. It was shaped like box forged of steel, but it had thick leather straps. Its height was about a meter and its width about half of one. From the outside, it seemed to have less carrying capacity than the wooden box Leonel used in the Mayan Temple. But one would be shocked to find that it could house 200 long-form darts compared to 50 from the Mayan container. In addition, as long as Leonel hovered his hand over it, a dart would immediately enter his palm.
    The best part about this treasure was that it could produce darts itself. It came pre-made with 200, but as long as Leonel fed it materials, it could make more. Leonel was extremely happy finding such a perfect treasure for him.
    The second Tier 4 Black treasure he took was another technique. This one was called [Call of the Wind]. It was a throwing technique that taught the use of wind negating abilities to increase the speed of one's spears or darts.
    The third Leonel chose was a sturdier atlatl. The combination of these higher tech darts and this technique would completely shatter the atlatls the Mayans built. Plus, everything he got from the temple would disappear once he left this place anyway.
    The fourth Leonel chose was a crude sensor. It could sense the opening of a Zone within ten miles and also point out the direction like a compass. In addition, with a large margin of error, it could estimate the grade of the Zone as well.
    The fifth and final treasure Leonel chose wasn't for himself. It was a bracelet that acted as a one time defensive token. Though it was a Tier 4 Black treasure, since it was only one time use, it was more powerful than other treasures of its tier.
    Of course, he had traded for it for the sake of Aina.
    He may have not known the details of Aina's likes and dislikes, but he knew of her disposition. If he tried to give her too much, Leonel was certain she would reject. But this small tokenбн Maybe she just might say yes.
    "Uhбн Uncle Montezбн"
    "Hm? What're you loitering around for. That was your final pick."
    "бн Do you maybe have a place I can wash myself in? I can't see myбн I can't see her like this, it'll be a disaster."
    Montez looked blankly at Leonel before almost falling over in laughter.
    "Sure, sure, sure. Whatever. Since you were so quick, you have fifteen minutes left."
    Montez waved his hand and the counter disappeared, replaced by a small pond of water that fogged with a dense whiteness.
    Leonel didn't hesitate. They were all men here anyway. He stripped off all his worn armor and dropped them to the ground, jumping in to scrub himself furiously. He was so obsessed with getting as clean as possible that he completely missed Montez's sharpening gaze at the sight of the faint scar on his right hip. And since he missed thatбн He also missed the surge of fury.
    As for Leonel, it wasn't really his fault that he missed this. The pond was much too comfortable. He forgot the joy of cleaning oneself. But, even more curious, this water didn't seem to be normal by any stretch of the imagination. Leonel could even faintly feel his senses sharpening.
    By the end of ten minutes, his Reactions had increased to 0.95 before stopping. In addition, his coordination followed suit, stopping at 0.90.
    With just five minutes left, Leonel hopped out. He slid on his new Tier 5 Black flexible armor first, allowing it to perfectly adjust to his size and shape. He felt his stamina tick up by 0.05. Then, he slipped on his raggedy pair of sweatpants that he had luckily cleaned first this time. Though they had been soggy, Montez was nice enough to wave a hand and dry them clean.
    There were a lot of holes in them, but at least they covered his most important parts.
    Last came his pair of Tier 5 Black shoes which he disguised as sneakers. He then slid on the steel container and hooked his white boned atlatl to his waist.
    Gripping the rest of his stuff, he bowed his head in thanks to Montez.
    "Thank you, Uncle Montez!"
    Montez smiled and waved, sending Leonel out.
    **
    On the top of the Mayan temple, the situation was completely different to how Leonel had left it. Not only had his friends woken up, but judging by their appearances and how there were fewer of them than before, they had also cleared their first Zone as wellбн
    Montez had downplayed how long he took to recover Leonel back to his full state. If Leonel's constitution had been better, he could have healed him in an instant. But due to Leonel's weak body, Montez had to take his time.
    Like this, though Leonel was the first to clear a Zone, he was actually last in place to return. Maybe only the first few people who awoke knew that he had entered firstбн
    "What the hell are you trying to do, Conrad?"
    James stood towering, his injuries from that night clearly healed. But it seemed that he was still in quite a bad state, a reality that would have left Leonel surprised. Why had his Guardian healed him but not James?
    However, a moment later Leonel would realize that it was because James had been hurt outside of the Zone!
    Conrad sneered. "This isn't the normal world order anymore, James. Just because you were bigger and stronger than me before, doesn't mean you are now. I won't need you to be drunk to kill you this time."
    "You have a lot of nerve puffing your chest out like that after sneak attacking me in my sleep. Sure, it's a new world order. But you're still the same pussy."
    Conrad's gaze turned crimson, the space around him heating furiously.
    "You wanna say that again? Even if it's a new world order, your family still exists on the outside. And don't think I've forgotten what you failed to do during the Championship Game."
    James' own gaze turned dangerous. "If you died here, who of the Siegfried family would even know or care? If you think I'm just going to let you use the girls of my Royal Blue Academy just to vent your lust, you have another thing coming."
    Several girls sat cowering to James' back, their eyes filled with fear. They realized that in this world, they didn't have the same protections they once didбн Among them, Yuri and Savahn were present, but there was no sign of Aina.
    As though on cue, a portal slowly formed. A delicate beauty with a battle axe twice the size of her body appeared. Her presence was so captivating that it was almost too easy to ignore the weapon on her back and the odd out of place black bag in her hand.
    Aina's steps paused, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings only to stop on Yuri and Savahn. Looking at the tears that streaked their faces and their disheveled clothing, her gaze once more shifted to Conrad.
    At that moment, another portal appeared.
    Conrad's expression turned ugly when he saw Leonel's smiling face. He was shocked to see how many items Leonel had brought with him. How had he gotten so much?
    Aina, too, saw Leonel. In fact, her gaze didn't leave Leonel's as she walked to Conrad's back.
    Her arm shot forward, piercing through to Conrad's chest. The image of a petite girl with an arm covered in blood was an image Leonel would never forget.
    He had been smiling brightly just a moment ago, his eyes finally landing on the beauty he had been thinking of for so longбн Only for it to freeze in his shock.
    Conrad didn't get to speak another word before he slumped to the ground, sliding off of Aina's forearm as though she deliberately slowed him down so that Leonel would capture every moment.
    Leonel felt that his world had come to a complete grinding halt.
    ---
    Alright guys, this will be the last mass upload for a while. DD's regular upload schedule will be 1 chapter or 2k words a day. However, there are ways to get more chapters:
    For every 10 *unique* reviews (ie by a different person and not spammed from the same account), I will add a bonus chapter. We are at 2 reviews right now, 1 review exluding myself. So, when we get to 11 total, I will upload another chapter. This deal is good for up to 101 total reviews :) we probably won't get there any time soon, though.
    I also plan to implement a powerstone bonus chapter system, but I'll let you guys know about that at a later date.
    Anyhoo, hope you've enjoyed to this point! I'm excited to write more :)

 Chapter 17: Abilities

    Leonel stood frozen, his silver rod gripped tightly in one hand and the bracelet he had traded for Aina in his other. He hardly heard the shrieks of the girls cowering behind James as he watch her use Conrad's own shirt to wipe his blood from her arm.
    Aina's gaze didn't ever seem to leave his own. Maybe it was Leonel's own illusion, he wasn't sure. But what was certain was that Aina made her way over to him. In a series of events that were nothing more than a blur to him, his bag, the one she had been carrying all this time, the very one he had allowed her to use as a pillow, ended up in his hand. The very same hand he held the bracelet in.
    The massive battle axe on her seemingly delicate back cast a shadow over his face, dwarfing him completely. Leonel wasn't even consciously aware of what happened next, he only caught small tidbits.
    Savahn was too scared to approach Aina anymore. Yuri's demeanor changed with Aina's appearance as though she had never been afraid. The odd world they were in began to tremble. And before Leonel knew it, he was standing on the grass gardens that once surrounded the Northern Dormitories.
    All he could think about was Aina's gaze. Her amber, almost golden eyes, peering through his soul. It wasn't particularly cold, nor did it fill him with fear, but there was something deeply unsettling about them, a feeling that set an itch he couldn't reach in his heart.
    "Leo! LEO!"
    Leonel's eyes flashed as his body shifted to the side. He stuck his silver rod into the soft soil beneath him and used his now free hand to grab to the side.
    His reactions were inconceivably quick. He hadn't even seen who attacked him from behind even to this moment. All he had was a frail wrist that almost seemed like it could snap with a single squeeze.
    'Strength 0.72?'
    Leonel was stunned. Knowing he wouldn't be able to hold on for so with his 0.67 level strength, he used the attacker's momentum against them, pulling on their wrist and sweeping his leg across.
    'That'sбн That's the girl who threw up that dayбн'
    Leonel's white pupil'd underclassman flipped in the air, falling on her back with a resounding thud.
    James, who had been the one calling out to Leonel, blinked in shock before smiling bitterly. It seemed his best friend had had his own massive improvements. In fact, with how alert Leonel had been even in a daze just now, he had a feeling that Leonel had suffered more than them all.
    Yet, he had somehow managed to keep a bright smile on his face when he came back, only for him to lose that smile due to that event that shocked even James himself. He really didn't know how to console Leonel.
    'Leonel is too softбн How could he deal with the girl he's chased for five years now beingбн'
    James sighed.
    "We can't stay here." Leonel finally pulled himself out of his slump. He knew that this wasn't the time to be sulking.
    Grabbing his silver rod, he pressed it to his underclassman's chest, using his leverage to stop her from using her obscene strength.
    With a quick glance around, he understood the situation.
    Luckily, in the months they had been gone, the white pupil'd mutants had dispersed. But with Leonel's senses, he could hear many of them approaching as though they could grasp their location.
    Leonel counted the number of people around him, feeling a sudden pang when he realized that the number was much less than it should have been.
    "Zavierбн He?"
    James' jaw clenched. "I entered the Sub-Dimensional Zone with him, Milan and Joelбн Zavier didn't make itбн"
    Leonel's heart beat erratically for a long while before he managed to stop it. There had been over 30 of them in the beginning, but now only 12 remained. In fact, he felt that it could only have been luck that allowed most of them to survive a Zone.
    The fiendish struggling beneath the butt of his silver rod caught Leonel's attention, causing him to frown. Before he could react, a flying dagger flew between he and James, entering the girl's throat.
    Leonel looked over with a gloomy expression as the girl's life slipped away.
    His eyes met Yuri's. She stood beside Aina with her arm raised, her expression nonchalant as though nothing had happened. Aina's gaze had been indifferent, but Yuri's almost held a teasing expression. It was the kind of look that made Leonel's frown deepened.
    "What the hell are you doing?" Leonel asked.
    Yuri seemed surprised by Leonel's tone for a moment. Maybe it was because she felt what she had done was only natural. Or, maybe it was because she didn't think that Leonel had such a fierce gaze in him. It was obvious that she wasn't in Senior Class A along with him, or else she would never have such a naive thought.
    The only reason Leonel's imposing aura had never come into play to now was because he couldn't pull his will behind killing. But when it came to his instinctual rage, there was nothing holding it back.
    Yuri recovered, her expression dialing back to a neutral gaze that almost said 'just wait'.
    A moment later, the girl who lay dead beneath Leonel began to glow, turning into motes of light that fused with Yuri.
    Leonel hadn't scanned the 'stats' of his friends because it was an instinct he reserved for enemies. But he could faintly feel that Yuri had improved in strength by a small fraction. It was too small of a fraction for Leonel to pinpoint, but he could vaguely feel it.
    The reason he kept his 'stats' to just two significant figures was because his senses weren't yet sharp enough to break it down further. If he had to guess, Yuri's improvement was somewhere between 0.0001 and 0.00001.
    "Miss Aina believes that it's best we work together in such a dangerous environment, so instead of being offended by your question, I will explain it to you. These white pupil'd people are called Invalids. They're the people who during their awakening were instead 'eaten' by their abilities, failing to fuse with them.
    "As a result, they've lost their consciousness, being a humanoid mass of instincts. If they swallow those of us who succeeded, they have a chance to evolve and regain their consciousness. The reason they allowed us to enter the Sub-Dimensional Zone first is because it's in their best interest that we are stronger бк they were fattening us like pigs, so to speak.
    "However, they are essentially a bundle of energy now. So, by killing them we can also grow stronger.
    "That Invalid was a C-grade Invalid. It is impressive that you were able to handle her so easily. You are worth forming a working relationship with. Do you have anymore questions?"
    Leonel's gaze turned dull. One couldn't see it, but the veins of his right hand bulged like raging serpents as he clutched the bracelet in his palm. There was something exceptionally dangerous about his darkened look.
    'Miss Ainaбн is it?' Leonel closed his eyes.
    [Congratulations!]
    The abrupt beeping that filled all of their minds completely interrupted the tense atmosphere.
    [You all have managed to succeed in crossing this first trial. Though many have fallen, you can be considered the true pillars of our Ascension Empire]
    [However, be warned. All is not safe. These white pupil'd individuals may have once been your friends and family, but right now, their only instinct is to swallow you. They are known as Invalids. Though they appear in the same form they once had when they were alive, they are little more than energy with substance now]
    [Invalids follow the same grading system as your Sub-Dimensional Zones, from the F-grade to the SSS-grade. Be mindful and stay safe]
    [Right now, the next goal of our Empire is to gather you heroes together. Your wrist watches will point you toward the closest center of power in your region. Please head there as quickly and safely as possible so that you can be properly registered. Those who fail to do so will be considered an enemy of the Ascension Empire]
    The voice was no longer mechanical. In fact, it was distinctly human. Leonel had heard this very voice before. Many times before, actually. It was the Emperor of the Ascension Empire, Emperor Gervaise Fawkes.
    'They want us to registerбн? Why would they need that, can't they already monitor usбн? Unlessбн'
    Leonel's eyes flashed open, a sudden realization overcoming him. It seemed the forceful tweaks the Empire made to their technology weren't exactly perfect quite yet. Maybe they still weren't aware that Leonel was the first to enter and clear a Zone either.
    As expected, what their oh-so noble Emperor left them wasn't a true map but rather simply pointed toward a direction, much like the Tier 4 Black detector Leonel had for Sub-Dimensional Zones. The Ascension Empire had always been touchy about distributing maps.
    Once the announcement was finished, Leonel looked back over toward Yuri and Aina. However this time, he didn't spare Yuri a glance.
    "If you'd like to work with me, then the orders we follow are mine. Are we clear on this?"
    Yuri frowned and seemed to want to respond, but Aina's delicate hand blocked her.
    "Yes. That isn't a problem. You seem to have strong sensory abilities, it's only right that you lead."
    Leonel so very rarely heard Aina speak, but her voice was just as angelic as he remembered. He still couldn't wrap his mind around her actions. How could he like a girl who treated lives so casually?
    He knew well what Conrad had done. Maybe to some he deserved death. But Leonel just had a hard time crossing that line. Maybe he was a hypocrite for it, but it was just how he felt.
    Hearing these words, Leonel stuffed the bracelet into the ragged pockets of his sweats. He turned his body away, not replying.
    "You alright, Leo?" James whispered to his side.
    "I'm fine." Leonel said with a bitter smile. "Don't worry about meбн I think I've already been through worse."
    James patted his shoulder and didn't say much more.
    "Alright." Leonel raised his voice once more. "Theбн Invalids aren't far from us already. But I think it's important that I get a read on your abilities before we move out. Mine seem to be categorized as heightened senses, so I'll do my best to lead you out while avoiding as many battles as possible."
    James who had almost always been able to read Leonel even without a cue spoke next.
    "My and Milan's abilities are very similar, it's how we survived in the Zone. Milan can form a strong shield that can block up to ten C-grade attacks and one B-grade attack before failing. He needs three seconds to form it. And he can form three total before he needs to rest. He also has improved strength beyond normal levels.
    "I also gained this strength boost and a similar shield. But, I have two separate shields. One can absorb attacks. The other can repel attacks. My shield has an effective range of five meters and form a dome. Milan's form a semi-sphere and has a range of three meters.
    "I can vary the strength of my shield as well. A one second shield can block two C-grade attacks. A ten second shield can absorb or repel ten B-grade attacks or one A-grade attack.
    "The last point is just that my absorb shield replenishes my stamina. The reflective shield is self-explanatory."
    Leonel's brows cocked, pleasantly surprised. Milan's ability was probably graded as a C, but James' was at least an A. From what he could tell as well, Milan's strength was a 0.59, but James' was a 0.75. The difference was stark.
    Milan laughed jovially, albeit self-deprecatingly.
    "Seems I'm a little lacking in comparison."
    James grinned, wrapping his arm around Milan's neck and giving the big guy a noogie.
    "You're not alone." Joel laughed lifting up a pole arm that was just over two meters long. "My ability is related to sharpness, I think. I can add a decent bit of piercing power to the weapons I use, which is why I chose this F-grade pike as a reward."
    Joel was a Three-Star Linebacker for their Royal Blues. He had dark skin and kind brown eyes. But when he was on the field, many maligned him as a head hunter for his vicious hits.
    Leonel could tell that Joel's coordination 'stat' was 0.65. Definitely far above average.
    With that, Leonel went through everyone one by one, calmly memorizing their abilities.
    Finally, he got to Yuri and Aina.
    "My ability is related to marksmanship with a small bit of telekineses." Yuri explained calmly. "I can improve the accuracy and strength of my throwing knives with my mind. Andбн I can also retrieve them."
    The dagger she had thrown earlier, still stabbed into the grass, trembled before flying back into her hand obediently.
    "Miss Aina's ability is an overall exponential boost to her physical abilities whether that be speed, agility, reactions, and especially strength."
    These were words Leonel most definitely didn't doubtбн
    [Aina Brazinger]
    [Speed: 0.85; Agility: 0.80; Coordination: 0.95; Stamina: 0.95; Reactions: 0.97]
    бн
    [Strength: 0.99]

 Chapter 18: Journey

    "Milan."
    Hearing Leonel's voice, Milan reacted quickly. He took his tall F-grade tower shield and slammed it forward, ramming the C-grade Invalid backward.
    Joel followed up, his F-grade pike piercing over Milan's shoulder as though the two were one. Just like that, another C-grade Invalid fell.
    It had already been three days since they began following Leonel, but even Yuri who had been the only one who wanted to reject his leadership had her lips tightly sealed. Not to mention the fact a third of this group was made up of men who shared their lives with him on the football field for four years already, even if this wasn't the case, the results spoke for themselves.
    They had fought tens of battles in just these three days, but not a single person had been injured. On top of this, they never met a group of Invalids they couldn't handle. The most dangerous situation they had come across was a group of ten D-grade Invalids, but even that seemed to roll off their shoulders like it was nothing.
    Over time, the group gained more confidence and relaxed, their tense nerves loosening. Yet, they somehow didn't become complacent either. No, it wasn't a mistake. Joel, Milan and James always followed Leonel's orders to the finest detail. It was they who set the example for the rest of them.
    Maybe it was only Yuri and the silent Aina who knew things shouldn't have been this easy. It wasn't a coincidence most of them only had F-grade treasures. The Zones they had entered were only of that level, so they hadn't earned any rewards that were better.
    Despite only entering F-grade Sub-Dimensional Zones, just look at how many of them had died. Over half of them would never see their families again. But, somehow they were navigating seas of F to C-grade Invalids as though they were nothing? Since when had the Metamorphosis become such a joke?
    For moment, Yuri had even believed that Leonel would thrust her into the front-line as revenge. But he actually hadn't done that either.
    Looking toward Leonel, Yuri frowned. Leonel hadn't attacked a single time in these several days. But she was certain that the treasures on him were above the F-grade. And, she had learned through deductions of her own that he had actually woken up before Aina even though her Lady had never said a word about it.
    Just what was going on?
    Yuri had known Leonel for a long time. She knew he was intelligent. She was also quite fond of his personality. He was kind and respectful, the kind of man she wouldn't mind being with her Miss. The problem was that he was too weak.
    But was he really weak? She didn't know anymore.
    Her gaze landed on Leonel's crossed arms. She could see his fingers digging firmly into his own tricep every time another Invalid fell.
    Leonel looked up into the sky. Seeing the sun setting, he made a decision.
    "Let's stop for today."
    The group was currently in the middle of what they had no choice but to call city ruins. This was the very advanced city that had once surrounded their third ranked Academy. But now, it was practically rubble.
    After the Paradise Islands fell from the skies, many of them lay the tall skyscrapers to waste. Even those buildings that weren't directly impacted collapsed after the fierce earthquakes.
    In order to find shelter for the night, the group had to dig through what was left of the buildings to see if they could find any basements that survived the collapse. Before, they were apprehensive. What would happen if they became trapped or worse, crushed to death?
    But, Leonel seemed to be able to tell which were safe and which weren't. Though Leonel never fully explained exactly what his abilities were, everyone gained an almost infallible belief in them in just three days.
    "Aina, if you don't mind." Leonel called out.
    Without a word, Aina walked to the slab of metal and stone Leonel pointed out and lifted it. It would never stop being weird seeing such a small girl lift such a massive load, but it was at the very least easier now than it had been in the past.
    Still, what felt the most uncomfortable for the group was the odd turn in the relationship between Aina and Leonel. They felt that in the past, Leonel would never ask Aina to do such menial work, nor would he speak to her so neutrally. He gave her commands and assignments no differently than he did to anyone else.
    The group collectively sighed and thanked Aina as they passed by. In the end, Aina slowly lowered the slab, sealing them off from the outside.
    The underground space they found this time had a decent ten by ten meter size. It gave them all more than enough space to themselves.
    As usual, Yuri brought out an F-grade tent that took up a bit more than half of the space, inviting the women of the group in. It was quite a convenient thing. Leonel had almost chosen a Tier 4 Black treasure of similar abilities бк well, it would be known as a C-grade treasure by those of Earth бк but he chose the bracelet still in his pocket instead.
    Also as per usual, Savahn hesitated, her steps pausing outside the tent. She glanced back toward Leonel with a complicated gaze before she eventually entered as well.
    'How ironicбн' Leonel smiled bitterly to himself.
    In the past, it was Savahn who always 'protected' Aina. Despite Leonel's overall 'good guy' persona, she was even protective against him, shielding Aina from all the bad in the world. As a result, she had always been the most abrasive with him in comparison to Yuri.
    But now, their roles had inexplicably flipped. Andбн She was maybe the person who most understood how Leonel was feeling right now.
    Leonel sat down cross legged, the metal container on his back clinking slightly against the stone. He closed his eyes, emptying his mind completely.
    Seeing his present state, James and the rest of the boys decided not to bother him, rolling out the sleeping bags Yuri had given them. They had no need for a scout to stay awake, they knew that Leonel alone would be enough.
    Yuri had given Leonel a sleeping bag as well, but he had never used it. She usually snorted when she saw him sitting on the cold stone floors every night, believing that his pride was overblown. But she had no idea the truth was that Leonel had simply gotten used to sleeping this way after months in the Mayan temple. Of course, he couldn't be bothered to explain this to her.
    Leonel sank into his own world. It was a weird state of mind being empty, yet completely alert at the same time. Everything within a fifty meter radius of his body was entirely in his grasp.
    'Just what is this ability of mineбн I don't quite understand it even nowбн'
    Leonel felt that he learned new facets of his ability everyday. After he started practicing [Dimensional Cleanse], new doors opened up constantly.
    There was only one problem with circulating [Dimensional Cleanse], though. Whenever he did, Invalids would sense their position far easier. During the first night, Leonel was forced to stop and sneak out silently in order to clear them away, something that left him completely sick to his stomach.
    From that day on, he only circulated [Dimensional Cleanse] at less than 1% of his ability. This slowed his progress, but it also allowed him to cultivate peacefully without interruption.
    With that, Leonel locked down a new stat: Spirit.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.72; Speed: 0.67 (+0.1); Agility: 0.75 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.78 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.10]
    Spirit was what Leonel classified as the ability to use that weird energy. Unlike his other stats that were measured by the limit of the human body, Leonel set 1.00 as the energy density of a Tier 9 Black threat.
    After he categorized it this way, he immediately slotted himself in for 0.10. However, in three days, it hadn't budged a single inch. Or, more accurately, it had, but Leonel couldn't register it sharply enough to put a number to it.
    Still, there were other outstanding effects. Leonel's Reactions and Coordination had improved to 0.99. It was only now he felt that the barrier to 1.00 was exceptionally thick.
    Luckily, though his coordination and reactions had slowed to a grinding halt, his other 'stats' had also increased decently. Setting aside the boosts from his treasures, his speed had improved to 0.57 and his agility to 0.65. Of course there was also the leap of 0.05 in his strength and the increase in his stamina to 0.73.
    From what Leonel could tell, these changes most definitely didn't come from [Dimensional Cleanse]. He had picked that technique primarily because it increased his spirit. His spirit, by extension, increased his coordination and reactions. In addition, his coordination had a positive impact on his agility. But, spirit should have had next to no impact on his strength or speed.
    Simply put, Leonel had no idea where these 'stat' increases were coming from. But his body seemed to be slowly improving over time at a pace that was out of his control. And, whatever improvement it seemed to not appear in the Zones.
    'It might be related to what Uncle Montez was saying about Pseudo Fourth Dimensional constitutions? Maybe as a world evolves, its people do too. The closer Earth comes to the Fourth Dimension, the closer we all come to dropping that 'Pseudo' from our title.
    'But if that's the caseбн Why isn't anyone else experiencing this increase бк.'
    Leonel's eyes flashed open. 'Something big is comingбн'
    Without a sound Leonel jumped up. Everyone around him seemed to be soundly asleep already. Looking at the time, he should have been practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] for several hours.
    Making his way to a smaller second exit, Leonel exerted some strength and quietly left, appearing beneath the night sky and high raised moonlight.
    'B-gradeбн' Leonel sighed.
    The group he had taken out two nights ago were just a bunch of F-grade Invalids. Their boost to his 'stats' were so minuscule that Leonel knew they couldn't have had an impact on his 'stat' increases.
    Though this quickly approaching Invalid was of the B-grade, Leonel wasn't afraid despite the fact he knew the Priest he had struggled with so much was still a sliver away from the B-grade himself.
    There was something Leonel had realized over these few days. First, Invalids weren't as intelligent as humans, making them less dangerous than the 'Bosses' of Zones. Second, not all Invalids had the same abilities. They personified the abilities they would have had had they survived the awakening process.
    Simply put, the Priest was a C-grade Spirit type entity. This made him especially dangerous to a naive youth like Leonel who knew little of this world of powers and abilities. The Priest's Spirit had actually been much higher than Leonel's current 'stat'.
    This was all to say that a B-grade speed type Invalid like the one rushing toward Leonel now was much easier to deal with.
    'Why'd you have to come here.'
    Leonel stood atop the rubble, his left hand calmly reaching toward his back and his right pulling his white boned atlatl from his waist.
    '40 metersбн 30бн you've long since gotten too close.'
    A beautiful silver dart with feathers of white to one end appeared in Leonel's hand. It was just about a meter and a half in length, looking more like a work of art as it sat atop Leonel's atlatl instead of the deadly weapon it was.
    Cocking his arm back and releasing with barely 20% of his ability, Leonel allowed a line of silver to cut across the skies, reflecting the dull moonlight.
    The Invalid who dashed forward like a vampire in the night was suddenly struck in the forehead, a hole as thin as a bullet wound bloodying its skull.
    With a heavy heart, Leonel crossed the 20 meter distance between them. His use of [Call of the Wind] was already too refined for an enemy to survive at such a close distance.
    Bending down the side of the Invalid who was beginning to turn to motes of light, he caught a glimpse of its face. On the last day he rode his bike to school, the day of the Championship Game, this 'Invalid' had been among those to greet him and wish him luck. He even said he bet on Leonel to succeed with Aina that time around.
    By this point, it felt like a lifetime ago.
    Leonel picked up his dart. It was slightly damaged, but if his treasure could build darts from raw materials, why wouldn't it have the ability to repair ones with nicks and scratches? To now, Leonel still had all 200 it came with.
    'I guess that's it for tonight. I'll head back and rest.'
    Leonel suddenly looked over his shoulder, frowning. He thought he had sensed something, but there was nothing.
    Just as Leonel was about to investigate further, his mind trembled.
    An inconspicuous black wrist band on his arm that seamlessly blended into his flexible armor silently tugged him in a certain direction.
    A Zone had appeared! But not just thatбн It was within 500 meters of this place.
    But, what truly shook Leonel was the fact he sensed not just one but seven A-grade Invalids!
    It was only then Leonel realized the appearance of his B-grade underclassman wasn't a coincidence. Could it be that Zone openings attracted Invalids too?

 Chapter 19: A-grade Invalid (1)

    Leonel closed his eyes, a deep unwillingness sinking into his heart.
    That day, when the virgin sacrifice almost strangled him to death, he really had resigned himself. He had even said goodbye to his father. Yet, he woke up.
    How was he supposed to feel about that exactly? Was he supposed to think he was forgiven for the 1000 deaths that lay squarely on his shoulders?
    Uncle Montez had said it clearly. Sub-Dimensional Zones were points in Earth's history where an event that connected to the Fourth Dimension occurred. In other wordsбн They were real.
    Every throat he pierced, every head he severed, every life that slipped away. They were all real.
    Leonel had a hard time dealing with that. The reason he had smiled so brightly when he finally saw Aina again was because he thought that she was his light, the only pure thing remaining in his life. But she shattered that image barely a moment later.
    In truth, Leonel didn't even know what he was fighting for anymore. He guessed it was just some primal instinct to survive, but he couldn't think of much else. Clearly his parents weren't that much of a motivating factor considering how easily he had given up in the temple.
    'What the hell is wrong with me?'
    Leonel might have just turned 18, but he was just a kid in the end. He knew that he didn't want to be a quarterback for the rest of his life, but he never really thought about what exactly he wanted to do outside of that.
    Leonel chuckled to himself as seven A-grade Invalids converged. By now, it wasn't just them anymore, but numerous lower level Invalids who crept forward as well.
    'The most important part of my identity all that time was just liking her, huhбн I don't know whether I should be sad or laugh some more.'
    The truth was that Leonel was trying his best to find a reason to fight back, to put his life on the line once again and bloody his hands once more.
    For his parents? He had already tried that once before. For Aina? He didn't even know if he still felt the same way about her. For his friendsбн?
    Leonel thought of James. His best friend for as long as he could remember. To this day, he still didn't know why James tried to throw the Championship Game. He didn't know why he hadn't just let him do it either. They had already won three times, and winning a fourth would have been meaningless.
    "I know you too well. You don't like to lose, but you're too soft-hearted to call me out on my bullshit too. So, you'd find a way to protect our friendship and ignore it, all while winning the big game anyway. Am I right?"
    James' words to him reverberated in Leonel's mind. He suddenly felt his hands moving of their own accord, sliding three silver bars out and screwing them together.
    'I guess it'll just have to be that simple thenбн'
    He didn't like to lose.
    It was an immature thought. One you would expect from an 18 year old boy. If Leonel thought any more deeply about it, he too would find it ridiculous that he was trading what he thought was his moral code for a will to win. But the reality was that Leonel was looking for something, for anything, to give him a reason to keep going. The reason never mattered at allбн
    Leonel clicked the hidden button on his silver rod. The moment his bike fully formed, he jumped onto it, riding up the side of a massive slab of broken wall and jumping five meters into the air.
    In that instant of time he spent in the air, his gaze captured everything.
    'Two are within 100 meters. Four are between 100 and 300. The last one is further than 400 meters away.'
    It wasn't that Leonel's gaze landed on them all. Rather, it was that he found it easier to feel out the fluctuating energies without so many buildings in the way.
    Leonel had run across A-grade Invalids before, in the last three days, that is. He knew how sensitive they were to humans. It took a lot of effort to shake just one off. If these seven caught sight of their base, Leonel would no longer be able to guarantee everyone's safety. Even James' ten-second shield could only block a single A-grade attack.
    The higher the grade, the exponentially more difficult the Invalid was to handle. Their 'stats' not only became more well rounded, but their intelligence wasn't so easy to fool anymore either.
    Leonel's knees bent as he landed on the ground, expertly using his high coordination to balance on the rubble before shooting forward once more. He controlled his bike with a single handle and used the other to grab a dart, shifting it around in his fingers until he could both grab his atlatl and fit it to it at the same time.
    In a flash, Leonel rounded the corner of a building that seemed just an inch away from falling completely over. Half of its top was completely shaved off, having fallen to the other side of the street.
    He made eye-contact with those cold, emotionless white pupils. They locked onto Leonel with a concealed murderous intent as though it was still slinking in the shadows.
    The Invalid was long and lanky, having a back so arched that the back of its hands almost dragged along the ground.
    Despite its lazy appearance, it dodged Leonel's first dart with ease despite being just 20 meters away. Its lanky body curled at an impossible angle, its head arching back so far that its skull nearly cracked against the ground.
    'Coordination of 0.87. Its host body should have an ability related to disconnecting and reconnecting bones, making it an expert of close combat. It has good speed, strength and reactions.'
    As far as Leonel could tell, F-grade beings had stats between 0.50 and 0.60. D-grade entered the up to 0.70 realm. C-grade was usually up to 0.8. B-grade was below 0.85 with A-grade being below 0.90. Leonel wasn't certain about the S, SS and SSS-grades. In addition, the spirit stat seemed to work a lot differently. The Priest had only been a 0.05 on Leonel's scale, but he was most definitely a C-grade threat.
    Of course, these were only averages. Some could cross barriers by having less stats, but being more well-rounded.
    This A-grade Invalid happened to have more of its 'stats' in Coordination and Reactions. Though its strength and speed were still above 0.60.
    'How unfortunateбн'
    Without hesitation he pedaled into a ten meter radius in a flash, jumping into the air and turning his bike back into a silver rod.
    'бн your strengths happen to be my strengths. Butбн I'm a level better."
    Leonel clashed with the A-grade Invalid. His movements were wild and almost without reason. Anyone could see with a glance that he had never been formally trained. And yet, those very same wild movements seemed simple and precise to the point of suffocation.
    After a moment, you would realize that it wasn't that Leonel's style of battle was usually this wildбн It was that he was actually adapting his fighting style to match that odd style of the lanky Invalid!
    The Invalid's arm suddenly doubled in length shooting toward Leonel, but a step ahead, Leonel had already tilted his head to the side. He had already seen through this Invalid's ability, why wouldn't he be ready for such a change?
    Leonel took a strong step forward. His silver rod spun in his hand, its butt rounding in a beautiful semi-circular arc and crushing the Invalid's windpipe.
    He released his rod with a hand, reaching to his back and pulling out a dart he stabbed through the Invalid's eye and skull.
    Pulling his dart out, he had already turned his silver rod back into a bicycle and dashed away. By the time he scooped up the dart that initially missed and tossed it back into his steel container, the Invalid had collapsed to the ground бк dead.
    'The other is already closing in. There's no way it won't sense them within fifty meters. But before that, it should be meandering on instinctбн I need to intercept it.'
    Leonel felt the motes of lights meld with his body, but he didn't have much of a reaction. His face held an expressionless visage to it, there was no joy, nor was there any anger.
    He cut a tight corner, riding up the side of a collapsed building and hopping across to the roof of another.
    He spun his bike to the side, dragging its tires along the ground to a searing halt that left a cloud of dust in his wake.
    Leonel hopped off, eyeing his target in the distance.
    He spread out his stance, his base becoming impeccably sturdy as he tightened his torso. A dart appeared in his hand, sliding perfectly into his atlatl.
    Throwing a spear while on his bike was one matter. He couldn't rely on his legs for power, only his arm. Howeverбн When his feet were planted firmly on the groundбн He was a completely different animal.
    SHHHHHHHWOOOOO
    Leonel's arm shot forward like a canon, his dark whistling through the air with a sharp sound. [Call of the Wind] could only be considered to have been mastered to the entry level by Leonel. Yet, he was already capable of throwing his darts at 250 kilometers per hour.
    The target Invalid was almost like a miniature giant. In fact, it dragged its feet around completely in the nude. Obviously, whatever clothes its host had been wearing had been ripped to shreds. What remained was a bestial man that stood at over two meters tall. But what was exceptionally striking was its wide body. It was almost shaped like a box.
    Leonel had already seen that its strength stat was at 0.95. It was one of the variant cases of a stat surpassing its grade. However, the reason it could only be of the A-grade is becauseбн Its other stats were too low!
    [Hulking Invalid]
    [Strength: 0.95; Speed: 0.47; Agility: 0.15; Coordination: 0.56; Stamina: 0.89; Reactions: 0.51; Spirit: 0.00]
    Aside its strength and stamina, its other stats could barely be considered of the F-grade, some not even that.
    So, when Leonel attacked from just 30 meters away with a dart that looked no different from a shooting star across the night sky, the massive Invalid couldn't even blink before its eye was pierced and half its brain turned to mush.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.73; Speed: 0.67 (+0.1); Agility: 0.75 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.78 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.10]
    Leonel's strength stat ticked up by 0.01. This was the first substantial change he had ever run across after absorbing an Invalid's energy. There probably existed a technique that improved the efficiencyбн But he didn't think too much about it.
    In truth, Leonel more so wished for increases to his stamina. He had only killed two A-grade Invalids, but he already felt it was eating into his reserve strength.
    'бн Five leftбн'
    Leonel gritted his teeth, pedaling hard.

 Chapter 20: A-grade Invalids (2)

    [Bonus Chapter for reaching 50 powerstones. Next at 100. 7 more reviews till next bonus chapter]
    Leonel breathed hard. The fog of his breath under the chilly night sky reflected like crystals within the moonlight.
    Below him, yet another A-grade Invalid had fallen, and though Leonel remained uninjured, he could feel himself reaching his limits.
    It wasn't the first time Leonel had felt like that. During those months in the Mayan temple, he experienced it all the time. It was just that he had underestimated the pressure A-grade Invalids could put on him.
    Though his life was constantly on the line in the temple, it had to be remembered that the Spaniards were barely considered D-grade threats, and that was only when their weapons were factored in. Alone, they were normal mortals, not even of the F-grade. Their only real threat to Leonel were their numbers, especially after his battle experience deepened.
    'Still not good enough. I'm wasting too much energyбн One more leftбн'
    Leonel pedaled hard to the next spot. This Invalid had originally been over 400 meters away, but by now, it was within 50 of their base. There was no doubt that it had already caught their scent.
    By the time Leonel made it there, panting, he came face to face with an Invalid that seemed painted in silver. Its skin had become a flexible metal and judging by the heavy sounds its normal footsteps caused, maybe it wasn't just its skin that followed this pattern.
    Across the board, its stats were completely normal. Nothing was above 0.70. But Leonel knew his senses would not lie to him. This was most definitely an A-grade threat.
    Now more than ever Leonel realized just how flawed his self-created stat system was. He still didn't have the ability to account for everything. He couldn't even begin to posit how he would perfectly account for all of these abilities properly.
    From just about 20 meters away, Leonel launched a dart, immediately catching the attention of the metal Invalid. Just as he hoped, it diverted its attention away from his sleeping friends. However, aside from that, the results were less than pleasing.
    The dart's tip completely shattered against the Invalids body. Its reactions were far too slow to dodge, and its agility was even worse, but it didn't seem to matter. There wasn't even a single scratch on its body.
    'бн Dammitбн'
    Leonel quickly loaded another dart, this time aiming for its eye as he continued to pedal. But the dart was shattered once more with a simple blink.
    'Did it blink just on reflex? Or are its eyes truly vulnerable?'
    There wasn't much time left to think. Leonel hopped off his bike once more, charging with his shoulder and ramming into the Invalid's chest.
    A grunt escaped Leonel's lips as the Invalid was sent tumbling backward.
    'Only 5'10, lean body type, yet weighs over 400 poundsбн'
    Realizing the ramifications of this Leonel retreated a few steps, nursing the numbness of his shoulder. He had thought that the defensive abilities of his flexible armor would protect him enough to do some damage, but it was very clear that this metal ability of this Invalid was several levels more durable.
    'I was wrong. I was using the specifications of a normal human to measure out his stats, but that's foolish. In order for a normal human to exert the kind of force it can while being at less than half the body weightбн'
    [Metal Invalid]
    [Strength: 1.02; Speed: 1.05; Agility: 1.00; Coordination: 0.50; Stamina: 1.05; Reactions: 0.50; Spirit: 0.00]
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. The adjusted stats were mind numbing. These were the stats a normal human of about 5'10 160 pounds would need to move around with the ability of this Invalid.
    If this Invalid had more time to adjust to its ability and reached an equilibrium point where it was no longer impeded by its heavy bodyбн Just what kind of monster would it be? S-grade? SSS-grade? Something beyond even that? He had simply never seen a stat above 0.99.
    How many other Invalids were there with this level of potential danger attached to them?
    The Invalid slowly picked itself off of the ground, its white pupils locking onto Leonel with a dull gaze.
    Before Leonel registered what was happening a long sharp blade suddenly appeared between his brows.
    Leonel's eyes widened. He pulled his head back as fast as he could, withstanding the whiplash with gritted teeth.
    A fine cut slit across his forehead, the breath of death kissing his cheek. If it wasn't for his obscene reaction time, his skull would have already been split into two.
    Leonel rolled across the ground, realizing that he had once more miscalculated. Not only was this Invalid covered in metal, but it could shape this metal as it pleased. In that moment, even with Leonel completely focused on it, its arm suddenly became a three meter long blade, nearly impaling him.
    'So fastбн At least 0.90. I have to adjust his base agility because of that. Dammit!'
    In Leonel's calculations, attack speed was factored into agility. If he corrected the Invalid's stats like this, then its adjusted agility for a normal human would be even more ridiculous.
    Leonel grunted, using his silver rod to block a second blade. But though the metals his rod was formed of managed to withstand the sharp edge, the weight was too much for him to stay on his feet.
    Leonel coughed violently as his back slammed into a half collapsed building.
    He didn't have the luxury of slowly recovering. Without pause, yet another blade tore through the air toward him.
    There was no time for Leonel to land back on the ground before it reached him. Thinking quickly, he hooked his rod into a broken window. He turned it hard, launching himself toward his left.
    The blade tore through the building's wall as though it was a piece of paper. It continued to follow through, chasing after Leonel while slicing through tough sheets of metal and stone with absolute ease.
    Leonel fell through the air quickly, morphing his silver rod back into a bike and pedalling away.
    'His blade gets thinner the further from his body it is. He isn't producing more metal, he's just diluting what he has to extend his range. Soбн'
    Leonel's gaze flashed, his thoughts spinning.
    His bike sped up.
    'There it is! Ten meters is his limit!'
    Leonel bike cut a hard turn, driving up the side of a tilted building and back toward the the Invalid with everything his thighs could muster and flipped back.
    Leonel soared through the air. There was no longer any room to maneuver. He fell in an arc aimed right for the Invalid.
    The Invalid's gaze showed no emotion. It simply brandished its second arm, sending out a blade that was impossible for Leonel to dodge.
    Leonel twisted his body, a sharp spike of pain ripping through his left shoulder as the blade went through him and his flexible armor with ease. However, his gaze remained pure and focused.
    His bike turned back into a rod he gripped tightly. Using it like a spear, with his only good remaining arm, he stabbed it toward the Invalid's eye.
    The pain was absolutely excruciating. As his body fell under gravity's influence, the blade tore further and further into his shoulder. There were several times in those split seconds that Leonel thought he would pass out.
    A sharp clink sounded as the Invalid closed its eyes. However, Leonel had already expected this. He wouldn't lay his life on the line for such a poor attempt at victory.
    Both of his feet landed on the free shoulder of the Invalid, the very one he had stretched the arm of to a ten meter length. In his hurry to attack Leonel who was streaking through the air, he had yet to retract it, just as expected. The Invalid's coordination was too low to complete too many fine motor tasks at once.
    Leonel roared, both of his legs slamming downward with all of his might.
    The Invalid fell over. Then with a sharp SNAP, its arm broke right at its shoulder joint.
    Leonel finally hit the ground, his own shoulder becoming a bloody mess as he rolled away, just managing to pull the Invalid's blade out.
    Slowly pushing himself up, Leonel's eyes remained focused. He had used advantage of the Invalid stretching itself too thin to break off one of its arms. But in the process, he did functionally lost an arm as well.
    The break in Leonel's flexible armor began to mend itself, sowing his wound shut at the same time. This was why he dared to take on such a terrible injury. Even if his left arm was now all but useless, blood loss wouldn't be a problem. In fact, due to the amount of pressure his armor was placing on his wound to keep it suppressed, in a pinch, it wouldn't be impossible to withstand some pain and use it.
    'He's bleeding.' Leonel's pupils constricted.
    He could see it. From the split in the Invalid's shoulder, a coarse, metal infused liquid was dripping. Leonel could even faintly see some pink muscle fibers.
    'So his inner organs aren't metal! If that's the case there are some other methods I can use. His coordination stat is too poor to extend blades from anywhere other than his arms. Now that I only have to worry about just oneбн'
    Leonel sprinted forward. As he did, he dropped one of his silver rod's three sections away, leaving it at a manageable length for his one arm. It took some teeth grinding to use his left arm to pin it in place while he did this, but he managed to push through.
    The Invalid struggled to stand, but despite losing an arm, it was still too heavy. In addition, with its poor coordination and relative strength, maneuvering with just a single arm was too difficult. To make matters worse, its only remaining arm was still in the form of the blade that pierced Leonel's shoulder.
    It had only barely managed to get to its knees when Leonel appeared before it, swinging down with all his might right onto its skull.
    The loud clang of metal bashing against metal sounded under the otherwise quiet night sky.
    Leonel's actions seemed foolish. It was impossible for his blunt weapon to kill the Invalid in this way, and with its metal skin, he couldn't injure it either. However, something shocking happened in the next moment.
    The Invalid stumbled. From its position on its knees, it wobbled as though dizzy. By the time it reoriented itself, another strike had come downward, bashing its head again.
    This time, unable to brace itself, its head rebounded against the concrete.
    It was exactly as Leonel expected. If this Invalid could bleed, if it had normal muscle fibers, its internal organs were likely normal. In such a case, what would happen to a soft brain rattling inside a metal box that was being hit so hard?
    Not only did the Invalid's metal body start ringing, but so did the rod in Leonel's hand. Leonel smartly didn't focus on striking down with as much force as possible anymore. Instead, he focused on finding the resonance frequency of the metal, making it store more and more energy.
    Leonel's senses locked onto the perfect striking strength. With his unmatched coordination, he swung his arm in perfect rhythm, neither using too much or too little power.
    By Leonel's tenth strike, his breathing was like hot coal to his body. The Invalid lay twitching on the ground, but Leonel madly continued. It was too strong. If he let up and let it recover, it would be him who died here.
    Unwittingly, in his fatigue, his mind settled into a primal near bestial state, his hidden imposing aura blooming forth and blanketing the area more and more with every swing.
    Leonel didn't even notice that blood began to ooze along with an unknown white substance from the Invalid's ears. The only so-called 'twitching' was of its fingers just barely scraping against the ground, the last movements of the dead.
    It wasn't until Leonel's rod slipped through the motes of lights it became and hit the concrete, almost shattering his wrist, did he awake from his stupor.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.75; Speed: 0.70 (+0.1); Agility: 0.80 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.81 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.10]
    The improvement was shocking. Maybe even more shocking was the fact that over 90% of it had come from this lone A-grade Invalid. The other six had hardly caused a shift.
    Leonel realized that his rating system was too flawed. If he couldn't accurately predict things in this way, it had little value. But in truth, this wasn't what was on Leonel's mind at this moment.
    He had killed again. But this killбн It was very different from the others. He had done it subconsciously, as though there was a beast lying in his mindбн as though his 'morality' was just fake posturing he used to absolve himself of responsibility.
    "Look at that, he really killed it. Damn, I knew I should have bet."
    "Too late. Who asked you to reject free money?"
    "You dodged a bullet and now you want to gloat? Weren't you the one just saying the kid was definitely dead?"
    "Shut up the two of you."
    Leonel frowned. He hadn't picked up these people before. They had definitely been waiting outside the 50 meter radius of him.
    In meditation, Leonel's senses were near perfect within 50 meters. In a state of wakefulness like he was now, 20 meters was his best. But, he still had vague inklings of the goings on up to 50 meters away. In addition, he could gain a very rough picture of a few hundred meters if the targets had large enough energy signatures, like the A-grade Invalids, for example.
    With how he had sharpened his battle experience in the Mayan temple, he would never lower his guard so easily. He had been constantly scanning the area in case other Invalids came to interrupt his fight. But he had never thought the ones to come would be other humans.
    "Hey, kid. We can make this easy on you. After all, we're fellow humans. You seem to have gotten some good stuff out of your Zone. That rod looks particularly useful. How about you share some with us and we'll let you go unharmed?"
    Leonel's face remained expressionless. His rod? This was about the only thing on his body that wasn't a reward from the Zone he entered. It seemed not everyone was able to see through treasure grades as easily as he could.
    But that inadvertently gave Leonel another thought. These treasures in his hand were gifted by higher level worlds. Obviously they didn't come from Silver Zones that one could take treasures out of or else they'd be higher grade. Didn't that mean these weapons were created? In that case, could Earth do the same?
    'I'll just shatter their knee caps with my darts and leave them to karma бк'
    Leonel went to reach for his dart and froze, a sharp pain flying through his body.
    He hadn't broken his wrist. Butбн His right shoulder was dislocated!
    Even as Leonel was thinking of running, a figure came crashing from tens of meters above him, landing to his side with a BOOM.

 Chapter 21: Tier 7 Black Zone

    "бн Aina?"
    Leonel suddenly remembered that before he sensed that seven A-grade Invalids, he had also caught the faint fluctuation of someone or something else. But he had lost track of it near immediately. Could that have been Aina?
    But if it was, should he feel bitter about the fact she hadn't raised a hand to help him to now?
    These thoughts didn't survive very long because though Aina tried to hide it, his senses were much too sharp. He saw that not only was she not in top form currently, but there were small specks of dirt, blood and grime in hard to find areas. There was no way Aina had rolled out of bed like that.
    Aina turned back and looked up at Leonel.
    "Why did you leave without a word? I already said that it's not safe to work alone."
    Hearing these words, Leonel instinctually frowned.
    "Are you sure it was you who said that? Or was it your servant Yuri?"
    Leonel was shocked by the own snappiness in his voice. But the mixture of resentment and fatigue left him unable to control his emotions very well.
    It really had been Yuri who said that her 'Miss Aina' wanted to work together. Those words had never come out of Aina's own mouth. Why should he care about something she couldn't even be bothered to say personally? He was more surprised she hadn't sent her little servant here instead.
    "Both." Aina replied with a glare. "You're our leader, you can't recklessly leave on your own. Even if you did it to protect us, don't you think your own safety is important too? If you fall, do you think they would be able to survive for long?!"
    These were the most words Leonel had ever heard Aina speak. However, even if he was stunned, he had far more pent up rage that suppressed it completely.
    Just as he wanted to respond, a snicker came from a few meters away.
    "It's fine if you two want to have a lover's quarrel, but do so after you meet my demands. That ax on your back looks pretty good girl. You can hand it over too."
    Aina's head snapped back to the three men.
    "Shut the hell up while I'm talking or you'll find yourselves split in half before you can regret it!"
    Leonel's gaze trembled at those words. He didn't even have time to register the shock he should have felt about them coming from Aina's mouth. Was this the same shy girl who ran away every time he confessed? The same quiet girl who spoke so few words before?
    "How can you keep treating human lives so casually?!"
    Aina's head snapped back toward Leonel. "Can't you tell that they want to kill you?! Do you really believe that they'll just back away after all of this?! They saw you kill an A-grade Invalid on your own, you think they want that kind of enemy getting away from them?! Why are you so naive?!"
    Leonel's eyes bulged, reddening in a torrent of uncontrollable anger.
    "Did you see that?" One of the leading man's partners pointed. "That's got to be one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She's probably one of those noble girls from a big familyбн I really want to taste one."
    It seemed that since Aina immediately faced Leonel when she fell by his side, and the fact her massive ax covered her back view, it wasn't until she turned to curse at them that they got a true look at her.
    "She really does look goodбн You got first dibs last time, though. It's my turn."
    "No way! She smells like a virgin, I can catch the whiff from here. She's much higher quality than the last one."
    The leader cut in, licking his lips. "Let's use the usual method to decide."
    "Fine! Rock-paper-scissors it is."
    "Ready бк."
    The night sky fell into a greater darkness. For a moment, it felt that even the moon above was eclipsed, the bloody, murderous intent suffocating even its beauty.
    The three men turned toward Leonel, terrified expressions on their faces.
    "I dare you to say another word about her."
    Leonel's eyes, already fueled by his other burning emotions, had almost completely turned a blood red. His whites were swarmed by snaking blood vessels, and his irises, once a gentle hazel, blackened completely.
    They simply didn't deserve to live.
    Leonel's muscles flexed so strongly that his dislocated shoulder snapped back into place. Ignoring the twanging pain, he reached to his back and pulled out three darts.
    What happened next could only be considered a blur. Three flying silver spears. Three cries for help. Three bloody holes. Three dead corpses.
    Even after the deed was done, Leonel was still livid.
    Aina sent a glance toward him, her emotions once more unreadable. She walked forward and took the treasures they had kept on their bodies and walked back while Leonel was still in a blinded rage.
    "Oofбн!"
    A tiny fist smashed against Leonel's chest, causing him to stumble backward and fall to the ground in his fatigue. If it wasn't for his flexible armor, his ribs would have probably broken.
    Leonel looked up to find Aina. He obviously knew that she was the one responsible, but he was too tired to do much about it. He simply met her gaze, huffing and puffing.
    "These are only D-grade, but they're still better than using your bike as a weapon like that."
    A pile of treasures fell from her small arms. There were three weapons, a shield, and three armors for various body parts. Of the armors, one was for the shins, another was a helmet, and the last was a chest protector. As for the weapons, there was a pike, a sword and finally a spear.
    Leonel didn't answer, getting the first good look at Aina he had in almost a year. Even when he came back from the Mayan temple, he hadn't had a chance before her arm was suddenly through Conrad's chest.
    Looking at her now, he still couldn't fuse her image with the devil of her that had been growing in his mind. Her features were too delicate, too beautiful, for her to be that same woman who all but ripped a man's heart out with her bare hands.
    Her body was fitted in a deep black militaristic outfit. There were many pockets and belts that surrounded her figure, still doing just as bad a job at hiding her curves as her dresses had. Her long black hair flowed loosely in the wind, disappearing into its folds from time to time.
    Somehow, her amber eyes seemed closer to gold than they had been before. Whether that was his imagination, or the objective reality, Leonel wasn't sure.
    Leonel smiled bitterly, realizing why he had avoided observing her closely over the past few days. His heartбн It still beat wildly.
    "бн Leave the rest of the things for the others. I'll take the spear and shieldбн
    "Also, thank you. I didn't consider enough that if there were A-grade Invalids around drawn in by the Zone opening, there would definitely be other Invalids as well."
    Aina's expression softened at these words, but she didn't say anything in response.
    "Let's head back." Leonel slowly picked himself off of the ground.
    "We can't." Aina suddenly said. "As you said, the Zone is pulling in Invalids. Until it's closed, getting out of this area will be difficult. Invalids have far sharper senses than we do in exchange for their weaker intelligence. They can sense a Zone from tens of miles away and will slowly converge."
    Leonel frowned. He most definitely wasn't in a state to be entering a Zone right now.
    "Here." Aina handed him something that looked like a pill. She had pulled it out from one of the many pockets she had.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been able to sense something with such dense energy despite Aina standing right in front of him. It seemed her pockets weren't normal.
    There wasn't any skepticism in Leonel's thoughts. He took the pill from her, careful not to touch her soft palm, and swallowed it.
    A fire lit down his throat, coursing through his body as through it was a racetrack.
    The wound on his left shoulder rapidly sealed, and even the soreness in his right vanished. Finally, his fatigue trickled away as though he had just taken a good nap.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.85 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.86 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.10]
    A flash of energy raged around Leonel's body. A barrier that had blocked him crumbled and he felt his spirit shoot upward.
    [Spirit: 0.11]
    It was a small change, but Leonel felt that it made a world of difference.
    Just what kind of pill was that? Almost all his stats had ticked up by 0.05. Leonel wasn't a fool. He knew this pill was more valuable than Aina let on. Even putting his life on the line against the metal Invalid wasn't as good.
    "Take care of yourself from now on." Aina said. "This pill only works once."
    "Thanks." Leonel said absentmindedly.
    "We can go now. Yuri will find this place after we've gone."
    "Shouldn't we wait for them, then? It's not far, we're already less than 50 meters from them."
    After he said this, Leonel mumbled under his breath. "I've already made the mistake of entering a Zone without enough numbers before."
    Aina's senses were sharper than he gave them credit for. Her brows raised in shock at these words unbeknownst to him.
    "No. The Zone is an S-grade Zone with a two person limit. I have a detection device that has 95% accuracy on Zones below the SS-grade."
    "Alright then." Leonel didn't question it. Aina and him were without a doubt the two most powerful of their group. It only made sense for them to enter.
    It didn't take long for the two to cross the 500-meter distance to the Zone, having not spoken a single word to the other.
    The density of Invalids had been growing, but with Leonel's senses, if they wanted to avoid them, it wasn't a problem. The target of the Invalids was never the Zone itself, but rather the humans it would attract. And, with their lack of intelligence, they didn't know to wait directly outside of the whirling blue portal.
    Unlike the portal that dragged them in so many months prior, this portal didn't have a suction effect. It sat hovering in the air silently, not disturbing the area at all.
    If he wasn't certain before, Leonel was now that there was something fundamentally different about the first Zone they were sent into. Maybe if he entered this time, the subtle up-ticks in his stats would continue instead of pausing like it had last time.
    After taking Aina's pill, Leonel realized something. That burning feelingбн It was exactly like the green vomit his dad made him drink everyday for 17 years. What if the slow increases in his stats wasn't because of the normal evolution of his body as Earth tended toward the Fourth Dimension, but was rather thanks to his father?
    Leonel and Aina simultaneously leaped from a perch high up, falling into the Zone that swirled shut behind them. In their absence, the Invalids lost track of the scent that had converged them and they began to slowly disperse.
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Merlin's Prophecy. Joan of Arc. Jeanne d'Arc]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: A]
    [Clear requirements: Aid Joan of Arc in repelling the English Army]
    [Side Quest: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [Reward: Unable to detect. Scope of system too limited]
    [It is recommended that subject, Leonel Morales, complete this quest with a minimum of seven other individuals. Subject's D-grade ability is too low]
    'Eight person limit?бн' Leonel shook his head.
    The voice of Leonel's wrist watch sounded in his mind, but he ignored it in the end. Compared to Aina's detection treasure, it was too inferior. There was no need to take any of it seriously. It couldn't even get the S-grade correct. Last time it had predicted the Mayan temple was an F-grade Zone until he ran into the Priest and it upped it to the C-grade.
    Plus, he didn't really have the luxury to think about it even if he wanted to.
    He and Aina appeared in a small village filled with dusted roads. But, considering the burning cottages and huts around them, not to mention the sound of screaming and clanking swords, it was under attack.
    There was only one thing Leonel did trust his wrist watch about. This was likely France and their quest most definitely had something to do with that legendary woman.

 Chapter 22: Village Attack

    [Hey guys, I know I only just started the powerstone bonus chapter system, but I'll have to retract it for now. I've been having some pain in my left pinkie finger for a while now, so I've had no choice but to switch to an ergonomic keyboard. My typing speed will plummet so if I give too many bonus chapters, it will eat into my reserves too quickly x). I'll bring the system back once I'm back up to speed. So for now, I will only upload 1 chapter a day]
    "Use this belt."
    Aina, who had all sorts of belts and pockets strapped across her body, somehow managed to pull out another one.
    Leonel accepted. Strapping things to the band of his sweatpants was really too inconvenient. He felt he was using more energy than he cared to admit making sure his things didn't fall out mid-battle.
    He buckled it around his waist, strapping the three rods of his bike to it along with his atlatl. After that, he strapped the meter or so tall silver box that contained his darts to his opposite waist. If he was still a normal human, it would impede his movements too much to place it there. But the current him found it much more convenient.
    To his surprise, the box actually shrunk. From only a couple inches from touching the ground, it shrunk to stop just above his knees. It also shortened its width, ending up with dimensions only about as thick as his thigh.
    "It's an ability of the belt." Aina explained simply, leaving it at that.
    Leonel nodded. He used the strap of the man who previously owned the spear to hold it to his back, then fitted the small round shield to his left arm.
    Sensing that Leonel was ready, Aina took off, knowing that Leonel was following closely behind.
    Leonel tacitly understood his role, this was why he put his spear away.
    [Aina Brazinger]
    [Strength: 0.99; Speed: 0.85; Agility: 0.80; Coordination: 0.95; Stamina: 0.95; Reactions: 0.97; Spirit: 0.06]
    Aina's stats hadn't changed much since he last looked. She was fundamentally a front line fighter. In that case, it was his responsibility as the only one among them adept at long ranged attacks to cover her.
    However, he was curious. Aina's Spirit was the highest he'd seen aside from his own. Even the Priest was only at 0.05. Maybe he was still underestimating her.
    The two ran through the small village in a line, just ten meters apart, their speed far beyond that of normal humans.
    Aina's ax was suddenly wrapped in a reddish-gold glow and floated from her back to her hand. She held it off to her side with two hands, sweeping out the moment she entered the range of an enemy.
    Her ax was like a blur, hacking Englishmen apart with ease.
    Blood and organs splattered through the air, but not a speck touched her as she flashed by, dodging them as though they hadn't dared approach her.
    Leonel could only sigh as he watched her silently. He always knew there was something special about Aina. There were simple context clues everywhere. Something as simple as her tanned skin could tell him this.
    Girls her age were obsessed with taking care of their skin. Some used tans for cosmetic reasons, but Aina's had always been a level beyond that, as though she spent her days toiling under the sun. Yet, she didn't appear any less elegant or noble, always appearing in a beautiful dress like a dainty goddess.
    His infatuation had always been due to small tidbits of her hidden truth like that. He had originally thought that her 'abrupt change' would lessen his feelings for her. But, even as she slaughtered mindlessly, he felt that he had always subconsciously known this was hidden within her.
    'Is this what I'm drawn toбн?'
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. With quick movements, he pulled a dart out from his side, hooking it into his atlatl and swinging his arm sidelong.
    He continued running as though nothing had happened. But, 100 meters away, an archer watched as Leonel's spear flew through a window, out a wall, and directly between his eyes. He hadn't even managed to climb to a proper vantage point, let alone knock an arrow.
    Leonel wasn't fond of killing. But, even in his aversion, those who would attack a village of innocents like this ranked at the top of those he would be willing to bloody his hands with.
    Aina and Leonel just numbered two. But in less than ten minutes, the state of the battle completely flipped. They dashed around the village like two specters, Aina manning the front and Leonel taking out everything out of her range.
    'Once again, this Zone seems mostly made up of normal humans.. This era should have gunpowder as well, but they probably won't appear on this battlefield..'
    The blaring horns of retreat sounded just as Leonel and Aina burst out of the village's boundary of broken wooden fences.
    A plain that should have held crops stood. But much of it was trampled to the ground under the hooves of swords and foot soldiers. With such conditions, the likelihood this village would survive through the winter even with Aina and Leonel's actions were near zero.
    Leonel's jaw clenched.
    The surviving village dwellers looked toward Aina and Leonel as though they were twin gods, none of them daring to approach.
    At that time, long after the English had disappeared over the horizon, the sound of hooves filled Leonel's ears. However, this time, it came from within the village. No, more accurately, it should have been another army approaching from the opposite exit and cutting through the village.
    As expected, Leonel soon found a group of armored men riding horses coming toward both he and Aina, causing the village members to part like the sea. Except, this time, they weren't Englishmen but were rather Frenchmen.
    The head knight looked down toward Aina and Leonel from his horse, a picture of confusion with a dash of arrogance.
    'Who are you?'
    The question was directed toward Leonel despite the massive ax in Aina's hand. It seemed this era still took their misogyny quite seriously.
    "бн I can't speak French." Aina said, looking toward Leonel.
    Leonel blinked. He had become so used to not being able to understand anyone after entering a Zone that he forgot he could actually speak French. Finally, it seemed his language studies would come in handy.
    Leonel thought for a minute. What was the best way to approach thisбн Suddenly, he smirked.
    "We're messengers of God. Me and my partner are guardians sent to protect Joan of Arc. Bring us to her immediately."
    The head knight frowned. He wanted to refute, but there was only one reason the English would retreat. It had to be related to these two.
    "I will take you to the General. Whether you can meet the Savior or not will be up to him. Bring them a horse!"
    Aina frowned seeing that there was just one horse. Plus, there was no way a horse would be capable of withstanding the weight of her ax.
    "It's fine, lead the way. We will run."
    The head knight's eyes widened. Humans keeping up with horses?
    "Theбн the path is longбн"
    Leonel only shrugged, slotting his atlatl into the belt Aina had given him.
    "The messengers of God aren't limited by such things."
    The heart of the knights trembled, each of them swallowing hard. Their encampment was 50 kilometers away. It would take a human a day to cover such a distance. A good runner would take about three to four hours. But, a horse could do it in less than two. If they could really keep upбн
    They soon received their answer.
    Aina and Leonel not only kept up with ease despite their heavy load. On top of this, they didn't seem to be too tired. Leonel could have taken out his bike to make the process even easier on himself, but it didn't sit right with him letting Aina run alone.
    When they could see the large tents of the encampment, Leonel's heart inadvertently thumped as something clicked in his mind.
    'My stamina just increased by 0.01бн'
    Leonel immediately confirmed that he really was correct. There was something more special about his father's concoctions than the latter had let on. In addition, this world really hadn't blocked it like the previous Zone had.
    'What's different about that one and this one? It also seems that whatever medicinal strength dad's brew had can be forced out quicker if I'm doing an activity conducive to itбн Should I start running sprints and lifting weight?'
    Leonel's strength wasn't bad, but his speed and agility were abysmal. The only reason they were passable currently was due to the Tier 5 Black treasure on his feet currently.
    Now that Leonel was paying very close attention to his body, he realized that the ticks up in his stats while he was fighting those A-grade Invalids had felt exactly like this. Why hadn't he realized there was a hidden strength churning in his body before?
    'I wonder why dad decided on this incredibly slow approachбн I'm sure he had a reasonбн'
    Leonel frowned, his mind going to the scar his father mentioned. Could it be related to that? He didn't really understand, though. There weren't really any important organs or vitals in that place.
    Leonel didn't get to think more about it as they finally made it to the encampment. He could immediately tell that Joan of Arc wouldn't be here. Encampments like this one held forward squads and battalions that placed pressure on the enemy in no-man's-land.
    According to history, Joan wasn't a fighter, she was rather a morale booster. The so-called 'Merlin' mentioned in the quest introduction was the man who prophesied of her arrival, but there was no real wizard or mage in history.
    This was all to say that Joan wouldn't be in such a small army. She would be with a larger number so her presence could have the greatest effect.
    'Joan of Arc was executed for cross dressing as a manбн' Leonel sighed, looking at Aina's clothing.
    Leonel found his education at Royal Blue Academy to be quite useful currently. When one chooses a language study, it isn't just about learning the dialect itself, but also about learning in the language. Leonel had thus learned many things about French history in these past few years.
    Leonel and Aina waited patiently as the head knight contacted who he needed to. Not long later, the two were being ushered into the largest center tent.
    Unsurprisingly, this 'general' didn't have much of a say in the matter either. He could only wait until the next opportunity to bring Aina and Leonel back to the Orleans stronghold.
    The next time their battalion would be allowed to return was a month. Until then, they could only continue fighting skirmishes and protecting the 100 kilometer radius of villages and towns.
    Following this, Aina and Leonel were taken to a tent of their own. Leonel already knew that Aina had a tent of her own that she'd likely bring out, so he didn't disagree. Plus, it wasn't particularly good for the two of them to separate.
    Surprisingly, though, Aina didn't immediately pull out her own living space and instead invited Leonel to sit on an animal skin left in the tent.
    "The mission specifics, I haven't had time to explain them properly to you yet, so I think I should do so now while we have a small bit of time."
    Leonel nodded, that was true.
    "The wrist watch is correct. This quest is about Joan of Arc. I'm not sure how this Merlin is related, but maybe you can fill in the blanks?"
    "Yes. Merlin was a bard and professed prophet from the 500's. He was known for a few of his connections and prophecies, namely his connection with King Arthur and his prophecy on Joan of Arc.
    "If I recall the quote directly, his prophecy wentбн 'France will be lost by a woman and saved by a virgin from the oak forests of Lorraine.'
    "The same usual vague prophecy that will eventually become true if enough years passбн" Leonel ended a bit skeptically.
    "I don't think we can take anything at surface value like that anymore." Aina said softly.
    "бн Maybe you're right."
    Aina shook her head. "The main quest and side quests are actually conflicting. And, the hidden quest is nearly impossible."
    "You can see hidden quests? Isn't the point that they'reбн hidden?"
    "My detection device can't, but I used an S-grade Information Ticket on it. I have a feeling that this quest may actually be of the SS-grade, which plummets the accuracy of my device to just 70%."
    Leonel's gaze narrowed in his seriousness. He had only completed a C-grade Zone before, but now he was in an SS-grade one? Where was the fairness?
    "There's also a possibility that it's a Unique Sub-Dimensional Zone."
    "Uniqueбн?"
    "They're Zones that are ungraded due to the fact the variables within follow the Chaos Theory."
    'Ohбн Just fantasticбн' Leonel thought to himself. Chaos Theory was a branch of mathematics that gave even him a headache whenever he thought about it. At least back when his mind worked within normal human limits, that is.
    "Either way, I will tell you what I know.
    "There are two side quests. One is to kill 1000 Englishmen. The second is to kill 10 000 Englishmen.
    "The main quest is toбн kill Joan of Arc."
    Leonel rubbed his forehead with a hand. As expected, this wasn't a simple matter at all.
    "The hidden quest is to recapture Paris."
    Leonel's lips twitched. She was the 'Boss' of a potentially SS-grade Zone, yet even she failed to recapture Paris in her lifetime. But, they were supposed to?

 Chapter 23: Leonels Body

    After giving Leonel this information, Aina, to the shock of Leonel, gently softened the wrinkles in the animal fur and laid on her side with her back facing him. She cradled the long arm of her ax in her bosom, the soft sounds of her steady breathing soon following.
    Leonel blinked for a moment. With will power he didn't know he had, he forced himself to look away from the elegant curve of her back andбн
    'Focus, focusбн You have a lot of work to do.'
    Leonel had spent all his life avoiding women. In middle school, he simply wasn't interested in them aside from the usual teasing a boy might have for the opposite sex at that age. And, when it came to high school and he finally realized that girls were more interesting than he thought, he caught sight of Aina. Noбн It was more accurate to say that she was the reason he found women were worth looking at.
    With how popular Leonel had been as a Five-Star Professional, the women who wanted him could form a line that wrapped around Earth. But his father's two mantras had always been respect and persistence. If he wanted to respect Aina, even if they weren't a couple, he had to at least do the bare minimum.
    Like this, Leonel, who had a friend like James who had probably lost count of the number of women he had been with, was a green virgin. Something like being in a tent barely four meters in every direction with the only woman who stirred his heart was too much stimulation for him to handle.
    To clear his mind, Leonel began to subconsciously circulate [Dimensional Cleanse]. Without having to worry about Invalids, he unleashed his talent completely. Those who could only be considered normal humans felt a comfortable and warm, yet strong wind picking up.
    The flaps of open tents whipped back and forth. The horses, in their makeshift stables, neighed, hot air billowing from their nostrils. It almost seemed like a gentle summer's day despite the fact they were deep into fall and quickly approaching winter.
    As for those who weren't normalбн
    Aina's eyes flashed open, an unconcealed shock hidden within. But she didn't turn back. Instead, she closed her eyes once more, feeling comforted. A light smile Leonel couldn't see played her delicate features.
    'The energy density in this place is severely lacking compared to the current Earthбн Is that the difference between a world that's begun its evolution and one that hasn't?'
    Despite the low energy density, Leonel's speed was still much faster than it had been when he was constantly worrying about Invalids. In fact, he felt that it was faster than it should have been.
    'My speed increased more than it should. That's probably related to my increase in spirit?'
    Eventually, Leonel's mind slipped away. By the time he awoke again, the sun had set and risen.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.85 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.87 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.12]
    Leonel's spirit had risen once more, this time by 0.1. He couldn't help but smile to himself. Before, three days had netted him some small improvement due to his forceful slowing of his own progress. But, now that he had unleashed his full potential, he gained such a large amount in a little over 12 hours. He was immensely satisfied.
    By now, Aina had awoken. Her back still faced to him, she was meditating as well. It seemed that she wasn't able to meditate and sleep like Leonel could. In addition, whatever technique it was that she was practicing, it relied entirely on the goings on of her own body. There was no energy entering her from the outside at all.
    Leonel noticed a tray of food in front of him and nodded a thanks Aina couldn't see. It wasn't nearly enough food for him, but he couldn't expect an encampment of a thousand men to have too much to spare.
    After wolfing down the porridge and sausage, Leonel set the tray aside, thinking of going hunting for his own food as he had in the Mayan temple. However, not wanting to leave Aina alone, he thought against it.
    'It's rare that I have time to calm myself and think. It's already been four days since I received those two booklets, yet I've yet to even open them.'
    If Montez heard Leonel's thoughts, he would go numb from shock.
    If Leonel had never opened the technique booklets, how was it that he had used both [Dimensional Cleanse] and [Call of the Wind]?!
    Unfortunately for Uncle Montez's sanity, Leonel's answer would be the same shrug he used after he chose [Dimensional Cleanse] over the other four Tier 9 Black techniques.
    When Leonel laid hands on the booklets, the things he could already sense with his eyes were magnified several times over. He got an instinctual feel for the existence of the technique without even opening its cover. That first night he spent with his friends after coming back, he found that he could simply use them with ease.
    When Leonel realized this, he refrained from reading through the techniques. He felt that in such a dangerous environment, since he could already use them without issue, there was no point in risking anything now to read them. After all, he couldn't meditate and rest if he had to read.
    Finally, Leonel pulled out [Dimensional Cleanse] and flipped open to the first page. The first thing he saw was a summary of the technique.
    'Dimensional Cleanse. This technique attunes the body to the shift in Dimensions, using Fourth Grade Force to wash Third Dimensional Constitutions and bring them closer to Perfection.'
    'Fourth Grade Force? Is that what it's called?'
    Leonel realized immediately how important this booklet was. He didn't have enough fundamental knowledge about his quickly changing world. The more he knew, the better system he could build in his mind. Then, there'd be less variables to contend with.
    'But this 'perfection', what is it that they mean by that?' Leonel kept reading.
    'The completion stages of this technique are graded from One Star Cleansed Body to Three Star Cleansed Body.
    'If you succeed in forging a One Star Cleansed Body, congratulations. You are one of the foremost talents in your world. Should you help your plane continue to evolve, you have the potential to form a Seventh Dimensional Constitution. You can be considered amongst the 1%.
    'If you succeed in forging a Two Star Cleansed Body, I praise you whole heartedly. You are a generational genius of your time, a God amongst men. Should your world continue to evolve, you have the potential to form an Eighth Dimensional Constitution. You can be consider the 1% of the 1%.
    'If you succeed in forging a Three Star Cleansed Body, I hope you'll remember the Karma we've forged on this day.'
    'So a Three Star Cleansed Body is this 'Perfection' they're talking about?'
    Leonel wasn't sure. Even the lowest completion of One Star received such high praise. If that was the case, then what sort of existence was the Three Star Cleansed Body.
    Shaking his head, Leonel could only continue.
    'Internal Sight.
    'Before any Force technique can be cultivated, Internal Sight must be mastered. If you do not have the talent to awaken this ability, I advise you to place down this technique. Once you advance to gain a Fourth Dimensional Constitution, you will naturally awaken Internal Sight and you can then choose another Force Technique.'
    'Internal Sight is a subconscious, instinctual grasp of the Force not only in the world around you, but within you as well. Without the ability to both sense this energy and also guide it into your body, the quest for Perfection is simply not in your destiny.
    'Force Nodes.'
    Leonel turned the page to find a diagram of the human body. From his biology studies, there were several points off from the humans of Earth. But the creator of this technique wrote diligent notes on how to adjust his diagrams to fit the evolutionary quirks of each world.
    'Force Nodes are the points in the body that generate and propagate Force. They do not exist naturally in Third Dimensional Constitutions. Instead, they must be formed either through the use of techniques such as this one, or naturally as a world evolves.
    'Cultivated Force Nodes are neither inferior or superior to Natural Force Nodes. The only exception to this are individuals able to forge Natural Force Nodes of a higher rank than their current world's Dimensional Plane. However, these individuals are incredibly rare and are usually World Spirit wielders, or the offspring of one.
    'In addition to this, the better the foundation technique, the better your Cultivated Force Nodes of the future will be. My Dimensional Cleanse technique can be considered among the best, so you are in luck.'
    Leonel refrained from rolling his eyes. You hadn't even finished the technique when you wrote this, how could you possibly know that? What a narcissistic creator.
    As Leonel continued to read, he found a few differences from his expectations.
    For one, due to the fact he hadn't formed even a single Force Node and was just cultivating Force by instinct, what he was doing now was 'Priming' his body. According to the creator, the longer one could 'Prime', the higher chance they had at forging a Three Star Cleansed Body.
    From what Leonel could see, he had already begun to pass the thresholds necessary to enter those completion realms. The creator described that state as 'Force infused into the brain'. Leonel had already naturally accomplished this.
    The second thing that subverted his expectations was that unlike those anime he and his dad liked to watch, the core of Force techniques wasn't at his lower belly, but was rather in his mind. The reason 'Force infused into the brain' was so important was because this was where the Stars would form. The more resilient the mind, the higher chance there was at success.
    The third thing was that Leonel felt he could already form Two Stars without issue. But the fact he could exposed to him just how difficult it was to form Three. He felt that it was an astronomical distance away despite the fact he had reached the Two Star threshold so easily.
    The fourth thing Leonel began to contemplate was on just what his ability truly was, thenбн According to the description of Internal Sight, it matched the way he had used his ability all along.
    Could it be he had mistaken Internal Sight for his ability? If that was the case, then what was his actual ability, then? It couldn't be that his ability was something everyone would receive eventuallyбн right?
    Leonel could only set these thoughts aside. The more he cultivated [Dimensional Cleanse], the stronger his ability would become. By then, he'd know the truth. If it was more potent, he'd be able to get a rid on it much easier.
    'Alright, there are multiple options from where to start forming Force Nodes. If I want to gather enough Force to form the first Star, I need three Nodes. Six Nodes for two. And nine Nodes for the third and final. But, it's very difficult for a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional body to withstand that many nodes even if my brain can withstand Two Stars already.
    'The most dangerous starting position is the brain stemбн the easiest is the calf. However, starting at the calf will make your Nodes about a tenth the size of their full potential. The further the starting position from the brain, the longer the path you need to forge, and thus the less energy you can spend on widening your Node.
    'The closer to the brain you start, the less energy you need to spend on the path, and the more you can spend on widening your Node. The wider the starting Node, the more Force it can withstand. Since your first Node acts as a pathway to your second Node, the same principle applies, so the closer the second Node is to it, and the larger that first Node isбн the larger the second will beбн
    'In that case, what I need to focus on is reaching saturation in my Priming stage. After this, I'll form my first Node at my brain stem!'
    Like this, three weeks passed and Leonel's brain had finally reached its full capacity.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.85 (+0.1); Coordination: 0.99; Stamina: 0.87 (+0.05); Reactions: 0.99; Spirit: 0.30]

 Chapter 24: Cleanse

    Leonel hadn't moved in weeks. He wasn't even consciously aware of the fact that Aina had left and come back several times already. Without any strong threats around him, and subconsciously putting his trust in her, he went all out.
    Due to the strong winds and comfort that emitted from his tent, the Frenchmen hadn't dared to approach. By now, they were all convinced that he was an envoy of God.
    Aina entered the tent once more. But this time, she frowned deeply seeing his current state.
    Leonel's lips were a deep shade of blue, his body quaking with every passing second. The whirlwind of Force surging toward him was more than ten times greater than it had been on the first day. Whether that was due to the increase in his Spirit, or due to the fact he had a deeper understanding of the technique after actually reading it, it was impossible to tell.
    Ghastly blue-green veins ran across Leonel's neck and forehead. Beads of sweat rolled down his body, mixing in with the foul odor it was giving off. If Leonel knew that Aina had continuously dealt with his body odor without a complaint for so many weeks, who knew how he'd feel.
    If one peered into Leonel's brain stem, it would be possible to see a growing seed of concentrated Force. There was no simple way to complete this process. Leonel had to carve out his own flesh while simultaneously using Force to heal himself.
    This was why this step was so dangerous. The brain stem was arguably the most important part of the brain. If it was ever damaged, death was basically guaranteed. Yet, Leonel had to actively do exactly that to carve out a Node for himself.
    The only way this was possible was due to the special characteristic of [Dimensional Cleanse]. Not every Force technique would carve out Nodes in the same places, and most directly avoided such dangerous areas. It was precisely because the creator of this technique was so confident in his methods that he dared pen down this technique.
    'Use your senses to perfectly memorize the structure of cells in your brain stemбн reorganizeбн stimulate their recreationбн destroy the originalбн repeatбн'
    It took hundreds of years of research before humans of Earth were able to use stem cells to reproduce brain cells. In fact, it was still in its infant stages even now. Yet, this technique was able to use Force to surpass anything Earth was capable of.
    However, it was still up to Leonel in the end to repeat this process countless times. It was simply impossible for him to do this for every one of the millions of cells in his brain stem. That said, a normal Node formed of Fourth Grade Force would barely be visible to the naked eye and could have its size measured in cubic micrometers.
    The issue Leonel faced was that his Node was not normal. And, though a normal Node would only take up the space of about 10 cells at most, the true difficultly came in properly restructuring everything so that your mind could continue to function properly.
    That alone was already difficultбн But Leonel had to replace and reorganize not just 10 cellsбн But 100!
    On any other day, a mere paper cut could slice across far more than 100 human cells with ease. But to Leonel, that seemingly small number was the barrier between him and death.
    He knew he could have stopped at 10, that he could have stopped at 20, even at 50бн These numbers were already far more than a normal person could match. And, it should also be considered that [Dimensional Cleanse] wasn't a normal technique to begin with, another technique might have their user form a Node of five cells at most!
    But, Leonel knew that if he stopped, he would be cheating himself. What had he wasted so much time Priming himself for if he wasn't going to tap into his full potential? If he stopped now, then he might as well have formed his first Node back when his Spirit was at 0.12.
    Blood began to leak from Leonel's nose. It was such a deep crimson that it almost appeared black.
    The calculations running through Leonel's mind were astronomical. Just how many other neurons did 100 brain stem cells connect to? How many spinal connections? How many smooth muscle connections? How many organs did they control?
    Rerouting his whole body like this put immense pressure on his mind. He just wanted to sleep, to alleviate that pain racking his body, but he knew he couldn't.
    'Persistenceбн'
    His back straightened. He realized now that the reason he fought those seven A-grade Invalids wasn't because of some random excuse, it was because of something his father had ingrained in his body since he was young.
    Persist.
    Aina stood at the doorway, her teeth biting down hard on her soft lips.
    'He's forming his first Node now? How is that possible? He should at the very least be on his fifth or sixthбн Is his high coordination and reaction purely due to his ability then? What kind of ability is that?'
    Aina obviously didn't have access to the same stats Leonel self-created. But, she had a natural ability to read people that came from years of training and experience. From her experience, it was simply impossible to have such high 'base stats' without first forging Nodes. She herself was already working on her seventh.
    In fact, the base strength she displayed wasn't her full strength. Because she rarely used her Force, the stats Leonel had of her were actually wrong. After all, he can only measure what he can see, and he had too little knowledge of Force before.
    The only point that stood now, however, was the fact Leonel's ability, whatever it was, was actually so greatбн
    Suddenly, a roar escaped Leonel's lips, a shower of blood bursting from the pores of his body.
    In the next moment, the sound of something that almost resembled a massive flame being lit swept through. Concentric circles of rippling force winds and dust billowed around him, shooting the tent he sat into the sky.
    Leonel opened his eyes with a flash, their hazel burning with a deep blue light that flickered and disappeared a moment later.
    He was a complete mess. His body was coated in blood from head to toe. In fact, the his general vicinity looked as though a concentrated rain of blood had fallen, splattering around gruesomely.
    However, if one looked closely, one could see that this wasn't normal blood. It had an impure, brownish-black quality to it that released a terrible smell. At that moment, despite his looks, Leonel felt more alive than he ever had.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.85 (+0.1); Coordination: 1.00; Stamina: 0.87 (+0.05); Reactions: 1.00; Spirit: 0.30]
    That was it. He had crossed the limits the human body could theoretically endure!
    His other stats hadn't improved, but this made sense. After all, it was a Node for his brain, not his body. They only had minor ticks up. But, Leonel knew that if he activated the Force in his first Node, his stats would increase by another margin.
    'бн Seems I've missed something importantбн' Leonel reprimanded himself.
    "You stink." Aina's soothing voice appeared above Leonel sitting form.
    Leonel was speechless. But, looking down at himself and taking a whiff, even he could only cringe.
    Sweeping out his senses, he quickly found the nearest water source.
    "Come with me." Leonel said.
    Aina raised an eyebrow.
    Leonel grinned. "It's alright. I'm okay with you taking advantage of me."
    It was Aina's turn to be speechless. In the end she turned and blushed, not meeting Leonel's eyes.
    At that moment, Leonel couldn't hide the confusion in his heart. He had thought that Aina's bashful personality was all just an act, not different from how Yuri pretended to be the kind, considerate friend for so many years. But what was this?
    "Leaving you here doesn't sit well with me. Come on." Leonel dashed away.
    After seeing that he wasn't scrutinizing her anymore, Aina quickly followed. By the time she caught up, Leonel was already stripping by a riverside. Flustered, she could only find a tree to sit behind in the opposite direction.
    Aina's militaristic outfit didn't have any defensive abilities. All it had were its convenient pockets that allowed her to store many things like miniature spatial devices, and the real reason she chose it: a self-cleaning function.
    She liked to stay clean, but she was also practical. Finding a place to bathe in a Zone or even on Earth right now was near impossible. So though she missed the feeling of water gliding across her soft skin, she gave it up.
    "Do you think they'll be alright without us?"
    Leonel's voice traveled to Aina's as he alternated between scrubbing himself and his clothes.
    "They'll be fineбн" Aina said softly. "бн Yuri knows what to do. Plus, only the Beginner Zone works on the same timeline. The Zone we're in currently is ten to one. Not even three days have passed to them yet."
    "Oh. I didn't know that." Leonel muttered.
    Aina always seemed to speak to him as if the things she was saying were obvious. Did she not realize that he had no idea what she was talking about?
    Leonel frowned. 'Uncle Montez said that because Earth had so much potential, there were several other worlds looking to get a piece of the pieбн His words seemed to imply that they had started doing this even before the Metamorphosis beganбн Could Aina's family be related to this?'
    "Did you really only just light your first Node?"
    After several moments of silence, Aina's sweet voice traveled to his ears again.
    "You know about Nodes?" Leonel asked, surprised.
    "Did you think you were the only one?" Leonel could almost hear the light smile through Aina's voice. He could barely hold back his desire to see it.
    "Sort ofбн I had to do a lot to get my hands on the method. I didn't think others were already aware."
    Leonel wasn't lying. He only got [Dimensional Cleanse] because he was the first to clear a Zone, and as such, he received a Tier 9 Black reward. There could only be one of him, right?
    But, it seemed he forgot to consider that a Force technique didn't have to be such high grade. And, also, from Uncle Montez's words, maybe others had gotten their hands on treasures through other means. Maybe that was why Aina seemed to have more treasures on hand than she should.
    "I did just light my first one." Leonel eventually answered. "I chose my brain stem as my first location, so it was pretty dangerous. I should have prepared some more."
    Aina froze. "What did you just say?"
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "That I chose my brain бк"
    "Are you insane?!"
    "Uhбн" How was he supposed to respond to that? "бн Maybe?"
    "Maybe?! Why didn't you just pick a spot on your legs?! You can only choose nine locations at best, and most can't even form a second. Recklessly choosing your brain now is not only dangerous, but if you reach a bottleneck in your potential, your bodily strength will always be substandard!"
    Leonel could hear Aina almost huffing and puffing. It seemed the Aina who could curse out a grown man three times her size had come out. He was too angry to see it that night, but he was sure it was an adorable sight.
    "I knew I should have woken you upбн" Aina bit her lip again.
    "You shouldn't do that, you'll scar your lip."
    Aina was shocked awake from her own rant, finding Leonel standing before her with wet, dripping hair. It was fine if he wanted to come, but did he really have to do it shirtless?
    "бн You don't understand. The bottlenecks people face get worse and worse with every step. Unless you're lucky enough to be born with a Lineage Factor that gives you Natural Force Nodes, reaching past the third Node is impossible. You would need Force Node medicines, but Earth just can't produce those now."
    Leonel smiled. "You don't have to worry about me."
    It was a smile he had practiced in the front of the mirror so many times, the very smile he prepared just for this one person.
    Seeing Aina completely disarmed, he felt a swelling of satisfaction in his heart.
    'Whoever that old fart is who wrote [Dimensional Cleanse] really is a liar. No difference between Cultivated and Natural Force Nodes my ass. You could have at least mentioned this in a footnote you ass.'
    After recovering, Aina's expression turned serious once more.
    "It's good that you know that I'm worrying. In that case, be less reckless and choose your right arm for your next Node. It will improve your throwing abilities by a large margin."
    Leonel nodded innocently like an obedient child, but internally he had no intention of listening.
    After awakening his first Node, Leonel gained a greater grasp of just what his ability was. If he had to sum it up in one word it wasбн Calculation.
    In the simplest terms, his mind was like a supercomputer. The reason why he had almost mistaken Internal Sight for his ability was precisely because of his mind's ability to make use of that information far better than anyone else would be able to.
    It was the reason he could tell the difference between a loaded and unloaded gun by its weight. It was the reason he could assign 'stats' just by glancing at a person's body. And it was the reason he was certain that there was a perfect configuration of Nodes that would maximize his body's potential.
    He had accidentally stumbled into the perfect start with his brain stem and he didn't plan on taking the second until he had gathered enough knowledge to find the next perfect step.
    That said, he had already eliminated his arms, legs, and most of his chest. He was certain that the perfect second Node was along his spine somewhere, he just had to run a few more calculations to find that flawless location.
    As for Aina's worries. Wellбн What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
    'Aina seems to be preparing to form her seventh Force Node. Her Node locations actually have 93% compatibility with her, I didn't expect that. Oh!'
    "What are you doing?" Aina frowned as she gazed at Leonel. She felt for a moment that she had been stripped bare in front of him, but she couldn't find a logical reason why. Leonel's spirit was just too far above hers. Had he not been standing right in front of her, she might not have even noticed.
    Leonel snapped out of his thoughts. He had just seen something that explained to him why it was Aina seemed to cultivate without pulling in Force Energy. She was actually practicing a technique aside from a Force technique, one that applied particular pressure on her blood.
    However, Leonel knew instinctually he couldn't practice this technique. Only those with Aina's blood couldбн
    'Just what's her story exactlyбн?'
    "Sorry, just committing your words to memory!" Leonel saluted like a soldier.
    "Pft бк" Aina laughed beside herself. It was such a dazzling scene that Leonel stood completely frozen in time.
    'бн I bet she didn't have to practice that in front of a mirrorбн'
    Just then, the sounds of war horns reached their ears.
    Sending a glance toward each other, they dashed back to the war camp.

 Chapter 25: Conscience

    As he ran, Leonel squeezed his still wet flexible armor on. Its black fabric flexed, clinging tightly to his body. Luckily, he hadn't been foolish enough to leave his weapons behind. No matter how uneventful the last month had been, Leonel would never forget that he was in the middle of a Sub-Dimensional Zone.
    The idea of time dilation sounded great. Thanks to Zones, Leonel would be able to experience more life than his lifespan dictated, and even train faster than he should. But Zones were not a joke. If the main quest couldn't be accomplished, they'd be stuck here to their deaths. Only then would the Zone open once more to allow another to try.
    A Zone wasn't a place that could be taken casually. If there was anything Leonel had learned in the Mayan temple, it was that.
    The two, Leonel and Aina, hadn't traveled more than a kilometer from the campsite. It took them less than two minutes to return, finding the group of thousand men quickly organizing.
    Leonel got a read on the situation quickly. It seemed that a scout had caught wind of an approaching English army, bearing down on Orleans.
    From what Leonel knew, Orleans was one of the first if not the very first battle Joan of Arc had fought in and won. It was an important city on the edge of what remained of French territory and what was once French territory but now English territory. Back then, or what was considered right now, it was unprecedented and skyrocketed her fame upward.
    However, with such a critical loss, and to a woman no less, it wasn't a surprise that the English would try and take it back as soon as possible. It was just bad luck that this encampment happened to be in their way.
    The smart decision was to retreat and send a messenger ahead to warn Joan and Orleans. The encampment had likely already done the latter, but for some reason they weren't doing the first.
    "If we retreat now, the common people are finished. We must hold out for as long as we can."
    Leonel's gaze flickered. Ultimately, knights were still nobles. Though France had run into a problem of lacking enough land to consecrate these knights properly during this era, this fact still remained. How rare was it for a noble to care about the common people in this time?
    'I've never heard of this General Franck before, likely because his name had been washed out of history maybe due to this very act here. But his actions are commendableбн'
    Leonel looked toward Aina. "I'm going to help them. You're a front line fighter so you'll be at too much risk if you jump into such a lopsided fight, just stay next to me."
    Leonel was well aware that both he and Aina had surpassed the limit of humans, but they weren't gods. They still got tired, they could still get injured, and they were more than susceptible to overwhelming numbers.
    Aina looked toward Leonel blankly for a moment before shaking her head.
    "If you don't want me to die, then you'll just have to put a bit of extra effort into covering for me."
    Her voice still carried the same gentleness, but it had an unyielding command to it. Leonel felt that her will was far stronger than his own.
    Leonel closed his eyes. If they were open, it would be possible to see a deep flicker within them.
    "General Franck. Do you have any siege engineers with you? Or any who have experience working with them?"
    "Wellбн yes. We need a few to properly fortify our encampment."
    "Good. Give them to me and a few men to chop down some wood. You build your defenses."
    Quite frankly, the general was much too scared of Leonel to refuse.
    When the engineers heard of Leonel's asks, they looked at him weirdly. The request wasn't difficult at all. In fact, it was ridiculously easy. They could easily complete the three of them Leonel asked for by the time the Englishmen were in range.
    "After you finish chopping down the trees the engineers need, continue and build at least 50 Cheval de Frise afterwardбн"
    "Cheval de frise?"
    Leonel patted his forehead, had such a thing not been invented yet? Without the proper experience, finishing 50 like he hoped would be impossible. Unlessбн
    'Simplify the designбн' Leonel's mind churned. In a flash, he had an idea that could work.
    Walking to the sparse forest of trees that surrounded a part of the river he had bathed in, he borrowed an ax and cut down a thin tree with a diameter no larger than about eight inches.
    He worked swiftly, leading by example.
    He separated the length of the tree into portions about a meter and a half long. Then, cut those portions widthwise into fourths. In the end, from a single tree, he managed to get eight total meter and a half length pieces.
    Brandishing the ax, his began to chip away at both ends of these pieces. Eventually, they ended up looking like double headed spears, albeit much thicker than a spear should be.
    "A Cheval de Frise is a device capable of nullifying calvary. It stops the charging of horses by placing deadly barriers in their path. Even if the calvary men are aware of their danger and avoid them, it will slow down their charge and disrupt their formation. If they aren't aware of them, the result will be even more devastating.
    "I want you to do exactly as I did after you've prepared what the engineers need. Thenбн"
    Leonel slammed three of the double ended spears he created into the soil at an angle, just about a foot or so apart.
    "Press them into the ground just like this in sets of three. Work in lines that cover the battle in a systematic way. Between every set of three, leave about two meters of space. And lay out a single line to extend about 100 meters.
    "When you finish laying a line of 100 meters, move back about five meters and begin a new line, but don't place them in the same positions as the first line, or else the enemy can just charge straight through the gaps. Make it so that even if an enemy makes it past, they must swerve and slow themselves down continuously.
    "Do you understand?"
    The warriors nodded fervently, jetting off to their work. They were a bit skeptical of how just laying down spikes could stop a calvary, but much like their general, they were too scared to refute.
    Against Leonel's expectations, General Franck actually committed a hundred men to Leonel's cause. Leonel hadn't thought he'd receive such support, so he had asked for very little. But he had underestimated their religious fanaticism. If they weren't like this, why else would they trust a small village girl like Joan with their lives?
    By the time Leonel's sharp gaze could see the Englishmen over the horizon, marching under the high sunlight in perfect rectangular formations, the battlefield was already set.
    'It's as perfect as it can be.' Leonel thought to himself. 'The river to our back only has one shallow enough point to cross within tens of miles, they have no choice but to come through hereбн The encampment itself was already chosen to be on a small hill to act as a temporary fortressбн And everything is in my line of sightбн'
    Leonel climbed to the top of a set of a wooden staircases.
    This was the device he had asked the siege engineers to build. It was nothing but a simple elevated platform. From afar it looked like a staircase that led nowhere.
    It could be considered to be a simplified siege tower. The differences lied in the fact that there were no castle walls to scale here and it was a great deal shorter than what it would usually be. But, for Leonel's purposes, this height was enough, especially with the help of the elevated position of the encampment.
    All around the destinationless staircase, barrels of crudely made spears lied. Leonel knew that he could work faster to complete what he had asked of the Frenchmen, but he had spent all of this time forming thousands of spears. He hadn't had the luxury of helping them.
    A small encampment like this one wouldn't carry so many weapons with them. He could only make them on his own.
    When he reached the top, there was only a single barrel filled with about a hundred. Unfortunately, this was all he could fit without impeding his throwing motion. The space was quite small, only about a meter and a half in width and two in length, so he had to make do.
    He picked up a crude wooden spear, weighing it in his hands.
    A sigh escaped his lips. Only he would be mad enough to try and throw such a poorly weighted weapon. But there hadn't been time to build any stabilizers for them. He could only rely on his ability.
    The Englishmen stopped in the distance. There was clear disdain on their faces when they noticed the numbers before them. There were 20 000 of them, yet the enemy wanted to face them with a measly 1000?
    The spikes pierced into the ground were incredibly conspicuous, but what did little branches in the ground mean to their heavy calvary?
    "FORM UP!"
    The roar brought an eerie silence to the Frenchmen. They gripped their weapons and shields tightly to the point their knuckles went white beneath their armor.
    And that was when it happened.
    A small woman of beauty beyond words leaped through the skies and landed before them all with her back facing them. Her demeanor was almost lackadaisical, a massive ax dragging across the ground to her side.
    "It seems we're in luck, men. That Whore who claims to be of God is right before us. Slay her here and take revenge for our fallen brothers!"
    "Revenge for our fallen brothers!!" The roar was deafening.
    In this era, women didn't even touch the battlefield, let alone taking the vanguard alone. Coupling that with the poor information circulation ability of this era, and it was no wonder they mistook Aina for Joan.
    Unfortunately, this misunderstanding gave the enemy a morale boost Leonel hadn't accounted for.
    'I'm still too inexperiencedбн' Leonel's gaze narrowed.
    "CHARGE! FOR OUR BROTHERS!"
    'бн However, as punishment for saying such words about Ainaбн' Leonel's grip tightened.
    But then, it suddenly loosened. 'бн Just what am I thinking?'
    Leonel shook his head furiously. Back then, when those three bastards said those words, Leonel saw red. Before he even knew what was happening, they had died.
    Afterward, he tried to justify it to himself. They had alluded to all the women they had hurt before, they deserved itбн right? It was fine if he punished them.
    But that was just an excuse. What was that feeling he had had just now? That feeling that told him he had the right to execute people as he saw fit for little more than their words and idealsбн
    'I'm losing my damn mind, what's wrong with meбн'
    Leonel grit his teeth. A part of him had already decided. There was simply no place in this world for his soft heart. In a lot of ways, the words of those men that night had enlightened him to that fact.
    However, he refused to lose himself to the madness of this world. He felt that the end result of killing was just as important as the reason for it was. He wanted to be able to look himself in the mirror one day and justify his actions, to be able to feel that his heart could still remain as light as a feather.
    The Englishmen weren't bad people. They were fighting for their country. They were fighting for their brothers.
    Some of them committed horrible deeds. They looted villages, raped women, took mothers from their children and children from their parents. But, it remained that this was only some of them.
    Leonel wasn't a God. He wasn't judge, jury and executioner, nor could his fragile mind state withstand such a burden.
    However, what he could do was work within the confines of his own limits. As long as he didn't overreachбн as long as he maintained his respect for his opponentsбн he could slowly climb over this hurdle.
    Leonel took a deep breath as the horses and men charged, kicking up dust clouds.
    'Today, I'll kill you not for the words you've said, but because you are the general of my enemy.'
    Leonel closed his eyes, feeling every detail of the battlefield perfectly projected into his mind.
    He lifted his spear above his shoulder, setting his feet.
    '50 metersбн 40бн 30бн 20бн'
    Leonel's eyes flashed open when the general was just a few strides of his horse from the first line of spikes. His timing was perfect.
    A low grunt escaped his lips, an unimpeded strength gushing through his body and leaving from his fingertip.
    The spear shot across the skies. The force was so strong that any unbalanced weight remained unable to exert its presence, leaving it flying perfectly straight and through the slit in the helmet of the enemy general.
    Even as the first blood was reaped, the calvary smashed into the first line of spikes, the screams of horses having the chests pierced and legs broken rang through the battlefield.
    English calvary men flipped through the air, completely astonished. But, before they could have a chance to regain their bearings, their fellow charging warriors bore down on them from behind, turning the front line into a complete mess not even 50 meters from the Frenchmen's own.
    Unfortunately for the English, their start only got worse. Because, appearing like a deathly ghost, Aina crossed the 50 meter distance between them in a flash, brandishing her ax toward those very same unorganized Englishmen.
    Without a leader, they fell into a bloody mess.

 Chapter 26: Somethings Wrong (1)

    Aina's agility couldn't be matched by these normal soldiers. A single sweep of her ax took five lives at a minimum, sometimes as much as ten.
    With Leonel's support to her back, she entered the fray without hesitation. She was maybe a little too reckless. Leonel could only watch on with a cold sweat matting his back, throwing out as many spears as he could as quickly as he could.
    Reaching over toward his barrel, Leonel realized that he had run out. He could only sprint back down and grab another, carrying it up with him.
    'This isn't good. The plan is working almost too wellбн'
    Leonel threw out another spear, reaping yet another life.
    A striking problem was becoming obvious to him. The Englishmen's first line had been disrupted so thoroughly that even the most forward of them hadn't crossed the third line of defense yet.
    Because of that, Aina, who had already been their target from the beginning, wasn't receiving the support of the Frenchmen who stood in a daze as though they were watching the work of gods.
    Because of the spikes, charging forward now would disrupt their advantage. It was best if they waited at the end of the last line of defense to begin their own slaughter. But since Leonel's trap and Aina's prowess was too overpowering, the enemy was nowhere near reaching that goal.
    This might sound like a good thing, but Leonel's calculative mind saw that it most definitely wasn't. The way things were going now, Aina would be under too much pressure. He only had one arm to throw with, it was impossible for him to cover her perfectly. Though his high coordination gained him an ambidextrous ability, he needed his left arm to use his shield.
    'Dammit.'
    "ARCHERS, TAKE DOWN THAT MAN!"
    By now, the Englishmen had noticed Leonel's impact on the battle. They could scarcely believe that a man could so accurately throw a spear, and such low quality ones at that. But, they could only accept what was before them.
    Archers, by their very nature, were located near the back of an army. As such, they were the least affected by the mess at their front line.
    Unfortunately for the Englishmen, trying to scream over the sounds of a battlefield as a normal human was impossible. Medieval armies usually relied on a combination of horn and flag sequences to give orders, but with their general gone, this was easier said than done.
    By the time the second in command finally got hold of the situation and sent down the orders for the appropriate signal, their entire front line was unrecognizable. A ghastly scene of bisected bodies, pools of blood and organs, and men with tears in their eyes painted a terrible hell.
    "Aina! Retreat!"
    Unlike the Englishmen, Leonel's body was no longer normal. His voice carried a weight that theirs couldn't.
    But, to Leonel's shock, Aina didn't listen.
    Leonel's lip twitched. She was always talking about his recklessness, but what was this?
    'Those long bowmen have an effective range of 200 meters at best. There's only about 150 meters between me and them, though. They can definitely hit me from here. Dammit, Ainaбн'
    Leonel dashed down the siege tower, grabbing another barrel of spears and hoisting it up.
    Just then a rain of arrows fell toward his direction, but he was already prepared.
    Leonel had noticed before that Aina's judgement was a bit off. The spear on his back was in fact of the D-grade. But, this small shield was a C-grade treasure with just one abilityбн
    Leonel raised the shield strapped to his left arm above his head. An instant later, its size increased tenfold, forming a massive umbrella in the skies.
    The clink of the metallic arrows ricocheted off the shield, not leaving even the slightest dent. How could weapons of the 15th century damage a C-grade treasure?
    Leonel's mind turned rapidly. In that moment, with every clink of an arrow that rebounded from his shield, he drew a picture in his mindбн Its trajectory, its speed, its accelerationбн
    Every arrow was projected into his mind, drawing a perfect line from its contact point to where the bowman who let it loose was.
    Leonel locked onto a target. Two fingers reached down toward his right, plucking a dart out of his metal container.
    His shield still above his head, he flicked his fingers upward, causing the dart to spin for a brief moment to his side as he ripped his atlatl from his waist.
    In perfect synchronization, the dart's spin was halted by the appearance of the atlatl, slotting into place as though finding its perfect home.
    Leonel's left arm swung to the side, swatting the last of the arrows away with his shield. In the same instant, his right arm whipped forward, using the swinging momentum of his left to its advantage to send a silver dart streaking through the air at over 200 kilometers an hour.
    The targeted bowman never stood a chance. He was the best of his squad, Leonel could tell by the power behind his arrow. But on this day, he fell.
    The pattern continued. Leonel alternated between protecting Aina's back with crude spears and taking out the bowman with his atlatl. He knew that he didn't have enough darts to take out all the bowman, but he didn't have a choice.
    'Come onбн Retreatбн Retreat already!' Leonel gritted his teeth.
    Suddenly, he felt the siege tower beneath him snap under another rain of arrows.
    Leonel leaped down before it could tilt to the side. He had already expected this to happen. There were only so many arrow volleys a structure they scrambled to build could take. Butбн This was why Leonel had had three built.
    Leonel streaked across the battlefield, making his way to the location of the next siege tower. Even as he used inhuman strength to lift it from its side, the Frenchmen and Englishmen finally clashed.
    However, Leonel found it hard to settle his heart. Aina had pretended not to hear him and she was even deeper into Englishmen territory now. Had it not been for them focusing their arrows on him, he didn't know if it would be possible to protect her.
    With a final roar, Leonel stood the siege tower upright, pulling up one of the barrels he had left in this location up with him.
    'Dammit, what is she thinking?'
    The good news was that even if the Englishmen wanted to ignore him from now on and target Aina, they would only be targeting their own men. The bad news was that this was only because Aina had traveled so deeply into their numbers that she was a small dot amidst a sea of infantry.
    Leonel frowned. 'Something's wrongбн'

 Chapter 27: Somethings Wrong (2)

    Aina was like a lone blazing star. Despite being alone and surrounded, there seemed to be a perpetual five meter radius around her that no one could keep their life within.
    From afar, it seemed like the Englishmen army had split into three. A single group of archers focusing their might toward Leonel, another attacking the Frenchmen, and the final entirely focused on this small woman with a weapon twice the size of her body.
    However, though Aina seemed invincible, Leonel could see her body heat increasing at an unhealthy pace.
    'Her stamina is running lowбн'
    Leonel's frown deepened. It had been less than 30 minutes since the battle began, but just how long could a normal human fight under such conditions? Even with her being far beyond a normal human, the load she was facing was severalfold greater as well.
    "Aina! Retreat!"
    Leonel shouted once more, putting everything he had into his voice. However, this time, the blaring horns of retreat sounded over him, covering his shouts completely.
    "No! Not now!"
    Just minutes ago, there was nothing Leonel could have wanted more. But now Aina had traveled too deeply into their territory.
    Leonel's arm cocked back and launched forward another crude spear.
    With a sharp clang, it rebounded and shattered off of Aina's massive ax blade.
    Aina's head finally snapped backward. But Leonel never got to register just what her expression was. All he could see was the fierce golden glow of her eyes, hiding a flickering redness that seemed to be the depths of a hellish flame.
    There was only a single thing Leonel could grasp through the almost hundred meters that separated them. Her eyes were almost telling him to piss off.
    He had seen them like this once before. That day she killed Conrad and stared him down as though she wanted him to witness every moment. He had been too stunned to register just what she was trying to convey to him back thenбн But now he was certain.
    She wanted to be left alone.
    A fiendish red Force erupted from Aina's frail body as her killing speed increased explosively.
    [Aina Brazinger]
    [Strength: 1.50; Speed: 0.99; Agility: 0.99; Coordination: 1.00; Stamina: 0.10; Reactions: 1.00; Spirit: 0.10]
    Leonel's pupils constricted into pinholes. Leonel had never seen stats like this. Even the adjusted stats of the metal Invalid paled in comparison.
    But, all his mind could focus on was her stamina. It hadn't gone up. In fact, it had plummeted the instant she began using this strength.
    Aina's delicate roar overwhelmed the blaring horns of retreat.
    Her ax whipped around, a Force blade extending from its body. However, it didn't sweep outward. Instead, it attached to the blade of the ax, extending its range from almost three meters to over five!
    It was like the ax was enveloped in the spirit of a larger battle ax, borrowing its power to reap lives. Just the first swing took 20 Englishmen from the world. The second swing took almost 25.
    The Englishmen quaked in fear, but Leonel's anxiety only grew.
    On the third swing, Aina faltered and the spirit that enveloped her ax flickered, leaving half the Englishmen destined to die with a new lease on life. It wasn't only this, but they suddenly felt more confident than they had before.
    Before Aina stood a wall of Englishmen. To her back, the retreating Englishmen barred her in.
    Leonel didn't even register what he was doing before he found himself falling through the air, having jumped over the railing of his siege tower.
    'Something is wrong бн'
    In a flash, Leonel had already burst through the line of Frenchmen who had chosen not to chase. The Englishmen still had more than 16 000 of their original number. It was nothing short of foolish to pursue them with their now less than 1000 number.
    However, these weren't things Leonel had the mind to care about.
    "Get out of my way!"
    "Kill her! Kill Joan of Arc!"
    The anxiousness in Leonel's heart grew. There was a wall of Englishmen before him, each completely set on Aina. They all but ignored him entirely. Aside from a few veterans who were tasked with holding the back line in a retreat, there was nothing.
    Leonel's jaw set. Without his high vantage point, he couldn't even see Aina in his line of sight anymore. He could only feel the direction of the Force she emitted.
    A part of Leonel wanted to hate these soldiers for standing before him, for blocking his way to Aina. But, with a will he didn't know he had, he pressed that hatred down.
    He had promised himself not to kill in rage.
    'Breathe, Leonelбн' He spoke to himself, slowly pulling the spear from his back.
    It felt oddly familiar to him. The black steel that stood cool to his touch, the flat silver blade on its endбн it all seemed to balance perfectly in his palm.
    The body was almost two meters in length, the blade at just over two feet. It had proportions more like a glaive than a spear, but its glistening point made its true identity clear.
    Three flashes pierced forward, ending in holes in three English necks.
    One arm held his shield, the other held his spear, dripping in blood.
    Leonel took a deep breath, his gaze flickering with a strong blue diamond-like light.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.80; Speed: 0.75 (+0.1); Agility: 0.99 (+0.1 - nullified); Coordination: 1.10; Stamina: 0.99 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.10; Spirit: 0.40]

 Chapter 28: Respect (1)

    The feeling of Force coursing through your body was hard to describe. If Leonel were to try, it would be like landing on a bed of soft pillows, or walking through a mist of water on a hot summer's day. It didn't just feel good, it felt right. As though this was the true state of being.
    Leonel didn't know why his stamina had shot upward while Aina's tanked, but he didn't have the time to think about it. In fact, if he thought about it for even a little while, he would realize that because his coordination shot upward, he could more efficiently make use of his abilities, allowing him to use less strength to accomplish the same result.
    Though Leonel's strength and speed remained untouched, his combat prowess was on a completely different level. The movements of the Englishmen were almost painfully slow.
    His spear snaked through the air like a viper, piercing throats and severing spines with every stroke. It was the most humane way Leonel could think to end their lives.
    Something about wielding a spear felt different from his rod. Leonel had chosen the rod due to his lack of battle experience. He thought he'd have an easier time with a longer ranged weapon.
    However, with the spear, despite the fact it was obvious he had no real experience with it, he felt free. Something within his body was churning, waking from a sleep as though it had been waiting for this moment.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.85; Speed: 0.80 (+0.1); Agility: 0.99 (+0.1 - nullified); Coordination: 1.10; Stamina: 0.99 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.10; Spirit: 0.40]
    More of the hidden medicine within Leonel's body diffused, increasing his strength and speed by 0.05. He felt his blood boiling, but it wasn't fatigue. It was excitement.
    Leonel forgot his hatred of death, of killing. The awkward coordination in his arm stabilized. Like a child learning to walk, his spear became less reliant on his agility and more on his skill.
    He seemed to be walking through the battle, traveling five meters forward with every step, a swath of bodies being left in his wake.
    The Frenchmen felt numb. Was this the power God could bestow upon a man?
    Leonel's spear almost looked like a black whip, curling and curving around defenses and snapping back with supersonic speed.
    He could feel her presence getting closer, but also fainter at the same time. Aina was already at the end of her rope. Leonel didn't know what had happened to her, but he knew he had to take her out of here.
    "Aina!" Leonel roared, cutting down another Englishmen.
    No matter how good he felt, Leonel knew there was a limit to his strength. His stamina wasn't unlimited. Just walking forward these 50 meters through a swath of Englishmen had begun to tap into his 0.99 stamina.
    Whatever weird phenomena was happening to his blood ate into his stamina far quicker than he had been before. Leonel suspected that what he was experiencing now, Aina was experiencing tenfold.
    'Fasterбн'
    Leonel grit his teeth, pushing forward with an even faster speed. He began to rely on his ability heavily, reading through who had the weakest ability, cutting them down and using the gap their body formed to shoot past.
    "Aina!"
    Leonel could barely see her through the sea of bodies. Her breath hung so heavily on her lips that a dense fog formed whenever she exhaled. It wasn't nearly cold enough for air to condense like that, just what kind of heat was Aina experiencing.
    In the past, hardly a speck of blood ever touched her. But now, she was completely drenched.
    Leonel could tell it wasn't her own blood. In fact, she seemed to be completely uninjured. But her present state still sent waves off in his heart.
    'Just what's wrong with her?'
    "Kill her! For our fallen brothers!"
    "For our fallen brothers!"
    The gazes of the Englishmen almost glowed red beneath their helmets. They didn't see Aina as an arbiter of God. To them, she was a demon. A terrible devil descended to their lands. By this point, their resolve in taking down France raised several levels. It was their duty as God fearing men to expel these Devil Worshipers from their lands!
    "For our brothers! For our families! For the Lord!"
    "For the Lord!"
    The Englishmen dug deep, throwing their lives away under Aina's ax only to allow those behind them to close an extra inch closer.
    Leonel couldn't find it within himself to hate them. Even if they bore down on the only woman that had ever stirred his heart, he realized now how right he was not to kill them in a rage. These were men who deserved his respect. Even in the face of power so much greater than their own, they put everything they had on the line.
    This was the strength of the human race. A people who struggled to survive even in the most terrible situations. It was for this reason that the actions of Emperor Gervaise Fawkes were so reprehensible. Allowing the lives of billions to be snuffed out just to maintain controlбн Only these sort of people deserved his rage, his angerбн
    For the men before him nowбн They only deserved his regard.
    Leonel's mind calmed by another level.
    In that moment, he realized that anger wasn't what fueled him. In fact, it impeded him.
    The sincere respect Leonel felt brought him back. The challenge before him became no different from a football game or an exam, not because he found the lives of these men to be trivial, but because he had always taken even the simplest of tasks with the utmost seriousness. Taking on the burden of the lives of these men on his conscience was no different.
    A natural aura erupted from his body, coating the battlefield in a suffocating presence.
    'Comeбн I'll lay you to rest beneath a blade that recognizes your resolveбн'

 Chapter 29: Respect (2)

    Leonel's spear became swifter. The clearer his mind became, the sharper his ability shone through. A calculative mind didn't need to rely on emotion.
    Maybe it was ironic that an inherently emotional man like Leonel had suddenly become the exact opposite. But it was an irony that Leonel wasn't thinking about.
    [Call of the Wind], a technique meant for throwing, subconsciously molded itself into his spear. His mind could see through how it worked, forming dozens of calculations a second, he changed its foundation, adding a power previously impossible to his strikes.
    It was only now that Leonel finally made use of his powerful spirit. To now, he had only foolishly only used it to power his Internal Sight. Even when he activated his Force, he had focused it into his mind, vastly improving his coordination and reactions.
    But now, a pale light coated his spear. It didn't extend his blade to near the extent Aina's ax spirit had, probably because it was being wielded through a crudely formed technique Leonel was still adjusting even to this very moment. But its power was undeniable.
    Leonel burst through the last line of Englishmen, his flexible armor and sweats matted in blood that wasn't his own.
    "Aina!"
    Having burst through only one side of the encirclement, Aina still had enemies closing in from at least three sides.
    However, all Leonel received in return was a blazing ax.
    He had never paid much attention to Aina's ax before. Maybe it was typical teenage boy selective sight. But, seeing it up close, it could only be described as a beautiful weapon.
    It had a handle of over a meter and a half long, with a thickness so robust Aina's small hands couldn't wrap all the way around it.
    The handle was a blazing red. Veins of gold and silver coursed through it, pulsing with a ruby light almost as though breathing.
    The double headed blade was obscenely large, even a small bit longer in diameter from one blade to the other. The heads themselves glistened with a beautiful silver that was now covered in blood. But, their blade edges were an even deeper shade of red than the handle.
    Like he thought before. It was a beautiful weapon. But it was maybe less so when it was coming for his own head.
    Leonel knew Aina's strength was too much to take head on. Even with her stamina almost hitting zero, it was still over 1.00, far more than his own. In addition, he couldn't see through the grade of Aina's weapon at all, making him certain it would slice through his spear like it was rotting wood.
    Without hesitation, Leonel ducked beneath it. Aina's agility matched his in this state, but it was clear that she was compromised. Her attack speed wasn't nearly as fast as it once was.
    The moment the ax soared over his head, Leonel popped back up, using the flat of his spear's blade to slap the back of Aina's hand with some force.
    It took more resolve to do this than he thought it would. The idea of harming her small frame made him sick. But he had no choice.
    Leonel wrapped around Aina's left side, even as her ax faltered in her hands. He expanded his shield to just over two meters in diameter, blocking the attacks to her back.
    "бн Leбн"
    Aina seemed to finally sense Leonel's presence. A struggle lit in her eyes as though she was trying to decide whether or not to cut him down where he stood.
    The truth was that she really could if she wanted to. His chest was completely opened to her after he wrapped around her left with his shield. She didn't need her ax at all. Just a palm to his chest would kill him with her level of strength.
    "бн I'm sorryбн"
    Aina's gaze swayed with fatigue, her cheek falling to Leonel's chest.
    Leonel's eyes flickered. He could feel the searing heat of her body even through his flexible armor.
    "Stop him!"
    "Don't let her get away!"
    Leonel sighed. He strapped the massive shield to his back, pulling Aina in with his left arm to his chest. She herself was as light as a feather, but the ax she refused to let go of even while unconscious was a completely different story. It alone weighed over 200 poundsбн And Leonel had vaguely felt Aina lowering its weight before she fainted.
    Despite the situation, Leonel inadvertently smiled and even felt a bit flustered.
    'What am I thinking?! She has a high fever and you're in the middle of an army that wants nothing more than to kill her. Get it together!'
    Making a decision, Leonel didn't choose to run. His shield to his back, Aina in one arm, his spear in the other, he stood tall.
    "If you'd like to come, you can come. I'll take as much as you can give. But I won't let her die here."
    Regaining his calm, Leonel's imposing aura shone forth once more. As dangerous as Aina had been, this was something she hadn't had.
    Leonel meant his words. Running away would do him no good and he would only end up implicating the Frenchmen. Even though the English had retreated, they still had more than 15 000 of their original number. If they rallied, they could still crush the less than thousand remaining Frenchmen.
    There was only one option left. Leonel had to impose his will. He had to appear invincible. He had to crush their resolve until nothing was left, that very resolve he respected with all his heart.

 Chapter 30: Help Cleaning (1)

    Leonel lost his concept of time. The sun likely rose and set at least twice, maybe three times? He wasn't sure.
    He didn't know where he pulled the strength from.
    The truth was that kind of time didn't pass. Even if Leonel himself was surpassing the limits of a human, fighting for three days without rest was beyond him. Even when he stayed awake for that long in the Mayan temple, most of the time was spent sneaking around and avoiding large groups of Spaniards.
    Still, his illusion of the sun rising and setting wasn't completely off. By the time Leonel slowly dragged his beaten and ragged body out, his spear in one hand, Aina in the other, the high sun had set and the hints of dawn had begun to creep up.
    Leonel's spear and Aina's battle ax dragged along the ground, leaving deep marks in the dry land. He had no idea how Aina managed to hang onto that massive thing while cuddling up like a kitten, but the reality was right before him.
    "бн How'd I end up liking such a crazy womanбн"
    Leonel looked down at Aina who had her head buried in his chest. Her right arm was pinned against his body, but her left dragged the ax at an awkward angle. Leonel was worried that her frail arm would snap, but she struggled too strongly every time he tried to adjust her.
    On the bright side, Aina's temperature had steadily decreased. At least she wasn't scolding to the touch anymore.
    Leonel looked up to find General Franck standing before him with a look of fear in his eyes. It seemed he hadn't dared to retreat without Leonel's input.
    "бн They won't be attacking againбн" Leonel started in a voice so raspy he hardly recognized it as his own. "бн We can head to Orleans in 48 hours. I need to rest. Don't disturb me."
    The general nodded profusely and even led Leonel to his personal tent.
    "бн Oh." Leonel paused before entering the tent. "Send two or three of your comfort women here."
    The general was speechless for a moment but didn't dare voice the questions in his mind. In fact, he even led two of his favorites over and sent them into the tent without the slightest reservations.
    When the two French women entered, they carried slight blushes on their faces. Compared to the less desired comfort women, these two seemed to have just stepped out of a salon. Their clothes were simple and cheap, but clean. In addition, their beauty was enticing. It was obvious that they could pass for noble women had their birth not been so unfortunately low.
    When they saw the rippling definition in Leonel's bare back, their blush deepened. They seemed not to notice the dirt, grime and blood that covered him. They were used to dealing with the poor hygiene of soldiers. Compared to them, Leonel was an angel.
    "Oh, you're here." Leonel turned back and nodded. "Please help her clean up and lay her to rest. I'll wait outside."
    After saying these words, Leonel ignored the confused gazes of the two women and walked out of the tent.
    "бн Just think about it. Have you ever heard a man of God asking for a whore so openly? Maybe they really are the devil just like the Eng бк"
    The words froze when Leonel walked out bare chested. They shivered in fear, thinking that they'd be punished. But Leonel simply stood there, his arms crossed and his breathing even. He felt like he could collapse at any moment, but he stood tall.
    Right now, he felt better than he had in a long time. Maybe better than he had in his entire life.
    It was an odd feeling. He didn't like killing. And today, he had killed more people than he had even in the Mayan Temple. But, his heart was as light as a feather.
    There were many complicated questions of morality before him. Whether he deserved to be on a battlefield of mortals even when he was effectively a god amongst them, whether his reasons for killing them were better than their reasons for wanting to kill him, even whether Aina's singular life was worth as much as all of theirsбн
    However, maybe due to his youth, Leonel had a very youthful answer to it all.
    Finding the answer to all of these questions was impossible. Too many things were relative, too many outcomes were ultimately unknown. As long as he could protect his own code, maintain his own conscienceбн He was okay with that.
    If there came a day where someone wanted revenge for his actions, he would welcome it.
    After an unknown period of time, the two women came out of the tent.
    "The young mistress has been cleaned and is now resting, young noble. You can enter now."
    "We've also set a tub of water to warm under a fire for you, young noble. We hope our services have pleased you."
    "бн You are very lucky, young noble." The women said with a light giggle.
    Leonel expressed his thanks, not knowing what the two of them meant by that, as the two comfort women bowed.
    After Leonel entered, the two women were swarmed. When they heard the purpose for which the two women were called, their faces could only burn with embarrassment. They were certain Leonel had heard them, yet he couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
    That said, the Leonel they so very feared was flustered beyond belief at the moment.
    The two women had indeed done what Leonel asked. In fact, they went above and beyond, even wrapping some of Aina's injuries. Near the end of her battle, she hadn't managed to remain completely unscathed.
    The issue was that they had applied the bandages and did nothing to put Aina's clothes back on. Luckily Aina's lower half was covered by a bear skin blanket, but her upper half was nothing but bandages. Without her normal covering, her chest was far more prominent.
    Aina's assets weren't exactly outrageously large, but Leonel was certain that his hand, even with its own size, had no ability to graspбн it fully.
    The important bits were still covered, but it was still far too stimulating for a young man who had never seen such things before. Pornography was too regulated, and Leonel had never even been to a beach before considering how rare those things were in this age, where would he have ever seen such things? He had always rejected James when he tried to goad him into going to see the girls' swim team, worried Aina would be disgusted by his actions.
    Leonel quickly covered his eyes. "I didn't see anythingбн I didn't see anythingбн"
    Leonel rushed to Aina's side, fumbling around a bit and finally pulling the blanket up to cover her completely. Only then did he sigh a breath of relief, missing the slight curve in Aina's lip.
    After Leonel settled his beating heart and shifted the uncomfortable stiffness in his pants, he found the large bucket of water the two comfort women had rested over a fire. Feeling that it was hot enough, he used the last of his strength to lug it over to the general's wooden tub and dumped it in.
    He had only barely gotten in and begun scrubbing himself when his fatigue hit him like a speeding vehicle. Even he wasn't sure when, but his consciousness slipped into a deep darkness.

 Chapter 31: Help Cleaning (2)

    Aina woke up long before Leonel did.
    Seeing her present state, she frowned deeply, a whirl of complex emotions spinning in her mind.
    She blushed when she realized how scantily clad she was. Had Leonel seen her like this?
    Noбн She faintly felt the presence of two women before, moving her around and cleaning herбн It seems he was too honest, just like he always wasбн
    Aina winced slightly as she stood.
    Her figure was the pinnacle of perfection. The bandages were too weak to perfectly support her ample bosom, so they rippled slightly under her movement, causing a nose bleed worthy scene. Her lower half was hardly covered at all. If it wasn't for the blanket she still held onto, a heavenly sight would be there for absolutely no one to behold.
    Aina touched her face, sighing in relief when she saw that her coverings were still there. It wasn't strictly necessary for her to keep using them, but there was a blockage in her heart that stopped her. Maybe somewhere deep inside, she felt that if Leonel never saw her true face, she would hurt him less.
    But what had happened todayбн? She had ended up hurting him anywayбн
    Aina finally registered Leonel's light snoring. She turned around to find him passed out in a wooden tub, much of his skin pruning by now.
    She inadvertently giggled. There was something about him now that seemed so innocent. She never quite understood how a man who radiated such imposing aura over something as small as a pop quiz or a football game, could simultaneously be so green and pure.
    Aina gingerly put on her clothes. It seemed the two women had also done her the service of cleaning them as well. She even found her undergarments taken care of.
    Hiding away her gorgeous curves, she walked to the side of Leonel in the tub. A deep red shade covered her cheeks down to her neck. She couldn't quite see Leonel's lower half since the dirt and grime that had covered his body had melded into the water, but the idea that he was naked made her heart beat wildly. It wasn't excitement, but a sheer nervousness at the unknown.
    Aina grit her teeth, hooking her shoulder under Leonel's armpit and lifting him.
    He didn't even react to her actions, not even the slightest flinch. One could only imagine how tired he must have been to allow such a thing to happen to him in a Zone.
    Aina's gaze colored with guilt, biting down on her lower lip.
    Eventually, she steadied her heart.
    First, she set Leonel down averting her gaze. Then, she poured out the dirty liquid, rushing away to find a few barrels worth of clean water. Though her body was in tatters, she ignored the soreness entirely. For a person with her strength, she didn't even need 10% of her power to do things like lifting up Leonel and bringing in these barrels.
    Finally, she got down to doing exactly what she dreaded. Taking a deep breath, she began to clean Leonel, the bite on her lip increasing in pressure the more wounds she exposed beneath the thick patches of dirt and mud.
    By the time Leonel's body was mostly clean, her guilt was overwhelmed by cheeks so red steam practically came off of them. She felt that maybe she should have asked the comfort women to come by again to help, but she had conveniently forgotten this possibility.
    It was suffice to say that she had never seen a man like this, nor had she ever touched one.
    Remembering how long she must have spent sleeping in Leonel's arms, the burning of Aina's cheeks only grew.
    But that was rightбн He had suffered so much, if she couldn't pay him back even this small bit, she couldn't live with herself. But why did his body have to be so toned and hard? Her fingers were trembling with every gentle wipe.
    Finally, there was only one part of Leonel's body left. Aina was truly tempted to leave it as is, he would handle it himself when he woke up, but when she thought of the era they were in, she hesitated.
    What if it got infected? She knew that that area was a man's pride even if she had never seen one before. She had been around enough high school boys to know that it was all they ever talked about aside from the women they had been with.
    Leonel was different from themбн But that didn't mean he didn't inwardly place importance on it.
    Aina may have never seen one, but she had had a robust education. She knew the kind of impact an infection on such a sensitive area could have, especially in the medieval ages.
    The pressure of her teeth on her lips grew again.
    Aina slowly took the towel she had used to cover Leonel's area off, barely holding back her girlish squeal when her eyes lay on it. If the Englishmen she had struck fear in saw her now, who knew how they would react?
    Aina's breathing turned ragged and choppy. She began to slowly clean the grime away from the edges, pulling her courage together to inch closer.
    'бн Those areбн very sensitiveбн I should use a lighter touchбн' Aina tried to remember what she had learned in all those Class A biology classes. Her Five-Star Profession was actually related to the medical field, so it wasn't very difficult for her.
    Aina whimpered slightly when her towel touched those two sensitive things, using her opposite hand to lift up the limp member that covered them slightly. But she was already inwardly panicking even more. Because of her soft touches around such a sensitive area, she had already noticed it growing stiffer. By this point, she didn't even need to actively move it out of the way.
    'бн Just ignore itбн Just ignore itбн It's a natural reactionбн It just means he's healthyбн It'll go down on its ownбн'
    Aina clamped her legs shut tightly, the bite to her lower lips finally beginning to draw blood.
    Aina rejoiced inwardly when she felt that she had cleaned Leonel's family jewels adequately enough. There was just one task left.
    She cleaned her towel with a new bucket of water and started toward the towering member that filled her with a bit of dread. It pulsed as though it had an eye of its own, piercing into her soul.
    'бн Maybe a little bit too healthyбн'
    Aina knew what average was, such a thing was part of her studies. And she knew that this most definitely was not average.
    Gathering up the last bits of her courage that remained, Aina used the damp towel on it, wiping away the dried sweat and dirt that had somehow made its way down there.
    'бн The top is the most sensitive part, I should be careful againбн' She thought to herself.
    Finally, she got to the top, dabbing away gently and making sure nothing that could infest Leonel got into places it shouldn't.
    Just as she felt she was finished and could finally step away, Leonel had a sudden sharp intake of breath.
    Aina panicked, thinking that he might wake up. Her neck spun toward his face with such speed that she almost suffered a case of whiplash.
    Luckily, it seemed that he was still asleep, completely oblivious to what was happening.
    Aina sighed a breath of relief, turning back to her task in time to see a gusher of thick white liquid launching itself into the air with astonishing force. She only had time to block with both her palms before it could land on her face.
    Completely stunned, Aina felt the liquid slowly drip down her hands. She could even faintly see the satisfied relief on Leonel's sleeping face between her fingers.

 Chapter 32: Wish (1)

    Aina rolled her lips over themselves. In a motion that was far slower than she cared to admit, she washed her hands clean, wiped away the portions that fell on Leonel, and covered his body in a blanket.
    Even hours after she finished, her heart still beat wildly.
    Days later, Leonel startled awake, finding himself in a rocking vehicle. It took him a moment to realize that he was lying on a bed made of straw and that the 'vehicle' was a horse pulled carriage.
    Leonel shot up, taking quick and deep breaths.
    How could he let this happen? Not only had he gone to sleep, but he was completely out of it. He was in a Zone, he wasn't at home.
    It took several moments before Leonel realized that Aina was sitting on a cushioned bench opposite his, averting her eyes.
    Leonel looked down at himself and blinked in confusion. He could tell that he was naked now, but at the very least, his lower half was covered. There was no real reason for her to avert her gaze like that. But, he didn't question it too much.
    "Are you alright?" Leonel asked.
    Aina finally turned to face Leonel, seemingly stunned by his question.
    "бн I should be asking you that." She said softly.
    "Me? I'm fine." Leonel smiled, rotating his arm as though to prove a point.
    He really did feel great.
    "I'm sorry for passing out like that." Leonel said apologetically. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened while I was out of it."
    Aina opened her mouth to answer, but she felt that if she tried to speak now, she wouldn't be able to control her tears. So, she said nothing.
    She knew that Leonel couldn't control what happened. Not only had he spent himself dry for her sake, but he had awoken a Lineage Factor he wasn't even aware of. Usually such awakenings happened in a controlled space under the protection of your family. It happening in such a dangerous place was about as disastrous a outcome as you could have.
    However, Aina also knew something else. The longer you could withstand the awakening of your Lineage Factor, the greater potential it would have in the future. If her vague thoughts while she was unconscious were correct, Leonel had stayed awake for more than half a day. She had never heard of anyone lasting more than a couple hours at best.
    On top of that, Leonel wasn't meditating and gritting his teeth like those people had been. He had been fighting a battle against thousands of enemies. It wasn't an exaggeration to say his degree of difficulty was far higher and worth far more.
    The how long one stayed awake metric wasn't exact. It was just a vague metric of how much the Lineage Factor managed to be stimulated. Therefore, if Leonel was battling while his was activated, it went to reason that every second of his remaining awake was worth far more than normal.
    Aina couldn't even fathom what that meant. The only one she knew of who could match him was herбн But the difference between them was that when her Lineage Factor activated, she lost control of her mind. So while her performance was just as impressive, it wasn't something she was proud ofбн
    She had almost killed her father that day.
    "бн Please stop apologizing to meбн" Aina finally managed to say.
    Leonel smiled. "It's not your fault."
    "Iбн"
    "Do you have my pants?" Leonel cut her off.
    Aina stared blankly for a moment before nodding. She had even managed to patch together the tears in it a bit.
    "бн They're a bit small for you now, though." She said softly. "I think you've gotten taller."
    Leonel's smile widened. "So you pay enough attention to me to notice?"
    Aina blushed and turned away, throwing his pants over.
    Leonel managed to slip his pants on before standing up and stretching. He was certain that this carriage was only built recently. He likely had the siege engineers to thank.
    "You still haven't answered my question." Leonel turned back toward Aina. "Are you alright?"
    "бн" Aina sighed. "Put a shirt on first and I might consider answering."
    Seeing that a bit of Aina's cheekiness was back, Leonel's heart felt lighter. He happily obliged and put on his flexible armor before covering it in an off-white linen shirt he wasn't sure of the origin of.
    "Happy?"
    Aina turned away. If one focused on his upper half and not his sorry excuse for pants, Leonel actually looked quite good. Luckily he hadn't thought about why he had been unconscious for so long, yet still managed to stay clean.
    "бн My Lineage Factor has a negative effect on my psychological state. I lose control of it from time to time, but especially when I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. Only when I stabilize into my new realm will I be able to rein it in again."
    "I already guessed as much." Leonel waved a hand. "Like I said already, it's not your fault. I only want to know if there are any lasting impacts to your health."
    "Noбн Aside from fatigue, there are no other side effects."
    "That's good. Then don't recklessly act when you're on the verge of a breakthrough again. You should have stayed by my side like I asked." Leonel said sternly.
    "But youбн"
    "Hm?" Leonel tried to probe out the rest of her words, but Aina seemed to not want to speak anymore.
    'But youбн?' Leonel frowned. Suddenly, he froze as though he was hit by a lightning bolt.
    He realized he had made a mistake. He and Aina were partners, but he had unilaterally decided to help the Frenchmen. Could it be that Aina took the risk despite knowing the possible outcome because of his decision?

 Chapter 33: Wish (2)

    [Extra chapter for reaching 10 reviews (tho it was meant to be 11). I've decided to put the review extra chapter goals aside. I'll also be editing the the powerstone goal and rebooting it from now on. For every 100 powerstones, there will be a bonus chapter that week. Sorry for all the changes, my hands decided to crap out on me after too much writing, lmao. But I'm feeling good with this new keyboard now, so we can get back to grinding.]
    Leonel's gaze locked onto Aina as though trying to read something through her expression. But, try as he might, he couldn't get anything out of her. She had returned to being that completely unreadable existence.
    "You should focus on understanding your Lineage Factor, we still have some time before we reach Orleans."
    Leonel continued to stare at Aina for an uncomfortably long time, as though he hadn't heard her words at all.
    He found it too difficult to read her. Was she shy? Or was she the same woman who didn't hesitate to tell him that he smelled or demand he put on a shirt? Was she murderous? Or was she the same woman who stayed back to protect the Frenchmen by his side?
    Just who was she?
    "бн Lineage Factor?" Finally, after Aina began squirming beneath his gaze with nowhere to escape to, he registered the words she had spoken.
    "You aren't aware? You awoke a Lineage Factor on the battlefield. It's why you couldn't control your unconscious state."
    Leonel frowned. "бн You mentioned Lineage Factors once before when you spoke of Natural Force Nodes. What are they exactly?"
    Aina wasn't surprised by this question. Judging by Leonel's previous ignorance, whoever of his family was of a higher world most definitely hadn't explained everything to him just yet.
    "Just like how Zones are points in time higher dimensions connected with lower ones, Lineage Factors are the genetic equivalent of these instances.
    "Have you ever thought of the proper way to interpret higher Dimensions? What exactly does the Fourth Dimension mean?"
    "Well, in an abstract sense, a higher order Dimension is just any plane of existence infinitely more powerful than the last, in the simplest terms. I can write a story and exert infinite control over the 2D. Likewise, a 2D construct can obliterate someone in the first Dimension."
    Aina nodded. "In the real world, outside of the abstract, higher Dimensions work similarly, though not exactly in this way. The higher a person's Dimensional Constitution, the more influence they can exert. It's this power that causes anomalies that must be dealt with in Zones, and it's also this power that allows certain abilities to be passed down through generations.
    "Simply put, a Lineage Factor is the result of a family member of yours, whether in the past or in the future, who has exerted sufficient influence to grant you this ability."
    "бн Or in the future?" Leonel finally heard something that shocked him.
    "Yes. Just like Zones. Sub-Dimensional Zones are examples of the future influencing the past. If they weren't, why would they only start appearing now and not before the Metamorphosis began?
    "Just like you said yourself, you can think of it as higher Dimensions being infinitely powerful compared to lower ones. If you wrote a book in 2D, is your concept of time like that of your characters? You could make a million years pass in the blink of an eye if you wanted, or you could have a flashback send them a trillion years into the past."
    Leonel's gaze glowed with enlightenment.
    'бн Do I really have a family member from a higher world? Or is it that someone down my line awakened a similar ability and passed it back to me?'
    Leonel's mind spun. 'Wait! If that's possible, then it's not necessarily true that Aina or one of her parents is from another world. If this future influencing the past result is possible and even probable, then it's likely that the most powerful families of Earth will have begun awakening these Lineage Factors.
    'Logically, the more powerful the family on Earth, the higher chance they have for success in the future, and the more likely they are to create powerful characters who can pass these abilities backward.
    'But I've never heard of Aina's Brazinger family. There's also not a single Brazinger on the Eligible Bachelor list. So is it that her family really came from another world? Orбн Is it that the truly powerful families of Earth have hidden themselves waiting for this chance?'
    There were too many unknowns. Even with his ability, Leonel had no ability to guess at what the truth was or even begin to find the right path.
    "Ainaбн your family бк."
    Leonel stopped his words. He hadn't even begun to form his thoughts when Aina's gaze flashed with an endless fury. For a moment, he sensed that she almost lost control over her Lineage Factor once more and went berserk.
    This time, with her being at peak health, Leonel wasn't confident in his ability to stop her. If she really lost it again, it could be disastrous.
    After several minutes of Leonel's silence and her deep breaths, Aina's jaw set.
    Seeing that she was okay, Leonel didn't question her further and simply went to sit on the bed of straw, pulling out [Call of the Wind]. He had never gotten around to reading it like he had [Dimensional Cleanse]. So, it was about time he did.
    The hours ticked by silently and Leonel truly expected Aina to not speak on the topic again. But, unexpectedly, on the next day, she did.
    "I'm sorryбн" She said softly. "бн It's not that you said anything wrong, you hadn't even asked a question yetбн"
    She felt guilty. It seemed that all of her interactions with Leonel always ended in him being extremely understanding and her demanding too much of him. It only made her more certain in some decisions she had made.
    "бн The short of it is that I don't have a family. I had a mother, and my fatherбн is no longer with me. But, even while I was in my mother's womb, we were expelled from the Brazinger Clan.
    "The only reason I still carry their name is so that I can reject it myself when they most wish for me to keep it."
    Aina's words were very gentle, but they held a resolve far larger than her small body.

 Chapter 34: Force

    Leonel gazed at Aina for a moment and then nodded. He didn't say anymore words, nor did he try to comfort her. He somehow felt that was exactly what he shouldn't do in this situation.
    Instead, after his nod, he turned back to his little booklet, allowing the sound of the carriage wheels pulling through dirt and gravel to fill the air again.
    'Call of the Wind. This technique taps into the Forces of Wind that impede your strikes, taking them in as friends and having them come to your aid.
    'Forces are the fundamental energies of the universe. Third Dimensional worlds identify these Forces as Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong Force and Weak Force. They are in fact correct about these four, however, they are oversimplified.
    'Every fundamental Force has a particle attached to their existence which is responsible for their strength. Electromagnetic Force is tied to photons. Strong Force is attached to gluons. Weak Force is attached to bosons. And, Gravity is tied to gravitons.
    'The manipulation of these particles is where the cultivation of Force comes from if it were to be described in the simplest terms possible.'
    Leonel re-read this introduction for the dozenth time, as though trying to find something he had missed before.
    As far as he knew, gravitons were the last of the particles to be found and hadn't been until extremely recently. Not even a decade before his birth, if he recalled correctlyбн
    'The use of these four particles, their subspecies, and their unique combinations, are responsible for every sort of Force that Force Wielders use.
    'The higher the Dimension, the more complex these particles become, the more variations of them exist, and the more difficult they become to control. But, there is one thing that must always be remembered:
    'The Art of Force Wielding is a calculated science. Should you take it as a game for fun or entertainment to screw around, you will die.'
    Leonel took this warning very seriously. His actions on the battlefield that day had been extremely dangerous. Recklessly manipulating a Force technique like that was practically asking for death.
    To top this off, he had even been using the technique without even opening the book. Had he not had the talent, and had [Call of the Wind] not been manipulating some of the weakest Force particles, he most definitely would have caused irreparable harm to himself.
    Settling his heart, Leonel organized his thoughts once more.
    The first and most important thing he learned was that 'Spirit' and 'Force' were not the same thing. He had already vaguely grasped this when he noticed that activating his Force pushed his spirit up by 0.1. But now, he was absolutely certain.
    Spirit was related to the senses, the so-called Inner Sight. The higher one's spirit, the easier it was to control and manipulate Force. But, high spirit didn't necessarily mean that you had a lot of Force to wield.
    The reason Leonel's spirit had ticked up wasn't because Force could give you more spirit. The true reason was because of the location of his Force Node. Because it was in his brain, its activation supplied more strength to his mind, thus increasing his spirit.
    As a resultбн
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.92; Speed: 0.85 (+0.1); Agility: 0.95 (+0.1); Coordination: 1.01; Stamina: 0.90 (+0.05); Reactions: 1.01; Spirit: 0.30; Force: 0.20]
    For now, Leonel adjusted his Force stat to 1.00. He didn't have anyone but Aina to measure himself up against. So, he simply arbitrarily picked the number that made the most sense to him. This way, he should reach 1.00 when he lit his ninth Force Node.
    As for his other stats, they were like this when he woke up. He didn't know if it was because of his Lineage Factor, or if it was because of his dad's concoction, but either way, their increasing was good news for him.
    This aside, the second thing Leonel learned was that the Force Nodal energy in his brain stem and the Forces [Call of the Wind] spoke of weren't exactly the same either.
    The energy Leonel absorbed through [Dimensional Cleanse] was an amalgamation of all Forces. If Leonel had to attach a name to it, he would call it Potential Energy. It was unused Force that had the potential to effect change.
    However, the Force [Call of the Wind] spoke of could be called Kinetic Energy. It was energy that was actively releasing its potential in order to create the change its controller desired.
    Techniques like [Call of the Wind] were the catalyst needed to turn Potential Force into Kinetic Force.
    The third thing that Leonel learned was that there was a second way to accomplish this very task. When he 'activated' the Force in his Nodes, resulting in his stats going up, what he was essentially doing was metabolizing the Force in his body to increase his strength. This was a natural ability all those with Force Nodes had. Though, those with a certain level of talent had greater efficiency than others in this conversion.
    Coming to this point, one can then understand why Leonel's actions had been so dangerousбн He was essentially converting Potential Force into Kinetic Force using an unverified method. That was like building a nuclear power plant without the proper safety measures. Andбн building that power plant in your brain stemбн
    If that wasn't an act of suicide, Leonel didn't know what was.
    It took Leonel quite a while to stop his cold sweat so that he could focus his everything on how [Call of the Wind] actually worked.
    'Break it down into a scienceбн'
    Leonel knew that as he evolved toward higher Dimensions, he would have to relearn the fundamental knowledge he had in some cases. However, when it came to Black level techniques that still resided within the Third to Fourth Dimensions, the knowledge he did have was robust enough.
    'бн Wind resistance is a matter of friction. If framed like this, I can think of multiple ways a technique that mitigates it can workбн You could use Force to make a projectile more aerodynamicбн you could use Force to loose the strong and weak Forces between atoms to reduce their dragбн you could use Force to create a vacuum in the line of trajectoryбн'
    Leonel listed ideas for what must have been hours, he even became completely lost in his thoughts, forgetting that he had a technique that would give him a method right before him. Plus, many of the ideas he thought of were well beyond his reach with his current proficiency and amount of Force.
    [Call of the Wind] actually managed to function differently than all the several dozen ideas Leonel thought of, and also gave him a glimpse of what was considered complex and simple in the world of Force Science.
    'бн Using Electromagnetic Force to magnetize air particlesбн forming those particles into a pointбн Almost like the heavy steel tip of a javelin, except this spear tip is far more complexбн'
    There were a few principles at work. One was aerodynamics, the other was drag reduction, and the last was magnetism. However, despite all of this, there was a beautiful simplicity to it all because it all worked on one mechanism.
    'In the future, I have to not only think of ideas that work, but also ideas that use the path of least resistanceбн'
    The more he studied [Call of the Wind], the more beautiful he felt it was and the more apropos he realized the name really was.
    On the third day, Leonel stood, opening the door of the rumbling carriage.
    Aina looked up to see him holding his spear at the moving doorway, but said nothing to disturb.
    Leonel stood at the doorway blankly for a moment. Around him, there were escorts of knights and warriors all around. But, his eyes were entirely focused on the border of forest beyond them. It was just about ten meters away.
    As fast as lightning, Leonel's static stance shifted. He lowered his hips, brandished his spear, and pierced forward toward empty air.
    The Frenchmen who could see what was happening opened their eyes wide, shocked by Leonel's actions. But in the next moment, something even more shocking occurred.
    At the edge of the forest, a thick ancient tree suddenly had its trunk cleanly pierced through. It was done so sharply that it sounded no different from the dull thump of an arrow embedding into wood.

 Chapter 35: Goddess

    [Bonus chapter for reaching 100 powerstones. Next chapter at 200]
    Aina blinked several times, almost feeling the need to wipe her eyes clean in case some dirt made her see things.
    'бн Ten meters is about the limit I guess. And I feel I only have enough Potential Force to do that three time at such a distance. If I keep it to within a foot or two of my spear's blade, though, several hundred times wouldn't be a problemбн'
    After understanding the concept behind [Call of the Wind], Leonel only needed to make a very minor adjustment to make it applicable to his spearmanship.
    The first step was to form an alignment of charged particles. These particles then pull on other air particles such that they form an incredibly sharp projectile of air. Following this, using the same concept as a rail gun, the magnetized particles pull along the projectile, all the while adding more and more substance to this sharply shaped air. Since these particles were being used to pull the projectile along, they obviously would be able to cause less drag, and thus the problem of friction was also partially solved.
    In the case of a throwing motion, this pulling would help an arrow or dart travel further, while the sharp shape would mitigate its slowing even more. However, in the case of Leonel's spear, he could apply the same concept without releasing his weapon, making his strikes faster and sharper. On top of this, he could extend the range of the sharpened wind to ten meters!
    'бн But I felt that feeling again, when I held my spearбн That burning sensation in my bloodбн'
    Leonel closed the door of the carriage without a word to the Frenchmen. He wasn't too eager in their adulation, he was only a bit too eager to test himself.
    "бн Do you know what my Lineage Factor is?" Leonel asked Aina.
    These were the first words they had exchanged in over a day, yet he didn't seem to carry any bit of awkwardness.
    Aina looked at him helplessly. "How could I possibly know that?"
    Seeing the disappointment in his face, Aina quickly continued.
    "Just tell me what you feel."
    "I feel my blood boiling. But it only happens when I pick up a spear. Is that even possible, how would that work?"
    Aina blinked in confusion as well. A Lineage Factor related to a weapon? She had never heard of one.
    Her Lineage Factor massively upped her strength and Force output. Much like hers, other Lineage Factors worked similarly, amplifying physical traits. They were always related to things like speed, stamina, reaction time. There were some rare ones that amplified Force like hers, but they were extraordinarily infrequent.
    She couldn't even begin to wrap her head around how someone would pass down the expertise of a weapon in their genes. It seemed almost nonsensical.
    Her thoughts were the same as Leonel's. With his little understanding of the world of Force and Lineages related to it, a Lineage Factor like his didn't make much sense. He could think of methods to use the four fundamental Forces to improve just about any physical trait, though he wasn't able to execute these ideas. But, how would you even begin to construct the expertise of a weapon using them?
    "Noble arbiters, we are here. The blessed one has heard of your exploits and has come out to greet you personally."
    Leonel was snapped out of his thought by the loud voice of General Franck.
    Sending a gaze toward Aina, they both stood to step out of the carriage to be greeted by a grandiose estate. No, it could only be considered a castle.
    Chateau Royal de Blois. Who knew how many kings and royals had called this place home? It was this very place Joan came to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before she then proceeded to drive the English from Orleans.
    Leonel noticed that Franck's army had disappeared. In fact, the coachmen who drove their carriage had actually switched to the general himself.
    Before them, there was a small squadron of knights, numbering no more than ten. They each rode silver armored horses of their own, standing with the castle that stretched hundreds of meters in each direction as their backdrop.
    However, it was impossible to have eyes for these men because before them sat a woman of legend herself.
    Sitting upon a white steed armored in gold, Joan held her helm in one hand and a large pole flag her other.
    Leonel was certain that history painted her as a woman of above average looks with the worn skin of a peasant and a birthmark beneath her ear. She was meant to be a stocky woman of barely 5'2", having a body tempered by the life of a plebeian as well.
    These were all the things Leonel had heard. Often times, only the women in fantasies both had the visage of a goddess and the mind of a renaissance genius. Joan of Arcбн Cleopatraбн Helen of Troyбн These women were never what some mythologies painted them out to be.
    Yet, Leonel was finding out personally that maybe that was all bullshit. The history books didn't say anything about Joan riding a white horse with gold armor either, but here she was before him. Not only that, but she was maybe the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
    Flowing black hair, gentle blue eyes, delicate tanned skin and a smile that stole the hearts of men. Her shapely armor wrapped around her curves, but carried a holy modesty to them that was directly contradictory.
    If there ever were to be a goddess who descended to Earth, Leonel was certain that it would have to be her.

 Chapter 36: Joan (1)

    Joan smiled down at them from atop her horse. Since she wasn't using her own strength to move, it made it difficult for Leonel to get a reading on her stats. He almost felt that there was something in her smile that said she was doing it on purpose.
    On the other hand, Leonel felt that he was reading into it too much. The moment he saw Joan, other than being stricken by her beauty, he instantly remembered the fact that he was meant to kill this woman eventually.
    Leonel sighed inwardly. Maybe it was easier to paint her out as some evil mastermind now so he could more easily do what needed to be done in the future.
    Quite frankly, Leonel was unsure how the 'Boss' of a Zone was decided. Were they always bad people? He wasn't certain of that. He only had one sample to pull his conclusion from.
    However, if he purely used the reason why they entered Zones to draw his conclusion бк to deal with instances of higher Dimensions touching their timeline before they should бк then the logical answer was no. They weren't always bad peopleбн
    It was very possible that Joan's only crime was being ahead of her time, awakening abilities before she should haveбн In such a case, Leonel found he had taken a leap head first into yet another dilemma.
    "Forgive me for not stepping down from my horse to greet you personally. I took an arrow to the thigh in my previous battle and am unable to walk under my own power currently."
    Hearing these words, Leonel felt even worse about his previous thoughts. History did speak about Joan being injured on multiple occasions. The fact she came out to greet them and even swung up to sit on her horse in such a state made her more than worthy of praise.
    It only made it more difficult now that he remembered that in this year, she was actually his ageбн She had recaptured Orleans at just 17 years old. By now, she was like 18.
    "We take no offense, Lady Joan. Please excuse my companion, she cannot speak. We've humbly come to be your aid."
    "Cannot speak French? And please do not call me a Lady, I am no noble." Joan giggled a light, airy laughter.
    "I'm certain that you are in the eyes of many." Leonel said with a smile. "My companion has been a mute since her birth. Our family believes that this may have been the price to pay in exchange for our abilitiesбн"
    Leonel spoke of the story he and Aina had decided upon. Of course, he embellished a bit. Adding a hint of superstition common in this era. Of course, this story assumes that he and Aina are brother and sister.
    In truth, on the surface, this isn't so easy to accept. Leonel had too many Hispanic features, while Aina herself was more northern European. However, Leonel knew that in such a situation, over explaining would be more eyebrow-raising.
    People tended to fill in the blanks themselves.
    As expected, Joan paused for a moment, but seeing that Leonel didn't intend to explain, she accepted it in stride.
    "I seeбн I hope there comes a day when your sister recovers, then. I am very interested by these abilities of yours, though. Can you tell me more?"
    "Even we do not know much." Leonel was sure to answer without holding any hesitation in his voice. He wanted to appear as though he trusted Joan completely and had no reservations about telling her everything. "We only know that we are stronger, faster and quicker than others by a large margin. We can only call it an act of God. When we heard of your exploits, we felt that you were no better person to sympathize with us."
    Leonel felt that Joan's gaze softened slightly and her smile became more genuine.
    Like this, Leonel and Joan were ushered into Chateau Royal de Blois. Or, rather, they were led to a holding in the outer castle.
    Castles were functionally cities within walls. They were separated into several layers, of which had their own walls for protection, usually offset so it was more difficult to charge through their gates in one go.
    It was actually already a privilege for Leonel and Aina to come this far. But, it also seemed that they had to earn their keep very quickly, because not even a day later, a march toward Patay was announced.
    'бн So it beginбн According to history, this will be Joan's final major victory. After this, King Charles will be crowned. She'll then fail to recapture Paris, before finally being captured in her battle for Compiegne.'
    **
    "You say there are two more like you, Joan?"
    "Yes, my King. Because of them, we can move our battle for Patay up. According to General Franck, they all but annihilated an army of 20 000 strong by themselves, forcing them into a retreat. The brother in particular fought alone for half a day."
    Joan knelt before a throne with one arm across her chest, and another tightly holding onto a wooden crutch. Despite the fact Charles VII had yet to be officially crowned, she still called him King.
    "Joan, have I not said you do not need to kneel before me when it is just the two of us? I've also said to call me Charles on such occasions."
    If Leonel was here, he would likely once more be shocked. According to history, it was Charles who refused to give the order to save Joan when she was captured, leading to her execution.
    But, the Charles of right now seemed to be almost fawning over the kneeling beauty. He was completely unlike the ungrateful King who abandoned her after getting what he wanted.

 Chapter 37: Joan (2)

    After the first failure to recapture Paris, the history books wrote that Joan was insistent on trying again, while Charles was adverse to the idea after securing his throne. He felt that she had become too difficult to deal with, and as such made no attempt to take her back from the English.
    "My King, we must maintain proper boundaries. You are my liege, and I am your humble servant. God has sent me to be your protector, your guardian. It is impossible for me to be your wife. God will not allow it, nor would the nobles."
    Whether or not God would allow it, Charles didn't know. But, he was certain that she was correct about the latter portion of her words. They would turn a blind eye to him taking her as a Mistress, but a Queen? France would burn before they allowed a commoner to hold such standing. It simply didn't matter how much Joan had accomplished for them.
    Charles' jaw set for a moment before he sighed.
    "Take however many knights you need. I'll be awaiting word of your victory."
    Joan gingerly stood and bowed once more, sweeping a glance toward a dark corridor to the back left of the throne and leaving without another word.
    The moment she left, a shadow stepped out from the corridor, making its way to the throne's side.
    "Did I not tell you that when I'm meeting with her you aren't to be in the vicinity? What exactly do you mean by so flagrantly ignoring my commands, Pierre?"
    "Forgive me, my liege. But, it is impossible for me to leave you with such a dangerous person. Punish me if you must."
    "I'm well aware of what you're doing. Leave. Do this again and I will have you executed."
    "My King, forgive me for saying so, but you cannot take this woman as your wife. You may think that this matter is only about her lineage, but this is not so. If she became your wife, would you allow her to go to the battlefield? If she carried your seed, would you allow her to charge toward the men of England?
    "You are destined to be a King of legend. You must make decisions for the betterment of France."
    "And would having a child that carries her blood and strength not be more beneficial than anything else? What if every King of France from now on wields her power? Would we not build an empire greater than Rome? Spare me."
    "My King, you yourself already know that you've been blinded. Neither of Joan of Arc's parents had this strength, neither did her grandparents. It's impossible to say that this is hereditary.
    "If my liege wants to take her as a bed mate, I will have nothing to say. If you'd also like to sire a bastard to test your theory, I will equally have nothing to say. But having thoughts of love, emotion and sharing a life with this woman is simply impossible, my liege."
    Charles stayed silent for a long while, saying nothing. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak again.
    "Leave me."
    Pierre bowed and obliged, slinking back into the shadows.
    He walked along the corridor, his expression cold and dark. He looked like a man made of darkness, his robes a deep black, his nose having an exaggerated arch, and his chin being incredibly narrow.
    After a moment, he really did disappear into the shadows. It wasn't an illusion or a feeling, but the objective reality.
    His body sunk into the ground, vanishing.
    When he reappeared, he was in a room dimly lit with candles dripping of wax.
    Three men lay sleeping upon slabs of rock. Upon his appearance, they stirred, almost mechanically sitting up.
    "The Battle of Patay is a must have victory for His Majesty. Go."
    "Yes."
    The three men inexplicably slipped into the shadows as well.
    Pierre slowly walked across the room after they vanished, appearing by an alter with a closed black book. He stroked the cover almost affectionately, but also somehow simultaneously felt afraid to open up its pages.
    'The Bishop will lead us to glory. Our names will go down in historyбн'
    A dark glow emitted from the book.
    **
    Joan expressionlessly walked, leaning heavily on her crutch through the corridors of the main stronghold. Her face would sometimes flicker into a smile when she passed by someone, but the smile would just as quickly fade once she had passed.
    It took over a long, but she eventually made it back to the outer walls to find the very same ten knights who had followed her out to greet Leonel and Aina.
    "Get ready." She said plainly. "This will be an important battle."
    Her smile was strikingly missing. Looking at her like this almost gave one a severe case of cognitive dissonance.
    "Did those bastards make you angry again, Sister?"
    The knight who spoke got a sword hilt to the back of his head, causing him to cry out in pain.
    "Is it time yet, Sister?"
    "No. The time isn't ripe."
    "Must we really continue to win battles for them?"
    "God has a plan, Michael. Believe in the Bishop. When this is all over, our names will ring throughout history. We will be the ones who bring this forsaken Earth closer to God."
    Joan grabbed her flag. A golden glow emitted from its pole, radiating out like rays of sunshine.
    She used her one good leg to pull herself onto her white steed, sitting tall with her smile once more back on her face.

 Chapter 38: Patay (1)

    "Jean!" Joan's delicate cry reached her knight's ears.
    Without needing more words, one of the ten knights by Joan's side charged out from the group, taking with him a group of at least fifty calvary.
    Leonel's gaze shifted to the flagpole in Joan's hands but his face remained expressionless. He was certain that it was invisible to others, but he had very clearly seen a line of Force leave Joan and enter Jean's body. In that instant, though it was difficult to get a read on Jean's stats since he was riding his horse, at the very least, his steed itself had a 10% increase in all of its physical stats.
    The army was riding through plains currently, but there was a forest up ahead. Seemingly realizing that something was wrong, Joan sent a squad of fifty as the vanguard.
    'So that's Jean Potonбн' Leonel thought to himself, running alongside the horses with Aina by his side. Quite frankly, he wanted to ride a horse as well. But, he simply didn't think he had the time to learn, so he hadn't even tried.
    According to history, Jean's action routed the English's sneak attack attempt and put them on their back foot. Because most of the hidden English forces were long bowman, the losses were devastating and completely tilted the battle in their favor. This battle ended completely without a siege.
    'But thatбн Is definitely not like historyбн'
    Leonel's sharp senses caught wind of something odd hidden within the shadows of the vanguard calvary. He had never seen something like it before, but it was more than enough to raise his alertness. As for Joan, she either hadn't noticed, or pretended not to. Leonel found it too difficult to read her.
    In stride, Leonel pulled his atlatl from his hip fixing a dart to it and sending a line of silver piercing through the air.
    He was quite aware of the kind of discipline an army needed, and was even more aware of how frowned upon it was to act without the words of your commander. But, Leonel was playing his role as a commoner. How would a commoner be aware of such things?
    His dart zipped through the air, causing a sharp intake of breath by the men still charging with him. The reason was that his throw was not only far too fast, but it went straight through the squadron of 50 as though without a care for their lives.
    Leonel wasn't focused on the reactions of fellow soldiers, though. His eyes were entirely focused on the white feathered dart.
    It soared through the air, narrowly missing several vanguard knights. Just before it left the group, it just passed over a slowly appearing shadow.
    As though startled, the shadow quickly ducked back into the ground, appearing as though nothing had changed. But, Leonel's dart continued to fly, entering the forest of trees and leading to the pained cry of a hidden archer.
    As the leather armored Englishman fell from the tree, several incredulous gazes made their way toward Leonel before a morale infused roar washed over the Frenchmen.
    Joan swept a glance toward Leonel from her white horse, but she received an innocent grin and a thumbs up in return. He looked no different from a kid happy to be of help for the first time. With that, any thought of reprimanding him she held vanished.
    The vanguard unit swept into the forest. It went without say that not every archer could hide away at the top of a tree. If this forest was so thick, it would never be on the route of their destination. Most of them tried to hide off the side of the path, waiting to rain down arrows after they passed through, but what they hadn't expected was such a prepared response.
    By the time Leonel's unit swarmed the forest, the English were in chaos.
    He swung his spear from his back, feeling a familiar burning in his blood. Aina trailed closely to his back. This sort of environment definitely wasn't the best for her battle style. That wasn't to say she couldn't fight. In fact, she could go through these trees like butter. The issue was how the other soldiers would deal with the trees falling in her wake. Taking this into consideration, she didn't act.
    Leonel didn't go out of his way to find and kill Englishmen. He took advantage of the complete disarray the battlefield was in to cut a straight line toward Jean's squad.
    Back when he threw that dart, those shadows had definitely peaked out of the ground several feet. Yet, no one but him seemed to notice. It made sense if a few didn't notice, or maybe even the majority, but not even a single person reacted. That only meant one thing: others couldn't see them.
    'It must be the state they were in. In order to enter that shadow-like form, they're essentially becoming an amalgamation of Force. But, normal humans can't perceive Force. And, Force wielders with weak senses can't see it either. Since the brain can't interpret what's right in front of it, the Force becomes a blind spot!'
    There was something that confused Leonel even more, though. Those shadows clearly hadn't had any malicious intent. In fact, that shadow in particular hadn't been targeting the knight, but rather the bowman hiding in the tree.
    'Is that Joan's ability?'
    Leonel and Aina flashed through the thin forest like two wisps of smoke. Their speed was faster than that of horses to begin with, so catching up with Jean's group hadn't been anything difficult.
    As expected, lying in wait on the opposite side of the ambush and outside the forest, there was another group of Englishmen waiting. But, the disorderly sorry looking Frenchmen they were waiting for never appeared. Instead, Jean had perfectly formed up his squadron.
    Raising his pike and roaring, he charged, a bright golden glow surrounding his power.
    "In the name of God! For France!"
    The front line of the Englishmen was blasted apart by a forcefield-like force. Their foremen were thrown from their stances, suffering severe broken bone before the battle even truly began.
    Reality didn't deviate from history. In fact, with Leonel and Aina tacked on, the result was even more devastating. The Battle of Patay this time around wasn't just a resounding victory, it was a trouncing.
    And, also just like history, the following weeks continued the trend. The French Army, under the leadership of Joan, swept through north-central France, leading a line of victories right to the gates of Reims where Charles VII would be crowned.
    In that time, Leonel and Aina became no less famous than any one of Joan's knights. Though they didn't wear the armor, nor have the steeds, their results were undeniable. Joan didn't even attempt to rein them in, allowing them to act freely within the armies as they saw fit.
    Barely over a month, several territories around Paris had fallen and the threat of the Burgundians бк traitor French of the last generation бк fell along with the English. In just a few more days, Charles would be officially crowned in Reims, the very place the near fall of their Nation started.

 Chapter 39: Patay (2)

    [Bonus chapter for 200 powerstones. Next bonus chapter at 300.]
    Leonel collapsed on a bed stuffed with hay. The last month had really been far too tiring. And, to make it worse, for fear of exposing himself to Joan as a person who knew much more than he should, he hadn't practiced [Dimensional Cleanse] at all either. This was on top of the fact that he hadn't eaten his fill even once in these past few days.
    That saidбн
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.95; Speed: 0.91 (+0.1); Agility: 0.99 (+0.1 - partially nullified); Coordination: 1.05; Stamina: 0.99-1.10 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.05; Spirit: 0.30; Force: 0.20]
    Due to the fact Leonel was running obscene distances almost everyday, the residual medicinal properties of his dad's smoothies began to eek out more and more, causing his strength, speed, agility and stamina to take leaps forward.
    But, this wasn't Leonel's greatest discovery. Since running from battlefield to battlefield was so monotonous, and there wasn't exactly great entertainment when they did rest, Leonel spent much of his time calculating the perfect positions for his next eight Force Nodes.
    He came to realize over time that the more he used his ability, the stronger it seemed to become. In fact, the bump in his coordination and reactions was precisely due to this indirect increase. On top of this, due to this improvement, he found it hard to pin down his stamina with any sort of accuracy anymore, so he left it as a range.
    Because of his calculative mind, Leonel had the ability to make the movements of his body incredibly efficient. It was for this reason his ability impacted his coordination, and likewise his reactions. However, for the same reasons, it could also improve his stamina, but it varied depending on how much of his calculative abilities he focused on making his movements waste less energy.
    By now, Leonel was completely certain of the positions of his next seven Force Nodes. He was only having a bit of trouble pinpointing where the last should be.
    "Are you two free?"
    The sudden words from a familiar voice at the entrance of his and Aina's tent caused Leonel to quickly sit up, sending a glance toward Aina who was lying with her back facing to him. She happened to looked toward him at the same time.
    The two hadn't exchanged many words since that day in the carriage. Leonel didn't exactly know how to feel about that. But, what he did know was that he could trust her.
    "Yes, Michael? Did the scouts find something?"
    Michael lifted the curtain of their tent, poking his head in with a smile.
    "Nothing like that. Sister just wants to see you two. I'm not sure why, so don't bury the messenger in questions."
    "Oh!" Leonel perked up, playing the role of excited fanboy he always had. "Right away, then!"
    Michael grinned. He had always liked Leonel's attitude. Much of the army found his naivetиж to be refreshing. Leonel had always been quite used to being well liked through multiple social circles, so making new friends like this wasn't very difficult.
    He and Aina rose from their makeshift beds, following quickly after Michael.
    The army was housed in encampments on the outside of Reims, but the King who had traveled from Orleans here, and important officials were on the inside of the city. Leonel was surprised to find that Michael actually led the two of them into Reims itself.
    'I guess it makes sense that she would stay inside the city. Charles couldn't allow the primary reason he regained this territory to muddle around with normal soldiers.'
    Leonel didn't think much of it and was eventually brought to a mansion. The specifics about it, he was uncertain of. Was she just lounging here? Was it rewarded to her? He didn't know. He could recall the main details of the timeline, but such small matters were long since forgotten by him.
    Michael left without a word, leaving Leonel and Aina to walk into an office area by themselves to find Joan turning around to greet them with a smile on her face.
    "Leonel, Aina, it's good to have you here. Have you been treated well?"
    Aina had learned to read and react to Leonel given certain clues. It was fine if she was a mute, but not understanding the language would be too suspicious. So, when Leonel nodded, her quick reaction time set in and she too nodded.
    "That's good, that's goodбн"
    Joan hesitated for a moment, causing Leonel's heartbeat to immediately slow. Well, it wasn't that his heart really did do this, but rather that he had subconsciously sharpened his reactions, causing even what was fast to be perceived far easier to him.
    "I have indeed called you two here for a very important reason." She took a deep breath and sighed. "I've been lying to the two of you for a very long time, for thatбн I apologize. I know more about our God given abilities than I've told you.
    "If you're willing to forgive me, I can take the two of you to meet the Bishop бк"
    "The Archbishop?" Leonel's eyes lit up like a child, as though already forgiving Joan. "We get to meet him?"
    Joan was stunned for a moment before smiling sweetly. "Yes, the Archbishop."
    Leonel's supposed ignorance played through well. However, his mind was spinning.
    The importance of religious figures in this era couldn't be understated. The difference between a Bishop and an Archbishop was massive. Joan would never make such a mistake. That meant she meant to call out the title Bishop. But who was this Bishop that she was willing to allow Leonel to mistake for the Archbishop?
    Was it a deliberate act of blasphemy? Or was she trying to spare his feelings by not calling out his ignorance?
    "The Archbishop is our true Godsent messenger. He is the one who leads my path and told me of my destiny. While he is in Reims prepared to crown our liege, I can take the two of you to meet with him.
    "I thought I was alone in this world until I met the two of you. If you join our cause, then the bright future we hope for will be in a hand's grasp. Our names will resound through history."
    'She seems sincere, she really believes that she was the only oneбн So the shadows really must be her ability. That makes sense, after all, they did nothing but help the entire wayбн'
    Leonel excitedly nodded. "Of course, of course!"
    "Good, then follow me. I will take you there."
    Joan smiled and turned toward a bookshelf. As though straight out of a fantasy novel, she pulled on one of the spines and caused a doorway to open.
    "These paths were tunneled under the city so that important religious figures and royals can escape in case of a siege. It'll be easier to take them than winding through the city for hours." Joan casually explained.
    "Wow! I didn't know something like this was possible. The Archbishop really must be God's messenger."
    Joan smiled and led the way, completely missing Leonel's disappointed gaze as the bookshelf clicked closed behind them.
    He had said it himself before. Sometimes over explaining revealed much more about the truth you wanted to hide. However, somewhat incredulously, he was certain that Joan meant them no harm.
    If she really believed she wasn't harming them, then who was this Bishop? Where was she leading them? And which entity could create such a large network of underground tunnels in this era?

 Chapter 40: Clue (1)

    'She's gone in a circle six times alreadyбн She really takes me for a foolбн'
    Leonel gazed toward Joan's slender back.
    In reality, maybe it wasn't Joan's fault. Leonel's calculative abilities were too sharp and he hadn't revealed anything about his true powers just yet.
    However, where she was at fault was in the fact that though Leonel portrayed himself as innocent and somewhat ignorant, he never pretended to be stupid. This Joan was looking down on him too much. Leonel was certain that he would see something wrong with her actions even without his abilities.
    The tug of war in Leonel's mind raged on. On the one hand, he truly couldn't bring himself to see her as an enemy. But, another side of him was constantly hiding the most important aspects of himself as though instinctually.
    Leonel felt that his ability was somewhat tempering his more emotional side, and he decided that he didn't particularly dislike that fact. But, he still needed to make a decision.
    Should he continue to follow Joan? Orбн Should he steel himself and kill her here?
    Without Joan, completing the hidden quest would be next to impossible. The morale of the Frenchmen was almost entirely reliant on her. And Charles wasn't eager to attack Paris to begin with.
    However, a hidden quest was ultimately a hidden quest. They could leave this place without completing it. Though, Leonel wasn't exactly sure of the ramifications for doing so.
    It had to be said that though this was structured like a game, Leonel was keenly aware that it wasn't. The 'side', 'main' and 'hidden' quests all had their own purpose. Their ultimate task was to deal with the anomaly in the timeline and save the present from being eaten away by it. How important completing the hidden quest was to that endбн Leonel didn't know.
    He could only make decisions based on the information he had. And, according to Aina, this Sub-Dimensional Zone might very well be a Unique Zone. In such a case, with so many potential variables, the quicker they could get outбн the better.
    Leonel's jaw set. This was probably the first real test his new morals faced. Was his conscience really fine with taking on this burden? Was he really okay with taking the life of a woman he had dined with? Shared life and death with? Exchanged laughs with?
    'бн No. I'm not okay with itбн'
    Leonel made a decision. The relationship he had built with her, shallow as it might be, warranted Leonel following to the end of this path. If danger lied at the end, Joan would be his enemy. It was as simple as that.
    It was a naive decision, a foolish one even. The smartest thing to do was to take out the spear he had used Aina's special pockets to help hide and stab her heart through her back at this very instance.
    If he did this, he and Aina's lives would be guaranteed. Whether they succeeded or failed in recapturing Paris, they would be able to leave this place. Butбн He didn't.
    "We're here."
    Joan stopped at a shorter than normal latched wooden door. It had almost been impossible to see in the shadows, one might easily miss it if wandering around randomlyбн almost like how hidden Joan's smile was in this darkness. Leonel could only barely make out the whites of her teeth and the blues of her eyes even with his sharp senses.
    "I cannot follow you in, the B бк Archbishop has very strict rules. Even I am not allowed to see him freely. Take hold of this opportunity well, it could change your life."
    Joan didn't wait after unlatching the door for Leonel and Aina, bowing slightly to them almost out of an odd habit that didn't seem to fit the situation. Then, sidestepping to go around them, she aimed to leave.
    "бн I hope I'm wrong."
    Leonel's words were spoken in a striking English. The change was so jarring that Joan froze. She had only just brought her shoulders level with Leonel's, but she didn't dare to turn and face him despite the fact his cheek was barely a meter from her own.
    That toneбн It held a level of command and conviction to it that Joan couldn't overlap with the Leonel she had come to know.
    In her opinion, Leonel was almost perfect in every aspect. His abilities, his loving and caring demeanor, he was even handsome. His only flaw was that he was a bit simple, to put it nicely.
    To say it plainlyбн she liked him far more than she liked Charles.
    However, the moment his words entered her ears, despite the fact she couldn't understand what they meant, she felt a sense of loss she couldn't explain. For a long while, she wasn't even certain if she had simply misheard or imagined it all. By the time the beating of her heart had stopped, the latched wooden door had opened and closed.
    **
    Leonel and Aina appeared in what seemed like a stone-built underground sewer system. There were many semi-circular arches along the sides, branching out into several other tunnels with winding paths of their own. But, there was a distinct lack of the horrid smell or dampness one would expect. In fact, it was oddly spotless.
    If the branching archways were ignored, the corridor was at least 20 meters wide. About 200 meters ahead, there was a dead end. Its wall seemed impossibly high, the kind of structure that had no business being underground. But, there it was.
    Still, even with this being the case, there was something else that pulled Leonel's attention away. It was a simple wooden desk. It had three draws attached to its two legs on the right side, and two bare legs on the left. It wasn't even two meters across and had nothing but a single candle lighting its entire surface.
    Before this desk, a gray-haired old man wearing worn gray robes sat, his back to them, curving as though he was too worn to sit straight.
    "So you've comeбн Tell me, I've always been curious. What is the world like a thousand years from now?"

 Chapter 41: Clue (2)

    Leonel's pupils constricted. To his side, Aina tensed up. It was only then he registered that this person had spoken in English.
    "бн Who are you?"
    "Me?" The old man replied. "I'm a nobody. Just a curious old man. I guess it's not very polite to ask a question without answering one first, so do you mind answering mine now?"
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. Something was wrong with this place. He didn't quite understand it, but Force was far more dense here than it should be. In the 1400's, the amount of Fourth Dimensional Force should have been minuscule.
    But this wasn't even close to the most important point. Who was this person and how the hell did he know his and Aina's true identity?
    The old man sighed. "There's no need to be so tense. Us three will be here together for a long time. Isn't it best if we get to know each otherбн? I spent all that effort learning that uglyбн English, they call it. I'd like for it to not be useless, if possible."
    The gray-robed old man slowly stood, pushing a chair that seemed it might collapse at any moment back and grabbing a bulbous wooden cane head.
    When he turned to face them, his slumped back straightened with a crack. It was like his formerly frail appearance was just an act. Such a simple action caused the air around him to speed up before settling back down.
    The lower half of his face was covered in a gray mustache and beard that swept over his collar bone. However, his upper half wasn't as wrinkled as one might expect. It seemed that if he took the effort to shave, he would look no different from a normal 40 year old man. Even Leonel's own father only seemed to be a bit younger than that.
    "I guess we got off on the wrong foot. I believe my name is pronounced бн Nicholas, in your English. I can't say I hate this tone of address, though, I prefer the original Nicolas. I'm sure you've heard of me."
    Leonel inwardly cocked an eyebrow, though he remained deadpan. There probably were famous Nicolas's in history, but Leonel would be lying if he said he knew who this person was. Was he supposed to know?
    Nicolas stretched his limbs. It seemed the cane he held in his hand was just for show.
    "бн You want to keep us here?"
    "Of course. I can't have you ruining my plans."
    "Your plans?"
    "I might decide to tell you after you can no longer interfere. Won't be long. I'd say, uhбн" Nicolas stared at blank space for a while. "бн about a month. Probably two just to be safe."
    Leonel frowned. He didn't understand, what could possibly be done in two months.
    It would probably take at least that long before Charles was officially crowned, but so what? According to the true timeline, that was meant to happen.
    Wait, maybe he was thinking about this all wrong. According to history, Paris wasn't captured either. But, it was their hidden quest to reverse that course. In fact, they would be greatly rewarded for it. So maybe the measure they should be measuring their success against is how much they did change as opposed to how much they kept the same?
    Leonel's brain spun, he couldn't grapple with the conclusion he needed.
    Was it really Charles coronation this Nicolas wanted to ensure?
    Just as Leonel's ability was working in overdrive, a subtle shadow appeared by Nicolas' side. However, no matter how subtle it was, Leonel was too alert at this point to miss it. His senses latched onto it instantaneously.
    'Huh? Isn't that Joan's ability?'
    "Ah, Pierre. You shouldn't be here, if you're gone for too long it could be a problem." Nicolas said casually.
    "These Invaders are a danger to you, Sire. I cannot leave them to you alone."
    'There was another of them? So it wasn't Joan's ability at all, but rather someone else this whole timeбн'
    Leonel sent a gaze toward Aina. She seemed to look this calm all the time now, he hadn't seen her shy expression for a while. But once again, it seemed that his one sided decisions had put them in danger again.
    Nicolas sighed. "You're always too overzealous, Pierre."
    "Sire by the hand of God gave me strength. I am simply doing what I can to return what should be returned."
    Suddenly, something clicked for Leonel.
    'The weird concentration of Forceбн The month timeline he setбн His words to this Pierreбн'
    Leonel's eyes widened. "Aina, my spear!"
    Aina reacted quickly, pulling an impossibly long spear from and impossibly small pocket. Even as she threw it to Leonel in a swift motion, she pulled out two smaller battle axes. Her main ax couldn't fit, however, in order to pretend as though they hadn't taken their weapons with them, she had had no choice but to leave it behind.
    "Tskбн" Nicolas frowned. "бн How unexpected."
    Leonel finally understood what was happening.
    A year from now is when Joan's fabulous reign would finally come to close. This concentration of Force was no different from the concentration of the future Earth's. Then, Nicolas warned Pierre that he couldn't come here or else he might be gone for too long.
    Leonel was certain. This place no longer had a ten to one time dilation and a month was exactly what would need to pass in order for a year to go by outside! And, he was sure that if he turned around now to attempt to open the wooden door, he might not even find it, let alone open it.
    Did this make Joan an ally? No. Leonel had already settled his heart into killing her.
    This might confuse others. A month was about the time it would take a year to pass in the world outside that latched wooden door. And, a year would be what it took for Joan to be captured by the English and then executed. So, why was Leonel in such a hurry? If he planned to kill her anyway, why was he in such a rush?
    It was because Leonel had realized something. What mattered in these Zone quests wasn't the end results, but rather the process.
    Why were there side quests to kill such-and-such number of enemies? Why was the main quest to kill a woman who had already been killed later anyway? Why was the hidden quest to recapture a city France would eventually recapture in the future? Everyone knew that Paris had been a part of France up until the 21st century, so obviously they had taken it back at some pointбн
    It was then it all clicked for Leonel. It wasn't just what they did that mattered, but when they did it as well. These Sub-Dimensional Zones were ticking time bombs!
    "Don't hold anything back." Leonel said with a fierce light in his eyes. "Go all out."
    Leonel flashed forward, taking control of the vanguard with Aina holding her twin axes to his back. All he had on his mind was taking them down and escaping this place before Joan could leave to lay siege to Paris for the first time.
    Whatever it was that happened during that first siege which ended in her first failure, had set in motion a history that was detrimental to their future.
    The hidden quest wasn't just a completion addicts dreamбн Just like Leonel thought, this wasn't a game. Everything had a purpose. The hidden quest was a clue!

 Chapter 42: Bishop (1)

    Leonel's decisiveness caught Pierre and Nicolas off guard. They had been observing Leonel for a long time and had never expected that he had this side to him.
    Their surprise informed Leonel of another important point: it was impossible for them to know of the mission requirements. If they knew that he was tasked with killing Joan, they would also know that much of the front he put on was an act. Taking it even further, they wouldn't have let her lead him and Aina here alone either.
    Thinking to this point, this whole situation made much more sense. They didn't know what they were trying to stop him from doing, so their best response to was to lock them away to avoid any unwanted variables.
    But, that begged another questionбн why had they waited for so long?
    "By the power of God, I beseech you energies of the world! Rage of wind!"
    Unfortunately, there was no more time to think.
    "I'll handle the shadow." Aina's voice drifted to Leonel's ears.
    With a nod, the two hit another gear. Leonel had already seen through the stats of Pierre and was more than confident in her ability to handle him. As for Nicolas, he was more difficult to manage as all spirit based entities were. But, the current Leonel was nothing like the Leonel of the past.
    Before, he had struggled with the C-grade Mayan Priest more than even a B-grade Invalid. But nowбн?
    Streaks of pressurized wind shot through the air. Leonel realized that this ability was nearly identical to the that of the Mayan Priest. It was a reality that brought his antennas up, however there was still a difference between this time and last.
    Whereas before he could only faintly sense them, now, he could very clearly see them streaking through the air. And, with all of the mystery goneбн they even looked crude and uncontrolled.
    They were fast, but not uniform in width. Their shape was similar to an earth worm with irregularly sized segments. If Nicolas had better Force control, this 0.90 points of agility his attack had would easily be over 1.00.
    Leonel's head ducked to one side, slipped by one worm-like wind projectile, sliding past another, and leaping over the last.
    His movements were fluid and confident, his gaze filled with a calm stillness to them. The Leonel of today was already a far cry from the teenage boy who first stepped into the Mayan Temple.
    Though he had been surprised, Nicolas was still greatly confident in his God given ability. However, he had never expected Leonel to deal with them so calmly and so easily. It was to the point where Leonel didn't even consider using his atlatl. He truly didn't feel like he needed it.
    "By the power of God, I beseech you energies of the world! Shield me!"
    'So it was a one way facing shield? In that caseбн'
    Leonel closed the rest of the distance to Pierre and Nicolas in less than 20 seconds, his gaze flashing with a dazzling light that made his pale green eyes gain a life to them they didn't usually have.
    Leonel's speed exploded as Force surged through his body.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.99; Speed: 0.99 (+0.1 - nullified); Agility: 0.99 (+0.1 - nullified); Coordination: 1.15; Stamina: 1.10-1.20 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.15; Spirit: 0.40; Force: 0.20]
    Leonel's sudden burst caught the two opposing him completely off guard, allowing him to slip between them and to Nicolas' back in a swift sliding motion.
    At that moment, Aina, in perfect trailing position, followed up with two swings of her dual wielded axes, cutting off Pierre's path toward supporting Nicolas. Her teamwork with Leonel was seamless, without even communicating, she was able to take cues from Leonel's dodging to deal with Nicolas' attacks just as easily as he did.
    Leonel set his feet, his arm flexing as he pulled his spear back tightly against his body. He pierced forward with enough momentum that his attack caused a sharp whistling noise to sound as his blade cut through the air.
    Nicolas' back was completely exposed. There simply wasn't enough time for him to react.
    The attack was flawless, controlled, and perfectly aimed toward his heart.
    CLANG
    A strong reverberating impact shook Leonel's arm as Nicolas was sent flying into his own energy shield.
    Violent coughs racked his lungs as the wind was knocked out of him. The painful groans of his body slamming against his own shield made Leonel certain that he had broken at least his nose, if not something far more substantive.
    "The lord will protect me from all harm! By the power of God, I beseech you energies of the wбк."
    Leonel hardly reacted to his failed attack. He had conditioned himself long ago to be prepared for setbacks. It was impossible to predict everything that would happen on a battlefield. Those who ended up on top were those who could read and react to anything. And unfortunately for Nicolas, he didn't seem to be one of these people.
    There was another thing that seemed to be identical between Nicolas, the so-called Bishop and the Mayan Priest: they both chanted before using their Force. The only difference between then and now was that Leonel could actually understand what was being said and didn't tune it out.
    '[Call of the Wind].'
    This chanting might have been part of their fanaticism, or maybe it had a purpose that Leonel couldn't see through, but regardless of the reason, it made timing the next attack far too easy, and counteringбн even easier.
    A glow coated Leonel's spear as he pierced forward once more. Before Nicolas could even finish his next words, a sharp wind traveled across the distance between them, leaving a bloody hole in his forehead.
    As he fell to the ground, Leonel understood that Nicolas only placed him on his radar after he met Joan. Leonel had displayed this very attack on the way to Orleans, yet Nicolas had clearly been completely unprepared for it, confident to the very end. Even Leonel couldn't have guessed that things would end so easily.
    When he turned around to check how Aina was doing, there was no chance to see Pierre's shock, because he had already fallen, hacked to pieces by the savage red glow of Aina's axes.
    Leonel sent a gaze back toward where the two of them had come from, only to be disappointed that the wooden door didn't reappear.
    He took a deep breath. The first task was done, but he had a feeling that leaving this place wouldn't be so simpleбн If they failed to find a way out through these maze of tunnels, they would be stuck in this Zone until the last of their daysбн
    "бн You should take a look at this." Aina suddenly said.
    Aina threw over a black book she took from Pierre's body.

 Chapter 43: Bishop (2)

    Leonel, who had still been thinking about the best method to get out of here, blinked and looked over toward Aina. He caught the hefty black book in the air, surprised by its weight. Just what could make a seemingly normal leather bound book so heavy?
    "I can't understand what's written in it." Aina said. "But I do feel a sense of familiarity from the diagrams. They feel like Force Art."
    Leonel's brow raised. "Force Art, are those different from Force techniques?"
    "Force Art are a type of Force technique, so not reallyбн" Aina explained lightly.
    Seeing that she didn't seem to be in a mood to talk, Leonel didn't ask more questions despite having them. He just made the assumption that what separated these Arts from normal techniques were these diagrams Aina mentioned.
    Leonel had seen diagrams in [Dimensional Cleanse], but they were of the human body, nothing like the diagrams Aina was speaking of now.
    Aina struggled a bit seeing that Leonel was having trouble getting anything out of what she was saying, so she couldn't help but say a bit more.
    "Force techniques are split into internal and external. Your [Call of the Wind] is an internal technique. Force Arts are external techniques. The difference is that one originates from the body before it can be projected out while the latter can be formed outside of the body. Force Arts are rarer and more difficult to learn and controlбн I don't know why something like them would appear here, it doesn't make sense."
    Leonel couldn't help but smile when Aina continued to explain unprompted. He could tell that she wanted to keep her distance from him, so he hadn't pressed her in the last several weeks.
    But he had learned that Aina was incredibly soft-hearted, a side of her he was quite fond of. She would often get that very same guilty look on her face whenever she felt she was being too harsh with him. So, he didn't mind shamelessly taking advantage.
    "I seeбн" Leonel mumbled. "I would have thought that [Call of the Wind] was an external technique due to its original nature, but I guess this is a case of instincts being incorrect."
    Though Leonel felt he would need some time to wrap his mind around this, he knew that this wasn't the time for this. There were far more pressing questions, even aside from how they would get out of this place. Namelyбн just who were these people?
    Not only did they know that he and Aina were from their future, but they also had access to Arts which even Aina spoke of as a rarity.
    The formerly ignorant бк well, more ignorant бк version of Leonel would think this was incredulous. However, the current him who was now aware that the future could apparently change matters of the past was much more interested in just what was going on here.
    Could it be that Earth's metamorphosis had changed history so drastically? Was it maybe instead that history was always this way? After all, even the Mayan Priest had a Force weapon that he had no business having. Or, was there maybe some other unknown reason Leonel didn't have enough information to reach?
    All Leonel knew was that this was big. Bigger than maybe his current self had any right to even think about, let alone deal with.
    Frowning, Leonel finally opened the front cover of the black book. Every second here counted, and if he was correct, it actually counted for ten times what it should. There was no time to waste, or else they would fail this quest and be stuck here until their deaths.
    [Shadow Manifestation]
    'So it wasn't an ability but a technique he was using?'
    The more Leonel read, the deeper his frown became. This technique, or rather, this Art was gruesome. It required etching the Art into one's skin with deep gashes to the bone. Pierre was most definitely a fanatic for putting himself through this.
    However, this also explain something else to Leonel. It was no wonder he had seen multiple shadow figures. Each of them probably had an Art etched onto their bodies, giving them this ability.
    Leonel described what he found out to Aina, causing her to frown. At first, Leonel thought she was just grossed out by the methods, but when she spoke again, he realized that this wasn't the case at all.
    "Something's wrongбн" She said faintly. "бн From what you describe, this Pierre should have been much weaker. But, his abilities were far more wide ranging than what that book describes."
    Though Aina still defeated him easily, that said more about her abilities than it did about Pierre's. At the very least, she gave him more credit than the book did.
    "Could it be that he maybe had more than one Art and he stacked them?"
    Aina frowned for a moment before shaking her head.
    "I don't think that's possible. All of his abilities seemed to fall under the same umbrella and were all related to the shadows. In addition, external Arts that fall under the Body Art category like this are still limited by the physical fitness of the person in question. With this person's level of constitution, it should be impossible for him to handle more than one etching without imploding."
    Leonel raised an eyebrow, what exactly was Aina getting at?
    "Where does the book say it's best to do the etching?"
    "Wellбн It says that the best place is directly onto the heart, but that's next to impossible. Its secondary suggestion was to compensate for lack of quality with size and draw as large of an etching as possible. Soбн The back."
    "Can youбн" Aina blushed slightly.
    Leonel understood her instantly and went over to Pierre's corpse. Holding down his feelings of discomfort, he flipped the latter onto his back and ripped his robes apart. He believed that Aina most definitely had a good reason for asking him to do this.
    But, he was stunned to find that there wasn't a single scar on Pierre's back. In fact, it was so pale that one could even see greenish blue veins pumping with the last of his life force.
    Leonel tilted his head in confusion. 'Maybe he couldn't handle drawing such a large Art so he drew on a lesser body part?' He thought to himself.
    "бн It's as I thoughtбн" Aina's voice interrupted his words to himself. "бн Someone studied Pierre's awakened ability and converted it into a Force Art, allowing it to be passed down, in part, to othersбн"
    Hearing these words, Leonel was left speechless.

 Chapter 44: Art (1)

    [Bonus chapter for reaching 100 powerstones. Next at 200]
    "Something like that is possibleбн?"
    "Noбн It should be completely impossible. I can't fathom what level of intellect it would take to do something like this. It's even more impressive that this person managed to keep the final product simple enough that it could be used."
    "If even you say it's impossible, then how are you so sure? How did you even guess at all?"
    "I'm very sensitive to things related to bodiesбн abilities, even if they manifest with the same or similar result very rarely have the same process. I might have superior physical strength, but the reason that I do is because my true ability is related to an innate sense I have for what the body needs and what changes it has undergoneбн It's a bit difficult to explain in a few words, but it's ultimately the reason I was slotted in as a Five Star health professional."
    Leonel's brows raised. This was the first time he had heard of Aina's profession.
    When it came to the Gene Assessment and its results, the more general the title you were given, the more talented you were. To be named as a 'health professional', this was about as general as titles came, while 'quarterback', in Leonel's case, was about as specific as you could get.
    Simply put, anyone who birthed a child like Aina was basically guaranteed to rise up in the world no matter what their original standing was. That said, considering the wrist watch on Leonel's arm had informed him that it understood less than 5% of his DNA, how accurate could his own Assessment have possibly been, then?
    "Thanks to my ability, I subconsciously know the best way to train my body. It's because of that that my physical stats are so high. The limitation of my ability, though, is that it doesn't seem to carry over into Force."
    Though there was nothing special about Aina's words, and even despite the life or death situation they were currently in, Leonel couldn't help but smile. He just liked learning more about her and liked it even more when it was her speaking to him about it.
    "бн What are you smiling about?"
    Leonel coughed lightly. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
    Aina quirked her head in confusion, but gave up on finding a real answer from Leonel.
    "What should we do?" Aina asked.
    Leonel took a deep breath. "I can sense that if we blindly try to leave through these tunnels, we'll only fail miserably. I feel that we're stuck in a cage right now and the power backing this cage won't fade for a long while. But, staying here for just a week would allow more than two months to pass in the outside world, by then, it might already be too lateбн"
    Leonel sighed. "I'm sorry, this is my faultбн I should know better by now. If I don't change бк"
    "Don't!"
    Leonel's words were abruptly cut off by Aina. He couldn't help but look toward her with shock hardly concealed in his eyes.
    "бн Just don't say that." Aina's voice became soft. "Let's focus on how to leave this place instead, okay?"
    Leonel's mouth opened and closed several times before he finally nodded.
    Taking another deep breath, he walked toward the only things left to analyze in this place.
    First, he picked up Nicolas' staff, weighing it in his hands. It was a shame that Nicolas died before truly using this cane's power. It left Leonel in the dark about how it actually worked, but it was more important to defeat him more quickly so as to avoid any unwanted variables.
    It was odd. Leonel felt that this cane was different from the Mayan Priest's sacrificial dagger somehow.
    After sensing everything he could at a surface level, Leonel walked to the small desk at the end of the sewage tunnel, his eyes narrowing at the sheets of loose tan colored paper.
    "These diagramsбн Are they Force Arts as well?"
    Aina gaze narrowed when she heard this, swiftly making her way to his side.
    "It really isбн What do these say?" Aina looked toward Leonel's side profile.
    "Is it not possible to understand Force Arts from the diagrams themselves?" Leonel asked curiously.
    "Remember the analogy about writing?" Aina answered with a question.
    Leonel's mind spun. "You're saying that Force Art is akin to a Third Dimensional existence writing in the 2D?"
    "Yes, Force Arts are rare. Those who can draw Force Arts are rarer. And, those who can create Force Arts for others to replicate are even rarer than that. I've only seen a few Force Arts. On top of that, the language that this Nicolas uses is very different from anything I've ever seen."
    Leonel's eyes flashed as he suddenly thought of something.
    In what seemed like an act of madness, he brought Nicolas' cane over his knee and powered his leg up hard, snapping it in half.
    Aina was shocked by his actions, but after seeing what was inside of it, she suddenly understood.
    The wooden cane was completely hollow. After angling a candle to light its insides, it was possible to see countless small etchings of Force Arts on the inside. And, judging by the fact that aside from inks and pens, Nicolas' desk also had several pen-shaped knives, Leonel and Aina could easily deduce that they were drawn by him.
    "This style, or language, is identical to what's in the black book." Leonel said.
    "You can tell?" Aina's eyes lit up with a bit of surprise.
    "Can't you also? You just said this language was different from what you were used toбн I assumed by that that you could tell the difference."
    Even though Leonel couldn't read Japanese, Chinese or Korean, he could easily tell the difference between their characters. It wasn't just him, it was a pretty easy task for any person who was even somewhat familiar with them. He felt that these diagrams were the same. Even if he couldn't understand them, he could still see through the fact they had the same basic foundation.
    "бн I can't." Aina replied. "Force Arts are shrouded in an energy that makes them hard to observe, it's part of what makes them so hard to comprehend and use, and even harder to make. I only know that they're not the same because I can't see through that shroud. If it was a similar language to what I'm used to, it would be easier for me to do so."
    Leonel's brows arched with understanding. But, there was one part he was still confused about. Why was it that he didn't feel a shroud impeding him at all?
    Once more, Leonel could only toss these things to the back of his mind, unable to provide an answer to Aina's curious gaze.
    "бн Why do you think that Pierre would have a book like this but Nicolas doesn't?" Leonel suddenly said after several hushed moments filled with nothing but the sound of rustling paper.
    Aina frowned, not knowing what Leonel was getting at.
    "I have a feeling that drawing these Force Diagrams is Nicolas' ability. Butбн"
    Leonel's gaze flickered with a blazing light. He walked back to Nicolas' corpse, stepping through the leaking blood and tearing open the back of his robes.
    Leonel stood to his full height as his jaw set. There it was, the massive etching mutilation they were looking for. Exceptбн It was on Nicolas' body.
    Somebody had given him this ability.

 Chapter 45: Art (2)

    Leonel's expression gained a bit of dignity. They hadn't been here for long, yet so many inexplicable things were unfolding before him.
    Gritting his teeth, Leonel made a decision.
    "I know how we can get out of here."
    Aina was just as intelligent as Leonel was. Though her thinking speed fell several steps behind him after he awakened his ability, when given enough time, her conclusions wouldn't be much different from his own. This was why when she heard this, her expression immediately changed.
    "No. No. Absolutely not. We can think of another way. You have no idea what kind of side effects there might be. I won't let you."
    Leonel smiled bitterly.
    "I wish I knew more about this world, but unfortunately I don't. This is the only solution I can think of, and considering the current abilities of my mindбн That's saying a lot."
    Aina's eyes involuntarily reddened.
    Leonel walked to Nicolas' desk and picked up one of his pen-shaped knives. He looked at it before a moment, hesitating. He didn't even notice when Aina's small hand crossed his field of vision and clamped down on the palm he held it in.
    "It's too risky." Aina tried to steady the trembling in her voice. "We don't understand the diagrams to begin with, who knows what it will do to you? For all we know, Nicolas didn't even have his own will."
    Leonel's jaw clenched. Sure enough, Aina had thought of the main danger as well.
    Leonel was certain that this place was being held together by a large scale Force Art. The problem was that neither he nor Aina were experts in the matter. Walking around blindly could land them in an even worse situation than they were already in.
    Though it might be possible for him to try and deduce the mysteries through Nicolas' countless notes, he had no confidence in doing so in a short time.
    However, if he drew this etching onto his body, he should theoretically gain the ability Nicolas had, allowing him to comprehend these Force Arts quickly. With the processing power of his mind, as long as he had this starting point, deducing what he needed to know to get them out of here would be the simple part.
    This sounded all well and good, but he might have a frightening price to pay for his ignorance. Joan worshiped Nicolas more than she did even the Catholic Church. Yet, they had very clear evidence here that his strength was handed to him by another. Who knew what the goals of this person was and what contingency plans they had left behind?
    Leonel's heart had been unable to settle itself. Knowing that the destination ahead only had one path, yet it was fraught with danger, left him in a steadily darkening state. But somehow, Aina's hand, despite being so much smaller than his own, completely dispelled those thoughts.
    He suddenly smiled warmly, his back straightening.
    He lifted Aina's hand from his palm, his gaze flickering when he noticed that the sharp etching tool he had been holding onto had cut into her.
    Almost somewhat on instinct, he ripped a piece of cloth from his linen shirt and carefully bandaged her hand.
    "Of the two of us." He spoke lightly as he worked. "I am the best option to do this. With my ability, I'll be able to make the best use of it. Plus, I won't need to draw it as large as he had to to achieve a better result. It'll be fine."
    Aina's hand trembled beneath Leonel's tender actions. Then, she could only watch blankly as he set her hand down and drew the first slice of flesh across the back of his left hand.
    Leonel's memory was frightening after awakening his ability. Without a single pause, he drew the complex Force Art across his skin, the only sign of his pain being his tightly clenched jaw.
    Force Arts could be made stronger with both depth and size. However, the Art Leonel drew was barely deeper than a usual paper cut and was a fraction of the size of Nicolas'. But, Leonel was confident that his own ability could amplify this Art's would-be potency, while also mitigating the risk he put himself in.
    Even so, blood flowed continuously from Leonel's hand, dripping down and ricocheting off of the stone beneath their feet. The dull echoes rebounded across the walls of the underground sewage system, giving the atmosphere an eerie and damp feel.
    Leonel's coordination stat was exceptionally high. It took him not more than a few minutes to etch the Force Art into his skin.
    He had been expecting a grand showing when he finished, but the reality didn't have much fanfare. There was a faint wisp of light and a subtle comprehension clicked in Leonel's mind. What was once gibberish became as clear as a text of English to him.
    'So that's how it isбн Aina was right. Drawing Force Art is like an author writing down a story. But that also means that if you want to influence a Dimension, you must be applying pressure from a higher Dimension. This isn't just good newsбн It's excellent news!'
    Leonel grasped on a very simple fundamental concept like it was his last beacon of hope.
    The bad news was that whoever it was truly had placed some failsafes in place, failsafes that made Leonel tremble to his core. He didn't know exactly what they were, but his analytical mind could already see through the parts of this Force Art that contributed nothing to its main ability of passing down this power of understanding. It didn't take a genius to figure out that these parts were where the hidden danger liedбн
    The good news, however, was that this Force Art was an attempt of the Fourth Dimension to influence the Third. However, Leonel's body was a half-step above the Third Dimension and was on its way to evolving toward the Fourth due to Earth being in its Metamorphosis and him having lit his first Force Node.
    As a result, the contingency plans this mysterious person left, had barely a portion of their effectiveness left.
    This also meant that the knowledge Leonel was gaining was also severely hampered, but it was a worthy trade-off, especially considering Leonel's calculative abilities!
    "LEONEL!"
    Leonel snapped out of his thoughts, his head sharply turning toward Aina.
    "Don't scare me like that!" She pounded the side of her fist into his chest, a move that would have likely sent him flying in the past.
    Leonel grinned. "Ainaбн That's the first time you've called me by my nameбн"
    Aina blinked for a moment then blushed profusely, turning her head away.
    Leonel's expression turned more serious with Aina distracted. He could feel the subtle workings of energy chains trying to worm their way from his left hand into his body. He had no choice but to send a steady stream of Force to crush it time and time again. The drain on him was immense.
    'We need to finish this mission as soon as possible. Only by going back to the present will this Force Art completely lose its effectivenessбн'

 Chapter 46: Escape (1)

    [Bonus chapter for reaching 200 powerstones. Next at 300. Take advantage of this, because judging by how things are going now, I'll probably have to increase the requirements next week lest my fingers fall off]
    Leonel pushed these worries to the back of his mind. He refused to allow Aina to worry. She was still in a precarious state though her symptoms hadn't flared up in a while. Though he wasn't certain what might cause her to sink back into that state, it was best if he kept her calm right now.
    Even aside from this, there was something else on his mind as well. He wanted to make this Force Art on his body as useless as possible as quickly as possible, but that didn't mean he didn't want the knowledge within it.
    If he relied on the Force Art entirely, then as soon as it lost its ability, the knowledge would go along with it. However, if he went out of his way to make this knowledge less instinctual and root it into his memory, then regardless of this whether it continued to work or not, the knowledge would become his.
    Whoever it was who created this Force Art most definitely had a devastating ability. Leonel couldn't fathom what kind of power someone who could translate numerous abilities into Force Art wielded. However, no matter how much of a great genius this person was, they had ultimately miscalculated this time.
    Leonel's ability couldn't be considered a counter to this mysterious person's. But, what it was, was an ability capable of exploiting a weakness. And that was exactly what Leonel intended to do.
    After taking a deep breath.
    "Give me half a day. Half a day is all I'll need to organize all of this information."
    Aina nodded solemnly. She knew that half a day was already worth five days to the world of their quest. By then, Charles would already be crowned and the French would begin marching toward Paris. However, she knew that it was useless to try and rush Leonel. If he couldn't do this, then they wouldn't be getting out of here at all.
    Without hesitation, Leonel leaned against a stone wall and crossed his legs, his mind entering a deep state that seemed almost like slumber.
    Compared to the abilities of others, Leonel's really seemed too lacking. He didn't have a flashy amount of strength, nor could he erect energy barriers like James or control things through the air like Yuri. However, only Leonel knew just how truly formidable his ability was, and the next few hours would prove this.
    Nicolas had spent his entire life integrating the knowledge given to him by that unknown person he worshiped like a God. He had lived over 60 years before the time of his death and over 50 of those had been spent in diligent study.
    Howeverбн Leonel had confidence to surpass him in just half a day!
    The first and foremost reason Leonel chose [Dimensional Cleanse] was because he instinctually felt that it could raise the potency of his ability. He hadn't even known about the so-called Star Cleansed Bodies before.
    Now, though, he knew that these Star Cleansed Bodies unlocked levels of potential your body would never have otherwise. Even without having formed his First Star yet, Leonel felt that his ability was far stronger than it had been in the past. And he knewбн That he could make it stronger.
    A strong surge of Force erupted from Leonel's body, causing Aina's expression to immediately change. She wanted to rush forward and stop Leonel, but it was already too late. She no longer dared to stop him for fear of harming him.
    'You idiot!' She roared in her mind.
    A faint wisp of a smile curled Leonel's lips as though he could hear her thoughts. And maybe it was due to that, but the anxiousness in Aina's heart faded.
    There was truly nothing to worry about. This time, Leonel wasn't putting his life on the line. Even with those Force Chains trying to wiggle their way through his body and take control of him, Leonel didn't have the faintest drop of worry in his mind.
    In the last few months he and Aina had been here, the reason they hadn't wasn't due to the fact they hadn't accumulated enough. Leonel could have formed his second Force Node a very long time ago. In fact, he could have likely formed his fifth or sixth by now had he not been obstructed.
    The only reason he hadn't was because he didn't want to be found out by Joan. Aina had similar reasons for not forging her Seventh Node.
    That said, in this time, Leonel hadn't been idle. Not only had he calculated the perfect locations for up to his Eighth Force Node, but he had simulated their creation hundreds of times in his mind.
    This was the first true tangible ability Leonel awakened after forming his First Force Node. When he entered a deep sleep like the one he had just now, he was able to think at a speed even several times that of his wakeful state. In addition, he could perform incredibly realistic experiments as well.
    Leonel felt that these experiments were only about 70% aligned with reality as he still hadn't reached a level of being able to simulate everything perfectly, but this 70% was already more than enough, especially when Leonel ran the simulations of the same events countless times over.
    If there ever reached a day where he could simulate the world perfectly, then just one simulation would be enough!
    Leonel called this ability Dream World. With it, he could perfectly calculate how to rearrange his cells to make room for a Force Node in advance, allowing him to complete the real thing with not only exceptionally high success rates, but also at speeds others could only бк somewhat ironically бк dream of!
    Aina could only stand in a daze as she watched Leonel swiftly form his Second Node. It took him no more than half an hour! And in her shock, she almost didn't notice he had begun forming his Third Nodeбн And it too only took him half an hour!
    A rush of Force surged toward Leonel from all directions. The torrent was so furious that Aina's lovely hair whipped about wildly, almost like the waters of a waterfall crashing to the rivers below.
    The momentum of the birth of Leonel's First Star was far beyond his expectations. In his shock, he realized that the Force that was holding up the surroundings was actually being sucked dry!
    One of the reasons Leonel had dared to do this was because the Force in this place was actually somewhat denser than even Earth. But, even if it was, it was almost a fraction of a fraction the size of Earth.
    Then, there was a dull BOOM. It almost sounded like a bag of sand hitting the ground, and following it, the Force in the surroundings all but vanished.
    Leonel's eyes opened with a bright flash, his body glowing as layers of skin fell from his body. It wasn't just skin that fell, but even his hair did as well, leaving him completely bald. As if this wasn't already enough, but a foul odor came from him as dense brown-black liquids were forced out from him at the same time.
    However, he didn't have a mind to think about any of this because he met Aina's shocked gaze with a shock gaze of his own. Then, he could only smile bitterly.
    If he had known he only needed to breakthrough to leave this placeбн Why would he have etched this damnable Force Art on his hand?
    To make matters worse, after destroying this pseudo Fourth Dimension during his breakthrough and returning to the Third Dimension, the ability of the Force Art to exert its strength multiplied, causing the Force Chains attempting to latch onto Leonel to grow several times in power.

 Chapter 47: Escape (2)

    Just when Leonel was feeling truly regretful at his lack of knowledge, his expression changed when he realized that the odd cage they were in was rapidly converging energy to reform itself.
    "Aina, do you have a big enough pocket to keep all of this stuff?" Leonel pointed toward the desk filled with loose sheets of paper. "Never mind, we don't have time. Come on."
    Leonel grabbed Aina's hand and sprinted with all his might, even activating his Force without reserve.
    Aina seemed stunned at that sudden contact. But, she was even more stunned by Leonel's speed. Was this really someone who had only formed three Force Nodes?
    In a flash, the two had crossed the 200 meter distance to the location of the wooden door that had appeared once more. With a single movement, Leonel swung it open, shocked at how impossibly heavy it was.
    It didn't take him long to understand. This was a door designed to be easy to open from the outside, but extremely difficult without special methods from the inside. It was precisely this door that, when closed, completed the Force Art that created this space.
    A roar escaped Leonel's lips, his arm bulging with ghastly veins as he pulled with all his might, ripping the door from the hinges.
    Only when this happened did he finally relax, his breathing steadying. As expected, the surging feeling he had had before came to a stop.
    One might argue that he shouldn't have been so panicked since he only needed to break through to shatter this space again. However, even though he knew where he should place every node up to the Eighth, he couldn't form them in quick succession without regard.
    After forming his Third Node, Leonel faintly felt that his body was like a bulging balloon that was about to burst. If he had used his Dream World to simulate what would occur during the formation of his Fourth Node, it would likely be that he would implode.
    In addition, he realized another thing. The closer to the Fourth Dimension he became, the more difficult simulating things became. He could simulate matters related to the Third Dimension with over 90% accuracy. In his previous state, he could simulate matters related to his body with 70% accuracy.
    Now, though, despite the fact forming his first Star had greatly strengthened his ability, he felt that his accuracy was only 73%. However, since the improvement in his ability was far more than just a mere 3%, that meant that simulating the matters of his body had actually increased in difficulty.
    It seemed that this path of his wouldn't be perfectly linear. There would definitely be some give and some take.
    He needed a few days to allow his body to acclimate itself to his Third Node, only then could he attempt to form the fourth. And, though Joan only died a year from now, there were countless events that happened between now and then. Without delving into the gritty details, what's important was that she might very well be marching toward Paris in just a few days.
    He didn't have the time to slowly improve his strength, and he wouldn't have such a perfect environment to do so like he just had either. To make matters worse, if the formation of his Third Node took so much Force, how much would his others take? No, that wasn't right. It was the formation of his First Star that had taken so much energy.
    Suddenly, Leonel felt a strong tug on his hand.
    Looking down, he blushed slightly in embarrassment as he let go of Aina's hand.
    "Sorry." He said apologetically.
    Aina's little nose wrinkled. "You stink."
    Leonel smiled bitterly. This was already the second time since he had known Aina that she had said such a thing to him. But it couldn't be helped, what exactly was he supposed to do about this? He hadn't expected that forming a One Star Cleansed Body would have such results.
    In the past few months, he had noticed that Aina was most definitely a clean freak and he also deduced that the black military outfit she wore that was filled with pockets definitely had a self-cleaning function, because he hadn't seen her take a bath even once but she still somehow smelt so good.
    Of course, if he knew that this clean freak he liked so much had helped him clean up while he was unconscious all those weeks ago, it was unknown how he would react.
    "What should we do now? I really didn't expect that we would escape so soon." Aina said softly.
    Hearing her, it was only now that Leonel realized that she wasn't certain that we would have escaped at all. Not only did this make Leonel feel more guilty about putting them in such a situation, but it warmed his heart at the same time. Because despite feeling this way, she still hadn't wanted him to risk etching this damned thing on his hand.
    Thinking of the Force Art against, Leonel gazed at his hand to find that it had healed during his breakthrough and formed faint bumps that looked like a brand.
    "We were lucky." Leonel said after taking a deep breath. "We were only in there for a little over an hour, so barely half a day has passed. Joan will likely be setting out either today or in a few days toward Paris. This is a good opportunity."
    "You want to get there first and prepare?"
    Leonel nodded. "Without adequate preparation, we'll definitely suffer major losses. I can't believe this is a Zone they designated for two people." Leonel continued, feeling aggrieved. "I believe you, this has to be a Unique Zone, that's the only explanation."
    "бн" Aina's mouth opened for a moment before she muttered in a small voice. "бн Sorry."
    But, she had spoken so softly that Leonel didn't catch her words.
    "Let's rush to Paris. We'll definitely make it there first. We can scout out the situation and wait for Joan to arrive. It will also give me a chance to digest the information in this Force Art.
    If it was really so easy to get rid of a Force Art, Leonel would just endure and shave a layer of skin from his hand. But, it obviously wasn't so easy to deal with it or else Aina wouldn't have been so worried, he could deduce at least that much.
    Since now he had to use half of his Force to keep these chains at bay, he might as well gain some benefits from them, or else they really might have no chance of clearing this Zone.
    However, just as Leonel was firming up his resolve, Aina said something that almost made him fall to the ground.
    "бн Do you know how to get to Paris from here?"

 Chapter 48: Map

    [Bonus chapter for 300 powerstones. Next at 400]
    Maps, especially during the middle ages, were incredibly expensive. Even a simple map would be worth hundreds of gold coins. Obviously, despite having been here for a long while, neither Aina nor Leonel had such funds.
    If they didn't have a map, they would have no choice but to follow Joan's army from a distance. But if they did this, then the advantage they had in movement speed would be nullified and they'd lose their chance to prepare in advance. If this happened, their chances at changing history and capturing Paris would end in failure.
    Leonel almost slapped his forehead. How could he forget something so important.
    After frowning for a moment, memories gradually surfaced in his mind.
    During his studies, since he had chosen French, he had of course seen many historic maps. It was just that the maps in these textbooks were incredibly crude and simple and would at most point him in a general direction.
    After a while, Leonel shook his head. This wasn't good enough. A single mistake could throw them hundreds of miles off course.
    "We're going to need to raid the military camp." Leonel suddenly said.
    Aina nodded seriously. This really was the only choice.
    There were probably cartographers in such a large base, but did they have the time to find out where they were? And even if they did find them, they would be within the city walls, something that would put them at a great disadvantage.
    At the very least, the military camp definitely had what they were looking for. In addition, if they were found out, it would be comparatively easier to leave the military camp as opposed to a fortified castle.
    "I couldn't leave my ax behind regardless." Aina said.
    Leonel grinned. "Let's do it, then."
    **
    "Big sister, where are Leo and Aina? We'll be setting off tomorrow morning and our chances at victory will be much better if they're with us."
    Michael was seemingly the only one in the meeting of commanding officials who didn't have a solemn expression. All of them knew how difficult it would be to retake Paris, so obviously they weren't in the mood to smile. As a result, while the nobles were off drinking and eating, celebrating the new crowned King's ascension to the throne, they were diligently planning.
    A wisp of a complex emotion flashed in Joan's eyes, but she quickly hid it.
    "They've been taken in by the Bishop. Their role is different from ours."
    Surprised expressions appeared on all those in the room.
    Though they worshiped the Bishop, they had never actually seen him like Joan had. All of their knowledge of him was by proxy of their big sister. So, not only were the surprised, but they even felt a bit jealous.
    That said, it couldn't be helped. They didn't have great abiltiies like Joan, Leonel or Aina. They had expected this result long ago. But, hearing it now made them feel a bit inferior.
    "Forget these matters, there'll obviously come a day where you're all rewarded for your service. Is there a need to feel sad? The disciples of the Apostles never met Jesus, but did they mope around like you few? Keep your heads up."
    "бн We got it, big sister." Michael pouted like a child. "But won't Aina be needing her ax? How could she leave it here?"
    Michael had no other intentions with his questions. He really was just asking innocently. However, there were others among their band that had weird expressions on their faces having heard this.
    At this moment, Aina's massive ax was leaning on a wooden weapon rack at a corner of the military tent. But, this wasn't the most important point. The key here was that Joan had moved it from Leonel's tent to place it here. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with this action. After all, they would be heading out soon and Aina wasn't here. But, it just felt like there was something they couldn't put their finger on.
    Just as Joan was about to try and dispel the awkward atmosphere, a voice suddenly came from the tent's entrance.
    "Hello? Miss Joan? Can I come in?"
    Joan blinked in astonishment, because the voice was actually Leonel's. What was going on?
    Michael laughed happily. "Come in, come in! We were just talking about you, you lucky bastard."
    Leonel's grinning face poked through the flaps to find the few of them having a meeting around a table. Since it was late, the space was illuminated by numerous candles. But, despite the fact it was a military tent, it carried a delicate fragrance that made it obvious a woman lived here.
    "Leonel? Why are you here?" Joan asked as Leonel stepped into the tent.
    Originally, Leonel had planned to use force to take what he needed. But then he shook his head. When had he become such a brute? The game of American Football seemed like a game of all brawn, but he'd lost count of how many times he had won a game with his mind instead of purely his arm. The National Championship was just another example.
    Leonel made a gamble. He gambled that Joan, even if she knew that the Bishop's purpose was to kill him, she most definitely wouldn't want others to know this. Leonel was too well liked in the army for her to act against him openly. Even now, the solemn expressions of those commanders here had gained a wisp of a smile when he entered.
    In addition, there was also the chance that Joan only had a feeling that the Bishop had bad intentions and no solid proof. In that case, she might even sigh a breath of relief that he had come back instead.
    There were other possibilities as well, but they all ultimately led to the same conclusion: Joan couldn't do anything to him right now!
    "I came to bid you all farewell." Leonel smiled brightly, casually sweeping a glance at the strategy maps spread across the table. "The Archbishop has given my sister and me a special mission."
    A few expressions of sadness crossed the faces of those here, causing Joan's expression to change. Since when had Leonel's prestige become so great? However, hearing Leonel address the Bishop as Archbishop rested a rock that had been hovering above her heart.
    Leonel laughed and exchanged a few words with the commanders, embracing the likes of Jean and Michael like they were friends separating from a long while.
    A long while later, Leonel turned to leave before smacking a palm to his forehead.
    "I almost forgot. If I left it behind, my sister would kill me. Thank you for keeping it safe, Miss Joan."
    Under a chorus of laughter, Leonel hurriedly scurried to the back of the room, picked up Aina's massive ax, and left with an embarrassed expression.

 Chapter 49: Resolve

    "Sister, what's going on?"
    Hours later, when the moon was high in the sky and darkness had enveloped the land, Jean was the only one left in Joan's tent.
    "What do you mean by that. Jean?"
    "Don't lie to me, sister. Why did Leonel say that the Archbishop had given him a mission?"
    When Joan heard Jean emphasize the word Archbishop, her pupils constricted. That was right, Leonel had said Archbishop, but all of the commanders beneath her command referred to him as the Bishop. It was an incredibly small detail, but it was a detail someone as intelligent as Jean would never let slip by.
    Did this Leonel do it on purpose? There were others just as intelligent as Jean under her command, it's just that only Jean was close enough to her that he would confront her like this. Or rather, it could be said that their relationshipбн
    Jean's arm wrapped firmly around Joan's slender waist, holding her tightly to his body.
    "Jean." Joan said somewhat furiously, her glare seeming to hold an indescribable power behind them.
    "I thought our relationship was better than this." Jean said with narrowed eyes, meeting her fierce gaze. "Do you think I'm a fool? What death mission did that bastard send Leonel on?"
    "Jean! Watch your mouth бк!"
    She was about to scold him fiercely for his act of blaspheming the Bishop, but a pair of rough lips had covered her own, completely stifling her attempt.
    "Joan, you are my woman. I don't know if this person you follow is really God or not, but this is one thing that I most definitely do know."
    To these words, Joan's reaction was unexpected. Her gaze seemed a bit dim, it was completely unlike a woman who was supposedly in love. It was as though she was resigned to her fate.
    However, the situation was simply too odd. Joan's standing was clearly higher than Jean's, so obviously it wasn't possible for him to force her into such a relationship. Whether it was backing or individual strength, she left him behind by far. It could only be said that their relationship was almost impossible to understand.
    "Joan, you are a woman too shackled by responsibility and the imaginary. You realize just as I have that there is no God in this world. Or, at the very least, even if there is one, it is most definitely not the God we grew up worshiping. Since things have reached such a level, why do you still allow yourself to be tied down?"
    Seeing that Joan still seemed to have no intention of responding, Jean released her. Though there were flames lighting his loins right now and he also knew that Joan wouldn't resist if he took her to bed now, he didn't want to touch her when her eyes were so vacant.
    "Do you know the reason I've allowed you to stay by that Bishop's side all this time despite my being certain that he was just using you? It's for no other reason than that I wanted you to see it for yourself. Would you have listened to me had I said it earlier?
    "But now you've seen it for yourself. He has no qualms about tricking a kind soul like Leonel. In that case, what do you think he would be willing to do to you?"
    There was finally a change in Joan's expression. A wisp of complexity and sadness pervaded her gaze. However, no matter how she searched, she really couldn't find an answer.
    God was an important part of her life. This was something ingrained in her from youth. It simply wasn't possible to separate herself from that lofty entity.
    How much pain had she suffered in her life? She was nothing but a teenage girl, yet she was leading groups of men in battle. How much burden was laid upon her shoulders? No one really knew but herself.
    But wasn't that what faith was? Wouldn't her pain be repaid in the end? This was nothing more than a test of her resolve.
    Joan's gaze became firm once more.
    'This will be the last. This is the last test. Then, I'll be laid to rest and enter the Heavenly Gatesбн'
    The times she had to go against her conscience? That was simply a test of her loyalty. The times others suffered due to the choices she made? That was simply the test of their loyalty. The world was that simple to Joan.
    The God she had known in her youth, maybe he really didn't exist. But, there was a new God before her now, and he was real and tangible. She had seen it with her own eyes, the kind of power he wielded, the kind of power he could bestow.
    'Bishop! I won't let you down!'
    Despite seeing Joan's gaze regain their light, there was no happiness on Jean's face. In fact, the smile he held faded. And, seeing this, it was Joan instead who smiled.
    "Jean."
    Joan's voice was so soft that Jean felt that his knees lost their strength. Under the dull lights of the flickering candle light, she heard the clang of armor drop to the floor and a slender hand slip into his. He had hardly reacted by the time he noticed that he was being led toward Joan's bed.
    It wasn't long before a softness that made his mind go blank enveloped him.
    "Make me forget for another night." Joan placed her lips to Jean's ear, standing on the very tips of her toes as the last of her clothes fell to the ground.
    Her hot breath carried a moisture with it that spread an uncontrollable warmth throughout his body. At that moment, he seemed to have completely forgotten about his complex emotions and envelped Joan's soft bottom in his large hands, lifting her up from the ground and piercing through her without reserve.
    A spine tingling moan was barely muffled as she bit down on his neck. Like a young girl swaying in the sea, she accepted all Jean had to give, holding onto his neck with her seemingly weak arms.
    With each powerful stroke, the lust and resolve in her eyes grew.
    But she had no idea that her 'God' had already died.

 Chapter 50: Missions

    The Paris of the 21st century, before it was destroyed during the Empire's war for supremacy, was known for its romance and the Eiffel Tower. However, though it might still be possible for the France of the 1400's to be known for the former, it would still be 400 years until the latter was built. But, that didn't mean that Paris didn't have its grand sights, much to Leonel's aggrievement.
    The grand sight this Paris was known for, unfortunately, was a massive castle that dwarfed both Leonel and even Aina's massive ax in size. It stretched almost as far as the eyes could see and its fortifications made the knees of its attackers weak.
    Both Aina and Leonel stood a good distance from it, not wanting to alert the Englishmen of their arrival. Even though they had broken free of the French, let alone the English, even most of the French army was completely unaware of this. So, if they got caught now, there would definitely have to be a bloody battle.
    "This is the city we're supposed to capture? What a death mission." Leonel muttered.
    Aina stood by his side silently as they looked toward the tall greyish white walls in the distance. Though her expression had hardly changed, there was a trace of seriousness in her eyes.
    Leonel sighed. "We're still lacking in information. What is Joan coming here to do? If her goal really is to capture Paris like history says it was, why is it our goal to kill her?"
    There were too many things the answer to this question hinged on. For example, if Joan's goal was the same as theirs, should they work with her at the start and only kill her later? What if her goal wasn't the same as theirs? Should they kill her as quickly as possible to avoid later variables and try to capture the city on their own? Could they even do that if it was necessary?
    The longer Leonel spent in Zones, the more he realized just how important information was. If they had wrong or even incomplete information, it could lead them toward doing something irreversible and get them stuck in this place for the rest of their lives. Leonel still shuddered at the thought of what would have happened to him had he killed the Priest's sacrificial virgin back in the Mayan Temple. He would have never seen his friends or family againбн
    Leonel's gaze flickered. 'No matter what, my priority if we pass through this will be getting the best Zone Detector I can.'
    "We don't know exactly what her goal is," AIna suddenly said, "But, it's still possible to make a guess."
    "What are you thinking?"
    Aina bit her lip for a moment before continuing, her gaze still focused on the massive castle in the distance.
    "First, remember that capturing Paris is just the hidden quest. We only need to complete the main quest to get the chance to leave."
    "Butбн?" Leonel felt like she was leading him somewhere.
    "But, there's a reason hidden quests exist. This isn't a game. Everything has a purpose and not completing everything perfectly has consequences. If it was a weak Zone, then the penalty for skipping over a hidden quest wouldn't be severe, but in a potential Unique Zone like this one, the consequences could be dire.
    "The main reason it's best to complete a hidden quest is due to the fact hidden quests are lingering dangers. When left incomplete, they can bleed into other Zones, causing mutations that evolve them and multiply their difficulty.
    "Under normal circumstances, Sub-Dimensional Zones with higher Dimensional Grades than the world they're in will not appear. Meaning, since we are only in the process of evolving into the Fourth Dimension, Bronze Zones will not appear and only Black Zones will. However, if a hidden quest is left incompleteбн"
    Leonel broke out into a cold sweat. According to Aina's device, this was only an S-grade Zone. Even if it turned out to be a Unique Zone, its true difficulty wouldn't be too far from this. Yet, it had already almost killed them twice now. Once when Aina lost her mind and the other when they met the Bishop and were trapped.
    If a mere S-grade Zone was already like this, what would a Bronze Grade Zone be like?
    The worst part of this was that these things weren't entirely under their control. Even if they perfectly cleared their own Zones, what about everyone else?
    At that moment, Leonel came to a sudden understanding.
    "It's no wonder the Empire wants to gather everyone up. It really can't afford for everyone to work blindly on their own, or we could really be finished."
    Aina nodded. "Now, think back to your first Zone, how were the hidden quest and main quest linked."
    "Originallyбн" Leonel smiled bitterly as he remembered how this damned wrist watch almost got him killed. "бн Never mind. The main quest was to repel the Spanish and save the girl. The hidden quest was to kill the Priest."
    Leonel had barely finished when his gaze suddenly brightened. As for Aina, she shuddered when she heard his mission requirements. Leonel had to fight the Spanish? In other wordsбн An army not unlike this one? Aloneбн?
    She shook her head to regain her bearing
    "Seems you understand now. The missions never conflict with one another, but what might matter is the timing. For example, your main quest is vague. Which girl? The only way for you to know which girl is to find out that girl is linked to the Priest you need to kill."
    "Then that makes things simple." Leonel said. "If they can't be contradictory, then Joan's goal is definitely not to save Paris. So, I should have just dealt with her earlier?"
    "Not necessarily. Like I said, timing is important. Though her goal isn't to capture Paris, she still has a purpose in coming here. And, it's likely that even if her goal isn't to capture this city, she will at the very least attack it. That is beneficial to us."
    Leonel took a deep breath. "So that's it. We wait for her to attack while making sure she can't accomplish her true goal, whatever that true goal might be."
    After saying this, Leonel's heart steadied. This was most definitely not a simple task, but there wasn't much of a choice left.
    "Aina, help me cut down a few trees."
    There might have been a large mountain before them to climb, but Leonel had no intention of lying down. Since Joan had chosen to betray him, she was his enemy.

 Chapter 51: Paris (1)

    [You guys are gonna kill me. Bonus chapter for 400 powerstones. From next reset onward, it'll be 200 powerstones per bonus chapter so that I don't collapse *runs away in tears*]
    The English were roaring with fighting spirit. The truth of the matter was that they had suffered successive losses over the last few months. It was to the point where they might be kicked out of France entirely at this rate. However, their morale was still raging.
    The reason for this was simple. They refused to lose to such an enemy and they were the true elites of the English army.
    They had been hearing stories about Joan for almost a year now. The idea that a woman was the one putting their armies in such a sorry state was a great humiliation to them. It was simply going against the will of God.
    Of course, the English had no idea that the real reason their morale was so high wasn't due to their own will at all.
    On the castle walls, two men stood side by side. They wore silver armor and the English flag was painted on their shoulder guards. Both swept indifferent gazes at the roaring men on the tall walls and cold sneers toward the approaching French army in the distance led by a woman with flowing black hair and her knights.
    "How is it, Reimond? Is she as much of a beauty as you thought she'd be?"
    One of the previously expressionless men grinned, sizing up Joan. If others saw how he was acting, they would definitely be shocked. After all, he spoke about Joan as though she was right in front of him and he could see her every detail. However, she was easily over a kilometer away. If it wasn't for the size of the approaching army and their high vantage point, it would be difficult to make out even her gender, let alone how beautiful she was.
    "You like used goods that much?"
    "How do you know she's used goods?!" The man rebutted.
    "The Bishop is our savior, but he isn't a Saint. If he really let her go, he might as well castrate himself."
    The man paused and seemed to think that this made sense.
    "I don't know why I even bother to argue with you anymore." The man said. "You pretend like I was seeking her out to be my wife. How could I marry someone who's destined for a coffin in a few months? I just want to have some fun."
    Reimond glanced at the man but didn't say anything in response. It was only after Joan had crossed the kilometer mark that he finally spoke again.
    "Nigelle. There's something wrong with the path of the winds."
    The man, or rather, Nigelle, frowned at these words. The true reason he didn't like arguing with Reimond wasn't because he was no fun, but rather due to his ability. It was an ability that made it hard for him not to be serious all of the time.
    "There might be some variables." Reimond continued. "We should be prepared."
    Nigelle's playful demeanor disappeared and he was once more expressionless.
    "Archers!" Nigelle's roar cut through the battlefield as he took his longbow from his back as slammed its lion shaped edge to the stone beneath his feet. "Aim!"
    Nigelle himself didn't aim his bow. Its almost three meter tall form was held in his left hand, radiating such a faint glow that it was almost impossible to see.
    The French army was still charging.
    One Kilometer. Eight hundred meters. Seven hundred meters. Six hundred meters.
    The rumbling of horses made it seem like the skies might collapse at any time.
    "Set up a defensive line! Ready the cannons! Shieldmen forward!" Joan's cries resounded over the battlefield.
    "Fire!" Nigelle's voice followed hers as the French crossed the 500 meter mark.
    It felt for a moment that night had descended, a vast expanse of black covering the skies like hand enveloped the lands followed by the sound of the winds being torn apart beneath their might.
    The French weren't slow. They reacted to Joan's commands, bringing the shieldmen forward to block the rain of arrows.
    "Towers!" Joan roared.
    Tens of wooden towers came forward, hiding the violent power of their cannons behind their windows as they pressed onward.
    The French crossed the 300 meter mark. Under Joan's commands, they flowed like the water of a rushing river. Nothing was rushed and everything was organized. If a war historian of Leonel's time were to witness such a scene, they would be shocked beyond belief. It simply wasn't possible for an army even of modern times to move so swiftly, let alone one of the middle ages.
    However, these things were simply beyond the normal realm of logic and reason. One only needs to look toward the faint golden glow of the large French flag in Joan's hands to understand that this was no longer just a battle of mortal men. The Gods had intervened.
    "FIre!"
    Nigelle roared once more and a second volley came.
    More men died horrible deaths. Though the shieldmen did their jobs as well as they could, how could it be possible for them all to come out unharmed?
    Maybe the most sickening part was that if one ignored the cries of pain and closed one's eyes, the sound of arrows piercing skin was little different from the sound of an arrow hitting the bark of a tree.
    However, very soon, the French weren't the only ones suffering, because the cannons Joan had asked to prepare were ready.
    "Fire!"
    The tall wooden towars stopped just within 200 meters of the castle walls, the barrels of deep black cannons aimed forward before a cacophony of booms resounded.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The cries of the English sounded and the bloody battle that went down in history truly began.
    In the distance, Leonel looked on with a serious expression. By now, he had already been in many battles. However, he had never set eyes on a siege before. Though he was prepared for it to be bloody, he really hadn't expected it to be to this extent.
    'We were right to move so far back.' Leonel thought to himself. 'That man shouting out commands and the one by his side are definitely not normal. They're also most definitely not the same English generals who fought this battle according to history.'
    Leonel took a deep breath and his frown deepened.
    Just what was going on? Who was scheming against Earth like this?
    But there was an even more shocking realization that made Leonel's spine tingle with coldness.
    It was only possible for a single group to enter a Zone at one time. Until that group succeeded or failed and died, said Zone would not open again.
    What did this mean? It meant that whoever was toying with the matters of the past now had been doing so for at least one thousand years already. How could they even begin to fight against such a thing?

 Chapter 52: Paris (2)

    The blood and carnage was nauseating.
    The bodies of brave knights were minced into pieces beneath rains of arrows and the ballistic balls of destructive cannons. Their mad roars filled the skies as they charged toward their deaths. They seemed to be filled with courage and a sacrificial will, it was the kind of thing that brought a man and his family honor in any era. But Leonelбн Just found the scene to be sad to look upon.
    What were they fighting for? Their country, of course. Maybe on a deeper layer, it was for their God. But was it worth it?
    Leonel wasn't the kind of person who looked down on others for their faith. He was questioning more so if their God even wanted this.
    Leonel shook his head. 'It isn't that they believe their God wants thisбн It's that they're being manipulated into believing so by those they trust the mostбн'
    Before this, Leonel still had a hard time blaming Joan. Even though her actions almost led to his death, he had always been a forgiving person. Since he was still standing here, there was no harm, right? In that case, there was still a chance at mending their friendship.
    Many would call this sort of mentality foolish. And if they did, Leonel wouldn't argue with them. He too found it to be foolish. But, this was just his nature.
    However, after seeing this scene, the last wisp of understanding he had for Joan vanished. Whatever reasons she had no longer mattered to him. She knew how devastating her actions would be, yet she carried them out anyway.
    How many innocent people would die today? A few thousand? More than that?
    Leonel had always heard that the wars of the past were child's play compared to wars during and following World War I. But, even if these death counts couldn't compare to the millions who lost their lives during those pyrrhic monstrosities, reading numbers from a textbook and witnessing it for yourself were two completely different experiences.
    It wasбн unforgivable.
    'I can't keep letting them die like this while I do nothing but stand here and watch.'
    "Ainaбн" Leoenel looked over with an apologetic smile at the dainty fairy that stood by his side.
    She was much different from the Aina that had always been in his heart. She wasn't wearing her usual long flowing dress, the kind that clung to her curves with the slightest gust of wind. Instead, she wore a black military uniform densely packed with pockets.
    Her hair wasn't as perfectly groomed, gently waving like the descent of a calm waterfall. Instead, it was quite tangled. Some of it even stuck to her delicate face with the help of her beads of sweat.
    Even her usual elegant demeanor was nowhere to be seen. The massive, murderous ax on her back was too good at crushing such thoughtsбн
    However, Leoenl found that he liked her even more now than he had in the past. Maybe it couldn't even be simply explained as 'like' anymore even if he wasn't sure how to express it. All he could say was that the way Aina lookedбн Simply didn't matter to him anymore.
    "I've already said it." Aina said calmly without looking in his direction. "Don't change."
    Her words seemed to have nothing to do with the situation. Even Leonel was confused by what she was saying. When had sheбн
    Leonel's gaze flashed with a bit of realization and he looked away from Aina's side profile and looked back toward the violent battle.
    "Aina."
    Hearing Leonel's voice, Aina trembled slightly. She knew well that Leonel had an exceptionally kind side to him, but there was another side that was full of resolve. It was that side of him that stood in battle against thousands of Englishmen and refused to let her go. It was that side this voice was fromбн
    "I don't know enough about the relationship between you and your family. But, I do know that you've been avoiding me due to it. Howeverбн"
    Leonel grinned wildly. "You just said it yourself. You asked me not to change. So you tell me, do you think I would let the woman I like face such a thing on her own? Or is it that my Aina wants to take back her words?"
    AIna was stunned stiff. Leonel had confessed to her 521 times. She didn't need anyone to keep count for her, she knew the number herself. She should have gotten used to it by now. However, it had been over a year now since the last time she had heard him say such things. She had almost forgotten how it felt.
    A moment later, her face flushed a blazing shade of red. It seemed like she would leak a fountain of blood if she was poked just once.
    Usually she would run away, but where would she run now? She couldn't leave Leonel behind in such a dangerous situation.
    After a while, she was so stifled that she stomped her foot against the ground, causing it to tremble and crack.
    Leonel's lip twitched. He had almost forgotten that this petite fairy before him was such a monster.
    Taking a deep breath, Leonel looked back toward the battlefield and those fluttering emotions in his heart faded. He knew how foolish his next actions would be. Originally, he should have waited for maybe even a few days of battle to pass by, only then would both sides be damaged enough for his plan to work perfectly.
    Butбн he just couldn't stand by and watch these valiant men die while he knew they were just puppets on the strings of another. If he really did allow them to suffer for his own designsбн How would he be any different from Joan?
    "Let's go."
    Leonel shot forward, Aina, who had regained her composure following closely behind him.
    In an instant, they had arrived on the battlefield and were immediately noticed by Joan and the two men on the castle walls, causing all three of their expressions to change violently.
    In what seemed like a flash, Leonel and Aina crossed the defensive line of the tall wooden towers, entering a no-man's-land filled with French corpses.
    "For France!"
    Leonel roared as countless arrows rained down toward him.
    His left arm flicked upward, causing his small shield to explode in size. Before it, the rain of arrows was no different from harmless water droplets. Both he and Aina were completely unharmed.
    In the blink of an eye, two unknowns had made it to the city walls.
    "Aina!"
    Aina nodded and pulled her massive ax her back while taking a rope from one of her pockets with her free hand.
    Leonel leapt into the air. He didn't need to look back to feel the violent winds of Aina's ax slamming toward him. But, she obviously wasn't attacking him.
    The flat of her blade boomed against the soles of his feet as she tossed the rope in her opposite hand into the air.
    Under the shocked gazes of the two armies, Leonel made it to the top of the castle and swung his massive shield, sending tens of Englishmen flying.
    He looked back, finding the rope Aina had thrown up snaking through the skies and grabbing it without hesitation. He grasped it with both hands and pulled up with all his might, sending her to the top of the wall with one swift motion.
    Leonel retracted his shield and pulled his spear from his back and brandished it against his body with one arm.
    He felt Aina's delicate back press against his own as she brandished her own weapon.
    Like this, the two faced swaths of enemies on both sides. Yet, Leonel's handsome face carried a wild grin while Aina's beautiful lips curled into a slight smile.
    A rare moment of silence descended onto the battlefield before the roaring cheers of the French resounded.

 Chapter 53: Paris (3)

    Despite the cheers of the French, Joan's golden helm hid an unsightly expression. If she wasn't certain before that Leonel's goal differed from her own, she was now.
    In truth, even if he did this, it shouldn't have been so obvious so quickly. However, Leonel only had himself to blame once more. The reason Joan was able to realize there was something wrong with his actions was because of those words he spoke to her in English that day.
    Nigelle and Reimond simultaneously turned their gazes toward Joan as though trying to gain an explanation. But, what they found in return was her warped expression, making the answer to their question quite obvious.
    These two weren't one of them.
    On the castle walls, Leonel and Aina stood back to back, facing enemies on all sides.
    From front to back, the walls averaged almost ten meters in thickness, so the number of knights and archers here was definitely not just a few. In addition, since there was so much space, the pair didn't gain any advantage due to the landscape.
    Howeverбн
    Leonel and Aina both took a strong step forward. Though it wasn't enough to shake the massive castle walls, the loud boom was enough for the warriors around them to look on in shock. Before they could react, tens more fell from the high walls.
    This was only the first day of the siege. Or, rather, it really should have been the first of many days. As a result, most of the warriors on the castle walls were archers. Though there were some knights, they weren't high in number. With this, it became very obvious very quickly just how disadvantaged they were.
    Aina and Leonel swept through them as though adults playing with children. The fear filled Englishmen were so shocked by the sudden shift in the battle that they didn't even realize that though many of them were being heavily injured, the majority of them hadn't even died.
    "What's theirбн" Nigelle was confused. What exactly were they trying to do? However, it was at that moment his expression changed. "бн The gates! Stop them!"
    He pulled up his longbow and was about to use it, but then his expression became unsightly. There was only a distance maybe 20 meters between him and Leonel, a distance that practically meant death to anyone who offended an archer like him.
    The problem was that there were clusters of Englishmen in his way, there was no clear path for his shot!
    Leonel might have been a kind hearted soul who often did foolish things for the sake of his moral code, however he wasn't a fool.
    He had guessed that Joan and these two men with abilities were working together. And, he guessed that if he and Aina just suddenly appeared, they wouldn't have time to communicate between themselves to understand what was going on. As a result, they wouldn't be able to stop them from getting to the top of the walls. And, if they couldn't do that, thenбн
    The path to the gates would be too easy to reach.
    Leonel jumped up and onto the edge of the wall, sprinting along it at a speed that surpassed the human body.
    There was no shortage of those who tried to push him off or knock him off balance, but his coordination stat had reached a level far beyond anything these soldiers could imagine.
    "Charge toward the gates!" Leonel roared.
    His voice blanketed the battlefield, suppressing the cheering of the Frenchmen who immediately regained their senses. That was right, they were still in the middle of a war.
    Leonel and Aina had caused the archers to become completely disorganized on an entire segment of the wall. Even if there were more parts left unscathed, it was still a huge pressure off of them, especially since the part of the wall now unable to send attacks toward them was exactly the part that protected the draw bridge gates.
    For a moment, it seemed as though Leonel had become their Commander and many forgot that they still had to wait for Joan's order. Maybe it was the confidence in Leonel's tone or the fact he was very much used to leading groups of men or maybe it was that they all had taken a liking to him in the past few months, but they completely disregarded everything and charged forward like madmen.
    Seeing this, Joan's visage darkened even further. This was completely out of her control. What could she do? Tell them to come back? What kind of blow would that strike them?
    All this time, she had never forgotten that she was a woman. In modern times, this wouldn't matter too much. But in this era, it already took her several years of God-like feats to gain the acknowledgment of these men. She was very much aware that even a single mistake could cause everything she had worked for to come crumbling down.
    Leonel's lip curled as he leaped onto a defensive tower, dodging the sword of a defending knight and kicking him away.
    He shot forward and down a set of winding stairs.
    Castles were designed with defense in mind. Even something as simple as stairs kept this in mind. They made it difficult to use your dominant hand to wield your weapon and even had irregularly shaped steps that promoted losing your foothold.
    But, before Leonel's coordination stat, none of it seemed to matter at all.
    It wasn't long before he made it to the gear room, finding the large chains that held up the drawbridge dangling before him. Unfortunately, he also found something else.
    Reimond stood before Leonel with a curious expression, blocking the way to the chains. By his side, there were a group of ten silver armored knights, looking toward Leonel with dull expressions. Three of them wielded longbows, four were spearmen and three were swordsmen.
    "I thought that something out of expectation would happen today, but I didn't expect it to be this. Who are you two? Where are you from? Have you not considered the reaction of the Bishop?"
    To Leonel's back, Aina blocked the constant flow of knights and warriors. Considering how narrow the passageway was, it didn't put any pressure on her at all, but her eyes still narrowed at Reimond's words.
    Leonel surprisingly didn't waste any words, completely out of Reimond's expectations.
    With one swift motion, he tossed his spear into the air, allowing it to spin.
    His freed hand pulled out his atlatl and a dart, hooking it as he took a strong step forward.
    Leonel's Force surged, his eyes turning to a bright green glow that caused Reimond's eyes to widen.
    "Youбн"
    Reimond's words had barely formed when a violent surge of wind sent his helmet flying. He could only barely see the streak of silver as it cut through the air, its destination the very chains Reimond had thought to protect.
    Like a knife through butter, Leonel's dart sliced through the thick chains. How could the forging of the 1400's match up to a spear created by higher dimensional beings?
    The sounds of rattling and accelerating chains resounded as the roars of the French continuously became louder.
    Leonel holstered his atlatl and caught his spinning spear before it fell, pointing it toward the group.
    "Come."

 Chapter 54: Paris (4)

    Leonel hid his trembling left arm to his side, holding it against his body firmly to make its odd movement less obvious.
    After he forcefully stimulated his Force, the Force Chains that had been snaking from the Force Art on his hand took the opportunity to counter. In the end, Leoenl had to forcefully suppress it, but the result was a drain that was even a level higher than it had been in the past.
    Aina didn't know it, but Leonel hadn't even been able to sleep in the last several days. If he stopped suppressing it for even a moment, he would suffer. Luckily, he could enter a meditative state that allowed his mind to rest while remaining alert, or else he might not even be able to continue standing now.
    This was the true reason Leonel so confidently pointed his spear toward Reimond and the others. He wasn't some sort of battle maniac, those words were definitely out of character for him. But he had no choice, he had to do his best to hide his current weakness. And, it seemed like it worked.
    The pressure that Leonel emitted coupled with the roars of the charging French made the Englishmen to Reimond's back feel that they might really be finished.
    To one side there was Aina who killed knights descending the narrow winding stairs with a single swing of her ax. Before them there was Leonel whose hair whipped about in a wild manner as his momentum grew. And to their backs, thousands of the French were crossing the no-man's-land they had created toward the castle they were defending.
    Even for Reimond, he really couldn't think of a way out of this. The plan wasn't even a tenth of the way to completion.
    His calm expression flickered several times, running through a marathon of emotions. In the end, his visage twisted, landing on anger.
    Who were these two? They had planned for so long and so diligently, giving away years of their lives toward this goal. Yet it was going to be finished just like this? How could he be willing?
    After a deep breath, he calmed down. Barely a few seconds had passed since Leonel caused the drawbridge to fall. It wasn't over yet, there was still time to turn this around. No, maybe this was an even better outcome for the original plan.
    At that moment, etchings on the ground Leonel hadn't taken notice of flashed and the group of 11 vanished.
    Leonel's gaze landed on the etchings for only a moment before coming to an understanding. Force Art. A teleportation Force Art. It was no wonder they managed to just appear here before Leonel finished descending the stairs.
    'Is the man with the Force Art ability among them?' Leonel thought to himself.
    Leonel suddenly felt a hand clamp down on his trembling left arm. He looked down to find Aina looking toward him with a mixture of worry and anger on her face.
    "What are you hiding from me?"
    Leonel opened his mouth to respond, but he really didn't know what to say. He had only wanted to deal with the chains as quickly as possible. The longer he took, the more Frenchmen would die. But, he hadn't expected the backlash to be so bad.
    Luckily, he didn't have to face Aina's questioning glares any longer because the first group of Frenchmen begun crossing the moat. Leonel took that opportunity to look toward inner gates.
    Taking a deep breath, he could only look toward Aina with a pleading expression as though asking her not to say anymore.
    Aina flicked Leonel's arm down in anger and glared at him as though trying to boil him alive with nothing but her eyes. Then, she turned in a huff of rage, her ax lighting up with a violent red glow.
    She unleashed all her emotions onto the gate, slicing in cleanly in half and kicking its lower portion with a wind screeching stomp.
    The doors were sent flying, taking with them the lineup of archers that had been waiting on the other side to start another bloody slaughter.
    Leonel's lip twitched. He really had to remember to stop making this woman angry.
    Suddenly, his expression changed.
    Leonel stomped his foot on the ground hard, barreling forward with all his might and appearing to Aina's side.
    He grabbed her waist, lifting his trembling left arm to block with his quickly expanding shield.
    The two of them were blasted backward, sliding along the ground on their feet almost to the point of crashing into the French vanguard.
    The Force Chains had taken advantage of the moment to snake further up Leonel's arm, almost causing him to lose control of it. Had that happened, he didn't even want to think of the consequences.
    Leonel turned a narrowed gaze toward Nigelle, who was slowly lowering his bow from the other side of the inner gates, and then a solemn one toward his now severely dented shield.
    All this time, no one had been able to land even a single scratch on it. But now it was deformed to the point its shape almost broke his arm. A little bit more and it really could have.
    That arrow really was too swift and too powerful. Had it not been for his ability improving and causing his senses to reach an unprecedented level, he might have been too late.
    At that moment, Leonel felt a bundle of raging Force to his side. He looked in shock toward Aina who seemed on the verge of exploding from anger.
    "Aina!"
    Aina was stunned out of her berserk state. The combination of Leonel's troubles and the near death experience almost made her lose her mind again, but luckily, Leonel caught her at the start this time.
    Leonel looked back toward Nigelle, a deep frown setting into his brow. The situation had changed once more.
    Reimond and his ten knights had appeared followed by a female wearing a golden mask appeared with her own knights. Each of the female's knights wore helms that revealed nothing but the slits of their eyes.
    Englishmen continuously poured in from all sides, forming a defensive line to block entry to the inner gates. It wasn't long before their numbers totaled in the hundreds.
    Leonel's gaze, however, didn't leave the golden masked woman. Though the pole she held in her hand no longer had a flag on it, Leonel wasn't a fool. This woman was obviously Joan.
    The charging Frenchmen, as though by a previous tacit agreement, slowly organized themselves to Leonel and Aina's backs.
    Leonel reined in the trembling of his left arm. He finally felt he could use his Force again without becoming a puppet to this mysterious person.
    Since Joan was standing firmly on the enemy's side, there really was nothing more to say. Leonel didn't want to spare any words on such a person. He only wanted to ask just what was the purpose of all of this. It didn't seem to make any coherent sense at all.
    What was the point of this battle? Why fight on the side of the French at all if her goal was to lose? And at this point, why did she even care to continue to hide her identity?
    Leonel closed his eyes and shook his head, releasing Aina. None of it mattered anymore. Today would be the end of Joan's legend.
    "Aina."
    Aina flicked her palm upward, causing a perfectly square plank of wood to appear. She used the same Force technique that helped her levitate her massive ax to allow it to hover in the air.
    Leonel's gaze flashed with seriousness as his spear snaked forward. In the blink of an eye, an intricate rune with soft edges reminiscent to low ocean tides appeared on the wood.
    With a final strike of Leonel's spear, the plank of wood shot forward through the sliced inner gates.
    At first, it seemed like nothing would happen. It was just an ordinary piece of wood flying through the air.
    However, it was then the temperature began to rise. A moment later, the plank of wood burst into a fire that raced through the lines of the rune. And, in the next instant of time, it collapsed before violently expanding into a fireball just a over a meter in diameter.
    Nigelle, Reimond and Joan's eyes widened in horror.

 Chapter 55: Paris (5)

    [Bonus chapter for 200 powerstones. Next at 400 :)]
    The three of them were shocked and horrified, but Leonel and Aina had already acted once again. In as little as three breaths of time, three more planks of wood were flying toward them, scorching the air.
    Finally, Joan reacted. With a wave of her pole, her knights stepped forward and stomped their feet as one.
    Golden strings sprung from her flagless polearm, attaching to the heads of each of the knights and causing their auras to skyrocket.
    A moment later, a thin and pale gold dome-like shield appeared in the path of the first fireball.
    BANG!
    The barrier shook and cracked, on the verge of collapse.
    Nigelle quickly reacted, pulling his bow string and releasing three arrows that seemed to magically manifest in rapid succession.
    The embers of the first fireball flashed and sprinkled down from the air, soon becoming a curtain the three energy arrows pierced through to collide with the next three balls of fire.
    "Let's go." Leonel broke out into a run before the six attacks even collided.
    "80% chance he uses the collision as cover for another energy attack. Shield."
    Leonel's ears twitched, barely catching Reimond's words beneath the next cacophony of booms. The latter was practically whispering. If it wasn't for Leonel's sharp sense, he would have really missed it.
    'Precognition? Prediction? Psychic?' Leonel frowned.
    However, his steps didn't stop. Judging by the situation, this person seemed to think that Leonel wouldn't be able to hear him. Another thing was that he didn't have a method of communicating without speaking. As long as Leonel could continue applying pressure on him, even if he could guess his most likely course of action, he would only be able to take the optimal actions for himself. In that case, the impact of his ability would be severely limited.
    Leonel's Force surged, pressing down on his left arm with the pressure of a mountain. It would be difficult to win this battle without his Force. Howeverбн
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 0.99; Speed: 0.99 (+0.1); Agility: 0.99 (+0.1 - partially nullified); Coordination: 1.15; Stamina: 0.99-1.20 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.15; Spirit: 1.00; Force: 0.40]
    Leonel felt that this was enough.
    Aina cut past Leonel, swinging her massive shimmering ax down and causing a beam of Force to split the explosion in half.
    Leonel took the opportunity of the pause in her steps to flash by her once more, jumping through the opening she created.
    Seeing this, Reimond smiled, believing he had successfully predicted Leonel's attack pattern. However, he soon realized that he had miscalculated.
    Seemingly having expected the new barrier in his wake, Leonel took appropriate action.
    'The movement of Joan's knights are based on her ability. However, as expected, the movements of Reimond's are more autonomous. They exist for the sole purpose of protecting him, and any combination abilities they have should rely on Force Arts.'
    "Aina."
    Aina was already following closely behind. Hearing Leonel's voice, she flung forward another plank of wood.
    'Force Arts can create, but they can also destroy.'
    If he could use his Force, this barrier would be nothing to him, especially since it had already blocked a percentage of Aina's energy scythe. However, he wasn't certain that his bodily strength alone could pull it off. Luckily, it didn't have to.
    Leonel's eyes rapidly shifted from side to side, taking in everything about the barrier he was still leaping toward. His ability churned at full tilt, calculating madly without end.
    In the next instant, a familiar square plank of wood appeared before him and his spear snaked forward once again without hesitation.
    'Undoбн'
    There were many disciplines under the Force Art umbrella. In fact, it was even a bit foolish to consider them a single whole.
    Among these disciplines, there were a few greatly respected. Those that followed this discipline were known as Decriptionists. They had the ability to deconstruct any Force Art and see through their flaws. Those of this profession were invaluable in high level Zones and when exploring the graves of high-grade Dimensional Masters.
    Of course, Leonel wasn't such a person. It was just that he happened to realize that Force Art was simply a method of making Force flow in a certain manner. Specific frequencies and conditions allow the manifestation of different phenomena.
    But in that case, couldn't those frequencies be countered?
    It was a simple thought that Leonel had tested in the last few days. Even he wasn't aware of just how unfathomable the path he had stepped onto was, nor was Reimond aware that he would be the first to suffer under his discovery.
    In a muffled bang, the defensive barrier formed by Reimond's knights collapsed like a house of cards, allowing Leonel and Aina to charge through.
    Before the first knight could react, Leonel's spear shot forward with an unbelievable speed and pierced his throat. He pulled it back and passed by before the first spurt of blood even made itself known.
    Nigelle cocked back another arrow, but before it made it to Leonel, Aina had already stepped forward. With a swing of her ax, the arrow shattered like glass.
    Without missing a beat, Leonel's spear became like a blur, causing another three knights to fall mercilessly. No matter how much armor they wore, he was able to find the tiniest crevices and the smallest openings to exploit, reaping their lives with a single strike every time.
    Joan couldn't sit idly by. With another wave of her polearm, her knights moved forward once more.
    Leonel had thought that they would be just as easy to deal with as Reimond's knights. However, he soon found that even after several probes, both his and Aina were still trapped in their encirclement.
    Every time Leonel thought he saw an opportunity to strike one of them down, another would strike toward him at an angle he had no choice but to retreat from. After this happened several times, Leonel's expression grew solemn.
    'They share their sensesбн'
    Leonel's brow furrowed. He hadn't expected their momentum to be stifled so suddenly.
    'The only way to break through in a short time isбн absolute power.'
    Leonel's gaze narrowed and he shot forward. Others might think that the only method of displaying absolute power was strength. But Leonel knew of another: speed.
    "90% chance he tries to brute force his way through."
    Reimond's voice once again traveled to Leonel's ear. His words were incredibly soft and he believed that only Joan could hear him, but the reality wasn't so.
    Joan waved her polearm once again, causing her knights to bunch together in preparation for a strong attack.
    Unfortunately, though Reimond's prediction was correct, he failed to describe the method Leonel would use.
    Leonel firmly planted a leg, suddenly changing directions and shooting through a gap between a knight and the inner gate. Joan's actions had only made them all the more susceptible to his maneuver.
    '[Call of the Wind].'
    The instant Leonel flashed through, a faint glow coated the tip of his spear.
    Reimond's last thought was one filled with shock. He, who could do the work of God and prophecy the futureбн died just like this?
    A bloody hole seeped with blood from his forehead even as a sweep of Aina's ax sent Joan's knights tumbling back several steps.
    Leonel clenched his jaw, the veins on his left hand bulging like swarming green snakes beneath his dented shield. He had gotten rid of the most dangerous of the three of them, but he had paid a severe price.
    He couldn't move his left arm.

 Chapter 56: Paris (6)

    "Reimond!" Nigelle's almost hysterical cry fell after time seemed to stop for a moment.
    Blinded by rage, he unleashed arrow after arrow toward Leonel. In his anger, his arrows violently expanded, becoming roaring flood dragons that snaked through the skies.
    Leonel didn't foolishly meet these strikes head-on. Clearly, Nigelle had forgotten about the overall situation when he attacked, lost in his emotions just now.
    With swift movements, Leonel took several winding steps, dodging the powerful arrows with ease. Another person wouldn't be able to dodge the attacks such a great archer had launched from now even 30 meters away, but Leonel was different. He wasn't judging the trajectories of the arrows while they were in the air, he had already calculated where they would land the instant Nigelle released his bowstring.
    The moment Leonel passed by the dragonic rain of arrows, a chorus of muffled booms and cries of pain sounded. He didn't need to look back to know that Nigelle's rash actions had affected Joan's men, even taking out two of them.
    Leonel chose to trust Aina. If he could quickly take out a second one of them, then the two could focus on taking down Joan without worries. At this point, the normal soldiers hadn't even dared to try and take part in a battle of this caliber. So, Leonel felt that he could directly ignore them, at least for now.
    Unfortunately, while he was on a tear toward Nigelle, the remnants of Reimond's knights stepped forward, their gazes red as they swung their weapons toward him. It was clear that they too cared for the man deeply.
    There was a part of Leonel's heart that felt guilt. However, he could only push it down. He had already resolved himself to be part of this new world order. Killing and being the root cause of the pain of others was something he couldn't avoid. As long as he had a clear conscience toward his actions, he would continue to move forward.
    Leonel's gaze grew firm, holding his left arm as tightly against his body as he could, his spear snaked forward once more. Though he didn't use his Force, the power and speed behind his strikes wasn't something these normal human men could deal with. He was too fast, too agile, too strong.
    His gaze flickered toward the distance and toward Nigelle's paling visage. It was clear that that last attack had taken a lot out of him.
    The sound of spurting blood was almost akin to the gushing water of a pressurized hose. In the blink of an eye, Leonel had taken down three more, using the opening it created to shoot off toward Nigelle.
    Joan obviously didn't want such a thing to happen, but she didn't dare have her men turn their backs toward Aina who was currently holding eight of them back all on her own. The main issue was that as an archer, Nigelle had to be at a distance and was far from them from the very beginning. With them taking the vanguard and blocking the way, they had never considered the fact that he could ever be in danger.
    "Form up!" Nigelle roared.
    Regardless, there were still hundreds of Englishmen between Leonel and him. This was more than enough to allow him to recover. He realized he had been too rash just now, even being the reason two of Joan's eight knights had fallen, a number that would have been greater if not for Joan's action, even more of them would have been wiped out.
    The Englishmen shook in fear at this command. It was clearly just throwing away their lives to get involved in a war between gods, but they didn't dare disobey. What would happen to them if they enraged this god?
    Leonel's brow furrowed, if he really had to go through so many, not only would it defeat the purpose of why he chose to involve himself so early on, it would also give that archer far too much time.
    His gaze flickered as he noticed a piece of the inner gate Aina had blasted apart with a kick earlier.
    Without hesitation, he flicked the piece upward with a kick before snaking his spear forward in a familiar motion and allowing the broken piece of wood to fly forward and into the defensive line of Englishmen.
    The English knights screamed out in terror and dodged to the sides, not daring to meet this attack head-on. Many even closed their eyes and fell to their knees in prayer, knowing they didn't have enough time to move out of the way.
    By the time those knights realized that something was wrong, a strong wind had blown by them and Leonel had already left them behind.
    Nigelle watched on in shock. Even when Leonel had appeared upon his archery tower and sliced his head from his neck, the grievance was clear in his eyes. He had really died due to such a petty trick.
    It was simply impossible for Leonel to draw a Force Art so quickly. Force Arts needed a steady hand and precise movements. It was impossible to draw one on a plank of wood that was kicked up into the air. However, Leonel didn't need to. He just needed the English to believe he could.
    Leonel didn't pause for even a moment. Taking advantage of the wooden tower he stood in, he shot his spear downward and quickly etched out several Force Arts.
    He didn't wait before jumping down, the tower behind him combusting into a meteoric rain of fire that forced the English to run in all directions. They didn't even have the chance to believe that maybe Leonel couldn't create those heaven defying fireballs any longer before he directly cut off that line of thought.
    'I'm reaching my limit.' Leonel thought, his jaw clenched tightly as he took advantage of the situation to rush back toward Aina.
    Drawing Force Art needed Force too. It was just that the amount was minuscule comparatively speaking, if your control was good, that is. With his obscenely high spirit stat, practically no one in the same range of abilities had better Force control than Leonel. This was why he could still draw them despite the situation of his left arm.
    However, even if it was a small amount, it was still an amount. If he tapped into his reserves anymore, he wouldn't have the strength he needed to suppress the chains any longer.
    Leonel didn't realize at this moment that the most dangerous of them hadn't been Reimond at all.

 Chapter 57: Paris (7)

    Leonel quickly scanned the situation ahead and sighed a breath of relief when he saw that Aina was fine. In fact, she was more than just fine, she had taken out four more of Joan's knights, leaving just four remaining. But it seemed that Joan's control had grown tighter with less to worry about, causing the difficulty to actually become somewhat more difficult.
    'Good, I'll take her out now and it'll all be over.'
    Leonel suppressed his fatigue and dashed forward under a rain of balls of fire. He could practically see the end of this several month-long affair.
    He bore down on Joan, his gaze meeting hers across tens of meters. Reimond's knights once more tried to block his path, but the last of them fell with a sweep of his spear. They hadn't even hit the ground when Leonel had already appeared several meters to their backs.
    Joan's gaze was hard to read. Despite having not taken his eyes off of her, Leonel couldn't tell if she was calm or feeling complex. Her blue eyes, hidden beneath her golden mask, seemed to ripple slightly before going still every so often.
    In truth, it seemed like she was finished. She couldn't pull her knights back from Aina, or else it would be that bloody ax that took her life. At the same time, she had always been on the back line, having no combat prowess of her own. That moment Leonel took Reimond's life, she knew that she wouldn't have had the ability to resist had his target been her.
    20 meters. 10 meters. 5 meters.
    Leonel brandished his spear, settling his scorching lungs as he pierced forward with everything he had.
    He didn't waste words on her. The time for that had long since left them.
    It was at that moment Leonel heard something akin to a sigh. And it came from Joan herselfбн
    "Rise."
    A string of gold separated from Joan's polearm and entered Reimond's corpse which lay to her side, causing him to suddenly stand and accept Leonel's blow to the chest.
    With a clang, Leonel's spear rebounded off of his chest plate, causing a strong reverb to travel up his arm.
    It was only a moment, but Joan had already shot backward and raised her polearm high, a string of corpses that were the product of Leonel and AIna's efforts appearing in along her path.
    A low shout left Joan's lips and the few golden threads from her polearm became several hundred. Not only did it shoot into the crowd of scattered Englishmen, but it also tore its way through the gates and dove into the defensive line of Frenchmen as well.
    Leonel had just wanted to sigh a breath of relief. Joan wasn't a Necromancer, she didn't really make Reimond rise back from the dead, she only took control of his limbs and used him as a human shield. But, judging but the thickness of the line of gold she needed to do it, he deduced that it took more effort than controlling the living so it was no wonder she hadn't used this ability in the past.
    However, his happiness was short lived. He had thought that Joan was limited in her ability to control others, but he never thought that she would suddenly take control of hundreds of knights like this.
    'No, I can't let her create space.' Leonel shot a gaze toward Aina, but she was still struggling with the remaining four knights. Having no other choice, he could only press forward with all his might on his own.
    'Dammit, I really should have taken her out first.'
    It really wasn't Leonel's fault. He had followed Joan for months, but all she ever did was give out stat boosts and she never did so to more than ten knights at once. On top of that, she never took control of them like she was doing now. He failed to consider that while he was hiding his own strength, she was doing so as well.
    If one had a choice between a man who could read into the future, and a frail woman who could seemingly only control ten knightsбн It was clear what most would decide.
    Now however, he was paying a price for it.
    Leonel felt a bit of agitation in his heart. He was obviously much faster than Joan, but he kept having his path cut off by corpses and Englishmen who had come to give away their lives. At the same time, he knew that the French were most definitely charging toward Aina. It was to the point he didn't dare to look back because he feared he wouldn't be able to control his urge to turn back and help her.
    Leonel holstered his spear to his back once more and pulled out his atlatl. Usually it wouldn't be a problem for him to nock a dart with one hand, but he was being swarmed from all sides, making the process awkward. To make matters worse, because he had a useless left arm, he had to act quickly or else he wouldn't be able to defend himself at all.
    He barely managed to succeed, but when he looked back up, the shimmering reflective surfaces of several swords, pikes and spears were headed in his direction.
    Without a choice, Leonel grit his teeth and dropped his atlatl, pulling his spear back out from his back to swat these weapons aside.
    Leonel could feel Joan getting further and further away. To make matters worse, Aina's aura was starting to become erratic, if this continued, she might go berserk again.
    If he had known this would happen, he would have let Aina use her breakthrough into the Seventh Node to shatter that Force Art that had them trapped. By then, she could stabilize her Force and not have to worry about it. But now, there simply wasn't a dense enough source of Force here to help her.
    The more Leonel thought, the greater the agitation in his heart grew and the more uncontrolled his spear became. It wasn't just his thoughts, it was his fatigue. How could his control remain the same when his legs felt like they had been filled with lead and his arms felt so boneless?
    'Calm down Leonel. Breathe. Think. How do you get us out of this?'
    Persistence didn't just mean when convenient. It was even more important exactly when everything seemed hopeless.

 Chapter 58: Paris (8)

    [Bonus chapter for 400 powerstones. Next at 600 :)]
    In this case, the situation truly did seem hopeless. There were more and more knights swarming to block for Joan, it seemed that Aina might lose control again, and Leonel himself felt that he was approaching his limits.
    His body was heavy, his Force was languid, and his left arm felt as though it was being poked through by thousands of needles.
    However, even with this being the case, Leonel managed to calm his heart. He had almost lost his life more times than he cared to count within the Mayan Temple. It was always his mind and not his power that helped him out of those situations.
    He had been too rash this time. If he hadn't been constantly trying to brute force his way through this battle, he wouldn't have ended up in this state so quickly. Of course, it was also possible that Reimond and Nigelle would still be alive in such a situation, but Leonel still felt that he could have taken a smarter, better approach.
    In the end, he kept making mistakes because he simply didn't know enough. Had he known how easy it was to break through that Force Art prison, he would have never drawn this thing on his hand. Had he known Joan had such abilities, he would have killed her first before Reimond.
    But, there was no longer any use in griping over such things. Being agitated would get him nowhere. In fact, he might make more mistakes as a result of such a mindset.
    Leonel warded another forward movement of the Englishmen, his pale green eyes locking onto Joan who was still continuously increasing her distance from him. In fact, if it wasn't for her bright golden armor, he would have already lost her in the sea of bodies already.
    'Fear tactics won't work any longer, they're being controlled. Thinkбн thinkбн'
    Leonel didn't stop moving forward. He seemed just as frantic as he was in the beginning, causing Joan to have no choice but to continuously respond with more knights. He had no choice. If he stopped moving forward, then it would be too easy to surround him.
    'бн If it was possible for her to just take control of all the French like this, why had she bothered to appear here in the first place? If she took control of the French from the very beginning while they were charging through the gates, Aina and I would have been caught completely off guard.
    'Even further than that, why is it that she insisted on wearing a mask if controlling the French was so easy? No, even more importantly, why is it thatбн'
    Leonel's gaze grew brighter and brighter.
    "Aina! Knock their helmets off!"
    Leonel's roar shook the battlefield. The moment his words fell, Joan's eyes widened. It looked like she wanted to say something, but it was already too late. Due to her retreat, she was already so far from her knights to begin with. And, even if she was close, she simply had no ability to stop Aina from doing something so simple.
    Leonel had finally realized something. When he saw that the line of gold that took control of Reimond's corpse was thicker, he had mistakenly believed that it was more difficult for Joan to take control of the dead. However, this wasn't the case. The reason the line of gold was thicker was due to Joan using a buff to increase the defensive abilities of Reimond's corpse at the same time.
    Back then, Leonel had been too agitated to think of it. It was true that Reimond wore knight's armor, but Leonel had long since established that the forging of this era couldn't compare to the weapons in his hand. So, how could it be possible that his spear would rebound like that if it wasn't for Joan's interference?
    If he calculated the amount of force his spear could apply and the amount of force that would be needed to counter him like that, then the actual amount of Force Joan needed to take control of the corpse was less than 10% what she needed to control a living being.
    What did this ultimately mean? It meant that it was more difficult to control the living than the dead.
    After this point, Leonel no longer had solid evidence and could only make his own guesses. It was a desperate situation, so he could only try and see what stuck. But, he felt that it was logical to conclude that the reason it would be more difficult to control the living was because they would be fighting against that control.
    If this was accepted, then why is it that Joan would cover her face? Why is it that she would cover the heads of her knights such that only their eyes could be seen?
    Aina's ax swept forward, barely clipping the edge of a helm worn by Joan's knight as he dodged backward.
    A sparkling gold shot into the skies, spinning above the battlefield before slowly descending to the ground.
    What was revealed was something Leonel could barely see from his vantage point. But, the French who had surrounded Aina under Joan's control saw it all clearly.
    It was a young man they all recognized. He had tears streaming down his face and veins bulging across his forehead. It was clear that he was trying his very best to hold himself back from swinging his sword down again, but try as he might, nothing was working.
    They all recognized this young man. He was a bit naive, a bit foolish, and even a bit annoying, but he held a place in all their hearts.
    He was Michael.
    It was then that Leonel fully understood. The reason why Joan's knights had become even stronger after some of them died was because they had become easier to control. All this time, she had been fighting against their wills.
    As for why Joan chose to continue using living people instead of corpses, Leonel finally had an answer as well. It must have been far more difficult for her to buff corpses, or else why would that line of gold have been so thick? In the end, the trade off wasn't worth it.
    Seeing Michael's face, the Frenchmen started struggling even harder. They had already not wanted to attack Leonel's sister. However, in the end, while they liked Leonel, as a mute, they didn't have much of an impression of Aina. This was why Joan only controlled them to take her down instead of attacking Leonel who was far more favored.
    However, she could have never imagined that Leonel would grasp her weakness at such a critical point.
    Leonel wanted to immediately take advantage of this turn in the situation. Who knew if Joan had a method of retaking control of them. But, what he found when he looked back toward her shocked him.
    Blood was leaking from the eye slits of Joan's mask. Her polearm, which had been raised into the air, was the only support holding her up. Leonel could even faintly see that the fair hand she had used to grip it had become old and wrinkled.
    A moment later, she fell to the ground. With his senses, Leonel didn't need to get closer to know what had happened.
    Joan of Arc. Jeanne d'Arc. Was dead.

 Chapter 59: Why

    Leonel stood in a daze.
    Just like that? It ended just like that?
    There was still a swarm of English to his front. With his current condition, he wasn't confident in even defeating them, let alone cutting a path through and taking down Joan.
    Leonel suddenly felt a cold shiver, causing him to quickly spin toward the source. However, he found nothing but more Englishmen and further back, a swarm of French knights.
    His brow tightly furrowed, but no matter how he swept his Internal Sight, he couldn't find anything wrong.
    Unable to find anything, he turned back, slowly walking to Joan's body.
    By now, the English didn't dare to block his path. Their commanders were dead, and now the god on their side was also dead, how could they dare to continue to fight back? Even with Leonel being heavily injured, they just witnessed him say something seemingly ridiculous, only for that to end in the death of someone they thought was invincible.
    They had no idea what thought process Leonel used. All they knew was that his strength was unfathomable.
    Leonel used his good arm to flip Joan over, slowly removing her mask. Looking at the sight before him, he couldn't help but feel complicated.
    The once beautiful Joan had become an old, wrinkled woman. She died with her eyes open, their bright blue having faded into a milky grey-white. However, Leonel was certain that this was indeed Joan.
    Leonel picked up her golden polearm. It had once proudly held the French flag, but now it was barren and lonely. Even the faint golden light it once emitted was now gone, leaving behind a seemingly ordinary staff.
    However, it was this very staff that caused the English to retreat several steps, worried that they would lose control over their bodies once again. Seeing such a scene, Leonel knew that this was truly over.
    Paris had been conquered. In a flash of light, Aina and Leonel disappeared.
    Jean silently watched this happen, a curious light in his eyes behind the slits of his helmet. No matter what, it most definitely didn't look like the eyes of a man who had just lost the love of his life. They pair of shining pupils almost looked amused.
    "A failure, huhбн"
    **
    When Leonel's vision cleared, he once again found himself in a familiar white space. But, to his disappointment, he didn't find Aina by his side. Maybe he had gotten a bit too attached having had her there all the time for the last several months.
    At least he was in a better state than the last time he came here. He felt it was a bit nostalgic, not that there was anything good to reminisce about when it came to a near death experience and especially the excruciating pain of having his hip shattered.
    Leonel rubbed his nose, smiling lightly. Anyway, he would see her again soon after he left this place.
    When he thought to this point, he laughed to himself. If James was here, he would definitely be calling him a lovestruck fool.
    'Waitбн This is my left hand.'
    Leonel blinked, realizing that he had used his left to rub his nose just now since his right was still holding onto Joan's polearm. He quickly tried to look at the Force Art on the back of his hand.
    Leonel grinned when he realized the Force Art's core was shattered.
    'As expected, the higher the Dimension, the higher the requirements for the Force Art to function is. This Force Art was incredibly strong in the Third Dimension, but this white space must at least be of the true Fourth Dimension if the core shattered like this.'
    Almost as soon as he thought this, Leonel felt a swirling power surging toward him.
    'Oh no, is my hair going to fall off againбн?'
    Using Force, it was easy to stimulate the regrowth of his hair, but he wasn't some sort of magician, at least not yet. His hair was still much shorter than it had been in the past , though it was growing faster than it normally would.
    "Looks like you've done something crazy again, kid?"
    Leonel, who had quickly sat up and crossed his legs in meditation, heard this voice drift into his ears.
    "Uncle Montez? What's happening exactly?"
    "Your previous breakthrough was interrupted due to lack of energy. Normally when that happens, it's fine as you can just slowly accumulate more. However, the formation of the third, sixth and ninth Nodes are all watershed moments no matter which technique you use, it was inadvisable to break through in a Zone like that unless its a Zone of higher grade than your current Dimensional Constitution.
    "You're lucky your Force control is so great, or else you would have likely self imploded by now."
    Though Leonel's eyes were still closed, he felt a cold sweat mat his back. Why does it feel like every mistake he makes causes him to face death? Why can't he be a normal teen and wield his immaturity with impunity?
    Montez, still in his golden armor, brought out a scroll once more, seemingly not caring about Leonel's current state. However soon, his lazy expression changed and began to twitch.
    "Idiot!"
    Leonel, who was trying to meditate, felt a palm slap his forehead. He could even feel the blood rush toward the area as it began to swell.
    "What the hell бк"
    Another palm slapped Leonel's forehead before he could finish.
    "You dare use such language in front of your uncle?"
    Leonel's lip twitched. He called Montez uncle because it was polite, it wasn't as though he had any real familial relationship with him. Why was he getting beaten now? Didn't this man know that if he lost concentration, something could go wrong? By then, maybe his luck would run out and he'd really explode.
    "I already told you last time, but you don't listen. First you enter a four person Zone by yourself, now you enter an eight person Zone with just one another? What are you thinking?!"
    Leonel felt incomparably aggrieved.
    "What are you talking about? We had a device with 90% accuracy for Zones at the S-grade. It said only two could enter."
    "What sort of snake oil device are you talking about?! Even a Tier 1 Black Grade detection device would be able to accurately decipher how many could enter a Zone, it's the easiest calculation to complete. It's impossible for it to be wrong."
    Leonel's lip twitched again. He seemed to remember that his wrist watch had indeed told him that the person limit was eight, but he ignored it because he trusted Aina. He didn't even know what to say right now.
    'Why would she lie about thatбн?'

 Chapter 60: Stingy

    [Bonus chapter for 600 powerstones. Next at 800 :)]
    Leonel was still in a bit of a daze, but he didn't have much time to think about it. He could feel that his Star was still madly consuming Force.
    What Leonel had failed to consider was that the formation of his One Star Cleansed body was directly proportional to the size of his Force Nodes. A normal Force Node for one building a Fourth Dimensional Constitution is a single cell up to maybe three. An above average person to a genius would use upward of ten. Of course, these numbers are for worlds in the process of evolving into the Fourth Dimension, youths birthed into higher Dimensional worlds obviously have greater standards.
    Yet, even by the lofty standards of those use, Leonel's 100 cell Force Nodes were obscene. As a result, his One Star Cleansed body was likewise levels beyond others who reached this step.
    By this point, Leonel's high spirit wasn't just a plus, it was a necessity. Only with such high Force control could he possibly allow such a grand Star Cleansed Body to be formed. Not only that, but his ability would likewise evolve even faster under the benefits.
    'He's awakened his Lineage Factor already, and so thoroughly at that.' Montez blinked, no longer disturbing Leonel. 'At least this time, he won't waste so much of his time like he did previously. That's good.'
    The truth was that the rewards for completing Zones were only one aspect. Another piece of the reward was the chance to practice in this space. Unfortunately, last time, Leonel was practically half dead, so Montez spent too much time healing him.
    This time, though there was a smaller allocation, at the very least, he could benefit a bit.
    A few hours later, Leonel finally opened his eyes. For a moment, it felt that he could destroy the earth with a single stomp.
    Of course, he knew that his power wasn't so exaggerated, but it was a great feeling nonetheless.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 1.00; Speed: 1.00 (+0.1 - nullified); Agility: 1.00 (+0.1 - nullified); Coordination: 1.40; Stamina: 1.20 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.40; Spirit: 1.00; Force: 0.40]
    Now, Leonel had completely broken through the shackles of the Third Dimension, something that greatly shocked him. He had thought this wouldn't be possible until he completed the formation of his ninth Force Node. Was this the strength of a Star Cleansed Body?
    The gap between 0.99 and 1.00 was a sturdy bottleneck. Before, it was only possible to cross in his weaker stats when he activated his Force. But now, even without it, he could do so. He would be even more powerful if he did activate his Force.
    Unfortunately, he was bald again. Not only that, but that foul smell was several times worse than the first time around.
    "You stink."
    Leonel's lip twitched. What was with all the people in his life always insulting him like this. He knew, alright? But what could he do about it? It's not like it was his fault.
    After thinking this far, Leonel made up his mind. He definitely wanted combat-wear like Aina's. Not only were those pockets way too useful, but apparently he'd be insulted left and right until he had that self-cleaning function.
    Suddenly, Leonel looked up and grinned. "You'll let me use that pool to bathe again, right? Uncle Montez?"
    In exchange for his cheekiness, Leonel received another palm to the forehead before Montez waved his hand in the air, as though trying to get rid of the stench that latched onto him.
    "You have no idea how valuable that pool was. Usually, you could only enter as an exchange for a Tier 9 Black reward. I can be considered to have made a one time exception since you didn't get a fourth of the World Spirit like you should have."
    Leonel's eyes widened with understanding, seemingly remembering that he had been cheated out of a great reward.
    "Alright, this time you and the little girl definitely did something great. But, don't trust that device you used again. Any device that can make such a ridiculous mistake should be burned in the fires of hell along with its maker."
    Leonel smiled bitterly and scratched his head, not responding. He didn't want to hear Montez rip Aina a new one, so he kept the fact she must have lied to himself.
    "Alright, you cleared a Tier 7 Black Zone made for eight, so that warrants a minimum reward of eight Tier 7 Black rewards."
    "Wait, it wasn't a Unique Zone?"
    Montez frowned at this question, but after double checking his scroll, he looked like he had come to understand something. Leonel even thought he saw a faint wisp of worry on his face.
    "No. According to this, it was very close to evolving into one, but didn't in the end. Whatever anomaly it was chose not to act in the end or couldn't act for whatever reason, so it remained a normal Zone."
    "Anomalyбн?"
    Montez took a deep breath and sighed. "Toss this out from your mind. Just consider yourself lucky, this time."
    Leonel wanted to ask more, but seemingly realizing that Montez wouldn't tell him anything, he could only silence himself.
    'Anomalyбн didn't actбн? Was that related to the cold feeling I had after Joan diedбн?' Leonel's brows furrowed.
    "бн I assume you and your partner will split these rewards in half. Aside from this, you completed two side quests, one worth another Tier 7 Black reward and one worth a Tier 8 Black reward. The hidden quest this time is worth a Quasi Tier 1 Bronze reward.
    "In addition, you are the first to perfectly clear a Tier 7 Black Zone and this is worth a Tier 9 reward."
    "We don't need to split these too?" Leonel asked. "Then why did I only get one set of rewards for my side and hidden quests the first timeбн?"
    Leonel felt a bit cheated.
    "That's just the way things work." Montez shrugged. "It's like this to stop high Dimensional warriors from farming low level Zones too much. It's not a perfect solution, but it's not a bad one either."
    "бн Sounds to me like you're all a bit stingyбн Can't they farm anyway if they just bring some people along with themбн?"
    Montez coughed and pretended not to hear Leonel.
    "Anyway, make your choices. You have five Tier 7, one Tier 8, and one Tier 9 Black reward. In addition to one Quasi Tier 1 Bronze reward."

 Chapter 61: Rewards (1)

    Soon after Montez's words fell, the long magical counter appeared once more. It seemed to stretch to the left and right endlessly.
    Leonel's first instinct was to get the best Zone Analysis Device he could. The price for lacking information was simply too steep. Just a single mistake could result in a failure. If such a thing happened, his life would be over.
    "бн Uncle Montez, are thereбн Escape treasures?"
    Leonel suddenly thought of something. From what he had seen, it seemed it was impossible to find a device with 100% accuracy. At the same time, he didn't believe that the only remaining path in case of a mistake really was death.
    Hearing these words, Montez grinned.
    "Of course. However, they're all one time use items. In addition, they also only work for one person at a time. So, unless your whole team has one, you'll be branded as a Deserter and hunted by your world."
    Saying these words, Montez's gaze flashed with a cold light. It seemed he wasn't new to such people.
    "Aside from this, escape treasures are limited by their strength as well. A Tier 7 Black escape treasure can only escape Zones below Tier 8, for example."
    After a while, Leonel hesitated again.
    He didn't know the truth behind his dad's past, but what he did know was that he knew more than he had told him to this point. Leonel believed in his father. Since even he could tell how important Zone Analysis Devices were, his father wouldn't leave him hanging, right?
    'That old man told me he left something in the basement for me. If it's not a Zone Analysis Device, the next time I see him, I won't acknowledge him as my dad anymore.'
    Leonel silently harrumphed in his mind, clearly still somewhat unsatisfied with his father's abrupt departure.
    Leonel sighed. "What do you suggest, Uncle Montez?"
    He could only ask this question again. Though he knew what he wanted to some extent, he wasn't sure which tier of treasure he should allocate to which. In the end, he was lacking in too much fundamental knowledge. If it wasn't for his ability, he probably wouldn't have lucked into such a good Force cultivation method.
    Montez stroked his chin, apparently trying to appear like a wizened elder. But, he was lacking in the beard department.
    "Which of your Lineage Factors did you awaken?"
    "Which?" Leonel frowned at the wording.
    Montez coughed. "I mean what is your Lineage Factor?"
    Hearing this question, Leonel suddenly remembered that both he and Aina couldn't really figure his Lineage Factor out. Maybe this was a good chance.
    "I was meaning to ask you a question about that. My Lineage Factor is a bit weird. It seems to only activate when I wield a spear. It's very subtle in its effects, but I feel that it has great poten бн"
    Leonel's voice trailed off. Well, it wasn't that it trailed off, but rather that Montez's boisterous laughter completely drowned out his words. No matter how Leonel thought about it, he couldn't understand what was so funny about what he had just said.
    "That bastard's probably rolling in his grave right now, HAHA! Wait, he's not dead yet, HAHA! He'll definitely pull his hair out when he finds out, HAHA!"
    "бн Umбн Uncle Montez?"
    Montez seemed to have finally realized that Leonel was here with him, but it still took him several moments to stop laughing and wipe the tears from his face. In fact, there was a point where he grabbed Leonel's wrist without a care for the grime covering him and burst into another fit of laughter.
    "Is there something wrong?" Leonel asked worriedly. "Usually Lineage Factors are boosts to speed or strength, right? Why's mine related to a weapon?"
    Montez waved his hand. "Those are low level Lineage Factors. Forget it, it doesn't matter much. I'll help you out."
    "Should I pick a good spear?" Leonel asked.
    "No." Montez smiled, but didn't explain his words. "A spear is the last thing you need. Soon, you'll have more than you know what to do with. Just keep the one on your back for now."
    Leonel's expression only became weirder. But he had given up on asking questions. Montez clearly wanted to torture him, whether it be by his palm or with curiosity.
    "Instead, there's something better. Here."
    Montez clapped his hands and the counter quickly shrunk once again. The items left only made Leonel more confused.
    There were five items in total, all of which fell under the Tier 7 Black grade.
    The first two were lumps of what looked like unrefined ore. They had a silverish grey hue to them, but sometimes looked like clumps of coal when the light hit them just right.
    The third item was a pair of black gloves. They seemed plain at first glance, but upon closer inspection, there were complex vein patterns running all across it. However, they were barely noticeable due to the fact they were black as well, albeit of a vaguely deeper shade.
    The fourth item was a quill. It was quite a beautiful pen with a silvery and flexible tip. The feather attached to its back was a pure white and had faint fluctuations of wind around it. Leonel didn't know what beast this feather was from, but he was certain it had an ability related to wind.
    However, even among all these odd, seemingly disjointed items, the last was even a level weirder. It wasбн a glob of liquid metal?
    At first, Leonel thought it was just a silvery metallic ball. But then it became a puddle of goo. And yet after that, it became a small mountain range.
    It kept flickering between its forms like a fickle child, painting all sorts of extraordinary scenes. Though, it still followed the law of conservation of mass. It never became something beyond itself and was kept confined within a small space.
    The object itself was so odd that it wasn't until it became a simple silver cube that Leonel realized it had actually been encased in a glass cube. Now, it was just spreading itself to conform to its container as though looking for a way out.
    When it failed, it slumped back down into a puddle, its surface burping with bubbles as though sobbing.
    Seeing its personified actions and almost human-like emotions, Leonel's heart felt a slight pang. He felt bad for the little guy.

 Chapter 62: Rewards (2)

    [Bonus chapter for 800 powerstones. Please don't reach 1000, *cries*]
    "Whatбн What is all of this?" Leonel finally said, prying his eyes away from the blob of silver.
    "Those are ores. These are gloves. This is a quill. And this is liquid metal."
    Seeing Montez's smug grin, Leonel felt the sudden urge to hit the man for the first time. He had eyes, he could obviously see these things. What he wanted to know was what their purpose was and why Montez would tell him to use his rewards on them. From what Leonel could see, these things weren't helpful to him at all.
    Montez seemed to have not seen Leonel's glare. However, he displayed a surprised look when Leonel actually nodded and pulled the five items to his side, signaling that he had accepted.
    Montez's mouth opened to say something, but he held back in the end. He felt even more stifled now than Leonel had. How could he continue to make fun of this kid if he acted like this.
    'He a good kid, but it seems even he has a temper, huh? Almost as annoying asбн'
    Leonel gave up asking Montez questions. He knew that there was probably a good reason for why he couldn't tell him more. It was best to just focus on the good these rewards would bring him rather than anything else. He still had a Tier 8 and 9 Black treasure to pick, and a Quasi Tier 1 Bronze reward as well.
    'I already had [Call of the Wind] to help my long distance attacks. But, even though I modified it to help my spearmanship, it would probably be better to have a real spear technique. Right now I'm relying too much on instinct but don't have any real idea how to wield this thing.'
    Leonel thought back to how he had just randomly picked up this spear from a gang of humans and smiled wryly. It could be said that he stumbled into this Lineage Factor of his.
    However, the truth was that Leonel was far more interested in his own ability. The potential Dream World had was inconceivable. If taken to its logical extreme, there might even come a day where he could simulate Zones and not even need a device to do it for him.
    Of course, that was still too far from him now. As things stood currently, his accuracy was barely above 70% for matters between the Third and Fourth Dimensions. If he tried to simulate Black Zones, which were instances of the Fourth Dimension influencing the Third, his accuracy wouldn't even be 50%.
    There was another matter as well. Using Dream World was a great drain on his spirit even for something as focused as forming a Force Node. He couldn't even imagine the drain of attempting to simulate several months worth of events.
    'I don't have enough information. I don't think Zone Analysis Devices simulate months worth of events either. There's definitely a simpler way, I just don't know what it isбн'
    Leonel shook his head. He was wasting his time thinking about matters too far beyond him. He still had to remember that there was a time limit.
    "What do you think, Uncle Montez? I need a spear technique, but I'm not sure if I should use my Quasi Tier 1 Bronze reward on it or not."
    Montez shook his head. "I don't suggest you pick a spear technique at all. You aren't even aware of the basics. In addition, if you add more information before you're ready, it will influence your ability to sense your Lineage Factor before it has matured."
    Leonel smiled bitterly. Didn't that mean he had made a mistake again? He had already technically learned such a technique. Should he stop using it?
    "Then is there a method among the rewards that can help me learn about my Lineage Factor? Or maybe strengthen it like [Dimensional Cleanse] could my ability?"
    Montez shook his head again. "Lineage Factors are tailored to specific families. The methods to learn and strengthen them are kept close by said families. If your Lineage Factor is the result of the future influencing the past, you can only muddle through on your own."
    Leonel was speechless. And here he thought that the future influencing the past was a great thing. But it seemed that those with great backing still had an advantage.
    Taking a deep breath, he settled himself down.
    "I would like to see all the full bodysuits you have at the reward levels I'm looking for. They must have a self-cleaning function. I also want to see everything you have that can draw Force Arts. And lastly, I want to see everything that can help my movement speed."
    Leonel was very much aware that his greatest weakness was still his speed. It had managed to catch up, but this was only under the influence of his One Star Cleansed Body. He wasn't certain if the effects would continue. In addition, having trump cards to escape dangerous situations didn't sound so bad.
    With a clap of Montez's hands, the counter expanded once more. Leonel's gaze was filled with all sorts of bodysuits or various shapes and sizes, in addition to an assortment of shoes, talismans, and evenбн temporary tattoos?
    "As for the treasures that can write Force Artsбн" Montez grinned mysteriously. "бн That quill I gave you is more than enough."
    Leonel's brows raised, but didn't say much more.
    "Then instead of that, I want a treasure that makes things more convenient to carry. Aina gave me this belt that shrinks thingsбн But I'm kind of embarrassed to keep relying on her like this."
    "Hohoho, Aina is it?" Montez gave Leonel a lewd grin.
    Leonel ignored Montez who soon clapped his hands once more causing the long display table to expand once more.
    In the end, Leonel chose his three items.
    With his Tier 8 Black reward, he picked out a bland, black bracelet. He was shocked to find that it had a small space in it about two cubic meters in size. If he lay his spear diagonally within it, it wouldn't be a problem to put it in. Though, Leonel didn't plan on doing this.
    With his Tier 9 Black reward, he chose another pair of shoes that could disguise themselves as sneakers.
    This was when Leonel found out some unfortunate news. No treasures beneath the Bronze tier could increase his stats after they reached 1.00. So, he couldn't find something that increased his speed any longer. However, he felt that this reward was even more useful.
    These shoes could produce a platform to jump off of! All Leonel had to do was circulate some Force into them and time them to activate after he leapt into the air, then he could proceed to do a 'double' or even 'triple jump'.
    The only unfortunate part was that they had a one minute cool down, so Leonel could at most walk two steps across the air. But, it would be useful nonetheless. Had he had these shoes against Joan, she wouldn't have been able to run from him so easily.
    Finally, with his Quasi Tier 1 Bronze reward, he chose a silver chain necklace with numerous small runes etched onto it. It had the ability to produce a transparent, pale blue membrane. This membrane could fuse with his clothing, making them more difficult to tear, increase his defense, and it had a self-cleaning function as well, making it perfect.

 Chapter 63: Dream Sculpt

    After he completed his selections, Leonel turned a pair of pitiful pale green eyes toward Montez and finally got the right to use the pond again to clean himself. Unfortunately, though, it seemed his stats weren't influenced by it at all.
    'Have the effects of dad's vomit brews ended so quickly?'
    Leonel frowned. He found it hard to believe that this was the case. He downed those brews for 17 years without missing a single day. If he did the math of the sheer volume he had digested, he would feel a hard to ignore urge to gag.
    After a moment, Leonel could only toss these thoughts to the back of his mind. His father never told him exactly what those vomit brews were for. For all he knew, the stat boosting effect was just a side product while its true purpose was more hidden.
    'Maybe I'll find out more after I make it back homeбн Should I bring Aina to the Empire's gathering place first? Or should I take her home with me?'
    Leonel wasn't a fool. Although he knew some truths behind how sinister the choices of the Empire had been, he also knew that trying to break free from them now would only mean death.
    If technology was really going extinct, he might have chosen to sever ties now. However, the wrist watch proved that the Empire still had some hidden methods. Plus, who knew how many more families like Aina's there were and how many of them had sworn allegiance?
    For now, Leonel had no choice but to swallow some grievances.
    There was another possibility as well. Uncle Montez had mentioned that he could buy a ticket to another world in exchange for a Tier 9 Black reward. If worse came to worst, Leonel would look into this method.
    Leonel shook his head and left the pool, feeling refreshed.
    Now that he could finally see his skin again, he realized that it had become softer and more elastic, not to mention the fact he couldn't see his pores no matter how hard he stared. It was like he just came from his mother's womb.
    It was a good feeling that left him smiling to himself.
    After a bit, he had put his clothes back on. The shocking part, though, was that the rips in his sweat pants were completely healed. They looked like a new pair he was wearing for the first time.
    Leonel realized then that this was an ability of his silver chain necklace. Not only could it make his clothes harder to tear, but it could repair tears that already occurred as well. He finally didn't have to walk around like a beggar anymore.
    Sliding on his tight fitting compression shirt reward he had received from his first Zone, Leonel grinned.
    Though he could put his metal box of darts in his bracelet, he chose to keep it by his side with the help of AIna's belt. It was more convenient this way.
    "Uncle Montez, how much time do I have left?"
    "Mm, since it was a TIer 7, you have about a day left I guess."
    "Good."
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. There was something he really wanted to do, and it could only be done here.
    With a thought from his Internal Sight, Joan's golden polearm appeared in Leonel's hand. Leonel felt it was a bit unfortunate he hadn't had the time to take Nigelle's bow as well, but it couldn't be helped.
    Montez swept a glance at the polearm, but he didn't remind Leonel that it wouldn't be able to be taken out of here. He was sure that Leonel knew of this already, or else he wouldn't be wasting his time studying it.
    As expected, Leonel's ability had grown once again.
    After forming his First Node, he grasped Dream World. This ability helped him to form his Second and Third Nodes with ease. After a few more days, forming his Fourth and even Fifth wouldn't be a problem at all. In fact, Leonel could tell that the time frame had shortened thanks to the Star formed in his mind.
    Leonel's new ability couldn't be considered completely separate from Dream World. At most it was an extension. Leonel even had the faint feeling that most of his newly comprehended abilities would be like this. But, he didn't mind at all.
    He called this new ability Dream Sculpting.
    Dream Sculpting, making use of Leonel's ample spirit, could scan and create a replica of an object in Leonel's mind. It had to be said that Leonel's spirit was directly proportional to his Internal Sight. So, Leonel was essentially constructing a model of an object and building a copy of it in his mind.
    Obviously, it was impossible to use this copy. It was simply an image in his memories. However, this memory had many uses.
    For one, it was more robust than his other memories. Observing this memory would be no different from observing the true object. And, secondly, if this memory was pulled into his Dream World, he could use his simulation abilities to test out several things.
    However, this was the true beauty of Dream Sculpting.
    Normally, Leonel's simulations have barely above 70% accuracy. However, if coupled with Dream Sculpting, under the condition that all the tests are solely related to the sculpted object, the simulations he could run would exceed 99% accuracy!
    There was only one bottleneck for this ability, and that was the object itself. Depending on the object's grade, it could be harder or easier to Dream Sculpt it. And, Joan's polearm just happened to be quite difficult.
    It took Leonel over 23 hours to succeed. And by the end of it, he felt like all the energy in his body was drained. He even felt that his ability had gone dormant without any spirit to fuel it.
    Luckily, he still had enough time to replenish himself by entering the pool once more. He came out with a massive grin on his face. Though he didn't know if the polearm's Dream Sculpt would be useful in the future, at least he had a proof of concept for now.
    Leonel bid farewell to Montez with a satisfied smile on his face, happy to get the chance to see Aina again.
    A light blinded Leonel for a moment, and when he could see again, his mood sank. He had almost forgotten the sorry state the world was in. Collapsed buildings and cracked sidewalks were still littered all around him.
    However, his mood brightened again when he saw Aina's silhouette not far from him. But soon, even that was ruined.
    "Another one, huh?" A male voice cut off Leonel's thoughts.
    He had a bad habit of ignoring everyone else when he laid eyes on Aina, so he hadn't even noticed that there were three others here.
    "The two of you are under arrest. This was designated as the region of an S-grade Zone. The two of you have entered without registration and without permission. Please do not resist, or you will only make this harder on yourselves.
    "Place all of your contraband into this black bin and allow yourselves to be taken in. Your belongings will be confiscated to the proper authorities."
    Leonel's smile faded, leaving an expressionless visage as his gaze met the equally dull expressions of the three military men.

 Chapter 64: Tier 3

    Though Leonel was expressionless, his mind was spinning. Should he acquiesce? He was obviously unwilling to give up things he spent his blood and sweat on, but how could his current self match up against a monstrous existence like the Ascension Empire?
    Leonel was a kind hearted person, but a pushover was something he wasn't. In a world controlled by nobles like those who frequented his Royal Blue Academy, those without spines were eaten up and spat out with impunity. The fact Leonel was so well-liked and admired, even despite his entertainment profession, made it obvious he wasn't such a person.
    In addition to this, Leonel wasn't a fool. He knew that those who could clear an S-grade Zone were not many, so the treasures he had on hand now were most definitely rarities amidst rarities. Just hand them over? Was that some sort of joke?
    Of course, these thoughts were just his immaturity seeping through. He knew it wasn't smart to have such thoughts without proper backing. The true reason he felt that he shouldn't do this was because it just might be possible that he did have such backing. He didn't know what his father was involved in, but regardless, he was certain he wasn't easily dealt with. At least not by these common, everyday government officials.
    "You're here." Aina made her way to Leonel's side somewhat subconsciously. It almost seemed like she hadn't heard the words of the three officials.
    Leonel smiled lightly, before turning his attention back toward the three men.
    "According to the laws of the Ascension Empire, I have the right to ask for your proof of identity as well as your rank and station."
    With Leonel's ability, coming to a quick and logical decision to no more than the blink of an eye.
    "Are you resisting arrest?"
    Leonel inwardly sneered. He knew that those in positions of power never liked to be questioned. Even if it was the law, they'd find an excuse to not answer his question not because they couldn't, but because they found it humiliating to do so. There was no shortage of those like this in enforcement positions.
    You would think that with their Gene Analysis tests, the Empire would be able to weed these people out from such professions. But it seemed not.
    "Resisting arrest? Sir, to be frank, you three aren't a match for the two of us. You said yourself that this is an S-grade Zone region. You should also have information that this Zone was constructed for the entry of eight, yet do you see anyone else other than the two of us?"
    Leonel sent a glance toward Aina, but she seemed to have not heard his words, looking off into space blankly. This reaction made him feel a bit stifled. It was like that time she killed Conrad all over again. He couldn't read her.
    However, as expected, the three men stiffened as though just realizing this. It seemed that many still hadn't adjusted to the new world order quite yet. They were too used to normal citizens having no means to protect themselves.
    Leonel could obviously see their stats. Even the strongest among them only had their highest stat barely reach 0.70. Of course, Leonel didn't foolishly think that this was enough to defeat them. It was unknown what abilities they had. In addition, if the Empire really kept tight control on technology now, then it was likely their guard dogs held some of this power as well.
    If these guards had guns on them, even Leonel would be at a loss. Firearms from the 1400's already gave him a huge headache, he definitely didn't dare take them head-on. Firearms from this day and age were a completely different animal. He wouldn't even know how he died if he dared to go up against them.
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more certain he became. If he was as sinister as the Emperor, using the Metamorphosis to eradicate all instances of technology while keeping the only functioning machines with himself would be the perfect plan to hold onto powerбн
    Leonel grew even more serious.
    "As you can see, Sirs, if we wanted to resist, we could have already. So, will you answer my questions, or not?"
    Despite his apprehensions, Leonel could only continue forward.
    "бн I am Tier 3 Officer Farlier, assigned to Perimeter 3 of the Royal Blue Fort task unit."
    Leonel remained expressionless, but he inwardly sighed a breath of relief. As long as he had this initiative, it wasn't a problem.
    A Tier 3 Officer had the same standing as a Tier 3 Government Official. Leonel's father had been a Tier 5 Government Official. Though, that wasn't very helpful now considering he was already 18 years old.
    Such an Officer could be considered a step away from an elite. At the same time, he was at the very top of officials who dealt with normal civilian matters. Meaning, he had high standing, but when facing potential noble scions like Leonel and Aina, he had no choice but to be cautious.
    Of course, it helped that Leonel and Aina were so calm.
    "A Tier 3 Officer can make decisions about an S-grade Zone?"
    Leonel raised an eyebrow, immediately catching onto a problem. There should be very few who would even dare to enter such a Zone, let alone succeed in clearing it. This was by definition something that could only be handled by elites. In that case, how could a Tier 3 Official make decisions about it?
    The Officer's face reddened slightly, but he hid it well beneath his deadpan expression. It was just unfortunate for him that Leonel's senses were too sharp.
    "I don't mind if you escort us to someone who can make such a decision." Leonel's voice became like the officer's saving grace. "However, giving you my treasures is impossible. We didn't enter this Zone to disobey the orders of the Empire, we did so because if no one cleared it, we would have been mobbed to exhaustion by Invalids who were swarming toward it.
    "I'm sure you, as a Tier 3 Officer, know of the Ascension Steele's First Amendment, right?"
    The three officers looked at one another, bitterness clear in their gazes.
    The Ascension Steele was not much unlike the fallen American Empire's Constitution. No matter the state of the Empire, even if it was under martial law, the Ascension Steele's words held the highest precedence.
    The First Amendment was known as the Right to Autonomy. It was an all encompassing law that allowed the disregard of other Amendments as long as there was sufficient cause.
    As one might imagine, such a vague law made it so that those with power got away with far more than they should while those without were out of luck.
    However, in this case, Leonel and Aina really did have such power. It didn't matter if they falsely regarded his ability as a D-grade one, the facts showed that he had the ability to clear an S-grade Zone. At least for now, it was impossible to disregard this.
    "бн Come with us." Officer Ferlier finally said.
    With that, they led Leonel and Aina to a large black jeep with three rows of seats.
    'A natural gas vehicle? With wheels at thatбн? So they're relying on such old technology to keep their hold on power, huhбн?'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed, but he didn't struggle and got into the car. His next move would all depend on how the rest of the day wentбн
    He looked out of the tinted windows, watching the sun slowly set in the distance.

 Chapter 65: Fort

    [Bonus chapter for 200 powerstones *hiccup*, next at 400 :'&lt; ]
    Leonel wasn't surprised that the Royal Blue Fort held the same moniker as Royal Blue Academy. The reason why the Academy had this name in the first place was due to its proximity to the Royal Blue River which directly fed into the World Sea. In fact, they weren't far from the coast even now.
    Earth, in this age, only had one large ocean body бк though, this ocean body had numerous separating currents and the like.
    After unifying the world, the Empire made amazing technological advances, eventually unlocking terraforming abilities that not only helped colonize the Moon and Mars, but also control the shift of tectonic plates.
    The current Earth was not unlike Pangaea of the past. As a result, there was just one ocean.
    'I wonder if there is just one universeбн Is it Earth that's evolving to the Fourth Dimension? Or is it our universe? Or maybe it's on a smaller scale like our solar system?'
    Leonel's brow furrowed and he tossed this to the back of his mind, He simply didn't have enough information.
    If only Earth was evolving, that meant their colonies would be left behind. If notбн The Empire would have many more variables to contend with.
    This aside, the Royal Blue Fort was the fortified government building of the Royal Blue Province. There were a total of nine Provinces, and unsurprisingly, in terms of economic output and the overall wellbeing of its people, the Royal Blue Province was also ranked third just like Royal Blue Academy was.
    However, whether that would continue to be true from now on was unknown. As a flourishing Province, Royal Blue Province had many industries, but among them, real estate had an exceptionally great place here. This was precisely due to its location near the coast.
    Paradise Islands that had orbits that passed over the ocean were highly sought after. Those who were poor saw Paradise Islands as prisons that kept them from the surface, but for the rich and powerful, it was a good way to get away for a few days and even seen as a great vacation spot.
    With such an important source of income gone now, it was obvious that Royal Blue Province would likely be on a downward trend from now on.
    However, this also represented opportunity.
    The nine Provinces were ruled by nine Governor Dukes. Obviously, the Governor Duke of Royal Blue Province, Governor Duke Leum of the Leum family, wouldn't want to see his power wane and thus might be more willing to let a few things slideбн
    Along the way, it wasn't rare to come across Invalids. However, the jeep was clearly built for these situations as a high level armored vehicle.
    With the S-grade Zone gone, this was no longer a hotbed of powerful Invalids. The various F to C-grade Invalids they ran across were easily mowed over or outrun.
    Such a situation made Leonel all the more serious. Without this jeep, he and Aina could just as easily deal with these Invalids, but the Officer driving it most definitely could not. This was the advantage technology gave.
    The more Leonel saw such a situation, the more certain he was that acting rashly just because he had a little bit of power now was a foolish thing to do.
    In Leonel's hands, a cube with a bouncing blob of silver could still be found. When he had wanted to put it into his spatial bracelet, Montez gave him another palm to the forehead, saying that living organisms with strong Life Force couldn't be placed into such things.
    'бн So you're living, huh? I wonder what you areбн' Leonel observed the little blob of silver performing tricks as though to cure itself of boredom.
    Aina sent a curious glance over, but it seemed she was also unaware of what the blob was. And, since she had ignored Leonel's implied question earlier, she felt it would be a bit too shameless to ask about it. So, the two sat silently at the back of the jeep.
    Soon, a looming wall of steel that stretched 20 meters into the sky appeared, causing Leonel's eyes to narrow. He had seen this government building before, but it most definitely didn't have such walls in the past.
    After a complex series of protocols and bypassing the gates, the jeep slowly rolled into the Fort.
    Royal Blue Fort was like another world. Unlike the wreckage on the outside, it was organized, clean, and even had clear hallmarks of diligent city planning. If one knew nothing about what was going on outside, it would be easy to believe that this was just another dayбн
    The only clear difference here was that technology had regressed. With a quick glance, Leonel could tell that other than the street lamps that illuminated the dimming light of dusk, those who frequented the streets didn't have personal tech of their own.
    The buildings were mostly residential apartments separated into street blocks. In addition, there seemed to be one grocery store and an entertainment center per street block, but there weren't many people using them. This could have either been due to a curfew, or maybe they weren't so simple to use. Leonel felt it was likely a combination of the two.
    It didn't take long for the jeep to reach the core of the Fort. Since the Fort itself had a diameter of barely ten kilometers, it wasn't very large.
    The engine cut and the sounds of opening doors made Leonel take a deep breath. Steeling himself and calming his heart, he took a step out, an aura of authority exuding from his body.
    Aina smiled lightly but didn't say anything. She knew that Leonel wasn't trying to pressure anyone on purpose by doing this, he just had a habit of taking even the smallest things incredibly seriously, let alone something that likely involved his life and death.
    However, his actions caused the three officers who brought them here to break out into a cold sweat. At this point, they were no different from the students of Class A who suffered Leonel's torment all these years.
    At that moment, they felt like Leonel was a wild beast that might swallow them at any time. Even the imposing walls of the Governor Duke's mansion felt like they had shrunk several folds.
    "Leo!"
    Suddenly, Leonel's suffocating aura vanished as a familiar figure appeared from the large, towering double doors of the mansion.
    Leonel blinked before smiling lightly.
    "James."
    The name had hardly come out before he was engulfed by a bear hug.

 Chapter 66: S-grade

    James' boisterous laughter filled the night sky.
    "You dog." James punched Leonel's shoulder. "You actually disappeared for half a month with my sister-in-law, since when were you two moving so fast?"
    Leonel laughed and shook his head. It seemed that James was still the same old James.
    "We had to save your ass. Who asked you to be so useless." Leonel rebutted.
    James stumbled backward, putting a hand to his chest as though he had truly been hurt.
    Leonel's banter with James was light hearted and fun, but it made the officer's break out into another cold sweat barely moments after surviving through their first bout.
    Though they didn't know who Leonel was, they definitely knew who James was.
    Beneath the Governor Duke's family, there were several other supporting families of great, albeit lower, standing. James' Bennett family was one of these forces, or how else could he be coming out from the Governor Duke's mansion?
    The truth was that this place looked like a mansion from the outside, but it was more accurately described as an estate or maybe even a castle. It looked like one massive home, but the inside was separated into the living residences of several prestigious families.
    In normal times, with how arrogant these families were, it was simply impossible for them to share space like this. Unfortunately, due to the apocalypse, space was limited. So, though they could live in better luxury than the normal citizens within the walls, they still had to bunch up as well.
    That said, it wasn't as though they were suffering.
    James finding Leonel here was actually just a pure coincidence. The towering double doors of the mansion were perpetually open. After all, it was just the entrance to an inner city of sorts and no one dared casually offend so many nobles.
    He had been tasked with receiving some prisoners. Obviously, with their low standing, these officers had no right to enter the inner city. Since it was an easy method to gain some easy contributions, he had come. He had just never expected that the so-called prisoners would actually be his best friend and his 'sister-in-law'.
    "бн This is ridiculous, don't even worry about it." James said with a casual wave of his hand. "I don't know what you did wrong, but I assume it has something to do with entering a Zone without first registering. But, considering the timing, you entered during the grace period."
    Hearing these words, Leonel's sighed a breath of relief. He really would rather not fall out with the Empire so quickly. He didn't have the means of dealing with them, even if he wouldn't be chased with the full brunt of their power. Plus, Earth was his home. He would rather not escape to some unknown world.
    James ignored the officers and led Leonel and Aina up the wide stairs and toward the looming double doors.
    It should have been no different from crossing another threshold, but Leonel felt that upon stepping through the doors that he had just passed a misty rain. He blinked in shock, only to find that the scene before him was completely different from what he had seen from the outside.
    It was like he had gone back in time to the day he left for school. Royal Blue City was back and the Paradise Islands hadn't fallen.
    However, Leonel knew that this couldn't have been true. At best, this was a small replica of the once luxurious city. But what still remained unchanged was the fact that unlike the outside, this place had no restrictions on technology at all.
    'Howбн' Leonel's brows furrowed. 'Spatial abilities? This place seems bigger on the inside than it was on the outsideбн There's even a sky here. What's going on? No, it's impossible for an ability to have such a large scale alreadyбн right?'
    "Cool, isn't it?" James grinned as he looked toward Aina and Leonel. It was rare that he could be aware of something these two Class A students weren't.
    "Governor Duke's eldest son is managing this place while his father was recalled to the capital. Well, all Tier 6 officials and above were recalled. They want to clear out the Ascension Province and restore its peak glory as quickly as possible, so not to mention Tier 6 and above officials, even those monsters with S-grade abilities and above were recalled as well.
    "However, they didn't leave us without any protection at all. The Junior Governor Duke also has an S-grade ability. He calls it Illusion Mist. From the outside, this Fort only seems to be ten kilometers in diameter, but the truth is that it's almost double that with most of the space being taken up by this hidden city."
    "An S-grade ability, huh.." Leonel muttered.
    The scope and power of an S-grade ability left Leonel feeling cold. To hide such a city right beneath the eyes of so many, and for him, even with his sensory abilities, to not even notice. He wouldn't be able to handle such a person in battle even if all of this Junior Governor Duke's stats were 0.10.
    This was exactly why Leonel hadn't rashly attacked those Tier 3 Officers. Not only was he worried about their technology, he was also worried about what abilities they might have. Even if his stats destroyed them in all areas, what could he do against an overpowered ability?
    It was the same as that metal bodied A-grade Invalid he had killed. Leonel's stats had still been better than it at the time, but its ability made it frighteningly difficult to kill.
    Still, even with all of this being the case, Leonel remained calm. His ability didn't have such outstanding immediate effects, but he believed that its potential was no less frightening. If given enough time, his future prospects were unfathomable.
    Leonel wasn't an ambitious person. He didn't have lofty goals or a hunger for power. Sometimes, he believed that it was precisely due to this disposition of his that the Gene Analysis results slotted him the way that it had.
    However, Leonel was also maturing slowly. Currently, he had no goals or aspirations, but that was only because he hadn't decided what he wanted to do with his life yet. He was just like any other normal 18 year old, wandering a bit aimlessly.
    That said, there were two things Leonel did know. For one, he wanted to help Aina. And twoбн He didn't like the methods of the Ascension Empire. In fact, they sickened him.
    If this was the case, he only had one task: grow stronger.
    James' lip twitched when he felt his best friend start emitting that scary aura again. He had grown a bit used to it, but it still made his knees weak.
    He knew that Leonel had a slumbering beast hidden inside him that only lifted its head every so often. If there came a day Leonel met something that let him completely release that beastбн
    'бн If you weren't so soft, you would truly be a monster.'
    "Come on. I was supposed to bring you to Tier 5 Admiral Millan. I was confused before, but you guys probably did something big, huh? It's fine, my dad doesn't fear that old guy. It should be easy to smooth things over. Plus, talent is exactly what we need right now."

 Chapter 67: Variant

    [Bonus chapter for 400... next at 600... might as well not be bonus chapters anymore if you guys are getting them as regularly as normal updates &gt;:| *sobs* ]
    The hidden city of Royal Blue Fort had its own government buildings. Though the escort of Leonel and Aina seemed lax, the truth was that this simply represented confidence.
    From what Leonel could tell, there was something about the Metamorphosis and especially Zones that destroyed technology. He was only lucky that his bike didn't use electricity to fold and unfold itself, or it too would have stopped working.
    However, outside of Zones, the Empire had managed to keep their hold on technology. With such a reality being before Leonel right nowбн Was it even possible to escape?
    Tier 5 Admiral Millan would have likely come to find them after they were thrown into a cell, but James completely ignored this and instead brought them directly to the military holdings.
    The Admiral position was especially important in a coastal Province like theirs. Due to the vastness of the World Sea, it provided many opportunities for rebels. As a result, Admirals and their navies played a key role in dealing with these uprisings.
    Though rebels were no longer the primary problem they faced, the dangers that lay in the oceans were likely even fiercer, now. Who ever said that humans were the only ones who could awaken abilities during this Metamorphosis?
    "Admiral Millan! I've brought the prisoners." James' tone bordered on sarcasm. Who told this old fart to try and arrest his best friend?
    James knocked on a solid oak door and brazenly raised his voice.
    The offices of the high level government and military officials were located in a place similar to a city hall. There were tall ceilings leading to curving glass windows, numerous thick pillars, and spacious floorings of expensive, high-class marble.
    Tier 5 Admiral Millan's office was located on the upper floors as per usual. A golden inscribed nameplate was nailed to the center of the door.
    His secretary had been outside and was meant to field all visitors, but who would have expected James' actions to be so overbearing? Leonel couldn't help but smile bitterly.
    He had a feeling that James was going all out to help him now as a repayment for the National Championship game. It made his heart feel a bit warm.
    Soon, a short man of barely 5'4" opened the door. Though he wasn't very tall, he had a strong, stocky appearance and broad shoulders. His hair was slightly greying and he had the most perfectly groomed beard Leonel had ever seen.
    He might have had a small stature, but his air of command was undeniable. In addition, as an Admiral, what was the most important was his mind and strategic abilities, not his personal combat prowess.
    "You brought prisoners here? The mission should have made it clear for you to escort them to the prison. What do you think you're doing?"
    Admiral Millan's voice was deep and rumbling. It made Leonel feel like his very bones were vibrating beneath its waves.
    'Is his ability related to his voice?... It must beбн'
    "You think I would let my friend and my sister-in-law rot away in a cell while you play your petty mind games with them?" James asked. "Plus, I have information on their crimes. They entered the Zone during the grace period. They had no choice or we would have been swarmed by Invalids."
    Hearing these words, Admiral Millan's visage darkened further. How could he not know these things? Since they had sensed the energy waves of the Zone, they obviously knew when it appeared and when it had been entered. However, this was a rare opportunity to take advantage of a few kids that seemed to have power but no backing to speak of.
    He had planned to soften them up by letting them stay in a cell for a few days and maybe weeks, then play the role of savior to get them out. Then he might be able to get them to seek shelter beneath his wings and become the vassals of his Millan family. But who knew that this would happen?
    This was an S-grade Zone they were talking about! One meant for eight! Yet it was cleared by two people. The fact that these two hadn't been recalled to the capital was a miracle.
    Though his standing wasn't the highest, it was still fairly high. He was aware that it was possible for talents to fall through the cracks. Reason being these talents would come from poorer families, as a result, the wrist watches they were given at birth wouldn't be high-level and thus fail to accurately judge their talent.
    This was a guess Leonel had already made long ago, a guess he was even more certain of after seeing how flourishing this hidden city was. With how important accurate information was within Zones, they were essentially playing with the lives of their citizensбн
    But none of this mattered anymore. With James' interference, even if he didn't personally hold any power, the influence he had would be enough to expose MIllan's machinations.
    Despite the whirlwind of emotions going through his mind, Admiral Millan was still a veteran who had seen death and war. His adaptability and his mind were what few could compare to.
    "Alright." He said simply. "Since a member of the Bennett family can vouch for them, this will make the process simpler. The treasures gained during the grace period, under the decree of His Majesty, can be kept by the two of you. However, they need to be properly registered, along with their abilities and names.
    "In addition, from now on, the rewards you gain from Zones will first and foremost be considered the property of the Empire. You will gain Ascension Points in return which you can use to buy them back. Of course, since they were earned by your efforts, should you choose to buy them back, you will receive a discountбн"
    Leonel sighed inwardly as he listened to all of these rules and regulations. Ultimately, what the Empire cared the most about was control. They wanted a record of every treasure that appeared on Earth, and judging by how many times Admiral Millan's gaze had swept curiously across the cube in his hand, the matter wasn't only as simple as this either.
    "бн As for the rest, I'll allow James to explain it. This is an era of danger, but also opportunity. It isn't impossible for you two to climb up."
    Admiral Millan's words seemed laced in a deep meaning, but Leonel only smiled respectfully, thanking the Admiral before following James toward registration.
    'This registration process is likely so that the Empire can catch talents that might fall through the cracks due to their own schemingбн In that case, it might not be a bad thing if they can't see through the potential of my abilityбн'
    Leonel's thoughts were simple.
    In a Zone, who could tell what happened? Weren't the wrist watch on his hand and the team who followed him in the only things that could?
    The second problem was easily solved. He only had to enter with those he trusted. As for the first, it was a bit more complex.
    If his registration went well, the Empire would set his sights on him. They would give him a higher level wrist watch that would be able to more accurately read Zones. In that case, it would be nearly impossible for him to hide the rewards he received.
    However, if he was deemed as unworthy of such effort, he would be allowed to keep this lower level device. For context, this was the same device that assigned the Mayan Tomb an F-grade in the beginning. What if the Empire thought he was only receiving F-grade rewards when in reality he was receiving C-grade or even higher treasures?
    The benefits of this could be imagined. He could bide his time and slowly build his power.
    Unfortunatelyбн Reality was cruel.
    [*Beep*]
    [Subject: Aina Brazinger]
    [Ability: *Name Unassigned*]
    [Ability Type: Healing]
    [Ability Grade: Error. Undefined. Unable to estimate potential]
    [*Beep*]
    [Subject: Leonel Morales]
    [Ability: *Name Unassigned*]
    [Ability Type: Sensory]
    [Ability Grade: Error. Undefined. Unable to estimate potential]
    The city hall building had seemingly grinded to a halt before James' laughter rang out.
    "HAHA! My best friend and sister-in-law are two of those Variant ability monsters! We'll see who dares to bully me now!"
    He seemed to have completely missed how gloomy Leonel's current expression was.

 Chapter 68: Tier 6

    In the end, Leonel could only sigh. He couldn't have imagined that instead of making an incorrect guess, the scanners of this city hall would actually slot them into the Variant category. This could be considered to be even worse than Leonel's worst case scenario.
    According to James, Variants were individuals with abilities rated above the S-grade. There weren't accurate enough devices to measure them, so they could only be lumped together. However, most importantly, all of these individuals had spotlights trained onto them.
    Of those who survived the initial stage of the Metamorphosis, there were a few dozen who achieved this hidden grade of sorts. This number couldn't be considered large, but it wasn't small either.
    Since the grade was so vague, there were obviously differences in strength between those who had this Variant title, but those differences were often not obvious, at least at the start. Earth was still in its infant stages, what would happen in the future was still difficult to decipher.
    Leonel stepped out from the sphere Faraday cage-like device. It was constructed by numerous separate pieces of circular metals, attached to each other at two points and spread apart until they formed a ball shape large enough for ten humans to enter at once.
    The moment he did, he felt like he wasn't a human who had stepped out from a steel ball, but rather a hamster who had fallen from his hamster wheel.
    The feeling of being the center of attention wasn't something Leonel was unused to. If it wasn't for this catastrophic event, he would probably have tens of millions of fans watching him play football every week. But this was still a weird feeling.
    The weirdest gazes came from those wearing what looked like lab coats, the symbol of Royal Blue Province's most prestigious research lab бк Blue Pearl Research and Labs бк embroidered onto their lapels. They looked no different from ravenous beasts looking toward a piece of fresh meat.
    To scientists like them, the Metamorphosis was like a gift to a child on Christmas. Which of them didn't want to uncover the truths behind these mysterious occurrences? Humans might not have many redeeming qualities, but one thing they were was curious бк and they felt an insatiable need to cure themselves of this curiosity.
    The opportunity to study two Variants brought was simply unimaginable. How could they not be excited?
    At that moment, the scientists who had all already swarmed Aina, split into a river of two and engulfed Leonel, who they had previously ignored, as well.
    "Leonel Morales is it? To think you would be a Variant as well! Please allow me to track your brain waves for a single month. I'll give you ten Ascension Points a day in return!"
    "Don't listen to this old codger. Listen, listen. I only want you to wear this micro camera so that I can monitor and record your fights. You don't have to wear it all the time, only when you head out for missions. I'll give you five Ascension Points a day in return!"
    "These old fools only know how to fight amongst themselves! You're a sensory type, right?! You're perfect for my research. Unlike these idiots who seem to believe you can only be the lab ra бк I mean honorable test subject for one of us at a time, I have no issue sharing you. I only hope to meet with you once a week for help on a device I'm working onбн"
    The chorus of white lab coat wearing maniacs made Leonel's lip twitch. Even Aina seemed bashful about all this. Her cheeks had a slight tint of red to them and she looked toward the ground to avoid their gazes. Such a scene made Leonel want to rush forward to protect her.
    "You psychotic nerds! Don't you have any self-respect?!"
    Unfortunately, James' words completely fell on deaf ears. The scientists didn't bother with him even one bit.
    At that moment, the basement floor of the fort's city hall received some more guests. The ding of a large elevator's descent could be heard before its thick steel doors slowly open to reveal several middle-aged men and women wearing serious expressions.
    Their gazes swept over the underground lab to land on both Aina and Leonel who were both being swarmed.
    Amongst them, Leonel easily picked out Tier 5 Admiral Millan. This time, his relaxed, but stern, expression had a bit of dark tint to it. Clearly, he knew how great the opportunity he had missed was now that Leonel and Aina were Variants. However, he also knew that this would have been exposed eventually, and his family wasn't qualified to hoard such talents to themselves.
    The one in the lead of them, however, was a woman with wide hips wearing a tight knee length skirt. Her hair was pinned up in a neat bun and her delicate features were hardly hidden behind the frames of her glasses.
    Much like her skirt, her blouse clung tightly to her curves, seemingly barely holding back the towering mounds on her chest. However, that view was partially obscured by the clipboard she held to it.
    No matter how you looked at it, she was just a secretary. In fact, the identification tag hanging from her waist made this guess all the more obvious.
    Though she was an outstanding beauty, a beauty not losing out to Joan no matter how one looked at it, she still shouldn't have been qualified to lead this small group of Tier 5 officials.
    "Two great talents have joined our Royal Blue Fort, this is great."
    The secretary smiled lightly, her visage lighting up the whole room. She curiously observed Aina before turning her gaze toward Leonel, but she was surprised to find that the young man was only curiously gazing at her as well.
    By her estimations, an 18 year old boy, at this moment, should be doing his very best to stop the next current of drool from falling from his lips. How could he so calmly meet her gaze? Did he maybeбн not see women in that way?
    Though she thought this, as a woman with her level of standing, it was impossible for one to be able to read her emotions from her expression.
    "Ah, look at me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Maia, Royal Blue Province's Secretary Marquisette. I can be considered to be the personal aid of young Junior Governor Duke, so I apologize on his behalf for not being here. However, he is currently in the process of clearing an A-grade Zone as we speak."
    A sudden flash of understanding overcame Leonel. Secretary Marquisetteбн That was a Tier 6 official position. Even Governor Dukes were just a single level higher. It was no wonder they were all so respectful to this woman.
    Leonel had never expected the Secretary Marquisette to be so young. He also realized now that the reason he thought she was a normal secretary was because from his vantage point, he could only see a part of the tag on her hip.
    "I see, it's nice to meet you. I am Leonel Morales." Leonel smiled politely.
    Aina gave a polite greeting of her own, but she seemed to have gone back to her quiet, stoic self. Leonel really couldn't understand how she flipped through emotions so quickly. One moment she was yelling at him, the next telling him he stunk, the next she was blushing, and the next she was a brick wall.
    Women really were the bane of men.
    "Since the formalities are out of the way, we should get to the important stuff. I'm sorry to tell you that until the Capital sends a proper response, the two of you won't be allowed to enter any Zones. This procedure will take at least a few months with the state the Ascension Province is in currently."

 Chapter 69: Laid Bare

    [Bonus chapters for 600 powerstones, next at 800... Definitely going to make this every 300 ps next week...]
    Though Leonel was inwardly seething, his expression didn't change much. He looked like that innocent boy who tricked Joan and her knights for all those months.
    There were two reasons the Capital would try to stall for time like this.
    One is that they wanted to slow his growth. Powerful beings were good for the benefit of Earth, but their existences would be difficult to control after enough time passed. Earth's current technology could probably put Leonel in a grave right now without much issue, but whether or not that would still be true in a year or more was still unknown.
    The second reason was less sinister. It was possible that it really would take this long for the two of them to be accommodated for. It was definitely not easy to build those devices.
    Leonel had no ability to deal with the wrist watch on his hand currently. Even now, he couldn't even damage it, let alone take it off. If this was considered low level, who knew how much more was put into those high level ones? Leonel couldn't imagine.
    There was still one other reason Leonel didn't flip out though, aside from the fact it would be stupid to do so. Even if he couldn't enter the Zonesбн it didn't mean he didn't have other methods to grow.
    "Does that mean we'll have to sit idly for those months?" Leonel asked with a slight frown.
    Even if Leonel knew it was foolish to have an outburst, it would be even more foolish to pretend nothing was wrong. If he didn't show any discontent, it would be even more suspicious.
    "Of course not." Maia replied with a light smile. "Even if you cannot enter Zones, we still need your help to clear out Invalids. The sooner our Province can start running like normal again, the better. Those like you and Miss Aina will be the backbone of such efforts."
    Leonel's internal sneer deepened. As long as he was on Earth and not sent back in time through a Sub-Dimensional Zone, how could any of his actions be hidden from them? Leonel wouldn't be surprised even if they assigned a satellite to monitor his every move.
    'My own personal satellite. I can't lie, that sounds kind of cool.' Leonel lightly joked with himself in an attempt to better his mood.
    After a few more rounds of empty words, Maia dismissed the other Tier 5 officials and personally monitored the remainder of the registration process.
    As the night waned, more and more of Leonel's secrets were laid bare, a process that only made him more and more uncomfortable.
    In the end, Maia's lingering fragrance became like the venomous gas of a poisonous serpent to him. She was practically attached to his hip, reading his expression diligently as though trying to find if he was hiding anything else.
    Leonel wanted to hide some things, but he ultimately decided against it.
    In truth, he knew that he might have had some leeway. For example, the Empire's scanners seemed to have a problem with judging the merit of things at and above the S-grade. If not for this, why would the broad stroke 'Variant' grade exist?
    If Leonel really wanted to, he could have passed off some high level treasures as being graded higher than they really were and use the excuse that he traded in his lower level rewards for them.
    However, there were two reasons Leonel decided against this.
    Firstly, he simply wasn't confident in continuing to hide these things. Not to mention technology of this era, even technology of a few hundred years ago was already potent enough that no one could escape under its detection. Leonel wasn't foolish enough to believe that he was the exception.
    How could it be possible for him to continuously dodge the scrutiny of countless eyes and cameras? In the end, he would be forced to never use those rewards again for fear of the retaliation his lying would cause. The trade off wasn't worth it. These rewards were too useful to him.
    Secondly, there was an even more chilling possibility. What if the Empire was feigning ignorance?
    Hadn't they already done so once? They clearly knew this Metamorphosis was coming, or else their wrist watches wouldn't be able to analyze Zones. Yet, they had said nothing.
    Who was to say that their detection devices weren't several times better than what they displayed and they were instead keeping some things covert to weed out dangerous variables and potential traitors?
    Such thoughts made the cold in Leonel's heart grow chillier.
    So, for now, he obediently took out every one of his rewards, describing them all to the best of his ability. Even when he came to those five objects Montez gave him, even though he didn't truly know what they were, he still gave his best explanation.
    "бн I was interested in Force Art, so I picked out these five things. This quill can draw Force Art, while these materials help in creating treasures that rely on Force Art."
    This was Leonel's best guess. He believed that the pair of black gloves, the ores, and the special silver blob were all connected in some way.
    Seeing Leonel so obediently bring out so many treasures and describe them one by one caused Maia's expression to ease.
    Though she seemed in charge, the appearance of two Variants put great pressure on her. She wasn't lost to the fact this era had changed. Personal strength meant much more than it had in the past.
    Unfortunately, her own awakened ability wasn't very great, though, she was still more than satisfied with it. It wasn't wrong for Leonel to be so shocked that she was so young, because the truth was that she wasn't. In fact, her 60th birthday would be very soon.
    Of course, Leonel didn't know this, or else he might very well faint from shock.
    This aside, she had a very good impression of Leonel right now and even found him to be quite adorable. Before she realized what was happening, she was treating him like her own grandson, seemingly not noticing that her current appearance of a 20 year old woman in her prime made it look more like she was flirting rather than doting on a youngster she was fond of.
    Eventually, Leonel finished. He even decided to trade in some of his lower level treasures like his previous pair of shoes in exchange for some Ascension Points.
    A long while later, he was brought to his living quarters.
    As a Variant, it wasn't a surprise that Royal Blue Fort wasn't stingy with him. In fact, he received a large mansion near the core of the hidden city to himself. He didn't even know what to do with all of the space.
    He collapsed into bed, staring toward the ceiling expressionlessly. A wave of fatigue assaulted him. It could be said that this was the first time in almost a year that he had had such peace. But, it was ironically peace given to him by obediently dancing to the tune of the Empire. It was quite a bittersweet feeling.
    Leonel didn't even realize when he fell asleep. It wasn't until the sound of a ringing doorbell woke him up the next morning that he realized he had dozed off at all.
    He had to practically sprint through the massive mansion for him to get downstairs in a timely manner, only to find a delicate beauty wearing a black military outfit filled with pockets waiting for him.
    "Let's go do some missions." Aina said lightly.
    Her voice was as refreshing as morning dew.

 Chapter 70: Unforgivable

    Leonel was dazed for a moment before he blinked, a hint of confusion coloring his handsome face.
    He had expected that once they came back, Aina would start avoiding him again. Now that they weren't in a Zone and couldn't enter one for a long while, she wouldn't have to feel bad about leaving him behind. But, he could have never imagined that she would actually come to seek him out first.
    Aina was really too confusing to him. Did she want to avoid him, or not? Maybe she was moved by the words he spoke in Paris? Or, it was also possible that she decided that since he wouldn't give up on her, she might as well use him?
    Leonel might have been infatuated to the point of causing others to raise an eyebrow when it came to Aina, but he wasn't a fool. The matter of her lying about the entry quota had definitely stirred something within him.
    A part of Leonel wanted to believe that she wanted an excuse to spend more time with him, but he wasn't so vain. It was more likely related to her familyбн
    Aina clearly had an even stronger motivation to grow powerful in comparison to Leonel. The most likely explanation was that she wanted as many rewards to herself as possible. Logically, then, entering with as few people as possible was the most beneficial to her.
    Though Leonel knew this was most likely the answer, he didn't hate her for it. He too made selfish decisions without asking for her opinion first within the Zone. In addition, she wasn't trying to harm him. They did indeed have the capability to clear it alone. The only variables were related to the Zone teetering on becoming a Unique Zone, but Aina hadn't known this until they entered.
    "бн Young miss!"
    Leonel, who had been dazed to the point of staring at Aina for several long moments, was startled awake by a familiar voice.
    Yuri, while holding up her skirt, ran forward like a delicate lady.
    Leonel glanced in her direction, then looked toward Aina, then back toward Yuri once more.
    Aina: "бн"
    "Did you run away from her?" Leonel's lip curled into a smile he tried to conceal as he spoke, teasing Aina.
    "I picked a mission near where your Paradise Island might have fallen, you want to check it out, right?" Aina bit her lip.
    Leonel's smile froze, but it wasn't out of anger or sadness. He knew that his father was fine now, so he hadn't been as stressed about the matter. But, Aina didn't know this. The fact she was so thoughtful warmed his heart.
    After a moment, Leonel grinned and looked toward Yuri who was still running toward them with all the might she could muster.
    His hand swept forward and grabbed Aina's. It seemed it was Aina's turn to be dazed now.
    "Let's run, then."
    Leonel grinned, slamming the mansion doors shut behind and sprinting through the streets with his arm, linked with Aina's, trailing behind.
    Seeing such a scene, Yuri could only stop, her delicate features covered with a thin layer of sweat. She panted for a moment then stomped her feet, clearly unresigned.
    Aina's actions left her more than exasperated. In fact, she had an overwhelming feeling of anxiety swelling in her chest.
    "бн Miss! It's too dangerous outside!"
    Yuri's words sounded like the wild ravings of an overly controlling maid. But, only she and Aina knew that her worries weren't without cause, because this danger had nothing to do with Invalids.
    **
    Even hours later, Leonel's wild grin hadn't faded. But, this smile had nothing to do with being with Aina any longer. Rather, it had everything to do with the vehicle they were in.
    Leonel excitedly pressed on the gas pedal, winding through the wreckage of buildings with glee.
    He had never had the opportunity to learn to drive. Cars were too rare due to the densely populated cities. Everything had been boiled down to incredibly expensive public transportation.
    So, when Leonel found out that he could take out one of these armored jeeps thanks to his level of privileges, he practically jumped for joy.
    "бн Can't you drive a little slower?" Aina asked for probably the dozenth time.
    "We're almost there." Leonel replied with a smile.
    Aina wished she had several more seat belts. Leonel's 'almost there' response had been the only reply she received in return in the last three hours. The words had completely lost all of their meaning.
    At this point she could only swear to herself that even if Leonel pouted like a child, she would be the one to drive them back. She had lost count of the number of times the jeep almost flipped over.
    Luckily for her, this time around, Leonel really wasn't lying. They reached their destination in less than five minutes to find the sight of a wreckage that wiped the smile from Leonel's face.
    It could be said that the once glorious city was a mess. But until now, Leonel had still not laid eyes on the wreckage of a Paradise Island. It could only be described as devastating.
    Like the crater of a fallen meteor, the surrounding several hundred meters had sunken deep into the ground. Let alone the remains of buildings, it was more accurate to say that the shattered remains of structures impossible to deduce the original form of were littered about in a wild and unconstrained way.
    The subtle smell of rot pervaded the air. It wasn't obvious at first, and one could easily become used to it after a few moments, but it was exactly this that left Leonel feeling so stifled. All he could think about was the fact those who died here probably didn't even have corpses intact enough to produce a smell more forceful and obvious. Even in death, they hardly left their stamp on the world.
    Leonel clutched the wheel of the jeep so tightly that the creeks of its breaking plastic and his whitening hands could be heard through the silence.
    Unforgivable. This was truly unforgivable.

 Chapter 71: Wreckage

    [Bonus chapter for 800 powerstones. Karma will get you all eventually...]
    Leonel's grip eventually loosened and he sat silently for a while. Soon, his breathing became steady once more.
    To the side, Aina wasn't sure how to console Leonel. Of course, she wasn't aware that Leonel wasn't feeling this way due to the likely death of his father.
    Regardless, she had similar experiences of her own. Her own mother was dead and her father had likely followed in her footsteps. But, she had always had problems putting her emotions into words. She was always more likely to either implode or shut down. There didn't seem to be a third option for her.
    This time around, she chose to shut down.
    Luckily for her, Leonel wasn't actually mourning the death of his father and quickly regained his composure, opening the driver's door and stepping out. It wasn't long before Aina followed behind him.
    "бн How did you know to come here directly? I thought it would take us a few days to find it at least." Aina tried a probing question.
    Her words weren't wrong. Paradise Islands follow orbits, so where they fell would be variable. She only picked a mission to clear Perimeter 7 because it was near the general area, but she didn't expect to find the wreckage so quickly.
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    "I remember the time they fell and I know the orbit like the back of my hand, so calculating where it was wasn't a problem." He explained simply.
    The orbits of Paradise Islands weren't public knowledge. Or rather, the majority of their routes weren't. Only their stop points were known, as for the path they followed between them, it could only be left up to conjecture.
    For Leonel, who had been illegally traveling to the surface world for so many years already, it was simple to have this taboo knowledge.
    Leonel took a step and slid down the side of the crater.
    He knew that whatever his father left behind, it wouldn't have a problem surviving the fall. He didn't believe that his old man was dumb enough to not have a method of protecting his things.
    A part of Leonel held a small piece of resentment for his father. After all, since he knew this was coming, couldn't he have saved these people?
    But in the end, Leonel knew why he hadn't. Had he saved these people and then left, the Empire would definitely have all eyes trained onto Leonel. By then, even leaving the Fort to come to this place would have been impossible.
    Leonel found the wreckage he knew must have been his home and began to dig.
    His home now had collapsed. Several large slabs of brick and stone folded atop of one another. In comparison to the other structures, this could be considered to be relatively intact.
    With him and Aina's work together, it wasn't long before a small path was created and they could duck into the remains of his home's living roomбн if you could even call it that.
    Their movements caused dust to fly into the air. The two covered their mouths but were unable to hold back their ensuing coughs.
    "бн Leбн"
    Aina tried to start her attempt at saying some comforting words, but she backed out at the last moment again.
    In her mind, there really was no point in checking this place. The best case scenario was seeing something he didn't want to see. Even if by some miracle his father survived the fall, it's already been more than half a year since then, how could a normal human survive for so long?
    However, Leonel pretended not to hear the start of her murmurings.
    He stepped forward, carefully crawling up and through the wreckage. It wasn't long before Aina picked up on the fact that something was wrong. Leonel didn't look like a person looking for the remains of his fatherбн Instead, he looked like he already had a destination in mind?
    Seemingly thinking of a possibility, she quickly followed and soon had her thoughts confirmed.
    Leonel appeared above the remains of a staircase that descended. Shockingly enough, though, there wasn't even the slightest crack. Let alone a crack, it seemed completely unaffected by things around it.
    At the end of this staircase, a seemingly simple wooden door lay, equally as unaffected.
    'I guess you're not too useless, old man.' Leonel thought to himself.
    By now, Aina was certain that Leonel was hiding something. However, she also didn't dare to speak because she knew why Leonel was going out of his way to not explain anything either. It didn't take a genius to know that they were likely being monitored.
    The reason Leonel dared to come here despite this was because he believed his father would account for this as well.
    He descended the steps and reached for the door handle, only to find it locked.
    Leonel frowned. 'Don't tell me that old man forgot to give me a key? No, there's no keyhole here, there's probably another way to open itбн'
    After a moment. Leonel suddenly realized that the round door handle was a bit rough. It was a weird feeling because he could have sworn that it looked like smooth brass before. So where was this rough texture coming from?
    Leonel pulled his hand back and observed the knob. It really did appear to be smoothбн What was the problem?
    Reaching forward again, Leonel closed his eyes and touched the knob once more. As expected, it really was rough.
    His body jolted as he suddenly thought of a possibility.
    Leonel calmed his mind and discarded his useless thoughts. His senses became many times more sensitive in that instant.
    The rough texture on his hands became many times more refined. What once was an erratic, seemingly aimless pattern, gained itself a unique organization that projected itself into Leonel's mind.
    In those moments, Leonel learned something else about his body. His eyes didn't seem to be as good as his other senses for some reason. He could tell the difference between a loaded and unloaded gun by their weight and now he could feel intricate patterns on his palms that his eyes couldn't see.
    For now, Leonel wasn't aware of if this would always be the case or not, but for now, his sense of touch was definitely the highest amongst his original five senses. Or, rather, this was the only conclusion he could come up with based on the information he had.
    'It's a Force Artбн' Leonel thought. 'бн A complicated lock, but it shouldn't be a problem.'
    Leonel's fundamentals in Force Art could be considered to be solid. It was likely no one else on Earth knew as much as he did. Well, aside from his own father, apparently.
    However, this lock wasn't meant to be some great test or an obstacle Leonel needed to cross. Opening it was actually incredibly simple.
    Leonel took control of his Force and poured it into the knob, slowly tracing across the fine, invisible lines.
    For someone else, this task would have bordered on impossible. But for him, his spirit was simply too high for this little test.
    Ten minutes later, a light click was heard and the knob finally turned, revealing a dark corridor.
    Leonel stepped in, followed by Aina who hadn't said a word during the entire process. The door clicked closed behind them with hardly a sound.
    It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves in a small, dimly lit library.
    In truth, it was difficult to give it such a moniker. Calling it a library was a bit inaccurate. There were only four bookcases with five shelves each. The books still totaled a few hundred, but compared to a real library, it was still far too small. It was more accurate to call this place a small office.
    Aside from those four bookcases, there were several shorter cases with several cubicles. These cubicles were filled to the brim with countless scrolls. These scrolls seemed to number even more than the few hundred books themselves.
    Then, there was a plain workbench at the very center. It had several odd wells dipped into its seemingly dark oak surface and Leonel could see deep etchings drawn all across its body. But other than that, there was nothing else that stood out about it.
    Rather than this, there were two things that left Aina and Leonel a bit stunned.
    For oneбн Books? Scrolls? Wasn't the use and creation of paper banned? How could there be so many here?
    And secondlyбн There were three pedestals at the end of the office. Each was covered by a small dome of light that seemed to manifest from thin air.
    On each of the pedestals, there was a single object.
    The first was a bland black ring that seemed unpolished as though its creator couldn't be bothered with its final look. The second was a black cube that seemed put together like a jigsaw puzzle. And the last was a small silver plate not even four inches across, it was uniform in all areas with the exception of a small indent at its very center.

 Chapter 72: Hellish Graveyard

    Leonel stood silently for a moment then took a step forward.
    Aina gazed toward his back with a complicated look. Why would he allow her to come here? It can't be that he really trusted her to this extent, right?
    But when she thought about it, what other choice did Leonel have? She sprung this sudden mission on him without warning and even plainly said it was in the area his Paradise Island might have fallen.
    Let's assume for a moment that he didn't come here? What then? What if he waited until he separated from Aina to come to this place? What would those observing him think of this?
    It was obvious. Their first instinct would be to think that he was hiding something.
    However, Aina's actions gave him a good opportunity. There was a level of spontaneity that made everything seem natural. He really seemed like a boy who was looking for the remains of his father.
    When Aina analyzed things to this point, she found a corner and crossed her legs in meditation.
    Of course, she had no idea that this was only part of the truth. There were ultimately still many ways Leonel could have avoided this outcome. He could have made her wait outside under the pretext he wanted to grieve alone, for example.
    The ultimate reason he allowed her to come here was because he trusted her. It was as simple as this.
    Whether that trust was due to his rosy colored glasses or if she was really worthy of it, maybe even Leonel himself didn't know.
    Leonel noticed that Aina had closed her eyes and had stopped paying attention to her surroundings, but he didn't say much about it. He continued forward and eventually stopped at the pedestal furthest to the left.
    He reached forward through the barrier of energy. He had thought that it would stop him, but surprisingly, it didn't. His hand passed right through as though it was nothing more than air.
    Leonel picked up the unpolished ring. As expected, it had a texture similar to an uneven coat of dry paint.
    After observing it for a while, he couldn't find anything special about it. He even got the vague feeling that it wasn't even in front of him despite the fact he was very much aware that it was in his hand.
    Suddenly thinking of something, Leonel stopped observing with his eyes and focused all his attention on his hands. Maybe he could find something similar to the Force Art on the door handle?
    But, Leonel was soon disappointed. No matter how he looked at it, this really was just a ring with a poor finish quality. Whoever made this thing really must have not cared for his craft very much.
    'Waitбн'
    Just when Leonel was feeling stumped, he thought back to Montez teaching him how to use his spatial bracelet. What if this was a similar item?
    'бн Take control of my Internal Sightбн Concentrate itбн Imagine opening a doorбн'
    The truth was that not everyone could use spatial treasures even if they had one on hand. To the current Earth, those who even had Internal Sight were a rare few. And, those who could control it were even fewer.
    If Leonel had been willing to risk it and hid the existence of his spatial bracelet, it was unlikely anyone at Royal Blue Fort would be able to call him out on it.
    Just when Leonel was about to succeed, he felt a BOOM resound in his mind.
    Pain ravaged his thoughts and blood dripped from his nose.
    He fell backward in a daze, crashing to the ground.
    To an outside observer, he was staring blankly at the ceiling, not even reacting to his head rebounding off the hard floors. However, if one looked closely, his eyes were completely vacant as though he had already died.
    Shocked by the sudden noise, Aina's eyes flashed open. When she saw Leonel on the ground, she shot up and to his side, but no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to wake him up.
    While Leonel's body was being violently shaken by Aina, his mind was in a completely different place. He felt as though he had stepped foot into a hellish world. No, he might not even disagree if one said this was hell itself.
    Above, clouds of black-red rolled, the low rumbling of thunder beating against his ears repeatedly.
    In the distance, these clouds formed vertical swirls of cyclones and tornadoes, touching the ground like demonic omens of greed and gluttony.
    The ground was covered in sands of grey and black. However, these specks of earth looked more like the world had been covered in a thin layer of dust rather than being an actual part of the world itself.
    In the distance, Leonel could see the ground begin to roll into small hills. The further into the distance he looked, these hills gradually grew in size, eventually becoming small mountains. In the end of it all, there was a mountain of black so tall that even the rumbling clouds above were pierced through by it.
    Still, this wasn't the end of it.
    What caught Leonel's attention the most in this hellish place weren't the tornado clouds, the suffocating atmosphere, or even the impossibly tall mountains. What he couldn't take his eyes off of were the countless polearms pierced into the ground.
    Like a densely packed graveyard, countless spears were dotted across the world. Some of them were broken, others were whole, some had dried blood caking their polearms, while yet others were spotless.
    Leonel stood in a daze for a long while before he finally licked his dry lips. What the hell was this place?
    Leonel tried to take a step forward, but suddenly found that a mountain was weighing on his shoulders.
    Sweat fell from his brows as he gritted his teeth, eventually struggling forward by just a single step. However, even though he succeeded, it felt like half of his body's stamina had been drained.
    Leonel reached to the side to find something to steady his wobbling knees, eventually catching hold of the shaft of a wooden spear. However, the result was completely outside his expectations.
    Another BOOM resounded in his mind.
    He suddenly found himself in another world, racing through a jungle.
    A single layer of beast skin covered his lower half, his bare torso rippling with muscle as he hopped from tree to tree with nothing but a wooden spear in his hand.
    What seemed to be a saber toothed tiger raced toward him from below, roaring as though completely enraged.
    A laughter left Leonel's lips, but he somehow felt that it wasn't a laughter that came from him.
    Completely unable to control his body, his free hand caught onto a vine and swung downward in a wild but controlled arc.
    At the perfect moment, he let go, his spear cocking backward as a savage grin coated his features.
    Unable to react, the back of the saber tooth tiger's head was completely pierced through, its last roar being followed by a gurgling of blood.
    Leonel found himself sitting on the tiger's massive head. He pulled the spear from the beast's skull, savagely licking the blood that drenched his spear and palm.
    A moment later, Leonel jolted awake. He suddenly felt something heavy on his chest, making him think that he might have returned to that hell scape graveyard of spears, but he soon realized that the pressure wasn't heavy enough.
    "бн Aina?"
    Leonel frowned, realizing the weight on his chest came from a delicate fragrance that made his senses feel incomparably comfortable. When he noticed how soft the weight was, and even sensed that his chest was a bit wet, he realized that this 'weight' was actually a sobbing girl.
    "Youбн"
    Aina looked up from Leonel's chest. Her amber eyes were puffy with tears, giving them a red hue that Leonel felt bad for thinking suited her. There was something about this crying Aina that made his heart stir uncontrollably.
    He didn't even think before he hugged her, causing her to fall back into his chest.
    "What happened?" Leonel asked, trying to appear soothing.
    But, he couldn't have expected what happened next. In fact, he didn't even truly register what happened at all. It was just that he found it weird he was looking up at the ceiling again.
    When Leonel landed on the ground again, he only barely registered a pair of slender legs walking by him as he slid across the floor. And, by the time he sat up, Aina was back in her corner with her eyes closed as though nothing had happened.
    Leonel couldn't help but laugh.

 Chapter 73: Prank

    [Bonus chapters for 1000 powerstones. THAT'S ENOUGH.]
    After Leonel stopped chuckling, a wave of fatigue hit him. He felt as though his mind was completely drained, even his control over his Force was severely weakened.
    'My spirit droppedбн'
    Leonel looked up toward the ceiling and frowned. He could vaguely feel that it wasn't a permanent drop, but was rather temporary. He could probably recover it after taking a nap as he didn't have a quicker method.
    [Dimensional Cleanse] resulted in his spirit growing, this was especially after he formed his First Star. However, Leonel knew that it was more of a byproduct rather than a direct influence.
    Practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] strengthened his ability, and his ability seemed to influence his spirit. This was the link between the two occurrences. [Dimensional Cleanse] had no direct impact on his spirit, so the only method he had to deal with this problem was time.
    Leonel knew now that his spirit was obscenely high. Aina had formed her seventh Force Node now, yet her spirit wasn't even 10% of his own. The gap was massive.
    In addition, from Leonel's observations, Aina's spirit hadn't improved when moving from six Force Nodes to seven, unlike Leonel's which experienced a leap every time he formed one.
    But, this once again proved his conjecture. Forming Force Nodes strengthened his ability which in turn strengthened his spirit. Unless someone else had a similar ability to his own, he likely had the highest spirit stat on Earth currently, and by a large margin, at that.
    Leonel was so weak and lost in his thoughts that it took him several moments to realize that there was a spear in his hand, and even a few seconds more to realize that this was the very same spear he had tried to use to steady himself in that hell world.
    'Thisбн Isn't this too crudeбн'
    Leonel weakly sat up, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
    To call the spear in his hand primitive was an understatement. It was made of wood that had a natural and slight curve to it, completely unlike the perfect straight spears Leonel had become used to. Its blade, if one could even call it that, consisted of a sharpened grey stone wrapped to the tip by twine. And, if all this wasn't enough, it was caked with a dried brownish red substance it took Leonel a while to realize was bloodбн
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly remembered that Montez had told him he would soon have more spears than he knew what to do with. Is this what that stingy man meant by that? These were the spears he was meant to be bathing in? Where was the joke? He was still waiting.
    After observing the spear for a while, Leonel sighed. At this point, might as well just keep using that D-grade spear. It wasn't as though it was treating him wrong. If it came to it, he could just use some Ascension Points for a better spear.
    'Damned old man, you really left me something so useless. Is this supposed to be a practical joke? Haha, you got me.' Leonel scolded in his mind and rolled his eyes.
    If it was just one spear, it wouldn't be a big deal. The problem was Leonel had been in that world. For the first several hundred meters, there was nothing but wooden and broken spears. As for beyond that, the world was too dark for him to see clearly.
    Considering how hard it was to take just one step, who knew how long it would take him to travel far enough to get something decent?
    Leonel ginger stood up, bitterly smiling as he stared at the primitive spear.
    'Maybe I'm judging a book by its cover?'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel communicated with his spatial bracelet to bring out a familiar spear and raised it up to slash it against the wooden spear. Who knew, maybe he would get a surprise?
    Unfortunately, reality was cruelбн He did get a surpriseбн It just wasn't the one he was looking for.
    Before the D-grade spear could even make contact, the unpolished ring on Leonel's ring vibrated and emitted a searing heat.
    Leonel blinked in shock, not only due to the sudden change, but because he didn't remember putting this ring on his finger. How had it gotten there?
    Leonel couldn't even react before his D-grade spear burst into a rain of ash, rendering him speechless.
    His spearбн It was gone just like thatбн And it wasn't due to the fact he had gotten some OP spearбн but rather because this damned unpolished ring had thrown a tantrumбн
    Where was the justice?
    "Pftбн"
    Aina's light giggling caught Leonel's attention, but when he looked over, her eyes had closed once more. It was as though the sound hadn't come from her at all.
    Leonel could only leave her be, trying every method he had to pull the ring from his finger, but it was to no avail.
    He could only give up, his teeth grinding away. That old man really did play a prank on him.
    'Dammitбн'
    There was nothing he could do. Without another choice, he stepped toward the center pedestal, feeling incomparably aggrieved.
    'These other things you left better not be so uselessбн'
    Of course, Leonel wasn't foolish enough to think that the ring really was useless. But, he still felt the need to vent his grievances.
    Leonel reached forward and grabbed toward the silver plate. However, this time he failed to do so. Or, more accurately, he didn't get the chance to.
    The silver plate suddenly vibrated and a hologram projection suddenly manifested itself.
    The image was of a handsome man with rich olive skin and a strong jaw. He wore a pair of glasses and he seemed quite scholarly. He was the kind of man who made immature women swoon and mature women choose as their ideal lover.
    However, when Leonel saw him, the grinding of his teeth only grew fiercer.
    The hologram opened its eyes and seemed to see Leonel before it looked at the spear in his hand and burst out into a fit of laughter. When it saw the pile of ash behind Leonel, its laughter grew fiercer to the point it might have begun to leak tears had it not been a hologram.
    The handsome and cool demeanor of the hologram completely vanished as he laughed without restraint. It seemed to be having the time of its life.
    "Idiot." The hologram said. "Normally people go for the middle first, who asked you to start with the left pedestal. I even put it a few steps ahead of the other two."
    "Don't patronize me, old man. Everyone reads left to right, why wouldn't I start with the left? Plus, you have to leave the best for last, I just didn't know that this 'best' was you."
    "Don't blame me for your stupid mistakes, blame yourself."
    "You're just a cheap sci-fi rip off. A first generation hologram projection, really? Is this the 22nd century?"
    Suddenly the hologram began laughing again, leaving Leonel confused.
    "You idiot, I can imagine it now, you're probably talking to me like I have a real consciousness. I'm a recording. Damn, I really have a fool for a son."
    If it was up to Leonel, after hearing these words, he would tackle this hologram to the ground. Though, he'd probably get beaten just like all the other times, he would have definitely taken down the old man with him.
    He had really fallen for such a simple trick, dammit. He remembered the old man telling him about prank voicemail messages he used to leave in the past, he also remembered brushing it off saying that only an idiot would fall for such a thing. Yet, here he was.
    Aina's light giggling could be heard in the undercurrents, but the hologram didn't react. Clearly, it wasn't lying, this really was a recording.
    Leonel really didn't know why his father was obsessed with all this old tech. First paper, now holograms? This sort of technology had been phased out a long time ago. No one wanted to look at a transparent image all day. It was cool in movies, but in practice, it was an annoyance.
    "Whew, that was a good laugh. And if you're thinking of pretending you didn't fall for it when you meet me next, don't worry. I've already recorded this moment and saved it well."
    Leonel, seeing that his last spark of hope was gone, could only sigh. He really had thoroughly lost this time. He vowed to get the old man back one day.
    "Anyway, we can get down to some more serious stuff now." Leonel's father's expression grew more serious. Even as a projection, he radiated a unique, suffocating aura.
    "The ring on your finger is an heirloom of our Morales Clan. It's simply known as Spear Domain and it is thanks to it that our Morales Clan awakened our Spear Domain Lineage Factor. There are only three other treasures like it, or rather, only three others that have owners.
    "With it, all spears are useless before you. Only spears recognized by the Spear Domain ring can survive beneath its presence, all others will become a pile of ash. However, in return, you can only use spears that you have earned the acknowledgment of.
    "That said, I hope the Spear Domain Lineage Factor isn't the first you awaken. If it is, I promise you I'll disown you as my son."
    Leonel coughed awkwardly, suddenly thinking back to Montez's uproarious laughter.

 Chapter 74: Repentence

    Leonel didn't know what to say to this. His father's expression seemed serious, but Leonel had known for a long time what his father was like. This serious expression was just an act. However, Leonel could still tell that this 'act' came from a place of seriousness.
    The sigh he heard come from the hologram a moment later confirmed this much as well.
    "Forget it, forget it. It's impossible to tell what kind of mutations might occur. Your birth is a bit of a special case. So, though you're my seed and should have a higher chance of awakening our Ancestral Lineage Factor first, something outside of my calculations might happen.
    "Anyway, this recorded message will end now. Think of this silver disk as a dictionary left behind by me, your great and amiable, not to mention handsome, father."
    Leonel rolled his eyes again when he saw that his old man was back to his joking ways. How many times did he have to tell this old man to not call him his 'seed'.
    But he was grateful nonetheless. What he lacked the most was information. And, for some reason, while Montez couldn't give it to him, his father's projection could.
    "Alright thenбн What is our Ancestral Lineage Factor?" Leonel probed the hologram.
    The hologram had lost the previous animated emotions it had, but Leonel still found it soothing to hear his father's voice, even if it was automated.
    [ *Ping* The Ancestral Lineage Factor of the Morales Clan is known as Metal Synergy. ]
    "What is the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor?"
    [ *Ping* The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor is the Ancestral Lineage Factor of the Morales Clan. ]
    Leonel thought this was another prank at first, but after a moment, he seemed to understand something.
    "What are the abilities of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor?"
    [ *Ping* The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor has many abilities. It can most appropriately be described as the envy of all Force Crafters. ]
    [ *Information Omitted* ]
    [ Scanning Seed. ]
    Leonel felt a surge of energy course through him.
    [ Seed has not awakened Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Information cannot be unlocked. ]
    'бн Please don't tell me this damn thing is going to call me 'seed' from now onбн'
    In the end, Leonel could only sigh.
    It seemed he had to ask really specific questions to get specific answers. If not, the response would be short and to the point, and maybe miss out on something he needed to know. In addition, some information was barred from him unless he met certain criteria.
    After thinking for a moment, Leonel asked another question.
    "Why is it that my old man wanted me to awaken Metal Synergy first?"
    [ *Ping* The Morales Clan is divided into two branches. Velasco Morales was born to the Metal Synergy Branch though he later awakened his Spear Domain Lineage Factor as well. ]
    [ *Information Omitted* ]
    [ Seed is not yet strong enough to return to the Morales Clan. Information cannot be unlocked. ]
    "Alright, alright. Fine. How does this Spear Domain ring work?"
    [ *Ping* The Spear Domain ring is entered by the consciousness. The stronger one's Internal Sight, the further one can travel. Each spear has been acknowledged by the ring and has a thread of Internal Sight attached to it that gives insights toward the Way of the Spear. ]
    [ *Information Omitted* ]
    [ Scanning Seed. ]
    [ Seed has awakened Spear Domain Lineage Factor but has not grasped Spear Force. Information unable to be unlocked. ]
    'For the love of God, stop calling me seedбн'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. His father was born into the Metal Synergy branch of the family, but was somehow able to pass down the Spear Domain ring to him? If there wasn't some story behind this, Leonel wouldn't believe it.
    "What is Spear Force?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* Spear Force is a Force Strengthening Deviation. It is sharper than normal Force and carries the strength of a Force Technique without the need to use one. ]
    "What is a Force Strengthening Deviation?" Leonel asked, suddenly thinking of the weird red glow on Aina's axes.
    [ *Ping* A Force Strengthening Deviation is a mutation in Force that amplifies its power in a certain path. ]
    Leonel drowned the silver plate in questions. Though many things were omitted due to his own weakness, he still learned a lot nonetheless. If it wasn't for the fact he was scared he would attract suspicion by staying here too long, he would have asked more.
    "What is this?"
    Leonel picked up the last object his father left. A black cube that was put together like a jigsaw puzzle.
    [ *Ping* This is an heirloom of the Morales Clan known as the Segmented Cube. ]
    Leonel's lip twitched. This old man didn't give him the heirlooms of both branches of their family, did he? Leonel didn't need to know the story behind this to know that there were definitely several unhappy individuals.
    "What are the abilities of the Segmented Cube?"
    [ *Ping* The Segmented Cube is a darling treasure of Force Crafters. It is a lab. ]
    [ *Information Omitted* ]
    [ Scanning Seed. ]
    [ Seed has not awakened Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Information cannot be unlocked. ]
    Leonel sighed. He had been hoping that this thing would be able to analyze Zones for him. But, it turned out to be a lab. A lab he couldn't even open at that. He wasn't a Force Crafter so he couldn't even make use of this thing.
    It seemed he had made a mistake by not using one of his rewards on a Zone Analysis Device.
    'Hold onбн'
    "What is this thing called and what are its abilities?"
    Leonel brought out a familiar cube with the very same childish silver glob. However, even in comparison to the past, it was even more hyper than usual. It continually rammed against the side of the cube as though trying to get to the Segmented Cube.
    [ *Ping* Species of Metal Spirit detected. Metal Spirit in its infant stages. The Metal Spirit is the favorite Familiar of Force Crafters. ]
    [ *Information Partially Omitted* ]
    [ Abilities ]
    [ Metal Refinement: Able to process and remove impurities from ores. ]
    [ Metal Formation: Able to fuse into the structure of metals and change its form, perfect for crafting intricate parts. ]
    [ бн ]
    [ Metal Spirit in infant stages. Abilities limited. ]
    [ Metal Spirit: Unnamed ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 1 Black ]
    Leonel frowned. He thought this was a Tier 7 Black reward, why was this Metal Spirit infant only at the Tier 1 evolution stage?
    How could Leonel know that Montez had used a loophole to bend the rules? Let alone a Tier 7 Black reward, a Metal Spirit was worth more than even a Tier 9 Gold reward. In fact, infants were worth more than even mature Metal Spirits.
    Still, though he didn't know this truth, his mind was still spinning. Since this Metal Spirit was a living thing and it had evolution stages, it should be possible to help it mature, right?
    Just when Leonel was about to ask the silver plate some more questions, a violent tremor suddenly shook the underground space, causing Leonel's eyes to narrow.
    This wasn't a normal phenomenon. Someone was attacking them from above.
    'Dammit. It's been only half an hour. It can't be that they really came after us for this, right? No, it's definitely something else.'
    Just when Leonel was at a loss for what to do, the Segmented Cube suddenly spun in his palm, breaking into its several pieces and engulfing the entire room. Before Leonel realized what had happened, the cube had expanded to the size of a room and back to the size of his palm in the blink of an eye.
    But, while it seemed like nothing had changed, Leonel immediately realized that all the bookshelves and cubicles filled with scrolls had vanished, leaving nothing in the small office.
    The loud booms continued.
    To Leonel's shock, the room that had remained unaffected after a fall from the skies suddenly began to crumble.
    "Dammit!"
    Leonel placed the Segmented Cube and silver plate into his spatial bracelet before making eye contact with Aina.
    He was shocked to find that she was emitting a dangerous aura, a stifling killing intent springing forth from her small body.
    'She knows who these people are?'
    There was no time to communicate, the two shot down the crumbling corridor, bursting out to find themselves surrounded.
    When Aina saw these people, the violent aura on her body grew by several times, her killing intent piercing into the skies. At this moment, her presence was no weaker than Leonel's when he focused.
    "Aina Atheleys Brazinger. Daughter of traitorous scum Adam Renier Brazinger. You are summoned by the Clan Elders to seek repentance."

 Chapter 75: Fury

    [Bonus chapter for 1200... I admit defeat... it will be 300 ps a bonus chapter next week... *weeps*]
    There were six of them. Every single one had fiery red hair and blazing red eyes. It was the kind of scene that was incredulous to Leonel, a normal youth who grew up on Earth.
    Even Aina's bright, almost golden, amber eyes had a near fantastical element to them. But how could a person with red eyes really exist? For a moment, he thought they were wearing contact lenses before he directly tossed out such an idea. It can't be that all six of them had such a weird hobby, right?
    The man who spoke had a high bridged nose, his arrogance flaring along with his nostrils. He had one hand clasped behind his back, but in the other, there was a very familiar red ax that made Aina's fury soar even higher.
    Since they had just been in the jeep, Aina hadn't been able to keep her ax on her back. So, she placed it in the trunk. Normally, she would have taken it out with her in case a battle happened, but she had been absent minded after Leonel stepped out of the car. Due to her worry and her attempts to try to find something to say to console him, she had completely forgotten to bring along her weapon.
    Leonel immediately realized this fact. He didn't know what significance the ax had to Aina, but all he needed to know was that it was important to her. And, hearing how this man so blatantly insulted her father in such a way, even he couldn't help but frown.
    "Erase this weapon from your memory." The man sneered when he saw Aina's gaze. "This mighty Heirloom of the Brazinger familyбн since when was it the right of a bastard child to wield, let alone the fact this bastard is a woman."
    Leonel's expression darkened.
    Six middle-aged men came to bully a young girl of not even 20 years old. Even if Aina wasn't the woman he liked, he would be enraged.
    Leonel palm flicked upward and his dented shield slid onto his left arm which held tightly onto the Metal Spirit. The grip his right hand had on the wooden spear tightened, his expressionless visage acting like a cover for brewing storm.
    That day, when those three goons dared to insult Aina, he crossed over his own moral boundaries and slayed them without blinking an eye. Even he wasn't proud of this moment. He wanted to maintain his clarity when he killed. He didn't want to become a slave to his rage.
    However, this man had truly touched his bottom line.
    "That ax. Return it."
    Leonel's voice was like a steady stream. Calm and controlled, he pointed his primitive wooden spear toward the man.
    Looking at Leonel's spear, the six men found it difficult to hold back their laughter.
    "What kind of monkey tool is this exactly?"
    "Kid, if you know what's good for you, you'll take a step back and stay out of these matters."
    The cold words of the first man who spoke cut through the jeers. His body seemed to brim with power, making him appear like a beast restrained by chains. However, even still, his words had barely fallen when Leonel had already shot forward.
    Leonel knew why these people were here now, and he even caught a faint inkling of why Yuri would chase after Aina like that to stop her from leaving. Originally, he thought that she just didn't want the two of them to continue spending time together, but it seemed he had wronged her with his thoughts.
    It was no coincidence that these people didn't appear during the days he, Aina, James and the others were traveling to Royal Blue Fort, yet appeared now.
    He remembered Aina's words from that day quite wellбн
    "The only reason I still carry their name is so that I can reject it myself when they most wish for me to keep it."
    The moment they learned that she was a Variant, they came here to flaunt themselves and even took her prized possession. These people were scum.
    The man's gaze narrowed as he swung Aina's ax.
    However, what neither the man nor Leonel expected was that before they could even trade blows, a small fist would collide with the man's face.
    With Leonel's senses having sharpened to the point of near enlightenment, he caught every detail. The break in the tall bridge of his nose, the crack that followed in his teeth, the way his skin and face deformed beneath the weight of the strikeбн
    The man was sent flying, crashing through several fallen buildings without even the ability to stop himself.
    In that moment, Aina had appeared in the midst of the five remaining men. Her bloodthirsty aura reached into the skies, her long hair wildly whipping about as a crimson energy coated them.
    Though Leonel could only see her backview from his standpoint, he could feel her fury. If it wasn't for the fact she had already formed her Seventh Node and stabilized her Force, she would have most definitely already entered a berserk state. In fact, even then, it seemed like she might lose her mind again regardless.
    Leonel's pupils constricted into pinholes.
    It was only now he realized just how much he had underestimated Aina. Her unstable aura hadn't just affected her mental state, but it very clearly negatively influenced her stats.
    She hadn't activated her Force just now, so logically, the influence of her Seventh Node shouldn't have been so obvious just yet. Howeverбн
    [Aina Brazinger]
    [Strength: 1.49; Speed: 1.03 (1.22?); Agility: 1.08; Coordination: 1.10; Stamina: 1.31; Reactions: 1.12; Spirit: 0.06; Force: ???]
    In that instant, her burst of speed was most definitely higher than her base stats. Leonel suspected she either used an item she received as a reward, or a technique of some sort that utilized a power outside of Force.
    Her instability really had such a large effect on her.
    'These six don't seem to have the same instability. Uncle Montez even said that Clans keep a very tight grip on their Lineage Factor techniques. Could Aina's instability be due to the fact she doesn't have their technique to practice?'
    "Do you think I need your heirloom?" Aina's voice carried a biting cold. "If it wasn't because my father wished for me to keep it, I would have thrown it into the nearest scrapyard. Don't think of leaving here alive today!"
    Leonel's gaze flickered as the man weakly stood from the pile of rubble. The men around Aina glared at her with trepidation and anger, but also caution. They didn't dare to move recklessly just yet.
    The man's face was completely distorted. His face was savagely sunken, making it impossible to tell what expression he was trying to convey. But, the sudden roar he shot into the skies made it clear that it was rage.
    His body began to morph, growing more than a foot and springing forward with dense patches of fur.
    It wasn't just him, but the five men also underwent similar transformations.
    Leonel's frown deepened.
    The good news was that now they didn't need to be in the dark about their abilities any longer.
    As for the bad newsбн Their stats all increased by more than 20%. Their strength stats especiallyбн doubled.
    Before, the strongest strength stat was a mere 0.80. But now, the man who now had the face of a wolf, howling into the skies like a madman towering at almost eight feet tall, had crossed 1.60.
    "I'll tear you limb from limb and drag you back to the Clan as a cripple! I'll be sure you experience even worse dread than your whore mother!"

 Chapter 76: Fool

    [Author's Note: I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding from the last chapter. The Brazinger Clan isn't a werewolf clan, though I can see now how that could be the conclusion you guys would make. I won't say anymore, I prefer to explain via the story's narrative]
    The man's face distorted. The cracks to his bones and teeth healed as his nose became a snout and his hands gained claws.
    The clothes on his back tore to shreds, revealing a tight compression suit that covered much of his fur.
    Though all six were weremen, the beasts they morphed into were completely different. While the man who wielded Aina's ax seemed to be crossbred with a wolf, one seemed more akin to a fox, another looked more like a hyena with gross colored yellow fur. In addition, there was a panther, a cheetah-like man, and finally a бн rat?
    Of all the men, there was one who instead of growing in size shrank instead. In addition, the boosts to his stats were the most minimal. However, when Leonel's gaze landed on him, the blaring sounds of warning shot through his mind.
    Leonel couldn't understand where this warning was coming from. He was certain that he didn't have such an ability. So what was going on?
    Unfortunately, there wasn't time to think about it. The werewolf's howl had come to an end, fiendish growls and dripping saliva fell from his sharp teeth, a crazed glare piercing toward Aina.
    He gripped Aina's ax, his muscles pushing against his compression clothing like tightened steel cords. The power brimming in his body was simply unimaginable.
    His and Aina's gazes collided in the air before they simultaneously shot forward, fury painting both of their features.
    Leonel no longer hung back. He was already not far from the group after his initial charge. In addition, it was in none of their best interests for this battle to drag on.
    As though in tacit agreement, none of them used their Force. If they did so and caused an Invalid horde to make their way hereбн They wouldn't even know how they died.
    Leonel stopped hesitating, his wooden spear piercing toward the werehyena.
    He had expected it to be no more than a normal strike. But, the moment he used the spear, he felt a savage aura envelop his body. It was as though he had entered the jungle once more, and this man before him was not a man, but rather a real beastбн
    Leonel's eyes reddened, a savage grin appearing on his face.
    His sudden change caused the werehyena to be at a loss. Before the latter could react, the stone blade had already appeared at his neck. In that moment, he really felt he would lose his life. The bloodthirsty pressure emitting from Leonel was no different than one of a predator stalking his prey.
    A claw suddenly appeared before the werehyena's throat. The werepanther had reacted quickly, his blackened paw leaving silver streaks in the air to bat Leonel's spear away.
    It should have been a simple task. His claws were no weaker than a C-grade blade. The sight of him dicing up the stone blade of Leonel's monkey weapon had already played in his mind countless times.
    But reality was cruel.
    Leonel's savage grin didn't fade as his wrist twisted. With impossible coordination, the werepanther's claw, which had been aimed at the flat of the blade, was suddenly aimed at its edge.
    Leonel's arm swept upward as though this was the strike he wanted to levy from the very beginning.
    The agonizing roars of the werepanther sounded as three of his bestial fingers had been lost.
    Leonel didn't give him time to retreat. His hips swung, his legs flexed, his toes almost dug through his treasure shoes to leave ten indents on the broken concrete beneath their feet.
    His body was like a well oiled engine. Each action was perfectly supported by a supplementary muscle. The tiniest fibers, the weakest ligaments, each was put into motion, squeezing out their greatest potential.
    If Leonel was truly conscious at this moment, he would realize that his coordination stat had touched upon an eye popping number.
    His speed exploded, reaching the chest of the roaring werepanther in a flash. He had lost the werehyena due to his interruption, so shouldn't he pay a price?
    The actions were too sudden. The head of a man turned panther flew into the skies, a fountain of blood raining down and coating Leonel.
    Droplets of crimson fell onto Leonel's face. Though the sounds of Aina and the werewolf acted as a backdrop, to the four remaining beastmen around him, it felt like the world had fallen silent.
    Leonel turned his head back toward the four. Maybe by coincidence, a tear of blood fell to the corner of his lips.
    His tongue snaked out, licking it away as though he was savoring the last drop of a meal.
    The Spear Domain ring glowed and vibrated excitedly on his finger. It released a searing heat that poured into the primitive spear.
    The four beastmen inadvertently took a step back.
    They could see it clearly. It felt like the temperature was steadily rising, but there was clearly no fire ability attached to Leonel's state. It was as though his blood was boiling with excitement instead. He was so excited to kill them that steam was emitting from his body, covering the air around him in a faint white mist.
    At that moment, the sound of bones being cracked and blood curdling screams resounded through the battlefield.
    The four beastmen looked over to find Aina savagely stomping and grinding into the werewolf's digitigrade legs.
    Her ax had already been flung to the side, the crimson aura coating her body radiating out with a fierce momentum.
    The sight of a small woman of barely 5'7" torturing a beastman who stood at over seven feet made others feel the need to wipe their eyes clean. But, there was no mistake about it.
    The current Leonel didn't seem to care for these changes. In fact, he hadn't even looked over to where Aina was. The moment he saw that his prey had actually looked away from him, he sensed opportunity. It was a gripping feeling that surged through his heart, an instinct ingrained into his very being.
    The werefox only managed to react after his next attempt at speech came out like the gargles of a baby. His last sight was that of a spear jetting out from his throat.
    Leonel wanted to take advantage of the situation to lop off another head, but before he could, a surging tide of Force shot into the skies.
    Leonel's expression changed, the crimson in his eyes fading away as he regained clarity. He didn't even have time to wonder just what had happened to his state of mind just now. His head whipped back toward Aina and the werewolf's body, only to find that the situation had changed once more.
    Aina had created some distance between herself and the werewolf. Her expression was a mixture of disdain and a small bit of helplessness. She knew she had made a mistake. Her actions were emotional and rage fueled. Had she simply killed the werewolf instead of giving him a chance to activate his Force, this wouldn't have happened.
    Obviously, she hadn't been overwhelmed by the Force of this werewolf. Rather, she had chosen not to use her Force, not much unlike all the others. However, this fool actually used his without regard for the situation.
    They were in the middle of nowhere. The nearest Fort was at least a three hour's drive away. Yet, this idiot released his Force like this.
    Leonel's expression turned serious. He could already sense several Invalids who had turned their attention toward this place.

 Chapter 77: Wererat

    Leonel's expression continually flickered.
    He quickly sent a glance toward where he had left their jeep, but what he saw left his expression twisted.
    Before, he hadn't dared to take his eyes off of the enemy, so aside from observing the six men, he had done nothing else. However, when he saw that Aina's ax had been taken by that man, he had a bad premonition. It turned out that that bad premonition had been correct.
    The vehicle was too well armored to be completely destroyed from the outside, but judging by the fact its hood was currently opened, it didn't take a genius to know that there was no chance of it starting up.
    Just like that, one of Leonel's escape routes was dashed.
    'Not all hope is lost. I don't believe that they were able to get here so quickly using their legs.'
    Leonel was going to continue scanning the edge of the large crater to find what exactly the six had used to get here, but he suddenly felt his spine tingle.
    Without hesitation, he ducked and rolled, barely managing to dodge a claw whipping toward the back of his neck.
    The dust from the ground had hardly clung to his rolling body when a powerful kick swept from the werecheetah.
    Leonel could only contort his body, barely blocking with his dented shield.
    The kick sent him tumbling, skidding across the ground filled with rubble almost like a tumbleweed.
    The exchange was quick, but the eyes of the weremen lit up. Before, Leonel was like an insurmountable mountain to them, but he had suddenly becomeбн human? How could they not take advantage of this?
    "Quickly, before those damned Invalids get here. His ability must have a timer that ran out, this is our best chance!"
    The werehyena's speech sounded like cobbled growls and was hardly discernible. But, the werecheetah seemed to understand him, his power legs vibrating with power before he crouched and shot forward. Only the wererat stayed behind, his beady eyes narrowed.
    Leonel launched himself up, but quickly found himself on the back foot. Even the weakest of his senses, his eyes, was still far more powerful than the normal person. Not to mention realizing the trajectory of the attacks being launched at him, they even seemed slow in Leonel's eyes.
    But every time, his body would be too slow to react. Like this, the spear that had once carried a foreboding of murder and blood became a normal stick that could only be used to block. In fact, if it wasn't for Leonel's dented shield, his spear would have been snapped in half a long time ago.
    Leonel felt exasperated. Hadn't he just killed two of them with absolute ease? Why was it suddenly so difficult?
    'бн I thought I had great battle experience, but that's no more than a joke.'
    Leonel was continually pushed backward, his heart growing a bit anxious. He couldn't even remember the last time he launched an attack.
    In the distance, the wererat's gaze turned toward the battle between Aina and the werewolf. Before, it had been one of incomparable ease for Aina, but now that her opponent was using Force while she was repressing her own, even she was forced to take him more seriously.
    Their fists collided in dull booms, the savage aura coating Aina's body not dispelling even in the slightest. Even though blood slowly dripped from her hands, her ferocity only seemed to increase.
    Though the werewolf used his Force, Aina still didn't dare to do so. The man had only formed a single Force Node. Though it was possible to control Force output, that was only for those with high spirit. In comparison to her Force, Aina's own spirit could be considered as wholly lacking. She had no confidence in restraining her Force properly.
    The kind of Invalids that would come for a person who had formed one Force Node and the kinds that would come for someone who had formed seven could be imagined.
    A powerful Invalid might come here if they were close for this werewolf, but if they were a distance away, they wouldn't bother. However, for Aina, even if it meant transferring to the ends of the earth and crossing the rivers of hell, they would make their way here without pause or rest.
    Like this, Aina had no choice. Her ability gave her great control over the state of her body, but when it came to Forceбн she was at a loss.
    Suddenly, Aina's eyes dulled and her movements turned sluggish. She didn't even realize what was happening when a fist had collided with her torso. It was so large in comparison to her body that her hips and ribs felt the impact all at once.
    Spittle flew from her mouth as all the air in her lungs was forcefully ejected. Glittering stars flew across her vision, dotting her sight in flashing lights and blurry hues.
    Even when she cratered into the remains of a home right by Leonel's former residence, she still had no idea what happened.
    Leonel's eyes widened. He wanted to rush over, but he simply couldn't break free out of the combined attacks of the werehyena and werecheetah. If he tried to force his way through, the result would likely be a serious injury on his part.
    He grit his teeth. He thought he had reached some elevated status by clearing an S-grade Zone, but he failed to remember that most of the enemies he had faced were just normal humans. Their stats didn't even touch 0.50. Compared to Leonel, they were like infants waiting for slaughter.
    The worst part was that even then, they had still almost done him in. If it wasn't for him grasping Joan's weakness at a critical point, he would have died that day in Paris and never returned.
    However, these opponents before him now might have had weaker stats than him, but they were still superhuman to the point he couldn't simply rely on his stronger body to defeat them.
    'What the hell happened? There's no way that werewolf is stronger than Aina.'
    Leonel's held head whipped back, his eyes landing on a wererat barely a meter and a half in height. Its gaze, too, had been moving away from Aina's battle and just so happened to meet Leonel's. Though his face seemed expressionless, the long whiskers on his ratlike face seemed to curl into a sneer along with his snout.
    At those very same moments, the first Invalids had made their way to the crater. They swarmed from all directions. In the blink of an eye, there were three to four dozen of them.
    Seeing that he had heavily injured Aina, the werewolf immediately stopped using his Force and charged toward the collapsed building she had fallen into. But, while his efforts would stop more Invalids from converging, those that already had still far outnumbered them.
    On Leonel's side of the battle, the wererat's gaze suddenly flashed with a blinding light that seemed to want to envelop Leonel completely just when the latter was about to turn his head away and go all out to stop the werewolf.
    'Your mind is too strong for me to influence normally, but to think you would actually dare meet my gaze. Die!'
    The wererat snickered in his thoughts, an incorporeal sharp blade piercing toward Leonel. Unlike other fools, he had no intention of saying such words out loud. If Leonel wanted to understand his true abilityбн He could go ahead and ask those who preceded him in hell!

 Chapter 78: Toys

    .[Will be changing DD's cover soon, keep that in mind]
    A familiar feeling of danger overwhelmed Leonel. It was as though this instinct had been subconsciously repressed by him but was bubbling forth, clawing its way out of the hidden depths of his mind.
    However, it was too late.
    Leonel couldn't see what it was that hit him. It was completely invisible. Yet, it felt as though a strong blast of air had assaulted his face.
    His eyes watered, his head whipped back, and eventually, his gaze dulled like he was reminiscing on memories long since passed.
    Seeing Leonel's dazed expression, the werehyena and werecheetah didn't hesitate for even a moment. The former roared and opened his jaws wide, biting at Leonel's neck. The latter's right thigh bulged in size and grew by a fold, striking forward like a vicious whip that left whistling sounds hanging in the air.
    BANG! BANG!
    The werecheetah's kick and the werehyena's bite landed as one. By all rights, Leonel's neck should have been bitten through while his lower body was sent flying. With the strength of the two weremen, his decapitation was almost guaranteed.
    But, neither of them could have expected that a seemingly flimsy ray of blue light would stop them both.
    Leonel's body was sent flying, but the ones howling in pain wasn't him who was lost in a daze, but rather the werecheatah who had shattered his leg and the werehyena whose row of teeth were now broken.
    The wererat's pupils constricted. 'Just what kind of treasure is that?'
    Leonel could have never expected that the treasure he picked out for the sake of self grooming would have such powerful defensive capabilities. But this was only natural. How could a Quasi Tier 1 Bronze treasure be so simple?
    Suddenly, the wererat felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
    His beady eyes widened to find Leonel slowly standing up. However, this wasn't the shocking part. He had already expected this much after seeing the states of the two weremen.
    What truly shook him with fear was thatбн Leonel's savage expression had returned. The sight of him climbing back out of the rubble was akin to watching a devil climb up from the depths of hell.
    While Leonel had underestimated the defensive abilities of his self-grooming treasure, the wererat could have never imagined that knocking Leonel unconscious was the worst mistake he could have madeбн Because it allowed that demonic persona to come back.
    Leonel cackled as he dashed forward. One would have expected his laughter to sound like the devilish howls of a forsaken soul, but it didn't sound like this at all. Rather, he was like a child who had found a fun toy to play with, a little boy whose mental age couldn't have been more than five or six years old.
    However, despite this, his spear which had just been a flaccid, useless tool a moment ago, became a venomous viper.
    The heads of the two whimpering beast men shot into the skies, completely separated from their bodies. In their pain, the last thing they could have expected was for Leonel to react so quickly and even counterattack them. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like they weren't experienced in true combat.
    The wererat panicked. With his guards gone, he suddenly had to face Leonel alone?
    That strike he sent just now wasn't something he could send continuously. It would take at least another minute before he recovered enough normally. He had only been able to attack AIna and Leonel in quick succession like that because Aina's spirit was far weaker in comparison to him, so he hadn't needed to go all out.
    To make matters worseбн he somehow felt that even if he could launch another full powered strike toward Leonel, it wouldn't make a single bit of difference.
    "Baruke! Get your ass over here!"
    The shrill cry of the wererat caused the werewolf who had been completely focused on digging up the pile of rubble to get to Aina to stop. He turned back to find the small wererat being dangled by his neck, his little feet swinging back and forth wildly.
    Leonel held the wererat's gaze up to his own. He seemed to be curiously staring into the wererat's beady eyes, as though trying to find the secret to something like a curious child.
    Baruke's eyes widened with shock and struggle. He couldn't decide whether to find and restrain Aina, or if he should hurry and save the wererat.
    In the end, he grit his teeth and dashed forward. That weakling was the favorite test subject of that person, if he really dared to let him die here, only death would await him.
    From the moment Leonel fell into a daze, to the moment he clutched the wererat's neck, it could be said that not even ten seconds had passed. And, unfortunately, those ten seconds were more than enough time for the first Invalids to make their way down from the crater's edge.
    Their dull, white eyes seemed to hold the depths of the universe.
    Many of them looked no different from normal humans. Those with low grade abilities tended to have small boosts to their speed or strength. As such. Low grade Invalids didn't normally have weird mutations amongst them.
    However, there were still three A-grade Invalids amongst the several dozen. If Leonel was conscious, he would have recognized these three as a part of the twelve A-grade Invalids listed to be here in Perimeter 7.
    One had the slithery tongue and green scales of a poisonous snake. Another had skin that radiated a bright golden light that made the air around her sizzle. And the last had a head a fold in size larger than it should have been. This last one's head was completely bald, but had veins of blue crazily pumping across his forehead and head. Even its eyes were a size bigger than it should have been.
    Baruke seemed to think that it wouldn't be a problem to run from these Invalids, or maybe he was still too overconfident in his strength. If not for this, why would he so blatantly enrage a Variant? He must have really believed that he was invincible.
    He wanted to rush toward Leonel, quickly deal with him, and run away with the wererat. Howeverбн
    CRACK.
    As though bored and disappointed with a toy, Leonel tossed the wererat aside. The latter had widened its beady eyes as far as it could, and blood even dripped from their sockets, but it was to no avail.
    "NO!" Baruke roared, his swift yet massive figure appeared above Leonel with a leap.
    He was finished. He really was finished. If he wanted a chance to live, how many more of those cruel experiments would he have to suffer through?
    It was his fault. It was all his fault.
    "DIE!"
    Baruke's claws extended another several inches, slashing down toward Leonel.
    With a playful smile, Leonel dropped the Metal Spirit's cube to the ground and slid his dented shield to his hand.
    He gripped its edge tightly before sending it flying forward like a frisbee. Baruke could hardly react before the hard metallic edge smashed between his brows, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
    The last thing he felt before the light faded from his eyes was a sharp pain in his throat. His spine was cleanly severed and everything fell to darkness.
    Leonel crossed over Baruke's body like it wasn't worth much, he didn't even bother to pick up the fallen Metal Spirit. He had found much more interesting prey.
    He licked his lips with excitement, watching on as the Invalids converged toward him.
    His heart was budding with happiness. So many toys to play with.

 Chapter 79: How

    [Seems like everything's fixed now, so here's the bonus chapter for 300 powerstones, next at 600 :)]
    Leonel's body was akin to an unleashed beast. Without the chains of morality or the burden of inexperience, he was like a well oiled machine, reaping the lives of one Invalid after another.
    The large-headed A-grade Invalid seemed to be sending rays of mental attacks toward him, but they seemed to roll off of Leonel without the slightest hint of success. Without the ability to attack, this invalid was the first to fall.
    Compared to the large armies Leonel had faced, the Invalids were a loose pack of sand. They didn't work together and their intelligence seemed to be several levels lower than that of humans. With the level of Leonel's current battle senseбн it was too easy.
    The truth was that at this point, Leonel had already regained his senses. It was just that he was in a state of limbo. He felt like his body was a mech suit and his eyes were its windows. He was currently watching this mech suit being controlled by someone else, but through the lens of his own gaze.
    It was a feeling that made him somewhat sick and lightheaded. The dizziness made him feel like he just might vomit any moment now, but due to the fact he wasn't controlling his body, he couldn't even if he wanted to.
    Of course, this wasn't to say that this was a forceful possession. In fact, Leonel knew that with a single thought, there would be no issue with him taking back control of his body.
    It was this feeling that made him realize that this experience wasn't him being in dangerбн rather, it was an opportunity.
    Still, the more Leonel observed, the more incredulous it became. He could tell that the consciousness of this primitive man couldn't use power beyond the means of his body. But, he couldn't help but thinkбн was this really his strength?
    Laughter left Leonel's lips as his head tilted to one side.
    A sharp tongue dripping in violet poison whizzed by his head, only to be caught in a hand of his covered by a thin blue light.
    His arm bulged as he pulled with all his might, his spear wielding hand snaking forward.
    DING!
    The stone blade rebounded off the forehead of the lizardman Invalid, but this only made Leonel's eyes brighten with even more excitement.
    The angle of his wrist shifted and with a flick, the rebounded spear sliced the Invalid's tongue in two.
    In that moment, the female Invalid surrounded by a heated golden radiance closed in. However, the heat emitting from her body charred the weaker Invalid's to dust, cutting down their number once more.
    She grabbed toward Leonel who seemed to have not noticed her presence. But just before she made contact, she found a wall of green being thrown toward her.
    The lizardman Invalid and female Invalid clashed, causing an exchange that left the latter on the losing end.
    She was of the A-grade due to her uniquely high temperature Force, but her other stats were barely at the B-grade. It might have still been fine if all that happened was her clash with the lizardman Invalid, but how could she, with her dulled intelligence, be conscious enough to guess how insidious Leonel would be?
    Using the disruption to her wall of Force caused by the lizardman, Leonel squeezed the blood and venom from the tongue in his hand onto his spear tip. With one swift motion, he attacked from the lizardman's back. The female Invalid couldn't even see the danger she was in before a cut not even a centimeter deep appeared on her thigh.
    The two Invalids finally fell over, however in the blink of an eye, the two were incapacitated. One was paralyzed by poison while the other had had their entire frontside scorched, not to mention their pupils melted.
    As though feeling this wasn't enough, Leonel appeared above them, grinning savagely as his foot stomped down onto their heads repeatedly. He was a complete madman, his laughter ringing out and echoing over the sunken walls of the large crater.
    At that moment, the sound of shifting rubble caught Leonel's attention. He looked over to find Aina weakly pulling herself out from the collapsed home.
    Aina too got her fair share of treasures, so of course she wouldn't lack a defensive treasure. The reason she had been out for such a long time was because the whiplash from suffering such a heavy blow had knocked her unconscious.
    In order to match Baruke's 1.60 strength without activating her Force, she had been making use of several techniques and her battle sense, but how could she use either of those after the wererat sent her into a trance?
    "Goodбн mateбн"
    Leonel spoke in a language Aina couldn't understand. In fact, even Leonel himself didn't understand the language, he could only vaguely sense that this primitive consciousness had some good feelings toward Aina, or else he could have stopped what happened next.
    As though a man controlled by nothing but his love of fighting and his lust, Leonel pulled down his pants, revealing a rod that was quickly hardening.
    Let alone Aina, even the inner consciousness of Leonel himself could only stare blankly at what was happening. It was true that he could regain control of his body whenever he wanted, but the sudden change made all his thoughts go white.
    How would he face Aina in the future like this?
    Aina's gaze flickered from Leonel's proud face to a certain thing that was now standing at full mast. She still hadn't reacted by the time Leonel was standing before her akimbo as though waiting for her to reciprocate his actions.
    After a while, Aina seemed to realize something.
    "бн How do I wake him upбн?" She mumbled to herself. "бн I didn't expect to see that damned thing again so quicklyбн"
    Leonel's consciousness went blank again. What the hell did she mean 'again'? And what was so 'damned' and 'thing-like' about his pride and joy?
    Wait a minute, what did she mean by so quickly? Could it be that she would be alright with it if he was more patient?
    Leonel's mind wandered a bit more before he realized how ridiculous his thoughts were. There was a far more pressing concern here! How was he going to get out of this?

 Chapter 80: Monocle

    Leonel cleared his throat, taking back control of his body.
    Pretending as though nothing had happened, he turned back and walked to his pants, put them on and looked into the distance.
    "бн Nice weather we're having today, right?"
    "бн"
    'He didn't hear what I saidбн right?" Aina thought to herself.
    Aina looked around and found where her ax had landed, trying to find something to distract herself from the awkward atmosphere. But, when she went to take a step forward, she suddenly stumbled and almost fell.
    Hearing the sound of her tripping, Leonel quickly turned back and didn't hesitate to rush to her side.
    "Are you alright?"
    Leonel caught her arm, trying to make sure she stayed upright and didn't fall over.
    "бн I think I have a concussion." Aina said after a moment, bringing a hand to her forehead.
    Though she said it like this, she was already certain. Not to mention her ability, even if she hadn't awakened one, her Five Star Profession was more than enough for her to tell.
    "How about the rest of your body, is it okay?"
    "бн I'm fine."
    Leonel frowned. She was most definitely not fine.
    Taking a strike that powerful without putting up any defense would have been lethal for any normal human. It was already a miracle that she came out in one piece. A strength stat of 1.60, especially behind such a large fist, was more than enough to shatter every bone in her body. Had Baruke coordinated with the wererat and used his claws insteadбн Leonel didn't even want to think of the possibility.
    "You don't have to lie to me, we're a team right now, aren't we?" Leonel said.
    "бн We were a team in the France Zone too, but you still hid what that Force Art did to you, right?"
    Aina's glare made Leonel smile bitterly. He let go of her arm and scratched his nose, a bit of guilt welling up in his chest.
    However, this didn't change anything. Leonel could see by how gingerly she was moving that her effective stats were barely 70% of what they were meant to be. She might be able to hide her injuries from someone else, but Leonel's senses were too sharp. Even if by some miracle she didn't break any bones, she most definitely suffered from some internal bleeding.
    "Alright, alright. I was wrong. But everything is okay now, right? I even got something out of it."
    It was only now Leonel realized they never really resolved those matters. He never apologized to her and just kind of ignored the topic. It really did make him a bit of a hypocrite.
    "Is it really fine?"
    "Yes, yes." Leonel crossed a hand over his chest as though swearing an oath. "Even the scar has faded. It seems that whoever made the Force Art designed it to be used in the Third Dimension, so it lost its effects here."
    In truth, this left Leonel feeling a bit disappointed. This Force Art was a double edged sword. The duller the danger, the less benefits he would receive.
    The good news was that he could be considered to have solid fundamentals in Force Art now. The bad news was that all the Force Arts he knew, even if he drew them now, would have minimal effect at best and no effect at worst.
    This was simply the laws of the universe. A Force Art designed to be used in a Fifth Dimensional World could likely destroy Earth in a single breath. But, one designed for a Third Dimensional one would have less of an impact that an ant.
    Those fireballs Leonel created to decimate the English would barely be enough to start a campfire here.
    'Wellбн At least I can use them in Zones? Not that I'll be able to enter one any time soonбн' Leonel thought to himself.
    Shaking his head, he came to once more. When he saw how Aina was still struggling to stand, he felt a pang in his heart.
    That werewolf and wererat really got off easy.
    "Let's return as quickly as possible." Leonel said firmly. "You're in no state to continue staying in this place. And, there's no telling if they'll send another batch of them. I think they must have had a vehicle of their own to get here, we can see if we can use it to go back."
    Aina frowned at Leonel's words, but she found it hard to refute.
    "I'm sorry, I thought Yuri was exaggerating. I didn't really expect them to come and be so brazenбн"
    Leonel smiled and shook his head. "Just find a place to sit and don't move around too much. I'm sure the keys are on one of them."
    Though Leonel said this casually, his mind was still churning.
    To the Empire, characters like Aina and him were incredibly important. Yet, those six men brazenly tried to kill him. They didn't even hide their intentions.
    This meant one of a few things, or potentially a combination of them.
    The first was that Leonel had vastly overestimated the Empire's ability to monitor him. Maybe they still had technology, but not on a large enough scale to have no loopholes. In that case, the Brazinger family wouldn't be worried about their actions.
    The second was that the Brazinger Clan didn't fear the Empire to begin with. This possibility made Leonel's blood run cold.
    The third possibility was that the Brazinger family and the Empire were two halves of the same coin. It was possible that they moved forward and stepped back as one. In that case, the Empire might allow leeway to this family they didn't allow others.
    No matter what the true reason was, the two of them were in danger. Somehow, those six were able to pinpoint their location and there was no guarantee that another group wouldn't be able to do it again.
    Leonel scanned the battlefield and eventually found the vehicle he was looking for. But, instead of leaving him with relief, it left him with a headache. Unlike the natural gas jeep they rode here, this vehicle was worthy of their 25th century.
    It was a sleek shuttle that almost looked like a pod if not for its two fins. Leonel had no confidence in driving it.
    He had been able to observe the Tier 3 Officials, so he had been somewhat eager to drive the jeep. But, who was he going to observe now?
    Though Leonel was a bit hesitant, he took out the dictionary his father left him. For now, their lives were more important. If he was questioned about its existence later, there were several excuses he could come up with.
    "How do you fly this thing?" Leonel asked.
    Thankfully, by some miracle, the dictionary had an answer. However, the method by which he found an answer left his eyes burning with passion.
    Not unlike how it scanned Leonel previously, it also began to scan the shuttle. Only then did it output an answer.
    [ *Ping* Vehicle recognized as Air Shuttle Model X290. It is advised that Seed make use of autopilot feature. ]
    'It can scan things like thisбн I don't think dad would have filed in information like this, which means it analyzed and drew conclusions. It probably found the shuttle's name after scanning its operating softwareбн Does that mean that this is the Zone Analysis treasure I thought that old man didn't leave me?'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel sighed a breath of relief.
    Not even allowing Aina to resist, he picked up his things and swept her into his arms after finding the shuttle key on the wererat's body.
    He seemed to be rushing without cause, but in a hidden place on Earth, an event was playing out that proved his actions to be the most logical.
    A young man sat before several monitors with a monocle over his left eye. Actually, one would be hard pressed to call it a monocle at all. It had eight lenses that seemed to hover in space in a circular formation. Countless bits of information flew by, causing his left eye to flicker from time to time. Yet, his right remained trained on the monitors before him.
    'The life signatures of rat 006 flatlined as wellбн'
    The young man's eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 81: Spirit

    Leonel gazed out of the shuttle windows with a serious expression. Even though they were now traveling several times faster than they had been in the jeep, the uneasy feeling in his heart refused to let up.
    The shuttle was large and spacious. After all, it had carried six men to this place. Thanks to this, Aina was able to lie in the back, trying to get a grip on her injuries.
    As for Leonel, he sat at the front, his wooden spear laying across his lap. However, the current spear was unlike it had been before.
    Though it had been crude already, the current primitive spear was on the verge of collapse. It was cracked in many places and seemed it would splinter under the tiniest bit of force.
    Leonel had a vague feeling that the moment the spear broke, he wouldn't be able to enter that state againбн
    'I need to remain calm. Panicking isn't going to help me.'
    "Is there a GPS signal coming from this shuttle? If so, how do I turn it off?" Leonel asked.
    He didn't know much about shuttles or cars, but what he did know was that if he could have this shuttle autopilot to a destination, it meant it had a GPS of some sort. In that case, it might very well be communicating with a larger hub. If that larger hub sent information about their whereabouts, it would only bring them more trouble.
    Though the shuttle was far faster than the jeep, it would still take an estimated one hour to make it back to the Fort. That was long enough for a lot of things to happen.
    [ *Ping* Yes. With Seed's current abilities, the only way to disengage this signal is by disassembling the shuttle. ]
    Leonel felt a headache coming along. Disassemble such a high level shuttle? He wasn't an Engineering Professional. Plus, if he did, wouldn't that mean he would have to stop the shuttle? That option was even worse.
    'There's no other option.' Leonel's jaw clenched, his gaze narrowing. 'I've overestimated myself too much, compared to Aina, my combat sense is too poor. Without this spear, I would be finished. But, not only is it going to break soon, but my spirit still hasn't recovered from the first time, so I can't enter and take another spearбн There's not even a guarantee that the next spear will be as useful as this oneбн'
    Leonel's brows became locked in a furrow.
    If it wasn't for his depleted spirit, even if the wererat made eye contact with him, he wouldn't have lost consciousness like that бк though it helped him in the end.
    His depleted spirit also made him realize another thing: he was entirely reliant on his ability.
    With his spirit fatigued, his ability to calculate and make plans had taken a massive dip. With that, his combat prowess took an ever deeper dip downward. In addition, his coordination and reflexes suffered, while his Internal Sight had been limitedбн
    'I can't fix all of these problems in a short time.'
    "Is there any way for me to recover my spirit quickly?" Leonel asked.
    This was his only chance. He had to allow his ability to regain its peak performance as quickly as possible. Then, he could make use of Dream World to dissect the things he learned from that primitive consciousness as quickly as possible. Even if they were headed toward the Fort at blazing speed now, he had no confidence in making it in time.
    Andбн he had a sinking feeling that even if they did, it wouldn't matter.
    [ *Ping* It has been deduced that Seed is practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] and has formed a One Star Cleansed Body. Optimal route to recovery is to circulate [Dimensional Cleanse]. ]
    Leonel's expression became weird.
    "[Dimensional Cleanse] is a Force technique. It shouldn't affect spirit. Why is this the optimal route?"
    Circulating [Dimensional Cleanse] might as well be like putting up a beacon that cried out "I'm here, come get me now!". Leonel couldn't blindly follow the dictionary if this was really its plan, or else they would die long before they had a chance.
    Leonel hadn't seen all of the abilities of the world yet. But, he didn't dare to assume that there was no ability capable of knocking them out of the sky. As such, he didn't dare circulate his Force so brazenly.
    Unlike Baruke, he had formed three Force Nodes. In addition, his Nodes were far larger than the norm. If he really did this, let alone the nine remaining A-grade Invalids of this Perimeter 7, Invalids from other Perimeters would likely charge here at their fastest possible speed.
    [ *Ping* The term 'spirit' is unrecognized. By context, it is likely that Seed is referring to Internal Sight also known by some as Soul Force. Calculating responseбн ]
    If it wasn't for the situation, Leonel might have blushed. He almost forgot that 'spirit' was just a term he randomly made up for the sake of measuring the comprehensive stats of his enemies.
    [ *Ping* Responding to Seed, [Dimensional Cleanse] is indeed a Force technique. The ability to recover Soul Force is a product of the One Star Cleansed Constitution. The Star, located in the Ethereal Glabella, has the effect of explosively increasing 'spirit' and clearing the mind. ]
    Hearing these words, Leonel finally understood. It wasn't Force impacting his spirit, but rather a product of Force, the Star, that did.
    Leonel's lips pursed into a thin line. It seemed he would have to take some risks.
    With a deep breath, his eyes focused once more, a familiar pressure billowing from his body. A fiery light hid behind his pale green eyes, growing in strength with each passing second.
    At that moment, Invalids for several miles all looked in a single direction.
    Like a typhoon, Force spun into a cyclone and charged toward Leonel's body. Those who could sense Force felt as though the world was quaking. As for those who hadn't awakened their Internal Sightбн an unease crept into their hearts.
    To them, a subtle sense of inferiority latched onto their souls.
    The shuttle creaked and groaned. It seemed the Force was badly influencing its internals. But, Leonel pretended as though he didn't notice its bobbing and swaying in the air.
    He felt as though someone had locked their sights onto him, as though there was something lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounceбн A dangerous warning far greater than the wererat was blaring in his mind.

 Chapter 82: Simulation

    [Bonus chapter for 600 powerstones. Next at 900 :) ]
    For the first time, Leonel felt the might of his One Star Cleansed Constitution.
    According to the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse], just the act of forming his First Star was enough for him to be ranked in the top 1% of talent. Of course, 1%, even on Earth, constituted tens of millions of people before the Metamorphosis began, let alone the fact that the creator was likely referring to a multiverse of people. However, this still meant that out of a hundred people, Leonel would be the very best amongst them.
    Still, though Leonel had read the words of the creator, he had thought it was an exaggeration. What was so difficult about forming three Force Nodes and forming the First Star? To him, it was as easy as breathing. So, he had thought that that narcissistic creator who had been bragging about his own technique was just exaggerating.
    But, Leonel couldn't have been more wrong.
    What he didn't know was that the frame of reference the creator used wasn't a mere Third Dimensional world evolving into the Fourth like Earth at all. Even the dictionary Leonel's father left recognized the technique as exceptionally high grade. The only reason Leonel could even see a piece of it like this is because the part in his hands was the mere first part of many, as for the later parts, he was nowhere near qualified to trade for them.
    What Leonel needed to understand was that forming the First Star wasn't just about creating three Force Nodes. This was simply a minimum requirement. There were many who formed even all nine Fundamental Nodes while failing to form even one Star!
    All of this led to Leonel vastly underestimating himself. Not only was [Dimensional Cleanse] a great Force cultivation technique, it was practically the perfect technique for him.
    Leonel found that when he circulated [Dimensional Cleanse] in full force, his mind was clearer than it ever had been before.
    His Internal Sight blossomed and he could vaguely feel that he had entered a new world. This world was somehow both less material than Earth, but more material than his Dream World. It was an in between kind of space that left him feeling light headed but comfortable at the same time.
    All sorts of conflicting sensory feedback assaulted his mind. He felt weightless, but heavy, that the space was infinite in size, yet as small as a pebble, like up was down and down was up.
    The only thing that seemed to make sense was a singular floating star above his head. Like an anchor, it silently pulsed in the sky, radiating a pure white light as it slowly revolved. It was only when Leonel focused on it that everything in his mind grew calm once more.
    'Thisбн is the Ethereal Glabella the dictionary spoke of?'
    Leonel felt a subtle control over the Star. The slower it rotated, the weaker the streams of Force entering him would become. The faster he egged it on, the thicker the invisible lines of Force would become.
    A portion of the Force would enter his body and nourish him, subtly increasing his stats. Another portion would nourish the star itself, causing it to pulse. Every pulse would refresh his mind, recovering his spirit several times faster than normal.
    Under normal conditions, it would take about three hours for Leonel to recover his spirit if he took a nap. If he didn't and simply let it recover in his wakeful state, it would take six. But now he felt just half an hour was enough!
    If that was the case, what would the result be when he formed his Second Star? Or the penultimate Third? Even if the effect was only additive, the benefits would be unimaginable.
    A large part of the reason it took him almost 24 hours to Dream Sculpt Joan's polearm was precisely due to lack of spirit. But nowбн
    'Thirty minutes is still not fast enoughбн' Leonel took a deep breath. 'бн I can't wait for it to finish, I need to try and use the incoming replenishment at the same time.'
    Leonel's thoughts were impossibly immature. If others knew that he was attempting to circulate a Force technique while distracted, their only conclusion would be that he was courting death.
    In truth, Leonel wasn't so naive. He knew that Force and that manipulation of it was dangerous. He learned as much studying [Call of the Wind]. However, the uncomfortable feeling in his heart only grew greater and greater, it was like hundreds of tiny ants gnawing at his heart.
    No matter what he tried, he simply couldn't calm down.
    Leonel could vaguely feel that this was the instinct of the primitive man. He could smell the danger lurking with a nose refined over decades in the jungle. Since he was so certain it was coming, Leonel knew it couldn't have been baseless.
    'Dream World.'
    Leonel stretched his ability's computation prowess to its limits, madly accepting the Force that poured into his body.
    One half of his mind remained in the Ethereal Glabella while the other entered a blank white space that looked like an insane asylum ward. Leonel had no choice but to keep the surroundings as bland as possible, he couldn't spare thoughts toward anything superficial.
    He began to run simulations. No, it was more accurate to say that he was replaying every action the primitive consciousness took while it had control of his body. Every step, every strike, every twitch of the muscle.
    He ran the simulation again and again as though trying to sear it into his mind.
    Sweat poured from his forehead, but he didn't spare the effort to wipe it away.
    Time dilated.
    One could think far faster than they could act. Leonel's simulations broke what would have been normal pacing under his agitation. The movements of his Dream World avatar grew quicker and quicker, but since it all occurred in Leonel's mind, it felt to him that nothing had changed.
    Aina laid behind Leonel, watching his back slowly drown in sweat. Though she knew what he was doing was dangerous, she didn't stop him. Instead, she was focused on her own recovery.
    'One isn't enoughбн' Leonel's jaw clenched tighter.
    He felt that at this speed, it would take him three days to fully digest the combat ability of the primitive consciousness and a full week before he could translate it to use in his true body. However, he didn't have this kind of time, he really didn't.
    If other owners of the Spear Domain ring knew of this, they would definitely faint from shock. Let alone completing such a task in a week, many past owners of the ring never succeeded in fully digesting a 'Spear Consciousness', at least not on their first try. And, even when they did succeed, it was only with the spears they had the highest compatibilities with and only after several months and even years.
    Not only was this primitive consciousness the polar opposite of Leonel, he even said he could fully digest its insights in just three days! It was completely ridiculous.
    It could only be said that Leonel's ability was perfectly suited for Spear Domain. So perfectly suited it was enough to make others green with envy.
    Like a madman, Leonel's Dream World suddenly gained two shadows.
    He stripped the avatars bare of everything. They wore no clothes, they wore no expressions, in fact, they had no faces at all! Leonel stripped them of everything that would waste his computation ability, even taking their Force Nodes away.
    The fact the man was so primitive was a blessing in disguise for Leonel. Because of this, everything about his fighting capability was firmly rooted in the Third Dimension, making it much easier for Leonel to simulate his fighting style.
    The bad news was that this meant the simulations didn't teach Leonel how to make the best use of his Force, but Leonel couldn't afford to be picky anymore.
    'Two isn't enough!'
    A third shadow appeared. This one was even less detailed than the first two. At best, it could only be considered a stick figure. Without muscles, its simulation was even less accurate. But Leonel threw everything he had at the wall, burning his limits to the very edge of what they were capable of.
    Blood dripped from his nose and his face paled, but his expression was without change. He had returned to the Leonel on the football field, the Leonel taking a pop quiz, the Leonel who would take even the simplest of tasks with the utmost seriousness.
    It was at that moment that it happened.
    SSSSKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE
    The sound of sharp, whistling wind and the screech of a beast resounded through the skies.
    A massive tentacle stretched up taller than even the wreckage of skyscrapers and slammed down with all its might onto the silver shuttle.

 Chapter 83: Tentacles

    Leonel's eyes flashed open.
    His reaction was impossibly quick. With swift movements, he darted to the back of the shuttle, swooped Aina up, and jumped from the opposing door.
    Their free fall would have led to the deaths of even evolved humans who had awakened their abilities. After all, the shuttle had a maximum elevation of 20 meters from the ground. But, Leonel was prepared.
    "Aina, your rope."
    Even as the fell from the skies, Leonel's gaze held a hidden sharpness. Falling from a tall height? That was what he feared the least. How many times had he done this exact same thing just on a single journey to school?
    With a heavy boom, Leonel landed on a fallen building. Due to his preparedness, the fall was barely five meters.
    At that time, the tentacle viciously whipped against the shuttle, crumbling an entire side of it with unstoppable momentum.
    Leonel's pupils constricted.
    As though a ball accepting the swing of a bat, the shuttle deformed and rocketed away at a speed almost faster than its forward momentum.
    Leonel felt his teeth getting itchy. What the hell kind of power is this? If he assumed the shuttle weighed a few tons, that was still a vast underestimation. If that was taken into account with its forward impetusбн Just how much strength did it take to make it deviate like that?
    Luckily, the forward momentum wasn't entirely disrupted. The shuttle spun and flew into the distance, missing Leonel and Aina by a large measure.
    It was only now that Leonel got a good glance at just what had attacked them.
    The tentacle was massive. Just the portion Leonel could see was over 20 meters in length. The rest of it was hidden behind the building it had attacked from the back of. However, this alone was enough to make Leonel's heart quake.
    A strong fishy smell came from it, marring the air with a combination of a salty sea smell and a disgusting, rotting odor. A sticky, viscous liquid dripped, hitting the ground in intermittent intervals.
    Every inch of the bottom of the tentacle was filled with suction cups. They were each more than double or even triple the size of Leonel's head. They all vibrated in a rhythm that made it seem like they were breathing. And, judging by the destruction they caused to the shuttleбн they definitely weren't as soft as they seemed either.
    As though on cue, the shuttle landed heavily on the ground. The resulting explosion was deafening. Even the buildings beneath Leonel's feet shifted as though they might collapse into a further heap once again.
    A ring of hot air blasted into Leonel, making him feel as though his skin would be burnt to a crisp at any moment.
    It was then that Aina finally handed him the rope he asked for, the very same rope they had made use of to climb the castle walls in Paris. Without hesitation, he swung her to his back, tying her firmly to him with an unquestionable aura emanating from him.
    At his current physical level, Leonel's body was far stronger than a horses. In that case, since a horse could carry one and even two passengers at times, how could Aina's petite figure do anything to stop him anymore? In fact, he only barely felt the weight of her family Heirloom that was now strapped to her own back.
    'It hasn't launched a follow up attack in quick succession. It's likely that it still believes we're in the shuttle, which also means that its vision is either poor or obscured бк let's assume the second to be safe.
    'No matter what the answer, it ultimately means that it locked onto us using my Force as a guide. Which means its likely uncertain of our exact location now that I've stopped circulating [Dimensional Cleanse].'
    Leonel's thoughts revolved madly. Though he had used his spirit as quickly as it formed just now, he still managed to recover a bit бк about 40%. He now knew that the recovery of spirit wasn't uniform. He could recover it much quicker when he was fatigued, but the recovery became slower after 50%, and even slower above 80%.
    Thankfully, this worked in his favor. As long as his spirit wasn't below 20% recovery, he wouldn't feel lethargic and his ability could work without shackles.
    Leonel broke out into a run after handing the Metal Spirit to Aina to hold. At the moment, the only things in his hands were the primitive spear and the dented shield on his left arm.
    The sound of breaking rumbling and collapsing buildings sounded behind Leonel. He didn't need to look back to know that whatever monster that thing was had definitely knocked the building in its way over to get to the shuttle it had knocked down from the skies.
    Leonel didn't bother to look over his shoulder. Even if he did, with Aina's body and her ax in his way, he wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.
    SSSKKKKRRRRREEEEEE
    Leonel clenched his jaw tightly, leaping from building remnant to building remnant. He could feel the muscles in his body madly heating up, but he had no mind to pay to them. He focused entirely on increasing his efficiency, on tapping into the mind of the primitive man and controlling his body as he had controlled his.
    He knew that that thing's cry was due to finding out that its prey had escaped. If he delayed by looking back at itбн he would only be courting death.
    'Dammit, there are other Invalids hereбн'
    Leonel's gaze flashed, finding an Invalid with a massive upper body blocking his path forward. Its legs were far too small in proportion to its figure, making it look like a human gorilla. But, Leonel didn't have the mind to laugh because he could sense the incredible power radiating in those massive forearms and fists.
    He spared a glance toward his spear and felt a pang in his heart. It looked like it would only survive a few more exchanges. He didn't want to waste them on an A-grade Invalid. To others, an A-grade Invalid already meant death. But to him, the current situation slotted them in as canon fodder.
    "Use my ax." Aina suddenly said.
    Leonel agreed to the suggestion without hesitation. He put the primitive spear away into his spatial bracelet, accepting the ax Aina handed to him.
    A blazing aura erupted from Leonel. Though he didn't think much of it, Aina's eyes widened.
    'I thought I would have to suppress it so that he could use it freely. Butбн'
    Though the werewolf seemed to have been using Aina's ax without issue, this wasn't the case. In fact, the ax was more than ten times heavier in his hands than it was in Aina's. In addition, it wouldn't smoothly accept his Force either, or why else would Aina defeat him so easily without employing her own Force and even while being bare handed?
    However, the Brazinger Clan's Heirloom didn't resist Leonel in the slightest.
    There were only two explanations. Either it trusted Leonel unconditionally or it had accepted him as its inheritor just like it had Aina. The second could be thrown out, which meant that it was more definitely the former.
    And since that was the case, there was only one explanation: it meant that she trusted him unconditionally.
    Aina couldn't help but blush when her thoughts reached this point.
    The fibers of Leonel's muscles vibrated as one. His expression remained calm, almost cold. He was completely unlike the primitive man who loved battle. To Leonel, there was nothing but objective calculation.
    The A-grade Invalid roared, wildly beating its chest before raising its fists high in the air and smashing toward Leonel.
    Leonel didn't even blink.
    As though a carbon copy of the primitive man, his hips flexed, his thighs bulged, and his toes seemed as though they might rip out from his treasure shoes at any moment. He held onto the ax with both hands, exerting all his might.
    BANG!
    A small circle of air was left where Leonel's feet were last. He shot forward explosively, appearing behind the A-grade Invalid in less than the blink of an eye.
    His breathing was already ragged as though that move had taken everything out of him, but the head of the Invalid flew into the air, leaving its roar swaying in the wind.
    Leonel didn't even look back. He broke out into a sprint. As long as he could leave this jungle of buildings, he could pull out his bike. By then, his speed would increase by 50% and he would have a better chance at escaping the range of that ridiculous beast.
    But it seemed that nothing in his life would go the easy way.
    SSSKKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEE
    BANG! BANG!
    Leonel didn't turn back, but he could sense what happened with his Internal Sight.
    A tentacle stretched into the skies and whipped downward toward the ground.
    Its suction cups bulged and became like dozens of obscenely powerful springs. They rebounded off the ground, launching the creature into the air.
    The sky seemed to go dark. A massive shadow covered the land, making Leonel feel as though the world had descended into darkness.
    Finally, he couldn't hold back anymore and looked back. Without Aina's ax in the way, his field of vision was much wider. And, what he saw sent shivers down his spine.
    It was massive. An enormous eight tentacled beast almost 50 meters from one tip of a tentacle to another.
    Andбн it was descending from the skies and falling down toward him.

 Chapter 84: Megaleledonidae

    [... I don't even want to know how you guys hit 900 powerstones so quickly...]
    "бн Holy shit."
    These were the only words Leonel could say. He had never seen such a scene in his lifetime. The sight was so shocking that he didn't even have the mind to pay attention to the stomach churning scent.
    In that moment, the world seemed to slow to a crawl. Leonel's pupils flickered continuously, his mind running several calculations at once.
    A split second later, he dropped into a low squat, jumping almost five meters into the air.
    If someone was watching this scene, they would think he had lost his mind. Such a jumping height was indeed impressive in comparison to a normal human. More than impressive, in fact. It was simply inhuman.
    However, it did him absolutely no good. What was five meters to a monster so large? Not to mention the factбн Leonel was jumping right toward it!
    The resolution in Leonel's eyes didn't fade. Just when his body was about to lose its upward momentum, the sole of his right foot erupted with a bright green light, causing a square platform of just over a foot in length to appear.
    Leonel's thigh bulged as small measures of Force erupted from his leg, sending him another over ten meters into the air.
    His pupils constricted.
    'I miscalculated. I didn't account for the fact these platforms could also increase my leaping ability. I'll reach that point 0.2 seconds faster than I calculated, but I'll also be able to save a platform jump.'
    Leonel's gaze carried a steely coldness, a hidden blazing green light crouching behind like a lurking beast.
    His body soared through a gap in the beast's tentacles, appearing above its falling form in a flash.
    As expected, the creature hadn't reacted to him until it was too late. This was exactly why he hadn't used his Force for his first jump. This way, the creature wouldn't be able to lock onto him too soon.
    However, what Leonel couldn't have imagined was that the moment he appeared 'above' the creature, he would be faced with a massive eye the size of his body, gazing at him with murderous intent.
    One figure rising, the other descending.
    For a moment, it seemed that time had stopped. A cold sweat matted Leonel's back. He felt that if this creature had a mental attack like the wereratбн he really wouldn't be able to resist it this time.
    BOOM! SKKKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE
    The beast landed on the ground, immediately launching several tentacles toward Leonel who was above its bulbous head.
    Many years after this, Leonel would still cry tears about this battle. Even after so much time passed, he wouldn't know how he got so unlucky to have an octopus attack him on land.
    That massive round head, those weird S-shaped eyes, those tentaclesбн After seeing the top of its body, it was undeniable.
    Now, he was certain that this octopus's vision was only obscured before. He had taken a marine biology class in the past only because Aina took it. They had vision sharper than even humans. And, who knew what kind of mutations had appeared afterward. This creature's vision might very well be even better than the norm.
    Leonel didn't have time to think anymore about it. He had thought of blinding it, but he completely gave up on the idea. Not only was it too dangerous, but it might not even be useful.
    Normal octopuses had complex sensors on their tentacle suction cups. It was appropriate to assume that the senses of this octopus had evolved, or how else could it have accurately swatted a shuttle moving at 300 kilometers an hour with a single tentacle all while its vision was obscured? And, how else had it locked onto him again despite how far he had run away without activating his Force?
    At that point, Leonel felt that he was incredibly lucky he had thought ahead enough to not use his Force on his initial jump.
    'The tentacles of normal octopuses can touch and smell. These evolved tentacles can likely also sense Force. In that case...'
    Leonel's left shoes glowed a bright green light before he leaped with all his might to the right.
    His instantaneous speed was blinding. He left streaks in the air, barely managing to leap over the tentacle that was sweeping toward him. He had already calculated the longest reach of the octopus after it attacked the shuttle. He wouldn't forget such an important tidbit at such a time.
    Leonel landed on the top of a dilapidated building, his feet sliding across its roof.
    '58 second cool down on the right. We were ten minutes away from the Fort according to the shuttle. That's 50 kilometers. There's no way I can cross such a distance with this thing hounding me. It's destructive capability is too great and it isn't even hampered by speed with that insane jumping ability. Its agility is also covered thanks to its eight tentaclesбн
    'бн I need to kill it.'
    Leonel's jaw clenched as he jumped from the building without hesitation.
    SSSKKKRRRREEEEEEE
    The building collapsed. Leonel had hardly leapt from it when the octopus flattened it to the ground. However, even it could not imagine that Leonel would actually jump back down toward it.
    Leonel knew that running would put him at a disadvantage. His best chance to run was right after the shuttle had been destroyed when this thing had yet to lock onto him. But, who knew it would find him again so quickly?
    If he tried to run now, he would fall victim to that jumping attack again. If he was unlucky enough to get caught before the cool down of his shoes ended, he would be finished.
    This wasn't even the worst possibility. With how monstrous this thing was, knocking down buildings like they were houses of cards, Leonel just might get flattened to death just by its attempts at chasing him.
    In that case, his best choice was to stay close to it.
    "Can you scan this thing and tell me its power, abilities and weakness?" Leonel yelled as he fell from the top of the building toward the octopus.
    He was shooting a shot in the dark. But, if this thing could scan a shuttle it didn't have in its database, and even potentially scan Zones, maybe it could do this tooбн?
    Finally, it seemed someone was smiling down upon Leonel.
    [ *Ping* Evolved marine life form detected. ]
    [Kingdom: Animalia]
    [Phylum: Mollusca]
    [Class: Cephalopoda]
    [Order: Octopoda]
    [Superfamily: Octopodidae ]
    [Family: Megaleledonidae]
    [State: Evolved]
    [ Abilities: бн *Ping* Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Reinforced Suction Cups: Can alternate between softness and hardness. Can compress and explode with force, multiplying power several times. ]
    [ Ultra Sensitive Tentacles: Has gained high grade Force talent. Can absorb Force through its numerous limbs. Sense similar to Internal Sight maturing from tentacles. Still in its infancy stages. ]
    [ Weakness: Head ]
    [ Evaluating powerбн *Ping* ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Peak Tier 7 Black ]
    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, Aina's ax being tightly held by his two hands.
    He no longer held back, his Force erupting. The space around him became like a billowing hurricane, ripping the wind around him apart.
    His hair danced, the hidden green light in his eyes blazing to life.
    This damned octopus was actually an S-grade monster. But that was fine.
    Shackles that usually held Leonel back were released in full force. He might foolishly hesitate against a human. But, against a beastбн he had no qualms.
    This beast might be a monster. But he was one too.
    [Leonel Morales (Force Amplified)]
    [Strength: 1.30; Speed: 1.30 ; Agility: 1.30; Coordination: 1.70; Stamina: 1.50 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 1.70; Spirit: 1.30; Force: 0.40]

 Chapter 85: Monster

    Force howled around Leonel's body. A towering aura surged from him, causing the octopus to hesitate. Its tentacles continuously twitched as though sensing something more monstrous than itself was standing before it.
    From its vantage point, it could barely see Leonel. Its eyes were too high and Leonel was too short. Such a bug should have been all too easy to kill. So, why was it feeling like this?
    Aina laid on Leonel's back, her breathing incredibly steady. Though every time Leonel made a sudden movement, she would feel a jolting pain rampage across her body, she hadn't had the slightest change in expression, nor had she made the slightest sound.
    But now, she was surprised once more. This form of intimidation was so potent.
    'бн Howeverбн He isn't yet strong enough to boast such an auraбн After a while, the beast will just be more infuriatedбн'
    SSSSSSKKKRRRREEEEEEEEEEE
    Aina had hardly finished her thoughts when the roars of the octopus shook the surroundings once more.
    The two tentacles closest to Leonel slammed toward him. Due to the size of the octopus, Leonel could only stand between the two of them.
    "Pour your Force into the ax." Aina quickly said. "It has one main ability that can be used now, you've seen it before."
    Leonel hadn't needed Aina to tell him this. He was already prepared.
    His Force surged, causing the red glow of the battle ax to grow several times. An illusory blade extended from the ax's edge, expanding the size of the weapon by several fold.
    "Ha!"
    A roar left Leonel's lips.
    His body flexed as one. His Force was wild, but his muscles churned in a controlled rage as he swung down with all his might.
    The extended blade pierced into the right tentacle by several meters, but failed to make it all the way through.
    At that time, the mournful howl of the octopus was followed by the strike of its second tentacle which lashed against Leonel's back.
    There was nothing in this world that would have allowed Leonel to let such a thing happen. After all, Aina was on his back and she was already injured. How could she suffer such a strike?
    The moment he realized he didn't have the strength to sever the tentacle in one strike, he immediately executed his secondary plan.
    As though the massive ax was the hook of a rock climber, he pulled down hard, making use of the octopus's tough skin as an anchor to launch himself up and above the second strike.
    Leonel landed on the top of the half severed tentacle, his steps faltering. He hadn't accounted for just how slippery the skin of the octopus would be and his feet were almost swept out from beneath him.
    BANG!
    The second tentacle landed on the first, having failed to squash Leonel between them like pincers. But, the impact caused Leonel, who had just barely regained his footing, to falter once more. And this time, he couldn't regain it in time.
    'Dammit!'
    Leonel fell to the side, the enraged and pained roars of the octopus playing as the backdrop to his clown show.
    Seeing that Leonel was now within striking range of its third tentacle, the maddened beast didn't hesitate to swing toward Leonel's falling figure.
    Leonel's mind spun hard and his gaze flashed.
    'Since it's like this, don't blame me for taking advantage!'
    Staying on top of its tentacle was too dangerous, even if it was a tentacle that he had just severely injured. If this beast grit its way through the pain, launching Leonel into the air with a casual flick would basically guarantee his death.
    Leonel knew how risky this would be before he did it, which is why he tested to see if he could sever a tentacle first. After he was forced to take such a risk, he wanted to run toward the octopus's head as quickly as possible. After all, even though this monster was large, it was still only 50 meters from edge to edge, and the distance from one tip of the tentacle to its head was barely 20 meters. In that case, Leonel could still cover the distance in time.
    But, who knew this damned thing would be so slippery even to the point where he, who boasted maybe the highest coordination stat on Earth, stumbled around like a newborn calf?
    It should have been hopeless, he should have been finished. But, Leonel's gaze was burning as bright as two torches in the depths of the night.
    Without hesitation, Leonel raised the ax once more, slicing into the already injured tentacle he was falling from without hesitation.
    In one swift motion, he stopped his falling and used the ax as a hook once more, launching him forward at blinding speeds.
    Leonel was a madman. As though the slippery liquid coating the octopus was a surfboard and its body was an ocean, he slid across it, leaving afterimages in his wake.
    The octopus's tentacle missed, lashing against its own injured limb once again.
    It couldn't grasp how it could accurately knock a ship flying in the air at 300 kilometers an hour, yet couldn't swat this annoying fly to death. It had yet to evolve to the point of understanding that hitting something going in a straight line with a predestined path was far easier than hitting something which adapted to the situation like a feather drifting in the wind.
    However, Leonel still had a price to pay. He needed speed. He practically thirsted for it.
    He was using his Force to the limits, not to mention the fact his body was already reaching its limits. He couldn't afford to stay here any longer. Who knew if there was another monster like this lumbering toward him now?
    But, most importantly, he needed to glide across the tentacle as quickly as possible. Soбн He left Aina's ax embedded into this thing's skin.
    Leonel, like a streaking flash, careened toward the octopus's head. However, he wasn't as weaponless as one would expect. Instead, a primitive spear had appeared in his hand, his aura rising and billowing in the air.
    His blood boiled, a seething excitement bubbling forth from its depths. But, Leonel couldn't afford to let the primitive consciousness possess him this time. Right nowбн Only he could do this.
    The octopus felt the looming danger. It tried to lift its injured tentacle to launch Leonel away, but by the time it did, Leonel was already near the end of it. Soбн Though Leonel was sent flyingбн It was right toward the center of its head!
    To the octopus, Leonel was like a god of death descending from the skies. The murderous intent was enough to make the beast freeze. For a moment, it really couldn't tell which of them was meant to be the true monster.
    In its panic, the octopus launched everything it had at Leonel, not minding its head as all eight of its tentacles bent backward and toward the demon in the skies headed for it.
    The first time Leonel used [Call of the Wind] with his spear, he had only formed one Force Node. The last time he used it, the Force Art on his hand was restricting how much Force he could use.
    But nowбн he had no such restrictions.
    The spear in his hand vibrated wildly, but his hand was like a steel clamp, holding it down as the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
    '[Call of the Wind]!'
    The wind around Leonel's spear tip grew so wild that it could be seen with the naked eye, a violent cyclone concentrated into a single point.
    The moment Leonel pierced forward, his primitive spear burst into a rain of shrapnel. But, the attack stayed true, tearing through the air toward the octopus's head.
    SSSSSSKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE
    The world was silent for a moment. It seemed as though Leonel's final strike had done nothing.
    However, an instant later, the center of the octopus's head began to twist. Then, its tough skin ruptured, following the twisting pattern and ripping itself apart.
    The twisting tunneled through, its speed picking up. At first, everything seemed to slow to a crawl, but in the next moment, it accelerated. It seemed to take several seconds for the first layer of skin to be pierced, but in the blink of an eye, a torrent of wind had exited from the back of the octopus's head.
    A mournful cry left the massive monster, the last of its tentacles lashing toward Leonel as a final, desperate plea.
    In the air, Leonel had no way to dodge. The cool down on his shoes still hadn't ended. And, even if it had, he wasn't sure he had any Force left to activate them. He had put everything he had into that last strike.
    This wasn't the most important point either. Even if his chain necklace could save him from dying, what about Aina who was strapped to his back?
    Leonel's fighting intent blazed as he fell from the skies, the last bits of his strength blooming forth.

 Chapter 86: Blue

    Leonel really did feel like an unlucky star was following him around everywhere.
    The reason he dared to jump into the skies like this despite knowing the octopus might make an all out last assault was because he was hoping that it would disappear after it died just like Invalids. In that case, there would be nothing to worry about.
    But, who could have guessed that not only would it not disappear, but the final momentum of its dying embers of life were enough to threaten him to this extent?
    Even though the tentacles had lost the power backing them, thus making them far weaker than when the creature was alive, they were still falling toward Leonel and Aina. Considering the size of the octopus, Leonel didn't even want to calculate the weight each of those tentacles carried, or else he might pass out in shock before he even had a chance to resist.
    Suddenly, Aina's voice called out.
    "Catch the ax!"
    Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned quickly to find that the ax he had left embedded within the octopus's limb had pulled itself free and was now flying toward them.
    Leonel understood Aina's intention immediately. If an ax that heavy soared toward them fast enough, it would be able to knock them off the path of trajectory the tentacles were aimed toward!
    Leonel twisted his body in the air, catching the flying ax with both hands.
    "Oofбн"
    Though Leonel felt his arms go numb as a strong force rammed into him, he couldn't have been more happy. This was enough!
    Their direction was forcefully altered, sending them flying through a gap in the octopus's limbs and crashing toward the remains of a collapsed building.
    Leonel braced himself, circulating the last dregs of his Force into his legs and landing heavily.
    Thunderous booms sounded as the octopus finally collapsed. That battle hadn't lasted for even a minute, but Leonel felt completely spent.
    'Weirdбн' Leonel frowned. 'бн Why aren't there any Invalids here yet?'
    Before Leonel could ask his father's dictionary to see if it had an answer, he suddenly felt his spatial bracelet activate on its own.
    The Segmented Cube flew out, its numerous pieces breaking apart and enveloping the octopus's corpse before forming back into the size of Leonel's palm once again.
    Leonel blinked in astonishment. 'This thing seems to have intelligence of its own? How else do you explain this?'
    Though Leonel wanted to scrutinize the cube more, he didn't have the luxury. After putting it away, he broke out into another sprint.
    Without a spear, it would be difficult for him to use [Call of the Wind] again. Force techniques were too dangerous so he had learned to not modify them on a whim. It was impossible for him to change it into a technique suitable for axes.
    Plus, even if he couldбн What Force would he do it with?
    "Why are there no Invalids here?" Leonel asked the dictionary which now lay in his palm.
    [ *Ping* Calculatingбн The most likely cause is related to the nature of Invalids. Invalids are creatures of instinct whose sole aim is to devour and evolve. However, they can only devour creatures of their species. Powerful creatures of a differing species are great deterrences to them as they are sources of danger without profit. ]
    Hearing this, Leonel skidded to a stop. That A-grade Invalid only appeared after he was a distance away from the octopus now that he thought about it. It was just that the octopus could cover obscene distances with that leaping ability of its.
    But, if there was a species limitation, then why would this octopus come after him so fervently?
    'Waitбн This octopus didn't disappear, so it's unlikely to be an Invalid. There must be another reason it saw me as a potential meal, and that reason may very well be related to why the Segmented Cube acted on its ownбн Forget it, now isn't the time to think about this. I need to focus on getting back to the Fort.'
    "Quickly, how do Invalids differentiate between members of their species and those that are not?"
    Leonel realized that this likely meant that not all Invalids were humans, but he didn't have time to ponder on this.
    [ *Ping* Responding to Seed, it depends. Low level Invalids mostly rely on olfactory senses. High level Invalids have many more options, too variable to list. ]
    Leonel's gaze shone. The place he had skidded to a stop by was exactly the place he had sliced into the octopus's tentacle. There just so happened to be ghastly blue blood here.
    Gritting his teeth, he made a decision.
    "Sorry about this, Aina."
    **
    A day and a half later, in the depths of the night, the patrol unit of Royal Blue Fort felt as though they were walking on eggshells.
    In recent days, the number of Invalids had taken a sharp tick upward. According to the superiors, something big had happened in Perimeter 7, causing the first instances of Invalid Tides to form.
    The good news was that their target wasn't the Fort, but the residual effects had made what once was a fairly easy job to gain Ascension Points to become a life and death struggle.
    The Head Patrol Guard during this round was a certain Tier 2 Officer Doran. He could only curse his bad luck. Had this happened just a day later, he would have been able to apply to enter an F-grade Zone and dodge all of this nonsense.
    But now, the superiors didn't want to risk having to train inexperienced patrol units at such a dangerous time, so he could only swallow his grievances and continue on with his patrol job. At least he had gotten off better than those Tier 3 Officers who had Perimeters to patrol.
    'Hmphбн That's what you all get for looking down on meбн'
    Realizing that others had it worse than him seemed to make Doran feel much better.
    He swept a gaze from the top of the Fort walls. He had completed this action so many times already that he had lost count. He had expected this time to be no different from the others, but he suddenly froze this time around.
    Without hesitation, he pulled out a telescope, extending it and looking through. With the restrictions on technology, he could only use such a primitive tool. But, that didn't change its effectiveness.
    Doran blinked. What he saw shocked him.
    There were two humans, but covered in some weird, cracking dark blue substance. One of them seemed to be carrying the other, but their states could only be described as sorry.
    The young man carrying the young woman dragged a massive ax along the ground. He probably knew that such an action would slow his steps, but his arms didn't have the strength to lift that large weapon up anymore.
    Who else could these two be if not Leonel and Aina?
    Though the octopus blood had worked to a certain extentбн it was just a certain extent.
    It had 100% effectiveness on Invalids below the B-grade, but at the B-grade, it was barely 50% effective. For A-grade Invalids, it was not even 20% effective.
    In the end, it had taken them over a day to cross just 50 kilometers because the initial commotion Leonel raised had caused an Invalid Tide. He felt spent to the point that his legs didn't even feel like his own anymore.
    However, despite seeing the looming Fort walls, the unease in Leonel's heart didn't settle down. Instead, it grewбн because the danger he had been waiting for hadn't appeared yet.
    Doran's pupils constricted.
    'It's them. I need to inform the Junior Governor Duke.'

 Chapter 87: Miles

    Leonel weakly dragged his body into the gates of the Fort. His eyes were half closed and his steps were so small it hardly looked like he was taking them at all, but he eventually made it.
    Every part of his body felt as though it was on his last legs. Even he was quite surprised that he was still alive. It could only be said that the human capacity for survival was very large.
    "бн Hello? Hello!"
    Leonel's head shook as he suddenly felt someone was calling out to him. He looked up to find the very same Tier 2 Officer Doran standing across from him, a blinding flashlight waving in his hand.
    Leonel squinted, finding it difficult to look at the light.
    'Why the hell is this guy waving something like this in my face?'
    It was safe to say that Leonel was at the end of his rope. He was lacking in both sleep and strength, so even if he was a saint, his fuse would be much shorter. In that moment, he even had the faint will to gather this massive ax he was dragging one more time and cleave this bastard in two.
    In the end, he managed to restrain himself.
    "бн Do you think you can just ignore me? You might be some big shot, but there are still protocols to be followed бк"
    Spittle flew from Doran's lips, some of which even attached itself to his bushy mustache as he tried to interrogate Leonel.
    He wasn't exactly wrong. Leonel and Aina had left their Perimeter before their post could be taken over, this was already an offense. On top of this, they failed to return with the military jeep they were assigned бк yet another offense. Now, Doran had already asked Leonel several questions, to which he got no answers. And, of course, this was another offense.
    Right now, they were still in a Code Red: Class 9 state. In such a state, crimes had punishments several times harsher than the norm. Even something as mundane and benign as shoplifting might get one 20 or more years in prison.
    When the offenses were related to military order, the punishments would be even harsher as military law tended to be.
    Leonel and Aina weren't official members of the military, which might still lighten their sentence. After all, the Fort was strapped for helping hands and every powerful individual was worth a lot. Doran obviously knew this, but he felt dissatisfied because he thought Leonel was ignoring him.
    Clearly, Doran didn't realize that the reason he was still a TIer 2 Officer was because of his own stupidity. Considering the state of Leonel, who would assume that he was ignoring a person instead of realizing he was an arrow at the end of his flight?
    Leonel's barely opened eyes slowly opened wider. The action seemed to take all of his strength, but what Doran saw made him stumble backward uncontrollably, finally allowing the blinding light to move from Leonel.
    A beast. A wild beast that might lash out at any moment. That was what he saw.
    A roar assaulted his mind as he fell to the ground.
    Cold shivers and sweats traveled through his back as he stared up at Leonel, eyes filled with fear.
    The other Officers looked toward Doran with weird expressions. Leonel hadn't done anything but look at him. Was there a need to react like this?
    Leonel slowly walked by the fallen Tier 2 Officer. He only had thoughts of finally resting. He just had to make it back to his bed. No.. Any bed would do, he wasn't picky.
    Then, he could sleep for a whole week and forget about all of this.
    At that moment, more bright lights blocked Leonel's path. But, this time, they didn't come from a flashlight, but rather a few vehicles. Beneath the night sky, their high-lights made Leonel's eyes burn.
    The frustration in Leonel's heart grew deeper. He just wanted to sleep. Why were all of these people continually blocking his way?
    He was already so close to home. He had walked through the outer city, through the illusion mist, and into the inner city. He had been moments away from his bed when he suddenly found the mansion he had been given was surrounded by a few shuttles.
    "Leonel Morales, the Junior Governor Duke would like to have a few words with you."
    At this point, Leonel felt a boiling anger in his chest.
    A word with him? Right now? They didn't send medical personnel or even ask if he was alright, but instead asked him to drag his body to see some Governor Duke's son who couldn't even bother to appear himself?
    Leonel didn't even care about the fact that the Junior Governor Duke's appearance here meant that he had cleared an A-grade Zone. Compared to what he had just been through, could an A-grade Zone even be comparable?
    However, with so many shuttles around him, maybe even equipped with weapon technology Leonel couldn't imagine, what could he even do? He found himself too tired even to express his rage.
    Others believed that Leonel was very mild tempered, and that he was. But there was something about himself that James had pointed out on the day of the National Championship.
    Leonel knew that James was trying to throw the game. He also knew that his friend must have had his reasons. However, he couldn't decide between his best friend and a game he had already won three times before.
    James was like a brother to him. They had stayed side by side for four years. Anyone else, for the sake of such a friendship, might have acquiesced that one time and lost the game on purpose.
    Yet, instead of doing so, Leonel found a method to both not hurt his friend while also winning the game in the end.
    Of course, having known Leonel for so long, James saw through his friend with ease. Others may have thought that Leonel was simply unaware, but James knew that while Leonel was soft hearted, what he hated the most was losing.
    Leonel's insistence on his father's mantra of Persistence and Respect might sound like a kid just idolizing his father, however, it was deeper than that. It was so deep that Leonel himself didn't recognize it, only those who were the closest to him didбн Just like James.
    So, when Leonel was making his way to the Junior Governor Duke's residence with a bubbling rage in his chest he could do nothing about, that hidden beast kept lashing out.
    The aura around him became insufferable. Even the veteran soldiers around him felt like it was difficult to breathe. Only those Tier 5 veterans like Admiral Millan just barely managed to keep their knees from knocking together.
    Soon, weak body and all, Leonel found himself in the living room of a mansion far more luxurious than his own. Everything seemed flooded with gold and white as though the Sun God Apollo was the owner of the residence.
    Still, there was no sign of the Junior Governor Duke. It wasn't until Leonel heard a pair of voices that he realized there was a ledge above the living room that was being fed into by a pair of curved stairs.
    Unfortunately, he felt too weak to raise his head, he could only barely see the shoes of the two above him and make out that they were two men.
    "Miles, I really have to thank you this time. Without your help, I don't think I could ever get revenge for my fallen comrades."
    "Is there even a need for such words between us, Simeon? Plus, my Governor Duke Family has an obligation to keep law and order. Whether you came forward or not, there would be appropriate punishments."
    "It seems I've worried too much, then. The Leum Family is indeed trustworthy."
    The words of the two young men stopped. Leonel could faintly guess that they were looking down the ledge and toward him.
    "Leonel Morales. Aina Brazinger." The voice of the man called Miles filled Leonel's ears. From their conversation, Leonel could understand that he must be the Junior Governor Duke.
    "We have evidence that you've cooperated to slay six citizens of our Ascension Empire. Even without Martial Law, the penalty would be death. As citizens of the Empire, you have the right to know what you are being imprisoned for, so I have told you. Escort them to the basement. They will remain there until the trial."
    The young man spoke with indifference. To him, the trial was just a facade. The two of them were as good as dead.
    Wellбн Leonel would die. As for the girl on his back, she would be sent off in chains to the Brazinger Family.
    Leonel came to understand something. He had been a bit naive. He hadn't thought much about what would happen here since they were entering a mansion. If they were in trouble, shouldn't they have been directly sent to the jails?
    But it was then he understood. For two Variants like themбн Miles' illusion ability was the best kind of trap.
    Leonel barely struggled to raise his head and only then did he see the faces of the two young men.
    One of them had a bright head of white-gold hair that almost looked like the mane of a lion. As for the other, Leonel's vision was too blurred to see most of his features, but what he did see was the monocle over his left eye. Noбн one would be hard pressed to call it a monocle at all. It had eight lenses that seemed to hover in space in a circular formation.

 Chapter 88: Come

    [Bonus chapter for 1200 powerstones. Bonus chapter for reach 300 coming later. Pray for my ligaments :'( ]
    Leonel didn't react much to Miles' words, something that was out of the expectations of the latter.
    Though he spoke those words with indifference, that didn't mean he expected indifference in return. In fact, he was very much expecting to hear several shouts and a torrent of cursing. It wasn't even out of his expectation that Leonel might try to run away and fight his way out.
    Of course, all of this would be futile. The range of this illusion world was almost like his own lucid dream. The downside of his ability was that it took a lot of time to set up a range so large, but the benefit was that once it had been, not only was the drain on his spirit minimized, but his power was several times greater as well.
    In truth, Leonel was finished the moment he crossed into this city. Miles' confidence was obvious by the fact he hadn't even confiscated the ax in Leonel's hand.
    The Officials who escorted Leonel here had long since surrounded him. Seeing that Leonel didn't react, they didn't relax as one would expect.
    By now, Leonel's vision had cleared a bit more. He could see that the young man with a monocle over his left eye had blazing red hair and eyes just like the six weremen had. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a light smile on his face. His impeccably clean and crisp clothing made his meticulousness evident.
    Leonel slowly raised the ax in his hand, causing the officers to tense. But, Miles and Simeon continued to look down with indifference on their faces. Even if Leonel was in peak condition, they wouldn't have to fear him in this place, let alone now in his current state.
    However, they could have never expected that instead of attacking, Leonel would be using the last of his strength to slip the ax back into the holster on Aina's back.
    To those watching him, his actions didn't make much sense at all.
    "бн So you want to deal with me, is that right?"
    Leonel's voice sounded quite hoarse. It could be imagined that he hadn't had a drop of water in a day and a half now. With how hard he had been pushing his body, it was a wonder that he was even standing.
    Miles' brows knit slightly. His first instinct was to not respond. He simply disdained to. However, he found himself opening his mouth to do exactly that before he knew what was happening. It was as though he had been compelled to.
    This level of charismaбн It was hard to imagine it was a boy before him and not a Tier 7 or higher General.
    Though he managed to stop himself right before the words came from his mouth, he was left in an awkward position. Everyone could tell that he had been about to speak and could only look at him in confusion when his mouth hung open without a word.
    However, in the end, though he spoke, it wasn't to Leonel.
    "Take him away."
    Leonel moved again and Miles' frown deepened as he watched the Officers continue to hesitate. They watched as he took out three silver rods and twisted them together into a long pole, one after another.
    "What methods do I have to protect myself from illusions?"
    Leonel seemed to be speaking to himself. Every action he took was like a madman that couldn't be seen through. It felt like he just might lash out at them at any time. But then, unexpectedly, something responded.
    [ *Ping* Seed's Soul Force is too high to be influenced by illusions beneath the Bronze grade, only Seed's eyes can be fooled. It is suggested that Seed close his eyes and make use of Internal Sight to battle. ]
    [ *Information Omitted* ]
    The words of the dictionary made Miles' pupils constrict.
    "Stop him бк!"
    The words had hardly left his lips with the blunt tip of Leonel's rod had appeared before Admiral Millan.
    Leonel had already guessed that this TIer 5 Admiral had an ability that utilized his voice. If not for this, an Admiral with no personal combat ability like him wouldn't be sent here to escort Leonel.
    What Leonel could afford the least right now to lose his hearing or have his inner ear be affected.
    The truth was that Leonel's Internal Sight was far sharper, more detailed, and more useful than his eyesight. It was just that Leonel had grown up all his life using his eyes to see and interact with the world. Suddenly having Internal Sight now made him feel as though he suddenly had another pair of arms he wasn't used to using yet.
    However, now, he had no choice but to rely on it. What he couldn't have imagined was that the moment he closed his eyes and leaned on his Internal Sight completely that a rush of comfort would overwhelm his body.
    It was as though a drying river had suddenly been fed by a crystal clear lake. What was a shame was that the dam originally blocking the lake from the river was actually Leonel himself!
    Everything felt sharper and more controlled. The finest details of everything from his own body to his surroundings were projected into his mind without delay.
    Leonel wasn't a fool. He knew that the lingering danger had yet to be resolved, so how could he come back here without any preparations at all? Though his body was in such a state, his Force and spirit weren't running completely on empty.
    Admiral Millan's eyes widened. He had just been opening his mouth to send a concentrated blast toward Leonel when the rod appeared before him.
    He sighed a breath of relief when he realized it had no blade. However, it was simply too fast for him to dodge. He could only brace himself for impact.
    Butбн he could have never imagined that the blunt tip would carry so much force behind it.
    The first thing he felt was the wall that hit his back. Noбн It should be that his back hit the wall.
    Then, he registered that all of his ribs had been broken. He couldn't even scream without the searing pain of his lungs being minced by his own bones making his eyes roll back into their sockets.
    He shook as he slid to the ground as though he was going into epileptic shock. This was maybe the only sign that his life was holding on by a small thread.
    "The Empire has been pissing me off for a long time already." Leonel said slowly, his eyes firmly clamped shut. "Since you want me, come and get me."

 Chapter 89: Delicacy

    [Bonus chapter for 300 powerstones, next at 600 :) ]
    It could only be said that they were caught completely unprepared. Just like Leonel had guessed, the surveillance on him wasn't as air tight as he believed.
    After the Metamorphosis, technology of their world almost ceased to function entirely. Technology, even in this futuristic era, still fundamentally relied on electricity which was ultimately the movement of electrons from one point to another. However, Force was constructed of the quantum particles that governed the laws electrons used.
    With the benign Third Dimensional Force evolving into the Fourth Dimensional Force of a Fourth Dimensional World, those fundamental laws that governed everything were changing. As such, how could technology continue to function?
    The Ascension Empire had put a lot of effort and research into building technology that could function in the Fourth Dimension, but Earth was ultimately still in its infantile stages.
    The only reason some technology continued to work now was because Earth was still only a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional World. The Metamorphosis hadn't been completed in its entirety just yet. But, it was safe to say that Earth had lost more than 90% of its original capabilities. And now, only more primitive technologies like the military jeep worked in the outside world.
    As for the shuttle of the weremen, Leonel was simply unaware that the model of the shuttle had been modified and downgraded. If not for this, let alone 300 kilometers an hour, a true shuttle could break the sound barrier without issue.
    This was all to say that let alone having his personal satellite like Leonel imagined in his worst case scenario, Earth didn't even have a single satellite remaining. In addition, the highest class of tech could only be used in specific places where towers designed to disrupt Force operated.
    The good news, then, was that Leonel wasn't as hopeless as he thought. The weremen likely only found them making use of a gps hidden within the military jeep.
    The bad news, however, as Leonel was finding out nowбн Was that he was completely unable to use Force within the inner city where technology flourished.
    This was a major miscalculation on Leonel's part. In his defense, he hadn't spent long enough in the Fort to notice such a thing. He was too inexperienced and only slept a single night here. But, at this point, he didn't have the mind to care.
    He was pissed.
    There wasn't a single drop of emotion on his face, but to those facing him, it felt like he was three times their size.
    At this point, fear had gripped their hearts. Leonel hadn't made another move after incapacitating Admiral Millan. It was as though he was waiting for something.
    "He is resisting an arrest issued by a Governor Duke Seal. Kill him."
    Miles' cold voice was like the gun of a drag race. Those who had been hesitating and even somewhat fearful, still pulled on the holsters attached to their hips without hesitation, pointing their guns at Leonel.
    Guns weren't much different from the past. They didn't shoot laser beams, but rather still functioned on bullets. However, in this era, even a handgun had no less strength than a sniper rifle.
    Technology, instead of evolving toward higher grade ammo, put the most effort into increasing the strength of alloys, compressing force, and mitigating recoil.
    In this era, every gun was outfitted with a complex gyroscope capable of measuring force and a haptic feedback system that used the data provided by the gyroscope to nullify this force. As a result, even the most powerful pistols not only had amazing armor piercing capability, they were also as steady as airsoft guns kids used to play.
    However, to Leonel, this wasn't an entirely bad thingбн The steadier the hand, the easier it was to predict.
    Leonel had always been worried about guns. Even the most primitive guns of the medieval ages made him nervous. However, after he stopped using his eyes, he suddenly realized something.
    Subconsciously, he could draw a line from the muzzle of the gun to where it would end up. It was almost like he was projecting his Dream World into the real world, as though he could simulate everything that would happen.
    It was only a vague feeling, and Leonel could even feel that this was a still unawakened ability of his, but it was there nonetheless.
    No one could have imagined that just when half a dozen guns had turned toward Leonel, he would take a step forward the instant their fingers pulled the trigger.
    In the beginning, they thought that he was only fearless because he hadn't seen the guns. After all, his eyes were closed and these officials had never heard of this 'Internal Sight'. But, the scene that played out was completely out of their expectations.
    It almost seemed like the bullets had flown through Leonel without obstruction, as though he had become transparent and blurry just for a moment.
    However, Leonel knew the truth. One flew beneath his arm, two between his legs, one narrowly missing his neck, and the final two by his head.
    He wasn't fast enough to dodge bullets. But, he was fast enough to dodge their trajectory.
    With another two pierces of his rod, another two officers went down.
    "What's his ability and what does it do?"
    Leonel walked through a rain of bullets, taking down the final four officers. His attention was toward the young man with a monocle, who even now, couldn't have expected such a result.
    Leonel was simply too calm. It really did feel as though they had woken a slumbering beast. Simeon and Miles watched from the ledge as Leonel, without an ounce of hurry, took six guns and twelve reload clips to himself.
    [ *Ping* Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 8 Black ]
    [ Evolution Type: Auxiliary ]
    [ Evolution: Reinforced Mind, Genetic Manipulation ]
    [ Reinforced Mind: Mental capacity several times that of normal a individual. Special emphasis on eyesight. ]
    [ Genetic Manipulation: Can sense the evolution path of those below the Tier 7 Black grade and Diverge or Converge it. ]
    "I seeбн"
    Leonel took a gun and aimed it toward Miles and Simeon with his left hand and shot twice in quick succession.
    The power, the recoil, the speedбн He had already seen through it all.
    "бн Unfortunate."
    However, Leonel already mumbled this word before the bullets even landed.
    BANG! BANG!
    A thin energy shield blocked the bullets. The two young men, with cold sweat matted down their backs, watched on as the two bullets slowly fell before their eyes. Had it not been for the security system of Miles' homeбн they would be dead.
    The most shocking part was that Leonel hadn't shot toward the illusion Miles had set upбн but rather toward his real body.
    His expression turned solemn. 'Even if you're ten times stronger, you won't leave the city alive.'
    In order to maintain the peace, there were exceptionally few who knew of this operation. This was part of the reason they allowed Leonel to go so far as to walk back to his own home.
    However, if the secret couldn't be kept, that was fine as well. Now that Leonel had attacked so many officials, and even a Tier 5 one at that, it would be even easier. With such evidence, it was impossible for the Right to Autonomy Amendment to work in his defense.
    Leonel turned his back to the two men. One of them had an illusion ability that was useless against him and the other had a mental ability. They were not his opponents. His true enemy was waiting outside.
    As expected, Leonel had hardly taken a step outside when the sound of horns shook the dark night sky. Several spotlights converged from all directions, alerting everyone to the state of emergency.
    Thousands were mobilized in a few breaths. And, it seemed that Miles was more cautious than he seemed on the surface because even the usually unguarded inner city doors were blocked.
    However, this was a problem Leonel would love to be facing. Because, as it stood now, he was still a few kilometers from those very doors.
    He felt that something was disrupting his use of Force. As long as he could make it out of the range of that something, he could threaten the city by causing another Invalid Tide. Though he didn't want to put people in danger, this would be his very last resort.
    Leonel stepped out of the mansion on shaky legs, looking up at the dark sky, the twinkling stars, the silver moonбн
    His breathing was ragged. Just a few moves and he already felt that he had hit another wall.
    "бн Do you have anything that can hold my body together a bit longer?" Leonel asked, a bit desperate feeling so many converge onto him through his Internal Sight.
    This timeбн these weren't just normal, unevolved humans. They all had abilitiesбн And their technology was levels beyond.
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, the meat of evolved creatures is the best nourishment for Evolvers. ]
    As though having heard the question, the Segmented Cube popped out once more before vanishing. All that was left was a head-size cube of rich, pinkish violet meat.
    'бн Raw octopus, huhбн? I hear it's a delicacyбн'

 Chapter 90: Tactical Units

    Leonel took a step forward, taking a large bite out of the hunk of meat at the same time.
    'In a city like this, they're unlikely to use explosives. The greatest danger to my safety are snipers. The range of my Internal Sight can't possibly be wide enough to take them into account. I also can't guarantee there isn't anyone with an ability that makes them confident in sniping even if I'm in the midst of a crowd. бк'
    Leonel's thoughts suddenly froze.
    He felt as though a flame had suddenly dropped into his stomach and he felt incredibly heavy. The bloating in his stomach slowed his steps, making him uncomfortable.
    Leonel was never one to eat much. In fact, he had had a poor appetite for as long as he could remember. Due to this disposition of his, it was a wonder that he wasn't a skeleton. This aside, it was safe to say that he hadn't experienced this feeling before.
    'бн No, that's not true. I haveбн The first time dad gave me that vomit brewбн'
    Leonel's burrow furrowed. The discomfort wasn't enough to slow him down severely, but it made him feel a bit sick. He was already not in an optimal state. He couldn't afford even the slightest tick down in his stats.
    'What the hellбн' Leonel felt like cursing this damn dictionary and his dad for creating a faulty product.
    Leonel's frown deepened, but he couldn't continue remaining here. He had to make it to the doors out of the city as quickly as possible.
    The moment Leonel broke out into a run, he felt his blood begin to boil. Before Leonel could even pause to figure out what was wrong with him, he found that his stomach was already rumbling.
    The hunger was severe to the point Leonel almost fell over. The rolling and contracting muscles of his stomach felt like they might tear his body apart any moment.
    Feeling a bit fearful and shocked, Leonel quickly took another bite. By the end of it, he bit into his palm, not realizing the meat was already consumed.
    "What the hell is wrong with me?"
    [ *Ping* Information Omitted ]
    Leonel almost began cursing again, but his expression changed when he saw a troop of soldiers marching through the streets and toward him.
    The sight of black clothes military men stomping in unison through a residential area was particularly dystopian. However, Leonel didn't have the time to take in the sight. He could only dive through the side gates of a nearby mansion.
    He might be able to dodge the trajectory of bullets, but he wasn't insane. There were at least three dozen tactical rifles between them. Compared to the pistols in Leonel's possession which could already be considered as powerful as sniper rifles of the past, their power could be imagined.
    Leonel leapt up with all his power, grabbing the edge of a house's roof and pulling himself up.
    "Get down! Stop resisting!"
    The roar of a man used to command entered Leonel's ears. But, he couldn't have imagined that Leonel would have already appeared on the roof when they were still seeking to cut him off from the side and back of the house.
    'These men are clearly highly trained, but this is also their downfall. They don't dare to step out of line, which means they're restricting themselves from using their abilities. This is to my advantageбн'
    Leonel's gaze flashed. He put his rod away and two guns appeared in his hands.
    He kept his head low as the tactical unit surrounded the house from all sides. The instant before they realized Leonel wasn't still on the ground, he had already jumped.
    Leonel's body flew horizontally in the air, his arms pointed downward and his eyes blazing with fighting intent.
    The sounds of gunshots rang beneath the night sky, followed by pained grunts and dull thuds.
    With a flip, Leonel landed on the roof of an opposing house and broke out into another sprint.
    "Give me another piece, I'm starving." Leonel said, hoping his words would be effective.
    Thankfully, the Segmented Cube didn't let him down. Another head-sized cube of octopus meat appeared in his hand and disappeared into his stomach just as fast.
    The burning in Leonel's blood grew. It was so comfortable that he almost forgot the aching of his muscles. It was a similar feeling to someone working out with sore muscles. After a while, the heat would make one forget the pain. However, if one stopped, the aching might return with several folds more potency.
    Leonel knew he couldn't afford this, so he continued to push his body, hoping this heat would continue.
    "Halt!"
    Another roar entered Leonel's ears. It seemed that the captain from before had found his dead squad members. With a single leap, Leonel had shot six bullets and taken out six of them.
    He didn't want to kill, but going down here meant that his life was basically over. The way Miles was trying to toy with his future left him sick to his stomach. However, what disgusted him the most was that if he were caught, Aina would definitely be sent to the Brazinger Clan. He refused to let this happen.
    In that case, his conscience was clear. He could have easily killed them all, but he only killed enough to leave unscathed. He had already been merciful enough.
    Aina watched silently as all of this happened, shaking her head. In truth, Leonel somehow thought she was still sleeping. But, how could she be sleeping in a situation like this?
    'бн He needs to learn that being kind to your enemies is only harming yourselfбн'
    A cold light flickered in Aina's eyes, but she remained silent. Pretending as though she was still 'asleep'.
    Leonel was absolutely unstoppable. The small tactical units sent after him one after another didn't even pose any challenge. The terrain was too disadvantageous to them.
    They didn't dare to shoot toward Leonel carelessly. Who in this city wasn't a big shot? Did they even have the ability to take responsibility if one of these figures died in their homes because they were shooting at Leonel?
    To make matters worse, Leonel having guns was like giving wings to a tiger. His senses were too sharp, his coordination too elite.
    Every time he shot, a bullet would perfectly land in the gap of their armor, ending their lives swiftly. They almost couldn't believe that Leonel was only using handguns. Even if they were as powerful as sniper rifles of the past, the armors the tactical units wore in this age had advanced just as much.
    However, it didn't seem to matter.
    Over an hour later, Leonel sat behind the side gates of yet another home, his breathing ragged.
    He had already swapped into the tactical gear of a soldier. The only thing he didn't change were his treasure shoes. Even if he couldn't use them in range of whatever was disrupting Force, they would still be useful to him in the future.
    Leonel tied Aina to his back once more, gritting his teeth as he stepped forward.
    From here until the doors, there were no longer homes to constantly hide behind. It was practically a flat plain.
    Between Leonel's location and the doors out of the city, there was a city square and park. The space was as open as Royal Blue Academy's campus and the city square had no cover aside from a large fountain that sputtered water from the mouth of a mermaid and whale.
    Not only were there units all throughout the park, but there was a small troop of at least 200 standing at attention right before the doors.
    On a tower far away from the danger, Miles and Simeon watched on coldly. They hadn't managed to get eyes on Leonel just yet. They had a feeling that something with strong Force was protecting his body under these conditions, or else it was impossible that their surveillance systems couldn't lock onto him.
    But that didn't matter. There was only one way into and out of the city. It had been specifically designed like this to stop rogues like Leonel.
    Leonel practically inhaled another head-sized piece of octopus meat before slamming down the black head gear of the tactical unit.
    In order to get this, he had actually doubled back toward the units he had already killed. This was part of the reason his location still hadn't been locked down and why he now had two tactical rifles in his possession.
    Unlike the handguns, these rifles had 50 bullets per clip and were several times more powerful. With this kind of fire power, he still had a chance.
    Unfortunately, things wouldn't be so simple. To now, the tactical units hadn't used their abilities. But, this didn't mean there weren't specially trained units. After allбн Miles couldn't clear an A-grade Zone alone.
    Since the beginning of the Metamorphosis, Royal Blue Province had experienced the appearance of four A-grade Sub-Dimensional Zones. One wiped out a special unit completely but three units survived, one of which, led by Miles, managed to clear the fourth just recently.
    Leonel took a deep breath, his eyes gaining a deep calm as he stood out from the final home and entered the park with confident steps.
    BANG!
    Leonel's pupils constricted as he quickly fell to one side, but it was already too late.
    A searing pain appeared in his left shoulder, precisely tearing through the smallest gap in the joint of his armor.
    BANG!
    Another shot rang out.

 Chapter 91: Xinghai

    [Bonus chapter for 600 powerstones... On another, completely unrelated note, I can see the names of everyone who votes and recently ordered a death note from the dark web. I'm not mentioning this for any particular reason, just an interesting tidbit about my life. :) ]
    Xinghai had always been a proud man.
    When he was three years old, he was designated as a Five Star Arms Professional. In the history of the Ascension Empire, barely a thousand people had ever earned such an evaluation.
    From that day onward, he was placed under the intensive care of the government with the consent of his parents. He began playing with swiss army knives before his fourth birthday and was already handling guns by the time he was seven.
    When he began school, he entered the Royal Blue Education program, starting from Royal Blue Elementary School, entering Royal Blue Middle School, and eventually venturing to Royal Blue Academy.
    He received the best education, the best nutrition plans, and the best care and attention one could ask for. He boasted a position in the top 1000 of the Most Eligible Minors list before his 18th birthday, and even after he became 18, he was within the top 10 000 Eligible Bachelors list.
    However, after graduating from Royal Blue Academy five years ago, life became boring to him.
    His family background wasn't as great as his peers, so he found moving up ranks in the army difficult. The rebels who spent their time trying to take down the Ascension Empire were nothing more than a clown show who could only cause skirmishes once in a while. And, without a high enough rank, he wouldn't be trusted enough to become a part of missions to quell rebellions on the Moon and Mars.
    His life stagnated.
    Sure, with his potential, all he had to do was wait a few decades for those old fogies to die and he would eventually get his shot. Butбн he didn't have such patience.
    Before the Metamorphosis began, he had actually been approached by a member of the rebel army. Instead of reporting the incident like he should have, he actually kept it to himself.
    What he wanted the most was the thrill. He loved battle and those damned virtual reality pods weren't worth shit to him. How was it the same if his life wasn't on the line? If he couldn't feel his blood boil? If he couldn't feel his opponent's life slipping between his fingers?
    He needed more.
    If it wasn't for the Descent of the Metamorphosis, he really would have joined the rebel army and stuck it to those bastards who tried to bury his talent like that.
    But, it seemed there was a God smiling down at him. Just when he was about to, his ability awakened, then Invalids appeared, and then Zones began to open one after another.
    Just like that, his boring life revved back up. He suddenly felt thrill again.
    The longer he spent in a world like this, the more he felt that this was the way it should be. When things were too peaceful, things would be too boring. He wasn't one of those hypocrites who thought one needed to struggle to evolve. Noбн
    He just wanted to kill.
    Just a bit over an hour ago, Xinghai learned of what was going on here. After he was told that Leonel was all alone and was actually carrying a girl on his back, he disdained to participate. This kind of boring hunt, what the hell did it have to do with him?
    He could have never imagined that this prey would be so interesting. It made him a bit curious, almost like a cat who found an adorable mouse.
    After finding himself a nice tall tower, he picked out his favorite sniper rifle and settled in.
    If one knew his personality and saw him now, they would find the scene to be completely out of their expectations. How a man who lived for battle and blood could remain motionless for so long, to the point of not even seeming to breathe, no one would be able to tell.
    Yet, this was exactly what Xinghai had done. His right eye remained trained on his scope, the barrel of his rifle as steady as the surface of a calm lake. Even after he saw his prey, his heart beat remained smooth and unhurried. One would never guess that this was a man he had waited over an hour for.
    As though his sniper rifle was a part of his body, he pulled the trigger in unison with a deep breath. As he exhaled, the bullet exited the barrel as though on a line and pierced the shoulder of his prey.
    BANG!
    That was when something completely out of Xinghai's expectations happened. The sound of the second bullet didn't come from his gunбн but his prey's!
    It was impossible. Sniper rifles of the 21st century had a range of about a kilometer at best. However, those of the 25th could shoot from ten kilometers away. Not only were they equipped with far stronger bullets, but they also came with an on board AI capable of executing the calculations a sniper needed with much more ease than a human.
    Due to the size of the inner city and the situation, Xinghai hadn't found it necessary to be so far away. So, he picked a tower just a kilometer and a half away from where he guessed Leonel would appear.
    With the power of his sniper rifle and at such a short distance, Leonel could have died on his first shot. But, wanting to play around a bit, Xinghai aimed for Leonel's shoulder first. He wanted to see his prey squirm and struggle for life, maybe even beg for mercy.
    But, who knew that his prey would actually be able to react to a small extent. Like that, the bullet that should have been powerful enough to blow his arm off was actually obstructed by the tactical armor, causing it to lose some momentum and only pierce into his arm instead.
    And, as if that wasn't shocking enough, without the slightest hesitation, his prey turned toward his direction as though their gazes could meet across the impossibly long distance and fired a single bullet.
    Xinghai could feel it. That bullet radiated and dripped with confidence. He didn't fire a second and didn't even wait for it to land. His prey turned and sprinted into the park, disappearing into the depths of the small forest.
    Danger overwhelmed Xinghai's senses. It was impossible, but he knew what would happen. This bullet would hit him. He was as good as dead.
    What a funny joke this was. If someone told him that someone could aim an ordinary rifle with a single arm and accurately shoot down a target over a kilometer away, with how sadistic Xinghai was, he might just cut the person to pieces with his favorite swiss army knife.
    But here it was, happening before him now.
    The bullet tore through the air, invisible in the night sky. Sometimes, it would catch the moonlight's rays and glisten a beautiful silver before disappearing once more as though entering the void.
    SSSHHHUUUUUU
    The bullet tore into the tower.
    In the last moment, Xinghai blinked away, disappearing and appearing one meter to his left.
    BANG!
    Silence fell. The only thing that could be heard in the high tower now were Xinghai's ragged breaths. He didn't even react when he felt violent bits of shrapnel, coming from his sniper rifle, assaulting him and tearing into his flesh.
    After a long while, Xinghai stood, completely naked. If others were here, they would see his military uniform and gear laid on the floor where he had been lying just a moment ago, burnt to a crisp. As for his sniper rifleбн it was in pieces.
    Slowly, Xinghai made his way to the remains of the barrel. It had split apart as though an explosion had gone off inside of it.
    It took a while, but Xinghai finally understood. The instant he shot his prey, he had given him everything he needed to know about his location. In the blink of an eye, his prey took that information and fired back. The shot was so precise that the bullet even entered the very nozzle the original bullet came from, almost taking Xinghai's life.
    At this moment, Xinghai was in a sorry state. Bits of shrapnel had torn into the right side of his body. Luckily, he had timed his blink just right so that the brunt of the explosion passed him by. But, he was still a bit injured.
    Xinghai grinned.
    The sight of a man smiling with an entire side of his face dripping in blood was enough to send cold shivers down one's spine. But, it only became more obscene when Xinghai licked his lips like a rabid dog.
    This prey. He wanted it.

 Chapter 92: Last Line

    From their own tower, Miles and Simeon watched this happen with flickering expressions.
    At first, they thought that Leonel was just flailing about like a headless chicken. They fully expected that the sniper would fire a second time to end his life. But, the second shot they were expecting never came. The only explanation was that Leonel's singular shot was effective in disrupting the sniper or evenбн killed him.
    The two looked at each other, the hint of coldness between them obvious.
    For Miles, he wanted Leonel and Aina out of the picture so that he could better control the situation of Royal Blue Province. With his father gone to the capital, this was a time for him to establish his authority and gain some power for himself. The sudden appearance of two Variants would make those plans nearly impossible.
    Unfortunately, without proper cause, he didn't dare to lay a hand on one Variant, let alone two. But who knew that Leonel would do something as foolish as committing an act of murder? This was like a pie falling from the skies and into his lap.
    For Simeon, his goal was even more obvious. The idea that a bastard child of the Brazinger family could now hold such power was impossible for them to accept. As things stood now, he was still the only one aware of Aina's Variant status as only he paid attention to the outside world. The other members of the family and families like them disdained to do such a thing.
    However, if the family found out about Aina's existence and realized he had acted but failed to bring her back, he would suffer some punishment without a doubt.
    Unfortunately, the hands of both of them were tied. One had an ability that was useless before Leonel, and the other was nothing without his genetically modified minions. They could only stand and watch as things unfoldedбн
    **
    Though Leonel had escaped into the small forest, he didn't expect it to provide him much cover. In fact, it was highly likely that there was another ambush waiting for him here.
    At the end of the day, this wasn't a true forest. It was just a park. How could he expect to find thick vegetation and foliage to hide him in?
    Instead of giving this place his hope, Leonel stopped behind the first tree he could.
    With Aina's ax being so large, he was confident in its ability to protect the back of their heads and backs. All he had to do was focus on his front. But he had to be quick, there was no telling if other squads could be converging from his back now that his location had been exposed.
    Leonel grit his teeth and pulled on the bullet in his shoulder. Due to his movement in the last second, it hadn't penetrated too deeply. He couldn't help but be impressed with the armor of the black tactical gear he was wearing.
    He moved his left shoulder around a bit.
    'It's painful, but not to the point of being crippling. Let's go.'
    Leonel dashed forward a cold glint in his eyes.
    Those hiding in this small forest never thought that he would stop at the first line of trees, but it also seemed that they were unaware that their spots of ambush were all seen through by him during that moment of rest.
    Leonel slipped his rifle into his spatial bracelet and pulled out two handguns. They were all he needed.
    Without slowing down even a beat, he raised his arms.
    Leonel's hands seemed to have a mind of their own. In one moment, they would be moving faster than a whip, in the next they would be as steady as a statue.
    In those moments of steadiness, a single shot would ring through the forest, followed by a slight spark of light and the muffled groans and pained cries of men and women.
    Those faint sparks of light sometimes illuminated Leonel's face. Even hidden behind a helmet, one could see the smoothness of his brows and the unforced nature of his closed eyes. If it wasn't for the fact he was moving so quickly, one would think that he was asleep.
    Leonel bolted through the forest in a manner of minutes. In his wake, all that was left were corpses and a series of trees with a single bullet hole through their trunks.
    Deep breaths fogged the inside of Leonel's helmet as he sprinted across the edge of the park. He was almost there. The city square and the final line of defense would soon be before him.
    'How do I get past thisбн?'
    As his mind was running wild, Leonel took out a second tactical helmet and slid it over Aina's head. That sniper from before scared him a bit. He thought that Aina would be safe on his back, but that bullet caught him completely off guard. There was no telling just how many snipers of that caliber there were, and he was about to enter an open field once again.
    He caught a faint glimpse of Aina's sleeping face. Her cheek rested on his shoulder and her breathing was steady. She looked like a peaceful little fairy.
    Leonel couldn't help but smile. For a moment, the fatigue in his limbs completely vanished. He really was a lovestruck fool.
    After he secured the helmet on her head, his eyes became emotionless once more and then tipped over and became cold. It was fine if they all just got out of the way. If that was the case, he could let them be. But if they wanted to play a role in his Aina becoming a prisoner, they would have to pay the price.
    Leonel closed his eyes once more and reloaded the clip of two rifles. Then, he stood as though using the last of his strength to keep his back straight and began to fire like a madman.
    He had done his best to gain an advantage. After stepping out from the last tree and onto expertly cobbled roads, the only thing between him and a lineup of 200 soldiers was a large water fountain with a mermaid sitting on a whale's back.

 Chapter 93: Little Fool

    From the vantage point of the small troop, it was difficult to see Leonel from behind the water fountain. But, his bullets seemed to have eyes of their own.
    Flying through the mermaid's arms, beneath the whale's fins, through the jets of water, he rained hails of lethals shots toward them as though he could see through everything.
    Sometimes, his bullets even hit the statue. But, despite the sturdy material it was made of, they pierced right through. Leonel seemed to always perfectly aim toward the weakest and thinnest parts of the statue, tearing through it like tofu.
    "Fire!"
    A commander roared, suddenly seeing his troop fall into turmoil. It had only been a few seconds, but over a dozen of his men had fallen, unable to rise again.
    BANG!
    Another sniper rifle rang out as a hail of bullets came from the troop of 200. But, Leonel pretended as though he hadn't sensed anything, his steps only shifting slightly.
    The loud clanging of metal resounded as the bullet rebounded off of Aina's ax. Despite the power, Leonel's stance was strong and steady. It was like he didn't know his neck had been moments away from being pierced through.
    "Narrow the formation!" The commander barked.
    Leonel's lips shrunk into a fine line.
    'I can't shoot anymore down from this angle. If I can take advantage of the fountain, so can theyбн In that caseбн'
    Leonel's fire suddenly concentrated on the water fountain.
    Seeing that no more men were falling, the commander felt that his previous command had been the perfect response. Leonel wasn't the only one who could take advantage of cover.
    "Hold! HOLD! FORWARD!"
    The troop charged. There was barely a hundred meters between them and Leonel. As long as they closed in on him, they could fan out the formation and he would be surrounded.
    But what happened next left them speechless.
    Leonel suddenly dashed forward and leapt into the air. With all his might, he kicked with both legs at the whale's head.
    Those who caught faint glimpses of this were left speechless. The action seemed ridiculous. However, those thoughts couldn't last long.
    With a BANG, the water fountain collapsed and the remains of the mermaid and whale soared through the air for a moment before skidding violently along the ground.
    The commander of the troop's eyes widened. He could have never guessed that Leonel's concentrated fire was aimed at the base of the statue's connection to the fountain. In that moment, he had weakened it just enough to kick it to the ground.
    "Scatter! Scatter!" He roared.
    Unfortunately for him, Leonel was riding atop the sliding whale, his hands pointed forward with two tactical rifles. Almost like a charging cavalry, he madly surged forward, bullets raining down with him as their point of origin.
    The whale slid across the ground, smashing into the front line of the troop and squashing several of them before finally slowing down.
    Leonel didn't even bother with the rest of the scattering troop. This was the perfect opportunity.
    He jumped down from the whale, dashing toward the inner city doors with all of his might.
    Bullets rained down toward him, but they all clanged off of Aina's ax.
    However, in all his fervor, Leonel had forgotten one thing.
    The moment he stepped out of the inner city and back into the outer, he felt that his Force was no longer restricted. This was good.
    What was bad was that he had forgotten that there was an outer city. And in the outer city, he saw a unit of eight waiting below the steps for him. These eight alone gave Leonel far more pressure than those 200 soldiers behind him had.
    Leonel gaze met theirs, his breathing ragged. It felt as though a hot coal was traveling through his lungs.
    'Dammit.'
    Leonel had already been pushing past his limits for too long already. He had been half a step into his grave before he even entered the Fort, let alone now after being madly chased for over an hour.
    Just now, he had been on the highest of highs, thinking that he had escaped, only to find that he hadn't at all. He came crashing down heavier than he went soaring up. The pain in his body seemed to want to tear him apart.
    "Put down the weapons, boy. You've done enough harm."
    The man who led the group seemed to be quite old, but his eyes and voice held a youthful vigor to them. There was something especially magical about his voice that made one want to bend over backwards to please him.
    Seeing that Leonel was a bit dazed, the special unit slowly mad their way forward, encircling Leonel.
    It wasn't that Leonel couldn't tell what what was happening. In fact, from the very beginning, the pleasing voice hadn't influenced him at all. He just wanted a bit more time to rest, just a bit longer to catch his breath.
    'I'm so tiredбн' Leonel thought with haggard gasps.
    However, the special unit continued to approach and Leonel realized that the few seconds they would take to surround him wouldn't make much of a difference to the situation of his body at all.
    Leonel's grip of his rifles tightened. He willed them to flex as though pulling out the last of his strength. Once they were close enough he would move and leap over this hurdle too.
    Who would have known that at that exact moment, just when Leonel was going to hit another wall, he would suddenly feel that his back was exceptionally light all of a sudden?
    His eyes blinked open, but he hardly reacted when a shadow appeared between the eight whose expressions were now changing drastically.
    A scythe of red-gold energy severed their necks at once, causing a rain of eight fountains of blood to shoot into the skies.
    Beneath the rain, a petite woman took a black helmet off, her appearance making Leonel's heart, which had been steady even through all of this, beat wildly.
    The crimson droplets seemed to radiate beneath her aura, her amber eyes shining so brightly that they appeared to be golden. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, catching the moonlight like a waterfall beneath the cool night air.
    "Ainaбн"
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly understood something.
    According to the analysis machines of the Empire, Aina's ability fell under the healing type. This had always been odd to Leonel because the way Aina had described her ability to him, it didn't seem to have anything to do with healing.
    But now it seemed that he was wrong. Healing might very well be the foundation of Aina's ability and was the root of her strength. But, her healing must only work on her own body.
    Aina probably guessed how things would go if they returned, but instead of stopping Leonel, she allowed him to go back and see the truth of the world for himself. It was possible that she had been healed for over a day already. No, maybe she never spent very long injured in the first place.
    Worried that they might be being monitored, she continued to feign her injuries to make them underestimate the pair and only made a move at the most opportune time.
    Aina took out a jewelry headpiece and put it on. A small, fingernail sized gem dangled from her forehead, looking like a drop of water.
    Then, she turned toward Leonel and smiled lightly.
    "You've done enough, I'll handle the rest."
    "So beautifulбн" Leonel mumbled like an idiot.
    Aina blushed profusely, her Valkyrie-like aura vanishing like a receding tide.
    Feeling embarrassed and seeing that Leonel still wanted to stare for a bit longer, she marched up the stairs, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along. If she didn't do this, this little fool would stare for who knows how much longer. It wasn't as though they were out of the woods yet.
    The moment she turned away from Leonel's bumbling appearance, her gaze turned cold.
    'This little fool really made an enemy out of the Ascension Empire just for meбн In that case, anyone who stops me from taking him out of here can be cleaved in two.'

 Chapter 94: Leeches

    [Bonus chapter for 900 powerstones ... and we're apparently already closing in on 1200... *sigh*]
    In truth, Leonel was a bit embarrassed that he never realized that Aina had been awake the whole time. He had done his best to ignore the fact she was on his back, or else he would have lost himself in the softness of her figure. How could he, a lifelong virgin, resist the feeling of those two soft things on his back. He ultimately had no choice but to practically ignore her completely.
    Leonel shook his head as he ran at Aina's pace. Now that he had lost a couple hundred pounds on his back, his fatigue didn't seem as bad anymore. Well, that and the fact he didn't seem to be needed.
    Aina was like a one woman artillery unit. She didn't seem to need Leonel's help at all. He would only occasionally snipe some danger in the distance. Now that his Force wasn't restricted, it seemed that his Internal Sight increased almost tenfold.
    From what he could see, he had an area of sharpness and an area of vagueness. Within about 200 meters, he could see things as though he was looking at them with his own eyes. Between 200 and 1000 meters, everything gradually grew foggy until he couldn't sense anything.
    When he paired this foggy region with the primal instincts of the primitive consciousness, he was able to sense general areas which harbored danger and killing intent. Like this, he sent warning shots in those directions. Whether he hit them or not, he didn't care. He only wanted to disrupt their rhythm so they couldn't snipe at Aina.
    What Leonel couldn't have guessed was that Aina didn't actually need his help at all.
    "Stop shooting, you'll only expose our exact location. Let them snipe. They won't be able to touch a hair on your head."
    When Leonel heard these words, he blinked. How had the roles reversed so suddenly? When did he become the damsel in distress?
    It wasn't long before Leonel understood where Aina's confidence stemmed from.
    They charged down the densely packed region of residential homes.
    From the inner city doors to the outer city gates, there was a main road that plowed straight through to connect them both. This wasn't exactly a great design as it made the Fort easier to breach if the main gates fell, but Leonel assumed it was like this for the sake of convenience.
    Leonel thought that Aina would avoid the main road. Their only advantage now was the fact there was only a pair of them. They should take advantage of this and try to find another exit. Leonel didn't believe the Leum family would be stupid enough to make a city with only one gate. It was possible that Miles had hidden the others with his ability. In that case, he just had to get close so that he could see through them with Internal Sight.
    But, Aina didn't do this. She charged through the straight main road. If one came, she cut him down. If two came, they both lost their heads. If ten came, they fell all the same.
    Her efficiency was scary to the point Leonel felt numb. It took Leonel almost two hours to exit the inner city, but Aina seemed to be closing in on the Fort's gates in less than 20. Nothing was capable of stopping her.
    The truth was that this was due to the fact the outer city had no Force disrupting towers, so the technology available was much weaker here. But, Leonel seemed to have forgotten this and only had endless praise for Aina.
    "Halt!"
    The next poor commander stepped up, trying to stop them.
    Unfortunately, her fate was not much different than those who came before her. It wasn't as though the special units would all remain idle in the Fort. The one Aina took out in one fell swoop was the only one not stationed at a distant Perimeter.
    Aina's eyes suddenly flashed as the bang of a sniper rifle rang out.
    Leonel's heart stopped. He could sense the bullet enter the sharp range of his Internal SIght and could see that it was perfectly aimed at Aina's forehead. But, he simply wasn't fast enough to stop it.
    Who knew that Aina would have begun moving even before the shot rang out? He was so lost in worry that he didn't even notice she had shifted her attention toward that direction long ago.
    Her ax swung downward, cleaving the bullet in two.
    Without even a pause, she took another step forward and swung again, cleaving another bullet that was aimed for Leonel.
    Leonel blinked in shock. 'She wasn't faster than the bullet, she just acted before it could get here as though she predicted itбн'
    A moment later, Leonel's gaze focused on the headpiece on Aina's head. It had a delicate necklace-like structure that wrapped around her head like a headband. The singular jewel it had dangled from her forehead like a clear drop of water.
    He suddenly understood. Leonel received a Quasi Bronze Reward. How could Aina not receive one as well?
    Aina turned back and charged forward again. Her ax alternated from taking heads to cutting down bullets. The way her body danced with that battle ax twice the size of her body made her look like a crimson fairy. The night was dark all around, with the sole exception of the red-gold aura around her body.
    "бн I know that my mind is my greatest weakness too. But this can help me cover for that. Just rely on me for now." Aina said confidently.
    Leonel finally understood. While he thought he had no choice but to bow to the demands of the Empire, Aina never even thought of that as being an option. She hid the fact she had this treasure, which was the reason why the wererat was able to catch her off guard. Now that the situation had reached this point, there was no reason for her to continue hiding it at all.
    'Goodбн I was worried that the Junior Governor Duke might come around for a last stand and catch Aina off guard. But if her mind is protected by a Quasi Bronze treasure that seems able to increase her perception, there's no problem then.'
    Leoenl felt that he could finally breathe easy. The way things were going now, even if he simulated it with his Dream World, the likelihood of them leaving this Fort unscathed was over 90%.
    'What should we do after we leave thoughбн' Leonel frowned.
    Eventually, he realized that the only option was to leave Earth. They stood no chance staying here. Their only option was to hope the dictionary could find them a high enough rank Zone to enter so they could earn a teleportation award to another world.
    'Uncle Montez will probably be able to tell me about which worlds are relatively safer and more accepting of outsidersбн'
    Leonel was lost in his thoughts when it happened.
    The explosion was so loud he couldn't hear anything for a long while. No, he could hear something. It was a loud, high-pitched noise. If Leonel had to pick something it reminded him of, he would immediately think of the flat-lining of a heartbeat. It was the kind of sound a hospital's emergency room would have on replayбн
    Blood dripped from his ears and a searing heat assaulted him. It was like a wall of invisible fire had crashed into his body. The wind it came with was almost strong enough to knock him off his feet.
    The heat was so excruciating Leonel had no choice but to close his eyes. The last sight he saw was Aina frozen in place in front of him. She was perfectly fine, but she seemed to be just as shocked as he was.
    'бн Theyбн'
    Leonel's mind went blank. He opened his eyes once more to find AIna in the same place. But, the residential homes that had been ahead of them were blown to pieces. A rain of stone and rubble fell all around.
    As Leonel's hearing slowly came back, the first thing his ears latched onto was the screaming.
    From the start of Leonel and Aina's escape, they hadn't seen a single civilian. They hid and cowered in their homes, not wanting to get involved. Likewiseбн The two of them left them alone.
    But now, their screams filled their ears like treacherous demons clawing at their hearts.
    "Haбн"
    Leonel's bottom lip hung loosely, a sound that seemed a cross of a sad laugh and a sigh escaping thanks to them.
    On a distant tower, Miles watched on without a hint of emotion. They had only missed because the weaker technology they were strapped to without the Force disrupting towers was a bit lacking. But, he was confident that there wouldn't be a second time.
    He didn't dare to use such a tactic in the inner city. Those people were nobility. But, what were these poverty stricken leeches to society worth to him?
    "Fire again." He said coldly.
    Another volley was launched. This time, its aim was true.

 Chapter 95: Terrain

    "No!"
    Leonel shook himself awake, dragging up what reserve strength he had managed to regain while allowing Aina to lead to swoop her into his arms. He tried to cover Aina completely, hoping that her ax could block the rest of the attack.
    BOOM!
    Pain like nothing Leonel had ever felt in his life before assaulted his body. Without suspense, he was sent flying. He couldn't even tell up from down anymore, let alone telling just how far it was he had flown.
    The Quasi Bronze chain necklace on his neck splintered. It was just a tiny crack, but it came with a sound almost as loud as the bomb itself. Or, maybe Leonel's sense of sound had just been completely thrown off as well. He really couldn't tell.
    "Aina? Aina!"
    Leonel roared, barely able to hear his own voice. Only after shouting with all he had did he faintly hear himself.
    Aina's state was far more sorry than his own. He had tried his best to cover her back while her ax had covered much of her front, but her legs and some of her arms had been completely exposed.
    Leonel's blurry vision teared up when he saw her, a lump quickly swelling in his throat.
    Her legs had been charred beyond recognition. What was once delicate, fair skin was blackened beyond recognition. It was so bad that she didn't even bleed, even her blood itself seemed to have burnt to ash.
    Her arms were in a slightly better situation, but this somehow made it more gruesome. Severe burns of the fourth degree almost exposed her bones. Her flesh bubbled almost like water, producing a scene that made one's stomach upturn.
    Leonel's knees and palms surrounded her almost like a mother protecting her cubs. He wanted to scream and roar, but his inner organs didn't seem to want to allow that.
    Blood leaked from his orifices, partially obscured by the soot and grime that coated his body.
    Leonel quickly shuffled around in his pockets. When he found the bracelet he was looking for, he slipped it onto Aina's wrist as gently as he could.
    Regret filled his heart.
    'I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid. I should have given it to her earlier. Why didn't I give it to her earlier?'
    He felt as though something was clawing at his chest and eating his flesh.
    He had had this bracelet ever since he exited the Mayan Tomb. It was only a Tier 4 Black treasure, but since it was one time use, it was countless times more powerful than other treasures of its tier. He chose it just for Aina, so that he could protect her and help her.
    But, when he saw her kill Conrad like that, he began to question everything. Even after he learned that she had killed Conrad for the sake of protecting Yuri, he still couldn't forget that scene.
    Leonel knew that he liked Aina more than even he, himself, could put into words. But, there was always a piece of himself that remained restrained, a part of him that couldn't accept her. Soбн He never gave her the bracelet he saw as the symbol of his feelings.
    He was so stupid. Impossibly stupid. Regret was seeping through his veins like a venomous poison.
    Leonel roared like an enraged wild beast, ignoring the pain of his inner organs. He could hardly hear it himself, but it spread throughout the Fort like a shockwave.
    "Fire."
    Miles coldly watched on, a disdainful glint lighting his eyes. His only regret was that such a good treasure would likely not survive the wreckage and would have to be buried along with them.
    To the side, Simeon's expression was far more sadistic. He remembered Leonel's voice when he shot that bullet toward him just two hours ago.
    'Unfortunate'. Those were the words he had said. As though the interaction had been meaningless to him. Watching Leonel suffer like this after humiliating him like that made him the itch in his heart lessen.
    'It's too bad the child of that whore will die without repaying the family for the genes she was given. But, so be it.'
    Leonel's maddened roar was drowned out by the explosion.
    BOOM!
    Leonel felt the bones of his body fracture and crack as he slammed into something heavy. His vision was too blurred to see where he was, he could only barely tell with his Internal Sight. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was holding onto Aina.
    "Liбн"
    Leonel heard a weak voice by his ear along with the splintering of another treasure. The gem of the bracelet he had just slipped onto Aina's hand fractured and dimmed, falling from its socket.
    At first, he thought the voice was trying to say his name, but this wasn't true.
    "Little foolбн Take it."
    Leonel blinked, feeling something pressed against his chest. It was only after his senses were barely half recovered that he realized it was Aina talking and she was pushing something against his chest.
    He looked down to find a tall and slender piece of paper between her hand and his chest. No, it looked too much like a piece of fabric to be called paper. However, all Leonel could see was Aina's hand. How she managed to continue holding on to her ax in one and lift the other to give him this thing, whatever it was, Leonel had no idea.
    "Thisбн Is a tickбн et. Just pourбн your Force intoбн it andбн it will taбн ke you toбн anбн otherбн world. I've alбн ready vetбн ted itбн it shouбн ld be saбн fe."
    Leonel's expression flickered, his throat running dry.
    "Fire." Miles once more said coldly.
    "Ju бк Junior Governor Duke, we can't do that. They've been blown too close to the walls. If we shoot again, we'll compromise the safety of the Fort. Some Invalids have already been attracted by the noise."
    Within the tower, the commander of the post hesitated but still clenched his teeth to explain. He was already horrified by Miles' actions. Now that he had found such a good excuse, he had to make use of it. Miles might not care about the common people, but he at least cared about his own safetyбн right?
    "Who cares, we'll just build another wall." Miles said coldly.
    They had built such a great wall in such a short period of time. They could easily do it again. Not to mention the fact that it would just have to be a repair and not a complete reconstruction
    This time, another official stepped in.
    "Junior Governor Duke, the alloys we used to build the wall were all from emergency stores in case of a Class 9: Red event like this one. They've been used up already and we won't have the technology or safety to mine such ores again in the short term."
    Everyone held their breaths, waiting for the Junior Governor Duke's response.
    "бн Send all available units down."
    They all sighed breaths of relief.
    "You heard the Junior Governor Duke! Send down the orders!"
    "Wait." Miles suddenly stopped them, causing them to feel nervous once again. "Call Tier 5 Admiral Bennett as well."
    By the Fort walls, Leonel still hadn't realized he had been sent so close to his original goal. But, even if he had, he hardly had the strength to move now and there were enemies all around.
    "бн Take it!" Aina spoke firmly. "They won'tбн kill me. Theбн Braбн zinger family neбн eds meбн"
    She fumbled around weakly and also managed to find a pill.
    "This can бн stimulate yourбн poбн tenбн tial for five minutesбн but itбн will leaveбн you weбн ak for thбн ree days afбн terwa.. rd. Only take it ifбн you fiбн nd danбн ger on the othбн er sideбн"
    Aina coughed violently.
    "I look likeбн I'm in a бн bad state but my бн body willбн heal soonбн Don'tбн worryбн"
    Leonel gripped Aina's hand which had pressed against his chest once more.
    "What world is it?" Leonel asked with a gruff voice.
    Aina's soft lips curled into a smile, seemingly happy that Leonel would ask this.
    "It's calledбн Terrainбн" She laughed a little before chuckling. "бн It seems thatбн we aren't theбн only ones with badбн naming senseбн"
    Hearing that Aina's voice was slowly getting steadier, Leonel smiled, the grip he had on her small hand tightening slightly. It seemed she hadn't been lying. Her body really was recovering at an astonishing speed.
    "You're right, Earth and Terrain really are bad names." Leonel responded lightly. His words seemed to put Aina at ease for a moment. But, she froze at what she heard next.
    "Wait for me there. I'll come to get you with a present far better than that bracelet, I promise."
    Aina didn't have the time to react before the paper turned fabric she had pressed against Leonel's chest was pasted onto her forehead.
    The last thing she saw was Leonel's smile and the gentle, loving looking in his eyes before she vanished.
    A teleportation ticket could only work for one life form at a time. Even the Metal Spirit Aina had been holding onto for him couldn't follow her in.
    But, Leonel was calm as he looked at the red pill in his hand. Without hesitation, he weakly stood and swallowed it.

 Chapter 96: Sociopathic Hypocrite

    [Bonus chapter for 1200 you little demons]
    Leonel closed his eyes forcefully as though trying to blink his fatigue away.
    Deep in his gut, a flaming hot coal landed. An instant later, it burst.
    As though hundreds of snakes were racing through his body, Leonel felt like all his veins, arteries and blood vessels had suddenly been lit on fire.
    His eyes opened, a deep red hidden within the depths of their pale green.
    His head turned slightly in one particular direction. The cold within his gaze bubbling forth.
    Miles and Simeon felt a cold sweat mat their backs. For a moment, they found it difficult even to breathe, let alone move.
    'бн It would take me 8 minutes and 36 seconds to make it there and kill them in this stateбн It's not enough timeбн'
    Leonel had never felt such a strong desire to kill. It was worse than just wanting to end someone's life. It was deep to the point of wanting to feel the warmth of their blood.
    He was pissed.
    Of course, he was mad about not being able to kill them. But, he was even more pissed off about his own weakness.
    It felt cliche. He was certain that he had read the same exact line in a hundred if not a thousand books, shows and movies before. But, it wasn't until now that he felt it to the depths of his soul, a yearning that was seeking to roar out.
    Others thought that Leonel didn't like the result of his Gene Analysis Exam because he didn't like being a quarterback. However, this wasn't the truth at all. What Leonel actually didn't like was the idea of someone dictating what it was he could and couldn't do. The feeling of someone cornering him like that left him enraged.
    Even he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life yet, so how dare someone else decide his course for him? Who were they to do such a thing? To treat him like a puppet on a string they could pull every which way they desired?
    Those innocent people who died today were just like that. Weak. Having their lives, their fates toyed with on a whim. Was he really much different from them?
    Leonel had never been an ambitious person. From a certain perspective, it could be considered to be one of his flaws. Maybe the only thing in his life he had ever truly wanted was Aina's answer to his confessions. That singular, childish want had actually pushed him to such an extreme. He didn't even really remember how it happened, but here he was. He was now an enemy of the Ascension Empire behemoth.
    That was how simple Leonel was. Such a small thing yet he was willing to go so far for it.
    Aina wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, that was Joan. She had only ever said his name once. He didn't even feel that he knew much about her.
    It was just a feeling. It was a feeling that told him that there was no better woman to be by his side. So, he strove to make that happen. It was nothing more and nothing less.
    If others heard his thoughts, they would think that he was crazy. Such a manбн If he ever had ambitionбн If he ever had something he wanted to accomplishбн Just how scary would he be?
    However, now, Leonel wanted a second thing.
    Their heads. Until he had both of their heads leaking with blood before him, he wouldn't rest.
    'The next time I come, I'll make you pay for taking Aina from me.'
    These were his true thoughts. He didn't mention the innocents who had fallen even once. This was somewhat cruelбн But it was human.
    Leonel turned toward the tall silver walls of the Fort. He was not even a hundred meters from them now. With the strength flowing through his body and his shoes, it wouldn't even take him 30 seconds to leap over it, defeat the guards on the walls and leap down to the other side.
    However, it was at that moment he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
    "Let me go!"
    'бн Jamesбн?' Leonel frowned, looking back.
    By now, many guards had long since surrounded Leonel while he was deep in thought, they were even within ten meters of him. But, Leonel had simply ignored them, not sparing them a glance.
    However, he hadn't expected to hear James' voice here.
    James' father was a Tier 5 official. Even among those in the inner city, his status was high. While Miles dared to brazenly kill commoners, James shouldn't have been in any danger. So, what was going on?
    Was Miles this stupid? He could still keep control of the situation before, but if he started targeting nobles too, he wouldn't be able to keep hold on power for long.
    Leonel's gaze landed on James who was about 20 meters away, struggling under the control of a man with his face obscured by a black tactical helmet. Even in the dark, it was easy for Leonel to make out the gun to James' temple.
    One of the commanders who hadn't moved due to the overwhelming pressure emitting from Leonel sneered, his knees still trembling somewhat as he drummed up his courage.
    "Obediently allow yourself to be captured, or else your friend will suffer a fate worse than death."
    Leonel stood somewhat at a loss, giving the units who had been surrounding him more courage.
    "Leo! Don't listen to them! Just run!"
    "бн"
    Leonel didn't say anything for a long while. In reality, it was barely five seconds, but those five seconds somehow seemed like an eternity.
    However, to those watching, it only seemed natural. Wasn't he just struggling, trying to decide whether to escape with all his might or save his best friend? But, the words Leonel said next left them at a loss.
    "James. Are you sure you want me to kill him?"
    Leonel's voice was calm and even. This was already shocking enough, but the words he said were even more ridiculous. What did he mean by that?
    James suddenly hesitated, his face painted with confusion.
    "I've never seen your father before." Leonel started slowly. "But, this only makes sense. My father retired from his Tier 5 position and I don't come from a large family, so it only makes sense that I'm not worthy of rubbing elbows with the Bennett's too much."
    The more Leonel spoke, the paler James became.
    "People about six feet tall aren't rare, but those who could be as tall as you are quite a small percentage. You have an A-grade defensive ability, compared to others, what you should fear the least are low class guns that can function without Force disruption. Lastly, it would be quite stupid for Miles to turn on the nobles that help him keep everyone in line, don't you think?"
    Leonel continued to calmly speak as though not sensing more and more units closing in on him.
    "So, I will ask you again, James.
    "Are. You. Sure. That. You. Want. Me. To. Kill. Him."
    Leonel's words were like a hammer taken to a stake at James' heart.
    Seeing that James didn't respond, Leonel shook his head.
    "I'm disappointedбн I reallyбн took you as my closest friendбн"
    "Bullshit!" James suddenly roared. "You pretend to care about so many things, you pretend to be kind hearted, but all you really care about are things ending up exactly like you want them! You don't like killing only because you don't want to deal with the guilt! You don't like playing football only because you didn't get to choose it! You only want to do things your way and nothing else matters!"
    Leonel frowned. He couldn't make sense of the jumbled mess James was speaking. He could feel that this 'friend' of his had had this on his mind for a long time, but he wasn't eloquent enough to put them into words in any sort of short and concise way. Even more so, Leonel didn't know where this was coming from.
    Yet, somehow, even without a true cohesive line connecting his thoughts, James' words seemed to stab at something deep within Leonel's heart.
    "You're a fucking sociopathic hypocrite!"
    "бн"
    Leonel looked toward James who was bordering on hyperventilation. There was a slight hint of pain in the depths of his eyes that he was unable to hide.
    "бн I don't know whether or not the things you said are true." Leonel finally responded. "I really don't care about many things. Goals? I don't have any yet. When my father mentioned the fact that my mother was actually still aliveбн I didn't feel much. In all my life, I never even asked him about her.
    "There are very few things that I am certain of. The first is that I love my dad. The second is that Aina is the woman for me. The third was that you were the person closest to me outside of my own dadбн but it seemed that this was me being too naive.
    "What I do know, though, is that regardless of what reasons you haveбн At this moment, you're trying to push me toward my death."
    James' face became as white as a sheet. No matter how hard he tried, he simply didn't have a response.
    Leonel turned toward the man holding a gun to James' head.
    "I hope it was worth it using your son like that, Mr. Bennett."
    Leonel turned and left. Of course, there were numerous attempts to stop him, but they were all foolhardy. Miles even grit his teeth and fired the canons once more, not caring for the damage that was done to the walls, but Leonel simply used his shoes to leap out of the range of the explosion.
    Without the burden of Aina and her ax, and being so close to the walls thanks to Miles' mad volleys, Leonel survived within his five minute timer.
    With that, he vanished.

 Chapter 97: Talk Too Much

    Leonel walked slowly, using his silver rod to hold himself up.
    His once handsome face was obscured by soot and grime, his brownish-gold hair loosely hanging downward. One could barely see his pale green eyes between its strands, but what one could see would make it impossible not to shiver.
    There was some sadness in there. After all, now Leonel had no one. His father had gone off on his own to some unknown place, Aina was now on another world, and now, the last person he thought he could trust on Earth had turned on him as well.
    Compared to the horrible things truly unfortunate people have to deal with, this wasn't much. However, to Leonel, who had never really suffered in his life, it was a huge blow.
    However, this wasn't what would shake people to their core. What was so shocking in those eyes was the coldness. An indifferent, calculating coldness.
    Leonel hadh't even left the range of the Fort's influence, but he was calculating. Like an emotionless machine, he ran through plan after plan, each of which would lead to the death of Miles and Simeon.
    As he watched them die in his Dream World again and again, the gaze in his eyes grew colderбн more inhuman.
    The faint lights of dawn could be seen on the horizon. Soon, the night would end and the sun would rise.
    Leonel's steps only grew slower and slower, his body becoming less and less able to hold itself together.
    "Since you're already hereбн Is there a need to continue hiding?" Leonel spoke plainly.
    He had noticed this person long ago, but hadn't said anything. He had been hoping that this person would come out and attack him. To the current Leonel, sooner was better. His body was already in a sorry state. If he was forced to continue, he wouldn't be able to take another step.
    Leonel had thought of pretending to find a place to hide and rest. Like this, he could wait for this person to make their move then. However, he felt that if he lied down now, his body would shut down.
    At that moment, a shadow slowly came out.
    He looked like an oriental man with dark black hair and eyes. Butбн that was the only thing normal about him. The weird things were almost too numerous to list, but even the short version could make one's expression twist weirdly.
    For oneбн The man was completely naked. He wore not a single thing. Other than the weird chain from his neck that held a card that dangled from one of its links, the sniper rifle strapped to his back, and the knife in his hand, he had nothing else on him.
    Secondlyбн His body was covered in tattoos. In the 24th century, a tattoo artist teamed up with a leading expert in biological nano technology to create what they called 'Vision Tattoos'. They were essentially tattoos that moved along one's body in a repetitive, loop-like fashion. Almost like a 'gif' from the 21st century.
    If it was just the fact this man had a vision tattoo, it would be fine. Butбн why was his vision tattoo a porno?
    It was so weird that Leonel didn't even think to ask himself why it was the technology of the vision tattoo seemed unaffected. His virgin eyes couldn't leave the plump woman being plowed by three men at once. He couldn't help wondering if she was okayбн
    The third weird thing about this man was the fact that half of his body was covered in bandages. Yet, not only had he chased Leonel, but he was actually smiling so masochistically, as though he was enjoying his own pain.
    Who else could this person be if not Xinghai?
    "бн I wanted to wait until we were out of the range of the Fort so that no one would interfere in our battle, but I didn't expect your body to be so weak now. I bet if that Junior Governor Duke knew this, he wouldn't have given up chasing you so quickly."
    "Are you finished?" Leonel asked without much of a change to his expression.
    Xinghai didn't get mad at such words. Instead, he sighed.
    "It's a shame. You were good prey, but I don't have the time to wait for you to recover. Plus, I'm injured too and it's your fault. So, things are fair, don't you think?"
    Xinghai licked his lips and took a step forward, but what he saw next made him freeze.
    Leonel flicked his wrist and a grenade appeared out from his spatial bracelet.
    "Since that's the case, let's die together."
    Leonel smiled, yet it seemed colder than even Xinghai's own. Before Xinghai could do anything, Leonel pulled the pin.
    However, despite the panicked look on his face, Xinghai was internally sneering.
    'This idiot.'
    Xinghai laughed within his heart. Then, he prepared his blink ability and activated it. However, what he saw in the last moment before he disappeared made his eyes squint in confusion.
    'бн He threw the grenade away from usбн? Whatбн? Oh no!'
    BANG!
    The sound wasn't from the grenade. Leonel had chucked it so far away that compared to this bang, it was nothing.
    When Xinghai appeared once more, he found a gun placed onto his chest, its hot nozzle burning his skin.
    He looked up at Leonel in shock. Then, fell over. Dead.
    Leonel watched indifferently as the last of Xinghai's life faded. At that moment, he felt like his arm was about to implode. Without Force disruption towers, the recoil mitigation technology of the handgun didn't work anymore, so he had to take the brunt of it himself. However, even though he was prepared, it had still hurt like hell.
    'It's too bad that you talk too muchбн' Leonel thought, walking toward the card that Xinghai had hung from his neck in curiosity.
    The moment Xinghai gave Leonel too much information to deduce some things from, he was finished. He never stood a chance. Even he had no idea, even in death, how Leonel had seen through him so easily.

 Chapter 98: Fawkes

    [Bonus chapter for 1500... next week there will be bonus chapter per 350 powerstones instead &gt;;] ]
    The moment Xinghai said his injuries were caused by Leonel, it made the latter think of a few things. There was no one he injured like that. Could it be that Xinghai was referring to the canons Miles was using?
    But, when Leonel saw the sniper rifle on his back, he realized something else. Could this have been the sniper he shot at? Shouldn't he be dead? Leonel had been very confident in that shotбн
    That was when Leonel understood. If that sniper managed to survive, there was an 84% chance that he had an ability that allowed him to do so.
    Judging by Leonel's observation, there was a 7% chance this ability was defensive and a 91% chance that this ability was evasive. It was less likely to be defensive, or else Xinghai wouldn't be so injured. Leonel then decided that this ability was either related to high speed, some sort of invulnerability, or potentially teleportation.
    In the beginning, Leonel had given teleportation the lowest odds because he intuitively knew it must be a rare high class ability. However, when Xinghai stepped toward him, Leonel realized his speed stat was far too low, so teleportation moved up a rank. That left invulnerability and teleportation.
    So, Leonel set up a test with the grenade. He didn't believe that Xinghai's ability was impregnable, or else he wouldn't have been injured. He also didn't believe that Xinghai's ability had a long duration, or, again, he wouldn't have been injured.
    This led Leonel to ultimately conclude that Xinghai's ability was short term invulnerability or short distance teleportation. Regardless of which it wasбн He was finished the moment he took Leonel's bait.
    'This is really too inconvenient.' Leonel shook his head. 'If I didn't have to speak out loud to the dictionary, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble. It could have just directly told me what I needed to knowбн'
    This event was one no one was destined to know about. It happened in a place without spectators and Leonel didn't even seem to care much about it. Howeverбн If others were to know what happened hereбн How Leonel, an 18 year old boy, played a Five Star Arms Professional to death while barely able to stand on his own two legsбн
    The world would come to know that a monster had awakened.
    'Slayer Legion?' Leonel's eyes narrowed as he looked at the card Xinghai left behind.
    The Slayer Legionбн It was a name not many knew about. This wasn't because they tried to hide themselves. It was quite the opposite, actually. There was nothing this group wanted more than to be widely recognized and renowned. However, they were always pressed beneath the thumb of the Ascension Empire.
    The few who knew its name were either high ranking government officials or other unlucky individuals that happened to be present during one of its many attempted and failed campaigns.
    By now, those who were clever enough had likely already guessed exactly what this 'Slayer Legion' was. It was precisely the rebel army that dared to face up against the mighty Ascension Empire.
    In order to dehumanize and emasculate the rebels, the Ascension Empire suppressed news of them to the extreme. It was to the point that many weren't even aware that they had a name at all.
    Leonel didn't expect Xinghai to be affiliated with them. He was quite bold to wear it around on his neck like that. But, then again, he didn't exactly seem like a normal individual.
    "The rebel army, huhбн?" Leonel flipped Xinghai's card in his hand. "бн I'm not interested in joining, but I can probably use these guys to kill them fasterбн"
    **
    In the lofty Ascension Province, there was a palace that stood as tall as a mountain. Beautiful golds and silvers were all around, displaying an impossible to grasp majesty.
    Within the royal court, nobles from all across the land were gathered. If one were to not be aware of the Metamorphosis, it would be impossible to guess from this place that such a horrible event was going on. Let alone how immaculate the Ascension Palace looked from the outside, even much of the Ascension Province seemed completely unaffected.
    Still, despite how many powerful men had gathered here, there was one man who had so much presence that they were all completely drowned.
    He sat on the throne with a light smile on his face. He looked to be quite old based on his wrinkles, maybe almost 60 years old. But, he had a youthful exuberance that rivaled a 20 year old man in his prime.
    His hair was a bright white-gold that almost seemed to radiate its own light. His eyes were like two green emeralds, twinkling as though they were gems. His beard was full and almost looked like a lion's mane, but it was so meticulously groomed that not even a single strand was out of place.
    He was handsome to the point of being inhuman and charismatic to the point of being untouchable. He had the kind of air that made it impossible for one to continue holding onto their anger before him.
    He was Emperor Gervaise Fawkes. The man who wielded the most power on Earth.
    At this moment, a man kneeled before him with an ugly expression, explaining a great many things that he listened to seriously.
    "Outrageous!"
    One of the nobles roared as they listened to this story.
    "Two children actually dare to be so brazen just because they were awakened as Variants?! What is your Royal Blue Province doing, Governor Duke Leum?! You can't contain two commoners?!"
    The kneeling man wore an ugly expression, but he didn't refute, waiting for His Majesty's response. He knew that his enemies in the court wouldn't allow him room to maneuver now that his son had made such a big mistake. The only option was to come clean. Hiding it would only make things worse.
    Suddenly, the Emperor began to laugh. The laughter was so jovial and happy that the Royal Court was stunned silent.
    "Leonel Morales is it? HAHA!" Emperor Fawkes continued to laugh. "You're asking me what to do about a teenage boy? Do whatever you want, go all out. Kill him if you can, though I doubt you'll be able to."
    The words left them speechless. What was going onбн?
    However, Emperor Fawkes continued to laugh.
    "Killed a few nobles? Killed several thousand commoners? Disobeyed direct orders? So what?!
    "If you can, you can go ahead and kill him. In fact, if anyone can kill him, I will reward you greatly. The second Province we clear after the Ascension Province will be yours if you succeed."
    "бн Pardonбн?" Governor Duke Leum thought he must have heard incorrectly. That must be itбн right?
    Unfortunately, Emperor Fawkes continued to laugh.
    "Leonel, is it? My daughter truly gave me a great grandson. Kill some more, rampage some more, who cares? A Fawkes man should be exactly like this."
    Governor Duke Leum directly fainted. He collapsed to the ground, willing what he had just heard away in his dream land.

 Chapter 99: Noah

    The Ascension Royal Court was in an uproar.
    They all knew that Emperor Gervaise Fawkes had had two children in his lifetime бк his eldest daughter and his younger son. The talent of the latter didn't need to be mentioned. Whether it was his intelligence, elegance, or personal strength, not a single one was lacking.
    However, despite his talent, the Emperor never formally handed the Crown Prince title to him despite it being tradition to do so. No one was aware of the reason why. But, Gervaise Fawkes was a near mythical figure. Those who dared to question his decisions simply didn't exist anymore.
    When it came to the princess, thoughбн they were completely in the dark. The last time she was seen, she wasn't even ten years old. Since then, she hadn't made any public appearances. No one knew where she was.
    It was only now, with the help of the Emperor's words, that they were aware that she was not only alive, but had married and even had a child? How could it be that the Nation's First Daughter could be married without them being informed? Just what sort of secret was hidden behind this?
    Of course, many of them thought it was some sort of conspiracy. But, this idea was quickly thrown out. If it was as simple as the Princess disobeying her father and marrying a man he didn't accept, why would she disappear before she even turned ten? It can't be that she got married as a toddler, right?
    In addition, judging by the Princess' age, she should be about 65 years old right now. But, her son was only 18. So, what secrets could have filled the time between her 10th birthday and her 47th?
    Regardless of what the truth was, the royal court was at a loss.
    The Emperor was encouraging them to go out and kill Leonel if they could, and even promised such mouth watering rewards. Butбн
    Who of them actually dared to take the first step?
    **
    After the daily gathering of the Royal Court ended, the Emperor could be found silently meditating, a radiant smile on his face.
    Swirls of Force slowly entered his body. Compared to Leonel, the speed was much slower. But, it seemed that he was taking his time as though taking a nice, slow paced stroll.
    If one looked closely, it was possible to see the deep lines of wrinkles on the Emperor's face slowly receding. A long while later, he looked to be even younger than he had this morning.
    "Imperial Grandfather."
    Seeing that the Emperor had finally opened his eyes, a young man with sharp brows humbly kneeled before him.
    The young man's hair was also a bright white-gold, albeit a few shades dimmer than the Emperor. It seemed that the genes of the Fawkes were quite strong, because his eyes were also a deep shade of green.
    He had a handsome, confident bearing. His shoulders were wide and powerful. And, though he didn't dare to bring a weapon in the presence of his grandfather, the calluses on his otherwise blemishless hands proved that he was adept at using one.
    "Noahбн Why have you come to see this old throne?"
    The Emperor's smile didn't fade. He looked no different than a grandfather chatting with his grandson.
    "бн I have a cousin?" Noah asked, probingly."
    "Of course. You've had a cousin for 18 years already. You're just a little older than he is."
    Noah felt a bit frustrated by this answer. The Emperor obviously knew what he meant by asking this question. The point wasn't that he had a cousin, the point was about why this was hidden.
    However, Noah had known his grandfather for long enough to know that it would be useless to ask directly. He had to find another way.
    "бн Are you really going to allow those nobles to try and kill him?"
    The Emperor's smile deepened.
    "Yes." He replied. "A talent isn't worth much if it's grown in a greenhouse."
    "A talentбн?" Noah's jaw involuntarily set. "Is he more valuable to you than me, Imperial Grandfather?"
    One might expect a grandfather put in this sort of situation to go out of their way to settle the hearts of their grandson, but the Emperor did nothing of the sort. Instead, he pondered for a while before nodding as though this was obvious.
    "His mother is more talented than your father. And, his father is beyond what your mother could imagine. Isn't this just the logical conclusion?"
    Noah felt his heartbeat slow as though it was sighing in resignation along with him. This sort of answer, he wasn't surprised by it. What he was surprised by was the latter part of the statement.
    Beyond his mother? His father was born on Earth but his motherбн How could that be? Just where did Leonel's father come from to gain such an evaluation? It even faintly sounded like even his Imperial Grandfather, a man who wasn't scared of anything, held some faint reservations about this man.
    "If it's like this, Imperial Grandfather, why did cousin not grow up with me?"
    The Emperor remained silent, continuing to smile at Noah. But this only made the latter feel as though he was being drowned in his own sweat.
    "Those who grow up in good environments often end up being useless." The Emperor finally replied.
    "Butбн"
    "You're wondering why I say his father and mother are both better than yours, yet in the same breath also say he didn't have a good environment to live in?"
    "бн Yes."
    The Emperor's smile deepened. "It's the same reason why your mother can't actively take part in your life just yet. Did you think she didn't have a reason for this?"
    Noah's eyes widened. This was the first bit of happy news he had gotten since this conversation began. It was a simple sentence, but he felt it suffocating him with joy.
    Of course, what Noah didn't know was that despite not being able to actively take partбн Leonel's father still stayed by his side despite the restrictions. As for why his Imperial Grandfather hid this important piece of information, it was impossible to tell.
    Feeling much better, Noah smiled brightly.
    "Imperial Grandfather, I would like to leave the Ascension Province and seek out cousin. Then we can face his coming challenge together. You said that a talent in a greenhouse isn't worth much, right?"
    The Emperor shook his head. "No, this is his challenge, not yours."
    Noah quickly lowered his head, realizing that he had gotten a bit too ahead of himself.
    "Howeverбн if you're going off to try and kill him, I can allow you to go."
    Noah felt as though he had been dunked into an ice bath. He flexed his muscles with all of his strength, trying to stop his own trembling. But, the Emperor continued as though he didn't notice his grandson's odd state.
    "Those Tier 7 officials are really too useless. I could tell that none of them would have the backbone to act. Maybe only that Governor Duke Leum would do something when he's pushed into a corner."
    The Emperor's smile deepened.
    "That said, not everyone is useless. That Brazinger family and those like them are foolish enough not to fear me, those Tier 8 and above officials as well. Should be an interesting time for your little cousin.
    "I have great expectations for the little guy, HAHA! What a good grandson, a good grandson indeed."
    The Emperor laughed for a while longer before turning back to Noah.
    "Go on now, LIttle Noah. There are a lot of starving dogs that have turned their eyes on our piece of meat. And, there are some larger ravenous beasts that want to take a chunk out of our Earth.
    "You and your cousin will be the figureheads of your generation. Don't disappoint me."
    In his laughter, the Emperor's aura had leaked from his body. The presence was so imposing that Noah almost lay down flat on the ground. He felt that he couldn't drag up the courage to do anything in opposition to this man.
    "бн Yes! Imperial Grandfather!"
    **
    In the basement wreckage of a collapsed building, Leonel sat against a dusty wall with his muscles spasming in pain. However, his face remained completely expressionless.
    To an outside observer, it almost looked like all sorts of snakes and insects were wiggling beneath his skin, yet Leonel didn't seem to notice. His mind was focused on something completely different.
    'The Segmented Cube swallowed up that sniper's dead body tooбн It can't be that it wants me to eat his corpse like I did with the octopusбн right?'
    If Leonel had the spare strength he needed to form them, he would definitely be shedding tears right now. Why did his father leave him behind such a perverted treasure?

 Chapter 100: Lab

    Leonel suddenly felt immense regret about not asking Montez for an abode type treasure. The feeling of having your body split apart out of your control, yet only being able to lie on hard, stone floors was really too unbearable. If he had a tent treasure like Yuri had, this would be much more convenient.
    'Yuriбн I wonder if she'll be okayбн'
    Leonel frowned at this thought. The only reason why he was able to escape the outer city was because he only had to worry about himself. He knew that going back to get Yuri was impossible. If he had, they both would have died.
    He was worried about more than just Yuri. He had no idea if Miles would try to make use of his teammates against him or not.
    Leonel shook his head. He knew there was no point in thinking about these things. He just had to grow stronger.
    'Since I can't move, what can I do?'
    "Hey, do you know why the Segmented Cube took in the corpse of that sniper?"
    [ *Ping* The corpse is useful ]
    Leonel frowned. "Why is it useful?"
    [ *Ping* The abilities of existences at and above the TIer 7 Black grade condense within the Ethereal Glabella Evolution Crystals. Force Crafters can refine these into limited use items. ]
    Leonel was speechless. Though this was better than having to eat the corpse, was it that much better? Something about using a human body to refine items made him feel uncomfortable.
    "Waitбн" Leonel suddenly thought of something. "бн Does that mean that the octopus was taken for that reason as well?"
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, yes. ]
    Leonel's lip twitched. The sniper's ability might really be useful to him, but wouldn't he have to grow tentacles in order to make use of the octopus' ability? Where was the cool factor? How could he show his face to Aina again if he did such a thing?
    "Hold on a second, the Segmented Cube is a lab, right? Doesn't that mean I should be able to enter it?"
    [ *Ping* Yes. ]
    "Then why the hell am I still here? It can activate on its own to take that pervert's corpse but can't see that I'm struggling out here?"
    Leonel took out the Segmented Cube, fuming. He didn't know if there was anywhere comfortable to rest in the lab, but it should at least be cleaner than this dusty place, right? How could it treat him like this? What kind of weird fetish did this cube have to have to like corpses more than the living?
    "Hey, little guy." Leonel knocked on the cube with a knuckle. "Can you let me in?"
    The Segmented Cube vibrated, then separated into its pieces once more. Leonel felt his vision go black and, a moment later, he found himself in a small ten by ten by ten meter space.
    On the outside, out of Leonel's vision, the pieces of the Segmented Cube floated around where Leonel had just been sitting. Its jigsaw-like pieces were connected by a faint white light, taking up the same amount of space as Leonel could see from the inside.
    "This is the lab?" Leonel blinked, unaware of what was going on outside.
    Leonel struggled to stand and looked around.
    'The Force concentration in this place is a lot higher.' Leonel's brow raised.
    On one side of the lab, there was a silver rack filled with what looked like snowglobes. But, Leonel's eyes widened when his gaze landed on them.
    Within two of the snowglobes, he could see the corpse of the octopus and that sniper floating. It seemed that they had been compressed and placed inside. Leonel guessed that this must be the lab's method of preservation.
    Other than the silver rack, Leonel found the bookshelves and cubicles filled with scrolls his dad left behind on another side of the room. In the middle, that odd table with half-spherical wells that was in the basement was here as well. Though, Leonel wasn't certain of what it could be used for.
    Thinking of something else, Leonel reached into one of the large pockets of the tactical gear he had stolen from the Fort and brought out the Metal Spirit.
    The little guy bounced around like an elastic ball, pinging around the confines of its cube as though still trying to escape. But, Leonel could tell that it was just excited.
    "Why is this little guy so excited to be here?" Leonel asked.
    He thought he would find some great treasure here, but aside from the rack of snowglobes, there really wasn't anything else special.
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, Spirits need high concentrations of Force and their preferred element to grow and evolve. The half Metamorphosed Earth is akin to a barren wasteland for it. In comparison, the Segmented Cube's inner space is much better. ]
    "The Segmented Cube can generate Force?" Leonel asked expectantly.
    [ *Ping* No. ]
    Leonel frowned. It can't generate Force? Then why is the concentration so high? At a moment like this, he really hated that the dictionary only ever answered his questions directly and hardly embellished.
    "Why is the Force concentration so much higher here, then?"
    [ *Ping* The Segmented Cube has a sterilization ability. ]
    "Explain this ability to me."
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed ]
    [Sterilization: The refinement and purification of Force. ]
    "So the concentration of Force here is dependent on the outside world? What Dimensional grade has it reached?"
    [ *Ping* Yes. The current concentration is about equal to a Mid-level Fourth Dimensional World. ]
    "Mid-level? Worlds of the same Dimension are separated as well, huhбн"
    Leonel forgot his pain in all his curiosity. He only wanted to learn more and know more. He found all of this fascinating.
    "бн Wait! The concentration of Forceбн If I use the lab, wouldn't that make Invalids come after me? Crap!"
    Leonel panicked for a moment. He had already been in here for several minutes. This was more than enough time for Invalids to close in on him.
    [ *Ping* No. The lab is able to hide its Force activity. ]
    Leonel's eyes widened before he began to laugh wildly. He was only forced to stop after he felt his lung might come flying out from his throat. This pain was really too unbearable.
    His progress had always been limited by those damned Invalids. Even if he was still in the Fort, it wouldn't make a difference due to those Force disrupting towers. But now, with the lab, he could practice [Dimensional Cleanse] without worry. Wasn't this fantastic?
    'I'll have to wait for my body to recover before I can do any Force cultivating. But, in the meantime, I can do other thingsбн'
    Aina said he would feel weak for three days. So, during those three days, his healing would be exceptionally slow. After those three days passed, though, his body would be able to slowly recover at a more normal pace.
    As for how long it would take him to recover after that? Leonel didn't know. But, regardless, since the lab could hide him from Invalids, there was no need to move from this place for now.
    Leonel's mind ran wild for a moment. What was the best use of his time?
    After a while, Leonel made a decision.
    He walked to the odd table and took out two ores, a pair of gloves, a quill, and finally, the Metal Spirit.
    "How do I make this little guy my official Familiar?"

 Chapter 101: Adorable

    [Bonus chapter for 350 ps, next at 700 :) see? I can smile through the pain]
    [ *Ping* ]
    Leonel stood in confusion. Usually, the dictionary would respond right away, and even if it didn't, it would tell him that the information was omitted. So, what was going on?
    A moment later, the hologram of his father gained life to it once more, causing Leonel's eyes to light up. It seemed his father had left more than one recording behind. Since this one activated now, it must mean that this was quite important.
    "You finally activated this, little cry baby?" Leonel's father shook his head. "It's about time."
    Leonel bit his teeth and remained silent, he refused to fall for the same trick twice. His father had gotten him once, but if he got him a second time, he would never live this down. So, he only silently watched as his father picked at his ears.
    Luckily, it seemed that his father was already satisfied after tricking him once.
    "I'm not certain which Familiar you've managed to get your hands on, but if it's a Metal Spirit, good. If it's not, it's still good. Regardless of how useful a Familiar is to you, remember to treat it like a partner and a friend. If I find out one day that you've treated it as a tool, I'll peel a layer off your ass with my palm."
    'бн So vulgarбн' Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes.
    "If you're smart, you've probably understood from my words that the most important part of a relationship between a Familiar and a Force Crafter is friendship and intimacy. The more in sync your hearts are, the better the results will be.
    "If you've managed to find a Metal Spirit, just say 'Yes' and the dictionary will direct you to that recording."
    "Yes." Leonel replied
    Leonel's father smiled, pushing up his glasses.
    "Lucky, lucky. Metal Spirits are fairly weak in the infancy stages. In fact, before our Morales Clan took them to be our favorites, they were quite looked down upon by the Force Crafter world. Most other Force Crafters prefer Flame Spirits.
    "Before one even gets to the Metal Spirit, there are a whole host of Familiars one might think of first. Wind Spirits are especially beloved by those who focus on the Force Art aspect of Force Crafting. Natural Intelligence Spirits have calculative minds far beyond that of us humanoid creatures. The list goes on and onбн
    "However, a Metal Spirit, especially when combined with our Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, has been widely recognized as one of the best. Those with Metal Spirits are the best at crafting small and intricate parts. This may sound like a meaningless thing, but everything starts with a foundation.
    "Nothing large and complex can be created without the small and simple. Thanks to this, our Morales Clan has a reputation in craftsmanship that puts dwarves to shame. One day, when you're confident, take a look at the mechanisms of that dictionary I left you. That day, you'll be able to see the prowess of our Morales Clan."
    Leonel's father laughed heartily.
    "Anyway, I will get to the point. The simple answer to your question is that you can't. Making a Familiar your official companion is a long process. There's no such thing as making it submit. Wellбн there is, but I would never allow you to do such a thing. In fact, if you ever come across someone who has, you should directly kill them."
    The coldness in his father's voice made Leonel shiver. His father had never said something even remotely close to this. In fact, much of the reason Leonel's moral code was like it was, was due to his father's guidance. It was his old man that taught him his kindness. To abruptly say such a thing was tooбн jarring.
    Leonel's father shook his head as though feeling he had said something he shouldn't have. He hesitated for a moment. Leonel felt like his father was trying to decide whether or not to delete the recording and start again. But, in the end, he decided to press forward and leave things as is.
    "бн All you can do to make a Familiar accept you is treat them well. There will come a time where you two become inseparable. Take it to nice environments, treat it to nice food, and don't keep it imprisoned for too long. Let it roam free, it won't easily leave the side of a person it's familiar with. After all, in the beginning stages of its evolution, it's not much more than a child."
    Leonel nodded in understanding.
    "The last thing to do is to give it a name and train by its side. Metal Spirits, in comparison to other spirits, have a very high demand on the dexterity of their partner. I've left a step by step training plan for you in the dictionary to be used alongside blueprints that were in my office.
    "Remember, the most important thing is your personal strength. Do not spend too long on Force Crafting. Your old man has made this mistake before. If I wasn't so fascinated with it in my youth, I would be ten times more powerful than I am now. But, I had to give others a chance, if I really was any more powerful, the universe might not be able to accept my existence anymore, HAHA!"
    Leoenl smiled and shook his head. If he knew that his old man really wasn't joking, then maybe his reaction would have been a bit different.
    After the message ended, Leonel took a deep breath and walked to the Metal Spirit. It was still bouncing around crazily.
    When it noticed Leonel had appeared above it, it plopped down and formed a little puddle as though pouting. Leonel really couldn't help but think that it was quite adorable.
    "Wellбн Be free little guy."
    As soon as Leonel opened the lid of the transparent cube, the Metal Spirit shot up like a spring and hit the ceiling. Then, without a pause, it rebounded across the room.
    Leonel smiled as he watched it. He thought the little guy might have some resentment toward him for keeping him locked up for so long, but it really was like a child. Its memory was short and the only feelings it seemed to have for Leonel were those of gratitude for setting it free. It didn't seem to remember that it was only locked up to begin with because of Leonel.
    After a long while, the Metal Spirit grew tired of its new environment and settled down onto the table. Force began to whizz around it, disappearing into its little body like a typhoon.
    Leonel watched on silently and allowed it to do as it pleased.
    'It seems that the Force the lab can sterilize at once is limited. I can already faintly feel it dissipating. That probably means that I'll need to wait for the lab to replenish itself every time I finish using [Dimensional Cleanse]бн That's fine, it's still better than not being able to practice at all.'
    "Alright, what's the first lesson that old man left behind for me?"
    Leonel decided not to bother the Metal Spirit for now. Since Leonel himself couldn't use the Force in his current state, he might as well leave it to the little guy.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Book One: The Basics ]
    [ Lesson One: Hazards ]
    Leonel nodded. At least his old man was serious when it came to this sort of stuff. The dangers should be the first things he learns about, lest he almost kill himself again like the time he foolishly modified a Force technique.
    [ 1. Metal Spirits ]
    Leonel frowned. 'Metal Spirits are dangerous? Then why did dad say to let it free. Don't tell me this old man is trying to get me killedбн'
    [ Metal Spirits are highly corrosive lifeforms. Their instinct is to devour. In order to evolve, they need to consume large amounts of Force and high level minerals. Unfortunately, Evolvers happen to have high concentrations of both. It is advised to never allow skin to skin contact with a Metal Spirit. Even veterans who have been by their partner's side for many years can still suffer at the hands of their Metal Spirit Familiars. ]
    [ Whenever you are handling a Metal Spirit, be sure to wear the proper defensive gear. The minimum requirement is a pair of Force Skin Gloves. However, for a beginner, a full Force Skin Suit is more appropriate. ]
    Leonel looked up at the ceiling above his head, the grief evident in his eyes. His old man really was trying to get him killed.
    The good news was that he now knew what those gloves Montez gave him were.
    The bad news was that those gloves were a mere minimum requirement, yet they were all he had. To make things worse, he had set them on the table when he brought the Metal Spirit out. And nowбн The Metal Spirit was swallowing Force from right on top of them.
    Leonel suddenly felt that the little guy had become much less adorable.

 Chapter 102: Competition Across Generations

    [One of you guys mentioned that you might like to vote on the little guy's (Metal Spirit's) name, so I thought sure, why not? Feel free to comment your suggestions, I'll pick the one with the most likes :) don't be dirty, think of the children :'&lt; ]
    After this slip up, Leonel realized that he was most definitely not in the best state to continue pushing himself. He didn't know what he was thinking. He still hadn't slept a wink since the matters with the weremen and his body was collapsing on him. It was best that he set this aside and come back when his mind was fresh.
    Luckily, after this, Leonel learned some useful things about the lab.
    Firstly, the state of the lab was dependent on the amount of Force it had access to. Since this was only a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional World still in the process of completing its Metamorphosis, the lab could only enter what the dictionary called: Phase One.
    Secondly, each Phase had two settings. One was the Lab Setting and the other was the Abode Setting. The Lab Setting was self explanatory, but the Abode Setting was geared toward resting and recovery.
    Leonel was so happy he almost shed real tears. After entering the Abode Setting, the Metal Spirit was left in the Lab Setting, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
    The Abode Setting of Phase One had one main attraction. It was a pool that was eerily similar to the one Montez allowed Leonel to bathe in. According to the dictionary, it was filled with Black Grade Soothing Waters. Leonel assumed that it could be improved by entering Phase Two.
    The Black Grade Soothing Waters weren't very beneficial to increasing his strength any longer. But, it was perfect for speeding up his recovery.
    That said, what Leonel loved the most about the Abode Setting wasn't the pool, but, rather, the bed. He wasn't sure if it was simply because of how tired he was, but he swore it was softer than a cloud. Without a doubt the best bed he had ever slept on.
    Like this, Leonel did nothing in the next three days but sleep, eat octopus meat, and recover in the Soothing Water pool.
    **
    On the fourth day, Leonel dressed head to toe in the tactical gear he had stolen from the Fort and cautiously entered the Lab Setting to find the Metal Spirit still snoring away on top of the Force Skin Gloves.
    Though Leonel inwardly cursed, he still resolved himself. He was already about 80% recovered by this point, so he felt his mind was much clearer.
    Maybe the smartest thing to do would be to use the cube that had imprisoned it before to move it away, but Leonel took his father's words to heart. This little guy was meant to be his friend, his companion. Clearly, he didn't like being imprisoned. In that case, Leonel didn't want to antagonize him.
    The rest of the process went surprisingly smoothly. The Metal Spirit, maybe due to having absorbed so much Force, was quite languid and just slipped right off the black gloves. If it wasn't for the little bubble it formed and popped on its surface to greet Leonel, the latter would have thought it hadn't noticed at all.
    Breathing a sigh of relief, Leonel slipped the gloves on and left the little guy alone. For now, he still didn't know enough to interact with it. Then, he began his studies in earnest.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Book One: The Basics ]
    [ Lesson One: Hazards ]
    бн
    [ 4. Finger Strain ]
    [ To a Force Crafter, your most important treasure isn't your partner, but, rather, your fingers. It is important not to execute complex movements before you're ready or else you can cause irreparable, hidden and lingering injuries to your hands. These injuries can often build artificial bottlenecks to your progress. Refer to Book One: The Basics - Lesson Two: Stretches and Strengtheningбн ]
    бн
    [ 9. Force Art Reactions ]
    [ Force Arts are an incredibly complex subject matter, even the most accomplished Force Artists would never dare to say they know everything. This is why it's important to blueprint your ideas and test their feasibility. If two Force Arts clash and react violently, you may die before you know what happened. Refer to Book One: The Basics - Lesson Five: Force Art ]
    бн
    [ 17. Reactive Metals ]
    бн
    [ 23. Third Dimensional Electrical Engineering ]
    [ 24. Fourth Dimensional Electrical Engineering ]
    бн
    [ 37. Overfeeding and Metal Spirit Potential ]
    бн
    Someone else might have been overwhelmed, but Leonel soaked in everything he saw as though he was a sponge. He didn't seem to get bored or tired. In fact, a very familiar aura began to spread from him the moment he began learning in earnest.
    To Leonel, it had never mattered whether he loved to do something or not, he always took it with the utmost seriousness. In fact, compared to other things, since his father loved Force Crafting so much, he had a better opinion of it as well. So, of course he would try his best.
    Before he knew it, he had already cleared the first Lesson of Book One and moved on to Lesson Two.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Book One: The Basics ]
    [ Lesson Two: Stretches and Strengthening ]
    Unlike Lesson One which listed a seemingly endless barrage of hazards, Lesson Two focused entirely on what Leonel's father claimed was his most important tool. Instead of learning Force Crafting skills, Lesson Two was all about exercisesбн for his fingers?
    [ 1. Flexibility]
    [ бн ]
    [ 2. Speed ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 3. Strength ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 4. Dexterity ]
    [ 4.1 Precision ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 4.2 Acceleration ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 4.3 Deceleration ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 5. Force and Your Hands ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 6. Recovery ]
    [ 6.1 Stretches ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 6.2 Herbs ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 6.3 Natural Treasures ]
    [ бн ]
    [ 6.4 Force Circulation ]
    [ бн ]
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Lesson Two: Completed. ]
    [ Lesson Three: You and Your Metal Spirit - Locked ]
    [ Unlock Condition: Seed's hands must reach a Grade One designation. ]
    Leonel blinked awake from his focused state.
    'Grade One designationбн If I recall correctly, a pair of Grade One hands can complete all Grade One exercises to a Tier 7 Black level, or the S-gradeбн'
    Leonel smiled bitterly. His dad was really asking for too much.
    Usually, one could begin the first applications of Force Crafting as long as you reached the Tier 1 Black level in all Grade One exercises. But, Leonel's dad was asking him to reach a level of hand and finger strength only those on the verge of becoming Bronze Grade Force Crafters would have.
    To put this matter in perspective, not all Force Crafters would even reach Grade One designation before beginning to work on Bronze Grade crafts. Most would only complete all Grade One exercises to a Tier 6 Black level before moving on.
    However, thinking of his father's smug face, Leonel grinned. That old man was so proud of his Force Crafting. What kind of face would he have if Leonel surpassed his requirements?
    Above the Grade One designation there was the Advanced Grade One designation and the Superior Grade One designation, each for the SS-grade and SSS-grade level respectively.
    Usually, only those who had Force Nodes in their hands could reach the Superior Grade One designation. But, Leonel already knew where his next Force Nodes would go and knew his hands weren't appropriate locations for them.
    'In that case, Advanced Grade One designation it is. First, the flexibility exercisesбн'
    Leonel's eyes shone brightly as he began to move his fingers according to the exercises his father left behind. If there was one thing he loved to do, it was win. And now, he was competing against the phantom of his father.
    A competition across generations.

 Chapter 103: Regret

    Leonel completely lost himself in a new world. Though he wasn't sure about why he had to do all of these hand exercises just yet, Leonel had already completely forgotten about that curiosity. His mind was entirely focused on the target he had set for himself.
    According to his father's training program, flexibility was the very first step to training the fingers of a Force Crafter. Without flexibility as a foundation, everything else would come harder. The flexibility exercises were almost like a mechanic diligently oiling even the smallest components of their machines, building it up so that even the smallest corners were in top working condition.
    Only after laying a foundation of flexibility would Leonel turn his attention to strength and speed. Upon reaching this step, Leonel would begin working in dexterity exercises which would teach him how to use his newfound strength and speed.
    Of course, everything would once again circle back to flexibility. Every training day began with and ended with stretches. At the end of it all, there would be a cycle of recovery.
    After about two weeks, Leonel felt that he should heed his father's advice. Focusing too much on Force Crafting would be detrimental to him, especially since it wouldn't help him take down Miles and Simeon.
    'I've been here for a while, yet no one has come.' Leonel narrowed his eyes, looking down at the wrist watch still strapped to his arm.
    This thing was his greatest worry. He always felt that it was only a matter of time before it was used to track his location.
    Before, Leonel could only take the risk of staying in the same place. After all, if he could be tracked, whether he moved or not wouldn't make much of a difference. In fact, moving when he was heavily injured would only negatively impact him.
    But after so long, nothing had happened. He had even almost forgotten about it.
    'Hm, maybe it's jammed just like all the other technology? I remember that after the Paradise Islands fell, it went completely silent. It wasn't until I entered the Mayan Tomb that it showed signs of life againбн Maybe I only have to worry about it inside of a Zone then?'
    Leonel could only accept this line of thought. Regardless, he wasn't afraid.
    His body had recovered completely by now and he even felt that it was stronger than it had been in the past. He felt that this might be because more of the residual effects of his dad's vomit brew were being released again.
    He wanted to know more about that, actually. He even asked the dictionary about it. Unfortunately, he got an *Information Omitted* response in return.
    'I guess I should enter the Spear Domain again.'
    Leonel took a deep breath and got up to leave the Lab Setting.
    Before he could, the little guy jumped up from the table and landed in his palms, snaking around his fingers and hands as though saying goodbye.
    Leonel smiled. Since he had the Force Skin Gloves on, he wasn't worried.
    "I'll be back tomorrow."
    A bubble formed on the Metal Spirit and popped with a *Boop* sound before the little guy hopped back onto the odd table with wells.
    He still hadn't given the Metal Spirit a name. He wanted to listen through Lesson Three first since it seemed to be important in understanding the relationship between a Metal Spirit and a Force Crafter. He didn't want to make another stupid mistake that could be avoided.
    Soon, Leonel had made his way to his bedroom after going through Grade One recovery treatments for his hands. Then, he laid down comfortably, not wanting to bash his head on the floor again, and stretched his Internal Sight toward the Spear Domain ring.
    WHOOSH
    Leonel felt his body go light again as though his consciousness had been forcefully sucked out from his mind.
    When his vision cleared, he was once again in that hellish spear graveyard.
    Dark reddish black skies hung above his head, spears of all shapes and sizes were dotted around him, and a heavy pressure that might crush him at any moment rested on his shoulders.
    This time, Leonel understood a lot more and didn't blindly begin to walk around. He had questioned the dictionary thoroughly before coming here and had learned a great many things.
    First, this wasn't his real body, it was a manifestation of his self formed of his Soul Force or spirit, as Leonel preferred to call it. Second, there was a constant pressure being exerted on him not by the world, but by the spears themselves.
    Each spear was connected the consciousness of the owner it had previously. These consciousnesses were the equivalent of the state Leonel was currently in. As such, they exerted pressure on Leonel's spirit form.
    The closer a spear was to that massive mountain peak that pierced the skies ahead, the more powerful the consciousness and thus the harder it was to walk forward.
    At Leonel's current strength, it was already a miracle that he could survive in this place. Usually, it would only be possible after grasping Spear Force. Only then would one be able to resist the pressure of the spears here. However, Leonel's ability gave him a great buff to his spirit that allowed him to circumvent this.
    Regardless, Leonel could only take a single step and touch a single spear before his spirit gave out. So, he had to be more selective this time.
    He had gotten great gains from the primitive spear he took out last time, but he didn't want to take up a spear like that again. In order to make full use of the primitive man's combat ability, Leonel had to sink his mind into the same state. However, Leonel wasn't a blood thirsty, battle hungry kind of person. He preferred to be calm.
    Without sinking into that primitive mindstate, Leonel could at best use about 70% of the primitive man's abilities. This wasn't bad, actually, as it taught him a lot. But, it could be better.
    'I'm not good enough in the spear to use his abilities without just copying him, which is why I need to sink into that mind stateбн But, if I learn more and build a solid foundation for myself first, I'll be able to use 100% without changing my demeanor.
    'For now, I need to find a spear that meshes with my personality better. Something calm and calculating, but filled with a firm resolveбн'
    Leonel took his time, quietly scanning each spear in range of a single step of him by turning his head. He didn't dare to reach out with his Internal Sight, or else he'd be blown away without even being able to choose.
    After a while, Leonel smiled bitterly. Without his internal sight, he really couldn't make a decision. It was because of his Internal Sight that he had been able to pick out [DImensional Cleanse] before. But now, he could only rely on his eyes. He didn't know enough about spearmanship to make judgments like this.
    Leonel took a deep breath. 'I guess I can only choose randomly, then.'
    After a while, he made a choice and reached forward.
    The spear had a wooden shaft as well, much like many of the spears in this starting line, but it wasn't crudely made like the primitive spear. It was made of a flexible, light wood that was about 1.8 meters in length. Its blade was just as thin as the shaft and was formed with four sides like a prism. The shade and tip were separated by a golden colored wrap which the feathers of a colorful bird hung from.
    It was quite a beautiful spear. Though it was made of cheap materials, it was clear the craftsman cared about his or her work, which was why Leonel chose it.
    But, it was a decision he instantly regretted.
    Once again, he found himself in an all new world, but he didn't even have the mind to take a look around becauseбн when he looked down he found that his chest had suddenly grown two massive, soft mounds. And, as though that wasn't bad enough, there was a distinct cold draft of wind sweeping through his legs.
    Why was he wearing a dressбн?

 Chapter 104: Succubus

    Leonel could only keep his tears to himself. Since he wasn't able to control himself when he entered the consciousness of the spear owner, he could only be a passive observer.
    The world itself was nothing special. It didn't have the exotic feel that the jungle of the primitive man had. Instead, it seemed to be a small village, not much different from the first village Leonel and Aina landed in the France Zone.
    The woman was currently practicing her spearmanship on a few wooden targets. The moment Leonel set his sights on her movements, he completely forgot how aggrieved he was just moments before.
    Each of her strikes carried a blinding speed with them. The slight whistling of the wind that came when it reached the end of its acceleration made Leonel internally shiver. It was perfectly timed every time. Her spear would always reach the peak of its speed just before it hit the target and would leave a hole so perfect that the four sides of the spear's blade could be clearly seen.
    It reminded Leonel of a venomous snake. Her spear would lull one to sleep then suddenly accelerate, only biting down when it had reached its optimal potential. Though she wasn't as savage as the primitive man, Leonel could still sense her underlying venom. She held an ideology no less vindictive and blood thirsty than the primitive man had.
    A loud whistle caught the attention of both Leonel and the woman whose body he was in.
    The lady was soon approached by a group of three led by a young man with a bare chest rippling with muscles that seemed carved of steel. They immediately began speaking in a language Leonel couldn't understand, but, quite frankly, he didn't need to understand to see the leering and lewd gazes they looked at him, or rather, her, with.
    It was only now that Leonel was no longer distracted by the woman's spearmanship that he got a good look at exactly what kind of beauty he was in the body of. If she were to be described in just a few words, Leonel would choose: stimulating to an impossible degree.
    Leonel realized now that if there was no guarantee that the spear would have a male owner, then there was probably no guarantee that the spearman would be human either. This woman was definitely not human. Even if he was beaten to death, Leonel wouldn't believe that she was anything other than a succubus.
    She wore nothing but two pieces of beast skin clothing. One was a strapless wrap that binded her chest, and the other was a short skirt that didn't even make it midway down her thighs. And, as though that wasn't enough, there was a slit on one side, exposing even more of her legs.
    Her skin was dark, soft and flawless. Her every movement seemed to emphasize the flexibility of her body бк the way her hips winded like a pendulum, the way her breasts bounced with her every slight movement, even the way her hair waved in the wind.
    If Leonel wasn't fused with her body, he would likely appreciate the view even if he didn't react much to it. But, since he was, he felt jittery and uncomfortable. This feeling only got worse when the woman seemed to start flirting with the three men as though she would take them back to her home for a round far more wild than anything Xinghai had tattooed to his body.
    'Please, for the love of all that's holyбн Don't do this to meбн!'
    Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to hear Leonel's screams. Or rather, this world was never designed for her to be able to.
    She continued to flirt with the three men, making suggestive comments and displaying her tantalizing figure without restraint or embarrassment.
    However, by the grace of some god up above, when the three men extended what Leonel interpreted as an invitation, the lady turned them down. Then, she said something that must have been an insult because the leading man turned red with rage.
    These men probably thought it would be simple to vent their rage, but what happened next left Leonel, who wasn't even the target of the succubus-like woman, shivering.
    Her spear was like the stinger of a murderous wasp. Due to the design of her blade, her array of attacks were all variations of a piercing motion. Yet, even with the lack of variability provided by hacks, chops and slashes, her moves seemed impossible to deal with.
    No matter how Leonel simulated, no matter what tricks he used, no matter how hard he tried, he realized that there would only be one conclusion if he were to battle this womanбн
    Death.
    She toyed with her enemies, a seductive smile curling her soft lips as she stabbed toward them again and again.
    The three men tried to run away after their pride had been crushed, but the succubus' speed was too dazzling. She fluttered around like a butterfly, cutting off the escape of three of them with ease and a beautiful smile on her face.
    At some point, other people of their village converged to watch the good show. It wasn't long before Leonel realized that this wasn't 'their' village at all. Rather, it seemed like these three men were outsiders who had been completely ignorant of this woman's power, and now they were paying the price for it.
    Leonel lost count of the number of bloody holes that filled their bodies. They screamed in agony, wanting to die, but the woman didn't seem intent on letting go of her playthings.
    A long while later, the screams of the men finally died down.
    Blood marred the practice grounds, but not a single drop had touched the seductive beauty. In fact, that same smile was still on her face, looking toward the three dead bodies as though they were a masterpiece rather than the corpses of three men who had just been living and breathing.
    In that moment, the woman's consciousness seemed to turn toward Leonel, something that shocked him greatly. He felt a cold sweat cover his back as her eyes seemed to invite him to play as well.
    He startled awake, shooting up from his bed. The heaviness of his breath hung in the air as he tried to breathe, his chest heaving.
    A long while later, he looked at the spear in his hand, his calmness returning to him. A cold gleam was sparked in his eyes. This wasn't exactly the consciousness he was looking for, but Leonel felt that it suited him quite well.

 Chapter 105: Defector

    [Bonus Chapter for 700 powerstones :) The chapter for 1050 coming soon]
    The location was a bustling harbor.
    Half a dozen ships were docked parallel to the shore, each of them with a large ramp coming out from their sides. It was possible to see many crewmen rushing up and down these ramps. Some of them were pulling large pieces of cargo, others were casually chatting, and a small few were barking out orders from on high.
    The ships themselves were quite an odd sight to behold, especially in the 25th century. Instead of being magnificent steel behemoths, they were all ordinary wooden ships. In fact, they all had sails and a lower level that seemed to have slits for long armed oars.
    The dozen ships weren't very large at just about 40 to 50 meters in length. However, off the shore, a distance away, it was possible to see a large mother ship at almost 200 meters in size. It seemed to be overlooking the operation.
    At that moment, a young man made his way from the distance toward the harbor with slow steps.
    His hair was messy and long, colored with a brownish gold. It swayed in the wind, occasionally covering the glow of his pale green eyes. His face had a hint of a slowly maturing immaturity to it. The start of a youthful and unkempt beard was beginning to line his jaw, giving him a gruff but handsome appearance.
    He was dressed simply. A pair of sweatpants and sneakers graced his lower half while his torso was fitted by a tight long-sleeved and black compression shirt that shimmered with hexagonal patterns. There was even a silver chain with an almost imperceptible crack hanging from his neck.
    He was the kind of existence that was all too rare after the Metamorphosis descended. If it wasn't for the exquisite spear on his back, one would think he was nothing more than an ordinary teenage boy.
    But the oddity still remained obvious. The boy was tooбн clean. How was it possible for a lone traveler to cross the Province so casually? He even looked like he was having a nice stroll.
    His face didn't carry the heaviness one who had just put their life on the line should carry. In fact, he seemed carefree. If it wasn't for the calculating flicker that passed his eyes every so often, one would think he was naive.
    Of course, those tasked with guarding the perimeter of the harbor immediately noticed this young man. After all, he didn't try to hide his presence at all. But they were left at a complete loss. How were they supposed to handle this situation?
    Obviously, their task was to repel weak Invalids and report strong ones. But, there wasn't exactly a protocol for handling a lone human boyбн
    "Hello."
    The boy's voice snapped them out of their shock. They couldn't help but feel embarrassed that he was the one to speak first. Any hope they had had of establishing who was in charge was thrown out the window.
    It really wasn't their fault though. Who walks through a city of Invalids so casually, even to the point of wearing a smile on his face?
    The scouts on duty looked at each other.
    "Who are you? State your name and purpose."
    Someone of the team of three finally stepped out and said this. Though he was trying to reclaim some face for his scouting squad, the slight tinge of red on his face showed that he was better at hiding his embarrassment and thickening his skin compared to others. That was about all.
    The young man smiled and took a card out from his pocket.
    "My name is Leonel Morales, I'm here to join the Slayer Legion."
    The eyes of the three men sharpened. Their unprofessional attitude vanished and their backs became as straight as javelins. Leonel could tell by their stats that they were much weaker than he was, but their auras alone showed that their experience in battle was far beyond his own.
    The scout who had stepped forward first looked Leonel up and down. The more he looked, the more suspicious Leonel became to him.
    How else could a teenage boy come out from that death trap alone without a scratch on his body? Even his clothes were immaculate. The only explanation seemed to be that he was a spy.
    'бн It can't be that the Empire would send such an incompetent spy, right?' The scout's brow furrowed in confusion.
    In the end, he shook his head. He was a scout, not a commander. He would leave this decision to the bigwigs. At this point, if Leonel really wasn't a spy, that meant he was powerful enough to travel alone unscathed. Their Slayer Legion was always in need of helpers.
    Plusбн That was an invitation card in his hand. An invitation card likely meant he had already been scouted and chosen by their leaders. In that case, he had even more reason to bring Leonel in.
    "You two stay here." The lead scout said. "I'll bring him in."
    The two remaining scouts watched Leonel disappear with their partner with deep apprehension.
    'They're cautious, but still not as cautious as I thought they'd beбн' Leonel thought to himself. 'бн If the Slayer Legion is run by anyone with half a brain cell, they've most definitely taken advantage of the Metamorphosis to infiltrate the Fort. In that case, it's very likely that they've heard of me before, this should make things easier on me.'
    Leonel was well aware that he would be seen as a suspicious entity if he came here so openly. But, he was banking on his being a fugitive to make things smoother. It was unlikely that they'd conclude he was a spy like this.
    Soon, Leonel was brought over to one of the smaller ships. He followed the lead scout beneath the deck and down a well lit corridor with a much wider width than he was expecting.
    Everywhere he passed, odd gazes fell onto him. It was obvious that everyone here was quite familiar with one another, so the sudden appearance of a stranger had them all putting their guards up.
    The knocking of a knuckle onto hardwood woke Leonel from his thoughts.
    "What is it?"
    A rough voice entered Leonel's ears. But, he could faintly tell that it had a feminine quality to it.
    "Captain Sela, I've brought a бн defector."
    The lower deck seemed to freeze. Many who had been walking around, going about their business, stopped and looked toward Leonel in unison.

 Chapter 106: Critical Error

    [Bonus chapter for 1050... pray for me]
    Leonel scratched the back of his head a bit awkwardly, but that was about all. He wasn't the type of person to get stage fright, he only wished their gazes would be a little less intense.
    That said, Leonel didn't blame them. After all, it was indeed true that he wasn't very sincere in joining them. He only wanted to make use of them in order to take down Royal Blue Fort. As for the future? Leonel really hadn't thought much about it.
    Without knowing exactly what kind of association the Slayer Legion was, he wouldn't casually put all his eggs in a single basket. And, even though Earth was his home, the matters revolving around James, not to mention the Brazinger Clan, was making it seem less and less homely to him.
    It was obvious to him by now that his father wasn't from Earth. In that case, didn't that mean he had a home somewhere else?
    The only use Earth had to him right now were the Zones it produced. He needed to either clear the first SS-grade Zone or clear an SSS-grade Zone so that he could exchange a Tier 9 Black reward for a ticket to Terrain. This was all he wanted.
    "бн Come in."
    "Go on." The lead scout ushered toward the door.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to follow me in?"
    The lead scout and the others who had been staring at him had weird expressions on after hearing his question.
    After a while, Leonel understood their intentions. It seemed that they had quite a bit of belief in this captain of theirs. Clearly, they didn't believe he had the ability to harm her on his own. They were confident to the point of not even caring to enter along with him.
    To such a thing, Leonel could only shrug. He pushed the cabin door open and entered. What he saw, though, left him a bit speechless.
    Leonel never thought that he would ever have to use the word 'burly' to describe a woman, but there really was no better descriptor for Captain Sela.
    She was a large woman of almost seven feet tall. She was shaped like a round tank with towering breasts that still somehow managed to be smaller than her large gut.
    One might call her fat, but when Leonel looked toward her, he didn't have that thought. The reason was simple. Though she could be described in such a way, her body was still brimming with power. Leonel even saw through that her speed and agility weren't low at all, even approaching 1.00.
    Captain Sela stood from a chair she seemed to trust far too much and walked over toward Leonel. She was silent, but her steps made Leonel feel as though she alone was causing the ship to sway.
    When she was just half a meter from Leonel, she stopped, towering over him.
    'Despite how she looks, she actually smells quite niceбн Why is this scent so familiar, though?' Leonel's brow furrowed slightly.
    Captain Sela looked Leonel up and down. She seemed curious about him. The boy didn't fear her and even allowed her to get so close without flinching. There were very few people within the Slayer Legion who could do such a thing. It was either that this boy possessed some real strength or that he was simply ignorant to the point of stupidity.
    It was a full minute before Captain Sela felt that she had observed Leonel for long enough. Someone else might have felt too embarrassed to continue on for so long, but it seemed that this Captain didn't care.
    "What's your name?"
    "Leonel Morales."
    "Is that so? I'm aware of the names of all those the Slayer Legion reaches out toward, but your name has never been mentioned. In that case, why shouldn't I execute you as a spy right now?"
    Leonel inwardly cocked an eyebrow. He had only told the lead scout that he had come here with an invitation card, but he had yet to tell Captain Sela this. However, after a moment, he realized that the card was still in his hands. After observing him for so long, it would be quite negligent of the captain to miss something like that.
    'She remembers all of the namesбн? I doubt that. As an organization that wants to take down the Ascension Empire, they're definitely extremely cautious. Someone I could meet so easily definitely doesn't have high security clearance so there's no way she would have access to so much information.
    'Even beyond that, let's say that I'm wrong and am simply overestimating this Slayer Legion. An organization like them would definitely need to send out tens of thousands of invitations at worst. If they didn't, they would never have the manpower they needed to match up against a behemoth.
    'There are some risks that come with recruiting on such a large scale, but I doubt the Legion cares about the Empire finding out. Most of the invitations are likely smokescreens. With so many invitations likely sent, it's impossible for her to remember all of the names.
    'In that case, there's another reason she's sure this invitation isn't my own. The first possibility is that invitations come with tiers of their own, this might be a high level invitation. If it is, there are probably less people who receive it, so it might indeed be possible for her to know that my name isn't on the list.
    'The other possibility is my age. I'm too young. There are too many loopholes to exploit here. The Legion might not send invitations to those as young as me. It's also possible that young recruits are on a short list as well, making them easier to remember.
    'Of courseбн The last possibility is that she's just guessing.'
    Leonel found his mind running like this all the time these days. He had always been a calculating person, but his ability had amplified it several times over.
    In just a split second, he had already nailed down several theories, one of which was correct. But in Leonel's mind, it simply didn't matter which was the truth. All he needed to know was that Captain Sela was trying to play mind games with him. And, in that case, he could play some games of his own as well.
    Leonel smiled. "If I took this invitation from someone else and was worried about how you might react to this, why would I tell you my real name? The truth is that this invitation isn't mine, I just happened to pick it up. But, my sincerity is true."
    Captain Sela's eyes narrowed. Leonel wasn't wrong. If he was a spy, he would be the most incompetent spy in history.
    "бн You'll be given probationary status. All Shackled members will retain this status. In the meantime, I'll take you to get your ability and strength registered."
    When Captain Sela said 'Shackled', Leonel could feel her gaze shift over to his wrist watch as though it was a plague. However, toward this, he could only smile bitterly.
    'Does this mean that they have a method of removing this thing?' Leonel's eyes narrowed. 'In that case, it's even more worth it to stay if for nothing else than this.'
    With that, Captain Sela took Leonel to be registered, but it seemed that Leonel was destined to be unlucky.
    When he wanted his abilities to be underestimated so he could fly under the radar, he was suddenly exposed as a legendary Variant. But, now that he wanted the Slayer Legion to approve of his abilities as quickly as possible so he could move up the ranksбн
    [*Beep*]
    [Subject: Leonel Morales]
    [Ability: *Name Unassigned*]
    [Ability Type: Sensory]
    [Ability Grade: D]
    [Margin of Error: Critical]

 Chapter 107: Blind Love

    Leonel felt a headache coming along. He had forgotten to take into consideration that the technology the Empire had access to versus the technology the rebels had access practically belonged to two wholly different worlds.
    When Leonel first entered the Mayan Tomb, he had thought that his ability was D-grade because of his wrist watch. It wasn't until later that he realized his ability's potential was too great for such an evaluation. In fact, according to his father's dictionary, his ability was graded as a Quasi Bronze Grade ability, meaning it was on the verge of surpassing Earth's current limits. Simply put, his ability was already a half-step beyond the SSS-grade.
    Unfortunately, the parts of his ability technology on this level could comprehend was too limited. It only sensed a small increase to his perception, but not much else. Other than acknowledging that there was a high amount of error, the machine didn't respond to Leonel's tears.
    "D-grade, huh? Not the best, but not too horrible, I guess. As a sensory type, you'll be pretty good for scouting. We've been planning on expanding our perimeter units anyway."
    Captain Sela casually spoke, not noticing Leonel's darkened expression.
    "I was wondering how you managed to get here unscathed. It seems that your sensory ability should be good even amongst D-grade abilities, hm? A critical ranked margin of error, though? I've never seen this display beforeбн"
    Leonel sighed. There was nothing much he could do about this. He really hadn't used his sensory abilities to make it here. Well, he had, but not in the way Sela thought. He had even sought out opponents. The only reason he looked so clean was because of the self-cleaning function of his silver chain necklace.
    Seeing that Leonel was just an average talent, the curiosity the other crewmen had toward him lessened. D-grade talents? They had too many of them. Still, it was a bit of a relief that he wasn't an F-grade talent.
    It was widely known that F-grade talents were of little use. In addition, since Leonel's ability type wasn't physical, he was more useful than a usual D-grade talent as well. Overall, he was a decent addition, but nothing worthy enough for them to take time out of their busy schedules to inquire about.
    "Alright." Captain Sela clapped her meaty hands together. "I'll assign you to Scout Leader Zhang. You've come at a good time, we still have a bit more things to do before we set off, so this is a good time to train new recruits."
    As though trying to shoo Leonel away, Captain Sela passed off her duty of leading him to someone else.
    In truth, it was already a huge show of respect for her to lead Leonel to his assessment personally. She probably saw something special in him when he faced her without fear. But it seemed now that of the two options бк him being powerful versus just being ignorant бк the latter was the truer statement. In that case, she had no reason to stay around him as the Captain of her own ship.
    **
    "You're the new recruit? Leonel Morales, is it? A sensory ability? Good, good."
    The Scout Leader was quite a skinny, willowy man of average height. His body wasn't very impressive especially since he seemed to be getting on in age, but his eyes were sharp and his tongue was fast. Leonel guessed he wouldn't only be good at scouting, but would be a great undercover agent as well.
    Captain Zhang spoke quickly, not allowing Leonel the chance to get in a few words for himself. Originally, he had thought that the others just thrust the new recruit to him because they all looked down on scouts. But, seeing that Leonel had a sensory ability, his mood brightened.
    "Usually, those bastards in upper management just throw the useless trash to me and expect them to come out like treasures. Why those useless idiots don't understand just how good scouting can save lives is beyond meбн"
    Leonel was speechless. He thought that everyone was scared of Captain Sela, but this Scout Leader Zhang disparaged her without regard for even his own image.
    It wasn't like Leonel was the only one here either. Even the recruits he was taunting as useless trash weren't all that far away.
    As the scouting unit, they didn't have a ship of their own. Rather, they were separated between the ships. So, it could be said the Scout Leader Zhang was the only Captain-level personnel without a ship to command on his own.
    Since they were currently docked, the scouting units were given a large military tent to act as their temporary base. The tent alone was at least 10 meters tall and 20 in radius. So, it was safe to say that most, if not all, of the off-duty scouts were here. But, he didn't hide his voice at all.
    After ranting and praising Leonel for what seemed like hours, Captain Zhang finally passed him on to a man by the name of Malt.
    "You'll be placed in Scout Leader Malt's squad. Ask him anything you want to know about. Depending on your performance, we can talk about your future prospects at a later date."
    Captain Zhang gestured toward a man almost a head and a half shorter than Leonel. He seemed quite young, not even 30, but he was already balding. Despite this, he had a wide smile on his face as he happily greeted Leonel.
    'бн Scout Leader?' Leonel had a weird expression on his face.
    Captain Zhang was called Scout Leader by Captain Sela. But now, Captain Zhang was calling someone else Scout Leader?
    Malt laughed heartily and put his arm around Leonel's shoulder. It was quite a comical scene since he had to stand on the tips of his toes, but he didn't seem to mind at all.
    He began to whisper in Leonel's ears as though they were already close friends.
    "I'll let you in on a secret, little brother. I heard through the grapevine that Captain Sela and Captain Zhang were once quiteбн close. It didn't end well, apparently. So now, they're always at each other's throats and never hesitate to take subtle jabs at each other.
    "Captain Zhang's biggest insecurity is that he doesn't have a ship of his own to command. But, Captain Sela always pokes like this, dropping his Captain title and calling him Scout Leader."
    Though Malt continued to speak as he led Leonel toward their destination, the latter was internally shivering.
    He couldn't help but remember how big and burly Captain Sela was. Then he compared that to Captain Zhang's skinny figure and his graying hairбн
    'What anбн interesting coupleбн'
    It seemed love really was blind.

 Chapter 108: Test

    [Bonus chapter for 1400 powerstones :( ]
    "бн 167 meters to the northeast." Leonel spoke with confidence.
    "How many of them and what's their power like?" Squad Leader Malt asked.
    "There are five of them. One of them seems to be a D-grade mind control type Invalid. The other four are F-grade Invalids under its control."
    Leonel's Internal Sight focused on a group of five Invalids. Four of them had what looked like leeches at the base of their skulls. The Invalid that controlled them stood in the center with tentacles coming out of her head.
    In the past, Leonel would have cringed at such a sight, but he had gotten used to it by now. Those who successfully awakened usually managed to avoid any weird mutations. But, Invalids бк who were essentially the ones who failed to awaken their abilities and thus lost control of their minds бк weren't so lucky. Many of them had obvious deformities just like this.
    Of course, those who were successful in awakening their abilities weren't guaranteed to not have mutations. But, most could hide them until their ability was needed.
    For example, the metal A-grade Invalid Leonel met long ago. Had he successfully awakened his ability and not become an Invalid, he wouldn't have to walk around like a metal man all the time.
    "Oof. Mind control types are the hardest to deal with. Luckily it's just a D-grade one. Good job, little brother. We'll handle it from here."
    "HAHA!" A hard slap hit Leonel's back. "Great job, rookie. I'll go bash them up for you."
    Leonel could only bitterly smile as Malt led a group of three toward the Invalids.
    It had already been two weeks since he came to the Slayer Legion, but this was about all he had done in that time. Other than the training he did in the Segmented Cube during his personal time, he was basically just a glorified compass.
    'Wellбн At least these guys treat me well.'
    The big guy who just patted his bag went by the name Gerolt. He was part of a partnership program between the Scout Units and the Ground Combat Units. He was essentially in charge of their protection as they cleared out Invalids who got too close to the harbor.
    Aside from him, the two others were an ordinary man and a young woman who looked like she was a teenager despite the fact she was apparently 30 years old. They went by Davy and Lisa respectively.
    Those two were among the 'trash' Captain Zhang mentioned. They didn't have scout related abilities but were rather combat oriented. Because their abilities were relatively weak, they were slotted into the scout units.
    Of course, things weren't exactly as simple as this. Before the Metamorphosis, many of the Slayer Legion's members were already present. As such, they had roles they were already very much used to. This was why even though Malt had awakened a sensory type ability, he still charged along with the others, leaving Leonel behind.
    Leonel sighed watching Gerolt pull a massive mace from his back and take the vanguard. A moment later, though, he caught himself.
    'Since when was it that I would rather take part in a battle than take a backseat?'
    Leonel's brow furrowed slightly. It was a fleeting thought he didn't have much of a chance to linger on because the battle was already over.
    Gerolt beamed, laughing jovially. In the back, Malt caressed one of his guns in a silk cloth, caring for it as though it was his own child. He wasn't acting like a man who should have been their leader at all. At this point, even the stoic Davy and the quiet Lisa were smiling.
    Their days had simply been too leisurely with Leonel around. Invalids never sneaked up on them anymore, they got great and detailed reports on them before even getting close, and they hadn't met any B-grade or above Invalids. He was practically their lucky star.
    "Let's return. We'll be able to report some great gains this time. I think I'll finally be able to afford the extended clip." Malt's eyes glowed like a child on Christmas day.
    "Rookie, you're too good. How do you feel about joining the Ground Combat Unit?" Gerolt grinned.
    "Are you trying to poach my talent? Don't even think about it." Malt growled.
    Gerolt was even taller than Leonel, so there was no need to speak about just how much shorter Malt was than him. Yet, the latter didn't back down, even tapping the nozzle of his gun against Gerolt's chest.
    "He's wasted here. Your Scout Unit is lacking." Gerolt didn't seem disturbed by Malt at all.
    "And your Ground Dog Unit is any better? Tell me the last time you mutts were of any use?"
    Gerolt snorted. "Everyone knows the ground is the core strength of an army."
    "бн W-we shouldn't fight." Lisa said softly.
    Unfortunately, her words were completely drowned out by the roars of the two men.
    "The ground is the core of an army's strength? Do you think this is the 17th century? I can name tons of units more valuable than yours without much effort! The Air Combat Unit, the Navy Combat Unit, the Research and Technology Unit, the Space Combat Unit, the бк"
    "You think I won't bounce my mace off that balding head of yours? Why don't you just shave it all off?" Gerolt growled.
    Even if he looked a bit simple, he wouldn't just sit here and let Malt list all the units of the Slayer Legion. The fact he wanted to try was insulting enough.
    "Oh, I'm so scared. Gerolt the Mace, the man who was so useless to even the shitty Ground Combat Unit wants to harm little old me. How are ground units useful in this day and age? If you tried to march to the Empire's capital, you'd get blown to smithereens before you took your second step!"
    Leonel and Davy looked up at each other at the same time and shook their heads. With Lisa scurrying around like a little mouse, trying to stop the both of them, and Gerolt and Malt at each other's throats again, it seemed that only the two of them were even somewhat normal.
    Suddenly, Leonel looked off toward a particular direction. His brows furrowed slightly.
    'It's only an A-grade Invalid, but without knowing its ability, I can't guarantee that I can keep them safe. I had a feeling that things were going a bit too smoothly recently.'
    The A-grade Invalid Leonel sensed was out of the range of his sharp Internal Sight and was within the foggy region. He could just vaguely tell its strength from this distance but nothing else. However, it was most definitely headed in this direction.
    'I doubt that it's locked onto us specificallyбн This direction also happens to be the direction of the harbor. This is a good opportunity.'
    At first, Leonel felt that it was unfortunate that he was being underestimated as this would slow his plans. But, after some more thinking, he realized that this wasn't as bad as he thought.
    If he was too powerful, the Slayer Legion would always put their best foot forward in his presence. It would be easier to judge a person's character by how they treated those weaker than them.
    'From what I've seen, the strongest amongst them only has a B-grade ability. An A-grade Invalid is definitely a huge threat to them, potentially catastrophic. I'll observe for a bitбн'
    Leonel knew by now that this was just a small portion of the Slayer Legion. They were actually here to scour the wreckage of Royal Blue Province and harvest raw materials from the collapsed structures. One could imagine that the materials used to build a city of elites were invaluable.
    However, this was just the nice way to put it. They were basically just scavengers.
    'Let's see how they pass this testбн'
    Leonel's expression returned to normal as though nothing had happened. Soon, they had returned to the harbor. It hadn't even been a minute upon their return when the warning signals began to blare.
    &lt; "Alert! Alert! A-grade Threat Detected!" &gt;

 Chapter 109: Bear Mace

    Gerolt and Malt, who had still been at each other's throats, froze on the spot.
    "A-grade?"
    They mumbled these words together, the fear in their eyes evident. At the same time, they felt quite lucky that they had managed to return to the harbor.
    At that moment, the six Captains rushed out from their ships while the seventh, Captain Zhang, left his tent. Each began barking out orders, but it became very obvious, very quickly, that there simply wasn't much time to prepare.
    "Come on, we're under Captain Sela's charge." Malt finally began acting like a Squad Leader again.
    Leonel frowned. "Not Captain Zhang?"
    "No. The Scouting Unit has always been separated between the ships not much unlike the Research and Technology Unit. Our squad is under Captain Sela."
    Though Malt said this and they even joined up with the burly captain's group, they were pretty much no different than background characters. Malt might have been disparaging the Ground Combat Unit earlier, but they were the ones who took charge this time around.
    "Hoho, is that Bear Mace Gerolt I see? Come back to seek our protection?"
    A man no smaller than Gerolt seemed to have locked onto their group as they passed by. Their movements were simply too conspicuous. After all, they were rushing from the front of the harbor to the backline since they had just returned. Many eyes had been on them from the beginning. But, realizing that they were just a scouting squad, many directly ignored them.
    Gerolt cast this man a glance but said nothing else. It was quite a surprise for Leonel who had just watched this man argue with Malt for the last half month. He hadn't known that this large man had the ability to not respond.
    Unfortunately, the man who spoke didn't seem to take this very seriously as his hearty laughter only grew.
    "Don't worry, Bear Mace. We'll take the front line for you. Wouldn't want another squad wipeout on our hands, it's best that you observe from a safe distance."
    Gerolt's steps paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing. But once again, he said nothing.
    The man's laughter was chorused by his squad around them, but no one else said anything. The moment was too tense. Honestly speaking, they took this as a reprieve from the looming danger. Even Captain Sela, who was present for the entire matter, didn't say anything.
    Leonel frowned.
    "There's a battle that's going to be happening here soon. I think it's better you focus on that rather than getting some meaningless jabs in."
    For Captain Sela's troop, hearing Leonel's voice was probably the last thing they expected at this point. Many eyes couldn't help but turn toward him. However, what they saw left them furrowing their eyebrows.
    He was too young. He looked too fragile. No matter how they looked at it, he was just a rookie who was getting involved in something he shouldn't have. But, at the same time, they found it hard to directly refute his words.
    "бн Ha, I didn't know Bear Mace had fallen so low that he needed a kid to protect him now. Boy, you should stay away from this one. He's a blight wherever he goes. There's a reason we call him бк"
    "I get it. Haha, very funny. Bear Mace is quite a clever nickname. Since you're clever enough to think of it, you should be clever enough to know when you should and shouldn't be saying certain things. You're a grown man, why are you acting like a petulant child?"
    "Leonel."
    The sudden voice of interjection made Leonel frown. All this time, Captain Sela hadn't said a word, but she was suddenly speaking now?
    To the man who was the target of Leonel's barrage of words, though, she was like his saving grace. If it wasn't for the possibility of him losing too much face, he would probably bow his head and thank her at this very moment.
    Leonel's gaze met hers but he didn't respond.
    "That's enough." Captain Sela continued with furrowed brows.
    Leonel's expression didn't have much of a change, but he was inwardly disappointed.
    "I see." He said plainly. "Let's go, then."
    The second part of his words were aimed toward his squad. There really wasn't much time left, they didn't have the luxury of lurking around here any longer. He had had a good impression of Captain Sela, but he didn't think that she'd be this kind of person.
    He had an idea of why she had done it. To the coming battle, the ground units were too important and their mental states were even more important. Though the man's words were cruel, it also had the effect of alleviating the tension of the troops. But, after Leonel berated him, they had become high strung once more.
    If Captain Sela didn't step out to protect the leader of her vanguard and show them that she was on their side, it would be difficult to calm them down again. Plus, wasn't it a small price to pay?
    The man was known as Aitken was the leader of her strongest ground combat squad. As for Leonel, he was just a scout who had made a small name for himself in recent days. Who she would pick was obvious. If she could trade a tense relationship with Leonel for a stronger vanguard, why would she hesitate?
    Leonel was intelligent enough to understand this. He seemed like an immature kid, but he had been leading his peers all his life. He understood the importance of mental state.
    However, what he had never done was allow the disparagement of one of his own just for some cheap points. That was the sign of a terrible leader. If the upper echelon of the Slayer Legion was all like this, they were doomed from the very beginning.
    "Hold on." Captain Sela's frown deepened. "I heard from Squad Leader Zhang that бк"
    "I don't know a Squad Leader Zhang." Leonel responded. "Could it be that you're referring to Captain Zhang?"
    Captain Sela's expression grew dark.
    "Kid, you should watch your mouth." Aitken growled.
    "Did I say something wrong?" Leonel put on a confused expression. If it wasn't for the fact he was clearly at odds with Captain Sela now, others would really believe that he had no idea what he was saying.
    "бн I've heard from Captain Zhang that your scouting ability is the best we have." Captain Sela stopped Aitken from speaking anymore. "The greatest danger we face now isn't just the A-grade Invalid, but the other Invalids that might be attracted by the battle. I will need you to stay here with me to point out approaching dangers."
    "Captain Selaбн!"
    Gerolt finally couldn't take it anymore. Leonel had stepped out for him in the first place and he had already wanted to say something earlier. But now Captain Sela wanted Leonel, who was just a little scout, to stay with the vanguard? Wasn't that just forcing him to his death?
    Leonel's gaze narrowed as well.
    "Are you disobeying a direct order from a Captain?" Captain Sela didn't seem to hear Gerolt at all and only continued to look toward Leonel.
    "No, where would a little scout like me get such guts? I'll be counting on Captain to protect me well." Leonel said with a smile.
    "Ignorance is bliss." Aitken said with a sneer.
    Captain Sela gave Leonel a profound look, but said no more.
    "I won't stand for this!"
    Just when they all thought it was over, Gerolt swung his mace out from his back and slammed it down, causing a loud boom that finally caught the attention of the other Captains and their squads.
    "Gerolt." Leonel patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine."
    Others might think that Captain Sela was just targeting him, but Leonel could see through the logical flow of how things had gotten here. Maybe had he not corrected her about Captain Zhang's title, she wouldn't have reacted this way.
    But, regardless, it didn't matter much to him.
    An A-grade Invalid? He had killed seven even before forming a single Force Node. Plus, there wasn't any time left to argue about it.
    "I'll be fine, Captain Sela will protect me. Get to the back quickly."
    In the distance, the Invalid was already approaching. But, what Leonel saw made him frown slightly.
    'That's not an Invalidбн'
    A gorilla-like creature which was two meters tall even when walking on its fists slowly approached.

 Chapter 110: Endless Fury

    [Bonus chapter for 1750. If I was in Leonel's world, I'd hope for a doppleganger ability. Even if I couldn't get that... I'd settle for some extra fingers ... ]
    Leonel frowned. He had just assumed it was an Invalid previously. There was something about this creature that reminded him of one.
    He had originally sensed the creature with the foggy range of his Internal Sight. Due to this, he had made an error in judgment.
    'Is this another beast like the octopus?'
    Leonel's frown deepened. As ridiculous as it was, the appearance of the octopus was still something he could accept. After all, the Royal Blue Province was located on the coast. It wasn't impossible for such a thing to happen even if the likelihood was low.
    However, a gorilla? They were too far away from their natural habitats. The chances of one appearing here should be even lower than an octopus having attacked him in the city.
    "Did Captain Sela ask for you four?! Move to the back and don't ruin my formation!" Aitken roared to Malt and the rest.
    "Youбн" Gerolt almost imploded once again.
    "Soldier, get to the backline now." Captain Sela stared daggers at the scouting squad who seemed reluctant to leave Leonel's side.
    Gerolt was brimming with anger. It seemed that he really might swing his mace any moment now. However, Captain Sela's next words were like a bucket of cold water being poured over his emotions.
    "Are you trying to be court-martialed?"
    Compared to the real army of the Empire, those of the Slayer Legion feared these words even more. They were already fugitives. If they were rejected from the rebels as well, just where would they go? What could they do with their lives? They'd basically be finished.
    In a way, joining the rebel army was like giving the key to your life to another. There was no longer a way out.
    Gerolt and the rest of Malt's squad became drenched in sweat. With pale faces, they could only cast guilty looks toward Leonel and slowly disappear toward the back of the formation.
    "Form up!" Captain Sela roared.
    At this point, the gorilla was still leisurely strolling toward their direction as though it hadn't sensed their hostility at all. It looked toward the six units of the Slayer Legion as though observing fun toys. It didn't seem to take their formations seriously at all.
    Each of the six units was led by a Captain. The only one without a troop to lead of his own was Captain Zhang, but he stood beside another Captain who was a handsome man with eyes as black as his hair.
    The number of warriors under each Captain didn't surpass 30 by much. But, this still meant that the gorilla was facing almost 200 alone.
    The more it acted like this, the weirder Leonel felt it was. What was going on?
    "Fire!"
    The roar came from a woman that went by Captain Gelen. She was considered an arms specialist amongst the seven captains. In fact, Malt had once been a part of her unit before he awakened his ability and was pushed to the scouting units.
    A rain of bullets came down toward the gorilla.
    If it was any normal primate, their death would be sealed. However, at that moment, the carefree beast suddenly roared, standing on its hind legs and beating its chest.
    A silver glow instantly coated its massive body, forming just before the bullets reached it.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The bullets rebounded as though meeting a steel wall.
    Solemn expressions coated the faces of the rebels. Those were the strongest arsenal of weapons they had. Their group wasn't provided enough funds by the Legion to build Force disrupting towers. In fact, their mere existence was top secret, or else it wouldn't only be the inner city of the Fort that benefited.
    Since bullets were useless, their only option was to rely on the treasures they gained from entering Zones.
    "Charge!"
    This time, it was Captain Sela who roared. Not giving the troops time to lose their morale, she ordered her vanguard to take the initiative.
    Leonel shook his head. 'This isn't going to work. Their organization is terrible. This creature is large, but still scales well to a normal human. Attacking it with so many when its defense is so sturdy is foolish. Captain Sela sending a small vanguard forward is the smartest decision, butбн they're too weak."
    Aitken took the head of the charge, a tall tower shield strapped to his left all and a trident piercing forward in his right.
    The gorilla retaliated fiercely, another roar leaving its lips as it lashed out at the tower shield with two hammer fists.
    Aitken lowered his stance, bending his knees and exploding forward with all his strength to meet the blow.
    A roar left his lips, but the subsequent sound left his ears ringing.
    Aitken slid back against the ground, crashing into his squadmates and knocking them off their feet. Their forward momentum was completely thrown off and half of them lost the ability to attack in the blink of an eye.
    Captain Sela's expression changed. It wasn't just her either. Even Leonel's own expression changed, albeit for different reasons.
    First, this gorilla was no normal A-grade threat. It was most definitely infinitely close to the S-grade. And secondбн The activation of that silver barrier had caught the attention of several Invalids.
    'That's impossible! The dictionary said that Invalids ignore threats from other species. What the hell is going on?'
    Captain Sela and the other Captains grit their teeth to join, but Leonel stopped them.
    "Captain Gelen! Captain Remon! There are three groups of Invalids coming from 2 O'Clock! The strongest of them is of the B-grade! Captain Patrice! Captain Sayer! Captain Girard! There are two groups of Invalids coming from 11 O'Clock! There are two B-grade Invalids with them!"
    The voice was one many of the Captains and rebels didn't recognize. But there was something about its confidence and fullness that made them believe the words.
    However, just when they were about to move according to his words, Captain Sela interrupted.
    "Boy, know your place! You're sending off five squads to deal with B-grade threats and leaving just one for an A-grade threat? Are your words even trust worthy?! Charge!"
    Captain Sela led a support unit toward Aitken's squad that had nearly been completely wiped out. Her words seemed to snap the other Captains awake. Those who had seen Captain Sela's conflict with Leonel earlier even thought he had done this on purpose in order to push her toward her death.
    Several unsatisfied gazes landed on Leonel, leaving him shaking his head. But, before he could say anything else, Sela had stepped onto a chariot that shot out a chain toward him.
    Leonel blinked toward the incredulous scene. 'What the he бк"
    He couldn't even finish the thought before his wrists were bound and Sela's chariot shot forward, leaving him running with all his might to keep up lest he be dragged along the ground.
    Rage swelled up in Leonel's chest.
    He had sent five squads away because he was confident in handling this A-grade threat on his own. Let alone using someone else's hand to kill Sela, he could do it himself with absolute ease. But now he was being accused in this way? And chained to a chariot like some sort of prisoner, no less?
    Even a man with ten times the kind disposition Leonel had would feel endless fury at this point.

 Chapter 111: Forged in Fire

    [I'm changing the bonus chapter requirement to every 500 powerstones. In return, I promise not to change it for another month. You can only blame yourselves for being too? powerful &lt;3]
    Leonel was furious. He had never expected for such a thing to happen.
    No matter how much stronger he was than Captain Sela, he wasn't at the point where he could break chains with nothing but his brawn. Even the alloys of the 25th century were beyond his means, let alone the fact that this chariot was a C-grade treasure she must have gained as a Zone reward.
    'I was carelessбн' Leonel's gaze blazed with a cold light as he was forced to continue running.
    He never thought that Captain Sela would be so brazen. She probably thought that he was trying to get her killed, which was why she had reacted like this, but at this point, Leonel didn't care. The incompetence of the Slayer Legion was turning him off from them more and more.
    Aitken slammed his tower shield in the ground, trying to get a stronger foothold against the gorilla.
    By now, there were only three that could remain standing in his squad, including himself. He could tell that support would be coming soon, so he was only doing his best to hold the creature back. Though he was a dick, it seemed that he wasn't a coward who left his squadmates behind.
    Unfortunately, he wasn't very powerful. He seemed to have an ability that boosted the density of his muscles, but his strength was hardly over 0.80.
    It was at that moment that Captain Sela came rushing in.
    "Damned beast!"
    Another chain came rushing out of her chariot, trying to lock the beast down.
    'Idiot!' Leonel roared in his mind. Unfortunately, the next scene was bound to play out exactly as he had expected.
    The chain snaked forward, wrapping around the gorilla's thick forearm just before it could launch another attack toward the squad.
    Aitken looked up, pleasantly surprised. In fact, when he saw the sorry state Leonel was in, having to rush after the chariot with his hands bound like that, there was even deep satisfaction in his eyes.
    Though he had been a distance away, Leonel's roar of commands had covered the entire battlefield. How could he not be enraged after Captain Sela exposed his intentions. In fact, by now, many thought that Leonel had a voice compelling ability and had long since put up their guard against him.
    Seeing that the gorilla was tied down, Captain Sela's eyes brightened.
    She raised a sharp broad sword with a two meter long blade from her back, hacking down with all the might she could muster.
    But, she had forgotten one key detail. Tying someone down necessitated that you had a strong enough anchor. The best way to use this chariot's ability was to make use of its high maneuverability. The chain was meant to be a hidden card pulled out at an opportune time, not something to open a battle with.
    Sela had managed to catch Leonel off guard and had the forward momentum of the chariot to help her keep control of him.
    However, the chariot was going toward the gorilla, not away from it. And now she had shot out a chain and wrapped its forearm. She had even grown confident enough to send a direct attack. Butбн
    Just when the Captains and soldiers were feeling excited, the gorilla slammed its free arm into the ground, roaring with all its might and swinging its bound arm upward.
    'Goddammitбн'
    The chariot lost its footing, soaring into the air and taking Sela and Leonel along with it.
    Leonel followed the arc of the chariot helplessly, both of his wrists bound together.
    BANG!
    The chariot crashed and skid across the ground, its bronze light dimming somewhat.
    The gorilla rose to its legs, its fists beating wildly against its chest. The sound was deafening. It felt as though a sound wave was tearing their eardrums apart.
    Leonel grunted, landing on the ground heavily. He rolled further and further completely out of his control.
    Though his chain necklace had taken the direct strikes for him, his inner organs still stirred upon impact. And, as though that wasn't enough, the chariot he was tied to was now rolling toward him.
    Leonel rolled to his back, facing his two feet toward the coming chariot in hopes of stopping it with his legs. Unfortunately, reality was cruel to him.
    A ledge of the chariot got caught in the ground, causing its skid along the ground to stop in favor of it popping into the air and crashing down toward him from above.
    Leonel grimaced.
    Without a choice, a green light lit on the sole of his treasure shoes. He slammed down hard, sending him skidding along the ground faster and just out of the range of the chariot.
    Finally, the bronze chariot slowly came to a stop, but Leonel's expression was as dark as it could be. His fury was near reaching a tipping point.
    Leonel pulled at the chains on his wrist, but they still wouldn't budge. It might not have been that bad if his hands were bound individually, but with them stuck together like this, he couldn't even use a spear. And, it was obvious bullets wouldn't work on this beast.
    He cast a glance toward Captain Sela who had landed in the distance. The chariot had been going at 50 kilometers an hour at least and it was obvious she didn't have a defensive treasure as good as his own. She could only rely on that thick skin and that armor she wore.
    As expected, she was covered in blood and gravel. Leonel guessed that if it wasn't due to her awakening as an Evolver, she would have already died.
    At this moment, the other units were still charging, having lagged behind Captain Sela's chariot. They had seen everything happen and couldn't help but look toward the gorilla in horror. However, for some reason, the gorilla only seemed to have eyes for Leonel now.
    Leonel's expression turned awful. 'Could it be this thing sensed me use Force just now?'
    The situation was as bad as it could get. His hands were bound, there was a chariot weighing hundreds of pounds chained to him, and now this thing had locked onto him. And, as though that wasn't enoughбн
    "Invalids! Invalids are coming!" Captain Zhang roared.
    Just as Leonel had told them before. One group at 2 O'Clock and another at 11 O'Clock. Three B-grade Invalids between them. And now they were all here.
    It was at that moment that the gorilla leapt across several meters, casting a vast shadow over Leonel as it raised its two fists into the air.
    Leonel ground his teeth. He had already decided. This damned Slayer Legion would have nothing to do with him after today.
    **
    In the distance, there was a large ship slowly swaying off the harbor. Leonel had seen it the first time he stepped onto the harbor, but he had never considered why it was that it was there and why it seemed that no one from within it had done anything despite the looming threats.
    Within this massive 200 meters long wooden ship, two men stood on the deck, watching the scene unfold.
    "Are we really not going to help?" One of them asked.
    "This group is too incompetent. If they're not forged in fire, if they don't lose their lives today, they'll lose it at a later date. There wasn't much of a chance before the Metamorphosis for our lower level soldiers to get real fighting experience, but now we can slowly temper themбн"

 Chapter 112: Unexpected

    [For those who missed the annoucnement, for the month of August, DD will be transitioning to a 2 chapter a day schedule. In addition, I'll be uploading later in the day my time due to this (6pm EST) &lt;3]
    The Slayer Legion units were in shock. The gorilla directly ignoring them and jumping after the boy they saw as nothing other than a scout who overestimated himself and infuriated Captain Sela was completely out of their expectations.
    "Rookie!"
    Gerolt and Malt's shrill cries reached Leonel, but they were simply too far away to do anything to help. Leonel was on his own.
    At that very moment, Aitken and his injured squad members were taking advantage of the gorilla being distracted to retreat as quickly as they could. It became obvious that they had no intention of stepping into those muddied waters again. Even Captain Sela's life and death was unknown at this point, why would they risk themselves for a boy who was just being so arrogant mere moments ago.
    To the units of the six Captains, Leonel was essentially finished. Still, the only ones who felt even the slightest shred of remorse was Captain Zhang who brought Leonel into his unit and the four squad members he had spent the last two weeks with.
    Still, none of them could do anything even if they wanted to.
    However, Leonel, the person in question, watched on with a cold expression.
    Timing his escape perfectly, he darted forward, leaping just out of the range of the gorilla's descending hammer fists. He pulled on his chains hard, taking advantage of the heavy chariot and his own strength to sweep the chain across the gorilla's ankles and knocking it off its feet.
    Leonel jumped toward the gorilla's back as it fell, wrapping the chain that bound his wrists across its neck. He pressed his knees down on either side of the beast's spine, pulling his arms back hard.
    The veins of his arms bulged and the pain of the chains pressing against his wrists was excruciating. But Leonel continued to pull, wanting to break the gorilla's neck in one move.
    "ROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!!"
    The gorilla bellowed, trying to lash out toward Leonel's hands.
    But, Leonel shifted once more. His legs moved, sliding his knees from the gorilla's back and placing the soles of his feet flush against the beast's triceps.
    He stamped down hard, pulling up with his arms as though he was trying to stand up, but the chains across the gorilla's neck were stopping him from doing so.
    It seemed that the gorilla was finished. The control Leonel had over its neck was commanding. If it wasn't for its sturdy body, it would have already lost its head. But, the beast hadn't given up.
    With another roar that made Leonel's ears ring, a familiar silver light coated the beast's body. In that moment, the soft flesh of the gorilla's neck became harder than steel. Leonel knew immediately that it had become impossible to break its neck anymore.
    'There must be a short duration for this ability, or else it wouldn't be turning it on and off like this. We'll see how long you can last!'
    Unfortunately, the gorilla didn't give Leonel the time. The moment it got the slightest bit of reprieve, it rolled to its back, trying to crush Leonel with his heavy weight.
    Without a choice, Leonel could only leap away. A normal gorilla wasn't even 400 pounds, so Leonel was confident in outlasting the beast. Howeverбн He knew quite well that this wasn't a normal gorilla.
    After being freed, the gorilla felt a deep sense of humiliation that fueled its rage. In those moments, it had felt the call of death. It had really almost died at the hands of a puny human boy.
    It rose up, lashing out with its fists toward Leonel, but the cold glint it found on the latter's face left it shivering.
    Leonel yanked the chain around his wrists again. In all its rage, the gorilla failed to realize that when it had rolled to get Leonel off its back like that, it had inadvertently wrapped the chain around itself loosely. This time when Leonel pulled, it was no longer as simple as tripping it. This time, its legs were tightly bound together, causing it to fall over once more.
    Leonel took hold of the opportunity, dashing to the side and picking up the two meter long broadsword Captain Sela had lost control of when the chariot went flying. It was impossible for him to use a spear properly, but it was easier to use a two-handed weapon with his hands bound like this.
    By the time he brandished it, the gorilla had stood once more. Its eyes focused on Leonel with a crimson red, its snarls throwing hot air and flying spittle from its sharp canines. Its teeth glistened beneath the high sun almost like the tusks of a wild boar.
    Their gazes clashed in the air before they dashed forward in unison.
    Leonel didn't know how to use a sword. But, he hadn't known how to use an ax back then either. However, what he did know were two things.
    First, the gorilla's attack pattern was too simple. And, secondly, its shield ability couldn't be abused. Better yet, this shield ability had just been used.
    Leonel's figure was nimble. The faint shadow of the succubus spearwoman could be seen in his movements.
    He flitted around like a ghost, ducking out of the range of the gorilla's fist.
    Appearing to its side, his broad sword flashed forward, leaving afterimages in the air as it aimed for the gorilla's arm.
    CLANG!
    It chipped and rebounded off of the silver light, but Leonel's movements didn't pause. He madly circled the gorilla, dodging and striking whenever he got the chance.
    The haggard breaths and enraged roars of the gorilla rang over the battlefield.
    Suddenly, the silver energy shield flickered and Leonel's cold, calculating gaze blazed to life as he stepped forward like lightning.
    The broad sword pierced forward completely unlike a sword. Despite the weapon in his hands being as clear as day, for just a moment, to those observing, it felt that it wasn't a sword in his hands at allбн but rather, a spear.
    PCHUUU
    The sword shot through the gorilla's neck. It had such a wide blade that the gorilla's collarbone and forehead were pierced in unison.
    Thud.
    With a dull sound, the gorilla fell, leaving Leonel standing over it expressionlessly.
    His unkempt dirty blond hair was kicked up by the wind caused due to the beast's fall, waving about like a flowing river. His breathing was steady and unhurried. It was almost impossible to tell he had just been through a battle if not for the dead gorilla lying before him.
    The battlefield was so silent the drop of a pin could be heard. They had all watched it from start to finish, but even having witnessed it themselves, they couldn't believe it. Even Aitken felt his knees trembling. Just what had he provoked?
    However, it was then that something unexpected occurred.
    The gorilla began to shrink. Soon, there was nothing left but a naked man who died with his eyes wide open.

 Chapter 113: A Man

    'A manбн?' Leonel's pupils constricted.
    He finally understood. The Invalids had been drawn here by this man's silver shield ability. Back then, Leonel had been confused, wondering why it was that they had been when the dictionary had told him earlier that Invalids wouldn't antagonize creatures from another race.
    'Is it that man from the Brazinger family again?'
    Leonel frowned, spreading his Internal Sight to the max. If Simeon was here, it would be a good opportunity to deal with him.
    According to the dictionary, Simeon had some sort of gene manipulation ability that fell into the SS-grade. There was a chance that this man was another one of his experimentsбн
    Of course, it was also possible that this gorilla form was just this man's ability. After all, Leonel used his own ability all the time but never attracted Invalids unless he used Force. If he thought about it, it also made sense if this man's transformation was his ability while the silver light was some sort of Force technique.
    'Am I overthinking itбн? Is he not involved?'
    Leonel raised his head and swept a glance over the Slayer Legion units. Just the simple act made them feel as though their chests would burst from the thumping of their hearts.
    At that moment, the Invalids led by B-grade threats had entered the range of the battlefield. Leonel had finished off the gorilla so quickly that there wasn't even an opportunity for them to influence the battle. However, Leonel didn't even cast them a glance. Was it even his problem anymore?
    If they couldn't handle three B-grade Invalids on their own, could they even count themselves as a rebel army? Plus, Leonel wasn't a pushover even if he had a kind heart. After seeing Captain Sela's ridiculous actions, none of them stepped forward to say something, let alone help him.
    'I guess I was expecting too much from them. What could an organization that's done nothing but lose to the Empire for decades possibly have to offer. It's better if I just hone my Force Crafting and clear Zones as well. It won't take me more than a year to have enough trump cards to deal with the Junior Governor Duke and that man from the Brazinger Clan. Then I can go and find Ainaбн'
    Having already made up his mind, Leonel ignored the cries of the rebel units and walked to the chariot that had bound him. Soon, he looked through the mechanisms and found what he needed to release the chains from his hands.
    Leonel sighed, rubbing his bruised wrists. 'I was too reckless this time. If I had been prepared for anything, I wouldn't have gotten caught like that.'
    In the end, he was too inexperienced and had grown too confident. It was fine to be confident, but it had to come from a place of knowledge and strength. Leonel had the strength, but he was still lacking in knowledge.
    In this world, there were too many unique abilities and treasures he had to account for, getting caught off guard would happen frequently. The only way to perfectly combat this would be to be cautious. If he had been, there was no way a mere Captain Sela could put him in such a situation.
    Leonel looked around again to find the rebel units fighting for their lives against the B-grade Invalids. Sometimes, pleading gazes would meet his own, making him feel guilty. In the end, he was still a bit soft and couldn't completely harden his heart. Ultimately, these people had been misled by Captain Sela. He didn't want to leave them hanging.
    'Fine, fine. Whatever.'
    Leonel took out his atlatl and three darts from his spatial bracelet. Killing B-grade threats was as easy as breathing for him. Three Invalids, three darts, three throws and three deaths. It was that simple.
    As for the C-grade and lower Invalids, this time, he really did leave it to them.
    At that moment, the weakened Captain Sela struggled to stand. Her left arm was bent at an unhealthy angle and a side of her face seemed to have skidded along the ground and was thus ruined by severe cuts, burns and blood, but she stood nonetheless.
    She had no idea what had just happened and couldn't even see the gorilla any longer. All she saw was Leonel standing on her chariot.
    In truth, Leonel was planning on leaving now. He just could have never imagined that instead of treating her injuries properly, this Captain Sela would actually come to find trouble with him in her half-dead state.
    "Get away from my chariot!" She snarled.
    Leonel cast a glance at her and shrugged, leaping off the chariot and turning to leave. However, completely out of Captain Sela' expectations, his destination wasn't the harbor where it was far safer, but rather back into the ruined city. It was obvious that he was intending to leave.
    "Youбн Where do you think you're going?"
    Leonel didn't have any intention of answering, so he just kept walking. Why would he even bother to stay here? This Slayer Legion was nothing but a joke. Their Captains were fools, their fighting strength was weak, and as if this wasn't enough, they apparently didn't have issues targeting their own men.
    An organization rotting from the inside-out like this didn't deserve his effort. It seemed that Earth really had nothing left for him.
    It was a thought he never thought he would have, but now it was as firm as a lighthouse in a dark, foggy night.
    'They might still have some use.' Leonel thought. 'In the small likelihood that that man was one of his experiments and he finds out it was taken out in this harborбн he might send more to investigate. In that case, I can find out a bit more about this Brazinger family.'
    Leonel's gaze grew frosty. If it wasn't for them, he would have never been separated from Aina.
    "бн Do you think that the Slayer Legion is a joke?! You think it's possible to join one day and leave the next?! Why aren't you all doing anything?!"
    Hearing this question, many looked at Captain Sela with weird gazes. He just took down an A-grade threat with his hands bound. Then he took down three B-grade Invalids with three flicks of his wrist. Do something about it? Wasn't that the real joke?
    Leonel's footsteps paused.
    Of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with Captain Sela. She could scream ten times harder and he still wouldn't listen to her ramblings. The reason he stopped was because a man had suddenly appeared before him. And, though he didn't know it, this was the very same man who had been observing the battle from the large ship in the distance.
    Though Leonel didn't know this, he had seen how this man got here with his Internal Sight. He rode the waves of the water with his bare feet then launched himself hereбн Yet, the process was so quiet that no one but Leonel seemed to notice his actions at all.
    "It seems I will have to reward you with a promotion, Captain Sela. When you sent a report that a recruit came in with a stolen invitation card, I hadn't thought much of it. But it seems that your intuition was right. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never thought that this kid was a spy.
    "I should have knownбн A critical margin of error wouldn't appear without reason."

 Chapter 114: Real Tears

    Leonel cocked an eyebrow. There was something weird about this situation. It was missing the edge it should have, or maybe it was something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.
    However, Leonel had already suffered once today from not being cautious enough. He had no intention of making the same mistake twice. Instead, he silently observed, his senses primed to their peak. He seemed to be relaxed, but there wasn't a single detail within 200 meters of him that he missed.
    Captain Sela's eyes flashed with happiness when she heard the man's words. As a Captain, of course she knew who this man was.
    "Make things a bit easier on yourself, young man. Don't resist and come with me."
    "бн It's no wonder you all have never stood a chance against the Empire."
    Even in the 25th century, there were certain offensive things one should never say. Racial slurs, culturally insensitive phrases, ignorant and uninformed statementsбн However, even among all of these things, maybe saying such a thing amongst a field of rebels was amongst the worst.
    At that point, even the carefree man who had just rode a wave to block Leonel's path had a stiff expression. If Leonel could read the man's mind, he might have felt a little bad.
    The truth was that this man hadn't come here to make trouble for Leonel. He had said those things, but that was only to keep up a certain facade. He had good reasons for treating Leonel the way he did and if the boy just cooperated a little bit, he would know the reasons why in just a few moments.
    But this boy just had to go and say these things. Why was he so brazen? Doesn't he know that he's surrounded by 200 people? Even if he took down the gorilla, he would die meeting such a large group as long as there was one person near his battle strength. As far as the man was concerned, Leonel could at best match him. In that case, getting into a fight with their group would only lead to his death.
    'бн Ah, dammit, kid. How am I supposed to continue now? If I don't respond with anger, those with eyes here will get suspicious. But, if I do fight you, how can we end this peacefully? Dammit, dammit.'
    At this point, the man realized he had acted a bit too rashly. He should have approached with a better plan, but this was the best he could do in such a short time.
    If he waited any longer, Leonel would have left. After Leonel left, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't be secretly watched by others. In this case, it would be even more suspicious if he tried to meet him in secret.
    Even if by some miracle he managed to successfully meet Leonel after he left without alerting anyone else, there was no guarantee that he would be able to sneak Leonel back like he wanted to.
    This should have been the perfect opportunity. He should have been able to 'arrest' Leonel while showing favoritism he shouldn't have. Then, he would have been able to 'imprison' him and thus gain a perfect excuse for why Leonel was with them.
    In this way, those keeping an eye on the rebels would underestimate them more, thinking that their leaders were trash for getting rid of a talent like Leonel for short term benefits. And, at the same time, they would be able to secretly bring Leonel to their side and gain yet another hidden trump card.
    Everything was so perfect, but this boy was displaying too much confidence which left the man uneasy. Suddenly, something that should have been a simple task became incredibly difficult and there was no longer a path for him to take it easy on Leonel.
    'Damned hot blooded kids and their damned pride, fuck.'
    With no other choice, the man's face twisted into a feigned rage.
    "Kid, you sure have a big mouth." He growled. "Remember this well, I am Lieutenant Damian Warner. Today, I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents!"
    Leonel's expression darkened.
    He couldn't read the man's mind. Even if he found this situation weird, he tossed all thoughts of finding out what was wrong after hearing such words. His dad had disappeared to who knows where, but that didn't give this man the right to comment on it.
    Leonel's aura grew heavy, the silver pole of his bike appearing in his hands.
    Damian realized that there was something wrong with the atmosphere almost immediately, but by the time he realized he might have said something wrong, the blunt tip of Leonel's rod was already before him.
    'Shit, shit, shit!'
    This speed, this technique, this strength. Each and every one was far beyond Damian's expectations. He felt as though a whole world was bearing down on him and that no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to dodge.
    The shadow of a spear was projected into his mind. He couldn't help but thinkбн 'If this was a spear, wouldn't I be dead now?'
    Damian quickly crossed his arms, taking the brunt of Leonel's strike with his forearms.
    BANG!
    Without suspense, he was sent flying. It wasn't until he had moved back almost ten meters that the ground beneath him suddenly 'awakened', stretching up into the skies like a wave and catching him like a soft pillow.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. 'It seems his ability isn't as simple as water control. This is an S-grade power at worst, and I still feel like I'm underestimating it.'
    Leonel was using his rod instead of his spear because he wanted to separate himself from the influence of his Spear Domain Lineage. He felt that his comprehension of his Lineage Factor was too weak and that the only way to find out exactly what made it tick was by comparing his abilities with it and without it. In addition, he felt that he didn't need his Lineage Factor to defeat this man.
    However, this ability put quite a bit of pressure on him. He had only seen a small glimpse of it, but he saw endless possibilities. If this man was even somewhat competent, he too should be able to handle A-grade threats just as easily as Leonel did.
    What Leonel didn't know was that the man's expression was growing gloomier and gloomier. Having sensed Leonel's strength, he realized that taking him in like this would be even more difficult. As if things weren't bad enoughбн His arms were broken.
    'This little devil. No wonder he embarrassed Royal Blue Fort and the Leum family like that. Who created this little monster?'
    Damian's arms hung limply to his side, wanting to shed real tears when he saw Leonel charging toward him again.

 Chapter 115: Not Trash?

    Leonel's speed was beyond the limits of a mortal. However, with his experience in martial arts, Damian realized that it wasn't as simple as pure pace. There was something odd about the rhythm of Leonel's steps that made him seem even faster than he was, as though he was approaching from all sorts of impossible angles at once.
    'How is this possible? I've immersed myself in martial arts for decades, why can't I match up against a little boy?!'
    Damian roared in his mind, but he realized that he couldn't allow this to continue in this fashion and for so long at that. However, what he didn't know was that Leonel was disappointed by his performance.
    'I'm still missing something, she was far better than this.'
    However, as soon as this calculative thought appeared in Leonel's mind, it was thrown out. This wasn't because it was wrong, but rather because he was pissed.
    First this Slayer Legion was incompetent to the point they rated his ability within the D-grade. Then he was targeted by one of their Captains without reason. To make matters worse, that captain had actually tried to kill him.
    All of this was already enough to push someone to the edge.? But, as though they wanted to make sure he was aware of just how worthless this organization was, this prick had appeared and actually mentioned something about teaching him a lesson in place of his father?
    In what felt like the blink of an eye Leonel had appeared before Damian, his body sinking into a low crouch that concentrated all the torque of his hips toward the ground and rebounded it back up toward his piercing rod.
    It was a beautiful synchronization of the primitive man's body control and the primitive woman's speed.
    Damian fell back, a fluid pillar of earth appearing before him and Leonel.
    As though expecting this, Leonel's steps shifted. His body flitted across the air, leaving shadows in the wake as his slid to Damian's side, only to find another wall of earth waiting for him.
    'These walls aren't solid. In order to move them, he's sacrificing the sturdiness of the earth. But since he can't manipulate material without negatively influencing its rigidity, how is it that he could ride a wave like that?'
    Leonel didn't dare to come in contact with Damian's wall of Earth, he could only continuously avoid it. Who knew if this was Damian's ploy? If he entered the seemingly fluid earth and Damian solidified it, it would be too late to regret it.
    Even as Leonel felt that he was getting a headache trying to deal with Damian's ability, Damian himself was in an even sorrier state.
    His arms weren't broken to the point of suffering a clean snap, but there were most definitely several fractures. Regardless, his arms were as good as useless.
    Now, with his arms in this state, he couldn't use weapons. And, even if he could, he didn't want to draw a gun on Leonel lest he accidentally kill the kid. How could he know that Leonel didn't have to worry about bullets due to his Quasi Bronze chain necklace?
    Leonel frowned, retreating explosively only to find a wall of fluid earth blocking his path backward.
    'Not good.'
    Completely out of expectations, instead of continuing to retreat, Leonel firmly planted and shot forward with everything he had. At this point, even Damian was caught off guard. He had thought that Leonel would continue to run, trying to escape the range of his abilities.
    However, while Damian was trying to end this peacefully, Leonel still believed this was a battle he might lose his life in. In such a case, he wouldn't take a chance on guessing where Damian's range ended.
    If the range was within ten meters, Leonel might be able to escape. But, if it was ten times that, Leonel would be trapped and then his life would be in the hands of another.
    However, if he was as close to Damian as possible, he wouldn't trap himself, right? There was no guarantee the Damian didn't have another way to escape, but between the two options, Leonel's calculative mind quickly deduced that this had the least risk.
    Damian's eyes flashed. At that moment, the land Leonel was running on suddenly began to sink.
    But, as though having already thought of this possibility, Leonel's expression didn't even change.
    With a thought, his soles glowed green once more as he stamped down hard, sending him flashing to the side once more.
    Damian's eyes widened in surprise, not catching why it was that Leonel seemed unaffected by the swamp-like ground. Leonel hadn't jumped high into the air before using his treasure shoes this time, so their effect was extremely low profile this time around.
    Still, Damian was experienced in combat and reacted quickly, erecting another wall of fluid earth after judging Leonel's landing location. But, he suddenly felt uncomfortable when he saw Leonel's lip curl.
    Leonel, who had just been in the air, shouldn't have been able to change his direction at all. By all rights, it should have been impossible. But, in that moment, another green light flashed from Leonel's other shoe and he suddenly took a sharp turn that seemingly defied the laws of physics.
    Damian hardly registered what had happened when Leonel had shot through a gap in his walls of earth.
    He panicked, trying to quickly close them down into a cage. But, it was too late.
    Leonel's foot slammed into his chest, pushing him to the ground. Damian's vision spun and by the time he could see again, he felt a cold rod pressing against his throat.
    From the outside, all the rebels saw was a half-sphere of fluid earth. Leonel and Damian were completely blocked from their view, but they still were left stunned.
    This sort of battle, had it really been between two humans? Even if it wasn't as exaggerated as the earth splitting and sky shattering, it was still enough to leave them in awe. Captain Sela especially felt as though a lump had been firmly lodged in her throat.
    This sort of battle prowessбн D-grade? Which bullshit engineer built the machine that said his ability was D-grade?!
    "Wait! Wait! Wait!"
    What the rebels could have never expected was that the Lieutenant Damian they all respected so much had put his hands up in surrender. Leonel had his silver rod on his throat and a foot on his chest, was it really possible for him to do anything else but this?
    Leonel frowned. The smartest thing to do would be to apply pressure and break through Damian's throat now, but he hesitated hearing his words.
    Damian sighed in relief seeing that Leonel didn't act to kill him immediately.
    "I know you're angry with me, but I had to do things this way so that you could join without attracting the eyes of others."
    The lieutenant obviously didn't want to play with his life anymore so he immediately got to the point.
    Leonel frowned. Could it be that the Slayer Legion wasn't as useless as he thought? However, he had no intention of releasing Damian so easily. His ability was too powerful. If he was a bit more experienced with it, Leonel would have been finished. This encounter truly taught Leonel the terror of abilities.
    "Keep speaking. I won't release you until I hear something worthwhile. You better be quick as well. If we stay here for too long, your plan will fail even if you convince me."

 Chapter 116: Fishy

    Damian bitterly smiled. Of course he understood what Leonel meant. If they remained in here for too long, no matter how convincing their previous act was, it would become suspicious. In that case, it wouldn't matter if he convinced Leonel to play along.
    "There's not much I can tell you." Damian said through gritted teeth. "But I think you're smart enough to know why this is the approach we must take. The more competent we seem, the more attention the Empire will pay to us and the less chance we'll have in the long run."
    Leonel had already thought as much, but this wasn't enough to convince him of anything.
    "Do you think that the Empire is stupid? I doubt they're unaware that this is a facade."
    "It doesn't matter if they know, they'll still underestimate us. A vague threat will always be taken less seriously than a tangible one. As long as they don't know the true extent of our depths, it'll be easier for them to neglect us."
    Damian was trying to speak quicker and quicker, not wanting to give up this chance. If they could take in Leonel secretly, this would be great.
    "I assume by your words that you know who I am? Unless you were really crazy enough to try this stunt after seeing the small bit I showed?"
    Damian's lip twitched. 'Small bit'? How much more was there? He was already in this state!
    "Yes, I know that you're Leonel Morales and know that you're a Variant. In addition, I also know of what happened at the Fort."
    "Good, that makes things easier. I'll agree to join and help your Slayer Legion as long as you support me to take down Royal Blue Fort within half a year and you help me take this damned wrist watch off. If you say yes, I'll let you take me out of here as your 'prisoner'."
    Damian's expression changed.
    This matter was simply too big. It wasn't that they didn't want to take down the Fort. In fact, if they were willing to pay a small price, it wasn't impossible to take the Fort down even without Leonel's help. The issue was that it wasn't worth it.
    The Slayer Legion still wasn't ready to appear boldly in the real world just yet, so what good was the Fort to them? It would do nothing but make them an immobile and vulnerable target.
    In addition, the Governor Duke, the true powerhouse of the Royal Blue Province, wasn't here. So, at best you'd be taking down his son who hadn't even really grown into a man yet. This was another reason why it wasn't worth it.
    "I know what you're thinking." Leonel said expressionlessly. "But, is it really as you're thinking? You're on this expedition right now to scavenge the broken pieces of fallen buildingsбн Wouldn't it be much better to directly snatch the technology of the Royal Blue Fort?"
    Damian's eyes suddenly shone bright at these words. If it was looked at from this angleбн it was indeed possible.
    The truth was that he had quite a bit of freedom when it came to what exactly to do with this group. Their value wasn't very high to the Slayer Legion and they were essentially here just to train and hopefully become useful in the future. If he wanted to attack the Fort, he could make the decision aloneбн
    Taking a deep breath, Damian's eyes sharpened with resolution.
    "I can't make the decision to remove your Shackle, but I can agree to attack the Fort with you after some more preparation. But, since you're such a high profile recruit, it will be necessary for you to gain a moreбн thorough clearance."
    Leonel paused for a while, looking at Damian quite intently. It was to the point the latter couldn't help but squirm.
    "Alright. I hope you keep your word."
    Damian sighed a breath of relief when Leonel finally removed his rod and foot from his body.
    On the outside, the rebels were quite anxious. They had no idea that such a conversation was happening. Everyone one of them believed that an intense battle was taking place within that cage of earth.
    When the fluid earth finally began to crumble, they all held their breaths before bursting into a chorus of cheers.
    Damian stood at the front, proudly walking with Leonel's rod in one hand and a rope formed of fluid earth in his other. Attached to the end of this rope were Leonel's bound hands. He stalked forward slowly like the prisoner he was.
    No, actually, upon closer inspection, his feet were bound as well. He was only moving because their lieutenant was sliding him across the ground with his ability. How magical.
    That was their lieutenant! He was so powerful!
    Captain Sela felt as though a weight had been lifted from her chest and she couldn't help but smirk. Though, since half her face was covered in bloody, burnt and peeling skin, she looked even more unattractive than she usually did.
    Damian smiled brightly. "Captain Sela, for your role in this you'll definitely be rewarded well. It might not be impossible for you to become a Colonel."
    Captain Sela felt giddy with excitement. She put on an expression that might have been adorable on a 5 year old girl but looked simply ridiculous on her before she sent a sneer Leonel's way.
    Leonel, however, had his head down, his eyes aimed toward the ground. Beneath his drooping hair, his calm, calculating gaze was hidden.
    In the distance, Gerolt, Malt, Lisa and Davy clenched their fists tightly. They didn't know what all this spy talk was about, but they did know that Leonel had saved them all not just once, but twice. First with the A-grade threat and then by taking out the three B-grade Invalids.
    Even beyond this, his ability had saved them who knows how many times during their rounds. It was just that he was so good they never ran into trouble so even they didn't have an exact numberбн
    However, they were too weak. There was nothing they could do to help him.
    In the end, they had known Leonel for too little time. They were unable to bring themselves to risk everything for his sake. And, even if they did try toбн What exactly could they accomplish?
    Of course, the person in question, Leonel himself, wasn't bothered by such things. He was an understanding person for the most part, so he wouldn't hold grudges for something like this. It was only as simple as that their friendship would likely never deepen beyond this surface level.
    That said, Leonel wasn't even actively thinking about such things. He wasn't even aware of their complicated feelings.
    At this moment, his Internal Sight was completely focused on the corpse of the man, turned gorilla, turned back to man. He wanted to check on as many clues as he could at the 'crime scene' before things were moved around.
    Something still felt fishy about the whole thing.

 Chapter 117: Little Slave

    A long while later, Leonel had been escorted by Damian to the large ship in the distance. There, there was surprisingly another man waiting. What was surprising wasn't the fact that there was such a man, but rather that he was quite literally the only other member on board.
    That was right, a ship of 200 meters in length, rivaling any luxury yacht, was accommodating just two menбн How did this work, exactly?
    'It can't be that Lieutenant Damian can use his ability to move such a large shipбн right?'
    Leonel felt his heart skip a beat. If this was true, it likely meant that it was easier for Damian to control water as opposed to earth. In that case, if the latter had any evil thoughts, even Leonel wouldn't be able to do much about it.
    However, even after thinking to this point, Leonel remained calm. The reason was precisely his previous run-in with the octopus. He couldn't imagine what kind of powerful creatures were lying in wait in the depths of the ocean right now. Even in the 25th century, Earth still didn't know everything about its waters.
    With the threat of him releasing his Force, Damian wouldn't likely dare to act rashly. Plus, Leonel believed that the lieutenant was being sincere. Leonel believed himself to be quite good at reading people, even his own best friend of over a decade couldn't fool him at a critical juncture, let alone Damian who he was especially cautious of.
    "бн I can't take it anymore!"
    Damian's voice snapped Leonel out of his thoughts even as the fluid earth wrapped around the latter's wrist and ankles fell with a 'plop'.
    The lieutenant's face paled, his arms falling and trembling to his side. It was only now that Leonel remembered that this guy probably had numerous fractures in his forearms. It was a wonder he had been able to keep up the act for long.
    "What are you standing around for?! Hurry up and heal me! This kid is a little devil."
    Damian had completely lost his noble air. He looked no different from a little boy complaining to his big brother, a sight that left Leonel rather speechless. He had always wanted a little sibling since he was an only child, but he felt like changing his mind after seeing this.
    Leonel had only barely had this thought when he realized that the man Damian was speaking to actually resembled him quite a bit. Could they actually be brothers?
    They were about the same height, had the same sandy tanned skin, and both had deep brown eyes.
    After appeasing Damian, the second man walked forward and smiled amiably.
    "I'm Vice Commander Joseph Warner, it's nice to meet you."
    'Same last name? So they are indeed brothersбн'
    Leonel smiled in return. "Leonel Morales. What exactly is it that you two want me to do? I'd like to make something clear first. Though I'm alright with collaborating with Slayer Legion to take down Royal Blue Fort, I have yet to decide to join you all longterm."
    Joseph raised an eyebrow and looked toward his younger brother. They had just gotten here, so he obviously hadn't had the opportunity to learn what Leonel's requests were.
    Soon, he learned of everything and fell into pensive thought.
    "бн Taking down the Fort would indeed be a good opportunity. In addition, we might be able to recruit some fresh blood as well. I'm certain that there are many common folk who are unsatisfied with the Junior Governor Duke's actions."
    "I was surprised." Leonel suddenly interjected. "I thought it would be harder to convince you two to attack the Fort. Why is it easier for you to agree to this in comparison to helping me remove this wrist watch?"
    Joseph and Damian looked at each other and smiled.
    "You're new to the Slayer Legion, but you've probably already seen that things aren't what they appear on the surface. Most of our public appearances are just facades. For now, we haven't truly formed up.
    "Lieutenants and above have quite a bit of freedom at our current stage. You can almost consider us like ancient time generals who can take action without consulting with our king first. This gives us greater flexibility and better adaptability. Since this region is the territory we oversee, whether to attack the Fort or not is entirely up to us two brothers.
    "Howeverбн the wrist watch is a special case. The secrets behind how to remove it are tightly guarded by the highest echelons of our Slayer Legion."
    Leonel's lips curled. "Shouldn't you be giving me a speech about how noble your cause is and that you would stop at nothing to end the Empire's tyranny? Why are you so blatantly exposing that you're hoarding such important secrets to yourselves?"
    Joseph laughed. "No one is so noble. While it's true that we don't agree with the paths the Empire has taken and do believe that we have the higher moral authority, we aren't angels either.
    "Like all organizations, we need a hierarchy, we need incentives, we need our people to have goals to strive for. This is the only way."
    Leonel quite appreciated Joseph's attitude. He had expected to find some cliche, die-hard rebels with tragic backstories that were worth the tears of all the women in the world, but what he actually found was much more real. Though these two brothers might still have faced some sort of tragedy in their past, at least for now, it wasn't important.
    After thinking this far, Leonel nodded internally. The trouble with taking this watch off wasn't just how sturdy it was. Though the material was hard, there were many things that could still destroy it. The trouble was finding something that could destroy it without taking his hand and most likely his arm along with it. That was much more difficult.
    "Alright, that's enough of that. My brother made the right decision, taking on the Fort is a good opportunity and will provide us with far more rewards than what scavenging these broken buildings can. But, we'll need to wait for the rest of our team to get back before we can start planning something like this."
    "Rest of your team?" Leonel's brows raised with interest.
    "Yes. They're the main force of my brother and I, they can be considered to be the true elites of our Division. But, right now they're training themselves in several Zones. Of course, we've already had a few clashes with the Fort over Zone entries as well."
    Leonel couldn't help but be quite confused at these words. Did Sub-Dimensional Zones only appear on land? What about the vast ocean? Was there a need for them to fight over Zones on land if there was so much vast space on the ocean?
    "It's about time we report in anyway. They should be back in a half a month to a month at most. After that, we'll have to go back to base and report our progress like we do every half year. You can take that opportunity to learn a bit more about us. We really are the best option for a fugitive like yourself."
    Leonel inwardly chuckled. This was somehow both the best and worst pitch meeting imaginable. Ultimately, Joseph was right. He was nothing but a fugitive. Where else could he go if not to them?
    "That saidбн In the meantime, you'll have to help us put on a little show."
    Leonel had a bad feeling when he heard Damian's words and saw his evil smile. He looked like a man excited to finally get his revenge.
    Damian took out a collar from who-knows-where. Leonel couldn't help but shiver when he saw arcs of electricity coursing through two small silver plates hidden on its inner lining.
    "It can't beбн" Leonel's jaw clenched.
    "Don't run away little brat, you really made me suffer before." Damian's grin grew wider. "You just need to obediently act like a little slave for a small while."

 Chapter 118: Ninth

    "You've seen him too, right?"
    "Hmph, serves him right. Wasn't it very stupid of him to come here alone? He must have thought himself to be invincible, but didn't Lieutenant Warner take him down just the same?"
    "Lower your voice a bit." The one who spoke sent a playful smack to the back of his friend's head. "That's still a person who took down an A-grade Invalid on his own. He could kill you with a glare."
    The recipient of the smack laughed.
    "Kill me? With that thing around his neck? Even if he had a wrong thought he'd be fried into barbecue chicken."
    Conversations like this seemed to happen all the time these days. Whenever a group passed by the pillar at the gate of their harbor, their thoughts would inevitably drift to the young man forced to stand guard there.
    He stood atop the pillar, legs crossed. His hair and immature beard were just as unkempt while his clothing was just as casual. But, now, he had a collar wrapped tightly around his neck that flickered with arcs of electricity from time to time.
    "What are you two doing around here?! Scram!"
    A sudden roar shocked the two gossiping men, sending them scurrying into a distance. Comparing Gerolt's large physique to themselves, they knew they didn't stand much of a chance.
    Gerolt looked up at the young man who sat on the pillar and sighed. The young man didn't seem to notice his presence, but could Gerolt blame him? Scaring away those who ran their mouths too much was about the best he could do.
    'It's not right. None of them seem to remember that that damned lieutenant wasn't the one to step out and save their lives, it was Leonel who did. Since he could defeat Leonel, why didn't he step out earlier to kill that A-grade threat?'
    Gerolt was fuming, but he couldn't even raise up his courage to contradict Sela who was nothing more than a captain. How could he do anything against a lieutenant?
    After casting another glance toward Leonel, Gerolt turned and left.
    Leonel, who was on top of the pillar, didn't seem to have much of a reaction to this. For one, none of them knew that he wasn't actually a prisoner, this was just a facade. Even the electric collar on his neck was just a little trick, it did little more than leave his skin a bit numb. And second, if he interacted with Gerolt on friendly terms, that would probably make this whole act a waste. So, he ignored him.
    His life was pretty leisurely right now, in fact. He had become the 'guard dog' of the rebels, standing guard here for 12 hours everyday. For others, this might have been a complete waste of time. But, with his Dream World, Leonel could still progress.
    Leonel found that when he did nothing but clear his mind and meditate like this, he had thoughts and ideas he never even considered before. In an age of technology, people rarely took time to themselves. And, even when he entered Zones which had no such distractions, he was constantly on guard, worrying about his life.
    But now, he could breathe and relax. This whole pretending to be a prisoner gig wasn't half bad.
    'бн I'm such an idiot, why didn't I think of that? Since Metal Spirits are known for their corrosive ability and in the art of refining metals, can't I just have the little guy melt this wrist watch for me? I wouldn't even need the Slayer Legion at that point.'
    This was just one of Leonel's many fleeting thoughts. In fact, he felt that he could just barely split his thoughts into two streams, allowing them to draw conjectures along two completely different avenues. It was almost like combining the computing power of two computers to gain results faster.
    Leonel had barely grasped this ability when he was escaping back to the Fort. He had been trying to absorb the primitive man's combat experience as quickly as possible and formed three simulations in his Dream World. However, the third had been so bare bones that it could hardly be considered one. So, two was Leonel's real limit, and even then, it drained his spirit very quickly without the support of [Dimensional Cleanse].
    Still, this was only a fleeting thought of Leonel's. Right now, he still didn't dare to touch the little guy with his bare hands and he only had protective gear for his palms and fingers. His wrist would still be exposed. So, without some experience or assurances, he wouldn't dare to act rashly just yet.
    In reality, this was a thought Leonel had had days ago. What he was focused on now was completely different.
    'Just where is the perfect location for my Ninth Node?'
    If before Leonel wasn't very worried about this, believing he had time to figure it out, he was now getting a bit anxious.
    In the past month or so, he had already formed his Fourth and Fifth Nodes within the lab. He could form his Sixth any time as well, but hadn't because he needed to allow the lab to accumulate more Force, or else he would run out when it came time to form his Second Star.
    It could be said that Leonel faced practically none of the bottlenecks Aina had mentioned. In fact, his speed was blinding to the point of being incredulous. If there were knowledgeable individuals monitoring his progress, they'd be numbed with shock.
    It should be mentioned that Earth only had a few million people left of their population. The rest had either died during the Paradise Island tragedy or become Invalids. Of those people, those like Aina who had families pass down Force cultivation techniques to them numbered in the few hundred at most. All others had to earn their own in Zones just like Leonelбн
    Now, considering this, how many could get a good technique? Even if you put aside the fact that Leonel's technique was among the best in the Fourth Dimension and didn't mind the fact not just anyone would be able to get a Tier 9 Black rewardбн what then?
    This was all to say that Leonel's strength was frightening. Those who had as many Force Nodes as him had all begun long before the Metamorphosis truly descended.
    But now, his own speed was knipping at his heels. At this pace, it wouldn't be long before he formed his Eighth Nodeбн But he still had no idea where his Ninth should go!

 Chapter 119: Using

    Leonel's brow furrowed as his mind spun. At the same time, his fingers stretched in odd positions, moving them like individual striking snakes.
    His First Node was with his brain stem. His Second and Third Nodes were along his spine. His Fourth and Fifth Nodes were fused into the walls of his lungs. According to his current plan, his Sixth Node would be fused into his stomach. The Seventh and Eighth Nodes would be split between the chambers controlling the outgoing flow of his blood and the ingoing flow.
    Up to this point, this arrangement had a near 100% compatibility with him and he felt that it was near flawless. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a Ninth Node with as much compatibility with him.
    If others knew about Leonel's arrangement of Force Nodes, they just might call him insane. Most sought after boosts to strength in their arms and legs бк essentially, things that could directly upgrade their battle prowess as quickly as possible. Yet, all of Leonel's choices were supplemental, yet absolutely perfect for laying a foundation.
    With Nodes in his spine and brain, when his Force was activated, and even passively, his thinking speed and reaction time was exponentially better than his peers. The Nodes in his lungs increased his air intake and oxygen siphoning ability. The Nodes within his heart would perfectly supplement the increased capacity of his lungs, not to mention the Node in his stomach as well.
    Ultimately, the blood was the centerpiece of the body, it was interwoven and interconnected with every corner, right along with the nervous system. So, in Leonel's mind, forming his nodes with these two systems as the core was only right.
    But now, he was at a loss. He even began to doubt himself somewhat. What if he was wrong from the very beginning? He had indeed started to choose the locations of his Nodes without consulting anyoneбн
    Leonel had always been confident in himself. Maybe a bit too confident considering all the mistakes he had made since the Metamorphosis descended. However, he still felt certain that he wasn't taking an incorrect pathбн
    Leonel's head snapped up to look into the distance. He stood.
    'Another one, huhбн'
    With a sigh, Leonel hopped down from the pillar, causing those who had come back after Gerolt left to scurry off and hide once more. Who knew why these people were so bored to hang around him like this just so that they could make sure that he heard their words.
    It had been quite a long while since Leonel had dealt with such a thing. If he recalled correctly, during his first few weeks in the Royal Blue Education System, he was quite looked down upon since he lived on a Paradise island. But, by now, that seemed like a lifetime ago.
    After making his rounds and wiping out the approaching Invalids once again, Leonel once again pretended to 'run away', only to be zapped back into submission by the collar around his neck.
    He was quite used to this routine after half a month. He walked back to the harbor with head lowered and his hair hiding his eyes once again.
    "Another escape attempt? Seems I'll have to speak with Lieutenant Warner about this. I'm not sure why you can't just be an obedient guard dog."
    The first time Leonel heard this voice, he thought it came from a respectable female captain. Now when he heard it, he only managed to feel annoyed. Why this Captain Sela insisted on being so annoying was beyond him.
    That said, he wasn't very surprised by her appearance. After all, in order to keep up appearances and not raise suspicion, Captain Sela was tasked with overseeing what she called his duties as a 'guard dog'.
    Like always, Leonel simply ignored her. Once the matters with the Fort were concluded, there would no longer be a need for him to stay here. He could pretend that Damian brought himself elsewhere or that he escaped. Either one would be fine.
    Captain Sela watched with a pleased smile as Leonel obediently walked back into the harbor. The side of her face was still bandaged from her previous injuries, making her look even worse than she usually did.
    Once he had disappeared, gone now that his 12 hour shift was concluded, her smile disappeared and became indifferent. First she ensured that the next guards took up their duty. Leonel alone was enough to guard half the day, but several dozen men and women were needed when he was off duty. After accomplishing this, she headed back to her quarters.
    She seemed to relax after getting back into her room, her burly figure suddenly changing its gait to that of an elegant woman with swaying hips. But the issue wasбн her silhouette made those who saw it want to vomit instead of appreciate the sight.
    Still, without a care, she walked to the bathroom, humming a little tune as her clothes fell to the ground one by one. It wasn't long until a blubbery, top heavy figure appeared. Still, it was more toned than one might expect. What happened next, though, was astonishing.
    Captain Sela's burly body began to shrink as she sauntered toward the bathroom. By the time she stepped off the hardwood and onto the tiles, her figure had become slender and the backview was enticing to the point of inducing a nose bleed.
    Her bottom became pert with just the right amount of jiggle. Her slender legs moved along with her hips, following a hypnotizing rhythm. The sight one could behold when she finally reclined in a pre-made wooden bath could make the blood boil. The clear water could hardly hide the shapeliness of her soft breasts.
    As if all of this wasn't enough, she shed the bandages on her face, revealing delicate features that brought her looks together with a bow. She was most definitely a prime beauty, the likes of which few could match.
    At that moment, a slight vibration came from her wrist.
    &lt; "Report." &gt;
    A commanding tone demanded from the other end, but the sound waves were so unique that no one but Captain Sela herself could hear them.
    "бн Things are going well. I should be receiving a promotion soon."
    After giving her usual report, Captain Sela ended it with these words.
    There was a long pause on the other end.
    &lt; "You don't see anything fishy about all of this?" &gt;
    Captain Sela shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Even if it's all a ploy, they'll give me appropriate rewards so that I can continue shielding Leonel Morales. By then, I will start displaying some of my true abilities and they will recognize me for other reasons. It took me decades to become a captain, but now I can become a colonel. Who cares if it's just a ploy?"
    The voice was silent for a long time once again but didn't respond. After a while, it became obvious that the person hung up.
    Captain Sela reclined with a smile, a devilishly beautiful curl coating her lips.
    "You're using me? Well, I'm using you tooбн" She said with a light giggle.
    If Leonel were here, he would finally remember just why it was he had smelt a familiar fragrance from Captain Sela. It was because the slender woman in the tub was precisely the very same Secretary Marquisette Maia he met at Royal Blue Fort.

 Chapter 120: Advanced

    Another half month passed by in a flash. Finally, the teammates Damian and his brother Joseph had spoken of before had made their way back, making the empty 200 meter wooden yacht far more lively.
    Leonel didn't have much interaction with these people. Though Damian and Joseph claimed to trust them with their lives, the less people who knew a secret, the better. As a result, Leonel stayed in a room on the lowest level of the boat and didn't leave. Obviously, his guard duties had been passed on to someone else.
    Joseph had said that a high-level recruit like himself had to go through a deeper acceptance process. However, Leonel had seen through a while ago that this 'vetting' process was not much different from the Empire marking down all his secrets and treasures. The Slayer Legion and the Ascension Empire really didn't seem to have much of a difference between them from what Leonel had seen. One just happened to be weaker than the other, or so it seemed.
    Despite knowing this, Leonel played along. He was truly curious to know more about the Slayer Legion. Aina had said that success in the future could influence the past, so who knows? If the Slayer Legion gained a modicum of success with their endeavors, they might be able to provide him with certain benefits now.
    Either way, Leonel felt like he needed to see more of the world. The problem of his Ninth Node was weighing on his mind. Though he knew that completing the evolution and gaining a Fourth Dimensional Body could be done with just one Force Node, he obviously wanted to succeed with all nine.
    Like this, Damian and Joseph separated. Joseph remained behind to oversee their lesser recruits while Damian led them toward what he called their checkpoint. According to the latter, the checkpoint changed every half year and was a floating military base. All those in their sector would converge toward it.
    Since Royal Blue Province was ranked third amongst the Provinces, there were quite a few big shots assigned to this Sector. In addition, the Slayer Legion was several factors more lawless for obvious reasons. So, Damian warned him to be careful.
    Still, it would take several more days to reach the checkpoint, so Leonel wasn't thinking about such things currently. Instead, he had entered the Segmented Cube once more and was finally forming his Sixth Node.
    Violent swirls of Force surged into Leonel's body. He was like a bottomless hole, devouring Force that had been accumulating for a whole month without any reserve.
    Just like before, his Sixth Node formed in just half an hour before sweeping changes took hold of his Ethereal Glabella, forming a second star that pulsed just as brightly as the first.
    Leonel's body began to squirm and tremble. If one looked closely, it was possible to see muscle fibers wiggling beneath his skin, bulging and compressing again and again in an endless cycle.
    According to the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse], forming a One Star Constitution was enough to make you the cream of the crop. After forming it, the impurities in Leonel's body were expelled in droves. This process expelled much of the lingering shackles of a Third DImensional Body. As long as this step was reached, forming a Fourth Dimensional Body wouldn't pose any issue at all.
    However, in the end, this was just the first step. In fact, its impact could be considered to be the smallest of the three Stars, and for good reason.
    The Second Star was a true remolding. Though the pain surpassed even when Leonel formed his First Node, the benefits were countless times more potent. It wasn't just Leonel's muscle fibers that were breaking down, reforming, and compacting in on themselves, but even his bones and inner organs.
    As Leonel clenched his jaw, the crackling of his bones could be heard. The longer the process went on, the brighter the glow of his skin seemed to become. He looked like a deity who had stepped down from a loftier world, come to spread his blessings.
    Leonel's hair fell once more as layers of his skin began to shed, but this time, it grew back much faster. He felt as though his whole body was somehow both being broken down by a sledgehammer and floating on a cloud. The two contrasting feelings left him in a complete daze, as though his mind could slip away at any moment.
    But, he pushed through. Much like a Lineage Factor would give more benefits the longer one retained their consciousness, so too would the formation of the Second Star. Leonel had no intention of letting this opportunity go.
    For some reason, he had still failed to awaken his Spear Force. And, he had yet to awaken his Metal Synergy Lineage either. In the end, the only option he had for increasing his power quickly were his Force Nodes and his constitution. Andбн They most definitely didn't let him down.
    Leonel felt that not just his body, but his Internal Sight and his ability were strengthening many times over. Before, the region of sharpness for his Internal Sight was just 200 meters, but he felt it rapidly doubling. At the same time, he felt his Dream World growing sharper and could tell, even without testing it, that his simulations would be a few degrees more accurate.
    Leonel could once more sense the endless potential of his ability. It might not be as flashy as Damian's, but if he used it appropriatelyбн The sky was the limit.
    Over half a day later, Leonel finally opened his eyes, his body covered from head to toe in sweat. The situation was so bad that there was even a shallow puddle beneath him. Though his breathing was heavy, his eyes shone like two lanterns, a deep rooted confidence growing within him.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 1.99; Speed: 1.78; Agility: 1.83; Coordination: 2.01; Stamina: 2.13 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 2.03; Spirit: 2.32; Force: 0.60]
    Leonel's new stats left him speechless. Just what kind of strength was this?
    "Scan my ability."
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 3 Bronze ]
    [ Evolution Type: Sensory ]
    [ Evolution: Dream World, Dream Sculpt ]
    [ Dream World: A virtual world formed in the mind capable of running simulations of the real world with a certain degree of accuracy. ]
    [ Dream Sculpt: Ability to create a perfect, immutable, and unforgettable memory fragment with 100% accuracy. ]
    Leonel's eyes widened. 'My ability was Quasi Bronze before, but now it's Tier 3 Bronze?!'
    Though Leonel didn't know much about this new world order, he was absolutely certain that having an ability that surpassed their Dimensional Grade was ridiculous. One had to remember that the 'Black Grade' was assigned to the Fourth Dimension. This was why high level abilities could swing battles so fiercely, especially since Earth was still a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional World.
    Leonel had the equivalent of a Fifth Dimensional ability! Of course, this was still ranked very low amongst the Fifth Dimension, but its influence on the Pseudo Fourth Dimension could be imagined. After breaking through this barrier, Leonel was certain that his simulations would all be above 90% now.
    'Hm?'
    Leonel's eyes widened once more. He hadn't even finished being astonished by his improvement when he noticed something about his hands.
    He had reached the Advanced Grade One designationбн

 Chapter 121: Beautiful

    Leonel looked at his hands, feeling a bit shocked.
    He was certain that he had still not reached Grade One designation yet even after almost two months of diligent training. But now, he had suddenly leaped over that and reached the Advanced Grade One designation? There was only one explanationбн [Dimensional Cleanse].
    Leonel was pleasantly surprised. Did this mean that when he formed his Third Star he would be able to reach the Superior Grade One designation without forming Force Nodes in his hands?
    Leonel's eyes brightened, immediately taking back all the disparaging remarks he had made about the technique's creator. Even now, he had vastly underestimated [Dimensional Cleanse], he had never thought it would be this good.
    'I have to find a way to get my hands on the latter parts. If the upper portions are as good as this first part, that would be amazing.'
    Leonel laughed like a little kid, testing out his fingers as though he was playing the air like a piano. He felt almost like a newborn baby with the coordination and strength of an adult. His fingers felt so fresh that he couldn't even crack them.
    'I can finally listen to the third book.'
    Leonel didn't care about anything else and immediately immersed himself within the teachings his father left behind. Unknowingly, Force Crafting had become less about a competition between him and his father and more about his own curiosity. Even he himself didn't realize just how eager he had been to learn more until now.
    The feeling of being blocked off for so long left him feeling a bit anxious. But all that weight was now gone and he smiled like a little kid.
    **
    A week later, Leonel finally stood on the deck of the wooden yacht. He could feel curious gazes shooting off toward him from time to time, but since Lieutenant Damian didn't say much about him, those around didn't question it either. They immediately knew that Leonel must be some new recruit.
    Leonel wasn't paying very much attention to the stares, though. Instead, he was looking toward the behemoth of a structure in the distance. He had no idea that the mobile checkpoint would really be soбн monstrous.
    It was a massive steel structure that stood like a metal box in the ocean. Even towering waves didn't seem capable of shifting it one way or another. It was so impossibly immobile that Leonel had a hard time believing that this place was capable of moving at all.
    But, this was where the descriptions ended. Aside from some landing pads for helicopters and runways for planes, there were no other landmarks on the massive steel behemoth. Leonel could only guess that all of its most important structures were hidden within.
    'What a featбн' Leonel thought with a light gasp.
    "Impressive, huh kid?" Damian grinned, slapping Leonel's back hard.
    "Shouldn't you be focused on steering the ship?"
    If Leonel took his eyes off of the floating checkpoint, he could see numerous ships approaching from all angles. A few were even nearby and sailing along in parallel. But, none of these ships were wooden like Damian's. It was either Damian's sector had poor funding, or Damian purposely chose this design to make use of his ability.
    Damian rubbed his nose, laughing lightly.
    "So you saw through that too, huh? I only take control of the ship when we're forced into a corner. It's a trump card, so I don't use it casually."
    "I seeбн" Leonel mumbled.
    "Hey, Lieutenant? Are you really still not going to tell us who the kid is?"
    A lady wearing a skin-tight black jumpsuit walked over, her eyes watery with grievances as though she might start crying at any moment. The first thought Leonel had about her was that if catwoman was real and jumped out from her comic, this was what she would be like.
    "He's a new recruit, you can call him Leo."
    The lady's eyes brightened. "In the past, new recruits never got to go to the checkpoint. It was only after the Metamorphosis began that they changed the rule to make an exception for a certain group of people. Don't tell me you're a Variant like Lieutenant?"
    Many curious gazes looked over.
    "Come on, kid. Show me your power, quick, quick. I'm curious."
    Leonel scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
    "I can't, my ability is a sensory type."
    The lady pouted in dissatisfaction, but her curiosity had been piqued. She had heard of Variants with all sorts of wild and crazy abilities. Her Lieutenant alone could overturn the oceans, just how crazy was that? But, she had never heard of a sensory type Variant. She wondered what Leonel could do.
    "Alright, alright. Stop hounding the rookie. We're here."
    At first, Leonel thought that the wooden yacht would crash into the side of the massive floating metal cube. But, instead, a tunnel opened up on the side.
    Leonel was mystified. He wondered what sort of clever engineering allowed such a thing to happen without the whole compound being flooded with salt water. But, his thoughts didn't have much of a chance to linger on this before he was astonished once more.
    The dark tunnel ended and flooded them with light, opening them up to a huge hidden city.
    Leonel was quite used to big cities. After all, he traveled through one everyday to get to school barely a year earlier. But this one left him fascinated.
    Without the sun, the city had no choice but to rely on high-res panels that simulated the sky. As though realizing this wasn't enough, the light yellow glow of lanterns could be seen dotted all around the skyline, looking like fireflies buzzing in the night.
    The city below wasn't nearly as congested either. It had a homey feeling, as though everyone knew everyone else.
    The most magical thing, though, was its reminiscence of Venice, Italy, a city Leonel had read about in the past. The large wooden yacht could float through the city with ease, allowing Leonel to take everything in.
    It was beautiful.

 Chapter 122: Speechless

    The wooden yacht slowly went through the city, following loops and curls until it finally docked at a busy harbor.
    Up ahead, a building that looked quite similar to a grand city hall stood. Instead of having doors, it had large archways that accepted ingoing and outgoing traffic. The entire first floor was open to the wind and elements while the above floors stood on the archways as though they were their legs.
    Of the many docked ships at the harbor, groups of people walked out. They were all armed with various weapons. Some wore half or full armors, others wore robes like priests, and some others were dressed quite normally. If it wasn't for the Metamorphosis, Leonel would have thought this to be some sort of comic convention.
    "Let's go." Damian spoke to his team before turning his attention to Leonel.
    "This building is called the Southern Lookout. Those with Sectors located in the south have to come here to report every half year. In addition, it's also the place we come to introduce the new members of our elite teams."
    Leonel nodded in understanding and followed along, sweeping his Internal Sight over as much as he could and committing them to memory.
    Soon, the group had lined up in a long queue. The process somewhat baffled Leonel. Why was all of this so bureaucratic?
    "бн the rankings had some movement."
    "Really? What happened?"
    "I heard that 'Chasing Wind' killed a target with an S-grade evaluation so they moved up from the fourth spot to the third, pushing down 'Thunderous Clap' by one."
    Leonel, in all his boredom, caught a few conversations with his Internal Sight. He found that he could use this sixth sense of his not only as an eye in the sky, but also as an extension of his other senses. If he wanted to, he could even 'feel' like he was touching someone who was hundreds of meters away from him.
    That said, he was very careful with this ability. For one, it drained his spirit much faster than when he just used it for sight. Secondly, when he used it as an extension of his touch, others seemed to notice. And, thirdlyбн let's just say he had regretted using it as an extension of his nose already. It was just once, but to him, that was enough for a lifetime.
    "There are rankings?" Leonel asked Damian.
    "Rankings? Yes. How do you know about that?"
    "I just overheard a conversation. Something about 'Chasing Wind' and 'Thunderous Clap'?"
    "Hehe, you've heard of them too, kid?" Catwoman, as Leonel liked to refer to her, interjected, pushing her soft cheeks between the arms of Damian and Leonel.
    "According to the higher ups, youths below the age of 30 adapt to the Metamorphosis far better than the older generation does. It's an unfortunate reality, but the truth. Our abilities have far more room for evolution than those old fogies.
    "The ranking is just a little competition between the shining stars of the Slayer Legion. We have a list called the 'Empire's Swine' list. Threats are ranked on it. In order to move up the 'Promising Future' rankings, you gain contribution points from taking out threats on that list."
    When Leonel heard this, his interest dimmed down by several measures. He had no intention of getting so involved with the Slayer Legion, and even if he did, he didn't very much like the idea of targeting people just because they were a little talented. If they had committed atrocities, that was one thing. But if they were just casually living their lives and making contributions to the Empire, Leonel didn't believe that they deserved to die.
    However, there was still one more thing he was curious about.
    "'Chasing Wind' and 'Thunderous Clap', those are aliases?"
    "Mhm, mhm." Catwoman answered for Damian once again. "The real name of such talents are always hidden. We have our own confidential system to verify their contributions. But, the top priority is ensuring that they're not in turn targeted by the Empire."
    Leonel nodded, finally understanding. If possible, he would also like to go by an alias.
    An hour later, it was finally their turn. They made it to the front to find a long counter. Behind each station, there was an older gentleman or woman waiting. According to Damian, they were rebels who had already retired from service. Obviously, the Slayer Legion wouldn't treat them poorly after they had given their whole lives to the cause. So, many of the simpler, less physically intensive, tasks were given to them.
    However, they might have been a bit too old because the man manning the counter Damian, Leonel and the others were assigned to was dozing off to the point of lightly snoring. Even after ringing the small bell on the counter, he wasn't stirred.
    It was only after the impatient catwoman pressed the bell a few times in a row that the old man's head, which had been nodding away, snapped awake.
    The old man groggily yawned, smacking his lips as though telling himself that the nap was good. The members of Damian's team seemed to realize that it wasn't the catwoman's actions who woke the old man up, but rather that he got up because he felt like it. Toward this, they could only bitterly smile.
    Though this old man was just a receptionist, they couldn't afford to be rude. Sometimes, the retirees here were once bigwigs who surpassed even Damian's brother in rank. Even when they weren't such big shots, the Slayer Legion protected them to a fault. After all, if an organization didn't protect their veterans, they were finished. Who would wholeheartedly work for them?
    So, they could only watch as the old man picked up a phone by the counter and dialed a number.
    "бн Yesбн Mhmбн The usual pleaseбн Extra cheese and meatбн Don't forget to leave a kiss on the box like you usually doбн" The old man giggled lewdly, almost like he was a teen secretly chatting with his girlfriend while trying not to wake his parents up.
    The catwoman was irritated many times and was even muttering to herself, but the old man pretended not to hear anything.
    After a while, he set down the phone. But, just when Damian was ready to step forwardбн he actually reached toward his pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes.
    "бн Ah, break time." He said with a light smile, about to walk away.
    Black lines formed across Damian's forehead. If the old man really left, they would need to join another queue, all to wait yet another hour. Others couldn't help but look toward them with pitying gazes.
    Just as the old man was about to leave, he swept a glance over the group as though to apologize. But who would believe he was sincere with the way he had acted until now?
    It was then, though, that his gaze stopped on Leonel who also had a bitter smile on his face.
    The old man's eyes widened. "It's you!"
    Leonel blinked in confusion. 'Could it be this man knows what I did at the Fort? That wouldn't be good rightбн?'
    He looked toward Damian with a bit of worry in his eyes, but he could have never expected what he heard next.
    "Leonel Morales, right? Greatest quarterback prospect in the last century? Can I have your autograph?!"
    At this point, let alone everyone else, even Leonel was speechless.

 Chapter 123: Hacker Hutch

    Leonel scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.
    The truth was, even he, himself, had almost forgotten just how famous he was. But, he had neglected that fact for good reason.
    First, it had been too long. His life of training everyday for football seemed like a lifetime ago. After all, it had been a bit over a year now since the Metamorphosis began and he had experienced longer than that within Zones.
    Second, even if he was still playing football, people coming up to him like this was rare. After all, he usually lived on a Paradise Island. Everyone who lived on one was like family. They had watched him grow up, so obviously they wouldn't fanboy over him. And, when he wasn't home, he was on campus. Who on their campus wasn't an elite of an elite, obviously they wouldn't fawn over him like this.
    Thirdly, he had still been an academy student. His level of fame compared to a player in the NAFL was still lacking. It could be said that he was only approaching them in name recognition because he was among the very best academy players of all time.
    And, finallyбн football was a sport where everyone wore helmets. The average fan wouldn't be very familiar with his face to begin with. Only those who loved the sport and followed it diligently would know his face at first glance like this old man did.
    Still, the embarrassment Leonel was feeling wasn't because the old man had spoken too loudly or even because numerous gazes had fallen onto him. Rather, he was embarrassed that he had neglected something so important.
    How was he supposed to keep hiding his identity like this? By now, at the very least, those in the immediate vicinity all knew his name. And, because he hadn't thought anyone would be able to link his face to the Fort incident, he hadn't come with his face covered either.
    It seemed he had made another mistake.
    "Sure." Leonel finally said, knowing he didn't have much of a way out of this.
    The old man laughed like a little kid. His thoughts of going out for a smoke were thrown to the back of his mind. He hounded Leonel with questions, not minding the weird gazes he was getting.
    It was only then that those who didn't follow football began asking around and finally learned a bit about who Leonel was. Of course, you couldn't expect everyone to be sports fans, but this day was the day Leonel learned that even those who couldn't be said to be his fans still recognized his name.
    Leonel smiled bitterly. 'It seems that Royal Blue Academy made quite a bit of money marketing my name. Shouldn't I be a rich man, then? Why haven't I seen any of that money?"
    "бн Ah, look at me." The old man smacked his own forehead. "I completely forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Hutch or Old Man Hutch. I'm a big fan of yours, Morales. The game has gotten softer over the years, so I had lost interest in watching the NAFL. On a whim, I decided to watch the Academy League and haven't missed a single game of yours since. It's such a shame that the NAFL has been suspended until further notice, or else I would have loved to watch you teach those so-called professionals how to play."
    The old man rambled on and on. He seemingly had an endless supply of air to give to his words.
    'This man's breath control is outstanding.'
    Others might gloss over this, but Leonel was shocked. Ever since he formed his Fourth and Fifth Nodes into his lungs, he had been experimenting with breath control. It was a wonder just how much of a difference a perfectly timed breath made to power output. There was a reason there was a recommended breathing rhythm whenever one lifted weights.
    Damian, the catwoman, and the others, though, were frozen.
    "Vixenбн" Damian mumbled toward the catwoman in a low voice. "бн What did he just say his name was? Did I hear correctly?"
    The catwoman gulped, her alluring aura completely gone.
    "H-Hutchбн He definitely said Hu - Hutchбн"
    "He couldn't mean the Hacker Hutch, rightбн?"
    The catwoman's lips trembled, but she didn't dare to nod. Because if she did, the reality would be too scary.
    Hutch was a legend. He was one of the best software engineers in history and unsurprisingly gained a Five Star evaluation during his Gene Analysis Exam.
    However, this wasn't a reason to fear him, one might say. Was there a need to be afraid of such a man? So what if he was good with computers?
    And therein lied the problemбн. The Hacker Hutch was a play on words. He was known for his wizardry in software engineering. But, he was even more known for hacking his opponents to death.
    In a civilization of advanced technology like theirs, there should have been no reason for anyone to use weapons in such a fashion. It was barely alright now that the Metamorphosis had descended. However, obviously, Hutch was retired, so his era was long before the Metamorphosis.
    Just what kind of sick, sadistic person did you need to be to gain such a nickname in this era? He had all sorts of fantastical weapons to choose from that would cause the military officials of the 21st century to drool. Even during his era, even mechsuits fitted with machine guns wasn't an impossible ask.
    Yetбн The old man preferred a blade. Not just any blade either, but specifically a machete.
    That was right, the amiable old man fanboying over Leonel without a care in the world, even tossing aside his own dignity without a care for the thoughts of others, was a man known for dissecting his enemies with a bloody, rusted machete. It was certain that even the upper echelons of the Empire feared his name.
    As for his former title, it was above even Joseph's Vice Commander title. In his prime, he was known as Supreme Hutch. That alone was four levels of rank beyond Joseph.

 Chapter 124: Madman

    Under Hutch's rain of questions, Leonel could only smile and take it. Compared to this old man, he wasn't nearly as passionate about football, but he didn't mind talking about the game he devoted so much of his life to. Even compared to the old man who seemed to have dedicated his whole retirement to the sport, he was several levels above.
    "бн Aiya, I has hoped to one day become a coach, but it seems that my knowledge is still too lacking. As expected, as expected."
    Leonel's lip twitched. How would a rebel become a coach, exactly? He'd be lucky if the Empire didn't point all their weapons toward him the moment he even stepped foot into one of their provinces.
    However, Hutch seemed completely unaware of his status. Or, maybe he was just so free and unrestrained that he dared to do anything. He was quite an adorable old man, Leonel couldn't help but take a liking to him.
    Of course, Leonel had no idea about his past. If others knew he was calling Hacker Hutch adorable, the weird gazes he received would probably drown him in embarrassment.
    "Ai, look at me, rambling on and on. You came here for the check-in, right? No problem, no problem. Just have your leader come forward."
    Leonel smiled and turned toward Damian. But, his expression turned a bit weird when he saw just how pale Damian's face was. Was there a need to react like this? It can't be that Damian was a fan as well, right?
    After a while, Damian realized that he should probably pull himself together. If he made Hacker Hutch wait, who knew if this old man wouldn't hack him to pieces next.
    He cleared his throat with maybe too much strength before stepping forward.
    "Yes, your honorable. We're here for our biannual check-in. I've already prepared the report, please take a look."
    How could he dare to call Hacker Hutch by his name? Let alone the fact he didn't know if the old man was fond of his nickname or not.
    Damian respectfully handed a file over. If one opened it up, one wouldn't find words at all. Rather, it was all written in a special kind of braille that was almost imperceptible to the eye. This 'braille' was a special language that only the computers of the Slayer Legion could understand. This allowed the process to be expedited and also kept confidential.
    However, what shocked Damian was that instead of feeding the files into the computer like one was supposed to, Hutch actually began toбн read it? What the hell was going on?
    "Hm? Why don't I see anything about Morales on here?"
    Damian's eyes widened. It can't be that the old man actually read it, right? That's impossible! Let alone the fact it was hard to even see the braille, each file was encoded. The possible combinations couldn't even be counted in the trillions. How was this even possible?
    "бн He is a new recruit. Actually, we were planning on registering him today as well."
    "Oh? So it's like this? Alright. I'll register him beneath my Fleet, then."
    Once more, Damian was struck speechless. But, before he could refute, the old man had agilely leapt over the counter and grabbed Leonel's shoulder. Leonel couldn't even react before he felt an undeniable strength take hold of his body.
    "Your body is pretty good, Morales. Didn't expect that. Let's go."
    Like a little boat in a storm, Leonel could only helplessly disappear behind the counter, Hutch's hand latching onto his shoulder like a clamp.
    Damian, the catwoman, and the others watched on without knowing how to react.
    "бн Lieutenant, what just happenedбн?"
    Damian cleared his throat. "I hope that kid doesn't blame me. This really isn't my fault at all."
    Damian knew that Leonel didn't want to get tied up with the Slayer Legion, he only wanted to partner up with them for a moment. However, the attack of a Fort was too large of an operation. After all, there were only eight such structures on the Ascension Continent.
    If Damian were to report such a campaign during the next check-in but be unable to provide a proper accounting for Leonel, it would lead to some problems.
    Think for a moment if there was a lieutenant who suddenly succeeded in something grand, but the members of his team were very obviously unable to accomplish such a thing alone. Wouldn't this raise suspicions? What if this was a scheme set up by the Empire to give one of their spies more merits?
    In that case, Damian had no choice but to get Leonel properly vetted, or else instead of gaining from this expedition, he might lose out terribly instead and even be labeled as a potential traitor.
    Leonel understood this as well, which was why he didn't fight against coming here even though he knew it wasn't the safest choice. But, he could have never expected that he would be abducted by a madman in such a way. Why was he so unlucky?
    If Hutch was a normal man, everything would be fine. It wouldn't be a big deal. But, a Supreme held a completely different connotation.
    The 'Fleet' Hutch mentioned was the largest denomination within the Slayer Legion. Only a Supreme could head a Fleet and there were only four Fleets in the Legion. Being personally pulled into a Fleet like this was practically like dragging Leonel into quicksand.
    Damian could imagine how bitter Leonel would be. He went from only partnering with the Slayer Legion to suddenly being hounded by one of their highest ranking members.
    But, there was another problem here. If Hutch was in this place, it meant that he should have long since retired. He didn't head a Fleet anymore, so how would he pull someone in?
    Who would have known that a day later, a certain bit of news would rock the Slayer Legion?
    Supreme Mighelle, after only ten years in the position, abdicated.
    This alone would have been shocking enough had others not gossiped about seeing him walking out from his headquarters with swollen lips and a forehead several sizes larger than it had been just that morning.

 Chapter 125: Recorded

    Leonel sat blankly staring at a wall.
    It had already been three days since he came to this checkpoint city, and he had stared at this wall for who knew how many hours, but his brain refused to wake up from this dream. How the hell had he gotten here?
    'How is that old man so powerful? I feel like I can't do anything to himбн'
    Leonel felt quite helpless. He felt that that day the old man took him away, he had most definitely not used Force. Leonel's senses were too sharp to miss something like that. What was even more shocking, though, was the fact that the old man's stats were pushing 3.00. This is what truly left Leonel speechless.
    If it was just this strength, it would be insane enough. But, what truly shocked Leonel about the old man was the sturdiness of his body. He was almost like the Metal Invalid Leonel met all those months ago. But, unlike that Invalid, his stats hadn't been tempered down by his own weight.
    After some thought, Leonel's mind drifted toward something in particular. When his father retired as a general, he had gone to work as a researcher. It was while in that position that he produced the vomit brew Leonel was forced to consume daily.
    To this day, Leonel didn't know what the name of that department was. All he knew was that his father was involved in the evolution of human food and the consumption of it. The Ascension Empire had brought technology basically to its upper limits, so they wanted to test the limits of the human body.
    If the Empire could run such tests, why couldn't the rebel army do so as well? If Hutch was part of these experiments and could be considered a success, then maybe the waters of Earth were far deeper than he thought.
    But, if such was the case, then why was Hutch the first person he had seen with such ridiculous stats? If such a good thing existed, Leonel believed that the old man definitely wouldn't be the only one to benefit.
    For example, the Governor Duke's son had stats that could barely be considered average among non-athletic humans even before the Metamorphosis. If the son of a Governor Duke wasn't allowed to partake in such benefits, how could others?
    Of course, there was the possibility that only the Slayer Legion had access to such technology. But, if that was the caseбн wouldn't the Empire have been taken down long ago? What could they do against a legion of super humans?
    'Maybe I'm just over thinking all of this. What if the rebels have someone amongst them like that monocle wearing prick? If someone awoke the abilities to alter their genetics, that could explain it tooбн But if that was the case, why would they choose an old man first?'
    "Agghh."
    Leonel ruffled his hair with both had as though trying to hurry his brain to the answer. But, not unexpectedly, he failed.
    PENG!
    At that moment, someone threw a kick at Leonel's door, sending it flying off the hingesбн again.
    "Time to train!"
    Leonel's expression darkened. "Old Hutch, I've already told you a million times, I have no intention of joining the Slayer Legion. If you keep treating me like this, the day you train me to be your better is the day I'll directly betray the Slayer Legion."
    If other rebels knew that Leonel was speaking to Hacker Hutch like this, they would plop to the ground in fear for him. Who of the rebels dared to speak to this madman in this way? Wasn't that just asking for death?
    "HAHAHA!" Hutch laughed uproariously. "Speak of that the day you defeat me. Otherwise, obediently listen to me, boy!"
    Leonel felt helpless. Did this old man really think he couldn't defeat him? If Leonel activated his Force, his stats would also be pushing 3.00. If he used his Spear Domain Lineage Factor on top of that, defeating Hutch wouldn't be impossible.
    Unfortunately, this entire city hidden without a block of metal was covered in Force disrupting towers. And, secondly, even if it wasn't, Leonel would still feel hesitant. The spear was a killing weapon, after all. And, his Lineage Factor didn't seem to activate when he used blunt weapons. Though he was annoyed by the old man, he definitely didn't want to kill him.
    When Hutch first took him away, Leonel thought that he just wanted to talk more about football. But who knew that when this old man sensed how strong his body was when he resisted being pulled away that he would actually react so crazily?
    First, he stormed into Supreme Mighelle's Fleet headquarters and claimed that he would be taking over. When Supreme Mighelle obviously resisted, he beat him to the point he was black and blue.
    Then, he claimed a 'Promising Future' quota for Leonel, directly booting one of the youths who had previously held the position away in favor of him. It was suffice to say that this enraged a great many people, but Old Hutch was a madman that seemed to do whatever he wanted.
    Even after Leonel explained that he wanted nothing to do with that ranking, Old Hutch actually brought out a stick and started whacking him with it in the name of 'training'. No matter what logic Leonel used, the old man didn't seem to care in the slightest.
    Leonel's shoulder was clamped down once again and he once more let out a helpless sigh.
    "Old Hutch, I'm definitely not participating in that Promise Tournament."
    "You have no choice, Morales. Who asked you to now represent my face? Not only must you participate, you must get first place."
    Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes. Why did he say it like he asked for this? He most definitely didn't ask for this.
    "I don't need your training to get first place even if I did participate." Leonel said, a bit annoyed. Who wouldn't be annoyed in his current condition? He was currently flying like a kite in the air because this damned old man was running too fast.
    "Hohoho, you look like a good little prep boy, but I see right through you. You're actually so arrogant. If those other youngins heard you, you wouldn't even need me to enrage them. You'd do it by yourself.
    "Hehe, good thing I recorded you."
    Leonel was left speechless once again before almost fainting in rage. But, the old man didn't seem to notice as he was once more dragged to the training grounds.

 Chapter 126: Blade

    Old Hutch threw Leonel out when they reached the training ground. A normal person might have fallen and rolled a couple times, but Leonel was able to regain his bearing and land on his feet, a helpless expression in his eyes.
    The old man walked to the side toward a rack of weapons. Well, one might call it a rack of weapons, but it was more accurate to call it a rack of machetes. This old man apparently didn't allow any other weapons to enter his sight.
    The training ground was old and dilapidated. It was located in the basement of a place Leonel could only assume was Old Hutch's home. The ground was built of broken concrete, the ceilings were covered in half shattered light bulbs that probably hadn't appeared in a home since the 20th century, and there was a faint musty smell of sweat that hung in the air.
    "Old Hutch, I've told you again and again that I have no interest in using a machete as my weapon. I use spears."
    "Hmph, the machete is a man's weapon. I'll be damned if you're going to waste your talent." The old man snorted but then smiled. "That said, if you show me a bit of your skill, I might change my mind."
    Leonel was exasperated. This back and forth conversation sounded like it was the first time they were having it, but the truth was that this had happened two times before already. However, Leonel was really reaching the end of his rope this time.
    The more time he spent with this old man, the less adorable he thought he was and the more pissed off he got. The first few times, it might have been a funny story to tell in the future, but now it was becoming an annoyance that was ruining his future plans.
    Aina was in who knows how much danger right now. Miles and Simeon were still sucking air and Leonel had no idea what plot the latter was potentially laying down. After all, he didn't believe that that gorilla-man had popped up out of thin air. And, Leonel still had no idea where his father was.
    "Fine."
    Leonel's furious gaze calmed to the point of lacking ripples. His abrupt change caused Old Hutch to raise his brows. He had expected Leonel to react just the same as he had the previous two days, disdaining to fall for his taunts.
    Over the past two days, Leonel had completely ignored the old man, only casually brandishing a machete to get him off his back. But now, Leonel had reached the limit of his patience.
    With a flip of his palm, a silver rod appeared in his hand. He stood tall, his tranquil gaze bearing down on the old man.
    Old Hutch looked toward the rod in curiosity. "That's what you call a spear?"
    "I'd prefer not to kill an old man just seeking companionship." Leonel said indifferently.
    Old Hutch blinked before bursting into an uproarious laughter.
    "Kill me? I knew it, I knew it. You really are an overconfident little brat бк."
    The old man might have wanted to say more, but Leonel had already moved. His body was lithe and flexible. Somehow, despite moving in a straight line, it felt as though he had cut off all paths of retreat.
    "Oh?" The curiosity of Old Hutch was suddenly piqued.
    With a crooked grin, the old man stepped forward, swinging his machete down. It seemed like a casual movement, but Leonel could feel the weight of a mountain behind it. This old manбн was strong.
    However, Leonel wasn't the same as he was just a few days ago. He had always felt that he was missing something when it came to imitating the primitive woman, but now, he knew what it was. It was flexibility.
    Though men had certain advantages when it came to martial arts, so too did women. The primitive woman especially seemed to move as though her bones were made of water and her flesh was carved of dew. That sort of flexibility was exactly what Leonel had been missing this whole time.
    However, flexibility wasn't something one could casually improve upon. It took years of consistency to reach such a point. And, even those who could boast great flexibility would show decline in their abilities if they slacked off.
    Luckily for Leonel, after forming his Two Star Constitution, his body had been remolded. In everything beside his size and strength, he was practically like a newborn baby, allowing him to lay an even better foundation of flexibility for himself.
    Not only did this allow him to break through to the Advanced Grade One designation, but it allowed him to imitate the movements of the primitive woman to a much greater degree.
    BANG!
    The tip of Leonel's rod perfectly met the old man's blade edge. However, instead of rebounding off of each other, they seemed to become stuck, causing Leonel's eyes to widen.
    He pulled his rod back, deftly dodging Old Hutch's follow up strike, but the result was the same.
    Leonel's brow furrowed, his gaze becoming more serious. This time, he no longer held back.
    A ran of piercing strikes came at the old man from all sides. Leonel's speed was inconceivable, fluttering around the old man as though his stamina was endless.
    His rod fell like droplets of rain, blurring shadows of silver streaking across the room as he attacked the man from all angles.
    Yet, no matter what he did, his rod always seemed to become stuck to Old Hutch's machete as though they were two parts destined to be fitted together.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. He was shocked by the ability of this old man. Even relying on the skills of the primitive man and woman, he seemed completely unable to find an opportunity to break through his defenses.
    With a flicker of his eyes, the rod in Leonel's hands vanished, only to be replaced by a true spear. His aura completely changed and the pressure bearing down on Old Hutch multiplied severalfold.
    The old man couldn't help but blink in surprise. In a moment, his casual appearance became serious as his feet finally began to shift.
    As Leonel's blood boiled, his power seemed to multiply. He was completely immersed in the feeling, he could almost smell the old man's defeat.
    His heart yearned for it. He wanted nothing more than victory.
    It was maybe only at this moment that it became clear that it wasn't that Leonel didn't have any ambition, but rather that he only had this simple wish. To always win. Nothing else mattered.
    Seeing the look in Leonel's eye, despite the pressure on him, the old man grinned.
    'What a good kidбн Unfortunately, you're still several decades too young to think of defeating me."
    Suddenly, the man's aura changed as well. Though it was just the faintest of light, Leonel's senses were too sharp to miss the slight glow that coated the old man's blade.
    SSSHUUUUUU
    The machete's edge perfectly met the tip of Leonel's spear. The spear's prism-like tip stopped in the air for but a moment before it was split. In fact, the machete continued down and would have chopped Leonel's hand off had Old Hutch not shown mercy.
    Leonel's steps paused, looking at his ruined spear with a shocked gaze. His breath hung heavily in the air as his chest heaved. It was only now that he realized he had been battling the old man for a few hours and was exhausted. But, he didn't have a mind to think of that.
    "Forceбн That was definitely Forceбн But it was different at the same timeбн Blade Forceбн?"

 Chapter 127: Humbling

    Leonel was astonished. This Force could be used beneath the disruption of the towers?
    He didn't know much about Force Strengthening Deviations, nor had he ever seen one. But, he was quite certain that what he had just seen was Blade Force.
    Leonel's father had said that there were certain things about the Spear Domain heirloom that he wasn't allowed to know until he grasped Spear Force, but even to this day, he had still not yet grasped it. Who would have known that this damned old man would have long since comprehended it?
    At this point, Leonel came to another understanding. The old man's strength wasn't because of an ability or because of some special food. The reason his body was so strong was precisely due to his Blade Force.
    From Leonel's minor understanding, Force Strengthening Deviations weren't as simple as just making one's weapon more powerful.
    First of all, not all of them were related to weapons. And, secondly, even those that were could grow and nurture the body, strengthening it over time.
    The old man must have comprehended Blade Force a very long time ago, likely even before the Metamorphosis, allowing his body to be much stronger than others. In this case, his strength made much more sense.
    When a Force Strengthening Deviation was comprehended, it would take form in the Ethereal Glabella, exactly like Leonel's Stars. In fact, the Stars in Leonel's Ethereal Glabella could be classified as Force Strengthening Deviations as well. It was just that whereas Spear Force would make a spear's attack more potent, the Stars in Leonel's mind nurtured his spirit and quickened his recovery of it!
    Hearing Leonel's words, Old Hutch was stunned before he broke out into laughter.
    "So you know about Blade Force, little brat? Not bad, not bad. I have indeed comprehended Blade Force. I was 42 years old back then, now I'm almost 150."
    Leonel felt a bit numb when he heard this. Though technology had extended life expectancy, from the 21st century to the 25th, a normal lifespan only went from 80 years to about 120. However, he had never heard of a 150 year old man capable of jumping around like a spry monkey.
    At the same time, Leonel finally felt a heartfelt respect for the old man. Comprehending Force related abilities back when Earth was still a Third Dimensional world was difficult beyond imagining. This old man's talent in blade arts was most definitely outstanding.
    "Old Hutch, teach me how to comprehend Spear Force and I'll participate in the tournament for you."
    Leonel's pale green eyes shone brightly. For a moment, they were like lanterns in the dull light of the basement, boring holes into the old man's body.
    However, instead of receiving the answer he thought he would, Leonel saw Hutch frown for the first time in the three days he had known him.
    "Morales, do you think comprehending Blade Force is a joke? I thought before, when you were insisting on using the spear, that you had some lingering attachments to it. This is why I was willing to let you show me your talent. But, from what I see, you have no real attachments to the spear at all, you didn't even react when I destroyed your weapon. How could you possibly comprehend Spear Force with your current mindset? How could you gain the acknowledgment of a weapon if you don't love it?"
    "Love it?" Leonel's expression changed.
    Did he love the spear? The simple answer was no. It was a weapon he randomly picked up only because it was convenient. He had snatched it from a small gang who dared to speak inappropriately of his Aina. After that, he just so happened to learn that he had a spear related Lineage Factor, so he stuck with the spear. It wasn't more complicated than this for him.
    But even setting this aside, Leonel couldn't understand why it was that the old man said he had to love his spear to comprehend Spear Force. None of this made any sense. He couldn't find a logical reason for why love would be necessary to the equation.
    If it was about this, then didn't that mean Leonel would never comprehend Spear Force? It wasn't like he could fake his love for a weapon right? If he learned that he had a sword, or machete, or bow and arrow Lineage Factor right now, he wouldn't hesitate to leave the Spear behind.
    To him, the spear was just a tool. Why was there a need to love it?
    Seeing Leonel's changing expression, the old man shook his head. If it was so easy to pass on comprehensions like this, nothing in the world would be difficult.
    After a moment, Leonel took a deep breath.
    "Old Hutch, show me your Blade Force just one more time."
    Leonel's mind was difficult for others to understand. He was a kind soul, but he was equally as cold and calculating. He had a soft heart, but he couldn't stand losing. He was capable of feeling pity that his spear was now destroyedбн but he couldn't feel that heartbroken emotion Old Hutch expected from him.
    Old Hutch's initial instinct was to reject, but after seeing Leonel's staunch gaze, he sighed.
    "Fine, fine. I will show you once more. Consider it repayment for kidnapping you."
    'Oh, so you're aware that you kidnapped me too, huh?'
    Though he said this, Leonel still felt a sense of loss. He could see that Old Hutch had lost interest in him after seeing him exert his spearmanship. It wasn't because he wasn't talented enough or because he wasn't skilled enough, it was rather because he didn't care about the weapon in his hand.
    At such thoughts, Leonel could only shrug. He couldn't force himself to have emotions he didn't have. But, that lit a fire in his heart nonetheless.
    He had to love his weapon to comprehend Spear Force? Bullshit. He would show this damned old man who had been annoying him all this time that he needed no such thing.
    A vast, boundless aura shrouded the basement room as Leonel focused his entire being on the machete in Old Hutch's hands. He didn't even notice that Hutch's eyes flickered with killing intent he quickly suppressed.
    'This damned brat, if I didn't stop myself in time, his aura would have made me lash out to kill him. I thought I was on the battlefield meeting a formidable opponent for a secondбн' Old Hutch shook his head. 'бн Still, you have so much talent yet you're wasting it. You place so many things below your vision, so you hardly care about anything at all. I want to teach you a lesson, but I'm afraid that our Slayer Legion really doesn't have many at your age who can defeat you.
    'But, I won't bring those brats out. If I did, they would at most be able to match you. By then, you would think that maybe the road you're on is fine, when the reality is that you should be far better than them. You're hampering your own progressбн
    'In that case, I'll allow you to despair for a bit. Without humbling yourself, reaching the pinnacle is impossible.'
    A violent surge of wind whipped around the training grounds, leaving Leonel in a trance.

 Chapter 128: Unconditional Love

    On that day, the Southern Lookout was in an uproar. It might have even been more accurate to say that a tempest of rage had swept over it, stifling them to the point that they couldn't wait to vent their anger on somebody.
    One might think that this rage was due to some actions the Empire took against them. After all, this was the mighty Slayer Legion. They were an organization created for the sake of taking down the behemoth that ruled Earth. Who else could enrage them so much if not their sworn enemy?
    But, reality was cruel and usually very far from expectations. This time around, the entity that had enraged them wasn't the mighty Empire at all, but rather a little boy of barely 18 years old. In fact, this boy had only joined them for all of three days, yet managed to claim all of their ire.
    First, it was said that he was taken under the wing of Hacker Hutch, the very man who smacked the face of Supreme Mighelle in public.
    If it was only this, maybe the young man could dodge the guilt by association label, however, what came next was even worse. A recording of the young man saying that he could rank first among the Promising Youths even with Hacker Hutch's training was released, leaving the young men and women of the Slayer Legion fuming.
    As though that wasn't enough, just today, the young man's alias was finally released.
    Everyone knew that all those who could list on the 'Promising Future' rankings were all youths with great potential that had caught the eye of various higher ups.
    The truth was that not everyone could appear on the list just because they wanted to. If one wanted to have their progress tracked and their feats seen by all, it was necessary to gain the acknowledgment of an official of at least the Commander rank, a step above Joseph.
    Only upon receiving this recommendation would others start paying attention to you. In addition, your name would appear at the bottom of the Promising Future rankings.
    In order to protect these youths, aliases were chosen. In addition, whenever appearing in public, each of these youths would wear specialized masks created by the Research and Technology units of the Slayer Legion.
    The name one chose was incredibly important. After all, it would follow them for a lifetime. Choosing a name was akin to branding yourself.
    Howeverбн Who could have imagined that that arrogant prick would choose the name: 'Indomitable'.
    Compared to the other names on the rankings that were usually formed of word couplets or poetic sayings, the singular word at the very bottom stood out to everyone. When this was coupled with the news they had been receiving over the last few days, it was easy to guess what the public opinion toward the young man 'Indomitable' was.
    As for the man in question, Leonel himself, he would likely want to cry tears if he was aware. But, the truth of the matter was that he wasn't. As for the name? Of course he wasn't the one who chose it. In fact, he wasn't even aware of what was happening. He was completely engrossed in his spear.
    One would think that if he was practicing, he would be testing out his movements, maybe redoing the same attack again and again. But, Leonel was actually frozen in place.
    Ever since Old Hutch performed the last move, Leonel hadn't moved a single inch. He stood there, staring into space.
    His actions caused the old man to sigh and shake his head. Sometimes, the old wanted to pass on their wisdom to the young, but would the young always listen? Unfortunately, there were some things in life that could only be learned through trial, error and continuous failure.
    He believed that Leonel's attempts were foolish and had even told the little brat as much, but Leonel obviously wasn't listening.
    What he wasn't aware of, though, was that in his mind, Leonel was replaying his long battle with the old man over and over again. Then, he would replay his final demonstration of Blade Force before cycling it all back to the beginning again.
    Leonel didn't believe it. Everything he had learned about Force was so logical up until now. Even the energy itself was rooted in concepts of quantum physics. He didn't believe that something like Blade or Spear Force suddenly became so arbitrary.
    Unlike what the old man was thinking, Leonel didn't actually disregard his words. In fact, Leonel believed that the old man wasn't lying to him. Or, at the very least, he believed he wasn't lying. And, this thought alone was enough for Leonel.
    What was it? What was it that a veteran like Old Hutch could confuse for such an arbitrary feeling? What could trick him to such an extent?
    'Loveбн That wasn't what he was talking aboutбн He meant unconditional loveбн That's the kind of feeling he has for his machete.'
    It was a small difference in wording, but the moment Leonel had the thought, his eyes shone like two stars.
    'Unconditional loveбн unconditional loveбн The root of unconditional love is unconditional trust, it's based in instinct. A mother or father loves their child simply because the baby is theirs. On the surface, it seems no more complicated than this. However, this 'instinct' is still rooted in logic. It's the will to see their offspring grow, to continue their bloodline, to not have their families come to an end by their handsбн to continue to leave their mark on historyбн'
    The light in Leonel's eyes grew brighter and brighter. At one point, they became like burning torches, the paleness of his eyes disappearing to give way to two flashing emerald gems that could light the night sky.
    Leonel felt like he understood something.
    What Old Hutch thought of as 'unconditional love' was just an unconscious reliance on his own talent for blade arts. He trusted his own talent to the point it could be described as instinctual, as a part of himself. This trust, this love, this unconditional love, and further, this unconditional trust, is what allowed him to comprehend Blade Force in such a poor environment.
    Leonel, too, could rely on this unconditional love. If he fell back and stopped trying to find logical reasonings at every corner, he could have relied on his Lineage Factor to comprehend Spear Force no differently than Hutch relied on his talent. In fact, by now, Leonel's Spear Force could have long since surpassed Hutch's Blade Force by leaps and bounds. All he had to do was have that same unconditional trust in his own talent, to blindly follow it and allow it to lead the way...
    But this wasn't the kind of person Leonel was. He didn't like the feeling of being led by the nose, even if it was his own bloodline. He liked to understand the root of things, to comprehend them to the point of making them his own.
    By now, Leonel understood. The reason his Lineage Factor had had such a small effect on him to this point was because he wasn't trusting it as much as he should. He didn't have the blind faith in it someone else would haveбн At the same time, it made sense why his father had left so little about Spear Force in the dictionary. There was no need to explain Spear Force because Leonel's Lineage Factor should have told him about everything he needed to know!
    This 'love' Hutch spoke about wasn't his path. He could rely on his Lineage Factor, but he didn't want to. He wanted to comprehend his Lineage Factor, to unveil all of its secrets and allow it to lay bare before him. Rather than relying on instinct, he wanted to rely on logic, on reasoningбн
    It might have sounded very fancy, but it boiled down to one point.
    He wanted to win. He wanted to be Indomitable.

 Chapter 129: Gathering

    On this day, the Southern Lookout was bustling. Actually, it could be said that the past week was easily the liveliest time of the year. Not only was it the time for the agreed upon biannual check-in, but it was also the time for the gathering of Promising Youths.
    Many saw the check-in at the Lookouts to be a small vacation from the days of putting their lives on the line. It could be said that this gathering acted as the main attraction, placing a nice bow on the events of the last week.
    At this time, many had come together toward the center of the Venice-like city, ready to enjoy all the excitement.
    The arena at the center of the Southern Lookout was quite beautiful indeed. It seated about 10 000 people normally, but this only counted the seats available directly on the property.
    To the sides of the arenas, there were many artificial rivers of water that allowed boats to float around. If the seating capacity of these various steel behemoths was taken into account, the number of spectators could easily reach 50 000.
    Though this number of individuals might not necessarily come out to watch usually, the events of the past week were too shocking. How could any of them bear to miss this event? As a result, let alone 50 000 people, there were even more trying to push their way in.
    Those with special water based abilities were making quite a sum of money today, just taking in these people to have a look.
    As for who these people had come for? Who else if not that young man known as Indomitable?
    On the arena stage, there were already several masked young men and women who stood silently. Their posture could be considered perfect and each of them had the bearing of a military man or woman. Their discipline was immaculate.
    Each of their masks held a different symbol that represented their title. One might have pictured a roaring lion, another might have a slithering snake, some had images more abstract painted on theirs, while yet some others were completely straight forward and opted for words.
    There were about 40 youths present. The actual number of Promising Youths assigned to the Southern Lookout was easily double this. However, not every youth on the ranking would come forward. After all, this was an organization created for the sake of taking down the Empire, not all of them had the time to spare out of their dangerous daily lives to take part.
    Usually, barely 20 would appear to put on a good show for the masses. But this time, double that number had come, and for obvious reasons at that.
    "These kids are quite anxious it seems. To think that they didn't come out when we provided such good rewards, but are eager to now just because a little boy said a few words."
    A group of three stood in an overseer's box, looking toward the arena. Amongst them, there were two men and a single woman. Though they seemed smiling and reserved, it was obvious by the fact they had been chosen to oversee this battle that they were at the Commander rank at a bare minimum.
    "It can't be helped." The woman replied. "They all have seniors that give them treasures like the ones we reward all the time. Plus, even though they're young, they understand the concept of protecting themselves. The less famous they are, the better it is for them. Stepping forward for short term benefits is unwise."
    "You say this like we're the bad guys for trying to give them a little incentive."
    "I do find the whole rankings to be a bit silly. Why did we create them at all? You know that I was among the few who directly rejected the idea. We should be protecting these youths, not thrusting them into the spotlight like this."
    The woman clearly didn't like the proceedings. This was only the third gathering to ever take place. After all, the Promising rankings were only created after the Metamorphosis. It was widely known that youths had greater potential during this evolutionary stage, so emphasis was placed on them.
    Regardless, this woman felt that this was only more reason to stop this practice, but it was too difficult to go against the tide.
    One of them men sighed. "Violet Rain, the higher ups have their own concerns as well. Earth's situation is quite precarious right now, not everything is as it seems on the surface."
    Hearing these words, the woman fell silent. She too knew that the behind-the-scenes matters weren't so simple. But, even if there were logical reasons, she still found it to be a difficult pill to swallow.
    An event like today was exactly what she had been worried about. No matter how sensible they were, the young was still the young, after all. They were only provoked just this little bit and look at how many of them had come out this time. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact the rise of 'Indomitable' was too sudden, she was certain that even more would have come. Maybe all over 100 Promising Youths would have come this time had Leonel appeared just a little earlier.
    Though she didn't share this with anyone, the vigilance in her heart was raised by several levels. Who knew if this was a ploy by the Empire to learn more about the future pillars of the Slayer Legion?
    The reason she didn't dare to voice such concerns was precisely because of Hacker Hutch. Since Indomitable was tied to Hacker Hutch, it could be said that he was endorsed by the latter as well. Not many would believe that such a legend had betrayed them.
    But, wasn't it exactly because of this that the plan would be so perfect? After all, it wasn't like retired officials of their Legion hadn't become disillusioned to the point of defecting in the pastбн The path they as rebels walked was too perilous.
    "Yes, yes, yes. I know I how you feel. Well, today you might just get to see that kid you hate so much get his just desserts. Look up there, two in the top five actually remained behind."
    The man pointed toward two young people, one of which was a young man and the other of which was a young woman.
    The young woman wore a tight fitting green tracksuit. The leggings clung close to her toned legs and her jacket was half unzipped, revealing a sports bra that held back her breasts. Though her chest couldn't be said to be large, it was still eye catching, causing a few youths to look over and gulp down every so often.
    However, after seeing the green, spiraling swirls painted onto the young woman's mask, none of them dared to harass her. They knew immediately that this was the new third ranked on the Promising Future list, 'Chasing Wind'.
    The young man stood a few columns away from her, his back as straight as a javelin. His full, sturdy chest jutted out like two blocks of stone, pushing against his simple white shirt as he clasped his hands behind his back.
    His mask was covered in the image of a dark cloud. Everyone knew who he was by this symbol. He was the youth who had just been pushed down a spot by 'Chasing Wind', 'Thunderous Clap'!
    However, though these two were here and had even looked around on several occasions, they only saw masks with symbols they recognized. The man named Indomitable was nowhere to be seen.
    'Could it be that he would provoke them into coming like this then dodge responsibility himself? If so, this plot is too sinisterбн' An ugly expression twisted the image of the beautiful woman in the overseer box.
    But, at that moment, a hysterical laughter cut through the chatting voices of the crowd waiting for a show.
    "Old Hutch, let me go dammit! I was so close!"
    "Shut up, brat. You said that you would participate if I showed you my Blade Force one more time. Do you think I would let you miss this gathering? Dream on!"
    A young man was sent tumbling into the arena, entering in as sorry of a state as one could imagine.
    He huffed a sigh and stood after his body stopped rolling, sending a glare toward the old man who had crossed water to bring him here.
    'Force can be used to walk on water? So cool.'
    Despite his glare, the young man was actually quite intrigued.
    Finally, seemingly noticing that this situation wasn't quite right, the young man looked up to find over 40 burning gazes looking toward him.
    The young man raised an eyebrow. 'Why do they all look like they want to eat me alive?'
    Who else could this young man be if not Leonel?

 Chapter 130: First Round

    The gazes of over 40 youths fell onto Leonel. When they saw that his mask had no markings on it at all, they immediately guessed that this man should be the so-called Indomitable.
    As for Leonel, he was as confused as ever. What had he done to attract such hatred?
    'Is it because I was lateбн?'
    Leonel felt a wave of fatigue hit him all of a sudden. It was only now that he remembered he hadn't slept in almost five days. He had been diligently comprehending something when the old man suddenly appeared, grabbed his shoulder, then tossed him here.
    If it wasn't for his high spirit, staying awake for so long would be impossible even if his body was many times more powerful. Unfortunately, his spirit had taken quite a bit of a hit now.
    "Sorry, I was late."
    These were the first words Leonel said, but they only made the gazes of the over 40 youths that looked toward Leonel burn brighter. This wasn't only because of what he said, but also because they recognized his voice. It was the very same voice that said it could defeat them all even without Hacker Hutch's training.
    As for Leonel's words themselves, how could they take it seriously? In fact, they found it to be quite insulting. If his words didn't imply disregard, then what else could they imply?
    They had all gotten here early, all to teach Indomitable a lesson. Yet, not only did he not appear on time, making them wait for him, but they had all just heard his voice clearly. Even to this point, he still hadn't wanted to come. Had it not been for Old Hutch, he might have not come at all. How could they not feel unsatisfied?
    Seeing the atmosphere wasn't quite right, Leonel smiled bitterly and scratched the back of his head. But, at that moment, a yawn inadvertently came from his mouth, causing him to subconsciously cover his lips despite having a mask on. It couldn't be helped, he was too tired.
    However, what he had forgotten was that since he was wearing a mask, no one could see his sheepish grin. But, they all very clearly heard his yawn. This made their already furious gazes spit fire.
    At this point, even if Leonel wanted to explain, no one would listen.
    The sound of a throat clearing rang over the arena.
    "Indomitable, I presume? Please take your place on the arena and we can begin."
    Leonel turned his head back toward the overseer box, seeing that the voice came from there, then complied. It seemed he really wouldn't be able to get out of this. He was usually well-liked wherever he went. This could be said to be the first time in his life where he was truly public enemy number one for reasons that were completely out of his control.
    Though Leonel complied with the voice, his every action was under the scrutiny of too many people. His appearance in comparison to the perfect military form of the other youths on the stage with him stuck out like a sore thumb. It was clear that whether it was his posture or demeanor, he was lacking completely. He threw their perfect formation into disarray.
    His steps weren't even, his back was slouched, and his eyes were perpetually half closed.
    As if that wasn't bad enough, he kept yawning.
    The flickers of deep disdain and disgust continuously came his way, but by this point, Leonel didn't have the mind to care for them. He had fallen into a trance once more, seemingly trying to grasp something that had just been within his reach.
    Over the last several days, he had been trying to comprehend his Lineage Factor and by extension Spear Force, but he had ended up stumbling upon something completely different. It left him quite shocked, actually. In truth, he had almost completely forgotten about his infatuation with Spear Force.
    Unfortunately, his absentminded gaze and his continuous yawning not only made him the public enemy of the youths, but also the crowd watching on. They hardly even paid attention to the Commanders who were in charge of reading out the rules of the gathering.
    The more they paid attention to Leonel, the more he didn't seem to notice them, and the more enraged they became. Then, when they reached a tipping point, Leonel would yawn again, making veins bulge like slithering snakes on their foreheads.
    "бн The first will be Indomitable, I assume you don't mind?"
    At first, Leonel didn't register the words. After all, he didn't know his name was Indomitable now. He wasn't the one who chose the name.
    But, after a moment, he seemed to recall that the woman who spoke from the overseer's box earlier had also said Indomitable when referring to him. He hadn't thought much about it because his mind was too sluggish to care for other things. But now, he suddenly made the connection.
    "Who, me?" Leonel looked up, only to find several more glares aimed toward him. "Sure, sure. Yes, yes."
    He hurriedly spoke. He had no idea what was going on, but he thought his best option was to agree, or else these people might really pounce on him.
    The woman in the overseer's box frowned. She had already had a poor impression of Leonel from the beginning, but his actions since coming here infuriated even her.
    Under Leonel's confused gaze, the other youths who had shared the stage with him cleared out and left, not forgetting to send a few more threatening gazes toward him. Toward this, he could only be helpless.
    'Am I supposed to leave too, or?'
    Leonel hesitated. He was apparently supposed to go first, but he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Luckily, he got an answer quite quickly.
    The ground separated to reveal a hidden underground passageway. Others couldn't see what was going on with just their eyes, but even with his weakened spirit, Leonel could tell that there was a small group of Invalids coming toward him now, all of which were at the A-grade. He could see that there were a total of five of them.
    'Am I supposed to defeat them?'
    Leonel came to an understanding, then. Since that was the case, everything was pretty straight forward then. In truth, Leonel's mind was groggy, all he really wanted to do was sleep, but whenever he had such thoughts, his curiosity got the best of him and he continued to study that weird feeling he grasped just a few days ago.
    Now that his mind had cleared once more due to this tournament and he didn't have that curiosity to distract him from his fatigue anymore, all he wanted to do was take a nap.
    The five A-grade Invalids stalked their way up from the hidden underground passage. The crowd had been quite interested in seeing all of their weird mutations and quirks. After all, there was a high chance that Invalids at the A-grade would have such oddities attached to them. But, they didn't get much of a chance.
    With a flip of his hand, an atlatl appeared in Leonel's palm. With his increase in strength after forming a Two Star Constitution, defeating A-grade Invalids was as easy as a flick of wrist.
    Five streaks of silver pierced through the air, leaving howling winds in their wake. A moment later, they shot through five foreheads, blasting the A-grade Invalids apart only for them to turn into several motes of light.
    Seeing that the task was done, Leonel couldn't refrain from yawning again. He went off to the side to find a place to rest. He didn't seem to notice the silence of the arena when he sat back down. In fact, he had just been feeling tired a moment ago, but instead of closing his eyes, he actually sank back into that absentminded head space.
    A light of fury flickered in the female Commander's eyes.
    "Indomitable is disqualified for breaking the rules."
    Unfortunately for her sanity, Leonel didn't seem to hear this either.

 Chapter 131: Greater Enemy

    Leonel really hadn't heard this voice at all. In fact, his eyes were still vacant. The only thing that made it seem that he was awake was his occasional yawn. Still, it was as though the outside world had nothing to do with him.
    A rain of 'BOO's' came from the crowd. Clearly, they had been infuriated beyond reason. It was only after their rage became like a tempest that Leonel was startled awake and looked around in confusion.
    'Why the hell are they booing?'
    Leonel looked up toward the overseer's box, thinking that he might find a clue. But, all he saw was a woman looking toward him with an infuriated gaze while the two men beside him had helpless expressions. This only made him more confused.
    "What happenedбн?"
    Leonel mumbled these words to himself, but the youths who were near by him heard them and couldn't take it anymore.
    "You're still saying bullshit like that at this point?! You're disqualified! If you were going to throw the gathering like this from the beginning, why the hell did you waste all of our times?!"
    The young man who spoke wore a mask painted with a fierce roaring lion. It was just that this lion, instead of having a brownish gold mane, was completely black. Someone more? knowledgeable than Leonel would immediately recognize this young man as 'Roaring Black Lion'.
    No one knew whether the name was chosen for this reason or not, but the young man did happen to be black. What wasn't covered by his mask or his clothes revealed dark skin with pulsing muscles beneath. He was a bit shorter than 'Thunderous Clap', but he was definitely stockier.
    "Disqualified?" Leonel blinked in confusion. "I broke the rules? What rule did I break?"
    At this point, Leonel felt a little bad. He hadn't been paying attention when the female Commander was listing the rules, so he didn't know what they were at all. Without knowing, he could only apologize. How could he refute if he didn't know what he was refuting?
    Leonel assumed that maybe he wasn't allowed to use weapons. If that was the case, he could only take this on the chin. He had only wanted to end his turn as quickly as possible so that he could rest, but it actually came back to bite him like this.
    Roaring Black Lion frowned when he heard Leonel's words. This was about the last question he had expected to hear. He, along with everyone else, assumed that Leonel had gotten himself disqualified on purpose.
    "Treasures gained with Zones are banned for this gathering. In order to maintain fairness, we can only choose weapons from the racks to the side."
    "Ohбн" Leonel mumbled. "бн That's unfortunate. Sorry about that, I must have missed it."
    Did that mean he got to go? This wasn't a bad result. After all, he had fulfilled his promise to the old man by coming here.
    Roaring Black Lion's lip twitched. Could it be that this young man really hadn't heard anything? He could only look on as Leonel stood and slowly walked toward the exit of the arena with an absentminded gaze. He didn't seem to hear the torrent of boos raining down on him.
    If it was up to Leonel, as long as he participated in something, he would have liked to take first. However, he also wasn't the type of person who despaired in his failure either, not to mention the fact his mind was completely preoccupied by something else.
    Unfortunately for Leonel's thoughts of rest, would the madman Hutch really allow him off so easily?
    "Hey, little girl, directly allow this brat into the next round."
    The three Commanders in the overseer's box was suddenly stunned by the presence of a fourth person. Regardless of which of them it was, they had no idea when someone had appeared in their midst.
    The woman was the first to recover from her shock and register the old man's words.
    Her expression flickered several times. No matter what thoughts she held close to her heart, she didn't dare to be disrespectful to Hacker Hutch. However, how could she go back on her word. She had just listed the rules and Leonel blatantly disregarded them. Now she was supposed to reinstate him? How could she do something like that?
    Taking a deep breath, the woman gathered up her resolve.
    "Commander Violet Rain greets Supreme Hutch." Violet Rain saluted seriously. "I cannot comply with Supreme's orders, Indomitable has broken the rules. We cannot cause the integrity of the gathering to suffer."
    The two men by Brigit had weird expressions upon hearing this. Wasn't she disparaging the gathering just a few minutes ago? When had it become so important to her?
    "This is an order." Hutch said without a care, finding a couch to lie on and plopping down.
    It was unknown where he got it, but he had carried a large pizza in with him and started munching away without a care in the world.
    Fury lit Violet Rain's eyes. This wasбн so unreasonable!
    Yes, it was unreasonable. But, so what? These were Hutch's thoughts.
    Any army had a strict hierarchy. This was even more so for a rebel army like the Slayer Legion. The consequences for disobeying an official just one rank above was already steep, let alone someone three ranks above her like Hutch.
    Violet Rain's chest billowed with the waves of her anger. But, what could she do? Other than her face reddening and her ears almost jetting out steam, there wasn't anything else.
    By this point, the audience below felt that the situation was getting weird. Leonel was already almost out of the arena and it had already been several minutes since his turn ended. Why was it that the overseer's box hadn't said anything about which of the Promising Youths was next?
    At that point, the forceful clearing of a throat could be heard over the arena. In truth, though it was as such, one could almost mistake it for the sounds of a dying cat. Who knew what kind of internal struggle the person who made the sound was undergoing?
    "Theбн previous decision has been revoked." A female voice spoke through gritted teeth. "бн Indomitable will directly move on to the next round."
    After a moment of silence, the arena erupted. Gazes of indignation and fury fell on a particular young man and the overseer's box.
    "This is bullshit!"
    "Just because he's the underling of a Supreme?! Rules don't matter anymore?!"
    At this point, the loudest voices were the youths near the stage. Their roars called out toward the overseer's box like a raging typhoon.
    If Leonel was already hated before, it could be said that maybe only the Emperor of the Ascension Empire was a greater enemy to them all now. And, even then, it was close.

 Chapter 132: Thunderous Clap

    Leonel kept walking in his absentminded state. He really hadn't heard the words of Commander Violet Rain at all. He was immersed in his own world. In fact, he might have walked all the way out of the arena had he not suddenly felt that someone was standing in front of him.
    "Hm?"
    Leonel frowned and looked up.
    It was accurate to say that Leonel was quite tall. In fact, since his academy days, he had grown another inch or so. Now, he stood at 6'4. So, despite the fact the young man standing before him had quite an overbearing aura, Leonel, upon looking up, even despite his slouched back, stood taller.
    Seeing this, the young man narrowed his eyes, but his momentum didn't dampen in the slightest.
    When the crowd saw this young man confronting Leonel, their eyes blazed with passion. The rolling clouds painted over the young man's mask made his identity clear. They couldn't help but feel their blood boil, hoping that the young man would redress their grievances.
    "Is there a problem?" Leonel asked.
    "I only want to let you know one thing."
    The man's voice was like a thunderous boom. He didn't seem to be trying to speak loudly, but his voice naturally projected as though he was a man perfectly suited to lead.
    Leonel's first instinct was to think that this young man had a voice related ability like Admiral Millan. However, Leonel's senses were far sharper than they had been in the past. He could even vaguely get a sense of a person's ability as long as they tapped into it, though not nearly as thoroughly as the dictionary. But, this was still a good thing. After all, he couldn't always speak to the dictionary out loud and letting others know about its existence might not be a good thing.
    This was all to say that Leonel felt that this young man's ability might not be so simple.
    "One thing?" Leonel asked in confusion.
    "I hope that you'll get yourself disqualified for the second round as well. Or else, if we meet on that stage, I'll make sure you leave on a stretcher."
    Leonel was stunned.
    In his life, this was the first time he had come across such a situation. After all, he lived in a society with rules and regulations. Maybe only when Conrad tried to kill James by throwing him out of a window did Leonel vaguely come across such a thing. But this was most definitely the first time someone had so blatantly said something like this to him. How could he not be left speechless for a moment?
    For a while, Leonel didn't seem to hear or feel anything. By the time the crowd's noise faded back into existence for him, the boos had become cheers. It was obvious they had heard the young man's words.
    "Thunderous Clap, you're my idol!"
    "Teach him a lesson!"
    Leonel came back to reality, realizing that this wasn't a dream. Is this the kind of place Earth had become now? People could just blatantly threaten another and even gain the cheers of a crowd as a result?
    Something within Leonel seemed to change at that moment. It wasn't anything large. In fact, he could summarize it just a single word: acceptance.
    If this was the world he lived in now, maybe that was fine too.
    "So there's a round two?" Leonel mumbled to himself. "I guess I was only disqualified for the first round thenбн"
    "If you're scared, then scram!"
    "Look at him, he didn't even dare to move after Thunderous Clap put him in his place. Maybe he'll leave the arena directly!"
    Leonel mumbled to himself. But, by now, Thunderous Clap had already walked away under a chorus of cheers. The crowd might very well have taken Leonel's pause as a sign of fear, but the truth was that Leonel had already returned to his own world.
    What a joke. Who was he? He was the greatest quarterback prospect in easily the last several generations. How many games had he played in enemy territory? Let alone these insults, he had heard ten, even a hundred, times worse. He had learned to tune it out a long time ago.
    But, what the crowd missed in all those jeers was that the moment Leonel's heart settled down, blinding, flickering lights jumped within his eyes. Unlike in the past, these lights were real. It was to the point that if one had met Leonel's gaze now, they might even be blinded for a moment. Thunderous Clap's words had unlocked something within him.
    Leonel turned and walked back to his seat.
    He had no idea that the rules had been broken for him. In his mind, he had failed in the first round but received a chance at the second. In that case, he would sit and wait for his turn. He had no idea that he had gone from the coward who couldn't respond to Thunderous Clap, to the shameless young man who threw the face of all Promising Youths.
    "бн Next, Thunderous Clap."
    Commander Violet Rain's voice seemed to be far more at ease now. It was obvious to most the Thunderous Clap had vented some of her rage for her, and in the coming round, if this 'Indomitable' wasn't sensible, then she just might get to see a great show.
    She looked toward Hutch with a half satisfied expression, but who would have known that old man wouldn't even be paying attention? In fact, he was still nibbling away at his pizza without a care in the world.
    At that moment, Thunderous Clap stood and walked to the stage. The ground opened up to reveal five more Invalids.
    He sunk into a horse stance, his fists clasping against the sides of his body.
    "Thunderous Clap isn't using his rod!"
    "He's making a point, obviously. Some shameless people only know how to cheat with the fancy weapons they get through nepotism."
    "Haha! Show him who's truly 'Indomitable'! Even without your weapon, you're his better!"
    Thunderous Clap's eyes flashed as a low shout like his lips.
    The stage beneath his feet quaked and cracked as he shot forward, appearing before the first Invalid in the blink of an eye.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    His body was like the center of a storm. Violent vibrations and cacophonic booms seemed to follow his every movement, leaving destruction in his wake.
    He passed through the group of Invalids in a flash.
    For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened, even when Thunderous Clap smoothed out the wrinkles of his clothes and everything fell into silence. But, in the next instantбн
    BANG!
    The five Invalids combusted. It was as though someone had planted a bomb within their bodies, allowing them to explode from the inside out.
    The motes of light they became shot into the air under the pressure before slowly descending back toward Thunderous Clap. This sight alone made him look as though he was a favored child, basking in the rays of the skies.
    The atmosphere reached the peak. Thunderous Clap's performance caused the arena to erupt to the point the ground shook.

 Chapter 133: Chasing Wind

    The crowd went wild, basking Thunderous Clap with praise. At this point, even most of the Promising Youths who usually would be blazing with battle intent right now felt proud. This was simply human nature. When one shares an enemy, previous petty disputes can be ignored.
    However, the subject of public outrage wasn't paying attention to these matters at all. He sat on the ground cross legged, leaning on his thigh and supporting his head up from his chin with a hand. He stared blankly at the ground.
    From an outsider's perspective, he seemed quite listless. But the tangible light that had been bouncing in his eyes only grew fiercer and fiercer as though he was slowly comprehending something new.
    Numerous gazes descended onto Leonel once more. But, no one could see the odd phenomena with his head lowered. As for Thunderous Clap, after speaking those words to Leonel, he hadn't even bothered to cast another glance toward him.
    The first round continued, numerous youths going up one after another. The atmosphere was much better than it had been initially as many felt their anger having been vented, so a casual enjoyment of the gathering ensued.
    One after another, the youths went up to show off their abilities.
    It turned out that defeating the Invalids wasn't the true requirement. According to the rule Leonel missed out on, one was only meant to survive the confrontation for ten minutes. Anything at and beyond this would be considered a pass.
    Though Leonel casually killed the five Invalids, it could be said that he went above and beyond despite breaking the rules. Of course, this also meant that Thunderous Clap had also accomplished more than what was expected of him.
    "бн Violet Rain, no matter what, you're a Commander. Is there a need to look so happy?"
    One of the male Commanders by Violet Rain's side, a man who went by the code name of Mellow Trees, rebuked playfully. He could see that with each performance that surpassed Leonel's, this companion of his would smile wider and wider.
    "I never knew that Violet Rain would hate a teenage boy so much."
    Violet Rain snorted and didn't say anything. Of course, this was because Old Hutch was still a small distance away and could most definitely hear their conversation. It was fine for them to tease her, but if she really said anything in affirmation, it was impossible to tell whether she'd have a good ending or not.
    Her happy expression became gloomy again upon hearing their words. But there was nothing much she could do. Luckily for her, the next youth was enough to make her smile again.
    "Next, Chasing Wind."
    The crowd seethed with excitement once more as a young lady wearing a tight, green tracksuit made her way onto the stage. Her every movement was graceful and carried an air of charm, but it was very obvious that it wasn't her trying to be seductive. It was a natural feeling ingrained within her bones. It could be imagined that even in battle, she would still maintain the same graceful bearing.
    Chasing Wind casually looked through the weapon rack, testing out a few swords. Obviously, it seemed she had no intention of going barehanded like Thunderous Clap had. She felt no need to get involved in the dick measuring contest between men. Though, that wasn't to say she wasn't dissatisfied with Leonel as well, she just chose to remain quiet about it.
    At least, these were her original thoughts. But, she began to look upon Leonel quite curiously when she saw him remained unmoved through all of this. Others might have written it down as cowardice, but she thought there was something weird going on that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
    Still, she threw it to the back of her mindбн. Wouldn't she find out during the second round?
    The young lady picked a well balanced short sword and made her way to the stage, standing calmly as though unblemished by the outside world. When the Invalids appeared, her picturesque figure suddenly moved, flashing forward in a light gust of fragrant wind.
    Like Thunderous Clap's suitably thunderous performance, she, moving as light as a feather, painted the perfect picture of Chasing Wind. Whenever one watched her movements, they couldn't help but take in every bit of her actions. The beautiful twinkling of her eyes, the rhythmic swaying of her hips, the delicate grunts that left her lipsбн
    She fluttered between the Invalids like a butterfly, her speed too quick for them to attack properly. Her sword left lines of silver in the air, drawing graceful arcs that passed by five necks as though going through air.
    The tips of her toes lightly landed on the ground, a small circle of wind and dust being pushed out as though clearing a place for her to land. How could such a beautiful woman be allow to fall onto a dirty stage? Even nature itself wouldn't allow it.
    Without suspense, the cheers of the crowd erupted once more.
    "Marry me Chasing Wind!"
    "Marry you? On what basis exactly? Take a look at yourself in a mirror once in a while."
    "I don't care! If I can't marry Chasing Wind, I'll stay single the rest of my life!"
    "Don't you think you guys are a bit too fanatical? You've never even seen her face before. For all you know, her eyes are slanted and her face is covered in pockmarks."
    The crowd within the vicinity of the middle-aged man who spoke these words looked at each other in a speechless moment before pouncing toward the man in unison as though they had agreed to it before hand. That day, there would no doubt be a man who left the arena beaten black and blue.
    Violet Rain watched Chasing Wind leave the stage with a gratified smile on her face. It was as though she was looking at a youthful version of herself. She didn't doubt that there'd be a day when Chasing Wind was a Commander just like her. In fact, she would likely be promoted beyond that.
    "This concludes the first round, those who have qualified can now move on to the second and final round, of whichбн there are eight of you.
    "These include: Thunderous Clap, Chasing Wind, Roaring Black Lion, Seer, Falling Leaf, Erupting Volcano, Precious Moment, andбн Indomitable."
    A wave of boos rang.

 Chapter 134: Begin

    [Only 1 chapter today. I was kidnapped away for birthday related matters, so this is all there is]
    The smile on Violet Rain's face grew brighter and brighter. It was finally time for this farce to come to an end. Now that the second round had come around, there was no longer any words to hide behind.
    A devious light flashed in her watery eyes as she turned on the voice projection system once more having gotten her fill out of the crowd's boos.
    "I will now explain the rules for the second round as I did for the first."
    One of the male Commanders by Violet Rain's side had a weird expression hearing these words. They were supposed to share hosting duties, so it was meant to be his turn to explain things. They had done this a couple times before already, so Violet Rain should be familiar with the process.
    'Whatever. The rules for the second round have always been the same anyway. It doesn't need to be me.'
    However, he had only barely finished thinking this when he was suddenly stunned by the next words he heard.
    "The second round this time will be a seeded elimination tournament where your performance from the first round will be taken into account. You will be split into seeds one through eight.
    "The first battle will be between seed seven and eight. The winner of the battle will go on to challenge seed six, while the winner of that will go on to challenge seed five. So on and so forth.
    "In the end, whichever seed remains standing will be allowed to challenge the best performer from the first round."
    After being stunned a while, the two male Commanders looked toward each other and smiled bitterly. Even if they were beaten to death, they wouldn't believe that this wasn't targeting a certain person. But since Violet Rain hadn't done anything too outrageous, they really couldn't say anything. Plus, it wasn't like they could make her retract the rules she had already said, right? They had already lost face once today after readmitting Leonel.
    The second round was indeed usually an elimination tournament. But, it was a normal one in which everyone battled at once. Eight would become four, then two, then eventually one. This modification of Violet Rain's was appearing for the first time in the history of the gathering.
    Unfortunatelyбн since this was only the third gathering, no one picked up on the oddity. They only felt that the rules had changed, but they didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Like this, Violent Rain got away with itбн
    Plus, even if things weren't like this, would the crowd really turn against Violent Rain for the sake of Leonel? If anything, they would give her their full support for dealing with the shameless man who dared to call himself 'Indomitable'.
    As for the man who was being targeted himself? He wasn't even aware. Leonel hadn't taken part in the other gatherings so how could he know what was normal and what wasn't when even the fanatics in the crowd didn't?
    Violet Rain's smile grew as she continued.
    "The bottom of the rankings will be decided by who lasted for the longest after crossing the minimum ten minute requirements. As for those who had the ability to kill the one or more Invalids, they will be even above that. Those at the very top will be decided by whoever defeated the five Invalids the quickest.
    "Like this the seeds are as followedбн
    "First Seed: Chasing Wind. Second Seed: Thunderous Clap. Third Seed: Roaring Black Lion. Fourth Seed: Erupting Volcano. Fifth Seed: Falling Leaf. Sixth Seed: Precious Moment. Seventh Seed: Seer. And the Eighth Seed: бн
    "Indomitable."
    The crowd was silent for a moment before cheers erupted once more.
    "HAHA! Serves him right!"
    "Good luck going through our gauntlet of geniuses, 'Indomitable'."
    "Indomitable? More like Indumbitable!"
    "бн That was lame."
    Another fight broke out in the crowd.
    Violet Rain allowed the crowd to get rowdy to their hearts content before continuing.
    "Once again, I will reiterate the rules and regulations.
    "First, anyone who kills their opponent will be subject to judgment by military law. This is a time of war, remember that. Your sentence wouldn't be anything lighter than the death penalty.
    "Second, only weapons from the racks provided can be used." She took her time to emphasize the word only, and for good reason. "Those weapons are all of the C-grade and can ensure fairness."
    "Third, if I stop the battle for any reason, anyone who fails to obey in a timely fashion will once again be subject to military law. Disobeying the Command of a superior officer is worth at least a demerit."
    This time, Leonel made it a point to listen to the rules so that he wouldn't make a mistake again. But, when he heard that the weapons of the rack were of the C-grade to ensure fairness, he had a weird expression. Though, no one could see it behind his mask.
    His atlatl and darts were treasures from he received after clearing the Mayan Tomb Zone. They were C-grade treasuresбн So why was he disqualified?
    Toward this, Leonel could only scratch the back of his head and shrug his shoulders. It didn't seem to matter anymore. After all, she had said that only weapons of the rack could be used, not that only weapons at the C-grade could be used. Though the difference was minor in a large sense, Leonel couldn't complain about it.
    'Oh, I guess since these are the rules, I should go up now.'
    Leonel stood and inadvertently yawned again. Toward this, he could only shake his head helplessly. He was truly too tired. It wasn't like he was doing it on purpose.
    Violet Rain's expression darkened. This boy should be very clear that she was targeting him now, yet he actually dared to be so carefree.
    "First battle. Eighth Seed Indomitable vs. Seventh Seed Seer." She said stiffly.
    Leonel made it to the stage first, only to find a young man walking toward him. He had a scrawny build and a singular closed eye was painted on the forehead of his mask.
    In his hand, Seer held an odd short staff with a bulbous head. Compared to the gazes of raging hatred Leonel had gotten used to seeing, Seer's eyes were calm and tranquil. His brows only barely furrowed when he saw that Leonel not only yawned, but also wasn't holding a weapon.
    "Begin."

 Chapter 135: Seer

    [We'll be back to double chapter uploads tomorrow. Thank you for the birthday wishes &lt;3. Also, I should say that we'll likely be going back to the bonus chapter system in september once school comes back around for me. I'll let you all know]
    Seer raised his staff toward Leonel the moment the words fell. An arrow of peculiar energy quickly formed, dashing toward Leonel at a much faster speed than most could muster.
    In that instant of time, even with his spirit severely drained and his ability being sluggish as a result, it was as easy as breathing for Leonel to see that this attack had an agility of just over 1.00. It was quite swift, all things considered. But not enough for Leonel to take it seriously.
    'I guess I'll just push him off the edge of the arena.' Leonel thought.
    Since he had paid attention this time around, he was well aware that there were three methods of victory. He could choose between knocking his opponent out and rendering them unable to battle, forcing them to admit defeat, or pushing them outside the bounds of the arena. Either one was fine, Leonel didn't have a particular preference.
    'What's really interesting though is that abilities don't seem to be limited by Force disrupting towers, nor are special branches of Force. I didn't think about this before, but my Internal Sight relies on my spirit which is technically a kind of Force, yet I used it to escape the Fort. I actually overlooked something so simpleбн'
    Leonel's mind wandered. He usually wasn't this type of person. He always took every task, no matter how simple, with the utmost seriousness. However, the problem this time was that his mind was too sluggish, he was almost in a drunken state.
    Though Leonel was only like this because he didn't sense much of a threat from Seer, others seemed to take this as him being frozen in place due to fear.
    Not only did others not find this to be pitiable, they even took amusement in it. They seemed to already see the sight of Leonel being blasted off the arena under a chorus of laughs.
    However, in the last moment, Leonel seemed to remember where he was and shifted to the side. To an outside observer, it almost look like he stumbled out of the way, allowing the arrow to just barely whiz by him.
    The sudden movement caused Leonel's mind to spin. He really didn't expect that he would be in such a sorry state just because he stayed awake for a few days.
    His eyes blinked and he shook his head, trying to clear his vision.
    'A nap would be really nice about nowбн' Leonel thought to himself.
    Leonel didn't have to raise his eyes to sense that another arrow was coming his way. But, this time, he took a step long before it reached him. His action seemed without cause, but he had already dodged long before the arrow left Seer's staff.
    Step after step, Leonel meandered his way through the battlefield. His gait was weak and without rhyme or reason, but seemed to dodge Seer's strikes without much issue. From the outside, he looked like a drunk man stumbling forward, though it wasn't so exaggerated.
    Seer kept trying to make distance between them, doing his best to continue his barrage. But he was very obviously losing his composure.
    At some unknown point, the jeers of the crowd shouting out that Leonel was fearful had slowly died down, weird expressions coating their faces one after another.
    By the time Leonel had made it within a step of Seer, the latter didn't even notice that he had continuously retreated to the edge of the arena. Just when he wanted to take another step back, he found nothing but air, causing him to tumble backward with a shocked expression on his face.
    He knew that this should have been impossible. He wasn't a fool, he too had heard the rules, so he knew stepping out of bounds meant a loss. But, he could have never expected that he would somehow still make such a stupid mistake. He thought that he had been circling the arena, maintaining a good distance from Leonelбн So when did he get forced into a corner like this?
    When Seer looked up, all he found was that Leonel was actually yawning again, causing his face behind the mask to blush with shame, embarrassment and rage.
    Leonel squinted his eyes and shook his head as though trying to chase his fatigue away. He hadn't even noticed the change in the Seer's once calm eyes. By the time his vision cleared again, he saw that a young woman was helping Seer up and glaring toward him with fierce eyes.
    Though Leonel couldn't see her face, he was quite certain that her angry appearance was quite adorable. Her eyes alone were enough to tell him this.
    She, as a participant, of course wore a mask. The design on hers was quite involved compared to others. The center of her forehead had the drawing of a seed and from there, a cycle of growth was drawn around her round face. Eventually, a flower bloomed before the cycle ended with another seed.
    Leonel had seen her amongst the eight seeds of the second round and judging by the pseudonyms, he guessed that she could be either Falling Leaf or Precious Moment. More likely the latter as there was someone else with a mask that more conformed to the former.
    At that moment, the crowd that had fallen silent suddenly erupted once more.
    The chorus of boos was deafening.
    "Disqualify him! Get him out of here!"
    "When did such a bastard appear amongst our promising youths?!"
    It could only be said that the rebels truly were infuriated this time. It was one thing for Leonel to defeat his opponent. But, his act of looking down from the stage and even yawning after Seer had already lost was simply too much. You could defeat a man, but humiliating him was going one step too far.
    How could they know that Leonel was only yawning because he was truly tired. As for 'looking down' on Seer, that had a similar reason as well. He didn't want to waste energy by making unnecessary movements, so he stood in place until the next match began. After all, he would be fighting again.
    Unfortunately for the crowd, the Leonel of now already had turned a deaf ear to their reactions. He couldn't even hear them any longer. His world was filled with silence.
    "бн Indomitable wins. Next match, Indomitable vs Precious Moment."
    At that moment, the young girl who had helped Seer stand furiously marched onto the stage, her little body billowing with rage.
    Leonel shuffled from the edge of the arena, his feet barely lifting up from the ground as he turned to face her.

 Chapter 136: Victory

    Leonel really didn't have the mind to think about why yet another person was angry toward him. His half closed eyes sized up the petite little girl.
    Truthfully, he didn't have much of a reaction toward women who weren't his Aina. It could even be said that his personality around Aina was skewed as a result of this. Usually, he was rather detached from most things even if he had an amiable smile on.
    Seeing this petite girl before him, others might have had thoughts of going easy on her. But, Leonel didn't spare such a thoughts toward this at all. Rather, just like with his last opponent, he was thinking of how to defeat this woman as easily and quickly as possible.
    "Go on Precious Moment, teach him a lesson!"
    "Show the bastard what a real Promising Youth looks like!"
    Violet Rain watched all of this from the overseer's box, a gloomy expression on her face. She found that there was most definitely something wrong with Leonel's battle with Seer. However, all thoughts she had of analyzing the battle flew away when she saw Leonel yawn. At this point, even the male Commanders by her side couldn't help but frown. They too believed that Leonel had gone too far.
    Old Hutch laughed uproariously when he saw this scene. Since Leonel had been in his home the whole time, he of course knew why Leonel was constantly yawning. The reason he had been able to get Leonel's recording in the first place was because his home was covered in cameras and various security devices, so he was aware that Leonel had stood in the same place without moving for a whole 5 days.
    He had to say, he admired the dedication of the boy even if he was certain that it wouldn't bear any fruit. That said, he had no intention of explaining this to these people. What could he say? He was an old man who liked watching the world burn. Who else was going to entertain him in his old age if not this boy?
    Earth had entered a calm before the storm. Old Hutch didn't feel like waiting for things to get interesting again, so why not make his own entertainment?
    "Begin."
    The moment Violet Rain's displeased voice filled the arena once more, Precious Moment moved, her small body charging toward Leonel with a full head of steam.
    'She wants to fight me bare handed? Is it related to her ability?' Leonel frowned slightly.
    After the shock he went through with Aina, he no longer dared to assume the strength of a person by their size. The issue was that he could clearly see that Precious Moment's strength stat wasn't even half of his own. Yet, she was still charging toward him like this.
    At this point, Leonel felt a little regretful that he hadn't been paying attention to the previous battles, or else he wouldn't be guessing like this.
    However in the end, he threw these worries to the back of his mind. This wasn't really a matter of choice as the little girl was already right before him.
    Leonel caught a twitch in Precious Moment's shoulder and immediately calculated the trajectory of her punch before she even threw it.
    'I'm not far from the edge of the arena, I can probably just push her right off by using her momentum against herбн'
    However, Leonel could have never expected that Precious Moment's initial punch was actually a feint. Just as he moved out of its trajectory, her arm stopped halfway along its path and pulled back against her body before another fist was sent toward him.
    A fierce glint could be seen in Precious Moment's eyes. The sight of Leonel's loss was practically guaranteed to her at this very moment.
    She chose the name Precious Moment for a very specific reason. Her ability could be considered a sensory type as well, evolving similarly to Leonel's. She could read the cause and effect of events to predict what would happen next. Of course, the scope of her ability was extremely limited, but was absolutely perfect in a one on one battle like this one.
    She had already predicted what would happen next. She saw through the fact that Leonel seemed to be able to see through the trajectory of her attack. He would then try to wrap around her and push her off the stage.
    Knowing this, she threw a feint, then immediately followed up with a second punch aimed exactly where Leonel was dodging.
    With him being off balance like this, her victory was practically guaranteed. She might not be as strong as someone with an offensive ability, but she was still far stronger than a normal human.
    'Ohбн?'
    This was all Leonel thought when he saw Precious Moment's feint and follow up attack. Ultimately, his battle experience was still a little bit green. He wasn't yet able to easily distinguish between a real attack and a feint. He was mostly able to rely on his ability to always react quickly.
    That saidбн Precious Moment was still underestimating him a bit too much. Her ability only worked when her enemy was within a certain physical limit. If they were beyond thisбн it simply didn't matter how much she could predict if she was unable to react.
    Leonel's dodging body suddenly grew a step faster, sliding out of the way of Precious Moment's second fist.
    In one swift motion, he wrapped around her back, pushing a foot out and knocking her off the platform.
    Even as she fell from the arena, Precious Moment couldn't help but be stunned.
    She was bound to not be the last. Under the continuously growing ugly expressions of those within the crowd, and Violet Rain especially, Leonel seemed to stumble his way through victory after victory, taking down Falling Leaf and Erupting Volcano in quick succession.
    And, even when Roaring Black Lion stepped onto the stage before him, his yawns had still never stopped.
    Old Hutch's laughter seemed to grow more and more unbridled. It was as though he was afraid others wouldn't hear him and forget their fury.
    Violet Rain ground her teeth, looking down toward the arena with a reddened gaze.
    'It's fine, it's fine.' She thought to herself, taking deep breaths. 'Roaring Black Lion was among the only three to defeat the five Invalids, albeit slower than Thunderous Clap and Chasing Wind. Defeating Indomitable shouldn't be a problem.'
    A sinking feeling took hold the pit of her stomach. If her own rule change allowed Leonel to use all seven of these geniuses as stepping stones, it would be too infuriating.

 Chapter 137: Hurry Up

    "You're really good at pissing everyone off."
    These were the first words Roaring Black Lion spoke. He stood tall with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
    Leonel smiled bitterly. "Would you believe me if I said it wasn't on purpose?"
    Roaring Black Lion looked him up and down as though trying to decide whether or not Leonel was telling the truth. When he had spoken to Leonel previously, he hadn't gotten the vibe that he was an arrogant man. In fact, back then, he had half expected Leonel to sneer at his words from back then and tell him to screw off. He had been hoping for that result so that he would have an excuse to teach him a lesson, but things didn't end up working out like that.
    After that, he felt that Leonel kept giving him a weird feeling. It was an odd gravity that made others want to pay attention to him, and this pull was even stronger than Thunderous Clap who was a well known leader amongst the Promising Youths.
    However, that feeling was completely contradictory to the hatred Leonel was garnering. Would a leader who could surpass even Thunderous Clap in charisma be so hated?
    Another person might have thrown this thought to the back of their minds as soon as they had it. But, Roaring Black Lion was a man who relied heavily on his instinct. This became even more so after awakening his ability.
    Not only did he smell the faint scent of death on Leonel, he could even tell that many of the things that happened today weren't exactly as they seemed.
    Suddenly, Roaring Black Lion began to laugh as the crowd booed toward Leonel's response. How could they believe that all of this had been a coincidence? Since they couldn't turn their rage to Hutch, who else could face their anger if not Leonel?
    They felt stifled watching Leonel win battle after battle. Now, they were pinning all of their hopes on Roaring Black Lion's shoulders.
    "I want to see your strength!"
    The roar of the Promising Youth's voice was several times louder than Thunderous Clap's.
    In that moment, his body began to expand, the clothing on him expanding along with him as though it was specially designed for this moment. Black fur erupted across his body as his hair sprouted, becoming a mane that pushed against his mask.
    His mask was removed by him. What was left wasn't the face of a human, but rather a fiendish lion with eyes deeper than a black abyss.
    Roaring Black Lion had grown to almost two and a half meters tall. He still stood on two legs and seemed to be a humanoid beast of sorts, but the power in his limbs put any full beast to shame.
    "There it is! Roaring Black Lion's transformation!"
    The crowd was seething with excitement. Roaring Black Lion hadn't used his ability during the first round, so this was the first time they had seen it today. How could they not be excited? It was said that he was twice as powerful in this state!
    Leonel's eyes narrowed slightly seeing such a scene.
    [Roaring Black Lion]
    [Strength: 2.71; Speed: 2.12; Agility: 1.97; Coordination: 1.92; Stamina: 2.83; Reactions: 2.73; Spirit: 0.03; Force: ???]
    The crowd completely regained their liveliness when Roaring Black Lion brandished his claws.
    He raised his head into the skies and billowed with all his might.
    "ROOOAAARRR!!"
    The arena quaked. In that moment, the roar drowned out even the crowd themselves.
    'That wasn't a simple roarбн' Leonel's frown deepened.
    He felt that his blood and his muscles cramped upon hearing that roar. It actually had the effect of demoralizing him and weakening his strength.
    All of this suddenly made sense. Roaring Black Lion likely had an ability with great evolution potential. A normal strength enhancing ability wouldn't allow him to rank amongst the top Promising Youths even though the strength boost from his transformation was so obscene.
    Leonel regained his calm.
    Taking a step to the side, he calmly walked to the edge of the arena.
    "Haha! Is he going to quit?"
    There wasn't just one person in the crowd who believed this. Even Violet Rain's gloomy expression loosened up a bit as she sighed a breath of relief. Unfortunately for her, though, this feeling didn't last for long.
    Leonel walked to the weapon rack and scanned it for a moment before pulling out a plain black rod. It wasn't that he didn't want to take a spear, but if he did and the ring on his finger didn't acknowledge it, it would crumble to dust. So, using a rod was his only choice.
    Plus, he had a good impression of Roaring Black Lion. At the very least, he was far more pleasing to the eye compared to the others that were here. In that case, he had no intention of harming him.
    "A rod? Isn't that Thunderous Clap's weapon of choice? Indomitable uses a rod as well?"
    Leonel sluggishly yawned once more, walking back to face the beast that now stood over half a meter taller than him.
    He stopped ten meters from Roaring Black Lion, his eyes tired, but tranquil.
    Silence fell over the arena for a moment.
    "Begin."
    Roaring Black Lion lashed out immediately, not pausing even for a moment.
    His claws left streaks in the air. If it wasn't for the ban on killing, they would have been fully extended. However, for the sake of the rules, he attack with his palm. Yet, even with this being the case, his silvery claws twinkled beneath the arena lights, contrasting his ferocious appearance with something quite dazzling and beautiful.
    Leonel didn't move at all.
    A palm almost as large as his chest descended toward his tired figure. It seemed for a moment that there would be no suspense to the battle at all. It was even to the point where Roaring Black Lion's massive figure seemed to enshroud him completely.
    Just when it seemed Leonel would be sent flying, he suddenly moved.
    No one could tell what happened. In one moment, Leonel was standing in place. In the next, a blinding light had covered him from head to toe. He seemed to vanish in place, and by the time he could be seen by the crowd once again, the butt of his rod had landed on Roaring Black Lion's broad chest.
    BANG!
    The loose fabric of Leonel's sweat pants fluttered wildly beneath the air pressure of his own speed as Roaring Black Lion was sent flying. Almost like a streaking meteor, he left a black arc in the air, crashing outside the arena and skidding along the ground in a sorry state.
    Silence.
    At that moment, Old Hutch, who had been leisurely enjoying his pizza stood up violently, leaping to the windows of the overseer's box as though he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
    Leonel calmly picked up the mask Roaring Black Lion had tossed aside, throwing it toward his collapsed figure just as the latter's ability dissolved. The mask left a trail in the air, landing just well enough to cover the youth's face.
    However, Leonel no longer cared about this. His head had already turned toward the place where Thunderous Clap sat.
    "Hurry up."
    These were the only two words he spoke. His fatigue seemed to vanish, the flickering lights that danced across his body growing more intense with each passing moment.

 Chapter 138: Off-Screened

    Silence.
    No that wasn't entirely correct. There was indeed one sound remaining in the now quiet arena. On first inspection, it was a bit like breathing that hitched every so often. However, after a moment, it became clear that it was light snoring. Someone was actually sleeping. In fact, all of the people in the arena couldn't help but look between this sleeping young man and his recently decimated opponent.
    On the ground, laying right beside Roaring Black Lion, Thunderous Clap lay weakly, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood. As for the culprit who put him in this state? He was sleeping like a baby without a scratch on him, having collapsed under his own fatigue.
    The scenes of what just happened continuously replayed in Thunderous Clap's head.
    That man told him to hurry up and get onto the arena. As he had his own pride, he obviously obliged, believing that, even after watching the fashion in which Roaring Black Lion lost, he could still win.
    However, all he saw was a flash of gold. Then, he felt a sharp pain on his chest. And, before he realized what happened, he was lying on his back, nursing several shattered ribs.
    In the overseer's box, Violet Rain's expression was solemn. One would expect her to be enraged, but this wasn't the emotion she had at this moment now at all. All she felt was astonishment.
    But, her astonishment couldn't match up to Hutch's at all. This was because while everyone was shocked that Leonel managed to defeat Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap бк both in a single blow бк he was shocked due to that radiant energy that was coming from him.
    There was something about that energy that was extremely similar to his Blade Force, but it wasn't exactly like that either. It was somehow different but the same at once.
    He didn't need to think more about it understand. Leonel had comprehended a Force Strengthening Deviation. But, it wasn't Spear Force. It was something else entirely, something that even seemed somewhat more formidable.
    In the stands, Damian, the lady he called vixen, and the others were also shocked. They had been here from the very beginning, but they had remained silent the whole time.
    They were among the few who knew that Indomitable was Leonel. But, did they dare to step out and defend him? Not to mention the fact the commentary of the crowd had been fairly benign, if they really did step up to defend Leonel, they'd probably get beaten black and blue.
    Damian had been aware of how great Leonel's strength was. Those youths up there would give even him a hard battle, and he was a lieutenant. But, didn't Leonel defeat him just the same?
    The reason he was shocked wasn't because Leonel defeated themбн It was because he had done so with just a single strike. Didn't that mean that Leonel could defeat him with a single strike too?!
    So many eyes had landed upon Leonel, yet he continued to sleep without a care in the world. It was as though the hard arena ground had become the softest of beds.
    "What a bratбн"
    Hutch sighed and made his way down to the arena. Before the eyes of everyone, he reached down, grabbed Leonel, and swung him over his shoulder as though he was carrying a sack of potatoes.
    If Leonel was awake, he might have had the presence of mind to get angry about this, but he was clearly in a state where he could sleep in just about any condition.
    Thunderous Clap's gaze of shame and anger landed on Leonel. But, even if the latter was awake and willing to fight him again, he could hardly move an inch. Just breathing wracked his body with pain far more severe than anything he had ever experienced before.
    Thinking back to those words he spoke to Leonel, a deep sense of humiliation welled up in his heart.
    It honestly wasn't his fault that things reached this point. Anyone who saw Leonel's actions without understanding the backstory behind them would think him to be an arrogant bastard. Thunderous Clap had always been a straight forward and by the books kind of person, so he wanted to teach Leonel a lesson. He just never imagined that this would actually backfire.
    The truth was that Leonel had already been reaching his limit after so many battles. He didn't tell Thunderous Clap to hurry up and get on the stage because he was arrogant, but rather because he only had the strength left for one more strike.
    Leonel couldn't be said to be a confrontational person, but Thunderous Clap's previous words had touched his bottomline. He refused to settle down until he could return the latter's words back to him.
    After the deed was done, Leonel directly fell asleep.
    Due to this, everyone knew that Chasing Wind would be named first among the Promising Youths, but there was no one who congratulated her. They were all aware that the young man who had truly earned the first place was the one they were all watching snore right this very moment.
    Her expression couldn't help but flicker several times as she watched Hutch haul Leonel away.
    Just what was that attack he used? Was that related to his ability? How could he be faster than her?
    These were all the thoughts that swirled around in her mind and it left her stifled to the point she wanted to shout into the skies.
    In the minds of the rebels who didn't know Leonel's true character, the villain had won today. Indomitable had stamped down on their pride, all while yawning the whole way. Then, when he saw they really couldn't relieve his boredom, he directly fell asleep.
    He completely disregarded them. He didn't care for their emotions, their rage, their heartache. Like an evil mastermind, he played with their emotions and left them in a puddle of their own tears.
    When Leonel had disappeared off into the distance, Thunderous Clap could no longer hold on and directly passed out beside Roaring Black Lion.
    This legend was bound to spread throughout the Slayer Legion, maybe even to the point it would reach the ears of the Empireбн

 Chapter 139: Elemental Force

    Leonel awoke with a stretch. It felt so good that he held the pose for several moments, unwilling to leave that satisfying feeling behind.
    He sat up with a smile. He was oddly happy at this moment. A burden that had been weighing on his heart felt as though it had been lifted. Plus, after finally getting some sleep, he felt refreshed and his spirit was even stronger than it had been just a few days ago.
    'Even though he was an asshole, I have to admit that this Thunderous Clap person did indeed help me. If it wasn't for him, who knew how long I would have taken to come to such a realization.'
    "You're awake?"
    Leonel was so startled by the sudden voice that he practically jumped out of bed. He hadn't even noticed that the door had opened just now to reveal a very familiar and very annoying old man.
    Old Hutch shook his head, his face filled with disdain.
    "How could you possibly sleep like this on a battlefield. I could have slit your throat a hundred different ways."
    Leonel's lip twitched. He had lived in a Mayan Tomb and faced thousands of Spaniards alone in that time. If there was anyone who knew how to sleep while being alert, it was him. But, was there a need for that right now?
    "Since you're awake now, don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
    "Huh?" Leonel didn't know what the old man meant by this.
    "You were so confident in getting first place, yet didn't you only get second? You practically threw my face out there. How can I show myself in public anymore?"
    Hearing this, Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes. He may have been second, but did Chasing Wind really dare to claim first? As far as he was concerned, who was the superior among them all was obvious. But, he had simply been too tired. After teaching Thunderous Clap a lesson for the words he spoke, Leonel couldn't be bothered to enter the final round.
    Old Hutch could obviously see through Leonel's expression, but he didn't seem to want to let up.
    "I don't care what reasons you have. I was promised a first place finish, yet I didn't get it. So, I'll be taking something in exchange."
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. What the hell did this old man want now?
    "That light you used to defeat that brat Thunderous Clap and that other brat Roaring Black Lion. What was it?"
    "Ohбн"
    Leonel understood what was going on now. This old man just wanted to ask him this question without losing face. So he made it seem like Leonel owed him an explanation. Leonel could only say that Old Hutch was indeed shameless enough.
    In the end, Leonel shrugged.
    "I was studying my Lineage Factor and happened upon another one. I felt a very strong connection to it so I coaxed it out. The result should probably be some element based Force Strengthening Deviation."
    Leonel casually explained, but the words alone caused ripples to go off in Old Hutch's heart.
    "Had I not been distracted, I would have comprehended Spear Force already." Leonel mumbled.
    The truth was that he had been comprehending Spear Force, but this Lineage Factor intrigued him, mostly because it most definitely wasn't like the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor his father described. That likely meant there was a third Lineage Factor in his blood.
    It could only be said that there simply wasn't enough time between Leonel's epiphany and the gathering, or else he would have been even more monstrous.
    After setting himself on the path of logically deducing his own talent and Lineage Factors, a whole new door had been opened to him.
    The bad news about this path was that he would progress slower than his Lineage Factor would otherwise allow him to. Theoretically, that is.
    Relying on instinct and talent is usually much faster. This was just the way of life. However, Leonel had a certain advantage those who were lacking in talent did not have: his ability.
    Leonel's analytical ability was far beyond most. As a result, his progress was actually faster than it would otherwise be by relying on talent and intuition.
    This not only meant that Leonel could forcefully awaken his Lineage Factor's himself as long as he grasped a small inkling of them, it also meant that he was no longer restricted by the so-called 'awakening' phase of the Lineage Factor either.
    According to Aina, the longer one maintained consciousness after awakening their Lineage Factor, the stronger it would be. However, for Leonel who was slowly comprehending his Lineage Factor himself, it didn't matter if he stayed awake for a single second or several days. Eventually, he would unveil all the hidden mysteries of his Lineage Factor. At most, if he didn't stay awake for long enough, it would be slightly more difficult than it would otherwise be.
    That said... Hadn't Leonel just stayed awake for five days? That was even longer than he had when he awakened his Spear Domain Lineage Factor.
    Like this, the 'bad' of his path was essentially expunged as long as his ability continued to evolve.
    With this, the good was nearly endless. Aside from thanking Thunderous Clap, Leonel really had to thank Hutch as well. Or else who knows if he would have ever stumbled on this path at all.
    "So that light really was a Force Strengthening Deviation?"
    Old Hutch finally responded after a while. Hearing Leonel say that he could have comprehended Spear Force already by now made him want to give the brat a smack, but he refrained since he wanted to know more.
    "Yesбн" Leonel said slowly. "бн I still know very little about it. All I've unveiled is that it can increase my speed by a large margin. I still have to study it moreбн"
    There were many things Leonel left out.
    For example, he was certain that if this Lineage Factor wasn't from his father, then it must be from his mother. In addition, he hadn't only unveiled that the Force Strengthening Deviation he had learned through his Lineage Factor could boost his speed, but he also knew that it had terrifying piercing power. Had he used this latter ability, he would have directly killed his opponents with ease even if he only used a rod.
    But, Leonel still wasn't at the point of divulging his everything to Hutch even if he was grateful to the old man.
    What Leonel and even Old Hutch didn't know was that what Leonel had grasped was Light Elemental Force. Old Hutch might have known what this was, but Leonel's explanation was simply too vague and purposely omitted many points.
    If others knew that Leonel had comprehended such a thing, the shock would be immeasurable. Even among Force Strengthening Deviations, Light Elemental Force was among the strongest. Its versatility was near inexhaustible and its strength was undeniable.
    However, even with this being said, the real reason it would arise shock was because it was simply too rare. Amongst several worlds, there might only be two or three people to grasp such a thing. And, families with Lineage Factors related to it were even rarer.
    It was no wonder Leonel instinctually set aside comprehending Spear Force in favor of it. Compared to Spear Force, Light Elemental Force was beyond by an impossible degree.

 Chapter 140: Hunt (1)

    "Is this why you came here, Old Hutch?"
    In truth, Leonel was more interested in this old man leaving him alone. Not only did he want to comprehend Spear Force, but he also had many other things to do. He really hoped that Damian hadn't left by now, or else he had no idea how he would get back to Royal Blue Province.
    "Not exactly." Old Hutch said after a moment. "There's a Hunt that was planned to take place for the first time this year. It's a great training ground for you little brats."
    "Not interested."
    Leonel responded without hesitation. What a joke, he had already wasted so much time here. Every day he spent on Earth was another day that passed in Terrain. In fact, for all he knew, time was dilated across worlds as well just like they were in Zones. He had no way of knowing until he went there.
    He had no idea why Hutch was trying to get him to participate in these meaningless activities, but he truly was not interested. Even before he comprehended Light Elemental Force, it was unlikely that anyone in his age group could defeat him. But now, it was even more exaggerated. He simply saw no merit in it.
    At this point, Leonel understood that his advantage was simply too vast. His father was likely from a higher Dimensional world, so his body had more talent than those born in a Third Grade Dimension like this one. It couldn't be helped.
    Of course, there were those like Aina who seemed to match up to him due to their mysterious families. But, this was even more reason for Leonel to not care about the Slayer Legion. The fact the fourth rank youth of their Southern Lookout could be defeated in a single strike by him likely meant that the Slayer Legion likely had no such families, and as a result, didn't have a bright future.
    Leonel still remembered Aina's words. Success in the future could track back and influence the past. Though it was difficult for him to wrap his mind around, he only needed to understand that this was a fact. Since the Slayer Legion didn't have such special families, it only meant that their future was equally not as special.
    That said, Leonel wasn't very optimistic that those youths from families like the Brazinger's were a match for him either.
    "Don't be so quick to dismiss this opportunity." Hutch said without a care. "This Hunt won't be as simple as you think it is."
    "Is that so?"
    Hutch nodded confidently. But, seeing that Leonel was still skeptical, he decided to explain a bit. It was obvious to him now that Leonel would be a future pillar of Earth, so he should be privy to a few things that others weren't.
    "Since you even know about Force Strengthening Deviation, you probably know already that many were aware that this Metamorphosis was coming before it truly descended."
    Leonel's expression darkened a bit at these words. Of course he had already guessed this. How many billions had died falling from Paradise Islands due to the higher ups keeping this information to themselves?
    It seemed now that even the Slayer Legion was aware of this ahead of time, something that made Leonel even more disappointed in them than he already was. Was this really a so-called rebellion of the people? Why was it that this Slayer Legion never seemed to act as a grassroots movement should?
    Hutch sighed upon seeing Leonel's gloomy expression.
    "Things aren't always as simple as they seem on the surface, brat. If we made a move to try and save everybody, Earth's population would have likely been wiped out by now."
    Leonel frowned upon hearing this.
    "The likelihood of successfully awakening your ability is too low. It's even lower if you come from a poor background."
    Leonel clenched his jaw. He understood this well. The weaker your background, the less likely you were to succeed in the future, and as such, you couldn't effect change in the current timeline that would then, in turn, help your future path. These people were the least likely to awaken their abilities. It was a difficult chicken and the egg situation.
    "If we tried to save everyone, Earth would have been overrun by Invalids. Even though Invalids also provide opportunities to improve upon killing them, they are incredibly dangerous as well. They don't need to rest, eat or sleep.
    "These are things you probably already know, but what you don't know is that when the concentration of Invalids is high and that of humans is low, Variants that consume other Invalids can appear in high concentrations. When this happens, the Invalids that awaken their intelligence once again appear in droves."
    "бн Isn't that a good thing?" Leonel asked.
    "No. It's the worst thing. Invalids who awaken their intelligence are no longer humans. They're Variant Invalids who still live to devour us. The only difference is that they're smarter in their approach. In addition, they all have the ingrained ability to control other Invalids. Don't think for a moment that they'll go back to the person they once were after they awakenбн
    "Variant Invalids are far stronger than us. As the saying goes, the harder something is, the more rewarding it is as well. The path Variant Invalids have to go through to truly awaken is far more arduous than us, and as such, the benefits are far greater as well."
    Old Hutch could tell that Leonel still wasn't convinced by all of this. The kid didn't believe sacrificing the lives of so many just because of a potential calamity was worth it. These were still peopleбн They weren't betting stakes one could choose not to take the risk on.
    The old man could only sigh once more.
    "Kid, there are too many eyes on Earth. The potential of our world is the greatest to be birthed in a very long while. There's no end to the greedy eyes that see us as a feast to take part in.
    "If we are stuck in this prepubescent stage for too long, taking too much time to clear our world and form up our centers of power again, then, when we lose the current thin veil of protection we have, we'll be screwed."
    Leonel remained quiet. Even if he understood, he didn't like it at all.
    "бн What is this Hunt you were talking about?"

 Chapter 141: Hunt (2)

    After a while, the old man left, leaving Leonel to his thoughts.
    'It's interesting, I guessбн'
    Leonel didn't expect to be interested in this Hunt. But in the end, the old man had actually managed to convince him. Plus, it would apparently not interfere with his schedule to go back as Damian and the others would still be stuck here for a while longer.
    According to the old man, the Hunt had been being planned not just a few years, but decades even. It might not even be an exaggeration to say more than a century, in fact.
    'Project Hunt' could be considered to be one of Earth's contingency plans. If Hutch's words were to be believed, it was likely that a similar practice was taken on by the Empire as well.
    This so-called 'Project Hunt' was an attempt to raise Evolved Beasts. As Leonel had so unfortunately found out already, humans weren't the only ones who could awaken.
    The project itself spent years diligently breeding and cross breeding different species of animals to create incredibly powerful creatures. The hope was that upon the descent of the Metamorphosis, these creatures would awaken miraculous abilities that would allow humans to benefit.
    These beasts would become great natural resources. Their meat would be the best tonic for human warriors, allowing them to progress at much faster speeds.
    Also, according to Hutch, beasts have much larger Ethereal Glabellas upon awakening. This is not only due to their larger size in general, but it can also be considered an evolutionary buffer to their intelligence. After all, beasts are innately inferior in this aspect. Those who successfully awaken are thus compensated in this way.
    The larger Ethereal Glabellas of beasts are considered to be delicacies that can even improve the speed of evolution of one's ability. They're called Beast Crystals.
    Thinking back to the octopus stored in the Segmented Cube, Leonel suddenly understood why it was that the latter had wanted the former so badly.
    After all of this, Leonel was even more impressed with exactly where these projects took place. When he asked Old Hutch about that, the old man hadn't held back.
    Apparently, Project Hunt took advantage of the fact that Earth only had one super continent and spread the project across several off-land islands. Each of these islands had their own unique environment, pushing the evolution of beasts in certain aspects.
    Now, after so much preparation, it was finally time to reap the rewards of their labor of over a hundred years.
    Leonel wasn't interested in the beasts for the potential boost to his ability. Since his ability had already broke into the realms of the Fifth Dimension, he doubted that there were any beasts on Earth that could help him improve any further.
    But, Old Hutch had let it 'slip' that the closer Earth approached to the end of the Metamorphosis, the more striking changes would take place. Soon, there would be Force Crystals forming and these islands could be ideal hot spots. After all, even if one appeared in the city on the main land, it wasn't as though Leonel could dig through the layers of dense stone and metals to reach them.
    These places would be perfect toward helping him fill his Segmented Cube to the brim to pave a path for his later breakthroughs.
    Even this, though, wasn't the main reason Leonel's interest had been piqued.
    After so long, Leonel was finally ready to create his first Force Craft. In fact, he had already settled on two designs. One was a weapon and the other was an upgrade to a treasure he already had.
    The second design, the upgrade, was related to his treasure shoes. However, the main point was that the main design around the upgrade was reliant on the suction cups of the octopus.
    By now, his purpose might have been obvious. He wanted to see just what other Evolved Beasts existed. If there were any that were particularly useful, he might be able to design more useful upgradesбн
    Leonel took a deep breath and finally stood from his bed. A moment later, he had already entered the Lab Setting of the Segmented Cube's Phase One.
    "Hey Little Tolly."
    After completing Lesson Three and learning everything there was to know about the relationship between familiars and their Force Crafters, Leonel named the little Metal Spirit Tolliver, a name the little guy seemed to like quite a lot.
    Leonel smiled lightly, slipping on his protective gloves and allowing the little Metal Spirit to excitedly snake across his fingers. For a moment, man and spirit seemed to become one. Leonel's fingers danced and Tolly's body seemed to respond instantaneously, changing its movements along with Leonel's will.
    A long while later, Leonel finished playing with Tolliver and placed the little guy on the table, turning a serious eye toward the several large pieces of paper laid out before him.
    After Leonel learned everything there was to learn about Lesson Three, the next touched on Force Art, and the Lesson after that was titled 'Functional Design'. This Lesson not only taught him basic concepts of design, but, most importantly taught him about drawing blueprints.
    Leonel had never taken an art class before, nor was he familiar with calligraphy. After all, this was the 25th century, nobody writes anymore. So the first few attempts he made were abysmal. But, over time, with how high his coordination stat was, not only did he improve by leaps and bounds, his penmanship could even be said to be quite beautiful.
    Calligraphy on Earth referred to the writing of characters. In ancient Eastern countries, this was especially important to their culture. However, the West had quite a few practitioners as well.
    To Force Crafters, Calligraphy referred to the art of drawing Force Arts. Each branch of Force Art was a unique language with its on unique quirks. A steady hand and a keen eye was, of course, important for all of this.
    Thankfully, Leonel's basics were exceptionally robust. Due to the Force Art he had drawn on the back of his palm, his knowledge of Third Dimensional Force Arts was incredible. So, when he moved on to Fourth Dimensional Force Arts as he was now, the result was him improving at unimaginable speeds.
    The blueprints before Leonel now were the product of several hours of work. But, he still felt like something was missing. It was an intuition that kept nagging at him. He knew that if he designed his first weapon based on these designs, it would fail.
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly slapped his forehead.
    'Idiot. Why waste time drawing all of these blueprints in real life when you have your Dream World?'
    Leonel closed his eyes and sunk into a state of meditation. A moment later, he found himself in a wide blank space, but there was a bright smile on his face.
    A quill identical to the one Montez gave him manifested in his hand. This was the product of a Dream Sculpt he forged.
    Then, he began to draw in the air.
    The scene was absolutely dazzling. The sight of several layers of blueprints being built atop of each other with glistening transparent lines made it almost feel as though Leonel was playing God.

 Chapter 142: First Design

    It was as though a whole new world had opened up to Leonel.
    Even someone with an ability as analytical as himself had been having issues with the blueprinting process. It wasn't that his mind didn't have enough computational ability, but rather that he simply didn't have enough experience.
    Since this was his first creation, it was only made of three parts. Yet, the process of transferring those ideas to their individual blueprints, then visualizing the 2D in 3D while ensuring that all the parameters are within appropriate margins of error was difficult for a newbie like Leonel.
    Imagine for a moment that you had to design a screw and the hole it would screw into. From the outside, this seems incredibly simple. However, this isn't the case at all.
    The grooves of a screw that allow it to solidly embed itself into the appropriate hole could be measured in millimeters. If the hole is a fraction too big and the screw is a fraction too small, suddenly, the error compounds and you have a useless screw on your hands.
    This was the absolute simplest example. What if the parts are more complex than this? What if there's more than just two parts to consider?
    Leonel was dealing with three parts currently, but he already had a headache. Ensuring that machine parts work smoothly as one even when they were manufactured separately was probably the bane of all engineers. But now, Leonel felt that he had solved this problem that plagued all beginner Force Crafters.
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel had drawn out the blueprints for all three of his parts and laid them flat in the air. Though his arm moved as though he was really 'drawing', this was his dream world. Was there even a need to actually do so? At most, this was a little fanfare.
    'So it's like thisбн'
    Leonel's eyes shone brightly, internally kicking himself for not realizing he could use his Dream World in this way.
    If he entered his Dream World, then used Dream Sculpt to build up the individual parts of his creations, it was possible to test everything before he even began. Not only this, but he could check the feasibility of his designs without causing irreparable changes to the materials he was handling.
    Leonel pinched his fingers toward one of his blueprints and pulled them apart, causing the design to expand. Before Leonel's eye, what once was a flat drawing gained form.
    In a flash, the other two pieces followed suit, then, along with the closing of Leonel's hands, they came together and formed a complete treasure.
    If someone else was here, they would immediately recognize it as a handgun, albeit a uniquely shaped one.
    The nozzle was incredibly long and narrow for a gun of its kind. It was just over a foot in length, but barely a centimeter and a half in width.
    Its handle was thick and ergonomic. If Leonel were to reach out and grasp it, it would perfectly form to his hand. However, if one looked closely, it was possible to see many small holes spread all across its surface.
    This was the true secret of this gun. It could work with bullets, but the main reason Leonel created it was thanks to its ability to function even without bullets.
    That was right, Leonel designed this gun to work similarly to the invisible attacks of the Mayan Priest or the arrow of Seer's staff. All he had to do was pour his Force into it and it would form and shoot the projectile for him.
    As for how this projectile would compare to Seer or the Mayan Priest, Leonel was certain that its speed and piercing power would be more than double. Howeverбн Those were calculations he had made before he awakened his Light Elemental Force. If he used Light Elemental Force instead of normal Force, the effect would definitely be even more exaggerated.
    The trouble was whether or not his design could take it and whether the Force Arts he chose to pair with this treasure would be enough.
    Leonel exploded the size of his design again and narrowed his eyes, allowing the hovering design to spin slowly before him. He wanted to grasp every single little detail.
    'The design I settled on is very simple. The nozzle, the hollow grip, and the weight.
    'When I pour Force into the gun, the weight within the handle is pushed up. The moment the energy is released, the weight will shoot back down to its original position. Depending on how much Force I use, the rebound can be either stronger or weaker. Thanks to this, the recoil mitigation can be properly scaled depending on the situationбн'
    Compared to the anti-recoil technology of the Empire's best guns, Leonel's could be considered to be rudimentary to the extreme. In fact, he knew there were many problems with it.
    For one, the current design only accounted for vertical recoil, but not horizontal. Leonel felt that this was an easy fix. If Leonel angled the weights ascent and descent, he could account for this as well.
    Leonel mentally made the changes that were needed. And, thanks to his Dream World, they immediately manifested in the design before him, causing him to smile beside himself.
    'The next issue is the nozzle. The longer the nozzle, the more time the bullet will have to accelerate, but it also makes it a weak point of the design.'
    Leonel thought about this for a long time. If things remained like this, he didn't believe that the nozzle would last very long. It was too fragile.
    After a moment, Leonel came to a conclusion.
    'It's impossible to create something perfect. Everything has give and take. Instead of worrying so much over this, I should instead modify the design so that the nozzle is a fail point that can be easily swapped and replaced.'
    When Leonel came to this decision, instead of making the nozzle stronger, he actually purposely made it much weaker. There was no need to invest too many materials into something that was bound to fail. Not only did he make it weaker, but he added many natural breaking points so that repair would be easy and simple.
    These break points would not only allow the nozzle to fail in predictable ways, but it would also ensure that its failure wouldn't harm Leonel. It would be too great of a joke if Leonel's gun exploded and killed him mid battle.
    Leonel planned on making two guns and ten nozzles. This way, he could swap the nozzles mid battle if necessary.
    When Leonel settled on the final design, he used Dream Sculpt to create perfect memory fragments within his mind. Now, he was ready to begin.

 Chapter 143: Compatibility

    Leonel exited his Dream World and smiled, taking the little Metal Spirit into his hands and playing with it again.
    "This'll be our first project together, Tolly. Are you excited?"
    Tolly split into numerous balls of silver, jumping around Leonel's hands like little globules of mercury. The little guy didn't need to speak for Leonel to know that it was excited.
    Recently, Leonel had been feeding it a lot of metals. Earth might have not been a Fourth Dimensional world just yet, and as such, was lacking in high quality minerals that came with this evolution. But, they as a people had squeezed everything they could out of the materials they did have, creating alloys that this little Metal Spirit loved to eat at its current stage of evolution.
    Tolly's favorite snack was an alloy of platinum and iridium. Using it, the little guy had already reached the Fifth Black Tier.
    Leonel was very careful not to overfeed Tolly, though. According to the hazard lesson, doing so could cause 'Overflow'. It was a dangerous state spirits could enter where they sought to devour everything.
    Toward this, Leonel could only shake his head. His father had actually likened the state to a stomach ache. How such a catastrophic event could be as simple as a stomach ache was beyond him.
    Leonel took a deep breath and went into a state of meditation. This time, however, it wasn't to enter his Dream World, but rather to prepare his mind and settle his heart. His father said that the most important thing in a successful crafting was one's state of mind.
    His oppressive aura unwittingly surged out from him, causing the playful Metal Spirit to grow silent and solemn. It was easily affected by Leonel's presence, its own will becoming somewhat suppressed.
    The first step in crafting was exactly this, Spirit Unity.
    During the process, Leonel and Tolliver would have to work as one. It was necessary for their thoughts and actions to be one in the same.
    At that moment, Leonel's dull gaze became bright once more and two familiar ores appeared before him.
    Tolliver separated into two, coating each one of his palms as he grasped toward the first ore.
    This unrefined ore was known as 'Black Urbe Ore'. It was part of the 'Urbe' class of metals. Those of this class were exceptionally good at forming alloys and had strengthening effects on metals they were melded with due to their special chemical structure.
    Urbe ores were a strategical resource no matter which world one was talking about. They were a foundation piece in almost every treasure in existence and were key components in treasures that needed to fuse two volatile materials.
    Black Urbe Ore was considered the lowest grade. However, if it was combined with the high level metal technology of Earth, it was like giving wings to a tiger.
    Even compared to other Pseudo Fourth Dimensional worlds, Earth was incredibly advanced. If strength was strictly compared, Earth was most definitely the strongest such world in the history of the universe. Actually, it wasn't so exaggerated, but Earth was most definitely top ten.
    Leonel already had a plan in mind and the sniper rifle he took from Xinghai's corpse would be perfect.
    It was time to begin the second step: Purification.
    There were many ways to approach purifying a metal. In the world of Force Crafting, 'purification' wasn't as simple as removing impurities. It was more accurate to say that this was the process of a Force Crafter 'treating' a material to create a wanted result.
    Consider steel, for a moment. Technically, steel is just iron with a certain concentration of added carbon. If Leonel's goal was to make steel, then his 'purification' process would be taking iron and smelting carbon into it, thus producing the desired product.
    One must know that even amongst steel, there are various stages, purities and strengths among them. This is all decided by the process taken in forging the metal. Urbe ore, likewise, works in this fashion.
    Leonel's goal was to temper the Black Urbe ore such that its chemical structure was perfectly suited to the alloys of the sniper rifle. How well he performed this task was decided by a 'Compatibility' rating. Depending on the metals and materials used in the craft, the Compatibility of a metal prepared, even in the same exact way, could vary.
    The methods he had to choose from were Smelting, Macro-Separation, or Oscillation. Leonel had already learned all three, respectively, via the techniques [Melting Hands], [Dancing String] and [Delicate Touch].
    Without hesitation, Leonel began to use [Delicate Touch]. The ore became like a bouncing ball trapped between the cage that was his fingers.
    The movement of his hands became blinding. Despite the fact his arms and wrists were locked in place, his fingers continually flicked at the ore, causing it to slowly, but surely, turn a deeper and deeper shade of red as its body became hot. However, the odd part was that this red only seemed to appear in spots that didn't seem capable of spreading their heat elsewhere.
    The Oscillation technique was one of Induction. It was the process of agitating the chemical structure of the metal and raising its heat. But, it was special in that it could target very specific chemical bonds, causing them to break and restructure themselves according to the Force Crafters will.
    This alone made the Oscillation method the most difficult of the three. Controlling things on such a micro level while ensuring that the heat wasn't spread was nearly impossible for beginners. Of course, Leonel wasn't really controlling things on an atomic level. He was simply able to use his strong Internal Sight to separate the ore into larger sections to be tempered individually.
    It was impossible for the current him to create a 100% Compatible Metal as that would require being able to use his Internal Sight to scan minerals at the level of chemical bonds. However, about 60% was well within his grasp.
    If others knew that Leonel was confident in such a thing, it would definitely cause an uproar. Even veteran Black Grade Force Crafters would find 50-60% acceptable while 40% was passable. Something like 70% was already above average, 80% was elite, 90% was legendary, while 100% was basically folklore. Who could claim to be capable of commanding the trillions of atoms in an ore perfectly?
    Leonel's Force poured from his body and into Little Tolly without reservation, the rhythmic drumming of his fingers growing faster and faster.
    Beads of sweat fell from his forehead, but he didn't even take the time to wipe them, his eyes shining brighter and brighter with each passing moment.
    '[Dancing String]!'
    Leonel's rhythm abruptly changed as Tolliver shot out from his palms, covering the reddened ore.
    Leonel pinched his fingers on either side of the ore and pulled, elongating the hot ore into a thin line, folding it over itself, and pulling once more.
    As though he was working a dough, Leonel stretched and folded the metal continuously, his fingers oscillating in a mesmerizing rhythm.
    'Perfect. 67% is better than what I was expecting.'
    Leonel didn't allow himself to bask in his success. He immediately reached toward the sniper rifle he had already separated into its parts the moment the Black Urbe Ore was prepared.
    Compared to the Black Urbe Ore, dealing with the pre-processed alloys of the sniper rifle was much easier. The compatibility rating of the Urbe Ore was precisely decided by how well it could meld into these alloys. This meant that the last of Leonel's task was simply to combine the two and then inscribe his chosen Force Arts.
    He could almost see the final product before him. And, considering he had practiced many times in his Dream World alreadyбн was failure even possible?

 Chapter 144: Glares

    Leonel really didn't expect that he would be the subject of so many glares again so soon, but this was the reality before him.
    At this moment, he stood on the deck of a ship anchored a distance away from an island covered in a forest so thick one could hardly see in a few meters from its coasts. However, even with such a beautiful destination before him, Leonel found it difficult to enjoy because the youths that took part in the gathering were all sending looks toward him that just might tear him apart.
    However, Leonel really couldn't mind any of this now because compared to a few days ago, he was even more excited to go on this hunt.
    According to what the leading Commander of this Hunt just said, a Commander that just happened to be the very same Violet Rain who oversaw the gathering, this Hunt would decide who would gain a quota to enter an SS-grade Zone.
    This was most definitely an unexpected surprise for Leonel. Since Old Hutch hadn't known that Leonel had been scouting out high level Zones, he had never said anything about it. The old man hadn't said a word about it, thinking that he was successfully tricking Leonel into another task. He had no idea it would have convinced Leonel to join much quicker had he been more honest.
    As for the reason why Leonel was looking for high level Zones, that was obviously so that he could earn a Tier 9 Black Reward so that he could go to Terrain and find Aina. Unfortunately, Leonel had vastly underestimated just how rare high level Zones were. It could be said that he was both lucky and unlucky to stumble upon the France Zone the way he had.
    Still, if others knew that Leonel was dissatisfied with the rarity of high level Zones, he would probably be beaten to death. After all, each Zone needed to be cleared, it was a requirement. If Zones weren't cleared, a world would never be able to finish their Metamorphosis and could even have its timeline swallowed. It was most definitely in Earth's best interest that these Zones were as rare as possible.
    Of course, such being the case, entering such a high level Zone wasn't a joke. This Zone apparently had a 12 person entry limit, and only three spots would be available to them. The rest would go to high ranking officials of the Slayer Legion who had great combat experience.
    But, this alone was enough for Leonel to take this Hunt more seriously. Entering this Zone was essentially his ticket to seeing Aina again. If it could be said that before he was only a bit curious about what benefits this island might bring him, now he wouldn't allow anyone to get in his way.
    "бн those who collect the most Beast Crystals will be ranked accordingly. However, do keep in mind that this island isn't a controlled environment like you're used to. There's no way to know what kind of abilities these animals have awakened nor is there anyway to tell what sort of threat they pose.
    "And, if you believe the beasts are the only danger, you'd be wrong. The Eastern Lookout will be participating in this Hunt as well. Be wary of the human heart."
    Violet Rain scanned the youths with an apathetic gaze.
    Though her eyes landed on Leonel for a moment, it didn't linger there any more than it did on another person. It seemed that she had regained her bearing as a Commander in recent days. At the very least, her one sided hatred of Leonel wasn't bubbling to the surface anymore.
    "I've said all I've needed to say. You all can go."
    The youths were stunned.
    They could go? What was that supposed to mean? They were still hundreds of meters from the island!
    Even if it was before the Metamorphosis, swimming in the ocean like this wasn't exactly the safest thing. Even if one disregarded the potential dangerous creatures, just swimming against the waves alone would sap up their energy.
    All of this was amplified several times more after the Metamorphosis. It was widely accepted that the oceans of Earth were practically a forbidden zone now. If it was already difficult to explore the oceans before, it was at the point now where no one even dared to do so.
    It was at that moment that the boat they were all on suddenly rocked, caused by someone using it as a spring board to leap toward the open waters.
    When they saw who it was, flames of competition couldn't help but be lit in the depths of their souls.
    This was the man they all hated. If they lost to him in strength, it was still fine. But, if they lost to him in courage tooбн where would they put their faces?
    Thunderous Clap watched Leonel's figure leap through the air. The eyes he had toward the latter didn't seem to contain the hatred it once had. Instead, there was a deep unwillingness and the fire of a competitive spirit.
    In truth, he still didn't believe he had misjudged Leonel. Since the others still weren't aware of the circumstances behind 'Indomitable's' rise, they still thought Leonel was an arrogant prick. It was just that he happened to be an arrogant prick with the strength to back it up.
    However, hatred wasn't the emotion he had for Leonel. All he had said was the truth. He really could beat them without Hutch's help. In that case, it wasn't arrogance, it was simply a fact.
    'I wonder, between him and those top fewбн who's stronger?'
    Thunderous Clap was only ranked fourth. Yet, he knew that those the Slayer Legion truly saw as their future pillars wouldn't even be risked by being allowed to appear on the rankings. It was quite a joke. His goal was those people, yet he couldn't even rank first on the list they disdained to appear on.
    This was all to say that he couldn't fathom why it was they had allowed Leonel to appear on the listбн But to him, this was a good thing. He could finally measure himself to those hidden monsters, he finally had a target to chase after.
    The gazes of the youths watched on as Leonel glided across the waters as though it was solid ground. Then, one after another, they dove in.
    Violet Rain's watery eyes twinkled at this scene.
    'I guess it isn't so bad even if he might be a spy. Like this, these little pups can have a fire lit beneath themбн'

 Chapter 145: No Help

    'Alright, it seems that this is the limit.'
    At this moment, Leonel crouched on the highest branch of a tree that could support his weight, concealing himself within the dense foliage as he analyzed the gun in his hand.
    The gun had quite a simple sleek silvery black look to it. Its nozzle was especially long and narrow, leaving it heavily weighted toward the handle. But, Leonel favored this design very much. Since it was like this, the long nozzle wouldn't influence his shot downward.
    Though the gun looked to be intact, if one looked closely, it was possible to see several fine cracks along its surface. Leonel estimated that this nozzle could at most take two more shots before it broke along the points of weakness he purposely built in.
    After testing it, Leonel knew the limits now, and they were exactly in line with the experimentation of his Dream World. A single nozzle would last somewhere between 20 to 30 normal Force shots. However, if he used his Light Elemental Force, it would at most last 2 to 3 at most.
    If Leonel used the second phase of the gun and loaded it with a projectile he modified from his atlatl darts, then it could shoot just one.
    Though things were like this, there was good news as well.
    Leonel twisted and pulled the chipped nozzle off. After slipping his protective gloves on, he pulled Little Tolly from the Segmented Cube and got to work.
    He immediately activated [Melting Hands]. This technique worked similarly to [Delicate Touch] in that it heated up materials using the oscillation of atoms, however, it was much simpler to use because its application was broader. Since the nozzle's alloys were already set, there was no need to use [Delicate Touch] to fine tune the metal characteristics, so it was more of a brute force technique rather than a finesse technique.
    Leonel's fingers worked deftly. Almost like a musician plucking the strings of a harp, he worked in unison with the little Metal Spirit, melting down the metal.
    Upon sensing that the metal had reached the ideal temperature for molding, Leonel used Spirit Unity with Little Tolly to project the Dream Sculpt image of the nozzle's blueprint. This communication with extremely steady and completely without flaw, displaying the prowess of Leonel's ability once again.
    Most beginner Force Crafters who use Metal Spirits struggle with this step. The advantage of Metal Spirits is that they were able to mold metals into incredibly intricate parts just by comprehending the will of their partners, however, was this really so easy?
    How many could think of a single thing without straying? Even if you wanted to focus on a single thing, could you guarantee you wouldn't have a few stray thoughts? And, even if you succeeded in not having any, could the image you projected truly be perfect?
    The human mind was known for playing tricks. Often, memories are easily distorted. The only way for a Force Crafter with a Metal Spirit familiar to circumvent this weakness is by constantly tweaking the image they send through Spirit Unity. Only in this way can they ensure the final product is perfect.
    Howeverбн Leonel had his Dream Sculpt? Was it even necessary for him to do such a thing? The image he projected would always be perfect.
    Little Tolly acted quickly, wrapping the melted body up and shaping it into a thin rectangle of metal in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
    Leonel's eyes flashed, his palm flipping over to reveal a quill with a beautiful white feather.
    Taking advantage of the moment, Leonel's hands moved swiftly. Force Art after Force Art was drawn across the surface of the floating rectangular piece of metal.
    Of these Force Arts, there were three kinds. One was a Force Compression Art, the second was a Force Acceleration Art, and the third were Force Barrier Arts.
    The Force Compression Art concentrated the Force Leonel poured into the gun into a fine point. The Force Acceleration Art made the nozzle into a rail gun that accelerated the Force bullet continuously. And, finally, the Force Barriers were arranged along the inside of the nozzle such that the bullet was forced to follow a winding path that would give a stronger spinning action to the final product.
    There were multiple Force Arts of each kind dotted along the inside of the nozzle, making it look as though it was densely packed with graffiti. Yet, it still exuded a mysterious and somewhat ancient aura.
    The moment Leonel penned the last Force Art, the rectangular sheet of metal rolled close under Little Tolly's manipulation, forming a nozzle completely identical to the one that Leonel had just melted down. The only difference was that this one didn't have even a single crack on it.
    '16 minutes and 24 seconds. Not bad, I'm getting faster.' Leonel smiled to himself.
    If others knew that he had just Force Crafted while squatting on the balls of his feet, high up in a treeбн It was just best you didn't compare yourself to others.
    Obviously, with how much time it took, Leonel couldn't do this mid-battle. But, it was definitely not too much of an inconvenience. After all, he had two guns and ten nozzles total. The only reason he had bothered to reforge this nozzle now was for the sake of preparedness. Since he had time now, there was no need to ruin a second nozzle, or else he wouldn't have time to cry later should a worst case scenario situation happen.
    Leonel put the gun away after twisting the newly made nozzle onto it. Then he smiled, watching Little Tolly rush around his fingers as though the little guy was seeking credit.
    "Yes, yes. You did very good."
    Leonel didn't want to keep putting the little guy into the Segmented Cube, so he let Little Tolly stay out. His father had made it clear that keeping the little guy cooped up wasn't a good thing, so it was only right he let it out every once in a while.
    'Alright, I've already collected over 20 Beast Crystals from a few B and A-grade threats. I guess I should look for a greater challenge this timeбн'
    According to Violet Rain, B-grade crystals were worth one point, A-grade were worth ten points, and S-grade were worth a hundred. There was a month of time, so though Leonel was fairly certain he was far ahead at the moment, he knew this wouldn't be enough for him to slack off.
    Suddenly, Leonel shook and fell from the tree branch.
    To an outside observer, it seemed that he had lost his footing and was now paying for it. But, just a moment later, the branch he was sitting at was blasted away. No, even the side of the tree trunk it was attached to looked like something had taken a bite out of it. The issue was thatбн there was nothing there!
    Despite the fact there was nothing to be seen with the eyes, Leonel's alertness was on high. He felt all the hairs on his body stand up, the residual effects of fusing with the primitive man's consciousness still benefiting him.
    'Dammit, if I fall to the ground like this, I'll definitely break a few bones.'
    Leonel's jaw clenched. At that moment, his back was facing the ground as he fell and his eyes were trained on the place the branch he squatted on had just been. If he didn't brace himself for the fall, he would suffer. But, he still didn't dare to turn away.
    Leonel involuntarily blinked. It was a normal action, no different from the thousands of times he had already done it in his lifetime to this point already. However, he could have never imagined that, this time, it would come with dire consequences.
    It was only a split moment, but when Leonel opened his eyes once more, a streak of black was already about to hit his chest.
    Was it going to do to his torso what it just did to the tree? And why was it that his instincts were screaming at him? Telling him that his Quasi Bronze chain necklace would be of no helpбн

 Chapter 146: SS-grade Threat

    Leonel's thoughts accelerated. A moment later, he understood where this feeling was coming from.
    In the past several months, he had learned quite a lot about Force Crafting. In that time, how could he not look into his Quasi Bronze chain necklace? After suffering the barrage of several bombs, it had suffered a few minor cracks, but Leonel could tell that those 'minor' defects actually decreased the strength of the treasure by as much as 10%.
    During his studies, Leonel had learned about the type of treasure his necklace was. As an energy based defensive treasure, it also came with several downsides.
    One of those downsides was an inability to function in the presence of Force disrupting towers. This was something Leonel learned personally, much to the sadness of his shoulder. But, most importantly, it was incredibly fragile when meeting higher level Force types.
    What did this mean? It meant that whatever was in the process of attacking him now had grasped a Force Strengthening Deviation.
    Whether or not this Force Strengthening Deviation was powerful or not compared to other didn't matter. All that mattered was that it was at the very least a level beyond normal Force.
    'Dammit. Aren't these deviations supposed to be rare? How the hell did I randomly come across one like this?'
    As Leonel continued to fall to the ground, he couldn't help but lament his bad luck once again. At the same time, he caught the faint inkling that though this 'Project Hunt' provided good opportunities, it could very well create new enemies for Earth as well.
    If there were other beasts this powerfulбн Let's just say Leonel didn't want to think about it.
    Just as the black light was about to collide with his chest, Leonel's right sole lit up and he stamped down hard, sending him shooting off to the side.
    As he did this, he couldn't help but shake his head. First it was the chariot, now it was this weird creature. When he chose these treasure shoes, he had never thought that instead of using it to glide through the air, he'd always be using it to escape a sorry state.
    Luckily, he had already upgraded his treasure shoes. Now, the cool down on their activation was only 30 seconds and they also provided a boost to his leaping ability.
    The moment he gained some distance, Leonel took out his two pistols, firing four rapid shots, two from each.
    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!
    Unlike a normal gun, the sounds of Leonel's shots were no different from whistling wind. However, even compared to a gun of the 25th century, though the range was at most half a kilometer, Leonel was confident that the piercing power and lethality was a few levels higher.
    Four pellets of white energy shot forward, spinning so quickly that they left spirals of air in their wake. For the span of the blink of an eye, it seemed like they were the center of their own miniature hurricane.
    However, before they could even land on their mark, Leonel's eyes widened.
    The line of black energy vanished into thin air, blinking away before the energy spheres could hit it.
    PUU! PUU! PUU! PUU!
    The four bullets tore through the opposing tree, leaving the same number of small holes in its bark and easily tearing their way through the other side before disappearing into the foliage.
    The rustle of leaves of sounded as Leonel disappeared into the dense canopy of a tree he had kicked himself toward. He landed on a branch with a dull thump, the wood beneath him swaying up and down beneath his weight.
    'бн It disappeared?'
    Leonel couldn't help but think back to Xinghai's blink ability. Could it be that this weird beast both had such an ability and access to a Force Strengthening Deviation? Wasn't this too exaggerated? If it had been any other youth who came across this creature, they'd likely already be dead.
    The greatest trouble was that Leonel's Internal Sight was seemingly having problems locking onto the target, almost as though it was able to hide from the fluctuations of his Soul Force. This made this beast a hundred times more complicated to deal with.
    'This is at least an SS-grade threatбн'
    Leonel silently waited for the beast to strike again. When facing an enemy like this, the worst thing he could probably do would be to move about randomly and allow it a chance to find an opening. It was best he stayed still, raising his awareness to its maximum and keeping his reflexes primed.
    As Leonel did this, he began to concentrate his Internal Sight into a smaller radius. This was a technique he learned in Force Crafting. It was usually used so that a crafter could maintain quality control of their craft by increasing their observational ability, but Leonel now realized that it applied perfectly to combat as well.
    He never thought there could exist something that could hide from his Internal Sight, but now he had been taught a lesson. He really had to be ready for anything in this new world order.
    The sharp range on Leonel's Internal Sight was continuously compressed by him. It took a toll on his spirit to do this, but he didn't have any other choice. How else could he deal with an enemy he couldn't see?
    200 meters became 100. 100 meters became 50. 50 meters became 25. At this point, Leonel had reached his limit and as much as five minutes had already passed. Butбн there was no sign of the beast that had attacked him.
    Leonel clenched his jaw and continued to wait, not moving even after half an hour had passed. But, there was still no sign of the creature.
    With sweat pouring down his forehead, he had no choice but to release his Internal Sight, allowing him to gasp deep breaths. He knew by now that the likelihood the creature was still stalking him was low.
    'Was it scared awayбн?'
    Leonel had always heard that animals were more afraid of humans than humans were of them. But, he didn't really know if this was true or not. At the very least, it seemed that this beast was gone.
    Jumping down from the tree, Leonel soon landed on the ground. After taking a look around and realizing that the creature really wasn't going to attack him, he began to approach the center of the island with more caution.
    Leonel flipped his palm over, causing a silver disk to appear.
    "What Force Strengthening Deviation did that beast use?"
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, there are fluctuations of Dark Elemental Force in the air ]
    Leonel didn't react much to this, but this was only because he wasn't aware of just how unlucky he was. Dark Elemental Force was just as rare as Light Elemental Force. Yet, he had actually been marked by such an entity.
    **
    At that moment, on the other side of the island, another ship could be found anchored. A group of youths jumped from its side, swimming toward the shore with ambitious glints in their eyes.
    However, neither those youths from the Eastern Lookout, nor the youths that came with Leonel from the Southern Lookout, was aware that there was a third gathering taking place as well.
    Nearby a large lake on the island, a gathering of beasts was taking place. Though none of them exchanged words in a human sense, there eyes seemed to tell a different story.
    From an outsider's perspective, all that could be heard was a series of grunts and growls. However, if one paid close attention and removed themselves from their preconceived notionsбн
    These animals seemed to be having a meeting.

 Chapter 147: Eastern Lookout

    Unlike the youths from the Southern Lookout who had been stimulated by Leonel to the point none of them even suggested forming a group upon entering the island, the youths of the Eastern Lookout were different.
    Without someone like 'Indomitable' egging them on, they didn't think twice before forming groups of two or three, walking through the dense forests together.
    The top three youths of the Southern Lookout, setting Leonel aside, were Roaring Black Lion, Chasing Wind, and Thunderous Clap. Likewise, the Eastern Lookout youths had their own top three as well.
    One would expect these youths to be leading groups of their own, maybe having too much pride to share a stage together. But, this wasn't the case at all. In fact, the top three youths of the Eastern Lookout formed a group together, hoping to maximize their profits and monopolize all three spots to the SS-grade Zone to themselves.
    Ranked seventh on their Promising Rankings, there was a young woman who went by the name of Flowing Wind, a name not much different from the third ranked of the Southern Lookout, Chasing Wind.
    Her form of dressing was particularly provocative. Other than a sports bra and a pair of skin tight spandex shorts, she wore nothing else. Though her face was covered by a mask tattooed in red swirls not unlike Chasing Winds green swirls, her fiery figure alone was enough to set one's mind ablaze.
    It could only be said that she put more worth in her looks than her own safety, or else she would never wear such a thing upon entering a forest with unknown dangers like this. Well, it was either that or she was extraordinarily confident in her abilitiesбн
    Ranked fifth on their rankings, there was another young woman who went by the name 'Pisces'. The first feature about her that stood out was her flowing blue hair. What was even more striking about this color was that it was possible to tell that this color was definitely not dyed in the slightest. It could only be said that her awakening had caused this mutationбн
    Maybe it was something weird about the culture of the Eastern Lookout, but Pisces too was dressed particularly inappropriately. Though her clothing wasn't as provocative as Flowing Wind's, she still wore a flowing blue dress that was completely out of place. Not only this, but her dainty bare feet could be seen poking out from its folds with every step. She hadn't even worn shoes.
    As if these two weren't weird enough, the third of the was a young man ranked second on their rankings. He went by the name of King of Seas.
    He carried around a golden trident that stood a head taller them him. It reflected the rays of the sun so well that it illuminated the forest despite how few rays made it through the thick canopy above.
    This alone wasn't enough to raise an eyebrow. The true problem was that he was wearing nothing but a speedo, revealing his bronzed torso and thighs, each portion of which was rippling with muscles.
    As though this wasn't enough to leave a person speechless, his speedo seemed to be made out of a brass metal, making it look more like a chastity guard than a piece of clothing. It was impossible to tell whether this young man had done this on purpose or not.
    It could only be said that this group of three was simply too weirdбн
    "There's something off about this forest." Flowing Wind spoke in a low voice. "Though we've already gathered a few beast crystals, it doesn't seem to be as many as we should have."
    There was definitely something off. According to theory, animals should have the same chance at evolution as humans did. After all, there was no reason for the Laws of the Universe to favor humans over any other species. It wasn't impossible even for plants and vegetation to evolve.
    This was all to say that even if humans didn't go out of their way to breed powerful animal sub-species, they would have likely awakened powerful members among each other regardless. If this was taken into account, the beasts they had come across to this point should be far more powerful. But, from Flowing Wind's perspective, they seemed to be quiteбн normal.
    "Your perspective is just skewed." Pisces said lightly. "With the three of us here together, how could these animals not be easy to deal with? If you just consider the fact the most we've come across are B and A-grade threats, this is impressive enough."
    "Maybeбн"
    It seemed that Flowing Wind was itching for battle. She was completely unsatisfied with the challenge and even somewhat regretted forming a team with these three. If things were like this, wouldn't the next month be too boring?
    "If you're really feeling bored, there's still some other entertainment on this island." Pisces said with a light smile. "We could just find a few of our peers from the Southern Lookout to exchange some pointers with."
    King of Sea's gaze sharpened at these words. It seemed that even though he was stoic and a man of few words, this prospect still made him feel quite anxious.
    "Hm?" Flowing Wind's steps paused. "Finally, something interesting."
    Without saying a word, she shot into the distance, not even explaining her actions to her two team members. It was almost as though she didn't care whether or not they followed her.
    After sending a glance toward one another, King of Seas and Pisces could only shoot forward. Flowing Wind was their scout, without her, finding the next target would be a few times more difficult.
    In the distance, Roaring Black Lion was in a fierce battle with a black bear. Considering he had already entered his beast form and the thin line of blood flowing from the corner of his lip, it was obvious that he wasn't having an easy time.
    It was a small clearing of green within the dense forest, yet it managed to contain such a savage battle. The palms of Black Roaring Lion and the black bear continuously slammed against their opposition's chest. They looked like two madmen having a contest of brute strength.
    If one looked closely, it was possible to see that the immediately vicinity of the black bear seemed to have sunk into the ground as though its great weight was effecting change on a much grander scaleбн
    Flowing Wind appeared by the edge of the clearing, her eyes lighting up when she recognized Roaring Black Lion's beast form.
    'Rank fifth on the Southern Lookout rankingsбн hehe, seems like I'll have a good harvest today.'

 Chapter 148: Curiosity

    Half a month later, Leonel could still be found walking around the forest. Though his harvests could be considered to be great, he was still in an incredibly sorry state.
    His Quasi Bronze chain necklace managed to mend his clothes in places they had once been torn, but the limp in his gait, the caked blood and dried wounds on his skin, not to mention the paleness on his face were things it couldn't do anything about. This led to a situation where his clothes were in mint condition, yet his body looked like it had just gone through a hundred consecutive battles.
    If one had followed Leonel from the start to now, one would see quite a weird scene. First, Leonel would find himself a beast to target. Second, he would easily kill that beast. And, finally, just when he was feeling complacent in his victory, that very same damned streak of black would attack him from an unpredictable angle.
    At this point, Leonel had already had dozens of fights with that unknown beast. And though it couldn't be said that he always definitely lost, he most definitely didn't win either.
    It really was too much. He had no idea why this thing was targeting him, but it rarely even allowed him a moment to rest.
    By now, Leonel had learned from the dictionary that Dark Elemental Force, and his Light Elemental Force for that matter, weren't normal Force Strengthening Deviations. Each was incomparably rare and powerful. But, this only made him feel more aggrieved.
    Just what were the odds of a beast with such a rare ability deciding to target him? Where was the justice?
    At first, Leonel thought that maybe those with Dark Elemental Force had some baked in bias against those with Light Elemental Force. But, this didn't seem to be the case at all. He almost laughed at himself for having this thought.
    This wasn't some cheap anime his dad liked to watch. There wasn't any light side versus dark side nonsense going on here, this creature just apparently didn't like the way he looked. What other explanation could there be?
    Leonel sighed.
    In a motion he had practiced one too many times, he flipped his palm, allowing his long-nozzle pistol to appear. He hardly shot a glance at his target before he fired, causing a white pellet of energy to pierce through the left eye of a fox that had been stalking him in some thick bushes. The poor thing hardly new how it died.
    And, once again, as though on cue, a flash of black headed for the back of Leonel's head.
    Leonel dove forward, ducking and rolling out of the way.
    'Eat this.'
    Light Elemental Force surged from Leonel's hand and into the pistol. A sharp eye would easily notice the nozzle bulge a small bit before a bead of golden energy shot out from it, barely able to hold out under the power of the bullet.
    SHUUUU! BANG!
    The streak of black dodged once more as usual, but Leonel heard its faint 'yip' that almost sounded like the bark of a small dog. It usually made this sound whenever Leonel sent an attack toward it that could threaten it and it was something Leonel had been hearing more and more often lately.
    The golden bullet collided with a tree that would take ten men to wrap around. Yet, it was blasted through as though no more resistant than a piece of paper.
    The bark, the wood, its innards, all of it, was completely vaporized.
    Even though Leonel didn't have much of a reaction to it now, the first time he had seen the strength of Light Elemental Force, he was stunned silent.
    Leonel grit his teeth. 'You damned beast.'
    Thanks to this thing, he couldn't eat, sleep, or even relax. Yet, there was still half a month more in this hell hole. How could he not be aggrieved?
    Unfortunately, before he could launch another attack, the beast disappeared again. Once again, from start to finish, Leonel didn't even catch a glance of what it was. He only managed to decipher that it must be a small creature of some sort. Outside of that, he really knew nothing else.
    Leonel took a deep breath, calming his agitation. He found a tree to lean against and slid down, taking a rest.
    Aside from this particular annoyance, this Hunt couldn't be said to be completely without merit.
    For one, he had come into contact with many beasts that provided interested prospects for Force Crafting. The only unfortunate part was that none of these would help him to repair his chain necklace. Unfortunately, he didn't have the skill to repair such a high level treasure.
    His two pistols could be ranked around the Tier 5 or 6 Black. It could be said that it was his accuracy and his Light Elemental Force that made them so lethal. In his hands, they were no weaker than a Tier 9 Black treasure, but in someone else's, Tier 6 was the best they'd be able to hope for. Such a treasure was about Leonel's limit at this moment, something that left him a bit disappointed.
    But, if these matters were put into perspective, just how shocking was it that Leonel, who had just stepped foot into the Force Crafting world, could already be considered a Tier 6 Black Force Crafter?
    'Hm?'
    Leonel noticed that there was someone coming toward him. But, since it was a human and not an animal, he didn't bother to move. This wasn't because Leonel assumed that this person wouldn't be hostile. The words Thunderous Clap had spoken to him were more than just a small wake up call to him about the kind of world he lived in now. Rather, it was that he didn't think this person in particualr could harm him even if they wanted to.
    When that person entered the clearing Leonel was resting in and saw that it was him, they were stunned for a while.
    "Indomitable, it's you."
    The person didn't seem to be hostile. Of course, Leonel immediately recognized him. It was none other than Erupting Volcano, one of the young men Leonel had defeated during the gathering. It was easy to tell from the molten magma drawn directly onto his mask.
    "Hello." Leonel said as a polite greeting.
    Though Erupting Volcano's face was covered by his mask, Leonel could tell from his eyes that he was stunned. Toward such a thing, he could only bitterly laugh. Did they all really take him to be such a bad person? Even to the point they were shocked by something as simple as a greeting?
    Erupting Volcano suddenly felt hesitant, not knowing how he should approach.
    Leonel laughed lightly. "If you have something you want to say, just say it. I won't bite you."
    Hearing such words, Erupting Volcano relaxed slightly.
    "I don't know how much you know about what's going on right now?"
    "What's going on?" Leonel's brow furrowed.
    "As expected, you really weren't aware. In the past half month, there've been a few skirmishes between us and the Eastern Lookout participants. We were caught off guard because most of us traveled alone while they traveled in groups. A lot of us got ambushed and had our stash of beast crystals taken awayбн"
    "So that's what happenedбн" Leonel mumbled.
    "You know about it?"
    "Well, a group did try to rob me a few days ago. Butбн"
    Erupting Volcano smiled bitterly. Leonel didn't need to finish. He knew those people hadn't succeeded. Shaking his head, he continued.
    "What's more pressing is the lack of S-grade and above beasts. Even A-grade beasts have been getting scarcer and scarcer."
    Leonel frowned. Now that he thought about it, this was true. He only didn't notice because that creature was always attacking him. He knew that little thing was at least an SS-grade threat. With such a beast constantly haunting him, where would he get the time to think about why stronger creatures weren't appearing?
    "It can't be that we've already hunted them all?" Leonel asked probingly.
    Erupting Volcano shook his head. "That's impossible. Even though this island isn't as big as a continent, it's still at least a hundred kilometers in diameter. The population of beasts should be in the tens of thousands. We don't even number a hundred total, how could we clear them all in a few days?"
    Leonel nodded. This made sense.
    "So none of you have an answer to this?"
    "Wellбн we've been trying to go to the center of the island for a long time. The problem is that there are a lot of rivers and lakes blocking the way there with dense populations of dangerous underwater creatures. I'm actually part of a scout sent out to find and stragglers so we can come together to make a push."
    Hearing this much, Leonel fell into his own thoughts. Ultimately, he chose to follow only for the sake of his own curiosity. Why were the beasts acting so weirdly?

 Chapter 149: Ruptured Artery

    Near the center of the 'Project Hunt' island, there was a gathering of not so inconspicuous youths taking place. Some were looking toward one another with vigilance and hostility that could hardly be concealed.
    If one could set aside the peculiarity of the atmosphere, the surroundings itself was quite? beautiful. Many lakes, rivers and rolling hills could be seen. The only issue was that it all seemed quite unnatural.
    It felt impossible that such a scenery could be formed organically. It was almost like a painter laid down a fantasy world on their canvas, only for it to somehow pop up and become a reality.
    The rivers wound in and out of the lakes like ribbons of water flowing as they pleased. Some of them didn't even take the green hills as obstruction, crawling up their sides and falling down the other in small waterfalls.
    It really was a beautiful sight. But, it seemed that none of the youths had the mind to care about such things as they looked toward each other with vigilance.
    Roaring Black Lion stood to one side, his gaze practically spitting fire as he looked toward a group of three youths. There were numerous wounds across his body, making it obvious that Leonel wasn't the only one having a hard time during this Hunt. But, judging by the hostility in his gaze, it was obvious that while Leonel was suffering at the hands of a beast, it seemed that he had suffered at the hands of his fellow man.
    It wasn't just him who had such wounds and carried such animosity. Aside from Chasing Wind бк whose indifference was maybe somewhat obvious considering the speed at which she could escape бк they all had such gazes, even Thunderous Clap.
    Toward such eyes, Pisces, Flowing Wind, King of Seas and the rest of the Eastern Lookout youths could only chuckle. Who asked the Southern Lookout Promising Youths to be stupid enough to travel alone? If it wasn't for this, would they have suffered such obvious losses?
    Of course, there was one group amongst the Eastern Lookout fellows that didn't seem to be having such a great time. However, rather than having their eyes trained on a particular person, they were constantly scanning the surroundings as though trying their best to find their prey.
    "I know I'm beautiful, but is there a need to stare at me so intently?" Flowing Wind blinked her eyes and brought her elbows together, winking flirtatiously at Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap, both of whom had suffered due to her.
    The action was really too provocative. She was hardly wearing much to begin with. Now with this, it felt as though all her assets might pop out at any time.
    Thunderous Clap didn't even spare her a glance, but Roaring Black Lion looked her up and down. Despite the rage in his eyes not dispelling, it seemed he was perfectly fine with enjoying the show. And why not? He didn't have to turn a blind eye to her beauty just to get his revenge, right? He would teach her a lesson regardless.
    "If you want to look some more, I don't mind. But you'll have to get a little closer." Flowing Wind said sweetly.
    "I wouldn't mind coming closer, but you look a bit fragile. I might accidentally snap you? half."
    "Oh? But that's exactly what I want."
    Flowing Wind blinked with expectation as though hoping Roaring Black Lion would cross the distance between them at that very moment. She looked every bit the part of a woman who couldn't wait a moment longer.
    However, the underlying murderous intent was clear to the point that if one closed their eyes and only focused on her words and not her tantalizing figure, it would sound as though she was inviting you to the depths of hell rather than her bed.
    That said, Roaring Black Lion didn't seem to notice as he took numerous broad steps forward. In a moment, he was so close to Flowing Wind that her ample chest just barely grazed along his ribcage.
    She stood with her hands on her hips, looking up at Roaring Black Lion with an 'expectant' glint in her eye.
    Just when it seemed that the atmosphere might take a turn for the worse, the sound of shuffling grass and a snapping twig sounded. Many looked over to find a pair walking toward them, both of who were young men. One had molten lava painted onto his mask, while the other wore a plain white one.
    Everyone on the Southern Lookout side seemed to recognize both young men and even shot complicated gazes toward the latter. However, a hint of confusion could be seen amongst those of the Eastern Lookout. Well, almost all of them.
    There was one particular group that seemed to have found the prey they were looking for. Almost like ravenous dogs tied to a chain they couldn't wait to free themselves from, they stared toward Leonel with all the animosity they could muster.
    "You know who he is?"
    Pisces who was used to being the only one of her group of three who thought about the overall situation noticed this distinct change.
    Through gritted teeth, a young man who had red veins painted across his mask and went by the name 'Ruptured Artery', spoke.
    "We were tied up in a tree and couldn't get down for three days because of him. We nearly starved to death."
    Pisces frowned upon hearing this information.
    "He was alone?"
    "бн Yes."
    "And he still subdued you all without killing you?"
    "Yesбн"
    "Or injuring you?"
    At this point, Ruptured Artery stopped speaking. He was already enraged enough without having to deal with the odd gazes he and his group was now receiving.
    However, the others of the Eastern Lookout could only look toward Leonel with vigilance. Ruptured Artery wasn't the best among them, but he wasn't the worst either. If he participated in the Southern Lookout gathering, he would have been the fourth or fifth seed. On top of that, he had been alone, yet he had been tied up in a tree without the ability to resistбн?
    Even with all this being said, the reason they were so apprehensive was because Leonel was a complete unknownбн They had never even heard of him until this very moment.

 Chapter 150: Coy Fish (1)

    Leonel didn't react much to all of the eyes on him. He was much more interested in learning what was going on here. This place looked so beautiful, but judging by the fact they were all at least a hundred meters away from the nearest riverbank, nothing was as simple as it seemed.
    "Hello." Leonel spoke first. Though he didn't think the amiable smile he had on right now was helping very much considering the fact he was wearing a mask, he still used it out of force of habit.
    Those of the Southern Lookout responded to Leonel's greeting with awkward nods, while those of the Eastern Lookout didn't say much of anything. Most were only curiously observing Leonel, however, the young man in question walked by them all and approached the closest riverbank.
    "Indomitable, wait!"
    Surprisingly, it was Roaring Black Lion who called out. Hearing the voice, Leonel couldn't help but stop and look back.
    "It's dangerous. There's a group of creatures hidden in the lake led by an exceptionally powerful leader. Some of us almost lost our lives."
    When he was saying these words, Roaring Black Lion sent glares toward the Eastern Lookout youths once again. They had reached this place long before they had, yet hadn't said a word. Obviously, he had more than just one grievance with this group of people.
    Leonel nodded. "Got it. Just want to check something."
    Leonel turned back and continued to walk forward. Roaring Black Lion didn't try to stop him again, he had already done all he could. Plus, it wasn't like he could stop Leonel by force.
    It wasn't long before Leonel had made it to the side of the closest river. He tried to reach in with his Internal Sight, but he suddenly found that passing it through water was a lot different than air. In fact, his range was reduced by a factor of ten, barely stretching down a couple tens of meters.
    In truth, this should have been enough to make it to the bottom of most rivers. But, the issue was that not only was this river much deeper than usual, but even if it wasn't, the fact was that there was still the rest of its length and width to deal with. Even if he could see to the bottom, he could still only look to the left and right a few tens of meters.
    It didn't take Leonel long to decide that it was a fruitless endeavor. Instead of continuing to do something useless, he flipped his palm, causing the corpse of a deer with particularly sharp antlers to appear in his hands.
    The others were stunned by this. Some even had eyes that gleamed with curiosity and greed, most of whom came from the Eastern Lookout. It wasn't that those of the Southern Lookout were better people, it was just that they knew enough about Leonel to not foolishly think of stealing his things.
    Spatial treasures were already innately high grade treasures. They were all at least A-grade treasures. But, this alone wasn't enough for the to turn their greedy eyes toward Leonel. The most important point was how large of a space Leonel's spatial treasure must have.
    What they didn't know was that this carcass wasn't taken from Leonel's spatial bracelet, but rather from his Segmented Cube.
    In recent days, Leonel was really lamenting not knowing more about the Segmented Cube earlier. It was actually able to house Little Tolly just fine even while within his spatial ring. Had he known this earlier, he could have stored Aina inside it while he escaped that day instead of sending her off to some unknown world.
    But at this point, he could only sigh. It wasn't like he could go back in time.
    Leonel turned his attention back to the riverbank. Then, with strength that surpassed a normal human, he tossed the deer carcass toward it.
    The reaction was immediate.
    The calm surface churned. In one moment, there was not a life form in sight. But, in the next moment, the water suddenly fell as though a pit hole had appeared at its bottom. Then, a massive mountain of blue shot up.
    Beneath the towering wave of water, Leonel could faintly catch a glimpse of beautiful, reflective blue scales.
    Without hesitation, he pulled out his pistol, shooting a single normal shot. He thought that this would be all he needed to end things. But the result was far outside of his expectations.
    DING!
    Leonel's shot didn't even leave a dent. It rebounded off, causing Leonel to look in shock as his shot landed on a nearby patch of grass, burrowing into the soil.
    After a moment, Leonel smirked.
    'Well, good thing I picked that beast in particular.'
    The massive scaled creature fell back into the waters, causing waves to flood over the sides toward Leonel. However, he didn't move, weathering the storm.
    "бн What is he doing?"
    This was a question many of the youths were asking each other. Why was he standing in such a dangerous place? It should be obvious that normal methods weren't enough now.
    KKKKKKKUUUUUAAAAAAAAAA!!
    'There it is.'
    Leonel's gaze gew focused. This was exactly what he was looking for.
    'Don't blame me.' Leonel grinned to himself. 'I've lost count of the number of times I've gotten fish bones caught in my throat. Consider this a little payback.'
    The rage of the massive beast shook the river. Leonel could imagine its pain. That deer he had fed it was no joke. Leonel had defeated it easily, but after testing the strength of its sharp antlers, the result shocked even him.
    One could imagine the damage it could do inside that creature's stomach.
    However, this wasn't all Leonel wanted. He was still biding his time, still waiting.
    By now, the other youths realized that Leonel had done something. As for whatever it was, it was clear that it was very effective.
    'There it is!'
    The creature surged up once again, doing whatever it could think of to try and alleviate the pain it was suffering.
    At that moment, Leonel did the unthinkable and jumped into the air with it.

 Chapter 151: Coy Fish (2)

    Leonel surged toward the towering beast.
    With his improvement to his treasure shoes, even without activating its formation, his leaping ability was now beyond the realms of reason. Even jumping 20 to 30 meters into the air was no longer impossible. In a flash, he had already appeared above the creature, his palms flipping over to reveal two pistols.
    'Wowбн'
    Despite the fact his goal was to kill this creature, Leonel couldn't help but hesitate in the last moment. It was simply too much of a work of art. Before the Metamorphosis, seeing such a beautiful creature was too difficult. Or, even if they did exist, they were on a much smaller scale than this.
    He could immediately tell that this creature was some kind of mutated coy fish. Its scales were various shades of blue, varying from what was almost a deep black to a sky blue. Its fins shot through the air almost like a pair of wings and its tail fin, especially, flowed almost like the hair of a gorgeous woman.
    If there were any hardcore environmentalists here, there was no doubt they'd rip him apart for even daring to have thoughts on such a creature. But, at this point, the dye had been cast. If he didn't shoot not, he would be the one in danger.
    'Sorry big guy.'
    Leonel fired a series of shots, unrestrainingly concentrating his shot on the eyes of blue coy fish.
    KKKKUUUUUUUAAAAAAAA!!!
    The bullets of white left spiraling trails of spinning wind in their wake, tearing a path through the raining water that shed reflective droplets in every which direction.
    The damage was undeniable. A spray of violet blood leaked from the blue coy's eyes as it body tried to flop back down to the river. But, would Leonel allow this?
    A layer of green enveloped Leonel's right sole. He launched himself forward, sending a strong kick toward the massive fish that knocked it toward the land.
    Without pausing, the sole of his other shoe lit, stopping his rebounding force and sending him back toward the shore.
    Leonel thought it would all be over at this point. A fish out of water, no matter how large it was, was just a fish out of water. It was self explanatory. In fact, it was even more exaggerated considering how injured it was now.
    But, Leonel had forgotten to consider one important thing. Just what was this coy fish's ability?
    Just when the blue scaled coy fish was about to land on solid ground. A shocking change took place.
    It took a dive as though it was going into water.
    At first, Leonel thought that this was simply because it was blinded. Maybe it was in so much pain that it hadn't even registered the fact Leonel had just kicked it. But in the next moment, Leonel was left speechless.
    The ground the coy fish should have landed against suddenly became as fluid as water. Noбн That wasn't it. It had actually become water!
    Leonel could only watch as what once was solid land suddenly became a lake. And then, as the fish rampaged, completely blind to its surroundings, it became a winding river.
    Suddenly, everything made sense. The odd structure of this island, the seemingly fantastical ways lakes and rivers appeared, the random and impossible to explain waterfallsбн It was all the doing of this fish!
    Leonel's eyes widened, realizing that blinding this beast was maybe one of the worst things he could have done. Now it was blind, in pain and enraged? On top of having such an ability?
    "Run!" Leonel roared.
    From start to finish, the youths of both Lookouts had been watching with shocked expressions. Leonel's actions seemed to get more and more wild with each passing moment.
    Leonel fell through the air. The process was completely out of his control. He had already used both platform jumps of his treasure shoes, and though he had improved them greatly, the cool down time was still 30 seconds.
    Where the was dry land below him before, there was suddenly a vast and steadily growing lake. Well, maybe calling it a lake wasn't accurate because the erratic movements of the coy fish made it look like a toddler had randomly scribbled onto a page.
    However, Leonel wasn't worried. If it was before, he would fear a battle on the water. But, after he observed Old Hutch's use of Force, he was able to glide on the surface of the lake.
    As far as he knew, there were no Invalids on this island. Maybe they had already been weeded out by the beasts or maybe they taken out by the overseers of Project Hunt. Even if this wasn't the case, the Invalids who would appear here would all be beast types, so they wouldn't be interested in Leonel to begin with. So, he wasn't shy with using his Force at all.
    Leonel landed heavily on the surging waves below, his body sinking in to the point his hip were submerged before the bouyancy of his Force sent him shooting back up.
    'This is difficult.' Leonel thought, his jaw clenched.
    He had used this ability to run from the boat that brought him here to the island. But, back then, the ocean had been fairly calm. He hadn't thought that it would be so much more difficult when the water was agitated.
    'I need to end this quickly with a Light Elemental shotбн'
    Had Leonel not been too conservative in his approach before, he most definitely could have ended this earlier. But, it was impossible, even for him, to predict everything.
    "Haha! Dealing with such a beast is what I'm built for!"
    At that moment, the quiet and stoic King of Seas suddenly became a totally different person, charging forward in his brass speedo with trident in hand.
    Leonel frowned but he didn't say much. If there were others with water abilities, it really could be useful. Those without them had already heeded his advice and retreated by a long measure. The only exceptions were those who were seemingly able to use Force just like him.
    'The Slayer Legion has Force usersбн?'
    Leonel felt that maybe he had to reevaluate this group of rebels again.
    While his mind was half wandering, half focusing on the battle before them, their movements had caught the attention of the beast toward the center of the island. Their intelligent eyes flickered with a peculiar light.

 Chapter 152: Coy Fish (3)

    Leonel's eyes madly scanned the body of water beneath him. Since his Internal Sight was so limited upon entering liquids, his best reliance was his eyes.
    Though it was true that this coy fish's ability was troublesome, there were some benefits to it as well. For example, the bodies of water it created were perfectly clear and without impurities, making it much easier to see through. The only thing that could disrupt Leonel's vision was the agitated water. But, wasn't this agitation perfect for telling exactly where that massive fish was?
    At that moment, King of Seas soared into the air, diving down. Leonel faintly caught the sight of his skin growing greenish blue scales just before he entered the water.
    Leonel didn't stop him. With such an ability, King of Seas was indeed a good candidate for taking the vanguard. The trouble was that Leonel was certain this fish was far stronger than King of Seas judging by his stats.
    However, King of Seas had two advantages. Firstly, Leonel had already blinded the coy fish. And, secondly, Leonel had yet to get a clean look at his stats after his transformation. It was possible that Leonel had underestimated him.
    Pisces shot a look toward Flowing Wind. But, after a brief communication with their eyes, the latter shook her head no.
    Pisces immediately understood. It seemed that Flowing Wind's scouting ability was useless in the water. After confirming this, she shot forward along the green grass while Flowing Wind rose into the air, stepping on the wind as though it was solid ground.
    As though not to be outdone, Chasing Wind soared into the air as well, followed quickly by Thunderous Clap.
    Roaring Black Lion hesitated for a moment, but chose to stay back. That saidбн It didn't mean he would do nothing. He quickly morphed into his humanoid beast form, filling his chest with air and billowing out with a roar that shook the surroundings.
    Leonel had been right. Roaring Black Lion's ability wasn't as simple as a transformation and a strength boost. He had a suppression ability he called King of Beasts. Though it worked on humans, it was especially effective on animals and had much more room to grow.
    In this sort of situation, even though he couldn't partake in the fight directly, his role was still invaluable.
    After his roar, the wild movements of the coy fish slowed considerably, allowing King of Seas to catch up and land a resounding strike with his trident to its side.
    A tornado of water blasted forward, sending the coy fish upward with an unquenchable momentum.
    Pisces reacted quickly. Droplets of water seemed to form around her like sparkling lights as her dress and hair fluttered. Though she could be looked down upon for actually wearing a dress to such an occasion, one could only admit that she looked amazing doing it.
    Flowing Wind and Chasing Wind reacted at that instant as well, causing the wind in the surroundings to kick up a storm that fused in the rising tornado of water.
    KKKKUUUUUUUUUAAA!!!
    The coy fish shot higher and higher into the air, unable to extricate itself. It was completely helpless.
    "HAHA! This kill will be mine, King of Seas!"
    King of Seas controlled the water around him, forming a miniature tornado of his own to shoot into the skies after the coy fish.
    When he appeared, many couldn't help but be stunned.
    Greenish blue scales covered him from head to toe. Odd fish-like membranes snapped closed and open over his eyelids. Fins jetted out the side of his face and webbing coated the distance between his fingers and toes. Anyway you looked at him, he was a fishman of legend.
    He grinned a savage, jagged grin, a sharp row of teeth shimmering beneath the sunlight as he soared into the air.
    Pulling his trident back, he mustered all his strength, using the water tornado beneath him to propel him forward and bring more power to his strike.
    He could almost see it. The sight of the fish being skewered.
    Whenever he activated his ability and entered this form, his blood would boil. As though he had a long lineage of Ancestors who lived for battle and blood, an excitement the dug deep into his bones would take hold of him. Because of this, a young man who was usually quiet and stoic would now have these outbursts where he had to kill. His trident needed to taste blood or else he wouldn't rest.
    Who knew that in all his confidence, his trident would rebound off of the coy fish's scales as though he had smashed into a steel plate?
    His savage expression changed as a jarring pain assault his arm. The rebound force was so strong that he felt his shoulder almost dislocate completely. And, despite the fact it didn't, he could sense a few micro tears pulling at the muscles in his arms.
    The coy fish was sent flying toward the ground again, but this time, no one seemed happy about it. They all knew what would happen. The ground would turn into a body of water once again, and who knew if they'd be able to catch that fish again?
    But it was at that moment that a young man who had been doing nothing but scanning the lake's surface this whole time suddenly moved. It was too bad for this coy fish butбн 30 seconds had passed.
    The water beneath Leonel's feet bubbled as his Force surged into his legs.
    BANG!
    The surface beneath his feet exploded as he launched himself into the air. Due to losing some of the momentum, he only managed to jump ten meters, but to Leonel, he felt that this was more than enough.
    The moment he felt his momentum faltering, another green light blossomed beneath his sole. This time, he jumped over 20 meters, appearing above the flopping fish, two pistols in hand.
    He didn't hold back this time around. Both pistols were outfitted with a bullet that jetted out from the nozzle like an arrow. In fact, instead of calling it a bullet, it would be more appropriate to call these loaded pistols harpoons.
    If it was a regular shot, Leonel could shoot 20 to 30 times. If it was a Light Elemental Force shot, Leonel could shoot two to three times. But, if it was this harpoon modified from his dartsбн he could only shoot once.
    There was a good reason for that.
    BANG!
    KKUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
    The coy fish flopped to the ground with a resounding boom. But, this time, there was no new lake or river to speak of.

 Chapter 153: Just Him?

    Leonel landed on the coy fish, exhaling a long breath. At the same time, a bit of fear couldn't help but creep into his heart as well as a bit of anticipation. This coy fish's ability was really too sinister. If he had been fighting alone, it could be said that he would have had a much harder time even if it ended in his victory. As for why he was filled with anticipation, it was of course because if he could refine the ability into a treasure, the potential applications were tantalizing.
    Leonel most wanted this ability for its application in escape. He could tell that the coy fish wasn't creating water, but was instead transforming earth into water. If this was a treasure instead of an ability and it was tweaked a bit, wouldn't it be possible to escape through the ground?
    There was another type treasure Leonel was thinking of making, but for now, he lacked the skill. Of course, he hadn't forgotten about Xinghai. If he could turn Xinghai's 'blink' ability into a treasure, his combat prowess would take another leap. But, Leonel neither had the necessary materials, nor the skill to do anything with this idea.
    Any such treasure would be of, at the very least, the Quasi Bronze Grade. Obviously, this was beyond him.
    Leonel sighed, looking at the pistols in his hands. The nozzles had exploded from the inside out, leaving them useless. Unfortunately, now was definitely not the best time to repair them, so he could only continue from here with eight nozzles remaining.
    After putting them away, Leonel made his way to the wound in the coy fish's eye and coated his arm in Force. Reaching inside and relying on his Internal Sight, he was able to dig out the beast crystal with ease.
    The beast crystal looked like a smooth blue pearl, emitting a faint watery smell. The kind one would experience by a freshwater lakeside.
    "What do you think you're doing?"
    Leonel frowned, turning back to see King of Seas looking toward him with an unfriendly gaze. He had already dismissed his ability transformation, but judging by the red in his eye,? he was still suffering from a bit of blood lust.
    It was immediately obvious to Leonel that he was looking at the beast crystal in Leonel's hand. It was only now that Leonel remembered that to the other Promising Youths who had come with him, the Beast Crystals provided an opportunity to evolve their abilities.
    Even if Leonel discounted King of Seas, there was still Pisces as well. How could they not both want a Beast Crystal from such a powerful water-type creature?
    What Old Hutch had neglected to tell Leonel was that if one ingests a Beast Crystal from a creature with similar abilities, there's even the possibility of mutating and improving one's ability as well, making it even more desirable.
    This beast was at least of the SS-grade in the eyes of these youths. Just how much would their abilities improve if they were to ingest it?
    King of Seas was especially looking forward to the potential defensive boost to his scales if he ingested it. Back then, his trident hadn't even left a scratch after his full powered attack.
    As for Pisces, she was especially fond of the water transformation ability. As things stood now, she could only pull water vapor from the air when there were no other sources around.? This was the source of all those beautiful sparkles floating around her when she attacked.
    If she was able to evolve her ability in this way, it could be said that she would instantly become one of the most powerful on Earth, let alone her generation.
    Regardless of who it was between them, it held lethal allure.
    "Hey, you ungrateful bastards from Eastern Lookout. Indomitable got the final kill, don't you think you're a bit too shameless asking what he's doing? Obviously he's taking his spoils." Roaring Black Lion didn't back down even a step.
    "Taking his spoils?" Pisces asked indifferently. "It was all seven of us who worked together to take down the fish, yet he didn't say a word before digging out the Beast Crystal himself. Even if he deserves the largest share, something that's still up for debate, he should at least discuss it with the rest of us, right?"
    Those from the Southern Lookout frowned. What was up for debate? They all saw that King of Seas couldn't even scratch the beast's scales with his strongest strike. As for the rest of them, they only played a part in launching it into the air, something Leonel already proved would happen regardless as long as they were a bit more patient.
    It could be argued that Leonel could have taken the beast out without help at all. The only reason those of the Southern Lookout stepped in was because they didn't want to remain idle while the Eastern Lookout youths acted.
    Roaring Black Lion sneered. "Don't say I didn't warn you. He's not a person you can deal with just by ganging up like you did with me."
    Flowing Wind and Chasing Wind descended from the skies. Since Flowing Wind didn't need the Beast Crystal as he ability had nothing to do with water, she didn't join in. As far as she was concerned, this wasn't an Eastern versus Southern Lookout issue. This was purely a fight for benefits. There was nothing personal.
    She felt no need to put herself in any potential danger for the sakes of King of Seas or Pisces even though they were teammates.
    Toward Roaring Black Lion's words, Pisces and King of Seas sneered.
    "Can't deal with just him?" King of Seas laughed, the red in his eyes brightening a bit more.
    If Leonel's guns hadn't broken right before their eyes, they might still fear him. But they all saw for themselves how they splintered and exploded. Of course a weapon capable of killing an SS-grade threat was enough to make them fear, but wasn't this weapon destroyed now?
    Of course, these two simply had no idea that Roaring Black Lion wasn't referring to Leonel's treasures at all. How could they know? By now, they had already assigned the loss of that Eastern Lookout group led by Ruptured Artery to Leonel's guns. Now that they were out of the picture, there was nothing to fear.
    Leonel scanned King of Seas and Pisces, his gaze expressionless.

 Chapter 154: Geyser

    The Leonel of the past might have really been surprised by this turn of events. In the world he was used to, even if people held such greed in their hearts, they wouldn't display it so openly. But, after his run-in with Thunderous Clap, he had already come to accept it. This was his new world now.
    "I will be taking this Beast Crystal as it's useful to me. I'll also be taking a few of its scales and meat as well, but with a beast of this size, there's more than enough to go around for us all."
    Leonel said words he was planning on saying anyway before King of Seas spoke. If he really wanted to slight these people, he could easily take the entire beast into his Segmented Cube. With his strength and means, would any of them even be capable of stopping him from doing so?
    The fact he hadn't was already an act of kindness.
    In Leonel's mind, the most important thing to him now as getting back to Aina. In order to do so, he needed to have adequate strength. It was impossible to tell what might be going on on Terrain.
    When it came to matters related to Ainaбн He had no patience for nonsense, even if half that nonsense came from a beauty.
    A suffocating aura bloomed from Leonel's body.
    He had never been able to control this aura, but whenever his emotions became especially focused, it involuntarily leaked.
    Toward this change, it wasn't just King of Seas and Pisces that suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Even the youths from the Southern Lookout could only look toward Leonel with ghastly pale expressions.
    They had never sensed such a thing from Leonel, and how could they? That day, Leonel had been so tired. How could he possibly focus his emotions? Had he been able to focus on the task at hand like he usually did, they would have long since been drowned out by his aura.
    In that moment, the red in King of Seas' eyes completely retreated as though it had met something it feared.
    Leonel hadn't done a thing. He simply stood there and spoke. But, even if he told others that he wasn't purposely trying to suppress them, who would believe him?
    All the youths from the Southern Lookout only looked toward Leonel with more fear. Could it be that he had really held back that day? Or had he really been tired? That hadn't been a joke?
    After realizing what was happening a flash of embarrassment and anger appeared on King of Seas' face. However, but he could do anything about it, what happened next left him stunned.
    The very guns he thought were already broken were taken out by Leonel once again. They could only watch as he calmly twisted the broken nozzles off and replaced the? with new ones as though nothing had ever happened.
    King of Seas and Pisces couldn't help but gulp.
    This was already Leonel's final warning to them. If they really insisted on continuing, then he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson. The last group that tried ended up in a tree for a few days, Leonel had no problem doing that again.
    Though there was now hesitation in the eyes of the two water ability users, Leonel could see that their resolve was slowly growing firmer.
    This sort of opportunity, it came once in a lifetime. Most of the water ability beasts could only be found in the ocean, but who dared to venture into it? The waters were simply too dangerous and who knew what beasts evolved down there out of their control?
    In addition, just being an aquatic beast didn't guarantee a water ability either, and even if it did, it was unlikely to be as good as the one in Leonel's hands right now.
    Even with all this being said, there was another, maybe even more important, reason they had to do this. This place was one where they would be the strongest. And, they could tell that Leonel wasn't comfortable with battling inside of water. If they tried to take this battle elsewhere, their strength would be greatly diminished.
    There was no better place for them to battle than by all of this water.
    KKKKKKKRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
    Just when everyone was preparing for battle, the sound of a raging beast came from the distance.
    Leonel's pupils shrunk. 'It's not just one beast.'
    BANG!
    An explosion caused many of the youths present to feel their ears rupture and begin to bleed. At first, it was impossible to tell exactly where this explosion had come from and what had caused it. It was simply too loud. But, a moment later, a raging pillar of billowing white steam shot into the air in the distance.
    The pillar was so thick and vibrant that it could be seen from over ten kilometers away with a clearness that made it feel as though it was right before them all.
    'Force?'
    Leonel's eyes widened. That pillar, he could feel it. It was a flood of Force with a level of density he couldn't fathom.
    'Is that the Force Crystal mine Old Hutch was talking about? Is it supposed to explode like that?'
    Worry began to bubble up in Leonel's heart. Before, he was freely using his Force because he was certain that there weren't any Invalids on this island. With his density of Force, the Invalids that could threaten him were too far away. Plus, they would all be creatures of another species, so they wouldn't bother with him either.
    But, this density of Force was on another level. In addition, if it really came from the Force Crystal mine, that meant it didn't come from any one species and might very well attract creatures of all kind.
    If this island was suddenly surrounded by an infestation of aquatic Invalids, what could they do? How the hell would they get out of this place?
    Leonel's blood ran cold.

 Chapter 155: Convince

    Leonel was likely the first to realize the problem, but he most definitely wasn't the only one. In the recent battle, many of the youths had displayed some level of Force manipulation, whether small or big. There was no doubt they knew exactly what the geyser in the distance was.
    'This isn't goodбн.'
    Not only would this geyser cause the island to be quickly surrounded by aquatic creatures, but there wasn't any guarantee that these creatures wouldn't come inland as well.? It was wishful thinking to hope that they wouldn't. Leonel had already learned that lesson once before.
    'The only way is to quickly stop that thing.'
    After making this decision, Leonel aimed his pistol at the fish corpse beneath his feet, powering it with lethal Light Elemental Force, and firing.
    His sudden action caused many who had been paling under the stress of the sudden change of events to whip their heads toward him. However, by then, Leonel's purpose had already been accomplished.
    He had perfectly aimed his shot toward a vulnerable point between the scales of the coy fish, causing them to bend at that point. Then, he reached down and pulled up with all his might, ripping the scales free from the dead beast's body.
    He worked quickly. In what felt like the blink of an eye, he had already pulled off over ten beautiful blue scales, each of which was over a foot in length and about half of that in width.
    When he had about 20 in his possession, Leonel stopped, having stored them all within his spatial ring. Then, he looked off into the distance.
    "If you all want to survive this, I suggest we put aside petty disputes for now and head over there. If we don't stop it, we're finished."
    Leonel's calm voice had a magnetic appeal to the youths around him. They couldn't help but instinctively want to listen.
    "Going over there? Are you insane?"
    Of courseбн How could everyone be of one mind. Where there were those with one thought, there would always be those with the opposing. This was just the way of the world, the way things worked.
    The person who spoke was none other than Ruptured Artery. Despite his history with Leonel, he hadn't spoken out of spite. Instead, he spoke on instinct. How could that place not be dangerous.
    This coy fish was the very first SS-grade threat they had ever met, and they all very clearly realized that they couldn't do anything to it. If it wasn't for Leonel, they would have forever been unable to cross this region toward the center of the island.
    Knowing this, it was obvious to them that there was likely more than one such creature like this here. And, this also explained the scarcity of beasts as well. If they linked all of these points togetherбн there was most definitely a hoard of dangerous beasts maybe no less powerful than the fish beneath Leonel's feet ahead.
    After thinking to this point, how could they possibly dare to continue forward? The best choice was to wait for their overseeing Commander to come back and retrieve them.
    "I will only say a few more words to convince you. If they fall on deaf ears, I won't be responsible for what happens to you after this.
    "One, you're not the only one's in danger. Your Commanders, waiting off shore for you all, are in even more danger than we are. There's nowhere to hide on the open ocean."
    Leonel had hardly begun when the youths turned several shades more pale. Having thoughts that their Commanders were infallible would be utterly stupid. The Metamorphosis just began. Even though higher ranking officials could be said to have far greater combat experience than them as youths, the truth was that there wasn't a large power disparity between them and their Commanders.
    There were very few exceptions to this. Geniuses like Old Hutch who could make progress even in a Third Dimensional world, then explode with all their potential now were incredibly rare. Simply put, there were most definitely no such people amongst the Commanders.
    "Second, time is of the essence. Even if the Commanders could deal with the initial wave, could they survive a second, a third, a fourth? If you want any hope of making it off this island, the quicker the geyser is dealt with, the better.
    "And thirdбн you really don't have much of a choice."
    Leonel looked into the distance with a solemn expression. The direction he was looking at was surprising. In fact, he was looking toward the complete opposite direction of the Force geyser.
    The dense forest of trees began to rumble and quake.
    First, it was subtle. It was an ever so slight swaying of the grass or rustling of the leaves. Then, it felt as though the ground itself was trembling. Soon, even the thick trees themselves began to swing to and fro as though made of rubber.
    The Promising Youths looked toward their backs with an eerie cold permeating their hearts.
    They suddenly understood what Leonel meant. Though the number of beasts in the forest was less than they imagined there would be, there were still many there. It was enough for Leonel to have killed over 20 in just his first few moments on this island. Even if the number was lackingбн If they were all to converge on this pointбн
    They really didn't have a choice but to continue forward. If they tried to fight against the tide of beastsбн wouldn't they be swallowed whole before even realizing what happened?
    Having said what he needed to say, Leonel didn't hesitate to dash into the distance toward the geyser, thinking to himself that he most definitely needed a treasure capable of transportation soon. But unfortunately, that would require crafting something much larger than he ever had before.
    In Force Crafting, difficulty wasn't just decided by the overall grade of the treasure, but also the size of it. A craft that was extremely small or large was definitely much harder to craft even compared to a craft several levels higher in grade.
    However, now wasn't the time to think about such things. Leonel could only lament his bad luck. This was supposed to be an easy trial he could place first in with a minimum amount of effort. Why had it suddenly become a life or death situation?
    Something about all of this felt off. Things weren't so simple as they seemed.

 Chapter 156: Over the Hill

    Leonel crossed lake after lake and river after river. He knew that the youths were quickly following behind him, hoping to put some distance between them and the beast hoard coming from the dense forests.
    The wild, thunderous roars and booming tremors seemed to be getting closer and closer.
    Leonel's Internal Sight remained vigilant, but his expression was only growing more and more solemn. He noticed that his senses were growing less sharp. It was almost as though something was interfering with his ability to see the whole picture clearly.
    'It must be the increased density of Force, or maybe its the fact that Force is so unrestrained and volatileбн'
    Leonel didn't have a perfect answer, but this was his best guess. However, he didn't get a chance to think of any more examples because his footsteps suddenly came to a grinding halt.
    His heels dug into the ground in an exaggerated manner, it was to the point he almost fell backward.
    Just now, he had reached the top of the largest hill in this stretch of land, only to find a sight that his heart plummet.
    Though this was an island with a relatively circular shape, there was just a single path toward the center of it. This was precisely why the actions of the blue coy fish had stalled the youths for so long. With it taking control of the single path forward, they had to either find a way to bypass it or kill it the very same way Leonel had.
    The reason that there was just this singular path was because entrances from all other angles were flooded with deep valleys that seemingly had no entry points. Together, they became deep pits with unfathomable depths.
    Flowing Wind and Chasing Wind had already considered the idea of simply flying over these valleys. But, for whatever reason, that still ended in failure. As for exactly why, maybe only those two women knew.
    At this moment, those valleys became those eerie death pits once more, trapping them. The trouble was that they weren't trapping them outside, but rather, inside this time aroundбн
    However, just this alone didn't warrant this reaction from Leonel. He had already known about the deep valleys that blocked the path to the center of the island. After all, he had been here for half a month, how could he not think of venturing further in to find more targets?
    The trouble was that his path had been blocked. He wasn't omnipotent, nor had he reached the point of being able to cover the island completely with his Internal Sight. As such, just like the other youths, he had to slowly explore the island, trying to find another entrance in.
    It was then that he was lucky enough to run into Erupting Volcano and was able to learn that it was precisely because this one entry point faced the location the Eastern Lookout youths entered the island that they were able to find it first, followed by those of the Southern Lookout.
    So, why was all this important? Why was it that Leonel was frozen in place, even to the point of becoming an anchor that stopped the youths from moving forward any longer? бн
    It was because the moment he reached the top of the hill, he saw an army.
    One shouldn't mistake these words to mean that a group of humans were below. No. Each and every one of those 'soldiers' in Leonel's line of sight were beasts.
    They were separated by their species. One group of a few dozen was led by large bear that stood at over five meters tall with brownish gold fur. Another was led by a tiger no smaller than the bear, except its stripes were a bright red-gold instead of the normal black. Yet another was led by a snake over ten meters long, covered in black scalesбн
    As if these three weren't imposing enough, there was still another three.
    There was a spider with vicious steel incisors and countless beady red eyes. Its size was the smallest at just three meters in length, but such a thing hardly stopped its grotesque visage from displaying its full might.
    The next was a lemur, a monkey like creature with a zebra striped tail. It was far larger than it should have been, standing no shorter than the red-gold striped tigerбн
    However the last was maybe the most shocking of all. It didn't seem to be a beast at all. Or rather, it was, but had been stripped of all its flesh. It stood on all fours not much unlike an ape would. From head to toe, it was nothing but bone.
    Its body was covered in a faint transparent light that seemed to reflect the vision of an armor, but it would often flicker and disappear as though lacking the ability to maintain its own form.
    These six creatures were easily the most powerful. However, what truly shocked Leonel were the orderly 'soldiers' to their backs.
    Each of them had a troop of their own, neatly arranged as though they truly were an army of humans rather than beasts. Each took control of their own species, wielding absolute authority.
    The golden brown bear had a troop of bears. The red-gold striped tiger had a legion of tigers. The black-scaled snake's troop filled the air with endless hissingбн Each had their own centers of power. Even the bone ape had a legion of apes, though their flesh and blood was intact.
    Leonel quickly tried to calm his breathing. However, any hopes he had of not being noticed had already long since been thrown out the window. The instant he had made it to the top of the hill, he found six pairs of eyes trained on him.
    The bestial, murderous intent made it feel as though a bucket of ice water had fallen onto his head. His heart beat involuntarily slowed.
    At that moment, the brownish gold bear roared and turned its head toward the spider legion. To Leonel's dismay, the spider's numerous beady red eyes landed on him once again, its mandibles snapping together in what looked like a response.

 Chapter 157: Weakness

    The youths who charged forward with Leonel paled. Their legs grew weak to the point some of them all but collapsed. There was even a good portion of them that wanted to turn and run this very moment. But, when they thought about the horde of beasts to their back, they realized that there really was no place to go.
    Were they really finished? Just like this?
    Some of them were here for a chance to enter an SS-grade Zone. Now that they thought about it, just how foolish were they? A single SS-grade threat like the coy fish had stumped them for so many days already until Leonel came, wasn't it too much of a joke to be striving for such a quota?
    The more they thought like this, the more they disparaged themselves, and the greater their fear grew.
    In the distance, the horde of spiders was swiftly moving forward, their eight limbs shimmering beneath the sunlight and slicing through the wind. They could only imagine what it would feel like being pierced by one of those thingsбн How horrible would their deaths beбн?
    Though these youths were part of the Slayer Legion, their childhood's weren't much different from Leonel's. Fights between the Empire and the rebels were much rarer in those days compared to after the Metamorphosis. It could only be said that they were marginally more prepared than other youths since they received military training.
    But nowбн they froze up. Facing a beast one on one was one thing, but suddenly facing over a hundred charging forward like this made them feel as though their lives were already finished. This would really be their last day on this Earth.
    "Hey!"
    Leonel suddenly roared, shocking them out of their thoughts. His voice was so loud that it traveled over a mile, even overshadowing the rushing sound of Force surging out from the geyser up ahead.
    "If you don't want to die, pull yourselves together! You see over there, there's a network of caves. Our goal is to cut through here and make it there. Then we might stand a chance. I'll take the vanguard, don't lose sight of my back!"
    They all saw what Leonel was pointing toward.
    After the rolling hills of green the blue coy fish had called home, the land suddenly became bleak and desolate, filled with grayish black gravel-like land. This bleak land was connected to the valley system that blocked their entrance from other regions. Without any context, it looked no different from a land of death.
    Nearer toward the center of this land of death, there was another hill. Though this hill wasn't as tall, it was very wide. It was made completely of dull grayish black stone and had numerous holes of varying sizes dotted across its surface. In truth, it was more accurately described as a hive rather than a hill.
    The geyser of Force, still jetting out into the skies, came out from this very hive, out of a hole at the very center of it all. Leonel could also tell that the origin of this geyser was incredibly deep underground.
    Thinking of the deep valley system, Leonel couldn't help but think that they were connected in some way. But, even though he intuitively felt this, he didn't have the time to put his brain power toward trying to figure it out. The spider legion was already closing in. In the beginning, they were over half a kilometer away, but now, they were already less than half of that.
    'We have the high ground right now, but trying to maintain this position is stupid. Those beasts seem to have intelligence, so if they see that the spider legion is losing, they won't just sit idly by.
    'The good news is that they only sent one of the six groups after us, leaving a gap in their defenses we can take advantage of. The bad news is that we still need to make it through the spider legion and those other five legions if we want to seek refuge in that hive.'
    Leonel gritted his teeth. He knew they needed to charge, there was no other way.
    The truth was that turning back to pierce through the horde of beasts toward their backs would be easier. They had far less organization and would definitely be weaker than this threat up ahead. But, if they did thatбн then what?
    There were definitely even more beasts headed here from the ocean, having sensed the surge of Force. If they couldn't deal with this problem in front of them, they would be finished.
    Leonel flipped his palm, a familiar spear appearing in his hand. Compared to the last time when its spearhead had been split by Hutch's blade, it had already been repaired.
    How could he come here without first comprehending Spear Force? After Leonel did this, the dictionary unlocked a lot of information about the Spear Domain ring for him. There were many useful things, but what was most important to him now was the fact that spears acknowledged by the ring can be repaired!
    Unfortunately, he had left the primitive man's spear outside for too long, causing its consciousness to dissipate. As a result, the ring no longer acknowledged it and was unable to repair it. But, this primitive woman's spear was different. Not as much time had passed and since it was just a low level spear of the Spear Domain, it didn't even take an hour to repair fully.
    Leonel's aura completely changed, becoming even sharper and more violent than before.
    Seeing this, the youths inexplicably felt a sense of calm. Before, when the aura was aimed toward them, they found it difficult to even breathe. But now, having experienced the aura of protection Leonel's teammates had for so many years already, they suddenly felt their strength surging.
    Leonel took out the dictionary and slipped it into his pocket. With the situation like this, he couldn't afford to keep it hidden any longer.
    "What's the weakness of that spider king?"
    Leonel's sudden words caught the youths who had just regained their bearing off guard once again. But, they were even more shocked when there was an actual response.
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, the seam between the head and body is a vital point. ]
    Leonel didn't even turn back after hearing this.
    "Follow me, I'll carve out a path."
    He could feel his blood boiling. He understood that this was his true state. The state his Lineage Factor was meant to be in.

 Chapter 158: Spider Legion

    HONG!
    Leonel took a strong step forward.
    [Leonel Morales (Force Amplified)]
    [Strength: 2.59; Speed: 2.38; Agility: 2.43; Coordination: 2.61; Stamina: 2.73 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 2.63; Spirit: 2.92; Force: 0.60]
    The grass beneath his feet swayed wildly, being pressed down by his momentum as he took yet another step forward.
    HONG!
    [Leonel Morales (Force and Spear Domain Lineage Factor Amplified)]
    [Strength: 2.85; Speed: 2.62; Agility: 2.67; Coordination: 2.87; Stamina: 2.73 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 2.90; Spirit: 2.92; Force: 0.66]
    With Leonel as the center, billowing winds spread out, leaving a trail of concentric circles as though a helicopter was descending from above.
    At that moment, Leonel smiled lightly. 'I haven't gotten back to Aina yet, I have no intention of dying in this place.'
    "I'm sure you all heard that." Leonel said without turning back. "Aim well."
    Leonel dashed forward, his speed so swift that it almost looked like his feet weren't touching the ground.
    To his back, the youths clenched their jaws. By now, in the chaos of the moment, those of the Eastern and Southern Lookouts didn't have the luxury of continuing to remain separated.
    King of Seas and Pisces were still fuming over what happened earlier, but did they have much of a choice? If they didn't band together now, wouldn't their slim chance at survival become even slimmer than it already was?
    Still, despite the situation, those of the Southern Lookout had complicated feelings of their own. They couldn't help but feel odd about Leonel's actions to this point. Wasn't he supposed to be arrogant and insufferable?
    Someone with those kinds of personality traits would probably use their superior power to force them to act as meat shields. If it came down to it, and Leonel forced them to take the vanguard, would they even be able to say no? Where would they go? Without a pillar of support like Leonel, what were their odds of survival?
    Leonel crossed the last line of grass and stepped onto the gravel-like land of death. To him, it simply didn't matter whether those to his back followed him or not. He was a person with a soft heart. This was precisely why he had taken on the role of their vanguard. However, it was impossible for him to put himself in anymore danger should they choose to hesitate.
    The loose land beneath his feet was kicked up into the air as his hair whipped about wildly. There was something freeing knowing that all of his opponents were just beasts, as though an inhibition on his heart had been removed and he could finally let loose.
    At that moment, a familiar roar sounded behind Leonel, causing his lip to curl into a more prominent smile. It seemed that they had finally decided to follow.
    '[Call of the Wind]'
    The ease with which Leonel used this technique simply couldn't be compared to the first time he had done so. It looked as though he had only casually flicked his wrist a few times, yet several lines of white curled in the air, finding the gap between the head and thorax of several spiders in the blink of an eye.
    Leonel could at most use this technique a few times in the past. But now, using it over a hundred wasn't an issue. Before he had even met the frontline of the charging legion, almost a dozen large spiders had already fallen, their mandibles chopping at empty air.
    'As expected, the smaller ones have the same weakness as the larger oneбн'
    How could all of these spiders be of the same sub species? Things would never be so convenient. Let alone this spider legion, even the legion of the tiger and bear weren't completely homogenous.
    But, what stood true was that like converged with like. The spider legion was mostly made up of? various mutated arachnids and different kinds of insects. The tiger legion was most constructed of large cat-like beast. So on and so forthбн
    Now that Leonel had a firm grasp of their weakness, he wouldn't allow them to stop his path forward. Especially not now that he had support coming to his back.
    In another few strides, Leonel had met the spider legion. The youths charging closely to his back couldn't help but be shocked by his dauntlessness. But, if they knew that Leonel first trial in this world was facing an army of Spaniards with no weapon outside of a bicycleбн they would think much differently.
    This fearlessness, this dauntlessness, the firmness of his stride and the straightness of his backбн he had earned them all with his blood, sweat and tears.
    Leonel's movements became ethereal, his steps carrying a bit of the elegance of the primitive woman. As devastating as [Call of the Wind] was in the long range, in the short range, it was even more so.
    Leonel carved a path, sliding past the sharp legs and chomping pincers of insects and spiders around him.
    If all he had to do was make it past, he would have long since stepped through the air. However, he held his ground firmly, every pierce of his spear reaping another life.
    Suddenly Leonel took his left hand off the staff of his spear, flipping his palm to reveal his pistol.
    His hips spun as he fired a single shot.
    In the distance, Precious Moment had fallen. She scrambled to pull back, ignoring the hard gravel scraping across her palms and bottom as she hurried back. The mandibles of a mantis-like creature snapped toward her, not caring for the tears and snot running down her face.
    "Emilia!"
    Seer roared from a battle to her side, but he knew he wouldn't make it in time. Disregarding himself, he pointed his staff toward the mantis, blowing it away. But, before he could sigh in relief, he realized the spider he had been fighting was now free to attack him.
    A leg glistening like steel shot toward his chest. He could almost see the scene of his chest being pierced right through.
    However, he could have never expected a single shot to find its mark at that very moment.
    The spider had hardly raised its legs before it fell limply to the ground, unable to get up again.
    Seer looked toward the direction of the shot, only to find Leonel's back looking back at him. A feeling of gratefulness welled up in his chest.
    'He fired that shot even before I saved Emiliaбн Just how did he predict what would happenбн?'
    Unfortunately, this wasn't the time for him to ask this question, because his savior was facing his own problems now. After seeing Leonel take out so much of its own, the spider king which had been taking a backseat suddenly couldn't any longer.
    Leonel's jaw steeled. "Give me a rundown of this spider's abilities."

 Chapter 159: Spider King (1)

    [ *Ping* Evolved life form detected. ]
    [Kingdom: Animalia]
    [Phylum: Arthropoda]
    [Class: Arachnida]
    [Order: Araneae]
    [Infraorder: Mygalomorphae]
    [Family: Theraphosidae]
    [State: Evolved]
    [ Abilities: бн *Ping* Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Venomous Touch: Tier 8 Black Grade venom detected. This venom has been infused with every fiber of this creature's being. ]
    [ Rebounding Web: Spider silk with astonishing elasticity. ]
    [ Sturdy Web: Spider silk Tier 7 Black Grade toughness. ]
    [ Weakness: Between head and abdomen ]
    [ Evaluating powerбн *Ping* ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Elite Tier 7 Black ]
    Leonel's brow furrowed. He had been very worried about the webs of these spiders when he charged, but he didn't expect that the matter would be even more troublesome than he originally thought.
    To make matters worse, this still wasn't considered an SS-grade threat? Tier 7 Black, that translated to S-grade. But, what was with the 'Elite' tag, what did that mean? Now that he thought about it, Leonel remembered that the octopus was classified as Peak Tier 7 Black. So there were separations like this?
    No matter how curious he was, Leonel knew that this wasn't a time to ask this question. All he needed to guess was that this spider was a greater threat than the octopus. Knowing this, he had to ask questions that could help him keep his life.
    "Can my chain necklace block the toxicity?"
    [ *Ping* Replying to Seed, the energy shield can block about 80% of the venom's toxicity. ]
    Leonel's frown deepened, but his footsteps didn't stop.
    He dashed toward the spider, but when it seemed they would clash, he suddenly changed directions, headed off to the side with all the might he could muster. He knew that the spider would chase after him because all along the way, his spear had never stopped. He continued carving a path forward, out pacing the spider by a measure.
    Leonel could tell by the spider's stats that its speed was actually much higher than his own. However, it's agility was very low. Making it navigate a battlefield like this, especially when it had to be careful not to poison its own legion, was about the best thing Leonel could do at this moment.
    "Is there no other way to deal with the spider's venom?"
    Leonel knew he needed to be incredibly specific when asking questions to the dictionary. It wouldn't simply offer him up answers based on the situation. So, Leonel had slowly learned to keep an open mind and ask things he might not usually ask.
    In his mind, he didn't have anything else that could deal with venom. But who knows if this was really true?
    Outside of his expectations, it seemed he was correct to ask.
    [ *Ping* Light Elemental Force has a strong healing effect and is the bane of many toxins. Seed's Light Elemental Force is still too low to be considered immune. ]
    Leonel's eyes widened. "Too low? There are levels to Light Elemental Force?"
    Leonel really didn't expect this. He thought that a Force Strengthening Deviation was as advertised. He didn't expect for there to be more.
    [ *Ping* Yes.]
    Even in the midst of the battlefield, Leonel couldn't help but curse under his breath. Couldn't this damned dictionary be a bit more forgiving? Why did every answer need to be so short and to the point. It really never touched on anything he didn't directly ask it, Leonel couldn't help but wonder how many things he had missed out on because of this.
    'Forget it, now isn't the time to ask this. That damned spider is hot on my heels.'
    Leonel knew he couldn't put too much effort into running away from this spider. Though he felt he could escape on his own, he was meant to be acting as a vanguard currently. If he strayed too far, instead of opening up a path, he would be allowing the other youths to get swallowed up.
    The youths who had come to this Hunt still number about 80 or so. With such a number, even though they were still vastly outnumbered, it was definitely better than going in alone. Leonel needed them as much as he didn't have the heart to leave them here to die.
    So, he could only hope that the combination of his Light Elemental Force and his energy shield was enough to hold out.
    Leonel's spear flickered forward, leaving after images in the air as he pierced another spider through. Compared to the massive three meter long spider to his back, the ones before him were barely half a meter long. But, were still far larger than what one would expect.
    The gross creatures sent a chill up even Leonel's spine, but he still pushed them down his spear like a kabob before turning back and whipping them toward the quickly approaching spider.
    CHIIIIIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!
    The spider leader's leg lashed out, slicing the soaring corpses in half with a single strike and causing a rain of green guts to fall from the sky.
    In that moment, its vision was obscured, allowing Leonel to rapidly close the distance.
    Leonel ducked down and slid across the grey gravel, trying to get beneath the spider's body to attack its weak point. But, just as he was going to succeed, the spider leader seemed to realize that something was off.
    Its mouth opened, its mandible-like protrusions snapping as a violet fog fell from its mouth.
    Leonel quickly held his breath, explosively retreating.
    'Damned dictionary. It said venomous touch, it never said anything about venomous fog.'
    At that moment, a white strand of silk shot out like a bullet. No, it wasn't completely white. Beneath the sunlight, it reflected a slight hint of fluorescent purple. It was so subtle that even with his senses, Leonel almost didn't catch it.
    Leonel immediately recognized that this was the spider's true ability, he had wrongly accused the dictionary this time. Venomous Touch was described as a venom infused into every fiber of the spider's beingбн that would include its breath!
    'Damnбн'
    Leonel rolled out of the way in a sorry state, just barely managing to dodge the bullet of silk. But, the insect beast behind him's cry of pain made it obvious that it wasn't so lucky.
    Leonel turned back to find it quickly turning purple, then black, then erupting into a cluster of dark fog and ash. If he didn't know better, he would think that it had been burned in a furnaceбн
    It was now that Leonel suddenly realized that maybe the other five legions of beasts hadn't made a mistake just sending the spider king here.

 Chapter 160: Spider King (2)

    Leonel's expression grew dignified.
    He was reluctant to use his Light Elemental Force. It wasn't because he was trying to hide it, but because the consumption was too great. Not only did it drain his spirit, but it also drained his Force at a much faster rate. Though his Spear Force also had the same impact on him, it wasn't nearly as exaggerated. But, this also made sense since his Spear Force wasn't as powerful either.
    But, at this pointбн What choice did he have?
    HONG!
    The dull color of Leonel's eyes suddenly lit brightly, a blinding glow shooting out from within their depths.
    'Come on, you damned bug.'
    Leonel flashed forward, leaving a streak of gold in his wake. He looked like a shooting star streaking across the battlefield, catching the eye of several of the youths battling for their lives. Their blood couldn't help but boil watching Leonel face up against this spider king on his own.
    Was this his ability? They all seemed to have this thought.
    Leonel crossed into the foggy venom domain of the spider king, sending several piercing strikes forward at once.
    The spider king's response wasn't slow. Its sharp steel-like legs deflected the first few as its mandibles chopped at Leonel.
    When it saw Leonel retreat out of the way, another streak of silk shot from its mouth, heading directly for him.
    Shockingly, Leonel didn't dodge this time, facing the strike head on as a pistol appeared in his hand, already loaded with a dart.
    BANG!
    CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!
    "Ughбн"
    Leonel was sent flying. It felt as though the spider king's projectile was a javelin crashing into his chest.
    His face turned red and bulged, only for a projectile of blood to fly from his mouth.
    The enraged and pain filled roars of the spider caught the attention of the other legions of beasts, but they all hesitated to come forward. There was a reason they were still standing out side the large hill-like hive. They were waiting for the right opportunity to charge in and gain benefits for themselves, if they really left now, who knows what could happen?
    These beasts were obviously not stupid. Since this place had such a large pull toward them, it obviously had a massive pull toward others. This was why they were standing in this position. But, despite having evolved, their thoughts were still relatively simple and straight forward. It was difficult for them to respond with great flexibility.
    Before they could even make a decision, the situation changed again.
    The rumbling of beasts that came from out of the forest suddenly sounded much closer. They could only look over to find hundreds of wild beasts charging over the hills, barreling through and crossing into the gravel filled lands.
    Compared to the beast legions with their respective kings, it was clear that these beasts had much less intelligence. Their tongues hung out from their mouths, a red tint coloring their eyes as though they had lost their minds. They wanted nothing more than to find the source of all this rich Force.
    Another sharp crack rang out in Leonel's ears as he slid across the ground. He was very much familiar with this sound. He knew that his chain necklace had suffered another break.
    Sweeping his Internal Sight over it, his expression somewhat paled. The first break had caused its efficacy to drop by 10%. This time around, the treasure only had 70% of its initial strength left.
    Leonel didn't even have a mind to care about his current situation. This treasure had saved his life too many times already. If it really broke completely, it would be too great of a loss to swallow.
    He grit his teeth, glaring toward the screaming spider who seemed to not even have a mind to organize its own troops.
    'I should have pierced its brain with that strike, but maybe I was too optimistic. I don't know anything about the anatomy of a spiderбн or maybe it didn't pierce that deeply?'
    Leonel shook his head hard. "RUN!"
    He snapped the youths who were too focused on battle out of it. They needed to take advantage of his beast tide to apply pressure on the other beast legions. If they were to get caught up in it, their last chance would go up in a puff of smoke.
    Leonel grit his teeth, ignoring the pain racking his body to stand.
    He sent a glance across the battlefield, sighing a faint breath of relief when he saw that everyone had managed to barely keep some forward momentum and, most importantly, stay together.
    Under Leonel's lead, they bolted toward the legion of beasts, their trail being followed by a tide of wild beasts. The spider legion didn't seem to know how to react with their leader screaming out and writhing in pain. They were soon swallowed by the beast tide.
    Leonel's heart almost beat out his chest with his every stride, once again swearing to himself that he would most definitely get some sort of transportation treasure.
    As he ran, Leonel looked down at his chest with a solemn expression. A web spread out, covering half his chest and his shoulder. With every passing moment, it ate into his energy shield, causing the cracks across it to grow.
    'Dammitбн'
    Without a choice, Leonel took off his tight, black compression shirt before it could continue to corrode the energy shield. He coughed violently, unable to mind the state of his body as he ran.
    He really couldn't believe it. He thought that by now, facing even an SSS-grade threat wouldn't put him in too sorry of a position. But now he had suddenly found out that there were still S-grade threats that could push him to this state. At a time like this, he couldn't help but lament that his ability was auxiliary and not attack based.
    Leonel shook his head as the distance between him and the five legions closed.
    He once again heard Roaring Black Lion's roar sound out from his back. He didn't need to look back to know the beast tide had slowed somewhat because he could clearly see that even that beasts up ahead were greatly affected.
    Leonel didn't have the mind to care about anything else. All of his being was focused on charging through the gap left by the spider legion. He wouldn't let anything stop him.
    His oppressive aura involuntarily shot out from his body, covering the lands before him in a layer of oppression.

 Chapter 161: Bear King

    Leonel controlled his speed. He was more than capable of leaving the trailing youths to his back far behind, but would doing this benefit him? If anything, it would put him in danger. Not only did he need to maintain their pace such that they were ahead of the beast tide, he needed to ensure they could also remain together.
    With him in the lead, he perfectly took into account the speed and stamina stats of everyone. By now, any youth worthy of being part of this group had a complete set of stats above 1.00. This was more than enough to cross the remaining 400 or so meters in just half a minute.
    They had already crossed half the distance before the legion of beasts couldn't sit idly any longer. Leonel didn't know why it was that they were still waiting, but what he was certain of was that they didn't want anyone entering before they did.
    The brownish gold bear stepped forward, roaring as though giving a warning.
    The beast tide behind the group of youths faltered for a moment, but it seemed that they had completely lost all reasoning.
    It was clear that this fact completely enraged the brownish gold bear. He raised up onto his hind legs, billowing into the skies before slamming his front paws down.
    The earth suddenly became turbulent. It seemed for a moment that nothing would happen, but then an earthen tide suddenly rose into the skies, causing Leonel's expression to change violently.
    'Earth control? This bear needs to die.'
    The moment Leonel made the decision, he didn't hesitate.
    The only chance for him and the youths with him to survive was to enter the hive network, making use of the network of tunnels to both hide and find a path toward the source of the Force geyser. However, if there was an earth controlling beast that entered into a network of tunnels with themбн They wouldn't even know how they died.
    If others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would think he was crazy. Though his line of thinking was correct, how could he possibly spare time for such a thing? Anyone else would focus on surviving this situation first, then worry about what came later, later.
    However, Leonel had been a star quarterback. Every move he made on the football field considered what might happen five, ten, even twenty plays later. Sometimes, it wasn't worth taking a victory if it guaranteed a loss later. Likewise, it was sometimes worth it to eat a loss for the sake of ultimately grasping victory.
    Looking at the compression shirt in his hand, Leonel's eyes flashed.
    "Do your best to dodge!" Leonel roared.
    There was a limit to his abilities. While he could put himself on the line to deal with this beast, he couldn't also help them all dodge this attack. But, he wasn't worried. These were all promising youths for a reason.
    Without hesitation, Leonel's speed suddenly doubled, then doubled again. He looked like a streak of light tearing across the graveled land, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.
    He leapt over the three meter wall of earth with absolute ease.
    By now, his distance from the bear king had already shrunk to 50 meters. At this point, he could even see the reflections in its large black eyes. He could sense its fury, its rage, its killing intent. But, his heart remained steady.
    40 meters. 30 meters. 20 meters.
    "ROOOOOAAARRRR!!"
    Seemingly worried about the coming beast tide, the bear king didn't force his legion to charge toward Leonel. Plus, in its mindбн how could he possibly not be able to deal with a single human by itself?
    The size difference was striking. The bear stood at over five meters tall, yet Leonel was barely two. Even the former's palm seemed capable of swatting him into a meat patty, but Leonel dauntlessly approached.
    At that moment, the bear king seemed to sense Leonel's oppressive aura. Its rage had muddled its senses for a moment, but once Leonel came so close, it felt to him that hell had suddenly descended.
    The bear was shocked for a moment, only to find that Leonel had suddenly appeared in the air above it, pointing aбн black shirt at it?
    Confusion colored the bear's features. Why was this human pointing a piece of cloth at it?
    The bear king's intelligence was just starting to develop, but the scene before it was completely baffling. It couldn't combine the threatening aura it felt from the human with the scene before it.
    For the first time, a beast would pay a price for its rising intelligence. If it was still a normal bear, it wouldn't have hesitated to turn and run. It didn't have emotions like pride, it only had instincts of survival.
    But, by now, it had grown the fondness for kingship. It had become intoxicated with power.
    It had already sent the spider forward before, causing it to suffer a major setback. If it didn't step up now, the other beast kings would be disatisfied. This was his role to take on.
    BANG!
    The moment it opened its mouth to roar its fear away, a searing pain ripped through its tongue and throat.
    At first, it was the pain of having its flesh torn and pierced. But, in what felt like an instant, its vision grew blurry. It happened so quickly that the human that had been 'standing' in the air above it didn't even have time to land on the ground before its inner organs were completely corroded.
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath as the bear collapsed. He had known that the spider king's poison would be potentбн but he most definitely didn't expect it to be so exaggerated. He couldn't help but feel a cold shiver run down his spine. If it wasn't for his chain necklace, he would be finished.
    After taking a look at the fourth nozzle he had completely ruined, Leonel sighed, landing on the ground heavily.
    With a dull bang, the bear king fell to the ground.

 Chapter 162: Young Lord

    The fall of the bear king was almost like flipping a switch. The shocked beasts suddenly began to release howls of rage. The beasts under the bear king's rule especially lost control, charging forward without regard for anything.
    Butбн What shocked Leonel was the direction they charged. Instead of coming toward him like he had expected, they actually charged toward the Force geyser, leaving Leonel speechless.
    He had thought that out of some sense of loyalty, these bear beasts would go all out and fight him to the death. But, it seemed that he had greatly overestimated them. Or, maybe he was just lacking in understanding.
    Ultimately, these were wild beasts. They hadn't evolved to the point their thoughts were as meticulous as humans. Only the S-grade Elites among them were slightly better, but even then, that seemed to have as many downsides and upsides judging by the way the bear king died.
    It was likely that even SSS-grade beasts couldn't match up to humans in intelligence. They might only be capable of doing so after entering the realms of the Fifth Dimension or higher.
    Either way, this was a good thing for Leonel. The path toward the hive now suddenly had two massive holes in it, and there was even a horde of bear creatures opening the path for him.
    Taking a look over his shoulder, he found that the youths had just about caught up during his battle. After a faint nod, he bolted forward, not having time to reprimand the Segmented Cube for sucking up the bear king's corpse. What the hell could he do with that poisoned meat? He didn't even feel like the Beast Crystal would be safe to use any longer. But, now wasn't the time to consider any of this.
    There was suddenly a new challenge before Leonel now. Despite the fact the hive was now practically right before them, what would they do after entering it? And, what was the situation inside?
    Though their large number was an asset before, if the tunnels of the hive were narrow and cramped, this advantage would quickly become a disadvantage.
    Leonel felt a headache coming on, but he followed the charging bears in without hesitation. He could only ignore the roars coming from the remaining four legions of beasts.
    Unlike the beasts Leonel didn't charge into the first tunnel he could. After reaching the range of the hive, he leapt up, quickly climbing the hill-like structure and dropping down a tunnel with a fairly shallow fall.
    Seeing Leonel's actions, the youths followed with little hesitation. His method was indeed the best. The beasts were straight forward, so they automatically entered the easiest holes of the hive, but who said they had to do so as well?
    Entering the darkness, Leonel suddenly felt a calmness still his heart. He almost felt right at home. How long had he spent in those dark Mayan tunnels, using nothing but his sharp senses to navigate his path ahead.
    He had an instinct to run forward as quickly as possible, but Leonel didn't do this. Instead, he turned around and held his ground, waiting for the youths who followed in after him.
    The tunnels were wide enough for about four robust males to walk shoulder to shoulder at once. Not too narrow, but also not too large.
    While this was a bit of a disadvantage with their numbers being about 80, it was a disadvantage the enemy had to contend with as well. Though Leonel's approach sent them away from the majority of beasts, he would be too naive if he thought that not a single one would follow them in.
    He could sense that the spider king hadn't approached the hive for whatever reason, but this was good news. He wouldn't know how to deal with that beast king's poison breath in such a small place. If it really came, he would have no choice but to run.
    At that moment, the first line of youths caught up with Leonel.
    "Run by me, I'll hold the line here and kill any beasts that follow us in." Leonel said quickly.
    Roaring Black Lion and the other top youths of the Southern and Eastern Lookouts were the first to catch up, unsurprisingly. When they heard Leonel's words, they understood his intention and nodded.
    King of Seas and Pisces hesitated for a moment, but they still followed suit. If they really stirred up problems right now, they probably wouldn't just be the enemy of the Southern Lookout youths. At that point, maybe even their own people would turn against them.
    Their gazes flickered as they retreated and Leonel pretended not to noticeбн
    **
    "Bear King died?"
    At that moment, a familiar youth's eyes opened wide. He stood frozen on the spot, unable to understand. Compared to his reaction when wererat 006 died, this was far more dignified. He knew exactly how powerful this creature of his was, yet it had died? Could it be that other powerful beasts had appeared? That was impossible, he had scouted the entire island and taken all the SS-grade threats under his control. Unless those beasts from the ocean really got here so quickly?
    "Young Lord, is something the matter?"
    At that moment, the others looked toward the youth, realizing his weird expression. They all understood that something outside of their expectations must have happened. The group that had been traveling down a particularly dark tunnel couldn't help but pause their steps.
    The young man stood silent for a long while, not responding to the questions his subordinates had for him. He was trying to decide whether or not he should call in the other beast kings to deal with this potential threat, but in the end, he shook his head.
    Since only Bear King died, it likely meant that other the beast kings had come together to deal with the situation. If he called them in now, it might very well be allowing that creature a chance to enter where it might not otherwise be able to.
    Leonel had always assumed that the beasts were waiting outside the hive for a specific momentбн Maybe the Force geyser was dangerous or maybe the mine it originated from wasn't perfectly ripe yetбн Aside from this, he hadn't thought of another possibilityбн The possibility that the beast kings were guarding the entrance at the request of their master.
    The youth looked up from his thoughts. "Let's go, we need to explore these tunnels and find the path toward the Force Crystal mine faster."
    The guards around the youth looked toward his multi-lense monocle and didn't dare to disobey.

 Chapter 163: Force Eruption

    Leonel sat at a corner of the cave, breathing heavily.
    Compared to a few hours ago, he was in a far sorrier state. At least, he looked to be.
    Though his clothes were fairly clean due to the abilities of his chain necklace, the rest of him was dead tired. His visage was pale, his fingers twitched every so often due to the exhaustion of his muscles, and his breathing was haggard.
    Within the cave that branched from the tunnels of the hive, the other youths were present as well. Some of them sent worshiping gazes toward Leonel while others had more complicated looks.
    Among them, King of Seas and Pisces were especially left feeling complex. They knew now how powerful Leonel was but it only left them feeling even more helpless.
    After a long while, Leonel's breathing finally calmed. He really wanted to go to bed at this point. His sleep in recent weeks hadn't been great due to that Dark Elemental beast. However, he obviously couldn't do so now. This was no different than the calm before the storm.
    They had dealt with their initial safety, but if they still cared about their longterm safety, they had to find a way to deal with the geyser. Though the cave they were in now seemed calm, this wasn't the case at all.
    The wind in here was especially volatile. It wasn't enough to hurt any of them, but the fact there was strong wind in a cave located so deep underground was already enough to raise an eyebrow. In addition, Leonel really didn't know if there were any other dangers associated with the Force geyser, so sleeping in such a place was definitely not an option, at least not until he handled some things.
    Taking a deep breath to finally calm his heart, Leonel took out the silver disk dictionary.
    "How dangerous is this Force geyser?"
    Due to the overall silent atmosphere, Leonel's sudden voice definitely drew a lot of attention, especially since many had been sparing him glances to begin with. At first they thought he was talking to himself, but then they suddenly remembered that weird voice that replied to him before when he asked for the spider king's weakness and couldn't help but listen intently.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ The term 'Force geyser' is unrecognized. Judging by Seed's meaning, 'Force Eruption' is being referenced. ]
    [ Force flows from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration. The human body is considered to be a semi-closed system. When approaching a Force Eruption, there is the potential of inducing a Force Node Implosion which can result in the crippling or death of the person in question. ]
    Hearing this response, the youths immediately paled. Even Leonel grew several levels more serious. Did this mean that their best option was to ride out this Force Eruption until it came to an end?
    "How long do Force Eruptions last?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, it depends on the cause. ]
    "What can cause Force Eruptions?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Force Eruptions can be caused by the evolution of Force Mines, the death of powerful beasts, the evolution of worlds, the eruption of Sub-Dimensional Zonesбн ]
    The dictionary went on to list what seemed like an endless number of cases. In the end, Leonel had no choice but to cut it off.
    "How long will this one last?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Fluctuations detected. Force Eruption 93% similar to evolution of Fourth Dimensional Force Crystal Mine. 37% similar to birth of Crystal Spirit. ]
    [ Calculatingбн ]
    [ 128:12:37:05 ]
    At first, Leonel didn't understand what the numbers meant, but when it clicked for him, his jaw couldn't help but clench.
    "128 days, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 5 secondsбн"
    When the other youths figured it out themselves, they paled even worse than they had before. How could they last for so long? That was practically half a year!
    Where could they get the food and water they needed? Even if they could somehow find a way to solve this problem, would they really be safe all this time?
    The worst part was that this was just the time it would take for the Force geyser to stop. Who knew how long the Force in this area would stay at a high concentration? As long as there was a vast difference between the Force in this region and others, it would still be a hot bed for powerful creatures.
    As if all of this wasn't enough, even after the Force reached an equilibrium, would that guarantee that the beasts who came would leave? What if they took this as their permanent residence? And, even if they didn't, how long would it take them to leave?
    If all of these things were taken into consideration, the time they needed to spend here could easily cross a year, maybe even two or three.
    The more they thought, the more they despaired. Would this really be the place they died?
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. He had absolutely no intention of dying here nor did he have any intention of staying in this place for so long.
    "Is there any way to stop a Force Eruption ahead of time?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ The Force Eruption of a Force Crystal Mine is a natural process used to increase the Force concentration of an evolving worldбн ]
    Hearing to this point, Leonel couldn't help but despairing a bit as well. If this was a natural, necessary process. Didn't that mean they had no choice but to wait? However, the next part sparked his light of hope once again.
    [ бн the process involves forming Natural Force Arts. To speed up the action of drawing these Natural Force Arts, it is necessary to infuse the Force Crystal Mine Core with high level Force Strengthening Deviations. ]
    Grasping onto this faint hope, Leonel's heart grew agitated.
    "What are Natural Force Arts and how are they related to the Force Crystal Mine?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Natural Force Arts are the creation of natural phenomena and often power naturally occurring evolutions. Complex runes are currently being slowly drawn on the Force Crystal Mine Core, the Force Eruption is the result of this process. ]
    After knowing this, Leonel only had one question leftбн
    "What can I do to get close to a Force Eruption without dying?"

 Chapter 164: Worse

    "That's too reckless, we can't do that!"
    "And what are we going to do if not? Wait here for death?"
    "He's right. What are we going to eat and drink? We won't last even half a week in this state."
    The raging debate of the youths went back and forth. It had already been two hours since Leonel's dictionary last spoke, yet they still hadn't come to any sort of consensus.
    Leonel leaned against a wall, not saying much of anything as he watched on. He had already made his decision. He would most definitely be traveling down to find the Force Crystal Mine Core. The only reason he hadn't yet was because he was allowing his body to recover.
    He had drawn too deeply into his reserves. Even before he battled the coy fish, that Dark Elemental beast had put him in a sorry state. His battle with the spider king and bear king only made an already bad situation worse. As if that wasn't enough, it took him another few hours to kill all the beasts that entered the same tunnel they had.
    For now, he needed sleep and rest. After that, he would think of a plan.
    He didn't know enough about how this hive was constructed. It was very possible that it was separated into segments that couldn't be accessed from one another no matter how much one walked through them. In that case, it might be necessary to exit this network of tunnels and enter again through another entrance.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel couldn't help but sigh to himself. Why was nothing ever easy?
    Unfortunately, he had learned long ago in the Mayan tomb that his Internal Sight couldn't penetrate walls. At best, he could snake it through the paths and look ahead.
    Leonel suddenly looked up, feeling that someone had suddenly sat by his side. It didn't take him long to realize that it was Roaring Black Lion even in the dim lights.
    "It's funny to watch them, don't you think?"
    Leonel chuckled slightly. "What do you mean by that?"
    "They're separated into two groups. One group is too cowardly to go and wouldn't dare risk themselves. The other is also too cowardly even though they're pushing for us to go. They have no intention of putting themselves in the line of danger at all. They're only so adamant because they think we'll take on the brunt of the troubles for them.
    "Which one do you think is worse?"
    Roaring Black Lion did find this clown show to be quite funny. All of those powerful enough to actually make a difference weren't even speaking. Those like Leonel, him, Thunderous Clap and even King of Seas' group, were all in their own little corners of the cave. It was like they were allowing the weak to make the decision for them.
    The truth was that since they were the most powerful, they suffered the most to get them here. How could they have the energy to mind this argument? Most of them already made their own decision.
    "Which is the worst?" Leonel thoughtfully smiled for moment. "Probably the seven of us who aren't speaking at all."
    Roaring Black Lion was shocked by Leonel's response for a moment before he broke out into laughter.
    "Interesting, interesting."
    Though Roaring Black Lion's laughter caught some attention, it wasn't long before the heated discussion continued.
    He felt that Leonel wasn't wrong. All seven of them were sitting back, watching those far weaker than them debate back and forth as though their opinions meant anything. It was almost like watching the truth of the world play out before them.
    How often did the weak argue their points, hoping to make their voices heard, only for those at the top to completely ignore them and move along as they pleased? The common people probably lamented this about their politicians all the time.
    Leonel sighed. He couldn't help but think of the deaths of all those commoners on the Paradise Islands. Was that really the only way to do things? If his father wasn't from a higher world, would he also be so unlucky?
    Sometimes he couldn't help but think he wasn't very special. Maybe one could say he worked hard, but he definitely wasn't the hardest worker. There were probably those out there working ten times, even a hundred times, harder than him. Yet, they probably didn't have even half of his results.
    What should he tell these people? Too bad? Be born with better parents in your next life?
    Seemingly sensing the heavy thoughts his innocent question brought down upon Leonel, Roaring Black Lion patted his shoulder.
    "I wanted to tell you thank you, I didn't get a chance to before."
    Leonel blinked. "Thank you? For what?"
    "For covering my face after our battle. And, I guess for also clearing a path for all of us to get this far. I know you didn't have to."
    Leonel's brows raised. He didn't expect such a simple action of his to elicit such thankfulness from Roaring Black Lion. He hadn't even really thought about it much back then. He only thought that since they were all obviously hiding their faces for a reason, he should help them out with that.
    Leonel himself didn't really care much about the mask he wore either. He only wore it for the sake of blending in. The Empire definitely knew everything about him already. At this point, there wasn't much of a need to hide himself in this way.
    "Though that brute over there doesn't say it, he's thankful too." Roaring Black Lion said with a laugh, pointing toward Thunderous Clap.
    Leonel smiled. "There's no need to thank me, it didn't take much effort on my part at all."
    Roaring Black Lion looked Leonel up and down as though trying to figure something out.
    "What, is there something on my face?"
    "You're too easy to talk to, sir Indomitable." Roaring Black Lion said in an overly servile manner.
    Leonel laughed. "I didn't even pick that name, didn't you guys pick it for me?"
    "Who the hell would give you that name? Stop bullshitting."
    The laughter of the two men seemed to ease the tension they were feeling. However, Leonel didn't expect that another would sit beside him at this point, and it would actually be Flowing Wind.

 Chapter 165: Brat

    "Hey, hey. What do you think you're doing here little vixen?" Roaring Black Lion had an immediate reaction to Flowing Wind's appearance. It was clear that he didn't like her much.
    "Nobody's here for you, you brute. Don't even know how to treat a lady."
    Roaring Black Lion was stunned speechless for a moment. Wasn't this the same woman who told him he wanted to see him break her in half? She practically had an innuendo fitted into her words every other sentence. Why was she pretending to be prim and proper now? Wasn't this too shameless?
    But, when he saw how she wanted to get close to Leonel, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. This little vixen really was too shameless.
    Leonel sensed the soft mounds pressing against his arm. He had been forced to throw away his shirt, so his torso was still completely bare at the moment, making the sensation especially tantalizing.
    Leonel shifted away slightly, causing Flowing Wind to pout. Unfortunately, she couldn't see Leonel's reaction with his mask. But, she subconsciously thought that he was embarrassed.
    Flowing Wind's gaze swept over Leonel's toned torso, her eyes lighting with an appreciative gaze. It seemed she liked what she saw, maybe a little too much.
    "They call you Indomitable?"
    "Unfortunately." Leonel mumbled.
    Flowing Wind was confused by this response, but it only made her more interested in Leonel.
    "You're quite powerful. Usually they don't let those as powerful as you out. How'd you manage to come here?" Flowing Wind asked curiously.
    "I was kidnapped." Leonel mumbled just as unenthusiastically. He wasn't sure what Flowing WInd meant by those words, but he was too lazy to ask.? "Anyway, I'm going to sleep. I haven't had a good night's rest in too long. Let me know what happens while I'm gone."
    Before the two could wonder what Leonel meant, he got up and moved to an empty corner of the cave, allowing the Segmented Cube to take him in.
    The youths watched on as the Segmented Cube unfolded, taking up about a ten meter region. This was at least 10% of the cave, but no one dared to feel dissatisfied. Without Leonel they wouldn't have even made it so far.
    Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind's gazes met without Leonel between them, sparks flying.
    "Aren't you going to scram now?"
    Flowing Wind giggled as though she hadn't heard the words.
    "Is that friend of yours gay?"
    Roaring Black Lion was stunned speechless. What the hell was wrong with this woman? Even the mostбн robust of men wouldn't care for a woman when they were that tired. There were many a fallen soldier on the battlefield that was the bed room due to this exact reason. What a poisonous woman, poking fun at such a thing.
    "Do you think you're that special?" Roaring Black Lion retorted.
    "бн Yes." Flowing Wind said shamelessly.
    Leonel collapsed into bed, falling into a dream land. He felt quite thankful that that little beast that had been harassing him all this time hadn't appeared since he entered the center region of the islandбн
    **
    While Leonel was sleeping, the Commanders who were off shore of the island were battling for their lives.
    Violet Rain looked off into the distance toward the Force geyser billowing into the skies. Her expression couldn't help but flicker between helplessness and a complicated feeling.
    Suddenly, another massive tentacle surged up from the turbulent sea.
    "Damned beast, die!"
    Her hair fluttered, turning a slight shade of dark violet. Her eyes gained the same tint as she raised her arms into the air.
    Violet clouds appeared above her head before a torrential rain of violet droplets fell.
    SSSKKKKRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!
    With every droplet that fell, another piece of flesh was melted away. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, a tentacle of over ten meters in length became nothing more than bubbling, putrid liquid on the surface of the ocean.
    Violet Rain's ability was likely one of the only reasons Southern Lookout's ship had managed to last so long. The longer she kept it activated, the more toxic the surrounding waters became, and the less likely creatures were to approach them. As a result, most of the beasts took the long way around their ship, avoiding them entirely. After all, the source of the Force they wanted so much wasn't coming from the Commanders.
    However, despite this, Violet Rain's expression only grew uglier and uglier.
    She couldn't help but worry about the youths on the island. But, she also knew that charging ahead to go to save them would only lead to her and the crew's death. Her strength wasn't far above that of the youths. In fact, she wouldn't necessarily win in a battle against any of them.
    Though her ability was powerful, it was also extremely taxing to use as well. It was simply impossible for her to use it endlessly.
    "Mellow Trees! What's the situation, have you managed to call for reinforcements yet?!" Violet Rain called out.
    "We're trying our best, but the Force Eruption is making communication difficult. We might have to leave the range of the island entirely first."
    "No!" Violet Rain vehemently disapproved.
    What if the youths came to the shore looking for them? At least with her here, there was a small safe haven around the poisoned waters she created. At least the youths would stand a chance if they waited.
    But, if they left, what would happen to the youths? How could Violet Rain know that all of the youths she was worried about had already entered the eye of the storm?
    "Violet Rain, we need to way the pros and cons hereбн" Mellow Trees tried to persuade.
    "Stop, stop, stop." Violet Rain waved a hand. "I don't believe for a second that we are the only ones aware about this Force Eruption. Not only are we aware, the Eastern Lookout Commanders definitely are as well. And, it won't be long before the Lookouts themselves are aware as well. We have to stay here and wait for reinforcements. Keep trying to see if you can get a message through."
    The other Commanders looked at one another and sighed. Violet Rain didn't have a higher status than any of them, but she was the closest to her next promotion because her ability was rated within the S-grade. For now, they could only listen to her words.
    'Damned brat, you better not really be a spy. As long as you aren't, help those kids get out of thereбн'
    Who knows how Leonel would react if he knew Violet Rain was thinking about him like this?

 Chapter 166: Mine

    Leonel woke up, a long yawn pulling at his lips. Though he didn't sleep for as long as he wanted to, it was enough for him to regain some of his energy at the very least.
    He stared at the ceiling blankly, wondering what his next course of action should be.
    After a while of coming up with nothing, he dragged his body to the pool in the Abode Setting, stripping his clothes and jumping in. Before he realized what was happening, he had already fallen asleep again.
    When he woke up once more, he smiled bitterly to himself. It seemed that his thoughts of getting ahead of these matters could be thrown out the window now. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but it was most definitely at least a day, maybe two.
    With a sigh, he stood and stretched. One would expect his skin to be a bit prune-like after staying in water for so long. But, it seemed that this water was quite special.
    'What to doбн What to doбн'
    Leonel knew he needed to find the source of the Force geyser, but this was easier than it sounded.
    Though the Force geyser blew a hole through the hive, if Leonel approached it from the outside, he would only be asking for death.
    According to the dictionary, the only way to protect one's self against a Force Eruption was to form what the dictionary called 'Force Skin'. This was apparently a Force manipulation type technique.
    Force Skin added a layer of protection to one's body using Force. As long as one created one of high enough concentration, the Force around the Force Eruption wouldn't detect the low Force concentration within your body and would thus not try to enter your Force Nodes.
    There were a few problems with this though, the main of which was stamina. It took a lot to create such a high density Force Skin. That meant that it was in their best interest to delay the time they spent in direct contact with the Force geyser as much as possible.
    Obviously, if they wanted to do this, they couldn't enter from the top of the hive, or else their Force Skins would give out before they could even get close. Their best option was to take advantage of these network of tunnels to block the brunt of the Force Eruption and only expose themselves when they were already as close as possible.
    Unfortunately, this was easier said than done.
    Leonel absentmindedly switched the Segmented Cube into its Lab Setting. It was only now he realized that the Force concentration of the Segmented Cube had actually recovered so quickly. In fact, not only had it recovered, it was the highest concentration Leonel had ever seen it at.
    'This should probably be enough for me to form my Seventh and Eighth Nodesбн'
    Though he thought this, Leonel hesitated to do it. Without knowing where his Ninth should go, he felt a bit doubtful of himself. What if he really was taking the wrong path?
    'Maybe I should ask the dictionaryбн'
    Leonel threw this to the back of his mind. Now wasn't the time to think about this. Whether he had nine Nodes or six, he would still need to get as close to the Force geyser as possible if he didn't want to die. What was more important now was figuring out how to deal with this situation.
    Leonel's gaze swept across the shelves of snowglobes. By now, they were filled with all sorts of creatures, each perfectly preserved. He had already killed well over 200 beasts since he stepped onto this island, so there were definitely quite a number.
    Suddenly Leonel's eyes widened when his gaze landed on the snowglobe housing the SS-grade coy fish's Beast Crystal.
    Now that he knew that even the spider king was only of the S-grade, albeit of the Elite S-grade, Leonel had a feeling the coy fish was probably just of the Elite S-grade as well. He didn't believe there was a big difference between the two, it was just that the spider king's ability was too troublesome to deal with.
    However, this wasn't the reason Leonel reacted like this. The moment his eyes landed on the Beast Crystal, an idea popped into his head.
    Hadn't he ignored King of Seas and Pisces' displeasure precisely so that he could use this Beast Crystal to create an escape type treasure? What if instead of using it to escape, he used it to carve a straight line toward the Force geyser instead?!
    Leonel's eyes glowed like two bright torches when he thought to this point. He got so excited that he stirred his aching body a bit too much, causing a jolt of pain to knock him back into reality.
    'Having the idea is one thing, but executing on it is a completely different matter. I also don't know if I have the necessary materials to make such a treasureбн'
    Leonel's brow furrowed, but then he suddenly thought of something.
    If the dictionary could scan and find Zones, could it scan and find other things? If that was the case, maybe it wasn't even necessary for him to refine this treasure now.
    "Are you able to find your way through these tunnels?" Leonel asked expectantly.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Father Overlord has not programmed this function into the dictionary. When Seed is skilled enough, it will be possible to upgrade and modify the dictionary himself. ]
    Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes. He should have expected that his father would program in a name like that for himself.
    "бн What kinds of things can you scan for, then?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, the dictionary can scan for anything within its database. ]
    Leonel shook his head at this response. Clearly this was making things more complicated that it needed to be. Essentially, this dictionary had the technology necessary to scan these mines, but not the programming necessary to turn this into useful information for him. It was either that this was an oversight, or his old man was purposely making things difficult for him.
    Taking a deep breath, Leonel threw these things to the back of his mind.
    "Scan for ore veins within this network of tunnels for me."
    Leonel didn't believe that a hive that hosted a Force Crystal Mine Core didn't have other ores lying in wait for his use. This was the ideal environment for the formation of such treasures.
    Since he didn't have the materials he needed, he would just have to mine them on his own.

 Chapter 167: Logical

    When Leonel reappeared within the cave, several eyes looked toward him at once. Their reactions were so quick that Leonel could practically here the wind their spinning heads caused.
    Toward such a reaction, he could only smile bitterly. It seemed that they really had been waiting for him. Not a single person was missing from the time he had left to now. What else could they be doing if not waiting for him?
    "Have you all come to a decision?" Leonel asked.
    The youths looked at one another, but it seemed that the answer to the question was no. They had likely just gotten tired of arguing and let the matter rest for now. At leastбн that was what Leonel had thought before he realized that many of them were even avoiding his gaze as though being embarrassed by something.
    "What about you all?" Leonel asked with narrowed eyes.
    Though it was the same question, this time, Leonel very obviously aimed it toward the six others who could be considered near his level of strength.
    Pisces stood upon hearing these words, walking toward Leonel with a confident expression. Though there didn't seem to be disdain in her gaze, this was only because she knew that Leonel was much more powerful than she was. However, there seemed to be something that had greatly boosted her boldness regardless.
    "While you were away, we came to a consensus as a group."
    "Oh? Did you?"
    Leonel looked past Pisces, sending a questioning gaze toward the others.
    He only got a shrug from Roaring Black Lion. Thunderous Clap avoided his gaze as though he too was embarrassed. As for Chasing Wind, though she met his gaze, there was a tinge of guilt within her eyes. But, for some reason, she would feel even more guilty not meeting Leonel's gaze, so she put in effort to not look away. As for Flowing Wind, she was observing the situation as though she was a passerby, happy to see the world burn.
    Though Leonel couldn't see their faces, making it difficult to tell their true intentions, he still had a good idea.
    Roaring Black Lion didn't seem to care about what was going on. He only shrugged to show that he had nothing to do with what was happening, but he couldn't do much to change anything either.
    Thunderous Clap likely put the most effort into trying to stop what was happening, but he too couldn't move the needle. He seemed to take this much harder than Roaring Black Lion, something that made Leonel smile beside himself. He found this Thunderous Clap to be quite adorable.
    As for Chasing Wind, her gaze seemed to make it seem like she had made the most logical decision for herself. As such, though she felt 'bad' for Leonel, it wasn't to the extent of changing her decision. Her actions of meeting his gaze was to let him know this.
    'Interesting, interestingбн'
    The last person Leonel looked at was King of Seas, he seemed to have the most sour look in his eyes as though he was losing out even more than Leonel. After seeing this, Leonel had a decent idea of what 'decision' these people had come to.
    "I don't agree!"
    Before Pisces could even explain what was going on, Seer suddenly called out.
    "I don't agree either."
    Precious Moment affirmed Seer's words.
    The two of them had been saved by Leonel at a critical moment. Had it not been for Leonel, they would be dead. How could they agree to this?
    In truth, it wasn't just them that had been saved. Even setting aside the fact that Leonel taking the vanguard had kept their casualties to a minimum, there were many others he had directly saved just like the two of them.
    "Your opinions were already heard. We came to a consensus as a group. Further words are meaningless. I'm sure you already remember the vote totals." Pisces spoke coldly, not allowing the two to say any more.
    She swept a glance of indifference toward them before looking back toward Leonel with her lofty expression as though everything was playing to her tune.
    "In your absence, we decided that our best chance at survival was for you to hand over the SS-grade Beast Crystal to me. As long as I ingest it, there is a high chance my ability will mutate to gain some characteristics of the coy fish. In that case, maneuvering through these tunnels will become much safer for us all and we'll be able to follow the advice your treasure gave us."
    That day, they had all heard the words of the dictionary. So, they knew well the importance of approaching as closely to the Force geyser as possible before facing its direct might. If Pisces could awaken this ability, it really would be their best chance.
    Leonel didn't have much of a reaction to this. Instead, he looked toward King of Seas.
    "And why did everyone choose you and not him?"
    A tinge of red flashed by King of Seas' gaze. It seemed that he now hated Pisces just as much as he hated Leonel. But, there was nothing he could do about it anymore.
    Pisces sneered, thinking that Leonel wanted to sow discord. But, she replied calmly as though everything was still easily within her grasp. In her opinion, the big obstacle had been King of Seas, not Leonel. It wasn't because the former was more powerful than the latter, but because only the former could sway public opinion away from her.
    "It's simple, really. King of Seas' affinity with water can only be considered auxiliary. His main ability is his transformation into a merman. This allows him greater defense, strength and speed, in addition to a boost to these things while in the presence of water. Of course, he also gains the ability to breathe under water as well."
    Pisces explained patiently and without hurry.
    "However, water manipulation is my main ability. Compared to him, the likelihood of my ability mutating is far higher. So, if we were to take a chance on anyone, it should most definitely be me."
    Numerous people nodded to this, even Chasing Wind. It seemed that she had also been swayed by this logic. It did indeed make sense. And, in Chasing Wind's opinion, it would be quite selfish of Leonel to refuse. After all, he didn't have a water ability.
    "I hope you don't take offense to this." Chasing Wind suddenly spoke. In fact, if Leonel thought about it, this was the first time he had ever heard her voice. "We are only trying out best with what we have. Had you had a water ability, none of us would have agreed to this."
    Leonel nodded toward this. He indeed didn't feel angry about this. That saidбн
    "I understand where you all are coming from and there isn't anything wrong with your line of thinking."
    Pisces' smile bloomed when she heard this, almost as though the Beast Crystal was already in her hands.
    "Unfortunately, I still can't agree."
    Toward this, Pisces' expression could only darken.

 Chapter 168: Chances

    "Youбн" Pisces swallowed her anger and regained her calm. "бн Are you sure that's the decision you want to make? I know that you are very powerful, but this is a matter of life and death for us all, do you understand this?"
    Leonel could already sense several hostile gazes aimed toward him. The only ones who didn't seem to have this reaction were Seer and Precious Moment, along with Roaring Black Lion, Thunderous Clap, and, surprisingly, King of Seas. It seemed the last took quite a bit of pleasure in Leonel rejecting Pisces.
    Of course, there was also Flowing Wind who seemed excited by this turn of events. Only now would she be able to watch the best show.
    Calming Wind furrowed her brows, looking toward Leonel with disappointment.
    Leonel shook his head. These people really wanted to fight him?
    He had to admit, he really couldn't beat them all. This space was too restricted, for one. And, secondly, his body still hadn't recovered from making sure they all got here safely, ironically. Of course, if he wanted to run, he didn't think that any of them had the speed to keep up with him, but, without the map of the tunnels, there was no telling whether or not he would run into a dead end before he escaped.
    Of course, he had already memorized the path they took to get here, but that led outside. What was he going to do, run back to those beast legions? Who knew what kind of wild nonsense was happening out there right now?
    Ultimately, he really didn't have the ability to deal with all of them.
    Though he was disappointed in what was happening, he could understand where they all were coming from. Those from the Southern Lookout still had a somewhat jaded opinion of him. It was only due to his recent actions that those ill feelings began to turn around somewhat.
    However, humans were creatures who often fell victim to group think and confirmation bias. Whatever good impression they had of Leonel was easily overridden by his actions now. To an outside observer, his actions did indeed seem selfish.
    From one perspective, Leonel didn't have to give his things to others if he didn't feel like it. But, this time, this matter involved all of their lives. How could they just sit idly by?
    "Indomitable, don't be so shameless. This isn't about you." Ruptured Artery, who already hated Leonel to the core to begin with, couldn't help but to stand out at this moment.
    The rowdiness of the group of youths seemed to only grow with each passing moment. Pisces didn't even have to say a word and many had already defended her position for her.
    "That's enough, this doesn't need to devolve to violence." Calming Wind finally stood from her seated position, walking toward Leonel.
    "Indomitable, please think of the overall situation. Is it really appropriate for you to act in this way?"
    Leonel was starting to feel a bit annoyed. After all, he was human. As much as he wanted to be 'understanding', he had limited patience as well. But, still, since he knew their intentions weren't overly sinister, he kept whatever bubbling dissatisfaction he had down.
    Instead of exploding with anger, he flipped a palm, allowing a familiar silver disk to appear.
    "Scan her ability." Leonel said calmly.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 6 Black ]
    [ Evolution Type: Elemental ]
    [ Evolution: Water Sense, Water Manipulation ]
    [ Water Sense: Greater affinity for Water Elemental Force. 50% boost in comprehension and power in using water based Force Techniques.? ]
    [ Water Manipulation: Control over the Water Element. ]
    Pisces widened her eyes. Even the Slayer Legion Lookout hadn't been capable of giving such sharp analysis of her ability. What was going on? And, more importantly, what was Leonel's purpose?
    "What is the likelihood she would gain the water metamorphosis ability upon absorbing the coy fish's Beast Crystal?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Father Overlord did not program this function into the dictionary. Once you are skilled enough, it will be possible to upgrade the dictionary. ]
    Pisces, whose heart had constricted, sighed a breath of relief. Her smile bloomed once more as she felt Leonel's display had failed. What would he do now that his little trick was going nowhere?
    Leonel, seemingly having expected this, though, didn't show much of a reaction.
    "What are the chances of mutating an ability upon the ingestion of a Beast Crystal?"
    It seemed that the dictionary wasn't able to perform ultra specific tasks. Leonel had a feeling that his father purposely created it this way. Like this, he would be able to gain supplementary knowledge without relying on the dictionary to do every and anything for him.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, without a Crystal Absorption Technique, the likelihood is 1 in 10 000. With a Crystal Absorption Technique, the odds are closer to 1 in 10. ]
    Pisces' expression, which had just regained some color, paled once again. She definitely didn't have such a technique, or else she definitely wouldn't have reacted this way. But, after a moment, she recovered again.
    "I get it, you've proved your point." Pisces said calmly. "But, compared to you who has a 0% chance, my odds are still better."
    Those who had begun to falter after hearing the odds steeled their hearts. Pisces was right. A 1% in a 1% chance was still better than a 0% chance.
    Leonel pretended as though he hadn't heard Pisces.
    "What are the chances a Force Crafter has in extracting a specific ability from a Beast Crystal?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ A Force Crafter with a Crystal Spirit Familiar has a 100% chance. All other Force Crafters have a percentage chance depending on their skill and their strength in comparison to the beast the crystal was taken from. ]
    "What are the lowest odds?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, about 10-20% as long as the Beast Crystal shares its Dimensional Grade with the Force Crafter. If trying to extract an ability from a higher Dimensional creature, 0%. ]
    "Am I a Force Crafter?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Yes. ]
    "What are my odds of success?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Taking Seed's ability into consideration, Seed has a 78% chance of success. ]
    "And if I awaken my Metal Synergy Lineage Factor?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ That would allow Seed to take greater advantage of the senses of Seed's Metal Spirit which would boost the chance of sensing the ability in question. In this case, it will be about 92% ]
    The more Leonel spoke, the paler Pisces became. It was as though she could see the Beast Crystal she thought of in her dreams slipping away.

 Chapter 169: Flowery Words

    Leonel was pleasantly surprised that the dictionary was able to give him the odds he needed. He was prepared for it to be unable to do so, just like it wasn't able to read Pisces' specific odds. But, if he thought about it, it made a bit of sense.
    The dictionary his father left him had two major purposes. The first was to inform him about things he was ignorant of and the second was to guide his Force Crafting. It made sense that it was unable to use its scanning ability for tasks unrelated to Force Crafting, but could when the topic at hand was crafting itself.
    'Since it's like this, it's a bit more acceptable.' Leonel nodded to himself.
    "I think a 78% chance is better than a 0.001% chance, right?" Leonel asked.
    Pisces gritted her teeth, but she really had no response.
    Force Crafting? This was already an incredibly rare profession to begin with. For those of Earth who had just taken their first step toward evolution, the rarity was even more exaggerated. The Force Crafters of Earth could be slotted into two categories. Either they were curious scientists who held positions as researchers even before the Metamorphosis descended, or they were among the very few who awakened Force Crafting related abilities.
    This was all to say that this profession wasn't prevalent in their minds. They could have never imagined that someone with combat effectiveness as high as Leonel would also be a Force Crafter. In fact, there were many of them who still didn't know what a Force Crafter even was.
    "I hope you all see now that I wasn't trying to be selfish. I really am our best chance. If there's anyone else with a higher probability, I really wouldn't mind handing the Beast Crystal over."
    Leonel wasn't saying this just to say it. He really did see the point of view of the youths around him. Their ask of him might have seemed unfair from one perspective, but it was also not overboard either.
    In addition, even if he had to give the coy fish's Beast Crystal over, he could still bet on himself by trying to complete a similar treasure using the bear king's Beast Crystal. The only reason he had set it aside for now was because the bear king's body was contaminated.
    At this point, Calming Wind felt a bit embarrassed. She had gone from, albeit somewhat reluctantly, meeting Leonel's gaze, to now wanting to find a place to hide herself as quickly as possible.
    Bowing her head slightly, she apologized sincerely.
    "I'm sorry."
    She didn't say anything else as she retreated, causing Leonel to have a better impression of her. It seemed that the youths from the Southern Lookout really weren't bad.
    "It's not a big deal, I didn't take any of it personally." Leonel replied, causing many to sigh a breath of relief.
    The gritting of Pisces' teeth was practically audible. She had been so close, all for it to come crumbling down.
    "How can we take your treasure's words seriously? How do we know you didn't make it say that?"
    The moment she spoke these words, she instantly regretted it. Her hatred had clouded her vision, causing her to say something stupid. At that point, it wasn't just Leonel who looked toward her with a weird gaze.
    If she didn't trust the dictionary so much, why did she use its words as an excuse before when she thought getting the Beast Crystal was possible? It seemed more than a little selfish to say something like this now.
    "Forget it, do whatever you want." Pisces was unwilling to hear the response she was sure she'd receive, so she cut her losses quickly, retreating to her previous sitting position.
    Leonel sighed when he saw the animosity in her eyes. Everything had been so much easier before the Metamorphosis.
    "I still need some time to finish the craft. A few days to find the materials I need and another few days to blueprint everything. In at most a week, it should be completed."
    The youths nodded toward Leonel's words, but they were still feeling a bit anxious. It had only been two days since they entered this cave, but there were already many problems to face.
    Many of them wanted to wash themselves, but had no place to do so. Compounding with that, there was no place for them toбн release themselves, so many had to travel out of the cave to find uninhabited corners to release their bowels. It was the kind of situation that most definitely couldn't last for very long.
    Luckily, many of them had come with abode type treasures. After all, they knew comfort would be a luxury on the Hunt. It was thanks to this that things were somewhat better.
    But, the reserves of water and food would be quickly eaten into.
    Seeing this, Leonel knew he had to settle their hearts. So, without hesitation, he took out three large beast corpses.
    "Those of you with fire abilities, help the others separate out and cook this meat. Don't worry, I have enough meat to last us a few months. As for waterбн"
    Leonel turned a gaze toward Pisces. "I hope that Pisces will help us out with this. With the density of Force in the air and the help of your ability, I'm sure that condensing large amounts of water from the air shouldn't be a problem, right?"
    Pisces' eyes flashed with a clever glint, but in the next moment, she poured a bucket of cold water over her own schemes. The same way she could use public opinion to sway Leonel, Leonel could do the same to her as well. In fact, it was even more effective on her since Leonel was so much stronger than she was.
    If she really tried to withhold water from these youths, her ending wouldn't be very good. In the end, she could only nod.
    Leonel smiled brightly, taking off his mask. The youths were stunned by this, not thinking he would do such a thing.
    "So handsome." Flowing Wind's eyes lit up as though she wanted to eat Leonel up from where he stood.
    "You can all call me Leonel. We're all in this together." Leonel said lightly. "I'm not here to lead you all, nor will I make you do anything you don't want to do. As long as we stick together, getting out won't be a problem. I promise."
    "Tch, you pretty playboy." Roaring Black Lion said. "Don't you know saying such flowery words only makes them want to follow you more?"
    His sudden comment made many look at one another and burst into laughter. It felt like a weight that had been on everyone's shoulders suddenly dissipated.

 Chapter 170: Elemental Vessel

    After settling everything, Leonel stepped out from the cave, numerous eyes on his back as he vanished into the darkness.
    Watching his receding figure, King of Seas couldn't help but laugh. It seemed he got a kick out of seeing Pisces eating shit. All the anger he had had in the past day vanished into thin air, leaving him feeling comfortable.
    It could only be said that humans were indeed weird creatures. King of Seas had gone from hating Leonel's guts to supporting him in the span of a day.
    As for Pisces, she could only hatefully glare in Leonel's direction, but there was nothing she could do. Just like the logic had once been on her side, it was now on his. As if that wasn't bad enoughбн she didn't expect Leonel to have so much charismaбн
    **
    Leonel leisurely strolled through the dark tunnels. Though he was still feeling the pain of his injuries and there was a severe lack of light in his surroundings, he was quite comfortable now.
    'This might be a better opportunity than I originally gave it credit for.' Leonel smiled so widely his eyes squinted.
    The reason Leonel was so happy was because when he asked the dictionary to scan the surroundings for ore veins, the results had been far beyond his expectations. The hive was practically a treasure trove!
    Though the Force Eruption was only now occurring, it could be said that this Force Crystal Mine had been maturing for a long time already. As a result, this was the best environment Earth had for the creation of Fourth Dimensional minerals.
    Not only was the presence of Pseudo Fourth Dimensional minerals incredibly high, but there were even some veins that had already manifested true Fourth Dimensional minerals.
    It could be said that Earth's progress in metallurgy was far beyond that of many worlds of their stature. However, the fundamental truth was that these alloys were still fragile in the face of Force.
    This was why Leonel had to fuse Urbe Ore into the alloys he took from the sniper rifle. If he didn't do this, his pistol crafts would have been even more fragile than they were now.
    However, if Leonel were to use Pseudo and true Fourth Dimensional metals in his crafts, he would be able to create higher grade crafts with less effort.
    In addition, even though Fourth Dimensional metals he was still too weak to refine could be saved for the future. In all likelihood, these metals would be very valuable even in true Fourth Dimensional worlds!
    But now, Leonel practically had them all to himself. Thanks to the dictionary, he could easily find them through the thick walls. And, with the help of Little Tolly, the mining process wouldn't be much of an issue either.
    Seemingly sensing Leonel's excitement, the little Metal Spirit coiling around his fingers bubbled with happiness, eager to be of help.
    Leonel smiled lightly, watching the little guy play around his hands.
    'Alright, the first target is the closest, a vein of Whispering Breeze Oreбн'
    Leonel quickly made his way forward. He ran into several dead ends at first since the dictionary could only point him in the general direction, but he eventually inched closer, memorizing the pathways as he went along.
    Soon, Leonel had made it to a seemingly ordinary wall of earth. Other than being slightly damp and cold to the touch, there was nothing different about it. But, Leonel trusted the dictionary.
    "Alright little guy, let's start."
    Little Tolly split into numerous little silver balls, bouncing around Leonel's hands with excitement before it coated the latter's palms.
    Leonel pressed his hands into the wall, entering Spirit Unity and using Toliver's keen senses toward valuable minerals to 'see' the hidden veins.
    'There it isбн'
    After sensing it, Leonel began to channel Force into his Metal Spirit. Not much unlike projecting the shape of the part he wanted, Leonel made sure to only carefully carve away the pieces of earth not related to the valuable ore.
    In truth, Little Tolly did most of the work. Even without Leonel's support, it was made to melt away and absorb minerals. In fact, it might very well be possible for Leonel to rely on his Familiar to carve a path toward the Force Eruption rather than forging a craft with the coy fish's Beast Crystal. The only reason he hadn't was because he didn't want to overwork the little guy.
    Carving out a bit of rock covering a vein was one thing, but digging through hundreds of meters of earth was a complete other thing.
    Soon, a silvery green metal shone before Leonel. It had quite a resplendent light as though it was crowned by a halo.
    Higher Dimensional metals always had halos like this. The only exception was Black Urbe Ore. As long as it was within a world beneath its Dimensional grade, it would always shine like this as though scared others were unaware of its value.
    The more Dimensional grades a metal surpassed its current world by, the grander the halos that covered it would be. Similar logic followed for other natural treasures and even beasts and humans.
    'Whispering Breeze Oreбн Its an excellent Wind Elemental Vessel and known for its sharpness and light weight. Not bad. It might be useful when I finally get around to making the movement treasureбн'
    Leonel would often think of Captain Sela's chariot. Though she was a vile human being, her chariot wasn't at fault.
    'Elemental Vessels' were a type of ore. Just like Urbe Ore which was a great foundational metal, known for its ability to stabilize two opposing minerals that would otherwise not mesh, there were other families of metals as well. Elemental Vessels was a family that had an advantage toward containing certain Elemental Force types.
    As a Wind Elemental Vessel, Whispering Breeze Ore was exceptionally good at containing the Wind Element. It also got its name due to its high level of stability. Its able to take in a large amount of Wind Element and make use of it while maintaining quiet and steady operation. This was quite ideal for forging a vehicle.
    Leonel smiled brightly. For the little guy, chewing through the normal rock around the vein wasn't a problem. It didn't even take half an hour before it was completely exposed. After that, Leonel could practically pull out the whole thing with his bare hands.
    'One down, hopefully many more to goбн I'll definitely need to find a good Water Elemental Vesselбн If I can find a Dual Water-Earth Elemental Vessel, I might be able to make the craft even better by integrating the coy fish's and the bear king's Beast Crystalsбн'
    It seemed the saying really was true. There were only benefits to gain in the midst of danger.
    At any other time, such a large treasury of minerals would have been monopolized by The Empire or the Slayer Legion. But nowбн As much as Leonel could take, he would take.

 Chapter 171: Red

    Many hours later, one could find Leonel in a familiar position. His hands were pressed flush against a wall as Force slowly flowed out from his hands.
    Though this seemed simple for him, it was actually quite difficult. Since he forewent placing Force Nodes in his hands, it was a bit more difficult for him in comparison to another to achieve this result. But, with how high his spirit was, how could his Force control not also be great?
    Soon, another ore had manifested. This time, it radiated a dirty gold light. It was quite similar to the fur coat of the bear king, albeit much less resplendent.
    'Black Tempered Vein Oreбн' Leonel smiled happily.
    Vein Ores were another family of metals. They could be considered another ore type that was almost as important as Urbe Ores. However, they were just barely lacking.
    In truth, the value of Vein Ores was above Urbe Ores. However, the reason Urbe Ores could be considered a step above in usefulness was because it had an impossibly wide variety of applications. One could use Urbe Ores in practically every Force Craft imaginable. It was for this reason that the universal currency of the universe were Urbe Coins.
    However, Vein Ores were used in particularly intricate creations. They had characteristics very similar to Force pathways that linked one's Force Nodes. When they were used in crafts, they allowed Force to flow more freely.
    That said, this wasn't the most important use of Vein Ores. Their greatest use was in drawing more permanent Force Arts.
    Take for example Leonel's pistol craft. He had to draw the Force Arts directly onto the alloys he fused with his Black Urbe Ore. However, had he liquefied a compatible Vein Ore first, and then used it to inscribe the Force Arts, their power would gain a great boost. In addition, it would greatly strengthen the nozzles as well, allowing them to withstand many more shots.
    There was a final more secretive use of Vein Ores as well. In fact, Leonel wouldn't even be aware of this had it not been for the words of the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse].
    According to the creator, there was a special type of Vein Ore that could be absorbed. The special energies of this Vein Ore could be used to strengthen one's Force Nodes.
    Though this wouldn't increase the amount of Force one could hold, there were many other benefits to this.
    Firstly, it would be possible to replenish one's Force Nodes faster. It was necessary for many to artificially cap their consumption of Force to avoid damaging one's Force Nodes. Though Force Nodes are self-created, they can't be willfully abandoned. This is a law enforced by the Universe itself. So, injuries to Force Nodes needed to be avoided at all costs.
    Secondly, this would make it easier to compress Force Nodes in the future when it becomes necessary to cross the boundary of a higher Dimensional body.
    For someone like Leonel, this second point was especially important. Though his Force Nodes being constructed of a hundred cells sounded grandiose, the truth was that this made his future path far more difficult as well. The more Force he had, the harder it was to compress, and the more pressure there would be on his body.
    The third reason was enough for any Force cultivator to go wild with greed. Everyone was limited in the number and length of Force pathways they could create. Especially in the beginning phases of creating a Fourth Dimensional body, many could only connect their Force Nodes via a single path. But, this greatly limited their Force wielding abilities.
    With the help of a special Vein Ore, it was possible to create many more Force Pathways, allowing one to unlock many Force wielding abilities usually reserved for higher Dimensional warriors.
    This aside, there was a fourth reason that would greatly benefit Leonel even now.
    If his Force Nodes were sturdierбн wouldn't it also be much easier to withstand the Force Eruption?
    Unfortunately, Black Tempered Vein Ore wasn't the Vein Ore he needed to undergo this process. In addition, according to the author of [Dimensional Cleanse], it was best to wait until forming all nine Nodes before undergoing this tempering process. So, no matter how eager Leonel was for this benefit, he could only throw it to the back of his mind.
    'Alright, I think I've cleared out all the ore veins in this section of tunnelsбн as expected, not all the tunnels are linked. If I want to explore more tunnels, I'll have to leave the hive and enter through another entranceбн'
    Leonel was hesitant to do this. He didn't know what the situation was outside. If he left, he would probably expose everyone to danger again. Even if he set everyone else apart, he still needed to worry about himself. After all, he would still need a while longer to recover to his peak.
    'Forget it, forget it. I've harvested enough for now and have all the materials I need. Even though I didn't find a Dual Water-Earth Elemental Vessel ore, I did find an Earth one. If I combined that with the Rushing River Vein Ore I found, it would still be possible to combine the two Beast Crystal abilitiesбн'
    Much like Elemental Vessels, there were different types of Vein Ores as well. Rushing River Vein Ores were especially good at inscribing for Water Elemental Force Arts. So, if Leonel was careful with his planning, it would be possible to combine the two without much issue.
    Just like before, Leonel took his time to dig the entire vein out. He knew that if he kept the core of the vein intact, it might be possible for the vein to grow more ores for him in the future. Who knows, maybe the Segmented Cube had this ability as well. Even if it didn't, Leonel would still do this.
    Just when Leonel was content with his gains and about to return to the cave to get started on the blueprints, his steps suddenly froze.
    There, on the wall he just extracted the vein from, there were faint cracks.
    It was incredibly difficult to spot, but there seemed to be a faint light coming from the other side. If it wasn't for the fact most of the hive was so dark, it wouldn't have been so hard for Leonel to spot the cracks because even if his side was dark, the other side would be flooded with light.
    'This part of the wall is so thinбн? I can probably pass my Internal Sight through then to see if it's worth getting Little Tolly's help to knock it away. It might not necessarily be a good thing to have a path to another network of tunnelsбн'
    After having this thought, Leonel snaked his Internal Sight forward, passing through the gaps to see what was on the other side. But, the result left him stunned speechless.
    Not only was the other side almost like an entire separate world, what shocked him the most was that there were actually other people there. Not just the fact they were other people, but the fact they were other people with characteristics Leonel was all too familiar with.
    'Red hairбн red eyesбн The Brazinger Clan?'

 Chapter 172: World of Green

    Leonel was shocked. The very last group of people he could have ever expected to find here was the Brazinger Clan. Wasn't this the personal island of the Slayer Legion? Didn't they monitor it? Were they really so incompetent to allow others to sneak in here so easily?
    Leonel had already had a hard time taking the Slayer Legion seriously, but it felt as though their every action really only made him look down on them more.
    After a while, he calmed himself. He realized that he had only reacted like this because of how hard the past few days had been. It seemed that even he needed someone to vent his frustration on.
    'Stay calmбн' Leonel closed his eyes, steadying his breathing and his heart rate.
    He had already promised himself to remain calm in all things. It was still hard since he was just an 18 year old boy, but not everyone was made perfect in a day. In time, he'd temper his disposition.
    After Leonel steadied himself, he began thinking of what could possibly be happening here.
    He doubted that the Brazinger Clan had come in after them, there was a high probability they had come here first. In that case, could it be the Force Eruption was predicted by them? Or was it that they wanted to take advantage of the ore treasury that was this hive?
    'There's another possibility as wellбн' Leonel furrowed his brows. 'бн According to Old Hutch, things aren't so simple as they seem on the surface. Could it be that these Project Hunt Islands were never the sole property of the Slayer Legion to begin with?'
    When Leonel had this thought, he felt that his whole world had been turned upside down.
    Hutch seemed to talk like the decision to let the commoners of the Paradise Islands die was a mutual decision. Was the relationship between the rebels and The Empire really so simple?
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more confused he became.
    'Forget it, thinking about it myself won't get me anywhere. I'll observe them first.'
    бн
    The space on the other side of the cracks really did seem like an entirely different world. It felt as though one had to step inside a spatial crack to reach it, but the truth of the matter was that it was within the hive just like every place else.
    Though the space was dark much like the other network of tunnels, there was a dim halo of light around it. This light didn't come from the sun, but rather the countless plants littered all around!
    That was right, this space within the hive looked no different than a garden. And, the halos of light being emitted from the plants were none other than the halos natural treasures had in the presence of a lower Dimensional world!
    There didn't seem to be any large source of water anywhere within the cave, making their existence baffling. The only hints of liquid were the drippings that fell from the stalactites on the ceiling.
    'Mellow Dew Stalactites!'
    Leonel trembled slightly.
    Mellow Dew Stalactites could form a single drop a day. Each one of these drops were the greatest nourishment for natural treasures, whether those natural treasures were plants like the ones in this cave space, or the current ores in Leonel's possession.
    The dew drops also had exceptionally high concentrations of Force. They could essentially liquefy Force, creating what could be classified as a Force Strengthening Deviation despite the fact it had no other characteristics aside from its high concentrations.
    Just to put these matters into perspective, just a single drop from these Stalactites was enough to form any one of Leonel's Stars. This was how exaggerated the matter was.
    Yet, the ceiling of this place was formed by at least 50 Mellow Dew Stalactites. It was no wonder this place didn't need any water to grow so many wonderful plants. A single drop of that dew would be enough to raise even an acre of Fourth Dimensional plants without issue.
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't know what these plants were. He could tell they were valuable, but he wasn't a Force Pill Refiner, so how could he know anything about them? Luckily, he could rely on the dictionary if need be. He was certain these higher Dimensional plants were in its database.
    "Wow, I didn't think we'd find something like this. How do you think these plants managed to grow here?"
    There were two men, both of similar stature. They seemed to realize they had stumbled upon something valuable, but they didn't know how valuable it was. Their knowledge was limited. All they knew was that due to all these halos of light, these were definitely at least Fourth Dimensional herbs.
    "Let's mark this place down and let the Young Lord know about it. Right now, the priority is still to find a path toward the Force Crystal Mine. We're running out of time."
    Leonel's gaze flashed. 'Young Lord? Could he be talking about that monocle guy?'
    A hardly concealed rage flashed through Leonel's gaze. He had always been one who found it difficult to kill. It was only after countless battles that his heart began to slowly accept the kind of world he lived in now. However, if there was someone he wouldn't hesitate to kill, two someones, actuallyбн it was the Junior Governor Duke and that monocle wearing young lord of the Brazinger Clan.
    'It seems they split up to cover more ground. Their aim is also the Force Crystal Mineбн I can't guarantee that monocle wearing bastard won't be interested enough in this place to set everything aside to come here first. These two might not know the value of Mellow Dew Stalictite, but that doesn't mean he won'tбн'
    A resolute glint took hold of Leonel's gaze. Though he was injured, he was still confident in taking on these two. Plus, if he could capture them, he might be able to dig out more information about what the Brazinger Clan was doing here and if they had any connection to the Slayer Legionбн
    'No, they shouldn't have a connection, or else we wouldn't have been sent here at this time.'
    Even as Leonel was thinking this, he had already sprung into action. Taking advantage of the darkness, he stealthily had Little Tolly devour the thin, cracked wall and rolled into the world of grass and plants.
    Without hesitation, he quickly followed after the two men who had just left the wide space of greenery.

 Chapter 173: Hostages

    Leonel looked down toward two unconscious men. He had already guessed that taking them down wouldn't have been a problem, but even he hadn't expected it to be so easy. In fact, it could be said that he was a bit too heavy handed.
    However, Leonel hadn't had a choice. This whole knocking people out and taking hostages things was completely new to him. TV shows always made it look so easy. Just a simple karate chop to the back of the neck, right? So why had it given him such a headache?
    'Forget it. I'll use those vines to tie them up in the Segmented Cube and bring them back.'
    "How do I harvest these plants?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, the best choice is to make use of the Segmented Cube's Suspended Animation ability. ]
    'Suspended Animation?' Leonel was confused for a second before he understood. 'Ohбн It must mean the snowglobes.'
    The snowglobes of the Lab Setting had always been a mystery to Leonel. At first, he had thought there was a finite number. But, after he had collected the corpses of a couple hundred beasts, he realized that the 'snowglobes' multiplied without end. It seemed there would always be enough for his needs.
    Also, he realized that corpses weren't the only thing he could hold in them. All of the ores he had collected had been taken in by them as well.
    "What exactly does the Suspended Animation ability do?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Suspended Animation: Phase One ability of the Segmented Cube's Lab Setting. It is able to house the living and the dead in the exact state they entered as no matter how much time has passed, evading the harshness of the passage of time. ]
    Leonel nodded. This was about what he had expected. His spatial bracelet could somewhat replicate this feat, but it wasn't the exact same.
    The reason why things in his spatial bracelet were non-perishable was because living things couldn't exist within it. As a result, there was no bacteria or fungi, so how could things go 'bad'?
    But, from the explanation of the dictionary, it seemed that the ability of the snowglobes was far more profound than this. It also didn't seem like it restricted the living either.
    'This is perfect. I was worrying about how I would store all these plants, but if this is the case there shouldn't be a problem.'
    Though everything seemed to be going smoothly initially, Leonel was soon lamenting his plight. Unfortunately, the space within each snowglobe was limited. So, he had to uproot each plant individually before moving on.
    How could this not leave him feeling aggrieved? If the Lab Setting could produce these snowglobes endlessly, why couldn't it make one with more space in it?
    Soon, Leonel realized that it wasn't a matter of space. Despite the bear king being over five meters tall, it still fit in one. Yet, these plants, root and all, were barely a foot tall in most cases, but they took up an entire snowglobe to themselves.
    It seemed that the ability of the Suspended Animation wasn't as simple as Leonel thought. It was likely that the snowglobe was capable of perfectly adapting to the object it took in, adjusting its settings appropriately depending on the item.
    Unsurprisingly, it took Leonel several hours to take in every plant. It would have been faster, but he didn't want to accidentally harm them. So, he could only move slowly.
    Soon, the garden had fallen into darkness, the only hint of light coming from the shimmering stalactites above.
    Leonel gasped for breath, stretching out his back.
    'Plundering treasures is actually such hard workбн'
    Though he said this, he looked around the garden with a sigh. Who knew how many years it had taken for it to reach this state?
    He wanted to take away the soil beneath his feet and the stalactite on the ceiling of the space, but he really had no means to. It had already taken him so long just to uproot the plants, how could he shovel all this soil into the Segmented Cube? Even aside from that, he had no idea where to even begin with the stalactites. They were easily 20 meters above him and each the size of a tall human man.
    Just when Leonel felt that he could only leave such treasures behind, the Segmented Cube appeared on its own again. It separated into its jigsaw-like puzzles and shot across the room, enveloping it completely.
    Leonel blinked and by the time his vision cleared, the once beautiful garden had become just as bland as every other cave in this place. The only hint that it was once something more were the vines and lush patches of moss that covered the walls.
    'бн'
    Leonel was speechless. If it could do this, why the hell had it let him waste so many hours here?
    'Forget it, forget itбн'
    All the things his father left him were too mischievous. He couldn't help but feel that they were making fun of him at every corner.
    'Let's clear out the ores in this network of tunnels then return to the group. I shouldn't leave them for so longбн'
    Leonel didn't hesitate any longer. He didn't know how long it would take for the rest of the Brazinger Clan to notice the absence of their two family members, so he worked quickly, exploring the new network of tunnels.
    His luck was great. He managed to find a Water Elemental Vessel. Though it would have been better to find a Dual Water-Earth Elemental Vessel, having a Water and an Earth Elemental Vessel was definitely the second best option.
    He also found more Vein Ores that would give him greater flexibility in the Force Arts he could draw and even found a few large deposits of Urbe Ores. It was clear that this network of tunnels was more greatly influenced by the Force Eruption and thus had more treasures.
    As expected from this conclusion, Leonel found that this network of tunnels had several paths leading several tens of meters downward.
    'Since this is the case, it'll be easier to make it to the Force Crystal Mine if this is our starting pointбн'
    Leonel quickly made his way back to where the garden once was. Then, making use of the vines and bits of moss that remained, he cleverly covered up the hole he had come from. Afterward, he made his way back to the cave the youths had taken as their base.

 Chapter 174: Interrogation (1)

    "Wake up."
    Leonel spoke coldly, pouring a bucket of frigid water he had gotten from Pisces over the heads of the two Brazinger Clan members.
    In truth, Leonel had no need to get his water from Pisces, he only did it as a show. Since he had the Black Grade Soothing Waters pool, he was much better off than those drinking normal water.
    Still, he made a show of politely asking Pisces for water everyday to try and smooth her attitude out a bit. Like this, it was much easier to maintain the balance of the group and it made her feel more comfortable thinking she had a modicum of power over him.
    Though, if Pisces knew that the 'precious' water she so 'graciously' bestowed to Leonel was being used in this way, it could be imagined how she would react.
    The two Brazinger Clan men were startled awake.
    Their first attempt was to move, but upon realizing their hands and feet were bound, a tinge of fear colored their hearts.
    Leonel wasn't worried that one of their abilities could help them escape. Before he woke them up, he had the dictionary scan them. The one with the more square jaw had an auxiliary type ability that made his neurons fire faster, thus giving him greater reaction time and greater thinking speed. The one with the slightly thinner face had a vibration type ability. This one was a greater threat, but Leonel had already crafted the cuffs on his hands to be beyond his ability to vibrate out of.
    After realizing that the two of them had been captured, the two clan members glared toward Leonel. But, inwardly they were feeling confused. There were others here? How was this possible?
    "First, tell me your names." Leonel asked simply.
    After a while, it became obvious to Leonel that they had no intention of responding to him. But, seemingly having expected this result, he only nonchalantly nodded.
    With a wave of his hand, the poisoned corpse of the bear king appeared, causing the two men to pale.
    "This poison is pretty tyrannical, don't you think?" Leonel said casually.
    After a few moments, he stood and pulled the thinner man away. At such a sight, the square jawed man trembled violently, the fear evident in his eyes.
    "No! No! I'll tell you my name, I'll tell you my name!"
    Unforunately, no matter how hard he struggled, he and Leonel still vanished, leaving the square jawed man in a sorry state. He was so scared that he directly fainted, unable to maintain his consciousness. However, he had no idea that Leonel and the thin faced man had simply gone to the Abode Setting, letting his fear stew.
    "Oh, you'll tell me your name now?" Leonel asked.
    "Yes! Yes! My name is Cheri!"
    A weird expression coated Leonel's visage at these words. Cheri? That meant darling in Frenchбн The man sure had quite theбн unique name.
    "Alright then Cheri, I have a few questions to ask you, you'll answer them honestly, right?"
    "Right, right!"
    "Good." Leonel nodded in satisfaction. "It would be a shame if the stories of you and your partner didn't add up, right?"
    Hearing this, Cheri's trembling became several times more violent. He had indeed only planned to tell Leonel part of the truth. But, what if his partner didn't tell the same lie he did? Then, wouldn't he be asking for his own death?
    This kid was so sinister!
    He suddenly understood why it was Leonel had separated them. It wasn't so that he could kill him, but rather so that they would have no idea what story the other told. Like this, if they wanted to live, they would have no choice but to say the truth because the truth was the only thing they could guarantee the other would know.
    Having thought this far, any thoughts of struggle the man had suddenly crumbled.
    He was a member of the Brazinger Clan, how could his will really be so fragile? Unlike those who grew up in Earth's common society, they from hidden families had completely different upbringings. They had been ready for the descent of the Metamorphosis since long ago and had begun training since their birth. That included him despite the fact he was only from a branch family.
    Much of his fear had just been an act to get Leonel to lower his guard, maybe then he could find a chance to escape. But, who knew this teenage boy would be so cunning?
    Seeing Cheri's flickering gaze, Leonel grinned, causing the former to shudder.
    "My name is Jian, my name is Jian. Please forgive me."
    Leonel laughed at this. So this Jian was trying to make fun of him by having him call him Cheri? What a conniving fellow indeed.
    Jian shivered. He had no idea if his partner would expose his name as a lie, so how could he continue to hold back?
    "Good."
    Leonel walked to the bath house that held the Soothing Waters Pool and threw Jian against the tiles. Then, he found a stool and sat down.
    Jian's shivering grew fiercer. This time, he didn't have to fake it. What place could be more convenient for clearing up a dead body in comparison to a bathroom?
    "Since we're both on the same page, there's really no problem, right? I can see that you're not a useless person, so you already know that everything I ask you, I will ask your partner. Be sure to be honest with me. After all, I may not have a great ability, but the one thing I do have is a great memory."
    Jian nodded outwardly, but inwardly, he was cursing. Didn't have a great ability? He took them both down before they even knew what was happening. They didn't even have a chance to use their abilities before their worlds went black. How was this not having a great ability?
    "Alright, first question. Did that monocle wearing bastard come here with you?"
    Jian's eyes widened. The killing intent coming from Leonel enveloped him completely, causing his heart to shudder.
    This young man knew about their Young Lord? What relationship did he have with him? Could he be from one of the other hidden families? Did they catch onto their Young Lord's plans?
    According to the agreement, only the younger generation of their families' main branches could interact with the world until the Fourth Dimensional Metamorphosis was complete, so could this kid be a Young Lord from another hidden family?

 Chapter 175: Interrogation (2)

    "I'll take that as a yes."
    Leonel's icy voice woke Jian from his thoughts. He could only shut his mouth, keeping his mumbling to himself. He didn't know what his Young Lord had done to piss this young man off so much, but he could tell that he should refrain from asking.
    "What did you come here for?"
    Jian gulped. "Our Young Lord didn't tell us much. All we know is that there's a Force Crystal Mine and that the Young Lord needs it for some reason."
    "How did you get in here through the beasts? Is there another entrance to the hive?"
    Jian's gaze flashed with a peculiar light. But, remembering that Leonel would ask this same question to his partner, he could only throw all thoughts of lying to the back of his mind.
    "бн Those beasts are under the control of Young Lord."
    "What?"
    Leonel couldn't hide his shock. At the same time, a cold sweat permeated his back. That monocle wearing bastard actually had such an ability? That's impossible. Leonel remembered very clearly that he had already asked the dictionary to read out his ability.
    From what Leonel remembered, their Young Lord's ability was of the SS-grade. He had the ability to change the genetic information of a target. Judging by the fact his subordinates were weremen, Leonel assumed that in order to change this genetic information, he needed to take it from another source.
    But, none of this had anything to do with controlling beasts. Could it be that his ability evolved? Or could it be part of his original ability? Or maybe it was someone under his command who had such an ability?
    Leonel's mind was spinning.
    The level of danger such a fact brought was unimaginable. With the control of six, now five, Elite S-grade threats, Simeon was practically invincible. And, there was no telling if he had other beasts following along with him now. Leonel didn't believe that he would really enter without the slightest hint of protection.
    While Leonel was thinking, Jian didn't dare to even breathe too loudly. The aura coming off the boy in front of him made him shiver to his core.
    "He has the ability to control beasts? How long has he had this ability for?"
    Leonel's question didn't make sense on the surface, but while his mind was wandering, he caught onto the faint inkling of something. If his thoughts were correct, a lot of things would suddenly make sense.
    "Thisбн It should be recent. The Young Lord has been running a lot of experiments lately, trying to iron out the kinks in this ability. He only perfected it a few weeks agoбн"
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. "The gorilla man who attacked the Slayer Legion at the shore that dayбн That was him, right?"
    Jian was shocked. Seeing this, Leonel didn't need him to answer, he knew it was the truth.
    The matters of that day hadn't made any sense to him before. Why would a man with an A-grade threat level throw his life away so randomly? He attacked Damian's unit seemingly without cause or purpose, leading to his eventual death.
    But, after that, they couldn't find any clues about him. Not only was there not a shred of anything on his person, he wasn't recognized as having a grudge with anyone in the Slayer Legion either.
    None of it made any senseбн
    Butбн What if one looked at it from a different angle? What if that man was just a guinea pig? What if he was Simeon's way of testing whether or not he could force others to throw their lives away at his command?
    The more Leonel thought, the colder the chill in his heart became. This Simeonбн Really deserved death.
    At the same time, there was a hint of fear that blossomed in Leonel. Such an ability, it was too treacherous. If Simeon could really manipulate one's genes such that they had to obey his every commandбн just what kind of power could he wield if he was allowed to run amock? What would happen if Aina had really landed in his hands?
    'He needs to die.'
    A frigid aura permeated the bathhouse. Leonel had already sentenced Simeon to death. He wouldn't allow that bastard to leave this hive alive.
    "How close are you all to finding the path to the Force Eruption?"
    Jian coughed, clearing his throat.
    "We've only explored about 30% of the entrances, but the deepest one only goes about 50 meters below the surface. The Young Lord told us to mark down any unique caverns we found and report to him in a weekбн"
    Leonel's sneer deepened. "What kind of protection does that bastard have?"
    "The Young Lord has his elite guards with him, they've all been genetically enhanced. Not a single one is weaker than an S-grade threat. There are nine of them and they follow him around everywhere. Even when we split up, it was only us ordinary guards that left the group. The rest remained with him."
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. So many S-grade threats was definitely beyond his means. And, from what Jian said, that was their floor. Who was to say there weren't a few beyond that?
    For the first time, Leonel felt frustrated with his ability. He was maybe the only person on Earth with an ability that surpassed the SSS-grade, but because it was only auxiliary, the amount of strength it provided him was limited. If his ability was of the same grade but of the offensive nature instead, just how much power would he have?
    Leonel really didn't want to let that bastard go, but the more he grilled Jian about the protection his Young Lord had, the more he realized that he couldn't take Simeon lightly.
    The most ironic part was that this was likely his fault. A couple months ago, when he first met Simeon, he hadn't had this kind of protection around him. That bullet Leonel almost put through his skull is probably precisely the reason he was so cautious now.

 Chapter 176: Resolve

    Leonel grilled Jian with several more questions then knocked him out and dragged him back into the Lab Setting. Without a word to his partner, he threw him into one of the snowglobes, causing no small shock to the square jawed man.
    Not wanting to end up like Jian, how could he not go all out in an attempt to satisfy Leonel? But the truth remained the same. In the end, he too was knocked out once more and thrown into a snowglobe.
    Leonel took a deep breath and sat down, his mind running.
    Though he could have asked the two about Aina's past, he decided against it. This was something he wanted Aina to tell him herself. It just wouldn't feel the same if someone else had to tell him. Plus, he wanted to respect her boundaries.
    That said, even aside from that, the heavy pressure Simeon brought him was beyond his imagination.
    What a joke he was. He had a Tier 3 Bronze ability, but he was being pushed into a corner by a Tier 8 Black ability. He was sure that if his father knew he would never hear the end of it.
    Leonel shook his head, staring blankly into space. After a while, his vacant eyes gained a steely coldness.
    'I'm certain that Simeon's ability didn't originally have anything related to control. The reason he can now is because he's mastered his ability to the point of squeezing out all of its potential, eventually allowing him to gain this new branch ability. I don't believe for a second that he can do something that I can't.'
    The 'branch' abilities of Leonel's main ability seemed to have awoken randomly. First it was Dream World, then it was Dream Sculpt.
    On the surface, both appeared without rhyme or reason, but was this really the case?
    Dream World appeared to him when he really wanted to calculate the best orientation of his Force Nodes. This will eventually allowed him to gain his ability to simulate matters in his mind.
    Dream Sculpt appeared when he wanted to find a way to make use of the treasures he wasn't allowed to take outside of the Zone. This will eventually allowed him the ability to ingrain perfect and permanent thoughts into his Dream World.
    There was even the third ability he only recently named, Dream Clone. That ability was birthed when he really wanted to learn the primitive man's combat style as quickly as possible. This allowed him to split his mind and learn the same technique many times faster.
    Every time he needed an ability within his means, it felt as though he could produce it as long as these things fell within the purview of his Dream World.
    Simeon's ability was a wakeup call to Leonel. He realized now that abilities weren't immutable things. They were made to grow and evolve along with their host. Why else would Leonel's ability still be growing even now? It was likely that it would still grow into the future.
    Leonel took a deep breath. 'That's right, I need to open myself up to more possibilitiesбн'
    Leonel shook his head furiously. To think that he really almost had thoughts of letting that bastard off for now.
    Absolutely not. He would make this hive Simeon's grave.
    After a while, Leonel stood.
    "I have so many materials and even more Beast Crystals. If I can't make something to get out of this situation, I might as well not go and find Aina at all."
    Leonel had already decided. There would be three keys to his success.
    First, he would definitely find the path to the Force Eruption faster. There was most definitely an even greater treasure trove waiting for him.
    Second, he wouldn't hesitate any longer. He would form his Seventh and Eighth Node. Continually doubting himself wouldn't get him anywhere. Maybe after doing this, he would find some clues about his Ninth Node.
    If worse came to worst, he would just abandon all of his Force Nodes. Though there was a massive taboo against doing so, the price was comparatively shallow for those in the lowest Third Dimension, only after stepping into the Fourth or higher would abandoning one's Force Nodes become akin to a death sentence without incredibly special circumstances.
    And thirdбн
    Leonel's mind drifted toward the first Dream Sculpt he ever made. It seemed like a simple golden staff, missing its flag. But, Leonel knew quite well the kind of devastation this thing could cause.
    Leonel knew better than to use this staff to control humans. He had seen how badly Joan ended up with his own two eyes. And, back then, she had only been controlling normal humans.
    By extension, Leonel also knew that controlling high ranking beasts with it would be foolish as well. Those beast kings had already awoken their intelligence and thus had strong wills of their own. If Leonel tried to take control of them, his ending would be just like Joans.
    Howeverбн what about those weaker beasts who were only following the beast kings out of fear for their power? Just how quickly had the bear beasts beneath the bear king abandoned him after he died?
    According to Jian and his partner, Quinn, Simeon should have only taken control of the beast kings then used them as a proxy to control the other beast hordes.
    Plus, those beast kings definitely had their hands full holding off the tide of beasts coming from the ocean even as Leonel stood here. In that caseбн
    Leonel smiled coldly. If Simeon thought of using the beast hordes against him, he would be in for a rude awakening.
    **
    Out on the sea, the Commanders of the Eastern and Southern Lookout were still fighting for their lives. Though, those with Commander Violet Rain were definitely fairing much better.
    "I did it! I managed to get a message through!" Mellow Trees roared with happiness he never thought he would have over such a simple matter.
    Violet Rain's smile bloomed. Though they didn't get a response because the link was swiftly cut off again, this much was enough. Now, they just had to wait.
    What they forgot to consider was the fact the one in charge of their Southern Lookout now was Hacker Hutchбн Who knew what maddening ways that senile old man would respond to such a call for helpбн

 Chapter 177: Little Bastard

    A week later, Leonel stepped out from the Segmented Cube. His features seemed quite haggard, an unkempt beard 'gracing' his jaw and his messy dirty blond hair sweeping across his shoulders. But, his eyes remained as sharp as swords.
    When the youths noticed Leonel's appearance, they all perked up, traces of anticipation painted on their faces.
    Leonel smiled lightly. "I've succeeded."
    They were simple words, but they alone made the youths feel that a massive burden had been lifted from their chests.
    "There's no time to waste." Leonel said with a confident air. "We've already long since decided who would go and who would stay. Let's move out if you're all prepared."
    The lineup that chose to follow Leonel was quite interesting. Thunderous Clap, Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind all stood to move with him.
    Thunderous Clap's ability was similar to Jian's vibration ability, but much stronger by several levels. The mysterious Quake Force he used could be considered a Force Strengthening Deviation, so he would be joining.
    In addition, Flowing Wind, despite being from the Eastern Lookout, was also willing to help. Her Wind Elemental Force output was a level beyond Chasing Wind's. In addition, she had much more auxiliary applications to her ability like the power to use wind to scout out her surroundings. So, she was an ideal choice.
    Finally, there was Roaring Black Lion. Among the remaining youths, he had the strongest defenses. In addition, there was no guarantee they wouldn't run into beasts on their journey. His ability to dampen their strength would be greatly useful.
    As for the rest of the top rankers, they stayed behind to protect the group from any unforeseen circumstances. It was simply impossible for them to take so many with them.
    With that, the group of four set off.
    "We're going to cross over into another network of tunnels. I found this place while I was looking for ores previously." Leonel explained as he quickly made his way toward the hole he had created a week prior.
    He knew that he was running out of time. Much of the reason he left Pisces and the others behind was because he was afraid of this hole being found.
    According to Jian and Quinn, they were meant to report in a week. When they didn't report as they were meant to, Simeon would most definitely check in on the network of tunnels they were assigned to. By then, there was no guarantee that this hole wouldn't be found.
    It wasn't long before Leonel had led their group of four to the hole, crossed to the other side, and diligently covered it back up again.
    After he was done, he dashed forward again, snaking through the tunnels as though the map of their pathways was tattooed to the back of his hand. Soon, he made it to his destination: the point with the most direct path to the Force Crystal Mine.
    Leonel came to a sudden stop at a seemingly ordinary wall and turned back toward Thunderous Clap, Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind.
    "Before we go, I have something to tell you three. I didn't tell the others because I didn't want them to panic, but it's best you three know in advance."
    The three looked toward Leonel. Seeing his serious expression, they too became serious. Would things not be so simple?
    "There is another group of people in here aside from us. In fact, earlier, I had captured and interrogated two of them. It's very possible that we could run into them.
    "I believe that we're ahead of them, but it's best to be cautious. I suspect that there might be another path toward the Force Crystal Mine, I'm just not entirely certain. I just have a feeling that the valleys weren't created without reasonбн"
    The three youths frowned.
    The complex network of valleys was precisely the reason they could only enter the center of the island through one passageway. They wrapped around the center of the island such that there was only one path forward.
    Even beyond that, Flowing Wind actually had no ability to fly over it. She felt that the Force was incredibly volatile in that area, making it difficult for her to steady her ability properly. When she realized this, she hadn't dared to continue forward, lest she fall to her death.
    If the valleys were the result of some odd phenomenon related to the Force Crystal Mineбн their odd attributes would be much easier to accept.
    Only when the three nodded seriously did Leonel flip his palm, causing many things to appear.
    "First, each one of you take these."
    Leonel handed each of them silvery-green mouthpieces that looked somewhat like a cross between a flute and a whistle.
    "These are my creations. I made them out of Whispering Breeze Ore. They're only Tier 1 Black Grade treasures, but they allow you to breathe under water and earth for three hours. After that, you'll need to allow it to recharge for half an hour before you can use it again."
    The three nodded in understanding, watching as Leonel continued to take out nine total resplendent blue scales.
    "These are another set of my creations, three to the each of you. They're refined from the coy fish's scales, they could be able to form an artificial Force Skin that melds and amplifies with your own. By my calculations, they should each be able to last half an hour under the full pressure of the Force Eruption. I'm not sure how long it will take us to stop the Force Eruptionбн we'll have to play it by ear."
    Leonel took a deep breath and turned back to face the wall, putting the silver mouthpiece between his lips.
    "Stick close to me." Though his words had come out in a mumble, they still managed to understand him.
    Leonel could only roll his eyes when he felt two soft mounds of flesh press against his back. Who else could it be if not Flowing Wind? Could this be considered sexual harassment?
    Leonel didn't have time to spend on the matter as an intricate ring on his finger glowed. Just like this, the seemingly solid wall before him became akin to a curtain of mud.
    He pushed through it with slightly more difficulty than it would take to walk underwater. Still, it wasn't too bad. The only disadvantage was that he couldn't see anything and his Internal Sight was severely restricted in this kind of environment. However, he could rely on his obscene calculation abilities to maintain his sense of direction with relative ease.
    Like this, the four youths formed a train, the three to Leonel's back closely following by linking their arms. What was especially magical, though, was that the wall of earth they left the range of reverted back to their original states soon after.
    Though Leonel could see nothing but a vast darkness before him, he could feel himself getting closer.
    He kept his hand in the lead, ready for it to enter clear air once again. And, a moment later, that was exactly what happened.
    Leonel felt the resistance against his hand suddenly vanish and came to a grinding halt.
    'Arghбн'
    Leonel wanted to groan, but he kept it in. He felt a sharp pain in his hand as though it could be lacerated to minced meat in but another few moments.
    Without hesitation, he pressed his first coy fish scale against his body, causing a radiant blue to cover him like a thin layer of skin. He had already long since taken off his chain necklace, saving it for a critical moment.
    After this, using his hand, he extended his Soul Force forward, stretching his Internal Sight outward.
    What he saw made him grind his teeth in anger.
    There was a vast underground space. Its ceilings were at least 100 meters tall and it was over a kilometer from end to end. It was filled with shimmering crystals so bright that had Leonel been looking at them with his eyes, he was sure he would have to squint.
    Of course, all of these dimensions were just Leonel's approximate guesses. The Force was so volatile that his Internal Sight was incredibly fuzzy. The sharp range was severely reduced, causing his calculations to be lacking.
    What had made him angry, though, was the fact that there was someone who had gotten here before him. More accurately, there was a beast that had gotten here before him.
    Leonel's hand had appeared near the ceiling of the wide space. So, if he stepped out now, he would fall 100 meters to his death. Down below, there was an adorable creature, taking a nap without a care in the world.
    Its fur was a lustrous black, its whiskers and small nose twitching as though it was having a particularly good dream.
    Its body was long in considered of its proportions. It had such a small head, but it was easily a foot and a half from head to toe.
    This adorable creature was actually a little black furred mink. But, despite having never seen it in its true form before, Leonel couldn't help but grind his teeth.
    This little bastard was definitely the beast that had been harassing him for so long.

 Chapter 178: Shadow World

    Leonel suppressed his annoyance in his heart. He would definitely deal with that annoying little mink, but he also had to be cautious.
    For one, that little mink could somehow sleep within that torrent of energy without any problems while he had simply stretched out a hand into it yet almost couldn't withstand the pain.
    Secondly, after so many days of battle with the little mink, Leonel knew that it most definitely wasn't simple to deal with. He even felt that its danger level was a level beyond the beast kings outside. He was thankful that all of their exchanges had lasted for a short time, or else maybe he would have been on the losing end far more times than he wanted to admit.
    'Why can it just sleep there so easily? Didn't the dictionary say the only way to survive in this environment was Force Skin? It doesn't look like that little bastard is using itбн'
    The little mink seemed to have a cloud of black fog perpetually hanging around its body, but this wasn't exactly like Force Skin at all.
    'It must be its innate abilityбн That means its Dark Element Force Strengthening Deviation might also comes from its innate abilityбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath. He couldn't consider this any longer.
    Now that he knew there was this beast guarding the Force Crystal Mine, he knew that he had to take it out. He didn't know why, but this little mink loved to attack him. Maybe the little guy thought it was a joke, but Leonel's life had been on the line every time. He couldn't take any chances.
    After making a decision, Leonel started slowly descending. He had appeared too high, if he stepped out now, he would just fall to his death. But, if he went too low, his treasure would likely stop working.
    The entire floor and much of the sides of the open space were covered with Force Crystals radiating resplendent lights. All the way here, Leonel had to navigate around ore veins because he knew his treasure wouldn't work against high level minerals. Obviously, the same went for Force Crystals.
    Unable to communicate with the others, Leonel had no choice but to make an explosive move. With Flowing Wind positioned right behind him, he believed that she would be able to stop their fall with her ability, albeit shakily considered how volatile the Force here was.
    Leonel leapt out from the wall. Force and sharp winds whipped against his body as he fell down toward the sleeping black-furred mink.
    With a flip of his palms, two pistols appeared, both outfitted with harpoons. This time, he had no intention of holding back. If he could kill this beast before it woke up, that would be for the best.
    BANG! BANG!
    Leonel's gaze lit up. He knew his shots hit the mark. And, from start to finish, the little mink hadn't moved. In fact, it seemed that his shots were so powerful that it directly blasted apart the platform of Force Crystals the little mink had been sleeping on too. But, this made sense. After all, compared to those massive beasts outside, this little guy was really small. It was no surprise Leonel's attack went right through it like that.
    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, a jolt of pain shooting through his legs as his blueish Force Skin fluctuated wildly beneath the pressure of the Force Eruption.
    He shook the stinging sensation out of his lower half. It seemed that his fall had quite an impact on him, he should have definitely used his treasure shoes. But, he had been saving them in case the little mink woke up in time and made a move on him. If that happened, he would have needed his shoes to dodge, or else he would have been a sitting duck in the air.
    However, Leonel could have never expected what he witnessed next.
    When he looked up, he was stunned silent. The little mink was still there, sleeping its time away as though nothing had happened.
    The two darts Leonel had shot out were still there as well. One went through the little mink's head and the other went through its body. Howeverбн
    It was like the little mink was an illusion or in a completely different reality. Its body seemed corporeal, but Leonel attack went through it as though it had no substance at all, almost as though this was just a projection and not a living creature.
    'What the hellбн'
    Leonel's heart tightened.
    At that moment, Flowing Wind unsteadily dropped to the ground, carrying Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap along with her. Her control over her ability was extremely poor in this place, but it was at least enough to slow their descent. Either way, Leonel hadn't brought her here for her combat prowess, but rather to help in quickening the maturity of the Force Crystal Core.
    "Youбн why'd you kill such an adorable little guy?"
    Flowing Wind reprimanded Leonel without the slightest hint of her previous lusty personality. In the blink of an eye, she had suddenly become a mother hen protecting her chicks.
    Leonel almost couldn't refrain from lashing out. Adorable? This little bastard had almost killed him who knows how many times?
    After a while, Flowing Wind and the others also noticed the oddity. If such a small creature was hit with such force, shouldn't it be a rain of blood and guts by now? Why did it seem like Leonel's darts had been embedded into its body?
    "It's incorporeal? Is it fake?" Thunderous Clap muttered.
    "I don't think it's fakeбн" Leonel said slowly. "бн But don't be fooled by its appearance. This little thing almost killed me several times."
    The eyes of the three youths widened. Almost killed Leonel? Which of them didn't know how powerful Leonel was? Yet, such a small beast was a danger to him?
    Hearing such words, they could only put their guards up.
    "I didn't get a chance to do this before because it was too fast, but maybe nowбн? Tell me about its abilities." The dictionary appeared in Leonel's palm as his eyes narrowed with seriousness.
    [ *Ping* Evolved life form detected. ]
    [Simplified Title: Mink]
    [State: Evolved бн Evolving]
    [ Abilities: бн *Ping* Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Shadow World: An ability that takes control of the world hidden from the stars. ]
    [ Evaluating powerбн *Ping* ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Elite Tier 9 Black ]

 Chapter 179: Euphoric Death

    Leonel involuntarily held his breath.
    This descriptionбн It was the simplest he had ever seen. It was also the most vague he had ever seen. The only description he had seen that carried this level of vagueness was his own. His own only became more detailed after he began using the dictionary to document his ability, which is why it now had a breakdown of all his abilities from Dream World to Dream Clone. But initiallyбн
    [ Calcualtive Mind: An ability capable of simplifying the complex. ]
    This was what the dictionary had first told him about his ability. It never said anything about his Dream World, Dream Sculpt or Dream Clone ability. Aside from himself, he had never seen an ability as simply explained as the little mink's Shadow World.
    But, what also shocked Leonel was the 'state' of the little mink. Not only did it say 'Evolved' but it also said 'Evolving'.
    The little mink's ability was already classified with the Elite Tier 9 Black level. If it evolved, wouldn't it cross over into the Bronze level just like Leonel?
    Leonel took a deep breath to steady his beating heart.
    Unlike him, the Little Mink's ability seemed exceptional for combat. Leonel couldn't even touch it despite the fact it was sleeping right in front of him. How was it even possible to do anything to this little guy?
    Just with this ability alone, the little mink was untouchable in Fourth Dimensional Worlds. Only under the suppression of a Fifth Dimensional World would its ability begin to show some weaknesses. But, considering it was currently evolving into the Bronze tiers, it seemed that this wouldn't be true for longбн
    Leonel decided to leave his darts in place. He didn't dare to approach the little mink too closely anymore. But, he also knew that it was simply impossible for them to just leave now. Their success would decide the life and death of tens of people.
    "How long will it take this little thing to finish evolving?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, 3:21:51:05 ]
    '3 days, 21 hours, 51 minutes and 5 seconds huhбн Hopefully that's enough.'
    Leonel chose to go with the assumption that the little mink would stay asleep for as long as it was evolving. In that case, maybe they would have enough time to help the Force Crystal Mine mature.
    "Let's hurry." Leonel said, receiving the agreement of the others.
    The four youths turned their attention toward the raging tempest of white, gushing Force toward the center of the wide space.
    The mine was over a kilometer in width and length. Of that space, the geyser took up barely 20 meters of width. But, its presence was imposing.
    It was an odd feeling. Unlike geysers of water, this Force Eruption hadn't made a single sound after its initial burst. It bore a hole through the network of tunnels above it and remained completely silent, even to the point the youths could easily chat.
    "Alright, Roaring Black Lion, you'll have to protect Flowing Wind. You all know what to do, right?"
    The youths nodded.
    Thunderous Clap had a Force cultivating technique and had formed four Nodes. So, his ability to keep up his Force Skin was relatively better. But, Flowing Wind had yet to do so for whatever reason, so she needed the protection of Roaring Black Lion. This was definitely a testament to how great her ability was.
    "We just pour our Force Strengthening Deviations in, right? Sounds simple enoughбн" Flowing Wind mumbled. But, it was clear that she wasn't very confident.
    Steeling their wills, the youths moved forward, approaching the geyser of white from different angles.
    The moment they crossed the barrier, they realized that things were completely out of their expectations. Let alone the towering danger they expected, it almost felt as though they were walking through a spray of sparkling water on the hottest of summer days.
    However, instead of making him feel more relaxed, Leonel's heart clenched as he pushed his way toward the Core.
    Though he disparaged the dictionary sometimes, how could he not trust something his father had left for him? His father was the one person who he trusted with his everything. Even if the things he left behind would sometimes tease him in unexpected ways, they wouldn't ever truly put him in danger.
    Since his father's dictionary put so much emphasis on how dangerous Force Eruptions were, how could Leonel ever take them lightly? The fact things seemed so calm and even relaxing made his hair stand on end.
    They say that there were forms of death where one would feel incomparably relaxed near the end. Some said that there was no better euphoria than drowningбн
    Something about this Force Eruption reminded Leonel of such thingsбн
    Soon, Leonel had made it to the Force Crystal Core. Without a better descriptor, he could only say that it was beautiful.
    It was the most perfect sphere Leonel had ever seen. It stood amidst an array of Force Crystals that looked like the petals of a blooming flower. Despite the fact it was the cause of such a shocking event, it was completely still. It was almost impossible to tell that it was the source of all of this at all.
    It radiated an assortment of colors, shimmering a resplendent rainbow. However, if one looked closely, it was possible to see golden lines being slowly drawn just beneath its surface. These lines seemed to exude an ancient mystery and were even somewhat more resplendent than even the rainbow colors of the Force Crystal Core. If it wasn't hidden beneath the Core's surface, it would definitely easily outshine its radiance.
    'Those must be the Natural Force Artsбн'
    Leonel looked up to see three pairs of eyes looking toward him solemnly. It seemed that they felt this matter shouldn't be so simple either.
    Leonel narrowed his eyes and took a step forward, lightly touching the core with a finger.
    Immediately, his expression changed as he quickly retracted his hand. But, it was still too late.
    The Force Skin protecting his hand burst. Soon after it, the skin on his left hand splintered and shattered into a rain of blood. Even the bones of his fingers were visible to see.
    Leonel's Force quickly surged, pushing the torrent of Force rampaging around within him out with brute force.
    By the time his heart settled down and he looked toward the Force Crystal Core with a solemn expression, all he could feel was a spine tingling pain from his hand.

 Chapter 180: Trapped

    Leonel's face slightly twisted in pain. No matter how used he was to injuries by now, the feeling of having his hand practically explode from the inside out left him wanting to cry out.
    The other three youths looked toward him with fear evident in their eyes. It was just a simple touch, but Leonel's ending had actually been so terrible. If he held on for just a fraction of a second longer, just how much worse would his injuries be?
    Leonel took several deep breaths.
    Maybe the worst part about all of this was the loss of his hand. A Force Crafter's hands were the most important part of their body. With his left hand in this state, it simply wouldn't be possible to craft anything.
    'бн I'm too recklessбн'
    Leonel clenched his jaw.
    "Retreat."
    Leonel ordered this the moment he saw how helpless the situation was. That break in his Force Skin had shaved off more than half the remaining time the Force Skin treasure he had forged had. It wouldn't be long before it shattered completely. By then, there was no telling how horrible his ending would be.
    However, just when he wanted to retreat, Leonel's expression changed.
    It had been so easy to walk in, but he found that the way out made him feel as though he was walking against quicksand.
    Leonel's expression immediately became ugly. What the hell was going on?
    "What's going on? I feel like I can't take a step back no matter how much I want to."
    Roaring Black Lion's voice held a rare instance of trepidation and fear. This was the very last thing they expected to happen. Why was it so easy to enter but not easy to leave?
    "It seems I've underestimated this Force Eruption againбн" Leonel smiled bitterly.
    There were all sorts of natural traps in the world, even before the Metamorphosis. All of them were easy to enter but difficult to leave.
    A Venus flytrap wouldn't have any qualms about allowing a fly onto its petals, but would it so easily allow one to leave? A beast wouldn't hestiate to allow its prey into its mouth, but would it so easily release it?
    This trap in particular reminded Leonel of a phenomenon that could happen in rivers and dams. Anyone swimming near a dam would be asking for death. The interaction between the rushing water suddenly met by an immovable force would cause a pattern of currents that would easily allow a human in, but make it impossible for them to leave.
    The number of people who had died to such a phenomenon were too many to count. Leonel had just never expected that the flow of Force here would be able to replicate such a thing.
    Leonel smiled bitterly. "Sorry guysбн It seems I was still a bit reckless."
    Leonel sighed. He knew that once again this was a case of the dictionary being very specific with its answers. He asked about how to mature a Force Crystal Core ahead of time, but hadn't asked anything about something like this.
    The three youths couldn't help but be disappointed. But, how mad could they be? It wasn't as though Leonel had sent them into this danger alone. He had stepped forward first and had even been willing to retreat when things weren't going well. This was something completely out of their expectations.
    "Don't worry." Leonel said firmly after a moment. "I promise to take you all out of here."
    The resolution in Leonel's voice shocked them. They hadn't expected that even now, he would still take responsibility. Usually, someone with as much power as him would definitely not have the time to care about them now.
    Without another word, Leonel directly sat on the ground, entering a meditative state. He weakly supported his left hand on his lap, doing his best to ignore the pain.
    'I have almost 30 coy fish scales. Each of them can provide 30 minutes of protection. Between the four of us, that's enough for a bit over three hours and a half.'
    The three youths looked toward Leonel, then looked at one another. There were clear hints of despair on their faces, but what could they do?
    Thunderous Clap tried to fight his way out, throwing out thunderous punches that rocked the air, but he found himself sliding back with every strike.
    Flowing Wind and Roaring Black Lion tried their hands at it too. In fact, the former had the greatest shot and even almost succeeded, trying to ride the flow of Force. But in the end, just when it looked like she might succeed, she was blasted backward. Had it not been for Roaring Black Lion catching her before she landed on the Force Crystal Core, her outcome would have been even sorrier.
    Leonel's mind spun. However, no matter how hard he thought, everything pointed in a singular direction: Force Strengthening Deviations.
    The only way to overwhelm Force was with Force of greater quantity or quality.
    Right now, he couldn't spare thoughts toward maturing the Force Crystal Core. Wasting stamina on it would just make it so that they were less likely to survive. With only a little over three hours, every small bit of stamina could decide life and death.
    'I need to improve my Light Elemental Force or my Spear Forceбн'
    Leonel's eyes flashed open. He pushed forward his only good remaining hand, stabbing out toward the edge of the Force Eruption's influence.
    But, what he saw left him feeling helpless. Even with the amplification of his Spear Force, his [Call of the Wind] only traveled a meter before being shattered completely.
    Taking a deep breath, Leonel attempted to fuse his Light Elemental Force into the attack. It wasn't a perfect fusion, but it was barely enough to gain a small amplification.
    He pierced out once more, but the result was just as depressing. It barely passed the two and a half meter mark before being crushed. That was still almost a full eight meters from the edge they needed to escape from.
    'The closer to escaping the energy fluctuations it was, the harder it is to cross. The one to two meter distance was at least twice as difficult to cross as the zero to one meter distanceбн I need to improveбн'
    Leonel could only turn his hopes back to the dictionary. It said that there were levels beyondбн right?

 Chapter 181: Snowy Star Owl

    Leonel turned a complicated glance toward the dictionary in his hands.
    "Tell me about the levels of Force Strengthening Deviations."
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Force Strengthening Deviations are divided by quality and type. Type can range from Weapon Types to Elemental Types, while quality is decided by Evolution Potential and range of ability, also known as Evolution Branches. ]
    [ Evolution Potential: The potential for improvement. This is decided by the amplification ability of a Force Strengthening Deviation. All Force Strengthening Deviations have the ability to reach the pinnacle, but the amount of amplification they provide varies. ]
    [ Evolution Branches: These are the number of routes a Force Strengthening Deviation can take. Not all of the same type and sub-type are born equal. There are differences in strength between Spear Forces and even Light Elemental Forces. ]
    Leonel's brow furrowed. There was so much information. He didn't know if it was worth it to know all of it. After all, he only had three hours left. He had to make a decision. Sitting here listening to a history lesson on Force Strengthening Deviations would just be asking for death.
    "Tell me about my Light Elemental Force specifically."
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ The Light Elemental Force Seed has comprehended comes from a Lineage Factor. This is somewhat different from a Force Strengthening Deviation comprehended naturally or awakened through and ability. ]
    [ A naturally comprehended Force Strengthening Deviation is limited by either one's comprehension or the source one has used to comprehend it. ]
    Leonel was confused by this for a moment, but after a while he understood. By 'source' the dictionary was referring to natural sources of Force Strengthening Deviations. For example, if one found a battle ground and there were many Spear Force scars along the ground, it would be possible to comprehend Spear Force from them. But, one would be limited by the expertise of the expert that carved the scars in the first place.
    Of course, one could also naturally comprehend Spear Force on their own much like Hutch comprehended Blade Force. In that case, it was on one's own shoulders to improve and evolve one's Spear Force.
    [ A Force Strengthening Deviation awakened through an ability would be limited by the Evolution Stage of one's ability. But, Seed's Force Strengthening Deviation is limited by the Lineage Factors of your Lineage Factor. ]
    [ The origin of Seed's Light Elemental Force is the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. ]
    Leonel's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
    Time dilated and he could feel that his breathing had slowed to a crawl. In that moment, his eyes became dim as though he had been trapped in an illusion.
    In the beginning, all he saw was darkness. But, after a while, he could faintly see a small dot in the distance that radiated a bright light.
    He blinked just a single time, but the moment his vision cleared, the light had completely covered the range he could see.
    The sight was incomparably beautiful. A bird with eyes radiating with wisdom and feathers as white as snow looked down toward him. Its golden irises didn't have a hint of disdain or loftiness. Rather, it looked down as though a senior appreciating a junior. The gentleness touched Leonel's heart.
    COOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    A mighty call left the owl's beak as it flapped its wings once more, vanishing from Leonel's sight. But even still, the image continued to replay in his mind. And, as time began to regain its previous pace, Leonel's heart followed and quickened many times over.
    When Leonel's dull gaze regained its light, he found that his breathing had quickened and he was drenched from head to toe in sweat.
    'Wowбн'
    Snowy Star Owlбн What kind of creature was that? Leonel had no idea. But he somehow felt that it was incomparably majestic. Leonel wasn't sure how his Lineage Factor stacked up to other Light Elemental Lineage Factors, but what he did know was that this Lineage Factor made him feel extremely comfortable.
    [ The Snowy Star Owl is known especially for its speed, wisdom, and miracle healing. As such, Seed's Light Elemental Lineage Factor can be considered to have three main Branches of Evolution. ]
    [ The first branch is simply known as the Movement Evolution. Among Force Strengthening Deviation, Light Elemental Force only loses to Space Elemental Force in this regard. However, within the Speed sub-branch of the Movement Evolution Branch, the Light Element is unmatched. ]
    [ The second branch is known as the Support Evolution Branch. The Wisdom sub-branch and the Healing sub-branch both fall under this category. ]
    [ Both sub-branches can only be effectively used when combined with one's other Lineage Factors. Meaning one's level of Light Elemental Force can thus unlock Lineage Factor abilities and techniques to be used as one. ]
    Wisdom? Healing?
    Leonel didn't know what these sub-branches were, but this Evolution Branch concept really reminded him the evolution trees of a role playing game. Was that how Lineage Factors worked as well?
    He had thought that his Light Elemental Force had exceptionally good penetrative abilities, but judging by the words of the dictionary, this wasn't its main ability.
    "Why do I feel that my Light Elemental Force had good penetrative ability?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, this is a result of Seed's Spear Domain Lineage Factor. ]
    Leonel furrowed his brows. "Isn't my Spear Domain Lineage Factor much weaker than my Light Element Lineage Factor?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed: You're an idiot. ]
    Hearing these words, not only did Leonel's face darken, but so did the other three youths who happened to be nearby him. Even in the situation, the sudden odd words almost made them burst into laughter.
    Leonel could tell that the 'You're an idiot' part was very lifelike. It seemed that it was yet another recording left by his father, but this time, it was just a short message.
    [ The strength of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor is in its ability to combine countless disciplines into one. This is why the Spear Domain Heirloom is filled with spears, each tied to a different consciousness and each with a completely different style. Only by combining many disciplines into one will the Spear Domain Lineage Factor truly show its might. ]
    [ The reason Seed's Light Elemental Force seems to have great penetrative abilities is because of the effect of Seed's Spear Domain Lineage Factor. It has integrated Seed's Light Elemental Force somewhat, giving it such an ability. ]
    [ Also, though attacking is not a main ability of the Snowy Star Owl, it is still an Elite Sixth Dimensional Mythical Beast. It would not be too weak in this regard. To lower Dimensions, its attack ability can be considered godly. ]
    After hearing all of this, Leonel finally understood. The penetrative ability of his Light Elemental Force occurred due to the influence of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. But, since he had looked down on his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, he never actively tried to look into its secrets, thus inadvertently suppressing it.
    "If that's the caseбн"
    Leonel's blood rumbled, a spear appearing in his hand.
    Without even getting up, his eyes flashed as he pierced forward. This time, he felt that the integration of his Spear Force and Light Elemental Force had risen by several degrees.
    PUUUUU
    Leonel's eyes glowed with a fierce light. "Four meters!"
    It wasn't only him who was excited, but Flowing Wind practically pounced into his arms and gave him a kiss.
    There really was hope.

 Chapter 182: Inadequate

    After the initial bout of excitement, Leonel immediately calmed himself.
    What was there to be proud about? He had only touched four meters, there were still six more to go. And, it had now become even more obvious to him that the difficulty of crossing that distance doubled with every meter he passed. The fact he had directly jumped from two and a half meters to four was a testament to just how great his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was, but that was all. Was it even possible to improve enough to cross the remaining distance?
    The other youths seemed to realize this as well. So, their smiling expressions soon faded.
    "Handsome, hurry up and improve some more. I'm too young and beautiful to die." Flowing Wind said this as though joking around, but there was a well hidden fear in her tone. It wasn't something that Leonel would miss.
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    "You three enter my spatial treasure. It should buy us more time."
    Leonel wasn't confident in the Segmented Cube's defensive ability. This wasn't because he was doubting its peak prowess, but rather because it was still in Phase One. In Phase One, it was essentially still limited to Third Dimensional Abilities. So, it was impossible for its abilities to be too grand.
    However, if these three youths entered the Segmented Cube and he placed it in his spatial bracelet, then he only needed to activate one Force Skin to protect them all. Like this, his less than four hour time limit would be over thirteen hours.
    The three youths looked at each other and nodded.
    Here, they were only a burden to Leonel. It would be good if they could help in some way.
    Leonel sighed a breath of relief and took out the Segmented Cube.
    He found that it was frenziedly absorbing the Force in the surroundings. At this pace, it might only be a few days before it could accumulate enough to evolve into Phase Two. But, Leonel obviously didn't have this long to wait.
    Just when Leonel was about to allow the youths in, he suddenly made a pleasant discovery.
    'The Segmented Cube can't leave this place, but it's still a natural Force barrierбн'
    Leonel's eyes glowed with excitement. He hadn't put too much hope in the Segmented Cube. In fact, he had covered it with his Force Skin when he pulled it out just now. But, what he never expected was that it would actually be capable of forcefully absorbing any Force he gave it.
    'It can take volatile Force, absorb it, and make it docile!'
    In that case, didn't that mean that Leonel's time limit wasn't limited to 13 or so hours anymore?!
    Leonel grinned as the three youths looked toward him in confusion.
    "It seems we don't need to die here today."
    Before the three could ask Leonel what he meant, the Segmented Cube expanded and enveloped the three of them.
    On the outside, the Segmented Cube expanded to a ten meter diameter, hovering in the air above the Force Crystal Core.
    It shuddered and trembled, bouncing back and forth between the two opposing edges of the Force geyser, but it eventually managed to reach an equilibrium.
    Within the Abode Setting, the four youths watched on nervously as a violent earthquake took hold of the world within the Segmented Cube. They only managed to sigh a breath of relief after everything finally settled into a low rumble.
    Leonel wasn't any different from them. He too had been worried about the result, but luckily it had all paid off.
    "There are a few rooms here. Feel free to pick one. There's also plenty of food and water. I'll definitely get us out of here."
    Leonel nodded to the youths. But when they saw the sadness on his expression, they couldn't help but be stunned.
    This should have been a happy change of events. Why was it that Leonel didn't seem the slightest bit happy?
    Leonel turned to leave.
    Flowing Wind wanted to step out and stop him, maybe even try to cheer him up, but she found that two sturdy hands had landed on her shoulders, stopping her from moving forward.
    She was completely stunned to find that both Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap had tacitly agreed to stop her as one. She couldn't even react before Leonel had disappeared from her sight.
    "Why the hell did you two stop me? He's our savior, shouldn't we at least say thank you? There's no reason for him to be feeling like that."
    "You don't get it." Roaring Black Lion said with a snort. "Even if things worked out in the end, his pride is still wounded."
    "Pride?" Flowing Wind's brows furrowed. Though it was blocked beneath her mask, one could imagine that it was quite a lovely sight to see.
    "It's ultimately his fault that things turned out this way." Thunderous Clap spoke. "There's even an argument to be made here that we're only alive by a fluke. Even stumbling into the ability of this abode type treasure was a mistake."
    "What the hell are you saying? We made our own choice to come here with him. Plus, he was in just as much danger as us. Only a bastard would blame him for information we all lacked equally."
    "You still don't get it. I don't know what's weighing on Indomбн Leonel's mind, but whatever it is, he definitely feels like his performance makes him unworthy of meeting those goals.
    "He takes himself to be responsible for our lives. Whether it was coming to this hive or accelerating the maturity of the Force Crystal Core, they were all his ideas. But, he's seemingly made one mistake after another.
    "For a man like him, he definitely feels inadequate."
    Flowing WInd snorted. "If it was just garbage male pride, you should have just said so from the beginning. But he's so handsome and caring at the same time, this lady definitely likes him."
    Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap looked at one another helplessly. This Flowing Wind girl was definitely too far gone.

 Chapter 183: Never Again

    Leonel sat on a chair in the Lab Setting, staring out blankly into space.
    In truth, in the beginning, even he wasn't fully aware of why he was feeling like this. It could even be said that Thunderous Clap and Roaring Black LIon understood before even he had. It could only be said that the objectivity of a third party was great.
    He had come here with every intention of instantly getting to work, diving into training until he could barge his way out. But, instead of doing any of that, he found himself frozen in time.
    After a long while, he finally understood the emotion he was feelingбн
    Shame.
    He had made too many mistakes. Initially, he kept brushing them off as though they were nothing more than jokes. But it seemed that as time passed, the 'mistakes' he made continued to have more and more serious consequences. It came to the point where even though this most recent mistake of his had no real consequences yet, he simply couldn't put up with himself anymore.
    What truly baffled him was that he wasn't immediately certain of how to fix this. Wasn't it only natural that someone as young and uninformed as him make so many mistakes?
    But, the more Leonel thought about it, the more he felt that this excuse was exactly thatбн an excuse. In a world like this, who cared if he needed time to mature? Would the spider king's venom wait for him? Would the Force Crystal Core let him go on account of his youth? Would Simeon leave him be until he matured?
    The answer to all of this was obviously no. No one owed him such a thing.
    Compared to others, how much better was his starting position? Whether it was his talent, the treasures his father left for him, or the Lineage Factor his mother left for himбн How many times luckier was he than another?
    To this day, he still had no idea how well his teammates were doing. Did James fall out with them after being snubbed by him? What about Yuri? She was one of Aina's only two friends. How was she doing with them? Was she okay?
    Compared to these people, wasn't he considered to be lucky?Was this what those psychologists deemed as survivor's guilt?
    Maybe that was exactly what it was. Leonel felt undeserving. He made so many life altering mistakes, yet managed to survive every time by the skin of his teeth. Sometimes it might be due to his own wit, but how many more times had it just been luck?
    Memories were constantly pulled up from the depths of Leonel's mind, each one striking a cord with him.
    When he first exited the Mayan Tomb and Aina killed Conrad with a single strike. During their journey to the Fort, he had even had thoughts of being unwilling to live anymore.
    How ridiculous had his actions been back then? He even went out and fought seven A-grade Invalids back to back. Maybe that had been under the guise of protecting his friends, but wasn't the truth that he was just seeking death?
    How lucky had he been to survive that? Did he even deserve to survive that? His abilities back then couldn't even compare to the current him. A single A-grade threat was more than enough to threaten his lifeбн
    Then there was the time within the Joan of Arc Zone. Due to his own selfishness, he forced both him and Aina into a corner. Instead of waiting until both armies had whittled their strength down, he stupidly charged in.
    Back then, without a word, Aina had still chosen to follow him. But, had he not found Joan's weakness at the last minute, wouldn't they have both died?
    How lucky had he been to survive that? How could he eve think of blaming Aina for lying to him about the entry quota when he, himself, was so selfish?
    Then there was the battle at the Royal Blue Fort. He had foolishly traveled back to the Fort, thinking that everything would be over as long as he made his way back. But, that ended up in Aina almost dying, and now she was in a world he knew next to nothing about. Who knew what kind of hardships she was undergoing now?
    How lucky had he been to survive that? If he hadn't been so naive, wouldn't Aina still be by his side right now?
    Leonel continued to blankly stare at the wall, his heart beat slowing to eerie speeds.
    What a joke. Even with Aina by his side right now, would he even be capable of protecting her?
    Here he was again. Another stupid mistake. He was suffering here because of his own foolishness, his own naivetиж.
    How lucky had he been to survive this?
    He could have avoided it. Had he just been more cautious, had he just asked more questions, had he just not gotten ahead of himself...
    This all ultimately stemmed from his own personality. Nothing ever entered his sights, nothing ever caught his attention. The only exception to this was Aina, and other than knowing that he appreciated her demeanor, Leonel couldn't quite explain his infatuation either. He only knew it existed.
    But, what right did he have to have such a disposition if those things he always put beneath his notice always became roadblocks he could only rely on luck to surpass? What right did he have to be arrogant?
    His father always said the two most important things in life were Respect and Persistence. But had he ever truly engraved these words into his heart? Or had he only ever taken them perfunctorily?
    How could he claim to have Respect and Persistence in all things if he was constantly placing himself above everything?
    Leonel suddenly thought of the kind eyes of the Snowy Star Owl. Such a beautiful majestic creature. To it.. He was nothing more than an ant. Yet, it looked toward him with such fondness and love.
    'Never again.'
    Leonel's heart thrummed.
    He didn't mean that he would never make a mistake again. If he dared to think such a thing, wouldn't he have learned nothing? This would just be the same conceit packaged in a different way.
    Rather, he was acknowledging that his character needed to be tempered. This feeling of shameбн he didn't want to feel it again.
    WENG!
    A bright golden glow shot from Leonel's eyes. He inadvertently sunk into a state of contemplation. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice his Spirit improving by leaps and boundsбн

 Chapter 184: Spirit

    Within Leonel's Ethereal Glabella, a striking change was occurring.
    In the beginning, it had been a world of white fog. It could be said that the only tangible existences within it were the two white stars hanging in the air. However, now, everything began to slowly change.
    After comprehending Spear Force and Light Elemental Force, two new objects appeared in Leonel's Ethereal Glabella. The first was a 12 sided star. It was very small, barely being about a foot in diameter, but it glowed with a resplendent light. The second was a transparent Spear Soul. It had a fuzzy body one had to squint to make out and its blade seemed very dull. But, it still gave off a bit of the sharpness one would expect from a spear.
    At that moment, however, a violent trembling took hold of the world.
    First, the 12 sided star began to vibrate. With each tremor, it grew a fold in size.
    After several moments, its size even dwarfed the round white stars in the sky to the point that they even began to orbit about it.
    WENG! WENG! WENG!
    The moment that transformation was complete, the white fog of the realm began to recede. No, it was inaccurate to say that it was receding and far better to say that it was being compressed.
    The more the fog was compressed, the less white it seemed and the more golden it became. It wasn't just the white fog itself, but even the Stars of the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique seemed to be gaining tinges of gold along their fiery surfaces.
    [Spirit: 2.32]
    бн
    [Spirit: 3.00]
    бн
    [Spirit: 3.89]
    бн
    [Spirit: 5.23]
    бн
    Leonel's spirit didn't stop growing until it rammed up against the 6.00 barrier, stopping just shy of it at 5.98.
    One had to remember that Leonel's stats had always been arbitrary. For example, he always set his Force stat at 0.10 per Force Node he had, then stat'd out everyone else accordingly. His physical stats were somewhat less arbitrary, but still only based on estimations. However, his spirit stat was just like his Force stat and completely based on his own prowess.
    As a result of this, a number like 5.98 was hard to put into perspective. However, due to his sudden awakening, Leonel had gained memories that seemed to both have always been his, yet were somehow new at the same time.
    Thanks to this, he came to understand something.
    Spirit between 0.01 and 3.00 could be considered to be within the Fourth Dimensional Realms. Having just 0.01 and even 0.001 was enough to represent the awakening of Internal Sight. Anyone who could do this was able to cultivate a Force Node creation technique.
    So what did this mean? Spirit between 3.01 and 6.00 could be considered to be within the Fifth Dimension!
    The numbers weren't pretty since Leonel had formulated the system on his own. But this was already enough to shock one completely.
    Leonel still couldn't be considered to have formed a Fourth Dimensional Body yet. He would need to perfect the part of [Dimensional Cleanse] he had first before he could do that.
    Yet, despite this, his spirit had already crossed into the Fifth Dimension and even seemed a hair's breadth from the Sixth. It was simply inconceivable.
    Spirit wasn't like physical stats. Those kind of stats would need a massive increase before undergoing a qualitative change. But, Spirit was so hard to gain in the first place. Leonel had never even met a person aside from himself that was even close to the 1.00 barrier, let alone approaching the 6.00 barrier like him.
    The difference was too striking!
    Leonel's eyes flashed open, a beam shooting out from within them against his will. It was a long while before his eyes dimmed from a bright green back down to its usual pale ivory color.
    A slow breath left his lips.
    His mind felt so fresh and clear, yet he didn't have the self satisfied attitude one would expect. He knew well that this improvement was all in thanks to a Lineage Factor he didn't earn himself. What use was there in being proud?
    He had made such a big show of wanting to 'comprehend' his Lineage Factors on his own, but hadn't he relied on his talent in the end anyway?
    But the current Leonel wasn't the same Leonel of the past. He wouldn't allow such things to hold him back.
    He wouldn't completely rely on his talent, but there was no need to directly ignore it either. There was no need for him to be hypocrite, on one hand ignoring the god given gifts he had been handed, and on the other, still relying on them to escape dangerous situations by a hair. He didn't want to be that kind of person.
    "What stage is my ability at now?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Elite Tier 9 Bronze ]
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. It seemed his conjecture was correct. His ability and his spirit work in a feedback loop. If he could use [Dimensional Cleanse] to nurture his ability and by extension raise his spirit, then raising his spirit should by extension increase his ability's cap.
    Leonel's aura blossomed with confidence. However, this wasn't a confidence borne of arrogance, but rather a confidence borne of ability бк a striking difference to the version of himself just a day ago.
    Leonel looked toward his injured left hand. He had just unlocked the first Wisdom Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. It was known as Northern Twelve Stars according to the memories that had appeared in his mind.
    If he wanted a chance to heal his left hand quickly, he would need to awaken the first Healing Branch. However, after a moment of thought, he directly decided against this.
    His mind seemed to be working on a different gear entirely. He immediately thought of several possible solutions and disregarded all but the best.
    "Of the Pseudo and True Fourth Dimensional plants I collected earlier, list all those that have healing properties and tell me about all of their effects."
    [ *Ping* ]

 Chapter 185: Passage Out

    At that moment, within the Southern Lookout, Old Hutch could actually be found within his office. Or, more accurately, the office he had snatched from the previous Supreme.
    Though he was here, it seemed he was only so physically. By the way he put his wrinkled feet up and was snoring away with a box of pizza sliding around his chest, he most deifinitely wasn't here mentally.
    BANG!
    At that moment, a young lady slammed her small palm on the table, causing it to directly split in two. She couldn't have been more than 16 or 17 years old, but she didn't give Old Hutch the slightest bit of face as she startled him awake.
    "Damn perverted old man. You called us here for something urgent yet you're sleeping without a care in the world?!"
    To the young lady's side, there was a quiet young man who was seemingly used to all of this. He kicked at one of the falling wooden pieces of the once whole desk, just barely allowing it to catch a piece of falling pizza before it stained the expensive carpets.
    Old Hutch and the young lady looked toward the young man.
    "Clean freak."
    They snapped as one, causing the young man to roll his eyes.
    "Why did you call us here old man?" The young man asked.
    "Ohбн Why did I call you here? I forgetбн"
    Old Hutch smacked his lips. Who knows what he was dreaming about for his eyes to be so misty.
    "Damn old pervertбн" The young woman spit out through gritted teeth.
    "Ah, that's right. There's a Force Eruption on the B Sector Project Hunt Island. Go help them out."
    The brows of the two youths furrowed.
    "Just the two of us? Are you crazy?" The young woman snapped.
    "What? Aren't you supposed to be geniuses?"
    "Don't joke around, old man." The young man's frown deepened. "We're supposed to be getting ready for the SS-grade Zone. If we get injured in a beast tide, how will we go?"
    "I'm sure we've got plenty of Healing Type ability users in this place." Old Hutch said lazily.
    Judging by the look of the young man and woman, they wanted nothing more than to tear Old Hutch apart. But, they knew they weren't a match for this old man. Causing him to lose a small bit of face every so often was the best they could do.
    "Fine, fine. Things aren't so simple as they seem. I received an intelligence report a while ago that the Brazinger Clan is involved."
    "Weeks ago? And you still let those kids go?"
    This time, it was the young man and Old Hutch's turn to look at the young lady weirdly. Her 18th birthday was still a couple months away. Many of those 'kids' she was talking about were older than she was.
    The young lady, though, didn't seem to notice their weird gazes and kept glaring at Old Hutch.
    "They needed to be tempered a bit." Old Hutch said with a yawn. "Plus, I thought it would be a while more until the Force Eruption occurred. Those Brazinger family brats probably got caught off guard as well or else they wouldn't have come either."
    "Fine, fine. But that still doesn't explain why you're only sending the two of us."
    "Those hidden families like to find excuses to bend the rules all the time. If I send someone better, they'll move in under the guise of 'protecting' their young brats then directly take whatever it is they want. This Force Crystal Mine is too good to give to them."
    Seeing that the two were still frowning, Old Hutch got up and patted their shoulders with a grin on his face.
    "You two don't have much of a choice."
    The expressions of the two darkened.
    "While you're out there, look out for a brat who goes by Leonel. You three should probably work together to get out of there. Off you go."
    The two youths looked at each other.
    That Project Hunt Island was one of the weaker ones. It could only be considered somewhat special due to the fact it had a Force Crystal Mine. But since the Slayer Legion was waiting for it to mature, they still hadn't touched it.
    As for them, they obviously went to Project Hunt Islands with greater challenges. They felt no need to waste time on this island.
    But, this said, they weren't blindly arrogant. If they were, why would they feel so apprehensive about going to an island with an ongoing Force Eruption? They knew exactly how dangerous such a thing would be. If they blindly went, they'd be asking for death.
    Of course, this didn't mean they weren't confident. They both believed that if they were cautious, no harm would come to them. It was just that it would be impossible to save the 80 or so youths that went with just the two of them alone.
    This was all to say that they were a bit baffled that Old Hutch would be talking about this 'Leonel' as though he was their equal. If he was, wouldn't he be rubbing elbows with them? Why would he be over there?
    "Don't underestimate that kid, he's quite arrogant and awakened Light Elemental Force."
    The two youths finally raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Light Elemental Force? That was exceptionally rare. At least, there was no one in their Slayer Legion with such an ability. From what they knew, there was only that person currently in the Capital with itбн
    "Either way, you'll be entering the SS-grade Zone with that brat soon. So, you might as well get used to teaming up."
    This time, Old Hutch didn't play any games. If this was just a normal encounter, he might have tricked these two into hating Leonel first. But at a time like this, even he couldn't be careless. It would really be a pity if those youths all died.
    But, there was something even more important to grasp from thisбн Old Hutch was still willing to risk these lives just so that the Brazinger Clan wouldn't have an excuse to claim the Force Crystal Mineбн
    **
    "Young Lord, we've completely lost track of Jian and Quinn. Should we check the tunnels they were assigned?"
    Simeon's brow furrowed deeply.
    If they wasted time doing this, they would lose at least a few more days. But, what if they didn't and the reason the two disappeared or died was as a result of encountering the Force Eruption? In that case, wouldn't they be missing out?
    Just when Simeon was about to make a decision, another group suddenly converged on them. Of course, they were also part of the Brazinger family.
    "Young Lord, we have good news."
    A man with red hair and eyes, similar to the rest of them, stepped forward with a happy expression.
    "You found the Force Crystal Mine?" Simeon's eyes brightened, already forgetting about the disappearance of his two subordinates. Who cared if they died if the mine was found?
    "We can't be certain, but we have found something good." The man quickly explained, not willing to allow Simeon to become disappointed. "We found a passage out of the hive."
    Simeon frowned. He had already felt unhappy when the answer was no, now this fool was telling him about a passage out of the hive? There were hundreds of those. If it wasn't for this, how would they have so many tunnels to explore?
    "No, no, no. Sorry Young Lord, I'm a fool who's terrible with words. What I mean is that this passage out of the hive leads to the valleys. We stepped out and found that the Force Concentration was many times higher there. It's possible that there's a more direct path to the mine through the valleys."
    It was only after hearing this that Simeon's expression brightened once more. They had tried many ways to descend the valleys, but they all ended in failure. A few of his subordinates had even died in the attempt. If there was another path, this was perfect.
    The likelihood that there was a direct path to mine through the valleys was exceptionally high, especially since it was theorized that the valleys themselves were caused by the mine to begin with!
    "Excellent! Lead the way."

 Chapter 186: Shackles

    Leonel looked at his left hand, flexing it slowly and testing each of his fingers one by one.
    'It's a little weaker than it has been in the past. It will probably take me a few weeks to recover completely back to the Advanced Grade One Designation. For now, I'll have to do with Grade One Designation.'
    There had been plants among the few Leonel took out that could return him back to the Advanced Grade One Designation immediately, but they all had lingering side effects. The only way to perfectly recover so quickly бк in the case of such low level herbs, anyway бк was by drawing on his life force. But, this was a path with many lingering problems.
    The herb Leonel chose was actually a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional healing type herb known as Three-Vein Mending Weed. It was quite a common healing herb and was perfect for a body still within the Third Dimension like Leonel's. If he wanted to heal the same injury while he had a Fourth Dimensional body, it would take a much stronger herb like Four-Vein Mending Weed.
    Instead of overdrawing his life force, Mending Weed used its Natural Force Art to nurture flesh wounds and supplement their healing. These Natural Force Arts were drawn directly from the 'veins' that were within their namesake.
    Their healing abilities were less exaggerated, but due to their way of doing things, the lingering issues were much more acceptable.
    'I have to be careful.' Leonel thought seriously.
    Wounds like his could have easily crippled him for life. Without godly medicine, one's path to grow stronger could easily be completely impeded by a single severe injury.
    Luckily, the Leonel of now felt that he was far steadier than he had been in the past. Though it couldn't be said that he had completely changed, he at least felt that he was on the right path now. He hopefully wouldn't make such rash decisions again.
    'I still can't believe it took me two days to complete a Dream Sculpt of the Three-Vein Mending Weedбн'
    When Leonel learned the secrets of the Mending Weed, he had been very interested in its Natural Force Arts. But, he could have never expected that even with the evolution of his ability and the fact his spirit had entered the peak of the Fifth Dimension that it would still take him so long to perfectly copy it.
    One had to remember that it only took him about a day to Dream Sculpt Joan's flag pole. That treasure could only be counted as being within the Third Dimension but Leonel's spirit was just at the beginning stages of the Fourth Dimension back then.
    But now, his soul was in the Fifth Dimension and this Three-Vein Mending Weed was in the Third, but it still took him two days!
    This experience taught Leonel something very importantбн Natural Force Arts were not a joke. If he really thought it would be so simple to speed up the maturation of the Force Crystal Coreбн he was sorely mistaken.
    Toward such a conclusion, Leonel could only smile bitterly. Just how naive had he been?
    He struggled so much to etch a Third Dimensional Natural Force Art into his memories, but the Force Crystal Core was now trying to complete a Fourth Dimensional Natural Force Art. How could these things even be compared?
    'I need more strength.'
    Leonel no longer felt the need to rush. He would go at his own pace. Rushing everything and being headstrong was how he constantly got into trouble.
    He knew that the little mink would wake up just one more day and a bit. He also knew that it was very likely Simeon might find the Force Crystal Mine any time now. But, if he was always rashly doing things, wouldn't he just be rushing himself to death?
    Only by being steady in his every step and earning his conceit and arrogance would he be able to safely weather this storm.
    Even though this was Leonel's new mindstate, he wouldn't just waste two days as he had just done without reason. Everything needed to be done in moderation.
    The reason he saw fit to waste these two days was precisely so that he could have a better understanding of what he was facing. Now, he was aware of just how domineering Natural Force Arts were. By his estimation, compared to Force Arts created by humans, they were a Dimensional Tier higher.
    In that case, Leonel knew that what he needed to do now was grow more powerful.
    'So what should I do? Form my Force Nodes? Or comprehend my Metal Synergy Lineage Factor?'
    After a moment of calculation, Leonel landed on the second option. His thoughts now were incomparably quick. Compared to before, he could complete the same train of thought that might have taken him an hour before in just a few moments.
    Leonel sunk into a state of contemplation. Compared to the past, his ability to see through his Lineage Factors with the help of his Soul Force was several levels more potent. It wasn't long before he sensed the last dormant Lineage Factor within his blood.
    Before, it was only a vague feeling he had to meditate on for several days. But now, he could practically see their visualizations. It looked like several shackles binding tightly to his blood vessels.
    Leonel could see it all, as though several small and intricate Natural Force Arts were floating around his body. He could easily follow them all, it was as though he had shrunk and entered his body, following the paths his blood flowed through.
    Leonel got lost in the feeling. He had almost completely forgotten that he was here to unlock these shackles, not observe them. But, his body felt like a universe unto itself. Its depth and complexity seemed to be no lessбн it was mesmerizing.
    Before Leonel realized what was happening, he had followed his blood into his kidneys, passively observing as the crimson liquid went through a cycle of purification. No, it couldn't be said to be crimson, his blood seemed to carry a tinge of holiness from his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factorбн
    The cycle of purification left Leonel in another daze. The human body really was a beautiful thing. Everything worked together like a well oiled machine.
    Suddenly, Leonel startled awake as though his mind had been struck my lightning.
    'My kidneys!'
    Leonel understood why he had never been able to find his Ninth Node. It was because his 'ninth' was actually his Ninth and Tenth!

 Chapter 187: Nova Generation

    Leonel's breathing quickened slightly. He was absolutely certain. If he managed to form a Ninth and Tenth Node, one for each of his kidneys, the compatibility with his body would reach 100%. Not only that, but the benefits would be immeasurable.
    If he formed Force Nodes in his brain, spine, heart, lungs and kidneys, his control over his body would reach an unprecedented degree. Not only that, but if he controlled the purification process of his blood through his Force, wouldn't his ability to comprehend his Lineage Factors become that much more potent?
    After a while, Leonel calmed himself.
    The difficulty of forming a Tenth Node was an unknown entity to Leonel. He still knew too little. He didn't even know if such a thing was possible.
    All he did know was that there was a limit to the number of Force Nodes a body could contain. Nine was the theoretical limit.
    At the same time, though, was this really an infallible rule? Wasn't the limit of Force Nodes decided due to how much Force one could handle? But didn't some people have larger Force Nodes in comparison to others? In that case, were all Force Nodes really created equal?
    Leonel's Force Nodes were constructed with 100 cells. Most people could only form Force Nodes with one or a couple cells at most. In that case, didn't Leonel form their equivalent of dozens of Force Nodes?
    In the end, Leonel shook his head. Even though this seemed like sound logic on the surface, he wouldn't act on it just yet. He would definitely hound the dictionary with more questions, but now wasn't the time.
    It would take time to research whether his plan was feasible. But unlocking his Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн could be done now!
    WENG!
    Leonel's aura suddenly became incomparably heavy. Even the chair beneath him snapped and crumbled, causing him to fall heavily to the ground. But, he was so focused in his state of meditation that he didn't even notice.
    His dirty blond hair began to whip about wildly, flashing with a bright bronze color before dimming once more, only to shimmer with it once again.
    Leonel could see it clearly. The opening of his Metal Synergy Bloodline, compared to his Snowy Star Owl and Spear Domain Lineage Factors, was much more involved.
    He could see it before him now. Within his blood, there were five massive gates. However, compared to the first, the next four were too far away. Leonel could tell that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to reach those gates, at least not with his current strength.
    Realizing this, he focused completely on the gate right before him. It was a massive bronze door, covered in shackles that wrapped around it endlessly.
    This singular door was built with several levels. Like a nesting doll, the smallest door was surrounded by larger and larger doors. There were nine in total, with the largest door amongst them looming so tall that even when Leonel craned his neck vertically, he couldn't see its peak.
    Leonel took a step forward. He felt that with every step he took , a greater and greater pressure weighed on him. It was as though this door was doing everything in its power to force him to his knees.
    Leonel smiled lightly. If it was just a few days ago, his spirit would have directly been blasted out of this place. By then, he would have no choice but to wait for his Lineage Factor to be awakened naturally. But now, this pressure was still within his ability to withstand.
    Soon, Leonel's palms were pressed against the doors. Due to his stature compared to the massive doors, he could only touch the smallest.
    When he pushed, he felt that he could easily open the first, even with its chains on. But, he found that the second nested door hardly budged. It was only after he put in some effort that even the third nested door showed signs of movement.
    'So the harder I push, the more likely it is for the larger doors to budge, huhбн?'
    Leonel had no idea that in the outside world, the colors he was radiating were wildly changing.
    When he barely opened the first door, his hair radiated a dull bronze color that almost looked like dirty copper.
    When he pushed hard enough for a reaction to occur in the second door, this muddied bronze became clearer.
    By the time he elicited a response in the third door, his hair shone like polished brass. It almost felt as though the fine filaments of his hair were no different than refined metal.
    'Interestingбн' Leonel thought, looking up toward the highest ninth door. 'Well since I'm here, I might as well try my best, rightбн?'
    At that moment, a mighty aura radiated out from Leonel body. Even the Segmented Cube began to vibrate wildly. Compared to the past, this aura of his seemed several times more indomitable. It seemed that tempering his character had had other effects as well.
    A mighty roar left Leonel's lips as he pushed.
    What Leonel didn't know was that while he was straining with his utmost, in a world countless light years across the universe, violent changes were taking place as well.
    This was the family home of the Morales family. In fact, it was more accurate to call it a family planet as the entire stretch of space was owned by them and them alone.
    At that moment, changes were occurring in their Ceremonial Room.
    This sacred place was incomparably vast. In fact, if one had the mind to pay attention, though this place was located within the main estate of the Mortal family, it was somehow larger than even the planet they called home!
    In the distance, sticks of incense stood taller than even mountains, wafting out a refreshing scent that filled the land with a thin veil of fog. At the base of where these mountainous stick of incense stood, there was an alter that carried several sacred tablets.
    Those who knew the teachings of the Morales family were aware that each of these tablets carried the names of a generation of Morales family descendants. And, at that time, the tablet of the current generation, known as the Nova Generation by the family elders, suddenly radiated out a blinding light.
    At that moment, the several family higher ups who treated this place as a cultivation holy land suddenly snapped awake.
    What was going on? A Lineage Factor awakening? But everyone of the Nova Generation had already awokenбн

 Chapter 188: Crown

    The elders of the Morales family were left speechless. But, they all suddenly thought of a possiblity.
    Their gazes met across hundreds of miles. It seemed that even though each was kneeling on a prayer mat all to their own, without a single sign of life even tens of miles around them, it was as though they were right next to each other.
    A double awakening!
    Their Morales family was split into two factions. But, the history between these two halves of the family was long and tumultuous.
    In the past, the Morales family also had two halves. However, back then, what divided them was the awakening of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. The awakening of this bloodline split the family into elites and commoners. Those who awakened it could enter the main branch, while those who failed could only lead the sub branches of the family.
    However, this status quo didn't remain like this. Many generations ago, a second Lineage Factor was birthed within their bloodline. This created not one main branch, but two main branches of the family!
    Back then, this had been completely astonishing. The rarity of a Dual Lineage Factor Clan was unimaginable. And, it was precisely this awakening that allowed the Morales Clan to surge up from the middle ranges of the Seventh Dimension to the absolute peak.
    Still, though the Morales family faced the world as one, there were inevitably disputes between the two factions. The complexities and intricacies of these disputes didn't need to be touched upon for now, but what was important to understand was the difficulty in awakening these two bloodlines.
    The Spear Domain Lineage Factor was the weakest upon awakening. Though it had great potential for growth, it could also very easily remain weak to the point where even some Sixth and even Fifth Dimensional Lineage Factors could suppress it.
    As a result of this, there were comparatively more who touched upon the Spear Domain Lineage Factor and their starting points were all the same. There was no distinguishing these bloodlines until they were given adequate time to grow, only then would it be possible to understand whose was stronger.
    But, the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was different. Not only was it far more difficult to awaken, it had a far more robust hierarchy system attached to it.
    One can imagine how this might cause problems. On the one hand, the Spear Domain Lineage Factor had amazing growth potential and a high population of evolvers within the Morales Clan. On the other, the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was much rarer and comparatively more powerful at the outset.
    Those who initially grasped the Spear Domain Lineage Factor were branch family members who were disatisfied with their position beneath the main branch. While many of the Metal Synergy branch were purists of the family. After all, much of the accomplishments of the Morales family was in thanks to this Lineage Factor!
    With a family suffering such inner strife, the best way to continue to maintain the balance was to have many young leaders who carried both Lineage Factors. Only that way could animosities of the past be slowly ebbed away and the family could be forged into a solid steel plate.
    Knowing this, it was no wonder the elders were so excited. They would have another double awakened youth from the Nova Generation! They had already far surpassed the number from the last generation, but who knew they would still receive another?!
    To put this into perspective, the last generation, the Nebula Generation, only had three such characters. But, if this newly awakened youth was added, the Nova Generation would have eight!
    One had to know that the greatest power of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was its ability to aggregate the abilities of its host to form the greatest spear heritage. This meant that anyone who awakened both within the Morales Clan was already predestined to be an elite amongst elites! The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was that powerful!
    The elders excitedly made their way to the altar one after another. But, despite their excitement, they didn't lose their sense of propriety. This was a sacred land, they had to maintain due composure and respect.
    One after another, they performed their bows and kowtows, reverently praising their Ancestors before closing in on the altar one by one.
    "Our Morales Clan is truly blessed." A crooked-toothed elder grinned wildly, hardly able to hold back his happiness. "What do you old fogies think, you think this one will open the ninth door as well?"
    The elders stroked their beards in happiness, not even minding the crooked-toothed elder's comments. If they were old fogies, wasn't he doubly and even triply so? Just look at that ugly yellow grin. He really lost face for all Seventh Dimensional entities.
    "It really does seem that all the stars are aligning. In the Nebula Generation, only one opened the ninth door on their first try. The others could only open it on a second attempt before moving on to the Fifth Dimension. Yet we have seven such youngsters already."
    The elders laughed heartily. Their expressions were filled with familial warmth. Though the tablet was burning too brightly to see which name it was that was causing the change, to them, it didn't matter who it was. Weren't they all part of their Morales family?
    "Hoho, those are the clear bronze lights of the third door already. Let's see how far this brat goesбн"
    бн
    At this moment, Leonel had no idea that his actions were being watched. Though it wasn't exactly like that and they could only be said to be able to see which door he was attacking, he could never imagine that someone else could monitor what he was doing from countless light years away. The means of the Seventh Dimension were far beyond his comprehensionбн
    However, even if he did know, he wasn't in a state to mind. His heart was as still as a lake, his mind as focused as the pierce of a spear.
    "HA!"
    He roared in his mind as the fourth door began to move.
    Flickering bronze patterns began to squirm across his forehead. If one looked closely, it would almost look like Leonel had tattooed a resplendent brass crown onto his headбн

 Chapter 189: The Seventh

    "The fourth door."
    The elders smiled brilliantly. This speed and momentum was excellent.
    There was a reason the longer one remained awake, the greater potential their Lineage Factor would have. However, this wasn't a universal truth. At least for more complex bloodlines like this one, there were qualitative changes to look for.
    Who cared if Leonel spent several days in this state if he only opened up to the second door? Likewise, who cared if he only needed several minutes if he could open the ninth?
    It could be said that the higher the grade of the Lineage Factor, the more unique quirks it would have and the less likely it would be to conform to the norm. The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was exactly like this!
    The lights radiating from the Nova Generation's stone tablet began to wiggle with complex runes. Soon, these runes formed a crown not much unlike the crown etched onto Leonel's forehead. It radiated a gorgeous and pure bronze color, the kind that could only be gained after polishing a metal again and again and again.
    бн
    WENG!
    Leonel's body quaked as even the floor of the Lab Setting cracked beneath his might. Phase One was simply too fragile. Just the aura of his Lineage Factor alone was enough to cause it to tremble.
    Luckily, its self healing properties kicked in. With such a large store of Force around it thanks to the Force Crystal Mine, how could it not repair itself quickly?
    Bronze runes began to spread down Leonel's back. They were boxy and straight forward in nature, being carved of straight lines and sharp corners. If one looked closely, it was possible to notice that they followed the pattern of Leonel's Force Nodes, only appearing where they appeared as though drawing a map of his inner body on his skin.
    бн
    The elders were astonished.
    "This little brat only formed Six Nodes? Which elder is guiding him?" A ferocious elder's beard whipped about beneath his fierce breath. One could almost mistake him for a bull. "Who allowed such a talent to ruin himself like this?!"
    Many of the other elders frowned as well. They didn't reprimand the bullish elder for reacting like this at all despite this being a sacred land.
    Which of them didn't know that it was best to awaken one's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor after perfecting one's Fourth Dimensional Foundation? All of the other seven youths had formed Nine Nodes, suppressing the talent of their Lineage Factor until they could explode forth with all their momentum. Doing so with less would put much more pressure on oneself.
    Now, all of them could clearly see the patterns stretching down from the crown. With their insight, how could they not tell that Leonel only had Six Nodes?
    "At least the foundation of those Six Nodes is at the peak. With the size of those patterns, this brat definitely used at least 80 cells to form his Nodesбн"
    The other elders nodded, but this only made them feel that it was even more of a pity. If they found the elder that was leading this brat, they'd definitely beat the former until he cried blood. Who would take responsibility for ruining such a genius?
    "The sixth!"
    The crooked-toothed elder called out.
    бн
    The sharp patterns bloomed across Leonel's body. This time, it no longer remained on his back and instead spread out across his limbs and chest, covering his body in a resplendent bronze that was almost difficult to look directly at.
    Even sitting, he looked like a Roman God carved of the most exquisite brass. The energy he wafted alone seemed to make the air around him countless times heavier.
    Leonel breathed heavily, his breath coming out so hot that it left billowing white steam in the air. It was just the sixth door, but it was already so difficult. It also had to be said that he had only opened it a sliver, who knew how much strength it would take to open it all the way.
    Every time a pattern was drawn onto his body, it felt as though he was lifting a heavier and heavier weight. With each passing moment, his muscles would snap under the tension. If it wasn't for the resplendent light shrouding his body, it would be possible to see ghastly bruises spreading beneath his skin.
    Leonel's 'hands' were still pressed against the first door, but his strength had influenced the sixth. The seventh and beyond were still looming over him as though taunting him without restraint.
    A deep rooted resolution caused Leonel's heart to quake. He roared with all his might, taking a step forward.
    BANG!
    The seventh door shuddered, its shackles rattling wildly. The sound of its chains banging about resounded in Leonel's mind, making him feel as though a piercing headache would tear his soul apart.
    WENG! WENG! WENG!
    Leonel's body finally couldn't bear the pressure. His skin splintered and cracked, raining down a torrent of blood that seemed to fuse with the bronze light around his body. The eerie crimson gave him a devilish air, especially as his hair whipped about wildly.
    At that point, even the Abode Setting wasn't left unscathed. Roaring Black Lion, Flowing Wind and Thunderous Clap could only look at one another with apprehension in their eyes. Could it be that this abode treasure couldn't withstand the Force Crystal Core any longer?
    Within his Bloodline World, Leonel stood leaning against the first doors, his head hung low. His hair covered his features completely, giving him the disheveled appearance of someone at the end of their rope.
    His breathing came out ragged and unharmonious. It seemed that he really might not be able to take a single step more.
    бн
    The expressions of the elder's dimmed. They all felt that it was a pity in their hearts as they watched the patterned lights surrounding the tablet wavering. Had this brat of the Nova Generation been just a bit more patient, it wouldn't have been a problem to open all nine doors on the first try.
    Their Lineage Factor was special. The difficulty of entering their Bloodline World would become progressively more difficult with each entry. Likewise, the opening of their Lineage Factor Shackles would also increase in difficulty. This was why it was so important to open as many as one could on the first try.
    But, some bastard had ruined the future of this prodigy, how could they not lament it in their hearts?

 Chapter 190: Deviation

    Leonel breathed heavily, his hands still firmly placed on the first door.
    Was this his limit?
    The truth was he didn't know the significance of his accomplishment. Something like opening seven doors on the first attempt was already extremely rare in the Morales family.
    To put this matter into perspective, there were about a billion youths of this current Nova Generation. This was how insanely large the Morales family was.
    Of these billion youths, half would not even awaken a Lineage factor at all. Of the remaining half, about 70% would awaken the Spear Lineage Factor and just about 30% would awaken the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
    This meant that there were 150 million youths with the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor awakened. Regardless of whether these youths were children born from Morales family women who had been married off to other families or not, they would all be considered as part of the Morales family main branch.
    Of this 150 million, 90% would only open the first door on their first attempt. Such people would only be able to open a maximum of the second or third door before they were forced to move onto the Fifth Dimensional barrier.
    This left 15 million. Of this amount, another 90% would only be able to open the second door on their first attempt. For these people, no matter what they tried, it would be impossible to touch the fourth door as the fourth represented a qualitative leap. This was because the fourth door was the first marker of the Metal Synergy Runes!
    This left just one and a half million. Of this amount, less than 100 000 would ever touch the fourth door. Not even 10 000 would managed to open the fifth. And, not even 1 000 would manage to touch the sixth!
    Finally, there was yet another qualitative leap. In some weaker generations of the Morales Clan, there might not be a single person who managed to open the seventh door on the first try! And, even in stronger ones, the number would most definitely not exceed 10 by a large margin!
    So, one can imagine how talented the Nova Generation was. Not only was there one who had opened the ninth door on the first try, but there were an entire seven. Someone like Leonel who could open seven with just SIx Nodes was completely unheard of, however his talent was completely overshadowed due to the negligence of his 'senior'.
    The truth was that what Leonel was aware of was the fact his attempts would only get more and more difficult with each attempt. He wouldn't naively jump into making mistakes like he had in the past. It was just that he had no choice. In this dangeous situation, if he didn't quickly grow stronger, he would only die here.
    This was the price for his previous mistakes.
    But, Leonel was unwilling. Even though he didn't know the significance of these doors, he simply didn't like having to stop at seven. He didn't even know others were watching him, nor did he know the true significance of the amount of doors he opened, but he just didn't want to stop here.
    Leonel slowly clenched his fists. His nails scraped along the surface of the first doors. With how sturdy it was, he could only leave a bloody trail.
    His head tilted up, a resolute gaze flickering as he gazed toward the small opening in the door before him.
    Then, as though he had been grasped by a tinge of madness, he roared.
    бн
    The elders sighed as a collective, many of them turning away. At this point, they didn't even want to know the name of this youth, they could all only feel that it was a pity. If they knew the name of this youth, they might just feel that it was even more unfortunate. It was easier to avoid heartache if one didn't have a face to attach to it.
    Sometimes it was easier to ignore tragedies with a large number of casualties as long as you were distant enough from the people it affected.
    "I'm going to kill that damn bastard who led this kid astray." The billowing beard of the bullish elder was still frolicking about. His eyes were practically red as he watched Leonel's wavering runic patterns.
    WENG!
    It was at that moment that those very runes suddenly turned red.
    The elders looked over in astonishment.
    "This kid is trying to get himself killed!" The crooked-toothed elder's carefree grin had long since disappeared. Now he just looked forward in horror.
    Those red runes, they had seen them many times before. Youths who weren't satisfied with their results would sometimes have will power that surpassed their means. As a result, they would try to push ahead, but this would only end up damaging themselves. No small number of youths had killed themselves in this way.
    They all recognized these signs very well. Bloodline Deviation.
    Even if Leonel failed to open all nine doors on the first try, it was still fine. He might have a chance at a comeback in the future if he worked diligently. After all, this was just the start of his path. But, if he died now, it was all for naught.
    The elders became flustered.
    "Dammit! Which planet is this kid from?! Contact all of them now and find out which prodigy is breaking through! Immediately stop him!"
    The bullish elder roared out orders to seemingly empty air, but the whole of the planet heard him. His rage caused a mad and immediate scramble that turned the entire Seventh Dimension into a frenzy.
    But, no matter how they looked, they could have never imagined that Leonel was countless light years away on a small planet called Earthбн
    бн
    Within his Bloodline World, Leonel's eyes had turned completely red. He seemed to have lost himself in a trance. All he had eyes for was the expanse of darkness beyond the crack in the doors.
    His main body in the Lab Setting had become a rain of blood. The flickering crimson seemed to finally fuse perfectly into the beautiful, resplendent bronze. Instead of tainting it, it felt as though the light had gotten even brighter, creating a new red bronze color that shimmered like both gold and ruby.
    However, he had no idea that this only brought him a step closer to death.

 Chapter 191: Pain

    Leonel could feel his blood seething. It was an exhilarating feeling that made him feel as though he was treading on clouds. He could never think that such ecstasy would cause panic countless galaxies away.
    'How wonderful would it be if I could feel this way for all of eternityбн'
    It was a simple thought бк innocent, even. But it was this very thought that led to the deaths of so many Morales family youths in the past.
    This feeling, it was like a drug. It was the kind of euphoria one could hardly find in life, yet it was also the very kind of euphoria that could rend the soul and send one to an early death.
    The elders of the family could only watch on helplessly as the red lights grew fiercer and fiercer. Even when they saw the signs of the eighth door opening, they no longer felt the same happiness. All they saw was the tragedy of another fallen genius.
    It could be said that though these elders were aloof and hardly made their presences known, they were filled with familial affection. Even that ungrateful bastard who stole their two family heirlooms was still spoken of fondly by the majority of them. After all, he was that singular genius of the Nebula Generation they spoke about who managed to open the ninth door on his first attempt.
    Even though they had seven more geniuses of this caliber, how could they not feel heartache? They only blamed themselves for not finding this prodigy earlier.
    бн
    Within the Lab Setting, the changes happening to Leonel shouldn't have been obvious. If it wasn't for the fact his own blood was pooling around his body as though seeking to form its own pool of liquid, it would be hard to tell that anything was happening at all.
    But, at this moment, the instant Leonel touched upon the eighth door, the very same runes that had been etching them onto his skin made their way onto his bones. If his body was sliced open and his skeleton was revealed, it would be possible to see runes of red bronze being carved into them.
    The sound was especially grating on the ears. It sounded as though a fork was being raked across a steel pot, grinding into it again and again.
    However, Leonel felt none of this pain. In fact, the longer it went on, the better he felt. It was almost like a release, a spike of dopamine he couldn't get enough of.
    Many would see pain as an annoyance. But in many ways, pain was the reason one could stay alive. The absence of pain could very easily lead to death. It was a necessary part of life.
    But Leonel didn't even notice this. Even as his body was falling apart, there was a bloody smile hanging on his face. It would have been quite a sweet smile, the very smile he practiced to show to Aina, yet now, it just seemedбн sad.
    Within the Bloodline World, Leonel's figure looked no different. He had practically become a man of blood, dripping from head to toe as his fists pushed flush against the first door.
    His eyes continued to gaze through the crack as though the expanse of darkness held his most fervent desire.
    It was no longer a matter of will power. Could this even be considered will power? He loved this feeling. Could doing something that felt so good even require will power? -
    бн
    The crimson light within the Morales family sacred land had grown overwhelming. It pierced into the skies, growing to a height that almost matched the mountainous stick of incense.
    The pillar was intertwined with runes of bronze, radiating a beautiful and majestic color. But, to the elders, it looked no different from the send off of a genius. A prodigy, dead just like this, even without letting the world see his brightness.
    More and more elders shook their heads to leave. They weren't willing to dampen their moods any longer. Someone else would investigate this matter thoroughly and find all those responsible. This was definitely a capital crime. Whoever was responsible deserved to be executed.
    бн
    Leonel's ragged breaths sounded out. By now, he sounded more like a beast in heat rather than a man near the end of his life.
    He felt like he was so close. If pushing open the eighth door felt so good, how good would the ninth door feel? Wouldn't the pleasure drown him?
    However, at that moment, Leonel suddenly frowned.
    Why did he feel a nagging itch in his heart? What was this annoying feeling.
    'I have to go to Ainaбн'
    Yes, he already knew this. Wasn't that why he had to get out of this place? He would have a greater chance at saving Aina if he opened the ninth door. With how powerful this Lineage Factor was, wouldn't he be able to sweep through Terrain with ease?
    Yes, yes. That was right. All he needed to do was open the ninth door.
    'Respect and Persistence in all thingsбн'
    Yes, he already understood this. Why was this running through his mind now? Wasn't he persisting right now? He was trying very hard. It was just that his reward for his persistence felt too good. Was that his fault?
    'Do you really understand what these two words meanбн?'
    His father's smiling visage appeared in his mind.
    That old man was being annoying as usual, wearing that smug smile as he pushed his glasses up with a finger.
    Of course he already understood what those two words meant.
    'Do you reallyбн?'
    Leonel faltered.
    'Nothing easily gained is worth attainingбн'
    Leonel trembled.
    He thought he had understood this fact as well. Wasn't that why he had been so stubborn previously? It was even to the point he ignored his own talent and tried to comprehend his Lineage Factors on his own.
    Wasn't that what his father had met by Persistence?
    But why did he feel like that understanding was so shallowбн It was shallow to the point even he had abandoned those thoughts, realizing that it was his own haughtiness that brought him to this point.
    The voice in his mind didn't speak again, but Leonel found that the doors he was pushing up against suddenly forced him to slide back. It was as though they were trying to remind him to push backбн as though they wanted to remind him just how important opening the ninth door had been to him just a moment agoбн
    'Nothing easily gained is worth attainingбн'
    Leonel's dull eyes suddenly gained a sharpness. At that moment, a pain the likes of which he had never felt in his life suddenly assaulted him.
    He raised his head and roared in pain, his cry shaking even the Force Crystal Mine.

 Chapter 192: Decisions

    The pain, it was unbearable.
    Leonel felt as though countless tiny knives were ripping through his skin and bone. He had never experienced such a thing in his life.
    It could be said that the worst injury he had ever suffered was a few fractures to his ribcage. Even the flesh wound his hands had suffered had been mildly less painful than that. But, compared to this, those injuries were akin to an irritating paper cut.
    At that moment, Leonel had every intention of letting go. It was too painful. If he just let these doors close, everything would be alright. Then, he could take a rest, and try again later. That would be fine, right?
    Leonel hadn't been one to lie to himself. He knew that he wasn't the hardest worker. He also knew that he didn't have the most resolute will.
    These weren't things one was born with. The reason his father tried to ingrain those two values into him time and time again was to remind him the value of growth.
    He was an 18 year old boy. He had hardly faced any hardships in his life. Though he lived on a Paradise Island, he had never truly felt restricted by it. And, even though he had lived in such a place, it wasn't as though they were slums. Each Paradise Island was well tended to and provided for.
    Expecting him to have the will to trample the heavens and sunder the earth like some anime character was absolutely ridiculous. Let alone having such will, he wasn't even sure what he wanted to do with his life just yet. He was a kid. Though he had some talent, he was ultimately just that. A kid.
    For a kid like him, such pain was absolutely unbearable. But somehow, whenever he thought of letting go and allowing these doors to slam shut, tears uncontrollably fell from his eyes.
    Such a thing surprised even himself. He wasn't an emotional person. Though he had been worried about his father when the Paradise Islands fell, he didn't break down back then. When Simeon and the Junior Governor Duke decided to fire into the homes of innocents, he hadn't burst into tears. Even when his father mentioned that his mother was still aliveбн his emotions hardly fluctuated.
    But, there were also many times he did inexplicable things outside the bounds of his calm and cold logic, things even he couldn't explain. He put his life on the line to save the lives of English and Frenchmen he didn't know. He wanted to be with Aina for reasons even he found difficult to put into words. And right nowбн he really, really, really didn't want to let go.
    These were tears of frustration, pain, and conflict.
    He could feel the doors making him buckle under their weight. It was as though they were enraged he had suddenly regained his senses and now wanted to make him pay the greatest price. They wanted nothing more than to shatter him to a pile of bone and flesh.
    If he took a step back, they might still give him a chance at survival. But, if he dared to take another step forwardбн
    They would go all out to kill him!
    Sometimes in life, the different paths people follow can be decided in an instant.
    That was what people who were pretending to be profound said, anyway. In reality, things weren't so simple. A single decision couldn't change anything. It was a continuous stream of decisions that would decide the path you would follow.
    It might take ten or even a hundred correct decisions to take a single step on the path you wanted. Maybe along the way, you might make many incorrect decisions as well. But only by persisting would you eventually become the person you wanted to be.
    Leonel was just a kid. A boy of barely 18 years old. Up to now, he had already made several incorrect decisions. However recently, he finally made his first correct one. That was to quell his arrogance and admit that he was wrong. And nowбн he would make his second.
    It was quite the pitiful sight. When the world spoke of his exploits in the future, they would never know that an overlord who could overturn the universe with a single palm was once a young boy who had a face filled with tears and snot during his first attempt to release the shackles of his bloodlineбн
    "AGH!"
    Leonel took a step forward. He heard the sound of his legs cracking, but the adrenaline rush flowed throughout his body, masking the pain for but a moment.
    He screamed his throat hoarse. Even he didn't know why he kept going. All he knew was that these damn tears wouldn't stop if he took a step back.
    That was right. He wasn't crying because of the pain. That was his story, and he was sticking to it.
    BANG! WENG! WENG! WENG!
    бн
    Within the sacred land of the Morales family, the elders suddenly snapped their heads back in the direction of the red pillar of light, only to find that the red color was receding to be replaced by a resplendent purple light. It was the kind of beautiful violet that would enchant any woman, yet carried an air of nobility that made one want to prostrate themselves. Even these elders of who knows how many years felt the urge to bow down.
    "Purple light? What's going on?"
    The elders were stunned. They didn't know what this purple light meant.
    The flagship color of their Lineage Factor had always been a shimmering bronze. The only exception was during Bloodline Deviation when it would become red, but that was basically a death sentence. The number of clan members who had survived Bloodline Deviation in their long history could be counted on one's handsбн
    But violet? This had never happened before. Even the nine doors of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Dimensional shackles of their Lineage Factor didn't carry such a color. They would always be bronze, the only difference was the brightness of their light and their strength.
    Of courseбн the fact their bloodline shackles had five sets of doors and not four like the masses thought was a deeply held secret. Leonel hadn't thought much of it when he saw five sets of doors, having no idea how tightly held such a thing was.
    "The ninth door!"
    Suddenly, one of the elders called out in shock. They had been so caught up in the shocking color that they hadn't noticed that the signature of the ninth door had appeared.
    The first three doors was a progressive purification of their bronze colorбн the fourth door formed the Runic Crownбн the fifth form was the Force Node Runesбн the sixth form the Force Skin Runesбн the seventh form the Force Vessel Runesбн the eighth form the Force Bone Runesбн and the ninth formбн Was the Force Halo Runes.
    A grand violet bronze halo appeared above Leonel's head, causing the ground beneath him to shatter. In fact, it was to the point that a hole was blasted through the Segmented Cube entirely, causing him to almost fall through and directly onto the Force Crystal Core below. Luckily, a barrier was quickly formed, protecting him from such a tragedy.
    At that moment, within his Bloodline World, Leonel pushed with his last bit of strength, causing the nine doors to blast apart of their own accord.
    He hardly noticed the lights of bronze and violet that descended onto him before he fainted.

 Chapter 193: Violet Winds

    The elders stood completely stunned. They had no ability to understand what was happening.
    It wasn't like there had never been anyone who survived Bloodline Deviation before. However, their number was extremely small. In addition, those who survived would all lose the right to enter their Bloodline World again in addition to losing access to their Lineage Factor. They would essentially be crippled in that respect.
    But, this was obviously not what was happening here. Everything pointed toward a successful awakening. If it wasn't for the fact there was a royal violet color infused with the usual bronze, these elders would think that Leonel had somehow reversed everything at the final moment.
    Justбн what was happening?
    Those elders who had turned to leave charged back, each of them jostling for position. If before they wanted to know nothing about this youth, they now wanted to know everything. How could they miss out on learning this youth's name?
    The lights slowly faded and the hidden tablet began to gradually come into view.
    The tablet seemed to swallow all the violet bronze lights in the air, converging on a single name at the very bottom of the stone tablet.
    'The bottom? This brat is so young?'
    The rankings on the Nova Generation Tablet, or any ancestral tablet for that matter, wasn't based on standing or rank or anything of the sort. It was purely based on the time you were born.
    The eldest of the generation would be ranked first while the youngest would be ranked last. It was only after a certain coming of age event that the order would be reshuffled. By then, age would no longer be the deciding facter of rank.
    But, one could imagine how large a tablet that could hold a billion names would be. Yet, ironically, ranking last was just as conspicuous as ranking first, especially since Leonel's name stood out so much!
    Upon awakening the Spear Domain Lineage Factor, a name would gain a sharp edge to it that radiated a kingly might. In the universe, there were many weapons factions, but the struggle between the spear and the sword had always been the most violent. Both of them were seen as the king of weapons by their respective wielders, so there would always be clashes between the two.
    Upon awakening the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, a name would gain a heavy aura and also a bronze sheen to it, standing out from the other stone carved names.
    Obviously, upon awakening both, one would gain a fusion of the two.
    It was already outstanding enough that Leonel's name had both characteristics. After all, there were only seven others like this. However, even compared to them, his stood out just that level more because in addition to a bronze sheen, his name was also surrounded by a violet aura.
    "Leonel Moralesбн" The crooked toothed elder muttered. "бн Have any of you heard of this brat?"
    The elders looked at one another for confirmation, but all they found were numerous shaking heads. There were a billion youths, how could they know all of them?
    In truth, with their strength, memorizing the names and faces of a billion people wasn't an issue. The issue was whether or not they found such a thing to be worthy of their time.
    "He's this generation's little brother, though. If I remember correctly, the last time a name appeared on the Nova Generation Tablet was 18 years agoбн"
    The elders sucked in a cold breath. Awakening both Lineage Factors before 20?
    "Let's look at the Nebula Generation Tablet."
    Hearing this suggestion, the elders all nodded.
    The timelines in the universe were never linear. The future could influence the past in the same way the past could influence the future. If their son awakened in this fashion, it was possible for the father to gain some benefits as well. In this way, it might be possible to learn who Leonel was through who his father or mother was.
    However, the elders found no changes on the Nebula Generation Tablet.
    They all looked toward one another with a solemn expression.
    The only way such an awakening wouldn't influence the previous generation is if the previous generation was already too powerful to cause such a change. But, the number strong enough to fall into this category would definitely not number more than a thousand.
    The issue was if any of these thousand had such an outstanding descendant, how could it be possible that they'd be unaware?
    As such, there were only two explanations.
    One possibility was that this person of the Nebula Generation purposely withheld this offspring of theirsбн If this was the case, the elders couldn't help but shudder. How could there ever be a good reason for doing such a thing?
    The second possibility wasбн
    Thinking of this, all the elders had gazes that shone like bright torches. There was only бк
    Just when the elders were thinking this, several powerful auras suddenly converged and a mighty voice sounded out from the skies.
    "бн The violet winds rise northбн"
    A soft sigh rang through the sacred lands.
    "бн Forget the matters of today and don't investigate any longer. The child is not within our lands." A sigh rang out once again. "бн Just as much of a troublemaker as his fatherбн"
    The elders below didn't dare to say much. Even after all the auras disappeared, they only looked at each other once and left silently. Inwardly, they all knew that their second speculation must be correct.
    **
    Within the Segmented Cube, Leonel gasped awake just in time to find a last thread of violet bronze light seeping into his body.
    He smile bitterly as he looked around. The Lab Setting was a complete mess. He was shocked to find that there was even a hole beneath where he lay. If it wasn't for some sort of odd energy barrier, he would have fallen right through.
    However, just when he was feeling depressed, a strong surge of Force suddenly swept through the Segmented Cube.
    Leonel's eyes lit up. He immediately understood what was happening.
    The Segmented Cube had absorbed enough Force to enter Phase Two!

 Chapter 194: Soon

    Leonel smiled.
    The evolution didn't take very long at all. In fact, it could be considered to have happened in the blink of an eye.
    The Lab Setting doubled in size. But, surprisingly, the outside view of the Segmented Cube actually shrunk by a size down to a five meter radius. In addition, it seemed that it's exterior was a level sturdier. At the very least, the Force Eruption no longer seemed to affect it as much anymore.
    Leonel didn't have time to slowly figure out what changes occurred, so this time, he directly asked the dictionary.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Phase One of Segmented Cube provides Suspended Animation and the Black Grade Soothing Water. Phase Two provides the Bronze Grade Soothing Waters and Evolution Nurturing. ]
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What is Evolution Nurturing?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Natural Treasures within the means of Phase Two can be nurtured for growth. ]
    "What is within the means of Phase Two?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ At and below the Fourth Dimensional Grade. ]
    After a few more questions, Leonel came to understand everything.
    It turned out that he was right to store the ores and herbs he gained within the snowglobes. In there, they could be nurtured to slowly grow and produce more of their kind. Though it would still take a long time, it was better than nothing.
    In addition, according to the dictionary, it he found more Cores of the same kind, he could place them within the same environment and they would be able to mutually work together to expedite growth.
    After knowing this, Leonel immediately separated the snowglobes into groups and put like minerals and herbs together. He didn't even have to stand to do this. After entering Phase Two, especially with his powerful spirit, he was able to control most of the matters of the Segmented Cube with his mind.
    These ores would become especially important to him in the future. Not because of Force Crafting, but rather because of a special ability of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to explore this right now.
    Leonel finally tried to push himself up. But, what he could ahve never expected was that he would fall flat on his face an instant later.
    'What the hellбн? Why am I so heavy?'
    Leonel's expression changed as he swept his spirit over his own body. The change to his stats left him speechless.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 4.57; Speed: 0.87; Agility: 0.63; Coordination: 0.91; Stamina: 1.13 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 2.03; Spirit: 5.98; Force: 0.60]
    First, he was stunned that his strength actually more than doubled. But, in return, his speed and agility had actually fallen by more than half, not to mention his stamina. On top of that, his coordination, which had once been among his highest stats alongside his spirit had actually plummeted as well.
    He immediately understood. His Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had actually increased his weight by so much. Now, he wasn't much different from the metal A-grade Invalid he had met all those months ago, having great strength, but even greater limitations to his ability to use it.
    Leonel didn't panic after realizing this. He didn't believe that such a powerful Lineage Factor would have such a great weakness. If he was no different from a mere A-grade Invalid, the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor wouldn't be worth all the praise and adulation the dictionary gave it.
    After taking a breath, Leonel used his overwhelming spirit to sweep through the changes in his body. Soon, he found the problem.
    Though the Runes on his skin had already disappeared, that was just a superficial measure. The Runes that ran through his blood vessels, and even more importantly his bones, had yet to recede.
    After a moment, Leonel felt he could control them and slowly forced them into retreat.
    Soon, the heaviness of his body vanished. He realized that his strength was still great, being above 3.00, but the reduction to his speed was much less exaggerated. In fact, compared to before, his speed and agility had also increased.
    [Leonel Morales]
    [Strength: 3.27; Speed: 2.17; Agility: 2.64; Coordination: 2.01; Stamina: 4.98 (+0.05 - nullified); Reactions: 2.03; Spirit: 5.98; Force: 0.60]
    'My Lineage Factor is stil in its infant stages. If I was with the Morales family, the moment I completed my awakening, I would immediately start absorbing all sorts of precious ores. But, I don't have the luxury to do so right now.'
    There were two main abilities of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor that allowed it to reign supreme. The first was its Divine Metal Absorption ability and the second was its Divine Armor Deity ability.
    Leonel believed that the weaknesses in his Lineage Factor would all be solved by the time he began to practice these two abilities.
    Leonel was beginning to feel that his stat system was too limited. When he finally had time to relax, he had to think of something betterбн
    With that thought, Leonel stood and entered the Abode Setting. He had to speak to the other three youths. However, he didn't expect the three of them to look at him as though they were seeing some kind of monster. If it wasn't for their masks, their expressions might have been even more exaggerated.
    Flowing Wind stepped forward, looking Leonel up and down.
    "Handsomeбн How'd you get more handsome?"
    Flowing Wind looked up at Leonel with a serious expression.
    The changes in Leonel were simply too exaggerated.
    Now, he stood just over two meters tall, crossing the 6'6 mark. His skin was just as tanned as it had always been, but it seemed smoother and more flawless, even to the point of radiating an incredibly faint bronze light.
    As though this wasn't enough, his dirty blond hair had become a bright copper color. It was like his hair had been formed by individual, flexible filaments of the metal, sweeping across his shoulders with an inhuman sheen to it.
    But the greatest change was to his aura. They all gravitated toward him uncontrollably. As unreserved as Flowing Wind usually was, even she felt somewhat stifled at this moment.
    At this point, he really did look like some Roman God.
    "Huh?"
    Leonel tilted his head in confusion. He hadn't observed himself in the mirror. Even when he used his spirit to observe his body, it was only the inside of his body. So, he had no idea why their reactions were so exaggerated.
    That said, he didn't have the time to mind it.
    "I'm confident in bringing us all away now and have a way to mature the Force Crystal Mine Core. Stay put here, I will take us out soon."
    With the Segmented Cube gaining such a Phase Two ability, Leonel really could mature the Core now.
    Everything should have been made simple butбн The only issue was that the situation outside had changed, leaving Leonel a bit helpless. Thanks to the evolution of the Segmented Cube, Leonel could even access the situation outside its walls now.
    First, the little mink had woken up and was even curiously observing the Force Eruption.
    If that was all, things would still be fine. But, with the increase in his spirit, Leonel could finally see the edges of this vast kilometer long space clearly. Thanks to that, he noticed several tunnels he hadn't in the past. Andбн one of those tunnels led to a valley a group of people were currently exploringбн
    It wouldn't be long before they found this place.

 Chapter 195: Little Mink

    Leonel dropped down from the Segmented Cube, a hint of caution in his pale green eyes. But, after a moment, he realized that he was indeed correct.
    Even without activating his Runes, the Force Eruption only put a minor amount of pressure on him. It was enough for him to feel uncomfortable, as though he was suffering from a stomach ache. However, it was no longer enough to threaten his life. And this was without his using a Force Skin!
    Leonel knew that if he activated his Force Runes now, even if it was only the crown of the fourth door, this discomfort would vanish completely. However, there was no need to do this, at least not for now. He still wanted to observe the situation.
    "How long will it take to mature the Crystal Core if the Segmented Cube used its Evolution Nurturing ability?"
    [ *Ping*]
    [ 12:23:04 ]
    Leonel was pleasantly surprised. Just half a day?
    But after some thought, he felt that this made sense. The Segmented Cube was a treasure from a higher Dimensional world. In addition, its goal was to evolve the Crystal Mine into the Fourth Dimension, not the Fifth. As such, how could it not do so with ease?
    Despite learning this, Leonel didn't have the Segmented Cube begin so quickly. In fact, it might very well be the Force Eruption that helped Leonel make it through this.
    Leonel's spine tingled, causing him to subconsciously turn in a certain direction.
    'This damned little minkбн'
    Leonel realized then that his thinking might have been a bit naive. He had almost forgotten that there was another being who could ignore the Force Eruption as well.
    At that moment, the little mink was still gliding around the walls of the Force geyser. After Leonel's spirit had crossed into the Fifth Dimension, not only had the range of his Internal Sight increased explosively, even to the point of being capable of crossing tens of kilometers, but Force of the Fourth Dimension was no longer able to hinder his senses.
    So, whereas in the past he could hardly see the situation around him in this place. Now, everything was as clear as day.
    In fact, it should be said that Fifth Dimensional Internal Sight should be capable of far more than just this. After all, a Fifth Dimensional entity acting upon even the Fourth Dimension was akin to stomping ants, let alone a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world like this one. But unfortunately, Leonel was still limited by the weakness of the rest of his body.
    Still, in this sort of situation, it was more than enough.
    'I don't think it knows I'm hereбн But should I battle it now, orбн?'
    The little mink might have only been 10 meters from him, but it had no ability to see or sense Leonel. After all, not everyone had spirit as monstrous as him.
    At that moment, Leonel's senses latched on to a hearty laughter. If he was only relying on his ears, this laughter would have never reached him. After all, there was too much Force in the air, making this large space бк that should have been a great echo chamber бк become insulated from noise.
    Leonel's lip curled. It seemed that they had finally found this place.
    'Why not make my two enemies fight one another?'
    бн
    Outside the Force Mine, Simeon couldn't hold back his laughter. He was usually a reserved individual who thought of nothing else but his own struggle for power. But at this moment, he was genuinely too happy.
    Leonel and the other youths had only made it to this place barely a month ago, but he had already been here for much longer, looking for a path to the Force Crystal Mine.
    He had always known it was here, but it wasn't as though he could ask the Slayer Legion for their map. Unfortunately, he had really met too many struggles. What should have been a quick and easy mission to infuriate the Slayer Legion had become a test of his own mental fortitude.
    But now, it was perfect. Everything was worth it now. In fact, the Force Eruption was also a great help to him. With it, it would be unlikely that the Slayer Legion would send their promising youths here. It was too much of a risk. In addition, they couldn't send anyone of the elder generation, or else his own backers wouldn't sit idly by.
    'I can steal all your wealth and you can't say anything about itбн How satisfying!'
    After regaining his calm, Simeon's expression once more settled back to his usual haughty air.
    "Seven, take the vanguard. You must last 10 minutes, or of what use are you to me?"
    "Yes, Young Lord!"
    Simeon named all his subordinates by numbers even though they had their own names. Even the wererat Leonel had killed before was known as rat 006, one of his more precious test subjects.
    However, those who could be called by numbers without prefixes were most definitely the most powerful of his men.
    After taking the vanguard, Seven's Force surged. But, he wasn't the only one.
    Eight men and women stood around Simeon in a protective circle. However, around them, in an even larger encirclement, there were at least 30 other warriors. It was these 30 that also surged with Force along with Seven.
    The Force coalesced, winding together almost like a living breathing beast.
    To the naked eye, it seemed as though nothing at all was happening. However, if one had awakened Internal Sight, it would truly be something worth witnessing.
    The Force rose up. At first, there was only a vague cube-like manifestation. But soon, this cube began to break into peaks and valleys.
    The start of the process was slow. But akin to a ball rolling down a hill, it became faster and faster. Then, it seemed like in the blink of an eye, it all solidified, forming a grandiose palace. No, it was more accurate to say that this was a small replica of a palace, only capable of housing 100 or so people if they all stood as close as possible to one another.
    At this point, the Palace had become corporeal. Like this, even those without Internal Sight could make out its vague outline. And, to those with Internal Sight, it felt like an air of majesty was crashing down upon them, wanting them to kneel in submission.
    Simeon and his men huddled together. After their Young Lord was satisfied, they walked through the path they had found, stepping into the boundless underground world of the Force Crystal Mine.
    Simeon felt like he was walking on a cloud. If he knew that Leonel hardly reacted to this world of crystals, he would have shamed him as a country bumpkin. This place was filled with billions of Force Crystals! Just how many elites could be raised by this kind of mine?
    However, Simeon knew that it would be foolish to try and take it all away. This was still the Slayer Legion's territory. His plan wasn't to seek out these little benefits. What he wanted was the Force Crystal Core. Even though the Force Eruption was outside his expectations, he? still had methods to deal with it.
    In addition, he was also excited about the natural treasures that could be birthed in this environment. Force Crystal Mines were always accompanied by such treasures.
    'I'll retrieve the Core first. Then, I can seek out other benefits after it's secured.'
    The group continued to walk forward. Their destination was very easy to spot. After all, a geyser of white that could even be seen with the naked eye was right before them.
    Leonel watched all of this happen from within the Force geyser, feeling quite helpless. There were such techniques to protect against Force Eruptions as well? It truly made his own methods seem poor by comparison.
    In the future, when he gained enough skill to upgrade the dictionary, he would most definitely change this straight forward habit of itsбн
    'Go on little mink, help me vent some of my frustrationбн'
    The moment Leonel had this thought, the little mink had already pounced, causing him no small bit of pleasure.
    However, his smile slowly faded, giving way to a cold intent. The monocle wearing bastard definitely needed to die today.
    бн
    The little mink was feeling quite pleased with itself.
    It had been the first to find this place thanks to its small size and unique abilities. Walls? How could they possibly stop it. It could pass through them with ease.
    Unexpectedly, its ability was actually triggered to another level upon reaching this place. Now it was even more formidable than it had been in the past. The only detestable thing was that someone had actually attacked it in its sleep. How despicable.
    Didn't that person see how adorable it was? How could it stand to attack it?
    Luckily, it had great abilities and that despicable person hadn't been able to touch a hair on its noble head, or else how would the world live on without it?
    The little mink didn't think much about these things. It only knew that if it had gained so many benefits just from being so far away from the Force Eruption, how many more benefits would it gain by approaching the center? Something was telling it that there was something very good over there, but there was also something else telling it that it was very dangerous as well.
    So, it ran around the outside, sometimes on the ground, sometimes gliding through the air, trying to see if it could get a greater sense of what was hidden inside.
    It could only sigh to itself as it continued to circle the Force geyser. It had found such a good playmate, it was a shame that its playmate had disappeared. It couldn't sense its playmate as easily as it had before.
    Hm?
    The little mink looked up and beared its adorable little teeth.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Someone actually dared come here to snatch its things? Were these the despicable people that attacked it?
    It was definitely going to teach them a lesson.

 Chapter 196: Yip Yip

    The members of the Brazinger family were caught completely off guard.
    In one instant, they were happily thinking about all of the rewards they would reap on this journey, and in the next, a flash of black light appeared before their palace of Force, crashing into it with a loud BANG!
    The little mink rebounded off the shield, confusion coloring its adorable features.
    It was clear that it hadn't been hurt by the rebound. In fact, this was a benefit of its Shadow World ability. Its body was perpetually existing on two planes, so any attacks it suffered would only be half effective. It could only be said that the little guy had a truly broken ability and who knows how it had evolved now?
    Still, that didn't stop the little mink from being shocked. The only thing it had ever been unable to go directly through was the light attacks of its playmate. It didn't think that this illusory palace could also stop it like this.
    If the Brazinger family people knew what the little mink was thinking, they'd likely be coughing up blood in rage.
    Though the little mink hadn't managed to cross through their defenses, its actions had caused Seven to directly spit up several mouthfuls of blood. The backlash was so severe that the palace nearly collapsed. If it wasn't for the fact Seven feared what his Young Lord would do to him if he really let the palace fall, the technique would have collapsed in the first instant.
    "Young Lord! This little beast has comprehended a Force Strengthening Deviation! The Four Corner Palace Formation won't last long!"
    Simeon's expression darkened. This little beast actually dared to ruin its plans like this?
    Unfortunately, Simeon's ability wasn't beast taming. Beast taming was just a product of him putting his genetic manipulation ability into affect. In order to do this, he needed his victim to be completely restrained and he also needed time to perform several complex calculations. It was completely impossible for him to take control of this little mink with ease.
    However, after a few moments of thought, his frown gave way to a smile.
    A beast that had comprehended a Force Strengthening Deviation? How valuable was that? Though he had other beasts of this caliber, it was clear that this little mink's Force Strengthening Deviation wasn't normal. It was very likely of an exceptionally high grade.
    Leonel watched all of this from a distance, his expression growing solemn.
    'The little bastard actually didn't manage to break it in a single hitбн'
    By Leonel's estimations, that charge attack of the little mink carried with it over 3.00 points of strength. With it concentrated into such a fine point, its power per square inch was a few levels above even the explosions Leonel's Quasi Bronze energy shield suffered all those months ago. Yet, his chain necklace almost shattered completely back then.
    What did this mean? It meant that this technique, a Formation Technique as that man referred to it as, was at least on par with his chain necklace.
    "Four, Three, Two бк Go deal with that little mink. Don't let it near the Palace Formation again."
    "Yes, Young Lord!"
    Two women and a man dashed out from the Formation. The two women were Four and Two respectively, while the man was Three. Four carried a bow and a quiver of arrows, Three carried a two-handed sword, and Two brandished a whip that had a length of over ten meters.
    Leonel quickly matched these three with the information he had gotten from his interrogation.
    Simeon's abilities were still limited. For now, he could only provide boosts to physical attributes. Though rat 006 had had a mental ability, he had awakened with it even before he was genetically modified.
    Thanks to Simeon, the stats of all three of these warriors hovered around 3.00. However, if they undid the genetic locks Simeon placed on them, they would gain a 20% boost to their abilities.
    After matching the descriptions and weapons together, Leonel understood who they were. Four had an A-grade telekinesis ability, allowing her to control her arrows within a range of 50 meters. Three had an A-grade energy type ability which sharpened his Force, essentially giving him the equivalent of a Force Strengthening Deviation. Finally, Two had an S-grade metal manipulation ability. The links of her whip had small metal veins embedded into it, not only making it far sturdier than a normal whip, but also allowing her deft control over it.
    'That is definitely not the limit of Two's abilitiesбн I need to be careful of her.'
    As an extra measure of caution, Leonel used the dictionary to double check the information those two captives had given him. After confirming their abilities, he nodded.
    At this moment, the little mink and the three had already clashed. Or ratherбн they had tried to clash, but all the attacks they levied went right through the little mink.
    The three warriors turned serious.
    Three took a strong step forward. His internally cultivated Force was entirely focused on maintaining the Force Skin around him. However, his ability had shot into overdrive, causing the air to whistle around his great sword as he swung toward the little mink.
    The little mink dodged to the side by a hair's breath, leaping toward the spine of the sword to run up it. However, in the next instant it cried out and jumped backward, its little paws having been injured.
    "It's weak to Force Strengthening Deviations!" Three said confidently.
    With his ability, he could rip out Force from the air and sharpen it to magnify his attack. Though the Force was too volatile in this place for him to have great control, in some ways, this was also a benefit. If not for this, how could the spine of his blade also be sharp?
    Hearing his words, the eyes of the two women lit up.
    WENG! WENG!
    Sharp winds kicked up around Two while a fiery blaze lit the tips of Four's arrows.
    Without pause, they launched their next attacks.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink's back arched as its hair stood on end. It bared its little teeth. This time, it was truly enraged.

 Chapter 197: Three

    The little mink knew that all this wasn't normal. There were beasts on this island that had Force Strengthening Deviations as well, but they had still never been able to hurt it. The only explanation was that this place, while restricting the control these three had, was also amplifying their strength as well.
    It wasn't as though the little mink's thoughts were so intricate. It mostly worked on instinct, having the intelligence of a three year old child at best.
    But, what it did know was that if the abilities of its enemies were amplifiedбн so were its.
    The little mink brandished its small claw, swiping at the air.
    A scythe of black manifested, tearing through the fearsome momentum. In the blink of an eye, it was already several times larger than the little mink that had cast it out. However, it's power had also been spread out just as well.
    Despite this, the expressions of the three warriors still changed.
    Three took the vanguard, roaring as he slashed downward. Four rapidly retreated and Two brandished her whip like a cyclone, creating a barrier of sharp winds and clanging metal.
    The three were forced into a furious retreat.
    Looking toward the enraged little mink, apprehension colored their expressions. That attack had been greatly diluted, yet it still took the three of them working together to dispel it. Just what was going on with this little mink?
    Beasts this powerful shouldn't be on this island. According to the ranking system set out by the Slayer Legion, such a beast could only appear on an A Sector Project Hunt Island. Why would it appear on a B Sector island?
    One had to know that these regulations were tightly controlled. Project Hunt provided a great opportunity, but it could also pose a great threat to Earth as well. They were essentially raising powerful enemies for themselves. So, how could these islands not be tightly monitored?
    The only explanation for this was either that this little mink had only recently evolved to have this level of strength or that it was simply too good at escapingбн It might very well be bothбн
    Realizing this, the three grew serious. Though each of them was confident in taking on this little mink alone, they were on a time line. The Young Lord had already said he wanted Seven to last for 10 minutes. With how demanding the Young Lord was, one could deduce that lasting for this period of time was definitely difficult.
    Now that the Formation had actually been damaged, it was likely that he would last for even less time. If that was the case, Seven would have to be swapped out. But, Seven's abilities were the most suited to being the core of the Formation!
    In that case, they had to end it as quickly as possible.
    Four was the first to react. Her body began to morph, her long, slender legs growing in size as large pink wings appeared to her back. Her nose grew in size as well, becoming slightly more hooked in nature as she shot into the skies, brandishing her bow and arrows time and time again as though she couldn't tire.
    Three reacted swiftly as well. His body grew half a meter in size, his back becoming somewhat hunched over. Muscles bulged along his arms and a patch of dense hair burst out from his chest.
    Two was the last and experienced the least changes. However, if one looked more closely, it was possible to see that her nails had gained a metallic hue and grown about an inch. In addition to this, her pupils grew just a slight bit more narrowed as though she was a feline prepared to pounce.
    From Four to Two, each seemed more human than the last. But it became very clear, very quickly, that this only made them more powerful.
    Three's speed was completely unlike what it had been before. With Four raining down flaming arrows from all sides, the paths of retreat the little mink had were completely limited.
    The little mink dodged time and time again, trying to find an opening to lash out, but its intelligence was still too lacking.
    It wanted to get rid of the annoying man in front of it, but it would fall into a rage whenever Four shot an arrow at it. Like this, it kept bouncing back and forth between wanting to attack Four and Three, causing it to end up threatening neither of them.
    Two didn't attack at all. It was clear that she was content to observe the situation, stalking her prey.
    The 'yips' of the little mink filled the space. Even with the noise nullifying effects of the space, its enraged calls traveled far.
    It jumped about wildly, sometimes using the ground and even sometimes using the air as a platform. But, it seemed to be getting nowhere.
    In the distance, Leonel couldn't help but sigh. 'This little bastard is so useless. You gave me all this trouble yet you can't take down even one of them?'
    Though Leonel was shaking his head, he knew it wasn't because the little guy was weak, but because it didn't know how to use its strength. Usually beasts could make up for their lack of intelligence with strong physiques and large bodies, but the little guy had neither.
    Leonel suspected that the little guy's ability was great, but it was also highly dependent on how it was used. In Leonel's hands, he would likely be undefeatable of Earth with it. Unfortunately, it wasn't his ability, nor did he have the means to control beasts.
    The little mink finally couldn't take it anymore.
    It charged ahead recklessly, its deep black eyes holding a hint of red.
    Two's gaze narrowed as her forearm flexed. This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Even Simeon's lip curled into a sneer.
    "Don't kill it, it will have its uses."
    Two nodded in acknowledgment, but her whip had already pierced forward. It shot out like an arrow, leaving a streak of black and silver in the air.
    However, the little mink's burst of speed was out of all of their expectations.
    It appeared before Three, baring its teeth. Its hair stood on end as though trying to make itself seem far bigger than it was.
    Three, though caught off guard, was still a veteran of many battles.
    He sunk into a practiced stance, using this momentum to slide a small distance away. Knowing that his sword was too large to be used at such a close distance, his left hand dropped from the hilt and pulled a knife from his hip, slashing out toward the little mink.
    However, what he couldn't have expected was for the little mink to completely vanish.
    Seeing such a scene, Leonel finally grinned. He was wondering why this little guy hadn't used this ability yet. It used it all the time against him. He almost felt like the little mink was playing favorites.
    The knife slash completely missed.
    Three's eyes widened in horror, but it was already too late. The little mink's claws tore his Force Skin to pieces, tearing out a piece of his neck.
    Unfortunately for the little mink, Two's whip also arrived at that time. With her metal control, she could adjust her strike even while it was in the air. How could she not react appropriately?
    BANG!
    The little mink was sent flying, its torso completely ripped through, leaking out a black, foggy aura along with dripping crimson blood.

 Chapter 198: Same

    Leonel sighed.
    Though he 'hated' the little mink for annoying him for so long, he still couldn't feel happy seeing it end like this. The truth was that the little mink wasn't just 'annoying' him, the little guy had almost driven him to his death many times.
    'Whatever, it's best it dies like this. It's too great of a variable.'
    "Go and collect it." Simeon's voice rang out. "We're running out of time."
    When Leonel heard this, his expression changed. It wasn't because Simeon was so uncaring about the death of Three, but rather because he had forgotten to consider what would happen if Simeon took control of the little mink like he had done all the other king beasts currently protecting the hive.
    Leonel had no doubt that the outside world was currenty in chaos right now. The beasts from the ocean had most definitely long since charged onto the island. Maybe the only reason they had yet to cause changes in the hive even after so long was precisely because of the beast kings under Simeon's control.
    Simeon was already so powerful. If he gained a subordinate like the little mink, it would really be over.
    'If I had known it was so weak to Force Strengthening Deviations, I could have killed it a long time ago. Dammitбн'
    The recklessness of his past was really coming back to bite him. Back then, he had used harpoons to target the little mink and not Light Elemental Force. Had he used the latter, he probably wouldn't even have to worry about it.
    Leonel knew about Simeon's ability, but he didn't know anything about exactly how it worked. He didn't know how long it would take for Simeon to take control of the little mink. If it was instant, or even if it was just a few minutes, Leonel would be in trouble.
    Five бк one of Simeon's subordinates бк had an A-grade healing ability. It was quite possible that if Simeon could take control of the little mink, Leonel would be in a world of trouble.
    'Even after all this, you're still giving me problems.'
    Without another choice, Leonel grit his teeth and rushed out of the Force geyser. At the very least, he had to kill the little mink before it could be of any use to Simeon. Or, he just had to defeat them before Simeon had the chance to get his hands on the little guy.
    It could be said that the very last thing the Brazinger family members could have ever expected was for another person to suddenly come rushing out of the Force Eruption.
    Simeon was especially shocked. He didn't immediately recognize Leonel because the changes in him were too striking. Plus, the last time he had seen Leonel was only for a brief moment in the Governor Duke's residence. And, back then, Leonel had had a tired and disheveled appearance, nothing like the valiant aura he was giving off now.
    The true reason Simeon was shocked wasn't because he recognized Leonel, but rather because he knew more about Force Eruptions than Leonel had just a few days ago. Charging out of a Force Eruption like that should ahve been impossible, unlessбн
    "Retreat! He's very powerful!"
    Simeon immediately took command. He knew he couldn't be laid back any longer. At this moment, his true disposition took the lead, causing Leonel to raise an eyebrow.
    It seemed he had underestimated Simeon a bit. However, that was all. He knew that Simeon was on a time crunch. But, unlike Simeon, he didn't have to worry about the Force Eruption at all.
    A spear appeared in Leonel's hand as he leapt into the air.
    He didn't want to make it obvious that his target was the little mink. After all, the three warriors were much closer to the little beast than he was. If he made his target obvious, they might first retreat with the little mink. Howeverбн If he targeted Four first, it was a different matter entirely.
    The expression of Four changed. 'So fastбн'
    Not only had Leonel awakened the Wisdom Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, but this had caused an indirect boost to his control over the Light Element. Though he should still be at the first stage, there was still a 10% boost over his previous speed.
    By the time Four realized that she just might die, Leonel had already appeared before her. She couldn't help but shudder when she looked into Leonel's eyes. There was a cold, calculating glint within them as though he didn't care about how many lives he reaped.
    In reality, this wasn't the case. Leonel was inherently a person who didn't like to kill. However, he no longer let it rule his mind. As a result, he could focus on the battle entirely.
    This 'cold' look in his eyes wasn't indifference, but rather was the state he entered when he activated his ability.
    His thoughts whirred past at impossible speeds. The world became a series of numbers, angles and probabilities. The entire battlefield was reflected in his mind, becoming no different from his chess board.
    Leonel's treasure shoes glowed green as he shot forward, reaching an even higher level of speed. His spear pierced through the air, appearing before Four's throat.
    How could Four even defend? She was an archer. Even though her close combat skills were also not badбн What could she do to Leonel?
    PCHUU
    Four's eyes widened in horror, looking toward the spear piercing through her throat and spine as though she still couldn't believe it. Even as her eyes dulledбн she still couldn't.
    'Why didn't I fly awayбн'
    These were the last thoughts she had. Her shock hadn't come from Leonel's speed or his power, but rather the fact she really hadn't thought of something so simple. How laughable, a veteran of battle like herбн dying in such a way.
    By this point, Two had also reacted. She completely forgot about the little mink, what did it matter if there was another enemy right before her? But, what happened next shocked her even more.
    Instead of dodging her whip, Leonel actually reached out a hand to snatch it.
    Two thought he had lost his mind, but also inwardly sneered. Was her whip really so simple to catch? Even a normal horse whip could lacerate a human's skin. In addition, she had already assumed that the light beneath Leonel's feet was related to his ability, so he couldn't also have a defensive ability, right?
    But, reality was cruel.
    Beautiful bronze Runes covered Leonel's hands and forearms as he snatched the whip out of the air. A stinging pain assaulted his senses, yet, other than reddening a bit, his skin wasn't affected in the least.
    With a single pull Two was sent flying toward him. She really hadn't believed that such a thing would ever happen. However, she didn't panic like Four had.
    The whip around Leonel's arm snaked forward, trying to wrap around him entirely. After all, Two's ability was metal control. Wasn't Leonel looking down on her too much trying to do this?
    Two snorted as she allowed Leonel to pull her through the air. She could almost see the sight of Leonel being strangled to death by her whip.
    But, once againбн reality was cruel.
    Trying to control metals in the presence of a Morales family heir? That was a bit too naive.
    Two felt that the loving connection she had always had with metal suddenly disappear, as though it had been cut off by some cruel and callous person.
    By the time she realized the situation wasn't good, Leonel had already pulled her to within three meters. In fact, his spear was surging toward her forehead without the slightest bit of mercy.
    It wasn't fair. She had too many other abilities. She still had the needles she always kept around her hips and the armor that always protected her torso. Yet, it all seemed useless. A moment of overconfidence ended her life. Plusбн even if she had time, could she control her needles in Leonel's presence? And what use was an armor if his target was her head?
    PCHUU.
    Two's eyes dulled, staring at Leonel's spear in the same shocked manner Four had.

 Chapter 199: Retreat

    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, a long breath leaving his lips.
    His body feltбн good. He couldn't explain it with any other words. He just felt free and much better than he had ever before.
    He sent a glance toward the little mink who would currently lying in a pool of its own blood.
    'Forget it, it can't do anything to me in that state anyway. Consider this payback for all that hell you put me through. Whether you live or die is up to yourself.'
    Leonel shook his head. It seemed he was still a bit too soft. But, he excused himself of this folly by remembering that Simeon was standing right before him. This was a much greater enemy.
    Leonel's gaze turned cold as his eyes met Simeon's through the cracking palace Formation. A hardly concealed animosity flickered within him.
    Simeon frowned. Why did that gaze seem so familiar?
    Suddenly, a tremble coursed through his body. He had seen that cold gaze before. It was a gaze that pissed him off whenever he thought about it.
    "It's you!"
    If it was anyone else, Simeon's words wouldn't have reached him through the volatile Force. But, Leonel heard him just fine. Stillбн He didn't bother to respond, opting for shooting forward instead.
    Simeon's expression flickered. "Retreat. Retreat!"
    One was an exceptionally tall man. He stood beyond normal human limits, reaching two and a half meters. Yet, instead of seeming slow and lumbering, he had a sharpness to him that made it seem he was the one of normal height whereas everyone else was too short.
    He always considered himself to be invincible. At the very least, there shouldn't be more than a handful of people on Earth who could match him in strength while those families were still forced to stay in hiding.
    So, when he heard his Young Lord so decisively order a retreat, he felt dissatisfied. It was like the deaths of Four and Two had little to no impact on him. In his eyes, he could kill the two of them just as easily, if not more so.
    "Young Lord, let me handle him." One said confidently.
    Simeon looked toward One. However, his eyes didn't carry the pleasant surprise One was expecting. Instead, it held a hostile light that made his heart tremble.
    "This Young Lord ordered you to retreat. So retreat!"
    One was stunned. Was the situation truly so bad?
    Simeon couldn't be bothered to care about One's feelings in this moment. One had to remember that the dictionary had broken down Simeon's abilities into two lanes. Genetic Manipulation and.., Reinforced Mind: Mental capacity several times that of normal a individual. Special emphasis on eyesight.
    Similarly to Leonel, he was able to estimate a person's 'stats' by looking at them. He could immediately grasp that in his current state, there was a high chance that Leonel could suppress and kill One. Though it would take a while, the one commodity he didn't have now was time.
    In addition, he had noticed the Light Elemental Force that boosted Leonel's speed and the odd Runes that coated his hand when he caught Two's whip. Both were anomalies he had no way to account for.
    All of this didn't even account for the most important matterбн Leonel was standing in this environment without the slightest hint of a Force Skin!
    Everything led to just one conclusion. They were greatly disadvantaged in this place.
    Simeon's heart couldn't help but clench when he thought of a possibility. What if Leonel waited until they approached the Force Eruption to act? Would they even have a chance?
    'Could it be he's an impulsive fool? Or is there another reason he would make such a clear mistake?'
    If Leonel was just a fool, this was still fine. Such an enemy wasn't one Simeon had to worry about. However, if notбн
    Suddenly, Simeon trembled again. He suddenly remembered the disappearance of his two lackies. If Leonel caught them and interrogated themбн!
    Simeon turned his gaze toward the little mink corpse and immediately understood everything. However, instead of being relieved that Leonel didn't know how his ability worked, he was instead several levels more apprehensive.
    This opponentбн He had to be killed!
    Both Simeon and Leonel wanted the death of the other. However, neither had an easy path toward this.
    Not only was Simeon's evaluation of Leonel now several levels higher, but so was Leonel's evaluation of the former. He had never thought that Simeon would be able to so decisively choose to retreat in the face of so many benefits.
    Leonel hadn't missed the subtle look Simeon sent toward the little mink. He immediately guessed that there was a better than 80% probability that Simeon had realized the reason he stepped out so quickly when it would have benefited him more to wait.
    However, Leonel had no intention of letting them leave so easily. He wanted Simeon's life even more than the latter wanted his!
    Leonel's body flickered forward, appearing before the cracking palace Formation.
    Seven had only just managed to stabilize the Formation when the Young Lord ordered a retreat. In truth, he had been sighing a breath of relief. He knew he definitely wouldn't make it to the ten minute mark Simeon expected of him.
    But, at this moment, all his hopes were completely shattered.
    BANG!
    A sharp light pierced through the protective film.
    The palace Formation crumbled like shattering glass, revealing Seven's figure.
    Seven violently coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. Let alone defend against Leonel's coming attack, he could hardly stand on his own two feet.
    However, Simeon had also been prepared. His eight lensed monocle spun around his left eye, complex calculations sweeping by at blinding speeds.
    Leonel's path was immediately blocked by several of the lesser guards Simeon had brought. He had already lost three numbered warriors, he couldn't afford to lose Seven as well.
    Simeon had brought over 30 people with him, each of whom were Force wielders. Though alone they weren't enough to take a single one of Leonel's strikes, together they were enough to obstruct him for several moment.
    Leonel frowned. Should he take it out now?
    Not even an instant later, he shook his head furiously. He couldn't risk using it against humans or else his ending would be no better than Joan's.
    'Dammitбн That little mink really screwed me over this timeбн'
    Leonel's flashing Spear Force reaped three lives in the blink of an eye, but one group had already picked up Seven and rushed one. To make matters worse, Simeon's retreat had been even faster.
    Simeon stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He seemed to be standing on nothing, shuttling through the air like a flying god as he retreated. But, Leonel knew that this was just Six's air solidification ability.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed, but he didn't continue to chase. He knew what kind of support Simeon had outside.
    At this point, he could only blame the fact Simeon was far more intelligent and cautious than he had given him credit for. Leonel didn't know if even he could retreat so decisively. Simeon had already called for retreat the instant Leonel charged out from the Force geyser.
    The importance Leonel placed on Simeon rose several levels higher.
    However, Leonel didn't feel down. He didn't believe that Simeon would leave this island so easily. He would most definitely surround the hive in a death trap.
    Leonel's lip curled into a sneer. 'While you wait patiently for me, I'll be reaping all of these rewards.'
    While Leonel was thinking this, Simeon's line of thinking wasn't much different.
    Simeon's red hair fluttered in the wind, his red eyes piercing through the skies.
    'Why not let you gather up all the benefits for me? I'll just take them off your corpse.'

 Chapter 200: Evolution Ore

    'He won't be an easy opponentбн'
    Leonel flipped his palm, causing a pistol to appear in his hand. As Simeon disappeared through the path toward the valley, he fired off several shots. However, these shots weren't for Simeon at all. Rather, they mowed down several of his subordinates. By the time they disappeared completely, the more than 30 number Simeon had come with had shrunk to barely half of that.
    Though he could see Simeon's furious gaze, Leonel didn't bat an eye. After they truly disappeared, he turned back, entering the Force geyser once again. This time, he didn't hold the Segmented Cube back any longer and directly allowed it to begin speeding up the growth of the Force Crystal Core.
    After he came out once again, his first instinct was to begin exploring the other tunnels connected to this mine. The tunnel Simeon went through only led to the valley outside, but the others had a high likelihood of having precious natural treasures.
    However, he stopped when he crossed over the bleeding figure of the little mink once more. At this point, he was left speechless.
    Wasn't this little guy supposed to be terribly wounded? Why was it that it seemed like it was just taking a nap?
    Leonel shook his head. He couldn't allow anymore variables to occur. So, he coated his hands with Light Elemental Force, scooped up the little mink, and tossed it into one of the Segmented Cube's snowglobes.
    He really didn't know what to do with that little mink. Maybe in the future when he grew powerful enough to be confident in easily subduing it, he could let it go free.
    After dealing with these matters, Leonel's smile returned.
    There were 12 hours until the Segmented Cube accomplished its task. And, this wasn't necessarily a deadline for him either.
    Leonel grinned. 'Consider this as a bit of payback, old man. Who asked you to bully me for so long?'
    Leonel wouldn't feel the slightest bit bad about robbing the Slayer Legion blind. Old Hutch could only blame himself.
    Leoenl dashed toward the closest tunnel, having stored numerous snowglobes within the spatial bracelet.
    He followed the tunnel's winding paths, relying on the dictionary to detect precious ores. It wasn't very long before he gained rewards for his efforts.
    'Evolution Ore!'
    Urbe Ore was an important foundational ore and provided the basic network of strength most Force Crafts needed. Evolution Ore worked similarly in that it strengthened ores, but its use was more miraculous.
    Depending on the Ore kind, it could serve all sorts of functions. It could fuse two separate ores to create a new ore sharing both characteristics, it could be applied to a single ore and boost its effects compared to others of its ore family, and it could even be used as a catalyst to speed up ore growth.
    Much like Urbe Ore, Evolution Ore was one of a kind. There was only one kind of it, but it was separated into many different stages. The Evolution Ore Leonel found was Black Evolution Ore. So, it could provide such effects on any Black Grade Ore and below. In translation, this meant any ore within the Fourth Dimension and below!
    Leonel was happy with this harvest. This vein of Evolution Ore had enough Essence for seven pieces.
    'Essence' was a unique concept that only applied to certain rare natural treasures. It was a method of calculation. Essentially, for an Evolution Ore to achieve its basic effects, it had to have a certain amount of this Essence.
    The reason why this was important was because of the fourth ability of Evolution Ore. If ten pieces of Black Evolution Ore were fused together, they could form Bronze Evolution Ore! If a hundred pieces of Bronze Evolution Ore were fused together, they could form Silver Evolution Ore!? In order for a piece of ore to count as 'one', it had to have enough Essence.
    There were very few things that could combine things of lesser quality to form treasures of higher quality, but Evolution Ore was one of them.
    'If I could find more Evolution Ore, just enough Essence for three more, I would be able to use a Fifth Dimension Ore as the foundation for my Divine Armorбн'
    Leonel's eyes lit as though they had caught on fire.
    The two core abilities of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor were Divine Metal Absorption and Divine Armor Deity. The second was the very reason why the Morales family had evolved to become such good Force Crafters as well as warriors.
    Divine Metal Absorption allowed one who had awakened their Lineage Factor to absorb metals to strengthen themselves. This wasn't a foreign concept. After all, Leonel had been looking for the special Vein Ore [Dimensional Cleanse] mentioned. That Vein Ore would have allowed him to strengthen his Force Pathways.
    However, whereas a normal person would only be able to absorb these very special and niche ores, the Morales family wasn't limited by this at all!
    The special Vein Ore, known as Force Vein Ore, and specifically Black Force Vein Ore for Leonel's current needs, could only be considered normal in strength. The only reason it was so sought after was because its special properties allowed normal Force cultivators to absorb some of its Essence.
    However, Leonel could absorb much stronger ores and strengthen his Force Pathways with metals others couldn't even imagine using!
    This ability was already enough to explain why the Morales family could stand so tall. If someone's body was as strong as metal, was it even possible to harm them? This was completely unlike the A-grade Invalid Leonel had met before because this would also encompass Leonel's inner organs!
    However, what was most shocking was that this wasn't the Morales family's only earth shattering ability. It could even be argued that Divine Armor Deity was more exaggerated.
    As long as one opened the fourth door of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it would be possible to absorb metals to strengthen one's self. However, one needed to open the seventh to gain the right to build one's own Divine Armor.
    This ability could be considered the fusion of a Force Crafter and a warrior's dream. It allowed one to forge one's own Divine Armor and make it a part of one's body. This meant that even without a spatial treasure, one could summon their Divine Armor to protect their body as they pleased.
    What made this even more exaggerated than the metal absorption ability was that Divine Armors allowed a Morales family member who had opened the seventh door the power to share abilities with the ores they formed their Divine Armor with.
    If they absorbed a Wind Elemental Vessel Ore, depending on the quality, they would just as easily gain Wind Elemental Force Strengthening Deviations. The more exaggerated the abilities of the ore, the more powerful the Divine Armor would become!
    Of course, one had to be exceptionally careful with what they chose to make their Divine Armor out of. After all, it was impossible to be a master of all. If one made their Divine Armor a hodgepodge of ores with no clear direction, you'll only end up being a jack of all trades without any sort of real power.
    The reason Leonel was so excited was because opening the ninth door gave him the right to attempt to absorb and use Quasi Fifth Dimensional metals into his Divine Armor. But, his father had left him behind a note that made his thoughts run wild.
    If he used Evolution Ore as the core of his Divine Armor, it might be possible for him to form a Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor while his body was still in the Third Dimension. After all, one mustn't forget that Leonel was still currently forming his foundations to enter the Fourth Dimension.
    Leonel's heartbeat quickened.
    Though Divine Armor could easily be discarded and reformed. It was best to pour one's heart and soul into one for each major tier of power. If Leonel managed to have such a good starting position, it wouldn't be necessary for him to discard his Divine Armor until he entered the Fifth Dimension.
    However, he was getting ahead of himself. He still needed to design his armor and he still hadn't decided what ores he would use either. Plus, just because he found seven Evolution Ores here, didn't mean he would definitely find another three. Who knew how long it would take?
    There was one last problem as well. According to his father, this was all just a theory, even he hadn't tried it out yet. He hadn't had the computational abilities to think of it when he was young, and by the time he realized it was feasible, the Evolution Ores he needed for his tier of power were simply too rare.
    Who was to say his old man wasn't screwing him over again?

 Chapter 201: Too Many Ideas

    Leonel carefully put the Evolution Ore away before moving on to the next source the dictionary had detected. If he simply left things as they were, it would probably take decades for the Segmented Cube to naturally form the remaining Essence he needed.
    Though Leonel had no idea whether this was considered a long time or not. He still felt that he didn't want to wait it. So he was already hoping against hope that he would find another deposit of Evolution Ore.
    Unfortunately, reality was cruel. Evolution Ore was an impossibly rare metal, even more rare than Dual Elemental Metals. Finding a single deposit was already enough luck for a lifetime.
    However, Leonel wasn't very depressed about this. He was still a poor soul who thought that if he could find it once, he could do it again. But, he had no idea just how long it would take himбн If he had, he might have cried a few tears already.
    The current Leonel though was still ignorant of his current circumstances. His mind was filled with thoughts and designs for his divine armor. But, with every new ore deposit he found, his mind would change again, leaving him in an endless storm of thoughts he couldn't extricate himself from.
    After leaving the Evolution Ore deposit, he found three different kinds of Fire Elemental Vessels. One was exceptionally good as the base of short burst treasures, another was good for maintaining high temperatures for an extended period of time, and the last was a combination of the first two, though being weaker in both respects.
    When he left those deposits, Leonel found a Wind Elemental Vein Ore not long later and he thought of how cool it might be to combine the two. If he formed a Divine Armor with a fire base and wind veins, its multiplicative power would make up for one of his greatest weakness: his attack power.
    It was a shame, Leonel had what was likely the strongest ability on Earth, but he was still at a disadvantage purely because his was of the sensory type. Toward this, he could only feel helpless, so he thought it might be a good idea to form a Divine Armor that could make up for this.
    However, soon after that Leonel found another Wind Elemental Vessel. Leonel was quite familiar with Wind Elemental Vessels, after all, the first ore deposit he had found after coming here was the Whispering Breeze Ore.
    This Wind Elemental Vessel was known as Fluttering Leaf Ore. It was exceptionally light to the point it felt as though one was holding on to a piece of foam or a cloud rather than a metal.
    After finding it, Leonel immediately had a vision of soaring through skies with wings of metal. Following this, he almost completely abandoned the idea of a Dual Fire-Wind Divine Armor entirely. After all, another one of his weaknesses had always been speed, this was especially so when he fully activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
    However, even this fantasy didn't last for long.
    Leonel found another incredibly rare ore. Though it was also an Elemental Vessel Ore, there were tiers of separation between their rarity and value. Elemental Vessel Ores of the Fire, Wind, Earth and Water variety were the most common. Beyond that, there were what were known as Unique Elemental Vessels, and they included the Lightning Elemental Vessel Leonel had just found.
    'Damnбн Lightning is cool tooбн'
    This Lightning Elemental Ore was known as Second Strike Lightning Elemental Ore. It was known by this name because it needed a catalyst to activate. Once it did, it would be able to amplify the result with a 'second strike'.
    This Lightning Elemental Ore was especially beloved by Force users who could be classified as mages like the Mayan Priest. This was especially so for mages who had lightning affinities, Lineage Factors and abilities. This was because such people could use this ore to speed up their thinking and reaction time, allowing them to finish their casting better.
    There were many other applications to this ore as well, but what Leonel knew was that if he absorbed its properties, due to his Lineage Factor, he wouldn't need to be a lightning affinity mage at all to gain the same benefits.
    'This is no goodбн Every idea seems better than the lastбн'
    Leonel could imagine building a lightning Divine Armor with this ore as the base. Not only would he have great offensive power and speed, but it would also be capable of supporting his ability as well. Would giving him even faster thinking speed be like putting wings on a tiger?
    Due to all of these ideas and thoughts, an incredibly weird scene began to form. Leonel, who should have been happy with all of his gains, was suddenly grumbling about as though it was a bad thing for so many ores to appear here. If others knew, they might hate him even more than his Indomitable persona.
    As Leonel grumbled, he communicated with Little Tolly as they began to melt through another wall.
    Leonel realized that after he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, his ability to communicate with his Familiar reached a new high. In fact, he found that based on their new and improved synergy, Leonel could replicate the effects of someone with a Grade Designation a sub stage higher.
    This meant that even without reaching the Superior Grade One Designation, Leonel's skill was actually no less than such a person already. It was no wonder the Morales family chose Metal Spirits as their ideal Familiars.
    "ROOOOAAARRR!!!"
    BANG!
    Just as Leonel was lost in his thoughts, thinking of new Divine Armor designs, a loud roar suddenly shook his mind as he was sent flying.
    He crashed heavily against the opposing tunnel wall, causing all the air to be knocked out of him. If this had been before he awakened, Leonel was certain that he would have broken several bones and even coughed up several mouthfuls of blood from this impact alone.
    However, maybe the most shocking thing was that this roar hadn't come from a beast that managed to make its way into the hiveбн it had come from the wall Leonel had just been excavatingбн

 Chapter 202: Domain Ore

    Leonel heavily crashed into the ground, but his eyes never left that faint light beyond the crack in the wall.
    'Domain Ore!'
    Leonel breathed out a hot breath.
    Normal ores could only contain their special properties within the walls of their bodies. Whether it was Elemental Vein or Vessel Ores, there was no way for them to show off their might outside the actual materials they were formed out of.
    However, Domain Ores were different. Not only did they have special properties, but it was also able to project those special properties into the outside world. This manifested as an 'aura' that could send even Leonel flying.
    In truth, the Runes of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor also had this effect. Once one opens the ninth door, one would gain the Force Halo Runes. These runes manifested a Domain that asserted an air of dominance. It was due to releasing a bit of that dominance that Leonel could suppress Two's ability. There were also other applications of it like forming a Gravity Domain as well. Though, in Leonel's current state, he wouldn't be able to activate it for long.
    This Domain Ore Leonel had stumbled upon had roared, sending Leonel flying. There was no doubt it was exceptionally powerful.
    The highest grade ore Leonel had found to this point was a Tier Seven Black Ore бк the Second Strike Ore. Ores like the Evolution Ore and the Urbe Ore were considered unranked.
    This was already a great boon for Leonel. However, for this ore to be so powerful even through such a small crackбн It was at the very least of the Tier Eight Black Grade.
    The other ores couldn't really harm Leonel. As long as he was careful, with how high his affinity for metals were, he wouldn't receive any backlash. But, clearly, Domain Ores were different. They were among the most dangerous ores to gather.
    Leonel took a deep breath and stood, walking toward the crack again.
    This time, he released his Lineage Factor fully. He could feel his blood seething as thrown his entire body had been through into a furnace.
    Beautiful bronze Runes appeared across his body, forming a crown on his forehead and soonбн even forming a halo above his head.
    Gusts of winds kicked up around him as the bright lights of the Domain Ore dimmed. It was as though it sensed a threat looming over it, so it retreated as quickly as it appeared.
    Leonel was quite shocked by this outcome. He had thought it would be more difficult. But, he wasn't complaining. Though he found the violet lights around his body now to be quite beautiful, he didn't think it was out of the norm. At the end of it all, he was still a bit in the dark about such things.
    Soon, the ore was exposed completely, baring its full nature for Leonel.
    'As expected, it's a Soul Type Domain Oreбн'
    Leonel shuddered. If his mind hadn't been reinforced by his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, he would have suffered far more.
    This Domain Ore was another favorite of mages. Leonel didn't know much about that world, truth be told. All he knew was that this was a top class material for crafting wands and staffs of the like. It could amplify Soul Force attacks.
    Leonel had been correct. This was a Tier Eight Black Grade ore known as Howling Tiger Ore.
    'It's a shame that it's an attack type Soul Domain Ore, or else it would amplify that treasure by several levelsбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath and carefully put the ore away. He no longer dared to be as absentminded as he was before. And, he also realized now that these gains weren't a joke either.
    If any of these ores appeared in a knowledgeable world, who knew how many would fight for them? Leonel found it shocking that the Slayer Legion would treat this place so casually. Was it that they didn't know? Or were they that negligent?
    In the end, Leonel had to admit he had a striking advantage. How many treasures were as good as his dictionary at finding these deposits?
    But, at the same time, he affirmed to himself to keep these gains a secret. Even though he didn't feel bad stealing from the Slayer Legion like this бк after all, he would be saving so many of their young geniuses very soon бк there was no need to tell them anything about it.
    'I've spent a lot of time here, the Core should almost be maturedбн I should head back.'
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't find anymore Evolution Ores, nor did he find another garden like he had earlier. It seemed that garden was a one off rarity.
    As Leonel walked back, he clutched a pound of Urbe Ore in his palm. If one looked closely, it was possible to see the greyish black ore losing luster as though something of its was being taken away. Of course, this was Leonel using his absorption ability.
    According to his father, to lay the best foundation, he had to first absorb as much Urbe Ore as he could. He wasn't allowed to absorb any other kinds of ores until his body was saturated with Urbe Essence. Only in this way could his body withstand the formation of a powerful Divine Armor.
    Luckily, Leonel had found large deposits of Urbe Ore dotted across this hive. He could even be considered part of the nouveau riche since it was the world's universal currency.
    As Leonel was on his way back, he casually paid attention to the dictionary. He hadn't expected to actually detect anything. After all, he had already been through this passage once, he was only making his way back. But, unexpectedly, there was actually a reading.
    Leonel raised his brows. 'Are you crapping out on me? Why didn't you detect it the first timeбн'
    Though Leonel thought this to himself, he still made his way to where the dictionary mentioned. But, oddly enough, the signal disappeared.
    'бн Huh? Did it really crap out?'
    Leonel frowned, his Internal Sight blooming forth and blanketing the general direction. Butбн he sensed nothing.
    'Huhбн?'
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly felt like his Internal Sight had been cut off, as though he lost a portion of himself for a moment. It was an incredibly surreal feeling, as though he was standing in two different worlds at the same time.
    In that very instant, Leonel understood exactly what it was he had found. He was too intelligent and his foundational knowledge of all things related to Force Crafting was too profound. After all, he didn't want to lose out to his detestable old man.
    It was another Domain Ore. But, this oneбн The Howling Tiger Ore couldn't even shine the shoes ofбн
    'Warping Domain Oreбн'
    Warping Domain Ore. It was a Quasi Bronze Grade Ore. However, what truly made it special wasn't its grade, though this alone was enough to make many go crazy. After all, an ore was capable of forming treasures many grades above its own should the Force Crafter be skilled enough.
    No, the reason this ore was so valuable was because it was of an exceptionally rare family. Just like Howling Tiger Ore was of the Soul Type, Warping Ore was of the Spatial Type!
    Warping Ore had the ability to create an independent space. Its defensive abilities were infuriating. It could make a single step feel like an entire mile.
    'If I combine this into my Divine Armorбн'
    Leonel's heartbeat quickened.

 Chapter 203: Anarchy

    Outside the hive, the world could only be described as anarchy. The corpses of beasts filled the islands and oceans, causing the salty winds to carry a grotesque metallic fishy scent with it that made one's heart shudder.
    As expected, the oceanic creatures had completely lost their minds, rushing for the Project Hunt Island without any sorts of reservations. Unfortunately, many of them were completely unable to do much of anything on land.
    This truth led to a tragic scene. Many animal carcasses lay near the shore. Large and small fish and once majestic sharks lay dead, rotting in the open air. Beside them, even those creatures that could breathe air like whales, eels and dolphins found themselves without the ability to move on land, leaving them completely stranded.
    However, this reality didn't stop them at all. Even now, many were still struggling, madly swinging their tails and fins as they tried to inch just a bit closer to their target.
    This scene played out all across the island. Most of the creatures fell near the shore, but some managed to travel deeper, causing the dense forests to be littered with corpses.
    All of this alone was enough to paint the picture of the cruel reality wrought by the Force Eruption, but things further in were even worse than this.
    Not all the beasts were stalled by their immobility. Among them, there were still creatures like crabs, lobsters, frogs and turtles that made their way through. Many of them were freshwater creatures that still somehow managed to make their way to this place, making it all the more obvious just how wide the effects of the Force Eruption had reached.
    Beyond them, there were other creatures who normally wouldn't be able to make it this far who managed to awaken abilities that broke past their usual limitations. This resulted in scenes of fish swimming through the air, unwilling to allow anything to stop them from reaching their destination.
    But, reality only grew more cruel.
    Even when these creatures managed to pass the initial barrier, they were met by yet another. Many creatures died trying to pass over the valleys. They lacked the intelligence of humans and didn't even consider trying to find another path forward, only believing they had to follow their senses toward the dense surge of Force.
    Corpses began to pile up within the valleys as beast after beasts fell to their deaths, their agonizing screams being the only marks they left on the world in their final moments.
    This should have been enough. By now, the number that had died touched the tens of thousands. Many of these beasts didn't have great abilities or power, they only came here seeking out a chance and they paid for it with their livesбн But things still somehow managed to get worse.
    There was a small percentage of beasts that did manage to make it through. But, instead of being rewarded for their efforts, they were met by a legion of beasts left behind by Simeon.
    Another bloody scene was left. How could those beasts compare to the organized assault of the beast kings? They were just a loose pile of sand, sporadically entering the center of the island without a thought other than getting closer to the source of Force.
    Even with the bear king dead and the spider king heavily injured, the beasts were slaughtered one after another. At leastбн in the beginning.
    Though the beast horde couldn't compare to the beast king legion, what remained true was that there were just too many of them. While each beast king only had a hundred or two under their control, the beasts came in tides of a few hundred each time.
    If it wasn't for the fact the beast kings only had to defend one direction thanks to the valleys and that most of the beast horde couldn't compare to the beast kings in strength, they would have already been overrun.
    Even then, after a week of this, the spider king finally fell to his injuries. A week after that, it was the tiger king who fell.
    With each successive death, the protective army grew weaker. The loss of a beast king also meant that their legions would scatter as well, losing their minds just like the horde of beasts that was attacking them.
    "This is madness."
    A familiar young girl stood on the branch of a tall tree outside the center of the island, looking forward as though her eyes could pierce through everything.
    On the opposite side of the same tree, a familiar young man stood as well, shaking his head.
    "I knew that a Force Eruption could cause a lot of trouble in a low level world like ours, but I still didn't think it would be this badбн"
    "It can't be helped, the beasts haven't fully developed their intelligence yetбн" The girl mumbled.
    The higher level the world, the rarer and more valuable Force Eruptions were. But, at the same time, it would come with more intelligent beasts who could think and reason just like humans could. In such cases, would they lose their minds like this and charge ahead without thinking of the overall situation? Of course not.
    That said, that didn't mean high level beasts would ignore such events. In fact, it might even be possible for those high level beasts to take advantage of the less intelligent ones beneath them to clear out all opposition.
    But still, even in those cases, the scene would be much more controlled.
    "Should we go? If we let any more of those beast kings fall, it'll be even more difficult to want to get them out of that hive." The young man said.
    "Don't you find it weird that these beasts are just standing there? There has to be a reason that they're the only ones who didn't lose their minds."
    "It might be that one of those Promising Youths has a beast control abilityбн"
    "If they have a beast control ability, why did they run to the hive instead of charging out of the island? With control over that many, it would have been easy. The only logical conclusion is that these beasts are controlled by the Brazinger family people, so we have to be more cautious."
    As though confirming her words, the young lady's eyes narrowed as she noticed a young man wearing an odd monocle walking out from one of the tunnels with his hands clasped behind his back. Just by his red hair and eyes, she could tell that this young man was from that family.
    The beasts immediately reacted to this young man's appearance, taking defensive stances around him.
    The young woman sighed. Sometimes she hated being right.
    Suddenly, the situation changed once again. Let alone the two Old Hutch had sent, even Simeon looked up with shock evident in his eyes.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The white geyser of Force suddenly concentrated into a fine line. It compressed on itself to the point it became a blinding gold that outshone even the sun hanging high in the skies.
    Then, it exploded, sending a rain of gold in all directions.
    The raging roars and the bloody battle all suddenly came to an end. In fact, everything, including the young man and woman, Simeon and even the beasts, sat on the ground, closing their eyes in meditation.
    For those few moments, it felt as though everything in the world was clear to them.

 Chapter 204: Enlightenment

    Leonel had no idea how greatly the outside world was benefiting, but there was no need for him to be jealous. As the ones closest to the Force Crystal Core, there was no denying that he, Roaring Black Lion, Thunderous Clap and Flowing Wind were most definitely receiving the greatest benefits.
    In truth, all four of them, including Leonel, had been caught off guard. But, as though it was instinctual, they all knew exactly what they should do.
    The maturation of a Force Crystal Mine Core came with a moment of enlightenment. The completion of the natural Force Art required a communication with the most fundamental laws of the universe.
    When this gate of communication is opened, not only will the mine itself greatly benefit, but all creatures within its range of influence would as well.
    Compared to others who had sunk into an absentminded enlightenment, Leonel was still able to keep a hold on to his consciousness thanks to his strong spirit. In fact, he was currently struggling, trying to decide what it was he wanted to comprehend.
    Should he use this moment to understand his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor a bit better? Or should he use the chance to calculate the feasibility of forming a Tenth Node? Or maybe he should use this chance to absorb more Urbe Ores? In this state, cultivation should be much faster as wellбн
    Leonel's mind spun. He even entered his Dream World, splitting into nine clones and thinking in nine different paths. After his spirit gained such a big boost, he was capable of this now. In fact, he had thought he would be capable of far more than this, but it seemed that this was his limit.
    Suddenly, Leonel jolted.
    His eyes snapped open and he looked toward the Force Crystal Core like a hungry wolf.
    The Core was shining with beautiful rainbow lights that were tinged with a bit of blackness. This blackness made its Fourth Dimensional Grade very obvious.
    However, what Leonel was focusing on wasn't the lights, but rather the complex runes that swarmed its body, exuding a majestic aura.
    Leonel had already felt that natural Force Arts were magical things. Not very much could catch his interest, but this was definitely one of those things.
    It had taken him two days to Dream Sculpt a mere Third Dimensional natural Force Art. And, though he didn't know what benefits it would bring him in the future, he had a feeling that when he completely grasped it, the possibilities would be unimaginable.
    But this Natural Force Art was on a completely different level. Not only was it Fourth Dimensional, but it was currently still connected to those enigmatic laws of the universe. If it was during any normal time, Leonel wouldn't dare to try to Dream Sculpt it. Who knew how many years, decades or maybe even centuries it would take him.
    But right nowбн
    Leonel's heart steeled as he resolved himself.
    He knew this was a gamble. If he focused on his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, he could probably awaken both the Speed and Healing Branch. The benefits of such a thing would not be small by any stretch of the imagination. Butбн
    He felt something calling to him.
    **
    Days later, Simeon opened his eyes. Though there was a trace of happiness there, it also carried with it a bit of regret.
    How could he have expected that the Core would mature so soon? Had he known, he wouldn't have spent hours leaving the hive to prepare for Leonel. What worth did Leonel have to him in the face of such benefits.
    He could only grind his teeth in anger. Leonel was definitely the closest. This would make things far more complicated now, he was already so powerful to begin withбн
    Simeon had always been decisive. Without hesitation, he chose to leave, not even turning back to explain himself to his subordinates. Though One was greatly dissatisfied, so what? One could only wield so much power to begin with thanks to him. If he forgot his place, he could always be replaced.
    Leonel could have never imagined that Simeon would make such a choice. In fact, he even had a shuttle prepared, one not very different to the one used by the weremen who had attack Leonel and Aina.
    By the time Leonel left the hive, he was stunned to find that Simeon was nowhere to be seen. After deducing the likely reason why, Leonel couldn't help but grow even more serious.
    Simeon had no idea that Leonel's combat prowess hadn't risen at all due to his choice back then, but the fact the former still chose to leave without hesitation caused Leonel to have no choice but to respect him no matter how much he hated him.
    Leonel took a deep breath. 'The bright side is that this makes things much easier. There's nothing that can really stop me from leaving this place.'
    Thanks to the Segmented Cube reaching Phase Two, he finally had enough space to hold everybody, so all the youths were with him. Now that Simeon wasn't here any longer, things would be even easier.
    Unfortunately, Simeon left behind the beast kings causing Leonel no small shock. This man really didn't care about the power of the beast kings? Even though there were only three left, they were still all S-grade Elites. Their strength could be considered among the topmost on Earthбн
    What Leonel didn't know was that these beasts were only the overlord of this B Sector Project Hunt Islandбн However, even without knowing this, Leonel added yet another point to Simeon. If things kept going like this, he might as well call that bastard master the next time they met.
    Just when Leonel was about to resolve himself to charge through these beasts, his eyes suddenly narrowed in a certain direction.
    'Huh? He noticed me from this far away?'
    The young woman was stunned. It had to be said that they were at least 20 kilometers away. The only reason she could see so far wasn't due to her ability, but rather because of a Force technique she practiced. But, she didn't sense Leonel circulating any Force, so how had he done itбн?
    "Bring us over there, Badger."
    "Over there? You can't mean you want me to fly, right? That's dangerous."
    "Idiot, all the flying beasts descended from the skies after the Core matured. It's safe to go up there now. In fact, if we don't do it quickly and their enlightenment ends, it'll be even more difficult to leave this place."
    "Alright, alright, alright."
    Badger took a dignified step forward, wings bursting from his back.
    They radiated a majestic silver light. But, what was the most striking about them was their size. Each dwarfed their owner, spanning over five meters in each direction.
    To his back, one could faintly catch the divinity of a Roc.

 Chapter 205: First

    Leonel obseved the young man and woman who landed before him with a slightly curious gaze.
    From the way they called each other, he knew that the young man went by the name Badger. He had a simple look to him as though he never spared any thoughts toward scheming. His skin was a delicate brown color and his clothing was neat and tidy to the point of being overly meticulous. How he managed to look so fresh even when flying through the air at such blinding speeds was beyond Leonel's comprehension.
    Compared to his unkempt beard and nest of straws he called hair, this young man was several levels his better. Though, actually, now that he thought about it, his hair had become exceptionally smooth and clean after awakening his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Not that he checked very closely, though.
    The woman went by the name Mayfly. She had a tall, heroic build. Even compared to Leonel, she was almost tall enough to be at eye level with him, just barely falling short. She seemed like a born leader with a sharp mind.
    Her hair was red, which initially made Leonel on guard against her as he assumed she might also be from the Brazinger family. But, after some more observation, he deduced that it was unlikely.
    The two seemed like quite the pair, especially by the way they had made their way over. Badger actually allowed Mayfly to step on his shoulders as he flew. Leonel really didn't know how to react to such a sight. But, since Badger didn't mind, it wasn't really his place to say anything.
    "You two were sent by Old Hutch?"
    Badger and Mayfly looked quite stunned when they heard these words. Not many dared to call the old man by his nickname, least of all those under his command. The two of them were among the few who felt no fear before the geezer. They were surprised to find that Leonel was just as unreserved.
    "Yes, we were sent for an attempted rescue, but it seems it wasn't necessaryбн" Mayfly said with a slightly confused tinge in her voice. "бн Where are the others, it can't be thatбн?"
    She was a bit worried to ask this question. But, she had no choice. Leonel had come out alone, so she braced herself for the worst.
    "They're all with me. They're in an abode treasure of mine."
    Once again, the two youths were shocked. But after a moment, they 'understood'. It must be that there were too few of them remaining, so they could all fit in such a treasure. They couldn't fathom the idea of nearly a hundred people fitting into just one space.
    One had to know that spatial treasures were already inconceivably valuable. The higher the Dimensional Grade, the more valuable they were. This was because spatial treasures of a lower Dimensional grade entering a higher Dimensional world would destabilize and collapse.
    If Leonel tried to take his Black Grade spatial bracelet to a Fifth Dimensional world, the already small space would break apart and eject everything within it. In severe cases, it might even destroy everything inside before it could eject it.
    So, one really shouldn't blame the two for assuming the worst.
    However, the two were soon baffled.
    After a few hours, the trio managed to battle their way out of the encirclement of beasts. In fact, the only beast king that survived was the skeleton monkey king. Not only were they astonished by Leonel's battle prowess, but when they returned to the ships docked off shore, they were even more stunned as they watched Leonel bring out over 80 youths from his abode treasure.
    Such a treasure really existedбн They could hardly believe it.
    At that moment, the Commanders of both the Southern and Eastern Lookouts listened to the stories of the youths. When they learned just how much they owed their survival to Leonel, they couldn't help but look toward the young man with fond gazes.
    "Indomitable, this time you were too reckless. You can't just expose your face like this."
    Violet Rain reprimanded Leonel harshly. But, somehow, she sounded more like a big sister admonishing her little brother. Plusбн she couldn't wipe the smile off her face, so her attempts at looking stern fell flat.
    She couldn't hide her happiness at all. She had been so worried about these kids.
    It couldn't be said that things were perfect. Of the 87 youths sent, only 81 returned. Leonel wasn't a superhuman. Though he protected the youths to the best of his abilities when they charged toward the hive, there were some inevitable losses.
    But, even this was already far beyond what the Commanders expected. Even just half surviving would have been a miracle to them.
    "Alright, alright. That's enough, Violet Rain."
    A hearty laughter came from the side of the Eastern Lookout Commanders. It seemed that unlike how the youths had rivalries, the Commanders of the various Lookouts weren't like this at all.
    The laughter came from a jovial looking man with a massive gut. Somehow, despite his apparently unhealthy wait, he looked quite fit though his bald head was especially eye catching.
    He went by the alias Big Buddha.
    "On behalf of the Eastern Lookout, I really thank you, Indomitable. If it wasn't for you, I really worry how this would have ended."
    Leonel smiled, feeling the good will of this man.
    The atmosphere was jovial as everyone felt as though a big weight had been taken off of their shoulders. Maybe the only person who had a disatisfied expression was Pisces. Even King of Seas carried the happiness of a man who had just survived a near death experience. After Leonel snubbed Pisces, he wasn't nearly as stand offish with him. In fact, he quite appreciated Leonel. Humans were truly odd creatures.
    Everyone seemed to understand why Pisces was brooding, so no one bothered her so as not to affect the happy atmosphere.
    Eventually, it was time to go their separate ways.
    Big Buddha's laughter sounded out again as he bid his farewells.
    "I'll see you soon Big Sis Violet Rain. The opening of the Zone isn't too far away, I'll be leading these brats when the time comes."
    Violet Rain smiled and waved them off.
    The two ships that had been attached by a bridge slowly separated, wading through the piles of corpses on the ocean's surface to sail toward their destinations.
    Pisces sent hateful glares toward Leonel, but the latter didn't seem to notice.
    Not only had she not received the S-grade Beast Crystal, but she also knew that she hadn't qualified to enter the SS-grade Zone. According to the tallies, it was Leonel, Flowing Wind and Thunderous Clap who ranked first, second and third respectively.
    She didn't know what to do with her belly full of hatred. She wasn't strong enough to oppose Leonel. And, with how much he had contributed to the Slayer Legion, he would probably be promoted to at least a Vice Commander.
    She stood on the ship's helm, shaking her head. Maybe she should just forget it.
    At that moment, she heard Big Buddha's jovial laughter again. Initially, it annoyed her. Why was everyone acting so happy when she was so unhappy?
    Suddenly she froze. After a moment of thought, a smile curled her lips.
    "Commander Buddha, can I talk to you for a moment? I have some questions about a Force technique I'd like to ask you."
    "Oh?" Big Buddha, who had been conversing with the other Commanders smiled gently. He didn't mind guiding the younger generation at all. "Sure, sure. We have a lot of time before we reach the Lookout."
    Pisces' actions didn't raise any sort of suspicion. Such a thing was quite normal. However, when she began to speak, Big Buddha's expression continuously changed before it became exceptionally solemn.
    "Are you certain? You're saying that it can deduce the abilities of people and creatures, not to mention their weaknesses, with a single scan?"
    "Yes, Commander. It isn't only me who saw this, there are many witnesses, you can ask anyone."
    Big Buddha fell into silence. He felt exceptionally conflicted. On one hand, he didn't like what Pisces was implying by telling him this information. But, on the other, such a treasure was unheard of. So unheard of, in fact, that even though he hadn't shown any greed toward Leonel's rare abode treasure, the moment Pisces spoke of this...
    It was too valuable to the Slayer Legion. The value of such a treasure was unimaginableбн
    But this wasn't the only important pointбн It was said that the first four to clear a Zone received special rewards. This was because the World Spirit was taken by another person many decades earlier.
    The Slayer Legion already knew of who was second, third and fourth. Howeverбн not a single person in the world was aware of who was firstбн

 Chapter 206: Supreme Monet

    A week came and went in the blink of an eye.
    The SS-grade Zone found by the Slayer Legion was under strict protection. While the clearing of Zones was important to the evolution of Earth, they also provided boundless prospects. The rewards for clearing such a Zone was beyond the imaginations of most.
    In truth, one shouldn't take Leonel as the standard. To most, C-grade treasures were a luxury. They were already enough for many to fight over. The only reason the base weapon given by the Slayer Legion during the Gathering was of the C-grade was because the Promising Youths were also considered elites among elites.
    Above that, B-grade treasures were practically national blessings while A-grade treasures and above were enough to start fueds over. From this, it could be said that Big Buddha had truly shown a lot of restraint when Leonel's abode treasure was exposed.
    Knowing all of this, one could imagine the kind of uproar an SS-grade treasure could cause. The fact that this was a Sub-Dimensional Zone with a 12 entry limit meant that at a minimum, 12 treasures were available for the taking. Even to the Slayer Legion, this was a great level of wealth.
    The location was yet another island. The Zone itself stood quite beautiful, radiating dark blue lights as it swirled silently amidst a large clearing. It could easily be told that this clearing hadn't been here in the past. In all likelihood, when the Zone appeared, it had ripped out several trees in the surroundings. But now, it had a calmness that said it wouldn't harm even a fly бк though, no one would be naive enough to believe such a thing.
    The Slayer Legion had long since erected a network of Force Disruption Towers in the vicinity. Like this, the appearance of this Zone didn't cause another beast horde and allowed the island to remain peaceful.
    At that moment, the entry candidates for the Slayer Legion were undergoing final check ups. Leonel could only sigh as his treasures were taken inventory of one after another. It really felt like he had never left The Empire. He wouldn't be surprised if the Slayer Legion tried to 'buy' his rewards after he exited as well.
    'Whatever, it doesn't matter. It was they who found the Zone so I guess it's fine if they take some benefits. All I want is the teleportation ticket to Terrain. If they dare to take this away, I wouldn't mind falling out with the Slayer Legion.'
    Though Leonel would feel a bit bad for Old Hutch, he hadn't known the old man for long, nor had the old man ever really done anything for him. In fact, it was the old man who owed him for kidnapping him all those weeks ago.
    It wasn't his fault if the Slayer Legion thought of him as one of their own. He had said multiple times that he had no intentions of joining. If they really tried to think that they could just order him around as they pleased, they would be in for a rude awakening.
    "Alright, I'm sure you all know about the rules. The Slayer Legion has a list of treasure types it's especially in need of. As long as you can claim one of these treasures for the Legion, you will be awarded the aforementioned merit points.
    "Violet Rain and Big Buddha will be the leaders of this mission. Their commands are undeniable. Should they disagree, the decision will be left to a majority vote.
    "Should anything happen to the both of them, commanding rights will fall to Badger, Mayfly, Mountain and Sea Eel. The same rules apply to them as well."
    Leonel sent a casual glance toward Mountain and Sea Eel. It seemed that their standing within the Slayer Legion didn't lose out to Badger and Mayfly at all, it was just that they were from the Eastern Lookout instead and as such, were under the jurisdiction of Supreme Monet rather than Supreme Hutch.
    If the four of them weren't so young, it was likely that they would have already been promoted to the Star General ranks. But, instead, they held a special title reserved for the most talented youths of the Slayer Legion. They were part of what was called the Reserve Generals.
    According to the old man, as long as they turned 21, they would immediately be promoted to One Star General, a rank a single step above the Commander rank.
    Leonel shook his head. He wasn't interested in such a thing.
    The Slayer Legion had disappointed him too many times already. It seemed that they made even more mistakes than he did at every turn. So, even though he found out that their true talents were hidden away from public view, he hadn't really changed his opinion of them.
    As things stood now, he didn't have a fond impression of either The Empire or the Slayer Legion. He wasn't sure what to do with these emotions for now, and he was even more uncertain of his future on Earth as a result of these emotions, but he simply chose to ignore them for now.
    He only had two goals in mind: Find Aina and destroy the Royal Blue Fort. He was a simple man who wanted simple things.
    If others knew he was describing such things as simpleбн who knew how they would react?
    Just as Leonel was lost in his thoughts, he sensed a change in the atmosphere. When he looked over, he found that the change was due to the appearance of a person he had never seen before.
    She was a middle-aged woman who carried a mature valiant aura that outshone Mayfly by several levels. It was clear that she had tempered her disposition over many years, giving her an innate advantage over a young woman of not even 18 years old like Mayfly.
    She wore a silver chestplate with etchings of a spiraling phoenix on it. Her long black her swayed to her waste, waving in the wind and along with her every step.
    Despite her clearly being in her 40's, she still had an intoxicating beauty. Though, it was difficult to tell whether or not their attraction to her was due to her demeanor or her actual looks. Even Leonel, who usually showed no reaction to women other than Aina, couldn't help but be moved. This woman was truly somethingбн
    While Leonel was distracted, he didn't notice Big Buddha's complicated gaze sweep over him. In the end, the large Commander shook his head an sighed. Compared to his own discomfort, his loyalty toward the Slayer Legion was several levels more important.
    Leonel didn't know who this woman was, but how could he not? This was none other than Supreme Monet.
    Big Buddha had long since passed down all the information he gained from Pisces on to her and left the final decision to his Supreme. As a Commander, he normally wouldn't even be allowed to meet such a high ranking officer, but this time, he had had no choice but to do everything he could to see her, and he eventually succeeded.
    But, for some reason, she hadn't made any movements in the last week, so he thought that she had decided not to make a move against the young man. This had made Big Buddha sigh a breath of relief, at least now, he wouldn't have to fight with his own conscience.
    Unfortunatelyбн It seemed that rather than not acting, his Supreme had actually been waiting for an opportune moment.
    "Who is Leonel Morales?"
    Supreme Monet's voice was just as valiant as her appearance, making one inadvertently want to follow her every command.
    Leonel frowned, wondering why this woman was looking for him. Even more oddly, why was she saying his name like this? In the end, he chose not to mind it. After all, he had already long since exposed himself. So, who cared if she used his name?
    "That would be me." Leonel stepped forward.
    Supreme Monet looked Leonel up and down before nodding.
    "The treasure you call a dictionary, are you willing to hand it over to the Slayer Legion or not?"
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. Why did it seem like she wasn't asking a question at all?

 Chapter 207: Thanks

    Leonel observed Supreme Monet for a long while. He didn't seem to be in any sort of rush to answer, a response that was quite shocking to many.
    If others were in his situation, there would be one of two reactions. The first would be to immediately agree. After all, the authority of a Supreme wasn't something most were able to ignore.
    The second option would be to explode in anger. There was no shortage of people who thought Monet's actions were excessive. In fact, those who knew how the relationships of the top echelon worked felt even more pity for Leonel.
    Knowing that Leonel had Hutch's backing, it was only a matter of course that Monet would wait until this moment to ask this of Leonel. If she went to the Eastern Lookout to ask such a question, Old Hutch probably would have sent her packing.
    For that madman, it wasn't even a matter of whether or not Monet's ask was appropriate or not, it was entirely about his own face.
    However, Leonel's response was exactly the last thing they could have expected. Aside from a slight frown in the beginning, he hardly reacted to the words at all. In fact, even Monet herself frowned slightly seeing Leonel's response. She had been prepared for either of the two obvious responses, but this wasn't something she had been ready for.
    To make matters worse, it seemed that this young man wasn't intimidated by her gaze or presence. He calmly scanned her up and down as though he was observing any other normal stranger he was meeting for the first time.
    Eventually, just when the silence was beginning to weigh too heavily on everyone's chest, Leonel finally spoke.
    "Sorry. The dictionary was left to me by my father. Giving it to another is impossible. I appreciate your asking first, though."
    There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Leonel's response. Monet asked a question and he responded appropriately. So, why did they feel so embarrassed?
    Monet narrowed her eyes slightly.
    Seeing that the situation was turning bad, Big Buddha who had guilt eating at his heart this whole time, couldn't help but step forward to try to mediate.
    "Leonel, Supreme Monet is only thinking about the bigger picture. Your treasure is too valuable. If it fell into the hands of The Empire, it could lead to a catastrophe. But, if it was in our hands, the chance we'd have to overturn their oppressive rule would skyrocket."
    At this point, Violet Rain who had been shocked by the sudden change the situation suddenly felt she understood something after hearing Big Buddha's words. Once she did, she couldn't help but turn a disappointed glance toward her long time friend.
    Leonel swept a glance over Big Buddha.
    "Oh." Leonel nodded. However, just when Big Buddha and the others wanted to sigh a breath of relief, thinking that Leonel understood, his next words caused them to freeze. "But, I honestly don't see much of a difference between you all and The Empire though. I can't tell that there would be a difference in outcome no matter who gets their hands on it."
    In the beginning, Big Buddha was shocked by what he was hearing. It wasn't just them, everyone here was shocked. They all saw themselves as a righteous faction fighting for the people. When had someone ever said such words to them?
    First there was shock, then there was rage. Big Buddha's guilt seemed to completely vanish. At the same time, even Badger and Mayfly who had had a good impression of Leonel frowned deeply toward his words. Such a reaction didn't change even when Flowing Wind and Thunderous Clap were taken into consideration.
    This could be expected. These youths were indoctrinated by the Slayer Legion since their birth. And, those who hadn't had parents and relatives who suffered at the hands of The Empire. Leonel's words were like a slap to their faces.
    However, Leonel felt that he had observed the Slayer Legion for long enough to feel quite confident about his words. He really didn't feel that there was a difference at all.
    At this point, Leonel didn't really care what happened. The Zone was right in front of him. He didn't believe that anyone here could stop him from entering it. It was too close and his power was too great.
    This wasn't a case of the strong oppressing the weak. Earth's Metamorphosis just began. Most people started at the same starting line. Even though Monet was more than double his age, it didn't make a difference.
    Even though Leonel still wasn't confident in defeating Old Hutch, he didn't believe that the old man could stop him if he was here either. As long as he was one of the first 12 to enter, nothing else mattered to him.
    "Young manбн"
    Big Buddha's voice no longer seemed as amiable, but Leonel had already long since stopped paying attention. The only reason he hadn't moved to enter the Zone yet was because he wanted to know how this would end. Would Monet make a move against him before he entered? In that case, he would go all out now. But, if she chose to wait, Leonel didn't mind keeping a shred of pretenses intact for a while longer.
    "Leonel Morales, is itбн?"
    Leonel was speechless. She had already asked his name, why is it that she was pretending not to know what it was now as though she already couldn't be bothered to remember?
    Toward such a woman, Leonel really had nothing to say. He couldn't even be bothered to have a back and forth with these people anymore.
    "From my understanding, you aren't a formal member of our Slayer Legion. I accept your decision, but there also doesn't seem to be an appropriate reason to allow you to enter our Zone either. бк"
    It seemed like Monet wanted to say more, probably an entire spiel on why she was morally correct. However, Leonel wasn't joking around when he decided he really couldn't be bothered to listen anymore.
    "What's her ability?"
    Leonel's voice left them stunned. It became clear in a moment that he really wasn't bothering to listen to their Supreme anymore.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Generating nomenclatureбн ]
    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 8 Black ]
    [ Evolution Type: Dual Elemental Healing ]
    [ Evolution: Fire Sense, Fire Manipulation, Fire Aid ]
    [ Fire Sense: Greater affinity for Fire Elemental Force. 200% boost in comprehension and power in using water based Force Techniques.? ]
    [ Fire Manipulation: Control over the Fire Element. ]
    [ Fire Aid: Ability to absorb the Fire Element to regain stamina and heal wounds. ]
    When Monet heard these words, her pupils constricted. But, at the same time, she felt a rage bubbling in her heart. For Leonel to cut her off to ask this question, wasn't his intent obvious?
    At that moment, everyone suddenly went on guard against Leonel. However, it wasn't to the point they worried for their lives. There were too many elites here. If Leonel really wanted to do something, he would only be courting death. It was very possible that he wouldn't even be allowed to leave this place alive. As a Supreme, Monet had more than enough rights to kill someone on the spot.
    However, what left them speechless was that Leonel didn't even stop. As though he didn't have a care in the world, he had the dictionary expose their abilities one after another.
    Toward such a thing, Leonel was quite helpless. The fact he had to speak aloud to get this information was the worst drawback of the dictionary. Unfortunately, there was no way Monet would allow him to continue on so casually.
    But, none of them could have expected that even before anyone could make a move, the situation would change once more.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    "HAHA! We really have to thank the Slayer Legion this time. Finding an SS-grade Zone couldn't have been easy."

 Chapter 208: Adurna

    At that moment, there was movement in the skies above.
    In order to hide this place from prying eyes, the island had been covered in dense clouds. In fact, it wasn't just the island, but the surrounding tens of miles as well. With a single glance, even someone who wasn't quite informed could tell that these clouds couldn't have possibly formed naturally. It was obvious to Leonel that this was related to someone's ability.
    Thanks to this, the island had been shrouded in a perpetual darkness even though it was midday. Maybe it was in part due to this that the atmosphere from earlier felt so oppressive.
    That said, the clouds served no other purpose aside from concealment. They didn't seem to have any offensive or defensive ability, so when the uninvited guests descended from above in a silver ship, the clouds were completely unable to stop their descent.
    The clouds moved aside and quickly reformed, revealing a small boat of about five meters in length. Its deck carried six people.
    The man who had spoken earlier stood at the help and looked to be about the same age as Monet. However, to his back, there were five youths no older than Leonel or Mayfly.
    Seeing these people appear, an ugly expression took hold of Monet's once calm visage. It was very obvious that she knew who these people were.
    "You."
    Suddenly, Monet sent a rage fueled gaze toward Leonel, leaving him speechless once again. He also didn't know who the hell these people were, why was he being looked at like it was his fault they had appeared.
    However, after a while, Leonel sneered inwardly. To Monet, it didn't matter if he was responsible or not. All she had to do was pretend like he was. In such a way, she had even more reason to apprehend him. In fact, before, it could be said that her actions were still questionable. But now, even Old Hutch wouldn't be able to say anything.
    'What a conniving woman.'
    However, Leonel still didn't have much of a reaction to this. His mind was running through several calculations. To him, the appearance of a third party was actually an excellent turn of events.
    There was, of course, a small chance that this could make things worse for him. This was in the case the two opposing parties decided to work together. But, judging by the situation, that seemed unlikely.
    "There's no need to react this way, Monet. We can do this the easy way. Just give up six entry slots and everything will be fine. If not, we can always do things the hard way."
    In truth, the man who stood at the helm of the silver boat hadn't expected a Supreme to be here today. He had come as a precautionary measure so that these youths didn't lose their lives. Plus, with him here, bullying those Commander rank folks below would be as easy as breathing.
    If it wasn't for the fact she had suddenly shown up, he wouldn't even bother to speak at all, he would have directly swooped in. In fact, it was an act of giving face that he only brought a total of six including himself. This way, the backlash from the Slayer Legion wouldn't be too exaggerated.
    But, if he had known a Supreme would be here, he would have definitely brought more people. Not so that they could enter, but so that they would have a stronger hand for negotiations.
    What the man could have never expected was that an esteemed Supreme would come here for the sake of a boy of not even 20 years of age.
    "Impossible." Monet took a hard stance. "Scram back to where you came from. Your Adurna family isn't welcome here."
    Leonel cocked an eyebrow. 'Adurna family? Is that another hidden familyбн?'
    Seeing how they all had blue hair and eyes, Leonel felt that this was very likely the case. At the same time, he was speechless as well. What was with all these families having the same eye and hair colors? It can't be that they wereбн inbreeding, right?
    Leonel shuddered.
    "I seeбн It seems that this is the way you want to do thin бк"
    SHUUU!
    At that moment, something not a single person expected to happen occurred. Leonel, without saying a word to anyone, suddenly dashed forward. His speed was so fast that sounds of the wind splitting apart followed his figure.
    Let alone Monet, even the man from the Adurna family was stunned. No one had expected such a thing.
    This child's gutsбн weren't they too large?
    "You dare?!"
    "Hold it right there!"
    "Boy!"
    The last roar was from Big Buddha himself. It could be said of those the most offended by Leonel's comments, he could rank at the very top. His loyalty to the Slayer Legion was far beyond anything Leonel could imagine. After all, as a person who had never truly had an undying passion in his life, how could Leonel understand this man?
    Because of this, even when the Adurna family appeared, Big Buddha's rage had still been focused on Leonel. It was just that the boy had completely ignored him. But, as a result, Big Buddha was the first to notice Leonel's actions and was also the first to react.
    The path forward wasn't exactly easy. The surrounding 100 meter space of the Zone had been completely cleared out. Outside of this radius, there were many crew members of the Slayer Legion tasked with maintaining the Force Disruption Towers.
    Compared to those people, Leonel could be considered to be in the middle. Many were behind him, but many were also in front of him. And, of those ahead of him, there were a few who had either passed the inspection before him or had special privileges and as such, had no need to go through such procedures.
    However, despite seeing these obstacles before him, Leonel's heart was calm. His actions seemed foolish, but this kind of chaos was exactly what he needed.
    As expected, as soon as Leonel charged toward the Zone gate, the leading man of the Adurna family suddenly narrowed his gaze. He had already decided. So long as Leonel reached a certain level of closeness, he too would rush in.
    Everyone knew how Zones worked. The moment one entered, the gate would begin to close. If no others entered in time, the Zone would close. This meant that everyone would be on a timer the instant the first person enteredбн

 Chapter 209: Bind

    Leonel didn't seem to hear the words of those around him. He continued to charge forward, his blazing speed leaving a trail of gold in his wake.
    He had already formed his Eighth Node in the past week. Even though there were Force Disrupting Towers around, Earth's technology hadn't advanced to the point of being able to block Force Strengthening Deviations just yet. As a resultбн Who here could match him in speed?
    Big Buddha was completely enraged after being ignored by Leonel. But, why should he have expected anything else? Was Leonel going to stop just because he shouted out a few time.
    A cold light flashed in Leonel's eyes when he saw that Big Buddha was blocking his way.
    Rage lit the large man's eyes. In that moment, his palms were covered by a formless energy that soon coalesced into illusory hands that dwarfed even his body in size. It was clear that the usually amiable Big Buddha was truly enraged this time. If not for this, there was no way that he would pour so much energy into his ability.
    However, what infuriated him even more was that Leonel obviously had no intention of engaging with him. What a joke. Why would he allow himself to be stalled in this way? Plusбн how could such a big man match him in agility?
    Leonel planted his foot down hard, feinting to one side and bursting with speed to another. He was Leonel Morales, a king of the football field. Compared to fighting, these sort of evasive movements were things he was even better at.
    Big Buddha could hardly react when he found that Leonel had already burst by him, heading for the clearing around the Zone without pausing for even a moment.
    At that point, Monet finally reacted. Though she had yelled out initially, it still took her a while to realize that something like this was actually happening. A boy of not even 20 years of age was actually impugning on her authority in such a way? How could she stand for it?
    However, she was too far from Leonel. She had been speaking to him from on high before, she didn't believe she needed to approach such an ant so closely. So, compared to Big Buddha, she was at least 50 meters away from Leonel. In fact, after he broke out into a run, it was already closer to a hundred.
    "Stop him by any means." She shouted out an order coldly.
    Badger sighed. Of the Reserve Generals, his speed was unmatched. Even after seeing Leonel's burst, he found that it was still beneath his own. After all, his Lineage Factor boosted speed much like Aina's boosted strength. In addition, his ability supplemented his Lineage Factor as well, giving him the wings of a Roc. For him, blocking Leonel's path was truly not a problem.
    It was just a shame. He had had a good impression of Leonel. But, after what he said about them and The Empire, all of those good feelings had gone out of the window. If it wasn't for the fact he had fought with Leonel side by side, rather than just blocking his path, he would have directly killed him.
    "Let me." He said coolly.
    Hearing his words, the remaining three Reserve Generals nodded. They could see that no one else could pause Leonel's steps. As long as he was stalled, this matter would be over. Since Badger had the greatest speed amongst them, it was only natural that he would go. In fact, they even cleared out his general vicinity.
    Badger fell forward, his leg stomping forth just when it seemed he might hit the ground face first. If one looked closely, it really seemed as though his thigh might burst from his pants at any time. The amount of power in his legs was already inconceivable. But thenбн his wings appeared.
    BANG!
    The grass beneath his feet was completely flattened. In the distance, trees that managed to survive the appearance of the Zone swayed wildly, their green leaves being ripped from their branches.
    Monet smiled lightly, though it seemed to be more of a sneer. Badger was like a streak of silver, his speed crossing 150 kilometers an hour with ease. It seemed that he would catch up with Leonel in just a few breaths.
    But, that was when Leonel sighed a sigh none of them could here. Beneath the raging windsбн how could they?
    "Too predictableбн" He mumbled beneath his breath.
    The speed of the Light Element wasn't a joke. The only issue was that while Leonel had other attributes and abilities that stunted his speed, Badger was quite literally built to maximize his speed.
    His bones were as light as that of a birds. His wings had a massive ratio in comparison to his body. He had also learned several agility Force techniques. And, as if that wasn't enough, he had a speed type Lineage Factor. Compared to Leonel who had still yet to awaken the speed branch of his Snowy Star Owl, he was indeed a bit faster.
    Howeverбн how could Leonel not know that? In fact, he had purposely not accelerated with his greatest speed to make sure this would play out in this way. It was too obvious that the one they'd send to stop him would be Badger.
    And, unfortunately for them, Badger had weaknesses just like Leonel.
    Leonel kept running as though he believed he could out pace Badger. But, this only made the others grow more confident. In fact, Monet had already begun to move. She only wanted Badger to stall Leonel, as for completely restraining him, it might very well take more than a single person.
    The other Reserve Generals seemed to know this as well. So, after they finished clearing out a path for Badger, they too shot forward.
    In the sky, the leading man of the Adurna family raised an eyebrow. He too felt that Leonel was finished. However, he was a bit unwilling. How could he gain some benefits from this situation...?
    'in that caseбн'
    "Little Nana, help out our friends a bit."
    At that time, the youngest of the Adurna family blinked her large watery eyes and took a step forward. She extended a slender finger down below and spoke in a clear, resounding voice.
    "Bind."
    Leonel suddenly felt a formless pressure surround his body, causing his steps to falter. His expression changed. It felt as though he was trying to run in quick sand.
    The innocent little girl in the skies blinked her eyes. Leonel had no idea that she was shocked that he could still run at all.
    She extended her finger again. "Double Bind."
    Leonel felt his legs snap together as though a rope had tightened around his ankles. Without suspense, he fell to the ground helplessly.
    The leading man of the Adurna family laughed. "Don't say I've never helped you with anything, Monet. I think this is enough to exchange for six places, no? I hear this boy has something quite valuable to you?"

 Chapter 210: Thanks Again

    Though others were likely making their own assumptions about Leonel's current state of mind, the man himself was incomparably calm as he watched the ground quickly approach him. Falling like this truly wasn't pleasant.
    Leonel had already calculated that the chance of this happening was quite high. In order to lure Badger in, he lowered his speed. As a result, the Adurna family would obviously think that he would fail. If that happened, there was a 76% chance they would act direclty against him as a show of goodwill toward the Slayer Legion, thus making their subsequent asks more palatable.
    This was simply how the world of the upper echelons worked, a complex network of meaningless pleasantries, fake smiles, and most important of all: debts.
    It could only be said that Leonel was unlucky. Though he had known they would try to stop him, the odds of them having such a perfect ability to do so was relatively low. He was definitely getting screwed over by the luck gods. But, even then, he didn't panic.
    Just when it seemed he would fall face first, he rolled his left shoulder forward and performed a somersault. The instant his two feet hit the ground, still binded together, he lowered himself into a strong squat and leapt forward.
    With his current strength, such an action easily sent him over ten meters into the air, falling in a not so elegant parabola shape. However, it was unquestionable that his speed had fallen. In fact, Badger was already not much more than 15 meters from him.
    Leonel sent a casual glance toward the leading man of the Adurna family. The man couldn't help but frown when he saw Leonel's calm countenance. It felt as though Leonel could see right through him, as though he was analyzing and memorizing every little detail. It didn't seem like a cold gaze for the sake of being cold, but the kind of indifferent glance one would give a sheet filled with numbers.
    Without suspense, Badger caught up to Leonel just as the latter hit the ground once more. He didn't speak any words, but the derision in his eyes were cleared.
    Toward such disdain, Leonel could only shrug. If such simple words made them so infuriated, it only meant that the Slayer Legion was even worse off than he thought.
    "Double Bind."
    The little girl stretched her fingers out again. This time, Leonel's wrists snapped together, causing his frown to deepen.
    He had already entered the clearing and was just 50 meters away from the Zone. But at this point, it might as well be a miles away. How infuriating.
    The little girl's ability was truly astounding. Leonel believe that it was Tier 8 at worst.
    If it was just as simple as binding him with something material, Leonel wouldn't take it so seriously. But, what was shocking was that this binding seemed moreбн mytserious than that. Almost as if the laws of physics around him had changed to make it so that his ankles and wrists were only allowed to be together. Should they be apart, it would be breaking the regulations of the laws around him.
    At any other time, Leonel would be greatly fascinated by this. Such a concept was completely novel to him and he wondered if it was possible to apply to his Force Crafts. But, at the moment, he didn't have such a luxuryбн
    Badger appeared before him. But, instead of attacking directly, he swooped to Leonel's back, blocking his path toward the Zone before sending a punch toward his back.
    Monet finally relaxed slightly. This farce was over.
    BANG!
    "AH!"
    Leonel shook his head and sighed. Badger's bones were formed to optimize his speed and flight. Him attacking Leonel after he activated his Runes was asking for insult.
    In truth, Badger wasn't so fragile. If not for this, how could Mayfly have been able to ride on his shoulders? However, compared to Leonel who was on the verge of forming a body as tough as a Third Dimensional metal, he was far too lacking.
    Badger screeched as the bone in his arm fractured and his knuckles contorted. He fell to his knees, holding onto his hand as his face turned flush.
    How could it be that Badger and Mayfly would be aware of the full extent of his abilities? He had grown so powerful that he had no need to show them all of his strength as they escaped the island, not to mention the fact he had the two of them supporting him. This led to their unfortunate underestimation of him.
    "So that's how it isбн"
    Leonel finally understood. That little girl's ability was almost like a Natural Force Art. She was imposing laws on himбн It was no wonder this feeling felt somewhat similar to when he was observing the Force Crystal Core. What a fearsome abilityбн.
    But, Leonel knew that no ability was infallible.
    The way that little girl always pointed at him before her ability took effect. Was it just the quirks of a child? Or was there another reasonбн?
    Leonel didn't believe that it had something to do with her finger. He couldn't sense anything particularly special about her movement. However, what other reasons could she have to point like that?
    'Sight?'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed.
    Everyone was closing in on him. After seeing what happened to Badger, they all redoubled their efforts. It would be longer than maybe five seconds before they were all able to surround him.
    But, Leonel suddenly smiled.
    With a flash, a ring on his finger glowed and the ground beneath his feet suddenly became like a pool of mud. He hadn't even sunk in to his knees when he suddenly felt the restrictions around his ankles vanish.
    Leonel's smile widened. There was no need to keep his ring a secret. It had already been reported as one of the reasons he was able to save so many youths from the Project Hunt Island. In that case, why not use it now?
    A blinding light surrounded Leonel's body. He released his Light Elemental Force without reserve as though he didn't care about the expenditure. But, it was effective. The little girl was completely unable to see him clearly, causing his binding to weaken and then break.
    Leonel jumped out from the pool of mud and grabbed at one of Badger's massive wings. The latter was in so much pain that he hardly reacted, having thought he had completed his task, only to find himself flying through the air toward a group rushing toward Leonel.
    Badger was ultimately still a Reserved General and regained his bearing quickly. He snorted in his mind, completely deriding Leonel. It was his arm that was hurt, not his wings. He wouldn't even hit these people so what was the point of doing such a thing?
    Badger's wings fanned outward and he flapped hard, stopping his forward momentum. But, it was at that moment his expression changed.
    "Thanks." Leonel said simply.
    The wind caused by Badger's movements sent an obstructive wall toward Leonel's pursuers. By the time they stopped themselves from tumbling backward, Leonel had already entered a 20 meter range of the Zone.
    "Stop right there! Are you going to make an enemy out of the whole Slayer Legion?!" Monet roared.
    Leonel chuckled in his mind. He had already made an enemy of the whole Empire, why would he care about the Slayer Legion?
    "Don't worry, I'll apprehend him!" The leading man of the Adurna family said shamelessly as he swerved his silver boat toward the Zone.
    "Matteus, don't you dare!"
    "Why are you getting so worked up, I'm only trying to help."
    Monet was fuming, but Leonel had already leapt into the swirling portal.
    Surprisingly, at this very moment, Monet became frighteningly calm.
    "Mayfly, Big Buddha, Violet Rain, and Mountain. Follow me. The rest of you stay put."
    "HAHA! That's the way!" The Adurna family man roared with laughter.
    None of them seemed to notice the helplessness and anger on the faces of those who lost their place to enter, this was especially so Sea Eel and Badger who seemed to want to murder Leonel with their gazes toward his disappearing back.
    Badger clutched his only good remaining hand, flames bursting in his eyes.

 Chapter 211: [Bonus Chapter] SS-grade Zone

    Leonel's eyes were blinded for a moment. All he felt was that he had landed upon a soft patch of land. It was only after his sight finally came back to him that he realized he was standing atop just one of a series of rolling hills.
    There didn't seem to be anything particularly special about this place other than the fact the air felt particularly fresh in an earthy kind of way. The Earth of Leonel's time had already put a lot of resources into developing clean energy and had saved the planet long ago. But, its air still felt somewhat artificial compared to this place.
    Leonel found it hard to explain, but he could only say that the air of his Earth felt almost too clean while this place carried just the right amount of impurity, It made people feel at ease.
    Not long after Leonel regained his bearings, a silver boat appeared in the skies. And, not long after that, Monet rushed in with Mayfly, Violet Rain, Big Buddha and Mountain.
    Upon entry, it was no surprise that 11 pairs of eyes fell upon Leonel. Some were of curiosity, some of disdain, and some of rage. The rage and disdain was mostly seen on the Slayer Legion side while the curiosity came from the Adurna side. Though, the latter seemed to carry a hint of disdain as well.
    This only made sense, after all, Leonel was the only one here without a supporting cast. He was all alone and seen as an easy target.
    They all knew the rules of this place. The rewards of a Zone were already set in stone in terms of their quantity. In that case, if they killed Leonel, it meant that there would be one more set of rewards for them.
    At this point, Leonel was also feeling a bit tired. It had taken quite a bit of effort to obscure the little girl's vision with his Light Elemental Force. He hadn't thought that such a simple action would take so much out of him. He would definitely have to interrogate the dictionary about a better method.
    Still, he wasn't feeling anxious. Actually, he smiled toward the little girl.
    "You sure caused me a lot of trouble."
    There didn't seem to be any anger in his voice. He sounded like a big brother speaking to his little sister. In fact, he wasn't angry at all. He found it difficult to be angry at such an adorable little girl. She couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 years old.
    The little girl who went by Nana seemed scared of Leonel's gaze as she hurriedly hid behind another young woman who was closer to Leonel's age.
    The young lady glared at Leonel as though to give him a warning to not bully her little sister, but Leonel only laughed. He had always been an only child, but seeing such a scene, he felt that having such an adorable little sister wouldn't be so bad.
    "Young man, you go by Leonel, correct? What say you to becoming a retainer of my Adurna family?" Matteus suddenly spoke.
    He had seen Leonel's strength. Plusбн From what he overheard from Monet's conversation with himбн
    Monet, who had just been planning a move on Leonel, suddenly paused, her brows furrowing slightly. They were already outnumbered by one. If Leonel joined them, it would be by two.
    She had already been forced to enter due to the appearance of Matteus. If she didn't, their side wouldn't have anyone who could stand up to him. It could be said that this training experience they set aside for the youths was completely ruined now.
    Monet sent a glare toward Leonel as though warning him of the consequences of accepting. It was very likely that the Adurna family would just snatch his treasure and not mind him at all.
    Leonel laughed lightly. How could he not know of what Matteus was thinking? However, instead of directly refusing, he suddenly thought of something.
    "Oh? Are you sure you want to accept me?"
    Matteus raised an eyebrow. After a moment, he 'understood'.
    "Don't worry, there are no irreconcilable differences between you and the Slayer Legion. In fact, Monet's actions could be considered a senior bullying a junior. You have every right to leave."
    Monet's expression darkened while those who followed her in seemed somewhat embarrassed. They had been so enraged by Leonel's comments that it seemed they forgot they were the ones initially in the wrong.
    However, Leonel shook his head to these words.
    "This isn't what I meant." Leonel said with a light smile. "I'm already aware of certain things. Old Hutch has a decent impression of me, if I inform him of what happened, dealing with this really wouldn't be much of a problem.
    "What I mean to say is that I once almost destroyed a Fort of The Empire, are you still certain you want to take me in?"
    Matteus' expression changed. It wasn't just him, but Monet's as well as everyone else.
    Monet frowned. Was there such a thing? She had to admit that she didn't investigate Leonel much past knowing he was affiliated with Hutch. That was about all.
    After a while, Matteus recovered.
    "Just The Empire? Nothing but a puppet on some strings, yet it dares to call itself an Empire."
    Leonel's brows raised. This was exactly why he said so much. He wanted to know more about the relationship between The Empire and these hidden families. Matteus' response was quiteбн interesting.
    "Oh, that's good." Leonel pretended to be relieved. "I also killed a few members of the Brazinger family, is that alright too?"
    At this point, everyone almost fainted. Was this person a magnet for trouble? If it was anyone else, they might have thought he was lying for some fame, but didn't they see his boldness with their own two eyes? He even dared to forcefully enter a Zone owned by the Slayer Legion.
    Matteus' lip twitched. But in the end, his expression became solemn.
    The relationship between the hidden families weren't so simple. They couldn't be considered to be allies, but they couldn't be considered to be entirely not either. They all shared a similar goal or goals.
    By now, Matteus was already thinking of using Leonel in exchange for a favor. If he brought Leonel in, gained that treasure of his, and gained a debt of gratitude from the Brazinger familyбн Just how many birds was he killing with this single stone?
    However, what he could have never expected was for Leonel to start sinking into the ground right before his eyes, leaving him stunned once again.
    "I'll think about your offer." Leonel said with what seemed like a genuine smile.
    "Boy! Hold it right there!" Big Buddha stepped forward to try and stop Leonel. "Don't you think you've broken enough rules?!"
    Unfortunately for them, Leonel had caught them completely off guard with his questions. They couldn't even react before his head disappeared and the earth that had once been mud went back to normal.
    Beneath the ground, Leonel held his breath before bringing one of his silver green whistles to his lips.
    'Those families really don't fear The Empireбн And what was that about puppet on a stringбн? And that flash in his eyes when I mentioned the Brazinger familyбн It seems that their relationship isn't simple eitherбн'
    Leonel shook his head, it was about time he found out just what this place wasбн
    [ *Ping* ]
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Merlin's Prophecy. King Arthur]
    Leonel's expression became weird. King Arthur shouldn't have been a real person, many believed he was just an embellished legend. Beyond that, thoughбн another Merlin's Prophecy Zone? Who the hell was this person? He should have been fabricated tooбн
    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: SS]
    [Clear requirements: Save King Arthur]
    [Side Quest: Love Triangle. Repair King Arthur's relationship with Lancelot]
    [Side Quest: Kill Mordred. ]
    [Hidden Quest: Make King Arthur a part of true history]
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Seed is warned to be wary. Mythological Zones have a high likelihood of becoming Unique Zones ]
    Leonel suddenly felt a headache coming onбн

 Chapter 212: Decree

    Leonel took a deep breath. He had thought that having the 99% accuracy of his father's dictionary would make things a breeze. At least then, he wouldn't have to worry about screwing himself over by accidentally failing the mission requirements.
    However, he could have never expected that the dictionary would be so vague at this time.
    What did it mean to make King Arthur a part of history? Was it acknowledging that King Arthur was fake? In that case, how could King Arthur appear in a Zone?
    According to Leonel's understanding, Zones were parts of past where higher Dimensions influenced the lower Dimension. Only by resolving these instances would these timelines smoothly integrate with Earth. Once this integration was completed, Earth would reach the equilibrium necessary to breakthrough and reach the next Dimensional Tier.
    But, how did aбн 'Mythological Zone' factor into this?
    "What's a Mythological Zone?" Leonel asked.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, a Mythological Zone is a legend of humans that has propagated enough to be on the verge of becoming truth. ]
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. He was still confusedбн
    He sunk into his thoughts for a moment. He still had to wait for the two groups above him to leave, so he really did have some time to waste.
    Suddenly, his eyes flashed.
    When Aina was explaining to him the differences between the Dimensions, she mentioned how grand the gap between Dimensions was. If he remembered correctly, she said that one could say a novel was in the 2D while its writer was in the 3D.
    Here, King Arthur was technically a 2D construct. He was just a legend passed down through generations to the point he became a nice tale to tell to children. His stories could be easily manipulated and changed on a whim depending on the mood of the story teller.
    But, if one thought about it from another angle, wasn't this act of continuously passing his legend down like a higher Dimensional world acting on a lower Dimensional one? In that case, wouldn't it meet the requirements necessary to cause a Zone to appear?!
    The moment Leonel completed this thought, he felt as though an explosion had gone off in his mind. If this was true, then the danger Mythological Zones presented couldn't be underestimated.
    Entering a Zone from true history was one thing. Most people there would ultimately be normal individuals Leonel could handle with ease. Maybe only a handful would be like Joan or the Mayan Priest.
    But in a world like thisбн The number of enemies that could threaten his life wouldn't be few.
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath.
    Such a world had a high chance of becoming a Unique Zone according to the dictionary. Maybe this time, Leonel would be able to find out just what truly happened in the Joan Zoneбн
    Who were those people? What had Joan's purpose been? None of her actions had seemed to make any at allбн Uncle Montez had also said back then that Joan's Zone had almost become a Unique Zone as well, in fact it was right on the vergeбн
    There were too many questions Leonel had had no choice but to ignore until nowбн
    After a while, Leonel calmed, his eyes becoming deathly still. Then, he released his Internal Sight in full force, his calculative mind rushing into overdrive.
    **
    "Hear ye, hear ye!"
    In the square of a small town, a man with a large bridge nose unfurled a scroll with a length of at least half his height. Judging by his attire, he shouldn't come from such a small place. Even the Baron of this Fief couldn't afford to wear such luxurious clothing.
    "His Majesty has decreed that all young, able bodied men between the ages of 16 and 25 will hereby join the noble armies of Camelot!"
    The crowd, which had been gathered due to the commotion caused by the herald's entourage, showed a mixture of reactions. But, by an overwhelming margin, excitement ruled. This wasn't the modern era, after all. If such a conscription happened in Leonel's time, people would likely be up in arms. But, in this era, it was a matter of honor. And, for young men like this, it was their chance to rise to a higher standing in life and maybe evenбн become a knight!
    Leonel stood amidst the crowd with a pleasantly surprised expression. He had purposely traveled to this small town for two reasons. First, he wanted to enter a town the others wouldn't. With his Internal Sight, he definitely had a massive advantage in orienting himself in this world.
    The second reason was because compared to the other villages that had been nearby, this was a relatively flourishing place. The options it would give him were far beyond what the closer villages could.
    His initial plan had been to earn himself a spot within this Barony's guards and find a way up from there. He had even gotten himself a set of cheap hemp clothing from a farmer to blend in better. The only unfortunate part was that he had to cover his hair in dirt and mud so that its bronze color would stand out less.
    But, he had never expected to run into a conscription. This made things far easier.
    After a moment, he understood that this shouldn't be coincidence. Since Mythological Zones were based on stories and not true history, they were far more flexible in their storylines as a result. Its possible that this conscription happened precisely because Leonel was here.
    When the herald was finished with his decree, he completely ignored the excited expressions of many of the young men. These commoner folk had no idea how bloody the battlefield was. All they knew of was the glory, and each of them thought their sons, brothers and lovers would all come back heroes. When, the reality was that death was inevitable for a large majority of them.
    He turned back and signaled toward a man wearing tight fitting leather armor.
    The man was tall, almost as tall as even Leonel. His shoulders seemed far broader though, almost making him look like a box. Due to this, despite his height, he still seemed a bit stocky.
    "Gather up to be registered! You'll be given an evaluation based on your abilities! Clear out! Clear out! I only want to see my future men here! If anyone dares to snub His Majesty's Decree, I'll personally lop his head off!"
    The man's voice boomed.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow as he follow this crowd. As expectedбн This was just a low ranking officer but his stats already averaged 0.70. This was already better than Leonel when he first awakenedбн

 Chapter 213: Heckle

    It wasn't long before it was Leonel's turn to be evaluated. He stood before the stocky man who he now knew went by the name of Heckle бк a name that was maybe all too apropos for his outrageously loud voice.
    "Not bad, not bad. Your build is good."
    The man repeatedly nodded. It seemed it was quite rare for him to see people as tall as Leonel, so he was quite satisfied.
    "Attack me with everything you have. The longer you last, the better your evaluation will be."
    Leonel's expression became slightly weird. If he really used everything he had, this man would end up as a cripple. And that would be the best outcome.
    'I can't use my full power. If I stand out too much, they'll wonder why it was no one in this town knew meбн Just enough to beat him should be fine.'
    This town barely had a population of a thousand. If there were any outstanding people, they should have appeared long ago. So, Leonel's choice was the wisest. Of course, he had every intention of standing out more later on.
    Leonel took a step forward and threw out a punch.
    Heckle was startled. This punch was even faintly better than something he could throw. He knew that Leonel would be good, but he didn't expect him to be this good.
    However, when he saw the slight clumsiness in Leonel's actions, he sighed a slight breath of relief. This sort of clumsiness couldn't be faked. It seemed that despite his stature, this young man wasn't very experienced in battle.
    Leonel really wasn't faking this. It could be said that all his battle prowess came from copying the spear consciousnesses. He didn't have much experience boxing, so his form was a little off and uncoordinated. But, this was to his benefit. Like this, he could show off his potential while also not raising suspicion.
    Despite the power in his punch, Heckle easily evaded, countering with a strong uppercut. Using his smaller height and Leonel's inexperience to his benefit, he closed the distance with a step.
    Leonel was inwardly shocked. He could easily see through Heckle's movements, and even dodging was a simple matter for him. But, that was only if he relied on his true stats. If he kept suppressing himself, he might even lose a few teeth.
    Just when he felt he might just have to eat the punch, Heckle's fist came to a stop.
    "Sorry, sorry. I got a bit too excited, hehe." Heckle took a step back.
    He realized at that moment that he accidentally made Leonel's test more difficult than the others. He couldn't help it. Though Leonel was inexperienced, his raw strength was even better than his own with vast room for improvement.
    "I'll give you a four star evaluation. Like this, you'll have a chance to become a squire for a good knight. Go on, stand off to the side."
    It was clear Heckle was in a good mood finding a talent like Leonel.
    Leonel expressed his thanks with a smile, pretending to be a bit shaken before recovering.
    According to Heckle, a one star evaluation was only enough to join infantry. Three star was the threshold to be able to be nurtured as a leader of men. Four star and five stars were able to gain special nurturing, most of them became the squires of knights. Five star evaluations could gain a spot next to some of the best knights in Camelot. Though those knights were still short of the legendary 12 knights of the round table, they were only a step below.
    Leonel was satisfied with this evaluation. Other than a handful of three star evaluations of those from the Baron's house, there were no others even close to him.
    The young men from the Barony frowned hearing Heckle's words. This commoner gained a four star evaluation but they only received three stars?
    However, did they dare to say anything in opposition? Heckle had beaten them all with absolute ease. It was likely that he was the strongest person in their town currently. What could they even do to him? In the end, they could only send glares toward Leonel, showing disdain toward his dirty appearance.
    Toward such a thing, Leonel could only sigh. He knew that it would only get worse from here on out. Even though this Zone was based on a legend, he knew that the world of knights was filled with nobles. If even three star talents dared to send such looks toward him, it could be imagined what four star and five star talent nobles would say and doбн
    'Whatever, let's just finish this Zone off as quickly as possibleбн'
    **
    A few tens of miles from Leonel's location, the others were undergoing similar experiences. However, it seemed that their entry may not have been as seamless as they once thought.
    ...
    The location was a castle that seemed to have been pulled directly out of a fairytale.
    It was a land of complete blackness to the point even the grass that coated the land reflected like obsidian beneath the moonlight.
    Amidst this darkness, there was a mountain with peaks so sharp it might have been possible to mistake them for large spears piercing toward the skies. Blended in with this mountain range was a castle of black that carried the same jagged sharpness.
    Within this castle, seated on a throne that carried just as much darkness, there was a woman. Her skin was so pale that one could almost see right through it. Her hair was so black that it was difficult to tell where it stopped and her throne began.
    Her dress was the same, but the cups that held up her breasts seemed to be carved out from white boneбн
    "I sense 12 stars of fateбн" She suddenly mumbled, her cherry lips parting and closing in an alluring manner.
    The woman awoke, her irises radiating a deep blackness. However, there was a hint of confusion in her eye.
    According to the prophecy, there would be 12 stars of fate that could decide the path this world would take. She had always thought that those 12 were the knights of the round tableбн
    So why was it that she suddenly sensed auras of fate that had nothing to do with them?
    'Interesting, interestingбн'
    At that moment, the sound of footsteps entered the woman's ears as she lazily lied on her throne.
    "Lord Modred! There's someone who wants to see youбн This servant tried to stop them butбн!"
    Leonel would probably be rendered speechless once again at this point. Wasn't Modred a man? It can't be that this Zone was taking anime a bit too seriously as well, right?

 Chapter 214: 57

    "Haha! Boy, you sure are an eager one. How many times do you want to lose?"
    Heckle laughed uproariously as Leonel suffered another punch to the jaw. The latter felt his world spin as he was forced to take several steps back. It was only after he shook his head multiple times that he finally recovered.
    It had already been a week since Leonel had come to this world. According to the dictionary, this Zone had an even greater time dilation than the Joan Zone at 1:50. This meant that about a year needed to pass here for a week to pass in the outside world. Apparently, Mythological Zones tended to have the largest time dilations compared to other Zones of a similar rank.
    At the moment, the moon hung high in the skies and they had set up camp for the night. A large fire sent billowing smoke upward at the center of an arrangement of tent.
    Leonel was sparring with Heckle once again. In fact, this wasn't just the second time. Leonel had already lost count.
    After losing the first time, he had been fascinated by the man's skill. He felt he was learning quite a lot though he continued to lose.
    The journey to their destination was a bit of a trial as well. The wilderness wasn't safe by any means. Setting aside bandits and rogues, just the wild beasts were truly troublesome to deal with. Much like this people of this Zone, the beasts were also more powerful than they should be. So, this wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.
    So, it wasn't surprising that the other recruits were dead tired. Leonel was the only one who would use such valuable rest time to torture himself some more.
    How could they know that this so-called trial was nothing more than a joke to Leonel?
    "Again."
    Leonel wiped the blood from his lips. Of course, if he didn't want to be hurt, he only had to activate his Metal Synergy Runes. But, what would be the point of that?
    He brandished his fists once more. This time, it was clear that his stance was much more refined. His right fist hung by his chin, allowing his left to take the lead. He narrowed the target Heckle had to attack by extending his left foot and rolling his shoulder.
    In a flash, he took a step forward, sending two jabs in quick succession.
    Heckle smiled, entering a similar stance as though mirroring Leonel perfectly. It was rare to find someone so interested in his boxing style. Usually, these brats only wanted to pick up a sword or spear as quickly as possible.
    Of course, he had no idea that Leonel was less interested in the style itself and more so just wanted to win. He found trying to defeat Heckle while keeping a cap on his stats was nearly impossible.
    It was likely that he could grasp the technique much faster if he used his Dream World and Dream Clone ability. But, he was spending all his time at night calculating for the formation of his Ninth and Tenth Node, he wouldn't spend it on this.
    Howeverбн He was still making progress.
    Heckle used his footwork to dip just outside the range of Leonel's jabs. He followed up quickly, wanting to take advantage of Leonel overextending himself to wrap around his side.
    But, Leonel had learned quite a lot in the past few days. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward as Heckle tried to sweep to his left side. With a single pivot of his hips, he and Heckle faced each other once more.
    "Hoho." Heckle grinned. "It seems your footwork got a bit better. That's right, always stay square to your opponent."
    Leonel and Heckle's match became a spar of movement. Around the fire, the jeers of the other soldiers could be heard.
    "Captain, the kid's gonna beat you this time!"
    "HAHA! I'm never gonna let you live this one down!"
    Heckle grinned hearing his men, not minding as all. He felt quite gratified seeing Leonel's progress.
    Of course, while there those who were happy, there would always be those who were gloomy. The youths of the town Barony had gotten tired of hearing praise for Leonel over these few days. But, they still had to admit they were no match for him. His performance during their daily marches was more than enough to prove this without a shred of doubt.
    "Oofбн"
    Leonel suffered a fist to his chest and fell to the ground, feeling that the air had been knocked out of him once again. He couldn't help but sigh, it seemed he had lost again.
    "Alright, alright. That's enough for tonight pretty boy brat. If go any longer, you really might win one. My old bones can't take this."
    Leonel was quite helpless toward this nickname. He had managed to use an ink sack from the octopus beast's body to dye his hair a deep black. Plus, with his new leather armor, he looked every bit the part of a promising squire.
    The only shame was that his hair seemed to reject the ink. So, he had to reapply it everyday. Luckily, with how massive the octopus had been, he wouldn't run out even after a decade passed.
    Leonel smiled lightly. "Thanks for the help Captain Heckle."
    'Hmph, just a useless skillбн' The Barony youths looked on gloomily.
    бн
    The next week passed by swiftly. On that day, around noon, they finally saw massive castle walls in the distance. In fact, with his sight, Leonel could see five sets of walls, each getting progressively taller until they all pointed toward a majestic castle that seemed carved of jade.
    Leonel had never read about such a grand city. From what he could see, it was at least 50 kilometers from end to end, and that was just what was within the walls. As for the cultured lands around it, it was several times that.
    Heckle didn't lead them to the gates. It seemed that they still didn't have the right to do such a thing. Instead, they were taken to a place connected by dusty roads. These roads all led to an open space where numerous Captains just like Heckle had their youths standing around them.
    Everyone's attention seemed focus on a large tent up ahead.
    Leonel's ear twitched as he heard the clanking of metal. At that moment, the flap of the tent was slowly raised, causing the open space to fall into complete silence.
    It was a knight. The excitement in the hearts of the youths ratcheted up several levels. It was as though they were all meeting their idol.
    The knight swept an indifferent glance over them all.
    "Those who've been selected to join the Mage Academy, stand to this side. Those one, two and three star talents, go over there. Four and five star talents, gather before me now."
    Numerous haughty and prideful youths puffed their chests out as they moved to stand before the knight, their eyes sparkling.
    "Go on." Heckle gave Leonel a slap to the back. "Do us proud."
    Leonel smiled lightly and moved forward as well. Numerous gazes swept over him, including those of the four and five star youths. However, when they noticed his standard issue leather armor, a hint of contempt could be seen in their eyes.
    Leonel could only ignore such things. However, when the knight spoke once again, the youths no longer had the time to send disdainful glances toward him.
    "There are 57 of you? What bullshit. Do you captains think that four and five star talents are really so cheap?!"
    The knight roared. He didn't like the idea of going out to find talents like this in the first place. What talents couldn't they find right here in Camelot?
    To make it worse, relying on mere captains to make this judgment was even more ridiculous.
    A sharp Force flooded out from the body of the knight, causing many of the youths before him to grow weak at the knees. Though Leonel didn't know it, many of them had bribed their captains with wealth in order to gain such evaluations, how could they not be horrified? So, in certain respects, the knight was correct to react in this way.
    His force jetted out, drawing a massive circle of 100 meters in diameter. The cold sweat on the youths grew. In that moment, the felt as though if even a hair of that Force hit them, they would die without knowing what happened.
    "Since you think this is all a joke, you all can battle to the death. None of you are allowed to leave this circle until only four remain. Should any of you try to flee from this circle or are kicked out of it before this happens, you'll die beneath my blade!"
    A bloody, murderous intent soared into the skies.
    It was only now these youths who were just feeling proud of themselves realized that becoming a knight wouldn't be so simple. As for those who bribed their way to this position, they were even more shaken. What clowns were they? Paying to die?

 Chapter 215: Inner Strength

    "I forgot to mention something else. The first 20 who die will have the captain's who recommended them follow them in death!"
    Even Leonel was stunned by this sudden turn of events. He could see the disdain the knight held for all of them, but to order that 53 of them should be killedбн wasn't that a bit too much? Even beyond that, he was even dragging the captains into this?!
    At that moment, the training grounds turned completely silent. Not to mention the youths locked within the circle, even the captains that had selected them couldn't stop themselves from shaking. What were mere captains worth in the face of a true Knight?
    Those captains who knew they had bended the rules in exchange for benefits all paled considerably. Even those who had followed the rules were trembling. So what if they followed the rules? In a battle royale, who was to say that someone deserving wouldn't die? In that case, wouldn't they be screwed?
    Maybe the only one who didn't have a great reaction was Leonel. He didn't notice when it was, but he had been in so many life and death situations to now that he was no longer affected by just this much.
    "What are you all standing around for?" The knight growled. "If someone doesn't die within the next minute, all 57 of you can die."
    The words were like a spark that lit a raging fire. Leonel had only managed to raise an eyebrow at the words before he found several attacks coming toward him, one of which was actually coated in Force!
    Leonel frowned. 'He didn't give us any weapons? No, some of them do have weapons, it's just that he couldn't be bothered to care whether or not everything was fairбн'
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more he disliked this knight. Testing them was fine, by why was it that this test was so despicable? The worst part was that those who were more likely to have bribed their captains were the most likely to have the best equipment on them.
    However, the fact one could attack Leonel with Force definitely meant that he was worthy of his title of four or five star genius.
    Heckle paled when he saw so many attack Leonel right from the start. It was as though they all had a tacit agreement to get rid of the 'lesser thans' first.
    Heckle had followed the rules. He never once took a bribe. But, if Leonel were to die so early on, it wouldn't matter. He would have to follow him in death.
    Leonel sighed. He could faintly see Heckle's face drain of all color from his vantage point as a dagger and two fists came his way.
    He shifted backward, sinking into his boxing stance. He could sense every change within this hundred meter range. In fact, he could already see that within the next second or two, at least three talents would fall, all of them dressed just as simply as him.
    A flicker of rage sparked in Leonel's heart. What a cruel worldбн In that case, they shouldn't blame him for not showing any mercy.
    Leonel's left fist flattened out, whipping out in a downward slapping motion that cleanly hit the dagger wielding hand. His actions were so fast that the young man before him hardly had time to react before he found his wrist swelling with pain.
    The dagger clanged to the ground as the young man called out in pain, but Leonel had already moved on from him, facing the two remaining punches.
    He rolled his shoulder, causing the fist to skim off his defenses. The strike alone should have carried nearly 1.00 in strength, but Leonel's Runes flickered beneath his armor out of the sight of everyone else.
    Let alone causing damage to him, Leonel's attacker was lucky to only catch a piece of Leonel. Before the young man could even react to the bursting pain his fist felt, Leonel had already taken a step forward, his hips winding and his back foot pivoting against the ground hard as he sent a punch toward the final fist.
    Heckle's face drained of all color. He could see the benefit of his training with Leonel right before him, but he could also see the Force coated on the final young man's fist. He knew how strong Leonel wasбн but his background was too lacking. He simply didn't know about these things. If he met this fist head onбн he was finished.
    BANG!
    However, completely out of Heckle's expectations, Leonel's sent the young man flying. A mournful, muffled cry sounded through the training grounds. But, it was completely drowned out by the sounds of battle.
    Leonel frowned. 'Killing with my fists is too difficult. Had that been my spearбн'
    Leonel sighed. He couldn't take out his spears now. If he did, he would expose his spatial bracelet. Who knew what kind of consequences that would have?
    Butбн
    Leonel's steps didn't pause as he pressed his two fingers together and turned, jabbing a bloody hole into the throat of the young man who threw the normal fist.
    With another step, he entered the range of the young man with the dagger. The latter held onto his wrist, crying out in pain. But, Leonel didn't seem to care as he threw a punch toward his head.
    '[Call of the Wind]!'
    BANG!
    The young man's head exploded into a cloud of blood.
    Let alone the crowd, this shocked even Leonel. He had only applied [Call of the Wind] to his fists because he found that his fingers were too vulnerable to continue using like a spear. Since he didn't want to expose his Runes so easily to toughen them up, this was the better option.
    But, never had he expected the result to be so exaggerated.
    At that moment, a hushed silence fell over the battlefield.
    Blasting a person's head apart with a single punchбн What kind of concept was that?!
    The young man who had awakened Force and attacked Leonel earlier trembled fiercely. He didn't even seem to register his broken arm as he tried to scramble backward. The further he got from Leonel, the better.
    "HAHA! You did it Leonel! You awakened Inner Strength!"
    Leonel smiled bitterly when he heard Heckle's words. At this moment, that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
    Several pairs of eyes landed on Leonel. They all knew what to do. Several youths had already stood out amongst the crowd, killing targets not long after Leonel had. If they didn't band together against these youths, they would die.

 Chapter 216: General Star

    Heckle seemed to realize that he had spoken out of turn, but it was too late to regret it. He had been on the brink of life and death just a moment ago, yet Leonel suddenly pulled a reverse that saved his life. How could he not be excited?
    A moment later, Heckle's expression had tensed once more.
    Leonel frowned and entered his stance, not forgetting to pick up the dagger on the ground first.
    Another three slowly moved toward Leonel, their eyes flickering with hints of caution. This caution was not only for Leonel who was before them, but also toward one another. It wasn't as though they had suddenly begun to trust each other just because they tacitly understood they needed to work together.
    Seemingly understanding this, Leonel no longer hesitated as he dashed forward. He completely ignored the young man with a broken arm, deeming him less of a threat. With the strengthening on his Internal Sight, Leonel knew that this young man had only formed a single Force Node and it was in the very arm Leonel had already broken. He was practically a cripple.
    When Leonel entered a five meter radius of the three before him, he shot out the dagger in his hand. It whistled through the air, piercing one of them through the throat.
    In what felt like a flash, he appeared before the remaining two, his eyes flickering with a cold, calculative light.
    His speed was simply too fast.
    His palm appeared on one of their chests. As though being met by an unstoppable force, the young man was sent flying through the air, crashing into a few that were taking the opportunity to surround Leonel.
    Leonel's fist jabbed forward. Under the influence of [Call of the Wind], it felt as though hurricane force winds were ripping the young man apart, leaving his face distorted even before Leonel's strike landed.
    Another rain of blood shot into the skies as another corpse fell beneath Leonel's fist. However, Leonel himself was still frowning.
    It looked impressive that their heads were exploding like this. But, the truth was that this simply displayed Leonel's lack of control.
    [Call of the Wind] was initially a long range attacking technique meant to be applied to arrows, darts and similar weapons. Leonel had modified it to be used with a spear, but the essence of the technique remained the same. Both allowed him to focus his Force into a point.
    However, his fists seemed completely incapable of doing this. It made Leonel realize that maybe his mastery over this technique wasn't as great as he initially thought. If he could apply better control, he felt [Call of the Wind] could be maybe even 10 times more powerful than it was now.
    As Leonel thought, his body flickered amidst the four and five star talents. His steps held the shadow of Heckle's skill within them, mixed in with a hint of the primitive spearwoman.
    There seemed to be a mysterious rhythm to his steps as though he wasted not a single movement. It was as though he could plan several movements ahead, deftly escaping encirclements бк advancing on a whim, retreating with a thoughtбн
    Leonel came to realize in that moment that there was more to fighting than just launching the strongest attack. All this time, he had been using his ability to think of ways land his blows. He always felt that as long as he landed a good hit, with his strength, the battle would be all but over.
    But, what would happen when his opponent was several times more powerful than him? Or, more appropriate to the current situation, what if he was simply outnumbered and moving to take down one person would cause him to be vulnerable to another?
    He suddenly understood nowбн
    His body felt lighter, his steps grew softer, and even a mysterious aura began to emanate from his body.
    'This is itбн this is what I felt when I was watching the primitive woman battleбн'
    Leonel could have long since taken another spear from the Spear Domain ring, but he hadn't all this time because he felt he still hadn't fully understood.
    When he watched the primitive woman battle, he remembered being in awe. She had faced so many enemies, yet, not only did she defeat them, but even when they wanted to escape, all of their paths of retreat were cut off.
    The more Leonel thought about that scene, the more incredulous he found it. How could one person stop several from running away? If it was just a matter of her speed being several times greater, that would be fine. But, Leonel knew that though she was faster than those men, it hadn't been exaggerated to that point.
    That only left one explanationбн there was something mysterious about her movementбн Not only was she faster than them, but it also felt like they couldn't take even a step forward without her permissionбн. Complete controlбн
    All this time, Leonel had been so focused on his flexibility and imitating her lightness and quickness. But, this was all superficial. The truth behind the mystery of her footwork was her mind and the way she manipulated her opponentsбн
    Leonel sank into a trance. The entire battlefield reflected in his mind as though he could see it all from above.
    His hair fluttered in the wind as he walked through the youths that attacked him, yet, they couldn't even touch the hemp of his clothes.
    The knight's eyes narrowed. He had been observing the entire battlefield and there really were four youths who had caught his attention before, which was why he set the requirement to just four. But, he had never expected a fifth to appear.
    And not only that butбн
    At that moment, the knight's narrowed gaze widened as a wave of shock overwhelmed him.
    'General Star!'
    "Stop! Stop! STOP!"
    The sudden roars of the knight caught them all off guard. How was it so easy for a group of people who had just been hell bent on killing one another to suddenly come to a grinding halt like this? However, who really dared to ignore the words of a knight?
    "You, you, you, you and you. The rest of you can scram back to the one to three star talents."
    Everyone was stunned. Weren't they supposed to be fighting to the death? What was happening?
    As for the young men who were called forward, they too were stunned. Including Leonel. He didn't think that the knight would suddenly grow soft hearted, so what was happening exactly?
    Leonel and the other four youths looked at one another. Not a single one of them wasn't covered in blood, but it was obvious at a glance that none of it was their own.
    One of them was wearing standard issue leather armor like Leonel, but the other three had patches of metal armor here and there, making them look like real warriors. It was clear their standard was better in comparison to Leonel.
    "You five and those hoping to become Mage Apprentices follow me."
    The knight turned and walked toward the first gates of Camelot, not explaining anything to anyone. But, no one dared to question himбн least of all the bribed captains who just got a new lease on life. It was safe to say they wouldn't dare take such payment again in the future.

 Chapter 217: Unique Power Systems

    Though Leonel was baffled by the sudden turn of events, he soon decided to cautiously proceed. He felt that this might be another instance of this Mythological Zone finding him opportunities. He had no idea that things weren't this simple at all.
    That said, the current Leonel was fascinated by the Mage Academy the knight mentioned. The knight had originally split off the youths that would be attending this academy to one side, but before Leonel could observe them, he suddenly found himself in a battle royale to the death. So, for obvious reasons, he hadn't had the time or mind to pay to them at all.
    After questioning the dictionary, Leonel had learned a lot of things about Mythological Zones. But, maybe the most important thing was that anything that could happen here was capable of happening in the real world.
    Due to this, Mythological Zones were highly sought after in high level worlds. In fact, world wars бк the likes of which could make Earth's own world wars look like child's play бк were almost guaranteed every time one appeared.
    This may sound odd. There shouldn't be anything different about this Zone in comparison to others. One also needed to remember that the so-called 'rewards' of the Zones weren't prepared by the Zone itself, but rather higher level worlds investing in the progress of Earth. It could be said that Zones didn't have any rewards for clearing them at all aside from helping bring one's world closer to the next evolution tier.
    Things only began to change when Gold Zones were taken into account. One could only begin taking treasures out of Zones at this level. In any lower level Zones, they would disappear.
    That saidбн Mythological Zones were a special case.
    It was still impossible to take treasures out of Mythological Zones unless they were Gold in grade. Since this was still considered a Black Grade Zone, Leonel was obviously out of luck in this regard. However, the crux of the value of a Mythological Zone was exactly in those earlier wordsбн Everything that happened in a Mythological Zone could happen in the real world.
    On the surface, this seems like a useless detail. But, really think about it for a momentбн What if a Mythological Zone had a completely new power system? What if they had a completely unique way of utilizing Force or drawing Force Arts? Wouldn't that mean that whoever explored a Mythological Zone would gain access to this completely new system?
    The value of such a thing was unimaginable!
    For this reason, Mythological Zones were seen as treasures of the universe. Though it was impossible that they would always provide a completely new magic system, there was always the chance of such a thing. And, even when this chance ended in failure, it was always possible to find unique views that could progress already established branches of power.
    What Leonel lacked the most now wasn't strength, but knowledge in how to apply it. He only had one technique бк [Call of the Wind]. Aside from this, he was completely relying on his own instinct and the battle sense of his spear consciousnesses.
    He had initially been planning on using some of his rewards from this Zone to solve this weakness before he left to Terrain. But, if he could get the techniques he needed from this Mythological Zone insteadбн the benefits might be unimaginable.
    Of course, even with this set aside, Leonel was fascinated by the Mage Academy. If everything that happened here was really possible in the real worldбн what would happen if he joined the Mage Academy instead?
    If he had the chance, he would. But, unfortunately, for whatever reason, Heckle hadn't tested his aptitude to become a mage.
    'Forget it, it's most important that I focus on completing the missions. Learning this Mythological Zone's unique power systems comes secondaryбн'
    Leonel couldn't forget that he was on a timer. Every Zone had a hidden timer hanging over the heads of those who entered it. He had found this out the hard way in the Joan of Arc Zone.
    According to the dictionary, the timer for this world was set to around 10 years. That was the equivalent of 10 weeks to the outside world. He had to figure things out by then.
    That sounded like a lot of time, but Leonel knew that it wasn't. In that time, he needed to gain enough power and prestige in Camelot to actually affect change. In an already established Kingdom like this one, let alone 10 years, even 30 might not be enough.
    Butбн displaying his talents just might be a great help to that. So, if he had the chance, he would display them more. Now that he was here, there was no need to keep holding back. He'd begin to slowly show what he had.
    Leonel was lost in his thoughts when a sudden voice awakened him.
    "Elys, I've brought your brats. Hurry up and scram out here."
    Leonel looked up to find that they had already long since enter Camelot. Not only had they entered, but they had gone as deep as the third city section.
    Camelot had five walls and five gates. The most outer wall open to a section known as the outer city, the second gate led to the upper outer city, and the third, where they were now, was known as the inner city.
    Beyond that, the fourth gate led to the noble city and the fifth led to the true core of Camelot.
    Of course, these were just colloquial names. Officially, all of these cities were collectively known as Camelot. If one could live here, they were already the cream of the crop. But, where people could have divisions amongst each other, they wouldбн
    Currently, Leonel and the group of youths had been led to the inner city and were now before the doors of a small shop. Compared to the large buildings all around, it seemed out of place. Through the windows, it was possible to see bookshelves that covered the whole shop. It was to the point that books that couldn't find a place were strewn about wildly.
    At that moment, a woman wearing dark blue mage robes and a pointed hat that seemed to big for her head pushed her way out and faced the youths and the knight.
    "Them?"
    The woman frowned. Or rather, Leonel thought she did. It was a bit hard to see her face through her drooping hat.
    "These are the brats the captains picked. If you want to blame someone, blame them. If it wasn't because I lost that bet, do you think I would have picked them up for you?"
    Elys waved her hand that looked surprisingly fair. At this point, Leonel was expecting an old hag. If it wasn't for the barely noticeable curves and her voice, he wouldn't have been able to tell she was a woman at all.
    "Alright, I've done my part. Now, you five. Follow me."
    Leonel saw a barely perceptible flicker of excitement in the knight's eyes when he said these words. Causing him to be confused.
    It seemed Elys noticed this as well and looked up curiously. She was likely quite familiar with this knight and wanted to know what could excite him. But, Leonel would have never expected her eyes to land on him.
    Wellбн He thought it landed on him. Her body seemed to be pointed in his direction. It was simply too difficult to catch a glimpse of her face.
    Suddenly, her body trembled violently as though she could fall over at any moment.
    "Jarin! Are you trying to steal talents from me?! Do you believe I won't blast you into ash right now?!"
    The knight who had been ready to take them away looked toward Elys with an incredulous expression.
    When he saw where Elys was looking, he protected Leonel to his back.
    "Don't you dare, old witch. This is my future general!"

 Chapter 218: Old Witch versus Muscle Brained Rogue

    "бн"
    Leonel didn't know what to say.
    This was the inner city. Everyone here thought themselves to be refined people of the upper middle class. Seeing a knight and a mage get into a screaming contest in the middle of a busy cobble stone street was definitely not the norm for them.
    However, whereas they would scold and lambaste a commoner doing such a thing, none of them dared to offend a knight, and least of all a knight that didn't mind offending a mage.
    Mages were rarer and thus more valued. Any knight who didn't mind arguing with a mage was definitely one with relatively high standing even amongst knights. As a result, instead of seeing these two as uncultured, those nearby were rather curious to find out just what could cause two individuals of such standing to act in this way without care for their image.
    "What bullshit General Star? This young man is a born mage! Are you trying to waste his life away?"
    "Nonsense. Do you know how rare General Stars are? Our Kingdom only has 31, and 13 of them are the Lords of the Round Table and His Majesty! I'll fight it out with you right here, old witch!"
    "Bah, who's an old witch? This lady here is still very young! Say one more word of nonsense and I won't hold back any longer!"
    Elys looked up toward the knight, Jarin, her hands on her hips. Like this, Leonel could finally catch a glimpse of her face and he had to say that she truly was a young lady. A gorgeous young lady, at that.
    But, judging by the way Jarin kept calling her an old witchбн he had a feeling there was more to this story.
    At this point, the youths who had walked here with Leonel couldn't help but cast weird and somewhat envious looks toward him. By now, it was obvious to them all that these two were fighting over him. Even the crowd who had been standing around couldn't help but cast a few more looks toward Leonel.
    General Star? They were all aware of how prestigious such a title was. And, even if they weren't, Jarin's words were more than enough to explain it to them.
    "Old witch, are you really trying to fight me for a General Star? This matter will definitely be brought to His Majesty's attention within the week! Is this really the battle you want to fight?!"
    "You understand nothing! Those bullshit captains know even less! They dare to give such a talent over to you block heads?! This young man could become a Three Star Magus given enough guidance and you're talking to me about a damned General Star?!"
    Jarin's expression flickered wildly.
    There were indeed 31 General Stars. However, a Three Star Magusбн? There were only 7 of them in the entire Kingdom. Their statuses were so high that only His Majesty himself could order those old fogies around.
    If things were like this, it was obvious which had the higher standing. But, Jarin was still unwilling to give up.
    General Stars weren't just born like talented mages were. General Stars usually awoke later in life after one had experienced many things. One as young as Leonelбн If he ignored King Arthur, this would be a first in their history!
    However, Jarin was feeling incomparably aggrieved. How had the captains missed out on something like this?
    Waitбн How had even he missed it?
    Seeing the confusion on Jarin's face, Elys sneered.
    "You fool. How could you muscle heads be worthy of seeing through his talent? His Spirit Pressure has already reached the standard of a Three Star Magus! He just hasn't learned how to control it yet!"
    Jarin grew ashen. Was such a thing really possible?!
    "Dammit! Old witch! I'll definitely fight it out with you today!"
    Jarin unsheathed a broadsword to his side, not even pausing for a second as he slashed out toward Elys.
    "Damned muscle brained bastards! You think I wasn't ready for you?!"
    An illusory aura surrounded Elys. Though Leonel was unaffected, the youths around him trembled, some of them even directly fainting.
    Elys swept a glance over them and harrumphed. "Trash."
    A wand appeared with a flick of Elys' palm. She drew a line in the air, sending a strike out toward Jarin's sword without a care in the world.
    The result should have been obvious. A dainty woman holding something that looked like a tree branch. A big, hulking man swinging down a two-handed blade with all his strength. Which one came out on top was obviousбн right?
    BANG!
    The reality was completely out of expectations. Both Elys and Jarin took one step back before they both moved once more.
    Jarin charged forward to gain a head of steam while Elys retreated with light footsteps, her wand waving in the air with an elegant cadence as she mumbled beneath her breath.
    Leonel's eyes shone. He was certain that what she was doing was invisible to most people, and even maybe invisible to Jarin, but he could see two Force Arts quickly forming to her back. At the same time, she sent out simple Force bullets to obstruct Jarin's path. All the while, she seemed calm and collected as though everything was in the palm of her fair hands.
    Jarin caught Leonel's attention as well. His Force control was exceptional. Leonel could see that his whole blade was coated with Force, yet it was so tightly controlled that it was hardly perceptible even with Leonel's senses.
    That wasn't all either. Jarin seemed capable of incorporating his Force into his every step, his every movement. There was nothing wasted and his actions carried a fluidity to them that could enrapture those with enough foresight. Though his actions seemed far less elegant than Elys' own, in Leonel's eyes, they both had the same amount of skill.
    Their battle seemed fierce, their strength surpassing even what Leonel could do by a small margin. Yet, not only was there no destruction of property, even the people around seemed completely unaffected.
    This was the true reason Leonel found them to be stronger than himself. This level of controlбн he most definitely didn't have it.
    "Old witch!"
    "Muscle brained rogue!"
    'Should I stop themбн Orбн?'
    Leonel was at a bit of a loss.
    Just when he was going to try and mediate, he suddenly felt two overwhelming auras converging onto this place. They were powerful to the point Leonel's blood ran cold. From the instincts he gained from the primitive man, he could tell that he would have to put his life on the line to fight these twoбн

 Chapter 219: Who

    From the east, a towering figure leapt over several buildings, landing heavily on the ground. Cracks spread along the cobbled roads, but the figure didn't seem to notice as he bent his knees and launched himself into the air once again, bounding across hundreds of meters with every leap.
    From the west, a willowy figure fluttered through the air like a leaf. They swayed in the skies, making it seem like they just might fall from grace at any moment. Yet, they managed to keep a steady pace, heading toward their destination with a purpose in the deep oceans of their eyes.
    BANG!
    The first figure landed heavily before the group of youths, causing the ground to quake. From their vantage point, he seemed so tall that he blotted out even the sun, casting a shadow over them all.
    He wore silver armor accented with outlines and embroidery of red. It make him look like a raging flame even when he stood completely still.
    He stood at almost seven feet tall. His jaw seemed sharp enough to cut grass and his eyes held a cold, murderous will within them that made those who got too close tremble uncontrollably.
    The second figure fluttered to the ground slowly. It felt like even if there were fields of grass beneath his feet, they wouldn't even bend beneath his weight.
    He wore deep maroon robes. His long hair rested against the small of his back, not a bit shorter than his long beard. Not only did they share the same obscene length, but they also shared the same snow white color to the point it was almost difficult to look at the man directly.
    "Sir Lamorak!"
    "Magus Aliard!"
    Jalin and Elys came to grinding halt. It was obvious at a glance that they had called these two here, hoping to catch each other off guard. But, obviously, since they had both appeared, it seemed that neither had gained the upper hand once again. As such, even while they were greeting their superiors, they still sent sidelong glares toward one another.
    Aliard smiled amiably, stroking his long beard. Compared to Lamorak, he was definitely several levels more approachable.
    However, those of the crowd nearly had a heart attack when they heard such titles.
    Magus Aliard? He was a Three Star Magus and one of the 7 most powerful mages of Camelot!
    Sir Lamorak?бн He was one of King Arthur's 12 knights!
    Leonel didn't know who Magus Aliard was. But, he had read enough fairy tales to know who Sir Lamorak was. At this point, even he felt that this situation was getting a bit out of control. He hadn't expected things to go this way at all.
    He had spent so long planning his next moves before he made a decision, but at every turn it felt as though this Zone was the one pulling him by the nose.
    When these two got closer to him, he realized that his previous assessment had been too conservative. If he were to fight one of these two alone, even if he put his life on the line, his chance of living would be less than 10%! If it was both of them together, he could likely only wait for death!
    Leonel took a deep breath. He affirmed to himself once more that he needed to revise his power estimation system.
    But, at the same time, he was confused. Elys had said that his Spirit Pressure was already at the standard of a Three Star Magus. He didn't know exactly what a Three Star Magus was, but he assumed that Spirit Pressure was this world's name for what he called spirit and his father called Soul Force.
    If he really was at this standard alreadyбн why was it that he felt this Magus was an insurmountable mountain? He didn't have an aura anywhere near this imposing.
    "Master, you mustn't let them take this boy! It'll be a big loss to the mage world!"
    Elys siezed the initiative and spoke first. She knew how domineering Sir Lamorak was. If he just directly snatched Leonel, there wouldn't be time for her to shed tears.
    "Sir Lamorak! This boy is a General Star, we can't let him off!"
    Before Aliard could respond, Jarin spoke up as well, unwilling to give up either.
    "Oh?"
    The two men looked toward Leonel for the first time.
    At that moment, Leonel felt as though two mountains were weighing down on him. He could only feel aggrieved at this point. Was this really only an SS-grade Zone? Then what the hell would he have to go through in an SSS-grade Zone?
    He had realized after fighting the beast kings that the divisions within the final three levels of a Dimension had massive leaps between them. If not for this, he wouldn't have thought he was battling an SS-grade threat when it was really just an Elite S-grade threat. Butбн this still felt a bit too exaggerated.
    Aliard's calm, caring eyes gave way to shock after a moment. As for Lamorak, sensing a General Star wasn't as straight forward as sensing Spirit Pressure. But, he was still stunned by the strength hidden within Leonel's body.
    Though others couldn't tell, as an experienced knight of the round table, Lamorak could tell that the strength within Leonel's body wasn't very far from his own. In fact, he could feel a slight scent of threat coming from Leonel at the same time.
    When had their Kingdom gained such a talent?
    It was then the atmosphere completely changed. Jarin and Elys had both thought that their respective masters would immediately begin contending over Leonel as well. What they could have never expected was for the temperature to suddenly drop by several degrees.
    Leonel's hair stood on end as he explosively retreated. He didn't even feel the slightest hint of safety even after he had placed ten meters worth of distance between him and the two men.
    Neither Lamorak or Aliard moved a single inch, but Leonel felt as though a guillotine was hanging over his neck, ready to fall at any moment.
    "Who are you? Who sent you to my Camelot?"
    Lamorak's words caused a coldness to well up in Leonel's heart.

 Chapter 220: Spy

    Leonel felt a heaviness on his chest. He suddenly found that it was several times more difficult to breathe as though all the oxygen in the air had been sucked away by some unknown force.
    "Speak, boy." Lamorak's words grated against Leonel's ears, beating them like a drum. It felt like his head might explode if he listened too closely. "Or else, I'll slaughter you where you stand."
    Lamorak and Aliard were immediately on guard. A normal talent was always something to celebrate. But, if a talent was too monstrous, rather than being a joyous occasion, it would cross over and become something completely different.
    A body rivaling that of a knight of the round table? A Spirit Pressure rivaling that of a Three Star Magus?
    Rather than truly believing that Leonel was such a genius, it made more sense to believe that he was a hidden evil with bad intentions. It was simply impossible for someone so young to have such ability. There had to be another explanation.
    Leonel's frown deepened. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'
    Leonel hadn't felt this way since the Mayan Tomb. This uncontrollable, insatiable fear that seemed to want to swallow him whole. He found it difficult even to calm his mind the slightest bit.
    After a moment, Leonel eyes focused on Aliard, his expression becoming even more serious. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but he had a strong feeling that it was the fault of this seemingly amiable man.
    There was a slight glow in his eyes. It was nearly imperceptible, to the point even Leonel began to question himself. In that time, the fear he felt multiplied several times over, unwilling to relinquish the hold it had on his heart.
    Leonel turned his gaze back toward Lamorak, the goosebumps spreading rapidly across his skin without pause. He shook his head furiously, trying to calm his mind. But, he found it impossible to do so.
    The frustration in his heart grew several levels greater and he began to feel an irrational anger. He didn't even really know where it came from.
    For some reason, he kept having flashbacks of Jarin forcing them to fight to the death. Then, the scene of Elys calling the others trash simply because they couldn't withstand her Spirit Pressure ran through his mind.
    All of the bad impressions he had of Camelot suddenly exploded forth hundreds of times over.
    "Are you going to speak or not, boy?!"
    Lamorak's voice clapped like thunder in his mind, pushing Leonel over the edge.
    "Piss off!"
    Leonel suddenly roared, his voice piercing the veil and rampaging across Camelot. At that moment, Leonel's suppressed Force spread out in a tidal wave, causing billowing white steam to fill his surroundings.
    His hair shot into the skies, the ink he had used to coat it vaporizing to reveal a blinding bronze sheen that shimmered no differently from polished metal.
    Runes uncontrollably appeared all across Leonel's skin. This was his true state. Without suppressing his Lineage Factor, these beautiful bronze runes radiating a royal violet color would uncontrollably cover his body.
    Beneath his weight, the cobbled roads cracked as he turned a pair of red eyes toward Lamorak. It was this annoying man who kept roaring at him, giving him such a splitting headache. It had truly infuriated him to the max.
    An oppressive aura erupted from Leonel's body, bearing down on Camelot like an Emperor descending from the skies.
    The Runes finally stopped spreading across Leonel's body. At that moment, he looked no different from a Roman God. His billowing hair, the bronze halo above his head, the crown drawn across his foreheadбн Even his eyes radiated a sharp light.
    Aliard's expression changed. It wasn't just him, all those who had been around found it difficult to comprehend what was happening. At that moment, it felt as though a third heavy weight of Camelot had appeared, someone with no less strength than a Three Star Magus or a Knight of the Round Table.
    "Boy! Do you think Camelot is a place you can act as you please?!"
    Before anyone could stop him, Lamorak had shot forward, a massive mace with a cylindrical head appearing in his hands. No, it wasn't a mace, it had no sharp points, it was a completely blunt weapon, carrying an impossibly heavy weight behind it.
    This only served to infuriate Leonel more. As though he had lost his mind, he took a step forward and sent out a punch.
    Those watching paled. A fist against a heavy weapon like that? Even if they weren't fighters, the ending to such a thing should have been obvious.
    BANG!
    And, as expected, Leonel was sent flying. His body shot out like a broken kite, crashing through the buildings of the inner city without regard.
    At this point, Jarin and Elys could finally grasp what was happening and their faces slightly paled. If they had really allowed such a spy into Camelot, the consequences would ahve been disastrous. Ironically, they could only look toward one another with gratitude. If it wasn't for the other battling with them for Leonel, they wouldn't have been forced to call their master's here and this matter wouldn't have been exposed so soon.
    As for giving Leonel a chance, they believed they had seen all they needed to see.
    Though they didn't know what those Runes on Leonel's body were, they knew that such a thing had never appeared in Camelot before and as such had a high likelihood of originating from an outside place. In this land, there were only two factions. Camelot and Modred's Demon Army. If Leonel wasn't from the former, he was obviously from the latter.
    Plus, on top of that, they had all seen how Leonel's hair color was hidden from them. What reason would he have to hide such a thing if not to cover up something?
    Luckily, this was over. They could only hope that their masters didn't blame them too much. After all, wasn't this still a merit? If not for them, who knew how far this spy would have risen up?
    Who knew that at that very moment, the very Leonel that should have already been dead with walk out from within a pile of wreckage, blood leaking from his lipsбн?
    At that point, let alone the crowd, Lamorak was especially stunned. At the same time, he grew several levels more serious. This threatбн had to be eliminated.
    A mighty roar left the knight's lips, his Force billowing around him. But, unlike Leonel's which manifested like an uncontrolled geyser, his was compressed to the point of even carrying a faint red color.
    "Die!"

 Chapter 221: Grown Man and a Child

    Leonel shoved off a massive slab of building off of him. Finally, it seemed that his eyes showed a bit of clarity, likely due to the thumping pain in his arm currently.
    His right hand wasn't a mass of bloody flesh as one might expect, but it wasn't that far off either. His bones managed to survive the ordeal with a few fractures, but the skin on his knuckles was completely obliterated. It could be said that for a normal human, this arm could be considered useless for the foreseeable future. But Leonel was able to ignore it somewhat at his current stage.
    Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of dwelling on this for any decent period of time because Lamorak was already charging toward him, his lumbering figure causing the ground to shake.
    Leonel's expression turned cold.
    Someone was playing with his mind. He wasn't one to lose his temper easily. Something like flying into a rage like he just had wasn't something he would do under normal circumstances.
    By now, Leonel was certain that his actions were related to Aliard. It seemed that the magic system of this Mythological Zone was even more troublesome to deal with than he had thought originally.
    But, now that he had recovered, he wouldn't allow his mind to be affected as easily again.
    'Since you want to fight, let's fight.'
    Leonel's palm flipped, causing his pointed spear to appear in his hand.
    He had already decided. His priority was running from this place, but he had to find an opportunity. It took time to sink into the earth and escape. Now that he thought about it, the best chance was while he was still beneath the pile of rubble, but his mind had still been clouded then.
    'I'll use this battle to scale the strength of these knights and probe what other abilities their so-called Three Star Magi have. Then, I'll get sent flying again and use that chance to escape through the earth.'
    After Leonel came to this conclusion, he chose to hide some of his strength. Since his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was exposed, there was no helping it. But, he could still keep his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor a secret. LIke this, he would still have some trump cards in the future.
    Lamorak's expression grew several levels more serious when he saw Leonel's spear appear. At the same time, he became even more certain that Leonel had something to hide.
    He too was able to take out his weapon from thin air, but this wasn't something a supposed commoner should be able to do. It was becoming more and more obvious that Leonel had something to hide.
    However, he was still feeling confident. He had seen through Leonel's strength after their first exchange. Aside from a strong physical defense, his strength was a few notches below his own and his combat sense was even weaker. At leastбн that was what he thought initially.
    After Leonel's eyes regained their calm, he took a forceful step forward that sent his battle intent soaring through the skies. It was to the point that even Lamorak himself was somewhat suppressed.
    Leonel's spear pierced forward thrice in quick succession, sending curving arcs of wind toward the hulking knight.
    Lamorak shattered them all with a forceful swing of his spikeless mace, but his steps were still paused, allowing Leonel to take another forceful step forward, sending out several more piercing strikes.
    Leonel knew that his spear would snap after just a single exchange with Lamorak's mace, so how could he allow such a thing to happen.
    He continuously cast [Call of the Wind] toward Lamorak's vitals, his cold calculating gaze seeing two, three, even four steps ahead.
    It was only at that moment that the crowd came to a shocking realization of what was happening. One of the 12 Knight of the Round Table was beingбн suppressed?
    Only Leonel and Lamorak knew that this wasn't exactly the case. At most, Leonel was like an annoying fly, constantly pestering the latter and keeping him from being able to exert his full strength.
    HONG!
    Leonel took another step forward. At that moment, Lamorak felt his arm sink. Due to the sudden change, he couldn't react in time and one of Leonel's piercing strikes found its way through the chinks in his armor, causing the hulking brute to finally bleed.
    'The gravity field is only 1.1x, but it's enough for a sudden change of paceбн'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed.
    While Lamorak was unable to use his full strength, neither was Leonel. Not only was he holding back some trump cards, but he also had to continuously monitor Aliard. However, he was so focused on protecting his life that he didn't even notice the utter silence that had fallen over the inner city. They couldn't believe their eyes.
    Still, despite the fact he had been injured, Lamorak didn't seem to care. In fact, he seemed completely unaffected.
    "It seems I will have to use my true strength. I've underestimated you."
    Lamorak suddenly stopped defending completely. Or rather, he stopped moving entirely. Yet, even when Leonel sent out more [Call of Wind] strikes, trying to keep his distance, they completely shattered before even entering a one meter radius of the hulking knight.
    Lamorak's Force began to flicker with a wild brilliance, condensing into a red, raging flame. Yet, Leonel could tell that this wasn't Fire Elemental Force. It was something completely different. It didn't have any heat to it, nor did the temperature rise.
    His Force took a tangible form, fluttering around his body and causing an oppressive pressure to flood over the battlefield.
    BANG!
    The stone beneath Lamorak's feet shattered as he shot forward.
    Leonel shot back, his brow slightly furrowed. But, no matter how many strikes he sent forward, he couldn't break through the barrier around Lamorak at all.
    At that moment, Leonel's steps gained an enigmatic rhythm to them. He seemed to lead himself into a corner, only to just barely slip out and flip the positions of both himself and Lamorak.
    His light steps were in complete opposition to Lamorak's own heavy stomps, making their battle seem like one of a giant versus an ant.
    "General Star?"
    Lamorak remained expressionless. He had already heard Jarin say that Leonel had such a thing. But.. Didn't he as well? In fact, compared to Leonel's own, it was like comparing a grown man to a child just learning to walk. The difference was even more exaggerated since Leonel's Runes made his body heavier than he was equipped to handle.
    Just when Leonel wanted to trick Lamorak with his steps again, he found a swinging mace he couldn't avoid at all in his way. In fact, to an outside observer, it seemed as though he had walked into it of his own volition.
    BANG!

 Chapter 222: Mangled

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Leonel felt as though all the bones in his body were shattering. He had never been hit by a truck before, but he assumed that this was about as close as he could get to the real thing.
    His body curved grotesquely around Lamorak's spikeless, cylindrical mace almost like a ball deforming around a baseball bat. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was sent flying.
    Or ratherбн he thought that was what would happen. But, reality was cruel.
    In the single step Lamorak had taken to send a blow toward Leonel, the ground beneath his feet caved downward before jetting up a large broken piece. Before Leonel could fly very far to the side, he hit this broken piece first, causing his already bent body to crash the other way.
    In the end, as though it was all planned out beforehand, Leonel fell right before Lamorak, the glint in his eyes slowly growing dim.
    Leonel's world began to spin. He didn't have the presence of mind to maintain his ability any longer. It felt as though everything was fading. The pain was truly too much.
    His thoughts were in complete disarray. He only caught onto the faintest inkling of something that made him shocked to the point of speechlessness.
    Every step Lamorak had taken before had caused a crack on the ground. Then, during his last attack, his final step managed to kick up a large slab of stone that stopped Leonel from flying away. However, according to Leonel's calculations, that should have been impossible unlessбн the previous steps drew the outline of the stone slab he eventually kicked up.
    If this was true, Leonel could only admit that he was entirely outclassed. His ability was perfectly suited for this kind of planned battle, yet he still lost so resoundingly. Weren't big brutes like Lamorak supposed to be simple minded?
    Leonel felt his consciousness fading.
    The last time he felt this kind of pain, it was while he was opening his bloodline shackles. But, at least that had some sort of reward at the end. This was just unbridled, unconcealed, and unrestrained pain.
    Suddenly, the sound of whistling wind shook Leonel awake. He didn't need to look up to know that it was Lamorak's heavy mace swinging down toward him.
    As a man of the battlefield, Lamorak didn't feel the need to say anything after siezing victory. There was no room for trash talk or disdaining the enemy in such a situation. Those who did things like this usually didn't last very long.
    It could be said that this was the first time Leonel felt that death was so close. Not that there was just a threat of it, but in just a few more moments, he would experience what it felt like to have his life snatched from him.
    In the Mayan Tomb, he almost died at the hands of the sacrifical virgin, but that was a choice he, himself had made. He had found it too difficult to take the life of an innocent teenage girl. Compared to this situation where the choice wasn't in his hands at all, it was completely different.
    'This feelingбн sucksбн'
    Leonel hadn't ever felt such a wave of helplessness before.
    'I don't like itбн'
    Leonel tried to move, a strong will pulling his body together as he tumbled to one side, just barely avoiding Lamorak's fatal strike. However, the air pressure alone made him feel as though his body was collapsing.
    Shattered bits of dirt and stone were flung on his body, sending him sliding to the side.
    Leonel grasped out for his spear, only to realize it was nowhere to be found. It must have flown out of his hand during that last barrage. What a joke, he hadn't even felt it leave his grasp. Had he been a true spearman, he would likely rather die than reliquish his weapon so easily, but it seemed he hadn't reached such a stage yet.
    Lamorak raised an eyebrow. He had only missed because according to his own calculative abilities, Leonel should have been too injured to move at all. Something like this was outside his expectations.
    Howeverбн he wouldn't miss again.
    BANG!
    Leonel was hit squarely on the head. The ground he was trying to pull himself up from shattered and formed a small crater.
    Lamorak had thought that this would be enough, but his brows furrowed once more. He faintly noticed Leonel take out a weirdбн fish scale? That scale formed a shield that just as quickly collapsed under his might. It was likely this that had saved Leonel's life this time.
    Lamorak began to feel a slight discomfort in his chest. With his experience, he knew that if he let things go on like this, one or two coincidences might snowball into three or four. Eventually, the situation would get out of hand and leave his scope of ability to handle.
    His aura surged, the billowing red Force around him surging up to another level. This time, he wouldn't swing casually. He really would go all out.
    A roar billowed out. Despite the fact it came from his mouth, it felt as though it projected out from his chest. His torso swelled, concentric circles of concentrated wind jetting out from his lips. It was so deafening that it made it difficult to tell whether or not the roar came from a man, or a beast.
    BANG!
    Leonel scrambled to activate two fish scales as the cylindrical mace descended once more. He still had many remaining since he hadn't ended up needing them for the Force Crystal Core. But, it somehow felt that no matter how many he brought out, it still wouldn't matter. Lamorak had an undeniable will. Even if he had to flatten a mountain or split the oceans, he would do it.
    An overwhelming strength came down from above. The two Force Skins Leonel formed barely held up for a split moment before shattering like broken glass.
    The mace crashed into his body, causing the small crater to expand a fold in size.
    The cracks along the cobble stone streets spread out toward the various shops on the side, causing some of them to collapse on their foundations.
    Leonel's chest caved inward, his face becoming badly distorted. When Lamorak lifted his mace once more, there was nothing but a mangled mess. With how much blood there was, it was difficult to even differentiate the features of a normal human body.

 Chapter 223: Unwilling

    Leonel's mind went blank. Was he really going to die here?
    He was unwilling. Even more unwilling than he felt when his bloodline shackles tried to force him to take a step back. He was continuously roaring in his heart.
    However, his body was really in no state to move. No matter how unwilling he was, there was a limit to what will could accomplish.
    'He's still alive?' Lamorak raised an eyebrow.
    He still didn't manage to kill Leonel after going all out like this?
    Just when he wanted to swing again, though, a voice suddenly called out to stop him.
    "Hold on, Sir Lamorak. There's still some value in questioning this young man, don't you think?"
    "Questioning him? For what, exactly?"
    "Don't you think there are still some odd points about this? If he really was a spy, his actions are a bit too odd. Plus, I'm sure you know it's not possible for our Camelot to not have a single spy within it, right? With such a high value spy like this young man, why would he come here on his own instead of relying on one of those connections to establish a footing first?"
    Lamorak felt that Aliard's words made sense.
    If he thought about it, the reason he was so hostile to Leonel was because of his weird actions. The moment they began to question him, he suddenly became defensive and even jumped back, broadening a ten meter radius between them.
    At that moment, he had already assumed Leonel to be a spy. But, from another angle, would a real spy really act so obviously?
    Lamorak frowned. But in the end, his gaze turned resolute as he raised his mace once more.
    "Sir Lamorak, what are you doing?"
    "While there are some suspicious points, there are even more points in favor of him being a spy. Your [Paranoia Fog] spell forces one to reveal their inner thoughts. It's clear that not only is this young man hiding something, but judging by his initial reaction, he's also hiding a bestial aura within his usually calm demeanor.
    "With this kind of attitude, he isn't a person who forgives easily. Even if he doesn't retaliate, his heart will never be with Camelot. This will be something Modred can exploit.
    "Such a person. It's better that he dies."
    Leonel didn't hear any of these words. Even if he wanted to, the pain was too unbearable.
    Leonel subconsciously escaped into his Dream World. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the pain lessened when he did so. It wasn't that his body had healed, but rather that it took a lot of his mental faculties to enter this space. So, his other senses were dulled.
    Leonel had thoughts of just staying here to the end. Maybe death would be less painful in this way.
    However, that familiar unwillingness swelled in his heart.
    He really did hate this feeling. He couldn't explain why he hated it so much, either. It wasn't as simple as him not liking pain. At the same time, it wasn't like Lamorak was a horrible person. He was only doing what he thought was right. He also didn't look down on Leonel, nor did he disdain his existence.
    All this being said, Leonel still hated this. He hated it so much that even with all the pain ravaging his body, he still had emotions to spare for fury.
    But, what good was that? Fury wouldn't do him any good. If anything, it would probably speed up his death.
    'I needбн to get upбн'
    Despite having these thoughts, what good were they? Wanting to get up and being able to were two completely different concepts. No amount of will could mend his bones and flesh. His body was a complete mess.
    In truth, the fact that he had any consciousness to speak of was shocking enough. Maybe if his spirit wasn't so great, his thoughts would have already faded.
    Leonel's mind drifted, looking toward the large, complicated Dream Sculpt hanging in the air above him. It looked like a maze of golden and silver lines. If one had to explain it in just a few words, it would be like if one created a complex network of tunnels beneath a planet's surface, then took everything away but the tunnels themselves.
    In truth, it was incomplete. This Dream Sculpt was none other than the Natural Force Art? of the Force Crystal Mine Core. It was about 99% to completion, but that final percentage point felt like an insurmountable mountain to Leonel. He felt that even if he spent years meditating on it, it wouldn't do him any good.
    Leonel fell into a trance staring toward the Natural Force Art before he realized what was happening. This always seemed to happen when he looked at this Dream Sculpt. He wasn't sure why it was it happened, but all he knew was that falling into this trance lessened his pain even more, it almost felt somewhat refreshing.
    In the outside world, Lamorak's mace reached its apex.
    Aliard sighed and shook his head. He didn't feel that it was worth it to have a clash of ideologies with a Knight of the Round Table over someone as insignificant as Leonel. Plus, the words he spoke were true. There was nothing wrong with his analysis.
    However, just as Lamorak was about to swing downward just one more time, the fourth coincidence he had been battling against seemed to occur.
    At first, Leonel was nothing but a bloody mess. But in the next instant, a boundless light suddenly radiated out from his body. It was as though the light wanted to pierce the skies above. Its presence alone made the few clouds disperse, tearing them apart into rippling waves.
    Lamorak froze, as did Aliard and the rest.
    The light didn't last for long. It also didn't come with an oppressive, unbridled aura. It was actually quite gentle, gentle to the point many somehow felt tears welling in their eyes. There chests were overwhelmed by feelings of love and care, yet none of them could grasp where this feeling was coming from.
    At that moment, Leonel's body was finally visible once again. It was still the same, bloodied mess. But, there were odd, fluttering white feathers falling around him like gentle drops of rain.
    Each of the white feathers looked pure beyond belief, radiating a gentle golden light as they fell onto Leonel's body one after another.
    Under the shocked eyes of the spectators, as every feather fell, the wounds on Leonel's body seemed to slowly close as wellбн However, with such a slow paceбн How could there possibly be enough time to recover before Lamorak's mace fell?

 Chapter 224: Holy Son

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Lamorak was shocked by the sudden turn, but he quickly recovered. Underestimating this boy could only end poorly. The only way to ensure that nothing else unexpected occurred would be to kill him now.
    After reaching such a conclusion, his aura surged once more, his power entering his spikeless, cynlindrical mace as he powered a strike downward.
    "Holy Son!"
    Elys' sudden shocked cry shook the inner city.
    "Sir Lamorak, please stay your hand!"
    Lamorak didn't seem to hear anything, but it was at this point that Aliard moved. Just when his mace was about to kill Leonel, the frail old man appeared before the knight, a wand faintly glowing in his hand.
    A muffled boom sounded.
    Aliard's maroon robes fluttered wildly under the wind pressure, but his supposedly fragile figure didn't bend. In fact, under the shocked gazes of everyone, his thin wand completely stopped Lamorak's massive mace in its tracks.
    Lamorak frowned. "What are you doing, Magus Aliard?"
    Aliard send a complicated gaze toward Leonel before turning back toward Lamorak.
    "You cannot kill him."
    Compared to before, there wasn't an ounce of leeway in his words. It seemed that no matter what Lamorak said this time, it wouldn't matter in the slightest. Aliard had already resolved himself to protect Leonel.
    Lamorak's frown deepened. "Give me an explanation."
    His voice came out hoarse. No one doubted that if Aliard's words weren't convincing enough, the great knight truly wouldn't have a problem with starting a battle here and now. Compared to the safety of Camelot, he didn't mind falling out with even a Three Star Magus if he deemed it necessary.
    "You should have already heard it. He is our Holy Son. What other explanations do you need?"
    Lamorak slowly lowered his mace. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to do what he wanted to do today. He had indeed heard Elys' words, but he had completely ignored them. It was impossible to tell whether he knew their significance or not, or if he simply knew of it and still didn't care.
    At that moment, a whole host of city guards began to make their way forward. These events seemed to have taken a long time, but it was truly no more than a few minutes since the battle began. Coupling that with the fact the inner city usually didn't need much policing and it was no surprise that it took so long for officials to make their way here.
    However, by the time they did, it was all already over.
    **
    Leonel startled awake.
    His first thought was that he had died and ascended to some higher world controlled by a greater power. It truly wasn't his fault for thinking this either.
    For one, he had been in a life or death situation. And secondlyбн he couldn't describe the place he was currently in by any other means.
    Everything was either in white or gold. Even the bed sheets that covered him were embroidered with real gold sheets. With his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it was simple for Leonel to tell that this was in fact real metal.
    Despite the fact that everything was woven by such bright colors, the room itself wasn't hard on the eyes. Everything gave off a warm light that made it more comfortable than grating. It was precisely the kind of place one would expect 'Heaven' to resemble.
    However, these thoughts didn't last long because when Leonel awoke, the large doors to his current room were opened. It was only now he realized just how tall the entryway was. He didn't understand why a bedroom needed doors with a height of over five meters.
    After he got over the oddity of the doors, Leonel was shocked to find that the one who entered was бн Elys?
    He very much doubted that she died along with him. Plus, if this was his Heaven, the woman who came in should definitely be Aina, not this woman he barely caught a glimpse of beneath her massive, pointed hat.
    This time, though, Elys had taken off her large hat, revealing quite some delicate features. She looked like a girl of no more than 16 years of age. But, remembering that Jarin had called her an old hag multiple times, he felt that there was more to this story.
    When Elys saw Leonel looking at her so intently, she blushed profusely, forgetting what she had come for. The tray of water and fruits she had come in with clattered under her nervouseness, shaking along with her trembling hands.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with this woman? She didn't seem like the type to act like this. In fact, she had quite the foul mouth from what he remembered. Plus, it wasn't like he was handsome enough to cause such a reaction.
    As for Flowing Wind's words on his attractiveness? He never took it very seriously. She was just the type to say such things.
    Had Flowing Wind been here, she would have definitely felt aggrieved. She was very selective with her compliments. Even before the Metamorphosis, Leonel was fairly attractive. At least considered within a top percentile of men.
    After the Metamorphosis, not much changed. Until, that isбн he awakened his Lineage Factors. He already had the appearance of a Roman God after touching upon his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. But, what he didn't know was that while he was unconscious, he had unshackled the Healing Sub Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.
    This had not only saved his life in an unexpected way, but it had also given him an added charm.
    Of course, this alone wasn't the reason Elys was acting in this way. Leonel's charm was one thing, but the legends behind his ability were something completely different.
    After a while, Elys finally settled herself beneath Leonel's gaze and set the tray down.
    Her long, slender fingers played with the fabric of her dark blue robes.
    "Holy Son, would you like me to serve you?"
    Leonel's expression turned weird while Elys seemed to become a ripe tomato.
    It was only after a while Leonel realized she was making weird assumptions because of his gaze.
    "Holy Sonбн? What is that?" Leonel asked with a weird expression.
    Elys blinked. Seemingly realizing that she had misunderstood something, she reddened even more.
    "The Holy Son is you, of course."
    "Me? How am I your Holy Son?"
    Leonel's expression became weirder.
    "That's of course because Holy Son can Spirit Crystalize the Light Element. Had we known this before, we would have never treated Holy Son as suchбн"
    Elys bowed in apology, causing Leonel to not know what to say.
    He had always thought that the so-called light versus darkness cliche was utter nonsense. But, he had completely forgotten that this was a Mythological Zone. This was exactly the kind of place those cliches and legends came from...

 Chapter 225: Spirit Crystallization

    After listening to Elys, Leonel came to understand a bit more about his situation.
    'It's no wonder they immediately threw out the idea of me being a spyбн'
    According to Elys, Modred and her Demon Army were harbingers of darkness. Though Leonel wasn't certain if this meant that they could utilize Dark Elemental Force, what he did know was that the people of Camelot believed that someone who could utilize the Light Element was an inherently good person.
    Toward this, Leonel was a bit speechless, but he couldn't blame them. After all, if the main enemy you fought for a lifetime was one of darkness, you had good reason to assume such things.
    "What is Spirit Crystallization?"
    For such questions, there was no point in asking the dictionary about them. This was an entirely new magic system from what Leonel understood. As such, though the dictionary could make speculations, it wasn't possible to understand it in detail.
    This experience would teach Leonel something very important about the universe. Tales of fiction tended to have just one power system that ruled over all others, but this wasn't how the real world worked.
    Within the universe, there were countless systems of powers and new ones were being created all the time. Even though many of them had the same ends, they all approached it differently.
    Some magic systems could reach the pinnacle, others were lacking a bit, and yet others were lacking a lot. Whether Camelot's system fit into the first category or one of the latter didn't truly matter much to Leonel right now. All he knew was that they were more powerful than his current self. So, at least for now, their techniques were worth learning.
    As long as it wouldn't badly influence his future path in a more properly vetted magic system, Leonel wouldn't mind trying out everything they had to offer.
    "Ahбн" Elys seemed to realize that Leonel really didn't know much of anything. It made her feel embarrassed that they had thought of him as a spy. "бн Spirit Pressure is used to Crystallize the Elements. Mages are born with differing affinities depending on several factors.
    "Most often, affinities are inherited from one's parents. If two mages have a child together, there is normally a 20% chance there child will also be a mage. If those mages are more powerful, the chance is even higher. But, it will also be more difficult for them to have children.
    "If the parents share an affinity, the likelihood is even higher. For example, if both parents are Water Elemental Mages, the chances are closer to 50%. In addition, their child will also have an even higher affinity for the Water Element in comparison to their parents.
    "Ah, sorry, I got off topicбн"
    Realizing that she had been talking about the mating patterns of mages, she blushed profusely once again.
    Leonel smiled and didn't mind. After the overly straightforward answers he was used to receiving from the dictionary, this was actually a nice change of pace.
    "The other method is what I'm sure happened to Holy Son. This could just be considered a blessing of the skies. Spontaneous birth of mages like you are ironically more common."
    Leonel nodded, hiding his peculiar expression.
    He gained his Light Elemental Force from his mother's side. So, he wasn't in the category Elys spoke of at all. But, he had told Heckle that he was an orphan, so Elys was probably tactfully tiptoeing around this.
    Since it was better to continue allowing her to think this way, Leonel didn't correct her. Plus, in his opinion, his mother wasn't truly his mother regardless. He didn't even have the faintest memory of her. There was a reason he had hardly reacted when his father told him she was still alive.
    Was it resentment? Leonel didn't think so. He couldn't remember ever missing his mother, but that was mostly due to him not really experiencing what it felt like to have one. Leonel would categorize it more as indifference.
    If he thought about it, maybe he was the weird one for feeling such a wayбн
    "What do you all want to do with me?"
    Finally, Leonel couldn't help but ask this question. After satisfying his basal curiosity, he realized that there were more important matters at hand. He felt that it would be a bit too naive of him to assume that everything would be fine now just because of this.
    However, after hearing Elys' response, he realized he had still underestimated the value of the Light Element in this world. Had he known this, rather than getting beaten into almost becoming a corpse, he would have directly used his Light Elemental Force instead of trying to hide it as a future trump card.
    "Of course, Holy Son will receive the same treatment as other Holy Sons. You will be allowed to enter the Mage Academy with high standing and receive all the rewards that come with this. We hope that you'll become a pillar of Camelot in the future."
    Leonel raised his brows. "There are others besides me?"
    "Yes, yes. There are three others." A hint of worship flashed within Elys' eyes. "One is His Majesty, King Arthur. The second is Three Star Magus Orian. The last is the First Son of the Mage Academy, Sir Lionus. He is the son of His Majesty and is also walking the same path, that of the Magus Swordsman!"
    Seeing Elys fangirling, Leonel didn't really have the heart to stop her ranting. He could only listen on as she rambled on and on about these three Holy Sons. At some point, he tuned her out completely and retreated to his own thoughts.
    'Interestingбн According to legends, Arthur had a bastard son by the name of Modred. But, in this place, Modred is a woman. In addition, it seems that his publicly acknowledged son is also the child of his Queen, Guinevere.'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel's expression became a bit weird. He suddenly remembered that one of the side quests of this Zone was to repair King Arthur's relationship with Lancelot. And, the dictionary made it quite clear that this was related to Queen Guinevere.
    Leonel felt another headache coming on. He really hoped that Lionus was Arthur's son. If it turned out he was Lancelot's son, this matter would only get more complicatedбн

 Chapter 226: Robes

    Leonel was a person who was used to having many eyes on him. But, even he was starting to get a bit antsy.
    The halls of the Mage Academy could be considered to be quite narrow. Well, not narrow by normal human standards. After all, they were still tens of meters across in width. The reason why they felt narrow was because their ceilings were just that tall.
    They loomed overhead with majestic archways, containing windows just as tall and grandiose.
    Unfortunately, with this large size came an equally large amount of people.
    Normally, it shouldn't be possible for so many to know of Leonel already. After all, this was ultimately a medieval era Zone. There was no social media, nor were there any cameras. Due to this, Leonel should have been free from such troublesбн.
    However, what he didn't expect was that the robes Elys had given him to wear would be so eyecatching.
    From what Leonel knew, the mages of this world were split into nine grades. One to Three Star Apprentice Mage, One to Three Star Official Mage, and finally, One to Three Star Magus.
    For each of these rankings, one would be assigned a different color robe. An Apprentice Mage would wear grey robes. An Official Mage would wear blue robes. And, a Magus would wear purple robes.
    The stages of One to Three Star would be separated by the darkness of the color. A One Star Apprentice Mage would have robes that were nearly white, while a Three Star of the same kind would have robes that were nearly black.
    From this, it should be clear that Elys was a Three Star Official Mage, and was very nearly a One Star Magus.
    However, none of this was the real reason Leonel was being stared at like some sort of lab rat.
    Usually, aside from the main color of one's robes, there would also be embroidery that exposed one's mage branch. Fire Mages would have touches of red, Water Mages touches of blue, etcбн
    Knowing this, it was no wonder everyone couldn't take their eyes off of Leonel. He was wearing gold embroidered robes that only three others in the whole of Camelot were allowed to wear.
    Seeing his pale grey robes embroidered with gold was just one aspect, but the following connection they made between him and the rumors of the teenage boy who battled a Knight of the Round Table was what really set the environment ablaze.
    The fact Leonel lost didn't dampen his prestige in the slightest. Not only was Lamorak one of those legendary 12 knights, but he was also within the top 3 strongest among them. Leonel losing was a foregone fact. It was the fact he managed to survive at all that garnered so much respect.
    "Alright, alright. Clear the way."
    Elys became a cross between a jealous girlfriend and a valiant bodyguard, clearing a path for Leonel forward. Luckily, she had been tasked with being his guide, or else with how large this Academy was, Leonel would probably be spinning in circles for a while.
    Though he could release his Internal Sight, he was told by Elys that this action was rude, so he could only take a step back.
    At the same time, though, he was confused.
    'By my estimations, a One Star Mage is the equivalent of someone who has opened just one Force Node. A Three Star Magus should be the equivalent of someone who has opened nine Force Nodes. Butбн'
    There were too many things Leonel had questions about.
    For one, he had already opened eight Nodes. Not only had he done so, but his Nodes were much larger than a normal person's. By right, he shouldn't have lost so badly to Lamorak who was the knight equivalent of a Three Star Magus бк A Three Star Grand Knight.
    Secondly, Elys had said his Spirit Pressure was the equivalent of a Three Star Magus', but this shouldn't have been true either. His spirit should be at the peak of the Fifth Dimension. Let alone a Three Star Magus, even a thousand of them shouldn't have been able to match up to his Spirit Pressure.
    There was definitely something weird going on. Leonel was lacking in a way he couldn't put his finger on.
    But, there was a burning fire within his chest. He had had this uncomfortable feeling within his heart the moment he awoke. He had never felt such agitation in his life before and he found it hard to describe.
    All he knew was that unless he could defeat Lamorak, he would never feel at ease.
    Elys led Leonel to a classroom he was embarrassed to find was filled with 12-13 year old kids. Luckily, there were a few who were closer to him in age, but they were all seated at the back. It was clear their standing was much lower than that of the younger kids.
    Elys walked to the front. Surprisingly, she was the lecturer for this class.
    Leonel chuckled and shook his head, his embarrassment fading. He was never an overly proud person to begin with, at least not for meaningless matters like this. Of course, if others knew he was thinking this, who knows how they'd react.
    It wasn't long before he had sat near the front and forgot about everything around him.
    Unfortunatelyбн his bad habit flared up again. An oppressive aura filled the classroom as Leonel began to focus. Many of the small children burst into tears, but didn't dare to make a sound, fearful that they would anger Leonel.
    Leonel was so focused on Elys' words that he didn't notice the oddities around him. This was always how he was in class. There was a reason everyone always waited for him to finish his tests and exams before they began. The only one that had always been unaffected was Aina.
    Elys smiled bitterly, but she seemingly realized that Leonel wasn't doing this on purpose, so she could only continue. Still, it was safe to say tthat this woulud be the last time she allowed Leonel into this class. These poor children couldn't learn in such an environment.
    "Now, Spirit Crystallizationбн"

 Chapter 227: Dreamscape (1)

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Hours later, Leonel found himself in a library.
    Leonel wasn't very used to normal books. By the time his era came around on Earth, such things had been completely fazed out. So, seeing the towering bookcases one could only use ladders to reach the top of, he felt a deep sense of awe.
    The scent alone made his heart reach a state of calmness. He had never understood when he read about those who said there was nothing that could compare to a book one could flip through бк his father being among them бк but now he gained a small inkling.
    The Mage Academy's library had many ledges and oddly placed staircases all around. Sometimes, the highest shelves of the obscenely tall bookcases could only be reached by climbing these stairs.
    One of Leonel's privileges as a Holy Son was the ability to access information beyond his mage level. Usually, as a One Star Apprentice Mage, he would only be allowed to touch upon Level One Knowledge. But, he was allowed to read up to Level Four Knowledge.
    As long as he was within the Mage Academy, it wouldn't be an issue to read books three levels above his own.
    Leonel didn't mind this. He didn't expect to spend very long as a One Star Apprentice Mage. He wouldn't be surprised if it only took a few months to become a Three Star Magus.
    Ignoring all the glances he received walking into the library, Leonel immediately picked out as many foundation knowledge books he could find. These were books so common that this library had several hundred copies of each so that those who needed them could always have one available.
    'Foundational Crystallization'. 'Importance of Affinity'. 'Foundations of Magic Art Formation'. 'A Mage and His Spiritual Wood'. 'Breaking Through: The Ascension of Tiers'.
    It wasn't long before Leonel's spatial bracelet was filled to the brim. Since Elys had all but kicked him out of her class, he could only study on his own. Plus, he somewhat preferred it this way. If he followed the normal study plan of the Academy, it would take at least five years to graduate, and even then, he would only be an Official Mage.
    He didn't forget that he was still on a time crunch. This was a Zone, not a vacation spot.
    However, Leonel was confident in himself. If this was only a matter of knowledge and gaining it, no one should be able to compare to him.
    Leonel sat at a normal oak table and pulled out his first book.
    'I have to find ways to use my ability more efficientlyбн'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed for a brief moment. He didn't forget the shock Simeon had given him. He had been able to evolve his ability to the point gene manipulation had become a method of beast taming. This taught Leonel that he was relying too much on his ability to spontaneously evolve, he had to also come up with methods of improving it as well.
    'I'll call this abilityбн Dreamscape.'
    Evolving one's ability wasn't always about forming some completely new power. Sometimes, it was as simple as using the abilities you already have more cleverly.
    Leonel wanted Dreamscape to become like a databank in his mind. He saw it as a fusion of his Dream Sculpt and Dream World.
    What separated truly intelligent people wasn't always about knowledge. If two students were always attentive in class, they would of course have access to the same knowledge. So, why was it that even if they tried equally as hard, one person might ace the class, while the other might only receive an above average grade?
    The difference wasn't knowledge, but in how one was able to apply it.
    Intelligent people can have access to the same knowledge, but are unique in the way they use that knowledge. They see things the less intelligent can't see, connect dots a normal student never would. This allows them the ability to solve problems with the same tools someone else would fail with.
    Leonel wanted his Dreamscape ability to supercharge his intelligence in the same fashion.
    The way it worked was simple. First, he would save something into his 'database' using Dream Sculpt. With Dream Sculpt's ability to create a perfect memory of anything, he wouldn't have to worry about ever forgetting it.
    Following this, he would fuse the Dream Sculpt into his Dream World. This would place his Dream Sculpt into his world of simulation. This was where the true fearsomeness of this ability would come into play.
    Let's say Leonel added this book in his hand to his Dreamscape. This book was titled 'Friend of Light'. From Leonel's understanding after reading its summary, it was a book detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the Light Element, when it was most powerful, how best to absorb it and manipulate it, etc.
    Now, if Leonel continued on to want to learn what this world called a 'Magic Art' and it happened to be one of the Light Element, the information he gained from Friend of Light would subconsciously meld into his thoughts, helping him to comprehend the intricacies of the Magic Art with much greater speed.
    This was just the simplest example. What if Leonel instead added dozens, hundreds or even thousands of Force Arts to his Dreamscape? Would he be able to see the patterns between them, see through the unique quirks, and even become capable of modifying and creating new Force Arts using this method?
    And what if he added just as many blueprints to his Dreamscape? If he had all sorts of Force Crafts floating in his mind, wouldn't he be able to optimize his crafts by compiling the strengths and weaknesses of many?
    This was what he wanted his Dreamscape to be capable of. Almost like an advanced AI that was capable of learning through trial and error, he wanted his Dreamscape to consume all the knowledge in the world until he could deduce anything from even the smallest hints.
    This was only the beginning. If he added the enemies he battled into his Dreamscape, it might even become possible one day to predict the next move an opponent would take even before the battle began!
    Leonel wasn't certain if he could create a Dream Sculpt of a person's combat tendencies just yet, but now that the idea had popped up into his mind, he refused to let it die down. If Simeon could evolve his ability, he could do so as well. Not only would he do it, but he would do it to an even greater extent!

 Chapter 228: Dreamscape (2)

    Originally, everyone always sent glances toward Leonel due to the gold embroidery on his robes making it obvious that he was a Holy Son. But now, everyone looked at him as though he was some kind of freak.
    No matter where he went in the library, the surrounding tens of meters would be completely cleared of people. It was simply impossible for them to comfortably study and read beneath his oppressive aura.
    It was one thing if that was all, but he was reading an obscene amount of books. He would always go to a new table empty handed, but in the next moment, one after another, he would pull massive texts from thin air and stack them several meters into the sky. Then, after he returned them all, he would move to a new section of the library and repeat the process again.
    Though all of this was weird, it was still manageable. But, what was truly ridiculous was his reading speed. Leonel seemed to flip through the pages of the books he chose as though he was using them as a fan rather than for reading material.
    Many thought that Leonel was only putting up a show of strength after this continued for a while, causing their initial impressions of the new Holy Son to take a dip. After all, even a Magus couldn't read books so quickly, let alone an Apprentice Mage who wasn't even familiar with the material to begin with.
    One had to remember that this was a Zone. It wasn't a land where abilities had awakened. Aside from Leonel and the 11 others that entered with him, there shouldn't be any others who had 'evolved'. So, it was impossible for them to make this connection.
    However, as time passed, those watching came to realize that if this was all a showбн Leonel was a bit too committed. There were even instances of many who tried to strike up a conversation with him, including gorgeous female mages, yet he didn't spare any of them the time of day. He continued reading as though he hadn't noticed their presence.
    If this was something he was doing for attentionбн shouldn't he accept the attention he earned?
    Could it be that he was really reading that fastбн?
    The truth was that these people were right. Leonel really wasn't reading. But, that wasn't because he was putting up an act, but rather because he didn't have to.
    When one looks at the world through one's eyes, it was possible to take in everything in one glance. However, if one wanted to remember in detail what was seen, it would then be necessary to consciously analyze everything.
    This was how reading worked too. Technically, as long as it was within one's line of vision, it was possible to see the whole page at once, but it was obviously only possible to read one word at a time.
    However, if Leonel used Dream Sculpt, he could 'save' this page into his memories in the blink of an eye. Like this, it would be just like he read the page, but much quicker.
    In addition, since there was nothing complicated about a page of words, Leonel didn't have to spend hours or days like he had to in the past. Almost like he was taking a picture with his mind, everything would be saved in an instant.
    Quickly, the database of knowledge in Leonel's mind grew at explosive rates. In just half a month, he had read through every single book at and below the Level Four.
    Leonel closed the last book and looked up with red eyes. His gaze was filled with a mixture of fatigue and a hidden piercing light.
    He finally understood what the difference between him and Three Star Magi and Three Star Grand Knights was. It all came back to the same thing time and time again: Crystallization.
    In the magic system Leonel was currently using, one he gained from [Dimensional Cleanse], there was no need for Crystallization. There was a very simple reason for this. Once one wanted to break free from the Third Dimension and reach the Fourth Dimension, one would begin sensing a higher level Force.
    There was a qualitative change between with each dividing Dimensional line. It was impossible for someone within the Third Dimension to defeat someone within the Fourth, and impossible for someone within the Fourth to defeat someone in the Fifth.
    Though it was possible for someone to jump power levels within a shared Dimension, doing so across Dimensions was impossible. This was a qualitative difference in strength.
    Think about itбн Did you need to struggle to crumple a piece of paper?
    However, Camelot took a different approach, and this was Crystallization! One might not struggle to rip a single piece of paper, but what about two? Three? A hundred? A thousand?
    Instead of leaping to a qualitative change in strength, they consolidated the strength they did have and evolved it with a quantitative change instead.
    This also explained why his supposedly Fifth Dimensional spirit was still so weak. How could it be considered true Fifth Dimensional Soul Force when it was formed with Third Dimensional Force?
    It was no wonder Elys and even Aliard had mistaken his spirit for being at the level of a Three Star Magus. In substance, his spirit was lacking in comparison to theirs. But, in potential, his far surpassed theirs. The average of the two opposing ideas landed him right in the middleбн
    It was only now Leonel realized how truly flawed his stat system wasбн
    'It's a shame. Though they take this approach, it has no use at the next level. All this hard work of theirs would have to be dispelled the moment they want to truly enter the Fourth Dimensionбн'
    Leonel realized that this was only a case of short term benefits. Since Third Dimensional Force had to be dispelled in favor of Fourth Dimensional Force, any Crystallization one's Third Dimensional Force underwent would be useless in the future.
    After a moment, an arc of electricity suddenly bolted through Leonel's Dream World. Leonel knew what this was immediately. It was a phenomenon that occurred when his Dreamscape made a connection.
    With Leonel's every passing thought, these arcs of lightning would connect the various Dream Sculpts within his Dreamscape, almost like the real synapses of a brain. However, they were usually ignored by him unlessбн an arc of lightning had a particularly wide set of branches.
    The more branches an arc of lightning formed, the more ideas it was connecting, and thus the more complex the thought it was forming was.
    Leonel's eyes shone. Just what idea had his Dreamscape stumbled onto?
    Leonel began to meditate on the connected Dream Sculpts. After a few seconds, his eyes snapped open once more, burning with a fierce light.
    His previous thinking was too naive. Force had other uses aside from the power it output. For example, hadn't Leonel's physical stats improved with each Node he formed?
    There was a limit to this once he reached the Ninth Node. However, what if he Crystallized his Force? Wouldn't the benefits to his body be much greater?
    Leonel looked at the central Dream Sculpt that hung between all the arcs of lightning. It was book by the title of 'Knights and Mages: The War of Ideologies'.
    Leonel suddenly saw a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. All this time, he had been worried. After so long, all of his calculations concluded that his Tenth Node formation would end in failure. However thisбн changed everything.

 Chapter 229: Identities

    "I would like to enter."
    At that moment, Leonel stood outside another library of sorts within the Mage Academy. But, this library was much different as it was the place that housed the Magic Arts of Camelot.
    Of course, by now, it was obvious to Leonel that the 'Magic Arts' of Camelot were the very same Force Arts he was used to. The only difference lied in the fact that the Force Art language of Camelot allowed them to directly draw their Magic Arts in the air.
    The downside of this system was that their Magic Arts бк or rather, Force Arts бк were weaker than the ones Leonel was used to. This only made sense. After all, a Force Art written on a proper medium like a precious ore, for example, could draw on much more power and produce much more strength.
    However, when drawn directly into the air, the Magic Arts were fleeting and thus weaker. In addition, they had to be completed within a certain period of time or else they would begin to dispel before the Art was even completed.
    Of course, while there were downsides, there were upsides as well. For one, they were much more convenient to use.
    Within the Joan of Arc Zone, Leonel had to carry around planks of wood just for a simple fire Force Art that was only useful against normal humans. Also, due to the common nature of the medium he used, the power of the Force Art was obviously also limited as a result.
    So, while this Magic Art system had its downsides, it also had its positives as well.
    The guards of the Magic Art Tower were known as Deacons. They were students who had already graduated and thus took up positions within the Academy to continue reaping benefits.
    The tower was located within the Academy, making it look quite odd. After all, it was building built within a building. However, its majesty was no less grand.
    It was within a greenhouse of the Academy grounds. Up above, there was a large dome of glass and all around one could find lush grass and well-tended gardens.
    The tower itself was quite tall. From the outside, one could see that it had ten floors and stood at about 50 meters in height. It had a very simple stone design to it that radiated an ancient air.
    The two Deacons stood on opposite sides of the door. Both were women and each wore an odd armor crossed with robes. It was quite a unique style of dress that was reserved for those with Deacon titles.
    Since this place was so important, it wasn't a surprise that the Deacons tasked with guarding it were quite powerful and as such, equally as haughty.
    However, their arrogant expressions faltered when they seemingly noticed Leonel's robes. Originally, they hadn't even looked Leonel in the eye but now they found it difficult to even speak.
    "бн Can I?"
    Leonel thought that he had maybe done something wrong. He had only learned that this tower existed after overhearing a conversation. Elys had yet to introduce it to him, so he really wasn't sure if he was allowed to be here. He only felt that it was more weird that the area around the tower was so vacant.
    Though there were many students around this greenhouse, many of them were several tens of meters away from the tower and seemed content with socializing within its vicinity.
    For a place that Leonel thought should be popular, this was indeed weird behavior.
    The two Deacons snapped awake and were about to usher Leonel in, a bit embarrassed by their previous actions, when their expressions suddenly changed once again.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow and turned back to follow their line of sight. When he saw what it was that had caught their attention, he nodded his head in understanding.
    Coming toward him, there was a small group of three people бк two men and a woman.
    In the middle of them, there was a man. The man and woman to either side both wore the deep blue robes of Three Star Official Mages while the man in the middle wore the pale violet robes of a One Star Magus.
    What was curious was that the two Three Star Official Mages didn't have any embroidery on their robes, making it impossible to tell what branch of magic they followed. Now that Leonel thought about it, he hadn't seen any embroidery on Elys' or Aliard's robes either. He wasn't sure whether this was a stylistic choice or if there was a deeper reason.
    However, at the moment, none of this mattered. The reason Leonel was so understanding of the reaction of the Deacons was because the man in the middle of the two of them did have embroidery. Andбн That embroidery was identical to his own.
    There was only one young man in Camelot that was simultaneously so young and could wear golden embroidery like Leonelбн Lionus Pendragon!
    Lionus was a tall man, just as tall as Leonel. He had flowing blond hair and piercing sky blue eyes that made women swoon. His shoulders were broad and he had a kingly disposition between his brows. Even with the amiable smile that hung on his lips, he had a dignified air to him that made him well suited to be on a throne.
    Lionus met Leonel's eyes and a pleasantly surprised look flashed within his gaze when he noticed the familiar embroidery. What surprised him even more, though, was that Leonel's disposition, although somewhat more reserved than his own, didn't seem to lose out to him in momentum at all.
    He could tell that Leonel was a leader of men, but he could also tell that Leonel maintained a humble facade on the surface that limited his overall leadership ability. It was simple for him to tell that this was a flaw of Leonel's.
    It could only be said that Lionus was truly the Crown Prince of a Kingdom, to be able to see through Leonel with just a glance like this made his abilities clear.
    Lionus smiled and closed the distance between himself and Leonel.
    The two Deacons were startled awake and kneeled down to one knee in salute.
    "Prince Lionus!"
    "Ah, there's no need for this. Please rise!"
    Leonel smiled lightly, crossed a hand over his chest and bowed slightly.
    "Greetings, Prince."
    Leonel hadn't been born in a culture where there was a heavy stigma against bowing or kneeling. So, he didn't really have an opinion about doing it one way or another. He wouldn't have minded kneeling at all, the only reason he hadn't and only slightly lowered his head was because he heard Lionus say that there was no need to.
    Maybe had he been born elsewhere, or maybe in a different era, Leonel would rather die than kneel. But, this wasn't the life he was born into. That said, whether this would continue to be true in the future was a matter yet to be determined.
    Lionus smiled brightly. "I've heard a lot about you. Leonel is your name, correct? It's great that our Camelot can have another Holy Son. I've wanted to meet you for a long time, but I heard that you were injured."
    Seeing Lionus' genial approach, even Leonel couldn't help but feel a bit warm. It seemed this Crown Prince's charisma wasn't small.
    "It's good that you're here, actually." Lionus continued. "This way, we can enter the tower together. Ah, forgive me for my lack of manners.
    "This here is Official Mage Theybul, son of Sir Gawain of the Round Table. This is Official Mage Mary, daughter of Three Star Magus Tilda. They are very close to their Magus Ascension, so they've come to visit the tower one more time."
    The two politely greeted Leonel with nods and smiles.
    Leonel's brows raised in surprise. It seemed that none of these three had lackluster identities.

 Chapter 230: Crystallization Affinity

    Leonel smiled and scratched his head awkwardly.
    "Now that you mention it, I'm not really sure what the purpose of this tower is. Could you explain it to me?"
    Leonel and Lionus walked into the first floor of the tower. In truth, Leonel wanted to preface his question with a bit more, but he was a bit stunned by what he saw.
    The room follow the same rounded shape as the tower outside. It was quite spacious and quiet. Despite the large size, there were only a handful of people here, but they were all crowded around the same thing.
    In the center of the first floor, there was a large, floating crystal. It was easily three meters in diameter and seemed to slowly spin without any support. It hung perfectly in the air and radiated a dull light.
    "Ah, right, you're still unfamiliar with some things." Lionus didn't seem to mind.
    Though the small number of mages within the tower all looked toward the new arrivals and were stunned by their identities, seemingly used to this, Lionus continued to speak at a leisurely pace.
    "The Mage Art Tower is a place that houses all of the Magic Arts Camelot has accumulated. As long as it was once conceived by a mage of our Kingdom, then it will be here. However, the matters here aren't so simple either.
    "It's clear how valuable such a place is, so it's not a location that can be casually entered, nor is it possible to even if you were simply allowed to roam freely.
    "There are only three ways to be allowed to enter this tower. The first way is the typical single entry once a year. For each year you graduate or enter in the Academy, you're allowed one entry."
    Leonel nodded. He realized now why the surrounding space was so empty. This wasn't normal enrollment times, so those who should have entered their first years along with him had already long since come.
    "The second way is by gaining Military Achievements and the last way is by becoming a Childe of the Elements. Should you accomplish the last one, you would be allowed unlimited entries to the Mage Art Tower and can travel up as far as your Spirit Pressure allows."
    "Childe of the Elements?" Leonel asked in confusion.
    "Yes." Lionus nodded with a smile. "A Childe of the Elements has the same privileges as a Holy Son. In fact, you could say that a Childe is a Holy Son, just not of the Light Element.
    "You see that crystal ball up there? It's able to test for Crystallization Affinity. When someone's affinity touches upon a certain standard, they will be designated a Childe. In fact, it could be said that the only advantage a Holy Son has over a Childe is that our affinities do not need to be checked.
    "Because the Light Element is so powerful, even a Holy Son with a low affinity will be more powerful than the usual high affinity mage."
    "Ah, so it's like thisбн"
    Leonel suddenly understood many things now. In addition, he was quite curious. If the Light Element was so powerful with low affinity, what was it like with high affinity? And, what was his own affinity?
    He assumed that compared to those of Camelot, his affinity was exceptionally high. After all, this was a Third Dimensional world while the Snowy Star Owl was an Elite Sixth Dimensional beast after maturing.
    "Then what is so beneficial about the tower that Official Mage Theybul and Mary would come before their Magus Ascension?"
    Leonel directed a curious question toward the two mages.
    "His Highness touched on it a bit." Mary responded. "How high one can climb the Mage Art Tower depends on what one's Spirit Pressure can take. Each successive floor comes with a stronger pressure. This pressure is good for weeding out impurities that might linger in our Spirit Pressure and gives us a good push toward the next boundary."
    "I see, thank you." Leonel thanked them sincerely.
    Lionus smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen someone take the Crystallization Affinity trial, why don't you try it out, Leonel?"
    "Sure!"
    Leonel had been eager to do so since the beginning, so he had no reason to refuse.
    Lionus and Leonel walked toward the floating crystal. At that moment, there was another youth testing his affinity.
    Affinity wasn't set in stone according to Camelot's magic system. It was possible to increase affinity through meditation and comprehension. In addition, after having breakthroughs in Spirit Pressure, affinity naturally increases as well. However, the higher one's starting base affinity, the more potential for growth they had in the future.
    This was all to say that it wasn't a surprise to find a person testing themselves once again. This affinity test was actually also a good gauge of how far one could climb the tower. Though resisting the Spirit Pressure required one's own Spirit Pressure, it was also possible to get by with weaker Spirit Pressure if one's affinity was high enough.
    So, youths would sometimes test their affinities before they climbed the tower so that they didn't push themselves too hard and cause irreparable injury to their spirit.
    The young man who was about to place his hand on the crystal suddenly swayed nervously. When he had come here today, the last thing he had expected was to be observed by a Holy Son and the Crown Princeбн Not to mention two other Childes in Mary and Theybul!
    However, he could only press down his nervousness. Wouldn't he look too pathetic now if he backed away?
    After taking a deep breath, he pressed his hand to the crystal.
    WENG!
    The crystal began to emit a lustrous glow.
    "The affinity scale of the crystal is dependent on the radiance of the light. It the light projects a foot out from the surface of the crystal, it meets the minimum requirement to enter the Mage Academy бк this would be the One Star Affinity ranking. With it, one might be able to become an Official Mage with hard work."
    Lionus patiently explained things to Leonel.
    "The color is related to the element. This young mage's glow is a light green, so he's a wind affinity mage.
    "The light needs to radiate out one meter to become a Two Star Affinity. Such a person can likely make a name for themselves within the world of Official Mages. At five meters, it reaches Three Star Affinity. Such a person has a sliver of a chance to become a Magus.
    "At nine meters, this entered the Four Star Affinity realm. Such a person has a good chance of becoming a Magus and a slim chance of becoming a Two Star Magus.
    "Finally, at ten meters, the crystal will form a halo like the rings of a planet. This halo represents the realm of a Childe.
    "Of course, it's possible to increase one's affinity through hard work and persistence. In addition, a higher tier Element like our Light Element makes it easier to breakthrough realms, so regardless of your results, hold your head high."
    Leonel smiled lightly in response. In regards to his affinity, he wasn't too worried. Even if it really did turn out to be low, he would still find a way to use this magic system to form his Tenth Node.
    The young mage finally stepped down from the platform with a flushed face. He was a bit excited. He had actually managed to touch the barrier of the Fourth Star. His hard work had definitely paid off. After all, since he could be here, it meant he had rendered great service to Camelot's armies.
    Seeing that he was finished, Leonel took a step forward, seemingly not realizing the number of gazes that followed his back.
    He climbed the steps and stood on the platform, his expression calm as he stretched his hand forward.
    WENG! WENG! WENG!
    A blinding light suddenly swept out in all directions.
    Lionus raised his eyebrows up in shock. If it was just that Leonel had a high affinity, it would be easy to accept. But this... what was this?

 Chapter 231: Servicing

    CRACK!
    Leonel hurriedly retracted his hand, but it was already too late.
    A massive fissure snaked across the crystal, expelling with it a hardly noticeable fog.
    The moment Leonel retracted his hand, the blinding lights lingered for a moment before quickly receding. Soon, his figure was clearly seen once more, allowing several pairs of eyes to fall on his body.
    Lionus, especially, was speechless. Everything happened too fast for the others to get a clear understanding of what had happened, but he had been able to catch a faint inkling.
    The reality was that having just a single affinity was impossible. Most people had many different affinities. The only difference was in how those affinities compared. In fact, the truth of the matter was that much of the reason affinities were so low among the majority of the population was because these differing affinities would clash with one another, making it more difficult to excel in one.
    What set Childes apart was their ability to filter out the noise. Ironically, their affinities for secondary or tertiary elements was much lower than their counterparts, but in return, they gained great affinity in just one aspect.
    However, Lionus was certain that what he had seen was correct. In that brief moment, Leonel formed a blinding dark gold halo.
    This should have all been fine. After all, the formation of a halo was the marker of a Childe. To be both a Holy Son and a Childeбн Leonel would be the only one in their entire Kingdom! Even Lionus' own father wasn't considered a Childe of the Light Element when he first started. It was only after years of meditation and practice that he reached this standard.
    Butбн The issue was that dark gold wasn't the symbollic marker for the Light Elementбн It was the marker for the Earth Element!
    Lionus' brows involuntarily trembled.
    Leonel's affinity for the Earth Element was actually obscene to the point of directly suppressing his Light Element. Not only that, but its affinity was so far beyond the standard of? a Childe that it would have shattered the crystal had Leonel not reacted so quickly.
    'The color for the Earth Element should have been a dirty yellowish brown color. But that was most definitely a bright bronze or dark gold colorбн That means that Leonel's not only an Earth Elemental Childe, but also one with a variant affinityбн'
    Lionus exhaled a long breath.
    "бн Sorryбн"
    Leonel's voice finally broke the silence. But the word he spoke caused Lionus to be speechless. Eventually, the Crown Prince laughed bitterly and shook his head.
    "It's nothing to worry about, this crystal is easily replaceable. We have mines filled with it and even have higher grade ones used exclusively by Magi."
    Hearing this, Leonel sighed a breath of relief.
    However, after a moment, he sunk into his own thoughts. He too had senses sharp enough to notice that his halo was actually dark gold and not gold. From what Lionus explained to him, it seemed his affinity for the Earth Element was even higher than his affinity for the Light Element.
    At the same time, he could tell that his Light Element wasn't any weaker than that of a Childe either. The issue was that this crystal was only able to show a single affinity at a time and tended toward the more powerful one.
    'I seeбн'
    Leonel had come here expecting to just pour his heart and soul into studying Light Elemental Magic Arts. But, if things were like this, he couldn't neglect his Earth Element either.
    **
    While Leonel was taking every advantage he could from the Mage Academy, it couldn't be forgotten that there was 11 others who had entered this Zone with him. And, in a lot of ways, their methods were far better than his own. Maybe this wasn't the case in the ultimate result, but it was most definitely the case in baseline success.
    Rather than coming with their own identity, the others took advantage of the fact this was a land without technology to take on the identities of those who already called Camelot home. As a result, unlike the unlucky Leonel, they didn't have to worry about being called traitors.
    Of course, it wasn't that Leonel hadn't thought of thisбн It was just that he was unwilling to commit the cruel acts necessary to take such an identity for himself.
    That saidбн This wasn't the only method either.
    At that moment, Supreme Monet sat in silent meditation on a large bed. She wore a silk lace gown, defining her curves. Despite the faint wrinkles on her face, she still had a stifling, captivating beauty that could cause the hearts of men to boil.
    The deep ravine of her chest revealed the not so subtle mounds of soft flesh and the mesh of lace that covered them showed just a hint of her rounded pink nipples.
    It could only be said that the sight was simply too enticing. If not for the fact she was sitting down in meditation, her lower half might just very well be another sight to behold.
    At that moment, the doors to her room opened. But, the one who entered wasn't what one would expect at all.
    A familiar woman wearing a deep black dress sauntered into the room. Her countenance was exceptionally pale, yet somehow had a healthy glow to it. It felt as though she had been carved of ice and had not a drop of blood within her body.
    The woman walked to Monet who slowly opened her eyes. Monet could only lift her chin as the black dressed woman pulled it up with a slender finger that soon traced her jaw.
    Seeing the enticing view of Monet's body, the woman breath hitched ever so slightly, her face finally gaining just the slightest red hue.
    "I usually like younger women." The black dressed woman said softly, her voice as smooth as silk. "But it seems that I've missed out on the allure of maturity. You are to my liking, you'll serve me tonight."
    The black dress that followed the woman's curves slowly fell, revealing a perfectly sculpted body. In fact, her figure held a hidden power within it, carrying the faint carved muscles of a man while maintaining the soft curves of a woman.
    Her breasts stood erect and proud as she lifted a long slender leg, placing it on the bed Monet sat upon. A fragrant bush graced her most sacred region, just barely revealing two pink lips hidden beneath.
    The woman stood like this for a moment, one leg planted on the soft carpets of the room and the other lifted up to the silk sheets of the bed. She allowed Monet who sat before her to take in her alluring body without the slightest hint of shame or bashfulness as she continued to stroke the latter's jawline.
    Monet's expression was calm as she met the woman's gaze, carrying a hint of the lofty air the latter carried. But, this only seemed to make the woman want her more.
    Then, as though she couldn't wait any longer, her slender fingers stopped tracing Monet's chin and grasped it gently. A soft moan escaped the woman's cherry lips as she pulled? Monet's head between her legs.
    The woman placed a hand on the back of Monet's head, sinking into pleasure. Her eyes closed and her head angled upward, soft rhythmic breaths heaving her chest up and down.
    One could have never expected that the woman Monet was currently servicing with her tongue was the lofty Demon Lord, Modred.

 Chapter 232: Shine

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Leonel, of course, had no idea what was happening across this mythological land. If he did, he might have had many questions to ask. But, at this point, all he cared about were the Magic Arts before him.
    Lionus, Theybul and Mary had long since climbed the tower. But, since he was still a One Star Apprentice mage, he would obviously stay on the first floor.
    This was not as bad as it sounded, either. Since the only ones who could enter the Mage Art Tower at this time of year were Childes or youths with military exploits, there were very few in the tower to begin with. And, of those that could enter, just how many of them would still need Arts from the first floor?
    Because of this, Leonel was completely alone. In fact, he would probably be completely alone even if he climbed to the fifth floor.
    The floor itself was split into nine regions. A region for Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wood, Light, Auxiliary and Mental Magic Arts.
    Aside from the four main elements, lightning and wood were unique variations that had appeared in Camelot's long history. They were quite rare, even compared to others. Only the Light Element was rarer.
    As for the Mental Magic Arts, they could be used by anyone. There were also some mages who had exceptionally high Spirit Pressure talent, but had no strong affinities. These mages were excellent at these sort of Mental Magics.
    In fact, Leonel had thought that Theybul and Mary were Mental Magic Mages. That would explain why their robes didn't have any embroidery on them.
    The auxiliary section could be learned by anyone. They were the fundamental magic all mages should have under their belts.
    For example, both Elys and Aliard had been able to meet the swords of knights with their wands alone. This wasn't because their wands бк or what the people of Camelot called Spiritual Wood бк were so sturdy or because their strengths were so great, it was because of auxiliary magic like [Repel] or [Strengthen] or [Harden].
    Of course, the auxiliary magic on the first floor was so weak that they couldn't possibly help the current Leonel. But, that didn't mean this would always be true.
    Within the nine regions, there were various podiums. Each podium held a crystal ball. These crystal balls were the mediums that held the Magic Arts. However, reaching them wasn't so simple.
    Just in order to enter a region, one needed a certain level of affinity or else one would only find a barrier that was impossible to cross.
    Of courseбн Leonel had nothing to worry about on the first floor.
    He directly walked into the Light Region, feeling very curious. Even though the first floor should have the most Arts of any floor due to their low difficulty, the Light Region still had the smallest number of podiums at around 40 or so.
    Leonel picked up the closest one. There was no pressure on him at all, so he felt he could take his time.
    His Spirit Pressure easily shattered the barrier around the podium. Soon, his Internal Sight had entered the world of the crystal and a Magic Art was reflected in his mind.
    '[Shine]бн'
    Leonel almost couldn't help but chuckle. This Magic Art was exactly what it sounded like. It was used for nothing else than lighting a path. Who would have thought that the mighty Light Element would have such a day too.
    'Dream Sculptбн'
    Leonel's aura surged, his spirit draining as he etched the Magic Art into his mind.
    '47 secondsбн'
    Leonel nodded. It took him less than a minute to perfectly etch a Magic Art into his Dreamscape.
    His mind left the crystal ball. With a thought, his Spirit Pressure surged once more, congealing onto the palm of his hand.
    In the blink of an eye, a surge of wind swirled. After it settled down, a radiant halo formed on Leonel's palm, causing him to smile.
    If another person had been here, they would have been shocked to the point of fitting a baseball into their mouths. In total, it took Leonel not much longer than a minute to learn and conjure his first Magic Art. Such speed was obscene to the point of being beyond monstrous.
    One had to know that a mage would usually meditate on a single Magic Art for days before attempting to conjure it. And, even then, they would need Spiritual Wood to concentrate their Spirit Pressure. As if all of this wasn't bad enough, it would take several seconds to complete on the first try. Only after continuous practice would it slowly take less and less time, but even then, it most definitely shouldn't have been as fast as Leonel.
    Howeverбн Leonel's ability was just too perfect for the world of mages.
    With his Dream Sculpt ability, he could memorize a Magic Art in minutes. And, since it was a perfect, immutable memory in his mind, he would never make a mistake in conjuring it. As a result, he didn't need Spiritual Wood to keep his Spirit Pressure focused. If he had a wand of his own, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.
    But, Leonel had no intention of wielding a wand. He wanted the ability to cast while he used his spear, he didn't have hands to spare for a wand.
    This advantage of Leonel's would only grow. For higher grade Magic Arts, it would sometimes take mages years, even decades of meditation to perfectly master them. For Leonelбн It just might be a matter of a few days.
    'These One Star Apprentice Arts won't be very useful to me. They're too weak. Maybe only high level Official Arts can start boosting my combat prowess. But, it's best I Dream Sculpt all of these into my Dreamscape, maybe I'll be able to draw some useful conclusions if I doбн'
    Leonel picked up another crystal ball and bitterly smiled.
    '[Multi-Shine]бн'
    Leonel was speechless. It can't be that all these Magic Arts wanted to turn him into a glorified light bulb, right?

 Chapter 233: Simplicity

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    A swirl of wind surged toward Leonel once again. This time, his body was surrounded by several halos of light. Instead of appearing in a concentrated form, they flew around his body like fireflies.
    Leonel shook his head. He chose to reserve his judgment for now. After all, he didn't have an accurate gauge of what One Star Apprentice Arts were meant to be capable of. Assuming the worst of the Light Element just for two spells was a bit silly.
    Plus, these Arts weren't exactly useless. Had he had them in the Mayan Tomb, some things might have been easier. Since he had already learned that his Internal Sight wasn't perfect, he knew that there would always be some things he could only rely on his eyes for.
    After Leonel was finished, he moved toward the third crystal ball, shattering its protective barrier with just as much ease.
    "бн"
    Leonel looked at the Magic Art in his hand for a good long while before sighing once again.
    [Shining Eyes] бн It was a Magic Art capable of attracting the Light Element to one's eyes, thus granting them night vision.
    At this point, Leonel really didn't know what to say. It couldn't be that all the Light Element Magic Arts were related to seeing through darknessбн right?
    Leonel Dream Sculpted the Dream Art and moved on to a fourth, and fifth and sixthбн Eventually, he had gone through over 30.
    At this point, he felt the situation was too ridiculous. If he saw one more Magic Art with 'Shine' in its title, he just might go insane.
    No matter what Light Magic Art he looked at, they were all related to shining. Creating halos of light, giving himself night vision, adding luminescence to objects for extended periods of time, there was even a spell for attaching two objects with 'shine'. When these two objects were close, they wouldn't shine, but, if they grew too far apart, they would begin to glow, allowing you to find the other.
    Leonel put the crystal ball down, a helpless expression on his face.
    'This is basically a spell to find lost keysбн unbelievableбн'
    Leonel walked toward the last four Magic Arts while he readjusted his mind state. This was just the first level. He didn't believe that the Light Element would be so worshipped in Camelot if this was all there was to it.
    Plus, there was something curious about these Magic Arts. Though they all had similar functions, they all accomplished it in novel ways. There was definitely a lesson to be learned here, it made Leonel more eager to see what the others had to offer.
    'Oh?'
    Leonel's brows arched in pleasant surprise.
    Now that he thought about it, the pressure on his Spirit increased the further he walked into this region. And, though the change was small, the protective coverings were also growing in strength.
    Logically, that meant that what remained of this region were the most powerful Light Magic Arts of this first floor. And, they didn't disappoint.
    '[Flash]бн'
    Once again, this was a shine type Light Magic Art, however, it was different in comparison to the others. If it was applied in battle, it could actually work.
    'So that's how it isбн If an Apprentice works and eventually makes their way here after going through all the others, it lays a perfect foundation for thisбн'
    [Flash] concentrated the Light Element into a small flash, temporarily blinding an opponent. Even at his current strength, Leonel wouldn't mind using this in battle.
    Leonel moved to the next.
    '[Light Screen]бн'
    Leonel smiled. Now he felt a bit bad thinking that all of these Arts would be useless. In order to get into this Zone, he had to fight his way through that little girl's ability. But, back then, he wasted a lot of Force just emitting as much Light Elemental Force as he could.
    However, if he had had [Light Screen] back then, the consumption on his Force would have been near negligible.
    The last two Magic Arts were [Flash Bang] and [Flash Arrow]. The former could concentrate light and explode it on a timer. It used concepts from the lost key detector Art Leonel was just making fun of. As for the latter, [Flash Arrow], it was the first real offensive Art Leonel had found.
    [Flash Arrow]'s offensive output was near negligible. It quite literally had the strength of a mosquito bite. But, according to the description, if aimed into an enemy's eyes, the blinding effect could last for several minutes depending on the situation.
    Unsurprisingly, its effects pulled on concepts from [Shining Eyes].
    Leonel stood for a long time within the Light Region, his state of mind going into a sort of enlightenment.
    Arcs of lightning surged across his Dreamscape as a light smile crossed his face.
    'Even if this magic system is only useful to me within the Third Dimension, it's really taught me something valuableбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath and calmed his beating heart.
    Everything complex was built upon the simple. Even the most intricate of Magic Arts would pull on concepts from these seemingly pitiful One Star Apprentice Arts. This was a concept that stretched past just Magic Arts, couldn't anything be described in this way?
    Leonel's current Earth could be considered to have reached the pinnacle technology the Third Dimension could, but it was all built on the back of heroes of the past. Some of the things he was learning as a high school student were concepts some of the most intelligent men and women of the past spent their lives to grasp.
    To him, those concepts seemed pitifully weak and simple, just like these 'shine' Magic Arts. However, to them, it represented a life of trials and tribulations, just to make it easier for kids like him to take for granted.
    Leonel opened his eyes once again, a hint of understanding and wisdom lighting them.
    'I hear you loud and clear.'
    Leonel began to rearrange his Dreamscape. Like a pyramid, he arranged things of least complexity at the bottom, building a solid foundation. Then, he placed things with increasing complexity on top.
    After his was finished, he felt that his Dreamscape flowed more smoothly, even the random synapses occured more frequently and even the average number of branches formed increased along with it.
    Leonel's eyes shone with anticipation. There was no limit to the floors he could climb in this tower like there was for knowledge in the libraries. This was likely because of the Spirit Pressure he needed to resist. But, how could this pressure stop Leonel?
    He would climb to the top of this tower. And, even if it took several weeks, he would save all the Magic Arts it had into his Dreamscape.

 Chapter 234: Deconstruct

    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Leonel's enigmatic steps sent him fluttering across the training room. Three puppets wearing wooden armor pressed him from all sides, conjuring spells of all kinds to bombard him.
    Leonel's eyes remained closed, his Internal Sight remaining concentrated on this small region.
    Thoughts of how Lamorak had toyed with him played in his head again and again. The memories were so vivid that he could almost feel the same pain coursing through his body once more.
    Leonel was suddenly cornered by all three puppets. It seemed for a moment that he would be pincered from all sides.
    An arrow of earth, fire and water assaulted him from different directions, aiming to take his life.
    The puppets of this room were all entirely made of Spiritual Wood. As a result, their ability to cast spells was even beyond that of their human counterparts. This made up for their stiff actions with overwhelming power.
    That said, to humans, more Spiritual Wood wasn't necessarily better. After all, if one's wand was too large, it would be like trying to use a sledgehammer to staple two sheets of paper together. And even that wasn't necessarily a good analogy considering in this case, the mages might not even have enough strength to 'lift' the sledgehammer.
    However, these puppets were different. Their Spiritual Pressure was provided by crystals. In that case, they were much less limited in this regard.
    Just when it seemed Leonel would be struck, he arched his head forward, narrowly dodging the arrow of earth. His hips twisted, ducking past the arrow of fire.
    The two arrows swept by his body, crashing into the opposing puppets and sending them flying.
    The final arrow of water took advantage of the situation, zipping through the air and appearing between Leonel's brows in a flash.
    Leonel's eyes suddenly snapped open, an overwhelming Spirit Pressure sweeping forth that seemed to freeze the arrow in air for a split moment.
    '[Deconstruct].'
    A sweep of wind swirled around Leonel. In that moment, a Magic Art appeared before him in the path of the arrow.
    The water arrow regained its momentum, crashing into the Art before it without pause.
    However, the collision one would have expected never occurred. The water arrow seemed to pass through without issue. But it was at that moment that something astonishing happened.
    The arrow began to lose its structure. Starting at the tip бк the first point to enter Leonel's Art бк it collapsed, becoming no different from normal droplets of water. In fact, Leonel felt a refreshing spray shower his face at that moment, causing him to smile.
    Leonel crossed the remaining distance between him and the water mage puppet, sending a punch out to its chest.
    PENG!
    The form of Leonel's boxing had still been steadily increasing. All his power shot up from his pivot foot, through his hips, and into his fists, crumpling the wooden armor of the puppet.
    The lights of the room dimmed, signaling that all the puppets had been taken down.
    'Still not enoughбн' Leonel muttered.
    He had been able to force two of the puppets into a corner without lifting a finger, but still failed to do so with a third.
    'I might need to go to the Knight Academy and read the books within their library to understand what this General Star really is. Walking around blindly on my own will take too long. I have a feeling that even the primitive woman I learned this ability from only faintly touched on the topic.'
    Leonel felt that it was about time he chose a new spear. He knew he had completely mastered the technique of the primitive woman. He had just been a bit distracted by Magic Arts in recent weeks.
    For example, [Deconstruct]. It was an auxiliary type spell of the Three Star Official Art level. But, Leonel felt that this rating was inaccurate, because it could technically work on any Magic Art.
    Of course, others knew this as well. The trouble was that this Art had many moving parts and changing forms. It was necessary to analyze the spell coming toward you and make the appropriate changes to its form. So, for most mages, it was only useful against mages of lesser skill than themselves, making it only about as good as a typical parlor trick.
    'It's too bad this arena doesn't have Magus level puppets. I wonder if [Deconstruct] would work on higher level spellsбн'
    As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, he walked out from the training room, his body dripping in sweat.
    "Leonel!"
    Leonel looked up in surprise, pleasantly surprised to find Lionus waiting for him. He smiled in greeting.
    "Lionus."
    "I hear you already became a One Star Official Mage? Don't you think this speed is a bit too fast?"
    Leonel laughed. In truth, he probably reached the standard of Three Star Magus already, at least in terms of the Magic Arts he knew and his ability to cast them. As for the Crystallization of his Spirit Pressure, he was lagging behind in his aspect, making his Arts less potent than they should be.
    However, progressing beyond the One Star Official Mage rank required more than just knowledge and ability, it was also necessary to gain certain merits. In addition, even if he could rush up to the Three Star Magus rank immediately, Leonel felt it was inappropriate to do so.
    For one, his standing as a traitor might still be being looked into by others. Though his status as a Holy Son was enough to blind the common people and maybe some of the more religious upper echelon, there were of course those who wouldn't take this too seriously.
    Of course, Leonel still wanted to reach the Three Star Official Mage standard. This was the only way for him to finish reading all the information in the library.
    Though he found it a bit odd he could look through all their techniques, but not read all their knowledge, Leonel felt it made sense in the end. Often times, it was impossible to learn Magic Arts without the proper knowledge foundation. And, even if you had the knowledge, breaking through the barrier protecting them was another matter entirely.
    Leonel was probably the only freak in their history that could completely ignore these barriers with impunity.
    Leonel and Lionus chatted for a while about miscellaneous things before Leonel finally asked the question.
    "Did you come here to ask something of me?" He inquired.
    "Ah, yes. I completely forgot. The Church has been asking about your status for a while. Before those old fogies go too crazy, it's best you go take a look. I'll take you."
    "Oh?" Leonel's brows arched up. "Is there anything I need to do?"
    Lionus came to a realization. It was true that Leonel might not be aware of these things.
    "The four major powers of our Kingdom center around the Royal family, the two Academies, and The Church. Holy Sons have a special status within the Church as their protectors. The Church has warriors they call Paladins, but the truth is that the only true Paladin of this Kingdom is my father."
    A hint of unrestrained pride glowed in Lionus' eyes. Leonel could tell that Lionus wasn't a haughty individual. The fact he had shown this kind of face just showed how much he loved and admired his dad.
    Leonel smiled lightly. His old man would probably kill to see him have such an expression, then he would laugh him to oblivion.
    'Tch, in your dreams, old man.'
    Lionus shook his head, realizing that his actions had been a bit inappropriate. But, Leonel didn't seem to mind so he continued with a smile.
    "This is good timing, honestly." Lionus finally said after a moment. "You need to gain some merits whether it's for The Church or for your next Ascension and I have a mission I happen to be looking for help with. Are you interested?"
    Leonel's eyes shone. "Sure."
    With that, Lionus led Leonel toward The Church.

 Chapter 235: Who

    The Church was located within the core of Camelot, some distance away from the Castle. They stood on two opposing sides of the city like two pillars holding up the world. Regardless of which it was, Leonel could feel an oppressive aura weighing down on him as though neither would be satisfied unless he bowed his head.
    It was true that Leonel didn't grow up in a world that emphasized the importance of bowing, but what he didn't like was being forced to do anything. He subconsciously straightened his back beneath this pressure, his shoulders standing broad and wide.
    Lionus blinked slightly when he saw Leonel's reactions. But, aside from a small smile, he didn't say anything else.
    Due to the oppression he felt at the gates, Leonel had subconsciously expected to walk into a warzone of sorts, but what he had never expected was that even after an hour, no one had come to receive him and Lionus.
    Leonel wasn't sure how to react to such a thing. Wasn't he a Holy Son? Wasn't he one of the only four in this Kingdom with this title? Why was it that he was suddenly being treated like this?
    Leonel sent a gaze toward Lionus who sat to his side, but the latter only had his eyes slightly closed and didn't seem to have much of a reaction. This left Leonel stunned. He didn't feel uncomfortable about this even as the Crown Prince?
    The waiting room the two Holy Sons sat in could hardly be called as such. The walls were decorated with polished stone in neat arrangements, the wooden furniture radiated a pleasant fragrance that carried hints of nature, and the tea placed before them бк although cold by now бк was quite good.
    Of course, these were just Leonel's speculations. He knew nothing about tea at all. He could probably count the number of times he had drunk tea on his two hands without much issue. He only knew that it felt quite smooth running down his throat and had a faint sweetness to it even though he hadn't used sugar.
    In the end, since Lionus didn't say anything, Leonel didn't say anything either. But within his heart, he already felt discontent.
    For him, it wasn't about whether he was a Holy Son or not. He just felt that this was a lack of respect.
    Since his youth, his father had ingrained those two concepts бк Respect and Persistence бк into his very soul. He always had a particularly bad reaction when someone was lacking in them. Though is was a bit difficult to call out someone who lacked in persistence, someone lacking in the former was too easy to identify.
    Wasting a person's time was probably one of the most blatant shows of disrespect there could be. It was one thing if there were sudden matters to attend to or if their visit was sudden. However, not only had they not sent anyone to inform them of any sudden changes, but they were also the ones who had called Leonel here to visit in the first place.
    Leonel took a deep breath and sunk into his Dream World. If it wasn't for the fact Lionus was here waiting with him and that he couldn't afford to make enemies of The Church within this Zone, he would have already left after the first 20 minutes. Since there was nothing to do, he might as well continue practicing.
    The second hour came and went. Then the third. It wasn't until a few minutes into the fourth that there was finally movement at the doors they entered to come to this waiting room.
    A knight wearing silver armor with gold engravings pushed the door open. A large shield in the shape of a triangle with curved edges was attached to his back and a proud halo hung about his forehead. He was one of the special knights The Church gave the title of paladin to.
    The necklace-like halo that hung from the paladin's forehead reminded Leonel of the mental type treasure Aina used during their escape from the Fort. It radiated a strong Light Elemental Force that was likely the source of much of their strength.
    'Where did they get something like thatбн?' Leonel wondered.
    With his improved knowledge base, Leonel understood many things now his Soul Force couldn't grasp in the past.
    For one, he could tell that this knight had a special affinity. Or rather, lack thereof. Meaning, if he was a mage, his robes would be without embroidery.
    Secondly, it was because he was without an affinity and had decent Spirit Pressure that he could make use of that Light Elemental treasure.
    Leonel guessed that most paladins probably had no affinities so they could continue using this child of the light facade.
    "Pope Margrave will see you now."
    The haughty air of the paladin was practically palpable. Leonel kept his eyes closed for a moment as he was close to grasping something. It wasn't until a few seconds later he registered the words of the paladin and opened his eyes.
    Yet, it seemed those few seconds were already enough for this paladin to be close to blowing his top.
    Leonel frowned lightly seeing the paladin's reaction. They had been forced to wait over three hours, yet a few seconds was enough to get this paladin up in arms?
    In the end, Leonel pretended not to notice the dissatisfaction.
    Lionus smiled. "Please lead the way, Sir paladin."
    Lionus' words seemed to ease the tension. No matter how haughty these paladins were, they did still feel a hint of something when a mighty Crown Prince was so respectful to them.
    "Hmph."
    The paladin harrumphed once and turned down the hallway, leading the two young men up a winding set of stone stairs.
    From beginning to end, Lionus didn't say anything to Leonel. It was as though he wanted Leonel to experience all of this on his own first. Or, maybe he was just curious about Leonel's reactions without guidance.
    'It seems it becomes more difficult for him to hide that ingrained haughtiness when he feels a lack of respect.' Lionus smiled to himself. 'It's truly odd. If he really was an orphan, he should have seen the cruelty of the world long ago. Had he, his true disposition would have shone through already.
    'But, the way he acts it's as if he's lived in a cocoon his whole life, like he's never had to fight for anythingбн Such a disposition makes it much more likely that his identity isn't what he says it is, but it's equally unlikely that he was sent by Modred. There's no way he would be so sheltered in a place like the Demon Armyбн
    'Just who is this Leonel reallyбн?'

 Chapter 236: Clergyman

    The paladin took a final step forward, pressing his hands against two large wooden doors and pushing.
    A flood of light assaulted Leonel's vision, forcing him to squint. By the time his vision cleared, he could only shake his head.
    The room was far too bright. Unlike the room he had woken up in after his battle with Lamorak, he found it difficult even open his eyes without a stinging pain assaulting them.
    Embroidery of gold and silver raced across the room, forming up into a wide set of stairs that ended in a tall throne with a backrest that reached up to the ceiling.
    On the throne, there sat a handsome middle aged man. In fact, Leonel found that just handsome didn't do him much justice. Even the movie stars of Earth women swooned over would look like piles of cowdung before this man. If Leonel placed great emphasis on his own looks, it was likely that even he would start to feel a bit inferior.
    The man had a head of bright white hair. And, though his eyes were partially closed, Leonel could see that his irises held a deep silver color to them. The only thing that impeded his handsome disposition somewhat was the large headdress on his head.
    Seeing this man, Leonel understood a bit of why The Church didn't take him as a Holy Son very seriously. The Spirit Pressure coming from this man was at the standard of a Three Star Magus.
    Everything made sense now. This man was the fourth Holy Son of Camelot, a Three Star Magus of the Light Element, Pope Margrave.
    However, what happened next truly left Leonel speechless.
    The paladin respectfully crossed the bright room, climbed the first few steps leading to the Pope's throne, then respectfully knelt and kissed his feet. It was only then Leonel realized that the Pope wasn't wearing any footwear to speak of, his feet shone like gems at the base of his throne as though expecting to be worshipped.
    "бн?"
    No matter what era Leonel was born in, something like kissing another's feet crossed his own bottomline.
    The paladin retreated to the side, taking up his post among the guards that lined the walls of the room. He stood at attention and became like a statue in the blink of an eye. It was as though what had just happened had nothing to do with him.
    "Greet His Holiness!"
    The sudden roar shook Leonel out of his shock.
    The paladins that lined the walls spoke as one, their voices rolling like rumbling thunder.
    By now, Leonel had recollected his thoughts. He realized that kissing a pope's feet was actually quite historically accurate. It seemed that even though this was a Mythological Zone, it still touched on things that were rooted in real life.
    However, at the end of the day, Leonel was still a teenage boy. He had already buried his discontent for so long. If he also had to kiss this man's feet, he just might lose his cool entirely.
    Leonel was a person who didn't get angry very easily. Even now, he wasn't necessarily enraged. But, he wasn't a pushover either.
    Lionus curiously observed Leonel for a while, seemingly curious. Seeing the latter step forward, he smiled and followed suit.
    "Greetings."
    Leonel gave the most medieval salute he could think of, greeting the Pope. But, he didn't climb the stairs, nor did he kneel. In his mind, setting down his pride to greet this Pope first was already asking enough of him.
    "This Prince greets His Holiness." Lionus' smile widened, his actions mirroring Leonel's.
    As the Crown Prince, he of course had no need to kneel or kiss feet. However, he still had to show this Pope due respect, whether it be as a magus or the leader of The Church.
    At that moment, a surge of killing intent swirled around the room. It seemed to want to completely crush Leonel where he stood.
    Leonel raised his head, but he noticed that the Pope's eyes were still half closed. The killing intent wasn't coming from him. Rather, it was coming from the paladins who stood against the walls of the room. It seemed they were completely infuriated by Leonel's actions.
    'Hm?'
    Leonel didn't show much of a reaction to the killing intent. His eyes weren't on the Pope anymore, either.
    Leonel hadn't noticed it before because the room and Pope Margrave was too bright, but behind the throne, there were two young girls standing completely still. Their little feet stood on the cold marbled floors, their bodies adorned with a white gown. Each of them held a flower basket in their hands that held white petals.
    Even from here, Leonel could smell the fragrance coming from the two baskets. It seemed that they were the reason this room seemed to have such an air to it.
    However, this wasn't the reason Leonel was caught off guard like this. The main reason was because he recognized one of the girls. In fact, the little girl was also looking toward Leonel with a hint of shock within her large watery eyes.
    This little girl was the very same little girl who almost caused Leonel to miss out on the Zone entirely. Seeing her familiar blue hair and large blue eyes, Leonel couldn't help but smile. This adorable little girl always seemed to be able to make him smile. Even though she had played the role of obstacle to him, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at such a cute little girl. Maybe this was the advantage of woman.
    The little girl of the Adurna family blushed seeing Leonel's gaze and her eyes darted around as though looking for somewhere to hide.
    Leonel couldn't help but chuckle, causing the paladins around the room to be shocked. Laughing in such a situation? Did he not want his life anymore? Even the Pope couldn't help but open his eyes just that slight bit more.
    After his initial reaction, Leonel realized that this situation might not be too good. If this little girl exposed him, it could be troublesome. Although she couldn't do so directly without exposing herself, there were other ways for her to make insinuations.
    He wasn't that naive. Though he had taken a liking to this little girl due to her innocence, it wasn't like he didn't realize the danger she posed.
    In the end, Leonel chose not to worry about it. It was already too late to do much. He could only stay on his guard.
    "Leonel, correct? Do you know the duties of a Holy Son?"
    The Pope finally spoke. To now, the paladins hadn't said a single word out of turn. It was as though they knew their place and would never take a single step out of it.
    "I do not, Your Holiness. Please advise."
    Leonel refocused on the situation at hand.
    "As the only Holy Son remaining not of the Royal Family, you have a duty to The Church. However, as a commoner, you haven't been taught the schools of religion or of thought. You will enter the Convent as a Canon of The Church.
    "After serving for 12 years, you will be allowed to earn your way through the rankings of clergymen. Should your performance meet a certain standard, the role of Pope can be handed to you in the future."
    Leonel's lip twitched.
    Canon? The Convent? Wasn't this Pope asking him to become a nun?
    And serve 12 years? That meant 12 years of fasting and observing religious rituals. And, even after all of that, he would still need to keep his chastity and observe strict rules.
    If it was just a role he would take in the Zone, it would be fine. After all, Leonel didn't mind acting for a period of time. This Zone was just a fleeting existence, it's not like he would have to remain a virgin for life.
    However, it was clear this Pope wanted to lock him away for 12 years. How could Leonel waste so much time? He was already on a time crunch to begin with. If he was locked away like this, he wouldn't be able to accomplish much of anything.
    So, without hesitation, Leonel shook his head.
    "I'm sorry, Your Holiness. I have no ambition to become a clergymen."
    The atmosphere went cold once more.

 Chapter 237: Earth Elemental Childe

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Pope Margrave opened his eyes fully, peering down toward Leonel from on high.
    The killing intent locked on Leonel seemed to grow with each passing second of silence. However, once again, it didn't come from the Pope himself, but rather his paladins. Leonel could tell that if it wasn't for their rules of decorum, they would have definitely stepped forward with weapons drawn.
    Leonel's mind spun with several thoughts. It was impossible for him to accept Margrave's request of him. But, at the same time, he couldn't afford to be at odds with The Church either.
    'Lionus described Camelot as having four pillars of power, but I somehow feel that things aren't so simple. It's more likely that there are four powers on the surface, but the knight and mage academy are probably just pawns of the Royal Family and The Churchбн It might even be possible that both are pawns of the Royal Family to resist The Churchбн'
    Leonel's eyes narrowed when he had this thought. This was because this wasn't a thought he would originally have. It was the result of a synapse in his Dreamscape.
    After a while, Leonel understood why he had come to this conclusion.
    First there was Lionus' reaction when he mentioned paladins. It wasn't just his pride in his father Leonel sensed back then. That pride masked a disdain he felt for other paladins.
    Secondly, the Pope's words seemed to imply that Leonel's current circumstances were unacceptable. Though he didn't directly say Leonel had to leave the Mage Academy, Leonel had a faint inkling that it was meant to be tacitly understood.
    Thirdly, despite the fact the Pope was a Three Star Magus, even after so many weeks within the Mage Academy, Leonel couldn't sense even the slightest influence of The Church. He had lost count of the number of books he had read in the library to now, yet not a single one even alluded to religion, the Pope, or The Church.
    'I seeбн'
    Leonel smiled bitterly. It seemed that Lionus had dragged Leonel right into the middle of a power struggle.
    As things stood now, there was still a bit of balance. Though two of Camelot's three Holy Sons sided with the Royal Family, it was still acceptable. After all, Lionus was King Arthur's son. It was only right that a son would follow after his father's footsteps.
    But, what about Leonel? What would happen if a fourth Holy Son appeared and still chose not to join the side of The Church?
    This would put The Church in a weird position. The capital would have four Holy Sons, yet three of them would have nothing to do with them. After so much indoctrination about the importance and superiority of Holy Sonsбн wouldn't The Church lose much of its influence with the people if so many Holy Sons chose against joining them?
    Leonel suddenly realized that maybe the reason Lamorak had no choice but to let him live wasn't just because he was a Holy Son, but because of the political importance he represented.
    Though it seemed to take Leonel a long time to reach this conclusion, with his Dreamscape and ability, it really took him no more than a split second to grasp everything.
    'In that caseбн'
    "Your Holiness, the situation might not be as you expect." Leonel spoke slowly.
    Toward such words, Pope Margrave finally had the first change in his expression. In fact, even Lionus rose an eyebrow, clearly intrigued.
    "The truth is that I'm not a Holy Son."
    Pope Margrave's eyebrow rose. In fact, a hint of a smile played his lips. If Leonel was a woman or liked men, it was definitely the kind of smile that would make his heart skip a bit no matter how slight of a smile it was.
    "I'm not sure what happened, but Magus Aliard might have made a mistake. I had my affinity tested recently and the result was that I'm an Earth Elemental Childe."
    Margrave's expression changed once again.
    "Oh?" He said softly.
    Leonel understood then that the information hadn't spread just yet. But, this made sense. Anyone who could have been in the Magic Art Tower at the time Leonel entered was definitely of exceptionally high standing. Not only would they understand the importance of Leonel's position, they were also less likely to gossip to begin with. It made sense that they would choose to remain silent until things settled down.
    Leonel smiled lightly and released his Spirit Pressure.
    A rushing wind swept through the throne room. For a moment, it felt as though Leonel was the center of the world, standing in the eye of a raging storm.
    At this point, both Lionus and the Pope, and even the paladins to the side, had a change in expression. How was Leonel's Spirit Pressure so powerful?
    Toward this, Leonel couldn't do much. He was already holding back. He had already been diligently Crystallizing his Spirit Pressure for a couple weeks already. This was already the result of him holding back. His Spirit Pressure was simply far more than those of this world to begin with. The only thing holding him back was his low grade Force.
    In the blink of an eye, a simple earthen arrow formed before Leonel. It was just a Two Star Apprentice Art. Leonel could form several dozen of these in an instant if he wanted to. However, the two magi in the room were still shocked by the speed.
    A step further, the speed mgiht have still been acceptable. But, what they found difficult to accept was the metallic sheen on Leonel's [Earthen Arrow]. It was very clear that not only was he an Earth Childeбн he was a variant! And a very powerful variant at that!
    However, Leonel hadn't done this just to show off. He had a very clear purpose.
    "As you can see, Your Holiness, I believe there was some kind of mistake. I tried learning Light Elemental Arts, but I wasn't very good at it. In fact, it takes me several minutes to form a One Star Apprentice Light Art. It would be impossible for me to use in battle."
    The Pope's eyes narrowed and the room turned still once more.

 Chapter 238: Demon Mission Ring

    The silence was suffocating. Even the paladins no longer had the presence of mind to continue pressing Leonel. They could all only wait for Pope Margrave's response.
    "бн You're a very intelligent boy." Pope Margrave finally said.
    Margrave's face practically read like 'I know you're spewing bullshit, but I like it'.
    When Spirit Pressure reaches a certain level, it becomes capable of forming many elements. Of course, the efficiency to which it's done is far less than one's main element, but this is true nonetheless.
    How could Margrave believe that Leonel took a minute to form a mere One Star Apprentice Art? That was nothing but bullshit.
    But, despite the fact it was bullshit, it was bullshit the Pope happened to like. As long as Leonel continued to be this 'intelligent', there wouldn't have to be any problems between them.
    "Camelot is truly blessed to have another Childe, and such a powerful one at that. This Seat just wanted to see the future generation today.? Now that I've seen, it's truly as the old say. The young will eventually surpass us all."
    Pope Margrave gave Leonel a deep look. Then, he waved a hand, his eyes returning to their half closed position.
    A familiar paladin separated from his position against the wall, leading Leonel and Lionus out.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed when the large double doors closed behind, blocking out those blinding lights.
    'What a cunning manбн'
    Let alone sighing a breath of relief, Leonel was several levels more cautious.
    Though he had held back, he hadn't exposed his Spirit Pressure without cause. In this world, Leonel had learned that sometimes logic wasn't more important than one's strength. It wasn't until Leonel exposed his power that Margrave's treatment of him truly changed. If he wasn't as strong as he was now, there was no telling whether Pope Margrave would have accepted his reasonings.
    Leonel made a note in his heart. Mordred might not be his only enemy in this place.
    бн
    "You know him?"
    Not long after Leonel left, Margrave suddenly spoke to seemingly empty air. The paladins didn't react at all, but Little Nana felt somewhat flustered by this line of questioning.
    "No, no!" Nana quickly answered.
    She wasn't worried her flustered appearance would give away anything. After all, this was her normal state. Plus, Leonel looked toward her first before she reacted, so it could be said that she was just shocked by the sudden attention Leonel gave her.
    "Hm, is that soбн?"
    Margrave didn't say anything for a long while before he continued to speak.
    "It seems that this boy is quite lustful. This could be usedбн"
    Nana flushed red with embarrassment.
    Margrave chuckled. "Don't worry, you are among my precious Holy Daughters and God has bestowed upon you a heaven sent ability. How could I pass down such a debasing job to you? You must remain pure beneath the scrutiny of God. There will of course be others to take on this taskбн"
    After he finished saying this, Margrave didn't speak again.
    If Leonel was here, maybe he wouldn't be able to hold back his rage any longer.
    It might be normal for a young girl like Nana to marry and even birth children in this world, but Leonel had no such thoughts about the little girl.
    **
    "So the mission sets off in at dusk, will you be ready?"
    After leaving The Church, Lionus pretended as though nothing had happened and began to speak with Leonel about the mission once again.
    Leonel gave him a sidelong look.
    This prince had brought up this trip to The Church as though it was any other day. In fact, they way he spoke about it initially, he made it sound like this had something to do with the mission he had taken up. Not only that, but he had even made it seem like he had some involvement with The Church.
    If Leonel remembered correctly, Lionus spoke about this visit as though it was something every Holy Son did, when this very clearly wasn't the case.
    Lionus smiled shamelessly beneath Leonel's gaze. He was clearly saying that he took no responsibility for his previous actions.
    "You're pretty good, Your Highness." Leonel said with a tinge of sarcasm.
    Lionus chuckled. "I'm not sure what you mean, Leonel."
    "Mm." Leonel mumbled but didn't say much else.
    It was true that it wouldn't have helped even if the prince had said something. Though it would have been nice to know, it would have also been akin to the prince making a decision for Leonel.
    By keeping his hands off the sequence entirely, not only was Lionus able to gain an understanding of where Leonel's loyalties lied, he was also able to test Leonel.
    However, never had he expected Leonel to be so capable. Even he couldn't have thought of a better solution to the situation.
    Leonel shoook his head and decided to forget it.
    "What is this mission about?"
    Hearing this question, Lionus finally grew serious.
    "It's a border mission."
    Seeing that Leonel didn't have a particular reaction, Lionus almost smacked his own forehead. He had forgotten that Leonel had never been on a mission before, so how could he know just how damning the two words 'border mission' were?
    Lionus sighed and began to explain.
    "Camelot has a 'Ring of Safety' system. The safest place is the core of the Kingdom. This encompasses Camelot and the surround hundred or so mile radius. Beyond that is the Yellow Mission Ring. This encompasses between a hundred to five hundred miles.
    "Normally, those missions are taken up be Apprentice Mages. They deal with small beast hordes, bandits, small rebellions and the like.
    "Beyond the Yellow Mission Ring is the Red Mission Ring. This is between 500 miles and 600 miles away from the core of the Kingdom. These missions can only be touched by Official Mages. The rebellions that happen here are much fiercer and the bandits form Clans and small fiefs of their own, making them much more dangerous.
    "Beyond the Red Mission Ring is the Black Mission Ring. This is between 600 and 800 miles away from the core of the Kingdom. Only elite Official Mages and weaker Magi can take missions in this region.
    "The Black Mission Ring are where the first instances of Demons and black magic can be found. Some of the worst criminals of Camelot are hiding away in this region. The death toll is high enough to surpass 20%."
    Leonel frowned. It was this serious?
    "Beyond the Black Mission Ringбн is the Border Mission Ring. It goes by another nameбн The Demon Mission Ring. It's between 800 to 1000 miles from the core of the Kingdom. This region is the no man's land between Camelot and the Demon Kingdom. There are constant clashes between us and Mordred's Demon Army there.
    "That is where our mission lies."
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. But, he knew he had to go.
    He knew that the side missions weren't meaningless. This was a Zone, not? a video game. Since side missions existed, they served a purpose. They acted like a guiding light to how to complete the main mission.
    Since he was going to the Demon Mission Ring, it was a good chance to see whether or not he could kill Mordred in one sweep.

 Chapter 239: No Mans Land

    Leonel touched his sore bottom again. He had already lost count of the number of times he had done so, but the discomfort hadn't disappeared.
    Seeing Leonel do this again, Lionus couldn't help but snicker. Though he quickly tried to hide it, Leonel wouldn't miss such a thing with how sharp his senses were. He could only send a glare toward the Crown Prince.
    Unfortunately, this glare only made Lionus' withheld laughter burst forth like a torrential tide.
    "If others knew the great Earthen Childe Leonel couldn't handle riding a horse for a few hours, just how would they react?"
    Lionus' laughter continued as though he couldn't sense Leonel's piercing glare.
    It had already been a few days since Leonel, Lionus and the rest of the expedition squad had set out to the Border Region.
    Leonel still remembered his shock when he saw the teleportation arrays Camelot had built. But, after a moment, it was relatively easy to accept. After all, if a Tier 9 Black treasure could provide a talisman capable of taking Aina to a new world, it wasn't too shocking that a world with several Magi could find methods to teleport within a world.
    After his initial shock settled down, Leonel laughed at himself. He had seen all of the Mage Arts within the Magic Art Tower. Some of them had abilities he couldn't have even fathomed back when he was a normal human. Something like teleportation shouldn't have been so surprising.
    Unfortunately, despite the existence of teleportation channels, Leonel had still had to ride a horse in the last few days.
    For safety, the teleportation channels to Camelot and from Camelot stopped appearing frequently after the Red Mission Ring and there were sparingly few within the Black Mission Ring. As for the Border Region, there were none. So, after reaching the last channel, Leonel, Lionus and the rest of the group had to travel by horse.
    Butбн Leonel hadn't even touched a horse in his lifetime before. In fact, he couldn't remember ever being close to one, let alone having to ride it uncomfortably for hours.
    In truth, Leonel could just use a simple healing spell to stop the soreness, but after his conversation with the Pope, he didn't dare to use Light Elemental magic in public anymore. And, it seemed Lionus was too busy laughing at him to help out.
    The rest of the squad seemed to be taking this quite well as well. It was rare to get some laughs during a Border Region Mission, so they felt a bit relaxed after making Leonel the butt of the joke.
    Lionus smiled inwardly. 'What an interesting guyбн I know he's not a person who gets embarrassed so easily. The only explanation is that he's becoming the butt of the joke on purpose to ease the tensionбн'
    Lionus found Leonel to be an interesting character to analyze. Whenever he thought he understood him, things would turn out to be much different from what he had expected. Leonel had layers to him that were exceptionally difficult to peel back.
    The team this time was formed by five members including Lionus and Leonel. Aside from them, there were three Leonel recognized бк Mary, Theybul, and finally, Elys.
    It was only after seeing them all that Leonel understood the true reason behind their robes lacking embroidery. Mages and Magi who frequented battlefields wouldn't give more information about themselves to the enemy than was necessary. In fact, Leonel realized that their robes might not even necessarily reflect their true levels.
    Due to this reason, Leonel also wore plain blue robes without any embroidery and he understood just a bit more about the world he was in.
    Suddenly, the laughing atmosphere grew serious. Lionus, the leader of this squad, didn't need to say anything. They could see by the land that stretched out before them that they were here.
    The line of separation was so stark that it almost seemed surreal. On one side, there were blades of green grass. Though these blades lacked in health and were even browning in several spots, they were ultimately still blades of grass.
    However, on the other side, there was nothing but grey, cracked lands. Every so often, there would be what seemed like patches of vegetation, but they all resembled weeds and were colored such a deep black that it was impossible to call them plants of any sort.
    The world across this clear line was covered by a thin veil of fog. In the distance, sharp mountain ranges towered, piercing through the black clouds above. A light drizzle perpetually fell over the grey lands, yet its soil remained just as dry. In fact, the rain held an odd sent to it that made Leonel's nose twitch.
    'It's acidicбн' Leonel's frown deepened.
    "Leonel, you take the vanguard. Mary, Theybul, protect his sides and flank our formation. Elys, take up the rear."
    Leonel nodded. His arrangement made the most sense.
    Since Leonel was an Earth Mage, it made sense for him to take the vanguard. His defenses and crowd controlling abilities were the highest. In addition, his Spirit Pressure was also the highest, so could scout ahead as well.
    Lionus was their main healer, so he should be protected in the middle.
    Elys was a Mental Mage, so her attack strength was the least. Taking up the rear allowed her to use her sharper senses to ensure they didn't get pincered while also allowing her the time needed to launch her assaults of the mind, just like her mentor Magus Aliard.
    Mary was a Wood Mage while Theybul was a Wind Mage. Though their abilities didn't allow for a special allocation, this was the best place to put them.
    Leonel took a deep breath and entered a focused state. The expressions of his teammates changed sensing the shift in his aura. They felt that it was slightly difficult to breathe, but they also sighed in relief when they realized the aura wasn't pointed toward them.
    Lionus' eyes narrowed slightly, watching Leonel's back.
    'Heбн isn't doing it on purposeбн Just how many secrets do you have?'
    Leonel took a step forward, crossing into the grey lands that bordered the two behemoths of this world.
    An uncomfortable feeling seeped into his body immediately. It was similar to a muscle ache or a minor cold. Though it was nothing too severe, it still made Leonel all the more serious.
    The light drizzle of rain rebounded across his body and robes as though trying to ebb away at his psyche.
    Without a choice, he continued to walk forward.
    What he didn't know was that there was a subtle change to his Segmented Cube.
    All the while, sitting within Leonel's spatial bracelet, it passively absorbed energy. Even after Leonel stepped into this no-man's land, it never stopped. However, this energy was different.
    It carried a tinge of blackness to it, seeping into the Lab Setting, toward the snowglobes, and into the resting place of the little minkбн

 Chapter 240: Black Rhino

    [Black Rhino]
    [Power: 7 Stars (Black)]
    [Strength: 8 Stars (Black); Speed: 5 Stars (Black); Agility: 4 Stars (Black); Coordination: 7 Stars (Black); Stamina: 8 Stars (Black); Reactions: 6 Stars (Black); Defense: Quasi 9 Star (Black); Spirit: 1 Stars (Black); Force: 1 Stars (Black)]
    [Power Scale Accuracy: 97%]
    Leonel's gaze flashed. Even with a beast standing at three meters tall before him, he hardly react.
    "[Mud Pit]."
    Leonel stretched out a hand. The land quaked and shook as the black rhino charged over. In the blink of an eye, it had already entered a 100 meter radius.
    Just when it was about to press its front feet down, it suddenly felt its footing disappear. Instead of hitting solid ground, it sank into a quagmire, causing its body to flip forward.
    "[Harden]."
    Just as the rhino's body was about to flip out of the mud pit entirely, the pit hardened. The sudden change caused the rhino, who was in the process of rolling off, to come to a sudden stop.
    At that moment, the sickening sound of shattering bones rang out, only to be completely overshadowed by the pained roar of the black rhino.
    The black rhino heavily landed on its back, its front legs snapped in two. In fact, a portion of its legs were still stuck in the hardened mud pit.
    However, Leonel hardly reacted, a familiar swirl of wind had already surged around his body once again.
    A strong Earth Element swirled in the air above the rhino, quickly coalescing into a bronze, angled blade that radiated a beautiful light.
    "[Heavy Guillotine]."
    SHUUUU!
    The blade descended into the rhino's open mouth. It was too busy roaring in pain to even sense the danger.
    An instant later, its mouth was pierced through to the back of its skull, leaving it impaled into the ground.
    By this point, Leonel's teammates were looking at his back as though he was some kind of monster. This wasn't the first Demon Leonel had taken down. In fact, it wasn't even the tenth. Yet, every time they saw him do it, they would feel just as shocked as the first time.
    That beast was at least as powerful as a One Star Magus. Wasn't Leonel just an Official Mage? They should have been working together to take it down, so what the hell was happening?
    'Hm, this power scaling system is alright. But, still not perfect. It's too broad nowбн It needs some tweaksбн'
    Leonel calmly analyzed.
    'That battle was at most 72% efficient. It would have been much easier to finish that battle had I taken a different approach.
    'If I had used [Gravity Warp] just after the rhino flipped due to [Mud Pit], I could have used [Earthen Spike] to impale it beneath its own weightбн [Earthen Spike] is only a Two Star Official Art, it would take much less to cast than the One Star Magus Art [Heavy Guillotine], even if I have to take into account the Three Star Official Art [Gravity Warp]бн'
    Leonel wasn't really worried about his stamina usage. Even compared to true Three Star Magi, his stamina was far beyond what they could imagine. After all, he technically had the reserves of a Fifth Dimensional mage. The only shame was that he had to use more of his spirit to form Magic Arts since he hadn't crystallized his Spirit Pressure as thoroughly as the true elites of this world.
    But, even then, his starting point was still so much higher that it hardly mattered.
    Leonel was seriously refining his Dreamscape bit by bit. He wanted to reach a point where he could understand the best way to defeat an enemy the moment he laid eyes on it. Unfortunately, it was clear that he was still very far from this result.
    72% efficiency might sound impressive, but Leonel knew that this was pitifully low. For one, the more efficiency he wanted to eek out, the more difficult it would be. But, this wasn't even the biggest pointбн
    The truth was that the rhino was much weaker than Leonel. Not only was it much weaker, but it was much less intelligent than Leonel. The petty tricks Leonel used might work on it, but on a True Demon or another Magus, it would be nothing more than parlor tricks.
    Leonel believed that had the black rhino been just any other One Star Magus, Leonel would at best be able to wring out a measely 30-40% efficiency, 50% if he was lucky and could counter his enemy's ability. It would be even worse the closer to his strength the enemy was.
    Suddenly thinking of this, another light bulb went off in Leonel's mind as a branching arc of lightning surged through his Dream World.
    'Countersбн It might not be possible to perfectly counter every enemy I come acrossбн An Earth Mage would be the bane of a Wind Mage, but might not necessarily do well against othersбн Hmбн'
    Leonel thought that there was merit to this idea. However, he didn't have a perfect way to act on it currently. Though he could technically cast all Elemental spells thanks to his talent, he knew that this wasn't a viable solution.
    The power system of Camelot would only be useful to him in the Third Dimension. It would lose its use the moment he crossed into the Fourth. So, that solution would only be short lived. He needed to think of something better.
    "Leonel, you're a monster. Do you know that?" Theybul suddenly spoke in a somewhat exasperated tone.
    They all thought after the first beast Leonel took down that he would soon realize he couldn't expend his stamina so wildly. But, the current Leonel looked like he was still on his first battle. It was too ridiculous.
    Originally, they had been accepting of Leonel joining this expedition for two reasons. Firstly, Lionus recommended him. And, secondly, they heard rumors that he had battled a Knight of the Round Table and came out alive.
    In their minds, even if Leonel's magic wasn't up to standard, he could make up for it in other ways. But, they had never expected for him to be such a monster even when only using Magic Arts.
    "Uh бк." Leonel didn't know how to respond to this.
    Lionus and the others chuckled seeing his response. They had expected the atmosphere to become heavy after entering these lands, but Leonel's prowess took a burden off their hearts.
    It wasn't that they couldn't defeat the beasts Leonel could as well. They all knew that these 'Demons' were easy pickings. The True Demons were far more powerful and were humanoids. But, Leonel let them all save up their stamina and remain in peak condition. This was more than they could ever hope for.
    "It seems like we've arrived at our destination."
    Lionus said in a somewhat surprised tone. He had expected it to take about a week, but this was only the third day.
    He sent another deep look toward Leonel's back. He had realized that Leonel sometimes swerved their formation in certain directions, but he didn't think much of it. But, it seemed that Leonel was avoiding danger for them at the same time as taking the vanguard.
    'A monster indeedбн'
    Up ahead, a small, makeshift fort stood. The gates were made of black wood and stood about three meters tall. Peaking over the wooden walls one could see several tall tents from the distance.
    Several patrol units stood between them and the small fort. They had already passed through several lookout checkpoints, so the Commander of this fort should already be prepared for their arrival.
    As expected, before they could even approach, the gates opened and a small troop of knights riding war horses galloped forward.
    Leonel winced. 'Damn horses againбн'
    As Leonel was remembering his past trauma, he didn't notice that Lionus had begun to frown behind him.
    'Something's wrongбн'

 Chapter 241: Demon Lord

    After a moment, Leonel regained his serious expression. Once he did, his senses quickly picked up on a few things.
    First, the small squad of four riding war horses toward them was led by a man with billowing blond hair and blue eyes that held a complex light within them.
    Secondly, according to what he knew about Lionus, it was impossible for him not to take the helm in greeting these knights. This wasn't because the Prince felt the need to take control of everything, but rather because Leonel felt that Lionus was a man who placed emphasis on relationships and respect, not much unlike Leonel himself.
    For a man like Lionus, as the leader of their squad, he would of course observe proper etiquette and greet these knights of Camelot. After all, in the future when he was named King, these men would be the backbone of the Kingdom. And, even now, they were putting their lives on the line, fighting day in and day out In the most dangerous border regions.
    Yet, not only had Lionus not stepped forward, he even seemed reluctant to do so. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of doing so, but that he was reluctant to do so.
    After reaching this conclusion, Leonel observed the man coming toward them once again and immediately noticed something else. This man's strengthбн even faintly surpassed Lamorak's!
    At that moment, noticing his looks, Leonel had a faint inkling of something.
    'Please don't tell me he's Lancelotбн'
    Leonel felt another headache coming on.
    Leonel shook his head. 'Things still shouldn't be so simple. I don't believe that even if things are as I think they are that Lionus would be so unable to hide his emotions. This is even doubly so for a Knight of the Round Table like Lancelot.'
    When Leonel had this thought, he began to calmly observe everything else.
    Two of the knights who followed Lancelot out had deadpan expression, but the third had a gaze that reminded Leonel of a snake. He calmly looked Lionus up and down as though he was measuring up goods in a flea market.
    It was difficult to tell anything else from his gaze, but for some reason, he didn't have eyes for anyone else. Even the two beauties бк Elys and Mary бк had no ability to catch his attention.
    There was something off about his gaze, but Leonel couldn't put his finger on it. Could the oddity be related to this man?
    He had long, black hair that shimmered as though coated in a thin gel. His eyes were the very same deep black, reflecting an indifferent light. To his hips, two swords hung. But, they were obscenely long to the point they almost dragged along the ground even while he road his tall horse.
    The longer Leonel looked at him, but louder his primitive instincts screamed. This manбн
    He was dangerous.
    As though feeling a gaze on him, the young man finally shifted his gaze from Lionus, locking eyes with Leonel. In that moment, Leonel felt as though his body had been dunked into a vat of ice water. His blood vessels involuntarily constricted even as his eyes narrowed.
    Leonel's heartbeat slowed to a crawl. Though their gazes only met for a split second, it felt like an eternity.
    The man seemed surprised that Leonel didn't try his best to look away as soon as possible. It made him give Leonel a once over, trying to see whether there was something special about the young man before him.
    Unfortunately, at that moment, their silent clash had to come to an end.
    "Crown Prince, you've come."
    Lancelot, heading the small squad, took the initiative to hop down from his horse, kneeling down to a single knee in greeting.
    'Maybe I shouldn't keep subconsciously thinking he's Lancelot. Who knows, I might get lucky and dodge this messбн'
    "Please don't do this, Sir Lancelot. I'm not worthy of such respect."
    'Or notбн' Leonel smiled bitterly.
    Lancelot stood with an amiable smile, looking over the rest of the group.
    "Oh, is this Official Mage Leonel? I've heard a lot about you. That old fogie Lamorak suffered at your hands, huh?"
    The man with snake-like eyes narrowed his gaze at these words. It seemed he was only now learning of Leonel's identity.
    Leonel smiled, a bit embarrassed.
    "I guess you could say his mace was a bit dirtied by my blood."
    Lancelot was a bit stunned by Leonel's response for a moment before he erupted into a boisterous laughter.
    It was quite an odd sight to see. Lancelot, with his looks, could play the part of arrogant and pretty playboy perfectly. Yet, he erupted with the same laughter one would expect from a man with wild facial hair and a massive gut.
    'Damn, his charisma is affecting even me. No wonder Queen Guinevere fell for himбн'
    If others knew what Leonel was thinking, he'd probably get sentenced to death where he stood.
    Lancelot heavily patted Leonel's shoulder. "I like you, kid."
    Clearly, he wasn't as reserved toward Leonel as he was toward Lionus.
    "Sir Lancelot, is this base experiencing some issues? I noticed that the security was especially high?"
    Lionus finally asked the question that had been bothering him. Of course, these weren't at the forefront of his mind, but he could only toss other things to the back.
    "Mm, yes." Lancelot grew serious. "The Demon Lords have been on the move."
    Lionus grew serious.
    The Demon Lords. They were Modred's most trusted subordinates. There were 66 of them in total.
    It wasn't that Modred didn't add more, but that Demon Lords would rather slaughter one another to claim their positions. As a result, new Demon Lords would always kill another Demon Lord upon being conferred their title, or die trying. In the end, the number would always be 66.
    But, even then, these were many more top experts than Camelot had. If it wasn't for the fact the top experts of Camelot out stripped those of this demonic land by a measure, Camelot would have long since been wiped out.
    Lionus frowned. "What happened?"
    Lancelot took a deep breath. "A new Demon Lord has been appointed. However, this one didn't follow the normal tradition of killing another, causing some unrest within Modred's lands. Now there are 67 Demon Lords, but Modred seems to have taken a liking to this new appointee and is protecting them.
    "There's unrest in their ranks now. But, Demons don't display their disatisfaction in the same way we humans do. Rather than pointing their spears toward Modred, they're ignoring the status quo and attacking on their own whim.
    "Modred has yet to step in to regain the balance and it's possible that she wants this sort of unrest. Due to this, we've been dealing with constant attacks toward all the border forts. News has already been sent back to Camelot. It's likely that the other big players will be making a move nowбн"
    Just when Lancelot wanted to say more, the ground suddenly began to quake.

 Chapter 242: Smooth Spirit

    [Schedule will be changing. Updates will be at 10pm EST from now on.]
    Leonel had never expected that he wouldn't even get a chance to rest.
    A whirlwind of orders and roars shook the small fort. Lancelot's carefree demeanor completely vanished as he took hold of the situation. This fort was his own to control.
    The truth was that this base was in far better condition than the others would be. With a Knight of the Round Table protecting it, those stations here were several levels luckier than they otherwise might be.
    This was the first time Leonel had ever been on a true battlefield. Though he had fought the Englishmen alongside the French, those men were so much weaker than him that his life was never truly on the line. This was especially so when it was considered that Aina had been by his side.
    But this time, if he was just a bit careless, even a foot soldier could take his life. The warriors of this world were on a completely different level. He simply couldn't afford to take any of them lightly.
    For some reason, thoughбн Leonel felt and urge to take the vanguard.
    Even he was shocked by this sudden change in his psyche. The thumping of his heart reminded him of the first time he stepped onto a football field. It was the very same feeling, that will to conquer and pit his wits against that of the enemy.
    However, all this time, such a thing had been repressed to the depths of his heart. He simply didn't like to kill. Such contradictory feelings always clashed within him to the point his initial instincts were tempered and snuffed out.
    Butбн the enemy was once again not human.
    Leonel suddenly smiled.
    He remembered charging toward the beast kings of the Project Hunt island. Back then, he had felt the fetters of his heart release a bit. After all, back then, his enemy was an army of beasts. And nowбн his enemy was an army of Demons.
    Leonel stood on the walls of the fort. The black wood felt exceptionally smooth beneath his feet. As a mage, it was only right that he stood at the back of the army. It was his job to observe a formation of Earth Mages and understand their procedure for future battles. But he was feeling especially agitated. He wanted to join the knights below.
    A synpase went off in Leonel's Dream World. When he sent his mind inward, he smiled bitterly.
    'So it's like thatбн'
    In the sky of his Dream World sat his Dreamscape. Within it, arcs of lightning connected his memories of battle with Lamorak to a book titled 'Achieving a Smooth Spirit'.
    It was a level seven book, one at the limit of what Leonel was allowed to read currently. It was a theory speaking on the connection of one's mentality to their Spirit Pressure.
    In truth, it seemed like a crackpot theory, maybe similar to the holistic medicine of Earth. Though some people believe in it, many dismiss it as a ridiculous notion. Even Leonel hadn't thought much about it beforeбн But right now, he understood where these feelings of agitation were coming from.
    His battle with Lamorak had left a shadow on his heart. It was impeding the pure flow of his spirit and limiting his future path. As a result, Leonel subconsciously wanted to prove himself on a real battlefieldбн.
    Leonel took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
    If others knew his thoughts, they'd believe he thought too much of himself. Lamorak was one of the four or five most powerful knights of Camelot. His age was easily three or four times that of Leonel's, maybe even more. It was only right that he defeated Leonel. Was Leonel even worthy to have such a shadow over his heart?
    The fact such an impediment to his spirit existed was practically Leonel saying that he subconsciously placed himself on the same level as Lamorak or maybe even a higher level.
    To do something subconsciously was to say that Leonel believed this to the depths of his soul. He wasn't faking it, it was a confidence etched into his bones.
    Leonel chuckled to himself, causing the mages who were incredibly tense to his side to look toward him with shock.
    In the distance, a vile army of Demons surged forward like a tide.
    Black dogs with long grey tongues as rough as sand paper. Grey skinned humanoids with all sorts of horns and antlers on their heads. Scaled humanoids with reptillian eyes. Grotesque vultures looming in the skies with wrinkled, rotting skinбн
    It was a scene right out of hell. Yet, this young man was laughing? Had he lost his mind?
    Leonel's blood rushed through his veins. He felt his bronze Runes flicking into and out of existence. He could hardly control himself.
    Leonel's eyes were like hawks, he automatically locked onto three Demon Lords in the distance.
    One was a massive minotaur carrying a bloodied ax. The tips of its horns were a deep, obsidian black, making it look as though it had been dripped in poison continuously.
    The second was a skeleton with blue flames for eyes. It wore a ragged black robe that couldn't hide the chains around its ankles and wrists. At the end of its chains there were massive heavy balls of black steel. Their weight were so substantial that they left long, deep trenches in the ground as the skeleton walked forward.
    The last was a zombie with rotting greenish grey skin. It wore nothing but a torn beast cloth to protect its groin. As for the rest of it, it was completely exposed. Leonel could even seen the lines of muscle fibers beneath its shedding skin. However, instead of these muscles being a healthy pink, they looked completely washed out to the point of nearly being white as though this zombie had not an ounce of blood left in its body.
    Despite their grotesque appearance, Leonel could feel that their auras were billowing into the skies. They weren't as powerful as Lamorak or Lancelot, but the difference wasn't so large either.
    The more Leonel looked toward them, the greater the thumping of his heart became.
    Eventually, his heartbeat became so loud that those beside him could hear it. It felt as though his heart would leap from his chest any moment now.
    Leonel's aura towered into the skies. As though competing with the three Demon Lords before it, it shot into the rumbling black clouds above, even dispersing the ever falling rain for just a moment.
    Leonel could feel it. If he didn't step forward now, his blood would run in reverse. This feelingбн he couldn't hold it down anymore.
    Military law? He simply didn't care.
    Several eyes landed on Leonel. Some were friendly and others were from the enemy army. However, he didn't have eyes for any of them.
    The blood surged throughout Leonel's body. It churned and spun, shooting into his chest.
    His lungs expanded, a mighty roar that seemed to drown out everything erupting from within him.
    A blinding light lit Leonel's eyes. By the time they dimmed, his eyes reflected a beautiful violet tinged with just the slightest hint of red.
    Thenбн
    He leapt from the walls of the fort.

 Chapter 243: Charge

    Leonel tore through the skies, treading through the air with two steps that sent him flying forward several hundred meters. Before anyone could react, he had already landed in the no man's land between the two armies.
    Leonel had no idea what was going on around him. He could hear anything but the blood rushing through his ears. He couldn't feel anything but the wild thumping of his heart. He couldn't see anything but the endless stream of enemies before him.
    His mage robes were sheered apart under the pressure, revealing a toned torso pulsing with blinding bronze runes and radiating a beautiful violet color.
    Leonel's palm flipped over, a spear appearing in it as he shot forward.
    '[Rising Pillar].'
    The earth beneath his feet trembled, shooting up at an angle beneath Leonel's feet. A swirl of surging Force surrounded Leonel as he formed the Magic Art, using pillar that manifested beneath him to fly forward at ever faster speeds.
    In the blink of an eye, he had already reached the first line of monsters, demons and ghouls. Compared to the army, he seemed like an insignificant ant. Yet, even the Demons who didn't know fear or pain felt their chests being pressed down by an undying pressure.
    BANG!
    The earth before Leonel surged upward, forming a massive wedge that slammed into the front of the demon army.
    Shattered bodies flew out from the point of impact like broken kites. Their desecrated corpses paved a bloody path for Leonel to step forward.
    Leonel's piercing violet-red eyes shone forth like two impossible to stop beams. He became the only light in this bleak land, a halo of bronze-violet light hanging above his head.
    "[Grand Gravity Warp]!"
    The earth beneath Leonel feet sunk down by several inches. An invisible weight descended from the skies, crushing the bodies of every demon within tens of meters of him.
    Leonel shot into the army, his spear leaving trailing snakes of sharp air in its wake.
    In the distance, those of Camelot's army finally reacted to what they were seeing.
    Lionus' expression changed several times. 'бн This madmanбн'
    "бн Princeбн Are you seeing what I'm seeingбн?"
    As a Light Magus, Lionus obviously didn't have a squad of mages to join like Leonel had. His job was to go to the places of the battlefield where he was needed. As a result, he had a security detail of his own and had separated from Leonel.
    At that moment, Mary was speechless watching Leonel. They all felt that Leonel had lost his mind.
    They had seen many weird reactions to stepping on the battlefield for the first time. Some vomited, others cowered in fear, some couldn't stop the shaking of their limbs and others even tried to abandon the battle entirely.
    Butбн charging head long into battleбн this was the first time they had ever seen such a thingбн
    Lancelot sat on his war horse with a stunned expression. In all his years, this was the first time he had seen such a thing as well.
    The truth was that such actions by Leonel were enough to be punished by military law, maybe even death. Breaking rank and doing as one pleased wasn't the way of the army. This wasn't only the case on Earth, but clearly also the case in this Mythological Zone.
    However, though Earth and this Zone were similar, they were different in one aspect: the importance of strength.
    Who dared to reprimand Leonel? Even if Lancelot had the strength to do so, would he? Was it worth it?
    At that moment, Lancelot boisterously laughed into the skies. The golden-silver lance that hung to his sides rose in his hands.
    He pointed it forward, drawing an invisible line between himself and the army before them.
    "You see that men, even a rookie is so eager. We won't lose out to him, will we?!"
    His roar pierced through the veil above. The rumbling hooves of war horses and the sound of weapons clanging against armor shot through the battlefield.
    The aura of Camelot's army rose. As though trying to match Leonel's energy, it melded with his momentum, suppressing the demons to an extreme.
    "CHARGE!"
    Lancelot's words fell and a see of knights shot forward. The front hooves of their steeds rose, trampling the ground beneath them with impunity.
    To a side, the snake-eyed man watched on with a curious gaze. He looked toward Leonel's back as though it was right in front of him.
    From his position, he could see every defined muscle of Leonel's back, every sharp, perfectly formed bronze Rune, and even saw the beads of sweat perspiring from him.
    "Interestingбн"
    The two long swords to his side trembled as though feeling excited. They cried out as though they were wishing for blood too.
    Without another moment of waiting, he too shot forward.
    In the front of it all, Leonel had no idea how he had affected the army to his back. He controlled the earth beneath his feet like a god of war and wielded his spear like the call of a reaper.
    His movements were like fluid water, his steps carrying an enigmatic air to them that made it seem as though all his enemies were walking into their deaths of their own volition.
    Surprisingly, aside from their gazes being aimed toward him, the Demon Lords didn't make any other action toward Leonel. One would think that they would go all out to snuff out his momentum, but they didn't seem to care to do so.
    They looked on with complete indifference. However, they suddenly frowned when Leonel's gaze met their own becauseбн His gaze, too, was indifferent!
    He didn't see them as Demon Lords. He saw them as enemies he needed to cut down to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling in his heart. They were his outlet to vent, nothing more, nothing less!
    At that moment, the other high rankers of the demon army began to move. Demon Lords might have been the highest standard, but beneath them there were still Demon Soldiers, Demon Captains and Demon Generals.
    Why should their Demon Lord be the first to step up just to deal with a small fry ant of a human? For someone like Leonel, a Demon Captain was more than enough!
    Feeling very confident in himself, a wolf man standing on its two strong hind legs shot toward Leonel. A rotting tongue hung out of its mouth, grotesque saliva dripping downward as it dreamed about Leonel's tender flesh.
    However, it had hardly begun to target Leonel when a spear appeared before it, piercing through its tongue, mouth and through the back of its head.
    Like that, a Demon Captain fell no differently from a rabid dog.
    Finallyбн The Demon Generals were stirred.

 Chapter 244: Marshlands

    "What a boisterous kid. Since when did my demon army become so easy to bully?"
    A Demon General with empty sockets flickering with a green flames sneered. If it wasn't for this feature, he would look completely like a normal human male of average appearance. But, with it, it couldn't be more clear that he was a demon with a sinister temperament.
    The green flame Demon General stepped toward Leonel, two scimitars twirling in his hands.
    At that moment, Camelot's army met the demons, their clash ringing throughout the battlefield. Rain continued to drizzle, the clouds above seemingly becoming denser and blacker with each passing moment. Yet, Leonel didn't seem to notice anything at all. Even the several Demon Generals coming toward him were nothing more than another reflection in his mind.
    The raging torrent of his blood flowed quicker with each passing moment. His skin reddened, causing a light steam to rise from his body beneath the cool atmosphere.
    "Die!"
    Two scimitars crossed across Leonel's neck, seemingly trying to sever his head from his shoulders from two directions at once.
    Leonel's mind was exceptionally calm. It was as though he didn't realize his life was on the line.
    The green flame Demon General sneered deeply, looking toward Leonel as though he was a dead man. But, when he met the coldness of Leonel's violet-red eyes, he felt a shiver tear its way up his spine.
    Leonel's spear shot forward.
    Just when it seemed the scimitars would rip his head from his body, Leonel's spear, as though drawn on a perfect line, connected with the intersecting line of the two scimitars, repelling them both with a single strike.
    As the green flame Demon General felt an unstoppable force surge up his arms, causing him to take several steps backward, he felt a deep fear take root in his heart.
    Using the tip of a spear to intercept two weapons at once. Just a single mistake would have meant Leonel losing his head. Just what level of character did he provoke?
    The green flame Demon General immediately retreated by several steps. He knew it was impossible for him to defeat Leonel on his own. If he didn't get help, he would only be rushing to his death.
    The Demon General had expected that Leonel would press him, but he was stunned and then enraged by Leonel's next actions.
    As though he was air, Leonel didn't even pursue the Demon General, he sent out several more piercing strikes of his spear, compressing [Call of the Wind] to an extreme. The green flame Demon General could only watch as his soldiers fell one after another.
    Several Demon Generals began to swarm the area. It couldn't be helped. Leonel was a lone man too far gone from the true front line of Camelot's army. He was alone, swarmed by enemies from all sides.
    Things like formations, ranks, and military law were meaningless to demons. If they saw an opponent they wanted, even crossing from one side of the army to the other wasn't outside of reason to them. Even when they saw the green flame Demon General suffer by a measure, it only lit their fighting spirit all the more.
    The green flame Demon General tried to send attacks toward Leonel from a distance, hoping to slow down his murder spree.
    Scythes of green Force tore through the air, flying toward Leonel at unbelievable speeds.
    Yet, Leonel calmly sidestepped them all. It was as though he knew where they would land ahead of time and had already moved in the opposite direction.
    Leonel's General Star abilities deepened with each passing day. Others would need several battles over decades for even the smallest improvement, but those were individuals without Leonel's ability. A movement theory like General Star was practically created for Leonel!
    "Prince, this isn't good. This is Leonel's first battle, what is he going to do when his stamina runs dry?"
    Theybul asked with a bit of worry from Lionus' side.
    They all knew how insane Leonel's stamina was, but they had been dropped into this battle right after a long day of trekking to this location. On top of that, Leonel probably didn't know due to his lack of experience that stamina ran out faster on the battlefield.
    All the adrenalin and nerves made one exceptionally tight, making them use more strength than they needed to. Battles of this level usually lasted at least a few hours, how could Leonel possibly last to the end.
    Lionus narrowed his eyes at these words. Everyone thought Leonel was being hot headed, even Lionus believed so. Butбн for some reason Lionus felt that Leonel just might give them a surpriseбн
    Lionus' gaze shifted to another part of the battlefield. He watched as a man with two long swords tore a path on a war horse. His killing speed was even several levels beyond Leonel. Though, his opponents were a few levels weaker as well since they were the fodder of the front line.
    'For Leonel to appear now of all timesбн Is this a good or a bad thingбн?'
    Lionus' thoughts didn't seem to have a thread that connected them. Thinking this while looking toward the man with snake eyes. Just what did it mean?
    However, even if Leonel knew of this, it was unlikely that he would care at this point. All he wanted was to battle, to satiate the raging, boiling blood in his veins.
    "Pirnce, 17 Demon Generals have surrounded Leonel!" Elys practically shrieked.
    She had been nearly fanatical about Leonel ever since she found out his true status. Even after it came out that Leonel was actually a Earth Childe, Elys realized that there were political machinations behind this. After all, she had been there that day.
    So, all this time she had been focused on Leonel despite the fact she was meant to be acting as a scout for Lionus. When she saw such a thing, she couldn't help but pale. However, she had no idea that this was exactly what Leonel was waiting for.
    '[Demon General]. Elite 7 Star to 8 star threats. It will be several times more efficient to defeat many of them at once.'
    The green flame Demon General was already enraged to the point of his chest bursting. When he saw so many converging toward Leonel, he felt that it was finally time for his revenge. None of the Demon Lords had good feelings toward one another. This was even more so for Demon Generals.
    That said, just because the green flame Demon General didn't like them, didn't mean he wasn't willing to use them to kill Leonel.
    However, this would be the second time Leonel's gaze met the green flames of the Demon General. And once again, a cold shiver snaked up the latter's spine.
    Leonel didn't smirk, he didn't sneer, there wasn't even a light of satisfaction in his eyes. Yet, the Demon Generals still felt as though he was looking toward them from on high. They were nothing but stepping stones he could use to vent the discomfort in his heart.
    "[Grand Marshlands]."
    Leonel spoke calmly, but the surge of wind the wrapped around his body when these words fell made it feel as though a cyclone was forming in the middle of the battlefield.

 Chapter 245: True Demon

    The Demon Generals immediately realized that something was wrong. But, by then, it was already too late. Aside from one that had bat-like wings, allowing her to soar into the skies and escape, the remaining 16 found themselves trapped.
    The cracked, grey lands of the battlefield suddenly became a land of soft, muddy earth. Their bodies sunk down to their ankles, slowing their movement speeds by several levels. Yet, Leonel remained completely unaffected.
    The immediate reaction of the Demon Generals was to use Force to tread on the marshland just like they would on water. It was a seemingly easy solution that was right before them. As battle hardened veterans, they had of course put their lives on the line countless times before. How could they not react quickly to such a dangerous situation?
    However, dreams were great while reality was cruel. This might have looked like a normal marshland, but if it was truly so easy to escapeбн how could it be worthy of being a One Star Magus Art?
    "Shit! I can't escape!"
    A large man with fur covered skin and two large canine teeth that hung out from his mouth snarled. His square face distorted in fury. It was clear that he wasn't very intelligent, because seeing that he was having trouble gathering Force to the soles of his feet, his solution was to forcefully use more.
    The more intelligent of the Demon Generals paled in despair. They realized now what was happening. This [Grand Marshlands] had a secondary function of acting like a sponge to Force. No matter how hard they tried to gather Force, it would be useless. In fact, if they acted like the square-faced fool, they would only deplete their reserves quicker.
    By this point, the Demon Generals were feeling incomparably aggrieved. Such a large crowd control spell should have taken a normal Earth Mage at least ten seconds to cast even if they were very efficient in using it. However, not only did Leonel take less than three, but the range was almost 50 meters, easily double what a normal mage should have been able to accomplish.
    Leonel didn't even spare these Demon Generals a glance. He looked up into the skies toward the female demon with bat wings. His left palm flipped over, revealing a long barreled pistol with a harpoon fitted to it.
    BANG!
    The bat-winged Demon General tried to swerve in the air, but the result was her wing being torn apart. She could only watch on in horror as she crashed into the marshlands below. She regretted not flying away at the first instant she could, but there was no medicine for such a feeling.
    Leonel shot forward, appearing before the raging square-faced Demon General.
    "Boy, I'll smash you to a pulp!"
    The Demon General raised his club above his head, already picturing the scene of Leonel being smashed into a blood mist.
    However, the instant he did, he realized that he was suddenly feeling light headed. Why did he feel so weak all of a sudden?
    In a second of distraction, a sharp pain ripped through his throat. He looked down in disbelief to find Leonel spear being pulled out of his body. Even as the life faded from within him, he didn't realize that he only felt so weak due to his own stupidity.
    Leonel appeared before the bat-winged Demon General in a flash, not stopping to admire his kill for even a moment. The latter was still sprawled on the damp ground. Though it had dulled the impact for her, it was also the reason she was even more stuck than the others were.
    She didn't even have the time to lift her head from the ground before Leonel's spear ran through her back, piercing her heart.
    Leonel flickered around the battlefield. Whether it was the Demon Generals or their subordinates that happened to get caught in the range of his spear, he showed no mercy.
    "RUN!"
    The Demon Generals couldn't bother to stay any longer. The man was nothing more than a god of death. It felt like he was looking at them as though they were just numbers on a sheet, a tally to his success and nothing more.
    Unfortunately, was it really so easy to run from Leonel? Every Earth Spell Leonel cast carried a variance to it due to his mutated Spirit Pressure affinity. This variance was related to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. It naturally ingrained metals into all of his Mage Arts.
    This ability wasn't very useful for an ability like [Grand Marshlands] or [Mud Pit]. Howeverбн When it came to defense and attacking Earth Mage Arts, Leonel's could be said to be double the strength of a normal cast without any exaggeration.
    There was another spell that got a boost as well. And that wasбн
    "[Harden]."
    The expanse of marshlands suddenly became solid land once again. A wild surge of winds whipped around Leonel. To use [Harden] on such a large scale was completely different than using it like he had previously on [Mud Pit]. However, to Leonel, he didn't feel that there was much of a difference at all.
    By now, in their struggle, the Demon Generals and other Demons had already sunk down to the shins. And nowбн they suddenly found themselves completely trapped.
    It was a one sided slaughter. Leonel shot through the 50 meter radius like a fluttering leaf dripping with blood. Every place he stopped would suddenly bloom a flower of crimson, reaping the life of another demon.
    The green flame Demon General watched on with horror. He couldn't move even a single inch. Even now, he had no idea who Leonel was. He had thought that their Demon Army had information on all the great talents of Camelot. Soбн where the hell had this boy come from?
    He treated their lives like weeds. The green flame Dmeon General had already lost count of all the atrocities he had committed. But, somehow before Leonel, he felt like an innocent child who didn't understand the world.
    A bitter chuckle left the Demon General's lips as Leonel's spear finally found its way to him. It wasn't long before the green flames of his eyes waned and flickered out. The last sight he saw were Leonel's expressionless violet eyes. He seemedбн disappointed?
    Leonel ripped his spear from the Demon General's skull.
    He looked down at the once beautiful spear, realizing that it was beaten and battered now. There were multiple chips on its common iron head and its wooden body was chipped in several places.
    Ultimately, it was just a common weapon. It couldn't even be considered a Tier 1 Black Grade treasure. It found it hard to resist Leonel's own strength, let alone those of his enemy. If it wasn't for Spear Domain's recovery feature and the protective shield provided by Leonel's Spear Force, it would have already broken down long ago.
    Leonel looked up. He noticed the look of fear the demons around him had. No, that was a bit inaccurateбн They weren't around him because the entire 50 meter radius of him had been completely emptied out!
    Leonel stood there, a halo of violet bronze above his head and a crown etched onto his forehead. His bronze hair billowed in the wind, his piercing violet-red eyes seemingly tearing through the void. He was covered in blood of all colors from head to toeбн
    It was hard to tell who the true demon was.

 Chapter 246: Come!

    A shocked hush came over the battlefield.
    It wasn't that it was truly quiet. The clash of weapons, the cry of men, the stomping of hooves бк they were all still there. However, there was a hard to describe stillness to the atmosphere.
    Leonel was deep within enemy territory, standing all alone. It should have been a dangerous situation. He should have been scratching and clawing just to keep his own life. Yet, the truth was that he stood all alone, the surrounding space around him littered with corpses.
    A deep breath sunk into Leonel's lungs. He felt his Force Nodes throbbing, recovering his stamina at unimaginable speeds. His stamina was already frightening after activating his Nodes, he could only imagine what level it would reach once he formed his ninth and tenth.
    BANG!
    The ground Leonel stood on heavily shook. He looked up calmly from his thoughts to find the massive Minotaur Demon Lord standing before him, his bloodied ax leaving a massive fissure in the ground.
    In the distance, Lancelot frowned. He was still a distance from Leonel, there was nothing he could do about this.
    For one, Leonel had rushed forward first. Secondly, Lancelot couldn't be as free spirited as Leonel, he had an army to lead. If he broke free and charged forward alone, it wouldn't have been impossible to already catch up with Leonel. However, as things stood now, it was impossible for him to abandon his men for one Leonel.
    At the same time, he was still greatly worried. Leonel was a great talent, it would be a massive blow to Camelot if he were to fall here.
    Though Leonel had been chopping down Demon Generals like weeds, it had to be said that Demon Lords had an average strength just marginally below that of the Knights of the Round table and the Magi of Camelot.
    This was just their average strength. The top echelon of them didn't lose out to the best Camelot had to offer by much at all. In fact, aside from King Arthur, the top three Knights of the Round Table and Pope Margrave, they were stronger than anything Camelot had to offer.
    Lancelot knew the three Demon Lords that had come this time. Though their abilities weren't so exaggerated, they weren't the worst of the Demon Lords either. They could be ranked within the middle echelons of the Demon Army. That was enough to be as strong as some of the weaker Magi and Knights of the Round Table.
    The minotaur that just landed before Leonel was Demon Lord Gorgo. He was ranked 26th amongst the Demon Lords and had astounding power. How could Lancelot not be worried.
    "Little baby boy, I've never met someone as eager to die as you."
    Leonel didn't respond. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that he couldn't hear Gorgo's words at all.
    The beating of his heart was growing wilder. His blood rushed through his veins like rushing tides. He felt as though a? waterfall was crashing through his body, one capable of shattering rocks and drowning whales. It was to the point that even the Demon Lord before him could faintly hear it.
    Leonel brandished his spear. As though he didn't know fear, he looked up at the minotaur that stood almost a full meter taller than him, his piercing violet-red eyes tearing through his veil of superiority with indifference.
    "Heheбн" Gorgo laughed, his mouth spreading open to reveal two neat rows of pearly white teeth. They were so clear that Leonel could have even seen his own reflection should he have wanted to. However, this laughter wasn't jovial in the slightest.
    "бн I don't like that look in your eyes, little baby boy. Why don't I gouge them out for you?"
    Gorgo slowly raised his ax, his aura imposing and looming. Even compared to Leonel's own, it didn't seem to lose out in the slightest. But, after a moment, it became clear why.
    Gorgo's aura was an aggregation of killing intent. Leonel's own was nothing but an intense will toward competition. While it seemed Gorgo's matched Leonel's, this was only because of its sinister attribute. It made it more memorable. This was compared to Leonel's which was a rich, steady stream.
    It was like comparing two dishes. One might have a potent smell to it, but it wouldn't necessarily taste betterбн
    However, the minotaur didn't seem to realize any of this. In his mind, this was only right. How could his own aura lose out to this baby boy? He was a mighty Demon Lord. Ants like Leonel were destined to fall beneath his blade,
    At that moment, the battle ax reached its apex.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed, sweeping one of his feet backward to sink into a steady stance.
    SHUU!
    The bloodied ax descended. It tore about the wind and left a whistling streak of air in its wake, seeking to tear Leonel in half.
    Leonel felt his heart thump. Countless calculations streamed through his mind. In the end, he found that dodging this strike was actually impossible.
    The strike seemed simple, but it actually cut off all paths of retreat. It felt like the blade was a void, sucking everything toward it without regard. It took Leonel only a moment to realize that this must be a special ability of the minotaur.
    There shouldn't be abilities in this world, but that didn't mean that there weren't creatures born with special characteristics. Or, in this caseбн Demon Lords who practiced special Force techniques.
    Without a choice, Leonel poured everything he had into his spear.
    "[Reinforce]. [Harden]. [Earthen Armor]."
    A violent wind surged around Leonel, quickly coalescing into scales of earth that formed a metallic sheen of armor around his arm and spear.
    Leonel's back and arm flexed, his bronze Runes pulsing with life.
    He stabbed upward, meeting the descending ax without the slightest hint of fear.
    Lancelot's eyes widened. He had actually feared that Leonel wouldn't retreat. That would fall right into Gorgo's hands. But, meeting him head on was also not the greatest option either. Gorgo was simply too strong.
    BANG!
    Leonel's spear bent like a bow, his knees bending under the strain of the strike.
    BANG!
    The battle ax continued, but Leonel had taken advantage of the small delay to step outside its range, barely dodging the blade.
    SNAP!
    Leonel's spear couldn't withstand the strain. Even after being protected by Leonel's magic, it snapped in two, one of its halves rebounding into the air and spinning wildly.
    Gorgo took several steps back. It might very well have been more had his ax not sliced against the ground, slowing his momentum.
    As though in shock, Gorgo looked toward his ax then back toward Leonel, his gaze growing serious.
    The second half of Leonel's spear fell to the ground, not even having enough strength to pierce the earth.
    Leonel could only sigh. This spear was truly too weak. And, he hadn't quite learned how to integrate his Metal Synergy with his Spear Force just yetбн
    "Little baby boyбн It seems you have some skill. Butбн What are you going to do without your weapon?"
    Gorgo's sneer deepened as he slowly walked forward, regaining his calm.
    Leonel remained calm. It was as though he hadn't heard Gorgo's words at all. The rushing of his blood was only growing. That single strikeбн It wasn't enoughбн
    Leonel put the half that remained of his spear away, calmly tracing the band of his spatial bracelet in a somewhat absentminded manner.
    Then, as though a magician, he pinched with two fingers, slowly pulling as a new spear manifested itself.
    The clang of rattling chains grated against the ear as a long, black polearm was pulled from Leonel's spatial bracelet. Though it was just an illusion of the mind, it felt as though it was endlessly long, as though there would never come a point where its pole stopped.
    However, soon, Leonel had pulled it out completely.
    The chains around its black body continued to rattle. Even with its butt remaining planted on the ground, it stood more than a head taller than Leonel, its flat, shimmering blade being almost two feet long alone.
    Leonel swept the spear forward, causing the banging of the chains to become even more grating. Even without touching the ground, its sharpness left an arc on the cracked land before Leonel as though marking his territory.
    He looked up and met Gorgo's eyes. His gaze seemed to say all that needed to be said.
    Come!

 Chapter 247: Peak Spear

    Spear Domain.
    It was a treasure the likes of which only three others existed. It was a land of spears and spearmen that ruled over eras and generations. This was Spear Domain.
    After awakening his Wisdom Branch, Leonel's spirit skyrocketed. So, it was no surprise that the distance he could walk within Spear Domain had also, likewise, increased by a large measure.
    The hidden world of Spear Domain was separated into several peaks. In the beginning, Leonel thought that these were simply separations of weak to strong. But, the truth wasn't so simple.
    To understand Spear Domain, one must understand the Spear Domain Lineage Factor. This bloodline allows one to pour all of one's skill into a single spear. No matter what abilities you have or gain, it becomes possible to perfectly integrate it into one's Spear Force.
    This accumulative Spear Force becomes layered and slowly grows more and more powerful over time. Eventually, if one walks to the end of Spear Domain and reaches the highest peak, forming a spear that encompasses all, it would be possible to stand atop the universe!
    Therein lies the truth behind these peaks of Spear Domainбн
    Every previous owner of Spear Domain would form a peak. The penultimate weapon of their lifetimes would be pierced into this peak while all the spears surrounding the base of it represented all the styles and techniques they integrated into their own!
    The black spear in Leonel's hands now, the very one with dangling black chains clattering amidst a silent battlefield, was the spear of the first peak. The primitive woman and primitive man were both spears that could only surround the base of its peak!
    Gorgo felt his heart palpitate when his gaze landed on Leonel's spear. It felt like he was staring at the sovereign of an era, an impossibly tall mountain crashing down toward him.
    It was just the first peak of the smallest hill. In fact, Leonel counted that there were hundreds of hills within Spear Domain that shared the same height as the hill he pulled this spear from, and those were just the one's in his line of vision. Yet, even it was able to make Gorgo's knees go weak.
    'This weaponбн'
    In the distance, the zombie Demon Lord locked eyes on Leonel's spear, his heart involuntarily palpitating. Greed lit his rotting eyes.
    Even with his status, he had never seen such a powerful weapon. In fact, he doubted that even Lord Modred's weapon could match the one in Leonel's hand right now.
    The black spear was a Quasi Bronze treasure just half a step away from becoming a true Bronze treasure. It was no wonder others were reacting like this, but Leonel wasn't thinking about such things at all. He was entirely focused on the task at hand.
    The spear in his hand weighed just over a hundred pounds. The amount of focus he needed to control it was far more than any other weapon he had ever wielded before. However, at the same time, it made his blood boil endlessly.
    His mind flashed with the vision he saw when he touched this spear. Unlike the other two spears he had touched, he didn't get sent to witness a life moment of the owner. Instead, he found himself in a world of darkness, a perpetual pressure weighing down on him from all sides.
    Leonel knew that he hadn't grasped even a single percent of what that world of darkness wanted to portray to him. He also knew that it was his fault for this as well. After all, he skipped over all of the spears that were meant to form the foundation to truly understand the weapon in his hands. The smart thing to do would be to slowly build up his understanding by comprehending all the spears around the base of this spear's peak.
    Howeverбн the current Leonel just couldn't wait. He could always go back to thoroughly understand those spears. But this battleбн he wanted to fight it now!
    Leonel shot forward, the piercing strikes of his spear casting a net of black toward Gorgo. The chains on its body danced, lashing out like whips and poisonous snakes.
    Gorgo felt a palpable pressure descend onto him. He struck out on reflex, hoping to send Leonel back, but the result left him horrified.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Ax and spear met time and time again. With each strike, Gorgo felt his arms go numb. It was as though a hammer was smashing into his body continuously. His organs shook, his bones quaked, even the blood vessels in his eyes popped.
    He was losingбн in strength?
    The only thing that kept him going was the idea that Leonel should be worse off. After all, he was a human. How could his body compare to a mighty Demon Minotaur's?
    Unfortunatelyбн reality was cruel.
    In the past several weeks, Leonel's body had already reached the standard of a Weak Third Dimension metal. With his Runes activated, trying to harm him was just like trying to cut apart an unrefined ore.
    The first stage of refining his Metal Body was separated by the Dimensions. Within the Third Dimension, the tiers were separated into Weak, Standard, Strong, Superior and Perfect. Only by opening the eighth door would one be able to reach the Superior standing and only those that opened the ninth would be able to reach Perfection. However, even the weakest Weak standing was enough to drive an opponent mad.
    While Gorgo's body felt as though it might break down at any moment, Leonel only felt slightly numb. Only the weakest parts of his body like his wrists and ankles felt any real discomfort.
    In Leonel's current stateбн wielding a heavy weapon like his black spear couldn't have felt any better!
    Gorgo shrunk back, completely deactivating his void Force. Usually, others would try to run from him, so his suction technique was a death sentence to all. Yet, now, it was nothing but a detriment to himself.
    His heart sank when he saw the chips and cracking of the ax in his hand. Was the difference between their weapons really so great? He felt that in just a few more strikes, the companion that had followed him for so many decades would meet its end right here.
    'Dammit!' Gorgo shouted in his mind.
    How had he been so unlucky to come across such an abnormal little baby boy?! Even the weapon he wielded was heavier than his own!
    Suddenly, Leonel's spear tip shook, a faint light coating its surface.
    Gorgo's expression changed. Reacting quickly, he used his ax to protect his chest.
    PCHU! CRACK!
    A pain trembled Gorgo's heart. He watched as Leonel's spear embedded itself into his ax. Though it didn't pass all the way through, such a crack meant the end of a weapon.
    Gorgo explosively retreated beneath the shocked gazes of the armies around.
    Others may not know it, but after today they surely would. The reason Leonel lost so badly to Lamorak wasn't just because of his crystallized Force, but also because his weapon couldn't hold a candle to the Grand Knight's.
    Though Leonel would have still lost had he had this spear back then, it wouldn't have been so quickly. And, now that he had begun to crystallize his own Force and had such a weapon in handбн He had no intention of losing to the Demon Lord before him!
    "BOY! I'll go all out with you!"
    A dense black Force erupted around Gorgo. It felt as though his body had become the center of a black hole, causing everything to surge toward him.
    Wind whipped around wildly. If it wasn't for the fact Leonel was holding such a heavy spear, he might have been sent flying toward the minotaur Demon Lord as well.
    Leonel's eyes shone. 'This must be a knight technique of this worldбн'

 Chapter 248: Horns

    Leonel was just one person. With his ability, he was able to split his mind and study many things at once, but even then, he only had one body. There were only so many things he could do at once.
    In truth, he was already lucky to have set aside some time to gain the acknowledgement of the spear in his hand currently. He still remembered the feeling of his soul sheering apart beneath its presenceбн
    However, no matter how much of an advantage his ability gave him, he couldn't master everything. To now, he had mastered all the abilities the Mage Academy had to offer him in terms of Mage Arts. But, he still hadn't had time to study the path of knights.
    Seeing Gorgo explode like this before him, it reaffirmed his will to dig up all the secrets of this world.
    What remained of Leonel's robes billowed beneath the wind. He could already feel his arms slightly aching beneath the pressure. This wasn't due to Gorgo's strikes, but rather because he wasn't used to using such a heavy weapon.
    To the current Leonel, lifting a hundred pounds wasn't a problem. In fact, this was simple even for an average male. However, lifting a weight and using a weapon of such heft were two completely different concepts.
    BANG!
    Gorgo's armor cracked and shattered into several pieces, spiraling into every which direction like the shrapnel of a grenade. His bulging muscles flexed beneath the influx of energy surging toward him, veins of pumping blood racing across his skin like crimson serpents.
    He raised his ax into the air. But, his target wasn't Leonel at all. Instead, he slammed the flat of the blade over his knee, shattering the blade along the line of the damage Leonel had caused.
    The resulting weapon was sinister beyond belief. The irregular, jagged edge looked like the jaws of a demon bearing down from above.
    SHUUU!
    The ax left trails of sliced wind in its path as it descended. Its irregular edge caused the air to bend and twist, making it sound as though a ghastly flute was being blown.
    Leonel's gaze burned with fighting intent. His Spear Force coated the two foot long flat blade of his spear as he pierced forward without regard.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The blood in Leonel's body rolled with every collision.
    It was clear to anyone observing that Leonel had greater strength and that even his movement was a measure better. Howeverбн His technique was simply too lacking.
    Every strike of Gorgo seemed to contain a mysterious air to it. His strikes uniquely flowed from one stance to another, achieving a smooth resonance that allowed him to lose himself in battle.
    However, Leonel's movements lacked variation. He continuously calculated and responded with a strong pierce again and again, but this was all. He could only rely on his ability to make up for his lack of skill, but against a truly strong enemy, such a thing would be useless.
    Like this, Gorgo and Leonel fell into a stalemate, neither one gaining an advantage over the other. And, with Gorgo's weapon having been broken once before, breaking it again after it shrunk in size was several levels more difficult.
    In the distance, Lancelot was beginning to grow worried, even more so than he had been before.
    'This boyбн Doesn't he know that a spear can do more than pierce?!'
    How could Lancelot know that all of Leonel's skill came from the primitive man and woman? The primitive man only taught him how to bring out the full potential of his body with every strike, but the primitive woman's fighting technique was entirely reliant on a piercing motion.
    The primitive woman's spear had a modified blade in the shape of a prism. This made its piercing power incredibly strong, almost like the stinger of a bee, but as a result, it lost its ability to perform the other kinds of strikes.
    Due to his inexperience, Leonel took a battle that he most assuredly should have won and turned it into a struggle. Even still, Leonel didn't take a single step back. In fact, his indifferent expression began to crack, shimmering with hints of happiness.
    His eyes grew more focused. Ignoring the aching of his arms, he pierced forward again and again as though he didn't know fatigue.
    Just when Leonel was about to lose himself in battle, he frowned. An instinct that came from the depths of his heart suddenly trembled.
    Leonel didn't need to look to know what happened. His Internal Sight was too sharp. He felt the eyes of the two Demon Lords locked onto him.
    The sudden feeling was almost as though his head had been dunked into a vat of ice and water. He had almost forgotten that he was on a battlefield. Venting his frustration was fine, but burning himself out to the point of running on empty would be like asking for death.
    'My spearmanship is too lacking. I need to absorb the experiences of more of the spears surrounding the base of this peak spearбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath. With his fatigue growing, his rolling blood was also losing its control over him, even the violet-red of his eyes began to slowly fade.
    Others could sense this. In fact, the sharpness of the two remaining Demon Lords grew. The only Demon Lord that wasn't inwardly celebrating was Gorgo. How could he? His state was even sorrier than Leonel's.
    However, Leonel wasn't worriedбн His body might have reached its limit butбн His Ethereal Glabella was still filled to the brim with Soul Force.
    'I should end this.'
    "[Grand Gravity Warp]. [Layering Arts]."
    Demon Lord Gorgo was caught completely off guard. He had completely forgotten that Leonel was a mage. Or, maybe he hadn't forgotten, but maybe had assumed that Leonel's magic fell far short of his spearmanship. However, reality was cruel.
    Reaching the end of his stamina, Gorgo's legs trembled and he heavily fell to his knees. His ax failed to block Leonel's following spear strike, causing his collarbone to be run through completely.
    Leonel's Spear Force was so sharp that an invisible blade ran through the minotaur's body, exiting his shoulder blade and running through the ground behind his kneeling figure.
    The zombie and skeleton Demon Lord were stunned by this sudden change of events. They had just been waiting for an opportune time to strike, how had the situation reversed so suddenly?
    At that moment, having used Leonel's forward momentum to their benefit, Camelot's army had already cut down a large portion of the demon army. Before, it would have been worth it to take advantage of Leonel's situation. But, if Leonel still had so much strength left to fight, it was simply impossible to try and benefit now.
    With a placid expression, the zombie Demon Lord signaled with his hand, causing loud, blaring horns to sound. Like a tide, the demons began to retreat, not sparing a glance toward Gorgo who had yet to breathe his last breath.

 Chapter 249: Messengers

    "Heheбн A little baby boy actually dares to hold back while fighting me."
    Gorgo coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, his once pearly white teeth becoming covered in a sheen of crimson.
    Leonel's gaze met the minotaur Demon Lord's. Although Gorgo was on his knees now, he was so tall to begin with that Leonel could only look him in the eye.
    It wasn't that Leonel was looking down on Gorgo, it was rather that Leonel himself was too strong. Because of this, his actual fighting prowess had stagnated.
    During his studies in the Mage Academy, Leonel had learned a lot. His Dreamscape was filled to the brim with mage textbooks and manuals of all kinds. But, if he were to separate them into groups and point out which had the largest percentage of theories written about it, there was no doubt in his mind that it would be 'battle sense'.
    To a mage, there were things more important than how many spells you knew and how powerful your spells were. What stood above that was timing, situation and execution.
    Every Mage Art took time to cast. When a Mage Art was ultimately cast, it would impact the environment and change the situation around the next Mage Art. And, every Mage Art took a good portion of one's Spirit Pressure to cast.
    Ultimately, between knights and mages, mages were particularly worried about battle sense and efficiency. If one had poor battle sense, it was very possible for a weaker mage to defeat a stronger one.
    How a mage economized their Spirit Pressure, how they prepared spells in battle -- building up with shorts casts to longer ones -- and even down to the angles to which they pointed their wands were all important aspects of battle sense.
    This realization ingrained one thing in Leonel's mind: He was still too weak.
    Before, he hadn't realized how much of a grip this thought had on his heart until he realized just how much his loss to Lamorak had affected him. But now, he couldn't have been more clear.
    To the current Leonel, defeating Gorgo by relying on his combination mage and spearman abilities held no meaning. The only reason he resorted to it in those final moments was because he felt that if he continued, his life would be in jeopardy.
    This was maybe the first time in his life that Leonel was truly faced with his own weakness. He couldn't help but have thoughts of what would happen to him if he was less talented. Such a thing left him feeling greatly uncomfortable in his heart. It was an emotion he didn't quite understand how to reconcile with.
    Leonel's spear pulled out from Gorgo's collarbone and struck down again. This time, he pierced his heart.
    As Gorgo's life faded, so too did Leonel's blazing aura. His Runes dimmed and sunk into his skin and his violet-red eyes slowly faded to its usual pale green.
    A wave of fatigue overwhelmed Leonel. His breathing couldn't help but grow heavy.
    He was only barely able to counter the side effects of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor after reaching the Weak state. But, his body still felt heavy. Of course, it also didn't help that his new weapon was over a hundred pounds either.
    'My Force and Soul Force are still at over 70% capacity, yet my body can't keep upбн' Leonel frowned.
    He felt like a headless chicken. He was always coming up with issues he could work on, but he never had a perfect solution for any of them. He needed more knowledge.
    The Mage Academy had a limited amount of information on matters related to the body, but the Knight Academy should be differentбн
    Leonel turned around to hear the stomping hooves of a band of horses. The first sight he saw was Lancelot's stern face, carrying a lance bloodied by battle.
    Leonel smiled somewhat bitterly. He didn't have much experience in battle, but it was pretty much common knowledge that rules and regulations were extremely important on the battlefield. He had acted without regard for consequences earlier, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be any.
    However, Leonel wasn't stupid either. Mages were a special circumstance. Usually, the more powerful a mage, the less restricted they were by the rules of the army. For example, Lionus, as a Light Mage, traveled around the battlefield to where he was needed. So, Leonel wasn't too worried about punishment.
    It was just that he fought too much like a knight, so it was easy for those watching to forget he was a mage.
    Lancelot saw Leonel's calm expression and his lip couldn't help but twitch. This boy, couldn't he at least pretend to be afraid?
    Though Lancelot thought this and even tried to think of ways to make Leonel suffer a small loss, he soon remembered that he actually didn't have any power to punish Leonel. This feeling left him quite stifled.
    In truth, he was thankful to Leonel. Though he was confident that they would have won the battle anyway, it most definitely wouldn't have been so easy.
    Demons were different from humans. Their population of warriors was far higher despite the fact the overall population of humans outstripped them. As a result, they were uncaring about casualties and usually attacked in waves, whittling down their stamina for weeks and months on end.
    Due to this, the Demons had an overall losing record against humans, but in the grand scheme, it was actually humans who were on the losing end. Something like winning with so few casualties, and even taking down a Demon Lord at the same time, was of great benefit to Camelot.
    Just as Lancelot was thinking of how to deal with Leonel without appearing too weak and forgiving, a scout suddenly rushed to the front line.
    "Sir Lancelot! Urgent tidings!"
    "Hm?"
    Lancelot frowned. They just finished a several hour long battle, what could it possibly be now?
    "Speak." Lancelot finally said.
    "Thisбн"
    The messenger looked toward Leonel and hesitated. The other knights around Lancelot were his respected guards. No commander would enter a battlefield alone, they would always have death guards around them. The first priority of these death guards was to ensure the safety of the commander.
    This was all to say that while it was alright for such trusted subordinates to hear this message, Leonel was an unknown factor. The scout's hesitancy just went to show how important the message was.
    "It's alright, speak."
    The scout took a deep breath. "I come from the #15 Small Barrack just northwest of here. We've been overrun by demons and are seeking assistance."
    Lancelot frowned.
    "Sir Lancelot, Sir Lancelot!"
    The information from the first scout hadn't even settled in before another messenger suddenly crossed onto the battlefield.
    A bad premonition suddenly struck the Knight of the Round Table.

 Chapter 250: Balance

    In the Border Region, the forts were separated into Small and Large Barracks. There were a total of 99 Small Barracks and 9 Large Barracks. All Small Barracks were headed by Three Star Grand Knights while all Large Barracks were headed by Knights of the Round Table in shifts.
    With this sort of setup, it was obvious that every Large Barrack had 11 Small Barracks under their charge. However, what Lancelot could have never expected was for six of his Small Barracks to suddenly come out and ask for help like this.
    Lancelot frowned.
    He had thought that the Demons retreated a bit too easily. Though Leonel was putting a lot of pressure on them, it was also obvious that Leonel had been reaching the end of his rope. On top of that, they allowed one of the Demon Lords to die too easilyбн Unless!
    Lancelot's heart trembled.
    Others might not know why the Demon Lords were insistent on keeping their numbers at 66, but Lancelot was very much aware. Lionus had explained it to Leonel perfunctorily, but how could such a thing not have a deep, underlying reason for it?
    The truth was that just like paladins of Pope Margrave, much of the strength of the Demon Lords were gained directly from Modred. The balance of this shared power was perfect when there were 66 of them. However, when there was an additional Demon Lord, that balance would be lost.
    This wasn't as simple as there not being enough Darkness Internal Strength. Modred's power was beyond imagining. If The Pope could have hundreds of Paladins, it obviously wasn't a problem for Modred to have hundreds of Demon Lords. The issue lied in the properties of Dark Internal Strength. Or rather, in the propertied of Modred's Dark Internal Strength.
    This kind of Internal Strength was exceptionally volatile and difficult to control. In addition, it had a negative influence on one's Ethereal Glabella, and by extension, one's Soul Force. As a result, whenever there was an imbalance in Demon Lords, their strength took a dive as a collective.
    That was right. Demon Lord Gorgo was about 10% weaker than his peak form when he was fighting Leonel for this very reason.
    One might ask then, why would Lancelot allow Leonel to kill Gorgo, then? Wouldn't it benefit Camelot if this imbalance continued? Well the answer to that was obvious.
    What use would there be if Camelot went out of their way to not kill Demon Lords just to keep this imbalance? It might have been possible to capture and imprison Gorgo today, but would it always be so simple? Demon Lords weren't stupidбн And, things also weren't so straightforward either.
    For one, Mordred could dispell the powers of a Demon Lord whenever she so wished. Even if Gorgo was captured, if the Demon Army came to be at a disadvantage, Modred could easily snatch Gorgo's strength from a distance.
    Secondly, even if Camelot went out of their way to capture and not kill Demon Lordsбн these were Demons they were talking about! Why wouldn't they just kill amongst themselves until their numbers were balanced once again?
    Before, Lionus had silently thought that this all out attack and this chaos was exactly what Modred wanted, and he was likely correct. Even if Modred protected the newly appointed Demon Lord, if the Demon Lords were so eager for balance, couldn't they just kill one another?
    Yet, instead of simply picking a new target, the Demons chose to launch an all out offensive against Camelot.
    If Lancelot's thoughts were correct, then it was very likely that his Large Barracks weren't the only ones to receive so many SOS calls at once. It may be that the entire Border Region was lit with flames of war!
    When his trail of thoughts reached this point, Lancelot sucked in a cold breath. Was Modred really prepared to act again after so many years?
    'Last time she actedбн'
    A hint of pain flashed by through Lancelot's gaze. It wasn't a pain of the flesh, but rather one of the heart. It seemed that whatever memories he was thinking of deeply scarred him.
    Leonel didn't know about any of this insider information. He only watched silently as Lancelot's expression changed several times. He thought himself to be good at reading human emotion, but whatever Lancelot was thinking of was way beyond his means to comprehend.
    After a while, Lancelot took in a deep breath.
    "Aleck, Peirce, Bran, Amaud, Jeffroy, Hammond бк You'll lead your troops to support the Small Barracks."
    Leonel's eyes couldn't help but flicker toward Peirce. He was the very same man who had two exceptionally long swords strapped to the sides of his horse. Leonel had paid a small bit of attention toward him during the battle. His skill could only be described as frightening.
    Originally, Leonel had thought him to be one of the Knights of the Round Table as well. But, by his name, it was obvious that he wasn't.
    'Who is he, exactly?'
    Leonel had no idea.
    Lancelot continued to give out orders.
    "бн You scouts will second messages back to the remaining Small Barracks. Have them all retreat back here. I have a feeling that things won't end so simply.
    "Also, someone call our Beast Mage here, have him send out several hawks to the other Large Barracks. Inform them of my decision."
    A Beast Mage, from Leonel's readings, was a mage without affinity. They were essentially a Mental Mage, just like Elys, except they focused on mental manipulation magic that worked on low intelligence creatures.
    There strength wasn't very great, so they were often restricted to roles much like the order Lancelot just gave out.
    "бн As for the rest of you, rest and prepare for battle. The two remaining enemies we face are Demon Lord Dagon and Coyote. Dagon is famous for his night raids, this isn't the time to let our guards down."
    A heavy expression colored Lancelot's features.
    Demon Lord Dagon was the skeleton demon with prisoner steel balls strapped to his wrists and ankles. While Gorgo had been ranked in the low 20's, he had broken into the top 20.
    However, Demon Lord Coyote was even more mysterious. While Lancelot had some information about Dagon's tendencies, he knew next to nothing about Coyote, the zombie Demon Lord. Whether it was his strength or personality, they were all just mere guesses.
    Lancelot had a feeling that the reason they retreated so easily was to divert his attention to the Small Barracks. Now that half of their forces had to leave, their situation during the next battle could be imagined.
    Leonel calmly watched this from start to finish, his mind as placid as a calm lake.

 Chapter 251: Spear Peak

    Leonel entered the Abode Setting of the Segmented Cube. Without much thought, he made his way to the bath house and dove into a serene pool of water.
    The soothing waters felt so good that a moan almost escape his lips.
    Leonel floated in the waters, looking up at the beautifully crafted ceilings of the bath house. Whoever it was who constructed this treasure was a true genius. Leonel could hardly make crafts with five or so parts, he couldn't imagine the number needed to make a treasure of this level.
    In truth, Leonel was quite used to the aches of his body. He was a student athlete, after all. Compared to others, he was far more ready for this new world order. He had always been in tiptop shape.
    Butбн being a good sprinter didn't mean you were a good long distance runner, and being a good long distance runner didn't mean you could run the 400 meter race.
    There were different aspects to being an athlete and not all forms of endurance were the same. Leonel thought himself to be a great athlete, but a single battle had completely shredded his body.
    The good news was that Leonel felt that just an hour or two would be enough to recover thanks to this pool. The bad news was that he wouldn't always have time to recover.
    Leonel activated the Nodes in the walls of his heart. His heartbeat quickened, causing the run of blood throughout his body to accelerate, thus speeding up his recovery process.
    The blood was exceptionally important to recovery. Whenever one was injured, it would be the first responder in every case. This was the reason why bruises swelled and torn muscles reddened. After opening his Seventh and Eighth Nodes, Leonel gained access to this ability.
    'It should be safe in hereбн' Leonel thought to himself.
    "[Minor Heal]бн"
    A rush of wind surrounded Leonel and a soft glow of light enveloped his body.
    In just a few minutes, Leonel's body recovered to its peak state. Since he could recover so quickly, there was no need to wait. This situation was too dangerous to waste time in.
    'Interestingбн'
    Leonel felt that his strength ticked up by a measure. In addition, his body also more thoroughly absorbed the Urbe Ore Essence he had been refining.
    'So if I break down my muscles and use [Minor Heal] on them, I can train fasterбн'
    [Minor Heal] was actually a One Star Magus Art despite its humble title. It was because of his ability to cast this that Lionus was so valued. If the prince knew that Leonel thought to use it just to enhance his training speed, who knows how he would react.
    'My mind is erratic and all over the placeбн'
    Leonel stood up from the bath, cleaning himself off and putting on another robe. He didn't like the style of dress of this world very much, but he had no choice.
    'I need a focus, a plan, a goal. If I keep going like this, I'll aimlessly wander around and fail to live up to my potentialбн'
    In Leonel's life, there had never really been anything in his control. His profession was chosen for him, his meal plans and training schedule was set out for him, and he never truly figured out what he wanted to do in life.
    It was no wonder he seemed to be going on aimlessly. This was the first time he had no choice but to take charge.
    His mind was filled with bits and pieces of information, but he realized after battle today that this wasn't good enough. It was alright that he wanted to learn everything he could about this world, but what would he do with that information? How would he execute with this new knowledge? What goal was he trying to reach?
    That feeling he had had before the battle begun, that stifling feeling that made him feel uncomfortable to the depths of his soulбн It was the first time Leonel grasped on something he wanted for himself.
    This wasn't about his father, this wasn't about Aina, this was something that he, Leonel Morales, wanted for himself.
    If he couldn't beat Lamorak into the ground, he would never feel at ease.
    Leonel entered the Lab Setting. In this world, he had always had to be exceptionally careful about using the Segmented Cube so he had rarely entered it. If it wasn't because the Large Barracks were in turmoil, preparing for war, and as such had no time to mind him, he wouldn't have dared to even now.
    Leonel cast a glance toward the snowglobes and frowned.
    'Hm? Something feels off about this atmosphereбн?'
    After a moment, Leonel realized what it was. There was a density of Dark Elemental Force in the air.
    Understanding this, Leonel didn't pay it anymore mind. The Border Region had a higher concentration of this energy. It wasn't surprising that the Segmented Cube which was always absorbing and purifying Force for Leonel's use would react in this way to such an environment.
    Leonel sat at his Crafting Table. The more time he spent near it, the more he realized that this odd desk with different sized wells on its was most definitely a treasure in its own right. But, Leonel hadn't quite reached a level where he could dig out its secrets.
    'What I need is a focused structure. I've already learned all I can about Mage Arts. The only thing holding me back in that regard is the Crystallization of my Spirit Pressure.'
    Though Leonel could cast Magus Arts now, their power was lacking in comparison to true Magi. This wasn't something he could fix in a short time. After all, Magi spend decades meditating to crystallize their Spirit Pressure. It was something only time could do.
    Of course, Leonel's meditation was far more beneficial than one might expect. He suspected that it would only take a year or two to crystallize his spirit to an extreme. Once that happened, his combat prowess would be enough to run through this world unimpeded.
    As such, Leonel made a decision.
    'After awakening the Wisdom Branch, I could split my mind six ways. After crystallizing my Soul Force a bit, I can do so eight ways now. I'll save one to focus on meditation. As for the remaining sevenбн'
    Leonel crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He used one of his eight minds to meditate, another to monitor the situation outside the Segmented Cube, and as for the remaining sixбн He sent them all into the Spear Domain!
    Leonel's mind appeared within the dark world. Rolling clouds thunders above his head and pale black-grey earth crunched beneath his feet.
    At this moment, he stood at the peak of a large hill, a familiar black spear wrapped in chain before him.
    The immediate surroundings of this spear was empty. As though showing reverence to its superiority, the other spears that dotted this hill were at least three meters away.
    This was the first peak of Spear Domain that Leonel had conquered. But, he knew he hadn't done so correctly.
    One's spirit was only meant to be auxiliary in this world. The main strength should have been his Spear Force. If it wasn't for his awakening his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, Leonel would have no right to stand in this place, and the spear before him seemed to understand this as well.
    This standoffishness placed a veil between Leonel and the spear, making it more difficult for him to comprehend the secrets surrounding it.
    Leonel smiled lightly.
    "You're quite an arrogant spear. There are hundreds on your level in this world, yet you still have such prideбн"
    As though hearing the taunting nature of Leonel's words, the Spear vibrated slightly, but didn't do much else. It was as though it disdained to respond. But, Leonel didn't mind.
    "There are 2879 spears that make up the foundation for your Spear Domain. I'll start at the bottom just like you want me to. It won't be long before you become obedient."
    With a thought, Leonel sent his mind toward the spears around the bottom of his Spear Peak, grasping out at six simultaneously.
    At that moment, he entered six different worlds and experienced six different lives.

 Chapter 252: #62

    The location was dark. It was difficult even to see one's hand even if it was placed before one's eye.
    Up above, the place the moon should have been was completely shrouded by dark clouds that rumbled every so often. However, even this rumbling couldn't mask the heavy breathing that pervaded the atmosphere.
    At that moment, a group of men and women ran with everything they had. But, their speed was slow. Whether it was because of the disadvantageous terrain or the fact they were at the end of their ropes, both were reasons.
    The group of 30 or so wore bits of torn linen covered in dirt and mud. It was impossible for fugitives to appear in the Border Region. The only explanation was that these few consciously chose to discard their armor.
    At that moment, one of them suddenly stumbled and fell.
    "Kid!"
    An older man snapped his head around, reaching beneath the arms of the fallen knight and pulling him up.
    He was the only one who stopped. It wasn't that the others were callous, but rather that they were under expressed orders not to.
    "Jejejejejejeбн"
    An eerie laughter caused the blood of the group to run cold. They dug deep, pulling all the reserve strength they had left to power forward.
    The forest they ran in could hardly be called as such. It looked as though a blazing fire had charred everything to ash. Let alone having canopies of greenery, the various trees didn't even have branches, they were made entirely of blackened and battered trunks.
    It was one of the roots of these godforsaken trees that had tripped the young knight.
    It was quite hilarious. Even as the young knight held back tears, unable to take his eyes off of the commanding officer who had come back to save him, he too found the humor in this situation.
    He, a dignified Three Star Official Knight, had been beaten and battered to the point of tripping and falling. Not only that, but he had actually fractured his ankle and couldn't even walk on his own anymore.
    "Captain, just leave me."
    "Shut up, kid. You know how many sacks of potatoes twice your size I've carried in my life to reach my current strength? You're as light as a feather. Don't look down on a Grand Knight, rookie."
    The young knight was speechless. In the end, he could only chuckle and shake his head.
    The eerie laughter only grew with each passing moment. And, despite the blustering of the Captain, he was falling further and further behind the group ahead of him.
    At that moment, the Captain felt a sharp wind assaulting his back. With his years of trained reflexes, he didn't even need to think before he jumped to the side. He had already reached a state of his mind and actions being as one.
    At this point, the Captain knew that it was useless to keep running.
    With a SHIIING, he unsheathed his long sword, setting down the young knight that hung next to his hip.
    "Keep running kid. I'll hold these bastards back."
    The young knight clenched his teeth.
    Run? He probably could. If he used his Force to reinforce his ankle, he could probably last another half hour. Such a skill was something he had learned as a mere Apprentice Knight. The only reason the older knight hadn't allowed him to do so was because their Force was already running low. If used on such a technique, his likelihood of surviving would plummet with each passing moment.
    But, he was completely unwilling.
    "We'll do it together, Captain."
    The young knight grit his teeth, his Internal Strength blooming and shielding the fracture in his foot. He pulled out his own sword, standing tall.
    The Captain wanted to say something more, but the sharp wind of another arrow came forth.
    He stepped forward, his long sword arching beneath the night air. It became the only source of light in the darkness, drawing the arc of a beautiful crescent moon.
    BANG!
    The Captain stumbled backward, his wrist quaking beneath the pressure. His expression couldn't help but change, how could an arrow have so much strength behind it? Just what was happening?
    "Jejejejejeбн"
    At that moment, a shadow slid out from the darkness. Even though it was just a few steps away from the pair, it was difficult to see it even now.
    However, after a moment, the Captain quivered.
    "Demon Lord!"
    He didn't know who it was, nor did he need to know. All he needed was his years of experience to tell just how powerful the existence before him was.
    The young knight felt his heart seize.
    "Kid, I'm going to go all out. When I engage him, turn back and run as fast as you can. Don't stay here for some meaningless sacrifice."
    The old knight stepped forward. The means of a knight truly weren't few. Amongst them, there were even techniques that could be used to overdraw one's potential. It was precisely such a technique that the Captain was planning on using now.
    He didn't give the young knight a chance to respond. His aura blazed, his arm bulging with muscles and wildly pulsing veins.
    In one motion, he hooked a hand behind the young knight, took a half spin, and sent him flying into the distance.
    Though he had been just blustering before, that didn't mean his words didn't have a kernel of truth to them. As? a One Star Grand Knight, throwing 200 pounds a few dozen meters away wasn't a problem at all.
    However, what happened next left the Captain stunned.
    "Oofбн"
    The young knight should have been sent into the distance. But, just as he was passing between two trees, and before he could even pick up any true momentum, he rammed into something.
    "Hey Captainбн Your aim needs a little helpбн"
    A light, awkward cough sounded. The trouble was that the old knight didn't recognize the voice at all.
    At first, he shuddered. Was there another enemy he hadn't noticed? In this darkness, it truly was too difficult to see. But, even then, shouldn't he have sensed an aura?
    Anyone who could utilize Force had Internal Sight. It was a prerequisite. However, the Internal Sight of a knight was destined to be weaker than that of a mage.
    That said, as a Grand Knight, how could the Internal Sight of this captain be so weak to the point of missing someone just meters from him? That was impossibleбн Unlessбн
    This foe was just that much stronger than him?!
    The captain felt a cold chill. He was already ready to die, but the direction he had thrown the young knight in was the direction the others had fled. Didn't that mean that this monstrous individual had already eliminated them all? And in that case, what was the point of his sacrifice?
    However, just when he was despairing, words that shocked him were spoken.
    "Who are you?!"
    At that moment, the eerie laughter had come to a full stop. The shadow looked toward the voice that had caught the young knight as well for one simple reasonбн it too hadn't sensed another person until now.
    The sound of soft footsteps sounded as a young man vaguely came into view.
    "To think all these Light Elemental luminescence arts would actually come in handyбн"
    The voice muttered to himself, his words completely lost beneath the rumbling of the dark clouds above.
    "#62 Demon Lord Maugrier, is it? Come taste my spear."
    Leonel grinned, the whites of his teeth shimmering beneath the night sky.

 Chapter 253: Incomprehensisble Magic

    "Hm? Running awayбн My combat strength is still lackingбн"
    Leonel was a bit disatisfied with his performance. In truth, he could have caught up with the Demon Lord had he truly wanted to. The main issue was that the mission he was assigned was to bring these escapees back with him.
    It had been about half a month since the battle at the Large Barracks. As Lancelot had feared, the Demons had indeed begun a large scale offensive. As a result, many of the Small Barracks had been taken out.
    Due to this, the knights and mages that had been posted at these Small Barracks were forced into retreating, leading to the situation here today.
    What was surprising, though, was that a Demon Lord had actually personally come to chase them. Leonel didn't know if this Demon Lord was just bored or if there was another reason, but he couldn't fathom a true reason why a Demon Lord would chase after a group of 30 or so like this. What was the point?
    Leonel looked back to find the old and young knight looking at him with incredulous expressions.
    How could they not be shocked? This was a Demon Lord they were talking about. Even battling one to a standstill was impressive, let alone forcing one into retreat. But, from Leonel's words, it sounded like he wasn't satisfied with this?
    "Let's go, I'll bring you out of here."
    Leonel put away an ordinary wooden spear, facing the two knights.
    "бн Y-yesбн"
    The young knight managed to eek out.
    Compared to his Captain, he was even more shocked. That was because he had been caught by Leonel earlier.
    According to common sense, being thrown with such force and stopping so abruptly should have hurt at least one of them if not both. Even if Leonel's strength was beyond the point of allowing him to be hurt by such a thing, at the very least, he alone should have been hurt.
    Yet, not only did Leonel fully stop his momentum without issue, but neither of them were injured. In the moment, he only felt that he was enveloped by a soft force. Then, he came to a stop and was rested on the ground.
    Such a boundary of strengthбн he couldn't even comprehend it.
    There were no limit to knights that could stop his momentum and leave unscathed. Butбн doing so while allowing him to remain uninjured at the same timeбн?
    Even his Captain was nothing but an ant before these things.
    The young knight blankly followed behind Leonel, his mind lost in the clouds.
    "Captain!"
    A group of knights ahead sighed a breath of relief when they saw their Captain return safely. Numerous thankful gazes landed on Leonel.
    "There's no time right now." Leonel waved away their thank you's. "It's highly likely that there will be more enemies coming. I've cast [Silence] on our surroundings. Don't mind the noise you're making, just run with all you have."
    Leonel spoke quickly.
    '[Silence]? Isn't that an immobile spell? But the way this senior is talking about it, it's as though it will follow us around? How is that possible?'
    The young knight was dumbfounded.
    Though he was a knight, he had trained with mages many times before. After all, knights and mages needed to work together to defend the Barracks. A common spell like [Silence] that could be used by any Official Mage was definitely something he was familiar with.
    Leonel didn't bother to explain. His Internal Sight had already stretched out. He realized that his previous speculations had been correct. This Demon Lord chased after this group alone for his own sadistic reasons, but now that Leonel was here, he had retreated to regroup with his men. It could be said that the true chase was only starting now.
    "[Trace: Arrow]."
    A surge of wind surrounded Leonel. Soon, a pale blue arrow was formed, hovering about his palm. In the darkness, it was particularly striking. But, it was also dim enough that it couldn't be seen from too far away.
    "Follow this arrow and you'll be able to meet up with the others."
    The Captain's expression changed at these words.
    "Butбн"
    "I know what you want to say. You split up to begin with so that you'd be more difficult to find. But, you don't need to worry about this anymore. Sir Peirce is leading his troops toward the region of your #19 Small Barracks, so they won't be able to continue chasing you for long. I'm just the vanguard."
    The Captain's eyes brightened along with his small squadron's. They thought they were finished. But it seemed that they had hope now.
    There was one among them that only grew more and more shocked with every word Leonel spoke, though. And that person was the young knight.
    '[Trace: Arrow]? That spell should only be able to work if the mage is present, but the way senior is talking about it, it's as though he doesn't need to be here at all.
    'The range of [Trace: Arrow] is extremely limited as wellбн'
    [Trace: Arrow] was a tandem spell, meaning it had a partner. [Trace: Target] was a seal type spell that [Trace: Arrow] was able to home in on.
    The issue was that the maximum range of this tandem spell was one mile. But the distance between the separated group was at least ten times that, or else what was the point in running separately?!
    The young knight didn't believe for a moment that Leonel didn't know this.
    'Just who is heбн'
    At that moment, the sight of several torches approaching from the distance lit the night skies.
    "Go, now." Leonel said sternly.
    His carefree demeanor had vanished. Facing just one Demon Lord wasn't a problem. But, facing one leading a squad of 50 or so was a completely different matter.
    However, this was the kind of challenge Leonel wanted.
    Without waiting for the knights behind him to respond, he shot forward.
    In his hand an odd spear appeared. It was about two meters long, a normal length for such a weapon, albeit shorter than Leonel's Spear Peak black spear.
    However, this wasn't the true oddity. Normally, a spear's blade would only be a small percentage of the length of the weapon. But, this spear was vastly different. Its blade was a third of the length of the spear!
    Leonel brandished the spear, casting [Shining Eyes] on his irises.
    In that moment, his vision and Internal Sight superimposed, giving him a clear vision of everything happening on the forest floor that night.
    His gaze flashed with determination, his Dreamscape flashing with arcs of lightning as several spear styles began to coalesce in his mind.

 Chapter 254: Prediction

    "Jejejejejeбн I've never understood humans, always doing such brainless things."
    Maugrier was a bit stunned when he noticed Leonel running back toward him. He had suffered no small loss at Leonel's hands just earlier, he had even felt the scent of death. If it wasn't because this boy was too inexperienced in combat, failing to take proper account of their combat environment, he would have died here.
    But, he could have never expected that Leonel would come rushing back after he was prepared. He had been gloomy previously, thinking that he would have long since lost track of Leonel. But it seemed like he would have his chance at revenge after all.
    "Wall."
    When Maugrier realized that Leonel hadn't even paused his steps, he grew serious. He had no intention of facing up against Leonel directly.
    One shouldn't mistake Maugrier's reaction as fearбн After all, he was an archer. It was only normal that Leonel would be able to force him to suffer a loss in close combat. Now that he was prepared, he could almost already see Lenoel's corpse!
    What this #62 ranked Demon Lord didn't know that while he saw Leonel as easy prey, Leonel saw him as a fighting dummy, ready to help refine his skills.
    While others could only see shadows in this place, Leonel saw everything reflected into his mind perfectly. He could see the shadow-like Maugrier sneakily drawing his bow, he could see the vanguard of shield warriors blocking his path, he could even see the dark insects crawling along the ground.
    Nothing escaped his notice.
    Leonel's Force bloomed.
    BANG!
    Seven shield warriors stood shoulder to shoulder, slamming their tower shields into the ground and blocking Leonel's path forward. At this moment, it became clear that Maugrier didn't care about the other escaping warriors. Killing one Leonel was worth far more than killing a thousand such knights.
    Leonel's memories flashed.
    In his mind, he saw a valiant man with dark blond hair that whisked along his face and jaw like the mane of a lion.
    He wore heavy bronze armor, his every step causing the earth to quake. His heavy spear bent beneath the weight of its own blade, making it exceptionally top heavy. Yet, the valiant man outstretched it with a single hand, bearing the entire weight with his strong wrists.
    Leonel could sense the overbearing aura of the man. Even if he stood against an army of thousand alone, he would face it with a jovial laugh.
    When this man walked, the earth shook. When he laughed, the clouds dispersed. When he attacked, the skies split.
    Leonel's back flexed, his image and the image of the man in his mind fusing into one. The crackling booms of his tendons reverberated through the night sky. Maugrier didn't even have time to draw back his first arrow.
    BOOM!
    Leonel's body and spear drew a line in the air. For a moment, their momentum became one.
    It was once again a pierce. However, compared to the fluttering speed of the primitive woman, this pierce was indomitable. It was as though it would sheer through any obstacle before it, not even pausing before the might of a God.
    Leonel's spear tip tore into the middle tower shield.
    As though it was slammed by a canon ball or punched by a goliath, a massive dent appeared at its center.
    The shield warrior cried out in pain as he felt the arm supporting his tower shield bend against the distorted metal. It was as though his arm was molded into a semi-sphere, grinded into complete mush.
    A gap appeared amidst the shield warriors as their fellow soldier was sent flying. Like a bullet leaving a barrel, he tore through the night air, crashing into the reserve warriors by Maugrier's side.
    Despite the shock, Maugrier was still a Demon Lord. He didn't hesitate to loose three arrows in quick succession when he saw that the situation was bad.
    However, what Leonel feared the least were projectiles with predictable trajectories. The battlefield reflected in his mind. Before Maugrier even released the first arrow, Leonel already knew where it would land.
    As though he was a ghost, Leonel shifted away with simple steps.
    His memories flashed once more. He saw a woman of strong features. Despite the fact she wasn't the most beautiful, she had a charm that gripped the hearts of men. But, she also held a spear that took the hearts of men.
    Her speed was so blinding that the last thing her enemies sensed before their death wasn't pain, nor the sight of her figure, but rather the fragrance of her fluttering hair.
    A rich smell of apple. It assaulted Leonel's senses again and again as though she was right before him at this very moment.
    Her spear was as light as a feather and as flexible as a whip. She reaped lives with a thought and traveled through the world unhindered.
    Leonel's toe lightly descended to the ground the moment he dodged the last spear. For an instant, it seemed as though he would flutter to the ground like a leaf, but in the next instant, he vanished.
    His movement speed was impossibly quick. His body shot forward like a streaking arrow, appearing before the line of protection before Maugrier.
    He braced his spear against his body before sweeping it out horizontally from himself.
    His spear became like the whipping tail of a mighty beast. It left an arc of blood in the air, sheering apart half a dozen demons at the waist. Such carnage was something even Leonel had never seen before.
    In the past, he always killed his opponents with a simple pierce. The blood was minimal and the wound was small.
    This was the most powerful attack of the spear currently in his possession. Its exceptionally long blade was purposely designed for this expressed purpose.
    And nowбн There was no one but Maugrier before him.
    Maugrier reacted quickly. In the face of death, his expression, hidden beneath his hood, remained calm. Demon Lords weren't fish on a chopping block. No matter how much improvement Leonel had made, it wasn't enough to treat such a character so casually бк especially when it had only been half a month since his battle with Gorgo.
    The twang of a bow string being continuously pulled and released caused Leonel's ears to twitch. Maugrier's actions were so fast that Leonel's eyes, even with the support of his Mage Art, couldn't keep up.
    The distance between the two was just 10 meters. To take on the full barrage of arrows at this distance, anyone else would have had their deaths guaranteed.
    But, while Leonel's eyes couldn't keep up, that didn't mean his Internal Sight was in the same situation. The trajectory of Maugrier's arrows had already been projected into his mind.
    Just when Leonel was about to dodge just as easily, his expression change.
    The trajectories he had predicted were off!

 Chapter 255: Half Way [Bonus Chapter]

    Though it was only by a few centimeters, the overall result would be far different than what he anticipated.
    Leonel's blood boiled and his spine ran cold.
    In such a threatening situation, he grew more focused, his thinking speed accelerating so quickly that time seemed to slow.
    In an instant, Leonel zipped through all of the potential countermeasures he had and responded with the best.
    BANG!
    His foot slammed into the ground, a swirl of wind and oppressive Spirit Pressure surging around him.
    "[Earthen Wall]. [Layering Arts]. [Harden]."
    It was impossible to cast a spell so quickly. Even for Leonel.
    An arrow crossing ten meters was the matter of a blink of an eye. But, even Leonel's fastest cast would take a full second.
    Howeverбн It was then Leonel's Dreamscape flashed, sending out a branch of lightning.
    In the core of it all, a book stood: 'Fostering a Mage's Battle Sense'. In fact, it wasn't just the book, but a specific chapter by the title of 'Spirit Pressure Storms'.
    There were many things that could influence a mage's casting. Depending on the environment, there were an infinite number of variables. One such variable was the so-called 'Spirit Pressure Storm'.
    When a high level Mage Art was cast, it would cause Force to converge. High concentrations of Force made it more difficult to control, especially when the concentration was of an opposing Force type to the one you were trying to use.
    For example, trying to cast a large scale Water Elemental magic right after someone cast a Fire Elemental magic was several degrees more difficult.
    If Maugrier's arrows weren't on Leonel's predicted trajectory, there was only one explanation: He had used Force to control their flight.
    If Leonel took advantage of this and applied the concepts of 'Spirit Pressure Storms' here, he could disrupt Maugrier's control!
    SHUUU!
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath as he felt two arrows tear through the skin on his shoulder.
    Taking a step forward, he cut down on the last one, continuing to close the distance.
    Maugrier's expression changed.
    At first, he had sneered seeing Leonel's reaction. Though he had been surprised that Leonel was a mage, after a moment, he laughed in his heart. How could he not?
    Leonel started to cast three different spells at once. Even the weakest, [Harden], should have taken a veteran mage two seconds to cast. To make it worse, [Layering Arts] was a high level auxiliary Mage Art that multiplied the strength of spells by stacking them.
    [Layering Arts] alone would take a talented Magus upwards of ten seconds to cast alone. In such a situation, Leonel was bound to die.
    Maugrier had thought that Leonel was simply a talented fool with no battle experience, but this situation completely upended his world.
    The fact Leonel completely dispelled his attempted casting right after deflecting his last arrow told him all he needed to know. The truth shocked him to his core.
    As a Demon Lord and a veteran of the battlefield, he obviously knew that high fluctuations of Force would disrupt techniques. But, this was the first time he had ever seen anyone use it in battle!
    Maugrier's expression changed, he had laid his guard down when he saw Leonel's stupid attempt. He had been waiting to see a grand show, but now he had yet to draw more arrows while Leonel had already halved the distance between them.
    "My Lord!"
    Maugrier's death guards surged forward to try to protect him.
    'If I'm blocked again, he'll have time to recover and pester me with more arrows. If I can't read the trajectory of his arrows, it'll be too difficult to dodge at such close range.'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel had already made a decision. As much as he wanted to temper his spear skills here, this wasn't an appropriate occasion.
    He stepped forward again. The trembling of the earth that matched his steps made the demons around him feel as though the world was collapsing.
    Leonel's Spirit Pressure surged into the earth beneath his feet.
    'Impossible!'
    Maugrier's expression turned solemn. He had been too busy snickering at Leonel earlier to realize, but this boy was actually directly manipulating the earth.
    Usually, mages would pull on free elements from the atmosphere. Using already existing elements was far more difficult and took far more Spirit Pressure than directly creating your own as counter intuitive as that might sound.
    Mages who could manipulate the elements in their natural state were favored even amongst Childes. The disparity between them and normal mages was like the difference between clear waters and mud!
    Even further, an Earth Mage who could do such a thing would be a bane to all warriors who called them an enemy. The reason was simple. Not every place had water or fire or strong winds, but any place there were humans there would be earth!
    "[Earthen Tide]."
    Leonel didn't even need to fully construct the Mage Art. He didn't need a tall tide. He just needed something that could quickly impede Maugrier's men. And that was exactly what he received.
    The earth rose into a small rolling hill. It was barely half a meter tall and not usually enough to do much of anything. But, this was exactly what Leonel needed.
    In a flash, Leonel appeared before Maugrier, his spear descending from the skies with an undying momentum.
    Maugrier cried out in shock, raising his bow into the air to block. It was all he had on him, what else could he possibly use?
    One might expect a bow to not last even a second in an exchange with a spear, but reality was much different.? A loud clang was all Leonel needed to hear to know Maugrier had successfully blocked. Butбн
    So what?
    Leonel used his downward strike to gather up momentum, flowing into his next strike with a seemingly practiced ease. Though it still lacked the air of a true spearman, it was clear that Leonel was improving by leaps and bounds everyday.
    Maugrier grunted. He was just an archer, how could he possibly match up to Leonel in strength? His claim to fame was his special telekenetic ability to control his Force, a power bestowed to him by Lord Modred. He didn't have the strong body of other demons. He was happy enough just to survive the first strike.
    Unfortunately for him, while his body was weak, his close combat was even weaker. He had hardly registered what happen when a sharp pain came from his waist.
    Maugrier felt the pain surging through his veins. It was the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. He could faintly tell that when his pain reached such a threshold thatбн his life was truly finished.
    He plopped to the ground before Leonel's frowning figure, unable to gather the strength to rise up.
    'I didn't manage to cut him all the way in half. It's either my strength is still lacking or that my technique isn't perfect just yetбн'
    Leonel had only managed to cut half way through Maugrier's waist and he was seemingly disappointed by the results, causing the demons around him to shiver in fear.

 Chapter 256: Bestowal

    Leonel took a deep breath.
    He managed to kill a Demon Lord without invoking his Metal Synergy Runes. This could be considered improvement, but he still wasn't happy with this result. He felt that dealing with Maugrier wouldn't have been a problem for him even half a month ago.
    'I'm learning all these spear techniques, but chaining them together well is too difficultбн I need a new directionбн'
    After steadying his breathing, Leonel looked up to find the remaining demons inching away from him. It was clear that if they weren't worried that Leonel would stab them in the back, they would have long since turn and run. They were all veteran warriors. They knew that with such a large disparity in strength, and especially since Leonel was a mage, they'd be finished unless they banded together.
    However, what they never expected was for Leonel to do nothing to them. Even up until the point the first of them ran away, he didn't lift a single finger.
    In Leonel's mind, he didn't benefit entering such a battle. Without a leader, these demons wouldn't be able to organize themselves to continue the chase. At best, they'd be able to regroup with another Demon Lord. But, by then, Sir Peirce would be in position and things would become much easier.
    Instead of putting his life on the line fighting so many enemies alone, it was best to take advantage of their fear and allow them to run away. Leonel wasn't an invincible god. Fighting almost 50 opponents by himself was far too difficult.
    Though he had feats beyond this in the France Zone, it had to be remembered that those were normal humans without special abilities. Leonel wouldn't play with his life like that in this place.
    Leonel bent forward, picking up the bow Maugrier had dropped.
    "Ohбн?"
    Leonel was stunned.
    The bow had a sleek coldness to it that reminded Leonel of polished stainless steel. However, it was oddly both black and rough to the touch, almost like sand paper.
    But this wasn't what shocked Leonel. What truly caused him to pause was just how heavy the bow was. It weighed at least 50 pounds, and that was already about half the heft of his black spear.
    'Now that I think about it, a huge part of the reason Maugrier was able to shoot and reload so quickly was because he didn't pull the bowstring back very farбн'
    Leonel replayed the battle in his mind. He clearly remembered that the cloaked Demon Lord's firing was almost like flicking a finger.
    In the heat of battle, Leonel didn't think much of it. But now that he had the time, he realized that the only explanation for this must be because this bow was just that powerful. Even with such a small pull, it could have such powerбн
    Leonel had always been good with long distance weapons. In truth, this was likely a large part of the reason why his Gene Assessment had set him as a star quarterback. He was very good at reading a target's intentions and pinpointing a throw in their direction. This was something he only got even better at after his ability awakened.
    A large part of the reason Leonel chose an atlatl as his first ranged weapon was because the throwing motion was the same he was used to.
    After that, his first craft was a pair of pistols. But, his strength was already beginning to leave those long barreled pistols behind to the point he rarely used them in battle anymore. It couldn't be helped, they were at most C or B-grade treasures to begin with and he didn't like having to constantly repair the nozzles like he did.
    Leonel had never really thought about supplementing his long ranged abilities with a bow and arrow before. But now that he did, he realized it wasn't a bad idea.
    An arrow would always be able to travel further than he could throw something. Though it sacrificed a bit of flexibility as a result, judging by how powerful this bow would be with just the flick of a finger, it might still be a good option.
    'Hmбн I'll keep it with me, I guess. Even if I can't take it out of this Zone, since I'll be here for such a long period of time anyway it'll still be of some use.'
    Leonel put away his spear and tested the bow string.
    "Ahбн!"
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. He realized in that moment that had he not reacted quickly, he would have lost the tips of his fingers.
    Why was this bowstring so sharp?
    'бн It's not that it's sharp, but that it takes so much strength to pull that it exerts too much strain on my fingersбн but if that's the case, how did such a weak Demon Lord pull it?'
    Leonel flipped over Maugrier's corpse and checked his hands. Soon, he understood.
    First, Maugrier's hands were covered in coarse gloves made of an extraordinarily sturdy material. Not only that, but they were also thick to the point it made him look as though he had paws for hands.
    However, even with that, Leonel could see deep grooves on Maugrier's pointer and ring finger. It was clear that Maugrier likely replaced these gloves very often.
    'There's also a lot of Force concentration on his fingers, it's the combination of these factors that allowed him to do thisбн'
    Leonel made up his mind. He was still a Force Crafter, after all though he hadn't had time to design any new crafts recently. But, this position he took up on the border gave him a lot more flexibility and there were less eyes watching him. He could definitely make something better than this.
    After making up his mind, Leonel took off Maugrier's spatial brace. It covered about half of his forearm and had a total of six small spatial spaces within, five of which were filled with arrows of various kinds and the final of which had miscellaneous things.
    'Oh?'
    Something caught Leonel's attention within the last space. He quickly took it out.
    The object was a crystal that very much reminded Leonel of the ones he had seen within the Magic Art Tower. After sinking his mind into it, he found exactly what he had expected. Or, not...
    '[Merlin's Bestowal: Bowman King].'
    "Wait, what?"

 Chapter 257: Dejavu

    Leonel was stunned.
    This was the third time he was seeing Merlin's name in such an important setting. Though there were some legends about him in the Mage Academy Library, Leonel didn't really pay much attention to it. This was because those books were too low level. The information practically bordered on fairy tale.
    However, things were a bit different nowбн
    The first time Leonel saw his name was after entering the Joan Zone. Apparently those matters were related to a prophecy he had made in the past.
    The second time he saw it was when he entered this Mythological Zone. Once again, it was related to a prophecy this Merlin had made in the past again.
    This was now the third time Leonel had seen this name in a surprising capacity. It could be said that this was the last thing he had ever expected to find.
    At the same time, Leonel wondered why it was Maugrier was so weak with such an inheritance on him. How could he be ranked in the 60's amongst Demon Lords? But after a moment of thought, he realized that this might have been the wrong way to look at things.
    It might very well be possible that the former Maugrier wasn't worthy of ever becoming a Demon Lord in his lifetime until he stumbled into this inheritance. If Leonel looked at things like this, then it was very possible.
    If Leonel took it one step further, it had to be remembered that Merlin was a hero of the human world, not the demon world. To the demons, he should have been a great enemy. After all, he was responsible for the rise of King Arthur.
    Since that was the case, such an inheritance might not be suited to demons for use to begin with. If that was the case, then the fact Maugrier made it so far with it just went to show just how special the inheritance in this crystal was.
    'Wowбн'
    Leonel felt like the crystal was an all new world. Unlike the crystals of the Magic Art Tower which only had a single Mage Art within them, this crystal was separated into several layers, each holding a different truth of the path of a bowman.
    There were spells for enhancing eyesight, for accelerating an arrow mid-flight, and there was even meditation techniques for knights and mages within it.
    The meditation techniques of this Mythological Zone all had one purpose: to Crystallize Force. Or rather, what the people of this Zone called either Spirit Pressure or Internal Strength.
    Spirit Pressure meditation techniques compressed the Soul Force in one's Ethereal Glabella. Internal Strength meditation techniques compressed the Force within one's Force Nodes.
    There were no limitations to meditation techniques, they could be used no matter which step of cultivation one was at. So, it was no problem for Leonel to start late.
    However, there were obviously tiers of quality amongst meditation techniques. Some excelled in the degree to which one could compress and other excelled in the speed compression occurred, but those that could do both to perfection were rare.
    The Mage Academy provided many types of meditation techniques. In fact, Leonel had dozens in his Dreamscape at this very moment. It was precisely because of this that he could see that Merlin's meditation technique was far beyond anything he had ever seen before.
    'It pulls on the power of the stars? What a fantastical meditation techniqueбн'
    Leonel felt that this meditation technique resonated with him on a profound level. He felt that maybe this so-called power of the stars might be greatly beneficial to him.
    Maybe there was a reason his Lineage Factor was named the Snowy Star Owl.
    However, Leonel didn't immediately make this connection. This wasn't because he was stupid or that his Dreamscape was still lacking бк though the latter might be part of the reason бк but rather because he was a man of the modern era.
    To people of backward, medieval era places like this, stars were mysterious entities and sometimes even gods looking down on them. However, to Leonel, they were massive balls of flaming gas. What could possibly be special about them?
    Though Leonel had this inherent bias ingrained within him, he also knew that any techniques that appeared in this world would be real. He also had to admit that in this new world, where there were Dimensions above the third and abilities he couldn't imagine, it wasn't appropriate for him to try to reconcile everything with his own limited knowledge.
    'My main focus will still be the spear, but there's a lot of useful things in here. Since I'm talented in the bow, it won't hurt to take a lookбн'
    With that thought, Leonel began to walk back, already drafting up plans for a protective covering for his fingers. He wanted it to be light weight and also not interfere with his spear wielding. If it could add special attributes to his arrows as well, that might be niceбн.
    Leonel drafted tens of possible plans in his Dream World as he walked. Before he realized it, he had already walked out of the ash forest, finding an army led by Sir Peirce before him.
    Sir Peirce sat atop his horse, his snake-like eyes observing Leonel curiously.
    "бн Demon Lord Maugrier is dead." Leonel finished his report under the astonished gazes of Peirce's death guards.
    Peirce's eyes narrowed. He looked Leonel up and down for a long while, but didn't find anything off about him. Leonel didn't even look particularly tired.
    The actions of the demons had been getting more and more aggressive over the past month. It could be said that the number of clashes between human and demonkind, likewise, increased exponentially.
    Yet, in all this time, the number of high level figures that had fallen was zero. Unlessбн one counted the two Demon Lords that had both fallen at Leonel's hands.
    The truth was that there were simply too many demons. There were many Demon Generals who rivaled Demon Lords in potential and strength but were never promoted for fear of the 66 limit. Even if Leonel killed them, there would probably be a new 66th ranked Demon Lord by tomorrow. But, even with this being the case, Leonel's feats were too shocking.
    Since when were Demon Lords so easy to kill? There was definitely something about this child's calculative abilities and mind that were beyond expectations. Of course, there was also the factor his enemies underestimating him due to his age, but this didn't diminish the impressiveness by much at all.
    Seemingly thinking of something, Sir Peirce opened his mouth to speak.
    "Remember, boy, don't forget the rules of Camelot."
    Sir Peirce didn't elaborate on his words at all, but Leonel understood what he meant. Though rare, there was no small number of humans who had fallen to the darker path. Many of those humans started by picking up things they shouldn't have from the bodies of demonsбн
    Leonel's eyes narrowed slightly, but he never got a chance to respondбн
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Leonel suddenly felt a strong case of dejavu overwhelm him. Hadn't this exact same thing occurred on the Project Hunt Islandбн?
    At that moment, the dark night skies were illuminated by a dull gray pillar of light in the distance.
    What Leonel didn't know at that moment was that this wasn't a Force Eruption andбн the true purpose behind the all out assault of the Demons was about to be revealed.

 Chapter 258: Merlin Trials

    Leonel was shocked by the sudden change, as was everyone else. However, Leonel had long since gained a habit of paying attention to everything going on in his surroundings at once. This wasn't only a method of training his Internal Sight, but it was also a method of protecting his life.
    Due to this, Peirce's expression fell perfectly into Leonel's vision. The hint of surprise quickly followed by anticipation didn't escape him.
    'He knows what this thing is?'
    Leonel didn't think much of it. He knew too little about this world. It made sense that a veteran knight like Peirce would know more than he did. However, this only made Leonel more curious.
    The reason was simple. While Peirce reacted in this way, none of his fellow knights or death guards did. In that case, the most likely explanation was that this was very high level information. This was only made more obvious by the fact none of the books Loenel had read in the Mage Academy had the necessary information. If they did, his Dreamscape would have reacted.
    Peirce's expression changed many times before it seemed he finally settled on a decision.
    "Arrange the formation! We're retreating back to the Large Barracks!"
    Peirce's roar called out, causing the knights who had followed him here to be stunned for a moment.
    The reason they had gathered here was to counter attack the demons. While they thought the humans were all converging back toward the Large Barracks, they'd be caught off guard by the sudden appearance of an army.
    Yet, instead of waiting to deal this blow, Peirce actually decided to retreat immediately. It could only be said that whatever that pillar of light was, it was extraordinarily important.
    Leonel's gaze flashed, but he didn't say much. It could be said that the death of a Demon Lord was already a great result for this expedition. Even if it was easy for Modred to replace Demon Lords, they would still need time to acclimate themselves to their new strength.
    'I wonder what's going onбн'
    бн
    Leonel knew that this matter would be a big deal, but he could have never imagined just how great of a matter it would be. It was to the point that even the core city of Camelot was stirred.
    Whether it was the mysterious Grand Magi, the Knights of the Round Table, or even the lofty King and Queen of Camelot бк Arthur and Guinevere бк not a single one could sit still.
    Before the sun rose on the horizon the following day, a single title had been ingrained in the minds of every human and demon across the Mythological Zoneбн
    The Merlin Trials.
    **
    Leonel never expected he would have returned to Camelot so quickly. Of course, he had already mostly completed the mission he and Lionus had been assigned. They were only meant to be posted at the border regions for a single month and half of that time had already passed.
    "Merlin Trialsбн?"
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath.
    The moment he heard these words, his Dreamscape reacted, numerous arcs of lightning branching to cover dozens of books.
    Without exception, all of these books touched upon King Arthur's legend in one way or another. Despite not directly mentioning the Merlin Trials directly, Leonel came to understand something very important.
    It was very likely that before the birth of Camelot, it was precisely these Merlin Trials that allowed King Arthur to gain the legacy he needed to rise to the top of this Mythological Zone.
    If Leonel's conjectures were correct, this meant that these Merlin Trials were even more important than he originally assumed. It was no wonder Peirce's reaction was so fierce.
    There was another matter as well, thoughбн
    The movements of the demons could have been considered to be exceptionally odd before the appearance of these trials. But, if the appearance of that pillar of light was taken into account, then it would explain everything.
    The demons had forced the humans to retreat from the Small Barracks. The result of that was the humans losing the footholds they had gained around the trial location. Due to this, it was not only easier for the demons to enter, but it had suddenly become several times more difficult for humanity to do the sameбн
    'But isn't Merlin a hero of the humansбн?'
    Leonel shook his head. Even if he was, just judging by how far Maugrier had gone with his Bowman King legacy it was obvious that the Merlin Trials should be beneficial to demons as well.
    'If this is all true, then why is it that I was recalled back to Camelotбн? Shouldn't we all be trying our best to reclaim the land we lost in retreat?'
    As Leonel was lost in thought, the person he most wanted to see now came. He really couldn't stifle his questions anymore.
    What were the Merlin Trials really? Why were they recalled to Camelot if it was so important?
    Leonel opened the doors to his residence only to find Elys on the other side.
    He was a bit surprised. He had been certain that it would be Lionus, but it was Elys instead.
    "The Prince was suddenly called by the Royal Court, so he sent me with his apologies for missing your meeting."
    "Oh?" Leonel nodded. "It's not a big deal. You can come in, I do still have some questions."
    Elys smiled and accepted Leonel's invitation.
    She was surprised to see just how clean and meticulous Leonel's room was. It was almost as though he wasn't living in it at all. It couldn't be said that she entered the room of men often, but she knew that even a woman's room wouldn't necessarily be so orderly.
    Of course, what Elys didn't know was that this was the product of his father's teachings. It could be said that the only reason this side of Leonel didn't show more was because of how odd the times were. He didn't really have a place to call home on Earth currently unless the Segmented Cube was counted.
    Every since Elys watched Leonel battle and kill Gorgo, she had become more reserved around him. Though she had known he was powerful after watching his battle with Lamorak, it was difficult to fuse the state he ended up in with a powerful persona.
    "You can sit anywhere." Leonel said casually. "Did you really only come here today to answer my questions? Or did you have another purpose?"
    "Oh!" Elys snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes, yes. I wanted to say that you've gained a great number of merits. The death of a Demon Lord is already enough to be promoted to a Two Star Magus. But, you actually killed two. This falls just a bit short of enough to become a Three Star Magusбн
    "As long as you pass the standardization tests, you'll be able to raise your standing in the Mage Academy."
    Leonel nodded, accepting the crystal Elys passed over to him. It likely held information about his merits and could be considered his proof.
    "So about these Merlin Trialsбн"
    Leonel tried to steer the conversation away from this topic. He wasn't very interested in? promotion right now. At most, he'd promote to a Three Star Official Mage so that he could read the Level Nine books within the library.
    "Thisбн" Elys' eyes went dim for a moment. "бн Since you've gained so many merits, it should be fineбн
    "The Merlin Trials have existed even before His Majesty King Arthur established Camelot. It has picked a great many heroes in its time but His Majesty was the one who traveled the furthest down this road.
    "The truth is that the Merlin Trials are separated into Minor Openings and Major Openings. This is most definitely a Major Opening.
    "Minor Openings find individuals to test while Major Openings are open to all. But, in return, Major Openings are several times more dangerous, not only because of the trials within, but also because of our fellow manбн
    "It could be said that all the major players of Camelot and Modred's Demon Army have all benefited from the Merlin Trials in one way or another, so it's not a chance anyone wants to missбн"
    Leonel's brows knit. Could it be that Maugrier's Bowman King inheritance was the product of a Minor Opening?
    "Are there any other differences between a Minor and? Major Openingбн?"
    Elys shook her head. "It's too hard to tell. Normally, someone who benefitted from a Minor Opening wouldn't easily divulge this information. But, from what we do know, it should be impossible to gain the true core inheritances of Legendary Magus Merlin unless it's attained during the Major Openingбн
    "However, there are some clues that point toward the idea that having benefitted from a Minor Opening makes doing the same in a Major Opening easierбн
    "Some scholars believe that this is Legendary Magus Merlin picking out successors. He will first pick out individuals, then have them fight the masses to temper themбн. 50 years ago, His Majesty King Arthur was one such person.
    "The sword in the stone was his Minor Opening, and 50 years ago, he swept through the world of the Major Opening and established our Kingdom!"

 Chapter 259: Plucking Strings

    The more Leonel learned, the more confused he became. Weren't these Zones meant to be based on human mythology?
    With this premise, one would assume that the most preeminent versions of King Arthur's tale would sit atop everything else.
    Until now, things followed this logic. Whether it was Guinevere's betrayal, Modred's existence, the Knights of the? Round Table, or even the mention of the sword in the stone, everything was as Leonel was familiar with.
    However, if Leonel went a layer deeper than this, this world was still too different from what he was expecting. The existence of Lionus, the Magi, the existence of this world's magic systemбн None of these were things the tales of the past told of.
    Leonel couldn't tell whether or not these were random things the universe was filling in as it pleased, or if there was another, deeper reason for this change.
    Every time Leonel thought about such things, his mind would inevitably travel back to one ideaбн the future can influence the pastбн
    If that was the case, could it be that these changes weren't random as Leonel thought? But maybe the result of changes to the legend future generations made?
    When Leonel stepped on this path of thinking, he suddenly shuddered. His mind had just landed on something that made his heart go coldбн
    The influence higher Dimensions had on lower Dimension was obscene. It might very well be possible that something a higher Dimensional being did on a whim would be more impactful than thousands of years worth of stories passed down in Leonel's world.
    And, if that was trueбн
    'бн If someone from a higher Dimensional world wanted to change the legend of King Arthurбн it would be exceptionally easyбн'
    This alone was a benign thought. But, when it was combined with Leonel's subconscious thoughts of several months, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had gone off in his mind. And this time, rather than being the illusory bolts of his Dreamscape, this was a true arc of lightning accompanied by rolling thunder.
    To this point, leonel still had no idea what Joan's goal in the French Zone was. None of her actions made sense.
    Back then, Leonel simply followed his heart and did his best to save as many people as he could. It was never more complicated than this for him.
    But, if he thought about itбн what would happen if Joan succeeded? Was Joan succeeding mutually exclusive with him completing the Zone?
    Think about it for a moment. What would happen if Joan's purpose caused Leonel to fail?
    Well, Leonel and Aina would have then likely had to spend the rest of their lives in medieval France, growing old together. The details aren't very importantбн but, what is important is what would happen after they diedбн
    In that case, wouldn't the Zone reset, allowing a new group to enter and attempt to clear it?
    If that happened, what would have been the point of Joan's mission? What reason would there have been for her to hinder Leonel's success?
    If that was the case, then their purpose couldn't have possibly been to hinder Leonel. If Leonel foolishly thought the matter would be over as long as he cleared the Zone, he would be sorely mistaken.
    The more Leonel thought about it, the less sense it made. Unlessбн. The matters that occurred in Joan's Zone were related to this Mythological Zone!
    Leonel felt as though a thumping drum was raging through his Dreamscape. His ability seemed to be screaming at him, as though trying to tell him something he couldn't quite grasp.
    This wasn't because there was a connection Leonel had yet to make, but rather because of the most unfortunate weakness of his Dreamscapeбн He simply didn't have enough information!
    Who were those people who almost turned Joan's Zone into a Unique Zone? How was Merlin's legend related to what they were trying to do? How was this Camelot Zone related to it all?
    Leonel grew more and more serious the longer he thought. He didn't even realize that Elys had shrunk into a corner like a timid little mouse, unable to even steady her breathing.
    Unfortunately, this matter was too important for Leonel to think about Elys' wellbeing.
    Zones were inextricably linked to the future of Earth. Even though Leonel didn't have much ties to Earth remaining, his normal disposition wouldn't allow him to sit idly by as its fate was being toyed with.
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't take part in every Zone clearance. It was impossible for him to do so even if he wanted to. As a result, he had no idea if other instances like what he and Aina lived through had occurred elsewhereбн
    It was very possible that as Earth cleared one Zone after another, they were simply playing into exactly what some other entity wantedбн
    'According to Uncle Montez, Earth was among new worlds with the greatest potential even compared to the history of the universe. We have the talent necessary to become an Eighth Dimensional World. It's for this reason that so many Higher Dimensional worlds were invested in our progress and are even pooling together to give us rewards for the Zones we clearбн
    'But what exactly does this higher potential mean? I don't believe that it's only as simple as reaching the Eighth Dimensionбн
    'No, that's not the right way to think about it. I should be wondering exactly what benefits come with having such high potentialбн.
    'Potentialбн potentialбн'
    Leonel's eyes flashed open.
    Mythological Zones were the treasures of the universe. No matter where they appeared, countless powers would fight for them. Of course, that was under the requirement that they all had access to the same world.
    Right now, Earth was in a protected state. It was difficult to travel from higher to lower Dimensions. This was a protection the universe gave not much unlike a mother did to a child in her womb.
    However, that didn't mean it was impossible. Though someone from the Fifth Dimension couldn't descend, someone in the weaker levels of the Fourth Dimension could pay a heavy price to descend.
    For now, all of this wasn't very important. All Leonel was thinking about now was the Zone he was in nowбн
    Mythological Zones were already so highly sought after. But, what if on top of being a Mythological Zone, it was born in a world with infinite potential. If that was the case, just what kind of treasures would such a place birthбн?
    'So is that how it is?'
    Leonel knew that he had only grasped a small part of the truth. He also knew that it was impossible that this was the only goal of those people.
    With how many legends and folktales Earth had, who knew how many of them were able to form Zones of their own. And, if there were many, it was impossible for Leonel to be at and protect them all.
    All he could do was focus on what he could control. As long as he was here, he wouldn't allow these higher Dimensional beings to succeed.
    At the same time, Leonel caught a faint inkling of why it was necessary to appear in Zones like Joan'sбн
    If it was a matter of entering a historical Zone, it was only necessary to plant someone in that timeline. Though that seemed impossible to the current Leonel with his limited scope of understanding, he felt that for a higher Dimensional being, this was likely not impossible.
    However, how would one enter a Mythological Zone? It wasn't a true part of history, there was no place to 'return to'. It seemed the only way to enter was the Zone Gate itself, but Leonel could hazard a guess that the 12 who entered likely didn't have anything to do with these higher Dimensional beings.
    It was possible that the Adurna family or even the Slayer Legion was related. If that was the case, then Leonel would simply accept that his hypothesis was incorrect. Butбн in the case the Adurna family wasn't responsible, then that meant that all the actions these individuals had taken were precisely to find a path into an impossible to enter Zone!
    The moment Leonel had this thought, his heart stilled. He felt that he had regained his peace and that he could finally breathe steadily once more.
    Even he didn't realize it, but he felt so uncomfortable at the idea of some unknown person, thing or organization controlling his life that he nearly went mad for a moment.
    This was the true Leoenl, a man who wanted to control everything in his palms. It had always shone through on the football fieldбн And the day he chose to display it in the real world, it was unknown what kind of monster would be born.
    The discomfort in Leonel's heart seemed to stack. First it was Lamorak, now it was this. At every turn, it seemed that someone wanted to play the strings of his life without his consent.
    Leonel's lip curled. It was an oddly cold smile, the kind he hadn't smiled in his entire life until this point. Seeing such a scene, Elys felt her soul crumbling.
    Luckily, the expression soon disappeared, replaced by Leonel's usual appearance. Handsome, bright and kind.
    "Sorry about that, Elys. I was thinking about some mattersбн So why is it that we were recalled to Camelot with such an important thing happening at the border?"
    Elys patted her chest, wiping the sweat from her brow.
    'Is this the man I'm supposed to seduce...? How am I supposed to do that...?' She bit her cherry lips.
    "... To answer your question, the matter of the Merlin Trials is too important. Even our Grand Knights can't guarantee maintaining order. The allure of such a treasured place is too much. Since we already lost the initiative, it's better that we retreat so we can be selective about who goes. That way, we can eliminate other variables..."
    That was how it was. Camelot wanted to control who could and couldn't enter.
    Leonel nodded slowly. 'I hope that you won't hold me back, Camelot. I would hate to become enemies with you all. But, if I have to choose between clearing the side missions and betraying you all, I will choose the latter...'
    Though it was necessary to have good relations with Camelot to complete the side quests aside from killing Modred, it wasn't necessary for the main quest. If Leonel had to choose, the choice was obvious. He just hoped Camelot wouldn't force his hand.

 Chapter 260: Selection

    Elys ended up leaving without making any progress on her mission once again. However, Leonel didn't have the mind to bother with her thoughts. He felt a slight urgency in his heart. The instant she left, he buried his head into his training.
    He hardly touched his bow. To him, his talent in the bow was so overwhelming that he didn't need to practice very much to bring it to a high level. Instead, he focused his entire being on his meditation and his spear.
    By the time the news came down, he had almost gone through a hundred spears. But, compared to the over 2000 he had to master, he had hardly put a dent into his true goal. However, even still, he could feel his Spear Force being slowly refined over time.
    Leonel was still at the very first level of Spear Force. However, according to the dictionary his father left behind for him, there were separations between the kinds of Spear Force one comprehended. The longer he could suppress his breakthrough while building and refinding his Spear Force, the greater benefits he would gain in the future.
    With a hidden sharpness in his eyes, Leonel left the Segmented Cube.
    **
    The Mage Academy was bustling, even more so than usual. The usually quite indoor garden around the Magic Art Tower was filled with the young and old. Everyone was waiting for a single announcement.
    At that moment an old woman with a head of dry, greying hair sat silently atop a platform, quietly meditating as though the happenings of her surroundings had nothing to do with her.
    However, no one dared to snub this woman. Judging by her violet robes and the fiery red patterns that adorned them, this lady was a Two Star Fire Magus and very likely one of the Headmasters of the Mage Academy.
    Suddenly, this seemingly frail old lady opened her eyes.
    A resounding pressure singed with no small amount of heat suddenly pervaded the atmosphere. It felt as though all the moisture in the air was being sucked dry. Even the lush green grass beneath their feet looked as though they might wilt away at any time.
    Without even having to say a word, silence took hold of the surroundings. The deterrence of such a magus, so infinitesmally close to the penultimate barrier, was too great. Who would dare to snub her?
    Surprisingly, without even bothering to waste any time, she began to speak of the topic at hand. There was no introduction, no flowery words, just a cold and emotionless arrow toward the heart of the matter.
    "The Merlin Trial Gates will open in two months. Only those at and above the age of 16 will be allowed to enter.
    "Rights for entry will be decided on your merits.
    "Those between the ages of 16 and 20 must reach the Two Star Official Mage standard. Those between the ages of 21 and 30 must be Three Star Official Mages. Those between the ages of 31 and 50 must be One Star Magi. Those older than this must be Two Star Magi.
    "Those that meet this first requirement will be allowed to enter a round of selections.
    "There will be 50 spots for those within the first age bracket, 25 for those in the next, and in the oldest there will be just 10 spots
    "Those of you who will be part of the quotas given to your families will not be included in this total.
    "The selection will begin in an hour within the core city. If you've been found to be lying about your credentials, the punishment won't be light. So, think twice before you step through the teleportation formations. Prepare yourselves."
    The Fire Magus was short and succinct. Those in the vicinity didn't even have the chance to process before her spiel was over.
    An hour? There was no time to prepare? Some of them hardly had any idea what these Merlin Trials were, but now they were suddenly thrust into a competition for it?
    It had to be known that not everyone was like Leonel. He had access to the Crown Prince and there was also Elys who seemed to have a special standing within the Mage Academy outside of being a lecturer.
    Even then, Leonel hardly knew much at all. If it wasn't for the fact he passed his Three Star Official Mage standardization test and was able to read the level nine information within the library, he would likely be even more clueless. Let alone these people who had even less access than he did.
    Leonel remained expressionless, his Three Star Official Mage robes reflecting a deep blue embroidered by bronze. He stepped into the teleportation formation toward the core of Camelot, his mind mentally prepared for anything.
    The truth was that with his combat prowess, the 16 to 20 year old bracket was nothing more than a joke to him. His attending should be nothing more than a formality, but for some reason, he was still on his guard.
    Leonel's vision blurred. A moment later, he found himself in a large arena.
    By all rights, such a large arena should have been bustling, filled from wall to wall with spectators. However, this wasn't the case at all. In factбн it was eerily silent.
    Seats that could seat upwards of 50 000 were covered in black sheets as though to divert one's attention from the fact they were empty.
    The stands weren't completely with people, though. That said, it was certain that the youths and older mages that stood around Leonel wished that they had been. Reason beingбн the characters silently watching them from above were simply too awe inspiring. Their presence alone made their knees weak.
    There were no more than a hundred of them, but each and every one seemed to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
    There were the seven Supreme Magi, the Knights of the Round table, the General Starsбн One after another, their standing and strength seemed to only grow.
    Even after all of that, there were still two individuals who made the mages around Leonel feel as though their hearts had stopped.
    They both sat upon thrones, their strength so great that the air seemed to solidify around them.
    One was a woman of exceptional looks. She had soft, wheat colored skin, flowing black hair and shimmering blue eyes. Her beauty was intoxicating to the point of drawing all who looked upon her into an illusion.
    She wore a delicate blue dress and her neck and chest was wrapped by a soft white fur scarf. She embodied nobility to the greatest degree.
    The second was a man. His blond hair was bright to the point of being blinding. His jaw was chiseled, his eyes deep and unfathomable, and his smile was charismatic and enchanting to the extreme.
    His shoulders were broad and his presence was so tall that even his throne seemed too small for him.
    There was no doubt that these two were the great Queen Guinevere and King Arthur.

 Chapter 261: Age Groups

    At that moment, another teleportation array was lit. This time, a whole host of young and old knights walked out. It was very obvious that they came from the knight academy.
    It wasn't long before they, too, were shocked by the lineup before them. It was clear that Camelot was taking this as seriously as they could.
    Leonel suddenly felt a pair of eyes on him. He casually turned his head to find a familiar large man.
    Sir Lamorak looked down toward Leonel with placid eyes. It was impossible to tell what his emotions were at that moment. He seemed like a man who wouldn't blink even if a mountain came crashing down before him.
    Leonel met his gaze equally as expressionlessly. Even when his strength was far beneath Lamorak's, he hadn't wavered. It could be said the only reason he had panicked back then was due to Magus Aliard's attack on his mind.
    The current Leonel had long since learned how to defend his mind from such things. He no longer had to rely on the passive strength of his spirit, he could actively block such spells.
    It could be said that Leonel was one of the only few who didn't feel such reverance in the presence of these individuals.
    In truth, Leonel was born in an Empire as well. Though somewhat different from a Kingdom, the concept was similar enough. However, Earth's government was quite unique. While the sovereignty of the Emperor was important and many positions were hereditary, there was still the shadow of democracy.
    This was why officials went by titles like Secretary Marquisette and Governor Duke. Each of these titles were combinations of democratically elected titles and hereditary ones.
    Due to this unique system, Leonel hadn't grown up in an environment where there was an emphasis on kneeling бк and by extension, not kneeling.
    That said, kneeling and not kneeling was one matter, while bowing to pressure was another. There was a difference between a person who knelt out of fear and one who knelt simply out of custom.
    Leonel's body might kneel, but that didn't mean his heart kneeled.
    Facing Lamorak's gaze, rather than shying away, Leonel felt his blood boil uncontrollably once again. It took all of his will power to not point a spear in the direction of that man.
    He restrained his aura completely and eventually looked away from Lamorak. He felt that if he continued to look, he would lose all ability to control himself any longer.
    At that moment, arcs of light splintered in the air, causing a mote of light to float before each participant. Soon, that light broke apart to reveal a wooden card with a number engraved onto it.
    Leonel's number was 321.
    "Battles of the Mage and Knight Academies will go on simultaneously. Please split apart according to your numbers. You've been split into group of 100. Numbers 1 to 100 hereбн"
    Another Two Star Magus had taken over the preceedings. This time, he was a Two Star Earth Magus. Though there were some Two Star Magi taking part in this tournament, there were many with powerful family backers that had no need to do so.
    This tournament was entirely made for those who wouldn't be receiving quotas from their families.
    "Why're you staring daggers at a little boy, Lamorak? Oh?"
    A man no shorter than Lamorak looked up in interest.
    "Is that the boy who made you suffer a loss? I heard that you had to activate your Blazing Internal Strength to defeat him, aren't you embarrassed?"
    The man jeered Lamorak without restraint, laughing heartily. But, it was clear that this wasn't a disdainful taunt but rather simple banter between friends.
    Lamorak grunted, but his eyes narrowed. He didn't like the look Leonel gave him at all. It wasn't particularly disrespectful, but the feeling was akin to being questioned by an ant. It made him feel uncomfortable.
    "If he can fight you, this might be a bit too easy for the boy. He should steamroll the 21-30 bracket with absolute ease. He should be of some help during the Trialsбн"
    Some of the knights here were old enough to have entered the Merlin Trial Gates the last time. Though 50 years was long to a mortal, to those who practice Internal Strength, living 150 years wasn't a problem.
    As such, they were all well aware of just what kind of danger waited for them. Even though they were also much more powerful than they had been in the past, they still didn't feel an ounce of confidence. This was the kind of weight the Merlin Trials placed on the heart.
    "Whether he'll gain a spot to enter is still a matter that needs to be decided."
    "Hm?" The knight by Lamorak's side frowned. "Don't tell me you're targeting a little boy, Lamorak?"
    By the knight's tone, it was clear he was one part stunned and another part disappointed. Stunned because this wasn't the Lamorak he knew and disappointed because this wasn't the sort of disposition a knight should have.
    "His origins are unknown. The only reason I allowed him to live was because Aliard stepped in and he was a Light Mage. But now, he's come out as an Earth Childe and washed his hands of all Holy Son related matters.
    "There's no need to target him directly or even kill him for now. He can consider this payment for the service he's given to my Camelot up until now. But, allowing him to enter the Merlin Trials is impossible. He's an already difficult to control variable, letting him get more out of control is inadvisable."
    The knight's frown deepened.
    "In that case, why are you allowing him to participate at all?"
    "It's better that he loses justifiably so that he has less things to complain about. I don't care about face, but I can't tarnish the shield of the Knight of the Round Table."
    "Are you joking, who are you going to find in his age group capable of defeating him? What are you playing at, Lamorak?"
    Lamorak snorted. "Maybe those who have to take part in this selection cannot, but if I select a few talented 30 year olds from those families, it will still be possible."
    "бн"
    The more Lamorak spoke, the more uncomfortable the knight became. It was clear that Lamorak wasn't a scheming person. Would a scheming person so easily reveal their snake tail like this? Lamorak was only doing what he thought was best for Camelot.
    In a lot of ways, he wasn't entirely wrong. There were too many questions about Leonel's identity and his abilities were even more questionable. Not killing him was already a sign of good will in Lamorak's opinion. However, allowing him to enter the Trial Gates was impossible.
    However, what happened next left Lamorak stunned.
    "Um, excuse me. I shouldn't be in this group."
    Up to now, the atmosphere had been quite solemn and quiet. Due to some odd spell or maybe the black drapes placed over the empty seats, their voices didn't echo as one would expect. However, this left everyone feeling exceptionally hollow.
    Most of the voices had been coming from either the hundred or so elites observing from the stands, or the Two Star Earth Magus directing everything below. Soбн Leonel's voice stood out especially.
    The Two Star Earth Magus frowned.
    "What is it?"
    "This is the group for 21 to 30 year olds, correct?" Leonel asked.
    "Yes, that is correct. You're in the right place."
    Leonel frowned and shook his head. "I'm only 18 years old this year, why would I be in this group? When did I say I was older than 20?"
    The arena was stunned silent.

 Chapter 262: Age Detection

    The Earth Elemental Magus looked toward Leonel with shock.
    In truth, he had heard of this Leonel before. No, it was more accurate to say that everyone had. And, due to his position, he was in a unique enough standing to know some special matters about Leonel as well.
    The main point was that Leonel was recently given credit for killing two Demon Lords. This was a feat only the likes of the General Stars and the Two and Three Star Magi had. Yet, it was now in the hands of an immature boy.
    It was already difficult enough to reconcile Leonel's talent with his age. But, if he was even younger than they all assumedбн just what kind of ridiculous matter was this?
    Now that the Two Star Earth Magus thought about it, the registration of ages should have been done by the candidate themselves. After all, everyone here should have been registered with either the Knight Academy or the Mage Academy.
    Leonel was in a bit of a special situation since he was an orphan. It seemed that as a result, other guessed his age for him?
    'That doesn't make any sense. Who would input an age for another without first asking? What would such a person gain?'
    The Earth Magus suddenly felt a cold sweat falling from his back. He suddenly felt that this matter wasn't so simple, but he also didn't know just what he had suddenly appeared in the middle of.
    "Boy, are you certain? The punishment for such an infraction isn't light."
    Leonel almost rolled his eyes. How could he not be certain about his own age?
    But at the last minute, he held back. In this world, he had claimed to be an orphan. In an era like this one, it wasn't rare for orphans like him to be off on the estimation of their own ages by a year or two. If he seemed too certain of his own age, then it would only bring more questions about his identity forward.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel decided to take a step back.
    "I'm an orphan, I can only make estimations of my own age. But, I shouldn't be older than 20."
    Hearing Leonel's response, the Earth Magus looked at him with an incredulous expression. This boy wasn't even sure but he was stirring up trouble.
    At this point, he wanted to wring Leonel's neck. If you weren't certain, why did you have to bring me into this mess?
    Leonel only seemed to realize there was something wrong after reading the magus' expression. Now that he thought about it, it was indeed odd that his age had been decided without first consulting him. Was he being targeted?
    'If my age was decided for me, it's very likely that my number was decided along with the order of my battles.'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel was enlightened. However, he was also inwardly puzzled.
    With his strength, was there really anyone 30 or younger who could defeat him?
    He didn't know, truthfully. He had a lot of knowledge about this world's magic system. But, as for the actual people that made up this world, he knew nothing. There very well could be for all he knew.
    Still, Leonel was confident.
    That saidбн just because he was confident, didn't mean he'd allow others to ride on his head just because they felt he was an easy target.
    "There's no need to drag this out, honored Magus. My knowledge is limited, but I do know that there exists an auxiliary spell that can test skeletal age. If I'm wrong, I'm willing to take on whatever punishment you have."
    The Earth Magus' expression changed. The truth was that they were mostly were using the deterrence of Camelot to avoid such trouble. The [Age Detection] Mage Art was a Two Star Magus Art.
    Not only was it a high level spell, but since it served no other purpose, it was rare for Magi to learn it at all. It took years of meditation and calculations to learn just a single Two Star Magus Art. Why would anyone spend it on such a spell?
    It could be said that those who did had done so for research purposes. Since [Age Detection] was a spell that relied on understanding the intricacies of the human body, comprehending it deepened one's understanding of healing magic.
    This was all to say that those who could afford to waste time learning such a high level spell had exceptionally high standing within Camelot. In fact, they may be among those overwhelmingly influential individuals within the stands currently.
    "Thisбн"
    The Earth Magus turned a helpless eye toward the stands. Obviously, he didn't have the ability to cast [Age Detection].
    At that moment, several cold gazes flashed within the 21-30 group. It was nearly imperceptible, but Leonel caught onto a few, causing him to sneer within his heart.
    The longer he spent in this new world order, the more he learned about how useless ideas of law and justice were.
    "Leonel, right? How about this. You're so powerful to begin with. Whether you participate in the lower or middle age bracket, the result will be the same. Why not just allow things to proceed as is?"
    Leonel almost laughed in response.
    "If that's the case and the result is the same regardless, why not just let me participate in the lower age bracket?"
    The Earth Magus was helpless. He was really hoping that Leonel would just take a step back. But, who knew where this child gained enough guts to be so contentious before the eyes of so many elites?
    In the end, he could only look toward the stands for guidance.
    Pope Margrave watched on with an amused light in his eyes. He found Leonel to be quite interesting. From what he knew, this child was quite clever. If he was doing this, it meant he realized he was likely being targeted and simply didn't care to continue being respectful.
    Finally, someone from above stepped forward. When Leonel saw who it was, his internal sneer only deepened.
    "Three Star Official Magus Leonel is an orphan. His age is unknown. Judging by his level of strength and his accomplishments, it was decided that he would be allocated to the middle age bracket. This will mitigate the risk to other youths. In addition, it's believed that he has the strength necessary to protect himself."
    Leonel didn't have much of a reaction to these words.
    "I would like to ask for my age to be confirmed, please."
    Lamorak, who had obviously been the one to stand out, narrowed his gaze.
    "The decision has been made."
    "Is that so?" Leonel asked. "Are you certain?"
    Lamorak's aura suddenly became sharp.
    "I can just cast it myself if it's really so troublesome." Leonel said as though not noticing Lamorak's expression.
    Before anyone could react, a strong wind surged around Leonel.
    One secondбн twoбн three..
    SHUUU!
    A light formed around Leonel's body as motes of light began to form from his body.
    The lights grew in number and gathered. Soon, the spell dimmed, leaving the truth apparent for all to see.
    18 motes of light. The 19th barely formed before collapsing.
    Not only was it clear that Leonel was only 18 years old, it was obvious that he was only about half way to 19.
    Lamorak's brow twitched.

 Chapter 263: First Place

    "It shouldn't be a problem now, right?" Leonel said calmly. "Please allocate me amongst the lower age bracket. There's no need to make wild guesses and conjectures any longer."
    There seemed to be nothing wrong with Leonel's words, but they were laced with a hidden sarcasm that gave away his immaturity. It seemed that he wasn't very good at controlling his emotions, but this only made sense. He was still a teenage boy.
    However, none of that mattered. He was in the right. All of Lamorak's diligent planning went to waste. Never did he think that Leonel would actually have the ability to cast such a spell.
    In the stands, Lionus smiled.
    'This Leonel. It seems his true self is coming out more and more everyday. If Lamorak keeps pushing his buttons, he might not light the ultimate result.'
    Without a choice, Leonel was allowed to enter the lower age bracket.
    From start to finish, the two with the highest authority бк King Arthur and Queen Guinevere бк didn't say a single word. They didn't step forward to help Lamorak, nor did they say anything in favor of Leonel. It seemed they were intent on being spectators to the end.
    As rulers of a Kingdom, they had long since become accustomed to internal strife. Though it was a bit surprising that Leonel could cast a Two Star Magus Art, it wasn't as surprising as killing two Demon Lords. So in the end, it was still acceptable.
    Like this, Leonel steam rolled through the lower age bracket.
    He didn't want to give Lamorak another excuse to target him, so since he was taking part in the Mage Academy selection, he used nothing but Mage Arts from start to finish, not pulling out his spear even once. In fact, he didn't need to use anything but Apprentice Arts.
    His skill and battle sense caught the attention of many of the elites of Camelot. With each passing moment, he only impressed them more. Despite knowing that he was being watched by so many powerful beings, he was still able to maintain his calm, taking control of the battlefield with practiced ease.
    The truth was that while they were impressed, Leonel was not. He could cast faster, his Spirit Pressure reserves were larger and his ability was created to be calculative. If he couldn't defeat them, he would be no more than a joke.
    Leonel knew that it would be almost impossible to find those with his level of strength at his age within the Third Dimension. Only those born in higher Dimensions would be able to match him.
    Soon, the result was obvious.
    Leonel proceeded not to lose a single battle and claim the first spot amongst the lower age bracket.
    Within the middle age bracket, two young men stood side by side as they watched this with cold expressions.
    In truth, if an [Age Detection] was cast on them, it would be found that they were in their mid-30's. They had already bended the rules to battle it out with Leonel and force him into a loss. But, they had never expected such a result.
    The reason they could get away with such a thing was because they were merely the servants of the Lamorak Knightship. Since they were orphans, they could use the same excuse of not knowing their own age as well. In addition, since they were mages, they looked younger than they really were.
    The truth was that though they had cold expressions, they were inwardly sighing breaths of relief. If they were caught, the one to suffer obviously wouldn't be Lamorak, but themselves. It could be said that Leonel had saved them as well, in a wayбн
    Leonel accepted his first place token and turned to leave, not sparing a glance toward Lamorak again. Whether this matter would end with just this was still up in the air.
    Lamorak coldly watched as Leonel left.
    It could be said that he lost all face today without anything to show for it. However, he didn't feel hatred toward Leonel.
    He didn't do this because he hated Leonel. He simply didn't want Camelot to raise a snake in its grasses. Since this didn't work, he just had to think of something else.
    **
    Leonel retreated to his living quarters. However, there was no happiness on his face. Instead, his gaze was suffused with a cold light.
    After a moment, he laid down a few auxiliary protection and detection spells before entering the Segmented Cube's Lab Setting. There were still two months left until the leaving date. So, he had to be prepared.
    First he needed to complete his glove craft. After that, he would have to bite the bullet and make some utility treasures. Before, he didn't want to waste the precious ores he obtained from the Project Hunt island because they were simply too difficult to gather and he wanted to save them for his Divine Armor, but now he had no choice.
    Lamorak seemed to believe that it would be a simple matter to deal with him. However, he had never been a pushover.
    As Leonel began to meditate, the cold determination within him only grew.
    He knew very well that at that moment, within the arena, the 100 or so elites of Camelot were discussing the placement of the youths the selection had just chosen. However, whether or not the position promised to him would be given to him was still up in the air.
    There were three reasons Leonel chose to come back to Camelot despite knowing this would be a possibilty. After all, he had already been burned once by returning to the Royal Blue Fort. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice without reason.
    The first reason was information. He simply didn't know enough about the Merlin Trials. Had he not returned, he would have no idea that the opening was still so many months away despite the appearance of that pillar of light.
    The second reason was due to the side quests. Completing and clearing this Zone perfectly required Leonel to have a good relationship with Camelot. If he didn't, it would be several times more difficult. He didn't want to break off relations unless he absolutely had to.
    And, finallyбн it was the Knight Academy. Leonel had still not gotten the opportunity to read through the libraries of the knights. It was very possible that the information they held would help better his Dreamscape.
    Thankfully, this selection provided a unique opportunity. The regulations of the academies had been relaxed so that students could improve in the time leading up to the opening.
    Leonel would take advantage of this time. He didn't know what trials lay ahead of him. For all he knew, his conjectures about the higher Dimensional Beings interfering with this Zone might all be wrong. But, the one thing he wouldn't be was unprepared.
    As expected, just as Leonel was beginning to lay out his plans, the debate between the elites of Camelot had begun.

 Chapter 264: Kings Summon

    Swirls of golden lines followed the arc of Leonel's hand. His quill worked quickly. Sometimes it was forceful and strong, other times it was soft and delicate.
    The blueprint of his craft grew more complex and intricate with each passing moment.
    The more time Leonel spent diving into the world of Force Crafters, the more he realized just how deep such a world was.
    The ultimate deciding factor of the complexity of a Craft was the number of parts it was constructed by. The number of parts that constructed a Craft could decide whether it was simple to make or if it would be the bane of its creator.
    Of course, there were always exceptions to the rules. It was possible for lower part Crafts to exceed higher part Crafts in difficulty of construction. For example, the most complex Craft Leonel had made to this point was his earth escape treasure.
    This earth escape treasure was only constructed of two parts. The outer band of the ring and the inner band. The outside was made of an Earth Elemental Vessel while the inner was made of a Water Elemental Vessel. It was precisely the difficulty of balancing these two Ores that made this treasure so difficult to construct.
    This was all to say that the number of parts was a deciding factor, but not the only factorбн
    Unfortunately, Leonel was facing trouble on both sides now. Not only was this Craft made of more parts than he had ever delt with before, but it also involved very volatile elements he was having trouble controlling.
    The design he had settled on was a glove with three sleeves, one for his middle finger, one for his pointer figure and the last for his thumb. Since his pinky and ring fingers weren't strictly necessary for using a bow, he decided to save on materials.
    However, it was impossible to construct a sturdy enough glove with metal while also maintaining flexibility if he forged it into one part. As such, he needed to account for his finger and thumb joints.
    In addition to this, Leonel wanted to use the properties of the Ores he chose to increase the strength of his arrows. As a result, he needed to form Force Pathways within the glove. This added a level of complexity that was beyond his current skill.
    However, Leonel had his Dream World. If he wasn't skilled enough now, he would practice and practice until he could accomplish his goal in real life.
    'This Craft will have a dual Wind and Lightning Elemental affinity.
    'I'll use the Fluttering Leaf Ore and Second Strike Lightning Elemental Oreбн'
    If others head Leonel's thoughts, they'd think he was insane.
    Fluttering Leaf Ore was a Wind Elemental Vessel Ore best know for its light weight. Its a favorite for constructing flight type treasures, especially wings.
    Second Strike Lightning Ore was a favorite of Lightning Mages. However, its main use was in increasing thinking speed and casting speed.
    Using these two Ores in a Craft designed to strengthen arrows was practically unheard of.
    However, Leonel wasn't a fool. It was precisely because of these abilities that he wanted them.
    Though these Ores were known for these abilities, they were ultimately still Elemental Vessels. As parts of this Ore Family, their strength lied in storing their element.
    The reason they were known best for their respective abilities was because they were great at providing a controlled output of their abilities.
    Flight required a controlled stream of wind. If wind was erratic in flight, the likelihood of death was simply too high.
    On the other side of the coin, just how fragile was the nervous system? If a Lightning Ore could be relied upon to speed up one's thinking speed, it was as gentle as it came.
    This is what made these two Leonel's ideal choice.
    His hand was an important part of his body, especially his right hand which was dominant in the wielding of his spear. In addition, an arrow had a slim and delicate body in most cases. Whether it was for his arrow or for his hand, Leonel had to maximize safety and not strength.
    Leonel knew he could pick other Ores for a more exaggerated affect, but he was still too unskilled to guarantee their success. Maybe in the future he would look into such things, but for nowбн this would be his best shot!
    'I'll use Wind and Lightning Vein Ores as the foundation of the Force Pathways within the glove. However, they'll only play a supporting role, all of the Elemental Force will be provided by the Wind and Lightning Vessel Oresбн
    'The final part will have 11 parts and be a Tier 9 Black Grade treasureбн'
    Leonel continuously tweaked his final design. Any problems he found after simulating it in his Dream World would be fixed immediately.
    He had no idea just how outstanding his feat was. Tier 9 Black Force Crafters were rarities on Fourth Dimensional Worlds. There were many such worlds without even a single one. Such worlds had to rely on trade with better off worlds or the rewards provided by higher Dimensional Worlds for clearing Zones.
    It could be said that the current Leonel was an anomaly amongst anomalies. Even he, himself, had underestimated just how valuable his ability was to his career as a Force Crafter.
    However, while Leonel was advancing by leaps and bounds, he was still ignorant to too many things. His value as a Force Crafter alone was enough for those of Earth to elevate him to the level of a God.
    Well, that was just one possibilityбн the other possibility would be them locking him up to refine Crafts for them to the end of his daysбн
    Like this, weeks ticked by and the call Leonel was waiting for finally happened.
    On that days, Leonel opened the door of his residence to find Lionus standing there waiting for him with a solemn expression.
    "Leonel, I hope you've been well." Lionus forced a smile. "My father seeks an audience with you."
    Leonel was stunned for a moment before his gaze narrowed. King Arthur wanted to see him?

 Chapter 265: Just Say So

    A normal man wouldn't ever gain the right to enter a King's castle in his entire lifetime. But, there were always rare instances in which one would gain such an opportunity.
    If you place yourself in one such person's shoes, it would be possible to imagine the surging emotions. The air of nobility that seemed to permeate every corner of the atmosphere bore down on the soul as though wanting to suppress any ego and pave the path for reverence and respect.
    Leonel had never been to the Capital City of Earth before. The best he had seen were images of the Grand Palace. He remembered feeling awe at the sight and currently, he felt no different.
    He lacked such experiences in life, how could he not be surprised and even feel somewhat suppressed in such an atmosphere.
    The noble air, the well trained guards, the lingering scent of superiority that hung in the airбн It all weighed on his soul and it felt like the closer he got to the throne room, the greater the pressure grew.
    Leonel didn't even realize it, but he subconsciously took several steps back in his mind. These weren't physical steps, but rather mental ones. It was like he was making concessions before the talks even began.
    Lionus calmly observed Leonel from the side, but once again, didn't say much of anything. This time, it wasn't because he was testing Leonel, but rather because there were too many forces at play this time.
    If Lionus had to choose a side to be on, he would choose his father ten out of ten times. He was the man he admired most in his life.
    He also admired Leonel and even took him for a friend. But, it was simply impossible for Leonel's relationship with him to trump his relationship with his father.
    "Enter."
    A dignified voice shook Leonel's heart and the doors to the throne room opened.
    Leonel had seen such a place already. The throne room of Pope Margrave wasn't much different aside from the fact this place was much less bright. However, Pope Margrave didn't give Leonel such an oppressive feeling.
    Compared to the laid back version of himself at the selection, King Arthur didn't carry the same carefree smile. Rather, his brows held a touch of dignity and his lips were pressed into a relaxed line that hid his emotions to perfection.
    Leonel approached the throne and knelt to one knee as a sign of respect. He had read about proper mannerisms within the libraries of both academies. Following them wasn't very difficult thanks to his pristine memory.
    However, due to this knowledge, Leonel also knew that he wasn't meant to rise until he gained King Arthur's acceptance. Leonel had thought he would hear something immediately, but he never expected for his show of respect to be greeted with a long drawn out silence.
    "Three Star Official Magus Leonel. Born an orphan to the Fiore Barony. Recommended by Three Star Apprentice Knight Heckle."
    Another long pause came after King Arthur said these things before he continued.
    "Just these three. The information networks of Camelot have been working in full force for over a month, yet this is all they could find out.
    "So, I will ask you this question once and once only.
    "Who are you?"
    The more King Arthur spoke, rather than becoming more and more nervous, Leonel actually felt himself becoming eerily calm.
    This feeling of helplessness had been gripping him a lot recently. Whether it was the battle at the fort, his run-in with Hacker Hutch, his battle with Lamorak, and now with this King Arthur who seemed intent on using his position of power to pressure Leonel into breaking down and telling the truth of his origins.
    He found that with each time this happened, it felt worst than the last.
    Normally, it would make sense that he would get used to it. After someone lowered their head once, it became easier and easier to do it as time went on. Eventually, raising it back up again became an impossible task.
    But, for whatever reason, this didn't happen to Leonel.
    King Arthur didn't seem to notice anything. But, Lionus who had gained a deep understanding of Leonel over the past months suddenly felt that Leonel's aura was growing more and more stable.
    Lionus' expression flickered for just a moment.
    Leonel remained silent. However, his lack of a response made King Arthur's gaze narrow.
    The throne room didn't have many guards. There was simply no need. The most powerful warrior of Camelot was before them, so how many guards did he really need? But, it was safe to say that those who were here were the cream of the crop.
    Seeing Leonel's lack of a response, their auras, too, grew sharper.
    What happened next was completely unexpected.
    Leonel stood. Without word from King Arthur, on his own accord, he stood and brushed his knees as though there was dirt on them. In such a pristine and well maintained castle, where could there possibly be a speck of dust to find?
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly realized that he didn't like kneeling.
    "If His Majesty, King Arthur, has something to say, please be frank with me. My history is as you say, there's nothing out of place. There's nothing more I could say about it."
    This was Camelot, not Earth. Did this King Arthur think he was a fool?
    Commoners didn't receive birth records, least of all orphans. Only nobles had the right to such a thing. On top of that, the Fiore Barony King Arthur mentioned was within the Yellow Mission Ring. Camelot's influence in that region was especially weak.
    All this pressure King Arthur was placing on him, pretending as though he had already seen through Leonel, was all useless pretense. Leonel understood enough about Camelot after reading so many books that he could accurately guess that the likelihood he had been seen through was less than 7%. At most, they'd have suspicions.
    Therefore, reacting with righteous indignation now was the proper reaction.
    That saidбн The current Leonel truly wasn't acting. He was pissed off. Maybe if it wasn't for his friendship with Lionus, he wouldn't mind exposing Queen Guinevere's extramarital affair right here and now.
    Leonel continued without waiting for an inevitably shocked reaction.
    "If you would like to side with Sir Lamorak over me and rescind my right to enter the Merlin Trials, just say so."

 Chapter 266: Rescinded

    Leonel raised his head to look toward King Arthur. His gaze was as calm as a lake, splitting the kingly aura that descended upon him in a steady stream.
    King Arthur's aura became more and more stifling.
    It wasn't just him. The guards along the walls of the throne room felt rage an indignation. Who was this boy to speak to their King in such a way?
    It had to be remembered that though King Arthur was an orphan, he was still of noble birth. To the people of Camelot, his orphan status wasn't as important as his royal blood. From the very beginning, he was destined to be King.
    To the subjects of Camelot, the difference in worth between Leonel and their King was obvious. How could they allow such an infringement on his dignity.
    At that moment, Arthur felt a hint of rage in his heart. When had he ever been disrespected in this way? Ever since he pulled the sword from the stone, his life had completely changed. He hadn't suffered a single setback.
    In that journey up, his Knights were his brothers in arm. Lamorak and the others grew up by his side. He would have never made it here had he not relied on the judgment of his close friends. It was impossible for a King to make every decision himself and see through every mystery alone.
    Even if he appreciated Leonel's talent, Lamorak wasn't asking him to kill him, he was only asking him to rescind an entry right. Though this was still quite a major ask, it was still acceptable under the circumstances.
    It was true that King Arthur had already decided to side with Lamorak. However, he had decided to question Leonel first.
    In his mind, Leonel was just a teenage boy. Under the oppression of kingly might, any flaws he had would be obvious for all to see. However, what he had never expected was for Leonel to react like this.
    It was true that Leonel had the right to feel indignant. A Major Opening of the Trials only happened once or twice a century. If he missed this opening, it would mean that he would never live up to his full potential.
    However, Camelot was in a precarious position right now. King Arthur would rather wrong an innocent than give way to a villain.
    Whether it was the internal strife with The Church, or the outside pressure of the Demon Army, both were issues that couldn't be looked down upon. If he also raised another tiger in the meantime, his Kingdom might truly crumble.
    He already had his back pressed against a wall, yet now he was withstanding the verbal assault of a junior? How could he not be enraged.
    King Arthur slowly regained his calm.
    Though his heart was billowing with anger, his face had hardly shown any ripples from start to finish. He was a King. In the end, he wouldn't lower himself to the level of a child.
    "Three Star Official Mage Leonel, it has been decided by the Royal Court of Camelot that your rights for entry into the Merlin Trial Gates will be rescinded. You may leave."
    King Arthur felt no need to explain himself. He could insist that Leonel's origins were too mysterious. He could say that Lamorak and he had fought side by side on many battlefields and he trusted the judgment of his brother. He could bring up any number of fallacious reasons he wanted.
    However, he didn't. He disdained to. What reason did he have to explain himself to someone beneath him? He was a King. The King of Camelot. His word was final.
    That saidбн This King could have never expected Leonel's response.
    "Mm."
    Leonel nodded as though this judgment had nothing to do with him. Then, he turned to leave without another word.
    He had entered this castle with awe in his heart and he left with indifference hanging around him. He didn't even bother to bid farewell to Lionus.
    King Arthur's gaze flashed with rage, but Leonel's footsteps didn't pause. It was complete disregard.
    In the end, King Arthur chose not to move, even waving his guards who had half unsheathed their weapons off.
    As Leonel walked out, he affirmed something in his heart.
    There were many versions of King Arthur. There were stories that painted him as a heroic man without flaws who only fell due to the betrayal of those closest to him. However, there were others that painted him as a hero of an era with tragic flaws that drove those closest to him away.
    After this interaction, Leonel already knew which version of King Arthur he was dealing with.
    Long after Leonel left, King Arthur let out a sigh and shook his head. He ultimately wasn't an oppressive ruler. He had his own guilty conscience, but that didn't mean he would change his mind. He had already decided to side with Lamorak.
    "Father, I think you've made the wrong decision."
    Lionus, who hadn't felt it was right to follow Leonel, stayed behind. After a long while, he finally spoke these words.
    "So this is why you decided to stay back? In recent days, it seems like you haven't wanted to spend any time with this father of yours at all."
    If others knew this, they would be shocked. After all, Lionus had nothing but admiration for his father. Avoiding him didn't sound like something he would do.
    "Fatherбн"
    King Arthur waved his hand.
    "Say no more, the decision has been made. The words a King speaks can't be so easily taken back.
    "He is an Earth Mage, so ensure that this is properly accounted for. Ensure that he doesn't leave Camelot within the next year. After this, let him go and do as he pleases.
    "If he moves to join Modred, kill him. If not, leave him be."
    King Arthur gave this task not just to his son, but his guards as well. Wouldn't it be too much of a joke if Leonel was allowed to escape through the ground and leave toward the Trials even after he was banned from doing so?

 Chapter 267: Ungrateful

    Things progressed about how Leonel expected. When he returned to his living abode within the Mage Academy, he found that there were several spells deployed that he hadn't constructed himself.
    Many of them locked down space and prevented teleportation spells from activating. A few solidified the ground, impeding an Earth Mage's ability to use it to their benefit. And the majority were detection types, monitoring Leonel's every movement.
    Leonel's gaze flashed with rage. With a violent surge of his Spirit Pressure, the detection Mage Arts shattered like a rain of glass, crumbling beneath his might.
    It was hardly a second later when Leonel heard a knock on his door. He opened it to find a familiar face on the other side.
    "These detection arrays were put in place for a purpose. Your freedom is not your own for the next year, under the rules set by His Majesty, King Arthur. If you destroy them again, it will be assumed that you are rebelling and you will be treated as such."
    Lamorak spoke without emotion.
    Then, without waiting for Leonel to respond, he moved to the side and allowed a mage without affinity to enter Leonel abode as though it was his own.
    With an apologetic look, the mage began to recast all of the detection Mage Arts Leonel had just shattered. It was only after 20 or so minutes that the mage finally finished and took his leave.
    After observing the whole process, Lamorak left the door ajar and took his leave.
    BANG!
    Leonel slammed the door shut with such force that it flew from its hinges.
    The commotion wasn't small. With Leonel's strength, let alone the door, even the passageway it flew through was left with cracks that stretched along the wall.
    In fact, the sound was so abrupt and violent that Lamorak felt his heart skip a beat for just a moment. He seemed to have completely forgotten that he was dealing with a child. Was he supposed to expect that Leonel wouldn't make any sort of commotion?
    Leonel didn't even bother to deal with his now doorless abode. What was the point? If he was being monitored so thoroughly, who cared if he had a door or not. Might as well let them deal with the damage he caused.
    Lamorak's expression darkened.
    "I advise you to control yourself."
    "And I advise you to go fuck yourself."
    Leonel's temper flared. His eyes turned red and he bore down on Lamorak with a savage expression nearing madness.
    It seemed that if Lamorak pushed him just one more step, he would flare up.
    But this time, they weren't on the broad streets of Camelot. If they fought here, Leonel might not care about the damage he caused, but Lamorak didn't have such a luxury. And, Leonel was already too powerful to control with ease even for him.
    As the clash between the two men continued, the crowd seemed to only be growing. The Mage Academy was a place of scholars to begin with.
    Normally, the Academy would be exceptionally quiet. Even when two or more mages were conversing, they would keep their voices to respectable levels. Something like two people having an argument and causing so much noise was exceedingly rare.
    Lamorak saw the change to the situation and frowned. In the end, he backed down.
    After remembering that there was nothing Leonel could do but throw a tantrum, he regained his calm.
    However, this was still troublesome. It would be fine if he alone was losing face. But, if others knew that Leonel was being targeted after all the merits he had accomplished for Camelot, it would become a problem.
    What neither King Arthur or Lamorak took into consideration was Leonel's own response to everything.
    Lamorak knew that if he didn't take a step back now and make some concession, Leonel might really disregard all consequences.
    If he thought about it, wasn't this the normal way anyone would react? Their actions were no different from cutting off Leonel's future. Who wouldn't be completely infuriated now?
    Leonel snorted coldly.
    With a grasping motion, he activated the One Star Official Art [Magic Touch] and flung the door closed behind him. Unfortunately, his forcefulness caused even more cracks to appear along the walls of the Mage Academy.
    The spectators were stunned. They couldn't help but send hesitant glances toward Lamorak. How could they not recognize a lofty Knight of the Round Table? And, even if they didn't, Lamorak's oppressive aura was enough for them to know that he wasn't simple.
    When these people dispersed, news of what happened here began to disseminate. There was an outpouring of sympathy for Leonel. Many wondered just why it was the Royal Family would treat such a talent this way.
    Many of the mages and knights of Camelot came from normal families. This was especially so for mages. Magic talent usually appeared randomly except in cases where there was a lineage of exceptionally powerful magic users within a family.
    So, seeing that Leonel was being suppressed in such a way, it left them feeling cold.
    Of course, while there were those who felt sympathy, there would always be those of opposing views.
    For Leonel to gain a quota, he of course had to take a spot from others. There weren't just a few youths Leonel had beaten, and not just a few of them came from prominent families. It was just unfortunate that they weren't good enough to gain the quotas given to their families, so they could only fight it out with Leonel.
    Like this, Camelot split into two minds.
    It was then that rumors of Leonel's questionable background came into being. As a Kingdom, how could Camelot not be capable of controlling narratives?
    Suddenly, Leonel's righteous indignation toward his treatment became the story of a man who couldn't control his emotions and couldn't repay kindness.
    Leonel was just a commoner. It was his good fortune that he was allowed to enter the Mage Academy.
    By some twist, news of Lamorak 'sparing' Leonel's life and receiving the graciousness of Magus Aliard spread as well.
    Like this, what should have been a story of Leonel being done wrong by became a story Leonel's ungratefulness бк a tale of an arrogant young man who let his success get to his head.
    However, the current Leonel didn't have a mind to pay to such things. The moment he slammed his door shut once more, his raging, savage expression became eerily calm. It was as though he was never enraged to begin with.
    'It's time to leave this place.'

 Chapter 268: Escape

    Leonel wasn't a fool. He had already expected much of this to happen the moment he heard King Arthur's words. Everything he had done until now was just an act.
    In truth, Leonel really was enraged. But, he wasn't the kind of person to blow up when he felt such a way. It was far more likely for him to grow calmer in such a situation, like a volcano waiting to erupt.
    His interaction with James during their final meeting was a perfect representation of this. Back then, Leonel had been feeling all sorts of emotions swirling in his mind. Yet, the outward persona had been calm and placid, even while he was losing a friend of a lifetime. This was just the kind of person Leonel was.
    In his brief interaction with Lamorak, he had accomplished two things.
    First, he made Lamorak underestimate him. A person who can't control their emotions isn't a very dangerous person at all. By painting himself out to be an immature teenage boy, much of his threat had been lessened by several degrees.
    However, this was just a secondary matter to Leonel. It would at most give him a small advantage. His true plan lied within the shattering of the detection Arts.
    Leonel had no doubt that Lamorak would have a meeting with the mage who drew these Arts very soon. In fact, that meeting might be occurring at this very moment.
    After that meeting, Lamorak would find out that of the arrays Leonel destroyed, there were still about 5% of them remaining. This would make Lamorak lower his guard even more. But, they would have no idea that Leonel had already caused a flaw to occur within the arrays.
    Leonel walked to the center of his room and sat in meditation as though trying to calm himself. An hour later, he stood up and calmly left his room without a word.
    Leonel continued to walk as though nothing had happened. There was hardly anyone to find within the hallways of the Mage Academy and the few that did see him only sent various glances Leonel ignored.
    Just minutes later, Leonel had already left the ground of the Mage Academy and out the gates of? Camelot's walls toward the outer city.
    At that moment, within the Mage Academy, a familiar mage was sitting in a room adjacent to Leonel's, diligently monitoring the arrays he had cast. Though he didn't really know what was going on, what he did know was that he wasn't in any position to reject. This was an order that came from King Arthur himself and was even being overseen by a Knight of the Round Table.
    He might have been a Two Star Magus, but his standing was far beneath that of others. What he was the very best at where auxiliary type Arts. He was a great addition to any special team unit. Whether it was detection, deciphering, or obstruction, he was good at them all.
    Even still, this Magus didn't dare to be casual with his actions. Leonel was a person who had killed two Demon Lords. The number of individuals who had such a feat in Camelot didn't exceed a hundred by much. And, considering a population of tens of millions, it was clear that these individuals were elites amongst elites.
    However, even after many hours, the Magus didn't find anything wrong.
    'бн This is going to be a long yearбн' The magus sighed.
    Detection Arts didn't exactly work like the cameras of earth. Rather, they locked onto an energy signature and fed back information about its location. By using many of them at once, it was possible to lock down a subject's position to the smallest detail.
    Visual Detection Arts were too easy to fool since they relied on an input of photons. Aura detection and locking Arts were far better for high level applications. They were much more difficult to fool and manipulate. Even if he as a Two Star Magus was given ample time to do so, his success would be uncertain.
    Like this, time continued to tick by.
    Leonel's aura didn't budge a single inch. After raging, it seemed that he had resigned himself to his fate and hadn't made any other movements.
    Every so often, the magus would send another report to Lamorak, informing him that the situation was the same.
    In truth, Lamorak was also personally monitoring Leonel, it was just that his approach was a bit different. He stalked the walkways of the Mage Academy, scanning through any potential escape routes periodically.
    At that moment, he was in a state of meditation on the roof of the Mage Academy. To him, everything was within his grasp and everything was going well.
    He didn't think there was anything wrong with Leonel's lack of movement. Helplessness was an expected emotion at this point.
    Still, something felt off about all of this to Lamorak. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
    He thought back to everything he knew about Leonel.
    In truth, it wasn't much. His interactions with Leonel had been few and far between. That saidбн With the exception of when Aliard cast a mental Art on Leonel, he had always been calm.
    But this wasn't enough for Lamorak to be suspicious. He hardly knew Leonel. For all he knew, Leonel's calm disposition was nothing but a facade he put up.
    'Forget it, I will just go an check myself.'
    Lamorak didn't feel that there was anything wrong. However, the unease in his heart wouldn't leave. He couldn't fathom how Leonel could ever leave with him monitoring the whole Academy, but as long as he laid eyes on Leonel, everything would be fine.
    Lamorak appeared in the very same hallway, his expression darkening when he saw the cracks along the wall. The damage Leonel had caused was truly too much.
    Without so much as knocking, he tried to swing Leonel's door open. Unfortunately, the door fell over, exposingбн an empty room within.
    Lamorak's expression twitched.
    At that moment, blaring noises sounded from within Camelot. They were so loud that the earth seemed to shake beneath its pressure.
    Leonel, who had long left the range of Camelot looked back with an expressionless visage. Then, he turned around and continued to walk away as though none of it had anything to do with him.

 Chapter 269: Enemy

    "FInd him! I don't care what you have to do!"
    King Arthur's voice boomed across Camelot's Castle. There was no doubt that it was completely rage fueled.
    Even when Leonel had completely disregarded him, he hadn't felt so enraged. But now, he felt as though his face was being slapped for all to see.
    To him, it was perfectly fine if Leonel's future prospects were completely cut off. However, if Leonel were to leave the control of Camelot, every risk he had taken to now would be for naught.
    Now, not only had he offended maybe the greatest talent birthed since himself, he had also allowed this talent to vanish beneath his nose. No, it was even more shocking that this talent had the ability to disappear without any of them noticing in the first place.
    King Arthur's rage lit a fire beneath the elites of Camelot. Everything had already been dancing on a blade's edge for so long, and now this had suddenly shoved them all into death's abyss.
    The work force of Camelot split into three teams under Arthur's urging. One focused on finding traces of Leonel, another studied the room he had left, and the last controlled the narrative of the Capital, morphing the image of Leonel into one of an evil doer.
    However, the magi were completely stunned after deeply analyzing the changes to Leonel's abode. The more they looked, the denser their cold sweat became. Just what kind of man had they made an enemy out of?
    After a thorough investigation took place and King Arthur learned what happened, his fury could tear a hole in the skies.
    It turned out that when Leonel shattered all of the detection arrays, he had taken the opportunity to infuse his aura into the walls.
    In this case, aura was just the signature of his Spirit Pressure. Every mage had a unique signature that couldn't be duplicated except by extremely skilled auxiliary mages. However, the more powerful a Spirit Pressure, the more difficult it was to replicate. It was likely that there was no one in Camelot that could replicate Leonel's aura.
    Taking advantage of this, Leonel slowly controlled his Spirit Pressure to influence the newly constructed detection arrays after Lamorak confronted him for destroying them.
    Then, as though that wasn't enough, when Leonel slammed the door, he directly tampered with the last line of defense the magus had left. However, because he had 'missed' those arrays when he first destroyed the detection Arts, the magus and Lamorak both subconsciously believed that he wasn't skilled enough to see them, so they weren't tipped off by Leonel's actions.
    But, none of this was what truly infuriated King Arthur.
    According to eye witness reports, Leonel left barely an hour after his initial interaction with Lamorak. He didn't wait until the dead of night, he didn't sneak out and slink around like a rat, he walked straight out the Mage Academy, through the gates of Camelot, and out without even quickening his steps.
    Blatant disregard. Blatant disrespect.
    It was as though he was using his actions to show them just how little regard he had for them and their statuses.
    Due to the fact Camelot had initially tried to keep the matter regarding Leonel under wraps, those who knew the truth behind the matter were strikingly few. As a result, Leonel walked out like a free man without a single issue.
    Now that they were spreading the narrative and more and more people were finding out about it, it was already too late.
    Leonel could have used any number of techniques. He could have used the [Light Refraction] Magus Art to hide himself from the eyes of others. He could have escaped through the earth after leaving his the restrictive arrays of his abode. He could have even taken his time to set up a teleportation Art to leave the range of Camelot's influence.
    Yet, he chose none of these paths. He chose the simplest and most disrespectful method he had available to him. Such a thing not only left the cheeks of Lamorak and King Arthur burning, but it fueled their hearts with rage.
    For the first time, Lamorak felt something other than indifference when he thought of Leonel.
    Initially, to him, this was never about Leonel. This was only a simple risk assessment in his eyes.
    In truth, many of the elites of Camelot had already concluded that Leonel was most likely the recipient of a Minor Opening of the Merlin Trials. This would perfectly explain his weird gadgets, his strength, and especially his spears.
    It made sense that while their King Arthur gained the Sword Inheritance of Merlin, Leonel gained the Spear Inheritance.
    After thinking to this point, there was no reason for them to obstruct Leonel. Who would easily divulge the fact they had benefited from a Minor Opening? The fact so many held on tightly to this secret was why they knew so little about Minor Openings.
    However, back then, Lamorak had felt an itch in his heart despite thinking this made sense. He simply hadn't thought of it before.
    Due to this itch, he decided to implore King Arthur to place Leonel under house arrest.
    Though King Arthur was initially reluctant, after Lamorak described his worries and his opinions on Leonel's character, King Arthur ultimately decided to trust in his long time confidant.
    However, neither of them could have ever expected this result. Andбн It was now guaranteed that Leonel would never stand with Camelot again. In addition, if he truly was Merlin's chosen Spear Heir as many of them thought, then it wouldn't be long before his strength was beyond anything anyone but King Arthur and Modred could faceбн
    Unfortunately, time was running out. The opening of the Trial Gates was quickly approaching. Camelot simply didn't have the man power necessary to split for such a large search.
    That saidбн everyone knew where Leonel's ultimate destination would land him.
    Suddenly, whether it was King Arthur, Lamorak, or the elite families of Camelot, they all had one more enemy outside of the Demons.

 Chapter 270: Earthen Road

    Days after Leonel's escape, Camelot finished its preparations.
    Unfortunately, due to the demons taking the initiative, Camelot had lost its footing around the Merlin Trial grounds. Without a choice, their only method of gaining entry was to fight to reclaim the land they had once lost.
    However, this matter wasn't so simple at all. Since Camelot knew what it had to do, how could Modred's army not also be aware? Long before Camelot began their march, waves of Demons had already begun to assault the Red and Yellow Rings of Camelot. Not only were there large numbers of humanoid demons, but the number of beast demons far outstripped even them, placing Camelot on the precipice of disaster.
    In such a situation, the elites of Camelot were hardpressed to address everything. At this point, King Arthur no longer had the luxury to continue thinking about Leonel. Even without Leonel, it seemed that their Kingdom might be on the brink of collapse.
    The truth was that Modred didn't have the ability to take down Camelot so easily. But, the root of the problem was that Camelot's elites all wanted to enter the Trial Gates. And, even beyond that, from a certain angle, they had to.
    If the Demon Elites entered, but Camelot could not, the disparity in their strengths would grow exponentially. Like this, Camelot's advantage of quality over quantity would disappear and their days would be numbered.
    However, it was impossible for all elites of Camelot to enter. If they did, who then would defend the common people? If they sacrificed the common man, so what if they came back more powerful? Would they even have a Kingdom to return to by then?
    The Trials could take upwards of several years to complete. In such a situation, how could they possibly leave Camelot undefended for so long?
    Soбн Some had to stay behindбн but, the question was who?
    The internal strife of Camelot only grew worse as a result. The battle for quotas reached a fever and those who were forced to stay behind no doubt had resentment buried deep within their hearts.
    However, the troubled times had not come to an end. Even after those who would stay and go were decided, those who would go didn't have an easy path waiting for them.
    Not only had the demons invaded the lands of? Camelot, forcing a portion to stay back and defend. But, there were also waves of demons obstructing their path forward.
    With the best teleportation formations of Camelot only being able to take on ten people at once, at most, the only option was to march on foot. However, this left them vulnerable to bloody battle after bloody battleбн By the time Camelot returned to the Border Region and approached the entrance, their numbers had been significantly waned and those who survived weren't in the greatest of conditionбн
    **
    The worries of Camelot had nothing to do with Leonel. As a lone traveler, and with his overwhelming Internal Sight, Leonel hardly found trouble making his way back to the Border Region.
    Leonel chose to continue on foot rather than setting up a teleportation array. The accuracy of long range teleportation arrays was lacking unless two were connected over a distance. Obviously, Leonel didn't have the luxury of doing so or else what would be the point of using one at all?
    There were short ranged Mage Arts among those that Leonel knew. However, not only did they consume a large amount of Spirit Pressure, even for a person like Leonel, but they also took a long time to cast. It took a normal Magus upwards of half a minute to cast one such Art. As for Leonel, it would take at least ten seconds.
    Such Arts were best used by skilled mages who could dual cast бк meaning preparing one Art while casting others to stall the enemy. Leonel had yet to need to do such a thing, especially since even with his Spirit Pressure, he could at most use such Arts about ten times in a single battle.
    Luckily, Leonel had already made his way through this region once before with Lionus. Though it was through teleportation stations, he still had a general idea about the direction. All he had to do was make it to the Border Region and he was certain he wouldn't miss that massive pillar of light.
    As expected, before even leaving the Red Ring, Leonel could already see the pillar in the distance. In fact, even without using his eyes he could sense the massive Force fluctuations in the air. All he had to do was follow his senses toward the region of highest concentration.
    "[Light Refraction]."
    Reaching this region, Leonel became more cautious.
    [Light Refraction] was only able to hide him from sight. It was a One Star Magus Light Art that refracted light around a subject. Since vision relied on the feedback loop of light, doing such a thing essentially made one invisible. The attack Arts of Light Magic might have been rare, but there were countless auxiliary Arts just like this.
    Unfortunately, it couldn't fool Internal Sight. But, for Leonel's current uses, it was perfect. Since the Border Region was exceptionally bland, [Light Refraction] worked particularly well. It might falter in regions with complex terrains, but the Border Region was just a vast expanse of grey, cracked lands. There was nothing to worry about here.
    Leonel rapidly closed the distance toward the pillar of light. The closer he got, the denser the population of demons became. It was obvious that Modred was casting a tighter and tighter net around the Trial Gates.
    Eventually, the encirclement of Demons became so thick that Leonel no longer dared to move forward normally.
    "[Earthen Road]."
    Leonel sunk into the ground.
    [Earthen Road] was a Three Star Magus Art, it took a while for Leonel to cast. However, when he had time to prepare and could use it in conjunction with his earth escape treasure, he could travel through the ground as though walking on land.
    Leonel approached slowly, keeping his movements measured so as not to alert those above him. When he felt that he was about half a kilometer away from the location of the Merlin Trial Gates, he came to a stop.
    Even without extending his Internal Sight for fear about being noticed, he could still feel the dense demonic energies above him. It was no surprise that the elites of Modred's Demon Army were located above him at this very moment.
    'I doubt that Modred wants to wipe out Camelot now. It's likely she simply wants to weaken the force entering the Gatesбн It's seems she's quite a calculating personбн'
    Camelot and Modred weren't the only two Leonel was worried about. He was also thinking about the 11 others who entered with him in addition to the potential interference of the higher Dimensional beings. Nothing about the next few years would be easy.
    Leonel covertly deployed a vision array. Though it was quite low level, this was actually a good thing. It was less likely for those powerful entities to detect such a low level spell. Since Leonel didn't dare to use his Internal Sight, he had to observe the situation some other way.
    Finally, Leonel buckled in. He knew that a major battle was about to be fought above him. In the meantime, he might as well put some finishing touches on his trump cards.
    However, Leonel never expected to find the scene he did within the Lab Setting of the Segmented Cube.

 Chapter 271: Time Reduction

    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Streaks of black and silver launched across the Lab Setting.
    Leonel usually kept the Lab Setting exceptionally tidy. His father's blueprints were always neatly arranged, the ores he used were always placed within the snowglobes after he was finished, and any scraps he had remaining had their own place as well.
    Howeverбн the Lab Setting was currently an absolute mess.
    Leonel's Craft table was overturned. His father's blueprints were scattered and by some miracle managed to remain undamaged. At the same time, the snowglobes which were once neatly arranged by category and type were sprawled all along the ground.
    The two clashing entities continued without a care in the world as though not noticing Leonel's presence at all.
    Leonel's brow twitched several times.
    "HEY!"
    Finally unable to take it, he roared out in full force, fusing his Spirit Pressure into his voice.
    As expected, it completely disrupted the rhythm of the two fighting streaks of light, causing them to fall over.
    After rebounding along the ground, the streak of silver shot toward Leonel, landing on his shoulder and bouncing up and down as though venting its frustration.
    By that point, the identities of the two became obvious to Leonel. The silver streak was Leonel's Metal Spirit Familiar, Little Tolliver. As for the black streakбн wellбн
    The little mink landed on the ground, a dissatisfied expression on its little face as though it was unhappy with the sudden change of events.
    It shook its little head, clearing its vision. When it saw Leonel, its eyes lit up with a hint of fondness.
    Leonel frowned. "What's going on? Is it possible to overshoot the entry limit of a Zone?"
    Leonel took out the dictionary. He was extremely confused at this moment.
    First, there was the fact the little mink exited the snowglobe without his permission. This was already questionable. But, beyond that, this Zone should have a limit of 12 individuals.
    According to what Leonel knew, the universe didn't treat the life of a beast or a human any differently. Both were instances of life. As such, a beast should count as an entry, no?
    Now that Leonel thought about it, shouldn't Little Tolly also count as an entry? Before, Leonel had ignored it because he assumed that since Tolly was his familiar, the both of them together counted as one entry. But, the appearance of the little mink made him rethink it.
    Originally, he thought that maybe the suspended animation state the little mink had entered had allowed it to skirt the requirements of the Zone. But now, it had obviously, somehow, made its way out.
    Was it so easy to circumvent the rules of a Zone?
    Unfortunately, Leonel was thinking too simply. Spatial treasures capable of housing life were exceptionally rare to begin with. Someone like Leonel who had the Segmented Cube was so rare that one in a million didn't do it justice.
    'Easy' was only a relative term to Leonel himself. For others, accomplishing the same feat would be impossible. That saidбн that didn't mean there weren't consequences.
    [*Ping*]
    [Replying to Seed, it is possible to overshoot the entry limit of a Zone]
    Leonel blinked, his mind spinning. He froze a moment later, suddenly thinking of something and almost cursing the dictionary for being too blunt again.
    "Is there a penalty for doing so?"
    [*Ping*]
    [Yes.]
    "What penaltyбн?" Leonel's heart sank.
    [*Ping*]
    [The most frequent penalty is a time reduction.]
    Leonel nearly cursed. This damn little mink, it was alway causing him problems.
    The original time limit of 10 years was already pushing it. Though, now that Leonel had given up on perfectly completing the Zone, it was still hard to say whether whatever reduction penalty he faced would allow him to clear the main quest.
    According to the dictionary, the main question was to 'save' King Arthur. With how complicated everything was becoming with Modred's actions, it was hard to tell exactly what that entailed. Leonel really couldn't afford a time reduction.
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath and calmed himself. Worrying now wouldn't be helpful to him.
    "How much time do I have left after the reduction?"
    [*Ping]
    [1 821 days remaining]
    Leonel winced. That was a little under five years. The little mink's appearance really almost halved the time he had left, how infuriating.
    "Could it be that Little Tolly doesn't influence the time?"
    [*Ping*]
    [Replying to Seed, Little Tolly's soul is fused with Seed's. As such, it does not count]
    Leonel could only let his frustration dissipate. There was already nothing he could do.
    Suddenly, arcs of lightning flashed within Leonel's Dreamscape causing his gaze to brighten.
    "Two questions. How was the time reduction calculated? Secondly, if I meld my soul with the little mink, will the time penalty lessen?"
    [*Ping*]
    [Replying to Seed, only five of the initial entries still remain alive. Due to this, the penalty for an additional entry was reduced greatly to just a half reduction]
    Leonel's eyes widened. There was such a thing? Seven of the twelve that entered died already? How?!
    Leonel felt a cold sweat mat his back. The dictionary's meaning was that the penalty would have been even worse if not for these deaths?
    He had been so lost in his own grievances and improvements that he had forgotten that this was an SS-grade Zone. It should be at humanity's limits to clear a Zone like this. It couldn't be done casually.
    Yet, because of Leonel's actions, the well-planned teams designated by the Slayer Legion became imbalanced. He likely ruined much of their plans.
    In truth, it wasn't Leonel's fault. It was the fault of the Adurna family. Leonel was originally slotted as an entry from the very beginning thanks to his performance. Butбн something told Leonel that this sound logic wouldn't be accepted by the members of the rebels.
    Now that Leonel thought about it, he had also almost died. Had to not been for a stroke of fate, he too would be among the deadбн
    Thinking to this point, Leonel grew several levels more serious. In this placeбн His life was truly on the line. He couldn't take things lightly.
    [Yes, becoming one with the little mink would remove the penalty, though only by a margin]
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    His plan was simple. The messenger mages of the frontlines had given Leonel no small amount of inspiration.
    Usually, those beast taming mages could only control weak willed animals with low intelligence such as the falcons and hawks they used to pass on messages.
    However, Leonel had several advantages over them. Firstly, his Spirit Pressure was several times more powerful. Secondly, he had several methods of lulling the little mink's mind into lowering its guard. He had to at least take the chance if possible.
    All this saidбн Leonel couldn't have possibly guessed what would happened next.
    The little mink blinked out and into existence. When it reappeared, it had already sat on Leonel's opposite shoulder, standing in opposition to Little Tolly.
    At first, Leonel had his guard up. But this, his strong Internal Sight suddenly felt something stretch out from the little mink to him, tying them together.
    Leonel's expression changed. He felt a subtle link between himself and the little mink. But, it wasn't through their souls but ratherбн?
    Leonel took a step, his face twitching.
    'Our shadows are connectedбн?'
    Leonel subconsciously felt that this connection was no weaker than a soul connection. In some ways, it might have been even deeper.

 Chapter 272: Confrontation [Bonus Chapter]

    "Whatбн What just happened?"
    [*Ping*]
    [The little mink has used its Shadow World ability to tie Seed's shadow to its own]
    "What the hell does that mean?"
    Leonel didn't understand. A shadow was just a body blocking light from reaching the ground. It shouldn't have been any more or less. How do you tie two shadows together? And worst yet, he didn't even have the means to resist. What if this was detrimental to him?
    [*Ping*]
    [Seed can consider this a magic system unique to the little mink's ability]
    Leonel's eyes widened before he came to a certain understanding. It turned out that the universe could introduce new magic systems not only through Mythological Zones, but also through abilities!
    "Then what does the melding of our shadows mean?"
    [*Ping*]
    [To the little mink, shadows function similarly to souls. Connecting you shadows is similar to the little mink taking you as a Familiar]
    Leonel's lip twitched. Wasn't is supposed to be the other way around? He was the one getting treated like a pet now?
    He really didn't know how he was supposed to react to such a thing.
    Leonel sighed and shook his head.
    "[Soul Reader]."
    [Soul Reader] was a One Star Magus Art. It wasn't as exaggerated as allowing one to read someone's mind, but it could be used against low intelligent creatures to understand the general gist of their emotions.
    When Leonel cast this on the little mink, he felt waves of fondness and gratitude infilitrate his mind.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    'Ohбн This little guy must think I was the one who saved it from that monocle wearing bastardбн'
    Leonel scratched his nose, feeling a little bit like he was taking advantage of a child.
    Though he had indeed saved the little mink back then, that was for his own purposes. He would have felt more comfortable just killing it, but his heart had softened at the last moment.
    In addition, the only reason he saved the little mink was to stop Simeon from using his ability to control it. That would have put him in a bad situationбн So it could be said that he had done so for his own selfish reasons.
    Leonel shook his head and smiled. He guessed this was just fate.
    If he could take the little mink as a partner, even if it meant taking on a time reduction penalty, it was worth it. After all, this little guy was extremely powerful. If it wasn't so immature and infantile in its thinking, it would have played Simeon to death. Unfortunately, it was still young and inexperienced.
    Leonel scratched its little head.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink rubbed its head against Leonel's fingers.
    "Alright, I'll call you Blackstar. How about it?"
    "Yip! Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink seemed to like its new name.
    *Blop* *Boop*
    On Leonel's opposite shoulder, Little Tolly seemed a bit disgruntled. Clearly, it didn't like Little Blackstar too much.
    "Alright, alright."
    Leonel let Little Tolly rush around his fingers and wrist. After the little guy began to evolve, it learned to control its corrosive property a bit more. As long as it wasn't activated, there was nothing to worry about.
    With Leonel help, it had already reached the TIer 7 Black Grade of evolution. Who knows, maybe if its control increased, Leonel could use it to take this damned wrist watch off without taking his hand with it.
    Watching his two Familiars glaring at one another, Leonel felt his mood lighten. It had been a long time since he could genuinely smile. It felt like ever since he sent Aina away and fell out with James, everything had only been getting worse and worse for him.
    'I don't know enough about this little guy's ability to make proper use of himбн'
    After smiling for a moment, Leonel thought of a problem. The little mink's greatest weakness was its poor battle sense. Leonel could technically make up for that, but the prerequisite was understanding the little guy. If he couldn'tбн then he would be limiting the little guy too much.
    Leonel tried to ask the dictionary, but unfortunately, it could only give him vague hints. Even the dictionary didn't have the ability to give him too many details. There were simply too many variables when it came to abilities.
    'Shadow Worldбн Shadow Worldбн Forget it, I'll just slowly figure everything outбн'
    Leonel planned to use [Soul Reader] consistently in the future. As long as he paid more attention to Little Blackstar while he used his abilities, it would be easier to gain a grasp on how Shadow World worked.
    Just when Leonel had made this decision, the ground began to shake. Due to the fact he was underground, it felt as though the rumbling was within his chest, even to the point his teeth began to clatter.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed, turning his attention to the video capturing array he left on the surface.
    The scene he saw was about what he expected.
    On one side, a beaten and haggard group of human knights and mages stood. It was clear that fatigue was written all over their faces. However, their gazes remained sharp almost like half unsheathed blades.
    In the midst of of these humans, there was a man clad in white armor. The spaulders were shaped into roaring white tigers, giving him a valiant and partly barbaric appearance. Leonel immediately recognized this man as King Arthur.
    On the other side, there was a hoard of demons. They weren't nearly as organized, but their eyes reddened with fighting intent. Some of them with part bestial bodies let their tongues hang from their mouths, not caring as thick, grotesque globs of saliva dripped down.
    In the midst of these demons, Leonel's eyes locked onto a woman.
    In truth, this woman should have taken his breath away. She had a valiant air that reminded him of Aina, but she had a maturity Aina was still lacking. Her body seemed carved by the hands of a god, perfectly porportioned and without an inch out of place. The way her black armor flowed into a skirt that revealed two long, pale legs could grip the gaze of all those who saw her.
    However, Leonel hardly spared this woman a glance, because his eyes landed on something else directly afterwardбн
    It was yet another woman. She too was beautiful, though somewhat lacking in comparison to the woman donning black armor. She wore fiery red armor and had a cap of red feathers attached to her shoulders.
    Still, it wasn't her looks that caught Leonel's attention. Gazing upon her, his eyes couldn't help but narrowбн
    'Supreme Monetбн'

 Chapter 273: Enter

    Leonel sucked in a cold breath.
    If Monet had managed to get close to Modred, this was either a good thing or a bad thing. Something like betraying Leonel and siding with the demons was impossible. After all, doing so would put Monet's life on the line as well. Unlessбн unless her Zone detection treasure made a mistake.
    Leonel had already learned the hard way that such treasures tended to be unreliable. Had it not been for his luck until now, he probably would have fallen in a Zone already simply due to lack of information.
    If Modred's detection treasure informed her that the main quest was to save King Arthur, this could be a good thing. However, if for whatever reason it was off in its assessment, then Monet might become an enemy Leonel had to fight against.
    'бн This might be a problemбн'
    Leonel looked through the rest of the opposing armies. He immediately found the remaining three who had entered with him.
    'Big Buddhaбн Little Nanaбн Violet Rainбн?'
    Leonel was stunned. Could it be that adorable little girl was all alone now? What happened to the rest of the Adurna family? Did they all really die?
    Leonel knew that there was an escape ticket to leave Zones. However, he couldn't imagine that a family would leave their little sister behind like this. There had to be another explanation.
    On the other side, the fact that only Monet, BIg Buddha and Violet Rain stood on the side of the demons likely meant the others were dead, including Badger's partner, Mayfly.
    Leonel didn't know how to feel about this. Though he had no love lost to the Slayer Legion, Mayfly had been among the two who came to save him. Though he didn't really need such help at that time, sometimes the thought was as important as the action.
    The two armies faced each other, the tension towering into the air.
    King Arthur sat upon his horse with a stoic expression. A strong dignity scrunched his brows.
    The version of him now was completely unlike the enraged monarch he had been before. Rather, he had once more regained his bearing, facing off the enemies of humanity with a valiant momentum.
    On the opposite side, Modred stood. Unlike King Arthur, her demeanor didn't hold any dignity. This wasn't to say that her momentum lost out, but rather than her method of showing her majesty was much different.
    While King Arthur was incomparably serious, surrounded by six of his originally twelve Knights, she was completely indifferent. It was as though she didn't put Camelot in her eyes at all.
    "DRAW!"
    King Arthur's mighty roar was met by the sounds of unsheathing blades. Their movements were as one, causing the sharp, metallic resonance to fuse into one, piercing toward the rumbling, black clouds above.
    At that moment, the pillar of light to Modred's back suddenly shuddered, splitting in two and slowly opening.
    Modred's indifferent expression curled into a smile. It carried a hint of seduction and teasing. It was the kind of expression that a daughter should never give a father. But, those who were aware of the relationship between Modred and King Arthur were few and far between.
    "There's no need to fight, now is there? We can simply enter together and leave the rest up to fate."
    Modred's delicate voice should have made them sigh a breath of relief, but it instead made their rage bubble up.
    No need to fight? They had known nothing but battle for nearly the whole of this last month. Now, they finally met the enemy that was the cause of all their frustrations but she actually said that there was no need to fight?!
    It was as though they had met the enemy of a lifetime, but could do nothing but watch as they basked in their own success. The worst part was that they knew they had no choice but to play along with this enemy's wishes.
    King Arthur's jaw set, but he didn't flare up. His cold, blue eyes flashed with a hint of killing intent.
    Their army had been worn down during this travel. Entering the Gates in this condition would no doubt put them at a great disadvantage. Modred definitely knew this. There was no need for her to put her own people at risk. It was more important to enter.
    Without another word, she turned, leading the Demons into the wide expanse. She didn't even protect her back. This not only showed her disregard for Camelot, but also how little she cared about the lives of the demons who served her.
    While they had to worry about the emotions of humans and protecting their lives, Modred didn't have to care for any of this.
    King Arthur calmed the rage in his heart. They had already sacrificed so much to get here. THey couldn't afford to sacrifice any more.
    He swept a glance over the would-be battlefield, but he didn't find a hint of Leonel's shadow. This realization caused him to frown.
    He waved a hand. "Gawain, stay back and guard the Gate. Only enter at the last moment and make sure you're the last to do so."
    One of the knights by Leonel's side nodded. He was King Arthur's nephew, a Knight of the Round Table, Sir Gawain.
    The relations between the knights were quite complex. Gawain was Lancelot's best friend, however Lancelot wasn't present. Due to the complexities of Arthur and Lancelot's relationship, Arthur had no choice but to walk a fine line. As such, his compromise was forcing Lancelot to remain back and defend while Gawain was allowed to come.
    Unfortunately for Arthur, Leonel had no intention of being left out at the last moment. The moment Modred turned toward the Gate, he had already begun moving through the ground. In this situation, he couldn't afford to continue being cautious.
    Maybe it was a bit expected, then, that Modred's steps would pause just when she was about to enter the Gates.
    "Hm?"
    Her delicate brows arched, seemingly sensing something.
    Her gaze swept forward, landing on the precise piece of land Leonel was running beneath.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed when he sensed he had been locked onto, but he didn't change his direction nor slow his pace. In fact, he kept running beneath the ground. He was too far beneath the ground to be easily dealt with. Only an Earth Magus could disrupt him greatly.
    Modred's eyes twinkled as though she had found an interesting toy to play with. She could tell that Leonel had sensed her, yet he actually continued undaunted.
    By now, Modred wasn't the only one who noticed the oddity.
    Those of Camelot immediately knew who it was. They all knew Leonel was an Earth Mage, who else could it be but him?
    Modred chuckled and didn't mind it anymore, stepping into the gate.
    The moment she vanished, Leonel had already cut deep into the demon army, shuttling through beneath their feet with the greatest speed he could muster.
    King Arthur's jaw clenched. He could have never imagined that Leonel would be so brazen. But if he thought about it, what had Leonel done to now that wasn't a slap to his face?
    "Forward!"
    He already knew it was too late to stop Leonel, but there would be plenty of chances to get rid of this potential trouble during the trials as long as they were anything like the last time he entered.
    Toward such an attitude, Leonel could only shake his head. He really didn't want to save such a man, but he had no choice if he wanted to keep his own life.
    Shaking his head, Leonel launched himself out of the ground, not minding that he appeared in the midst of several Demons. His speed was too fast. Now that he wasn't a member of Camelot anymore, what could restrict him from using his Light Elemental Force?
    In the blink of an eye, a streak of blinding gold appeared beneath Leonel's feet and he entered the gate.

 Chapter 274: Platforms

    **just one chapter today
    Leonel didn't find what he expected to find on the other side.
    From the reactions of the demon and human armies, it seemed that they would have another chance to deal with him within the Trial. So, he had been fully prepared for an all out battle the moment he stepped in.
    However, this wasn't what he found at all.
    At the moment, he stood on a dull grey platform. It was a meter by meter in length and width. There was nothing particularly special about it at all except for the factбн it hung mid-air amidst an endless darkness.
    Leonel stretched out his senses, but he couldn't sense a ceiling nor a bottom, it was as though he was floating in the depths of space.
    It almost felt like a dream. But, if it really was so, Little Tolly wouldn't still be happily squirming around his fingers, nor would Little Blackstar be lazily lying around his neck. Since both of them were by his side, it was clear that Leonel's true body had entered whatever space this was бк at least upon his initial assessment.
    Just when Leonel was feeling confused, an aged voice suddenly rang around him. Due to the surroundings, it was difficult for Leonel to tell whether it was sounding directly in his head, or if it was being transmitted to him some other way. But, leonel didn't linger on this question for too long as the words the voice said caught his full attention.
    &lt;Analysis Complete&gt;
    &lt;Please choose: &gt;
    Leonel saw several orbs of light manifest before him. Each of them housed a different object.
    There was a sword, a bow, a spear, and a wand. Outside of these four, there were other more unconventional weapons. Leonel could see maces, staffs, and battle axes. But, none were as large as the first four Leonel noticed.
    'I'm supposed to choose one of theseбн?'
    Leonel didn't really need to think much.
    He had never touched a sword before and there was no real point in learning now.
    The spear was even easier to ignore. Though this might sound odd, after a moment of thought, it became obvious why. Everything in this Trial was tied to the Third Dimension, it might very well become obsolete at higher realms unless Leonel put in the effort to evolve it.
    This Zone represented an opportunity. All of the Magic Systems here had ample potential for growth if taken to the extreme. However, why would Leonel need to do such a thing for the spear since he already had the Spear Domain ring on his finger?
    The last two were a bit more difficult to choose between.
    Leonel was very interested in his world's Mage Art system. It had been very helpful to him to this point and he could see it being useful at least into the immediate future.
    At the same time, Leonel had long since realized that his talent in the bow was overwhelming. Even though he had awakened his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, he still felt that his talent for marksmanship overshadowed it by a large margin.
    In the end, Leonel decided on the bow. It came down to a simple risk assessment. He had a legacy related to the Bowman King Inheritance in his hands. From Leonel's understanding, this was related to a Minor Opening.
    Elys had said that benefiting from a Minor Opening could give some advantages during a Major Opening. In that case, there really was only one option. Leonel had enough to worry about. It was in his best interest that he made everything that he could control as easy as possible.
    Leonel subconsciously took the deep black bow from his spatial bracelet. It alone stood as tall as anyone of his spears.
    The moment Leonel acted, the sphere of light housing a bow reacted immediately, shooting toward him like a falling star and fusing into him and the black bow.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    There was now a small, barely perceptible, golden brand on the back of his hand. It looked especially faded as though it had been drawn on then washed away. Leonel subconsciously felt that this tattoo of sorts would become very important very soon.
    Leonel didn't get much of a chance to observe the tattoo for long because the situation around him changed completely in the next instant.
    His grey platform shot forward as though trying to fling him off. Luckily, some unknown force kept his feet planted, or else he really would have been in a sorry state.
    Leonel's vision blurred and his mind spun. Not knowing whether he was moving up, down, left or right left him completely disoriented. If it wasn't for a vague forward trajectory, he wouldn't have any idea where he was headed.
    Suddenly, the platform came to a grinding halt.
    Leonel's eyes squinted and he shook his head.
    At that moment, he felt several auras lock onto him, many of which were filled with killing intent.
    'Hm?'
    Leonel's vision slowly cleared, allowing him to look around for the first time. What he saw left him smiling a bit bitterly.
    All around him, platforms just like his own hung in the vast expanse of darkness. There were about 200 of them in total, half of which were taken by humans and another half of which were taken up by demons.
    Many of the strings of killing intent came from the demons that floated around him, but that was simply due to their hatred of humans. The more pointed streams of killing intent actually came from the humans.
    Leonel could feel King Arthur's gaze sweep over him. But, there wasn't just him. Supreme Monet was seemingly stunned and enraged to see him here.
    So many of her men had died in this place, yet Leonel had actually managed to survive. Whether it made sense or not, she subconsciously placed blame on Leonel for such a thing. Of course, she also hated the Adurna family for sticking their nose in a place it wasn't meant to be. However, some of this hatred was unwittingly directed toward Leonel as well.
    After ignoring the glances and regaining an air of calm, Leonel realized that everyone also held a weapon. But, their weapons were strikingly different from his own. Compared to the powerful bow in his hand, theirs were mostly the most simple and crude weapons imaginable. They even reminded Leonel of the primitive man's spear.
    As Leonel was noticing their weapons, they too noticed his.
    'Minor Openingбн!'
    They all understood immediately and the light of greed lit in many of their eyes.
    Among those who were here, there were a striking minority who had such a luxury.
    The first was King Arthur. He wielded his sword with a valiant air. There was no doubt that this sword was the legendary Excalibur.
    The next was Modred. She held a wand as black as ink. It held an air of majesty that made Leonel's heart tremble. For some reason, he could see the faint image of an ink black qilin looming behind her.
    Surprisingly, the third was actually Peirce! This was likely a surprise even to King Arthur and his men. Peirce's long twin swords gently touched the ground, being held lightly in his palms.
    The fourth was Pope Margrave! He held a radiant cross to his chest as though sinking deep into a perpetual prayer. The light around him seemed to illuminate even the endless darkness.
    Before Leonel could observe the others, the situation changed once again.
    &lt;First Trial Begin!&gt;
    The world warped. A single massive grey platform over 20 meters in width and length appeared.
    At that moment, a demon's own grey platform shot forward, connecting to the massive platform outside of his control.
    Before Leonel could understand what was happening, a creature began to manifestбн

 Chapter 275: Skill Tree (1)

    Soon, an odd metallic beast came into being.
    At first it seemed that its metal coverings were just bits of oddly placed armor. However, when it began to stretch, it became obvious from its movement that these metallic shields were a part of its body.
    It stood on four limbs, looking somewhat like a large silver tiger. However, its tail was exceptionally long, being formed of shield-like scales that reminded one of a scorpion without the final pincer. This tail was almost like a whip, being double the length of the creature's body.
    It had two sharp tusks that left its mouth partially open. At the same time, it only had a single vertical eye that split its forehead in two.
    At this time, the beast was surrounded by a shield. Though the voice had said that the first trial had begun, a step had to be completed first.
    The demon chosen to be first stood on its platform, facing the creature. However, he had yet to step onto the main platform just yet. This wasn't because he was cowering in fear, but rather because odd patterns had begun to form before him.
    He wasn't the only one who could see these patterns. It was another choice. Except this time, everyone would bear witness to it together.
    Soon, the patterns coalesced, forming a clear image. What was left were numerous spheres connected by branching lasers.
    Most of these spheres were dim. However, at the very bottom, there was one that was slightly brighter.
    Leonel's mind immediately realized what this was.
    'Skill tree?'
    At first, Leonel thought his idea was silly. But, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that this was the only explanation.
    The demon's choice of weapon was a mace. The only bright sphere of the skill tree also projected the image of a mace except this mace was in movement, displaying what Leonel assumed was a technique.
    Unlike Leonel who was in the dark, it seemed the demon wasn't surprised by the appearance of this skill tree. His eyes looked toward the top of the skill tree with a fiery light, but he was well aware he wasn't in position to touch those legendary abilities just yet.
    With a hint of reluctance, he reached for the only slightly bright sphere.
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Single-handed Bash' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Remaining: 0&gt;
    &lt;Trial Commencing&gt;
    The demon brandished his mace and licked his lips.
    The shield vanished the moment he stepped onto the main platform. In that instant, the lazily stretching beast suddenly stopped, a faint growl trembling its tusks.
    The battle lasted longer than Leonel thought it would. He had originally assumed that it would be a matter of a few moves, but the longer he observed, the more shocked and apprehensive he became.
    The reason for his shock wasn't because the beast was too powerful or that the demon was too weak, or even the vice versa of either. The reason he was so shocked was because aside from 'Single-handed Bash', the demon didn't use any other moves.
    No, that wasn't exactly right. It wasn't that he didn't use any other moves but rather thatбн He couldn't!
    When Leonel reached this point in his thoughts, he sucked in a cold breath and suddenly understood how this trial would work. There were likely formless laws in this place that made it impossible to use skills that weren't unlocked through the skill tree.
    Leonel was stunned. For the first time, he somewhat regretted choosing the bow. If things were really like this, he was in a bad position.
    It wasn't a simple matter of attack patterns being restricted. The demon could only move with simple steps. In addition, his skill seemed to have a cool down as though this was really a game. This sort of situation caused him to only be able to attack once every three seconds.
    This meant that every aspect of battle was controlled, whether it was movement, attack or defense! As a bowman, Leonel was particularly restricted. It would make the future several levels more troublesome.
    This wasn't the only problem either. Leonel had hoped to use his Mage Arts to make up for his lack of arrows. But, if he could only use skills on his skill treeбн where would he get arrows from?!
    Leonel was certain that if this place could restrict even attack patterns, there was no way it would allow him to produce his own arrows.
    'Shitбн' Leonel clenched his jaw.
    Finally, after a long drawn out battle, the sound of shattering glass resounded. An invisible shield around the metallic beast broke, causing it to shut down.
    Beaten and haggard, the demon's eyes flashed brilliantly. Though fatigued, he had done it, he had passed the first trial.
    &lt;First Trial Complete&gt;
    &lt;Time Taken: 2:39:02&gt;
    &lt;Trial Grade: C&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Rewarded: 2&gt;
    &lt;Special Reward: None&gt;
    The skill tree appeared before the demon man once again. This time, a new row had lit up. But, with his skill points, he could at most choose two. In addition, there were some skills that needed more than just a single point to awaken.
    For now, though, all the skills the demon man could awaken were Basic and as such only needed one.
    The trouble was deciding a path to go down. Should he try to diversify or try to specialize in one branch until he could awaken ranked skills?
    Eventually, the demon made his choice.
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Two-handed Bash' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Charged Bash' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Remaining: 0&gt;
    &lt;C-grade Recovery Rewarded&gt;
    The demon's platform shot back. Once it was within the group of waiting trial takers, a soothing light descended upon him, slowly washing away his fatigue.
    At that moment, everyone grew tense once more. For a Demon Lord with such a formitable body to struggle so much, everyone was hoping they'd have more time to observe, even Leonel.
    Unfortunatelyбн reality was cruel.
    Leonel felt his platform tremble and then shoot forward. It seemed he had won a lottery he had wanted no parts of.

 Chapter 276: Skill Tree (2)

    Leonel settled his breathing. Since he had to go, he would go.
    Numerous gazes flooded toward Leonel. Compared to the interest the previous candidate had, the curiosity toward Leonel was several levels greater. This could only be expected, after all, Leonel was the beneficiary of a Minor Opening. He was definitely among those who would last to the very end of these Trials.
    At the same time, he was a target. As for the reasons whyбн only those who entered the Merlin Trials before would be aware.
    The skill tree appeared before Leonel the moment his platform connected to the large stage. Seeing it upfront and personal like this, Leonel realized there was a lot he had missed before.
    The skill tree actually had three 'roots'. These roots were the starter Basic Skills that didn't have any prerequisites to unlock. Among these roots, there was the weaponry root, the physical root and finally the special skill root.
    From what Leonel could tell, the weaponry root were all related to his bow. The physical root was related to movement techniques, use of Force, defensive techniques, and another broad range of matters. It seemed to have the greatest variety. Finally, the special skill root seemed to be universal in its use, meaning that Leonel's special skill tree was likely the same as everyone elses.
    The special skill root was indeed unique. The more Leonel looked at it, the less it seemed to conform to the previous rules he had come to know.
    For one, it took more than just skill points to unlock them. You seemed to need to pair them with rewards for trials that had been cleared. In addition, there were sometimes less stringent prerequisites and sometimes more.
    For example, the Silver Skill 'Force Burst' could explosively increase the strength of Force attacks for a time. However, it required the unlocking the Bronze Skill 'Force Burst' three separate times.
    However, there were also some Gold Skills that had no prerequisites whatsoever. It didn't seem to have much rhyme or logic to it.
    That said, Leonel took a mental note of this. He didn't believe it was without reason.
    Leonel turned his attention back to the weaponry root.
    Leonel's weaponry root was a Basic Skill named 'Single Shot'. Much like the demon's 'Single-handed Bash' it allowed him to fire one arrow every three seconds.
    &lt;Skill Point Remaing: 3&gt;
    The voice suddenly snapped Leonel out of his thoughts. He was pleasantly surprised for a moment before understanding. This must be his advantage as a beneficiary of a Minor Opening.
    The jealous gazes he was receiving pretty much confirmed this. Some even seemed to be urging him to hurry up. After all, Leonel had been standing for a while.
    But, Leonel turned a blind eye to these people. Since there wasn't a time limit, he would imprint this skill tree in its entirety into his Dreamscape.
    'Waitбн'
    Leonel's eyes suddenly flashed as his mind nearly exploded with blinding arcs of lightning.
    He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before. If he imprinted his skills into his Dreamscape, in the midst of battle, would his ability be able to deduce the perfect response every time?
    Originally, he had only wanted to imprint this skill tree into his mind so he could deduce the optimal path for skill unlocks, but he realized there was much more benefits to this than he thought.
    'Outside these trial grounds, I don't have 'skills' that I put into use. It's too freeform, so it's difficult to use my Dreamscapeбн'
    This was the real reason Leonel never thought of using his Dreamscape like this. Real life wasn't a game, you couldn't just breakdown a person's abilities into 'skills' they could use at any given timeбн orбн could you?
    If Leonel broke down all of his techniques and abilities into their simplest forms, then arranged them into his Dreamscape, what would happen then?
    'Let's use these Trial grounds as a testбн'
    This environment was perfect for Leonel to test whether or not his idea was viable. In here, he really could only use skills provided by Merlin. What better place would there be to test whether or not this new application of Dreamscape would work?
    If this worked, this would fix another big problem Leonel was having as well. To now, he had yet to be capable of fluidly linking all the spear legacies he was gaining. Butбн what if he could arrange all his spear skills into his Dreamscape as well?!
    Leonel's breathing hitched slightly. If this worked, his ability which had always been lacking in direct combat might allow him to become a true monsterбн
    However, Leonel knew he couldn't get ahead of himself. In order to use his Dreamscape in this way, he had to raise his battle sense to obscene levels. Only by being able to read his opponent would he be able to perfect the suggestions of his Dreamscape.
    'Experienceбн It all comes down to experienceбн'
    Leonel's gaze turned bright. These Merlin Trials would be perfect for him.
    The moment he made this decision, he blocked out the entire world. He didn't care about the impatience of those waiting for him, his heart had slowed to a crawl.
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Single Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Quick Reload' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Stacked Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Remaining: 0&gt;
    &lt;Trial Commencing&gt;
    The moment the voice descended, a quiver of arrows descended before Leonel.
    &lt;Basic Quiver&gt;
    &lt;Capacity: 10 arrows&gt;
    &lt;Reload Time: 60 sec&gt;
    &lt;Reload Capacity: 1 arrow&gt;
    Leonel understood immediately. This basic quiver gave him 10 arrows and a single arrow would be replenished every minute. It seemed that his advantage in weapons didn't extend to his arrows, but this was fine too. He had enough advantages already.
    His gaze turned serious as the shield around the metallic beast disappeared. It was the very same beast the demon faced and it was likely the invisible barrier the demon cracked was now revitalized.
    Leonel felt that Little Blackstar and Tolly's movements were restricted the moment the trial began, but he wasn't surprised. On the special skill tree, he had already seen numerous skills related to familiars. It seemed he wouldn't be able to make use of them until he unlocked them.
    But, this was fine. For now, Leonel didn't think he needed them just yet.
    He brandished his bow, nocking his first arrow.

 Chapter 277: Skill Tree (3)

    Leonel took a step forward.
    He realized that no matter what he did, his steps were measured. Exactly 0.50 meters apart without the slightest hint of deviation. He couldn't speed up, nor could he slow down. Even taking a sidestep was difficult. If he wanted variations in his steps and speed, the only way was to begin unlocking the physical root.
    However, he wasn't worried. He had already seen one person pass this test so all the stats of the beast had long since been reflected in his mind.
    [Metallic Beast]
    [Power: 1 Stars (Black)]
    [Strength: 1 Star (Black); Speed: 1 Star (Black); Agility: 2 Stars (Black); Coordination: 4 Stars (Black); Stamina: ?? Stars (Black); Reactions: 4 Stars (Black); Defense: 3 Star (Black); Spirit: ?? Stars (Black); Force: ?? Stars (Black)]
    [Power Accuracy: 100%]
    Leonel knew that this assessment was 100% accurate. This metallic beast was purposely nerfed by Merlin. As such, all of its abilities were perfectly measured without the variation one would expect in real life.
    In addition, during this first trial, it seemed that the beast's long, whip-like tail couldn't be used to attack.
    There were only three attack patterns: 'Lunge', 'Sweep', and 'Bite'.
    'The beast can lunge at most 1.5 meters. A sweep of its claws extended its range by half a meter at most. Bite will only activate if I enter a two meter range of its and also has a range of half a meter. It can attack only once every two seconds and will be stunned for 0.20 seconds after suffering a hit, however, if I hit it in that spotбн'
    These kind of perfectly measured battlesбн They were simply too easy for Leonel.
    SHUUU!
    An arrow appeared right between the brows of the metallic beast just as it was stalking its way toward Leonel.
    'Stacked Shot.' Leonel thought to himself.
    He reloaded his bow, shooting again.
    Normally, having unlocked 'Quick Reload', Leonel could fire a normal 'Single Shot' once every 2.5 seconds instead of once every 3. However, when 'Stacked Shot' was activated, Leonel could fire two shots consecutively with a reload time of just 1 second.
    Leonel used his steps, circling around the beast. A normal hit would stun it for 0.20 seconds. However, whenever its single eye was attacked, it would be enough to stun it for a full second, allowing one to get more hits in.
    However, Leonel didn't use it in this way. He had a limited amount of arrows and wasn't like the others. It was inadvisable for him to just unload. In addition, a single second wasn't even enough time for him to do so.
    Rather than doing so, Leonel took this time to constantly adjust his footsteps, taking care to control not only himself, but the angles of attack the metallic beast could use.
    Leonel realized that while this space could hinder almost all of his abilities бк whether it be his abilities as an Earth Mage or a Light Mage бк the one thing it could not hinder in the slightest was his ability!
    He realized this was the same for Little Blackstar as well. There were only two reasons he didn't use Little Blackstar. First, he needed to properly vet his new path and potential use for his Dreamscape himself. If he used Blackstar, it would defeat the purpose. And secondly, while this space couldn't block Blackstar's ability, what it could do was stop his ability to move at all.
    Leonel believed that the moment he unlocked the Familiar special skill, Little Blackstar would be able to use his full range of abilities.
    As Leonel was lost in thought, falling into the steady rhythm of battle, the demon who had gone before him felt his whole world plummeting. Why did Leonel make it look soбн easy?
    BANG!
    The invisible protective barrier shattered once more, sprinkling down like a rain of broken glass.
    &lt;First Trial Complete&gt;
    &lt;Time Taken: 27:22&gt;
    &lt;Trial Grade: A&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Rewarded: 4&gt;
    &lt;Special Reward: 1 Special Store Ticket&gt;
    'Special Store Ticketбн?'
    Leonel didn't use this ticket immediately. He assumed this special store was a place he could go to to upgrade his equipment. His bow was fine, but his quiver was lacking, as an example. However, Leonel also noticed that there was no currency. This made him realize that he likely had to pay skill points to buy items, And, in the case it wasn't skill points that were necessary, that just meant he didn't have the funds necessary to buy anything to begin with.
    in that caseбн it wasn't worth it just yet. It was better that he spend his skill points on himself for now.
    Leonel turned his attention back to his skill tree.
    'I need 5 skill points and something called a 'star point' to give Little Blackstar the ability to moveбн In that case, I'll just focus on myself for now.'
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Side Step' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Advanced Quick Reload' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Reinforced Arrow' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Critical Arrow' Chosen&gt;
    Leonel had already made his decision before his battle even began.
    'Side Step' would allow him some more freedom in movement. It was essentially a lunge to the side that he could use in critical moments to move himself to the left or right by a meter.
    'Advanced Quick Reload' would quicken his reload from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
    'Reinforced Arrow' was his first Force ability. It undid the shackles on his Force by a small amount and allowed him to reinforce his arrows. With this, he would finally be able to use the Tier 9 Black Grade gloves he had designed for this bow, albeit it by a small margin.
    'Critical Arrow' worked just like a video game's critical strike did. It gave him a boosted chance of dealing more damage to his foes. Though it was a passive ability, due to the percentages, it would become very useful in the future especially when he began to fire more arrows. And, most importantly, 'Critical Arrow' was a prerequisite for many of the higher level skills he was eyeingбн
    Leonel took a deep breath and stepped back onto his platform. He could sense numerous gazes on him, many of which were both hostile and cautious. It was clear that after his performance, many had begun to take him as a serious competitor.
    &lt;A-grade Recovery Rewarded&gt;

 Chapter 278: Star Force

    A pilar of golden light fell onto Leonel's body.
    At first, he thought it was a pity. Aside from soreness in his muscles from pulling his bow again and again, there wasn't much else wrong with him.
    However, the moment the pillar fell onto him, Leonel realized that he had thought too simply.
    Leonel felt his meditation technique begin to circulate on its own. He immediately realized that this meditation technique wasn't one he had learned from Camelot, but rather a meditation technique he had grasped from [Merlin's Bestrowal: Bowman King].
    Meditation techniques all relied on breathing. This wasn't only the expansion and contraction of the lungs, but of the Force Nodes as well.
    Where they differed in complexity was in the purity of Force they used to temper one's already existing Internal Strength and the methods by which breathing could be done.
    Many meditation techniques could only intake energy through the mouth and nose. Some higher level techniques could use the hands in thanks to special seals formed by the fingers.
    However, Merlin's technique was on a completely different level. It could absorb Force directly through the Ethereal Glabella. Not only was Force capable of doing this exceptionally pure, but it was also incredibly dense, making it easier to Crystallize one's Force.
    The special Force capable of doing this was known as Star Force.
    Star Force was among the highest level Forces in all of existence, existing on a level no inferior to Light Elemental or Dark Elemental Force. In fact, this was only when considering the lowest grade Star Force there was. When the highest order Star Forces were taken into consideration, even such Elemental Forces could not compare.
    Of course, this was just a matter of differing quality. There were always exceptions to the rule. There were stronger and weaker inheritances of Light and Darkness as well. But, this wasn't important at the moment.
    What was important was that Star Force was well known for two abilities: its purity and its density.
    Compared to other Forces, Star Force was the most well known for its purity. Not only was it exceptionally pure, but it could influence its surroundings to be purified. In fact, this latter abilities where much of its preciousness came from.
    In addition, Star Force was naturally dense. Even without undergoing Crystallization, a given portion of Star Force could execute more actions than the same amount of another Force.
    What Leonel realized at that moment was that this recovery opportunity wasn't just for healing his body, but it also circulated his meditation technique for him, purifying his Force.
    Leonel immediately realized that this refinement was several times faster than it had been in the past.
    Suddenly, Leonel's expression changed.
    The two stars within his Ethereal Glabella began to greedily absorb the Star Force flooding into him. Soon, they began to spin faster, pulsing out with radiant Star Force that was a level purer and denser than what was provided by Merlin's Trial grounds.
    Leonel felt like he had been hit by a bolt of lightning.
    [Dimensional Cleanse]бн Could it rely on Star Force as well?
    Now that he thought about it, every time he formed a Star, his body would be cleansed and impurities would be washed from his body. DIdn't that conform with the abilities of Star Force?
    Leonel couldn't believe he hadn't made this connection before.
    At that moment, he realized another weakness of his Dreamscape. Things he didn't place within his Dreamscape obviously couldn't be used to draw conclusions.
    Leonel had never placed his own techniques within his Dreamscape. Everything that could be found within it now were things he had read within the Mage and Knight Academy libraries!
    Leonel took a deep breath, quickly circulating the meditation technique. This time, he didn't restrict his Stars, instead allowing them to act as they pleased.
    In the past, he hadn't been able to absorb enough Star Force at once to elicit this response. But now that he had, he realized his body was perfectly suited to Merlin's meditation technique.
    Others continued to take their trials, but Leonel didn't have time to spare for them.
    By the time the feeling faded away, Leonel realized that just one of these rewards was the equivalent of an entire month of meditation for him. If he continued at this pace, in another dozen or so trials, he would have enough assurance to form his Ninth and Tenth Nodes!
    Leonel felt that once he formed these final two Nodes, he wouldn't have anything to fear within this Zone any longer. He felt a keen anticipation.
    But soon, he buried these thoughts deep within his heart.
    Even after the pillar of light stopped, Leonel didn't open his eyes. Rather, he had focused his attention on the skill tree once more. Namely, the skill at the very top.
    In truth, there were five.
    One pictured an endless snowy plane. The whistling of harsh winds and sharp, fluttering snow made Leonel feel a bite of cold just by looking at it.
    The second was a forest painted in red, yellow and brown. It was a lush landscape of Fall that made one gasp in astonishment. However, it carried with it a withering feeling that ate at the heart as though reminding you that death was a step away.
    The third was filled with greenery. A sun hung high in the sky, beaming down with endless heat. Leonel felt as though his eyes were being scorched just by glancing at it.
    The fourth could only be described like a cool breeze. It was fleeting and calm while carrying an air of rebirth and revitalization.
    These four skills were linked and came together as one to form the highest level skill.
    This highest level skill could only be described as having a myriad of changes.
    Leonel knew exactly what these skills represented. When he first laid eyes on them, he couldn't help but be shocked. To think that these Trials could give him such an opportunity.
    However, grasping it would be troublesome. The only method of doing so would be to unlock every skill of the weaponry root.
    Still, the moment he laid eyes on itбн Leonel knew he had to no matter what.

 Chapter 279: Universal Cycles

    [Author's Note: I keep getting caught up in the story and always forget to properly explain this part of DD's magic system, so we'll finally get to it now, lmao]
    In the universe, the current state of Leonel's Force Strengthening Deviations can be called by many names. However, the one that resonated the most with Leonel was the Embryonic Stage. These so-called Embryos were represented by the small translucent spear and the 12-sided Star in Leonel's Ethereal Glabella -- each representing Leonel's Spear Embryo and Light Embryo respectively.
    Unlike the various fictions Leonel had indulged in back when his life was more normal, the comprehension of Force Strengthening Deviations was incredibly complex. Each path had a myriad of variations making it so that two people at the same level could be of vastly differing strengths.
    Ultimately, the path of improving one's Force Strengthening Deviations бк or, rather, comprehending and refining them бк was known by some wise men as the Comprehension of the Cycles of the Universe.
    Force Strengthening Deviations represented the mysteries of the universe. In order to use them to the highest standard, it was thus necessary to comprehend these so-called Universe Cycles. And, how thoroughly one comprehended them dictated just how powerful one's Force Strengthening Deviations would be.
    This matter was difficult to comprehend at first, but the highest level skills of Merlin's Trial painted it perfectly.
    The simplest Universe Cycle in all of existence were the Four Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. This level of comprehension was known as the Four Seasons Realm. The current Leonel could be considered to be at the Embryonic Stage of the weakest Four Seasons Realm!
    That said, calling the Four Seasons Realm weak simply did not do it justice. Even those strong enough to progress through this Universe Cycle and comprehend the next may not do so perfectly. Refining one's Force Embryo to the point of comprehending the profundities of the Four Seasons wasn't a simple task by any stretch of the imagination.
    What made mastering this Realm exceptionally difficult was the fact that not all Force Embryos were compatible with this compression.
    If you comprehended a Fire Embryo and wanted to master the Winter Variation of the Four Seasons Realm, just how difficult would that be? Just the idea alone didn't seem to make any sense.
    As a result, many failed to comprehend the Four Seasons Realm in its entirety and could only be assumed to have gained small insights into it. Only the most exceptional of geniuses could comprehend all four aspects of the Four Seasons Realm and use it as a foundation to proceed to the next Universal Cycle profundity.
    Compared to Elemental Force Strengthening Deviation, Weapon Force Embryos had a comparatively easier time. However, the difficulty was still as troublesome as ascending to the skies. One could spend a lifetime comprehending just a portion of the mysteries in this so-called 'weakest' Universal Cycle.
    By now, it should be obvious why Leonel was so shocked by these Merlin Trials. If he was to believe what was before him now, it would be possible to comprehend all four aspects and even fuse them into one if he completed this Trial to its entirety.
    One had to know that the fusion phase of the Four Seasons Realm was the most difficult. It was already hair raising to attempt just to comprehend each of the Four Seasons individually. But, combining them into one was even more so. However, it was only by completing a perfect fusion that one lay the most perfect foundation for the next stage.
    This was the world of Force Strengthening Deviations. Only by comprehending these profound Universal Cycles could one truly become powerful.
    This was exactly why Leonel couldn't just break into the next realm with his Spear Embryo. The more spear comprehensions he observed, the more all-encompassing his eventual fusion would be. The better he could capture the myriad of changes the Four Seasons representedбн the more potent and powerful his spear would be!
    'The next Realm after the Four Seasons Realm is known as the Heavenly Body Realm. It requires comprehending The Meteor, The Moon, The Planet and The Star. But, I can forget about comprehending them perfectly or even fusing them into one if I can't clear the Four Seasons Realm first.'
    The Four Seasons Realm was the equivalent of the Third Dimension. However, when mastered, it was the equivalent of peak existences within the Fourth Dimension. Likewise, the Heavenly Body Realm was the equivalent of the Fourth Dimension, when fully mastered it was the equivalent of peak existences within the Fifth Dimension.
    Thoughбн these things are easier said than done. And the reason for this is due to the fact there are different kinds of comprehensions within each Realm.
    The first kind of comprehension is one who doesn't attempt to grasp the Universe Cycle at all. For example, Leonel could try to forcefully evolve his current Third Dimensional Spear Embryo into one of the Fourth Dimension as long as he gains access to Fourth Dimensional Force.
    This sort of comprehension is the weakest and is known by various existences as 'Shell Comprehension' or 'Empty Comprehension'.
    The second kind of comprehension is the one displayed here. This is relying on the comprehension of another to grasp the truths of the Four Seasons Realm.
    Leonel wasn't certain if he would be allowed to keep Merlin's comprehensions when he left these trial grounds, but if he could, then he would fall into this second kind of comprehension.
    This sort of comprehension was in the middle of the first and the third kind. It wouldn't be as powerful as the peak existences of the Fourth Dimension, but it should be able to make Leonel undefeatable within his own realm of strength with a fair amount of ease.
    The third kind of comprehension was the most powerful. This kind was the result of one relying on themselves to comprehend the truths of the Four Seasons and fusing them into one. Only in this instant would the true strength of the Four Seasons be perfectly displayed and only then would it truly be possible to leap an entire realm to battle.
    After knowing all of this, the reason why Leonel would be so eager to gain these skills was obvious. Even though it wasn't as good as comprehending the third way, it would still be very helpful to him. It would allow him to lay a foundation for his own personal comprehension in the future!
    In addition, this was just for the bow. Currently, Leonel's main weapon was the spear. He wasn't so arrogant to believe that he could grasp everything in his hands. He was only one man and he was already struggling with juggling everything he had to learn and master already.
    In such a case, wasn't mastering the second kind of comprehension better than not comprehending it at all? In that way, he wouldn't have to worry about his bow skills lagging behind for a long while. In addition, by using his bow as a framework, he would be able to light his path of the spear. It would definitely become many more times easier to bring his Spear Embryo to completion in these circumstances.
    But, once again, Leonel forced himself to calm down. The number of skill points he would need numbered in the tens of thousands. In addition, he hadn't even formed a Bow Embryo yet. He was getting too ahead of himself. He had to take this step by step.
    Just as Leonel was reaffirming his own resolve, a familiar voice sounded once again.
    &lt;First Trial Complete&gt;
    &lt;Time Taken: 12:52&gt;
    &lt;Trial Grade: Perfect&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Rewarded: 6&gt;
    &lt;Special Rewards: 1 Special Store Ticket, 2 Star Points&gt;
    Leonel's brows shot up.
    His head immediately snapped toward the platform to see who had gotten such an exaggerated result, only to find King Arthur standing over the metallic beast, his back straight and his aura towering.

 Chapter 280: Change

    Leonel was shocked by the result.
    If he was honest with himself, he believed that he had already done about as well as anyone could. However, reality was cruel.
    It wasn't just King Arthur that performed better than he did. Following him, whether it was Pope Margrave, Modred, or Peirce, each of them gained a perfect evaluation. What truly embarrassed Leonel was that there were even two demons who hadn't benefited from Minor Openings that managed to gain Perfect evaluations as well.
    Before those two demons stepped forward, Leonel had thought it was due to the fact he was at a disadvantage. After all, while other beneficiaries of Minor Openings didn't have to worry about anything other than their weapon, Leonel had to balance his powerful bow with his weak arrows.
    However, after observing for a while longer, Leonel realized that things weren't so simple. If two demons with normal weapons could succeed then there had to be a problem with him.
    Had he been too conservative? But Leonel really couldn't think of a way for him to have been more aggressive.
    As Leonel was realizing that matters wouldn't be as simple as he thought, the shock only continued to grow.
    After the two demons passed with Perfect evaluations, Supreme Monet stepped forward and received yet another.
    This time, Leonel wasn't the only one who was shocked either.
    Monet used a whip. But, it was clear by its quality that she too was just another regular participant of these trials.
    However, where she distinguished herself was in the fact that while Leonel had to unlock his Force wielding abilities, Monet didn't!
    Raging flames surged out from her body and coated her whip, making her every strike easily worth tens of times that of another. In the end, she shattered the protective shield around the metallic beast in less than ten minutes, setting a new record.
    Toward such a display, Leonel couldn't help but frown. It seemed he had begun to take some things for granted. He couldn't afford to lose his focus chasing after dreams when there was very real danger right before him. He still wasn't aware if Monet would be on his side or not.
    His first priority was to survive. Only if that was possible would he give his everything to master the Four Seasons Realm with his bow.
    'As expected, these trial grounds can't restrict abilities. Just like I can use mine freely, so can Monet. I had originally assumed that no one in Camelot or in Modred's Demon Army had abilities, but what if it's not that they don't, but that it's rare?'
    Leonel began to silently inspect the two demons. It wasn't long before he understood just where their specialties lied.
    'They have inborn natural strength. It seems that the abilities those of this Mythological Zones have aren't as broad and varied as ones from back on Earth, but it's possible for rare variations like this to occurбн'
    Leonel didn't dare to casually inspect King Arthur with his Internal Sight, but he believed that if he did, King Arthur might very well have such special inborn strength as well. Coupling that with the fact he had Excalibur and everything would make sense.
    The only questionable one was Modred. She should have been in a similar position to Leonel, only being able to rely on long ranged attacks from weak spells. Her situation was not much different from his own. Yet, she still managed to gain a Perfect evaluation.
    Ultimately, though their situations were similar, they still differed by one major point. While Modred's wand could amplify the strength of her 'weak' spells, it was difficult for Leonel's bow to do the same for his arrows, at least not by the same measure.
    Leonel grew more serious the more he thought. It seemed he had fallen a step behind. There were already seven people with better evaluations than him.
    It was fine for Monet and the two demons for now since they didn't get the initial boost of skill points Leonel did. At most, they were on par with him with all of them having received seven total skill points. But, if things continued like this, Leonel would only fall further behind.
    In addition, if Leonel couldn't perform better, he doubted that he would ever earn enough skill points to trade for the Fall, Winter, Summer and Spring Embryos, let alone the fusion of them all. To make matters worseбн not everyone had gone yet, who knew if there were other monsters waiting in the wings.
    Now that Leonel thought about it, the others that had entered this Zone with him also had abilities that wouldn't be restricted.
    As though to confirm Leonel's worries, Big Buddha and Violet Rain went up one after another. Big Buddha seemed to have gained large gloves for his hands from the weapon selection round while Violet Rain had chosen a sword. Both of their battles were without suspense.
    AS though even this wasn't enough, after many had gone, Little Nana was the last to go up.
    Leonel frowned when he saw her. Compared to the shy little girl she had been when he last saw her, she seemed somewhat even more reserved and бн scared?
    Leonel's initial thought was that she had been scared by the trial. After all, she was only a teenage girl and younger than even the young Leonel by several years, didn't it make sense if she was scared?
    However, when she used her bind ability and then easily dispatched the metallic beast to the point of breaking Monet's record, Leonel realized that her fear wasn't toward the beast, but rather toward turning back to approachбн Pope Margrave?
    Leonel's frown deepened. Could the death of the other Adurna family members be related to the Pope?
    But this didn't make any sense. Why would the Pope kill them all but Little Nana? And, if he did do so, why would he allow Little Nana to enter these trial grounds? Shouldn't he be like King Arthur, doing everything in his power to stop her from entering?
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more confused he seemed to become.
    Just when he wanted to see if it was possible to communicate with the little girl directly, a familiar voice sounded.
    &lt;Trial 1 has been completed&gt;
    &lt;Milestone Reached: 10 participants have earned Star Points&gt;
    &lt;Trial 2 has been postponed, Elimination Round commencing&gt;
    &lt;Elimination Goal: 10&gt;
    The small grey platforms began to rumble.
    &lt;First Elimination Round бк Begin!&gt;

 Chapter 281: All Sides

    Leonel shot up from his platform without the slightest hesitation. Though he hadn't expected such a thing to happen, he realized that there had to be a reason why others still dared to have thoughts of targeting him. The only explanation was that a round exactly like this one existed.
    The smaller grey platforms shot toward the large. In one swift motion, not only did the metallic beast disappear, but they were all dropped toward it.
    The large platform expanded. Soon, it was about 200 meters in width and length, but this sort of situation left Leonel frowning. There were over 200 people who had entered these trials. This sort of platform might seem large butбн
    '200 metersбн 40 000 square metersбн that leaves 200 square meters to a person.'
    Ultimately, when the math was broken down, everyone got a 14 by 14 meter region to themselves. How was this considered to be much space at all?
    For Leonel, who had taken the path of a bowman, he would be placed at a striking disadvantage.
    Leonel's gaze suddenly flickered.
    'What is that?'
    Realizing the danger he was in as he fell toward the large platform, Leonel immediately chose the smartest path available to him and began to pay attention to those that could threaten him. Of course, all those that fell into such a category were those who managed to gain Perfect evaluations.
    However, in doing that, Leonel found something that stunned him. Each and every one of them had two orbs of light hovering above their heads, whereas no other person had such an orb of light.
    'Thoseбн Those have to be the Star Points they earned. Could it be that they can be stolen during an elimination round?'
    Leonel's eyes widened. That had to be so. Why else would they only appear now?
    If he noticed such a thing, how could others not notice as well?
    'In that caseбн'
    Leonel's feet hadn't even landed onto the large grey platform yet when he had drawn his bow.
    A hint of Force wrapped around his bow, causing it to glow with just the slightest sheen. However, in the next moment, the seemingly normal light began to crackle with faint hints of yellow lightning suffused with the green glow of wind.
    Leonel hadn't been able to use the ability of his glove treasure until now because his Force was restricted. But after unlocking 'Reinforced Arrow', everything would be different.
    Leonel also realized something else. While he was at a disadvantage in being in such a closed space, he also had a huge advantage as wellбн Among those soon to land on this platformбн none were safe from him!
    'Reinforced Arrow!'
    SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
    The sharp sound of wind and crackling lightning took hold of everyone's senses. Everyone had been entirely focused on where they would land on the platform and the enemied they'd have in their immediate surrounding, how could they expect that not only would someone attack while still in the air, but that they'd also attack someone over a 100 meters from them?!
    One of the two demons with inborn strength was completely caught off guard by Leonel's actions. How could he have ever expected to be targeted at this time?
    In his shock, he acted on reflex, trying to deflect Leonel's arrow, but to his horror, he realized that the rules of the Merlin Trials were still restricting his movements. He hadn't spent any skill points on the physical root, and even if he had, the maneuvers one could buy that applied to this situation were too far up for him to even afford.
    Feelings of disgruntlement and unwillingness welled up in the demons heart. Who among those who were here weren't heroes of their generation? Each of them stood at the top of their respective Kingdoms. To die like thisбн? And even while being unable to use his true strengthбн? He was unresigned!
    PUU!
    A bloody hole shot through the Demon Lord's skull.
    Before anyone could react, the two orbs of light above his head flickered and disappeared, reappearing above Leonel.
    With a harsh bang, Leonel landed on the platform. It was unfortunate, but he only had time to aim and fire a single arrow. However, the benefits he had gained were unimaginable. He hadn't thought he'd get the chance to earn Star Points so quickly. Now, all he needed was five skill points and he'd be able to allow Blackstar the ability to move.
    Just when Leonel was feeling that he had benefited, he suddenly felt his heart go cold. Even after all this time, the primitive man's instincts still ran through his veins, making him feel as though he was in imminent danger.
    Leonel looked up to find not a small number of eyes on him. Whether it was the demons or the humans, the vast majority had turned their attention toward him.
    It was only then Leonel realized that he might very well have acted too rashly.
    If he realized the advantages and disadvantages he had, how could others not as well? Leonel might have benefited in catching everyone off guard, but now he was pegged as the most dangerous whether or not this was the objective reality.
    Everyone realized that if they turned their back to Leonel now and fought their own battles, who was to say that they wouldn't be the next to suffer beneath one of his sneak attacks.
    This wasn't all, either. They all realized that Leonel now had two star points floating above his head. Not only would killing him now benefit them into the future, but whoever did so would gain two star points. The benefit of such a thing was inconceivable.
    Leonel slowly took a step back, but realized he couldn't take another. This wasn't because he was at the edge of the platform. In truth, at this moment, he would rather prefer if he was.
    Unfortunately, though he couldn't be said to be in the middle of the large square platform, he was still about 40 to 50 meters from its bottom edge and over a hundred meters from his closest side edge.
    Suddenly, he was faced with enemies from all sidesбн

 Chapter 282: Come.

    Leonel felt his skin prickle, his palms becoming sweaty. The hairs on his body stood on end, raising like needles across his skin,
    In his life, he had never been in such a dangerous situation. The eyes of over 200 elites locked onto him, not a single one making a move. Even the other star point owners were completely ignored.
    This was just how human nature was. The process of group think, the oppression of the masses. Once a few had locked onto Leonel, not moving an inch, others followed suit. Soon, even the slowest among them had come to realize the truths behind this matter. By then, they were no longer just following the leads of others around him, but had begun thinking about how they could gain advantages for themselves.
    Leonel felt stifled to the point his knees trembled slightly. He tried to steady his grip on his bow, doing his best to calm the beating of his heart.
    It had been a long time since Leonel felt like this. After the first few weeks of his time in the Mayan Tomb, he had begun to slowly temper his battle will and heart.
    To now, he had fought in many battles and been on the frontline for many of them. However, today was the greatest pressure he had ever faced.
    Beads of sweat poured down his brow and his breathing hitched. His inability to control himself made him feel as though he wasn't getting enough oxygen.
    The suppression continued. It was as though those around Leonel wouldn't stop until he completely collapsed beneath their might.
    Facing the combined pressure of over 200 Demon Lord level and higher individuals was too much for any one person to take. Even an individual on the level of King Arthur or Modred would feel weak at such a moment.
    In the distance, King Arthur's lip curled into a cold smile.
    'Where is all your previous arrogance?'
    To now, he had swallowed several grievances due to Leonel. Seeing a brat who thought too much of himself in such a situation gave him untold satisfaction.
    Leonel's blood slowed and his bow seemed to become heavier and heavier with each passing moment. The silence alone was weighing on his mind as though intent on making him go mad.
    A numbing sensation spread throughout his body and the hitching in his breath only seemed to continue. Soon, he felt as though he couldn't breathe at all, as though there wasn't enough air in the world to satiate his lungs.
    Leonel had never felt such a way in his entire life.
    The truth was that he had always been a daring individual. How could he not be? He used to sky dive off of his Paradise Island onto the skyscrapers of Earth's surface. If that wasn't daring, then what was?
    That was who he was. Daring, confidentбн He was a man who always had great belief in his own ability even if that wasn't shown outright as blatant arrogance.
    Even when it came to the Mayan Tomb, just how many could put down their fear and enter that unknown world on their own? Just how many people would have waited for the others to wake up first? Or cower in fear after running into their first battle?
    Though Leonel's actions back then seemed stained by his unwillingness to kill, beneath the first and most obvious layer, there was a hidden depth of courage and bravery.
    But it felt as though all of that was crumbling down now.
    It was sudden and abrupt. It came without warning and without foreshadowing. These were just the way things in life worked. But at the same time, it represented yet another one of the myriad of choices one had to make along their path.
    'Is this where I'll die?'
    Leonel had this same thought for the third time in his life.
    The first was when the sacrificial virgin of the Mayan Tomb had her hands wrapped around his neck. The second was during his battle with Lamorak who had eyes on him even now. And the third was nowбн
    The first time, he accepted death. It was a shame that still rested on his shoulders, one he still had yet to face himself.
    The second time he was unwilling, but to this day, he still had no real idea how he managed to survive. To take credit for such a thing was beneath him. Ultimatelyбн he had just been lucky.
    And now this third time? Would he fail himself again? Was that the choice he wanted to make?
    Leonel's slipping grip on his bow tightened.
    He was unwilling.
    Leonel suddenly raised his head up and shouted. The sound he made wasn't as coherent as words nor as powerful as a roar. It was as though he was venting something within his chest, pushing it out from himself until it had nothing to do with him any longer.
    The sudden noise in an otherwise deathly silent atmosphere left many stunned. By the time Leonel had closed his mouth once more and leveled his gaze to meet those around him, the deathly calm of his gaze had returned.
    Persistence.
    He didn't feel ashamed for having felt fear, but he most definitely would had he allowed it to rule him.
    A halo of bronze shone atop Leonel's head. However, at this moment, it felt as though the violet hue was several levels more powerful than it had been in the past. Even without the rest of Leonel's Runes activated, his eyes became a deep violet, his hair fluttering wildly beneath his stabilized aura.
    At that moment, an oppressive might gushed from Leonel's body. His focus reached unprecedented levels and his will stood tall and firm. Though he didn't realize it then, the chains of his black spear began to clang wildly as though it too was standing beneath the mighty winds of his aura.
    When his mind had calmed, he felt like a fool. This wasn't a battle to the death nor did he have to kill all of these people before him.
    Even if they all wanted to kill him, so what? All he had to do was take down nine moreбн As long as nine of them died beneath his hand or the hand of others, he would survive.
    Leonel pulled an arrow from his quiver, his aura steadily climbing with each moment of silence.
    He could still feel the pressure weighing down on his shoulders. How could he not? These were all existences he would have to go all out to battle even if it was just one on one, let alone when there were so many.
    However, to the current him, the amount of pressure no longer mattered. His arrow would be the blade that cut through it all.
    He didn't need to breathe a word. His demeanor said it all.
    Come.

 Chapter 283: Initiative

    Leonel sudden change caught them all of guard. Even with their experience, they had never witnessed such a thing. However, Leonel didn't need them to react. Since they were standing in a daze, he would take the initiative. He had no intention of standing here and waiting to die.
    Leonel immediately activated 'Stacked Shot', firing two arrows in quick succession.
    Before the arrows even landed, Leonel realized three things.
    'The sharp aura of my Metal Synergy Lineage Factor gives my arrows added sharpness and strength. With my Lineage Factor activated, the restrictive effect of the laws in this place have been lessened by at least half. I can bend the limitations of my skills for at least the next five minutes.'
    In that instant, Leonel understood that along with abilities, this space couldn't restrict his Lineage Factor either. The only trouble was that it seemed his stamina was drained faster than it was usually as his bloodline fought back against the restrictions. But, that was fine. Leonel felt that five minutesбн five minutes was enough.
    No one had expected Leonel to be the first to react. However, the demons and humans that stood around him were all veterans of the battlefield. In addition, now that Leonel had lost the advantage of being in the air, they obviously had far more possible rebuttals to actions.
    Even still, of the two demons Leonel targeted, one who had chosen twin daggers as their weapon of choice didn't manage to block Leonel's strike, suffering a bloody hole to the throat. However, the second who had a broad sword as their weapon managed to use it as a shield in the last moment.
    At that moment, the humans hesitated. Was it really appropriate of them to attack a fellow human while it was so clear Leonel had been targeting demons?
    This sort of hesitancy was exactly what Leonel wanted. If it was up to him, he would have attacked another demon with a small weapon. He could obviously tell that it would be much more difficult to block. However, he hadn't done so for several reasons.
    First, his failure lessened the threat he presented to everyone. Second, it was a question of those around him.
    There were a total of 4 humans and 6 demons within 20 meters of Leonel. At the same time, Leonel was aware that he wasn't in position to battle so many individuals at once. His best bet was to spark a battle. In the chaos, killing nine more, or rather, eight more would be far easier.
    In that caseбн he just needed a spark.
    The demon wielding a broad sword was forced back by the strength of Leonel's arrow. It didn't even have the mind to realize that its back was completely exposed as it stumbled toward a group of humans who had their nerves on edge.
    Leonel didn't wait to see if his strategy would work. He had already learned once today that not everything would work out how you imagine it to. If it did, he wouldn't be in his current situation.
    With a flip of his palm, several fish scales appeared. He activated them one after another, layering his body with three Force Skins in one breath.
    Unfortunately, Leonel was correct. Instead of taking the opportunity to strike at the stumbling demon, the humans backed away.
    In a lot of ways, Leonel could understand their choice. No one wanted to be the one who truly turned this into a battle royale. At the same time, the demons weren't their comrades, so they had no obligation to step in and get revenge. Wasn't it better for them to sit back and wait for a better opportunity to present itself?
    Still Leonel didn't seem to be fazed at all.
    "BOY!"
    The demon who just managed to block Leonel's arrow roared in rage, shooting forward with all the speed he could muster. Unfortunately, everyone was limited to the same slow and evenly spaced steps. In fact, to now, Leonel counted less than ten others than had spent skill points on their movement.
    By the time the broad sword wielding demon had charged to within five meters of Leonel, the cool down of 'Reinforced Arrow' had completed.
    Leonel's lip curled, his gaze suffused with cold indifference. Though he could shoot a normal arrow once every 2 seconds thanks to 'Advanced Quick Reload', 'Reinforced Arrow' didn't fall under this category. Its cool down was 10 seconds. If not for this, it was impossible for this demon to have blocked his arrow.
    However, would Leonel really waste a reinforced arrow on an enemy so close to him. Entering a five meter radius of a bowman with such a limited range of techniques was asking for death.
    Leonel pulled the string of his dark, black bow. Even with his current strength, he only managed to pull it 50% of the way. But, with its strength, this was more than enough.
    The crackling of lightning sounded once more as Leonel stared down the enraged demon. However, this time, an imperceptible bronze luster coated the arrow as well as though the metal that formed it was resonating with a higher existence.
    The demon froze. An overwhelming sense of danger shook his heart.
    He wasn't among the demons who had gained star points. His performance only managed to net him a B evaluation, and that was only after he managed to gain a few tricks after observing those who came before him.
    When facing an arrow even a demon who had gained star points couldn't do anything against, how could he not feel as though he had acted rashly?
    However, would Leonel care for his feelings?
    SHUUUUUUUUUUUU!!
    The demon closed his eyes, realizing that death was upon him. But, even after several moments of holding his breath, he seemed to realize that his heart was still beating. In fact, he hadn't even felt any pain.
    It can't be that a marksman would miss from such a close rangeбн right?
    The demon snapped his eyes open, a cold sweat matting his back. He was just in time to hear an enraged and mournful cry to his back. Not only thatбн but he also watched as two more star points manifested above Leonel's head.
    "Whatбн?"

 Chapter 284: Slaughter

    Just moments ago, he thought he was safe. He stood silently in a corner of the platform, having been lucky enough to be dropped here.
    He couldn't have been more happy that Leonel had taken all the attention for himself. He had thought that after these two star points appeared above his heads that he would most definitely become a target. He really had to thank Leonel.
    'Ha, idiot. What are you doing entering the range of a bowman like that without a proper plan. This is the problem with us demons, focusing too much on brawn and not enough brain. How else could we possibly have allowed a female human to become our leader?'
    The demon clenched his fists.
    He had already affirmed it in his heart. He would use the entry into these trial grounds to raise his strength above that bitch Modred. He could already imagine her riding beneath his crotch. Of course, he would treat her well. It wouldn't be so bad to have such a powerful queen by his side.
    'Hm? Is that idiot dead yet?'
    The demon looked up just in time to see a flash of brilliance approaching him at impossible speeds. He blinked just once, yet it had gone from tens of meters from him, to right before him in a flash.
    The demon's expression changed. He had to dodge.
    Just when he wanted to, his expression changed again.
    'Dammit!'
    He had completely forgotten that he was already at the corner of the platform. There wasбн no place to dodge.
    SHUUUUU! PCCHUU!
    It was only after the arrow had shot through his forehead that the demon realized that dodging was never an option.
    If there was any solice in death, maybe it would be that he wasn't alone in his despair. The very demon he had called an idiot just moments earlier now found himself in a similar situation.
    Standing in a no-man's land within five meters of Leonel's bowбн It was asking for death.
    PCCHUU!
    Another deathly silence fell over the platform.
    In an instant, four demons had died beneath five arrows.
    'This boyбн'
    This simple thought was one shared by them all. Going from being suppressed in one instant to taking the lives of three more in the nextбн Even though they had all witnessed it, they couldn't believe it.
    King Arthur and Lamorak's expressions darkened. They couldn't believe the sudden change. Now, not only was Leonel safe for the time being, but others would hesitate to come after him.
    That bravery, that daringбн He actually targeted a demon over a hundred meters from him when he was surrounded by enemies from all sides.
    This feelingбн it felt oddly similar to when Leonel strolled out of Camelot's gatesбн
    "Dammit! Charge together!"
    The demons around Leonel were completely enraged.
    Leonel steadied his breathing, his gaze flashing like lightning. However many came is as many as he would take on.
    In the distance, Big Buddha and Monet looked on with dark expressions. They had been cautious about making a move before, but it seemed that they might have to. They weren't worried about being seen as the enemies of humans. After all, they were already under the banner of Modred.
    Just when everyone was about to target Leonel, the situation changed once again.
    The demons who had chosen to charge toward Leonel suddenly found themselves frozen, completely unable to move.
    "Bind."
    The delicate voice of a little girl rang through the battlefield. Beads of sweat poured down her little face as she pushed her hand forward. It was obvious that binding the three demons that charged toward Leonel in that instant had taken a lot out of her.
    Not only was the distance far, but there were actually three of them. How could she not be struggling.
    Seeing such a scene, Leonel's heart softened with gratitude. His cold and indifferent expression cracked just the smallest bit.
    'Stacked Shot.'
    Feelings were one thing, but Leonel wouldn't allow his actions to lag behind.
    In an instant, two more bloody holes appeared within the demons.
    The moment she only had to bind a single person, Little Nana's pressure was reduced by a significant amount, allowing Leonel's cool down to be completed and for him to draw another arrow.
    However, Leonel didn't fire this one. He took a step toward the last bound demon and pierced his drawn arrow through her throat. He could see the look of despair as she struggled to break free, but his eyes remained callous.
    In a flash, Leonel had killed seven and still had three arrows remaining.
    He drew his bow once more.
    The contrast of blood dripping from the tip of his drawn arrow and the corpses littered around his body painted a heart palpitating picture.
    At that moment, everyone had grown hesitant. The ability of that little girl was too powerful. They had all been apprehensive about her earlier and now that she had stepped forward to help Leonel, the situation had gotten several times more complex.
    Just when everyone was shaken and wondering what the next step would be, a pained cry called out.
    Leonel's brow shot up. His bow was still drawn, so this cry was obviously not caused by him.
    His Internal Sight locked onto a certain region only to find that King Arthur and Modred had both reacted as one, both killing a member of the demons and humans respectively. In fact, their steps didn't pause as both of them shot toward a second target.
    Leonel was shocked. He couldn't understand why they were acting like this.
    Technically, he was still in a dangerous situation. He hadn't gotten out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.
    Modred's actions could be justified. After all, Leonel had killed seven demons to now. If things continued, she would only fall into more of a disadvantage. However, King Arthur's actions didn't make much sense at all.
    A third cry sounded. In their competition of two, Modred won, taking down a second human. Just as King Arthur's sword descended, a barrier of protection appeared around a shocked demon, saving her at the last moment.
    King Arthur frowned, but eventually retracted his sword unwillingly. It couldn't be helped. He didn't have long ranged attacks but Modred did.
    Just as Leonel was feeling even more confused, Merlin's voice sounded once again.
    &lt;First Elimination Round Completed&gt;
    &lt;Slaughter Points to be Distributed&gt;
    &lt;Leonel - 5.5 points&gt;
    &lt;Modred - 2 points&gt;
    &lt;Nana - 1.5 points&gt;
    &lt;Arthur - 1 point&gt;
    A sudden understanding came over Leonel. It seemed this was where the last points of currency came from. It was no wonder they would take action.

 Chapter 285: Special Store

    Leonel realized then that these slaughter points must have been important. At the very least, they were comparable in use to star points. But, since Leonel hadn't seen anything he could spend them on, he concluded that it might be related to the store ticket he received earlier.
    Still, Leonel didn't spend much time thinking about this. The moment the Elimination Round ended, rather than basking in his victory or the fact he managed to keep his life, he made his way toward Little Nana with the fastest speed he could muster, taking advantage of the loosened restrictions while his Lineage Factor was activated.
    Others were shaken by his sudden action. However, they sighed a breath of relief when they noticed the protective barriers around them. If they could block King Arthur's strike, they had no need to be worried about Leonel.
    But, Leonel didn't spare them a glance as he appeared before Little Nana just as their small platforms formed beneath their feet once again. Thanks to his action, he ended up floating in the expanse of black once more with her by his side.
    Leonel smiled toward the little girl. A protective feeling couldn't help but take root in his heart when he saw her delicate brows matted with sweat. It seemed that helping him from so far away hadn't been easy on her.
    "Thank you, Little Nana."
    Nana blushed slightly, her large blue eyes twinkling with a slight hint of pride. It seemed she was quite happy that she could help Leonel out. At the same time, she felt slightly more comfortable in her heart with Leonel by her side.
    Leonel wanted to ask her what happened to her family, but he hesitated in the end. He could feel that Margrave had sent a portion of his senses in his direction. Things would be fine as long as he just made it look like he was chatting idly with her. However, if the Pope overheard him asking questions, things might become difficult.
    Leonel sighed in his heart. He could sense that his presence had eased the little girl's tension by a small bit. This was all he could do for her for now.
    In truth, he wanted to let her enter the Segmented Cube, but the logistics afterward would be difficult.
    When it was only LIttle Tolly within the Segmented Cube, it could maintain its small size and even fit into his spatial ring. But, whenever Leonel himself entered, the Segmented Cube couldn't shrink past five cubic meters.
    This was better than it had been in Phase One. Back then, its smallest size when he entered was ten cubic meters. But, it still wasn't small enough.
    Leonel believed that this had something to do with the strength of his life force. Uncle Montez had said that Little Tolly couldn't enter his spatial bracelet because the little guy was a living being. However, even then, it was easier to accommodate a spirit than a full blown human.
    'Waitбн I can let her enter one of the snowglobesбн'
    Leonel sealed this thought at the back of his mind.
    Though Little Nana seemed more at ease around him, that was only relative. Ultimately, they had had very few reactions. For a little girl to survive on her own to now, no matter how naive and innocent she looked, she was definitely highly intelligent. It wouldn't be a simple matter to get her to put her whole trust in him.
    In addition, Leonel was only acting now because he was soft hearted and also owed the little girl a favor now for helping him out. Their relationship couldn't be considered to be deep. It was just that Leonel had a good impression of this little girl despite the fact she had acted against him in the past.
    "I just helped a littleбн" Little Nana said softly, her voice as delicate as a butterfly's? wings. "бн Big Brother is the impressive one, standing up to them like that."
    Leonel found it a bit odd Nana called him big brother so directly. But, he assumed that it might have just been the dialect of where she grew up. From his understanding, these hidden families were quite reclusive. Had it not been for the fact she was expelled from her clan for whatever reason, Leonel might have never met Aina in his lifetime.
    After organizing his thoughts, Leonel smiled once again and chatted idly with the little girl. However, their conversation didn't last very long before it was interrupted.
    &lt;Would you like to use your Special Store Ticket now?&gt;
    Leonel hesitated. Originally, he wanted to save it until he had more skill points to use since he thought he would need them within the store. But, after gaining slaughter points, he wasn't sure anymore.
    'Forget it. Since I gained a ticket but no star points before, it seemed such tickets are less valuable. I'll enter now even if I can't buy anything.'
    "I'll be back." Leonel told Little Nana.
    "Mm."
    Leonel used his ticket, his body vanishing in the next instant. For a moment, his vision blurred. When he could finally see his surroundings again, he realized that he had entered another wide expanse of black.
    Just as he was feeling confused, a translucent screen appeared before him and a catalog of items appeared. It only took a cursory glance for Leonel to notice that all of these items were high quality, even the worst were B-grade treasures.
    It was a shame that it didn't matter much to Leonel. He couldn't take anything out of this Zone without it disappearing.
    'Hmбн Even if I can't, if I Dream Sculpt items I'm interested in, I can Craft them for myselfбн'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel's mind suddenly latched onto an idea.
    He remembered that he still had the weird naked sniper's Ethereal Glabella. According to the dictionary, the same way it was possible to refine a Beast Crystal into treasures, it was also possible to do with humans.
    All this time, Leonel had been greatly hesitant. He didn't like the idea of doing such a thing to a human. It seemed morallyбн wrong.
    Leonel wasn't wrong either. There was a great taboo against doing such a thing in the world of Force Crafters.
    However, as time passed, Leonel realized that his earth escape treasure was becoming less and less reliable. It wasn't that the beast crystals they were formed of were lacking, but rather that his skill in refining them hadn't been good enough.
    The biggest problem was ultimately that it took too long to activate. It couldn't be used in battle at all. However, the naked sniper's blink abilityбн It was hard to pass up.
    Unfortunately, Leonel had yet to draw up a satisfactory blueprint for it. He realized that even though he had managed to Craft a Tier 9 Black treasure, his skill couldn't really be considered to be at that level just yet. At most, he was able to use his ability to drill himself into being capable of doing something he would otherwise find impossible.
    Butбн if he found a treasure here that accomplished a similar ability, it would make things much easier on him in the future.
    What Leonel didn't know was that he had touched on his second taboo already.
    The first was refining a human into a treasureбн and the second was stealing the Craft of another masterбн

 Chapter 286: Reactivation

    'This isn't working. Going through all of these treasures one by one would take foreverбн'
    Leonel suddenly had an idea. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it wouldn't cost him anything to try.
    "Can you show me all short distance teleportation treasures with cool downs less than ten seconds."
    Much to Leonel's surprise, the translucent screen before him immediately reacted. There was a few seconds of rapid scrolling before treasures disappeared one after another, leaving behind a total of five.
    Leonel's gaze brightened. There were two necklaces, one brace, one bracelet, and the last was an ankle brace. They all had short ranges of within ten meters. The highest cool down amongst them eight seconds while the lowest was three.
    Leonel focused on one of the necklaces. Though it was quite feminine, what he cared about was its ability. Worse come to worst, he could just hide it beneath his shirt or armor.
    This necklace was the overall best treasure here. It had a teleportation distance of three meters and could be used once every three seconds. It was possible to store teleportation charges for up to three attempts. After that, one would have to manually pour Force into it.
    Just when Leonel was about to get ahead of himself and purchase it, he suddenly froze. He remembered he didn't have any of the currency necessary for this Special Store. In fact, he wasn't even aware of what the currency was to begin with.
    Leonel's gaze slowly shifted to the side of the image reflecting in his gaze. When he saw the numbers beside it, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
    &lt;Treading Goddess Necklace (Legendary Equipment) - 72 000 skill points&gt;
    If Leonel was a weaker man, he would definitely begin to shed real tears.
    72 000 skill points? He didn't even have one. It seemed he had gotten way too ahead of himself. How could it be so easy to lay his hands on such a treasure?
    This Treading Goddess Necklace was a Quasi-Bronze treasure. As long as it was a Third or Fourth Dimensional world, it wouldn't weaken in the slightest. How could it be so casually given out?
    Leonel settled his breathing. It seemed he had wasted an entry ticket. He didn't have a single skill point on him. And, even if he did, he wouldn't have the heart to spend it on a piece of equipment. 72 000 skill points was enough to make it a good portion of the way up his skill tree. He couldn't casually use such an amount. His first priority was still mastering the Four Seasons Realm.
    Just as Leonel was about to resign himself to a loss, he suddenly remembered something else. Since this space could respond to his verbal command, maybe it could answer a question of his?
    "Um, how do I use slaughter points?"
    The translucent screen flickered and changed once again.
    &lt;Slaughter Point Exchange&gt;
    &lt;Current Conversion Rate&gt;
    &lt;1 Slaughter Point - 100 Skill Points&gt;
    &lt;1 Slaughter Point - 3 Special Store Tickets&gt;
    &lt;1 Slaughter Point - 1 Star Point&gt;
    Leonel's gaze brightened.
    So it was like this. Slaughter Points could be traded for a myriad of things.
    'It says current exchange rateбн does that mean it's subject to change?'
    Leonel came to a logical conclusion. It was very likely that as the numbers dwindled, slaughter points would gain a boost in value. Who knew, in the future, it might be possible to exchange a slaughter point for thousands of skill points.
    'Arthur must have benefited from these treasures from his last entry, but why is it that he hasn't used them yetбн? Is it that he can't due to the restrictions, or is there another reason?'
    Leonel realized that his own treasures didn't seem to have any restrictions. The only reason he hadn't been able to use his wind-lightning glove before was due to the restriction on his Force, not the treasure itself. So, he was unsure if he had an advantage others didn'tбн
    'Forget it, we'll see how things go.'
    Armed with this new information, Leonel became more confident.
    The first thing he did was spend 5 skill points and 1 star point to unlock 'A Companion for Life'.
    "Yip, yip!"
    Finally feeling that he could move, Little Blackstar excitedly jumped around. The little guy had truly felt too stifled.
    Once Leonel unlocked Blackstar and Tolliver, he gained a fourth branch of his skill tree related to them. Originally, Leonel had no intention of spending any skill points on this new skill tree. After all, Blackstar's ability couldn't be restricted by this world. There was no need to give him new skills.
    However, Leonel froze when he saw a particular skill.
    'Perfect Union'.
    The moment Leonel saw it, he knew he had to have it. He understood too little about Blackstar's ability while this skill would allow him and Blackstar to essentially share one mind. Everything the little guy felt and all of its instincts would count as Leonel's.
    The best part about this skill was that it wasn't the highest skill on the tree, nor did it take much to reach it.
    'бн It would take 321 skill points to unlock the branches necessary and four star points to reach itбн'
    Leonel hesitated.
    If he converted all of his slaughter points now, he would have 550 skill points. However, he only had three star points left now, so he would only have 450 skill points while the last slaughter point would go toward the last star point he neededбн
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. At the moment, he was feeling uneasy in his heart. He felt like things would only become more dangerous from here on out, and who knew when the next Elimination Round would begin.
    Leonel was certain that he would be targeted from the beginning during the next round. It couldn't be helped, he stood out too much and had made many enemies.
    'It ultimately comes down to one questionбн will understanding Blackstar better give me a greater immediate boost in strength, or would using all 550 skill points on myself do soбн'
    Leonel sent a glance toward his own skill tree.
    Several calculations fired off in his Dream World. Eventually, he fell into a simulation, the results of which shocked him.
    It wasn't even close. Investing in Blackstar was by far the best choice.
    Leonel took a deep breath and stopped hesitating.
    &lt;5.5 Slaughter Points Exchanged&gt;
    &lt;1 Star Point Gained&gt;
    &lt;450 Skill Points Earned&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Damage Share' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Vision Share' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Battle Mount'? Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Silver Skill 'Perfect Union' Chosen&gt;
    The moment he clicked on this skill, Leonel's mind was suddenly flooded with a whole host of new sensory information.
    Little Blackstar, who had been playing around, suddenly turned back to Leonel and blinked with an adorable curiosity. The little guy seemed to be wondering why he felt so much closer to Leonel all of a sudden.
    It took a while for Leonel to regain his bearings, but when he did, a confident smile spread across his face. Up until now, he had still been wondering if he made the right choice. But now, he realized he had.
    Without another ounce of hesitation, he began to use his remaining hundred or so skill points on himself.
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Triple Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Rapid Fire' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Sprint' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'Roll' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Basic Skill 'High Jump' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Curved Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Exploding Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Bronze Skill 'Armor Pierce' Chosen&gt;
    Leonel spent 80 or so skill points on his skill tree. As for the remaining 50 or so, he spent it all on a Bronze piece of equipment - Bronze Quiver.
    Not only could it hold 25 arrows, but it could spawn another every 30 seconds.
    Feeling confident, Leonel finally left the Special Store. But, what he found when he stepped out doused him from head to toe in cold water.
    King Arthur stood majestically, his white armor glowing with a fierce light. It was as though it had been completely reborn. It alone made Leonel feel as though a mountain was weighing on his shoulders.
    How could Leonel know that King Arthur could indeed use treasures he had gained during his last entry. It was just that he had to pay an appropriate price to reactivate them. And, unfortunatelyбн that price was far less than it cost to originally buy the equipmentбн
    &lt;White Lion King Armor - 60 000 skill points&gt;
    &lt;Reactivation Price - 300 skill points&gt;
    Another thing Leonel didn't know was that star points could also be exchange for skill pointsбн

 Chapter 287: Young Woman

    Leonel met King Arthur's gaze.
    It was a short interaction, hardly worth a thiing. Yet, Arthur seemed to realize that Leonel's gaze was even firmer than it had been in the past. Not only that, but he noticed that the little beast lazing around Leonel's neck had grown more active.
    'What is that beastбн this boy was actually willing to spend 5 skill points and a star point to allow it to moveбн?'
    A star point was worth 100 skill points at this juncture. It wasn't a small matter to make the choice to use it. Arthur couldn't help but grow a level more serious.
    &lt;Second Trial Begin!&gt;
    The world warped. Suddenly, the singular square platforms of a meter in length and width lengthened, stretching into the distance. In the blink of an eye, it formed several long roads the each of them stood at the end of.
    Leonel sent a gaze toward Little Nana before looking back toward the long road ahead of him. Without another thought, he took a strong step forward.
    **
    The universe was a nearly endlessly vast place. Some believed it was infinite while others believed it was infinitely expanding. There were even some schools of thought that believed there were endless copies of this impossible vastness, each telling the same story a different way.
    Still, there was only one truth.
    There was just a single universe. However, within this single universe, there were trillion upon trillions of worlds each with billions upon billions of existences of their own.
    In this universe, there were usually many names for the same thing. However, this universe only went by a single name by those who were advanced enough to realize its profundities бк The Dimensional Verse.
    Though the Dimensional Verse was formed of many worlds, it was more accurate to say that these worlds simply represented a 'Fold of Reality'. Each Fold encompassed a world and could be given a Dimensional Grade.
    A single Fold could vary in size. It could be as small as a single city within a planet or as large as an entire galaxy. It is when these Folds begin to evolve that a 'world' is considered to also evolve.
    The Fold that represented Earth's world encompassed Earth and the Moon. In comparision to other Folds, it was neither too big nor too small. But, it could be said to be convenient.
    When Folds are too small, the benefit is also small. The evolution potential will be limited as there are limited gains to a small scale evolution. The smaller the scale, the less change there is to catalyze, and thus the less benefits there are to gain.
    However, at the same time, if the Fold is too large, it becomes too difficult to deal with. For a fledgling world like Earth, what could it do if its Fold of Reality encompassed its entire solar system? What if a Zone appeared on Jupiter?
    Even though Earth's advancement in technology has been vast in the past several centuries, what did it matter if it was impossible to use this technology thanks to the Metamorphosis?
    This wasn't the only issue with large Folds either. The larger the Fold, the more history a Zone could encompass, and the more complex they became to clear. The more random a Zone could become, the more complex its quests become, and the more difficult it was for Zone detection treasures to calculate the quest requirements.
    Of course, a place like Jupiter wouldn't have any real history of its own. That would be nonsensical. However, its addition to a Fold of Reality could cause mutations in an otherwise normal history one would never expectбн
    Unfortunately, the size of Folds was destined to always grow. Though it would be nice if it remained the same until the fall of a world, such things were never meant to be.
    Due to this truth, the higher the Dimension of a world, the larger its Fold was, and the more powerful it had to be to survive to its current point.
    As though this wasn't enough, sometimes growing Folds could clash and begin to overlap, resulting in an instance of two worlds having no choice but to go to war for fear of their own world collapsingбн
    Still, these instances were often never reached by a world because the process of survivng a growing Fold of Reality was too much for many worlds to bearбн
    There were many worlds that sat at this crossroad. To the left was a road where they survived and managed to prosper. While the growing of a Fold could devastate a world, it also provided opportunities.
    The larger a Fold, the more Natural Force Arts it encompassed and the greater resources it could produce.
    However, the right was a road of immediate benefits. These worlds would choose to abandon their Folds of Reality to migrate to more stable Higher Dimensional Worlds. But, before they did so, they would wring their world dry of all the resources it had left, using it to fund their new livesбн
    Many worlds had a certain ratio of both types of people. Where there was population, there would always be opposing view points.
    Would it be better to build something with your own hands and leave something behind your future generations could admire you for? Or was that foolish? Why shed blood and tears for a reality you wouldn't get to enjoy yourself?
    бн
    The world of Terrain was at a similar crossroads. It had been 500 years since it evolved into a Fourth Dimensional World.
    Unlike Earth, it didn't sit in a Fold of Reality with much potential. According to the higher Dimensional beings, it would at most become a Fifth Dimensional World before reaching the end of its evolution.
    For worlds that reached the end of their potential, the clashing of these two ideologies would become especially tumultuous. The effort needed to have a world step into its final evolutionary stage was a lotбн but just how many were able to put in this necessary effort?
    That said, whether this clash was relevant to the events occurring at this very moment was very hard to tell. It could only be said that this matter should be left up to those observingбн
    бн
    At this very moment, a singular woman was the target of a large scale man hunt.
    This woman had long, flowing black hair and shining amber eyes that almost looked like shimmering gold when they reflected the sunlight. Even as she ran with all her being, her steps not leaving the slightest trace of her, her gaze didn't lose its alluring beauty.
    However, her eyes could be said to be the only beautiful thing about her. When one's eyes landed on her face, the sight would be enough to make even the most stoic of men sigh.
    It was clear to anyone that she was an impossible to find beauty, the kind that if Leonel were to witness, he would realize that Joan, Monet and Modred couldn't possibly hold a candle to.
    Unfortunatel, this beauty was completely marred by savage scars. They crisscrossed across her face, her cheeks, her lips, like enraged pinkish-purple earth worms.
    The scars seemed to pulse with her every breath, giving the impression that they were either coursing with a mysterious energy, were on the verge of becoming infected or were severely poisoned. It might even be possible that it was a combination of all threeбн
    It was difficult to describe just how horrid the sight was. And, even for a man, let alone a young lady in her prime, it was difficult to accept having such an appearance.
    Most in this young woman's position would choose to cover it up. In fact, for most of her life, this particular woman had chosen to do exactly that. However, her reasons for doing so were very different from what another young woman would give.
    At this moment, though, these reasons hardly mattered. The life she lived on her home world was far different from the one she lived now. All she cared about was improving and tempering herself, growing powerful enough to one day seek revenge on her enemies. In fact, it was due to these ambitions that she had landed herself in so much trouble.
    The forces currently chasing her had standings in this world that would make the citizens of Terrain shiver in terror. However, this young woman had infuriated them all without hesitation.
    The young lady dashed through the mountain range. Beads of prespiration fell down her face, rolling over her unsightly scars. Every time they did, she would feel a nearly unquenchable desire to itch at her face, but she stubbornly ignored this desire, knowing that such an action would only make it all worse.
    'The beasts in this mountain range will be troublesome. They should give me some timeбн'
    A serious expression warped the young woman's brows.
    She flipped her palm, causing a vial filled with a thick, blood red liquid to appear. It was because of this item that she was confident no beast would approach her. But, it was also because of this that she was being hunts like a criminal. Still, if she went through so much trouble fo this vial, she had to take advantage of it too.
    With another flip of her palm, her opposite hand suddenly gained a familiar ax.
    If Leonel was there, despite the initial unfamiliarity he had with this young woman's face, he would immediately recognize her now.
    She was none other than the only woman in his heart, Aina Brazinger.

 Chapter 288: Communication

    "That damned ugly bitch!"
    A roar shook the forest. It was laced with endless fury and unwillingness. It was the kind of shout that caused birds to flee and an unwitting silence to overwhelm the immediate aftermath.
    At that moment, a young man stood in the midst of a group of warriors. He had sharp features and a hidden air of elegance beneath his current anger. It was clear that he was very much used to the lifestyle of a noble.
    At the same time, he wasn't alone in his rage. There were two others of equal standing to his own that felt the same rage toward the same woman.
    One of them was a young lady whose delicate, expressional features reddened beneath the gnashing of her teeth. And the last was a stocky young man who was a head shorter than even the young woman.
    These three young masters represented three of the most powerful powers on Terrain. In fact, there were only a handful of other territories that could match them in strength. Yet, they all felt infinite rage toward the same woman.
    The Cliff's Edge Terrace. The World's End Falls. The Mirage Pavilion.
    Each of these were names that shook the hearts of those born on Terrain. Yet, they had actually made a move together.
    "Spread out the encirclement. Do whatever you have to do to find her!"
    "Butбн Young Heir, the Mountain Sands Range is too dangerous. If we spread out too thin, it will become too difficult to protect you."
    An older man stepped forward to say these words.
    The attire from those on Terrain was quite unique. They all wore a cross of robes and soft armor that made their clothing look somewhat like delicate art pieces. However, the truth was that these seemingly soft pieces of cloth provided more defenses than heavy duty armor ever could.
    The older man and the young master he spoke to both wore deep black robes crossed with dark blue soft armor. The combination made them look somewhat sinister mixed with a touch of an ethereal feel.
    These robes were the marking of the Cliff's Edge Terrace, a power ranked within the top ten of the Terrain world.
    The words of the older man was exceptionally tactful. The truth was that the ones that would be in the most danger would be those who separated from this young master of theirs. With all the protective treasures this young man had, even if he was alone in this mountain range, he would still have better than 50% odds of survival.
    However, the old man had seen too much life to argue from the point of view of a servant. He had to convince the young man that he would be in danger, otherwise why would he care? This was the reality of the world.
    Hearing the name Mountain Sands Range, the young man immediately grew sober.
    It was an odd name for a mountain range, especially since there were no deserts anywhere within hundreds of kilometers of this place. In fact, when the young man heard that a Tier 1 Bronze Zone would appear in this place, he had been hesitant to go at all until he heard it was a Variant Zone.
    There were a total of four different kinds of Zones. Regular Zones, Unique Zones, Mythological Zones and finally, Variant Zones.
    Variant Zones were unique in that unlike the others, they didn't pull from culture or history. Rather, they came from the future.
    Regular Zones represented the trials of a world. Unique Zones represented the invasion of a world. Mythological Zones represented the potential of a world. And, Variant Zones representedбн the end of a world.
    For higher Dimensions, toying with the timeline of a weaker world wasn't difficult as long as an appropriate price was paid. However, in this instance, it wasn't another world trying to sabotage Terrain, but rather the future generations of Terrain trying to save their own world.
    Whenever a Variant Zone appeared, it meant that a world had entered a crossroads. Choosing to go one direction or another would decide whether they would sink or swim. A Variant Zone could be considered the universe giving a world a few more chances before they perished.
    Of course, the appearance of just one Variant Zone didn't necessarily mean a world was on the brink of destruction. But, what it did mean was that if appropriate measures weren't taken, a world would be in danger given due time.
    What truly differentiated Variant Zone from others was thatбн treasures could be taken out of them!
    Usually only Gold Zones and above would have this ability. But, only Variant Zones could completely ignore this restriction.
    It was no wonder, then, that this group was so infuriated. The penultimate treasure of this Variant Zone was snatched away by an unknown young woman. And to make it all worse, she had somehow managed to escape their encirclement.
    However, even with all the pent up rage, the young heir still calmed the moment he heard the nameбн
    The Mountain Sands Range.
    It gained this name not because of its terrain, but because of the fact it was a danger zone countless individuals had lost their life in. The legends said that the deeper one entered this mountain range, the more difficult it was to get out, just like quicksand.
    They had already traveled deeply enough to have entered the so-called 'sand box' region. If they entered too deeply and reached the true 'quicksand' region, even the young heirs wouldn't be confident of escaping.
    However, it was clear by the actions of that young woman that she had no intention of escaping outward. In fact, she was putting more pressure on them the deeper she entered.
    The young heir to the Cliff's Edge Terrace grit his teeth.
    To pursue or to not pursue. What should he do?
    After regaining his calm, he became several levels more thoughtful.
    "Send out communication talismans. I want to hear from Miss Falls and that short bastard first before we make the next step of the plan."
    In the end, he was the young heir of a great power. He had initially lost control of his emotions because he couldn't stand the thought of such an ugly woman with no backing causing him to suffer a loss, but now that things had come to this, he had to take the next step carefully.

 Chapter 289: Reynred

    It wasn't long before a meeting of three had been converged.
    One was a young man wearing black robes alternating in deep blue soft armor. This young man was the heir of Cliff's Edge Terrace, Reynred Solar.
    The second was a young woman wearing bright white robes alternating in a light sky blue soft armor. This young woman was the heiress of World's End Falls, Jilniya Falls.
    The last was a short young man wearing red robes matched with violet soft armor. This young man was the heir of the Mirage Pavilion, Wilas Mirage.
    If one were to witness this scene, there would only be one of two reactions to have. Either one would be impressed, or disgusted.
    Reynred sat in the middle of a dense forest with a tea spread before him. A small round table housed precious herbs being steeped in hot water and delicate, neatly arranged pastries.
    He sat at the table, one leg crossed over the other, as though he wasn't in the wilderness at all. One would think that he was taking a break of leisure within his own personal garden rather than being on an expedition within one of the most dangerous Danger Zones of Terrain.
    "Is all of this really necessary, you sissy? You called us here to waste our time eating pastries and drinking tea?"
    Wilas exploded the instant he saw Reynred set up. He and Jilniya both thought that he had already captured that ugly bitch. They had never expected that he would call them here without rhyme or reason. Did he not understand the situation?
    Their three powers had invested too much into this. Not only had they invested many resources into making sure the opening of the Zone remained secret, but they had lost large amounts of man power forming expeditionary squads to clear a path toward it. What was this fool thinking?
    Reynred's hand paused, causing the tea cup in his hands to stop just before his lips. A hint of cold killing intent flashed for just the briefest moment. In the end, he managed to control himself.
    "We need a better plan than the one we have now. If we continue to follow this ugly woman into this mountain rangeбн I'm sure you know the kind of consequences we could face. This isn't a playground."
    Hearing these words, both heirs became slightly more serious. Even the perpetually silent Jilniya grew a level more serious.
    "What do you propose?" Wilas said after some time.
    Reynred took a long sip of his tea before placing the cup down.
    "There are only four passageways out of this mountain range. Pressure Winds Valley, Reverse Flow River, the Mountain Sands Path and the Mountain Sands cave network.
    "I think we all know that no one has come out alive from that cave network since the Fourth Dimension descended. I suggest our main forces control these three passageways. As for the fourth, just in case of anything unexpected, we can send a few scouts with decent strength.
    "That whore isn't very powerful to begin with. If not for her cunning, she would have long since fallen beneath my blade. The moment we lay eyes on her will seal her death."
    Reynred's gaze turned frosty. He had actually suffered a loss at the hands of a Third Dimension swine. How could he not feel disgusted?
    Wilas and Jilniya looked toward one another.
    "What if she dies? Wouldn't it all be for naught?" Jilniya finally spoke her first words.
    Her voice was light, delicate, and didn't carry the slightest hint of emotion. She seemed detached from everything. But, then again, it seemed as though all those from World's End Falls were exactly like this.
    Reynred sneered. "In the end, even if it's a Variant Zone, it's still ultimately a mere Tier 1 Bronze Zone. How great could the treasures possibly be?"
    The two heirs looked at one another and shook their heads. No matter how one looked at it, Reynred's words simply sounded like sour grapes.
    Compared to other Zones, Variant Zones had exceptionally low difficulty and provided rewards that were disproportionately greater. After all, they were meant to provide hope to a dying world, how could it not be like this?
    It wasn't surprising for a Tier 1 Bronze Zone to have rewards within in comparable to a Silver Zone. Reynred was just speaking nonsense. However, he was too lost in his own world to care for the opinions. It was clear that his hatred for this young woman had surpassed his desire for this treasure.
    Reynred shook his head.
    "We can't afford to bet our lives here. Those important matters I'm sure you two are aware of aren't as far away as it might seem."
    Wilas frowned. "Hmph. The only reason I'll be migrating along with the rest of you is because the elders have already decided on it. I'm not like you shameless individuals who give up so easily."
    This time, it was Wilas' turn to be looked upon oddly. However, they didn't have the mind to say anything to reprimand him. Instead, the meeting dispersed. Soon a net designed to capture one young woman would be perfectly deployed.
    бн
    At that very moment, Aina had entered a cave. If the three heirs had been there, they would have been shocked to realize that this ugly woman they were chasing had actually entered one of the many networks of tunnels beneath the vast mountain range.
    Unfortunately, Aina didn't know anything about the dangers of this place. In truth, after Leonel sent her here with her teleportation ticket, she had appeared not far from the Variant Zone. It was then she entered, not knowing that she would be ruining the plans of so many large powers.
    Teleportation tickets were actually designed such that new comers would be taken to prepared stations. After all, any world that had entered the Fourth Dimension was used to visitors from other worlds. It was a part of evolution.
    However, that little fool Leonel didn't know that one had to prepare appropriately for a teleportation as every small factor was important. Namely, Aina's ax had still been in her hand at the time. As a result, it influenced her teleportation and sent her off course.
    In the end, here she was, being chased to the point of entering these dark caves with nothing to rely on but the ax in her hands.

 Chapter 290: Ainas Ability

    A heavy breath left Aina's lips.
    The cold breeze of the damp tunnels nipped at her body, making the portions of her skin exposed to the elements ripple with goosebumps.
    Though she wore the very same black military uniform covered with many pockets, it had been torn in several places due to her battle. Had it not been for her ability, she might very well have been crippled of movement by now.
    'So coldбн'
    Aina's petite body trembled slightly, but she grit her teeth and pressed onward.
    Without a choice, she was forced to put her ax away. Using such a large weapon in an enclosed space might cost her her life. So, she pulled out a sword instead.
    The blade's edge gleamed within the darkness. In her left hand, she clutched the vial of red and the other, she clutched the hilt of her sword.
    She didn't really think much about her weapon. She had just happened to pick it up within the Variant Zone. However, she wasn't very fond of light weapons, she felt less secure behind such a small weapon.
    Aina shook her head, willing these useless thoughts away.
    'Hopefully these tunnels run deep so they won't be able to find me easily. I'll find a place to rest and heal my injuries.'
    Aina had no idea what kind of danger zone she was entering. She thought that this place was no different from any normal array of underground tunnels. The only reason she was being semi-cautious was because she wouldn't be naive enough to believe that there were no dangers at all before her.
    Not only were beasts far more advanced on Fourth Dimensional worlds, but Invalids were several levels more dangeorus as well. In fact, there were even instances of Invalids creating and manning civilizations of their own.
    Of course, such a 'civilization' could hardly be called as such. After all, the vast majority of Invalids were mindless zombies. However, Variant Invalids were impossibly dangerous foes. There was a chance, albeit a small one, that there might be Invalids up ahead.
    Luckily, nothing obstructed her path forward. She managed to find several branching paths. After picking one, she chose an area with multiple escape routes and sat down in meditation.
    Her chest heaved, her eyelashes trembling slightly. It was only after she sat that she felt the exhaustion take hold of her body.
    It had already been several months since the last time she slept. Even Leonel, who had such an overwhelmingly strong spirit, couldn't do such a thing.
    All this time, she had relied on her ability to accomplish this feat. Whenever she felt overwhelming fatigue, she would activate her self-heal and wash it all away. But, she had been gaining diminishing returns for a long time already.
    Aina sighed. 'If he was hereбн'
    Aina suddenly shook her head furiously.
    During their time together within the Joan Zone, Aina had gotten used to relying on Leonel's sleep meditation ability. He had always been the perfect scout. But now, there was only herself.
    'Focus, Aina. The moment you decided to take your mask off, you left that life behind.'
    Aina snapped her eyes open, willing her fatigue away. She bit down on her lip hard. There was no doubt that if Leonel was here, he would have asked her to treat them better than she was now.
    She looked down at the red vial in her hand. This vial was the top treasure of the Variant Zone. According to what she understood, it was the blood of a beast known as the Abyss Panther.
    The Abyss Panther was a Fifth Dimensional beast that would be born on Terrain within the next thousand years. This meant that in all of current existence, the only instance of its existence was currently in Aina's palm. This was the magic of Variant Zones.
    Every world would birth mystical and powerful beasts of its own after every evolution. Earth would likely have some of its own very soon.
    Among those evolved beasts, some would grow powerful enough to make a name for itself within the whole universe. Only then would its name ring sonorously within the ears of all.
    However, the Abyss Panther wasn't of this level. In fact, it might never be. There was even a chance it would never be born at all and its 'future' lineage would end in Aina's hands right here and now.
    Aina hesitated.
    With this vial in hand, no beast would dare approach her. She basically gained a ring of protection around her. However, if she ingested it now, it would likely bring a huge boost to her strength and smoothly allow her to enter the Fourth Dimension within a few months.
    If others heard Aina's thoughts, they would think that she was insane.
    The universe had countless magic systems. One that involved ingesting the blood of powerful beasts, of course, existed. However, this situation was completely different.
    For one, this was blood from a Fifth Dimensional beast while Aina was still within the Third Dimension. There were a full two watershed moments between her and this beast.
    In addition, the ingestion of blood was considered to be an unorthodox path. It would always leave behind latent dangers and injuries. Even in the rare instances that it didn't, it would chain a person to a certain level of strength. As such, ingesting blood should never be taken lightly.
    Yet, by Aina's demeanor, it seemed that she wasn't worried about any of this. Andбн this most definitely wasn't due to ignorance.
    Aina had reason to be confident.
    Her ability fell under the healing type, yet she wasn't able to heal anyone else but herself. This seemed like a limited and useless ability, however it was actually the exact opposite.
    Aina's Gene Assessment listed her as a Five Star Health Professional. Her ability was related to self-healing. Each was related to the other.
    The reason Aina was so confident was because her ability allowed her almost limitless control over her own body.
    Any benefit she could gain with her body would be multiplied several times over compared to a normal person. She could manipulate the small portions of her body with absolute control.
    If she ingested this blood, not only could she ensure that there wouldn't be any lingering issues, but she would benefit far more than anyone else who ingested the same blood.
    Howeverбн this was only part of the reason she dared to do this.

 Chapter 291: Torment

    Aina gently touched the scars on her face and winced. They felt exceptionally tender as though they had just healed, but only she knew that she had had these scars for an entire 18 years of her life.
    Her main reliance were these very scars on her face.
    'These scars you've given me, not only will I not let them shame me, I will use them in a way you could never have calculated.'
    A fiery rage lit Aina's amber eyes. In that moment, they flickered like golden flames.
    Without hesitation, she poured the entire vial contents down her throat.
    BANG!
    Aina's clothes were blasted to ash. However, there was no gorgeous sight to behold. What should have been delicate, somewhat tanned skin, was nowhere to be seen.
    Along with her clothes, Aina's skin had been torn asunder. A rain of her own blood and flesh coated the walls of the cave as though a massacre had taken place. All that was left were the fine fibers of her bloody muscles. In fact, even some of her skeleton shone through regions where even her deep tissue was broken.
    She looked like a human that had been skinned alive. Yet, somehow, the scars on her face still remained prominent. They were so deep that they dug into the tissue of her face and latched onto her skull. Even in this situation, they pulsed like grotesque worms, not letting go even as their host was on the verge of death.
    However, if one looked closely, it seemed that Aina was still in a state of meditation. She no longer had eyelids to close her eyes, but, her pupils seemed to have glazed over.
    Anyone sane would believe that she was deadбн That is, until one noticed a steadily beating piece of flesh. It was beneath two large mounds of yellow fat flowing with blood, beneath a? ribcage bathed in crimson, and between two barely perceptibly moving lungsбн
    Her heart. It continued to beat with a rhythmic consistency.
    As time passed, its beating slowed. It seemed that Aina might die at any time, howeverбн though the rhythm seemed to slow, it became deeper and more resounding. Soon, it felt as though the whole underground space was trembling beneath its might.
    бн
    At that moment, in a certain region of Earth, there was a hidden estate. It seemed completely separate from Earth, as though it was a heaven gracing the land of mortals.
    There were vast stretches of exotic, alien plants, plains were graced by odd creatures of mythology, and the forests held an irresistable scent to them that seemed to pull one into a trance.
    At the center of this land, there was a mansion that hung in the skies. From its base, thick, heavy chains hung. From a distance, it almost seemed as though these chains were the pillars that held this mansion up. If it wasn't for their slight swaying every so often, any ignorant observer would conclude this as wellбн
    Within this mansion, in a room hidden from the eyes of even most of those worthy of stepping foot onto its floors, there was an alter.
    Though it was an alter, it didn't seem to be worshipping anything. Rather, it seemed to be the exact opposite.
    A stone tablet of sort sat with names crossed out, as though being banished from a level of respect they had once deserved, or maybe never deserved to begin with.
    There were only two names on this list. Both of them seemed to have a magic aura wrapped around them. However, this aura was poison, sinister and darkбн
    Compared to the awe inspiring display of the Morales family ancestral grounds, this place was several levels less grand and also lacked any celebratory mood.
    At that moment, an emanciated old man looked up with dull eyes. He sat within this dark room as a perpetual overseer, but his position didn't seem to be very high. Whether it was his long black robes or the rattling of chains beneath them, he seemed more like a slave than an elder.
    His eyes were a milky white. He seemed completely blind, yet also seemed to sense something. However, whatever that something was made him sigh.
    Before he could do much of anything, the pulsing lights on one of the names became more intense. The aura it exuded became several levels more vindictive and savage, exuding an endless dark energy.
    A commotion was raised throughout the mansion and soon news was spread to all corners.
    Within a room of that mansion, a beautiful middle aged woman sat before a mirror, allowing a petite maid to apply light makeup onto her delicate features. If it wasn't for the slight wrinkles toward the side of her eyes, it would have been impossible to tell this woman's age.
    Not long later, a messenger quickly entered the room and left just as quickly.
    Upon hearing the message, the beautiful middle aged woman snickered.
    "That whore's daughter is still trying? How many is that already in the last year?"
    "38, Madame." The petite maid replied softly.
    "That little bitch sure can endure pain. She should know that that seal isn't going anywhere. She can struggle all she wants, but it won't change the outcome."
    The beautiful middle aged woman's countenance distorted. Her beauty seemed marred by decades of resentment and hatred. She wanted nothing more than for that little bitch to live a life of torment.
    After a few moments of silence, she regained her usual air of nobility. It was as though she hadn't been the one to make such an expression just seconds earlier.
    "Has my boy Simeon still not found their traces? And is there any information about this Leonel Morales who dared to kill the people of my Brazinger Clan?"
    "Madameбн According to our information, Leonel Morales is the grandson of Emperor Fawkes."
    The beautiful middle aged woman seemed to be stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting such news. But, after a moment, her gaze narrowed.
    "And so what? Even if a member of the Fawkes Imperial Family acted, they still have to lose a pound of flesh to my family!"
    The petite maid hesitated before continuing.
    "His mother hasn't been seen in several decades and we weren't able to find out anything about his father. In addition, madame should remember that Young Heir Simeon failed to gain a fourth of the World Spiritбн"
    Though the petite maid didn't finish her words, the meaning was clear. Acting against Leonel with such little information was inadvisable.
    The beautiful Madame sneered. "It seems that cheap little whore is just like her mother. They sure know how to pick their men. I don't care what background he has, can it surpass ours? I want him dead before we're swept up by other matters. I don't want a fly buzzing around my business while I'm dealing with those greedy bastards who have eyes on our Fold of Reality."
    The petite maid bowed. "Yes, Madame."
    The Madame's sneer deepened. Thinking about how that little whore was suffering just to head toward another failure, her heart felt exceptionally light.
    бн
    At that same moment, Aina still sat, her skin peeled completely from her body. However, a sneer also coated what was left of her lips.
    They probably thought she was struggling to break these seals once again. But, in reality, she was using it to weaken the backlash of this blood. And she would keep using it in this way until the day she could bury that family in the dirt.
    They wanted to seal her? Well, there was no one in this world who better understood her own body. There was nothing she could put into her body that she couldn't find a way to gain a benefit from.
    Her dull eyes flashed with an endless determination.
    **
    Across the world, as Aina fought her own battle, Leonel too fought his own.
    Blood covered his body from head to toe, but his gaze was just as blazing as Aina's.
    "You dare pair yourself with a demonic creature and deem yourself a human?!" Lamorak billowing roar shook the arena.
    Several competitors ran about the surroundings, chasing after orbs of light in the skies.
    Leonel drew his bow, his gaze defiant.
    SHUUUUUUUUUU!
    Another orb of light was broken apart by him, fusing into his point total.
    Leonel wiped the blood that was falling down from his face.
    "I've long since been tired of you."
    Leonel's voice rumbled like thunder. It didn't seem very loud, yet it reverberated in the chests of all those who heard him.
    He wanted nothing more than to teach the man before him a lesson.

 Chapter 292: Scram

    Just when Leoenl was about to go all out with Lamorak, a familiar voice called out once again.
    &lt;Third Trial Complete&gt;
    &lt;Group 7 Results Calculated&gt;
    &lt;бн&gt;
    &lt;Leonel - 302 points&gt;
    &lt;Umred - 212 points&gt;
    &lt;Gawain - 197 points&gt;
    &lt;Cralis - 189 points&gt;
    &lt;Lamorak - 168 points&gt;
    бн
    Cralis and Umred were both Demon Lords ranked #4 and #2 respectively. Gawain and Lamorak both were Knights of the Round Table. It could be said that Leonel's group for the third trial was among the strongest. To say that he was unlucky was a definite understatement.
    If it wasn't for this, he wouldn't have been in such a sorry state.
    During the second round, he relied on himself to gain a perfect evaluation. However, he had been targeted during this third trial since his marksmanship gave him a great advantage. As a result, he had no choice but to get Little Blackstar's help.
    He should have known that by doing this, he would have given Lamorak the excuse he needed to target a fellow human. It was no secret to Leonel that the little mink was a Dark Elemental creature. He had expected Lamorak to use such an excuse. But, what he hadn't expected was for the demons to also take the opportunity to target him.
    Surprisngly, the only one who didn't target him was Gawain. Yet, despite this, Umred ranked above him in the end. This made Leonel several points more serious about the Demon Lords. It was clear that not allof them were as weak as the #62 Demon Lord he took the life of just a few months prior.
    Leonel turned toward Umred, trying to catch his breath.
    The #2 Demon Lord looked like a devil risen from hell. He stood three meters tall and had skin the color of crimson. There were two horns that adorned his head. They pierced? and curled upward menacingly, vibrating with a hidden, dark power.
    Umred's chest was completely bare and his lower half was covered by dark beast skins. He wielded two battle axes, one to each of his massive hands. Their blades seemed as large as his body, dwarfing him despite his size.
    Cralis was a demon of large size as well. However, rather than being red, he was covered from head to toe in deep black scales harder than steel. And, rather than wielding battle axes, he wielded a massive broad sword of over three meters in length.
    Whether it was the two demons or the two knights, all of them were looking toward Leonel. Three of them had somewhat reluctant expressions, only Gawain seemed to be expressionless.
    Leonel glared back at them all, his chest heaving up and down. He had already reached the point where just these few had no ability to pressure him any longer.
    Without another word, he stepped onto his small grey platform and soared back up.
    "Big Brother, are you okay?"
    Leonel took a deep breath. "I'm fine. It's not a big deal."
    Little Nana frowned at these words. She could tell from the tone of Leonel's voice that he wasn't as fine with these matters as it seemed.
    Toward such a reaction, Nana couldn't help but feel somewhat speechless. What was it? Did he expect to not suffer a loss after being targeted by so many powerful beings? In fact, did he even really suffer such a loss? Wasn't he still first?
    However, Nana had no idea that the reason Leonel was so short and succinct wasn't because of this. Though it played a part, it wasn't everything.
    At the moment, Leonel had an uncomfortable, suffocating feeling in his chest. It was the kind of feeling he only felt due to Aina.
    For some reason, Leonel felt as though there was something wrong with Aina at this very moment. Yet, he was still years away from leaving these trial grounds. And, even if he left right now, it would be impossible for him to find her immediately.
    This left him feeling anxious, so anxious that he didn't even think about why he was so certain these thoughts were reality.
    It was no wonder, then, that Leonel almost completely snapped just a moment ago. If it wasn't for the trial ending, there was no telling what he would have done in that moment.
    &lt;Trial Grade: Perfect&gt;
    &lt;Skill Points Rewarded: 3020&gt;
    &lt;Special Reward: 1 Special Star Ticket. 3 Star Points&gt;
    &lt;Perfect Grade Recovery Rewarded&gt;
    A pillar of gold descended upon Leonel. He had no choice but to discard any distracting thoughts he had. Even if he wanted to rush to Aina right now, he couldn't do so without strength. If he wasted this time, any small chance he had would just shrink all the more so.
    Star Force rotated within Leonel's body. As time passed, he felt his Force growing more and more crystallized.
    'Just a little moreбн Just a little more and I'll be able to form my final Nodes.'
    Each recovery reward Leonel gained was worth three to four months of normal meditation. After two perfect recovery rewards in a row, Leonel had already managed to cover over half a year of meditation. With a few more rewards like this, he would be able to meet his goal.
    "Nana, come over here."
    A sudden voice sounded as Leonel opened his eyes. He didn't need to look over to know that it was Pope Margrave. Before Leonel could even react to the words, the first thing he noticed was Nana's imperceptible trembling. It was as though she was deep within a nightmare.
    Seeing Nana's hesitation, Margrave frowned.
    "Did you not hear me?"
    The dignity in his voice raised several levels. Despite the fact he didn't raise its volume, it felt as though his words were thundering in the little girl's ears, causing her blood to rush in reverse.
    Little Nana's hands gripped at her chest. It looked like she would bend to the pressure at any moment.
    At this instant, the eighth round of the third trial was beginning, but at least half of the remaining participants had suddenly turned their gazes toward their direction.
    However, no one could have expected Leonel's reaction.
    "I'm not in the best of moods right now, Pope. Scram."

 Chapter 293: Triggered

    Leonel wasn't a person who got pushed to anger easily. Even when he was oppressed several times by Camelot or even the powers he had been a part of in the past, being vicious with his words wasn't normally the route he would take.
    His usual response would be calm and collected, even to the point of bordering on inhumanly cold. But now, after swallowing several grievances, being targeted by the very people he was meant to save in this damned Zone, and now seeing a little girl being so blatantly bullied before so manyбн. He snapped.
    He looked toward the handsome Pope Margrave, his hair billowing beneath his own aura.
    Margrave's gaze narrowed.
    Though Leonel had called him Pope, it didn't carry a hint of respect. And, as if the disrespect wasn't enoughбн he actually told him to scram?
    Margrave remained silent for several moments. The motives for his actions were quite obvious. He was the Pope of The Church while Leonel just revealed that his beast companion was a demon beast. How could he allow one of his own people to interact with such a man?
    Modred looked over with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. There was even a hint of understanding and compassion within them, as if she understood Leonel's plight. But, just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared just as fast.
    Margrave didn't respond to Leonel directly and turned back toward Nana.
    "Are you sure this is what you want?"
    His words seemed to be hinting at something. Yet, only Nana herself seemed to understand. Everyone else was completely left in the dark.
    Little Nana's trembling grew fiercer. It became quite obvious to Leonel that this wasn't just a matter of being associated with him.
    While others might not know it, Leonel knew that Nana wasn't of this world. In a few years, this Pope would have no control over her life whatsoever. So, while others who heard their conversation assumed that the Pope was an elder advising Nana for the sake of her future, Leonel knew that she wouldn't react like this if it was just about thatбн
    Leonel stood up and stepped into the void that separated his and Nana's platform. It seemed like he was committing suicide for a moment, yet in the next instant, he actually took a step on the air, shocking all those who were watching him.
    Of course, Leonel was using his treasure shoes to mimic such an effect, but the others had no way of knowing this.
    Little Nana was so shaken that she hardly noticed when Leonel had already appeared before her. If it wasn't for his shadow, she would have noticed anything at all.
    "Ahбн!"
    "Do you want to leave here?" Leonel asked.
    "Ahбн" Little Nana was speechless.
    If she could leave, wouldn't she have? What was Leonel saying? She was confused about exactly what was happening.
    "Do you?" Leonel pressed.
    "Y-yesбн"
    "Good."
    Leonel nodded. Then, he brought out the Segmented Cube and allowed her to enter. In one instant, there was nothing but a small gray platform and two youngsters. In the next, there was no one but Leonel standing outside of a large five by five meter box. In fact, the cube was so large that Leonel was able to step from it to his original grey platform without using his treasure shoes.
    Pope Margrave's brow furrowed.
    What was this supposed to accomplish?
    How could Pope Margrave know of the Segmented Cube's abilities? Entering it was like being disconnected from the world entirely.
    During the second trial, Leonel had had thoughts of entering the Segmented Cube. But, something made him rethink doing so and he asked the dictionary about it first.
    As expected, once he entered the Segmented Cube, he would be considered to have left the Merlin Trials. If he did that, he would lose the right to fight for the Four Seasons Realm comprehension.
    However, for someone like Little Nana, this was perfect for her. She would no longer be restrained by the trials. But, from now until the trials ended, she would have to remain within the Segmented Cube. There was no telling how the trial grounds would react to a 'dead' participant suddenly coming back.
    Leonel landed on his own platform, his chest heaving slightly. This was the first time that his recovery didn't bring him back to 100%. However, this only made sense. He had directed all of the Star Force toward concentrating his Force.
    In addition, for whatever reason, Leonel seemed unaware that he had already awakened the Healing Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. If not for this, how could he ever worry about his body's condition? How could he ever have been put into such a sorry state just moments ago?
    It seemed that Leonel had truly been unconscious during the matters of that dayбн
    After landing, Leonel turned back toward the Pope only to see that the latter was already looking toward him. However, Leonel disregarded him the very same way he had once disregarded Leonel.
    This time, though, the Pope didn't seem intent on maintaining his silence toward Leonel.
    He sighed. "Are you not aware that your actions have made an enemy of all those here?"
    Leonel's footsteps paused. If it wasn't for his mood, he may very well have laughed at what he had just heard.
    He was a Leonel Morales. He was a man who, despite his modest upbringing, managed to gain the love and adoration of a school filled with nobles.
    Who among those who went to Royal Blue Academy didn't know his name? Who among them didn't respect him and have a good opinion of him? Even when he 'shamed' himself and never missed a day of confessing to Aina, not a soul made fun of him for it and they even encourage him.
    Yet, after the world changed, everything seemed to change along with it. It seemed that no matter where he went or what he did, he would be hated, ostracized, and targeted. It was as though after the new world order descended, his charisma, his kind heart, his warm natureбн it all wasn't worth a single shit anymore.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel began to laugh, unable to hold it back. He genuinely laughed, finding it all to be very funny.
    "Then be my enemy." Leonel said after he finished laughing.
    He didn't say any other words and his tone even seemed somewhat sad. But that was all. He didn't spare the Pope another glance.
    &lt;Third Trial Complete&gt;
    &lt;Group 8 Results Calculated&gt;
    &lt;Random Event Triggered&gt;
    &lt;70% or more of those participating have gained animosity toward one trial taker [Leonel]. Survival Event triggered&gt;
    &lt;10x the rewards for participant [Leonel]&gt;
    &lt;Half the rewards for enemy participants&gt;
    &lt;Location Chosen: Camelot&gt;
    &lt;Trial Chosen: Capture the Flag&gt;
    &lt;Time Limit: 23:59:59&gt;

 Chapter 294: Fault

    Leonel's expression changed. This was the last thing he could have possibly expected to happen. However, after a while, he understood why such a thing would happen.
    The Merlin Trials were set up with the utmost transparency. With the exception of hiding what happened within the Special Store, everything else was laid bare for all to see. Whether it was one's performance and grade or even the skills one chose to unlock, everyone saw it.
    Beyond this transparency, one could watch everyone battle. This was especially so in single participant trials like trial 1 and 2 had been. In that case, even when one waited to unlock skills after using a Special Store Ticket, it was more likely than not that whatever improvements one made would become very obvious, very quickly.
    As though this wasn't enough, everyone shared the same physical root skill tree. In addition, all those who used the same weapon shared the same weapon root and special root skill trees as well. This meant that even if one wanted to hide their skills and did a good job in doing so, the kind of skills one had unlocked could be deduced just by observing someone else with a similar weapon!
    What did this all come to mean? It essentially meant that this set up made it very easy to distinguish who was powerful and who wasn't, in addition to who was improving faster than others and who wasn't.
    In such a situation, a small group of individuals becoming the target of many was very possible. One could even say that it was inevitable. The only question was of when.
    Understanding this, Merlin would have definitely made some plans accordingly. Or, maybe this was always Merlin's intention to begin with.
    'It feels as though everything is suddenly moving quicker. Whether it was the sudden Elimination Round or this Random Event, both were triggered by something that should have only begun to happen much later in the trialsбн'
    After thinking to this point, Leonel became several points more serious. Though the voice had said that he had 10x the rewards to claim, he knew that doing so wouldn't be so easy.
    Before Leonel could think anymore, he felt the world warp around him. When his vision cleared, he found himself in a familiar throne room. Except this time, rather than kneeling before it as he had done last time, he was sitting on its cushioned seat.
    'King Arthur's Throne Room?'
    Leonel frowned. He felt that this positioning wasn't much of a coincidence.
    After a sweep of his senses, Leonel realized that though he was within Camelot's castle, it was completely deserted. In fact, for as far as he could stretch his Internal Sight, he didn't spot a single person.
    &lt;Preparation Time Given: 00:30:00&gt;
    Leonel was pleasantly surprised. He hadn't thought that he would gain something like that. This made things much more convenient for him.
    After a while, Leonel understood the Random Event.
    There was a flag in this very throne room. In fact, it was waving above the throne he sat on at this very moment. His role was to protect it, while the role of everyone else was to steal it.
    Leonel had to protect the flag for a single day. However, should the flag be stolen away, it only had to be protected by the opposition for ten minutes. The only exception to this is if there was less than ten minutes remaining to the end of the trial. In that case, they only had to protect it until time ran out. This essentially meant that the most dangerous time for Leonel to lose the flag would be in the final minutes.
    Of course, the reason Leonel wasn't in too bad of a position was because he could move the flag if he wanted to. The only restriction was that since the chosen location was Camelot, he couldn't leave the city walls. In fact, from Leonel's understanding, he had to stay within the core city's gates as well. However, this was still a large area.
    'Run?'
    Leonel's lips curled, a cold light suffusing his eyes.
    In order to participate in capturing his flag, Leonel's enemies had to pay 1 star point or 1000 skill points. This way, most were filtered out. However, it also guaranteed that all who dared to do so would be elites.
    At the same time, the more who participated, the better his rewards would be.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Little Blackstar jumped up from Leonel's shoulders to the top of his head. Previously, the little guy had felt quite enraged about how Leonel was being treated and had even wanted to charge out to face their enemies directly. However, Leonel had stopped the little guy from doing so. Though the little mink was powerful, Leonel was sure Blackstar was still an infant. He couldn't let him rush to his death like that.
    "Yes, yes. We'll get them back now. Giving an Earth Mage time to prepare their own terrain? They should expect to suffer a few lossesбн"
    Leaving such an advantage to an Earth Mage was bad enough. But, Leonel wasn't just an Earth Mageбн He was an Earth Magus who also happened to be a Force Crafter.
    The moment Leonel had this thought, he began to use the over 3000 skill points he had? just gained without thought for conservation.
    **
    The 30 minute timer ran its course.
    At that moment, several individuals turned their gaze toward the Segmented Cube Leonel had left behind. However, none of them had the ability to cross the skies like Leonel had. Or, maybe some of them did, but had yet to unlock such an ability from the physical root skill tree and could only watch it.
    Unfortunately for them, there wasn't much time to think about just what this treasure was or how it worked. They were all given the same option.
    &lt;Would you like to enter the Random Event?&gt;
    &lt;Cost: 1 star point&gt;
    In that instant, several elites made their decisions and disappeared along with Leonel.
    When they reappeared, they found themselves within the walls of Camelot. The sun hung high in the sky.
    For them, who had been within the trials for the last few months, seeing such a sight was actually quite refreshing. But, after a few moments, they grew serious. This wasn't the time to be losing themselves in thought.
    They had all spawned in random locations, stretched across the core city of Camelot. No two individuals could be found within a hundred meters of one another. Now, they just had to make the decision of where to look for Leonel first.
    Luckily, they were all elites. The prerequisite to cultivate Force was to grasp Internal Sight. Even if they all had varying degrees of how strong their own were, they all at least had Internal Sight capable of covering a few tens of meters. The more powerful of them could cover several hundred meters.
    The truth was that if Leonel wanted, he could hide himself from their search. After all, that was how he had escaped Camelot initially. He had been able to avoid Lamorak's detection and simply walked out.
    However, while he could do, he didn't feel that it was necessary. At least not for now. This was the perfect chance for him to gain slaughter points.
    By now, Leonel had learned the benefit of saving and not using his slaughter points immediately. From being worth 100 skill points, they were already worth 1000. If he saved them well, the benefit could be imagined.
    As the elites looked for Leonel, they seemed to realize that this might have become more difficult than they originally thought.
    In a corner of the city, Umred frowned. The action made his already sinister crimson features all the more so.
    'He can hide from Internal Sight?'
    This was the first thought the #2 Demon Lord had. However, it wasn't a thought he wanted to confirm. If this was true, finding Leonel truly would be impossible.
    'Hm?'
    Umred's expression chain, his twin battle axes trembling slightly as he seemed to realize something. He didn't immediately sense Leonel, but what he did sense was a faint fluctuation of magic.
    He looked toward the castle with a slight hint of shock.
    The reason he was shocked wasn't because the magic fluctuations were powerful. But rather because of their location. These fluctuations were actually coming from Camelot's castle.
    As a demon, he had never stepped foot so close to Camelot's core. However, he knew a castle when he saw one. The fact that these fluctuations were coming from the very center of this cityбн it can't be that Leonel hadn't been running and hiding like they thought?
    While Umred was having these thoughts, so were many others.
    Surprisingly, neither King Arthur nor Modred had chosen to take part. In fact, Pope Margrave, who Leonel thought likely had the highest chance of taking action, hadn't moved either.
    That said, there were still some familiar faces. Aside from the crimson Umred, there was the black scaled Cralis and even the large bellied Big Buddhaбн
    All at once, these three seemed to realize the very same thing.
    Big Buddha looked toward the castle with a dark expression.
    He had once had a great impression of Leonel. This was a youth that had saved many of their promising geniuses, after all. However, ever since Leonel said those words about the Slayer Legion, his opinion of Leonel had only plummeted day after day. These emotions reached their peak when he watched so many of their own die.
    Mountainбн He was a youth that Big Buddha saw a lot of himself in. Mayflyбн She was a cheerful little girl with a big heart and had even been among those who went to take Leonel out of the Project Hunt Island.
    Yet, all of them had died here.
    It was Leonel's fault. Had he not been unreasonable and caused so much chaos, the Adurna family would have never grasped the chance to enter the Zone and their team would have been whole and complete. But, because of his own selfish desires, he actually caused the death of so many.
    Big Buddha's gaze turned red, his steps causing the ground to rumble as he entered the castle before him.

 Chapter 295: Scent

    Big Buddha frowned when he entered the castle. He immediately realized that there wasn't a single other soul. But, by his estimations, this didn't make sense. He most definitely wasn't the most powerful of those who had chosen to participate. By all rights, he logically shouldn't have been the first to reach this point.
    He suddenly felt like something was wrong. The cold stone beneath his feet, the eerie works of art that hung from the tall walls and windows, the knight statues decorated with immaculate armorбн It all felt too quiet, too disconcerting.
    Little did Big Buddha know that there were several individuals feeling the exact way he did.
    They all stood in the very same hall Big Buddha did, staring at the same eerie walls, feeling the same stifling weight on their chests, but none of them sensed the other. It was as though they were on different planes of existence, viewing the same things from a completely different perspective.
    Leonel sat within the throne room, coldly watching these events. He was both surprised and disappointed to see Big Buddha taking part. Others might not be aware, but weren't they both here to complete the same mission? What did he gain by targeting him like this?
    Leonel sighed and shook his head. He looked off blankly into the distance for a moment.
    This worldбн why was it like this?
    Something faint budded within Leonel's heart, but he wasn't in the mood to grasp it. He simply wanted this to end.
    "Let's go, Little Blackstar."
    Leonel took a step forward and was suddenly shrouded by shadows.
    бн
    Zyllee was a Demon Lord ranked #19. He could be considered to have made a name for himself a long time ago.
    He had a hook nose that seemed displaced from a large beaked bird and two sharp hawk-like eyes. What was most surprising about him, though, was the fact he was one of the rare bowman who had chosen to take part in the trials.
    Zyllee's steps were slow and silent. He crossed over one step at a time, leaving his body in a ready position to fire his nocked arrow in short notice.
    Just from his movement alone, Leonel could learn many things. It was clear that while Leonel's talent was several levels beyond his own, the one with more experience and training was clear at a single glance.
    Unlike Big Buddha, Zyllee wasn't surprised by the fact he was the only one here. He was confident in his own tracking and sensory abilities. There were very few things that could hide from his hawk-like eyes.
    However, it was for this very reason that though he seemed cautious, he was the one with his guard the most lowered. In fact, he could even spare thoughts toward the kind of rewards he would gain for killing Leonel.
    Sure, the goal was only to capture the flag. But, wouldn't the game end much quicker if he just killed his only opponent? Why waste ten minutes running away if things could be ended so easily?
    Zyllee licked his lips, revealing a long brownish-red tongue covered in bumps and sinkholes. It looked more like a piece of aged skin rather than someone's tongue.
    Out of habit, the tip of his tongue swung past his nose, picking at both his nostrils.
    "Hehe, I can see you!"
    Zyllee suddenly spoke, his head whipping around in the direction he had sensed movement. But, all he found was a corpse falling down toward him.
    Such a realization shocked him to the point that he hardly registered an arrow aimed through the body and toward his heart.
    In the end, Zyllee was still a veteran of the battlefield. While it was clever to use a body to cover an attack, it was also inevitable that said attack would be slowed after passing through such an obstacle. This gave Zyllee plenty of time to react.
    The hawk-nosed demon dove out of the way of the corpse, rolling along the ground before propping himself up on a knee. Without even standing up, he was already prepared to fire an arrow.
    Unfortunatelyбн
    BANG!
    The corpse exploded. A ran of metallic shrapnel barraged the #19 Demon Lord.
    Zyllee had focused his entire being on aiming his first shot. He had thought that Leonel's attack was finished the moment the corpse fell and didn't even bother to move away from it. Little did he know that the corpse that fell by his feet would be the true attack.
    An entire side of Zyllee's face was bombarded by shrapnel, causing his already unpleasant features to become even more ghastly.
    Zyllee's vision swam. He could already feel his consciousness slipping away as his body bled out.
    He never even got the chance to hit the ground when an arrow shot through his forehead.
    'бн You couldn't have at leastбн checked if I was dead firstбн?'
    Zyllee died with grievances. Though he had been hurt by the initial strike, it hadn't been to the point of dying so soon. He was severely injured, but as a demon, he could have fought another round or two before his life truly slipped away.
    Who could have expected that Leonel wouldn't even speak a word before sealing his fate completely? Any thoughts he had of luring Leonel into a false sense of security before counter attacking was completely disregarded as his eyes grew dull.
    бн
    At that moment, another Demon was slowly exploring the castle, trying to find exactly where Leonel was hiding.
    His steps paused, his large body becoming frighteningly still.
    His nose tilted up into the air, a large pair of fiery red nostrils taking a deep breath.
    'Bloodбн'
    The demon's eyes narrowed.
    It could be said that Leonel's means were quite clever.
    Taking advantage of the fact his enemies didn't enter at the same time, he used a few illusions of the eyes and senses to separate them and deal with them one by one.
    He managed to isolate sight, hearing and Internal Sight. Howeverбн he didn't manage to do so with scent.
    It wasn't necessarily Leonel's fault. A human wouldn't be able to pick up the scent of blood from so far away. In fact, not all demons had a strong sense of smell either.
    Butбн it just so happened that Umred did.

 Chapter 296: Two Weapons

    Leonel steadied his breathing.
    Not every battle had been as simple as the one against Zyllee. Many were more cautious and sometimes Leonel's plans didn't work out as perfectly as they did in his mind. But, regardless, Leonel had already gained 7 slaughter points. Five of which came from demons and the remaining two of which were humans. Now, there were only three left, Big Buddha, Umred and Cralis.
    Leonel felt that there were more who had entered this trial, but, it seemed that their senses hadn't been sharp enough to come to the castle.
    This was already the best result possible. Leonel didn't want to make it too obvious that he was here. If he did, those who were powerful would realize that it was a trap. In that case, it was best to miss out of luring everyone if it meant capturing all of the big fish.
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    'Of the three that remain the weakest isбн'
    Leonel sighed. He had been subconsciously putting off confronting Big Buddha. In truth, several of those he had already killed were more powerful than the large bellied Commander.
    Leonel knew that he was still too soft hearted, even now. But, there was nothing much he could do about his own disposition.
    All of his kills up to this point were strangers or those he hardly knew. Big Buddha could be considered to be the first person he would kill that he had once had a decent relationship with.
    Even thinking this, Leonel felt silly. After all, this so-called 'decent' relationship was just a matter of conversing with this larger than life man for a couple hours, if that. But, Leonel still felt that it would cause a knot in his heart.
    Leonel closed his eyes and took another deep breath.
    'He's trying to kill you.'
    These were the only words Leonel whispered to himself. They were words no one else would ever hear, but he repeated them to himself again and again.
    Leonel's eyes remained closed for a long while as he calmed his heart. When they opened again, his calculating gaze had returned.
    'Get ready, Little Blackstar.'
    Leonel sent his thoughts over to the little mink. After unlocking 'Perfect Union', doing such a thing wasn't an issue. Though the little mink and him couldn't communicate in the truest sense, it was possible for them to understand each other's intentions as though it was their own. In a way, their ability to understand one another was even better than if they used words and it was also much quicker as well.
    Leonel shot forward, his steps exceptionally light.
    One of the benefits this trial had given him was an understanding of movement. Leonel had never really considered its importance before.
    Originally, he had been entirely focused on just improving his movement speed. The restrictions within the trial were so great that he felt stifled. After all, ever since he awakened his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, speed had become one of his strong points.
    However, after unlocking the skills within his physical roots, Leonel began to realize that movement was more complex than he once thought. It wasn't always strictly about straight-line speed. In many ways, agility was even more important than pure speed.
    It wasn't just about speed, but how he fused a myriad of changes to his movement.
    Leonel was a marksman. It could be said that this was the path he was by far the most talented in. As a result, he knew how easy it was for him to hit a target with a predictable path. It was to the point where he would never miss such a target.
    But, what if said target not only had speed, but also an enigmatic method of using it?
    When Leonel used his Dream World to simulate such things, he realized that even without improving his power by much, if all he did was focus on his movement technique, his lethality was increase by 100% if not more.
    Knowing this, Leonel realized two things. First, he realized that when he left this place, he should use one of his rewards on a movement type technique. They were far more important than he had given them credit for. And the second thing was that he realized his best bet at this juncture was to pour all of his skill points into his physical root skill tree.
    All 3020 of his previous earned points had gone exactly there.
    &lt;Silver Skill 'Explosive First Step' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Silver Skill 'Abrupt Stop' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Gold Skill 'Irregular Steps' Chosen&gt;
    Leonel streaked across the castle, appearing where Big Buddha was in a flash.
    As though to stop himself from hesitating, he didn't pause for a single moment. With a single motion, his palm flipped, causing a corpse he had kept within his spatial bracelet to launch toward the large man.
    Big Buddha had long since grown impatient. He had been looking everywhere for where Leonel might be, but had found nothing. In addition, it was obvious that Leonel was fine, or else the Random Event would have come to an end already. Yet, all this time, he hadn't heard anything. He couldn't help but grow anxious.
    It was at the moment he was thinking of backtracking and leaving the castle entirely that he suddenly realized the same thing Zyllee had just moments laterбн A corpse was coming toward him.
    Big Buddha's eyes widened. However, he managed to react reflexively.
    His palms were suddenly coated by a massive energy. In the blink of an eye, that energy seeped into his flesh, expanding the size of his hands until they rivaled his massive body in size. On the surface, his ability seemed somewhat comical. But, in practice, it carried a devastating power.
    Big Buddha slammed a palm forward, not holding back in the slightest.
    BANG!
    A shower of shrapnel assaulted Big Buddha. However, his palms were so large that his attack acted as a defense at the same time. Though bits of hard metal sank into his palm, a strong reflective energy blasted them away before he could suffer any real injury.
    "LEONEL!" Big Buddha roared.
    He was completely enraged to the point of being irrational. He seemed to have completely forgotten that he had come here to kill Leonel.
    However, Leonel had already set his mind to the task. There was no way he would allow Big Buddha the time to rest, nor would he allow himself the time to hesitate and regret his actions. Aina had told him once beforeбн to be kind to your enemies was to be unkind to yourself.
    Leonel pinched two arrows between three fingers, nocking them both at once and activated the Silver Skill 'Double Shot'.
    SHUUUUU!
    Leonel's arrows twirled around one another in the air. At first, their spiral seemed separate. But in the next instant, they seemed to fuse, becoming a spinning corkscrew of Force in the air.
    "AGH!"
    A large finger was severed before Big Buddha could react. It flailed in the air before dissipating the energy that formed it and hitting the ground at its normal size.
    Unfortunately for Big Buddha, Leonel's gaze remained cold and calculating.
    Leonel activated the Silver Skill 'Hot Streak', eliminating his cool downs for the next 10 seconds. Then, he immediately activated the Silver Skill 'Five Pronged Net'.
    He fired five arrows in quick succession. Each curled in the air from five different directions, firing toward Big Buddha from five separate directions at once.
    Big Buddha panicked, swatting his two massive palms to the left and right, smashing apart 'Five Pronged Net' before it could form.
    Unfortunatelyбн that exposed his front.
    The Silver Skill 'Shooting Star' activated.
    Lightning crackled and wind sliced. Leonel's gaze met Big Buddha's. Though his heart shook when he saw the fear and helplessness, his steady hand never wavered.
    SHUUUUU!
    Leonel's expression suddenly changed. He retreated with his quickest steps, not forsaking his Light Elemental Force for a even a moment.
    A battle ax suddenly smashed down from his side. However, there was no owner behind it. It was clear that it had been thrown toward him. Had he not moved, his arms which had just been holding up his bow would have been severed.
    However, it was fine. He had already released the arrow. Regardless, Big Buddha would die.
    At least, that's what Leonel thought before a second variable appeared.
    A massive broad sword smashed into one of Big Buddha's palms, sending him flying to the side.
    Big Buddha slid along the ground in a sorry state. It was clear that whoever had 'saved' him hadn't really cared about his well being because he seemed to be barely alive. It was as though their goal was to prevent Leonel from gaining more slaughter points rather than saving a comrade.
    Leonel's expression grew heavy. He recognized those two weapons.
    Umred and Cralis had managed to see through his maze of spells.

 Chapter 298: Dreamscape Battle Sense

    Leonel steadied his breathing, his gaze narrowing.
    Had he been just a bit slower, he would have been forced to take on an attack from the front and the back simultaneously. Taking on such an attack from two such powerful individuals would be like asking for death.
    At the same time that Leonel was steadying his quickly beating heart, the two Demon Lords were looking toward him with exceptionally serious expressions. They didn't know if Leonel had lucked out or if he had seen through their plan in such dire straits, but if it was the latterбн it was simply too monstrous.
    There weren't many who could remain calm in the midst of battle. But, remaining calm and analyzing the situation so quickly was something straight out of a fantasy novel. There were those who could make appropriate actions like Leonel's on instinct honed through countless years of battle. Butбн Leonel was simply too young to have cultivated a battle sense of that level.
    The little mink grew restless seeing these two. These were the same two demons that had been bullying Leonel during the third trial. The moment the little guy recognized them, he bared his little fangs, growling. Though, due to his small size, Little Blackstar's growling sounded more like the purring of a kitten than the prowling call of a predator.
    'Alright, alright little guy.'
    Leonel smiled, somehow feeling more at ease after seeing Blackstar's antics.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel's gaze became more serious as he looked back toward the two Demon Lords.
    'No, let me fight them on my own for nowбн'
    A small circle of wind surged around Leonel, his eyes becoming somewhat dull.
    Since he began these trials, he had yet to get a chance to test his own hypotheses. He originally wanted to see if it was feasible to use his Dreamscape in place of his battle sense. What better opportunity was there than now?
    As his gaze became dull, the entire battlefield was projected into his Dream World. A replica of himself stood, as did one of both Umred and Cralis.
    Everything before him was broken down into numbers and percentages. They flickered by his eyes like the words on a screen, his mind becoming faster and faster with each passing moment.
    The two Demon Lords suddenly felt their hair stand on end. They felt an overwhelming sense of danger for a moment, but they had no idea where it was coming from. Did this boy get help? But that was impossible, this was a trial set up by Merlin himself.
    Before the two could truly understand what was happening, Leonel took a step forward, firing a simple arrow.
    It was just a simple arrow, but Umred felt stifled. The step he had planned to take was suddenly cut off. He had no choice but to change his tactics midway, but the result was a taboo in battle. He thought too much about his next move, making his reactions slow.
    In the end, he could only hurriedly block with his two axes in a sorry fashion, stumbling backward due to his base not being solid.
    Cralis watched this happened with an incredulous gaze. At first, he thought that Leonel and Umred were teaming up to put a show. Could it be that Umred planned on using Leonel to get rid of him?
    He definitely didn't put such an action past the #2 Demon Lord. After all, they were demons. Plotting, scheming, and backstabbing one another could be considered just another event of the day.
    However, in the next instant, he realized that it wasn't Umred scheming against him at all. He couldn't understand how a single arrow could put him into such a sorry situation.
    It had no flare, no complexity, there was hardly even any curve to it. It simply didn't make any sense.
    Cralis roared, swinging down his broad sword with all his might. But, due to the fact Leonel had shot through his collarbone earlier, he could only use a single hand, causing him to end up in an even sorrier state than Umred.
    Leonel's barrage was relentless. Even with 'Heat Streak' being on cool down, he had long since unlocked the Silver Skill 'Superior Quick Fire' which cut his reload time to 0.70 seconds. Such a small time wasn't enough for the two Demon Lords to recover.
    As though that wasn't enough, Leonel had already ungraded to the Silver Quiver.? His quiver could now hold 50 arrows and it could respawn 2 arrows every 20 seconds. In addition, this quiver had the an added effect called 'Random Reload'. There was a 10% chance of an already fired arrow reappearing within the quiver after being let loose.
    By Leonel's calculations, if he fired at his highest rate, he could expect 'Random Reload' to activate 2-3 times every 20 seconds. This essentially meant that Leonel could expect 5 extra arrows whenever his quiver's respawn was ready. If he went all out, he'd had 55 arrows to use in a single spurt. Maybe more if he got lucky.
    All of these thoughts and calculations spun by Leonel's mind, but they neither uplifted his mood, nor diminished it. His entire focus was on the battle at hand while Umred and Cralis were like two frogs in slowly boiling water.
    Leonel shot another arrow with every step he took. His imposing aura was no less than a mighty warrior. If it wasn't for the bow in his hands being so obvious, one would thing he was wielding a halberd, brandishing it to taste the blood of his enemies.
    The moment the two Demon Lords lost the initiative, it was like they could never gain it back. Leonel seemed to perfectly see through their weak points, not allowing them a chance to regain their footing.
    And, in that very instant.
    PENG!
    Leonel activated 'Shooting Star' causing a light of panic to enter Cralis' eyes. He hurriedly blocked with his great sword, only to find he couldn't step as far back as he thought he could. All this time, he had completely forgotten that they were still within the castle walls. The pressure Leonel placed on them made them forget everything about their surroundings but him.
    He awkwardly blocked with his great sword, unable to get as much leverage as he was expecting. However, that was when something completely astonishing happened.
    Leonel's arrow skimmed off the side of Cralis' sword, changing its trajectory and appearing before Umred in the blink of an eye.
    The crimson demon felt his life flash before his eyes. He was still reeling from Leonel's last attack. It could be said that the only reason he survived until now was because Leonel had to split his attention between the both of them. How could he possibly challenge two attacks at once?
    He hurriedly tried to block with his two axes but it was to no avail. He had never regretted choosing two such heavy weapons in his life. It had always been his pride and joy. But nowбн now he definitely regretted it.
    PCCHUU!
    The arrow tore through Umred's chest, lodging into one of his beating hearts. Even though he had two, they were both reliant on his each other. With how large his body was, it was simply impossible to survive for long with just one.
    It was at that moment Umred saw Leonel take another step forward, his dull eyes flashing with thoughts of victory.
    'It can't beбн he predicted thisбн? бн Monsterбн'
    A crimson demon with the horns of a devil calling another a monsterбн It was truly a great ironyбн
    Butбн that was when the second unexpected thing of the battle occurred.
    Leonel suddenly stopped.
    Not only were Umred and Cralis confused, but even Leonel himself seemed to be confused as well. It was only after his dull eyes slowly regained their clarity that things began to make sense.
    Leonel's expressionless visage became flushed. Sweat began pouring down from his brow and his steady breathing became heavy. His muscles twitched uncontrollably as though they had been overdrafted, his mind and thoughts feeling languid and slow.
    'Shitбн'
    Leonel had never expected for such a thing to happen. He had calculated everything, but he hadn't considered the possibility of his Soul Force running dry. All this time he had never had to worry about such a thing. Even when he was casting Three Star Magus Arts, it was child's play to him. How could he account for such a thing? He never thought that his greatest strength would actually fail him at such a crucial moment.
    The sound of clapping entered Leonel's ears at that very moment. Without the support of his Soul Force, his spell maze was severely weakened and collapsed in the next instant, allowing sounds he couldn't previously hear to reach him.
    Leonel's expression had already flushed and then paled beneath his fatigue, but it only got worse when he saw that the one clapping was Lamorak.
    Unknowingly, the battle within the castle had begun to inch outside. It was clear that the two Demon Lords had been doing their best to run.
    Leonel had already long seen through this, but he had also calculated that he would be able to kill them before they could leave the range of his spell maze and alert those who hadn't entered the castle.
    What he didn't expect was for Lamorak to be waiting outside the large doors of the castle. And, not only was he waiting, but he had also gathered up a dozen men who had entered this capture the flag game with themбн

 Chapter 299: Magic Arrows

    Leonel breathed heavily, sweeping over the enemies before him with an expressionless gaze.
    Though he seemed to be in a bad situation, Leonel didn't feel like it was so. After all, all of his enemies were before him. He hadn't been surrounded and still had a lane to retreat.
    Leonel's gaze landed on Lamorak, measuring him up and down. He didn't bother to speak any words as there was nothing he could say that could change the current situation.
    In a lot of ways, Lamorak and Big Buddha were incredibly similar. They were both die hard supporters of their own individual ideals иC one for the Slayer Legion and the other for Camelot. To them, the moment Leonel challenged their bottom lines, he was already deemed to be an enemy of theirs.
    To people like them, things were only in black and white. And, even if they were aware that there might be a region of gray, they would rather stamp any instances of it to protect themselves from having to challenge their own ideals.
    Leonel didn't feel like wasting his breath on people like this. Lamorak was already willing to go all out to kill him. But, the moment he saw the little mink in action, he felt as though all of his previous preconceptions were validated. This only made his fervor all the more great.
    Lamorak would never consider what he would have done had the little mink not been on Leonel's side. He was simply a hypocrite, the kind of person who only sought to confirm their own biases while ignoring all else.
    If Lamorak was any sort of objective, he would be considering why it was that a young man who could wield the Light Element would choose to side with a Dark Elemental creature. Logically, things shouldn't be as simple as they seem. But, would such a fanatic consider such a thing? And, even if they did, how seriously would they take it?
    Seeing Leonel's lack of a response to his grand entrance, Lamorak could only admit within his heart that he felt somewhat stifled.
    "Surround him!"
    Leonel shot backward, completely ignoring the advantage he had over the two Demon Lords. What good were slaughter points to the dead?
    In fact, Leonel had learned during the third round that slaughter points could be stolen upon death. He had no desire for his hard work to benefit someone else, and held even less of a desire to die.
    Unfortunately, just because he willed it to be so, didn't mean that his body would function as he wanted. He was in a state of complete exhaustion, causing his body to be sluggish and uncoordinated.
    The good news was that it was only his Soul Force that was completely drained, the Force within his body was still ample and could be slowly converted into Soul Force given enough time after being purified by the two stars of his Two Star Constitution.
    However, where there was good, there was also bad.
    Soul Force was what sustained Leonel's ability. Without it, his calculative abilities took a massive dip, his Dreamscape became useless and his Internal Strength couldn't be used to monitor his surroundings.
    In addition, Soul Force also represented the focus of the mind even outside the use of Leonel's ability. Without it, his judgement and reflexes were impaired. Before, Leonel's coordination and reflexes used to be strengths of his stats, but now, they had plummeted by more than half eachбн
    Leonel nocked an arrow and fired, hoping to maintain the distance between him and his pursuers. He still had several contingency plans to use, he just had to make it to them. But, he was completely astonished by what happened next.
    His arrow shot through the whistling wind, appearing before a charging human of Camelot in an instant.
    The young man in knight's armor froze, his body trembling as though he saw his life flash before his eyes. However, the sharp pain he had expected never appeared.
    Not only was he stunned, but Leonel was even more so.
    His arrow sailed, shooting into the ground and managing to land on the thigh of an unassuming mage who cried out in pain. However, Leonel was still in a daze.
    He missed? He never missed. Outside of the time Leonel took to get used to the recoil of 15th century guns within the Mayan Tomb Zone, he couldn't remember the last time he missed. Even during his career as a quarterback, unless it was a hit impeding his throwing motionбн He had never missed his target.
    It was such a shock to Leoenl that he almost paused his steps, not believing what he was seeing.
    It was at that moment Leonel realized that the drain of his Spirit Pressure affected far more than he thought it had.
    'This is badбн'
    Leonel was the only one who realized just how bad his situation was. Others thought it was simply normal if a bowman missed once in a while, not to mention the fact that Leonel's arrow had still technically hit a target. But, Leonel knew that if he stayed here for any longer, his situation would turn dire soon.
    "Mages!" Lamorak coldly commanded.
    Lamorak had waited here all this time. How could he not be aware of Leonel's potential escape route?
    He might have been more powerful than Leonel, but his main occupation was as a General. The importance of a General Star to Camelot just might be greater than a Three Star Magus despite the fact there was more of the former than the latter.
    However, one had to know that just because one had awakened a General Star didn't necessarily mean theirs was at the highest level nor did it mean it was necessarily serviceable, even.
    It could only be said that Lamorak's was far beyond a normal levelбн
    A volley of arrow spells shots into the skies, falling toward Leonel like a rain of meteors.
    Arrows of earth, fire, wind and waterбн it felt as though all the elements of the world were converging onto a single man. The surge of Force was so great the front wall of the castle collapsed, widening the doorway until it was dozens of meters across.
    'Little Blackstar.'
    Leonel grit his teeth. He knew this move took a lot out of the little guy, but he had no choice. Most of the spells he had prepared in advance had collapsed after his Soul Force ran out. And obviously, he had no ability to cast any more.
    The little mink stood on his four little paws, latching onto Leonel's hair. He growled, his hair standing on end until he seemed to double in size.
    Just when Leonel was about to be completely overwhelmed, his body was suddenly covered by a thin layer of black fog.
    SHUUUUU!
    The violent fluctuations of magic shot through him completely, shattering the ground beneath him and leaving the ground of the castle in shambles.

 Chapter 300: Modred and Leonel

    "Charge!"
    Lamorak watched coldly as Leonel was completely enveloped by a swarm of spells. He was so invested in the death of Leonel that the irony was completely lost on him.
    Between Lamorak and Leonel, there were still the #2 and #4 Demon Lords. Not only were they both there, but they were both still heavily injured. It could even be said that they were on their last breaths with Umred being in the far worse condition.
    Umred had at most a few more minutes to live with one of his two hearts pierced through. Not only was he bleeding out, but even if that wasn't the case, a single heart wasn't enough to sustain his massive body.
    By his side, Cralis wasn't in as bad of a position, but he was still originally weaker than Umred to begin with. In addition, he could only use a single arm with limited use of the other after Leonel shattered his collarbone.
    To this point, Leonel hadn't done a single thing to harm Camelot. In fact, aside from killing some humans who entered this capture the flag game to target him, all of his kills to this point had been committed against demons. Not once had he actively targeted humans.
    Yet, here was Lamorak, a supposed great knight of Camelot, ignoring two Demon Lords right before him for the sake of taking down Leonel.
    Maybe in his mind this was still justified. Before Modred appeared, there had always been demons and humans. However, it was only after Modred organized demons and gave them strength and intelligence that they truly became dangerous.
    To Lamorak, Leonel was another potential Modred. Not only that, but he was a man. As a man of this medieval era, Lamorak still subconsciously placed more emphasis on the role of a man. To him, not only would Leonel become another influence like Modred, but he would become something even more dangerous.
    This went beyond just the fact Modred was a woman. Others might not be aware, but Lamorak was keenly aware that Modred was King Arthur's daughter. It was precisely due to this tightly held secret that the relationship between their King and Queen had been somewhat estranged in the past decade.
    Due to this relationship, Modred always had some reservations dealing with Camelot. If not for this, maybe things would have gotten out of hand long ago.
    Howeverбн did Leonel have such ties?
    Not only did he not, but his future was almost ruined by Camelot if not for him taking matters into his own hands.
    Such a threatбн to Lamorak, was even higher than two top four Demon Lords.
    By Lamorak's calculations, Leonel was likely not dead. But, he was most definitely severely injured. It was the best time to surround him now.
    The knights of Camelot charged into the billowing dust, completely ignoring the two Demon Lords. With Lamorak's senses locked onto them, they didn't dare to make any rash movements against the people of Camelot, or else they knew that this small reprieve they had gained would shatter.
    They all knew that the quality of elite warriors Camelot had was greater than them as Demons. This was the reason they could survive despite being so outnumbered. Even at full health, they might not be a match of Lamorak.
    However, exactly what no one expected to happen occurred at that moment.
    Streaks of darkness shot out from the cloud of dust. Though they were faster than most eyes could follow, they came in sets of threes as though a creature of the darkness had torn space apart with their claws.
    The frontline of knights completely collapsed. Those who didn't die had their armor collapse and their bones broken. Those that were more unlucky were torn in half, their bodies erupting into a rain of blood and gore.
    At that moment, Leonel shot out from the back of the crater, using it as cover to escape as quickly as he could.
    The little mink no longer had the strength to cling to his neck or his hair, Leonel could only hold the little one in his arms, careful not to harm its fragile little body.
    In the instant before those magic arrows landed, the little mink had taken Leonel into his shadow world. Though it was very easy for the little mink to enter that land as it pleased, making him immune to attacks. Taking someone else with him was enough to drain more than half of the little guy's stamina.
    As though that wasn't enough, the little mink had to send out its most powerful attack an instant later. Little Blackstar had given Leonel all he had, Leonel couldn't ask for any more.
    This was the most important reason Leonel had been hesitant to use the little guy to now. Blackstar was still an infant. Not only were his actions quite childish, but his stamina was still lacking. Leonel felt terrible even asking this much of the little guy.
    Leonel ran with all he had, charging out and putting distance between him and the others.
    He couldn't use his Light Elemental Force at the moment. Unfortunately, he learned another important use of his Soul Force in that moment.
    The Embryo of Leonel's Light Elemental Force was within his Ethereal Glabella. In order to communicate with it, he relied on a basal amount of Soul Force. Without Soul Force, he couldn't communicate with it and thus couldn't use his Force Strengthening Deviations.
    Lamorak's expression changed. Was that a final attack on his last legs?
    From his vantage point, Lamorak couldn't see Leonel through the cloud of dust. To make matters worse, since he had used his senses to lock onto the two Demon Lords so that they couldn't act, he hadn't spared any Internal Sight toward Leonel.
    By the time he clenched his jaw and removed a strand of his senses to look toward Leonel, he realized thatбн there was actually nothing in the crater!
    He didn't have time to guess about how Leonel had done it. He completely abandoned his command, charging forward personally.
    The difference in speed was striking. Leonel might have his normal Force, but with his coordination lacking, his speed suffered a 10% drop. In addition, without his Light Elemental Force, he didn't have access to his usual speed either, making matters even worse.
    Under normal circumstances, Lamorak wasn't a match for Leonel in speed at his current peak. But nowбн
    Lamorak shrouded his forward path with his senses, searching for Leonel. Without his Soul Force, Leonel had no ability to hide himself from detection. It took no more than a few seconds for his position to be locked onto.
    Leonel continued to charge as though he didn't realize he had been found.
    'I can make it. At this current speed it should take бн'
    Leonel furiously shook his head. Without his ability, he couldn't even finish calculations that used to be as easy as breathing for him. Leonel began to wonder if his ability had become a crutchбн
    Leonel grit his teeth. He didn't have the mind space to waste for errant thoughts. He had only one goal: to make it to his destination. As long as he did, he could ride out the rest of his trial.
    While his other spells had dissipated, there was one that hadn't. Teleportation arrays were Magic Arts specially designed to be autonomous from their creator's Soul Force. If not for this, how could Camelot rely on them for transport?
    This was Leonel's last and final contingency plan. He just had to make it.
    "Boy! Accept the punishment for your crimes!"
    Lamorak's roar felt as though it was just over Leonel's shoulder. Had Leonel still been able to use his Internal Sight, he would realize that Lamorak was less than 200 meters away. With their speed, such a distance could be covered in barely ten seconds, if that. Leonel couldn't afford to pause.
    'I'm close, I'm close.'
    Leonel shot through the corridors, reaching the hallway that acted as the final stretch to the Throne Room.
    It was at that moment, just as Leonel rounded the final corner, that he felt a mighty force suddenly slam into his body.
    The air was completely knocked out of him. He felt his bones quake and his inner organs tremble. With the sturdiness of his body after awakening his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it wasn't enough to severely injure him. But, in his current weakened state, it was enough to send him flying backward, skidding along the ground and toward the one enemy he was running with his everything from. He only barely had time to protect the fragile little mink in his arms.
    Leonel couldn't use his Internal Sight. But, he vaguely saw a massive palm through his swimming vision. And, behind the massive, larger than life palm wasбн a severely injured Big Buddha.

 Chapter 301: Dimensional Cleanse

    Leonel groaned, trying his best to stand.
    He felt his mind spinning. The thumping pain in his mind had been slowly growing since his Soul Force ran dry. After getting knocked away by Big Buddha, it seemed to have dampened his pain threshold, making it feel as though someone was constantly hammering his head.
    Leonel stumbled to his feet. In one arm he held onto the little mink and in the otherбн there was nothing. His bow was too heavy. How could he continue to carry it as he ran? Plus, with the current state of his mind, there was no guarantee that it would even be useful to him now.
    Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for someone like Big Buddha to catch Leonel off guard. But, these weren't normal circumstances.
    He truly couldn't believe that a half dead Big Buddha would rather risk his life and drag up his last bit of strength to push Leonel back toward Lamorak. Was he really that hateful? Was he really so much of an eyesore to this man he once respected?
    Leonel coughed violently. Luckily, no blood came out. But, his body felt uncomfortable all over and no place felt more so than his heart. He was caught between shock, despair and rage. The emotions swelled up within his chest to the point it felt his torso might burst at any moment.
    At that moment, Big Buddha that had been standing before Leonel fell to one knee, weakly gasping for breath.
    Blood leaked from his lips as his massive hands shrank down once more. It seemed that he had used up the last of his strength sending out that final attack.
    Big Buddha didn't really understand the situation. His actions weren't so planned as one might think. He only barely managed to lock onto Leonel with his senses and decided to launch a counter attack with everything he had left.
    Of course, he could vaguely tell that Leonel was running from something. Being able to obstruct Leonel gave him a faint satisfaction even as his body seemed like it might collapse at any time.
    At that moment, Leonel already knew it was too late to keep running from Lamorak. Not only did he need to reach the teleportation pad, but he needed at least a one to two second delay between the time he reached it and Lamorak's appearance. It was such a small time requirement, yet it felt worlds away at this point. Just a single action of Big Buddha's had brought all of that crumbling.
    Leonel clenched his jaw, turning his gaze back toward Lamorak's figure. As though realizing the situation, the latter had long since stopped running. He walked with a calm pace, closing the rest of the distance between him and Leonel in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It wasn't long before he was standing just five meters from Leonel.
    Whether it was due to caution or another reason, Lamorak didn't move to kill Leonel immediately. He still had no idea how Leonel had dodged the barrage of arrows previously. In fact, even taking a larger step back, Lamorak wasn't exactly sure what happened between Leonel and the two Demon Lords.
    His instincts told him that Leonel was a spent force. However, he still remained hesitant. To be able to push two top four Demon Lords to the brink of deathбн Lamorak could only admit that this was something he couldn't have done so easily.
    Could it be that Leonel was actually more powerful than him?
    It was a thought that had wormed its way into Lamorak's heart. It made him approach the situation differently than he would have in the past.
    "It seems your actions have given you enemies everywhere."
    Leonel didn't respond to these words. The act he had put on in Camelot was one thing, but this was the true Leonel. He had no intention of throwing a temper tantrum for the man before him. No matter how wronged he felt, no matter how unfair it seemed, he had nothing to say.
    He stared toward Lamorak as though waiting for his next action.
    Lamorak's eyes narrowed. It seemed that he too realized that the Leonel of before had been nothing more than an act. The truest form of Leonel, the one where he could cast off his fears and face the trial ahead with his everythingбн that was the Leonel before him.
    A stifling pressure exuded from the young 18 year old boy. Beneath it, Big Buddha felt stifled to the point of being unable to breathe.
    Leonel flipped his palm, using his Internal Sight sparingly to communicate with his spatial bracelet and bring out the dictionary.
    Lamorak took an involuntarily step backward believing that this might be a trump card. How could he know that it was nothing but a walking encyclopedia?
    From what Lamorak knew, only the treasures of Merlin worked within the trials, so how could he think that the small silver disk in Leonel's hand was anything but lethal?
    "What's the fastest way for me to replenish my Soul Force?"
    Leonel's sudden words stunned Lamorak.
    [*Ping*]
    [ Replying to Seed, [Dimensional Cleanse] ]
    Hearing these words, Leonel came to a certain understanding.
    His spirit always skyrocketed after cultivating [Dimensional Cleanse], this was especially so after forming his One Star and subsequent Two Star Constitution. Those benefits had become less obvious after awakening his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor's Wisdom Branch. But, that didn't change the fact.
    In fact, when Leonel first chose [Dimensional Cleanse], his purpose was to find a technique that could help him capitalize on his ability. Back then, his exact words to Uncle Montez had beenбн
    ~"I felt this one could help improve my ability. I had already chosen before I knew its name."~
    The moment he laid eyes on [Dimensional Cleanse], it felt as though it was calling out to him. The only unfortunate part was that the technique was incomplete.
    Back then, he only had a Tier 9 Black reward to exchange for it. How could he trade for the whole of [Dimensional Cleanse]? Leonel suspected that there were even abilities of his Two Star Constitution that he was unaware of even nowбн
    Now that Leonel thought about it, he shouldn't have been able to trade for Little Tolly with a Tier 9 Black reward either. Yet, Uncle Montez had still given the little guy to himбн He had been ignorant back then, but how could he still be so?
    What if [Dimensional Cleanse] was the same? A reward he shouldn't have been allowed to lay hands on, yet Uncle Montez bent the rules in his favorбн?
    Leonel closed his eyes.
    He didn't have Soul Force and his ability had entered a state of dormancy. As a result, he could no longer split his mind toward different tasks. He was no different from a normal human with an abnormally strong body.
    If he circulated [Dimensional Cleanse] now, he could focus on nothing else. If he was distracted for even a moment, he could suffer backlash and cripple himself.
    Leonel clenched his jaw. When his eyes opened once more, he looked toward Lamorak with a piercingly cold gaze.
    Violent winds suddenly shot up around him as all the Force within several hundred meters surged toward him in full force.

 Chapter 302: Gaze

    Lamorak's expression changed.
    He didn't know what Soul Force was, it was a completely foreign concept to him. He had no idea that what Leonel called Soul Force was the very same Spirit Pressure he had known all his life.
    This had been deliberate on Leonel's part. Without understanding what was going on, Lamorak only became more hesitant, allowing Leonel a few extra precious seconds. To the current Leonel, every single one of these moments mattered.
    Stillбн it was just for a few seconds.
    Lamorak wasn't a fool. He knew whatever was happening now would inevitably help Leonel even if he didn't know what Soul Force was. If he kept hesitating because of the unknown, the role of predator and prey might flip right before his eyes.
    Ultimately, he was a veteran general of countless battles. The one thing he didn't lack was decisiveness.
    Without hesitation, a fiery red and dense Force shot up around him like flickering flames.
    He reached toward his back, pulling a massive, blunt and cylindrical mace from its holster before shooting toward Leonel.
    He put his everything into this strike, not holding back in the slightest. He put so much power into his attack that the sturdy polearm of the mace bent into an elegant arc, whistling through the air with an opposingly grating sound.
    BANG!
    Lamorak was stunned.
    This time, it wasn't because he missed or that Leonel managed to find a way to evade. Leonel hadn't moved a single inch. His brow didn't twitch, his fingers didn't tremble, his cold eyes didn't waver even as the mace smashed into his body, sending him flying into the sturdy walls of Camelot's castle.
    Lamorak couldn't help but watch on with a speechless expression. What just happened? Was Leonel suicidal?
    He knew himself just how much strength he had put into that strike. It was more powerful than any attack he had used against Leonel during their first battle.
    Back then, Leonel couldn't even take on a casual strike of his. That alone had been enough to fracture Leonel's bones.
    In truth, Lamorak had been stunned even back then. After all, a normal person would have been blasted into a cloud of gore after one of his strikes, let alone the fact Leonel hadn't been wearing any armor.
    However, that was all. Besides being somewhat stunned, it wasn't enough for him to lose his mind.
    This time, Leonel was also not wearing any armor. How could he possibly survive?
    Lamorak sighed a breath of relief. It was finally over.
    Just when Lamorak wanted to relax completely, he suddenly realized that the violent surge of Internal Strength was still spiraling. In fact, now that he wasn't panicking, he was stunned by just how much there was. It couldn't be that Leonel was trying to meditate? Wait, no, how could a single person's meditation cause such a thing?!
    Lamorak looked toward Leonel who had cracked apart the walls of the castle. A spider web of shattered stone hung around him. But, those cold eyes were still there. His gaze never left Lamorak. They didn't flicker with pain or anguish. They remained completely emotionless as Force continued to seep into his body.
    The Force entered his Ethereal Glabella, causing the Two Stars within his Ethereal Glabella to begin to slowly spin once more. It was so slow that it was difficult to tell that they were moving at all. At this pace, it would take several days just to complete a single rotation. Yet, Leonel was still persisting.
    "Youбн"
    Lamorak's gaze flashed with a savage light.
    He charged toward the wall, raising his blunt mace and smashing it down.
    Leonel didn't raise his hands to block or take any measures to move. In fact, the only reason he was staring down Lamorak wasn't in some act of overly confident display of force while he, himself was in a sorry situation.
    Leonel was only human. No matter how much he willed it, it was impossible to ignore a momentary spike in pain as though he was made of iron. His only choice was to pause his circulation of [Dimensional Cleanse] right before Lamorak hit him. Only like this could he ensure he didn't suffer any backlash. However, without Internal Sight, he could only rely on his eyes to monitor Lamorak's movements.
    He had no choice but to do this even if Lamorak saw it as a form of defiance.
    Unfortunately, that was exactly how Lamorak saw it. Every time he put his everything into a strike, he would find Leonel's gaze looking back at him as though nothing had happened.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The bones and flesh across Leonel's body shattered, splintered and bled. If it wasn't because he reached the Standard State, allowing his current body to match the Weak State when his Runes were activated, he would have long since been beaten into a meat patty.
    Leonel was truly barely holding on. Being forced to pause his technique at the instant Lamorak hit him only made everything worse. An already slow process only became slower.
    His two Stars were slowly picking up speed, but with the pain racking his body, it felt to Leonel as though the time would never come.
    Lamorak's gaze was completely bloodshot.
    He reached forward, picking up Leonel by his throat. His arm bulged, slowly squeezing the life out of Leonel.
    Even as his face turned red, Leonel continued to stare at Lamorak. From this close, Lamorak felt as though a winter storm was brewing around him, causing goosebumps to run up his tanned skin.
    Leonel couldn't have been in a sorrier state. His limbs were bent into awkward angles, his chest had bloomed into an open cavity of shattered bone and organs as though a crimson rose, and his blood dropped to the floor like a savage rain.
    He had never been in such pain in his life. What held him together wasn't a deep sense of pride or responsibility, but simply the will to live. The shame of giving up on his own life still weighed heavily on his soul. Whether consciously or subconsciously, he refused to feel that same shame again.
    Yetбн his gaze made Lamorak feel as though he was the one suffering such severe wounds.
    Maybe the only good things about Lamorak's crazed gaze was that he didn't have the presence of mind to turn any of his rage toward the little mink Leonel had tossed away to a far off corner.

 Chapter 303: Never Again

    Leonel's legs hung weakly in the air, his face slowly turning red as Lamorak's hand clamped down on his throat.
    It felt as though his whole body was washed by pain. It was an endless torrent that rammed through his senses like a tsunami, crashing through his mind in a repetitive, infinite cycle.
    In his current state, lasting without oxygen for tens of minutes at a time, though difficult, wouldn't be impossible. However, having one's throat clamped down wasn't just about oxygen, it was also about blood flow.
    Leonel felt his head becoming light, the pounding headache he had earned himself after his Soul Force ran dry was only getting worse. Yet, maybe in an odd twist of fate, he could just barely ignore because its level of pain was nothing compared to what was happening to the rest of his body.
    Lamorak became irrationally enraged, staring toward Leonel's unwavering gaze.
    Whether it was consciously or subconsciously, he felt as though all of his actions were being judged. It was impossible to tell whether he knew he was in the wrong, but all that was important was that he didn't like having to question himself in this way.
    A roar escaped his lips as he slammed Leonel into the already cracked walls. The result was Leonel's already slipping consciousness swirling once more.
    Leonel found it difficult to tell which way was up and which way was down. The whole world seemed to swim. He only barely managed to hold on to two thoughts.
    One was the circulation method of [Dimensional Cleanse], and the second was the start and stop timing of this circulation.
    He knew it was the only way for him to survive. He just needed his Soul Force to recover. It seemed so close and yet so far at the same time.
    At some point, the pain began to numb his body. But, was this a good thing? Pain was a sign of lifeбн so what was numbness a sign of?
    Leonel clenched his jaw, weathering the storm of Lamorak's rage. Just a little more, just a little more.
    Lamorak's grip tightened around Leonel's throat even more as though trying to twist his head off. However, he found his actions no different from trying to squeeze a thick metal pole.
    When he looked at Leonel's body. Though his flesh was beaten and batted, along with his bones being broken in several places, it all seemed far too shallow for the punishment the Grand Knight had inflicted onto him.
    Any other person would have been beaten into a pile of mush by now, but why was Leonel still in one piece? Why was his neck so sturdy? Was he really made out of metal?
    The more Lamorak thought, the more panicked he became. He had never run across something like this in his lifetime. To have someone allow him to go all out to kill them, yet to actually be unable to do so even after so much time had passedбн
    The more blows Lamorak landed, the more his panic set in and fused with his rage. He felt as though the longer this went on, the more dangerous his situation became.
    "Die! Die! DIE!"
    Lamorak completely lost his composure. The calm Knight of the Round Table had somehow become a madman.
    It felt to him that as long as he could kill Leonel, then it would all be justified. Those judgmental eyes, he didn't want to see them anymore, he didn't want to have to face the consequences of his own choices.
    It was quite an ironic turn of events.
    When Lamorak first met Leonel, it was the latter who had lost his mind. Leonel had reacted inappropriately to the situation due to something influencing his mind. Maybe had he not reacted that way, things might have traveled down a different path.
    And now, it was Lamorak who had lost his cool.
    Leonel didn't know how much pressure Lamorak had been under in these past few months. It was his suggestion that turned Camelot against Leonel. Though it didn't seem like it on the surface, this affected the trust between him and King Arthur.
    Of course, when one was having internal struggles, they had to show a united front to others. But, internally, the struggles would continue.
    Lamorak could tell that the trust between him and King Arthur had broken. The man he had sworn to follow his whole life no longer looked at him the same. Not only had he alienated such a talent, but he had also been the one monitoring Leonel during his escape.
    He had to fix it. If he couldn't kill Leonel, he would never be able to.
    "AGH!"
    Lamorak dragged Leonel's face across the stone walls, throwing him with all his might.
    Big Buddha watched as Leonel's body fell like a ragdoll beside him. A light, satisfied chuckle left his lips along with a steady drizzle of blood. He couldn't even lift a finger to kill Leonel even though he was right before him.
    Judging by Lamorak's struggles, even if he was in peak condition, killing Leonel would be too difficult. That said, that didn't change the delight he felt.
    For him, dying for the Slayer Legion cause was only natural. He had prepared himself to die for the Slayer Legion long ago. Taking down a future enemy of their rebel army before his own death made everything worth it. He had something to raise his head and be proud about.
    "This is whatбн you deserveбн"
    Big Buddha wheezed out with the last of his strength. Even though his kneeling position wasn't much different from Leonel who lay on the ground, he still stood above, loftily casting judgment he believed the latter deserved.
    At that moment, Lamorak had rushed over, raising his blunt mace above his head. A fiery qi shot around him, rising around his body and piercing toward the ceiling above.
    BANG!
    Lamorak didn't pause, not even sparing a glance toward Big Buddha who had gotten sent flying beneath the air pressure of his strike. He rose his mace again, swinging down with all his might.
    BANG!
    "HAHAHAHA!"
    Big Buddha slid down the wall he smashed against, his laughter resounding through the halls of the castle. Yes, it was all worth it. All of it was worth it.
    BANG!
    Leonel's body was like a small boat in a raging storm. The only thing he clung onto was shame. It wasn't a shame he felt now, but rather one from months ago.
    Not again, never again.
    Even if he died here, it wouldn't be due to lack of trying.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The surging winds around his black chained spear grew more resounding. They had already shifted violently beneath his choice during the first Elimination Round. But now, it was even more active as though trying to make its presence known.
    BANG!
    Lamorak's chest heaved. He had been giving it his everything. He had never regretted choosing a blunt weapon in his life. Yet, for maybe the first time he was. If only he had a sword, an ax, a blade of any sort. Would he be in this situation now?
    It was quite ironicбн just moments before, wasn't Umred lamenting his choice of weapon too? Maybeбн Just maybeбн it had nothing to do with the weapon at all.
    Lamorak roared, his muscles bulging as he raised his blunt mace with two hands, his aura towering.
    From below, Leonel looked on, his blood having fused with the cracked ground around him. No matter what happened, he seemed to stare toward Lamorak endlessly.
    He didn't say a word. His lips were splintered and cracked, yet he held them sealed.
    The slow rotation of his Two Stars had become much faster. As though pulling at chains that had held them down, the rotation only increased with each passing moment.
    BANG!

 Chapter 304: Smile

    Leonel didn't regret his actions earlier.
    His regret had become a recurring event with him. He would make a mistake, acknowledge it, then move on. Over time, he wouldn't make the same mistake again, but that wouldn't stop him from making more and continuing to regret them.
    For all intents and purposes, this was another mistake. Leonel didn't consider the fact his Soul Force could ever run out. This was only natural. He had become so used to using his Soul Force with impunity, he didn't even think reaching his limit was possible.
    It seemed impossible to him. After all, he had a mind with the capacity of a Fifth Dimensional entity even if he was lacking in the power. Running out of strength while battling within the Third Dimension would seem ridiculous to anyone.
    However, this was the reality before Leonelбн
    Yet, he didn't regret it. In fact, it was something that filled his heart with anticipation and fervor.
    The power his Dreamscape Battle Sense ability gave him was something he could have never imagined. He toyed with the lives of two Demon Lords. Even if it was Lamorak before him, he would have been able to force the Knight of the Round Table into a corner as well. Leonel was certain of this.
    It was a power he created himself. It wasn't something he was born with like his Metal Synergy or his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. He had built it with his own two hands.
    There was something about this that filled him with pride. He had earned it. It was his. Whatever consequences might come with it, he would take. And why not? It was his.
    Maybe the reason Leonel felt this way was because these emotions were in such sharp contrast to his shame.
    These thoughts had been floating withing Leonel's mind for so long already. How many times had he been lucky to survive?
    Leonel still remembered the conversation he had had with Roaring Black Lion within the hive cave. He might have had very few interactions with Roaring Black Lion, but that one in particular resonated with Leonel.
    The new world older seemed to make the pains of the past worse. The bad of human nature seemed to have been peeled back like a festering wound, open to being damaged more and more with every passing moment.
    Leonel realized how lucky he was to be in his position. Whether it be the talent passed down to him by his parents or the odd twists of fate that had allowed him to keep his life until now. His Dreamscape Battle Sense was one of the first things that wasn't just luck. Sure, his ability was gifted to him, but how he used it was built with his own hands.
    That budding feeling within his chest seemed to grow.
    With every strike Lamorak landed on him, these thoughts only reaffirmed themselves.
    This pain that he was suffering now? Was it worth it?
    BANG!
    Was it still worth it now?
    BANG!
    How about now? Were you still proud? Did you still hold your head high? Are you not willing to beg for mercy yet?
    BANG!
    It was a repetitive cycle. The whistling wind, Lamorak's roar, the sound of metal meeting flesh, Big Buddha's cackling laughterбн
    It was all imprinted within Leonel's heart.
    Even he didn't understand what this budding feeling was or what it represented. Maybe that was just how human nature was. People thought about inexplicable things at inexplicable moments. They felt ways they couldn't explain and ignored what might have been logical at any given instant.
    However, there would come a day where Leonel understood even if it wasn't now.
    For now, thoughбн He felt a welling sense of pride. Because at least this time, he hadn't given up.
    Lamorak raged, his mace swinging down with everything he had. He lost himself in his emotion. He didn't hear the sound of his weapon connecting, he couldn't feel it either as his arms grew numb. He couldn't even hear the sound of Big Buddha's laughter.
    All he saw was Leonel's gaze. That empty, calculating gaze as his body was slowly being beaten into the ground.
    At that moment, a massive crater had appeared within the castle. As Lamorak pounded down, he sunk further into the crater along with Leonel, not caring for what might happen to the foundation of Camelot.
    By this point, many of the warriors he had been commanding had long since caught up. They watched this scene with astonished gazes, not knowing what they should be doing.
    But, Lamorak didn't notice them either. All he saw was that gaze, those two pale green eyes. They seemed to be the only part of Leonel's body left untainted by bloodбн
    Thenбн he sworeбн he swore he saw those two eyes smile.
    "[Grandбн Heal]бн"
    Leonel's voice cut through the whistling wind.
    At that moment, the situation changed. A blinding surge of light encased Leonel, repelling Lamorak back several feet.
    [Grand Heal].
    Lamorak didn't believe what he had just heard. In the whole of Camelot, there were only two people who could use this spell, each more respected than the last. One was Pope Margrave and the second was the man he respected the most in this entire worldбн King Arthur.
    It was a Three Star Magus Art on a completely different level than [Minor Heal]. In fact, it was so difficult to cast that it was even set apart from other Three Star Magus Arts.
    The reason this Art was so difficult to cast was because not only was it a healing spell, but it was simultaneously a defense spell. Upon activation, the spell would give off a massive push forcefield, forcing any enemies in the vicinity back. Even Lamorak was blasted back tens of meters before he could even react. By the time he realized what was happening and charged forward again, his visage coated with a savage expression, it was already too late.
    Leonel slowly stood from the crater, his clothing in complete tatters. His movements were slow, yet they held an undisguised strength behind them.
    His sturdy, bronzed skin shone through the tears in his robes, giving him a wild, untamed appearance.
    In the past several months, Leonel's hair had grown uncontrollably. Plus, due to the fact it was as sturdy as thin filaments of metal now, it was simply too much of a hassle to cut. By now, it was already approaching the small of his back, completing his unrestrained look.
    With a flip of his palm, his bow appeared. Even without an arrow nocked, Big Buddha's laughter came to a grinding halt and those warriors who were in the surroundings involuntarily took a step back.
    "I hope you had fun." Leonel said indifferently. "It's my turn now."

 Chapter 305: Perfect

    Leonel didn't wait for Lamorak's response. He had already taken a step forward and nocked his first arrow.
    Bronze Runes lit all across his body, a halo of violet-bronze hanging above his head. At the same time, a crown etched itself across his forehead, making him look no different from a holy king.
    This experience taught Leonel something very important. His Soul Force stamina wasn't just about the amount of Soul Force reserves he had, but also about how quickly he was able to replenish it.
    The slow spinning of his Two Stars wasn't meaningless. At all times, they were siphoning Force from the surroundings and converting it into Soul Force for his use. The reason he had ended up in such a sorry state before was because he had used up his Soul Force faster than his constitution could replenish it.
    Once his Soul Force dried up, the power balance of his Ethereal Glabella broke, causing his Stars to lose their impetus to spin. As a consequence, he needed far more Soul Force to allow them to begin to spin once more.
    However, the instant they began to move once again, Leonel didn't have to wait for the rest of his Soul Force to recover. He could entirely rely on his Stars to replenish his Spirit Pressure faster than he was using it.
    Leonel activated 'Hot Streak' without a second thought, firing out five shots before Lamorak could even understand the change to the situation.
    Five mages found a bloody hole to their forehead before they registered any pain. Their dazes became dull, falling down in a heap of their own flesh.
    Lamorak was stunned by the sudden change before his eyes turned a furious shade of red.
    "BOY!"
    Leonel's expression turned cold.
    "I have long since been tired of you."
    These were the second time Leonel spoke these words. But, compared to the first time, he meant them even more.
    He watched Lamorak pick himself up and charge toward him with a cold expression. As though he didn't realize the danger he was in, he continued firing. It felt as though every step forward Lamorak took, another one of his people would fall. No matter how much he raged and shouted, Leonel didn't seem to hear any of it.
    "Youбн You monsterбн"
    Lamorak steps had almost reached Leonel, but his spirit was tired. He hadn't held back at all while trying to kill Leonel just now. It could be said that he was already a spent force, yet Leonel was actually alive.
    It seemed like it was all a joke. He, a Knight of the Round Table, wasn't able to kill someone who couldn't even move to defend themselves.
    Leonel almost laughed at Lamorak's words.
    "Monster? When did I ever target any humans? How many demons have I kill in comparison to humans? Now you want to surround me, pray on me, kill me, and then call me a monster when I retaliate?
    "There was a point in time where I saw you as a rival to surmount. You have no idea how many thoughts I've spared toward you in just the last month. But, you've disappointed me.
    "I realize now that being powerful doesn't make one worthy of respect."
    Leonel smiled. It was a smile of relief, the kind one could only smile after a great burden had been taken from their hearts.
    His loss to Lamorak had been weighing on his mind for a long time. But, he finally felt that weight lifted from him today.
    Leonel met Lamorak's gaze. He could see that the latter's gaze was still reddened to the point of irrationality. Even if he heard Leonel's words, it was unlikely that he had recognized his faults. But, Leonel no longer cared.
    He fired a last arrow, slaughtering the last of the humans before turning his attention back toward Lamorak. However, Leonel was stunned to realize that this Grand Knight wasn't even moving toward him anymore.
    He looked toward Leonel like a wounded beast. Then, did something that left Leonel not knowing how to feel.
    Lamorak stared toward Leonel with bloodshot eyes. His Force surged, building up toward his head.
    In the next instant, his head exploded. It was a level of gruesome that couldn't even be explained.
    Blood and brain matter fell from his headless shoulders. And, not long later, his body slumped to the ground, keeling over.
    Leonel stared forward for a long while, not knowing what to say or do.
    In the end, he could only shake his head and sigh.
    Was it something about this world that made people act like this? He really wished he could do something about itбн
    When Leonel regained his bearings, his gaze turned cold as it swept toward the one person he had left alive иC Big Buddha.
    By now, the large man had long since stopped laughing. His gaze looked dull, he only slightly trembled when he noticed that Leonel was looking toward him.
    "Was it worth it?" Leonel asked.
    He didn't know why he asked. He didn't expect to get anything out of it, yet he did so anyway.
    "Haбн" Big Buddha chuckled. "бн You're alive, how could it be?"
    Leonel shook his head before piercing Big Buddha's throat with an arrow. He looked up toward the ceiling of the castle and sighed.
    **
    At that moment, within the Merlin Trial grounds, everyone was waiting silently.
    Those who hadn't gone had made a strategic choice. After all, not going was essentially like gaining a free 24 hours of rest. Such a break was incredibly rare during the trials. Obviously, the recovery rewards simply weren't enough, especially for those who chose to use the energy more toward cultivation rather than toward healing themselves.
    Like this, many kept to themselves. Some tried to pry into the Segmented Cube Leonel left behind, but it was too difficult to cross the void to reach it. Plus, even if they did, they thought that since Leonel dared to leave it here, it was likely something they couldn't pry into all that easily to begin with.
    Soon, the time limit approach and many began to go on alert again. Those who had lived through the Random Event should be coming back any time now.
    'That boy, he's probably dead, right?'
    Most were thinking along these lines. Though the choice to go wasn't made public, it was pretty obvious by those who were here.
    Two top four Demon Lords had gone along with seven other lower ranked Demon Lords. On top of that, there was Lamorak who had clearly disappeared as well and he had even taken what seemed like a small troop of humans. That boy was finished.
    King Arthur looked up from his meditation with indifferent eyes. He wasn't thinking about whether or not Leonel survived, this was a foregone conclusion in his mind. He was thinking about how he would get his hands on the Segmented Cube afterward.
    Unlike others, this wasn't a matter of greed for him. It was rather about the little girl.
    King Arthur knew Pope Margrave well and he had information channels monitoring The Church. This little girl seemed to be very important to the Pope, he just didn't know why. Since he couldn't understand, it was better that he controlled this card in his hand.
    As he was lost in thought, a small flash of light swept through.
    &lt;Random Event Complete&gt;
    &lt;Winner: Defending Team&gt;
    &lt;Trial Grade: Perfect&gt;
    At that moment, dozens of pairs of eyes landed on a young man who appeared with an indifferent expression, his clothes ripped and covered with blood. He held his bow in his hand and swept an unperturbed gaze over those stunned gazes.
    Leonel had returned.

 Chapter 306: 100 000 Skill Points

    &lt;Skill Points Rewarded: 100 000&gt;
    &lt;Slaughter Points Rewarded: 370&gt;
    &lt;Special Reward: 10 Special Store Tickets; 100 Star Points&gt;
    Hearing the rewards Leonel was given, everyone who had been looking toward him in shock suddenly went green with envy.
    They had all been here when the Merlin Trial moderator had said that Leonel could stand to receive ten times the rewards should he succeed in passing this Random Event. However, seeing it displayed before them now made them feel as though their innards were being twisted with countless little blades.
    So what if the reward had a multiplier to it? In order to benefit, Leonel would have had to survive, and none of them believed that he would do so.
    Yet, not only had he survived, but he had only returned with barely over half a dozen people. Of the over 40 that went, so little actually returned!
    King Arthur abruptly stood, his gaze turning red as he looked toward Leonel.
    No matter how he swept his gaze, no matter how many times he double and triple checkedбн Lamorak was gone! His brother in arms for so many years, one of the 12 men he trusted his whole life toбн gone!
    He didn't fall during war, nor beneath a siege of demons or the hands of Modredбн but he fell to the hands of a boy that didn't even have to be their enemy!
    King Arthur's chest heaved, but it had a slowly, rhythmic beat to it. He looked like a beast suppressing his strength, using all of his will to temper down his rage as he stared daggers toward Leonel.
    At that moment, an unconcealed kingly might exuded from his body. It was the kind that left those who were too weak stifled. Any lesser man or woman would fall to their knees. However, everyone here was an elite of the elite. Even if they felt pressured, they could forcibly withstand it.
    That saidбн they couldn't say the same if they were the target of this pressure like Leonel was. Yet, the boy stood there and met Arthur's gaze with his own, remaining expressionless. He didn't say any words of taunting nor bravado, yet his presence alone seemed to be enough of a slap to the face.
    To Leonel, this was what King Arthur deserved.
    A pillar of blinding golden light descended upon Leonel from above. He couldn't bother to care for King Arthur's emotions anymore and could only focus on accepting this reward.
    Much like all his other rewards, this recovery reward had a ten times multiplier as well. This singular reward was as good as receiving ten Perfect Evaluation rewards, so Leonel would take full advantage.
    He circulated Merlin's meditation technique. With each rotation, he felt his Force and Soul Force become more compact and sturdy.
    In the past, even when he sent his Internal Sight into his body to monitor his Nodes, he would only see faint wisps of Force. It couldn't be helped. His Force Nodes were measured in lengths of singular cells. The fact he could sense Force at all was a testament to how talented his sensory abilities were.
    But now, Leonel could sense a heavy flow within his body. Though it wasn't as exaggerated as turning to liquid, what it did become was a thick fog.
    Leonel realized that this thickening not only increased the amount of Force he had, but also made it easier to control. He no longer had to rely on a faint sense of where his Force was and what it was doing. It was now as bright as day to him.
    In addition to helping him meditate, this reward was a great help toward healing his lingering injuries. Though [Grand Heal] was excellent, it hadn't been able to completely solve all of Leonel's troubles.
    In fact, if Leonel thought about it, it actually did much more for him than he thought it would. He could only chalk it up to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.
    This aside, this reward helped him not have to worry about hidden injuries. And, as an added surprise, Leonel realized that the injury of his body followed by the thorough healing of it actually helped the Urbe Essence within his body to fuse with him even better. He felt that he was already faintly reaching the peak of the Standard Stage and might even have another breakthrough soon.
    Just the Standard Stage alone was enough for Leonel to resist Lamorak's barrage for several minutes and that was without activating his Runes. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if he broke through again. Would it even be possible for anyone within the Third Dimension to hurt him at all?
    'Just a little more, just a little moreбн'
    Leonel had no idea that others were looking toward him with a bit of fear in their eyes.
    While he was completely focused on accepting his reward and compressing his Force so that he would have enough assurance to form his Tenth Node, others were looking at him like some sort of monster.
    They could all tell that Leonel was in the process of compressing his Internal Strength, but that was exactly what made them shudder. To receive the reward was one thing, but to be able to accept it was an entirely different matter. Was this boy's body made of metal?!
    However, Leonel didn't know about their worries, nor would he care even if he did know.
    Normally, it took decades of meditation to reach Lamorak's level not only because meditation was slow, but because it took time for the body to acclimate to thicker Force. However, Leonel didn't need this acclimation time. After allбн he was a scion of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
    A violent surge of wind kicked up around Leonel as he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. For a moment, his irises seemed to shine with a bright light before dimming back down to their usual pale green.
    Then, without sparing those watching him a glance, he used one of his Special Store Tickets and disappeared. Since he could hide his purchases from themбн why not? It might give him a small edge for a while. After all, there was no other archer even close to his level at the moment.
    When Leonel entered the Special Store, he was faced with an immediate dilemma.
    He had 100 000 skill points right now, 470 000 if he converted all of his slaughter points and 570 000 if he converted all of his star points as well.
    The question was whether he should buy the goddess necklace he was eyeing before or notбн

 Chapter 307: Choose

    &lt;Treading Goddess Necklace (Legendary Equipment) - 72 000 skill points&gt;
    Though Leonel could be considered to be a rich man now, he knew that he had to be cautious with how he used his skill points. Another Random Event wasn't going to come any time soon, especially since Leonel felt as though something was artificially accelerating these trials along. Whether it was how quickly the first Elimination Round came or the fact a Random Event was triggered at all, both were signs that these Merlin Trials just might not last as long as they had in the past.
    All of these treasures seemed blinding to the eye, but Leonel knew well that they were practically useless to him. After he left this Zone, they would all disappear. So, wasting time on them was exactly thatбн a waste.
    The only value this necklace had to him was in his Dream Sculpt ability. But, if he used all of these skill points, Leonel knew he would be able to unlock at least two of the four seasons. That kind of boost to his strength couldn't be looked down upon at all.
    This seemed like a smarter choice, but Leonel hesitated again.
    '370 slaughter points is so manyбн it would be quite literally impossible for me to gather this much again.'
    Leonel wasn't wrong. There were only about 200 warriors that entered the trials this time around. By all logic, gathering this many again would be impossible unless another multiplier event was given. But, even if that did happen, there was no guarantee that Leonel would be the one to benefit this time. He had gotten lucky this time, but that didn't mean there would be a next time.
    Plus, there was also the fact that Leonel couldn't run from the fact he almost died. Had he not reached the Standard Stage in thanks to Merlin's Recovery Rewards or had Lamorak not been a blunt weapon wielder, who knew how things might have turned out?
    It seemed smarter to just wait. What if the exchange rate for slaughter points increased again to 10 000 to 1? If that happened, Leonel could clear his whole skill tree with ease.
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    This choice was definitely a difficult one.
    Leonel looked down at the napping little mink in his arms. The little guy had gained a recovery reward through him, so his situation was much better than it had been in the past.
    After a while, Leonel made a decision.
    He converted 170 of his slaughter points into skill points. Thenбн
    &lt;Silver Skill 'Secondary Explosion' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Gold Skill 'Frightful Barrage' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Gold Skill 'Knuckle Shot' Chosen&gt;
    &lt;Gold Skill 'Illusion Shot' Chosen&gt;
    бн
    &lt;Legend Skill 'Winter' Chosen&gt;
    A menacing cold suddenly swept around Leonel and through his bones. He felt as though his whole world had been cast into an endless white filled with nothing but a chilling bite.
    Leonel's gaze went blank for a moment.
    'Artistic Conceptionбн'
    These words were whispered into his mind.
    The universe was filled with all sorts of beautiful mysteries. The birth of a child, the budding of a flower, the rise of the sunбн If one had to describe why each one of these was beautiful, it might be difficult to do.
    This sort of clear but difficult to grasp, comprehend and describe beautyбн This was Artistic Conception.
    When one listened to a musical score. The feelings that welled up in the heart, the emotions that prayed on our deepest desires, the lurking memories that surged up from our subconsciousбн This was Artistic Conception.
    This was where the strength of the Universe Cycles lay. Everyone could see the beauty in the seasons, but how many could capture them? How many could relay the beauty they saw to others? How many could make the Four Seasons their own?
    A thin layer of frost began to form around Leonel, coating his hair and his brows while even turning his lips a vague shade of blue.
    It was only after a long while that he awoke. But the look within his eyes seemed to have grown several levels deeper, as though there was unknown and unfathomable depths hidden within their pupils.
    'So this is the Four Seasons Realmбн'
    Leonel was shocked. It wasn't by the power, but because of just how much the Four Seasons Realm reminded him of his Dreamscape Battle Sense.
    It was a hard to describe feeling and even more difficult for Leonel to fully grasp. But, he felt like there was a thin, translucent line connecting the two that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
    In factбн He vaguely felt that his Dreamscape Battle Sense was even a level more powerful.
    If others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would think he was a madman. But, this was simply how he feltбн
    Of course, Leonel still knew that his Dreamscape Battle Sense was lacking in many expects. For example, the efficiency was too low, almost like a written code that used up too much of a computer's memory. An elegant piece of code and a complex one could both execute the same task, but the former would always be faster and less strenuous.
    Leonel felt like he was in the same situation now. His Dreamscape Battle Sense was an excellent technique, but the organization of his skills was lacking. Due to this, it took too much of his Soul Force to pick out the perfect technique to respond with and as such, it drained him too quickly.
    In addition to this, this was just 'Reliant Artistic Conception'. Leonel was relying on the comprehensions of someone else right now, so how could this possibly represent the true strength of the Four Seasons Realm?
    Plusбн Leonel didn't necessarily feel like he had to choose one or the otherбн
    If his Dreamscape Battle Sense and his Universe Cycle comprehension could be fused into oneбн just what kind of monster would he become?
    Leonel took a deep breath and left the Special Store.

 Chapter 308: Die [Bonus Chapter]

    When Leonel appeared, everyone felt the change within him. They could all sense the biting wind and the chilling aura. It was as though his will was being manifested in tangible form.
    Those who knew what this meant looked on in shock. It was precisely because they knew exactly what they were seeing that they felt as though their understanding of the world had been turned upside down.
    Comprehending the Four Seasons Realm was one matter, but manifesting this understanding so clearly for all to see was a completely different matter. It was easier to accomplish this when it was one's own comprehension. But, when relying on the comprehension of another, this feat became several times more difficult.
    The fact Leonel could do this was too confusing. Even King Arthur didn't know what exactly it meant.
    Howeverбн it could be said that if those of the Morales Clan were present, their shock would be no less.
    Unfortunately, no one had the time to think about their next move.
    &lt;Milestone Reached: Legendary Skill has been acquired&gt;
    &lt;Trial 4 has been postponed, Elimination Round commencing&gt;
    &lt;Elimination Goal: 20&gt;
    The small grey platforms began to rumble.
    &lt;Second Elimination Round бк Begin!&gt;
    This time, Leonel was ready. As he fell toward the massive gray platform beneath him, his gaze was like lightning, seeing through the intentions of all those around him.
    Still, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Only a fool wouldn't be able to tell exactly who it was had just awakened the Legendary Skill.
    SHUUUUUUUUUU!
    Leonel's pupils constricted.
    Three arrows came at him from three different directions. It was as though everyone had come to a tacit understanding that he was the greatest threat. But, this time, there was no Little Nana by his side and the little mink was currently sleeping within the Segmented Cube.
    However, Leonel didn't panic.
    During the Random Event, Leonel had cast [Grand Heal]. But, by all rights, he shouldn't have been able to. After all, within the Merlin Trials, the only skills one was allowed to use were the ones they unlocked with skill points. And, since Leonel had chosen a bow as his main weapon, he obviously couldn't cast spells like those who had chosen wands.
    Yet, he had done so anyway.
    The real question wasбн how?
    The answer to that was simple: his Lineage Factors.
    Just like these Trials couldn't stifle his ability, it couldn't hold back his Lineage Factors either. In that life or death situation, Leonel realized that when he used his Lineage Factor as a medium, casting spells he hadn't been able to before was as easy as breathing.
    Leonel's lip curled, beautiful Bronze Runes spreading across his body.
    "[Grand Bell Construct]!"
    Force surged around Leonel as a massive illusory bell formed around him in the blink of an eye.
    [Grand Bell Construct] was one of the few Three Star Earth Magus Arts that didn't rely on the earth beneath one's feet to form. It coalesced pure Earth Force into a transparent bell that surrounded the caster. Even though it wasn't the most powerful defensive Art, its utility made it perfect for the battlefield.
    PENG! PENG! PENG!
    Three arrows rebounded off of Leonel's [Grand Bell Construct].
    The instant his feet landed on the ground, Leonel drew his bow in a forceful arc.
    In quick succession he unleash the Gold Skill 'Knuckle Shot' in one direction and the Gold Skill 'Illusion Shot' in another. With a swing of his hips, his gaze locked onto the last archer. Even from so far away, he could see the fear in the latter's eyes.
    He wasn't a demon. He was a normal human man wearing the shining armor of a knight. Knights who chose to be bowman were rare, but they were also incredibly powerful within their class. They could be considered rare elites an army couldn't do without, aces of archery.
    Even as Leonel released the last arrow, he could only sigh. He didn't want to kill humans, but why did they insist on targeting him?
    Everyone was stunned by Leonel's sudden counterattack. They were all elites, how could they not recognize the spell Leonel had just used.
    In this sort of situation, [Grand Bell Construct] was too perfect. Not only did it provide good defense, but it also allowed Leonel's attacks to pass through from the inside completely unhindered. Though it gave up some defensive strength in order to allow this, its utility in the midst of battle was completely unmatched.
    However, whatever success Leonel had didn't last for long.
    At that moment, a towering aura shot through the skies. Even Leonel couldn't help but turn his head toward a certain direction. Despite the fact he could just as easily lock onto this person with his Internal Sight, it felt that it was improper of him to do so.
    It was no surprise to Leonel that this towering aura was coming from King Arthur.
    Clad in white armor fitted with roaring white tigers, his blond hair billowed beneath his surging aura. The sword in his right hand seemed to shimmer like the brightest gold.
    Every step he took caused the platform to quake.
    With reddened eyes, he slowly walked toward Leonel. No matter who he came across chose to take a step out of his way. Not a single person seemed to want to get in his way at this very moment.
    The humans of Camelot looked toward Leonel with reddened eyes. Their rage could be imagined.
    How long had the Knights of the Round Table held up the hope of their nation? How much had they taken on their shoulders?
    All of them were brothers in arms. Yet, for Lamorak to fall not at the hand of a Demon, but a fellow humanбн it ate at their hearts and organs, making them shed hot tears.
    In Camelot, the tears of men were rare. Maybe this was the same no matter which society it was.
    With rarity came a certain heaviness. It was a weight that suffocated the atmosphere, bearing down on it until even the air one breathed felt like scorching lava.
    As a King, Arthur couldn't shed the tears he wanted to. He put the whole of his rage into his sword, causing a Sword Force that could cut mountains to sing through the skies.
    He wanted Leonel dead. He wouldn't rest until he was.

 Chapter 309: Cocoon [Bonus Chapter]

    Leonel calmly watched as Arthur built momentum, dispelling [Grand Bell Construct].
    Since he wanted to fight, Leonel would fight. He felt no sadness nor any remorse. Lamorak deserved to die.
    Leonel took a step forward, his aura billowing upward, clashing with Arthur's. A surging violet aura stood above his head, fusing with his halo. In that moment, even King Arthur's felt stifled.
    In a corner of the platform, Modred watch on with twinkling eyes. Despite the fact her father was so enraged, she didn't seem to feel any sort of particular way about it. She watched on like any other normal spectator.
    In truth, she was the most curious about Leonel. It seemed that her favorite lover in recent months actually seemed to have quite some history with this boy. But, she still couldn't understand how they were related.
    Though Monet tried to hide it, it was pretty obvious to Modred. This was especially so after that Big Buddha character didn't come back from the Random Event.
    Modred smiled. The contrast of her cherry lips to her pale features was especially striking.
    "It seems you all have forgotten about me."
    Her voice was especially sweet, but it was barbed with the thorns of a rose.
    She raised her wand, her slender fingers wrapping around it.
    "Darling Monet, protect me."
    Monet nodded, brandishing her fire coated whip.
    King Arthur's expression changed. "You dare?!"
    Modred smiled as though she hadn't heard a thing, a violent dark energy surging around her.
    She needed slaughter points. Why would she wait around for a stupid battle of manly pride to finish? Since King Arthur wasn't paying attention to her anymore, this was the perfect chance for her to act.
    Modred tapped forward with her wand.
    At that instant, the sphere of blackness around her shot outward like the spikes of a porcupine.
    Agonizing screams sounded as several warriors were torn apart. In the blink of an eye, half a dozen had fallen and over a dozen more were varying degrees of injured.
    King Arthur's face flushed red with rage, veins bulging out from his handsome face. Without a choice, he charged back toward Modred. If he didn't hold her back, there was no one else who could. Even the five remaining Knights of the Round Table he had come with could only be toyed around with by her. Only Lamorak and Lancelot could last a few rounds with her butбн he had frozen Lancelot out and Lamorak was deadбн
    Unfortunately for King Arthur, there was still Monet. And since Monet had acted, Violet Rain who had maintained a low profile all this time could only act as well.
    Monet's whip seemed to cover the skies. Even from over 20 meters away, she kept King Arthur at bay under the support of Violet Rain.
    'She's this powerfulбн?'
    Leonel's expression changed. He suddenly realized that Monet was no weaker than Lamorak.
    Most of Lamorak's strength came from his compressed Force. Obviously, Monet hadn't compressed her own Force as much as Lamorak had. But, her ability more than made up for it.
    Depending on the strength of one's ability, it might not even matter whether one reached the Four Seasons Realm or not. It would still be possible to display grand power beyond one's imagining.
    In addition, it was clear that, much like Hacker Hutch, Monet had been training in the whip since long before the Metamorphosis descended.
    King Arthur was completely enraged. His kingly aura fluctuated wildly, his sword swinging with a mighty momentum as he tried to cross Monet's barrier.
    Unfortunately, it was simply too difficult. He had to separate a portion of his Force to fuse with his armor and block Violet Rain's poison.
    He was certain that if he was given enough time, he could easily reach Modred. The issue was that he didn't have the time.
    When Modred acted, the whole of the grey platform descended into chaos. King Arthur had only cut the distance by half when a familiar voice sounded once again.
    &lt;Second Elimination Round Completed&gt;
    &lt;Slaughter Points to be Distributed&gt;
    &lt;Modred - 13 points&gt;
    &lt;Leonel - 3 points&gt;
    бн
    The 100 star points above Leonel's head flickered and disappeared under the unwilling gazes of all those around him. It was obvious that this was probably a large part of the reason he was targeted at all. But, the archers who had chosen to take action had clearly been too eager. What would they have done had they really managed to kill him?
    King Arthur's steps paused, a bubbling rage threatening to erupt from deep within him.
    He stared toward Modred then looked toward the corpses of his fellow man that littered the ground.
    Over 200 people had entered together. But, now there were just 72. Just 72 left. Of them, only 40 were humans.
    &lt;Trial 4 Commencing&gt;
    Unfortunately, no matter how enraged King Arthur was, things were destined to continue. The same callous voice sounded as though the deaths that had been caused by it were completely meaningless.
    Leonel shook his head. It was for the best that things ended this way. His mission would fail if King Arthur died and having to fight such a powerful man while holding back would be like asking for death.
    Just as Leonel was about to check to see if the exchange rate for slaughter points had changed, his vision swam.
    At first he panicked. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to keep himself awake.
    Soon, his panic became languidness and his vision went completely black. The only assurance he gained just before he lost consciousness was that others seemed to be falling asleep along with himбн
    бн
    Moments later, Leonel appeared floating within a cocoon. There wasn't a shred of clothing on him and he was curled up in a fetal position.
    What was truly shocking, though, about his current situation was the fact he wasn't alone. There was one other cocoon right next to him. But, this one held a gorgeous woman who was equally as naked.
    In fact, even that wasn't the truly shocking part. What would stun those watching from a third party's perspective was the fact that this woman was the demonic Empress, Modred.

 Chapter 310: Five Decades Ago

    Leonel felt his vision blur. When it cleared again, he was shocked to find that he was a bird in the skies. The suddenness caught him off guard, causing him to almost plummet from the clouds entirely.
    After he regained his bearings and figured out how his wings seemed to work, Leonel soon realized that he eyes seemed capable of peering through everything. Whether it was seeing to the ground as though it was right before him or even seeing through the walls of tall buildings, he could do it all. In fact, he realized that if he focused, he could even filter out noise and focus on individual conversations.
    'This must be the fourth trial? But what am I supposed to do?'
    All of the trials up to this point had been related to battle. Leonel had been entirely prepared for another long drawn out battle, he never expected to be thrusted into a place like this.
    Still, Leonel realized that he had to remain calm.
    To this point, the only trial the voice of the Merlin Trials actually explained was the Random Event. Outside of this, everything else was figured out by the contestants themselves. As much as this was a trial of brawn, it was also one that tested one's observational abilities.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel began to focus on the task at hand.
    The first thing he realized after a long while was that the city he was restricted to flying above was definitely Camelot. Normally, it wouldn't take him so long to realize something like this. The reason it did this time around was because of two factors: for one, he wasn't used to seeing Camelot from such a vantage point. And secondlyбн this Camelot wasn't exactly like the one he had come to know.
    From Leonel's observations, he believed that this Camelot was displaced through time. It was either a version of the Kingdom from the past or from the future. Judging by the overall smaller scope, Leonel concluded that this was more likely a Camelot of the past, probably a few decades younger than the Camelot he had come to know.
    'Why would this trial send me to Camelot's past?'
    Leonel's heart was a bit perturbed.
    He still remembered the trial he had to complete. His main trial was to save King Arthur. His two side quests were to kill Modred and resolve the love triangle. And, finally, the hidden quest was to make Camelot a part of true history.
    At this point, with how difficult everything had become, Leonel had resigned himself to not perfectly clearing this Zone. As long as he saved King Arthur, he would be able to leave here alive.
    However, recently, Leonel realized a problem with that line of thinking.
    This was an SS-grade Zone. This meant that the reward for clearing the main quest was a Tier 8 Black treasure. However, he needed a Tier 9 Black treasure in order to exchange for a ticket to another world.
    This realization frustrated Leonel. In order to get a reward a tier above the difficulty of the Zone, he needed to complete the harder of the two side quests. But, with his current relationship with King Arthur, how the hell was he supposed to help fix his marriage? Was that a joke?
    This ultimately left Leonel with only one choice: even if he failed both side quests, he needed to find a way to complete the hidden quest. Only then would he be able to exchange for what he needed.
    Of course, since this Zone had a 12 person entry limit, it was still possible for Leonel to exchange five Tier 8 rewards for one Tier 9 reward. However, Leonel didn't want to put his hope into this. There were still Monet, Violet Rain and Little Nana who remained alive. This meant that the rewards would be split between the four of them.
    In that case, even if they managed to clear the main quest, Leonel would only have three Tier 8 rewards which wouldn't be enough.
    Of course, he thought of killing Monet and Violet Rain, but he chose against doing so. Though he had no love lost between himself and Monet, Violet Rain had never acted against him. Even if he considered the matters of the tournament, those were just minor inconveniences. She never harmed his life.
    He would never cross his own bottom line just for the sake of a reward. And, even if he killed Monet alone, that would only give him four rewards to exchange. He would still fall short so there was no need to risk himself to kill such a powerful woman.
    There was another matter that Leonel had been reluctant to think about. If he didn't get the ticket to Terrain, he would be in mortal danger after he left this Zone. How could the Slayer Legion possibly let him off so easily?
    So why was Leonel thinking about all of this now? Other than the fact it was related to his life and death? It was precisely because the oddity of this trial was the first chance he saw that just might be related to his hidden quest. If he was lucky, it might even let him understand how to fix King Arthur's marriage without the need to befriend the man.
    Leonel realized that this trial was his chance.
    His gaze sharpened as he focused his everything on finding the clues he needed.
    'Hm?'
    Leonel's hawk eyes lit up.
    When observing such a large area, it was difficult to tell what was important to pay attention to. Leonel had listened in on way too many useless conversations about the weather or stumbled into some not so wholesome displays of affection.
    However, he realized that there would always be clues that pointed him toward particular main events.
    For example, he stumbled onto many conversations about the exploits of Lancelot. It turned out that he recently killed the Demon Emperor. Leonel wasn't sure who this Demon Emperor was, but in all likelihood, he was the leader of the Demons before Modred.
    Another hot topic he stumbled into was information about the recent closure of the Merlin Trials. It appeared that Lancelot, Queen Guinevere and King Arthur were the ones who gained the most.
    From this, Leonel understood that this was at least four to five decades ago. The last opening of the Merlin Trials was 50 or so years ago, so for it to still be such a hot topic, Leonel was sure that it ended quite recently.
    Still, there was one event that was spoken the most about. It overshadowed all others.
    The Queen was giving birth.
    However, there was a problem with this information that made Leonel raise an eyebrow. Lionus was in his 20's, not much older than Leonel himself. If not for this, he'd be much more powerful and would have been allowed by his father to participate.
    So who was the Queen giving birth to over four decades ago?

 Chapter 311: Little Princess

    Leonel realized that this birth must be the main event of this world. So, he focused in on the castle.
    Leonel was shocked to find that the instant he did, time accelerated around him.
    'This is a good thing.' Leonel concluded. 'It must mean I'm on the right track.'
    Though time accelerated, Leonel caught everything that occurred. Everything unrelated to the birth was cut out, but Leonel was able to capture everything about the birth itself.
    He saw the happiness of the King and Queen. He saw the difficulty of the birth. He saw how Queen Guinevere almost lost her life giving birth to this child. And, he finally saw the child being bornбн
    A beautiful little baby with large black eyes.
    Unfortunately, this baby was sickly. She had overly pale skin and a feeble breath. She would often nap for long portions of the day, only letting the world see her large, blinking eyes for a few minutes a day.
    Arthur and Guinevere were devastated. As the most powerful pair of mother and father in the land, how could they not pour their everything into the health of their baby girl?
    At that time, after exhausting all their options, they turned their attention to the budding religion of the land, led by a Pope who was rumored to be even more talented than King Arthur himself in the Light Element.
    "Pope Margrave, please do your best."
    Queen Guinevere held the little baby girl in her arms. By now, the little girl was already two years old, yet her development was severely stunted. Despite already having grown to the age of a toddler, she had yet to be capable of walking on her own and her size alone made it seem as though she was still a newborn.
    This left the two new parents completely heartbroken. They didn't understand what they had done wrong.
    Even when their little girl had been in the womb, they had traveled far and wide to find treatments to take care of her. Guinevere had been fed the best tonics and given the best medicines for all nine months. They hadn't missed a day of nurturing their child.
    Yet, their little girl had come out like this. How could they not be heartbroken?
    Pope Margrave looked just as handsome as he always did, but a hint of immaturity marred the momentum of his dignity. He smiled lightly toward the two parents and spoke.
    "I am of course willing to do my best. I only hope that the Royal Family will protect The Church. We only hope to spread our beliefs to the people."
    King Arthur's expression slightly hardened.
    His Kingdom was just budding. Though religion could help to stabilize the people, it could also serve as an adverse variable. The faith of the common people was a hard thing to overcome. If it was weaponizedбн the consequences could be imagined.
    However, when Arthur looked toward the tear stricken face of his wife and his frail child, his heart wavered.
    "You have This King's word." Arthur spoke resolutely.
    Pope Margrave smiled and nodded, taking the little girl into his arm.
    Leonel watched the next sequence of events with shock. Arthur and Guinevere believed that their little girl was being treated with Light Elemental magic, but this wasn't the case at all.
    When he had left the eye of the family, Pope Margrave brought the little baby girl to a quiet room.
    "бн [Twisted World]."
    Leonel watched as a surge of darkness shot up around Margrave. The room that had once been bathed in light became surrounded by darkness.
    Leonel panicked slightly, thinking that the Pope was going to harm the little baby girl. He had unknowingly become attached. He even wanted to see the little baby girl become better.
    However, deep inside, he knew that it was impossible. He had already been to the future. It was either this little girl died or she becameбн
    Leonel sighed.
    The latter was confirmed by what happened next. Rather than being harmed, the little girl which had been napping suddenly became lively. Her sickly little body gained some strength and even let out an adorable little giggle. It was the kind of childish laughter that could warm the heart of even the most cold individual.
    She raised up her little hands, grasping at Pope Margrave's face.
    Pope Margrave smiled and let the child play with his finger. He seemed to get a slight happiness from the little girl's eagerness.
    Leonel finally understood.
    He had watched it all from start to finish. It was true that King Arthur and Queen Guinevere had done everything they could to nurture their little baby girl. But, all this time, they had always used the Light Element. Whether it was the tonics Guinevere drank or the medicines she ate, all of them were of this element.
    It wasn't really their fault. From their understanding, the Light Element was the best at healing. In their narrow world view, it was likely that if they hadn't done all of this, their little girl would have died even sooner or been even worse off.
    Butбн the truth was that their little girl was healthy. In fact, it was their fault that she was sickly at all. Had they not been feeding her medicines from her opposing element for so long, this little girl would have been just fine. In fact, quite ironically, had they been neglectful parents, the little girl would have been in an even better position than she was now.
    When the Pope came out with their little girl and the mother-father pair saw how much more lively their little girl was, they couldn't help but shed tears. Even King Arthur, who hadn't cried even when Lamorak died, felt his eyes water.
    They profusely thank Pope Margrave and put their all into helping The Church grow. All of the worries Arthur had were thrown out of the window. Who cared if he was raising a wolf in his own den? As long as his baby girl was healthy, he didn't care about anything else.
    Camelot celebrated as their little princess grew. The worries they had about the little one not making any appearances vanished with the wind.
    Everything was perfectбн until the little princess came of age and had her affinity testedбн

 Chapter 312: Alone

    The idea of someone standing against the world seemed like something great and valiant to do. Just thinking about it made one's blood boil. There were maybe few other things that could elicit a person's pride than this.
    However, what if the person tasked with such a thing was just a little girl of barely ten years old? What if she was subject to the silence of all the most powerful men and women of a Kingdom, all of whom were staring down toward her with varying expressionsбн
    Shockбн Apprehensionбн Disgustбн
    The little princess stood in a flowing white dress, her innocent faint still smiling as she placed her little hands on a crystal three times the size of her body. Her large black eyes sparkled as she watched the flowing black lights. It all looked particularly beautiful to her.
    She didn't seem to notice the reaction of those around her. She was simply ignorant to them. Her mind was still a blank slate. How could she ever think that she would be shunned by something completely out of her control?
    "Wow, pretty!"
    The little princess giggled.
    It was the same giggle that caused the hearts of those around her to flutter. It even cracked the expressions of those that were looking toward her little body with disgust.
    King Arthur and Queen Guinevere looked toward their daughter with shock, not able to understand what they were seeing.
    King Arthur was a Light Magus, a talent rarely seen across several centuries.
    Queen Guinevere was a Water Magus. She too was a rare talent and even awakened a Variant Affinity that tended toward ice.
    How the daughter that was the product of their union could possibly be a Dark Magus was completely unknown to them. Was this what they called fate?
    Tears fell down Guinevere's delicate features as she kneeled down and hugged her daughter who was still ignorant to how her life had just changed. As for King Arthur, he didn't know how to react.
    His first instinct was guilt. It was he who insisted on making their daughter's affinity ceremony a public event. He thought that this would be a great opportunity to affirm the standing of their Royal Family.
    Though he hadn't known his daughter's affinity, he was certain that she was very talented. Ever since Pope Margrave began to heal her, she displayed an intelligence and wit far beyond her age. There had never been a doubt in Arthur's mind.
    Maybe somewhat ironically, he had been correct. Those halos of light and those cracks spreading across the crystal's face made it all very obvious. Not only was his daughter a Childe, she was a monster even amongst Childes.
    But the reality of it was cruel.
    "Mommy? Why are you crying?"
    The little princess blinked, unable to understand what was happening. It was only then that she took her eyes off the pretty lights and saw the eyes everyone used to look at her.
    Seeing the array of emotions, her little heart trembled. Even if she was mostly ignorant of the ways of the world, she was still an intelligent little girl.
    "Mommyбн Did I do something wrong?"
    Hearing these words, Queen Guinevere felt her heart breaking.
    "You're all dismissed." King Arthur finally spoke, his expression not giving way for anyone to respond.
    Those of the court left one after another.
    Leonel shook his head, watching all of this from start to finish. Was this how superstition worked? Even to the point of forsaking one's own daughter? If it wasn't for the fact the little princess was in fact a princess, maybe she would have been killed on the spot...
    Unfortunately for the little girl, things weren't ending here, they were only beginning.
    бн
    "What did you just say to me?! You want my daughter to do what?!"
    Queen Guinevere's words came out in a hoarse screech. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing.
    No, it wasn't that she couldn't believe them, but rather that she didn't believe who they were coming from.
    How could the man she loved say such words? Was this really the same man who she shared a child with?
    King Arthur was taken aback by his wife's reaction. Had what he said really been so bad? He couldn't help but take offense.
    "Guinevere, why are you acting like this? I only want to protect our daughter."
    "By keeping her out of the public eye?" Guinevere's lips curled into a sneer. "All you want to do is protect your precious Kingdom. If you have to sacrifice your daughter's freedom and happiness, you wouldn't mind, right?!"
    "Guinevere! You're living in a fantasy land! Do you really think it's possible for her to live a normal life right now? What kind of freedom could there possibly be in her situation?!"
    "Her? You can't even say your own daughter's name anymore? Does she disgust you now too?!"
    King Arthur's eyes reddened with rage. Why wouldn't this woman listen to what he was saying?!
    "This decision is final!" He roared.
    Guinevere's sneer only deepened. A deep divide seemed to split the two despite the fact they still stood within the same room.
    "Please do put your foot down, oh esteemed Majesty. This is what you always wanted, right? The power to stand over and rule the world? But don't you find it a little sad that you spent all this time fighting for this power, and now you're so scared to lose it that you don't even dare to stand beside your own daughter.
    "What a Great King you are."
    Guinevere's words held a biting a cold to it. Her irises involuntarily shone a bright blue as she momentarily lost control of her own magic.
    King Arthur seemed stunned by what he had just heard. His chest heaved but he didn't have the words to reply.
    He stormed out of the room, the boom of the closing door resonating throughout the castle.
    бн
    Ultimately, King Arthur's words were final.
    Leonel watched as the little princess grew up. He watched her optimism wither and her liveliness dim.
    The palace maids seemed to keep a wide berth. Her own father was too ashamed to see her. Her mother was the only light in her life, but the pain of the splintering relationship with her husband left even her as a mere shell of her former self.
    It could only be said that the little girl was alone.

 Chapter 313: Integrating

    Leonel watched the life of this little princess until the day she chose to leave the Kingdom. With her father estranged and her mother unable to provide the same warmth she once had, the one to ultimately suffer the most was a young girl who knew nothing of the world but the same coldness.
    At that moment, Leonel felt his world swim once again.
    When his gaze cleared, he found himself floating within a cocoon, facing a young woman that was in the same position. However, while he was awake, she seemed to still be in a deep sleep.
    The cocoon around Leonel popped.
    First his clothing came back, then all of his equipment. Even the bow weighed heavily in Leonel's hand.
    By now, Leonel had gained a faint understanding of the trial. He was meant to understand and empathize with his opponent. The faster he did so, the faster he would awaken and the greater advantage he would gain.
    If he wanted to win, all he had to do was put an arrow through Modred's head. She couldn't resist him even if she wanted to, she was clearly still immersed in what he assumed were memories of his life.
    Leonel sighed. 'What a cruel trialбн'
    Leonel didn't particularly understand what the point of this trial was. Did Merlin want to show him that the people he killed to gain the rewards he had were people too? Did Merlin want him to understand his enemy before he killed him? Was there another purpose Leonel had yet to think of?
    Leonel knew that killing Modred now would be too beneficial to him.
    If he killed Modred and killed Monet before he left this place, that would allow him exactly the five rewards he needed to exchange for a Tier 9 reward.
    Leonel sighed again, closing his eyes. He didn't even need to think about it, he knew that he couldn't do it.
    He wasn't na?ve enough to believe that Modred was a good person just because she had a tragic backstory. No matter how understanding he was, it was still clear and obvious to him that her actions in the past several decades had definitely caused a lot of pain to a lot of people.
    Though Modred looked like a young woman, she was definitely over 40 years old. Even if he saw the reflection of that little girl within her, Leonel knew that she was no longer than innocent little girl and shouldn't be treated as such.
    Still, Leonel had his own bottom line. So, he waited.
    Seconds turned to minutes, then hours, and even days.
    Leonel knew that Modred's challenge was comparatively more difficult than his own. Leonel's childhood was on Earth which had a population of billions. Just finding his storyline would be difficult let alone coming to understand his world.
    Merlin had definitely not accounted for this possibility in his trials. Leonel wasn't from their world, so how could it not be far more difficult?
    Plus, Leonel's ability was especially suited to taking in and organizing information. This sort of trial where he was required to filter out the unnecessary and focus in on the important was practically created for him.
    It wasn't until an entire week later that Modred's lashes finally fluttered. She slowly opened her eyes, the cocoon she was in breaking to reveal her defined body which was quickly wrapped up in a long, flowing black dress.
    Her gaze flashed with a hint of surprise when she saw Leonel calmly meditating before her. He hadn't opened his eyes even after she awoke, but Modred could tell that he was already on high alert.
    After a moment, she came to understand what must have happened. After all, she could draw the same conclusions Leonel could.
    "You know, boy, having sympathy for an enemy is as good as asking for death."
    Modred spoke lightly. Her tone didn't carry any gratefulness nor was it laced with any of the relief one should have upon escaping death by the hair of their teeth. It was obvious to any semi intelligent individual that Leonel had shown mercy. But, Modred's disregard for her own life was even more surprising.
    Leonel slowly opened his eyes when he heard Modred speak.
    "Some people would call me quite foolish, yes."
    "Some?" Modred asked with an enchanting smile. "I think even the few that would do as you did would still call it foolish."
    Leonel looked toward Modred for a long while seemingly trying to see through her. Finally, he stood, brandishing his bow.
    "Shall we fight?"
    "Why so soon?" Modred asked lightly. "I'm very curious about the world you are from. Just what sort of place is it?"
    Leonel didn't know how to respond to this. Was he supposed to tell Modred that the pain she suffered as a child was just a fanciful story woven by writers? Would anyone be able to accept that about their lives?
    "If things go well, then you'll get to experience it for yourself." Leonel finally said.
    Leonel had deliberated over this answer for a long while. He didn't think that there was anything particularly important about his choice of words, he just didn't know how to explain himself so this was all he could say.
    However, what he could have never expected was for the whole of the Trial Grounds to suddenly tremble fiercely the moment he spoke the last of his sentence.
    Leonel's expression changed. He shot a glance over to Modred, but he found that she was just as confused as he was. It was clear that she also had no idea what was going on.
    Without a choice, Leonel pulled out the dictionary. He had to know if the situation had changed.
    "What's happening?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Hidden Quest has been completed. The world of Camelot is integrating with Earth's Fold of Reality. ]
    Leonel stood frozen.
    What? How could something like this happen?
    Out of all the possibilities, out of all the thoughts he had, out of all the ways he thought things could goбн this was the absolute very last thing he had even considered.
    The world continued to rumble as Leonel clutched his bow. He really had no idea what would happen next.

 Chapter 314: Ejected

    Leonel wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
    What did it mean for Camelot to integrate with Earth's Fold of Reality? Did that mean that its history was becoming Earth's history? In that case, would there be changes to the current normal Zones of Earth? Did it mean that Camelot was descending onto Earth? In that case, did that mean that Earth was gaining new citizens? Or potentially enemies in the demons?
    Leonel couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. He couldn't wrap his mind around just how a fairytale could become a part of real life.
    But, now that he thought about it, hadn't he been interacting with them all this time? How were the people of Camelot any different from real people? If Leonel had to differentiate them between the people of Earthбн he really had no ability to do so.
    As though this wasn't already confusing enough, Leonel had no idea how he had passed the hidden quest requirements. He had done nothing to this point to work toward that goal. In fact, if he thought about it, he was really stupid for having not at least questioned the dictionary about it first. It was just that he was distracted by learning this new magic system and all the drama that had come with it.
    Leonel shook his head, completely ignoring Modred for the time being.
    "What requirements did I meet to cause this?"
    More than anything else, he was the most curious about this. Actually, it might have very well been possible that he wasn't the one who met the requirements at all. After all, there was still Monet, Violet Rain and Little Nana here. Even though Little Nana had been booted from the trial, she was still one of the Zone participants and Leonel had left her alone for a long while alreadyбн
    [*Ping*]
    [Replying to Seed, there are two requirements that need to be met: Awareness and Acceptance]
    Leonel felt as though he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
    These two requirements seemed simple enough, but the longer he thought about it, the more impossible they seemed to be to fulfill.
    Awareness alone seemed easy enough. Just telling Modred that a world like his existed might be enough to fulfill the requirements of this first prerequisite. Butбн what about Acceptance?
    How could you possibly get someone who was born and raised in Camelot to both be aware that there were other worlds and accept their existence? In truth, even if someone wanted to accept this, it might not necessarily be possible.
    The only person in this world one couldn't fool was oneself. It was not possible to make oneself think something one didn't want to think or feel a way one didn't want to feel.
    Let's say, for instance, that Leonel was told that a Metamorphosis was coming before it descended. Let's say he was also told that he and everyone else who managed to survive would gain amazing powers beyond imagination. And, let's say that it was his father who told him all of these things and warned him to prepare or else it might cost him his life.
    Leonel might want to believe these words. After all, they came from his father. If he couldn't trust the man he trusted the most in this whole world, then who the hell would he trust?
    But even if he wanted to believeбн could he?
    At that time, Leonel would have known nothing of the world but what was right in front of him. On top of that, he would have been raised in an environment where science and research was above all else. How could he so easily throw all of these things to the back of his mind to accept what sounded like a nut-case's rantings?
    This was what it meant to gain Acceptance. Modred not only needed to be Aware another world might exist, but she also needed to Accept to her very soul that it did.
    After coming to this understanding, Leonel couldn't help but chuckle. This fourth trial might have been exceptionally cruel, but it actually did him a massive favor. If it wasn't for living Leonel's life from start to finish, how could Modred so easily accept the truth?
    Leonel took a deep breath and calmed himself, looking up to see Modred's playful gaze.
    The Trial's rumbling continued and seemed to only intensify with each passing moment. It left Leonel feeling disoriented and a bit dizzy. This seemed to remind him that there was much more he had no idea about.
    "How is the integration happening?"
    [*Ping*]
    [Camelot will form its own satellite and orbit around the core of Earth's Fold of Reality]
    Leonel raised his brow. He knew that 'satellite' was a technical term astronomers used. It described both artificial and celestial bodies that orbited a planet. Did that mean that Earth was getting another moon?
    What did this mean for Earth? What would it do to the already volatile political climate? How would The Empire react? What about those hidden families? The Slayer Legion?
    Leonel felt a massive headache coming on.
    But something felt off about this continuous rumbling. Leonel subconsciously felt as though something was hindering Camelot's progression.
    "How long will this take? And does this mean the Zone trial is over?" Leonel asked.
    Modred blinked her pretty eyes. Zone trial? She seemed to be very curious about this. What did it mean exactly? This little toy also seemed to be quite interesting.
    [*Ping*]
    [бн]
    Leonel was stunned. The dictionary wasn't answering? This was the first time this had happened. What did this mean?
    Just when Leonel wanted to ask again, the rumbling reached a peak.
    Leonel's vision blurred and swam. He felt his entire body being forcefully ejected. It felt as though his body had been sucked into a blackhole, stretching into a thin line that was pulled out of his current reality.
    BANG!
    Leonel crashed onto something hard, but his vision was still too black to see anything.
    However, what he did see when his vision cleared left him stunned.

 Chapter 315: Complicated

    Leonel had crashed into a ground of grey, cracked land. There seemed to be no vegetation anywhere around except for some sporadic weeds that seemed painted with an ink black.
    This place was actually the no-man's land between Camelot and the Demon Empire.
    Leonel's first reaction was as expected. How could he not be infuriated? He had been that close to being able to afford to comprehend the complete Four Seasons Realm. Even if it was someone else's comprehension, the benefit to his strength would have by no means been small. Yet, now that he had been ejected from the trial, it was all over.
    However, Leonel didn't have the luxury to dwell on this because what he saw next took up all the head space he had. He felt like his breath had been completely sucked away.
    Was this what the apocalypse looked like?
    Right where the entrance to the Trials had been there was a massive sink hole. It seemed to extend to infinity, having unfathomable depths.
    If this was all there was, it would be enough to panic. Yet, the sink hole seemed to be connected to the skies by an invisible pillar of energy.
    The rumbling, black clouds above formed a large eye of the storm above, swirling and forming a massive cyclone. The sight of large masses of cumulonimbus clouds moving along with flickering lightning and heavily falling rain made it feel as though each clap of thunder was crashing against one's heart.
    This alone would have been enough of a shocking scene to put anyone in awe. However, when Leonel activated his Internal Sight to its fullest degree, he realized that this place that looked as though a mighty god had struck down with his spear from above wasn't so simple at all.
    He could sense endless fragments of countless laws. Each of them formed whole or partial Force Arts representing a different strength. It was so faint that most of it was invisible even to those who had already awakened their Internal Strength.
    Leonel took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When they snapped open once again, the faint image of a majestic bird loomed over his shoulder. No, it was less accurate to say that it was a bird, but rather a bird's gaze.
    Two pairs of wisdom filled eyes hung above Leonel while the faint outline of its avian body was hardly detectable.
    The instant Leonel activated his Wisdom Branch Lineage Factor in full force, the world before him seemed to explode into one filled with stars and flashing lights. Those vague outline of Force Arts were all reflected in his mind, flickering with a beautiful mystery.
    Leonel had never used the Wisdom Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor like this. There was never a need to, using it passively was enough. But, he had never expected that there would actually come a day that he would need it. Or rather, he hadn't expected that day to come so soon.
    'There's a chance!'
    Leonel was certain that these laws were the ones that represented the Merlin Trial Grounds. Together, they were what formed the domain that had kept them trapped for so long. If he found the Arts he needed, it might be possible to reverse engineer the Legendary Skills.
    Just when Leonel was feeling excited, an overwhelming danger suddenly prickled at his nape. In his current state, his senses were impossibly high. He could tell in an instant that he was being targeted even before the strike was in range to be fatal.
    Leonel sprang upward and rolled to the side, making sure to extend the distance between himself and the sinkhole.
    A violent crack of light landed where he had sat, tearing into the ground for several meters before coming to a stop.
    Leonel rolled to his feet, facing the direction he felt the fluctuation of magic coming from. As he did, he allowed the pair of eyes floating to his back to slowly fade away. He had already made the mistake of letting his stamina run out before. Now, it was at the forefront of his mind. Though activating his Wisdom Branch wasn't nearly as taxing, he still chose to be careful.
    In the distance, King Arthur held onto his sword, his aura blazing. However, he could only hide how shaken he felt. In the instant before those eyes faded, he felt as though he had been pierced through. It felt no different from a blade running through his chest. Just what kind of ability was that?
    When Leonel came out of his own world, he realized that he wasn't the only one that had been forcefully ejected from the Trial. He immediately noticed that the numbers had dwindled by half. It was clear that not all the trials ended the same way his and Modred's hadбн
    The heavily falling rain rebounded off the bodies of the warriors. After King Arthur's move, no one else did anything. It was as though they were all aware that this was the calm before the storm.
    Leonel wasn't the only one who noticed the oddly floating Force Arts though he was the one who could definitely see them the most clearly.
    Everyone here were the elite of the elites. How could their Internal Sight be normal? They all realized that this was an opportunity.
    'My luck is so badбн'
    Leonel couldn't help but want to shed tears. He had the inside track to completing the Four Seasons Realm thanks to his ridiculous number of slaughter and star points, but now he actually had to fight again for what he had already earned. As though that wasn't enough, he seemed to still be public enemy number oneбн
    As though that wasn't bad enough, the Segmented Cube had also fallen a distance away and it was still in its large form. Leonel definitely couldn't leave without it. Not only was that a treasure his father had entrusted to him, but Little Nana was still within.
    It was then that the situation changed once more.
    Through the rumbling thunder and heavily falling rain, the sound of cracking glass and falling beads entered the ears of all present. Though it was odd to describe it in this way, this was the image that Leonel immediately formed in his mind.
    When he looked up, he found numerous cracks in space. Within these spaces, flickering gems began to make themselves known.
    Very soon, it became obvious that these weren't flickering gems at all. They were treasures. These were the very treasures that had been part of the Special Ticket Store.
    Leonel's expression changed. 'If Camelot is becoming a part of true historyбн doesn't that mean I can take these treasures out?'
    Leonel swept his gaze over the three dozen or so remaining elites, his heart tightening. It seemed the situation had become more complicated again.

 Chapter 316: CLANG!

    Leonel took a deep breath.
    This was no longer the trial grounds. While this meant that he was no longer restricted by cool downs and limited by skills, it also mean that this was the same for everyone else. This made this situation several times more difficult than it had been in the past.
    Leonel believed that if he tried to use his Dreamscape Battle Sense now, the drain on his mind would be even greater without the limitation on the actions his opponent could take. But, for the time being, Leonel couldn't worry about this any longer.
    Leonel's senses reached out once more. Though it seemed like he was paying attention to the opponents before him through the heavy rain, he was actually looking for Legend Skills.
    Leonel realized something very important. Though it was negative that he could no longer guarantee himself the Four Seasons Realm with his bow, that didn't mean it was a net negative.
    While he couldn't guarantee anything anymoreбн his paths had suddenly broadened. With all of these Force Arts floating around, did that mean that he could find the Legend Skills for his spear as well?
    Just as Leonel was about to act, someone else couldn't hold back any longer.
    Leonel locked onto a Demon Lord. Surprisingly, it was the very same Zombie Demon Lord he had met during his first battle in this no-man's land, Coyote.
    Leonel remembered what Lancelot had said about this Demon Lord. Back then, he had been with the Demon Lord Dagon, a skeleton demon with heavy balls chained to his wrists and ankles. According to Lancelot, Dagon was ranked in the high 20's amongst Demon Lords and was even comparable to those in the top 20. Yet, compared to him, Coyote was much more dangerous.
    The reason was simpleбн there was simply too little information about him. No one knew his likes, his dislikes, his tendenciesбн nothing. Maybe even Mordred was in the dark about this.
    Coyote shot forward, his rotting eyes completely placid as though he didn't notice the tense situation they were all in. A foul stench wafted from his body as heavy droplets of acidic rain rebounded off his dead skin.
    'A spearбн'
    Leonel took notice of Coyote's weapon immediately. This was most definitely not the weapon Coyote had used during that battle. It seemed that he had been hiding even his main choice of weapon from others. In fact, as far as Leonel remembered, he barely had any impression of Coyote during the Trials.
    However, now that Leonel thought about it, he remembered that the only time he ever saw Coyote display any types of emotions was when the latter felt greed after Leonel took out his black-chained spear.
    Back then, Leonel had been paying particular intention to the two Demon Lords in case the interfered in his battle with the minotaur. With his ability to read people, he would never mistake such an emotion.
    'Waitбн'
    Leonel's frown deepened. For someone like as cautious and lowkey as Coyote to be making a move nowбн?
    Leonel's gaze flashed, locking onto a certain direction. When he realized what was happening, his frown couldn't help but deepen.
    Coyote wasn't running in the direction of a Legendary Skill. But, Leonel knew it was impossible for such a man to take such a risk for nothing.
    'бн So that's how it is.'
    Leonel finally understood, but he hesitated. He already had so many enemies. If he made one of Coyote tooбн
    While no one had moved after Coyote did, Leonel could guarantee that if he did, several wouldn't stay idle any longer.
    Leonel shook his head, steeling his heart. This hesitationбн it wasn't like him.
    Leonel shot forward, his sudden movement catching the attention of all those who had been paying particular attention to him. Still, of those paying attention, Coyote was the most shocked.
    He had been very cautious since the beginning. Before he made this move, he had deduced that there was a better than 50% likelihood that no one would bother with him and would choose to instead observe from afar.
    After all, the situation was still tense. Humans and demons alike had a tendency of letting others test the waters for them. Like this, it would be possible to test for any dangers ahead of time.
    However, he could have never expected that Leonel would actually throw all of this to the back of his mind. In fact, not only had Leonel done so, but it seemed as though his target was completely different from Coyote's. Yet, judging by the fact Leonel's gaze hadn't left the zombie Demon Lord from start to finish, Coyote knew that he had been seen through.
    A smirk curled Coyote's lip. 'It seems that I've been seen through. But so what? They must think I'm weak just because I choose to keep a low profile. Who do you think you are to challenge my will?! Your spear is mine.'
    Coyote didn't bother hiding his intentions any longer. With a hard plant of his foot, he deviated his intention direction slightly, shooting toward the empty space between himself and Leonel.
    Those with weak Internal Sight wouldn't be able to see anything but a foggy space. However, it was clear that both Leonel and the zombie Demon Lord had seen something others hadn't.
    Leonel was just 50 meters from his location. The sloshing of the growing mud beneath his feet didn't seem to impact his speed in the slightest. But, it seemed that he had underestimated just how much King Arthur wanted him dead.
    "[Minor Teleportation]."
    Leonel knew the spell well. Not only did it take up a large amount of stamina for a usual Magus, but it took half a minute and sometimes even more to cast. It was simply impractical to use during battle unless one was at the level where casting multiple spells in conjunction was possible.
    For King Arthur to use this spell now only meant one thing: he had begun preparing it long ago and saved it for the expressed purpose of obstructing Leonel.
    No matter how kind hearted and understanding Leonel was, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of rage from the depths of his heart.
    From start to end, it was always this so-called King Arthur obstructing him in every way and fashion. Did this King really think that he was a pushover? Did he look like a man that could be targeted for death time and time again without consequences?
    Leonel's aura billowed, his bow disappearing in favor of a heavy spear.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The sound of the black spear's chains drowned out even the thunder in the sky above. Leonel could feel that his spear had been waiting to be released for a long time. He had repressed it for a long time already, it was finally time to unleash it.
    Leonel's gaze seemed to pierce through the space separating himself and the King. Even if he couldn't kill this bastard, Leonel didn't mind teaching him a harsh lesson he would never forget. How could he wield that sword so arrogantly without an arm?!

 Chapter 317: Art

    King Arthur widened his stance, grasping his sword with both hands. His blond hair billowed beneath the falling rain. Even in this environment, he seemed completely untouched, a holy golden aura keeping him completely dry.
    Leonel charged forward, his black spear resonating with the clapping thunder. His every step was entirely enveloped by a golden light, accelerating his speed several times over. At the same time, Bronze Runes etched themselves across his body, drawing a crown on his forehead and hovering a halo above his head.
    Raging violet lights emitted from his body, directly suppressing Arthur's kingly might. It felt as though this was the true arrival of a King. A man who could hold his head even higher than the legendary King Arthur.
    Such a feeling made the rage in Arthur's heart deepen.
    This brat? Above him? It seemed that since his sword hadn't tasted blood in so long, his legend had been forgotten.
    At that moment, spear and sword met.
    The clash caused a violent wind to spread out with them as the center. Sword Force sliced the wind apart to one side and Spear Force billowed into the sky from the other.
    The land around Leonel and Arthur shook and quaked, their gazes meeting across their weapons.
    Leonel could see the unconcealed rage within Arthur's eyes.
    Arthur could see the cold indifference in Leonel's.
    At that moment, the completely forgot and were uncaring about Coyote. It seemed that the actions of the zombie Demon Lord was meaningless.
    The five remaining Knights of the Round Table including Gawain watched on, hands on their weapons. There were certain battles they knew they shouldn't interfere in.
    In the past, these battles were the ones Arthur fought to build his legend. And now, they felt that this battle was no less important.
    Somewhere a long distance away, Queen Guinevere stepped out onto a terrace, looking up toward the rumbling skies. A deep sadness and complexity reflected within her eyes. Somehow, she felt that this battle would be important as well even without being present.
    It wasn't a matter of winning or losing. It was deeper than that.
    Leonel and Arthur separated, their weapons vibrating wildly.
    Arthur's aura surged, Force climbing around his body to impossible heights. It had been too long since the King of Camelot had gone all out. Many had forgotten just how powerful he had once been, it seemed impossible that a child of not even 20 years old could face him.
    But, the Leonel of now wasn't the Leonel of the past.
    After receiving so many rewards, his Force had been crystallized to an elite degree. Even the Lamorak of the past couldn't match him and he was even faintly approaching Arthur's level.
    If he could already hold his own to a certain extent beforeбн What about now?
    "[Holy Judgment]!"
    "[Holy Judgment]."
    Not caring for the thoughts of others, Leonel immediately cast the very same spell Arthur had. Today, he would prove a point. This arrogant Kingбн He needed to learn that he couldn't be arrogant just before anyone.
    Brilliant swords formed in the skies, however Leonel's formed several times faster. Before Arthur's spell was even complete, Leonel's golden swords had descended, shattering their Arts to nothing.
    "[Saintly Light]!"
    "[Saintly Light]." Leonel responded coldly.
    A pillar of light descended toward Arthur before his spell completed, forcing him to dodge out of the way and cancel his own cast.
    The ground shook and groaned, leaving a pit in the spot he had just once been.
    "[Sacrificial Cross]!"
    Arthur raised his sword, a blinding light forming at its tip. However, just when he was about to slash downward, a cold voice floated to his ears, tearing at his eardrums.
    "[Sacrificial Cross]."
    Leonel's spear slashed downward with a powerful momentum then across with an arrogant burst.
    A cross of blinding golden light shot forward, tearing toward King Arthur. The King brandished his sword, hurriedly blocking, but he couldn't stop himself from sliding backward tens of meters, the web of his fingers tearing apart.
    Leonel brandished his spear, taking a step forward. His hair billowed, seemingly untouched by the heavy rain. His halo hung above his head and his piercing violet eyes peered toward Arthur as though to question him.
    Is this the product of your arrogance? Is this what you were so proud of?
    "[Light Domain]!"
    "[Light Domain]."
    A sphere of light appeared before Leonel, quickly expanding until it became a dome that shrouded over 20 meters. It completely crushed Arthur's own spell, shattering his sphere before it even expanded outside of his body.
    Leonel held his spear in his right, raising his left.
    He pointed a finger forward, causing beams of light to form all around him under the influence of [Light Domain]. In this world of darkness, he seemed like the only source of light, willing the Light Element to manifest itself to his beck and call.
    Arthur's gaze had turned a furious shade of red. It seemed as though his pupils might drip with blood at any moment. As he brandished his sword, blocking Leonel's furious assault of light, he felt as though something deep within his chest was being chipped away at.
    He knew he wasn't this weak. Leonel knew he wasn't this weak either. But, his pride wouldn't let him stop casting spells. His pride wouldn't allow him to accept that Leonel was his better in this aspect.
    No matter what spell he cast, Leonel could do it faster and form it with greater strength.
    Leonel's barrage became faster and faster. Beneath the effect of Light Domain, it was as though a tiger had grown wings. His Light Elemental Arts formed even faster than they had before. He felt as though he could take control of the whole world.
    'Domainбн'
    This was the feeling of a Domain. An absolute control. An undeniable Sovereignty.
    The spear within Leonel's hand began to shake and rattle wildly. It felt as though it wanted to break free and soar into the skies, looking over all from above.
    A certain enlightenment shook Leonel's heart. For the first time, he felt the call of the spear in his hands.
    At that very moment, Coyote had appeared before the Legendary Skill Art, his rotting lips curled into a smirk.
    What no one expected was for the situation to change once again the instant Coyote grasped the Legendary Skill in his hands.
    The sound of shattering glass resounded once more, but this was several times louder than when the treasures appeared. It was as though a massive glass statue had fallen from the skies and crashed onto the ground below.
    Within any explanation, Leonel felt a surging sense of crisis. The primitive man's instincts had already sunk deep into his bones. After being stacked with several other primitive consciousnesses, his instincts had already reached another level, helping his battle sense greatly. In fact, if it wasn't for this, maybe his Dreamscape Battle Sense wouldn't have manifested so easily or so quickly.
    Without hesitation, he ducked down. As though sensing the same thing, Arthur did the same.
    Those who were lucky followed the crowd even if they didn't sense it themselves. However, those who were unlucky found themselves riddled with holes from an attack they couldn't even see with their own two eyes.
    Leonel watched as several elites fell, dead, not daring to get up on his own just yet. Even three of the Knights of the Round Table fell beneath this inexplicable barrage.
    At that moment, Leonel's Dreamscape flashed with a violent arc of lightning centering around a particular bookбн 'The Legend of Affinities: The Epic of Magi'.
    According to the book, there were two affinities that were rarer than the Light Element, two affinities that had only appeared within the Legendary Magus of an Eraбн Merlin.
    The Time and Space Affinity.
    That attack, that was most definitely a spatial ripple. However, it wasn't caused by a person. It was caused by the appearance of something.
    Leonel craned his neck from the ground, looking back toward the massive sinkhole he had distanced himself from originally.
    When he set his senses forward, a massive Force Art reflected in his mind. It was so large and unfathomable that he felt his mind swim just after glancing at it for but a moment.
    However, what was more surprising was that it reminded him of something he had forgotten about.
    Memories flashed within Leonel's mind. He finally remembered.
    His Healing Branchбн He had already awakened it. And the Fourth Dimensional Art hanging within his Dream Worldбн It was the reason he had been able to. Not only was it the reason, but it was eerily similar to the Force Art before him now.
    Leonel's heart palpitated. He knew for a fact that this Force Art was the core that made up Merlin's trial grounds.
    All this time, the Fourth Dimensional Art within Leonel's world was at 99% complete, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get over the edge and reach 100%. Yet, simply glimpsing at that 99% complete Art in a dazed state was enough for him to instantly comprehend his Healing Branch. Just what kind of affect would it have on other things? Just what kind of affect would it have at 100%?!
    1% might sound like a small distance away, but Leonel knew that this final percent was more difficult to complete than even the first 99% as a whole. If he managed to finish it, the effect wouldn't be as small as double or even triple, it might even be tens of folds!
    Leonel realized in that instant that the most valuable thing here wasn't the Legendary Treasures or even the Legendary Skills. It was the Force Art right before him.
    However, Leonel didn't seem to be the only one who realized this. The moment this Art appeared, the eyes of Pope Margrave and the dual sword wielding Peirce -- who had both maintained a low profile to this point -- lit up.

 Chapter 318: Reveal

    Peirce stood from the mud soaked grounds and took a step forward, brandishing his two long swords.
    "Stand down!"
    Gawain looked toward Peirce with reddened eyes. They had just lost three Knights of the Round Table. As things stood now, there was only Gawain and Ector remaining. It could be said that this was the greatest blow Camelot had taken since its establishment.
    Gawain's number one priority was protecting the lives of those that remained. He couldn't allow a moment of hot headedness or greed to ruin the foundation of Camelot.
    The gaze he looked toward Peirce seemed only a step away from madness. He had too many clashing emotions in his mind.
    On the one hand, he didn't agree with the way Arthur was doing things. But, on the other, he didn't want to see his King lose like this nor did he want his fellow brothers to sacrifice themselves one after another.
    In the height of his emotions, Gawain believed that Peirce was trying to step in to defend Arthur's honor. Everything he knew about Peirce to this point defined him as a man of honor and nobility. Acting to defend Arthur at this point was exactly what the persona of the past would have done.
    However, Gawain would have never expected for a simple command of his to cause Peirce's sword to find its way to his neck.
    Gawain might have been in an emotional state, but he was still one of the 12 strongest knights beneath King Arthur. He reacted with an inhuman quickness, arching his back toward the ground and barely dodging the long, slightly curved sword.
    Still, he felt a cold wind across his throat. When he brought his fingers up, he found that a thin line of blood had already been drawn across his adam's apple. Death had been just that close.
    When Gawain got over his shock, he immediately felt a surging anger.
    "Peirce! What do you mean by this?!"
    Gawain's roar seemed to be trying to rival the rumbling clouds above, but it was, maybe fittingly, completely drowned out.
    PPCCHUU!
    Before Peirce even got a chance to respond, Gawain suddenly felt a sharp pain to his back.
    He looked down, shaken. His body trembled, blood leaking from his lips as he tried to speak. But, the spear that had gone through his chest didn't seem apt to allow him to do so.
    Gawain struggled to turn his head back, only to be shocked to find his brother in arms, Sir Ector.
    Shock, unwillingness, resentmentбн It all flashed through Gawain's eyes in those last moments. But, all he saw in Ector's eyes was a dullness as though he didn't care about taking the life of his friend of so many years.
    Gawain's body fell limp and lifeless, the plop of his figure onto the wet ground somehow resounding more than his final roar.
    The eerie sound seemed to wake Ector from his daze. He blinked, his eyes squinting in confusion. He looked from his bloodied spear to the body on the ground. When he thought of a certain possibility, his heart shook.
    "ALIARD!"
    Ector's tragic cry sounded like a wounded beast. He was so furious that the blood vessels of his eyes popped, causing streaking tears of blood to coat his cheeks. However, they were quickly washed away by the heavily falling rain as though the world itself didn't want him to grieve.
    Ector turned his gaze toward an unassuming Magus, a seemingly amiable old man Leonel knew well. If it wasn't for Aliard, Leonel wouldn't have lost control of his emotions during his first meeting with Lamorak and maybe their relationship wouldn't have turned out as tragically as it did.
    PCHU!
    A spurt of blood flew of Ector's neck, his head snapping backward as small bits of remaining flesh tried to keep it attached to his shoulders.
    In his death, he didn't get to see who did it. However, there had only been one person in that direction. It could only have been Peirce.
    Ector could have never believed that he would be betrayed by not one, but two people of Camelot.
    This entire sequence of events was witnessed by both Leonel and King Arthur. The latter had reached such a state of rage that his visage had returned to an eerie calm. It was a kind of calm that even made Leonel's heart tremble.
    What kind of feeling was it to watch six of your brothers killed one after another? Not only killed, but to even be betrayed by two you once thought you could trust with your life?
    There were many times that Arthur had thought of expanding the Knights of the Round Table to 13 just to add Peirce. Magus Aliard was a pillar of Camelot, one of the 7 more powerful mages of their Kingdom. Yet, both of them had slighted him in this way.
    At this point, his rage toward the two of them was several levels beyond the rage he felt for Leonel.
    Leonel cautiously rose, his eyes narrowing as he looked toward Aliard.
    "So that's how things areбн Maybe even Lamorak was being unknowingly influencedбн"
    There were many people Leonel thought that might be traitorous. He knew there was a high likelihood of a Mythological Zone becoming a Unique Zone, so he had always been paying attention.
    He subconsciously focused on Lamorak because the latter had not only humiliated him, but always seemed to be outrageously antagonistic for little to no reason. Then, after he saw Mordred's backstory, he realized that the Pope might very well be involved as well.
    But he had forgotten one thingбн Aliard had been there that day tooбн And, he was a Mage that specialized in mental attacks.
    What if from beginning to end, this was all orchestrated by Aliard?
    Leonel's eyes fell on the seemingly amiable, scholarly man. His aura wasn't as towering as King Arthur's, yet the wind and rain seemed to bend around him as though not wanting to disturb him.
    "You're very curious." Aliard spoke. Despite the billowing winds, heavy rain and rumbling clouds, not to mention the hundreds of meters that separated them, Leonel felt as though he was speaking right into his ear. "You've been branded by The Bishop. Why are you not following his orders properly?"
    Leonel's pupils constricted.

 Chapter 319: Cost

    The Bishop. It had been too long since Leonel heard mention of this person.
    Within the Joan Zone, this entity seemed to rule the lives of Joan and the men around her. At first, Leonel had thought that The Bishop was the man in the tunnels, Nicolas.
    Leonel still remembered the fanaticism in Nicolas' gaze when he asked him if he was well known in the future. Despite the fact the man was his enemy, Leonel couldn't help but feel bad for him at the time.
    These people were likely promised great things, but how many of them really got to enjoy these rewards? Nicolas thought he had become some famous legend in the future, yetбн Leonel had never heard of him. Wasn't that too sick of a joke?
    The moment Leonel heard Aliard's words, he realized that this really was related to the matters of the Joan Zone. In all likelihood, his previous conjecture that their purpose in the Joan Zone was related to their successful entry into this Mythological Zone was most likely also correct.
    But, what made Leonel more apprehensive was that Aliard said he had been branded. Was he talking about the Force Art he had drawn on the back of his left hand? But hadn't he gotten rid of it? How was it that Aliard still thought he was branded?
    The moment Leonel returned to Earth's Pseudo Fourth Dimension, the Art's effects were shattered. Could it be that Aliard had sensed its previous influence?
    Leonel looked toward the back of his left hand. He could still see the vague outline of the once prominent scar, but the magic it once held had long since disappeared.
    Leonel looked back up, facing Aliard.
    "So you're the one who made Lamorak target me?" He asked coldly.
    Aliard didn't respond, he seemed to feel that this conversation was meaningless.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. It seemed that he had been a puppet on a string from the very beginning. Whether it was his battle with Lamorak, his terrible reaction back then, even down to the fact Aliard's 'disciple' Elys had been the one following him and guiding him all this time, it might even be possible that Aliard was slowly manipulating things in the background to make more and more people turn their blades toward Leonel within the trial grounds.
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more he felt his heart chill.
    He closed his eyes, settling the rolling waves in his chest. When he opened them once again, his calm had returned.
    "Thanks, you've taught me a lot." Leonel said placidly.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    Leonel brandished his spear, the clanging of the spears reaching a feverish pitch.
    Leonel flipped his palm, causing a horn to appear in his hand. If one looked closely and had been there that day, it would be possible to recognize this horn as having once been the property of the Black Rhino Leonel had defeated during his trip to this no-man's land. Back then, Leonel had just wanted to complete a few missions so that he could read the rest of what the Mage Academy library had to offer. But now, this horn had become his trump card.
    Since these traitors had revealed themselves so easily, even after seeing the combat prowess of Leonel and Arthur, and even taking into account the existence of Mordred and the others, it meant they were confident in their own strength. Confident to the point of believing they no longer had to hide themselves.
    However, did he really look like someone who could just be rolled over?
    Leonel guessed that the goal of these people and The Bishop was the Fourth Dimensional Force Art to his back. Maybe in the meantime, they wouldn't mind picking up some treasures and comprehending some Legendary Skills along the way. To them, this was practically an open treasure trove they could take up whenever they wanted. The so-called resistance before them was meaningless.
    Leonel laughed. But, when others heard it, they felt their hearts tremble.
    They could hear all of his emotions. His bitterness, his rage, his pride.
    In the past several months, he had been toyed with like a puppet on a string. He thought himself to be intelligent, yet he hadn't even realized who his true enemy was until the last moments.
    Now that he thought about it, Aliard was probably only dissatisfied with him because he wanted to make use of Lamorak for a bit longer. By Aliard's estimation, had Leonel not killed Lamorak and gone against the wishes of The Bishop, Aliard would have never been exposed at all.
    After all, his suggestive magic on Lamorak had been weaved over several months to years. It was much too subtle compared to Ector who he rashly took control of just for a few moments.
    Though he didn't mind being exposed now, he felt as though it was unnecessary and he felt forced by the circumstances. He didn't like not having everything in the palm of his hands. To him, Leonel's actions were akin to a jumping monkey stalling the path of a King.
    However, even Aliard couldn't help but frown slightly toward Leonel's laughter.
    He could tell that this laughter wasn't one of hopelessness nor was it one of madness. It was almost like the kind of laugh you gave a friend when you fell for a prankбн it was simply too light.
    Leonel brought the horn up to his lips and blew.
    At first, the horn was a deep black luster. It curled up for over a meter and weighed almost a hundred pounds.
    However, after Leonel blew, several gorgeous patterns lit up across its surface, shimmering with a beautiful pale green light.
    The billowing wind from Leonel's blow tore into the skies, causing the thunderous storm to pause for just a moment.
    Aliard's pupils constricted. It wasn't just him, but so did Pope Margrave's. As the two most accomplished mages on the battlefield, they realized exactly what just happened. This was definitely beast taming magic, but they had never seen it used in this way.
    Leonel calmly put the horn away as though he hadn't done anything special. In its place, he pulled out a familiar golden rod. Though it no longer held France's flag on one end of it, Leonel would never forget this pole. It was none other than a replica of Joan's weapon.
    "I didn't get to use this against the monocle wearing bastard. But, that's just fine. I happen to hate you all almost as much."
    Did they think that he, Leonel Morales, was someone they could easily deal with whenever they wanted to?
    He would make Aliard and the other lackies of this so-called Bishop pay a price for their arrogance. And, the cost he was asking for was nothing less than their lives.

 Chapter 320: Stalemate

    The blaring horn seemed capable of separating even the thick clouds above. Those close to it felt as though they had suddenly been thrust into the center of a storm. Even after the sound traveled tens of kilometers, it refused to dissipate, multiplying over itself and projecting outward for longer and longer distances.
    Leonel stood amidst the rain with an indifferent expression. However, the ground had already begun to rumble. If the world had already felt as though it might end at any time, it was practically on the brink of destruction now.
    Aliard's expression had been bordering on smugness just moments ago. But now, it felt as though everything within his body had tightened. He stared daggers toward Leonel, but the latter remained unmoved.
    At that moment, the first roars came from over the horizon. Massive demonic beasts of all shapes and sizes charged forward as though they had lost their minds, savage expressions being projected from their red eyes.
    It could be said that Leonel was an absolute expert of every path of magic Camelot had to offer. As long as it was within the Magic Art Tower, it was stored within his Dream World, never to leave. The only reason he never used elements outside of Light and Earth was because it simply wasn't worth it.
    With his affinity, casting Light or Earth Arts took half the stamina, could be completed in half the time and carried twice the strength. Why would he waste his time casting other arts when this was the case?
    However, there were especially rare instances where the paths of other mages were beneficial to him. Whether it was when he used a teleportation Art as a trump card or when he used the sensory blockers of mental mages to form the maze within Camelot's castle, both of these were instances of Leonel taking a step out of his true comfort zone.
    The use of this horn was yet another instance.
    Originally, Leonel hadn't had a plan to use Joan's treasure. He originally saved it within his Dreamscape only to test his new Dream Sculpt ability. Back then, Joan's treasure had just been a useful outlet.
    However, after he met Simeon again, he realized that this treasure might become very useful when disrupting Simeon's control over his beasts. Unfortunately, Simeon had smartly retreated long before Leonel got a chance to use this trump card he had kept in reserve.
    When Leonel came to this SS-grade Zone, he found himself pushed into a corner again and again. He realized that he needed trump cards or else this really might be the place he died. The problem was that aloneбн Joan's staff was useless.
    Leonel didn't dare to use it on humans for fear of the backlash. He affirmed this unwillingness after reaching this world. With the strong mental strength of mages, who would dare casually try to take control of their minds? Even Aliard had to be especially careful.
    Due to this realization, Leonel thought that Joan's staff might very well become useless to him until he met Simeon again. But, when he was browsing the Mage Arts of the Magic Art Tower, he suddenly stumbled into the world of beast mages.
    Overall, they were a small profession, often overlooked entirely. Many of them were just glorified mailmen, used to take control of messaging birds to communicate between long distances. However, it was in them Leonel saw endless potential and a plan began to form in his mind.
    The horn just happened to be a useful medium, but the true strength of the horn were the spells Leonel inscribed onto it. These spells were to beasts what mermaids were to sailors. The moment they heard it, they couldn't help but be lured to Leonel uncontrollably.
    Leonel had been saving this card in his back pocket for a long time, waiting for an opportune moment to use it. In fact, looking toward Leonel now, King Arthur felt an endless bubbling fear within his heart.
    What if Leonel had blown this horn from within the walls of Camelot? What would the result have been then?
    This was maybe the first time King Arthur had ever felt such a way. If Leonel had wanted to raze Camelot to the groundбн could he really have done it?
    There was one point that made all of this all the more shocking.
    In order to stall Camelot and force them to keep some warriors back to defend their lands, Mordred had commanded beast tides to attack human settlements. Of course, she couldn't control these beasts, she could only direct them in particular directions almost like a glorified herder.
    However, due to Mordred's actions, not only were there higher concentrations of beasts in this region than there was usually, they were also in large groups.
    Could it be that Leonel had taken this into account as well? Just who was this boy?!
    Leonel raised his golden road. A powerful, surging Spirit Pressure shot into the skies, separating into dozens of thin lines of energy.
    "Arthur, Mordred, come here."
    Arthur frowned. His initial instinct was to reject Leonel's words. But, what the latter said next made his blood freeze.
    "Come here, or the first person I trample will be you."
    Leonel's voice turned completely icy, carrying an air of majesty that seemed to project directly from the halo above his head.
    If it wasn't about his own life, he would let Arthur be trampled to death. As for saving Mordred, that was for two reasons. For one, he still felt a hint of sympathy toward this beauty. But, more importantly, she was the key to fixing her father's marriage.
    Mordred's lashes blinked somewhat flirtatiously. Her tastes were usually quite young to begin with as she had once told Monet. In fact, she had never even considered being with a man, nor was she attracted to them. But, she had quite a good impression of this child.
    Even within the rain, she glided forward elegantly, completely ignoring Arthur as though he didn't exist.
    At this point, the battlefield was caught in an odd stalemate.
    Unfortunately, the first of the beasts had already crossed into their fields of vision.

 Chapter 321: Climate Catastrophe

    Aliard and those with him wanted to charge toward Leonel, but they were hesitant to do so. Though they had previously looked down on Leonel, this didn't mean that they thought they could defeat Leonel in a few exchanges. They knew that they would have to at least put forward a small effort.
    The root cause of their confidence was their larger number of quality experts. Whether it was Peirce, Margrave or Aliard, they could all battle King Arthur and had better than 50% odds in defeating him. This was without even counting any other trump cards they may or may not have.
    However, if they charged for Leonel now, they would become embroiled in battle. By then, the beast tide would definitely be upon them. They weren't na?ve enough to believe that Leonel would summon these beasts without the ability to control them and they could see that it was most likely related to the golden rod in his hands.
    At that point, they would have to battle not only Leonel, but an endless swarm of beasts.
    Could it be that they would really fall just like this?
    Aliard stood opposing the growing group by Leonel's side. Just moments ago, one could have never expected to see such a sight. Not only were there humans by Leonel's side, but even the #1 Demon Lord, Crakos and a few others of his side had converged.
    These demons had fully expected Leonel to reject them, yet he said nothing.
    When the beast tide reached them, the immediate area around Leonel became a safe haven. As though the land around them was sacred to the point even mindless beasts didn't dare to step on it, the swarm took a curved path around them charging toward the group of three men.
    Pope Margrave, Peirce and Aliard stood in an inverted triangle position, protecting Aliard to their backs. Solemn expressions coated each one of their faces.
    Individually, these beasts were nothing to them. But when they came in swarms like this, just how long would they be able to last?
    But they had to. Their goal had been planned out for too long. If they failed here, the consequences would be unimaginable. They couldn't afford to bear them.
    Peirce twin blades were like twin scythes, leaving blurred images beneath the rain as trails of crimson blood followed their every movement.
    Pope Margrave held his cross to his chest, chanting solemnly with his eyes fluttering close. A barrier of light enveloped Peirce and Aliard, replenishing their stamina with each passing moment.
    Aliard himself had several veins popping across his forehead. Every time a surge of Spirit Pressure came from him, another beast seemed to be ripped from Leonel's control, crashing into the others and starting a battle to the death.
    Leonel watched all of this with a pair of cold eyes. He didn't care about Aliard wresting control from him. In fact, Leonel hardly resisted against it. Without a medium like the golden staff, it took Aliard far more effort and stamina to succeed. Leonel was happy to let him do it, it only meant that this battle would end all the more quickly.
    He knew well that the three were holding on hoping that his stamina would run out first. Butбн was there such a good thing in the world? Unless he was pushed to dire straits, Leonel would never make the mistake of running out of stamina again.
    бн
    As the battle of Camelot was raging, Leonel didn't have the mind to care for two things.
    First, he had yet to figure out just why it was the dictionary hadn't answered his question and secondlyбн the Integration was still ongoing.
    At this time, Earth was undergoing drastic changes.
    The Moon was easily taken for granted. However, the truth was that it was responsible for some of the most important constants of Earth. It could influence the atmosphere, the tides and even Earth's tilt and rotation. A slight change to any of these things could throw Earth into a heat wave or another ice age.
    If this was trueбн what would happen if a second moon suddenly began to form? What would happen to Earth's rotation? Its atmosphere? Its tilt? Its climate?
    This was exactly what was happening now. Camelot hadn't even fully formed yet, but the chaos had already begun to shift.
    The first and most obvious change were the tides. On some coasts, it completely receded. On others, it surged, and began to roll over, forming massive tsunamis that reached into the skies.
    The climate began to flip and wildly fluctuate causing massive currents of hot and cold winds to form through the atmosphere. The clashing of these changes soon formed major sights of tornados and hurricanes.
    If one looked toward Earth from space, one would usually find a beautiful blue and green planet that looked somewhat like a polished marble. However, if one looked now, it was almost impossible to see any land at all. Massive white clouds formed large swirling patterns across the skies, masking the disasters they were causing below them.
    Such massive changes to climate should have occurred over centuries, millennia, even. Yet, in this new world order, it all seemed to be happening simultaneously.
    At this point, everyone had been focused on clearing out as many Invalids and Zones as possible, all so that a normal society could be rebuilt. But, this sudden change caught everyone off guard.
    At that moment, Emperor Fawkes stood within Earth's central palace. His hands were clasped behind his back, his flowing white hair whipping about in the surging winds as the sky darkened.
    His eyes narrowed. He seemed to realize that a massive change was coming even sooner than he anticipated. But, he wasn't sure of what this could mean for the future of Earth. They weren't ready for such a change just yetбн
    бн
    Within Camelot's world, Leonel had no idea what was happening to Earth at this moment. However, even if he did, there was nothing he could do about it. He had to stay focused on the task at hand.
    Though he had forced his enemies into a corner and seemingly so easily, at that, he still couldn't feel at ease.
    He seemed to have earned this victory. He knew that there was a limit to how powerful those of higher Dimensions could send here. With them being restricted in strength, it shouldn't be shocking that they'd lose to a prepared Leonel.
    But still, Leonel couldn't shake off the feeling no matter how hard he tried. A Unique Zoneбн shouldn't be this easily resolved.
    As Leonel was lost in thought, a figure had begun to stealthily move within the group of individuals he was protecting. Leonel didn't seem to react to this change. In fact, even Arthur and Mordred who were both elites among elites didn't sense this change.
    After a moment, it became obvious why. Not only was this person exceptionally good at hiding their intentions, but they had been standing near Leonel from start to finish. Yet, even after several moments of this endless attack of beasts, this person had still not made their move.
    At that instant, Pope Margrave coughed up a mouthful of blood. He had reached his limit. Sustaining the stamina of two elites was too much even for him despite the support of his treasure.
    Seeing this, Leonel slightly relaxed. Maybe he was too anxious. There was no way they could have contingency plans for such an event, right? How many could casually control a tide of hundreds of beasts like this?
    It was exactly then that the shadow within the group acted. Their actions were so swift that even in the instant they were acting, no one reacted to what was happening.
    The blade was quick, lethal and merciless. It prayed on the moment Leonel let his guard down like an elite assassin in the night.
    It charged through the heavy rain, cut through the sharp winds, and aimed for Leonel's back, ready to pierce through his heart. Leonel was finished.
    Still, even then, the shadow didn't relax. As a professional, until Leonel had breathed his last, celebration would never be on their mind.
    PCHU!
    The blade reached Leonel's back and the shaft of the weapon followed through.
    The shadow smiled. It was done.
    "A shameбн"
    The shadow froze.
    "бн Had you wielded anything but a spear, you might have had a chanceбн"
    The indifferent voice continued to drift into the shadows ears.
    "бн Isn't that right, Coyote?"

 Chapter 322: Stunned

    Coyote was stunned. It was only after he registered that this eerie voice he was listening to now was Leonel's that he understood that he had failed.
    However, he couldn't wrap his mind around how he had. His spear had very clearly entered Leonel's body even to the middle of its polearm. How could Leonel possible be fine?
    At that moment, Coyote suddenly felt that something was wrong. Though the shaft of his spear had disappeared, he didn't feel the resistance he should after driving his spear through someone.
    'бн Myбн my spearбн'
    Coyote was stunned.
    His spear, its tip had completely crumbled. In fact, even the portion he hadn't tried to drive into Leonel's body began to break down, crumbling into ash before his very eyes.
    Leonel turned his head back to watch this scene indifferently. It was clear that this was exactly what he expected to happen. To try and use a spear against the owner of the Spear Domain ring was practically asking for death.
    Any spear not acknowledged by the ring on Leonel's finger would crumble beneath its influence. Clearly, Coyote hadn't met these lofty goals so he was destined for failure the moment he stepped forward.
    Coyote couldn't even react before he felt a blade go through his throat. He was simply too close to Leonel and he had suddenly found himself without a weapon. Why would Leonel give him a chance to recover and escape? He had already flipped his palm and swapped out his spear for an arrow.
    Coyote could only die with grievances, having no idea how he had ended up in such a situation.
    Arthur and Mordred looked toward Leonel with shock, not understanding what they were seeing either. However, Leonel didn't have the time to mind their reactions. He had already turned his attention back toward Aliard and his companions.
    As expected, the moment Coyote died, their supposedly dire straits had completely flipped. They stood in the midst of the beast tide, coldly locking eyes with Leonel.
    Leonel couldn't help but shake his head.
    'These people are so cunning and they have no sense of shame. It's as though they put their mission above their pride and dignity. They would rather feign weakness for a chance at easily completing this mission by killing me rather than having an upfront battle.'
    Though it couldn't be said that they were suddenly having an easy time with the beast tide, they were most definitely not on the edge of death as they had made it seem previously. Such a sight made Leonel several points more serious. Just what were they planning now?
    "Margrave." Aliard said coldly.
    "Yes."
    In that moment, Margrave's aura completely changed. From one of the holiest, sanctimonious light, it became a boundless darkeness, competing even with the vast black clouds in the sky above.
    Leonel wasn't as shocked by this change as compared to others. Thanks to the fourth trial, he had already seen Pope Margrave use Dark Elemental magic. However, even he couldn't expect what would happen next.
    A black pearl appeared in Margrave's hand. He lightly tossed it into the air, causing it to burst apart.
    This bursting action wasn't an attack, but rather a sort of release, unchaining what was slumbering within. And, when Leonel saw exactly what had been within the pearl, he couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
    There were five individuals in total. All of them had the dull white eyes of Invalids, but Leonel knew that they hadn't always been like this because he recognized each and every one of them.
    They were the members of the Adurna family, Little Nana's family!
    Leonel's expression changed. If this was the case?
    His head snapped toward the Segmented Cube in the distance. From the start, Leonel had veered the battle away from it in order to protect Little Nana. However, if Little Nana's family was being treated like this, the possibility for what could have happened to Little Nana was endless.
    "Come here!"
    Leonel panicked slightly, but he called out as a last resort. He had never tried to command the Segmented Cube before, but he knew that it was a treasure that had to have its own intelligence even if it was somewhat dormant now. If that wasn't the case, how had it acted on its own to take the octopus corpse before? Or what about when it acted on its own to take the corpse of the naked sniper he crossed paths with after leaving the Fort?
    Aliard's gaze flashed seeing Leonel's panic.
    "Do it." He said calmly.
    Before, Aliard had been apprehensive. He didn't know what kind of treasure the Segmented Cube was so he had no idea what might happen if he tried to execute his contingency plan with it acting as a barrier. However, Leonel's panic seemed to put him at ease.
    Margrave acted on Aliard's orders almost immediately, sinking into the ground like a shadow. When he reappeared, he had already left the scope of the beast tide, standing before the Segmented Cube.
    Leonel's panic grew. The Segmented Cube actually didn't listen to his command.
    Could it be that he was wrong about it having intelligence? Could it be that it couldn't hear him? Was there another reason?
    Leonel's mind spun.
    He didn't believe for a moment that the Pope hadn't done anything to Little Nana. Judging by the methods of these people, they wouldn't go easy on her just because she was young. After all, even the two year old Mordred hadn't been spared. The only reason why Leonel could trust having Mordred by his side was because he had been there for every one of her so-called 'treatments'.
    Leonel's mind spun as he forced himself to calm down.
    'Thinkбн thinkбн!'
    The defenses of the Segmented Cube weren't infallible. Leonel knew this truth first hand. Back when he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he managed to blast a hole right through it. He didn't believe that it could protect itself against an assault from Margrave.
    Margrave gathered his strength, the darkness around him surging endlessly. Leonel diverted a portion of the beast tide toward him, but he already knew it would be too late to make it.
    Leonel's gaze suddenly trembled.
    "Place any lifeforms into Suspended Animation!" His roar shot across the battlefield.
    At that moment, the Segmented Cube finally reacted.
    It spun in place, suddenly shrinking and dodging Margrave's palm. It then shot across the battlefield at an almost impossible to track speed, reaching Leonel in the blink of an eye.
    It was only after the Segmented Cube landed in Leonel's hand that he finally sighed a breath of relief. However, in the next instant, he felt a surge of anger.
    These people were really damnable. Not even letting a little girl go.
    Leonel didn't know Little Nana well, but she had already saved his life once. If for nothing other than this favor, he wouldn't let anything happen to her.
    Beneath his rage, his aura seemed to surge, his violet eyes gaining a slight touch of red.
    Aliard slightly frowned at the failure, but it was only that.
    Looking toward Leonel's rage, he couldn't help but sneer. This boy dared to have such an expression before him?!
    Aliard stretched out a hand. He had already decided. He would crush this boy with absolute strength and wipe that arrogance between his brow away.
    It seemed that they had taken his will to end this as easily as possible as a sign of weakness. They would pay dearly for this.
    His hand continued to raise.
    At that moment, most of the beast tide was blocked by the five Aliard family puppets Margrave had taken out. But, what Aliard did next would make them nearly obsolete.
    "Bind." He spoke coldly.
    It was then that it happened. Dozens of beasts were grinded to a halt beneath the might of a single word.
    Leonel's eyes widened.
    That ability. It was Little Nana's.

 Chapter 323: CLANG!

    Leonel's gaze went completely red.
    Within the Joan Zone, he had already seen those like Pierre and Nicolas gaining abilities through Force Arts. They drew these Arts directly onto their bodies, gaining power through their pain and sacrifice.
    However, what Leonel had always understood was that these abilities had to come from someone. He didn't know who they came from, but he knew that this was the only way things made sense.
    Remembering Little Nana's fear when Margrave asked her to come to him, Leonel's fists clenched so tightly that veins threatened to burst along his forearm. Maybe if it wasn't for his impossibly strong physique, that's exactly what would have happened.
    How exactly had they extracted Little Nana's ability from her? What had they put her through?
    If the pain for just receiving the ability was so great, what was the pain like for snatching an ability?
    Was Little Nana already under their control? Leonel couldn't imagine any other reason they would allow her to roam so freely.
    The more he thought about it, the more furious he became.
    The first person that Leonel had ever wanted to kill was the Junior Governor Duke. That bastard shot canons at his own citizens иC men, women and children who relied on him for protection. Such scum deserved no less than the worse of deaths.
    Leonel had never expected that his desire to kill would be unleashed again so soon.
    As though something constrained within his body was completely released, the muddied ground beneath his feet quaked, sinking in beneath his might.
    Without a thought for anything else, he placed the Segmented Cube within his spatial ring and shot forward.
    Watching his back, Arthur and Mordred looked toward the valiant young man. The halo above his head, the violet-bronze aura swirling around his body, his dauntless chargeбн
    The father-daughter pair looked toward one another. A swirl of complex emotions lit Arthur's eyes, but to Mordred it was as though she was looking toward just any other person.
    Mordred smiled somewhat playfully, but it was most definitely not the kind of look one gave to their own father.
    "I'm going to support him."
    Without another word, she too shot forward.
    Arthur looked down at his sword then toward the corpses of his comrades. He sighed a sigh that seemed to resonate from the depths of his heart. Rain finally fell onto his body, pelting across his valiant white armor and drenching his golden hair.
    Maybe it was only at that moment he decided to come back to earthбн
    Then, he too charged.
    Those who had remained in Leonel's circle of protection looked toward each other. They were just an odd mix of humans and demons. The most powerful among them was probably the #1 Demon Lord Crakos.
    They were unsure if they should act as well, but there was truly no choice in the matter. They weren't fools. They felt that if they lost this battle, they would regret it for a lifetime.
    Leonel didn't pay attention to who was coming with him. Maybe it was that he didn't care or maybe this was the charisma of a King.
    When a General led a vanguard, did he need to look to his back to ensure his Knights were following? When a King entered a room did he need to check to make sure everyone had bowed? When an Emperor looked over a world, did he need make all understand his sovereignty?
    Leonel didn't need to look.
    With a flip of his palm, the arrow vanished, being replaced by his black spear.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The sounds seemed to resound even more now than they had in the past. It was as though it could feel Leonel's emotions, his valiance, his Kingly aura.
    Leonel appeared before the five Aliard family puppets. But, before he could act, he heard a giggle by his ear.
    "I'll take them on, little one."
    Leonel didn't look back. His steps suddenly became unpredictable and erratic.
    Silver Skill 'Abrupt Stop'. Silver Skill 'Explosive First Step'. Gold Skill 'Irregular Steps'.
    Leonel brushed by the five as though they weren't there at all.
    In that instant, Peirce appeared before him, his two long swords blurring into long shadows beneath the falling rain.
    "Leave him to me."
    Another voice trailed behind Leonel carrying a fury no less than his own.
    Peirce's betrayal was like a knife to King Arthur's heart. He felt like everything he had built as a King was crumbling before him. All the sacrifices he had made, all the tears he had shed, all the blood he had spiltбн None of it seemed to matter anymore.
    He had lost six of his brothers. He had long since lost his daughter. His wife was hardly his own. And now, his Kingdom was crumbling before his eyes.
    What did he have left?
    King Arthur roared beneath the rain. It drenched him from head to toe.
    He poured his everything into his strike. If he couldn't strike Peirce down today, he would never be able to take a first step.
    Leonel used Arthur to surge past Peirce, his eyes training on Aliard.
    He entered the range of the mental mage, his mind having returned to a state of eerie calm.
    This was the man who had caused him so much trouble from the very beginning. He was the one who set Lamorak against him. He was the one who caused the death of so many innocents. He was the one who treated the life of a little girl as though she was just expendable cattle.
    Aliard's lip curled. "You're courting death."
    He raised his hand again.
    "Bind."
    Leonel felt formless shackles cover his body. He could tell that these restrictions were many times more powerful than when Nana used them. It might have been because she was still too young, maybe it was because she still had too little understanding of her own ability, or maybe it was because Aliard's abilities as a mental mage stacked well with Nana's ability.
    Whatever the truth was, anyone would feel as though it was impossible to break these shackles. Despite controlling a tied of beasts, Aliard still had plenty of stamina left to deal with Leonel.
    "Die."
    Leonel's gaze remained expressionless, his eyes boring holes in Aliard.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The sounds of the chains became more furious.
    Beneath a King's Domain, you dare to be so disrespectful?!
    The words seemed to boom through Aliard's mind.
    At that moment, Leonel finally heard the spear's name. In that instant, he had finally grasped a portion of his first Spear Domain.
    "Chain Domain."
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    A dome of black light expanded around Leonel. Across its surface, illusory chains whipped about like vines and whips, resonating with the rumbling thunder above.
    The binding restrictions Aliard placed down suddenly found themselves being ironically restricted. In the blink of an eye, they weakened by more than half.
    With a flex of his body, Leonel shattered them, landing on the ground.
    His hair billowed wildly as he stepped toward Aliard, a halo of violet-bronze hanging above his head.
    Aliard's calm expression finally cracked. But to Leonel, his reaction didn't mean a thing.
    He had come to kill.

 Chapter 324: Domain

    Leonel's momentum was stifling. It felt as though the whole world was bowing down to him, as though everything within his reach was his own Domain.
    "Domain?!"
    Aliard was so shocked by what he was seeing that he didn't know what to say.
    Leonel was simply too ignorant of the way of this new world order. Often times, he couldn't properly grasp how his own abilities compared to others and just how valuable some of the resources he had available to him were. As such, he had no way of knowing just how rare Domain abilities were or just how powerful they were.
    The so-called [Light Domain] couldn't truly be considered such an ability. Though it had helped Leonel understand the framework of what a Domain should be, [Light Domain] could only be considered a cheap imitation.
    A Domain, no matter what kind it was, represented Sovereignty, a dominion, an area of absolute control.
    In order for one to comprehend a Domain, one must be of the King's Path. However, not only did Leonel not know this, he had no idea what a King's Path was to begin with.
    This couldn't be considered to be Leonel's fault. At Earth's current level, it wasn't worthy of coming into contact with such a thing. In fact, even Fourth Dimensional worlds and most Fifth Dimensional worlds would never come into contact with such a thing. Even if there was a child with such abilities born into such a world, their talents would more than likely go completely unnoticed.
    Understanding the King's Path wasn't just about having the ability, it was also about being of high enough standing to learn about it to begin with. And, even then, the so-called King's Path was just the tip of the iceberg.
    With all of this said, it was thus shocking that Aliard was even aware of the existence of such a thing. And, the truth of the matter was that he wasn't. He had no idea what the King's Path was. The reason his reaction was like this was only because he had a small bit of knowledge about Domains, and this small amount of knowledge was already enough for him to shiver in fear.
    Leonel, however, didn't care about Aliard's reaction. To him, having a Domain wasn't a big deal. This Chain Domain was just one of hundreds of Domains he could comprehend. In fact, it was among the very weakest. With such a perspective, how could Leonel realize the kind of treasure trove he was sitting on?
    All he cared about was burying Aliard.
    BANG!
    Leonel shot forward.
    At that moment, Aliard felt as though he was moving through quicksand. He felt a weight on his body that seemed beyond simple gravity. It was as though limiters had been placed on his body, not allowing him to display his full potential.
    Aliard forced himself to calm down. Even though this was a mighty Domain, it had its own weaknesses. It was clear that it was still very immature.
    For one, even though this was a Restriction type Domain, it could only work on the physical body. It had little impact on his Spirit Pressure or the Mage Arts he could cast.
    The only unfortunate part was the Little Nana's ability only worked on the physical for now as well, which meant that within this Domain, it was impossible to use this ability against Leonel.
    Still, after thinking to this point, Aliard had already calmed down completely. The range of Leonel's Domain was only about ten meters currently. This meant that he couldn't stop Aliard from continuing to bind the beasts. As long as the beasts couldn't interfere, he didn't believe he couldn't deal with an immature brat!
    At that moment, the ground before Leonel turned into a shadow, quickly manifesting Margrave who had returned to protect Aliard.
    Leonel didn't seem fazed by this, he had already been prepared. It was impossible to expect Mordred to stop both a group of five elites and Margrave at the same time. From the moment Leonel stepped onto this battlefield, he was prepared to face the both of them at once.
    Margrave immediately realized that his physical speed had been limited by Leonel's Chain Domain. However, he reacted quickly, surging with Dark Elemental Force. It was clear in an instant that his strength in the Dark Element far surpassed his skill in the Light Element.
    Shadow-like tendrils shot up from the ground, shooting toward Leonel. At the same time, Aliard's eyes flashed, manifesting numerous invisible drills that pierced toward Leonel's mind.
    Leonel charged forward as though he couldn't sense the danger.
    A sinister light flashed within Aliard's eyes. He wasn't surprised by this result. This was the same fool who couldn't even block a simple mental agitation spell just a couple months ago. It was impossible for him to be able to see through the intricacies of mental mage magic already.
    Leonel's spear swept forward, a strong Spear Force and light coating its tip. It slashed apart Margrave's attack as though it was formed of tissue paper, allowing him to close in on the former Pope in the blink of an eye.
    Margrave felt the restrictions coating his body. He couldn't move as he willed, and even if he could, how could he, a lifelong mage, match Leonel's speed?
    "[Shadow Shield]."
    Numerous triangular curved shield appeared between Leonel and Margrave. Though Leonel shattered the first two with absolute ease, the third and subsequent fourth slowed his steps greatly. It seemed as though his momentum would come to a grinding halt at that very moment.
    It was then that Aliard's invisible attack entered Leonel's range.
    If one could look into the world of a mental mage, it looked as though six cone-shaped drills were spinning toward Leonel, each more sinister than the last. One was even directed right toward Leonel's brainstem, looking to kill him with a single lethal strike.
    The strike seemed inevitable. Even as Leonel shattered the last of Margrave's defenses and closed in on the man, the latter was relaxed as though he could already see Leonel's corpse.
    However, it was at that moment that Leonel's eyes closed and reopened. It seemed like it occurred in but a moment, just a singular split moment. In fact, if the two men didn't know better, they would think that Leonel had simply blinkedбн
    But, there was no mistaking the sudden change to the air.
    "AGH!"
    Aliard held onto his head, shrieking in pain. Even when he closed his eyes in an attempt to escape, he couldn't shake the sight of those two predatory eyes boring into his mindбн

 Chapter 325: Try

    Leonel didn't seem to hear Aliard's cry of pain. He had already closed in the distance to Margrave.
    "[Darkness Do--]!"
    "[Light Domain]."
    Leonel's indifferent voice cut through it all.
    The original creator of [Light Domain] didn't spend years of research constructing this spell so that it could enhance Light Elemental Arts. Though it worked out this way, it could only be considered a mere afterthought, an unexpected position outcome.
    The main reason it was created wasn't to boost the light, but to restrain the dark!
    Leonel could tell that the reason Margrave was so good with the Dark Element was because it wasn't a simple affinity. Leonel was certain that manipulation of darkness was Margrave's ability, not much unlike the little mink.
    However, even still, [Light Domain] directly suppressed his ability to converge the Dark Element. It was just a small delay. Butбн in a battle of such intensity, especially when Margrave had already been caught off guard by Leonel's counter attack onceбн did he really stand another chance?
    An image of a valiant man with a mane like beard appeared in Leonel's mind.
    He was a man with an indomitable spear, one that could pierce through all things.
    The first time Leonel used this man's consciousness in battle, he had been using a wooden spear. But, even then, he deformed a heavily reinforced shield and sent a shieldman flying.
    It was that will that manifested again. A man with a single spear facing the whole world. Even though it looked like a simple pierce, it felt as though even if there was a mountain before Leonel, he would shatter it.
    PCHU!
    Margrave looked down at his chest with an incredulous expression.
    What shocked him wasn't the fact Leonel's spear had gone through him. In fact, it was the fact Leonel's spear hadn't targeted him at all that left him stunned.
    Leonel's spear ran through a seemingly inconspicuous shadow on the ground. Yet, Margrave felt as though his chest had been run through and his life was quickly escaping him.
    "Youбн Howбн"
    Leonel's gaze carried an undying sharpness. It was as though he had used the universe itself as his whetstone.
    "How many times do you think the same trick will work on me? How much longer did you plan on feigning weakness? Since you don't seem to take me seriously, just die."
    Margrave's mouth spluttered with blood, his face painted with an incredulous expression as he slowly fell over.
    'It seems thatбн you never fell for it at all, right?'
    Margrave died with grievances. His [Shadow Heart] was one of his greatest trump cards. He had no idea how Leonel had seen through it. But, even worse than that, Leonel had never fallen for his weakness ploy even once, even if one considered Coyote's sneak attack. Soбн why did he sound like the one who had suffered the loss?
    Leonel pulled his spear from the ground, walking by Margrave's corpse as he slowly approaching Aliard's writhing figure.
    This time, he didn't allow the eyes of his Snowy Star Owl to fade. If it wasn't for it, he really would have fallen for Margrave's ploy and likely suffered a loss. Seeing how cunning these people were, he no longer dared to lower his guard. For individuals like this, he had every intention of remaining cautious to the very end.
    Leonel stood a meter and a half from the screaming Aliard, leveling out his spear until it hung just before the man's forehead.
    "The Bishop, who is he?" Leonel asked coldly.
    Aliard continued to writhe in pain as though he couldn't hear Leonel's words.
    In the distance, the battle between Arthur and Peirce was reaching a climax. But, it was clear that King Arthur's legend wasn't for show. He had gained a slight upper hand and if given enough time, Leonel felt that victory would be his. If Leonel turned back now, the battle would be as good as over.
    As for Mordred, she was even freer. She had gained support from the other demons and humans early on, giving her the easiest task. In addition, it seemed like Margrave's control over the five members of the Adurna family collapsed.
    "Chain."
    The moment Leonel's judgment descended, Aliard found himself wrapped in countless illusory chains. It seemed that whatever tricks they had had completely collapsed. This time, Leonel really had been too cautious.
    He had underestimated the kind of affect his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor could have. If it wasn't because Aliard's comprehension of mental mage arts was so far beyond Leonel, his mind would have been directly shattered.
    Leonel's palm flipped, causing a snowglobe to appear in his hand.
    Aliard seemed to finally react to this sudden change. He tried to shift backward, but the chains that bound him made him look no different from a pitifully escaping worm.
    Leonel shot a kick forward, clipping his chin and knocking him out completely. Only after Aliard had been trapped within a state of Suspended Animation did he sigh a breath of relief. He didn't know if he could extract any information out of Aliard, but what he did know was that he couldn't continue to remain in the dark like this.
    Leonel turned back, only to find Mordred and King Arthur dealing a final blow to Peirce.
    A breath he didn't know he had been holding was finally released. Were things really over now?
    'It seems that Nana's family hadn't died, they were just taken control ofбн'
    Leonel had thought that Margrave was a necromancer, but it seemed like that wasn't the case. Or maybe they had only kept Nana's family alive so that it was easier to control her.
    'If that's true, it's likely that whoever can extract abilities and copy them to others needs their subject to be alive.'
    Leonel made the only conclusion he could with such limited information. It was clear that this Bishop valued Nana's ability even compared to others.
    This was ultimately a good thing for Leonel. He had so many enemies already, maybe being a friend to a hidden family wouldn't be a bad thing.
    Still, he didn't get ahead of himself. He had seen no lack of ungrateful people in this new world order. Who knew if the Adurna family would appreciate his help?
    A wave of fatigue assaulted Leonel. His nerves really had been stretched too thin for too long.
    He shook his head, knowing that it still wasn't time for him to rest.
    Leonel slowly trudged toward the sinkhole, focused entirely on the massive spherical Force Art that loomed above it. Even compared to the one within his Dream World, it was massive. No matter how Leonel looked at it, he had no idea how to take advantage of this thing. And, even though he was right before it, he had no idea why it was those Higher Dimensional Beings wanted it so much.
    It was impossible for Leonel to copy it with his Dream Sculpt ability. Last time, he had relied on the enlightenment given by the maturing Force Core to succeed. Not to mention the fact there was no such boost here, even if there was, with how much more complicated this Art was, there was no guarantee he would succeed before his stamina ran out.
    Leonel sighed. "What is this? And how do I take advantage of it?"
    As usual, Leonel tried to rely on the dictionary. But, his expression changed once again when he didn't get an answer. Was this thing broken? What was happening?
    Leonel frowned. If the dictionary was really broken, this was too big of a loss.
    'Maybeбн'
    Leonel's palm flipped over and another snowglobe appeared.
    He looked from the snowglobe to the sinkhole and spherical Force Art before him.
    'Won't know unless I tryбн'

 Chapter 326: Worst-Case

    Leonel brought the snowglobe forward, hoping to see some sort of tangible change. But, he was quickly disappointed. The large, complex and spherical Force Art didn't budge even a bit.
    Leonel shook his head. He couldn't even look at this Force Art directly without feeling a splitting headache, but now he couldn't even store it away?
    Suddenly thinking of something, Leonel began to search the bodies of Aliard, Margrave and Peirce. There had to be a clue on their bodies about what their plans for this Force Art actually was.
    King Arthur watched this scene as though he was hesitating to say something.
    A part of him wanted to say that these treasures should be split. If he did say so, he wouldn't necessarily be in the wrong. After all, he did participate in the battle and he did alleviate the pressure Leonel had been feeling. So, compared to some other shameless individuals, he would have more of a right to speak of such things.
    However, a part of him wanted to hold back. He didn't know why, but he felt as though saying something like this would be inappropriate.
    Leonel continued to search through their bodies as though nothing was happening. It was only after finding a few spatial treasures that he looked up toward this King that seemed to be just a shell of his former self.
    Arthur felt somewhat uncomfortable beneath the gaze of Leonel didn't say anything for a long while. But, Arthur was ultimately a King, his deeply ingrained pride didn't allow him to look away.
    Suddenly, Leonel smiled. "Your Majesty, did you forget that there are countless treasures floating around? What are you standing around for? Do you want them all to disappear first?"
    Leonel's words suddenly snapped everyone out of their stupor and absentmindedness.
    Due to the harsh weather and the subsequent battle, everyone had forgotten that the initial spark for everything were the Force Art Skills and the treasures of Merlin's Trials. The dark skies and rushing rain made it too easy to miss the floating treasures in the air, they could hardly see their hands right before their faces.
    Arthur was stunned for a moment before he laughed and shook his head.
    Instead of heading toward the treasures as everyone expected, he slowly walked toward the bodies of his fallen brothers and kneeled by their sides falling into silence.
    Sometimes actions spoke louder than words. And in this case, Arthur's actions spoke the loudest.
    No one knew what would happen to Camelot. The weather had only been growing worse and the rumbling of the ground had never stopped. In fact, it was only growing more intense.
    In such a situation, Arthur was actually still thinking about treasures. Even he found himself to be laughable.
    It was impossible for a person to change in an instant of time. But, it seemed possible for someone to take a first step.
    Arthur placed Peirce's head before his brothers, falling into silence.
    Leonel watched this scene from afar and didn't say much. Mordred's gaze flashed for but a moment before returning to normal. She seemed more interested in Leonel than anyone else.
    "Everyone." Leonel spoke. "I won't hog everything. You can rely on your own abilities to snatch the treasures that remain. But, since there are so few of you remaining, I hope there won't be anymore killing. The future is still uncertain right now, so do your best to preserve yourselvesбн"
    Leonel knew that the integration with Earth's Fold of Reality definitely wouldn't be smooth. Though, this situation was much better than it could have been. Since Camelot was appearing with its own land and resources, it wouldn't be encroaching on Earth, at least not immediately.
    But, who knew how long that would last?
    As things stood now, Leonel didn't feel any sort of special attachment to Earth, and he definitely didn't have one for Camelot. He just hoped they wouldn't massacre one another to the last man.
    With those words said, Leonel turned his attention back to the rings in his hands, completely ignoring the gaze of Monet and Violet Rain. It was no surprise that they both believed that his words were targeted at them, but what could they do about it? Leonel had made his stance clear, and he also made it very obvious that he was the most powerful individual here.
    Monet's gaze narrowed.
    'I stand no chance against himбн Unless the Fourth Dimension descends, it'll remain like thisбн'
    Every Dimensional Descent would cause an overall evolution of its world and people. Monet felt that even with the strength of her ability, she would need it to evolve again for her to stand a chance against Leonel.
    But, by thenбн wouldn't Leonel's ability also evolve?
    The variables were too many and the future was too difficult to read. Whether or not she would succeed in surpassing Leonel when that time came was still questionable.
    Leonel, however, had no intention of letting those he had already surpassed threaten him in the future.
    'There's nothing in hereбн'
    Leonel frowned.
    Within Margrave's spatial ring, the most important thing he found were crystals that held various Dark Elemental spells.
    This was technically a good thing. Though Leonel had no intention of using them himself, he could use 'Perfect Union' to transfer these skills to the little mink and allow the little guy to slowly gain more control over his own abilities.
    However, even if it was good, it wasn't what Leonel wanted to find.
    Aliard's ring was even more useless to him. It contained more sinister mental mage spells than what Leonel could find within the Mage Academy, but other than that, there was nothing.
    Leonel's frown deepened because Peirce's ring was even more useless to him. It contained sword techniques and he obviously didn't wield a sword.
    The truth was that Leonel was less off put by the fact he couldn't find anything than by what the fact he couldn't find anything meant.
    All of this meant that he once again couldn't see through the purpose of The Bishop and his fanatics. And thisбн was a worst-case scenario.

 Chapter 327: Shattering Glass

    Leonel could only shake his head as he threw Aliard back into a state of suspended animation.
    'There was a mind scouring technique within Aliard's possessionбн'
    There were many sinister techniques within Aliard's possession. Among them, there was a technique by the name of [Mind Search]. It was a technique that left the target pretty much brain dead.
    However, Leonel didn't dare to use this technique so freely, and especially not against Aliard. The backlash for failing was even worse than being the target of such a technique. Without enough assurance in his own skill, he couldn't.
    'After my Soul Force evolves to use Fourth Dimensional Force, I'll learn the technique and use it on Aliard. Only then would I have 100% assurance.'
    Leonel was satisfied with his choice to remain cautious. However, being cautious now wouldn't help him with the current situation.
    By now, many of the elites who had remained began to discuss how to split the treasures. It was quite shocking. If others of Camelot knew that Demons and humans were discussing things with their words and not their blades, who knows how they would react?
    Leonel tried the dictionary again, but it still remained silent.
    A sigh escaped his lips.
    'Maybe I should focus on gathering the Legendary Skills. This world doesn't seem like it'll stay in this state for much longer.'
    Though it seemed like everyone was casual, the only reason they weren't running around panicking was because of their elite statuses. They weren't common folk, they knew that no matter what was happening, they needed strength to overcome it.
    In addition, there was no use in rushing back to Camelot or the Demon Empire. By the time they got there, everything would have likely been set in stone. So, why not stay here and benefit?
    'There's one thing I still haven't triedбн' Leonel thought to himself, flipping his palm to reveal the Segmented Cube.
    Leonel had realized something. Whenever the Segmented Cube swallowed something, it would separate into its jigsaw puzzles and envelop it. Then, when Leonel entered, whatever it swallowed would magically be within one of the snowglobes. Who knows, maybe it could help him out now?
    "Help me out a bit, will you?" Leonel asked in a somewhat pleading tone.
    This Force Art was too important him.
    Leonel suspected that this Force Art, the one in his Dream World, and others like it could boost the comprehension speed of whoever wielded it. How else could he had comprehended his Healing Branch in such a perilous moment?
    If this was true, the benefits would be nearly infinite. He couldn't bring himself to leave it behind even if there were other treasures to be had here.
    The Segmented Cube suddenly whirred to life, causing Leonel's eyes to widen with expectation.
    It spun on Leonel's palm for a moment before shooting forward through the rain.
    It expanded to hundreds of meters in width in the blink of an eye, separating into countless little jigsaw puzzles.
    The others watched on in shock but didn't say anything. They could tell that there was something frightening above the sinkhole just based on instinct. But, most of them couldn't even see it. And, those who could, could only do so for a moment before their minds were split apart by a blinding headache. Clearly, they weren't qualified to benefit from whatever this thing was.
    When the Segmented Cube returned to Leonel's hands, he smiled brightly, a weight finally being taken off of his shoulders. Though his mind was still too weak to comprehend this Force Art now, if he found another opportunity like he did within the Force Crystal Mine, the benefits would be unimaginable.
    Feeling relaxed, Leonel finally turned his attention to other things and began to pick out Legendary Skills.
    Leonel realized during this process that fusing with these skills wasn't so simple. If he wanted to make them his own, he would have to draw them into his Dream World with his Dream Sculpt ability just like he had for the Mage Arts he learned.
    But, Leonel didn't mind this.
    For one, thanks to this, he was able to find the spear Legendary Skill he lost to Coyote floating above his body after his death. Clearly, Coyote hadn't managed to make it his own.
    And secondly, this meant that compared to others, he had a great advantage. Who knew how many years of meditation it would take the others to comprehend their own Legendary Skills? As for Leonel, he felt that a few weeks, and a couple months at most, would be enough for him to finish Dream Sculpting one. Within a few years, he would have finished with them all.
    Still, this made Leonel realize just how magical Merlin's World was. Somehow, with the use of skill points, star points and slaughter points, he managed to make the process instantaneous.
    This level of skill was far beyond Leonel's comprehension and something he could only look up to. But, at the same time, Leonel felt like the secret to allowing this was within the Fourth Dimensional Force Art he had used the help of the Segmented Cube to take.
    Leonel managed to find the remaining three Legendary Skills for his bow and the one Ultimate Skill that helped fuse them. Then, he repeated this task for the spear.
    He originally planned to stop there, but when he found the Ultimate Skill for his spear, he stumbled across the Summer Legendary Skill for fists.
    'There's no one here who relies on fist techniquesбн'
    Remembering his time with Heckle and the boxing techniques he learned, Leonel smiled and decided to snatch the four Legendary and one Ultimate Skill for fists as well. Who knows, it might come in handy one day.
    Leonel's heart felt light. Though the trip to this Zone had been dangerous, he had benefited a lot.
    'Ainaбн'
    Leonel looked up toward the rumbling skies. It seemed like the apex of this transformation was coming. With its conclusion, Leonel knew that his Zone quests would end as well.
    "Leonel."
    A sudden voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to see that it was Crakos, the #1 Demon Lord.
    "Yes?" Leonel asked.
    "Choose."
    Crakos' words were blunt and without flowery wastes of breath. His voice itself, despite his massive size, actually sounded quite scholarly and soft, though. It was quite an interesting contrast.
    Leonel looked toward what was in Crakos' hands only to find numerous floating treasures, all of which had been trapped within spatial dimensions.
    "Oh?" Leonel's gaze lit up. "I won't stand on ceremony, then."
    Leonel smiled and took a familiar necklace. It seemed that the Treading Goddess Necklace would still fall into his hands in the end.
    At that moment, the feverish rumbling of the world reached a peak. The sound of shattering glass reverberated through all their ears. Then, everything went black.

 Chapter 328: Bribe

    Earth shook and quaked. At that moment, a second moon appeared in the sky. But, compared to the silvery beauty that was the original, this one was bathed in blackness, making it exceptionally difficult to pick out in the night sky.
    The result was an even more violent change to Earth's climate. It was impossible to tell exactly what would happen and just when these changes would come to an end.
    That said, these things had little to do with Leonelбн
    бн
    Leonel's vision blurred. When it finally cleared once more, he found himself in a familiar white space.
    One would think the first thing Leonel would do would be to rush forward and demand the treasures he had earned. But, instead, he collapsed to the ground, taking deep steady breaths.
    These past few months had truly been too hard. Even though only a week or so had passed in the real world, to him, it had been over a year. His 19th birthday was also quickly approaching within this true timeline.
    He looked up toward the endless vastness of white and smiled. He didn't know why he did, but he just felt like he should.
    "How long are you going to lie there?"
    Leonel grinned hearing the familiar voice.
    "Just a bit longer, Uncle Montez." Leonel mumbled.
    Eventually, Leonel sat up.
    Seeing the boy finally move, Montez wanted to admonish him about the time limit of this place again, but he seemed stunned to see Leonel's current state.
    The current Leonel looked practically like a beggar. His clothes were torn and caked in blood, mud and rain. It was as though he had spent several years on a battlefield and only just came out. In fact, this wasn't even that far from the truth.
    Still, what shocked Montez even more was Leonel's hair color. Despite the state of the rest of his body, Leonel's hair seemed untouched and unblemished. It didn't even have the slightest speck of dust on it.
    After a moment, Montez hid his shock and shook his head.
    "You look like a mess."
    Leonel's grin didn't fade. "Well, your nephew here suffered quite a lot in the past few months."
    Montez laughed. "I can see that."
    Without another word, Montez took out a scroll and unfurled it. The moment he did, his playful demeanor vanished.
    In silence, he read the details of the Zone and what Leonel went through. When he finally looked up, he couldn't decide whether this boy had heaven defying good luck or bad luck.
    The first time he entered a Zone he accidentally cleared a four person Sub-Dimensional Zone on his own. The second time he entered a Zone it nearly became a Unique Zone. And the third time he entered, the worries from the second Zone became reality.
    "You cleared a Unique Zone?"
    Leonel shrugged. "I was a bit lucky."
    Montez didn't refute this. Unique Zones weren't a joke. Sometimes, they could be more difficult to clear than Zones several levels above them in difficulty. It could only be said that Leonel was lucky that Earth was still a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional World. If not for this, he would likely be dead.
    "What did you do with the Adurna family members?" Montez asked.
    Leonel rubbed his nose. "They're in a safe place."
    Montez looked toward Leonel for a while before bursting out into a fit of laughter.
    He already understood what Leonel was doing. If he just released the Adurna family, he'd have to split the reward. But, if he kept them within the Suspended Animation state, they would still be considered 'dead' until all of this ended. That way, he'd be able to monopolize more treasures.
    He didn't feel bad about this at all. If not for him, they really would be dead. Plus, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
    "What are the rewards for clearing a Unique Zone like, Uncle Montez?" Leonel's eyes sparkled.
    Leonel was actually quite excited. The better the treasures were, the easier time he'd have in finding Aina.
    He didn't know what happened a few days ago, but he suddenly felt that she was in trouble. This sort of feeling left him anxious. Though he had buried it to now, he was all too eager to make his way to Terrain.
    However, Leonel didn't expect his question to make Montez solemn once more.
    "What is it?" Leonel probed. "Don't tell me you're going to cheat me again?"
    Montez sighed. "It's nothing like that. It's just that the logistics around rewards for Unique Zones are a bitбн special."
    Montez shook his head. "Forget it, I will give you your options, but don't take out your anger on me. I'm innocent."
    Leonel frowned. What was Montez trying to say?
    "There are two paths for you to take. If you assess this normally, you can gain rewards as if this was a Tier 9 Black Zone. That way, all your rewards will take a single step up."
    Leonel's frown deepened. This wasn't because he didn't like what he had just heard, but because he felt that this was very fair иC great, even. But, if Montez was reacting like this, that means that this wasn't fair at all. This sort of reality left Leonel feeling uncomfortable all over.
    It was as though his ignorance was being used to prey on him. If not for Uncle Montez being on his side in this matter, maybe he would have continued to be ignorant.
    "The second optionбн is to hand in all the evidence you gained of the Unique Zone over. Should you choose to do this, your rewards will gain another massive boost. Not only will this Zone be treated as a Tier 9 Black Zone, but you can also pick out a true Bronze Grade treasure of any Tier."
    Leonel abruptly stood from the ground, his gaze flashing.
    Montez was a bit stunned by Leonel's momentum, but he remained expressionless, silently waiting for Leonel's choice.
    "They want to bribe me to cover this up?"
    Leonel sneered. It seemed the longer he spent in this world, the more garbage he unearthed.

 Chapter 329: Path

    Montez didn't say anything in response to Leonel.
    There was no such thing as absolute fairness in this world.
    The only reason so many worlds had come together to provide rewards to Earth for their progress in clearing Zones was because they saw Earth's potential. There were plenty of other Pseudo Fourth Dimensional Worlds that didn't even qualify to gain such treatment.
    In addition, this system exposed the underbelly of something far more sinister.
    For these worlds to so casually hand out such treasures to a fledgling worldбн how much could they really care about such treasures?
    Leonel couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
    He and everyone else on Earth were doing all they could to earn these rewards, but weren't these just the scraps left behind by higher worlds who couldn't bother with them anymore? To those lofty beings, what were Black and Bronze treasures to them? They might not even bend down to pick up a Silver Grade treasure off the side of the road.
    Yet here he was, jumping like a monkey for them.
    Leonel's rage slowly calmed. What point was there in being angry? He had to clear these Zones one way or another for the sake of saving his home world. Even though he didn't have many positive emotions toward the current Earth, this still remained true.
    Since they wanted to give him their scraps, he would accept them for now. But, he would remember this.
    "No thanks." Leonel said calmly. "I'll be keeping the evidence to myself."
    Montez's gaze sparkled slightly. "Are you sure?"
    Such a choice came with its own consequences. But, Montez was sure that Leonel didn't need this explained to him.
    This would most definitely place a target on Leonel's back. Not only this, but whatever organization, world or entity that had deemed to act against Earth this time would most definitely be thoroughly offended.
    Leonel had already ruined their long, well laid out plans. If he also didn't know when to take a step back and insisted on pursuing this matter, there would be no repairing such a relationship.
    "I'm sure." Leonel said casually, having already thrown this matter to the back of his head.
    He almost died not once but twice. In addition to this, these people wanted the resources he rightfully fought to earn. Yet, they wanted to lower his head and accept this trade?
    Though Uncle Montez had only said the word 'evidence', Leonel knew it implied that they also wanted to take the Fourth Dimensional Force Art from him. And to think they wanted to trade a measly Bronze Grade treasure for it.
    Leonel's couldn't help but sneer inwardly. He was pissed.
    "Alright, alright brat. That's enough of that. You're scaring your uncle making such a face."
    Montez smiled, heavily patting Leonel's shoulder as though greatly satisfied. But, that minor action made Leonel feel as though a mountain was landing on him. He could only smile bitterly, just how much more powerful than himself was Montez?
    "Now, your rewards. This will be designated as a Tier 9 Black Zone, so the rewards will be distributed as such. They will be split three ways, one portion to you."
    Leonel nodded. He had left Monet and Violet Rain alone, so he had already expected as much.
    "For clearing the main quest of saving King Arthur, you'll receive four Tier 9 Black treasures. You failed to clear the side quests, whether that was to kill Mordred or solve the Love Triangle though you made some progress on the harder of the two. So, no rewards for this.
    "However, you managed to clear the most difficult mission and made Camelot a part of true history."
    Montez raised an eyebrow when he said this. It seemed that this wasn't so simple.
    "Uncle Montez, what exactly does that mean? What changes will happen?"
    "Wellбн" Montez hesitated. "The main benefit is the accelerated maturation of Earth. Originally, it should have taken a few more decades for the Fourth Dimension to descend. But, this will happen much sooner, another few years at most."
    Leonel fell into his thoughts. He didn't know if this was necessarily a good thingбн
    "Another important change you should consider is the change to overall history. This will cause unique changes to Earth's history and by extension your Zones to appear. It will become more difficult to rely on your understanding of history to clear Zones now."
    Montez shook his head. Leonel felt like he wanted to say more, but he was clearly bound by something.
    Leonel had already gotten used to this, Montez had been like this from the very beginning.
    "Anyway, due to the uniqueness of this hidden quest, the rewards are likewise better than they would usually be. You can gain three Quasi Bronze treasures."
    Leonel took a deep breath. To go from a potential reward of true Bronze treasures to Quasi ones didn't feel great, but he could only accept it.
    Plus, Bronze treasures were considered Fifth Dimensional treasures. There was no shame in not having them. In fact, there were many in Fourth Dimensional worlds that couldn't even own a Tier 7 Black treasure, let alone a Quasi Bronze one.
    It was only a matter of perspective.
    Not only were there many worlds who couldn't even gain this level of support from higher Dimensional worlds, even in those that didбн how many could clear Zones as difficult as the ones Leonel had?
    In addition, in Fourth Dimensional worlds, they had to deal with Fifth Dimensional Zones. Any Fourth Dimensional rewards they had gained in the past were now family heirlooms only passed on to the most worthy or the most talented.
    As for the rewards from Fifth Dimensional Zones, how could they be so easily grasped? How many could even try to take on such a Zone? Let alone claim the rewards from them?
    Leonel wasn't aware of such things, but he still easily accepted the reality before him. There'd come a day where these lofty beings wouldn't be able to look down on him any longer.
    The first light of ambition lit within Leonel's heart. Maybe even he, himself, hadn't realized it quite yet, but all of his experiences to this point had been slowly building to this point. From a boy without aim or goals, he was slowly forming his own path.

 Chapter 330: Memory Ore

    'Four Tier 9 Black treasures and three Quasi Bronze treasuresбн'
    Leonel already knew what he would use his first Tier 9 Black treasure on, he didn't even need to think about it. So, he could be considered to have six choices to make.
    'Should I choose treasures that will make my Tenth Node easier to form?'
    Leonel felt that he was at a point now where he could finally attempt to follow through on his crazy idea. He remembered that there was a point in time he thought that he would need to form his Tenth Node before he could battle Lamorak. But now he realized that he had severely underestimated himself so he was quite curious about just how powerful he would become.
    'I'm not lacking in Force, I still have the stalactite drippings from the hive, Force is probably what I lack the least ofбн'
    Leonel still had many treasures he had gained from the hive that he had yet to use. For example his 'Mellow Dew Stalactites'. They formed a drop of dew that contained an incredibly high density of Force every so often, they were perfect for a final push of Force when needed.
    "Uncle Montez, if I want the rest of [Dimensional Cleanse], what do I have to do?"
    Montez's gaze flashed for a moment. When he scanned Leonel up and down, he was shocked again.
    "You already formed the Two Star Constitution?"
    Leonel didn't really know how to respond to this. The creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] had always said that it would be difficult, but Leonel never struggled with it so he never thought it was a big deal at all.
    "Is that very difficult?" Leonel asked. "I think the creator was exaggerating, my Stars always formed right after reaching the Node requirement. I don't feel a bottleneck for forming the Third Star either."
    Montez gave Leonel a weird look, but in the end, he kept his words to himself.
    Leonel apparently had no idea that often times, one would wait to complete the foundation of [Dimensional Cleanse] entirely before forming one's Stars. Montez had never heard of it being so easy for someone that their Stars formed automatically.
    In addition, those who practiced [Dimensional Cleanse] weren't normally people of Leonel's levelбн And by level, that would refer to how low his world was on the Dimensional rankings.
    Montez sighed and shook his head. "It's impossible for you to trade for later portions of? [Dimensional Cleanse] with your current rewards. The next part is worth at least a Tier 9 Bronze reward. Of course, if you change your mind and hand in the evidenceбн"
    Leonel's expression darkened, but his silence made his stance clear. He had no intention of doing this.
    "Then what about information for where to find the later portions?"
    Leonel still remembered the introduction Montez had given him even though it felt like a lifetime ago. Aside from treasures, it was possible to buy information as well. It was just that Leonel never thought he would waste one of his rightfully earned treasures on such a thing. But, he was also aware of just how important [Dimensional Cleanse] was to him.
    It seemed that even though Montez could bend the rules slightly, he couldn't break them. So, this was the only choice Leonel had left.
    Montez's smile deepened at these words.
    "It will cost one of your Quasi Bronze treasures."
    Leonel nearly stumbled.
    Information was this expensive? Who the hell was playing a joke on him right now because it wasn't very funny.
    Leonel clenched his jaw. He would definitely remember this moment.
    "Alright, I'll trade."
    When Leonel spoke, the magic counter reappeared once again. When it stopped flashing, all that was left was a singular piece of beautifully polished metal. It was incredibly flat and had an almost oval shape.
    Leonel almost immediately recognized the metal. There were many ways of storing information in the universe, the crystals of Camelot were one way and this metal represented another.
    Compared to the crystal of Camelot, 'Memory Ore' could store millions if not trillions of times more information. Memory Ore was able to store and memorize fluctuations of Force and inscribe it onto its chemical structure.
    The issue with Memory Ore, though, was that it was incredibly difficult to use. And, although somewhat less so, it was also incredibly difficult to read. Only those with high control of their Soul Force could cause the subtle changes needed to jot down information. And, likewise, only those with exceptional sensitivity in the Soul Force could detect these changes.
    As such, Memory Ore wasn't only useful for holding information, but it was a symbol of skill and status. On top of this, it had the greatest ratio of surface area to memory capacity in the whole of the universe.
    The moment Leonel saw this Ore, he realized that Uncle Montez was helping him out again. There were many things Leonel was ignorant of, but metals and ores were one thing he was most definitely not.
    Memory Ore alone, disregarding the information within it, was considered a Seventh Dimensional item. Leonel shouldn't even be allowed to come into contact with such a thing, let alone exchanging a mere Quasi Bronze treasure for it.
    Leonel took a deep breath and gave Montez a look, but the latter stared back as though nothing was wrong.
    "What, you don't want the information anymore? Regretting it?"
    Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes.
    With his current level of skill, it was impossible for him to read the information on this Memory Ore. However, even if it would take him a hundred years to do so, it would be worth it. Who could just casually trade for a Seventh Dimensional item?
    "I'll take it." Leonel said solemnly.
    'And I'll remember this.'
    He spoke these words within his heart. There was no need to say them out loud.
    He didn't know why Montez had helped him out so much since he had come to know him, but by this point, Leonel didn't care. There would come a day where he would repay the favor.

 Chapter 332: Mimicry

    Abilities were an incredibly important part of a person's potential. Even among those of the highest echelon, entities that existed within the Sixth of Seventh Dimension, often, their most powerful tool were their abilities.
    Abilities could transcend strength. An existence like the little mink who had a Fifth Dimensional ability could display combat prowess far beyond the realms of reason. In addition, the little guy also avoided the suppression one would experience upon entering higher Dimensional worlds.
    However, at the same time, subduing such a partner was incredibly difficult. The fact Leonel had would of course surprise Montez because the latter knew that Leonel didn't have a beast taming ability.
    "Bring the little one out."
    Leonel nodded and brought Little Blackstar out.
    The little guy was still in the midst of his dreamland. Rolling over in Leonel's hands, the little mink stuck his little tongue out in a yawn before burying its little head in Leonel's chest.
    Montez's gaze landed on Little Blackstar, observing intently for a while.
    "The little one is indeed an infant. I'd say at most a few months old, maybe only half a year at most."
    Within a Zone, aging continued as per one's original timeline. But, even if this wasn't the case, the little mink had spent most of the time within Suspended Animation which stopped all biological functions to begin with except for certain exceptions like healing in some cases. Of course, that was only if Leonel allowed it.
    The fact the little mink was so young made something else make much more sense.
    The Project Hunt Island should have been properly vetted to maintain a certain level of difficulty. But, Leonel was certain that there was no way anyone other than himself could have dealt with this little mink.
    The fact the little mink was only born recently somewhat took the Slayer Legion off the hook for such a mistake, albeit just a small bit.
    "So it's a Shadow Sovereign, huhбн?" Montez mumbled beneath his breath.
    "Shadow Sovereign?" Leonel asked.
    "Shadow Magic is an uncommon branch to run across though it exists. Those who learn it through unconventional means can be considered minor disciples of the practice. Those who inherit it through their Lineage Factor are a step above in this regard and can be considered primary disciples. But, those who awaken it through their abilities are considered of to be of the highest regard and can become Shadow Sovereigns.
    "Of course, that depends on the evolution potential of said ability. There are often times when a Lineage Factor can surpass an ability."
    Leonel's eyes lit up with understanding. It seems that he had underestimated just how important abilities were even now.
    From Uncle Montez's words, it seemed that abilities even superseded Lineage Factors. Though this wasn't always the case, it seemed to be enough of a precedent to allow Uncle Montez to say those words with confidence.
    "If you want to lay a path for the little one, the best choice is to allow it to allow its ability to resonate and synergize with a Lineage Factor. Soбн"
    At that moment, the shifting of the counter had come to a stop and several vials of blood appeared.
    "Each of these vials of blood will develop the little one down a different path. However, along with these vials, you also need to trade for the method of implementing them. All in all, any choice you make will be worth two Tier 9 Black treasures."
    Leonel nodded in understanding. He didn't know anything about using blood to enhance one's ability, but from what he understood about the human body, just drinking it obviously wouldn't help integrate the blood properly.
    Of course, Leonel had no idea that the woman he was always thinking of had done exactly that. But, Aina was a bit of a special case.
    "Shadow Magic has many potential branches and a wide ranging scope." Montez pointed to the first of five vials. "This comes from an infant Dark Mimicry Bat. Upon maturation it becomes a Fifth Dimensional beast. In fact, this is the same for all the others as well.
    "Its blood helps enhance the Mimicry Branch of Shadow Lineage Factors. Everyone's shadow is as unique as one's soul. The Mimicry Branch can analyze that uniqueness, snatch it, and make it its own."
    Leonel's eyes suddenly widened. "So that's what that was!"
    "Hm?" Montez sent a questioning look toward Leonel.
    Leonel recollected himself. "Little Blackstar has a Shadow World within his body. Due to a skill I gained within the Mythological Zone called 'Perfect Union', I can see into it a small bit. But, maybe because the skill is pretty low level, I can only get a vague understanding of it.
    "But, I once saw a life that I was sure wasn't Little Blackstar's within it. I was wracking my brain, thinking about what it was. But now I feel like it must have been a form of mimicry that Blackstar hasn't quite learned to use yet."
    Though 'Perfect Union' sounded, wellбн perfect, it had ultimately been just a Silver Skill from Merlin's Trials. How could it be as flawless as described?
    The life that Leonel saw within Blackstar's Shadow World had baffled Leonel for a long time. But, within the Trials, he had chosen to ignore it and focus on what he did understand. After all, he was fighting for his life, he didn't have the luxury to slowly figure things out.
    And, now that Leonel thought about it, that lifeform reminded him a lot ofбн
    Leonel's eyes glowed. Within the Force Core Mine, Little Blackstar had fought Simeon's numbered warriors and killed one of them with a sharp Force ability. Leonel hadn't been able to pinpoint what was so familiar about that life until Montez spoke just now.
    That much meant that Little Blackstar could elicit the ability of that man!
    But, how much he could gleam or use and to what level of strength was still questionable.
    It was just the first vial of blood, but Leonel was already greatly intrigued.

 Chapter 333: Leonel Morales

    "Ohбн?"
    The more Montez learned about this little mink the more curious he became.
    From what he knew, Shadow World was an extremely exclusive and legendary ability of Shadow Magic users. The fact this little mink had it meant that it wasn't limited in the Shadow abilities it could use, whether it was the magic system's offensive, defensive, evasive, or auxiliary abilities, he could learn them all.
    "A good chance that this little one could indeedбн" Montez mumbled.
    "A good chance? For what?"
    Montez smiled mysteriously. "Every world has its own Champions. The Champion of the humans is the wielder of the World Spirit. But, when it comes to newly evolved worlds like yours, beasts are at a great disadvantageбн Did you think that the universe just favored humanoid creatures? Of course beasts have their own opportunities.
    "Whether or not you can find out more will depend on yourself and this little one."
    Leonel's gaze sparkled but didn't ask anymore.
    "This vial is from the Dark Illusion Mouse. It's a creature especially known for its speed and evasive maneuvers. It has the ability to disappear in the shadows and become incorporeal. This falls within the Movement Branch of Shadow Magic.
    "This vial is from the Purple Red-Eyed Spider. It's known for its corrosive energy. This falls within the Attack Branch of Shadow Magic and specifically within the Corrosive Force Sub-Branch.
    "This vial is from the Prowling бн"
    Leonel listened to Montez seriously.
    Of the vials, one focused on the Mimicry Branch, one of the Movement Branch, two of the Offensive Branch, and the final was a special case that could fit in the Attack and Defensive Branch.
    Leonel had thought he would settle on the Mimicry Branch the moment he heard about it. This was because the little mink seemed to have already awakened a like ability. Plus, the little guy's attack wasn't lacking.
    But, after he heard about the final beast, the Undying Abyss Bear, he hesitated.
    The Bear had a special evolution of Dark Elemental Force that carried some characteristics of a Blackhole. It allowed attacks to be easily nullified, giving it great defenses. But, it likewise had a devastating attack as a result.
    It was a hard decision, but Leonel ultimately decided upon the Mimicry Branch.
    His reasoning was simple. Choosing the Undying Abyss Bear blood would be like cornering the little mink's future progress, while the Mimicry Branch was the exact opposite.
    If Leonel made the foundation of the little mink's ability mimicry, it would lay a foundation that could deviate with endless possibilities. However, if he chose the blood of the Undying Abyss Bear, it would lock in the little mink's Dark Elemental Force to a certain type unless the blood was purged.
    As long as a proper foundation was laid, anything could be chosen in the future. It wouldn't be too late to give the little mink the Blackhole characteristic by then. But for now, Leonel felt it was smarter to both lay a broader foundation while also following up on the evolution path the little mink was already tending toward to begin with.
    "I'll choose the Dark Mimicry Bat." Leonel said after a long while.
    Montez nodded, exchanging the blood and method of use with Leonel at once. This left Leonel with just one treasure to pick from.
    "Remember that you're raising this little one as your own. Since you've picked his path, you have to be careful about what you choose for its next evolution. Also, remember that this blood is only supplementary. Your choices are meant to enhance the ability of your partner, not supersede them.
    "If a human were to take this blood, the effects would be minimal at best, not to mention leave behind lingering injuries. Beasts are somewhat better at consuming blood with the appropriate care and techniques, but the prerequisite is that the blood suits them.
    "I'm satisfied with your first choice, so don't stray in the future."
    Hearing these words, Leonel nodded seriously. This dispelled all thoughts he had of potentially using this blood on himself and also left him at a loss for what to use his final treasure on.
    Leonel fell into his thoughts once again.
    At first, Leonel didn't know what he wanted. But, after a while, he remembered a certain chariot that once made him grind his teeth in rage. Back then, he had suffered a big loss at the hands of Captain Sela. He swore that when he got the chance, he would definitely get a movement treasure of better quality.
    Thinking of the Slayer Legion, Leonel's gaze flashed with a cold light.
    After a while, Leonel's cold demeanor faded into a grin.
    "Uncle Montez, I need a ride."
    **
    At that moment, a familiar island was surrounded by a depressing gloom. This island was none other than the very one the Slayer Legion had found the Camelot Zone on. However, compared to the past, it looked much different.
    Raging winds and violent storms had taken hold of the island. The thick trees swayed wildly from side to side, their green leaves flying in every which direction. The ground was soaked completely through, turning the endless greenery into a marsh land that was more reminiscent of a rice farm than a forest. Up above, black clouds rolled and rumbled flashing with vicious arcs of lightning.
    The shores of the island were a complete mess. The ocean looked like a dense expanse of black, huge waves crashing and rolling onto the sides of the island as though threatening to swallow it whole.
    It was on this very island and in these very conditions that a fiery argument was taking place.
    "Do you think that I, Hacker Hutch, am a push over?"
    Hutch stood with a rusted blade, his seemingly old and frail frame standing tall beneath the rushing winds and heavy rain. Under the dark skies, he seemed like a sheathed blade ready to unleash at any moment.
    "Hutch, I suggest you put the blade away."
    A man whose momentum seemed no less than Hutch stood opposing him. Monet and Violet Rain had already exited, but judging by the fact no others had come with them, it was clear that everyone else had died.
    However, according to these women, Leonel was just fine.
    Hutch had stormed to this place the moment he heard about the actions Monet took behind his back that day. But, by then, they had already long since entered the Zone so he could only wait.
    Unfortunately, his movements had alerted others. And, this matter only blew up further after it was found out that several promising geniuses and Commanders had died within the Zone, one of which actually personally died at Leonel's hand.
    On the sidelines, Badger stood with reddened eyes, the rain soaking him all the way through. When he heard that Mayfly had died, it hit him like a ton of bricks. Any hatred he held for not being allowed to enter the Zone had been transferred toward his hatred for Leonel. He wanted nothing more than to rip him limb from limb.
    "Oh? And are you going to take my blade from me, Catris? Come and take it!"
    Catris' face darkened. His standing was no less than Hutch's, a retired Supreme. So, why would he fear him?
    "I think it's best you think about your next steps carefully." Catris practically growled, his figure seemingly growing by a size beneath his billowing aura. "Others are already dissatisfied with you. Do you think you can just boot an appointed Supreme from their position just because you feel like it? Did you already forget what happened all those years ago?"
    Hutch's aura sharpened and he sneered a toothy grin.
    "It seems that my machete hasn't tasted blood in so long that some people really think they can talk to me however it is they want. I'll let you choose. Would you rather lose your left or right arm? Or would you prefer to lose a leg?"
    Hutch's blood thirsty aura caused those spectating members of the Slayer Legion who had been tasked with protecting the island to feel as though their blood had frozen over.
    It was then that the whirring of the Zone suddenly caught everyone's attention.
    At that moment, a teenage boy dressed in rags stepped out, his bronze hair becoming practically the only light in this dark atmosphere.
    The boy yawned. He seemed to genuinely be tired and couldn't be bothered by what was happening around him.
    When he wiped the tears from his eyes enough to clear his vision, he saw that he had been surrounded.
    "Oh? Hey, old man."
    The boy smiled.
    Who else could it be if not Leonel Morales?

 Chapter 334: See You

    Leonel's casual greeting reached all of their ears. At that moment, everyone's attention shot toward the same teenage boy.
    Despite the fact he looked as though he had just crawled out from a garbage dump, he held a certain undeniable valiant air that made him too difficult to ignore.
    Leonel yawned again.
    This sort of scene, why did it feel so familiar?
    Beneath their gazes, Leonel flipped his palm and allowed numerous snowglobes to appear. Afterward, members of the Adurna family began to appear one after another, plopping to the ground as Leonel released them.
    "Big Brother Leonel!"
    Nana was the first to recover as she wasn't harmed to begin with. While the others were still in a daze, Nana seemed to realize that Leonel must have been the one that saved them.
    Leonel smiled lightly, patting the little girl's head. Seeing her childish excitement, he could tell just how much the Camelot Zone had weighed on her mind.
    The second of the Adurna family to come to was their oldest and the man that had been responsible for their lives. However, it seemed that he had failed in his task as a guardian fairly badly. And, to make matters worse, his mind was still foggy. He found it difficult to tell whether or not they were still within a Zone.
    This elder's name was Matteus. He couldn't help but look toward Leonel with a hint of confusion.
    Leonel only smiled. "I hope your Adurna family remembers this favor."
    Matteus blinked in confusion. Favor? Wait..
    He looked around and seemed to recognize the island they were on. They had escaped? How? Matteus had been absolutely certain that they would all be dead.
    "Alright, bye." Leonel waved and seemed set to leave, causing many to be shocked.
    Catris' gaze sharpened. Did this boy really not take them seriously?!
    "LEONEL!"
    The roar cut through the heavy rain and rumbling clouds. Even Leonel couldn't help but look back only to see an infuriated Badger. In fact, the latter's skin had reddened to the point that it seemed to steam beneath the rain.
    Leonel frowned slightly. It wasn't only him, but Hutch as well.
    It had to be remembered that Mayfly and Badger were sent by Hutch in order save Leonel and the others of the island. It could be said that Badger was thus a person of Hutch's. No matter how you looked at it, him standing out now would only muddy the situation.
    "Do you have something to say to me?"
    Leonel shifted his gaze toward Badger. How could he not tell why the latter was enraged? However, what did Mayfly's death have to do with him? If he should be blaming anyone, it should be Monet for failing to protect her own. And, even if he didn't want to blame Monet, he should then blame the Adurna family for screwing everything up to begin with.
    This was a Unique Zone. Deaths were practically inevitable. If the planned dozen had entered, it was likely that the death count would have been the same if not worse.
    Badger fumed beneath Leonel's nonchalance, but he soon calmed, his gaze becoming a smothering volcano that was ready to erupt at any time.
    Large wings spread from his back. It seemed like he might shoot forward at any moment, ready to risk his life to take Leonel's.
    Leonel shook his head and couldn't be bothered. He didn't want to stir up anymore problems. Before he left Earth, he still wanted to destroy the Royal Blue Fort. If these issues blew up instead, he would have to head to Terrain first and deal with it later. This was obviously something he didn't want to do.
    Leonel was still worried about his teammates. There was no telling if the Junior Governor Duke had chosen to target his friends in his absence.
    In normal times, Leonel would trust James to protect them, but the event of that month taught him that James truly couldn't be counted upon. When it came down to it, James placed the matters of his family above friendship and comradery.
    If Leonel thought about it, there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with this approach. If he was asked to choose between his father and his friends, wouldn't the choice be obvious?
    Of course, if others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would think him too cold or calculating. How could one so easily make such a choice? But to Leonel, it was just this simple.
    However, it seemed that Leonel wouldn't be getting his wishбн
    "Unauthorized entry into a Zone, hoarding of contraband, and the murder of a fellow soldier."
    Leonel's crimes were calmly listed by a familiar feminine voice. He didn't even need to look to know that the person in question was Monet.
    Leonel's gaze swept through the crowd to land on the red armored middle-aged beauty.
    At this point, Leonel didn't even bother. He took out a talisman. Since he wasn't going to be able to leave here peacefully to do what he needed to do, he would just leave to Terrain now. However, he would remember this.
    He was certain that by the time he came back, these Supremes wouldn't be able to handle him even if they banded together as one. By then, no one could stop him from doing what he needed to do.
    The expression of those watching changed. Of all the things they expected, for Leonel to say not a word and truly prepare to leave caught them completely off guard.
    "Leonel, wait."
    "Hm?" Leonel paused.
    There was only one person he would even bother to listen to at this point, and that was obviously Hutch.
    Though Leoenl was a bit unsatisfied with the way the old man had kidnapped him against his will, delaying his plans to raze the Royal Blue Fort to the ground, he still felt that the retired Supreme was a net positive on his life.
    The old man sighed. "Just stay, will you? With me here, who would dare do anything to you? If you want, in a few years, I'll even give my Supreme position to you. I'll see who dares to say anything."
    Hearing these words, others were stunned while Leonel just smiled.
    "I appreciate the sentiment, old man. But, I think it's best that the Slayer Legion and I part ways from here on."
    Hutch shook his head. "They're a bit shameless, but it's still not good to be alone in this new world order. Youths like you need an umbrella to grow beneath."
    Leonel grinned. "Shameless is a good word for it. The people I just saved the lives of are now accusing me of crimes. I wonder how many of them would be alive without me?"
    Monet's expression turned ice cold, red flames flickering within the depths of her pupils. But, Leonel continued unperturbed.
    "And I dunnoбн Something about that umbrella term makes me itch all over."
    With a last smile, Leonel activated the talisman.
    "I'll be seeing you old man."

 Chapter 335: Justice

    Everyone watched as Leonel vanished.
    In truth, it wasn't that they didn't consider the idea of Leonel using one of his rewards for a chance to escape, it was just that none of them had expected him to leave without practically saying a word. Had it not been for Hutch trying to get him to stay, he would have probably spared them all just a single a glance and left.
    It was pure disdain. He couldn't even bother to try and defend himself regardless of whether or not he was in the right. He felt no obligation toward them.
    Yet, somehow, his gaze was burned into all their minds. He never said the words 'I'll remember this' aloud, yet they somehow felt as though it was echoing in their ears again and again.
    Hutch sighed and shook his head.
    'Seems that brat is finally slowly awakening to his true self.'
    Leonel's final words constantly reverberated in his mindбн 'Something about that umbrella makes me itch all over'бн
    Suddenly, Hutch began to laugh. He looked no different from a madman in the midst of the rain. But, no one dared to take a madman holding a machete lightly.
    Catris expression flickered numerous times before it settled into a sneer.
    "I'll be sure to report all of this back without missing a single detail, Hutch. Not only did you bring such a scourge into the Slayer Legion, you didn't even care that one of the geniuses under your charge died due to his actions."
    At that moment, Hutch seemed to remember something.
    Suddenly, his vision sharpened.
    Catris' hair stood on end. He immediately shot backward, his nerves tense.
    In that instant, the world seemed to slow. No matter how hard Catris tried to move, he couldn't seem to accelerate. It was as though he had been slowed to slow motion or that the world around him had suddenly been fast forwarded.
    PCHUU!
    Blood spurted as a limb twirled into the air. The crimson was quickly washed away by the endless barrage of rain, but even then, it was just as quickly replaced by a new flow.
    Catris paled, looking down at his right arm which now lay on the ground.
    "Since you didn't make the choice, I decided to make the choice for you." Hutch said casually.
    His indifferent voice made everyone freeze. His complete nonchalance in the face of blood and gore made them feel as though he wouldn't lose a wink of sleep even if he killed them all one by one.
    "Consider this a simple reminder that you can't just speak to anyone as you please." Hutch continued. "And, as for the death of Mayfly, you seem to forget that I raised her practically as my own daughter."
    The indifference in Hutch's voice soon became coldness.
    His gaze swept over, landing on Monet.
    In that instant, Monet felt as though she had been thrown into an icy hell. Her knees uncontrollably buckled, causing her to almost fall to the ground. All the lofty demeanor she had, even when she was facing the demons of Camelot, came crumbling down with a single look.
    "I would really like to know what her superior officer was doing as Mayfly died. You all seem to want to focus on the fact that Leonel wasn't meant to enter, when the truth was that Leonel was originally on the list of entries, the one who wasn't was Monet who self inserted. Isn't that right?"
    Monet shivered.
    This was true. Originally, Badger and Mayfly were meant to enter as one. They were so used to partnering with one another that the sum of their teamwork was far beyond themselves individually. To say that they could surpass a Supreme when working together wasn't an exaggeration at all.
    This was the new world order, after all. Being older didn't necessarily mean you were stronger since Earth was still in its infancy.
    Monet grit her teeth and squeezed out all her strength to speak.
    "Leonel injured Badger before their entry. There was no choice."
    "Oh?" Hutch laughed as though he was amused that Monet dared to speak back. "And why would he hurt Badger? Hadn't they just worked together to escape the beast tide on the Project Hunt Island? I wonder what made them enemies in such a short time?"
    Hutch's questions seemed light, but they all put more and more pressure on Monet. The latter felt as though her heart might stop completely if she was pressured any more.
    At that moment, the situation suddenly changed.
    Hutch's gaze narrowed as he looked off into the distance. An older man with a head of white, flowing hair approached with a pair of massive white wings. He looked no different from a deity descending upon the mortal world. Whether it was his demeanor or looks, he seemed impeccable. Even the winds and rain bent around him.
    "That's enough Hutch."
    Hutch looked up but didn't say much of anything. He only sheathed his blade and began to walk away with broad steps.
    The angelic man frowned toward the disregard.
    "I hope you understand Hutch, that among the retired Supreme, you aren't the only one who's awakened a Variant ability. If you make an enemy of us allбн"
    At that moment, the angelic man found the world around him slowing. His eyes widened, a blinding golden light emitting from his body. But, before he could react, Hutch had already appeared in the skies, snatching a handful of white feathers and landing heavily on the ground.
    "I wonder, how many more do you think I need to pluck off before you can't fly above me anymore?"
    The angelic man suddenly seethed in rage. But, remembering Hutch's ability, he also felt his heart go cold. Why did such a madman have to awaken such an ability?
    In the end, the angelic man remained silent, watching as Hutch walked away. Though Hutch seemed slow, he had already left the range of the island in the blink of an eye, gliding over the black, raging watersбн
    **
    At the moment Hutch was gaining some interest for Leonel, the latter had found himself in a completely unexpected situation.
    Unlike Aina, Leonel was teleported to a proper place. There was a well elevated platform located in the middle of a bustling city. In fact, Leonel's initial appearance didn't garner much attention untilбн well, until it did.
    Leonel hadn't even stepped off the platform yet when a dozen armed guards charged forward, spears and swords in hand as they completely surrounded him.
    Leonel turned his gaze back to the first person he had seen after entering this place. She was a woman of average looks who gained a salary for manning and maintaining the order of the teleportation pad. In fact, Leonel and her had just had an amicable exchange.
    The dictionary had begun to work again, so Leonel only had to rely on it to communicate in this odd, new language. He didn't think there was a problem with doing so as he had already noticed several translation treasures in the hands? or on the bodies of others.
    But now, for whatever reason, that same woman who he had just been conversing with was avoiding his gaze.
    Leonel wanted nothing more than to find a hotel and take a nice long sleep. But now he was suddenly being threatened from all sidesбн
    Where was the justice?

 Chapter 336: Follow

    Leonel was speechless. Just how bad was his luck. He hadn't even been on this world for all of five minutes when he suddenly found himself in a heap of trouble once again. The worst part wasбн he didn't even know what he had done wrong.
    At that moment, there were shouts coming at him from all directions, but he couldn't understand anything they were saying. Though it was possible to use the dictionary to translate, that could obviously only be done one at a time, he had no idea what all the fuss was about.
    Leonel closed his eyes and shook his head, willing his fatigue away to deal with the current situation.
    "Speak one at a time please, I have no idea what you're saying."
    Leonel used the dictionary to translate these words, but the shouting didn't seem to stop. In fact, it intensified.
    It was obvious that these people knew Leonel was a foreigner and this wasn't even an area where foreigners were rare, yet they kept speaking in their native tongue. It was hard to believe that they weren't doing it all on purpose.
    Leonel tried to speak with the lady that received him again, but she continued to avoid eye contact for reasons he was left completely in the dark of. He truly had no idea why he was being treated like this.
    By this point, a sizeable crowd had been built. After all, this was a bustling city square to begin with and was most definitely a hotspot for tourists. When they saw such good entertainment before them, how could they not take a pause for a look?
    As more and more people gathered, Leonel suddenly noticed a striking difference between himself and them.
    Everywhere he looked, no matter where it was, everyone was excellently dressed. Even the most modest amongst these people who kept their jewelry to a minimum and refrained from wearing elaborate dresses carved of expensive furs exuded the air of nobility.
    Leonel had always been an observant person. It wasn't a matter of his ability, but rather his social abilities. He realized that in a place like this, considering he was dressed from head to toe in ragsбн He stuck out like a sore thumb.
    'Is it really because of my clothing?'
    At this point, the shouting around Leonel seemed to come to a stop which caused Leonel to stop observing his surroundings. A leader of sorts stepped forward and spoke some words.
    Leonel sighed a breath of relief. 'Finally, we're getting somewhere.'
    Leonel could tell that they had stopped their shouting tactic after realizing he wasn't very moved by it at all. He didn't know why these armored warriors wanted to intimidate him, but he could only slowly realize the truth from here on out.
    "State your name, affiliation and purpose."
    The dictionary translated for Leonel, finally allowing him to tell just what was going on.
    'I need to learn this language as quickly as possibleбн'
    Leonel didn't feel off put by the question. Even on Earth alone, just traveling from Province to Province elicited questions just like this. It only made sense that it would be asked when it came to travel between worlds.
    "My name is Leonel, I come from Earth. I'm only here on vacation."
    Leonel felt there was no need to speak about his purpose of finding Aina. Speaking truthfully would only raise more questions.
    In addition, he had no idea what Aina's current situation was, but he still hadn't forgotten that eerie feeling from before. If he wasn't just being paranoid and she really was in trouble, then mentioning the fact that he was looking for her would only put them both in danger.
    The spectators had much more sophisticated translation treasures than Leonel did. So, they all understood his words practically immediately. But, as a result, they were confused and gave Leonel weird looks.
    Earth? They had never heard of it. Though Earth was greatly valued by higher Dimensional worlds, information about it wasn't quite wide spread yet. These people might look rich, but compared to true nobles, they still had a long way to go.
    That said, the reason they were giving Leonel weird gazes wasn't because of this. There were too many worlds, how could they know all of them? That was impossible. What they found weird was the fact he said he was here to be a tourist, but if that was the caseбн why was he dressed like that?
    Leonel, however, was thinking about something completely different. He didn't miss the sharpening of the captain's gaze after he spoke of Earth. Just what was going on?
    "Come with us for further questioning." The captain said coldly.
    Leonel frowned at these words, but the guards seemed to react immediately to his hesitation, placing their hands on their weapons.
    'There's something weird about these guards. They don't seem to be dressed like natives of this landбн'
    Leonel separated out everyone he observed into three categories. There were natives, tourists and these guards. Natives all seemed to wear garbs that crossed flexible armor with robes, giving them a distinctive look. These guards, however, had their own mode of dressing.
    Each of them wore fluttering robes but they were split below their waste into four sections. One section to each of the sides of their hips and one to their front and back. This design exposed the metallic sheet armor that covered their legs.
    In addition to this, each of them had the same design on their lapels, a golden pin that held an oddly shaped star and cross. It seemed to exude a level of authority that garnered the respect of all those that looked at them.
    The more Leonel observed, the more he felt there was something off about this.
    He looked back toward the woman who had received him again, not surprised to find her still dodging his gaze. By now, he was certain that these men were called here by her.
    What a joke. To think they had just been having a friendly conversation only to find out that she had been stirring up trouble for him.
    The young woman shivered. Compared to Leonel's previous inquisitive gaze, she could feel the coldness of this one. Her heart skipped several beats, losing its regularity. The change left her unable to breathe properly.
    Leonel looked away. "I will follow you."
    He regained his calm, glancing toward the captain with an indifferent expression.
    The captain frowned, but ultimately gave the signal to surround Leonel and escort him away.

 Chapter 337: The Glare

    The young woman watched Leonel's back disappear into the distance, her breathing still hitching. It was only after a long while that she gritted her teeth in rage. If it wasn't for the fact she was still in public, she would have likely found anything she could to throw and bash around.
    'How dare he! How dare he! How dare he!'
    The young lady ground her teeth in silence.
    "Rie? What happened? Who was that guy?"
    At that moment, a familiar voice to the young lady stepped forward.
    The young woman, Rie, looked up to find exactly who she expected to. It was another young woman of similar age and type. They both had decent looks and cute features. It was truly a case of like people attracting one another. From afar, they even looked quite like sisters even though they weren't.
    "Sylбн Ugh, I thought you said that this job would be easy?"
    Syl giggled, rounding Rie's desk and hooking her arm around her friends.
    "You've already had this job for years. Now that you've soaked up all the benefits, you want to come back here and blame me?"
    It seemed that Syl had quite the standing. If not, how could she have possibly helped Rie gain such a position?
    Syl seemed quite amused by her friends complaining and wanted to ask more, but the teleportation pad suddenly lit once again.
    Rie hid her dissatisfaction and politely greeted another client. After some pleasantries, she sent this person on their way and sat back down in a huff.
    "Now can you tell me what happened?"
    Rie pouted. "With your connections, you could easily find out. Why make me talk about something that makes me upset? What kind of friend are you?"
    Syl giggled. "Second and third hand information isn't as good as the real thing. Come on, don't hold out on me. Plus, you know that my family doesn't have much jurisdiction over themбн"
    When she said these words, Syl's playful expression became a tad bit more solemn. But, regardless she still pressed Rie for answers.
    Rie sighed and caved in.
    "A couple months ago, they briefed all of us attendants on some new information. Apparently they're cracking down on fugitives and escapees. Whenever I see a sign of suspicious activity, I'm supposed to make small talk with the suspect and secretly call for reinforcements. But this bastard actually glared at me like that just because I was doing my job."
    Syl's eyes sparkled. "A crackdown? Why? Who are they trying to catch? Who would be bold enough to become a fugitive in the eyes of those people?"
    Clearly, to Syl, this wasn't a normal caseбн
    Let's just say that becoming a fugitive of a world or even a network of worlds wasn't as bad as becoming a fugitive in the eyes of these people.
    "I don't know anything, I just followed their orders." Rie said with an exasperated sigh.
    Syl giggled. "He only glared at you a bit, is there a need to be so angry?"
    Rie gave her own glare at these words. "You don't get it. I thought I was going to die. A measely Third Dimensional brat actually pressured me, how embarrassing."
    Syl blinked. "He was in the Third Dimension yet you still called them for him?"
    Rie froze for a moment. Then, she blushed profusely. It seemed she realized she had done something wrong.
    That was right, how could someone in the Third Dimension be who they were looking for? It was no wonder he glared at her.
    After a while, Rie regained her bearing and bit her teeth. Even if she made a mistake, there was no need to treat her like that. What a bad guy. What good was being a bit handsome if you were so weak?
    "Hmph." Rie finally snorted. "If I see him again, I'll definitely have sister-in-law teach him a lesson."
    Syl burst into a fit of giggles.
    This 'sister-in-law' Rie was referring to was actually her own sister-in-law. Syl had an elder brother who treated the both of them like his own little sisters. So, despite the fact they weren't blood related, Rie still called her sister-in-law.
    Of course, there were deeper matters in relation to this oddity, but they were unimportant at this moment.
    "It's really curious, though." Syl said after a moment. "Isn't it supposed to be a struggle for those in the Third Dimension to adjust to a Fourth Dimensional world? Where did he get the strength to glare at you?"
    Rie froze again, seemingly stumped once more.
    Syl giggled and shook her head. This friend of hers had always been a bit simple. If not for this, she would have helped her get a far more prestigious job than this.
    Though this gig paid well and was very stable and safe, it wasn't exactly the most esteemed.
    "Young Miss."
    Just when Syl wanted to speak with Rie a bit more, a strict voice sounded from her back.
    To her back, there was an inconspicuous man with sparse hair. He was well dressed and groomed, while his hands were perpetually clasped behind his back. However, the way his hair fluttered about like the wings of a bird made it difficult for Syl to take him very seriously.
    That said, this was only because she knew that this old man would never harm her. For others, if they saw this old man, they would head in the opposite direction 99.99% of the time. The remaining percentage point was an unknown variable. After all, the dead couldn't testify.
    "Already?" Syl pouted.
    "Yes, this is very important Young Miss. The City Lord isn't willing to compromise on this."
    Syl sighed and shook her head. She knew that talking wouldn't do her any good.
    "Fine, fine. Let's go. I'll see you later, Rie."
    "Okay." Rie waved her friend goodbye.
    **
    At that moment, Leonel sat in a blank room. This was the best way he could describe it.
    The walls were a dull gray. The singular chair he sat on was a dull gray. The singular table before him was a dull gray. It was even difficult to see the outline of the door to this place. It was as though Leonel had been tossed into a cube with no exit.
    After a few minutes turned to almost an hour, Leonel felt a keen sense of dejavu. He had a flashback to the time Pope Margrave wasted his time. But, this time, he didn't have the option to leave at all.
    Leonel yawned.
    Since they wanted to make him wait, that was fine.
    Leonel took out a pillow and a blanket, climbed onto the table, and fell into a deep sleep. Soon, the sound of light snoring filled the small room.

 Chapter 338: Scithe

    Leonel fell into a deep sleep almost immediately. Of course, he was using the meditation rest technique his father had taught him. But, to the outside world, he was out cold without any understanding of what was happening around him.
    When Leonel entered this place, he realized many things.
    For one, these people didn't take him very seriously. They didn't restrain him nor did they take his things away. It was very likely they believed he was weak.
    Leonel didn't mind allowing this illusion to continue. But, at the same time, he knew that it very well may not be an illusion at all.
    Leonel had never seen a Fourth Dimensional entity battle. However, according to the information he had, no matter how powerful one was within a lower Dimension, it was impossible to challenge a higher one with very few exceptions. Leonel didn't know how true this was or if the Crystallization of his Force could help bridge this gap, but he didn't feel like finding out by putting his life on the line.
    All Leonel knew was that if he didn't rest his mind, he would be at an even greater disadvantage. So, that was exactly what he did. Without a care for anything going on around him, he entered a deep dreamland.
    By some stroke of coincidence, or maybe due to the fact Leonel was right about them not taking him seriously, no one was monitoring Leonel.
    They likely believed that they could sweat Leonel out just like any other prisoner. If they let him sit alone for a long while, he'd probably spill out everything he knew when he finally saw another person.
    Unfortunately, due to their lack of bothering to monitor him, none of them realized that the young man they thought they were pressuring was taking a nice nap.
    **
    Across the universe it could be said that there were countless centers of power. But, more often than not, these powers would have the shadow of stronger entities to their backs, and those stronger entities would have even stronger backers.
    This was simply the way of the world.
    On Earth, which county didn't have a city backing it? Which city wasn't backed by a state or province? Which state or province didn't have a country behind it? This was simply how things functioned.
    In this new world order where having and not having resources was the difference between life and death, powers who could stand to support others had their hands in as many pots as possible.
    When things are put into this perspective, it truly isn't a surprise that Earth was targeted in such a way. Even under the protection and overwatch of so many powerful existences, there were some with enough backing that still dared to make a move.
    In such a complicated environment, it was too difficult to hold such powers accountable for their actions. So, they acted with impunity. And, if they failed, so what? Who would call them out for it?
    Of course, there were some that tried to call out the wrongs of these powers. But, how long did these foolish individuals survive for?
    Once again, it seemed as though someone didn't know their placeбн
    бн
    "Aliard has died."
    The room wasn't dark and sinister as one might expect. In fact, it was well lit and lavishly furnished. And, as though to prove that these entities truly had nothing to hide or didn't deem it necessary to hide anything, this meeting took place within the private room of a bustling high-class restaurant.
    "Oh? That's unfortunate. I assume everything was handled appropriately?"
    Silence fell over the room. This lack of response seemed to catch everyone's attention. Their careless demeanors paused for a moment in place of several sneers.
    "So it seems someone else doesn't know their place? Just deal with them as usual."
    Everyone around the table seemed to agree with this. It seemed that there was no need for further discussion.
    "Leave it to the head of that Quadrant."
    "Agreed."
    The conversation started and ended just as quickly. To these men and women, what was a small fry from a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world even worth? The fact they wasted a few seconds of their day on such an ant was already too much respect in their eyes.
    **
    The decision of these entities quickly moved down the ranks, jumping through several chains of command before finally making it the ears it needed to make it to.
    The man was tall and lanky, carrying a pale complexion that made it seem as though he was either a foot into the grave or one step out of it.
    "Commander Scithe."
    An attendant respectfully knelt before the man, yet he didn't even turn back.
    He stood looking out a wide, curved window. Stars and asteroids shot across his vision as planets and moon shone beautifully in the distance. It was the kind of scene only a handful of people from Earth had seen personally. Yet, in this new world order, anyone with a little bit power could lay eyes on such a scene.
    Despite the lack of an answer, the attendant didn't dare to make another sound, continuing to kneel in silence.
    Eventually, he spoke.
    "Leave the information here. You can go."
    The voice sounded just as dead as the man's sunken expression. Who knew if it was because it had been too long since his last meal or if this man was really dead, but his skin was pressed so flush against his cheeks that it seemed the bone might tear through it at any moment.
    Scithe picked up the files as the door to his office was closed.
    When he finished reading them, a flicker of disdain couldn't help but flash within his eyes.
    Leonel Morales? They wanted him to personally take care of a brat? Was this supposed to be a joke?
    Scithe shook his head and pressed a button.
    "Find out for me where this Leonel Morales is. It's too painful to descend to the Pseudo Fourth Dimension, I expect no mistakes or else I'll have your head."
    "Yessir!" A voice came from the other side.
    Scithe walked back to enjoying his view, the clanking of his armor being audible with his every step.
    If Leonel had been there, he would have noticed an eerily familiar uniform.
    Robes that split into four pieces at the waist. Legs covered in sheet armor beneath them. A pin that looked like the cross between a star and cross on the lapelбн

 Chapter 339: Branded

    The sudden opening of a door shook Leonel out of his sleeping state.
    He yawned and stretched, sitting up from the table.
    He had to say that sleeping on a table wouldn't have been the most comfortable experience for him in the past. But, after practicing to the Standard Stage, it might as well have been a soft bed to the current him.
    Leonel wiped the tears and sleep from his eyes, finally locking eyes with those that walked into the room.
    There were two individuals, one man and one woman. They both wore the same split robes and metallic leg sleeves.
    'These uniforms are quite cool.' Leonel thought playfully to himself. 'I wonder how I can join?'
    Of course, Leonel was just having a joke at the expense of himself. With his luck in joining organizations, he'd probably be being hunted to his death within another few days. Still, that didn't change the fact he felt these outfits were quite stylish. Sometimes even Leonel himself forgot he was a teenage boy.
    Coach had always said: 'Look good, play good'. The better one felt, the better they could perform. It seemed that this organization, whatever it was, seemed to take this quite seriously as well.
    While Leonel was observing the pair, the two of them were looking toward him with incredulous expressions. Wasn't this young man supposed to be sweating their appearance? Why the hell is it that he was sleeping?
    The young woman wrinkled her nose. It seemed that a negative effect of locking Leonel in here for so long was that his smell had been highly concentrated into this area.
    Leonel slid off the table and put his blanket and pillow away. Flakes of dried blood fell from his body and coated the table, but he didn't bother to clean it. He felt the cleanliness of the room had nothing to do with him, quite frankly.
    Though he had been cleansed twice by his Two Star Constitution and could even stay fresh for longer than normal humans, given enough time, he would still end up in such a state. He was still very much mortal.
    Leonel sat down on the chair as though nothing had happened and smiled lightly.
    "Might I ask what I've been brought in for now?"
    Compared to the first time they saw him, Leonel gaze was much sharper and focused. It seemed that he had really needed that nap. It seemed it might have been an issue to leave him here alone for so long.
    Hearing Leonel's question, the pair soon regained their level of professionalism, sitting across from Leonel as though they couldn't see the flakes of blood and dirt on the table or smell the horrid stench in the air.
    Leonel took out the dictionary and placed it on the table to help him translate.
    "It's our job to monitor suspicious activity." The man replied with a deadpan expression. "In addition, you match the description of several fugitives we've been looking for."
    Leonel smiled bitterly, it seemed that it really was his style of dress that got him thrust into this situation. Had he taken his time to clean up, maybe he wouldn't even be here.
    "I apologize for giving that sort of impression. The reason I look like this is because I recently cleared a Sub-Dimensional Zone on my home world and used one of my rewards in exchange for a ticket to Terrain. In my excitement, I came here right after I left without thinking things through. I've never left my home world before."
    Leonel explained his side of the story politely. Of course, much of it was a lie and in some ways, he really could be considered a fugitive. At the very least, he had run away from his home planet for reasons. But, they didn't need to know that.
    "Plusбн" Leonel said with a bitter expression. "бн I'm just a Third Dimensional existence from a new world, how could I be one of the fugitives you're looking for?"
    Though the pair before him didn't react much to his words, Leonel's senses were exceptionally keen. He could see that they had already believed as much before even stepping into this room.
    Leonel wasn't sure why they brought him in. It might have been to do their due diligence or for another reason he was unaware of. But, he could tell that they didn't truly plan on punishing him.
    Sometimes people with power just enjoyed wasting the time of those beneath them. Leonel felt that this might just be one of those cases.
    Still, since he was weak and had no backing, this was simply one of those things he had to accept with a smile on his face even though he was furious inside.
    As expected, the pair didn't respond directly to Leonel's question.
    The female flipped her palm and took out a folder of documents.
    "You will be monitored by our people for the next three years. As long as you do nothing to violate the laws, you will be relieved of this mark on your record."
    Leonel's smile suddenly faded into a deep frown.
    They wanted the right to monitor him for three years despite the fact he hadn't done anything wrong? What kind of nonsense was this? Was this supposed to be some sort of joke?
    "You want to monitor me for three years despite the fact I haven't done anything wrong?" Leonel asked coldly.
    The man sneered. "If you haven't done anything wrong, what's the issue with being monitored?"
    Leonel nearly snapped at this sort of reasoning. If it wasn't for his better judgment, he might have just pulled out his spear right then and there.
    Maybe in the past, Leonel wouldn't care as much about this. After all, he truly had done nothing wrong and thanks to his experience with The Empire, he was already used to his every action being monitored.
    However, it was precisely because of The Empire that he was becoming more and more sensitive to such things. And, it only made things worse that he was being treated like this just due to ridiculous, unwarranted suspicion.
    Leonel's jaw clenched, his gaze turning a frosty shade of green.
    Without a word, he signed the documents before him.
    As though a contract had bound him, the documents glowed.
    Before Leonel could react, a light shot from within the documents and onto his forehead. A moment later, a thin black brand spread between his brows as though marking him.
    Leonel's fury was stoked several more levels. He had already read through the documents and knew that this would happen, but when he actually felt it, he couldn't help but feel the urge to do something he would regret.
    Seeing Leonel try to maintain control over his emotions, the woman remained expressionless while the man sneered. So what if he was angry?
    He was branded like a slave and couldn't even do a thing about it.

 Chapter 340: Brand (2)

    Leonel closed his eyes, the tumultuous flow of his blood slowing down to a crawl. Rage wouldn't get him anything, anger wouldn't get him anything.
    After a long while, Leonel slowly stood and walked toward the door. He didn't say anything toward the female-male pair. Nothing he said would have changed anything to begin with.
    Seeing Leonel's reaction, the young woman remained expressionless while the male's sneer deepened. Wasn't this sort of reaction obvious? Even if Leonel felt wronged, so what? He may have been worth something on his own world, but in this place, he was nothing but an ant that could be squashed at the whims of others.
    Leonel stepped out from the room and left.
    Even without stepping foot outside the building, he could feel the glances he received as though each was boring into his very being. The mark that hovered above his forehead was too distinctive. Anyone could see it at a single glance.
    Leonel didn't even bother to try and cover it up. He knew that there would be no point. If a simple head band could circumvent such a thing, whatever organization this was truly wouldn't be worth very much to begin with.
    Eventually, Leonel pushed open the doors and stood at the top of a tall and wide set of stairs. For this organization to hold such a large property in such a bustling city, their standing was clear. Every square inch in a place like this likely cost an astronomical amount. As someone from Earth who was familiar with overpopulation problems, Leonel knew this more than others.
    Leonel looked up to the top of the building, seeing the very same star and cross symbol.
    To this point, he still didn't know what the title of this organization was, nor had anyone ever mentioned it to him. It seemed to be one of those things that everyone knew of, but also didn't dare to speak of easily.
    Considering his style of dress, where he stood, and what hung above his forehead, Leonel stood out like a sore thumb. There was no limit of individuals who observed him from afar, whispering to one another.
    However, Leonel continued to stand there as though burning the image of that star and cross into his mind. Then, he turned and walked away.
    **
    "Impossible, we don't accept your kind here. Please leave."
    бн
    "All of our rooms are booked, sir. Please accept our greatest apolo иC Ah! Yes, right away. The room has already been cleaned and prepped. This way please."
    бн
    "Scram! I don't care if you're willing to pay double!"
    бн
    Leonel expressionlessly strolled out of his final attempt. He felt nothing but numbness by this point.
    After a while, he looked up toward the setting sun. It seemed as though the whole day had already gone by.
    In truth, he hadn't spent the whole day searching for accommodations. Most of the time had been wasted away in that organization's building. It was only the past half an hour that he had spent moving from location to location, hoping to find a place of residence.
    Though Leonel had the Segmented Cube, he knew that he couldn't so easily or casually use it. This was no longer Earth, there were plenty of people he had to fear here.
    As of now, he had only used the dictionary as a translator, so no one grew greedy about it. Who would care about such a primitive translation treasure? However, the Segmented Cube was a spatial treasure capable of housing life. If others came to know of it, Leonel would be hunted to the ends of Terrain.
    Leonel saw a food stall in the distance and suddenly realized it had been a long time since he ate anything that he didn't roast himself. Though he had a practically infinite supply of meat thanks to the snowglobes, it got bland eating nothing but unseasoned meat all the time.
    However, before Leonel could even approach, the middle-aged woman who ran the stand gave him a stare as though daring him to come and suffer the consequences.
    Leonel shook his head and sighed.
    There was no purpose in staying in this city anymore.
    Leonel felt several eyes on him as he walked toward the outside of the city.
    'How am I supposed to find Aina like thisбн'
    No one would give Leonel the time of day. Not only could he not find a place to stay, he couldn't find a place to eat. As he was now, it would be impossible to gather any information. How could he if no one would talk to him?
    They say that this mark is only supposed to be a sign of suspicion and not criminality, but who would want a suspicious person around them? It was practically guaranteed to stay this way.
    "The City Gates will be closing in half an hour and will not open again until dawn tomorrow."
    Though the guard could see the mark on Leonel's forehead, he still casually said these words. After all, it was his job to say at least this much. That said, he didn't even look directly at Leonel as he spoke.
    Leonel just shook his head and bitterly laughed.
    Stay in the city? For what? To sleep on the streets? What was the point of that?
    At least if he left the city he could take another rest in comfort so long as he found a deserted region. Also, clothing stores refused entry, so unless he repaired his chain necklace, he would have to make his own clothing. Either way, he would only be able to do this with his Segmented Cube, and he would only be safe to use his Segmented Cube if he left this place.
    "Thanks." Leonel said noncommittedly.
    The guard and his colleagues shook their heads and soon began to converse amongst themselves, not minding Leonel anymore.
    It was just when Leonel was almost out of ear shot that he heard something that caught his interest by relying on the dictionary.

 Chapter 341: Goal

    "Another fugitive, tsk."
    "Technically no, that was just a mark of suspicion. They're only monitoring him. Poor guy probably just got caught up in something that was over his head."
    "Whatever it is, he's pretty stupid to leave the city. He's just asking to die. He hasn't even stepped out of the Third Dimension yet but he wanted to survive outside of the City Walls? Who do you think he'll fall to, an Invalid or a beast? Let's place some bets."
    The guards spoke as they pleased. To them, it was impossible for Leonel to hear them from so far away. And, even if they knew he could hear them, it was highly unlikely that they'd even care enough to stop.
    "Well, what's his alternative? He probably couldn't find a place to stay and he was probably stupid enough to come here with a one way ticket. You think someone like him could even afford a ticket back to his own world?"
    Leonel smiled bitterly. That was true, he had no way back to Earth for now. Though, that wasn't because he couldn't afford it.
    Unlike Earth, Terrain had teleportation pads. This meant that Leonel didn't need to enter a Zone to earn a Tier 9 Black reward to go back. He just had to pay the appropriate fee.
    There were only two issues with this: first, he needed Earth's coordinates.
    This was simple enough, he could just ask the dictionary about it.
    The second issue as much harder to deal with: he had to actually be allowed to leave.
    Even though no one had ever said anything about his travel being restricted, the teleportation pads were still owned by the cities. Just like he could be rejected from entering their hotels, he would be stopped from using their other services as well.
    As for why people who apparently couldn't stand his guts would stop him from leaving, that had an explanation as wellбн No one wanted to be complicit in the escape of a 'suspicious' entity. There was no way they'd help him.
    The guards laughed amongst one another.
    "Still, who do you think those fugitives they're looking for are?"
    The guards fell into silence. All of them looked toward the rookie that asked such a stupid question as though they couldn't wait to skin him alive.
    The rookie, seemingly realizing he said something wrong, lowered his head. He didn't even mumble an apology, hoping that no one acknowledged what he had just asked.
    They all knew that Terrain was currently in a state of turmoil, a crossroads of sorts. Some wanted to ensure their world reached the Fifth Dimension while others felt that doing such a thing was useless.
    As though the internal conflict wasn't bad enough, there were people pulling strings from the backgroundбн and it could be said that those who were pulling these strings were quite invested in ensuring that Terrain abandoned its chances of becoming a Fifth Dimensional world.
    Leonel found the sudden silence of the guards to be quite interesting. It seemed as though this was another open secret everyone was aware of but didn't dare to speak of.
    "Anyway!" The rookie tried to change the subject. "I heard that another power suffered a loss at the hands of the Sword Monstress."
    The guards looked at the rookie weirdly.
    "What kind of name is that supposed to be?"
    "How am I supposed to know? I'm not the one that came up with the name. I hear she's a woman and a monster, so they call her the Monstress. They say she's built and looks like a gorilla and wields a three-meter-long sword, thus Sword Monstress."
    The guards looked at one another all simultaneously sent a kick toward the rookie. What a lame story.
    Leonel shook his head and left. They weren't talking about anything he was interested in any longer.
    **
    A long while later, the road Leonel traveled along began to grow less and less well kempt.
    It slowly became narrower and less paved. Soon, weeds and grasses began to spring up all along it.
    By now, Leonel had left the range of the city. Anyone who was hoping to reach the City Gates within the next half hour before closing had long since passed him by. It was safe to say that he was fairly alone at this point.
    Soon, the flat land began to turn into a forest that quickly grew in density.
    After reaching this point, Leonel entered a state of high alert.
    On his way here, he had crossed two groups heading toward the city. But, both of them had had individuals he felt could squash him luck a bug. If it wasn't for his rags and his weakness, there was no telling if he would have been robbed and killed or not.
    This told him two things.
    First, this meant the Fourth Dimension was a completely different animal. Leonel didn't know why he didn't feel the pressure of this world, but he knew that he couldn't underestimate it just because of this.
    Second, Leonel realized that having such powerful people in your midst was practically a necessity if he wanted to travel through this worldбн
    Of course, Leonel had one advantage: his Internal Sight.
    He could trust it in most cases and dodge danger before he even reached it. After Crystallizing his Spirit Pressure, he could see up to half a kilometer away even in this Fourth Dimensional world. Back on Earth, his range was easily over a kilometer.
    Leonel could only hope that a half kilometer and his instincts were enough to keep him safe.
    After he traveled a decent enough depth, Leonel began to sink into the ground.
    'бн It takes more Force now..'
    Leonel frowned, but he could only keep pouring his Force out. He had already been aware that multiple things would be more difficult after coming to a Fourth Dimensional world. He could only accept it.
    Soon, Leonel's head had disappeared from the surface, completely vanishing.
    He had one main goal in mind. He had to finish his Force Crystallization and complete his Tenth Node. Only then would he had some more assurance in staying in this backwards world.

 Chapter 342: Tailoring

    Leonel sunk deep into the ground and summoned the Segmented Cube.
    Truth be told, he didn't feel 100% safe in this region. There was no telling what kind of powerful beasts could burrow through the ground. In addition, as things stood now, he was still being tracked. There was also no telling what those people would do with that information.
    Leonel shook his head and entered the Abode Setting. He had no idea how he could possibly get so unlucky to land himself in this situation. But here he was, he could only make the most of it.
    'Could it be that something like this happened to Aina too?'
    Leonel's heart suddenly clenched. He remembered that when he sent Aina here, they had quite literally just survived a bombing. It could even be argued that her state was worse than his current own. On top of that, she was severely injured and a beautiful woman alone in this world. There was no telling what could happen.
    Leonel thought back to that bad feeling he had had and clenched his teeth.
    A murderous aura seemed to still the air around him. Leonel hardly noticed it, nor did he realize when he could suddenly exude such bloodthirst. But, all he knew was that if they dared to touch one hair on her headбн He wouldn't care about what consequences going against them could bring.
    Leonel stripped himself of his clothes and began to slowly wash himself.
    It was hard to tell if he was being deliberate or not, but his movements were paced and methodical as though each and every one of his actions had the utmost importance.
    After a long while, he was cleaned and refreshed. Then, he took entered his room and sank into his bed, falling asleep once again.
    **
    Leonel awoke feeling better than he ever had. His body felt like a powerful spring, ready to launch itself into the skies. His injuries were completely healed, even ones hidden well within the depths of his being. And, his mind was clear, even clearer than it had been after his first nap.
    With that, he entered the Lab Setting and set his sights on the many blueprints his father had left behind.
    Truthfully, these blueprints didn't have some powerful, nation rending treasures depicted on them. Rather, they were mostly written as guiders to Leonel's training. As such, most of them were actually related to aspects of forming Divine Armor as it was an outrageously complicated process.
    The general rule of Force Crafters was that treasures with more parts tended to be more complicated. So, one could imagine how difficult forming one's Divine Armor was. Even the simplest designs would have upwards of 40 to 50 parts, something that was far beyond the current Leonel.
    That said, Leonel wasn't looking toward these blueprints to start on his Divine Armor. As things stood now, that wasn't a valuable use of his time.
    Leonel scanned through and picked out a blueprint before unfurling it on his Crafter's table.
    The design that revealed itself was a simple set of clothes that could provide decent defenses. At the very least, they wouldn't break so easily in battle and would also help Leonel stand out less. After all, the sweatpants of Earth looked quite odd in this new world.
    One of the most important parts about forming Divine Armor was understanding the human body and how it moved in relation to its parts. Tailoring clothing was one of the first steps that his father had laid out for him.
    Leonel memorized the blueprint and imprinted it into his mind using Dream Sculpt. Then, he began to choose materials.
    Leonel's snowglobes were filled with Third Dimensional beasts thanks to his time on the Project Hunt Island. Picking out beasts with sturdy hides was just a matter of reaching out a finger and pointing.
    Like this, an odd scene of a naked boy tailoring his first set of clothing could be seen.
    **
    FUU!
    Leonel patted down his robes, causing them to slam down against his body in a whipping motion.
    They had a heavy, leathery texture to them and were a deep black. They followed a similar design to the clothing of that star and cross organization and split at his waist. But, since Leonel didn't want to get into any unnecessary trouble he only split it down once from just below his belly button. That way, the robes wouldn't obstruct his movements despite their heft.
    Compared to the robes, Leonel's pants were much looser and freer. They were made of an exceptionally light material and fluttered with the slightest movement. If one looked closely, it was clear that it wasn't the material that was light as much as the Force Arts Leonel wove into it made it so.
    'Good enough.' Leonel nodded to himself, slicking his hair back.
    His long hair was really getting to be a problem, but cutting it was even more difficult. In fact, as he progressed through strengthening his body, it only got tougher and tougher. Leonel no longer had the means to cut his hair even if he wanted to as it seemed to be even more powerful than his body.
    Toward this issue, he could only shake his head and let his bronzed hair sway toward the small of his back. He could only hope he didn't become a male Rapunzel in the future.
    Leonel took off his robes, leaving him shirtless. Now that he had some real work to do, there was no need to leave such heavy protection on.
    Little Tolly shot up excitedly, bouncing across the table like a little silver basketball.
    Leonel smiled. Ever since Blackstar went into a deep sleep, this little one had been feeling lonely. Even though the two were always at each other's throats, Leonel could tell that they were a bit fond of one another.
    The main reason Leonel left his Zone later than Monet and Violet Rain was because he had used his remaining time with Uncle Montez to infuse the mimicry blood into Little Blackstar. That way, he could assure that absolutely nothing went wrong.
    So, right now, Little Blackstar was assimilating with the blood. But, by the time Leonel finished, the little guy should be up and raring to go.
    Leonel took a deep breath and began to meditate. He was very close to reaching perfection in his Crystallization. Once he did, it would be time.

 Chapter 343: Kidneys

    The days slowly ticked by, but Leonel hardly noticed them. His body was as light as a feather, following along a natural progression that didn't even seem difficult to him.
    Then, one dayбн
    BANG!
    SHUUUUUUU!
    A hot steam shot all around Leonel's body.
    Well, at first look it was just steam. But, upon second inspection, one would be shocked to find that it was actually Force. Tangible Force!
    This wasn't the kind of Force only those with Internal Sight could see. Even mortals who hadn't come into contact with Force a day in their lives would very clearly be able to see it. This sort of shocking Crystallization was the likes of which even King Arthur hadn't reached!
    Leonel took a deep breath.
    All the dense fog around him seemed to surge into his body, entering through his pores and boring into his soul, leaving him feeling incomparably refreshed.
    'I did itбн This should also be the Strong Stageбн'
    Leonel realized that when his body suddenly sucked in all his Force like that, his body broke through another shackle and reached the Strong Stage.
    It had to be remembered that refining one's Metal Body in the Third Dimension was split into five phases. The Weak, Standard, Strong, Superior and Perfection stage. This could be considered the foundation one laid to enter the Fourth Dimension.
    This was another reason Leonel wasn't worried about not having the rest of [Dimensional Cleanse] just yet. Even if he couldn't progress to the Fourth Dimension with his Force, he could still do so with his Soul Force, he could still comprehend the Four Seasons Realm, and he could also bring his Metal Body into the Fourth Dimension as well.
    Regardless of which of these three paths it was, each of them would give him the strength of a Fourth Dimensional entity. So, what did it matter?
    As things stood now, if Leonel wanted, he could bring his Metal Body to the Fourth Dimension this very instant. But, as a person who opened all Nine Doors, how could he waste his potential like that? He had to reach Superior Stage at worst before progressing.
    Leonel flexed his forearms.
    'My body is already nearing the strength of a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional Ore. It wouldn't be easy even for Fourth Dimensional entities to harm meбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath. This gave him even more assurance to form his Tenth Node. He knew that no matter how much he planned it all out, the process would still be impossibly painful. After all, he was trying to break through restrictions set by the universe itself. Even if this could be considered to be a minor restriction in the grand scheme, to the current Leonel, it was an insurmountable mountain.
    Leonel took a deep breath to adjust himself. Then, he took another long bath and deep sleep before finally returning, his body brimming with vitality.
    No matter how you looked at him, Leonel seemed to be a pointed spear. All the hatred, humiliation and grievance he had suffered those few days ago seemed to become his whetstone, sharpening his edge to unimaginable degrees.
    "Let's begin." Leonel spoke to no one in particular.
    His breath shot out like an arrow, trembling the space before his lips.
    He sat crossed legged, a vial of thick, milky liquid in his hands. This was none other than the Dew he had collected in the several months he had the stalactite for. Just a single drop was more than enough to form a Node, but Leonel actually had almost a dozen.
    In that moment, Leonel began to circulate [Dimensional Cleanse] in full force. The speed of his rotation his Stars experienced accelerated and his body suddenly felt bloated.
    Leonel split his mind in two directions, both focusing in on his kidneys.
    Leonel had calculated everything out. If he tried to form his Nodes one at a time, he would get stone walled when he tried to form his Tenth. The only chance he stood was to form them both at the very same time.
    For the current Leonel, splitting his mind in two directions was as easy as breathing. After Crystallizing his Spirit Pressure to perfection, he could already split it over eight ways. So, how could two possibly be an issue?
    Leonel guides his Force, stimulating his life energies, rearranging the cells of kidneys.
    The kidney was an extraordinarily important part of the body. It was responsible for cleaning away many of the impurities of the blood. However, for anyone who had ever suffered a kidney stone before, they would know that even the smallest particle could cause everything to go wrong.
    For Leonel to rearrange his cells, though it wasn't as dangerous as when he had done so with his brain, the immediate pain was definitely far more potent.
    However, from the outside, one would never guess that Leonel was in pain.
    In just an hour, Leonel had already rearranged a hundred cells worth of space, creating a nice pocket for his two Nodes. To this point, despite the pain, everything had gone perfectly. All he had to do now was form his Node within the pockets he had created and connect them with his others. By then, his foundation within the Third Dimension would become perfect.
    Leonel's chest expanded, his thick Force building.
    In one swift motion, he unhesitatingly swung his head back and gulped down the whole vial of dew.
    BANG!
    Leonel's body suddenly expanded by a size. However, it wasn't proportional in the slightest. He looked as though he had suddenly gained a hundred pounds and that his body would burst at any moment.
    However, under the strength of his Metal Body, he kept himself together as his face contorted.
    Blood leaked from his lips, but he willed himself to focus.
    In that instant, all the Force in his body rushed to two locations, carving out a Node Pathway with impunity.
    Leonel's brow trembled, but he bit down on his teeth hard.
    He compressed his bloated body, squeezing his muscles and flexing with all his might.
    Cracks began to spread not only across himself, but even the floors of the Lab Setting. It seemed that he might implode at any given moment.
    But it was exactly then that he felt the Node Pathways complete. One to his left kidney and the other two his right.
    Just when Leonel was about to feel ecstatic, he suddenly felt as though someone had stabbed through the right side of his body and twisted the knife.
    In that moment, a scar Leonel had hardly thought about his whole life suddenly lit on fire. From a faint mark near his liver, it suddenly exploded, radiating out with a blinding light.
    "AGH!"
    Leonel couldn't control his roar. The pain was so excruciating that his eyes rolled back until only their whites remained. His body convulsed uncontrollably.
    There was no need to even mention his breakthrough attempt. He had completely lost control of his Force, his body bursting apart at its seams.
    He flopped to the ground, his body spasming as blood leaked from his orifices. The scar continued to burn brighter and brighter, stretching up the side of his body as though to swallow him whole.
    Leonel could have never thought that the reason he felt nine Nodes weren't enough was precisely because of this scar his father mentioned in the note he left to him all that time agoбн

 Chapter 344: Scapegoat (1)

    Leonel felt as though a blade was twisting through his organs. He had never experienced pain on this level in his entire life. It was to the point that no amount of will could keep his mind clear. Whatever semblance of control he had had over the process of his body had completely collapsed, resulting in a rampaging Force surging throughout his body.
    Anyone else in this sort of situation would have long since died. In fact, they moment they swallowed that amount of dew, they would have exploded on the spot.
    That said, Leonel current situation had little to nothing to do with the amount of Force he had swallowed. In fact, it had nothing to do with him trying to form a Tenth Node either. It was entirely related to the twisting pain at his hip.
    To this point, Leonel still had no idea why his father ever mentioned the scar above his hip. Leonel had never been aware of where it came from. Considering he played football, he had never thought much about it to begin with. Injuries always seemed to pop up randomly for anyone who played the sport. He had even broken his ribs during the last game he played, why would he think so much about a barely visible scar?
    However, Leonel could have never imagined that such a small matter would blow up to this level.
    Leonel's mind was completely blank. His eyes had rolled back, making his vision completely black. It felt as though the only thing he could feel was pain, the only think he could hear were his screams, the only thing he could smell was the metallic stench of his own blood.
    Then, it all began to turn faint. As though his life was being pulled along by a string completely out of his control, he stalked closer toward death. And, maybe the worst part was that Leonel wasn't even aware.
    Maybe it was because his will wasn't tempered enough, maybe it was because this pain was truly beyond the limits of his body, but there was nothing he could do to change his own fate.
    **
    As Leonel was straddling the line of life and death, Scithe had finally gotten the report he had been waiting several days for. After reading it, he furrowed his brow.
    With the level of their organization, digging up information on a mere Third Dimensional existence was too easy. However, Leonel's information was too weird.
    For one, his grandfather was the Emperor of his world.
    Having a world unified beneath one force was incredibly rare to begin with. It was an extraordinary feat and it was impossible for any simple existence to accomplish this, especially when it was a world with so much talent like Earth.
    This alone wasn't enough to cause Scithe to frown. Who cared about the Emperor of a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world? He might find it troublesome if Earth was a Pseudo Fifth Dimensional world, but they were very clearly far from this.
    What made him raise an eyebrow wasn't the information, but rather, the lack of it.
    Firstly, there wasn't a single hint of information about Leonel's maternal grandmother and Emperor Fawkes' wife. It was to the point they hadn't even managed to find her name. No birth records, no name, no death certificateбн nothing.
    As though that wasn't enough, his mother had vanished off the face of the planet. She hadn't been heard of in decades. In fact, the time she had disappeared for far outstripped Leonel's own age which was more than enough to raise some eyebrows.
    Then, there was Leonel's father. Rather than vanishing, the issue with him was that he appeared out of nowhere. There were records that were very clearly forged of his birth and early life, but it was all too simple for Scithe's organization to find out how fake these things were.
    On top of that, he suddenly vanished after the Metamorphosis began. There wasn't a single record of him, nothing.
    Even this aside, there was Leonel himself.
    To summarize the boy as a troublemaker was an understatement.
    The near destruction of a Fort, the murder of several hidden family members, the falling out with the rebels of Earthбн
    Of course, none of these things were enough to move Scithe. What did he care what a teen did against such weak organizations? The real issue was how all of this fit together.
    There were a lot of organizations eyeing Earth right now. In fact, even without the mission he was given, Scithe already had Earth on his radar. This was simply one of those things the public was in the dark about while those with some real weight to them were already taking advantage of.
    What Scithe wanted to know was whether or not Leonel and his mysterious family was part of those eyeing Earth as a pie they wanted a slice ofбн
    If this was the case, then Scithe might very well become a scapegoat in a power struggle simply by virtue of the fact he was unlucky enough to be saddled with this missionбн
    Thinking to this point, Scithe' sunken eyes narrows, his already pale features growing a shade whiter. When he entered such deep thought, his blood seemed to slow by a measure, making him appear to be even more ghost-like.
    'No matter what actions I take now, they have to be done with the utmost secrecyбн'
    Scithe knew that he didn't have the option to reject this mission. This was simply the plight of the weak. However, he also knew that his organization wouldn't throw him out to dry either. If they set such a precedent, it wouldn't be long before no one was willing to work for them.
    This ultimately meant that he needed to set a seed of appropriate amounts of doubt. As long as there wasn't conclusive evidence that he was the one who acted, he should be able to keep a certain level of protection for himself.
    "Where is he now."
    Scithe finally turned the attendant who still knelt on the ground.
    "From our information, he has long since left Earth using a teleportation ticket. But, since these tickets can only teleport someone within a quadrant, there were only about 200 worlds he could have gone to. After looking through the teleportation records of them all, there are 5 worlds that fit the timing and only one registered to Leonel Morales. He should be on Terrain, coordinate xx.xx.xx, at the moment."
    Scithe nodded. "Prepare everything. I want to leave within the hour."
    "Yes!"

 Chapter 345: Scapegoat (2)

    Scithe landed on the teleportation platform.
    Instead of looking around toward his surroundings, he frowned for a moment and closed his eyes, slowly regaining his bearing.
    Despite the fact this was a private teleportation pad in the most secretive location the organization had to offer, there were already two individuals ready to receive Scithe. Neither said a word as Scithe regained his bearings and neither did Scithe acknowledge them.
    Had Leonel been there, he would have immediately recognized these two as the very same male and female pair that had branded him with the mark that now hovered over his forehead.
    When Scithe finally opened his eyes, the two of them stepped forward.
    "Officer Fin greets Commander."
    "Officer Thorn greets Commander."
    Scithe looked toward the two of them indifferently.
    The title of 'Officer' was just another way of saying unranked in their organization, while these 'Officers' all referred to those above them as Commander. It was similar to how some cultures called even those unrelated to them 'Uncle' or 'Big Brother', but in this case, rather than being a polite address, it was a way of drawing a line between true members of the organization and those who weren't worthy.
    "I received information that a certain Leonel Morales came through this city. You have ten minutes to get me information about his whereabouts and other pertinent information. You may leave."
    Fin and Thorn froze, looking toward each other with their heads still bowed.
    Scithe frowned. "What?"
    He could clearly see that there was something wrong.
    The male officer, Fin, looked up carefully and explained everything from start to finish.
    "бн The most recent information we have of him is that he has left the city. If Commander wants, we can use the monitoring brand to retrieve him."
    The truth was that these two Officers hadn't put much stock in Leonel. Though they branded him, that was a matter of convenience rather than necessity. They knew well that the matter was an inconvenience to Leonel and also knew that it was unnecessary to go so far, but so what? Who cared how Leonel felt about it?
    Never could they have expected that someone like Scithe would personally descend for someone they put no importance on.
    When Scithe heard the story, his frown couldn't help but deepen.
    Now, this matter he had been hoping to keep under wraps was likely the talk of much of the city.
    This alone might have been fine, but the real problem was that now Leonel's conflict with their organization was public. There was no getting rid of this stain.
    Even if there was no direct evidence, if Leonel's mysterious backing was strong enough, they might not give a damn and kill those responsible anyway. This was the kind of power true strength could give someone.
    Scithe's frown deepened, causing Thorn and Fin to break out into a cold sweat, even the usually expressionless Thorn couldn't help but tremble.
    After a while, Scithe's frown smoothed out.
    Since others could use him as a scapegoat, why couldn't he do the same? Who said he had to get directly involved?
    It was already a problem that he had come here personally. But, there was good news as well.
    For one, he had come through a private port. Secondly, because he was trying to be secretive to begin with, these two were the only ones who knew about his arrival. And, coincidentally, these two were the only ones with direct contact and interaction with Leonel as well. This made things as perfect and watertight as they could be.
    "Good." Scithe suddenly spoke. "Make sure to monitor him closely, very closely. Should he show any signs of stepping out of line, don't hesitate to punish him according to the law.
    "I will be doing an inspection on this branch for the next while. Do as you usually do."
    With that, Scithe walked by the two officers and disappeared down the corridor, leaving the two of them stunned.
    They weren't sure how they were supposed to take this information. Was there a hidden meaning? Were they supposed to take it at face value?
    "Whatбн what do we doбн" Fin's confident sneer was nowhere to be seen. He looked more like a wounded pup who had been abandoned by his owner.
    "бн"
    Thorn remained silent for a long while. Clearly, she too was confused. In the end, she spoke hesitantly.
    "This may be a testбн The first thing Commander asked about when he came to was about this Leonel character. It's clear that his goal in coming here was related to this young man. But, he became apprehensive after hearing we already had dealings with him.
    "On top of that, Commander came through the private pad only used in special circumstancesбн It's obvious that Commander wants to use us as scapegoatsбн It's clear that this Leonel's background isn't as simple as we once thought."
    Fin shivered at these words. It seemed that he too had already thought of this, it was just that he didn't want to believe it.
    "Butбн This is still an opportunity." Thorn said slowly. "If we can kill this Leonel secretly, or manage to kill him in an above board manner without bending or violating any rules, I think there's a chance we can turn this disaster into a chance to rise up the ranks."
    Fin clenched his jaw. "It's already impossible to kill him secretly. The only chance is to use the latter option."
    "бн Agreed."
    The only question wasбн how could they manipulate this Leonel into making a mistake worth his life?
    Deep within the corridor, Scithe, who the two thought had already left, curled his lip. It seems he was quite satisfied with the conclusion the two officers had come to.
    With that, he turned and truly walked away completely.
    'This is still interesting, though...' Scithe thought to himself. 'This branch seems to be on high alert for fugitives, but why be on alert to the point of coincidentally arresting a Third DImensional ant?'
    It was quite the coincidence indeed. Their organization had two conflicts with Leonel, neither related to the other. It seemed that there was something interesting going on in this quadrant.
    Since he was here, he might as well dip a toe in and profit as well.
    **
    What the two officers and Scithe had no idea about was that as they were speaking, the young man they were plotting the death of was already at death's door.
    Leonel lied convulsing in a pool of his own blood.
    By now, Little Tolly was hopping around anxiously, but the little guy had no idea what to do.
    The scar along Leonel side seemed to be growing more and more vicious with each passing moment. From afar, it looked as though Leonel was boiling from the inside out. The scar was like a burning hot coal, shining with a blazing red-orange light.
    It was as that moment that an already terrible situation seemed to get worse.
    The scar finally stopped growing and began to rapidly shrink. But, with this shrinkage came a violent suction energy. Not only was Leonel's own blood suddenly swallowed from around him, but the vitality within his body was being rapidly drained.
    Soon, Leonel went from a human that was bursting at the seams to a skeleton without an ounce of meat left on his body.
    His eyes sunk in, their whites flickering about wildly. He looked like he was truly at his end.

 Chapter 346: Huh?

    Leonel's skin pressed flush against his bone. Soon, it began to crackle and dry like a thin piece of paper. It even seemed like it just might crack like fine glass and perish into a pile of ash at any moment.
    It was only then that something changed..
    BADDUM! BADDUM!
    Leonel's chest jolted so violently that it seemed like his heart might leap from his chest. The outline of his ribs were so clear in his current state that it was even vaguely possible to see the sudden activity.
    His convulsing body shook once more. This time, a projectile of black blood shot out from his mouth as a familiar heat spread all through Leonel's body.
    If Leonel was conscious, his mind would flash back to the days he spent with his father and a disgusting green smoothie he had to force down his throat everyday.
    Leonel had believed that he already understood the purpose of his father's concoctions. They had helped his body strengthen faster than others after the Metamorphosis despite the fact he wasn't born with an offensive or physical ability. Yet, he could have never thought that these benefits were just mere lingering aftereffects. They couldn't even represent a single percent of what their true strength was.
    At that moment, three things began to occur in Leonel's body at once.
    In his left kidney, a large Force Node of 100 cells had connected with the rest of his body and began to shimmer in full force.
    In his Ethereal Glabella, a sudden surge of Soul Force began to spin violently around itself, quickly forming a Third Star that sent pulses of pure energy outward.
    Andбн In his right kidney, a golden-red stone began to form. Noбн It was more accurate to say that it had begun to reform. And, it was much larger than any one of Leonel's other Nodes. In fact, it didn't seem like a normal Node at all.
    Leonel hadn't realized it before, but a portion of his kidney had been cut out. But, it had been such a small portion that even when he swept his Internal Sight over it, he hadn't noticed a thing. It could be said that it only took up the space of a few thousand cells.
    However, at this moment, not only was the space that had been cut out suddenly filled with a heavy, swirling golden-red energy, but it slowly matured, taking over the whole of Leonel's right kidney until it completely morphed.
    In a process that took several days, Leonel's right kidney turned from a normal organ of flesh and blood to a gem shimmering of gold and scarlet.
    It was clear that whatever had been cut out of Leonel had not only recovered, but it had also strengthened by countless times compared to the past. But, what was most shocking was the fact it took the place of Leonel's Tenth Node, but was very clearly several times larger than his other Nodes.
    The kidney might not have been a particularly large organ, but it was still formed of hundreds of thousands to millions of cells. Compared to the 100 cells that formed Leonel's other Nodes, there wasn't even an appropriate comparison.
    In addition, compared to the Force that usually swirled about Leonel's Nodes and Nodal Pathways, this energy was several levels above anything Leonel had ever come into contact with before.
    It seemed that Leonel's father had gone a bit overboard in helping his son to recover. By normal convention, Leonel would have eventually helped his kidney mature to this state over a long period of time, but it seemed like this would no longer be necessary.
    At that moment, the violent changes to Leonel's body slowly came to a stop.
    As his Three Star Constitution completed, a surge of black, putrid liquid flowed out from his pores and mouth, filling the Lab Setting with a terrible stench. At the same time, the golden-red energy of his right kidney seemed to connect with the rest of his body, causing a purification affect that even managed to match the formation of Leonel's Third Star in a casual manner. And, finally, Leonel's body, after going through so much, broke through another barrier and entered the Superior Stage.
    It was within his body that the most drastic changes began to occur. Whether by design or coincidence, the golden-red energy of Leonel's kidney seemed to resonate with the residual red energy of his Runes.
    Back when Leonel had almost failed and suffered Bloodline Deviation he had managed to turn back in the end, but that experience still left a small influence on him. This was why instead of a pure violet, when he entered his true battle state, his eyes would also contain a tinge of red.
    This redness seemed to be beloved by the energy of Leonel's kidney and they became attracted to one another. Soon, the slight redness of Leonel's Runes became more pronounced. At the same time, the bronze color grew in luster and tended slightly more toward gold.
    The changes weren't escaped by Leonel's hair which also became more gold as it actually managed to survive the formation of his Third Star this time around.
    But, maybe the greatest changes occurred in Leonel's Ethereal Glabella. At that moment, the faint spirit of his Snowy Star Owl seemed to also be influenced. In fact, compared to Leonel's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it resonated with this scarlet gold energy on a much deeper level even to the point of causing faint changes within the 12-Sided Starбн
    As all these changes continued to take place, Leonel remained in a deep sleep. During that time, the spirit of the Segmented Cube seemed to not like the fact its insides had been so dirtied. So, Leonel was swept up and thrust into the bath house of the Abode Setting while the mess he left behind was cleanedбн
    **
    Leonel suddenly gasped awake, his hands erratically touching around his own body as though to make sure it was all still there. It was only then he sighed a breath of relief and realized he had somehow ended up in bed.
    'Did I fail?'
    Leonel sighed. Even if he failed, he thought himself lucky. After all, surviving in such a situation was likely borderline impossible.
    'Hold onбн'
    Leonel frowned.
    If he had failed, why was he uninjured? Could it be that he had only managed to form one Node? That was worse than failing all together because that meant he had no chance of forming his Tenth nowбн
    Leonel couldn't help but feel a bit down.
    He sat up, crossing his legs and sinking into meditation. He might as well check the state of his body. He had always known that this was a nearly impossible endeavor, but for whatever reason, he had never even considered failure.
    "бн Huh?"

 Chapter 347: Scarlet Star Force

    The first thing Leonel noticed was that his Force was somewhat tinged with red. At first, he thought that this was a product of forming his Third Star. But, when he checked on the situation of his kidneys, he was left speechless.
    It became very obvious, very quickly, that the reddish gold energy was coming from his right kidney which shimmered like a gem within his body.
    'What the hellбн'
    Leonel's hand suddenly shot toward his scar, his gaze flashing with an imperceptible light.
    The truth was that Leonel had never thought much about his scar. He had learned about it from his father's note, but that had been before he even stepped into the Mayan Tomb. By the time he went through so many life and death situations and got his hands on the dictionary иC something he could finally use to find out more about it иC it wasn't even on his mind any longer. As a result, Leonel never got around to askingбн
    'Innate Force Nodeбн?'
    When Leonel's mind landed on these words, he was suddenly jolted out of his stupor.
    He remembered that the first time he learned about Innate Force Nodes he had been reading [Dimensional Cleanse]. The creator had mentioned them and even said that created Force Nodes were no weaker.
    But, looking at his right kidney, Leonel had a hard time imagining that his self-created Force Nodes could match up. Whether it was in size, quality or robustness, his right kidney far outstripped anything he had ever come across. In fact, it was an even higher quality than his Light Elemental Force which was an exceptionally high-level energy to begin with!
    Leonel frowned.
    Did this scar mean that someone had planted this Force Node into him? But why had he not noticed it until now? And what was with it being so large? Are all Innate Force Nodes this large?
    Leonel reached out with his Internal Strength and tried to communicate with his right kidney's Node.
    "AGH!"
    A searing pain suddenly shot through Leonel's body. Just a wisp of the Force made him feel as though his body would burn to ash if he continued for even a split second more.
    Leonel broke out into a cold sweat, collapsing.
    What the hell? He couldn't even use his own Innate Force Node? What kind of joke was this?
    Leonel had no idea that he had reawakened his Innate Force Node much earlier than his father had expected.
    Leonel wasn't supposed to try and form a Tenth Node. That was simply suicidal. The fact he tried at all was enough for people to look at him as though he was a madman.
    Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on the perspective, his actions catalyzed the rebirth of his Innate Force Node. But, it also made it far more powerful than he was prepared to deal with.
    Leonel gave up, taking out the dictionary. He really had no idea what was happening.
    "What is going on?"
    Leonel couldn't even come up with pointed questions, he could only ask this. Ever since he left the turbulence of Camelot, the dictionary had begun to work just fine once again.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ бн ]
    After a long while of listening and many more specific questions, Leonel came to understandбн
    His Innate Force Node hadn't been planted into him. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Someone had operated on him as a child and taken it out.
    When Leonel wanted to find out more about this, the dictionary practically cut him out. The only understanding he managed to grasp was that it wasn't his father's family that had done so and even that was only done through various deductions.
    Still, in the end, the Innate Force Node was Leonel's to begin with, it was written into his very being. It just needed a catalyst to rebirth itself. In the end, that catalyst came much earlier than anyone could have ever expected.
    Finally, Leonel learned about just what this energy was.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Scarlet Star Force ]
    Leonel, who was still in a bit of a bad mood after learning he had been operated on without his knowledge as a child, raised his eyebrows.
    "What is that Force?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Scarlet Star Force is a mutated Light Elemental Force that has gained characteristics of Fire Elemental Force and Star Elemental Force. It's a balance of all three that creates an all new energy that ranks among the top of all three Elemental types. ]
    "Oh? Where does it rank amongst the three?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [It ranks top ten of Star Elemental Forces. It ranks top three within Light Elemental Forces. It ranks number one within Fire Elemental Forces.]
    Leonel was shocked. This was the first time the dictionary had given him such a definitive answer about the strength of something. The fact its answer was so decisive and clear made Leonel realize that his Scarlet Star Force was likely something beyond his imagining.
    After taking several deep breaths to calm himself, Leonel asked the final question he had on his mind.
    "What abilities is Scarlet Star Force known for?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Destruction. ]
    Leonel plopped down on his bed, a hint of shock playing his features.
    It was a clean, direct, and unconfusing answer. It couldn't have been more forcefully outlined. And, Leonel believed it with his very being.
    His Scarlet Star Force wasn't as simple as causing damage with oppressive heat or strong power, Leonel quite literally felt his cells quake whenever he observed the energy as though they didn't even want to live anymore.
    This level of Forceбн this quality of energyбн it held a mystery to it that was far beyond what the current Leonel could grasp. Even after just observing it for a moment, Leonel felt as though shackles within his mind were loosening and the feeling was just as profound as the Fourth Dimensional Force Art within his Dream World.
    The only exception was that this Scarlet Star Force was only trying to teach him one thing instead of a myriad of thingsбн
    How to destroy!
    Just when Leonel wanted to experiment to see what his true limits were, he froze, his gaze shooting up to the ceiling of his room.
    Someone was above himбн

 Chapter 348: Uncle Zimo

    "What is it, Uncle Zimo? Why did we stop?"
    The voice of a young lady came out from the midst of an escort. In fact, it wasn't just any young lady, but rather Syl, the friend of the woman who was the cause of Leonel's current predicament, but also, ironically maybe the reason Leonel was still alive.
    The escort was quite long, containing at least 50 individuals. Aside from one large chariot which Syl's voice came from, the rest road odd war horses with twin horns and an underbelly covered in thick scales.
    Uncle Zimo was the very same older man with sparse hair that had taken Syl away from Rie just days ago. But, at the moment, he stood in place at the head of the escort, his hands folded to his back and his gaze narrowed. The issue was that he seemed to be staring into empty space. Other than an unkempt road before him amidst a thick forest, there was nothing else.
    Just when everyone was beginning think Uncle Zimo had gone crazy, the ground trembled slightly and a young man slowly appeared.
    For a moment, it seemed as though the whole of the world revolved around him.
    The young man wore heavy leather robes that exuded the wild air of a beast. His hair, shimmering of gold and bronze swayed slightly beneath the wind, accentuating his sharp, handsome features.
    Though his eyes were colored a dull green, they held a hidden sharpness within them that remained calm even in the face of such a large group.
    It was clear that this young man was still in the Third Dimension. Anyone with Internal Sight could see the faint rejection of the world around him. Yet, somehow, the pressure he exuded was so far beyond that.
    Uncle Zimo's gaze narrowed.
    "Is there a reason you called me out?" Leonel questioned.
    Despite the numerous eyes on him, his voice was steady and calm. However, it seemed to break an illusion everyone had just been under.
    Whether it was by coincidence or design, the aura of the previous Leonel had made everyone ignore a few things. For one, no one had noticed the little mink around his neck until now. And, most importantlyбн no one had noticed the black mark that hovered before his forehead until now as well.
    Upon realizing this, Uncle Zimo's expression became more hostile than it already was, causing Leonel to frown.
    Leonel was getting really tired of people being hostile to him just because of this mark on his forehead. He had even left the city, only for this nonsense to happen anyway.
    The worst part was that Leonel was certain that he was no match for this man. He didn't know enough about the Fourth Dimension to properly measure this man's stats, but all he needed to know was that this Uncle Zimo was far stronger than his previous self. As for how his current self would stack upбн Leonel had no idea, he hadn't even had a chance to measure his limits.
    Uncle Zimo took a step forward, causing Leonel's furrowed brows to darken.
    "I suggest you watch yourself. I'm not in the greatest of moods." Leonel said coldy. "If you insist on attacking me without reason, I'll ensure that your whole escort is swarmed by beasts and Invalids."
    Leonel's sudden words stunned Uncle Zimo. Maybe he had never expected someone within the Third Dimension to speak to him like this. Thee weren't many even within the Fourth Dimension who dared to say such words.
    However, Leonel was clearly not in the mood to mind his feelings.
    First, he was branded like a slave. Then he was forced out of the city without a place to sleep. Then he almost died during his breakthrough, only to find out that someone had snatched something that was his as a child. Even though he had gotten it back now, with Leonel's personality, he was still more than just a little pissed.
    And now, instead of crossing over him without a word, this damned old man stopped the whole escort just to bring him out from the ground and suddenly wanted to target him for something that wasn't his fault?
    Leonel found that his patience for nonsense was getting shorter and shorter as time passed. The longer he spent in this new world order, the more his charismatic, easy going self was whittled away.
    Uncle Zimo's shocked appearance suddenly gave way to a sneer and then laughter. It wasn't just him, many of the soldiers and warriors within the escort couldn't hold it in any longer.
    Yet, Leonel didn't seem to have heard their mocking chuckling.
    He flipped his palm over, a deep black bow appearing in his hand. Even the sun that peaked through the heavy foliage above could only be wholly absorbed by its surface.
    The little mink on Leonel's shoulder bared its little fangs, growling.
    Leonel's aura seemed to change once more, sharpening. A slightly cold wind circled around him, causing the dried leaves at his feet to swirl about.
    He casually nocked an arrow and faced the escort, his indifferent gaze locking onto Zimo.
    It was clear in an instant that he wasn't joking in the slightest. If this old man continued to piss him off, he really would do something.
    Uncle Zimo stopped laughing and frowned.
    "Do you really think any beasts would be attracted by your mere Third Dimensional Force? Do you think I would need my Fourth Dimensional Force to deal with you? Do you think this is a fairy tale?"
    Leonel's gaze remained without expression. It was as though he hadn't heard Zimo's words at all.
    His entire demeanor seemed to say 'try me'.
    His own Third Dimensional Force wouldn't attract Invalids here, but what if he activated his Winter Four Seasons Realm comprehension? He had already reached the pinnacle of Crystallization, what if he broke into the Fourth Dimension with his Soul Force right here? And even if he ignored all of that, what about his Scarlet Star Force? Was there a beast or Invalid in the world that could withstand its temptation?
    At this point, Leonel was truly daring Zimo to act. He would gladly bury this arrogant prick right here.
    At the same time, Uncle Zimo was growing more and more pissed. A mere Third Dimensional ant actually dared to speak to him this way? The worst part was that he really didn't dare to call Leonel out on his bluff.
    Even if he truly believed Leonel was spewing nothing but nonsense, he had a responsibility to protect Zimo. Even if there was only a 1% chance, he was trained to not risk it.
    His gaze turned hard as he stared down Leonel, but the latter met his gaze without a worry.
    "It's you?"
    Suddenly, a voice cut through the atmosphere.
    Leonel frowned. Not only did he recognize the voice, just hearing it made him more pissed than he already was.
    At that moment, two women peeked out from the carriage, one of whom was Rie, the very woman who caused much of Leonel's troubles in this world.
    The moment she spoke, Leonel's glare landed on her, causing her trouble breathing to come back several folds stronger. She nearly collapsed where she stood.
    Uncle Zimo suddenly took a step forward, butбн
    SHUUUUUUUUUU!
    He had hardly moved when an arrow landed barely a centimeter before his foot.
    In that instant, he froze. This wasn't because he felt the danger of the arrow. It was slow and for someone like him, dodging it would have been possible. The issue was that he hadn't even finished lifting his foot when the arrow landed before him right in the area he had wanted to step toward.
    The awkward sudden stop shifted his momentum backward, causing an arrow that wouldn't have been lethal to him regardless to make him look ridiculous.
    Leonel's gaze left Rie and landed back on Uncle Zimo, his expression becoming even colder. Now that he knew this escort was led by that woman, his impression of them was even worse.
    "Boyбн" Zimo's voice came out in a low growl.
    "Uncle Zimo, stop." Syl's voice suddenly calmed the atmosphere once again. "Young man, how about we have a chat?"
    Leonel frowned and looked away from Zimo once again. What did this woman want?

 Chapter 349: Mess

    Syl was a bit off put by Leonel's reaction. What young man wouldn't want to have a talk with a beauty like her? What was his issue?
    However, with her noble upbringing, it was impossible for such thoughts to cross her face. In fact, they were just fleeting thoughts of hers she didn't spend much time on to begin with.
    "Did you not hear her?"
    Just when Leonel was thinking of what he should be doing, a young man riding one of those odd war steeds glared toward Leonel. It was clear that he was very much unsatisfied with Leonel's attitude.
    'What the hell is wrong with these people?' Leonel almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes.
    It was as though everyone who he met made it their duty to piss him off.
    "If you want to speak with me, there's nothing wrong with the current arrangement. I would hate to get attacked again just for breathing the same air as you." Leonel said indifferently.
    Syl was even more stunned by these words, while? Zimo's expression darkened. As for the young man who spoke out, his hands slid to the sword by his side. It seemed that he too was losing his patience.
    No one seemed to realize that Leonel's words were correct, even if they were somewhat rude.
    He had just been dragged up from deep within the earth just because he happened to be along their way. Who knew what would happen if he actually accepted this advice? He didn't have a death wish.
    The only reason Leonel set himself up so close to the road to begin with was because beasts tended to avoid the human population so they would be less likely to be near where humans frequented. But, he didn't expect this logical choice to land him in trouble.
    Rie stomped her feet. "He's so rude, Syl. Just get Uncle Zimo to beat him up so we can leave."
    Leonel's gaze swept over Rie once more, causing the rest of her words to get caught in her throat. Whatever she meant to say came out in a whimper, dying in her chest.
    Syl comforted Rie for a moment before peeking back through the window of the carriage.
    She observed Leonel for a long while. She couldn't help but be curious, plus, she felt a bit guilty. She had happened to overhear some of the things Leonel had suffered through in the city thanks to the actions of her friend. The fact he was hostile wasn't too much of a surprise. It could even be said it was partly her fault for giving Rie an inside path toward a job she wasn't qualified for.
    "Iбн" Syl hesitated. "бн I'm in need of a guard. The pay is quite good, if you're interested."
    Zimo's expression changed. Guard? What better guard was there than him? Even if he failed, there were still 50 others. And, even if those 50 failed, there were still the hand selected youths for this important event. And, even if by some act of a god all of this failed, there were still the life saving measures she had as the young miss of a preeminent family.
    What need did she have for a Third Dimensional guard?
    The young man riding the war horse by Syl's carriage carried the worst expression. How did asking for a new guard reflect on himself?
    But, Leonel's words made it all worse.
    "I have no interest in being a bodyguard. I only want to leave this place without being targeted." Leonel said plainly.
    Though he was in need of an organization to gain information from, Leonel had no interest in this nonsense. He had to figure out a way to find Aina or at least get her to find him and joining a group with so much clear hostility toward him was the last thing he wanted to do.
    Syl was once again stumped. She tried to be nice, but if Leonel didn't want it, there was no way for her to force him to accept her kindness.
    Of course, if Leonel knew her thoughts, he would think she thought too much of herself. It was an act of kindness for him to act as her guard? Compared to those here, even if his physical strength couldn't match up, his Internal Sight was most definitely unmatched. His ability to keep her safe by avoiding danger alone would be better than everyone here.
    Even if it wasn't about his Internal Sight, Leonel was starting to get a better and better understanding of his talent and how it matched up to others the longer he spent in this new world order. Maybe in a time as short as a month, Syl wouldn't have the face to ask him for such a thing.
    After a moment of being flustered, Syl still didn't know how to respond. It was then that something no one could have expected to happen, happened.
    "Zilar, your quota is revoked. Young man, I would like for you to take his place in representing out Keafir family, what do you think?"
    The young man riding the odd, scaled war horse froze. All the animosity and hatred he had on his face was suddenly washed away by despair.
    The delicate voice sounded from within the carriage. Though Leonel couldn't see who had spoken, he felt as though her words manifested into a painting of her image. It was gorgeous, pure and flawless, riding the cool wind like a fragrant breeze.
    Leonel didn't know why, but he was compelled to say yes almost immediately.
    However, everyone else was shocked beyond belief. Let alone Zilar, even Syl who had wanted to take Leonel as a body guard and Zimo who had wanted to kill Leonel just moment ago stood frozen.
    Leonel might not have known who had just spoken, but they knew well who it was.
    She was none other than the future Matriarch of the family, the woman both Rie and Syl called sister-in-law and the wife of Syl's only elder brother иC Mistress Heira.
    Compared to Syl, the word of this woman was practically law. Since she had spoken, things were practically final. It was to the point where even if Leonel wanted to run, Zimo wouldn't allow him to. In fact, it was to the point that any hostility Zimo had toward Leonel could only be buried deep within his heart.
    Realizing the sudden change in the atmosphere, Leonel seemed to understand that turning this 'offer' down wasn't an option.
    But, what was this quota this woman spoke of? What mess had he been thrust into this time?

 Chapter 350: Auspicious Air

    Leonel sat in the carriage completely expressionless as though he couldn't sense the numerous glares coming at him from the outside.
    The truth was that if he was a bit less thick skinned, he would be embarrassed as well. He was currently the only man within the carriage and the reason for this was quite embarrassing as well.
    бн He really hated riding horses.
    Leonel sat in a corner to himself, ignoring the fragrance that hung in the air. He had never been very moved by such things to begin with. Even the beautiful Mistress Heira only caught his attention for a moment before he didn't glance her way again.
    Indeed, she was quite beautiful. In fact, it seemed that Leonel would meet a new most beautiful woman he had ever seen every other month. It was as though they all grew on trees and were being picked for him in terms of quality.
    But, Leonel knew that the truth was that the more powerful the woman, the more beautiful they seemed to be. This was likely just a matter of evolution.
    Heira, though, seemed to be particularly fairy-like.
    A head of flowing white hair, two crystal-like, shimmering blue eyes, a delicately sculpted noseбн Everything down from the slight blush of her cheeks to the slenderness of her fingers were all perfectly sculpted to enrapture a man.
    It somehow made Leonel think of Aina, not for their similarities, but for their differences.
    Leonel's memory of Aina wasn't as beautiful. In fact, even when Aina wore dresses and portrayed the image of a shy, reserved lady, he had always noticed her tanned skin.
    Of course, on Earth, women took tanning as a trend, at least in the western parts of the world. This was a trend that held strong from the 21st century even to this current point.
    But, Leonel knew that Aina wasn't the type of person to artificially tan herself or lounge out in the sun. Subconsciously, he always knew that her tan must have come from something else. In fact, it was precisely because of Aina's tan that Leonel first became interested in her and his curiosity eventually got the best of him.
    Lost in thought, Leonel suddenly smiled. It seemed he missed her quite a lot. He longed to fight side by side with her again.
    Those warriors who caught sight of Leonel's smile through the window were stunned before feeling furious again, especially when they saw that Rie and Syl had entered somewhat of a daze.
    Leonel didn't seem to notice the reactions of the others around him as he closed his eyes, entering a state of meditation as he allowed the little mink to cuddle in his arms. At that moment, it seemed as though the air around him had subtly changed.
    Though he wanted to ask about what he had just gotten himself into, since Mistress Heira hadn't said a word, he could only remain silent as well. With his Dream World, he could still improve himself without moving an inch.
    As Leonel fell into meditation, Rie looked somewhat jealously toward the little mink in his arms, causing Syl to giggle.
    "For someone who claims to be scared of him, you sure interact with him a lot." She said teasingly.
    Rie pouted. "I just wanted to pet it, why couldn't I just pet it?"
    Little Blackstar opened one of its eyes to look at Rie before closing it and ignoring her once again. This disregard almost made her stamp her foot in rage.
    Heira remained silent throughout the antics of the two girls, sending a curious gaze toward Leonel.
    'Interestingбн' She thought, smiling to herself.
    бн
    Leonel's mind fully entered his Dream World. At the moment, he could split his mind nine ways, so he put one to the task of monitoring the surroundings of his main body while the rest immersed themselves.
    'I've mastered 300 spears to nowбн If I want to completely grasp the Chain Domain, I still have 1700 more to goбн'
    Leonel sighed, it took him months to reach that 300 or so spear mark. It would probably take him years to finish comprehending just a singular spear domain, yet that wasn't even a single percent of the spears within the Spear Domain ring.
    'If only I could breakthrough nowбн'
    Leonel knew that his ability was directly tied to his Soul Force. If he broke through to the Fourth Dimension with it, his ability would definitely evolve to an all new level. But, it was simply too dangerous to do this in the wilderness.
    This was the real reason Leonel swallowed all of that dew in one go previously. He didn't want to risk running out of Force and having to pull from the atmosphere. If he did, he would have probably been swarmed and died.
    Unfortunately, he had no dew left. And, even if he did, the dew wasn't compatible with his Soul Force as it was normal Force. In addition, it was only of the Third Dimension, not the Fourth, so it was completely unhelpful.
    Leonel shook his head. If he hadn't been kicked out of the city, this wouldn't have been a problem. But, life wasn't fair.
    'Maybe I should just try to Dream Sculpt those Four Seasons Force Artsбн?'
    Leonel rejected this idea immediately. He would need to bring them out from the snowglobes in order to do this. Someone as sharp as Heira would definitely see through their specialness. By then, it'd be a wonder if he could even keep them.
    Leonel wasn't foolish enough to simply believe Heira was a good person just because she was beautiful and had a pleasing voice.
    'Then it seems my only option is to focus on comprehending the changes to my body and comprehending more spearsбн'
    Leonel shook his head. There were really too many things limiting him.
    'Waitбн'
    Leonel's gaze suddenly sharpened. He looked up toward the very top of his Dream World, locking eyes with a massive sphere of Force Arts.
    With a thought, a spear manifested in Leonel's hands. It was adorned by feathers and seemed quite light to the touch. In addition, it was wildly flexible, waving about at the slightest movement of Leonel's wrist. It felt more like a loose string or a whip than a spear.
    This was one of the spears that Leonel had yet to master.
    Leonel locked eyes with the spherical Force Art and suddenly brandished the spear. He instantly fell into a state of enlightenment.
    What he didn't know was that at the very instant he did, Heira's gaze suddenly shot open like an eagle. The air around Leonel had changed once again.
    'Auspicious Airбн?'

 Chapter 351: Depth Mastery

    Auspicious Air. Ancient Aura. Heavenly Enlightenment.
    It went by many names across just as many worlds. But, regardless of what it was called, the rarity of it didn't change at all. Even the normally calm and unflustered Heira couldn't help but be shocked at this moment. It was to the point her eyes widened uncontrollably.
    "Sist иC"
    Heira raised her slender finger to her pink lips, shushing Syl. It seemed that she was afraid of waking Leonel from such a rare state. It was clear that she had no idea that Leonel had entered this state by choice and it wasn't a mere rare chanceбн It was something beyond that.
    A few minutes later, the air around Leonel suddenly vanished and he woke up within his Dream World. At that moment, he too was stunned.
    'Three minutesбн It took three minutesбн'
    Leonel was shocked. Usually, it would take him a few hours to master a spear if he went all out.
    In truth, this was already shockingly fast. If others came to know he could do this, there was no telling what kind of sensation it would cause.
    However, Leonel came to realize that as he climbed the hill, the more difficult it became and the more hours he had to pour in to master these spears. Before he realized it, a few months had passed and he had only mastered 300 or so of the over 2000 he needed to.
    But, this took him only three minutes?!
    The most shocking part was that he had only comprehended with one mind. What if he split his mind eight ways and reflected on the Force Art from eight different directions at once?
    бн
    Heira sighed. 'It only lasted a few minutes, but that would be enough for him to meditate on for a lifetime. He's quite a lucky child --.'
    Heira almost choked. Leonel entered the state again.
    Her elegant demeanor was suddenly thrust out the window.
    бн
    Leonel began to experiment. Would it be more efficient to comprehend numerous spells at once? Or meditate on the same spear? What about if he spent four mind splits on one spear and four on another? What if he spent two on each spear?
    Leonel exhausted all this options, hopping into and out of a state Heira thought was nearly impossible to touch in the first place. By the end of it all, she felt so numb that she may very well have been close to losing her mind.
    Syl and Rie watched this scene play out from the side, completely stunned. They didn't know what had happened to their elegant and refined sister-in-law to make her act like this.
    In truth, Heira's reactions weren't very exaggerated. To other people, they could only be considered to be a slight reaction. Maybe a slight opening of her pink lips, a slight raise of her brows, a slight twitch at the corner of her eyes and lashesбн However, for Heira, this was the equivalent of her jaw dropping to the floor.
    Of course, Leonel had no idea what these women were feeling. He wouldn't care even if he knew. After all, the Force Art was within his Dream World which was essentially just a projection of his memories in his mind. It was impossible for anyone to take from him.
    бн
    'Is this his abilityбн?' Heira finally concluded.
    When Heira came to this conclusion, she sucked in a cold breath. She suddenly understood why Leonel would disdain to be a bodyguard.
    Though Heira had already seen through Leonel's potential, it seemed that even her own evaluation was too low. Someone with such an ability wouldn't be restricted byбн anything!
    Of course, Heira was technically incorrect, but also could be considered to be correct in a way as well. Without his ability, it would truly be impossible for Leonel to do what he was doing now.
    'бн If this is truly the case, we have picked up a treasureбн Butбн This treasure will be difficult to controlбн'
    Mistress Heira regained her calm. No matter how one looked, it had become impossible to read her thoughts from her expression.
    бн
    'So that's how things areбн'
    Leonel realized several things through countless experiments.
    For one, it was far more efficient to split his mind and meditate on the same spear.
    From Leonel's trials, for a spear at the bottom of the hill, it took about a single minute to master while meditating on the Natural Force Art. For one nearer the middle, it took about five minutes. For one near the top, it took upwards of ten minutes.
    However, if he meditated on a spear with two minds at once, the time was lowered by a factor of three. A lower tier spear would take 20 seconds and so onбн
    The more minds Leonel used, the efficiency became greater and greater. Eventually, when he used all eight minds, it took him no more than a second or two for a lower tier spear and not even a third of a minute for a higher tier one.
    Still, even this wasn't the greatest realization Leonel had made.
    When he went back to the base of the Spear Peak in order to experiment with lower tier spears, he realized that masteries could be separated into tiers.
    Leonel personally chose to split masteries into two tiers. One, the lower, was what he called 'Shallow Mastery', while the higher was named 'Depth Mastery' by him.
    Shallow Mastery was all Leonel had grasped until now. In order to evoke this mastery, he had to recall the memories and project the image of the spear consciousness outward. This was why whenever he battled with his spear, the images of the spear owners would pop up.
    However, when he reached Depth Mastery, this evocation was no longer necessary. It became ingrained into his very bones.
    In order to reach Depth Mastery, the requirement was ten times the time.
    This meant for a lower level spear, it would take about 20 seconds. For a middle level spear, it would around two minutes. For a higher tier spear, it would take around four to five minutes.
    But for Leonel, this was well worth it because he realized that when he reached Depth Masteryбн
    The stamina it took him to use his Dreamscape Battle Sense plummeted!

 Chapter 352: Madwoman and Madman

    Leonel lost track of the days, causing the ladies within the carriage to almost become worried.
    This wasn't because they were worried for Leonel and it wasn't because they were worried about their own safety having to sleep in the same region as a man either. After all, with Mistress Heira here, even if Leonel had evil thoughts, whether or not he'd be able to keep his life for more than a few seconds was the real question in such a situation.
    What they were really worried about was cleanliness. They were very much worried that Leonel would ruin things with his presence. And, as though this wasn't bad enough, he hadn't moved in almost a week already.
    But, as time passed, they began to realize something extraordinary. Despite not making any attempts to clean himself, Leonel actually didn't smell. In fact, he looked the exact same as he had when he began to meditate without a care in the world.
    Not only that, but he didn't even try to strike up a conversation with any one of them. It made sense for him to maintain distance from Heira. After all, considering how much Syl's elder brother doted on his wife, he might very well kill Leonel just for being in her presence like this. But what about Rie and Syl?
    The two women began to feel that there was either something wrong with them, or something wrong with Leonel.
    "Hm?"
    Leonel's eyes suddenly shot open. A piercing gaze seemed to tear through the air before him as the faint light of a spear shot into the void.
    Mistress Heira didn't miss this subtle change. But, before she needed to act, Leonel snuffed out the aura himself.
    Leonel sent his gaze out of the carriage window, finding an ever looming city quickly approaching. But, this city made the one he had landed in seem like a children's toy.
    Its walls were hundreds of meters tall, projecting an air of not only strength but also artistry.
    Leonel never thought that he'd be thinking such a thing about wall, but here he was.
    The walls were a gentle gold color accented by a strong crimson red. Depictions of valiant warriors and magical beasts were etched across its surface, projecting a three dimensional landscape of war.
    Just staring at the images made Leonel feel as though the clanging of weapons and the roaring of beasts were reverberating in his mind. Yet, he couldn't take his eyes off of it.
    He felt his blood boil, his eyes flickering on and off with a violet-red color that shrouded the carriage in an oppressive air.
    This feelingбн It was the very same feeling he had the first time he faced an army of demons.
    Syl and Rie shivered, inching away from Leonel while lamenting that the massive carriage was still too small.
    Mistress Heira's gaze trembled. She too felt her heart palpitate.
    She could tell that this was the first time Leonel was seeing these walls. Usually, it was impossible to become so immersed during a second or third attempt. In addition, most would miss the opportunity and look away after losing courage, not knowing they were leaving an opportunity of a lifetime behind.
    Heira could have never expected that Leonel would not only keep looking, but he had even awoken from his meditation as though he had sensed it calling out to him.
    "бн This has no business on a Fourth Dimensional Worldбн" Leonel suddenly mumbled.
    The words were only meant for himself, but Heira's eyes widened when she managed to grasp them.
    In the end, she smiled lightly. Though she did, with her demeanor, it was no more than the slightest curl of her lip.
    "Leonel, you are quite patient. All this time, you haven't asked what it is you'll be participating in."
    Leonel blinked out of his thoughts and looked toward the future Matriarch of the Keafir family. This was the first time she had spoken with him since he entered this carriage.
    "бн I figured you'd tell me when it was time." Leonel finally replied.
    Heira's beautiful blue eyes fluttered. Then, without responding directly to the question, she looked toward the city in the distance.
    "Do you know what that city represents?"
    "Bravery." Leonel said without hesitation.
    Heira seemed surprised by this answer before she smiled lightly. This time, her smile seemed much more obvious than it had been in the past.
    "That's one answer." She said noncommittedly. "My answer, though, is even simpler than that. It's Survival."
    Leonel's heart stilled for a moment. A flood of unknowable emotions surged through him, causing his blood to rumble once more.
    "You say bravery because you have the strength to say as much. To those without power, it's never about something so idealistic. All they want to see is their next day, their next meal, their next breath. It's not about anything more than that."
    Syl's eyes glittered as she looked toward Leonel. Is this boy really powerful enough to gain such an evaluation from her sister-in-law?
    As for the simplest among them all, Rie, she almost couldn't refrain from harrumphing. She clearly didn't like anything that praised Leonel. What powerful man would bully a young, beautiful girl like her? More pointedly, what powerful man would have such a slave brand?
    Leonel didn't respond to these words.
    This wasn't the first time he had run into such a problem. His talk with Roaring Black Lion all those months ago still resurfaced in his memories from time to time.
    "You could say that this is a matter of survival for our family. So, I hope that you'll treat this with the appropriate amount of seriousness."
    It was only now Leonel realized that he was dealing with a mad woman.
    This woman knew nothing about him. Yet, she directly snubbed a genius likely handpicked by their family in favor of him, a man branded with a mark that might as well have assigned him as a slave.
    If she wasn't mad, then how else would you describe it?
    Yet, Leonel couldn't help but find himself grinning.
    If he couldn't find Aina, the next best option was to raise holy hell until she caught wind of him being here. If this place was really so important, wouldn't it be perfect for him?
    He was beginning to think that Heira might have taken a liking to him because he too was a madman.

 Chapter 353: Ensnared

    "That's the Kaefir family's entourage!"
    The outside of the valiant city was bustling. It was not much different from the people of Earth meeting their celebrities.
    To the common folk, a family that ruled of a City like Kaefir's was far beyond their reach. To see them in the flesh like this was an opportunity of a lifetime.
    These people knew that they would never have the chance to enter Brave City. But they still traveled here from all over just to catch a glimpse of the festivities. The best part was that they could do so safely. No beasts or Invalids would dare to enter even the ten kilometer radius of Brave City. The aura around it was simply too oppressive. Thanks to this, it was often even safer to be here than it would be to stay at their homesбн
    "The Swan family escort is here!"
    The crowd boiled once again. What could excite the people more if not rivalry and competition?
    Not only were the Swan and Keafir family's both long standing enemies, but they also both had the strength to stand out amidst the crowd.
    Terrain had a system of Cities and Powers. They worked together to balance one another.
    While the Cities were ruled by City Lords, the Powers were ruled by Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
    Of course, there were divisions amongst Cities and within Powers. But, both Kaefir and Swan City were both the highest Tier 9 Cities. They stood at the helm of the world along with the strongest Powers. If not, they would never have teleportation hubs.
    The warriors of the Swan and Kaefir families swept glances over one another, a haughty air exuding from them all. They seemed to toe a line of acknowledgement and indifference.
    Both entourages came to a stop about half a kilometer from the looming city gates. Even as members of the escort, they were aware that they wouldn't be allowed to enter the city gates. Only the elites amongst the elite would be allowed to do such a thing.
    At that moment, the crowd became entirely focused on the carriages near the middle of the entourage and the small group of elites around it. They all knew that the group of young men and women around the center and the elites within the carriage were the only ones that would be able to take the stage.
    At that moment, Zilar's expression was gloomy as could be. He gripped the reins of his war horse so tightly that the imprint seeped into his skin and even became soaked with blood.
    Those who had gained a quota along with Zilar looked toward him with pitying gazes and couldn't help but push their hatred for Leonel up another notch.
    This adulation should have been Zilar's. Yet, he wouldn't even get to participate? in something he had worked so hard for. How could he also not be enraged? But, in a world where power spoke over all, there was nothing he could do.
    Mistress Heira was more powerful than he was, so her word was final. Nothing more, nothing less.
    At that moment, the door to the Swan family's carriage opened.
    The first to step out was a young woman. Her demeanor and elegance was a step below that of Mistress Heira. However, her looks were not in the least bit inferior.
    Her charm lay in her openness. She wore a modest blue dress that matched well with her deep black hair and fair complexion. A perpetual, inviting smile hung from her lips, capturing the hearts of all those who saw her.
    The moment this young woman stepped out, eight youths riding war horses of their own stepped down from them, following to her back in an orderly fashion.
    "Young Miss Swanбн"
    The crowd seemed to be breathless for a moment.
    Just as the atmosphere was reaching its peak, the Keafir family carriage opened.
    Syl descended with a bright smile. She didn't look directly at the crowd, but it still felt as though she had greeted them all one by one. She was nothing like the flustered young lady who didn't know how to respond to Leonel's bluntness and played every bit the part of elegant noble woman.
    Her charisma was no less than Young Miss Swan. In fact, since she picked up some tips from her own sister-in-law, her own demeanor was even slightly more refined than the latter.
    However, it was at that instant that something no one could have possibly expected to happen occurred.
    Another person stepped out from the carriage, but his appearance came with what sounded like the shattering of countless hearts.
    The moment the young man appeared, it was as though a spear had suddenly been brandished before the world. A sharpening blade resonated in the ears of all those who saw him, causing the air to grow several times heavier.
    The young man's almost golden hair swayed gently beneath his billowing aura, a faint violet hue collecting around him like a cloud. It felt as though his immediate surroundings had become his inescapable domain, a place he controlled all to his own.
    For those moments, he overshadowed Syl completely. Thoughts that he wasn't worthy to stand by her side didn't even have a chance to manifest before they were ruthlessly crushed. It was to the point that no one even noticed the black brand between his brows.
    At that moment, let alone those watching on, even Syl was stunned. Was this the same young man who had sat quietly within their carriage for so long? The same young man who had entered their city in rags?
    The legs of the war horses around Leonel trembled, causing some of the riders to almost fall off completely.
    Zimo's eyes narrowed. At that moment, he admonished himself for ever doubting the judgment of the Mistress.
    Leonel swept a gaze over the crowd. He knew that in order to catch Aina's attention, he had to stand out as much as possible. He no longer bothered to restrain his aura, nor did he feign his usual modesty. Since he was here, he would make sure his name resounded throughout Terrain.
    At that moment, even the elegant Young Miss Swan couldn't help but look toward him with a hint of shock and curiosity in her eyes. Then, she swept a glance toward Syl with a teasing expression.
    ...
    Within the carriage, Heira was holding back a pouting Rie who was clearly dissatisfied by the fact she wasn't allowed to go.
    "Sister-in-law I want to go too!"
    Heira shook her head. "You can enter the spectator stands with me later. You won't be able to enter the gates the normal way regardless."
    Though Heira spoke these words to appease Rie, it was clear that she was absentminded.
    Her gaze glistened as she watched Leonel's back through the curtains of the carriage. She felt that this was the true Leonelбн But if that was the case, he'd be even more difficult to control than she thought.
    Still, he was a bit too na?ve. Regardless of what reasons he had for showing off his sharpness now, he was already being slowly ensnared by her.
    Looking toward her little sister-in-law's blushing face as she gazed toward Leonel who had suddenly appeared to her side, Heira's slight smile appeared once again.

 Chapter 354: Never an Option

    Leonel's aura blazed like the sun. Somehow, even with a beauty like Syl standing by him, she was the one who was overshadowed.
    "Who is thatбн?"
    The crowd had fallen into a temporary silence before they suddenly erupted with discussion.
    "Am I seeing things? Did the Kaefir family marry my goddess away?"
    In the minds of those on Terrain, the only reason a male could be sharing a carriage like this with the younger sister of the Kaefir family Heir could only be this. These big families cared too much about their reputation to allow even an inkling of rumors to start without adequate cause. This meant that even if these two weren't betrothed now, it wouldn't be long before they were.
    Of all those here, Syl seemed to be the one who understood this the most clearly, especially after she realized her sister-in-law was actually blocking Rie from exiting the carriage.
    Even if Rie's appearance wouldn't completely quell the rumors, it would at least calm some of the heat she was feeling now.
    Leonel, however, seemed oblivious to all of this. He took a step forward, his gaze sweeping over the youths who had descended from their war horses. He could easily sense the hostility in their eyes. But, surprisingly, Zilar, who should feel the most wronged, was silent and refused to meet his eyes.
    "I can tell that you all are unsatisfied."
    Syl blinked, not expecting Leonel to be so direct. The version of Leonel she knew was closed off and restrained. She had no idea that this wasn't the real Leonel.
    Leonel wasn't a cold or arrogant person. He liked to think of himself as social and lively. But, circumstances seemed to constantly be pushing his true self away.
    Hearing Leonel's words, as though they held some compelling spell to them, the youths who were glaring at him still couldn't help but listen.
    "And, though I know you all don't want to hear it, I'm sure you also understand that it wasn't my choice to be here either, right?"
    Zilar clenched his fists.
    "Hey, watch your words!"
    A petite young woman stepped toward Leonel. Clearly she didn't like Leonel's words.
    What worse thing was there to hear after losing something that the person who got it didn't even appreciate it? In some ways, that felt worse than said person just gloating.
    That said, how could Leonel not understand this?
    He swept a glance toward the petite young woman, causing her next words to get caught in her throat. For whatever reason, beneath Leonel's direct gaze, she couldn't seem to muster up any courage to continue her tirade.
    "I don't say this to belittle Zilar, I say this so that we can get an understanding of one another. Those were simply my feelings in the past. Now that I've seen those city gates and laid eyes on the war scenes it depictsбн"
    Leonel's hair billowed beneath his aura, his eyes blazing like two torches. He couldn't help but grin, the rushing of his blood sounding like crashing waterfalls in his ears.
    "бн I have not a single intention of giving my spot up."
    Leonel's almost fiendish grin caused the petite woman to stumble.
    "You seven and Syl are my teammates. I hope that instead of letting animosity get the best of you, you'll realize that sabotaging me is the very same as disrespecting Zilar."
    The young woman and the others were stunned.
    That was right, if they could get enraged simply because Leonel said that he didn't want the position to begin with, how much worse would it be to ruin the opportunity he had?
    Suddenly, the petite young woman felt as though she had fallen into a trap she couldn't get out of.
    Leonel smiled. "Let's go."
    Leonel turned toward the gates. Despite the fact they were half a kilometer away, it felt as though they were bearing down on him. This level of majesty was far beyond anything he had seen in his lifetime before.
    Syl and the others subconsciously followed his steps, not realizing their actions until Leonel suddenly stopped and looked back toward Zilar.
    Zilar stood with his fists clenched, looking toward their backs as blood trickled between his fingers. He was the first person to not avoid Leonel's gaze when he met them.
    "Second place was never an option for me." Leonel said plainly.
    At first, it sounded as though Leonel was leaving behind some scolding words for Zilar. However, what Zilar heard was completely different. What he heard was a promise.
    Syl blinked, not really believing what she was seeing. How did he rein in these arrogant geniuses? Even she could hardly do it, and that was only because of her family background while the other half of the reason was because they wanted to marry her. Plusбн How did she suddenly become a background character?
    Before she could realize what was happening, their group had caught up to the Swan family's.
    Leonel stood at the helm with Syl by his side. Young Miss Swan stood at the forefront of her own group, looking toward them curiously.
    All of them stood at the demarcation line. Those without talent didn't dare to cross this 500 meter mark from the Brave City Gates. If they dared to do so, they would only be asking for death.
    Young Miss Swan blinked. "Is this your man, Little Syl? He's quite good. I'm a little bit jealous."
    Leonel pretended as though he hadn't heard anything, but Syl suddenly became flushed.
    The men within Young Miss Swan's group stared daggers toward Leonel. It seemed they didn't quite like that their goddess was praising another man.
    A particular large one amongst them, standing a head taller than even the already tall Leonel, shot an aura of competition toward him.
    Leonel planned to ignore this and take the first step forward, however, it was then that a rush surged through the crowd once again. It seemed that another City Lord power had appeared.

 Chapter 355: Remember It Well

    "The Black City escort!"
    This City seemed to take their name quite seriously. Their war steeds were a deep shade of night with a singular jagged horn gracing their foreheads. Their carriage seemed carved of carbon and an oppressive aura hung over them all.
    BANG!
    The carriage doors opened.
    The first thing anyone saw was a heavily armored leg smashing against the ground. Leonel could tell that if it wasn't for the fact this was a Fourth Dimensional world, the ground would have been cracked beyond repair.
    But, even then, the weight of this man was undeniable. And, when he came into view, his oppressive presence seemed to overshadow all things.
    The man's beard could only be described asбн furious. It ran across his face and jaw like the blades of a knife. It was objectively unkempt. But, if the man groomed it, something would feel off as though this was his natural state.
    The state of the man's face made it hard to tell his age. But, those with sharp senses could tell that he was also a youth.
    His heavy black armor clinked about as he walked. Without having to say a word, eight followed him in tow, soon reaching the demarcation line as well.
    At that moment, the young man grinned seeing the two beauties.
    "Lucky, lucky. I was assigned to the same entrance as two beauties."
    Syl and Young Miss Swan looked toward this young man with a hint of disgust and trepidation in their eyes. It was clear to them that Leonel was far more pleasing to the eye, especially since other than his odd beard, this young man's head reflected the sun about as well as a polished mirror.
    That said, considering his status, his bald head had never gotten in his way of wooing women. So, why would he care.
    At that moment, the little mink around Leonel's shoulder snickered. It seemed that many had missed its presence, just like many hadn't noticed the brand between Leonel's brows.
    When the man heard this, it looked toward Leonel and found the little mink, causing his eyes to glow. He could sense something he deeply liked within the body of this little mink.
    "I want your beast." He suddenly said.
    The little mink hopped to Leonel's head, wrapping around itself and yawning. The appearance of its little pink tongue made it seem as though it wasn't worried about the black armored, bald man at all.
    Leonel swept a glance toward the black armored man.
    There was a reason he had waited here and it definitely wasn't out of respect for this man.
    Achievements were only worth something if others didn't achieve. There would be no happiness if there was no sadness, no joy if there was no despair. The more people there were to act as a contrast to him, the better.
    The black armored man could tell that despite the fact Leonel had to look up, he wasn't oppressed by his aura in the slightest. However, unlike everyone else who had been starstruck by Leonel's appearance, the black armored man was, likewise, not.
    "Life's unfair." Leonel said plainly. "Unfortunately, you can't always have what you want."
    Hearing Leonel's words, the young man was stunned for a moment before suddenly grinning fiendishly.
    "Slave brand. Third Dimension. Little pretty gigolo. I never thought that someone like this would actually dare to speak to me in this way."
    The man's words were like a bomb going off in the crowd. Everyone had been so overwhelmed by Leonel's presence that they hardly dared to observe him closely. It was only after hearing these things that they suddenly realized that the black armored man was correct.
    Leonel's lip curled, but the smile held a hint of coldness to it.
    He actually didn't mind the man saying such words. Sometimes, infamy was the best form of fame.
    However, Leonel still marked this man as one that needed to be taught a lesson. Now, he just had the perfect excuse to do so.
    Seeing Leonel's unperturbed smile, the black armored man felt some discomfort.
    "It seems we have something in common." Leonel said lightly. "Before, no one dared to speak to me in this way either. It was only after the world began to change that some gained an overinflated sense of self-importance. It seems like you're another one of them.
    "How about we make a bet?"
    The smile within Leonel's gaze deepened.
    "I don't have any words as pointed as gigolo to call you, but what do you say, baldy?"
    The man's gaze narrowed as a silence fell over the crowd.
    "It seems you want to die."
    His voice became like gravel as his aura bore down on Leonel.
    "Do you accept, or not, baldy?" Leonel replied.
    The man stared toward Leonel before bursting out into a fit of laughter. When he finally stopped, his aura had become as heavy as a mountain, bearing down on everyone present. Whether it was his love of women or his want for the little mink, he forgot about them all in that very instant.
    "What is this bet? If the stakes are too small, I just might take your life right here and now."
    "Isn't there a trial right before us now?" Leonel said plainly. "I'll not only outperform you, I'll embarrass you. As for the stakesбн Do you dare to bet your life?"
    Maybe it was because the valiant aura of the Brave City Gates was fueling his raging blood. Or, maybe it was because Leonel was going all out to stand out as much as possibleбн but, whatever the truth was, a bloodthirsty and cold presence seemed to exude from him.
    The man faltered slightly. Then, he seemed to truly see Leonel for the first time.
    "I, Jefrach Black, have never stepped down from any challenge."
    "Good." Leonel replied plainly.
    Leonel took a step forward and crossed the line. As though a beast was roaring in his face, his hair whipped back violently, his face even distorting slightly.
    "Since you've reported your name, I'll do the same. I'm Leonel Morales. Remember it well."

 Chapter 356: Push

    Syl panicked. The first reason was Leonel's crazy challenge and the second reason was the little mink.
    Leonel was still in the Third Dimension while Jefrach had long since entered the Fourth. On top of that, there was no way the little mink could withstand the pressure of Brave City.
    She had been so distracted before that she hadn't remembered the little beast until Jefrach mentioned it. Now that she had, she couldn't help but close her eyes, not wanting to watch such an innocent little beast die like this.
    However, even with her eyes closed and several seconds ticking by, the sounds she expected to hear never reached her ears.
    Everyone watched in shock as Leonel took one step after another. It seemed as though the pressure couldn't do much more to him than kick up a strong wind.
    As for the little mink, it growled a bit. But, afterward, its body exuded a slight black fog. Soon, it was sleeping again as though nothing had happened.
    At that moment, Leonel turned back toward their group.
    "Aren't you all coming?" Leonel asked.
    With that, Leonel continued forward. In his sights, the looming walls bore down on him as though trying to crush his will.
    Syl grit her teeth and took a step forward as well. The instant she did, she felt her knees buckle for a moment before they straightened.
    As though her actions were a cue, the youths began to move as one, their actions the subject of great entertainment for the surrounding crowd that didn't dare to follow.
    Jefrach, too, took a heavy step forward, plowing through the pressure until he matched up to Leonel's speed. His gaze didn't leave Leonel's side profile as though he was waiting for the latter to collapse.
    Since he had accepted the bet, he wouldn't attack Leonel now. However, the moment Leonel showed any signs of collapsing, he would strike him dead. No one, not even his own brothers, would dare to talk to him in the way Leonel had. And, this arrogant prick actually dared to report his name right after his?
    He really wanted to see how far a Third Dimensional ant could go.
    At that moment, across the Eight Gates of Brave City, similar competitions were happening all over. The fervor of the crowds in these locations were no less. However, the location of the Swan, Keafir and Black families was still among the most heated. How could it not be if a bet to the death was taking place?
    However, the quick conclusion many were expecting never came.
    Leonel's steps remained steady. In fact, it seemed as though he had forgotten all about the world around him. He continued to stare intently at the Gates before him, the images of battle being firmly ingrained into his mind.
    He lost himself in his focus, causing a familiar aura to billow out from around him.
    Jefrach felt his heart seize when he felt it.
    To a genius like him, making it to the Gates was an easy task. He was leisurely strolling just like Leonel was. They both knew that the true distinguishing factors would only make themselves known at the Gates themselves.
    However, feeling such an aura, Jefrach steps faltered. He even felt that the pressure coming from Leonel was a step more forceful than even the Brave City Gates.
    Soon, the group separated.
    In the very front, there was Leonel and Jefrach. A step behind them were Young Miss Swan and Syl. And, much further behind them were the petite young woman and the other lackies of the City Lord powers.
    "Who is he?" Young Miss Swan looked toward Syl with curious, blinking eyes.
    A delicate sweat covered her elegant brow. But, rather than destroying her demeanor, it made her look more pitiable. She played the role of vulnerable princess in need of saving exceptionally well.
    It was clear that the two women could be walking side by side with Leonel and Jefrach should they want to. However, there was no need to enter a big dick contest between men. Whether they reached the Gates first or last, it wouldn't make much of a difference as long as they did so within the allotted time.
    Realizing this, why would Young Miss Swan not take the opportunity to learn a bit more about this mysterious Leonel character.
    Syl blinked innocently, a beautiful smile crossing her soft pink lips.
    "None of your business."
    The two women walked side by side, smiling amicably. Yet, the atmosphere was deathly cold. Maybe this was the hypocrisy of women. They too were having their own big dick contest, it was just more covert.
    At that moment, Jefrach was still observing Leonel. Maybe due to the influence of the Brave City Gates, but he was the only one who could sense this oppressive aura coming from Leonel. He seemed to realize this as well judging by the reactions of everyone else, so he bit down hard on his tongue so as not to lose face.
    However, Leonel couldn't be bothered to deal with him. A huge chunk of Urbe Ore suddenly appeared in his hand.
    'This pressureбн makes it easier to absorb the Urbe Essenceбн'
    Thanks to his breakthrough, Leonel was already within the Superior Stage. At this level, his body was already comparable to a weak Pseudo Fourth Dimension metal and he was only a stage away from Perfection.
    Disregardбн
    Leonel had already gotten his use out of Jefrach. What happened from here on out between them didn't matter to him as long as he beat him.
    Jefrach seemed to sense this as well and it lit a fire in his chest. However, no amount of his anger seemed to change a single thing.
    For entities as strong as them, it should have only taken less than a minute to cross 500 meters. Yet, under the pressure, it took them a half hour.
    When the Gates became clear, everyone seemed to understand that this was where the true trial began.
    The doors loomed to an impossibly tall height. Standing beneath them, Leonel could only lift his head vertically. And even then, it was hard to see the tops of the walls.
    However, it was these very doors they needed to push to enterбн

 Chapter 357: Never Forget

    Jefrach was drenched in sweat.
    In order not to lose face, he had kept up with Leonel's pace from start to finish. But the result made his lung scream.
    Unfortunately, the pressure of the Gates had nothing to do with strength. Even a Fifth Dimensional entity would face a proportional amount of pressure. This was, of course, the same for Jefrach.
    But, what Jefrach couldn't believe was that Leonel seemed unaffected. Let alone breathing as heavily as him, Leonel didn't even seem as though he had sweated a single drop. To make matters worse, Jefrach was certain that the reason he was in such a sorry state was because of the pressure of the wall, but rather because of the pressure from Leonel himself.
    Finally, for the first time since their competition began, Leonel looked toward Jefrach.
    "You don't look too good, baldy. You doing okay?"
    Jefrach's gaze flashed with a bloody red. He glared at Leonel, his chest heaving.
    At that moment, from atop the city walls, a few individuals looked down with curiosity. They all seemed like youths as well. However, whether they had gone through the same trials or not was unknown.
    "Isn't that Black City's bald boy? He looks like he's in a pretty sorry state, what happened to him?"
    The few on the wall chuckled. However, let alone hearing them, those below couldn't even see them. It was as though they were in a completely different world.
    The only one who frowned, seemingly realizing something was off, was Leonel. However, even with his senses, he had no way of seeing through the Brave City barrier. He only felt a faint itching at the small of his back as though he was being watched.
    "Which door do you think they'll be able to open?"
    "Pft, aren't you just wondering if we'll have any competition?"
    "Regardless, if they're anything below Royal it'll be too much of a disappointment. If that was the case, I would have gotten up to come all the way over here for no reason."
    "If you wanted to watch true elites, you should have gone to watch the Gates with Powers rather than this City Lord Gate. It's rare for anything meaningful to come out of the Cities. And, those that are worth watching have already entered the city."
    "Well, isn't that that madman's sister down there? Maybe the genes run in the Keafir family."
    The others looked at the young man who spoke like he was crazy.
    "You know that madman is over protective about anything related to his wife and his little sister. You better watch your mouth. I don't care if you die, but if I'm guilty by association, who will I go complain to?"
    It was clear that these people were speaking about Syl's elder brother. It seemed that he had already entered the city. However, oddly enough, his wife and Syl's sister-in-law, Heira, didn't seem to be a participant.
    It obviously wasn't because Heira was too weak and it obviously wasn't because she was too oldбн Whatever the true reason behind this was seemed a bit complicated.
    Regardless, Leonel wasn't privy to this information as he couldn't even hear the conversation.
    Still, all those on the top of the city walls seemed to accept this person's word as law and they all closed their mouths.
    "бн It's a shame though." Someone else picked up the conversation that had fallen to silence. "The Cities are only going to fall further and further behind the Powers at this rate. If they don't get themselves together and see the bigger picture, they'll be left behind."
    The others sneered hearing this. It was clear they were all from Powers themselves, or they wouldn't be reacting like this.
    "It isn't their fault. Their structures are flawed from the beginning. Us Powers are built on strength first and foremost while their foundations are economy and governance. To them, abandoning Terrain would ruin their futures completely, whereas for us, wherever there's room for self improvement, we'll be able to thrive.
    "They only have themselves to blame for their collapse."
    The words these young masters spoke easily uncovered the dark underbelly of Terrain without regard. Unlike the common people who had to tiptoe around their words, these nobles spoke their minds freely and boldly. This was the representation of true power.
    The group snickered.
    "Oh, looks like someone is going to try? Huh? Is that boy really in the Third Dimension?"
    They had been so lost in their own worlds that it was only now they noticed that the young man teaching Jerach his place was actually within the Third Dimension.
    For one, they had never heard of a person in the Third Dimension even making it through the pressure of the Gates. Though the pressure was adjusted based on strength, there was still a minimum requirement for foundation. They had simply never seen someone within the Third Dimension meet these standards.
    And, secondly, anyone who could make a fool out of Jerach should definitely be a monster.
    The only reason they hadn't paid more attention to Leonel before despite this was because the City Lord system was declining harshly. Though Jerach had some fame, they all docked him several points simply by virtue of this.
    Why would they care about someone who was only beating someone they didn't care much about to begin with? Would you care about the power of someone capable of stomping an ant to death?
    "Heбн"
    BANG!
    At that moment, Leonel's palm touched the tall doors, his robes and hair billowing.
    Jerach, who was already hardly able to stand on his own two feet, was blasted flying, rolling in the dirt until he slowly landed before the feet of the two women who were still a good distance from the Gates.
    Leonel felt a force trying to rip his arm apart. Strong energies surged toward him, but they rebounded off his body like crossing blades, filling the air with the sound of harsh sharpening metal.
    BANG!
    The ground beneath Leonel's feet cracked slightly. Fine lines raced across, meeting together and separating just as quickly as they spread outward.
    Leonel closed his eyes.
    He could sense the five levels of the door. In fact, it wasn't much different from the scene he saw when unlocking his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.
    Soldier. General. Royal. King. Emperor.
    The whole city quaked.
    Leonel thought of waiting for Jerach to go first again. But, after seeing his poor performance, Leonel felt that it was beneath him to even need such a person to contrast himself with. He simply served no purpose.
    In that case, he would make it a one man show.
    His singular palm rested the door. He could feel it pushing back against him, wanting to throw him away the very same way Jerach had been.
    Leonel's eyes shot open. Bronze Runes raced across his body, a halo of bronze violet appearing above his head.
    Those with Lineage Factors suddenly felt their hearts tremble, their blood running in reverse.
    "Open."
    BANG!
    The scene was one those watching would never forget.

 Chapter 358: Who?

    BANG! BANG!
    The Gates flew open. In those moments, it felt as though a tornado had formed around Leonel.
    On one side, wind rushed in violently, blowing everything away. On the other, an undefeatable suction surged, sweeping up everything in a rush of quicksand-like wind.
    However, nothing was as deafening as the sound of the Gates smashing against the hallowed walls of Brave City. The reverberation was so resounding, so cacophonic, so tempestuous that the whole city quaked.
    At that moment, no matter what section of the city you were in, everyone looked toward the same direction, shock coloring their features.
    This commotion? What could it possibly be?
    Those that could see what was happening were shocked to the point of speechlessness. The crowd that had been spectating from half a kilometer away only saw Leonel place a single palm forward before doors that towered into the skies nearly flew off their hinges beneath his presence. In fact, the ground beneath their feet quaked endlessly, causing some weaker individuals to fall to their buts, unable to understand what they had just seen.
    Just what level of strength was this?
    Of course, these people had no idea that opening the doors wasn't a contest of strength, it was a contest of will and battle aura. However, to Leonel, who had already fully awakened the first level of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн It was nothing but a joke. In fact, Leonel even felt it was too easy.
    'Soldier, General, Royal, King and Emperor?' Leonel thought to himself, looking into the massive window toward the city he had created himself. 'Something seems to be missingбн'
    Leonel took a step forward, crossing the threshold.
    A wash of energy flooded toward him, coalescing into a golden brand between his brows.
    Compared to the Runes that shone across his body, it was lacking in momentum and radiance. However, to those of Brave City, this golden mark was the highest entry honor of the cityбн the Emperor Class!
    Leonel had no idea the level of commotion his actions would cause.
    **
    Brave City was separated into tiers. Much like some parts of society, there were locations one could not enter without the appropriate credentials or standing. Within the City, these separating lines were even more exaggerated.
    The city itself isn't like how one would think it would be. Rather than being a metropolis, Brave City looked more like a war camp.
    There were no paved roads. Just like the outside of the city walls, the ground was covered in nothing but a brownish soil that looked like the land of a military practice ground.
    In every which direction, one could find monuments of stone called the Bravery Pillars. They depicted the exploits of soldiers and generals of the past and were among the most important staples of Brave City.
    Rather than buildings, much of Brave City was an arrangement of tents, especially the outer city limits. Only Royals were allowed to live in small hut-like structures while only Emperors had stone housing for themselves.
    However, despite this seemingly organized structure, there was nothing peaceful about this city.
    Battles of all sorts seemed to take place every moment. Whether it was a battle for resources, for the monuments or even for housing, it seemed as though one would take place all the time.
    Outside of the seemingly territorial housing system, there didn't seem to be a single ounce of order throughout the whole cityбн Except for in just one place.
    A singular tower stood in the very middle of the city. Aside from the walls of the city itself, it was the only structure that stood above two or three stories tall. In fact, it shot hundreds of meters into the air much like the war etched walls on the outside.
    From the top of this tower, one could overlook the whole city and all eight of its Gates. However, to be able to step to this floor, the minimum requirement was to be a King. For someone of such standing, they obviously wouldn't come here to overlook ants they thought to be beneath them.
    That saidбн there were exceptions to every rule.
    Just how much commotion would the swinging of doors hundreds of meters high cause? Just how much worse would this commotion be if the action was so violent that the doors hardly stopped even after slamming into the walls that held it up?
    Everyone knew that for the whole gate to open, it could only mean that a new Emperor had appeared. However, even past Emperors hadn't caused such a commotion and most people could only hurriedly squeeze through a crack they caused in the Gates. Who had ever heard of someone being given such a wide berth?
    At that moment, the usually bustling top tower floor fell into silence. Their eyes all landed on the same young man.
    Compared to the size of the doors, he seemed so small, like an ant that could be stamped into a meat paste at any moment.
    However, it was as though the doors didn't dare to close as he walked through. They stayed attached to the walls, still reverberating with residue of the previous impact that, even to this moment, resounded in everyone's ears like an endless echo.
    Who is that?
    They were all stunned to find out that none of them recognized the young man. Other than feeling some trembling in their hearts toward the odds Runes drawn across his body, there was nothing else they could glean about him.
    It seemed that a variable had appeared.
    Within the tower, three familiar faces could be found. Well, they weren't quite familiar to Leonel. However, had Aina been there, there would be no doubt that she would recognize these people at first glance.
    Young Heir of Cliff's Edge Terrace, Reynred Solar.
    Young Heirress to World's End Falls, Jilniya Falls.
    Young Heir to Mirage Pavilion, Wilas Mirage.
    These four people had no idea how they were connected, but it didn't seem to matter. Brave City would make them enemies regardless.
    At that moment, as though everyone had realized a singular threat before them, several auras locked onto Leonel.

 Chapter 359: Plan

    BANG!
    A shadowy figure shot through the roof of an inn, causing brick and chips of wood to fly through the air.
    The shocked screams of the citizens rocked the small city, but the shadowy figure continued to leap from wall to wall and house to house, eventually landing atop the city walls.
    These walls couldn't compare to those of Brave City in the slightest. They were at most ten meters tall and a few meters thick. This place was only considered a Tier 7 City that couldn't compare even to Swan, Black or Keafir City.
    However, it was unique in that rather than being under the jurisdiction of a City Lord power, it was beneath the Power of World's End Falls.
    When the shadowy figure finally came to a stop, those that could see it shivered.
    The figure was completely covered in a black cloak. Its back hunched up in a curved arc, making it difficult to tell just how someone with a body like this could possibly move so agilely.
    The figure held a massive great sword in their hands that spanned the length of three meters. Even now, it glistened with the blood of several guards.
    At that moment, the city guards charged from all directions wearing white robes alternating in a sky blue soft armor.
    "Sword Monstress!"
    The cloak covering the face of the Sword Monstress blew off, revealing the figures features. It took but a moment for them all to recognize this scourge of Terrain.
    She could only be described as a grotesque woman. She had a hunched back, her hair was unkempt and wild, and her face made the stomachs of all those who saw her crawl.
    They had long since lost count of the number of massacres this beast had been the cause of. She had wanted posters almost everywhere, yet she somehow managed to vanish whenever they seemed close to catching her.
    The Sword Monstress' gaze looked particularly demonic. As though she had lost all sense of human reason, she all but growled in response.
    Without a word, she leapt forward, her monstrous sword being raised in her claw-like hands.
    The guard who had spoken found his vision splitting in two. Before he could even react, his consciousness faded, his body falling to the ground in two halves.
    The Sword Montress' body flashed, her sword drawing lines of crimson throughout the streets.
    Blood flowed to the stone paved ground, seeping through the cracks and dying them red.
    Each life she reaped was only met by a violent gaze that only seemed to grow more and more bloodthirsty. It was as though it wasn't enough, as though she wanted more.
    At that moment, the Head Guard of the Tier 7 City had finally gotten word of what was happening and began to rush over.
    The Sword Monstress, seemingly realizing the incoming danger, suddenly stopped her endless slaughter. She looked toward the distance, two sharp teeth shining through her heaving breath.
    Her body blurred, accelerating toward the distance. She leapt over the city wall as though it didn't exist, vanishing toward the wilderness before the Head Guard could long onto her.
    By the time the Head Guard appeared amidst the carnage, she had already long since left, leaving him standing there with a chest filled with rage and nothing to vent it on.
    "Inform the higher ups that she's escaped the encirclement by unknown means. Her next destination is unknown."
    The Head Guard clenched his fists. He already knew that his punishment for this wouldn't be small, but it was simply too difficult to lock onto a single target who hadn't been branded.
    With everyone headed toward Brave City, the in and outflux of tourists and citizens was too high. This was likely the worst time to be trying to catch a criminalбн
    **
    Leonel walked into the city. He swept his gaze over everything once before heading in deeper.
    Heira hadn't told him much about the city and how things worked. All he knew was that entering was a test and the better he performed, the greater benefits there was. Other than this, he also knew that when he chose an abode to stay in, he had to stay in this Eastern Section of the city since he entered through the Eastern Section.
    This wasn't to say that it was impossible to travel to other Sections, but rather that it was seen as an act of war that could spark something he currently didn't have the means to deal with.
    Leonel, though, had his own reasons for being eager to enter the city. It wasn't just about making his name known so he could find Aina easier, it was also about finding a safe place to breakthrough.
    Leonel felt like Brave City was the best place he could ever find to breakthrough with his Soul Force. In fact, Leonel knew that he had no choice but to do this. If he didn't, he would have no way of dealing with the trials to come in the future.
    After claiming a home, you could receive a half day's protection. But, after that, Leonel knew that trouble would come knocking at his door.
    In truth, even if he broke through, Leonel wasn't quite confident in protecting himself. All of the spells he had, even the most powerful Three Star Magus Arts, were still mere Third Dimensional spells. Leonel didn't know how useful they would be against Fourth Dimensional existences.
    Knowing this, rather than going off to quickly find a house to claim, Leonel waited for Syl. He felt that this city would most definitely have opportunities for him to take advantage of. He would take his time to find them before taking advantage of the 12 hour protection he would receive.
    This was, of course, the best plan. Leonel's thoughts were meticulous and well thought out. It was just a shame that trouble would find him before he could act on it completely.
    Those youths that had just been standing atop the wall recovered from their shock and stabilized their feet, having almost fallen from the wall thanks to Leonel's entry.
    After sending a glance toward each other, one after another, they descended the walls. Soon, they stood on level ground along with Leonel as the heavy gates slammed shut.
    BANG!

 Chapter 360: WHISTLE

    Leonel swept a glance toward the group before him. Though there were just four of them, each had the marks of Royals on their foreheads. Leonel still wasn't exactly sure what this system of ranking meant, but just by virtue of this, he was aware of why these four had come.
    However, he wasn't worried. These four didn't have any ability to take his mark of an Emperor until he chose a home and had held it in his possession for 12 hours. Since he hadn't even chosen a home yet, it was impossible for them to do so.
    That said, that didn't mean they couldn't act without reward, likely in an attempt to get him to hand over the mark himself.
    The four young men and women looked Leonel up and down with curiosity.
    "Who are you?" One of them suddenly asked.
    The speaker wore red robes matched with violet soft armor. Had Leonel been well informed, he would know that this young man came from Mirage Pavilion. However, considering his ignorance, other than noticing the well matched colors, he didn't really think anything more of it.
    Leonel smiled carefreely. "My name is Leonel Morales."
    In Leonel's opinion, the more people who knew his name, the better. He didn't care about what tone the speaker was using, even if he was quite condescending. All that mattered to Leonel was that more people knew his name.
    The happenings of Terrain meant little to him and he also didn't particularly care about what this Brave City represented and the reason so many youths had come to this place. All he cared about was making his way back to Earth after finding Aina.
    If Leonel were to say what his goals were aside from finding her, it would only be destroying the Royal Blue Fort and helping Aina get revenge. Though he didn't know the full extent of Aina's backstory, knowing that the Brazinger family had wronged her was enough for him.
    Seeing Leonel's bright smile, the four were caught off guard. They had fully expected Leonel to lash out or even ignore them, giving them ample reason to stomp all over his pride.
    Though they asked who Leonel was, they already knew that he was a member of the Keafir family. To them, other than Syl's elder brother there was no one else worth fearing from this family. Even if Leonel was a bit more talented than their usual selections, so what? He was still within the Third Dimension.
    Even the weakest individual knew how impossible it was to cross the Dimensional barrier to battle, let alone doing so against four people. As far as they were concerned, Leonel was finished.
    Howeverбн As the saying went, it was hard to punch a smiling face.
    At that moment, the large doors were opened once again. However, this time, instead of the whole gate moving, it was simply one of the inner gates. And, instead of it almost flying from its hinges as it had done just moments ago, barely a crack was formed for a tall, black armored figure to squeeze through in a sorry state.
    It could only be said that the harsh reality of comparing yourself to another was too heart wrenching.
    Jerach practically collapsed to the ground, heaving out such heavy breaths that it seemed he might cough up his lung at any moment.
    He placed his hands on his knees to keep himself from lying flat on the dusty roads. Unfortunately, he huffed up a big mouthful of kicked up dirt, causing him to cough violently.
    He couldn't have been in a sorrier state, causing the four youths to snicker.
    When Jerach heard this, he looked up, his eyes reddening.
    "Who the fuck are you? You dare to laugh at me?!"
    The youths wanted to laugh again, but Jerach suddenly vanished, appearing amidst the group and sending out a fist.
    The air shook beneath his strength, folding in on itself and layering his fists in a quaking wind.
    Leonel's lip twitched as he watched this.
    'What kind of man with a wind affinity this high wears heavy army like that? At first glance, he should be an earth affinity mage like meбн'
    BANG!
    The youth from the Mirage Pavilion was sent flying. Leonel could tell with a single glance that his jaw was snapped from its hinges. It was clear that whatever meals this youth would be having over the next few weeks would have to be through a straw.
    "Who else?! Who else was laughing it up?! Come on, tell me! Where's the joke?! I want to laugh too!"
    It was impossible for anyone to tell that these four youths had just been standing atop the walls of the city, commenting on how weak Jerach was.
    Leonel watched in silence, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lip. This Jerach wasбн an interesting character.
    Jerach's fist slammed into the second male, sending him tumbling toward the first. They piled atop of one another, groaning and without the strength to stand.
    "Get a room you bunch of perverts!" Jerach growled before looking toward the two women. "I don't hit girls!"
    Before the two women could sigh a breath of relief, Jerach continued.
    "Smack each other until I'm satisfied!"
    The two women looked at one another then back at Jerach as though they were ready to fight to the death. But, upon seeing Jerach rubbing his fists, their hearts trembled and they turned toward one another, each trying to get the first hit in.
    Jerach clapped, a wide grin spreading across his face.
    He brought his fingers to his mouth, whistling as though he was encouraging them to go on.
    "Go on, fight harder! бн Yea, just like that ... Hey, I bet she won't be able to fight as hard if you rip her clothes! бн *WHISTLE* What a show! What delicate skin! Oh, I think I see a little pink! Top tier, top tier!"
    Jerach took out some Urbe Coins and started flicking them toward the two fighting girls. He looked like he was having the time of his life.
    Leonel stood to the side, speechless.

 Chapter 361: Another

    Just when Jerach was getting into his groove, the Gates opened once again and this time, two women entered. Of course, they were Syl and Young Miss Swan.
    When the two women saw the scene before them, they charged toward Jerach like a twin pair of lionesses. In fact, they even sent glaring daggers toward Leonel for not stepping in to stop this madman earlier.
    Toward such a thing, Leonel only chuckled and didn't say much. He was going to step in previously, but since they were here now, he didn't have to do anything.
    "Alright, alright. Since these two she-devils have stepped in for you, leave your panties behind and we can call it even."
    The two women shivered in terror hearing these words.
    "Jerach!" Syl snapped.
    "Alright, alright. Forget it, forget it."
    Jerach shook his head as though it was truly a pity.
    Looking quite pitiable, the two women helped their two friends up and they stumbled away. It was only now they noticed that Jerach actually had a King mark on his forehead. It seemed that they had been so distracted by how terrible he looked before that they had forgotten to account for this.
    It was only after this that Jerach suddenly looked toward Leonel seriously.
    "Do what you will."
    Jerach closed his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest and lifting his neck as though waiting for a blade to run across it.
    The little mink atop Leonel's head yawned lazily before sticking out its tongue as though to make fun of Jerach. It got bored of this quite quickly though and went back to its nap.
    Leonel could tell that the little guy was growing more languid lately. The little mink he knew was always lively and looking to play. Leonel wasn't sure if this change was it maturing or if there was another reasonбн
    That aside, Leonel wasn't thinking much about this right now. He was only quite surprised that Jerach actually seemed to be waiting for death.
    Of course, Leonel had never really expected to kill him in the first place. For one, he wasn't a blood thirsty person and he didn't enjoy to kill unless it was absolutely necessary. And, secondly, he had only been saying the most boisterous things he could say for the sake of making sure his story spread as widely as possible.
    Leonel suddenly smiled. "So your life is mine, right?"
    Jerach opened his eyes and frowned. But in the endбн
    "бн Yes."
    "Good." Leonel's smile widened. "Follow me then. I also don't know enough about this place, so tell me about it."
    Jerach raised his brows, unclenching fists he hadn't known he had clenched.
    "Isn't Syl your fiancижe? She didn't tell you anything about this?"
    Leonel made a weird face. "Fiancижe? No, she isn't."
    Syl suddenly flushed as red as a tomato. "Do you believe I won't rip your tongue out, Jerach?!"
    Jerach blinked. "So, she's single?"
    "JERACH!"
    Young Miss Swan giggled from the sidelines, seemingly enjoying this quite a bit. After a while, her eyes sparkled when she looked toward Leonel.
    So, he's single too?
    Leonel, however, was no longer paying attention to their antics. His gaze seemed to cut through space, landing on a tower in the distance. From there, he could feel numerous gazes on him, all of which seemed to be waiting for something.
    Leonel felt his blood surging.
    Who knew how long it would take him to realize that his actions over the past few hours weren't as much of an act as he thought it was?
    **
    "бн You're saying no one knows where Brave City came from?"
    Leonel looked toward Jerach, Syl and Qiyra with a weird expression. Of course, Qiyra was the first name of Young Miss Swan. After listening to the banter between the two women, Leonel finally managed to learn this much.
    "Wellбн" Jerach mumbled. "бн There are some theories, butбн Well, the truth is that as a Fourth Dimensional world, we don't have high enough standing to confirm or deny this. We only have a few rumorsбн"
    Leonel could see the discomfort the three felt when Jerach said these words. It seemed that this wasn't something that was acknowledged often. But, in the grand scheme, it was nonetheless true that a Fourth Dimensional world wasn't worth mentioning. It made Leonel realize that as small as Terrain was, Earth was even more so.
    "What rumors?" Leonel asked.
    Jerach hesitated as though he wasn't sure whether or not he should say.
    But, maybe because he remember Leonel 'owned' his life now, he realized he had no choice.
    "бн They say that Brave Cities only appear in worlds that are at a crossroad."
    Leonel frowned. What was that supposed to mean? A crossroad?
    "What kind of crossroad?"
    "One where we either develop ourselves or choose to abandon everything our Ancestors built."
    Leonel still wasn't sure if he understood what this meant, but seeing as the three were only growing more uncomfortable, he shifted his focus slightly.
    "Then what does a Brave City get out of appearing? Is it like a Sub-Dimensional Zone?"
    "бн Not exactly. Zones are created by the Dimensional Verse. But, Brave Cities are built by people. As for what they get out of it, they say it's recruitment."
    Leonel's brow raised.
    'A world at a crossroadбн built by peopleбн it's all for recruitmentбн?'
    Leonel couldn't help but think of the star and cross organization. Even to this point, he still didn't know their true name. All he had was a gut feeling that their scope was beyond that of just Terrain and that their uniforms were cool. There was nothing else.
    But who knew that even before he could understand who they were, another mysterious organization would appear? In fact, this one's methods seemed even more shocking than the first.
    The star and cross organization was still tangible to Leonel. He could see them, interact with them, and, unfortunately, be shamed by them. But, this Brave City organization had no face or image. And, they somehow managed to make a city manifest from thin air without even the strongest powers of this world understanding how.
    For the first time, Leonel was starting to get an understanding that this new world order was anything but peaceful.

 Chapter 362: Orifices

    Leonel stood at the base of a large stone monument. Just looking at it, it exuded the same type of aura the city gates had. It was just that this aura was displayed on a much smaller scale. Rather than enveloping an area of half a kilometer, this aura acted on just the ten meter radius of the monument.
    However, from what Leonel could tell, this aura was actually several times that of the Gates as though it had been concentrated in place.
    Many people who stood around the monument curiously observed the new group of four. When they saw that it was made of three Kings and an Emperor, they grew shocked and began to whisper amongst each other.
    In this sort of place, information was the greatest strength. The fact that they didn't know that these people were among the Kings and Emperors meant that they could only be new.
    "бн Leonelбн" Syl said hesitantly. "бн We still need to go report to my elder brother."
    Leonel frowned. Report?
    He felt a strong feeling against doing something like this. There was no telling what kind of personality Syl's elder brother had or how he would react to Leonel's sudden appearance.
    "Mhm, later." Leonel nodded noncommittedly.
    Syl bit her lip, ignoring Qiyra's amused gaze. 'This damned vixen. Is it necessary to stand so close to him?'
    Still, Leonel didn't seem to notice the squabble between these two women, nor did he seem to realize that Syl's invitation was more about getting him away from Young Miss Swan than anything else. But, whether he acknowledged it or not didn't matter much, he already had his own plan in mind.
    "Explain these monuments to me one more time, Jerach."
    Jerach grumbled. Was he really nothing but a glorified dictionary?
    He had no idea that this really was the case. Leonel didn't want to expose the true capabilities of the dictionary so he continued to use it only as a translation tool. He didn't feel like falling out with another organization that lusted after his treasures.
    "All these monuments depict moments in history. There's nothing special about them other than the fact cultivation is a bit faster if you can withstand their aura. You can see it for yourself, it's just telling the tale of some dead general."
    Leonel nodded.
    Maybe it was because this Brave City wasn't native to Terrain, but the words on this monument could be understood by Leonel even without using the dictionary's help.
    &lt;Year XXXXX&gt;
    &lt;General Feran led his army through the Forgotten Passбн&gt;
    &lt;бн Gained Victory after 121 days of battleбн&gt;
    &lt;бн Mounted the head of бн&gt;
    The more Leonel read, the more useless the information seemed to become. It was almost like a newspaper article. All of the most important facts about the topic were found in the header and the first few paragraphs. As it continued, it got useless to the point of even describing what General Feran had for breakfast that morning.
    It was no wonder Jerach had said this monument was useless. Leonel had no interest in how many women a general bedded in celebration of his victory.
    However, no matter how Leonel looked at it, he didn't think that these monuments were so simple because he felt danger from them. His primitive senses made him feel as though if he played around with these monuments too long he could die.
    The weird part about this feeling was that, obviously, no had died at the hands of this monument before. Had someone died, there was no way everyone here would be so casual about it. In fact, the only slight conflict here was in decided who was allowed to enter the ten meter radius of the monument.
    Of course, danger didn't necessarily mean that this monument would be avoided. After all, with danger came opportunities. But, Jerach would have definitely mentioned it had such a danger existed.
    Leonel suddenly closed his eyes.
    A massive spherical Force Art was reflected in his mind. At that moment, his aura completely changed as though he had become one with nature. Even though he was standing right next to Qiyra, Syl and Jerach, it was as though he was in an entirely different world.
    When he opened his eyes again and read the first line again, a shocking change occurred.
    &lt;General Feranбн&gt;
    Before Leonel could continue, his vision was enveloped in blackness.
    When his vision returned, what he saw was no longer a monument. He saw a man wearing a fiery red armor. He sat upon a tall crimson steed and held a halberd that was just as blood red.
    The aura he exuded was so suffocating that Leonel nearly fell to his knees.
    At that moment, the man riding the crimson steed stood at the helm of a massive army. He was leading so many men that from afar, they looked like millions of little ants arranged into neat square formations.
    Yet, despite the number of men, this man stood valiantly, his presence alone subduing the whole of the army.
    The man leveled his halberd with the ground, his chest growing out a size as he took a deep breath.
    The moment he released his breath, a mighty roar that shook the skies bore itself into Leonel's heart.
    BANG!
    Leonel was sent flying. Blood leaked from his nose and ears, his body skidding along the dirt roads.
    A violent Force tore through his mind, looking to tear his Ethereal Glabella to shreds. It was as though this Force wanted to erase any memories Leonel might have just gained.
    "Leonel!"
    Jerach and the two women were shocked, not knowing what happened. They all looked around with frantic gazes as though trying to find who sneak attacked Leonel. That seemed to be the only explanation for what just happened.
    Unable to find a thing, they could only rush to his side.
    But, Leonel was out cold, blood continuing to flow from his orifices as a violent energy continued to rampage through his mind.

 Chapter 363: Suitability

    "Leonel! Leonel!"
    No matter how they shouted Leonel's name, it didn't seem to matter in the slightest. The one who attacked him must have wanted him dead, there was no other explanation.
    The appearance of a Third Dimensional Emperor was too conspicuous. The number who wanted to take advantage of Leonel's weakness was likely not few. It was simply too easy for those Fourth Dimensional monsters to kill Leonel secretly without any of them being any wiser.
    It couldn't be said that these three would live and die with Leonel. How could they? They had only just met.
    Jerach was practically Leonel's slave now while the two women only had a small bit of budding feelings. It wasn't to the point of risking their lives.
    Yet, all three of them still uncontrollably ran to Leonel's side when they saw his current state. It was clear they all had a good impression of him.
    The little mink scrambled from Leonel's head, landing on his face and nudging him continuously.
    The energy continued to rampage throughout Leonel's mind. But, it seemed to notice that it couldn't shatter the barriers of Leonel's Ethereal Glabella after a few attempts.
    How could it? After awakening his Wisdom Branch, Leonel's mind had already become capable of housing Fifth Dimensional Soul Force. Even though he had yet to come in contact with Fifth Dimensional Force, it didn't change this fact. When comparing the sturdiness of one's Ethereal Glabella, Leonel was unmatched on Terrain and Earth.
    Seemingly realizing this, the energy changed its target, aiming for the Embryos that hung vulnerably within the hidden world.
    By now, Leonel had already formed many Embryos.
    A transparent spear stood for his Spear Embryo. A Twelve Pointed Star silently whirred for his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. A bronze-violet halo represented his Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн
    Among them, the one that took up the most space was a bow. Harsh and violent cold winds surged around it, making it difficult even to approach. It seemed ready to tear anything that did apart.
    It was this group that the energy surged toward, ready to tear it apart.
    Without hesitation, it targeted Leonel's Twelve Pointed Star first. It could sense that its healing characteristic could become a problem should it be allowed to continue. So, how could it not target it first?
    But, it was at the very moment it made contact that things suddenly changed.
    A hidden scarlet energy was stirred. It had hidden itself deeply within the Twelve Pointed Star. No, it was more accurate to say that they had completely fused.
    The instant the energy came into contact with this scarlet Force, it collapsed. There was no suspense, no hard fought battle, no teetering on the edge of life and deathбн
    Just like that, it was snuffed out.
    The moment this energy was destroyed, Leonel's eyes shot open, his heart beating heavily as though trying to escape his chest.
    He sat up, catching Little Blackstar before he fell to the ground.
    Leonel smiled, a sight that looked a bit gruesome considering the blood running down his nose and ears.
    "It's alright, I'm fine, I'm fine." Leonel comforted the little mink.
    Leonel wiped the blood from his face with an arm, looking back toward the monument. His gaze narrowed.
    He realized something.
    All this time, he had been subconsciously restraining his Internal Sight. But, when he meditated on the Natural Force Art, in order to appear within his Dream World and the real world at the same time, the only option was to use his Internal Sight.
    Leonel had learned from Uncle Montez that wantonly using his Internal Sight was seen as a taboo in this new world order. So, he had always been careful with doing so. This made him miss the fact that his Internal Sight was severely restricted beneath the aura of this monument.
    It wasn't that there was nothing to gain from this monument, but rather that anything worth gaining could only be seen through Internal Sight. It wasn't even necessary for Leonel to use the Natural Force Art to see it.
    In fact, the fact Leonel used the Natural Force Art caused him to dive too deeply into the world which was what caused such an exaggerated backlash. Had he dipped his toes in more slowly, he wouldn't have suffered nearly as badly even if he did a bit.
    Coming to this realization, Leonel understood the crux of the matter.
    In this world, without Internal Sight, it was impossible to cultivate. Due to this, it was both a point of emphasis and something that was easily glossed over.
    These youths standing around the monument might have already tried to examine it with their Internal Sight, but because theirs was so much weaker than Leonel's, it wasn't even possible for them to cut through the pressure and touch the monument with their senses.
    Their only option would be to walk through the pressure personally. However, the pressure here was many times that of the Gates. Most couldn't even enter a five meter radius, let alone get close enough to extend their Internal Sight.
    This made Leoenl certain that there were very few in this Brave City who had succeeded in doing what he had. And, these people, in all likelihood, had kept this secret to themselves.
    "бн LEONEL!"
    "Huh?" Leonel was suddenly awakened from his thoughts only to find that three people were standing above him.
    These three were, of course, Jerach, Qiyra and Syl. They looked over him with a mixture of confusion and worry.
    "Who attack you?" Jerach was the first to ask.
    "Ohбн I'm not sure." Leonel shrugged. "It was probably just a warning, or else I'd probably be dead."
    Seeing Leonel's nonchalant response, the three didn't know how to respond. Was this a way that someone who had just died was supposed to react?
    Leonel, however, was already thinking of other things.
    This monument wasn't suitable for him. It was too bloodthirsty and also the general it depicted used a halberd. In truth, the halberd and spear had many similarities, but Leonel had the Spear Domain to learn everything he needed about the spear. He didn't need outside resources.
    He needed to visit the other monuments and hopefully find something that would make his breakthrough into the Fourth Dimension with his Soul Force allow him to protect himself.
    Leonel was mostly hoping to find a Fourth Dimensional mageбн If he couldn't find it within the Eastern Section of the city, he would have to travel to the other Sections even if it meant starting a war.
    Jerach, Syl and Qiyra obviously had no idea what Leonel was thinking, otherwise, who knew how they'd react to this madman?

 Chapter 364: Big Brother

    As much as Leonel wanted to ignore everything else around him and focus on the monuments, there was only so long he could dodge Syl.
    Not long after Leonel found out the truth about the monuments and was planning on travelling through them one by one, the remaining seven members of the Keafir family's selections finally made it through the gates.
    Aside from the petite girl who had confronted Leonel initially who became a Royal, the rest were either Generals or Soldiers. With all of them now here, Leonel couldn't continue to stall Syl and had no choice but to follow her through the Eastern Sector and into the more luxurious regions.
    "Jerach, why are you following us?" Syl said, seemingly a bit displeased.
    Apparently, she still hadn't forgotten about the words Jerach had said to take advantage of her earlier.
    "Wherever Leonel goes, I go." Jerach said matter factly.
    Leonel didn't refute this. If things went south, Jerach was maybe the only protection he had. He was under no delusions that he would be able to handle Syl's elder brother on his own.
    Unless Heira had a way to contact her husband, it was unlikely that the Keafir family Heir was even aware of Leonel's existence. And, Leonel had a bad feeling that Heira wanted it this way.
    Leonel wasn't oblivious. He knew of the underhanded tricks Heira was pulling behind the scenes. One of the things he was best at was reading people. And, he wasn't new to women being fond of him.
    As a Five Star Quarterback, there were plenty of women, even those from noble families, who were willing to throw themselves at him. Even though the occupation wasn't as respected, that was only a matter of relativity. Not every woman would be able to find a husband from a Five Star Profession of high standing. And, as a quarterback, Leonel was guaranteed to become a very rich man in the future.
    This was all to say that Leonel could easily read the signs of women coming on to him. It was just easier to pretend to be ignorant.
    But, by now, Leonel realized that if he allowed things to continue like this without stepping in properly, a small misunderstanding could easily become a massive one.
    The worst part was that he couldn't just step out and say he had feelings for another woman. He was quite familiar with women and saying such a thing bluntly would only make him public enemy number one.
    'Please come back soonбн' Leonel looked up into the sky, holding back crocodile tears.
    Things would be so much easier if Aina was here, even if she was still pretending to not like him.
    Leonel suddenly smiled. 'That's alright, I know you've already fallen for me.'
    Syl and Jerach looked toward Leonel's suddenly smiling face, wondering just what he was thinking aboutбн
    At that moment, the surroundings began to change. From dirt roads and tents, they began to see neat little huts amid smooth roads. Soon, those smooth roads became paved in stone and the huts became small houses of brick.
    Even now, one couldn't say these homes were luxurious. They were quite minimalistic compared to true behemoths one might find in the outside world. However, in this place, where the only building taller than three stories was the massive tower that connected the Sectors, this was by far the best place to live.
    Each home was gated and had a different style, exuding a different aura. Some reminded Leonel of gentle winds, others of rushing water, and still others like raging flames. However, what each house had in common was a single lamppost before its gate.
    It only took a moment for Leonel to understand that if this lamppost was lit, the house had been claimed. If it hadn't been, then the lamppost wouldn't be.
    Judging by the current situation, there were much more homes lit than Leonel thought there would be. Were there really this many Emperors?
    Syl hesitated for a moment. Though she knew her brother would be here, she wasn't exactly sure where he would be.
    "You don't want to choose a house?" Jerach suddenly asked, glancing toward Leonel.
    "Not yet." Leonel shook his head.
    Jerach laughed. "If I was as weak as you, I'd be hesitant too."
    Leonel chuckled in response, not minding. "How'd it feel to lose to someone so weak?"
    "бн"
    Syl giggled, forgetting about her task to find her brother for a moment.
    Just as the group was about to continue through to see if they could find any clues, Leonel frowned. He turned back to find a young man strolling through the stone paved roads.
    He wore white robes that shifted slightly with his every step. His long, black hair was neatly tied, making it almost impossible to make out individual strands. Everything about him exuded an air of refinement and cleanliness, almost like a diligently polished blade ready to be unsheathed.
    Syl noticed Leonel's odd reaction and turned back. Her eyes lit up in pleasant surprise.
    "Big Brother!"
    Leonel's gaze narrowed. He hadn't expected to run into this man so easily. And, most importantly, he hadn't expected that even after overestimating his potential abilities in his mind, that Leonel would still be so surprised by the pressure he felt from this young man.
    As Leonel was looking toward the Keafir family Heir, he too was looking toward Leonel.
    The Young Heir had never met Leonel before, he didn't know who he was either, but he still felt his eyes gravitate toward him. And, when he noticed the Emperor mark that barely shrouded the black brand between his brows, he felt inwardly surprised.
    For a moment, he forgot to respond to his sister. A sword that hung to his back vibrated slightly, making it seem as though the blade might unsheathe at any moment.
    This was the first time Leonel noticed the sword. His vision had been so focused on the young man before him.
    However, after a moment, he realized why he hadn'tбн
    The sword wasn't attached to anything. It floated in the air, following the young man around as though it couldn't bear to part with himбн Leonel couldn't imagine the level of skill that was needed to reach such a state.

 Chapter 365: Young Heir

    The atmosphere grew silent. Syl seemed to realize that something was wrong when she saw her brother and Leonel staring down one another. But, any words she wanted to speak seemed completely caught in her throat. She felt that she couldn't form the things she wanted to say no matter how hard tried.
    SHING! SHING! SHING!
    The sword to the Young Heir's back continued to tremble. Some unknown force held it back from unsheathing.
    Leonel continued to silently watch, sizing up the young man in white before him.
    Leonel knew too little about the Fourth Dimension to accurately gauge strength. But, he could sense pressure easier than maybe anyone else. Even though this Young Heir was weaker than Uncle Zimo, considering his youth, Leonel had no doubt that there would come a day when Zimo was completely overshadowed.
    Suddenly, the pressure dispersed. The Young Heir looked from Leonel to his little sister and smiled lightly. Though the smile was a bit cold, it was filled with a doting air to it.
    "Syl, you're here." The young man nodded. "And who is this?"
    "Uhбн" Syl shook her head to recover. "Sister-in-law recommended him. He's participating as one of us. His name is Leonel Morales."
    "Moralesбн?"
    The young man frowned. He felt something stir within him as his thoughts drifted toward a certain memory. But, he didn't remain in a trance for long. The universe was too big, those sharing the same name were far too numerous.
    Of course, those who were on the same level as certain families wouldn't dare to share the same name. For example, there was no way someone on Terrain would take the Keafir family name. Such a person would be asking for death.
    However, there might very well be other Fourth Dimensional worlds where the Keafir name was used. The influence of the Keafir family wasn't large enough to instill that kind of fear.
    This was all to say that it was a matter of perspective. And, to put this matter into perspective, the fact that this Young Heir even paused at this name meant that his scope was already far beyond those usually found on the Fourth Dimensional plane.
    A higher Dimensional world wouldn't care what ants beneath them did. But, the Young Heir knew that if by some miracle this Leonel Morales really made it to such a height, he would definitely have to change his name unless he wanted to be hunted down and executed.
    This matter was definitely not as rare as it seemed and no small number of stubborn individuals had suffered. However, the Young Heir didn't bother to tell all of this to Leonel. Such a thing was far too distant in the future and the likelihood that Leonel would ever reach such a level was slim to none.
    The Young Heir nodded. "So Heira decided thisбн"
    The Young Heir was quite familiar with his wife so he had a good idea of what she was thinking. But, taking care of someone in the Third Dimension, no matter how talented they were, would be difficult. Even he didn't dare to enter Brave City until he had grown to a certain level of strength.
    "Is there a reason the Black City Heir is here?" Syl's elder brother asked.
    Jerach snorted. 'The only difference between me and you is that you're a bit older, is there a need to stick your nose so high into the sky?'
    Still, even the usually boisterous Jerach didn't dare to say these words aloud. Though this Young Heir seemed refined, anyone who had heard of history knew that he was a madman.
    "He's with me." Leonel replied, seemingly noticing Jerach's apprehension.
    "Oh?"
    The Young Heir didn't ask anything further.
    "The situation right now is a bit delicate. The trials will begin in another month, but that doesn't mean the city is safe. In fact, this is maybe the most dangerous time. There's a good chance that a territorial war could be sparked."
    Leonel scratched his nose, pretending as though he didn't plan on being responsible for starting one.
    "Be sure to stay within the limits of the Eastern Sector. And, if you are going to the Central Tower, travel in pairs. Alsoбн be cautious of the monuments."
    Leonel's eyes narrowed when he heard this, but didn't say anything more, waiting for the Young Heir to finish his spiel.
    After a while, Leonel suddenly got curious about something.
    "What benefits are there to a territorial war? There's got to be a reason for them, right?"
    The Young Heir swept a glance over Leonel. Not many dared to cut him off while he was speaking like this.
    Of course, that was just the Young Heir's illusion. Leonel had waited for a slight pause in his long winded admonishment. It was clear that the Young Heir was lecturing his little sister rather than speaking for all of their benefits, so Leonel asked a question instead.
    "бн There are eight Sectors to the city. Each has their own residential area and monuments. The only way to access the other Sectors is through the Central Tower, however due to this, it also makes it very obvious when someone is crossing over to a Sector they shouldn't be in.
    "When you enter another Sector, it becomes easier to upgrade your rank, meditating before the monuments becomes easier, and the benefits for stealing abodes is also greater."
    "Benefits of abodes?" Leonel's gaze sparkled.
    "Yes, every abode makes it easier to cultivate a specific Special Force. The short of it is that all benefits are greater when stealing them from another Sector. But, for this reason, people are also very territorial. Considering your strength, acting on this would only lead to your death."
    The Young Heir's words were quite pointed, but Leonel didn't really care to respond directly to them.
    Leonel found this Young Heir to be quite odd. At first glance, he seemed stoic, cold and quiet, but he was actually quiteбн long winded.
    "I have one more question." Leonel pressed. "Are there really this many Emperors?"
    Leonel looked around at all the lit lampposts. It couldn't be that Emperors were so cheap, right?
    "Who said an Emperor could only claim one house?"
    Leonel's eyes widened. So this was how it wasбн
    "Thanks for the help." Leonel said with a smile. "I'll help out the Keafir family if I can. I'll be going now."
    After finishing his duties, Leonel bid his farewells. His thoughts were filled with how to make his imprint as big as possible.
    If he wanted to be known, there was no better option than attacking other territories. However, Syl's brother wasn't wrong, he was too weak to do so now. He needed a few back up plans first.
    The Young Heir's gaze narrowed as he watched Leonel's back retreat, his sword trembling once again.
    Jerach followed along quickly, not knowing anything about the crazy thoughts going on in Leonel's head.

 Chapter 366: Bow Down!

    "Hey, hey." Jerach jogged to keep up with Leonel, his heavy armor causing the paved roads to quake.
    Leonel looked back and couldn't help but smile.
    "You know, for someone with such a strong wind affinity, shouldn't you wear something lighter than this, baldy? Who knows, your hair might grow back if you stop straining yourself so much."
    "What do you know?!" Jerach snapped like a cat that had its tail stepped on. Clearly, his baldness was a soft spot. "It's precisely because I have a high wind affinity that I should take full advantage of it. Who else could wear such heavy army and yet still be so fast?"
    Leonel shook his head and didn't reply to these words.
    They sounded logical, but the truth was that Jerach's speed would never reach its full potential like that. Just from what Leonel could see alone, he would easily be two or three times faster if he took his armor off.
    On top of that, he would never be as sturdy as someone with an earth affinity either. So, he was essentially becoming decent at many things in exchange for losing out at being excellent in one lane.
    In a world where your life was on the line at every turn, Leonel felt that this was a mistake. But, he didn't press Jerach too much. He still needed a bodyguard, after all.
    "бн So who are you really?" Jerach asked curiously, leveling out his steps with Leonel.
    "I told you already, Leonel Morales." Leonel replied casually, looking toward the next monument.
    "You know that's not what I mean. You use a translator, so you're obviously not from this world. I hear you came out of the same carriage as Syl, but you both deny being betrothed иC you should probably hide that from that madman, by the way. If he finds out that something like that happen, he might kill you for defiling his little sister."
    Jerach rambled.
    "I'm from Earth." Leonel finally responded as Jerach had a pause.
    "Earth?!"
    Jerach's steps stopped.
    Leonel frowned, looking back toward Jerach. "Is there a problem?"
    "бн No." Jerach shook his head.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Was there a need for such an exaggerated reaction? Terrain was just as bad a name as Earth, after all. It could be said that all their ancestors needed some better naming sense.
    Leonel wanted to say something about Jerach's weird reaction, but he realized that they had already made it to the first monument. On the way to the Emperor abodes, Leonel had already mentally marked the locations of a few monuments.
    Unfortunately, Leonel was so focused on the monuments before him and how they could help him find Aina that he had completely missed the complicated gaze Jerach looked toward his back with.
    **
    After a full day, Leonel fell into his thoughts, organizing everything he had seen.
    The Eastern Sector had 33 monuments and Leonel had been to them all. However, there were only a minority of them that caught Leonel's attention at all.
    The first one was of a bowman.
    Unlike what Leonel had with his Spear Domain, he didn't have a set path to follow with his bow. However, it would be a shame to ignore his talent for marksmanship. The only issue was finding sources that could help him continuously increase his skill.
    Of all 33 monuments he had been to, only one of them depicted a bowman. Even now, Leonel could remember her valiant aura and golden armor. She looked like a goddess descended toward earthбн
    Just from the few scenes Leonel saw, he could tell that she could control the flow of a ten kilometer radius just with her bow and arrows alone. It was a level of skill Leonel couldn't even imagine in his current state.
    The second monument that caught Leonel's attention was of another woman. The only unfortunate part was that she was a fire mage and not an earth or light mage.
    Leonel still remembered being entranced. This woman stood in the skies wearing a fiery red robe so long it extended tens of meters past her feet. Her fiery red hair was of an obscene length as well, whipping about like rays of crimson amidst the clouds.
    The domain that surrounded her seemed burnt to ash. The air was dry, the ground was black, the wind was scorched. It felt as though one was standing in a perpetual hell just being around her.
    Leonel remembered being in awe when he came out from the illusion before soon being disappointed. After all, he wasn't a fire mage. And, even though he had Dream Sculpted all the Mage Arts of Camelot, regardless of element, he had never even so much as used a Fire Element spell before.
    However, that was when something shocking happened. Leonel realized that when he looked around him, Jerach and the others who had surrounded the monument at the time had separated their distance to him by a large margin.
    At first, Leonel had been confused, but when he look around, he found that there was a radius of scorched ground around him. In fact, the only things not burnt to ash near him was the little mink napping on his head without any worries and, luckily, his clothes.
    It was then that Leonel came to realizationбн His Scarlet Star Force.
    Top ten amongst Star Elemental Forces. Top three amongst Light Elemental Forces. Andбн
    The very best amongst Fire Elemental Forces.
    Without realizing it, Leonel's affinity for fire magic had surpassed his affinity for both Earth and Light Elemental magic. Whether it was his Metal Synergy or Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factors, they were all overshadowed by his Innate Force Node. This could only be expected, after all, a Lineage Factor is passed down and must be slowly unlocked whereas an Innate Force Node was all to a person's own.
    Of course, Leonel's Scarlet Star Force also vastly improved his Light and Star Element affinity. Compared to others with Light and Star Elemental affinity, Leonel was amongst the very top few now.? However, even compared to that increase, his fire affinity still gained the greatest leap.
    Even though he couldn't use his Innate Force Node to its full potential now, simply by virtue of having it, all flames in the world bowed down to him!

 Chapter 367: Now?

    The third monument that caught Leonel's attention was actually a sword wielding man. However, this wasn't because of the weapon. Leonel had no interest in switching from the spear. In fact, he found that he was growing more and more fond of the spear every day.
    There were two reasons this monument caught his attention. For one, Leonel recognized a part of its aura. When he thought about it, he realized that it was very similar to the aura he had sensed on Syl's elder brother.
    Of course, the aura on Syl's elder brother was far weaker than the one Leonel sensed from this monument. However, it was the same aura nonetheless.
    As the saying went, it was important to understand one's enemy. Though Syl's brother wasn't yet at such a point with Leonel, Leonel had too much PTSD from organizations he joined betraying him. By this point, he was already on his guard and was preparing for the worst case scenario.
    That said, if it was only about understanding Syl's elder brother, Leonel wouldn't be so interested in this monument. After all, no matter how much he understood the Young Heir, it was useless if he was too weak to do anything about it. Ultimately, what was most important was his own strength.
    However, there was a second matter that caught Leonel's attention: The sword wielding man had a pair of wings.
    Leonel hadn't spent much time comprehending [Golden Feather Step] just yet. But, he already understood just how important movement was in battle, especially if he was the weaker party.
    If one was far weaker in strength but had speed, there would always be a chance for survival. However, there were plenty of examples of stronger individuals suffering at the hands of those much faster than them. This was part of the reason Leonel didn't agree with Jerach's methods.
    Speed kills.
    What was exceptionally beautiful about this monument was that this winged swordsman placed emphasis on his speed. His movements and swords were fluid, moving together as one. The flaps of his weapon and the swings of his sword almost looked like breathing.
    The contraction of the diaphragm, the expansion of the lungs, the suction of air, the relaxing of the diaphragm, the shrinking of the lungs, the expelling of airбн
    In a continuous cycle, they flowed into one another, nurturing one another, strengthening one another.
    Even compared to the other monuments Leonel had lost himself in, he spent an exceptionally long time at this one despite the fact he was only trying to hop from monument to monument as quickly as possible.
    It was thanks to this that Leonel realized something else his Dreamscape Battle Sense was missingбн He didn't have enough fluidity.
    Right now, his Battle Sense worked by sensing a change and reacting to it. But, that was entirely reliant on his opponent doing something. What if Leonel ran into a patient opponent who shared a similar battle style? How would his Battle Sense react when it had no information to read?
    Unfortunately, Dyon could only store such thoughts in the back of his mind. Even this most simple version of his Battle Sense used up so much stamina, he couldn't imagine what would happen if he tried to add fluidity. He couldn't even wrap his mind around how he would do this.
    Still, this matter of fluidity taught Leonel something most could only learn after experiencing countless battlesбн
    Movement wasn't just about evading and defense, it was just as important in attacking. Only when one's steps flowed with one's actions seamlessly would one reach true mastery of their movement.
    Leonel was exceptionally lucky to grasp this truth before he truly began to study [Golden Feather Step]. It might even halve the time he would need to master this technique.
    бн
    These were the three monuments that had caught Leonel's attention. This was a good result.
    Unfortunately, there was bad news.
    After Leonel studied all the monuments, he realized that he had been mistaken. There were no hidden techniques to learn or grasp. This meant that there were no Fourth Dimensional techniques Leonel could learn to help make use of his Soul Forceбн
    All the monuments seemed entirely focused on aura and feel, as though it was teaching the disposition a warrior of a certain type should have. However, there were no techniques to glean from them at all.
    Such a reality left Leonel sighing.
    'There are important lessons to learn, but that's about itбн'
    Leonel shook his head.
    These things weren't as useless as he thought. For example, the core lesson of the winged swordsman would lay a foundation for him in movement techniques that would only exponentially multiply in the future.
    If Leonel was correct, there were lessons to be gained from the bowman, or bowwoman, rather, and the fire mage as well. The bowwoman likely taught about control and the fire mage definitely touched upon the concept of a domain.
    Still, all of these things sounded nice, but now Leonel didn't have an obvious path toward improvement. Without matching techniques, breaking into the Fourth Dimension wouldn't create as great a boost to his strength as he would like.
    Leonel looked up to the sky and sighed. It seemed that things wouldn't be as easy as he thought. He needed to talk to the dictionary to arrange his thoughtsбн
    After a while, Leonel grit his teeth. He would have to risk it.
    The only place he would feel safe using the dictionary was in his own protected abode. He would have to put it all on the line and claim one now. If he let things stay as is, he would eventually suffer. Hesitancy and inaction were just as bad as failing miserably at times.
    Leonel could feel many eyes on him. Many had been watching his every action for a long time now, wondering how long he could hold out.
    When everyone saw him walking back toward the abode setting, numerous spies sent to monitor his actions rushed back toward their masters, cold lights flickering in their gazes.
    Jerach, who had followed Leonel all this time, frowned deeply. He couldn't help but look toward Leonel's side profileбн
    Was he really going to do it now?

 Chapter 368: Sixth Abode

    Leonel walked along the stone paved roads once again, calmly observing the abodes and lampposts one by one. He was easily able to see which abodes could help with what.
    Most were focused on the main elements of Fire, Wind, Earth and Water. Aside from them, there were a few rarer kinds that fell into the category of Variants.
    The best sort of abode for Leonel would be a Star Elemental Abode. Only such a place would be highly compatible with him and would make the process of evolving his Soul Force much smoother.
    Also, since he wasn't necessarily restricted to one abode, a metal Variant of the Earth Element would also be greatly beneficial to him. This would help him improve his Metal Body at a much quicker rate.
    That said, this wasn't at the forefront of Leonel's mind. After all, he had long since realized that the aura beneath the Gates and monuments could also work to greatly speed up the strengthening of his Metal Body. In fact, since the aura beneath the monuments were ten times more concentrated, they were even better than the Gates had been.
    Leonel continued to walk, quickly getting a bit worried. He saw some Variant abodes, but he still hadn't seen a Star Force abode.
    "бн What are you looking for?" Jerach finally couldn't hold back.
    In his mind, after seeing how devastating Leonel's fire affinity was, Leonel should have long since chosen an abode. They had already passed by two Fire Elemental abodes and one Variant Fire Elemental abode.
    Of course, Jerach had no idea that Leonel had yet to consciously work on his fire affinity before.
    "I'm looking for a Star Force abode." Leonel replied. There was no need to hide anything anyway since once he found such an abode, practically everyone would know about it.
    "Star Force?!" Jerach was shocked again.
    It was difficult to explain just how rare those with Star affinity were. They were even on par with those that had enigmatic affinities like time and space. Star Force was the only Force in existence that could be cultivated and used no matter the environment.
    There were many locations in the universe where energy of a certain kind became scarce and impossible to sense. Those who had such affinities that were unlucky enough to end up in such regions could only lament their bad luck and hope to survive. In such environments, even abilities could become useless.
    However, no matter where one was, there would always be Star, Space and Time Force. These three Forces and the other rare ones like it all had this fundamental reason that set them apart.
    Suddenly, Jerach laughed. "No wonder, no wonder. I thought you were a madman for a second, but it seemed you had a plan too."
    "Hm?" Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "You don't have to act ignorant anymore, I see through you."
    Leonel frowned in confusion. "No, really."
    Jerach gave Leonel a weird look. "You really don't know?"
    "Really."
    "Madmanбн Just a madmanбн" Jerach grumbled. "бн Claiming an abode requires two prerequisites. The first is that you must have the appropriate rank. It's possible for an Emperor to claim a King's house but it isn't possible for a King to claim and Emperor's unless they upgrade their mark.
    "The second prerequisite is that the trial of the abode must be passed."
    Leonel's gaze suddenly brightened, his steps coming to a halt.
    "You mean to say that the trial that must be passed is related to the affinity of the abode? So, if I'm the only one with Star Force affinityбн"
    "бн If you're the only one with Star Force affinity, then it would be impossible for anyone to claim your abode other than you unless they're seeking death. The trials are quite simple if you share the necessary affinity, and you can muddle your way through Variant affinities as long as its related to your main affinity. However, if you try to claim a home you have no affinity with, heavy injury is the best case scenario."
    Leonel's gaze brightened like two torches.
    Was this what they called luck? Was he finally going to get something to go his way?
    Leonel was a virgin and hadn't even kissed a woman before. In fact, the only times he had even been able to touch Aina somewhat intimately was when she was either unconscious or half dead. But, he could swear that being with a woman couldn't possibly feel half as good as he was feeling right now. He almost shed real tears.
    Jerach gave Leonel another odd look. 'Why does he look so happyбн? Why does his expression almost lookбн lewd?'
    Jerach almost began to shed his own tears. He could only hope that Leonel didn't use his control over his life to take his chastity.
    Of course, if others knew Jerach was thinking himself as chaste, he'd probably be stoned to death.
    After a moment of happiness, Leonel regained his composure.
    Even if these people couldn't try to seize his abode, the fact of the matter would be that he would still be unsafe when he left his abode. And, he would have no choice but to leave it if he wanted to make his name known to find Aina. In addition, it wasn't like he could bring the monuments into his abode either.
    However, this was still the greatest news he had heard in a long while. Even if he would still be at risk, he wouldn't have to worry about the 12 hour limit anymore. In addition, should things go south, he had a 'safe house' he could return to.
    Of course, this was as long as no one else had a Star affinityбн
    Soon, Leonel and Jerach made it to the end of the stone paved roads. For a moment, Leonel thought he had dropped back down to an abyss because even now, he couldn't find a Star affinity abode. But, that was when his gaze landed on six homes that sat side by side. In fact, they were a measure larger than all the other homes.
    One gave off a radiant gold light. The next pulsed with darkness. The third seemed warped, dilating one's sense of time. The fourth seemed to stand in a plane of its own иC it looked as though it was right before them, yet hundreds of miles away at the same time.
    The fifth made Leonel exceptionally excited. It, too, exuded a light. But, it was more gentle and dense than the first, not to mention warmer. This was definitely a Star affinity abode. Finally, his heart rested easy.
    However, when he looked at the sixth house, Leonel's steps froze again as he fell into a daze. He felt as though he experienced his whole life once again. From the day he was born to this very moment right here.
    In his shock, Leonel saw the image of a woman gorgeous beyond words. It was the kind of beauty that seized the heart and overshadowed even Young Mistress Heira.
    She had eyes as bright as glistening emeralds, hair like a shimmering golden-white waterfall, and a smile that made tears uncontrollably fall from Leonel's eyes.
    She held a baby in her arms, her gaze a mixture of love and unwillingness. The image was so real that Leonel felt as though he was right thereбн he was the babyбн he was the one being looked at in such a wayбн
    "Momбн"
    Leonel had never said these words in his life. At least, he had never said it to address another person. He never thought about his mother because he couldn't even remember her. He couldn't say he felt one way or another. But, at this moment, he felt as though his heart was bleeding.
    How could he forget that gaze?
    When Leonel snapped out of it, he found himself standing in the same place staring at the same house.
    "бн Leonel! Oh, you're awake. Try not to stare at that abode too much, there've been stories of others never being able to extricate themselves. I've never heard of someone falling into a trance like you did coming out, you're very lucky."
    Leonel blinked, trying to regain his bearing. But, the tears didn't seem to want to stop.
    "That abode, what is it?" Leonel forced out, his voice shockingly steady.
    "That?" Jerach didn't even dare to look toward the abode as he referred to it. "They call it Dream Force."

 Chapter 369: Uproar

    The moment Leonel heard these words, he felt his mind tremble.
    After a moment, he wiped the tears from his eyes and shook his head.
    Leonel's personality was one that was difficult to grasp. It was hard to imagine that a person who seemed so soft hearted as him wouldn't even spare a single thought toward his mother. It wasn't rare for children who grew up with one or no parents to have fanciful images of what could have been. Of course, some grew out of this phase while others never did. However, maybe very few were like Leonel and never had such thoughts at all.
    This was maybe one of Leonel's true faces. Though he loved, he also had a deeply calculating side to him. When he told his former best friend James that he would leave Aina alone if she truly rejected him, he hadn't been lying. If the words 'no' ever came out of her mouth or her actions ever made him feel as though she was rejecting him, he wouldn't hesitate to let that part of his heart die.
    Leonel knew this about himself. Maybe if it wasn't for the love he gained from his father, he could have very well become someone's cold killing tool. There really wasn't much separating such a person from himself aside from his upbringing.
    To now, maybe Leonel had subconsciously accepted that his mother didn't want him so he very logically cut off that part from himself. There was no need to waste time thinking about someone who had no need for him.
    However, the moment he saw that gazeбн everything suddenly changed for Leonel.
    As logical and calculating as Leonel was, he was just as loving and caring. If the gaze his mother had for him was still the same, then no matter where she was, what trouble she was in, what was keeping her from his side, he would make sure to wipe it all out.
    It was that simple to Leonel. There was nothing more to think about.
    Jerach suddenly felt that suffocating aura once again. He could hardly move until Leonel finished going through his thoughts.
    "What is Dream Force?" Leonel suddenly asked, his heart growing calm.
    Leonel needed to know. Was it just coincidental? Or was there a reason behind everything.
    "It'sбн"
    Jerach hesitated.
    The Dream Force abode was an extremely enigmatic existence. According to what Jerach knew, it didn't appear all of the time. It would often hide itself as though it was an illusion and rarely appeared.
    However, the times it did appear usually led to tragedy. There were no small number of geniuses who had lost themselves in an illusion just staring at it.
    It could be said that Jerach was lucky to not be one of them. He had been observing Leonel this whole time because he thought he was a madman. But then, Leonel suddenly stopped and entered a daze. This luckily triggered some of Jerach's memories so he didn't dare to look where Leonel was looking.
    But, from what Jerach knew, it should have been impossible for Leonel to wake up. Yet, not only had Leonel woken up, he had only been in a daze for a few seconds at most. This left Jerach more shocked than almost anything else ever could.
    Could it be that all those legends were exaggerated? They must beбн
    Despite thinking this, though, Jerach still didn't dare to look toward the sixth abode.
    "бн It's another high level Force. Wherever there are people, there will be Dream Force. So, in a way, just like how Star Force is never restricted by location, so is Dream Force. After all, if you happen to find yourself in such a place, as long as you exist, there will be Dream Force."
    "But what is it exactly?" Leonel asked, his expression having regained an eerie calm. He almost seemed too placid.
    "I don't know much about itбн I only heard someone once describe Dream Force as the representation of consciousness."
    Leonel's gaze sharpened.
    Consciousnessбн How much effort had the scientists of Earth put into finding the source of human consciousness? It was the one thing that even hundreds of years of technological advancement still couldn't describe.
    Some believed that human consciousness was stored in a soul or spirit. Others believed that everything that represented consciousness could be found within the brain and that we only couldn't describe it because we didn't understand the brain well enoughбн
    When Leonel entered this new world order, he sometimes had fleeting thoughts that maybe a soul did exist. He had seen so many fantastical powers in the past year that this was much easier to accept for him.
    Yet, even now, he had yet to find this so-called 'soul' of his.
    One had to know that Soul Force was just a name. It didn't represent a spiritual form of Leonel. It was simply an extension of Leonel's senses, another form of energy. Nothing more, nothing less.
    This was the reason why even though Leonel knew his Ethereal Glabella inside and out, he had never run into anything like a soul in there. All one could find were his Embryos and his Stars. There was nothing else.
    But, what Jerach was saying now was that this Dream Force represented such a thing? It left Leonel feelingбн well, he wasn't exactly sure how he was feeling at all.
    All Leonel knew was that this was the abode he would be choosing. He didn't even hesitate as he took a step toward it.
    Jerach panicked. "Hey, what are you doing?"
    Leonel smiled lightly. "Choosing an abode, obviously."
    "You're going in the wrong direction! The Star abode is over there!"
    Leonel smiled but didn't reply. Jerach knew well what he was doing.
    Whether it was dangerous or not, Leonel didn't care. He needed to know why his heart was thumping like this. It was the same feeling Leonel had felt when he chose [Dimensional Cleanse]. It was the same feeling he had when he chose [Golden Feather Step]. Yet, it was several times more potent than the feeling had ever been.
    Were those names he chose a coincidence?
    Dream World. Dream Sculpt. Dreamscape. Dream Clone.
    How much of it was a casual name he had given his abilities and how much of it was something compelling him toward the right path?
    Leonel had always believed that his ability and his Soul Force was inextricably linked. But, what if this wasn't entirely correct? What if he was missing something?
    Leonel took several more steps, ignoring Jerach's attempts to stop him. Eventually, the poor bald Jerach, scared for his own safety, didn't dare approach the house any closer. Though he could stop Leonel by force with his strength, he could see a look in Leonel's eye that made him not dare to do so.
    Then, Leonel crossed the threshold no one else dared to.
    What he didn't know was that his actions would soon cause an uproar.

 Chapter 370: Evolution Stage

    Leonel was suddenly bombarded by a surge of Force.
    It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. The Force he was used to was hard to sense, but it was still tangible. Even someone with weak Internal Sight could feel it as long as the concentration was high enough.
    But, this Force, despite being maybe in the highest concentration Leonel had ever seen, still feltбн unreal.
    The harder Leonel tried to reach out to it, the more fluidly it slipped through his fingers. It was as though Leonel was on a different plane, observing it from afar.
    However, despite there being such a surge, Leonel didn't feel like his life was in danger at all. In fact, he continued to walk forward without suffering any setback at all. If it wasn't for the fact he was taking his time to sense the mysteriousness of this Dream Force, he would have already long since crossed this trial.
    Before Leonel even realized it, he had made it to the door of the Dream Force abode.
    His palm reached out, touching the dark oak of the door.
    *CLICK*
    A light clicking sound reached Leonel's ears as the door slowly swung open.
    At that moment, a shield of protection suddenly vibrated.
    The lamppost that manned the outside flickered before erupting into a blinding light that shot into the skies.
    The eyes of numerous elites swung in a single direction. They were all used to the signs of an abode being conquered by now. However, the signs had never been this exaggerated before. In the whole of Terrain's Brave City, not a single one had ever claimed one of these special abodes.
    Leonel, however, had no idea that he had suddenly become the center of attention. He was entirely immersed in an all new feeling. His body, despite standing on the ground, felt as though it was soaring into the cloudsбн
    бн
    When Leonel finally snapped out of his odd state, he was uncertain of how much time had passed. But, he was no longer worried about a time limit. Compared to the Star Force abode, this Dream Force abode was even more secure. Whereas someone bold might try to force their way through the Star Force trial, Leonel didn't believe anyone would have the guts to do so with the Dream Force abode.
    Facing something tangible was always easier than facing the illusory. In this abode, it was possible to fall into an illusion without even realizing what happened. If it wasn't for Leonel's high affinity with Dream Force, he would have likely fallen into an endless cycle as well.
    'So that's how it isбн'
    Leonel exhaled a long breath, looking around his new home for the next while. He couldn't help but smile, he hadn't had a place he could call home in more than a year now. He didn't know how long he would be in this Brave City, but he definitely felt at home hereбн
    The whole abode was decorated in white and black. The two shades complemented and danced with one another across the home. It was warm and pleasing to the eye, leaving Leonel feeling content.
    For the first time, Leonel didn't feel the need to ask the dictionary what was happening with him. He understood that compared to his affinity for Fire, Light, Star, or Earth, his affinity for Dream Force existed on a completely different plane of its own. It was so high, in fact, that even without being consciously aware, he had still made use of it beforeбн
    Whenever Leonel entered his Dream World, whenever he used Dream Sculpt, whenever he formed a Dream Cloneбн Every time, without fail, without Dream Force as a core, he would have failed.
    To use something so unconsciously, as though he was breathingбн just what level of affinity was that?
    But, now that Leonel knew what it was and could consciously put it into motionбн
    WHOOOOSH!
    A violent torrent of Force surged toward Leonel.
    He completely expelled all of his normal Soul Force. It was nothing but a hindrance to him, limiting his abilities and causing him to use more stamina to perform tasks that should have been as easy as breathing.
    To Leonel, Soul Force and Dream Force were like the lubricants and fuel to a well running engine. Not only was Soul Force far lower in quality, when it combusted, it gave off countless impurities, making its efficiency horrid.
    Not everyone could do as Leonel was currently doing. Dream Force represented consciousness. Those with low affinity could easily lose themselves, forgetting what was real and what was not. Their memories would become so real that it would feel as though they were reliving them in real time. Their phobias would manifest and hold control of them. Even their loves would become larger than life, enveloping their very beings.
    The number of pitfalls there were to using Dream Force were endless. Only those innately born with a comprehension of this Force could make use of it without losing themselves. And, thanks to his ability, Leonel just so happened to be one of these people.
    The moment all of his Soul Force was purged, Leonel felt as though a shackle on his mind had been lifted. Dream Force began to compress within his Ethereal Glabella, wildly surging about.
    Leonel wasn't worried in the slightest. The Dream Force he was accepting now, no matter how high level of an energy it was, was still considered to be within the Fourth Dimension. With the strength of his mind, it was child's play to accept for him.
    WHOOOSH!
    The Force around Leonel kicked up a tempest. Leonel's hair fluttered wildly, his heavy robes billowing.
    What sounded like shattering glass resounded in Leonel's ears.
    Leonel's eyes shot open, a bright light making his pale irises seem no dimmer than his mother's bright emerald gaze for a moment.
    Leonel felt that his mind had never been clearer. He saw the things in the world down to their most basic building blocks, seeing through the foundation even the most complex things with just a single glance.
    With a flip of his palm, the dictionary appeared once again.
    The last time Leonel checked the level of his ability, it had just barely crossed into the Bronze grade. Though this was still a Fifth Dimensional ability, with the other limiters on Leonel's body, it hadn't been able to truly shine.
    But nowбн
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Subject: Leonel Morales ]
    [ Calculative Mind: An ability capable of simplifying the complex. ]
    [ Evaluating powerбн *Ping* ]
    [Evolution Stage: Quasi Silver]

 Chapter 371: Variable

    Leonel should have been shocked by this result. After all, the last time he checked, his ability was graded as Tier 3 Bronze. This sort of massive leap should have been completely out of expectations. But, Leonel only nodded. This much should have been expected.
    After purging his Soul Force, his ability should have already shot up to Tier 6 or 7. Then, after breaking through to the Fourth Dimension within his Ethereal Glabella, it shot up once again to Quasi Silver. It was very likely that at this moment, he had the most powerful ability on Terrain.
    Leonel closed his eyes, focusing on the changes to his ability.
    Leonel already knew that he wouldn't suddenly awaken new branches to his ability. His Calculative Mind ability entirely relied on himself to come up with new ways to use his computer-like brain. However, he could still check to see what improvements there had been to abilities he already created.
    'My Dream Clone limit is now 17бн'
    This was the first thing Leonel realized as it was the easiest to quantify. 17 might sound like a small change, but it became exponentially more difficult to split his mind the more ways he did so.
    Of course, it was possible for Leonel to surpass this limit of 17 if he consciously lowered the computing power of each. But, in most cases, this wouldn't be very helpful.
    Leonel's overall abilities gained a massive boost. He could Dream Sculpt in a fraction of the time, the ideas he had to improve his Dreamscape and Dreamscape Battle Sense seemed to increase like a never-ending tide, but, the most important change to Leonel was that he could see through the core secrets of the things he had Dream Sculpted.
    Leonel left his Dream World and walked out of is abode.
    "Jerach." Leonel called out.
    By now, Jerach was in a pitiful state. He didn't dare to look toward the abode, but he also felt conflicted in his heart. His pride wouldn't allow him to abandon Leonel. He hadn't been joking around when he said he would sign his life over.
    He was a real man. He refused to do anything that encroached on his ideals for himself.
    At that moment, Jerach had just been about to turn toward the abode. Even if he got stuck in an illusion for the rest of his life, he would have still have followed through on the thoughts of his heart.
    But, who knew that the moment he spun around, a vicious glint in his eyes as though the abode was his mortal enemy, he would hear Leonel's voice suddenly call out?
    Leonel looked toward Jerach with an amused expression.
    "What are you doing out there? Hurry up."
    Jerach stood rooted in place for a long while.
    "бн Did I already fall into the illusion? Fuck, my life is over."
    Leonel laughed and shook his head.
    He hadn't had a close friend since James betrayed him. In fact, he had very much avoided it, closing himself off slightly. But, he felt it wouldn't be bad to have someone like Jerach around, at least for now.
    Leonel waved a finger, causing a pillar of earth to shoot up from behind Jerach and send him soaring toward the house.
    "Ah!" Jerach grabbed onto his ass with both hands, soaring through the skies with a wronged expression on his face.
    Leonel let Jerach land before the door. No way he was going to catch something so heavy.
    But, this seemed to wake Jerach up from his stupor.
    "Youбн you really claimed this abode?"
    Leonel smiled. "I have some stuff to do before we go again. Just stay in here, it's safer. I'm sure there will be people surrounding this place soon enough."
    With that, Leonel turned and entered, walking up to the highest room of the abode. Though he didn't know Jerach well, his actions just now were enough for Leonel to take a chance on his character.
    Even if Leonel was wrong about him, with Leonel's current abilities, he could definitely stop anyone he didn't want spying on him from doing so.
    Jerach stood in a daze as Leonel disappeared.
    **
    BANG!
    "Someone tell me what the hell just happened!"
    Within the Central Tower, numerous meetings just like this were taking place. As though by tacit understanding, almost all Emperors and most Kings not involved in Leonel's claiming of the Dream Abode came to this very place.
    "P-Please calm your anger, young master. All those we've sent to investigate haven't come back. We're unsure of what happened as well."
    "Dammit!"
    The young man in question knew that he couldn't go and investigate himself. If he did so, that would be an act of war on the Eastern Sector and he couldn't bear this burden alone.
    It was fine if he sent middling Soldiers out to do his bidding. Who would care about a few Soldiers? They weren't enough of a threat to be taken seriously. But, if he, as a King, made a move of his own, it would definitely stir up some problems.
    "The Dream Abode had been claimed! The Dream Abode has been claimed!"
    At that moment, a Soldier came sprinting into the tower, almost tripping over his own feet.
    The entire environment froze.
    Had it been the Light or Dark Abode, it would have been shocking, but easier to accept. Had it been the Star, Space or Time Abode, the whole of Terrain would have been shaken, but it would still cool down after a while. But, for it to be the Dream Abodeбн
    It felt as though everyone had entered an illusory realm of their own. Did they really hear correctly?
    Reynred Solar, Jilniya Falls and Wilas Mirage all sat together, discussing this very topic. But, when they heard the news, they too came to a grinding halt. Then, they all looked toward one another and understood something immediately.
    Their mission this time was far too important, it was so important that they even stopped personally overseeing the capture of that ugly bitch.
    For such a variable to appear now of all timesбн They had to find a way to deal with it.

 Chapter 372: First Flight

    Leonel had no idea about the commotion he had caused. But, truthfully, this was a matter of choice rather than one of ignorance. All he cared about at this moment was increasing his own strength. The question laid in how he would do so.
    At the moment, Leonel sat in the pool of his Abode Setting in a silent state of meditation. His mind rushed through several potential plans as he organized himself.
    The quickest way to improve himself was likely with the Four Seasons Realm Force Arts of Merlin's Trials. With the improvement to his ability added atop the help of the Natural Force Art, it most definitely wouldn't take him the years he previously thought it would.
    Leonel had already done a quick estimate. It would take him about a single day to perfect Dream Sculpt one of them now. And, if he wanted to fuse his comprehensions of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, he felt it would take about a week or two.
    In total, if Leonel wanted to grasp the Four Seasons Realm for his spear, bow and fists, it would take about two to three months. This was definitely a far shorter evaluation than he previously had.
    The only unfortunate part was that these wouldn't be his own comprehensions. As such, the power he displayed wouldn't be as exaggerated as allowing him to challenge the Peak of the Fourth Dimension.
    'For someone weak, the best thing they can do to keep themselves safe would be to have mobility and to keep a certain distance.'
    Leonel knew this well. So, for now, he set aside the idea of comprehending his spear and fist techniques.
    During the trip here, Leonel had already completely grasped Chain Domain and conquered his first Spear Peak. There was no need to spend any more time on it for now. In fact, Leonel was leaning toward comprehending the Four Seasons Realm with his spear on his own. But, this was still a matter for the future.
    'Focus on movement and long ranged attacks.'
    When Leonel came to this conclusion, he had made up his mind. He was able to quickly breakdown the things he needed to do.
    The first and most obvious was to awaken the Speed Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.
    The second was to master [Golden Feather Step].
    The third was to comprehend and fuse his comprehensions of the Four Seasons Realm for his Bow Embryo.
    And the fourth was to modify his use of Camelot's spell Arts to make them useful against Fourth Dimensional opponents. In the past, Leonel didn't have the computational ability to do this on his own. But, at the moment, he was feeling much more confident.
    Having made his decision, Leonel's eyes slowly opened.
    A smile crept onto his face as he watched the little mink float in the pool. The little guy snored away without a care in the world, causing Leonel to chuckle.
    Leonel entered his Dream World once again. This time, he immediately split himself into 16 Dream Clones. Then, he assigned four to each one of his chosen tasks. As for his 17th Dream Clone, he had it completely focus on absorbing Dream Force. The only way to sustain such continuous activity would be to do exactly this.
    If Leonel was in any other environment, he would likely have to take a break every few hours. This had happened to him during his trip here in the carriage with Heira. This was why Heira could so clearly tell when he slipped into and out of his meditative state.
    But the Dream Abode had such a high density of Dream Force that Leonel didn't even need to worry about it. And, since he was currently within the Segmented Cube, he could allow it to slowly gain the characteristics of the Dream Abode as well.
    At least for while Leonel was within the Fourth Dimension and Fourth Dimensional Dream Force was still helpful to him, he could enter the Abode or Lab Setting to gain the same benefits he was now.
    ..
    ~[Golden Feather Step] Clones~
    After asking the dictionary, Leonel conjured up an environment perfect for training movement within his Dream World.
    His Dream Clones each stood atop thin metal poles barely the width of the balls of their feet. Below, there was nothing but an endless abyss.
    In their minds, the movements of [Golden Feather Step] were replayed again and again. Each of them tried to grasp the Artistic Conception of the technique.
    Leonel had no idea that his thoughts now were far beyond a normal person's. Artistic Conception was usually a term reserved for the Universe Cycles. But, to try and paint a picture without even considering the Universe Cyclesбн The outcome would be quite interesting indeed.
    However, Leonel had always been doing this subconsciously. In the past, he had practiced [Chasing Wind] without even opening its coverбн What was this if not relying on Artistic Conception?
    When Leonel chose [Golden Feather Step], what he chose wasn't its name or its powerбн he chose its feeling.
    бн
    ~Speed Branch Lineage Factor Clones~
    Leonel entered a deep introspection of his body, sensing the shackles the bound his blood.
    Having access to a particular branch didn't necessarily mean that one would awaken it. However, to now, Leonel had been able to awaken the first levels of both the Healing Branch and the Wisdom Branch.
    The first opening of the Wisdom Branch was known as Blossoming Mind. It opened up one's thoughts, increasing speed of thought and solidifying the foundation for further cultivation of the mind.
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't gain much from this other than smoothing out his path toward the Fifth Dimension. After all, his own ability overshadowed any benefits one could gain from unlocking this first shackle.
    The first opening of the Healing Branch was known as Instant Recovery. As long as there was an adequate separation of time, Leonel could instantly recover back to his peak state. It had already been months since the last time Leonel used this ability, but he still had a few more months to go before he could use it again.
    Luckily, this opening of this Branch had the passive ability of multiplying the impact of normal healing, something Leonel had experienced personally already during his battle with Lamorak.
    The first opening of the Speed Branch, however, was a special case for the Snowy Star Owl. It had a slight mutation as compared to the normal Speed Branch of other Lineage Factors because it was tailored toward winged beasts.
    It was known as First Flight.

 Chapter 373: Resolve

    Of course, Leonel wasn't going to sprout wings just by unlocking the first of his Lineage Factor's chains. Such a mutation would only occur at a much deeper level of integration.
    First Flight represented the invocation of the essence of the Snowy Star Owl's speed.
    ~Four Seasons Clones~
    Each one of Leonel's four Dream Clones focused on a different Force Art. They floated before his main body, each capturing a different scene.
    Despite the fact Leonel had already been bestowed the Winter Legendary Skill, he still chose to comprehend it on his own again. It was then he suddenly realized something shocking.
    When he finally grasped Winter on his ownбн he realized it was different from the comprehension Merlin's Trial had bestowed to him.
    'It can't beбн'
    Leonel froze for a moment.
    Compared to the comprehension Merlin's Trial had given him, the one he comprehended by Dream Sculpting was several times deeper. In fact, Leonel felt as though he could sense the essence of the Seasons as though it was his very own understanding.
    Leonel was stunned.
    What limited those who chose the second path of comprehension иC relying on another иC was that their understanding would never be as deep as the original creator. However, by Dream Sculpting these Force Arts, Leonel had integrated this understanding so deeply within himself that it almost felt like his own.
    Leonel was shocked to his core. When he realized this, he immediately consulted the dictionary. It was only after this that he finally calmed down.
    'So that's how it isбн'
    Leonel learned from the dictionary that there were two things that distinguished the second and third forms of comprehension. The first was as Leonel thought: how deeply one comprehended. But, the second was how much Universal Force one could evoke.
    Universal Force was the strength behind the Four Seasons Realm. When one comprehended one or all of the Four Seasons, it was possible to use Universal Force to increase one's strength. This was where the power of the Realm came from.
    When one comprehended a Universe Cycle on their own, the amount of Universal Force one could use was far greater than when one relied on someone else.
    This essentially meant that Leonel was now in an in-between Realm. He felt as though the comprehension was his own, but the Universal Force hadn't recognized it as such.
    As a result, the power he could evoke from the Four Seasons Realm was more than someone who comprehended it with the help of another, but less than if he had comprehended it all on his own.
    Even though this wasn't as great as Leonel had been hoping, this was still excellent news. The second form of comprehension would have just been a minor boost to his strength, but this was much, much, much more of a boon.
    Leonel's confidence grew as he once more sunk back into his meditative state.
    бн
    ~Mage Art Clones~
    After the increased strength to Leonel's ability, he found that his ability to master Force Arts had skyrocketed. Not only could he draw Mage Arts much more quickly than he had in the past, he felt that he could even freelance their symbols to a small extent.
    Though 'freelancing' lowered the strength of the Art, it once again increased the casting speed and gave Leonel much more freedom in battle.
    However, what Leonel needed wasn't just speed, he needed added strength.
    There were two avenues he could travel down to accomplish this.
    The first was the [Layering] Art. Leonel had already used this Art many times in battle. It allowed a mage to stack the same spell multiple times to increase its power.
    Unfortunately, it had its own limitations. For one, the maximum number of stacked spells for a Three Star Magus Art was three and no more. This wasn't anywhere near enough to harm a Fourth Dimensional entity.
    In addition, the second problem was time. To layer multiple Arts, it was obviously necessary to draw each one of them individually. This would increase casting time and not be conducive to battle.
    Of course, this second problem overshadowed the fact that it would also take a lot of stamina to layer so many Arts.
    To Leonel, the problem of time and stamina wasn't really an issue. He could cast even a Three Star Magus Art in a split second in his current state. The main issue was the limitation of the layering Art.
    If Leonel wanted to go with this option, he would have to research into either making the layering Art better or into making his Three Star Magus Arts better compliments to it.
    Howeverбн Leonel felt he had a much better idea than this.
    His four Clones sat in regions of their own, each of them having numerous Force Arts floating around them. They spanned from the simplest Apprentice Arts to the highest Magus Arts.
    Every so often, they would breakdown into smaller parts. Anyone watching from the outside would realize that it wasn't that there were Apprentice Arts and Magus Arts floating around Leonel but rather thatбн
    The Magus Arts were becoming Apprentice Arts!
    Leonel continued breaking down complex Magus Arts into their simpler forms them forming them up once again.
    He seemed to be searching for something, looking for a path forward.
    Soon, there came a point where nothing but Apprentice Arts remained. Thenбн
    Leonel broke them down further.
    **
    While Leonel was entirely focused on training himself, a month ticked by, then a second. Leonel had unknowingly turned 19 being completely none the wiser.
    Outside the Dream Abode, the crowd continued to grow. But, if one paid attention, it would become clear that for such a large crowd, the surroundings were eerily silent. In fact, not a single person was moving as though they had all entered a trance.
    The higher ups who sent all of their subordinates here felt a slight tinge of fear, all the legends of the Dream Abode coming back to their memories. If they weren't certain before, they were absolutely sure now that someone had claimed it.
    But, how could they deal with someone they couldn't even approach?
    It was only then that the crowd before the Abode grew stagnant. From afar, the sight caused many to shudder in fear.
    While everyone was distracted, though, changes began to occur at the Gates of Brave City once again.
    The first period of entry for Brave City was known as the quota period. In this period, every family, City and Power would only allow a certain number of individuals to enter. This was the calmest state Brave City would be in during its active period, but it also only allowed a limited number of individuals to benefit.
    After this period ended, the second period would begin. During this time, restrictions would lift. Butбн the danger would multiply several folds.
    Whereas in the beginning, Brave City exuded a Valiant Majesty, it now seemed as though blood washed its walls. A suffocating killing intent hung around it, causing the weak to collapse and die beneath the pressure. No small number of individuals who overestimated themselves collapsed, never to breathe another breath.
    It was when this second period began that Zilar looked toward the massive looming Gates with fists clenched and determination in his eyes. He wasn't the only one, but his will seemed to tower over the others.
    He still remembered Leonel's words that dayбн
    "Second place was never an option for me."
    Blood leaked from Zilar's fingers.
    'Second place isn't an option for me either!'
    He took a firm step forward, his resolve forming a tangible shield around him.
    бн
    At that moment, approaching from the North, there was another who looked toward the bloody Gates in silence.
    They had a back that hunched grotesquely and were shrouded in a black cloak. The scent of blood that hung around them seemed to rival even Brave City itself.
    Without hesitation, this figure too stepped forward.

 Chapter 374: Informed

    Leonel slowly opened his eyes, exhaling a long breath. He didn't seem to look much different than he had just a few months ago.
    'Hmбн'
    Leonel passed a hand across his face. He remembered that in his youth he had always wanted a full, connecting beard. But, ever since his hair changed, he had stopped growing facial hair. He couldn't decide whether this was a good or a bad thing.
    Regardless, if his facial hair came out as difficult to cut as his bronzed hair, it might be better that he never did. As things stood now, Leonel wasn't even sure if a full force swing from Syl's elder brother's sword could cut his hair. It would probably only get worse when he entered the Perfect Stage.
    Leonel shuddered slightly, thinking about what it would mean if he had to take a blade with such force to his face.
    'Ai, what would happen if I had to kiss Aina with such tough facial hair? Would I pierce her skin? Forget it, forget itбн I'll just give up on that dreamбн'
    Just like that, Leonel had gone from a youth who dreamt of having a full beard to one who would stay cleanly shaven for the rest of his life. Sometimes, the dream of a man could only die as he matured.
    [Author's Note: A moment of silence for our favorite MCбн]
    бн
    Leonel walked down the stairs of the Dream Abode. Not much had been touched in his absence, at least not on the second or third floors. It was only after he made it down to the first that he found Jerach.
    "You're finally out!"
    Leonel gave Jerach a weird look. It wasn't because of what he said, but because of the enthusiasm he said it with. Was there a need to look so happy?
    Jerach's expression wasn't one of meeting a friend for the first time in a long time. It was more like he had just spent weeks in a bone dry desert and finally found some water. The reaction was completely disproportional to the situation.
    "What's wrong?" Leonel asked.
    Jerach shook his head and stood up.
    At the moment, he was no longer wearing his heavy armor and had swapped it out for some lighter clothing.
    "I felt like I was going crazy. There's nothing to do in this house and I can't even cultivate. If I absorbed this Dream Force, I'd probably end up like all of them."
    Jerach pointed toward the curtained windows. The sun hardly shone through them at all so it was impossible to see what was on the outside. But, clearly Jerach had taken a peak or two in the past.
    Hearing Jerach's words, Leonel felt a bit bad.
    He had brought Jerach in so that he would be safe. But, he had forgotten to consider that it would be difficult for Jerach to do much of anything here.
    With Leonel's protection, it wasn't a problem to stay here and not fall into an illusion. In fact, even if he did, Leonel could still pull him out of it. However, other than this, he was pretty limited.
    Leonel realized then that he might have been a bit too rash. It would have definitely been better for Jerach had he gone off to claim a King Abode for himself.
    "Wait." Leonel shook his head. "What did you mean by that? Who's 'all of them'?"
    Jerach smiled bitterly. "Check for yourself."
    Leonel slowly walked to the windows and pulled the curtain aside. When he saw what Jerach had already previously been aware of, he was speechless.
    "What the hellбн"
    There was a sea of people outside his home. Though it wasn't as exaggerated as being within the hundreds, there were definitely more than a few dozen. If such a crowd appeared in a normal suburb of Earth, it would be enough to shake any home owner.
    Yet, all of these people were frozen solid, not moving a single inch or saying a single word.
    'I guess the protections of this Abode are even better than I thoughtбн Let alone challenging it, they can't even look at it. Well, this definitely makes leaving easier.'
    Leonel smiled. He had wanted to become known all this time so that Aina would know to come find him. So, to him, all this commotion was good news.
    Though he could awaken all these people, he had no reason to do so just yet.
    Without saying a word to Jerach, Leonel made his way to the door and swung it open.
    "Hey, hey, hey! My armor!"
    "You don't need it." Leonel replied.
    "Youбн" Jerach felt aggrieved, but his armor wasn't something he could put on in a split moment. It was extraordinarily heavy for him.
    "Come on. You're a wind affinity warrior, that armor is only hampering you."
    Leonel turned an eye toward Jerach that made the latter shudder. He felt as though Leonel had seen through him completely with that one glance.
    'How'd he change so muchбн?'
    "бн Iбн I need my armorбн" Jerach said.
    Leonel frowned. He hadn't expected Jerach to be so set on this.
    "Fine. Forget it."
    Jerach smiled somewhat, but it seemed forced as he hurriedly put his black armor back onto his body. It was only after he finished that he sighed a breath of relief as though he had been naked without it.
    Leonel nodded and they headed out of the door, not bothering to hide their presence much. Considering the current situation, it was already difficult enough to monitor them in the first place.
    Still, to no one's surprise, those Kings and Emperors had managed to find a loophole. If one was far enough away from the Abode, the Dream Force couldn't affect them. Realizing this, many left their scouts with special long range sensory abilities in the Central Tower to monitor the Dream Abode from afar.
    The moment the doors swung open, they had all already been informed.
    But, by the time those gears had gotten into motion, Leonel had already made it to his first destination. The monument of the winged swordsman.

 Chapter 375: Red Pillar

    The truth was that no one knew who it was had claimed the Dream Abode. It was only after seeing Leonel exit that people finally got a look at just who this individual was.
    So, when Leonel made it to the stone monument, not a single person spared him a glance. Of course, that was only because they didn't notice his Emperor brand immediately.
    Now that Leonel knew his becoming famous was inevitable, he put away his overinflated bravado and went back to his normal disposition. So, not many eyes were on him to begin with.
    "Jerach, this monument is very useful for you." Leonel suddenly said.
    "Huh? What?" Jerach's eyes widened then scanned the surroundings to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation.
    Leonel chuckled. "Don't worry, no one can hear me but you. It's just a single noise cancellation spell."
    Leonel had used plenty of these spells to form his maze back during Merlin's Random Event. Using it now in conversation wasn't an issue.
    That said, Leonel found that casting the same spells in a Fourth Dimensional world had severely lowered effects. For example, a teleportation spell that would have usually carried him tens of meters would be lucky to shift him one or two meters.
    Still, for such a low level spell, it could get the job done.
    It was only after hearing Leonel say this that Jerach sighed a breath of relief.
    "бн You're a mage? No, forget that. What do you mean this monument can help me? Is there a secret?"
    "Of course there is. Did you think that these monuments just stood here to tell you about how many women these Generals took back to their tents?"
    Jerach grinned. "What better source of encouragement is there than this?"
    Leonel seemed to have almost forgotten who he was dealing with. He almost couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes.
    "The stories written on this monument may or may not be true, I don't know. But, what I do know is that the story isn't nearly as important as what's hidden within. You need to brace yourself and touch the monument with your Internal Sight."
    Jerach hesitated upon hearing this.
    The reason most didn't dare to do this was because the pressure around the monument was too great. Internal Sight seemed intangible, but it was still connected to one's mind. Under equally 'intangible' pressure, it could suffer damage and cause backlash to its owner. So, under such conditions, not many dared to even test Leonel's theory, let alone going as far as to observe the monument with it.
    "This is something you'll have to figure out yourself." Leonel said. "I've already given you all the information you need to know."
    Leonel sighed internally. He could tell that Jerach had a mental roadblock somewhere, but he wasn't some sort of guru, nor had he known Jerach for long enough to extend advice to him.
    Maybe to Jerach, he had already hidden it well. In truth, most wouldn't be able to pick up on it at all. The fact Leonel had was just a testament to his observational abilities.
    With these words said, Leonel took several steps forward and entered the aura field of the stone monument. It was only after he did this that many turned a curious eye over to him.
    'An Emperorбн?!'
    It had to be known that Emperors and Kings were almost all accounted for. Gathering information on such people was usually the topmost priority of anyone within these city walls.
    For them to not recognize such a personбн Just who was he?
    The second phase had started not long ago. Could it be that there was someone hidden within the general population with such talent?
    No one here believed that they had really missed out on Leonel. It must be that he was new. And, if he was new, then that must be that he had entered without a quota during the second phase. And, by extension, that must be that he wasn't a part of the City Lord structure or the Powers. There was no way such a talent would be abandoned without a quota by such powers, right?
    Butбн wouldn't they have also known that a new Emperor appeared? After all, there was only one Gate in their Eastern Sectorбн
    As these people were trying to think about who Leonel might be, he had already crossed the five meter mark toward the stone monument, causing their eyes to almost bulge out from their sockets.
    It was no problem for an Emperor to enter such a close range. The issue was doing it so quickly. It was as though Leonel wasn't even feeling any pressure to begin with.
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel had already become the closest to the stone monument. Yet, he didn't stop.
    He strolled forward, soon becoming so close to the monument that he could reach out a hand and touch it.
    By now, even Leonel was feeling impossibly great pressure. His bones creaked and his muscles tensed. However, compared to others, he was much more leisurely for one specific reason: he felt none of the mental pressure others did.
    With a leap, Leonel jumped toward the top of the monument.
    A green light lit the bottoms of his soles. Two more jumps later, he landed atop the tall monument.
    Leonel's body shuddered when he touched the monument. His blood seemed to roll in reverse, but his strong body withstood it.
    He forcefully suppressed it and sat down in meditation under the astonished gazes of all those around him. It wasn't long before Leonel had completely forgotten everything in his surroundings, his mind becoming as calm as the surface of a lake.
    Who knew that the moment Leonel settled into a rhythm, a blinding pillar of red light would shoot up into the skies from the direction of the Central Tower?
    No matter how shocked everyone was by Leonel, this red pillar took up all of their attentionбн
    Someone was invading their Eastern Sector.
    The only person who didn't seem to react to this at all was Leonel who continued to meditate. After all, he had already guessed that something like this would happen.
    A red pillar wouldn't appear for anyone at and below the Royal rank. The only explanation was that Kings and Emperors had made their move. And...
    They were obviously coming for him.

 Chapter 376: Us

    Leonel's mind was filled with visions of the winged swordsman.
    It was quite a beautiful sight to behold. Every motion was smooth and flowed into the next.
    The flap of his wings, the intake of a breath, the swing of his sword. His steps, his Force, his thoughtsбн It was all in perfect union.
    The longer Leonel watched, the deeper he dove into the world.
    He could feel the familiar energies trying to assault his mind. But, compared to the past where he nearly died, it almost felt like something was tickling him. The capacity of his mind was simply too far beyond what it had been in the past.
    Eventually, Leonel felt that he had been far too cautious.
    Without hesitation, he began to reflect on the Natural Force Art that called his Dream World home. In that instant, he no longer felt like he was an observer. It was as though he had taken over the body of the winged swordsman. He even felt like he was a master swordsman, ruling over the world with a single blade.
    Leonel was very familiar with this feeling. Every time he began to comprehend a new spear, this was exactly the same feeling he would have.
    The Artistic Conception engraved itself into his mind.
    'It's a much higher level of movement control compared to the primitive manбн'
    Leonel's heartbeat slowly descended, reaching a calm state once more. In fact, he felt as though the pressure the stone monument had on him was lessened by several degrees.
    The primitive man taught Leonel the value of body control. When he ran, the movement of his arms and torso were just as the important as the movement of his legs. When he used his hands to attack, the placement of his feet and the torque of his hips was just as important as the placement of his arms.
    This was a comprehension Leonel had slowly built upon the more spear consciousnesses he absorbed.
    If he went back now, the deficiencies of the primitive man were too many, the most blatant of which was the fact this consciousness only focused on the body but not enough on Force. However, regardless, Leonel was endlessly thankful for the foundation the primitive man gave him.
    Thanks to this foundation, Leonel felt that he could grasp the mysteries of this winged swordsman with much more ease.
    'There's something I'm missing. This feeling is definitely very important to this world, but I know nothing about it. I'll have to ask the dictionary about it when I have time.'
    Leonel opened his eyes and smiled, feeling very satisfied with his gains. He didn't expect to master the secrets of this stone monument so quickly, but this was definitely a good thing. It seemed he had underestimated the benefits his ability had bestowed upon him.
    This made Leonel even more eager to move on to the next monument.
    Much like the primitive man was a great foundation for this winged swordsman's stone monument, Leonel felt that the primitive woman's consciousness would be a great foundation for the bowwoman's stone monument.
    Leonel still didn't know much about what Camelot called the General Star even now. But, he felt if he comprehended the bowwoman's Artistic Conception, he would come to a truer understanding of just what it meant to be a General Star.
    Leonel hopped down from the stone monument and walked toward Jerach, completely ignoring all the gazes around him.
    "Jerach, you stay here. I'll be going to another stone monument."
    "Uhбн" Jerach didn't know how to respond. Before he could say anything, Leonel had already vanished into the distance.
    **
    Unfortunately for those who had come to learn more about the person who claimed the Dream Abode, they had run into a bit of aбн sticky situation.
    Just when they wanted to charge into the Eastern Sector, they found a white robed young man in their way.
    The young man didn't say much. He simply stood there, his aura calm. Despite the fact there were several Kings before him, he didn't say a single word. It was as though these Kings really weren't worth much of anything to him.
    The Kings froze when they saw such a scene.
    "Anared, what do you mean by this?"
    One of the Kings narrowed his eyes. Clearly, he recognized this white robes young man. In fact, if Leonel had been there, he too would recognize this young man as none other than Syl's elder brother.
    "What do I mean?" Anared's expression remained placid. "You're invading my Sector yet have the face to ask that?"
    "Stop twisting the facts, Anared. You know exactly why we're here!"
    "Oh? And I'm supposed to just allow you through to satisfy your own curiosity? And then what? There's only me here yet so many of you, I'm just supposed to take your word that you'll take a look and then leave? Do you take me for an ignorant fool?"
    The expression of the Kings flickered.
    Even if their main purpose here was to find out who owned the Dream Abode, there was no way that some of the more sinister among them hadn't thought of taking advantage of the situation.
    After so many of them flooded into the Eastern Sector, how could they possibly defend against them all? There were bound to be numerous benefits.
    At that same time, Anared's words spoke to something else.
    Before, Leonel had asked Anared if there really were so many Emperors after seeing the state of the number of lit lampposts. Back then, Anared had simply answered that there was no restriction to the number of Abodes a single Emperor could claim.
    But, what Leonel hadn't realized back then was thatбн there was only ever Anared. There were no other Emperors in the Eastern Sector but Leonel himself!
    "Fine. They won't enter then. But what about us?"
    At that moment, Anared's expressionless visage became a hint more serious.
    The Emperor level characters had made themselves known.

 Chapter 377: Silence

    Reynred stepped forward, the crowd of Kings splitting for him.
    He wore the same black robes accented with deep blue soft armor. He was a young man of charming looks and a somewhat dark gaze. And, unlike in the past, he wasn't followed by either Jilniya nor Wilas of World's End Falls and Mirage Pavilion respectively. That said, he hadn't come alone either.
    He was followed by another pair of woman and man. Though, unlike Wilas and Jilniya who couldn't have been more different from one another, this pair looked strikingly similar. At a glance, it was easy to make out that they were siblings, fraternal twins, in fact.
    This pair of twins walked side by side, their shoulders practically rubbing against one another. And, judging by their demeanor, they most definitely weren't subordinated to Reynred either.
    At the end of the first phase, there had been seven Emperors total. Leonel, Anred, Reynred, Jilniya, Wilas andбн these twins.
    'The Moon siblingsбн'
    For two Emperor level talents to appear in just one family, one could imagine the luck it would take. And most could only do exactly that: imagine.
    The Moon family, however, didn't have to do this. They birthed a brother-sister pair just forty or so years ago that carried the hope of their future.
    Since this was a family, it was no surprise that they were a part of the City Lord power structure and founded their strength upon governance and commerce. However, Anared and the rest of the Keafir family had known for a long time that the Moon family had been leaning toward the Powers for a long time already.
    Still, this situation likely had little to do with their affiliations. They were most likely just as curious as everyone else who this mysterious person who managed to claim the Dream Abode was.
    The truth was that even Anared only had a good idea of who it was. After all, as far as he was aware, there was only one other Emperor. However, he had yet to confirm it, mostly because he too didn't dare to casually approach that Abode.
    That said, that appearance of this person coincided with that young man's disappearance.
    "Fine. If it's only you three, I can accept it." Anared replied calmly. "However, if any others try to take advantage of the situation, don't blame me for being rude."
    The sword that floated to Anared's back vibrated wildly as though thirsting for blood. Beneath his might, several Kings paled, unable to gather up the courage to battle.
    The sister Moon sibling smiled. Her lips were such a bright shade of red that it seemed she had just been sipping blood from a wine glass.
    "Lead the way."
    Her voice was so sweet it almost made one forget the tension in the atmosphere.
    Everyone here was intelligent. It was obvious that if Anared had a choice, he wouldn't allow any of them through no matter whether the number was small or not.
    As Emperors, they had all participated in the Brave City trial before, so they knew what kind of advantages a successful invasion could give. Under normal circumstances, no one would ever give an enemy even an inkling of a chance at gaining an advantage.
    However, whether it was because he felt he couldn't face so many enemies or whether he wanted to conserve his strength, Anared didn't want to set off the sparks of war just yet, at least not until the third phase.
    Anared turned and started leading the three of them toward the Emperor Abodes. But, before he could get very far, he heard another familiar giggle.
    "Young Heir Keafir, you don't need to insult our intelligence like this, right? You're going in the wrong direction."
    The sister Moon sibling spoke again, her voice light and airy. It somehow both made one comfortable and cold at the same time.
    Anared's step paused. "Since you know where he is, point me in the right direction."
    His voice didn't give way to any embarrassment. He really didn't know where Leonel was. But, the three Emperors who followed him shared a 'knowing' glance.
    With the strength of these four Emperors, it wasn't a surprise that they didn't take long to find Leonel. However, when Anared's gaze landed on him, his pupils couldn't help but constrict.
    At that moment, Leonel was the center of everyone's attention. He sat atop yet another stone monument, completely lost in his own world. Compared to other, his Emperor brand seemed particularly dazzling, obscuring the black monitoring mark that was once the centerpiece of his face.
    Even when everyone was shocked by the sudden appearance of four more Emperors, Leonel was unmoved. Or, rather, it was more accurate to say that he didn't spare any of his thoughts toward them. Though he knew four more individuals had appeared, he didn't stop his meditation.
    Reynred and the twins were stunned for a moment.
    "Third Dimension?"
    The sister Moon sibling's words were just as gentle on the ears as usual. However, this time, rather than just being calming and cold, it felt as though a bomb had erupted amidst the crowd.
    "Do you know who he is?" Reynred looked toward the Keafir family Heir.
    Anared sent a noncommittal glance over. "He's the seeded participant of my Keafir family. He is courting my younger sister."
    The three Emperors froze.
    However, it was then they remembered. There was an Emperor that entered the Eastern Sector during the first phase. The commotion that young man caused was not small. In fact, the whole city quaked.
    Unfortunately, since then, no one had heard from the young man at all. And, this young man had also ignored the unspoken rules and had yet to visit the Central Tower. Over time, there had been so many things to deal with that this young man floated to the backs of their mind.
    Reynred frowned as he observed Leonel. This made things even more troublesome.
    The good news was that this Emperor was still in the Third Dimension, this wasn't much to worry about. But, there were certain things during the trial that wouldn't strictly rely on strength. In addition, he wouldn't be easy to deal with regardless thanks to Anared's protection.
    "Wait.." Reynred's eyes narrowed. "бн Isn't that a monitoring brand? Why does your seeded participant have such a thing?"
    It was difficult to spot beneath the Emperor brand. But, after noticing it, it was hard to unsee it.
    However, Anared's response was just as cool and collected.
    "Is there a rule that said someone who's branded can't participate? You know as well as I do that this brand only means he is being monitored, not that he is a criminal. In addition, it will only be for a period of three years."
    "That isn't what I meant." Reynred responded. "Why would someone of your family be under suspicion? And, why is it that I didn't know that your family had recruited such a genius?"
    "Is there a need for you to know everything about my family?" Anared gaze sharpened in warning.
    "Alright, alright." The sister Moon sibling got between the two. "We only came here to form relationships, not break them. Can't we just have a conversation with him? What do you say young man, will you come down?"
    The final part of her words were aimed at Leonel. On Terrain, no matter what man heard a request from such a beautiful lady, they would likely do their best to please. However, despite the words traveling to Leonel's ears, he didn't react.
    How rude was it to ask someone in the middle of meditation to come down and talk for your own convenience? Had Leonel not been able to split his mind, the act of the Moon sister sending her voice toward him like this could have caused him to suffer backlash.
    An awkward silence fell over the stone monument region as Leonel continued to meditate.
    At that moment, the ever-silent brother Moon sibling suddenly opened his eyes, a murderous glint lighting them.

 Chapter 378: Free?

    Even among those of Terrain, the Moon siblings stood out.
    They had flowing silver hair, overly pale skin, and a pair of red lips that seemed to drip of blood. If Leonel cared to observe them during the critical juncture of his comprehension, he would definitely assume them to be the vampires of legend and give himself a good chuckle.
    That said, seemingly going with this theme, when the brother Moon sibling opened his eyes, the murderous aura seemed to be perfectly in line with this. It seemed that even compared to Anared, he was that much more protective of his own sister.
    Just when he was about to make a moon, his sister pinched the sleeves of his silver robes.
    The brother Moon sibling looked toward her, wondering why it was he was stopped. There was nothing he hated more than this. Had it not been for the fact they were family, maybe this would have been enough for him to lash out.
    However, his sister didn't explain. She simply looked toward Leonel, the smile on her face not fading in the least.
    'Brother can't even approach the stone monument so closely. It's not a matter of not being physically capable, but rather a limitation of our minds. If brother really attacked now, he would be at a great disadvantage almost immediately. It seems that this man was already aware of this.'
    This made everything more complicated. Despite being out in the open, Leonel was probably in the safest place he could be with the exception of his own Abode.
    At that moment, a group came rushing in, seemingly finding out about all the commotion.
    "Big Brother!" Syl's voice rang out from amidst them. But, before she could say more, she was stunned silent by the sight of Leonel and three other Emperors.
    The other seeded participants of the Keafir family rushed in after her. Though they were here to participate, another one of their tasks was to protect the young family miss whenever they could.
    They had had their hands full over the last few days trying to keep Syl away from the Dream Abode. But this time, they couldn't stop her at all.
    Anared swept a glance over them that made them shudder. They knew he was reprimanding them for failing their task to keep her away.
    "Come here, Syl." Anared said somewhat coldly. He felt safer when his sister was right by his side.
    At that moment, the situation suddenly changed.
    Everyone's gaze unexpectedly shot away from Leonel and toward the Eastern Sector Gates.
    Someone was crossing the second phase trial?
    Though it was true that Leonel's actions were a far greater rarity, someone passing the second phase was definitely a major event as well.
    They all watched as the Gates trembled. They could sense the perseverance of the person on the other side. One could imagine the hardship one needed to face to cross the bloody aura of the second phase.
    It took several moments, but eventually, the smallest Soldier doors shook open, cracking open just a fraction.
    A figure squeezed through, his appearance disheveled and bloody.
    But, that was when something heart wrenching occurred.
    Just when the figure was almost all the way through, the doors slammed shut, catching the ankle of their right foot.
    An agonizing scream shook the Eastern Sector as the person collapsed onto the dirt roads of Brave City. Blood pooled at their legs, dying the ground a harsh crimson as the figure convulsed.
    The amount of perseverance it took to cross the barrier of aura was astronomical. It was no surprise that this person had no energy left. To deal with such an injury at such a timeбн
    Everyone was stunned. But, they couldn't have expected for the silent, unmoving Leonel to suddenly awaken at that moment.
    Seeing the situation, Leonel stood, his body shooting forward.
    In that moment, if one wasn't looking closely, it would feel as though a bird had just soared over their heads. The pupils of the four Emperors all constricted at once.
    The bowwoman's stone monument was quite close to the Gates. And, due to the fact that all the Abodes in this region were just various sized tents, there was nothing obstructing their view right to them.
    In what felt like an instant, Leonel appeared beside this person.
    "Zilarбн" Leonel mumbled.
    At that moment, the familiar face shook on the ground. He seemed to have gone into shock.
    As a warrior of the Fourth Dimension, such an injury should have been painful, but definitely not to the point of putting him into such a state. The only explanation was that Zilar had given his everything to reach this point, he didn't have any more energy left to give.
    Leonel's body suddenly burst with a blinding golden light.
    Light Elemental Force surged toward him from all sides. For a moment, his flowing bronze-gold hair made him look as though he was a was deity.
    Even compared to the past, calling upon the Light Element was far easier for Leonel. In fact, he felt the difference was easily tens of times. Part of this was because of the strengthening of his mind, but maybe the most important part was his Innate Force Node.
    "[Grand Heal]."
    A surging wind shook the surroundings.
    If one looked closely, it was possible to see that in addition to the main Force Art, countless smaller ones hovered around Leonel, feeding into the main Force Art as though playing an important supporting role.
    Under the stunned gazes of everyone, Zilar's shivering slowly came to a stop. And thenбн His severed leg began to slowly reform itself.
    Though it failed to regrow in a single attempt, Leonel cast [Grand Heal] again before coming to a stop. He knew he could continue, but this was enough to stabilize Zilar's situation for now. If he really did continue, he would drain his stamina and then he wouldn't be able to guarantee his own safety, let alone Zilar's.
    Leonel felt somewhat guilty for his current situation, so, of course he would do his best to help.
    Leonel propped the unconscious Zilar up, piggy backing him. Though the little mink was a bit unsatisfied with its sleeping arrangements being disrupted, it clamored up to the top of Leonel's head and made another bed for itself.
    With that, Leonel began to walk back, his hands clasped under Zilar's thighs.
    However, it was a given that those Emperors wouldn't just allow him to walk back to his Abode. How could they give up this opportunity?
    Getting over her shock, the sister Moon sibling stepped forward.
    "So, are you free to speak now?"

 Chapter 379: Hate Moves

    Leonel's steps paused.
    He really didn't know what these people wanted to 'talk' about. It seemed more to him that they wanted to find an excuse to do something to him. However, Leonel didn't care about any of this.
    He gave the sister Moon sibling a dazzling smile. It was so genuine and light that it made her heart stop for a brief moment.
    "My name is Leonel Morales. I am a citizen of Earth. This brand on my forehead is an unfortunate circumstance, I just got unlucky in coming here during a period of time they were monitoring for fugitives. I'm sure as citizens of Terrain, you know more about this than I do."
    Leonel thought to himself for another few moments.
    "I believe that is all. Make sure to spread that far and wide."
    Leonel didn't speak particularly loudly, but his voice resonated, reaching the ears of all those within the square.
    The atmosphere seemed to freeze.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Did he say something wrong? It can't be that racism is a thing in these places? No, that shouldn't be it, Leonel saw plenty of people from other worlds coming to Terrain. If they weren't alright with such a thing, why would they make it such a big staple of their culture?
    The four Emperors were shaken once again.
    Leonel was filled with too many surprises.
    Claiming the Dream Abode was already enough to shake them to the core. Having a Light Elemental affinity so high on top of that was enough to make them green with envy despite how well they tried to hide it.
    But, even compared to all of this, the name Earth seemed to shake them all the more.
    Feelings of jealousy, animosity and disdain swirled in the air. This wasn't a matter of nationality or racism, as odd as it seemed to say this after describing such vitriol.
    Earth and Terrain seemed to be on two opposing sides of the spectrum. While the common citizens had never heard of Earth, the elites of Terrain all had.
    Terrain was reaching the end of its growth potential, Earth had an endlessly paved road before it. Terrain didn't receive the support of higher level worlds, Earth received the support of countless. Terrain was entering a crossroads that might end their world as they once knew itбн and Earth was just beginning to bud.
    The more one compared, the more striking the differences became.
    "бн Did you just say Earth?" Reynred's gaze narrowed.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
    Reynred's gaze narrowed even further before looking toward Anared.
    "Is this how your Keafir family operates now? Allowing those of other worlds to partake in our resources?"
    A slight hint of animosity hung in the air. Regardless of what side you were on, the idea of someone stealing away something that was rightfully yours wouldn't sit well with you. It only made it worse that Leonel was in the Third Dimension.
    Those who wanted to partake in the Brave City trials but weren't part of the major powers of Terrain had to wait to the second phase. But, who would believe that someone in the Third Dimension could do this?
    The contrast Zilar provided was too drastic.
    Everyone could tell that Zilar was strong enough to become a Royal at worst. Yet, he was branded as a soldier now and had no choice but to abide by the rules of a soldier.
    If Leonel had gone through the second phase like he was supposed to, it would have been impossible for him to become an Emperor and all the more impossible for him to claim the Dream Abode and put them in such a passive position.
    Anared's gaze remained indifferent.
    "The matters of the Keafir family are ours to deal with alone, since when was it the turn of the Cliff's Edge Terrace to speak on our matters? And, I'm also certain that if one were to pick out a traitor to our worldбн It most definitely wouldn't be me."
    Reynred's glare froze. Clearly, he hadn't expected such pointed words from Anared.
    All the while, Leonel was lost in his own thoughts.
    'Hmбн If I go back and pass the trial of the second phase, my name would spread far and wide, right? Aina might hear about itбн'
    Leonel thought for a moment. With his intelligence, he could immediately see the animosity aimed toward him. And, when he noticed the glances toward Zilar on his back, he managed to put it all together himself.
    Just when Leonel planned on acting on this though, he paused and grinned.
    'Hate moves more than anything else.'
    "Last I remembered, you're an Emperor too, correct?" Leonel looked toward Reynred with a childishly innocent gaze. "If you want my Abode, go claim it."
    Suddenly, Leonel's warm smiling face became extremely punchable.
    "In fact, I think I'm in the mood to claim more abodes. I'll be taking over the Star, Light and Darkness Abode. After I do, you can feel free to challenge any one of them." Leonel pondered on something for a moment. "Now that I think about it, don't you also get some benefits for challenging an Abode in enemy territory? You should want to, too. Right?"
    Leonel's smile never faded despite sensing the animosity in the air.
    Anared's brows furrowed, not quite understanding what Leonel was trying to do. Was he really just so arrogant?
    "You don't believe me?" Leonel blinked innocently.
    The crowd was riled up. They wanted to see nothing more than Leonel falling flat on his face. But, at the same time, they wanted to beat him up where he stood. The conflicting feelings left them feeling so stifled that several almost coughed up blood.
    Just as Leonel was about to boldly lead everyone to the elite Abodes, the city shook once again.
    Everyone's gaze shot toward the Northern Gates as they blasted open, causing the whole city to quake.
    As though this was a catalyst, the Central Tower flickered.
    A mass of energy converged toward the peak of the Tower. At first, the form they took was blurry, but it soon became a row of numbers that read:
    9:23:59:59
    A countdown to the third phase had begun.
    In that moment, the suffocating aura around Brave City began to slowly weaken and anxious soon-to-be spectators excitedly stood. It seemed that the true Trials would be starting soon.

 Chapter 380: Abandoned

    Leonel placed Zilar down on a bed within his Dream Abode.
    His gaze flashed with a cold light. If it hadn't been for Syl's elder brother, he probably would have had to find his way out of that encirclement.
    If it was because of his own words, Leonel wouldn't mind. Plus, since he dared to step out of this Abode, he also had adequate preparations at the ready. However, Leonel knew that it wasn't so simple.
    All along the way, the sister Moon sibling was steering the crowd with her words. She was quite a dangerous woman indeed.
    In the end, it was due to the commotion at the Northern Gate and Leonel's own sharpness that Reynred and the twins could only leave without accomplishing much of anything. It seemed that the start of the third phase was unlike the first two.
    Whoever it was who opened the Northern Gates was definitely a future calamity they needed to prepare for. As difficult as it was to become an Emperor during the first phase, it was tens of times more difficult to do so during the second phase.
    In addition, this person was a true Fourth Dimensional entity unlike Leonel who had only broken through in one aspect. So, compared to the danger Leonel posed, this person was a much greater threat.
    'There's not much time leftбн I hear the third phase has spectators, hopefully Aina is among them.'
    Leonel's coldness vanished into a genuine smile.
    During Leonel's life, Aina had only come to watch him play football once. The fact she went at all was definitely a big change for her. Usually, she avoided events like that like the plague. Just the simple action alone warmed Leonel's heart.
    Truthfully, back then, all the events that happened left him so shell shocked that he forgot that simple fact. That was rightбн she had come to watch him.
    Leonel's smile became a grin. To anyone observing from afar, he looked like a lovestruck fool.
    "Hey little guy."
    Leonel scooped the little mink off the top of his head, stroking the little one's soft fur.
    "I know you've wanted to go to that Abode for a long time. Go ahead and breakthrough."
    Little Blackstar sat up excitedly and suddenly vanished from Leonel's arms.
    Leonel chuckled. If that little guy really managed to breakthrough, who knew how much trouble he'd get into.
    When Leonel met Little Blackstar, the little mink was an Elite S-grade threat. They had done a lot of growing together since then. Though Leonel wasn't exactly sure how the cultivation of beasts worked, he trusted the little guy could make his own way forward. This was the advantage the universe gave to beasts, anyway.
    Leonel took a deep breath and casted a few more [Grand Heal]'s on Zilar. Regrowing a limb was definitely much more difficult than he had thought it would be, and that was even with his vastly improved [Grand Heal].
    Of course, part of the reason was because Zilar was in the Fourth Dimension. But, luckily, it was just a foot and not his entire leg that had been taken out.
    "Leo! Let me in!"
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly heard a distant voice. He cast a glance out of the window to find Jerach yelling at him from hundreds of meters away. It was clear the bald young man was still too scared to approach the Dream Abode of his own accord.
    Leonel allowed Zilar to continue resting before letting Jerach in. He too had some questions to ask the Black family Heir.
    "Did you hear? An Emperor of the second phase appeared! That hasn't happened before!"
    Jerach boisterously strolled in, his face filled with awe.
    "The third phase is probably going to be wild. I didn't participate last time, but I'm definitely going to make a name for myself this time around."
    "Jerach." Leonel cut the young Heir off before he could continue his spiel.
    Seemingly sensing Leonel's seriousness, Jerach frowned and turned back.
    "What is it?"
    Leonel looked toward Jerach deeply, causing the latter to feel no small amount of discomfort.
    "What do you think of Earth?" Leonel suddenly spoke.
    "Ahбн"
    Jerach froze, clearly not expecting this line of questioning. His eyes darted around as though trying to find a crutch to lean on, maybe a joke to ease the mood, but all he found was bland, neatly ordered black and white furniture.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. It seemed he was right. There was definitely more to this.
    "Tell me." Leonel pressed.
    "Iбн"
    Leonel frowned. After a while he shook his head.
    "If you don't want to answer, that's fine."
    Leonel turned and walked away. But, he never made a move to close the door to the Abode he had just let Jerach through. His meaning was quite clear.
    Someone who signed their life away should act as such. If Jerach was unwilling to act as he should, then that only mean he didn't take this matter as seriously as Leonel once thought. And, since he didn't, that meant his character wasn't as Leonel previously deduced either.
    Leonel could tell that whatever Jerach knew was quite important. In fact, it should be to the point that he valued this information even more than his own life.
    That was fine. Leonel never planned to kill him in the first place, but he had already had one person who placed certain things above their friendship with him before. And, in such a dangerous place, within an unknown world, Leonel didn't feel like putting his life in the hands of another such person again.
    Jerach stood stunned, not quite knowing what to do. He, quite frankly, felt like a bride that had been abandoned at the alter.
    Such a joke would be enough to make him laugh at any other time, but he didn't find it funny in the least right now.
    As Jerach was hesitating, he suddenly felt his mind growing hazy. He immediately realized that this was the Dream Force beginning to encroach on his consciousness. Whatever protections Leonel had left for him were beginning to vanish.
    In a slight panic, Jerach quickly left through the door, a slight discomfort in his chest.
    This time, he had two reasons he didn't dare to look back toward that Abode.

 Chapter 381: Shield Cross Stars

    Leonel didn't spare any more thoughts toward Jerach. He didn't feel that it was a shame nor did he feel any sense of self pity. He was already focusing on another task already. This was just the kind of person Leonel was.
    At most, Leonel was now certain that there was something important about his home world he needed to find out on this planet. Though he didn't know exactly what it was, he would be able to find out.
    But, firstбн
    Leonel locked himself into the same top floor room of his Abode. He split one portion of his mind to monitor Zilar's situation and another to make sure that the little mink was alright, then he prepared to enter the Lab Setting.
    Just as he was doing so, his lip curled as he sensed a fiery pillar of darkness shoot into the skies as the little mink claimed an abode of his own.
    Of course, this was done through the little guy's connection with Leonel. So, technically, it was Leonel claiming another. But, it brought a smile to Leonel's face regardless before he once again became serious.
    He didn't care about what commotion this would cause, he had something much more important in mind.
    Now that he had broken into the Fourth Dimension with his Spirit Pressure, he could search Aliard's mind without worrying about the consequences.
    Leonel entered the Lab Setting and brought out the snowglobe that held Aliard. With a thought, the mental mage appeared, still shackled by illusory chains.
    Aliard coughed violently, his gaze showing hints of confusion as he looked around.
    When he looked up and saw Leonel standing above him, a hint of rage and trepidation could be seen in his eyes.
    Over this period of time, Leonel had been allowing the Suspended Animation ability of the Segmented Cube to slowly heal Aliard. So, compared to the manic state the mental mage had been in before, he was much better now.
    Of course, Leonel had no idea how rare treasures that could heal mental injuries were. If he did, he would know that he had taken the Segmented Cube for granted once more.
    That said, Leonel hadn't done this for Aliard's sake but rather his own. The more whole Aliard's memories were, the easier things would be on him. If he was picking through memory fragments, it would be a pain and maybe even difficult to piece together the true story.
    Leonel didn't spare any words for Aliard. He found it to be a waste of his time. So, without hesitation, he activated [Mind Search].
    Aliard's eyes widened before a sinister light shone in his eyes. He thought that Leonel was foolish trying to use such a technique on a mental mage like him. He almost salivated at the thought of turning Leonel into a mindless slave.
    But, when he felt the strength of Leonel's Spirit Pressure, he paled.
    How was this the strength of someone in the Third Dimension? It was impossible!
    It was then he thought of a shocking possibility.
    "It can't be.. you can't haveбн!"
    Aliard knew things that the others of Camelot had not. After all, he wasn't a part of the original legend, he had been sent in by his organization to infiltrate and capture the core treasure.
    But, it was precisely because of this that he was shocked.
    Everyone knew that it was impossible to break into the Fourth Dimension with the mind unless the body was strong enough. Doing so without a solid foundation would lead to one imploding in on themselves.
    Yet, Leonel's body was definitely still within the Third Dimension. In addition, the Force that circulated his body was also considered to be within the Third. It shouldn't have been possible to do this unlessбн
    Unless Leonel had an ability or a Lineage Factor that allowed him to circumvent these rules.
    Unfortunately for Aliard, Leonel had not just one of these things, but both.
    Aliard fell into despair as he felt his memories being eaten away at. No matter how hard he fought back, Leonel's mind was like a violent swarm.
    [Mind Search] was a truly sinister technique. A more accurate title would most definitely be [Mind Swallow].
    To say that one was searching was completely inaccurate. The truth of what Leonel was doing was ingesting all the memories that were useful to him and discarding all those that weren't.
    Due to the style of the technique, Leonel had to build a bridge between his mind and Aliard's. This meant that when he found a memory to be useless, rather than it remaining with Aliard, it dissipated along the bridge, leaving Aliard with nothing.
    If the two of their minds have been of similar strength, this bridge would cause a tug of war to erupt. However, Leonel's mind was so much stronger than Aliard's that it was nothing but child's play.
    Aliard's helplessness soon became dullness, then was replaced by a complete vacancy as he fell over, drool leaking from the side of his mouth.
    Leonel didn't spare the brain-dead man a single glance. He closed his eyes, organizing and sifting through everything he had just learned.
    The first thing he realized was that Aliard didn't know much. However, this much was to be expected, he should have been fairly low on the totem pole. Still, for an organization that just expected Leonel to hand over all evidence of their crimes, they didn't take many precautions either.
    Finally, Leonel learned of the name of the organization he was dealing with. The name that so many avoided speaking of.
    Shield Cross Stars.
    It was only now Leonel understood how unlucky he was. This so-called Shield Cross Stars organization was actually a police force of the universe. Its duty was to protect the safety and humanitarian rights of beasts and humanoids across the worlds.
    The main issue here was that Leonel had never expected that the same organization he had slighted by not handing in evidence of their wrongdoing was the very same organization that happened to brand him as a fugitive worth monitoring.
    Was it just a coincidence? Or had they targeted him on purpose?
    From Leonel's analysis, he was fairly certain that it truly was a coincidence. But, if he was correct, just how unlucky was he? Now, an organization that had it out for him also knew his location at all times?
    "бн Fuck."
    Leonel stood, his jaw becoming steely.
    He wasn't safe here. He had to find a way back to Earth as quickly as possible. Since there wasn't a branch of SCS there just yet, it would be more difficult for them to cause problems for him.
    The issue wasбн how?
    Entering another Zone would be difficult. Using teleportation platforms was probably another no goбн
    'I'll find Aina first then think of what to doбн' Leonel sighed.
    He felt as though a guillotine was hanging over his head. However, at least he was aware of its existence now. Not only this, but he had become aware of many other thingsбн
    **
    The days quickly flew by. Soon, Leonel would have no choice but to join everyone else within the Central Tower.
    That morning, with just a few hours left until the timer would hit zero, a shadowy figure slowly stalked toward the Central Tower.
    A prominent hunched back was the first thing anyone caught sight of. As for the rest, it was shrouded in black.
    By now, everyone knew that this was the Sword Monstress, the very woman who caused the commotion at the Northern Gate.

 Chapter 382: Sword Montress (1)

    The Sword Montress' steps were light. It was almost impossible to accept that her figure was so large yet so nimble.
    From the third phase onward, all of the trials would begin with the Central Tower as the centerpiece. As a result, the population of people flowing into it was quite large to begin with. So, it was no surprise that such anбн odd figure stood out right from the very beginning.
    Of course, there was no lack of odd individuals. However, from the very beginning, most eyes had been focused toward the Northern Sector's entry gates. For such a figure to come from this specific region immediately caught the attention of many.
    Despite the fact those tasked with observing the Northern Sector had their own speculations, they didn't dare to confirm it themselves. If they were correct, this person was the only Emperor to be birthed from the second phase since Brave City appeared on Terrain. This wasn't a person they could afford to offend.
    Though they couldn't see what was beneath the hood, this only made this person more fear inducing. They didn't want to get mixed up in anything far beyond themselves and lose their lives for a ridiculous reason.
    Like this, several backed off after the Sword Monstress appeared, rushing off to their superiors with their conjectures.
    The Sword Monstress continued to walk forward as though nothing had changed.
    The Central Tower was one of many floors and was the only structure in Brave City that could rival the walls in height. At the same time, it was also an incredibly wide structure despite the fact it was definitely much taller than it was so. This design left one feeling as though one had stepped into an all new world after entering just the first floor.
    The first floor of the tower was expansive and incredibly bland. It acted as nothing more than a conduit to help the flow of people reach the places they wanted to go.
    There were no stairs nor any elevators like one would see on Earth. Rather, there were elevated pads with queues of people. Each had a miniature teleportation station that would take one to a given floor.
    During the first and second phase, the Tower was nothing more than a restaurant. With enough status, one could reach the top floor and gain access to delicacies the likes of which the world of Terrain rarely saw.
    It was unfortunate that Leonel wasn't aware of this or he may very well have taken advantage. He had long since become tired of his usual bland diet of meat and more meat.
    Of course, this was also mostly due to his own laziness. He had obtained many delicious fruits and vegetables from the underground garden he found within the hive. But, he kept them all within the snowglobes rather than properly fostering them. After all, he was a Force Crafter, not a gardener.
    At this moment, though, not a single person was traveling to higher floors. Even if one wanted to, the teleportation pads were out of commission.
    Those who were aware of the changes that happened as the third phase approached weren't surprised. This was simply the Tower preparing itself for its true purpose.
    "Hey, are you the Emperor from the Northern Sector? Let me see the brand on your forehead."
    The once bustling Tower suddenly fell into silence.
    The voice that had called out was booming. It had enough forcefulness to it to directly suppress the voices of everyone else. Of course, this was because no one else was trying to speak over the crowd at the same time, or else this matter wouldn't have been so easy.
    Everyone's attention oscillated between the Emperor who had spoken and the black figure that had been targeted.
    There were very few Emperors in Brave City to begin with. So, everyone immediately recognized the original speaker as Wilas Mirage, the young Heir to the Mirage Pavilion.
    He had a rotund body, yet his charms were also somewhat feminine. Of course, the red robes accented with violet soft armor didn't help him escape this image very well.
    It couldn't be helped. The Heir to the Mirage Pavilion was rarely a man. In fact, this was only the second time in their history that such a thing had happened.
    This said, no one looked down on this chubby, feminine man. So, when the black figure didn't bother to respond, the tension in the air grew palpable.
    Wilas' gaze narrowed. His cheeks squeezed, almost covering his eyes completely.
    Wilas suddenly chuckled, his body moving forward slowly.
    Reynred and Jilniya, who had been by his side, didn't say anything as they watched him. The third phase had yet to begin, so they were still under the rules of the second phase. There was no rules against battle outside of trials just yet. In addition, even if there were, they would still support Wilas' actions at this moment.
    The best way to learn about such a mysterious figure would be to test them personally.
    As Heirs to Powers, they didn't believe that some unknown could be better than them. In their minds, if they were born from lesser families and didn't receive quotas, they too could become Emperors through the second phase.
    Whether that was actually true or not was still up for debate. But, all that mattered was that they believed it.
    The shadowy figure didn't move in the slightest. Her hulking figure seemed unperturbed by Wilas' looming threat, even as the young Heir's footsteps echoed through the floor.
    In a corner, Syl and Anared watched on in silence. They didn't have any particular horse in this race, so they too were just spectating just like everyone else.
    "Big Brother, do you recognize that person?"
    Anared's gaze narrowed slightly, but in the end he shook his head.
    "No. I don't."
    Syl's lovely eyes blinked with an innocent curiosity. It seemed that the legend of the Sword Montress hadn't spread very wide just yet. But, this made quite some sense. After all, one of the reasons the Sword Monstress was able to make it here was because the influx of people migrating toward Brave City made it difficult to pick out individuals.
    At that moment, Wilas made it to within three meters of the shadowy figure before stopping.
    If before everyone was already avoiding this person, they were now giving the figure an even wider berth. No one had any interest in getting caught up in this drama.

 Chapter 383: Sword Monstress (2)

    Wilas opened his mouth to speak once more, butбн
    BANG!
    A heavy sword swung from the Sword Monstress' back, landing on the stones grounds of the tower's floors.
    Despite the heft of the sword, not a single mark was left behind. But no one doubted the strength of the Sword Monstress due to this.
    The broad sword vibrated wildly upon impact as though looking to launch itself out from the hands of the Sword Monstress as she faced Wilas.
    When the sword appeared, Jilniya's gaze narrowed.
    Wilas stood just under three meters before the Sword Monstress. But, due to the outrageous length of the massive sword, it clanged before him, just a mere foot or two away. In fact, it seemed to be aimed between his legs, leaving him feeling a slight chill.
    However, what Wilas felt wasn't fear. The process had been slow enough for him to witness the start to the end without issue. To a warrior on his level, it hadn't been a problem to see it all. The issue was thatбн his heart still felt a slight trepidation.
    It was a warning.
    Wilas, though, had every intention of lashing out. Not only was it important for them to know the limits of this figure, but it was also a matter of his face. Where would he put it if he were to back off now? Especially since he was the one who started all of this.
    "It seems that --."
    Just when Wilas wanted to say more, he suddenly sensed a figure appear by his side.
    The contrast between this figure and the hulking, black robed figure before them was too striking.
    Jilniya was a goddess in the eyes of many. She had a small, soft waist, flowing black hair, and a flawless complexion that seemed sculpted by the hands of a master. Though she was lacking in comparison to Heira, this seemed to be due to lack of a mature and refined temperament rather than a shortcoming of her own looks.
    All of this alone would have been enough to capture many hearts. But, the way her white robes hung to her curves captured the soul. And, whether by design or coincidence, the way her sky blue soft armor cupped her chest and accentuated her slender legs only made more imaginations run wild.
    The moment she appeared, most directly forgot about Wilas and what he had been planning to do. To them, there was no better entertainment than a beauty, even if she only stood there and did nothing else.
    In a corner to his own, having reunited with the members of his Black City, Jerach was enthralled. He only barely managed to stop himself from whistling.
    It was fine if he teased a weak woman, but if he teased someone like Jilniyaбн Well, let's just say he didn't have any fantasies of being castrated any time soon.
    "What are you doing --?"
    Jilniya all but ignored Wilas. But, it was difficult to get angry at a beauty, so Wilas only shook his head and let her do as she pleased.
    "That sword." Jilniya said coldly, looking from the tip of the blade that reverberated against the ground to the shadowy figure. "I received reports from my subordinate cities that several massacres had occurred. The perpetrator was a woman with a hunched back, dressed in black robes, and wielding a great sword. That was you?"
    A shocked silence overcame everyone.
    The first thing that caught them by surprise was the word 'woman'. It was hard to connect the hulking figure before them with the fairer sex.
    But, after that sunk in, they recognized the word massacre.
    You mean to tell them that someone actually slaughtered their way through World's End Falls territory? And even dared to come to Brave City right afterward?
    They couldn't decide whether this person was brave or just stupid.
    At this point, it didn't even matter whether Jilniya's words were true or not. When it came to matters like this, whoever held the most strength would be the one in the right. And, it seemed now that not only had this Sword Monstress angered Wilas with her disregard, but she had also enranged Jilniya by slighting the Power behind her.
    No matter how others looked at it, this would end incredibly badly for this cloaked figure.
    Still, despite the young Heiress' pointed questions, the Sword Monstress still didn't respond. The reverberations of her sword sung through the tower's first floor as though acting as her reply.
    'If you're dissatisfied, just come', it seemed to say.
    бн
    At that very moment, Leonel stood before the Dark Abode, shaking his head.
    He turned his head toward the looming numbers in the distance and sighed again.
    0:0:8:39
    Considering his location, it wouldn't take him long to get to the Central Tower. But, he still felt uncomfortable cutting it so close. He wasn't sure if there would be a penalty for being late. But, considering his current situation, he didn't dare to test it out. He felt that if there was a timer, there was a reason for it being there.
    Now, whether that was true or notбн once again, he was unsure. But, better safe than sorry.
    He was a bit regretful that he had allowed the Little Mink to enter on his own now. Unfortunately, Leonel had forgotten that the first time he watched the Little Mink evolve, the little guy had fallen into a deep sleep for several days. This was likely happening again.
    'Forget it. It will take me 2 minutes and 21 seconds to make it from here to the Tower at full speed. I'll wait until 0:0:2:30 is left on the clock, then.'
    Leonel felt that the little mink should be fine within the Abode. From what he knew, there was no one else capable of claiming a Dark Abode. And, even if there were, they would all be taking part in the third phase. So, everything should be fine.
    Just when Leonel had made this decision, a black blur suddenly shot out from the house and barreled right into his chest. The streak was so quick that due to Leonel's absentmindedness, he didn't even notice what happened until it was too late.
    "бнOof."
    Leonel coughed, feeling his ribs rebound against his heart and lungs.
    After a while, he laughed, looking at the bundle of fur in his arms.
    "Were you trying to kill me or something?" Leonel chuckled.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel's lip twitched. "Why does that sound like a yesбн?"
    The little mink ignored Leonel's words and crawled to his favorite spot around his neck.
    "Fine, fine. You win. Alright, let's go."

 Chapter 384: Falls Style

    Jilniya's eyes narrowed. "You overestimate yourself."
    What happened next was so sudden that no one could have expected it. It was hard to imagine that beauty who elicited the feeling of care and protection in them all would suddenly surge forward and attack without warning.
    In one instant, Jilniya was like a delicate flower in a vase. In the next, she was a pouncing panther, her slender legs exploding with undeniable power and strength.
    The Sword Monstress responded as quickly as it seemed humanly possible, raising her sword like a shield across her body.
    Jilniya's palm shot forward like a venomous serpent, slamming against the spine of the great sword.
    BANG!
    The Sword Monstress' body convulsed. It was just a single palm, but it felt as though she had been hit three times continuously.
    A surge of concentric wind ricocheted off the side of her sword, sending her sliding across the ground.
    Jilniya didn't seem intent on stopping, her beautiful eyes remaining indifferent as she shot forward again.
    Her movements gave one the illusion of rushing water. It had an undeniable forcefulness, but also hid a fluidity and flexibility that accentuated the curves of a woman.
    BANG!
    A second palm descended. This one was several times stronger than the previous. Rather than carrying three layered strikes, this one carried four.
    This time, the Sword Monstress lost her footing. Unable to slide along the ground anymore, she stumbled backward and got tossed off her feet.
    Jilniya's attack was relentless.
    Any veteran of battle knew that whoever gained an initiative would hold an upper hand. If one managed to keep this advantage, victory would only be a matter of time.
    However, it soon became very clear that Jilniya didn't need the initiative to claim victory. Whether it was speed, strength, or ability, she surpassed this cloaked figure by not just a single level.
    This left those watching baffled. They had thought that this cloaked figure would have a high level of skill after daring to offend two Heirs. Yet, it seemed that when comparing whether this woman was brave or foolish, it was most likely the latter.
    Wilas felt his anger dissipate. What a waste of emotions. He couldn't believe he wasted time getting angry at a person so far beneath him.
    'It seems that Jilniya gained an inkling of comprehension toward her Falls Styleбн Couple that with her ability and she truly would be too troublesome to deal with.'
    Every time Jilniya attacked, it was as though three, four, five and sometimes even six of her were assaulting the same person all at the same time.
    Her heart couldn't help but be filled with disdain.
    'Just die.' She thought coldly.
    She didn't know who this person was, but she had truly never met anyone more foolish.
    Thanks to the times, this Sword Monstress had already been lucky enough to escape the clutches of her Power. Yet, instead of accepting this bout of good fortune, she actually dove right back into the lion's den.
    Jilniya's palm shot toward the Sword Monstress' head.
    The air around her palm trembled. If one looked closely, it seemed as though her strike was being superimposed. A portion reflected where her palm would be, a portion reflected where it was now, and the last reflected where it had been.
    These attacks came together as one, causing the air to quake.
    Had this strike been sent out in a Third Dimensional world, there was no doubt that the clap of the sound barrier shattering would have sounded.
    It was at that moment when Jilniya's palm was just moments away from collapsing the Sword Monstress' head in on itself that things suddenly changed.
    The Sword Monstress' aura surged. A sinister, dark and bloodthirsty air erupted.
    From beneath the hooded cloak, one could see two eyes blazing with a blinding gold light that flickered with a deep darkness.
    The Sword Monstress swung her great sword to meet Jilniya's palm.
    BANG!
    The Sword Monstress took several steps back before stabilizing herself while Jilniya took just one. But, without hesitation, the Sword Monstress shot forward again, her great sword trailing to her back like the tail of a comet.
    She brought her sword forward in a great arc, leaving a blur in the air.
    BANG!
    Jilniya forced the Sword Monstress back again, her expression filled with rage. It was as though she couldn't believe that this beast of a woman would dare fight back against her.
    The spectators remained silent as though scared to get involved in such a thing. They too hadn't expected the Sword Monstress to suddenly fight back, but the truth was that it didn't seem to matter.
    However, those who were clever among them seemed to realize that maybe the Sword Monstress wasn't as foolish as she seemed.
    By now, there was already less than five minutes before the timer struck zero. By feigning an inability to fight back at all in the beginning, she managed to drag out the battle. It was only after it seemed she really might die that she really started to fight.
    If things went on like this, there was no way Jilniya would be able to kill her before the timer rang out. And, when the third phase began, all the rules would change.
    Most intelligent people seemed to realize this. But, it was difficult to calmly analyze things in the heat of battle, especially when you were enraged like Jilniya. As for why Wilas and Reynred hadn't explained this to Jilniya, there were two reasons.
    For one, if someone had to explain this to her, Jilniya would only lose more face. And, secondly, after seeing the Sword Monstress' combat powerбн they no longer feared her. They didn't care whether she died or not, it would hardly change anything.
    This was the same reason they had for not pressing forward to kill Leonel. His impact on the coming trials would be limited.
    BANG!
    The Sword Monstress slid back once again. But, this time, Jilniya didn't pursue.
    "So that's your plot?" The beautiful Heiress looked toward the ticking time, visible anger twisting her delicate features. "Unfortunately for you, you've still underestimated me."
    At that moment, many touched their ears, not believing what they were hearing.
    Where was this sound of rushing water coming from?

 Chapter 385: Fear

    Jilniya brandished her palms in a composed stance, her gaze cold.
    Just like there were weapons Forces, there were likewise Forces for various bodily martial arts. Fist Force, Palm Force, various kicking and leg Forces, they all existed. However, just like weapon Forces, these bodily martial art Forces didn't have anything particularly special to them other than a slight boost in strength.
    When Leonel comprehended his Spear Force, it was a product of the spear consciousnesses he observed within Spear Domain. He was able to constantly build on this Spear Force, refining it and perfecting it.
    Despite the fact Leonel's Spear Force was still just an empty shell right now, it was still far more powerful than it had been in the past.
    In the same way, bodily Forces had to be refined over time. Only in this way could they manifest true strength.
    The so-called 'Falls Style' was a martial arts discipline of the World's End Falls Power. It emphasized a steady, unrelenting flow. Every attack flowed into the next. Upon gaining an initiative with this style, it was impossible to lose it. Had it not been for Jilniya choosing to take a step back now, the Sword Monstress would still be on her back foot.
    If Leonel had been here, he would realize that this so-called 'Style' was exactly the discipline he had been learning through the stone monuments.
    For the Falls Style, only upon reaching a high level of comprehension would one hear the sound of rushing waters. It was clear that not only had Jilniya begun to grasp her Power's core teachings, but she was well on her way to mastering them.
    Jilniya knew well just how suited this Style was to her. Her ability was shockingly an exceptionally rare time affinity ability that allowed her to layer her attacks. It made a single attack feel like many, giving her great offensive prowess.
    Unfortunately, among time affinity abilities, hers was ranked so near the bottom that she couldn't even dream of claiming the Time Abode. The first time she came to Brave City, she foolishly overestimated herself and almost lost her life in the attempt. In fact, she was still suffering from the loss of over ten years from her lifespan.
    However, this didn't mean that her ability was weak. In fact, when coupled with the Fall Style, she was likely the strongest amongst herself, Reynred and Wilas.
    Knowing this, when she saw the enemy of her Power before her, a fiery anger bubbled up within her heart. She was the strongest. How could she possibly allow such a plan to succeed?
    "Die."
    Jilniya shot forward again. But, this time, her speed seemed to have almost doubled, her palms raining down like the judgment of a god from above.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The Sword Monstress was hardly able to block, but her success only pissed Jilniya off more.
    Jilniya's gaze flashed with a hint of red. By now, the sound of rushing water reached a peak. It was as though they were all standing at the base of an impossibly vast waterfall, falling with such strength that it shattered the rocks at its base into powder.
    Jilniya's next strike was so fast that it bypassed the defense of the Sword Monstress' great sword and shot right toward her head.
    The glow of two eyes flickered beneath the hood.
    With an inhuman reaction speed, the Sword Monstress curled her head away. However, the air pressure grazed her shoulder, causing her body to twirl backward.
    BANG!
    The Sword Monstress shot tens of meters backward, crashing into the walls of the tower.
    All those standing in the area shot away, unwilling to get in Jilniya's way.
    The sound of dripping blood sounded once the tower fell into another silence.
    At that moment, everyone saw the same thing. The side of the Sword Monstress' cloak was torn away, revealing a now bloodied shoulder. However, what was the most shocking was that this Sword Monstress' so-called hunched back was actually a massive, oddly curved package larger than even the Sword Monstress herself.
    With much of the cloak ripped away, it was easier to estimate the Sword Monstress' true size. In fact, she looked like quite a petite young lady. And with the way her black hair fell over her face, she even seemed somewhat enticing.
    However, those thoughts of curiosity all vanished when the Sword Monstress raised her head.
    In all their years, they had never seen such a grotesque sight. A ghastly infection ran across her face like the trenches of a muddy war. The scars were so inflamed that they even somewhat covered the portions of her face that hadn't been run across by them.
    Colors of green, purple and even gross brown ran across them all. It all reflected beneath the light in a way that made the skin of all those who saw it crawl.
    "бн It's you!" Jilniya's gaze blazed.
    The Sword Monstress used her sword as a crutch and pushed herself up. Under the gazes of everyone present, the wound to her shoulder rapidly healed. In the blink of an eye, other than the blood that still ran over her skin, it seemed as though she had never been injured at all.
    Jilniya's pupils constricted. She remembered this ability, but it was even more potent than it had been in the past.
    Unfortunately, it wouldn't matter. A dead person couldn't heal.
    The Sword Monstress walked forward with an indifferent expression. The cloak she wore had nothing to do with a will to hide her face. If it was about this, she would wear a mask instead. Rather, the cloak was a convenient way to hide the curved box on her back. This was what she wanted to hide.
    But, since it was out in the open already, it didn't matter much anymore. Since she had already made it to Brave City and the third phase was about to begin, keeping it hidden no longer mattered.
    Jilniya's gaze flashed with a cold light.
    At that moment, though, a person suddenly rushed into the Tower's first floor. In such a silent environment, especially when everyone had already arrived early, such an arrival caught the attention of many. Even Jilniya couldn't help but spare a glance.
    A young man with handsome and sharp features shot inside, a wide grin on his face when he noticed the time hadn't quite hit zero just yet.
    The young man seemed to be in a great mood. But, with his sharp senses, he seemed to realize that something was off about the atmosphere. After scanning the area, his gaze landed on two young women.
    The young man's eyes widened.
    "Aina --!"
    The young man's expression suddenly changed. Any words he was going to say were cut off, his mind going blank.
    Those who spoke about the details of this day in the future would remember it as the day they felt the most fear they ever had in their lifetimes.
    Each and every person present felt as though their hearts had been gripped by a reaper, like bone cold waters had been poured into their veins, travelling through their bodies and leaving them completely paralyzed.
    Out of her own control, Jilniya's body shot backward at the fastest speed she could muster, her heart thumping so hard that it felt like it might fly from her chest at any moment.
    The young man vanished, appearing before the Sword Monstress in the blink of an eye. Only a rare few could even see how he moved, and even those who could felt as though he had become nothing but a streak of gold light.
    He stood before the Sword Monstress, his eyes blazing.
    In that instant, several collapsed to the ground, their visions turning black. The pressure was so suffocating that even many who managed to maintain their consciousness fell to their knees, tears of fear falling from their eyes.
    "Who did this to you? I'll kill them all!"
    A palpable aura surged out like a sea of blood, enveloping the tower's first floor. The young man's voice boomed, causing the air to quake and tremble beneath his rage.
    For the first time, there was a ripple in the Sword Monstress' gaze.

 Chapter 386: Zero

    Leonel had never felt so much anger before. He didn't even think about how it was he recognized Aina at all.
    Leonel had known for a long time that the face he had come to know wasn't Aina's own. He never once thought of asking her why that was. To him, it simply didn't matter. But, after finding out the truth, his blood boiled and seethed.
    He didn't care about what Aina looked like. Even back when he chose her over so many others and hadn't known about her face coverings, she had never been the most beautiful. He simply went with his gut feeling and accepted it.
    But now, knowing that someone had done something like this to her, Leonel's visceral reaction was even more violent than it had been when he found out someone had cut something out of him as a mere child.
    As for Aina, the last thing she had expected was to meet Leonel here. Despite the effort Leonel had put into spreading his name, she had practically cut off contact with the outside world while she was on the run. Where would she have had the time to converse and learn about the hottest rumors?
    However, it was precisely because she was so caught off-guard that her gaze rippled so violently. Something about Leonel's reaction shook her to her core.
    After she came to this world, she had hoped to forget everything else. In fact, part of the reason she chose to take off her face covering was as a way of leaving those things of the past in the past.
    This scarred face of hers looked nothing like the face Leonel knew. Even if these scars suddenly vanished, she would look like a completely different person. She had thought that even if she ran into Leonel, there was no way he would recognize her. But, she could have never expected that not only would he, but that he would do so, so quickly. It was almost surreal.
    As if that wasn't enough to shake her, of all the reactions she expected to find in his gaze, she saw none of them.
    There was no disgust, there was no hesitancy, there wasn't even a shred of pity. There was nothing but rage.
    Leonel saw red. He was so focused on Aina's face that he hadn't even realized she had been in battle.
    When he looked down at her shoulder and saw the yet-to-dry blood dripping down from her already healed wound, his gaze became steely.
    Leonel's head turned to Jilniya, his irises flickering with wild violet-red lights.
    "You did this?"
    Clearly, this time, Leonel was no longer referring to Aina's scars.
    "Who gave you the guts?"
    Jilniya trembled. She didn't know why she was feeling such fear. Wasn't this the same Third Dimensional brat they hadn't taken seriously? Where was all this pressure coming from? It felt as though a hand was constricting her throat, limiting her breathing.
    Leonel's palm flipped over, a dense black bow appearing.
    Sharp winds kicked up. A fluid conception of a wild blizzard shook the air, wrapping around Leonel and Aina.
    Whether by design of because Aina was simply the only one who never seemed to feel any pressure from Leonel, she stood by silently, her gaze still flickering with a dense swath of emotions.
    "Die."
    Leonel spoke the same word Jilniya had. But somehow, it felt like the true call of the reaper. Compared to the latter's version, it seemed like a command, an unquestionable call from the depths of hell.
    An arrow whirled to life, forming from the energies of the world.
    A little mink bared its fangs from around Leonel's neck, it's little body growing a size as its fur stood on end.
    A thick black shadow drifted from its body and surrounded Leonel's body. And, at that momentбн
    SHING! SHING! SHING!
    Leonel's Force suddenly gained a sharp characteristic. It felt as though he could tear through anything, as though no obstacle could block his path.
    Jilniya felt in those moments that no matter how she dodged, nothing would come of it.
    Leonel's sharp gaze locked onto her, a cold murderous intent manifesting around his body. His hair whipped about wildly, his back standing tall and straight as it flexed with all its might. Even through the thickness of his black robes, one could feel the fullness of his figure.
    SHUUUUUUUUU!
    Leonel's fingers left his bowstring.
    For an instant, it felt as though everyone was thrust into a land of ice and snow, watching as a relentless hail descended from above.
    Jilniya felt too much fear to even move. She was locked down by a 'Style' far beyond her Falls martial arts. It was like her every instinct had been accounted for, like even if she dodged it would only be like jumping into the arms of death.
    It was a feeling she would never forget in her life. She knew she had more strength than this, more power than maybe this attack even had to offer. But, for some reason, she didn't dare to use it. It was as though a higher power had commanded her to accept her death. Andбн before this powerбн she was nothing.
    Butбн
    0:0:0:0
    DING!
    An energy swirled around the Tower's first floor, snuffing everything out. Even Leonel's arrow vanished into thin air.
    The moment the clock hit zero, a central platform elevated from the center of the first floor and a teleportation array flickered. Soon, three forms began to appear.
    When they manifested, the first thing everyone noticed was their odd yet valiant dressing. However, Leonel's gaze still carried a bloodthirsty air to it. All he knew was that the appearance of these three stopped his commandment from coming to fruition.
    The three figures had been casual. This world was definitely not as interesting as being assigned to the others, but they still had to do their jobs. Since they had been thrust into this boring situation together, they had a sense of comradery amongst one another.
    The truth was that they weren't the ones who snuffed out Leonel's attack, that was just a normal function of the tower. They had no idea that they had been wrongly accused by a kid they wouldn't normally give a second glance toward.
    But, when they appeared, they felt a savage, relentless aura lock onto them. Even with their strength, they couldn't help but frown and look toward the source of it.

 Chapter 387: Demanded It

    For a moment it seemed that Leonel really had every intention of attacking these people.
    Those who knew him had expressions that widened in shock. It was one thing to attack Jilniya, but the overseers of these trials were not only outstanding talents from across the universe, but they were most definitely Fifth Dimensional entities at worst. In fact, that was just their speculation from their place at the bottom of a well. For all they knew, these individuals were beyond the Fifth Dimension.
    However, judging by Leonel's posture and the fact his aura of rage hadn't dissipated in the slightest, it seemed he really did have every intention of attacking.
    It was at the moment he almost acted that Leonel suddenly felt something soft grasp his hand.
    He was so unused to the feeling that he was shocked out of his enraged state.
    The atmosphere seemed to become several times lighter in the blink of an eye, causing those who had forgotten to breathe to finally heave a sigh of relief. Those who had collapsed to the ground finally relaxed, their minds being released from their shackles.
    It was only after this happened that Jilniya suddenly understood the state she had been in. In the blink of an eye, her fear became shock, then shame, then rage. However, there was already nothing she could do.
    Leonel shook his head and looked down to find that Aina had grabbed onto his hand.
    Well, it couldn't really be described like this. More accurately, she had grasped onto three of his fingers as though she was scared to grab onto anything more. The sight made Leonel involuntarily chuckle.
    Aina frowned. "What are you laughing at? Are you trying to die?"
    This was the first time anyone had ever heard the Sword Monstress speak. They couldn't have ever expected for her voice to be so soft and pleasing to the ears. It was as though she was caressing their eardrums.
    Leonel looked into Aina's eyes curiously.
    Aina suddenly became self conscious and looked away. After she had done it, she realized that she was acting out of character.
    'It's ugly, I know.'
    Aina didn't say these words aloud. But, this was the very first time she had even thought them to herself. It was a surprise to her that her mind even went to such a place.
    These scars had been with her all her life. But, they never filled her with disgust toward herself, they only filled her with rage.
    After the Metamorphosis began and she realized how she could use them to her advantage, they even became a source of pride for her. It represented her resilience and her hard work.
    For all these reasons, she couldn't believe what she had just breathed to life in her thoughts. She had never been such a person.
    "It was the Brazinger family, right?"
    Leonel's smile vanished once again, his expression hardening.
    Aina froze for a moment, but didn't look back toward Leonel.
    "Good." Leonel looked away. "I'll make certain to raze them to the ground, then."
    Aina remained silent and slowly let go of Leonel's fingers.
    From the distance, Anared watched this with a frown. After regaining his bearings from Leonel's previous outburst, he began to calmly analyze the situation. And, quite frankly, he didn't like what he was seeing.
    However, Leonel wasn't paying attention to this anymore. He continued to stand by Aina's side, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight again. Everything else that happened from this point on no longer mattered much to him.
    The first reason he had agreed to join the Keafir family's quota was in order to find a path toward finding Aina. Beyond that, the only reason he had tried to stand out so much was also for this reason.
    Now, as far as Leonel was concerned, nothing else was quite so important. Of course, he would still do his part to repay the Keafir family for their role in helping him find Aina. That was the least he could do, anyway.
    The three figures on the platform looked toward Leonel with a frown, wondering where such pressure came from. How could they bothered to care about drama between kids? As a result, they had no idea what had happened here previously.
    But, looking at the sorry state most were in, they felt it had something to do with this young man.
    Their gazes unconsciously shifted toward the young woman by his side.
    By now, Aina had regained her bearing and stood there silently. Though she had let go of Leonel's hand, she at least didn't move away from him. In Leonel's book, that much was a plus.
    The three figures were much more experienced than the others here. While these kids only saw ugly, infected scars, they sawбн
    'A curse?'
    They raised their eyebrows.
    The only female among the three looked toward Aina with a gratified gaze. She had no idea who Aina was before this moment, but just the simple act of Aina standing before them all completely maskless left her feeling somewhat in awe and a bit protective of this young girl.
    Any anger she felt toward Leonel unleashing killing intent toward them was already forgotten.
    As they were observing Leonel and Aina, Leonel, too, was observing them.
    'Their uniforms are also coolбн' Leonel couldn't help but think. He really hoped this wasn't a pattern. If he had to gain enmity with another organization with cool uniforms, it would be too depressing.
    At first, it looked as though all three of them, whether male or female, were all wearing skirts. But, upon closer inspection, Leonel realized that this wasn't the case.
    The first thing Leonel thought when he realized the truth wasбн
    'Aladdin's pants!'
    Leonel smiled, remembering the cartoons his father had introduced him to as a child.
    The uniforms of these three all involved the same harem pants Aladdin wore. The mid sections of these pants swept so close to the floor that some could mistake them for skirts without looking closely.
    All of their harem pants were a pristine white. In addition, they each had cloth waist belts of a deep black. This cloth wrapped around their waists and then dropped vertically to the ground between their legs.
    The exposed face of this cloth was inscribed with white embroidery that depicted similar war scenes to the ones that could be found on the wall of Brave City.
    The men were bare chested revealing their toned and chiseled torsos while the woman wrapped a white cloth around her bountiful chest. However, regardless of gender, they all had vibrant neckwear reminiscent of what a pharaoh of ancient times would wear. This large neckwear was a solid block of silver that hung heavily around their shoulders and collarbone.
    Each and every one of them exuded a powerful aura. Without Leonel's influence, they easily became the center of attention. Noбн they demanded it.

 Chapter 388: Go First

    Seeing that Leonel didn't seem to be off put by their gazes and even seemed to be sizing them up, the three looked toward one another. Maybe this world wouldn't be as boring as they originally thought.
    "Alright." The female took the lead, stepping forward. Her voice alone grabbed all of their attention, causing them to almost forget everything else. "Most of you have participated before and are aware of the process.
    "Those who haven't, step forward. The registration process will be the same. Age, affinity, and rank will all be taken down before proceeding to the next step."
    The central platform flashed with a small light. When it faded, an alter had appeared before the female with a small indent within it.
    No one dared to test the patience of the three figures. So, those who had already participated in the past took several steps back, making way for the newbies. Among these new participants there were, of course, Leonel and Aina. But, there were other easily recognizable figures.
    There was Young Miss Swan, Syl, Jerach, and even Zilar.
    These four kept sweeping glances toward Leonel, but it was as though there was nothing else worth his attention after Leonel appeared. In fact, he seemed to be smiling more, leaving a curtain of warmth around him. It was hard to believe that this was the same young man that fear inducing aura had just come from.
    Syl and Qiyra kept looking between Leonel and Aina. As for Zilar, he had a complicated look in his eye. He still couldn't believe that Leonel had been the one to save him. Finally, Jerach didn't dare to look again after the first time. His chest still weighed heavily with guilt.
    The truth was that Leonel had long since forgotten about Jerach. But, maybe it was exactly this that left the latter feeling so uncomfortable. It wasn't as though the two were the best of friends, but Jerach still felt like he was losing something.
    Butбн how could his loyalty to Leonel already be greater than his loyalty to his own family?
    Though this sounded logical, Jerach knew the real reason he felt guilty. It was precisely because his actions were tantamount to going back on his own word. Since he said his life was now Leonel's, that should have been the end of the story. The fact he was still holding back only meant that he never took his word as seriously as he claimed to.
    "Jerach Black. 31 years old. Medial Grade Four Wind Elemental affinity."
    Jerach took his palm away from the groove in the alter. The female nodded slightly.
    "Umбн" Jerach hesitated.
    "Is something the matter?" The female asked, slightly impatient.
    Jerach smile sheepishly. Usually, this grin of his worked four out of five times on the ladies. But the female continued to glare at him, causing him to retract it just as quickly as he had deployed it.
    Coughing slightly, Jerach cleared his throat.
    "What does a Grade Four affinity mean?"
    The female didn't really want to answer. But, unfortunately, this was part of her job description.
    "Affinity is a comparison of your skill with a type of Force in comparison to your Dimensional stage. The higher your affinity in comparison to your stage, the higher the score. Inferior Grade Four is the average for someone within the Fourth Dimension. If you had the equivalent of this affinity within the Third Dimension, your affinity would be marked out at Grade Five. A Grade Five affinity is enough to skip the preliminary rounds."
    Of course, what the female didn't bother to say was the fact that an Inferior Grade Four evaluation was only average in terms of the standards of their organization's new recruits. On a Fourth Dimension world like Terrain, especially one reaching the end of its potential, Grade Four was considered to be an elite amongst elites, let alone Medial Grade Four.
    "Oh, I see."
    Jerach stepped down feeling somewhat dejected.
    "Qiyra Snow. 29 years old. Inferior Grade Four Variant Water affinity."
    "Syl Keafir. 30 years old. Medial Grade Four Empty Sword Embryo."
    "Zilar Qanif. 35 years old. Quasi Grade Four Empty Spear Embryo."
    Zilar calmly accepted his evaluation, his gaze still blazing with determination. For the first time, a curious glint lit in the eyes of the female. It was quite baffling, though, that this glint would appear for the worst evaluation yet.
    At that moment, with the start of the third phase, the audience had already chosen their seats.
    Of course, it was impossible for them to enter the tower. But, they were now allowed to enter the city and reach the central region around the Tower. There, they found a stadium of sorts where the matters occurring inside the were projected out for the viewing pleasure.
    Unfortunately for them, due to the fact these images only appeared at the start of the third phase, these spectators had no idea what happened between Leonel and the others previously.
    "Sister-in-law, who's that ugly girl beside that mean guy? Is he two-timing big sis?"
    Rie didn't seem very happy with what she was seeing. While others were focused on the registration, she was paying attention to something completely different.
    Heira remained silent, keeping her elegant posture. Many in the crowd couldn't help but gravitate toward her, but the banner of the Keafir family was too strong of? a barrier.
    Hearing Rie's words, a middle-aged man sitting beside Zimo frowned.
    "What is this all about?"
    This man was Syl's father, City Lord Keafir. Hearing that his daughter was being two-timed was definitely news to him. Since when had his daughter been dating in the first place and why didn't he know anything about it?
    Heira smiled lightly. "It's nothing, father-in-law. Rie just has an overactive imagination."
    Rie pouted after hearing this, but didn't go against Heira. Though City Lord Keafir raised an eyebrow, he didn't say anything more. Rie's little mental lapses were the last thing on his mind. His son needed to perform well this time. They had much more riding on this.
    Of course, there was someone else who needed Anared to perform well, and that was his very own wife. But, her reason for wanting this was very much different from her father-in-lawбн
    бн
    "Do you want to go first?" Leonel asked with a smile.
    Aina nodded lightly and walked forward, climbing to the platform and placing her delicate palm upon the alter.
    The female's eyes glowed. Of all those here, she was most curious about Aina's performance since she had a good impression of the young girl. But, when she read them, her eyes couldn't help but widen, her breath hitching slightly.

 Chapter 389: Grade

    "Aina Brazingerбн 18 years oldбн"
    These words alone caused many to freeze.
    An 18-year-old within the Fourth Dimension was completely unheard of on Terrain. When they thought back to how long Aina had managed to battle with Jilniya, their hearts couldn't help but tremble. Would they have been able to do such a thing at such a young age?
    As surprised as those within the Tower were, those spectating from the outside were even more so.
    Rie sat completely frozen. Even Heira's brows raised, a look of curiosity on her lovely features. However, her reaction didn't seem nearly as exaggerated as that of the others around her.
    That said, this age was meaningless to the female. Reaching the Fourth Dimension at such an age couldn't be said to be amazing in her opinion. There were many who reached such a stage without even crossing into the double digits with their age.
    Of course, this didn't factor in the fact that the Metamorphosis had only just occurred on Earth. For those as talented as Leonel and Aina, they could have reached the Fourth Dimension just as quickly had they been much younger when the Metamorphosis occurred.
    Unfortunately, only those who knew they were from Earth were aware of this. However, it wasn't until now that they truly pieced together what this really meant.
    Earth had begun its Metamorphosis barely a year ago. That meant that Leonel and Aina had gained such strength so fastбн
    Of course, many had practiced on Earth before the Metamorphosis began, and those who did included Aina. But, to practice without undergoing Metamorphosis was like swimming against a vicious tide. If anything, it made their accomplishments even more impressive.
    Still, since the female didn't know all of this, this wasn't what had shocked her in the slightestбн
    "бн Quasi Grade Five Dark Elemental affinity..."
    Another bomb seemed to go off.
    To now, the highest evaluation had been Medial Fourth Grade. To suddenly go up two levels was completely beyond anyone's expectation.
    But, maybe the most shocking part was that it wasn't a three level leapбн it was a three level leap.
    Inferior. Medial. Superior. Perfection. Quasi.
    However, the female still wasn't finished.
    "бн Medial Grade Four Empty Sword Embryoбн Quasi Grade Five Ax Embryoбн"
    Heira's pupils constricted. Just one was already enough for her to sit up, but this was reaching territory where even she was beginning to feel impressed. And yetбн the female still wasn't finished.
    "бн Medial Grade Five Life Elemental affinityбн"
    Jilniya, Wilas and Reynred stood frozen. Of all those here, their connection with Aina was likely the most complicated. The higher Aina's talent was, the harder their hearts clenched.
    Is this why Aina dared to come here? Is it because she knew what would happen? Is this why she wasn't worried about them in the slightest?
    How rare was this Life Elemental Force? They had never even heard of it before. At the very least, no Abode had ever appeared in Brave City for itбн
    What they didn't know was that just like the Dream Abode, such Abodes like the Life Abode appeared and disappeared at will.
    The people of Terrain believed the Dream Abode appeared randomly, when the truth was that it only ever appeared when those with a small amount of affinity appeared.
    The thing was that considering what Dream Force represented, it would of course appear more often. After all, anyone with an elevated sensory ability would have a small Dream Force affinity whereas someone with a Life Force affinity would be much rarer.
    That said, the number of individuals who could use Life and Dream Force to a high level were about the same. Meaning, the rarity still leveled out to equal in the end.
    To make the complex simple, the short of it was that everyone had a consciousness and many had a stronger consciousness after undergoing a Metamorphosis. Butбн while everyone had Life, not everyone had an elevated amount of it and even less had such high affinityбн
    But, somehow, the female still wasn't finished.
    "бн Perfect Grade Five Blood Elemental affinityбн"
    Silence reigned as Aina removed her palm. Her expression didn't have any fluctuations upon hearing any of this.
    But, at that moment, there was a sudden burst of clapping. The issue was that it was only from one person.
    Leonel grinned and clapped enthusiastically, causing Aina to blush and glare at him. But, Leonel continued to clap as though he didn't notice.
    The females gaze locked onto Aina, it never leaving. In fact, the gazes of the two males seemed to have awakened at that moment. From their lazy appearances, they stood up straight, their gazes burning.
    It wasn't Aina's numbers alone that shocked them so much, it was the numbers in combination with the curse chaining her. If that curse was liftedбн
    On the outside Rie was pouting. "бн He didn't cheer like that for big sis."
    Heira smiled bitterly hearing Rie's words. She could tell that Rie didn't intend anyone else to hear these words, but with their strength, how could they miss it? Once again, City Lord Keafir sent a questioning gaze toward Heira who could only try to dodge it.
    City Lord Keafir really didn't know how to deal with this daughter-in-law of his. Traditionally speaking, he should be in a higher position in comparison. Yet, he felt as though he was on an equal playing level with this daughter-in-law of his. And, worst of all, he could subtly feel that she was lowering herself to allow him such ease of mind.
    In the end, he could only drop the topic once again.
    бн
    Within the Tower, Leonel grinned as he watched Aina step down. Though she kept avoiding his gaze, he didn't mind.
    Others, though, found it hard to believe that the Sword Monstress was even capable of being embarrassed.
    Leonel stepped forward, hopping onto the elevated platform. Though the three figures all locked onto him, he didn't particularly care. He was happier with Aina's result than he would ever be with his own.
    The female didn't like Leonel very much. Who would like someone who aimed killing intent toward them? But, she still went ahead with the examination with her usual apathetic gaze.
    Howeverбн She would become frozen just the same.
    "бн Morales?" The female trembled.
    When she saw the list of affinities, her mind went blank.
    Leonel Morales. 19 years old. Quasi Grade Six Empty Spear Embryo. Inferior Grade Six Complete Bow Embryo. Perfect Grade Six Light Elemental affinity. Perfect Grade Six Variant Earth affinity. Perfect Grade Six Star Elemental affinity. Quasi Grade Seven Fire Elemental affinity.
    Perfect Grade Nine Dream Elemental affinity.

 Chapter 390: Skip

    Leonel removed his palm from the alter and sent a curious glance toward the female. Usually, she would have begun speaking by now. But, even after several moments, she had yet to.
    If the female knew that Leonel wanted her to hurry up, she might very well lash out in rage. At this very moment, her mind had become its own war zone.
    Under any other circumstances, finding such a genius was something she should be jumping around and celebrating. The kind of benefits she would receive from such a thing was endless and that was just considering what she could gain from those old fogies. If she also considered what she could gain by simply having a connection with Leonel himselfбн the possibilities were endless.
    But that one name ruined everything. It made her tremble almost uncontrollably.
    Morales.
    Anared only had a shallow understanding of this family, but even he knew of their strength. Maybe the only reason he didn't treat Leonel any differently was because he didn't believe Leonel was a part of them. And, beyond that, even if Leonel activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, Anared was ignorant enough to likely not even recognize it.
    But, for the femaleбн It was as they said, the more powerful one became, the greater understanding and respect one had for those who were truly powerful.
    To have such a name and to also have a Quasi Grade Six Empty Spear Embryo and a Perfect Grade Six Variant Earth affinityбн There couldn't possibly be such a coincidence in this world, right?
    This meant that Leonel was not only a member of that family, but he was one of the only seven in the Nova Generation to awaken both Lineage Factors. This was the only explanation.
    To put this matter into proper perspective, one had to understand how the Grading system worked on a deeper level.
    There were two factors that decided one's Grade: one's affinity and its comparison to one's Dimensional level.
    However, this matter still wasn't so simple.
    One's talent could be considered a growth factor. Let's say for instance someone with average talent was noted as having a 1.0 growth factor while one with a greater talent would be considered a 2.0.
    Upon breaking through to the Fourth Dimension, the average talents strength would become 2.0 and the greater talent would become 4.0. Upon breaking through to the Fifth, the former would become 3.0 and the latter would become 6.0.
    The disparity would only grow with time. And, the harsh reality of it was that the separation was even more exaggerated than this and could be considered to be exponential.
    What was the point of all of this? It was to say that one with greater talent would experience more growth even while improving at the same rate. If this logic was applied to the Grading system, it meant that the disparity between Leonel's Dimensional level and his affinity would only grow with time, meaning that as he continued to improve, his Grade would only continue to do so as well!
    For the female's organization, Inferior Grade Four was considered average for new recruits. However, Superior Grade Four already made you an elite amongst elites. To touch upon Quasi Grade Five within the Fourth Dimension was enough to make you an asset greatly worth fostering while entering Grade Five firmly would make you among the few worthy of vying for a leadership position within the organization!
    The main issue here was thatбн Leonel was still within the Third Dimension! Yet, his worst talent was considered to be of the Quasi Grade Six level. And, his one talent that could be considered to be of the Fourth Dimension, his Dream Force.... Was Perfect Grade Nine!
    This was all to say thatбн These three were nowhere near equipped to deal with something like this.
    Take a potential Heir of the Morales family as a new recruit? Was that a joke? Did they have a death wish?
    The longer the female remained silent, the more those around seemed to hang on her every word. None dared to look away for fear that they might miss something important.
    "Hello?" Leonel finally asked.
    It was a shame he hadn't been paying much attention before, or else maybe he would have been able to read the results himself. That said, he might have been overthinking things. It might not be so easy to read in the first place.
    The female snapped out from her thoughts and almost couldn't refrain from glaring at Leonel and gnashing her teeth.
    Was he having fun putting her in such a situation? You know well what kind of family you come from, yet you came here to cause trouble. What for exactly? To chase women?
    The female thought back to how Leonel treated Aina as though nothing else mattered in the world. But, she couldn't bring herself to be too enraged. After all, the current Aina wasn't exactly considered a beauty. It would be much easier to believe that Leonel was just chasing skirts if this wasn't the case.
    "Youбн" The female choked on her words before clearing her throat. "бн Aina Brazinger and Leonel Morales will skip the preliminary rounds. The rest of you new ones, prepare yourselves."
    A shocked murmur spread over the crowd.
    She didn't read out Leonel's Grades, but she also said that Leonel could skip the preliminaries. According to what she said before, that meant that Leonel had at least one Grade Five affinity. But, if that was the case, why not read them aloud?
    Leonel raised an eyebrow but didn't say much more. Didn't skipping the preliminaries mean that he could chat idly with Aina for a while? As long as he got to do that, nothing else really mattered.
    Leonel stepped down from the platform to find Aina looking back at him with a hint of curiosity. It seems that she too wondered why it was that the female hadn't read his Grades aloud like she had done with everyone else.
    "They say curiosity is the first sign of falling in love." Leonel said to no one in particular.
    However, when Aina registered his words her heart skipped a beat and her face went red. It was just a shame that much of it was marred by her inflamed scars.
    Leonel grinned. "Let's go to the side and иC."
    Leonel's words paused. His gaze shifted to find Syl's elder brother, Anared, standing before him with a cold expression.

 Chapter 391: Responsibility

    "Is something the matter?" Leonel asked.
    Leonel couldn't really understand why Anared had come here with such an aggressive stance. He couldn't remember offending Anared before. Yet, the latter was wearing an even colder expression than he usually did.
    "What do you mean by this exactly?" Anared replied coldly.
    "бн What the hell are you talking about?"
    Anared stared at Leonel for a long time.
    "It seems you want to die."
    Leonel's gaze grew cold.
    At that moment, Aina also reacted. A slight red light flickered within her almost golden irises. It seemed as though she might pull out her sword at any moment.
    "Big brother, what are you doing?" Syl's voice suddenly cut into the conversation. But, Anared didn't respond to his sister.
    He looked from Leonel to Aina and back.
    "You'll leave her if you know what's good for you." Anared said coldly.
    Leonel suddenly took a step forward. There was nothing that could get him riled up quicker than matters related to Aina.
    In a single bound, he already stood less than a foot from Anared. With his height, he stared down from above, his gaze reflecting a slight violet hue.
    Anared's sword began to vibrate wildly to his back as though sensing a threat. But, Anared didn't take a step back, his white robes billowing beneath Leonel's aura.
    "I don't know what story you've woven for yourself," Leonel began with an icy tone, "But, I'd suggest you watch your words. The only reason I chose to join your Keafir family's quota was to find her. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to understand what that means without me spelling it out for you."
    Leonel's meaning was clear. Why would he choose the Keafir family over Aina? He would rather fall out with them at this very moment than give up on Aina.
    However, his words only enraged Anared more. Others took what Leonel said at face value, but all he heard was that Leonel toyed with his sister's emotions for the only purpose of finding another woman. And, now that he had found her, he couldn't be bothered to care about his sister anymore.
    SHING! SHING! SHING!
    "BROTHER!" Syl all but screamed out.
    Anared frowned and looked toward his younger sister.
    "You're embarrassing me! Step back!"
    Anared was taken aback by his sister's words. This was the first time Syl had ever raised her voice toward him. Whether it was out of respect or fear, she never had.
    "Youбн"
    "You misunderstood." Syl continued. "It was sister-in-law that made it look as though we were involved. Leonel never made any advances on me."
    Anared's frown deepened. "It doesn't matter. He must take responsibility regardless."
    "Brother!"
    "I don't care." Anared continued coldly. "Since he can use our Keafir family, he should be able to take responsibility for it."
    Anared looked back toward Leonel. He was the only one that seemed to match Leonel's aura without taking a step back. In fact, his battle intent soared as though he couldn't wait to cut Leonel down right where he stood.
    The red in Aina's eyes slowly faded as she seemed to catch an inkling of what was going on. Her eyes shifted toward Syl for a moment before looking away.
    Unfortunately, no one was in position to stop this face off because the three leaders of this trial were having a heated debate of their own.
    бн
    "What the hell's going on Sael?" One of the two men questioned.
    "бн That kid's family name is Morales."
    The expressions of the two changed.
    The alter's abilities were mysterious and abstruse. It had the ability to delve into one's mind and find the truest form of address for a person. So, they had no doubt that whether he was a part of that family or not, Leonel's name truly was Morales.
    "бн You sure it's not a case of a lower plane taking on a name they shouldn't? That happens all the timeбн"
    Sael shook her head. "бн? Hisбн He has a Quasi Grade Six Empty Spear Embryo and a Perfect Grade Six Variant Earth affinity."
    The two men were left speechless once again.
    At this point, Sael wanted to shed tears. Only she knew that this wasn't the end of it. The more she thought back to Leonel's list of talents, it made her want to ram her head into a wall. Was this the pain of comparing yourself to another?
    'Complete Bow Embryo at 18 years oldбн What kind of nonsense is thatбн'
    "Then what should we do?"
    The three fell into silence before one of the men stood.
    "This is stupid. Why are we hiding away in a corner talking amongst ourselves. Isn't that man himself over there? Sael, you go talk to him and we'll handle these preliminary rounds. Maybe we're missing something important."
    The three of them hesitated.
    Usually, Heirs like this were quite eccentric. What Heir to a Seventh Dimensional family would come down to the Fourth Dimension to chase an ugly woman? If this wasn't eccentric, then what was?
    Who knew, maybe Leonel wanted to keep a low profile and would lash out at them if he was exposed. Knowing this, Sael couldn't help but glare toward the male who spoke. Since you were so confident, why don't you go?
    The male coughed. "The fairer sex has a better chance of dealing with such things. Just look at yourбн"
    The male's gaze shifted toward Sael's ample bosom, taking a gulp. How such a thin fabric held back such aбн bountiful harvest was beyond him.
    "бн Yupбн definitelyбн he wouldn't be able to bear doing anything to youбн"
    Sael's glare intensified. But, thinking of where they were and the image they were meant to project, she decided against slapping her colleague upside his head.
    бн
    "Leonel Moralesбн"
    A voice suddenly interrupted the heated stare down between Leonel and Anared.
    It hesitated for a moment before continuing.
    "бн And Aina Brazinger. Come with me, please."
    Leonel's gaze didn't seem to want to leave Anared. But, there was a strong tug at his robes that pulled him back.
    Aina all but dragged Leonel away. It seemed that her strength was still ridiculousбн No, it had gotten even more ridiculous.
    "Alright, kids! Line up! Papa Ely is going to eliminate 90% of you!" One of the two remaining men stepped up somewhat too enthusiastically.

 Chapter 392: Stunned

    Leonel gave Anared one more look before turning away and following Aina.
    He realized that he was even more sensitive about Aina compared to how he usually was. Of course, he somewhat understood why this was and inwardly kicked himself. The more he acted like this, the more subconscious Aina would be. He wasn't doing her any favors by being like this.
    If others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would realize that he seemed to be far more introspective about himself in relation to Aina than he was about himself alone. It was quite an interesting phenomenon, but Leonel, of course, wouldn't notice this.
    Sael led the two away. Somehow, likely through a teleportation pad, they disappeared and reappeared in a hidden room that oversaw the first floor. However, Leonel was certain that no one could see them as though they were standing behind a one-way viewing pan of glass.
    Once they reached this point, Leonel subtly put up his guard. This had long since become a habit of his. In truth, if he could have refused Sael's invite, he probably would have.
    Unfortunately, the environment only became more constrained over time because Sael didn't speak immediately. In fact, she seemed to be hesitating.
    After a while, she somewhat awkwardly puffed out her chest as though gathering her courage.
    "бн Be honest with me, why have you come here?"
    Sael looked right at Leonel, ignoring Aina. In truth, the only reason she had called Aina here was because she hoped that whatever feelings Leonel had for Aina would cause him to go easier on her.
    "Uh бн"
    Leonel stood in confusion before he suddenly 'understood'.
    "бн I know I'm from Earth but I didn't hear anything about being unallowed to participate because of this. Was I not allowed?"
    Sael froze.
    From Earth? What was that supposed to mean?
    'Wait, I think I've heard of Earth beforeбн it's a new world the higher ups are really invested in, but what does that have to do with this Heir? What kind of game is he playing here?'
    Aina stood the side, quite invested in Sael's answer as well. After all, she was from Earth too.
    The truth was that the reason she had a ticket to Terrain in the first place was because she heard about Brave City.
    It had to be remembered that the only reason Leonel would ever come to Terrain was because of Aina. And, the only reason Aina was sent to Terrain by Leonel in the first place was because she had the ticket to begin with.
    If she couldn't join the organization behind Brave City, she would have to change all of her plans.
    "Youбн really want to join us?" Sael was speechless.
    Leonel frowned. He really couldn't understand what Sael was getting at.
    In truth, he didn't want to join any organization. Every single one he had to this point had left a bad taste in his mouth. Plus, he had just rejected Old Hutch's offer just a few months ago with the excuse that he didn't want to be under someone else's umbrella. If he joined another organization so quickly after this, he would feel a bit bad.
    That saidбн
    Leonel looked toward Aina.
    "You want to join them?" He asked.
    Aina blinked before nodding.
    Leonel smiled. "Then I do too."
    His reply was simple but it held quite some sharpness to it. It was very obvious that he was only doing so for Aina, yet it also seemed this was enough to firm his resolve to an immovable degree. It sounded like even if Sael tried to reject him now, he would fight her to the death for standing in his way.
    Sael was stunned for a moment before her eyes glowed.
    'Could it be about that? Of course, how could I not think of thatбн'
    Sael looked away and began mumbling to herself like a madwoman. She nibbled at her red lips, lost in her own thoughts.
    'If it really is about that then this could either be a great opportunity or a catastropheбн I can't make this decision on my ownбн Forget it, when the time comes, this will have little to nothing to do with me, anyway. I might as well reap some benefits now and worry about the trouble that might come later.'
    Sael took a deep breath.
    "Alright, here you both go."
    Aina and Leonel started as they caught two glistening pieces of metal out of the air. When they flipped over their palms, they found that these metal pieces were actually two rings.
    Leonel looked down in confusion. "Spatial ring? What's this?"
    "These rings have everything you need to be officially inducted as one of our members. Our uniforms and your identification tokens are all in there.
    "But, I should tell you that until you've gone to our headquarters with your tokens and have been properly registered, they are blank. So, make sure to keep them safe until the time comes."
    Leonel was stunned. He sent his senses into the ring and as expected, he found everything Sael spoke about.
    There were a pair of harem pants, a cloth that he assumed could work as the belt those three wore, and a heavy piece of neckwear also reminiscent of what those three wore.
    The only difference was that the belt cloth he received didn't have the embroidery those three had. In addition, his neckwear was a solid black that almost look like unpolished iron.
    Butбн
    Wasn't there supposed to be a long trial?
    He half expected that he would have to put his life on the line several times just to get an invite to this organizationбн all for them to piss him off for some reason or another in a few months to eventually force him to leave them.
    That seemed to be the story of his life to now. Struggling just to earn some more struggling.
    He had never been expected to so suddenly be handed what all those geniuses of Terrain were fighting tooth and nail forбн
    What the hell was going on?

 Chapter 393: Nod

    Leonel was quite speechless for a long while.
    Aina looked down at the ring in her hand before looking toward Leonel's side profile. Though she could sense how surprised Leonel was as well, she also felt that this had to do more with him than her. It left her feeling quite curious.
    But, when she suddenly remembered Leonel's words from earlier, she blushed and looked away as though unwilling to acknowledge the fact that she had been curious in the first place.
    "Oh right, I also forgot to mention the last thing. The ring also asks as a life saving treasure, but it won't be activated quite yet. The first time it will activate is when the recruitment process is over. When that happens, the ring will glow.
    "Once it begins to glow, you have a day to prepare. Within that day, you can activate the ring at any time and be transported directly to our Core World. That's the place you will register.
    "After the registration process is over, the ring will be able to function normally. As long as it's charged, or depending on the level to which is has been charged, it can teleport its wearer to either a random location within range or to a set location."
    Leonel was still quite absentminded during this explanation, but he understood the gist of it.
    Regardless, for now, the abilities of the ring were useless to him until the registration process ended. Only then would it activate and begin to work normally.
    "Is there no set date for the registration process to be over?" Aina asked.
    "Ah, about thisбн" Sael sounded somewhat embarrassed. "бн I will be honest. Normally, a place like Terrain wouldn't even be worthy of gaining one of our recruitment stations. But, we've been forced to widen our net recently due to various circumstances. It's much easier on us if we bring everyone in at onceбн the cost is much less.
    "So, until we meet a certain number of new recruits, we won't activate the formation. It will probably take between one to three years before the next mass teleportation."
    Sael coughed slightly and looked toward Leonel. It was only after seeing that Leonel didn't react much to this that she sighed a breath of relief.
    'It seems that he cares more about this Aina's opinion than anything else. I should tell the higher ups to focus on pleasing her, thenбн'
    "Oh!" Leonel's eyes suddenly brightened. "Can you help me get rid of this thing? There must be certain privileges in being one of your members, right?"
    Sael was stunned for a moment. When she focused on Leonel's forehead, she finally noticed the monitoring brand hidden slightly behind his Emperor brand.
    When she realized what Leonel was talking about, her expression became a bit weird.
    They dared to mark a member of the Morales family? They overestimated themselves a bit too much, didn't theyбн? If one of those behemoths became enraged, who would take responsibility for it, exactly?
    Sael shook her head. 'He probably got into a bit of trouble. But, it makes sense he couldn't get rid of the brand, he's still a bit too weak to do that.'
    Leonel was right. Even members of the organization behind Brave City couldn't be so casually branded without adequate reason, let alone a member of the Morales family.
    But, Sael seemed to 'understand' that Leonel was hiding himself away, likely to appear 'humble' before Aina and not try to flaunt his status. So, she simply nodded and her Force surged.
    Regardless, since he was practically one of them now, it shouldn't be a problem. Since they only monitored Leonel to begin with, it shouldn't be a matter of life and death anyway.
    Leonel's pupils constricted when he felt Sael's strength. He was truly shocked for a while.
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel felt invisible shackles that had been around him shatter. Leonel suddenly felt much lighter and better than he had in a very long time.
    He took a deep breath. It felt as though all the Force in the surroundings surged toward him as he smiled brightly.
    "Thank you."
    This had been a looming darkness over Leonel for a long while. He suddenly felt much freer.
    Aina watched to the side with a puzzled expression. She wasn't sure what the monitoring brand meant. She also wondered how Leonel managed to get into more trouble than she did.
    Aina had quite literally slaughtered her way out of cities and hadn't ended up with such a brand. It could only be said that Leonel was truly unlucky.
    Leonel smiled cheerfully. "I only have one more request, can you help us leave this place secretly?"
    бн
    Not long later, Leonel and Aina walked side by side out of Brave City. So many were focused on the proceedings that no one would notice until the preliminaries ended that two of the participants had disappeared. But, by then, several days would have passed.
    "Do you have any plans until the ring activates?" Leonel asked Aina, his smile never leaving his face.
    Aina shook her head lightly. Her main goal had been to join this organization. Now that she had, she planned to just wait patiently. Even if she did so on Terrain, it was unlikely anyone would bother her. After all, the status the two of them now had was quite high.
    "Return to Earth with me."
    Aina's steps paused for a moment. Her heart was a bit hesitant. Not only did she not like Earth very much, she also didn't know how she felt about getting so close to Leonel again after she had just resolved herself not to.
    Though she now knew that Leonel could hold his own and that maybe his background wasn't so simple, this had never been the reason she tried to build a wall between them in the first place.
    But, before she even went through a logical progression, she still found her head involuntarily nodding before she quickly shifted to shaking it.
    "бн I бн I just broke into the Fourth Dimension. I can't return to Earth by normal means."
    After saying this, she sighed a breath of relief. Yes, this was a very good reason.
    Hearing this, Leonel was slightly disappointed. He needed to return to Earth to deal with the Royal Blue Fort. He couldn't allow things to just continue like that without stepping in. He was still worried about what might be happening to his teammatesбн
    Leonel looked down at his ring and slipped it onto his finger, walking aimlessly forward.
    He couldn't just ignore the lives of his teammates just to follow beside Aina. There was a limit to how much he could place her as his first priority.
    Suddenly, Leonel froze.
    He looked down at his ring. He remembered, when he looked inside of it, its space was much larger than his spatial bracelet.
    When Leonel came to Terrain, he noticed that his bracelet went from having a two cubic meter space to one. But, this spatial ring had a ten cubic meter space.
    'бн The Segmented Cube should be able to fit inside of it even if there's a human inside.'
    Leonel's eyes glowed and he explained his idea to Aina.
    "бн How about it?"
    Leonel looked toward Aina expectantly.
    Aina's heart trembled beneath Leonel's gaze. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say no. In fact, she felt somewhat warm inside.
    A treasure that could house a person? Just what level of secret was that? But, Leonel didn't even hesitate to divulge it.
    Looking down toward the ground, her head nodded ever so slightly. Even with Leonel's senses, he almost missed it. But, when he confirmed what he had seen, his grin took up half his face.
    "Okay, let's go. We can pay them back for putting us in this mess to begin with."
    **
    Leonel had no idea that while he was feeling the happiest, Shield Cross Stars had noticed the disappearance of his marking brand.

 Chapter 394: Disappointed

    "What happened? How is that possible?" Fin abruptly stood, almost knocking his office table over.
    During the past several months, he and Thorn had been wracking their brains, trying to figure out a way to pin Leonel into a corner. However, the longer they observed Leonel for, the more troublesome this matter seemed to become.
    By some magic, the refugee they had singled out suddenly became a vassal of the Keafir family and even entered Brave City. Though their organization wasn't necessarily afraid of the powers behind Brave City, Scithe's hidden meaning during his talk with them already made it clear that they couldn't so boldly use the strength of Shield Cross Stars.
    On top of this, even if they had the freedom to do as much, entering Brave City during the first phase would enrage all the powers of Terrain and entering during the second phase was all the more impossible.
    When they learned that Leonel had done this, they realized that their only chance was to wait for him to leave and then set a trap for him.
    The truth was that they didn't consider a possibility of Leonel being accepted as a member of this organization at all. After all, in the history of Terrain, no one had ever managed to pass over the final hurdle. And, those who had the best chance were on their second and final attempts like Syl's elder brother and the other Heirs.
    They thought that even if Leonel was talented, he would at least need a second attempt. But, with their influence, he likely wouldn't even live to see it.
    Unfortunatelyбн just as they had calmed themselves with this narrativeбн Leonel's monitoring brand vanished.
    "Someone find out for me as quickly as possible what happened in Brave City!" Fin barked.
    Due to Scithe's warning, Fin and Thorn didn't dare to get too close to the situation. As a result, they didn't even dare to personally monitor the situation of the third phase. Even sending someone to scout the situation was risky, but at this point, they no longer had a choice.
    Thorn met Fin's gaze from across the room, both of them holding a complex look on their visages.
    In order to get rid of that Brand, someone exceptionally powerful within the Fourth Dimension or someone of the Fifth Dimension, in the very least, would have had to act. There shouldn't be anyone powerful enough on Terrain to accomplish this feat. If there was, they were all old recluses that didn't casually travel out.
    This meant that the likeliest explanation was that Leonel had gotten help from those behind Brave City. And, if that was the case, that made things much more complicated.
    Under normal circumstances this wasn't a big deal. There was no need for that organization to communicate with them before freeing one of their own from monitoring. Since they hadn't labeled Leonel with having committed any egregious crimes, they were perfectly in the right.
    Suddenly, their hope of keeping these matters low profile had come back to bite them.
    Hours later, Fin and Thorn received the report they were waiting for, only to read it silently with ever increasingly ugly expressions.
    Thinking back to their disdainful dismissal of Leonel, especially in the case of Fin who sneered as Leonel was forced to sign his name, their jaws clenched.
    The two looked at one another. They knew they had no choice but to bring this to Scitheбн
    бн
    Scithe read the report Fin and Thorn brought him silently. But, this very silence felt like a mountain weighing heavily on their chests. The longer Scithe remained like this, the greater this pressure grew.
    A long while later, Scithe placed the documents down.
    "Have you two noticed anything interesting about this world?"
    Fin and Thorn looked toward one another, confused about the question. Wasn't this supposed to be about Leonel? Why were they suddenly talking about Terrain?
    "бн Please enlighten us, Commander Scithe."
    Scithe's head tilted slightly as he observed the two before him. It didn't seem like a normal human quirk at all. When his pale skin and sunken eyes were taken into account, he looked like a predator watching his prey.
    His black eyes darted between their vital points as though always calculating the fastest way to kill them. The feeling was like a coldness seeping into their veins.
    "If you two really have no idea, I would be greatly disappointed."
    Fin and Thorn shivered, their teeth chattering. For some reason, it felt as though the temperature in the room had plummeted.
    "Tell me, why is it that you detained this Leonel Morales in the first place?"
    "Weбн We detained him because of a tip given by a teleportation station attendee. Our organization's motto is to be a Shield across the Stars, but in order to do so we need to work together with the local governments. The officials of Terrain were worried about the sudden activity of a few fugitives, so we began to monitor anyone who looked suspicious."
    Thorn explained quickly. In fact, her response was so textbook that she forgot to take out things that Scithe obviously knew already. But, it just went to show just how nervous she was feeling.
    Scithe looked back toward the documents on his desk casually. But, his subtle action took a world of pressure off of the two of themбн Until he spoke his next words, that is.
    "'Work together with the local government', huh?... For a small fee, though, is that right?"
    Thorn and Fin froze, beads of sweat pouring down their faces and backs. All the words they wanted to speak got lodged in their throats, unable to form into proper sentences.
    "бн Some corruption is inevitable in such a large organization. In fact, I would argue that it's necessary in many cases. But, that doesn't give you license to be stupid. Such a big secret is looming over your heads and you don't even realize that you're being used to keep it as such.
    "Disappointing. Truly disappointing."
    Scithe closed the documents once more and stood. By this point, Fin and Thorn were trembling uncontrollably. It felt as though there was only a thin string dangling from the tops of their heads to the ceilings above, stopping them from collapsing to their knees.
    "There's no point in explaining these things to you. Since you haven't understood it by now, it will only be a waste of my time."
    Scithe crossed his arms to his back and looked out toward the blank wall. His actions seemed to be out of habit, but the fact there was no view to see made it all seem somewhat odd.
    However, with the amount of fear the two officers were feeling, they didn't even pick up on this detail at all.
    "The recruitment process of Valiant Heart Mountain won't finish for another one to three years. By then, there will be plenty of chances to complete what needs to be done. I'll have you two complete some preparations, I only hope you don't disappoint me again."
    Hearing these words, the two could no longer stand it and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath as Scithe strolled out from the hidden underground room.

 Chapter 395: Shuttle

    Leonel was shocked by how easy it was for him to return to Earth. He had been looking over his shoulder the whole way, yet not only did no one stop him, but the experience was surprisingly pleasant.
    Compared to what he experienced when he was branded like a slave, the difference was like night and day. He easily found the closest city by following the roads and avoiding danger using his vastly improved Internal Strength. Then, after paying a hefty fee, he was able to buy a ticket to use a teleportation platform.
    Leonel didn't have Urbe Coins, but, he did have a large amount of Urbe Ore. This was what he relied on to constantly refine his body toward the Perfection Stage. Thankfully, the process of trading in Urbe Ores for Urbe Coins was exceptionally easy, there were a few government trade posts he could find within any city.
    Leonel was a bit surprised to find that Urbe Ore was actually more valuable that Urbe Coins. But, after some thought, this made sense.
    Urbe Coins were usually only used by low level worlds to make things convenient for their weaker citizens. In higher level worlds, and especially in high profile markets, auctions and the like, most trades were completed with unrefined Urbe Ores. In these cases, rather than using individual coins, the denominations were in kilograms of Urbe Ore.
    Thankfully, in regards to those of Third and Fourth Dimensional worlds, Leonel was considered semi wealthy. So, buying a single ticket to Earth wasn't a problem and also didn't even make much of a dent into his financial situation. If anything, refining his Metal Body was by far the largest expenditure.
    At Leonel's current level, even absorbing ten kilograms worth of Urbe Essence hardly budged the needle anymore. It seemed that reaching the Perfection Stage wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.
    Leonel wondered if he should try and trade up to Bronze Grade Urbe Ore to try and make a final breakthrough. But, in the end, he decided against it. His recklessness had already almost killed him once this year, he didn't want to give the fates a chance to take him to the next world again. Not so soon after the last time, anyway.
    Of course, if others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would think he was a madman. If he really thought he had only tempted fate just once, he was crazier than even he knew.
    бн
    Leonel disappeared into the teleportation formation with no one realizing that he was a wanted criminal. The process for leaving a world was obviously much less involved than coming to it. Whatever problems he posed would be the issue of that world to deal with.
    Unfortunately, Leonel's good mood didn't last very long. He had forgotten one very important thing in all his excitementбн
    Earth didn't have any teleportation pads.
    When Leonel appeared, he blankly stared at his surroundings.
    Wild winds whipped around him, black clouds rumbled above, thunderous booms and crackling lightning shook the skies. Andбн
    He was falling from the skies.
    Leonel hardly reacted. He simply looked toward the black ocean waters he was hurtling toward at inconceivable speeds.
    This was the look of a defeated man. A man who was so used to his bad luck by now that he could only sigh.
    What were the odds that he would appear in the skies above the ocean? If Leonel thought about it, the likelihood was actually quite high. After all, 70% of Earth was nothing but vast waters. But, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do to tell a man down on his luck that his situation made sense.
    Luckilyбн
    Leonel reached out toward his spatial ring with a thought. In the blink of an eye, a black object appeared beneath his feet like a floating surfboard.
    Leonel smiled wildly. He had been waiting for an opportunity to use this treasure. Unfortunately, he didn't dare to use it on Terrain for fear that he would be the subject of someone's greed. After all, this treasure was of the SSS-grade and happened to be the ride Leonel had asked Uncle Montez for.
    The treasure had two modes, but both were only built for a single person to use.
    The surf mode, which Leonel was currently in, had the greatest degree of freedom for movement. It was nimble and shifty, but it sacrificed topline speed in return.
    The second modeбн
    Leonel poured his Force into the surfboard as his fall slowed to a floating hover.
    Soon, the black board shifted, becoming a one person shuttle. Leonel sat down, reaching out his hands and grabbing onto a butterfly steering wheel. Even if he wanted to, he didn't think he'd be able to stop the grin from spreading across his face.
    The shuttle mode was where the real speed lay. It took a minimal amount of Force to output tremendous speed. If Leonel used normal Force, he could probably round Earth in six hours at most. If he used Light Elemental Force, that time plummeted to half of that.
    Of course, the shuttle lost nimbleness as a result. Butбн in return it was blazingly fast.
    Leonel pressed down on the pedal. The instant he did, a strong G-force tried to rip him apart, but his smile didn't fade. With the strength of his body, he could still handle it.
    A black-gold light streaked across Earth's water as the laughter of a teenage boy sounded beneath the rumbling clouds.
    **
    Leonel easily made it to Earth's main continent. Aside from being a transportation vehicle, the shuttle could project a rough map of the world. Though it didn't have anything as detailed as city locations, it had enough about the geography.
    With Leonel's education, the geography was all he needed to find his way back to Royal Blue Province in just over an hour. In fact, he was a bit disappointed that the trip was so short.
    Leonel found a secluded region away from Invalids. Due to the speed of the shuttle, any that sensed the Force he used to propel his shuttle had long since been left behind, but he was still cautious.
    After burying himself deep underground, Leonel entered the Segmented Cube.
    "Aina?"
    Leonel didn't find Aina where he thought he would. But, his sharp senses soon caught the sound of moving water.
    'She's in the bathhouse?'
    Leonel's heart skipped a beat.

 Chapter 396: Oblivious

    Leonel willed himself to calm down and he entered his own room, leaving Aina to herself.
    Now that he thought about it, he really had left her alone for quite a while. It made sense that she would find something to do. Who knew when the last time she had a time to relax was?
    Leonel couldn't help but smile.
    Back in the Joan Zone, Aina never needed to bathe due to her military-type uniform. Its self-cleaning function made sure she wouldn't need to worry about it. So, this was the first time Leonel had experienced this sort of feeling.
    What started as him forcefully suppressing the lewd thoughts of a young man became him appreciating the sound of the moving water in a silent but sweet peace. It had become less about the fact Aina was washing herself and more about that she trusted him enough to do so.
    Maybe he was just overthinking it. There was always a chance that he was. But, the thought still brought him peace of mind.
    "Ohбн You're back, I hope you don't mind Iбн"
    Aina's voice woke Leonel from his odd peaceful state.
    He looked up toward her and smiled. The slight embarrassment on Aina's face made his smile somewhat brighter. He could see that she hadn't really thought about it before choosing to bathe here. Knowing Aina, if she had thought it through, she wouldn't feel embarrassed in the slightest.
    That realization only made him happier. It was like an unconditional trust even she wasn't aware she had for him.
    Leonel's brows raised as he stood from his bed and walked to the door he had left open.
    "The swelling, it's gone down. Were the waters helpful to you?"
    Leonel realized this immediately. Before, the swelling and inflammation of Aina's scars was quite bad. It was to the point that it seemed they might burst with a foul liquid at any moment. In fact, he could hardly see the features of her real face because of this.
    What Leonel didn't know was that this always happened after Aina used the effect of the curse to help her training. The impact was even more exaggerated after she ingested the Fifth Dimensional Abyss Panther blood.
    Usually, it would take months for the swelling to eventually die down. But, this time, it didn't seem to want to go away at all and left her in a perpetual state of pain and itchiness. Surprisingly, though, the Cleansing Waters of the Segmented Cube's Abode Setting quelled this swelling almost immediately.
    Aina lowered her head, avoiding Leonel's gaze.
    "бн Mm."
    Leonel didn't mind this much at all. In fact, he was even happier that he could be of help.
    "All of the water in the Segmented Cube comes out as Cleansing Waters, take as much as you want to bathe or drink."
    Aina's eyes widened. "бн I can't do that, it's too valuable."
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Is it? This Abode seems to make an endless supply of it."
    Aina was speechless toward Leonel's ignorance.
    She looked up with a glare Leonel was familiar with seeing. Usually, she only used this look when she was reprimanding him.
    "Cleansing Waters are incredibly rare. It can only be produced by a person with a very special Innate Water Force Node. Even for such a person, it's a hard task to form even a single cup of it. Other than that, it can only be produced naturally at the convergence of Seven Purities."
    Leonel blinked, not really understanding what much of that meant, especially the Seven Purities part. All he knew was that he used this water for everything from taking a bath to brushing his teeth to drinking a glass of water.
    In fact, though he didn't check for obvious reasons, he was pretty sure his toilet water was made of it too.
    Leonel waved a hand. "Never mind that. Seriously, take as much as you want. There's no need to suffer in silence when I'm here."
    Aina's glare became somewhat vacant for a moment as though she was shocked to hear such words.
    She stared blankly at Leonel, getting lost in her thoughts for a moment.
    Leonel met her gaze as though trying to convey his meaning and determination through his eyes.
    After the swelling lessened, Leonel could see the true structure of Aina's face. He burned the image into his mind, not only because he was infatuated with her looks, but because this was the first time he was truly seeing the real her.
    This was the woman, in all his madness, that he had sworn to hitch his life to.
    Maybe to this day he still didn't know the exact reason. But, didn't they say that in this new world the future could influence the past? Leonel liked to believe that maybe he was less crazy than many believed and that an undying devotion his future self felt was what drove him now.
    However, this only gave Leonel motivation. What shook him to his core was maybe if it wasn't a future love that caused his current feelings, but a future regretбн
    What if he lost Aina in the future? What if the feelings of hurt, anger, and helplessness were so powerful that they pierced through the veil of reality and returned to his younger self, driving him to not repeat the same mistake again?
    This was probably the first time Leonel even admitted these things to himself, but something was screaming to him that it wasn't just love that drove him to this level of madness.
    He had said it himself before, hate drove far more than love did. Negativity fueled more than positivity, evil disseminated far more than good.
    For Leonel to feel this way, he knew that it wasn't a simple matter of love.
    Leonel reached a hand toward Aina's face. The action shook her from her stupor. Her body involuntarily trembled as though wanting to take a step back. But, for some odd reason, her feet seem rooted in place.
    Leonel smiled a somewhat sad smile. It carried a weight that was far beyond his years and an emotion that was far more complex than he was willing to feel. Seeing it, Aina felt as though she too had been thrust into an all new world, one she also wasn't quite ready for.
    Leonel's hand brushed by Aina's face and touched her flowing black hair.
    A slight rush of Force surrounded the two and Aina, who had become completely lost in Leonel's smile, barely registered the fact the air had grown much hotter all of a sudden.
    In the blink of an eye, Aina's wet hair became dry and Leonel retracted his hand.
    "Wouldn't want you to catch a cold, right?"
    Leonel grinned, his normal childish look returning. Whatever weight his gaze once held vanished, making Aina's knees feel somewhat weak. Out of her control, she fell forward only to be stopped by Leonel's broad chest.
    Leonel was stunned for a moment, but he didn't let her escape like she wanted to.
    His arms wrapped around her back, enveloping her small frame.
    Aina froze for a long while. But in the end, her small hands gripped the sides of Leonel's shirt.
    A peaceful silence took hold of the Segmented Cube. As the clouds continued to rumble and Earth seemed to become ever more chaotic, the two seemed oblivious.

 Chapter 397: Appetite

    Leonel almost couldn't refrain from laughing as he watched Aina run away like a frightened rabbit. Even a while after she had disappeared into the room she chose, he could still feel the softness of her frame.
    Behind the closed door, Aina slipped down to the floor, her face a beet shade of red. Her heart beat wildly and completely out of her control. It made her breathing seem somewhat erratic and anxious.
    The last time she had been so intimate with Leonelбн her legs had been blown off. So, it was safe to say that she wasn't really thinking about how embarrassed she should or shouldn't have been.
    But this time, there wasn't such a looming elephant in the room. It was almost too much for her to bear.
    It was only a long while later that Aina's heart finally calmed. Ironically, it was because she could hear the same moving waters Leonel had just moments ago. Just listening to them made her feel the same peace Leonel had.
    Aina reached a hand toward one of her military pockets and pulled out a cracked bracelet.
    It was quite funny. Considering all the treasures she had, a mere C-grade defensive treasure was practically useless garbage. But, other than her ax, this had been one of the only things she managed to hold on to in her injured state back then.
    She looked at the bracelet until the sudden end to the rushing waters woke her up. She quickly put it away, the hazy look in her eyes clearing.
    At that moment, a knock came from her door. Unsurprisingly, it was Leonel. He was the only other one in the Abode Setting to begin with. But, what Aina hadn't expected was that when she opened the door a black blur would suddenly pounce at her.
    Her first instinct was to reach for her ax, but she instantly realized that she had taken it off her back. She felt safe in this place so she wasn't constantly on her guard.
    It wasn't long after that she realized that even if her ax had been on her back, she wouldn't have been able to get to it in time. This black blur was simply too fast.
    A strong force collided with Aina's chest, causing her to take a step back. But, when she looked down, she found and adorable little mink using its small claws to latch onto a few of her countless pockets.
    Little Blackstar, seemingly feeling a familiar intimacy with Aina through his connection with Leonel treated her like a playmate too. Unfortunately, though Aina was stronger physically than Leonel, her body's defenses were far weaker. So, what would be a playful nudge to Leonel almost knocked Aina's breath away.
    "Little Blackstar." Leonel reprimanded.
    There wasn't much he could do about the little mink. The little guy was simply too fastбн It also didn't help that Blackstar treated Leonel like his pet rather than the other way around. This left Leonel feeling somewhat helpless.
    Aina took a deep breath to recover before looking down at the little mink. A light smile played her features as she slowly reached a hand forward to pat Blackstar's small little head.
    "This is your beast partner?" Aina asked.
    "Mhm." Leonel nodded. "The little guy is pretty powerful but is too playful. I thought that he was growing more mature because he started to take more naps recently, but now he's back to his usual antics."
    Aina blinked curiously, gathering the adorable little mink in her arms. Blackstar seemed to quickly realized that compared to around Leonel's neck and the top of his head, Aina's chest was the much more comfortable place to be. It wasn't long before the little guy showed no intention of returning.
    "How did you manage to contract him?"
    "Wellбн" Leonel scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. After some hesitation, he finally told the truth.
    "бкPchu!"
    Aina couldn't refrain from laughing, her light giggle tickling Leonel's ear drums.
    "Hey, hey. Is there a need to laugh so hard? We share a relationship of equals." Leonel said defiantly.
    "Mhm, mhm." Aina nodded but continued to play with the little mink, a happy smile on her face.
    Leonel sighed as he watched this scene. It seemed that not only did he lose his beast partner to Aina's chest, he lost Aina to the little mink. Life truly wasn't fair.
    бн
    The next few moments between the two were quite peaceful.
    Within the dining area of the Abode Setting, Leonel brought out some of the foods he had bought before leaving Terrain. However, Leonel was shocked to find that Aina didn't only match him in how much she ate, but she even somewhat surpassed him.
    Leonel had spent months within a Zone with Aina, but he hadn't noticed this before at all. After a while of thought, though, he understood. And when he did, he felt somewhat bad.
    In the Joan Zone, he and Aina had always hunted for their own food. Since he was the long ranged attacker amongst the two of them, it obviously fell onto his shoulders. But, he always only captured one beast.
    He would always take most of the beast and leave behind what he thought would fulfill Aina's appetite, not realizing that he was underfeeding her at all.
    This time, however, because he was curious about Terrain's cuisine иC after all, this was the first time he was tasting another world's food иC he had brought back way too much, thinking he could just store whatever was left within one of the snowglobes to preserve it until next time.
    However, what he had never thought of was the possibility that between the two of them, clearing out such a large amount of food was a simple task.
    Learning this about Aina didn't make Leonel like her any less. In fact, he felt happy once again because he was learning more and more about her the longer he spent with her.
    He didn't apologize for his mistakes in the past, he just etched this into his mind. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.
    At the same time, he made a mental note to be more observant in the future. For whatever reason, Aina didn't seem to like to divulge such things openly. It would be up to him to decode this beauty.
    "Hm?"
    Aina looked up with a cute and innocent look in her eye. But, contrasted with the massive beast leg she held in her hand, Leonel couldn't help but smile at the adorable image.
    Though the beast leg was larger than half Aina's body, Leonel was certain that it would probably only take Aina half an hour at most to wipe it clean.
    Leonel shook his head.
    "We should talk about the Fort and how to approach it." Leonel said.
    Aina paused mid-bite. The truth was that she too wanted to take down Royal Blue Fort, she also had friends within. But, they had to think of the normal citizens as well. If things devolved the way it did last time, they would be doing more harm than good.
    So, how should they do things this time?

 Chapter 398: Snow

    Royal Blue Fort's situation was more complex than Leonel knew.
    In truth, there were many things that Leonel hadn't thoroughly thought through until he had a conversation with Aina.
    For one, what purpose was he truly trying to accomplish?
    Acting against Royal Blue Fort, even if it was just to kill a Junior Governor Duke, was no less than an act of war. At this point, Leonel would be truly setting himself as the lifelong enemy of The Empire no matter how one looked at it.
    Beyond this, after killing the Junior Governor Duke, how would things proceed from there? Who would take leadership of the people who would be left behind? Would The Empire treat them all as rebels if they chose to follow Leonel? Did Leonel even want to lead them?
    It wasn't that Leonel was too unintelligent to think of these things, it was rather that he was still too immature. He cared more about paying the Junior Governor Duke back for harming Aina and slighting himself than he cared about the consequences his revenge would bring.
    This was the true reason Aina wasn't as enthusiastic about Leonel's plans to begin with. She had even initially rejected Leonel's suggestions. But, for some reason, in the end, she couldn't bear to say no after Leonel brought up the Segmented Cube plan.
    Still, she had no choice but to douse some cold water over Leonel's dreams.
    After talking some reason into Leonel, they decided on a plan.
    First, they would scout out the situation. With their abilities, it wouldn't be a problem to observe the Fort from afar. Even slipping into the core of the city protected by the Junior Governor Duke's illusion ability wouldn't be an issue.
    If they found that their friends and their families were struggling, they would use the snowglobes to take them in and escape the city. They would then bring them to another Fort in a new Province.
    This last part of the plan was a bit more difficult to pull off. After all, The Empire had strict monitoring standards. But, they had the perfect excuse for this as well.
    One had to remember the Right to Autonomy Ammendment of the Ascension Empire. As long as they had a valid excuse for breaking the law, they would be in the right.
    There was really no better valid excuse for escaping one's Fort than the fact one's Junior Governor Duke bombed his own citizensбн
    Of course, Leonel still planned to kill the Junior Governor Duke one way or another. Even if he died, there were several other nobles there to take charge. It's just that he would be covert about his actions so as not to implicate his friends.
    With this more level-headed plan, Aina and Leonel made their way to Royal Blue Fort. However, they hadn't expected to find the scene they did after approachingбн
    бн
    Since the appearance of Camelot in the skies, Earth's climate had taken a massive hit. The poles seemed to flip, the magnetic field was out of whack, and there wasn't a single peaceful inch of Earth left.
    The common people didn't know what was happening, but the higher ups were shocked by the sudden appearance of a second moon.
    Unfortunately, the only person who knew exactly what was happening иC Leonel иC had washed his hands of the matter. Luckily, there was still the Slayer Legion and the Adurna family who had an inkling of what was going on.
    That said, being aware of what was happening wasn't quite enough. Earth no longer had the means to calm this situation.
    Had this happened before the Metamorphosis, The Empire might still have some means of stabilizing the climate. But, with the interference of Force, not only was technology interrupted from functioning properly, but the weather was even more volatile than it would be otherwise.
    Royal Blue Province was a coastal continent near the equator. As such, it experienced tropical weather all year 'round. But nowбн
    It was buried beneath several feet of snow.
    Though it wasn't bone chillingly cold, this made the situation far worse. The snow fell as an almost half water, half snow combination, making the layering of the white precipitation quite heavy. In addition, where it wasn't heavy, it was exceptionally slippery.
    Sheets of ice covered everything. Even the tall Fort walls were covered with an ever-thickening layer of ice.
    Caught completely off guard by the sudden changes, the Royal Blue Fort was scrambling.
    The good news was that after several months of dealing with these conditions, the Fort had finally managed to find methods of combating this situation. The bad news, however, was that this wasn't the end of their problems.
    It had to be remembered that the appearance of Camelot wasn't just a matter of climate change. The most important point was that Earth's path toward the Fourth Dimension had been accelerated by several times over.
    The truth was that Earth had already cleared enough Zones. Leonel knew that Earth's progress had to be great because he didn't receive his usual reward for being the first to clear an SS-grade Zone. This meant that someone else had to have succeeded before he had!
    This should have been a great thing, but it was very much not for two reasons.
    The first was that The Empire had yet to finish consolidating its strength. And the second was thatбн the activity of Invalids and beasts likewise skyrocketed.
    When Aina and Leonel found a collapsed building to observe the Royal Blue Fort from, they were shocked to find a horde of Invalids surrounding it.
    "Thatбн Is that possible?"
    Leonel's eyes widened.
    Amidst the horde, Leonel picked out several SS-grade and SSS-grade Invalids. Each of them had strength he couldn't have hoped to match up against before he entered the Camelot Zone. Facing such a horde, he would have had no choice but to turn tail and run away as fast as he could.
    In order to fight them off, Royal Blue Fort was using its tall steel walls and an endless barrage of bombs. If not for Earth's technology, the Fort would have long since been overrun.
    But, this wasn't what shocked Leonel the most.
    "бн That's a Variant Invalidбн" Aina said softly.
    In the distance, Leonel locked onto an Invalid dressed in all white. Its skin was as white as snow, its hair as white as bone, its robes as white as clouds. The only thing on its body that wasn't a blinding white were its piercing blue irises.
    Leonel was shocked. From what he knew, all Invalids had white irises. But this oneбн
    A flood of memories were pulled from the depths of Leonel's mind.
    Variant Invalids. They were Invalids who managed to recover their intelligence. However, due to the fact their awakening was so much more difficult, they were far more powerful than their human counterparts.
    And, maybe the most shocking part of their abilities was thatбн they could lead other Invalids.
    Leonel was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Aina's jaw clench tightly, her small hands trembling slightly.
    Her reaction to this Variant Invalid seemed much too strong. Maybe only those who knew the legends of the Mountain Sands Range she had escaped from might know whyбн

 Chapter 399: Lost Status (1)

    Leonel frowned, his gaze landing on Aina.
    Seeing her odd reaction, his heart constricted. One would have thought that her reaction was his own. To Leonel, though, Aina's happiness was practically linked to himself.
    "Aina?"
    Aina shook out of her thoughts hearing Leonel's voice.
    "What's wrong?"
    Aina shook her head and fell into silence, her body returning to normal. The little mink nestled closer to her, his little face rubbing against Aina's.
    In truth, Leonel almost didn't notice Aina's weird reactions. If it wasn't for his connection with the little mink, he likely would have missed it entirely. The irony of it all wasn't lost to him, especially when he said he would pay more attention to her.
    Leonel's frowned deepened. His gaze shifted from Aina to the Variant Invalid and back again.
    'Is it that thing? But, Aina shouldn't have met this thing beforeбн'
    It could be said that with the exception of the time he spent within the Mayan Zone, Leonel had spent practically all his time on Earth since Invalids had appeared with Aina. In addition, when he was in the Mayan Zone, Aina had either been unconscious or within her own Zone.
    Since Invalids didn't appear within Zones, at least with Leonel's current comprehension, it was impossible that Aina had met this Variant Invalid.
    Of course, this was all deduced under the speculation that Earth didn't have Invalids before the Metamorphosis descended. Leonel felt that this was a fine assumption to make, even when considering the fact Aina came from a hidden family of Earth.
    Invalids were just humans who failed to awaken their abilities and thus lost their consciousness. Variant Invalids were just Invalids who managed to reawaken their consciousnesses. But, by then, they would no longer be the version of themselves they once were.
    Unlessбн
    'Does Aina know this Invalid from when it was a human?'
    Leonel pouted slightly, mostly because from what he could see, despite the odd coloration of its skin, this Variant Invalid was quite a handsome young man.
    Leonel shook his head. This wasn't the time to be thinking of such things.
    He looked back toward Aina. "Do you want to leave and come back another time? From the flow of battle, I doubt that this Invalid horde will be able to breech the walls during this wave. They'll likely need two or three more attempts."
    Aina looked toward Leonel. She could tell that Leonel sensed something amiss about her reaction earlier and wanted to take some pressure off of her. Butбн
    "No."
    Aina's voice came out somewhat coldly. In fact, her demeanor somewhat shocked Leonel. She sounded as though he had said something to enrage her.
    Aina looked away from Leonel's surprised gaze, not saying anything further.
    The little mink peeked over her shoulder as she faced away, sticking out his little pink tongue toward Leonel.
    'бн'
    Leonel was really at a loss this time.
    **
    Miles Leum.
    His life should have been perfect. He was the Heir to one of the few most powerful families of Earth. He was already given the Junior Governor Duke title by his father. He awakened an S-grade ability that granted him power and strength in addition to the status he was born with.
    However, ever since that matter of several months ago, everything had been going downhill.
    He had expected that upon reporting these matters to his father, he would gain control of the resources he needed to hunt Leonel down and end all of this. But, not only did he not gain the support he expected, his power in the province was restricted even more than it originally was.
    As things stood now, Secretary Marquisette Maia was effectively the leader of the Province despite the fact she never seemed to be around. Despite this, she somehow managed to oversee everything and even the small tricks he tried to play to gain back power were snuffed out by her with a casual thought.
    Miles could hardly believe it all. His father had actually chosen to abandon his heir in favor of an old woman masquerading as a young beauty.
    Maybe the worst part about all of this was that he was slowly being ostracized.
    Due to the matter of him bombing his own citizens, a scapegoat needed to be trotted out. Miles understood this, it was just that he never expected that the scapegoat would actually be himself.
    The nobles painted him as an immature, rash individual who was too young to be fit to lead, or ever lead, for that matter. This caused him to lose a great amount of influence.
    This would have been fine under normal conditions. After all, the title of Duke was hereditary, at least historically. The issue was thatбн The title of Governor Duke wasn't so simple.
    During the transition of power between father and son, though Miles would have an inside track as his father's chosen heir, he would still need to fend off competitors. This blend of hereditary titles and democracy was how The Empire continued to breed talents.
    Though one would be hard pressed to say that The Empire were the 'good guys', one thing you couldn't say was that it had incompetent nobles. Any family that raised incompetent Heirs would just as quickly lose their status as nobles.
    Due to this, there were no shortage of prosperous, once-royal, families, looking to claw their way back up to the top. So, a position like Miles' was constantly being eyed.
    It was no surprise then that Miles was wracking his brain, trying to find a way to claim back what was his. But, rather than good news, everything only became worse.
    Just a few months ago, he learned that Maia was pregnant.
    Back on 21st Century Earth, this would mean the end of a woman's career for at least a couple months. However, in modern times, it was as easy as breathing for Maia to have her embryo transplanted out of her body and into a machine that could nurture her baby far better than even her own body could.
    This seemed like a useless tidbit of information, but Miles was almost certain that this child was his father's.
    If his conjectures were correctбн he was finished.
    This reality left Miles, who once sat atop of the world, in a tailspin.

 Chapter 400: Lost Status (2)

    Children were rare. After the Metamorphosis, those children who had been born before it Descended were highly likely to die. And, during the Metamorphosisбн who had time to have children?
    Many were too busy fighting for their lives. And, even when they wanted to lose themselves in pleasure with a partner, who would want to bring a child into this world?
    The contraceptive methods of these modern times were so good that 100% effectiveness wouldn't be an exaggeration in the slightest.
    However, it was precisely because of this that many had forgotten one important detail.
    As talented as the children born before the Metamorphosis wereбн How much more talented would the ones being born after it be?
    Miles had awakened an S-grade talent. His father was a Variant. Secretary Marquisette Maia had awakened an A-grade talent.
    With the genes this child would have, Miles had little faith that this baby would be untalented. In fact, there was a good chance that this half-brother of his would be far more talented than himself.
    Miles realized something else as wellбн
    Originally, his father was slowly fading out of his prime. It wouldn't have been more than a decade or two before he was forced to hand down his position. But, in this new world order, his father might even live doubly as long as he once would have.
    Under such conditions, why would he have to rush to pick an Heir?
    All of these matters made Miles feel as though the walls were crashing down upon him. No matter what he did, he was forced into a deeper and deeper corner.
    He lost contact with his biological mother. His father's conversations with him were short and detached. And, even his friendship with Simeon and the connection he had gained to the hidden families seemed strained now.
    It was at his darkest hour that Earth suddenly descended into chaos and the Invalids began to attack.
    At first they repelled them and thought that would be the end of it. However, a first wave became a second and a third.
    It was then they realized that Invalids shouldn't have a concept of retreat. The only way for them to 'repel' a wave would be by killing them all, but obviously, they hadn't done so.
    At this point, they came to the shocking realization that these Invalids wereбн being controlled.
    For the first time, Miles saw a lit pathway out of his current situation. The more chaotic it became, the greater chance he would have.
    If he could use this opportunity to not only fix his image, but to also find an opportunity to find where Maia was hiding her embryo to kill it before it grew, he might have a chance at recovering in his father's eye.
    Maia might have held all the status now, but her ability was absolutely useless in combat. All she could do was maintain her youthful looks, her combat prowess was worse than even someone with an F-grade ability.
    This sort of situation was the perfect time for Miles to seize control. But, he needed an opportunity. If he acted too fast and without cause, his actions would end up being more of an impediment to what he was doing. If he wanted to turn things around he had to be patient.
    So, that was what he did.
    Day after day, he waited, not lifting a finger. At this point, even those nobles who had expected him to make a move by now couldn't help but grow curious about what his plans were. But, Miles continued to bide his time.
    From the actions of this Variant Invalid, he could tell that it wanted this Fort. As for the reason it wanted it, Miles wasn't sure. Maybe it wanted the population of humans within, maybe it wanted to use this place as a base to consolidate its power, or maybe it was a combination of both. But, regardless, as long as this Variant was persistent, that was all that mattered to Miles.
    бн
    At that moment, during what was the third wave, Miles sat in his office. Even though he was safely tucked away near the core of the city, he could still hear the bombardment of the military units.
    He sat silently, sipping a cup of tea.
    "Come in." He said neither too quickly, nor slowly.
    Something about his demeanor breathed calm into his surroundings. Even when pressed into a corner, he still maintained the air of a noble.
    With a light click, the door opened to reveal a familiar young man. If Leonel was here to see his tall frame and playboy-like features, he would immediately recognize this young man as his former best friend, James.
    "Do you have something to report?" Miles took another sip of his tea.
    Though his words were measured and calm, there was a hint of warning within them. He was trying to maintain a low profile. Having meetings like this might be fine since both he and James were both youths of similar age, but if they happened too frequently and without reason, others would begin to raise their guards.
    James calmly faced Miles. In comparison to Fin and Thorn who had been quaking before their superiors, he was clearly a large measure better in this regard.
    "My father sent me here to report that the noble council is beginning to think of more unconventional strategies to deal with the horde once and for all. If things continue like this, the Variant Invalid will only continue to regroup and attack. During these discussions, the potential of using your abilities to set up a wide range illusion field came up."
    Miles' gaze sharpened. "Who brought this topic up?"
    "There's no need to worry, Junior Governor Duke. It wasn't my father who brought this idea forward."
    "Good, good." Miles' lip curled.
    If it was one of his potential allies that brought this idea forward, there wouldn't have been much of a point in him lying low for so long. Allowing things to progress organically in this fashion was for the best.
    "And Secretary Marquisette Maia's opinion?"
    "She was once again absent of the council gathering." James replied.
    Miles' brow furrowed slightly. He didn't know why Maia was always disappearing like this. But, this was ultimately good for him. He didn't know how she managed to keep a rein on power while being absent so frequently, but Miles was certain she wouldn't be able to replicate this indefinitely. Eventually, she would pay a price for her absence.
    "Alright, leave things as is for now, don't push too hard unnecessarily. You can go."
    James nodded and turned to leave.
    "Hold on." Miles suddenly called out.
    "The matter of Conrad Siegfried."
    James froze but didn't reply, waiting for what Miles wanted to say.
    If Leonel had been there, he would have immediately recognized this name. Conradбн He was the same man who almost dropped James out of a window and the very same man Aina killed with her own hands right before Leonel.
    "We put a lot of effort to pull in that wastrel from the Siegfried family, but he ended up dying." Miles said plainly. "In the past it didn't matter much. Becoming allies with the White Angel Province's Governor Duke family might have been a plus, but not a necessity. But now, it's far more important than it once wasбн
    "To now, the Siegfried family still doesn't know how their son died, right?" Miles asked slowly.
    James shook his head.
    They didn't know. To now, they probably still thought Conrad died in a Zone or beneath the claws of some Invalids.
    But, it went to show how little they cared about this son. Despite knowing the Metamorphosis was coming, they didn't even stop him from playing in the National Championship game.
    "You said that he was killed by that Aina girl the Simeon came to get, right?" A smile creeped up on Miles' face.
    The Brazinger family wanted to abandon him, huh? Since that was the case, he'd spin a nice little web.
    For such a powerful family, such a thing would hardly be enough to inconvenience themбн In normal times that is. Miles knew some things many didn't due to his relationship with Simeon. He might as well use them to his advantage.
    James nodded somewhat more stiffly this time and turned to leave again. This time, Miles didn't stop him.
    Soon, the third wave ended and days later, the fourth began. Without a choice, the council of nobles called Miles forward.
    The Junior Governor Duke took his first step toward reclaiming his lost status.

 Chapter 401: First Phase

    Miles stood atop the Royal Blue Fort walls, taking a deep breath. To him, the air felt fresher than it had in a long time.
    Though he was a youth used to warm weather, there was something about this heavy snow that made him smile.
    At that moment, Miles suddenly felt a cold shiver tremble his heart. His eyes snapped in a certain direction, only to find a blue-eyed Variant looking toward him, a quirky smile curving its lips. The look in combination with its inhumanly white skin and hair made Miles' gaze narrowed.
    This Invalid was teasing him?
    All this time, the Variant Invalid had never made a move to attack personally. It stood at the back of the army casually observing everything from afar.
    Of course, this wasn't for lack of attempts by the Fort. However, any targeted assault toward the Variant Invalid seemed to always lead in failure. It simply had too many guards around it.
    The most powerful warriors of this Invalid army were all definitely concentrated around this white-skinned Invalid.
    "Begin the bombardment sequence." Miles maintained eye contact with the Invalid as he barked out this order coldly.
    In truth, he wasn't the commander of this mission, but he took charge. The general that was meant to act the head and the soldiers beneath him wouldn't dare to ignore his commands regardless. Since that was the case, he exuded an air of superiority, speaking with an undeniable air of leadership.
    The canons whirred to life. Due to the situation, they had deployed the Force Disruption Towers in the outer city as well. Compared to the past, their weaponry couldn't even be compared as night and day.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    A volley soared through the air, leaving a trail of black smoke and burning winds in its wake.
    Thousands of Invalids were taken out with every shot. It would have been a massacre that chilled the hearts had it not been for the fact these mindless beasts didn't even seem to register the fall of their comrades. They only continued to listen to the orders of their leader, charging forward without thought of fatigue, pain or unwillingness.
    However, the point of this volley wasn't to wipe them all out to begin with.
    "Open the gates."
    Miles issued his second command seeing that they had cleared out enough space.
    Beneath the city wall, a troop of soldiers stood with hardened faces. This was the first time a legion was being sent out to deal with the Invalids directly, how could they not be serious?
    Among this troop, there were a few familiar faces, though.
    Within the vanguard, there was a large man with sharp features. Despite his large belly, his body exuded a solid and powerful feeling. He was the kind of man who rippled with muscles despite the fat that covered most of his body.
    This man was Milan, Leonel's Center. Anyone who understood the rules of ancient game of American Football knew how close the relationship between a quarterback and his center was. However, it had already been almost a year since the last time Leonel had seen the big guy.
    In that time, he had grown. Milan's usually jovial smile was nowhere to be seen. His gaze exuded a cold light, the same cold it glowed when he faced the defensive line of the opposing team on the football field.
    Beside Milan there was a second familiar face.
    He was a tall black man wielded a halberd with a two-meter-long polearm. He had had not just a few battles with Leonel during their practice sessions back at Royal Blue Academy.
    While Milan's jovial laughter was nowhere to be seen, Joel's kind gaze had vanished as well. He looked like a hunter prowling tall grasses for his pray.
    Behind these two, several of Leonel's teammates stood having regrouped. The aura they all exuded was suffocating.
    After years playing beneath Leonel's leadership, their sharpness was refined to inconceivable levels. Even now, facing enemies the likes of which they never had before, they still moved as one.
    All this time, Miles was forced to lay low. Dealing with his own problems, when could he have had time to cause trouble for Leonel's teammates and friends?
    However, it was impossible for the former Royal Blue squad to know of this. Having lost their connection to James, their understanding of the nobles had plummeted. As a result, they took pre-emptive action to protect themselves.
    Though they were still a bit young to do so, they all joined the army. No matter how bold Miles was, he wouldn't dare to casually take action against service members. The backlash he would receive in doing so would be far beyond anything he was enduring now.
    So, here they were, facing the opening gates of the Fort, their auras resonating as one.
    In a distant corner of the city, Yuri watched all of this in silence. No one had time to bother with a teenage girl after Aina and Leonel disappeared. In fact, she remained in the same home within the core city she had once shared with Aina. It was as though everyone had forgotten about her.
    She waited patiently, seemingly knowing that Aina would be back to get her eventually.
    BANG!
    The Gates suddenly stopped moving.
    "CHARGE!"
    Milan's voice billowed, his belly rumbling with an inconceivable strength as he projected an air of confidence.
    The troops of about a hundred shot out like an iron ball out a barrel.
    Joel lowered his halberd to the ground, pulling out a handgun from his waist he fired. His gaze tinged a slight red as he mowed down Invalids with a cold efficiency.
    If a football fan saw him in his current state, they'd roar out that Headhunter Joel had returned.
    Every one of his bullets travelled through an Invalid's head, his speed causing one's heart to tremble.
    Milan stood at the helm of the troops, his chest and belly flaring outward. A towering energy shield appeared before their vanguard, protecting them from all sorts of long-range ability Invalids.
    A third of Leonel's teammates stepped forward. He was a man even larger than Milan. He stood a full head taller, but his body didn't ripple with muscle like the latter's. In fact, any ripple it had could only be described as undulating fat, waving about his body like a tsunami.
    This teammate had brown skin and a red line down his forehead. He was the left tackle of the Royal Blue football team, the protector of Leonel's blindside, Raj.
    He stamped down a foot hard causing the ground to undulate. At that moment, the thick sheets of ice shattered, clearing the path of slippery death traps and causing several Invalids to lose their footing.
    "Forward!" Milan roared.
    From the top of the city walls, Miles watched all of this with narrowed eyes. The truth was that he didn't even know who these men were. In his mind, he was only thinking about how to bring such a powerful squad under his control, having no idea why such a squad was formed in the first placeбн
    Miles placed this thought to the back of his mind. It was time for him to act.
    "First phase is complete. Commence with the second!"

 Chapter 402: Third Phase

    Miles stepped to the edge of the walls, taking a deep breath. A strong surge of Force whipped around him, forming rainbow-colored clouds around his body.
    The rainbow clouds continued to grow in size, blanketing the area around Miles at ever-increasing speeds.
    As the battle below raged on, it was hard for anyone to take notice of such a phenomenon. Many weren't qualified to do so. Though rainbow clouds should have been something that captured the awe of all, the truth was that most didn't have the affinity necessary to sense them becauseбн
    They were formed of Dream Force.
    By this point, it couldn't be more obvious why it was that Miles' ability was useless against Leonel. The former had an ability reliant on a Force that practically bowed down to the latter.
    The clouds eventually grew from covering just a few tens of meters to over several hundred. Very quickly, it covered over a kilometer.
    Miles had been able to cast an illusion over tens of kilometers worth of city. This much was most definitely possible for him. The only question was whether or not he would have the time he needed to do it.
    But, there were two things working in his favor. The first was the Invalids were too far from him and most of them likely weren't even aware of what he was doing. And, the second reason was as the Descent of the Fourth Dimension accelerated toward completion, Miles could slowly feel his ability strengthening and growing.
    Now, whereas it would have taken him several hours to reach this level in the past, it only took him a little over half an hour to reach this point.
    Miles' gaze flashed open, the troops below were still battling, but they had fallen into a stalemate. But, this was perfect, this was exactly the situation they wanted.
    The reason they were in a stalemate wasn't because their momentum had stalled, but rather because they were pacing themselves to maintain their stamina for a final push.
    Within the vanguard, Milan, Joel and Raj manned the core. Joel became their main source of attack, Milan was their defense, and Raj was their crowd control. They worked together seamlessly, waiting for the perfect opportunity to lash out.
    On the football field, and in any sport, for that matter, momentum was an important but abstract concept. Yet, as a team that rarely if ever lost, the Royal Blue squad had a perfect grasp of it. When it was timeбн they would be ready.
    The rainbow clouds blanketed the battlefield at that very moment. For the first time, the troops could see them clearly.
    The Invalids began to act erratically, their senses being completely cut off.
    Miles' ability had many different uses. Just like Simeon, he was able to slowly learn about it over time and refine it.
    Though he could weave intricate illusions, doing so used too much of his stamina and took even more time. However, if he broke down the illusions into their individual parts, he was able to gain sometimes even better results for a smaller sacrifice.
    For example, it was possible for him to target particular senses.
    In order for an illusion to work, Miles had to ensure that all five senses were accounted for. Whether it was touch, smell, sightбн it all had to be perfect or else the illusion could collapse.
    But, likewise, this meant that Miles could hone in on specific parameters and tweak them to his liking,
    He could target touch and make the same amount of pain feel ten times worse. He could target scent and force even the most veteran of hunting dogs into a corner. He could target sight and make a person feel as though they had been blinded, never to see anything ever againбн
    This was what abilities could do. The possibilities were endless as long as one had the creativity and talent to accomplish it.
    When Miles experiments were taken to their logical extreme, he created an entirely new technique. And he called itбн
    "Sensory Domain."
    Miles' gaze blazed.
    Within his Sensory Domain, everyone was under his control. He could strip a person of all their feeling. Their sense of touch, sight, hearing, smell and even taste, he could snatch them all.
    And that was exactly what he did.
    In that instant, the Invalids became a complete mess. They couldn't see what enemies they were targeting, they couldn't hear where they were coming from, either. Only those who had relatively sharp senses could use their sense of Force to make out where the troops were and target a general direction, but even then, there were too few of them.
    'If I could cut of proprioception and the ability to sense Force, I would be undefeatableбн'
    [Author's Note: Proprioception is the ability of a person to tell where their body parts are in relation to one another. If someone lost this ability, even walking would be impossible. Doing practically anything would be impossible, actually. Well, not impossible, just very, very, very difficult]
    Miles ambition seemed endless. Even with such a powerful ability, he wasn't satisfied. However, he had done his part.
    "Commence Phase Three!"
    Miles barked out order after order. Everything was going smoothly. In fact, any dissatisfaction the Commander had had after having his post stolen was wiped away. Miles' commands were perfect and well timed.
    It was clear that there were no pushovers among noble Heirsбн
    The Fort gates opened once again. But, this time, a worker's crew of engineers shot out instead of a group of warriors. They all hung on to the sides of trucks packed to the brim with several steel cases.
    The trucks came to a stop quickly and the engineers all rushed out, opening box after box.
    Very soon, it because obvious what they were doing. They were building something.
    Those with the knowledge could tell exactly what these 'somethings' were as wellбн
    Force Disruption Towers!
    If the Third Phase succeeded, the Invalid army would be finished. Having to face the brunt of human technology without Force only led toward one pathбн
    Death.

 Chapter 403: Collapsed

    The engineers got to work with an avid quickness. Though they were assured that everything was under control, these men and women were ultimately used to lives spent in labs and private work stations. Something like a battlefield was completely foreign to them.
    Though they had had some run-ins with danger on their way to the Fort, it had already been over a year since then. They had gotten used to their lives of comfort and leisure again.
    Many of them weren't even willing to be here. But, they had lost the luck of the draw, so this was their only remaining option.
    It was no surprise, then, that many of them would be shaking and quaking as they worked. But, luckily, there was the vanguard of troops protecting them from all sides. As they noticed they weren't in any danger, they were able to work faster and faster.
    бн
    In the distance, Leonel and Aina watched all of this in silence. It had already been a few days since they began to monitor the Fort, so they were quite used to the flow of things. However, this plan the Fort sprung was completely out of their expectations as well.
    Aina seemed to still be mad at Leonel and spent all her time cuddling with Little Blackstar. As though that wasn't bad enough, even Little Tolly betrayed him as well.
    Usually, Little Tolly could only interact with Leonel due to the hazard it presented. But, who knew when the little guy got intelligent enough to steal Leonel's Force Crafter Gloves and pass them over toward Aina.
    Somehow, both his partners favored Aina more than him.
    Though Aina was still mad at him, Leonel couldn't help but chuckle at this.
    Didn't this just mean he had excellent taste? Of course his woman would be beloved by all.
    "Ahбн"
    Leonel's breath hitched when Aina turned back to glare at him. It couldn't be that she heard his thoughts, right? Her gaze seemed to spit fire as though saying 'who's your woman'?
    Leonel's father had always warned him that a woman's intuition was scary, but he never really believed it. Back then, Leonel thought his mother had ditched them so he never trusted his father when it came to advice about women. What would an old man who couldn't even keep his own wife know about that topic?
    Now that Leonel thought about it, his old man had told him a long time ago to stop confessing to Aina and that she probably thought he was annoying. Eventually, he just started making fun of him for all his failures.
    'бн Damned old man.' Leonel thought to himself while smiling innocently toward Aina.
    Suddenly, Leonel frowned.
    'Milanбн Joelбн Rajбн'
    Leonel's jaw turned steely.
    Aina seemed to sense the change in Leonel's demeanor and looked toward the battlefield. At that moment, the Gate was opening and a few familiar faces charged out.
    In the past, Aina had only ever gone to a single one of Leonel's games. And, even if she had gone to more, everyone on the team wore helmets most of the time. So, she didn't recognize most of them. However, Milan and Joel had been with them on their trip toward the Fort.
    Seeing them, she immediately knew what Leonel was thinking. Did Miles force them to do this?
    Leonel's expression became cold. His gaze locked onto the battlefield, not moving a single inch away. Even the smallest detail didn't escape his sights.
    A pressure slowly built around his body, but he didn't make a move. What if Miles acted like he had before and forgot everything for the sake of killing him? Even if Leonel himself might be able to survive the bombardment now, that didn't mean that he would always be able to. In addition, what about the others?
    So, Leonel waited.
    When he saw the engineers come out and begin to build the Force Disrupting Towers, he took note of it all.
    To his side, Aina rose from her squat near the ground. On her back, the massive curved box that carried her ax was there. But, in her hands, a great sword took the stage as her main weapon. Something told her she would have to move soon.
    бн
    On the ground the battle had fallen into a state of one sided dominance. However, Milan controlled the pace of the vanguard, not allowing them to rush forward without reason. Their main priority was to protect the engineers. Once the towers were complete, they'd be able to drown these Invalids in bullets of the highest quality.
    The morale of the troops were exceptionally high. Their casualties were near zero and the engineers looked as though they might finish at any time. The longer they worked, the more comfortable they got and the faster they moved.
    However, all this time, Milan felt an itchiness to the back of his neck. It was the same feeling he got when the opponent was coming with a sudden exotic blitz. As the center of a football team, it was his job to point out protections and adjust to the onslaught of the opponent. In some cases, his decision trumped even Leonel's.
    They say that the quarterback was the most important position on the field, but the offensive line was the most important group on the field.
    "Defensive positions!" Milan roared, his rounded gut becoming almost like a steel cap. It flexed with such power that it seemed he wanted to break through Miles' sensory block.
    The head of the vanguard was mostly constructed of Leonel's teammates. Hearing such words, they didn't hesitate to move. Their influence caused others to listen as well. There were only very few who lagged behind. But, even they rushed over as they followed with the crowd.
    Milan had been the ancor to their defenses all this time. There was no way they would snub his command without reason or cause.
    At that moment, on the top of the walls, Miles, who had been quietly observing everything suddenly felt uncomfortable as well becauseбн
    The Variant Invalid's smile still hadn't faded. In fact, it continued to look at him from start to finish as though observing something that made it curious.
    The white-skinned Invalids smile suddenly became a grin. Its handsome face distorted, revealing a jagged row of teeth.
    It's mouth outgrew its body in the blink of an eye. Soon after, its entire body more, enlarging and sprouting what felt like mountains of white fur.
    What once was a handsome young man became a towering wolf that was easily half the height of the tall steel walls of the Royal Blue Fort.
    Its jagged teeth shone beneath the drifting snow.
    "ROOOAAARRR!"
    The snowy ground quaked and the snowfall became ten times heavier. Whipping cold winds tore through the surroundings, kicking up even the wet snow and sending it jetting outward.
    It took just a single roar. And just like that, Miles' Sensory Domain collapsed.

 Chapter 404: Aware

    Milan's expression hardened.
    The lost Invalids suddenly grew focused once more. Whereas they hadn't had any direction in the past, they could now see their targets.
    Miles hadn't expected such a thing to happen. He had thought that his ability was infallible. He had considered the possibility that his ability could be ignored by some powerful existences with stronger minds. But, he hadn't ever thought that it would be possible to dispel its effects on others in this fashion.
    In truth, this lack of preparation could only be blamed on Miles himself. Ultimately, any Force based ability was reliant on Force to manifest itself иC obviously. In such a case, this meant that a greater Force could always force it to collapse.
    One might think of how scared others were of the Dream Abode in Brave City and assume Dream Force to be infallible, but this couldn't have been further from the case.
    The reason even Emperors without the appropriate affinity didn't dare to approach the Dream Abode wasn't because of the Dream Force alone, per se, but rather because of its sheer quantity.
    The Abode represented a vast store of Dream Force. Even Leonel, with his talent, couldn't even begin to deplete it during his breakthrough, let alone someone without an affinity to speak of, or a person with a much weaker affinity like Miles.
    However, if Leonel were to try to replicate the abilities of the Dream Abode himself иC without its support иC he would end up dying from exhaustion before he could cause the likes of Anared or JIlniya to feel threatened.
    And in such a caseбн How could the stores and strength of a Variant Invalid not absolutely crush someone with a mere S-grade ability like Miles?
    The white wolf stood at over five meters tall, its majestic coat and mane whipping about beneath its strength.
    Its low growl crawled over the battlefield, sinking into the hearts of all those who heard it.
    At that moment, the 12 guards around the Variant Invalid all shot forward at once. Their reserved auras surged out like a tidal wave, each and every one of them carrying an ice type ability. It was clear that the Variant Invalid had hand selected its guard and not a single one of them was below the SSS-grade.
    'Shit.'
    This was the only word Milan could think of. He could feel that the engineers had begun to panic. Any speed they had gained from growing comfortable plummeted. Whereas it might have only taken them 10 more minutes to finish before, now it wouldn't be surprising for it to take another half hour.
    At such a pace, they were screwed. Even if it was just ten minutes left, they would be doubtful to finish.
    Miles watched all of this from the top of the city walls, his gaze turning steely. This was likely his final chance and he couldn't act rashly either.
    "Order the retreat." Miles said after some deliberation.
    The Commander sighed a breath of relief. He had expected Miles to close the gates and leave them all out there to rot. This would have been very much in line with Miles' usual actions.
    However, Miles knew that he was on a short leash. As much as he didn't want to risk the city by leaving the gates open for a second longer, if he abandoned them outside without even trying, any prestige he had managed to scrounge up would collapse once again.
    "RETREAT!"
    The scrambling engineers felt as though they had heard the most beautiful word to ever exist. They didn't hesitate to abandon their work. In fact, they didn't even bother to pack everything back up again.
    They rushed to the sides of the trucks that brought them here, clamboring into the open trunks and hanging off the sides to the best of their ability.
    Many of them started screaming for the drivers to go before the rest of their colleagues even stepped forward. It was clear that in such a mind state, the 30 minute deadline was far too optimistic. They had already lost all will to fight.
    At that moment, the 12 ice guards had reached Milan's vanguard. Having no choice but to protect the retreat of the engineers, they manned the rear.
    Milan's large belly flexed once again, his strength pouring out and forming another shield of Force. Veins popped across his forehead as he layered the shield again and again. He knew that against such enemies, just one was far from enough.
    His ability might have been similar to James', but James' ability was of the A-grade while his was C-grade. Though in the past year Milan managed to progress it to the B-gradeбн what was that in the face of so many SSS-grade threats?
    BANG!
    Milan's efforts were shattered in the blink of an eye.
    Raj slammed his feet to the ground in an attempt to slow their approach, but the ice guards reacted even faster, a sharp Ice Elemental Force surging around them as the froze the ground beneath their feet solid.
    No matter how hard Raj tried, he couldn't seem to cause another earthen wave. He could only raise his assault rifle and begin to fire madly, the recoil of the hefty gun causing his fat to undulate once again.
    "We'll cover, retreat!" Milan roared.
    He, Joel and Raj unloaded their clips.
    They no longer cared about reserving supplies or their strength. Their only thoughts were of covering for their teammates. Among those who had been forced to join the army as a veil of protection from Miles, there were a few so young that Coach Owen hadn't even allowed them to see the field. Yet now, they were thrust into the middle of war.
    "Dammit, rookie! If I can see your face instead of you hauling ass within the next second I'm gonna put a bullet in your kneecap!" Milan roared.
    "Forget a kneecap, I'll lodge one in your ass if you don't make it to the gate in under five!" Joel barked right after.
    They might haze these rookies and give them a hard time, but when it came down to it, it was their role as seniors to protect.
    They could sense the hesitation of their teammates, but not everyone could stay behind. What would be the point of their decision then?
    The three shooed them away, their roars being half drowned out by their rain of bullets. It didn't matter if they worked, all they cared about was slowing them down by an extra minute, an extra second, an extra step.
    "Fuck, since you like the cold so much, go to hell!"
    Raj ripped a grenade from his hip and bit the pin off. He threw it with all his might, watching as it rebounded off the iced ground and toward the ice guards.
    "Raj, hell is hot." Joel mumbled.
    "Fuck, that just means these damned popsicles'll be melted into a puddle of their own piss!"
    The three men laughed, their bullets never stopping. In the back of their minds, they seemed aware it would be impossible to retreat with everyone else.

 Chapter 405: Rookie

    BANG! BANG!
    The grenade erupted, blasting bits and pieces of dirt, hot air and shrapnel in every direction.
    A massive cloud of white shot up from the core of the explosion. But, before anyone could even sigh a breath of relief, an ice guard shot out from the dust cloud, gliding across ice of its own creation like a silent assassin.
    'Shit.'
    Joel brandished his halberd, the trigger of his rifle echoing a hollow click.
    He tossed the useless gun to the side, gathering his courage as his hands gripped his weapon's polearm.
    Milan pulled a heavy shield from his back, slamming it hard against the iced grounds and standing shoulder to shoulder to Raj.
    Raj moved to bite off another grenade's pin, only to see the remaining 11 ice guards shoot out from the cloud of smoke. What was the point? The grenades were useless anywayбн
    "ROOOOOOARRR!!"
    Another roar shook the battlefield.
    The Variant Invalid stalked forward. By this point, the engineers had only just reached the gate once again. As for the troops who could only move on foot, they were still over 50 meters away. Unfortunately, in these conditions, many of them were having trouble finding stable ground to stand on.
    The white wolf crouched, its powerful limbs shattering the ice beneath its feet.
    BANG!
    In this new world order, there were many sights the common people could have never dreamed of seeing in the past that they could experience now. Watching as a five meter tall and almost ten meter long wolf cross hundreds of meters in the blink of an eyeбн was definitely one of those things.
    A massive shadow seemed to swallow the sun.
    Joel looked at the halberd in his hands while Milan and Raj looked toward their shields. Then, they looked toward one another, bitter smiles on their faces.
    At that moment, they heard a rain of bullets coming from their back, only to look and find that at least a dozen of the almost hundred troops they had led the vanguard with hadn't retreated and were now shooting toward the massive wolf in the air.
    Milan opened his mouth to reprimand them. He knew these men well, they were the same teammates he had shared a field with for so many years. One of them was even a rookie of barely 15 years old. However, he didn't even have the time to do this much.
    To the front, the ice guards had reached them.
    Joel stabbed out with his halberd, only to find it snapped in two before he could even complete his first pierce.
    Milan and Raj stood as shields before him, their feet digging into the slippery ground as they tried to give Joel some cover.
    But, just as quickly as they tried to form a line of defense, they were sent flying back and crashing into Joel.
    BANG!
    In that instant, the Variant Invalid wolf landed on the ground, causing it to quake. It didn't even spare a glance toward Milan and the others as it looked toward the wall, a toothy, sinister, snarling grin lining its snout.
    Milan and Raj coughed violently, feeling as though all the bones in their body had been broken. They struggled to stand, looking toward the ice guards and white wolf with a hint of fear in their eyes.
    They felt as though this was all a play orchestrated by the white wolf. With such strength, with such leaping ability, couldn't it have claimed the Fort for itself long agoбн? Why did it wait until nowбн? They simply didn't have anyone capable of stopping it.
    Miles watched everything from above, his jaw clenched.
    "Close the gates!"
    The harsh words grated on the ears, but it was clear by now that Miles had shown enough mercy. Even if his enemies wanted to use this to point out his weaknesses, he had plenty of evidence on his side.
    This was all he cared about. As long as the optics were in his favor, that was all that mattered.
    By now, the trucks had already crossed through the Gates. The only ones lagging behind were the running soldiers who had had to retreat by foot.
    As they watched the Gate slowly close, those too far away felt a bout of despair while those who felt they still had a chance pushed their bodies to the limits, driving themselves forward as fast they could.
    Unfortunately, the ground was in terrible condition. Where there was no snow was too easy for even the most coordinated of men to slip and fall. And, where there was snow weighed down the legs of those trying to escape, easily halving their speed.
    BANG!
    The Gates slammed shut. By now, only half the hundred troops that had come managed to make it back. As for those who were close, they banged on the steely gates with despair ringing from their voices.
    Their efforts resounded like dull thuds. The Gates were too think and too solid. Even if one stood on the opposite side, it would have been impossible to hear a thing.
    All this time, the white wolf watched without even attempting to stop them. It raised its head haughtily, emitting the air of a King of Beasts.
    "Concentrate your fire!" Miles barked out an order.
    The bombardment of artillery shells had maybe been the only reason the tactical unit hadn't been completely surrounded and wiped out by Invalids. But now that Miles had ordered for them to concentrate their fire onto the white wolf, what chance did they stand anymore?
    At that moment, a rookie helped Milan to stand while a few others helped Joel and Raj.
    Milan opened his mouth to yell at the rookie once more, but the breaks to his ribs caused him to wince. In the end, he sighed. Was there a point in yelling anymore?
    "Damned kid, we already told you not to join the army, but you didn't listen. Now you don't even listen to my orders. Why you all do such stupid things is beyond me."
    Milan shook his head. Though the white wolf was ignoring them now, that wasn't out of mercy. Would you care much about an ant you could crush any time you wanted?
    While Milan was lost in his thoughts, though, he didn't expect the rookie who helped him up to actually respond to his words.
    Looking forward seriously, the scrawny little guy in an oversized military uniform and helmet stood straight with his underdeveloped chest sticking out as far as he could force it to.
    "Respect the game. Persist to the end!"
    Milan was stunned out of his thoughts. For a moment, he could sense a sliver of Leonel's overbearing aura.
    A sudden laughter rocked the battlefield. Whether it was Joel, Raj or Milan, their gazes went red without even having to look in the direction it came from.
    "Well said, rookie!"
    It was only then that Milan realized it wasn't an illusion. He really had sensed it.

 Chapter 406: Shadow

    Leonel suddenly manifested from thin air, his appearance causing no small number of people a great deal of shock.
    A wide grin spread across his face as he looked toward his teammates. Any rage he had been feeling vanished, replaced by a gratification he had yet to feel in his life before.
    "Captain!"
    They didn't have time to think about how Leonel had suddenly appeared here, or how he was somehow already blocking the path between them and the white wolf.
    After registering that Leonel was actually here, the faces of his teammates changed wildly.
    "What the hell are you doing here?"
    "Are you trying to die?!"
    The whirring of the canons atop the walls never stopped. The truth was that from the vantage of those up above, it was impossible to hear even their screams, let alone noticing the sudden appearance of a single person on such a large battlefield.
    Even now, no one but those on the ground had noticed the addition of Leonel. Of course, among those that noticed included the Variant Invalid and its ice guards. However, surprisingly, from start to finish, Leonel's back faced them.
    It was as though he was showing the same disregard for the white wolf that it had shown to his teammates.
    Who cared about when you stomped an ant as long as it was done?
    This sort of air of confidence was something the white wolf hadn't sensed from an enemy during this war. Such a feeling caused its toothy grin to become more sinister, carrying a more bloodthirsty air to it.
    Leonel patted the rookie's shoulder. "What's your name?"
    As part of the hazing ritual of their football team, every rookie was only known by exactly that title. They didn't have the right to have their own names until they passed through a year of initiation. It was only after this that they were allowed to have their own identities once again.
    So, when the rookie heard Leonel ask such a question, he immediately went teary eyed.
    Technically, he should have already passed through initiation a long time ago. But, due to the various circumstances surrounding the Metamorphosis, he had been stuck in his role as a rookie for over double the time he should have been.
    However, somehow hearing Leonel's words made it all worth it.
    "My name is Drake, Captain!"
    Leonel smiled. "You did a good job, Drake. Supporting your brothers is exactly what a man should do. But, remember in the future to only do things within your means, do you understand?"
    Drake stared blankly at Leonel before lowering his head like a wronged child.
    Leonel shook his head and patted Drake's shoulder again.
    "Though things worked out this time, you also have to realize that your seniors wanted to sacrifice themselves for your benefit. If your life wasn't saved in the end, then wouldn't their sacrifice have been for nothing?"
    Drake's gaze lit up with understanding. But, because he was looking at the ground, no one noticed.
    Still, Leonel felt that he had said enough. Anymore would just be beating a dead horse.
    Leonel looked up and toward the rest. Though some of the faces weren't from the Royal Blue football team, he smiled toward them nonetheless. For a moment, everyone seemed to forget that they were on a battlefield. Whatever pressure had been coming from the Invalids all around them, or the white wolf just 20 or so meters from them had all of a sudden vanished.
    "Fire!"
    Finally, the canons had been aimed and were all fired at once.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. Though this wasn't as bad as what Miles had done before, they were clearly still within the range of being struck. A 20 meter buffer was nothing to such high-tech bombs.
    The white wolf's gaze didn't seem to want to leave Leonel, but Leonel also seemed to have no intention of paying any mind to the white wolf.
    "All of you, let's go."
    "Ahбн"
    Everyone was shocked by Leonel's words. What did he mean let's go? Didn't he see that they were in the middle of a battlefield? Also, hadn't a volley of bombs just been launched, maybe in as soon as another second, they would all be dead.
    However, Leonel only smiled and winked.
    Force surged around him, lighting up a pattern on the ground that had been invisible to this point.
    The truth was that Leonel hadn't appeared randomly and out of thin air, nor did he try to appear at the last moment on purpose. He had been trying to find a method of getting everyone out of here in one piece.
    The reason he appeared abruptly was because before then, he had been using [Light Refraction] to appear invisible. In the time, he managed to draw a teleportation Art on the ground that he was now currently activating.
    Though Leonel wasn't necessarily afraid of the white wolf Variant Invalid, he knew that he wouldn't have been able to accomplish this while its sights were locked onto him.
    Luckily, Leonel's Soul Force had entered the Fourth Dimension. One had to remember that in order to practice in Force, Internal Sight was needed. Without it, sensing and controlling Force was impossible. By this logic, the stronger one's Internal Sight, the greater control of Force one had.
    With Leonel's level of control, he was able to draw such a large array without the horde of Invalids around him even sensing any leakage.
    Just as the bombs fell, Leonel's teleportation Art activated, taking him and everyone else along.
    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The white wolf who had been observing Leonel all this time was slightly caught off guard. It wasn't that it didn't expect such a bombardment to happen, but rather that it had stopped paying attention to anything but Leonel.
    On the walls, Miles sighed a breath of relief. His greatest worry was that with the white wolf's speed, they wouldn't be able to hit it in the first place. Now, he could put his heart at rest.
    Of courseбн Miles had no idea that the only reason he ever hit the white wolf in the first place was because of the man he hated most in the world.
    However, Miles wouldn't have time to think about this at all, because as the smoke slowly cleared, a familiar billowing coat of white fur appeared. Not only was it pristine, it was just as spotless as it had been before the bombardment.
    The white wolf took its attention away from the sudden disappearance of the object of its interest, its pearly blue eyes turning somewhat demonic.
    A low growl slowly overtook the waning sounds of artillery, the ground cracking once again as the white wolf's limbs flexed.
    BANG!
    A familiar shadow appeared in the skies. But this timeбн it was above the walls of Royal Blue Fort.

 Chapter 407: Main Villain?

    The soldiers manning the Fort walls were completely caught off guard. None of them seemed to have proper measures to react. Before anyone could even begin thinking of counters, the white wolf had already landed atop the walls.
    A strong paw swept across, taking a troops of over dozen out in a single attack.
    Blood and screams of agony rained. Some fell from the walls, but even those who were lucky enough to land upon it felt as though every bone in their bodies had been broken.
    Just like that, the proudest feature of the Fort was conquered. What was such protection worth if took just a single leap to circumvent?
    "Give me a damned gun." Miles barked, snatching the Commander's rifle.
    Miles' gaze shone with a vicious light. The situation seemed bad, but it also represented an opportunity. This stupid beast didn't realize that the moment it jumped to the walls of the Fort, it had entered the range of the Force Disruption Towers they had already set up.
    This ultimately meant that not only was it mostly restricted to only using its physical strength, but it also meant that true 25th century technology could be rolled out.
    "Execute Plan B! Bring out the weapons!"
    The Commander regained his bearing beneath Miles' orders. Though he was a military official, the truth was that due to Royal Blue Province's special locale, most of its military personnel were admirals. Their experience with ground combat was limited.
    However, as an Heir to a Governor Duke family, Miles had been trained in all sorts of matters since his youth. Regardless of the situation, he would be ready.
    Beneath Miles' orders, everyone quickly regrouped.
    Down below, the army of Invalids, led by the 12 ice guards, began to launch an assault against the Fort walls. But, Miles focused on the situation at hand.
    At the rate they were going, it would take them several hours to breech the walls. But, the white wolf Invalid was an immediate problem.
    Miles knew that his ability was useless against the white wolf. Plus, beneath the influence of Force Disruption Towers, his ability was also far more difficult to deploy. Since that was the case, he would rely on modern technology.
    This was the advantage Earth had in comparison to other worlds. The number of geniuses born to this world allowed them to reach a level of strength that should have been impossible for a Third Dimensional world. Even as an infantile planet, they weren't pushovers.
    A tide of black uniformed tactical units surrounded the white wolf from all sides, a rain of bullets falling upon its pristine white coat.
    Compared to the past, the pain the Variant Invalid felt couldn't be considered on the same level. Without the restrictions placed on technology, its tough coat was being continuously pierced.
    "ROOOOAAARR!!"
    The Variant Invalid tried to call upon the elements to strengthen itself once again. But, it found that the amount it could call upon had reduced by more than half.
    In response, it rumbled a low growl, sweeping out a paw with the strength it did manage to gather.
    "SHIELD!"
    A captain roared out.
    The tactical units moved forward like a well oiled machine.
    Holding out black, hexagonal shields, the kneeled down shoulder to shoulder and slammed them into the ground. A fluctuating electricity soon followed soon, covering the surroundings in a pale blue shield that quaked beneath the strike of the white wolf.
    "50% depletion!" A frontline soldier roared.
    "Swap!" The captain replied instantaneously. "Fire!"
    The operation seemed seamless. A cycle of defense, offense, and recharging. Shield units swapped out their energy cells. Attack units continuously reloaded. Their various captains handed down orders in a practiced and timely manner.
    It was clear that these tactical units were far better than the seamen had been.
    The white fur of the Variant Invalid finally began to be covered in patches of red, its blue eyes flickering with fury.
    It wanted to jump down the walls and toward the city below, but it found that the restrictions on its ability were even more severe in that direction. At the same time, its pride didn't allow it to retreat.
    бн
    Leonel reappeared on the same collapsed building he had been on before. But, this time, there were dozens of new faces around him.
    However, none of them spoke.
    Though Leonel had saved them, they all still had family within those walls. Leonel knew he couldn't very well leave things be. Even if his teammates didn't have anyone else to care for, Leonel couldn't very well allow so many innocents to die just because he hated the actions of a few.
    This Fort represented all the remaining human population of Royal Blue Province. If this Fort fell, it would mean the end of anything that once represented this prosperous place. Leonel couldn't allow that to happen.
    However, what Leonel hadn't expected was for the Fort to perform so well
    After a while, he realized that he had really overthought things. This was ultimately The Empire they were talking about. The fact the Province was still in this state even after a year wasn't because they were weak, but rather because they had put all their effort toward building the Capital Province back up.
    In addition, all Variants had been recalled to the Capital as well. If it wasn't for what happened, he and Aina would have been sent to the Capital as well.
    It could be said that Leonel had yet to meet the true powerhouses of Earth when things are framed in this mannerбн Not that he would have to fear them, regardless, though.
    'Fine, I'll let them repel this Variant Invalid first, then go to reclaim the interest I'm owed.'
    What Leonel didn't know at this point was that these matters wouldn't end so simply. Miles might have been setting up his own plans, but there were other intelligent minds at work as well.
    Variant Invalids weren't so simple as they seemed. But this was only one aspect of the puzzle. Maybe, just maybe, the Variant Invalid wasn't the main villain of this story.

 Chapter 408: Observers

    "Are you sure you want to do this now, Joseph?"
    At that moment, Leonel wasn't the only one observing the situation. It was impossible that he would be.
    To put matters into perspective, there were only eight other Forts of this kind on the whole of Earth. For it to be continuously assaulted by such a large army of Invalids, it was impossible for not only The Empire to be unaware, but for all the other hidden powers of Earth to be in the dark as well.
    However, what was particularly interesting about this crew of observers was the fact that maybe had it not been for Leonel's actions, they wouldn't have been aware of these changes at all, at least not so soon.
    The reason for this became obvious after remembering just who this Joseph was.
    This was Joseph Warner, brother to Damian Warner and the very same man who led the first group of the Slayer Legion Leonel ever met.
    Months ago, the three men иC Joseph, Damian and Leonel иC had come to an agreement to take down Royal Blue Fort. Such a large task would have come with unimaginable rewards.
    In order to prepare for this, the two brothers had no choice but to bring Leonel in to get registered. Had they simply left such a large contributor to their mission as an unknown, they could very well be the subject of investigation. Such a thing would have been too suspicious and they could have become marked as traitors.
    Only by following all the red tape could they benefit from this potential boon. But, they had never expected to meet Hacker Hutch and had been even more caught off guard by the fact Hacker Hutch actually all but kidnapped Leonel.
    It had already been months since then without a single word from Leonel.
    However, in order to be ready, they had continued to monitor the situation of the Fort. They managed to gather information on everything from the patrol units to the tactical units and even to the zone clearing units.
    When they learned of the situation between Leonel and the Slayer Legion though, they came to accept the fact that they had wasted their timeбн Not only had they wasted it, but they had paid a dear price for it.
    Both brothers had been demoted for their involvement in bringing Leonel to the Slayer Legion. Since their involvement was minimal, they only lost a single rank. However, it was still a devastating loss to them.
    Joseph had been so close to being promoted to a true Commander from Vice Commander, yet now he wasn't even in line for promotion any longer.
    It was practically an unspoken rule within the Slayer Legion. A demotion was almost always the end of someone's career.
    Ironically, this made the fervor the two brothers had for conquering the Fort all the stronger. This would be the only chance they had to truly reclaim any semblance of a career they once had.
    But, now that an opportunity had really presented itself, Damian began to hesitate.
    Joseph clenched his jaw. "This is the only option we brothers have left. If we don't, we'll remain as middling captains for the rest of our life."
    Damian sighed. "I heard that they promoted that Sela woman again. To think we originally wanted to use her as a cover for Leonel, now she's riding above our heads."
    Joseph's gaze hardened. But, in the end, he didn't say the words he thought.
    "Gather up catwoman and the others. When this Variant falls, we move."
    "Shouldn't we tell Cap иC Commander Sela?" Damian asked.
    Joseph sneered. "What are the odds she'll be at headquarters where she's meant to be?"
    Damian heard these words and didn't say anything more.
    He was the one who brought Leonel to his brother back then. Though he knew his brother only blamed Leonel, Damian couldn't help but feel one part guilty.
    Seeing Sela sit in a position he felt she didn't deserve ate Joseph's insides with a level of rage and jealousy he had never felt in his life before. Despite the fact she had taken the position that should have been his, she didn't even seem to treasure it. But, how could she?
    When they met Sela, she was a fool who couldn't even see through Leonel's talent and instead chose to push him away. The only reason they promoted her was to continue breathing fire to the lie that they were enemies with Leonel and had taken him prisoner. This was all so that it would be easier to catch the Fort off guard with their assaultбн
    Yet, she somehow managed to ride the momentum of that one chance to her current point. How could Joseph not be enraged?
    But in the endбн this all pointed back to one person. Though it couldn't be said that he was at the point of becoming irreconcilable enemies with Leonel, he likely wasn't very far.
    бн
    The situation was quite an interesting one. Leonel had no idea that Joseph and Damian were eyeing the Fort, while the two had no idea that Leonel was already on the scene as well.
    Butбн neither group was aware that there was yet another party watching this silently.
    Captain Sela, or rather, Commander Sela now, observed Joseph and Damian from afar with a smile on her face. But, rather than being on the scene like the two groups, she was using a special treasure in order to do so.
    Interestingly enough, Commander Sela wasn't aware of Leonel's appearance near the Fort either. However, it was unclear if she would react much even if she did know.
    Despite watching the movements of both Damian and Joseph and also being aware of their goals, she made no attempts to stop them. In fact, she didn't even rise from her comfortable seating arrangements.
    She reclined in a cushy chair, her meaty hands resting over her belly with a content smile on her face.
    As for what her plans were, maybe only she was truly aware.

 Chapter 409: Off

    "Cap, who's this?"
    Seeing that the situation was much better than they originally thought it would be, the guys somewhat relaxed. Now that their faculties were somewhat freer to think of other things, they finally noticed a silent figure sitting on the snowy roof of the collapsed building.
    It was quite obvious that she was a woman. However, from the glimpses of her face they had seen, they didn't recognize her. Even if they ignored the scars, they didn't remember ever seeing such a woman before.
    Compared to the past, the inflammation of Aina's scars had lessened by a large margin. So, while they still felt that this figure they didn't recognize wasn't very attractive and was quite pitiable, they didn't feel the same deep revulsion the people of Terrain had felt.
    Still, many of them were still inwardly sighing a breath of relief. Did this mean that their Captain had finally moved on from Aina?
    They had already lost count of how many times they'd tried to convince Leonel to consider other women. For a Five Star Quarterback to finish high school as a virginбн it was a waste of nature's gifts. They had shed no small amount of tears.
    So, even if this woman wasn't up to the standards they believed their captain deserved, at the very least, she was a step in the right direction.
    Unfortunatelyбн
    Leonel grinned. "You all don't recognize your own sister-in-law?"
    Milan's eyes widened along with the other guys.
    "Aina?" Milan's face flashed with confusion.
    Unlike Leonel who seemed capable of recognizing Aina regardless of the situation or apparently no matter how she looked, it was clear that the others didn't have this ability at all. The face Aina displayed now was completely unlike the one she had used at Royal Blue Academy.
    Aina smiled lightly in greeting before glaring at Leonel.
    Sister-in-law? It seemed that this Leonel was getting a bit too courageous. He still hadn't learned his lesson after she spent this time ignoring him?
    However, Aina didn't react as violently as she usually did. Maybe she gave Leonel a slight bit of face due to the fact his friends were here. Orбн maybe she couldn't help but internally smile when Milan immediately knew who Leonel meant by sister-in-lawбн
    Still, she took a mental note of this event and continued to play with the little mink and Tolliver.
    "Oh, right."
    Leonel changed the subject and put his hands on Milan and Raj's shoulders. A surge of Light Elemental Force sprung to life as Leonel cast [Grand Heal] on them.
    Since the two were still within the Third Dimension, he had no need to use his improved version of the Art like he had done with Zilar. So, the process ended in just the blink of an eye.
    Milan forgot his shock about Aina and aimed it all toward the changes in his body. All the aching in his ribs suddenly vanished. In fact, he felt better than he had in years.
    As an offensive lineman, Milan spent his life in perpetual injury. He had long since gotten used to playing through the hurt. This was maybe the first time in a long time thatбн he was actually completely healthy?
    "Cap!" Raj's mouth widened in surprise. "I thought you awakened a sensory ability? Did you awaken a second ability?"
    Leonel's teammates looked toward him in shock, especially the rookie, Drake. It was as though they were looking at a god in the flesh.
    Though they had heard a lot about powerful abilities through rumors, they had never once heard of a person awakening more than one ability.
    Leonel chuckled and shook his head.
    Though Earth was quite advanced in many things, when it came to understanding of this new world order, they were still quite lacking. There were many times in the past where others mistook Leonel's Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor as his ability.
    This only made sense, though. Earth had yet to begin creating its own magic systems. Even Terrain, which was considered to be near the bottom of the barrel in terms of worlds, had begun to refine their own.
    Jilniya's Falls Style was exactly this. Terrain focused heavily on Styles and the boost it could give to their overall combat prowess.
    But Earthбн? It had yet to find itself.
    Thinking of this, Leonel looked up into the sky, trying to find their second moon and the location of Camelot. Unfortunately, the heavy snow guaranteed that that sky would be covered in a dense swath of clouds. Even if Camelot was right about him, Leonel wouldn't be able to see it.
    Leoenl couldn't help but wonder how the saga between Earth and Camelot would end. Maybe Camelot would be the trigger Earth needed to begin building its own magic system.
    With Earth's ingenuity, Leonel had no doubt that they would soon forge a path of their own.
    Just think about it, even with a magic system to speak of, even without Force, Leonel was now watching what was effectively an army of mortals slaughter a Variant Invalid with strength almost comparable to an entity of the Fourth Dimension.
    That was unimaginable for the vast majority of worlds. In fact, Earth might be the only place capable of achieving such a thing.
    Leonel smiled and shook his head.
    "With me here, you all don't have anything to worry about. I won't let what happened last time happen again."
    Leonel looked back toward his teammates, a stern determination on his face.
    A group of over a dozen men looked back toward him, not an ounce of doubt in their gazes. It seemed that long ago, Leonel had become far more than their quarterback.
    Aina peeked back toward this scene, her eyes hiding a swirl of emotion.
    The sight of Leonel leading a group of men and earning their respect and devotionбн
    'бн He looks most attractive like this.'
    Aina's eyes widened at her own thoughts, a furious blush lighting her features as she looked away. Unfortunately, no one would see this sight.
    "Cap! That white wolf is done!" Drake suddenly called out.
    Leonel looked back to see that the rookie was correct. That white wolf was on its last legs.
    'Is this really all a Variant Invalid is capable of?' Leonel couldn't help but frown.
    He had heard so much about their legend and even more about their intelligence. But, this one fell because it not only lacked strength, but also because its mind was lacking.
    Leonel's pupils suddenly constricted, his head snapping toward a certain direction. What he saw shocked him to no end.
    Tanks. Dozens of them. Each fitted with a long barrel that swayed with their every movement.
    "бн The Slayer Legion?"
    Leonel looked back toward the collapsing white wolf.
    'They want to take advantage of this situation?'
    Butбн something felt off.
    Sparks flew in Leonel's Dreamscape. But, without enough information, no connections could be made. Let alone realizing what was wrong with this picture, Leonel didn't realize there were sparks forming at all...
    ...
    (Author's note below)

 Chapter 410: Collapse

    Leonel's frown deepened as he watched the Slayer Legion's forces move in.
    'This is likely the best chance they have to take down this Fort. If I was making the decisions and was desperate enough, I might choose to attack now as well.'
    If Leonel was participating in the operation, he would feel more confident in the success. But, the main problem was that he wasn't and he also didn't trust the Slayer Legion to protect the innocents that might get swept into this situation.
    The fact that they chose to attack now instead of waiting until the Invalids below dispersed told Leonel one very obvious thing: They wanted to use the Invalids to their advantage.
    If Leonel was leading this charge, he would wait until both the white wolf was killed and the Invalid army it had been driven away. Only then could he minimize any potential casualties. But, whoever was leading these troops obviously had no intention of doing this.
    'These bastardsбн'
    Leonel's expression flickered with rage.
    бн
    On the Fort walls, Miles finally let go of a rock that had been weighing heavily on his chest.
    "Subdue it!" Miles commanded.
    The Commander beside Miles looked toward him in shock, but eventually disseminated the orders. This was indeed a good opportunity.
    The Capital had likely long since begun its research on Invalids. But, whether they had caught a Variant Invalid just yet was unknown. After all, they were rare creatures to begin with. The fact one appeared on Earth just went to show the level of talents that could be born here.
    Whether they traded this Variant in for merit or if they kept it to get a leg up themselves, both were viable options. Most importantly, Miles believed that such an important piece would definitely cause his father to pause in his resoluteness to abandon his first Heir.
    "Junior Governor Duke! We have enemies approaching!"
    Miles froze, his heart plummeting once again.
    They still hadn't dealt with the Invalid army below. The damage to their defenses by now was definitely not negligible. If they had to deal with more armies, there would most definitely be a major problem.
    Was it more Invalids? A beast horde brought over by the explosions? Something worse?
    "Give me information! I need numbers and an estimate of their strength." Miles relayed his orders. But, what he learned left him stunned on the spot.
    Those charging toward them now weren't Invalids or beasts at all, but rather humans. In fact, they seemed to have a prototype of a mobile Force Disruption Tower moving along with them.
    From a quick analysis, the technology that this troop of humans was using fell into the 22nd and 23rd centuries. This could either be because this was their technological limitation, or, the more likely theory was that mobile Force Disruption Towers weren't as potent as immobile ones.
    Regardless, the threat they presented was not small, especially now after a battle.
    Procuring military goods after the Metamorphosis was incredibly difficult. Things that were once simply like mining and synthesizing material became large mountains to climb. This didn't even mention the most obvious fact that the population of Earth had been massacred by over 99%. They didn't even have the numbers they needed to sustain mass production and the machines they once used that could cover this weakness had restrictions of their own.
    After such a massive battle, the reserves of the Royal Blue Fort had been depleted by over 80%. And, as if that wasn't enough, the remaining 20 or so percent they had left needed to be used to drive the Invalid horde below away.
    At this point, of the 12 SSS-grade threats, only five of them had been dealt with. The current situation was terrible. They didn't have the means to deal with another threat at this very moment.
    бн
    Within the formation of tanks, Joseph watched on from a cockpit, a deadpan expression coloring his visage. He steeled his heart, his only thoughts being of success. He didn't care what he had to do.
    Damian watched on from the side, conflicting emotions swimming through his chest. But in the end, he too steeled his heart.
    They knew of the events that happened months ago. This Fort was manned by a tyrant that bombed even his own people. Even if it meant sacrificing a bit more to save the majority, it would be worth it.
    This Metamorphosis was the opportunity the Slayer Legion needed to finally overturn The Empire. They needed to take this chance.
    Unfortunately, in all their thoughts of glory and patriotism, the two brothers forgot to think of one very important thing: How could they possibly be the only ones who thought of this?
    The Slayer Legion seemed to be a massive power with immense strength behind it. Even if it couldn't compare to The Empire, not many things could to begin with.
    So, if what the brothers thought was trueбн Why would the Slayer Legion leave it up to two demoted brothers to conquer a Fort when the opportunity was presented right before them?
    бн
    "The Slayer Legion?! They actually dare to attack us?!"
    Miles was thoroughly enraged when he learned of who he was facing.
    To a noble like him, the Slayer Legion represented nothing but the dregs of society. He really couldn't fathom what reason a person could possibly have to risk their lives to join an organization with no future to speak of.
    There was no worse feeling than when an ant could pose problems for you. Miles had gone from a young Heir, to a person ostraciszed by his own father, to clawing his way back up little by little, just for an insignificant bug to be blocking his way in the final moments.
    How could he not be infuriated?
    "Man the canons!" Miles roared.
    Unfortunately, the Slayer Legion had moved first. Since they dared to act so brazenly, how could they not have their own plans?
    "In position?" Joseph asked without turning to his younger brother.
    "бн Yes." Damian spoke with a bit of strain.
    "Do it." Joseph said coldly.
    If Miles knew about Damian's abilityбн He would know that Leonel wasn't the only one who could move through the ground.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    A swarm of Invalids crowding the bottom of the walls suddenly imploded. But, worst of all, a large chunk of the wall's foundation went with it.
    The steel alloy the walls were made of had been refined with hundreds of years of technology. Blasting through them with 22nd century tech was impossible. However, in their several months of observation, the Slayer Legion realized one thing: In the haste to build this wall as quickly as possible, its foundation was neglected.
    If strategic points were targetedбн it would collapse beneath its own weightбн especially if it had already been damaged by a horde of Invalids first.

 Chapter 411: Sole Purpose

    The detonation was deafening. To those within the walls, it felt as though another doomsday was descending. The cacophonic blasts were no less haunting than the day the Paradise Islands fell from the sky.
    Miles felt the ground beneath his feet buckle and collapse.
    What did it sound like for millions of tons of steel to bend? What did it sound like for a mountain of metal to collapse?
    Well, it was uncertain if many could tell you because that day, those noises weren't what stood out at the forefront. What they would instead remember was the sight of the wall that had protected them for over a year splitting and the flood of Invalids that crawled out from the billowing smoke and endless fires.
    It was a sight right out of hell.
    These creatures didn't know pain, they didn't know fatigue, they didn't know mercy. Even while climbing over the charred corpses of their own comrades, they didn't pause for even a moment.
    Their only thoughts were of the humans they could sense. Those were the people lucky enough to succeed where they failed, they were the nutrients they could use to evolve once again and change their futures.
    Miles clung onto anything he could to not fall to the ground below. He pulled himself up, crawling toward where the walls were still level. But, there were no small number of soldiers who weren't nearly as lucky as he had been.
    The chain of command completely collapsed.
    The tanks of the Slayer Legion continued to roll forward. Their barrels aimed upward, firing toward the tops of the walls.
    The chaos was already enough to almost guarantee that no one would be able to target the Fort's canons toward them. However, Joseph left nothing up to chance. Without caring for casualties, the tracks of their tanks crawled through the battlefield, firing in a rhythmic manner.
    Within the city, chaos had descended. With the intelligence, or lack thereof, of the Invalids, they didn't even seem to realize another party was approaching from the back. They all shot forward, entering the outer limits of the Fort.
    By now, within the inner city limits, the nobles had become aware of what was happening.
    "Dad, what should we do?" James entered his father's office with a panicked expression.
    "What exactly are you panicking about?" James' father responded casually.
    "The city, it's being overrun by Invalids! I'm sure that if even I've heard about it, you also know that the Slayer Legion made its move."
    "бн" James' father placed down the tablet he was reading from. "And?"
    James was stunned.
    He didn't really understand what was happening. Even if his father didn't care about the commoners, shouldn't he at least care about his own safety? If the city was overrun, they would be finished.
    James' father shook his head.
    "Use your head, James. The Royal Blue Fort is one of the only eight on Earth. Even if most of The Empire's strength has been concentrated in the Capital, do you really think the walls of such a Fort should be so easy to take downбн?"
    "Youбн"
    James was stunned.
    He suddenly understood. This was meant to be a Fort built by the hands of the foremost experts of the Royal Blue Province. How could it only last a few hours under siege? How could it only survive a single 'well-placed' explosion?
    This Fort was meant to represent the consolidation of much of Earth's power. How could a ragtag squad of rebels possibly take it down so easily?
    It was only then that James rememberedбн the inner city had always been under an illusion cast by the Junior Governor Duke.
    From the outside, it seemed like a normal doorway and gateбн but was it?
    James shivered as he grasped the situation. The walls on the outside were always a casual fa?ade. Why would these nobles spend resources on protecting an outer city of peasants when they could pour all their resources into protecting an inner city built for themselves?
    Now that James thought about it, other than Miles, no other nobles went to the wall. In fact, Miles could be considered to be the one with the greatest ability.
    "бн Dad, you're abandoning the Junior Governor Duke?"
    James' father sneered. "Do you think that he's a person we should still follow? Why? So that we can sink along with him?"
    James didn't know how to respond.
    He had lost the greatest friend he had ever had for the sake of pleasing Miles. Now they were abandoning him so easily? For some reason, this made his insides churn even more than that look Leonel had given him that last time they stood face to faceбн
    He threw the game for Conrad, but now he was dead. He tried to betray Leonel for Miles, but now he might very well be dead as well. How many more sacrifices would he have to make? How many more of them would be just as meaningless?
    "You've done good though, James." James' father rose from his seat. "That Miles contacted me about communicating with the Siegfried family. He wanted me to expose that the death of their son was related to the Brazinger family, correct?"
    James nodded stiffly. He had reported this to his father the other day and it seemed that Miles contacted him not long later.
    "You will go to the Siegfried family to represent the Bennett's. When the time comes, reveal to them that the one who did the deed was Leonel Morales."
    James froze.
    He couldn't understand. What was the purpose of this?
    "Wh иC"
    "Don't ask why, just do as I say."
    The sound of the bombardment felt like a low rumbling at their location. But, slowly but surely, the rumbling dampened and eventually, they couldn't hear anything at all. It was as though they had been completely cut off from the outside world.
    James gripped his fists tightly, looking toward the ground as the voice of his father drifted to his ears once again.
    "бн The title of Governor Duke belongs to our family. Unfortunately, your great grandfather trusted the wrong people... Remember that the sole purpose of your existence is to lead a path toward the rebirth of this family.
    "Go."
    бн
    In the outside world, the rumbling had obviously never stopped. While the inner city had regained a peaceful calmness, the cries of those without status continued to ring.
    But, it was in that moment that a figure appeared before the crack in the steel wall, his irises flickering between a violet-red and a pale green.

 Chapter 412: Leonel

    Screams. Blood. Carnage.
    As many things as Leonel had seen in the past year, he still wasn't ready for this. The genocide modern technology wrought was far beyond his imagination.
    With his senses, every instance of fear, every tear that was shed, every heart that ceased beatingбн It was all in his range to feel, see and grasp.
    However, the Slayer Legion tanks continued to roll forward, the inner city of the Fort remained unmoved, the Invalids never stopped.
    Leonel had already moved before he could even register his own thoughts. He faintly heard the voices of his teammates screaming for him to come back. What could a single man do against such an army? As powerful as he had become, it most definitely wasn't enough to cover the sky with a single hand. What could he possibly hope to accomplish?
    But, he moved anyway.
    That saidбн He didn't move alone. The little mink, seemingly sensing his agitation, jumped forward, skipping across the air.
    Aina stood, her steps pausing for a moment.
    "You all stay here. You're not strong enough."
    Her words were simple and plain. Her gaze carried the same look she had when she took Conrad's life. A cold, silent indifference.
    Leonel's teammates gripped their fists, but they didn't move in the end. They knew that Aina's words were true. If they moved now, they would only get in the way.
    Wielding her great sword, Aina launched herself from the side of the collapsed building.
    бн
    "Fire!" Joseph's cold voice rang in the cockpit, his gaze growing colder and colder.
    Every command he barked, every shell that fired, every life his actions reaped seemed to make him more and more detached. Eventually, he felt like a bird observing things from the skies, a passerby in history that didn't have anything to do with what was happening before him.
    "Joseph," Damian spoke, huffing and puffing from his previous exertion, "The gap in the wall will only allow two tanks through at once. Should we pause the charge and make a larger passageway?"
    Joseph's steely gaze locked onto the path ahead.
    The steel alloy walls had collapsed on their destroyed foundations. It splintered down at that point, creating a semi-triangular passageway nearby where the gate had been.
    Many Invalids had already recovered and were pouring through that hole. Those that couldn't fit through took advantage of the crumbling imperfections of the wall as grips to climb up and over.
    The city was slowly becoming completely overrun.
    "Send two vanguard tanks through and execute Plan B2."
    Plan B2.
    It was too difficult to predict the result of their explosion, there were too many variables despite the fact they had simulated it many times. Plan B2 was to be used when the walls were damaged but the Gates remained functioning.
    They would send a unit in to open the Gates from the inside. By now, it should be impossible for The Empire's soldiers to still be manning the Gates. And, even if they were, they should have a lot of their own problems to deal with.
    Joseph's orders were relayed quickly.
    At the vanguard, a tank with catwoman rolled forward. They trampled over Invalids with impunity. It seemed that any Invalid below the A-grade wasn't even able to dodge their advances while those above that threat level couldn't even hope to damage them. Maybe only an SSS-grade threat would even be able to think about slowing them down.
    These tanks were Joseph's trump cards. All the resources he earned over the years were poured into them, forming a squad of 20 he deemed unstoppable.
    Catwoman was dressed in her full leather suit as usual. Hearing Joseph's orders, she was already prepared to move out. With her ability and pre-Metamorphosis expertise, she was definitely the most suited to this task.
    "No worries Commander, those Gates will be opened within 15 minutes!"
    Catwoman didn't care about military law. In her eyes, Joseph deserved to be Commander so she called him as such.
    "Forward!"
    What none of the Slayer Legion could have imagined was that someone would actually stand forward to stop them at this time. But, what they couldn't understand all the more was that it was just a single young man.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    He stood before a horde of charging Invalids and a fleet of rolling tanks, his expression furious.
    Even amidst the billowing smoke, the rising flames and the rushing blood, he stood out like a blinding light in the darkness.
    "STOP!"
    The roar of a single person shouldn't have been so resounding. Yet, even beyond the sealed defenses of the inner city, it resonated, shaking the earth, the walls and the skies.
    Several C and B-grade Invalids collapsed before the young man's rage, their minds shattering beneath his might.
    He brandished a black spear, his irises flickering back and forth between a violet-red and a pale green.
    Everyone heard that young man's voice. It traveled over several miles, reaching the ears of even those it shouldn't have. Despite being within the cockpit, even Joseph heard the voice laced with rage and indignance.
    The young man continued to stand amidst the crack in the wall. Beneath his feet piles of rubble and Invalids corpses lay. Behind him an overrun city trembled. Before him, an army of thousands stood.
    Amidst it all, he looked like an ant trying to stop the momentum of a towering mountain. But, he stood their nonetheless, his fury billowing.
    The young man brandished his spear, slashing a line before him.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The Spear Force cut through the Invalid corpses, through the piles of rubble, through the collapsed steel alloys, piercing through the ground and not stopping for tens of meters.
    "Cross this line and die."
    His words were undeniable. Like a higher judgement passed down from a god on high, it caused the hearts of all those who heard it to tremble.
    The flickering of his irises finally settled on a blazing violet-red, his skin suddenly lit with endless bronze runes as a halo appeared above his head.
    His bronze hair billowed. It was so long and sturdy that it sounded like cracking whips in the wind, slicing apart anything that even remotely came into contact with it.
    When the shock of those who heard the voice calmed, it was only then they recognized who it was had spoken.
    "Leonel!" Joseph's gaze reddened, his reason leaving with his humanity.

 Chapter 413: Synergy

    "Grind him to dust!" Joseph roared.
    To anyone who knew why Leonel was here, it was just a simple matter of him protecting the citizens of this Fort. However, how could Joseph and Damian know this? In their eyes, not only was Leonel responsible for their demotions, but he had even returned to The Empire and was standing in their way again.
    Usually when people felt hatred, they would never consider what they might have done wrong. And, in this case, the most exaggerated result was practically guaranteed.
    Catwoman glared at Leonel through the cameras of her tank.
    "Run him over." She said coldly to her driver.
    Catwoman remembered when she first met Leonel. She had had a good impression of the boy. But, the loyalty she had for Joseph was far beyond this.
    For a person to join the rebel army in a society where there was only one true ruler, it would be no surprise for their background to be lengthy and complex. Catwoman was no different and to her, Joseph was a brother, a father, and the only family she had. Even if Leonel hadn't been the reason Joseph fell from his tall heights, she still wouldn't allow him to block her path.
    Leonel watched coldly as the two vanguard tanks continued to roll forward.
    In all their fury, they didn't seem to notice that the Invalids had long since stopped pouring into the city. They seemed frozen in space, completely unable to move. Their white, indifferent irises were all locked onto Leonel. Yet, he hadn't spared any of them a single glance.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    "Chain Domain."
    PCHU!
    The heads of several Invalids exploded. Illusory chains wrapped around their bodies, severing their limbs and crushing them into bloody pulps.
    One after another, they disappeared into motes of light, fusing into Leonel's body.
    'Little Tolly.' Leonel called out.
    Blackstar had followed Aina, but Leonel had taken the little Metal Spirit with him. Since they dared to disregard the lives of the common people just for their own goals, Leonel would make them pay a price.
    The tanks continued to roll forward. Though all Leonel could see were their barrels and their sleek black exteriors, it was as though he was peering into the souls of those within them.
    "Dream Sculpt."
    Leonel stared down the tanks, their every piece reflecting in his mind.
    Without the complexities of Fourth Dimensional pieces, it took Leonel not even a few seconds to complete it.
    The moment it completed, Leonel arranged its every piece into a Dreamscape of its own. In two steps, Leonel already grasped the strengths and weaknesses of the tank even better than the engineers that designed it.
    'Metal Synergyбн'
    Leonel felt his bloodline tremble with excitement. To this point, the greatest use Leonel had gotten out of his Lineage Factor was the strength of his body. But, if that was all there was to it, it would be called the Metal Body Lineage Factor, not the Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн
    This bloodline didn't represent a strong body. It represented dominion over the earth!
    Scraps of steel alloy that had fallen to Leonel's feet trembled, rising into the air.
    At that moment, Little Tolly had separated into ten spherical balls, floating before Leonel and resonating with his thoughts.
    After entering the Fourth Dimension with his mind, Leonel no longer needed direct contact to control Tolliver. His free hand moved as though he was composing a piece across the air, tapping with a speed and dexterity that was beyond the normal limits of humans.
    In his right hand, Leonel controlled a Chain Domain. In his left, he controlled a Metal Domain.
    When he said he would kill anyone who crossed the line he drewбн He was serious.
    Little Tolly responded to Leonel's commands. One of its ten spherical bodies shot forward, enveloping a rising piece of steel alloy.
    In the blink of an eye, Tolliver had finished. From a single piece of steel alloy, dozens of foot-long needles appeared. Their ends were so sharp that even the small rays of sun that rebounded off it were sliced apart.
    The rumbling of the tanks grew ever closer.
    From within the cockpit, Catwoman glanced at the line Leonel drew with a sneer. Her command still stood. Leonel's words and actions hadn't changed a thing.
    Roll him over.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened the moment the barrel of the first tank crossed it. He didn't wait for its tracks to do so. He didn't wait for the entire tank to cross over either.
    Since they couldn't show mercy to those weaker than them, he wouldn't show them any mercy at all. Since they felt that they could do as they pleased because they were more powerful, he would show them what it truly meant to be powerful.
    Leonel's surroundings suddenly felt a rise in temperature. At first it was subtle, but it grew unbearable very quickly.
    The Invalids that had managed to survive the constriction of Leonel's Chain Domain imploded into a rain of fire and ash.
    The Fire Element gathered around him at inconceivable speeds. In one moment, the foot-long steel needles were an ash gray that matched the tall Fort walls. But in the next, they had suddenly begun to glow red.
    'Die.' Leonel thought coldly.
    Leonel's halo glowed. As though receiving a command from its King, the metal needles shot forward at inconceivable speeds.
    From the vantage point of Catwoman, she couldn't even see them. The speed was simply too much for the cameras to pick up.
    Even to the last moment, she wasn't aware of just what was about to happen to her. The last emotion on her face was a frozen sneer as she suddenly heard the blaring warning sirens of the tank.
    She looked back toward the camera and toward Leonel's indifferent expression. That look was seared into her mind as her final memory.
    She remembered that look. It was the same cold expression she had as they blew up the Fort's foundation. It was the same cold expression she had as she watched the Invalids swarm the outer city. It was the same cold expression she had as she heard their innocent screams and watched their guiltless blood flow.
    BANG! BANG!
    The two tanks imploded into a rain of metal, fire and ash. In one moment, they were barrelling toward Leonel, and in the next, they exploded from within.
    Leonel felt the heat of the explosion blast against him, kicking his hair up in a storm of its tumult. But, he continued to stand there indifferently.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    One hand brandished a black spear. The other's fingers danced across the air like a composure that plucked the strings of the battlefield.
    His hair billowed in the air, ten spheres of silver and dozens of foot-long needles hovering before him.
    He was just a single man blocking a flood from all sides, but he still stood tall.

 Chapter 414: Fire!

    Leonel was like a blazing sun. It felt and even looked as though he was the central star of a world. Even the splintered steel walls around him began to turn a fierce shade of red, causing those Invalids who still tried to climb it in his presence suffer a fate worse than death.
    This was none other than the manifestation of the female fire mage's domain. However, Leonel had come to understand that this couldn't be considered to be a true domain. The difference between it and his Chain Domain was subtle, but it was there.
    From his communication with the dictionary, Leonel learned that this went by many different names. Some worlds called it a 'Style', others called it 'Martial Arts', some called it a Dogma or a Daoбн
    Ultimately, this was the final branch of what Leonel had categorized as this new world order's power system.
    While there were many different magic systems with countless branches in between them, Leonel had ultimately broken down the over arching power system of the Dimensional Verse into just a few categories.
    The first was one's ability. This existed outside of everything else and could often be considered to be a unique talent. In many cases, one's ability provided one with an affinity, but there were some cases where it didn't have to either. It was a special category that could often make or break one's level of talent.
    The second category were Lineage Factors. This could be passed down to one from their parents or be a product of the future influencing the past.
    The third category was Force. This category included neutral Force and Force Strengthening Deviations. There were countless methods of utilizing Force whether that be in hand to hand combat or even in Mage Arts.
    The fourth category were Universal Cycles. This branch of the power system used the Universal Force to give an overall boost to one's fighting ability.
    The fifth category was Soul Force or the mind while the sixth category was the strengthening of one's body, both of which Leonel had dabbled in.
    From Leonel's current understanding, this 'Style' or 'Martial Arts' or 'Dogma' could be considered the seventh and final category.
    This was a comprehension that could fuse one's power systems into one, boosting it and helping one execute it all to the greatest possible extent.
    For example, Jilniya's 'Falls Style' was one that emphasized a relentless attack. When this Style was mastered, Jilniya was able to tailor her battle sense toward this particular Style, allowing her attack, defense and movement to display themselves as one seamless whole.
    If the first six categories were branches, this seventh category could be considered one's foundation, the very roots that held it all together.
    There were a countless variety of Styles.
    The winged swordman's Style was one that emphasized the fluidity of motion, the fusion of one's steps with one's attack and retreat. It placed particular importance on speed, swiftness, flexibility and agility.
    The bowwoman's Style was very similar to what Camelot knew as the General Star. For ease, Leonel referred to it as the General Style.
    It was calculating and considered every point in battle as a piece of the whole. Every step, every breath, and every thought one had was meant to bring one closer to victory. This Style had no wasted energy and maximized efficiency.
    The final Style, the Style of the female fire mage, was one that brought one to the extremes of heat. This person embodied flames to such a great extent that all the Fire Elements in the surroundings couldn't help but surround them.
    In this way, it functioned more like the spell [Light Domain] rather than a true Domain. However, much like the Falls Style caused the sound of crashing waters to fill the surroundings, the Flame Style preyed on a sense as well, except this time, it was of one's touch rather than one's hearing.
    The variations between Styles was endless and all encompassing. But, one thing that was true is that regardless of the Style, only a single one could be used at a given time unless they were fused together into a new comprehension.
    This made sense. After all, how could one follow multiple Dogmas at once? One couldn't possibly have the Style of an office worker and an athlete at the same time, right?
    At least that was the case for those who couldn't split their mindsбн
    Still, despite the fact Leonel could break this rule, he didn't feel a need to. It drew too much on his Dream Force to do so. Plus, for such a situationбн he didn't need to.
    He continued to stand at the broken entrance of the Fort, his battle intent blazing. He had not a single intention of letting anyone through.
    Joseph's gaze went blank.
    He stared without words at his screen, watching as the two tanks fell into an explosion of fire and shrapnel. His heart felt as though it was being torn out of his chest.
    "CAT!"
    Joseph's devastated roar resounded through the cockpit.
    The eyes of several of the drivers went red. Their canons aimed toward Leonel, their fury reaching untold heights.
    They were all a family. Many of them came together when they were at a vulnerable place and had learned to lean on one another.
    Cat wasn't just a woman, wasn't just a colleague, she was their sister. The same way Joseph was a father to her in many ways, she was a mother to others.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    Leonel's gaze remained blazing. He brandished his spear, drawing another line across the ground.
    This one was even further ahead and was even deeper. He didn't speak this time because there was no need to. His meaning couldn't have been clearer. If they dared to come any closer, he would only kill more!
    Joseph saw red. To his side, tears streaked down Damian's face. Though he didn't say a word and had clenched his jaw shut tight, the fury in his heart was no less than the others.
    "FIRE!"
    Leonel's gaze flashed with a cold light.

 Chapter 415: Irises

    Leonel might have reached the Superior Stage in his Metal Body, but he wasn't infallible. He was under no delusions that he would survive such an onslaught. And, even if by some miracle he did, he doubted that he would still be in position to fight.
    However, he didn't intend to allow such a thing to happen.
    His mind was on a completely different level. He could see everything before it happened.
    Joseph's order to fire. The spinning gears as the final tweaks were made to their aim. The slight scent of gun powder. The touch of heat that graced the barrels.
    Leonel felt it all as if he was right there in the cockpit with them all. Which tanks were firing, where they were in relation to him, exactly when their shells would exit the nozzlesбн He saw through it all.
    And that, exactly thatбн would be their downfall.
    Leonel's raised hand trembled slightly. It was only the slightest flick, yet seven foot-long needles shot forward at impossible speeds.
    They tore through the air, leaving a streak of smoke in their wake. Thenбн
    The sound barrier shattered.
    In one blink the needles were floating by Leonel's side. In a second blink they had appeared before the nozzles of the seven firing tanks. In a thirdбн
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Joseph's heart trembled.
    "Noбн Noбн"
    It was almost as though he knew exactly what would happen the moment Leonel's fingers moved.
    The shells never got a chance to exit their barrels. The timing of Leonel's attack was so perfect that the needles met the projectiles within their nozzles. And the resultбн was even more devastating than the first time.
    Joseph slumped into his chair, staring at his monitor with a pale expression.
    There was nothing he could even do. Despite the fact he had a high rank, he only had a healing ability. Even if he wanted to fight it out with Leonel to the deathбн was that even possible?
    At that moment, a mournful cry came from Joseph's side. Before he could even react, his younger brother had exploded through the roof doors of their tank.
    Damian saw nothing but red. The ground beneath him reacted just as violently, becoming a massive wave that shot him into the skies.
    He didn't have time to think of logic. He didn't have time to realize that his actions were futile.
    In the past, before even completing his Force Nodes, Leonel had already defeated him. Back then, Leonel was nowhere near the monster he was now. How could there even be a contest between them?
    Of course, Damian still felt that these matters were different from what they had once been in the past. His ability had improved and his ability to use it had likewise improved.
    Butбн Could his improvement match with Leonel's?
    The ground rose like a tsunami, trying to envelop Leonel completely. And, at the very least, its shadow succeeded in doing so.
    The sun was completely blotted out. All Leonel saw was a wave of earth and the man who stood atop of it, completely enraged.
    Unfortunately for Damianбн He used his flow ability on earth.
    Leonel spread out his hands, facing his palm toward Damian.
    "[Earthen Shackle]."
    Damian suddenly jolted to a stop. The earth he had always been able to control at a whim suddenly became like a steel behemoth unwilling to heed his calls for help.
    His body was almost thrown off due to his forward momentum, but that was when he suddenly found his ankles and wrists had been caught, shackled down without even a chance to escape.
    Damian's attempts came to a grinding halt before he could even get close. Though he was the one in the air now, shackled by earth that had once been under his control, he still felt as though it was Leonel who was looking down on him.
    The world fell into an odd silence for a moment. The screams and blood had come to a stop within the city, the rumbling tanks never even made it to the gates and even the Invalids that had approached close enough to do anything had been slaughtered by Leonel just as quickly.
    At that moment, Miles had managed to crawl his way back up to an undamaged section of the wall. Heavy breaths heaved his chest as he sat slumped to the ground.
    He had no idea what happened below. The only slight clue he had was Leonel's familiar voice roaring through the city. But, he had yet to confirm if that voice that haunted his nightmares was really the same person who had spoken just now.
    But at this moment, he simply didn't care. He had managed to survive and that was all that mattered.
    A growl suddenly caught Miles' attention. He looked over to find that he had managed to crawl back up to a section of the wall where the white wolf Variant Invalid had been caged.
    They had been planning on bringing it down the wall and into the inner city. But, obviously, the Slayer Legion had ruined those plans.
    The blue-eyed wolf continued to growl at Miles, but it didn't lunge forward. It had learned its lesson about this cage a long time ago. Despite its massive body, this prison treated it no differently from an ordinary house dog.
    Miles looked away from the white wolf and stood. Seeing that it was still imprisoned gave him a sense of confidence. By now, this white wolf had become his greatest trump card.
    With Miles' intelligence, he could tell that he had been abandoned. He, of course, knew about the greater security of the inner city. After all, he was the one who deployed the illusion that kept it hidden. But, he had never expected to be hung out to dry like this.
    Miles chuckled silently to himself as he stood. Maybe this was the first time he truly understood the world he had been born in.
    The worst part was that even if he returned alive, he would have to pretend as though he didn't know a thing. He was a man without power, did he even have the right to feel aggrieved?
    Feelings and fairness were commodities reserved for those with strength. Trying to bring balance to a world without power was no different than asking for death.
    Miles took a deep breath and calmed his beating heart, a resoluteness in his gaze. There would come a day where he иC
    PCHU!
    Miles looked down, only to find a bloody hole the size of a bowling ball in his chest. His final thoughts couldn't even finish before he collapsed to the ground, his vision swimming.
    "Shh, shh. It's okay Little White, I can't believe these bastards locked you up either. It's fine, it's fine, don't be mad at me, you know why I had to let you suffer a bit. We'll pay them back a hundredfold soon."
    These were the last words Miles heard before his life faded from the world. Unfortunately, they were spoken in a language he couldn't comprehend.
    As for his last sight? If one found his soul an questioned it, he would swear that it was a pair of white irises.

 Chapter 416: Shadows (1)

    Leonel clenched his fists, causing the mountain of earth Damian was chain to, to collapse to the ground.
    His fingers flicked out once again. This time, however, instead of steel needles being shot out, Little Tolly's spherical forms tore through the air, appearing about the remaining tanks.
    In the blink of an eye, through Little Tolly, Leonel not only sealed the barrels of the tanks but also the roof doorways. Beyond that, he also sealed a hidden escape hatch. With his understanding of the tanks, how could he miss something like that?
    From start to finish, those of the Slayer Legion didn't dare to move. In truth, after Leonel moved again, they thought they would die. But, even after realizing that they would keep their lives, a bout of despair overwhelmed them.
    To a rebel, being captured by The Empire meant that their lives were all but over.
    Earth only had a single prison located on the ninth ranked province, the Dark Cloud Province. It could be said that though the monitoring bracelets were a huge invasion of privacy, they did their job. The crime rates were exceptionally low.
    Beyond this, the rehabilitation of criminals was also excellent. For those who committed petty crimes or lower level felonies, they received ample help to get their lives back on track.
    Howeverбн those who were deemed irredeemable were all sent to Dark Cloud Prison.
    This wasn't a typical story of prison horror. There were no tall tales of torture or terrible living conditions. In fact, The Empire had allowed reporters and activists into this prison many times before. It could be said that for an Empire willing to let 99% of its population die, The Empire was ironically humane in other ways.
    However, everyone knew that no one who ever stepped into Dark Cloud Prison ever took a single step out.
    There were only two greatly protected regions of Earth that were perfectly prepared for the Metamorphosis. One was the Capitalбн and the second was Dark Cloud Province. Even after the Metamorphosis descendedбн not a single person managed to escape.
    Those of the Slayer Legion slumped into their chairs. They knew that as of now, their lives were over.
    Leonel lowered his hands, his chest heaving.
    Using his ability to analyze and scope out the situation had been easy. Commanding Little Tolly's actions had also been easy. But, using his Chain Domain made him feel as though he was squeezing what remained of his life out.
    Before, Leonel had only used his Chain Domain for a split moment against that mental mage. Plus, back then, his Chain Domain had been incomplete and imperfect.
    Now, however, his Chain Domain was perfect. It took far more out of him to use, especially as violently as he had just done.
    Restraining a target was one thing, but constricting them to death was an entirely separate matter. Unfortunately, since his hands were tied, Leonel had no choice but to use this method.
    'If my Spear Force was in the Fourth Dimension, it wouldn't be nearly as taxing, butбн'
    Leonel sighed and shook his head, revolving his Three Stars to recover quickly. He knew he couldn't breakthrough into the Fourth Dimension until he comprehended the Four Seasons Realm. But, in truth, he hadn't even begun to try just yet. He wasn't quite sure how to.
    What Leonel didn't know was that there wasn't necessarily a 'how'. Those who comprehended the Four Seasons Realm on their own relied on sudden enlighten and meditation. But, with how Leonel's life never allowed him a moment to rest, whether or not he could succeed in this matter was still unknown.
    'What do I do nowбн?'
    Leonel felt a sudden headache coming on. He had come here to take the Fort down, he had never expected to be the one to save itбн
    'Hm?'
    Leonel's gaze sharpened.
    He looked to his back, only to be slightly shocked as the illusion around the inner city began to slowly collapse.
    The truth was that this illusion was never able to hide itself from Leonel's eyes. But now the Dream Force around it was dissipating, making it possible for everyone to see the hidden truth.
    It was a massive metal dome. It stretched in length and width for at least ten kilometers. As for its height? It completely dwarfed the 20 meter tall or so walls of the outer city. It rose up at least a kilometer in that aspect alone.
    It could only be described as a behemoth.
    With the illusion gone, the true size of the city seemed to become obvious. The outer city was just a small ring around the outside compared to the monstrosity that took up the center of all of their lives.
    Seeing such a sight, Leonel felt the rage he thought he had calmed in his chest flare up again.
    With such a large space, was it really so impossible to allow everyone in? Did they really disdain to do so this much?
    The worst part about it all was that the alloys used to form this dome couldn't even be breathed in the same breath as those that built the outer wall. It was infinitely close to a Fourth Dimension metal. In fact, this was simply because it was formed of a collection of Third Dimensional metals. In terms of strength alone, if Leonel's analysis was correct, it put many Fourth Dimensional metals to shame.
    Yet, the outer wall was only considered to be strong within the Third Dimension. The difference was so striking that one almost couldn't help but laugh.
    Leonel didn't have the time to care why the illusion had faded. He wanted nothing more than to charge over and flatten the dome he saw before him.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Just when Leonel was about to do something stupid, a little mink pounced in his arms. This small action seemed to snap him back to reality.
    Leonel looked up to find Aina following after the little mink, her great sword seemingly unblemished by battle.
    "They're clear?" Leonel asked.
    Aina nodded.
    While Leonel's job had been to stop any more from leaking in, Aina had teamed up with the little mink to take out any that had managed to make their way into the city.
    Leonel sighed. He really wasn't sure what to do.
    He shook his head. 'Maybe I should just try to repair this wall firstбн Can I do it alone, though?'
    'Hm?' Leonel frowned, his gaze focusing back on the little mink.
    What were these little faint black balls floating around Little Blackstar?

 Chapter 417: Shadows (2)

    Leonel put his spear away and raised the little mink in his arms, observing the little guy curiously.
    When he focused in on the blobs of black, Leonel realized something astonishing. Each one of them had a different character to them.
    Those with stronger presences were larger while those with weaker ones were smaller. But, it wasn't just this either. Each seemed to have a different feel.
    The largest of them carried a biting cold to them. There were two of them in total. One seemed to want to completely envelop you in an avalanche while the other was sharp like a thin, cooled knife slicing into your body.
    Leonel felt like he remembered them from somewhereбн
    'Those 12 ice guards, two of them reminded me of this feeling!'
    Leonel's eyes widened in realization. These blobs, they were the shadows of the enemies Little Blackstar had killed.
    'Blackstar can't absorb them?' Leonel thought, confused. 'бн They're disappearing too.'
    Leonel seemed to realize two things immediately after understanding what he was dealing with. The first was that Blackstar didn't seem capable of swallowing these shadows like he had the shadow of Simeon's numbered warrior. And the second was that they were slowly fading. The more powerful of them seemed to linger on for longer, but the weaker ones were already collapsing to the point Leonel could hardly sense them.
    'There are two potential reasons for why Blackstar can't absorb them. It's either that he had an affinity limitation or it's that he can only take in one at a time. If it's the latter, then that means the only way he could take on a new ability is if he gave the one he has alreadyбн'
    Leonel frowned, sinking into his own thoughts.
    The ability Blackstar could mimic now came from one of Simeon's handpicked warriors. From Leonel's comprehension, it was an S-grade ability at worse.
    That said, the ice guards were SSS-grade Invalids, so their abilities obviously likewise followed suit.
    The true issue was that the sharpness ability of that numbered warrior was very useful to Leonel. When he and the little mink worked in tandem, Leonel could gain an extension of this ability. This was what had allowed him to threaten Jilniya's life back then. Of course, at the time, Leonel had also relied on many other things like the General Style and his Dreamscape Battle Sense. But, it was still an important factor.
    Leonel curiously reached out a hand toward one of the shadows. He didn't seem to realize that Aina was looking at him from the side with a confused light coloring her eyes. It seemed that only Leonel and Little Blackstar could see these floating shadows.
    'Huh?'
    Leonel shot his hand back, his heart beat quickening.
    "What's wrong?" Aina finally couldn't hold back, a slight tinge of worry in her voice.
    The little mink had charged over here after sensing Leonel's agitation. So, she had already appeared realizing she might have to calm Leonel down from doing something stupid again. But, this was completely out of her expectations.
    "Iбн"
    Leonel took a deep breath and explained things.
    "бн I felt as though something about myself would fundamentally change if I absorbed it into my body."
    "You're saying others can absorb them?" Aina's expression changed.
    Such a thing was inconceivable. If this was true, then the value of such an ability would be impossible to calculate.
    Aina couldn't help but look toward the little mink with a new light in her eyes.
    The little mink crawled up from Leonel's hands, up his arm and stood proudly on his shoulder as though showing off. Such a scene pulled out a smile from the depths of Aina's heart.
    "I don't think it's so simple." Leonel said slowly. "It's hard to explain, but I felt as though absorbing that shadow would take something away from me, almost as though it was taking an average of my shadow and this one to form an all-new shadow."
    Leonel's senses were incredibly sensitive. On top of that, his memory was impeccable. He was able to simulate that exact moment again and again in his Dream World.
    'What ifбн'
    Leonel closed his eyes. With Aina around him, he didn't have to worry about anything else.
    In his Dream World, a new Dream Clone appeared. But, this time, it wasn't himself but rather a perfect replica of Joel. Everything from his height, to his mannerisms, to his ability were perfectly reflected.
    After breaking through, Leonel's simulations within the Third Dimension had a 99% accuracy rating. He could practically reflect the world perfectly in his mind.
    Over ten minutes later, Leonel opened his eyes, his gaze blazing.
    Aina, who had been watching over Leonel this whole like looked to him with a half annoyed, half curious look. This really wasn't the place to suddenly be taking a nap.
    By now, the shadows had all faded away into nothing, but Leonel didn't mind one bit. To him, the information he gleaned from them was far more important than the strength they could provide him.
    This matter was life changing. He couldn't just casually take action without testing out every parameter he could.
    In that time, Leonel learned a few things.
    First, the limitation on the little mink wasn't affinity related, it was a limitation of quantity. In the little guy's current state, only a single ability could be absorbed by him.
    Second, anyone could absorb any shadow as long as they had the little mink as a proxy. However, it wouldn't be a simple addition to one's ability. Only the little mink had the benefit of absorbing abilities without consequences, everyone else had to weigh the pros and cons.
    One had to treat the shadow like one's soul. Randomly absorbing the shadows of others into oneself would be like changing oneself fundamentally.
    If someone with a strong ability absorbed a weaker ability, that someone's overall strength would become an average of the two. In addition, if the two abilities weren't compatible, it could lead to a disharmony that could cripple a person entirely.
    Even beyond this, there was the matter of oneself. It was very likely that absorbing a shadow could influence one's personality in ways one would never even expect.
    All of this made Leonel realize that this ability would be useless for him. Where could he find an ability comparable or better to the Quasi Silver monstrosity that was his own? And, even if he did, where would he find one compatible with something as outrageously rare as Dream Force?
    But Leonel didn't care. He felt that he was talented and powerful enough. He had yet to find his match in that regard, though that was obviously in part due to the fact he had yet to reach higher Dimensional worlds.
    What Leonel really cared about were the benefits his teammates might gain from this. If they had more strength to protect themselves, it would be for the best.
    Leonel kept getting this nagging feeling that something big was coming, but he couldn't completely finish connecting all the dots. This left him feeling uneasyбн Unfortunately, all he could do was prepare to the best of his ability.
    Still, he had to consider the problem of warped personalities. If the friends he had grown up with all his life suddenly became completely different peopleбн then who had he saved, exactly?
    Leonel sighed and rubbed the little mink's head, its little whiskers twitching.
    At that moment, the grinding of loud gears caught Leonel's attention.
    'Ohбн So they want to open the inner city now?' Leonel's gaze suffused with a cold light.

 Chapter 418: War Drums

    Leonel watched as the doors gates open. Despite being several kilometers away, due to the size of the dome and his own senses, he might as well have been right in front of it all.
    "We should go." Aina said softly.
    If they stayed here and were subject to the same technology the Invalid horde had been, they would definitely suffer. There were just two of them, no matter how powerful they were, they still weren't prepared to take down such a behemoth alone, at least not without proper planning.
    Since Leonel had already met his goal of securing the safety of his friends, there was really no need to keep risking themselves here. It was a pointless endeavor.
    "бн I can't leave without killing the Junior Governor Duke." Leonel said.
    Aina sent a glance over to Leonel.
    She still remembered that over a year ago, Leonel couldn't even stomach killing a human. But now he was going out of his way to make sure one in particular felt his wrath.
    She couldn't say that she was opposed to this. This was a realization she always hoped Leonel would come to. But, at the same time, she liked Leonel's innocence and naivete. Though this was a much better mentality for Leonel to have in such a world, she still felt like she was losing something.
    "бн They wouldn't release the illusion over the inner city without reason. He might already be dead."
    Leonel's brows raised.
    Now that he thought about it, that was true. Miles had been on the wall when the explosion suddenly went off. The possibility of his death was quite high, especially since his ability wasn't physical.
    Leonel released his Internal Sight. He had been completely focused on the battle with the Slayer Legion originally, so he didn't have the mind to care for other things. Though the battle had seemed simple and easy, had Leonel not been able to calculate every minute detail, it was very possible that he could have been the one that ended up dying.
    'Huh?'
    Leonel's eyes sharpened.
    "What is it?" Aina asked.
    "бн He really is dead."
    Aina nodded. "Let's go, then. There's nothing else to do here."
    "It'sбн not that simple. Someone killed him."
    "One of the Invalids?"
    "I can't be sure. Normally an Invalid would want a human's Ethereal Glabella, but his skull is intact. There's only a hole through his chest."
    "Then isn't it obvious?" Aina asked. "They closed the inner city without sending someone to save him. Someone plotted against him for whatever reason, it might have something to do with his choice to bomb the Fort back then."
    "Maybeбн" Leonel's eyes narrowed.
    At the moment, his senses locked onto an open cage. He remembered that this was the same cage that held the white wolf Variant Invalid before. But, this cage only had damage from the outside.
    Someone released that beast?
    Sparks continued to fly within Leonel's Dreamscape, but he still didn't have enough information. He had no idea what was happening.
    "Young Miss!"
    A sudden voice cut off Leonel's thoughts.
    Aina's expression changed. Suddenly, Leonel found his hand being pulled by something soft as he was dragged away.
    He looked back over his shoulder to see Yuri hiking up her dress and chasing after them.
    'This feelsбн oddly familiarбн'
    Leonel's train of thought was interrupted as he laughed.
    This was the second time he and Aina had run away from Yuri. He didn't know why Aina wanted to avoid her so much, but he had to say he didn't mind holding onto such a soft hand.
    Leonel couldn't be certain if Aina's scars only impacted her face, but what he was sure of was the fact her hands were perfect and without flaw.
    'Is it creepy to be attracted to a slender hand?' Leonel thought to himself.
    "Young Miss! Stop running!"
    Unfortunately for Yuri, compared to the past, Leonel and Aina were even faster.
    Eventually, she could only stop running as they disappeared into the distance. In the place of the running couple, Leonel's teammates suddenly appeared once again amid dim flashing lights, hints of confusion on their faces due to the unexpected teleportation.
    Miles looked toward Joel and Raj, then all three met gazes with Yuri. They all had the same abandoned look in their eye.
    "First time?" Yuri's chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, a hint of sympathy in her voice.
    The three nodded like wounded children.
    Yuri rose to her tippy toes and patted their shoulders.
    "You get used to it."
    **
    While the Royal Blue Fort had been attacked by an unknown entity, the capital was coming up with ways to deal with the addition of a second moon.
    Under this second moon's influence, it had been difficult for Earth to get a moment of peace. But, as though this wasn't bad enough, their world's evolution had been accelerated, causing an epidemic of Force Surges to erupt.
    The activity of beasts and Invalids alike grew as a result, making the environment far more volatile. Instances of beast and Invalid hordes were taking the infantile world by storm.
    It was amidst these challenges that news of this second moon was finally disseminated and reached the ears of the most powerful men and women of Earth.
    The appearance of a Kingdom within the territory of the Ascension Empire? It was unacceptable.
    The instant these matters were learned about, The Empire sounded the war drums. For the first time in centuries, a true threat had appeared within their territory.
    For the vast majority of Earth, even getting access to the normal tech they had was impossible. But, in the past year, The Empire hadn't been sitting on its laurels. With the resources it had access to, the Capital had quickly become a place no less prosperous than any other Fourth Dimensional world.
    In addition, even without access to technology, it was a simple matter for those of the Capital to exchange for treasures that would allow them to travel to this second moon.
    War drums beat. War flags rose. A patriotic aura thrummed throughout the Capital.
    As for the chosen leader of this expedition?
    Prince Noah Fawkes.

 Chapter 419: Elder Sister

    Aina dragged Leonel along until they were easily over five kilometers away. For the two of them, crossing this distance only took a handful of minutes.
    When Aina finally let go of his hand, Leonel couldn't help but laugh. He laughed quite heartily at that.
    With the snow falling from the skies and abandoned buildings all around them, it felt as though they were in their own world.
    Aina pouted slightly. She realized that this was the second time she had run away from Yuri with Leonel like that. She didn't really know why, it was just an instinct. She should have just run away alone, at least then he wouldn't be laughing at her like this.
    "Why do you always run away from Yuri like that? She's probably been waiting months to see you again and was definitely happy to see you."
    Leonel finally found this to be quite odd. The first time he hadn't really thought much about it. But, he hadn't expected it to be a pattern.
    "Uhбн" Aina hesitated.
    "It's fine if you don't want to say." Leonel waved her off.
    Aina didn't really like speaking about her past. He didn't want to press her for information and end up pushing her away further.
    "Noбн I meanбн Yuri was sent to look after me by my father."
    Leonel froze for a moment.
    Aina's father? After he heard of her hatred for the Brazinger family, Leonel thought both of Aina's parents had died. But, now that he thought about it, Aina's exact words back then had beenбн
    ~"бн The short of it is that I don't have a family. I had a mother, and my fatherбн is no longer with me."~
    Aina had made it clear that her mother was dead, but it seemed that even she wasn't quite sure of the current status of her father. Maybe Yuri being sent to her was also a surprise on her part.
    Just from looking into Aina's eyes, Leonel could see a swirl of emotion. Hesitancy, sadness, resilienceбн resentmentбн
    Even without Aina explaining anything more, Leonel could extrapolate quite a lot. It was likely that Aina believed her father had been dead too until Yuri suddenly appeared. Then she must have wondered why her father would leave her alone if he had been alive all along.
    Leonel didn't want to read into it too much, but he must have felt quite similarly until Dream Force had allowed him to remember those forgotten memories about his motherбн
    Truth be told, Leonel had never thought about what it would be like to meet Aina's parents before. He was a sociable person and wasn't very nervous about the prospect. But, hearing that Aina's father was alive made him frown.
    In the end, he chose not to judge without understanding the full story. But, if there came a day where he learned that her father didn't have a good reasonбн
    Aina shook her head as though pulling herself out of her own thoughts.
    "It's not a big deal, it isn't as though I hate her or anythingбн" After saying this, Aina fell silent once again.
    Leonel smiled. "Your birthday is soon, right?"
    Aina was stunned by these words. "Youбн"
    Leonel shrugged. "It's kind of hard to keep up with what the date is with all the changing timelines we've been traveling through, but I think I have a pretty accurate grasp of it. My birthday wasn't long ago, so I know yours is soon."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel wasn't certain if the little mink understood what he was saying or not, but it excitedly hopped up and down. It seemed to at least understand that a birthday was a nice thing.
    Now that Leonel thought about it, his last two birthdays had been quite depressing. One was spent within the Mayan Tomb and the next was spent training in Brave City.
    Usually, during that time of year his father would give him a gift. Funny enough, usually that gift ended up being more of a present for his dad than himself. Most of the time it was some vintage DVD with some anime from hundreds of years ago.
    Thinking of this, Leonel couldn't help but smile and shake his head.
    "What do you want to do for your birthday?"
    Aina seemed stunned by the question. Celebrate a birthday? Now? Was he crazy?
    In the end, without an answer to give, she ended up glaring at Leonel. Why was he always so immature?
    Even seeing this, Leonel's smile didn't fade.
    "Fine, since you don't have an answer, I'll surprise you."
    "Youбн"
    Looking at Leonel's grin, it seemed like he had no intention of listening to her words. In fact, her glare, which was usually quite effective, seemed to have hit a brick wall this time.
    "Huhбн?"
    Leonel wanted to tease Aina some more, but his gaze locked onto a bird in the sky. The beast quickly descended, approaching the pair with a blazing speed.
    Leonel almost attacked it initially, but after a while, he became fairly certain that it had no ill intentions.
    'This message methodбн Camelot?'
    Leonel couldn't be 100% certain, but this mode of communication shouldn't exist on Earth. But, regardless of where the message itself came from, Leonel had no idea who would be contacting him at all.
    The bird descended, landing in Leonel's palm.
    "Hello handsome little boy. I placed a small tracking spell on your necklace treasure, I hope you don't mind. I know you have a kind heart, so I thought I would reach out to you now. My Demon Empire needs some help, we're currently being attacked by those we assume are your people. I hope you can help us communicate with them. In return, Big Sis has plenty of rewards for you~."
    Leonel coughed violently hearing this message, his head slowly turning in Aina's direction. But, all he found were blinking, curious eyes and a light smile.
    Leonel easily recognized that this message was from Mordred, but he couldn't help but lament her timing. Why now? Couldn't she had picked a better moment?
    Smiling an ugly smile, Leonel squeezed out a dry laugh.
    "I didn't know you had an elder sister." Aina said, her smile never fading.
    Leonel had no idea why, but these words felt like a fatal blow. Legends say one could hear the whimpers of a young man that day beneath the heavily falling snow.

 Chapter 420: Reason

    After Leonel was settled in, he became shocked by this sudden change. The Empire was attacking Camelot?
    No, maybe he wasn't so surprised about this much. This was the way of The Empire, ever since they had taken power, they had never allowed any true threats to their sovereignty to survive. Maybe only the Slayer Legion could accomplish such a feat, but even then, they had only been able to do so by hiding away and tucking their tails for decades on end.
    However, compared to the Slayer Legion, Camelot's location was laid bare for all to see. There was no chance to hide or be covert, and maybe even they weren't aware of why they had to do so either.
    As far as citizens of Camelot were concerned, they were in the same location as they'd always been. As for their rulers, many of them might have an inkling, but only Mordred knew exactly what was happening thanks to the trial grounds she shared with Leonel.
    So, what Leonel was maybe truly surprised about was the fact Mordred had reached out to him at all. Though it couldn't be said that they were enemies, a few months ago all of Leonel's thoughts were filled with how to kill this woman. It was only after seeing her backstory and sympathizing with her that he couldn't bear to do so any longer.
    Leonel couldn't help but hesitate.
    The Empire was attacking Camelotбн was this really something he should be interfering in? What could he even do?
    He felt that Mordred overestimated him due to his talent. Let alone the fact that Leonel had yet to meet the other talents of Earth and wasn't exactly certain how he stacked up to them, even if he was far beyond what they could match it simply wouldn't matter.
    None of them even knew his name. And, by the time he proved he had strength and should be listened to, he'd likely be an enemy of them all. This was The Empire they were talking about, they weren't exactly great listeners.
    On top of that, Leonel didn't owe Camelot anything. If anything, he had saved them. What reason did he have to protect them?
    If Leonel placed his bias against The Empire aside and looked at the bigger picture, if the people of Camelot were under the rulership of the Ascension Empire, they'd be much saferбн
    'Ha, did I really just think that? How safe were the people of the Fort when the nobles decided to abandon themбн?'
    Leonel sighed and shook his head. 'Whatever, it doesn't matter. It wasn't Camelot that asked me for help but the Demon Empireбн'
    That was right, most of the reasons Camelot was such a bad place to live in, in the first place was because of the existence of the Demon Empire. It would be quite ridiculous if he went to save the demons that made their lives a living hell to begin with.
    Aina watched from the side, her expression far less playful now. She could almost see the struggle on Leonel's face as he wrestled with whether to do something rational or foolish.
    "бн How do you feel about The Empire?" Aina suddenly said.
    "I don't like it." Leonel replied absentmindedly.
    "And why is that?"
    "They don't value lives. They treat their citizens like they can be plugged into risk assessment equations and deleted whenever they've overstayed their welcome. They don't keep tabs on the corruption of their nobles, letting them do as they please. They monitor the every movement of their people as though they were cattle rather than human beings --."
    Leonel rattled off his thoughts almost like a machine.
    Compared to people who didn't normally understand what they were feeling and why, Leonel's ability practically didn't allow him to do this. His every thought had a very logical reason behind it, at least logical to himself.
    This was why his feelings for Aina were so incomprehensible. They were the one thing about himself that he truly couldn't explain. And, it was ironically the one thing that he didn't try too hard to explain either.
    "Isn't the answer simple, then?" Aina said with a smile. "Who cares about anything else as long as you're standing in their way?"
    Leonel snapped out of his rant, his eyes brightening as he shot a glance toward Aina.
    "You're right." Leonel grinned.
    The bird in Leonel's palm had an amulet around its neck. Leonel didn't need to think much about it to understand what it was.
    On the amulet, there was a key of some sort. Of course, this key wasn't physical but was rather drawn as an Art. This key represented the location coordinates of a teleportation reception pad.
    If Leonel used this key as the core of a large scale teleportation array, he would be able to go directly toward where Mordred was.
    'It will take me quite a few hours to finish drawing this array, let's find a secluded place.'
    Aina followed after Leonel quietly.
    Though Leonel's reasons for doing this were quite simple and pure, Aina's couldn't be categorized as such. In her mind, the more chaos her world was in, the more battles she would be able to participate in and the faster she would be able to strengthen herself. This was what she cared about the very most.
    Plusбн she was absolutely certain that if The Empire was making such big moves, it was impossible for the hidden families to not be involved.
    **
    Earth's second moon, dubbed Camelot, was still the very same mess of torrential rain it had been when Leonel left it. However, this time, it had been splintered in a large scale war the likes of which it had not seen in a very long time.
    After scouting out the moon, The Empire concluded that the best target would be the Demon Empire. From their understanding, Camelot's Kingdom had greatly weakened after losing six Knights of the Round Table and two Three Star Magi.
    In such a vulnerable position, if The Empire swooped in and eliminated the threat that had been plaguing them for centuriesбн how many would willingly choose to leave the rulership of King Arthur?
    Gazing toward the no-man's land of Camelot, a familiar young man with white-gold hair and shimmering emerald eyes stood amidst the heavy rain. However, every drop that approached him rebounded off of a golden barrier, becoming sparkling motes of light as they scattered.
    Compared to when he was in the presence of his grandfather, Noah's demeanor was far more level headed and peaceful. Though he lacked the arrogance one would expect from a prince between his brow, he had a natural air of superiority about him, one ingrained down to his very bones.
    "The meeting is beginning, Your Highness."
    Noah nodded and made his way to an elaborate tent covered in soft, black bear fur. It too seemed unblemished by the rain.

 Chapter 421: Beast Skin Tent

    The tent was massive, reaching 10 meters into the sky and 20 in every other direction. Though it couldn't be considered to be lavishly decorated, everything was neatly arranged and not even the fibers of the beast skin carpets swayed out of proper order.
    The lights were dim, but warm and a smell of harmonious nature hung in the air.
    In truth, it seemed more like the abode of a war lord than an Empire's prince. But, it exuded an air of dominance and demanded absolute obedience at the same time.
    Numerous young faces all turned toward Noah at once and rose from their seated positions. Not a single one showed even a hint of disrespect. In fact, some of them looked on with trepidation.
    Noah maintained an even pace as he made his way to the head of the table. It was only after he sat that the others followed suit, a heaviness reigning over the atmosphere.
    This wasn't the first time Noah had led an expedition. With their talent, many of them had entered Zones and Invalid clearing teams with him in the past. They knew how he operated and how meticulous he was. Stepping out of line wasn't acceptable.
    This was why the tent had been completely silent before he entered and, even after he did, it remained as such.
    Noah glanced toward the three dimensional map that spread out across the table.
    This map was actually the representation of top of the line nano technology. Under normal conditions, it would blend into the table and be invisible. However, after observing a target, it would perfectly replicate a scaled version. In fact, if fitted with all the bells and whistles necessary, it could even provide live observation of a target.
    Unfortunately, they had only been able to deploy a small portion of this technology. Unlocking the full scope of its abilities would require deploying Force Disruption Towers all across this second moon. But, that obviously was not possible for now.
    After a long while, Noah finally spoke.
    "What is the report on their strength?"
    "According to our scouts, they are infinitely close to a Fourth Dimensional world in strength, Your Highness. The main targets to look out for are those they call the 'Demon Lords', the 'Knight of the Round Table', and the 'Three Star Magi'. Aside from this, the most powerful existences on this moon are characters they know as 'King Arthur', 'Queen Guinevere', 'Lancelot' and 'Mordred'."
    The youths looked toward each other with weird gazes. Did they get dropped into a fairy tale or something?
    Though they had been briefed on the truth behind the appearance of this second moon, it was still too hard for them to accept. How could stories become real? And if stories could become real, where exactly was the blurred line between reality and fiction?
    However, considering the identity of the young woman who had spoken, none of them dared to make jokes about it easily. If Noah was the one they feared the most, this young lady was very much a close second.
    She had a slender little button nose and short cropped hair that made her look quite adorable. That coupled with her short stature of barely 5'4" and her petite frame made her seem like a treasure everyone wanted to protectбн
    That was until you heard her cold voice and saw those piercing blue eyes. She seemed to bore into your soul with her every action, shocking your system with ice.
    This young lady was the youngest daughter of the Grand Prime Minister Scarlet family, Jessica Scarlet.
    Much like Governor Duke was a fusion of the Governor and Duke titles, the Grand Prime Minister was a fusion of the Grand Duke and Prime Minister titles. While there were eight Governor Dukes, The Empire only had two Grand Prime Ministers. And, while the territories of the Governor Dukes were out of the Capital, the Grand Prime Ministers had the most prestigious Province as their stomping grounds.
    Jessica was too young to be in line for any hereditary titles and was technically not meant to gain much power from her family as a result, but her own abilities spoke too loudly.
    Still, despite the fact she was more than worthy to fight for the position of Grand Prime Minister in the future, she had practically been a glorified secretary to Noah since she was 13 years old. Even now that she was almost 23, she hadn't deviated from this role at all.
    In fact, the only difference between her past self and her current self was that she had swapped out her usual gray pantsuit for a flexible leather patched armor. From afar, she looked no different from a female sniper to assassin, even down to the numerous knives strapped across her body.
    Despite her small stature, she had quite a good figure as well. This much was clear even when she wore those gray pantsuits. Not that anyone dared to looked, anywayбн
    Maybe Jessica was the only one who could read out names like 'Mordred' and 'King Arthur' without bursting into a fit of laughter. It was clear that she found nothing funny about it. Or maybe she didn't have much of a sense of humor to begin with.
    "Infinitely close to the Fourth Dimension?" A young man asked. "How did they manage to pull this off?"
    The other youths nodded. They too were curious about this. From their understanding, this world shouldn't be so strong. After all, it came from an SS-grade Zone.
    "It's impossible to tell so early on." Jessica replied coldly. "Our best guess is that their Force seems to be several times thicker than the norm. It is likely that they have a technique able to thicken Force beyond the normal limits. This much has also been partially confirmed from other avenues of intelligence."
    After allowing the youths to murmur amongst each other for a while, Noah finally spoke again.
    "Our target is the Demon Empire. What are the main pitfalls?"
    "The first is their numbers. The second is our ignorance. The last is their terrain advantage." Jessica replied efficiently.
    "Their numbers aren't only made up of Demon Lords, but also large hordes of demonic beasts. They seem to have some methods of controlling these hordes, though not with great accuracy.
    "Secondly, we are ignorant of much of their methods. They seem to employ a branch of Force Arts for what they call 'magic' or 'Mage Arts'. We are still gathering information on this. I suggest that we send a few ambassadors to their Kingdom and form friendly relations.
    "Lastly, the terrain. Their so-called Demon Empire's core is located within a mountainous region. It's almost impossible to launch a large-scale attack."
    Noah nodded, tapping lightly on the table. His mind spun quickly, his gaze locking on to the mountainous regions Jessica mentioned.
    A suffocating aura exuded from the young Prince. At that moment, many around him could hardly breathe. Seemingly used to such a thing, they could only clench their jaws, waiting for it to pass.
    Finally, the tapping stopped.
    "Forming diplomatic relations is not a bad idea, but it will take too long. Imperial Grandfather granted us three months at most to complete this mission, we can't afford to waste it.
    "Since there is no path of attack through the mountains, we will make one. Implement the detonation plan of 2097.
    "Jessica, you will lead your squad to deal with the demonic beasts. The more you pull into our control, the better. You have two weeks.
    "Finally, send an ultimatum to this King Arthur. It's either he helps us to level this Demon Empire, or, after we're done, he'll be next."

 Chapter 422: Pansy

    A sudden flash caught the patrolling guards by surprise.
    The location was a dark castle hidden within the depths of a mountainous region. It was designed so well that it seemed to blend into the jagged structure of the mountains around it, giving off a dark and sinister vibe.
    It was safe to say that such a region rarely, if ever, received visitors. And, those who could use this teleportation platform were even rarer.
    However, the guards were even more shocked when they realized that their two guests wereбн humans?
    Any other guards would likely lash out with an attack by now. But, these guards were so used to doing nothing that they were stunned for a moment, not knowing how they should react.
    At that moment, Leonel's vision cleared and he locked eyes on the two demon guards before him. Both of them were women dressed a bit tooбн scantily for a normal teenage boy to ignore. Of course, that was only if these teenage boys weren't Leonel Morales.
    The two guards had pale violet skin and twin horns that came out from their seemingly delicate foreheads. As though that wasn't enough to complete the picture, they both had thin, devilish tails.
    No matter how one looked at it, these two were a pair of succubi. Leonel couldn't imagine how Mordred thought to receive good quality protection from these two.
    Leonel looked toward Aina and back before clearing his throat.
    "Hello, I'm Leonel. Mordred asked to see me?"
    Leonel rarely felt awkward socializing with others, but this was simply too much. Was this how he should be asking to see a Demon Empress that was feared by so many? Why did it sound like he was checking in at a doctor's appointment?
    "Ahбн" The two demon women looked toward one another, seemingly communicating about whether they should be attacking now or not.
    Luckily, large doors off to the side of the quiet room suddenly opened, revealing the figure of a voluptuous woman with pale skin. It seemed as though the only hint of color on her body were her red lips. As for everything else, they seemed painted in black and white.
    Who else could this person be if not the Demon Empress Mordred?
    Mordred smiled, opening her soft lips to speak. But, she suddenly paused when she noticed Aina, her lashes fluttering as she blinked, a curious light in her eye.
    Looking from Aina to Leonel then back, a sudden amused light colored her eyes.
    "Leonel and Aina, correct?"
    Leonel was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that Mordred had seen his life from start to end like he had hers. Even though this Aina didn't match up to his memories, with some context clues and an intelligent mind, it wasn't much of a problem to draw the proper conclusion.
    Leonel smiled. "Demon Empress."
    Mordred giggled. "You don't have to call me that, just call me big sis or Em."
    Leonel coughed lightly. "Em it is, then."
    Mordred only laughed more at this reaction.
    "Come with me, I'll show you to some accommodations. I might as well act as a proper host."
    Mordred left with Leonel and Aina under the stunned gazes of the two female demons.
    Was this really their Demon Empress?
    бн
    "Alright, you two can have this room."
    After travelling through what Leonel could only describe as a dreary and dark castle styled after Earth's Victorian Era, Mordred finally stopped at yet another massive door.
    This castle had a severe lack of normal sized doors. All the ones they had come across to this point were ten meters tall at the smallest and all had elaborate archways.
    Seeing this door, however, Leonel began coughing again.
    "бн Just one room?"
    Mordred sent Leonel a glance as though she was looking at an idiot. Even if someone was going to say that, shouldn't he have waited for Aina to speak first? Who was the real man in this relationship?
    Aina didn't say much as she walked into the room, leaving Mordred staring at Leonel and shaking her head in disappointment.
    Leonel went to scratch his head out of habit, but accidentally interrupted the nap of the little mink. In return, he received a strong swipe that left his hand aching.
    Mordred pursed her lips and shook her head.
    "Big Sis knows a lot about getting women. Stop being a pansy."
    Leonel watched as Mordred walked away, completely speechless.
    How was he a pansy? In fact, he sometimes felt he was a little too bold. How many people would confess so many times?
    'бн Maybe that wasn't so much of a good thing.' Leonel coughed silently to himself. If one had followed him for the last day, they'd probably assume he had a cold of some sort.
    Leonel walked into the room after Aina, his head swirling with confusing thoughts. Was he really a pansy?
    "Have a nice rest!" Mordred's voice came from the hallway. "We can talk about the rest tomorrow morning."
    Leonel felt the door lightly click behind him. He didn't need to think to know that this was Mordred taking action again.
    The first thing he saw was a massive bed. It was at least three meters in width and five in length. It was covered with a canopy that partially hid the other details at the same time.
    The colors of the room were quite warm and much less bland than the rest of the palace. Mostly deep reds, violets and blues. It was quite easy on the eyes.
    A light scent of roses hung in the air. It wasn't too overpowering, but definitely not subtle either.
    All in all, it felt like a meticulously sculpted roomбн for a couple.
    Aina didn't seem to react much to this. She simply walked to the master bathroom and locked the door behind her, leaving Leonel to his own thoughts.
    By the time she walked out half an hour later, Leonel was still standing in the same spot, trying to understand.
    After a while, he looked up and smiled. "Need help drying your hair again?"
    Hearing these words, Aina blushed slightly thinking about the last time. But in the end, she still nodded.

 Chapter 423: Flattening

    The next morning, Leonel and Aina entered the Demon Empire's war room. Compared to the sweetness of the past day, the atmosphere was much tenser. In fact, even Mordred's playful attitude had completely vanished.
    She sat upon a chair with a tall back, staring intently at a massive map before her. It detailed everything about Camelot and the Demon Empire even down to the smallest and most inconsequential rivers and hills.
    Mordred was so lost in her own thoughts and worry that she didn't even notice the arrival of Leonel and Aina.
    Others of her Empire might have been more enthusiastic about their odds, but Mordred had personally seen Leonel's memories, she knew exactly what kind of monster she was facing.
    She never knew that it was possible to wield such power without magic or Internal Strength, but now she could no longer deny the possibility.
    The #1 Demon Lord Crakos and the other Demon Lords sat around the massive map, all of them equally as silent. Even though they thought they were in a great position to defend, especially when the demon beasts and the mountainous landscape were taken into account. However, they were all influenced by the emotions of their Demon Empress and didn't dare to say much of anything.
    It was only after the doors clicked closed behind Leonel and Aina did some begin to notice their presence.
    Mordred looked up, squeezing out a smile. But, it was clear to all that this was the last thing she wanted to be doing. She knew exactly how dire the situation was, and she also knew that it would be even more dire if others didn't understand the kind of threat they were facing.
    If even the Demon Lords didn't quite believe her, then what about their subordinates? And the subordinates to their subordinates?
    The more carefree and careless an army was, the easier it would be for them to collapse. By the time they realized that these things should be taken seriously, it would all already be too late.
    This was honestly the largest part of the reason Mordred had no choice but to call for Leonel's help. The only one she could think of that might have a way of turning around this mentality was Leonel himself.
    Mordred brought Leonel and Aina to sit by her.
    "Three days ago an envoy of the Ascension Empire came. They established relations and also made it clear that the only course of action was surrender and complete obedience or war." Mordred briefly explained.
    Leonel nodded. He wasn't sure what he as a single person could do about this. Honestly, he felt that it might be better for the Demon Empire and Camelot to simply surrender. In his opinion, they didn't stand a chance.
    However, he also understood how hard such a truth would be for them to swallow. No one would like the idea of something they built with their own hands being taken away by another just because.
    In truth, no one was in the wrong. It wasn't Camelot's fault for appearing within Earth's territory, nor was it Earth's fault for wanting their territory to be under the sole control of themselves.
    "You don't have to do too much during this meeting," Mordred continued, "I only want your opinions on certain things. Though I have a small understanding of the kind of existence the Ascension Empire is, I can't be as certain as you."
    Now that she thought about certain things, Mordred began feeling somewhat guilty about calling Leonel here. Was she asking him to betray his people? Or, even worse than that, had she brought a seed of this Empire she wanted to repel into her den?
    Though Mordred thought these things, she trusted her gut feeling. And, most importantly, she trusted what she had seen from Leonel's life. She knew exactly how he felt about The Empire. In fact, he probably hated it even more than she did at this current point.
    Leonel nodded again. So Mordred wanted a consultation of sorts. This was easy enough to accomplish.
    Leonel took a backseat, silently listening to the meeting as they began to debate strategy. But, the more Leonel listened, the more his brow furrowed.
    Their thinking was too strict, their scopes were too narrow, their understanding of their enemy was far worse than Leonel believed The Empire's understanding of them was.
    The more he listened, the more Leonel came to realize where Mordred's feelings of unease came from. If things continued like this, let alone repelling The Empire, their Demon Empire would collapse in a matter of a few days. Then, soon after, Camelot would follow.
    "бн I suggest we leave Serpent's Path unguarded. We only have a limited amount of resources and the enemies aren't fools. Who would march an army up that hellscape?"
    "It would be a waste of resources, indeed. Other than leaving some scouts there in case of trouble, I think we can leave it be and focus out defenses elsewhere."
    Just as the next Demon Lord wanted to chime in, a sudden sigh sounded.
    Leonel stood, placing his palm on the map on the table. His eyes closed as he imprinted it all in an instant. Then, his Force surged, calling forth a strong surge of Earth Elemental energies.
    In the blink an eye, the landscape bloomed. Under the astonished gazes of all those present, a perfect representation of the map was created, even down to the smallest imperfections of the mountain range they currently sat within.
    "This is your world." Leonel said plainly.
    Leonel's hand waved again, quickly forming another landmass. But, this one hovered above, held there by Leonel's Force.
    BANG!
    Leonel dropped the newly created landmass on the one he had just formed. His actions caused a sigh of pity to spread throughout the room. The three dimensional construct had really been too perfect.
    After lamenting it for a while, the Demon Lords looked at the new landscape, their eyes colored with shock. This new structure had such elaborate mountain structures that it put them to shame. Compared to the mountain range of their Demon Empireбн it was like an adult versus a newborn.
    "This is just half a continent on Earth that was once called Asia." Leonel continued just as emotionlessly.
    The pupils of the Demon Lord's constricted. Just half a continent was already larger than their entire world?! Just how big was Leonel's world?!
    Looking at the ease this 'Asia' flattened their lands with, a bit of trepidation crawled into their hearts.
    "When the Ascension Empire had yet to unite all of Earth, Asia was the final continent that remained standing. This wasn't only because of their intelligence and ingenuity, but most importantly because of their terrain, the centerpiece of which was a country once known as China.
    "China? is surrounded by sea and islands from one side and completely protected by endless mountains from another. Attacking them was almost impossible and most attempts ended up in failure.
    "Do you know what the Ascension Empire did?" Leonel asked coldly.
    The Demon Lord shivered, their hearts clenching before Leonel's gaze. They lost focus on who was the human and who was the demon for a moment.
    Leonel lifted a finger, causing a small ball of fire to appear. It was only the size of a fingernail, but the heat concentrated on it made all of their hearts beat wildly.
    Leonel flicked his finger toward his construct of ancient Asia.
    BANG!
    A hole was blown through the mountains, flattening them to the ground.
    The Demon's shuddered. Was this power a civilization should have? How could it be possible to flatten mountains so large?!
    However, the next words Leonel spoke made them all freeze. It was as though a reaper had grabbed onto their throats, suffocating them from the depths of their souls.
    "This happened in 2097, just the 21st century. It's currently the 25th century. What do you think they can do now?"

 Chapter 424: Negotiate.

    Leonel's words caused an eerie silence to overwhelm the war room.
    Much like Mordred before, these Demon Lords had never been aware that there could be power outside one's own bodily strength. Even mages who might as well be known as the nukes of the battlefield in their world couldn't even compare.
    But, to hear that this was not only possible, but had been possible over 300 years ago by the very same society aiming for their lands now caused many of them to pale.
    At this moment they were no longer the demons that terrorized the lands of Camelot. They looked toward one another, not missing the trepidation in each one of their eyes.
    "Thenбн What should we do? How do we beat such an existence?" The #1 Demon Lord Crakos finally spoke, his deep rumbling voice filling the once silence environment.
    Leonel raised his palm from the table, causing the Earth Elemental Force to disperse.
    After a moment of silence, he shook his head causing their hearts to sink.
    "The Empire is more powerful than you could imagine. If it wasn't for the restrictions the Metamorphosis placed on them, even destroying your entire world wouldn't be an issue."
    Leonel's words weren't exaggerated in the slightest. Even back during the start of the 20th century, Earth already had technology capable of wiping out cities. By the end of the 21st, they were able to wipe out whole mountain ranges. Now, as they neared the end of the 25th century, destroying a moon wasn't a matter of if they could, but only if they were willing to pay the price and deal with the aftermath.
    "I don't want to sell you all a false dream. Though I have a strong dislike for The Empire, I also know that I must be realistic. As much as I would like to paint you a pretty picture, the odds of you winning aren't close to zero, they are zero. In fact, though it might be hard to hear, I wouldn't be surprised if The Empire was using your world as a training field for their youth."
    The atmosphere only grew colder the more Leonel spoke.
    "If you want my suggestions, in my humble opinion you only have a few option.
    "The first is to fight back. Inevitably, you will lose. Once that happens, everyone in this room will be sent to Dark Cloud Prison to live out the rest of your lives. Your citizens will be assimilated into The Empire and become people of Earth.
    "Your second option is to form an alliance with Camelot. Should you do that, you might repel a first wave. But, inevitably, you will lose. Once that happens, everyone in this room will be sent to Dark Cloud Prison to live out the rest of your lives while your citizens are assimilated.
    "Your third option is to display your usefulness. If you manage to do this, it's very possible that you can gain a hereditary title in exchange for your knowledge. If you use proper hard and soft tactics, you may allow your world to recognized as the tenth Province of Earth."
    The room fell into silence.
    Leonel didn't mince his words in the slightest. He needed them to understand that this was an impossible war to win.
    Aina sent a glance toward Leonel's side profile, lost in her thoughts. She wondered just how much of Leonel's words were his own objective analysis and how much of it was the indoctrination he had received since his youth.
    Where had all of Leonel's knowledge of the strength of The Empire come from? Wasn't it all from his education? Hadn't that education all been provided for, catered, and censored appropriately at the behest of The Empire?
    Maybe even Leonel wasn't sure about this. All he knew was that he was speaking the truth from his own vantage point and that he didn't feel like he was lying.
    But, when it came down to it, did those that had been manipulated always realize when they had been?
    The Demon Lords looked toward one another. At the same time, Mordred fell into her own thoughts as well.
    What was the reason she built the Demon Empire? Other than the fact she had become a tool for the machinations of Shield Cross Stars, it was because she hated the fact that she was ostracized by even her own parents simply due to her affinity.
    Since they hated her Dark Element so much, she would become the spearhead for people like her and point her blade toward Camelot.
    However, from what Mordred understood about Leonel's world, the same stigma against the Dark Element didn't exist. It wasn't an overly religious society, it didn't have a Church to worry about, and the most important case was Leonel who stood right before her.
    Leonel didn't care about the Light or Dark Element one way or another. To him, it was simply something reserved for fairy tales.
    If she thought about things this way, then what reason did she have to continue protecting this Empire? If a society that accepted her appeared, then maybe she could finally rest her head and place down this burdenбн
    "Leonel, do youбн believe that demons would be accepted?" Mordred spoke, her voice slightly weary.
    Leonel looked back toward the Demon Empress, his expression somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected for them to accept this change so quickly. Truthfully, as long as Mordred spoke, the deed was practically half complete.
    "бн I can't be certain of this either. But, what I do know is that there are people all over Earth awakening abilities that make them look no different from you all, all the time.
    "The Empire, if it was ever good at anything but conquering and control, has always been diligent in assimilating those of all races without discrimination. But, at the same time, this is a new world. It's somewhat easier to accept others of the same species as opposed to a completely new people like the demons.
    "Stillбн I ultimately think it's worth a try."
    Mordred fell into her thoughts for a long time before she finally spoke again.
    "Will you lead these negotiations, Leonel?"
    Leonel raised his brows in surprise. But, in the end, he slowly nodded.

 Chapter 425: Sparks

    Leonel agreed to Mordred's request, but there were a few things he knew had to be done first.
    The first was to contact Camelot. It was impossible to accomplish this without putting up a united front. Camelot and the Demon Empire had to come together.
    Of course, Leonel got a lot of pushback about this. But, he had to speak reason to them all.
    The Empire would never allow civil war within its borders. One way or another, the two would have to assimilate. The question was whether or not they'd act first and get something out of it or if they'd wait to get conquered and receive nothing in return for their grievances.
    When Leonel explained it this way, they managed to calm down somewhat and listen to reason.
    It was only at this point that Leonel realized the demons seemed to hate humans as much as humans hated them.
    While humans thought demons were bloodthirsty creatures who shouldn't be allowed to be a part of normal society, demons believed humans to be hypocrites that hid their true nature, only to reveal themselves to be far worse than the demons the hated so much.
    Leonel's second suggestion was to present a shot of strength to The Empire.
    Negotiations were only possible for those with strength. If there was too large of a power imbalance, what would be the point? The one with the stronger fist would simply take what they wanted.
    Even though it was clear that The Empire was by far the strongest between the two parties, they still had to put in some effort to level out the playing field. Only then would they be able to open up negotiations in good faith.
    In the end, these talks boiled down to one factбн Mordred would have to take a trip back to Camelot.
    **
    "Hm?"
    Noah looked up from a map he was seriously observing, his expression colored with surprise.
    "You said they sent someone? They want to negotiate?"
    Jessica stood before Noah with her usually cold expression, relaying the information she had just received.
    "Yes. Their #9 Demon Lord made a trip down the mountain to relay this message. According to what he had to say, the Demon Empire was willing to open negotiations and want to understand more about what it would mean to submit."
    Noah raised an eyebrow. "Are they trying to stall for time?"
    "They arranged for the negotiation to occur in half a month. I have a hard time believing that they could prepare anything in this time. In addition, half a month was the time frame we set for our first wave attack to begin as well."
    Noah nodded.
    He found all of this to be curious. From the information they had compiled, the Demons were most definitely not such a race. They were incredibly fond of battle and blood, something like surrendering before a single bullet had been fired was baffling.
    Could it be that there was someone leading them? Their Empress should be a human from Noah's understanding, maybe it was her who helped them see reason?
    Noah had never considered negotiations not because he was opposed to it, but rather because there were some cultural barriers that couldn't be crossed with simple words. Instead of convincing Camelot how powerful they were, it was best to just show them. This would make everything much easier.
    "Interestingбн" Noah mumbled.
    He fell into his own thoughts, a familiar aura enveloping his surroundings.
    Jessica stood silently, her small hands gripping a clipboard.
    "бн We will accept their meeting, but continue the preparations just in case. We also need a proper display of force to set the tone for the negotiations.
    "I will contact Imperial Grandfather to understand what our bottom line is."
    Jessica nodded and took Noah's silence as a tacit dismissal.
    **
    Mordred never thought there would be a day she would return to Camelot. The heavy rain falling against its tall stone walls seemed to be a reflection of her heart.
    At the very least, she thought that when she returned, it would be as a conqueror. But the truth was that she never expected to do such a thing. If she wanted to overrun Camelot and destroy it, it was likely that she could have succeeded long ago.
    The only thing that had kept the humans safe all this time was the disorganization of the demons. Mordred was the very person who fixed this fundamental issue, yet Camelot had still yet to be conquered. What reason could there possibly be for this if not a hidden softness within her heart?
    Mordred silently gazed upon Camelot's gates.
    Compared to how things usually were, the massive capital city was quite quiet. Ever since this endless torrential rain began, a dark fog had been hanging over there world as though everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. The appearance of The Empire just so happened to be that other footбн
    Leonel watched silently from Mordred's side. To this negotiation, only he, Mordred, Aina and Crakos had come. Even if things went horribly wrong, Leonel was still confident in taking everyone out safely. Now, it was just a matter of Mordred taking that final step forward.
    After gathering herself, Mordred took a step forward. But, what she hadn't expected was for a woman in a fluttering blue dress to suddenly appear before the gates. The only one who didn't seem shocked by this was Leonel himself who had long since grasped the energy fluctuations. And, it was even easier to understand after he recognized the woman to be Queen Guinevere.
    Mordred never reacted when she saw her father. In fact, even with Leonel's senses, he would have never guessed that King Arthur was her father without having seen Mordred's life from start to end.
    But, the moment this woman appeared, Mordred froze.
    Tears flowed uncontrollably from Guinevere's eyes. Still, as though she was trying to respect Mordred's personal space, she didn't get any closer than a few meters.
    It seemed that the reason there was no one to receive them was because Guinevere had insisted on doing it herselfбн
    For some reason though, Leonel felt as though the energy of this world suddenly shifted when mother and daughter stood face to face. He couldn't quite grasp it, but he felt as though a small shackle had unlocked.
    This meeting might be far more important than even Leonel knew.
    Sparks flew within Leonel's Dreamscape. But, once again, there wasn't enough information to draw the final conclusion.

 Chapter 426: Royal Court

    Leonel felt a complex swell of emotions when he saw Guinevere. Those eyesбн That day when he fell into an illusion of Dream Force, causing his long-forgotten memories to resurface, he had seen them before.
    Mordred wasn't sure what to say or do. She wasn't nearly as emotional as Guinevere, but she also wasn't indifferent. She was caught in an odd in-between, a mixture of awkwardness and hesitancy coloring her usually confident, womanly demeanor.
    Guinevere shook her head, seemingly realizing that she had lost control of her emotions. She quickly composed herself, her tears drifting away from her cheeks in a magical sort of way. But, there was nothing she could do about the redness of her eyes. They acted like a constant reminder of the emotions she had just displayed.
    "Welcome to Camelot, please come with me."
    The Queen bowed lightly, regaining a professional air. However, anyone who knew about diplomatic relations between countries, kingdoms or empires would be wholly aware that something like a monarch bowing to another would never happen. Such a thing would be like a power admitting its inferiority to another.
    It was clear that Guinevere wasn't a fool who didn't understand these simple and obvious customs. She acted not only out of emotion, but also so that she could let Mordred and the others know that she would stand by them.
    To Guinevere, in comparison to the Kingdom, her daughter was worth far more. It didn't matter to her that Mordred was already a woman of over 40 years old. To a mother, her daughter would always be her little girl.
    Guinevere rose from her bow, her back straightening to exude the elegance of a Queen. With a light smile, she turned and began to lead them all forward.
    From her back view alone, one could sense her strength and resolve.
    Mordred blankly stared at her mother's back for a long time. She had expected either cold indifference or a flood of apology. But, she ended up receiving neither. And, somehow, this put her more at peace than anything else ever could.
    "Empressбн" Crakos' deep voice snapped Mordred out of her stupor.
    "бн Yes." Mordred nodded and moved forward, her gait steady and even paced as she followed after her mother.
    Leonel was about to move to follow as well when he suddenly realized that Aina hadn't moved from start to finish.
    Aina stood in a daze, her fists clenched. She had come here to battle, she had never expected for things to boil down to a negotiation and she had definitely not expected to run into such a scene.
    Her heart beat uncontrollably. She felt as though she wanted to scream out from the depths of her soul.
    How much had she wanted to see such a look? Would her mother also look at her like this if she was alive? Or would she run off like her father had?
    Her petite frame began to tremble.
    Her body held so much power in it. Even now, a massive, curved package was attached to her back. Maybe even Leonel would struggle to carry it with such ease. Yet, at this moment, she couldn't seem to control this powerful body of hers at all.
    Aina suddenly felt a large hand slip over hers. She looked up to find Leonel smiling toward her.
    Her heart didn't calm down for a long time, but she didn't push Leonel's hand away.
    She lost herself in the size and warmth of his hand. Though his body might have been almost as tough of a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional metal, his skin still carried the security only a human's could give.
    It was only several breaths later that Aina caught her breath and pulled her hand away, slight blush on her features.
    Leonel smiled. "Let's go."
    Aina almost imperceptibly nodded and followed along.
    бн
    For the second time in his life, Leonel entered Camelot's castle. But, this time he didn't feel the same awe he had the first time. If anything, it all felt somewhat superficial and weak to the current him.
    He wasn't sure if this was because he had seen through King Arthur's real character now or if it was something else. But, regardless of the reason, the feeling was quite freeing.
    Leonel sent a glance toward Aina who seemed to be looking around curiously. It seemed that despite the fact this was her first time, she didn't seem very affected by it all at all. Toward this, Leonel couldn't help but smile.
    Aina always acted so shy, but when it came down to it, she was quite a bold woman. Leonel felt that the dichotomy made her so very interesting.
    Though Aina always blushed profusely when he confessed, whenever they were interacting normally, she didn't seem off put by him at all. In fact, she had always been the only one who seemed to ignore how serious he got when he took tests or exams.
    "What?" Aina looked toward Leonel, realizing that he was looking toward her.
    Leonel grinned. "Nothing, you just look nice."
    In return for his flattery, Leonel received a glare.
    "Be more serious, we're almost there." She said softly.
    Leonel felt a tingling sensation in his back hearing her voice. He swore Aina's various inflections were a lethal weapon. He didn't know if his compliment made her reply softer, but what he did know was that it was foul play.
    Seeing that Leonel was in a daze, Aina tugged on his robes and pulled him forward. The others had long since entered the meeting room.
    Leonel smiled lightly and let Aina pull him along.
    When they entered the space, they found a well-furnished royal court.
    There was a throne at the head and a long narrow walkway that splintered off into several seating arrangements. There were, obviously, reserved seating for Mordred, Leonel and the others. But, what was surprising was that there was another set of reserved seating.
    In fact, this reserved seating was already filled.
    The moment Leonel and Aina's gazes swept through the room, their killing intent erupted at the same time.
    The already silent room was suddenly infused with the rage of two. The familiar red hair and red eyes could never be mistaken.
    It was a member of the Brazinger family.

 Chapter 427: Meaningless

    When King Arthur saw Leonel walk in, he of course felt a complex swirl of emotions. For better or worse, he felt an even more visceral reaction than when he saw his daughter. But, maybe that made sense. After all, Arthur had clashed with Mordred many times before, it wasn't as though this was the first time he was laying eyes on his daughter in years.
    In comparison, Leonel was like a beacon that awakened him in many ways. Of course, that was most exacerbated by the death of six of his brothers, but Arthur still felt that the initial catalyst was Leonel himself.
    However, what Arthur hadn't expected was for Leonel to suddenly erupt with such killing intent the moment he stepped into the Royal Court.
    At first, Arthur thought that this rage was aimed toward himself. But, he very quickly realized that from start to finish, Leonel had only swept a cursory glance over him. It was complete disregard, the very same disregard he felt when Leonel strolled out of his Kingdom without even attempting to hide his tracks.
    Arthur couldn't help but feel an anger well up in his chest. As much as a person wanted to change, it was too difficult for a person to flip on a dime. It often took years of constant effort to undo what it took years to ingrain in the first place.
    But, Arthur very quickly realized that this had nothing to do with him.
    At that moment, a man with blazing red hair and eyes just as crimson frowned, looking up to find the fury Aina and Leonel were looking at him with. But, in truth, he was quite confused. He didn't know who these two kids were at all.
    This member of the Brazinger family wasn't the only one who had come. By his side, there was a blond and golden eyed man. And, by this person's side there was a green haired and green eyed woman.
    The last person was another than Leonel would recognize. A blue haired and blue-eyed man by the name of Matteus Adurna. He was the very same man who had led Little Nana and the others into the Camelot Zone. Now it seemed like he was back for whatever reason.
    However, Leonel didn't spare him a single glance. His palm had already flipped over, revealing a bow that exuded a deathly sharp aura. He immediately locked onto the red haired man, causing the latter's expression to darken even further.
    "Leonel!" Arthur panicked slightly.
    He didn't understand what Leonel was doing and for what purpose. It was obvious that Leonel had some sort of animosity with this red haired man, but was it really so bad to take such immediate action?
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't even look in Matteus' direction, leaving him quite stunned. Much like Arthur, he thought that Leonel might have some animosity toward him as well, but the reality was likewise outside of his expectation.
    The little mink reacted just as violently. Jumping from Aina's arms, it found its spot at the top of Leonel's head, its fur standing on end.
    "Leonel!" Arthur roared, standing from his throne.
    Even though Arthur was even somewhat thankful for Leonel, he couldn't allow a diplomat sent by another nation to be killed in his Royal Court. At least, this was how he saw those four. Regardless of what reason Leonel had, he couldn't allow him to act on them.
    Leonel flipped another palm. As though he couldn't hear Arthur at all, he nocked an arrow, his senses locking onto the red-haired man.
    It was only now that the man began to feel some pressure.
    He stood from his seat, his heart thrumming. But, this wasn't out of fear. He simply activated his Lineage Factor, feeling his blood course through his body as he raised his strength to its optimal levels.
    He didn't know why Leonel was targeting him, but he didn't care. He wouldn't allow himself to be killed even if there was a good reason.
    "Leonelбн"
    Compared to the other voices calling out his name, this was by far the softest. Yet, it was the only voice capable of making Leonel's aura completely disperse.
    Leonel looked over and down toward Aina, only to find her having regained her calm. She stood there, shaking her head.
    "We came here to help Em, don't ruin things."
    Leonel's brow furrowed when he heard this.
    That was right. If he killed someone here, even if he had a good argument, it would be difficult to persuade Arthur to their side. Even though Guinevere was on their side, if her word was really final, Mordred wouldn't have been ostracized in the first place.
    With what Leonel knew about King Arthur, he was already unlikely to agree with their proposal to begin with. If he didn't something to push him further away, things would only become more difficult.
    Leonel's arm relaxed slightly, his gaze coldly locking back onto the red haired man as he lowered his bow.
    Without a word, Leonel put his bow away and made his way to his seat. After taking his eyes off the red haired man, he didn't look his way again as he tried to calm the raging tide that was his blood.
    But, a heavy aura hung around him. Aside from Aina who seemed unaffected, everyone else was, making it difficult for them to begin discussions.
    A heavy silence hung over Royal Court. Many gazes were on Leonel, trying to figure out the reason for his previous outburst, yet the subject of their observation sat silently staring in no particular direction. However, judging by the look in his eye, it felt as though he could lash out again at any time.
    King Arthur's face went cold as he sat back down on his throne. It hadn't escaped his notice that his wife hadn't sat by his side and had instead chosen to sit by Mordred. And now, Leonel had completely disregarded him.
    It felt as though this throne he sat on was weightless. What the hell had he spent his whole life building? Was it really all meaningless?

 Chapter 428: Done?

    A silence continued to hang over the Royal Court. For a while, it seemed as though no one would speak at all until it was that King Arthur finally composed himself, regaining his bearing.
    "Today it seems that two parties have come to negotiate turns with our Camelot, one of which was more of a surprise than the other." Arthur began to speak, sweeping a gaze over the hidden families.
    Though the appearance of Mordred and the others was planned, these hidden family members appeared out of nowhere. However, after hearing that they were a power that could oppose The Empire, Arthur became intrigued and allowed them to enter.
    He couldn't be certain of what Mordred's purpose here was, but as an intelligent man and a ruler with many years of experience, he could make a good guess. Initially, even though he was unwilling, he thought that he might have no choice but to accept Mordred's propositions, especially with the current actions of his wife, but the appearance of this third party left him feeling pleasantly surprised.
    It seemed that King Arthur was still unwilling to relinquish his power. As much pain and suffering as this Throne had brought him, wouldn't it make all that hardship meaningless if he were to just give it up now?
    Matteus cleared his throat, trying to settle the atmosphere down. He sent a side glance toward the red haired man before he opened his mouth to speak.
    "Yes. We came here today to encourage Camelot not to fall prey to the intimidation of The Empire. Though we won't deny that they are powerful, what we can say is that they are not the only ones who are so. This universe is very big and its scope is endless. In the grand scheme, The Ascension Empire is just a speck of dust floating in the winds."
    King Arthur and the other court ministers were quite intrigued by these words.
    This concept of a 'universe' was one they had never heard of before. Yet, it was a word that filled them with awe and thoughts of grandeur. Before, they hadn't even been aware that a world outside their own existed, but now they were learning about so much more.
    Among these 'ministers' were a few characters Leonel recognized, namely Lancelot and the young prince Lionus. Neither had participated in the Merlin Trials, so they were of course very safe.
    From their facial expressions, it was difficult to tell what they were thinking. But, the two sat on complete opposite sides of the room, not interacting with one another.
    "Your words are quite honey-coated." King Arthur said with a laugh. "But, what does the vastness of this universe have to do with us? If anything, it might be safer to have a sturdy wing? to take cover beneath, don't you think?"
    Even though King Arthur didn't mean these words, he still spoke them. He wasn't a fool. Negotiation was about leverage and why would he give up his own so easily?
    Matteus smiled lightly at these words. Clearly he was very much expecting them.
    "To answer your question I think we should give a bit of background on Earth itself. The Empire might be considered the main power beneath the sun, but it is only that. Within the shadows, there are several other rivals to it.
    "For one, there is the Slayer Legion that The Empire has not been able to weed out all this time. And, with the Descent of the Metamorphosis, the Slayer Legion is only growing more powerful.
    "However, I would say that the true hidden strength of Earth would be us so-called hidden families. I don't particularly like this term. Rather than saying that we are hiding, it's more accurate to say that there hasn't been anything worth coming out for just yet.
    "I can swear that if our families were to come out now, this so-called Ascension Empire would have no chance of survival."
    Matteus' words were forceful and full of pride. However, King Arthur only shook his head after hearing them.
    "You've spoken many niceties and painted a picture in very broad strokes. However, you have yet to speak of how these things could help our Camelot. What difference is there in submitting to you versus this Ascension Empire? Though you say you are more powerful, these are just your words. How can we take them just as you've said them?"
    Matteus smiled.
    "I will give you proof then. Are you aware of the Dimensions?"
    King Arthur frowned. This was a concept that had been foreign to him until the envoy of the Ascension Empire had come. It was only after that he learned about these ranking systems.
    Seeing Arthur's reaction, Matteus' smile deepened.
    "The Ascension Empire is the ruler of a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world. Even after Earth breaks through once again, their power will still ultimately be considered to be within the Third Dimension. In fact, the truth is that their strength will diminish by several factors after the Descent of the Fourth Dimension is complete."
    King Arthur and the court ministers frowned. How could that be so?
    "You all may not believe me, but the true backbone of The Ascension Empire is their technology. However, upon ascending Dimensions, the physics by which their technology is built upon is distorted, changed and flipped. This means that staples of their understanding will be overturned, thus making their technology useless.
    "In fact, even in this Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world, they are already holding on by a thin thread. They only manage to use some of their prowess with a stopgap measure like their 'Force Disruption Towers', but these towers have no chance of working against true Fourth Dimensional Force.
    "That being the case, what do you think will happen once the Fourth Dimension descends? They'll essentially be a crippled power having lost their main source of strength."
    Matteus' smile only seemed to widen the more he spoke.
    "And, do you know what the best part about all of this is? Normally, it would take another decade or two for the first stage Metamorphosis to complete. However, due to the appearance of your world, the timeline has been accelerated. By now, there's already less than a year left."
    Arthur's gaze sharpened, his eyes narrowing. If this was trueбн
    "Our proposal is simple." Matteus began to hammer in the final nails. "We will protect you all until the Metamorphosis concludes. Unlike The Empire, we hidden families aren't restricted to Third Dimensional entities and we aren't fools who place our hope in garbage like 'technology'.
    "Once the Fourth Dimension Descends, that bottleneck that has been keeping you and your warriors and mages from advancing all these years will break. Then, not only will you grow stronger, but The Empire will grow weaker. By then, you'll be on the same playing field as the rest of us."
    "And the catch?" Arthur asked with a raised eyebrow.
    "It couldn't be simpler." Matteus said slowly. "All we ask for is an exchange of knowledge. Your world's magic system, we would like to learn it."
    Arthur and the other ministers fell into silence. These conditionsбн They were very good.
    Mordred clenched her jaw, her gaze icy. She didn't spare a glance toward her father in the slightest. She wasn't surprised by the fact he would make a decision before even hearing her speak. It wasn't as though he had never disregarded her before.
    "бн Are you done now?"
    A sudden voice cut through the silence. Unexpectedly, it was the very same Leonel that had been the center of attention previously.

 Chapter 429: Benefits or Kinship

    Leonel wasn't particularly angry at Matteus. Other than the time he ordered Little Nana to bind him, an action that almost cost him a spot to enter the Zone, his interactions with the man hadn't been all too bad. In fact, Matteus had even extended an invitation for him to join the Adurna family.
    The issue here was that Leonel wasn't in a very good mood. And, having to listen to Matteus spin a fanciful tale Arthur and the others just gobbled up left him even angrier.
    Compared to The Empire, Leonel hated the hidden families several times more. Even if it wasn't Aina in particular that had suffered at their hands, he would be disgusted by their actions.
    Ostracizing a little girl and her father. Killing that little girl's mother. And for what, exactly?
    Even to this point, Leonel wasn't exactly sure. But, judging by the fact everyone else of the Brazinger had red hair and eyes while Aina did not, someone as intelligent as him could connect the dots.
    It was Eugenics.
    Leonel had been surprised to see that all these families had the same eye and hair color initially. But, after a while, he came to understand just why this was.
    Eugenics was a set of beliefs that ascribed to the idea of maximizing the gene pool quality of a population of people. They did this by massacring those not like them and ensuring marriages between those who could guarantee 'quality' children.
    There were cases like this in ancient Germany with the Nazis and those with blond hair and blue eyes. There were cases like this from ancient America with White Supremacists. There were cases like this from ancient Africa withбн
    The list seemed endless and each instance was just as heart wrenching as the last. The practice was sickening. Leonel had this sort of visceral reaction he couldn't even control when he thought about it. He couldn't imagine deciding a person's worth by the way that they looked.
    One might argue that it was more than skin deep for these hidden families. At least, compared to those ancient civilizations with disgusting practices, there was a tangible benefit to maintaining the purity of these families иC that being their Lineage Factors.
    However, this didn't change Leonel's mind in the slightest. Hadn't Aina still awakened her Lineage Factor? Hadn't his two parents still managed to pass down their own to him?
    And, even if they couldn'tбн so what? The worth of a person had to be measured by their strength? They couldn't have anything else worthy about themselves? They couldn't have anything else to give?
    The longer Leonel spent in this new world order, the more it disgusted him and the more that budding feeling inside of him seemed to sprout and germinate.
    Matteus frowned upon hearing Leonel's words.
    "Kid," Matteus began, "Though I'm thankful for the things you've done, this is a matter where I must represent all of our 'hidden' families. Even if you'd like to be angry, keep it within. A lack of maturity won't help you in these negotiations."
    Matteus' words caused many to frown in Leonel's direction. His actions were indeed inappropriate considering the circumstances.
    Mordred's gaze flashed with a hint of worry before she shook her head and sighed internally. She had already given up on her father, there was no need for Leonel to continue to try to stay within the arbitrary lines of political correctness. Since it wouldn't get them anything regardless, she might as well let Leonel do as he pleased.
    Leonel nodded. "Painting me as a child who's in over my head is a good strategy. Maybe you could have used some of that intelligence before you were captured by Magus Aliard, or at the very least, you could have used some of your family's so-called great hidden strength."
    Matteus froze, a hint of rage flashing within his eyes. He had never done anything too wrongful to this child, he didn't know why he was being so hostile.
    In fact, originally, the red haired man was supposed to take the forefront and speak. Matteus took over this job to hopefully blunt Leonel's potential aggressiveness. But, what he had never expected was for it all to be meaningless. Leonel acted as though he didn't even recognize him.
    As expected, the expressions of the court ministers somewhat changed.
    It was only at that moment that they remembered that it had been Leonel who killed that traitor. In fact, Arthur hadn't recognized Matteus before because he was a puppet under Pope Margrave's control back then, but now that he thought about it, this was indeed that manбн
    In an instant, all the bravado that Matteus had brought forth seemed to crumble. First impressions were everythingбн if the representation of this Adurna family couldn't even protect his own life without Leonel's interference, then how powerful could they really be?
    Mordred's eyes widened. Back then, she had been the one to fight the puppets the Adurna family members had become. She had almost forgotten this completely. Compared to Leonel's overwhelming strength back then, they wereбн just average.
    Of course, that might have been due to the Margrave's puppeteering taking away their strength. But, the fact that Margrave could enslave them at all spoke volumes.
    "The situation is very simple." Leonel continued with a steady voice. "Even if everything they said is true, you will still fall before the Fourth Dimension Descends. They're only trying to prey on your ignorance.
    "The 'hidden' families might have higher Dimensional beings, but none of them can come to help you. Entering a lower Dimensional world from a higher is very difficult. And, even if you manage to accomplish it, you will be forced to deal with all sorts of restrictions. If you aren't a native of the world you descend to, the restrictions are even fiercer.
    "So, at this very moment, these hidden families can only send out strength on the level of them." Leonel swept a glance over the four. "At least, on any sort of large scale.
    "Yet, they've said themselves that they don't rely on 'technology', which means that unlike The Empire, they don't have a method of bridging this gap in strength.
    "But sureбн If you want to hand over all your secrets in exchange for protection that won't last more than a week, please have at it."
    Leonel's voice plainly concluded before starting up again as though he had forgotten something amusing.
    "Oh, and a reminder that I already comprehend everything about your magic system, more than even most in this room, actually. So, you should ask yourselves whether you trust someone who wants something out of you more, or if you'll take the word of someone who's only here to help a friend."
    Leonel swept a pointed glance over Arthur. His meaning couldn't have been more clear.
    Will you choose 'benefits' again this time? Or will you choose kinship?

 Chapter 430: Side With...

    Leonel's words hung over the Royal Court. They played like an indifferent, systematic dismantling of everything Matteus had tried to build up. It felt almost impossible, yet every single one of his words were pointed and sculpted perfectly.
    Honestly, it was a far cry from what many of them expected. But, how could they know Leonel's level of understanding when it came to human psychology? In fact, after he finished speaking, he didn't even feel the need to say anything else.
    He shifted his gaze from King Arthur and fell into silence. It was as though he didn't care about the result at all. He had said his peace and whether or not Arthur wanted his help would be up to him.
    From anyone on the outside looking in, it was as though it was King Arthur who had come to Leonel for help rather than the other way around. But, the truth was that in Leonel's mind, it was exactly like this.
    From Leonel's analysis, Camelot didn't stand a chance if they didn't follow his plans. If they were more fond of being destroyed and losing any semblance of status they once had, then Arthur could feel free to choose against him.
    At that moment, Guinevere's hand slipped into Mordred's, catching the latter off guard. The Demon Empress involuntarily trembled and even hesitated as to whether she should pull her hand away.
    It was just a subtle action. Hardly anyone noticed, in fact. Even in such a silent Royal Court, the movement didn't make a sound.
    Still, there were four individuals this didn't escape.
    The young prince Lionus. The King of Camelot, Arthur. Leonel himself. And, finally, the Knight of the Round Table, Lancelot.
    Lancelot's reflective blue eyes seemed locked onto the hands of the two women. From the outside, there wasn't any change to his expression in the slightest. But in his heart, a wild tsunami of emotions was swirling.
    Despite what some versions of the fairy tales might write, Lancelot had never shared a bed with Guinevere. As for the awkward interactions between he and Lionus, this was only because Lionus had found out how close his mother and Lancelot were getting and felt uncomfortable by the changes.
    Lionus held a deep reverence for his father. He hoped to one day be as valiant and have his name resound in the ears of the people just as much as King Arthur did. So, when he stumbled upon his mother having a midnight conversation with Lancelot, his heart, too, was filled with all sorts of complex emotions.
    He had listened in on their conversation back then for just a few minutes. On the surface, there wasn't anything sinister or immoral about what they spoke aboutбн They conversed about the stars, their day, their hopes for the futureбн
    It was an innocent conversation without blemish, one that didn't carry any sense of infidelity in the slightestбн
    But, it was exactly this sort of conversation Lionus had never heard his mother exchange with his father.
    Despite being young then and still young even now, Lionus felt uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't put his finger on. It only made it worse that the reactions his mother and Lancelot had when they stumbled onto his eaves dropping were riddled with guilt.
    The three of them had a tacit understanding that day that what happened was wrong.
    Since then, Lionus had hardly spoken to his mother and was incredibly awkward around Lancelot. At the same time, though, he never brought this up to his father eitherбн
    The truth was that he couldn't decide whose side he was on.
    Back then, due to how much he worshipped his father, he felt an irrational hatred for his mother, causing him to pull away from her. But, as he grew up, the image of his perfect father also seemed to crack, but by then, it was already too late to grow closer to his mother.
    Somewhere deep inside, Lionus knew. He knew that his mother and feelings for Lancelot. He knew that Lancelot had feelings for his mother. He knew that both of them knew they were wrong. But, what he didn't know was how he felt about it.
    Seeing his mother grip his sister's hand in this way, he felt like this was a turning point.
    The relationship between his mother and father had been growing distant for a long time. He often felt like his birth was meant to mend what they had lost after his elder sister was driven away, but he was never quite able to fill that void.
    And now they were here.
    King Arthur's heartbeat erratically.
    Choosing to side with Leonel meant giving up all the power he had ever known. Though Leonel painted a pretty picture, he would have to expel all thoughts of sovereignty he had in his bones.
    In the future, when he saw those of higher standing than himself, he would have to bow and politely greet them. In the future, when he wanted to direct the movement of his people, he would have to consider the opinions of others and swallow his grievances. In the future, when he swore loyalty to this Ascension Empire, he would have to kneel and lower his head, accepting another man as being his superior.
    Just thinking about these things tore Arthur apart.
    He was a legend, a young man who rose up despite not having his parents. He was the chosen heir of Merlin. He was the boy who pulled the sword from the stone.
    How could he kneel to another? How could he swallow his pride? How could they ask this of him?
    Arthur's hands trembled, grasping tightly to the arm rests of his throne.
    At that moment, an audible crack resounded. With a blank look, Arthur looked down to find that his strength had splintered the arm of his throne.
    For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. It was like the sound ricocheted throughout his soul.
    Arthur closed his eyes and sank back into his seat.
    He seemed tired, his lustrous blond hair and radiant skin paling by several levels.
    "бн Camelot will side with the Demon Empire."

 Chapter 431: Legendary

    Leonel raised his eyebrows, clearly having not expected Arthur to come to a decision so quickly.
    In fact, the most surprised were those from the hidden families. They had come here with a lot of confidence and the only reason they hadn't interrupted during the extended silence was to give Arthur some space and respect.
    Negotiations were meant to be like a game of tug of war. A single volley of arguments should have never been enough to close the subject completely. They had expected Arthur to have some back and forth discourse with Leonel first before tracking back to them. Then, they could try to rebuttal some of Leonel's views.
    But, instead of any of that happening, King Arthur shut it all down from the beginning. In fact, he didn't even pause to have a conversation with his court ministers either. He just directly made the decision before them all.
    It was no surprise, then, that even the court ministers were shocked. The only one that didn't seem to have a violent reaction was Lancelot.
    He sighed deeply, closing his eyes. He sank back into his chair.
    "Hold on a moment, King, isn't this too rash?" Matteus' expression changed violently as he stood. "Please reconsider, there are still many matters I've yet to bring to the table.
    "Though what the child said about us is partially true, it is not completely so. Even without technology, we have access to many mystical means far beyond what mere иC"
    Arthur rose a hand, his eyes remaining closed.
    "That's enough. I've understood most things but my decision remains the same. If you would like to stay as ambassadors to my Kingdom, please feel free to do so иC we will accommodate you appropriately."
    Matteus' expression froze. Were things really going to end just like that? How had they lost to a kid who barely spoke a few words?
    Unfortunately, Matteus didn't really understand the backstory of it all. There were too many versions of the King Arthur story. He was shocked enough that Mordred was a woman, he would have never guessed that she was also Arthur's daughter.
    These intricacies were all things that Leonel picked up by being front and center within Camelot. Of course, he also got a bit lucky by being placed within the same trial as Mordred as well. But, regardless, these were all things outside of Matteus' grasp.
    Matteus didn't know what to say or how. Arthur's words were so final that any attempt he made to change them would come off as a sign of hostility.
    At that moment, Matteus felt a hand grasp onto his shoulder. He turned to find that it was the red haired Brazinger Clan member.
    "In that case, we will be taking our leave."
    Arthur nodded lightly and all the energy seemed to drain from him. Under a heavy silence, the four hidden family members walked away under the escort of several guards.
    бн
    "Fuck!"
    Matteus blasted a fist print into a thick tree. Despite his strength, the tree hardly swayed. But, that didn't stop bark from flying in every which direction.
    Though he had hid it well before, Matteus was completely enraged by Leonel bringing up his capture. He had already suffered ample punishment from the family, but to also be berated in public and looked down upon for itбн how could he not be enraged?
    It was no surprise that anyone part of the hidden families that could be on Earth currently didn't have very high statuses. The only exceptions to these rules were the youths that had yet to mature. In comparison, Matteus and the others were just glorified babysitters.
    In order to display a stronger front, the older members were sent to negotiate. But, Matteus had never expected to run into Leonel. Had he known, he would have allowed one of the others to speak even if the red haired man of the Brazinger family didn't.
    The flicker of a lighter caught Matteus' attention. He looked over to see the red haired man lighting up a cigarette.
    "Those things have been extinct for centuries, Laeron. Keep that cancer smoke away from me." Matteus waved his hand, slapping the grey smoke away.
    The green haired woman and the golden eyed man stood to the side, feeling somewhat impatient. They were more peeved about the wasted trip than Laeron seemed to be and were wondering why they were standing in a forest instead of returning home.
    "If you all are just going to stand here, I'm going to leave first." The woman spoke, pulling out a talisman.
    "Hold on there, Zindi. What's the hurry?" Laeron spoke languidly.
    Zindi sneered. "You seem quite relaxed for a man who was almost killed by a brat."
    Laeron's gaze flashed with killing intent as he swept it over Zindi.
    "Almost killed by who?"
    "Stop wasting my time, Laeron. Have a good reason for stopping me or I'm leaving right now." Zindi replied without fear.
    Laeron continued to coldly glare at Zindi as though he hadn't heard a word she said.
    "Alright, alright." The blond man stepped in. "That's enough. I'm sure you had a reason for leading us here instead of letting us go home to report this, correct?"
    The blond man was known as Ameron. His words seemed to hold quite some weight because instead of continuing to glare at Zindi, Laeron took another long puff and exhaled slowly.
    "бн You guys plan to go back and report a failure? Why? So that you can fall even more out of favor?"
    "What are you trying to say, Laeron?" Ameron's gaze narrowed.
    "I'm saying that you're giving up too soon, tucking your tails and running just because a fairy tale character told you no?" Laeron chuckled, taking another big puff.
    "And what do you want us to do about it exactly?" Zindi interjected.
    Matteus turned an eye toward Laeron. Clearly, he was interested as well.
    "Didn't I already give you the answer?" Laeron smiled slyly. "Do you get the impression from them that they understand that they're nothing but a bedtime story?"
    The three's eyes widened as Laeron continued.
    "I noticed that that 'Queen Guinevere' was quite close to that 'Demon Empress' in the court room, they were even holding hands at the end there like a pair of girlpals. I have a gut feeling that folk tale of a King only made such a decision because he sided with his wife.
    "I wonder how he'd react if he knew aside from being the legendary boy who pulled the sword from the stone that... he was just as legendary of a cuck?"

 Chapter 432: Go

    Arthur stood and walked off, leaving the Royal Court room alone.
    One would have thought that he would bask in his decision, even try to reconnect with his wife and daughter immediately. Unfortunately, unlike Laeron made it seem, this wasn't a fairy tale. People don't change immediately, neither can relationships fractured over several decades be repaired in a day.
    At this moment, Arthur was feeling quite desolate.
    Pride was a hard thing to overcome, especially when it was your own. Now, Arthur had to come to grips with the fact that he would not only be handing over something he had worked his whole life to build, but in doing so would have to act like he was grateful.
    It was a difficult thing for a man to set aside his pride. It was even more difficult for a King to do so. It was difficult to the point where even though Arthur knew that he stood at a diverging path иC one facing his family and the other facing his kingdom иC he still found this decision hard to swallow.
    The Royal Court remained silent. It was taboo for a King to display such emotion and this could be the first time any of them had ever seen Arthur like this.
    Guinevere cast a glance toward Arthur's back but she hesitated. Her gaze wanted to shift to another place, but she didn't dare to look.
    Their relationship had never borne any fruit, but Guinevere still felt all sort of complex emotions about it. Guilt, trepidationбн but even those were accented by a budding sweetness and a freedom she hadn't felt in a long time.
    She couldn't help but feel like she had taken advantage of Lancelot's feelings to make herself feel better. Such a thing filled her with a swirl of thoughts she didn't know how to deal with.
    "Your Majesty."
    Leonel's sudden voice drifted to Guinevere's ears, stunning the Queen. She had never interacted with Leonel before and the start of such communication at this particular moment left her at a loss. If she was honest with herself, though she was grateful to Leonel, he was the last person she wanted to talk to now.
    However, Leonel's next words shook her to her core.
    "Go speak with him and be as open and honest as possible."
    Guinevere froze, her hand involuntarily tightening around Mordred's.
    Mordred, who had, of course, not been expecting this looked toward her mother. However, she couldn't hear Leonel's words at all.
    "It will be difficult." Leonel continued. "However, what Arthur needs the most now is your transparency. When a man loses everything, his family is his only pillar."
    Guinevere wanted to lash out at Leonel's words. However, she couldn't, not because she didn't have the mind to, but because she couldn't replicate Leonel's silent communication. This left her feeling overly stifled and her breathing even hitched, her grip tightening on Mordred's hand again.
    She was a Queen. Maybe in some ways, the same pride that ran in Arthur's veins ran through her own.
    But, it was even deeper than this, anyone being confronted about such an intimate matter would react defensively first. This would be the case even if two people were close, let alone if they couldn't have been closer to strangers like Leonel and Guinevere.
    This in addition to the fact Guinevere was a woman while Leonel was a man, all added to the fact she was a Queen used to an unblemished and polished imageбн Guinevere felt a mixture of embarrassment, unwillingness, and unending grievances.
    As if all this wasn't bad enough, Leonel was a kid in Guinevere's eyes. What did he know about being a man? Such words coming from the mouth of a teenage boy felt like a bunch of flowery nonsense without substance.
    However, Leonel knew he had no choice but to continue to push.
    When Arthur made his decision, he felt that feeling again, that feeling that something was about to change. Spark lit in his mind, but he had no way of fully connecting them. He had no choice but to act on his instincts and hope for the best.
    "I know that hearing all of this from me fills you with feelings you don't know how to deal with, and I know that communicating with you in this way where you can't respond to me is even more stifling. I can't comfort you with any words outside of this.
    "I only want you to know that I have the best interest of Camelot at heart. Have you wondered why it is I know about these things I shouldn't?"
    Leonel's final question caused Guinevere to freeze completely. All her anger vanished with the wind, a deep trepidation gripping her heart.
    "All I want you to ask yourself is if you would rather him hear it all from your lips? Or find out through the words of another?"
    Guinevere clenched her jaw, her eyes reddening.
    "Mo иC"
    Mordred's words paused before she finished them. Could she really still call Guinevere mother? She didn't know if she was ready for such a thing yetбн
    But, she had no idea just the start of her words snapped Guinevere back to reality.
    Guinevere looked toward where Arthur disappeared and back toward her daughter.
    "Mordred, Iбн"
    Guinevere was completely flustered. She forgot about how she had address Mordred as Demon Empress all this time. A motherly tone involuntarily came from her.
    However, surprisingly, Mordred wasn't off put by this. In fact, she seemed to understand something as she smiled lightly.
    "Go."
    Guinevere's eyes uncontrollably teared. If it wasn't for the court ministers having become lost in their own debates about the changes coming to Camelot, she would have instantly become the center of attention.
    There were two that did notice thoughбн
    Her son was the first and the second was Lancelot.
    Guinevere stood slowly, her hand still wrapped around her daughter's. She looked intently at Mordred as though making sure it was truly alright. She had already abandoned her daughter once, she couldn't stand the thought of doing it again.
    But, seeing the reassuring gaze Mordred returned her, her back straightened, a certain determination lighting her beautiful eyes.
    She released Mordred's hand, a light smile on her face. Back straight, she walked toward the direction her husband left in.
    From start to finish, she didn't look toward Lancelot. She seemed to be using her actions to convey something profound. But, ultimately, it all led to the broken heart of a Knight.

 Chapter 433: Cloud

    "I think I will return now." Mordred said softly, motioning toward Crakos.
    From start to finish, the #1 Demon Lord hadn't said a word and had simply observed things. Though he received many looks and several auras were constantly locked onto him, the Demon Lord always remained calm, restraining his own.
    Leonel nodded lightly. He knew that Mordred had gone through a lot today. The wounds she had suffered in her past couldn't be cured so quickly, but Leonel felt content that they were going in the right direction.
    He and Mordred practically knew everything about one another. In many ways, Leonel felt that he was closer to her than he had ever been to James. Seeing her slowly coming back to her family left him feeling happy.
    "What's with that smile?" Mordred teased. "Is big sis very beautiful?"
    Leonel coughed, not knowing how to respond. But, his predictable reaction left the Demon Empress giggling.
    Just as Mordred was about to turn to leave, Leonel suddenly spoke out.
    "Demo иC Em, I take you to be one of my close friends now. I just wanted you to know that."
    Mordred's steps froze, looking back toward Leonel with surprise.
    Seeing those clear, pale green eyes and that handsome, charismatic smile, she felt her heart shudder. For some reason, she felt her tears well up in her eyes.
    She quickly dried them with a subtle use of Force, not letting them fall. Then, just as quickly as she had almost cried, she smiled a charming smile.
    "Big sis has more to teach you about women. Rule number one is to not make them cry."
    Mordred strolled away under the escort of several guards, clicking her tongue as though she was still reprimanding Leonel. But, in response, Leonel only chuckled.
    "You must be happy having such a beautiful friend, hm?"
    Aina's voice disrupted Leonel's mood, causing his coughing fit to return.
    "бн It's fine, I'm pretty sure Em only likes women anyway." Leonel quickly recovered.
    "So you mean that if she liked men instead you'd be happier?"
    "Ahбн"
    Leonel had been checkmated once again. He didn't know how all his insane thinking speed and people skills couldn't find him a path out of this.
    Luckily, he then heard Aina begin to giggle to herself, the soft bells of her laughter warming his heart.
    He didn't know when Aina got such a teasing side to her. The two sides Leonel knew were either the overly shy Aina or the bloody killer Aina.
    What he didn't know was that Aina had no choice but to begin teasing Leonel like this. Before, it felt as though Leonel was always the one causing her to be flustered. Getting back at him now made her feel much better.
    Maybe even Aina herself didn't realize that in order to tease Leonel like this, she had to play into the fact they were a couple. Who knows how she'd react if she realized what her jokes meantбн
    Leonel suddenly sighed, thinking back to Arthur and Guinevere.
    "бн Do you think we'd ever grow apart like that?" He suddenly asked.
    Aina froze. She hadn't even thought through herself what she felt for Leonel, she didn't even believe she had the time to think of such things now.
    Being presented so suddenly with such a loaded question left her not knowing what to say for a long time.
    "бн Is it possible for you to grow distant from me?"
    Aina asked a question back herself.
    Maybe deep down she was also afraid of such a possibility. Leonel had pursued her so doggedly for years. She couldn't help but admit to herself that she thought he would have given up on her a long time ago.
    During those days, her best friends were Yuri and Savahn. Savahn especially used to always say that men were just like that. They loved the chase, but the moment they got something, they would soon grow bored and leave it behind for other things.
    Though Aina never really took much of her rants seriously, she had to admit to herself that thinking of this might have subconsciously been one of the reason she also never tried to respond to Leonel.
    This had left her in a perpetual cycle where she never said yes but also never said noбн
    She never quite understood why Leonel was so infatuated with her. She hadn't been the most beautiful in their school, and now she was even further from that reality thanks to these scars. It was even possible that the reason she hadn't shut down Leonel's line of questioning like she would have usually done was precisely because she could no longer bury her curiosityбн
    However, Leonel's response left her completely shaken.
    "Yes. Yes, I could grow apart from you."
    Aina couldn't explain it, but she felt as though her whole world was collapsing at that very moment. Her mind swam, her vision even blurring.
    She hadn't expected a particular answer, but what she absolutely never expected was for a response to be able to flip her world upside down like this.
    The feeling was so real and undeniable that even she couldn't mistake what it was any longer.
    It hurt. Like a twisting knife at her heart, it tore her apart.
    Her vision blurred. But, it was hard to tell if it was due to tears or if it was the foggy state her mind had entered.
    "Butбн" Leonel continued. "бн That's if and only if you stop trusting me."
    Aina's breath, hitched and hiccupped like she couldn't hear Leonel at all. It felt as though she couldn't breathe enough air, as though there wasn't enough oxygen in the world. Every huff she took felt filled with smoke.
    "Aina."
    Leonel frowned, gripping onto Aina's hands.
    In her panicked state, she tried to shake Leonel's arms off her. She used such force that Leonel was almost thrown across the room. But, he held onto her tightly, gripping the sides of her face and forcing her to look at him.
    By this point, Leonel had already put up a [Light Refraction] spell. He hadn't expected Aina to react so violently, but the last thing she needed now was to be seen by others.
    Aina struggled, but Leonel didn't let her slip away.
    "Aina."
    Leonel's deep, rumbling voice seemed to finally cut deep enough, shaking Aina out of her panicked state.
    "I am a person who severs his emotions easily when I find a logical reason to do so. The only reason it was hard for me to kill for a long time was? because I felt my life was worth the same as anyone else's. So, why should I kill them just for me to survive? Sometimes I even fear that one day I really will feel that I am better than others and will no longer have a reason to hold back...
    "However, at the same time, for a very long while, I believed that my mother had abandoned me. Since the day I drew that conclusion, I never thought of her, dreamed of her, or pined after her."
    The more Leonel spoke, the more Aina seemed to calm down. The rushing tides of her heart slowed to a normal ebb and flow, her breathing slowly returning to normal.
    Leonel eased his hands away, his gaze becoming much more gentle.
    "I know that you have a heavy burden on your heart. All I want you to know is that I'm here to bear it with you. I just want you to trust me, lean on me. Never go off on your own and do something stupid because I will not come to save you. Do you understand me?"
    Aina's pupils trembled.
    Where were the words of romance? Where were the talks of running through the fires of hell and smashing the gates of heaven to make it back to her?
    But, noбн These weren't the words that Leonel spoke.
    "As long as you trust me, place your whole faith in me, lean on me like I will lean on youбн If you can do this, I swear on my life that I will never leave your side."
    The tears in Aina's eyes could no longer be held back. They fell like an endless flood. This time, she knew exactly why her vision had blurred.
    And, maybe it was exactly because her vision blurred that she couldn't react in time. Before she knew what was happening, she felt something hot and heavy press over her lips.
    Her heart seemed to explode. Feelings she had never felt before kept bubbling forth.
    Warmth. Sweetness. Anxiousness.
    As though butterfly wings had spread within her chest, she felt like she was floating on a cloud.
    ...
    [Author's Note below (12/9/21)!]

 Chapter 434: Kiss

    It wasn't the most romantic kiss as kisses went.
    In the stories, the couple would be on a hill by a setting sun or beneath the rain and awashed in emotions. But, there was no beautiful scenery to be seen. In fact, with a look around, there was nothing but a bland Royal Court still suffused with a heavy atmosphere.
    In the stories, maybe some loving words would have just been said. But, Leonel had just finished with telling Aina that he had no intention of saving her if she went off and did something stupid on her own.
    In the stories, the female lead would be gorgeous and flawless. But, Aina was still scarred. Even as he kissed her, Leonel could feel the imperfections running across her lips.
    Still, even with all of this said, Leonel felt as though he was on the top of the world. To veterans of love, Leonel had barely given Aina a peck on the lips. But to him, it felt as though he had conquered the world. It felt better than anything he had ever experienced beforeбн no game he had ever won, no battle he had ever claimed victory in, no complicated thought he had ever finished could match up to the euphoria he was experiencing now.
    It was only when Leonel sensed his hastily put up [Light Refraction] spell wavering that he retreated despite his reluctance. However, his actions allowed him to see a scene he would never forget.
    Aina still sat on her chair, her legs swung in his direction. But, her two hands were over her heart, one balled into a fist and the other wrapped around it. They pressed against her chest as though she was trying to stop her heart from escaping.
    Her lips were slightly separated and trembling, her breathing wild an erratic. A blush travelled up from her neck and through her face, not missing even her trembling eyelids that still hung closed.
    Though she only remained in this position for a fraction of a moment, Leonel's burned the image into his mind, even down to the way she slightly leaned forward as though subconsciously asking for more.
    "Ah!"
    Aina awoke from her stupor, the flash of crimson across her face and neck deepening by several shades.
    "Youбн Youбн Iбн"
    Aina's words stuttered.
    Leonel grinned like a madman, the deep, rumbling cadence of his heart making his emotions clear.
    "You can't deny that you like me now, right?"
    "Iбн Youбн" Aina was speechless.
    She stood up quickly, wanting to run away. But, this time, Leonel grabbed onto her wrist.
    "бн Don't run anymoreбн Okay?" Leonel's grin faded and his tone softened.
    Aina's chest heaved, her breath feeling short once again. But, seeing the look in Leonel's eyes made her shudder, a wave of guilt overwhelming her.
    She took deep breaths, allowing Leonel to lightly hold onto her wrist. She looked down at him from her standing position, her gaze a wild mix of emotions. But, Leonel's own remained steady, like a pillar waiting for her to lean on it.
    "бн Okayбн" Aina nodded almost imperceptibly, her voice as quiet as the wings of a butterfly.
    Leonel smiled. It was no longer a wild grin, but it had a level of peace to it that made Aina almost start shedding tears again.
    Leonel rose to his full height. The way he almost cast a shadow over Aina made her oddly feel at peace, the erratic beat of her heart finally slowing to a crawl.
    "Lean on me from now on, alright?"
    Aina looked up as Leonel stroked her hair. For some reason, she no longer felt shy or apprehensive. She even felt quite calm.
    She nodded almost imperceptibly again.
    For the first time in a long while, Leonel felt relaxed. Standing here like this as though they were in their own world despite everything going on around them felt like a remedy to all that had ailed him.
    Since the Metamorphosis began, he had lost contact with his only family, he had lost his home, he had constantly been on the run or in a perpetual state of battleбн Ironically, the first time he truly got any semblance of rest was while he was negotiating for peace on Mordred's behalf.
    But now, he had found a self-sustaining peace. He felt that no matter where he was or what he was doing, even if he was in the midst of blood and warбн As long as she was by his side he would never feel so lost again.
    You know, people say that all the emotions one put into something never paid off when you truly received itбн
    Athletes spent their whole lives working toward becoming the best of the best, but after winning it all once, it never quite felt the same afterward.
    The richest men and women in the world devote themselves to growing their net worth to heights still yet unseen, but no matter how much they make, it will never feel as good as the first 100 000 they made.
    This seemed to just be human nature.
    Yet, even after Leonel spent five years chasing Aina, even as their relationship slowly became closer over the last yearбн he swore to himself that none of it could compare to this moment.
    It couldn't be described as a tsunami of emotions but could rather be summarized in a single wordбн
    Contentment.
    When Leonel pulled himself out of his languid daze, he grinned once again.
    "You know, we have yet to have our first date as a newly minted couple."
    "Huh?" Aina was shocked awake by Leonel's words. She wanted to refute, but couldn't seem to find the words to. She had already promised not to run away any longer, but she was shocked by the sudden labeling of their relationship.
    Leonel's grin only grew wider.
    "I don't think we should have a normal first date, though. Wouldn't that be too boring? A picnic or a stroll at the park doesn't really suit us, don't you think?"
    Aina raised her brows, her amber irises almost reflecting gold as she looked toward Leonel. She seemed to understand what he was getting at.
    "What better first date for us than a date to kill?"
    Leonel's grin suddenly became somewhat sinister.

 Chapter 435: Pressure

    Laeron, Zindi, Matteus, and Ameron still hadn't left. How could they, they were waiting for a proper opportunity.
    The truth was that although Laeron's plan was excellent, executing it would be far more difficult. It wasn't as though they could just plop a bunch of novels and movies in front of King Arthur and expect him to read and watch them all.
    Whether he even would was one matter, but by the time he did it would probably already be too late. Who cared if Arthur threw a fit after Camelot had already been assimilated by The Empire? By then, they could just send someone to kill him with ease and it wouldn't matter in the slightest.
    "бн Our best bet is most definitely an illusion specialist. It will be difficult finding one strong enough to cause him to fall, and even more expensive, but it will be worth it. It's the most seamless option we have."
    The four of them seemed to all agree with this.
    King Arthur's strength was something they looked down upon initially, until they were in the same room as the man. They couldn't deny the pressure he placed on them, it was undeniable.
    "Not a bad plan."
    The four were stunned. If these word had been spoken by one of them, it would be fine. The issue was that it most definitely hadn't been. And, to make things worse, they recognized the voice it was spoken by as well.
    Leonel slowly walked out of the forest, causing the four to be shaken. How had they not heard his approach until just now? That was impossible.
    Ameron's gaze narrowed, his golden eyes piercing toward Leonel.
    Unfortunately, before they could focus too much on Leonel, another, much louder set a footsteps caught their attention. They spun around, only to find Aina walking forward with a great sword dragging in her hands across the forest floor. Compared to the flustered girl she had been just a while prior, her current cold expression seemed worlds apart.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    A little mink dashed along the tree branches, appearing from a third direction.
    "Leonel, what do you think you're doing?!"
    Matteus could no longer hold back his temper. Leonel had already infuriated him enough once, but this blatant provocation was too much for any human to handle.
    "Do you understand what you're doing, kid?" Zindi cut in, her green eyes locking onto Leonel.
    "Enlighten me."
    Instead of taking these words as an opportunity, the four hidden family members only grew more enraged toward Leonel's response. They didn't want to have to explain themselves to a child, and it seemed even more pathetic to do so. Those who had strength didn't need to speak, they could just do. They didn't have to convince anyone of anything.
    "No takers?" Leonel almost pouted in disappointment.
    Truthfully, he was looking forward to learning more about these hidden families. Other than seeing their hair color, he knew nothing else about them.
    Well, he did know a bit about the Brazinger family's Lineage Factor thanks to Aina. But, this was about it.
    Leonel shook his head.
    "I'll give you four two options.
    "The first option is to surrender. Allow us to escort you to a holding cell within Camelot until negotiations are complete. After this, we will release you and you can go about your business.
    "The second is to battle. Should you do this, however, you will definitely die."
    Leonel didn't add any flowery words of encouragement or any coercion in the slightest. He simply laid out the facts as they were.
    These four had no idea, but they were facing two opponents who had already stepped into the Fourth Dimension. Not only had Aina done so, but the little mink had done so as well. On top of that, there was Leonel whose ability was already at the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension and was supported by a mind within the Fourth.
    With only four of themбн they simply stood no chance.
    The truth was that Leonel suspected that Ameron had already stepped into the Fourth Dimension. He could tell simply by observing him that he was different from the other three. But, Leonel didn't believe that this would make a large difference.
    Still, Leonel made a mental note that he needed to understand more about the Fourth Dimension. Because he didn't have the latter portions of [Dimensional Cleanse], he was flying in the dark about how the power systems of the Fourth Dimension functioned. As such, he found it difficult to scan the 'stats' of someone within this Dimension.
    However, Leonel's gut feeling told him that the combination of Aina and the little mink was more than enough to deal with this golden haired man. As for the other threeбн they were his.
    "So, which choice will you make."
    Leonel brandished his bow, his demeanor calm and collected.
    The four began to sweat. This wasn't just a problem of facing the three before them. The main issue was that they were still in enemy territory.
    Defeating these brats was one thing, but what if Camelot mobilized an army? What would they do then?
    They didn't feel that these three were stupid enough to come without requesting any sort of back up assistanceбн right? They couldn't have?
    Leonel's lip curled into a smile. The most important thing about applying pressure on a person wasn't how much you applied, but when you applied it.
    If you used all your tactics immediately on a strong minded individual, they would all fall flat. But, if you simply poked at someone when they were in their most fragile stateбн
    They would collapse like a house of cards.
    Leonel pointed toward the green haired lady.
    "You have a Lineage Factor that has great synergy with plants. In your mind, you're probably undefeatable in a forest facing opponents like us, right? You're probably even more confident than a usual member of your family because your ability is an A-grade Harden ability that reinforces the chemical structure of objects to make them tougher than the strongest diamonds and the best alloysбн is that right?
    "Quite a great synergy of your abilities. Would be quite a hassle to deal with a flood of vines all harder than the sharpest swords."
    Zindi shuddered, the subtle movements she had made to control the vegetation in the surroundings coming to a grinding halt.
    Leonel's smirk deepened, pointing toward Matteus.
    "And youбн"

 Chapter 436: Stalled.

    "бн Your Lineage Factor is quite interesting. A defensive type Lineage Factor that relies on the fluidity of your body, is that right? Your ability is a C-grade sharpened sight ability that also synergizes well with your Lineage Factor. I'm sure you're good at hand to hand combat, commendable."
    Leonel spoke with a smile, his demeanor relaxed.
    "There's also you." Leonel continued. "Your Light Elemental Lineage Factor is quite intriguing, focusing on your attack strength, hm? I'm sure that pairing that with your Fifth Dimensional Wind Elemental ability helps you quite a bit, right?"
    Ameron's gaze narrowed further. Leonel's words had subtly revealed the fact he was quite aware of his strength yet still dared to stand here.
    Among those here, he was the only one with an ability that touched the realms of the Fifth Dimension, or so he thought. But now that Leonel was speaking so nonchalantly, he wasn't confident in this matter any longer. Was this brat more dangerous than he originally thought?
    "And you." Leonel's smile faded, his gaze locking onto Laeron, the red-haired Brazinger family member.
    "Your Lineage Factor is related to your blood and your bodily strength. As for your ability, it's of the S-grade and only gives you perfect recall of events, is that right?"
    Leonel's cheerfulness had completely vanished. Even as a method of applying pressure, he couldn't stand to continue putting up such a fa?ade for a man from that family.
    "So, what is your choice?" Leonel continued coldly.
    The pressure was palpable.
    In this world, one of the most protected secrets of a person was their ability. When it came down to a crucial moment, what an opponent did or didn't know about your ability could decide your life and death.
    The simple truth was that abilities came in all shapes and sizes. And, even if by some miracle two people received two near identical abilities, the methods by which they used them could be strikingly different.
    In a fictional world, everyone had set and predictable patterns that could be used to follow an opponent's intentions in the midst of battle. But, in the real world, a burly man could just as easily bring out a strong wind affinity, a person with a strong Fire Lineage Factor could easily be born with a Water Elemental ability, it was even possible for a close combat specialist to be even better in the long range simply due to an ability they were born with.
    So, one could imagine how it might feel to have your abilities displayed so grandly. And, not only that, but for their Lineage Factors to be exposed as well. Almost any thoughts they had of surprise or trickery vanished.
    It was at that moment that Laeron suddenly began to laugh.
    "You know, all this time I was wondering why it was you hated me so much." Laeron's laughter grew, his blood boiling. "So that's why, that's whyбн I get it, I get itбн"
    Leonel calmly weighed his black bow in his hands, his gaze never leaving the four before him.
    Laeron's gaze turned toward Aina and his laughter only grew.
    "бн Brats, I have nothing to do with the matters of all those years ago. I'm not sure why you're targeting me for the actions of a few. Those people you want to kill me for only treat me slightly better than the piece of dirt they see those of impure blood as."
    Laeron's gaze reddened. Clearly, he was feeling indignant.
    His feelings made sense, for the most part. He obviously didn't receive very great treatment from the family. Maybe it was because his talent wasn't as great, maybe it was because his ability didn't have very great offensive prowess, or maybe it was because he didn't have much backing within the family itself.
    Regardless of the reason, being targeted because of the actions of someone you didn't like very much to begin with wasn't a pleasant feeling.
    Of course Laeron remembered Aina. Leonel had just described his ability as perfect recall. It could be said that the only reason he didn't recognize Aina immediately was because it had been almost two decades since he last saw her from afar.
    In fact, it wasn't even Aina's looks. No, what he remembered was the exact pattern of the scars drawn across her face. This was his perfect recall at workбн How could two women have the exact same pattern of scars?
    Leonel's gaze narrowed at Laeron's words, but he still nodded slightly. Even though he wanted to reject Laeron's words due to his own bias, he knew that not accepting such a thing and hating him just because of the family he came from would make him no different from the Brazinger family.
    "Like I've said already, if you want to live then just surrender yourselves. I'll release you all just the same."
    "And you expect me to believe that?"
    "Do you have a choice? Do you really think we came here alone? The only reason the others haven't closed in is because there's no need to risk innocent lives when it could all be resolved by us. But, if you force us to act, even if by some miracle you manage to defeat the three of us, there'll be a world's Kingdom waiting to deal with you."
    Laeron and the others shuddered. The only one who still managed to remain a semblance of calm was Ameron.
    After a long while, Ameron sighed.
    "Kids are getting more and more brazen everyday. We asked you if you really knew what you were getting into before, but the question still remains the same. Are you sure you know what you're getting into?"
    Leonel shook his head. "Seems you're the one still not getting it. Sir Lancelot!"
    At that moment, the clanking of armor sounded.
    Ameron's confident expression finally changed. In the seemingly quiet forest, the sound of unsheathing blades and rattling chainmail rebounded through the greenery.
    Somehow, without their knowledge, an entire troop of knights had surrounded them from all directions.
    At this point, Ameron realized he had been played. Though Leonel was maybe confident in defeating them all, doing so while also preventing them from having enough time to activate their talismans to return to Earth would have been too difficult.
    So, he stalled for time.
    Now where would they go?

 Chapter 437: Complete.

    Leonel watched as the four were escorted away.
    He felt better than he thought he would. Being able to resolve things with his words again rather than his fists left him feeling light.
    Well, technically he still relied on strength this time around. If it wasn't for his vastly improved method of using Camelot's Mage Art magic system, it would have been impossible for him to hide so much movement from them all, this was especially considering Laeron's perfect recall ability. If there was even a single blade of grass out of place, he likely would have been seen through.
    Still, Leonel was happy. He didn't have anything to complain about. He could only hope that the negotiations The Empire went as smoothly.
    Unfortunately, Leonel could only be hopeful about this. The power imbalance between The Empire and them, even if Camelot and the Demon Empire came together, was too large. He obviously couldn't use bully tactics as he had just done if this was the case.
    "Are you sure we'll be able to hold him?"
    A sudden voice cut into Leonel's thoughts. When he looked over, he found Lancelot's figure beside him.
    Lancelot was wearing the same smile he always his did. His mood seemed great. But, Leonel was quite aware that much of this was a fa?ade.
    A leader of men didn't always have the luxury of wearing his heart on his sleeve. This was a curse that it seemed both Lancelot and Arthur were afflicted with.
    Leonel nodded. "The restrictions I placed on him are modified Three Star Magus Arts. Though they're not able to stop him completely, it will take him some effort to break them even if he goes all out. My estimates sits at бн seven seconds. By the time he breaks it, I'll already be aware and that time is enough for me to activate the teleportation key I hid on him."
    Lancelot nodded with some assurance, his smile as bright as ever.
    "About these negotiations, Leonel. I'm curious about this Ascension Empire and what joining them means for Camelot."
    Leonel sighed. "The Ascension Empire is just like any other. Its main focus is growth, expansion and holding onto its power. In the past, what mattered most was your talent and now what also matters most is still your talent. In truth, I wouldn't say that it's any different from Camelot. The only difference is that compared to being at the top like you are now, you will have to fight to hold such a position again."
    Leonel swept a glance toward Lancelot, half expecting him to defend Camelot and speak words about how much they loved their people and other similar things.
    In truth, Leonel was being quite kind to Camelot. Compared to The Empire, Camelot treated its 'lesser-thans' far worse. At least on the surface, anyway.
    Leonel would never forget that The Empire allowed billions to die just so that it would be easier to deal with Invalid tides. In fact, much of the reason Leonel didn't run into an Invalid despite the early stages Earth was in was precisely because of this.
    Other worlds in similar positions would have to spend centuries fighting against Invalids. By the time they established themselves, their worlds would have to be separated in safe and unsafe zones.
    But, by killing so much immediately, Earth never had to deal with this problem. And, with the exception of the oceans where humans couldn't normally reside anyway, everywhere else was still reasonably safe.
    Sometimes, Leonel couldn't help but wonder how much of the invention of Paradise Islands were about land shortageбн and how much was a plan for this all alongбн
    "I see." Lancelot nodded, not a hint of derision on his face. "I hope they will be better at finding talents than we have been."
    Lancelot smiled somewhat sadly, a slight crack showing in his usual fa?ade.
    "I didn't have an opportunity to say it before, but I'm sorry for what happened to you. To think that you would also be our savior as well, how ironic."
    Leonel gave a slight chuckle. "I can't take credit for that, it wasn't intentional. In truth, I did it mostly to save my own life. It's just that my selfishness happened to help others."
    "Selfishness, huhбн?" Lancelot sighed, his blue irises dimming somewhat. "бн It's unfortunate that selfishness isn't always possible, and selflessness isn't always rewarded."
    Leonel remained silent for a long while before finally speaking.
    "Selflessness can only be rewarded after selfishness has finished taking everything it wants first. After that, the selfless can only find time and space to heal."
    Lancelot froze. He looked toward Leonel's side profile, his pupils visibly trembling.
    Was it just a coincidence?
    Leonel's words seemed to resonate with Lancelot's soul.
    'Time and space to healбн'
    At that moment, the ground beneath their feet began to shake.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. 'It's here? That was enough?'
    All this time, Leonel had felt a feeling tugging at the back of his mind. However, his Dreamscape didn't seem capable of finding the answer. So, Leonel did it himself.
    Leonel's mind was even more powerful than maybe even he himself knew. The more he thought about it, the more possibilities he crossed offбн the more he realized that there was only one possible explanation leftбн
    The Zone quests hadn't ended yet.
    Camelot had already become a part of true history and Leonel had already saved King Arthur from a fate of death, if he could just resolve the love triangle, everything would be perfect.
    Butбн there was one issue with this.
    Leonel couldn't possibly kill Mordred. Let alone the fact that he wouldn't have the heart to do so even if he didn't know her so well, they were now intimately acquainted. To Leonel, killing Mordred would feel no different from killing any one of his teammates. He couldn't bear it.
    But, that moment when he called Mordred his friend, something clicked.
    Zones were not a game so their quests didn't exist just for the sake of existing. The quests were in place as guides to those who entered, allowing them to help along the resolution of the Zone as a whole.
    This was a simple matter. Leonel had long since learned as much during his time within the Joan Zone.
    What did all of this mean, then? It meant that the quests themselves were not as important as the function they served!
    Saving King Arthur. Resolving the love triangle. Killing Mordred. Making King Arthur a part of true historyбн
    What did all of these quests have in common? It was all about resolving Arthur as a person, helping him to complete his character arc.
    Often times it was difficult for someone who had been wronged to forgive. There was definitely a timeline of events where Mordred would never forgive her father and even choose to continue her attempts to kill him.
    When a person is too far gone, despite how tragic their pasts might be, the crudest way to deal with them would be to kill themбн
    In such a reality, Arthur would mourn the loss of his daughter with his wife and son while Lancelot, being the good man that he is, would take a step back and allow the family to come together. In such a way, Mordred's death would become the catalyst to truly heal Arthur of his ailments.
    Butбн What if Mordred didn't choose that path? What if she was alright with reconnecting with her family? What ifбн she made the first friend she ever had?
    In such a case, wouldn't it fulfill the same requirements as her death would have?
    The savior of King Arthur. The manifestation of Camelot. The resolution of the love triangle. The 'death' of Mordred.
    The sound of shattering glass resounded throughout the small moon as the world continued to tremble.
    Leonel felt his heart suddenly thrum to life. It wasn't just him, but every citizen of Earth's world felt the very same way at that exact moment.
    It was then Leonel understood what his actions meant.
    Earth was evolving into a Fourth Dimensional world.
    However, Leonel expected what happened next even less.

 Chapter 438: Anared

    It had been several weeks since the disappearance of Leonel and Aina. By now, those who had spectated the Brave City trials were well aware that these two youths would not have to participate.
    Of course, many had an understanding of exactly what this meant. For these two to be personally escorted by the overseers and then disappear, there was a high likelihood that both Leonel and Aina were given the rights to directly enter Valiant Heart Mountain.
    Unfortunately, there was nothing the others could do about this. Without a choice, they could only continue to follow the proceedings, hoping to gain a spot for themselves.
    Still, this was the real world. Hopes and dreams couldn't be manifested at will, nor could strong desires make one more talented or wield more power. The so-called 'geniuses' of Terrain fell one after another beneath the trials and it very much seemed as though this would be a repeat of every other year prior where not a single person was selected.
    However, it was exactly then that a young man stood out.
    The story of Anared Kaefir, the Heir to the Kaefir City Lord title was quite an interesting one. Since his youth, he had always been known as the genius of Terrain just as much as he had been known for his insane tendencies.
    He was a man who protected his little sister to a fault and was even quite protective of his little sister's best friend as well, though she could be a bit of a ditz. However, the truth was that Anared had always been within the realm of understanding for those of Terrain.
    Though he was lauded and praised, he was ultimately just one of a long line of geniuses that wouldn't amount to much at all in the Dimensional Verse. Terrain was too small, the talents it could produce were too weak, and the starting point of those talents it did manage to produce were too lowбн
    With these shackles on his future progress, Anared participated in the last Brave City trial. Without suspense, just like all those who came before him, he failed.
    The memory was still quite vivid in the eyes of those who had witnessed it all.
    There were a total of eight trials to complete. In order to be accepted into Valiant Heart Mountain as the lowest tier disciple, it was necessary to pass at least the fourth. But back then, Anared only managed to make it halfway through the second trial.
    The trial was a sea of wooden puppets. The only task was to make it from one side of the room to the other, but for so many, it was a trial they would never pass.
    As a mere King back then, Anared scratched and clawed, his eyes a furious shade of red. Even when he was forcefully pulled out of the trial by the overseers at that time, his gaze was still wholly focused on the goal ahead of him. He looked like he would rather die than not make it to the other side.
    It was impossible to tell what his motivation was. Who could read the mind of a madman?
    Did he just want to get stronger? Did he have something to protect? Something he wanted to accomplish?
    No one knew.
    But those red eyes and the way he clung to the broken hilt of his sword was seared into the minds of all those who watched that day.
    After failing the trial, it became hard to hear of Anared again. All people knew was that he went off to travel for several years, even missing the next entry to Brave City. Many thought he had given up due to thatбн But, no one blamed him.
    He was a talented young man who went to see the world and even managed to come back with a beautiful wife. There was no doubt that Heira was a preeminent beauty of Terrain. Not only this, but she also had the refined demeanor of a lady.
    But, what no one expected was for Anared to participate in this one as well. Not only for him to succeedбн but for him to completely out perform his previous limitations.
    Many thought that Anared was at most on par with the other Emperors. In fact, due to the way he reacted when the other Emperors came to apply pressure to his Sector, many confirmed this belief.
    But, once again, no one could get a read on the thoughts of a madman.
    He crossed the third trial and faced the fourth. Many Emperors of the past had reached this level but could never clear it.
    It was a trial that tested one's movement speed and flexibility, a death obstacle course of swinging blades and shadow-hidden assassins.
    Yet, Anared crossed it with ease. With a sword in his hand, his movements became like flowing water.
    Even as the other Emperors failed at this step, he crossed into the fifth trial, then the sixth.
    In the end, under the astonished gazes of all those around him, Anared made it through the seventh and almost all the way through the eighth before he was forced to stop.
    Beaten and bloodied, he stood on the final eighth floor, the jagged bladed ax of a giant having stopped just before his neck. Even at that moment, a defiant look blazed within his eyes. He kept looking up at the giant as though he still wanted to hack it to pieces. It was clear to anyone who saw him that he was still unsatisfied with his result.
    Zilar watched on from afar, his hands tightly gripped around his broken spear shaft. He hadn't even been able to pass through the first trial. No amount of fire in his gut or will in his soul could help him overcome his lack of talent at the moment.
    All sorts of complex feelings shook his core as he watched Anared proceed to where no one of Terrain had ventured before. It was as though watching Anared do it gave him even more determination to do it himself. He too would reach that level one day, he too would shock everyone with a single feat.

 Chapter 439: Rules

    Anared calmly received his spatial ring, the sword hovering to his back still singing. It was clear that his battle intent was still roaring, but there was no longer a trial to face. He had failed to clear the final hurdle.
    After a few words from the overseers, everyone was ejected from Brave City. Another round had come to an end, it would be several more years until Brave City opened up its tall, bloodthirsty gates once again.
    бн
    Days later, within the Kaefir family City Lordship, a meeting was taking place. But, if those who understood the relations between the City Lords saw this meeting, they would be shocked out of their wits.
    Not only was the forever lone wolf Black family City Lord present, but even the Swan family City Lord who had always butted heads with the Kaefir family was present!
    To make matters more shocking, this was just one of the usually estranged or clashing relationships in the room. City Lords from all over Terrain were gathered, each one with a complicated network of relationships with those around them.
    Yetбн each and every single one of them had set aside their differences to appear at this meeting.
    The setting was a room reserved for grand banquets. Elaborate chandeliers hung in the air, long tables that extended for tens of meters seated those numbering in the several dozen, while the decorations were designed to impress.
    Though this wasn't the most appropriate location for such a meeting, it was the only place that could house so many important characters.
    It wasn't that there were hundreds of City Lords on Terrain. In fact, there were only a dozen. The main issue was that none of these City Lords, due to what was at stake, would want to appear here unguarded and unprotected.
    The luck of it was that since these City Lords had brought their entourages to Brave City in the first place, they wouldn't draw the attention of those they wanted to hide their actions from. In fact, the fact they had all appeared in such a large banquet rather than slinking off sneakily made this even less of a matter to pay attention to.
    Of course, there was one other big reason this would work despite how foolish it wasбн
    They all had a reason to attend this banquet. And, that reason was provided to them by the success of Anared Kaefir!
    City Lord Kaefir stood from his hosting position, a confident smile on his face. Even his full beard couldn't hide the grin on his lips.
    "You all know the rules."
    These were the first words the City Lord said. As for what the 'rules' were, only they knew that.
    "Since my son has met the goal we all set, I will be taking the lead of this operation as previously agreed upon. I hope that there would be no rejections to this, right?"
    The banquet hall remained silent.
    They weren't fools. They knew that anyone who rocked the boat now would be immediately executed, City Lord or not. It was precisely because of how volatile this seemingly genial atmosphere was that they all brough their guards despite the lack of secrecy that could cause.
    It was only with the status provided by Anared that they could execute this operation with less worries. As such, it was only right the Kaefir family took the lead. It was just unfortunate that none of their own Heirs could have the same accomplishments.
    Hearing such words, the various guards and lesser vassals of the City Lords looked around in confusion. What they didn't know was that the so-called 'rules' were exactly in place to cause this sort of vagueness and unassuredness.
    This operation had been being planned for years. Actually, it was more accurate to say that it had been decades.
    In all this time, this was the very first instance in which all the City Lords had come together. In fact, this was the very first time they all had a direct line of communication with one another.
    Other than City Lord Kaefir, the others hadn't even been sure that all the City Lords would participate. It was only now that they were all certain that everyone was on board.
    But, it was exactly this secrecy and this slyness that gave the City Lords confidence. There were eyes and ears everywhere, especially in this era of abilities.
    It could be said that City Lord Kaefir had proved himself. Even if Anared had failed, they would have still elected him to be the leader of this operationбн
    This operation was too important to them. It could be said that even in the case of Anared failing, they would have moved forward regardless. When it came to matters of life and death and the futures of their coming generations, they had to be prepared.
    "Good. I want everyone to be ready to move out within the month."
    бн
    The month quickly came and went.
    The City Lords had been prepared to move out any day for the last five years already. Let alone being prepared within a month, they had long since primed themselves.
    Among these twelve City Lords, there were four women. And, among these women, there was one with a very complicated relationship with City Lord Kaefir.
    Though the common people didn't dare to spread rumors about City Lords, what was to stop the City Lords themselves from doing so?
    It was said that in their youth, this City Lord White was once a lover of City Lord Kaefir. However, for whatever reason, City Lord Kaefir married another who gave birth to his current son and daughter.
    According to the rumors, City Lord White visited the Kaefir City Lordship just once in the last 30 yearsбн And it was said that she brought a baby along with her back thenбн But, when she left, that baby was no longer on her person.
    Regardless of whether those rumors were true or not, City Lord White had long since returned to her city. The thoughts of all those years ago had long since been thrust from her mind.

 Chapter 440: HAI!

    City Lord White sat in an office, a map spread out across her desk. She had long since memorized its contents, but due to a sudden change that happened a while ago, she wanted to ensure that she had it all imprinted into her mind.
    The City Lord was quite unique in comparison to other women of Terrain. It was very rare to find technologically advanced places like Earth and thus even rarer to find equality amongst men and women иC at least in low level worlds.
    Technology acted as an equating factor between men and women. The strength of a man meant less if a woman could simply pull out a gun and deal with a threat just as easily as he could.
    In low level worlds like Terrain, the awakening of abilities didn't have much time to create a balance between the sexes like technology could.
    This was all to say that in Terrain and worlds like it, having women in positions of power was a rarity. And, finding women like City Lord White was even a level more rare.
    City Lord White had exceptionally short-cut white hair. Her demeanor was quite valiant and she chose to wear black robes accented by white flexible armor. Everything from the way she sat and spoke seemed to exude a masculine air. Even her handwriting was boisterous, purposeful and bold.
    She was quite tall, especially for a woman. She stood at over six feet, but this didn't dampen her figure in the slightest. Her hips were wide and her bosom was bountiful.
    At that very moment, seemingly without reason, City Lord White froze.
    She stood, a sadistic grin on her face. Her face even became somewhat flushed as though she was excited.
    She touched a spatial bracer on her right arm. Her gaze only grew more excited after pulling out a talisman glowing with a blinding light.
    It was finally time.
    BANG!
    She smashed a fist against her large desk, splitting it in half and kicking its pieces out of her way.
    Her hand swept forward and snatched out the map before it could fall to the ground, carelessly tossing it into her spatial bracer.
    "Someone get me my Clara! Now!"
    Her booming voice shot over White City. An impossibly vast aura shot out from the City Lord's body. The result was a city that fell into immediate silence.
    It didn't matter if it was a noble or a humble street vendor, they all felt their knees buckle.
    The City Lord's mansion began to glow.
    City Lord White kicked down the door of her office.
    To the side of the now broken opening, a patient secretary with her hands respectfully clasped before her sent a glance toward the flying door and didn't seem to react very much at all.
    City Lord White turned toward the secretary, a bloodthirsty light in her eye. It was difficult to tell if she was excited, enraged, or in heat.
    "Niya, give me my Clara, we're moving out!"
    "Yes, City Lord." The secretary bowed politely.
    With a small clap of her hands, a light appeared in the secretary's hands and slowly expanded.
    Eventually, when that light dimmed, all that was left was a monstrosity of a weapon.
    It had a polearm of two and a half meters long alone. But, the true shock was its head. It was a hammer, but even calling it so seemed to not do it justice.
    The head had two massive blunt ends that shimmered like the surface of a mirror. Each head just under a meter in diameter each, easily matching more than half the size of most bodies.
    City Lord White snatched this massive weapon from Niya's hands.
    "Ah, Clara, Clara, Clara. We're going to taste blood again!"
    'Clara' seemed to react to these words too, a shimmering light racing across its polished surface.
    City Lord White strolled down the hallways of her mansion, wantonly swinging 'Clara' around and not giving a damn about the damage. Niya could only follow quickly behind, calmly taking note of all the newly created holes and sending out orders for repair.
    The two quickly made their way out of the mansion, every one of City Lord White's steps causing the ground to sway and tremble.
    The head of City Lord White's mansion was completely unlike what one would expect. While others would pave the way for vehicles or decorate with elaborate gardens, the front of the White Mansion was a military field.
    On this military field, tens of thousands of warriors had already gotten into formation. They all stood ramrod straight, their chests sticking out with pride.
    "HAI!"
    The instant City Lord White appeared, a collective breath was taken as the army roared as one.
    The crisp sound of shifting clothing pierced through the soul as they saluted in unison, crossing their hands over their hearts.
    City Lord White stood atop the stairs of her mansion, her smothering aura towering into the skies.
    BANG!
    The butt of her massive weapon smashed against the ground, causing waves of trembling earth to spread in every direction. To her back, Niya continued to stand, her hands clasped together respectfully.
    The importance of this battle wasn't lost on any of them. This was a turning point.
    For a long time already, Terrain had been teetering at the very edge, standing at the start of a diverging path.
    To one side, there was the abandonment of everything their Ancestors had ever built, everything they had ever strived for.
    To the other, there was a slim hope. But it required their sweat, their tears, their blood. And, even then, they could very well fail.
    Their future would be decided by this battle, this war. Whether they could hold their heads high or be buried in the cemetery of their hopes and dreams, it would all be decided now.
    "Today, we go to battle."
    "HAI!"
    "Today, we'll brandish our blades toward the necks of our enemies."
    "HAI!"
    "Today, we'll either shed blood or shed the blood of others."
    "HAI!"
    "Follow me to those crimson fields! Give me the beating hearts from your chests! Lay down your lives for me!"
    "HAI! HAI! HAI!"
    The glow of White City grew to a fever pitch. Then, inexplicably, the entire city disappeared.

 Chapter 441: Interrupt

    "It's time."
    In Black City, preparations were underway as well. The only difference was that while City Lord White took sole leadership, Black City was headed by a father-son pair.
    Jerach was stunned out of his thoughts when he heard his father's voice.
    The two men looked practically like copies of one another. Jerach's father had the same bald held, black armor and jagged beard his son did. The only difference was that Jerach's father was a head taller than he was.
    Obviously, since Jerach was already in his 30's, this wasn't a matter of youth. Rather, Jerach's father simply had a far larger stature.
    "Get the men ready." Jerach's father continued. "The city will be disappearing in just a few minutes."
    "Yes, father."
    Jerach nodded and went off to complete the last of his duties.
    Jerach was lost in his thoughts as he made his way toward the military fields. Black City wouldn't be taking action immediately, so their mental state didn't need to be in a primed state. Not that Jerach was in the head space to give a motivational speech to begin with.
    He had just failed the Brave City trials miserably and his heart was still being shadowed by a perpetual guilt.
    Even now, he could still remember Leonel's complete disregard of him.
    If Leonel had ignored him, it would have been one thing. But, Jerach remembered making eye contact with Leonel just one time while they were both still on the first floor.
    Back then, it had been as though Leonel was looking at a stranger. He glanced at him as though he was observing someone he had seen for the first time and moved away from him just as easily
    The way Leonel looked at him at that moment was something he would never forgetбн
    At least if Leonel never looked in his direction, he could make himself believe that Leonel felt some anger toward him. Somehow, he felt that that would make him feel better. After all, anger was just another way of acknowledging someone's existence.
    But, to so genuinely treat him as though they had never met beforeбн
    As the son and Heir to a City Lordship, he never thought he would ever have to deal with emotions like this, he never thought anything could make him feel this way, let alone due to someone he had met so recently.
    However, deep down, Jerach knew that his emotions were less about Leonel and more about letting down himself.
    Jerach shook his head.
    'It doesn't matter anymore.'
    **
    Back on Camelot's moon, Leonel was still in a state of shock. He hadn't expected that the Zone quests had truly not been over, but he had expected even less that the 'reward' for completing them would be accelerating Earth into the Fourth Dimension.
    Leonel's expression changed.
    Without waiting for anyone to react, he shot to Ameron's side and sent the strongest punch he could at the latter's chin.
    Ameron was completely flabbergasted by the change. He still didn't understand what was happening. All he knew was that he was bound now, and even if he wasn't, it would take him too much time to undo Leonel's restrictions. His last thought was that Leonel had tricked him and that he was basically a dead man.
    His vision went black, collapsing to the ground.
    Lancelot's eyes widened. "What a иC"
    Lancelot froze. "Huh?"
    At that moment, Lancelot suddenly felt as though shackles that had held him down for decades suddenly imploded. Strength flooded into his body at impossible rates.
    In the blink of an eye he was twice as powerful, then three times, then four times. Eventually, it got to be so much that even he no longer understood just how powerful he was in comparison to his former self.
    Leonel stumbled backward, the forcefulness of Lancelot's breakthrough being too great. The wind kicked up and even the several meter thick trees around them began to sway.
    Leonel put a forearm over his eyes, trying to peak through to see what was happening. But, he soon realized that it wasn't just Lancelot.
    At that moment, dozens, even hundreds of knights they had brought with them were experiencing similar power boosts.
    Leonel looked down at Ameron's unconscious body and suddenly felt a bit bad. The reason he had taken him down like that was because if Camelot entered the Fourth Dimension, the restrictions on Ameron's strength would have been completely lifted. By then, he would have been too troublesome to deal with.
    Leonel sent an apologetic gaze toward the other three hidden family members.? But, considering the fear in their eyes and they way they were trying to distance themselves, Leonel felt that his smile might not have been as kind as he thought.
    Aina smiled lightly at Leonel's embarrassed expression. But, truthfully, Leonel made the right move in such a situation. The worst case scenario was definitely a terrible situation they didn't want to be in.
    'This makes sense, though. They've been stuck at the peak of the Third Dimension for so long, it's only right they breakthrough. It's likely related to their unique magic system, tooбн'
    "Aina."
    "Hm?" Aina blinked, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.
    Leonel couldn't help but smile when he saw this. She was still so shy, all he did was call her name.
    Aina currently found it troublesome to even look at Leonel. Every time she did, she would remember what happened beforeбн
    She furiously shook her head, looking away.
    Leonel began to ask the question he was planning to, but Lancelot's sudden burst of laughter shocked him out of his train of thought.
    Lancelot spread out his arms as though trying to catch the rays of the sun falling through the heavy canopies above. For the first time in months, the heavy rain of Camelot finally came to a stop, allowing the clouds to separate.
    As a warrior, Lancelot had spent his whole life training. He never thought there would be a day where he could finally break through the final barrier, but here that day was. He felt better than he ever had before.
    To an outside observer, he had simply broken through. But to him, it felt as though he had seen the light at the end of a dark tunnel. He hadn't thought that a simple shift in his mindset would bring him such benefits.
    "Leonel, thank you!"
    Leonel opened his mouth to respond again, but it seemed as though the universe had something against him today. But, this time, the cause of the interruption was far more serious. It was serious to the point where it just might decide the life and death of Earth as a world.
    The sound of shattering glass reverberated throughout. Whether you were on Camelot, on the Moon, or on Earth, everyone heard it. It felt as though the fabric of time and space itself was quaking, threatening to tear itself apart.
    Leonel looked up through the dense foliage, barely catching a glimpse of a sight he would never forget in his life.
    A city had appeared in the sky. And, this city was falling toward them.
    At the top of this city's gates, a lone woman dressed in black robes accented by white soft armor stood, a massive hammer in her hand as she looked down toward the rapidly approaching Camelot.
    A bloodthirsty aura soon enveloped their lands. Those faint of heart felt as though there simply wasn't enough air to breathe.
    Terrain was invading.

 Chapter 442: Float

    Leonel's eyes widened. Everything suddenly clicked at once.
    However, there was simply no time to harp on it.
    "Run!" Leonel roared.
    The impact of such a massive object hitting the ground from such a height would be enormous. A meteor of 100 kilometers across would be enough to annihilate all life on Earth. Even though this city was only 10 kilometers across and its velocity was much slower in comparison to a meteor, Leonel was absolutely certain that its hardness was far beyond anything a normal meteor could compare with. If this wasn't the case, how would they dare to stay within its walls as they fell from the skies? Plus, this wasn't Earth! It was a small moon!
    Leonel wasn't sure how his calculations would change in a true Fourth Dimensional world like this one, but he didn't have the mental space to spare.
    Without hesitation, Leonel grasped at Aina's hand and charged out. But, he soon realized that despite his speed, Aina actually had no problem keeping up with him. In fact, she was the one dragging him forward.
    '[Swiftness], [Second Wind], [Breath of Wings] иC'
    Leonel cast as many wind speed spells as he could in quick succession. His affinity for the Wind Element wasn't very high, so the expenditure of his Soul Force was several levels more. But, this wasn't a situation where he had the mind to care about such things.
    The Knights around Leonel and Aina were a second later in reacting, but they too shot forward trusting in Leonel's judgment.
    With their speed, even covering a few hundred meters wouldn't be impossible by the time the city hit the ground. In this situation, every extra foot they could gain was an extra chance at living.
    Leonel's Soul Force continued to surge. He never realized it before, but it seemed that shackles on his own body were loosening greatly as well. His mind felt freer than it ever had before.
    Leonel let Aina pull him along, his mind entirely focused on his spell. He dug deep, a violent wind kicking up around him.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    'Don't worry about me Little Blackstar! Stay in the air and in your incorporeal state! Don't come down here, we'll be fine!'
    The little mink skipped through the air, steps of black fog forming before it. But, a clearly distressed expression was on his little face.
    Though the little guy couldn't understand what was happening, he had a deep enough connection with Leonel to know that something bad was coming.
    The more panicked the knights saw Leonel feel, the more panicked they also seemed to become. The most troublesome part about it all was that they were in a forest, constantly having to dodge around trees and branches. The terrain made them slow down by several factors more than they would have in practically any other landscape.
    Without time to care for anything else, they had even gone as far as to abandon the prisoners they had already captured, allowing them to run on their own.
    At that moment, the city falling from the skies was already within half a kilometer of the ground. Just the wind pressure of its descent was enough to give Leonel an even stronger tailwind than previously, allowing his spell formation to speed up by several levels.
    "Brace yourselves!" Leonel roared.
    Leonel pulled back on Aina's hand, stunning her for a moment. All of her forward momentum stalled in that instant. But, Leonel didn't give her time to say anything else.
    With one swift motion, he grabbed onto her slender waist and sent the large curved package on her back and the great sword in her hand into the Segmented Cube.
    Instead of continuing forward, Leonel launched himself into the air, cradling Aina's body close to his own.
    Leonel's body seemed enveloped by a blinding light in that moment. Those who could only catch a faint glimpse would swear that they had laid eyes on a soaring bird.
    He leapt from tree branch to tree branch, shooting past a hundred meters into the air in what felt like the blink of an eye.
    The instant Leonel reached the tallest canopy, his gaze sharpened, all the strength he could muster bowing his legs and causing his thighs to explosively increase a fold in size.
    "HA!"
    Leonel flooded Force into his legs and launched himself toward the clouds.
    As though he was a bullet, he left a streak of golden light in his wake, a violent cyclone of wind shattering the tree he had used as a springboard.
    In the distance, the city reached within a hundred meters of the ground. The wind pressure alone flatted the forest beneath it, uprooting trees and sending them flying in every direction.
    SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! BANG!
    The city suddenly came to a sudden grinding halt. Unlike what Leonel had expected, it never physically touched the ground. However, the damageбн.
    It was one of the most basic laws of physics. For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction.
    A city falling from the skies like a meteor, weighing an impossibly great amount, suddenly coming to a stop like that wouldn't magically make everything better.
    The world seemed to fall silent for a moment until the ground suddenly registered just the level of force it was about to withstand.
    The earth exploded, surging like a tide along with strong winds to all sides.
    If trees were uprooted before, now, even ancient trees that dug hundreds of meters into the ground were blasted away.
    The soil, the rock, the greenery, it was all uprooted spreading out as though using the floating city as the epicenter of disaster.
    The tsunami of earth seemed to gain speed the further it spread, its momentum increasing and rolling over endlessly.
    At this moment, Leonel had reached his apex, just barely 500 meters above the surface. Seeing what was happening below him, his jaw clenched. He wasn't sure if the others could survive, but at the moment, he didn't have time to worry about them. Even he wasn't safe just yet.
    Veins bulged out from Leonel's forehead, his strain reaching a new level.
    "[FLOAT]!"

 Chapter 443: Foothold.

    Using a spell you had no affinity with took an obscene amount of Spirit Pressure. Sometimes, when the Mage Academy of Camelot gained a child of rare affinity, they would have no choice but to give them a teacher who might very well not have any talent in the child's field.
    In such a case, the teacher would do their best to guide the child in the fundamentals. But, even in that case, the strongest spells the teacher might cast would be Apprentice level Arts.
    Howeverбн [Float] wasn't an Apprentice level Art. In fact, it was well known as one of the most difficult to cast Magus Arts in all of Camelot.
    Not only was Leonel casting a Three Star Magus Art he had no affinity with, but he was also using it in a situation he had no business using it in.
    [Float] was only meant to help one hover ten meters above the ground at most. And even then, every second one spent at that height would cost a huge expenditure of Spirit Pressure even for a high affinity wind mage.
    Yet, Leonel not only had no wind affinity, but he was over 500 meters in the sky!
    Wind Mages would often use [Float] like an Earth Mage would use a defensive technique. It was only a method of protecting themselves in battle for a short period of time. Every extra meter they soared into the air, the exponentially more Spirit Pressure they would need to use.
    "Send me inside!" Aina suddenly said.
    She hadn't spoken a word since Leonel pressed her against his chest like this. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she found it to be quite comfortable. But, her comfort wasn't worth Leonel strain.
    The fact that Leonel had sent her box and sword in was enough to show that every extra pound was a huge strain to him.
    Of course, it wasn't that Leonel wouldn't rather send Aina in, but rather that sending in a living object compared to an inanimate one was a completely different concept. For the same reason Leonel had to knock Aliard out first before stuffing him into a snowglobe, he couldn't casually send Aina wherever he wanted whenever he wanted.
    In that split second, it was better for him to take this action than explaining his plan. Who knew what might happen? If he told Aina not to resist and that he'd be fine, who knew if she'd believe him?
    Just when Leonel was about to answer Aina and agree to her suggestion, veins bulging across his forehead, it hit them.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    'Do as I said!' Leonel roared in his mind.
    BANG!
    It was just the surge of wind finally reaching them. It was far weaker than what it was on the ground. Yetбн it felt as though they had been smashed by a sledgehammer.
    Leonel wrapped his arms around Aina tightly.
    He could feel bits and pieces of rocks and chipped wood rebounding across his back, trying to tear his skin apart.
    "Leonel!" Aina cried out.
    Leonel grinned. In all his life, this was only the second time he could remember Aina calling out his name.
    "Don't worry, I have thick skin."
    Leonel sent his voice to Aina's ears. If not for this, it was doubtful that she would be able to hear him at all.
    Aina didn't seem comforted by these words at all, but there was nothing she could do. If she tried to force her way out of Leonel's protection, it would only make everything worse.
    There was no time where Leonel wanted to use his shuttle more, but he knew it would be useless to do so here.
    The shuttle provided too little control. It was great at straight-line speed, but Leonel had just been in a forest. By the time he managed to make it above the foliage, it was already too late to guarantee making it out of the range of the shockwave.
    If the shuttle got hit by the shockwave, Leonel was certain it would be able to hold up against the elements alone, but he would have no control of it. According to his simulations, the likelihood of it crashing into the ground was near 100%. In that case, it was far better to rely on his own body which he had far more control of.
    And, even though the surfboard form of the shuttle gave greater nimbleness, it provided no protection whatsoever. If Leonel brought it out now, it would be more likely to just get lost in all the chaos instead of helping them escape.
    'I'll definitely modify that damn thing!' Leonel roared in his heart as he tumbled through the air like loose trash.
    Every time it seemed that Leonel might be headed toward the ground, he would grit his teeth and activate [Float] in full force again, slowing his descent. It was exactly this level of control he wouldn't have in the shuttle.
    Slowly but surely, the tsunami of earth and walls of wind began to calm.
    According to Leonel calculations, they had been blown over two kilometers away from their original location, and this was after going half a kilometer into the skies. Leonel couldn't even imagine the devastation on the ground.
    Seeing that it was calm enough, Leonel slowly opened his eyes.
    The surroundings were filled with a dense fog of dirt and soil, it was the kind of air one couldn't breathe in too deeply.
    Leonel summoned the shuttle and entered the surfboard mode, instantly stopping his descent to the ground.
    He slowly rose, trying to get to a point where his vision was clear of this mushroom cloud of earth.
    When he finally did, he was already over a kilometer above the surface and what he saw left him stunned.
    Devastation. Absolute devastation.
    Where there once was an endless forest of greenery, there was nothing but overturned earth. The land had become a slosh of broken trees, sand, soil and rock.
    Leonel couldn't even begin to imagine the devastation this had caused to the wildlife and he was even more worried about what happened to Lancelot and the others.
    Aina looked down from her position in Leonel's arms, her heart also trembling.
    They both locked eyes onto the floating city in the distance.
    At that moment, White City finally completed its descent, perfectly fitting into the hole in the ground it had created.
    Seeing such a scene, Leonel shuddered.
    What was the most difficult part about invading another world? Wasn't it gaining a footholdбн?
    But, what if you came with your own foothold? What if you brought your own fortified city to launch your attacks from?

 Chapter 444: Change

    Leonel took a deep breath.
    At the moment, they were about twenty or so kilometers from Camelot's main city. But, between here and there, there were two Baronies and several smaller settlements. Who knew how many of them were affected by this earthen tsunami?
    'Though it benefits them to bring a city along, they definitely faced complications themselves.'
    There were many benefits to wiping out all the land around them like this, the main of which was the fact this fallen city didn't have to worry about attacks in the immediate future while also wiping out any potential nearby settlements Camelot might have had.
    But, this method was a double-edged sword. While White City now couldn't be easily attacked, they also couldn't easily launch any attacks either. Marching an army through this mess would be a nightmare.
    It made Leonel feel like this was a purposeful choice.
    Leonel felt that there was an over 98% chance that their current attackers were the City Lords of Terrain. The information he had access to put him in a unique position where he likely knew more about their current enemies than anyone of The Empire or the Slayer Legion did.
    This perspective allowed him to understand that this wasn't a quick invasion plan.
    If Leonel put himself in the shoes of those City Lords, their goal wasn't just to conquer Earth, it was to make Earth their new home.
    The reason for this could be summarized in a single sentence: Earth had more potential than Terrain.
    As for why they waited until now, that was even more straight forward. There was no coincidence they waited for the exact instant Earth evolved into the Fourth Dimension.
    And, unfortunately, due to Camelot's appearance, this happened long before Earth had fully settled itself. Leonel's actions had inadvertently placed Earth in a bad position.
    Leonel felt somewhat complicated.
    On the one hand, he felt that Earth was no longer truly a home to him anymore. But, on the otherбн He felt a twisting pain in his chest watching it being invaded this way.
    Leonel descended from the skies, riding his jet-black surfboard back into the dense cloud of kicked up dirt and soil.
    "Bear with it for a bit." Leonel spoke softly to Aina. "I want to see if I can find any of the others."
    Aina wanted to say something like 'You can let me go now', but sensing Leonel's downcast mood, she remained silent, resting her ear against his chest.
    Leonel touched down to the ground, his brows furrowing.
    'This will be difficult, but it's still worth a try.'
    "[Repulse]."
    A sphere of wind twirled around Leonel and suddenly expanded violently. In the blink of an eye, it cleared the heavy atmosphere.
    [Repulse] was a Three Star Mage Art usually used as an area control sphere to push enemies away. So, it was quite effective in its task.
    Leonel took a deep breath in the cleared air, closing his eyes and planting his two feet firmly in what ground he could find. In fact, he sunk in ankle deep into the rolling dirt and rocks.
    "[Seismic Wave]."
    A strong surge of Spirit Pressure shot out from Leonel. If one looked closely, it was possible to see small ripples in the loose earth beneath his feet.
    There were many sensory specific spells within Camelot's magic system. They not only existed within the auxiliary types, but they also existed within the Elemental types as well. Wind Elemental and Earth Elemental spells especially had many of them for obvious reasons.
    [Seismic Wave] was a Three Star Magus Art used for scouting with the Earth Element. It worked almost like echo location, except with sensing changes in the earth rather than with sound.
    Several small waves were sent out that were practically imperceptible to the eye. On solid ground, there would be no visual cues at all. But, in loose ground like this, it showed up similar to the way a pond would ripple after experiencing a thrown stone.
    Everything within several kilometers was suddenly fed back to Leonel.
    There were very few limitations to [Seismic Wave]. It took very little energy to send a wave out, the only real limitation was how sharp the senses of the person sending them out was.
    It was said that certain animals could sense the coming of an earthquake days in advance. Such small changes could be detected by mere beasts of the Third Dimensionбн So what about Leonel?
    Even after reaching out ten kilometers, Leonel still didn't feel like he had reached his limit. He had even crossed the barrier of the city in the distance. But, he shook his head and focused again.
    Instead of distance, he focused on depth.
    This required stronger waves and a bit more Earth Elemental Force, but it was still within Leonel's ability even though his previous uses of [Float] had almost burnt him out. Simply put, thanks to his Three Star Constitution, Leonel's recovery of Soul Force was unmatched.
    Leonel's breath suddenly hitched and his heart grew heavy.
    He had found his first dead body.
    His heart clenched, his hold on Aina involuntarily becoming tighter.
    He found another. Then another.
    Many of them were crushed beneath the weight of the heavy earth. Some unlucky ones were struck by heavy flying stones and trees, causing damage they couldn't live through. Some others were pierced through by errant sharp branches.
    Leonel continued to search, going deeper and deeper. But, somewhere deep inside, he realized that the deeper he went, the less likely he was to find someone he could save.
    'There! There!'
    Leonel almost cried out.
    Leonel found one beating heart, then another. His breathing grew quicker. This was good, some had survived. This was definitely good. As long as he helped them climb back out, their lives should be saved.
    Unfortunately, Leonel was a bit too na?ve.
    One of the most important aspects of war was the element of surprise. Keeping one's enemies on their toes, catching them unawares, and gaining victories for the smallest price in exchangeбн These were the staples of good generals.
    Since Terrain's City Lords had planned this matter for so long, how could they be unable to predict what would happen to the landscape around them? And how could they allow that landscape to force them to give up their advantage?
    The sharp call of several beasts shook Leonel out of his focused state.
    His head tilted up into the skies, peering through the dense cloud of dirt only to barely make out a sight that made his heart tremble.
    Birds. Hundreds of them. Each one with a wingspan of no less than five meters while some of the largest were over twenty meters in width.
    On their backs, each had two warriors. One was outfitted with a polearm weapon while the other manned a massive cross bow machine strapped to the backs of these massive birds of prey.
    White City was already attacking and their first wave would be an aerial assault.

 Chapter 445: Same Feeling

    Leonel was instantly at a loss.
    If he continued saving those buried beneath the rubble, many of whom were unconscious, he would be allowing this attack to continue on smoothly. But, if he moved to stop them now, it was very likely that many of those he could save would die.
    'Dammit!' Leonel roared in his mind.
    "Leonel."
    "Huh?" Leonel snapped out of his own thoughts.
    "Just point out where they are to me and I'll dig them out. I can't battle in the skies like you can."
    Leonel opened his mouth to reply but wasn't exactly sure what to say.
    It would definitely be more efficient for them to be saved by him. He could use his Earth Elemental affinity to simply carry them out. But, Aina would have to physically dig them out.
    "Just leave it to me." Aina insisted. "More people will die than those buried down if they're allowed to go."
    Leonel's hesitation was broken when he heard these words. She was right. If they managed to make it to one of the Baronies, hundreds would die.
    "Iбн"
    Aina pushed off, breaking out of Leonel's embrace and landing on the ground.
    "They can't see me on the ground through all the dirt clouds. Stop worrying about me."
    Leonel blinked and nodded.
    "The first is 57 meters in that direction and 13 meters underground."
    With that, Leonel shot into the skies.
    бн
    The formation of predatory birds soared through the skies in perfect formation. They were split into groups of eleven. Each group of eleven was split into three groups.
    The first group formed the outer structure of the formation. At the helm, there was one bird and following its wings there were three birds to each side for a total of seven forming this outer structure.
    This first group formed an inverted 'V' structure.
    The second group was likewise in a 'V' structure, but they were tucked within the larger outer structure. This inner structure was formed of smaller, swifter birds and there were just three of them.
    The final 'group' was actually just a single bird. This bird protected the commander to the back of this double inverted 'V' structure.
    In the end, from afar, it looked as though numerous triangular formations were flying through the air. They looked no different from jets shooting through the skies, all of them exuding a Fourth Dimensional aura.
    This sort of formation should have been far beyond Leonel's means to deal with. The only reason Aina didn't stop him wasn't because she wasn't worried, but rather because she knew that trying to stop Leonel would have been useless. He was simply too fond of doing stupid things to save people he didn't even know, let alone the fact he was now doing so to protect those he thought of as his friends.
    In Leonel's mind, Mordred was now a close friend of his. If Camelot fell, it would be Mordred's family that suffered the most. How could he allow such a thing to happen?
    At the center of these numerous smaller formations, a man wearing black robes accented by white flexible armor stood atop a predator bird of his own. Unlike the others, he was the only one on the back of this bird.
    He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his hair shaved down until only the smallest bristles remained.
    The rushing winds whipped against his face, but it was as though his skin was tightly stapled to his skeleton. His stern expression never distorted, nor did his eyes ever blink.
    He was one of City Lord White's White Knights, Khaled Diore.
    бн
    Leonel stood in the skies, a simple [Light Refraction] array centered around him. The more he observed the coming tide of predatory birds, the more he realized he didn't stand a chance.
    Even ignoring the warriors and assault weapons on their backs, just the beasts alone were beyond anything Leonel had ever seen before.
    They had beaks that glistened like the blades of a polished spear. Their black feathers caused the light of the setting sun to rebound as though they were metal plates. Their eyes were a bright shade of crimson that exuded a bloodthirsty light as though all they knew was slaughter.
    As though this wasn't enough, Leonel felt that the large crossbows fitted to their backs contained much more power than 23rd century canons. By his estimations, they were weaker than 25th century technology, but marginally stronger than 24th. And, unlike Earth's technology, they weren't negatively influenced by Force in the slightest.
    None of this even began to touch upon the humans that managed to command these beasts and control these machines. Leonel was simply in over his head.
    He was still within the Third Dimension and he was just a single person facing almost 500. Any smart person would turn tail and run.
    Leonel took several deep breaths, trying to calm his beating heart.
    For a moment, he closed off his senses. He heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing.
    Earth was probably in chaos at this moment. Leonel could almost feel it.
    Everyone's lives had already been turned upside down once, but here it was again.
    But, he was lucky. He had talent. If he wanted to and had the time, he could gain the strength to protect himself, but not everyone could claim this.
    Did Leonel feel some sort of responsibility because of this?
    He would be lying if he said no. But, somewhere inside, he felt it was more than this.
    It was the same feeling he got on the football field, the same feeling he felt when he sat down at an exam, the same feeling he had when he stepped onto his first battlefield.
    Leonel opened his eyes, a mad grin spreading across his face as his irises flickered a wild violet-red.
    Leonel flipped his palm, causing a familiar black rhino's horn to appear.
    He brought it slowly to his lips, his blood boiling and his skin flushing crimson as bronze runes danced across it.
    'That's a nice formation you have there, would be a shame if someone ruined it.'
    These birds might seem mighty and menacing, but these were exactly the kind of beasts most susceptible to outside influences.
    Seeing such odds before him only made Leonel want to win even more.
    It was exactly then Leonel blew on the horn with all his might, pouring his Spirit Pressure into it.
    The people of Terrain had pissed him off many times already. Leonel even believed that the so-called 'fugitives' they had bribed Shield Cross Stars into looking for were those who wanted to blow the whistle on this maddening plan of theirs.
    Unfortunately, before those fugitives could do much of anything, Earth's evolution was accelerated, causing them to enter the Fourth Dimension before anyone predicted.
    Leonel remembered how he had been treated just because he was weak. He remembered how Jerach refused to tell him what they were hiding even after he spared his life. He saw the way they tried to humiliate Aina -- his Aina.
    Since they wanted war, he would give it to them.

 Chapter 446: Without Reason

    The blaring sound of a horn tore across the skies.
    The perfect formation of predator birds was instantly shaken. Their riders, which had spent years learning how to tame these wild beasts, were suddenly at a loss. It felt as though they were riding bucking bulls.
    White Knight Diore's gaze sharpened. Despite the while reaction of his predatory bird was equally as wild, his feet remained attached as though they had been sown together.
    'This noise.'
    Khaled locked onto a particular direction. Even though his eyes saw nothing in that spot, he trusted his senses. There was most definitely an enemy right there.
    Leonel felt the White Knight's aura lock onto him. The feeling was like being gripped by the hands of death.
    He knew from the very beginning that [Light Refraction] wasn't infallible. But, it only made it worse now that he was funneling the abilities of this horn right toward the flock of birds. Even if the sight of him didn't give him away, the direction in which the blaring horn was coming from most definitely did.
    But, Leonel didn't stop blowing. From behind his [Light Refraction] spell, he locked eyes with Khaled, his blood boiling.
    The White Knight stomped down hard on his predator bird, sending a violent shock through its body and waking it up.
    By now, the perfect formation had devolved into a wild flock of birds flying in every which direction. In fact, out of their control, many on the backs of these predator birds fell from their backs.
    Without a choice, they pulled out an inconspicuous short pole from their harnesses. With a few clicks, they became gliders.
    Watching so many fall from the skies, Leonel sighed a breath of relief, thinking they would have no choice but to return to White City. But, to his astonishment, as though they were assigned a life and death mission, these gliders continued forward toward their original destinations, not gazing back toward White City even once.
    Leonel's heart froze over. This was the first time he truly felt the resolve of these warriors.
    'Dammit.'
    Leonel put his horn away and pulled out his black bow and slipped on his bowman gloves.
    It was a palpable pressure, it was the kind Leonel hadn't felt before. In all his life, he had never faced such dauntless, fearless warriors.
    The demons loved war, but they still feared death. They still stormed the battlefields, but they weren't a single unit, forged together by blood and sweat.
    These warriors were different, though.
    It was impossible for them to have guessed that someone would be able to disrupt their plan before it even truly began. Yet, they reacted as though it didn't matter.
    Despite the fact they hadn't sensed Leonel's location like their captain had, they still traveled toward him dauntlessly, not a single one of them cowering in fear.
    Leonel felt like he was back on those French battlefields, facing those mortal men who threw their life away to protect their country in the face of an enemy they knew was impossible to defeat. It was on that battlefield Leonel gained respect for bravery and deathбн
    Leonel nocked his first arrow, his aura surging.
    'Little Blackstar.'
    The little mink popped into existence out of a spinning black vortex, landing atop Leonel's head as though he had never left.
    Leonel's body was coated in a thin film of dancing shadows, his goldish bronze hair dancing wildly beneath his towering Force.
    Crackling lightning, sharpening winds, dancing shadows that sounded like blades gliding across his arrowбн
    Leonel took a deep breath and released his fingers on his exhale. As though his bow was a living entity extending from his own body, it followed his will, drawing a line from his eyes to his target.
    PCHU!
    Without ability to dodge, the first glider was pierced through the skull, but the others continued flying forward as though they hadn't sensed a thing.
    Leonel brought out a second arrow and fired again. Then a third. Then a fourth.
    In the blink of an eye, he had already sent out over a dozen arrows and reaped a dozen lives.
    However, he could see it all clearly. His senses were impossibly sharp, how could he miss it?
    Not a single one who lived flinched, not a single one thought of turning back, not a single one cowered.
    There were simply too many. There had only been around 500 predator birds, but each had two riders, making the gliders in the sky total over a thousand.
    Against a normal army, killing so many without giving them ability to retaliate would have caused them to stagger and run. But, this army didn't seem to function by normal standards.
    And how could they? This wasn't a land they had come to conquer for mere wealth, this was about their lives, their future. To their backs wasn't a mere city, it was one filled with their family, their friends, those they had to protect.
    This wasn't a normal invading army and the White Troops of White City weren't a normal group of men and women.
    Leonel clenched his jaw.
    These were all Fourth Dimensional warriors. The only reason he could killed them was because in their current positions, they had no ability to fight back. But, if he didn't put all of his strength into one arrow, he knew it would still be impossible to kill them even in this situation.
    He simply didn't have any large area of effect spells he could use to deal with them all at once. And, even if he did, he wouldn't have enough Spirit Pressure to easily affect such a large area without all but killing himself.
    As though the situation wasn't bad enough already, it only got worse in the next instant.
    White Knight Diore had locked onto Leonel's general location long ago. Yet, despite knowing his men were dying one after another, he still hadn't made a move against Leonelбн And the reason for this soon became clearбн
    "Quell your rage."
    A booming voice shocked the wild flock of predator birds.
    Leonel's heart trembled.
    The birdsбн
    It seemed that White Knight Diore wasn't designated as the head of this aerial squad without reason.
    The disordered, wild flock of predator birds suddenly regained their purpose, their crimson eyes all locking onto a certain direction.
    Leonel's blood ran cold.

 Chapter 447: Sky Battle (1)

    The feeling of hundreds locking onto you, each without any other expressed goal than to taste your blood and reap your lifeбн It was something Leonel had experienced before within the Merlin trials.
    But, there was something different about facing so many beasts. They didn't have a semblance of humanity, not an ounce of reason. There were no words he could use to get them to pause, nor were there any looming timers or rules he could use to pull himself out of this situation.
    It couldn't have been a more primal sense of fight or flight. It was either he defeated all of these enemies or escaped them, if notбн he would die.
    Leonel suddenly felt a wave of interference play against his [Light Refraction] spell, distorting it. In the blink of an eye, it became a useless decoy hanging in the skies, exposing him to the senses of thousands.
    A shudder ran through Leonel's spine.
    This hadn't happened because he was careless or even because he had run out of energy. This was an ability.
    'The birdsбн!'
    All this time Leonel had had the thought of being careful at the back of his mind. Though it was somewhat more difficult for a unit of warriors to use their abilities as freely in such a structure where the power of the whole was more important than the individual, Leonel knew that unexpected abilities were one of the things he had to pay attention to the most.
    In this aspect, Leonel was perfectly correct. The actions of White Knight Diore proved as much without a shadow of a doubt.
    What Leonel didn't expect, however, was for the abilities of the predator birds to be maybe even more important.
    All this time, Leonel had been so focused on their menacing exteriors that he never considered the fact their internal abilities were what truly should have struck fear in him.
    Leonel rapidly retreated, placing his body almost parallel to the ground as his jet-black surfboard sent him soaring backward.
    He quickly pulled out the dictionary, using the base of the surfboard to hide his actions.
    "Those birds, what are they and what are their abilities?"
    [*Ping*]
    [Replying to Seed, these birds are a sub-species of specially bred Decoder Beasts known as the Jagged Beak Predator Ravens. They are known for two main abilities, one related to their oddly shaped beaks and the second related to their pupils.]
    [Jagged Beak: Ability to disrupt Force organization]
    [Predator Pupils: Ability to disrupt Force organization]
    Leonel's heart trembled.
    The drawing of Force Arts was a delicate operation. Every Force Art type was a different language that spoke in a different way. But, in order to convey a certain message, it had to be exceptionally particular. This much was proved by when Leonel modified Camelot's Force Art in order to draw them faster. Doing just this small action caused the strength of these Force Arts to plummet.
    This was all to say something very simple. If these Predator Ravens could disrupt the organization of Force Artsбн then spells were all but useless against them!
    Leonel now understood why it was that these birds were sent as the centerpiece of the first attack. Any large scale formations Camelot wanted to put up to protect themselves would be absolutely useless before them.
    Even though the Predator Pupils were weaker than their Jagged Beaks in formation breaking, when 500 of them stared at a single point, what chance did a formation stand? And, beyond that, what if they began attacking that already weakened point with their beaks?!
    KKKWWAAAAAA!! KWWWWAAAAAAA!!
    Leonel's expression changed. His Internal Sight swept out, only to find that the distance between him and the flock of Predator Ravens had already halved. Their speed was inconceivable and clearly far beyond what his surfboard could muster. Maybe if it wasn't for the heavy crossbows still strapped to their backs, they would be even faster!
    Leonel locked eyes with the commander in the midst. He still stood tall, his hands clasped behind his back and his black robes fluttering wildly beneath the speed of his Predator Raven.
    In truth, White Knight Diore was inwardly surprised despite his indifferent expression.
    For one, he recognized Leonel. They would be foolish to not know of the talents of Earth before coming to invade them, but even beyond that, even if it wasn't about invading Earth, he would have heard of Leonel. After all, the rumors of him joining Valiant Heart Mountain without having to pass the trials had already spread like wildfire.
    But, this was only a secondary reasoning. What shocked him the most was that despite 500 Predator Ravens locking onto Leonel at once, all they managed to do was distort Leonel spell. Had it not been for Leonel dispelling the Mage Art himself, Khaled might still be looking toward a distorted image of Leonel.
    The White Knight narrowed his eyes.
    This was good. Now that Earth had evolved into a Fourth Dimensional world, those who were born within it should be experiencing a evolutionary growing phase right now. Within the next few weeks to months, many of Earth's greatest talents would experience explosive growth in their abilities.
    This was why it was so important for them to be swift in their approach. This wasn't only about keeping the element of surprise, but it was also about ensuring that Earth didn't get any more chances to grow.
    Earth didn't have the foundation of cultivation. All they could rely on was technology and their gifted abilities. The evolution to the Fourth Dimension would already guarantee the near uselessness of technology, so they only had the latter to worry about.
    With a talent like Leonel before him, how could Khaled possibly allow him to live? Leonel was most definitely one of the greatest roadblocks standing between them and claiming this world for themselves.
    How fair was it for Earth to have so much potential and for Terrain to have reached the end of its own? How fair was it for them to have to scratch and claw for everything while the people of Earth could be gifted the world? How fair was it for them to have to deal with people of their own world that would rather be the dogs of others rather than forging something for themselves?
    The truth was that there was no fairness in the world. Since that was the case, they would snatch what should be theirs themselves.
    And in White Knight Diore's mind, killing Leonel was the first step.
    "Swarm him to death."

 Chapter 448: Sky Battle (2)

    Leonel's feet shifted, slowing his black surfboard to a grinding halt. He pulled out the horn once again, but Khaled only sneered.
    Seeing his reaction, Leonel put the horn away without even blowing on it. Now that he understood the situation he was in, his mind flowed like water, jumping from idea to idea without pause or rest.
    It was already impossible for him to stop the gliders, but he had at least bought the Baronies and Camelot time. By now, information about what was happening here should have long since been disseminated. A city falling from the sky was not something that could be missed and Leonel had made certain of that.
    Leonel's goal had already changed.
    Assuming that he would be able to stop an entire army by himself had been foolish. Since he knew that he couldn't, he would focus on what he could do.
    His first priority was to survive. His second priority would be to kill this commander.
    Though Leonel set this second priority, he didn't spend any of his time hoping for it. He could sense that this commander was much stronger than he was.
    At his current level, Leonel couldn't even deal with the likes of Jilniya and those Heirs of Powers with any sort of assurance. At most, he could deal with exceptionally weak Fourth Dimensional existences and those who couldn't defend themselves like those gliders.
    But, against someone like White Knight Dioreбн well, it was safe to say that if this battle was happening on the ground and not the air where Khaled could not directly track down and kill Leonel himself, Leonel would likely already be dead.
    Leonel's emotions seemed to vanish, his cold, calculating eyes locking onto the flock of birds around him as though he could no longer sense the gliders flying by below him. His mind reached an unprecedented sense of calm and seriousness that made the White Knight frown for the first time since this battle began.
    Leonel stood absolutely still in the air. Using his flying treasure as his base, he nocked another arrow, his breathing calm and steady.
    The way his eyes locked onto White Knight Diore made the latter feel as though their was nothing else around them, as though in this world there were only the two of them, as though if he made the slightest mistake, miscalculated just the smallest bitбн that his life would be over.
    A halo of bronze appeared above Leonel's head, wafting out a majestic violet fog. It seemed to coat Leonel in the air of a King, even causing the atmosphere to become several times heavier.
    In the past, the gravity field ability of Leonel's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had been exceptionally weak, barely increasing the gravity by a few percentage points, if that. But, after absorbing so much Urbe Essence, just the presence of Leonel's halo alone increased it by 20%, giving a 1.2x effect at no expense to Leonel's own stamina.
    This might not seem like much, but aerial beasts were especially reliant on their light weight. Small changes could cost them a drastic amount of speed. And, at this moment, Leonel would take whatever advantage he could get.
    SHUUUU!
    A Predator Raven swooped down at Leonel, its eyes a furious shade of crimson. But, almost in the exact instant it reached the range in order to do this, Leonel had reacted first, letting loose an arrow.
    KWWWAAAA!! KWWWAAA!!
    An arc of blood sprayed from the Predator Raven's eyes. It sprawled in the air, its wings flapping about so wildly that it lost several feathers in a matter of moments.
    Leonel's surfboard moved at his command. He seemed to move in a straight line, but the angles he took were just out of reach of several Predator Ravens.
    Without any long ranged attacks, these Ravens could only assault Leonel with their beaks and their claws. Their pupils were also useless if Leonel wasn't casting any spells.
    Though they could disrupt the organization of Force, that was all. They couldn't dispel Force or negate it. This meant that against Force Arts, their abilities were exceptional. But, against normal Force attacks like Leonel's reinforced Arrows, the amount of change they could cause was next to zero.
    To make matters worse for the flock of Predator Ravens, their size was simply too big. With only short ranged attacks available to them and even the smallest of them having a wingspan of five meters, nimble movements were most definitely not their forte. In fact, even if it was, with how many of them had swarmed Leonel, sudden bursts of movement would cause more problems to themselves than they would to Leonel himself.
    Khaled narrowed his eyes.
    He thought that since he was facing a child, all he had to do was intimidate Leonel into making a stupid mistake with the use of his overwhelming numbers. He thought that Leonel wouldn't have the presence of mind to realize that he was keeping the Predator Ravens spaced out so that they wouldn't collide with one another.
    Yet, not only had Leonel realized this, he realized it immediately and even boldly acted upon it even to the point of allowing the flock of Ravens to surround him.
    If things kept going like this, without the room to even turn around, they would end up flying by Leonel and ironically letting him escape.
    But, Khaled wasn't a fool. In fact, he was one of City Lord White's most trusted White Knights. If not for this, how could he be allowed to man one of their most important missions?
    "Disperse." He commanded calmly.
    In one swift motion, the Predator Ravens that had already passed Leonel by flapped their wings and spread out. Instantly, they had formed a large encirclement of Leonel, effectively cutting off the surrounding 500 meter space for their battlefield.
    Those Ravens that were still surging toward Leonel spread their wings out wide, coming to grinding halts as they either shot up or down.
    Despite feeling that he could kill Leonel with a single strike if he got the opportunity, Khaled remained calm, retreating as well.
    In the center of it all, all that was left were a group of three Predator Ravens, the smallest and swiftest of them all, assaulting Leonel from all sides.
    Khaled's response immediately cured all of his formation's weaknesses. He had expected Leonel's calm expression to crack, but to his surprise, there wasn't even the slightest shift.
    From start to finish, Leonel had only shot a single arrow. The rest of the time, he spent calculating the safest lines of trajectory he would take to dodge around these beasts.
    Wellбн That was at least what it seemed like.
    But, Leonel's real target had been his target from the very beginning.
    A particular bird beast that now had just a single eye and was in much too much pain to follow Khaled's orders perfectly.

 Chapter 449: Sky Battle (3)

    Khaled's expression changed.
    He had already commanded that Predator Raven to man the perimeter, but it hadn't listened.
    'No, it's not that it wasn't listening, something's making it not listenбн This boy!'
    Leonel had realized long ago that Khaled's commands could be interrupted.
    For Khaled to have been sent to command this aerial assault, it was likely that other than gaining City Lord White's trust, it was also due to his ability. By virtue of this, it was easy to extrapolate that Khaled had likely been the one in command of the predator birds from the very beginning.
    After Leonel realized this, he already had all the information he needed. The fact that his horn could disrupt Khaled's control, even for a moment, meant that it was very much possible for external sources to do so.
    So, the simple question wasбн what about pain?
    This much was easily confirmed. Though it was just for a moment, the Predator Raven completely disregarded Khaled's commands, almost completely disrupting the formation with its erratic flight in those moments just after Leonel pierced its eye.
    Though Khaled managed to regain control of the Predator Raven, there was one thing he didn't notice. Or, rather, two things packaged into one.
    The first thing was that Leonel had hidden a secondary damage spell within in arrow. And, the second thing was that Leonel had hidden a smaller version of the Force Arts drawn onto his horn as well.
    The instant he realized that his hypothesis was correct, he activated the secondary damage spell, causing the Raven a surge of pain once again. And, right afterward, he activated the beast taming Force Arts to disrupt Khaled's second attempts at controlling the Raven.
    When Leonel's [Light Refraction] spell was influenced, he realized a few things.
    For one, the influence of a single Raven's pupils were exceptionally weak on him. If it wasn't for 500 disrupting his spell at once, it would have never distorted in the first place.
    And second, when he used his surfboard to block the view of Khaled while he pulled out the dictionary, he realized that the effect the Ravens had on him were much weaker in that instant. That obviously meant that their abilities weren't area of effect, but rather truly reliant on their sight. At the very least, they had to have a line of sight to the Force Art they wanted to disrupt.
    This made Leonel realized his second very important thingбн These damned birds couldn't disrupt a Force Art that had already been shielded and definitely couldn't disrupt one too small for them to lock eyes on.
    At this point, though Khaled was startled, he still didn't understand what Leonel's plan was. He could tell that something was interrupting his control and that this thing was most definitely the arrow still lodged in the Raven's eye. Butбн what was the purpose?
    There were over 500 Jagged Beak Predator Ravens, all of which had long since surrounded Leonel and were waiting to taste his blood. What good was there to mess with just a single one?
    But, Khaled's expression changed again when Leonel abruptly changed directions to, seemingly by coincidence, cross paths with the erratically flying bird.
    With a flip of his palm, Leonel's bow disappeared, only to be replaced by a pitch-black spear.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    'Chain Domain.'
    The Predator Raven was suddenly tightly bound in the sky, its wings pinned to body and its claws pressed flush against itself.
    Veins popped out across Leonel's forehead, but he didn't retreat.
    His back flexed as the Predator Raven hung in the air beneath his might. He could see its enraged eyes trying to bore into his soul. One was a blood red while the other dripped with crimson, its precious life dripping to the ground far beneath them.
    However, when it saw Leonel's cold, calculating eyes looking back toward it, the bird felt fear for the first time in maybe its life. It suddenly stopped struggling, its blood running cold.
    In a lot of ways, beasts were just more of what humans were innately but tried to hide. Their sense of strict hierarchy was even more damning, even more rigorous, even more demanding.
    When facing a being superior to you, beasts lowered their headsбн
    Even if it meant certain death.
    Leonel's spear shot into the Predator Raven's eye, an undeniable callousness in his gaze as he felt his blade run deep into its skull and through its brain.
    Spear Force burst out, mincing the insides of the Predator Raven in an instant. But, it was what happened next that made Khaled's heart truly seize.
    Leonel pulled out his spear, blood spraying through the air as he thrust forth once more. But this time, his target wasn't the dead Raven but rather the crossbow machine strapped to its back.
    The strap was severed in a single strike, separating out from the Predator Raven's.
    Leonel's Chain Domain released the beast but latched onto the crossbow, causing it float before him in menacing fashion.
    Just like that, in what felt like the blink of an eye, the entire situation had shifted.
    All around, there were hundreds of Predator Ravens, each outfitted with a crossbow, but not a single one with the capability of firing one.
    And then there was Leonel. He was just one man, but he had suddenly become the center of the battlefield.
    His gaze still cool, suffused with indifference, he used his Chain Domain to load the first bolt, his eyes locking onto Khaled once more.
    A wave of danger seized the heart of the White Knight. Before, he felt his movements were clever. Clearing out the Predator Ravens to surround and suffocate Leonel seemed to have been the perfect move at the time. But now, he felt as though he had cosigned his own death.
    The irony of it was that as a commander, he didn't even have a crossbow of his own.
    The indifference in Leonel's gaze was almost beginning to drive Khaled mad. There was no sense of achievement or victory or even complacency or happiness in his eyes. It was as though what hovered before him wasn't a human, but rather a series of data points to be callously observed.
    And thenбн Leonel released the bolt.
    SHUUUUU! BANG!
    The sound barrier shattered in an instant. It happened so quickly that by the time it was registered, Khaled was already trying to dodge out of the way.
    But, unfortunately for the White Knight, Leonel's target was never him.
    KWWAAAAбк
    It was a devastating sight. The cry of the Raven hardly sounded before its head imploded into fleshly bits of crimson gore. The bolt was so powerful that it continued without losing momentum, piercing through the heart of another Raven several hundred meters behind the first and causing it to implode as well.
    White Knight Diore found himself falling through the skies, a half-stunned expression on his face.
    He lost?
    Leonel looked on from up above, his gaze locking onto Khaled's falling figure as his Chain Domain adjusted the aim of the crossbow toward the White Knight.
    Today, he would send a resounding message to the people of Terrain.

 Chapter 450: Khaled Diore

    Khaled felt his heart seize. Something told him that no matter what he did, it would be impossible to dodge out of the way of this strike.
    The White Knight roared at the top of his lungs, unleashing all the Force he had. There was simply no point in keeping anything in reserve. What good was reserve strength if he was dead?
    He didn't bother to pull out his glider. At this moment, he didn't want anything slowing his descent toward the ground. In fact, the faster he hit the ground, the better. As for whether he could survive such an impact, he would deal with just a single problem at a time.
    BANG!
    The sound barrier shattered. Roaring winds shot in every direction, clearing out a path for the released bolt. It felt for a moment as though it was cleaving the clouds with a single sword strike.
    Khaled flipped a palm, causing a spear to appear.
    He poured all of his Force into it, striking out with all the might he could muster as he fell from the skies.
    At the same time, he kicked hard at the air, flipping himself upside down to careen toward the ground even faster.
    He hoped that the fact he was falling in the same direction as the bolt along with the fact he was putting his all into stopping it would dampen the strength somewhat. But, reality was cruel.
    Though he was correct in his assessment, the diminishment in strength was practically negligible.
    Khaled's spear point met the bolt, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets under his strain. In that moment, he could swear that he had never put so much strength into a strike before. Butбн
    His spear point splintered apart like dried weed. The bolt continued forward as though cutting through air, blasting a bloody hole so large in his shoulder that it took his arm along with it.
    White Knight Diore paled.
    His arm spun aimlessly in the air, sparkling droplets of crimson dancing around it. It looked as if a canon ball had taken a quarter of his body with it, trying its very best to reap his life.
    In that moment, his spinning arm was sheered apart by the harsh winds left trailing the bolt. Had it not been for the Force Khaled had protecting his body, his head might have suffered the same force.
    Leonel coldly looked on from above, nocking another bolt.
    His senses swept over it all. It seemed that every crossbow had only been outfitted with three bolts. But, judging by their strength, Leonel understood why. With such devastating power, it was unlikely for any formation to survive the combination of the Predator Ravens' abilities and this crossbow assault. In addition, weight was a huge issue when it came to such an aerial assault and each one of these bolts rivaled even the crossbow itself in heft.
    But just one more bolt was fine. Since Khaled had given him such an opening, Leonel didn't believe he wouldn't be able to kill him.
    Leonel coldly aimed for the last time, watching the White Knight's falling figure.
    At that moment, several of the Predator Ravens had swarmed once again, trying to obstruct Leonel's sight toward their commander. But, Leonel didn't flinch. If Khaled thought that he would lose sight because of this, he was sorely mistaken.
    From start to finish, Leonel's Internal Sight had been completely locked onto Khaled. Beyond this, would the bolt really be stopped by just a few bodies considering its strength?
    Leonel's chest expanded with an even breath. As though he was syncing with the crossbow, he released the moment he began to exhale, his calm breathing contrasting with the shattering boom of the bolt's speed.
    KWWAAA!!
    The bolt instantly tore through three Raven bodies in the blink of an eye, showering the skies in crimson.
    Panic gripped Khaled's heart. He continuously kicked the air, trying to quicken his descent. Every time he did, he left concentric circles in the sky, accelerating himself downward with each attempt.
    But the bolt was simply too fast. He realized at that point that obstructing Leonel's vision had been useless. In fact, using so many Ravens to block him only gave him easy access to more bolts.
    A strong feeling of helplessness gripped at Khaled's heart, but his expression remained the same as all others who had died to Leonel's hand on this day.
    He looked up toward his murderer, his gaze locking onto Leonel's. All he received in return was a plain stare, the same one that told him he was nothing but a data point, the same one that didn't seem to care for who he was as a person.
    SHUUUU! BANG!
    There was no sound when the bolt shot through Khaled's chest. In fact, it seemed as though the bolt had only flown through another patch of air.
    Rather, the huge crashing sound came from the bolt colliding with the ground and leaving a crater that rivaled the impact of a small meteor.
    For a moment, there was only a bloody hole. And in the next, Khaled's body imploded, shattering from the inside out into a rain of blood and gore.
    Having realized he made another mistake by calling the Ravens to come and protect him, Khaled didn't bother to protect himself in the end, opting to simply stare at the man who ended his life. It was the kind of look only a man dauntless of death could form in his final moments.
    Maybe, from the very beginning, Khaled's anxiousness, his panic, his trembling, never had anything to do with the danger his life was in and everything to do with his unwillingness to fail the mission he was given.
    Leonel took a deep breath before releasing the crossbow in his Chain Domain and gasping for breath. He coughed several times, his lungs screaming beneath the strain.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel's chest heaved as he tried to give the little mink a reassuring smile.
    Calculating the trajectory of such a fast bolt hadn't been a problem for Leonel. Others couldn't guarantee such accuracy and could only use these crossbows as siege weapons, but Leonel was different.
    This was all to say that the reason for his fatigue wasn't this, but rather his use of his Chain Domain. But, it couldn't be helped, his surfboard couldn't fit such a large, heavy crossbow onto it.
    Leonel shook his head, turning his gaze toward where the gliders had disappeared to. By now, they were definitely closing in on the first Barony. Even without the Predator Ravens, that city didn't stand a chance against so many Fourth Dimensional existences.
    'бн Dammit.'

 Chapter 451: Lost It

    Leonel was just one person. Before he even battled White Knight Diore, he had already tired his mind using so many wind spells. After this battle, he was even more spent.
    Leonel finally steadied his breathing and looked around at what was left of the Predator Ravens.
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't have an easy method of controlling these beasts. His horn was designed for Third Dimensional beasts. But, even then, he couldn't precisely control those Third Dimensional beasts, he could only rile them up into a frenzy and give them simple commands like pointing out a target to trample and targets to avoid like he had done in his final battle on Camelot.
    This time, what Leonel had done was even simpler, he poured his Dream Force into the horn in order to influence these massive predator birds. Essentially, he forced them into temporary madness and this was the extent of his abilities.
    Plus, even if Leonel could make use of these birds, he wouldn't dare to. Believing that White City only had a single method of controlling these Ravens would be absolutely foolish.
    If Leonel brought these birds into battle and they were suddenly turned against him, that would be the worst kind of mistake. Such a thing could completely turn the tide of battle.
    That said, Leonel also couldn't allow White City to so easily gain back these beasts for nothing. Leonel was absolutely certain that the loss of 500 of these Predator Ravens would sting for them. But, how could he easily get rid of them?
    Leonel's eyes flashed.
    "Little Blackstar."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink launched himself off of Leonel's head, diving down and through the skies.
    It quickly came back with a shadow ball it eagerly swallowed from the top of Leonel's head.
    Leonel nodded. Though he had to dispel Little Blackstar's sharpening ability which had come in very useful several times already, he had no choice but to make a sacrifice in this matter.
    "Command them to battle to the death." Leonel said.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel didn't have the heart to monitor such a scene so he allowed the little mink to oversee it as he descended from the skies.
    By now, Aina had dug up several dozen knights, most of whom were heavily injured and unconscious.
    Leonel frowned because he didn't see Lancelot among them. It can't be that Lancelot really died, right?
    In the beginning, Leonel had been paying attention so that he could direct Aina. But, after a while, he had to completely focus on the battle so he sent all the locations at once and focused his everything on Khaled.
    Aina raised her brows when Leonel appeared. "You're fine?"
    "Did you ever doubt it?" Leonel asked with a grin.
    Seeing that Leonel was in the mood to lighten the atmosphere, Aina felt a weight on her chest lower.
    Her senses weren't as powerful as Leonel's. So, through the dust cloud, she couldn't really see or feel what Leonel was facing. She felt somewhat better knowing that it couldn't have been too dangerous, then.
    Of course, had she known the truth, let alone feeling relief now, she wouldn't have even allowed Leonel to go. But as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.
    Seemingly realizing Aina's line of thinking, Leonel frowned.
    "What happened to your sense boosting treasure?"
    Leonel remembered that Aina had used one of her Quasi Bronze rewards from the Joan Zone on a headpiece that covered her one weakness. But, ever since they reunited, Leonel hadn't seen it again.
    Even to the current Leonel, a Quasi Bronze treasure was a big deal. Currently, he only had one broken one he had yet to repair while the second was his Force Crafting quill. Losing such a treasure was definitely a big deal.
    "Thatбн" Aina hesitated.
    She seemed to flashback to memories she didn't quite want to remember.
    Leonel's frown deepened when he saw Aina's reaction. Just what happened to her on Terrain, exactly? It seemed as though every time he got close to touching upon it, she would pull back.
    Leonel never pressed Aina to tell him anything, especially when it was related to her family. But, he didn't have any reason to believe that this was related to the Brazinger family and he was serious about the words he had spoken to her before.
    He wanted Aina to lean and rely on him. But, if she never opened up to him, such a thing would be impossible.
    Though Leonel had taken Mordred's advice and stopped being a 'pansy', if he was always the only one pushing, even he could grow tired of such a thing.
    "бн I lost it to an Invalid."
    Leonel's eyes widened. "What?"
    Leonel panicked slightly, taking a step toward Aina as though he wanted to check if she was injured anywhere. It was completely irrational considering this must have happened months ago, but he couldn't help himself.
    The Invalid Aina must be referring to was most definitely from Terrain. Any Invalid that had last so long on an old world was powerful beyond Leonel's imagining.
    One had to remember that Invalids were only borne from those who failed to awaken their abilities. They couldn't be birthed from those who succeeded nor could they reproduce amongst themselves. This meant that the same population of Invalids a world produced in the very beginning would be the very same population of Invalids they had until the day the world died or all the Invalids were eliminated.
    There were very few, exceptionally rare exceptions to this rule. Any instances that could break this rule would be cherished by Invalids all over.
    Though Terrain was weak, it was still a world with hundreds of years of history within the Fourth Dimension. This meant that any Invalid Aina ran into was definitely at least that old.
    And, at such an ageбн the likelihood that they'd be a Variant Invalid shot through the roof.
    Leonel held onto Aina's shoulders, his heart beating even more wildly than when he had been battling a White Knight far beyond him in strength.
    He truly felt like he had almost lost Aina forever.
    Just what happened, exactly?

 Chapter 452: Big Deal

    Seeing Leonel's reaction, Aina didn't know how to react herself for a long while. The level of worry in his gaze, even for something that had long since passed, left her feeling at a loss.
    "Iбн It's wasn't a big deal, I'm here, aren't I?"
    Leonel frowned at this response, he could sense Aina pulling away. Such a scene made him sigh and release his grip on her.
    "Where is Lancelot? Did you not find him?"
    Leonel changed the topic, but this left Aina at even more of a loss.
    Forcing things and reaching the end goal as quickly as possible always seemed like the path with the most satisfaction. A slow, long grind wasn't something most people wanted to deal with and it was even something that scared most away.
    Though Leonel had spoken so many heartfelt words to Aina, they were ultimately words he had spoken himself. They weren't words that Aina had said, nor were they necessarily the way she, herself, felt.
    Whether she did or not wasn't something Leonel knew, nor was it quite the point regardless of what the truth was. What truly matter was that even if she did, she wasn't at a point where she was ready to say them.
    This wasn't necessarily the end of the world.
    The pursuit of Aina had always been a one-person affair. Leonel never took Aina's standoffishness to heart because in his mind, it was his task to get her to warm up to him. If he failed, then it was because he was inadequate, it wasn't her fault.
    But, this very same logical mind of Leonel's also understood that relationships weren't supposed to work in this way. As logical as he was, he also had exceptionally high emotional intelligence.
    He felt that his and Aina's relationship had taken a step forward she very clearly wasn't ready for. When things reached such a point, dragging her along would do more harm than good.
    However, this abrupt change in Leonel from overly caring to, as though he had flipped a switch, strictly businessбн It left Aina not knowing how to face him.
    Maybe for the first time, she realized just how true Leonel's words from before were. He didn't lie to her, there was no hidden truth she had to uncoverбн he laid out the way his mind worked and the kind of person he was right before her.
    Leonel might have been kind and caring, but it was all built upon a foundation of cold calculation. What drove him first and foremost was logic.
    Since he decided Aina wasn't ready to truly treat him as her boyfriend, he took a step back with easeбн almost too much ease.
    Watching it all play out exactly how Leonel described left Aina feeling somewhatбн
    Cold.
    She realized that if there really came a day where she didn't trust him, where she didn't lean on him as he would lean on herбн He really wouldn't come to save her.
    Aina's lips trembled, but she clenched her jaw and swallowed hard forcing back the emotions she was feeling and not allowing her tears to fall. Her small reactions were missed by Leonel who had started to analyze the fallen knights, calculating if he could spare the stamina to heal them and by how much he would be able to do so.
    "бн While I was digging up the others, Lancelot managed to climb back up himself. He gathered the ones who could still fight and rushed off to the Lin Barony. If it wasn't ruined, they plan on taking a shortcut to the backside of the Barony and hopefully help fortify their defenses."
    Leonel raised his brows when he heard these words, looking back toward Aina. By now, she had already gone back to normal as though nothing had happened.
    "Hmбн They have a chance to make it before the gliders get there."
    Though the gliders had a head start and were flying through the skies, because they were gliding rather than truly flying, their speed was obviously lacking.
    Leonel doubted that the loss of their commander would slow them by much. Such organized armies definitely had a clear line of succession. Those who were meant to step up had likely already done so. Leonel wouldn't underestimate such an army in the slightest.
    "Did they describe the shortcut to you?" Leonel asked.
    Aina shook her head no.
    Leonel could only accept this. He hadn't been too hopeful to begin with. There was no time to do such a thing. And, even if there was, there was no guarantee the explanations would have been clear enough to make use of them.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    At that moment, Little Blackstar dove down from the skies, skipping on his little shadowy platforms to dive into Aina's arms.
    Leonel smiled lightly. "Done?"
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel nodded. "Pass me their Beast Crystals and crossbows, they might be useful in the future."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Little Blackstar vanished into Leonel's spatial ring and entered the Segmented Cube with ease. Sometimes Leonel wondered if the little guy had a spatial affinity rather than a Dark Elemental affinity. But, he knew better. Though they looked quite similar in function, they were very different.
    Those with Space Elemental affinities were moving through space whereas Little Blackstar was entering and exiting the Shadow World. They were functionally the same, but technically different.
    After transferring all the Beast Crystals and crossbows from his Shadow World and into the Lab Setting, the little mink dove out and back into Aina's embrace.
    Leonel looked over the knights again and cast a quick [Grand Heal] a few times. When he was sure that none of their lives were in danger and that a few would wake up soon, he called down his jet black surfboard again.
    Stepping onto it, Leonel turned a light smile toward Aina and stretched out a hand.
    Aina was a bit stunned, but still reached out.
    "Hang on tight." Leonel said, wrapping an arm around her waist.
    Aina subconsciously wrapped her arms around Leonel's back as they shot into the skies.
    "Yip! Yip!" The little mink called out in dissatisfaction, feeling squished. Without a choice, the little guy could only wiggle out and find a new location within the Segmented Cube. Maybe going to tease Tolliver would make it feel better.
    Aina, however, looked up to view of Leonel's side profile. Realizing that he wasn't paying attention to her, she lowered her head back into his chest.
    A single tear fell from her eyes but just as quickly as it appeared, it was absorbed by Leonel's robes.

 Chapter 453: Not Quite

    Camelot suffered a great blow on the first day. White City's assault was swift and didn't contain the slightest hint of mercy.
    By the time Leonel and Aina made it to the city, it was already under siege by those over thousand gliders. Realizing it was a lost cause, rather than trying to fight a losing battle, Lancelot focused all his efforts on retreat, evacuating as many as he could
    Leonel and Aina of course spent their time helping these efforts.
    Though Leonel had the crossbows now, he could at most shoot a single one at a time. This was the limitation of his Chain Domain.
    Even when he wasn't in the skies, he realized that the trouble loading the crossbows was greater than he originally thought. The amount of strength it took was astronomical and beyond him.
    One solution to this was to rely on Aina to do this, but then came the problem of aiming. Only Leonel could make a siege weapon like those massive crossbows accurate enough to target single individuals.
    Even if Aina loaded the crossbows for him, he would still need to aim them. And, he could obviously only aim a single one at a time due to the limitations of his Chain Domain.
    A target was always changing and shifting their position. Leonel couldn't possibly expect to aim so many crossbows at once with such a blatant weakness. And, aiming just one and firing a single bolt at a time couldn't possibly allow him to stop an army of over a thousand, especially with how dauntless they were.
    It was better to keep the crossbows as a trump card for the future. Leonel even thought it might be nice to spend some time modifying them to make them easier to use.
    With his current strength, his imprint on this war definitely wouldn't be made by his fists. If he wanted to have an impact, it would definitely have to be with his Crafts.
    **
    Leonel returned to Camelot to find the dark atmosphere he had originally seen had become even heavier.
    What no one could have possibly expected was for a new enemy to appear before they even finished dealing with The Empire. Not only was this enemy more cruel than The Empire, but they even seemed to be more powerful.
    Leonel and Aina were eventually led to their rooms. But, who knows if Mordred got to the organizers or not, but it was once again just a singular room.
    Leonel swept a glance around. Though the room was just as if not more luxurious than the one Mordred had given them, it was levels lower in romantic hues. In such a situation, it felt difficult not to read more into this than one should.
    Rather than warm lavender, red and violet colors, it had a bland whiteness to it. And, instead of a refreshing, soothing scent, the room didn't have a particular smell to it at all.
    The neutrality of it all hung with an odd heaviness.
    Well, this was the case to Aina. For Leonel, he didn't feel any particular way as though he had already disconnected himself from it all.
    With a flip of his palm the Segmented Cube appeared and expanded to its five by five by five meter size. Despite its size, it only took up about 20% of the large room.
    "If you want to use the cleansing waters, you can. It should be easy for you to enter, just reach out with your Internal Sight.
    "I'm going to go and see if I can gather any materials from Camelot's warehouses. If I can't, I'll also speak to Em to see if the Demon Empire has the things I need."
    "Materials?" Aina asked softly.
    "Mhm." Leonel nodded. "I'm not very powerful now so all I can do is make things with my hands. If there's an opportunity, I'll make a replacement for the headpiece you lost."
    "You're aбн Force Crafter?" Aina's soft voice carried a hint of surprise.
    Leonel grinned. "How is it, I'm pretty amazing, right?"
    Leonel's smile seemed to light up the room. Though this space already had plenty of sunlight rebounding off its white walls, it lacked the same warmthбн
    Aina didn't move even a long while after Leonel had left.
    Eventually, she walked slowly to the bed, crawling onto its head and pulling her knees into her chest.
    A touch of redness crept onto her nose as her eyes watered. She stared off into empty space, seemingly looking at nothing and thinking of nothing. But, the emotions threatening to spill over were undeniable.
    She squeezed her knees tighter.
    At first it seemed as though she was simply in an emotional state, but soon, it reached beyond that.
    The crackling of bones sounded in the quiet room. It took only a moment for one to realize that the bones that were breaking were Aina's own.
    As quickly as she broke them, she healed them, only for her to fracture them once more.
    In any other context, this was just training taken to an extreme. Breaking down one's body and reforming it was the simplest form of training. However, within context, it felt like something much darker, like a heavy fog hanging over a young woman's life.
    A person's worst enemy could often be themselves. In the beginning, it might have seemed that Leonel was the only one who needed to grow and to mature, but it was easy to forget that Aina, too, was just an 18-year-old girl.
    Aina grew up alone. Under the welfare of The Empire, most in thanks to her Five Star Professional evaluation, she was never homeless nor starving. But, regardless, she was alone.
    She didn't meet Yuri until the later years of her middle school days and always had trouble connecting with her or anyone, for that matter.
    She was stuck in a quagmire of her own thoughts. Even if she wanted to connect with someone, she had no idea how to.
    Aina continued to stare off into blank space, her tears half fallen, but not quite, her emotions half spoken, but not quite, her heart half brokenбн but not quite.

 Chapter 454: Extort

    "You want to enter our treasure vaults?"
    Arthur's lip twitched as he looked toward Leonel.
    What kind of King would allow someone not even of their Kingdom to randomly enter their vaults and choose as they please? Even if one was a loyal citizen, it might only be possible to enter once every several years to pick out one or two thingsбн Yet, not only was Leonel asking for free reign to do as he pleased, he wasn't even a person of Camelot.
    Despite this, Arthur felt like he couldn't say no.
    Maybe aside from him and a few founding members of Camelot, Leonel had done more for the Kingdom than anyone else. And, beyond that, Leonel was the reason he felt happier now than he had in a very long time. He had even managed to have dinner with his daughter just last night.
    Of course, Arthur didn't say these things aloud. After all, he had just lost a fifth of his Kingdom and was in line to lose much more of it before all of this was over. Plus, many of his citizens were in danger.
    But, after making his decision, he had already been ready to lose everything. So, how much of a need was there for him to care about such a loss?
    "Yes." Leonel smiled and nodded as though it wasn't a big deal.
    "Are you trying to extort me, kid?"
    "Exactly."
    "Pft."
    King Arthur's head snapped in a particular direction. But, by the time he locked eyes on his son, Lionus was already looking off into the distance as though nothing had happened.
    "Nice weather we're having, huh?" Lionus rubbed his nose, scanning the room.
    Unfortunately for his act, the only window in the throne room was exceptionally high up and was angle such that it only shone a small light on the throne itself. So, how could he possibly know with any sort of detail the kind of weather they were having?
    King Arthur shook his head. Lionus had always been so obedient. He couldn't help but feel that Leonel was having a bad influence on his son.
    At this point, Leonel's smile faded somewhat and he became more serious.
    "Arthur, I've told Em this already but you should be aware as well. If you don't want to lose too much of your power after submitting to The Empire, what's important is to show your worth. Repelling this invasion is a great opportunity for you.
    "Since Terrain dares to do this, they're confident. I'm certain that they've scouted out Earth and understand more about our world than even maybe we do. The Empire will definitely be in trouble and Terrain definitely won't stop until they claim the world for themselves. The greatest variable in this war is you all, Camelot and the Demon Empire."
    "Terrain?" King Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about these enemies?"
    "Not a lot, just more than most."
    "And you believe that by opening up the vaults to you our likelihood of winning will be greater?"
    "Exponentially so."
    "And how am I supposed to make certain that you aren't embezzling anything?"
    Leonel blinked and smiled once more. "You don't. Just take it as my worker's fee."
    "бн Shameless."
    **
    "These are your vaults?" Leonel raised his brows in surprised.
    Lionus smiled. "Yes, this should be the greatest treasure store on Camelot. The only rival to us might be big sister's Empire."
    The area was much larger than anything he expected.
    The vaults were located on the basement floor of the castle. And, despite the size of the castle itself, it took up several floors, a whole three levels to be exact. The amount of space totaled up to more than a square kilometer, it was absolutely inconceivable that there would actually be enough treasure to fill it all up with.
    The first floor was filled with stacks of gold coins. Leonel felt as though he had walked into a dragon's den. He was certain that just the existence of this place was a huge hazard. If one of these gold piles slipped, it could easily bury someone alive.
    Still, Leonel wasn't very interested in these piles of gold. On Earth, gold had lost its value a long time ago. Other than being a good conductor, it wasn't very useful otherwise. It was too soft of a metal and not very good for weapons or armors.
    It was unfortunate for Camelot, but it seemed that in any places other than their Kingdom, this first floor of 'treasures' was quite useless.
    Howeverбн there were two more floors below this one.
    "Thisбн"
    Leonel didn't know what to say for a long time. The store of Ores seemed endless. They piled up into what seemed like perpetuity.
    Though most were Pseudo Fourth Dimensional Ores, their value was so much greater than the gold on the first level that they couldn't even be properly compared. It felt like blasphemy to do so.
    And here Leonel thought he was somewhat of a tycoon after mining the hive, only to find out that he was still very much a poor man if he was comparing himself to a true Kingdom.
    But this made sense. Camelot had 'existed' as a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world for a very long time. Over the years, it only made sense that they would gather so many precious Ores.
    Even if there was nothing else, Leonel felt that he could create so much with just what was before him.
    He saw several mountainous piles of Urbe Ore, countless types of Vein and Elemental Ores, he even saw some true Fourth Dimensional Ores hidden within that might have slipped through the cracks.
    Yetбн there was still one more floor.
    As shocked as Leonel was on the second, the third floored him. He finally bowed down. He was indeed a poor man, he apologized for ever believing that he was wealthy.
    No matter where he looked, there were endless mountainous piles of Fourth Dimensional Ores. If the gold piles could have buried a normal human, these could bury even Lancelot and King Arthur.
    Seeing such a sight, Leonel thought that King Arthur was too stingy for even hesitating to say yes to him. Even if he wanted to take and use it all, would he even be able to?
    But, at the same time, Leonel was shocked.
    Just how did a Pseudo Fourth Dimensional world like this produce so many Fourth Dimensional metals? There even seemed to be more of them than there was on the second level? How did that even make any sense?
    It was safe to say that any guilt Leonel would have felt taking advantage of Camelot like this flew out the window.

 Chapter 455: Battlefield

    "How did you gather so much?" Leonel finally asked Lionus.
    "These?" Lionus started. "This room didn't use to be so full. It got like this after the Merlin Trials collapsed."
    Leonel's eyes widened. "You mean?"
    "Mm. These used to be rewards you could spend Skill Points to buy. But, after the Trials collapsed, they were all collected up by us."
    Leonel was speechless.
    Back then, he had been mostly worried about gathering up the core of the trial world. Since he was taking it, he felt it would be too shameless to take anything else, so he only accepted the goddess necklace after Crakos brought it to him personally.
    But, he hadn't expected that he had really missed out on so muchбн
    Now that Leonel thought about it, when he was within the trials, he had been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of items within the Special Store. So, instead of scrolling through all of them one by one, he used his voice to filter for what he wanted to look for.
    In that situation, he didn't really have time to leisurely scroll through the store, so he always filtered using his voice. Due to this, he didn't have a proper understanding of the scope of items that could be found within the Special Store.
    'бн I was too niceбн' Leonel thought to himself.
    Leonel shook his head.
    Most of the Ores he saw here were Tier 1 to 3 Black Grade Ores, this put them at the lower levels of the Fourth Dimension. But, the sheer volume might very well beyond anything even The Empire had managed to gather to this point.
    Of course, Leonel couldn't confirm this with any sort of certainty, but he felt that he likely wasn't too far off with his assessment.
    'бн My Divine Armorбн If I canбн'
    Leonel slowly shook his head.
    He didn't feel he was skilled enough to complete his Divine Armor just yet, not to mention the fact he hadn't even decided just what kind of Divine Armor to build.
    Still, if there was ever a place to train, this would be it. And, there was likely no better place for Leonel to find the resources he needed to build it.
    'Waitбн!'
    Leonel's gaze swept through the massive treasure house.
    At that moment, he suddenly shot forward, stunning Lionus who had been by his side.
    "Wait for me!" Lionus ran after Leonel.
    Lionus had unfortunately yet to reach the peak of the Third Dimension, so he hadn't broken through like his father, mother, sister and the others. So, he was obviously no match for Leonel in speed.
    Luckily, this store house was only a few hundred meters in length and width. Even though Leonel was much faster, he couldn't go very far to begin with.
    Lionus found Leonel amidst a pile of ores, his hand pressed flush against its side.
    "Ahбн Be careful, if it falls over."
    Leonel nodded, acknowledging Lionus' worries. If he died beneath a pile of precious Ores he had just been greedily eyeing, wouldn't that be too pathetic?
    The pile suddenly shifted, causing Lionus' heart to seize. But, Leonel didn't panic.
    Soon, as though by magic, the pile separated, revealing a radiant piece of Ore.
    Leonel grabbed onto the Ore as the rest of the pile settled down. Only then did Lionus feel his heart calm down once again.
    He had forgotten that Leonel was a Variant Earth Mage. Something like this was within his abilities. But, the level of control that was needed was beyond Lionus' imagining.
    Lionus shook his head and looked curiously at the shimmering black Ore in Leonel's hands.
    "You recognize this Ore?" Lionus asked, somewhat curious.
    Though they had brought all of these Ores here, the truth was that they had yet to research most of their functions. In this aspect, they were still very much in the dark compared to others.
    Usually, the Merlin Trials would have a short explanation of what the Ore was before they chose it. But, obviously, with it collapsed, it couldn't provide such functionality.
    "This? I recognize all the Ores." Leonel said with a smile. "This one is Black Urbe Ore, it's a foundational type metal used as a fusion agent in Crafts. It works almost like iron in that it has a base type that can be forged into all sorts of chemical structures depending on your approach and technique. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was the most important Ore in the entire universe.
    "This one is special though because it was on the verge of becoming Bronze Urbe Ore before it was mined from its Core. So, the Ore Essence within it is a margin purer than regular Black Urbe Ore. This Ore might be able to help me clear a final hurdle in my Metal Body."
    Lionus' brows raised in surprise.
    It wasn't because of Leonel's detailed explanation, but rather because Leonel said he recognized all of these Ores.
    Even though Lionus wasn't educated on the topic, he could easily tell that there were hundreds of types of Ores in this room, each with their own unique variations. To be able to recognize them all would take an absolute expert.
    Leonel took a deep breath. "First, I need to organize this room. There's no order to anything."
    Leonel always liked things to be neat and tidy, this was why his room was always meticulously kept after, though he cared less about his own appearance. It was just a quirk of his.
    He had the compulsion to organize these ores by type and ability. It would make what he wanted to do next much more efficient.
    "Things may get a bit wild, Lionus. Stay close to me if you'd like to remain here."
    Lionus nodded and then shook his head.
    "It's fine. I have a feeling this will take a long time, no need for me to continuously be looking over your shoulder." Lionus chuckled. "If you need anything else, just let me know. There will be another council gathering soon to strategize defensive measures, we also can't be certain of The Empire's plans now and if they've changedбн"
    Leonel nodded in acknowledgement. He didn't expect everyone to base plans around him to begin with. It may very well be possible that Arthur wasn't too optimistic about him from the beginning.
    In the end, he was just a single Third Dimensional being. How much change could he really cause?
    At the moment, it was very likely that all the Forts and the capital were being attacked. If Leonel wanted to swing his weight around, he would need more.
    Leonel could already sense that there was the Evolution Ore he had been looking for, for so long hidden in these piles. It was just unfortunately more difficult to reach. There was no doubt that this Evolution Ore was the most important centerpiece of his Divine Armor and there was just enough of it to form the three portions of Essence he needed.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened as he looked around. This would be his battlefield.

 Chapter 456: Wings

    The instant Lionus had left the range, the treasure vault became a violent storm of swirling ores.
    Leonel sat at the very center of it all, in silent meditation. Ores swooped inches from his body at speeds that surpassed a bullet, yet he didn't flinch. How could he? They were all in his control to begin with.
    If others were watching on, they would find that the disorganized store of Ores was very quickly tending toward disorganized order. Then from there, it very quickly became completely tidy.
    Beads of sweat fell down Leonel's brow. Without a choice, he activated his Bronze Runes. This instantaneously made the control of the metals around him several times easier even to the point that the speed they whizzed around the room with even accelerated.
    It should have been impossible for Leonel to control so many Ores at once. At the very least, he shouldn't have been able to guarantee that they didn't crash into each other. After all, Leonel could split his mind more than a dozen ways, but it definitely wasn't to the point of being able to do so hundreds of ways.
    Rather, Leonel used a much cleverer method. He drew a map of the treasure stores in his Dream World, rebuilding a three dimensional construct. Then, he color coded pathways for the Ores to follow, ensuring that these pathways rarely, if ever, crossed.
    Almost as though he was playing a game, Leonel sorted these Ores one after another. This way, all he had to do was focus on ensuring that the Ores always stuck to these pathways and it was not necessary for him to split his mind more than a dozen or so ways, each for a different kind of Ore.
    Very quickly, Leonel spread out the Ores, arranging them into neat rows with clean roads between them.
    The first division was in Ore types. There was a section for Foundational Ores, Veins Ores, Vessel Ores, Domain Ores and finally, the pile Leonel was most looking forward to, Evolution Ores.
    Foundational Ores were over 70% made of Urbe Ores. Other Foundational Ores simply weren't as common or as useful. They had very specific use cases that made them almost useless. And, often times, their functions could be accomplished by Urbe Ore to an even better degree. So, other Foundational Ores were only used in rare instances.
    The only Foundational Ore that made Leonel take a pause while observing it was Lava Rhombus Ore. It had only one functional use case: The fusion of Earth and Fire type Ores.
    When hearing this, one can understand why such Foundational Ores were looked down upon. For one, Earth and Fire weren't opposing elements, Urbe Ore could allow their fusion easily, there was simply no need for this special use case.
    However, Leonel, for obvious reasons, was intrigued.
    While Urbe Ore could be used in every use case, it also required a high level of skill. Knowing exactly how to temper the Ore to receive the desired effect was the bane of many Force Crafters. These unique Foundation Ores, however, could be used in complex constructs to make them far simpler.
    After separating out these five major categories, the rest was obviously down to the Elements and other unique cases like Soul Type Ores.
    Once Leonel was finished, he looked back toward the smallest pile. Of course, this held the Evolution Ores.
    There were actually enough for 13 portions of Essence. If Leonel combined this with the seven he already had, this meant that he could form two complete portions of Bronze Evolution Ore!
    One had to remember that 10 Black Evolution Ores could form a Bronze Evolution Ore and that 100 Bronze Evolution Ores could form a Silver one.
    Evolution Ores had two abilities. The first was fusing two Ores into a unique Ore never before seen. And, its second ability was to evolve an Ore to the next level. A Black Evolution Ore could evolve a Third Dimensional Ore into the Fourth, while a Bronze Evolution Ore could evolve a Fourth Dimensional Ore into the Fifth!
    According to the speculations of Leonel's father, if one formed their Divine Armor's core with 10 Black Evolution Ores, it was theoretically possible to form a Quasi Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor while still being within the Fourth Dimension!
    Leonel thought back to the Quasi Bronze Grade Ore he had found within the hive, Warping Domain Ore. If he made it the core of his Divine Armor, wouldn't he be able to cross that barrier and stand firmly within the Fifth Dimension?
    Even if he couldn't, the effects would be so infinitely close to the Fifth Dimension that nothing within the Fourth Dimension would be able to withstand its impact.
    Of course, this wouldn't be in terms of strength but rather in terms of function.
    Though Leonel hadn't settled on the design of his Divine Armor, the one thing he knew for certain was that his Warping Domain Ore would be the center piece of it all.
    Warping Ore was able to create an independent space that could make even a single step feel like an entire mile. Due to this, it was quite well known for its defensive abilities, but as Leonel learned more about Domains, he felt that they were far more flexible than this. The uses of Domain were as variable as the uses of an ability, it depended on a person's creativity to use it properly.
    Now that Leonel had this entire warehouse of Ores available to him, the picture of his Divine Armor came into view. Rather than focusing on attack, defense, or elemental types, his plan would be very simple.
    He would maximize his own speed while ensuring his enemies felt as though taking even a single step was almost impossible.
    As Leonel looked through the various Ores, he felt a picture becoming clearer and clearer in his mind. And, the center of it all would be his Warping Domain Ore.
    However, whether he would be able to accomplish the aspirations forming in his mind would depend on if he could build up the skill he needed.
    While he had many types of Ores around him, there was just a single Warping Domain Ore. Spatial Type treasures were too rare, even to the point there were less than a dozen in this entire treasure store, and only two of which could match up to Warping Domain Ore in valueбн
    In that caseбн
    'Let's give this tiger wings.' Leonel's gaze blazed.
    Maybe even Terrain could have never been aware that their greatest enemy would come in the form of a young man sitting cross legged on the floor of a vast treasure vault.

 Chapter 457: Flat Earth

    "бн Eat slowly Little Tolly, slowly nowбн"
    Leonel wiped off sweat that threatened to sting his eyes once more.
    He never forgot that one of the hazards he learned about Metal Spirits was their propensity to overeat. If he let it happen, Tolliver could go mad and harm him.
    This was the main reason Tolliver had yet to evolve into the Fourth Dimension along with Blackstar. Leonel was very careful about how much he fed him and what he fed him.
    Leonel preferred to give the little fella high quality Ores that would fill him very quickly. This was much better than feeding Tolliver a lot of low-quality Ores.
    The more high-quality Ores Tolliver ate, the more powerful the little guy would become in relation to its evolution stage. So, Leonel took this very seriously.
    "Ohбн"
    Tolliver suddenly shot out of Leonel's gloved hands. The little guy's body concentrated into a single point before explosively growing.
    Leonel realized that this was a sign that Little Tolly was finally crossing into the Fourth Dimensional realms.
    Leonel's mind had already entered such a realm, so he was very confident that he would still be able to control and command Tolliver appropriately.
    Tolliver came back to Leonel looking just that much more lustrous.
    "Ready to work little guy?"
    "Bloop, bloop."
    Leonel smiled lightly before his expression suddenly changed.
    He quickly commanded Little Tolliver to float in the air as he scanned his black gloves. After just a moment, he smiled bitterly, watching it corrode as though having been dipped in strong acid.
    Leonel sighed, peeling the gloves off of his hands before it got worse.
    He didn't have replacement gloves. And, though he felt he might be able to make them, how would he? He needed gloves to Craft with Little Tolliver but couldn't make the gloves he needed to Craft with Tolliverбн without Little Tolliver.
    Leonel grit his teeth.
    'I have been avoiding this training for a long timeбн No time better than the present.'
    One of the last lessons of his father's beginners guide was to begin to stray away from gloves.
    The stronger a Metal Spirit became, the more elaborate a Force Crafter's gloves became. Eventually, they would become a hindrance to hand speed and coordination.
    Honestly, Leonel thought his dad was a madman. As if calling himself Father Overlord wasn't bad enough, the old man actually wanted to kill him.
    Leonel took a deep breath and activated his Bronze Runes once again, thinking back to the words his father had spoken.
    [You are a Morales, the earth bows down to you, not the other way around. Gloves are for cowards]
    It made Leonel wonder why his father put a hazard section in the dictionary at all. First it was forming a Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor and now it was Force Crafting without protection. Leonel couldn't help but feel that his old man was simply too irresponsible.
    Leonel brought out the first catapult, steadying his beating heart.
    With a flip of his palm, a familiar chain necklace appeared in Leonel's hand. Fine cracks spread across its surface, causing a flicker of rage to appear in Leonel's heart.
    This chain necklace was the very first Quasi Bronze treasure Leonel ever possessed. Unfortunately, due to Miles almost blowing him to smithereens, it was heavily damaged.
    The truth of the matter was that it should have been impossible for explosives of the 21st century like Miles used back then to damage a near Fifth Dimensional treasure.
    The main issue is that this was an energy based treasure. As a result, it had to rely on the Force around it in order to form its defensive shields. This was exactly why it stopped working when Leonel was under the influence of the Force Disruption Towers.
    Simply put, this chain necklace was using Third Dimensional Force to protect itself and as a result was far weaker than it should have been. If it was using Fourth Dimensional Force, it would likely take at least 24th century explosives and technology to damage it to this extent.
    That was right. At full strength, this chain necklace could survive several blows from the crossbows that White Knight Diore couldn't survive two strikes of.
    This was the power of Quasi Bronze treasures, this was their true value.
    It was just a shame that this chain necklace was damagedбн
    For now, that is.
    This was Leonel's first test for himself. If he wanted to gain enough skill to build his Divine Armor, he would need to build up his skill just as quickly as he built up his strength within Brave City. The only way he could protect himself, his friends and Aina would be if he had the strength to do so, and this was his fastest path toward that end.
    Leonel smiled lightly. 'If I have my Divine Armor, I won't need this. In that case, I'll combine both necklaces into oneбн This should be a good birthday present.'
    Leonel took out the Treading Goddess Necklace. His mind spun with thoughts. He wanted to combine three abilities into one. First the defensive abilities of the chain necklace, the teleportation abilities of the Treading Goddess Necklace, and finally, add something on the end to give Aina a sensory boost.
    After half an hour of meditation, his gaze grew cold and calculating.
    He outstretched a hand and allowed Little Tolly to land in his bare palm.
    **
    Leonel hadn't been wrong. Earth was in shambles, facing battles on all fronts. All eight Forts and even the Capital was under siege. The only difference was that the Capital was under siege by two cities with the Moon, Camelot, and the eight Forts only being under siege by one each.
    However, surprisingly, at this moment, the Emperor of Earth sat in his garden, the delicate chirping of birds around him. He continued to meditate, raising a cup of tea to his mouth without opening his eyes.
    He listened intently to a report, not showing any particular reaction.
    "бн That's should be all, Imperial Grandfather. This is the current situation of the Camelot satellite."
    "Mm." Emperor Fawkes nodded his head. "You may go."
    Noah hesitated. Was that all his grandfather wanted to tell him? Where were the orders? Should he continue to try and assimilate Camelot and the Demon Empire? Or should he focus on wiping out White City?
    "бн Grandfatherбн"
    "Hm? Is there something else?"
    "Iбн"
    Emperor Fawkes let out a deep sigh, his eyes opening to reveal two piercing emerald gems. It felt as though he had the whole world within his purview.
    "Noah, you've grown too reliant on me."
    "бн"
    Noah didn't know what to say. He stared at the talisman in his hand at a complete loss.
    "Did you know that your cousin is on that satellite right now?"
    Noah's expression changed.
    "The very same White Knights you came to report to me about, he's already killed one. He didn't have an army, he didn't have support, he only had himself."
    Noah's heart seized. How was that possible? Thatбн
    "Do not contact me again until White City is nothing but flat earth."

 Chapter 458: Dream Sense

    Noah placed the talisman down, a small hint of shock on his face. Still, it only took him a moment for him to regain his calm.
    Noah didn't know what his grandfather's ability was. In fact, he was certain that no one knew. Emperor Fawkes was a man who always kept his cards close to his chest. Even his closest advisors might not know everything he was thinking about.
    But, this was the way of an Emperor. To remain so calm even in the face of everything you and your Ancestors had built potentially burning downбн this was the marker of a true ruler.
    That said, Noah wasn't so certain that this was all about calmness. He always got the sense that his grandfather wasn't calm but ratherбн confident.
    It was a subtle difference that was hard to grasp but even harder to fake.
    However, as the Prince of the Empire, Noah knew the situation well. And, quite frankly, there was simply nothing to be confident about.
    Earth was caught completely unprepared.
    This wasn't a failure of Emperor Fawkes and the royal family, but rather simply due to circumstances. Who could have predicted the appearance of Camelot? And who could have predicted that a second acceleration would occur right after the first?
    In truth, Camelot should have been a variable Terrain couldn't prepare for. But, due to the circumstances, it became a saving grace for them instead.
    "What would you like to do?" Jessica interrupted Noah's thoughts. Maybe only she was allowed to listen in on a conversation between the Emperor and a Prince.
    Noah tapped on the large table before him, his thoughts running wild.
    He wasn't very sure how he felt about his cousin. He didn't hate nor love Leonel, he was about as neutral on the topic as one could get.
    At the same time, he could also tell that his grandfather wasn't overly eager to bring Leonel back to the palace either.
    Though it was said like this, this wasn't to say that Emperor Fawkes didn't want anything to do with Leonel. If that was the case, he wouldn't praise him so much. Rather, the main point was that the Emperor was content to watch Leonel spread his wings out from afar.
    "According to the information we have, there's a great possibility that he is within Camelot at the moment.
    "The dead White Knight that His Imperial Majesty mentioned should have fallen before the attack on the first Barony. That attack occurred within 20 to 30 kilometers of Camelot. This coupled with the fact reports say that Prince Leonel was a part of the Zone trial that brought Camelot here and this is the most appropriate conclusion."
    Noah nodded noncommittedly.
    "бн How do you think he managed it?" Noah couldn't help but ask after a while.
    "бн"
    Jessica didn't respond. She had been with Noah long enough to know that whenever he asked questions he knew they didn't have enough information to answer, that he didn't really expect one.
    Noah was usually a meticulous, hard nosed, and between the lines kind of person. The only moments he acted like this was after he finished speaking with his grandfather. He didn't even seem to have the same aura about him anymore.
    Noah stood, his calm returning in full.
    "It seems that Imperial Grandfather was correct, there are many eyeing our Earth and some of them might even still be lurking in the shadows even now. Maybe it's time we show them that we aren't pushovers."
    Noah walked to the side of his military tent.
    Located on what would have been a wall, there was a weapon's rack, but it was filled with nothing but sabers. However, shockingly enough, each and every one of these sabers were as large as a human body, carrying blades that seemed capable of cleaving a mountain in two.
    Despite their heft, Noah picked up the first with a single arm. Its radiant blue blade reflected beneath the dim flickering lights. It seemed to exude a magic aura.
    "This one will do."
    With a flip of his palm, the saber vanished and Noah walked to the entrance of his tent.
    "Jessica, all the preparations you made for the Demon Empire, forget them for now. We have a city to level."
    Jessica nodded.
    According to their intelligence, the Demon Empire had allied with Camelot and planned to submit to The Empire. With this sudden change, their thoughts might turn from submission to thoughts of taking advantage of The Empire in their time of weakness to maintain their own sovereignty.
    In that case, rather than giving them a hollow show of power for mere negotiations, they'd show them a real one.
    **
    Within Camelot's treasure vaults, Leonel had no idea that his grandfather was aware of his presence already. In fact, he wasn't even aware that he had a grandfather to begin with. In Leonel's mind, his only family was his father and his missing mother.
    But, maybe even if he was aware, he wouldn't have the mind to think about it.
    Leonel sat on the ground, beads of sweat falling down his face.
    If one stopped focusing on his visage and focused on his hands, it would be possible to see a ghastly sight without compare.
    Blood dripped from Leonel's hands, ricocheting off the ground and echoing through the vast vault.
    Little Tolly happily swam around Leonel's fingers, not realizing the damage it was causing. But, Leonel couldn't blame the little guy, despite having evolved into the Fourth Dimension, it was still nothing but a toddler. In fact, the little guy hadn't even really begun to form cohesive thoughts of its own.
    Though Leonel could command Blackstar with words, Little Tolly didn't accept such direction well. Leonel had to use a series of images for Tolliver to understand his meaning.
    However, understanding didn't make it any less painful.
    There was good news and bad news.
    The bad news was that it was almost impossible to suffer such pain and focus on crafting at the same time. How could one maintain a steady connection and complete such intricate actions when it felt like the world was collapsing around them?
    The good news, however, was that Leonel managed to evolve under pressure and create a new ability. He called the ability Dream Sense.
    Since it was so hard to feel such pain and focus at the same time, why do so at all?
    Dream Sense allowed Leonel to split his senses the exact same way he split his mind, it was just an extension of his Dream Clone ability.
    Leonel used Dream Sense to split his mind two ways. One tackled the brunt of the pain he was feeling while the second focused entirely on his Crafting.
    It was on the third day of using this ability that Leonel evolved once more. He realized something incredibly important.
    If he could split his senses to help him focus, why not split his sensory pain between several minds? If he did that, wouldn't this allow him to dull his pain by several factors?
    If he split the same pain between ten mindsбн Wouldn't he reduce his own pain by a factor of ten?
    This realization truly opened Leonel up to a new world. If he could control his mind even down to this minute level, just what other possible abilities could his creativity have in store for him?

 Chapter 459: Bend

    After grasping an initial mastery of Dream Sense, Leonel realized just how much freedom he had in this regard.
    While he could diverge his senses by separating his mind, if he instead chose to layer and concentrate his senses instead, he could cause a convergent response instead.
    In the end, this meant that Leonel was suddenly capable of both dulling and magnifying his senses by several times, all of which was limited by the number of Dream Clones he could form.
    On the surface, this wasn't very important, but the applications Leonel could think of were practically endless.
    For one, if Leonel had the ability to dull his pain in this fashion, he wouldn't have struggled nearly as much to open the Ninth Door of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. By extension, if Leonel applied his higher pain threshold to other training methods, he could force his body to withstand much more than it previously could.
    Though the idea of suffering through pain and tempering one's will power sounded nice, this was something that could only appear in fantasy novels.
    The human body had strict limits on the pain it could withstand for a reason. Going beyond these limits often meant the shutting down of one's body regardless of how much 'will power' you had. Pushing past these limits was often impossible, not for lack of will power, but simply due to lack of feasibility.
    At the same time, however, these thresholds were often lower than they could be. This made sense, if one's body only shut down when at the very edge of breaking down, it might no longer be possible to pull back.
    But, like this, Leonel would be able to use his own senses to look for his body's breaking point and choose a safe point to stop before then. This ultimately gave Leonel far more control over his own body.
    Still, the applications of this were far beyond just dulling pain.
    If Leonel applied this skill to his Internal Sight, for example, he could make it several times more sensitive than it had been in the past. This could not only make his calculations more detailed and accurate, it would also be almost impossible for someone to slip by his senses.
    Applied in this way, Leonel could layer his vision to gain more details in a single look, he could layer his sense of touch to make his fingers more sensitive during Force Crafting, he could even layer his sense of taste to make food tastier if he so chose to.
    The potential applications were almost endless.
    When Leonel realized this his mind seemed to implode. It wasn't with pain, but rather felt as though a door had been thrust open to him.
    Leonel sent all his focus into his arms, first separating his mind to control them independently then layering them once again to multiply this same control.
    The instant he finished this, his finger speed hitched for a moment before it felt as though they broke past a barrier.
    His movements became smoother and more fluid, his control over Little Tolly reaching unprecedented heights.
    'This is itбн Superior Grade One Designationбн'
    Leonel's hand coordination and speed had been stuck at Advanced Grade One designation for a long time. Thanks to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he was effectively as good as someone who had already stepped into Superior Grade One designation, but it hadn't been a true breakthrough just yetбн until just now.
    Looking down at his bloodied hands, orchestrating the movements of thin lines of silver like a conductor guiding a voluminous sonata, he couldn't help but laugh.
    This feeling, he had never expected it to feel so good.
    Leonel's confidence shot through the roof. He finally felt as though his body could keep up with his mind.
    It was almost as though his own body had become one of his familiars as well. He controlled it no differently than he took control of Little Tolly and Little Blackstar.
    The two necklaces before Leonel seemed to magically and seamlessly fuse into two.
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel completed a task he had spent several days on.
    The Treading Goddess Necklace became more resplendent, exuding a silvery aura.
    Without looking to the side, Leonel locked onto a Soul Type Ore from the Vein and Vessel piles.
    Leonel had already long since picked these two Ores out. If he wanted to give this necklace a sensory boost, this was the only way.
    The Vessel Ore was known as Ghost Whispering Ore. It had the ability to continuously absorb and purify Force into Soul Force. It was born in places with exceptionally dark energy and due to this ability to 'create' Soul Force, it became known as the ghost Ore.
    The Vein Ore was known as Soul Pulsing Ore. When fed an appropriate amount of Soul Force, it had the ability to amplify it. But, what made it so useful was the fact it was able to resonate with whoever marked it, thus effectively become an extension of this person's own Soul Force.
    Due to this Ore's sensitivity to souls and their resonance, it gave whoever fused with it an equally great sensitivity to the resonance of other Souls in proportion to how much Soul Force it was provided with.
    When these two Ores came togetherбн The results were exponentially greater.
    By Leonel's previous estimates, it would have taken him at least a weak to finish the integration of these two Ores without disrupting the balance of the remainder of the treasure. After all, the more moving parts a treasure had, the more complex it was and the more difficult it was to succeed in Crafting.
    Yet, Leonel now felt a confidence he never had before. He felt as though the entire world was in his hands.
    The communication between one's brain and their body was a limiting factor to everyone. This was why endless training was necessary to breakdown the body and force it to understand the tasks the brain wanted it to complete.
    But, for the current Leonel, at least within certain limitations, he could control his body to the finest detail on the very first try.
    All of his mental prowess was concentrated into his hands. As though each joint had become a node to be controlled at his whim, he took hold of his own body like it was a puppet on strings.
    Bend to my will!

 Chapter 460: Start

    Leonel's right hand moved like the wind, wrapping around the Ghost Whispering Ore. At the same time, his left shot toward the Soul Pulsing Ore, working with complete independence.
    Leone's gaze stared out into blank space. It was as though his mind was completely wiped. It even felt like his eyes might roll back into their sockets at any moment. Yet, the speed of his hands didn't slow in the slightest.
    Leonel's right hand rapidly tapped at the Ghost Whispering Ore. Little Tolly raced across its surface causing it to spin rapidly and heat up even faster.
    Smokey impurities flew into the air and dripped down from the green Ore. It shrunk at a speed visible to the naked eye, falling from the size of a palm to the width of just a few fingernails.
    Leonel's left didn't stop. It stretched out at odd angles, causing Little Tolly to spread across the Soul Pulsing Ore's surface.
    Very quickly, the red Soul Pulsing Ore became an incredibly thin length of metal wrapped the entire way by Little Tolly's body. Yet, it seemed as though the thinness wasn't enough for Leonel as he continued to elongate the metal.
    From an Ore of barely two inches thick, the Soul Pulsing Ore became a thin line that stretched almost five meters.
    Finally satisfied, Leonel's left fingers twitched, causing the thin line to fold in on itself length wise, thus halving it to just over two meters.
    To the naked eye, it seemed as though nothing had happened other than this. But, any sharp Force Crafters would be able to see that after folding it, Leonel used the added thickness he gained to roll the thin line into a thin tube.
    The Ore ultimately became a fragile hollow tube that seemed capable of snapping in on its own weight at any moment. But, what happened next was truly magical.
    Little Tolly, who had wrapped itself around the thin tube at Leonel's command, suddenly began to move.
    At first it seemed as though the little guy was snapping the delicately constructed Ore in half, but it soon became clear that this wasn't the case at all.
    Little Tolly began to bend and contort into an intricate shape. The more time passed, the more complex the structure became and the smaller size it seemed to shrink to.
    It felt almost as though Leonel was constructing a miniature maze, hidden within the thin, gorgeous lines of the Soul Pulsing Ore. But, the reality was that he was constructing something much more miraculous than that.
    In just an hour, the over two-meter-long tube had been sculpted into a small spiderweb of structures with a width of no more than half an inch. From afar, it looked like an oval gem. But, up close one could see that it was a maze of delicately forged lines.
    As though by coincidence, the tempering of Leonel's Ghost Whispering Ore concluded at the exact same time. By now, it looked like nothing more than a flowing blue liquid, having lost its green color during the purification process.
    Without a single pause, Leonel communicated with Little Tolliver to bring the thin blue liquid forward. Then, as though he was a madmanбн he controlled it to pour over the delicate red structure he had just formed.
    One would think that with the heat difference, the red structure Leonel took so long to form was finished. The melting point of Ghost Whispering Ore was simply far higher than that of Soul Pulsing Ore, there shouldn't have been even a chance for it to survive.
    Howeverбн Little Tolly's body had yet to stop covering the delicate red structure.
    In two parts, Leonel both controlled Little Tolly to protect the delicate maze while on another hand controlling the blue liquid to pour over it.
    The blue substance wormed throughout the structure, sliding through impossibly small crevices with absolute ease.
    If other Force Crafters saw Leonel now, they would be stunned to the point of speechlessness.
    Such a process would usually be done in several steps. The easiest method would have been to split the structure into two molds before fusing them into one at the end. However, Leonel didn't take this approach at all despite it being the far easier option.
    The reason for this was quite intuitive. When using two molds, it would be impossible to avoid imperfections. The only way to guarantee a sublime result would be to complete the gem in a single step. But, those who had the skill to do such things were simply too few.
    One had to remember that most would never even reach the Advanced Grade One designation, let alone the Superior Grade One designation. In addition, those who could use Metal Spirits who were known for their ability to complete intricate Crafts were even fewer!
    бн
    Leonel's vision regained his clarity and a sudden wave of fatigue slammed into him.
    His mind spun and he collapsed to the ground, the skin of his hands peeling and dripping with blood.
    Leonel sent a glance toward the newly reforged Treading Goddess Necklace, a light smile creeping up on his lips.
    He modified it so that Aina could wear it as a head piece again. It looked much less flashy than it did in the past and the only exotic thing about it was the purple gem that hung from its center. But, Leonel was greatly satisfied. He felt that his skill had reached a new level.
    "Hey dictionary, scan this treasure for me."
    [*Ping*]
    [Treasure: Unnamed]
    [Abilities]
    [Minor Teleportation: Instant teleportation within three meters once every three seconds. Has enough stores to save up for two charges]
    [Force Skin: At full charge, capable of withstanding three strikes of a Pseudo Fifth Dimensional entity]
    [Sensory Boost: Increase sensitivity and range of Internal Sight by a factor of three]
    [Grade: Elite Quasi Bronze]
    Leonel grinned. 'This should be a good birthday present, right?'
    Other than the fact the teleportation charges had fallen from three to two from the original Treading Goddes Necklace, everything else was perfect.
    Leonel still remembered those emotions that ran through him when Miles and Simeon almost killed the two of them. Back then, he had greatly regretted not giving Aina the defensive treasure he had chosen for her earlier.
    'Her birthday is just a few weeks away, I'll give it to her then.' Leonel thought with a smile.
    After thinking this, Leonel became serious once more.
    Originally, he had expected it to take him at least a month to complete Aina's present. By the time he finished, he believed he would have the skill he needed to built the Crafts he had in mind. But, he never expected for him to have a breakthrough and ultimately take less than a month.
    But, this was even better. Now, he could begin immediately.
    Though his body was tired, Leonel's mind was still sharp. He felt an endless energy coming from his Dream World. He felt as long as his mind was awake, the state of his body meant little.
    '[Grand Heal].'
    Leonel was showered with blinding Light Elemental Force, the injuries to his hands repairing at impossible speeds.
    'Let's startбн'

 Chapter 461: Monster

    A knock sounded.
    "бн Leonel? Aina? Hoho, feel free to ignore big sis if it's inconvenient toбк."
    Before Mordred could finish her words, the door to the room opened.
    Mordred's words were caught in her throat as she blinked speechlessly.
    Aina stood before her with an equally questioning glance. It had already been more than a week since they came here, but this was the first time someone had come to check on Aina. Well, aside from the usual delivery of food that came every so often.
    Camelot wasn't clear on Aina's strength while King Arthur believed that Leonel wasn't quite strong enough to make a big difference either.
    Though King Arthur had battled and lost to Leonel before, those circumstances were quite special. Back then, due to his pride, he fell into Leonel's rhythm and tried to compete with him in speed casting.
    Objectively speaking, back then, if Leonel had to battle either Mordred or King Arthur, it would have been a difficult and long fight even after grasping the Winter Realm with his bow. This was how much strength these two legends had.
    Had King Arthur been more level headed back then, Leonel wouldn't have been able to make such a fool out of him. This much should have been clear by the fact that, despite the optics of it all, Arthur came out of their battle completely unscathed.
    And now, King Arthur had finally crossed the barrier he had stalled at for so many years.
    This wasn't all eitherбн Because now, the people of Camelot were considered to be people of Earth. As the world evolved, the people of Camelot, too, began to awaken to their own abilities.
    This was all to say that the King Arthur of now was by far and away stronger than the version of himself Leonel would have already struggled mightily to defeat. So, despite the fact that Leonel had grown since then as well, he was unlikely to last a few exchanges with the current King Arthur even nowбн
    So, it made sense that no one had come to communicate with Aina and Leonel. In their minds, what difference could these two children possibly make?
    The only person who knew that it was inadvisable to underestimate Leonel was Mordred and this was because she knew everything about him, even secrets he had never exposed to another before.
    But, there was one interesting thing about that trial that Mordred hadn't told Leonel aboutбн
    Back then, the first part of the trial was a test of sifting through information. It took some time for Leonel to realize that the 'main character' of his trial was actually Mordred and not someone else.
    Mordred, of course, had to deal with this same issue. But, compared to Leonel, she had a much harder time deciphering the truth.
    This wasn't only because Leonel had an ability conducive to such analysis while she did not, but it was because it almost felt as though Leonel's life had not oneбн but two main characters to it.
    And the other character? It was exactly this young girl before her.
    When Mordred laid eyes on Aina, a welling of almost motherly sympathy burst out from her heart.
    "You poor girl, you have to treat yourself better. Your scars have flared up again."
    Aina flinched when she heard these words and involuntarily took a step back.
    Unlike Leonel who had been there, she wasn't aware why Mordred would somehow know so much about her.
    Saying that her scars had flared up would be a simple observation for anyone. But, to say 'again' so familiarlyбн why did it feel like Mordred knew this wasn't the first time this had happened?
    Aina's scars had, indeed, been inflamed once again. In fact, they had a raging violet redness to them that was even more severe than when Leonel had seen them at their worst.
    After using the cleansing waters, they had calmed and appeared like normal scars. Though they were still ever present, they looked like normal knife wounds. But now, they looked like they had been infested by a nasty infection once again.
    Having seen almost as much of Aina's life as she had seen of Leonel's, Mordred knew well that Aina's scars only flared up like this when she used them to facilitate her training.
    Mordred sighed seeing Aina's reaction. She too felt that she was a bit too rash with her words. Aina had no idea that she had seen most of her life as well.
    "бн May I come in?" Mordred asked.
    By now, Mordred was certain that Leonel wasn't present.
    'Damned boy, how can you be so bad with women? She's clearly in a distressed state yet you've gone off and disappeared.'
    As much as Mordred knew about Aina's life, she knew even more about Leonel's. She knew how easily he detached himself. Whether it came to his mother or James, she didn't think that anything would change when it came to Aina either.
    Unfortunately, Leonel might have high emotional intelligence, but even he couldn't be perfect. He still had some things to learn, it seemed.
    "Mm." Aina nodded.
    Mordred sighed. "Come, come. Let's get you an ice pack, I'm sure that this can't feel very good."
    Aina wasn't sure why she allowed Mordred to enter, truthfully. Despite Mordred's talks of an ice pack, Aina never mentioned the fact Leonel's cleansing waters could likely heal her back to her previous state.
    "Em, I want to fight." Aina suddenly said.
    "Fight?" Mordred was stunned.
    "Yes, I want to join the battlefield. But, I wasn't sure who to talk to, so I've been waiting here."
    "Thisбн"
    Mordred hesitated. She was hoping to help Aina out a bit, maybe spend some time with the young girl. After all, if there was anyone who understood what it felt like to be alone, it was Mordred.
    But, something about it made her realize that it was almost too difficult to say no to this girl. It looked as though if she said no, Aina would go off on her own to find her own battles.
    Thinking back to the scenes Mordred had seen of Aina's life, Mordred could only grit her teeth and agree.
    'бн The last time that monster came out of her, she and Leonel were in that 'French' Zone. I need to be there if it happens againбн'

 Chapter 462: Sows

    Though it might seem isolated, news of the war between Earth and Terrain spread like a wildfire throughout the universe.
    It could be said that a world wasn't truly considered to be a part of the Dimensional Verse until it entered the Fourth Dimension. But, Earth in specific was wildly eyed by powerful entities due to its potential.
    It was exactly because of this that war between two mere Fourth Dimensional worlds had suddenly become such a hot topic.
    The truth was that though Earth was favored, it was the world itself that was, not its people. Who cared which citizens populated it as long as the world existed? In fact, many other Fourth Dimensional worlds were quite jealous of Terrain.
    The truth was that Terrain was the only Fourth Dimensional world close enough to execute such a war plan. It wasn't by coincidence that Leonel and Aina could reach with a single talisman.
    These words peeled back the requirements for such an invasion to succeed.
    Firstly, two worlds had to exist on the same plane. It would be almost impossible for a Fifth Dimensional world or above to accomplish such a thing. Or, more accurately, the price they would need to pay to do this wouldn't be worth it. This was also why Terrain needed to wait until Earth evolved.
    The second requirement was closeness. The universe was too vast, it would be impossible for another Fourth Dimensional world from a wildly different quadrant to even dream of attacking Earth.
    Terrain happened to meet both of these requirements and now its actions were a hotly discussed topic.
    But, while most of the universe was just observing curiously, there was a group of people that was infuriated: the Powers of Terrain.
    If there was one group of people that was completely caught off guard by this, even more than the people of Earth, it was these Powers. In one moment, they were negotiating terms to sell themselves to a higher power, and in the next moment, half the value of their world was plundered and taken.
    "Who's going to explain to me how this happened?!"
    A thunderous roar shook Cliff's Edge Terrace.
    "Stop all your yelling, is that going to get us anywhere."
    "What did you say to me? Don't forget this is my territory, woman."
    "Call me 'woman' one more time and I'll peel your tongue out from your lips. Care to try me?"
    "Alright, alright. This isn't getting us anywhere. You're only wasting more time."
    "Tsk, we should have known they were planning something like this."
    "It was obvious that they were planning something, but attacking Earth takes some balls. I didn't think that they'd have the guts to do it."
    Three individuals gathered. The male with a booming voice was the Head of Cliff's Edge Terrace, Head Solar. The woman was the Head of Mirage Pavilion, Head Mirage. And, the mediator of the two was the Head of World's End Falls, Head Falls.
    "That's exactly what doesn't make any sense. Who gave them the guts? Do they have any idea how many hidden allies Earth has? Do they have any idea how many other powers are eyeing Earth? Do they have a death wish?"
    "It seems like you're still the same idiot." Head Mirage sneered, her cherry lips parting in disdain.
    "What did you say to me?!"
    "Just think for a minute, blockhead. You think those people care about the people of Earth? Do you think there's such kindness in this world?"
    "The talents of Earth only come from those born on Earth. And, even then, it isn't as though one can just go to a powerful world to birth a child and manifest a talent, or else everyone would do it! Obviously, the people of Earth are worth more than the people of our world even if we started popping out babies over there right this second!"
    "You idiot, do you think you're the only one that knows that? Since you're still not getting it, I'll try to speak extra slowly."
    Head Falls rubbed his temples and shook his head. But in the end, he couldn't be bothered to stop their bickering again.
    "A first generation child is a baby which doesn't have a single parent from the world. They will gain at most a 20% blessing from the world and won't be gifted with all of its potential. The remaining 80% will come from where the baby's parents originated.
    "If the baby has at least one first generation parent, they will receive 50% of the world's blessing and will be considered a second-generation child. This will be the same even if both parents are first generation, the percentages will not change.
    "If the baby has at least one second generation parent, they will receive 80% of the world's blessing. Once again, this will be the same even if both parents are second generation.
    "If the baby has at least one third generation parent, they will receive 90%. At fourth generation, it will be 95%. And, with a parent at the fifth generation, the baby will finally be considered a full blown native.
    "It's at fourth generation where things change. At that stage, if both parents are fourth generation, then their baby will receive 100% of the world's blessing and also be considered a full native.
    "Do you understand now?"
    By this point, Head Solar wanted to explode. Did he look like a child? How could he not know these things? In fact, one of the most important things for a world to grasp after entering the Fourth Dimension and truly becoming a part of the Dimensional Verse was how to differentiate between immigrants and natives.
    There was no small number of people who wanted to take advantage of more talented worlds. In fact, even Terrain had to deal with this, let alone Earth.
    "Do you really think I don't understand any of this?!"
    "Clearly you don't!" Head Mirage snapped. "Our world is the only one in position to launch attacks from Earth for the foreseeable future. By the time any other worlds can come in and taste a piece of the pie, do you really think five generations wouldn't have passed by then?!
    "That's not even to mention the fact that there are plenty of fifth generation people on Earth right now! What's stopping them from being used like studs and sows?!"
    Head Solar froze.
    It seemed that this situation was far different from what he had imagined.

 Chapter 463: Glint

    Head Solar calmed his rage and took a deep breath.
    "So they're just taking a risk for a chance at survival? Fifth Dimensional worlds are much more common than Fourth Dimensional worlds. The number that would be in position to attack them is far more. Who's to say that with Earth's talent they'd even be able to establish themselves before they suffered the same fate?"
    Though it was somewhat counter intuitive, after some thought it made more sense.
    It was best to consider the universe like a bell curve. It wasn't necessarily so that weaker worlds were more common.
    With the age of the Dimensional Verse, many worlds had had time to reach their potential. Due to the structure of things, the average talent of worlds was the Fifth Dimension. As such, the vast majority of worlds in the Dimensional Verse were within the Fifth Dimension.
    Likewise, the number of worlds within the Fifth Dimension that could attack Earth were likewise much more.
    If the Cities won this war, how long would they get to enjoy it? A few decades at most? With Earth's potential, they likely wouldn't even need a century to cross yet another Dimensional barrier.
    "In fact, their situation is even worse than that." Head Solar sneered, suddenly thinking of something. "Even if they really used Earth's people like sows and studs, it would take years for those children to mature. In the meantime, would they have the talent necessary to ensure that Earth wasn't swallowed by spacetime?"
    Talent was a double-edged sword. Though better talents would be born in such a world, their Zones were likewise more difficult and appeared more frequently as well. If those Cities failed to clear the Zones, Earth could very well be swallowed up.
    Head Falls sighed.
    "Your words aren't wrong, but only partially. I'm sure you remember what happened in Brave City this time, right?"
    Head Solar froze again.
    "The Heir of the Kaefir family was accepted as a disciple of Valiant Heart Mountain. It's with this added layer of protection that they dare to do this."
    Head Solar frowned. "But doesn't Earth have that Leonel child?"
    He heard from his son that there was a Leonel character who was accepted without even having to go through the trials. Wasn't Leonel's standing even higher than Anared's? How could this even count as protection.
    "Yes, I've heard this as well. But, this protection is only useful if two conditions are met. The first is that they have to be worlds that Valiant Heart Mountain can directly act against.
    "Secondly, they have to have officially joined and have to have high standing.
    "Not only has this Leonel child not officially joined, but Earth's attackers are members of the Fourth Dimension. This is not something Valiant Heart Mountain can interfere in."
    Head Solar sighed, slumping into his chair. Higher dimensional worlds couldn't interfere even if they wanted to. Not only would the price be high, but there were unspoken rules to think of. Wars between lower level worlds were usually observed with one eye closed and another open by these behemoths.
    Only when the threats were of the Fifth Dimension would Valiant Heart Mountain begin to have some deterrence.
    "They're banking on the Keafir family Heir joining in a few years and climbing up the disciple ranks?"
    "бн If only it were so simple." Head Falls sighed once again. "I have reason to believe that the Keafir family Heir's success has little to do with what benefits Valiant Heart Mountain can provide and much more about what his fiancижe's family canбн"
    At this point, even Head Mirage who had long since grasped everything sat up.
    "What do you know?" She asked straight forwardly.
    "It's only my speculationбн"
    "Just speak, stop beating about the bush." Head Solar pressed.
    They both knew about Head Falls' ability. If there were any deductions he could make, they would likely be very close to the truth.
    In reality, it was mostly because of this that they were caught off guard by things. They were so used to Head Falls seeing through everything in advance that they never even suspected what might happen. Now, they had been caught with their pants down.
    Head Falls took a deep breath.
    "The appearance of Young Miss Heira is too mysterious. No one knows where she comes from, what strength she possesses, or what her goals are. All we know is that she is the fiancижe to the Keafir family Heir, nothing more, nothing less.
    "I contacted Shield Cross Stars to hopefully find out some information about her, but my contacts weren't able to get anything back to me."
    The expression of the two Heads changed.
    This realization didn't mean that Heira's standing was above Shield Cross Stars. This was almost impossible. After all, Shield Cross Stars was considered to be the police of the universe. There were few if any Powers that could ignore their influence.
    What this truly meant was that Head Falls' contacts weren't able to get him the information he needed. Simply put, their clearance wasn't high enough.
    This meant at least one thing for sure: Heira wasn't from a world weaker than the Fifth Dimension.
    "However, they did let slip one thing. According to them, a notice for fugitives was put out. Suspicious entities in all Fourth Dimensional worlds within this Star Alignment were all marked with monitoring brands. But, most importantlyбн This order was requested by Young Miss Heira herself.
    "As for what this means in totality, I'm not sure. Butбн It for certain means that this young lady has the influence or, at the very least, the net worth necessary to accomplish such a thing."
    Head Solar's brows furrowed. "What are you trying to get at? I feel you mean something more by telling us how potentially powerful she is, correct?"
    "Yesбн Don't you think it's odd that not to mention the fact the two haven't gotten married, but they haven't even set a date for their wedding yet? Almost likeбн Almost like the Kaefir family Heir still hasn't proved himself yet?
    "So, what kind of status would he gain once he did gain such acknowledgement? What if this acknowledgement is more important than any backing Valiant Heart Mountain could ever provide?"
    The two Heads sucked in a cold breath before a deathly silence fell over the room.
    "Thenбн What should we do?" Head Mirage was the one to finally break the silence.
    Head Falls didn't answer for a long while. For a moment, the two thought that he might never respond at all. But, when he finally did speak, they felt a swirl of complex emotions were surging within them.
    "бн As things stand now, Earth still has a chance to defend itself. Though they're feeling the pressure, it isn't to the point their loss is guaranteedбн
    "бн As the saying goes, delivering coal in the winter is better than delivering water to an already smothered flame. What chance would Earth stand if instead of half our world's strength, it faced the entire brunt?"
    бн
    Head Falls left the meeting of Powers with a smirk on his face, a sharp glint lighting his eye.

 Chapter 464: Code Black

    Royal Blue Fort.
    The atmosphere was heated. The amount of pressure placed on the Fort itself wasn't as great as one would have expected. At the very least, the colonists of Earth's two moons and the citizens of the Capital were under far greater stress.
    The reason for this was obvious, but also placed the members of the Fort in a terrible situation all the same.
    Unlike the Capital which had been revitalized and truly looked like a Province once again, Royal Blue Province was still mostly in shambles. The only location of proper society was the Fortбн So why would the people of Terrain bother to attack right away?
    For different situations, different tactics were required. Camelot was a small terrain and mostly inhabited. As such, White City launched a full assault from the very beginning.
    [Author's Note: From now on, whenever Camelot is mentioned, assume it's in reference to Earth's second moon unless the context says otherwise]
    However, Royal Blue Province was now mostly untouched territory. Other than the Fort itself, the rest was just collapsed buildings, Invalids, beasts, and the occasional outcast gang that overestimated themselves.
    Leonel had met such an outcast gang in the moments before he entered the Joan Zone. But, he had dealt with them quite easily in his rage due to their grotesque remarks about Aina.
    These outcasts were fools who thought they would be able to avoid the hand of The Empire when things finally settled down, when in reality they would likely be among the first killed when things truly reached that point.
    But now, to the people of Terrain, these outcasts had become a hot commodity.
    Since Earth was such a new world, most of its original citizens, by default, were within the Fifth Generation and beyond. This made every Earthener the people of Terrain ran across a hotly contested itemбн
    Yes, item. Not person.
    This situation left the people of Earth in an odd limbo.
    The Capital was under a full blown assault and unable to lend out help, while the rest of Earth's land was being rapidly colonized.
    The only way to stop this would be to send out armies from the Forts to slow them down. But, how could these nobles that had just turtled themselves up dare to make a move so easily? They continued to cower within their walls, waiting for someone else to take action.
    After all, with the death of Miles, they could just pretend that they didn't have proper direction. Then, everything would fall on the shoulders of the Governor Duke or the Secretary Marquisette. They wouldn't have to take any responsibility whatsoever.
    This was the harsh reality that peace could bring about. The sharpness The Empire that once swept through Earth had, had dulled considerably.
    While there were no pushovers amongst nobles, it was also because of this that none of them wanted to rashly make a move.
    What if their sacrifice benefited another? How could they guarantee that their credit would be their own and not that of someone else's?
    This situation led to the Fort closing its dome once again. As for the commoners on the outsideбн did they need to care for them?
    But, it was in exactly this situation that the large oak doors to the gathering of nobles opened.
    A deathly silence fell. The number of people who dared to do such a thing were simply too few. And, since it was unlikely to be a person of The Capital, it was pretty clear to them all who this person was.
    As expected, the clicking of heels reverberated through the quiet congressional hall.
    A beauty strolled in, her hips swinging like a hypnotic pendulum. It didn't seem like she had done it on purpose, but rather that innate charm exuded from her very pores.
    Despite the fact they all knew she had been an old hag just a year prior, the men within the room couldn't help but feel their loins light on fire.
    Who else could this person be if not Secretary Marquisette Maia? After another long disappearance, she had finally come back once again.
    As though nothing had changed, she easily sat at the helm of the hall, not feeling as though there was anything wrong in the slightest.
    One of the nobles frowned.
    "Secretary Marquisette, this isn't appropriate."
    As a Chief Earl, the chief law officer of Royal Blue Province, there were few who knew the law better than Chief Earl Fiel. The position of one's seating was highly important to setting precedential hierarchy.
    But, Maia now sat in a position reserved for the Governor Duke. Even Miles hadn't been allowed to do this. In fact, Miles couldn't sit at any one of the leadership positions.
    Maia didn't respond directly. She only dug into her bosom and pulled out a noble crest.
    With a single look, any one of them could recognize it. Those rushing waters, the strong shield that blocked them from the lush grounds to its back.
    There was no doubt, this was the Leum family's crest.
    Chief Earl Fiel sat back down silently. There was already nothing more to say.
    "бн In my absence, it seems that you all have had quite a bit of fun to yourselves, hm?" Maia said lightly.
    The nobles remained silent. They couldn't understand how this woman who so rarely appeared still wielded so much power. Just how did she do it?
    "It seems that you all have forgotten what it means to be the nobles of the Ascension Empire. You all have felt too comfortable for too long.
    "His Majesty, Emperor Fawkes, has ordered a Code Black Martial Law state, effective immediately."
    At that moment, the nobles who had managed to maintain their cool shot out from their seats, shock coloring their features.
    A Code Black state? Wasn't that too rash? Such a state could only be called upon when The Empire was in danger of falling, but they were still very far from this future. What the hell was going on?
    Of course, this was only a very small part of why they were all so shocked.
    Code Black Martial Law had the fewest laws and restrictions of any state. But, it had one very important clause that shook the nobles to their core.
    In such a state, everything was earned by merits. When it concluded and everything returned to normal, even their very own noble positions would be up for grabs and exchangeable for meritsбн
    Even the title of Grand Prime Minister or even Prince could be exchanged for!
    As for those who didn't have enough merits...? They would lose the noble seats they spent so much of their time protecting.

 Chapter 465: Secretary Marquisette Maia

    "From now on I will be in charge."
    Secretary Marquisette Maia's demeanor completely shifted. From a coquettish, seductive air, the atmosphere around her became oppressive and heavy. It felt as though she had become a completely different person. Noбн It was like she had gone back to being that old hag of over a year agoбн
    "First, the scouting missions will be ramping up. I want anyone with speed, concealment and sensory abilities to be inserted in a reconnaissance unit effective immediately. The only exceptions I will allow are those in commanding roles.
    "All Tier 5 Admirals will be responsible for securing a ten kilometer coastal buffer. The ocean has been ruled by beasts for too long, how useless are you all for allowing this to continue?
    "All Tier 5 Generals will be in rotating vanguard positions. I don't want there to be a single moment in any single day where there is not any pressure being applied on these jumping monkeys of Terrain. How long do you intend to allow them to gallivant on our turf? Is this what being a noble means to you?
    "General Umbred, General Sater, General Tudo. Consider yourselves demoted. Your replacements will be the new General Milan, General Raj and General Joel."
    "What?!"
    General Umbred stood in a rage, his mustache furiously blowing in all his anger.
    "Sit down."
    Umbred felt a cold shiver course through his veins. He met Maia's cold gaze, completely unable to stop his body from trembling.
    "While you were holing yourself up in the safety of this dome, those three led a vanguard against the Invalid tide. Yet, you still dare to call yourself a general and even raise your voice toward me? Who do you think you are?
    "I sentence you to three years in Dark Cloud prison. Take him away."
    Umbred froze in shock, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
    Dark Cloud prison wasn't a death sentence for himself, but it was most definitely one for his career.
    He couldn't believe what was happening. He didn't even know who this Milan person replacing him was, nor did he know a Joel or Raj. All he knew was they had to be commoners because the only ones who would have led a vanguard against that Invalid tide were those with no standing.
    All he had done was follow the lead of everyone else, yet he was suffering the most. Even worse, because he couldn't control his temper, he ended up in an even worse position than the other two.
    Seeing such a scene, former General Sater and Tudo didn't even dare to breathe too heavily. They could only watch with sunken expressions as Umbred was escorted out of the hall, his expression dark as could be.
    No one who had a criminal record was allowed to hold a government position above Tier 3. Umbred was finished and the legacy his family had built to now had all come crumbling down just with a few words.
    "Do you all really think I don't know what's been happening in my absence?? This sort of dereliction of duty will not be tolerated. Every offender will receive a more damning sentence than the last. The next person to step out of line will receive five years, the next ten. Don't try my patience."
    Maia continued as though nothing had happened, listing off her commands.
    The more the nobles listened, the more they realized that Maia had ears everywhere. Every one of her new laws of order was pointed at a very particular problem that was almost impossible to? notice on a whim.
    The more she spoke, the more the nobles felt their hearts tighten. They sat up straighter, their demeanor becoming several levels more respectful.
    At the same time, they began to look toward one another with wary gazes. The only way Maia could have managed this was if she had informants. But, it was impossible to tell who they were, it left them all on the edge of their seats. They had no idea who had been secretly observing them all.
    As clever men and women used to the world of politics, they tried to pay attention to who Maia put in positions of power, trying to see if they could deduce who to be wary of in the future. But, the more they tried to deduce, the more frustrated they became.
    The only obvious promotion Maia handed out was to those three commoners. The rest were either inconsequential or didn't change much at all. It left them all in a state of limbo, as though they were suspended above an abyss they could fall to the bottom of at any time.
    If they didn't know Maia was doing this on purpose by now, they wouldn't be worth the noble titles they had.
    With this kind of perpetual pressure, which of them would dare to step out of line?
    "бн Finally, reorganize the inner city and make room for the commoners to enter. Level the outer city and repurpose the steel walls for some more practical defenses."
    The nobles felt like cleaning out their ears. What did Maia say just now? Allow the commoners in?
    Maia's words were final. She didn't even bother to explain herself from start to finish. She never gave a reason for anything, but deep inside, the nobles knew exactly why she made every decision. This was the only one they couldn't quite wrap their minds around.
    But, Maia didn't give some heartfelt speech about the importance of the people to convince them. She simply left her words behind and swayed her hips to leave.
    Internally, Maia giggled.
    'Consider this a repayment of your favor, Leonel. You helped me gain the foothold I wanted in the Slayer Legion and now I've reformed Royal Blue Fort to your ideals. Be sure to put in a good word for me to your gramps.'
    Maia smiled lightly, her mind spinning at speeds that could rival even Leonel's.
    As for what her plans and goals were, maybe only Maia herself knew this.
    'Ah!' Maia suddenly sped up her steps. 'Don't worry, mommy's coming.'
    Maia happily sashayed away. She really didn't like being away from her child. Even though the doctors swore the incubator was top of the line, she still preferred to oversee it all personally.
    **
    On Camelot.
    "Oh, Khaled is dead?"
    ---
    [Author's Note below 17/12/21]

 Chapter 466: Longer

    One would think that such a report would have landed on City Lord White's desk a long time ago. However, the City Lord wasn't the type of woman who enjoyed listening to reports on what she deemed as useless points. All she cared about was the result.
    Not only had the Lin Barony fallen, but it had fallen within the time frame she had set. The number of soldiers she had lost were less important to her than the tasks they managed to complete.
    This might sound like a maddening philosophy to have, even to the point where it dehumanized one's own subordinates, and even worse, could be seen as foolish, but it was clear that City Lord White didn't care about the optics of such things.
    In the end, the result was an odd situation where City Lord White only learned about the passing of one of her White Knights over a week later.
    Niya nodded. "Yes, City Lord. He died along with 511 Predator Ravens. During the siege of the Lin and Pervaux Baronies, we lost 37 of our 1022 men before managing to claim their territory.
    "Soldier Kopp took over White Knight Diore's position and has been taking control of the law and order of the troops."
    City Lord White waved a hand. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
    Niya didn't seem surprised the City Lord White didn't care about all these details. In truth, she wanted to be out on the battlefield herself, but this was a war where White City was just a single gear in a working system. She couldn't do as she pleased. She had to follow the plans laid out by the Keafir family.
    This left her feeling quite antsy and irritable. She only managed to keep things together since it was Niya who was speaking. If it was anyone else, they likely would have tasted 'Clara' by now.
    And, the only reason Niya had such a pass wasn't because City Lord White allowed nonsense from her. Rather, it was because the City Lord was aware that Niya knew better than to waste her time. So, if Niya was bringing this up, it meant she had a very good reason to do so.
    There was a reason Niya was the only one allowed to be so near the City Lord so consistently.
    "According to a report sent by acting commander Kopp, White Knight Diore lost in single combat at the hands of a child by the name of Leonel Morales."
    City Lord White's annoyed expression faded and she looked up at Niya.
    Niya nodded once again despite the fact City Lord White hadn't actually spoken any words.
    "There are three things that we have to pay great attention to during this war. The first is the interference of the hidden families. The second is the interference of Higher Dimensional worlds. And lastly, we have to pay particular attention to the wielders of the World Spirit.
    "According to what is known, the second, third and fourth completers have well known identities. However, the first completer has yet to be found.
    "According to our intelligence and deductions, there are three individuals who have the potential to be the first completer. One of these individuals is expressly this Leonel Morales."
    City Lord White slowly stood.
    The World Spirit, even in comparison to the interference of Higher Dimensional worlds, was the greatest potential variable of this world.
    The good news was that the World Spirit should have been split into four parts. When in such a parsed situation, the abilities of the World Spirit were significantly nerfed to the point of practically having no use. This in addition to the fact the abilities of World Spirits were quite infantile at the early stages of such a world and it wouldn't be a large problem even if it was whole.
    However, the World Spirit is what truly decided sovereignty over a world. Terrain had to ensure to grasp at least one of these four portions. Only by doing so would they be able to truly lay claim to this world.
    "Also, though she is not among the most likely three I just mentioned, there is intelligence that Aina Brazinger is currently present on the battlefields. From our intelligence, she has a very close relationship with Leonel Morales. So, although she's unlikely to have been the first completer, getting to her would be valuable, regardless."
    "Why'd you wait so long to bring such information to me?! I finally get to set out!"
    "City Lord, wait!" Niya raised her voice slightly so that City Lord White didn't just storm off. If this short-haired woman caught a head of steam, it would be almost impossible to stop her.
    "What is it?"
    "It isn't appropriate to make a move just yet. Our original plan didn't account for The Empire already having a presence on this moon already. But, it seems that before we appeared, The Empire had already sent Prince Noah Fawkes here to lead an army to assimilate Camelot and the Demon Empire."
    "Noah Fawkes, isn't that?"
    "Yes, the third completer, Prince Noah Fawkes."
    "Isn't that even better. That means there are two potential World Spirit pieces here."
    "While this is true, it also means that we have to be careful. Prince Fawkes has already begun to lead a counterattack and we've already lost half of the territory we initially snatched due to poor foundations."
    "Isn't that just more reason for me to go? Why are you wasting my time?"
    City Lord White's expression darkened.
    "Yes, it is important that you go, but not so that you can target Leonel Morales. We need to prepare a proper counterattack and sweep through Camelot in a single sweep.
    "I suggest that you wait for us to turn Lin and Pervaux Baronies into proper launch points.
    "Both are important resources. Lin Barony is a choke point that separates the Kingdom from the wilderness. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's perfect for starving them of natural resources whether that be wood or fresh water.
    "Pervaux Barony forms the final point of a triangle between Lin Barony and Camelot and is a final barrier to the no-man's land that separates Camelot and the Demon Empire. It's a perfect launch point to attack both the Demon Empire and the Kingdom.
    "We will secure the supply lines, cut off Camelot's resources, and create a perfect foundation for attack. Then you can move out, City Lord."
    City Lord White stared at Niya deeply for a moment before sitting back down.
    "How much time?"
    "Two months at the fastest, three at the latest."
    "Fine. I'll let them live for a little longer, then."

 Chapter 467: Meet on the Battlefield

    The people of Terrain had no idea that the World Spirit hadn't been separated into four like it would on other worlds. In Earth's case, a rare instance to be sure, the World Spirit chose its host before the Metamorphosis began.
    But, somehow, this news was kept as a complete secret. Even after years of preparation, Terrain was completely unaware.
    That said, could they be blamed? A Fourth Dimensional world with limited talent and scope like Terrain wasn't even aware that a World Spirit could make such autonomous decisions at such an early stage.
    Due to the fact they weren't aware, they weren't even looking for it before Earth's Metamorphosis began. As the saying wentбн you didn't know what you didn't know. How could Terrain be aware of something they weren't even aware they should be aware about in the first place?
    After the Metamorphosis began, Terrain used special channels to learn about who the four completers were. Through their investigations, they managed to learn about three of them, the third completer of which was Prince Noah Fawkesбн
    Of course, no one was aware of the fact that due to him waking up so much earlier than everyone else, Leonel was by far the first to complete a Zone. In fact, the time difference was a staggering several month gap.
    If it wasn't for the fact Leonel was injured to the point of falling into a coma and having to be nursed back to health by Uncle Montez, he would have exited long before anyone else and his status as the first completer would have been more obvious to all.
    But, for nowбн others could only speculate about his identity.
    Still, even then, Leonel's performance was so dazzling that he had become a prime suspect regardless.
    **
    Prince Noah Fawkes stood tall on a battlefield, his breathing almost too even. It was difficult to tell that he had just been in a battle to begin with.
    Despite the fact the corpses of his enemies laid before him, their blood dripping from the blade of his saber, he didn't seem happy in the slightest.
    "They're stalling."
    Noah spoke to no one in particular.
    This White City was exceptionally cruel. Without thought for casualties, they threw army after army of troops at them. It was as though they wanted them to waste time cutting them all down like they were weeds to be disgusted by rather than people.
    In truth, Noah was indifferent to it all. He just didn't like what it could possibly mean. Since they were stalling, there had to be a purpose for it. So, what was that purpose, exactly?
    At that moment, an agile black wolf of over three meters tall shot to Noah's side. In one instant, it was as swift as the wind and in the next it came to a grinding halt without warning. It was as though it had never been running to begin with.
    A petite young woman with short hair swooped down from the top of the wolf.
    "Your Highness, it may be time to begin to coordinate with Camelot and the Demon Empire. It's clear that they've prepared for a long time and know more about us than we do them. Though we've won all of our battles, they're hollow victories."
    Jessica spoke as plainly as she always did.
    It had already been a month since Noah had a conversation with his grandfather. In that time, he had managed to reclaim over half the territory White City had taken from Camelot, but there were a few problems with this.
    For one, technology wasn't functioning as it once had. Without it, it wasn't possible to erect Forts like they had on Earth with any sort of speed. So, though they had 'reclaimed' the land, it was more like they had pushed out White City's presence.
    Secondly, White City had managed to keep a strict hold of two strategic points even to now.
    Though they lost battles without a care, they always managed to keep control over what was truly important.
    Thirdly, they hadn't originally come here for such a long, drawn-out war.
    Thanks to their skills, food and water wasn't a problem, but there was more than this one needed for war.
    They needed a steady supply of weapons and weapon maintenance options, which they didn't have. They needed healers and doctors, but they were in short supply of them. And, they needed numbers in order to keep control and scout out the areas they had taken hold of.
    But, they had none of these things.
    Due to this, Noah had hoped to make a strong push and place White City on its backfoot as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, though he succeeded, the issue was that their success wasn't great enough to warrant any sort of happiness. It was essentially hollow.
    Noah nodded. "I agree. I believe we've displayed enough of our strength."
    With a shake of his wrist, a strong vibration shot through Noah's blue bladed saber. His strength caused the metal to bend and groan, whipping the blood on its away. In an instant, the blade was once again spotless.
    "Should we arrange a meeting?"
    "No. We will meet on the battlefield." Noah said plainly.
    "Understood."
    **
    While Noah was leading attacks toward Pervaux Barony, heading a charge from the direction of no-man's land, Camelot and the Demon Empire was heading a charge toward Lin Barony.
    Yet, despite this pincer attack from both sides, White City continued to fend off their attempts.
    The dauntless approach of the soldiers of White City shook the knights and mages of Camelot to the core. To be so fearless in death, even after so many battles, wore on the souls of their enemies, making them feel as though this was a battle they would never win.
    As a result, despite the fact King Arthur had been experiencing maybe the most peaceful time of his life, it was overshadowed by a perpetual fog that hung over Camelot.
    What didn't help was the fact Camelot lacked the same level of organization White City's armies did. And, as their knights and mages awakened to their new abilities, it made the battlefield even more chaotic than they should have been.
    Without proper guidance on how to use these suddenly newfound powers, Camelot's victories were even more pyrrhic than Noah's had beenбн
    It was on this day, on yet another battlefield, that Aina could be found, her lips tightly sealed as she swung her great sword toward another enemy.

 Chapter 468 - Goal?

    Aina felt her arms trembling on impact. She could see the indifferent eyes of the White City soldier through their crossed blades. However, despite the dull pain in her arms and the trembling of her knees, her gaze too remained unmoved. ;
    Somewhere deep inside, she quite appreciated these soldiers of White City. Their emotionless, unquestionable resolve toward battle, as though they could forget about everything else other than the opponents before themбн She too could resonate with this feeling. ;
    While Leonel felt an excitement when he laid eyes on a battlefield, Aina felt a soothing calm. However, the raging blood in her veins told a completely different story. ;
    Unfortunately, this battlefield was completely unlike the battles Aina had experienced in the Joan Zone or even against the Invalids and Braziner family members she faced alongside Leonel. ;
    Whereas in those battles, she reaped lives as though they were weeds, on this battlefield she felt as though it was her own life that was constantly in danger. Even finding an opponent like this whom she was evenly matched with was a problem. ;
    This wasn&#39;t because Aina was too weak, but rather because the soldiers of White City were simply too strong. Aina needed to exchange several moves to take down just a single one. And, since this was a battlefield and not a sanctioned duel, how could it possibly be that she would always be allowed a one on one battle?
    Aina dug deep, a light shout parting her lips as she pressed her great sword forward. ;
    An audible snap rang out. But, on such a large battlefield, the only two who likely heard it were Aina and the soldier before her. ;
    Other than a light flash in his gaze, the soldier didn&#39;t show any other reaction to Aina&#39;s blade piercing through his shoulder and cutting down through his hip. ;
    Aina took deep breath, her amber eyes shooting forward as though already looking for a new opponent. But, she quickly found that there were already none left. ;
    At that moment, an irrational rage welled up in her heart as she pulled her sword out from the corpse before her. Unfortunately, ust this small action caused her legs to tremble beneath the weight she carried. ;
    Aina stabbed her sword into the ground, her body almost unable to continue standing. ;
    &#39;Healбн&#39;
    Aina urged through her own thoughts, forcing her body to rapidly repair itself. The strain caused her scars to become even more inflamed. ;
    If others were paying attention, it would become very obvious that the restrictions Aina was under didn&#39;t leave even her ability beбн
    Just as Aina&#39;s vision was swimming, she suddenly felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. She looked up to find Mordred looking toward her with a worried expression. ;
    Mordred was quite tall for a woman, almost a head taller than Aina. Even so, her visage was quite clear. ;
    &quot;Are you alright?&quot;
    Aina nodded faintly. ;
    Mordred wanted to say more but her expression suddenly changed. ;
    &quot;It can&#39;t beбн another one?&quot; Mordred&#39;s brow furrowed. ;
    &quot;бн Is there a problem?&quot;
    Aina looked around the battlefield, but from what she could see, it was another victory. Though they had lost quite a number of knights and mages, it was still a victory nonetheless. Those that hadn&#39;t died had already long since retreated, so it was hard to tell what reason there could possibly be to have such a reaction. ;
    That said, Aina was also very much aware that her sensory abilities weren&#39;t very good. So, she deferred to the most talented mage of Camelot. Aside from maybe Leonel, it was doubtful that there was anyone else on this moon with stronger Internal Sight in comparison to the Demon Empress. ;
    Mordred&#39;s brows furrowed tighter. ;
    &quot;It&#39;s another armyбн I thought it was more men from White City, but it seems like this isn&#39;t the case. If it&#39;s not them, then it&#39;s more likely that it&#39;sбн The Empire?&quot;
    According to what Mordred knew, the Empire had been attacking from the direction of Perveaux Barony. Though it hadn&#39;t been expressly stated, their actions most definitely took a lot of pressure off of Camelot and allowed the Demon Empire to focus all their thoughts on support. ;
    What Mordred expected the least, though, was that they&#39;d leave their pincer position and come here. What purpose did they have for doing this? It can&#39;t be that they wanted to attack Camelot nowбн right?
    At the moment, this battlefield was under Mordred&#39;s command and the large majority of the troops were demons. As for King Arthur&#39;s armies, they were on the more northern wing of the battlefield. ;
    This was for the best. Though they now had an alliance, one couldn&#39;t just magically forget the past enmities between humans and demons. So, trying to fuse them into one fighting force would be like asking for problems to break out. ;
    This was all to say that in order for The Empire to make it to them, they would most definitely have to go through Mordred and her men first. ;
    &quot;It doesn&#39;t look like they came to battle, but it doesn&#39;t look like they came on friendly terms either.&quot;
    After a while passed, The Empire&#39;s armies finally entered Aina&#39;s sensory ranges. ;
    She was exceptionally sensitive to matters related to battle and could read the air quite well. The Empire definitely wasn&#39;t here for peace, but they didn&#39;t seem to be here to battle either. One might want to say that they came here as a neutral party, but it wasn&#39;t quite that either. ;
    At the helm of the army, Prince Noah Fawkes stood on the back of a black wolf. Despite its swaying body, he didn&#39;t seem to be impacted in the slightest. ;
    To his back, a group of nearly a thousand followed along. Many were also riding such wolves, but others rode various other beasts. ;
    Though the army wasn&#39;t completely uniform due to this, they still carried an oddly structured and strict air to them. Even their mismatching beasts couldn&#39;t detract from this. ;
    It didn&#39;t take Mordred much to realize that these beasts were actually the demonic beasts of no-man&#39;s land. Somehow, The Empire had subjugated and domesticated these wild beasts even to the point of taking them to war. ;
    Noah had no idea that this action alone left Mordred in more awe than any of their other combined other actions had. Only she, who had been trying to reel in and reign over these beasts for decades, knew exactly how difficult it was. ;
    What was their goal here, exactly?

 Chapter 469 - Defiance

    The slow approach of The Empire's warriors eventually put Mordred at ease. It seemed that Aina's words had been correct.
    If their goal was to attack, they would have long since broken out into a charge. But, their current pace was almost like a leisurely stroll. In fact, they even allowed Mordred enough time to reorganize her army and face their entourage head-on.
    By now, Arthur's warriors had also noticed the oddity.
    "Your Majesty, should we send someone?"
    Arthur shook his head. "Iбн Will go personally. Allow the men some rest and treat the injured. There's no telling when they will choose to attack again."
    Noah's troops came to a halt about a hundred meters from Mordred's frontline. Without a word, a small squad of five broke off, riding their black wolves forward swiftly. Though their pace was still a bit faster than the army had been, it still didn't seem like their goal was to attack.
    The group of five was led by a young man. The expression on his face was indifferent and lofty, he carried the air of arrogance nobility should have but without allowing it to grow overblown. It was just enough to put many in a state of awe without allowing them to feel any sort of disgust.
    It was clear that this young man's air of superiority was ingrained down to his very bones.
    When the small squad made it to within five meters of Mordred, they came to a stop, maintaining a healthy distance.
    "I am the representative of His Highness, Prince Noah Fawkes, Junior Governor Duke Nile Bryermuthe. Who is your leader?"
    Nile's voice boomed over the battlefield. He didn't seem to realize that Mordred was right before him. Whether he did it on purpose or not, it was hard to tell. However, regardless, Mordred maintained her composure. She had been through much more in her life. If there was one thing she was excellent at, it was maintaining her calm.
    "I am the leader of the Demon Empire." She said unhurriedly.
    "I am the leader of Camelot."
    At that moment, Arthur had made his way to Mordred's side. His expression wasn't as calm as his daughter's. Rather, it still held a lofty air.
    Nile looked down from his position atop his wolf, sweeping a glance over the two of them. His gaze happened to catch upon Aina, her appearance causing him to frown. Her face made him inwardly uncomfortable, but he hid it well. There was no need to linger on such things. Though he could be wild at other times, it was unnecessary at this moment.
    But, just when he planned to focus on Arthur and Mordred once again, his lips even opening to speak, his gaze sharpened.
    He looked back toward Aina, his eyes landed on the hand she used to lean against her great sword with. No, it was more accurate to say that his gaze landed on the wrist of the hand she was using.
    Even at this moment, Aina's breathing was still a bit haggard. The only reason she was still at the front of the army was because Mordred had insisted on keeping her by her side because she was worried about Aina's current state.
    For the past month an da half or so, Aina had done nothing but battle. It was hard to allow such a petite young girl to bear such a burden on her shoulders constantly, but Aina insisted to the point Mordred couldn't reject.
    "You."
    Aina didn't think anyone would be talking to her at this moment, so she was entirely focused on her recovery. She was trying to force her ability to activate again, but it had slowed down considerably.
    Her reaction, though, caused Nile's frown to deepen.
    As though finally sensing that the atmosphere was oddly silent, Aina looked up, only to find that Nile's gaze was locked onto her.
    Of course, Aina was confused by this. She wasn't well known among the nobles. And, even if she was, this definitely wouldn't be the face they recognize.
    Beyond that, she didn't share the red hair and eyes of the Brazinger family. Even one of her own 'family' members only managed to recall her due to his perfect recall ability and he had long since been buried beneath dozens of meters of earth. So, it was even less likely that she'd be remembered for this.
    "State your name and which Province you come from. Are you planning on defecting from The Empire?"
    Nile's gaze sharpened, boring into Aina as though trying to force her into a confession.
    Yet, despite looking up toward Nile with tired eyes, Aina didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. What a joke, if Aina could remain calm and unperturbed beneath Leonel's aura, what was a mere Junior Governor Duke worth?
    Of course, at this moment, Aina wasn't necessarily thinking of things in such simple terms. She only knew that she was unmoved by it all. In fact, she was even slightly annoyed.
    Compared to others, Aina was actually quite thankful for The Empire. If not for it, she would have likely suffered even more hardship as a child. But, Aina's main priority was still revenge. What The Empire cared about her actions toward reaching this goal meant little to nothing to her.
    "My name is Aina Brazinger, I come from Royal Blue Province. No, I have no intention of defecting from The Empire." Aina replied somewhat wearily.
    "Then how is it that you are here and not protecting Royal Blue Fortбк." Nile's words froze. "Did you just say Aina Brazinger?"
    Niles suddenly remembered that almost a year ago now, they received a report that they would be gaining two more Variants from Royal Blue Fort. One was a certain Leonel Morales and the second was Aina Brazinger.
    But, for whatever reason, those two never appeared.
    Due to Earth's talents, after over a year of development, the rarity of Variants had plummeted as well. From just a handful, it had blossomed to several thousand. In fact, in their current army, not a single one wasn't a Variant.
    Of course, those who were Variants from the very beginning were far more valuable. And, Leonel and Aina were among this very rare few. In fact, considering where they started, they should be among the few who already had abilities within the Fifth Dimension.
    However, with this didn't come leniency. Rather, it made Aina's wrongdoings several times more severe.
    The action of not properly reporting to The Capital could be considered a direct defiance of the Emperor's will!
    After reaching this point in his thoughts, Nile's aura became baleful.

 Chapter 470 - Seize

    Seeing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, Mordred took a step forward and blocked Aina to her back, feeling slightly protective of this young girl.
    "Aina is not tied with us, she is only here as a helper." Mordred tried to explain.
    Nile's gaze remained locked onto Aina.
    Aina felt her vision swimming, her feet feeling somewhat unsteady. From an outsiders perspective, it seemed as though she was feeling pressured by Nile's gaze. But, the reality was that her body seemed to want to shut down at this moment.
    After several minutes of trying to force her ability to activate, her situation only got worse. In fact, it seemed as though the repressive effects of her scars was getting fiercer.
    Without the energy she needed to fight back against it, the situation she was facing only grew worse.
    "The reason she is here is irrelevant. The fact that she is here at all is already a challenge to His Majesty's sovereignty."
    The momentum of Nile and the four wolf riders to his back grew.
    In the Ascension Empire, there were only a handful of titles without a democratic prefix attached to it. The reason behind this was clear, other than the royal family, others had to constantly scratch and claw for their positions. Any failure to do so would result in the destruction of countless generations of effort.
    Due to this structure, The Empire had fostered a sense of complete and unquestionable loyalty. Those who failed to meet such standards could just as easily be ostracized during the next cycle of elections. It was also exactly because of this reason that there were no noble families with useless heirs as useless heirs would only drive the effort of the family into the ground!
    If Nile was found to have been aware of a traitor to The Empire yet hadn't taken action, the consequences would be unimaginable.
    To begin with the Bryermuthe family didn't hold control over a powerful province. In fact, his Evergreen Province was located in harsh wintery climates year 'round, resulting in an economy that was somewhat crippled. They lacked resources or tourist worthy locations.
    To compensate for this, the Evergreen Province was, ironically, a Province filled with factories and was as such ranked eighth amongst the Provinces. And, unfortunately, the only reason they were not ranked ninth was because Dark Cloud Province, the location of Dark Cloud Prison, was considered unranked.
    It could be considered a blessing to the family that Nile had awakened as a Variant and had had the opportunity to stay by the Prince's side for the past year. But, he was also aware that his standing even compared to some Secretary Marquisette families was lacking.
    As such, he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. He had to uphold the justice of The Empire properly.
    By this point, though, Aina's mind was far too foggy to consider her surroundings. She stumbled and fell backward, only to be caught by Mordred who realized that something had gone wrong.
    But, Nile had yet to finish speaking.
    "And, I also hope that as a power soon to be under the jurisdiction of The Empire, that you wouldn't be harboring a criminalбн correct?"
    Nile's gaze landed on Mordred and Arthur once again, his words far more forceful.
    In the distance, Noah remained unmoved by it all. The distance was only a hundred meters, so with his newfound strength, he could easily hear the words Nile was speaking. Since he didn't find anything wrong with Nile's approach, he didn't make any moves.
    'Aina Brazinger, is it?' Noah's jaw steeled.
    He recognized this name. Could she be from that family? But she didn't have the signature hair and eye colorбн
    Though Earth couldn't be considered as large as the universe, obviously, there were still many instances of unrelated people having the same last names. Knowing this, it was no wonder even those who were aware of the Morales name didn't automatically assume Leonel's origins.
    But, in a world as small as Earth, especially after the eradication of over 99% of their population, such instances should be much rarer. Was there really such a coincidence?
    It was no surprise that Noah was sensitive to the names of these hidden families. His grandfather had said that there were many enemies eyeing their Earth, and these hidden families were no exception.
    Noah wasn't quite sure of the origin of these families. But, there were two running theories he had come up with under his own research and a bit of Jessica's help.
    The first possibility was that these hidden families were existences that once vied for supremacy over Earth like their Fawkes family had.
    Though it was easy to ignore itбн but didn't their Fawkes family also all have the same white-gold hair and emerald green eyes?
    When Noah realized this on a certain day not that many years ago, he felt as though his whole world had been flipped upside down. Could it really be that their Fawkes family was just another hidden family that happened to claim victory?
    It was possibleбн But there was also a second possibility as well.
    This possibility was far more sinister. And, if this was true, Noah would stop at nothing to eradicate these hidden families.
    With so many higher Dimensional worlds eyeing them, could it really be possible that none of them took any measures to claim a piece of Earth for themselves?
    What if the hidden families were actually branch members of higher Dimensional worlds that sent their people here in order to reach the fifth generation as quickly as possible?
    If that was the caseбн wouldn't that mean that those higher Dimensional worlds weren't as far away as they all thoughtбн?
    As for which of these two theories was correct, Noah had no idea. But, what he did know was that he couldn't allow someone with the Brazinger family name to run around freely. And, even if Aina's last name wasn't Brazinger, her crimes alone would have definitely warranted detainment.
    "Seize her." Nile said coldly. "We'll take her back to The Capital for trial after all of this is over."
    --
    [Author's Note Below: 12/20/21]

 Chapter 471 - Fictional

    Mordred felt slightly panicked.
    Obviously, this wasn't because she feared Nile's strength. Whether it be by her own opinion or by the fact of reality, the truth was that there were very few on the current Earth that could match Mordred in power.
    The issue was that this wasn't a situation she could brute force her way out of. Even if she easily deflected the advancement of these wolf riders, what would she do about the thousand strong army to their back? And even if they somehow managed to repel them, what would happen to the situation with White City if they suddenly began to infight?
    Even though The Empire seemed to be helping now, Mordred and Arthur alike were very much aware that Camelot wasn't their home ground. The Empire could easily choose to retreat and focus on Earth and come back.
    But could they do the same? They could technically find a place on Earth, but what could their millions of citizens do? Where would they place them?
    Unlike on Earth where many if not most had some level of combat prowess by now and had tempered themselves over a year of hardship, the people of Camelot were still lagging behind in this aspect.
    Even as they awakened to their abilities, they were completely unused to using them and would be even more useless on a battlefield.
    To make matters worse, Camelot didn't have a monitoring system like Earth did, so rounding everyone up would likely take months. By then, how many more would they lose?
    "Boy, I think that's enough."
    At that moment, King Arthur took a step forward.
    The sight of his valiant air and white lion engraved armor was something to behold, indeed. Despite having chosen to yield to The Empire, that kingly air of his hadn't diminished in the slightest.
    He only stood there, before his daughter and Aina, yet it felt as though the beasts engraved onto his white armor had come to life, causing the black wolves Nile and the other rode to tremble slightly.
    They might have been demon beasts, but just how many of these beasts had Arthur killed in his life? He had long since lost count.
    Nile frowned. "Are you sure that you're aware of what you're doing?"
    "I'm well aware of what I'm doing. I have no idea what laws of your land this child has broken, but what I do know is that she's been fighting for our and your sake all this time. Is this what your Empire does to those that fight for them?"
    Nile's expression grew cold. "Are you questioning The Empire?"
    "I have yet to become one of your people." Arthur replied just as coldly, taking a step forward that forced the shivering black wolves into an even sorrier position. "In fact, I believe that in your minds, I am still nothing but a fairy tale, is that correct?"
    Arthur scanned the five before him and even sent a glance toward Noah in the distance.
    Despite meeting Arthur's gaze, Noah remained unmoved. A clash of royal air shot through the battlefield making the atmosphere several times heavier.
    "I may be just an inconsequential fictional character in your minds, but you shouldn't forget that you're currently standing on my fictional lands, breathing my fictional air, and are in my fictional presence.
    "Until the day Camelot cedes to The Empire, this will still be the case. If you want to take people under my protection beneath my nose, you'll have to taste my blade first."
    The black wolves reeled and whined, kicking up to their hind legs. If it wasn't for the strength of their riders, Nile and the others would have definitely been kicked off.
    Nile didn't seem to notice the poor performance of his black wolf. His eyes remained locked onto Arthur as though he was prepared to attack at any given moment.
    "Nile, return."
    Noah's cold voice rang through the battlefield. His words alone seemed to dispel Arthur's aura, calming the black wolves down in an instant. The contrast was so drastic that even Arthur himself narrowed his eyes.
    Nile didn't hesitate to follow Noah's orders, clicking his heels against the coat of his wolf and dashing back to The Empire's troops.
    Mordred looked toward her father's back with a complicated glance.
    On one hand, Mordred knew that this had always been her father's character. He wasn't a man who took kindly to others looking down on him. But, by the same token, over the years, he had begun to somewhat allow others to trample over him.
    It seemed as though Arthur was overly prideful, but hadn't he allowed The Church and the thoughts of the nobles to dictate his own thoughts for a long time? There was no doubt that he had been hypocritical in this aspect in the pastбн
    But now, he managed to hold his head high even after choosing to submit to The Empire. This was in stark contrast to the him of the past. It even brought a smile to Mordred's face before she could even reel it back in.
    It was at that very moment that Aina suddenly collapsed completely.
    "Aina!" Mordred was shocked.
    She had been propping Aina up from the very beginning, so she immediately realized the change in the weight she had to uphold.
    When Aina could no longer support her own self, Mordred was at a loss because even she herself almost collapsed.
    'What the hell is this weight? This girl!' Mordred sent a glance toward Aina's great sword and the massive curved box on her back.
    This was a level of weight that even a Three Star Grand Knight wouldn't be able to carry around, let alone do battle with. What the hell was this little girl thinking?!
    Mordred took action immediately, doing her best to pry the sword out of her hands and the package off her back. But, Aina's grip was so steely that Mordred found she couldn't budge it in the slightest.
    Aina's face flushed red before draining into a sickly pale color. Her breathing became short and somewhat hurried, her lips slightly parted.
    Mordred's eyes widened.
    "Fa иC" Mordred hesitated. But, luckily, Arthur turned back in time to see his daughter's pleading gaze. "Please heal her."
    Arthur's gaze became serious as he nodded. But, just when he was about to take action, The Empire's troops moved.
    "I'm greatly disappointed by your choice, Arthur."
    Noah's black wolf stalked forward, the army to his back moving as one.
    "I'll give you another chance."
    An oppressive aura surged out from Noah, a blue bladed saber appearing in his hand.
    The moment it did, the black wolf beneath his feet collapsed, its spine snapping in half beneath the weight. Yet, Noah's steps didn't falter in the slightest, his aura only growing with an added bloodthirsty air.
    Arthur's gaze became serious as he turned back.
    But, no one expected for the situation at that moment to change once again.
    "HAI!"
    Beating war drums and blaring horns sounded from the distance.
    A woman with short hair, dressed in black robes accented by white flexible armor and wielding a massive two headed hammer stood at the helm of an army, her battle aura towering.

 Chapter 472 - Palpable

    The battlefield was suddenly thrust into an unseemly situation.
    Camelot and the Demon Empire faced off against The Empire, but now there was White City who had suddenly inserted themselves into the mix.
    Arthur, Mordred and Noah could immediately tell with absolute certainty that this army of White City's was much different than it had been in the past. Its aura was more oppressive, its momentum much more frightening, and the commander at its helm was on a completely different level.
    Noah's sharp gaze swept toward City Lord White's direction. They were still over a kilometer away, but by the time they broke out into a charge, it wouldn't even take a few minutes for them to cross over the final distance.
    "Meralda!"
    "Yes, Empress?"
    The moment Mordred called out, a succubus demon stepped forward.
    "Take Aina to the back line. Take some help with you to carry her things."
    Meralda blinked in slight confusion. Did she really need help for this?
    But, her expression changed when Mordred passed over Aina's unconscious body.
    Succubi were known for their strong Spirit Pressure. But, as demons, they also had bodies stronger than the average human knight. And, Meralda in particular, was a hand picked protector for the Demon Empress, so it wouldn't be a surprise if she was many times stronger than the average succubus. Yet, even she nearly collapsed.
    Without a choice, Meralda listened to her Empress' words and quickly shuttled Aina away with the help of several others.
    Aina's breathing continued to grow more erratic, her body becoming almost scolding to the touch. Despite the fact the temperature of Camelot was quite mild, her body billowed with steam as though she might erupt at any moment.
    Meralda wasn't sure what she could do about this. She wasn't a healer. All she could do was move Aina to the backline and hope the medical professionals could do something for her.
    Noah and Nile watched as Aina was being taken away, but they didn't say a word. This already wasn't a situation where they could continue to push their luck.
    Arthur's gaze narrowed.
    Their armies were currently facing Noah's. To face City Lord White, they would have to maneuver and shift their vanguard around, but doing such a thing was easier said than done. At the very least, Camelot didn't have such good military structure. In such a situation, even a well disciplined army would face issues.
    To make matters worse, they had all just come out of a long, hard fought battle. The battlefield itself hadn't even been properly cleared yet.
    This was completely unlike White City's previous pattern. Usually they would only levy one attack a day. It was clear in hindsight now that they had done this on purpose.
    The good was that this army seemed to only be built of 500 or so men and women. The bad news, however, was that not only were all their ground units riding mounts, but they also had an aerial unit of more than 50 men and winged beasts.
    The combined army of Camelot, the Demon Empire and The Empire numbered almost 3000. But, White City wasn't made up of fools.
    Though it could be argued that the appearance of The Empire on this battlefield should be an unknown variable for White City, there was no way White City didn't have forward scouts, and, as such, it was equally impossible that they wouldn't already be aware of The Empire's presence. Yet, they chose to charge forward regardless.
    Arthur unsheathed his sword, causing a shimmering blade to dance beneath the high sun.
    "KNIGHTS! ON ME!"
    His roar shook the battlefield.
    '[Holy Road]!'
    Arthur's Spirit Pressure surged as his knees bent. The land beneath his feet cracked as he rocketed forward, a road of golden light following him as he arched across the skies.
    In a single leap, he crossed into the no-man's land between Camelot's armies and White City's.
    His actions spoke louder than words ever could. If The Empire still chose to attack them in situation, Camelot was all but finished.
    Noah watched this in silence, his gaze slowly shifting toward Mordred. But, it seemed as though Mordred didn't have any intention of taking the same actions as her father. She continued to face Noah, waiting for him to make a decision.
    Noah remained silent as though he couldn't feel the rumbling ground and the growing oppressive aura.
    Without a word, his slow charge toward Mordred shifted directions, cutting an angle across the battlefield and toward White City's charging presence.
    At that same moment, the remaining six Knights of the Round Table reacted to Arthur's call. They had to give the demon army and Camelot's army enough time to change face.
    "Empress!"
    Mordred shifted her gaze away, looking toward Meralda who had come rushing back.
    "What is it? Is the little girl alright?"
    "Yes, yes. I've already passed her along to the medical units."
    "Then what is the problem?"
    "Thisбн I." Meralda sighed. "White City is also attacking for Perveaux Barony as well. I just received a voice transmission report, we're under siege."
    Mordred's jaw clenched. In truth, she didn't need to hear this report to know that this would happen. The moment The Empire came here, she knew that her Empire was in danger.
    Though Mordred had returned home and regained a semblance of family, she couldn't just abandon the demons that had allowed her into their fold. The Demon Empire might not be her home anymore, but it was definitely theirs.
    A flicker of rage passed through Mordred's pupils. Did they really take her, the Demon Empress, so lightly?
    "What's the situation?"
    "Your Majesty left Crakos in charge. He predicts that he can last about half a day before they have to retreat into the mountains once again. According to the report, there are at least ten White Knights on that battlefield."
    "Ten?" Mordred's brow furrowed deeper.
    According to what they knew, there were only 16 to begin with. One of them had been killed by Leonel, so there was only 15. For ten to be on that battlefield, it was clear that this was all planned out from the very beginning.
    The worst part of all of this was that it couldn't be forgotten that this moon was a sphere. If White City conquered The Demon Empire, it would be as good as gaining two footholds to demolish Camelot with.
    A dark aura surged around Mordred, causing Meralda to shiver.
    At that moment, Meralda's talisman glowed once again.
    "Leave it to me, Em."
    Mordred's rage suddenly dissipated with the wind. That voice, wasn't that Leonel? He was on the Perveaux battlefield? Why was he there? Did he already predict this?
    "Don't worry, I'll send them packing soon."
    Mordred could almost see Leonel's grin through the talisman, his air of confidence hanging palpably in the air.

 Chapter 473 - Youths These Days

    Mordred hesitated, a slight air of guilt hanging around her.
    She knew, almost better than the man himself, how much Leonel cared about Aina. She felt like she should tell Leonel about Aina's current condition. But, at the same time, she knew that Leonel was about to do something foolish again. If he was distracted by other thoughts, his life would definitely be in more danger.
    Unfortunately, due to the fact Mordred hesitated, Leonel had already disconnected before she could make a final decision, leaving her at a loss.
    "Empress!"
    Meralda's call woke Mordred from her stupor.
    At that moment, Noah and Arthur were already about to clash with the frontline of White City's army.
    Mordred's lost expression became steely, a baleful aura swirling around her. Vast amounts of Dark Elemental Force surged, her black dress fluttering in the wind.
    Her slender fingers wrapped around a wand as her figure rose into the air.
    She walked toward the clouds as though the shadows were her stairway to heaven. If Leonel had been here, he would have recognized this ability as being near identical to Little Blackstar's own! Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that the Demon Empress had become Shadow Sovereignбн
    Whether or not she was a true Shadow Sovereign or not remained to be seen. But, what was most definitely true was that she had tapped into the same magic system as the little mink.
    Still, if the outside world knew that Earth had potentially produced two Shadow Sovereigns in the same generationбн Who knew how they'd react?
    "Those that can fly, with me."
    Mordred's voice wasn't as booming as her father's. In fact, it carried the delicate touch of a woman. Yet, it felt no less imposing and grand. It felt as though her commands were irrefutable.
    At that moment, several demons with bat-like wings shot into the skies under the behest of their queen, tearing a path toward White City's aerial units.
    Though fatigue was clear in their demeanors, the strength their Empress displayed gave them a second wind. They were prepared to follow her to the death.
    Meralda took several deep breaths on the ground, squeezing her long legs together tightly. Her expression seemed completely inappropriate for the occasion, but what else could you expect from a succubus.
    She licked her lips, watching Mordred's bottom sway as she stepped into the skies.
    'The Empress is truly too enticing. These damned White City warriorsбн'
    Meralda felt frustrated. She wanted nothing more than to ravage the Empress right then and there. But, with this battle underway, she had no ability to do so.
    It seemed that her only choice would be to wipe this army and their City Lord out first.
    "Demonic Heralds of Darkness, charge!"
    Meralda's half excited voice caused the blood of the male demons to surge, her hypnotic suggestion being several times more powerful now than they would be in any other situation.
    As though maddened beasts, the demons roared into the skies, their savage bearings clashing against White City's momentum.
    And then, the armies met.
    **
    "бн Are you sure that you can battle?"
    Crakos' deep and oddly intellectual voice drifted to Leonel's ears.
    "Huh?" Leonel's head snapped up as though he had just woken from a nap. But, his reaction only made the #1 Demon Lord even more anxious.
    Unlike what his confident voice had projected out before, the current Leonel was in a sorry state.
    He wasn't injured at all. In fact, his body didn't have a scratch on it. But, other than thatбн he looked terrible.
    Not only did he smell awful, something that was quite surprising to someone like Crakos who had grown up around demons all his life, the bags beneath his eyes were so heavy that they almost formed new layers of skin all to their own.
    Rivaling even the worse demons in poor hygiene was one matter, but the young man couldn't even keep his eyes open. How exactly was he going to battle?
    It even seemed like he had sapped up all his remaining energy projecting that confident air to Mordred. After that, he had nothing left to give.
    "Oh, yes, yes." Leonel nodded almost too slowly. "Everything will be fine."
    Crakos' brow furrowed.
    At the moment, the demons had only one advantage: the terrain.
    Whereas Camelot, The Empire and Mordred's troops were currently fighting on endless plains, Crakos had made the decision to retreat to the first line of mountains between no-man's land and the Demon Empire.
    But, even with this advantage, it might not be enough. According to the scouts, there were more aerial units coming. And, whereas the army led by City Lord White was only made of 500, this one numbered 2000. They simply weren't properly equipped to deal with such a thing.
    Leonel's head nodded and he almost fell over before he caught himself, shaking his head awake again.
    "Here." Leonel shoved a spatial ring at Crakos' chest. But, due to their difference in height, Leonel's hand landed on Crakos' abdomen instead. "Take these and distribute one of each to the army."
    "Thisбн?" Crakos' expression changed after his Internal Sight swept throughout the ring.
    He was initially going to say something, but he was once again distracted by the state of Leonel's hands. If it wasn't for the fact he was sure Leonel was human, he would have thought that he was actually a zombie demon. Were these really the hands a healthy teenage boy should have?
    Crakos cleared his throat and peeled Leonel's hand off of his abdomen by pinching two of his fingers around Leonel's wrist.
    "бн I know that you're a growing boy, but you should really take it easy on the бн extra curricular activities. Her Majesty has plenty of willing demonesses you can choose from that have quite a favorable impression of you."
    Leonel didn't even hear Crakos' words, his head nodding to sleep again before snapping awake.
    "Huh?... Yes, yes, you're right, whateverбн" Leonel mumbled.
    Crakos sighed and walked away.
    "Youths these daysбн"

 Chapter 474 - Farialice

    "They've already retreated?"
    An army of 2000 strong marched forward. Despite the lack of enemies before them, their formation remained neat and organized. In fact, other than the unique sound of synchronized footsteps, the army had been completely silent until this point.
    At the helm of it all, the warrior who spoke wore black robes accented with white flexible armor. He rode on a scaled horse Leonel would easily recognize as the steeds Heira and the other members of the Kaefir family had been using when they first ran across him.
    Of course, the ten individuals who headed this army were the White Knights of White City.
    Each of them rode upon one of these scaled horses, their demeanor stoic. It almost seemed out of place for any one of them to speak at all.
    Among them, four were women and the remaining six were men.
    "They've likely retreated to the first line of mountains." Another White Knight replied indifferently.
    "Where they've retreated to doesn't matter. Their death is imminent."
    The White Knights continued forward as though none of them had spoken a word to begin with. With barely a shred of communication, they shifted the direction the army was headed in, making a straight line toward the first line of defense.
    It was not even a couple hours later that the first line of mountains came into view for the White City army.
    бн
    Sitting atop a mountain peak, Leonel's head nodded to sleep every so often.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink lightly clawed at Leonel's face, waking him up.
    "Oh? Are they here?" Leonel asked.
    Leonel's gaze seemed somewhat sharper. Though the fatigue was still there, it seemed that he had at least rested his mind a bit. But, whether it would make much of a difference still remained to be seen.
    Leonel looked over the horizon.
    Though Camelot's lands had been dispelled of the perpetual rain, no-man's land and the Demon Empire still had heavy dark clouds hanging over it, a very familiar light drizzle of acidic rain pitter pattering ever so softly.
    From Leonel's vantage point, high up on a mountain peak, he could see the grey, cracked lands White City's army marched through.
    Leonel stood a bit too quickly, causing his head to spin.
    'More than 30 hours of sleep wasn't enough?' Leonel grasped onto his head, sighing lightly.
    It had technically only been two hours of sleep. But, split between his minds, thanks to Dream Sense, it should have been the equivalent of more than 30. Unfortunately, it seemed that Leonel had underestimated just how much time he would need for his mind to recover.
    'This state should still be more than enough to deal with them.'
    Leonel's gaze grew cold, a calculating indifference reflecting in his eyes.
    бн
    "Hold."
    The acting commander of the White City troops held up a palm.
    She gazed calmly toward the looming mountains without an ounce of panic. Though they had been constantly sending canon fodder to the battlefields up to this point, that didn't mean their elites were standing idly by. In fact, they had already thought through their plan of attack thoroughly.
    Facing this mountain, the acting commander, White Knight Farialice, already had everything mapped out in her mind.
    However, the mark of a true commander wasn't so simple.
    Generals all began by studying the battles of their predecessors before they got the chance to come to the battlefield on their own. But, Generals who restricted themselves based on what they had read on what were ultimately dead pieces of paper would be forever destined to not reach the pinnacle of warring masters.
    Farialice immediately felt that something was off just by laying her eyes on the mountain.
    There were three paths up this mountain and there was no easy way to travel between them, at least not in large groups. The advantage of the demons was obviously being able to prepare in advance and having such great terrain to work with. But, the advantage for White City was that the demons would have no idea which paths they would pick.
    The obvious choice for the demons, then, was to destroy two of the paths. Due to their narrow and not very safe to begin with structures, this task would have been very easy. This way, they would easily eliminate White City's first advantage by forcing them down a single path.
    This would have been the perfect plan. Destroying all three paths would have shot the Demon Empire in the foot as well. After all, they also needed a path out. So, two was the perfect balance of hurting the enemy while helping themselves.
    Of course, White City had already been prepared for this. As a counter, they had hidden mechanisms within their supply units that would actually allow them to fly over the mountains entirely and assault the Palace from the skies.
    Though the mountainous structures appeared to be terrible from the outside, the location of the Demon Empress' palace was actually a flat of the mountainous land and, not unlike a castle, acted as its own city.
    But, the problem was that the obvious action the demons should have taken by destroying the two pathsбн hadn't been taken at all.
    From the outside, this seemed to be a good thing. It should have meant that their enemies were more foolish than they thought. But, was this really the case?
    According to their intelligence, the demons were no less intelligent than humans. In fact, even if they weren't, their Empress was a human who should have easily been able to think of this.
    'Could it be that they want to begin the battle on the next mountain range? Did they retreat further back than we assumed?'
    Farialice thought that there was a good possibility that this could be the case. After all, this initial mountain pass only led to the main mountain range the Demon Palace could be found.
    However, if this was the case, their plans would definitely be less effective as the Palace would be heavily guarded. Compared to Camelot, the Demon Empire had many more aerial options available to them thanks to the variability of demonkind.
    'Interestingбн'
    Farialice's lip curled.
    "Begin phase one. My troop, Roah's troop, Cannon's troopбн and Bourg's troop will not participate, we'll be going up the mountain on foot."
    "HAI!"
    White City's warriors got to work immediately, not doubting Farialice's judgment despite the fact it went against everything they had prepared for.
    Soon, massive platforms that almost looked like enlarged hot air balloon baskets soared into the air, each carrying dozens of warriors beneath the beating wings of massive birds of prey.
    At the same time, Farialice led a troop of the remaining thousand on the ground and toward the middle mountain pass, her heart thumping with a will for battle.

 Chapter 475 - Activate

    "So that's their choice?"
    Leonel watched this all happen from afar. It seemed odd that he could see things happening from tens of kilometers away so clearly, but it didn't seem like a problem for him in the slightest.
    "Crakos, lead your men down the middle pass of the mountain."
    Leonel seemed to speak to empty air, there wasn't a single soul on the mountain peak except for himself. Yet, in the instant he spoke, Crakos' men had moved out under his command.
    "There are five White Knights in the group you're headed for. All five of them have strength surpassing your own, so be sure to follow my orders to a point."
    Farialice thought that the demons were planning something secretive due to their odd actionsбн When the reality was that Leonel didn't have a large overarching plan. What he did have were many trump cards he was ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
    The first of these trump cards wasбн Leonel's own personal Force Disruption Towers.
    To everyone, including those of Terrain, Force Disruption Towers had become impossible to use. This only made sense. As the world evolved, the laws of physics that governed it would also fundamentally change.
    By the current age of technology, the pieces of engineering the people of Earth relied on were inextricably linked to concepts of chemistry, complex studies of physics and, even in some cases, biology.
    In such a case, as these laws changed, the technology created to make use of them also became useless. Unless Earth adapted to the new changes with new creations of technology every time they evolved, tech would only become more and more useless as time went on.
    However, Leonel wasn't restricted to Earth's technology at all.
    Just two or so months ago, Leonel had witnessed the engineers of Royal Blue Fort attempt to piece together a Force Disruption Tower. Though they had failed to complete it in the end, Leonel had already taken note of all of the Tower's pieces.
    With the level his mind had reached and the fact the Towers were created based on Third Dimensional constructs, memorizing everything with a glance was as easy as breathing for Leonel.
    After witnessing everything, it only became a matter of reverse engineering it allбн
    However, even then, Leonel didn't need to go so far. What he needed wasn't a true working Force Disruption Tower. After all, they had become nearly useless after Earth entered the Fourth Dimension.
    No, what Leonel needed was just a framework, a push in the right direction, a small light at the end of the tunnelбн That would be enough to bring the warriors of White City hell.
    бн
    Farialice led the vanguard through the mountain pass.
    Rock walls surrounded them from all directions almost as though they had entered a dark valley rather than a passage up a mountain.
    Though the passage was considered 'narrow', this was only in consideration for an army of a thousand strong. The truth was that there was still 20 meters of clearance between the walls of the mountain pass.
    Still, with an army of this size, such a reality made quickly retreating almost an impossibility.
    But, Farialice wasn't a fool. She was already prepared for any unexpected situations.
    The reality was that whenever you were an army laying siege, losses would be inevitable. She entered this pass knowing very well that it might be a trap, but she was prepared to suffer whatever consequences might come with it.
    This was the philosophy of the White City Knights. They as commanders road in the vanguard. They as commander took the brunt of the pressure on their shoulders. They as commanders would face all danger that came their way.
    It was this top down philosophy that bred the fearless army of White City.
    When your commanders dared to lead the charge, what right did they as subordinates have to cower?
    Farialice's gaze narrowed. The ground only shifted a bit, but she sensed it. Her sensitivity to such things was beyond normal limits, not only due to her experience as a commander, but most importantly due to her ability.
    This was the second reason she dared to enter this narrow passageway.
    Farialice's ability made her exceptionally sensitive to vibrations through the ground. But, what shocked her wasn't the fact there were vibrationsбн but rather that these vibrations were soбн normal.
    This rhythm, it could only come from an advancing troop.
    Farialice internally sneered. It couldn't be that they wanted to meet on this battlefield, right? Had she really overthought it? Did the demons just overestimate themselves?
    Though the reports said that the demons were just as intelligent as humans, it also said that they were quite hotblooded as well. They may very well be like their City Lord White, but completely lacking in the strength City Lord White had.
    Still, though Farialice thought this, she went on her guard, stopping the army at one of the many winding paths.
    'This is the best location to meet them.'
    The current location had the White City army still moving uphill, which put them at a slight disadvantage. But, in return, the bend in the path more than made up for this.
    The vast majority of people were right-handed, this was the case across the universe and across races. The position Farialice chose to stop at gave those with a dominant right hand the advantage. But, this was only a small part of the puzzle.
    The main reason Farialice chose this location was because the demon army would have to curl around the path to meet them whereas White City's army could meet them head on.
    If the demons were really as hot headed as they seemed, they would easily fall into this small trap.
    Farialice pulled out a sword while unsheathing a dagger with her left. This was her in her optimal state. A meter and a half length sword in her right and a short sword in her left. She had lost count of the number of enemies she had slaughtered with these two blades.
    'Hm? They stopped.'
    Farialice's gaze narrowed. It seemed she was correct to be cautious.
    A battle intent exuded from her body. Without a single word, the warriors to her back felt her excitement, their blood beginning to boil as well.
    бн
    "Activate it now."
    Leonel's expressionless voice shook Crakos' heart. Was this the same boy he had just been with?
    But, without hesitation, Crakos gave the hand signal. In unison, the demons brandished their weapons, pouring all the Force they could muster into them.
    In that instant, the quality of the air seemed to shift. The mountain pass gained an abnormal stillness.
    "Charge." Leonel commanded.
    **
    A long distance away, in a military recovery tent on the Camelot battlefield, Aina tossed and turned, her breathing short and ragged.
    Strong pulsing veins coursed through her body, bulging throughout her neck.
    The military tent soared past 100 degrees Celsius and seemed to still be climbing.

 Chapter 476 - Queen

    City Lord White held a combat prowess those of Earth had simply never seen before. If it wasn't for Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Noah and Jessica all surrounding her at once, it felt like she could solo the entire battlefield on her own.
    Yet, even with so many working together, she didn't seem to be even slightly disadvantaged. In fact, she even held the upper hand, her strength causing the skies to tremble and the earth to quake.
    City Lord White swung 'Clara' with a single hand, sending King Arthur flying backward.
    Arthur's feet dug a deep pit in the ground, his body sinking down into a strong horse stance as he held Excalibur across his body.
    City Lord White's irises glittered somewhat. She was inwardly shocked, not because of the strength of the enemies she faced, but rather because of the quality of their weapons.
    Logically speaking, it was impossible for such a fledgling world to have such powerful weapons. Their weakness should also come with an appropriate lack of resources. Yet, this wasn't the case at all. In fact, if it wasn't for White City being severely outclassed in weaponry, this war might have come to an end long ago.
    Just as an example, there was the sword in Arthur's hands. It shouldn't have been able to survive even a single strike from her before shattering. Yet, not only did it not show any signs of collapsing, it was even faintly putting pressure on her double-headed weapon.
    As though that wasn't bad enough, there was Arthur's white armor. Though City Lord White wasn't a weapon's expert, she could still tell that Arthur's armor reinforced his Force and deflected almost 10% of her attacks. If it wasn't for her sturdy build, City Lord White would have suffered a great deal.
    If it was just Arthur, things might have been fine. But, there was still Noah's saber and Jessica's whip, in fact, even the Knights of the Round Table all had weapons and armor superior to her own. This was especially the case for Lancelot and his golden lance. It felt that if she was even a little careless, she would be pierced all the way through.
    On Terrainбн such weapons simply didn't exist. Though worlds could have heirlooms they passed down at this quality, and, being in her position, City Lord White would definitely be in position to have one such weapon, it had to be remembered that Terrain was deemed as a world without talent.
    As a result of this, Terrain never received the support of higher Dimensional worlds and as such never received rewards for their Zones. The only 'benefit' of clearing Zones for Terrain was helping their world to survive another day and maybe the training they could receive by putting their lives on the line.
    This was the reality of the world. There was no such thing as fairness.
    Terrain didn't receive the support of higher Dimensional worlds because they weren't talented. By the same token, these higher Dimensional worlds had no obligation to help Earth either.
    Like this City Lord White faced enemies with Tier 9 Black and Quasi Bronze treasures all around while she herself only wielded a Tier 7 Black treasure she treated like her own child.
    Yet, despite the situation, a maddening grin hung across her attractive face. Her slender arms bulged with strength it shouldn't have, blasting another two Knights of the Round Table away.
    "Come! Show me more! I haven't bled in a long time, can you let me see the color of my blood?!"
    City Lord White's laughter rang throughout the battlefield. Her voice was like a beacon in the darkness for her men, constantly fueling their momentum.
    How could their blood not boil? Even when so many faced their Commander at once, they were simply no match for her.
    Noah brandished his blue bladed saber. If those who weren't aware of his abilities saw him now, they would be stunned.
    Normally, Noah was just around two meters tall. But now, he stood at over five, his body exuding the valiant air of a god descended from the skies.
    His blade increased in size with him, swinging down at City Lord White with a might that made the wind tremble.
    "Good!" City Lord White flicked her wrist upward, easily deflecting Noah's saber as though it was no heavier than a feather.
    She reset herself, looking to swing at and shatter Noah's knee, but Jessica reacted quickly, causing several demonic beasts to pounce at the City Lord.
    However, City Lord White's sinister grin only grew wider. As though it put no pressure on her wrists at all, she easily shifted her aim with a thought, shattering the skulls of three beasts with a single flicker.
    Noah felt as though his arm was about to shatter beneath the she-devil's counter attack.
    His ability wasn't as simple as gigantification. He could increase the size of his body and any object he so chose, but he could also control density along with this ability.
    Everyone knew that volume increased by a cubic while surface area increased by a square. This meant that there was a limit to how large the human body could become before it collapsed in on itself.
    However, Noah could bypass this by increasing the density of his bones several fold at will. Even making his bones as strong as diamond wasn't impossible with his current ability. In the future, making himself as durable as a Fourth Dimensional or higher metals would just be a thought away.
    This was all to say that Noah could make his own weight increase to an inconceivable degree and he would also be able to proportionally increase his muscle density to have the strength to back it up.
    Yetбн City Lord White deflected it all with a flick of her wrist.
    At that moment, King Arthur dug himself out of the trench he had slid back in, charging back toward City Lord White with the same valiant air.
    Golden lights surged around his body, dancing along with his blade as he cleaved forward.
    City Lord White's laughter sounded as she sent him flying once more.
    In the blink of an eye, she appeared amidst the Knights of the Round table, forcing them to quickly defend themselves.
    But the result was only to be expected. Blood flew from their lips as they were sent flying.
    City Lord White shot forward, appearing before King Arthur, her double headed hammer already swinging downward, a manic laughter hanging in the air.
    King Arthur's visage remained stoic, slamming a palm into the ground and flipping out of the way.
    However, City Lord White's nimbleness was beyond his comprehension. With a twist of her wrist, her target changed like flowing water, aimed right for King Arthur's head.
    Arthur's gaze sharpened, the scent of death hanging over him. He could almost feel the grim reaper whispering into his ears.
    With the quickest movements he could muster, he rose Excalibur to his face, trying to block it.
    City Lord White's laughter didn't pause for even a moment. She could almost smell the blood spraying into the air.
    It was at that moment that a strong surge of magic shook the battlefield.
    A shield of ice quickly formed in the path of City Lord White's hammer, causing it to slow and pause just for a moment before being shattered.
    By then, King Arthur had already taken advantage of the opportunity to dodge out of the way, City Lord White's hammer just scraping a hair's breadth from his head.
    In the distance, the blue eyes of Queen Guinevere shone like two sparkling sapphire gems.
    The Queen of Camelot had stepped onto the battlefield for the first time in decades.

 Chapter 477 - Blood

    Queen Guinevere's Spirit Pressure seemed to make the skies bow down. It was only at this moment that the people of Camelot and the Demon Empire realized that the strongest mage of Camelot wasn't The Pope, nor was it Arthur, nor was it even Mordredбн
    It was the Queen of the people. Guinevere Pendragon.
    "Hoho! Good! The more, the merrier!"
    City Lord White's laughter continued, brandishing her hammer to smash toward King Arthur again as though she hadn't sensed Guinevere's presence in the least.
    Sharp, icy winds spun around the Queen, her black hair rapidly becoming coated in a thin layer of ice. In an instant, her tanned skin and black hair became as white as snow, her eyes becoming such a pale shade of blue that they too seemed to become white.
    Several javelins of ice formed to her back, shattering the sound barrier as they shot forward.
    The mages of Camelot immediately reeled in shock. They couldn't wrap their minds around how the Queen displayed such prowess without her wand.
    At that moment, City Lord White became more serious. She wasn't a well informed person. All she knew was battle. If it wasn't related to brandishing her hammer, she didn't want to hear about it.
    But, what she did have were instincts honed over countless years of endless battle. So, though she didn't know the name of the exact Innate Force Node Queen Guinevere had awakened, she knew that it couldn't be a weak one.
    "Ha!"
    City Lord White swung her hammer toward the incoming ice javelins. The shattering of ice resounded through the battlefield, gorgeous snowflakes wildly fluttering at the point of contact.
    Under the astonished gazes of many, City Lord White took a single step back. Though it was just one, it filled King Arthur and the others with fighting spirit. This wild she-devil had finally shown a weakness.
    In the skies, Mordred finally sighed a breath of relief. When Arthur almost died, she felt her heart seize. She never thought that she would have such a strong reaction to the almost death of her father. It seemed that blood was truly thicker than water.
    Unfortunately, she wasn't able to come down from the skies. If she let the aerial units of White City run rampant, this battle would be over as soon as it started.
    Luckily, her mother had come to the battlefield.
    Under normal circumstances, King Arthur would never allow her to. In fact, the only reason he allowed Mordred to battle at all was because he didn't really have a choice. After all, she was the ruler of the demons. If she wasn't here, who would take command of them exactly? There was a reason Lionus couldn't be found on the battlefield.
    Guinevere's appearance caused the landscape of the war to shift once again.
    City Lord White was constantly placed on her backfoot, her hammer deflecting Guinevere's barrage of ice javelin's.
    Guinevere's ranged assault put even Leonel to shame. To be able to put so much power into each strike, it was well beyond anything the current Leonel could do. It was hard to believe that Camelot still had such a trump card in the wings.
    It seemed that the awakening of Guinevere's ability made her powerful beyond belief.
    Taking advantage of Guinevere keeping City Lord White pinned down, the others began to act as well, pincering the City Lord from all sides.
    King Arthur activated [Light Domain], sending a barrage of light projectiles toward City Lord White as well.
    Noah brandished his saber, using the openings Queen Guinevere created to send out strikes of his own.
    In the blink of an eye, it seemed as though everything had flipped on its head. Even City Lord White's laughter seemed to have come to a grinding halt.
    However, those who assaulted her didn't seem capable of relaxing even for a moment. No, it wasn't that they weren't capable, but rather that they couldn't. City Lord White's laughter may have come to a close, but the look on her face sent shivers down all of their spines.
    Her grin became wider and wider, a sinister darkness cascading over her face.
    The solemn atmosphere of the battlefield seemed to grow several fold. It was as though City Lord White's lack of laughter was even more of a sign than her actual laughter had been. Andбн the only ones who seemed to be in the dark about this were the experts locked in battle with her.
    "Good. Good. Good. Now, I can finally go all out!"
    In the distance, Niya watched on, a clipboard being hugged against her chest. She shook her head, lamenting the state of things.
    'It would have been better if they were too weak, at least then City Lord wouldn't truly go berserk.' Niya sighed. 'How will we reel her in this timeбн?'
    Niya began to rack her brain. As far as she was concerned, this battle was as good as over. She only hoped that her City Lord didn't sink too far in this time.
    "Blood! Blood! BLOOD!"
    City Lord White's cry almost manifested like a banshee's. It was a shrill shriek that could cause one's blood to curdle and one's heart to stop.
    At that moment, City Lord White's short hair suddenly began to wildly grow. In the blink of an eye, it became like a river of crimson floating in the air.
    What was even more shocking, though, was the change to her eyes. In a moment, the whites of her eyes became a blood red, while her irises became a murky grey. No matter how one looked at her, she looked like a demon incarnateбн
    But, as though to ensure those who didn't think so saw through to the truth of the situation, corpses from all around the battlefield trembled. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were completely drained, streams of blood from their dead bodies shooting into the air and pouring into City Lord White's hair as though to nurture it.
    "BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!"
    City Lord White's laughter once again sounded, but this time, it felt as though three women were laughing at once, then it was four, then five. Very soon, it was impossible to tell that they were women at all.
    When everyone realized what was happening, their eyes widened in shock.
    It wasn't City Lord White's laughter anymore at all. In fact, other than the mad grin on her face, City Lord White's mouth didn't open at all.
    The laughterбн it was coming from the bloodбн It was the voices of the dead piercing through the veil of the living as though to remind them all not to forget.
    City Lord White shot forward, her speed more than triple what it had been before.
    In less than a breath, she appeared before Lancelot, her hammer swinging forth.
    Lancelot reacted as quickly as he could, piercing forward and up with his lance. But, a vibrant red glow that pulsed like a beating heart appeared on City Lord White's hammer as it smashed downward.
    At the instant of contact, Lancelot felt pain like he never had before.
    The bones in his legs collapsed in on themselves, what remained of his knee piercing through his skin in gruesome fashion.
    All the strength he had accumulated seemed to be no better than a child swinging with all their might at an adult. In all his life, Lancelot had never felt so weak, nor had he ever suffered through such pain.
    "Lancelot!"
    Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table all shouted in rage at once. But, City Lord White's laughter was like a melodious tune being plucked to their suffering.
    бн
    At that moment, within a military healing tent, the temperature had already skyrocketed past 200 degrees Celsius. The heart beat of the young girl had grown so loud that it could be heard even outside the flapping curtainsбн
    It was in that instant that her eyes shot open, reflecting a blinding golden light.
    "Bloodбн"
    The voice was soft, but it seemed to reach the ears of every person on the battlefield.

 Chapter 478 - Fourth Dimension

    ~A year ago~
    Aina stood from her seated position, power she had never felt before coursing through her veins. She had already expected that the blood of a Fifth Dimensional creature would give her a massive boost to her strength, but she was still somewhat surprised that it allowed her to directly shatter the barrier to the Fourth Dimension.
    The Fourth Dimension was different from the Third. It could be said that both Planes of Existence laid a foundation, but the method in which they did so was much different.
    In order to understand what this difference was, it had to be known that the minimum requirement for passing down a Lineage Factor was being an existence at the Fourth Dimension. Only upon gaining some mastery of this Dimension would one reach the necessary threshold.
    The Third Dimension formed one's Force Nodes. The number one managed to form would remain unchanged, at least for the time being. This made one's success within the Third Dimension a direct predictor of one's success in the future.
    The Fourth Dimension built upon this foundation. Not only did one transition for Third Dimensional to Fourth Dimensional Force, but one also began the process of body refinement.
    Though it seemed like Dimensions were just 'power levels', this wasn't the case at all. When transitioning between Dimensions, one was quite literally ascending to a new plane of existence. This was why the gap between Dimensions was impossible to cross.
    The Third Dimension allowed one to create Fourth Dimensional constructs within one's body: the Force Nodes. While the Fourth Dimension was the process of dispelling what impurities remained of the Third and Fourth Dimensions to allow a smooth transition into the Fifth Dimension.
    At the Fifth Dimension, this was where the true powerful existences of the Dimensional Verse began to appear.
    As such, there was one main goal of the Fourth Dimension: to purify.
    Whether that be the blood, the bones, the organs. Everything needed to be cleansed of filth lingering from lesser Dimensions. Only by doing this would it be possible to ascend to a higher level of being.
    However, unlike the Third Dimension, there wasn't just one method of completing this requirement. In fact, the Fourth Dimension was where the numerous diverging paths of the Dimensional Verse truly began to shine.
    For someone like Aina, the path she would choose was very simple. With her ability, it only made sense to focus on her blood.
    The blood was the life liquid the remainder of the body relied on. There wasn't a single crevice one could find in the body where it wasn't a major player. And, thanks to Aina's affinities and her ability, this was also among the easiest paths for her to take.
    As for how the power level of the Fourth Dimension worked, this was much more straightforward.
    In order to transition from the use of Third Dimensional Force to Fourth Dimensional Force, the body had to be properly primed. Only by ridding oneself of these impurities would one be able to truly begin to use Fourth Dimensional Force.
    Upon reaching the First Tier, one would be able to fill one of their Force Nodes with Fourth Dimensional Force. Upon reaching the Second Tier, one would be able to withstand the filling of two Force Nodes with Fourth Dimensional Force. So on and so forth.
    However, one can easily see from this how divisions might be caused due to one's level of success within the Third Dimension.
    Not only were the sizes of everyone's Force Nodes different, but even the amount of Force Nodes one formed weren't all consistently the same. This meant that two individuals who could be considered Tier One Fourth Dimensional existences could be of vastly different strengths. And, the effort they had to put in to reach this level would definitely vastly differ as well.
    But, only upon reaching Tier One would one truly be considered a Fourth Dimensional existence.
    As though all of this wasn't complicated enough, the universe seemed to hate making things neat and tidy.
    By now, those with sharp minds would have realized that though forming large Force Nodes and reaching the maximum level of Nine gave one an advantage, it would also be easy to realize that this didn't restrict one from continuing to purify one's body.
    Even if you only formed three Force Nodes and could already sustain Fourth Dimensional Force in them all, what was stopping you from continuing to refine and purify your body?
    For example, compared to Leonel, Aina's Force Nodes were much smaller, not even close to Leonel's 100 cell size. And, though she had managed to form nine of them, her talent in energy manipulation was low due to her lack of talent with Internal Sight. Unfortunately, both of these things would be linked.
    Howeverбн Compared to others Aina's talent in refining her body were leagues beyond. Leonel could only rely on his Lineage Factor to match her in this regard.
    What did all of this mean? It meant that technically, one could have a poor showing and set a terrible foundation within the Third Dimension, yet still become an undefeatable existence within the Fourth Dimension.
    Aina was one such person. Though her foundation within the Third Dimension couldn't be considered to be bad, it wasn't among the very best either. However, her talent for growth within the Fourth Dimension was beyond what most could fathom.
    In fact, without having spent even a single minute within the Fourth Dimension, Aina had already cleared the requirements to be considered a Tier Two Fourth Dimensional existence.
    Of course, this was mostly in thanks due to the Abyssal Panther blood she just ingested. That said, how many others could ingest Fifth Dimensional blood in the Third and live to tell about it?
    Aina flexed her body, basking beneath the popping of her joints. Other than the discomfort her inflamed scars were bringing her, she had never felt more at ease in her life. Her blood thrummed and her heart gave out long and steady beats. She felt as though she could shatter the world with a single fist.
    'It's time for me to find a path out of here. Though Tier Two Fourth Dimensional strength is good, they were at least at Tier Four or Five in strengthбн'
    Aina's Tier Two strength was likely worth more than a usual Tier Three existence on Terrain due to the size of her Force Nodes. Though she couldn't compare to Leonel, that didn't mean she lost out to those with such poor talent. But, leaping over any more would be troublesome, at least when she was facing so many of them at once.
    Plus, there were other factors to strength than just one's base powerful level like Styles and Embryos. Aina still needed to train herself more.
    So, she traveled deeper into the cave, not knowing a thing about the horrible experience that lied in wait for her.

 Chapter 479 - Signal

    The people of Terrain say that the Mountain Sands Range was a forbidden zone. It gained its name because according to legend, the deeper one traveled into this mountain range, the more difficult it became to leave.
    Unfortunately, when she entered this mountain range, Aina had no idea about this. Due to her hasty teleportation, rather than being sent to a proper city like Leonel had, she appeared in the wilderness where she just so happened to stumble across a Variant Zone.
    Due to the nature of a Variant Zone, Aina managed to claim rewards despite her competitors being several times more powerful. But, this made her escape all the more difficult.
    Without a choice, she charged into the mountain range and eventually managed to find this network of tunnels.
    Knowing it wasn't safe to go back the way she came, believing that those three Heirs were still chasing her, Aina instead decided to find a secluded location to breakthrough. Now, she was hoping to find an alternate exit.
    Unlike Leonel, Aina didn't have perfect recall nor did she have a powerful mind. This wasn't to say that she wasn't intelligent, but rather that she wasn't as much of a monster in this regard as compared to Leonel. After all, Leonel's mind could probably put a supercomputer of the 25th Century to shame.
    Without a choice, Aina could only travel forward slowly, leaving marks on the walls of the caves traveled through to remind her of where she had been and whether she was traveling in circles or not.
    Luckily, Aina had the small sword she gained from the Variant Zone. It was much more convenient to use than her massive ax on in such small quarters.
    [Author's Note: Yes, small sword. Note that Aina's great sword has not appeared yet at this point]
    By now, Aina had long since placed her sensory boosting headpiece on. Before, she had been hesitant to do so.
    Compared to Leonel, she was much more informed about the situation of other worlds. So, she was very much aware how much of a draw a Quasi Bronze treasure could be. As such, she hid the fact she had one while within the Variant Zone. But now that she had become the enemy of those three anyway, even if she ran into them now, it wouldn't make much of a difference. After all, the blood of a Fifth Dimensional entity could be considered about equal to a Quasi Bronze treasure. In fact, to the right person, it would be even more valuable.
    'The Force is getting denser?'
    Aina's brows raised, a faint excitement in her heart. If Force was increasing in the direction she was walking, it was very likely that there could be treasures lying in wait. It wasn't rare for such ancient networks of caves to have untapped mines.
    Aina continued to mark the walls she came across with arrows, maintaining her caution.
    Usually, the most sensitive creatures to shifts in Force density weren't humanoids but rather beasts and Invalids. Though Invalids only cared about devouring humans, beasts were different. Whether it was humans or resources, they would be interested in both. It wouldn't be a surprise if a beast called this place home.
    As Aina approached the location of the increased Force density, she heard a faint scratching noise that caused her steps to freeze.
    Though Aina's senses weren't very powerful, thanks to her strong body, what she did have was great hearing and eyesight. In fact, after absorbing the Abyssal Panther's blood, her ability to see in the darkness was no worse than her ability to see in the light which was very helpful in this dark environment.
    'There's something up aheadбн'
    Aina crouched, slinking forward as though she truly was a panther. The light in her amber eyes seemed to dim toward a darker hue and gained a more feline look to them.
    Her black hair melded into the darkness as she quickly darted forward, making it to the small branching pathway the noise was coming from.
    After peeking inside, Aina was stunned by what she saw.
    'An Invalid!'
    Aina's heartbeat quickened slightly before she forced it to enter another slow and calming rhythm.
    She was well aware that any Invalids that managed to survive this long on a world that had long since gone through its Metamorphosis wasn't an existence she could look down upon. But, at the same time, such Invalids would leave behind great stores of energy.
    Whenever an Invalid was killed, they would become the purest globule of Force imaginable. When this was absorbed, it would be a great boon to a body. The stronger the Invalid was, the greater the benefit would be as well.
    The only unfortunate thing, or maybe fortunate in this case, was that Terrain was a world without much talent. Though Invalids that survived this long would indeed be powerful, they still had a limit on just how powerful they could become.
    Invalids had an exceptionally difficult time traveling between worlds for obvious reasons. So, if all they could devour were low talent humans, they'd be equally as pitiful.
    Aina brandished her sword, prepared to strike at any moment.
    'What is it scratching and claw at?'
    Aina had never seen an Invalid act in this way. They would usually be placid and without emotion. Their only goals in 'life' was to devour other humans and evolve themselves. Something like an Invalid being so interested in a wall was unheard of, even if said wall had a treasure lying behind it.
    Aina shook her head and removed all distracting thoughts.
    Invalids were incredibly sensitive to Force, so she didn't dare to use it. But, with her strength, especially after tempering her blood once, she didn't need to.
    Just a single strike to the head. That would be enough to make sure this Invalid never saw the light of day again.
    Aina's thighs flexed, her body crouching like a strung bow.
    BANG!
    The Invalid froze, its scratching coming to a stop when it heard the noise. But, Aina had already appeared to its back, aiming a blade at the back of its skull.
    At that moment, the Invalid's head suddenly spun 180 degrees, its placid white eyes locking onto Aina's approaching blade.
    Aina felt something grab at her heart as though trying to fill her with fear. But, her blade never stopped, shooting through the Invalid's skull in the next instant.
    The Invalid's forehead was split by Aina's blade, but its eyes remained locked onto Aina as its lifeforce dimmed.
    But, just as it was about to fade into motes of light, its jaw went slack, hanging open at an awkward angle as though a wooden puppet with a loose screw.
    And then, it screamed.
    The sound was so loud that Aina felt her eardrums shatter. But, she didn't have the time to linger on the pain in the slightest.
    She felt that this scream hadn't been a normal screamбн it was a signal and she was the subject of the information being sent.

 Chapter 480 - Diverge

    Aina pulled her sword out quickly.
    She didn't quite understand what was happening. Shouldn't Invalids be creatures of instinct? They shouldn't have any intelligence or sense of comradery. Something like signaling one's allies was a distinctly human trait. Sometimes beasts of higher intelligence would engage in such matters as well. But, Invalids? That should never happen.
    'It didn't become energy?'
    Aina was shocked once again. The Invalid before her collapsed, but it didn't disappear into energy she could absorb. Just what was happening?
    Aina's heart seized. Did she make a mistake? Was it not an Invalid at all?
    No, that was impossible. Its eyes, its aura, its demeanor, it all screamed Invalid. So, what was happening exactly?
    Aina didn't believe that she would make such a rookie mistake. Plus, what existence other than an Invalid could shriek like that even after having its head pierced through?
    Aina was certain, it hadn't been a shriek of pain or unwillingness. It had no emotion behind it all, it was completely hollow and without conscience.
    'I need to move.'
    Aina thrust these thoughts to the back of her mind, taking a glance at the wall the 'Invalid' had been scratching at.
    If Leonel had been there, he would immediately recognize the Tier 5 Black Ore embedded into the wall. It wasn't very valuable, but it wasn't worthless either. At the very least, it could sell for a couple kilograms of Black Urbe Ore.
    'I don't have time to dig it out and it doesn't seem like a very high level ore either.' Aina nodded to herself. 'Run.'
    Without hesitation, Aina turned tail and ran. She felt it was unfortunate that she had placed herself in such a difficult situation for such a worthless Ore she couldn't even mine, but there was no time to cry over spilt milk.
    Aina shot back in the direction she came.
    She knew she didn't have enough time to run and create new markings on the wall. And, if she got lost in these tunnels, there would be no one to come out and save her. Therefore, her best chance was to follow her arrows in reverse.
    If that screech was really a signal as she thought, then it likely meant that there were more Invalids on their way. If she was correct, then her arrows wouldn't mean much if anything to them. With their low intelligence, she didn't need to worry about being followed.
    Aina rounded a corner with confidence, only to come to a grinding halt.
    There were three of them blocking her path, all of them with their backs facing her. But, they all simultaneously rotated their heads in her direction as though they were night time owls. It was the kind of sight that sent shivers down one's spine.
    Aina hesitated, her jaw clenched.
    Should she go forward? Or run back?
    The former was the only way for her to continue following her arrows. But, the latter would force her to forget her initial plans entirely. There was no way she would be able to keep a mental map of where she was going and getting lost would be a near guarantee.
    This network of tunnels simply had too many diverging paths. If it wasn't for this, there was no way that Aina would only meet these Invalids on her way back and never even sense them during her first trip down this passage.
    Aina grit her teeth. 'Forward!'
    She knew that this was the best choice she had. If there were Invalids on her way back, that only meant that she had been very lucky not to run into them on the way here. If that was the case, there might very well be even more if she headed in deeper rather than trying to exit. Her only way out of this situation was to leave this network of tunnels entirely.
    Aina's blood began to boil, a faint red hue covering her blade and her body.
    With a thought, she shot forward, brandishing her blade.
    The three Invalids reacted all at once, but their reactions seemed disjointed. Though they were as fast as Fourth Dimensional humans, their joints would often bend at odd angles as though they were double jointed in all areas.
    They moved less like humanoids and more like some alien species just learning how to walk on their own two feet thanks to bodies they had snatched.
    The sight send a cold shiver down Aina's back, but this was a good thing for her. The less coordinated they were, the greater chance she had of leaving this place.
    With a sweep of her blade, one lost an arm and a leg in quick succession. Without even bothering with the remaining two, she shot by the gap she created after the Invalid toppled over, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling of the cave as she soared by them.
    Aina pumped her legs as quickly as she could, no longer minding the noise she might make. As long as the Invalids she came across continued to be so uncoordinated and slow, she just had to continue running with all her might.
    She rounded several corners, almost lamenting her previous actions. Why couldn't she had traveled in a straight line before? What possessed her to take so many turns?!
    Aina ran into several more Invalids. Many were alone, allowing her to easily bypass them. But, a few came in groups of two and three. Still, it wasn't beyond her means of dealing with.
    However, she grew more anxious the more she ran. How were there so many Invalids here? Why did none of them become motes of light? Why were they all acting so weirdly?
    She couldn't fathom how there were so many here. The more she ran into, the more she began to question how she had traveled so deeply without running into even a single one.
    'Dammit!'
    Aina rounded another corner, only to run into several more Invalids. But this time, they numbered almost a dozen.
    Their odd interactions continued. As though they couldn't sense their comrades by their sides, they all tried to squeeze into the narrow tunnel at once.
    They pushed against each other, shifting to their sides as they continued to press forward.
    It should have been a comedic sight. Some of the Invalids had their cheeks pressed flush against one another, others even had their noses squished as though they couldn't kiss each other deeply enough.
    But, their emotionless gazes and their indifferent expressions sent a shiver down one's spine. It was as though they would stop at nothing until they devoured Aina.
    Aina clenched her teeth. She was so close. She could feel it. It had only taken her half an hour to travel as deeply as she did, but she had already been sprinting with all her might for almost five minutes. She knew that she must be closing in on the exit.
    But, just when she had been, eleven Invalids completely blocked her path forward.
    'Continue!' Aina wanted to press forward. She just had to get past this line and she would be free.
    Unfortunately, reality was cruel. Just when she took a step forward, she saw another wave of Invalids coming between the cracks of the 11 that had squeezed themselves together.
    If they combined into one, their numbers would exceed 20!
    Aina's eyes flickered with a hint of helplessness.
    Without a choice she shot into a diverging path, knowing full well that she was now lost.

 Chapter 481 - Creations

    The situation only seemed to continuously spiral more and more out of control.
    Without any direction, Aina continued traveling down the path of least resistance. What point was there in battling many Invalids if she was no longer on the right path anymore to begin with? All she could do was try to head in the general direction she had aimed for in the very beginning, but without a map, compass, or strong sensory abilities, Aina was practically flying blind.
    Though she felt like she was headed in the right direction, for all she knew, by now, she was already headed in the complete opposite.
    The headpiece Aina wore that almost took the shape of a loose crown on her head did have a strong boost to her abilities. But, it was multiplicative, not additive. Since Aina's senses were weak to begin with, the effect of the treasure wasn't as great as it would be to someone with true sensory abilities.
    However, it was still very helpful in clearing Aina's mind. Despite the situation, she managed to remain calm, brandishing her sword toward her enemies and maintaining a steady control over her heart rate and stamina.
    She didn't know how long she would have to run and hide. But, what she did know was that since the density of Invalids could so quickly increase, it could very likely decrease back to what it once had been.
    She just had to keep running toward where the least of them appeared. As long as she ran for long enough, she felt she could finally break out of this encirclement.
    From her interactions with the Invalids, their lack of intelligence was clear. She didn't believe that they would know to expand their encirclement to find her.
    Still, the situation just seemed off.
    Why did that Invalid scream? Why were they acting so weirdly? In fact, to now, none of the Invalids had even used their abilities. One of the most dangerous things about Invalids should have been the unpredictable methods by which they made use of their powers. Yet, not a single one had taken advantage of this.
    Also, now that Aina thought about it, another hallmark of Invalids, especially low level ones, were failed mutations. They often had extra body parts or an odd assortment of a normal number of limbs.
    But, all of these Invalids lookedбн normal?
    It was a silly thing to say considering their odd disjointedness. But, compared to 'normal' Invalids, these ones looked almost too human. They had no odd mutations to speak of in the slightest if one wasn't thinking about their double jointedness.
    Aina had no choice but to continue running for her life. But, the situation only seemed to become more odd even as the density of Force continued to skyrocket.
    Soon, Aina even felt as though the air quality was increasing and the quantity of oxygen was rising.
    Immediately, she understood what this meant.
    Aina had entered the network of tunnels from a mountain peak she had climbed to. Obviously, so high up, the oxygen density had plummeted. The only reason oxygen would be increasing was ifбн she was headed down!
    It was at that moment that Aina realized she truly was lost. She thought she had been heading in the general direction of her exit all this time, hoping that she would run back into a path where she could find her drawn arrows again. But, reality was cruel. She had ended up going in the complete opposite direction.
    Aina steeled her jaw, her gaze becoming icy.
    It no longer mattered. This wouldn't be the place she died.
    With a swing of her blade, another two Invalids had their heads pierced through.
    She had too many things she needed to do, she had no intention of earning herself a nameless grave.
    With a flip in her mindset, this endless maze of tunnels and Invalids became nothing more than another challenge Aina needed to cross. Every time her footsteps faltered or her arms grew tired, her resolve would be the light that burned brighter than everything else.
    Aina severed the arm of another Invalid, her breathing ragged. She sidestepped its uncoordinated attempt to swipe at her, lopping off another head.
    'A light?'
    Aina rounded another corner, only to find a faint red light ahead. It spilled out from several diverging paths, making it difficult to tell just where the source of it was or if there were multiple different sources to begin with.
    Aina's chest heaved as she stepped over the corpse of the Invalid before her. Though she wasn't sure if this would lead to more danger or not, in these monotonous tunnels, such a change was welcome. Even if there was more danger, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
    Aina felt that unlike the Invalids she had come across before, these ones in particular seemed to share a purpose outside of devouring humans. If that was the case, then something had to be controlling them. If Aina could find and kill this person or thing, she may very well have an easier time finding a path out of here.
    With resolute steps, she made her way toward the brightest of the red lights, hoping this pathway carried the main source.
    She rounded another corner, cautiously making her way forward.
    'A new Invalid hasn't appeared in a whileбн'
    Aina's chest grew tighter. In the past, she hadn't been able to travel even 50 meters without coming across another Invalid. But now she had travelled several hundred without even hearing a single oneбн
    Aina's steps subconsciously slowed, her grip around her sword growing tighter as the red lights around her grew stronger. The crimson hue rebounded across the dark walled cave, making some of the moisture clinging to it look no different from dripping blood.
    Aina stepped through another corridor, finding herself facing an opening to an open space. But, it was difficult to see clearly through the bright red light. After so long in perpetual darkness, the sudden increase in intensity blinded her for a moment.
    However, before Aina could even care to about her blurred vision, her hair stood on end, her instincts screaming at her to run.
    Without hesitation, she spun on her heel, looking to charge out. But, it was at that moment that a lazy voice speaking in a language she couldn't understand drifted to her ear.
    At least, that should have been the case. She wouldn't have understood had it not been for the added functionality of her jeweled headpiece coming into effect.
    "бн You've come such a long way, why leave now?"
    A shiver crawled up Aina's back. The voice was so soothing, it felt as though a devil was lingering over her shoulder, whispering sweet temptations to her.
    As though something was compelling her, Aina's body slowly turned back. Against her will, her feet moved, shuffling forward.
    She grit her teeth so hard that blood began to leak from her gums. But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to make a difference.
    Aina crossed through the opening, her eyes finally adjusting to the scene before her. However, what she saw left her feeling so disgusted she almost dry heaved.
    It was a dinner table that extended dozens of meters. It was completely out of place in such a location. But, it was what was on this dinner table that turned Aina's stomach inside out.
    Everywhere she looked, bits and pieces of human flesh could be found. Some were bones, some were beating hearts and trembling organs, there were even corpses that were only torso or others that were headless.
    At the helm of this table, a man sat with an indifferent expression, a head on the plate before him and a fork and knife in hand. With a single motion of his wrist, his knife slid through the head's skull as though it was no tougher than butter.
    "Did you have fun playing with my creations?"

 Chapter 482 - Interesting

    Aina's body continued to walk forward completely out of her control. Before she could even grasp what was happening, she was sitting to the right of the man, her body trembling uncontrollably. No matter how hard she fought back, she couldn't seem to break free.
    Aina clenched her jaw, her head raising to look the man in the eye.
    The situation was far outside of her expectations. She sat no more than a meter and a half from a man she was certain could take her life with a thought. But, what was even more astonishing was the fact thisбн wasn't a man at all.
    When Aina met the man's gaze, she finally noticed the familiar white irises, flickering with indifference.
    There was no doubt, this was an Invalid, a true Invalid, a Variant Invalid.
    Aina's heart lost control of any sense of rhythm, accelerating to the point it seemed it might fly from her chest at any moment.
    The man's wrists never stopped, slowly cutting the head before it in half. Grotesque white and red liquids spilled outward, pooling around the severed neck and almost overflowing the plate.
    Aina's stomach rolled as the Invalid brought the fork to its mouth. Somehow, the immaculate table manners it displayed made the scene several times more difficult to watch. The dichotomy of stateliness and stomach churning sights made one's head spin.
    "No comment?" The Invalid finished chewing and spoke these words.
    It wiped its lips with a pristine white cloth despite the fact there wasn't a speck of impurity on its face. It seemed completely at ease.
    "When I sensed that there was someone who had actually chosen to come to me after all these years, I assumed that you would be powerful. But, I didn't think that you would be such a fledgling. I guess as the saying goes, the ignorant fear nothing, hm?"
    The Invalid smiled lightly.
    To anyone who didn't know better, it was quite the dazzling smile. All the practice Leonel put in couldn't match to even half the charm the male Invalid was currently projecting. Yet, Aina only felt more disgust. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't.
    As for the words the Invalid was speaking, Aina didn't spare them much of a thought. She wasn't aware of how dangerous this region was before she entered. Had she, she would likely understand more of the male Invalid's surprise.
    It had quite literally been centuries since the last time anyone had come to this mountain range willingly, let alone to the point of entering its home and travelling so deeply into its lion's den.
    The Invalid's word suddenly paused, its strong bridged nose tilting up in the air. It took a deep sniff, its gaze stirring with the first hint of emotion Aina had seen from it.
    "This smellбн"
    The male Invalid leaned forward.
    Aina fidgeted in her seat, trying to maintain distance, but her movements were completely out of her control. Her body trembled violently even to the point where the chair she sat on almost collapsed. However, it was all meaningless.
    The nose of the male Invalid brushed by Aina's hair and almost touched her neck.
    It took a pause as though it was appreciating the scent of roses, completely unbothered by Aina's near breakdown.
    Having an Invalid so close, Aina, too, could smell it. One would have thought that the sensation was akin to being near a rotting corpse, but in Aina's opinion, it was far worse than that.
    It felt as though she was standing next to a pile of shit. But, upon that pile of shit, one had poured the strongest and most invasive perfumes all over the top of it. It was far worse than just a rotting corpse, far worse than someone trying to replace a shower with deodorant, far worse than any olfactory assault Aina had ever faced before.
    "бн What a nice scentбн"
    The male Invalid didn't move from Aina's hair for a long time. It was as though it couldn't sense her squirming in the slightest.
    "бн It's the scent of a delicacy, the kind of scent that shouldn't appear on this forsaken world. I understand now, you aren't from Terrain, no wonder, no wonder."
    The male Invalid pulled back, but at that moment, Aina's hands began to move against her will. From her sides, they were pulled up until they were pressed palm side down on either side of the plate before her.
    It was only at that moment that Aina saw what sat in front of her.
    The brain sat there, its numerous folds slowly collapsing on its own weight. After being exposed to the air for so long, it started to experience some discoloration, turning into a deeper purple-black. A pungent smell of blood and gore hung in the air as though trying to suffocate Aina.
    All the effort she was putting in toward trying to escape made her head swim. The foggier her mind grew, the more the scents seemed to hook into her body, dragging her down toward a bloody abyss.
    But, it was at that moment that Aina's body froze. All her trembling ceased and even her heart seemed to stop beating completely.
    All of her senses focused on the subtle, soft feeling gliding across her fingers.
    Aina looked down her hands, her breathing hitching as she watched the male Invalid slowly run the flat of its knife against her long, slender fingers.
    Fear gripped Aina's heart, her teeth rattling out of her control.
    "бн I've never tasted an other worlder beforeбн I'm sure you understand. My kind isn't very well accepted, it's a bit sad, if you ask me.
    "It's quite amusing, though. In every instance of human history, it was the majority that dictated the rules and wielded the power. So, have you ever asked yourself why it was that despite the fact the majority became like usбн that we would still have to run and hide like this?
    "It's interesting, don't you think?"
    The male Invalid continued to run its knife across Aina's fingers, seemingly enjoying the elasticity her youthful skin showed. Something about the way her skin bent beneath the weight of its knife and rebounded back once the blade moved away was quite mesmerizing to the Variant Invalidбн
    But, it was even more eager to know just what Aina might taste like.

 Chapter 483 - Mother

    The male Invalid smiled lightly, pressing its knife just a bit more firmly into Aina's skin. Despite the fact it was still the flat of the blade, Aina's skin was left with a much deeper impression, taking several more seconds to rebound to its previous unblemished appearance.
    Aina's jaw clenched tightly, her gaze completely focused on the knife gliding across her hand. It was as though she would rather see everything through to the end than look away.
    As for the Invalids words, she hardly cared about them.
    Invalids represented failure. Even if they were the so-called majority, nothing would change that.
    Plus, unlike humans, Invalids couldn't reproduce. They had no way of multiplying their numbers. As such, even if for a short moment they were indeed the majority, just how long would that last exactly?
    That said, it wasn't like there were no worlds were humans failed to weed out the Invalid threat. In those cases, Invalids would become the majority and take hold of the planet for themselves. Butбн
    The irony of it all was that while humans could evolve without Invalids, the vice versa was not possible. In the cases where Invalids 'won', the reality was that they in fact lost.
    Now trapped on a world without humans and without ability to travel to other worlds, they essentially reached their limit until the day the world was devoured by its Zones due to lack of human presence.
    No matter how you looked at it, Invalids were inferior in every way. Whether it was by the fact they failed to awaken their abilities or even up to the fact they were reliant on humans even now.
    "Hm? You don't believe me?"
    The male Invalid blinked, a part dangerous, part amused light in its eyes. It seemed impossible to read its intentions, leaving Aina in a perpetually tense state. Her nerves stood on end, even the tiniest hairs on her arm standing erect.
    This reality quickly chipped away at Aina's mental fortitude. It made one worry if this was the true goal of the Invalid all along.
    "You humans have indeed always been like this. But then again, my people have their own issues. I try to tell them that they should control their impulses better, but they don't like to listen."
    The male Invalid sighed, continuing to run its knife across Aina's fingers.
    "They can't blame me for their own foolishness, right? I just turned them all into puppets so they could calm down a bit and bide their time properly. How are we ever going to show the humans who the true superior beings are if we can't do even that?"
    The male Invalid chuckled a bit.
    It looked up from Aina's hand only to find Aina looking toward it, her gaze carrying a fiery blaze. Maybe if looks could kill, the male Invalid would have been diced into countless pieces by now.
    "Interesting, interesting." The male Invalid chuckled more deeply. "Your mind is still clear after so long. Its rare for someone to last so long in my presence. Most minds would have collapsed by now. Let me guess, does it have something to do with that crown on your head?"
    The male Invalid reached a finger forward, trailing it across Aina's inflamed scars until he stopped at the gem that hung from her forehead.
    The feeling of having her scars poked and prodded at left Aina's body shaking even more fiercely than before, but her gaze remained defiant.
    At that moment, the sound of a knife meeting hard wood sounded.
    Blood flowed slowly, pooling across the table and dripping to the floor.
    "Ah, oops."
    The male Invalid clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
    He raised his knife back up, carefully cleaning the blood off its blade. After he was finished, he raised the bloodied cloth to his nose, inhaling a deep breath.
    Aina's fingers rolled from her hand freely, only to be stopped by the male Invalid's plate.
    Veins bulged out from Aina's neck, but her gaze gained a new level of intensity. If only she could move, if only she could just move.
    "бн This bloodбн"
    The male Invalid closed his eyes. When they opened once more, his gaze had earned a tinge of red. From his previously calm expression, it seemed as though he had lost all reason for a moment.
    "бн Youбн You're a Broodmotherбн"
    The male Invalid's face flushed with excitement. He displayed a level of emotion Aina had yet to see to this point.
    Its laughter rang through the underground space. It was so loud that the walls began to shake.
    "How unexpected! How truly unexpected! Never would I have thought that I would have such a day! For me to meet such a treasure, the Heavens are truly smiling down upon me! HAHAHA!"
    The male Invalid stood, knocking over its chair and almost shattering the table before it.
    A towering erection pressed outward against the male Invalids robes and pants. It seemed with each billowing laughter it released, it grew more, becoming almost like a second pulsing monster of its own.
    When the male Invalids laughter died down, it looked toward Aina with a fervent gaze, the tent in its pants pulsing with a grotesque air. In those moments, the scent the Invalid gave off only became more nauseating.
    "Just looking at you, you have no idea the kind of value you have. But, I expect humans to wallow in ignorance, so I don't mind explaining it to youбн"
    Though the Invalid began to speak, Aina's mind was roaring. She wanted to move, she needed to move. She wouldn't be caught here, she wouldn't allow this disgusting creature to do the things it wanted to do to her.
    She already well knew what a Broodmother was.
    It went by too many names. Birther, Eternal Mother, some even called them Vampires. However, there were two things all these titles had in common.
    The first was that they all guaranteed an impossibly high Blood Force affinity, affinity so high that most talents couldn't even match up to it. Maybe only monsters like Leonel who had Grade Nine Dream Force affinity while still in the Third Dimension could hope to be on the same level.
    And the second was thatбн
    They were among the very few existences that could allow Invalids to reproduce.

 Chapter 484 - Impossible

    Aina struggled with all her might.
    By now, she had a grasp of what the ability of this Invalid was. It was clearly a puppeteering ability and this ability was unfortunately especially effective against those with weak Soul Forces like her own.
    However, that didn't mean that she didn't have a chance. She had been struggling from the very beginning, there was simply no way that the stamina of this Variant Invalid was endless. There had to be a limit to how long it could hold control over her.
    Due to her experience in the Joan Zone, Aina had learned a lot of Joan's death. Even if there was just a single thing the experience taught her, it was that it took far more energy to control a person than it took to wrest control away.
    Aina knew that all she had to do was to keep struggling, to keep playing the part of helpless damsel, only then might the Invalid foolishly continue to chip away at its own stamina.
    "бн Do you understand now? Do you understand your worth? HAHAHA!
    "Don't worry, I will treat you well. How couldn't I? You will be the key to my Empire, the centerpiece to me truly ruling the universe and showing these humans who the true superior beings are!
    "These fools of Terrain seem to believe that they have won the battle against me when the reality is that I am just using them. I have patience that my fellow man do not have.
    "If I didn't have these humans as a cover, how would I continue to enjoy such delicacies everyday? Who knows if those Invalid hunters would have come to put my head on a pike by now?"
    The male Invalid's manic laughter continued to cause the Earth to tremble. It was clear at a glance that this Invalid was just a step away from the Fifth Dimension. As for why it hadn't crossed that threshold yetбн It simply couldn't.
    In a world with its potential capped like Terrain, it would simply take too long to reach the Fifth Dimension. Without the ability to travel to other worlds, the Invalid could only wait patiently and bide its time.
    But, so what if Terrain reached the Fifth Dimension eventually? How could the male Invalid's ambition end there?
    Unfortunately, there was nothing it could do. Unless it could find a method to secretly travel to another world without being detected, its path would end here.
    So, the male Invalid had kept its head lowered, displaying patience those of its kind simply didn't have. Of all the things it had spoken, this was by far the closest to the truth. It had indeed displayed exceptional foresight and forbearance.
    "HAHA! The name of the Puppet Master will ring throughout the Dimensional Verse.
    "At my mere mention, I will ensure that the women shed tears and the men shed blood. I will sunder the clouds with a single word and destroy the earth with a single step. All shall know of my legend!"
    By the end of its speech, the Puppet Master was practically roaring. Its voice seemed one part ambitious and another part rage fueled. It was as though all the pent up frustration of the last several centuries had come bubbling forth.
    After a long while, the Puppet Master slowly calmed its raging emotions, its gaze becoming a placid lake of steadiness.
    With a clap of its hands, the sound of shuffling feet could be heard from the distance.
    "This timing couldn't be more perfect. With all my other chess pieces aligning, this must be a providence of the Heavens. I will make my debut into the world soon.
    "But you are still too weak at the moment. If you were to bear my children now, they will be of no help to me. I will first raise your strength, only then will my children be birthed with the most optimal power."
    At that moment, the puppets brought in an oddly curved package. It was large in stature, so large, and likely so heavy, that six 'Invalids' had to carry it in at once.
    "I personally handcrafted this piece, you could call it my magnum opus." The male Invalid continued to speak as though it couldn't sense Aina's struggle.
    "I've been nurturing the resources of this mountain range for a long time. You could even say that the most precious herbs and ores of Terrain can be found here. But, since no one dares to come, it's all mind."
    The male Invalid chuckled as though he felt Aina should be impressed. His demeanor seemed to scream: 'What do you think, isn't your future husband wealthy? Be happy.'
    "But, even compared to those things, this is especially valuable."
    With another motion, the six Invalid puppets set the heavy curved package down and opened it up, revealing a cavity filled with pulsing red rubies.
    If Leonel had been here, his eyes would have immediately widened in shock. These red rubies, each an every one was as valuable as a Quasi Bronze Ore!
    It was known as Force Nurturing Ore. It was an Evolution type Ore, though less potent than the true Evolution Ore.
    Its ability wasn't as exaggerated as raising the grade of an Ore by a single step. Not only were its effects lesser, it took a long period of time иC months to years иC for its true worth to come into effect.
    Usually, Force Nurturing Ore was only useful on already completed products while Evolution Ore could be used on raw materials. This was maybe the most important fundamental difference.
    There was, of course, another benefit to Force Nurturing Ore as well. Not only could it increase the quality of treasures, but it was useful on living beings as well! It had similar recovery benefits to Leonel's Cleansing Waters albeit lesser healing effects. At the same time, it could quicken the cultivation of humans and even help herbs to grow faster!
    Maybe the most shocking part was that the red glow of these tunnelsбн It was entirely reliant on the source of Force Nurturing Ore! Just how much of it did this Variant Invalid have?!
    "I will allow you to sleep in here for a few decades." The Puppet Master said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "By the time you come out, the foundations of my empire will be set and my new strength will have stabilized. By then, the world will be ours!"
    The Puppet Master stepped forward, caressing Aina's scars. Somewhat ironically, just like Leonel, Aina's appearance meant little to him. But, their reasons vastly differed.
    A surge of helplessness took hold of Aina's soul. She struggled so hard, yet she couldn't even interrupt this Puppet Master's psychotic personal soliloquy. Was she really going to die here?
    Her severed fingers continued to drip blood, coating her hands with a warmth.
    'I can't die hereбн I can't die here!'
    A deep unwillingness surged through Aina's body.
    Her will suddenly pressed again the barrier to the Third Tier of the Fourth Dimension. If she could just breakthrough, it would be that much more difficult for this Puppet Master to control her.
    A light of hope gripped at Aina's heart. She pushed with all her might, even to the point blood vessels popped in her eyes, causing blood to trickle down her cheeks.
    A low shout escaped her lips as she rammed against the barrier.
    The male Invalid's eyes widened slightly. Under its control, Aina shouldn't have been able to make a single sound.
    But at that moment, just when Aina was about to succeed, the burning marks on her face suddenly lit afire.
    All the momentum she had vanished, completely destroyed.

 Chapter 485 - Blood

    Aina felt as though all the wind had been knocked out of her. The faint light of hope she thought she could grasp on to suddenly went up in smoke, disappearing like a fleeting fragrance in the wind.
    After a moment, the male Invalid finally recovered from his shock.
    That last struggle of Aina's, especially the shout, had actually put a dent in its stamina. Though it wasn't as exaggerated as him being on his last legs, at least a third of his reserves had been sapped up.
    In truth, Aina's breakthrough wouldn't have made a difference. It was the final act of defiance that truly impacted him.
    But, it seemed that this final push had truly taken whatever she had left out.
    When the Puppet Master recovered, its gaze narrowed, a slight hint of ferocity hidden within their depths.
    "It seems that you don't understand how to be grateful, what a shame."
    The male Invalid reached up from Aina's cheek, ripping the crown from her head.
    "Oh?"
    At that moment, the control the male Invalid had on Aina increased by more than tenfold. Whereas Aina could at least struggle and resist before, right now, she couldn't even breathe without the Invalid's permission.
    "So that's how it is. Clever, clever. You diverted some of your mental strength into hiding the grade of this treasure from me so that you could struggle in secret. I thought that your mental strength was nothing compared to me to begin with, but to think it was even worse than I originally believed."
    The Invalid examined the headpiece closer. After a moment, it began to laugh again.
    "A Quasi Bronze Treasure? An one that boosts mental strength as well? You are truly my guardian angel!"
    The Invalid's laughter seemed even more uproarious than before. But, it only made sense. Such a treasure to a mental strength expert like him would be like giving wings to a tiger.
    It already allowed someone with such poor Soul Force like Aina to struggle against a near Fifth Dimensional entity like it. What kind of amplification effects would it have on him?
    Without hesitation, the Invalid slipped the headpiece onto its head. Though it was somewhat feminine, it was already clear that appearances were something it could care less about.
    Whereas the benefits of using Aina like a sow would take decades, even centuries to begin to bear fruit, the benefit of a Quasi Bronze treasure would give its coming plans an almost 100% chance of succeeding.
    If the Invalid was certain that the Heavens were smiling down on it before, it was convinced without a shadow of a doubt now.
    "AH! YES! YES! YES!"
    The Invalid felt as though the whole world had opened up to it. The restrictions on Aina became even sturdier. It was to the point it could even manipulate Aina's senses to make her see what it wanted her to see.
    The male Invalid looked down at Aina. By now, its erection had calmed. It looked toward the girl before it like a prime steak on a cutting board.
    "It's a shame that you aren't obedient. But this is fine, I will teach you obedience."
    The Invalid picked up the knife on the table and spun it in the air, allowing to fall as it pleased.
    The sound of a blade embedding itself into wood sounded again. But this time, it had severed the fingers from Aina's other hand.
    Aina couldn't even flinch. Pain wracked her body, threatening to throw her into the pits of hell. It felt as though everything revolved around the torture she was experiencing.
    The Invalid forced Aina's head to turn toward it as it picked up one of her fingers, sniffing at the dripping blood as an intoxicated look surfaced across its face.
    Its tongue swept across the crimson liquid falling from its hand.
    "Oh my!"
    The rested erection of the Invalid came back, soaring to towering heights even past where it had been before.
    "Magnificent! Wonderful! Unbelievable!"
    The Invalid could no longer hold itself back. Its teeth shone beneath the crimson lights as it bit down.
    The sound of crunching bones shook Aina to her soul. She sat there and watched as her finger was eaten before her.
    The fear, the helplessness, the despairбн It swarmed around her like inner devils looking to devour all sense of pride and hope she had left.
    'I can't die here! I can't die!'
    Aina continued to roar these words in her mind, the tears of blood continuously streaming down her face. But, it simply didn't seem to matter what she thought at all.
    "How could there be such a delicacy in this world! Magnifique!"
    Aina sat immobile, the haunting thoughts eating at her mind.
    Would she really die here? But what about her mother? What about her revenge? What about the Brazinger family?
    A bitterness took root in her chest.
    The flash of a young man's smile suddenly occupied her mind. Though it was less charming than that of the Invalid's, to Aina, it was several times better. She didn't know how much effort the young man put into that smile, but just by gazing upon it, it felt as though she could see through all its sincerity, all its meaning.
    Other than the smile, though, she couldn't quite see the rest of the young man's face. Her mind was tired, her heart was tiredбн
    'I can't die hereбн'
    "Hm?"
    At that moment, the male Invalid suddenly frowned. Before he realized what was happening, he had already swallowed four of Aina's fingers, each tasting better than the last.
    "There's Fifth Dimensional blood within your veins?" The male Invalid shook his head. "How impressive. It will be a bit troublesome to get rid of it, but with my strength, it won't be a problem. In fact, it will only strengthen my body in the endбн"
    Compared to Aina, the Puppet Master was much closer to the Fifth Dimension. It of course wouldn't be a problem for him to deal with such a faint trace of the Abyssal Panther blood. After all, Aina had already absorbed most of it.
    But, in that instant, the male Invalid suddenly grabbed his stomach and coughed.
    "Hm?"
    A cough? He had no reason to be coughing.
    A heat suddenly spread throughout the Invalids body. The more seconds ticked by, the hotter its body seemed to become.
    The Invalid's eyes suddenly widened, its vision blurring.
    "A curse?!"
    Shackles lashed out at the Invalid, spreading through its body like a virus. At that moment, Aina finally felt the restrictions on her loosenбн
    ~A year later~
    Aina slowly rose up from her position, her hand reaching out toward the curved package by her side.
    It trembled and opened, revealing the form of a massive golden-red ax, pulsing with a blinding red light.
    "бн Blood."
    Her soft voice traveled to the ears of everyone on the battlefield once againбн

 Chapter 486 - Go Away.

    A maleficent aura enveloped the battlefield. It felt as though a crimson tide was washing over them all, but instead of carrying the characteristic warmth and thickness of blood, it was instead cold and lifeless, seeping into their pores and causing their hearts to quake.
    Aina slowly walked from the military tent, its flaps making way for her. Somehow, despite her petite body, she became the center of the entire battlefield. Even City Lord White who was in the midst of sending a final death blow toward Lancelot paused, an eerie look in her eye locking onto Aina as well.
    Aina's footsteps halted. The scars that danced across her face seemed to come to life, raging about like living, breathing flood dragons. The grew a size, radiating out with a heat that made the temperature of the battlefield skyrocket.
    The momentum she had walked out with seemed to dim somewhat. Though the hold she held over the battlefield didn't vanish, it snapped City Lord White out of her stupor. And, very quickly, what once was her absentmindedness became her shock.
    How could such a thing happen to her? How did she lose control of her thoughts for a moment? Whyбн Why did she feel fear just now?
    Aina's delicate brows furrowed, her gaze still somewhat vacant.
    "Goбн awayбн"
    The scars on Aina's face grew more fervent, as though insulted by Aina's words. They bulged out another fold in size. By now, it was almost impossible to see what should have been a young girl's face. The swelling became so bad that healthy skin became impossible to spot.
    "I saidбн Go away!"
    Aina's delicate voice boomed across the battlefield, carrying such compulsion that many of the warriors on it turned tailed and ran.
    Noбн They weren't runningбн They wereбн Following Aina's orders!
    At that very instant, a mental strength that superseded worlds covered the battlefield. It was simply impossible to grasp that someone with such weak talent in this area could possibly display such might.
    However, any thoughts one would have spared to this instantly vanished with the next sight.
    The scars on Aina's face struggled and rose, finally showing their true appearance. They squirmed like grotesque leaches, wielding their circular mouths and several rows of teeth as though trying to devour Aina right then and there.
    But, it was in that moment that Aina's overwhelming mental strength shook them to their core. As though feeling a fear they never had before, they retreated, disappearing into Aina's face like they had never been there.
    However, it was the sight that was left behind that silenced the battlefield.
    Beautiful. Too beautiful. Beautiful to the point it seemed impossible to have such a being in the possession of a human. It must have been a Faerie, a Fey, a Goddessбн
    The moment the vile leeches vanished, a restriction placed on Aina's body seemed to disappear as well.
    She grew half a foot in height, quickly soaring past six feet and rivaling even Mordred. Her legs became long and slender as her figure filled out completely. The curves that had once been so well hidden by her black military uniform couldn't seem to hide any longer as her clothing grew.
    Aina's hair lengthened. From the small of her back, it almost fell to the ground, shimmering with a healthy luster. Her amber eyes became warmer, exuding a soft golden color that compelled one to stare indefinitely yet somehow make them want to look away just as much.
    Even with all of these changes, the largest of them couldn't be denied.
    Without her scars, Aina's visage had become more precious than the most delicate of carvings. Her supple skin, the gentle slopes of her jaw and nose, the elegant arches of her brow. Her every action, no matter how mundane, no matter how indifferent, exuded a charm that only creatures of myths and legend could match.
    Aina's delicate brow furrowed. At that moment, her frustration seemed to become everyone's frustration. All those who laid eyes on her wanted to know what was bothering her, she just had to say the word and they would fight to the ends of the earth to get rid of it.
    Aina's chest moved and seemed to flex slightly. The sound of tearing fabric sounded, making the hearts of all those watching lose track of their breaths for a moment. But, oddly enough, there was no change to Aina's military uniform in the slightest. Wellбн No change except for her figure seemingly becoming a size fuller.
    She reached her slender fingers into her collar and pulled out a long white cloth that had once bound her chest, throwing it onto the ground.
    Aina, seemingly finally feeling comfortable, swung out casually with her ax.
    An invisible, piercing wind shot across the ground, elevating a piece of earth and blasting it apart.
    Aina looked up, her gaze locking onto City Lord White. This was the she devil that had brought her out here, she had the blood she wanted so badly.
    Aina finally began to walk forward. Her every step seemed soft, but webs of cracked land followed her gait. Each time she raised a foot, she crossed tens of meters in a blink.
    Yet, her every action was so enticing, so hypnotic, that City Lord White didn't even sense danger until Aina was already just ten meters away. To experts on their level, this might as well have been a single arm's length.
    Aina raised her ax.
    At that moment, it felt as though the whole world had raised it along with her. The winds followed her will, the clouds split just so that the stars could watch her, the energies of the universe stilled and calmedбн
    City Lord White only seemed to awaken again when that dense killing intent locked onto her. The instincts she had trained for decades shocked her still heart into action.
    Her face flushed, shock and fear written all over it. This sort of suppression was something she had never faced before in her life. She couldn't comprehend just what was happening.
    But, she already had no more time to think about it as Aina's blade began to descend.

 Chapter 487 - Crafter

    Farialice watched as her warriors fell one after another, a hint of shock coloring her gaze.
    The warriors of White City had long since been indifferent to high casualties. The truth was that one of the strategies Terrain had prepared before launching this attack was precisely this.
    It had to be remembered that Earth had lost more than 99% of its population. As a result, even if Earth had a higher concentration of talents, what could they do if Terrain sent wave after wave of warriors after them?
    This was precisely why City Lord White didn't care about using the death of her men to stall. Compared to Earth's remaining population of barely a few million, Terrain's City Lord's had access to population in the billions and fighters numbering in the tens of millions.
    Though only a fraction of these were elites, it hardly mattered if Terrain could just throw such numbers out continuously to wear Earth down.
    However, the group Farialice was heading was far different. These men with her were the true elites of White City. Not only did they have ten White Knights with them, but a large number of the soldiers beneath them were just a step away from this title. In fact, there were many candidates to replace White Knight Diore among them.
    Unfortunately, no matter how elite they wereбн How could they make do without their Force?
    Farialice was completely caught off guard. According to her information, Force Disruption Towers should have loss their effect after Earth entered the Fourth Dimension. So, what was going on?
    'No, that's not right. Even the most elite of Force Disruption Towers should only have an effective range of a few hundred meters. But, I don't sense any Towers in the vicinity.'
    At that moment, Crakos raised his saber and attacked Farialice once more.
    The White Knight could only grit her teeth and parry, her feet sliding several meters before coming to a grinding halt.
    'Thisбн It really is the weapon.'
    Farialice was at a loss. When had Earth gained such technology? It can't be that Earth already researched the Fourth Dimension?
    But that didn't make any sense. Crossing the Dimensional barrier should have been the equivalent of Earth getting sent back to the stone ages. It took thousands of years for Earth to reach the technological advancements they had within the Third Dimension despite their talent. It should take the same amount of effort to reach such a height in the Fourth Dimension!
    This was why most worlds, even when they had comprehended the sciences to a high degree, would choose to abandon it entirely after undergoing their first Metamorphosis.
    If a world took several thousand years to stabilize themselves every time they evolved to a new Dimension, how could it possibly protect itself?
    As a result, these worlds had no choice but to rely on the well established disciplines of the Dimensional Verse. Only these well tested and well known professions that had withstood the test of time could be trusted.
    'Unlessбн?'
    Farialice trembled. Could it be that Earth had a Force Crafter?!
    The possibility shook Farialice to her core. In fact, she found it even harder to believe than Earth managing to adapt their technology to the Fourth Dimension.
    It had to be known that Terrainбн had not a single Force Crafter.
    Of course, things weren't so exaggerated. There were plenty of petty 'Force Crafter' apprentices who thought to flaunt themselves on weak worlds like theirs. However, even the best of these could only Craft Tier 3 Black treasures at best.
    This shouldn't be looked down upon, though. Unfortunately, due to such constraints, most of their warriors were outfitted with such weapons.
    But, to put things into perspective, wielding a Tier 3 Black treasure at their current strength was like a soldier of Earth's 21st century choosing a butter knife as his preferred weapon.
    Force Crafters, as in ones that could actually sway a war of this level, were existences even City Lord White would have to be respectful to. Such existences wouldn't be caught dead on a world like Terrain and wouldn't have a reason to come to Earth just yet because such a fledgling world, despite its talentбн simply couldn't afford to compensate them!
    Someone like Leonel who didn't quite understand the full scope of the Dimensional Verse would still be in the dark about these matters, but Farialice who had seen much of the world most definitely wouldn't have been.
    Those who had talents to become Force Crafters were one in a billion, and that was only if one took the aggregate of all worlds, both talented and untalented. If one were to look at a world like Terrain, despite their population of tens of billions, it would be impossible to find even one such talent.
    The threshold one needed to reach in Internal Sight was too high. One only needed a smidgen of Internal Sight talent to cultivate Force. But, in order to become a Crafter, one would need to, at the very least, be capable of forming One Star of Leonel's Three Star Constitution!
    As though this wasn't enough to prove the rarity, just having the talent wasn't even the minimum threshold one needed to meet.
    Why would a Force Crafter easily divulge the secrets of his or her Crafts? Why would they disseminate their techniques and the product of their years of research without a price?
    One with talent might have the capability to become a Crafter, but whether one would truly be able to succeed would be dependent on whether you had the connections to learn what it is one would need to!
    The more Farialice thought about it, the stronger her clashes with Crakos became, the more blood leaked from her lips, the more confused she seemed to become.
    It was impossible. It shouldn't be possible. How could Earth have such a thing?
    They must have traded for these weapons with their Zone rewards. Yes, that must be it. That had to be it.
    Though Farialice thought this far, she knew her attempts at calming her heart were just foolish.
    How could Camelot, who just became a part of Earth, have had time to clear enough Zones to gather so many weaponsбн?
    A sharp pain shot through Farialice's chest. She looked down, stunned before looking up toward Crakos with a defiant glare.
    Unfortunately, unlike the rest of her counterparts, the fa?ade of White City cracked just a margin with her.. Behind that gaze, the roots of despair had already sunk their claws in.

 Chapter 488 - Sovereign

    Leonel watched all of this coldly from the distance. Even until their deaths, those White Knights would have no idea that they had dug their own graves.
    The weapons Leonel had outfitted the demons with were very special. Each of them had a Beast Crystal at the core of the center of their design.
    When Leonel came across the Predator Ravens, he knew that he had gained a massive chance to turn the tide of this war.
    The Force Disruption abilities of the Predator Ravens was actually quite weak. As a result, they could only interrupt Force based techniques that relied heavily on order and organization. And, even then, if they ran into someone like Leonel whose Internal Sight was exceptionally strong, it would be an issue to interrupt him at all unless they had a large number's advantage.
    This only made sense. Terrain was a world of weak talent, so how could the beasts that called it home be too powerful? They were very limited in the impact they could have and this was only right.
    However, this was where Leonel could step in.
    Using the Force Disruption of the Predator Ravens as the base, he amplified it to the greatest degree he could.
    The ability of the Predator Ravens was ultimately a Soul Type ability. Using this knowledge, Leonel combined it with a familiar Ore, the Tier 8 Black Grade Ore, Howling Tiger.
    Leonel had come across this Ore during his time in the hive. In fact, he had even thought of making it a part of his Divine Armor at one point. At least, that was until he ran into a stronger Domain Type Ore.
    Howling Tiger was a Domain Soul Type Ore. It could assault one's mind wild fluctuation of Soul Force that manifested like a roaring tiger.
    This was an exceptionally valuable Ore, as made obvious by its Tier 8 status. But, Leonel didn't need the effects to be so powerful. In addition, even if Leonel wanted the maximum effect, he would need enough Ore to infuse the full Essence into every weapon.
    If one did the calculations for just how much such a thing would cost, even the greatest tycoons of Fourth Dimensional worlds would begin to feel the squeeze.
    Instead of doing this, Leonel just needed to incorporate a small sliver of Howling Tiger Ore into each weapon, thus using its howling effect to amplify the Force Disruption ability of the weapons the demons wielded.
    When these weapons were used, a warrior would essentially have a small domain of about two meters around themselves where Force within the standard of the Fourth Dimension became absolutely useless!
    That said, there was one glaring weakness of these treasuresбн.
    While it impacted one's opponents, it was unfortunately subject to friendly fire. Not only would this treasure stop comrades from using Force, even the wielder of the weapon itself would be unable to use Force in the slightest.
    Other than pouring in Force directly from one's body and into the weapon to sustain the domain, it was impossible to do anything else Force related.
    Due to such a striking weakness, this weapon would never be used by most people. The trade off simply wouldn't be worth it for many warriors. Force was the foundation of too many abilities, without it, it would be like tying one's hands behind one's back.
    But the demons were different. They were especially known for their physiques. Compared to humans, they were several times more powerful in this aspect. In addition, while the warriors of Terrain had become used to battling with their abilities and Force, the demons of Camelot had long since been used to battling without such advantages.
    On top of this, demons were larger and heavier. Without Force, it was difficult to even begin to take them down.
    In the end, such weapons were absolutely perfect for a demon army! Leonel's actions were practically like giving wings to a tiger.
    At that moment, Leonel turned his attention to the platform flying over the mountain range. They were likely still unaware that their people were being massacred. But, Leonel had no intention of sparing them in the slightest.
    Leonel waved a hand, causing a line of crossbows to appear.
    'Chain Domain.'
    One might wonder how a world without Force Crafters like Terrain could build siege weapons as powerful as these crossbows. But, the answer was simple:
    Over engineering.
    Over engineering was a concept in the field of engineers to point out excess. Sometimes it was done on purpose in order to ensure a structure would never fail. But, at other times, this excess often became the representation of a waste of resources.
    In the second case, over engineering was usually the folly of those without experience or understandingбн it would be like building a bridge of diamond just because diamond was a very strong stone rather than the much less expensive steel. Only a fool would do such a thing.
    In order to make up for their lack of skill, Terrain overcompensated with the materials they used.
    The pulley structure of the crossbows were built with unrefined Tier 7 Ores and pulled with the tendons of Tier 7 and 8 beasts. In the end, the crossbows were incredibly inconvenient to use. Not only was it almost impossible to aim, but just loading it took the strength of a warrior that would be much better served on the battlefield.
    And, as much of a waste as the crossbows themselves wereбн the bolts they used were an even sadder case. Leonel didn't even want to think about it.
    However, now that these crossbows were in Leonel's possessionбн How could they possibly still have the same weaknesses?
    The eyes of the scout on the back of the floating platform widened, partly in shock and partly in confusion. He recognized the crossbows well, it was simply impossible for anyone without the strength of a Tier 5 warrior to load them. And, even such an existence would have to use all their strength and several minutes.
    Just what could this young man do with 500 crossbows lined up like that?
    Still, the scout didn't take any chances.
    "Raise the defenses!"
    Strong fluctuations of Force surged. Soon, the floating platform, carried by numerous flying beasts, was covered in a thick, illusory shield.
    Leonel watched this scene emotionlessly, his Chain Domain slowly winding the pulleys of the crossbows and slightly shifting their aims one after another.
    With one Predator Raven Beast Crystal, Leonel was able to make ten weapons. However, there were only 2000 or so demons fighting below. So, what did he do with the rest?
    Leonel's cold gaze remained locked onto the platform. His black robes whipped about in the harsh winds. So high up, the air was not only cold, but it was violent and sharp.
    The atmosphere seemed quite appropriate.
    With a thought, Leonel fired all 500 crossbows at once. In those moments, it felt as though the sky might collapse at any moment.
    **
    "бн Bloodбн. Sovereignбн"
    City Lord White struggled to breathe. But, with Aina's slender hands clasping her throat, her brain hardly got any flow of blood, let alone her lungs being satiated by oxygen.
    Aina's indifferent gaze looked into City Lord White's demonic eyes. And then, the sound of breaking bones resounded.
    City Lord White's defiant gaze remained locked onto Aina, but any light it once held had long since faded.
    Aina inhaled.
    Under the astonished gazes of the silent battlefield, a torrent of blood manifested from the dead City Lord White, entering her mouth.
    --
    [Author's Note below 12/23/21]

 Chapter 489 - Foul Blood

    Aina stood amid a pile of corpses, her slender neck tilted. The slight hints of crimson that dripped from her smooth lips shook the soul, her every action mesmerizing to the extreme.
    It was hard for those who witnessed everything from start to finish to reconcile with what had just happened. In one moment, they had been deep within a pit of their own despair. But in the next, the enemies that had had control over their lives were suddenly all dead.
    When Aina began to battle City Lord White, it became very obvious very quickly that the latter was completely unable to display her true power. Without a choice, the five White Knights of course forced their way toward their battle, only for them to become lambs to the slaughter.
    Whatever hopes White City had to win this war were dashed. As the life drained from their City Lord, they all became aware that there was no longer a path for them to survive.
    Aina's body pulsed with an unimaginable amount of power. Her skin flushed with a healthy red hue, a light sigh of satisfaction escaping her lips.
    Just the sound alone made those who heard it feel their bones go soft. The way it delicately vibrated their ears made them feel as though all their inhibitions were being knocked down one after another. If she told them to jump to their death at this very moment, not a single one of them would hesitate.
    In the skies, Mordred watched this with a slight frown, doing her best to keep control of her mind. Even she had to admit that she had never been so attracted by a woman before. It was taking all of her will not to bow down and kiss at Aina's feet.
    'Is this the monster? Why is it so different from last timeбн?'
    Mordred, unlike the others, knew that there would be times where Aina lost her rational mind. It wasn't that she became a different person, it was the very same Aina. It was just that in this state, she no longer filtered her actions. She did as she pleased, when she pleased.
    Leonel had met this version of Aina just once before during their entry into the Joan Zone. Back then, Aina dove into a sea of Englishmen without regard for anything. It seemed that her stamina had become endless and her power had increased explosively.
    However, Leonel could see the truth. He saw that she was bordering on fatigue and that her body might collapse at any time.
    Though Leonel had been curious about what had happened back then, he assumed it had been related to Aina's Lineage Factor. After all, back then, he had sensed that there was something special about Aina's blood as well.
    As a person who knew little of the Dimensional Verse, Leonel just assumed that whatever oddities Aina hid in her blood had to be related to her Lineage Factor. And, since a Lineage Factor originated from one's family and considering the fact Leonel knew how much Aina hated her own, he never pressed her for more information.
    However, maybeбн. Those things hadn't been so simple as they seemed.
    Mordred wasn't sure why this time was so different from the last. It could be because of City Lord White's appearance or it could be because Aina had evolved.
    But, regardless of what the reason was, Mordred was certain of two things.
    The first was that Aina in such a state was absurdly powerful. Though City Lord White seemed to have been suppressed by her presence, she was still a Tier 7 existence. Not only that, but due to her ability being related to blood, her refinement level was far beyond a normal existence at this level.
    Yet, Aina had treated her like a toy.
    Unfortunately, that still left the second thing Mordred was certain ofбн
    The sound of a heartbeat resounded through the battlefield.
    Aina, who had been standing in an alluring posture in one moment, suddenly regained clarity. Her eyes, which had been an emotionless, abyssal pit, flashed with hints of pain. A heavy air of darkness swirl around her.
    Before anyone could react, Aina's face burst into a river of foul black blood. The cursed leaches which had not long ago disappeared into her came back in full force and even several times more powerful than before.
    Aina began to suffer a suppression worse than even what City Lord White had faced.
    The veins all across her body blackened one after another, her face swelling to the point it became unrecognizable.
    Her body shrank back to its original size. But, this time, whereas the scars had only been across her face before, they descended to her neck, crawling toward her heart.
    Aina convulsed, her eyes rolling back as she collapsed to the ground.
    She coughed, more foul black blood leaking from her lips.
    "Aina!"
    Mordred's eyes widened. She dove down from the skies, flashes of worry crossing her visage.
    Even she couldn't put into words why she was so protective of this little girl. But, what she did know was that she couldn't stand seeing anything happen to her.
    However, in that instant, Mordred wasn't the only one who moved.
    Noah and Jessica had been on the frontlines since the very beginning. Though they didn't manage to have as large of an impact as they would have liked, no one could accuse them of not trying. But, this wasn't a matter that took any sort of precedence at this moment.
    Before, Noah was willing to let Aina go for the moment because her strength wasn't something he had to worry about. Unfortunately, it was clear that the situation had changed now.
    Aina was so powerful that he knew well that if she entered such a state again, he wouldn't stand a chance. In fact, he felt that beneath her presence, he couldn't even bear to lift a finger in an attempt to harm her. Such a feeling left him stifled as a Prince.
    If she was really a member of the Brazinger family, she had to be detained. As for what his grandfather would decide to do after this, it would no longer have anything to do with him.
    Without hesitation, Noah shot forward.. As though by tacit agreement, Jessica didn't lag behind a single step.

 Chapter 490 - Triangle

    "Youбн!"
    Mordred's brows shot up. Though she couldn't say that she was surprised by such a change, she was still somewhat caught off guard. Her entire mind had been focused on Aina's condition, so she wasn't particularly worried about what others were thinking at this moment.
    King Arthur frowned.
    "Hang in there." He spoke to Lancelot quickly. He had been by the Knight's side, but it seemed that he wouldn't be able to remain there.
    Unlike Leonel, it took King Arthur several moments to cast a Three Star Mage Art. Not only could he not spare the time, but with the condition of his body at the moment, he couldn't spare the stamina to heal Lancelot either.
    Just the action of moving forward made Arthur feel as though his bones might collapse at any time. In order to protect his men and his wife, he had become the main frontline fighter against City Lord White, and it seemed that it was coming back to bite him now.
    Noah's expression remained indifferent, his planted leg suddenly growing explosively in size.
    BANG!
    His body was like a bolt, crossing the remaining distance in a flash. By the time he landed, his leg had already returned to its original length and he was beside Aina.
    He reached out a hand, allowing it to grow to the point it could capture Aina completely.
    At that moment, being so close, he could smell the foul air coming from her. It was as though he had stepped into sewage. The change was simply too different from what she had been just moments ago.
    Aina couldn't even react to what was happening around her. Violent coughing fits shook her body, a mixture of blood and foul liquids shooting out with every heave. It was difficult to tell if it was just a terrible cough or if she was vomiting.
    Just as Noah's enlarged hand was about to wrap around Aina, he smelled the scent of danger. But, Jessica was to his side.
    With a simple command, the demonic beasts under Jessica's control shot forward, intercepting Mordred's rain of dark arrows from above.
    Without suspense, each one was pierced through and died in mere moments. But, Jessica didn't even flinch. She had taken control of all of these demonic beasts in the first place so that she could use them as canon fodder when she needed to.
    Howeverбн that didn't mean that all she had was canon fodder.
    Jessica gripped at a set of polished marbles hanging from her hip. At the instant Mordred was slowed, she flicked one of these marbles forward.
    In one moment, it seemed like nothing more than a child's toy. But, in the next, it grew explosively in size, becoming a massive four-armed white ape.
    The ape's roar shook the skies as it soared toward Mordred, intercepting her descent with four hammer fists.
    Jessica didn't want to use her personal beasts until now because she had invested too much into them. Not a single one had an ability worse than the S-grade at birth and not a single one hadn't been nurtured with all the finest nutrition and environments.
    However, they were ultimately still infants. It wasn't that they were too weak to participate. In fact, they were the strongest trump cards Jessica had. It was just not worth it in the grand scheme.
    But now, facing an opponent she was sure wouldn't be a threat to the life of her precious babies, she no longer hesitated.
    Mordred's eyes widened. This was something she had simply never seen before.
    But, as a veteran of battle, her reaction speed was still frighteningly quick.? Dozens of dark shields appeared before her with a single wave of her palm.
    This ape had no ability to maneuver in the air. Simply delaying it for a moment already gave her ample time to press off another shadowy platform and change direction, shooting past the ape.
    But, by the time she had, Noah's enlarged hand had already begun to wrap around Aina's body.
    King Arthur entered the battlefield, his gaze flashing with determination.
    Aina was the reason Camelot could continue to stand now. He had no intention of allowing her to be taken away just like this.
    At that moment, streaks of sharp blue tore through the skies. A familiar barrage of ice javelins aimed for Noah's wrists, causing him to frown.
    His hand quickly shrunk back to its original size, dodging out of the way of the Javelin's.
    By this point, Nile and the others had reacted as well. Knowing that their Prince and Jessica would be hounded from all sides, they shot forward as well, blocking off the remaining Knights of the Round Table.
    Nile brandished a spear of almost two and a half meters long, leading the vanguard against Queen Guinevere. He knew well that he didn't have the strength to match up against her alone, but this was precisely why he had brought support.
    Noah reacted quickly to the change, reaching for Aina once again. But, by this point, King Arthur had already closed the remaining distance, brandishing Excalibur against the Prince.
    Noah swung out his massive saber, looking to block Arthur while continuing to reach for Aina's convulsing body.
    Mordred swung out her wand. A rain of arrows fell once again, pincering Noah from his opposite side.
    Noah's gaze narrowed. He planned to allow Jessica to protect his back, but at that moment, Arthur's sword met his saber.
    A deep, reverberating clash of blades shook the battlefield as Noah was forced to retreat several steps.
    Noah stumbled out of range of Aina, only to be assaulted by a rain of arrows to his back.
    Jessica reacted quickly, her whip lashing out several times in quick succession.
    In the blink of an eye, the battlefield split into three. The Knights and Guinevere against a team led by Nile. Noah against Arthur. And finally, Jessica faced Mordred.
    They stood in a triangle around Aina's convulsing body, the pressure growing palpably.

 Chapter 491 - Wide

    Jessica's four-armed ape fell heavily to the ground, causing the battlefield to quake.
    As though it was a cue, the stalemate broke. A barrage of attacks descended from all sides. If one was looking from afar, it would be hard to imagine that such a commotion was being caused for the sake of one young girl who had long since lost the ability to move.
    Aina's situation only seemed to grow worse by the moment. Whereas before the foul black blood only shot from her mouth when she coughed, now, even when she was only gasping for breath, it blocked her air ways, causing her to subconsciously grasp at her throat even in her unconscious state.
    The grotesque scars traveled down her neck, swallowing it in swelling that made one's heart churn. It felt like the curse was venting its hatred for having been humiliated, lashing out with a fervor it never had before.
    Aina's current mind was in turmoil. All she could feel was pain.
    Her every heartbeat felt as though the walls of her chest were pressing against a cage. It took so much effort just to circulate her blood once around her body, and with every passing moment, it only seemed to become more difficult.
    As though this wasn't bad enough, the blood she was circulating seemed contaminated. It ate away at her flesh, devouring her bones, and dug into her soul. It seemed that it wouldn't be satisfied until it took away everything she had left.
    Aina was completely unaware of her surroundings, completely unaware that so many were fighting for and against her sake, all she knew was pain and darkness. It was the kind of pain that made one rather end it all than suffer for another secondбн
    Noah and King Arthur clashed once again, their blades bending and whining beneath their strength.
    Despite Noah's increased size, Arthur didn't back down for even a moment.
    It had been too long since the King had met an opponent he could go all out against. He had reached the limits of Camelot a long time ago, so long ago, in fact, that many had already forgotten that he was a genius of battle.
    The long he fought against Noah, the faster and swifter he seemed to become.
    However, Noah responded in kind. Every improvement Arthur made, Noah seemed to match, whether it be in talent or him having held back from the very beginning.
    The truth was that Noah knew that Arthur was the key to taking Camelot under their wing with ease. If he died, then everything would become far more difficult. It would be much easier if they could subdue this King without killing him, that would be for the best.
    But, at the same time, compared to the threat Aina poised, Camelot was worth far less. At leastбн That was what Noah thought until he began to fight Arthur in earnest.
    'It looks likeбн I have to get serious.' Noah thought.
    In that moment, Noah's body shrunk down explosively, dodging out of the way of Arthur's last strike.
    The density of Noah's skin and bone shot up. It began to reflect like diamond beneath the high sun rays.
    With a hard step forward, Noah's steps shook the earth with more force than even Jessica's ape.
    Arthur's eyes sharpened. With his experience in battle, he didn't need to guess to know that he couldn't take this strike head on. It was simply too heavy. It wouldn't be a surprise if he ended up just as injured as Lancelot if he tried to.
    'They held back all this timeбн'
    Arthur was pissed, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he was being real with himself, he too held back. How could he not? How could they possibly fight wholeheartedly by the side of an army they thought was another potential enemy?
    The issue was that it was clear that Noah and Jessica had held back far more than Arthur and his men had.
    Jessica flicked out several more marbles in Mordred's direction, each morphing into a large predator beast.
    A large King of Serpents, a snow-white falcon, a silver lion, and finally a butterfly with a wingspan of over a meter.
    The pressure that was suddenly applied to both Arthur and his daughter multiplied several times over. At the same time, the number of enemies Guinevere needed to face rose. There was simply no one of Camelot outside a few Knights and Mages that were worthy of fighting in a battle of this quality.
    Though Earth had poor foundations, Camelot had even weaker foundations. It had to be remembered that they were born of tales passed down by humans of Earth. In those tales, the main focus were just a few characters. As a result, the majority of Camelot's strength was likewise concentrated into these characters.
    Now, Camelot was beginning to break free of the constraints of those stories. But, that left them in a state similar to when Earth's Metamorphosis first descended. In fact, even to now, Arthur didn't dare to use his ability in battle because he didn't quite trust it.
    After decades of battle and honing his skill, how could Arthur suddenly change his battle tactics and instincts on a dime? In fact, the same went for the other Knights and Mages as well.
    This mental handicap left them subconsciously hampering themselves.
    The worst part was that even if they got over this mental roadblock, how could they possibly face an army of a thousand talents who had been honing their battle techniques for over a year now?
    Mordred's jaw clenched, her wrist flicking as she sent out spell after spell. She felt as though the stamina she needed to cast Mage Arts had dropped by more than tenfold. In fact, the time she needed also fell drastically.
    With such improvement, she didn't believe that she couldn't protect Aina. She didn't believe that she wouldn't be able to stop these people that stood before her.
    Her power had always been something that caused her to be ostracized. But today, she would allow it to display its true might!
    Unfortunately, as much as Mordred wanted to believe this, in her heart of hearts, her soul of soulsбн The gap was simply too wide.

 Chapter 492 - Bare

    Noah's blade became heavy and light at his command. The variations in his attacks reached a new level.
    To swing a two handed blade like it was nothing more than a feather, but for it to still carry the heaviness of a blunt weaponбн This was Noah's fighting style.
    Arthur was continuously pushed to his back foot. Despite the fact Arthur was in the Fourth Dimension while Noah was not just yet, Noah was able to use his ability that had already entered the Fifth Dimension to suppress the King with ease.
    This was the benefit of an offensive ability. Unlike Leonel who had trouble bridging this gap with just his own strength, Noah had no issue doing this. This was the power of a true Variant, this was the strength of Talent.
    Unfortunately, Noah's abilities were even beyond just this. While he could use them offensively, he could use them for evasion and defense just as easily.
    When all of these were fused into one, Arthur could hardly find a single span to breathe, let alone counter attack.
    Arthur's jaw remained locked. He relied on his white lion armor to withstand much of the pressure his body couldn't. He coated his body in the Light Element, using [Light Body] to give himself a small boost in speed and attacking quickness.
    Noah's saber swung down from above. The instant before it made contact with Arthur, Noah increased its density and weight by more than tenfold.
    Arthur's knees bent beneath the pressure, his two hands gripping his sword with all his might. If it wasn't for the fact Excalibur was a Quasi Bronze treasure on the brink of becoming a true Bronze treasure, it would be a wonder if it survived for so long.
    "Give up." Noah said coldly.
    By now, Noah's mind had calmed considerably. Having had time to observe Aina's state, it really seemed like she might die at any moment. Though he didn't know what was wrong with her, it, at the very least, seemed that she wouldn't be able to use such strength in the meanwhile.
    Noah was content to watch Aina slowly die in this fashion. As such, his battle had become less about quickly capturing her, and more about displaying the might of The Empire all while not allowing anyone to help Aina.
    If she could die, that would be the best. If not, he would settle for her being crippled.
    Regardless of what truly happened, there would be a greater chance of his ideal outcome occurring as long as he continued to stall.
    Across the battlefield, Mordred and Guinevere were dealing with the same issue. Since even they, as the weaker party, had been able to stop Noah and Jessica from capturing Aina, how much easier was it for them to do the same?
    Mordred grew anxious as Aina's breath grew fainter. Her senses had been locked onto the young girl from the very beginning, but there was nothing she could do. Not to mention the fact she didn't have any healing spells in her arsenal, even if she did, how would she have the time to cast it?
    "Dammit!"
    Jessica's expression remained cold and indifferent. She controlled her beast partners to maintain a safe distance while continuously harassing Mordred.
    "You all have no idea what you're doing." Mordred spoke through gritted teeth. "If that boy finds out what's happening here, he'll lose his mind."
    Mordred didn't know if Leonel's name held any weight in The Empire. She had seen Leonel's life so she knew that he was nothing but a commoner in their eyes, she also knew that his Gene Analysis Exam hadn't made him out to be one of the top tier talents of The Ascension Empire. So, she didn't bother to say Leonel's name. She only hoped to find an opening by speaking nonsense.
    In truth, Mordred didn't know if Leonel could make a difference either. She had no idea what was happening on the other battlefield. All she knew from Leonel's life was thatбн the boy really hated to lose. Behind that unassuming, carefree smile, there was a wild beast he hadn't let out even now.
    But, if there was one person who could cause him to unleash itбн
    Maybe in some ways, the beast inside Leonel was the only thing that could compare to the monster inside Aina.
    Jessica paused slightly at Mordred's words.
    Though she didn't say a name, there was one person on this planet that she suddenly remembered she had yet to lay eyes on. Didn't His Majesty say that the second Prince should be here? But why is it that he didn't appear on such an important battlefield?
    Noah kicked at Arthur's chest.
    With his knees bent and his arms completely focused on blocking Noah's saber from above, there was simply nothing Arthur could do.
    BANG!
    It felt as though he had been hit by a charging rhino. Noah's legs carried so much weight behind them that even Arthur's armor couldn't block all of the force.
    Arthur shot back like a ball out of a canon, his body leaving streaks of whistling wind in its wake.
    "Arthur!"
    Guinevere's shout crossed the battlefield. But, being pincered from all sides, she couldn't take a step forward, let alone charge out on her own.
    Mordred's gaze flickered, biting down on her teeth so hard the blood almost leaked from her gums.
    Arthur struggled to stand. He could practically hear the cracking of his ribs beneath his strain. But he had to stand, he couldn't afford not to.
    It had been a long time since Arthur felt this way. The reality of not being good enough hadn't come crashing down around him for a good long while now.
    He realized at this moment that this was what he had been missing for so many years. Another mountain to climb, another peak to crossбн Only like this could he avoid becoming that version of himself his wife almost abandoned and his daughter despised so.
    "Alright, come on then."
    Arthur's voice came out in a growl. In fact, it wasn't even because he was enraged, he simply couldn't muster up the strength to project his true voice. Every breath made it feel as though thousands of daggers were stabbing into his lungs.
    'I guess I can only use it, thenбн'
    Noah seemed to cross the distance between them in a single step, his saber swinging down as though a part of his body.
    The strike was fierce and all encompassing. Maybe it was because Noah had run out of patience, but it seemed as though he had truly struck to kill this time. Without even the strength to lift his arms or even breathe properly, what chance did Arthur stand?
    "No!" Guinevere and Mordred struggled with all their might. Even Lancelot tried to push himself up from the ground, ignoring his broken legs. But, it was all useless.
    It was at the moment Arthur's neck was about to be severed that his body suddenly flickered with a blinding golden light. In a mind numbingly stupid feat, Arthur threw his sword to the side at the last instant.
    CLANG!
    Noah's brow furrowed.
    His saber clashed against Arthur's armor. Butбн there was no Arthur?
    A streak of golden light zipped about as Arthur's armor and Excalibur crashed to the ground. It shot around in a circle as though it could hardly control itself before landing just before Arthur's thrown sword.
    In one instant, there was a streak of gold, and in the next, a naked man appeared, wielding a sword.
    "Dammit."
    Arthur grit his teeth.. He was king, but now his bare bottom was exposed for all to see. How was he going to live this one down?

 Chapter 493 - Red

    Arthur concentrated, eventually managing to make his lower half a mist of light while maintaining a corporeal upper body. Only then did he sigh a breath of relief.
    His ability was far too difficult to control. It wasn't because its actual activation was difficult. That alone was as easy as breathing. It already felt as though it was a part of him.
    However, there were two problems. The first was that he couldn't take any objects with him when he activated his ability.
    Well, this wasn't entirely accurate. When it came to ordinary objects, if Arthur concentrated, he could turn them into flowing lights as well. He could even take these items with him as he entered his 'flowing light' state. The issue was that he didn't have time to concentrate so much on a single task in battle.
    Beyond that, when it came to more substantial objects, the level of concentration needed increased explosively. The larger the object and the more valuable it was, the more difficult the process became.
    At Arthur's current level of proficiency, only the most mundane items from the Third Dimension could be taken with him. He couldn't even think of taking even the weakest Fourth Dimensional existences, let alone his armor or Excalibur that were just mere half steps from the Fifth.
    Such a reality made Arthur's unwillingness obvious.
    If he wanted to use his ability, he would need to be stark naked. And, even if he was willing to do this, he would have to abandon his weapon most of the time.
    However, aside from this, Arthur knew how truly frightening his ability could be if used properly. He was practically invulnerable, his affinity with the Light Element skyrocketed to the point that maybe only Leonel was above him in regards to citizens of Earth, and even that wasn't guaranteed. Also, in his flowlike state, he could practically ignore the previous injuries to his body.
    This last part was maybe the most useful at this moment. Since Arthur's body was practically entirely formed of light particles, its individual parts were far less reliant on each other. If he controlled his injuries to entering a 'flow' state, he wouldn't feel any pain. In addition, his healing accelerated in his flow state.
    Still, all of this led to his second problemбн
    He was too fast. So fast that he couldn't even properly control his own body. It made it almost too difficult to battle in this state.
    His mind simply couldn't keep up with his movements.
    However, Noah didn't need to know this. Arthur just needed an opening. Just one opening to injure the Prince enough to force him into a retreat. As long as he could do this, then they could stabilize Aina's situation and hopefully find another solution to deal with The Empire.
    What Arthur didn't expect though, was that even as he was preparing to fight and even as Noah was sizing him upбн that the battlefield would suddenly freeze.
    As though it had been plunged into an icy hell, their hearts all came to a grinding halt in that very instant.
    бн
    ~Moments ago~
    Leonel shot through the skies on his shuttle, leaving a trail of gold in his wake. The little mink snuggled cozily in his hair, a light black fog emitting from its body.
    The good thing about Camelot was that he didn't need to worry about Invalids. Maybe it was because of their origin, but as the people of Camelot awakened to their abilities, none of them failed. This might very well have been another hidden reward of a Mythological Zone.
    Right now, Earth was indeed in dire need of population. They hardly had a few million people remaining.
    Of course, Camelot's appearance might not even double their current populace, but such an influx of talents couldn't be underestimated.
    As things stood at the moment, these people of Camelot wouldn't be useful in a short time. But, if there were some changes to the overall political climate of Camelot, they wouldn't be a long ways away from becoming assets.
    'The situation in the Demon Empire has been stabilized. If White City committed as much manpower as I think they did, they're likely not far away from being finished. The only remaining variable is City Lord White and her power level.'
    Unfortunately, though Leonel was likely more informed about Terrain than most others of Earth, he was still lacking in such details. Though he understood how strength levels functioned in the Fourth Dimension now, that wouldn't help him very much unless he could personally lay eyes on City Lord White.
    'I should have enough trump cards to deal with the situation. But it's odd, The Empire's armyбн why haven't I run into them yet?'
    Leonel shook his head, a light smile suddenly coating his face as he thought of something.
    'Aina's birthday should be tomorrowбн Just a couple hours, actuallyбн I wonder if she'll like her present.'
    Leonel's eyes glowed. He had given Aina a lot of space in the past few months, allowing her the time she needed to work through her emotions.
    Though he considered himself to have high emotional intelligence, he was still new to romantic relationships. His entire mind was filled with idealized versions of love he had seen in those vintage movies his dad always made him watch.
    But, those movies always ended when the guy got the girl. Why did none of them ever explain what to do after that?
    'Oh, that should be theбн hm?'
    Leonel's mind went blank.
    He saw a massive battlefield, filled with corpses, many of which didn't seem to have a single ounce of blood remaining within them.
    However, this wasn't what shocked Leonel. There were all sorts of people with all sorts of abilities. It wasn't too hard to believe that someone might have a blood leeching ability. What shocked him was the fact that he could see what remained of White City's armies still retreating into the distance, turning tail from the battlefield as fast as they could.
    Leonel could easily pick them out even without having participated in the battle. The black robes accented by white soft armor was too easy for him to pick out with his senses.
    Butбн If White City was retreating, why was there still a massive battle going on down below?
    Leonel's gaze swept through, his mind working in overdrive as he tried to piece together what he was seeing.
    He first laid eyes on Guinevere who had become the core of a group rebuffing what looked like a bunch of youths with astonishing strength.
    Then there was King Arthur who hadбн shed his armor? Where were his feet and legs? How had they become rays of light?
    Mordred? She was battling another youth who seemed to be a beast master?
    Where did all these young elites come from?
    Leonel's gaze narrowed with understanding. As expected, according to his previous analysis, The Empire wouldn't have taken Camelot very seriously and would use it as a training ground for their promising talents.
    So it seemed that they had repelled White City but broke down due to infighting in the end anyway?
    But even if they wanted to fight, would they really choose to do so right here and right now? Something must have sparked it? What could haveбн
    Leonel froze.
    In that moment, the whole world seemed to vanish. In his vision, only a petite young woman madly convulsing remained.
    Leonel's heart stopped beating, his breath becoming as shallow as a dead man's.
    He watched as Jessica tried to direct her beasts around Mordred, forcing the Demon Empress to block them. He watched as Noah blocked Arthur's path toward healing the young woman. He watched as Nile and the others tried to press past Guinevere's troop.
    And then, he saw red.

 Chapter 494 - Curse

    Wild fluctuations of red-violet aura surged around Leonel. A towering tornado of Force swirled around his body, bronze Runes flickering into existence across his skin.
    The little mink woke from his nap, low growls standing its hair on end.
    At that moment, everyone's sights focused toward the same direction. With how high up Leonel's shuttle had been, he was nothing but a faint black dot in the sky. But, there was no denying the surge of energy coming from that direction. Even those without the ability to see so far could feel the changes.
    Leonel's shuttle morphed into a surfboard, streaking down from the clouds as though a meteor crashing toward the earth.
    By the time he got in range for those without sensory abilities to see him clearly, the cold stoicism on his face was all anyone could seem to focus on. It felt as though it was a dam holding back the raging waters of his fury. Beneath that placid exterior, there was a volcano on the verge of eruption.
    Seeing Leonel's appearance, Mordred was among the few who sighed a breath of relief. She knew that if Leonel was here, then that must mean that the situation on the other battlefield had already been dealt with. And, judging by his current appearance, it was also clear that he already had a minor grasp of exactly what was happening here.
    'Isn't heбн descending too fast, though?'
    Mordred couldn't help but worry. She knew how deep Leonel's feelings for Aina were. In such a situation, she couldn't even be certain that he would care much about his own safety.
    Just as Mordred was about to try to warn Leonel, his surfboard came to a grinding halt, causing her heart to stutter.
    The sheering forces of such abrupt changes in speed would be no different to crashing into the ground. Was Leonel trying to kill himself?!
    However, what was even more shocking than this was the fact that Leonel seemed completely unaffected. In fact, before anyone could wonder why he was still 20 meters above the ground, his surfboard vanished, leaving him to plummet to the ground on his own.
    At that moment, Nile finally awoke from his stupor. He didn't know who this person was, but judging by the way his gaze had been locked onto Aina from start to finish, Nile could already guess what this unknown entity's goal was.
    "Stop him! Long ranged units, fire!"
    Nile had already been directing a small troop against Guinevere and the remaining five Knights of the Round Table. So, hearing his new orders now, the transition was seamless.
    However, it was as though Leonel couldn't even see the arrows streaking toward him. He hardly said a word, yet a strong current of Earth Elemental energies formed a bronze bell around him.
    PENG! PENG! PENG!
    The barrage didn't even stand a chance. Let alone cracking Leonel's defenses, they rebounded away without suspense.
    BANG!
    Leonel crashed heavily into the ground. However, the sight of him breaking several bones or becoming a pile of mush never occurred.
    A small crater splintered out beneath his weight. But, Leonel had hardly felt his two feet touch earth before he shot forward.
    For a moment, he looked no different from King Arthur. His body almost became a streak of golden light, blazing a trail past Nile and his men to appear beside Aina in a flash.
    No one could react. Not a single soul could even comprehend what was happening.
    How had a single person managed to complete what so many of them had been trying to for the last several minutes?
    Leonel fell to his knees beside Aina's convulsing body, his gaze finally giving way to emotion. Watching her in this state, he almost felt as though her pain was his own. The pain of opening his Lineage Factor, the torture he had put his hands through over the past months, even those savage beatings he had taken at the hands of Lamorakбн none of those things could match the pain he was feeling now.
    He didn't care about the foul odor coming from Aina's body, nor did he care that her face was completely unrecognizable beneath the inflamed scars that had begun to travel down her neck.
    He slid a hand beneath her head, hoping that the tilt would help her expel more of the black blood without her choking on it.
    "What do I do? What's wrong with her?"
    Leonel's first instinct was to cast as many [Grand Heal]'s as he could. But, his instincts told him doing so would be useless.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, One Star Mono-Layered Curse detected. According to analysis, Curse was implemented during infancy, making it near the strength of a Four Star Tetra-Layered Curse in efficacy ]
    Leonel's pupils flickered.
    A curse? He didn't know anything about them. He wasn't sure of what the nomenclature meant and what the difference between a One Star Mono-Layered Curse and a Four Star Tetra-Layered Curse was.? But, this did confirm one thing to him: Aina's scars weren't so simple.
    Before, he thought that the reason the Cleansing Waters managed to help their inflammation was due to the fact it had cured them of their infections.
    To a layman, Aina's scars looked like infected wounds that might burst with pus at any moment. In fact, Leonel thought this was the case as well. Cleansing Water had the ability to rid the body of impurities, refresh the mind, and heal minor injuries. As far as Leonel was aware, anyway.
    He never truly felt anything particularly special about the Cleansing Waters, especially since his supply was so abundant. It wasn't until Aina spoke of its specialness that he finally raised an eyebrow.
    But now, it was exactly what Aina needed.
    The Segmented Cube appeared. Under Leonel's control, streams of water exited and flowed into Aina's nostrils and lips.
    The effect was slow and hardly noticeable, but with Leonel's senses, he easily picked up on them. Though the impact wasn't as great as Leonel hoped, it was still a small light at the end of the tunnel.
    Leonel's gaze suddenly sharpened.
    With calm movements, he sent Aina into the bathhouse of the Segmented Cube. If she was immersed in water, the process would be much easier.
    "Take care of her, Blackstar."
    Leonel sent the little mink in after her and slowly rose, his cold demeanor returning.
    He looked over his shoulder, his eyes locking onto Nile's legion.
    "Which one of you is responsible for what happened?"
    The voice was emotionless and soft, but those who heard it felt as though they had been thrust into the pits of hell.

 Chapter 495 - Tenfold

    Leonel's gaze locked onto Nile who had begun to approach him with their group.
    Nile's jaw clenched, his body tensing. It felt like a python was slowly constricting around his body. This sort of aura, he had only ever sensed it from Prince Noah. He didn't understand how such presence could also come from a young man who seemed to be at least a few years his junior.
    However, Nile remained standing. Other than his slightly abnormal breathing, one would never think that anything was wrong with him.
    "This is the official business of The Empire and His Highness, Prince Fawkes. This isn't something you should meddle in."
    Leonel slowly turned to face Nile. "Is that the question I asked?"
    Indifference. Disregard.
    One could easily see by Leonel's wrist that much like Aina, he too was a citizen of The Empire. But, unlike Aina who had chosen to acquiesce to their demands for the sake of not splintering relations, Leonel simply did not care.
    "I asked you a very simple question."
    Leonel took a step forward.
    "Who is responsible."
    Nile stood, his spine shivering. He gripped his spear as tightly as he could, trying to calm himself. But, despite the endless battles he had experienced, he couldn't seem to find any sense of peace beneath Leonel's glare.
    It was fine for someone of Camelot to not understand the strength of The Empire, but Leonel, as a person who had grown up within its walls and been indoctrinated since birth shouldn't be so ignorant. It should be almost impossible for anyone indoctrinated to such an extent to defect, especially not if they were so talented.
    Anyone with Leonel's level of talent was most definitely a Five Star Professional. Such existences received the best schooling and had the deepest understanding of The Empire. Their deification of the Fawkes Royal Family should practically be ingrained into their bones.
    Yet, Leonel didn't even blink an eye when The Empire was mentioned. His breathing didn't hitch, his heart didn't skip a beat, his eyes didn't even blink.
    At that moment, Nile didn't deny it any longer. If he opened his mouth and told Leonel that The Emperor himself was responsible, there was no doubt that Leonel would brandish his spear toward the Capital.
    "It was me. I gave the order for her capture."
    At that moment, a calm voice sounded.
    Such a voice should have soothed the atmosphere, but the brunt of it held an aura that soared, colliding with Leonel's.
    For a moment, the muffled sounds of two clashing titans reverberated through the air.
    However, it was for just a moment. Because upon hearing such words, Leonel didn't breathe a word.
    As though a beast released from its chain, violent winds surged around Leonel's foot as he planted on the ground hard, shooting toward Noah, a red-violet color flickering in his gaze.
    "Prince!"
    Nile's eyes widened. He forced his body to move, trying to intercept Leonel's path.
    Leonel almost seemed to look through Nile. It was as though the latter hadn't blocked his path in the slightest, he might as well have been no different from a gust of wind.
    "The Prince isn't someone you can casually cross!" Nile roared, but from an objective party's vantage point, he seemed to be trying to shout his fear away.
    Those who were just under his command, even to this point, didn't seem to have the ability to move in the slightest. Even after seeing through to Leonel's goal, they felt that their movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.
    Nile brandished his spear, piercing it forward with all his might.
    Crackling lightning flickered within his irises, dancing within them and leaving arcs of blue in their wake.
    His spear seemed to react in kind, its tip crackling with the same fierceness. Nile didn't believe that the bronze bell that surrounded Leonel could deflect his strike just as easily. But, what was shocking was that the illusory bell dissipated just when Leonel entered the range of Nile's blade.
    "Piss off." Leonel said coldly, his fist whipping forward.
    The sound of his bones popping and his muscles stretching resounded.
    In one moment, Leonel seemed like just a single man. But in the next, he was like the scorching sun.
    Niles couldn't believe that Leonel would try to meet his spear with a bare hand. He had never seen such a foolish battle tactic. Even if Leonel was a master of hand to hand combat, shouldn't he at least use gloves to cover his flesh?
    However, what truly happened left Nile at a complete loss. Just when it seemed that Leonel's fist would be split in two, his spear completely shattered.
    In that moment, he felt as though someone was looking at him from above, a gaze of indifference and disdain coloring their features. To use a spear before a Godбн what was he thinking?
    All thoughts of resistance crumbled. He couldn't even react before Leonel's fist tore a hole through his collarbone and shoulder. The strike was so fierce and swift that he wasn't even thrown back.
    He looked down at his barely attached arm, the pain still not having traveled to his brain just yet. But, by then, Leonel had already shot by him and appeared before Noah.
    Leonel's strike was so fast that not even the faintest hint of blood could be found on him. Yet, the punch he sent toward Noah seemed to be far beyond the first.
    The world seemed to revolve around Leonel. Scenes of mellow springs, harsh winters, blazing summers and vibrant falls whirled around him.
    Universal Force fell down from above, illuminating Leonel in a golden halo that seemed to fuse perfectly with his violet bronze aura.
    Noah reacted quickly, sending a fist forward with his free hand. Leonel was simply too fast, he didn't have the time to swing his saber or lower its weight. However, his body had already been refined to the point of rivaling diamond during his battle with Arthur. He didn't believe that Leonel's body could be stronger than his own.
    Unfortunatelyбн What was a diamond, a Third Dimensional rock, in comparison to a body refined to the standards of a Fourth Dimensional metal?
    BANG!
    Noah winced. He felt his skin fracture in several places before an unimaginable strength traveled through his arm and into his body.
    He was sent flying tens of meters, his body crashing into the ground and leaving a half a meter deep trench as it was dragged along.
    "The pain she experiencedбн I'll make you suffer tenfold."
    Leonel's back stood as straight as a javelin, vibrant energies swirling around him.
    His bronze hair sounded like snapped whips in the wind, a radiant halo shimmering above his head. His violet-red eyes locked onto the Prince, a deep, murderous aura exuding from him.
    Prince of an Empire? He didn't care.. He would make him pay.

 Chapter 496 - Winter

    "Prince!" Jessica's countenance shifted.
    She hadn't believed that the difference between Leonel and Noah would be so stark. But, by the time she was ready to make a move, Mordred had blocked her path.
    "I already warned you what would happen if you continued down this path. He isn't a person that likes to kill, so don't force him to. It's better if you let him vent his rage. If you try to interfere, I can't guarantee that you'll come out in one piece."
    Jessica almost couldn't believe the ridiculous nature of Mordred's words. Her cold expression cracked, giving way to a slight hint of rage.
    "Let me through!"
    Mordred waved her wand, causing several black tendrils of darkness to shoot up from the ground, obstructing the path of Jessica's beasts.
    The aura around Leonel soared. The pillar of golden light enveloping him made it seem as though he was a chosen. His rage was the universe's rage. If he wanted to someone to suffer, they would. Nothing more, nothing less.
    Noah stood from the ground, a deep frown coloring his face as he looked toward the fractures trailing up his arm. Normal skin wouldn't fracture like this, but he had changed the chemical structure of his own. Though it made it far harder, it also gained an added brittleness it didn't have before.
    Usually, it would be impossible to reach the threshold necessary to crack his skin. Yet, Leonel had done it with a single casual punch.
    Noah's jaw steeled, his saber raising into the air. He didn't think that he would run into someone so powerful here.
    By now, he was more than 90% certain that this person was in fact Leonel. He didn't believe that there was anyone else on this moon who could have such strength and also be a member of The Empire.
    And that auraбн Only the Royal Family had it, only those with Fawkes blood running through their veins could display such presence.
    However, even though Noah was almost certain of this, he didn't voice his conjectures. He had his own pride.
    To weasel his way out of this situation by revealing his identity would be something beneath his dignity.
    And, even if he was willing to do such a debasing thing, Noah still didn't know much about Leonel. For all he knew, Leonel was already aware of his identity and didn't even care about the fact they were of the same blood.
    The only person Noah would lower his head to was his grandfather. As for anyone elseбн
    They could taste his saber!
    Noah grew explosively in size, soon reaching to just over three meters. Though he wasn't as the five meter height he reached when battling City Lord White, the density of his bones, blood and muscle couldn't even be compared.
    This was his true strongest state.
    The sound of slashing winds circled around him, his blue blade radiating with a glow.
    "You've stepped into the peak of the Four Seasons Realm." Noah said coldly.
    By his demeanor, he was clearly not asking a question. Rather, he was simply stating a fact. But, just by his mere actions, Jessica and the others were stunned.
    Noah wasn't a person who spoke in battle, he was a person who hardly spoke at all. Yet, he was actually doing exactly that now?
    "Though your Fist Force is powerful, it's only the product of someone else's understanding. I'll show you the true Four Seasons Realm."
    Noah's indifferent voice faded beneath the sound of howling winds. At that moment, the temperature plummeted, an icy chill seeping into all of their bodies.
    In the beginning, Noah thought that Leonel's Fist Force had been comprehended by himself. This reality left him feeling somewhat stifled. To succeed in such a thing at such a young age was far beyond anything Noah had ever seen before.
    But, it was after Noah's fist came into contact with Leonel's that he knew that this wasn't quite right. Somehow, Leonel's Four Seasons Realm seemed above the Second Tier comprehension, but below the self-comprehended Third Tier. This gave the illusion that it was more powerful than it really was.
    That saidбн even though Noah hadn't reached Completion of the Four Seasons Realm and could only embody Winterбн
    He had relied on himself.
    Noah shot forward, his icy blue blade carrying with it the heart of winters' past.
    Leonel stood amidst the harsh winds. He could even feel his own Universe Force weakening beneath Noah's.
    Images of a harsh winter landscape enveloped the battlefield. The sun in the sky seemed to dim and the land beneath their feet seemed to quickly become covered in ice.
    Leonel sank into a boxer's stance.
    He didn't keep his spear hidden as a trump card. He didn't ignore his bow for the sake of making a point. He used his fists simply because he wanted to feel Noah's flesh deform beneath his knuckles, he wanted to savor the cracking of his bones, the bleeding of his flesh.
    They say that every Dragon has a reverse scaleбн It was just unfortunate that Noah had yet to realize that he had touched Leonel's.
    Leonel's right hand hung up by his chin, his left leaning forward. Just when Noah's icy domain seemed to envelop him completely, he moved again, the violet-red of his gaze flickering.
    Leonel's left jabbed. It was a movement without the slightest wasted effort. Images of a winged swordsman perfectly matching his footwork to his attacks played in Leonel's mind, allowing his body to slide into the Style seamlessly.
    A halo of Universe Force coated Leonel's fist as he met Noah's blade.
    All the air of the battlefield seemed to surge toward the two. Barely a foot of space separated Noah's blade from the flesh of Leonel's fist, but neither could seem to move forward even another inch.
    SHUUU! BANG!
    The air concentrated into a single point before exploding outward with a raging ferocity. The accumulating snow was blasted away, leaving a crater of brown soil around them.
    Noah's emerald eyes looked down at Leonel, his white gold hair whipping beneath the aftermath of their clash.
    Leonel looked up to meet his gaze, a fury hidden deep within their indifference.
    Noah coughed suddenly, blood leaking from his lips as his arm trembled.

 Chapter 497 - Please!

    When he met Leonel's fist, Noah felt as though he had crashed into an immovable wall. All the strength he placed into his strike seemed to reflect back, reverberating through out his body in an unbridled fashion.
    In this form, he concentrated all of his strength into power. As a result, his inner organs were completely unprotected, leaving him suffering the brunt of a strike he wasn't quite prepared for.
    Noah could tell that his use of Universe Force was beyond Leonel's. Yet, their overall strength was too far apart. Noah didn't know what Leonel's ability was, but at this moment, he had no choice but to believe that Leonel had a body related ability even better than his own.
    'No, it isn't that simple. He's too fast, more than three or four times as fast as I am in this form. And, instead of using the speed to whittle me down slowly, he can instead perfectly fuse his movement with his attack, giving his punches far more strength than they otherwise would have.'
    Noah shuddered when he had this thought.
    An elite fighter would be able to bring out 80-90% of their full strength consistently, only monsters would be able to touch upon 95% and above consistently. But, even the greatest masters shouldn't be able to guarantee touching 100%.
    Yet, if Noah's calculations were correct, let alone using 100% of his strength, Leonel was closer to 200 or even 300%!
    'This isбн a Martial Art!'
    By this point, Noah realized that this perfect fusion of speed and attack had to be a Style. There was no other explanation. But, Noah had never run across a Style so perfect for a person. Such a boost to strengthбн it was unimaginable!
    Unfortunately for Noah, Leonel seemed to have no intention of stopping. The instant his left jab blocked Noah's strike, his hips had already spun, winding with a fear inducing amount of torque.
    Leonel's body was like a streak of light, crossing into Noah's attack range and hooking a punch at his torso.
    Leonel didn't seem to care that Noah stood a meter taller than him. Even if he was ten meters taller, Leonel would cut him down just the same.
    Noah's torso flexed, the armors he wore radiating with a faint light. But, Leonel's right fist continued as though he didn't sense a thing.
    BANG!
    "бн Oof."
    Noah felt as though all the air in his lungs had been knocked out at once.
    He swung his saber to the side, trying to get Leonel to back off. But, because of its length, the blade was effectively a mid-ranged weapon, In such close quarters, its flexibility was lacking. Leonel simply shifted to the side, rolling his shoulder to block the flat of Noah's blade. His movements held a natural air to them, interrupting the Prince's attempt.
    Leonel fists suddenly accelerated. His form was textbook as though he was perfectly reflecting the dreams of all orthodox boxing.
    A quick three punch combo left shocking dents in Noah's armor. From afar, it looks as though three cannonballs had crashed into his torso, shredding his inner organs to minced meat. But, the armor recovered quickly, in the blink of an eye, it was as though nothing had happened at all.
    Unfortunately for Noah, Leonel's barrage didn't come to a stop. The fists rained down with such speed and quickness that pain was all Noah could feel. Even his attempts at brandishing his saber ended in vicious counters that left his right arm practically useless.
    If Noah didn't know better, he would think that Leonel's ability was to see the future. Even before his muscles could twitch, Leonel's fist would interrupt his next attempted movement, leaving his mouth practically foaming with blood.
    "Your Highness!" Jessica's cold, aloof expression finally collapsed completely.
    Sensing Jessica's agitation, the four armed white ape seemed to have a breakthrough, charging past Mordred's blockade.
    A sharp gash appeared on its back, leaving its white fur matted in blood. But, it didn't seem to notice, its enraged roar bearing down on Leonel from his back.
    "Leonel!" Mordred shouted out a warning.
    She was a veteran of battle. She could tell that the difference between Noah and Leonel wasn't so large. It was just that Leonel's combat effectiveness had gained him the upper hand. Mordred knew that this was reliant on Leonel's ability. But, just as easily as Leonel gained the initiative, he could just as easily lose it.
    The reality thoughбн was that Mordred still underestimated Leonel.
    Leonel didn't even turn back to the ape. He pretended as though it wasn't approaching him at all.
    Noah tried to retreat, but between the two of them, who had the greater speed? And, with Leonel's ability to predict Noah's movements before they even came to fruition, what chance did he have of distancing himself from Leonel's fists?
    Noah's armor became like a field of fallen meteors. Leonel's movements were so perfect and flawless that even the strength of his punches didn't seem to be enough to give Noah any momentum to retreat.
    Leonel stuck to him as though dancing to a rhythm.
    Every time the ape came close enough to attack, Leonel's hips would shift and his feet would shuffle, his barrage of attacks forcing Noah's back toward the infuriated ape.
    Noah's eyes lost focus, his body seizing. Whatever control he had over his ability faded, causing his figure to shrink.
    Leonel's rain of fists was relentless. His cold an indifferent gaze flashed with a ruby red. It felt as though he couldn't hit this Prince enough, as though no amount of pain Noah suffered would appease him.
    He didn't even care about the expenditure of his Dream Force. He had long since activated his Dreamscape Battle Sense in full force. There was nothing more he wanted in this world than to bury this bastard.
    "Please! Please stop!"
    Jessica's voice was hardly rose over the sound of Leonel's fists hitting Noah. Even as his own blood coated his knuckles, he hardly reacted in the slightest.
    "Please, Leonel! He's your cousin! You share a grandfather! STOP!"

 Chapter 498 - Grandfather

    Leonel's endless barrage of fists suddenly came to a grinding halt, his indifferent gaze flickering.
    Unconscious, Noah finally fell heavily to the ground, his breathing short and hurried. Maybe he could consider himself lucky to be in such a state, or it would be impossible to measure the amount of pain he would be in.
    At that moment, the roaring white ape finally got an opening to attack, but it seemed to lose its will when Leonel swept a gaze over it. It felt a heavy gravity field envelop it, making its knees tremble.
    Leonel frowned, shifting his senses toward Jessica who was still in a state of agitation.
    Ignoring everything else, Leonel's palm flipped over to reveal the flat disk-like dictionary.
    "Who is my grandfather?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    The dictionary flickered, causing Leonel's eyes to narrow. It had been a long time since one of his questions caused a recording to appear. Usually, if Leonel didn't want to watch a mechanical version of his father, he had to go back and watch the lessons his old man left on Force Crafting. But, it seemed he wouldn't have to this time.
    "Ah, I never expected you to ask this question."
    Leonel's father appeared with his usual carefree demeanor, scratching the back of his head. Eventually, he pushed his glasses up and looked forward.
    "I know you wouldn't care enough to ask on your own, so it must have been some busybody flapping their gums a bit too much. Ai, what a headache."
    Leonel didn't seem to realize that the entire battlefield had focused on him. In fact, the others felt their knees go weak, any surprise they felt for Leonel being a member of the Royal Family being washed away by the sight of the man in the projection.
    It wasn't because they recognized who this man was but becauseбн just his projection made them feel as though they were standing in the presence of a wild beast. But, what was maybe more shocking was the fact that Leonel seemed completely unaffected.
    Leonel had lived with his father all his life, so how could he possibly notice the kind of effect he had on others? Just his mere projection was like a strangle hold on all those who saw it.
    It felt like his words were accusing them of wrongdoing, as though it was their fault Leonel was asking this question and that he now had to answer it.
    Noah coughed violently at Leonel's feet. But, simply had no strength to stand. Even knowing that Leonel was looming over him, there was nothing he could do.
    His eyes locked onto the projection. He didn't know who this man was, but considering his resemblance to Leonelбн was this the uncle his grandfather had said was far beyond what his mother could compare to?
    "Forget it. Your grandfather is dead."
    Leonel's expression flickered. He suddenly realized that this recording must be about his other grandfather, unless Jessica had really been lying, that is.
    As far as he was aware, Emperor Fawkes wasn't dead, so this could only mean that his father wasn't talking about him.
    Still, Leonel didn't react much to this. His grandparents had never been in his life, so one way or another, he had always assumed they were dead. Like his mother before he had memories of her, he didn't care much.
    Wellбн He didn't care much until he saw a flicker of rage in his father's expression.
    In all his life, Leonel had never seen his father become angry. Much of his own personality came from his father, the same cheery, charming smile they shared obviously originated from him.
    There was only one time Leonel could even remember his father displaying any emotion other than carefreeness, and that was when he spoke about treating Familiars like friends.
    Back then, Leonel's father had been adamant that he must treat his Metal Spirit well. But, even then, though his father had formed a murderous auraбн it wasn't rage. It wasn't this kind of visceral gut punch this projection was reflecting now.
    The temperature of the surroundings seemed to plummet.
    "This part of the recording will only trigger if you've mentioned Scarlet Star Force and your grandfather, while also reaching a certain standard of strength. It seems that you haven't just yet, so this is all I will say."
    The recording flickered and disappeared, leaving Leonel staring coldly at the silver disk in his hand.
    His father's words were short and brisk, but they already made his already foul mood worse.
    Jessica panicked. When she sensed the shift in Leonel's mood, she thought that he would think she had been lying. Though she didn't know what that treasure of Leonel's was, she could tell that Leonel trusted it.
    But, it was also impossible for Emperor Fawkes to be dead. Just saying such a thing was tantamount to questioning the Royal Family's Sovereignty, not that Jessica dared to bring up such a thing now.
    'It must be his paternal grandfather that recording is speaking about. That's right, I just need him to ask about his mater иC'
    Before Jessica could finish her thought, Leonel had already spoken again, his voice carrying a chill several times more potent than the last.
    "Is Emperor Fawkes my grandfather?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    To Leonel's surprise, another recording formed soon after the first. This time, his father's presence was much more casual. Even still, Jessica and others felt as though their bodies were being constricted to the point where even breathing became difficult.
    "Oh, you finally found out about that old fart, huh?"
    Those members of The Empire choked on their own spit. This was The Emperor they were talking about. Who dared to call him an old fart?!
    "Gervaise is indeed your grandfather. Only after meeting him did I learn where your mother gets her hard-headedness. Now that I think about it, you're stubborn like that too, aiya, my precious gene poolбн I should consider getting myself a concubine or somethingбн"
    Leonel's father unwittingly shivered and looked over his shoulder as though checking for something. Only then did he sigh a breath of relief, feeling pleased with himself as though he had gotten away with something.
    "бн Still, be careful of that old fart. His ambitions reach far and family isn't his main priorityбн Whatever, he's still your grandfather.. Do as you please, I guess."

 Chapter 499 - Mess

    Maybe when someone learned that they secretly had a great background, they would be ecstatic. All their worries and hardships would now be coming to an end and they could finally live out a life of peace.
    However, this wasn't how Leonel reacted in the slightest.
    The first thing he thought of when he learned the truth was the number of people who had died when the Metamorphosis began.
    No, died wasn't the proper term. They had been sacrificed. For the sake of having an easier path of development and having less Invalids to deal with, these people had been discarded like trash by this Emperor that also happened to be his grandfather.
    Leonel didn't particularly feel abandoned by his grandfather either. Another human reaction would be to feel as though his existence had been ignored for so long. If his grandfather knew he had another grandson, why didn't he come into contact with him sooner? But, once again, Leonel didn't feel like this.
    Leonel could tell from all the clues that his father likely originated from a higher Dimensional world. If he couldn't piece this together, then whatever worth his calculative mind had would be next to zero.
    Due to understanding this, he knew that the relation between his family members was likely quite strained and odd. By convention, a son-in-law should respect his father-in-law, but it was difficult to do so if the son-in-law's standing was so much higher.
    Things might be fine if Gervaise Fawkes was a normal man, but he was the Emperor of maybe the most talented fledgling world in existence. He was used to lording over people and having unmatched status, so what kind of oddities would it cause if his daughter suddenly married someone above him?
    The first thought that someone would have in this situation was that Emperor Fawkes might use the Morales Clan to climb to a larger stage. But, judging by his father's demeanor, Leonel could tell that he actually had respect for his grandfather.
    Knowing his father, it was impossible for him to respect someone who would use such means to climb the social ladder. This likely meant that not only did his grandfather likely have a demeanor that at the very least treated Leonel's father as an equal, it also meant that it was even more likely that he treated Leonel's father as someone beneath him.
    If those of the Dimensional Verse knew that a man of the Third Dimension had dared to treat a core member of the Morales Clan in such a wayбн Who knows how they would react?
    The Morales Clan was so powerful that even an infant could likely eradicate a Fourth Dimensional world on its own, let alone a Third Dimensional world which Earth had been at the time of their meeting.
    Thinking to this point, Leonel suddenly felt he understood the odd relationship between his father and grandfather.
    If Emperor Fawkes really cared about using the Morales family and Leonel's father was in the way of this, he would have simply contacted Leonel after his father had left. Leonel wasn't a fool, since his father could leave both of the family's heirlooms with him, it meant that his standing in the Morales family wouldn't be small in the future either. But, obviouslyбн this hadn't happened.
    However, this didn't make Leonel suddenly warm up to this man he had been indoctrinated to worship since his youth, nor did his emotions toward The Empire change because of it.
    Leonel sent a glance toward Noah, their gazes locking. He could see the same cold, indifference in the latter's eyes. It didn't seem to matter that most of his bones were broken and that he couldn't even stand if he wanted to.
    Noah didn't say a word even as he met Leonel's look. There was no pleading, no smugness, no expectation. He was simply there. It seemed that whether Leonel chose to cripple him or kill him right then and there, he wouldn't flinch in the slightest.
    Jessica panicked again seeing that Leonel hadn't retreated.
    "Weбн! We didn't know that she was related to you!"
    Jessica felt helpless. This was the only thing she could say.
    They truly hadn't known about Aina, the Emperor never said anything about her to them. They were only aware of Leonel's appearance here due to Emperor Fawkes in the first place. Since he hadn't said anything about Aina, how could they know?
    But, the argument was feeble and Jessica knew it.
    A Brazinger was a Brazinger in the end. Even if they knew Aina was related to Leonel, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't have made a move anyway. And, beyond that, this was more than just a matter of attacking a perceived enemy, it was also about attacking someone who was very likely the reason you won this battle to begin with.
    Even if Noah had stopped holding back and unleashed his full power like he had against Leonel, it was unlikely that City Lord White would have been defeated if not for Aina. So, what was their excuse for this, exactly?
    Leonel didn't respond to Jessica's words. In truth, he still wasn't aware of everything that had happened in this place. So, he obviously wasn't aware that Aina was the reason they had won the battle. That said, the fact that she had risked herself fighting for The Empire only to be treated like this in the endбн
    This thought alone was enough to fuel his rage.
    Leonel turned and walked away, breaking free of Noah's gaze without a word. He crossed the battlefield and entered the Segmented Cube that remained waiting for him.
    He didn't want to bear the burden of killing a family member. But, more importantly than that, he wouldn't be able to bear doing such a thing until he understood how his mother would feel about such a thing.
    For now, he would let Noah go.
    With Leonel's disappearance, a heavy fog that hung over the battlefield seemed to dissipate.
    Arthur coughed lightly, sliding back into his armor to hide away his naked body.
    'Tch, that boy sure is a demon when he gets pissed off.' Arthur shook his head, his lips curling. 'And here I thought I finally met one of those beauty is more than skin deep unicorns. To think that the girl he fawns over so much is actually such a beauty, what a sly fox.'
    Arthur looked around at the mess the battlefield had become and shook his head. It seemed he would have to deal with all the heavy lifting.
    бн
    At this very moment, news of City Lord White's death had already traveled to the ears of the Keafir family.

 Chapter 500 - Focus

    When Leonel walked into the bathhouse, his rage flared again. If it wasn't because Aina was in such a bad situation and needed him by her side, he might have run out again to give Noah an even more savage beating.
    Noah might have been his cousin, but the feeling Leonel had for Aina far outweighed whatever weak familial ties he had with him. Noah couldn't magically gain a higher regard in his heart just off the strength of their connection.
    While Noah was just a lost family member he had only just learned about, Aina was a woman Leonel deeply cared about. As far as he was concerned, she was his other half. Only his father and mother could hold a comparable place.
    The current Aina was far better than she had been just moments ago, but the struggle she was facing was still present. If it wasn't for Little Blackstar using ropes of darkness to hold her in place, she might have drowned herself by now.
    The water splashed about, blackening under the secretions coming from Aina's body. Under some mysterious power, the Cleansing Water purified this blackness the further it traveled from Aina. But, unfortunately, the density around her only seemed to grow with each passing moment.
    Leonel stripped off his robes and entered the waters, a deep frown on his face. He propped the back of Aina's head up while submerging the rest of her body.
    'This isn't workingбн'
    Leonel shook his head and brought Aina to the edge of the pool. Using it, he pulled Aina's military boots off.
    When Leonel got a look at Aina's skin, he paled. He hadn't noticed before because the entirety of Aina's face and much of her neck was covered in those savage pulsing scars. But, after taking her boots off, he realized just how severe the situation was.
    Aina's skin, which had always had a healthy tan hue to it, was suddenly as pale as a sheet of paper. As though this wasn't terrible enough, Leonel could see her veins popping out, completely filled with a vicious black liquid that slowed the beating of her heart and clogged her arteries.
    Leonel moved quickly, propping up Aina's other foot to take her other boot off. But at that moment, something surprising happened.
    When Aina's bare foot entered the waters once again, there was a burst as a torrent of foul blood was suddenly pulled out by the Cleansing Water. Beneath the surface, Leonel's senses could make out how Aina's pores had opened. In fact, her skin even broke, revealing the veins beneath before healing once again.
    But, despite the injuries to her feet, Leonel immediately sensed a slight sigh of relief come from her lips.
    'That's itбн'
    Leonel hesitated. Then, he furiously shook his head, this wasn't the time to be a prude.
    "[Light Curtain]."
    Leonel mumbled beneath his breath, causing a surge of light to cover Aina's body. The benefit of [Light Curtain] was that it obstructed one's vision by causing a large gathering of light. But, it didn't have a physical form, so it didn't impede Leonel's actions in the slightest.
    Leonel realized at that point that Aina's military uniform and boots weren't normal. They protected her in battle and also had a series of spatial pockets hidden within. In that case, they were very likely impeding whatever help the Cleansing Waters were supposed to provide.
    Under normal circumstances, they would be a protection. But at the moment, they were nothing more than a hindrance. Leonel hadn't noticed it before, but the uniform itself wasn't even wet.
    Steeling his resolve, Leonel began to unbutton Aina's clothing.
    'Focusбн Focusбн'
    If those who had just been scared witless by Leonel saw him now, who knows how they'd react. A young man who seemed to have the strength to overturn a world in his hands was panicking at the prospect of undressing a girl. It was a sad sight to behold, indeed.
    Above Leonel, the little mink skipped about, making a noise that sounded like snickering. His long whiskers bounced about, a lively light in his beady little eyes.
    Leonel ignored the little guy, his normally nimble fingers fumbling about.
    'Focus!'
    Leonel shouted to himself, splitting his mind several ways. If others knew he was using such a profound ability just to dull his first ambiguous situation with a woman, Leonel's legend would surely become one big joke.
    Leonel's hands reached the end of Aina's buttons. Grabbing hold of her waist, he gently pulled the fabric out from their tucked position. His gaze focused on Aina's face, trying to make sure that he wasn't harming her in any way.
    When the waters flooded past the opening in Aina's clothing, the flood of black blood became more exaggerated. More of Aina's pores opened up, the foul liquid being pulled out by some odd osmosis.
    Leonel's hands slipped. After untucking Aina's military garb, he realized that there was nothing beneath but her soft skin, causing his breathing to hitch.
    Leonel had no idea that just moments before, Aina had snapped the bandages she used to cover her chest, leaving nothing between the fabric and her skin.
    With a deep gulp, Leonel carefully shifted Aina in his arms, the blinding lights of [Light Curtain] blocking his view.
    Carefully, he slipped her arms out of their sleeves and tossed the military uniform to the side.
    Leonel laid her to rest in the waters.
    As expected, the speed of her recovery accelerated. Leonel could even see the grotesque scars that had begun crawling toward her heart retreating at a speed a normal human would be able to spot. This left him breathing a sigh of relief.
    'Alright, one more layer.'
    Taking a deep breath, Leonel rested Aina's back against his bare chest and undid her pants, slowly sliding them off with a forearm wrapped around her waist.
    'Softбн'
    Leonel shook his head, trying to push such thoughts out of his mind. But, just the skin of Aina's back felt so supple against his chest. He felt as though he was on cloud nine.
    But, at the same time, he felt guilty. Aina might have been quickly recovering, but she wasn't quite out of the woods yet. He didn't want to think about such things.
    Aina's military pants finally slid off her slender legs, allowing Leonel to toss them to the side as well.

 Chapter 501 - Stop Laughing And...

    Leonel sighed a breath of relief. Once again, the speed of Aina's recovery shot up again.
    Sitting in the pool, Leonel allowed her to rest against his chest. Soon, her breathing stopped hitching and became calm and her head fell back against Leonel, the light sound of snoring coming from her parted lips.
    Leonel smiled.
    He quite liked this feeling. The way he could envelop her small frame in his arms and protect her, it made him feel at peace.
    Leonel chuckled lightly. As expected of Aina, rather than wearing delicate female underwear, from what Leonel could tell, she actually wore male boxers. Her reasoning was probably that it was more comfortable, at least for battle.
    Of course, Leonel was too much of a pansy to actually look with his eyes. He could just tell by how the fabric felt on his thighs.
    Had Mordred been there, she would have most definitely rolled her eyes.
    Leonel cast a silencing array over Aina's ears and brought out the dictionary once again, his expression becoming more serious.
    "What is a One Star Mono-Layer Curse and how does it compare to a Four Star Tetra-Layer Curse?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ A One Star Mono-Layer Curse is a curse with just a single layer of complexity. It is not necessarily more or less complex than a Four Star Tetra-Layer Curse, though it is much easier to cure ]
    Leonel frowned. What did it mean by not necessarily more or less complex? What was the point of the divisions, then?
    [ A One Star Mono-Layer Curse can only take root in a Third Dimensional existence. However, a Four Star Tetra-Layer Curse is effective even against a Sixth Dimensional existence ]
    Leonel's frown deepened. Aina was dealing with a curse that powerful?
    "What did you mean by Aina's curse was almost as effective as a Four Star Tetra-Layer Curse?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ A curse's effectiveness is based on two factors: its complexity and its level of integration. Aina has a curse with a simple complexity, but an elite growth rate. This allows it to display more strength over time ]
    The more the dictionary spoke, the more Leonel felt it wasn't giving him the answers he wanted. It took a while, but Leonel finally understood what he needed to know.
    The growth rate of a curse referred to its Integration Potential. Over time, some curses weakened, but other could grow stronger. Aina's curse, the Nine Segmented Blood Leach Curse, was a simple curse, but its growth rate was frightening.
    Though weak against adults, if implanted into an infant, the Curse would be able to root itself deeply. This would result in a Curse no weaker than a Four Star Tetra-Layer curse in effect as the infant grew into adulthood. It could even grow beyond this.
    Technically, if this was a curse with a poor growth rate, just breaking into the Fourth Dimension would have been enough to dispel it. But now, if Aina wanted to break this curse without outside assistance, it would take her breaking into the Sixth Dimension.
    But, by then, the curse would have grown even more powerful. Who knows if even breaking into the Seventh Dimension would be helpful by that point?
    And, from Leonel's understanding, the greatest known powers in the Dimensional Verse were only of the Seventh Dimension, including the Morales family. So, if the Curse became any more powerful, it would become next to impossible for Aina to ever think of dispelling it on her own.
    "Can Cleansing Water dispel this Curse?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Yes ]
    "What level?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Extended treatment with Fifth Dimensional Cleansing Waters or one drop of Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters ]
    "Will the Segmented Cube produce Fifth and Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Yes. Upon reaching the Third and Fourth Phases respectively ]
    Leonel sighed a breath of relief hearing these words. This was perfect, that just meant he had to find a way to upgrade the Segmented Cube like he had helped it reach the Second Phase.
    However, after Leonel had this thought, he froze. In order to upgrade the Segmented Cube into the Second Phase, it had required letting it absorb Force from an impossibly rare Force Eruptionбн If he wanted to upgrade it again, wouldn't he have to find a Fifth Dimensional Force Eruption? And then a Sixth Dimensional one?
    Leonel shuddered. Had he not awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, that Force Eruption would have killed him. He had no confidence in surviving a Fifth Dimensional Force Eruption, let alone a Sixth Dimensional one.
    And this didn't even mention the problem of finding such Force Eruptions to begin with. Not only would he have to travel to such worlds, but he would have to find such a rare occurrence as well.
    Just when Leonel thought this was enough to leave him speechless, he suddenly thought of another problem, leaving his heart in a panic.
    For now, Aina's curse was only approaching a Four Star Tetra-Layer Curse in effect, but it wasn't quite one yet. As such, Fifth Dimensional Cleansing Waters could still workбн But, for how much longer?
    "How much longer will Fifth Dimensional Cleansing Waters be effective as a cure?"
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seedбн ]
    [ 639:19:39:08 ]
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. 639 daysбн That was less than two years.
    Leonel's jaw clenched, gripping his fists tightly. The dictionary said long term treatment was also necessary if he chose to use Fifth Dimensional Cleansing Waters, he would have even less time than that.
    'Fine. Let's set a limit of 500 days. Within 500 days, I need to enter the Fifth Dimension and be in position to look for a source to upgrade the Segmented Cube.'
    Leonel was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice that Aina had already awoken. Though she noticed she was half naked and in Leonel's arms, she didn't have the reaction one would have thought.
    Even Leonel would have expected her to jump up and rush away. But, noticing the [Light Curtain] across her front, Aina couldn't help but smile sweetly.
    By now, her scars had already faded back to their knife wound-like appearance. In fact, she seemed far stronger than she had been in the past, likely due to the blood she had ingested. And nowбн she just feltбн warm.
    She couldn't help but adjust herself slightly, her back pressing more squarely onto Leonel.
    "Hm?" Leonel blinked. "Ohбн"
    Leonel moved to get up. Since Aina was awake, there was no longer a danger of her drowning, so he didn't have to stay here.
    "Sorry, since you're alright I'llбн"
    When Leonel was about to leave, he suddenly felt Aina's slender fingers grab his forearm, clamping down tight.
    Aina hadn't seen Leonel in months. She didn't even need to look back to know who it was. In her time of need, he was there once again.
    Leonel's eyes widened slightly, but at least he wasn't dense enough to insist. He obediently sat back down and let Aina rest on his lap.
    'Oh rightбн' Leonel snapped a finger, causing the silencing Arts around Aina's ears to vanish.
    The two sat in silence for a long while, Aina not relinquishing her grip on Leonel's forearm in the slightest. In fact, she somehow got a hold of his second arm and wrapped them around herself as though a spoiled child.
    Leonel couldn't help but smile, his heart feeling exceptionally light.
    "бн You stink."
    Aina's soft voice stunned Leonel for a while before he broke out into laughter. Why did it seem like this was this girl's favorite thing to say to him?
    She wasn't exactly wrong, though. He hadn't had a bath in months.
    "бн I stink tooбн"
    Leonel sputtered with laughter. Even without laying eyes on it, he could see Aina's frowning pout.
    "бн Stop laughing and wash my back."
    This time, Leonel choked.

 Chapter 502 - Scent

    Leonel was shocked to the point of speechlessness. Did he really just hear what he thought he did?
    "бн You don't want to?"
    Aina's soft voice shook Leonel to his core. She had never sounded so fragile to him before and a part of him thought that the only reason she managed to drum up the courage to say such a thing was because she was facing away from him.
    "Yes, yes. I'll do it!" Leonel hurriedly replied.
    Aina stood from Leonel's lap, still facing away from him. Most of her alluring back-view was obstructed by [Light Curtain] and her long hair. But, Leonel's imagination alone seemed to be capable of spinning him away into a land of fantasy.
    Aina slowly waded into the deeper waters until her waist was submerged. Her body shifted slightly and Leonel's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she bent over and stood again with a black fabric in her hand.
    'бн That's definitelyбн That's definitely her underwearбн'
    Leonel looked toward the ceiling and gulped.
    "бн Are you coming?"
    Aina's voice sounded even weaker than before. If Leonel didn't know better, he would think that she was still wounded.
    Shaking his head, Leonel also stood from his seated position. He had already taken off his upper garments, revealing a toned torso, even more toned than he seemed to remember, in fact. So, all he had to do now was take off his pants.
    Leonel looked down toward a certain region.
    'Behave.' He said sternly.
    Leonel tossed his pants to the side, slowly walking forward.
    When Aina sensed that he was close, she shuddered slightly, but she still grabbed at her long hair, pulling it into a ponytail and sweeping it to her front. The action should have completely exposed her back to Leonel, but [Light Curtain] obstructed everything.
    Leonel activated [Magic Touch] and grabbed a small towel at the edge of the pool. With the ability of the Cleansing Waters, soap was completely unnecessary. But, Leonel still brought out a few herbs he had found in the underground garden of the hive.
    He rarely had uses for these herbs, however that didn't mean that they didn't have special abilities of their own.
    Leonel smiled. "Which scent do you like more? This one? Or, this one?"
    Aina froze when she realized how close Leonel was. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, it was the sort of feeling that sent goosebumps racing across her body.
    After a while, she finally paid attention to Leonel's words.
    Leonel's arm stretched around her and raised two different budding flowers to her nose.
    One had a gentle purple color and dozens of tiny petals clumped together to form its figure. It had a slight spicy scent that tickled the nose almost like a carbonated drink. It reminded Aina of cinnamon.
    The other was a gentle yellow color, so pale that it almost seemed white at first glance. It only had three petals, but each was as large as Aina's palm and flopped about like drooping dog ears. Though Aina's hands weren't particularly big to begin with, such a size on a flower was quite surprising.
    This flower's scent was far more subtle. It reminded Aina somewhat of lavender, but also of freshly made apple juice. It was hard to pinpoint its exact scent, but it left her feeling intrigued.
    "This one." Aina said softly, pointing to the yellow flower.
    Leonel nodded. "Watch this."
    The number of Mage Arts Leonel had learned from Camelot numbered in the hundreds to even thousands. Among them, not all were tailored toward battle. In fact, the vast majority weren't. They rather existed almost as foundational understandings one could build upon.
    Many of the 'useless' Light Elemental Apprentice Arts Leonel learned built the foundation for far more complex Arts.
    But, that didn't mean that this was all the 'useless' Arts could do. There were many that existed not for the sake of battle, but rather for convenience.
    There was one water spell that went by the name of [Fragrant Touch]. It was able to concentrate natural fragrances one found in the wild into a liquid, soapy form. It was a favorite of female water mages, especially when they were out on missions.
    Of course, this was only because Camelot hadn't exactly invented soap. So, they found other methods.
    Leonel cast [Fragrant Touch]. At that moment, tendrils of Cleansing Waters spiraled up from the pool around the two, circling around the yellow flower and grinding it into a paste. That paste soon dissolved into the water and formed a thick white liquid with a hint of yellow.
    Just a single flower formed over a liter of this viscous liquid.
    Leonel allowed the blob of thick liquid to hover in the air before dabbing it the towel. Steeling his will, he approached Aina's back.
    "Waitбн" Aina suddenly spoke out.
    "Hm?" Leonel paused, his heart filled with half relief and half unwillingness.
    But, Aina's next words almost made his vision go black.
    "бн Shouldn't you remove this light spell first? How are you going to help me if you can't see what you're doing?"
    Leonel coughed. Suddenly, he felt a little lightheaded.
    "Yesбн Rightбн I should."
    Leonel dug deep and caused [Light Curtain] to vanish. But, no matter how he prepared himself, he still wasn't ready.
    The first thing he noticed was Aina's alluring silhouette. Her slender shoulders, the curve of her torso to the hips, the toned strength of her backбн
    Leonel gulped. Though the water submerged her waist down, without the lights of [Light Curtain] and with how crystal clear the Cleansing Waters were, Leonel could faintly see a distorted image that made any sort of lower body self control he had fly out the window.
    Thoughts of what Aina's frontview might look like took hold of his mind.
    'Calm downбн Breatheбн'
    Leonel slowly raised his hand, dabbing the towel in the yellowish liquid and reaching for Aina's back once again.
    When the towel met Aina's back, Leonel could almost feel the suppleness through the fabric. He gently scrubbed across her skin, watching as a soapy whiteness began to slowly form.
    "бн Can you wash my hair too?"
    Leonel nodded silently. At least this was much less stimulating. He could do that much, right?
    Soon, Leonel felt that he had regained his calm. Rather than feeling anxious, he began to enjoy the process.. The silky smoothness of Aina's skin and hair gliding across his fingers was therapeutic.

 Chapter 503 - Reach

    "I like this smell, what is this flower called?" Aina asked.
    Aina closed her eyes, a calm smile on her face as Leonel shampooed her hair. The gentle smell of apple and lavender made her feel at peace.
    "It's called an Infant Sun Lily."
    "Infant?"
    "Mm." Leonel nodded. "If I hadn't harvested it so soon, it would have produced a fruit at maturity that had the effect of clearing the mind and amplifying fire affinity. Though, the rise in affinity is only large for the first few minutes, after that it begins to dwindle. If you wanted lasting effects, you have to consume the fruits over a long period of time."
    Leonel scratched the back of his head a bit awkwardly. He didn't know much about herbs, so he hadn't known at the time that he interrupted the Sun Lily's growth process. In fact, much of the reason its yellow color was so pale was precisely because it was still an infant.
    "Oh, I see. I like the smellбн" She said softly.
    "In that case, I can start planting them in the garden so we can have more."
    The Abode Setting was just like any other luxurious home. It had several rooms, a large bathhouse, and also had a garden.
    That said, Leonel didn't visit the garden very often at all. He thought of using it as a training space as there was ample room. But, his training was much more efficient if it took place in his Dream World. So, there truly wasn't much of a point.
    "Okay."
    Leonel's heart warmed when he heard the slight tinge of happiness in Aina's voice. Even though he couldn't see her smile, he knew it was there and that was all that mattered.
    Leonel covered the length of Aina's hair in the fragrant liquid. Then began to slowly wash it out, a tinge of seriousness on his face. If others saw him now, they would definitely feel that he was taking this task much too seriously.
    "Your hair's gotten longer." Leonel commented off handedly.
    Aina's hair was much longer than what he remembered. Considering the growth rate of hair, it shouldn't have been possible for such an exaggerated change to occur in just a few months. Somehow, Aina's hair had gone from barely reaching the small of her back to reach past her ankles. If she walked around like this, her hair would definitely drag across the ground.
    What Leonel didn't know, of course, was that this had been caused by Aina's transformation. Though the rest of her body had gone back to how it once had been, her hair didn't shorten, unfortunately.
    Now that Leonel thought about it, long hair was quite uncharacteristic for a woman like Aina. With her level of practicality, even down to her military uniform and boxer briefs, Leonel wouldn't have been surprised if she appeared before him completely bald one day. But, interestingly enough, she never did.
    In fact, back when Leonel first met Aina, her hair had been exceptionally short, no longer than Jessica's. But, after their freshman year, during their sophomore year if he recalled correctly, she began to let it grow out.
    Not that he minded. He quite preferred long hair. He thought it made her look particularly fairy-like.
    Aina blinked at Leonel's words. "You don't like it?"
    Leonel was stunned before hurriedly shaking his head.
    "No, no. I like your long hair. It just might be slightly inconvenient for you."
    Aina smiled. It was a shame that Leonel couldn't see itбн the slight blushing of her cheeks, the hint of pride in her eye, the gentle slope of her pink lipsбн
    "бн I know you do." Aina spoke in words that were barely audible over the moving water.
    "Hm?"
    "Nothingбн"
    Leonel raised his brow in confusion. He didn't understand what Aina meant by that.
    At that moment, Leonel washed the last of the soapy bubbles from Aina's hair. The light fragrance of apple coming from her made him feel at ease. He even forgot about his previous confusion.
    "All done." He said proudly.
    "Okayбн Turn aroundбн" Aina said with her usual soft tone.
    "Oh." Leonel nodded like an obedient child and did as he was told.
    It wasn't long after he did so that Leonel felt a pair of small hands on his back. The feeling was so novel that he didn't know how to react.
    Aina's actions were just as slow and meticulous as Leonel's, but her face was flushed red with embarrassment from start to finish.
    It wasn't just because she felt that following the outlines of Leonel's muscular back left her feeling warmth in ways she never had before, butбн it was also because Leonel was much taller than she was. So, while the water covered her waist quite easily, it couldn't do the same for himбн
    Leonel seemed to realize this after a while too, but he was too embarrassed to say anything about it. He never thought that he would have such a day.
    "бн Finishedбн"
    When Leonel heard these words that were no louder than the flapping of a butterfly's wings, he wanted to run away at that moment as quickly as he could.
    How embarrassing. He wasn't one who cared very much about such things. He had appeared naked in a locker room more than once in his life. However, doing it in front of Aina left him feeling flustered. He felt even more embarrassed than Aina herself.
    All that comfort he had felt disappeared.
    However, just when Leonel wanted to run away, he found two arms wrapped around his waist.
    At that moment, it felt like a bolt of electricity had shot through his body. It wasn't because of the arms, but rather because a softness he had never experienced before was now firmly pressed against his back.
    Two, perfectly molded, soft mounds of flesh pressed flush against him.
    Leonel's mind went blank. All the computational power in the world was at his finger tips, yet he suddenly short circuited. Whatever control he had over his lower half vanished. It pierced through the water as though it was a spear itself, standing at attention.
    Leonel was so lost that he didn't even notice when a slender hand reached toward it.

 Chapter 504 - I Wont

    Leonel froze, his entire body tensing. He felt a hand grab onto him below, but he didn't even have the courage to look down.
    "Ainaбн?"
    Leonel's voice came out exceptionally hoarse. It bordered on the growl of a beast, just the sound alone made Aina shudder, her hold on Leonel's waist becoming tighter.
    Leonel tried to pull away, but Aina's strength was far beyond his own. One of her arms wrapped around his waist like a vice grip while the other reached out a hand and found a place on his heated shaft.
    The temperature of Leonel's body seemed to skyrocket, a fog beginning to emit from his reddening skin.
    Compared to the grip around his waist, her hand was exceptionally gentle. Though she hardly moved, it made Leonel's knees weak. He didn't think that there could be such a marvelous feeling in the world. But, something was eating at the back of his mind.
    Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to think about it.
    Leonel felt his body being pushed forward. Before he could realize what was happening, he found himself at the edge of the pool and being spun around.
    At this point, he truly wanted to shed tears. Why did he feel more like a rag doll than a man? How was she so much stronger than him?
    Leonel's Metal Body had entered the Perfection Realm now thanks to the Urbe Essence he found within Camelot's vaults. Soon afterward, his body naturally progressed to the Fourth Dimension. Yet, he was still so much weaker than Aina.
    Of course, this was likely because Metal Body focused more on defense rather than strength and it could only exhibit a portion of its ability without Leonel activating his Runes. But, it was still a shocking feat nonetheless.
    Leonel's back was pressed against the side of the pool before being pressed down into a seated position. He hardly caught a glimpse of Aina before she straddled him.
    With Aina grasping a hold of such a sensitive part of him, Leonel couldn't resist even if he wanted to. But, he panicked when he realized what Aina was doing.
    Leonel felt the tip of his rod suddenly press against soft flesh that separated out into folds.
    He felt like such a fool. It hadn't even entered yet, but he realized that calling just a hand the best feeling was nothing more than pure ignorance. If there was anything that could possibly feel better than this, it must only exist in a world of Gods.
    However, it was this very intoxicating feeling that made Leonel's panic reach a fever pitch.
    Judging by Aina's position straddling over him like this, he didn't need to guess what this feeling was. Even as a virgin, he would be too much of a fool to not understand.
    From Leonel's vantage point, all he could see was a wall of wet hair blocking Aina's face as she looked down as though fiddling with something. Her movements were awkward and erratic, her every action carrying a clearly discernible trembling. She had gone from a highly coordinated athlete to what looked like a person who couldn't even tie her own shoes.
    Leonel could hear a slight whimpering coming from Aina as though she was trying to hold back and ignore pain she was suffering through. But, a barrier seemed to stop her from going any further. So, she tried harder, trying to force her body down. As she did so, the sharp pain she was feeling seemingly only became worse.
    At that moment, Leonel finally regained his strength, the haziness in his gaze vanishing. That uncomfortable feeling at the back of his head, that very thing he had ignored until now came bubbling forth.
    All of this felt wrong. No, it was wrong.
    "AINA!"
    The roar caused the Abode Setting to tremble, even the waters parted beneath Leonel's shout. Violent ripples spread, sending a wave of Cleansing Water surging out.
    The hair that covered Aina's face parted beneath the forcefulness of Leonel's shout. For the first time since they entered this pool together, Leonel gaze landed on Aina's face. But, what he saw left him heartbroken.
    Tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes swollen with redness.
    Leonel felt like such a fool.
    Aina's boldness, her asking him to wash her back, to remove the light curtain, even down to trying to wash his back as wellбн Were those really things she wanted to do?
    He was an idiot. Blinded by his own lust, he just nodded like a pecking chicken, following along as though he could no longer think with his head. Because he wanted it so much for it to be her words, her feelings, he ignored everything else and went with the flow, disregarding how ridiculous it all was.
    "Ainaбн"
    Leonel gently grasped Aina's face, his heart trembling with guilt.
    Aina hiccupped, wiping her tears away as fast as she could.
    "бн I'm sorry, I'm sorryбн" Aina sobbed.
    She felt so stupid. She was almost there, but she just had to start crying. Just one more push and she would have broken through.
    "бн Don'tбн Don't leave me againбн I'll do it, I can do itбн"
    Leonel's gaze reddened. His arms wrapped around Aina, his hand caressing the back of her head. He held her firmly against his chest, his jaw clenched.
    He didn't expect that leaving Aina for a few months would have such an effect. He had only wanted to give her some space to sort out her emotions, but he hadn't thought this would be the result. How could he not feel guilty?
    As though a wall had broken down between them, Aina broke out into a fit of sobs. Her hands balled into fists that rested on Leonel's chest. She tried to bury her head in the same place, her emotions spilling over.
    She never said it, but she had felt afraid. She was afraid that Leonel wouldn't come back, afraid that he really would abandon her. And, the worst part was that it would all be her fault, all because she couldn't open her mouth to speak, all because she couldn't communicate how she felt.
    All she could think of during these past few months were Leonel's words, how he could grow apart from her if she pushed him awayбн It was her fault, she had done exactly thatбн
    She felt she had to do something to make him stayбн She had to.
    But, she never understood why Leonel liked her to begin with. She didn't feel like she was special, she didn't think she had anything else to give. This was the only thing she could think ofбн
    "I won't. I won't leave you again."
    Leonel's voice rumbled, the vibrations flowing through his chest. Aina could feel every word, every syllable, every ounce of will backing them.
    Aina collapsed onto Leonel completely, letting him support the entirety of her weight. Her tears spilled forth in a flood.. They fell down Leonel's chest in a torrent, only to be washed away by the Cleansing Waters.

 Chapter 505 - Released?

    Leonel held onto Aina for a long while. He lost track of time, but if he was truly paying attention, it was easily over an hour before Aina's tears slowed to a crawl.
    However, from start to finish, he didn't say a word. He only held her in his arms, a protective aura manifesting around him. At that moment, he didn't care who it was who stood before him, he wouldn't allow a single hair on her to be harmed.
    When Aina's tears stopped, she fell into a deep sleep. Without a care in the world, her cheek rested against Leonel's beating heart, its steady rhythm lulling her into a world of dreams.
    **
    City Lord Keafir sat at his desk, a blank look on his face as he gazed at the dim fire lamp before him.
    There were countless methods of keeping tabs on one's life and death in the Dimensional Verse. Since City Lord White was such an important piece of Terrain's invasion, it was no surprise that the Cities would invest in monitoring her situation.
    Though City Lord Keafir had expected to deal with casualties in this war, maybe the last person he had expected to lose was City Lord White. His heart couldn't help but swim with a torrent of emotions.
    His hand reached out, grasping the dying flame and allowing it to dance in his palm. Despite the fact it was a fire, it held no warmth. In fact, it was quite cold.
    Taking a deep breath, City Lord Keafir squeezed his palm into a fist, shattering what remained of the flame.
    He closed his eyes, images of what happened during City Lord White's final moments playing in his mind. He had originally paid the ridiculous expense needed for this feature so that he could be aware of any powerful enemies their scouting reports might have missed out on. But, now, this had little to do with strategy and reconnaissance. He needed to see who had killed her.
    After a long while, City Lord Keafir unclenched his fists, his eyes opening. His gaze held a slight hint of red within them that slowly dissipated.
    At that moment, Aanred walked into his father's office. His gaze swept across the 12 fire lamps on his father's desk before he focused on the one that had been extinguished.
    His eyes narrowed.
    He knew his father well. Despite the fact that he and City Lord White hadn't had any relations since that fateful night so many rumors had been spread about, his father hadn't forgotten about her.
    Camelot should have been the easiest target. It was a place without foundations and with a people who had yet to awaken to their abilities. Even Anared had made his displeasure known for his father's decision back then.
    City Lord White was most definitely within the top four in terms of fighting prowess amongst the City Lords. Even if she wasn't tasked with attacking the Capital, she should have, at the very least, been assigned to either White Angel or Royal Blue Province considering these were the second and third ranked Provinces of Earth.
    Yet, because his father wanted to protect her, she was sent to Camelot. And somehowбн she died in a place that should have been the safest?
    Anared didn't feel any particular affection for City Lord White. No, it was more accurate to say that he wouldn't lay his life on the line for her. But, he also wouldn't stand idly by if her life was in danger.
    For anyone who knew his personality, this would be quite shocking. Anared was overly protective of all those he saw as his own, but he wouldn't even raise a finger to aid those he had no relation to.
    The fact that he would help City Lord White at all spoke volumesбн
    But how could he not? He knew well that Rie was his half sister and that City Lord White was her mother.
    Rie thought that she was an orphan, but that was only because the little girl was just too simple. Why would a family like the Keafir family treat a mere orphan so well? She lived the pampered life of a princess and in complete oblivionбн
    "Who killed her." Anared asked coldly.
    Anared's father remained silent for a long while, the beating of his heart becoming slower with each passing moment. Eventually, it regained its former calm.
    "Aina Brazinger."
    Anared's pupils constricted when he heard these words. He thought that any expert that managed to kill her would have been an unknown. He had only asked as a formality, expecting a description rather than a name.
    Even if he did prepare himself to hear a name, this was the very last name he had expected to. He knew the name Aina Brazinger well since that girl had managed to do something he trained for over a decade to do without lifting a single finger.
    That said, Aina couldn't even defeat Jilniya, how could she possibly stand a chance against City Lord White? Was that some sort of joke.
    "Could you have seen wrongly?"
    "No." City Lord Keafir responded blandly. "However, she seemed to have used some double-edged technique that left her incapacitated. We have no way of knowing how often she can use it or even if she would dare to use it again."
    Hearing this, Anared finally understood somewhat. So, it was a berserk type abilityбн
    Berserk abilities weren't too rare. Those who had strength based abilities like Aina's would often awaken them as they continued to evolve, it was a natural progression. Often, added strength was related to tapping into more of the body's potential, so berserk skills were the next natural step.
    Of course, Anared only thought this because he had no idea that Aina's ability wasn't a strength based ability, but rather a healing based one.
    "бн Should I lead a troop to Camelot, then? Such a skill wouldn't be able to be activated twice in quick succession. This is a good opportunity."
    City Lord Keafir stood, his visage expressionless.
    "No. City Lord Hargrove is already in position and everything is prepared. We need to be swift and strike fast, giving them no opportunity to counter. Go support him."
    Anared nodded and left, a killing intent hidden deep within his eyes.
    Rie might not know that City Lord White was her mother, but there was only so long the little girl could remain so na?ve. Since they actually dared to harm his little sister like this, Anared would make them repay this debt in blood.
    He wondered what Earth would do when tens of thousands of criminals from its own Dark Cloud Prison were suddenly released?

 Chapter 506 - Easier

    Aina shifted in Leonel's arms. When she realized where she was, she began to blush profusely. But, as much as she wanted to run away, she didn't dare to at this point. She really regretted throwing all her clothes away now. And why was this damn water so clear?
    Leonel's chuckling awoke Aina from her own thoughts. By now, her entire body had turned into a deep shade of red. Unfortunately, the only place she had to hide was Leonel's chest.
    "Oofбн Don't squirm so muchбн"
    Though Leonel was laughing at Aina, he too wanted to shed tears. Didn't this girl realize where she was sitting? He had displayed enough will power for a lifetime today.
    Aina blinked, peaking up from Leonel's chest. A bright smile spread across her lips, her embarrassment suddenly vanishing.
    "It's not like this is the first time I've seen it."
    Leonel almost choked on air again.
    "That wasn't me!" Leonel defended himself.
    It wasn't his fault. It really wasn't. Back then, the primitive man had had control over his body.
    Damn, by now, he had already forgotten about that embarrassing moment, only for Aina to bring it up again. He felt as though he had suffered a lethal combo.
    Aina giggled. Only she knew that that wasn't what she was referring to. But, if Leonel knew that she was referring to a certain event that happened in the Joan Zone, it was unknown how he would react.
    Leonel was unconscious back then, so he had no way of knowing what happened. And, even if he had been conscious, at this very moment, he was suddenly very much aware of two soft mounds pressed against his chest. So, he couldn't quite focus on anything else.
    "I'm sorry."
    Aina's sudden words caught Leonel off guard. The lewd thoughts he had had vanished like the wind soon afterward.
    Leonel brought a hand to Aina's cheek, forcing her to look at him.
    "You have nothing to apologize for." He said seriously. "In fact, I'm sorry. I was so focused on other things that I didn't even realize so much time had passedбн"
    Leonel didn't think that Aina would think he had abandoned her. Back then, he purposely left the Segmented Cube with Aina as a sign of exactly that. He had only taken the Segmented Cube with him before he left to the Demon Empire.
    But, things hadn't worked out as he had expected.
    Leonel was a person who could break things down into their simple details and analyze them logically. If he was in Aina's place, he would have seen through the fact he left behind the Segmented Cube as a good sign. But, that didn't mean that Aina herself would see it as suchбн
    In fact, when he thought about it, Aina could have easily seen the Segmented Cube as a sign of pity. After all, it had the only cure to her scars within it. So, who knew how she really saw such an action?
    Aina furiously shook her head at Leonel's words.
    "бн I'm the one who pushed you away. I couldn't even answer a simple questionбн"
    When Aina thought back to it, even she couldn't quite explain why she had dodged Leonel's questions like that. He had only been worried about herбн
    Though back then she had only tried to downplay things to reassure him, the more she thought about it, the more guilty she felt.
    She had wanted to say she was fine and that she had made it out alive, so it wasn't a big deal. But, her words had come off like Leonel shouldn't care so muchбн
    When a stranger or an acquaintance asked you how your day went, most would give a perfunctory answer even if your day really had been terrible. Only when in the presence of those you truly trusted would you give a real answerбн
    Aina's words back then had practically treated Leonel as though he was an acquaintance she was sharing a few words with rather than a man she could give her heart to. It was no wonder Leonel had chosen to pull away at that moment.
    Leonel shook his head and smiled, gently stroking Aina's cheek.
    "Forget it. It's not a big deal."
    "No." Aina shook her head again. "It is a big deal. Iбн"
    Aina took a deep breath and began to speak. She didn't allow Leonel to cut her off or say that it was fine again. She knew that Leonel cared too much about her, if she really allowed him to say that it was fine, he would simply never ask about such sensitive topics again.
    From observing Leonel for so long, she had realized that he was simply too good at separating his emotions from his logic. And, he almost always let logic dictate his actions first and foremost.
    She didn't want such an artificial barrier to exist between them because even if she hadn't said it in but so many wordsбн She too cared about Leonel. In fact, she had cared about him for a long time already.
    So, she spoke.
    She began with what happened when she was randomly teleported to a wasteland of Terrain, to how she ran into the Variant Zone, to her run in with the Heirs and Heiress of the three Powers.
    She told Leonel about how she had escaped them and then she began to describe how she ran into the Mountain Sands Range and about how she entered the maze of tunnels.
    When she got to the appearance of the Puppet Master, her body began to involuntarily tremble once again. But, this time, within Leonel's arms, she gained the strength to speak.
    She looked into Leonel's eyes from start to finish, finding a steady calm within their fathomless depths. She watched as a spark of rage lit within them and observed as it boiled over like a frightening eruption of magma.
    Anyone else, beneath such pressure, would feel as though their souls were being crushed and that their hearts could no longer beat. But, Aina hadn't felt so comfortable in her life.
    Watching Leonel become infuriated for her sake made her heart beat wildly and filled her stomach with butterflies. By now, Leonel's rage had superseded his lust, so his member was no longer at attention. But, it was now Aina's turn to feel a fire light her lower belly.
    She felt that Leonel was exceptionally attractive when he was leading men like he had his teammates just a couple months ago. But now, she found it hard to decide which version of him she liked more... The leader version? Or this protective version?
    Her thighs couldn't help but squeeze down slightly on either side of Leonel's hips.. She had a feeling that if she tried to break past that certain barrier nowбн it would be much easier and not nearly as painful.

 Chapter 507 - Locked

    Leonel had no idea that Aina had been lit afire. If it wasn't because he wanted to listen to the story to the end and didn't want to leave Aina at this moment, he might have charged off to earn another talisman to Terrain.
    To dare have designs on his Ainaбн If he ever ran into this so-called Puppet Master, Leonel would be certain to rip him to shreds.
    Aina paused, her amber eyes scanning Leonel's face as though she wanted to memorize every line and slope.
    She always knew that Leonel was quite handsome. His tanned skin, his pale green eyes, his strong jawбн She had to admit that she missed his messy dirty blond hair. But, this long bronze hair made him look particularly masculine, almost like a Roman God, especially when it was paired with his broad shoulders and chest.
    It was only at this moment that she realized that she had never observed Leonel so closely before. She had always been too shy to do so in the past. But now she felt many times more comfortable doing so, especially since Leonel's mind was hardly focused on her actions at the moment.
    He hung on her every word instead as though trying to visualize the day he would kill this Puppet Master.
    "How did you escape?"
    Leonel's sudden question shook Aina out of her fantasy land. She blushed slightly, but noticing that Leonel hadn't found anything odd about her actions, she continued.
    "бн I never expected for my curse to help me in such a way." Aina started again. "I usually use its suppressive effects to help with my training, but I didn't expect for my blood to carry the same effect.
    "After it consumed my blood, it became severely weakened and the restrictions on me lessened. I wanted to kill it right then and there, but it began to summon more of its guards. Back then Iбн I entered a weird state. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I've never felt so powerful before.
    "The restrictions on my mind seemed to loosen and I could feel his other puppets coming, but these puppets were completely unlike the uncoordinated ones he used to mine in the mountains. In fact, some of them had consciousnesses of their own and were exceptionally powerful. Most had strength at Tier 7 and above.
    "Also, though he was weakened, he was still half a step into the Fifth Dimension. It was fine if he spent all his strength suppressing the curse, in that case, he wouldn't be able to move. But, if I forced him to attack, I was sure that he could still kill meбн
    "So, taking advantage of my strengthened state, I stole the capsule he wanted to imprison me in and ran away.
    "It's hard for me to remember much about what happened after thatбн it's all so hazyбн"
    Aina frowned, her delicate brow wrinkling. Though she seemed to have knife wounds across her face, Leonel found her current appearance quite adorable. Or, rather, he would have had he not been so pissed.
    "бн Wait, your strengthened state? Is that part of your ability?" Leonel asked curiously.
    Aina hesitated.
    Though she said she didn't know how she got to that strengthened stateбн She hadn't told the whole truth. She had a vague ideaбн It was just thatбн
    Her face was already scarred. If Leonel knew that she drank blood, would he really not want her anymore? How could he want to be with such a gross womanбн?
    How was she any different from the Variant Invalid who had eaten all those people? In fact, if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have been able to enter such a strengthened state because the blood she got was precisely from those desecrated corpses...
    Aina opened her mouth but hesitated again.
    'Noбн I can't not answer againбн'
    Aina grit her teeth.
    Leonel blinked curiously, waiting with patience.
    "Iбн The blood from the human carcasses the Puppet Master had spread across the tableбн I ingested it."
    Aina's words seemed to take all the strength out of her. She felt like she was going to collapse that very moment.
    Her voice was as soft as could be, almost beneath what a human could possibly pick up with their ears.
    "What?" Leonel responded.
    Hearing this, Aina paled considerably, her eyes breaking away from Leonel's as she looked down. Her breathing hitched, she was almost on the verge of another panic attack. What would she do now?
    But, Leonel's next words left her stunned.
    "That's so cool!"
    "бн Huh?" Aina looked up somewhat weakly, at a loss for words.
    "Just imagine it, if I told the guys that my girlfriend was a vampire, they would die from envy, don't you think?"
    Leonel grinned wildly, his face carrying with it a na?ve, boyish charm. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who struck so much fear on the battlefield. At that moment, he was far more like the boy who said Shield Cross Stars had a cool uniform rather than the man who reaped lives with a single thought.
    As for thinking Aina was gross, Leonel had never had such thoughts. He so easily accepted the little mink's darkness affinity, why would he care about drinking blood? Though current technology was far beyond it, he had even read about how their ancestors used to use blood transfusions to save the sick and injured. How was that much different from ingesting blood?
    Leonel, at least, didn't see much of a difference. All he had thoughts of was having a cool vampire girlfriend. That would definitely give him points to show off to the boys.
    He couldn't help but grin like a little boy. And, because he was so busy grinning, he couldn't react before Aina shifted upward, her lips planting firmly against his.
    Aina's palms held Leonel's face in place as though she was scared he would run away. At that moment, she only wanted to kiss him, kiss him so deeply that the memory was engraved onto her mind.
    Leonel was stunned for a moment, but a heat in his chest tossed such thoughts out of his mind. He wrapped his arms around Aina's waist as her hands traveled to the back of his head.
    The two embraced one another, their lips locked.
    Aina shivered when she felt Leonel's tongue invade her mouth, but she didn't resist.. It felt like a warm liquid was filling her body, her mind entering a state of euphoria it had never tasted before.

 Chapter 508 - Touch Me

    Aina sunk her fingers into the heavy threads of Leonel's hair. She had never experienced such an intoxicating feeling before.
    When Leonel shamelessly stole her first kiss, her heart had fluttered and her mind had grown foggy. But, that moment had been filled with innocence and purity. It was the kind of memory that filled one with sweetness.
    But at this moment, Aina didn't feel sweetness. She felt heat, as though her entire body was burning up from the inside out. However, rather than wanting to separate from Leonel, she only wanted to get closer.
    Leonel could feel the same heat. And maybe, in someway, it was even more potent for him.
    Aina might have been petite, but her chest had volume that left him at a loss for words. Her face might have been scarred, but he couldn't find a single other flaw on her body. Everything from her touch, to her breath, to the silky smoothness of her skin left him in a daze.
    Leonel's hands slipped down from her waist, grasping the underside of Aina's thighs and lifting her up.
    Aina gasped slightly from the sudden change, subconsciously causing her arms and legs to wrap around Leonel tighter. With the strength she used, maybe if it wasn't for the fact Leonel had a Metal Body, his bones would have been crushed.
    Being risen into the sky, Aina felt one part helpless and another part elated. She loved the feeling of Leonel sweeping her off her feet, the feeling of him bearing her weight in his strong arms.
    Leonel gently placed Aina down at the side of the pool. From this position, all he could imagine was thrusting into her with all his might. The instinct was so potent that his body trembled, his cock pulsing as though a beast struggling against its chain.
    Aina could feel Leonel pressing against her below. Her mind was somewhat hazy, feeling just as intoxicated as Leonel's own. She could feel a wetness spreading that had little to do with the pool of water they had just been in.
    She had a mind to let Leonel do as he pleased. No, she wanted him to do as he pleased. It was a completely different feeling from before. Whereas previously she felt like she had to, nowбн she wanted to.
    Butбн Somewhere deep inside, she didn't quite feel ready yet. It wasn't because she didn't trust Leonel, nor was it because she didn't have feelings for him. She just felt that things were moving too fast, it left her at a loss.
    She separated from Leonel's kiss, pressing her forehead against his. Her hands held onto his cheeks as he held onto her hips. Her thighs trembled against Leonel's sides when she felt his heated shaft pressing against her below.
    Aina reached a hand down from Leonel's face and began to slowly stroke him, her movements gentle and caring.
    Leonel's breathing hitched, his gaze carrying a tinge of red as it locked onto Aina's. He could see the affection within those amber irises. Though her movements were slightly awkward and unrefined, just the fact she was willing to try left his heart feeling warm.
    "бн Look at me." Aina said softly, her words tickling Leonel's eardrums.
    As a Five Star Health Professional, Aina was more familiar with the human body and its psychology than most. The same way she knew that it would be dangerous if Leonel's lower region wasn't cleaned was the same way she knew that men were visual creatures. Even if she couldn't give everything to Leonel at this moment, she still wanted him to know that she was his.
    Leonel's breathing quickened, his eyes hesitating somewhat before leaving Aina's gaze and traveling downward. The feeling of her hand slowly moving up and down seemed to intensify, his body heating up like flamed coals.
    All this time, he had been subconsciously avoiding looking at Aina's body. It was one part due to respect and another part due to him not wanting her to think he hated the sight of her face. But, hearing her ask him to do it so blatantly left his mouth dry.
    At that moment, Leonel stood at the edge of the pool, Aina seated at its ledge, her legs wrapped around his hips. Their foreheads were lightly pressed against one another, giving Leonel a vantage point that almost made his nose bleed.
    Aina leaned back slightly, her hand motions never slowing. She invited him to gaze at her body, a gentle red blush dancing across her skin.
    The first thing Leonel saw was Aina's toned belly, glistening with wetness. With her half seated position, it flexed beneath the lights of the bathhouse and the shadow of his head. With Aina's every breath, her abs constricted, showing off the faint outline of a powerful physique. Leonel felt as though he could watch her breathe like this indefinitely.
    "бн Move my hair." Aina whispered.
    Leonel gulped.
    Aina's hair draped over her shoulders, blocking much of the view of her chest. All Leonel could see were two rounded protrusions.
    With slow movements, Leonel brought a hand up, sliding it underneath Aina's hair from her shoulder and moving it away.
    Aina's blush became more furious, the redness of her skin only making her more alluring. Leonel could see the rapid beating of her heart through her skin. Every pulse made her chest move just a bit, leaving him at a loss for words.
    He had never seen something so beautiful in his life. He had been feeling it against his chest all this time, but this was the first time he truly knew how gorgeous the sight could be. Even with how large his hands were, he didn't believe he could cover them completely.
    The healthy drop, the alluring pink dots, the perkiness of youth. It left him not knowing how to breathe.
    It was perfect.
    "бн Touch me."
    As though too embarrassed to looked Leonel in the eye when she said this, Aina dove into another kiss, her hand movements increasing just the slightest bit.
    Her movement caused Leonel's hand which had been hovering after moving her hair to land directly onto her chest.
    The supple silkiness of her skin sent Leonel into cloud nine. He couldn't hold back anymore.
    Aina felt the pulsing of the raging beast in her hand grow past a point of no return. But, this time, she didn't try to avoid what came out.
    She focused entirely on their kiss, a deep happiness blooming in her heart.

 Chapter 509 - Revolve

    Leonel's sharp intake of breath slowly calmed, his emotions sitting on a cloud high above. He didn't believe that there could be a greater happiness in the world. It wasn't just about the feeling itself, but rather about the fact the woman he liked so much had been by his side during it.
    "бн You didn't have to do that."
    Leonel's voice carried and edgy gruff to it. Maybe it would still take him a while longer to recover completely.
    "No, I didn't have to." Aina said with a sweet smile. "I wanted to."
    Leonel smiled beside himself.
    "Looks like we need another bath." Leonel said playfully before hoisting Aina up again.
    She giggled lightly, letting Leonel do as he pleased.
    бн
    While the couple were in their own little world, they had no idea about the goings-on outside.
    Though the Segmented Cube had been left right in the middle of a battlefield, no one dared to disturb it. Was that a joke? With how wrathful Leonel had been despite the fact no one had actually laid a finger on Aina, how would he react if they tried to interfere in his matters now?
    By now, though, the battlefield had been cleared and the dead had been dumped in a pile to be burned. Or, rather, Arthur had tried to do this, only to realize there was no chance of burning the corpses of Fourth Dimensional entities with normal flames.
    Without a choice, he had to call upon one of Camelot's Three Star Magi to do the job. The last thing they could afford now was some sort of diseased outbreak. Arthur didn't know if the Fourth Dimension still had plagues, but what he did know was that if they did, they would be far beyond what a disease of the Third Dimension could compare to. There was no need to take such a risk.
    It was during these moments that the others finally learned of what happened at the Demon Empire.
    "бн He did what?"
    King Arthur stood in a daze, looking toward Crakos as though he was examining a mentally ill patient. He wasn't very fond of Demons to begin with, so he was hesitant to believe their words in any situation, let alone this one.
    Crakos looked down toward Arthur, his gaze indifferent and his demeanor carrying the very same scholarly air. He didn't understand the rhetorical question culture of humans. In fact, he didn't understand their sarcasm either.
    He knew well that Arthur had already heard what he said, so there was absolutely no need for him to repeat himself.
    "Stop." Mordred put out a hand, stopping the situation from reaching a point of escalation. "Is what you said true, Crakos?"
    Crakos nodded seriously. "Yes, Your Majesty. He helped us to eradicate the entire army. The ones we tried to capture killed themselves, so now there's no one left. There should only be the normal citizens of White City left. Before he left, Leonel suggested that we mobilize an army to capture it."
    "Capture White City?" Mordred fell into her thoughts.
    It was indeed not a good idea to leave a city filled with citizens of another world unconquered. Also, there was always the chance of others coming to take it over. If that happened, then Camelot would be thrust right back into the same situation.
    Mordred looked toward her father and they both nodded. They were both aware that Leonel's suggestion was the smartest. It was really inadvisable to leave a city unchecked in their territory like this.
    "Alright, we will иC"
    Arthur's words paused, his gaze narrowing.
    At the moment, the three of them иC Arthur, Mordred and Crakos иC were within a military tent on the very same battlefield City Lord White had fallen on. It had been about two days since Noah and his troop left.
    Of course, Arthur didn't blame them for leaving. After the ass whooping Leonel gave them, he wouldn't have had the face to stay either. But, to think they would come back.
    From the looks of it, it seemed that Noah had semi recovered while Nile was nowhere to be seen.
    In truth, Leonel was quite lenient with Nile at the time. He could have blasted a hole through his heart, but he gave the Junior Governor Duke a chance at life. Whether he seized it or not seemed to remain to be seen.
    Noah led the troop, his face pale. It was clear that he was still heavily injured. Yet, if it wasn't for the natural reaction of his skin tone, it would be impossible to tell from his facial expressions.
    Noah swept a glance over the battlefield. Seeing that the Segmented Cube was still in the same place it had been before, his gaze flashed with an imperceptible light, but he didn't say anything until he made his way to Arthur's tent riding upon the back of another black wolf.
    With a leap, Noah descended from the back of the wolf as Arthur, Mordred and Crakos exited the tent.
    Without mincing his words, Noah spoke.
    "White City has been captured and I've stationed half of my army to keep the order. I will need to return to Earth to report this to my Imperial Grandfather. Before I do, we have yet to begin our negotiations."
    Mordred and Arthur's expressions became serious.
    Even if most of White City's main forces had already died, capturing a city was no laughing matter, especially not in such a heavily injured state. Yet, Noah had done itбн
    It was impossible for Terrain to not have made contingency plans to protect their citiesбн So, how had he done it exactly?
    But, even beyond this, in all the chaos, they had almost forgotten that there were negotiations that had yet to be completed. Let alone completed, they hadn't even begun.
    Before, they had been reliant on Leonel, but now that they knew that Leonel was actually a Prince of this Royal Familyбн Could they still count on him the same?
    At that moment, the Segmented Cube which had remained immobile for the past several days suddenly moved.
    Two figures walking hand in hand appeared out of it. One was a smiling young man and the other was a young girl wearing a mask.. Despite the fact they were only leisurely walking and idly chatting with one another, the world's energies seemed to revolve around them.

 Chapter 510 - Watch

    Leonel pocketed the Segmented Cube and seemed to finally realize that the atmosphere was a bit off. He swept a gaze forward and noticed Noah.
    After a brief pause, he turned back to Aina.
    "Are you sure that it's comfortable?"
    Aina giggled. This was the fourth or fifth time Leonel had asked this question.
    "Yes, really, it is."
    She lightly touched the mask on her face, a light smile blooming beneath.
    She normally wouldn't wear a mask, but the purpose of this one wasn't to hide her appearance.
    After learning about Aina's curse and the time limit, Leonel found out that there was a way to delay the progress of the curse. It was obvious that it was greatly suppressed by Cleansing Waters, so Leonel chose to Craft a mask for Aina that could help her.
    What he hadn't expected, though, was for Aina to like the mask so much. Though she never said anything, the curse placed her in a perpetual state of discomfort. Even in its least inflamed form where her scars appeared no different from knife wounds, there was an uncomfortable tightness and itchiness she always had to deal with.
    But, for the first time, she felt completely at ease. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that Leonel had cured her completely.
    The mask itself was something that Leonel put his heart and soul into. It was actually the reason they had taken an extra two days to exit the Segmented Cube, other than celebrating Aina's birthday, of course.
    The mask used the pearl of the Purifying Fog Clam as a base. It gave the mask itself a premium white glow that seemed somewhat like marble but carried the off-whiteness and milky texture of pearls.
    The inner-workings of the mask were forged with the Ice Vein type Ore, Misty Dream Ore.
    The Purifying Fog Clam was known for its ability to turn large amounts of water into a gentle mist that almost appeared like fog. As for the Mist Dream Ice Vein Ore, it was known for its ability to keep its ice-like state even in the hottest of climates, almost as though it was in its own dream world regardless of the environment.
    Leonel crafted veins patterns throughout the mask with the Misty Dream Ore and filled its innards with Cleansing Waters. The combination of the two allowed Aina to have a fine mist of Cleansing Water perpetually hovering around her face. Any unease she had completely vanished.
    In the end, the mask gained the appearance of a beautiful piece of art. The contrast of the milky whiteness to the sharp blue lines of the Misty Dream Ore made it look particularly dazzling. In fact, even Aina hadn't expected to like it so much.
    What she was more shocked about, though, was the fact that Leonel actually managed to give it defensive strength rivaling a Tier 8 Black treasure despite the fact it wasn't designed with such a thing in mind.
    Others might not know how valuable Force Crafters were, but how could Aina not be aware? The realization that Leonel hadn't been joking before left her quite stunned.
    Of course, she hadn't thought that Leonel had been lying. He wasn't that type of person. Rather, she was more shocked by Leonel's level of skill.
    From what she understood, he was almost at the standard of a Fifth Dimensional Force Crafter. At his age, at least in worlds as weak as theirsбн That was completely unheard of!
    Mordred smiled bitterly when she saw how the two were still somehow in their own world. Didn't they see the gravity of the situation?
    Mordred cleared her throat.
    "Ah, right." Leonel looked up toward Mordred and grinned. "Sorry, I heard that there were negotiations happening now? I've already promised Em to take the helm in these matters, so if you want to negotiate, you'll be doing so with me."
    Hearing these words, Mordred couldn't help but smile. It seemed that she had thought too much before.
    That was right, if he was willing to beat this cousin of his so savagely, there shouldn't have been anything to worry about to begin with.
    Jessica, who had descended to Noah's side, frowned when she heard these words. As the Prince of The Empire, something like Leonel negotiating on behalf of outsiders was highly inappropriate. She wanted to open her mouth to say something, but Noah stretched out a hand that stopped her.
    "As you wish."
    Leonel nodded.
    Soon, the group had entered the military tent.
    Leonel sat on one side of the table with Aina to his left and Mordred to his right. As for King Arthur, he sat to the right of his daughter.
    On the other side of the table, Noah faced Leonel with Jessica to his side. On the other side of Noah, there was another young man.
    The young man had his long hair done up in an elaborate bun that seemed to come straight out of an ancient world. He had sharp features and an even sharper gaze all hidden behind his glasses.
    However, while the glasses Leonel's father wore were more of gimmick because he simply liked their appearance, Leonel could tell that the glasses of this young man were actually a treasure that helped boost his ocular ability.
    The young man swept a gaze toward Leonel before observing Mordred and then finally turning toward Aina. But, before he could, Leonel snorted lightly.
    An audible crack resounded in the quiet room.
    The glasses of the young man snapped, their lenses breaking into tiny fragments. If it wasn't because the young man was quick to close his eyes as soon as he realized that something was wrong, he may very well have been blinded in that moment.
    Leonel's gaze didn't shift away from the young man as the latter slowly took his glasses off, his visage indifferent but the aura he was exuding reaching a tangible level.
    "Watch where you're looking please, or else I'll have to ask you to leave."

 Chapter 511 - Fawkes Family

    Leonel's voice came out with an undeniable edge to it.
    Those glasses, with his skill as a Force Crafter, he could easily see through their abilities. Even if this young man wasn't necessarily using it in a perverted manner, Leonel had no intention on relying on his 'good nature'.
    The young man slowly placed his glasses down on the table before them, wiping away the small shards of glass that hadn't managed to pierce his skin. Judging by his expression, one would have never guessed that he had just been humiliated.
    His treasure could indeed see through more than what the human eye was capable of. As for whether he was truly planning on using his glasses like this, maybe only he was aware of the answer to that.
    The young man looked up from his broken glasses to Leonel, his gaze remaining even. Leonel matched his gaze, not a hint of remorse in his eyes.
    "My name is Noah Fawkes, I'm here on behalf of The Empire as the representative of the Fawkes Royal Family.
    "This is Jessica Scarlet, she is the representative of the Scarlet Grand Prime Minister family.
    "This is Tyrron Dove, he is the representative of the Dove Grand Prime Minister family."
    Noah didn't address the small scuffle between Leonel and Tyrron in the slightest, he made his way forward with introductions without a care.
    Leonel turned his gaze from Tyrron, focusing it on his cousin. He had to admit that Noah had perfected the air of a Prince. In this regard, he was far beyond Lionus despite being a few years younger.
    "The proposal is simple." Noah spoke with a royal air, his presence seeming several times larger than his actual stature would dictate. "Camelot and the Demon Empire will be annexed to become the second moon of Earth. Your status will be that of probationary citizens. Jessica."
    Jessica nodded hearing her name called.
    "Probationary citizenship allows you two-thirds the rights of official citizens of Earth. You will be protected by the same laws, however your voting rights are reduced by a third and your punishments are increased by the same measure.
    "This status will last until the end of the war wherein you will be instated as official citizens of The Empire. Depending on your performance, you may be conferred a Chief Earl title under the Pendragon name."
    Jessica brought out several drafted documents. They piled up onto the table, totaling at least a few dozen pages.
    King Arthur frowned at these words. He didn't like these terms very much at all.
    He was essentially tasked with defending what amounted to half a large continent of Earth in return for an бн Earl Title?
    He might not know what the titles of Earth were and how they compared to Camelot's, but Earl was an easily identifiable title for him. That was enough to tell him that he would have next to no speaking power.
    However, instead of lashing out like he wanted to, he remained silent, leaving these matters in Leonel's hands. Since he had already resigned himself to this life, it hardly made a difference. Whether he was an Earl or a Duke, who cared if he was no longer King?
    Leonel didn't respond to Noah or Jessica. Instead, he reached for the papers.
    Under the confused gazes of everyone present, he flipped through them one by one, not remaining on a single page for more than a second.
    Jessica's brow wrinkled slightly. Was he planning on reading it? But if he really was planning on reading it, why was he flipping through the pages so quickly?
    What Jessica didn't know was that Leonel had already slowed himself down considerably. Let alone a second a page, all he would have to do is spread these pages out and he could read all more than 50 sheets in that same time frame.
    After a while, Leonel placed the documents down and closed his eyes.
    Leonel quickly organized all the information, jumped through the legal talk and reached the core of the documents.
    Ultimately, this document was mostly created to familiarize Camelot with the laws of Earth. Only a small portion of it actually detailed the agreement between the two 'nations'. But, this was good for Leonel as well. Though he knew the main tenants of Earth's laws, when it came to the details, he was severely lacking.
    The document was unlikely to list all of Earth's laws. After all, it was only a few dozen sheets while Earth had long since moved passed the usage of paper. Clearly, they had only gone back due to the completion of the Metamorphosis making technology all but useless. But this was enough.
    Leonel opened his eyes. The simple action made Jessica shudder. But, the feeling of oppression soon vanished as they regained their focus.
    "Accept them as official citizens of The Empire, remove the guaranteed Chief Earl title, and document Camelot as a Probationary Province."
    Noah's expression finally shifted from something other than indifference. His head tilted slightly, a hint of questioning in his gaze.
    "If we do things like this, the Pendragon family will not be guaranteed any title. It is very possible that they will become commoners. Under these conditions, the people of Camelot are no longer of Camelot. As such, their merits are their own and won't count for the Pendragon family."
    Though The Empire's initial offer sounded bad, after reading the document, Leonel felt they were surprisingly fair. 'Probationary Citizen' sounded like a bad title, but it essentially allowed Camelot autonomy to continue functioning as its own nation until the war ended. As such, the merits of Camelot's armies would count toward Camelot and allow it to earn up to an Earl title in the end.
    But, Leonel was essentially asking to remove this failsafe. By allowing Camelot to become official citizens of Earth right this moment, they were all starting as commoners. How could commoners lead people? Obviously, they didn't have the right to do so. So, any merits 'Camelot' accomplished would be equally spread to its millions of citizens rather than concentrating into Arthur's or Mordred's hands.
    Though this method would allow the Pendragons a chance to achieve a royal title higher than Earl, it also meant that they could effectively end up with nothing unless they had astounding single person feats.
    Though the Code Black of The Empire seemed to throw the nobles to the wolves, the truth was that they still had many advantages commoners didn't have. As nobles, they had subordinates that were recognized by law. Those subordinates could funnel their merits toward these nobles, making it easier for them to retain their titles.
    However, if Arthur and Mordred became official citizens nowбн They wouldn't have this luxury any longer.
    "I'm certain." Leonel replied. "After all, as a Prince, I can allocate my merits however I please."
    Noah's pupils constricted into pinholes.
    That was right. There was one family that didn't have to worry about democracy on Earth, and that was the Fawkes family. But how could Leonel alone amass more merits than those royal families with tens to hundreds of thousands of subordinates?
    Just as Noah wanted to open his mouth to say something, a talisman on Jessica's person suddenly glowed.. At first, she listened to the message passed to her in silence, but after a while, her cold expression furrowed into a frown.

 Chapter 512 - What Have I Been Doing?

    Jessica's expression only seemed to become worse with each passing moment. When the message finally came to a close, she began to whisper into Noah's ear. Clearly, the matter was too urgent for her to even consider leaving this place first. But, it was precisely because of this that Leonel learned exactly what happened.
    With his senses, how could he not make out a whisper? In fact, even Aina was capable of doing the same thing. Though her mind wasn't on the same level as Leonel's, her five senses were greatly heightened.
    'Dream Cloud Prisonбн?' Leonel's gaze narrowed.
    Dream Cloud Prison, compared to Prisons from ancient times, could be considered a paradise. The Empire put a lot of effort into rehabilitation, more than what could be said for most Nations of the past.
    However, even with this being the case, there were many who would never step foot outside of the Prison. And, many of those who never wouldбн had never even committed crimes before.
    This sounded like a shocking matter, but considering the history of The Empire, maybe it wasn't so after a moment of thought.
    The Gene Analysis Exam wasn't just a prerequisite for finding future talentsбн It was also a test for finding future criminals.
    Those that had a high potential to commit petty crimes in the future were mostly ignored. These individuals were allowed to live out their lives and would only be escorted to Dark Cloud Prison upon committing the crimes in question.
    Howeverбн There were those who were born with more sinister tastes, those who had a high potential for violence and murder. Those people were classified as A-grade Prisoners and were introduced into Dark Cloud Prison in their infancy.
    They received visitation from their family. But, other than this, they would spend their lives within the walls of the Dark Cloud Prisonбн
    But, this was only the beginning. While there were those with potential for horrid acts of violence and murder, there were others who not only had such desires, but also had tools to commit them that far surpassed the normal personбн
    These people were geniuses who were born to be Five Star Professionals, prodigies that had impossible levels of intelligence to match their twisted nature.
    They were known as Dark Prisoners and received the highest level of security Dark Cloud Prison had to offer.
    As for whether it was ethical to punish people before they committed the crimes they were supposedly destined to, Leonel wasn't sure. If he was honest with himself, he never really thought about it before. Dark Cloud Prison was so far and away out of his mind in his day to day life that like most privileged people, he just never thought about it.
    But now, it seemed that Dark Cloud Prison had no intention of staying away from his life any longer.
    That saidбн judging by Jessica's words, this seemed like a good opportunity.
    When Jessica finished whispering to Noah, his expression, too, became serious.
    Leonel smiled and looked toward Aina. "Want to go to Dark Cloud Province?"
    Jessica's lip twitched when she heard these words. He didn't even bother asking them first how they felt about it? And, couldn't he have at least pretended as though he hadn't heard anything? After all, this was technically top secret information.
    But, when Jessica remembered that Leonel was also technically a Prince, she realized that he really could do whatever he wanted. Unless her father or Tyrron's father was here, there would be no way to command him to do anything.
    And, even in that case, Jessica somehow believed it wouldn't matter. After all, it really didn't seem like Leonel was relying on the Prince title at all. He would have done whatever he wanted to do from the very beginning.
    Aina nodded at Leonel's suggestion.
    At this point, both of their goals were in sync. Aina wanted to grow stronger and so did Leonel. If he didn't grow stronger, how could he possibly upgrade the Segmented Cube to cure Aina?
    "It's settled then." Leonel smiled and looked back toward Noah, Jessica and Tyrron. "I think my proposal was in line with The Empire's bottom line, correct?"
    Noah gazed at Leonel for a moment before nodding.
    "Good."
    Not long later, Noah, Jessica and Tyrron got up to leave. Tyrron left behind a slight smile, but didn't say anything from the start of the meeting to the end. It was difficult to tell if this was just his personality or if there was something else.
    "So what hole did you throw me into, kid?"
    Finally, Arthur couldn't hold back any longer. He had heard the negotiations, but without understanding Earth's laws, it was tough for him to follow everything that was said. In the end, he could only trust in Leonel, something that left him feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
    Leonel chuckled. "It's a good thing, I promiseбн"
    After Leonel finished his explanation, Mordred and Arthur fell into their own thoughts.
    "So we have to rely on you?" Arthur sighed.
    "Well, not necessarily." Leonel said with a grin.
    "What do you mean by that?"
    "Well, what do you think I was doing before I came to this battlefield?"
    "Wait, but according to your reasoning, anything we did before becoming official citizens is void. And, even if our fight against White City was counted, it would be split even across every soldier that participated in the war. That wouldn't be enough merits to even trade for a Tier 4 Official title, let alone a noble title."
    Arthur pressed his brows together.
    "Yes, you weren't official citizens. But, what about me?" Leonel's grin widened.
    "Ahбн"
    Arthur and Mordred suddenly came to a realization. That was right. While their merits would be mitigated, Leonel wasn't in the same boat. Andбн Hadn't he just wiped out 10 White Knights and over half of White City's elite forces practically on his own?
    "бн Not only did a 'Prince' take out half of the army, but this 'Prince's' girlfriend also killed their City Lord."
    Aina blushed slightly beneath her mask and looked away. But, she didn't make any attempts to refute.
    Seeing such a scene, Mordred grinned and winked at Leonel only for him to put two big thumbs up.
    "Aina can be considered a person under my wing, so you can say, effectively, all the merits for clearing out White City falls to us. Giving those merits over to the Pendragon family is well within my rights.
    "Though I'm not sure how many merits the other nobles have, I read over the method of calculation. If my simulations are correct, there should already be no problem to trade for a Secretary Marquise title."
    Leonel smiled lightly, his cheeriness being seen in a new light by the father-daughter pair.

 Chapter 513 - Say My Name

    "Do you want us to come with you?" Mordred asked.
    Leonel shook his head. He was less interested about the state of Earth and more interested about his own personal strength growing. After witnessing Noah's comprehension of Winter, he felt like he had finally come to understand something, so he wanted to test those waters.
    And, even if he hadn't, it was better for Mordred and Arthur to stay here.
    "I don't believe that they'll give up on Camelot so easily. Depending on how the wars on other Provinces go, they might send another group here. It's best if you remain in this place."
    Arthur and Mordred nodded.
    "But, defending isn't all you should do." Leonel suddenly thought of something. "Put some effort into organizing your people. With all of them slowly awakening to their abilities, there's definitely a lot of untapped potential. It's hard to tell how long this war will go on for, but Camelot could play a bigger role than it seemsбн
    "I didn't say this before, but even if I can give you merits as a Prince, there's still a limit to how much. For example, I can't just give you enough for a Grand Prime Minister title. If you wanted such a position, you'll have to fight for it yourself."
    Arthur's gaze narrowed, but in the end, he nodded.
    After saying this, Leonel grabbed onto Aina's small hand and walked out of the military tent. He quite enjoyed the feeling, so he most definitely wouldn't let an opportunity to do so slip by.
    But, while he was in his own world, he almost didn't notice that Noah and Jessica were actually still waiting for him outside, stationed before their troop.
    Noah looked between Leonel and Aina. Truthfully, he didn't know how a Prince of the Empire ended up with a woman of the hidden families. Even when he brought this up to his grandfather, Emperor Fawkes brushed it off without a care in the world as though it wasn't a big deal. In fact, his Imperial Grandfather even said that he should try to be more proactive in love too.
    Though his grandfather always seemed to have a warm air about him, Noah could feel the underlying oppression in his every action. Making such a joke in the past would have been impossible for the Emperor. Yet, he had this time.
    "Imperial Grandfather has said that we can lead this expedition together." Noah said calmly. "You can receive the same Tier 7 General title I hold and you can choose half of my men to be under your command."
    Normally, when such a thing happened, the person suffering the most would be infuriated. Noah was effectively losing half his fighting strength and warriors he had carefully nurtured for the past more than year would be poached right beneath his eyes.
    But, Noah didn't seem to care in the slightest. There weren't any fluctuations in his emotions and he relayed his grandfather's orders without the smallest sign of reluctance.
    The various youths to Noah's back remained silent at these words. It was hard to tell if there was no uproar because it didn't matter to them one way or if they were simply just this well trained.
    The number Noah led now was about half of what it once was, leaving it numbering at about 500. The remainder had been stationed at White City and it seemed the Tyrron had gone to manage the situation over there.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow and looked toward the youths.
    They had all been there when he lost his temper, flying into a rage. So, there was no need to question his strength. But, commanding a group of men and women went beyond just strength. It required judgement and intellect.
    Leonel wonderedбн Should he take his 'grandfather' up on his offer? Or, should he go with Aina aloneбн?
    After a while, Leonel made a decision. No, ratherбн It felt more like an instinct, as though he couldn't pick another way even if he tried.
    "Alright." Leonel said with a nod.
    Then, he drew a line down the middle of Noah's troop and took half.
    **
    Dark Cloud Province was an oddly peaceful place. Along with the Capital, it was among the only two Provinces of Earth that seemed completely unaffected by the Metamorphosis.
    It was a place lush with nature. Green forests, tall mountains, and gently rushing rivers. It was almost a utopia.
    However, everyone knew that all of this terrain was purposely left here to make it even more difficult for prisoners to escape, not that they'd ever step foot out of the perimeter of Dark Cloud Prison, that is.
    The idea of an entire Province being cornered off for a Prison sounded insane. But, to summarize it not so many words: it was.
    Dark Cloud Prison was a massive hexagonal structure with a hollowed out center. The rooms ringed the outside and thought they seemed to be open concept with plenty of windows, everyone knew that even a missile wouldn't be capable of penetrating that glass.
    However, this was just the part of Dark Cloud Prison others could see. What many didn't know was that the hexagonal ring structure of Dark Cloud Prison dug deep underground for almost a kilometer, housing many more criminals than what met the eye.
    On one of these deepest floors, there was no sunlight to be seen, no open concept to marvel at, no nature to be in awe of.
    It was in this darkness that two guards walked, their steps uniform.
    "Whose turn is it?" One of them spoke.
    "It should be time for Prisoner #D1109."
    "D, huhбн"
    This guard was quite aware of how dangerous prisoners with the D prefix were. The only prisoners worthy of such a thing were Dark Prisoners.
    "Yes. Since this is your first time, be cautious. Don't give him even a quarter of breathing space. Remember your training, this is not a joke. Do not be na?ve."
    The rookie guard nodded seriously. If he was one to take such matters lightly, he would have never been allowed this level of access.
    The two reached a dark cell door without so much as a small opening on it.
    After several procedures, they finally clicked open the heavy door as though it was a bank safe rather than a prison cell.
    The moment they did, an eerie chuckle reached their ears.
    "#D1109? How inhumaneбн Why don't you call me by the name my mother gave me?
    "Say it with me nowбн Leo-nel Mo-ra-les. Quite easy to say, don't you think?"
    At that moment, Dark Cloud Prison suddenly quaked.. It felt as though the world was collapsing.

 Chapter 514 - Troop

    Leonel took a look at the more than 200 men and women before him. The eldest was no more than 25 while the youngest might have been 16 or 17. But, all of them carried the experience of several battles. It was very clear that this wouldn't be their first stint.
    Though Leonel had the ability to do so, he didn't pick them based on their strength. He decided to choose randomly, not only to leave some face for Noah, but because he didn't particularly care how strong they were.
    Honestly, he didn't know why he agreed to Noah's proposal. It was more of an impulse than anything else. But, now that he had made his decision, there was no use in lamenting it. There was even something about it that filled him with a hint of excitement.
    His back stood just a bit straighter, his chest becoming just that small bit wider. The aura the surrounded his body caused them to fall in line, their expressions serious.
    "Who are the leaders amongst you?" Leonel finally spoke.
    The youths looked toward one another before a few stepped out. Among them, Leonel actually recognized one.
    Nile stood with a face even paler than Noah's had been. His arm was bandaged and wrapped. But, truthfully, there was no amount of bandages that could make up for a hole being blasted through your collarbone.
    It seemed as though someone had gone out of their way to secure his arm. As for whatever else was done, Leonel wasn't sure. After all, he wasn't trained in such things.
    All in all, there were 10 individuals including Nile who stepped out. Many of them had tired expressions. It was clear that it hadn't been too long since they conquered White City, but now, just when they thought they could finally go home, they were thrust into another matter.
    According to reports, Dark Cloud Prison had been attacked and at least 20% of the prison had been compromised, resulting in the sudden release of 23 329 C-grade prisoners, 12 802 B-grade prisoners, 2 023 A-grade prisoners and 103 Dark Prisoners.
    Though the complex terrain around Dark Cloud Prison was marketed as a method of making it tougher for prisoners to escape, if this was really the goal, then the area around the prison would be nothing but flat land.
    It would be next to impossible to escape if there was no cover to hide behind.
    The truth of it was that with the wrist watched The Empire gave every newborn, there was no need to worry too much about escape.
    The terrain actually functioned twofold. The first was maintaining at least somewhat of an eco friendly environment on Earth that didn't involve the oceans. As the for the second reasonбн it was so that the public would forget such a place existed to begin with.
    Not only were there no Paradise Islands that traveled over Dark Cloud Province, but it was practically untouched by human hands with the exception of the massive prison at its very center.
    But now, this terrain had become a massive obstacle for them to overcomeбн
    None of this even mentioned the fact that whoever had attacked the prison had done so with the expressed purpose of releasing these prisoners. If this was the case, then that definitely meant that there was a high likelihood that these prisoners were being funneled into whatever armies Terrain was building.
    Though the C and B-grade prisoners weren't guaranteed to have high combat prowess, it was a different story for A and Dark Prisoners. The Empire had already found a strong correlation between how well one performed on their Gene Analysis Exams and the strength of the abilities they could awaken.
    Dark Prisoners had a better than 50% chance to be Variants or stronger by this point. This was most definitely not something to be taken lightly.
    While weak worlds like Terrain mostly relied on their Force cultivation to display strength, talented worlds like Earth could get away with having weaker foundations in such areas as long as their abilities were up to a certain standard. If it wasn't for the fact Noah had purposely chosen to hold back and Arthur had yet to learn how to control his ability, there was no way that City Lord White would have had such an easy time.
    However, with all of this said, the actions of Terrain were most definitely a double edged sword. Taking advantage of the strength of these men and women would be one matterбн But whether they would truly be able to control them was a different matter entirely.
    Leonel scanned the ten before him. Other than Nile, there were six other young men and three young women. The weapons among them also varied greatly. While some chose to wield cold weapons, some had more modern weapons as well. These modern weapons were enhanced, but also didn't rely on advanced technology.
    After some inspection, Leonel realized that these 'modern' weapons were actually treasures. Though they appeared to be of Earth's technology, they were much more like Leonel's first creations, the long-nozzle pistols.
    'Interestingбн'
    Leonel wondered if this was because other worlds had been observing Earth's technology to make these or if maybe Earth's technology wasn't as unique as he once believed. Of course, there was another possibilityбн and that was that Earth had Force Crafters of its own that he was unaware of.
    If this last point was true, then it seemed that that mysterious grandfather of his had more hidden cards than it seemed. But, at the same time, a hidden card wouldn't be so hidden if it was out for all to see like this. So, Leonel dismissed the idea. It was more than likely a combination of the first two possibilities.
    "23 speed types. 19 defensive types. 21 attack types. 7 healing types. 48 body enhancement types. 39 Force Strengthening Deviation types. 13 sensory types. 10 all rounders. 74 unique, unclassifiable abilities."
    Leonel summarized quickly.

 Chapter 515 - Engraved

    The 10 all rounders were, of course, the 10 who stood before him. Their abilities separated from the unclassifiable abilities in that they had several strong points rather than one odd strong point.
    For example, among the 74, there was a young woman with an ability similar to King Arthur's. Except, rather than become streams of light, she became an odd liquid thicker than water. She could also coat her skin and her surroundings with this liquid to form a pseudo-domain of sorts that worked well for her.
    But, in a team battle, her uses were minimal. The defensive nature of her ability was only useful for her and couldn't truly be extended to others. At the same time, she wasn't a very good attacker either. In fact, she was weak in this regard.
    That said, if her ability was applied well, she would be among the strongest single combatants. Just trying to deal with her domain without slipping about wildly would be a headache even for Leonel. If he was in such a situation, he would be forced to use his surfboard and bombard her with arrows from above. He would stand little chance in normal hand to hand combat.
    However, the 10 youths that stood before Leonel were much different in this regard.
    Take Nile, for example.
    Nile seemed to have a short ranged teleportation ability. If not for this, how could he have possibly intercepted Leonel on his way to Noah back then? But, his ability was actually more complex than this. It could be used not only to enhance his speed, but also in defense and attacking.
    He was able to displace not only himself in space, but also his spear and attacks aimed toward him.
    Of course, his manipulation of the extremely rare Space Force Strengthening Deviation was limited. But it was still among the reasons he was one of the most powerful combatants here. If it wasn't because he had faced Leonel, he wouldn't have lost so swiftly.
    With his ability alone, Nile could easily take responsibility for the safety of a ten man party without hindering the abilities of those who were a part of his squad. This was the fundamental difference between him and the young girl.
    "Since things are like this, I'll organize you as follows.
    "The speed types will form eight squads of two to three. Your roles will be to maintain a perimeter around our troops in eight directions and disrupting any forward momentum of any enemies you might run across. As for communication and the method of disruption, leave that to me.
    "The remaining 200 or so of you, not including sensory types, healing types, or all rounders, will form into squads of 10. The make up of these squads will be three shield warriors, formed of either a defensive type or a body enhancement type, three assault units, formed of attack types and Force Strengthening Deviation types, and finally four unique ability types.
    "You ten all rounders, you will take the lead of two of these ten man squads each.
    "The remaining 20 of you, 7 healers and 13 sensory types will be responsible for both relaying my orders and maintaining the peak condition of the troop. Communication will be key."
    Leonel spoke all of these matters out in a single breath, not wasting any time. However, the youths before him couldn't help but wonder if Noah had given him information about them beforeбн
    But, when they thought about how Leonel had randomly chosen them and how he hadn't seemed to be aware of the fact he would be gaining such troops to command before hand, they couldn't help but be astonished.
    Could this be his ability? Or was it a treasure of some kind?
    What they didn't know was that it could technically be both for Leonel. He could use the dictionary to learn of their abilities. But, after the upgrade to his own, he found that making accurate guesses of the abilities of others had become much easier.
    Though he couldn't claim to comprehend as much detail as the dictionary had, it was definitely far less hazy than the past.
    Of course, he also saw that the more powerful the ability wielded by a person, the harder it was for him to see through it. But, this much was already far better than what most could accomplish. Leonel was definitely in a league of his own in this regard.
    Soon, Leonel had finished organizing the army and he walked up to Nile.
    "How much of your strength can you display right now?"
    Pale faced, Nile still stood at attention. There wasn't a hint of hatred for Leonel in his eye. In fact, it now held the same respect it had for Noah. However, it was hard to tell if this was because Leonel had defeated him so easily, or if it was because he now knew that Leonel was a Prince.
    It could only be said that if it was the latterбн the brainwashing of The Empire was truly something to behold.
    "I can display about 20% of my strength, Your Highness." Nile replied seriously.
    Leonel's eyes sparkled. He hadn't asked this question because he wanted to know, but rather because he wanted to probe Nile's attitude. Seeing it, even he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty.
    Golden lights surged around Leonel and descended upon Nile. The accumulation of Light Elemental Force was so strong that it practically became blinding.
    Very quickly, Nile's face became more ruddy, his shallow breathing becoming deep and full once again.
    Under the shocked gazes of those spectating, Nile's state continuously became better.
    When Leonel lowered his hand, though Nile wasn't back to peak condition, he was clearly much better. It wouldn't be an issue for him to display 80% of his strength.
    Nile's eyes widened. "Thank you, Your Highness!"
    Leonel smiled and waved a hand.
    "I won't apologize for what I did because that would be hypocritical. Truthfully, if you stood in my way again, I would treat you the same way."
    Nile paled somewhat hearing these words but he inwardly felt more respect for Leonel after hearing them. He didn't want to be treated like a dog who could be coddled with a carrot and a stick. He wasn't a person that a bad guy, good guy routine could work on. Such a thing would only be effective for those who were weak of mind.
    "But, those are matters of the past. We all have the same goal right now, and that's to repel these invaders."
    Nile nodded seriously, his back standing somewhat straighter.
    "From now on, don't call me Your Highness or Prince, call me Captain. What I value most are two things: Respect and Persistence.
    "Respect for your fellow man and woman. Give everything you have to them and prepare to receive everything they have in return.
    "Persist for your fellow warriors. Give everything you have and expect nothing."
    Leonel scanned the organized group of youths before him, his aura towering. He looked more like a sturdy pillar, prepared to hold up even the skies rather than a simple young man.
    The blood of the youths involuntarily boiled. From indifference, their faces somewhat reddened, their hearts beating a step faster.
    Respect with your all and expect everything. Persist with your all and expect nothing.
    Respect was a mindset. Persistence was an action. The meaning of it all was simple.
    If you gave your heart and bled on the battlefield, it was only right that you expect the same.
    If you gave your soul and died on the battlefield, it was only right you expect nothing.
    These words were suddenly engraved onto their souls.

 Chapter 516 - Warden

    Dark Cloud Prison descended into mania. One of the six sections completely collapsed, leaving a scene one thought should have been a catastrophe. But, while some did indeed die, the resulting explosion was rather controlled. It was obvious to any third party observer that this was all planned, down to the final dotted 'i' and crossed 't'.
    "Hohoho." Lionel chuckled.
    [Author's Note: from now on, whenever referring to 'Leonel', I will write it as Lionel. They are pronounced the same so it should help with the flow of the story. But, do keep in mind that this 'Leonel' has a name spelled and said the exact same way as our favorite MC]
    Lionel sat on the damp cell floor, his arms wrapped around his body. Of course, this wasn't by choice. The straitjacket they forced him to stay in was made of materials far tougher than Kevlar. As though that wasn't enough, it was reinforced with several locks and chains. Even if he wanted to unwind his arms, he didn't have the luxury.
    One would think that they would at least let him out to take a shower, but he didn't have this luxury either. Rather, every time the stink got to be too much, they'd bathe him in UV type light and send him on his way.
    The result of this treatment for almost two decades now was a man who smelt somewhat like one part vegetable left to dry beneath the sun for too long and another part cured meat.
    In the darkness, it was hard to see his face at all. Or, rather, he had a habit of speaking with his head lowered, his messy hair covering much of his face. However, if the guards had a choice, they'd prefer him to keep his head lowered just like this.
    "So close." Lionel continued to chuckle. "If that blast was 2% stronger I would be free. What a shame, what a shame."
    The rookie guard felt a cold chill at the back of his neck, the ground still trembling beneath their feet.
    "What...?"
    The rookie guard began to speak, but his next words were caught in his throat when he saw the unsightly expression on his partner's face.
    "W... what is it?"
    The rookie suddenly entered high alert, his hand hovering over his weapon.
    The veteran guard took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, his gaze never leaving Lionel.
    If others saw his actions, they would think that he was insane. Why he was so focused on a man who couldn't move an inch... maybe only those of Dream Cloud Prison would know.
    "Listen, rookie. Back away slowly. Stay on high alert. If needed, don't hold back."
    The rookie guards pupils constricted.
    "You mean...?"
    "Yes. Do whatever is necessary."
    A cold shiver traveled up the rookie's spine, his muscles tensing.
    The first thing any new guards of Dark Cloud Prison were taught was the importance of information. This wasn't a lesson about learning as much as you could. No, it was a lesson in keeping as much of it away from these prisoners as possible.
    Dark Prisoners were incarcerated from the time they were toddlers to the day of their deaths. Most couldn't even remember a world outside of these walls. In fact, their only interactions with the world should have been at these moments where food was brought to them.
    Any understanding of language these prisoners had should have been from their short time as members of society... in fact, that went for all their understandings.
    With all this said, there was one matter in particular that they wanted to keep from these prisoners... the Metamorphosis.
    Those prisoners that became Invalids were silently killed. There weren't any Paradise Islands above Dark Cloud Province. Even guards were diligently trained in combat without their abilities. From day one of training, they were drilled in the fact that use of one's abilities should be a final resort.
    Yet now, the veteran guard was saying to use any means necessary...
    The rookie's breathing couldn't help but grow shallow, a cold sweat slowly trickling down his forehead.
    "Tsk, tsk. Is there a need for such caution? Didn't I already say it was a shame?"
    The veteran's jaw steeled.
    "How did you learn about percentages, #D1109?"
    Lionel paused for a moment before his laughter returned, stronger than before. His hair dangled across his face, vibrating to his cadence.
    The veteran guards countenance became more chilly, still taking slow steps back.
    "Oops, my tongue must have slipped. Aiya, what else can you expect from me? My street smarts are still a bit lacking, I've seen too little of the world."
    "... Where did you hear the name Leonel Morales from?" The guard continued coldly, trying to buy time for the rookie to inch away and report this matter to the Warden.
    Lionel froze. But this time, his laughter didn't come. An eerie silence hung over the cell as the ground continued to rumble.
    "Where did I hear it? From the lips of my own mother before you ripped me away from her and threw me into this place."
    The voice didn't carry any sort of emotion to the point it sounded somewhat mechanical, as though it was a automated message rather than the words of a human.
    The veteran and rookie froze. Fear the likes of which they had never experienced in their lifetimes took hold of their hearts, clenching it tightly.
    Blood flew, splashing against the walls.
    The crimson sparkled in the darkness, looking like the wings of a fallen angel.
    **
    "Warden! Warden!"
    The rumbling of the prison's framework couldn't stop the booming of this voice. A mixture of panic, shock and horror laced it, coloring the roar with emotion.
    Within an office on the lowest floor of Dark Cloud Prison, one could find the Warden.
    He was a man of average height but broad presence. His graying mustache hung over his lip with the thickness of a forest's bush.
    His every breath was deep and unfathomable. If one paid attention, it would be easy to notice that every cycle of inhaling and exhaling took a full minute to complete. Yet, this Warden completed it with absolute ease.
    At that moment, the Warden was shirtless. Despite his old age age, his body rippled with strength, his torso having a level of tone that left men half his age in shame. A healthy bronze sheen glistened across his skin, making him look more?like a fitness model rather than the Warden of a Prison.
    This man was none other than Governor Duke Escobar Owen.
    Before the shouting guard could even reach the office, Escobar put on his black military uniform, hiding his toned body and opened the door, his demeanor steely and indifferent.
    "Warden! #D1109 has escaped!"
    If Leonel had been there, he would have immediately recognized this "warden".
    He was none other than Coach Owen, a man Leonel respected almost as much as his own father.

 Chapter 517 - Blockades

    Coach Owen's expression solidified.
    "Of all of them, why did it have to be himбн"
    The words the Warden spoke were hardly audible. In fact, in his panic, the guard across from him didn't seem to pick up on the oddity either.
    Seeing the sorry performance of the person that was supposed to be his right hand man, Escobar snorted, his thick mustache rustling.
    "Get yourself together!"
    The low shout snapped the lead guard into attention, his heels slamming together as his back arched as though a string had been pulled from the top of his head.
    "Gather the men." Escobar said coldly. "We're going hunting."
    "Yessir!"
    The lead guard spun and jetted off, his speed beyond normal human limits.
    Escobar watched this with narrowed eyes, inwardly lamenting the state the Metamorphosis had put his best man in. Though the ability awakened by his lead guard, Garwin, was especially powerful, it left his personality somewhat warped.
    Garwin was able to control the balance of hormones and neurotransmitters in his body. The good news was that much like Aina, he could very easily train his body to surpass its limits even without outside influences. In fact, he was better than even Aina in some ways because while Aina was limited in simply making her body stronger, Garwin could strengthen his mind and thinking speed as well.
    However, there were major downsides to Garwin's ability as well. Often times, the more powerful an ability, the more complex it was and the more difficult it was to control. On top of this, in order to maximize his ability, Garwin had to come up with many unique use cases for it much like Leonel had to or like Simeon with his gene manipulation ability.
    The more difficult an ability was to control, the more potential pitfalls there were. Though Leonel had yet to run into any on his own, Garwin hadn't been so lucky. Because of how sensitive his abilities were, his hormones could easily be set out of wack, causing him to react inappropriately to many situations.
    In the past, he had been a man no less stoic than Governor Duke Owen. But, after the Metamorphosis, his emotions were more varied and unpredictable.
    However, he was simply too important to Dark Cloud Prison. His fighting capabilities were even beyond Governor Duke Owen's now. This was something the Warden had no choice but to admit. If they wanted to place these criminals back where they belonged, Garwin would have to be a key cogбн
    The Warden walked back into his office, finding a particular cabinet of files and opening it. His expression became more somber the more he flipped, but his pace didn't accelerate, only remaining even from start to finish.
    Finally, he landed on a particular file by the title of #D1109.
    The first picture he saw in the file was of a baby with large pale green eyes. The small boy had a small button nose and messy dirty blond hair. All in all, he was an adorable child. But, there was something off about the photo.
    The longer one stared at it, the more uncomfortable you would feel. The longer one looked, the less this baby boy appeared to be a baby boy at all.
    The Warden had lost count of how many times he had stared at this photo, but it wasn't until recently that he realized what was so off about it all.
    It was the eyes. This baby's eyes didn't have the innocent light of a child nor the curious nature of a newbornбн Rather, its gaze was vacant, continuously staring back at you as though it already had everything figured out.
    Coach Owen sighed.
    The rest of the document was filled with redactions. Place of birth, parenthood, even the date of birth was crossed. There was nothing but this picture and the prisoner's code. Nothing more, nothing else.
    "бн So similarбн"
    The Warden couldn't help but feel that his life's work was nothing but garbage. Only he and a few select people knew the truth of these matters, but what he did know left him feeling cold.
    'Your resentment, I understand it. However, I cannot allow you to do as you please. It seems that I will need to kill you with my own hands.'
    The Warden put the file away, locking the cabinet as Dark Cloud Prison continued to tremble.
    Then, he turned and walked out of his office, his mustache bristling.
    **
    "Scouting units, move out." Leonel commanded.
    The speed types jetted out in eight different directions, each of them leaving blazing trails of wind in their wake.
    To the back of the troop, there was a large, lingering mountain range. Since Earth had long since mastered terraforming technology, allowing the continents to come together to form a single super continent, it also took advantage of this technology to make Dark Cloud Province as inaccessible as possible.
    As a result, there were only two paths to enter this province that didn't include the sky. The Northern Passage and the Southern Passage.
    Noah and Leonel had split into two groups, each manning one of the passages. Leonel was tasked with bringing support from the South.
    According to what Leonel understood, Dark Cloud Province already had its own forces, obviously. They were simply bringing support. In addition, it would be their job to capture any escapees once the situation was settled. Aside from this, they would have to worry about the forces of Terrain that had been sent to this location, which should include the forces of Hargrove City.
    Leonel took the vanguard of the army with Aina by his side. She held onto her great sword, a serious light hidden behind the slits of her mask.
    The forest was quite dense. Moving in such a large group would make things difficult, so Leonel took advantage of the ten-man squads he had formed and had them fan out. It would be difficult to fight any large scale battles in this place, but that also went for the enemy as well. With the makeup of the squads, it would be much easier for them to deal with issues.
    At that moment, Leonel's gaze suddenly sharpened.
    'As expected.'
    Just a few seconds after Leonel had the thought, a communication talisman lit up by his side and entered his ears silently.
    "Captain, Squad North West has detected the movement of enemy scouts. They number seven. Standing by for orders."
    It was impossible for Terrain to not also be aware that there were only two entry paths to Dark Cloud Province. In that case, how could they not erect their own blockades to stop incoming reinforcements?

 Chapter 518 - Halo

    Leonel sent a gaze toward Aina only to find her already looking back toward him. With a light nod, they shot forward as one, there steps light and in sync.
    The remainder of the troops continued to advance slowly. Though they exchanged some glances about the oddity of it all, they didn't make any other movements. Something like a commander taking the vanguard was practically unheard of, at least in Earth's modern history.
    However, Leonel had made his plan to them clear. A count of 250 wasn't a lot, especially in a war of this scale. Where their benefit lay is in the fact they were all elite warriors, all capable of battling two to three on their own. In such a case, not only was such a forest the best terrain for them, but it also presented a unique opportunity to flip this war on its head.
    Leonel's lips moved, but no one seemed to hear what he said at all. However, several hundred meters away, the North West squad had already jumped into action.
    бн
    Despite the high sun, the forest was still drenched in shadows. From below the high canopies, it felt more like a cloudy day than anything else. Unfortunately, unlike a cloudy day, the forest floor was quite humid. Any normal human of the Third Dimension would be leaking sweat by this point.
    Luckily, though, Earth was still in its infant stages as a new Fourth Dimensional world. As such, the harsher climates of a world at this stage had yet to come to fruition. However, even still, the hot temperatures were slowly creeping upward and breaking records that had withstood the test of centuries, while the cold temperatures were doing the same. It wouldn't be long before Earth began to face extremes it never had before.
    While there was this bad news, though, there was also good news. In this transition period, Zones wouldn't begin to appear just yet. So, Earth had a small level of reprieve. But, it might have been exactly because of this that Terrain chose to attack nowбн
    At that moment, on the humid forest floor, a group of seven moved forward cautiously along their patrol path, their senses on high alert. They wore red robes accented by bright yellow flexible armor. The design made them look like small boiling suns of their own, but judging by the small beads of sweat falling down their brow, this had little to do with their affinities.
    The lead of the seven men suddenly snapped his head in a certain direction, just in time to see a small orb of light land in their midst.
    A hint of panic colored his features. But, just when he was frozen in horror, the small globe of light pulsed, sending out a halo that covered a ten meter radius.
    Without hesitation, the lead scout pulled out a talisman and ripped it.
    The talisman was torn in two, causing a flare of flames to light it quicky. The sparks coalesced, concentrating into a bead and shooting up into the skies.
    But, just as it was about to break past, it rammed into the halo of light.
    One would have expected a bang, but the reality was much less fantastical. The spark fizzled out, drooping back down to the ground as though it had run out of oxygen to fuel itself.
    The lead scout's eyes widen. He opened his mouth and roared at the top of his lungs. His shout was so loud that the six that followed him covered their ears, clenching their jaws.
    The lead scout relaxed when he completed this action, his unsettled emotions resting into a sneer. He slowly pulled out twin daggers that rested on his hips.
    He felt that everything was over now. Now that they knew that Earth had indeed sent reinforcements, it would be a matter of absolute ease for them to be surrounded and killed one by one.
    Earth didn't have technology anymore, so sending in reinforcements through the air was almost impossible. There was no way they had aerial units prepared already. And, even if they did, there was no way they could match the units Terrain had scouting up above.
    So, they would have no choice but to send ground troops. But, in such a thick forest, how many could they really send?
    If they were smart, they would send a small unit of elites with a few trump cards. That orb of light was clearly one of Earth's trump cards, but it also displayed Earth's naivete.
    There was more to contend with than just tools. If Earth couldn't come up with methods of countering a variety of abilities as well, they would be finished.
    This was the perfect example. They were prepared to stop their signal flare, but they had no method of stopping his shout.
    The lead scout's sneer deepened. 'What a fledgling world. It's clear you don't deserve these lands, so we'll be happy to take it off your hands.'
    It was at that exact moment that Leonel and Aina appeared. They weaved through the trees, one wielding a great sword and the other flipping his palm to take out a pitch black bow.
    Aina continued to shoot forward while Leonel leapt up agilely. His feet rebounded off the tough bark of the trees, sending him flying upward. He left a trail of gold in his wake. And, for but a moment, his arms seemed to have unfurled into the wings of a bird.
    Behind her beautiful icy blue-white mask, Aina crossed the final barrier into the halo of light, her sword trailing behind her like the tail of a comet.
    'A little girl? Is this a joke?' The lead scout almost couldn't rein in his laughter. 'Fine, I'll pry that little mask off you and see what kind of beauty it's hiding.'
    Leonel lightly stepped onto a branch over 15 meters above the ground. With swift motions, he nocked 6 arrows at once, a cold, calculating glint in his eye. By the time Aina prepared to swing her sword toward the lead scout, he had already pulled his bowstring back.
    Even after reaching the Fourth Dimension in his physique, Leonel could only pull his bowstring back just over 50% of the way, displaying the furious strength of this bow quite clearly. Butбн 50% was still almost overkill.
    SHUUUUU!
    Leonel released six arrows at once just as Aina swung her sword toward the lead scout.
    At that moment, the lead scout's expression finally changed. The difference was too stark, how could he miss it?
    In one instant, he couldn't hear the whistling of Aina's sword or the shocking charge of Leonel's arrows. But in the next moment, it barraged his senses as though they wouldn't allow him to focus on anything else.
    'Noбн!'
    Unfortunately, it was too late for the lead scout to understand that his first instinct should have been to run.

 Chapter 519 - Join Us!

    Leonel's arrow pierced six skulls as Aina's sword split the lead scout in two.
    Leonel leapt down to the ground, the soil shifting beneath his heavy fall.
    "It worked well." Aina said. "But, it still has some flaws."
    Leonel nodded in agreement.
    "A smarter scout would have realized they couldn't hear anything much quicker. We got lucky this time because this one is used to having his hearing compromised, but it won't necessarily happen again."
    With the way he and Aina were charging through the forest, no matter how light their steps were, it was impossible for them to not have made a single sound. A smarter scout would have realized very quickly that the barrier Leonel erected could both block their signal flares and any sound they made.
    Once they realized this, their first instinct would have been to run rather than holding their ground. After all, all they had to do was leave the ten meter radius of the halo to send out a signal. Even if they couldn't survive, it was their role as scouts to send such valuable information back.
    But, luckily, ironically due to his shouting ability, the lead scout's hearing was compromised along with the six that followed him. So, he didn't notice the odditiy until it was too late.
    "Is it possible to make the sound filter one way?" Aina asked.
    "It's possibleбн but it would double the production time. With the time crunch we're on, I'm not sure if it's worth it."
    Leonel was the only one who could make these orbs of light. And, unfortunately, they were one use objects with a very limited lifespan. Which meant that he would have to make a new one for each one of these operations.
    The North West squad came out of their hiding places, displaying speed that even surpassed Leonel and Aina. At least, it surpassed the speed they had displayed to this point. It seemed that this squad was quite capable, indeed.
    "Captain."
    Leonel nodded. "Right, this region is still your responsibility."
    Leonel raised a hand and caused a surge of Fire Elemental Force to burn the seven corpses before him.
    The halo of light pulsed, causing the scent of burning flesh to be purified and dispersed.
    With that, Leonel and Aina shot back toward the main group.
    The members of North West squad looked at one another with deep meaning in their eyes.
    It had been them who threw out the orb on Leonel's command to begin with, so they were an integral part of the operation. They had to say that they were surprised by the efficiency. If things continued like thisбн They would have a good chance of performing well.
    This was enough to tell them that though their styles were different, Leonel's leadership ability was no less than Noah's. But, where they separated was in the usefulness of Leonel's skills. While their leadership abilities didn't differ by much, Leonel's skill as a Force Crafter made his plans work out with much more smoothness and ease.
    Their lives hadn't even been on the line even once, yet seven enemies had died. It was truly baffling.
    With a light nod to one another, the three members of North West squad shot in different directions, their eyes flashing with more determination.
    **
    At that moment outside of Dark Cloud Prison, an odd scene could be seen.
    On one side, there was a hexagonal prison. But, on another, there was a city that seemed to have dropped out of the skies.
    Of the six sides of this hexagonal prison, one had completely collapsed. And, this collapsed portion just happened to be the section facing the out of place city.
    For any third party observer, it was easy to deduce what happened. This city fell from the skies and caused the damage they were now seeing. But, what was maybe more surprising was that even with such a disastrous event occurringбн The Prison only lost a sixth of its integrity!
    If Leonel could see this sight, he would be shocked beyond belief before marveling at Earth's ability.
    Camelot was almost upturned by the fall of just one city. Yet, despite the city having fallen not even half a kilometer from Dark Cloud Prison, it only suffered the collapse of a single side.
    However, at that moment, there was nothing the guards and Warden of Dark Cloud Prison felt happy about. With the prison compromised, a large swath of prisoners found the light of day for the first time in decades.
    What they didn't know was that the restrictions of Dark Cloud Prison went beyond just walls and bars. The very materials of the Prison was capable of blocking influxes of Force. This caused even those who successfully managed to awaken their abilities to have little chance at sensing and using them.
    This technology went beyond Force Disruption Towers. Even with the Descent of the Fourth Dimension, it was completely unaffected becauseбн It relied on metals from the Fourth Dimension itself!
    As for whether or not Terrain was aware of this fact, it was unknown. But, what was certain was that with the collapse of the prison, this system was compromised.
    While these special metals were effective in some cases, they also had far more limitations than Force Disruption Towers.
    Simply being in their vicinity wasn't enough. One had to be enclosed by them or in contact with them. In addition, just like how Force Disruption Towers were useless in the Fourth Dimension, these metals were useless against abilities in the Fifth Dimension and above.
    Due to this, the appearance of the city caused many prisoners who hadn't been aware of their abilities in the past to suddenly become enlightened, causing chaos to reign.
    The sound of battle filled the halls of the prison, leaking out through its cracked and falling walls. But, this would soon be the least of their worriesбн
    City Lord Hargrove, a slender man with a drooping grey mustache that swept past his chest stood atop the city wall, eyeing the prison as though he saw prey.
    "Prisoners of Dark Cloud!" His voice suddenly boomed, reverberating through the collapsed walls. "Do you want your freedom?! Do you want revenge?! The Empire of Earth has done nothing but take from you, do you want to make them pay! Do you want to see the Capital washed in blood! Do you want to see the head of Emperor Fawkes on a pike?!
    "Join us!"

 Chapter 520 - Freedom

    "ARCHERS!"
    City Lord Hargrove's voice boomed once more. In one moment, there was no one but this singular, seemingly frail, City Lord to be found on the city's walls. But, in the next moment, two rows of over a hundred archers appeared, each with the light of an expert in their eyes.
    It became clear very quickly that Hargrove had no intention charging into the prison. Why would he undertake such a thankless task?
    No, his goal was simple. Any guards or Wardens that escaped this prison would find an arrow between the eye. As for the prisoners, they would be welcomed with open arms.
    The prisoners of Earth provided two opportunities. Not only would they give a large influx of talented individuals, but they would also be able to gain the same number in Fifth Generational persons. This killed two birds with just a single stone.
    The only large clearing one could find on Dark Cloud Province was in this very place. About a kilometer around the hexagonal prison was nothing but flat concrete. With the appearance of Hargrove City, this concrete was now filled with spiderweb-like cracks, but it served its purpose to perfection.
    Without any place to hide, how could the guards of Dark Cloud Prison possibly protect themselves against the assault of 100 elite archers?
    At that moment, a head peaked out from behind the rubble. Dust and soot covered this person's face, making it difficult to tell if they were male or female at first glance. It seemed that whoever this person was, they had chosen to shave their head bald.
    When this prisoner saw the rows of archers in the distance, they panicked and ducked back down. However, they soon calmed.
    If Leonel had been there, he would be shocked to realize that he recognized this person. It was none other than the younger brother of the demoted Vice Commander of the Slayer Legion, Damian.
    "There's a massive city that appeared out of nowhere." Damian reported to the prisoners that had followed behind him. "They have a hundred archers all primed and ready."
    Among them, there were a few who had attacked on that day, including his elder brother, Joseph.
    One would think that as members of the most notorious group of rebels, they would have been thrown into a much deeper part of Dark Cloud Prison. But, their allocations showed just how much disregard The Empire had for their efforts as a whole.
    Despite having once been a Vice Commander of the Slayer Legion, Joseph, even as the highest rated prisoner among them, was still a mere C-grade Prisoner, just like the rest of them.
    In truth, such treatment had hurt more than anything else. They would rather have been treated like the lowliest of scum, been underfed, beaten and abusedбн But what they actually got was a cushy cell, three meals a day, and a psychiatrist to vent to.
    It felt as though they were children put on timeout rather than criminals who had risked their lives everyday for the sake of forging a better future for themselves.
    This had been an insult worse than anything they had ever experienced before and that sort of treatment made their hatred of The Empire burn even more ferventlyбн And along with that, their hatred of Leonel increased proportionally.
    When Damian's whispers reached their ears, the prisoners panicked somewhat.
    The truth was that most of them weren't hardened criminals. Aside from those who were from the Slayer Legion, the rest had only committed petty crimes. Facing such a situation, many of them weren't sure how to react.
    Knowing this, there was no wonder those of the Slayer Legion felt so insulted. They were placed in the same cells as men and women whose worst crime might have been trespassing onto the wrong property or shoplifting.
    The only difference between them and the Slayer Legion members was that while they would get out, those of the Slayer Legion would be here for lifeбн
    Until now.
    "This definitely isn't a decoy." Joseph spoke, his expressions much less cheery as compared to the past. "Even if The Empire wanted to con us, they wouldn't destroy the Prison to do so, and they definitely wouldn't dare to speak ill of Emperor Fawkes toward that end. It's more than likely that those archers are there to act as our cover."
    "But should we really trust them and go? We have no idea who these people are, they haven't announced their affiliations." Damian said slowly.
    The only reason Damian and Joseph had been so quick to attempt to escape despite understanding the iron fist that was The Empire was because they thought that maybe the Slayer Legion was finally taking large scale action.
    The truth was that before Damian and Joseph chose to take a maddened attempt at conquering Royal Blue Fort, the Slayer Legion was prepping for something. As for what they were planning, the brothers couldn't be sure. But, they felt as though they would be left behind if they didn't take a massive leap forward.
    Obviously, their attempt failed, but now they were hoping that this matter was related to the Slayer Legion. However, if it truly was, then why wouldn't they announce this?
    From start to finish, Hargrove didn't mention their origins, something that made the brothers feel antsy about trusting such an unknown entity. No matter what, they weren't fools.
    As the first prisoners to make it to this opening, they had obviously been on the highest floors. As such, the level of torture they had suffered in this prison could be considered to be null. They simply weren't as desparate as those A and Dark Prisoners. So, they were far more clear minded at this momentбн
    Joseph hesitated, finding his brothers words to be true. At this point, he no longer held the decisiveness he had in the past. The man bold enough to target a Fort of The Empire as a mere Vice Commander was no longer here.
    Damian's gaze flashed with a hint of rage looking at the shell of a man his brother had become, but he didn't say anything else. At this point, maybe the elder brother he once knew would never come back.
    At that moment, though, a resonating laughter shook the collapsed halls.
    BANG!
    A man shot up from a floor below, crashing through the walls and jetting out of the Prison.
    "FREEDOM!"
    His roar was so loud that even the concrete beneath his feet splintered even more.
    The man's gaze locked onto the city in the distance.
    "Take down The Empire? The Emperor's head on a pike? I'm not sure what this Empire is or who this Emperor is, but I'll take you up on your offer anyway!"
    An uproarious laughter shook Dark Cloud Province.

 Chapter 521 - Soccer Ball

    The man looked massive, something that was inconceivable considering the level of security he would have had to live under for his entire life.
    He wore a grey uniform with a single zipper that went from his collar to his crotch. On his left chest, a bright red tag shone: #D2901.
    The air around this man seemed to grow solid, a palpable killing intent hanging heavily around him.
    It shouldn't have been possible for even an A-grade Prisoner to become so large, let alone a Dark Prisoner. Their meals were perfectly measured to maintain health and prevent starvation, but it shouldn't have been enough to feed their strength, let alone growing to have such a muscular body.
    There was no doubt that whatever ability this man had, his strength was related to it.
    City Lord Hargrove's expression flickered.
    'He doesn't know what The Empire is? Or who the Emperor is?... Interesting, it seems that we've underestimated just how villainous this Ascension Empire isбн'
    Hargrove should have known. Any Empire that dared to name itself Ascension had to be arrogant without regard.
    There was a reason those of the Dimensional Verse described the evolution of a world as the Descent of a Dimension. It was supposed to represent a bestowal by the Universe. Whether it be the talent or potential of a world, it was all gifted. A world didn't grow to accept an evolution, rather an evolution fell upon a certain world.
    This was the subtle difference. This was the core truth behind Dimensional Descent.
    Yet, whether by coincidence or by a lofty purpose, Earth's Empire named itself Ascension. Arrogance didn't even begin to describe such bloviating. It almost made Hargrove laugh in rage.
    As a man born in a world with such little talent, he understood this bestowal the most. Yet, this Earth, despite being lucky enough to be gifted such prospects, actually believed that they could snub their noses at it.
    Hargrove raised his head, a billowing laughter leaving his lips. His long mustache caught a wind, whipping about wildly along with the rest of his hair.
    His hands clasped behind his back, his chest standing wide and broad.
    "We accept one and all!"
    #D2901 laughed when he heard these words.
    His legs flexed, the ground beneath him cracking once again.
    BANG!
    He shot into the skies, crossing a 50 meter length in a single bound.
    Just as he was making his way through, another group of prisoners charged out. Damian, Joseph and the others could no longer wait. This wasn't because they decided to trust these people, but rather because the appearance of this man had sent the guards into a frenzy.
    The guards at their level of security was minimal. After the destruction of the prison, Damian could use his ability again. As a person who had an S-grade ability upon awakening, his ability had long since crossed into the Fifth Dimension now. So, defeating a few low level guards had been especially easy.
    But, they weren't fools. They knew that the guards on the lower levels were no laughing matter. If they couldn't leave now, they might never leave.
    As expected, the moment Damian, Joseph and the others bolted out of their hiding spots, running full speed for the city in the distance, the first guard appeared. Unable to wield their normal weapons any longer, they wielded cold weapons. However, their actions didn't seem awkward in the slightest. It seemed that they were most definitely well trained in the regard.
    One prisoner after another poured out. It was clear that #D2901 had carved out a path for them all. The maddening howls of laughter shook the prison, causing a cold shiver to take hold of C and B-grade prisoners.
    They had all heard stories about how insane the prisoners below were. It was impossible for them to spend so many decades within these walls and not see certain oddities. However, after seeing these men and women for themselves, they all realized one thingбн
    They were insane.
    Many of them, clearly unused to walking on their own two feet, ran on all fours. Some rolled about as though they were balls rather than humans. A few chose to walk on their hands, shooting off toward Hargrove City in a mad dash.
    The normal prisoners amongst them, wearing #C's and #B's across their chests had never felt such fear in their lives. They gathered into groups, hoping that they wouldn't lose their lives in a maddened assault.
    A young acrobatic woman charged through the concrete on her palms. Her concept of the world were so shallow that she didn't seem to understand shame at all. Her prison garbs were completely unzipped and her small breasts hung out, jiggling about as she planted her palms one after another.
    Her head peeked upward as she curiously observed the fear in the eyes of the normal prisoners by Damian's side. She had never seen such emotion before, she wondered where it was coming from. It looked like fun.
    She effortlessly kept up with them on her hands despite the fact they were running with all their might. It was quite baffling, actually. Unlike Dark Prisoners, C and B-grade prisoners got to exercise everyday. By right, they should be more fit than she was.
    The young woman looked curiously at a slightly obese man at the back of the group. He lingered behind the group, finding it hard to keep up.
    The obese man seemed to feel something observing him. But, when he locked eyes on the vacant gaze of the woman chasing after him on her hands, he felt as though his heart had been thrown into an ice bath.
    His throat constricted and his trouble breathing became even worse.
    The young woman tilted her head, her speed not slowing in the slightest.
    At that moment, her vacant expression twisted into a slanted smile. She looked as though she had never smiled a day in her life before. The facial muscles she should have been using only half worked, leaving her face somewhat crooked.
    She suddenly pushed off the ground, her hands landing on the obese man's shoulders. Her breasts dangled atop his head. But, the scene that should have been one part erotic and another part comedic didn't feel like this for the obese man at all.
    "Help! Help me!"
    Damian and Joseph looked back, only to hear a giggle that shook their very souls.
    The young woman slapped the chubby cheeks of the obese man, twisting into the air without letting go.
    At first, the obese man's body followed her momentum. But, very soon, it couldn't. The result was a head being ripped from its body, its voice being cut off half way in favor of gurgling blood.
    The young woman landed on the ground, still pushing off her palms.. But, the obese man's head, as though a soccer ball rather than part of a human's corpse, danced on the soles of her feet, hopping from one to the other.

 Chapter 522 - Serious

    Damian and Joseph looked back in horror, their eyes widening in shock. What should have been a frail young woman suddenly became a monster in their eyes. There was nothing about her innocent expression that left them with any sort of ease any longer.
    The amount of torque you would need to twist a human's head off, let alone from such an odd position, was enough to make them shiver down to their cores. This young woman looked no different from any other in her early 20's. Yet, the strength she displayed was beyond the realms of reason.
    "Keep running!" Joseph barked.
    The young woman continued to observe the running group, her breathing hiccupping into a bubbling giggle every so often. It was as though she had overexerted her body, but her brain had yet to register the fact. It short-circuited, trying to decide whether she should prioritise laughing or breathing deeply.
    Damian and the others entered a state of high alert.
    It was at that moment that the guards began to flood out of the cracked walls one after another, some quickly catching up to some of the prisoners who hadn't spent their time escaping but rather on other matters.
    But, it was then that the first arrows were released. It was so swift that it didn't even make a single sound beneath the chorus of excited roars and insane laughter.
    A guard who had just snapped the arm of a prisoner while twisting their limb back suddenly found a bloody hole between their brows.
    The prisoner blinked with curiosity, crimson splattering all over his face. His tongue whipped out, tagging the corner of his lip.
    He spit out the blood as soon as he tasted it, finding it not too pleasing. Then, without much thought, he snapped his arm back into place and continued running with everyone else, curiosity lighting his eyes. Despite the fact he had just seen a person die for the first time in his life, he didn't seem to feel any particularly special way about it.
    It was a complete slaughter. Every guard that stepped into the clearing was instantly sniped. The precision of the Hargrove City archers seemed to be even beyond the elite snipers of Earth. They acted as though in tacit agreement, not wasting a single arrow.
    Earth was very quickly finding out that there were some matters far more important than just talent. While the people of Earth were fighting to protect their home, the people of Terrain were fighting for their futures. Not just their own futures, but that of their families and loved ones. Losingбн Was not an option.
    Hundreds of prisoners made their way across the clearing, their confidence growing with each passing moment. The efficiency of the archers gave them this very confidence to the point where many began to smile. They finally saw an end to their nightmare.
    Of course, those smiling individuals weren't among the madmen designated with A's and D's across their chests. There were no small number of C and B-grade Prisoners who lost their lives at their hands.
    "City Lord, is it really alright to let things continue like this?"
    Every City Lord had a right hand man. For City Lord White, it had been the secretary, Niya. For City Lord Hargrove, it was an elder man who seemed even older than the skinny, greying City Lord. This older man, dressed quite like a butler, was known as Salnas.
    Hargrove continued to observe the situation, not answering immediately. In response, Salnas couldn't help but press again.
    "There's clearly a reason why Earth decided to lock many of them away. Though they're clearly very powerful, they've all lost their minds. How can we expect to control them? They might end up being our downfall instead." Salnas finished, his tone somewhat somber.
    Though he spoke these words, in order to ensure that his actions wouldn't dampen the morale of the men, he controlled his voice so that only the City Lord could hear him. After all, every small advantage they could grab a hold of was a plus. They couldn't allow Earth the slightest chink in their armor.
    "Salnas, I think it's best you don't ask for answers to questions you aren't qualified to have."
    The sudden indifferent voice caught Salnas off guard. He felt as though a blade was suddenly firmly pressed against his back, prepared to take his life at the slightest sign of impropriety.
    Salnas gulped, his frail old body shivering.
    "бн Yes, Young Heir Anared. I apologize, I've stepped out of line."
    Salnas struggled to speak through gritted teeth, the beating of his heart growing erratic. Even to now, he didn't dare to turn around to face Anared who had most definitely appeared behind him. He simply lowered his head, trying to stop the trembling of his body.
    'When did this child grow so powerful?'
    Salnas felt as though Anared could take his life whenever he pleased. But, logically, this young Heir who was nothing more than a little boy in Salnas' eyes should have still been several decades away from displaying such strength.
    However, when Salnas thought of a certain possibility, his trembling only became worse.
    Hargrove frowned slightly and swept a gaze back in Anared's direction. Something like reprimanding another's subordinate was definitely crossing a line of respect. It was even worse that Anared had actually been listening in on what should have been a private conversation.? In any other situation, this would have led to a battle of City Lords. But, even Hargrove seemed to feel some trepidation when facing Anared now.
    Just when Hargrove made the choice to swallow his pride and was about to try to alleviate the tension with some words, the ground quaked.
    'бн Are they finally getting serious?'
    Hargrove turned his frown toward Dark Cloud Prison. He knew well that Earth wouldn't leave this place unprotected. This prison was too much of a strategic point. In fact, even Terrain was aware of this or else Anared would have never been sent here.
    The portions of the hexagonal prison that appeared above ground suddenly collapsed. Noбн They didn't collapse, rather, they sunk into the ground, being swallowed beneath the concrete.
    Just after this happened, the hollow center that the prison once surrounded opened, separating like the jaws of a hidden beast.
    A platform slowly raised. At first, it was impossible to see anything atop of it. But, very soon, the shadows of men and women became clear.
    By the time the platform's gears grinded to a halt and appeared above ground, one could see a troop of over ten thousand warriors led by Lead Guard Garwin and Governor Duke Owen.

 Chapter 523 - Strongest

    Joseph and Damian looked back after hearing the clicking of the gears. They had put their all into running and avoiding the A and Dark Prisoners around them, but hearing such a loud commotion, they couldn't help themselves.
    When they saw the sudden appearance of the Dark Cloud Prison guards, and in such a large number at that, they felt as though their legs couldn't carry them fast enough.
    There was just half a kilometer between them and the city gates. To well trained men like them, even before the Metamorphosis, this was a matter of a two or three minute run at most. Yet, these few minutes felt like the longest they had experienced in their lifetimes.
    Escobar scanned the situation emotionlessly. It was as though he couldn't see the archers aiming their bows toward him.
    His gaze landed on each and every one of the guards that had fallen, the billowing of his mustache becoming deeper with each passing moment. Even with the long cycles of his breath, it felt as though the wind around the Warden was kicking up, responding to his will in large swaths.
    "Mow them down." He commanded coldly.
    At that moment, the clicking of guns sounded.
    City Lord Hargrove's pupils constricted. 'That's impossible.'
    Heavy military boots stepped forward before they each kneeled, pressing their rifles to their shoulders. And then, the bullets rained.
    As quickly as the guards had fallen, the prisoners fell even faster. How could the fire rate of archers match the pace of semi-automatic weaponry?
    "Shit!"
    Damian growled, his feet stamping against the ground.
    A surge of earth followed his command, peeling concrete jetting into the air to cover his back.
    "Don't panic! Those are normal gunpowder based weapons!" Joseph roared. "Keep running!"
    Using the cover Damian gave them, Joseph and the others crossed the final remaining distance to the city, anxiousness clear in their demeanors.
    "Dammit! Open the gate!"
    Joseph roared through gritted teeth, but the doors of the city remained firmly closed. By now, the crowd beneath the city gates was growing and there were already more than a hundred that had made it this far while several thousand more were crossing the final distance. But, those of Hargrove City didn't seem to hear what was going on below.
    Joseph's heart was gripped with despair. Could this really be a ploy by The Empire?
    No that, didn't make any sense. Just what was going on?
    Joseph no longer seemed to have the calm headedness he once displayed. His decision making became cloudy and he banged on the gates just like all the others, unable to think for himself. He was practically brought to the point of tears as though he could see his life flashing before his very eyes.
    Hargrove watched this scene from above silently.
    "It seems they understand their situation now," He said coldly, "Lower the platforms."
    Finally, the warriors of Hargrove City began to move. But, they didn't open the gates as many would have expected them to. Rather, they began to lower platforms from the top of the walls.
    As a veteran of governance, Hargrove understood the truth of human nature, and it would be the truth no matter which world one was born in. If things came too easy, they wouldn't be appreciated. Very easily, a great boon could become bland, a lifesaving grace could be expected, and a savior could become just a person doing as they should.
    When annexing such a large group of people, Hargrove needed them to understand who held the power and who didn't. As for the few who died in proving this point? Who cared.
    Seeing the platforms descending, the group of prisoners that had been wailing below suddenly began to cheer. They didn't even consider the fact their lives would still be in danger or that many more could have been saved had Hargrove chosen a different method.
    It was exactly as Hargrove expected. This was human nature.
    "Down." Escobar commanded coldly. "Shields at the ready. Charge!"
    Governor Duke Owen didn't stay back. His aging body seemed even more agile than the youngsters, pouncing forward with vigor.
    He realized that platforms presented an opportunity. It was impossible for the thousands of prisoners that had escaped to successfully climb upon those platforms before they crossed the remaining distance. From a cursory calculation, there was only enough space for a hundred people at a time and it took half a minute for a round trip to be completed.
    Of course, Governor Duke Owen wasn't foolish enough to use these platforms to try and climb the city wall, that would be asking for death. However, the existence of the platforms would make breaching the gates much easier.
    City Lord Hargrove might have wanted to teach the prisoners a pre-emptive lesson with his actions, but he seemed to have not considered the fact that it would be impossible to use the archers to stop their siege if the very platforms they were using protected the warriors of Earth from above!
    Seeing such actions though, Hargrove sneered.
    Dark Cloud Prison was a place with maybe the tightest security on Earth with the exception of the Royal Palace. It could be said that in order to become a guard here, you had to be an elite amongst elites. Even those who weren't handpicked for this job from the very beginning had been high ranking military officials before their placement.
    This was all to say that the group of men and women that followed Governor Duke Owen now were all powerful combatants.
    Howeverбн.
    They were all powerful combatants without the slightest idea on how to siege a city.
    Both men looked toward one another as though they were looking at a fool. But, only a real clash would tell just who was right and who was wrong.
    Unfortunatelyбн whether or not that clash would happen would soon become an unknown.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Just when Governor Duke Owen had already crossed the halfway mark to Hargrove City, space solidified. Another swath of charging warriors froze, unable to move a single inch.
    This wasn't out of fear, noбн They were physically unable to control their bodies. As though they had suddenly been placed into a hardened mold of concrete, everything from their limbs even to their facial muscles didn't seem capable of budging even the slightest.
    The central platform the guards and Warden Owen had just come from splintered into two.
    Slowly, a group of prisoners, each with bright red #D tags on their chests made their way up.
    The air around them seemed heavy beyond compared to the point where even the archers on Hargrove City's walls couldn't budge an inch.
    At the head of these Dark Prisoner's, a lanky man with messy dirty blond hair stood. His back was hunched and his arms were still crossed in his straitjacket. From the front, it was simply impossible to see his facial expressions because his gaze faced the ground, allowing his hair to block whatever view one might have had otherwise.
    His bare feet scraped along the ground, his legs barely raising as he walked forward.
    Yet, even as this group began to move, no one else seemed capable of doing so.
    A cold sweat began to bead down City Lord Hargrove's forehead. Even he struggled to move, even twitching his fingers felt as though he was lifting several tons of weight.
    This ability.. Whatever it wasбн It was the most powerful he had ever seen. Noбн Even if he included those monsters he had heard of during his over a century worth of lifeбн None could compare to thisбн

 Chapter 524 - What Do You Plan?

    There seemed to be only seven of them. Noбн Eight? Nine?
    The number kept changing. It should have been simple to conclude that one of them had a cloning ability, but through this thickening wall of space, let alone moving, even senses didn't seem to work properly anymore.
    It felt as though one was trying to cast a net several kilometers away despite the fact the group was at most several hundred meters away.
    As if this wasn't fear inducing enough, while a normal distance felt like forever to everyone else. To the group, it was barely a short stroll. Though they seemed to be walking normally, they covered large distances as though they were sprinting with all their might.
    Not even a few seconds later, the group reached the vanguard of the Dark Cloud Prison guards. It was only then Lionel's steps suddenly paused.
    In perfect unison, the group came to a pause with him. It was hard to tell what Lionel had promised these Dark Prisoners in not even half an hour since their attempted escape began to make them treat him like this. But, the reality was displayed before them all regardless.
    "бн I recognize you."
    Lionel's voice was quite striking in such a suddenly quiet environment. Unlike what one expected, it wasn't deep and gruff nor did it have some evil air to it. Rather, it sounded like the normal voice of a teenage boy on the cusp of adulthood.
    Yetбн One couldn't help but feel an instinctive fear toward it. It seemed to seep into their ears and host the beating of their hearts. As though a master plucking at their strings, he was a controller of their fate.
    "Ai, that's right. You were there the day they took me away from my motherбн"
    Lionel slowly walked toward Governor Duke Owen, his head still lowered to the ground. He painted quite an odd picture. Everything from his bare feet to his straitjacket seemed completely out of place.
    Escobar's gaze narrowed, his body still finding it difficult to move even the slightest bit. Despite the fact the boy's face was lowered and the prisoner tag that should have been across his chest was covered by a straitjacket didn't stop the Warden from recognizing Lionel immediately.
    He didn't say a word. Or rather, he couldn't say a word even if he wanted to. Even moving his lips was difficult.
    Despite the fact Earth was new to this new world order, Escobar was still aware that such an indomitable ability shouldn't possibly exist. All abilities should have limitations, weaknessesбн Something like locking down the space within several hundred meters should have been absolutely impossible unless one was a higher Dimensional being.
    However, what the Governor Duke didn't know was the fact there were indeed existences capable of such featsбн And they were known as Savants.
    Savants were existences capable of breaking the limiters of their abilities. Whether it be the issue of stamina, duration or realm of influence, they didn't need to worry about any of this. This wasn't simply because they were able to rely on themselves, but rather because Universal Force naturally fueled their every action.
    Whereas those like Leonel or the Warden would have to comprehend Universal Cycles in order to use Universal Force. Savants had no need for such a thing. They could make use of the Universe's strength as they pleased.
    The result of this were abilities that seemed more like the act of Gods rather than mere mortalsбн And, in fact, on some worldsбн These people were indeed known as Gods.
    However, the price to pay for being a Savant wasn't non-existent either. Much like how mortal savants of Earth were only good at one particular task, the same could be true of the Savants of the Dimensional Verse.
    Outside of their abilities, the talents Savants had were severely limited. Cultivating Force, comprehending Styles or Universal Cycles, even awakening Lineage Factors they might have been born with was all impossible.
    But, with such powerбн did they need such supplementary strengths?
    Lionel's hair shook somewhat. It seemed like he was shaking his head or lamenting something, or maybe he was thinking through something. He didn't have any care to give, just silently standing there as though the world would wait upon his every whim.
    "Where is my mother?"
    Finally, Lionel settled down on these words. But, the cold sweat of Escobar's back only grew despite the stoicism of his face.
    In the moments Lionel remained silent, he could feel the struggle of the youth before him. Lionel's every instinct screamed to kill him, yet, as though he was internally speaking to himself in attempts to calm down, he remained silent.
    In the end, Lionel decided that he wanted to know about his mother more than he wanted to kill this Warden before him.
    "Vice, it seems the man can't speak, release him." Lionel said slowly.
    Within the group, a man who looked about 27 or 28 years old picked at his nose. Snot ran down his face, but he didn't seem to mind in the slightest. This man was none other than Vice, the wielder of the ability so many here feared so much.
    Vice flicked a booger toward Escobar. Only then did the Warden almost collapse, finally able to move under the normal laws of physics.
    "Speak." Lionel said plainly, his voice still as even as it always was. "Where is my mother? What did you do to her?"
    Escobar coughed, feeling as though he could finally breathe normally. He pulled himself up to stand straight and tall.
    When he stood to his full height, he was still quite a bit shorter than Lionel despite the fact the latter had his head lowered and his back hunched. But, Escobar's momentum didn't seem to dampen in the slightest due to this.
    Escobar's palm flipped over, causing a spear to appear. In that moment, his momentum completely changed as wild energies began to flow around him.
    Harsh winter winds. Fragrant spring air. Blazing summer heat. Cool fall breezes.
    Beneath this presence, the pressure the other guards felt alleviated by more than 80%. Though their movements were still somewhat hindered, it most definitely wasn't as exaggerated as it had been before.
    In the distance, Hargrove's pupils constricted into pinholes.
    'Impossible!'
    "Hold." Escobar's voice boomed when the other guards wanted to take action.
    He looked toward Lionel seriously, the latter having seemingly not reacted to the sudden change.
    "Your mother is dead. What do you plan to do with this information?"

 Chapter 525 - Exactly Like Me

    Lionel didn't say a thing for a long while. He continued to look at the ground, his arms strapped around his body beneath his straitjacket. For a moment, it seemed as though he hadn't heard a single word that was spoken.
    However, a blood thirsty aura was slowly forming around him.
    Lionel's head tilted upward. Through the strands of his hair, one could finally just barely make out one of his eyes. It was a vacant pale green that seemed to stare at nothing and everything at the same time.
    The faint illusion of blood red wings spread to Lionel's back, the distorted image of a demon hanging around him.
    In just a few moments, those red wings formed into the image of a female angel. Her red wings wrapped around Lionel, her arms holding onto him tightly.
    It was just an illusion, but it seemed oh so real.
    Tears of blood began to uncontrollably fall from the eyes of those around Lionel. With the exception of Escobar, they all seemed to be affected by the change.
    "I seeбн Since she's dead, what reason do you have to keep living?"
    Under the astonished gazes of many, thousands of Dark Cloud Prison guards suddenly turned their weapons onto themselves.
    BANG!
    The sounds of several gunshots rang at once. But, from afar, it sounded like just a single gun had been fired. The actions were so smooth and in sync that even the pulling of so many triggers seemed to come from a single pointбн
    Escobar's gaze widened before gaining a tinge of red. In that moment, just as Lionel's words descended, he suddenly felt an overwhelming will to spear his skull through. If he hadn't bit his tongue, he really might have gone through with it.
    His heart trembled. Just what kind of maddening ability was this?
    The bloody angel hanging around Lionel only seemed to grow more corporeal as though being fed by the deaths of those around her.
    Her visage became clearer, a doting expression on her face as she lightly stroked Lionel's hair. No matter how one looked at her, it seemed like she was a proud motherбн Or rather, she would have been had it not been for the fact her eye sockets were filled with nothing but an endless void.
    The sound of collapsing bodies filled the quiet air. In an instant, over half of a ten thousand man army fell into a pool of their own blood, their weapons painted with their own life.
    The scene was absolutely horrid and a metallic stench soon filled the air.
    Escobar's grip on his spear tightened. He could still see Lionel's singular eye through the strands of his hair, looking at him curiously as though he was wondering why it was he hadn't died when he told him to. As for the other, it seemed to stay hidden behind a veil of darkness, lurking.
    The Governor Duke could no longer hold back. He felt like this child had been wronged, so he gave him a chance and spoke the truth. However, he had never expected for his moment of soft heartedness to cost him half of his men in a single breath.
    There was a limit to his understanding, to his sympathy. This was no longer the baby in those photos, this was a monster. A monster he had to kill.
    "Die!"
    Escobar's spear seemed to encompass the world. Its point became the origin and its shaft became purpose.
    In the blink of an eye, the spear tip appeared before Lionel's brow. With just a half a foot more, the skull of this young man would be pierced through.
    However, would things really be so easy?
    A mirror suddenly manifested before Lionel. Escobar's spear tip hardly touched its surface before it was reflected back.
    The Warden was sent flying, his spear wielding arm splintering in two. The horrid imagery of a forearm being split in half down its length etched itself into the hearts of all those who saw it.
    Within Lionel's group, a young woman with disheveled hair bit at her fingernails to the point they bled. But, even then, she didn't seem intent on stopping. She looked toward Escobar warily as though she was the one who should fear him rather than the other way around. It was as though she was completely oblivious to how powerful she was.
    Lionel stood in place indifferently. It was as though he couldn't tell that his life had been on the line. Or, maybeбн it hadn't ever truly been.
    Escobar's face became a deathly pale. He looked toward his arm incredulously, unable to believe what had just happened.
    He hadn't awakened a powerful ability. In fact, it was of the mere C-grade upon awakening. However, he had never cared much because his spear arts could more than make up for this. With the time he had spent with Leonel's father, it was doubtful that there was anyone on Earth who could match his comprehension of the spear.
    So, how had he suffered so greatly just now?
    It was at that moment that there was a sudden change to the battlefield.
    Leonel and Aina led a charge out of the forest edge that surrounded Dark Cloud Prison. It had taken them several hours, but they had finally cleared out all the scouts and carved a path here. And, luckily, they had managed to avoid any casualties in huge thanks to Leonel's leadership abilities.
    However, what they saw after they reached the clearing of flat lands astounded them.
    A city fallen from the skies, a group of prisoners frozen in their attempt to climb its walls, andбн over 5000 dead guards, lying in a pool of their own blood.
    The sight was horrid, but what left Leonel the most stunned was the appearance of a particular man.
    Despite the distance of over 200 kilometers that separated them, with Leonel's senses, Escobar might as well have been inches from his face.
    "Coach?" Leonel's expression flickered with confusion. What was Coach Owen doing here?
    No matter how long passed, Leonel would never mistake that rat of a mustache for anyone else.
    Seeing the state of Coach Owen's arm, Leonel's anger suddenly flared. If there were two people he had to pick as the duo he respected the most in his life, the first would be his father, and the second would be this man right before him.
    In that moment, the battlefield suddenly gained a second blood thirsty aura, one that seemed to rival Lionel's without the slightest hint of losing out.
    However, it was then that something completely unexpected happened.
    Lionel looked toward the new arrivals with curiosity. But, when his gaze landed on Leonel, he was shocked.
    "Youбн You look exactly like meбн"
    Lionel's head finally raised all the way, both of his eyes and his face finally becoming clear.
    However, when Leonel saw this face, his brows furrowed.
    This wasn't because Lionel looked like him, but because of the exact opposite.. They, quite honestly, looked nothing alike. What the hell was this person talking about?

 Chapter 526 - Whats Going On?

    Lionel's face was exceptionally pale. One couldn't call him either handsome or ugly, but simply average. Though, it was a bit difficult to tell if this was the best he could do, or if it was simply because he was malnourished.
    With how sunken his cheeks were, it was clear that he had never had enough to eat. So, though he looked quite plain now, he may very well look different if he finally began to receive enough sustenance.
    However, this wasn't the reason Leonel felt he looked nothing like him. The truth was that with Leonel's senses, it was quite easy for him to fill in Lionel's features and extrapolate how the latter would look. But, even then, they were nothing alike.
    Lionel's jaw wasn't as sharp as his own, his cheeks weren't as high, and his nose was far more prominent and pointed. In addition, Leonel was only just about two meters tall now or 6'6. He had grown a few inches since his last day at Royal Blue Academyбн But, Leonel could tell that if Lionel stood straight, the latter would be over seven feet tall, a full head taller than Leonel.
    Whether Lionel and Leonel looked the same was hardly relevant on any other day. But, when the first words out of Lionel's mouth was that they were identicalбн It left Leonel at a loss. Just what was that supposed to mean?
    The truth of the matter was that other than the color of their eyes and the fact Lionel had the same messy, dirty blond hair Leonel once had before he activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн They were quite literally nothing alike.
    And, as though to drive this point further, Leonel kept getting an uneasy feeling from the vacancy in Lionel's gaze. Lionel sounded so cheerful and his words even seemed to carry the hint of being pleasantly surprised... all while his gaze remained as deadpan as could be.
    This reality only made Leonel feel more uneasy.
    "Stay alert." Leonel said softly. His words were only heard by those to his back.
    Lionel continued to observe Leonel curiously, a faint excitement that never reached his eyes dancing across his expression.
    "бн Are we related? Are you my brother perhaps? A cousin who happens to look a lot like me? Are we бн Ah, sorry, I forget the word. I think it starts with a 't'? Tweens maybe? Twines? Ah, forget it. My mother, do you know her?"
    Leonel's frown deepened.
    'His social awareness is severely lacking. His expressions all seem to be slightly off. The only way he'd think we look the same is if he had never seen himself in a mirror beforeбн But, even then, why would that be the conclusion he jumped to? Even if he had never seen himself in a mirror before, where would he get the thought that I was who he looked like? Where would he have seen me before?'
    The more Leonel thought, the more he came to understand that Dark Cloud Prison wasn't as simple as he originally thought. The only obvious conclusion he could make was that these men and women before him were actually prisoners.
    That much was obvious. After all, they all wore the same garbs so this wasn't a hard conclusion to come to. What was more damning was the fact that these prisoners acted as though they had never seen the light of day.
    Leonel shook his head. It seemed he was too na?ve. There was no way that The Empire' Prison would be as perfect as they tried to make it seem to be.
    "бн He's dangerousбн"
    Aina's voice drifted to Leonel's ears.
    Leonel nodded seriously, his fists clenching.
    In the distance, when Governor Duke Owen realized that it was Leonel who had appeared, his gaze flashed with a complicated light. He almost forgot about the horrible pain shaking his body.
    However, Leonel no longer had the mind to pay to his Coach Owen. It wasn't because he didn't care about his life. In fact, there was no other person here who he cared more about with the exception of Aina. But, he had to take action now.
    There was something odd about the atmosphere. It should have been a battle between Hargrove City and Dark Cloud Prison. But, somehow, this group, led by Lionel, had interfered and become the main enemy.
    Leonel also felt like if he moved forward any further, a strong spatial lock would collapse around him. At the moment, it had been weakened considerably due to what seemed like Escobar's domain of Universal Force. But, considering the state of his coach at the moment, how much longer could he really hold out?
    Lionel blinked, feeling somewhat disappointed.
    "Why won't you answer me?"
    In response, Leonel flipped over a palm, a pitch black spear appearing in his hand. The little mink seemed to awaken atop his head, the little guy's gaze locked onto the group before them.
    "Maybe I didn't give you enough information?" Lionel wondered aloud to himself. "My name is Leonel Morales. As for my mother's name, I'm not sure. Do we share a family name?"
    Leonel froze.
    What the hell?
    Aina's brows furrowed in confusion as well. Was there really such a coincidence in the world?
    Believing that someone shared the same name as Leonel wasn't too surprising. Before the Metamorphosis, Earth's population was counted in the tens of billions, approaching a hundred billion. Back then, there were no shortage of people who shared not only the same first name, but even the same last name, and there were even more people who shared the same name pronunciation but differed in the spelling.
    However, what made this instance particularly shocking was the fact that Lionel's first words had been that he and Leonel looked identicalбн. Could there be such a coincidence in this world?
    Confusion colored Leonel's features. He had just steeled himself to attack, but now he questioned himself. Was this a practical joke? But why did it not seem like one?
    What was going on here exactly?

 Chapter 527 - Leonel And Lionel

    "Could it be a mind reading ability?" Aina communicated secretly with Leonel.
    Leonel gazed toward the fading blood angel to Lionel's back. After a moment, he steeled himself.
    "Nika."
    "Yes, Captain!"
    A young girl called out to Leonel's back.
    "Reconstruct the scene. Send the images to me. Don't hold back."
    "Yes!"
    Nika worked quickly. She was one of the few sensory types among Leonel's troop, but her ability was unique.
    She was able to reconstruct the cause and effect of a location, essentially simulating the past events of a place for up to 1 month. She could also transmit these images and deductions to another person.
    At her abilities current stage of evolution, it had limited usage in battle. But, when it came to reconnaissance, she was second to none.
    When Leonel felt Nika's Dream Force penetrate toward him, he didn't resist. Usually, Nika wouldn't dare to do this with anyone else. Those with Dream Force affinity were incredibly rare and it would be too easy for one to get lost in the events she displayed.
    Howeverбн Leonel was different.
    When Leonel opened his eyes once again, he had a grasp of the entire situation, even down to the abilities Lionel's group had displayed.
    "Leave this Leonel to me." Leonel said plainly, his gaze suddenly becoming cold and indifferent. "Stay within my Domain and do not leave, or else I can't guarantee your safety."
    After seeing the past events, Leonel understood Lionel's ability. Such a person was too dangerous. He would defeat him first, then ask questions later.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    A black domain filled with illusory chains surged into existence around Leonel, covering a radius of just over 20 meters in every direction.
    Leonel immediately realized that this was his limit. He couldn't extend his Domain any further without sapping his stamina faster than he could get returns on. But, this size was just enough.
    Brandishing his spear, Leonel pointed it toward Lionel, his aura stifling.
    Those around Lionel immediately realized that Leonel was giving off a different feeling compared to the others.
    On the Hargrove City walls, many were still frozen in place due to Vice's ability. Whether it was the raising and lowering of the platforms, the archers, or even Salnas himself, no one seemed capable of moving.
    But, truthfully, though they feared Vice somewhat, they were more than willing to see the talents of Earth at each other's throats in this way.
    Anared's gaze narrowed as he locked onto Leonel in the distance. But, the latter hadn't even spared the city a glance after the first look. It was as though he couldn't be bothered to care about it.
    Inwardly, Anared was a bit shocked. He knew how many scouts they had deployed. How had a 250-man squad managed to come this far without a single one sending word back?
    The truth was that Anared had already gotten reports from the North of the continent and there was currently a major battle going on over there. However, he didn't care to go and oversee those matters personally because taking in these prisoners was far more important to Terrain's overall plan. As long as Noah was stalled that would be far more than enough.
    Initially, when Anared didn't hear back from the South, he had thought that meant Earth only sent one squad. After all, according to their intelligence, Noah was the only acting commander of this troop of Earth's talents.
    What he didn't expect, though, was for Leonel to have carved a path out of the South for himself.
    'бн Dealing with a Savant won't be so easy, yet you've chosen to antagonize such a large group of them on your own. You've signed your own death certificate.' Anared thought coldly.
    At this moment, even he could hardly move. Though he had his trump cards to do so just like Coach Owen had, he didn't care to activate them just yet. Right now, he was content to lay back and watch.
    However, Anared's expression when he observed the dome around Leonel couldn't help but turn serious. He didn't know what it was, but for some reason it left him feeling uneasy. He couldn't help but wonder if this was Leonel's ability.
    When Lionel saw Leonel point a spear toward him, his voice trailed off, the excitement it once had fading. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around why someone who had such a high chance of being his brother would treat him like this.
    "Leonel, don't!" Coach Owen mustered all the strength he had left to shout out this warning. "Just run. This isn't your fight!"
    Leonel paused, sending a glance toward his Coach.
    "Hey Coach." Leonel suddenly grinned. "Let's make a deal alright?"
    "No." Coach Owen said firmly.
    "Hey, hey. You haven't even heard what I wanted to say just yet. Are you that protective of that dead rat you call a mustache?"
    "Kid!"
    The surviving guards of Dark Cloud Prison were stunned, especially Escobar's right hand man, Garwin. None of them had ever seen anyone treat their Governor Duke like this.
    Leonel laughed. "Just sit tight, old man. As long as I survive, though, you have to promise to shave that sad excuse for facial hair off."
    Leonel's air of confidence hung over the battlefield, completely overshadowing Lionel's bloodthirsty aura. The stark difference between the two men was apparent at a single glance.
    Just looking at Leonel's back and feeling the security of his Domain made the youths following feel a second wind hit their sails.
    They had just fought a bloody battle over the course of several hours, how could they not feel tired? But now, they felt as though they could battle for several hours more.
    PCHU!
    The sudden sound caught everyone off guard. In such an atmosphere, it was the last sound one expected to hear. It was the kind of change that left everyone dazed.
    Coach Owen looked down, only to find a bloody hole in his gut. Blood overflowed so densely that it almost looked like a waterfall of black, fusing into his dark military garb without a sense of how precious it was.
    With a splutter, blood leaked out from Coach Owen's lips, running over his chin and down his neck. He felt his life quickly draining from him.
    Lionel looked toward Coach Owen, a slight light illuminating his eye for the first time. But, this light held no humanity. Rather, it held nothing but madness.
    "Youбн You called him Leonel. Why did you call him Leonel? WHY DID YOU CALL HIM LEONEL?!"
    [Important Note Below 01/06/22]

 Chapter 528 - Fury

    Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
    Leonel had never expected for such a thing to happen. After being blown away by a mysterious mirror ability, his Coach Owen had flown back more than a hundred meters from Lionel. The distance that separated them couldn't be considered to be small. By any logic, it shouldn't have been possible to attack the Governor Duke without giving Leonel time to respond.
    But, the facts were laid out before them all. Coach Owen's own spear shot through his belly, his blood painting its shaft crimson.
    With a cough, Escobar slumped backward, his breathing growing incredibly shallow.
    Aina's eyes widened. But in the next instant, her gaze snapped toward Leonel, flashes of worry lighting her irises.
    Unfortunately, it was already too late for her to say anything. Whatever light Leonel's aura held vanished, being washed by an oppressive might that made those in his presence feel as though a hand was descending from the skies.
    "TELL ME! WHY DID YOU CALL HIM THAT!"
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    Leonel took a step forward, the ground beneath his feet groaning and whining.
    The image of a majestic bird appeared to his back. It had beautiful feathers of gold and white, eyes filled with endless wisdom and a wing span that seemed capable of encompassing the world.
    Leonel's next step seemed to blur, touching the ground both so lightly and with such speed that it left nothing but an after image in its wake. It wasn't until Leonel was already over a hundred meters away from the place of its descent that the concrete suddenly folded beneath the pressure.
    Aina's expression changed, her head snapping back toward everyone else.
    "Support him!"
    Her voice held no less compulsion than Leonel's. It became quite clear quite quickly that the reason she didn't lead wasn't because she couldn't, but rather because she chose to defer to Leonel. But at this moment, there wasn't time for that.
    Anared looked at this change with a curious light in his eye.
    In truth, the only two that had a chance at shaking his position were Leonel and Aina. Since they had so graciously shown themselves...
    The sword that hovered to Anared's back suddenly vibrated, resonating with a sudden will to battle. As though a road of air manifested before him, Anared casually stepped off the top of Hargrove city's walls.
    His body seemed to resemble a sword streaking across the skies. He sliced the wind in two, intercepting Aina and the others before they could even think of supporting Leonel.
    At that moment, Anared felt monstrous killing intent lock onto him. Even his heart skipped a single beat before his Sword Force reaffirmed his resolve in the next moment.
    He couldn't help but frown. Nothing had shaken his heart so severely in decades. Just what was that?
    "Leave him to me."
    The voice came from Anared's front, but it was clearly not aimed toward him. It took him just a moment to realize that it had actually been Aina's words for Leonel.
    Anared couldn't help but internally sneer. Did this girl think that he was Jilniya? He could defeat someone on that level without even unsheathing his sword. Yet, Aina would have likely lost her life had it not been for Leonel's intervention.
    However, Aina didn't pull out her great sword as Anared had expected. In fact, she tossed it to the ground as though it was worthless, reaching to the large curved package on her back.
    With a thought, a massive golden-red ax appeared in her hand. Her aura completely changed, reaching a level of oppression that made Anared's indifferent expression frown.
    'Four Seasons Realm...'
    If that was all, maybe Anared could accept it. But, the ax in Aina's hand was also on the cusp of entering the Fifth Dimension. Let alone the fact Anared had hardly seen a Quasi Bronze treasure in his life, even among those he had, this was the most powerful!
    A violent red aura surged around Aina, a slight hint of blood wrinkling the noses of those in its presence.
    Veins popped up across the delicate hand she used to clench her battle ax's handle. The ax trembled with excitement, a thirst for reaping life humming its shining edges.
    Aina was pissed. Anared actually chose this moment to step forward when all she wanted to do was support Leonel.
    Even as her fighting spirit reached its peak, her eyes gave the sign of several warnings. She swore that if anything happened to Leonel, Anared and the whole of Terrain would follow him to the grave.
    Leonel's own emotions reached a peak as well. To this point, he hadn't hated anyone of Terrain. He felt as though they were simply doing what was best for their futures. This was the way of the world. Though he, of course, wanted to protect his world from invaders, he had never reached a point of doing it out of hatred.
    However, now things were different. Not only had their actions put the life of his Coach on the line, but now they were even targeting Aina.
    If Terrain wanted his fury so badly, they could have it.
    Leonel appeared between his Coach and Lionel, his aura towering. The shocked guards of Dark Cloud Prison suddenly felt as though an immovable pillar stood before them all. Even if the sky collapsed, it would be there to catch it.
    Lionel's expression became livid. Not only had this Warden not answered his question, now someone else had come to block his way.
    "No..." Coach Owen mumbled weakly, trying one last time to force Leonel to run.
    "Just die!" Lionel roared.
    The bloody angel to Lionel's back contrasted the golden owl to Leonel's. It felt as though a clash of ages had suddenly erupted.
    Leonel's hair blew back, but his cold, calculating gaze remained indifferent. He observed Lionel's hysteria without a hint of emotion, his eyes seemingly even more vacant than the latter's.
    "The likes of you couldn't possibly hope to take control of my mind." Leonel said coldly. "Bind."
    Leonel pointed his spear forward. With a thought, chains surged, wrapping around Lionel's body in layer after layer.
    The Dark Prisoners to Lionel's back panicked. It was clear they didn't have much fighting experience, but how could they? This was the first time they had been in the outside world since they were toddlers. It was a miracle they even knew how to walk, let alone fight.
    This alone was a testament to just how fearsome Savants were. It had been less than a few hours since this group even realized they had abilities at all, yet they were already so powerful. What would happen if they had time acclimate and grow? Would Leonel even be worthy of standing in their presence? It was difficult to tell.
    However... they were completely lost without Lionel's guidance.
    Just when Leonel planned to squeeze Lionel to death in a fit of rage, he heard muffled, irrational rambling.
    "It's nothing but a dream, this nothing but fantasy, go away!"
    Leonel didn't have time to sneer even if he wanted to. Before his very eyes, his Chain Domain, arguably his most powerful ability, began to crumble piece by piece.
    It wisped away like smoke in the wind, dissipating as though it really was nothing but an illusion, a fantasy... a dream.
    "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"
    Lionel roared into the skies, red tainting his vision.
    The space around the madman began to collapse. No, it was worse than collapsing. It was as though every bit and piece of matter was slowly being erased.
    A pit appeared below and above him as thought the whole world was losing its color. Vacant darkness expanded rapidly, leaving Lionel's figure and his screams as the only tangible existences that remained.
    Leonel's jaw clenched, finally realizing the kind of monster he was dealing with.
    Lionel's ability was built upon Dream Force, but his use of it was beyond anything Leonel could imagine.
    Leonel's ability was strictly internal. Even after he replaced his Soul Force with Dream Force, he was unable to turn it against his enemies and force them into an illusion the like Dream Abode had been able to. But, in return for this, his computational abilities were far beyond what even a machine could match, let alone what a human could do.
    However, Lionel was the exact opposite. Though he could somewhat use his Dream Force to boost his computational ability, it was nowhere near the level Leonel could. But, in return...
    He was able to manifest his consciousness into the world, playing with the fabric of reality as he pleased.
    If he wanted you to die, you would die. If he wanted you to stab yourself with your own spear, you would do so. If he wanted to erase you from existence...
    He could.
    Lionel was a monster, masquerading in the body of a frail youth who wanted to see his mother again.
    This realization woke Leonel from a dream he felt like he had been in from the very beginning. This world was nothing like the one he had come to know. In this world, a fairy tale like the stories of Arthur Pendragon could become real.... in this world, a madman with strength could destroy everything.

 Chapter 529 - Blazing Path

    Leonel closed his eyes. For a moment, everything else in the world seemed to vanish. His breathing grew steady and his heart stilled, even his mind, used to running at impossible speeds, slowed. After a moment, even his thoughts became vacant.
    In such a moment, what one should have been feeling was fear. Seeing such a monster before you, a man who was gifted with talent that others couldn't even hope to grasp, what choice was there other than to despair?
    However, this wasn't the reality Leonel saw before him. Rather, he saw a path that had suddenly lit afire, blazing a trail that he hadn't noticed before. It was as though he had always been following the wrong path, completely oblivious to the right one that had always been in arm's reach.
    In the outside world, everyone else could only see Leonel's Domain rapidly deteriorating. Leonel himself stood, completely unmoving. To his back, what remained of a once 10000 strong army shook beneath Lionel's presence. The only thing that separated them and such a monster was a seemingly frail teenage boy who was at the end of his rope.
    Leonel's Domain was directly tied to his Ethereal Glabella and his mind. Every piece of it that faded took another piece of him. Even though Lionel didn't seem capable of taking direct action against Leonel with how strong the latter's Dream Force affinity was, this alone was enough to severely weaken Leonel.
    As chain after chain disintegrated, Leonel's mind faltered and weakened. He should have been under an excruciating amount of pain, the kind of horrible, spine tearing torture that could obliterate one's resolve. Yet, Leonel stood, completely unmoving.
    In the distance, Aina grew more panicked. She didn't have a detailed understanding of what was happening, but all she needed to see was the fact that the world around Lionel was crumbling.
    Though she had managed to hold Anared back long enough for the remaining 200 plus young warriors to curl around them, before they could even manage to get into range to do anything, one of the Savants blocked their path, scratching at his rat's nest-like hair.
    The good news was the Lionel's rampage had interfered with Vice's ability as well, allowing them to move even without the protection of Leonel's Domain. But, the bad news was that this unkempt man who the others called Monkey suddenly multiplied in number.
    In one moment, there was just one of him. In the next instant, there was two, then four, then eight. In the blink of an eye, over a thousand of him blocked the path forward, causing the troop of youths to come to a grinding halt, serious expressions on their faces. It suddenly became obvious why it was no one could tell the exact number of people Lionel had brought with him.
    "Stay in your squads! Don't underestimate him!"
    Nile took command of the situation, his gaze flashing with a hint of worry.
    Things were quickly getting out of hand. These Savants had completely lost their minds. In fact, this Monkey individual hadn't even blocked their path at Lionel's order.
    Nile could see the look in his eye quite clearly... it was boredom. He blocked them simply because he was bored of standing around.
    Such an enemy... without logical goals or comprehensible aspirations... they were the most fear inducing.
    Nile grit his teeth, sending a look toward Leonel. It seemed as though a struggle was unfurling. On one side, there was the enraged Lionel trying to erase everything that was Leonel. And, on the other side, there was the silent Leonel trying to protect his life. It was simply impossible to see it any other way.
    Nile gripped onto his spear. He didn't know what he could do to help even if he made it through, but he knew he wanted to make it no matter what.
    He flexed the pole arm between his hands, letting the light of the setting sun reflect across the blade.
    He shot forward into the crowd of clones, his will steeled.
    Unfortunately, there were many things a strong will couldn't overcome.
    As quickly as he came flying forward, Nile shot back. If it wasn't for the two squads of ten he led coming together to stop his flight backward, it was hard to tell just how far he would have gone.
    Nile's arms trembled. Though he tried to hold it back, in the next instant, he coughed violently, a mouthful of blood flying from his lips.
    Nile looked up, allowing his squads to help him stand.
    Not more than ten meters away, the clone he had clashed with stood in a bloody mess, its head peeled open like a grotesque blooming flower of flesh and bone.
    What shocked Nile wasn't the fact this had happened, but rather the cause of it. In the moment, the clone had head butted the point of his spear...!
    However, what Nile couldn't understand was why the clones were that strong. Most of those with cloning abilities he had come across had strong limitations. Most of the time, the limitation came in number of clones or the strength of them.
    But somehow, Monkey didn't seem restricted by either?!
    What Nile didn't know was that Monkey's ability wasn't a cloning ability... Monkey had the ability to double almost anything. As for the limitations of his ability, it was hard to tell.
    But, if Nile was aware of this, he would understand why it was he was sent flying back so easily. If Monkey could double himself ten times and form over a thousand clones, what would happen if he did the same with his strength? In fact, if it wasn't for the fact Monkey's flesh and blood was so frail, he would be able to exhibit far more of this strength before his body collapsed. In that case, let alone just getting flung back, Nile might have died in a single strike.
    If Monkey was smarter and doubled the toughness of his skin and bone, or even if he just had a weapon... his level of strength would be impossible to fathom.
    A grim expression took hold of Nile's visage. Even as Monkey's clone collapsed, dead, his heart didn't calm in the slightest. Looking at the over thousand that remained, let alone making it through to Leonel, he wondered if it would even be possible to survive.
    When Nile saw the somewhat curious gazes of the Savants that remained, his heart plunged into despair.
    He couldn't understand why these people were gifted with so much strength. And, all the while, their leader was losing his mind and roaring into the skies but they didn't even seem to notice in the slightest.
    When Aina saw Nile get repelled so easily, her heart constricted. Any hopes she had of Nile, Nika and the others making it to Leonel before Lionel could harm him seemed to disappear.
    Out of habit, Aina began to bite at her lips again, her anxiousness growing. At the same time, she felt a belly full of rage every time her battle ax crossed paths with Anared's sword. Even though she was just a margin weaker, the ferocity of her attacks only seemed to grow. Her every strike carried the intention to kill, her heart nearly bursting out from her ribcage under the exertion.
    She didn't care about the stamina consumption. Every time she swung, she seemed to carry the weight of the world behind her. The clashes caused the surrounding air to explode, the temperature incrementally rising simply due to the heat coming off their blades.
    Still, even as she pressed so hard, she knew it was impossible to make it in time. By now, Lionel's erasure had almost reach Leonel. What remained of his Chain Domain seemed to be on its last legs, dispersing into minute particles before vanishing into nothingness.
    Aina's teeth drew blood from her lips, her anxiousness hidden beneath her mask.
    'Come on, set faster... set faster...'
    Aina anxiously looked toward the sun. But, its descent seemed to be ever so slow. By the time night came around, it would be too late.
    Anared continued to indifferently parry Aina's strikes. It wasn't that he didn't want to defeat her right here and now but even he found it difficult to do so. There was no need for him to go all out. At this pace, she would simply tire herself out. By then, defeating her will be as easy as a single sweep of the sword.
    Aina sent another panicked look toward Leonel, narrowly avoiding another sword strike.
    "No!"
    Aina's infuriated shout resonated through the battlefield. For a moment, a fear that was deeply hidden within all their souls seemed to surface. Even the Savants paused in their actions. With their inability to control themselves, the shock and horror was clearly painted on their faces. Even as Savants, they held none of the air true experts should have.
    Anared's sword faltered, causing his fluid style to be interrupted. Without a choice, he could only retreat to avoid being bisected, a frown taking over his usually indifferent expression.
    Coach Owen closed his eyes, an aching pain far greater than the stab wound through his gut taking hold.
    At that moment, Lionel's domain of nothingness seemed to have reached Leonel. By all rights, it should have swallowed him whole. Even Lionel's madness gave way to a slight excitement as though he wanted nothing more than for Leonel to disappear.
    However, Leonel's body remained completely unscathed. His body stood in the void of nothingness, completely indifferent, a serene expression on his face.
    And then, his eyes finally opened.
    When they did, the skies overturned, the darkening clouds of dusk dispersing and the raging winds of the battlefield slowing to a crawl.

 Chapter 530 - The Realm Of Kings

    Leonel's aura was like a raging tiger released from its chains. It commanded absolute respect within its territory.
    "Chain Domain."
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The instant the words left Leonel's lips, the crumbling domain around him suddenly resurrected, coming back in full force. No, to say full force would be to assume that it came back just as strong. But, the reality was very much different.
    In the past, the Chains were illusory and their rattling rang hollow. But now, it looked as though real chains had manifested into the air, their bodies exuding a black fog that suffocated their surroundings.
    However, just when it felt as though just these changes were shocking enough, the Domain began to change again.
    Royal Blue Province was a tropical location that experienced Summer almost all year 'round. It never seemed to get too blistering hot and it never snowed. It could be said that the Spring and Summer should have been the Seasons Leonel was the most familiar with.
    Still, even to this point, Leonel had failed to comprehend the Four Seasons Realm on his own. The reason was simple, he found it difficult to wrap his mind around the concept of the Seasons suddenly becoming a battle technique. Even if he knew it was possible, his mind couldn't cross an artificial barrier it put up for itself.
    Even after experiencing the same Seasons everyday for all his life, Leonel couldn't cross the final step. How was he supposed to translate such gentle climate into a battle technique? It simply didn't make any sense. For that matter, how could someone with Fire Elemental Force ever hope to grasp the cold of Winter? Or how could someone with Ice Elemental Force ever hope to grasp Summer?
    Leonel didn't know how long he would spend stuck at this barrier. However, what he never would have expected was for Lionel to break it for him.
    To say that Lionel helped Leonel grasp the Four Seasons Realm was incorrect. Rather, Lionel taught Leonel the way he should look at this world.
    Leonel was often bound by logic. He felt that everything should have a natural progression and that the world should have cause and effect. In fact, even now, he still believed this.
    Leonel felt that there was no issue with his beliefs. Rather, there was an issue in the method by which he implemented them.
    In order to understand cause and effect, one had to first grasp the rules of a system. Trying to understand what was going on in a sports game without first grasping the rules would only leave you lost.
    To this point, Leonel was still using the rules of Modern Earth. In that world, such fanciful abilities couldn't be reality, science was the ruler, and something like a fairy tale character coming to life was nothing more than a joke.
    These thoughts not only fueled him, but they restrained him, bogging down his mind and limiting his thoughts.
    Simply put... it was foolish.? But now, things were different.
    Leonel thought that the only Seasons he was familiar with were Spring and Summer. As for Winters and Falls, though he had experienced them when traveling to other Provinces, his understanding of them could be considered to be minimal.
    But was that really true? If Leonel was as logical as he claimed to be, he'd realize that Seasons were decided by the tilt of Earth and its location around the sun. A Season wasn't restricted by temperature, it was simply a cycle of time.
    Leonel was so bogged down by his own preconceptions that he didn't even manage to remember such a simple concept.
    The reality was that Leonel had experienced Winter once a year, every year, for his whole life. Just because it didn't get bone chillingly cold, didn't mean he hadn't.
    What did this mean? It meant that the Seasons were about more than just surface level conceptions. Temperature was irrelevant, climate was irrelevant, even the beautiful gradient of colors the Seasons shifted between were irrelevant.
    In that case... what were the Seasons?
    Everyone experienced them differently. In fact even if one shared the same planet, if you were located in different hemispheres, the cycles wouldn't even be the same.
    So what was a Season? What was the Four Seasons Realm....?
    Wasn't it just a journey around the Sun?
    To the current Leonel, it wasn't even this. To him, the Four Seasons simply represented a cycle, an infinite loop dependent on countless factors. If he tweaked these factors as he pleased... he could make what he wanted out of the Four Seasons Realm.
    On a large scale, the cycle encompassed an entire planet, its orbit, its tilt and its people. On a small scale...
    All it took was one's own Domain.
    The moment Leonel grasped this, his aura completely changed. The amount of Universal Force around him skyrocketed, reaching levels that dwarfed even the Savants.
    When Leonel unleashed the shackles on his mind, what he had done wasn't as simple as understanding the Four Seasons Realm for a particular weapon or a particular Force Strengthening Deviation. Rather, he embodied the Four Seasons Realm. Everything within his Domain was under his control.
    If Uncle Montez had been here, he would have laughed uproariously. It would have been the kind of laughter that shook the skies and forced the earth to quake.
    This was the true Four Seasons Realm. Only by grasping it could Domains display their true strength.
    The Four Seasons Realm. The Domain Realm. The Realm of Kings.
    "Bind."
    Leonel's voice came down like a command from on high. The Chains of his Chain Domain roared like flood dragons, surging into Lionel's space of nothingness as though mythical creatures snaking through the skies.
    At that moment, Lionel's expression finally changed. Fear replaced the light of madness in his gaze as he retreated.
    The Earth folded to Lionel's will, the laws of reality bending and twisting. In one instant he was in front of the Savants, and in the next he was standing behind them, his expression trembling.
    "Kill him!"
    Lionel's voice shivered, a trembling cadence clear within. The instant he felt like he no longer held the upper hand, his air of confidence crumbled. He held none of the resolve a man should have.
    Hearing Lionel's command, even Monkey was forced to turn back, giving the youth warriors some reprieve.
    "Stay back." Leonel commanded. "Leave them all to me. Go and support Aina. I don't want to see Anared strutting around here any longer."
    Leonel's pupils flickered with a violet-red light, his aura growing heavier with each passing moment.
    The youths hesitated. By now, they were beaten and bloodied, many of them were even on their last legs. But, it was precisely because of this that they couldn't fathom the idea of Leonel going against them all alone.
    However, when Leonel looked back toward them, the look in his eye made them shiver. It felt as thougha higher being was gazing upon them. The Bronze Runes that flickered into and out of existence all of Leonel's body radiated a palpable pressure. Even the space around him seemed to twist and bend.
    Nile and the others gulped. They felt like even if they wanted to, it would have been impossible to disobey Leonel's orders.
    "Yes, Captain!"
    Before the youths realized what they were doing, they had already saluted and turned back, charging toward the battle between Aina and Anared.
    Anared frowned. He didn't know what a Domain was to begin with. So, he understood even less about the changes Leonel had undergone.
    'Regardless, facing even one Savant is suicide, let alone four.'
    Anared retrieved his sword, retreating with light steps.
    'Since you want to despair, I'll let you despair.'
    Now that Vice had completely focused his abilities in Leonel's direction, those around Hargrove City had finally been released. It seemed that these fools had forgotten this was a war.
    However, just as he was sneering, Anared felt a cold shiver down his spine. He instinctively looked in a certain direction only to see Leonel's cold gaze locked onto him.
    A deep fear suddenly took root in his heart. Before, Leonel's complete indifference had left him feeling uncomfortable. But, this sudden attention made him feel as though a reaper had grasped onto his throat.
    The look had a clear meaning. Even if you ran to the ends of the earth, you would still die.
    Aina's shout had engraved itself onto Leonel's heart. If Anared thought he could get away with it, he was sorely? mistaken.
    Leonel turned his attention back to the Savants before him.
    Monkey's thousands of clones, Candle's mysterious mirrors, Vice's spatial locks... Lionel's reality warping.
    Even just a single one of these Savants would be enough to bring a world to its knees. Yet, with its talent, Earth had birthed four in just a single generation and Leonel was crazy enough to face them all alone.
    The several hundred clones Monkey had remaining swarmed Leonel and suddenly doubled once again.
    The sight was truly one to behold. A single man facing an army of monsters.
    Leonel indifferently swept a gaze through them, his spear tip just barely grazing the cracked, concrete grounds.
    "Piss off."
    In that moment, countless chains wrapped around Monkey's clones.. Under the astonished gazes of those watching, hundreds of clones shattered into a rain of flesh, blood and bones, painting Leonel's Chain Domain in a dripping crimson.

 Chapter 531 - Arrival

    Aina felt as though a massive weight had suddenly been taken off her shoulders. Seeing Leonel standing straight and tall, a rain of blood falling around him, a smile couldn't help but bloom beneath her mask. If others could have seen it, it would have been the kind of smile that warmed the heart regardless of her scars.
    Other women, when witnessing such carnage, would feel their intestines twist and their stomachs overturn. But, to Aina, it couldn't have been a more beautiful sight at that moment.
    Leonel shot forward, the chains of his spears dancing as though the singing chimes of a bell. Their elation shot through the battlefield, their bodies intertwining and blotting out the skies above.
    Leonel's speed seemed to touch a new level. His body was completely wrapped in Universal Force, making his actions breathe with an air of confidence that couldn't be denied.
    Seeing his clones destroyed, Monkey quickly moved to form new ones, but by this point, Leonel had already appeared before his main body, the indifference in his gaze making the latter shiver.
    Concepts of life and death weren't things the Savants quite understood. Their understanding of the world was too shallow and unlike other children, they never learned about these matters. Keeping them na?ve was the best way to nerf their abilities.
    However, even with this being the case, a fear of death was an instinct ingrained in our very beings.
    The cold look in Leonel's eye. The sparkling tip of his black spear. The looming aura that seemed to want to suffocate him down to his final breathбн
    Monkey felt as though the thing he should fear most had appeared before him.
    At that moment, Candle finally reacted, forming a large mirror that blocked Leonel's path forward. At the same time, veins popped up across Vice's forehead, his entire being focusing on Leonel.
    The space around Leonel constricted and warped. A single step that would have once shot him forward ten meters shrunk down to five, then two, then one.
    "This is my Domainбн Not yours." Leonel spoke indifferently.
    Leonel's body suddenly blurred, leaving several afterimages in his wake. He shot through a gap in Candle's mirrors, the Bronze Runes dancing across his body finally coming into full effect.
    A heavy Domain of gravity manifested around Leonel, trying to force the weak bodied Savants to their knees.
    Vice, Lionel and Monkey reacted quickly, each countering via their own methods. Vice weakened the space around him, Monkey strengthened the muscles in his legs, and Lionel's Dream Force surged, weakening the gravity around him.
    However, Candle had no counter. She fell to the ground, nervously biting at her nails with even more fervor.
    Seeing the fear in her eyes, Leonel's cold indifference didn't waver.
    "Bind."
    Candle suddenly found herself wrapped in chains from head to toe, a gaseous blackness wafting around her body.
    Candle's scream shook the hearts of all those who heard it. Not because it was fear inducing, but rather because she sounded no different from any other scared teenage girl. The horror she felt was palpable.
    A strong repulsion slammed against Leonel's chains, causing the cocoon Candle had been wrapped in to bulge and buckle.
    Leonel shot by as though he didn't notice the oddity. But, the slight paling of his expression told a different story entirely.
    After grasping the Four Seasons Realm, Leonel felt as though the burden he once experienced when using his Domain had vanished. Whereas in the past a few minutes was an issue, at this current point, even holding on for an hour shouldn't have been a problem.
    However, that would only hold true if all things remained equal. With such powerful opponents clashing against him, the stamina consumption he experienced was several levels higher than usual. In fact, if not for comprehending the Four Seasons Realm, his Domain would have already collapsed.
    Having come to this point, though, Leonel had no intention of reeling back now. On this battlefield, other than him, there was no other person capable of dealing with these four. He had to deal with them, and he had to deal with them all quickly before he no longer had the stamina left.
    The remaining three panicked as Leonel's Domain enveloped them. Hearing Candle's screams and watching her get trapped without hope of escaping made them feel as though they could very well be next.
    In the distance, Anared's frown was deepening. By now, the archers of Hargrove City were supporting him to his back, so the pressure he felt from the 250 or so youths before him shouldn't have been much. But, as though they were rabid beasts without thought for their own safety, they continued to hound him, putting him in a difficult spot.
    Aina especially seemed to have no interest in letting him retreat. Before, she hadn't been able to use her birthday present due to Vice's interference. But now, she blinked about the battlefield, cutting off Anared's path of escape every time he seemed to gain a bit of daylight.
    Anared couldn't wrap his mind around just what kind of treasure could allow such frequent and fluid teleportation. However, when he saw that Leonel was actually suppressing the Savants, his frown turned somewhat ugly. He couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on.
    'Dammit. If only they had more time to grow.'
    Anared didn't believe that Savants were so weak. The only possible explanation was that they didn't have time to blossom to their full potential. And how could they?
    Savants were existences that could grow more powerful just by eating and sleeping. As long as the world they were born in continued to evolve, so would they. But, these Savants had spent their lives in a cell. How could they possibly display their true potential?
    Just when Anared thought the situation couldn't get any worse, his head snapped in a certain direction.
    At that very moment, from the opposite side of the battlefield, Noah led a troop of youths forward, their number no less than that the 250 or so that harassed him.
    The troop from the North had finally arrived.

 Chapter 532 - More Than You Can Adapt To.

    Leonel appeared amidst Vice, Monkey and Lionel. With light steps, his movements became like the breeze. Every motion flowed into the next, every muscle twitch had its own purpose, every start had its end. He embodied the cycle of the Four Seasons to an extreme. And, when this was fused with the winged swordsman's style, Leonel became untouchable.
    Monkey sent out a punch that shattered the sound barrier. Even before it reached Leonel, his arms burst beneath the strain, sprinkling out with drizzling blood.
    Seemingly noticing his mistake, Monkey rectified it mid-punch. He doubled his body's healing factor again and again and solidified the skin and bone in his arm. On the fly, his attack became several levels more lethal.
    His eyes, hidden behind his messy, unkempt hair, seemed to light up as though he had learned something new. Initially, all he wanted to do was get rid of the pain he was feeling. After all, he didn't personally experience the deaths of his clones so he couldn't instinctually react to what needed to be fixed. But now that he had no choice but to attack with his main body, the talent of a Savant shone through like never before.
    While Monkey's punch threatened to take Leonel's head, Vice also reacted. He focused on Leonel once again, his spatial suppression coming down. But,? just as easily, Leonel broke through it once again, using the tip of his spear to parry Monkey's fist.
    Leonel's spear snaked around Monkey's arm like a viper, aiming right for the latter's head. It was simply an impossibility for Monkey's combat awareness to surpass Leonel's. One had practically been on a battlefield for the entirety of the past more than year of his life while the other was in the first fight of his lifetime.
    But, just when Leonel's spear would of run through Monkey's head, the latter's neck suddenly doubled in length, bending itself out of the way.
    'His abilityбн' Leonel narrowed his eyes.
    Among those here, Monkey had the most versatile ability. He seemed to be capable of doing anything with it. By now, Leonel had come to understand that it was a doubling ability and that it seemed to have almost no limits. In fact, Leonel was certain that Monkey had to have doubled his reaction speed and fast twitch muscles as well, or else dodging his counter would have been impossible.
    The worst part was that the more times Monkey was put in a life threatening situation, the more ways he learned to get out of it, and the more powerful he grew. If Leonel had to assign a danger level to these Savants, Monkey wouldn't even be far behind Lionel who could even warp reality to his whim.
    'I seeбн In that case, I'll just bombard you with more new information than you can adapt to.'
    Leonel pulled back his spear, his chains lashing out against Monkey, Vice and Lionel all at once.
    By now, Lionel was a shell of his former self. Leonel was too perfect of a counter to him, all he could seem to do was use his ability to escape. But, any attempts he made to attack fell flat.
    Still, his escaping ability alone was giving Leonel a headache. The longer this fight dragged on, the more powerful Monkey became, and, there was no guarantee that Vice wouldn't become cleverer in using his ability as well. On top of that, Candle was still constantly fighting back against his chains, draining his stamina.
    If it wasn't for the fact he was so focused on keeping Candle trapped, he would have long since made far more use of his Domain against Monkey and Vice. If it was up to him, he would have already constricted Candle to death, but he realized that doing so would be no better than suicide for him.
    Candle's ability was dependent on the strength of her opponent. The more Leonel constricted, the more strength she had to push back, and the greater drain his stamina would experience. To make matters worse, Leonel didn't have to initiate the strength either.
    At the moment, Candle was pressing her mirrors against her cocoon of chains in order to escape. But, in doing so, Leonel's chains applied pressure in order to stop her. This pressure was then reflected back, causing an endless cycle to ensue.
    Essentially, the more strength Leonel placed into keeping Candle trapped, the more strength he had to use to resist her entrapment. This left Leonel with no choice but to slowly allow the cocoon Candle was wrapped in to slowly expand. Only by doing this could Leonel slow Candle's escape, but this also put a timer on his battle.
    There was only so large he could allow Candle's cocoon to become before it exceeded the range of his Domain. By then, how could he possibly keep her trapped?
    Candle seemed to realize this subconsciously, so she formed more and more mirrors, lining them against Leonel's chains and pushing with all her might.
    However, Leonel was much more intelligent than Candle was. The moment the cocoon around Candle reached five meters in diameter, Leonel manifested new chains around Candle, allowing the outer structure to collapse.
    Candle's mirrors shot in every direction, no longer having anything to press against. But, without her sight, Candle had no ability to gauge just where her mirrors were going as she suddenly found herself trapped once again.
    Leonel indifferently gazed down toward Monkey who was brandishing yet another fist at him. He seemed to be completely detached from the events happening around him, as though he was a master puppeteer observing things from on high.
    Just when Monkey's fist was about to connect, Leonel's body flickered, a halo of golden light enveloping him as his speed reached impossible levels.
    Monkey's fist lost its target, suddenly finding itself flying toward a mirror.
    At that same moment, the chains Leonel had sent lashing out at Monkey and Vice aimed for their mirrors as well.
    The timing was impeccable and the result was devastating.
    Monkey's fist crashed into the mirror at the same instant Leonel's numerous chains did.
    Candle's ability was very simple. It had the ability to reflect and multiply the strikes it received. Not only would one have to face the strength of their own attack, but it would also be multiplied in strength by several times.
    That was already horrible enough, something Coach Owen could attest to.
    But, what if on top of your own attack, you had to deal with the amplification of several others at the same time?
    BANG!
    An entire half of Monkey's body exploded.. As though a bomb had gone off within his body, his chest, arm, leg and even half his head erupted into a rain of blood and gore.

 Chapter 533 - Ash

    A harsh silence overtook the battlefield. Even though Leonel had managed to hold his ground until now, for anyone with battle experience, it was clear that whatever advantage he had had was slowly fading. As the Savants became more and more accustomed to battle, their strengths continued to evolve and the upper hand Leonel had had was slowing to a crawl.
    However, just when others thought that Leonel was about to be forced into a corner, a single move flipped the situation of the battlefield on its head.
    Everyone was always guessing at what Leonel's ability might be. Some thought his Light Elemental affinity was the core of his ability, others thought it was his Bronze Runes, some even believed that it was his Spear affinity.
    Leonel knew well, though, that none of these things were where his true strengths lay. As he stated before, what Leonel grasped from Lionel wasn't the Four Seasons Realm. Leonel's understanding the Four Seasons Realm could only be considered a by-product of him finally comprehending the path he should step on.
    The core of Leonel's prowess was now and would forever be his mind.
    Leonel appeared before Monkey once again, a cold indifference coloring his expression. Even now, slumped to the ground, Leonel could see that the doubling Monkey had assigned to his healing factor was still in effect. In fact, Leonel could see Monkey's body reforming before his eyes.
    But, would Leonel really foolishly allow such a thing to happen right in front of him?
    Leonel stabbed his spear down, skewering Monkey's head.
    The Savant convulsed. Having reached a point that would be impossible for any normal human to return from, one would think that Monkey would be finished. But, Leonel actually felt Monkey's brain trying its best to heal around the shaft of his spear. The reality of it all was baffling.
    Leonel shook his head. With a flip of his palm, a snowglobe appeared and enveloped Monkey's body. Since there was no easy way to kill Monkey for now, Leonel had no issue relying on Suspended Animation.
    When Leonel stored Monkey away and looked up, he found that Vice's state might have been better than Monkey's, but considering the fact the former didn't have any healing abilities, their situations might as well have been functionally the same.
    Vice had flown back like a broken kite, his limbs twisted at awkward angles and his breathing was left shallow. He lost consciousness the moment the pain reached a threshold that was beyond him.
    Leonel raised his spear to kill Vice, but he hesitated.
    By now, if he didn't understand the backstory of these prisoners, he wouldn't be worthy of his computational mind ability. However, even if he felt sympathy, he couldn't possibly allow them to do as they pleased.
    Leonel wasn't certain why The Ascension Empire would choose to keep these Savants alive. If they were willing to kill so many of their fellow man to avoid dealing with billions of Invalids, why would they suddenly be soft-hearted now?
    Leonel sighed. His spear descended, piercing Vice through the heart before enveloping him in another snowglobe.
    The Savants were simply too dangerous. Though Vice was in a sorry state, if he regained consciousness, his ability would be devastating. Unlike Monkey, he didn't need to move for his ability to take effect.
    So, Leonel decided to place him on the brink of death. That way, even if by some miracle he managed to escape the snowglobe, he would only be mere seconds away from death.
    Leonel looked toward where Candle was trapped. Even now, she was still struggling and likely had no idea that it was her ability that turned the tides of the battlefield against her favor.
    Raising a hand, Leonel sent a scorching fire toward her cocoon. Though Leonel had a feeling that Candle could deflect energies as well, what would she do if her deflected energy simply made her situation worse?
    If she really reflected the heat back while trapped in such a place, she would only be hastening her death.
    At that moment, Candle's screams shook the hearts of all those who could hear it again.
    "Stop resisting or I'll burn you alive."
    Leonel's voice didn't carry a hint of emotion. It traveled to Candle's ears like a reaper's death cry.
    Any battle veteran would have found another method, any method other than listening to Leonel's words. But, as a na?ve teenage girl who knew nothing of battle, Candle shook with fear, accepting Leonel's words as gospel the moment she heard them. Just a little heat was enough to scare her out of her wits, the thought of it getting even worse shook her to her soul.
    Just like that, three Savants were captured and stored into snowglobes, leaving just one remaining. Leonel finally turned his gaze toward Lionel.
    Lionel shivered meeting Leonel's gaze, hints of madness, rage and fear within his eyes. He backed away, the land to his back warping as he tried to escape once again.
    By now, the battlefield had completely flipped in favor of Earth. With the addition of Noah's troops, the warriors of Hargrove City were driven onto their backfoot. If it wasn't for the fact they had erected a City, they would have likely been forced to flee a long while ago.
    There was simply nothing for Lionel to rely on.
    Leonel crossed the distance that separated them. Now that he only had Lionel to worry about, he could focus on disrupting the flow of Dream Force without powerful enemies looming to his back.
    The truth was that Leonel's Dream Force affinity was just as high as Lionel's. What separated them was the use of Universal Force as a supplemental help. Unfortunately, Leonel didn't currently have a Domain that was tailored to his ability, so he couldn't fuse his Dream Force with Universal Force like Lionel could. But, he didn't need so much to be a disruptor.
    Lionel found that his hold over his surroundings diminished greatly. The panic in his eyes only grew with each passing moment.
    Unlike with the others, Leonel had no intention of showing any sort of mercy to Lionel. Though Lionel's backstory was likely no less tragic, he lacked the naivete the others had. He couldn't be allowed to live.
    Leonel appeared before Lionel. Before the latter could even react, he found a spear shooting through his head.
    "Iбн" Lionel voice was lost in a gurgle of blood. "бн Just wanted to see my motherбн"
    The bloody angel to Lionel's back shed a tear as its existence crumbled.
    Leonel didn't show any mercy in those final moments.. His Fire Elemental Force exploding along his spear, incinerating Lionel to ash.

 Chapter 534 - The Truth

    Leonel stood with a clenched jaw. He had no idea if Lionel was truly related to him or not, but his last words resonated with his soul.
    At that moment, Leonel couldn't help but hesitate. The deed had already been done, but had he truly made the right choice? Had this been the right way to do things? Had he been true to himself and done what he wanted, or had he just used the same logic The Empire had only to add his own 'unique' twist.
    "Coach!"
    Leonel didn't sigh a breath of relief what things were over. Instead, he shot backward to Coach Owen.
    With Vice's ability having been blocked by Leonel for a long while now, medics had long since gotten to the Governor Duke. But, whether they'd be able to do anything was a different matter entirely.
    By now, those guards who weren't of help had been led by Garwin to assault Hargrove City. Among those that remained, they were all the top of the line healers Dark Cloud Prison had to offer.
    "Get away from me, I need to speak to Leonel."
    Coach Owen pushed the medics away, his tactics just as gruff as usual. But, with how pale his face had become, it was clear he was on his last legs, even his mustache seemed to have lost most of its earlier volume.
    Leonel made his way over, a deep frown on his features.
    "Shut up old man, stop talking." Leonel's frown deepened.
    He kneeled down, a strong golden light enveloping him as he cast [Grand Heal] as best he could.
    "Kid, stop." Coach Owen spoke between coughs.
    "Didn't I tell you to stop talking already?" Leonel was exasperated. Was this old man trying to get himself killed? What was he thinking?
    Coach Owen chuckled. "Just look at yourself, kid. You're at the end of your rope but you're talking about me."
    Leonel looked up to find the medics giving him worried looks as though it was him with a bloody hole through his stomach and not his Coach. But, before he could wonder why, a wave of fatigue grabbed hold of him and refused to let go.
    What Leonel hadn't realized was that his face had long since been drained of all color. A cold sweat covered every inch of his body and his breathing was short and quick. Yet, he just cast one of the strongest spells he could. He really was asking after death.
    Leonel grabbed onto his forehead and shook his head furiously.
    He should have realized. With his ability, everything on the battlefield should have been within his grasp but because he was so worried about Coach Owen, he hadn't even realized when his perspective on the battlefield had become so shallow. In fact, he hadn't even realized when Noah made it here to support Aina and the others. He simply didn't have the stamina to spare for anything other than his own battle.
    Leonel looked over his shoulder to find Aina fighting. Her strength seemed to have soared, everything from her power to speed was on an entirely new level. Anared could only continuously retreat beneath her assault.
    Seeing this, he sighed a slight breath of relief. But, when he relaxed slightly, he felt his vision swim again.
    "Focus up, brat. If I'm going to croak, I need to tell you this first..."
    Leonel wrinkled his nose and shook his head, trying to regain his bearing.
    "Stop, you're not going to die." Leonel said sternly.
    "Are you going to let an old man say his final words? Or are you going to keep crying like a little bitch?"
    "I'm not..."
    Leonel opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden salty taste touched his tongue. He wiped his face with a forearm, only to find a moisture that shouldn't have been there. But, even as he looked into the darkened skies, there were no clouds of rain to be found.
    "You're a grown man now, brat. I even heard that little girlfriend of yours earlier, she's kicking more ass than you. Is this the face you want to show her?"
    Leonel's face couldn't be considered any different than usual. In fact, it was even somewhat cold at this moment. Yet, there was no denying the redness of his eyes and the stream of tears flooding his cheeks. It was almost as though he was simply too tired to stop his normal reactions anymore, his body having reached the end of its rope.
    Sitting at the very edge of exhaustion, his body no longer had the same failsafes it once did.
    Seeing Leonel remain silent, Coach Owen chuckled.
    "Finally, took you long enough. You brats these days can never just sit and listen. All of you scram."
    The medics looked at one another and had no choice but to distance themselves.
    Coach Owen laid on a concrete, looking up at the sky and the two moons that hung above.
    "I hate to drop this in your lap, but I think a dying man has the right to be a bit willful. I've held this in for a long time and honestly its eaten me up inside."
    Coach Owen's voice was as low as a whisper. Leonel could feel his life draining away.
    'Hurry up old man. Say what you need to say already so I can stuff you into a snow globe.'
    When Leonel cleared his mind, he realized he had options. Though he wasn't guaranteed to find a method to save his Coach, he hadn't lost all hope. He just needed to improve [Grand Heal].
    Thinking to this point, he inwardly berated himself for getting emotional. It really must be that his body was at the end of its rope.
    Leonel was already inwardly celebrating and his mood took a turn for the better. He even thought of making fun of the old man's mustache again. But, what he heard next left him frozen in time.
    "... 'Leonel' isn't related to you, though he probably believes that he is. That said, you're more related than not... you both have the same eye color, same skin tone, same hair color, and were both born in the same month... And, when you were three years old, you both took your Gene Assessments at the same time in the same Province...
    ".... That day, you were both found to be a risk to society and slotted to become Dark Prisoners."

 Chapter 535 - Sick.

    Leonel sat completely frozen, not understanding what it was that he was listening to. He was supposed to be a Dark Prisoner? He was the same as Lionel and the others? What the hell was going on?
    "бн I know that it might be surprising to you, but this is the truth. Back then, you were still a part of the Royal Family. Though it seems like the Fawkes Royal Family is untouchable as the only family that doesn't have to rely on democracy, in order to keep this level of mystique, they have no choice but to be perfect.
    "The idea of a Prince suddenly becoming a Dark Prisoner wouldn't have been a big deal initially, but with the coming turmoil, the Fawkes Family couldn't afford to have any chinks in their armor.
    "In the end, as a commoner, #D1109 had his identity erased and became your replacement."
    Leonel frowned, there were too many things about this that didn't make any sense. If he was already so high profile, how could he be successfully replaced? In addition, what was the point in replacing him if the main issue was the blemishing of the Fawkes Family? Wouldn't the blemish occur regardless?
    However, listening to his Coach's ramblings, he finally pieced it all together.
    The Gene Assessment is technically confidential, this is especially so for high profile individuals. After all, one had to remember that Aina's Five Star Profession was hidden from most so that she wouldn't be harassed at school.
    However, the Royal Family was different. In order to breed a sense of superiority, the details of a Royal Family members Gene Assessment was always publicized after the fact. But, that didn't change the initial procedure.
    Effectively, the test process itself was secret while the results could be publicized at any time depending on what that might entail.
    After their Gene Assessments, both Lionel and Leonel were found to be Dark Prisoners and slated to be imprisoned. Considering the status of Dark Prisoners, even compared to Aina's Five Star Health Professional title, they were even more secretive than normal. After all, wasn't the existence of Dark Prisoners a major secret to the public?
    Taking advantage of this, Lionel's family was 'erased'. By now, Leonel had no doubt that The Empire had taken advantage of the fall of the Paradise Islands to completely wipe them from existence.
    However, 'erasing' Leonel was much more difficult. The Gene Assessment facilities he had gone to that day were top of the line and filled with influential families. Getting rid of his existence would have been impossible.
    So, that was where Lionel came into play. As children, they looked similar enough to pass for one another and thus a new Leonel Morales was born while Leonel himself was sent off to Royal Blue Province to live in peace with his father, his results effectively cutting off whatever chance he had had of living in the spotlight as a Prince.
    Understanding all of this now, Leonel couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach.
    He was a Dark Prisoner? He was the same as those madmen and women?
    Leonel's jaw clenched, his body subconsciously leaning back from the body of his Coach. He felt a coldness he could hardly control welling up inside.
    Thinking back to Lionel's last wordsбн 'Iбн Just wanted to see my motherбн' бн Leonel felt as though a knife was being plunged in and out of his chest.
    Lionel didn't have a name, he didn't have a family, and his only purpose was to find the woman that Leonel's own family effectively erased from existence.
    Leonel should have been able to accept it. After all, Lionel was going to be a Dark Prisoner regardless of his existence. In all likelihood, his family would have had to be dealt with regardless. This shouldn't be a burden that Leonel had to bear.
    But, was it really like this? Wasn't Leonel also supposed to be a Dark Prisoner? Why wasn't his family erased? Why was it that he was the one who could sit here and pass judgement on a man he was technically no different from? What right did he have?
    Was he really worth more than another person because his background was greater? Did he deserve more chances because he was more talented? Was this really the kind of world he lived in?
    A dark fog hung over Leonel.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink tried to wake him up from the top of his head, yet Leonel couldn't seem to hear the little guy. In fact, even Coach Owen's 'last words' practically fell on deaf ears.
    Leonel seemed to run into this time and time again. It was a kind of survivor's guilt that followed him since the very start of the Metamorphosis.
    Leonel couldn't help but think back to a conversation he had with Roaring Black Lion all those months agoбн
    ~
    "It's funny to watch them, don't you think?"
    Leonel chuckled slightly. "What do you mean by that?"
    "They're separated into two groups. One group is too cowardly to go and wouldn't dare risk themselves. The other is also too cowardly even though they're pushing for us to go. They have no intention of putting themselves in the line of danger at all. They're only so adamant because they think we'll take on the brunt of the troubles for them.
    "Which one do you think is worse?"
    Roaring Black Lion did find this clown show to be quite funny. All of those powerful enough to actually make a difference weren't even speaking. Those like Leonel, him, Thunderous Clap and even King of Seas' group, were all in their own little corners of the cave. It was like they were allowing the weak to make the decision for them.
    The truth was that since they were the most powerful, they suffered the most to get them here. How could they have the energy to mind this argument? Most of them already made their own decision.
    "Which is the worst?" Leonel thoughtfully smiled for a moment. "Probably the seven of us who aren't speaking at all."
    ~
    Leonel felt like that right at this moment. He felt like he was one of those useless seven once again, not speaking, not doing, just basking in his own talent and allowing the commoners to squabble about as they pleased, knowing that whatever decision they came to wouldn't matter to him in the slightest because he could just do want he wanted regardless since he had the larger fist...
    And it left him feeling sick.

 Chapter 536 - Thoughts.

    "Leonel!"
    Coach Owen seemed to use the final bit of his strength to breakthrough to Leonel. In return for his efforts, he spit up several more mouthfuls of blood, whatever bloody bandages that had wrapped around his wound had been completely soaked through once again.
    Leonel's gaze, which had lost its focus, locked onto his Coach again. But, his gaze carried an added vacancy that hadn't been there before.
    Coach Owen sighed, coughing beside himself.
    "Brat, though I told you these things out of my own selfish desire to vent, these are still important things for you to understand. This is the world you live in. You're one of the lucky ones who can benefit greatly from it. What you choose to do with this chance is up to you and no one else."
    Leonel didn't seem to react much to Coach Owen's words. He only nodded lightly, his mind not processing things as well as they used to. It was hard to tell whether this was because of his fatigue or if it was because of the information he had just received.
    Coach Owen shook his head. He knew that his words would have this effect, but he wanted to say them anyway. Though he said it was out of his own selfishness, it was deeper than this.
    Leonel needed to understand these things. It wasn't just so that he could comprehend his own privilege so that he could decide what to do with it. But, most importantlyбн if there ever came a day where his talent, his background, or his luck wasn't enoughбн He would be ready as well.
    How he chose to navigate these matters would be up to Leonel.
    Coach Owen would always say that Leonel was the most talented child he had ever come across. Even the Savants who were supposedly blessed by the Universe fell to him one after another. Though it could be said that these Savants were immature, something told Coach Owen that even if they had been training since their youth, Leonel would have still found a way to win.
    However, this child who seemed to have the world at his finger tipsбн Had not an ounce of ambition. This was maybe the most frustrating thing for a mentor to see in one of their youths.
    Unfortunately, when you came across talents like this, simply telling them that they should be better, that they shouldn't waste their gifts, that they should make the most of the talent they were given, just didn't work. If these talents didn't decide to strive for greatness on their own, there was nothing anyone else could do.
    The saddest part about all of this was that even if this talent ran into a roadblock, do to their level of genius, they might not even need to try their best to cross it. This led to a perpetual cycle where these geniuses trudged through with a minimum level of effort, until they eventually reached a point where their raw genius simply wasn't enough to cross a new mountain that appeared before them.
    When geniuses without ambition reached this point, they would experience their first taste of failure in their lives.
    At that point, the vast majority of them would keel over, allowing the times and despair to roll over them. Their genius would be forever lost in time, a talent that could have bloomed would collapse, never to rise again.
    Leonel's talent was so outrageous that he would likely travel further than even most of those geniuses. But, there would come a day when he ran into that mountain, a mountain he couldn't climb with just his raw talent.
    When that day came, Leonel would collapse just like all the geniuses that came before him.
    Coach Owen didn't want to see such a thing.
    Leonel was better than most. He wasn't lazy, in fact he was one of the hardest workers Coach Owen had ever seen. But, he didn't have a single, one-minded goal to apply himself to. He had no purpose, no drive.
    He needed something for himself. Something that could fuel him regardless of outside sources. It couldn't come from his family, it couldn't come from a woman either.
    Unfortunately, Coach Owen couldn't find this drive for Leonel. He could only point him in a certain direction.
    Thisбн Was the last thing he could do for the boy.
    Coach Owen never had his own family. His wife died decades ago and he never had any sons. To him, Leonel was as close to a grandson as he would ever get. He would do whatever he could to help him spread his wings.
    Feeling his life waning down to the final embers, Coach Owen swallowed his next mouthful of blood, gathering up the last of his strength.
    "бн A final thing, kid. About Jamesбн" Coach Owen sighed, his voice getting fainter. "бн You two have always been like brothers, I watched you grow up. But brat, you've always been too good at severing your emotionsбн"
    Somewhere deep down, Coach Owen knew that this was likely one of the largest reasons Leonel was designated as a Dark Prisoner. But, he could only push this thought away and pray that Leonel would never fall prey to such things.
    "бн You always have such room for forgiveness for those who are practically strangers to you, but your rope is short for those who you look to as family. In some ways, this makes senseбн But, I still want you to open up your heart a bit.
    "I'm not saying to forgive Jamesбн Just give him a chance. Take it as a dying old man's final wish."
    Leonel gazed toward Coach Owen, his irises flickering.
    "Alright Coach, I'll give him a chance. I promise." Leonel spoke softly.
    Coach Owen's mustache bristled, his lips curling into a bloody smile as he closed his eyes.
    Leonel took a deep breath, bringing out a snowglobe as he felt his Coach's consciousness fading. With a thought, his Coach being none the wiser, Leonel took his body in.
    Leonel sat in silence, alone. Even though the sounds of battle drifted to his ears from time to time, he practically blocked them out as though he couldn't hear a thing. One would think that he was in his own world rather than sitting in the middle of a battlefield.
    But, the truth was that he really didn't have the strength to move a finger even if he wanted to.. All that was left were his thoughts to distract him from his aching muscles.

 Chapter 537 - Accomplished

    Leonel looked off into blank space. His coach's final words about James didn't really register until just now.
    Could he forgive James? Well, he really didn't know. He didn't even know why it was James had done the things he had, so it was even harder to forgive something like this. As a brother, James should have spoken to him directly.
    The same words Leonel had said to Aina back then, he could have said to James. The moment someone he was close to stopped trusting him, even going to the point of not even trying to explain things to him first, he had no qualms about them letting them live life without him.
    If James couldn't trust him enough to speak, was such a person really his brother?
    бн
    "Young Heir Keafir, this is a losing battle. We can't continue to stay here. We've accomplished our goal already."
    City Lord Hargrove sent a message to Anared.
    Controlling the Savants was never a possibility. The moment they got hold of the A and Dark Prisoners, their task was complete. There was no need to continue fighting here.
    The only reason Anared had stepped out was to ensure the death of Leonel and potentially grab hold of a piece of Earth's World Spirit. But, since that was no longer possible with the level of support and reinforcements Earth was getting, it was in their best interest to just cut their losses and leave.
    In truth, this operation was a resounding success. Leonel's appearance was never part of the plan, so it could be said that they had already accomplished everything they set out to do.
    Anared, who was still below the city walls, evading the pursuit of several of the youths, didn't react to these words immediately.
    He sent a glance in the distance toward Leonel's sitting figure. He seemed to be quite listless and out of place. But, if Anared wanted to make it there, he would have to cross through thousands. And, of those thousands, there were 500 who had talent beyond anything one could find on Terrain.
    'There's no need to display my full strength now. Retreat is fine too.'
    Anared knew that Hargrove was correct. Their goal was never the Savants nor Leonel. From the beginning, their goal had been the escaped prisoners and now they had thousands of them. There was no need to consider anything else for now.
    Anared's speed suddenly accelerated, dodging out of the way of another one of Aina's ax strikes. Timing his escape the moment Aina used another minor teleportation, he bolted backward, his display far beyond anything he had shown to this point.
    As for why Anared would be holding back, maybe only he knew the answer to this. No, maybe his fiancижe was also aware.
    In the blink of an eye, Anared had made it to the base of the city. With a single leap, he made it to the top of its walls, a rain of arrows covering his ascent.
    "Start." Anared said indifferently.
    бн
    Leonel's head snapped toward Hargrove City, his gaze narrowing. A strong fluctuation of Force suddenly wrapped around it. It didn't take long for Leonel to understand that they wanted to relocate Hargrove City once again.
    'That's possible?'
    Leonel's gaze flickered. He knew more about Force Arts than probably anyone on Earth currently. A Force Art drawn with normal materials wouldn't be able to withstand the teleportation of such a large piece of land twice. He couldn't even imagine the amount of wealth that went into building the foundation of these cities to make such a thing possible.
    'Didn't I say you wouldn'tбн'
    Leonel moved to stand, having every intention of finding a way to stop the city from leaving this place. He had already said that he wouldn't be allowing Anared to leave, and he had no doubt in his mind that he would be able to follow through on that promise in that moment.
    But, the instant he stood, Leonel's vision suddenly swam. Before he realized what was happening to him, his body fell forward completely outside of his control.
    The light in his eyes dimmed, his consciousness fading.
    In the distance, Aina, who had turned her attention back to Leonel, worried about how he might be taking his Coach's situation, suddenly cried out in shock. Abandoning thoughts of going after Anared, she shot forward like a streaking shadow.
    In the darkness of night, Aina's strength was on a whole other level. This wasn't because of her ability, but rather because of the Abyss Panther blood that she had ingested. Only this sort of environment allowed her to display the true strength of her bloodline.
    Truthfully, this shouldn't be the case. Unfortunately, Aina's Internal Sight was weak, so despite her high Dark Elemental affinity granted by her blood, she had trouble making use of it. Only at night could she overcome these struggles.
    Of course, there was also the problem of not having any techniques. She had yet to learn any Dark Elemental Techniques and the innate techniques of the Abyss Panther could only be used once she entered the Fifth Dimension. So, at this point, she could only accept her shortcomings.
    Luckily, this speed was enough to make it to Leonel swiftly. Unluckily, though, she wouldn't make it before he crashed into the ground.
    Thankfully, the little mink was by Leonel's side. With a wave of its little claws, a cloud of darkness stopped Leonel's fall and gently cradled him.
    By the time Aina made it to Leonel's side, he had entered such a deep sleep that he was even snoring.
    Aina shook her head, sending a complicated glance toward the disappearing Hargrove City. She was certain that wherever that City appeared next, there would be a whole host of problems to deal with. And, she was even more certain that Leonel would be pissed with himself when he awoke to find that he had failed to stop their retreat.
    Aina sighed and smiled a smile that was one part bitter and another part prideful. If not for Leonel, how would so many of them have survived? But, because he worked himself so hard, he was now in such a state.
    "Let's bring him back, Little Blackstar."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink dove into Aina's chest.. The pair walked toward the rest, Leonel hovering behind them on a cloud of darkness, his mind drifting to places unknown.

 Chapter 538 - Awake

    Leonel's eyes snapped open. His first instinct was to jump up, but the creaking of his bones and his splitting headache made him think twice.
    "Hm?"
    The sound of a breathing rhythm Leonel was certain was his caught his attention. He turned to the side, only to find Aina curled up like a kitten, her mask still on. Leonel couldn't blame her though, it was probably far more comfortable for her to sleep with it on rather than off.
    Leonel's bed was quite large, enough for even four people to sleep on without bothering each other. So, though Aina was curled up to his side, she was still about half a meter from him.
    Leonel couldn't help but smile. The little mink and Aina cuddled up together was definitely an adorable sight to behold.
    Leonel's stirring seemed to alert Aina. Her eyes opened only to see Leonel's smirk.
    A deep blush colored Aina's face. She couldn't help but be thankful that she had this mask now.
    "Are you alright?" She asked.
    "Good as n --" Leonel hardly finished his sentence before he grunted. His whole body felt like it was cramping, he never thought such a thing could be so painful.
    Aina frowned. "You pushed yourself too far."
    Leonel smiled bitterly. He didn't think he had in the moment. He was just doing whatever was necessary to win. But, he hadn't thought that the impact on his body would be so severe.
    Ultimately, using the Four Seasons Realm to display combat prowess beyond his means was like pushing his body past its breaking point. The more he did so, the greater the backlash would be.
    Though the Four Seasons Realm allowed a person to challenge those in Dimensions beyond them, there, of course, had to be a price to pay.
    Luckily, Leonel's body and mind were already within the Fourth Dimension or else the backlash would have been even worse.
    Touching upon the true Four Seasons Realm was beyond anything Leonel could have expected it to be. It was only right that there was a small price to pay.
    However, Leonel wasn't very worried about it. He believed that very soon, he wouldn't have to deal with such backlash at all, not because his body would be invulnerable, but rather because he'd become much better at healing himself.
    Leonel suddenly grabbed his chest, sucking in a sharp breath. A cold sweat matted his forehead.
    "Ah!?"
    Aina shot up, waking the little mink.
    "Leonel? Leonel!?"
    Aina crawled over to Leonel's side, her hands pressing against his chest as she tried to see what was wrong. With her knowledge of the human body, it really wouldn't be much of a problem to do so. After all, she was a Five Star Professional. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact her Internal Sight was lacking, she wouldn't need to touch Leonel at all.
    But, what happened next left Aina completely stunned.
    Leonel, who had supposedly just been in pain, suddenly shot an arm around her waist, sending her crashing toward him.
    Leonel winced before laughing evilly, his master plan having worked to perfection.
    Seemingly realizing she had been tricked, Aina pouted and tried to push herself up.
    "Ah! Ah!" Leonel didn't need to fake it this time.
    "Okay! Alright! You win!"
    Aina gently lowered herself, inwardly shaking her head. She had given Leonel space so that she wouldn't harm him, only for him to pull such a stunt.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Feeling left out again, the little mink dashed away, likely going to find Little Tolly to bother again.
    "You see the things I have to do to get you to say my name?" Leonel joked.
    Aina didn't know how to respond. After a moment of silence though, she said something that left Leonel speechless.
    "Everyone calls you Leonel or Leo... I don't want to be like everyone else."
    Aina felt very lucky she didn't have to meet Leonel's gaze at this moment. She buried her head into his chest as though trying to find a hole to hide in.
    Leonel suddenly began to laugh. Aina could feel the rumbling of his chest against her ear, causing her face to redden like a ripe tomato.
    Aina tried to run away again, but Leonel's pained act cause her to have no choice but to stay in place again.
    Leonel's laughter waned, leaving a smile on his face. His hand ran through Aina's hair, the smell of apple tickling his nose.
    "You'll never be like everyone else to me."
    Leonel grinned. For a moment, he felt the pain in his body wasn't so bad after all.
    The two laid in silence. In fact, Leonel almost lost himself in another round of dreams. If it wasn't for the fact that his mind felt refreshed and he was quite enjoying the feeling of Aina's waist in his arm he might have drifted off again.
    Aina's stiffness gradually disappeared after hearing Leonel's words, her hand laying on his chest along with her head. She couldn't help but feel a silent, swelling sweetness.
    "Do you think that Earth will be alright?"
    After asking the question, even Aina felt a hint of surprise. She hardly had any attachments to Earth. To her, whether it survived or not hardly mattered. All she cared about was her revenge.
    But, she found that after she accepted more of her feelings for Leonel, she began to care more. She didn't know how Leonel felt about the Fawkes Family. But since they were related to him, as long as Leonel wanted it, she would try her best to help.
    Leonel remained silent for a long while before he spoke.
    "As long as I'm here, no one will touch Earth."
    Leonel didn't know what this ambition his Coach wanted him to grasp was, nor did he care for the Fawkes much if at all. In fact, it could be said that he leaned more toward hating the Fawkes family than anything else. Their actions continuously left him disgusted to his core.
    All Leonel knew was that this was how he felt now. Call it a sense of duty, a foolish pandering, or a gripping guilt... but regardless, this was his resolve.
    This world was a cruel place. Since he had strength, he would make it just a small bit less so if he could.
    "Okay." Aina smiled lightly. "I'll be there too, then."
    **
    As the couple lay in their own world, a silent rumbling of space shook a small corner of Earth. One after another, troops of soldiers surged out, finding themselves in the middle of a vast ocean.
    It seemed the Powers of Terrain had arrived. But, not so unfortunately, their teleportation hadn't been as accurate as their City counterparts.
    That said... while their location was highly inconvenient.... Not a single soul of Earth seemed to be aware of their arrival.

 Chapter 539 - Follow

    Leonel woke from another long sleep, his body still aching. In truth, he wanted to go back to bed again, but he didn't have the luxury.
    This time, he didn't find Aina by his side. But, with a single sweep of his Internal Sight, he was able to spot her in the gardens of the Abode Setting, diligently swinging her sword.
    Beads of sweat fell from her brow, following the slope of her cheeks and nose. For whatever reason, she had chosen to take off her mask at this moment. But, knowing her, Leonel didn't need to think very hard to come up with a few reasons.
    Whether it be to help her training or to be a constant reminder, either one was a safe bet.
    Leonel sighed but didn't say anything or interrupt her.
    Wincing, he pushed himself up, finally turning his attention to the world outside. Since he had lost consciousness, he had no idea where he was. Honestly, he had just trusted Aina to put the Segmented Cube in a safe place and hadn't checked until now.
    'So we're still here.'
    Leonel nodded to himself. Staying near Dark Cloud Prison made sense.
    In the final moments, in order to stop the escape of more prisoners, Escobar had ordered the sealing of the prison. So, currently, where there had once been a hexagonal prison, there was nothing but the flat ground that had swallowed it.
    However, this wasn't a long term solution. The Prison needed to be repaired and the prisoners that remained needed to be properly quartered and dealt with.
    Beyond this, there was also the matter of the already escaped prisoners. Though they all wore wrist watches, without technology, it was difficult to make use of this.
    On top of this, Leonel had a feeling that the main goal of Terrain had been the prisoners. As for what they wanted them for, it was hard to tell if it was as simple as wanting Fifth Generation existences of Earth or if there was a deeper matter.
    There was the possibility that they simply wanted to make use of Earth's talents. Terrain lacked the most in this aspect. Though they had a great amount of strength, that was bred over decades of training. On the opposing side, though, Earth was able to produce combatants that could face them simply off the strength of their talent and abilities.
    To make matters worse for Terrain, this only mentioned the youths. There were still a number of old monsters like Old Hutch who not only had talent, but had been training for years as well.
    Of course, Old Hutch was a member of the Slayer Legion, not The Empire. But, if The Empire didn't have such existences, wouldn't the Slayer Legion have long since won their rebellion? Leonel had the feeling that The Empire wasn't so simple either.
    That saidбн None of this stopped him from feeling that he should be wary.
    'Hmбн?'
    Leonel suddenly vanished from within the Segmented Cube.
    бн
    Noah and Jessica walked toward the Segmented Cube. From their outward appearances, one would never guess that just a few days ago, Jessica was crying out to save Noah's life. Let alone talking about such a matter, they both pretended as though such a thing had never occurred in the first place.
    Before they could figure out if they should knock or just wait, Leonel appeared before them.
    In truth, the current Leonel didn't look the best. His face was still a sickly pale color, a long shot from its usual healthy tan. On top of this, he wasn't the best put together at this moment. Not to mention the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt, he wore pajama bottoms that seemed as though they might slide off his hips at any moment.
    If it wasn't for the fact he looked so sick, one would have thought he was preparing to model men's underwear rather than coming to greet the Prince and Junior Grand Prime Minister of an Empire.
    However, Leonel couldn't be bothered to care.
    'As expected, sweatpants are still the most comfortable. This whole wearing robes stuff is not for me.'
    As an athlete, Leonel spent the vast majority of his time in sweats. When he could get away with it, he would forego wearing Royal Blue Academy's uniform all together.
    'Maybe I should just start wearing Valiant Heart Mountain's garbs now. Their pants looked especially comfy, lots of breathing room for the family jewelsбн Hm, speaking of which, I wonder how many kids Aina wantsбн I should ask herбн On second thought, this isn't exactly the best environment to be birthing kids inбн'
    Leonel seemed to have completely forgotten that he, himself, was also still a kid.
    If Noah and Jessica knew what Leonel was thinking about at this moment, it would be hard to guess how they'd react. They came with such serious expressions, yet Leonel was thinking about something so ridiculous.
    Finally coming out of his thoughts, Leonel scanned Jessica and Noah. He still didn't know how he felt about this cousin of his. But, he had to admit that he was quite fond of Noah's disposition.
    Though they had a disagreement over Aina, Leonel could still understand where Noah had been coming from even though he had no intention of forgiving him for the matter.
    But, from an objective standpoint, Leonel had killed his fair share of people by now. Could he say with any assurance that they didn't have family? Friends? Lovers who would have reacted just like he had in protecting Aina?
    Knowing this, if he held it against Noah for too long, he would be a hypocrite. As long as Noah didn't target Aina again, he didn't mind building a relationship with this cousin of his.
    "Good morning." Leonel said with a light smile.
    His words seemed to alleviate all the tension in the air. Though his face was quite pale, his genuine smile seemed capable of warming even Jessica's cold exterior.
    Jessica couldn't help but look at Noah's side profile.
    'If you smiled like that, there wouldn't even be a question who Earth's next Emperor would be.' Jessica inwardly shook her head.
    Noah was a great talent in almost all aspects. But, he was lacking in the social aspect that was necessary to become Earth's next ruler. And, unfortunately, his father was the same.
    "Good morning." Noah said with a light nod. "We've come for two reasons today. The first is for the rewards. But, the second is more important."
    Noah took a deep breath.. "I would like to ask you to follow us back to the Capital."

 Chapter 540 - Prematurely

    Leonel paused when he heard these words.
    Going to the Capital? Just hearing these words seemed to unlock some hidden PTSD he had.
    Every organization he had joined to this point had found a way to backstab him. Though the matters with Camelot managed to work themselves out and he even got a few good friends out of it, that didn't change the fact that there was a point where practically everyone in that world wanted his head on a pike despite the truth that, from the very beginning, his only intention was to save all of them.
    He couldn't help but feel that if he went to the Capital now, he'd find himself in another less than favorable situation. And, the reality was that this was the very last thing he wanted to deal with at this moment.
    Leonel couldn't even think about it in terms of seeing his family. He didn't even really see the Fawkes family in such a light to begin with. As a result, he treated this no differently from an invite to any other organization.
    "Reward? What reward?" Leonel evaded the topic.
    "Those who accumulate a certain number of merits in a single battle are privy to an Imperial Pendant. Your performance happens to warrant a Ruby Imperial Pendant, which allows you to ask one request of Imperial Grandfather."
    "Hm? Is that so?"
    Leonel was aware of Imperial Pendants. They were ranked as: Black, Platinum, Ruby and finally Amethyst. Even the lowest was a great honor that one had to scratch and claw for. But, considering Leonel's role in subduing threats that could, without exaggeration, destroy Earth as they knew it, it wasn't too surprising for him to earn a Ruby Imperial Pendant.
    As far as Leonel was aware, those who had earned Black Imperial Pendants in the past were able to request to have a residence built for themselves in the Capital.
    Compared to the other Provinces of Earth, the Capital was on an entirely different level.
    Originally, Leonel had thought that he had never been to the Capital before. But, after learning he was a Prince, he dug into his own memories once again using his Dream Force and managed to recognize the fact he had.
    Just living in the Capital increased one's life expectancy by as much as 20 years. This wasn't just because it was safer, but rather because the environment itself was capable of continuously rejuvenating the human body.
    This was all to say that just the Black Imperial Pendant was worth an extra 20 years of life. This should be enough to demonstrate the worth of such an achievement.
    "In that case, I want to request the rights to White City."
    Noah's brows shot up. He looked toward Jessica, only to see that she was just as surprised.
    "Thisбн" Noah cleared his throat. "бн White City was already requested by Tyrron and the Dove family."
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Did he also earn an Imperial Pendant?"
    Noah shook his head.
    "Is White City considered the territory of the Dove Grand Prime Minister family now?"
    "бн Not exactly."
    "Good. Then I want the city." Leonel replied succinctly.
    Noah looked toward Leonel, trying to see what his angle was exactly. White City was practically a thankless task to the uninformed. It was filled with citizens who wanted nothing more than to watch Earth fall. Even with 500 elite talents, he was certain that Tyrron wasn't having a good time at the moment.
    But, for the Dove family, such an action made sense. Though White City was a headache, it also provided an opportunity. It kept all the culture of an entire other world intact. In addition, it was located on Camelot, another place that was practically an untapped treasure-trove.
    Beyond this, White City also represented wealth.
    At this moment, Earth had yet to truly step onto the Dimensional Verse stage. But, soon, it would have to. Once that day came, the usual currencies of Earth would become useless and they would have to adapt to using the money of the universe.
    Though Terrain was weak in the grand scheme of things, this was still the wealth of an entire City. On top of this, due to how powerful City Lord White was, White City was prosperous even compared to other Cities. Who knew how much money was lying in its vaults?
    As though this wasn't enough of a pull, the Cities of Terrain all had teleportation hubs. Earth had yet to set up such things and didn't have laws to deal with their advent just yet either. But, there was no doubt that there would come a day where Earth had to open itself up to the outside world.
    Though it was dangerous to take this step, it also represented an opportunity. The Ascension Empire of Earth grew so powerful because it was able to fuse the cultures of hundreds to thousands of Earth's civilizations from Ancient America to Ancient Europe and Ancient Asia. So, how much more powerful would Earth be if it began to assimilate the cultures of other worlds as well?
    The main issue, though, was that Earth didn't have any Force Crafters. This would mean that they would have to rely on others coming to make these teleportation channels for them.
    Of course, Earth didn't have to worry about no one coming. After all, with Earth's talent, who didn't want a piece of the pie?
    But therein lied the problem. If Earth didn't control these teleportation channels themselves, they were inviting a whole host of problems.
    Howeverбн. What if they stole these already crafted teleportation channels from Terrain?
    It was likely that Terrain, too, had to rely on merchants from another world to form their channels. But, could those merchants really come to Earth to reclaim what was theirs?
    They could tryбн But whether that would work out for them was still up in the air.
    This was all to say that White City was a headache that could very well become one of Earth's most important resources. It could only be said that Leonel had a large appetiteбн
    Noah sighed. "Alright. The City is yours."
    Noah inwardly shook his head.
    'The Dove family won't be happy about this. They're already trying to take two cities for themselves, one of which is currently attacking The Capitalбн I wonder how Leonel will deal with thisбн'
    Though Noah thought that Leonel had done this for the wealth, he couldn't have been further from the truth. Leonel's plans were far more maddening than this.
    A smirk curled Leonel's lip. He didn't have time to waste on a war with Terrain, his top priority at the moment was healing Aina and he couldn't do that here. For that, he had to head to Valiant Heart Mountain.
    In that case..... he would just have to end this war prematurely himself.

 Chapter 541 - Way Of The World

    White City seemed to have a veil of darkness hanging over it.
    This wasn't particularly unexpected. As far as the citizens of White City were aware, they had just lost the war.
    The truth of the matter was that with how tight lipped the City Lords had been about this operation, the citizens of Terrain as a whole knew little about what was happening. It was only after they descended onto Earth that these matters were made known to the masses.
    Unfortunately for some, not all of the citizens trapped here were even citizens of Terrain. Many had come from other worlds to sight-see and purchase various local delicacies and staples.
    But now, for obvious reasons, the teleportation stations had been shut down. So, these tourists were stuck here in a war they wanted no part of. One way or another, these people would never benefit, so it could be imagined how aggrieved they were feeling.
    That said, in such a high stakes environment, not many dared to make their displeasure known on a large scale. By the same token, though, those that did dare to voice out their demands most definitely didn't come from simple backgrounds.
    This only added to the underlying tension the city was under.
    It was this situation that Leonel and Aina walked into. They looked toward the looming city gates in silence, their demeanors serious.
    "Are you sure you want to do this? Why even risk it?" Aina asked. "It can't be for the money, right?"
    Aina could easily see the value of White City. But, unlike the other nobles, Leonel didn't really have any background. As such, he didn't have subordinates in the truest sense. He didn't have anyone who knew how to manage or run a city, nor did he have anyone who could protect and maintain order.
    Though he technically had those 250 geniuses including Nile, they had been recalled to the capital. In addition, they couldn't be truly considered Leonel's men. After all, he had only known them for a short while.
    That said, if those youths knew that this was Leonel's thinking, they would be greatly disappointed. Though they had only been with Leonel for a short time, the impression he had left on them was everlasting. They were more than willing to follow him if they were just asked.
    But, Leonel hadn't thought so far ahead. He didn't plan on staying on Earth for much longer. The time for Valiant Heart Mountain's entrance ceremony was quickly coming up, so any thoughts of building up a faction on Earth was too far from Leonel's mind.
    At that moment, the gates to the city opened as a familiar entourage of people walked out. Among them, there was Tyrron who seemed to have gotten a new pair of glasses. But, compared to the last pair, it was clear that this one wasn't a treasure, so Leonel didn't say anything about it.
    Tyrron smiled lightly when he laid eyes on Leonel and Aina walking hand in hand.
    "I'll be leaving this City in your capable hands, then, Prince Leonel." Tyrron smiled lightly.
    This was the first time Leonel had heard his voice. Even during the negotiations for Camelot, he hadn't breathed a single word.
    Hearing it now, Leonel felt that his voice was quite soothing, almost too much so. Such a person had the right to treat their words like gold. It was simply too pleasing to listen to him.
    Not only was his voice deep, but it came out with a certain smoothness that resonated with the heart. One would think you were being lulled into a land of dreams just being near him.
    That said, while Tyrron's expression was amiable, the aids following him were quite obviously displeased. Leonel, didn't pay very much attention to them, though.
    Leonel nodded lightly, a warm smile on his face as well.
    "I'll have to thank you, then. Your efforts are appreciated."
    Tyrron nodded in response, allowing Leonel and Aina to pass them by and enter the city. The clicking of the large gates caused the ground to tremble.
    Tyrron and his entourage walked away, brandishing talismans of their own for their use to return to Earth. But, by this point, one of the women following behind him couldn't hold back anymore.
    "Junior Grand Prime Minister, this is really too much!"
    The blond young lady stamped her feet, feeling aggrieved. They had already slaved for the past week trying to get the City in tiptop shape. Just when it was finally about time for them to reap their rewards, some long lost Prince swooped in and stole all their hard work. How could she not be pissed?
    To make matters worse, though some of them had suggested undoing the work they had done and causing some petty problems for Leonel, Tyrron rejected their thoughts in the end.
    Ultimately, Leonel was handed a city on a silver platter and hardly had to do any work. At this point, his only task was to maintain.
    Yet, their Junior Grand Prime Minister acted as though these matters had nothing to do with him, walking away with a light smile on his face that hadn't faded even now.
    Seeing that Tyrron didn't explain, the blond young lady was practically blowing steam out of her ears. Her foot stamped the ground again, but her strength was so great this time that spider webs formed beneath her heals.
    Somehow, though, her shoes survived the devastation, it was clear that they weren't normal by any stretch.
    Still, this young lady had the right to be quite willful. At the very least, there were very few people who could reprimand her. Though she didn't have a title like Junior Governor Duke, her father and mother both were from Tier 9 Court Minister families. Her standing was even higher than a Junior Governor Duke as a result.
    The untitled nobles of The Capital were more respected than out-of-Capital nobles by a large margin, especially Tier 9 Officials.
    "This is just the way of the world." Tyrron replied with a smile. "The powerful do as they please and the weak move aside. Is there really any problem with that?"
    A silence fell over the entourage, the sound of their footsteps resounding through the darkness.

 Chapter 542 - Depend

    Leonel walked into the city to find it quite silent. It was clear that Tyrron and the others had done an excellent job.
    By now, the patrolling troops had been replaced with officials of Earth, a stark change from the 500 youths that had been tasked with maintaining order previously. Though these men and women were less powerful, their training was more substantial and, most importantly, there were far more of them.
    Seeing Leonel's entry, the Head of the patrol units came forward quickly, saluting respectfully.
    "Prince!"
    Leonel still couldn't quite get used to this form of address. But, he thought it would be a bit ridiculous if he asked them all to call him Captain, so he let it slide.
    "The patrol --."
    Leonel shook his head. "It's fine, you don't need to explain these things to me. I'll be headed to the City Lord's mansion. Just be prepared to see to my orders. Here."
    Leonel handed the Head patrol guard a talisman that would make communication smoother. To Leonel, drawing such a talisman was as easy as breathing.
    Though Leonel hadn't had any formal training in talisman drawing and it could be considered a profession outside of Force Crafting, their roots were practically identical. In fact, Leonel was probably better than most low level Talisman Crafters thanks to his ability.
    The profession relied on precision and accuracy, and these were things that Leonel was best at.
    The Head patrol guard was bit taken aback by Leonel's dismissiveness. But, he still respectfully accepted Leonel's talisman and watched as the pair began to walk around the city seemingly without aim.
    Every so often, the patrol units would come across Leonel and Aina. Without fail, each would immediately respectfully bow before continuing along their patrolling routes.
    What none of them expected, though, was for this stroll of Leonel's to last so many hours.
    Initially, many of the patrol guards couldn't help but compare Leonel to Tyrron. If one were comparing the two, it was obvious who was the better at administration. Leonel couldn't even bother to listen to the layout of the City even to the point of not even asking for a map.
    In truth, many of the patrolling guards thought that Leonel had lost his way to the City Lord's mansion and was now far too embarrassed to ask.
    But, as Leonel continued to walk around the city, the expressions of the patrolling guards only became weirder. Whereas before they thought that Leonel was aimlessly wasting time, now they weren't so sure.
    Even if someone wanted to waste time, shouldn't they do it with something enjoyable?
    Of course, Leonel was having great idle chatter with Aina. Every so often, her laughter would ring through the empty streets and catch the attention of the citizens peeking out their windows with hostile expressions.
    Butбн Even if Leonel's goal was to enjoy his time with Aina, wouldn't they have been better suited inбн a bedroom?
    There wasn't even anything to see on the streets. By now, all the stalls were empty, the restaurants were closed, and the citizens were closed off in their homes without the option of stepping out.
    Just what could there be to see?
    Yet, Leonel obviously didn't explain himself. He walked down street after street, having a nice chat with Aina.
    In truth, this had been the longest time Aina spent relaxing in a very long time. Though she felt one part guilty, she couldn't help but feel another part ease as well. This feeling was completely new to her, she couldn't help but enjoy it. Her hand felt very secure in Leonel's.
    бн
    "бн I'm serious." Leonel said sternly.
    "You're insane." Aina rolled her eyes. "No person in their right mind would agree with you."
    "It's perfectly logical!" Leonel stood his ground.
    Aina stopped walking, her gaze locking onto Leonel's.
    "Only psychopaths put milk in first."
    "Oh come on! Think about it!" Leonel refused to back down, his eyes lighting with a wild light. "If you put in milk first, you can control the amount of cereal. If you put in the perfect amount of cereal, you can finish it all before it gets soggy. Then, you can incrementally add more cereal! You can savor your meal in peak condition!
    "If you put in cereal first, then pour in the milk, unless you're a speed eater, by the time you get to the bottom, you'll have nothing but soggy cereal left! It's practically science!"
    "There's nothing wrong with soggy cereal, it's a way of life. Next thing you know you'll be saying that peanut butter is more important in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!"
    "Wellбн"
    Aina was stunned. "You've got to be kidding me. Pretend like you don't know me."
    "Hold on!" Leonel protested. "Jelly is like the icing on a cake. Even though it's good, you can't just make a cake entirely out of icing, right? Peanut butter is the foundation! You have to have more of it!"
    "I'm done with you." Aina walked away, pretending to ignore Leonel.
    "Aina! Don't walk away! We need to seriously talk about this! Our children need to be educated properly!"
    Aina turned back, a furious blush hiding behind her mask.
    "Who's going to have children with you!?"
    Leonel grinned, his smile lighting up the night sky.
    "Good, at least I've still got your attention. I'll slowly teach you the right way to view the world. I can compromise on the PB&amp;J, but I'm drawing a hardline at milk first. I'm trying to start a revolution!"
    Aina shook her head, giggling. Seeing Leonel treat something so trivial so seriously made her oddly happy.
    After pretending to be angry for a while, Aina eventually let Leonel take her hand again as they walked down the streets.
    "Done."
    Leonel walked to a dead end with Aina by his side. By now, he had walked down every street the City had to over and mapped it all in his mind. He hadn't missed out on a single detail.
    "Is it possible?" Aina asked.
    "бн It should be." Leonel responded after a long while. "It will depend, though."
    "On what?"
    "On how many spies Terrain left in this City."

 Chapter 543 - Nobles

    "It seems that they've swapped out the City Lord. The name of this person is Leonel Morales. He seems to be one of the prime targets for the World Spirit hunt."
    In hushed tones, voices communicated back and forth within a residential area of White City. Oddly enough, despite the fact they didn't try to lower their voices in the slightest, if one stood more than a half meter away from them, hearing their words at all would be a fool's dream.
    The people of Terrain weren't fools. It was an impossibility that they never considered what might happen should a city of theirs be captured. They were well aware that despite the fact Earth was a fledgling world, the threat they posed to a weaker world like theirs was astronomical.
    As such, Terrain's goal was never to be perfect. Rather, they had planned for decades and as such had decades worth of contingency plans.
    Just one of these contingencies were the spies left within the city. These people were regular residents. Not only had they not joined the war efforts, but they had even lived in this city for years now. Even if one interviewed every citizen of Terrain, it would be impossible to weed them out.
    Not only had these people been deeply undercover for several decades, but they were highly intelligent and adept at hiding themselves. There was simply no chance at finding them with any sort of ease. Even Tyrron got a headache dealing with them all.
    Howeverбн. Leonel wasn't Tyrron.
    бн
    With a flip of his palm, Leonel retrieved the other half of the communication talisman he left with the Head of the patrol units.
    "Hello."
    "Right, I have no idea what that Prince isбн Ah! Yes! Prince! At your service!"
    Aina giggled to the side as Leonel shook his head. If he had really wanted to, he could have been listening in on their conversation from beginning to end. It was just that he didn't have the mind to care about the thoughts of these patrolling guards.
    Actions spoke louder than words.
    "Prepare 38 tactical units. No single group can be made of less than 10 individuals. Prepare yourselves to be swift, decisive and safe."
    "Prince?"
    The Head of the patrol units was clearly confused. Where was all of this coming from? What were these units for?
    "Don't ask any questions. Speed is of the utmost importance. Ready yourselves now and go to these locations."
    When Leonel disconnected the call, the looming darkness over White City seemed to grow heavier.
    Leonel stood silent before the City Lord Mansion, his eyes closed.
    "Begin."
    The moment his words fell, the City descended into chaos. The sound of breaking doors, screaming women and children, and the loud badgering shouts and roars of men resonated.
    Leonel sighed lightly. But, he didn't make any moves to stop it.
    This was war. He had no doubt that of those he caught this time, a majority of them would choose to commit suicide. And, of those who failed to go through with it, their states wouldn't be much better.
    To make matters worse, these spies had long since settled down in this city. They had family, they had friends, they had wives, they had childrenбн In most cases, these family members wouldn't even be aware of the hidden purpose of these spies. All they would see was the fact someone they loved was being dragged away and, in some cases, killed.
    War was truly a cruel thing. Despite the fact Leonel got to stand here and didn't need to witness any of it personally, he still felt his stomach churn. The feeling was no different from the first time he killed a man. And somehow, he felt that this feeling was even worse in some ways.
    "Are you alright?" Aina asked softly.
    Leonel smiled somewhat bitterly.
    "I'm not, but I will be." He finally replied with a sigh.
    Aina squeezed Leonel's hand.
    In truth, she didn't feel much from this matter. One would think that she, as a woman, would be more empathetic than her boyfriend. But, this wasn't the case. Compared to Leonel, Aina had long since seen the cruelty of the world.
    In her opinion, Leonel's actions were even more benevolent than they would be had anyone else gone through with them. At the very least, he could pinpoint the exact spy. Aina was certain that if Tyrron was left to do this, he would simply wipe the entire family from the face of Camelot.
    "Is that all of them?" Aina asked after another long while.
    Leonel shook his head. "There's still one more group in this city that even Tyrron likely didn't suspect. Because if he did, he wouldn't have left them where he had."
    "One moreбн?" Aina's expression was confused for a moment before they suddenly lit up beneath her mask. "You mean?"
    Leonel nodded. "That's right. This one, we'll have to do personally."
    Leonel and Aina walked toward the City Lord's mansion.
    In this place, there was a large military field out front, completely unlike other mansions. Whereas most would opt for lush gardens and maybe a few koi fish ponds, City Lord White hadn't bothered with any such pomp and circumstance.
    However, compared to the past where these fields had been nothing but deep foot marks, sweat, and blade scars, it had been completely revitalized. Now, there were numerous luxurious homes, looking completely out of place.
    Of course, these homes were recently built and may have even been the work of Tyrron and the others.
    Leonel understood Tyrron's actions in this regard. Butбн Just because he understood them didn't mean he accepted them.
    With steady steps, Leonel strolled into this makeshift community of rich folk with Aina by his side. Considering it was late at night, other than a few flickering lights behind their luxurious curtains, there was nothing else to see in the streets at all.
    Obviously, people of their standing wouldn't necessarily go to bed so early. But, though Tyrron had given them some advantages, he wouldn't go too far. So, these 'nobles' had to abide by a certain curfew.
    It seemed that the sudden restlessness of the city had shaken these people, because they obediently followed these protocols.
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly released Aina's hand and clapped his own together forcefully.
    What did it sound like for skin as tough as Fourth Dimensional metals to slap together with such strength?
    Wellбн The moment Leonel's palms collided, it felt as though an explosion had erupted.. Without him even having to say a word, these 'nobles' scurried out of their homes, a mixture of shock, fear and confusion on their faces.

 Chapter 544 - Afford To Offend

    In any other context, the sight would have been hilarious to behold.
    Some ran out with shower caps and robes still on their bodies, others only had a single slipper on, and still yet some others had forgotten their pants.
    If they were acting, Leonel had to admit that they were quite good. But, there were still a few people he managed to pick out that were different from the rest.
    He indifferently waited for all of these 'nobles' to step out of their homes, the combination of his silence and the chaos of the city acting as his backdrop making those who definitely weren't acting gulp.
    At that moment, a fat man practically waddled out from his door. Despite the time of night, thick chains, bracelets and rings could be found all across his body. Considering the sleep in his eyes, this man either really slept with such jewelry on, or he was really committed to always looking as rich as possible when he stepped into public view.
    As for why he didn't take his body's size into account when portraying this image to the public, maybe only he knew.
    The fat man looked around, and seemingly realizing that Leonel was in charge, his bubbling face turned red with anger.
    "What is the meaning of this?! Haven't I already explained who I am?! You dare wake me up in the dead of night?!"
    Leonel indifferently watched this man go on a rant, but Aina furrowed her brows. There was nothing Aina hated more than those who flaunted their status. In fact, she felt a deep loathing for such people. If she didn't know better, she would cleave this man in two just to teach him a lesson.
    "бн You seem to be new so I'll take on the labor of explaining it to you peons again! I am a One Star Black Merchant of the Milky Way Guild! You dare to treat me like this?!"
    The surrounding 'nobles' seemed to be emboldened by the fat man and they began to rant one after another. Since another had taken the first step, their fear vanished and they began to brandish their egos and backgrounds as though they were true weapons.
    "бн I've said it before, I'm a citizen of Planet CrarsX10! Do you know how my government officials will react if they hear that a single hair on my head has been harmed?!"
    "Right, right! And I'm a citizen of Planet SolvusX2!"
    The words seemed to layer atop of each other, bleeding into one another.
    "Is there a reason their planets all have numbers behind them?" Leonel asked Aina curiously as though he couldn't hear their frustration.
    Aina looked at Leonel incredulously before shaking her head and giggling. Maybe only Leonel would be able to ask such a thing at this time.
    "бн The universe is big as it is. So, instead of giving each planet a world conquers a new name, they essentially add an alphanumeric code word to the end of the main world's name as a suffix.
    "X, Y and Z are the letter parts of the code. X means that this world is on the same Dimensional Plane as the main world. Y means that it's a step below. Z means that it's two steps below. As for three steps below, it's not usually worth it for such a high level world to invest in such a planet, so there's no designation for it.
    "As for the numbers, they're pretty self-explanatory. Just designates a number to the planet. The larger the number, the more planets a world has under its control. 10 is a pretty high number, honestly. Most are around two or three at this stage. Crars is a powerhouse of our quadrantбн"
    "I see, I see."
    Leonel and Aina continued to chat as though the ravings of these 'nobles' had nothing to do with them.
    By now, it was obvious that these weren't nobles of White City at all. Rather, they were the tourists mentioned previously. Each had an entanglement with another world and had come to Terrain for one reason or another.
    Some came for business like the fat merchant, but there were others who had come for pleasure.
    By extension, it should also be obvious why Tyrron had treated them so well and hadn't considered the possibility of spies being among them. Earth might be talented, but it was still a fledgling world. Simply put, they couldn't afford to enter the world of the Dimensional Verse with hostile entities on all sides.
    There were already no shortage of individuals who were jealous of them. They couldn't also then proceed to antagonize these worlds further.
    So, maybe it was more accurate to say that Tyrron likely thought of the possibility that there might be more spies amongst the people of these worlds, but didn't dare to act upon this speculation.
    Howeverбн Once againбн Leonel wasn't Tyrron.
    "That's enough!"
    Leonel's voice suddenly boomed. An oppressive might shook these 'nobles' awake.
    "Let me make one thing clear." Leonel spoke, a cold edge gliding across his tone. "Earth indeed can't afford to offend all of your worlds."
    A smug look resurfaced on the faces of the 'nobles' that had been scared witless once again.
    "That saidбн" Leonel's steely continuation made their sneers freeze on their faces, their hearts trembling beneath his presence. "бн You all should also understand that Earth is not a world that you can afford to offend either. We may be young, but we are no pushovers. If you think that you can use the status of your worlds to apply pressure on me, you'll be sorely mistaken."
    Leonel's gaze swept over them all.
    "Now. Will you all step out and personally hand yourselves in? Or do you want me to take action personally? Because I promise you, if you choose the latter, your experiences will be much worse than them."
    Leonel hooked his thumb over his shoulder, pointing back toward the city behind them.
    A silence hung over the 'nobles'. At that moment, the shouts and screams of the city suddenly became several levels more obvious.
    A sharp light lit the gazes of several within the crowd, a hesitancy causing their hearts to beat erratically.

 Chapter 545 - Milky Way Guild

    You can read the novel fast updates at novelhall.com
    "I guess that's your choice then."
    Leonel's palm flipped over. Before anyone could react, his bow had been nocked with three arrows. Though his gaze was indifferent, a stifling killing intent loomed overhead.
    "I'll ask you one more time. Are you three going to step out on your own, or would you rather and arrow through the head?"
    Leonel speaking out the exact number made those who had just been hesitating feel their hearts seize. How did he know this?
    The worst part was that Leonel had come to them before they could even think of reporting these matters.
    It was difficult to tell exactly what was going on in the city, so those who were spies could only rely on their abilities. But, before they got a good understanding of what was happening, Leonel had appeared here and startled them all awake.
    "You aren't even people of Terrain. Is money really worth your life?"
    Leonel's back flexed, pulling his bowstring back.
    Tyrron wouldn't make the mistake of taking these people at their words. If they were here, that meant that they most definitely were people of other worlds. As for how Tyrron knew this, Leonel wasn't sure. But, Leonel himself could pick out the subtle differences.
    Of course, a person from a world wouldn't necessarily have the same appearances. This wasn't a matter of how they looked, but rather about the way the energies around them behaved. People from the same world had subtle nuances about them that Leonel was able to pick out.
    Just from a casual observation, Leonel was able to pick out these people with ease.
    That said, there was no telling if Leonel was correct. It was always possible that these people had deeper ties to Terrain than it seemed. But, it was worth a try.
    "Alright then. Die."
    Leonel's gaze sharpened, landing on the first figure.
    Just as his bowstring was about to be released, two figures dashed forward, quickly falling to their knees.
    "I surrender! I surrender!"
    They both spoke in unison, their head lowered to the ground. It was clear that they were too afraid to even look up.
    Before, they had thought that Leonel was just bluffing. But, after Leonel not only spoke out with the number of them that there were, but also locked his aura onto them, they felt as though they had fallen into the pits of despair. The only ways they could see to save their own lives was by surrendering.
    "Hmph. Just a bunch of trash."
    When others heard this voice, they were surprised to find that the obese merchant was on the other side of it. This man who seemed to be all talk and no substance actually had the gall to say such a thing at this moment?
    "You're quite bold, brat." The obese merchant snarled. "How did you manage to pick us out?"
    Leonel gazed indifferently at the obese merchant who very clearly had no intention of begging for his life like the two before him. At the same time, though, Leonel also had no intention of explaining how he had done things. Since it was related to his ability, why would he expose such things about himself?
    The obese merchant snarled when he noticed that Leonel had no intention of saying anything.
    "Even if you knew that we were responsible, you should have turned your head the other way, kid. Do you think that the Milky Way Guild is an existence you can afford to offend?"
    The obese merchant began to speak of his background again. But, whereas last time it came off more like a spoiled brat talking about his rich parents, at this moment, it felt as though a mountain was weighing down on all those around him.
    This was no longer an explanation. It was a threat.
    "Since you're a fledgling world, I don't mind explaining. Earth is only located on a tiny little wing of the Milky Way Galaxy. Even if your technology was at its peak, you could at best travel to another wing if you spent your whole lifetimes on it.
    "But, the Milky Way Galaxy has control of all the trade roots of this quadrant. It's impossible for a --."
    Leonel suddenly held up a hand. With a thought, the little mink appeared, holding a familiar disk-like dictionary in his little paws.
    "Who is the highest ranking member of the Milky Way Guild?"
    The obese merchant sneered. What did this little brat think that he was doing? Were these matters something an infant world like Earth would know? Did he really think that his little informational treasure would be able to give him such information? Was this supposed to be a comedy skit?
    [*Ping*]
    [ Replying to Seed, the highest ranking member of the Milky Way Guild is Augustus Ovilteen ]
    "And what's his strength level."
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, Augustus Ovilteen, when last displaying his prowess, showed strength nearing the Sixth Dimension ]
    "What are the odds Augustus will care about a Fourth Dimensional One Star Black Merchant?"
    The obese merchant nearly choked on his spit, his visage becoming deathly pale. Calling the President of the Milky Way Guild by his first name as though it was a non-issue? Just who was this kid? And what the hell is that disk?
    The merchant had heard that Earth was a treasure trove of wealth, but seeing it with his own eyes made him feel as though he had lived his life to this point for naught.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, it depends on if matters are related to Earth or not ]
    Leonel nodded.
    Earth was too much of a temptation. Even if this Augustus wouldn't normally care about the life of a One Star Black merchant, if it came down to it and he could use it as an excuse to stretch his hands toward Earth, he wouldn't hesitate.
    In fact, considering there was a Merchant here at all likely meant that his sights were already locked onto their world.
    Since this was the caseбн How should he deal with this matterбн?
    Best novel online free at novelhall.com

 Chapter 546 - Elorin

    Leonel's bow disappeared, only to be replaced by an odd metal. Just looking at it, one couldn't feel anything special. It looked even less special when Leonel bent it in his hands as though he was pleating fabric rather than a metal bar.
    But, when the two kneeling figures felt this metal wrap around their wrists and lock into place, they felt as though they couldn't exert any strength at all.
    After he was done, Leonel walked to the obese merchant who was still sickly pale. He didn't seem to realize that the last response by the dictionary gave him some breathing room, likely because the pressure Leonel put on him was too much. Or, more accurately, it was Aina's pressure.
    From the very beginning, Aina had had a bad impression of this man. So, the moment she found out that he was one of the spies, she no longer held back her killing intent.
    Luckily, it seemed that this merchant was more adept at selling wares than battling. But, this only made sense.
    After a world completed its first Metamorphosis, it would slow into a lull. By then, not everyone needed to be combatants any longer.
    On the current Earth, practically everyone needed to know how to fight with the exception of a few. However, as things settled down more, it was likely that Earth may return to the previous days where the army and a regular citizen's life were kept separate.
    "Youбн Thatбн"
    Leonel didn't wait for the obese man to finish and simply locked his arms into place just like his colleagues.
    This metal bar was the very metal used to line the walls of Dark Cloud Prison. With all the destruction, Leonel managed to snap a few pieces for himself with quite some ease. Now, he wouldn't have to worry about these spies using secret means of communication.
    Though Leonel could easily see through more conventional communication methods, stopping abilities would be more difficult.
    The reason he was able to weed out the spies to begin with was because White City simply made it too easy. Every spy, without fail, had communication Force Arts drawn into the foundations of their home. Not only were there communication Force Arts, but there were also Force Arts that made monitoring the City several times easier.
    Of course, the obese merchant and his two accomplices were a bit different in this regard since their homes were only recently built. But, even then, seeing through them hadn't been very difficult. Leonel only had to pay attention for special talismans.
    Since the merchant and his men weren't citizens of White City to begin with, it was obvious that the people of Terrain would account for this, giving them more mobile options for espionage. For someone with senses as sensitive as Leonel's, seeing through these hidden mechanisms was simply too easy.
    The main mistake White City made was that it didn't consider the fact that someone knowledgeable about Force Arts would even exist on Earth to this point and this could be considered their downfall.
    In the end, Leonel chose to simply imprison the members of the Milky Way Guild. He could tell that this might lead to problems later, but he couldn't afford his plans being revealed, even if there was only a small chance.
    бн
    A long while later, the spies who survived the purge were group together and thrown into the White City dungeons. As a City, there was no surprise that White City would have such a thing, so it made things many times more convenient.
    The patrol units looked toward Leonel in a completely different light.
    With their training, they could easily tell that Leonel had indeed picked out spies. If it was just an act, maybe their disdain would have reached another level. But, this was very clearly not that.
    "Station a few to look over this area." Leonel said.
    "Yes, Prince!"
    Leonel walked away, not minding their change in attitude. To him, actions always mattered more than words. Now that all the spies were dealt with, he could really begin.
    As for what he planned to do?
    Well, the people of Terrain liked dropping Cities onto battlefields right? He might as well give them a taste of their own medicine.
    **
    On a secret location on Earth, there was yet another meeting taking place.
    The war for Earth was reaching a new level. But, everyone knew that unless The Capital fell, Terrain would be left with nothing. Of course, Terrain had their own plans in this regard, but the truth was that they were making no progress on that front, at least on the surface.
    This meeting, however, didn't include people of Terrain, nor did it include people of The Empire. Rather, each and every soul here was an upper echelon member of the Slayer Legion.
    Among those present, there were several that Leonel would recognize. The first of which being Supreme Monet. Aside from her, there was even the angelic man who appeared that day to stop Hutch and there was even Hutch himself.
    The old man lazed around as usual. But, compared to when Leonel first saw him, aside from having his feet up on the table, the old man also cradled a machete resting in an age-worn leather sheath.
    His head nodded away as though he might fall asleep at any time. In fact, even though the conference table was practically packed to the brim, there wasn't a single soul within a meter of Hutch, it was as though they all tacitly agreed to stay away from him.
    Still, though many avoided Hutch, their focus wasn't on him at all. Rather, they were all focused on a particular young man.
    Despite the fact that he was the youngest in attendance, many looked toward him with awe and respect. Some gazed toward him with fear and still other looked upon him with admiration and бн anticipation as though he was a shining hope prepared to change their futures.
    The young man had striking blue eyes and hair whiter than snow. Despite this, his skin was a deep shade of brown. It was a warm, gentle sort of brown that reminded one of a wizened oak tree.
    The young man sat quietly, as though he was waiting for something. But, seemingly without cause or reason, he sat up slowly, his gaze brimming with vitality.
    If citizens of Terrain had been present, they would have immediately recognized this young man.
    He was none other than the first on their list of targets, the young man who cleared the Zones of Earth the second fastest.
    Elorin.

 Chapter 547 - Sole

    "If matters continue like this, Terrain will lose."
    Elorin's voice held a certain sweetness to it. It was deep and reverberating, but it tickled the ears almost like a steady rhythm. It had a special cadence to it that dragged all those who heard it in. But, maybe his words themselves were more shocking than anything else.
    According to Elorin, despite the state of the battlefield and the current semi-stalemate, Terrain had not a single chance of winning.
    If the outside world heard such things, they would think that this man was insane. However, the members of the Slayer Legion only nodded as though this was obvious.
    As the existences that had been battling The Empire for so long, they had a great understanding of their strength. If Terrain thought their pitiful planning was enough, they were sorely mistaken. The reality of it all was that Emperor Fawkes was simply unfathomable. As long as that man didn't deem it fit to make a move, Earth was in no danger whatsoever.
    However, that very man, at this moment, was more than content to leave this war as a training exercise for the youths of Earth. And, maybe the sad part was that Terrain had yet to realize this was the case either.
    They simply weren't being taken seriously.
    Of course, if one looked at this at a surface level, Elorin's words were already shocking enough. But, if one was aware of how many things he was aware of, they would be even more astounding.
    "But, I'm sure you're all aware that it's impossible for things to simply continue like this. Those hidden families will not miss this opportunity to deal a blow to The Empire, they're only waiting for the opportune time. And, there's no guarantee that other worlds haven't already stuck their noses into our matters.
    "So, the question remainsбн What will we do about it?"
    A silent hush fell over the Slayer Legion.
    Elorin stood from his seat. He wore a tracksuit that radiated a pure white color. Despite the casual nature of his dress, it didn't seem out of place in the slightest. In fact, if felt as though he was a monk looking down upon them from on high. Just his demeanor alone felt otherworldly.
    "Not many know the history of the Slayer Legion and even less know that we are no less ancient than the Ascension Empire. However, we've been hiding in the shadows for a long time. Sometimes, I believe that even we forget what our true purpose is."
    Elorin swept a gaze over those before him, his demeanor completely unlike what his age would dictate. He commanded the room of such powerful individuals with ease. Wellбн With the exception of a single man.
    Hacker Hutch continued to nod away, mumbling beneath his breath as he whispered sweet nothings in his sleep.
    Elorin smiled when his gaze landed on Hutch. He didn't seemed irked by such a reality at all. In fact, he only shook his head as though he was observing his own grandfather napping at an inappropriate time. There wasn't a hint of animosity in his expression.
    "Hutch."
    The angelic man growled.
    "Huh? Huh?"
    Hutch shot up, looking around warily. When he realized where he was, he yawned.
    "Oh, this meeting is still going on?"
    The angelic man's fury reached a new level seeing such a display.
    "Show some respect!"
    "Respect?" Hutch picked at his ears. "You're all fawning over a brat who hasn't even grown hair in all the right places yet, and now you have the audacity to ask me to show some respect? The hell is wrong with you?"
    Hutch yawned again, smacking his lips.
    "бн I could do with some pizzaбн" The old man mumbled beneath his breath.
    By this point, not only was the angelic man fuming, but so were the others. This was especially so for Catris who had lost an arm to Hutch just months ago. The emptiness of his sleeve brought him to a boiling rage every time he thought of those events.
    "бн Grandpa Hutchбн I heard that Mayfly died?"
    Hutch's gaze narrowed as he looked back toward Elorin.
    The relationship between Badger and Mayfly might have been close, but compared to the relationship between Mayfly and Elorin, it was hardly worth mentioning. It could be said that Badger's emotions were unrequited while it was a completely different story for Elorin's.
    This might have shed light on just the kind of man Elorin was. Despite all of these matters, he still didn't blink an eye when Mayfly and Badger partnered up so frequently. This was a man wholly confident in himself and his ability.
    "It's been quite a long time since you've called me Grandpa, brat. But, to think that this was the situation you would do so in. It seems that you've gotten quite used to playing these political games. Maybe rather than my being the one who's forgotten the true purpose of the Slayer Legion, it's you all."
    Hutch stood, his demeanor becoming completely different. It was clear that even Elorin became a level more serious.
    "I hadn't made my decision before, but I'll have to thank my own grandson for pushing me in the right direction. It seems that I can no longer take a backseat to these affairs any longer."
    By the time Hutch made it to the front of the room, his aura was towering. Whatever demeanor that Elorin seemed to have had was completely washed away in the presence of this old man.
    Slowly, Hutch's skin seemed to become more elastic, his wrinkles fading somewhat. He became an inch or two taller and his aura sharpened, regaining a bloody edge that had disappeared long ago.
    Even beneath the gazes of so many powerhouses, his aura seemed to wash over them all, suffocating them to the point it seemed they wouldn't be able to raise a single finger.
    He was on a completely different level. It was only at this moment that they all understood the level of strength Hutch commanded. Even if he hadn't awakened such a rare Time affinity ability, even if he hadn't awakened an ability at all, he would still carry strength capable of forcing them all to submit.
    This was Hutch. This was Old Man Hutch. This was Hacker Hutch.
    "From this day forth, the sole decision maker of the Slayer Legion will be me."

 Chapter 548 - Times Of War

    Hearing Hutch's words, those of the Slayer Legion were stunned. At first, they were too oppressed by Hutch's aura to say much of anything. But, in the next moment, a few shot up, livid expressions on their faces.
    "You dare to rebel, Hutch?!" Catris roared, slamming his remaining hand onto the table beneath him.
    Catris hadn't dared to confront Hutch before, but now he was most definitely in the right.
    Wasn't the point of the Slayer Legion meant to be to fight against the oppressive rule of The Empire? The Ascension Empire hid beneath a guise of democracy, but when there would always be one, undeniable ruler, what kind of democracy was this? This world was simply a Monarchy with extra steps, there was nothing revolutionary about it.
    Just how many actions had the Fawkes family unilaterally taken over the years with no one being powerful enough to stop them? This was exactly what they were trying to avoid, yet, Hutch was actually trying to make the Slayer Legion the exact thing they were fighting against?!
    It was unforgivable!
    "Silence."
    A wave of Force surged through the room. Many felt as though their knees had gone weak, whatever thought of resisting they had had falling to negligible levels. Even now, they couldn't believe how large the difference between them and Hutch truly was.
    "Brat, go sit down."
    Hutch looked toward his grandson, a commanding tone booming from within his chest.
    Elorin looked toward Hutch, a partially cautious and partially curious light in his eye. But, in the end, he smiled somewhat unexpectedly.
    "Alright, grandpa."
    It was simply too difficult to read Elorin. He really did seem like a kid trying his best to please his grandparent. But, just a moment ago, he was questioning his grandfather about the death of Mayfly.
    Of course, there hadn't been any sort of edge to his tone back then. But, asking such a question in context most definitely seem to be combative. Yet now, Elorin pretended as though none of that had happened.
    Hutch turned away from his grandson, looking back toward the crowd of Slayer Legion elites. By now, many of them had paled. Without Elorin's presence blocking Hutch, the aura they felt came like a rampaging tsunami, crashing into their minds and hearts with a relentless tempo.
    "Since you all seem to have forgotten the truth of our Slayer Legion, I will remind you.
    "We weren't built to be rebels, we weren't built to help the common people, we weren't built to sit here and scavenge for opportunities to deal with The Empire.
    "The truth of our existence is in our name.
    "We. The Slayer Legion. Was built to kill."
    A bloodthirsty aura surged out from Hutch. The sound of crying blades sung through the air, sharpening beneath Hutch's aura as though it was their perfect whetstone. Not a single soul seemed capable of breathing, let alone moving. It felt as though their whole worlds suddenly revolved around this one man.
    "We plunder. We kill. Then we sharpen our blades and do it all over again.
    "This is the fundamental law that rules us, that rules me.
    "Monet!"
    Supreme Monet was shaken out of her fear-induced state.
    "Y-yes!"
    "What is the history of the Slayer Legion?"
    "Weбн" Monet grit her teeth and stabilized her breathing. "бн We were once the spear of The Empire. However, we grew too dangerous and were thus abandoned and shunned. It was too difficult to control so many powerhouses at once, so the First Emperor of The Ascension Empire had us hunted down and killed."
    If others heard this story, they would have been shocked beyond belief. To think that this was the true origin of the Slayer Legion.
    However, the words Hutch said next were even more shocking.
    "Wrong."
    One by one, Hutch called out Supremes and former Supremes, forcing them to speak of the Slayer Legion's history, yet, none of them could come up with an answer that could satisfy the old man. In fact, with every mistake, Hutch's reprimanding only grew fiercer and harsher.
    "So this is the hogwash that's been taught?" Hutch looked toward his grandson. "What is the history of the Slayer Legion?"
    Elorin cleared his throat, the simple action somehow seeming elegant. It was simply impossible to believe that a single man could have such a level of charm.
    "We are the sacrifice. When alive, our wool keeps the people warm. On our death beds, our blood quenches the people's thirst. After our death, our flesh keeps the people fed."
    Elorin's words shook those of the Slayer Legion to their souls. It was no longer about the voice that spoke them but entirely about the words themselves. It felt as though they had suddenly pulled their heads out from a vat of water, gasping for breath and finally seeing the world for what it truly was. The simple sentences tugged at their heartstrings, forcing their blood to rage like flooding torrents.
    However, Elorin still hadn't finishedбн
    "We are the spearhead. Our shaft stands tall without us. Our head glistens beneath the sun when it is time and hides in the night when it is not.
    "Do you understand?"
    Though the members of the meeting felt that their blood was boiling, they couldn't quite explain why. It was as though something hidden within them was slowly resurfacing, bubbling to the forefront of their minds.
    However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't quite understand what Elorin was trying to say. What sacrifice? What spear?
    Elorin glanced around him, his expression calm.
    "We are the Slayers. Our work is entertainment when the Emperor deems it fit. Our services are ostracized when He does not.
    "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
    The upper echelon's expressions flushed red, their jaws clenching.
    "The Slayer Legion isбн" Hutch began to speak in an even tone, his pace unhurried. "бн The hidden army of The Empire.
    "In times of war, we join the battlefield to become their spearheads. In times of peace, we become their sacrifices.
    "Now.. Sharpen your spears."

 Chapter 549 - Three Reasons

    Hutch's words left a pregnant silence over the room. It was hard for the upper echelon to properly wrap their heads around this matter, but somehow also easy for them to accept.
    The realization left them quaking internally. Just what level of manipulation and planning did it take to pull something like this off? Not only would it take the foresight necessary to realize that a nation could only be united when they had a common enemy, but it would also take a level of genius they could fathom to make those of the Slayer Legion accept this reality so long after their initial creation.
    The upper echelon members had long since been taught of the true origins of the Slayer Legion, but it wasn't until this moment that they understood their true hidden purpose.
    In truth, was this so different from their initial reality? Their main goal had been to protect the citizens of The Empire and to pave a better future for them. And now, their goal was the exact sameбн It was just that their spears were pointed in a different direction than where they expected.
    But now, they had another problem to face.
    While the upper echelon were properly indoctrinated and could accept this news with ease, the same couldn't possibly be true of their lower ranking members. One just needed to think of existences like Big Buddha to understand just how much many of their people hated The Empire.
    No small number of their recruits were made up of those who loathed The Ascension Empire and wanted to live to the day it fell. But, this was precisely where the genius of the Slayer Legion layбн It was created for this expressed purpose. And, with all the most powerful members knowing the truth behind this, it was almost too easy to control how much progress the Slayer Legion made toward that goal.
    This was the ultimate truth. Worrying about how those lower ranking officials would reactбн? Who said they needed to find out at all?
    **
    Leonel sat in meditation, his Internal Sight stretching out over the City.
    White City was over 50 kilometers in diameter. If Earth was still a Third Dimensional world, with his Fourth Dimensional Internal Sight, Leonel wouldn't have an issue covering this distance. But, after entering the Fourth Dimension, it was much more difficult for Leonel to cover such a distance.
    In such a fledgling Fourth Dimensional world, Leonel could at most cover ten kilometers at best and that was only thanks to his obscene sensory talents and in thanks to reaching completion in the Four Seasons Realm which seemed to have boosted him in all aspects.
    However, even this wasn't enough to cover the whole city. This was why Leonel had had no choice but to walk around the city slowly.
    His goal in traveling around the city had more to do with just finding the spies. Other than this, he also had to read the layout of the city and draw a map of the Force Art nodes littered throughout.
    When Leonel saw Hargrove City teleport for a second time, a lightbulb went off for him. The only way for the City to have managed to do this was if there was a permanent teleportation Force Art drawn into its foundation. The reason for this was simple.
    Take a talisman, for example. They were usually one time or limited use items. This was because the drawing of a single Force Art had many limiting factors whether that be the skill level of the one who drew it or the material it was drawn with.
    The easiest way to visualize this was in comparing the Mage Arts of Camelot to treasures created by Force Crafters.
    A Mage Art, once drawn onto the air, whether with no medium or with a Spiritual Wood forged wand, would only last long enough for a single attack. Even stronger spells would last for a few seconds at most, while the longest lasting spells like Leonel's bell defensive spell would only survive a few attacks at most.
    By comparison, a treasure created by a Force Crafter was on a completely different level in terms of longevity. A well crafted weapon could survive decades, even centuries of continuous battle. There were some weapons that had even existed for millions of years without issue.
    What was the main difference? The quality of material used to draw the Force Art!
    Force Arts came in all different shapes, sizes and even languages. But, the one fundamental truth was that the medium used to draw them would always decide their longevity.
    So what was the point of all this? Why was it important at all?
    Well, it exposed one fundamental truth to Leonel, and that was that these cities weren't teleported here through one time use treasures. The very foundation of these cities were Force Arts!
    One might think this wasn't very useful. Even if Leonel knew this, what could he possibly do about it? Even if he managed to use it, wouldn't it just be a teleportation Force Art? What was the use of bringing a city to a battlefield?
    From Terrain's perspective, this made sense because they were invading another's land. But, Earth already had many well established Forts and Cities that could put White City or Hargrove City to shame.
    Beyond this, since Terrain had drawn in permanent Force Arts, who knew if they had a greater purpose for them? What if much like Hargrove City, Terrain had a method of snatching White City back? If that was the case, it might make Leonel's actions even more useless.
    All of this saidбн Leonel didn't see these matters in this fashion at all for a few reasons.
    Firstly, he believed his level of skill was beyond the Crafters Terrain employed to draw these Force Arts. Secondly, he had learned when he reconstructed Camelot's Mage Arts to amplify their strength that Force Arts could be considered complete sentences and paragraphs while the Runes used to draw them were the words. In that case, such a large Force Artбн just how many of these words could he rearrange? And what kind of new sentences could he form with them?
    But, the third was the most important.
    With the sturdy materials used to draw this massive Force Artбн Leonel felt that he could do something much better with all that wealth.

 Chapter 550 - Peeling

    After confirming his vision, Leonel immediately got to work. He shuffled around the city like a madman, seemingly running around without aim or purpose.
    'This could workбн No, that might ruin the nodes at that placeбн but if Iбн'
    Leonel's gaze glowed. Despite the fact he was quickly growing beaten and haggard, his vision only seemed to become clearer.
    The truth was that Leonel's current body was still in a pretty terrible state, having not quite recovered from going all out just a few days ago. But, at this point, he didn't mind, he lost himself in a world of Force Arts, his mind functioning on a different plane.
    Leonel had many complicated feelings about Lionel, but what he couldn't deny was the fact that Lionel had opened up an all new door toward improvement for him. What Lionel gave him wasn't as simple as a normal breakthrough, but rather a new way of viewing the world.
    After shrugging these shackles off, breaking into the peak of the Four Seasons Realm was just the very tip of the iceberg.
    Leonel jumped into and out of his Dream World, simulating the changes he wanted to make before quickly testing them out in the new world.
    Odd swirls of Force seemed to manifest around White City, catching those with sharp enough senses off guard. But, it was hard for them to tell exactly what was going on.
    From within the City Lord Mansion, Aina watched as Leonel ran around, her smile tinged with a touch of worry.
    'He's always like thisбн'
    Aina shook her head, not bothering to try to get Leonel to stop. She knew that it would be useless even if the words came from her. Though it seemed like Leonel hung on her every word, maybe Aina was the one most aware of the fact that Leonel was too good at drawing a line between his emotions and what he felt he had to do. He was quite the stubborn man in that way.
    Taking a deep breath, Aina pulled out her great sword, brandishing it. Though much of the City Lord Mansion's military fields had been taken up by new residences, there was still ample room for Aina to take advantage of.
    She slowly swung her sword, her muscles twitching beneath the strain as she slowed her swing to a crawl.
    Aina had picked up the sword when she felt her comprehension of the battle ax had reached a bottleneck. Others might feel that this was a foolish thing to do, but Aina always trusted her instincts. When it came to the proper way for her to train herself, she was the very best at it.
    She felt that there were secrets in the sword that could bring her comprehension of the ax to an all new level, so she began to diligently train in it.
    During her battle with Anared, that feeling she had grew even stronger. Though she was certain that Anared held back, he was still a master of the sword. His every action was infused with the air of a swordmaster. If Anared knew that his actions would help her break down a final barrier that had been holding her backбн who knew how he would react?
    'This is the feelingбн'
    Aina took a deep breath, her chest heaving in slow rhythms.
    At that moment, something miraculous occurred. Despite the fact her sword swing remained incomparably slow, the blade left an afterimage in the air as though leaving a permanent stain of its presence in the wind.
    The image shifted and slowed, waving about like illusions.
    'That's itбн'
    Aina ingrained the twitch of every one of her muscle fibers onto her mind. Beads of sweat fell down her delicate brow, following the slope of her slender neck.
    Half way down, Aina threw her sword to the side as though it was trash. At that moment, she felt that she no longer needed it. Until the next time her ability spoke to her, she wouldn't need any other weapon.
    Aina grasped out into empty air, causing her odd curved package to snap open. With a surge, a beautiful ax of golden-red shot into her hand.
    "Ha!"
    Aina swung down with a forcefulness.
    At that moment, her aura completely changed. For those instances of time, her body exuded a mystique that demanded absolute obedience. The faint shadow of a woman more than half a foot taller than her seemed to envelop her body, causing the Forces in the air to sing.
    A deep gash suddenly stretched out before Aina, even without her ax having completed its swing. Afterimages of golden-red tore through the wind, leaving a whistling resonance in their wake.
    Aina's arms came to a grinding halt, a final bead of sweat falling from the tip of her nose to the ground below.
    "Completionбн" She said softly.
    If others knew that Aina had reached the completion stage of the Four Seasons Realm they would be shocked.
    Of course, her completion stage was only for the ax while Leonel's was on a level that far transcended that. But, it was a feat that would shock an awe others to no end, regardless.
    Aina smiled. 'My training is actually faster nowбн'
    Aina felt that she had underestimated the value of a break on the mind. She had thought it would take her several more months to reach this stage, yet it had only taken a few more days. Now, she felt much more confident about entering Valiant Heart Mountain's Stage.
    After basking in her own success, Aina's next instinct was to tell Leonel the good news. She didn't know why she had the compulsion, but after she opened up to Leonel, she felt the weirdest joy even telling him the littlest things, even though the tradeoff was learning that he was a milk-first sociopath.
    However, just when Aina wanted to do so, she felt another shift in the Force surrounding the City.
    This change was particularly different from the previous ones. Whereas the former surges originated from within the City, this seemed to come from outside of it.
    "бн What?"
    Aina was shocked.
    "Why does my body feel so sluggish?"
    бн
    On a corner of Earth, dead bodies laid strewn about. Their blood pooled and boiled, bubbling forth like a death-laced stew.
    To the side of this large pool, a familiar man stood, a placid smile on his face. If Aina had been there, it would have been no trouble to pick out that this man was none other than the Puppet Master.
    But, what was maybe more sinister were the bodies and limbs floating within the bubbling concoction.
    At that moment, a head with a peeling layer of skin floated to the top. On its face, a look of horror and regret was forever etched.
    This was the face of former Vice Commander Joseph's younger brother, Damian.

 Chapter 551 - My Queen

    Aina suddenly felt as though her body wasn't hers. There was a disconnect between her mind and body as though one was being rejected from the other. It was hard to tell exactly which was happening, but the fundamental truth was that the disconnect made her feel as though her body wasn't her own.
    With a frown, Aina brandished her ax out of habit, just trying to do something she was familiar with.
    By now, she had long since lost count of the number of times she had swung her ax in her life. Leonel was always fascinated by her tanned skin, but wasn't that just the product of all the work she had put in ever since she was old enough to understand the cruelty of the world around her?
    There was nothing in this world that she was more familiar with than her ax.
    A swirl of Universal Force followed Aina's swing. For the first time since this oddity began, Aina felt as though she was back in her own body again.
    But, just when she thought it was alright to stop and her previous feelings had just been an anomaly, she felt the feeling come back the moment she stopped swinging her ax. In fact, now, due to the abrupt stop, the feeling was even more obvious than it had been before.
    It was like invisible shackles had suddenly been placed over her body.
    Aina's ability worked on instinct mostly and was only partially an actionable act taken up by herself. But, at this moment, that instinct seemed foggy.
    Whereas before she was certain of the next steps she had to take to train her body and improve her ax, at this moment she felt confused and baffled.
    'Did I overuse my ability? Did I run into a bottleneck?'
    A bit of worry mixed within a deep frown took over Aina's features. Was this really the limit of her talent? A slight hint of anxiety bubbled up within her heart.
    Unlike Leonel, Aina couldn't just pull out a dictionary and get a read on her ability. She was only aware that her ability was good, but she didn't know anything about its growth potential or even what stage it was at now.
    'Noбн It can't be. It can't be.'
    Aina's jaw steeled.
    Her talent was what she relied on to have a chance to avenge her mother in the future. If this was really her limit, she wouldn't be able to accept it.
    Aina's eyes reddened, a fury hidden within their depths. She refused to accept this. Even if this was the end of her road, she'd find a way to burst through it.
    The truth was that Aina didn't know how powerful the Brazinger family was. She didn't know how much effort it would take to take them down or what kind of backers they had. But to her, it never mattered. She would destroy them one day, no matter the cost.
    "Aina?"
    At that moment, Leonel's voice drifted to her ears, snapping her out of her thoughts.
    Leonel looked worriedly toward his girlfriend. Without her mask on, it was easy for Leonel to read her mood. He could see the cycle of emotions Aina was going through. But, he couldn't understand what was wrong. Did something happen?
    "Are you okay? What happened?"
    Leonel scanned Aina's face and body as though trying to find any injuries she might have, but he didn't see what could be wrong.
    "Hm?"
    Leonel's gaze suddenly sharpened.
    The sight was subtle, so subtle that even he almost missed it. If it wasn't for the fact he had been determined to find out what was wrong with Aina, he would have overlooked it entirely.
    At that moment, a faint reddish-black gas hung around Aina's body. It was so faint that it seemed to blend in with Aina's tanned skin almost seamlessly.
    Leonel's gaze flashed, two golden pupils suddenly appearing to his back. If anyone else faced these eyes, it would feel as though they were bearing their very soul before Leonel.
    For a person, such a feeling should have been uncomfortable and off-putting. Yet, for Aina, she somehow didn't find anything wrong with it. In fact, her beating heart seemed to calm considerably. Beneath Leonel's shadow, she found peace again.
    However, while she felt at peace, Leonel's expression twisted, a flickering rage erupting within the depths of his gaze.
    The eyes of the Snowy Star Owl were part of its Wisdom Branch. At this moment, Leonel had still yet to unlock the second tier of his Wisdom Branch Lineage Factor. As such, he could only use the most basic abilities of the Snowy Star Owl's gaze.
    But, that was more than enough for him to sharpen his gaze by several levels.
    The faint reddish-black suddenly morphed in Leonel's eyes. It formed into an illusory leach, latching onto Aina's body.
    At first, Leonel was infuriated, thinking that this was related to Aina's curse again. There was even a part of him that wanted to abandon Earth at this very moment and go explore Fifth Dimensional worlds so he could find the things she needed to be cured.
    But, upon second inspection, he found that the leach was connected by a faint line that shot into the skies. The line grew so thin and transparent that after a few dozen meters, even Leonel couldn't follow it any longer.
    'This isn't her curse? What's going on?'
    "Ai! It seems that I've finally found you, my Queen."
    The moment this voice entered her ears, Aina's expression froze, her body flexing so hard that it began to tremble. Several blood vessels ruptured, leaving a flowerbed of crimson trailing up and down her mostly flawless skin.
    Leonel's head turned back to Aina. Seeing her reaction, he felt his heart froze over. It was as though the woman he cared for most was right before him, but he couldn't even protect her. She was no further than half a meter from him, yet it felt like she was worlds away, blocking her off from reality.
    Aina seemed to have rejected all outside influences, clenching her fists so hard that blood dripped from her palms.
    "Go. Bring me my Queen, puppets."
    At that moment, the faint reddish-black line that extended from Aina's body thickened by several levels. In fact, with Leonel's gaze, he suddenly found that the city was covered in these lines suddenly.
    It was in that instant that Leonel understood that it wasn't just Aina effected by these leaches.
    And, unfortunately, the people of The Capital were quickly learning this as well.

 Chapter 552 - What If?

    The Capital of The Ascension Empire was just as gorgeous as one might imagine. Even if you spent your whole life dreaming, building up a fanciful image of what it might be like, you would still find yourself stunned beyond compare.
    The Capital of Earth was like a blooming flower. Its lowest layer spread out like the petals of a lily, intricate lines drawing the roads and residences where there would have been the veins of a flower.
    The second layer of The Capital of Earth shot upward like the trunk of an ancient tree. Its branches and foliage formed the quarters of the wealthy and noble. It rose into the skies taller than any mountain to ever exist on Earth, reaching heights never before seen.
    The final layer of The Capital of Earth was like the canopy of this ancient tree. Even from down below, one could see the brilliant precious metals and gems that reflected the sunlight. But, compared to the astounding wealth, the nature captured the heart and refused to let go.
    The sparkling waters of falls sprayed into the air, leaving a perpetual rainbow hanging over The Capital. Lush greenery perfectly melded into the high-tech society, making one feel refreshed with every breath. Stars twinkled in its sky, balls of lights hovering about seemingly without aim that made the city seem more like a fantasy land than a true place.
    And, in the center of it all, there was the Palace. No matter where you stood in The Capital, it was possible to see this magnificent building. It loomed over top like a protector, existing above all.
    It had the rounded edges of Ancient Indian architecture, the Feng Shui of Ancient Chinese botany, the grandeur of Ancient American skyscrapers, the innovation of Ancient Middle Eastern vision. It existed on a plane of its own and was the symbol of the Fawkes Royal family.
    However, at this moment, a Capital that had even taken the citizens of a Fourth Dimensional world like Terrain aback, was under siege from all sides.
    Of course, it had been like this for a long time already. However, those who surrounded the base of the capital, trying to gain a foothold on its large, curling petals, had never been able to make much progress at all.
    Though The Capital was a gorgeous site to behold, it was also an impenetrable fortress the size of an entire Province.
    The beautifully formed flower petals at the base of The Capital, each larger than the size of a main city, gave the people of Earth a perpetual higher ground advantage. By the time one got to the 'tree trunk' of the second layer, one would have already exhausted much of their resources, only to have to fight another uphill battle.
    As though this wasn't bad enough, the canopy and the highest third layer was yet another challenge to behold. Without certain strategic points, the only choice to reach the highest layer would be to fly or climb. If one chose flight, you would be asking for death. Andбн If one chose climbing, you would be asking for death.
    The entire Capital was practically a death trapбн Or, rather, that's what it began as.
    The tides of the battle began to shift. For some unknown reason, the citizens of Earth began to feel sluggish and their abilities became less receptive to their calls. In fact, if it wasn't for the terrain advantage, the people of Earth would have been bulldozed over already.
    On a battlefield on a northern petal, Noah's expression changed.
    He pulled Jessica back from the blade of a soldier of Terrain, his leg extending and blowing the soldier back.
    "What is wrong with you?"
    Noah frowned. He held onto Jessica's slender arm and spun her toward himself. But, even then, she seemed to react slowly.
    Jessica raised a hand to her forehead.
    "Iбн I don't knowбн I don't feel too goodбн"
    Noah looked around him, shocked by what was happening. He thought it was just Jessica at first, but soon the number grew. From Nile to Nika to even the members of the Dove family entourage, everyone's combat prowess seemed to plummet.
    There were a few that were doing better, but Noah couldn't tell why. As for those completely unaffected, there was only him and Tyrron who didn't seem to experience any issues.
    Noah's expression changed. "Watch out!"
    Nile's parry was too slow. He was used to relying on his ability to hold down his enemies, but for some reason, he found it impossible to do so now. No, it wasn't that it was impossible, but rather that there seemed to be a disconnect between him and his ability, almost as though he was no longer as familiar with it as he used to be.
    His spear missed the mark and a sword suddenly ran through his shoulder, slicing through his ribs and lungs before plunging toward his heart.
    Nile coughed up a mouthful of blood, his control over his spear faltered, causing it to slip from his grip and clang to the ground.
    "Dammit!"
    Noah's fury rose, his body increasing a size as he punched the responsible soldier into a meat paste.
    The youth troops stood around Nile, watching his life drift away. Was he really dying?
    Despite all the dangerous situations they had been in, the youth troops had never lost a single member. Not once. Their talent was too great, and even when they ran into trouble, they always managed to find a way out of it.
    The closest any of them had ever come to death was when Nile faced Leonel. But, even then, they had been facing one of their own. Leonel was one of themбн
    This was the first time their lives had ever been on the line against a person of Terrain.
    "Retreat!" Nile roared. "I said: RETREAT!"
    **
    All across Earth, repeats of these matters seemed to wind on like the re-run of a sick movie.
    Earth had less people, but they made it up with their talent. Earth had weaker foundations, but they made it up with their talent. Earth was just a fledgling worldбн but they made it up with their talent.
    What would they do, thenбн If that talent disappeared?

 Chapter 553 - Wash

    Leonel stood in silence.
    In the skies, the lines of red-black grew thicker, the leaches become less and less illusory.
    Leonel's gaze shifted down from the skies, landing on Aina who still seemed to be immobile. Though it now seemed to be in part due to struggling against the Puppet Master's growing control, a large majority of it seemed to be fear.
    Leonel found it hard to believe that this was his Aina. Fear was never an emotion he had seen her display before. At the very least, not for the sake of an enemy.
    It could be said that the first time Leonel saw Aina's fa?ade crack was that day in the bathhouse. He could still remember the path every tears that fell down her cheeks took. He remembered the exact hue of her reddened eyes, the way her wet hair had stuck to her face, the way she trembled through each and every one of her clumsy actions.
    The emotions she experienced that day were all seared into his mind.
    But, that was that and this was this.
    The Aina he knew charged into war with her ax brandished and her blade bloodied. She had no fear, none of the shyness she usually displayed, and the valiant nature of a Valkyrie.
    But Aina, his Aina, stood here shaking simply due to a voice.
    Leonel remembered back to the time he asked Aina what happened that day. She reeled back, trying to pretend as though everything was fine. Yet he, instead of trying to understand where she was coming from, pulled back instead.
    He hadn't understood the fear she was feeling, the anxiety or the trepidation. He didn't grasp the fact that just recalling such memories were this difficult for her already, let alone having to relay them to someone else.
    Leonel took a step forward and caressed Aina's cheek. She still seemed to be lost in her own world, clenching her fists and staring down at the ground hard as though to push the emotions she was feeling away. She didn't want to experience such a reaction, she didn't want this Puppet Master to have such control over her, yet she couldn't stop her own visceral reaction.
    Even when Leonel touched her cheek, she didn't react until several moments later. It was as though the warmth of his palm couldn't reach her even through skin to skin contact.
    When Aina finally realized that Leonel was standing right before her, she looked up weakly, her gaze tinted with a slight red.
    Leonel could see the rage in them. It wasn't rage pointed toward the Puppet Master or even him. It was rage she pointed toward herself for being so weak, for allowing such emotions to have such a hold on her.
    "Iбн I can't move againбн" Aina said softly.
    "It doesn't matter." Leonel responded, his hand gently pushing back Aina's hair. "I'll kill him."
    The words were simple. They hung in the air like a spring breeze, riding the wind. There was no rage in Leonel's voice, there was only gentleness.
    Leonel had always hated to kill. But for Aina, he could speak such words as though they were nothing.
    Aina used what control of her body she did have to lean her head onto Leonel's palm. Her eyes closed and her breathing steadied.
    "I want to see it." She said softly.
    Leonel smiled. "As my Queen commands."
    Leonel's voice carried a tinge of iciness that left Aina feeling completely at ease.
    To appear on his world, sending commandments down from above, speaking of taking his womanбн The Puppet Master was truly tired of living.
    Aina smiled lightly hearing Leonel's words. Compared to when the Puppet Master called her such a thing, she felt as though she was hearing the most soothing thing in existence.
    Leonel moved his hand away, ripping the tops of his robes off to reveal a muscular frame. He carried Aina onto his back, tying her to him.
    The warmth of Leonel's skin put Aina at ease. She rested her cheek on to his shoulder and back, her eyes remaining closed. She didn't want Leonel to see the look in her eye, the look that told the world just how furious she was at this moment.
    Leonel could feel that his body still hadn't properly recovered. It had only been a day since the battle at Dark Cloud Prison, so how could it? However, at this moment, he felt blood rushing through his every being.
    His heart thumped like war drums, his blood flooding through his veins and arteries like crashing waterfalls.
    By this point, the thickening lines that shot into the sky began to converge on Leonel's position. When Leonel saw who they were, he wasn't very surprised. In fact, his gaze was cold and indifferent, a fury within his chest slowly bubbling upward.
    The patrol guards of White City struggled, trying to break free of the control the illusory leaches had on them. But, no matter how hard they tried, they continued to walk forward, each brandishing their own weapons.
    In a distant place, the Puppet Master sat in a vat of blood. The only adornment on its body was a familiar headpiece that hung from its forehead.
    The pressure radiating around it was palpable, reaching levels that shouldn't have been possible. Or at least, it didn't seem possible for the ignorant.
    The barrier between Dimensions could be considered like a separation between mortality and immortality. A person of a higher Dimension was like a God looking down on their subjects.
    Leonel's father had force fed a lot of ancient entertainment down his son's throat. If the strength of a Dimensional being were to be described through this lense, it would be most straightforward to say that at the lowest echelons, a Dimensional being was essentially at the beginning of their journey while at the highest, they were nearing godhood.
    What did all of this mean? This was all to say that comparing someone who had just entered the Fourth Dimension to someone a half-step from the fifth was like comparing someone at the bottom of a world to someone at the top.
    If a Fifth Dimensional being was a God to a Fourth Dimensional beingбн then someone like the Puppet Master was a Demigod.
    This Demigod watched as Leonel strapped Aina to his back, a cold expression on its face.
    But that was when Leonel looked up into the sky as though piercing his gaze through the veil to land on the Puppet Master.
    Leonel didn't speak any words, but his demeanor made it all as clear as possible.. He was coming, so wash your neck.

 Chapter 554 - Just Had To

    Leonel's gaze pierced through the skies, Bronze Runes flickering across his body. A tan sheen swept across his skin as though he had suddenly become a polished metal.
    'Puppet Master, huhбн?'
    Leonel flipped his palm, a black spear with countless dangling chains appeared in his hand.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    Leonel looked down from the skies, a swath of patrol units converging onto his location. At first, they all showed some level of resistance, but very soon, their gazes became vacant, their eyes glazing over as their movements became more coordinated.
    Soon, they moved as though they were a single army.
    The possibility that Aina could be turned against him didn't escape Leonel, but he didn't put up any guards against her. This wasn't because he was a fool, but rather because he trusted her.
    Though there were few details about Aina that he understood, what he did grasp was her character. She was a woman he would be proud to have by his side. There wasn't a single selfish bone in her body.
    Since she opened her mouth to speak of wanting to see him take down the Puppet Master, it was because she was certain that she wouldn't be a burden. And in thatбн Leonel could trust.
    'Watch carefully, then. This back of mine, these shoulders, these handsбн'
    Leonel felt his body flex, vitality pumping through him without end.
    'бн They'll always be here to protect you.'
    These were the ideals of a man.
    Leonel shot forward, a field of gravity erupting around his body. His gaze steeled, his heart freezing over.
    He no longer saw the patrolling units as humans. He saw them as numbers and figures, puppets that were standing in his way.
    Leonel's feet shifted, illusory wings appearing to his back as he shot forward with blinding speed.
    He appeared before the frontline of patrol units, raising his spear into the skies.
    His back flexed, his arms bulged, a fury-laced aura skyrocketed around him, suffocating all those in his presence.
    With a single cleave, a patrol guard was completely bisected.
    Blood splashed along the ground, but there wasn't a single scream or shout. A deadpan expression covered the face of the deceased guard as though he hadn't felt any remorse even about his own death. Or maybeбн the moment he lost his mind to the Puppet Masterбн He was already dead.
    A steamy breath left Leonel's lips, his gaze cold. He stood amidst hundreds of guards, his presence malevolent.
    His fists gripped around his spear's shaft, the flowing of his blood growing even faster.
    With another swing, Leonel reaped another life. His strike was so ferocious that his spear bowed beneath his strength, smashing the patrolling guard into the ground with mere wind pressure before his blade even reached his neck.
    Leonel's footwork accelerated, his movements becoming like flowing water. He danced through the organized army of puppets as though he didn't know fatigue, as though he didn't know pain. Every blow was just as powerful as the last, if not more powerful. His body fed off a seemingly endless supply of energy, powering through without end.
    бн
    The citizens of White City had no idea what was happening. They didn't understand why a civil war had suddenly erupted between the people of Earth and many weren't entirely sure how to react to such a change.
    Should they be running? Escaping? Which side should they be fighting alongside? Was this maybe a trap?
    Within the dungeon, the obese merchant looked up and through the bars. He noticed the odd actions of the guards all the way up until they left their stations entirely. At first, he thought they might have been changing shifts, but it seemed that things weren't so simple.
    The lip of the obese merchant curled. 'So this is the trump card Terrain mentioned? Quite a trump card indeed.'
    бн
    Leonel's spear clanged with every strike, a new life falling with his every swing. Blood flew about him like the droplets of a painting, his skin reddening and steam practically billowing out from his mouth with his every movement.
    His muscles were like tightened cords, his limbs like the instruments of a symphony. His expressions exhibited the focus of a starving artist, his offensive prowess embodying every ounce of their passion.
    It was as though Leonel wanted Aina to feel his strength, to feel his power through the endless thrumming of his heart.
    Leonel's spear pierced through a final head, hundreds of corpses lying beneath his feet. Blood caked his blade, dripping across his body as though he had just been beneath a rain of crimson.
    Another heated breath left Leonel's lips. A scorching heat billowed outward, boiling the air and causing it to crackle.
    Raging Fire Elemental Force surged around Leonel, causing the temperature to skyrocket.
    He looked up into the skies, his irises flickering with a violet-red color.
    An icy portal began to open. A harsh clash of Elements caused hurricane force winds to kick up across the City.
    Slowly, a massive white wolf prowled out, a low, rumbling growl causing the hearts of those who heard it to seize.
    Behind it, knights dressed in armors of ice walked, brandishing polearm weapons of all sorts.
    At that moment, cracks of lightning suddenly shot across Leonel's Dreamscape, his gaze shining as a blistering heat continued to crackle the air around him.
    The attack on the Fortбн That had ended in a failure due to Leonel's action. However, the attack on Dark Cloud Prison hadn't ended in failure.
    Those two occurrences seemed to have nothing to do with one another, but there was a fine line of truth connecting them both: the Puppet Master.
    Those red-black lines. They carried with them a thick scent of blood, but it wasn't just any blood, it was the blood of people of Earth.
    Just like Leonel could see through the subtle changes in energy that separated people of different worlds, he could just as easily see through the subtle fluctuations of energy that were unique to the people of Earth as well.
    "I seeбн Those prisoners are deadбн"
    Leonel finally understood. The Puppet Master likely needed the thousands of Earthener lives to accomplish his goal, but he had failed to get what he needed with Royal Blue Fort, so he had to change his plans.
    Compared to attacking a Fort where the people didn't want to escape, wasn't it easier to attack a Fort where everyone wanted to escape?
    And they all fell right into his lap.
    At that moment, another portal appeared. This time, it was a red wolf followed by knights adorned in magma-like armor.
    Then, there was yet another. In this one, a sand colored wolf followed by knights adorned in earth-like armor appeared.
    And then there was a final portal. In this one, a green wolf followed by knights adorned with illusory wind-like armor appeared.
    Leonel stood at the center of these four groups, Aina still strapped to his back.
    Corpses littered his surroundings, blood slowly dripping from the end of his blade and down his body.
    He closed his eyes, the thumping of his heart and the aching of his body playing in his ears.
    'It seems Earth is in troubleбн' Leonel thought silently. 'бн In any other case, I might not care much. My top priority is Aina's safety and her happiness. I may very well have chosen to escape this world at this very moment...
    'But, you just had to piss me off.'
    The ground beneath Leonel began to rumble.

 Chapter 555 - Smooth

    Leonel brandished his spear, blocking the swipe of a devastating claw attack.
    His body rattled and shook, his internal organs threatening to shear apart beneath the strain. However, his gaze remained cold an indifferent, as though the frigid energies of the white wolf couldn't impact him in the slightest.
    The flickering Runes across his body solidified. In that moment, whatever jarring inner injuries he felt weakened considerably, his gaze meeting the white blue irises of the wolf before him.
    'Little Blackstar.'
    Leonel hardly finished his thought before an adorable little mink appeared by his side. After observing the situation, the little guy bore his fangs, his hair standing up on end.
    Leonel retreated as Blackstar sent a furious claw swipe forward, causing scythes of dark energy to tear through the air and forcing the white wolf back.
    The red wolf appeared in Leonel's path of retreat, his teeth spilling over with billowing flames. It opened its jaws, a jagged row of glistening white being accompanied by a blistering heat.
    As though a dragon, its throat flexed and its chest expanded. Due to the size differences, Leonel could clearly see the ball of flames forming and building up. It bubbled like magma, causing a slight red glow to appear at the wolf's throat.
    The red armored knights trudged forward, their polearm weapons sweeping toward Leonel as though they didn't fear the fiery breath of the red wolf in the slightest.
    SHUUU!
    The forward force of the red wolf's breath was so great that its body skidded backward, its claws leaving deep marks in the ground.
    Leonel watched as this ball of fire made its way toward him.
    It scorched the air, revolving at dangerous speeds and reflecting colors of red, orange and gold. The air around it seemed to disappear into a vat of billowing smoke, the temperature of the surroundings increasing to the point where it seemed that anyone standing within its radius would be burnt to ash.
    However, Leonel continued to watch it as though he couldn't sense the numerous blade blocking his path or see the looming danger in the slightest.
    Just when it seemed that Leonel would be burnt to a crisp, he reached out a hand.
    In that instant, the fire ball which had already crossed speeds of hundreds of miles per hour grinded to a halt, resting on Leonel's outstretched palm as though it was a normal ball rather than a three meter tall monstrosity.
    Leonel's hand swiped across.
    As though an obedient pet, the ball of fire suddenly accelerated, shooting across the battlefield and slamming into the white wolf.
    The sound of roars and whimpers sounded, the white wolf losing more than half its vitality in an instant. No matter how hard it had tried to dodge, it simply couldn't. First it had to deal with Blackstar's claw swipe, but before it could even do so, its own partner's attack suddenly bore down upon it, nearly taking its head off.
    A resonance softer than even an assassin's footsteps appeared to Leonel's back. Its actions were so swift and controlled that there wasn't even the slightest wind pressure associated with its actions.
    The green wolf's fangs glistened, biting down toward Leonel with every intention of swallowing him whole.
    'It seems it didn't work.' Though Leonel thought this, his actions weren't slow in the slightest.
    "HA!"
    Leonel released his Universal Force, tapping into the Four Seasons Realm once again and fusing it with the gravity field of his Bronze Runes.
    The instant he did, the minor uptick in gravity suddenly rose explosively.
    The speed of the green wolf plummeted, its open jaw crashing down into the ground with such force that its mouth snapped and its teeth cracked.
    Leonel had wanted to use the little mink's beast control ability to wrest ownership of these wolves away. But, clearly this wasn't possible. The Puppet Master's control ability was far beyond that of the White Knight Leonel stole this ability from.
    In that caseбн he would just have to take another.
    Leonel suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, the strain of using the Four Seasons Realm impacting him once again. But, he pretended as though nothing had happened, strong Spear Forces swirling around him as he slashed downward.
    'Little Blackstar...'
    Blackstar ripped its way out of the white wolf's body, his little frame and once lush black fur coated in an eerie crimson.
    'бн Take this ability for yourself.'
    The moment Leonel's words finished, he completed his final slash.
    His mind was filled with images of a burly man with a chest packed with dense hair. He stood alone in the woods, a darkness pervading his surroundings. The chirps of birds set his rhythm and his beating heart stilled to a crawl.
    He rose an ax above his head, his muscles subtly writhing beneath his coat of hair. His movements were slow, but controlled, a beautiful rhythm hidden within them.
    Then, he chopped down, splintering a thick piece of wood in two.
    Leonel's image and the image of the main overlapped. His actions seemed to be fueled by nature's pulse, carrying a tempo that made them impossible to dodge.
    The green wolf's head was split in two in that very instant, its body vanishing into countless motes of light before much blood could be spilt.
    The little mink appeared to Leonel's side, grasping with his little claws and causing a shadow to form. Without hesitation, the little guy swallowed it.
    A strong wind suddenly enveloped the little mink, his body becoming surrounded with foggy green-black energies.
    With a leap, the little mink found his place on Leonel's head. In that moment, Leonel felt that the disconnect he had once had with Wind Elemental Force suddenly vanished. In fact, the Force Strengthening Deviation had never been clearer to him than it was now.
    '[Float].'
    Leonel shot into the air, dodging an attempted strike by the sand colored wolf. Unfortunately for it, beneath the force field of Leonel's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it hadn't been able to use any of its abilities at all.
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel stood over a hundred meters in the air. His cold gaze looked down toward the ground as a jet-black surfboard appeared beneath his feet.
    Leonel stretched out a hand, his Internal Sight connecting with the nodes of the city. A coldness pervaded the air, filling it with a lurking scent of death.
    Despite the fact they were puppets with hardly any emotions of their own, the knights and two remaining wolves below trembled unconsciously, the last bits of their humanity shining through in their final moments.
    'Die.'
    Space suddenly warped and twisted. By the time it settled back down, there was nothing but a crater left.. However, this crater had edges so smooth that it caused one to shiver.

 Chapter 556 - Patience

    Leonel breathed hard, his face paling somewhat. But soon, he steadied himself, slowly descending.
    Within their homes, many peeked out to see what was happening after all the noise came to a stop. But, all they saw was a singular young man, standing before a hole so smooth it reflected like a mirror.
    'That's itбн'
    The longer Leonel stood before the smooth crater, the brighter his eyes seemed to grow. He completely forgot about his fatigue, a furious will billowing out from his thumping heart.
    Space was among the most dangerous Force Strengthening Deviation in all of existence. Just a slight modification to a Force Art meant to teleport had created such devastation. Let alone having a chance to survive, there likely wasn't a single atom remaining of what used to be of these puppets.
    The unfortunate part was that using the drawn Force Arts like this made it a one-use item. All the nodes in this area had been completely destroyed after just a single strike. It would be impossible to use the same tactic in this area, he would have to use a different location.
    The durability of the materials simply couldn't hold up to multiple uses. But, it was precisely because of this that this attack was so dangerous.
    Leonel looked up into the sky again. But now, the only reddish black line that remained was the one connected to Aina. Still, the Puppet Master was sorely mistake if it believed it could possibly use Aina against him.
    Despite the fact he couldn't see the Puppet Master, it still felt as though his vision tore through space and time itself, his fury boiling through the fabric of reality.
    бн
    The Puppet Master sat in its vat of blood, its white irises flickering with rage.
    Those puppets of his that Leonel had just killed might not have been his most powerful, but they were his most useful. They had gotten a lot of work done for him in the past and had taken a lot of effort to nurture to the point where they could retain some intelligence of their own. But now they were gone and the Puppet Master couldn't quite understand how.
    'How could his Fire and Earth Elemental affinity be higher than my puppets?!'
    Others might not have quite understood what happened. But, how could he, as the controller of these puppets, have been unaware?
    According to the usual team dynamic, the Earth Wolf would have the most area of effect impact, the Wind Wolf would pin opponents down, the Fire Wolf would be the main offensive power with the support of the Ice Wolf.
    However, from the very beginning, the Earth Wolf's attacks seem to be useless. The Puppet Master hadn't quite understood what was happening, so it tried to probe the situation with the Ice Wolf, sending Leonel flying into the path of the Fire Wolf.
    It worked out perfectly. After calculating through Leonel's defenses, the Puppet Master had believed that he would end up dead while Aina would end up severely injured. It was perfect.
    Butбн None of this considered the fact that the Fire Wolf's attack would be absolutely useless. Not only was it useless, but it even knocked the Ice Wolf out of the battle completely.
    The last chance the Puppet Master had had was the Wind Wolf who was able to silently appear behind Leonelбн Only for it to fall victim to an area of effect force field that nearly completely incapacitated it.
    From start to finish, they never had a chance. Leonel's only injury seemed to have been self-inflicted. How could the Puppet Master not be enraged?
    The worst part was that even after a long analysis, it still had no idea what that final attack was. The only thing it knew was that even if it had been it in the range of that attackбн It might not have faired any better.
    The Puppet Master wanted to stand and go deal with this situation personally, but it was well aware that it couldn't.
    As a Variant Invalid, the Puppet Master had strength that could rival even Savants of the same level. The only difference between it and a Savant was that while Savants could improve by doing nothing but eating and sleeping, its path to improvement was several times more difficult that even humans.
    With its strength, especially coupled with the headpiece its Queen so graciously bestowed upon it, dulling the senses of a world of people with population numbering in the mere millions wasn't an issue. In fact, even if the number was tens of times this amount, it still wouldn't have much of a problem.
    The issue, though, lied in the fact it couldn't move from this region.
    Not many knew this, but his puppeteering ability relied on blood. By accumulating enough blood from the people of Earth, he was able to lock down on their auras, thus giving him a much wider range.
    If it left this place, its senses would slowly dull until its control snapped.
    The Puppet Master took a deep breath. It had been lying in wait for thousands of years. It had patience his fellow Invalids never had, this was why it was on the cusp of success while they were all dead.
    It couldn't allow itself to make a mistake in these final moment.
    'I've already locked onto her aura. It will be impossible for her to escape me. It won't be too late to bring her to my side when The Capital falls.'
    The Puppet Master sneered, looking down toward Leonel's gaze, its face twisting into a sinister expression. Looming giants shifted to its back, their slight movements causing the ground to quake.
    'It seems that he succeeded. It's unexpected, though, that this Legion wouldn't try to kick The Empire while it was downбн'
    The Puppet Master turned its attention away from Leonel, looking toward another part of Earth. There, a battle no less important than the one at The Capital was taking place. However, the combatants weren't The Empire and The Cities. Ratherбн
    They were The Slayer Legion and The Powers.
    And, unfortunately for The Slayer Legion, due to the Puppet Master's interference, they were fairing even worse than The Empire's warriors.

 Chapter 557 - Hello

    The battlefield was the ocean's surface. Warriors swept across, brandishing their weapons as best they could without proper footholds. It was clear that it was much more difficult to use the water's surface as an anchor point than it would have been real ground.
    Blood flew, coloring the deep blue waters a grotesque shade of purple. But, just as quickly as these pockets of color formed, they were washed away, blending into the deep liquid body as though nothing had happened.
    "Are these the so-called talents of Earth? Is this supposed to be a joke?"
    Reynred Solar's expression was plastered with a sneer. After he had learned that Aina, a woman he had lost to, was an Eartherner, he had already had some pent up dissatisfaction when it came to people of this world.
    No matter how talented Earth was, in their eyes, it was nothing but an upstart. How could it compare to their thousands of years of heritage?
    Did they have Styles? Did they have Force Techniques of their own passed down by their ancestors? Did they even have their society built back to what it once was before the Metamorphosis?
    At this point, Earth was nothing but a child having lost the backing of its parents. There were no Higher Dimensional worlds coming to coddle and hold them any longer. They were on their own right now, yet they were supposedly better than them?
    Since when had the Dimensional Verse become such a joke?!
    Jilniya's look of disdain was no less. On the ocean's surface, her Falls Style was even stronger than it would be otherwise. Her every palm seemed to be able to reap another life, even if said life was over a dozen meters away. This battlefield had practically become a one sided slaughter.
    "The only issue with this is that if matters are really so easy, what are the odds the Cities appreciate this favor of ours?" Jilniya said offhandedly, reaping another life.
    Reynred's sneer deepened.
    "Who cares what they think at this point? We're already here, aren't we? Since when have we feared what the Cities think? Do we even need their opinion? At worst, we'll just share this new world with them just like we shared Terrain previously."
    While the two spoke, Wilas stood the side silently, scanning the battlefield with a hint of caution in his eye. As the one with the one with the strongest sensory abilities among them, he could tell that these matters weren't so simple. There definitely seemed to be something wrong with the warriors of Earth, but he wasn't sure what it was.
    'Is this the trump card of the Cities?... If that's the case, what's to stop them from using it against usбн?'
    Jilniya, still sporting a look of disdain, sent a glance toward Wilas. An ambiguous light flashed within her gaze, but she didn't say anything as she looked toward her distant father.
    Head Falls seemed to understand what his daughter was trying to convey, but his calm smile revealed nothing else. It was clear that he wasn't very worried at allбн
    бн
    Hutch looked over the battlefield with a frown, a sharp aura twirling around him.
    As a warrior with so much experience, he was the most aware when there was something wrong with his body. And, at this moment, there was most definitely something wrong.
    Yet, not only could he not seem to do anything about it, he wasn't even aware of what the main issue was to begin with. He found it completely baffling even with his years of life.
    'Soбн This is the true Dimensional Verseбн'
    Hutch smiled bitterly, looking up at the sky to give his eyes a break from the carnage happening before him. He seemed to be the oldest he had been in a very long time, his wrinkles becoming far deeper and his eyes becoming more sunken.
    As old as he was, Hutch had never gotten a true taste of the vast universe before. He lamented that he was born too early, that his blade wouldn't get to taste the blood of worlds yet unseen.
    However, he was lucky enough that this old body of his managed to hold on to the end, to make it here. Now, he had a chance to live for longer, to live out those fanciful dreams he had had as a child.
    Unfortunately, reality was cruel.
    Who would have known that in one moment, he would be speaking of the valiant Slayer Legion and in the nextбн He would be watching his warriors die, one after another.
    There were no fanciful dreams to be found on this battlefield, no childhood fantasies, nothing that could bring a smile to his face. If Hutch's enemies knew that he was having such thoughts, they might very well be stunned to early deaths.
    This was Hacker Hutch, a man who should have long since became used to the cruelty of the battlefield. For a person like him, being shocked by blood and gore shouldn't have been possible, let alone being hurt by it.
    Butбн This was very much different. The change was too abrupt.
    It felt as though what he had been looking for was right in the palm of his hands, only for it to be snatched before he could even think of making use of it.
    Hutch looked down at the blade in his hand. As the acting commander, it had yet to taste a thing from this battlefield. It remained silent, its bloodthirst restrained from the senses of those around it, the pitiful wails of Hutch's soul seemingly trapped within.
    'I guess there's not much of a choice remaining. It's either we go all out, or we all die here.'
    Hutch brandished his machete. With a single step forward, the waters beneath him rippled outward before becoming still beyond compare. None of the battle around him seemed capable of affecting his territory in the slightest.
    He was Hacker Hutch.. If death was waiting for him, he'd be the first to say hello.

 Chapter 558 - Third

    The situation at The Capital only seemed to be growing worse. With the exception of Noah and Tyrron, the fighting prowess of the Eartherners seemed to have hit rock bottom. In fact, the nerf on their strength had increased by several level due to unknown reasons just moments ago.
    They were continuously driven backward, retreating again and again until it seemed as though they didn't have any recourse left.
    By now, barely half a kilometer to Noah's back, the thick trunk of the second layer could be found. Any advantage they had had from the higher ground provided by the first layer had completely vanished, leaving almost everyone on equal footing.
    Luckily, the branches of the second layer had gained some artillery units. Rains of bullets and arrows flew down from above, covering the Terrain army. However, after finally gaining a taste of success after so long, the invaders seemed to have gained? numerous second and third winds. They finally saw a crack in the armor that was the talents of Earth, how could they not take advantage.
    Their fervor reached new levels, their blood rushing through to their ears and their skin becoming flushed. War cries left their mouths one after another, bearing down on The Capital with heavy steps.
    To Earth, they were defending their home, it was only right they had a fire lit in their bellies. However, to Terrain, this was about their futures.
    All those who could fight on these battlefields were men and women who held astounding strength and power. They mingled with the upper echelons of society and saw Terrain for what it wasбн
    A dying world.
    If they wanted a better future for their children, for their familiesбн for themselves, the only path forward was to take down Earth. There was no going back, there were no re-dos, this was the reality of the Dimensional Verse.
    It was a land where worlds fell every minute of everyday. But, by the same token, there were just as many that rose up.
    The question was whether it would be Earth or Terrain.
    бн
    Pincering The Capital from two sides, there were two cities. Whereas every other Province only gained the focus of one, The Capital was worthy of double this.
    Understanding this much, it was no wonder, then, that the Slayer Legion was in such a bad position. The balance of power on Terrain were the Cities versus the Powers. However, there were only 3 Powers for 12 Cities.
    The Slayer Legion was essentially facing half of Terrain's strength all on their own.
    Of course, things were actually more complicated than this.
    For one, the Slayer Legion wielded more strength than it seemed. Though their overall strength was less than that of The Empire, the difference wasn't exaggerated. As a hidden trump card of The Ascension Empire, it was only right that they wield a certain amount of strength.
    Secondly, the Cities wielded more strength than they displayed to the Powers. Since they had been planning this invasion for so long, how could they waste their resources on a civil war? The truth was that if the Cities wantedбн They could have wiped the Powers from existence whenever they wanted. It was just that the benefit wasn't worth it.
    If one were to take an objective look at it, two Cities were enough to give the Powers an intense battle to the death. Three Cities were enough to give them a 60% chance of winning. Four Cities almost guaranteed victory at an 80-90% probability.
    This was all to say that The Capital was under a tremendous amount of strain alreadyбн And it only made it worse that the two cities attacking it were among the most powerful.
    One was obviousбн Keafir City, the City in the lead of this Invasion took the helm at one cardinal direction. But, the second City was also easily recognizable. In fact, its aura was even somewhat suppressive of Keafir City simply due to the sheer imagery it portrayed.
    It had tall, steel black walls, filled with sharp spikes that would make scaling them impossible. Just the walls themselves stood at double the height of any other City wall to this point and its aura was just as dark.
    Billowing black smoke jetting out from buildings hidden behind the tall walls. It was impossible to tell where this smoke was coming from unless you had a vantage point from the sky. But, just judging by the heavily armored brutes that made up their army, one would think that they were being churned out of factories which would more than explain the billowing black smoke.
    The footsteps of these warriors were heavy, their every step causing the earth to quake. Each and every one of them wielded a polearm weapon as though afraid they wouldn't seem manly enough. Even the exceptions to this wielded massive great swords the size of their bodies.
    It was simply an army right out of nightmares. They didn't blink an eye in the face of death, their forward momentum was dauntless and impossible to stop, and their strikes were powerful and relentless.
    This was the army of Black City, a city that Leonel would recognize well, not because he had laid eyes upon it, but rather because he was familiar with their young Heirбн Jefrach Black.
    Jefrach stood atop the city walls, the complicated feelings he had been holding onto having long since vanished. His head reflected beneath the sunlight, his dark armor becoming scorching beneath the heat.
    'Todayбн This Capital falls.'
    To now, they had only been sending out foot soldiers. But now, their true assault would begin.
    On the opposite side of the Province, Keafir City's gates began to slowly open as though in perfect sync with Black City.
    Sharp sword auras soared through the skies, filling The Capital with the sound of crossing and sharpening blades.
    The elites of the two cities slowly marched forward. At the head of one army, there was Jefrach and his father, City Lord Black. At the head of the other, there was Anared and his father, City Lord Keafir.
    All four looked toward the City as though watching a beast on its death throes.
    However, it was at that moment that the situation changed again.
    Space distorted, a third city appearing in the sky. It crashed down with a force that could destroy mountains, landing on the ground and sending a quaking force throughout The Capital.
    Its gates soon opened, row after row of soldiers marching toward The Capital from a third direction.
    Hargrove City had appeared again, and it reeked of blood.

 Chapter 559 - DO NOT UNLOCK

    DO NOT UNLOCK
    I'M SORRY, MISTAKES WERE MADE
    The Faerie King's eleventh son seemed to have trouble breathing. But, he eventually shook his head and grit his teeth, his words eventually coming out in a steady flow.
    "According to reports, Littlest Sister recently used her name to access one of our vaults in Osiris through the Mercenary Guild. She withdrew a small sum for unknown reasons. But regardless, she should be in Osiris right now."
    The Faerie King frowned.
    Osiris? Wasn't that the dream world formed by the Mercenary Guild? Why would his daughter be there? Unlessбн
    "She found her Life Partner?" The Faerie King asked with a dark expression.
    "We can't be sure, but after some digging we did find that she entered with a human boy."
    "Find out this boy's information." The Faerie King replied, his voice tinged with a hint of cold.
    Osiris was a dream world. This essentially meant that it couldn't count as a location. Even if they knew she was in Osiris, there was no telling what world she had gone off to and where she was connecting to Osiris from.
    Since, in all likelihood, she was connecting to Osiris by proxy of this Life Partner, then the best way to find her was to find him. Then, they could make a complicated matter simple.
    "We've already tried, father. Butбн"
    The Faerie King's expression grew colder. "But what?"
    A chilly aura gripped the meditation room, refusing to let go.
    "бн The information is sealed off."
    "Then contact someone to unseal it."
    The Faerie King spoke of violating the core laws of the Mercenary Guild as though they were nothing. This was precisely why Ryu had known not to trust it and why he didn't dare to use his own bank accounts even after reincarnating. In the Martial World, rules were only followed by the weak.
    The Faerie King might not have been a Sky God, but just how many Sky Gods had there been in Cultus Clan history? Plus, with his current status, he could just barely carry just as much sway as a Sky God could. This was how heavy his every word was. Something like unsealing classified information of a singular individual was no problem at all.
    "Thisбн" Elafaren's eleventh son hesitated again.
    "What's the problem? Speak."
    "Father, I already tried requesting such information already. Unfortunately, the information is sealed, even beyond what our word can unseal. It's likely that this boy has joined a Faction."
    The Faerie King's expression flickered, a light of fury deep within them.
    A Faction? Who cared. A damned Faction dared to stand in the way of information about his daughter? Were they tired of living?
    "Father, the situation is more complicated. The boy has joined the Faction of the Saintly Weapon Sky God. That man has always been an eccentric and is practically impossible to contact. There's no telling where he is now.
    "He has no subordinates, so the only person we can contact to release this information would be him personally. There aren't even any members running his Faction at all, our hands are tied."
    The Faerie King's expression twitched several times. It was clear his anger had reached the point of imploding, but he didn't know where to vent it.
    A Sky God with no fetters like the Saintly Weapon Sky God was the most difficult to deal with. If such an existence was offendedбн. Who could bear the rage of a Sky God without worries?
    The only thing that stopped Sky Gods with grudges against one another from acting indiscriminately were their families and descendants. No one wanted to see their hard work of countless epochs come crashing down before their eyes.
    However, what if a Sky God didn't have such worries?
    "Why him?" The Faerie King's brow furrowed. As far as he was aware, the Saintly Weapon Sky God had only joined the Mercenary Guild due to convenience. After all, their restrictions on their members wer practically non-existent.
    Logically, such a person shouldn't accept anyone into their faction. So, how had this boy been accepted?
    "Husband."
    At that moment, another woman walked into the meditation room. But, compared to how the others were treated, no one dared to get in the way of this woman.
    Everything from her gait to the slight swaying of her hips exuded perfection. This woman was none other than Elafaren's first wife, his Queen, and Ailsa's mother, Sacia Cultus.
    Sacia only had two children. One elder son and one youngest daughter. Unfortunately, her son had died to an incident that occurred long before Ailsa's birth. So, it was clear that even in comparison to the Faerie King, Sacia was even more concerned about the whereabouts of her daughter.
    "Sacia? Is something the matter?" Elafaren's expression softened considerably. He stowed away his coldness with an unnatural swiftness the moment he laid eyes on his wife.
    "Where's my Ailsa?" Sacia said softly.
    Though her demeanor was elegant, her expressions seemed to carry a slight sickliness to them that made one want to protect her with all their might.
    Elafaren took a deep breath. "I will find her."
    Sacia smiled somewhat bitterly. She had heard these words many times before, but they never came to fruition.
    "Little Ailsa just doesn't understandбн" Elafaren sighed, rubbing his temples.
    Life Partners seemed to be a great tradition of the Faeriesбн But the truth was that this was only a responsibility of the commoners amongst Faeries. Faerie royalty were far too valuable to simply hand away to an unknown Life Partner, and this was especially so for Ailsa.
    Not only was Ailsa the child of the Faerie King, but her mother was of a background that even the Faerie King himself always remained silent about.
    And, as important as these matters were, Ailsa was also the most suited to take up his position once he chose to retire. With her talent, she shouldn't even be very far from having the strength necessary to accomplish this either.
    But, after Ailsa found the notes left behind by her elder brother all those years ago, her feelings toward Life Partners seemed to take a complete turn around.. Before them as her parents could even comprehend the changes occurring to their daughter, Ailsa had disappeared to places unknown and had already been gone for over nine cycles of one hundred million years.

 Chapter 560 - Voice

    The appearance of a third City placed the already reeling Capital even further onto its backfoot.
    There were four City Lords that stood above the rest. By some wisp of luck, Earth had managed to get rid of one of them in City Lord White. However, that unfortunately left three still remaining. And nowбн These three had all aimed their weapons toward the Ascension Empire's core.
    **
    Hutch brandished his blade, his unkempt gray hair whistling in the wind like dried strands of straw. Blood caked his body, his rusted blade especially dripping with copious amounts.
    He crossed the battlefield with a certain level of confidence to him. Everywhere he passed, time seemed to distort and slow, only for another life to be reaped. His presence alone seemed to stop the continuous defeats the Slayer Legion suffered.
    Raynred's sneer finally thinned seeing such a scene. Even at such a distance, he could feel danger emitting from Hutch's blade. He felt that he would stand no chance beneath it, a reality that he simply couldn't fathom.
    This Hutch had at best recently broken into the Fourth Dimension while he himself was already in the Fifth Tier of the Fourth Dimension. There shouldn't be anything that could bridge such a gap.
    Was the difference between their abilities really so drastic?
    Worlds like Terrain which were lacking in talent often placed great emphasis on their Force cultivation. This bred the illusion that one's diligence was far more important than the talent one was born with. However, it was just thatбн an illusion.
    Between two people who had vastly different levels of talent, Force cultivation was almost irrelevant. Leonel himself was continuously battling foes many times stronger than him in terms of foundation and he never once paused to think about what Tier they had reached.
    Raynred shook his head. It wasn't just ability. It was that damned machete.
    He didn't know what magic the old man had pulled, but the skill with which he used that blade was beyond comprehension. It should be the Four Seasons Realmбн but why was it that there were no obvious signs of the Four Seasons, then?
    "Seems like it's about time."
    Raynred was startled out of his thoughts, only to find that his father along with Head Falls and Head Mirage had appeared by their sides at some unknown time.
    Seeing such a scene, Raynred's lips curled up again. He hadn't known why his old man and the others hadn't stepped onto the battlefield yet. But, now that they were here, this farce could finally come to an end.
    Which of these Heads wasn't firmly in Tier 7 or above?
    бн
    Hutch's actions took a tremendous amount of pressure off of the frontlines. With his level of training, the restraints this odd debuff had on him was limited. Much like Aina could regain control of her body using her ax as a medium, Hutch could fulfill this and then some.
    Unfortunately, not everyone had such a medium. Or, more accurately, not everyone could tap into it to the extent that Hutch could.
    Existences like Monet and the other new generation Supremes had received training since their youth, but with Earth still in the Third Dimensional stage, communicating with Universal Force was hundreds of times more difficult back then. Hutch was practically the only one who could reach such a stage without issue. And, even then, had he been born in a Higher Dimensional world, his achievements would still far outshine what he could accomplish now.
    "Damned brats!" Hutch growled. "I told you all to not forget your training regimens after you gained your fancy new abilities, but what did you all do? Now look at you!"
    Fury colored Hutch's gaze red. He screamed at the corpses floating on the water like a madman, his aura blazing.
    Monet bit down on her teeth hard, brandishing her fiery whip as she tried to support Hutch along with the other elites, but it was clear that her flames were even weaker than they had been when she met Leonel despite the fact they had long since evolved to be tens of times stronger.
    Hutch's machete raged like a tornado of blades. His actions seemed no different from a butcher hacking meat, yet his crude style somehow became inescapable even to these well trained soldiers of Terrain.
    "Die!"
    Hutch's billowing roars shook the battlefield, his shouts laced with anger. The veins across his wrinkled body pulsed, his strength seemingly fueled by his fury.
    Just as he was cutting through the frontline of the enemy troops, three figures came dashing out of the army, each moving with such speed that the waters beneath their feet sliced apart as though a large blade ran through the surface.
    The closer one got to the Fifth Dimension, the larger the differences between Tiers became. The difference between a Tier 5 entity like Raynred and a Tier 8 one like his father was akin to the vastness of the universe. It was simply like comparing a well trained soldier to a man approaching godhood.
    Facing three such existences all at once, Hutch couldn't help but feel his hair prickle, his reddened gaze locking onto those before.
    To his back, there were thousands of weakened soldiers, each relying on these frail old shoulders of his. To his front, there was suddenly an enemy more powerful than any he had ever met, each of them with towering auras that had long since locked on to him.
    "It seems that the Cities have finally entered their end phase." Head Falls said emotionlessly. "Unless we want to watch from afar as they claim The Capital for themselves, it's probably best that we move this along."
    Head Solar and Head Mirage rose an eyebrow, but didn't say much else after hearing this.
    Head Falls stretched out his palm. Head Solar grabbed at air, causing a two and a half meter long halberd to appear. As for Head Mirage, she brought out an oddly flowing whip that sometimes appeared as is and at other times unfurled as though a silky cloth.
    They had all decided that Hutch was the greatest threat on this battlefield, so he had to die first.
    бн
    Near the backline of the army, fighting alongside the other youths, Elorin slaughtered enemies that appeared before him with even more ease than his grandfather.
    At that moment, a talisman on his person suddenly lit up and a voice drifted to his ear.

 Chapter 561 - Familiar Face

    Elorin continued to battle as though nothing had happened, brandishing a machete no different from his grandfather's. Even as he battled, his lips moved almost imperceptibly, but it seemed that even the youths right by his side that continued to fall to the strikes of the enemies or even the soldiers that fell to his blade couldn't hear a single word he was saying.
    бн
    Not far from Elorin, there was another familiar group of youths. But, these few were so ragged and beaten that even with his senses, Leonel might not recognize them at all.
    Among them, there was Roaring Black Lion, Seer, Falling Leaf, Thunderous Clap and many more. By now, though, they hardly looked like themselves.
    Roaring Black Lion had deep gashes through his blackened body. His lion's roar continuously rocked the battlefield, debuffing their enemies and strengthening his squad. But, every time he bellowed, ignoring his injuries, blood would fly from the bloody gashed tracing along his enormous body.
    Chasing Wind and Flowing Wind, two opposite sides of the same coin, did their best to protect him alongside Thunderous Clap. They knew well that if not for Roaring Black Lion helping to level the playing field, they would have fallen long ago.
    "Hoho, are these the geniuses of Earth? I've heard so many great things about you all, but to think you'd be put in such a pitiful position against a mere few foot soldiers."
    Raynred's voice drifted into the ears of the youths.
    Without having to worry about Hutch, crossing the battlefield to reach this point had been almost too easy. Raynred curiously eyed the youths on their last legs, his eyes no different from a predator eyeing his prey.
    Jilniya and Wilas had gone off to other sections of the battlefield already, so he felt quite happy that he had this place to himself.
    "Tell me, have you heard of a talent by the name of Aina Brazinger? Where is she? If you answer in a timely fashion, I won't mind taking you in as servants. After all, once Earth is conquered, we'll need quite a few sows and studs so I can't possibly kill you all, right?"
    Raynred's eyes scanned over Chasing Wind and Flowing Wind, his eyes especially locked onto Flowing Wind's scantily clad body. He had to say, this fiery young lady truly knew how to entice a man.
    Though they still wore their masks, Raynred believed in his intuition. This was definitely a beauty.
    Not a single person answered Raynred, their steely gazes locked onto him like ravenous wolves. They had never heard of this Aina Brazinger before, but even if they had, they wouldn't sell her out to this piece of shit.
    "Not answering?" Raynred's voice gained a tinge of murderous intent.
    The sudden change to his aura made the battlefield freeze over. The soldiers of Terrain had long since known to stop attacking so as to let their Young Heir have his fun, but even they couldn't help but shiver.
    Raynred's strength was undeniable regardless of his character flaws. His rage alone seemed to slow the Force in the region to a crawl.
    However, the youths remained silent, their jaws clenched.
    "Hohohoбн" Raynred chuckled.
    Just when it seemed that Raynred would have to take action, a woman's voice called out anxiously.
    "Weбн We've never heard of her, I swearбн! Please don't hurt me, I'll be a servant!"
    The nervous, chattering of the voice cut through whatever momentum and solidarity the youthful group had.
    Numerous gazes snapped over to the one who had been responsible for making them all seem so weak, only to find another familiar face on the end of it all: Pisces.
    Looks of disgust colored Roaring Black Lion and the others' faces.
    A few months ago, they got word that Leonel had defected from the Slayer Legion and was now a wanted criminal by their ranks. He even appeared alongside several Ascension Empire officials they were previously tasked to kill.
    When they found out the reason that he ended up being chased away, they learned that one of their Supremes had asked him to hand in a treasure of his. This all left them baffled because they were certain that the Supreme had never personally laid eyes on the treasure because not only was Leonel not a part of their district, but he had also only recently joined their Legion to begin with.
    Leonel had only been able to participate in two events, one of which was a tournament and the second of which was Project Hunt. Since he hadn't used the dictionary during the tournament and had only brought it out to save their lives on the Island, that could only mean that it was someone who told the Supreme about his treasure.
    After reaching this point, they ran into a dead end. There were dozens of them who had survived, finding out which one it had been was almost impossible. Butбн
    Among the group of surviving youths, there was a young man with a deduction ability. According to his calculations, there was a 97% chance that the traitor who divulged Leonel's secrets was none other than this Pisces right before them.
    Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about it. They couldn't reprimand a Supreme with their standingбн The best they could do was ostracize Pisces and make their displeasure known.
    But, who would have known that it would come back to bite them? Pisces was among the most powerful on this battlefield due to her water-related abilities, but she hardly raised a finger to protect anyone but herself. Her selfishness caused their casualties to be far beyond what they should have been.
    And now, she was betraying them all again. Even if they didn't know who this Aina was, they felt it was a matter of principle and Pisces had spit in the face of it again.
    "Oh?" Raynred tilted his head, curiously observing Pisces. Seeing that her figure was also enticing, he couldn't help but lick his lips.
    "Come over here."
    Pisces trembled, but eventually moved forward, allowing her chin to be caressed and her mask to be slowly removed.
    "Ah, a beauty indeed." Raynred grinned, lightly playing with Pisces' blue hair.
    "You don't know an Aina, huh?"
    "Nбн Noбн I've really never heard of her, she isn't one of us."
    As she spoke, Pisces became more determined and firm, allowing Raynred to do as he pleased and even inviting him to do more.
    Pisces was just a small talent. She didn't know the truth behind the Slayer Legion so she had no idea The Empire was on their side. All she saw was a devastating losing battle being fought against a world many times more powerful than them. She had no intention of going down with the ship.
    "Mm." Raynred dragged a finger along Pisces exposed collarbone. "If not her, have you heard of a certain Leonel Morales?"
    Pisces and the others froze. Originally, Leonel had used the name Indomitable. But, in order to make them trust him more and allow things to go more smoothly, he had both removed his mask and exposed his name to them.
    Pisces' lip curled into a sweet smile. "Yes. Yes I have heard of him."
    "YOU --!"
    The pent up rage everyone had for Pisces' actions boiled over. But, before Roaring Black Lion could even finish his words, his throat gurgled, filling up with blood.
    He looked down toward his broad chest, laying eyes on the bloody hole that appeared where his heart should have been.
    Flowing Wind shrieked as the others watched on with wide eyes.
    Roaring Black Lion fell into the waters.. Dead.

 Chapter 562 - Late

    Somehow, even compared to the other bodies constantly falling on the battlefield, Roaring Black Lion's was especially resounding. Maybe it was because his body was so large, maybe it was because he was their previous beacon of hope, or maybe it was because he was the first to die in such cruel fashion.
    There wasn't a long drawn out battle, no final valiant words, no last gaze of defianceбн There was nothing but a wave of a hand and an abrupt gurgling noise.
    Then, there was the splash. They had never thought that a sound so benign could ring through their souls with such harshness.
    His body slapped against the ocean waters, his blood pooling into a fog of liquid violet. But this time, the change to the waters didn't seem keen on dispersing so quickly. It continued to thicken, growing dense to the point the violet turned toward red before reaching a dense blackness that perfectly suited the call of death.
    "Noisy."
    Raynred shook his head, cleaning out his ears with a finger. Roaring Black Lion's voice was indeed booming, especially with his ability. Unfortunately, it was grating on the ears. Raynred didn't have the patience to deal with it.
    The youths looked at Roaring Black Lion's corpse, their bodies trembling. It felt as though their hearts were being ripped out from their chests.
    Compared to the other youths of the Slayer Legion, this group was especially close. They had all survived the events of the Force Eruption together. They had learned to lean on one another for strength and companionship.
    Even though they had had some clashes between each other back then, it had ultimately brought them closer.
    And yet, someone they had just been fighting side by side with was dead. Just like that.
    His body swayed in the waters, his bestial form slowly shrinking back to reveal the face of an ordinary young man. He had dark skin and thick hair. His face had gone slack in his death, but it was enough to accentuate his sharp features and charismatic aura.
    This was the first time any of them were seeing Roaring Black Lion's face. The last time his mask fell off after a transformation, it was Leonel who helped him cover up before others could lay eyes on him. But, somehow, seeing his face now hit them all harder than a truck.
    He just looked soбн Normal.
    A young man of not even 20 years of age, dead on the whims of a madman.
    "You've heard of him you say? Where is he?"
    Raynred turned his attention back to Pisces. Though he spoke these words, his eyes continuously scanned her body as though he couldn't be bothered with the response.
    In truth, it really didn't matter much if he found Leonel now or later, the result would be effectively the same. There was still time before Valiant Heart Mountain's admissions activated and it was highly unlikely Leonel would be able to leave Earth.
    The tickets to other worlds might be an easy matter for well established worlds. But, to fledgling worlds like Earth, their value was no less than that of a Tier 9 Black Treasure.
    According to reports, as expected, Leonel had relied on Terrain's teleportation channels to make it back to Earth, which meant whatever talismans he had used to come to Terrain in the first place were used up. If not for this, why would he risk entering a city of Terrain? It would have been safer to not do so if he could help it.
    Ultimately, there was no place for Leonel to run. He would land in his hands one way or another soon enough along with Aina.
    Pisces hesitated.
    "Thisбн I'm not exactly certain of where he is. He was expelled from our Slayer Legion and placed on our wanted list."
    Raynred frowned when he heard these words. Wasn't this as good as telling him nothing at all? What was the use of saying she knew him, then?
    Sensing the change in Raynred's mood, Pisces panicked somewhat, a cold sweat matting her back. She wracked her brain, practically flipping it over again and again as though to wring out the dregs of her memory.
    Luckily, her efforts paid off. Her eyes lit up, something finally clicking.
    "I know! I'm not sure if he's there now, but I heard that he once caused a big commotion at Royal Blue Fort. He used to be a famous football player and was well known in the Province. In all likelihood, he has some close ties to the people in Royal Blue Fort."
    Raynred's expression softened. "Oh? Is that so?"
    Pisces nodded hurriedly, she was practically as obedient as a kitten.
    "Royal Blue Province? We received some information about that Provinceбн How convenient, it should be really close to this location."
    Raynred mused, rubbing his chin and looking across the battlefield.
    Seeing Hutch in such a sorry state and how everything seemed to be turning in their favor, he realized that his services probably wouldn't be needed on this battlefield for much longer. Soon, he'd be able to take his own personal troop to this Royal Blue Fort to see what was happening. If he could find Leonel, then good. Aina probably wouldn't be far away. But, if he couldn't find Leonelбн
    Well, this little girl made quite an interesting point. Since that Province was his home, there probably weren't a small number of people who had connections to him over there, right?
    After Raynred finished his musings, he looked toward the remaining youths. They stared daggers at him, each of them with hearts filled with endless fury.
    However, as furious as they were, Raynred's next words made them feel as though they had been plunged into the depths of hell.
    "Well, there's not really a point in any of you existing any longer, right?"
    Raynred flicked out with his fingers again, causing several more geniuses of the Slayer Legion to fall.
    Flowing Wind stood frozen in time, a bloody smile hanging on her lips. Though it was a smile, it was filled with bitterness.
    'You know, if this was a movie, you'd be swooping down right about now. Don't you think you're a bit late, handsomeбн?'
    Flowing Wind's consciousness slowly faded to black, her last thoughts being of Leonel's face.

 Chapter 563 - Crumbled

    "бн So what are you trying to say, exactly?"
    Elorin swung his blade down again, a mark of complete indifference on his face. He reaped another life with ease, the bloodiness of the battlefield seemingly having nothing to do with him.
    "I'm saying that it's not yet time. You're a smart boy, do I really need to repeat myself?"
    "It isn't that I don't understand what you're saying. It's more so that it doesn't make much sense. If now isn't the best time, then when else could possibly be?"
    Looking at the state of the battlefield, Elorin thought that the caller on the other side much be pulling some sort of practical joke.
    The casualties the Slayer Legion had tallied up to now numbered in the several thousand and these were among their elites. These sort of warriors couldn't just grow on trees. To make matters worse, Elorin was certain that The Capital was on its last legs as well.
    The last reports they received detailed the three cities having all the momentum in the world to storm their way to the third layer, having already breached the second layer. By all rights, if this wasn't the appropriate time to act, then when was? Were they supposed to wait until Earth already fell into the hands of another?
    "The time isn't right." The voice responded.
    "If you're abandoning me just say so." Elorin said plainly, his expression not even fluctuating. "There's no need to beat around the bush like this.
    "I hope you remember that you all are the ones who approached me first. With or without you, I will accomplish my goals. This is a new world order and there's an entire universe waiting to set the stage for talents like me. I don't need fair weather 'helpers' who won't show their faces."
    The voice chuckled, clearly not minding Elorin's words.
    "You're misunderstanding, Elorin. Also, you sound very mighty currently. But, you seem to have forgotten that you weren't the first to complete their Zone, you were second. And, that's just of this generation. As Earth continues to grow and evolve, and things settle down to the point people begin to have children again, the talents birthed with each successive generation will only grow more and more talented.
    "So, before you begin puffing out that prepubescent chest of yours, you should remember that you aren't even the best on your own world. It isn't quite time for you to be thinking of the expanse of the universe just yet."
    Elorin didn't seem to be enraged by these words either, his expression completely even keeled. He didn't seem to be insulted in the slightest. In fact, at the moment, he felt that he had already said all that needed to be said. There was no need to continue this conversation.
    Just as he was about to hang up, the voice spoke again.
    "The young are so impatient, but sure, I don't mind tossing you a bone.
    "We aren't abandoning you. We aren't making a move because it truly isn't time to do so just yet. You forget that we have talents of our own that have hardly stepped onto Earth's stage. According to our analysis, Earth hasn't quite reached the brink just yet, at least not for another few hoursбн
    "Only when our victory is guaranteed will we move. Until then, sit tight and don't die."
    After saying these words, the voice cut the call, leaving Elorin to his own thoughts.
    Not long later, Elorin looked up, his machete reaping another life.
    Since it wasn't yet time, it seemed he would have to put in some effort. After a while, his eyes landed on Raynred. With every flicker of his fingers, another young elite fell no matter how hard they fought.
    It wasn't that this batch wasn't talented. If it wasn't for the suppression of the Puppet Master, three or four of them would have been enough to take on Raynred to a standstill. But, with the sluggishness they were experiencing, not even the several dozens of them that there were could even put up a fight.
    By now, among those that remained, Flowing Wind and many others had already died. Of those that Leonel would even recognize, only Thunderous Clap and Chasing Wind remained. But, it was clear that if they were any more unlucky, their lives would be next.
    'Hm, I guess you'll do.' Elorin thought indifferently, flickering across the battlefield.
    бн
    Hutch took long, steady breaths, blood drizzling out between his lips. By now, the normally bouncy old man was pulling himself thin.
    When facing those weaklings, the suppression on his abilities meant little. He could still reap their lives with ease. But now, it became obvious that his weapon mastery wasn't allowing him to ignore the suppression. Rather, he was siphoning some of his strength away in exchange for a smaller amount of suppression.
    This was effectively still weakening him considerably, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he didn't defeat these three before him, the Slayer Legion was finished.
    **
    As bad as the situation on the Slayer Legion's battlefield was, the situation at The Capital was far worse. In fact, the three cities had already bulldozed their way through the second layer. They were so comfortable in their position that the cities had been teleported forward once more.
    From the base of The Capital, the Cities moved to the second layer, laying upon the thick branches of the ancient tree-like space.
    The youths continued to fight, but the death of Nile was still fresh on their minds. To make matters worse, more than just Nile had died to this point. It felt as though their own legend was crumbling before their very own eyes.
    Noah protected Jessica to his back, a stoic expression on his face. Every time Jessica tried to step forward, he would send another glare in her direction.
    "You can control beasts from here." He would growl, his face showing about as much emotion as he usually would over the course of an entire year.
    Noah breathed heavily, his blue saber laying across his chest as he blocked the blow of three sword strikes at once.
    His knees wobbled. It wasn't because the strikes were too heavy, but rather because his legs were simply too tired. This battle of defense had already been fought for over a half day. Even with his stamina, he was simply reaching the end of his rope.
    In the distance, he locked eyes onto Jefrach who was slaughtering as he pleased, swinging around two hammers like a madman. Every body that made contact burst into a rain of blood and gore.
    'I need to take out the strongest of themбн To give everyone a chance.' Noah took a deep breath, trying to find a second wind somewhere deep within.
    He was the Prince of an Empire. This was his world. He wouldn't allow them to trample upon Earth as they pleased.
    Noah looked up. As the legend went, there wasn't a single place in The Capital one couldn't see the Palace from. But, even now, it remained completely unmoving. Was his grandfather going to wait until they charged through the gates to finally do something?
    Noah dug deep and roared, pushing the three swordsman back before slashing them apart.
    He looked up one last time as though trying to find the courage he needed to face this enemy. But, what he saw this time was completely out of his expectations.
    In his line of sight, blocking his view of the Palace, a young man had suddenly appeared in the skies, a young woman wearing a blue veined mask strapped to his back.
    He stood silently, but somehow, the eyes of most on the battlefield couldn't help but drift toward him, his cold eyes sending shivers down their spine.
    Leonel didn't seem to notice how many eyes were on him. His gaze swept through the second layer, landing on Hargrove City.
    Without a word, his figure flickered, appearing above the city walls in a flash, landing atop the gates with a resounding BANG!
    Before anyone could react, the City's gates crumbled before erupting into a pillar of flames that shot into the sky, lighting up the battlefield.
    A single man stood amidst the wreckage, his gaze filled with a furious light.

 Chapter 564 - Towering

    Flames shot into the skies, lighting up the darkening battlefield as though the sun was rising from the North today.
    The battlefield seemed to pause, shock coloring the faces of everyone present.
    Destroying the Gates of a city wasn't so simple. Let alone the materials needed to construct it, the Force Arts protecting it alone would be enough to give a headache to even the most powerful City Lords among the people of Terrain.
    Even if that was ignored, the sudden appearance above the battlefield and the subsequent almost suicidal actions left everyone in a daze. However, they hadn't even been able to register all that happened before a roar shook the skies.
    "GET THE HELL OUT HERE!"
    Leonel's infuriated bellowing resonated in the ears of everyone.
    It was only at that moment that everyone came to a subtle understanding. Leonel wasn't here to be a savior. Someone had pissed him off and that person happened to be within Hargrove City's walls.
    It was only at that moment that whatever few guards of Hargrove City that remained finally reacted to the change.
    The truth was that with their charge, the elites of the City were currently on the frontlines and no one had been paying attention to the skies. Even if they had been, Leonel's appearance was simply too sudden. Without the slightest sound, he had crashed down from the skies, obliterating their defenses as though they weren't there.
    How could the flaws of Terrain's Force Arts escape Leonel's notice?
    Warriors converged on Leonel from all sides, what remained of the archers that hadn't toppled from the walls aiming their bows toward him.
    If there was one advantage Terrain would always have, it was numbers. Though they had sent many of their elites forward, how could their cities be completely unguarded.
    Leonel's gaze flickered with wild fluctuations of violet and red, a dense violet bronze fog hung around him, his Runes shining so brightly as they marked his body that it was hard to look directly at him.
    At that moment, Leonel's surroundings became a land of scorching heat. He embodied the Fire Domain Style, the temperature around him reaching unprecedented levels.
    Leonel's mind spun, countless calculations taking root as he simulated just as many possibilities.
    His gaze flashed when he finished, his arms raising up as though he was commanding the movements of an orchestra.
    Little Tolliver appeared, separating out into numerous droplets of mercury.
    The sight was especially gorgeous. Leonel stood amid a tidal wave of Flames, his body sparkling with golden lights and droplets of silver hovering around him.
    His movements commanded the obedience of the world, his rage seeping into the hearts of all those who laid eyes on him. In their minds, he was the one and only truth.
    The debris around Leonel was suddenly engulfed by Little Tolly. Simultaneously, Leonel conjured the spells for [Sword Light] and [Fire Spear].
    Leonel had never put to words the sort of enlightenment Lionel had given him. But, if he had to summarize it, he would only need one word...
    Freedom!
    He could simulate the world in his mind, he had precision the likes of which even computers of the 25th Century could only dream of, but who said he only had to simulate reality? Why couldn't he dig into the recesses of his mind, tap into the fantasies of a man, and force creations that could shake the world into being?
    Who said he couldn't forge weapons on a battlefield? Who said he couldn't fuse Light and Fire Elemental Spell Arts into one? Who said a single man couldn't bring a city to its knees?!
    Even as thousands of soldiers converged onto Leonel's position, gorgeous javelins began to form around him. They used the metallic base of the city's gates and fused the Flames of [Fire Spear] into its foundations, strengthening the already powerful One Star Magus Art. Its blade resonated with a golden halo, formed of an illusory golden sword that twinkled beneath the darkness of night.
    In one breath, there were just three of them. In the next, the number doubled, then doubled again. In the blink of an eye, there were dozens, then hundreds. They floated in the skies beneath Leonel's control, waiting for his orchestral rhythm to reach its peak.
    "Since you insist on being in my way... Die."
    The blazing spears of fire and light tore through the night sky, leaving streaks of flames and gold in their wake.
    The warriors charging toward Leonel suddenly found themselves pierced through. The bolts were so swift that they hardly felt a thing before their innards were completely burnt to ash, shock coloring their faces even in death.
    But, as though that wasnt enough, even after claiming one life, the dealthy spears didn't pause, reaping more lives before suddenly erupting into a cacophony of explosions.
    Each bomb was so resounding that the very foundations of the City quaked, taking hundreds of lives with every tremble.
    Leonel stomped down his feet hard, violent surges of Earth Elemental Force erupting from his body as he forced the trembling grounds to concentrate their attack, splintering the earth and causing the deaths of thousands more.
    His every action was cold and indifferent, his calculations so deadly that even it seemed capable of directing every ounce of energy toward the death of more.
    Leonel stood like a God amidst the carnage, the crackling of flames sparking around his body as though to reflect the synapses of his mind.
    Those watching on couldn't believe what they were seeing. The Gates of Hargrove City stood in complete carnage, a single man having reaped the lives of thousands in what didn't seem to be more than just a few minutes.
    'Is this the real him...?' Noah's gaze flickered, his expression impossible to read.
    However, all this said, Noah still felt that something was off. Rather than being content with such an achievement Leonel seemed to be... growing angrier?
    "You've... brought my Queen to me..."
    The voice easily swept over the battlefield despite not seemingly being very loud. It was as though this man was whispering into all their ears.
    Leonel was so infuriated he grinned, his smile carrying a darkness that swallowed his surroundings.
    "I'm going to enjoy killing you."
    Shackles that seemed to be weighing Leonel scattered, a bloodthirsty aura washing over The Capital.

 Chapter 565 - Towering (2)

    Leonel's murderous intent seemed to fuse with his domain of flames, causing a mere rise in temperature to suddenly become a land of red.
    Following the Puppet Master's voice, the rumbling of the earth suddenly grew as giants rose in the distance.
    Their bodies were completely nude, but they had no reproductive organs to speak of. It was difficult to tell if they were puppets formed of corpses like the rest or if they were artifical beings hand crafted by the Puppet Master itself.
    These giants crashed through the city, seemingly not minding the carnage they were causing in the slightest. There were most definitely normal citizens of Hargrove still remaining, but their lives weren't considered for even a moment. In fact, in his fury, Leonel didn't even pause for a moment to think of them.
    With a thought, the debris around him was formed into spiraling spears once again, launching toward the slowly walking giants.
    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
    A deluge of explosions erupted across the bodies of the giants, causing them to stumble and slow. However, the damage was negligible. Let alone suffering injuries or being impaired, Leonel's attacks didn't even leave behind any scorching marks.
    Soon, 12 Giants appeared, each of them standing over 20 meters tall, their steps heavy. They had no eyes, no ears, no clothing. Their skin was a dull brown color and other than their humanoid forms, there didn't seem to be anything else that was human about them.
    However... each and everyone one of them carried a stifling aura. Even those several kilometers away, barely able to observe the situation, felt as though their hearts were being weighed down heavily. They couldn't help but wonder... if these giants had stepped onto the battlefield, would they even stand a chance?
    Each and every one of them exuded the might of Demi God, standing on the precipice of the Fifth Dimension. Their hollow faces and steady gait even in the face of so much damage sent shivers down one's spine.
    Compared to the Elemental wolves and knights, these giants were on a completely different level.
    The soldiers of Hargrove City that managed to survive Leonel's initial barrage backed away in fear, many looking on in horror. However, many unlucky ones could do nothing as they watched the large feet of the giants stomp toward the ground.
    The air pressure of their feet descending alone sent the warriors tumbling into the earth, pinned down and left without a choice but to watch on as their deaths approached from above.
    Some weren't even so lucky. Pinned down with their faces against the ground, they could only cry in agony, trying their best to move. Their pitiful struggles only made their inevitable deaths worst. Sometimes hope only bred more pain.
    By now, the elites of Hargrove City had reacted to the situation. Many had thought of turning back, but after seeing the response the Puppet Master had in store, they paused.
    Was there even a need to act any longer? Even one of those monsters could wipe out The Capital on its own, let alone 12 of them.
    Jerach's hammers had long since come to a stop. With his strength, it was a simple matter to lay eyes on Leonel from so far away.
    He didn't know when, but that indifferent back had begun haunting his dreams, so much so that he hadn't even needed to see Leonel's face to know it was him the moment he appeared.
    Back then, when he dedicated his life to Leonel over their bet, he had every intention of following through. But, he soon learned that his resolve wasn't as strong as he thought it was.
    Yet, instead of taking his life or even cursing him, Leonel simply didn't speak another word to him. He had cut off their relationship so easily it was as though they had never met, as though they were strangers.
    Jerach's nerves steeled, his fists clenching around his hammers.
    They were enemies now. Leonel's death was in his best interest. In fact, the sooner Leonel died, the better.
    Remembering the horrible pressure that emitted from Leonel that day Jilniya laid a hand on Aina, the reaper's skeleton hand seemed to grip at his throat.
    However, none of that mattered. The legend that was Leonel would come to a close right here and now.
    Leonel stood amidst the carnage, facing the pressure of 12 giants. His knees couldn't help but creak and whine beneath the pressure as though they had every intention of bending.
    However, his back remained ramrod, his cold gaze not even looking toward the 12 giants making their way toward him.
    If others could see anything but his back, they'd be able to realize that Leonel had hardly spared the giants a glance from start to finish. From the very beginning, his gaze was locked onto the center of the City, every fiber of his senses latching onto the City Lord's mansion in the distance.
    With every passing moment, the stomps of the giants grew more frequent and harsher. It felt as though the whole world might collapse at any moment.
    But, all Leonel could hear was the thumping of his own heart, the flood of his own blood, the crackles of his own bones.
    No, there was something else he could hear.
    He could feel Aina'a heart against his back. He could feel its eratic beating, its trepidation, its fear...
    Leonel knew Aina well. He might not understand the smallest details of her quirks, but he understood her character.
    What she feared wasn't the strength of the Puppet Master. His Aina wasn't a coward who needed to be carried into battle like this.
    What she feared was the lack of the control, the loss of the pursuit of her destiny, the idea that someone else could snatch her autonomy away without even giving her a chance to fight back.
    What she feared wasn't the Variant. What she feared was her own weakness.
    Leonel had no doubt in his mind that if the Puppet Master allowed Aina to move at this moment, her fury would be no less than his, the carnage she wrought would be no less blazing, the blood she spilt no less unending.
    However, right now, she couldn't move. That right had been snatched from her by a bastard who still didn't even dare to show its face.
    Since that was the case, he would show her. With him around, even if she was too weak, even if she was on her last legs, even if she couldn't move. She would never have a thing to worry about.
    BANG!
    The 12 giants stepped into a range not even ten meters from Leonel. The force of their steps sent of a wall of wind in his direction, nearly tearing the clothes from his body.
    But, he remained completely unmoving.
    For the first time, Leonel looked away from the City Lord Mansion and locked onto the Giants, his cold gaze sweeping by them with a world of indifference.
    "Piss off."
    The words shot through the silent battlefield, resonating with the hearts of all those who heard them.
    At that moment, the ground the giants stepped upon suddenly warped and twisted.
    Just as they were about to take another step forward, this time to reap Leonel's life, something snapped.
    The world trembled, space itself bending and squeezing into a self imposed eruption.
    In the end, all that was left was a hole with edges so smooth one could see one's own reflection.
    Leonel stood amidst the carnage, his back still straight, his gaze still piercing.
    Not a single giant was in sight.

 Chapter 566 - Towering (3)

    Silence.
    There were many kinds of emotion silence could portray. There were comfortable silences, stunned silences, even murderous silences. But, when one was faced with a sight they never thought they would see in their entire lives, it was then that a silence that marked the soul for a lifetime was bred.
    This was the kind of silence that grasped at one's thoughts and laced one's dreams, the kind of silence that refused to be forgotten and couldn't be ignored.
    And at the center of it all, there was a young man with fury lighting his eyes. To his back, there was the person he cared most for, the light of his path forward being lit by her emotions.
    Leonel took a step forward. He crossed through the barrier of fluctuating space as though he couldn't feel the danger, raising up into the skies as though a deity looking down on Earth. For a moment, he seemed to overshadow even Ascension Palace, standing on a plane that superceded thought.
    "GET THE HELL OUT HERE!"
    Leonel's booming force shook The Capital, the earth beneath him quaking.
    Buildings trembled and fell, collapsing in on their own structures as though autonomous beings shaking in fear.
    Leonel's palm flipped over, a bow appearing.
    His back flexed, gaining a strength no weaker than treated metal.
    He pulled back, crackling streaks of light and whistling winds surrounding him as his self crafted glove poured strength into his strike.
    Three streaking arrows tore through the skies, sending a barrage toward the City Lord's mansion.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    The outer walls shattered and collapsed, the once majestic abode crumbling in on itself.
    But, Leonel didn't seem intent on stopping. Universal Force swirled around him, fueling his every strike. Every twang of his bow string shattered the sound barrier, sending harsh winds whipping about.
    It was a relentless assault from above, a completely one sided slaughter. Every guard tasked with protecting the mansion couldn't seem to do a thing. Even if they weren't directly pierced through by Leonel's strikes, the aftermath wasn't something they were equipped to handle. Many of them had only barely stepped into the Fourth Dimension, what chance did they stand against the Four Seasons Realm?
    Leonel surged forward as though a one man army. It was hard to pick out just how bloodshot his gaze was beneath the violet hues of his irises, but it was there nonetheless.
    Aina's story replayed in his mind again and again. The torture she experienced was like a knife skinning the surface of his heart, peeling away layers of his humanity.
    Just as Leonel was about to enter the range of the mansion, his senses locked onto an impending danger. Rage lit his heart to a new level. Even now, others still planned on interfering?
    In that case, they could die too.
    City Lord Hargrove tore a path back to the city the moment he saw the 12 giants being so easily controlled. However, even then, he didn't manage to make it back until his mansion was long since destroyed. Had he not made it in time, the Puppet Master really would have had to move. Once that happened, the situation on the battlefield would have completely flipped.
    Even though this wouldn't be the end of it, after all, with the Puppet Master's strength, dealing with a singular Leonel shouldn't be a problem. Hargrove wasn't off put by Leonel being unaffected by the Puppet Master's spell in the slightest. With the way the Puppet Master manifested its ability this time, it relied on the blood of Eartherners, as long as one of Leonel's parents or even just a single person in his lineage wasn't of Earth, the hold the Puppet Master had on him would severely weaken. Though this might be a small surprise, it wasn't too much so with how many had been eyeing Earth all this time.
    As far as Hargrove was concerned, this didn't matter. If the Puppet Master personally set sights on Leonel, he wouldn't be able to escape being controlled. The only reason he didn't want the Puppet Master to step out was because it would then be obvious who was causing the people of Earth to feel so weak. Even though the Puppet Master could easily regain control after going back, it would become more of a headache.
    At this moment, they were still reliant on Earth's ignorance. The tide of battle might shift if the people of Earth knew to focus on the Puppet Master.
    Simply put, this kid had to die.
    Hargrove flipped a palm, causing a javelin to appear in his hands. His body bowed and his arm whipped forward.
    BANG! BANG!
    The air seemed to shatter as the weapon tore through it to reach Leonel.
    The accuracy of Hargrove's throw was spine tingling. It felt that no matter how Leonel turned to dodge, it would still cause him to suffer.
    This was none other than Hargrove's ability. He called it Stunning Accuracy. His every javelin throw would land in a spot so perfect it would feel impossible to deal with.
    On this battlefield, he had already lost count to the number of lives he had reaped with his marksmanship. He had earned his right to be amongst the four strongest City Lords of Terrain.
    However, what happened next made him feel as though all his pride was being trampled by a pair of cold, violet eyes.
    Leonel grasped at the air, causing three arrows to appear. He nocked them simultaneously and fired them all at once.
    Two arched oddly in the air while one flew mind numblingly straight.
    The first collided with the tip of the javelin. It was so perfect that neither weapon deviated, clashing head on in the air.
    However, after no more than a split moment, the arrow shattered, its strength far too weak. In fact, the collision was so brief that it seemed to have been instantly obliterated.
    In the next moment, the remaining two curving arrows met the point of the javelin together, forming a tri point in the skies.
    But soon, they too were instantly shattered.
    One would think that Leonel would be flustered by this point, but he hardly reacted, his next arrow already nocked.
    This time, he fired two in quick succession, but neither seemed to be as perfect as the first three, barely missing the tip of the javelin and gliding along its side.
    However... it was these very strikes that sent a cold shiver down Hargrove's spine.
    The path of the javelin deviated, gliding by Leonel's head.
    Just when it seemed that Leonel would allow it to go, he retracted his hand from his bowstring, and grasped at the flying javelin, barely grabbing the end of its pole arm.
    Leonel looked toward Hargrove from above, the piercing nature of his gaze seemingly bearing the latter's soul for all to see.
    Bow in one hand, javelin in the other, his torso flexed, his right arm cocking back.
    The energies of the world seemed to sing, Universal Force bearing down.
    SHUUUUUUUUU! BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Leonel flung the javelin downward, concentric circles of exploding air nearly ripping its body apart.
    In those final moments, City Lord Hargrove could only think that this was the first time he was truly seeing Stunning Accuracy.
    [Check comment section for explanation on sudden change of schedule]

 Chapter 567 - Towering (4)

    Just when Hargrove felt as though he had no choice but to accept his death, a streaking sword light tore its way through the skies, clashing against the descending javelin and forcing it off its path. It was clear that compared to Leonel who needed several arrows, this sword Master only needed one attack.
    Even after he had been saved, Hargrove stood frozen in place, unbelieving of what had just happened.
    In that instant, Leonel hadn't suppressed him with strength. Objectively, even with the help of Universal Force, Leonel's strength was at most approaching his, but it most definitely didn't surpass it.
    It was as though he had stretched out his neck asking to die. For some reason, he acknowledged Leonel as a superior and felt that going against him was no different than blaspheming a God.
    The realization made him burst out into a fit of cold sweats. Just who was this boy? And what was this aura that perpetually exuded from him?
    Leonel shifted his gaze toward the source of the sword light. His patience was running as thin as it could. Every time he was close to accomplishing what needed to be done, someone else would interfere. And, every time it happened, his bloodthirst would reach deeper into a hellish abyss, digging toward a level of murderous intent that solidified beneath the night sky.
    Anared raced across the battlefield as his sword zipped back to his side. A flicker of a frown graced his usually indifferent face. However, after a moment, his jaw steeled.
    In a flash, he made it to Hargrove's side, looking up toward Leonel who was still in the skies.
    In the distance, Noah's frown deepened.
    "We need to help him."
    Nika, one of the few surviving members of Leonel and Noah's troops whispered, her voice almost coming out like a whimper.
    Among the geniuses, her ability was the least conducive to battle, but that ironically left her somewhat better off. After all, she was used to battling from the weaker position.
    But now, seeing Leonel alone in the distance and noticing that more were suddenly converging in that direction after acknowledging his threat, she still felt that they should risk it to do something.
    Unfortunately, even as she said the words, she knew how foolish it all was.
    The reason Terrain could continuously send reinforcements to Hargrove City was because the city was to the back of their charge. It was one thing to send people backward, but if they wanted to help Leonel, they would have to cross the defensive line of all these armies.
    It was simply... impossible.
    Plus, even if they could reach Leonel, could they even afford to do so? The battle had slowed to a crawl due to the commotion, but that didn't change the fact they were in a terrible situation. It didn't even make sense to think of helping Leonel when they couldn't even help themselves.
    At that moment, many more were converging onto Hargrove City, peeling away from the frontlines and going to provide support.
    Even if Anared and Hargrove had gone, there was still City Lord Black and Anared's father remaining. These two alone had already been giving The Capital more than they could handle.
    Still, at that moment, there were three familiar figures watching on from Keafir City. Compared to Hargrove City, their walls were the picture of piece without a single Eartherner within several kilometers.
    Syl and Rie frowned when they saw their brother going off to battle Leonel. Compared to the past, this confrontation was much different. It was very likely that one of them would die.
    Normally, they wouldn't think Leonel would stand a chance. But, the death of the 12 giants was seared into their minds, refusing to let go.
    Among the three, the only one that remained indifferent was the Young Mistress, Anared's fiancee.
    "There's no need to worry. There's no suspense to this battle." Heira spoke simply.
    "Sister-in-law?"
    "You're worried about the attack that took out the giants?"
    "Yes... will brother be alright?" Syl clenched her teeth.
    If she had to choose between Leonel and her brother, wasn't the choice obvious? Plus...
    Syl looked toward the girl strapped to Leonel's back...
    Hadnt he made his choice very clear too?
    "There's no need to worry about that attack, its very circumstantial and requires preparation. I didn't expect Leonel to be so skilled in Force Arts, but unless he has another earthquake-like event to rely on like in his initial attack, he won't be able to do as he pleases. And, even if he did, Anared should have long since seen what I've seen. He won't allow him what he needs to succeed."
    It was only after hearing these words that Syl managed to calm, looking back toward the battlefield with her hands gripped against her chest.
    Rie stood by her side, her gaze twinkling. But, no one knew what was going through her simple mind.
    "If you leave now and agree to marry my sister as you were meant to, I can give you a path for survival." Anared said plainly, the rhythm of his heart extraordinarily steady. "However, that woman on your back needs to die."
    Leonel didn't respond for a long while, looking down toward Anared with a gaze just as steady, an expression just as indifferent.
    Eventually, his gaze shifted back toward Hargrove.
    The City Lord still seemed shaken by Leonel's earlier display, the beating of his heartbeat having yet to slow.
    "With me here, you won't be able to kill him. Why even waste your time?" Anared continued to speak, his habit of saying too many words for a supposedly cold person seeping through again.
    "This is the third time."
    Leonel's voice carried a bone chilling cold to them. His aura was decidedly dark, carrying an oppression that was almost tangible in the air.
    "The first time you insulted her, you were saved by the attendants of Brave City.
    "The second time you insulted her, you were saved by the Savants of Earth.
    "And this third time here... who do you think will be able to save you this time?"
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    Before anyone could understand what Leonel meant, his bow had been swapped for a spear.
    Even more quickly than that, a siege crossbow appeared, hanging in the air as though it had always been there.
    Anared's expression changed but it was already too late. A siege crossbow appearing at near point-blank range was devastating.
    He dove out of the way instinctively, his body rolling along the ground and completely losing his indifferent aura.
    SHUUUUUUUU!
    Anared scrambled along the ground, the shackles on his strength being loosened one after another. Without a choice, he released all of his trump cards, his aura climbing to a level even faintly surpassing the 12 Demigod level Giants.
    However, the results were completely outside of his expectations.
    The crossbow blasted through Hargrove's body.
    For a moment, the City Lord looked down at himself, an incredulous expression plastered on his face. But, in the next moment, his body imploded, the force winds of the bolt tearing him apart from the inside out.
    The last thing the City Lord saw was Leonel's flickering silhouette, ignoring both him and Anared as though they weren't even worthy of his attention.
    He appeared above the City Lord Mansion, his aura billowing, his presence Towering.
    "This is the third and final time I'll say this...
    "GET THE HELL OUT HERE!"
    Leonel's roar sent rippling waves through the skies, more than 50 siege crossbows appearing in the sky around him as he bombarded what remained of the once proud Mansion.
    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

 Chapter 568 - Towering (5)

    The moment Leonel's barrage began, the atmosphere seemed to shift.
    As though the earth had cracked opened and demons from the depths of Hell were clawing their way forward, a pervading coldness hung in the air, latching onto their veins and making them feel as though their blood was rapidly freezing over.
    A massive illusory hand of crimson shot up from the ground, tearing through the debris like it was nothing but scraps if paper.
    The hand charged for Leonel, causing him to have to cross his spear across his body to block.
    Leonel was sent flying , his body arching through the air for over a hundred meters.
    His internal organs shook, his stomach caving in and his ribs cracking. Blood flew from his lips, his eyes bulging.
    A violent fit of coughs rang out from him, but as though none of it mattered, Leonel reoriented himself in the air, landing heavily on his feet so that Aina wouldn't be harmed.
    As he wiped the blood from his lips, the section of ground the mansion once stood upon split under the strength of the hand, making way for a man tainted by blood to make his presence known.
    The Variant Invalid was completely nude, the only coverings of its body being the blood trickling down its skin.
    Its bare feet landed on the ground softly, but even that seemed to resonate with the hearts of all.
    Their minds and bodies seemed to separate from one another. It was an out of body experience that made them feel as though they were third party viewers of their own lives, watching on from a bird's eye view.
    But, rather than being awed by the realization,? most felt their chests gripped by fear.
    This man, dripping of blood... was a nightmare.
    It was only then that the people of Earth suddenly found their minds shooting back into their bodies. A bout of dizziness took hold of them before they realized the sluggishness they had been experiencing completely vanished.
    Jessica's expression changed.
    "Your Highness, my body."
    Noah, who had been completely focused on Leonel, frowned. But, when he turned back to see a sea of pleasantly surprised faces, he couldn't help but be taken aback.
    At first he was confused. But soon, thinking of something, his gaze lit up.
    'Could it be...?'
    All across Earth, Eartherners who had felt as though their bodies were out of their control suddenly began to exhibit their true strength.
    Noah's gaze toward Leonel's back, even as the latter wiped blood from his mouth, turned several levels more complicated.
    There were no fools on this battlefield. They all understood that this was no coincidence.
    Even as the expressions of the people of Terrain turned ugly, the momentum of the people of Earth flipped on its head.
    Noah took a deep breath, the second wind he was looking for suddenly filling up his chest. It didn't take him but a moment to realize that this wasn't just psychological. The healers and buffers of Earth had regained their strength, extending their range of effect by several fold.
    Noah's jaw steeled. He had seen how powerful the strike that just landed on Leonel was. This was the first time in the battle that Leonel had suffered any sort of injury... this battle, they had to win it fast.
    Noah clenched his fists, suddenly roaring into the skies.
    His chest expanded beneath his ability, his throat hardening under the same effects.
    The blood of the warriors of Earth boiled. All this time they felt as though they could do nothing. But, gazing at that back in the distance, they felt as though the cold running through their veins had been replaced by burning lava.
    "Charge!" Noah's voice boomed.
    Within Hargrove City, Leonel wiped the last of the blood from his lips, spitting at the ground to clear his mouth.
    He looked up, his cold gaze locking onto the Puppet Master. His spear's tip gently pressed against the ground, the chains jingling about as they dangled.
    With a single swipe, more than half of his siege crossbows had been destroyed. Beyond that, it took just a single attack to injure him to this state despite the fact his body was forged of Tier 1 Fourth Dimensional metal.
    But, as surprised as Leonel was, the Puppet Master was even more so. Though, considering its inhuman expressions, there was hardly a change.
    The Puppet Master had expected to kill Leonel in a single strike. But, not only had it not, it felt as though it had just punched a steel fortress. In fact, its strength hadn't impacted Aina in the slightest.
    Had Leonel been willing to allow the strike to dissipate naturally, he wouldn't have broken any bones in the slightest. But, he had no intention of allowing Aina to be harmed.
    He would allow her to watch to the end as he buried this Puppet Master to the depths of hell it belonged in.
    In the distance, Anared slowly picked himself up from the ground, a hint of humiliation coloring his features.
    Even now, Leonel dared to garner himself more enemies when he was right here.
    However, what he didn't know was that Leonel hadn't spoken those words to trick him. He had meant every last syllable. This time, he shouldn't dream of escaping.
    Leonel's free hand flipped, causing an Urbe Ore to appear in his hand. Just as quickly as it did, it crumbled to dust, the Essence being absorbed into his body.
    Leonel's cracked ribs mended in the blink of an eye, his body even growing a tick more powerful.
    He let the ash fall between his fingers, watching as they were swept up into the wind.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The tip of Leonel's spear, which had just barely graced the ground, suddenly sank into it. As though a hot knife through butter, the lightest touch left a scorching mark across the ground.
    A dense Domain of black chains surged to life around him, its oppressive might reaching palpable levels.
    Leonel gazed at the Puppet Master as though trying to sear its image into his mind.
    "Five minutes." Leonel said plainly. But, it was clear that he wasn't speaking to either one of Anared or the Puppet Master. "Five minutes and I'll wipe him from existence."
    Aina's cheek rested on Leonel's back and shoulder.. Hearing such words, she felt as though the erratic beating of her heart was finally slowing.

 Chapter 569 - Towering (6)

    The words stunned Anared. However, before he could even think of reacting, Leonel had shot forward, his spear ringing.
    The Puppet Master felt as though its dignity was being tarnished. Or, rather, it had enough understanding of human nature to understand that this was how it should be feeling. But , whether it experienced emotion in this way or not was another matter entirely.
    What it did feel, though, was that Leonel was wholly irrational. Even if its ability was set aside, just its strength of Force alone was enough to squash Leonel into a meat paste. The difference between them was impossibly vast.
    Though it was surprised that Leonel had survived its initial strike, it was only that. That hit, even if it was being generous, was only casual. Plus, it had to make sure not to use too much strength to not end up killing Aina as well.
    At this point, all the Puppet Master wanted to do was end things as quickly as possible. It had no intention of allowing this to continue. It could already sense that the tide of the battlefield was changing.
    The headpiece the Puppet Master had stolen from Aina suddenly began to glow, strong waves of mental strength gathering.
    The feeling was intoxicating, as though the whole world was at its fingertips. The Puppet Master couldn't help but close its eyes.
    When Anared gathered himself, and saw Leonel's actions, he couldn't help but be baffled.
    'Fool.'
    Leonel appeared just two meters from the Puppet Master, his spear shooting forward like an obsidian flood dragon. Its tip quivered ever so slightly, overloaded by Leonel's strength.
    At that moment, the Puppet Master's eyes snapped open, the brunt of its mental prowess bearing down on Leonel.
    "It's over." Heira said plainly.
    Even from here, she could feel the fearsomeness of the Variant Invalid. To have an ability that could cover an entire world was the marker of a deity amongst men. To try and face such an ability without any protection to speak of was the epitome of foolishness.
    The Puppet Master's gaze locked onto Leonel. It didn't even try to dodge the spear. In its mind, the spear would come to a stop at its own volition soon enough.
    Since Leonel had such a sturdy body, it didn't mind taking him in as a puppet. Leonel would definitely be useful in this regard.
    The priority now, though, was to regain control of the Eartherners. It had already exposed itself once, it couldn't allow such information to leak out.
    If word that Terrain was working with an Invalid was released, the powerhouses of other worlds would finally have an excuse to act and this would no longer be a simple matter to deal with. The only good news was that Variant Invalids were so rare that not many could claim to have been in the presence of one. Without time to properly inspect it, the Puppet Master probably looked no different from a human powerhouse right now.
    Still, the sooner it returned to its hiding spot, the better.
    'This should be over now, righ--?'
    BANG!
    The Puppet Master suddenly felt its chest caving in. A blade pierced through it about three inches, only to be stopped by the strength of its bones. But, it felt as though it had been hit by a train, its body bending into the shape of a U as it was sent flying backward.
    The Puppet Master flew through the air in silence, its gaze flickering with astonishment.
    What had just happened?
    Anared and Heira went stiff, their eyes widening.
    Leonel pounced after the Puppet Master, his face still the picture of rage.
    His spear descended from the skies, sending the flying Puppet Master careening into the ground below.
    The impact was so harsh that a tsunami of earth spread outward with it as the center, collapsing buildings and homes in every direction.
    Leonel dove down again, the fire in his gaze only growing with each strike. Despite the fact the sturdiness of the Puppet Master's body was enough to cause despair in anyone else, Leonel didn't seem to notice.
    His spear whipped about the skies, the force of his strikes so great that it bowed beneath the pressure, curving and snapping back to attention like bamboo.
    The Puppet Master's body became like a small sail boat amidst a raging tide, facing up against Leonel's fury as though he couldn't muster up any resistance.
    Every time Leonel cut into the Puppet Master's body, he would remember another line of Aina's story. He was almost thankful that the Puppet Master's body was so sturdy. He didn't want it to die so fast. He wanted it to feel every ounce of pain and despair she had. He wanted it to grasp at hope where there was none, to sit on the edge of despair knowing that the only path forward was death.
    The Flames of the world seemed to react to Leonel's rage. His affinity was so high that it poured in of its own free will.
    In that moment, even a Three Star Fire Magus didn't have a chance at casting a single spell. All the flaming rage of the world seemed to kneel before Leonel.
    Leonel roared, his hair being lit in a fiery blaze. If it wasn't for his astounding control, even Aina would have been burnt to a crisp.
    PCHU!
    Leonel's raised spear suddenly came to a grinding halt.
    Amid all the scorching heat around him, he suddenly felt an ice cold chill sink into his body, piercing through his nerves and latching onto his mind, refusing to let go.
    The Puppet Master laid on the ground amidst a pile of rubble, barely inclined upward. In fact, even its head was nowhere to be scene, covered by several slabs of rock.
    However, its hand had still shot upward, piercing through Leonel's stomach.
    Blood dripped down the Puppet Master's hand and arm as it slowly pushed itself up, its face shoving the heavy slabs away.
    Even after its face was exposed, it didn't stand up immediately, looking toward Leonel who still had his spear raised and then at its hand's place within the latter's body.
    It pulled its hand out, a geyser of hot blood following its motion.
    A tinge of red colored the Variant Invalids gaze as though it had only now finally woken up.
    It stood. Standing on the rubble, its body towered over Leonel, a hint of excitement on its face as it sniffed at the blood coating its hand.
    It raised its head to the sky, a manic laughter shaking the night sky.
    Its foot shot up, kicking Leonel away.
    As though a bolt out of a gun, Leonel's body shattered the sound barrier, shooting backward like a comet.
    The Variant Invalids laughter continued to ring, its tongue running across its bloodied arm.
    "MORE!"
    He howled into the sky, shooting after Leonel.
    In the blink of an eye, he appeared above the streaking Leonel, his foot blasting downward.
    BOOM!
    A massive crater formed, waves of earth and clouds of dust rolling in all directions.

 Chapter 570 - Towering (7)

    Blood flew from Leonel's lips like a jet. However, he still spun before he hit the ground, crashing into the earth face first.
    He slammed his fists downward, still keeping a tight grip on his spear as he tried to propel himself upward.
    But, he still wasn't quick enough.
    The air was kicked out of Leonel once again, the left side of his rib caving in as a foot found its way to his side.
    He shot across the skies once again, slamming through several building.
    Any human in Leonel's position would have long since been smashed into meat paste. The strength of the Puppet Master was simply beyond anything Earth had seen to this point.
    Every step of evolution for an Invalid might have been several times more difficult than their human counterparts, but the result was a monster so powerful it held no weaknesses.
    The Puppet Master might have had an ability that gave it great mental strength, but it's body and Force usage was no less powerful.? Even after thing all out, Leonel only barely managed to cause the Variant to suffer a few nicks and scratches. The truth was simply devastating.
    Leonel coughed out another mouthful of blood. His bare chest was completely covered by his own blood,? even more leaking out from the wound in his stomach.
    "What rich blood! So warm! So rich! So splendid!"
    The taste of Leonel made the Variant feel as though it was walking on a cloud. It was like a strong wine, burning its throat and warming its belly. Its body seemed to be lit on fire, but it had never felt better.
    Just a few mouthfuls already had it feeling like it could break into the Fifth Dimension at any time. It hadn't ever experienced such a feeling before, it had never felt that a breakthrough would be so easy either.
    It had thought that it had tasted the peak of delicacies after sampling Aina's blood. But, it had never been so wrong before.
    Now it wanted more. If Leonel's blood was so good, what about his flesh? The Puppet Master suddenly began to fantasize about gnawing on Leonel's tendons, stirring his bone marrow into a soup, spreading his brain matter onto a plate and using it as a dip for his fingers.
    The more it thought about it, the greater the fire in its belly became, an excitement flushing its face completely red.
    SHUUU!
    The siege crossbows responded to Leonel's command. Of the original more than 50, not more than 10 remained. But, Leonel still used his Chain Domain to aim them, all firing for the Puppet Master's vital points.
    The Puppet Master looked up, suddenly finding several bolts flying toward it.
    But, it only stretched out a hand, an illusory arm of crimson energy forming once again, swatting at the air.
    In the blink of an eye, the siege bolts that could pierce through the walls of even the most fortified cities were smacked away as though annoying flies.
    Their flight trajectories were altered, whizzing and whistling through the night skies until they tore through what remained standing of Hargrove City's buildings.
    Leonel coughed again, another mouthful of blood flying from him.
    He weakly stood, his gaze somewhat vacant. He stretched out his spear before him, the rattling of his Chain Domain still ringing true.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    In the distance, the happiness of the Eartherner army had long since faded into an almost rabid desire for success. They fought harder and faster, almost forgetting that they had already been fighting for a day.
    Not many knew that Leonel was a Prince. After weaseling his way out of the ceremony he was supposed to receive for his achievements, what should have been his debut became hushed chatter amongst the nobles.
    But, at this point, it didn't matter.
    In the mind of all those who laid eyes on that back of his from the distance, all they saw was a young man fighting with his life on the line for their sake.
    If Leonel's actions had really only been about getting revenge for Aina, is this the approach he would have chosen? At the very least, shouldn't he have dealt with Anared first so there wasn't a constant looming threat to his back?
    It was obvious that despite his words, he had risked it all to bring the Invalid out sooner than it would have otherwise. Just those few precious moments saved hundreds more from succumbing to their fates.
    Such a hero couldn't be left to die alone.
    Noah clenched his jaw, the youths to his back fighting with more fervor than they ever had before.
    They had to break through enemy lines. They had to reach Hargrove City.
    Leonel gripped his spear, blood sliding between his fingers and coating its black body.
    The drizzle of crimson snaked through the chains, dropping to the ground in small droplets.
    Universal Force shook Leonel's surroundings, his vacant eyes seemingly gazing at empty space.
    The Puppet Master's flushed excitement only grew.
    Its feet stamped hard on the ground, crossing the final distance between the two in just a few breaths.
    It rose a hand high up, clawing down toward Leonel. This single strike would not only take a large portion of Leonel's face away, but it would also hook into his collarbone, ripping the front of his body away from the back.
    It was the kind of vicious strike that reaped lives with overwhelming strength.
    But... Leonel sidestepped it, the flat of the Puppet Master's nails just barely grazing the tip of his nose as he struck out with his spear.
    The Puppet Master reacted quickly, parrying Leonel's pierce with the back of its hand and reaching the other toward Leonel's throat.
    With a flicker, a black chain darted out from Leonel's Chain Domain, rebounding against the Puppet Master's claw and giving Leonel time to lean his head to the side and sweep his spear for the Puppet Master's waist.
    A scorching heat followed Leonel's sweeping motion.
    The Puppet Master frowned, not understanding the changes going on before it. But, its reaction was swift.
    Instead of dodging, it took a step forward.
    In this range, the blade of Leonel's spear missed it as its polearm crashed into the Puppet Master's hip.
    The strike should have been enough to shatter bones and splinter flesh. But, the Variant was completely unmoved, booming a knee directly into Leonel's open wound.
    Leonel coughed up another mouthful of blood, his body curling as it flew through the air once again.
    Even though Leonel had lost the quick exchange, the Puppet Master's head tilted, its eyes, which had once been tainted with hunger and blood lust dimming.
    It was certain that it had wanted to devour Leonel right here and now. So, why did it kick him away again?

 Chapter 571 - Towering (8)

    Leonel flew backward at an astonishing pace, but he simply seemed to glide through the air at the end, sliding across the ground on his own two feet when he made contact with the earth.
    His eyes still vacant, Leonel looked down at the hole in his stomach. It hadn't gone all the way through and with the sturdiness of his physique, he could flex and keep his inner organs from spilling out. In fact, after perfecting his Metal Body foundation, his vitality had reached inhuman levels. Even if the wound had gone all the way through him, he would likely still be able to fight.
    His mind went through several indifferent calculations before a spark lit his free hand. He pinched at his wound, searing it closed as though he was welding metal rather than his own body.
    Without looking up, Leonel sidestepped, illusory golden wings seemingly forming to his back.
    BANG!
    The Puppet Master landed to his side, its expression flickering between thirst and rationality. Eventually, thirst won out and it surged toward Leonel again.
    A flurry of exchanges erupted between the two, the Puppet Master sending out four or five strikes for Leonel's every one. But, as though he was playing a game of chess, Leonel's dodging would always put him in the perfect position to counter come the fifth strike.
    Unfortunately, the moment he did attack, he would be send flying once again, the wounds on his body accumulating at an alarming speed.
    Leonel picked himself up from the ground again, searing a wound on his shoulder closed.
    His spear spun in his hand, suddenly swinging backward.
    What once were his vacant eyes lit with fury once again.
    The Puppet Master swatted Leonel's spear aside, causing a violent, rebounding upsurge to travel up the latter's arm. It felt as though his arm might shatter at that very moment, but he stood his ground, his hips fighting against the momentum and completing his turn to face the Puppet Master.
    Reacting quickly, the Puppet Master sent a palm strike at Leonel's chest. But, Leonel managed to cross his left arm across it first.
    The horrible sound of a bone splintering in two sounded as Leonel's forearm bent beneath the pressure.
    However, as though he didn't notice what happened, Leonel raised his right arm into the air, striking down with his spear with all the strength he could muster.
    Unfortunately, a kick of the Puppet Master found him before he could even make it half way. The difference between their speed of attack was simply too drastic.
    Oddly enough, it felt like Leonel's combat experience was greater. But, in the larger scheme, even that didn't matter.
    As though watching the replaying of the same movie, Leonel was sent flying again. His body twisting in the air to protect Aina.
    "Interesting, interesting. I believe I understand now. Your ability must be mental as well... it's no wonder you protected yourself from me... well, no. Even then, its still quite baffling. I can only say that the people of Earth have more talent than even I previously guessed..."
    The blood lust within the Puppet Master's eyes had long since faded. After several exchanges, it felt as though it was tightening a noose around its own neck. Battling with Leonel was like sinking into a quagmire, your every step only brought you deeper into his world.
    It was quite ironic. The Puppet Master had lived in the Mountain Sands Range for most of its life, a place known for this very ability. But, it still felt like Leonel was far more deserving of such a title.
    "But it doesn't matter much. You're too weak. Why you chose to come here is beyond me. And, even if you had the strength to face me..."
    The Puppet Master's foot stomped down, its body accelerating to a break neck pace. Its body alone seemed to arch like a bow and crack like a whip, streaking through the broken rubble like a comet.
    The speed the Puppet Master touched upon now seemed to be a completely different level to before, as though it was simply toying with Leonel previously.
    In a blink, it appeared to Leonel's back, a sinister light in its eyes.
    "... Wouldn't i just need to target my Queen?"
    Another flicker of rage crept by Leonel's once vacant gaze.
    Helplessly, he could only spin his body once more. But, having lost the initiative, it only took two exchanges for him to be sent flying once again.
    However, seemingly intent on not giving Leonel any room to breathe, the Puppet Master accelerated again, appearing to Leonel's back once more.
    As though bouncing him around an illusory sphere, the Puppet Master hit Leonel back and forth between itself, every strike causing the red light of its eyes to glow fiercer.
    The sight of Leonel being beaten and battered seemed to reverberate through the hearts of the Eartherners. Their gazes glazed over with rage, causing them to charge with greater fervor, but the distance was simply too great.
    'Dammit, do something!'
    Noah roared in his mind. For the first time, he doubted his grandfather. Why was it that even now he refused to act?
    Noah had always known that his grandfather cared little for his life. But, he had always accepted this.
    As his grandfather had said back then... his father wasn't as good as Leonel's mother... his mother couldn't even look up to Leonel's father... and he wasn't as good as Leonel...
    At least that had its own explanation... It was logical. He simply wasn't worthy enough.
    But then what reason was there to not help Leonel? Was he still not good enough?
    "Why?!"
    Noah's furious roar rang through the battlefield, his body expanding to over five meters tall.
    His skin shimmered like diamond, his blue blade swinging about madly.
    BANG!
    The Puppet Master landed a heel from above, practically ignoring the single arm defense of Leonel's spear and sending him spiraling toward the ground.
    BANG!
    Leonel foolishly landed on his feet. A sharp pain traveled up his legs, almost shattering his knees.
    His body reflexively knelt, his knees heavily slamming against the ground.
    A massive crater was dug out around him, his right fist landing before him to stabilize his body as his left arm hung limply. At that moment, he could barely hold his spear within his palm.
    A violent cough took what seemed like another liter of blood from his body, his hair hanging heavily before his face, completely hiding his expression.
    The Puppet Master descended from the air, landing no more than ten meters from Leonel. Considering his speed, such a gap was no more than the blink of an eye.
    By all measures, Leonel was at the end of his rope.
    Heira stood atop the Keafir City walls, indifferently looking down. This time, she didn't speak. There was no need to say any words. The result was clear.
    'In this world, having too much before you have the strength to protect it is also a sin.'
    Anared had similar thoughts, having long since left the region of the battle to avoid the Puppet Master's rampage.
    A heavy atmosphere hung in the air as Leonel continued to look at the ground.
    By now, he couldn't afford to use his Dreamscape Battle Sense any longer without wringing himself dry, his body was on its last legs, seemingly ready to collapse at any moment, and he could hardly even push himself up to stand.
    Yet even now, there wasn't even the slightest speck of dust on Aina's body, let alone an injury.
    "I think that's about enough. I hear tenderized meat is exceptional and you are most definitely ready..."
    The Puppet Master licked its lips, a slight intoxication on its face.
    "4 minutes and 58 seconds."
    The Puppet Master frowned.
    "4 minutes and 59 seconds."
    The Puppet Master's tongue paused, a hint of Leonel's blood sliding down its chin.
    Leonel raised his head up, a cold indifference that Heira and Anared would never forget gripping their souls.

 Chapter 572 - Towering (9)

    The Puppet Master froze and looked into the skies. But, by the time it wanted to move, it was already too late.
    Its thoughts were maybe just as confusing as the situation itself.
    "... A city?"
    Before the stunned gazes of those watching on, the ground around Leonel and the Puppet Master glowed for just a moment.
    A strong seal of space locked down the region, rendering the Puppet Master completely immobile. It could only stand in place, its eyes fixed onto the skies.
    A city appeared, but it didn't fall. It hovered in the skies as though it too was locked in space.
    The spatial fluctuations of the two cities, one above and one below, pushed and pulled against one another as though they were magnets, sealing an entire expanse of tens of kilometers.
    Leonel coughed, his body moving with incomparable slowness. However, the fact he could move at all made Anared and the Puppet Master's eyes widen.
    No matter how hard they pushed and pulled, they couldn't move a single inch. This situation made Vice's ability seem like nothing more than child's play.
    As though this alone wasn't bad enough, those outside this two cities couldn't seem to approach either. It was like a massive barrier of space had completely locked the region down. Even Anared, who stood on the city walls, just a few meters from freedom, couldn't seem to cross the final steps.
    However, it was only after one looked at Leonel that they realized something was off.
    On Leonel's chest, a crude breast plate had appeared. In fact, one would be hard pressed to call it a breast plate at all.
    It was incredibly thin and was filled with perforations as though it was chain mail rather than a true breast plate.
    If one looked even closer, it would be possible to see that these perforations were actually intricate and delicate patterns. If it had to be described, it was like someone cut out all the veins of the human body and displayed it in its usual three dimensional structure.
    If other Force Crafters had been there, they would have been shocked and awed by the spectacle. If it wasn't for the blood and grime ruining the image, this would have maybe been the most beautiful Craft they had ever laid their eyes upon.
    Leonel pushed himself up to stand, his body quite weak. He even swayed, seemingly about to fall over any time now. From afar, he truly seemed to have reached the very end of his limits. Yet, he continued to walk, his spear scraping along the ground.
    The grating sound of metal played through the silent city. In fact, the entire battlefield had come to a grinding halt, everyone's gaze completely focused on the two cities.
    However, Leonel didn't seem to notice.
    He made his way to the Puppet Master, his visage expressionless. Even seeing his own blood dripping from the latter's lips, he didn't even have the slightest reaction.
    His right arm flexed, his spear beginning to slowly draw runes into the ground around the Puppet Master.
    The Puppet Master struggled, its veins bulging along its neck. But, nothing it tried to do seemed to work.
    Even though there was no effect on its ability at the moment... what use did that have against Leonel?
    The runes completed and the Forcd Art lit up.
    A scorching flame suddenly erupted around the Puppet Master.
    The Variant wanted to scream, feeling its body being slowly cooked from the outside, in.
    But, as though he couldn't see a thing, the tip of Leonel's spear lit up with another flame, lightly piercing into the Variant's body.
    His movements were slow and deliberate, the muffled cries of the Variant freezing over the hearts of those who watched on.
    Black smoke began to emit from Leonel's lips as though his inner organs were being charred. But, once again, he didn't seem to notice as he pressed into the Invalid's body with yet another scarlet flame.
    From start to finish, Leonel didn't speak a single word. Even when the Variant Invalid had been burnt to ash, leaving nothing but a pile of black soot, he remained completely indifferent as though these matters had nothing to do with him.
    Motes of light suddenly appeared above the pile of ash. They were so large that they far outstripped even Leonel's own body.
    After a moment, they swept into him, giving the young man who seemed to stand at the center of the world an even more dazzling radiance.
    With a flip of his palm, Leonel's spear vanished, a surfboard appearing to his feet before he slowly rose into the air.
    With movements as nimble as he could muster with just a single arm, he brought Aina down from his back, a light smile gracing his features.
    Aina buried her head into his chest. She had so many words she wanted to say, but none of them seemed to want to make themselves known. She simply held onto him with all her might, her small hands clawing at his exposed back.
    Leonel used his one good remaining arm to pat her on the head, his heart filled with warmth and affection.
    Leonel controlled his jet black surfboard, gliding to the edge of the City. Whether by accident, or intentional, he slowly passed over Anared's head.
    Even now, the Heir couldn't move. Leonel could see the look of the Keafir family City Lord in the distance, a gaze that could very well kill. He could see the fear and horror coloring the gazes of those three women who stood upon the Keafir family city walls as well. However, a single cursory glance was all he spared them.
    He looked down at Aina who was still buried in his chest before speaking to Anared who was straining to look up at him from below.
    "There are some words that should never? be spoken. Because no matter what, you'll have to pay the consequences for them."
    Heira's expression changed. Leonel's words were soft, but everyone seemed to hear them, just like everyone had heard Anared speak of killing Aina.
    "Leonel!" Heira's words practically came out like a screech. "Be very careful with your next actions, there are some people you can't afford to provoke!"
    Leonel continued to stroke Aina's hair as though he couldn't hear the shrill cries.
    "You all like dropping cities, right?" Leonel replied softly.
    Leonel glided out of the range of the two cities, standing high in the skies as he Towered over the masses.
    Under the horrified gazes of the people of Terrain, the floating city began to descend, accelerating until the wind pressure alone seemed capable of ripping them apart.
    Anared watched as the city fell upon his head, his indifferent expression finally giving way to despair in his final moments.
    BANG!

 Chapter 573 - A Single Person

    Anared's death was like a sledgehammer to Heira's mind. Even after the city fell, an irrational part of her wanted to believe that it was still possible for him to be there, still possible for him to appear before her just fine.
    It couldn't be said that the two were a normal couple by any means. Anared was so focused on becoming worthy that he hardly spent any time with her and Heira was too prideful to ask for more of his time.
    But, at the end of the day, they were fiance and fiancee, two people tied to one day be husband and wife.
    For Anared, it might have been an uphill battle to claim her hand. But, he had already been so close to the peak, so close to gazing at the horizon from the other side of the mountain.
    But reality was cruel.
    Just when he was nearly there, just when Earth was about to fall, just when he had almost earned the right to call her his wife... Leonel appeared.
    He stood indifferently in the skies, his entire focus ironically on a woman of his own. He hadn't even spared a thought for Heira's threat.
    At that moment, Heira's roar suddenly sounded through the battlefield. It carried a pain that cut deep, the kind of wounded cry that could only appear from a beast wrestling its death throes.
    However, in maybe the greatest irony, even that was drowned out by what happened next.
    The city gates of White City were suddenly slammed opened, their loud BANG reverberating through the battlefield.
    "Knights of Camelot! CHARGE!"
    King Arthur's voice resounded, Excalibur pointing to the skies as he urged his white steed forward.
    Syl and Rie collapsed to their knees, tears falling like an endless rain down their cheeks. They stared toward where their brother had been just a moment ago, completely shell shocked.
    To Leonel, Anared was an annoyance that didn't know his place, a man who threatened the life of his Aina more than once.
    However, to these women, he was a protective brother and husband. He was a man who confronted Leonel because he believed he had done his sister wrong. Even in his final moment, his thoughts of killing Aina were only to seek revenge for Rie's true mother.
    But this was the way of the world. Two opposing viewpoints could make an enemy of two innocents. And for Leonel, with how much he cared for Aina, he simply couldn't bother to listen to Anared's reasoning. Anyone who wanted to harm a hair on her head... deserved to die!
    Heira glared hateful toward Leonel in the sky. Strong bursts of energy seemed to swirl around her, but something even stronger restricted her body.
    She bit down on her lips so hard blood dripped down from her fair chin, staining her once white dress with droplets of crimson.
    Before Leonel could even think of turning his blade toward her, she crushed a bracelet on her wrist, vanishing.
    Leonel finally sent a glance in that direction, his brow not even furrowing.
    If she wanted to target him, that was fine. It was just that she should know he didn't like to lose.
    if she wanted to target Aina, however... he wouldn't mind sending her to the same place her fiance had gone.
    Leonel gazed toward the Palace and then the battlefield below before aiming his surfboard toward the distance. He had done enough. Now, he just wanted to check on his friends.
    **
    The war for Earth completely flipped on its head. It was the kind of sudden change one read about in fairy tales. But, unlike such tales, the deaths were very much real.
    Some died without graves, their families having long since left them and their names forgotten to history.
    Some died valiant deaths, protecting what they cherished to their backs and leaving the earth with heads held high.
    Many of these were people even Leonel had come to know. As astounding as his victory was, the deaths of those like Roaring Black Lion and Flowing Wind couldn't be reversed. They would rest for all of eternity.
    ...
    A certain figure rushed over the ocean waters, his breathing coming out in huffs and puffs. Every heave he took seemed to come with another drizzle of blood pouring out from yet another hole in his body.
    Fear colored the face of this figure, whatever arrogance he had once had vanishing with the wind. All he could think of was running for his life.
    Despite the fact that there was nothing over his shoulder, he kept looking, panic evident in his eyes. Whatever had caused him to feel such fear had clearly left a shadow over his heart that wouldn't be disappearing anytime soon.
    If Leonel or Aina had been there at this very moment, they would have easily recognized this young man as Raynred, the Young Heir to one of Terrain's Powers. As for why and how he had ended up in such a state, maybe only those on the ocean battlefield could have given the answer to that.
    "Land!"
    Raynred's eyes lit up.
    All this time running across the ocean's surface, he had felt as though he was rushing across pins and needles instead.
    The ocean was so wide and expansive, but there wasn't a single place to hide. At least on real ground, there would be forests and caves to make use of. All he knew was that he had to get away from that monster.
    Raynred had no idea the situation on the battlefield had changed. The truth was that he had run away long before Leonel forced the Puppet Master out of its hiding spot.
    '... I'm not running... right, I'm just allocating my services to another battlefield... That's right...'
    Raynred shuddered when he thought of the deaths of Jilniya and Wilson who had come to help him.
    And then there was that damned old man. He was on his last legs but he actually managed to stop his father from splitting away to help him.
    Raynred grit his teeth.
    They were just delaying the inevitable in his eyes. A single person couldn't possibly change the tide of this war. Earth was finished!
    Finally stepping on land, Raynred's sharp senses grasped onto the sounds of battle from tens of kilometers away.
    Checking his surroundings, Raynred quickly climbed up the side of a dilapidated building to lay eyes on a massive domed fortress in the distance.
    A sinister glow lit his eye.
    That was right.... wasn't this that Royal Blue Fort that Pisces whore spoke of?

 Chapter 574 - Grin

    Leonel and Aina soared through the skies. Though it would have been faster if the surfboard entered its shuttle mode, Leonel decided against it.
    For one, the cockpit was too small for two people and he didn't feel alright leaving Aina alone at this moment. And, secondly, even though they might be able to squeeze in with how small Aina was, he wasn't confident in driving that monstrosity with just a single arm.
    With its speed, even a half degree of deviation would fling them off course by tens of miles.
    So, Leonel sat cross legged on the surfboard, gliding through the air with Aina balled up in his lap. Even now, she hadn't said a single word.
    Leonel gripped an Urbe Ore in his good remaining hand, greedily absorbing its Essence.
    The good news about his Metal Body was that he could heal himself even more effectively now just by absorbing the Essence of metals.
    Since the foundation of his body had been built upon Urbe Ore according to his father's instructions, for now, only Urbe Essence had this healing effect on him. But now that he could branch out, whatever metals he used to build himself up from now on would expand his repertoire of healing Ores.
    It had to be remembered that the most powerful ability of Metal Body wasn't in the astounding defense it provided to the user, but rather in the boost to affinity.
    Members of the Morales Clan were able to absorb various Ores and fuse them with their very being. Essentially, if Leonel really wanted a Wind Affinity, he only needed to absorb enough Wind Elemental Ores.
    Usually, humans could only accomplish this feat with a very select number of extraordinarily rare Ores, but Leonel and those with his Lineage Factor didn't have this restriction.
    In fact, as mentioned previously, [Dimensional Cleanse] spoke of one such Vein Type Ore to use in strengthening Nodes and Nodal Passageways. But, Leonel could take his own path in this regard. In fact, his current Nodal System was far beyond the strength of what was theoretically mentioned in [Dimensional Cleanse].
    Of course, there were still weaknesses to this ability. For example, if Leonel only absorbed Fourth Dimensional Wind Elemental Ores, his abilities would be capped at that level. In addition, he couldn't just skip levels and absorb a Ninth Dimensional Ore unless he wanted to die an early death.
    If he wanted to build an affinity, he had to slowly and steadily absorb Essence of increasing rarity and strength.
    This, however, was where the Morales Clan Divine Armor ability came into play...
    Unlike with Metal Body where one had to steadily build a foundation, the Divine Armor didn't need such forward thought. Leonel could build an armor of darkness now and just as easily build one of light at another time. The only restriction was in his bodily strength.
    It was these two abilities in tandem that made the Morales Clan so powerful.
    Leonel had already settled on his first Divine Armor. It would be centered around his Spatial Type Domain Ore. As for the forward progress of his Metal Body, Leonel had no intention of doing something as silly as building a new affinity for himself.
    According to his father, the best use of Metal Body wasn't in creating new affinities, but rather in leaning into the ones you already had.
    Leonel suddenly coughed lightly, wisps of black smoke coming out from his lips again.
    Aina's eyes reddened at this sight, her lips moving with a sound beneath her mask.
    Eventually, she finally squeezed out a word.
    "... Idiot..."
    Leonel was stunned for a moment before he began to laugh uproariously. Unfortunately, that laughter soon followed with coughing so harsh it seemed like he might cough out a lung at any moment.
    "A very cool idiot though, right?"
    Leonel grinned, his usually white teeth covered in soot. Considering that such blackness could only come from his charred inner organs, the sight alone was enough to send a shiver down anyone's spine.
    "... A little." Aina finally whispered.
    Leonel smiled so hard it seemed his skin might splinter.
    "Still... don't do it again."
    "Aiya, I can't even show off a little bit without getting reprimanded? Is this what that old man called married life?"
    Aina blushed profusely, but it was all hidden beneath her mask before rolling her eyes.
    "Where's my husband, exactly? I can't seem to find him anywhere."
    "Agh... My heart..."
    Leonel grabbed at his chest. This blow, it was far more fatal than anything the Puppet Master landed.
    Aina giggled.
    At some unknown time, her mask slipped off an she planted a kiss on Leonel's cheek.
    Seeing it come off, one could finally lay eyes on her face. Though they had long since dried, one could still see the salty streaks her tears had left behind.
    She hadn't said a word during Leonel's battle, but that didn't mean it hadn't felt like every blow that landed on him had instead landed on herself.
    As much as she wanted to, she couldnt move. All she could do was watch.
    Maybe that was the Puppet Master's way of playing a sick joke. Even in those final moments, he never released his control over her.
    Leonel's pain faded into another smile. But, when he wanted to dive in for more, Aina dodged, causing his attempts to also land on her cheek.
    "We're in public. Have some propriety." Aina reprimanded.
    Leonel coughed on his own breath, looking down at the expanse of empty land beneath them. When had his Aina become so cruel?
    Aina's laughter filled his ears. She snuggled into his arms, a content smile on her face.
    However, before she could get comfortable, she realized that there were some uncomfortable bumps on what should have been Leonel's bare chest.
    She looked, only to find that odd breast plate still there.
    "What is this?" She couldn't help but ask.
    "Oh, this?" Leonel snapped out of his second bout of hurt. "This is the skeleton for my Divine Armor. It's actually pretty fragile, I probably should have put it away, but it was so comfortable I almost forgot it was there."
    Aina raised an eyebrow. What about that looked comfortable?
    Leonel smiled meaningfully. If it wasn't for this armor, he would have never locked space like that using the pull and repulsion of two teleportation arrays. If he didn't have it, he would have been just as helpless to move.
    That was just one of the weaknesses of his plan. The second weakness was the five minutes it took to implement. If White City didn't appear in the perfect location, the spatial lock would have never come into effect.
    The calculations were so complex that even for Leonel, they took five minutes to accomplish and he had to experience Hargrove City personally.
    Well, technically it took closer to seven minutes, but he had fought those giants first.
    "I'll show you the finished product in a few weeks." Leonel said, his eyes lighting up with anticipation.
    Just as Aina wanted to respond, her head snapped toward the distance.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed, the sound of battle drifting to his ears.

 Chapter 575 - Illogical Pride

    "Fuck! Young Miss Swan, how can your Swan City be this useless?! You've made no progress at all?!"
    Raynred appeared on the battlefield, cackling. He didn't have a flying treasure like Leonel, nor did he have any ability to do so on his own, so he could only stand atop one of the Province's many collapsed buildings, using laughter to push away the very fear he had been feeling for so long.
    He had no idea about the changes to Earth's people and his only knowledge of them was in battling them in a weakened state. So, seeing the mighty Swan City struggle so greatly against a single Fort that wasn't even comparable to half The Capital gave him a great sense of amusement.
    Of course, a portion of his hearty laughter was reserved due to the fact Young Miss Swan had rejected his advances many years ago. So, seeing her struggle despite the fact the Swan family was supposedly so powerful left him in a good mood.
    Knowing Raynred, though, it was obvious things weren't so simple. A union of a City and a Power would never happen. So really, he had only wanted to have some... immoral fun with Young Miss Swan. And, as the young Heiress of such a City, how could she allow her purity to be tainted in such a way?
    Raynred may have twisted the matter in his mind, painting her as a stuck up bitch. But the reality was very far from this.
    Still, Raynred wasn't exactly the picture of gentlemanly ideals. Was it really so surprising he had such thoughts?
    Swan City had always been a rival to Keafir City. Although their current City Lord wasn't a match for the dead Anared's father, Syl and Young Miss Swan were always at a head. In fact, Leonel had witnessed this personally.
    With such strength, it was no wonder Swan City was tasked with handling Earth's third ranked Province, Royal Blue.
    Unfortunately, what was previously an easy battle had suddenly become difficult to even keep a foothold in. In fact, it didn't seem like it would be long until Swan City was being sieged rather than the other way around.
    Young Miss Swan's attention had been focused on her father who was battling valiantly below, wearing his signature white armor. But, hearing Raynred's voice, many on the battlefield couldn't help but look in his direction.
    The young Heiress frowned.
    'When did the Powers get to Earth?'
    Down on the battlefield, Milan, Joel and Raj stood valiantly. Having been given positions as generals by the Secretary Marquisette, they filled their roles in better than anyone would have thought.
    Of course, if they were asked why, their simple answer would be that whenever they were stuck, they'd only have a single thought... "What would cap do?"
    This simple minded approach had actually placed them among the most effective generals of Royal Blue Fort.
    That said, their success was also in large part due to the cooperation of the nobles. After Code Black was implemented, they no longer dared to hold back lest the titles their families had fought to keep hold of for centuries suddenly vanish under their leads.
    "Who's this dumbass?" Raj's booming voice suddenly caused his troops to erupt in laughter. Their morale was already extremely high at the moment to begin with. Hearing such jeering right now made them feel as though they were on top of the world.
    Raynred was too far away to hear these words since Raj hadn't enhanced his voice with Force. So, the latter kept boisteriously laughing in his own world.
    After a moment, he calmed, sneering as he looked down on the battlefield.
    "I'll give you all one chance, hand over all those with affiliations to Leonel Morales and I'll consider letting the rest of you live!"
    Raynred's gaze lit with murderous intent. He had been humiliated more today than he ever had been before. He needed something to vent, and this Leonel would have to take the brunt of his rage.
    At that moment, numerous figures on the battlefield suddenly halted, their fiery gazes all landing on Raynred at once.
    In that instant, Raynred felt as though he had been plunged into a vat of ice. Several hundred meters separated him and the battlefield, yet it was as though a blade was being held at his throat.
    Raynred froze.
    By the time he recovered and shook his head, his fury had lit once again. Who the hell were these bastards to make him feel fear?!
    Raynred suddenly growled, Force surging around him in tidal waves.
    "It seems the Swan family is so incompetent that they've allowed you to grow arrogant! I'll kill you all the same way I killed that black lion and the other bastards of the Slayer Legion!"
    "You killed who?"
    It was then the battlefield came to a grinding halt. Compared to when Raynred spoke Leonel's name, this was like a completely different animal. Let alone the soldiers of Royal Blue Fort, even those of Swan City felt like all the oxygen had been sucked away.
    In the skies, a surfboard with two individuals sitting upon it appeared seemingly out of thin air. They hovered above Raynred, the coldness that suddenly pervaded the battlefield emitting from them.
    If before Raynred froze, this time he couldn't even stop his body from trembling. His knees grew weak, almost collapsing completely.
    He had felt this feeling before. That day when Jilniya battled Aina, he had sensed it then too. Back then, he didn't even dare to breathe.
    But now, Jilniya had long since died at the hands of that dark skinned, blue eyed bastard. There was no one but himself to take the brunt of this assault now.
    Raynred's mind roared once again. This was the third time, it was already the third time he had been humiliated today!
    He looked up and his gaze landed on a face he wanted to rip apart.
    His fear gave way to a sneer. But it seemed that even he didn't realize his knees were still trembling. But, he had completely lost his rationality to his pride.
    "That's right, I killed them. That whore Pisces was a nice help as I dug out their hearts. There was even some bitch among them who was mumbling your name even as she died, I bet you cared quite a bit for her, huh?
    "What are you going to do about it?!"
    In Raynred's mind, these words had come out forceful and powerful. But, all everyone on the battlefield heard was a long drawn out sentence laced with trembling stuttering.. Even when he yelled with the last of his energy near the end, it was in a voice three octaves too high to have possibly come from a man.

 Chapter 576 - Survivors Guilt

    Leonel couldn't put his fury into words. Even seeing Raynred's pathetic display did nothing to make him feel better.
    Just months ago, he had been with these young men and women, fighting to keep their lives, growing friendships, talking about life. Yet, no amount of anger would bring them back. Nothing he did to Raynred would appease him.
    Leonel was so agitated that he began to cough violently, the injuries that had yet to heal from his battle with the Puppet Master flaring up.
    Soot and char covered air surged out from his mouth. His coughing became so violent that blood began to appear once again, sending his body into complete disarray.
    "Leonel!"
    Aina worriedly placed a palm against Leonel's chest, her expression warping.
    The headpiece that had been in possession of the Puppet Master was burnt to ash by Leonel. He knew well that Aina wouldn't want to have anything to do with a treasure tainted by that thing, nor did Leonel need it. It might have been a Quasi Bronze treasure, but it simply had no ability to boost the strength of Leonel's mind which already had a Fifth Dimensional foundation.
    Though it seemed as though the Puppet Master's mental strength was beyond Leonel's due to the range of its ability, this was a misconception. Leonel was well aware that the Puppet Master used a few tricks to accomplish such a feat. Plus, the current Leonel could create such treasures on a whim as long as he had the ores necessary.
    This aside, Aina's birthday present more than covered for her weaknesses. It allowed her to see the true state of Leonel's body and the reality made her expression warp.
    To say that Leonel was injured was an understatement. And, maybe the worst part about it all was that most of it was self inflicted.
    Leonel purposely made use of his Scarlet Star Force in those final moments. Without it, it would have been impossible to burn such a powerful existence to ash.
    Unfortunately, even in such a measured and controlled fashion, the use had practically turned Leonel's insides into a charred mess. Not a single one of his inner organs were spared.
    If it wasn't for the insane amount of vitality the complete Metal Body provided, along with the fact Leonel's body had entered the Fourth Dimension, he probably would have formed a second pile of cremated remains beside the Puppet Master.
    Leonel's body had already been in a terrible state, but he had practically pushed himself over the edge.
    The overbearing nature of Scarlet Star Force wasn't just a legend.
    Seeing Leonel's state, many began to realize something was wrong, especially with how his murderous aura seemed to have deflated.
    Having regained much of the control of his body, Raynred suddenly realized that his previous actions weren't as valiant as he had thought. His temper flared once more, but this time he wasn't foolish enough to voice it again. He had already embarrassed himself enough today. Now... he just wanted to vent.
    Leonel looked up from his coughing, his eyes completely red.
    He somehow felt that he should have been there, but it was simply impossible for him to be everywhere at once. He didn't even know the Slayer Legion was taking part in this battle. It was an irrational guilt that weighed even heavier on his consciousness than before.
    This wasn't the first time Leonel had felt survivor's guilt, but this time still hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest.
    Leonel's red eyes locked onto Raynred as though projecting the gaze of a wounded beast. It made one feel that no matter how injured he was, he would still find a way to take Raynred down with him, even if it meant having to rip the latter's throat out with his teeth.
    The murderous aura came back like an endless tide. This time, it was tens of times stronger, Leonel's irises reddening entirely.
    Flickers of flames licked across his body as though prepared to erupt at any moment.
    "I'll kill you."
    The words dripped with venom, frying the nerves and fraying one's senses.
    However, before Leonel could move, Aina gripped his wrist hard.
    "Stay." She said sternly, meeting Leonel's reddened gaze as though she couldn't sense his murderous intent. Even at this moment, she seemed to be the only one completely unaffected.
    Aina leapt from the surfboard, her hand reaching out into empty space only for a golden red ax to shoot into her palms.
    Raynred felt as though he was swimming in a quagmire, hardly able to budge an inch. But, seeing that it was Aina who actually dared to attack him like this, he roared, trying to expand his chest until his fear dissipated.
    However, the Aina he knew before was completely unlike the one now.
    Before Raynred could react, Aina had descended onto the building, her ax slashing downward.
    An arm flung into the skies, followed by a shrill cry.
    However, that wasn't the end of it. The mere blade wind of Aina's ax traveled through the building beneath their feet, splitting it in two.
    Raynred fell to his knees, grasping at his empty shoulder socket.
    "You ugly bit --!"
    Raynred's cry was cut off by yet another arm flying, taking with it yet another slice of the collapsed building.
    Just as Aina was about to finally land, her leg angled forward, the sole of her feet slamming Raynred's face into the steel and concrete below.
    The entire building collapsed as Aina and Raynred followed it to the ground. But, unlike Aina who stood on Raynred's head, the latter had his face buried into the rubble.
    BANG!
    The distant armies watched this scene in apprehension. Was this the strength someone should have in the Fourth Dimension?
    The only thing they had to comfort themselves was that though Earth had evolved, their buildings were still in the Third Dimension. They wouldn't have been part of the strengthened.
    Aina could have crushed Raynred's head to a pulp. But, instead, she wrenched his head up from the ground by his long black hair, fury coloring her face.
    Aina slammed her ax into the ground, running her free palm across its blade.
    Her blood trickled like gorgeous rubies. Beautiful seemed like the last word you'd use to describe such a thing, yet her life's liquid truly reflected like the most pristine gems.
    Raynred's face was completely destroyed. His nose was so bent it had gone flat, his teeth shattered like glass, and even his jaw seemed to have been dislocated.
    He wanted to cry out in pain, but he couldn't even make a sound without feeling even more pain.
    His moans came out in whimpers, his body trembling.
    But, this was just the beginning of his torture.
    Aina yanked his broken jaw open, half ripping it from its hinges completely.
    Her blood fell down what remained of his throat, causing him to shudder.
    She released her grip, letting him fall to the ground and watching on coldly.
    Soon, Raynred began to writhe, his body violently convulsing.
    Even without his jaw and much of his tongue, he finally found the strength to cry out.. However, his cries were distorted, reaching up into the skies as though he was a dying beast.

 Chapter 577 - Finger

    Raynred's shrill cries bore into the soul of all those who heard them.
    He wanted to claw at his throat, anything to get that foul blood out of his body, but without his arms, he had no ability to do so.
    He wiggled against the earth, trying to use the dirt, gravel and concrete in place of his hands.
    Blue veins surged through his body, crawling up his neck like grotesque worms wiggling beneath his skin.
    BANG! BANG!
    He bashed his head against the ground, his own face deforming even more even beneath the strain.
    Aina picked her ax up from the ground, using the buildings as leverage to leap back up to Leonel who was still in the sky.
    They both gazed down toward Raynred, but neither spoke a single word.
    Leonel's teeth clenched hard. Even after Raynred accidentally pierced through his own throat with a sharp bit of rusted steel,?he still didn't feel like it was enough.
    He watched with a cold expression as Raynred bled himself dry,?his convulsions and gurgling cries etching themselves into the memories of all those who heard them.
    Just as his life was about to fade, Leonel reached out a hand, a strong surge of Soul Force tearing into Raynred's mind.
    At that moment, shrieks only Leonel could hear resounded. Even in the last minutes before his death, Raynred experienced pain the likes of which he never thought possible.
    All of his pride and haughtiness had long since vanished. If he could have, he would have begged and pleaded.
    Leonel closed his eyes, watching the final moments of those he once thought of as friends, knowing they wouldn't be coming back.
    'Pisces.'
    Leonel's heart trembled. He wanted to see blood.
    **
    Hutch's body floated face first in the waters, three corpses pooling around him.
    He struggled up, but his body was simply layered with too many injuries. Under the suppression, the pain he had experienced at the hands of these three was unimaginable. But, even then he managed to take one of them down even before the Puppet Master relinquished his control.
    After Leonel succeeded in drawing that bastard out, the battle should have been easy. But, by then, the old man had already suffered too many injuries. He had no choice but to go all out near the end to eventually squeeze out a victory.
    That final effort left him without anything left. He could hardly keep hold of his machete or even flip himself face up, let alone stand.
    The old man flipped over eventually, his wounds spurting with blood. He didn't have the courage to look around, but he was sure that the death count wasn't small. Unfortunately, this battlefield didn't gain the support of The Empire like The Capital had.
    'I'll just... take a nap...'
    If the old man was honest with himself, he really wasn't sure if he'd wake up from this one.
    "Grandfather."
    "Mm."
    Hutch continued to float in the water, facing the slowly rising sun. But, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes.
    In contrast, Elorin was still wearing his pristine white tracksuit. There didn't seem to be even the slightest speck of dust on him.
    His hands were buried in his pockets, looking up at the rising sun as though he was doing it alongside his grandfather. Whether he was aware that Hutch's eyes were closed or not was unknown.
    After a while, Elorin crouched down, Hutch's weak snoring traveling to his ears.
    He grabbed onto his grandfather's machete. Even in such a state, it took him no small amount of strength to pry it free.
    Elorin looked from the blade to his sleeping grandfather. Though his arm and wrist were incomparably steady, his index finger's trembling gave him away.
    He had always had a habit of holding onto a machete with just three fingers and his thumb, his index finger pointed parallel to the blade.
    In his youth, his grandfather had tried to beat this habit out of him, claiming it destabilized his strikes. But, even after so long, Elorin had never managed to get away from this habit.
    As he grew up, he found breaking out of this habit only became more difficult.
    Elorin rose his grandfather's blade to the latter's throat, the trembling of his index finger only growing.
    In all of this, though, he looked no different from a youth kneeling by his only remaining family. His face was expressionless, his gaze steady. However, the trembling of his index finger only grew.
    The blade rested against Hutch's neck. Just a little pressure and one of the bodies most vital arteries would be cut.
    As a veteran of war, it was simply impossible for Hutch to not sense something with the end of his life so near. But... there were two factors holding him back.
    The first was that he was simply too tired, he had no strength to speak of left...
    And the second... was that there were few people he trusted more than his own grandson...
    At that moment, Elorin suddenly looked off into the distance.
    A surfboard shot through the skies, a furious aura being carried along with it. The sea's surface alone seemed to boil beneath this might, the stilling water's surface suddenly beginning to churn once again.
    Elorin's wrist shifted, placing the blade down on his grandfather's chest.
    "Someone come and help my grandfather." He spoke emotionlessly.
    In swift movements, what remained of the medical units made their way to the old man's side. It soon became obvious that Hacker Hutch had entered a deep coma, but his vitals were stable.
    They couldn't help but look toward Elorin in reverence. There was no way the old man should be in such a stable situation. The only explanation was that Elorin had done something.
    However, very soon, not many could focus on Elorin at all. Or, rather, it was as though their attention had been split in two directions, no one knowing who the main character of the current situation was.
    The surfboard came to a grinding halt.
    Leonel's fury bubbled forth.
    "Pisces.. Get the hell out here."

 Chapter 578 - First

    The appearance of Leonel threw the heavy atmosphere of the Slayer Legion off. Those who recognized him were already surprised enough, but those that didn't were shocked by the sudden change.
    Was it another enemy? But if that was the case, why did he call out for a single person?
    However, there was no person who reacted more violently than Pisces herself.
    How she had managed to survive to this point was a story in and of itself. But, after Elorin joined their battlefield, playing the role of victim was easy enough.
    The truth of the matter was that she hadn't technically betrayed the Slayer Legion. Neither Aina nor Leonel was a member of their Legion, so selling information about them didn't?technically put her in the wrong.
    Beyond this, most of the witnesses to her folly were dead, having died at Raynred's hands, there were few to even speak on what she had done in the first place. And, even if they did, she would have to be placed on trial according to the rules of the Legion.
    By the time such a trial began and ended, even if she was found guilty, the punishment would be exceptionally light. Because, once again... she hadn't truly betrayed anyone of the Slayer Legion.
    Pisces could just as easily argue she was simply trying to get Raynred to lower his guard for the sake of a surprise counter attack, while the counter attack itself was no longer useful considering Elorin's interference.
    Even beyond this, the few surviving members that remained in Thunderous Clap and Chasing Wind might have bred a dislike for Pisces after what she did to Leonel, but... would the others of the Slayer Legion feel this way as well?
    This might be evidence to them to be distrustful of her, but to the other members of the Slayer Legion, she had granted a great service. In fact, in their eyes, the evil character wasn't Pisces, but rather Leonel himself who refused to hand over such a treasure for the sake of the greater good.
    And now, with Hutch having sunk into a coma, there wasn't even a person remaining to speak reason.
    However, Leonel didn't care about any of this. It was precisely because he knew there would be no justice if he didn't appear personally that he had come here.
    Thunderous Clap and Chasing Wind, who had had near dead expressions by this point, suddenly lit up hearing Leonel's voice. In some way or another, this young man had been in their thoughts for months since they last saw him. And now, he had suddenly appeared to redress their grievances.
    But... as soon as their gazes lit up, they dimmed down once more.
    Even though the Slayer Legion had been decimated, there were still tens of thousands remaining on this battlefield. Beyond this, there was no way they would allow an outsider to kill Pisces before them all even if she was truly in the wrong, let alone the fact there was no real tangible evidence that she was other than their testimonies. And, even in that case, her actions wouldn't warrant a death penalty.
    Now, Leonel's own life was in danger.
    They didn't know how he had managed to learn of what happened, or if he was only here because Pisces had caused him to be hunted down, but regardless of what it was, this matter wouldn't end so simply.
    "Leonel."
    Supreme Monet slowly rose, nursing a limp left arm that had been thoroughly bandaged. But, even now, her gaze was lit afire, the air around her crackling.
    Her abilities had been severely hampered due to the environment. But, even now she remembered the humiliating words Leonel had spoken to her all those months ago.
    In fact, because of how many had died under her command, her prestige in the Slayer Legion had taken a massive dip downward. Of course, how would she ever deem to blame herself for such a thing? In her mind, she had long since held Leonel responsible.
    Catris pulled himself up, his empty arm sleeve waving about in the salty winds. He could no longer take out his rage on Hutch without becoming a traitor to the entire Legion, but that wouldn't stop him from taking it out on Leonel.
    Badger's gaze locked onto Leonel, fury from Mayfly's death causing his silver wings to tremble.
    The waters beneath his feet separated, strong winds spreading apart in all directions. It seemed as though if he was left to his own devices, he wouldn't be satisfied until a tsunami was formed around him.
    The surprise about Leonel's arrival soon gave way to a surging tide of animosity as those who had grudges with him locked on. Any fatigue they felt was washed away with the low tide, seemingly prepared to pounce at Leonel at any moment. If it wasn't for the stifling murderous intent and Leonel's blatant disregard of them, maybe some would have already attacked.
    At that moment, Pisces finally breathed a sigh of relief. She finally realized that she would be safe. So what if Leonel was pissed? What could he do in the face of so many elites? He had only brought two people and he himself seemed to be in a sorry state. His face was so pale that it seemed as though he might collapse at any time.
    It was at that exact moment that Leonel's senses finished scanning over the battlefield and landed on Pisces.
    Pisces felt as though her head had been dunked into a vat of ice. Her body shivered, goosebumps raced across her skin, her knees almost completely giving way as she nearly collapsed.
    Leonel shot forward, his actions quick and abrupt. No one had expected for him to suddenly dive into an army full of hostility toward him.
    However, just as Leonel was about to reach Pisces, a figure suddenly and silently appeared before her.
    He stood indifferently, his hands in his pockets and his white track suit still being just as spotless.
    Leonel's senses flickered, his surfboard coming to a grinding halt.
    "Get the hell out of my way."
    Leonel's voice dripped with cold, causing Elorin's brow to furrow. This definitely wasn't how many normally reacted to his presence.
    As though finding a pillar to lean on, Pisces snapped.
    "Show some respect!" Pisces spoke in a shrill voice. "Young Supreme Elorin is one of the four heroes of Earth, he was the second fastest in?clearing the first Zones!"
    Pisces' knees went weak when Leonel's gaze swept over her, but she managed to glare back, her lip curling into a sneer.
    "... If that's the basis of your confidence, just take your own life now.
    "Second place...?"
    Leonel's growl traveled across the battlefield.
    "Who the hell do you think was first?"

 Chapter 579 - Decree

    A stunned silence gripped at Pisces' throat.
    It wasn't just her. The mystery of who first was had pervaded the people of Earth and their enemies for a long time. But, no one had managed to find the truth.
    At this point, one might wonder how it was everyone was so certain about the positions of Elorin, Noah and the mysterious fourth individual.
    The truth was that the so-called heroes of Earth were only chosen among the youths. One had to remember that Leonel's first entry to a Zone was vastly different from all the other instances. He was first transported to another world before falling into a coma for several days. Only after this was he able to enter a Zone of his own accord.
    If one thought about it, this was completely different from any other experience Leonel had had, and there was a reason for this.
    This mysterious world they had been taken to was the core of Earth. The only ones allowed to enter this space had been youths mature enough to make their own decisions but immature enough to not have reached their full potential yet.
    As for what criteria a world used to come to this conclusion, it was impossible to tell. But, the more talented a world, the more accurate its judgment would be in this regard.
    Ultimately, only youths chosen by the world would gain this chance...
    This was where the mysterious fog of that time came into play. Back then, among the youths who had fallen into a coma with him, Leonel received by far the smallest portion of this fog-like energy while Aina received the vast majority.
    This mysterious energy was a very special type of Universal Force known as World Force. Its role in that instant of time was to aid in the Awakening of one's ability to their greatest potential.
    So then, one might ask why it was Leonel received such a small portion? The answer was obvious, Leonel's ability had awakened long before the Metamorphosis. He simply didn't need this energy. If it wasn't for his father locking his ability away in his youth, it would have grown far beyond the measure it was at currently.
    However, such a powerful existence on Earth too early wasn't a good thing either. Leonel's presence alone would have sped up Earth's evolution by too large of a margin. Beyond this, there were various reasons why evolving a powerful ability on a weak world would be a detriment to Leonel as well.
    Ultimately, Leonel awoke far earlier than everyone else as a result of this and as such cleared his Zone long before...
    How did others know the order? That was by judging who exited first.
    However, when receiving his rewards, Elorin learned that he was actually second.
    This was the hidden truth. The overseers of that treasured world of white weren't as tight lipped as one would expect... but, Uncle Montez never spoke of Leonel. So, while others found various channels to learn of who second through fourth were, no one ever learned who first was... until this very moment.
    "You're lying!" Pisces screeched.
    Laymen might not understand the value of the four heroes, but those of the Slayer Legion were painfully aware.
    On any other world, these four would be the pillars that upheld the World Spirit. However, on Earth, even though there was no World Spirit to split, these four represented the four most talented youths of their World.
    But, what was truly the most shocking to Pisces was that she had no idea Leonel didn't have a fourth of the World Spirit. If it was such wide spread knowledge, there was no way Terrain wouldn't have stumbled upon this information.
    So, in the face of such words, it felt as though she was facing a man capable of grasping the fate of their world.
    Leonel didn't bother to respond to Pisces, his gaze locking onto Elorin. For this man to force him to stop his forward momentum despite his rage, there was no doubt that he was radiating a large amount of danger. But, Leonel had no intention of letting these matters rest so simply.
    If he did nothing, he felt as though his heart would burst from his chest. His blood ran even hotter now than when he used his Scarlet Star Force.
    "I won't say it again." Leonel said coldly, looking into Elorin's blue eyes.
    Elorin silently scanned Leonel.?This man was first?
    Elorin had always trusted his intuition, and his intuition told him that Leonel wasn't lying. In fact, if Leonel wasn't in such a rage induced state, he might have not even bothered to speak such words.
    "The members of the Slayer Legion can't be casually dealt with by outsiders."
    "Outsiders?" Leonel's sneer deepened to the point of being overcast by darkness. "According to my simulations, there's a 97% chance the Slayer Legion is a hidden card that reports directly to the royal family."
    Elorin's pupils constricted into pinholes, staring toward Leonel with a tinge of extra alertness.
    "If you were an independent organization, not only wouldn't you be at a head with the hidden families, but you would also have allied with Terrain instead of battling them to your near deaths.
    "So try me again. Tell me how this Prince of The Empire is an outsider."
    Pisces and others who had been in the dark felt as though bells were resonating in their minds. Leonel had no idea he had just revealed a secret kept for centuries, nor did he care. Today, Pisces would die.
    Elorin regained his calm after a moment, his gaze becoming indifferent.
    "Unfortunately for you, Prince, even if such a thing were true, it would have been a secret maintained for hundreds of years and we would be an organization that only reported directly to The Emperor himself. You, even as a Prince, for the crime of revealing such a matter, would be executed.
    "That's how the story would go, no?"
    Leonel's expression only became colder.
    However, just as he was about to attack, the world suddenly trembled, the sound of a shattering barrier radiating down from the skies.
    The energies whined, reality bending and twisting beneath an inconceivable might. And then... a voice that traveled to all corners of their Fold of Reality spoke to them all.
    "Under the Decree of Shield Cross Stars, Leonel Morales is to be classified as a Tier 4 Fugitive, found guilty for the crime of colluding with a Variant Invalid.
    "The fugitive has two hours to hand himself in, or his charges will be increased to Tier 3.
    "The bounty is set to 10 000 kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe."
    -End of Book 3

 Chapter 580 - Shedevil

    ~Half a day ago~
    Heira stumbled out of a teleportation gate, her knees feeling weak.
    A mixture of emotions seemed to ram against her skull, causing her to keel over, the contents of her stomach emptying out before her.
    She heaved and coughed, her elegant demeanor twisting to nothing every time she remembered Anared wouldn't be coming back.
    After a long while, when her heaves reaped nothing but dry coughs, she stood, wiping her mouth with her forearm.
    If those who wrote tales of this goddess like woman were to see her now, it was hard to tell how they'd react.
    Heira took a look around the world she was on currently. But, after a moment, it became clear that it would be hard to call this place a world at all. Rather, it was an asteroid floating aimlessly in space. If it wasn't for the Force Arts protecting her from the cold and especially the fearsome Astral Wind Force, she would have died a hundred different ways by now.
    Her appearance hadn't gone unnoticed.
    This was a small relay hub, the location of which was usually only known to bounty hunters and the like. So, it could be said that their alertness was as high as it came. Plus, considering the small size of the asteroid, they would be far to incompetent to miss the sight of a grieving and vomiting beauty.
    The hub was made of nothing more than what looked like a gas station. As for what kind of vehicles it fueled, it was hard to tell. But, from the outside, it didn't seem to be as important as it truly was.
    Heira stumbled forward, the change of gravity not helping her case in the slightest. But, she still managed to make it to a dwarf like man who seemed to be napping.
    The short man reclined on a chair, his face covered by a newspaper. Even after Heira got close, he still didn't react.
    "Give me a communication channel." Heira said coldly.
    The dwarf like man shifted slightly, a single groggy eye peeking out from behind the folds of his slipping newspaper.
    But before he could speak, Heira slipped a ring off her finger and threw it at him.
    The man seemed to finally awaken, snatching the ring out of the air with movements that were far too nimble.
    Without a word, he hooked his finger toward a narrow wooden outhouse that exuded a foul stench.
    Heira stumbled toward it without a word. She didn't seem to give a damn about the smell as she barged in, not even glancing toward the filth filling the toilet bowl.
    She reached for a rusted phone hanging above that seemed to have appeared from thin air. With nimble fingers, she dialed numbers in quick succession, her demeanor becoming calmer and calmer by the second. It was as though every number she clicked sealed away another portion of her soul, chaining away emotions that she had just worn out in the open.
    "Hello."
    It seemed to be a greeting, but the voice on the other side seemed as distant as possible.
    "Commander Scithe."
    "Ah, Miss Heira. It's surprising that you've called me directly this time. Finally had enough of manipulating my subordinates?"
    Heira didn't seem to react much to this accusation.
    "It seems you have quite a lot of time on your hands despite being a Quadrant Overseer. Paying attention to a little world like Terrain is beneath you, don't you think?"
    "Normally that would be so, but who asked them to be so lucky as to be so close to Earth?"
    "Are you sure that's the only reason?" Heira sneered. "Or is it more related to a certain Leonel Morales?"
    Scithe's voice took a long pause, not responding immediately. But, when he did, his voice carried a bone chilling cold.
    "Sometimes knowing too much isn't good, Miss Heira. There's a reason men don't like women who are too smart for their own good."
    "Then I'll be a good little girl for you and speak on things that may or may not be true. I'm just a woman, after all. How could I know any of these things for certain?" Heira replied just as coldly.
    "First, it may be true that Leonel is the First Hero everyone has been looking for all this time. And, it may be true that no one has been able to confirm this due to the fact his assigned overseer has kept their mouth closed.
    "This may mean that he is extraordinarily favored and this just might mean that for this overseer to resist temptation despite the price for such information that they are at the very least from a Higher Sixth Dimensional World, most likely a Seventh Dimensional World."
    Scithe grew quiet. But, the slight creaking of the phone beneath his palm didn't escape Heira's notice in the slightest.
    It wa quite obvious that this was the first time Scithe had made such a connection. This was about as good as Leonel having the favor of a Seventh Dimensional world. For him to step into such a matter, he was no different from the pawns he had been using from Terrain's headquarters all this time.
    Anyone who understood politics knew that the purpose of keeping Leonel's title secret wasn't to hide the title itself... rather, it was a silent warning, a hidden blade in the darkness. The purpose from the very beginning wasn't to hide the title, it was a beacon to not touch a hair on his head.
    "Then what *might* you suggest?" Scithe
    Heira's lip curled, a cold light flashing within her gaze.
    "There are some crimes that no amount of status can protect you from."
    "That's bullshit and you know it." Scithe said coldly. "Try and manipulate me again and I'll leave this call immediately."
    Heira's smile didn't fade.
    "Fine." She said lightly. "How about this then... the universe is a vast place. How possible do you think it is to pay attention to every corner?
    "I have a certain Variant Invalid that thought too highly of himself. And you have control of a certain Quadrant in a small corner of the Milky Way.
    "Why don't we form a partnership? You don't have much of a choice, right?"
    Scithe fell silent.
    How ironic, just minutes before this call, he was thinking of how to use his subordinates as scapegoats, now he was in their shoes.
    That was true... the higher ups of Shield Cross Stars might not care to offend a Seventh Dimensional World, but what about him?
    This must be what they call Karma.. And now, if he wanted a way out, he would have to make a deal with this Shedevil.

 Chapter 581 - Split Skies

    Aina looked up into the skies, a picture of rage on her face.
    It wasn't long before the flickering lights in the clouds coalesced into an image of Leonel. The image seemed to carry no life, as though it was a clone of Leonel rather than a depiction of him. But, there was no doubt that this was in fact Leonel.
    By some magic, this singular image was viewable all across the spherical planet. A simple look upward was enough to gaze upon it.
    Rather than a wanted poster, it felt as though Earth was being branded for Leonel's sins, almost like it was their burden to deal with such a traitor.
    Leonel, too, looked into the skies.
    For some reason, all his rage, all his anger, seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. It was as though he was a completely different person, expressionlessly gazing at the skies as though the image above wasn't of himself.
    He stood there in silence for a long while. For some reason, despite hearing the name and seeing the face, those of the Slayer Legion didn't move to immediately apprehend Leonel.
    It would be fine if they weren't aware of the value of 10 000 kilograms of Urbe Ore, but they were most definitely aware.
    There were no conversions for Fourth and Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore. Simply put, even all the Fourth Dimensional Urbe Ore in existence couldn't be pooled together to buy even a single Fifth Dimensional Ore.
    Of course, things weren't so exaggerated. There were certainly some powers that would find a certain amount worth it. But, all the most powerful worlds would never trade downward.
    What did this mean? It essentially meant that Fourth Dimensional treasures could only be bought with Fourth Dimensional Urbe Ore while if one wanted Fifth Dimensional treasures, only Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore could buy them.
    What did 10 000 kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore represent? It represented multiple Fifth Dimensional treasures! Not just multiple, but multiple high grade Fifth Dimensional treasures!
    Even with all of Earth's talent and the support they received, there was not a single Fifth Dimensional treasure on their world.
    Yet, even with such temptation, for some reason, it felt like there was an invisible force field around him that even Aina couldn't break through.
    He stood there silently, looking into the skies with a blank expression.
    The rage in his blood cooled, the wild beating of his heart slowed, the fury that had a steel grip on his mind dissipated.
    'Is this what power is?'
    Leonel thought to himself.
    To be able to say whatever you wanted, regardless of what the truth was. To trample on the efforts of those beneath you for the sake of your own benefit. To brazenly look down on the weak, sneering with a face of victory as though daring them to do something...?
    Leonel had never felt smaller, and it was ironically while watching such a large projection of himself.
    Leonel suddenly began to laugh.
    In the silent atmosphere, it was truly jarring. A young man who was already the center of attention became even more so.
    His laughter was one part sorrowful, one part self-deprecating, and a final part as though he truly found all of this to be funny.
    That was right, seeing his face up there after putting his life on the line to eliminate a threat that may very well have ravage this galaxy in the future was outright hilarious.
    Aina looked toward Leonel a bit worriedly. She wasn't sure how to console him. It felt like Leonel's world views were crumbling before her eyes, but she didn't know how to put the pieces back together.
    If Leonel had reacted any other way, she'd feel much better. If he was uncaring, she'd be uncaring too. If he was furious, she would brandish her ax to redress his grievances. But how was she supposed to react to this laughter.
    "Shield Cross Stars."
    Leonel mumbled, his voice somewhat hollow.
    At that moment, the skies suddenly split apart.
    A platform of black appeared, slowly making its way out. On just a cursory glance, it looked no different from a military ship to be docked in the ocean, prepared to launch fighter jets. Except this ship took the skies as its waters and its fighter jets were instead replaced by row after row of soldiers.
    What once was a uniform Leonel thought looked quite cool now looked no different from rags in his eyes. He felt his stomach churn laying his eyes on such a formation, not out of fear, but rather... disgust.
    Leonel didn't move. He didn't really think there was a point.
    His sensitivity to space was magnified several times over thanks to his part completed Divine Armor. He could tell that their Fold of Reality had been completely sealed by some inconceivable strength.
    Beyond that, a world seemed to be vast with plenty of places to hide, but Leonel somehow felt that Earth had suddenly become extremely tiny.
    As though a noose was tightening around his neck, he simply stood there, laughing.
    By the time his laughter faded, the massive air ship had completely exited whatever void it had come out from.
    At the helm, Commander Scithe stood, his face still the same pale, placcid color. He looked like a man who always did everything by the book, and the warriors to his back seemed to believe this as well, having no idea what schemes their supposedly respected leader was pulling.
    However, it was at that moment that the color of the world seemed to shift.
    From the vibrant colors of dawn, only shades of black and white remained.
    A dignified voice filled the skies. It sounded one part ancient and filled with wisdom, while simultaneously holding the momentum of an undefeatable War God. It was the kind of voice that ingrained itself onto the soul, never to be forgotten.
    "To enter my Domain and demand the head of my grandson, how brazen indeed."
    A hand appeared.
    It must have been at least ten kilometers tall and five wide. It swirled with the only colors that remained of the world, appearing above the massive flying ship like a Deity descending from above.
    BOOM!
    The flying ship shattered into several pieces, what was left of it crashing to the ground below like a rain of meteors.
    "Earth is not a world you can step into as you please."

 Chapter 582 - Imperial

    The change was so abrupt that hardly anyone knew how they should react to the suddeness. In one moment devastating pressure was hanging over Earth, and in the next, it was as though it had been washed away by the warmth of a protector.
    The life and death of the warriors who had just been valiantly riding the air ship were completely unknown. Many the only person who was aware of the answer to the question aside from the men themselves was Emperor Fawkes.
    The hand slowly faded from the skies, but the voice of the Emperor didn't, hanging in the air for just a moment longer.
    "бн Leonel, you've avoided this old man for long enough, don't you think?"
    These words lingered, reverberating through the minds of all those who heard it.
    Leonel himself didn't move for a long while as though he couldn't hear the words of this grandfather of his at all. Instead, he had the same thought for the second time that day. In fact, this time, it reverberated in his mind with an even greater fervor.
    'Is this what power is?'
    Leonel suddenly felt a small hand slip into his. This time, it didn't wash away all the discomfort he was feeling, but at the very least, it gave him something to lean upon somewhat.
    His gaze shifted from the skies to the petite young lady standing to his side. Something about her presence gave him the room he needed to breathe easier.
    Leonel squeezed her hand lightly.
    'Little Blackstar.'
    At that moment, a shadow suddenly blazed a trail by Leonel's side. Before Pisces could react, she found a hole where her heart should have been.
    The little mink flashed, appearing to stand on Leonel's shoulder with a beating heart in his hands.
    It looked toward the shocked Pisces, its little paws digging into the dripping heart.
    Pisces watched on in horror, her body visibly trembling.
    "Whyбн Why meбн"
    She never thought that a small bout of jealousy would really lead to her death in this way. She had just wanted to grow stronger. Wasn't she allowed to want such a thingбн?
    Ironically, Leonel ended up adding his own strokes to the cruelty of this world.
    Leonel and Aina rose into the skies, leaving over the horizon. But, from start to finish, Elorin didn't make a single move.
    The other Slayer Legion members who hated Leonel's guts could only watch on in fury. But, after seeing the Emperor's prowess, and even hearing that he had specifically stepped out to protect Leonelбн Which of them would truly dare to move at this point?
    However, hidden within his pockets, Elorin's index finger continued to twitch, illusions of slicing the little mink in two replaying in his thoughts.
    **
    The Palace was just as grand as Leonel remembered. Though he had only appeared before it for a moment previously, it was most definitely enough for him to never forget the impression it had left on him. And, despite the fact he was enraged at the timeбн it most definitely left a grand impression.
    If it wasn't the overwhelming presence the Palace, Leonel would have found it far more difficult to ignore the fact a battle was still raging on below.
    Of course, this battle wasn't as explosive as it had been when Leonel first stepped foot onto it, with what remaining just being petty skirmishes, but it was a battle nonetheless. Leonel almost felt bad for flying over it without lifting a finger to help.
    But, something told him that he couldn't delay going to see his grandfather this time. Though it seemed that everything had already been handled, Leonel was far from na?ve enough to believe this.
    The moment Leonel stepped foot into the highest layer, he felt as though he had entered an all new world. Despite the fact a war for a world was occurring below, the main core of The Capital seemed completely unaffected. It was hard to tell how someone of Terrain would react to seeing such a thing.
    But, then again, they probably had their hands full wrapping their minds around the strength Emperor Fawkes just displayed.
    When Leonel landed before the Palace, he found that the roads paved of wealth that led to its doors were lined with warriors, each exuding a dangerous aura. It felt that if even just ten of these men and women stepped toward to the outside world, the war would be as good as over.
    Yet, they all stood here, valiantly guarding the entrance of the Emperor's home.
    At the side of the grand doors, a spectacled man stood, his hands clasped behind his back. The only word Leonel could think of when he looked upon him wasбн Disciplined.
    The man was so cleanly shaven that Leonel could almost feel the suppleness of his skin with his eyes alone. His white-gold hair was done up in an elaborate royal style and his emerald eyes hid behind a pair of glasses that seemed carved of diamond.
    His dress was immaculate. Even with his senses, Leonel couldn't find a single wrinkle on his person.
    This man frowned slightly when he saw Aina by Leonel's side. But, as though receiving some sort of order, he decided to ignore it.
    Without a word, he turned into the Palace, leading Leonel and Aina through the grand halls. From start to finish, his steps were even and measured without even a centimeter of deviation. For a man like Leonel who was used to seeing the world as an accumulation of numbers, this was baffling.
    Soon, Leonel and Aina were led into the depths of the Palace, only to make their way through another opening and find themselves in what seemed to be yet another world.
    Chirping birds, rushing waters that glittered of rainbow colors, and lush greenery. The entire garden seemed to breathe with vitality, inhaling and exhaling to the rhythm of the world.
    At the center of this garden sat an old man Leonel couldn't take his eyes off. No, he almost felt that it was inappropriate to call him old. This supposed old timer was brimming with more vitality than even Leonel himself.
    "Imperial Father, I have brought them."
    The spectacled man bowed reverentially even as Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    It was only now that he understood that this almost too well-groomed individual was his uncle.

 Chapter 583 - This Time.

    Leonel quietly observed his grandfather. This was the first time he was meeting the man, yet he somehow felt a sense of familiarity with him.
    At first, Leonel thought that this was his Dream Force dragging up memories for him once again. But, after a while, he understood that this wasn't actually the case.
    Dream Force helped his memory to be near infallible. Yet, even with it, his recollections of the man before him were blurry at best.
    Something like that seemed impossible to Leonel. With the presence of this man, how could he possibly ever be forgotten? He had an air that seemed to outshine the sun itself. It felt as though even if he was in the depths of space, without even the slightest hint of light, he would still radiate with his own brilliance.
    The longer Leonel observed him, the brighter Emperor Fawkes amiable smile seemed to become. He felt more and more satisfied with every passing second.
    Leonel's uncle, however, frowned at the current situation.
    Standing before the Emperor without a word or even an attempt to bow. This was no small amount of disrespect.
    If it was anyone else, the Prince would have long since lashed out. But, this time, he refrained for no other reason than the fact Leonel was his nephew. That said, that didn't stop his impression of Leonel from taking a large dip downward.
    Bowing in this situation was more than about showing respect to an Emperor, it was also a means of showing respect for your predecessors. But, clearly Leonel didn't have this modicum of respect.
    Leonel, however, wasn't thinking so far. It was just that after his experience with King Arthur, he had gained a dislike of kneeling and bowing. In addition, he hadn't grown up in the same culture as this uncle of his. Leonel had never bowed to even his own father a single day in his life, but this was also part of the reason he hadn't taking kneeling or not kneeling very seriously in the past.
    In fact, even now, Leonel didn't think kneeling was a big deal. It was just that he had gained a subtle dislike for it, the same way someone might not like a flavor of ice cream. There was no need to do it if he didn't care for it, the same way there was no reason someone wouldn't go out of their way to eat a flavor of ice cream they weren't fond of.
    Soon, the odd atmosphere was suddenly broken by Emperor Fawkes' laughter.
    "It seems you've grown up well. You're still quite weak minded, but you shouldn't be very far from a breakthrough in that respect. You're only in need of a little pushбн"
    Leonel's brows rose. What was any of that supposed to mean? He wasn't quite sure, if he was being honest.
    Was he weak minded?
    Well, he couldn't exactly be objective in answering this question. But, from an outsider's perspective, the answer was most definitely yes. Leonel had yet to truly mature yet and his reaction toward Shield Cross Stars coming after him in such a fashion only painted this truth clearer.
    However, despite the fact he was practically blatantly insulted to his face, Leonel didn't have an adverse reaction.
    Emperor Fawkes' gaze shifted to Aina, a light smile on his face. Despite the fact she had put her mask back on, she still felt as though she was being seen through completely. She couldn't help but shiver slightly, her grip on Leonel's hand tightening.
    The action startled Leonel a bit. This wasn't because Aina used too much strength but rather becauseбн he had almost completely forgotten she was by his side as though his grandfather had become his whole world.
    The Emperor chuckled.
    "There's no need to be nervous, little girl. Though I know about your family, I'm also aware that you want to see them destroyed just as much as I do. In such a case, why would I do something to a young lady my grandson has taken a fancy to?"
    For some reason, despite the words of comfort, Aina's grip on Leonel's hand only tightened as though trying to remind him not to forget her again.
    Emperor Fawkes turned his attention back toward Leonel.
    "So, you've angered Shield Cross Stars?"
    Leonel remained silent for a while, but in the end, he could only nod. That was the only explanation for what had just happened, right?
    Emperor Fawkes chuckled.
    "Shield Cross Stars does indeed have the capital to ignore the wishes of the Morales Clan to a certain extent. But, I'm afraid that they didn't enter this situation knowing they were facing a potential Heir. They are still treating you as a normal talent of Earth. However, they seem to believe that you've gained favor of a much larger entity. Unfortunately for them, this belief leaves many loopholes in their approach."
    Leonel's gaze brightened slightly.
    "It seems you understand already." Emperor Fawkes said with a light smile.
    "Your strength isn't small." Leonel finally spoke.
    "A grandfather hearing such words from his grandson should be grinning ear to ear, but why is it that I don't feel as happy as I should?"
    Emperor Fawkes' teasing words were clearly aimed for Leonel. Though Leonel's words seemed to be praising him, they carried a hint of melancholy and a blaming tone.
    But, how could they not?
    The Emperor's words had an obvious hidden meaning to Leonel. He was saying that Shield Cross Stars was making use of their subordinates as scapegoats to deal with him. When it came down to it, they would just hand over the 'culprit' and wipe their hands clean.
    But, by taking this approach, they had to veil their movements.
    What did this meant? It could mean anything from only releasing information about Leonel to a small segment of the universe to strong arming a weak world like Earth into handing him over.
    Clearly, the second option had failed, so they would very likely progress to the former, all to maintain the illusion that these were the actions of a rogue subordinate and nothing else.
    However, the reason they had failed in their first attempt couldn't have been clearer.
    The Fawkes Family was far more powerful than they had initially thought.
    But, that truth left another elephant in the room.
    Once again, Emperor Fawkes had so much strength at the tips of his fingers, but he was more than content with allowing those he could have protected to die one after another.
    And this time, people Leonel once called friend were among them.

 Chapter 584 - The Weak And The Strong

    Another silence fell over the gardens as Leonel didn't respond immediately. But, it was clear that this was less about Leonel not wanting to respond and more about him being uncertain of how to.
    His grandfather had just saved his life. There was no way around this, this was the truth of the matter. Was it truly so easy to spit in the face of someone who had done such a thing for you, especially when your personality was like Leonel's?
    But at that same time, Leonel had been growing such animosity for this very same grandfather of his for so long. Yet, just when he had the opportunity to give the man a piece of his mind, this happened. It was as though the world was playing a joke on him.
    That said, Leonel also didn't feel right just welcoming this grandfather with open arms. All of his actions ran diametrically opposed to everything Leonel stood for.
    "If you have such strength, why do you never do anything with it?"
    Leonel finally spoke, his gaze matching his grandfather's. He didn't particularly have any anger to speak of, in fact it was currently just as emotionless as it was when he was in the midst of battle. But maybe, in some ways, this was exactly that. Just another battle.
    What Leonel didn't expect after he said these words, though, was for a stifling aura to suddenly envelop him.
    However, it became very clear, very quickly that this aura wasn't from his grandfather. But, rather, from this silent uncle of his.
    Still, this aura that felt like a wall of water became a drizzle just as quickly as it took for Leonel's grandfather to raise his hand.
    Emperor Fawkes' smile never faded even as he lowered his hand. He continued to observe Leonel the same way he always had. Yet, for some reason, despite the fact there wasn't even a hint of change in his smile, Leonel still felt as though the situation had completely shifted.
    When Emperor Fawkes finally spoke again, a slight cold breeze seemed to sweep the spring gardens.
    "To ask someone else why they didn't use their own strength as they pleaseбн Don't you find this to be very weak?"
    Leonel matched his grandfather's gaze but didn't say a thing. However, that didn't mean that a certain Aina wasn't enraged by such an answer. If it wasn't for the fact Leonel hadn't released her hand and she knew that they weren't safe to lash out in such an environment, she would have long since done so.
    "I expected more from you." Emperor Fawkes said lightly. "This isn't a world where you can say such things. Not only is it the pinnacle of foolishness, these thoughts will one day get you killed."
    Leonel once again didn't lash out at these words. He replied simply and just as emotionlessly.
    "It's foolish to ask you, as an Emperor, to protect your citizens?"
    Emperor Fawkes put up another hand pre-emptively. This time, he sent a look toward his son, warning him that this should be the last time he should waste his time doing such a thing.
    The Imperial Prince swallowed his rage and stood in place, his back ramrod straight and his gaze locked onto Leonel.
    If others who knew of his personality were here, there was no doubt that they would be shocked beyond belief. This was a man who was known for his stoicism no matter what the situation. For him to have lost his temper not just once, but twice, and even in such quick successionбн It could only be said that this man was truly protective of his father, even if the one he was protecting The Emperor from was his very own nephew.
    "The weak do not have a voice. They do not have the right to demand, nor do they have any right to direct the actions of the strong."
    Leonel indifferently listened to these words. Didn't he already know this? Existences like The Empire and The Slayer Legion made it as clear as possible. Those with strength could survive, while those who were weak could only scramble for scraps.
    Hard work? Perseverance? It didn't seem to be worth a damn in this world.
    If you weren't born with backing, talent, or both, you were finished. In fact, Leonel would have long since died dozens of times over if not for having such things in his corner.
    Howeverбн He felt that this was wrong. Why was his life more valuable than others? Why was it that he could stand here while his friends had to be buried?
    Emperor Fawkes replied simply. However, before Leonel could even think of responding, he continued.
    "Such words won't get through to you. And, quite frankly, I hate explaining myself the most."
    An air of suffocating majesty filled the garden. Even Leonel couldn't help but feel his knees buckle somewhat. This sort of presenceбн It was far beyond his own.
    If it wasn't for a worthless pride that had bubbled forth from within him, unwilling to give in to his grandfather's ideals, he may very well have fallen in that very moment.
    "However, you are my grandson, yet I have never been a part of your life. Consider my next words as payment for this missed time. After this, you can consider our relationship as neutrally as you please."
    The pressure bore down on Leonel. Sweat poured from his back, his spine trembling.
    "You must blame me for the Paradise Island incidents. Yet, why is it that you don't assign the same blame to your father? Was he not knowledgeable about the situation? In fact, he's quite a bit more powerful than I am. If he wanted to, he likely could have waited until the Metamorphosis began and slaughtered every Invalid on the planet before going on his way.
    "But I guess that much is just a small matter. What about the things he left behind for you? I'm sure they would help someone much weaker than yourself protect their lives, why is it that you've kept it for yourself? If the Slayer Legion had those treasures, I'm sure less people would have died and your friends would have been saved.
    "I guess that much can be passed off as a small matter as well. But, in addition to not doing your best to help the Slayer Legion stave off casualties, you just murdered a young lady who was only trying her best to survive.
    "Wasn't she among the weak you think the strong should protect? Or is it that the weak you refer to only encompass the people you think are deserving? After all, you are one of the strong. Supposedly."

 Chapter 585 - Try

    Leonel felt as though his grandfather's every word was grating on his soul.
    But he still stood there, his mind wrapped in a steel cage, clearly unwilling to accept the things he was hearing. A part of him would have rather ignored it all.
    As quick as Leonel's mind was, if he wanted to come with excuses to ignore valid points, he could run circles even around this grandfather of his. His mind was simply too nimble and quick. And, as expected, that was exactly what he did. In no more than a breath of silence, he had already come up with several rebuttals.
    His father? Wasn't he just restricted by the same things the hidden families were? How could he have interfered if he had rules he wasn't allowed to break?
    His treasures? If he had handed them in, would they really have helped his friends? Trusting Supreme Monet with his things, would that have really been an intelligent thing to do?
    Pisces? That backstabbing bitch? Was she really the same as the weak? Why should she be categorized as such?
    The worst of it all was the fallacy of Emperor Fawkes' argument. He and Leonel weren't even remotely in the same position. One of them hadn't even known of their noble status until a few weeks ago while the latter was an Emperor of a world. There was a very clear dividing line in their responsibilities. There was no way Leonel should care more about the citizens of Earth than their Emperor.
    Even if Leonel was the most selfish individual there wasбн So what? His burden wasn't the same as this supposed Emperor. Why were they even being compared?
    However, in the breath it had taken Leonel to think of these things, Emperor Fawkes had continued speaking as though he had never taken a pause to begin with.
    "Those were the last words I'll say on the topic. If you feel that you would be a better Emperor, I am right here. If you can defeat me, the throne is yours."
    "Imperial Father!"
    Leonel's expression finally cracked, replaced by something other than indifference for the first time.
    This man before him felt like rolling hills that extended to infinity, like an endlessly rising land that shot into the skies, like a lurking beast slumbering as though there was nothing that could gain his interest.
    Emperor Fawkes ignored his son.
    "But the weight of this crown isn't something you can carry. You're weak. And worst of all, you don't seem to know that you are."
    The Emperor looked toward Leonel as though he could see through him completely, even down to all the rebuttals he had at the tip of his tongue. But, true to his word, he didn't speak a single word about the topic again.
    It seemed he wasn't lying. He really did disdain to explain himself. If Leonel felt like he could still squirm his way around his words as though this was a debate rather than real life, that only meant that Leonel was even weaker than even he realized.
    He had already explained things once. He wouldn't do it again. He had no need for the useless and foolish.
    "The matter of Shield Cross Stars," Emperor Fawkes continued, "You will be safe as long as you are on Earth. My dignity isn't something that can be encroached upon, Shield Cross Stars, or any other."
    The indifferent declaration seemed to caused the winds to shift. It felt as though the world itself acknowledged The Emperor's words as infallible.
    Leonel couldn't help but think that it was precisely this old man who had earned the World Spirit before he was born. But, he had no way of confirming such a thing.
    Then again, the thought that he could display such power without the World Spirit was even more shocking. So, shouldn't he just accept this?
    "When you leave Earth, though, you will be on your own. I doubt that Shield Cross Stars will be as blatant as they have been to this point, but with the death of that Commander Scithe, their approach will be more subtle this time."
    Leonel didn't even know who this Commander Scithe was. But, for some reason, hearing his name made him feel as though he was falling further and further into this quagmire that was his grandfather.
    Those who understood the backstory of this matter would most definitely be shocked beyond belief. Commander Scithe had been biding his time to strike at Leonel, yet he had diedбн Just like that.
    As though that wasn't shocking enough, Commander Scithe was a Fifth Dimensional existence!
    "The bounty on your head won't be changing, nor will your fugitive status. That said, that only matters to those who know of it. When it comes down to it, you will have to protect yourself."
    Leonel felt as though his head was spinning.
    He had a bounty on his head? But only some people knew about it? He had a fugitive status? But it only mattered to those who knew of it?
    What did any of that mean?
    Was he a criminal, or wasn't he? Would he be hunted down, or wouldn't he? What was the truth?
    The crux of the matter was that as Heira had alluded to, the universe was a vast place. Even with Shield Cross Stars acting as the police force of the Dimensional Verse, even they didn't move as one unit. They were split into countless quadrants which were even further separated into several overarching factions.
    Commander Scithe's quadrant was on full alert, the very same quadrant Terrain and Earth were located in. Logically, as a person who was now a Tier 3 Criminal, Leonel was only just shy of the true scum of the universe. Yet, due to Scithe's actions in deploying the Decree, Leonel's status had become more like a ticking time bomb than a falling meteor.
    If anything, maybe Leonel's most immediate threat was Heiraбн
    Unfortunately, Leonel didn't have enough information about the universe to complete such thorough analysis. Even to this point, he had no idea how powerful Shield Cross Stars was. He could only find time to interrogate the dictionary.
    But, he was so lost in his own thoughts, that he didn't even react as he was being escorted out the Palace. Even to the end, Emperor Fawkes really couldn't bother to explain himself in full. The fact he said anything at all was only a testament to the fact Leonel was his grandson. Nothing less, and definitely nothing more.
    However, as Leonel stood in a daze at the palace gates, his uncle seemingly couldn't continue to bite his tongue.
    "Try not to die." He said coldly. "And, while you're out there, try and think of why in a war of such concentrated Force, not a single Invalid horde appeared from start to finish."
    The words were like a bomb going off in Leonel's mind.
    His head snapped backward, but all he saw was his uncle's backview and two large doors slamming shut.
    BANG!

 Chapter 586 - Right?

    Leonel sat within the Lab Setting of the Segmented Cube, his mind absent. His only company was Little Tolly, but seemingly having seen through its master's mood, the little guy was a lot less joyful.
    It was quite an odd situation to be in. The war for Earth was likely coming to a close even as he sat here, the nightmare that had haunted Aina had been killed by his own hands, and a bounty that should have been hanging over his head was effectively neutered for the time being.
    Yet, Leonel couldn't find it within himself to be happy in the slightest. In fact, he felt a nagging insecurity eating away at his heart, refusing to let go and filling his chest with a heavy darkness.
    Uncertainty.
    It was dangerous enough for a normal human to allow such an emotion to rule them. To fear the unknown and one's future path more than the idea of not taking a step at all was as good as allowing one's life to come to a grinding halt.
    In a normal world, the worst that could happen would be living out a life of mediocrity. One would become a normal man, wallowing through life with a woe is me attitude that wouldn't fade even with age.
    Such a person would be a perpetual victim for the rest of their lives, blaming their failures on the actions of others and never undergoing any sort of introspection about what personal decisions might have led to their current situation.
    However, in a world like this, in a new world order where killing and death was just the product of another normal day, such apathy was the root of more than just failure.
    Left alone with his own thoughts, Leonel spun his own counter arguments in his minds over and over again. At one point, his numerous thoughts split into two streams, attacking one another from opposite sides as though determined to completely destroy the other side.
    The more Leonel thought, the more he realized just how flawed his previous thoughts were.
    His father was restricted the same way the hidden families were restricted? Was that really true?
    The hidden families were in a completely separate space while his own father could appear on Earth itself. Were they really restricted by the same rules? Was that possible?
    How convenient was it for him to rely on a set of rules he wasn't even aware of to absolve his father of any guilt? It was laughable at best. At worst, he was a terrible kind of hypocrite, the kind of bastard that would shame one for killing then turn a blind eye when a 'friend' committed the same atrocity.
    And what about his treasure?
    Even if he didn't give it to Monet, what was stopping him from giving it to someone else? If he had handed it over to Hutch, an old man he somewhat trusted, what kind of result would there have been?
    If Hutch had the dictionary, how much easier would his battle against the three Heads have been? Would he have been struck down to the point he was in a coma? And if his battle against them was easier, wouldn't that mean that he would be able to end it earlier and save more lives?
    According to what he saw from Raynred's memories, it was precisely because Hutch had been occupied that he became bold enough to travel into the depths of the army and eventually kill Roaring Black Lion and the others.
    If he had been less selfish, would they have died?
    The most complicated of Leonel's thoughts revolved around Pisces, this girl he hated with all his heart.
    But, if he broke it down to the foundation of why it was he disliked her so much, wasn't it purely because he couldn't stand the fact she survived while those he called friend could only be buried?
    What was Pisces' worst crime?
    If Leonel was being objective about it, the worst thing she had done was point Raynred toward Royal Blue Province. This action could have led to a catastrophic outcome had Leonel not dealt with the Puppet Master.
    Yet, even then, Raynred hadn't been targeting Royal Blue Province at all when he ran away from Elorin, the Province just happened to be the closest piece of land. Regardless of whether he found out this information from Pisces, he would have found out eventually anyway. Just like he had asked for Leonel from those of the Slayer Legion, asking the same question to those of Royal Blue Fort would have had the same impact.
    However, if Leonel was the most honest with himself, what infuriated him the most about what she did was the most benign action: she had tried to get his treasures taken away.
    If he broke down that action, sure, it was rooted in a certain selfishness on her part. But, wasn't his rejection of Monet's request also rooted in selfishness?
    He had no obligation to hand over his things, this much was true. Butбн If he accepted this premise, what right did he have to dislike his grandfather's actions?
    Of course, to Leonel, this was about more than just the fact the treasures had value. Tied to these treasures was also the fact his father had entrusted him with them, they could be considered to be the last bit of his parents that he had with him.
    If he took it one step further, these treasures represented his chance at reuniting with his family, it represented a path toward the strength he would need to save Aina.
    These all sounded like noble matters. Butбн
    What was more demanding? For him to hand over a treasure that would allow him to accomplish his own selfish goal? Or for 'the strong' to risk their lives to protect 'the weak'?
    If he felt that it was wrong for the Slayer Legion to take away the last piece of his father that he had and cut off his path toward saving Aina, then how could he also not feel it to be wrong for him to expect others to lay their lives on the line for strangers?
    These thoughts ultimately led to the final nail in Leonel's coffin.
    The reasoning he had clung to was that his obligations weren't the same as his grandfather's. One of them was a newly minted Prince while the other was The Emperor of a world. How could they be equated?
    Leonel had no obligation to be selfless, but wasn't this the role of a ruler?
    However, the words of his Uncle rang in his mind again and again.
    No Invalid hordesбн Not even a single sightingбн
    If an Invalid horde interfered in the war, Earth would have been finished. When comparing the talented versus the untalented, which would the Invalids prefer to target? The people of Earth would end up being attacked from two fronts, completely unable to counter. Even Leonel wouldn't be able to do anything to change this.
    What right did he have to question Emperor Fawkes?

 Chapter 587 - Share

    Leonel didn't have any answers. He lost himself in endless tinkering, working his way toward the completion of his Divine Armor.
    The space rending abilities of the Terrain cities had given him exactly the enlightenment he needed to comprehend the core intricacies he needed to complete his first Armor. But, whereas this matter would have given him great satisfaction in the past, knowing that he had come a step closer to bettering his father in Force Crafting, currently, he completed every step with an almost eerie monotony.
    Surprisingly, though, this very monotony, the disconnection of his emotions, made his every action even more perfect than they would be usually. He completed everything with a level of precision that existed beyond the realm of humans.
    бн
    Aina entered the Lab Setting with a hint of worry on her face. Leonel never restricted her movements, so she could enter any location of the Segmented Cube just as easily as him.
    Looking at Leonel's back, she wasn't really sure of how to comfort him. The only thing that Aina was sure of was that she didn't want Leonel to change, she didn't want him to become as cold blooded as the rest of this world. She had said as much when the two were in the Joan Zone together. In fact, that moment between them back then was maybe the most honest she had been with him up to that point.
    However, now, Leonel was stuck in a dilemma he didn't know how to bring himself out of. And, it was exactly this sort of matter that Coach Owen had been so worried about.
    A person without purpose was easily swayed by others. If Leonel had a one-minded pursuit, a dream that was rooted in himself and no one else, how could the words of others so easily sway him?? In fact, knowing Leonel, having such an aspiration would make him an untamable monster, an existence the likes of which existed above all others.
    But at this moment, Leonel still didn't know exactly what that was. And, as though this wasn't bad enough, he wasn't even looking for it.
    As the saying went, one didn't know what they didn't know. It was impossible for Leonel to see through his shortcomings if he wasn't even sure of what they were. But, ironically, if he was told of what he needed to look for, it just might have the opposite effect.
    Something like searching for the purpose of one's life was a monumental task. There were many people in existence that would never find this purpose for themselves.
    And, at this moment, it was unknown whether or not Leonel would be among these individuals.
    The little mink hopped into Aina's arms, making small, worried purring noises. But, even with the slight commotion, Leonel didn't turn back. He was so engrossed that he probably didn't even notice that Aina had entered to begin with.
    Aina sighed, not sure of what to do.
    Her gaze drifted from Leonel's back to the numerous snowglobes on the wall. Even now, there were still hundreds. Some were filled with beast carcasses while the others were filled with various herbs.
    Though Aina didn't recognize much of the herbs, after her ability had evolved with Earth's Metamorphosis, she found that she could somewhat read the life signatures of living beings she came across.
    Aina wondered if this had to do with the Life affinity those trial overseers of Valiant Heart Mountain mentioned. But, she wasn't sure. Though she had heard of a Blood affinity before, she had never heard of a Life Elemental affinity. Yet, she had both.
    Regardless, this ability to read life signatures allowed her to extend her ability. Now, not only did she know the perfect way to train her body to break its limits, she also knew what to consume to help break these limits as well.
    The extension of this ability also gave her an instinct on how to combine and mix certain materials to benefit herself. Such a breakthrough made Aina realize that if she wanted to maximize this new ability of hers, she would have to spend some time reading many beast and herb compendiums.
    In the past, the only reading Aina had done was for school. Outside of that, she didn't waste even a moment of time on anything other than training. In fact, although she had wanted to go and watch Leonel's games, she never had because she felt time was simply too precious.
    But now, this studying would benefit her future, so she no longer had a choice.
    'Leonel said that he never had much of an appetite when he was youngerбн'
    Aina bit her lip out of habit as she scanned through the snowglobes.
    Leonel never really put two and two together, but the nutrients packed into his father's vomit brew were so numerous that it would have been impossible for him to have any appetite. If anything, he had been overeating his whole life.
    'бн I wonder how many delicacies he's missed out on?'
    Aina was the opposite. She had always loved food and often ate a lot of it.
    Leonel had kicked himself for not realizing she needed more food. But, the truth was that wasn't his fault. Aina had purposely suppressed her own appetite in the Joan Zone subconsciously, maybe because she was worried about how Leonel would react.
    However now, if she didn't have enough to eat, Leonel would practically stare her down until she did. With his senses, it was difficult for her to fake being full anymore.
    The memories, albeit from a short time they had been together, brought a smile to Aina's face.
    She looked back toward Leonel's back, but he had still not reacted to her entrance. After a hint of hesitation, she looked to the snowglobes once again, seemingly having come to a decision.
    'I've never cooked before, butбн'
    Aina's meals had been handled by Yuri for as long as she could remember. She had zero experience cooking which was also why she always let Leonel handle it.
    Though Leonel's cooking lacked flare and could only be described as mediocre, it wasn't terrible so the effort always brought a smile to her face.
    Aina reached out and began picking out ingredients from the shelf of snowglobes, her mind spinning as it came up with several ideas.
    Though her mind was filled with such thoughts, her heart was focused on something else entirely.. All she wanted was to share her love of food with the man she liked.

 Chapter 588 - Menace

    Leonel's hands were as steady as a rock, his gaze measured and sharp. He seemed to be able to see through everything with a glance, the faint image of a Snowy Owl hovering to his back.
    Even after more than a day, Leonel didn't seem to realize the special state he had entered. It was as though he had completely forgotten about the world, as though everything else had been destroyed and all that was left was a man, his Metal Spirit and his Craft.
    Auspicious Air hung around Leonel, its density increasing with every moment.
    Shockingly enough, Leonel had yet to bother to waste any time on healing himself. His body was just as injured as it had been before his meeting with his grandfather. But, at the same time, it made the process all the more awe inspiring.
    Forgetting the world was one matter, but this had reached the level of even forgetting oneself. To be able to move and act as though anyone else in his situation wouldn't be at the brink of death was baffling indeed.
    However, the truth of the matter was presented for all to see. It had reached a point where even Aina herself simply assumed that Leonel had been healed. After all, there was nothing about his actions that seemed to point toward injury in the slightest.
    The Auspicious Air became heavier and heavier, growing to a point a dense, dirty gold hung in the air. It had much of the color of a mustard yellow with a tinge of a noble gold that betrayed its distinctiveness.
    At an unknown time, the air grew so heavy that cracks began appearing along the Lab Setting floors. But, what was maybe most shocking was a certain unmoving snowglobe began to show signs of being awakened.
    Unfortunately, Leonel had yet to realize that the acceleration of Earth's evolution toward the Fourth Dimension wasn't the only reward for perfectly completing Camelot's trialsбн
    **
    With a blank expression, Leonel picked up an intricately carved forearm brace. Little Tolly peeled away from the structure, revealing it in all its glory.
    It shimmered with a beautiful black-silver color. It was formed in several layers, giving it a sharp appearance. Its presence alone seemed to make space warp and quake.
    However, despite its beauty, Leonel didn't react much to its appearance at all.
    He absentmindedly pressed it into his right forearm. As though by magic, Leonel's body flashed with bronze runes and the bracer sunk into his skin, vanishing as though it was never there.
    Leonel reached toward his work table again. But, before he could grab anything, he found that there was nothing left to do.
    His blank expression slowly recovered, a hint of fatigue hiding behind his pupils.
    At that moment, a wall of thoughts Leonel had done his best to ignore these last few days began to resurface once again.
    Leonel grasped at his forehead, a light headache taking hold. A deep sigh left his lips.
    As much as he wanted to lose himself in a world of Crafting again, he had used up all his materials. Unless he raided Camelot's vaults again, there wouldn't be anything left to do. And, even if he was that shamelessбн
    Well, let's just say that King Arthur would probably rip his own hair out if he saw the state of his precious treasure vaults.
    Leonel didn't quite know how he ended up using so many materials. His original plan didn't require so much. He had wanted to use the others for future Crafts he had in mind.
    When he dug into his memories of what had happened, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
    His previous best Craft was only formed of less than a dozen parts. But, this armor was formed of 97. He had thought that he would have to muddle through it for a few weeks, but he had never thought of finishing it all in less than two days.
    Still, rather than feeling proud, he really just wanted something else to throw himself into.
    Leonel was in a classic state of running away from his problems. Was this what normal teens called procrastinating? It felt worse than just that, though.
    Leonel had never been one to procrastinate, mostly because he was always good at setting his mind to something and doing it. If not for this, he likely wouldn't have forgotten himself in Crafting so easily.
    'бн My current spear wouldn't pair well with my Divine Armorбн It might be time to change itбн'
    If others heard Leonel's thoughts, they would think that he was an ungrateful second generation nouveau riche.
    One had to understand the value of a Quasi Bronze treasure. Leonel seemed to go through them as though he was drinking water, but such a treasure was the pinnacle of the Fourth Dimension. Even in the highest Fifth Dimensional worlds, a youth like Leonel would scratch and claw for the right to wield such a weapon.
    Yet, Leonel thought of casually changing his because it simply didn't suit him.
    Leonel still didn't have a full grasp of the Dimensional Verse, though, so his face portrayed a very punchable shade of innocence even as he spoke such shameless words.
    Even if Leonel had known, though, it wouldn't stop him. He immediately sent his mind into Spear Domain.
    Not even a quarter hour later, Leonel came out with a new spear.
    He only tried to stand with it, yet it nearly sent him crashing down to the ground.
    'Oofбн I thought 50 pounds was heavy, but this one is over 5000бн'
    This spear was clearly crafted to be heavy. Its body was over two and a half meters long and its spear head was a three dimensional monstrosity of over three feet long alone. Though there was some taper to the spear head to give it the semblance of a blade, it still had a width of over half Leonel's palm.
    No matter how Leonel looked at it, though it seemed to be a spear, it would be better used as a blunt weapon. With some work, it would definitely be a good hammer.
    Leonel shook his head. 'This one is no good tooбн'
    Leonel entered Spear Domain again, ignorant to the fact he was becoming a menace to society.

 Chapter 589 - Small Mountain

    The practically blunt spear had a Domain similar to Leonel's Chain Domain. But, rather than using chains, it caused fluctuations in weight. Depending on how it was used, it could actually be quite useful. But, ultimately, it was just another movement restraining Domain that focused on the physical.
    However, as Leonel began to travel through the Spear Peaks, he came to realize that this focus on physical restrictions was a running theme amongst the Quasi Bronze Spears.
    The next spear Leonel picked up had two heads. He stood immersed in the feeling of its Domain, grasping it much quicker than he had with his Chain Domain. In fact, it almost came with too much ease. Leonel had a feeling that this was because of the completion of his Spear Embryo into true Spear Force thanks to his comprehension of the complete Four Seasons Realm. But, he didn't spend much time thinking about it.
    This Domain, as expected, was another restraining Domain. But, this one focused on the Wind Element. The style of this Spear Peak and many of the spears that formed its base was swiftness.
    Controlling the flow of wind in battle could allow one to do a countless number of things. But, what Leonel saw as the most potent use would be in controlling momentum. Snatching the tail wind of an opponent and adding it to your ownбн Under a protracted battle, someone with this Domain would be near invincible.
    The lethality of such a weapon on a battlefield would be undeniable.
    Still, Leonel felt that this spear wouldn't meld well with his Divine Armor either. Not to mention the fact he didn't have a Wind Elemental Affinity, this sort of restraining type of battle style wasn't resonating with him at the moment.
    Somewhere deep inside, he wanted something more destructive, something he could truly release with.
    However, every spear Leonel came across seemed to tell the same story.
    'A Gravity Domainбн A Water Domainбн A Vine Domainбн'
    Leonel walked through the Spear Domain as though it was his own backyard. He had completely forgotten that even taking a single step in this world used to deplete him down to his very core. Now, he travelled from peak to peak, not finding anything he could use.
    By now, Leonel had conquered over a dozen Quasi Bronze Peaks, but he hadn't found anything he wanted.
    The truth was that the number of such treasures in Spear Domain was practically endless. Even after hours of walking, even to the point of ignoring all the foundational spears, Leonel still hadn't come anywhere near the end of them.
    Leonel believed that there were easily tens of thousand of Quasi Bronze Peaks. Let alone Quasi Bronze Peaks, there were probably just as many Quasi Silver Peak and beyond as well. This treasure seemed to treat such spears as though they were a dime a dozen. And in fact, they wereбн at least here, anyway.
    It was no wonder Leonel took them for granted.
    'Quasi Silverбн'
    Leonel looked up toward the distance.
    He had grasped a Quasi Bronze spear before his Soul Force was even in the Third Dimension. Now that he was at the peak of the Fourth Dimension with his Soul Force, why not try for a Fifth Dimensional weapon?
    Leonel stepped forward, crossing through the rolling hills with slow steps. The graveyard of spears around him seemed to get particularly silent at this moment.
    Maybe even the creator of Spear Domain couldn't have imagined a day where someone within the Third Dimension would have the gall to stroll through their world in such a way. However, compared to the past, it couldn't be said that Leonel was still unqualified.
    One had to remember that strength of mind was only one aspect of traveling through Spear Domain. The most important factor was most definitely one's comprehension of the spear. The first time Leonel had come here, he had barely formed Spear Force. The fact he could take a single step at all was a testament to how strong his mind was.
    But now, Leonel had fully grasped the Four Season Realm. Though this wasn't perfectly tailored to the spear, it could be said that the spear, and every other weapon, was perfectly tailored to it.
    The combination of this comprehension and Leonel's strong mind made the journey forward surprisingly easy. Even when it began to grow difficult, a sharp Spear Force appeared around Leonel, slicing through the presence of the spears around him.
    The clashing of blades sung in the air, but Leonel's steps didn't pause.
    By now, the spears around him had completely morphed. From wooden and half broken, they began to sing with their own sort of majesty. In fact, they quickly rose from the lower Black levels, jumping to Tier 5, through Tier 6 and past Tier 7.
    By the time Leonel got to the range of the Quasi Silver Peaks, there were nothing but Bronze Grade spears around, each radiating a palpable aura even beyond that of his Chain Spear.
    'This is the true Fifth Dimensionбн'
    Leonel thought about where he had sensed this before, only for his mind to flash to thoughts of a massive flying ship ripping through the barrier of Earth's Fold of Reality.
    'So that's whereбн He was in the Fifth Dimension, but suppressedбн'
    Leonel shook his head, still not wanting to think of such things.
    He basked in the aura of these spears, still not realizing the kind of treasure trove that was before him.
    As far as Leonel was concerned, after completing his Divine Armor, he now had the skills to begin crafting Bronze treasures, all he needed was the material to do so.
    However, even for him, a Quasi Silver treasure was leagues away. He neither had the strength necessary to claim one from a Zone, nor the skill necessary to Craft one.
    In Leonel's eye, all he could see was a single silver light, standing tall atop a Spear Peak. But, unlike the rolling hills of the Quasi Bronze Peaks, this one looked like a small mountain, stretching over a hundred meters tall.
    Leonel's gaze glowed.. He had finally found something else he could throw himself into.

 Chapter 590 - Kitchen

    Leonel appeared in the Lab Setting, his chest heaving. He sent a gaze toward the silver spear in his hand, shaking his head at how crazy he was. He felt like he could have really died climbing that mountain.
    The presence of this spear made him feel suffocated, let alone the fact its polearm alone was over three meters long. It could only be described as a monstrous weapon. Even now, it was shining too brightly for Leonel to get a good look at it.
    Leonel squinted, but all he could barely make out was the fact this spear was also double sided, similar to the Wind Domain Quasi Bronze spear he had run into previously. In addition, this spear seemed to be able to split into three portions connected by chains.
    Of course, Leonel couldn't see any of this very clearly. He had only gotten a faint vision of the spear when he first touched it. Outside of that, he had nothing else to pull from.
    Leonel could feel that the spear was struggling against his grasp as though it had a mind of its own. Clearly, it felt like Leonel wasn't worthy of it.
    In truth, Leonel couldn't blame it.
    The normal way to use Spear Domain would be to slowly master the spears that surrounded the base of the Spear Peak. The comprehension of these spears would give one the insight necessary to comprehend the Domain of the spear at the Peak. Only then would one then gain the acknowledgement of the spear in question.
    But, Leonel had bulldozed his way to the top, relying on a combination of his mental strength and his Four Seasons Realm. He really had no business wielding such a spear.
    Beyond this, there seemed to be a qualitative change in weapons after the Bronze Grade as well.
    While Leonel's Fourth Dimensional weapons were only good for their quality and sharpness, effectively, this spear seemed to be able to affect change in the surroundings. Some of the Force Arts that formed its foundation seemed to flash into existence from time to time, making their displeasure known.
    "Shut up."
    Leonel said faintly, cursing the spear as he fell into a deep sleep.
    **
    "бн You idiotбн. Sleeping on the floorбн. What were you thinkingбн"
    Leonel could vaguely sense his body being hauled out of the Lab Setting. Before he knew it, he was being thrown into a pool of water.
    He shot up in confusion, his fatigue vanishing into a feeling of surprise. However, by the time he had shot to the top of the pool, the culprit had already vanished.
    Leonel wiped his face, sliding his hair back from his eyes.
    In the end, he chuckled and shook his head.
    How long had he slept? A few days probably? It was no wonder Aina just tossed him into the water like this.
    'Spear?'
    Leonel blinked, looking around him to find that his spear was nowhere to be seen.
    He sent his sight into Spear Domain, only to find the spear back on the Spear Peak.
    Leonel shook his head, but he didn't mind too much. Whenever he entered Spear Domain, he would reappear where he had been last. So, at the very least, he didn't need to climb that mountain again. He could just snatch the spear whenever he wanted.
    'If it's double sided, could it still be called a spear?'
    Leonel shook his head, it didn't matter much. During his time in Spear Domain, he had seen many weapons that he'd have a hard time classifying as a spear. But, he found no real point in thinking about it too much.
    бн
    After he cleaned himself, Leonel walked out of the bathhouse to suddenly catch a whiff of something.
    His tongue involuntarily watered, his steps quickening.
    He had hardly been to the place he was headed in. Though he knew the Abode Setting had everything a normal house would, the kitchen simply wasn't a place he frequented. But, this was the first time Leonel could remember smelling food that made him feel as though he was floating on air.
    Of course, Leonel had smelt good food before. It was just that he never had the appetite to match, so it never really hit him like it did now. And, even after his appetite had returned in full forceбн well, 90% of Earth was nothing but collapsed buildings and vast ocean now. So, where would he have a chance to smell such delicacies?
    Leonel rounded a corner and appeared within a luxurious kitchen.
    If a chef could see this place, they would definitely curse Leonel for wasting such treasures. But, it truly wasn't his fault.
    Much of the things in this place, Leonel had no idea how to use. It was all a mixture of extremely high-tech and ancient cooking devices that left his head spinning. On one corner of the room, there was an oven that looked more like a planetary destruction weapon, but on the other side, there was a stone oven that looked like a place one might have cooked pizza with 500 years ago.
    Of course, what Leonel didn't know was that with every upgrade of the Segmented Cube, not only did the Cleansing Waters improve, but so did the gardens and the kitchen as well. The devices in this place could burn even a beast on the verge of entering the Fifth Dimension to a crisp. In fact, with some creativity and patience, it could even cook true Fifth Dimensional beings as well.
    This might not sound like a big deal, but if one thought of the Dimensions properly, it was like giving mortals the power to cook Gods. It was insane that Leonel hadn't seen this place's value before.
    Of course, in the middle of this large kitchen, there was a petite young lady wearing her hair up in a bun. Beads of sweat fell down her face as she bit her lip, her expression the picture of absolute focus.
    Leonel seemed to get lost in her efforts. As hard as he had worked to forget things these past few days, just this seemed enough to make him ignore the rest of the world even if it was collapsing around him.
    Seemingly sensing something, Aina turned toward Leonel with a bright smile on her face as she wiped her brow, the high temperatures of the stove she was working over causing whisps of water vapor to rise from her skin.
    Leonel's heart skipped a beat.

 Chapter 591 - Feast

    Leonel should have been taking in what the rest of the room had to offer, but truthfully, he couldn't take his eyes off of Aina. Everything from the beads of sweat falling down her face to the apron clinging to her curves made his heart stop.
    Aina's smile faded into one of confusion.
    "What's wrong?"
    For a moment, Aina became worried. In truth, she had taken Leonel's things without asking and even started using the kitchen wares and appliances too. Though Leonel had said to treat this place like her home, had she maybe gotten a little too comfortable?
    She blushed in embarrassment, trying to figure out how she should apologize. Though Leonel never spoke about his parents, Aina had gained a few tidbits here and there, definitely enough to know that this place was left behind by his father. After all, she had been there when Leonel first got the Segmented Cube.
    For all she knew, this place was very important to Leonel but now whatever sentimental value it might have had was washed away by her cooking.
    But, before she could form the words of apology, she found a large shadow enveloping her.
    Leonel hugged Aina tightly, seemingly not feeling much from the heat around them at all. At his current level, it might as well have been a slight breeze tickling his skin and nothing more.
    Aina was stunned for a moment. But when she realized what was happening, she panicked.
    "You бн you're going to burn yourself!"
    Leonel pulled back and grinned, his smile beaming. Clearly, though, he didn't take Aina's warning very seriously.
    In truth, even Leonel didn't quite know why he was so excited. There was just something about the current situation that felt right.
    Of course, if he said this aloud, Aina would probably beat him to death. He might as well have put his foot in his mouth saying that she belonged in the kitchen.
    Still, even though he chose to keep these words to himself, he still beamed beside himself, unable to stop himself from feeling happy for the first time in several days.
    Leonel looked around, only to find a large steel table filled with delicacies. Each had a small cut in them, making it obvious that someone diligent had gone through and tasted each and every one.
    "бн You did all this?" Leonel asked.
    Seeing that Leonel wasn't made at her, Aina's smile returned. But, before she could answer, a hint of panic colored her features. She had almost forgotten something important.
    Aina ignored Leonel's question, dashing to the stove and flipping a pan.
    What looked like an elaborate omelet, expelling a rich fragrance, flipped in the air to reveal a golden brown base that seemed crisp just to sight alone.
    Aina breathed a sigh of relief before rushing out of the kitchen, pan in hand.
    Leonel blinked in confusion before hurrying after her. But, what he found at the end of her run was something that left him even more stunned than the kitchen had.
    Unlike the kitchen, Leonel had been here several times. In fact, he frequented this place. However, he had never seen it look like this.
    The dining room of the Abode Setting was large enough to comfortably feed a family of eight. But, at the moment, every stretch of table was completely covered with a plate or plates of food.
    Aina stood on her tippy toes, carefully sliding the omelet onto a layered dish as though crowning her final achievement.
    Aina wiped her brow with a forearm again before smiling lightly. It was only at that moment that Leonel understood that all the dishes that took up the steel table were nothing but experiments.
    Leonel's heart couldn't help but warm. He had no idea how much effort Aina had put into trying different combinations of beast meat and herbs to eventually come up with all of this, but he was quite frankly left stunned.
    "What are you just standing there for?" Aina looked toward Leonel. "Eat!"
    And so Leonel did.
    He hardly remembered the first bite, but he most definitely lamented the last. He had thought that maybe like those comedic animes his dad always made him watch, he'd have to pretend to love Aina's food to make her feel better. But the reality was completely outside his expectations.
    Not only did the food look and smell good, it was so delicious that Leonel felt as though he was ascending to another realm. And, in fact, in a way, he was. It was even to the point where even the injuries he hadn't bothered to heal to this point as though a badge to remind him of something, had begun to heal on their own.
    Aina watched on with a smile on her face, her elbows on the table and her hands cupping her face. Though she too had a great appetite, after all the taste tests she had done over the last few days, she was as full as could be at the moment.
    If Leonel knew this, he would probably be even more stunned. With all the tiny bites he had seen beforeбн Just how many test dishes would she have to have made in order to be full?
    However, Leonel was so engrossed in eating that he didn't even realize that Aina didn't have anything for herself. It was only after he had his last bite that he looked up at her as though he was looking at a monster.
    Leonel gaze locked onto Aina, seemingly not wanting to waste time looking at anything else.
    Aina blinked. "бн I'm not part of the feast, you know."
    Leonel was stunned out of his shock into a fit of laughter when he heard these words.
    "And why not?" He grinned slyly.
    Aina shook her head and mumbled under her breath.
    "Menбн Maybe Savahn was right, you lot can never be satisfied."
    Leonel coughed and held his chest.
    Another fatal blow.
    Aina giggled, seemingly pleased by Leonel's reaction. But after a while, her expression grew to one of worry, scanning Leonel.
    "Are you alright?"

 Chapter 592 - You Know?

    Leonel sighed hearing Aina's question. Quite frankly, he didn't know how to respond.
    Was he alright? Well, technically, there wasn't anything wrong with him. His life wasn't in danger, his future wasn't exactly bleakбн Truthfully, he didn't have very much to worry about at all.
    Of course, if the members of Shield Cross Stars heard these thoughts of his, it would be hard to tell how they would react. After all, no one had ever had such a nonchalant response to being designated a Tier 3 Criminal.
    To put matters into perspective, to even be labeled a Tier 9 Criminal was enough to have bounty hunters breathing down your neck. To leap from a Tier 4 Criminal to a Tier 3 was the equivalent of being a felon that could be sentenced to consecutive life sentences. Leonel was quite literally only short of individuals known for destroying worlds, solar systems and galaxies. This was how serious this matter was.
    Yet, Leonel hardly spared a thought toward this matter. In fact, ever since his conversation with his grandfather, it was all that had been on his mind. He couldn't find a reason to care about anything else.
    If it wasn't for the fact that Leonel had already sworn to himself to find a cure for Aina, he might have had no other purpose but to lounge around in depression at the moment.
    Maybe the harshest truth of it all was that Leonel didn't feel that this matter was even as serious as that. Depression was often something a person couldn't control, an imbalance in the chemicals of the mind that caused up and down swings in mood. Leonel couldn't say he was going through such a thing, but what he did know was that he felt everything that had once been in his control was slowly but surely slipping away.
    Leonel sighed again.
    "I just don't feel like I have as much of a grasp on things as I once did. I find it laughable that I thought I understood anything to begin with."
    Aina gazed toward Leonel, unsure of how she should answer.
    She didn't feel as strongly about certain things as Leonel did. The deaths of the common folk of Earth? She didn't spare them a thought. There were some things about this cruel world that she was just numb to. If it wasn't for the fact it was someone she cared about feeling this way, even to this point she might not have spared a thought toward those matters.
    However, at the same time, she didn't want Leonel to keep running from his own thoughts. She was herself while he was him. They would never be the same. While she found it easy to ignore such things, Leonel wasn't the same.
    That saidбн Aina felt that there was something off about how much Leonel cared, almost as though he was trying to cling to ideals that weren't his own while he ran from an even larger problem.
    Unfortunatelyбн Maybe the one things Leonel had never told Aina was about his conversation with Coach Owen and the truth surrounding his birth. Whether by coincidence and subconsciously, or on purpose and consciously, she didn't have the final piece of the puzzle that she needed.
    "Did you always know how to cook this well?" Leonel shook his head, quickly changing the subject.
    Aina realized what he was doing, but there were some things that couldn't be pressed. If Leonel didn't want to talk about it, forcing him to do so would only make him shut down.
    "No," Aina replied with a smile, "Usually it was Yuri who always took care of the cooking. I was bored so I thought I would try my hand at it."
    Aina waved off her efforts with a hand. But, Leonel's silent smile seemed to see right through her.
    "I think it's more than just that." Leonel said after Aina began squirming in her seat beneath his gaze. "There was something special about your cooking, as though it had its own unique flow of energy. It was definitely beyond anything I've ever eaten before."
    Aina couldn't help but smile at such praise. Just that sentence alone seemed to make all her efforts worthwhile.
    "I'm not sureбн I only relied on my ability to tell me what combinations would work well. In the end, this was the product."
    "Your ability evolved?"
    "Mm." Aina nodded. "Beyond self-healing and my training intuition, I can tell what resources I need to consume to improve myselfбн"
    Leonel's gaze glowed. Even without knowing much about the Dimensional Verse, Leonel felt that this ability would most definitely be exceptionally rare. If just a few days of experimentation allowed Aina's cooking to have such effects, what if she put in more effort than that?
    "Have you ever thought about becoming a Force Pill Refiner?" Leonel suddenly asked.
    "Force Pill Refinerбн" Aina was stunned.
    They were called a lot of things. Force Pill Refiners, Alchemists, Potionsmiths, Elixir Craftersбн
    In truth, their products didn't always come in the form of pills. Sometimes it was Elixirs and Potions, sometimes it was ointments and topical creams, and yet other times it could come in the form of brews orбн food.
    Though they came in many different variations, their core principles were similar enough to be lumped into a single group. But, much like languages across worlds, they often had different methods of communication to accomplish the same goals.
    This was why Leonel was so certain that if Aina could do this, translating her ability to create pills, elixirs, or ointments wouldn't be too large of a leap. Even if she only wanted to focus on food it wouldn't be a major loss, albeit a waste of her talent.
    Aina smiled. "You know about such things?"
    Leonel almost blushed if it wasn't for the fact his skin was so thick.
    Aina wasn't wrong. Usually, it was her teaching him about things like this. He was about as ignorant as it came when it was in regards to matters of the Dimensional Verse. It could be said that the only reason Leonel knew about this profession at all was due to the introductory Crafting lessons his father had given him.
    "But you're right." Aina continued after teasing Leonel. "I think that learning more systematically rather than relying on my talent will help me improve faster."
    In Aina's mind, all that mattered was if she could grow stronger. Becoming a Force Pill Crafter was definitely one such method. It would definitely help her self-training reach a completely new level.
    Just as Leonel was about to respond, his ring began to vibrate.
    'Huhбн Valiant Heart Mountainбн? So soon?'

 Chapter 593 - Teleportation

    Leonel and Aina's gaze met, both clearly able to see the other's surprise. However, after a moment, they found it easier to accept.
    When Leonel spoke with Sael, the overseer of the Brave City trial at the time, he learned that Valiant Heart Mountain would be teleporting all its candidates at once in order to save on costs.
    Though Leonel didn't think much of it at the time, it was clear that Valiant Heart Mountain wasn't in the best of positions at the moment if they were penny pinching to that extent. But, Leonel didn't care much. He already had a great distrust of organizations. The only reason he was going was because of Aina. At least this way, he could make sure she wouldn't have to deal with any injustices.
    Of course, Leonel also had no idea that Sael had already reported him to the higher ups of Valiant Heart Mountain, causing a fissure to appear in upper management. The details of this matter, though, would be left unknown to Leonel for a long while. But, it seemed that those of Valiant Heart Mountain saw this as an opportunity as well, not having any idea that the supposed Morales Clan Heir they were banking their futures on was completely ignorant to his status.
    "I guess we should prepare." Leonel finally spoke.
    Aina nodded. "I'm going to go change."
    Aina stood up and hesitated seeing all the dishes that lay empty. She couldn't just leave them here.
    Leonel grinned. "Let me watch you change and I'll wash the dishes."
    Aina blushed furiously, glaring at Leonel.
    "Pervert."
    Leonel laughed as Aina ran away, picking up the dishes that were left.
    "Is there a dishwasher?" Leonel asked the dictionary, hoping for the best.
    Luckily, he wasn't disappointed. After rinsing the dishes a bit and stuffing the machine full, Leonel turned his attention to his own clothing change.
    Stripping off the tatters that remained of his clothing, he slipped on the white hammer pants given to him by Sael and tightly wrapped the cloth belt around his waist.
    Leonel couldn't help but grin. He felt like he was Aladdin, so where was his genie?
    Shaking his head to get rid of his childish thoughts, Leonel adjusted the cloth belt so that its end dangle between his legs, revealing the hidden ancient patterns.
    Finally, he pulled out the Egyptian like neckwear.
    'Heavy...' Leonel thought as he had the almost solid piece of black steel in his hand. The neck piece alone was at least 50 pounds, it had quite the heft to it.
    Aina walked in to find Leonel changing in the kitchen. Toward such a scene, she really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Didn't he have his own bedroom? What was he doing?
    Then again, now that she thought about it, Leonel's room had become the place the two of them slept in. So, maybe it couldn't really be considered 'his room' anymore.
    Aina blushed slightly, but quickly shook her head to tease Leonel for his ridiculous choice of location. Unfortunately, before she could, Leonel stood his full height, his backview enveloping her vision.
    His tanned skin seemed to emit a slight sheen of bronze, the definition of his back and the way it flexed slightly with his every movement made Aina flashback to moments when her hands ran across those deep trenches. It was the kind of back she could rely on, the kind she had laid upon as Leonel stomped out her worst fears.
    Aina blushed from something other than embarrassment, turning her head away and pretending as though she hadn't seen anything.
    Why did Valiant Heart Mountain have such a provocative dress code?
    What Aina didn't know was that as she looked away, Leonel sensed her presence and looked back only to have the same exact thought she had had.
    The only difference between the male uniform and the female uniform was a second cloth band that wrapped around the chest. But, this one was white to match the pants rather than being the same black as the cloth belt.
    However, this only served to leave Leonel short of breath. He had understood ever since that day in the bathhouse why Aina also wore that loose fitting military garb. But, seeing her wear such a thing practically stopped his heart.
    The way her pants clung to her hips, the subtle but feminine definition of her abs after every breath, the way her chest cloth elegantly curved to display those two delicacies that Leonel could still faintly feel on his palms...
    Leonel had seen his fair share of women who were even more scantily clad than this. But, only Aina could make his heart flutter.
    "Hm?" Aina jumped, but she couldn't run away before Leonel's hands were already on her hips.
    The blush on her face had still yet to vanish, making her all the more alluring.
    "Wait! The teleportation is --."
    Leonel's lips sealed her own.
    Aina's eyes widened, but after a moment, she seemed to fall victim to Leonel's advances. Her hands found their way to that very back she was dreaming of tracing, her eyes closing as she lost herself in another world.
    Leonel pulled back, grinning. Aina's eyes slowly opened, only to feel as though a devil was smiling down at her.
    Aina looked away, trying to avoid his gaze. But what she saw in her surroundings made her want to dive back into his arms before finding a hole to crawl into.
    What should have been the Segmented Cube's kitchen had suddenly become the midway point of a mountain larger than anything Aina had ever seen.
    At the mountain pass, there were two pillars, each over a hundred meters tall and inscribed with the images of war and roaring beasts. Their presence alone, despite being so far away, made the Gates of Brave City seem like nothing more than child's play.
    However, what had Aina wanting to hide away wasn't the mountain, nor the pillars, nor even the floating islands in the distance... it was the fact that there were suddenly thousands of youths around them, each at this very same mountain pass.
    Leonel laughed at Aina's flustered reaction. Isn't this what she gets for teasing him all the time? He finally got a bit of revenge.
    Ah, it tasted sweet. Now that he thought about it, she tasted quite sweet too. He almost wanted another taste.
    However, his good mood didn't last very long.
    "If I had a face like that, I'd be looking for a place to hide too."

 Chapter 594 - Women

    Leonel's expression darkened. Aina's own, which had just been filled with embarrassment, almost instantly became as still as a lake. If it wasn't for the fact that she had just been so animated, one would think that she was nothing more than a statue, a puppet that was completely unaffected by the outside world.
    A cold wind swept through the grounds.
    In truth, not many were paying attention to the situation. Though Aina and Leonel had just appeared out of seemingly thin air, so had everyone else who had come to this place. In fact, even to this very moment, there were still more youths popping up, looking wide eye'd toward the massive pillars on either side of the mountain pass.
    With this concentration of people, there were no doubt several conversations happening at once, especially since those from similar worlds had been teleported to the same spots much like Leonel and Aina.
    This was all to say that this singular sentence hardly traveled a few meters before getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the excited youths around them. In fact, it was very likely that the person who spoke these words didn't even mean for Leonel and Aina to hear them in the first place, they were just mocking and jeering from within their friend group.
    Yet, at that moment, Leonel's gaze turned toward the voice, easily able to pinpoint it amidst the sea of noise.
    The young woman who had spoken was dressed in an attire identical to Aina, as were all the women accepted into Valiant Heart Mountain. Though, there seemed to be a very poor ratio of men to women in this place. There were at least five or six males to every one female.
    Unlike Aina, though, this young woman seemed to lean into her sexuality. Her cloth belt was extremely loose, allowing her pants to just barely hang from her hips. At the same time, whereas Aina's cloth wrap was large enough to even cover a portion of her belly, this woman seemed to have chosen to fold her own as narrowly as possible, causing two round protrusions to be just barely visible from the bottom.
    It was most definitely this heavenly flavor of underboob that had caused males even from other worlds to flock around her like a den of wolves. Even those males who weren't as confident in their strength observed her from a distance, trying to sneak a few more peeks in as they bet on how many rounds of battle she could last without exposing a little nipple.
    Leonel gaze made the young lady accidentally bite her tongue, her pupils trembling slightly.
    As expected, she really hadn't thought that Leonel would hear her. But, seeing his reaction made her feel as though her head had been dunked into a vat of ice.
    When she saw that Leonel was a man, though, she seemed to shake herself awake. Maybe she would have been scared if Aina was the one exuding this kind of pressure, but what male would deem to harm her?
    'Hmph, maybe his world is filled with ugly women or something. To be so handsome yet pick out such a tramp, is he blind?'
    The young woman stuck her chest out more prominently as though to provoke Leonel into dropping his seething rage.
    Originally, the young lady had only commented off handedly, not planning on confronting Aina personally. After all, she wasn't a fool, she had no idea the kind of background these people had, nor did she understand anything about their tempers. Plus, on top of that, she was a genius in her own right, she wouldn't be so bored as to go out of her way to bully someone without cause.
    But now that her off handed joke had been accidentally heard, she also had no intention of backing down. This was Valiant Heart Mountain, a place where the strong thrived and the weak got eaten. If she showed weakness now, her future was practically finished.
    Howeverбн The glaze-over affect her ample breasts and outrageous curves usually had seemed to fall completely flat in the face of Leonel.
    With a step forward, Leonel's minor action seemed to cause the ground to quake. In an instant, what was a situation hardly anyone paid attention to had suddenly become the center of focus.
    The young lady's expression changed, not expecting Leonel to suddenly react like this.
    Before she could think of how to react, though, several men stepped forward to block Leonel's path just as Aina grabbed onto Leonel's forearm.
    Leonel frowned and looked back.
    "You cause trouble everywhere you go." Aina said lightly. "Just leave it alone, it's not a big deal."
    Leonel's brow furrowed.
    Aina's lip curled. "What? You suddenly gain a little bit of strength and think it's okay to hit women now? Should I fear for myself? Maybe I should just forget about usбн"
    By the end of her words, Aina looked as though she was on the verge of tears.
    "Ahбн!"
    Leonel didn't know what to say. Sure, he had learned throughout his youth to never put hands on a woman, but that was back when their strength couldn't be compared to a man's. In this new world orderбн even this petite Aina's physical strength was greater than his own.
    Leonel was a very logical person, so the moment the foundation for his protective spirit toward women was no longer there, he likewise had no qualms about hitting and even killing them. In fact, he had already done so with a fair few from Joan all the way to Pisces.
    Where was the justice? How was he getting bullied for trying to defend his own woman?
    Leonel shook his head.
    "You win! You win! Don't cry!"
    Leonel's switch from murder machine to simping boyfriend was so abrupt that hardly anyone knew how to react. However, no one felt it more acutely than the young lady herself who suddenly had a massive weight taken off her shoulders. If it wasn't for support she got from another rare female and friend, she would have collapsed.
    When she looked back up, her gaze was filled with resentment as she gazed toward Leonel's back.
    She clenched her fists, her eyes practically spewing fire.. Seeing such a scene, the men who had gathered to protect her didn't seem intent on backing off after being instigated by Leonel.

 Chapter 595 - Appeared

    Leonel held his hands together while appeasing Aina, an ingratiating smile on his face. He didn't even spare the group behind him a glance. Or, maybe, he was truly entirely focused on Aina to begin with.
    Aina smiled slyly, seemingly enjoying Leonel's display. Wasn't this what he got for teasing her like that? Kissing her in front of so many people, what a bad guy.
    "Alright, I'll forgive you this one time."
    Leonel beamed as Aina flipped a palm to reveal her blue veined mask. She slipped it on, feeling more at ease now that the itchiness of her face was dying down.
    She had taken the mask off previously because she was worried about it being harmed in the kitchen. But the truth was that Leonel's Crafts weren't so fragile. After all, he had designed it to have great defensive prowess.
    But, the care she took for the gift spoke volumes about how much she appreciated it.
    Of course, those who had been paying attention had no idea that Aina was putting on her mask simply to alleviate the discomfort of her curse. To them, she had been ashamed by the young lady's previous words and had now chosen to hide her face.
    Such a scene provoked the sneers of the men who had tried been trying to prove themselves to the young lady. To get angry at such a beauty for a woman that looked like thatбн Had someone kicked this guy in the head when he was younger?
    Clearly, they were dissatisfied with how Leonel was ignoring them and even turning their back to them. But, they still felt that it was no longer appropriate to lash out.
    Still, they marked down Leonel in their minds. The moment they learned of his background, as long as he didn't have the capital to wield such arrogance, they would let him know the consequences of trying to impress women.
    Obviously, they hadn't sensed the irony of their own thoughts.
    "Miss Balthorn, are you alright."
    The young lady who had helped Balthorn withstand Leonel's gaze and helped her up spoke. Despite having been admitted into the same Organization, the young lady still didn't dare to be disrespectful to Balthorn. In fact, when she had made that comment about Ailsa, the young lady had even politely laughed along with the rest.
    The men sheathed their weapons and surrounded Balthorn as well, trying to radiate outward with a manly presence.
    They were all aware that Balthorn's background wasn't small. In fact, her family was a preeminent powerhouse of their quadrant. Amongst those who had come, she was most definitely amongst the most well taken care of.
    She was Balthorn Valynore, the young mistress of the Valynore family. The Valynore family was among the three most powerful on Planet Crars, a world on the brink of entering the Fifth Dimension and with the potential of a Sixth Dimensional world.
    If Leonel had heard this, he would have faintly recognized the nameбн In fact, among the prisoners he had taken from White City, there was a man who claimed to be from Planet CrarsX10, a subsidiary of Crars.
    Back then, Aina had told Leonel that Crars was among the most powerful worlds of their quadrants.
    As for how large a quadrant was, Leonel had no idea. He only assumed that it was at least a few solar systems worth of space. But, it was much vaster than this.
    Every Galaxy would have at most a few hundred quadrants. Though this seemed like a large number, if one considered the enormous size of a Galaxy, if a quadrant could be worth a single percentage of its size, it would be grandiose beyond imagining. At the very least, if Leonel's ancestors of the 21st century tried to cross such a distance, even their entire lifetimes wouldn't be enough. In fact, even a hundred generations wouldn't be enough either.
    For Crars to be among the dominant forces of a quadrant, there was no doubting its strength.
    That said, for Balthorn to be sent to Valiant Heart Mountain, an organization that was facing such struggles, it was clear that she wasn't very important to her family.
    Still, compared to the background of these young men, she was light years ahead. If they could gain her favor and become her husband, they'd feel as though they had lived a fulfilled life.
    "I'm fine." Balthorn said somewhat weakly, her heart still beating erratically.
    "There's no need to worry about that coward, Balthorn. I just checked, but that weakling is still in the Third Dimension. There's no threat from him, I could kill him as easily as slaughtering a chicken."
    Balthorn's eyes flashed when she heard these words.
    'Third Dimensionбн? You idiot. That only means he's even more talented than you. Do you think Valiant Heart Mountain has fallen far enough to let people in just because? If that was the case, why would I bother with coming here?'
    Balthorn bit her lip, suddenly feeling annoyed by all the flies buzzing around her. Seeing Leonel's attention completely focused on Aina, she bit her lip harder. The dichotomy between the kind of love the two women were receiving was striking to the point of being stifling.
    The young lady by Balthorn's side, Henorin, gazed between the former and Aina but in the end remained silent.
    In the distance, a young man watched all of this just as silently. Compared to the youths brimming with vitality around him, he seemed to have already placed a foot in his coffin. He was skinny to the point the line of his spine and his ribs were sinking against his skin. His complexion was pale to the point of being deathly. And, his back curved somewhat as though his head was too heavy to carry.
    He gazed toward Leonel for a moment before shifting back toward Balthorn.
    His tongue ran over his lips as he stared her up and down, his eyes focusing on her chest for an obscene amount of time.
    But, what was maybe more grating was the fact his tongue, rather than being a healthy pink, was a dull greyбн
    At that moment, the tall pillars of the mountain pass quaked and a portal opened within them to reveal several figures.
    It seemed the big shots of Valiant Heart Mountain had finally appeared.

 Chapter 596 - Twelve Hours

    Compared to the dress of the youths, the elders of Valiant Heart Mountain weren't dressed much differently at all. In fact, there were only two differences one could point out.
    The first was the color of their cloth belts. What dangled between their legs wasn't the black of the youths, but rather a striking red. At least, most of them wore this red as though dyed by centuries of blood. The old man that led them, though, wore one of copper, as though the blood that had once drenched his had rusted over with age.
    The second difference was a shawl draped over their shoulders. This matched the color of their cloth belts, giving them a more dignified appearance than the kids below.
    The old man's exposed torso was just as hollowed out as the pale young man from before. But, though his body seemed worn with age, his back was as straight as a javelin despite the fact he simultaneously used a walking stick.
    The atmosphere fell into silence as this group of five walked forward.
    One could feel the difference between realms of existence when standing before the powerful. Though these five elders had yet to speak a word, it felt as though there was a mountain weighing down on them all, as though they wouldn't be satisfied until they all kneeled in deference.
    Though the Dimensions felt like 'power levels', this wasn't the case. In fact, only talents like Leonel and Aina would feel this wayбн like crossing Dimensions and evolving to a higher state of being was no different than crossing any other barrier.
    However, to middling existences, the barrier between Dimensions was akin to Heaven and Earth.
    There was no doubt that each and every one of these elders stood as a Fifth Dimensional entity, a barrier that more than half of those here would never even cross, let alone travel so deeply into.
    This was a strength that they idealized, that they aspired to, that they respected from the deepest recesses of their heartsбн
    "бн Stop playing around."
    Leonel felt a strong elbow to his side and coughed lightly. He looked up to see what all the commotion was about only to find that no one dared to even breathe too harshly.
    When he saw the elders at the very front, he raised his brows.
    Leonel felt like a refreshing breeze was wrapping around his body. Unfortunately, he couldn't enjoy it very much because he seemingly only now remembered that he was still injured. Though Aina's food had helped him along, he was still only about 70% of his normal self, which was a miracle unto itself considering the state of his inner organs previously.
    Now that Leonel thought about it, Aina's food was definitely not enough for such a drastic improvement. Was he missing something?
    'Ohбн'
    Leonel suddenly remembered the odd state he had entered when he was completing his Divine Armor. Back then, he had vaguely felt an energy integrating with his body and improving it. If it wasn't for the fact he hadn't been swallowing any Metal Essence at that moment, his Metal Body might have already improved to Tier 3 or 4 by now.
    It was only now that Leonel understood that that feeling must have come from the energy he absorbed from the Puppet Master.
    Due to how powerful Leonel had become, he had almost forgotten that defeating Invalids could improve his strength. But, this wasn't really his fault. He was so powerful but Earth only had Third Dimensional Invalids to deal with. Those existences could barely move the needle for him.
    Yet, he had gone from Third Dimensional Invalids, to a Variant Invalid on the verge of entering the Fifth Dimension. The difference was striking. It was no wonder the Puppet Master's residual energy had such a great benefit to him.
    In fact, now that he was paying attention, Leonel could tell that he had only absorbed about 20 or 30% of the energy. Unfortunately, his body was too injured to absorb any more or improve any further.
    It seemed he would have to focus on healingбн
    By now, his Healing Branch ability could allow him to heal back to a perfect state immediately. But it seemed a waste to use in this situation considering how long it took to recharge.
    'Forget it, I'll be patient for now.'
    The elders scanned the crowd in silence, allowing the youths to soak up the feeling of being in their presence.
    This wasn't just for the sake of showing off their might, it was also to give them a goal to aspire to while also making their authority unquestionable. Every organization was built from the bottom up, the more obedient and simultaneously ambitious their fresh blood was, the better.
    But, in this crowd of serious youths, the one individual with an absentminded gaze couldn't help but stand out. It also most definitely didn't help that there was a small clearing around this person and also that this person was far taller than most on average.
    Several gazes landed on Leonel. The change should have been enough to shock him awake, but Leonel continued to be lost in his own world as though his daydreaming was far more important than anything happening here.
    Of course, he wasn't doing this on purpose. What these else thought should have been obvious pressure was like a spring breeze to Leonel. If it wasn't for Aina pinching his waist and startling him, he probably wouldn't notice at all.
    Seeing the gazes of the elders, Leonel smiled lightly and stood at attention, respectfully keeping his hands to his sides. There was truly nothing about his actions that the elders could pick out. But, their lips couldn't help but twitch regardless.
    The old man at the front swept his gaze over Leonel one more time before he began to speak.
    "Do you all see these pillars to my back?"
    The shuffling of necks resounded through the mountain pass as they all looked upward.
    "These pillars are the foundation of Valiant Heart Mountain. You all might not understand now, but this is our home, our lifeblood, our heart.
    "You all may think that since you have made it here, you can be considered members of our Valiant Heart Mountain. However, to me, unless you can walk through these gates on your own, you will never be. Even if you die before my eyes, I'll never raise a finger to help you.
    "Luckily for you brats, my methods were deemed too cruel. So you have three years to walk through these Gates on your own two feet.
    "That said, even if I don't have my way, I also have no intention of letting you all go so easily.
    "Below this mountain pass, there are numerous beasts. Some of them are tagged while some of them are not. These tags carry the teleportation talismans you need to enter the mountain peak without crossing these Gates.
    "There are 3802 of you here. There are exactly 1901 tagged beasts. Among these tags, there are 10 golden tags that will allow you one trip to the Valiant Vault.
    "You have 12 hours."
    The wind around the youths suddenly stilled to a crawl.

 Chapter 597 - Disappointing Choice

    The atmosphere froze for just a moment before the youths suddenly erupted into movement. What once was an orderly field of promising geniuses became akin to a mosh pit. But, in this context, with the strength of the people in question, it felt as though this mountain that Valiant Heart had called home for so long might collapse.
    Earth cracked, air crackled, the sounds of shouts of anger and pain sounded as the so-called geniuses fought and jostled for position, each trying to make their way down the mountain faster than the last.
    In what felt like no more than half a minute, over 90% of the field had been completely dispersed. As for those that remained, they had long since been trampled by the crowd to the point of being on their last breaths.
    There was no doubt that amidst all the chaos, some had taken advantage of the situation to get rid of some competition.
    However, true to his word, the old man didn't raise a single finger, watching these youths with broken bodies bleed out without a single word. Aside from a sweep of his gaze, he spared them nothing more even as some of them begged and pleaded.
    Still, there were a few that seemed to stand out, geniuses who had kept their calm even in the face of such harsh elimination requirements.
    There was the pale youth who was, even now, still intently staring at Balthorn. There was a burly young man with twin short sabers strapped to his back иC juxtaposed to his size, they felt more like curved daggers than saber-like weapons. There was a young woman whose hair was pulled into two ponytails that combined down her chest. And, finally, there was Balthorn herself.
    Each stared at the gates intently, unwilling to take their eyes off of it. Of courseбн With the exception of the pale youth.
    Among these youths were Leonel and Aina who hadn't moved from the very beginning. But, rather than having done so out of curiosity, their reasoning was far different from the norm. Rather, Leonel had begun teasing Aina before she could even think of the next step she wanted to take.
    But, after a while, Leonel raised his head to take a look at all the carnage.
    With furrowed brows, he raised a hand.
    "[Grand Heal]."
    Strong Light Elemental Force descended from the skies, falling onto the bodies of the youths who lay bleeding out on the ground. If they were really left for just a few more minutes, it was likely that none of them would survive.
    This minor action caused Leonel to once again become the center of attention.
    The old man raised an eyebrow, but he couldn't exactly become mad at Leonel's actions. After all, there was no rule against this.
    'Light Elemental Forceбн?' The gaze of the elders and youths sharpened.
    This was no longer Earth where there were talents at every corner. In such a place, Leonel's Light Elemental Force stuck out like a sore thumb. There wasn't a soul here who didn't understand just how rare Light Elemental Force was.
    The youths who had been focused on the two pillars looked back toward Leonel, a hint of seriousness in their expressions. But, Leonel simply cast [Grand Heal] again and again, lamenting the fact his healing capabilities were still severely lacking.
    It was only after the last person's life was no longer in danger that he came to a stop and turned his attention toward Aina.
    "What do you think?"
    Leonel was only here to follow, truthfully. He had come here not because he wanted to, but because of Aina. So, he would let her take the lead.
    "The easiest method is to just cross the gates on our own." Aina replied.
    Leonel looked around. It was clear that they weren't the only one with this idea. Even that woman, Balthorn, was standing here in preparation to go about the same thing.
    The whole idea of finding then fighting beasts just sounded like a hassle. If one didn't have acute senses like Leonel, you were practically relying on luck.
    "What is your goal for coming here, though? What do you want to accomplish?"
    Aina's gaze sharpened.
    "To become as strong as possible."
    Leonel grinned, Aina's resolve even making the small hairs on his skin stand at attention.
    "In that case, let's go catch some beasts."
    "Hm?" Aina blinked, looking at Leonel with a hint of confusion.
    Wasn't looking for the beasts a waste of time? Why was Leonel suddenly talking about going after them now?
    However, Leonel didn't explain, taking Aina's small hand and leaving a streak of gold in his wake as he dashed into the forest.
    The old man raised an eyebrow, watching Leonel's back retreat. But in the end, he shook his head. He had thought that he had run into a talent, but this one actually made the same choice as all the others. This action alone considerably dulled whatever surprise Leonel's Light Elemental Force had given them.
    They were called Valiant Heart Mountain for a reason. Talent was secondary to them, what was most important was what was within a person's heart. If Leonel wasn't willing to fight and put his life on the line, what worth did his talent have?
    The youths seemed to agree with the old man's assessment. They had thought that they met another rival, only for him to be a coward. It was quite disappointing indeed.
    Ironically, it was only Balthorn who looked toward Leonel's receding back with an eyebrow raised.
    That manбн What was he thinking?
    Unbeknownst to Balthorn, she had already become curious about Leonel. A woman's mind was complex indeedбн Why she would feel such a way about a man who had been moments away from killing her just a while ago was beyond normal human understanding.
    Unfortunately, before she could think any longer, the burly man with twin sabers stepped forward, his heavy steps causing the ground to quake.
    "My name is Ingkath Miadan! I don't need your tags, I will climb up this mountain on my own two feet!"
    His roar caused the birds in the surroundings to shoot into the skies. Who knew when they would be confident enough to return to their nests?

 Chapter 598 - Bear?

    Ingkath feet stomped forward as he began to make his way up the mountain, his eyes completely focused on the pillars before him.
    Though the elders of Valiant Heart Mountain stood between the pillars, the youths themselves were a ways down the mountain, a few hundred meters from the foot of the Gates, in fact.
    From their position, sensing the pressure of the Gates was impossible. So, in the beginning, Ingkath sensed nothing and continued to walk forward and up courageously.
    However, the instant he crossed the 300 meter line to the Gates, a roar suddenly shook his mind. It was so loud and sudden that blood began to ooze from his ears.
    Despite this, Ingkath remained on his own two feet, his expression finally growing serious.
    This roar had no tangible owner. In fact, it looked as though he was the only one to have heard it at all.
    The elders at the top continued to stand there as though nothing happened and the youths to his back who had yet to make a move were only watching him without saying a word. It wasn't until blood began dripping from Ingkath's ears that the latter group began to feel like something was wrong.
    However, it was at that exact moment that Ingkath began to laugh, beating his fists against his brawny chest until his dark-ish skin became red.
    A strong surge of Force erupted from him as he shot forward.
    A barrage of bestial roars assaulted his psyche, making his every step heavy and his every movement labored. But, he continued to charge upward, his muscles rippling with vitality and ferocity.
    The young lady with twin ponytails braided to combine at her chest blinked with curiosity.
    After a while of watching, she too stepped forward.
    "Irolana of the Faex Tribe."
    She spoke softly, neatly patting her hair down as she too began to walk up.
    Balthorn and the pale youth didn't move for a long while.
    "If you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to dig your eyes out." Balthorn said coldly.
    The pale youth began to cackle. "Your tits are practically out for all to see, yet you don't want me to look. Is there no justice in this world?"
    "You want to die?" Balthorn turned toward the pale youth, her proud chest swaying with her movements like a rippling tide.
    "As long as it's by your hands, I think I'll enter my coffin with a happy expression on my face."
    Balthorn scoffed. "I don't like scrawny men."
    The pale youth continued to cackle.
    "Let me guess, you like tall, bronzed, and handsome men whoбн already have girlfriends?"
    Balthorn's glare became sharp. However, toward such a response, the pale youths cackling only became louder. In fact, it seemed to take so much energy out of him that he just might keel over and die at any moment.
    Though she didn't respond, her lack of one only seemed to make her more guilty.
    "Ai, women, women, women. I'll never understand them. Those brats that were flocking around you like a pack of hyenas just ran off, swearing to get you a tag or die trying. Yet, you're standing here thinking about a man who would have killed you for another woman. What should I call you exactly?"
    Balthorn's sharp gaze gave way to a curling smile.
    "What should you call me? How about a beauty you can gaze upon at your own risk, but can never touch regardless?"
    With these words said, Balthorn strode forward, clearly having no intention of waiting for those white knights of hers to retrieve a tag in her stead. As for the trouble they got into trying to do such a thing? She didn't care either.
    "Balthorn Valynore." She said simply and sweetly.
    Bowing once, she stepped onto the mountain pass.
    "Wait for me beauty!"
    The pale youth finally moved. As though a shadow, he appeared by Balthorn as though he had always been there.
    "My name is Radlis!" The pale youth spoke. But, it seemed that his words were aimed more for Balthorn than the elders above.
    бн
    Aina followed after Leonel with a raised eyebrow, but in the end, she didn't say anything to stop him. As far as she was concerned, Leonel wouldn't do anything to harm her. Plus, even if they fell behind by a step, it didn't really matter much. They were young and time was on their side, who was better and who was worse would be clear soon enough.
    The two hopped through the trees, streaking past groups of confused youths trying to find beasts to tackle of their own.
    Among these groups that they passed by, there were no small number of them that were already locked into their own fights to the death.
    There were over 3800 participants but only 1900 beasts. Even when one found a beast to attack, there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be ten others fighting you to do the same. In a lot of ways, this sort of trial was even more difficult than the trial above.
    Leonel shook his head as he watched the carnage beneath him. But this time, he didn't raise a finger to help. This was different from before. These were men and women fighting for their futures, who lived and died here would be up to themselves.
    After a long while, Aina finally couldn't help her curiosity any longer.
    "What's your goal? How will this help?"
    She continued to allow Leonel to pull her along, seemingly enjoying the feeling of his hand enveloping her own. But, she still didn't want to be kept in the dark.
    'Shh, shh. We're here.' Leonel used a combination of Camelot's silencing spells to achieve the effect of sending his voice directly to Aina once again.
    The two came to a grinding halt atop a tall tree.
    Down below, there was what appeared to be a large black bear. It had the characteristic tough fur and large, round body. It even had the rounded ears down perfectly.
    The only difference was that instead of having light fur around its snout, its own had a fiery shade of red fur. In fact, its eyes were the same striking crimson as though it was prepared and ready to tear anything down at any moment.
    'Thisбн? A bear?' Aina asked within Leonel's bubble.
    Leonel grinned.
    'You see a bear. But, I see our first golden tag.'
    Aina's eyes widened, suddenly understanding what Leonel wanted to do.

 Chapter 599 - Manly Man

    Seeing Aina's reaction, Leonel grinned and suddenly jumped down from the tree, a massive spear suddenly appearing in his hands.
    This spear was none other than the one he likened to a hammer. But in this situationбн It was perfect.
    Leonel's eyes flashed, a golden Domain spreading out around him. In that instant, not only did he become ten times heavier, but so did the over 5000-pound spear in his hand.
    The red-nosed bear suddenly sensed something. It looked up into the skies, a snarl taking over its features.
    It rose to its hind legs, roaring to the point of foggy, spittle filled breath assaulting Leonel.
    A strong red Force erupted around the bear, its body growing a size as its fur stood on end.
    It swiped a paw at the descending Leonel, imagining smashing this pesky human into meat paste.
    But, at the instant spear and paw met, an overwhelming strength assaulted the bear. Its bones creaked and groaned, before reaching their breaking point and suddenly snapping.
    A cry of pain left the beast, but its crimson gaze only seemed to become even more so.
    Leonel shifted his weight until it was as light as a feather, landing on the ground with subtle steps before shooting forward.
    He gripped the massive spear with both hand, his palms and fingers not large enough to even wrap all the way around its shaft. Yet, he wielded it as though it was no different from an extension of himself.
    Leonel sent a strong sweep across, pressing down on the injured beast.
    At that moment, he suddenly winced, feeling the fine cracks in his ribs he had been ignoring to this point.
    His attack slowed by just a margin, allowing the red-nosed bear to erupt with an even stronger red Force. The beast's healthy paw swung downward, coated by a blazing energy.
    The air in the surroundings heated up, the billowing roars of the bear tearing through the forest's canopy.
    BANG!
    The two attacks collided.
    Leonel's feet sunk into the soft soil, his knees bending and buckling.
    This beast's strength was no small matter. Leonel could tell why the old man had chosen it to be among those that carried the golden tags.
    By Leonel's estimation, this beast was at least as strong as a City Lord of Terrain which was about Tier 6 of the Fourth Dimension.
    Of course, Terrain wasn't exactly known for its talent, so its standard of Tier 6 was much lower than that of other worlds.
    Still, this kind of beast was difficult for Leonel to defeat without using the Four Seasons Realm, activating his Runes, or using his Dreamscape Battle Sense. Without the help of these factors, Leonel believed that he was actually far worse than this bear. He was only now bridging the gap thanks to two things.
    The first was his ability. Even without Dreamscape Battle Sense, Leonel's senses were far beyond what most could even aspire to, let alone claim to have. So his reactions and calculations in battle were perfect.
    The second was the most obviousбн His weapon.
    Leonel was using a Quasi Bronze weapon, a treasure a half step from the Fifth Dimension, against a beast in the middling Fourth Dimensional realms. There was no wonder he was able to stand his ground.
    If this was all, things would be fine. Leonel would still be confident in defeating this beast without tapping into his true strength. But, unfortunatelyбн He was still injured.
    Just as Leonel was about to clash with the bear again, a shadow suddenly fell from the skies and landed before him. The shadow seemed to only shift slightly, but the roaring of the bear came to an end, just as quickly.
    Leonel, who had been about to prepare himself for a tough battle, sighed and lowered his spear.
    "You know, you could have at least pretended that it was difficult." Leonel mumbled.
    Aina looked back innocently, her eyes blinking behind her mask.
    "Is your ego so fragile?"
    "Every man's ego is fragile." Leonel defended himself.
    Aina giggled. "Alright, I don't mind taking a step back then. You go."
    Leonel was about to puff up his chest in pride when he suddenly thought of something and turned a gloomy eye toward Aina.
    Unable to hold it back any longer, Aina burst into a fit of laughter, clenching at her stomach.
    "Go on now, manly man. Do your job."
    Disgruntled, Leonel could only step forward. Kneeling beside the beast's corpse, and to the tune of Aina's laughter, he began to cut open the beast's stomach and dig his way through before he finally found the golden tag he was looking for.
    He stood and tried to turn toward Aina, but she scurried away before he could even approach.
    She pinched at her nose, still unable to stop her laughter.
    "Do you feel more manly now?"
    Leonel looked at the bloody, organ littered, half eaten food covered mess in his hand, half wanting to cry and half wanting to vomit.
    This girlfriend of his was too cruel.
    бн
    Aina and Leonel shot through the forest, easily finding one golden tag after another. It seemed as though they had a cheat of some sort.
    The reality, though, wasn't that far from the truth.
    As the old man had said, each tag was capable of teleporting the one who claimed it past the mountain pass. But, the unspoken truth of this was that any beast with this tag was likewise marked by the Force Arts necessary to allow such teleportation.
    After realizing this, for Leonel, the matter was simple. His Internal Sight didn't have a very large range in this world. There was no doubt that this place was a Fifth Dimensional world, and as such, not only was the space in Leonel's spatial ring smaller here, but the range of his Internal Sight was only a few dozen meters to a hundred meters at most.
    However, the fluctuations in these Force Arts caused small ripples in space.
    Normally, one wouldn't be able to sense these ripples at all. Not only was the Space Elemental Affinity even more rare than the Light Elemental Affinity, but even if you had it, it was unlikely to be very strong.
    Leonel, however, had just completed his Divine Armor, giving him Space Elemental Affinity no worse than almost anyone within the Fourth Dimension. Though this Affinity would be useless to him after he outgrew his Divine Armor, and was somewhat weaker without summoning the Armor itself, this still remained true.
    Using this affinity, Leonel could easily pick out these tiny changes in space. And, once he locked onto a beast, it was a simple matter of using his Internal Sight to see whether the tag was gold or not.
    Beyond that, since he knew that the gold tags would only be in beasts of certain strength, he could just as easily not waste time scanning beasts that were too weak!
    Like this, Leonel and Aina tore through the mountain range, easily grasping all ten gold tags without the slightest hint of effortбн
    Well, the effort was minimal on Aina's part.. As for the poor sap that was Leonel, he would have to take at least a dozen showers before he felt clean.

 Chapter 600 - Rustling

    "There's got to be a better self-cleaning spell than thisбн"
    Leonel sighed, looking down at himself with a helpless expression. He really got taken advantage of this time around. Though he had already tried to cast several Water Elemental cleansing spells, his water affinity was so low that it hardly made a difference.
    To make matters worse, in this Fifth Dimensional world, as someone who had yet to touch upon this barrier, affinity was even more important. The higher tier the world, the more it took to move its Force.
    So, all of Leonel's attempts resulted in a light drizzle of water that made Aina sputter with laughter.
    Still, this didn't stop the two from easily taking down the tenth beast.
    "Now what?" Aina asked.
    Standing over the massive deer with steel-like horns lying beneath them, Leonel pondered for a moment. With these tags, teleporting to the core of Valiant Heart Mountain shouldn't be a problem. Having them in their grasp meant that their task was basically complete.
    However, before Leonel could answer, a rustling of leaves caught his attention.
    Under normal circumstances, Leonel would dismiss it as passing wind. With his senses, it was unlikely for anyone to approach so closely without him noticing, least of all those youths who had chosen to come after these tags rather than challenge the mountain pass directly.
    But, for the first time in a long while, Leonel felt a tingling in his spine.
    He remembered this feeling well. It was the feeling he got whenever the primitive man's consciousness warned him of something.
    By now, Leonel had lost count of the number of primitive male and female consciousnesses he had consumed the lives of. Originally, he hadn't thought it would have a great impact on him going into the future, but the more he absorbed, the sharper these instinctive reactions of his became.
    Ironically, when he was in his cold and calculating battle style, these instincts were dulled considerably. But, whenever he was relaxed and not expecting much, exactly like he was nowбн Those feelings would fire off.
    "Hmбн?"
    Aina seemed to have noticed that something was off as well.
    Previously, with their senses, they could make out the battles that had been happening in the distance. Considering the number of young geniuses versus the land they had to work with, it was no surprise that the next closest group wouldn't be more than a few hundred meters from you.
    But at this moment, they heard nothing.
    Leonel's lip curled.
    "It seems we have company."
    At that moment, Leonel wished he had a beard to stroke. But, just as always, his face was as bare as a baby's bottom.
    "Do you think you can scare them off with your scent?"
    Leonel coughed. His lack of a beard already ruined his cool moment, but this was just a nail in his coffin. Where was the love and support?
    Aina giggled underlaid an increase in the shuffling grass.
    "I wonder, though. If this person has an ability that can cut off my senses, why is it that they've left behind this shuffling grass?"
    Leonel thought aloud. It was clear that neither he nor Aina was taking this matter very seriously. Or, rather, it seemed that they weren't. The truth was that both had already gone on high alert.
    Everyone participating had already seen the disregard the elders had for the fallen youths. There was clearly an unspoken rule that anything went during these trials. Even if one or two people wouldn't be difficult to deal withбн What if it was dozens?
    At that moment, as though a veil had been undone, the surroundings were filled with hidden shadows.
    Beneath the shade of the trees and the foliage of the greenery, Leonel counted the movement of at least 30 individuals. They surrounded the couple from all sidesбн And though Leonel couldn't clearly see their faces just yet, there was no doubt their intent wasn't to exchange niceties.
    Leonel didn't seem too surprised by this outcome. There were too many people here, hiding the actions of both he and Aina were almost impossible. There was no doubt that they had been sighted jumping around the forest many times.
    One or two battles would have been fine. After all, there were only two of them, so they obviously needed to fight two battles to get enough tags. But, after the tenth, only a fool wouldn't be able to catch on to what was happening.
    The only thing Leonel was actually disappointed in was not sensing them previously. But, after some thought, he realized that whoever planned this was quite clever in their own right.
    For Leonel to be able to so easily pinpoint the golden tags, it would have been obvious to anyone observing that he had great sensory abilities. In that case, how could they not come prepared to deal with this?
    When the faces finally came into view, Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    He recognized a few, namely the young lady who had been by Balthorn's side, Henorin. But, following her were several youths that had been flocking around Balthorn as though she was a goddess.
    Somehow, though, despite how rowdy these youths were, Leonel got the faint feeling that they were following Henorin's directive. It was an odd feeling indeed, especially considering the young lady was in the middle the group, lightly clasping her hands together at her waist as though she didn't plan on raising a single finger.
    Despite Leonel's feelings, though, the one who stepped forward wasn't Henorin at all, but rather a young man who had threatened to skewer him with a weapon for the sake of Balthorn not even a few hours ago.
    The sneer on the man's face could make a baby cry, Leonel was certain of it.
    "You know why we're all here, let's not beat around the bush. I've already let you go once and have no intention of doing it again. Hand over the tags you've collected and you might leave this place unscathed."
    Leonel sighed inwardly. You really couldn't underestimate this world of abilities. Even the weaklings could catch you off guard if they were lucky enough.
    That saidбн
    Leonel yawned beside himself. Though he had just awoken from a few days long rest not long ago, he had a massive meal right afterward, then proceeded to battle in this damned forest for the next few hours. With how weak his body was currently, he already felt like taking another nap.
    "Let's go." Leonel spoke to Aina.
    The sneer on the young man's face deepened. But, just as quickly, it froze.
    A black surfboard appeared to Leonel's feet and he grabbed at Aina.
    Instinctively, Aina wanted to dodge.
    "I'd rather fight to the death!" She protested.
    But, Leonel grinned, giving her a massive bear hug as they shot into the skies.
    "Bye!" Leonel waved.

 Chapter 601 - Stay

    The youths were absolutely stunned.
    A flying treasure? What kind of joke was this?
    Of all the ways they expected things to end, this was the very last. This wasn't because they were too stupid to consider it a possibility but rather because wasting time considering such a thing would have been exactly thatбн a waste of time.
    One had to understand that everything changed when one rose in the Dimensions. Just like there were some airplanes that couldn't rise above a certain altitude without stalling, the same logic applied to the flying treasures of the Dimensional Verse.
    The flying treasures these youths were used to were only Tier 4 or 5 Black Grade treasures at best. These kind of flying treasures would hardly rise ten meters into the air in a Fifth Dimensional world.
    Knowing this, why would they even consider this to be a problem? They had no way of knowing that Leonel had a Tier 9 Black Grade treasure. He was easily able to rise up 20 meters before he even began to feel some resistance.
    The young man who headed their mission, a youth who went by the name of Emrel, was just as shocked as everyone else. But, he also reacted quickly.
    "Shoot them down!"
    Unfortunately, by the time the words had come out, Leonel and Aina were already 25 meters above the ground.
    'Hmбн Not enoughбн'
    Using the trees as cover, Leonel weaved in and out of the foliage, making use of the terrain to protect both himself and Aina. However, in the back of his mind, he was already planning to improve this surfboard. He could feel that it was working hard just to keep him this high off the ground, any higher and it might collapse entirely.
    Luckily, the forest landscape was in Leonel's favor. Getting out of range of the youths below was a simple matter of planning a path and following suit.
    Not only was Leonel able to pick out those with long ranged abilities, he was also able to project their lines of sight in his mind as well. After that, avoiding them was as easy as breathing.
    Not having expected such a result, Emrel hadn't even prepared a large core of ranged units. He could only watch as Leonel shot through the skies and disappeared.
    "Dammit!" Emrel stomped punched a thick tree hard. Yet, despite his strength, barely a dent was made. He looked no different from a mortal of the Third Dimension completing the same exact action.
    Henorin's eyes narrowed as Leonel disappeared over the horizon. But, she didn't pursue. She could tell that these matters were already as good as over.
    бн
    Aina wheezed and dry heaved under the chorus of Leonel's laughter.
    "Karma is a beautiful thing."
    Aina glared at him through her mask, but dry heaved again just as she was about to come back with a smart reply.
    "You know, you should probably take your mask off if you want to vomit, just saying." Leonel grinned. But in response, he only got another glare.
    The two landed in the same mountain pass they had been in when they were first teleported to this planet. Truthfully, Leonel had just wanted to teleport to Valiant Heart Mountain immediately, but Aina insisted that being baptized by the pressure of the pillars was good training.
    бн
    The elder of Valiant Heart Mountain had been in a good mood. Though he had said that he wouldn't accept any youths who could cross these gates and that they would have three years to do so or be kicked outбн The truth was that he said that every year.
    These pillars were actually a portal to Valiant Heart Mountain's Sacred Land and only disciples of the highest standing even had a chance to enter that place.
    Of course, at the moment, this portal wasn't active. So, even if these youths managed to cross it, it wouldn't be much more than a symbolic victory. But, the elder was also aware that the earlier these youths crossed this trial, the more benefit they would gain from it in the future.
    So, during every acceptance ceremony, he would tease the youths in this exact way, forcing them to walk up the mountains. Those who were able to make it even half way were rewarded by him. Not only would they gain his favor, but he would personally kill the beasts the held the golden tags and hand them over as a reward.
    The truth was that the beasts were just a bait, especially the golden tag ones.
    For one, amongst the beasts, there were many without tags at all. The smart youths who were more confident in their strength would think of targeting the more powerful beasts. It made sense, the more powerful a beast, the more likely it would have a golden tag.
    Though this might be true, the reality was much harsher. Though the elder had followed these rules, he had also left behind several dummies. Some of these dummies didn't have tags at all, while most only had normal tags.
    The elder thought himself to be quite clever. He believed that only youths with the greatest courage would choose to challenge the mountain pass while the others weren't worth considering at all.
    Of course, he didn't even consider the fact that battling beasts and putting your life on the line against the most powerful of them was also a form of courage.
    But, given his age, he had long since been set in his ways. And, it especially didn't help in changing his mind that the youths from this year seemed to be far more talented than the norm, it couldn't help but bring a bright smile to his face.
    Ingkath had crossed the 80% mark already and was just 60 or so meters from the pillar.
    Ironla was not far behind, being less than five meters from the back of the hulking giant. And, this was most likely due to the fact she had started a step later.
    Balthorn was struggling the worst of the four of them. Droplets of sweats beaded down her pretty face and blood leaked from her lips as her every step seemed to cause her no small amount of damage. But, she continued to trudge forward.
    "бн Just be my girlfriend and I'll carry you up! Come on!"
    Radlis almost seemed unaffected. If it wasn't for the fact his back was hunched just a little bit more, others would think he really was immune.
    But, at the moment, Balthorn wanted nothing more than to cut off his tongue.
    "Hm?"
    The elder suddenly looked up to find Leonel and Aina landing in the opening, his brow furrowed with confusion.
    "You stay here, you're still injured." Aina said strictly. "I'll go. This isn't very important to you anyway."
    "You just want to get away from the stink, don't you?"
    "Yes." Aina held nothing back.
    "бн No love in this world."
    Aina felt glad she was wearing a mask at that moment. If not for it, she wouldn't be able to hide her smile.
    "Alright, I'm going."
    Under the stunned gazes of everyone, Aina suddenly began to sprint up the mountain pass.

 Chapter 602 - Bonus Points

    Leonel's lip curled into a smile, but he didn't chase after Aina. She was right, his body really was in no condition to deal with such pressure. Though the other youths couldn't sense it by standing where he was now, Leonel's senses were too sharp not to.
    Those pillars made Brave City look like nothing more than a joke. And, Leonel was absolutely certain that this was only a fraction of the strength these pillars could display.
    It seemed like nothing more than a coincidence that the elders were standing before them like thatбн But Leonel had a feeling that if they were to move away, let alone traveling up so far as those four had already done, they might not even make it 10% of the way through.
    That said, as long as those elders kept nerfing the mountain pass's oppressionбн Leonel had the utmost confidence in Aina.
    As though blazing a trail, Aina shot up the mountain, making it from Leonel's side to the 300 meter mark in the blink of an eye.
    She seemed to embody the perfect form of a sprinter with her every movement. There was no wasted energy, no unnecessary movements, she almost felt no different from a machine designed to kill.
    Though Leonel could replicate this feat by undergoing several calculations before deciding just which form of running suited him best, Aina was different. She needed to rely on nothing other than her talent and intuition, leaving her in a realm all to her own.
    The elders thought that Aina was clearly overestimating herself. To have little to no regard for the mountain pass in such a way, even sprinting up as though it was a race rather than what it truly was иC a fight to the death иC they could only conclude that much.
    Even Ingkath had slowly crossed this line of demarcation before slowly building up momentum. But, Aina didn't even take a deep breath before crossing over the line.
    Of course, one reason for this was because Aina's senses were considerably dulled due to her curse. In fact, if it wasn't for her sight and hearing being so abnormal, her sensory perception would be no better than a normal human's. So, truthfully, she didn't sense the line of division as clearly as everyone else did.
    But, on the other handбн
    It hardly mattered.
    Aina shot through the line. Her first step sunk her body so low that it seemed as though she might trip over and fall, the pressure bearing down on her shoulders relentlessly.
    But, she recovered quickly, her thigh bulging with strength as she sprung upward.
    As though a blade cutting through a curtain of falling water, she sliced through, leaping forward ten meters in a single bound.
    Leonel's lip curled more prominently. One would have thought that it was him accomplishing such a feat rather than Aina. But, in his mind, there was little difference between the two.
    The elder's eyes widened.
    To recover so quickly after a change in gravity without faltering, and even more importantly, without hurting oneself, wasбн Well, the elder could only say that it should have been impossible.
    In that instant, he was certain that Aina should have, at least, broken her planting leg. But, her muscles recovered and protected the bones they surrounded as though they had a mind of their own.
    The time they had to react? It was none other than the split moment between Aina raising her foot and it landing on the ground. It simply didn't make sense for a young girl at the beginning stages of the Fourth Dimension to have such fast reaction time, and it was even more impossible for her to have honed such instincts so quickly.
    But, even as the elder was lost in his shock, Aina had already barreled through another 40 meters, crossing the 50 meter mark with no sign of slowing down.
    Her body crackled and popped, her bones threatening to fracture and break. But, to Aina, this sort of trial was nothing.
    She was a woman who trained herself by breaking her own bones, rending her inner organs, and sweating until what came out was nothing less than streams of her own blood.
    Such tortures, such horrors, they meant nothing.
    She faced the howling beasts in her mind as though she had something to prove, as though there was nothing more important to her at this very moment than to face them boldly and confidently.
    The fear she felt when facing the Puppet Master was a blemish she had long since seared into her heart. It wasn't a humiliation in the way a man might feel it. Aina just felt as though she had let herself down.
    That was the first time she had ever faced true death, the first time she had realized that her talent wasn't enough to leap over the final hurdle.
    While Leonel had to deal with such a feeling upon entering his first Zone, Aina most definitely did not. She had been training ever since she was a youth. To her, her first Zone was nothing more than a formality.
    It could be said that this was the first time she had had to face the fear of not being strong enough, of being inadequate. It was quite the feeling indeed.
    Because she had lost control of her body and had been unable to move, she had no way of telling herself that she had faced the trial bravely. As such, the feeling of helplessness and self-blame only seemed to cycle and grow.
    Leonel watched Aina tear her way up the mountain, a light smile still on his face.
    He knew well that the scared little girl he saw that day wasn't his Aina. Unfortunately, unable to move, she hadn't been able to prove that clearly to herself.
    This time, Leonel was content to take a backseat and allow the limelight to shine on her.
    His smile suddenly spread into a grin.
    'If my girlfriend is so amazing, doesn't that mean I get bonus points?'

 Chapter 603 - Goal

    "Huh?"
    Radlis and Balthorn looked back in confusion.
    In truth, none of the four youthful geniuses had been paying attention. Or, rather, they simply didn't have the luxury to do so. Walking up the mountain pass was difficult enough, how could they have time to waste on looking back?
    But, at a certain point, it simply couldn't be ignored any longer.
    The rushing winds, the trembling grounds, the second oppressive aura that seemed to be bearing down on them from the backбн They simply couldn't continue to pay attention to the path before them any longer.
    When they did finally look back and see what was happening, their eyes couldn't help but widen in shock.
    By now, Aina was already no more than ten meters behind them. But, just as quickly as they gazed back, they were level just as fast. And, even faster than that, they were surpassed.
    Radlis and Balthorn stumbled. Their loss of concentration made them feel as though the pressure on their bodies had been multiplied several times over and in the end, they all but fell to their knees.
    Aina blazed a trail by them. To an outside observer, she was only sprinting as fast as a normal human, a speed that was less than impressive for a Fourth Dimensional existence. However, in the face of these youths, she might as well have been flying.
    A gaze of determination lit Aina's every step forward. Even though her speed was continuously slowing, she seemed to show no intention of stopping. She pushed harder and harder, her steps eventually becoming so heavy that miniature cracks began to appear beneath her feet.
    At some unknown time, Leonel had crossed his arms, his fingernails digging into his biceps. But, at the same time, the smile on his face didn't fade, almost as though to keep up a strong front just in case she looked back.
    Aina entered a 50 meter distance from Ingkath. Then 40. Then 30.
    Her arms and legs moved in unison as though swimming through a tide of heavy water. Though her face was blocked by a mask, the weight of her determination alone painted a broader picture than what her expression alone could bring across.
    Even Leonel had underestimated just how much this matter meant. He had only come here for Aina's sake, but it wasn't until this moment that he truly grasped the kind of determination it took for a young woman to send herself across the universe alone and without backers.
    Aina had never thought of coming to Valiant Heart Mountain with Leonel. In fact, maybe she thought that after being sent to Terrain, she would never see Leonel again.
    It might have been cruel, especially since at the time she hadn't even been aware of if Leonel managed to survive or not. But, Leonel couldn't find it within himself to blame her for this.
    The relationship between he and Aina was still nothing more than a teenage infatuation. However, the weight Aina carried on her shoulders was far more than just this.
    She carried the betrayal of her family. She carried the scars of a little girl. She carried the death of a parent.
    Leonel couldn't blame her if she placed these things ahead of him in importance. It would be nothing short of selfish of him to not understand.
    Maybe in a way, to Aina, the act of ignoring her feelings for him was just another form of sacrifice, another hardship she had to face to reach the day she could lay down these burdens.
    That drive, that will to reach a goal no matter what you had to sacrificeбн Though Leonel couldn't understand it, he respected it down to the depths of his heart.
    He couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever have such great drive. Would there ever be something he was willing to give up everything forбн?
    The thought made him shudder.
    Did he really have to give up the things that he loved for the sake of such a goal?
    Leonel looked up into the skies.
    'Even if there comes a day where I have such a goalбн I would never be able to do that. Noбн'
    Leonel shook his head. He didn't feel as though he was expressing his own thoughts properly. He had emotions deep within him, emotions he knew existed but couldn't quite place a label on.
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly smiled.
    'Aina said it best. We men are selfish and always want more. And, the man I want to be doesn't just want more, he wants everything.
    'Even if there comes a day where I have such a goal, even if it forces me at an impasse where I must choose between the things that I love, I'll cut a path down the middle and take both.
    'I don't like to lose, after all...'
    Leonel's aura shifted, a breeze kicking up around him. For a moment, the elder atop the mountain pass took his eyes off of the blazing Aina and couldn't help but gaze upon the inconspicuous youth standing amidst a vast nothingness.
    Even with his years of experience, he didn't understand why he had looked at Leonel in that moment. In fact, even if he asked Leonel why, the young man wouldn't be able to answer either.
    Leonel's thoughts seemed to have been formulated into words and coherent thought, but the truth was that he didn't think those phrases and sentences just now. In fact, his mind was quite blank at the moment, not exuding anything close to a coherent stream of consciousness.
    The current Leonel was still not able to put these emotions into words. Rather, those words represented nothing more than a raw, unrefined ambitionбн. The first budding of a sprout yet to be properly watered.
    Maybe even Leonel didn't realize it at that moment, but he suddenly felt free and unbothered. He was content to bide his time and waitбн wait for the moment that small bud bloomed forth.
    Aina gave a resounding cry into the skies, her ax appearing in her seemingly delicate hands as she slashed downward with all her might.
    She tore into the ground beneath her feet, hooking her blade into the soil and using it as an anchor to shoot forward.
    She leapt through the air, landing three meters ahead before swinging her ax downward once more and repeating.
    Her momentum was relentless, her mind blank of all thoughts but the image of the pillars before her.
    Under the stunned gazes of all those that could witness it, she crossed the final line, her long black hair whipping about beneath a furious aura.
    The whites of her eyes rolled forth as she roared into the skies, the carvings of the pillars suddenly beginning to glow.

 Chapter 604 - Recruit

    Aina's roar caused a shockwave to tear a path across the mountain pass.
    For a moment, the illusion of a woman much taller than her seemed to envelop her small figure. However, this last for but a moment before a strong surge of Force fell from the glowing pillars, enveloping her body in a rain of light.
    Leonel snapped out of his thoughts, the strength of his fingers digging into his forearm growing to the point he nearly drew blood.
    He had no idea what was happening and if it wasn't for the fact he wasn't sure what he'd do even if he stormed his way up, there was no way that he'd be able to sit idle for so long.
    The elders standing amidst the pillars suddenly all sported frozen expressions. Whatever shocked looks they had just had seemed to be ramped up several fold.
    The four geniuses who had been surpassed by Aina suddenly found that continuing forward had become impossible.
    One after another, they fell to their knees, a look of abject horror on their face. Even Ingkath, a man who didn't seem to understand anything that could be solved without brawn, felt his heart trembling.
    However, though these geniuses fell, each and every one of them kept their eyes level. It was as though each was holding onto the last bit of their pride, unable to allow themselves to fall to the point of not even daring to look.
    Aina's body had completely disappeared within the lights. The pulsing of the twin pillars grew more heated, reaching a level where even the elders could no longer think of holding back the pressure themselves.
    Unable to hold back his thoughts any longer, Leonel flipped a palm, causing a familiar silver disk to appear in his hand.
    бн
    Valiant Heart Mountain was a place maybe more fanciful than even Leonel expected.
    Beyond the mountain range, there sat an all new world, the kind the people of Earth could have maybe only dreamed about.
    Valiant Heart Mountain was split into seven peaks, each of which seemed to thrum with a heartbeat of its own.
    These peaks were all surrounded by floating islands. But, compared to the Paradise Islands of Earth, these islands exuded an air of oneness with nature rather than capitalistic greed.
    They had lush greenery viewable even from the ground below, a land that shone a faint sheen of gold, and hovered in place without the slightest hint of technology. But, what was maybe the most awe inspiring were the waterfalls that fell from their edges.
    These waterfalls fell in steady streams, sparkling with and refracting the light of a high violet colored sun that hung in the air. This refraction gave the water a gorgeous purple hue that played on the fantasies of all.
    But, this wasn't all.
    These waters fell from the skies and into long, rushing rivers along the peaks they orbited. The seamless transition between the waterfalls in the clouds to the rivers running along the earth made everything look as though it was crafted by the hands of a mighty deity.
    Still, as beautiful as this scenery might be, those that were here had long since gotten used to it. The hustle and bustle of Valiant Heart Mountain didn't seem to stop even in the face of such sights.
    But, maybe, this was the human condition. Even in higher Dimensional worlds, ignoring the miracles of nature seemed to be ingrained into our very souls.
    At that moment, though, among one of the peaks of Valiant Heart Mountain, all things seemed to have come to a stop.
    As with many other powers, Valiant Heart Mountain was divided into several factions. But, this particular peak, known as Founding Peak, was a location not of a particular one of these factions, but rather the gathering place of the most powerful members of Valiant Heart.
    In recent days, this location had been rife with debates, each speaking over the other about the direction the organization should go in. But, at this moment, they had suddenly fallen into an eerie silence. In fact, not a single soul seemed to be speaking.
    They all stopped what they were doing, simultaneously looking in a singular direction.
    At the base of this mountain, there was a section reserved for the future leaders of Valiant Heart Mountain.
    In truth, they only spent time here as a symbol of their superiority and used it to organize members of their faction. If this location was to be strictly compared to their normal training locations, it was severely lacking. The base of Founding Peak simply couldn't compare to the peaks of the other six Peaks despite the fact the peak of Founding Peak was unmatched.
    "Someone activated the Founding Pillars?"
    It was unknown who spoke these words, nor did it particularly matter.
    All these youths who had gained the right to set up camp at the base of Founding Mountain were all preparing to accept the new influx of talents into their factions at this exact moment. However, not one had ever expected this particular outcome.
    Though these youths were separated by several hundred meters, even kilometers in some cases, not a single one hesitated. Without regard for the rules, or even the overseeing elders, they all sent their most trusted subordinate out.
    They all only had a singular goal: to recruit.
    бн
    At the peak of Founding Peak, there was a single core group that stood above all the rest. It was a group of three men and three women, each that had been in silent meditation all to their own.
    At the core of this group, though, there was one more man. It was this man who sat upon the tallest floating island, not moving even while thick white clouds past through him, causing fine sprits of water droplets to drizzle across his bronzed skin.
    He opened his eyes somewhat lazily, staring into the distance as though he could peer through the mountains and the thick forests to gaze upon the pillars directly.
    When the man saw what was happening, his apathetic expression became one of pleasant surprise.
    The reason he hadn't cared initially was because he was certain that the one to activate the pillars would have been that child he had been warned about all those months ago. But seeing as it wasn't himбн
    A pleasant surprise indeed.
    бн
    It was only after the lights began to dim that Leonel breathed a sigh of relief. At the very least, it didn't seem as though there was anything seriously wrong with Aina. At leastбн not initially.
    The moment Leonel thought Aina would be fine, she fell to the ground on all fours, unable to hold onto her battle ax anymore.
    A violent fit of coughing took hold of her.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. He immediately understood that something had aggravated Aina's curse again. He could even see the mask he had crafted her begin to bulge as her scars became more aggravated.
    But, just when things seemed as though they would get out of hand, Aina's mask began to glow. A strong pulse of cool Cleansing Waters was sprayed over her face again and again.
    Aina gripped at the earth with her fingers, leaving small trails as she balled her hands into fists.
    Soon, the pain she was racked by slowly ebbed, her ragged breathing becoming more even.
    Leonel took a deep breath. He could only be relieved that the contingency plans he had left in place worked.
    Leonel's gaze suddenly shifted from Aina's back to the distance. Beyond the pillars, several auras converging at speeds he couldn't hope to keep up with under normal circumstances were coming. Leonel felt that there were some of them that were even more powerful than the elders who had come to preside over this entrance ceremony, a fact that gave him no small measure of pause.
    It didn't take much thought for Leonel to connect their appearance with the commotion Aina had caused.
    Just as Aina was picking herself up, the six auras had already come into range.
    The elder who had led this event from the beginning looked back and frowned.
    "You all aren't allowed to be here."
    "Hehe, Elder Tobis, there's no need to be so uptight."
    The young man who spoke was almost eight feet tall. He was easily the tallest individual Leonel had ever laid eyes on.
    His posture was terrible, his back arching forward to the point he appeared to be a foot shorter than he truly was. But, his exposed torso was filled with an unprecedented amount of power.
    Leonel thought that he was in good shape, as he had been all his life, but this man had muscles bulging out of places he never thought possible.
    His limbs were long and lanky, his legs almost taking up a third of his body and his reaching past his knees, though that was likely in part due to the fact his posture was so terrible.
    Elder Tobis glared at the youth and the few that had come with him. He knew exactly who these youths were. In any other situation, he would be grinning ear to ear that his Valiant Heart Mountain had such talent. But hereбн They were clearly stepping over a line.
    "Aphestus бн!"
    Unfortunately, before Tobis could reprimand the young man any more, Aphestus had already turned his attention to Aina who had long since picked herself up.
    "Ooo, a little girly. Hey, little chick, what do you say to joining my Hero Peak?"
    [Important announcement below, be sure to read it!!!]

 Chapter 605 - No Need

    Aina stood somewhat weakly. Her body had hardly gained its bearings when she was suddenly asked this question.
    She sent a look toward Aphestus, her gaze placid.
    The truth was that Aina had heard about Valiant Heart Mountain from Yuri. As a result, she had a small understanding of it. If not for this, why else would she prepare a ticket to Terrain to come here.
    That said, it could also be said that Aina had no choice but to choose this place. Valiant Heart Mountain was the overlord of this quadrant and several other quadrants. Only the most well established worlds with the strongest foundations could afford to send their youths to other organizations outside of their jurisdiction.
    For Earth, a place where even a ticket to a world considered to be relatively close by иC like Terrain иC cost a Tier 9 Black Grade treasure, it was obviously an impossible dream to think of traveling so far.
    With their foundation, Aina didn't even want to think about what it would cost to go to a place other than Valiant Heart Mountain.
    This was all to say that Aina had heard of Hero Peak before. In fact, she had heard of all seven Peaks of Valiant Heart.
    Founding Peak. Hero Peak. Brave Peak. Justice Peak. Honor Peak. Loyal Peak. Respect Peak.
    One wouldn't be surprised to find out, then, that the Brave City Leonel and Aina took their trial in was constructed by Brave Peak. Other various Peaks would have their own testing means.
    That said, just because they were tested by Brave City, didn't mean that they couldn't choose to join another Peak. The various city establishments were just a way of parsing the burden of recruitment. In the end, Valiant Heart Mountain was still a singular entity.
    The youths who had come with Aphestus immediately wanted to say something to cut him off. How could they just allow him to say and do as he pleased? They didn't want to make their trip a worthless one.
    But, before they could, Aina spoke.
    "Are you the strongest?"
    It was a simple sentence. Spoken in four words, it seemed to speak a thousand.
    There was no other question Aina wanted answered, no other that was more important to her. This and this alone was all that mattered.
    Aphestus was stunned by the question for a moment before he began to laugh uproariously.
    "You hear that, you bastards? This little girly will be joining Hero Peak. You weaklings can all take a step back."
    The expressions of the others youths soured immediately, but they said nothing to refute.
    There was no doubting Hero Peak's strength. In the last 20 years, there had been no singular Peak able to supplant their rule.
    Aphestus turned his attention back to Aina. Though his posture was terrible, his body exuded a bestial strength that made his bones pop and crackle with his every movement.
    "Not only is Hero Peak the strongest, we have been the strongest for the last quarter century. We have the strongest warriors, the best facilities and the most resources. On top of that, our leader, The Hero Raylion, is the strongest of the six leaders.
    "If even that isn't enough for you, even me, as a mere little vice leader, could wipe the floor with some of these other so-called leaders."
    Aphestus grinned from ear to ear, towering over the petite Aina.
    "There's no better choice than us."
    Aina looked up at Aphestus, her gaze somewhat distant and emotionless. She didn't seem moved by his display. Aphestus felt smaller in comparison to the Puppet Master. But, with her poor senses, Aina couldn't tell whether this was an illusion or not.
    "Okay." Aina said plainly.
    Aphestus scanned Aina up and down, sending a curious look toward her mask. But, he seemed even more shocked by her demeanor. Even that old fogie Tobis wouldn't feel so comfortable before him.
    "You heard her, old man." Aphestus turned toward Elder Tobis. "She made her own decision, you saw that I didn't force her, right?"
    Aphestus' toothy grin made it hard for Tobis to refrain from rolling his eyes.
    The reason these brats weren't supposed to be allowed to interfere at this juncture was because it was too easy for them to influence the decisions of these youths by underhanded means. And, even in the case that didn't happen, there was precedent for fights breaking out during recruitment.
    As such, it was usual policy to allow the youths a few days to soak in the atmosphere of Valiant Heart for themselves and then choose a Peak that was right for them. In such a situation, the youths would have to pass an exam of sorts, far different from Aina who seemed capable of joining without such a thing. But, it was thanks to these rules that a relative peace was able to be kept in what would have otherwise been a violent few weeks.
    Since Aina had made her own decision and didn't seem to be pressured in any way, though, there was no reason for him to interfere. From what he could see, whether he stopped her here or not, Aina would end up joining Hero Peak regardless.
    Though there were many rules in Valiant Heart, there was one ultimate rule that ruled all others: Strength. Since Aphestus and Aina had the capital, they could do as they pleased.
    At that moment, Aina looked back to meet Leonel's gaze.
    But, all she found was a young man grinning with two thumbs up by the sides of his cheeks. He looked so happy, almost as though it was his own achievement rather than hers.
    Aina couldn't help but think that he looked quite goofy, a sight that made her sputter with laughter.
    Aphestus and Elder Tobis were taken off guard by the sudden change in the valiant young lady. They didn't even know a person with such a demeanor could laugh in such a way.
    Aphestus raised an eyebrow as he looked toward where Aina was looking.
    In the end, he chose to not bother with the exchange as he swept a glance over the four geniuses kneeling along the mountain pass.
    "Hero Peak has no need for losers. This will be our only recruit during this recruitment cycle."
    Aphestus' disposition completely changed.. It felt as though the mountain above had fused with him, his lofty air looking down with an undying arrogance.

 Chapter 606 - Take Them

    Hearing these words, Aina frowned. She had expected Hero Peak to be relatively exclusive, but she hadn't worried about it. With Leonel's talent, was there really anything exclusive enough to keep him out?
    If there was a test, there would be no issue. But, from what Aphestus said, there would no longer be a recruitment test.
    In truth, Aphestus' actions weren't exactly wrong. Over the past few years, having even one person pass Hero Peak's exam was already a blessing. He was already content with having found Aina, so he didn't feel that there was even a need to waste resources testing any more.
    Every exam took up a sum of wealth from Hero Peak and there were no shortage of people who would come despite knowing they had no chance of passing. This would result in Hero Peak's expenses being far greater than they would otherwise be.
    Usually, this could be solved with a simple screening process, but this took resources to build up as well. This was especially so since Hero Peak emphasized not base power, but rather potential. This was exactly why a comprehensive exam was more appropriate than having a screening process.
    But now that Aphestus had found a recruit, and especially with the precarious situation Valiant Heart was in currently, why waste these resources? It would be much easier to reach their goals if they saved as much as they could and reinvested it into the talents that actually mattered.
    Even if Aina could guess much of these things, though, she didn't want to leave Leonel behind. At least for now, she didn't feel like making such a decision was necessary. She had yet to reach such a crossroads.
    And, even if this wasn't about her feelings and she could shed them all away to think about this as logically as possibleбн The resources Leonel had access to were likely impossible to find in Valiant Heart. Just his Cleansing Waters alone, which could keep her curse under control, was a rarity impossible to explain.
    Every time she tried to tell Leonel just how valuable Cleansing Waters were, he would point to the toilet bowl in his Abode Setting. It was mildly infuriating.
    Of course, Aina didn't think of Leonel in terms of the resources he could provide. She had gotten used to being by his side over the past near yearбн She didn't want to leave him so soon even if they would technically be in the same place.
    "Can't you hold one more test?" Aina suddenly asked.
    Aphestus frowned when he heard these words.
    Instead of his gaze shifting to lock onto Aina, it instead swept over her briefly before locking onto Leonel in the distance. He had ignored Leonel previously for obvious reasons.
    If he looked down on a young man and woman like Ingkath and Irolana who had made it more than 80% of the way up, why would he even deem to speak to someone who didn't even start?
    This young lady might have been talented, but she didn't understand the weight of an expert's words. Since he had already said that they wouldn't be accepting anyone else, wouldn't he be a joke if he suddenly took those words back not even a few seconds after he had stated them?
    "Listen, little chick. You might be a bit talented, but it seems you haven't understood something.
    "Now that you've joined Hero Peak, you are at the bottom of the totem pole. Even the servants that sweep the floors are above you.
    "What makes you think you can ask something like this of me?"
    From start to finish, Aphestus didn't look at Aina. Rather, he had his eyes locked onto Leonel as though he was giving a silent warning.
    Aina's brows furrowed. She most definitely didn't like being spoken to like that. She couldn't be considered to have a temper, nor was she as prideful as Leonel, but that didn't mean everyone didn't have their own bottom line.
    "He could have walked up the mountain pass just like I did. It's just that our world was in the middle of a war and he got heavily injured during it. His body isn't in any condition to withstand such pressure."
    Aphestus' aura sharpened. This little girl actually still dared to talk back to him?
    "A man who backs away from a challenge just because he's a little hurt? You think that this is enough of an excuse? Hero Peak has no need for such weak willed trash."
    Aphestus' gaze swept back toward Aina.
    "Since you don't seem to know your place, that's fine too. From now on, even if your little boyfriend recovers and has some strength, he won't be allowed to join my Hero Peak."
    It seemed that this little girl didn't understand the meaning of hierarchy. Just because he was here to personally recruit her, didn't mean that her standing was suddenly the equivalent of his.
    In addition, according to the rules of Valiant Heart, the transfer from one Peak to another was considered an 'internal' dispute. The unsaid truth was that now that Hero Peak had laid claim to Aina, there was no other Peak that would dare take her now lest they want to become more acquainted with what 'internal dispute' might mean in this context.
    Aina's gaze flashed with fury when she heard these words.
    Seeing the situation going south, Leonel began to walk up the mountain pass. Unfortunately, since the pillars had recently given a large blessing to Aina, it would take some weeks before they could recover to their original strength.
    At the moment, walking up the mountain pass was only slightly more difficult than walking anywhere else within this Fifth Dimensional world. It was akin to a 5% boost to gravity.
    It wasn't long before Aina felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from gripping at her ax which was nailed into the ground beside her.
    Leonel smiled. "It's not a big deal. As long as this vice leader doesn't use underhanded tricks to make your stay at Hero Peak more difficult than it needs to be, it's the best place for you."
    Aphestus almost laughed at these words. How many brats were going to challenge him today? Did they want to die?!
    Bulging veins suddenly popped across Aphestus' right hand. It seemed like with a thought, he'd pierce Leonel's heart through completely.
    But, at that moment, he felt Elder Tobis' aura lock onto him, causing him to slowly calm himself.
    Aphestus sneered. "Everything on Hero Peak is earned through merit."
    "Good." Leonel said plainly.
    Somehow, this answer only infuriated Aphestus more.
    "Le --."
    Leonel shook his head, cutting Aina off and taking out ten golden tags.
    "Take them."

 Chapter 607 - Lucky

    "Youбн" Aina didn't know how to respond. "бн Keep half of them."
    Leonel shook his head. "I don't really need anything from their vaults, honestly. There's nothing they can provide that I can't build. Especially considering the best weapon the vice leader of the strongest Peak has is only Tier 7 Black.
    "If you don't find anything you want, just trade the tags in for some ores you like an I'll build something better."
    Aina was speechless when she heard Leonel say these words.
    In truth, the Leonel she knew very rarely got angry. Even when she teased him to oblivion, he only retaliated in the most benign of ways. The only time she had ever seen him truly enraged was with the Puppet Master and the Raynred, Pisces situation. But those things, in her opinion, were warranted.
    This was all to say that Aina didn't know that Leonel could actually be so petty.
    Hearing his words, even Elder Tobis couldn't help but frown despite the fact he had practically just saved Leonel's life.
    Did someone kick this kid in the head? A Tier 7 Black Grade treasure was about the best one could expect a Fourth Dimensional entity to wield. Only Fifth Dimensional existences might begin to wield Tier 8 and 9 Black Grade treasures. At least this was the case in this part of the universe.
    Only Sixth Dimensional worlds had a large number of Bronze Grade treasures. Likewise, only Seventh Dimensional worlds had a large number of Silver Grade treasures.
    No matter how you sliced it, it looked as though Leonel was making an immature comment about something he hardly understood. The words alone made whatever impact gathering ten golden tags might have fall flat.
    Of those here, maybe it was only Aina who understood how truthful Leonel was being. Let alone a Tier 7 Black Grade treasure, Leonel could already begin constructing Tier 1 Bronze Grade treasures, each of which would be exponentially more powerful than even a Quasi Bronze Grade treasure, of which he had no small number of.
    Leonel simply didn't care about what Aphestus or Elder Tobis thought of him because he never cared to join this organization in the first place.
    If Leonel had to pick out one reason he didn't try to convince Aina of taking a different path, it would have to be because of the Segmented Cube.
    This was the first time Leonel had stepped foot into a Fourth Dimensional world, so this was also the first time the Segmented Cube could begin to absorb Fifth Dimensional Force.
    Albeit slowly, the Segmented Cube was working its way toward entering Phase 3. Once it did so, Leonel would be able to heal Aina.
    Leonel slid the tags into Aina's hand.
    "Oh, also." Leonel suddenly thought of something. "Take this with you too."
    The tags were sucked into the jigsaw-like cube. Soon, all that was left on Aina's palm was the Segmented Cube itself.
    "Alright, off you go."
    Seeing that Aina didn't seem apt to leave, Leonel laughed. He leaned into her ear and spoke softly. Even if the others tried, they wouldn't be able to hear what he was saying. But, that didn't stop Aina's neck from flushing red.
    "Do you think that there's any barrier in this place that can stop me?"
    The words were simple, no more complex than Aina's question for Aphestus. But, they reverberated with Aina deeply.
    "Okay." Aina said lightly, taking the cube.
    Aphestus didn't say anything. He simply turned and walked away.
    What only he and Leonel seemed to be aware of was the fact there was a strong killing intent locked onto the latter from start to finish. Yet, Leonel had hardly reacted.
    The cause of this matter was clear. This wasn't about how strong Leonel was or wasn't, it was simply about a man deeming his word as more important than the word of any other. Aphestus didn't care what reasoning Leonel had, since he had spoken his word, he wouldn't take it back. This was exactly the same reason why he hadn't booted Aina out from Hero Peak.
    Leonel smiled and waved as Aina disappeared into the distance. It was only after she was gone that his gaze became cold and the atmosphere seemed to become frozen.
    'When did I become so murderous?' Leonel thought to himself.
    If it wasn't for the sake of Aina, he really might have killed Aphestus just then.
    Leonel felt as though his inhibitions against killing were loosening each and every day. Would there really come a time where he reaped lives like cutting weeds? He didn't really like the feeling.
    If he killed Aphestus, what then? Wouldn't he be cutting off Aina's path? And where would he find another Fifth Dimensional world to station himself in?
    Leonel had learned a lot about the Dimensional Verse in recent times, more than enough to understand that traveling up a Dimension was no simple task. At the very least, with Earth's current infrastructure, the price would likely near a Silver Grade treasure. This was obviously something Leonel couldn't afford.
    If he was forced to leave this place too soon, he didn't know when he'd be able to cure Aina.
    "Brat, you're too impulsive."
    Leonel, who was lost in his own thoughts as though there weren't others around him, was suddenly startled awake.
    "Hm?" Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    He was impulsive? If the old man knew what was going on in his mind, he'd realize just how much prudence Leonel had shown just now.
    Whether or not Leonel could actually defeat Aphestus was unknown even to him. But, what Leonel was sure of was that Aphestus would suffer greatly if he had to battle him.
    Elder Tobis shook his head and looked back toward the other faction vice leaders. But, it was clear that none of them were very interested in the youths that remained. If they wanted to join, they could take the exam like everyone else.
    And while they would allow this for the four geniuses to Leonel's back, it was unlikely that they'd make room for Leonel himself after what they just saw.
    "Youths should learn to bide their time. What good does your killing intent do you now?"
    Leonel raised an eyebrow at these words. But, he didn't say much as he made his way up the mountain pass.
    His killing intent? Aphestus should be happy that he restrained it.

 Chapter 608 - Target?

    "Hey, hey, hey! Wait up!"
    Leonel looked back with a partially confused looked, only to find a lanky and pale man following after him. This was none other than Radlis. As for why he had quit chasing after Balthorn for the sake of catching up to Leonel, maybe only he knew the answer to that.
    "Yes?"
    "Aiya, no need to be so glum. I know your girlfriend just got snatched, but there are plenty of women in the sea."
    Leonel's lip curled. "She didn't get snatched."
    "Mmhm, mmhm." Radlis caught up, slowing down to walk beside Leonel. "They say denial is the first form of acceptance. Just don't stay bogged down in it for too long. It's alright, with your looks and my humor, we have the chance to be the lady killers of the freshman class.
    "Just look at that sexy lady over there." Radlis hooked his chin over his shoulder, sending lewd looks toward Balthorn. "She's already infatuated with you, just forget about that girl."
    Leonel shook his head. How was he even supposed to respond to this exactly?
    Ingkath, Irolana and Balthorn lagged behind. Since they couldn't join any factions, they had no choice but to wait a few days until the exams were opened up. Only then would they be able to pick a Peak a join.
    The atmosphere around them was clearly much less enthusiastic than Radlis. In fact, they were quite downcast. Who would feel great after being looked down upon in that fashion?
    They had all come here with great aspirations, only to feel as though it had been dashed. By now, it was clear to them that they'd just be playing background for Aina in the future. Such a reality left them feeling down.
    The one with especially complex feelings about this was Balthorn, especially after the words she had spoken about Aina. Who cared what Aina looked like if she had strength?
    In fact, in this world, all beauty got you was constant harassment and the right to be used as a pawn by your family. Not only did Aina had strength, but she was also never have to worry about such a thing.
    It felt like Balthorn was still scorning Aina for her scars at the moment, but the truth was that she was jealousбн Jealous she didn't have such strength, jealous that she didn't have such freedom.
    "Ah, it seems you still don't get it. You're a little slow, so let this more intelligent brother of yours explain."
    Radlis wrapped an arm around Leonel's shoulders, standing to the tip of his toes.
    Leonel raised another eyebrow. "I'm slow?"
    Radlis coughed lightly.
    "How do I put this delicatelyбн? Well, anyone who thinks Tier 7 treasures can drop like pies from the skies is definitely a little bit slow. Anywayбн!"
    The truth was that everyone assumed that Leonel must have made a massive mistake. Maybe his world had a different ranking system for weapons. This wasn't rare in primitive worlds who had only just evolved. So, it was possible that Tier 7 in Leonel's mind was maybe a Tier 3 or 4 weapon. In fact, in some cases, there were worlds so misinformed that they gave Third Dimensional weapons the ranking system for Fourth Dimensional Black Grade weapons.
    Radlis believed that Leonel was likely from a latter world, or else it was impossible that he would say such a thing about a Tier 7 treasure. That was the only possible justification.
    Anyone who could treat real Tier 7 Black treasures in such a way wouldn't even bother to come to a place like this. They'd be from a Sixth Dimensional world, or at the very least, a world close to it.
    Radlis continued on quickly as though not wanting Leonel to respond. He definitely had an odd way of trying to spare feelings.
    "Listen man, you can't trust women too much. They're vindictive little demonesses. Your girlfriend likes you now, but when she sees all those tall, handsome men from Hero Peak, all of which will be stronger than you, by the wayбн Well, it's in their nature to be swayed."
    Leonel was speechless. Why did he feel like he was talking to James again?
    Leonel sighed when he thought of that name for the first time in a long while. He hadn't really spent a lot of time at Royal Blue Fort during the war, so he had only had an idea of who was on the battlefield. Thanks to that, he knew that his teammates were fine. But, James hadn't been on the battlefield, so he had no idea where he was.
    Though Leonel had promised his coach to James another chanceбн Truthfully, he didn't know if he wanted to.
    "Ai, I know what you're thinking. Your girlfriend isn't exactlyбн Let me not speak on another man's affections. But, you should know that there are no shortage of powerful and handsome men from Hero Peak who also happen to be very rich. They can probably afford certainбн treatments that you cannot."
    Hearing Radlis' endless rambling, Leonel was at a complete loss.
    Not speak on another man's affections? What exactly had he been doing, then, for the last ten minutes? He had talked so much that they managed to reach the top of the mountain, only to cross a curtain of Force and be greeted by an entirely new world.
    Leonel took it all in with a single glance. If he was in the mood, he might have been quite impressed by what he was seeing. But at the moment, it could be said that if it wasn't for his usually easy going personality, he would have kicked even Radlis far away by now.
    "бн Listen man, it'll all be fine. There are plenty of fish in the seaбн"
    Leonel tuned Radlis out.
    Was he worried about Aina? Not even a little bit. He didn't have to put up a false sense of bravado about it either.
    All he knew was that if it took even him five years and the world almost ending in order to get her to open up to himбн Well, he could only say good luck to those who deemed to try.
    That said, after their attempts failed, he wouldn't mind teaching them their place.
    Not long after the group crossed into Valiant Heart Mountain and took in the city around them, they were met by another group who seemed to have been waiting especially for them.
    "That should be him. The one with the long goldish bronze hair."
    As soon as one of them confirmed, the group of five all converged at once.
    Their target? Leonel without a doubt.

 Chapter 609 - Cheeky

    Aphestus continued on in a good mood, leading Aina toward Hero Peak.
    Aina suddenly looked back, as though she could sense that something was wrong, but she continued to move forward as though nothing had happened.
    Aphestus seemed to sense this small action, causing his lip to curl. But, it was then that Aina said something that made his eyes narrow.
    "Next time, send stronger lackies." She said, seemingly to no one.
    "Hoho, didn't you say your little boyfriend was injured? But now I should be worried?"
    In truth, with how arrogant Aphestus was, something like sending lackies to deal with a junior was beneath him. However, what was even more beneath him was personally taking action. So, he chose the path that would best soothe his currently seething rage.
    If not for getting caught red-handed, he would have never even bothered to respond to Aina at all especially considering the entire reason this began was due to his authority being questioned.
    "He could be ten times more injured and you would have still needed to send someone stronger." Aina replied blandly.
    At the moment, Aina was feeling quite guilty. She knew Leonel well. If it wasn't for her telling him to stay put because he was injured, he wouldn't have even cared about his body's state in order to climb the mountain pass. This wasn't because he felt the need to prove something to Valiant Heart, an organization he put not stock in, but rather because that was just the kind of person that he was.
    But now, there was already no taking the things that happened back.
    Hearing such words, Aphestus suddenly began to laugh uproariously.
    "They say love is blind, but this must be a worse case of foolish love. That's fine though, I'd really like to see how long you can continue to love a weakling after I'm done with him.
    "Since you want to be smart, I'll make certain he can never raise his head high in my Valiant Heart Mountain."
    There was no doubt that Aphestus was repeating the same words Radlis had spoken but not as blatantly. And, it was even more obvious that Aina's words had once more provoked Aphestus.
    That saidбн This time, Aina didn't seem to react with the same guilt at all. Rather, her face, hidden beneath her mask, had gone back to being expressionless.
    'Go ahead and vent.' She thought to herself.
    "Yip! Yip!" The little mink jumped out from the Segmented Cube and into Aina's arms, bearing his little fangs at Aphestus.
    It was only after Aina soothed him that he finally began to calm down.
    бн
    Leonel stood in opposition to a group of three, his eyes lazily scanning them. It was obvious by their words that he was their target and toward such a thing, he could only say that the vice leader of Hero Peak was maybe even more petty than himself.
    This Aphestus didn't even wait an hour, let alone the few days someone else might have, before sending his goons after him.
    But, Leonel truly didn't mind. In fact, behind his apathetic expression, he was holding back a grin that could have gone from one ear to the other.
    "I don't know how fresh meat like you managed to offend the bigwigs, but how do you plan on settling this?"
    The leader of this gang of three seemed almost too lazy to deal with Leonel. He held no personal animosity toward Leonel, and he even felt that dealing with a freshman was far beneath him.
    It wasn't until one entered Valiant Heart that they truly understood the distance that separated those who had joined quadrant ruling organizations and those from small worlds who could at best call a corner of a quadrant their home.
    Just in terms of taxes collected, Valiant Heart had a number of resources that could drown out any world in their wealth alone.
    With these resources came millennia of foundation building, an endless store of knowledge and techniques beyond anything someone from a smaller world could possibly understand.
    If Valiant Heart Mountain were to be ranked using the official metrics of the Dimensional Verse, as an organization overseeing number quadrants, they were a Bronze Grade Organization at worst. If Earth was put on this same scale, they wouldn't even qualify to be known as Black Grade.
    "Are you from Hero Peak?"
    "Don'tбн!"
    Balthorn tried to speak out before Leonel could finish his sentence, but it was already too late. She took a sharp intake of breath before looking at Leonel's side profile.
    'Is he really that slow? Even if he got beat up to the point of having half a foot in the coffin, that's the one question he should have never asked!'
    As expected, the moment the leader of lackies heard this, he froze for a moment before a sinister smile crept onto his face.
    "You have a lot of guts, calling out Hero Peak's name in vain like that. Do you think the likes of Hero Peak has the time to deal with bottom feeders like you?"
    "You seem quite offended for someone who isn't from Hero Peak." Leonel replied evenly.
    The lacky's jaw clenched, the murderous intent in his gaze deepening.
    If others really found out that Hero Peak was stooping to such lows, it would be a blight on their prestige. Though the words were unspoken, the burden for such a rumor spreading would definitely be on his head. Not only was this Leonel a fool enough to offend Aphestus before even stepping into Valiant Heart, but he was even trying to drag him down with him.
    If Leonel insisted on this narrative, this small scuffle that would have likely ended after a small beating would grow to the point of the entire Peak pitting themselves against him.
    "Ahaha, hey, buddy, palбн" Radlis patted Leonel's shoulder. "бн It's been nice knowing you. I think I see a beauty over there."
    Radlis dashed away, hiding into the accumulating crowd.
    Ingkath, Irolana and Balthorn frowned, but they too didn't want anything to do with this situation.
    Though there was no chance in joining Hero Peak now, there were no shortage of individuals who had defected from their own Peaks to join them later.
    "Still not saying anything?" Leonel continued as though he didn't notice these youths distancing themselves from him. He hardly knew them, so why would he care?
    "Wielor, we need to shut him up." One of the three called out to the leading lacky. They couldn't allow Leonel to say anything more.
    "Agreed." Wielor nodded. "We'll see if he still has the cheek to say such things after we're done with him."
    As though by tacit agreement, the two behind Wielor shot forward.

 Chapter 610 - Too Fast, Too Swift

    Leonel's gaze flashed, sliding into a boxing stance with incomparable ease. He became as light as a feather on his toes, his breathing syncing with his actions.
    His bronzed hair fluttered with his movement, rebounding into the air as he hopped to and froe. The instant it fell back down to his back, he shot forward, his speed blazing.
    Despite the fact that he was pincered by two, Leonel protected the side of his face with his right and sent a straight left forward.
    A whipping kick shot for Leonel's right hip even as the young man on the left seemed content with simply blocking his straight. From the perspective of the lackies, this would be over quickly. Just one of them was more than enough to deal with a freshman. The only reason they had even chosen to send two was due to the accumulating crowd.
    Leonel had shown that he wasn't intelligent enough to not speak what shouldn't be spoken. So, when dealing with such people who didn't understand fear, the best course of action was teaching them exactly that.
    BANG!
    The kick was fast and sturdy. Without wasted movements, it perfectly made use of the young man's torque. Even his planted leg tore a rotating hole into the ground, a sharp wind following the trail of his assault.
    Howeverбн When his leg actually came into contact with Leonel's right arm, it felt as though he had just kicked at a steel wall.
    Leonel winced slightly, feeling his fractured ribs rattling upon impact. But, his straight left never stopped.
    With perfect form, his fist blew past the guard of the young man's forearms, connecting with his nose with a speed too fast to react to.
    Leonel could feel a satisfying crunch beneath his knuckles, a bloody spray launching into the air. What was a face of soft and fragile skin and bone worth in the face of Leonel's fist which might as well have been a steel brick?
    The instant Leonel connected, he turned his attention toward the kicker, his hips shifting. His speed was so fast that he had already closed the distance between them before his leg even lowered.
    Unbalanced and unable to protect himself, the young man could only watch as Leonel retracted his left hand and landed a right hook right into his rib cage.
    It felt as though all the air within his body was expelled at once. An audible snapping noise sounded, followed by a muffled cry.
    With muted thuds, two seniors fell at once. One clutching their chest and the other their face.
    As though completely unsatisfied, Leonel had already shot by them, not minding their reaction in the slightest. While they looked down on him, in his mind, one punch was already more than they deserved in the first place.
    Leonel closed the distance between him and Wielor. Though shocked, the latter reacted quickly, his expression turning solemn.
    Leonel shot a fist forward, only for it to be met by Wielor's. Having learned his lesson, Wielor coated his own in as much Force as he could muster, bearing down on Leonel with absolute strength and power.
    Leonel reacted calmly. His mind drifted to the times he had utilized the incomplete Four Seasons Realm for his fists. He imagined the way the Force had flowed around him, the way it melded with his attacks with perfection, without him even thinking about it.
    His Force matched the flow in his mind, his simulations so perfect that one would almost think that he had begun to use Universal Force if it wasn't for the fact it was very clearly just of the Third Dimension.
    BANG!
    Both Leonel and Wielor took a single step back. But, whereas the latter was stunned, Leonel had already shot forward, closing the distance once more.
    In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged a flurry of blows, Wielor using whatever means he had while Leonel used nothing but his fists.
    Leonel's movements were sharp and focused. If he only had to throw a single punch to neutralize a combination, he would do so. It almost felt that everyone was watching a combat puppet battle, his style was that immaculate.
    However, while Leonel was growing more and more focused, Wielor felt as though his arms and legs might just shatter at any moment. Fighting Leonel may have looked like fighting a combat puppet to the people outside, but to him, it felt exactly like that. It was as though Leonel's limbs were made and formed of the universe's most precious materials.
    Wielor roared. The longer this fight went on, the more people who would accumulate and the more humiliated he would be.
    The truth was that hardly anyone knew his face. He was nothing more than a glorified janitor of Hero Peak. Aphestus wasn't exaggerating when he said that Aina's standing was now below even the floor sweepers.
    However, if this blew up too much, the more resourceful youths would definitely find a way to connect this back to Hero Peak.
    Spikes began to grow off Wielor's arms, enlarging to the point they arched over his fists and protected his knuckles.
    A strong corrosive energy hung in the air, bearing down on Leonel.
    To Wielor, it didn't matter how strong Leonel's defenses were. Before his corrosive Force, it was all meaningless.
    However, what Wielor didn't expect was that Leonel hadn't gone all out either.
    The instant it seemed as though Wielor didn't want to be humiliated any longer, illusory golden wings seemed to appear to Leonel's back for just a split moment. It was so brief that the vast majority of the crowd didn't even notice.
    With a flick of his palm, a spear appeared.
    It was bland, even having a wooden pole. If it wasn't for the feathers strapped to its polearm, it wouldn't have any character whatsoever.
    This was none other than the primitive woman's spear.
    Wielor went stiff as he suddenly felt something sharp pierce through his leg.
    After a moment of lag, he roared out in pain, stumbling and falling to his knees.
    Leonel's piercing motion was too fast, too swift. Before anyone could react, all four of Wielor's limbs were rendered useless.
    He stood amidst three collapsed seniors, his visage expressionless.

 Chapter 611 - Valiant Hall

    Leonel whipped out his spear, his wrist flexing. The droplets of blood that remained sprayed outward, leaving the spear spotless and whether by design or accident, landing on the three moaning and groaning before him.
    Ingkath, Irolana and Balthorn didn't quite know how to react to such a scene. They had been planning on distancing themselves, but Leonel had reacted so quickly that they were somehow still to his back. Their vantage point was by far the best of everyone else. But, it was precisely because of this that they could hardly believe what they had just seen.
    Wielor and the other so-called seniors were all Tier 4 at worst.
    This number sounded benign. After all, even the City Lords of Terrain had been more powerful than this. Their average strength had been around Tier 6 while the most powerful of them like City Lord White had been Tier 7.
    However, it had to be understood that strength across worlds was looked upon differently.
    The truth was that true geniuses spent the most time within the Fourth Dimension, slowly accumulating the strength of their bodies.
    In the Dimensional Verse, the Third Dimension was technically the beginning. But the reality was that it was more like a spark. The Fourth Dimension was where the flame was slowly nurtured and grown.
    The Fourth Dimension would lay the foundation of the body into the future. So, usually, geniuses would wait until their Force spilled over into the next Realm rather than forcing their way through like the City Lords of Terrain had.
    As a result, Tier 4 to these seniors was likely no worse than Tier 6 to those City Lords. In comparison, Ingkath, Irolana and Balthorn were all still suppressing their Force at Tier 1. Unfortunately, they couldn't even use this as an excuse becauseбн Leonel hadn't even stepped into the Fourth Dimension yet!
    Of course, none of this mentioned abilities. But, Leonel had taken two out before they even got a chance to use theirs, while he abused his speed to stop Wielor from making use of his.
    It could be said that with this one fight, Leonel was already considered to be the strongest newcomer and was even a match for upper years.
    At that moment, before the stunned crowd could even process what they had just seen, Leonel put his spear away and began to move.
    Pulling out a rope of beast tendons from who knows where, Leonel tied a single ankle of each one of these so-called seniors and began to drag them.
    Too caught up in their own pain, the groaning seniors could only protect themselves from worsening their injuries while being dragged through the crowd.
    Leonel stopped before a thick tree near the city gates.
    If there was one thing Valiant Heart Mountain had going for it, it was the fact that its city wasn't completely disconnected from nature. Even such a thick tree which would easily take ten men to wrap around it was still standing here proudly.
    Leonel took out another spear.
    This one had an exceptionally long blade that took up a third of its body. In reality it almost felt and looked more like a glaive than anything else.
    Still holding onto the rope with one hand, Leonel began to slowly carve into the soil around the tree, careful not to harm its roots. It would be a shame if such a beautiful ancient tree died.
    No one understood what Leonel was doing. And, unfortunately for the trio of seniors at his feet, no one dared to stick their nose in this mess. They were still unaware of exactly what was happening, but what they did know was that a youth of not even the Fourth Dimension had just demolished three Tier 4 experts.
    From the conversation they had overheard, it was clear that this young man was a freshman, yet he already wielded such strength. In their minds, anyone with such power would most definitely not come from a common background.
    Yet, this young man had also said something about these lackies being from Hero Peak.
    Who would want to get caught in the battle between two giants? At this point, they could only hope that the boy's background was as exaggerated as they thought it was, or else his life would be pretty much forfeit.
    Although killing between fellow disciples was prohibited, if one understood the cruelty of the world, there were a lot of things one could do before reaching that extreme. And, in a lot of ways, those things were even worse depending on the type of person that you were.
    Considering how prideful this young man seemed to be, there was likely little doubt that he would likely be a person exactly like that.
    At that moment, someone gasped.
    Everyone snapped out of their thoughts at once only to find that Leonel had launched the three into the air, hanging them all from the thick tree upside down.
    Leonel tied the final knots tightly. He wasn't very familiar with the most difficult to undo knots in the past, but one would be surprised just how comprehensive the lesson plans his father left behind were.
    Leonel doubted that there would be anyone who could undo this knot in Valiant Heart. Their only option would be to cut them down. But, if they thought it would be so easy, they'd be sorely mistaken.
    Taking a step back, Leonel admired his handywork before nodding to himself in satisfaction.
    "Make way!"
    At that moment, a young woman pushed her way through. Not far behind her, Radlis seamlessly blended into the crowd once again, but Leonel didn't miss that small hint. He couldn't help but shake his head. It seemed that Radlis hadn't just run away after all.
    The crowd began to murmur. They recognized this young woman. This wasn't because she was famous, but rather because of the unique runes drawn across her cloth belt.
    She was a member of the only true neutral faction of Valiant Heart mountain, Valiant Hall. They were the peacekeepers of the organization and handled disputes between disciples. They were also designated with the task of recruiting disciples.
    And this final role was what Leonel knew this woman the most forбн
    She was none other than Sael, the young woman who had recruited both himself and Aina.

 Chapter 612 - All The Same

    They say that Hero Peak was the most powerful Peak. But, the true reason for this was because Valiant Hall never involved themselves in any resource disputes. If not for this, even if Valiant Hall wouldn't be the most powerful, they would definitely be a close second or third to Hero Peak.
    When Sael made her way through the crowd, something that was not too difficult considering her stature, she suddenly felt a massive headache coming on when she saw that the core of this commotion was Leonel.
    'Goddammit!' She screamed in her mind.
    This was exactly what she didn't want to happen. And, of the elders of Valiant Heart who were against accepting Leonel, this was exactly what they had worried about as well.
    If they accepted him into the organization, what would they do when he ran amok? How were they supposed to reprimand the potential Heir of a Seventh Dimensional family? They could hardly hold onto their place among Bronze Organizations, they had no right to even think of facing the ire of a Gold Organization.
    In the end, their only recourse was in ignoring Leonel while he was here and hoping that he went away faster. In their minds, a genius like Leonel wouldn't be with them for very long. As long as they held out for a year or two, he would likely get bored of the girl he was chasing, or maybe he would even win her heart, then he would go off toward other adventures.
    Of course, they had also considered that this was potentially part of the coming trials all Morales Clan Heirs had to face. But, that world was so far from them that they only understood tidbits that they could pick up from rumors.
    Though Sael had believed this to be the case, after speaking to more knowledgeable elders, she realized how ridiculous her previous assertions were.
    They, as a mere Fifth Dimension organization, had no chance in stepping foot into such a war. If they did so, they would only be asking for death.
    This was ultimately why the decision was made. They would ignore Leonel. They wouldn't ask him for help because they were well aware that he had no way of helping them.
    This decision is what resulted in Leonel's current situation.
    Aside from Sael, the two Valiant Hall members that had come with her that day, and the highest echelon members of Valiant Heart, no one else was aware of Leonel's true identity.
    And the truth was, that other than well learned individuals like Sael who also happened to have had the benefit of seeing much of the world, no one would be able to deduce Leonel's identity either.
    It could even be said that if it wasn't Sael specifically who had gone that day, maybe, even to this point, no one would know Leonel's true identity. After all, there was a reason even to his death, Anared didn't recognize Leonel even after he used his Bronze Runes.
    Leonel smiled when he saw Sael. "Long time, no see."
    'Long time no see your head!'
    Sael grit her teeth.
    'This damned playboy chased a girl all the way here and he still hasn't given up yet. Now he's causing trouble I've got to clean up. How are we supposed to keep the prestige of Valiant Hall if we're lenient with him?'
    "Come with me." Sael eventually said coldly.
    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
    Sael felt like her head was about to explode. This damned brat, couldn't he understand that she was trying to be lenient? Though Leonel hadn't killed anyone, battling disciples outside of designated areas was also grounds for punishment.
    Within the crowd, Radlis scratched his head at a loss. He had gotten a Valiant Hall member to help Leonel. But, who knew that he would actually beat those three seniors before he could even get her here.
    It seemed that his help was more of a detriment than anything else.
    Radlis sighed. "Pops always said to keep your nose out of everyone's businessбн"
    If those who knew Radlis heard him say this, they'd probably bash him over the head. Maybe he should listen to his father more. But, it was clear that he had never taken these words very seriously.
    What Sael didn't know, though, was that Leonel really didn't know. From his perspective, he wasn't in the wrong considering he was attacked first. But now, Sael hadn't even asked what happened before asking him to come with her.
    "He was attacked first!"
    "Yea, those greasy seniors tried to put paws on our handsome little junior brother!"
    "They deserve to be hung up a tree!"
    "Yea!"
    "Yea!"
    Radlis dashed through the crowd, cupping his hand over his mouth and forming different voices. He was seemingly exceptionally proud of his female voice.
    "Little junior brother, if she bullies you can come to me tonight. Big sis with soothe your aching limbs!"
    The crowd seemed to grow more and more rowdy.
    Sael frowned when she heard these things.
    "You were attacked first?"
    "Shouldn't you have checked that first? What's the point of asking now?" Leonel replied somewhat coldly.
    Sael felt a headache coming on. Wasn't this brat playing wronged little brother a bit too well? Dammit, you're the potential Heir of a monstrous family, can't you at least act like it?!
    Sael's expression darkened. But in the end, she pinched her brows and sighed.
    Forget it. Wasn't this the way of the universe? The powerful did as they pleased and the little people like her had to pick up after them.
    "Who are the freshmen for this round?"
    "Me!"
    Radlis dashed out of the crowd. "Beautiful lady, I was so scared. You're too fast, you left me so far behind. How could you do that?"
    Sael sent Radlis a glance, causing him not to dare cross the half meter mark between them. But, his sly grin never disappeared.
    Not long later, with a hint of embarrassment, the remaining three also made their presences known.
    "Alright, follow me. To ensure that nothing else happens, I'll lead you to finish the remaining procedures."
    Sael turned to leave before sending one last glance back. Luckily, she stopped herself before she looked all the way back and bit her teeth hard.
    She had to pretend as though she had forgotten about the seniors left in the tree to appease Leonel, or else who knew if this shameless young master would make a small matter even larger than it was.
    Unfortunately for her, as bad as her impression of Leonel was, Leonel's impression of her was even worse.
    'These damned organizations (young masters), they're all the same.'
    Leonel and Sael shook their heads.
    As their backs disappeared into the city, news spread like a wildfire.. The humiliation of members of Hero Peak suddenly became a hot topic.

 Chapter 613 - Stay Put

    Leonel followed behind Sael, casually looking through the city at the feet of the seven peaks.
    Though he had previously described this city as small, the truth was that this was only an illusion. It felt quite quaint due to all the nature in the surroundings. But, for a city to be at the base of seven separate Peaks, its size didn't need to be explained.
    This space was taken over by the youths of Valiant Heart. Since a single round of recruitment brought in over a thousand, it wasn't a surprise that they managed to fill in all this space. But, Leonel could also tell that there were quite a number here that weren't members of Valiant Heart.
    Though the city didn't have tourists, what it did have were many traders.
    It only took a silent walk around the city for Leonel to understand what was happening.
    Valiant Heart was likely only one protected corner of this Fifth Dimensional world. Beyond it, he was sure that there were countless resources. It was at this very city that these resources could be traded.
    It seemed that Valiant Heart gave quite a bit of freedom to its disciples and students. But, Leonel was also sure that they took their fair share of taxes from these transactions.
    'So that's how these factions are competing, huh?'
    Sael and the others had no idea how much Leonel had picked up on a single pass through of the city. He could clearly see that the shops and various establishments he passed through were separated into six avenues. There was no doubt that these six represented the six Peaks.
    It seemed that there was a lot of tension in the underbelly of this organization. But, this also bred a competitive fire that could fuel later generations.
    The question wasбн could this fire be turned off in the face of a common enemy? Or would Valiant Heart eat itself alive?
    "This is Valiant Hall." Sael finally led the group to the core of the city.
    Before them, there was an ancient building that seemed to be the cross of a world center and Roman architecture. Leonel thought it was a shame that they didn't have pyramids considering their style of dress, but he doubted that anyone here would even understand what he was saying if he brought it up.
    He found it curious though. Though this large building had quirks that existed outside of what one would expect from Roman architecture, it was still eerily similar. Leonel wondered which came firstбн was Earth influenced by outside powers?
    "This is where you will register yourselves and become official warriors of Valiant Heart."
    'So that's what they call themselves?'
    Sael led them to be registered one by one.
    It turned out that the spatial rings they were given, not only acted as the life saving treasure Sael once mentioned, but also acted as their form of identification. Leonel found the number of functions they could pack into such a small device to be quite fascinating.
    Though he had always said that the more parts a Craft had, the more complex it was. There was also another second direction of complexity. And this was incredibly small and miniature Crafts that managed to pack a lot of things into a small volume.
    Leonel wasn't certain which was more complex as a whole. But, what he did know was that he had already built a Craft with many parts, but he had yet to do the opposite. This left his mind spinning with a lot of untapped potential.
    Leonel was absentmindedly registered, barely paying attention as Sael led them around the city once again.
    "бн This is the location of the Valiant Vault. Usually there are only three methods of entry. The first is the golden tags you all should have gotten during the entrance exam. The second is by any number of Peak Rivalry events that happen over the course of the year. And, the third is by breaking Peak Records.
    "Of? these methods, the easiest is definitely the entrance exam, so I hope you all took advantage. I hear that if you accumulate ten golden tags, you can even trade for a Tier 9 weapon. 100 golden tags will get you a Quasi Bronze weapon. And though it's nearly impossible, there is a rewards of a Tier 1 Bronze treasure if you accumulate 1000 golden tags."
    Sael thought that her words would excite the group, but when she looked back, she only saw that they were all gazing toward Leonel with weird faces.
    "бн Though I say this, I advise that you all take advantage of the golden tickets you all have now. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. You're all currently too weak to even think of earning golden tickets by other means. It's better to improve yourselves now."
    The more Sael spoke, the more odd she felt that none of them were moving.
    Radlis finally cleared his throat. "бн Um, beautiful big sister, we don't have any golden tickets."
    Sael frowned. "How's that possible? That old man always gives those who бн"
    Her words paused, finally following everyone's gaze back to Leonel.
    Finally realizing that something was off, Leonel looked around. Seeing Valiant Vault proudly displayed in front of him, he just shrugged.
    "Sorry, I gave all my golden tags to someone else."
    Sael's lip twitched.
    Without a choice, Sael could only move on, introducing the other locations of Valiant City before dropping them off at their designated residences.
    "Stay put here for as long as you can." She said sternly. "And don't cause any trouble."
    Though she seemed to be speaking to them all, her gaze never left Leonel.
    Sael grit her teeth and walked away after realizing that Leonel didn't seem to pick up on her hints. She had managed to stop any trouble by being by his side, but she couldn't exactly do this all the time, right?
    'бн I'll have to assign a mission in Valiant Hall and have someone keep an eye on the situation so it doesn't get too out of handбн'
    Sael rushed away as Leonel prepared to walk into his abode.
    What they were both unaware of was the fact that news had finally drifted to Aphestus' ears.

 Chapter 614 - Heal

    Aphestus sat on a meditation pillar that stood five meters tall. One leg dangled over the edge while he brought his other knee to his chest. His gaze peered over the ledge, gazing upon the few that had come to report matters to him.
    This seemingly ordinary pillar was actually one of the resources that youths of Valiant Heart pined over. Yet, Aphestus was using it as a casual sitting stool, not even practicing Force as one would expect.
    However, at this moment, the few beneath him didn't have the luxury of thinking about how wasteful their vice leader was being.
    Seeing that crooked smile that hung on Aphestus' face, with their experience, they could tell that he was just a step away from blowing his lid.
    "бн Weбн We tried our best to cut them down, vice leader. But, for some reason, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't. There's some weird space distortion around the treeбн As best as we can tellбн If someone more powerful than us doesn't goбн"
    The words of the young man were cut off by Aphestus' laughter.
    "You want someone more powerful to go? Someone recognizable maybe? Somewhat of a genius that everyone has seen before?"
    Aphestus laughed even more.
    He felt as though he was getting out of character in just this past day. Often times, humans fell into the trap of doing something they never would. But, instead of backtracking after they realized they had made a mistake, they rather chose to double down, causing them to continue down a rabbit hole of doing things they wouldn't ever usually do.
    Maybe Aphestus had fallen into this very hole.
    Him? Spending time on a rookie? What an absolute joke.
    If it wasn't for the precarious time they were in, he wouldn't have even been sent to personally recruit anyone. Even though Aina had activated the pillars on her first try, Hero Peak wasn't short of individuals who had done exactly that.
    In fact, while Aina had succeeded in climbing the mountain pass that had been nerfed under the presence of the elders, there were no shortage of people on Hero Peak who had succeeded under the full brunt of the pillar's strength.
    Yet, over this semi-decent talent, he had actually landed himself in such a situation. It was quite pathetic.
    This matter would be over as easily as him taking action personally, but that would only make a matter he thought was insignificant to begin with even worse.
    How could he not be furious? It was as though he had tried to squash an ant, only for it to survive and shit into his food later. It was infuriating.
    "What a good little brat." Aphestus chuckled, the Force around him trembling as his muscles ripple like they had a mind of their own.
    "Leave them up there for all I care. They can bleed to death."
    Aphestus rose his dangling leg, entering a state and posture of meditation. Hidden patterns on the pillar he sat upon began to glow, causing a typhoon of Force to form around him.
    The youths at the bottom of the pillar looked at one another, not knowing what to do. But in the end, they could only leave. None of them dared to disturb Aphestus while he was in meditation.
    'I don't need to do anything any longer. Speaking the name of Hero Peak so casually was already enough to seal your fate.'
    бн
    As the commotions was only growing as more and more people attempted and failed to take the trio down from the tree, Leonel had entered his home for the next small while.
    As one might expect, the accommodations for rookies weren't exactly lavish. And, since Leonel had given the Segmented Cube to Aina, he could only make do with what he had.
    The only things Leonel had taken with him out of the Cube were his feather pen and Little Tolly.
    Leonel didn't expect to be barred from seeing Aina. Even if he was, he didn't plan on taking it lying down. He had given her those things as though they might separate only so that she could focus on her training.
    Leonel knew how important it was to her, so he decided to give her some time to focus on those things. As for him, his goal here wasn't exactly to become stronger. Though, that might happen as a by-product, his main goal was to gather resources.
    The second reason Leonel had given Aina the Segmented Cube was because he believed that she would likely have a better training environment than he did. Only in a place like that would the Segmented Cube be able to grow faster.
    'Resources, resources, resourcesбн'
    Leonel eyed his small bed and narrow window toward the outside. He hadn't gotten to experience college, but he felt like it wouldn't be much different from this at all. Though, his accommodations would have probably been better as a Five Start Quarterbackбн
    'I guess the first thing I should do is focus on healing myself.'
    Leonel made a decision. He couldn't keep running around like this.
    It seemed like his worst injury were his cracked ribs, but the truth was that his burnt inner organs had something to say about that.
    He really hadn't expected that using his Scarlet Star Force would have such a drastic impact on him, but now he had to deal with the consequences.
    'I've already tried to improve [Grand Heal] as best I canбн But it definitely can't heal me and is nowhere near good enough to heal coach. Maybeбн'
    Leonel took a deep breath. The last time he looked at the core of Merlin's Trial World, he almost passed out. But, since then, he had crossed into the peak of the Fourth Dimension with his Soul Force. Maybe he stood more of a chance now.
    His only path forward seemed to be that complex world of Force Arts.
    Leonel began to cast numerous spells to lock down the defenses of his small room and shelter him from distractions from the outside.
    He had no idea the kind of surprise he was in for.. And, even worse than that, he had no idea the kind of commotion his sudden disappearance would cause either.

 Chapter 615 - Force Law Art

    Leonel brought out a particular snowglobe from his spatial ring, staring at its surface for along while.
    He could immediately tell that something had changed about it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on exactly what it was.
    This particular snowglobe had spent no small amount of time in the Lab Setting, sitting on a shelf. And, what Leonel didn't know was that it had undergone this change long ago, more than half a year ago, in fact. However, in his caution, Leonel had kept at arm's length from anything related to it, choosing instead to focus on other things.
    In the past, Leonel might have recklessly chosen to charge forth. But, learning a bit of caution, he brought out the only tool he could continuously rely on.
    A part of his mind felt that he relied on the dictionary a bit too much. At least for now, though, he didn't feel that this was worth harping on.
    "Is it safe for me to observe this Force Art?"
    After a while of being unsure of how to approach this matter despite the fact his instincts were screaming at him every which way, Leonel decided on the most logical question.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ Replying to Seed, it is not completely safe. ]
    Leonel sighed. Once again with these overly straightforward answers.
    The more Leonel learned about Crafting, though, the more he realized just what sort of feat it was for his father to create such a thing. If the dictionary had to be classified, Leonel was absolutely certain that it was beyond the Silver Grade.
    Leonel expecting more complex answers was akin to wishing this dictionary would birth intelligence of its own. But at that point, the dictionary wouldn't just be a treasure, it would likely be capable of being classified as its own form of life.
    Such a thing would be far beyond Leonel's scope of understanding and would likely be even beyond a Gold Grade treasure.
    After thinking for a moment, Leonel settled on another question.
    "What exactly is unsafe."
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ The observation of Force Law Arts requires a strong foundation of mental fortitude and computational ability. It is inadvisable to observe this Force Law Art unless you have begun to reinforce your mind. ]
    'Force Law Art?'
    Leonel was intrigued. This was the first time he had heard this term. It had some familiar parts, but wasn't entirely so. Realizing this, Leonel pressed for more answers.
    [ *Ping* ]
    [ A Force Law Art is a category of Force Art that has no functional ability but rather lays the Law for the function of derivative Force Arts. ]
    The definition was simple, but Leonel felt as though an explosion had gone off in his mind. If he understood this to mean what he thought this meant, it was a massive boon.
    Steadying his breathing, Leonel calmed himself. He had already understood that this must be the true reward from the Camelot Zone. However, what he still didn't understand was exactly what change it had undergone for him to feel as though it was so much different now than it had been in the past.
    "What caused the change in this Force Law Art?"
    [ *Ping * ]
    [ The Force Law Art was incomplete until the Mythological Zone it was constructed from was perfectly cleared. ]
    It was then that Leonel finally understood. He had thought that the only reward for completing the Camelot Zone and solving the love triangle was the evolution of Earthбн But it turned out that he couldn't have been more wrong.
    What function did a Force Law Art provide?
    When Leonel embarked on the journey of improving Camelot's spells, he tried his best to deconstruct their Force Arts into their most simple form. By breaking them down and rebuilding them, he was able to somewhat better understand how spells were formed.
    As a result of this, he became capable of layering and combining spells of even two separate attributes together иC as he displayed during his battle with the Puppet Master.
    However, ultimately, the improvement Leonel was able to bring about wasn't very great. Though he allowed a Peak Third Dimensional spell to display power rivaling that of a Fourth Dimensional one, it wasn't enough of a change to be worth it.
    When Leonel battled the seniors just now, he didn't even consider using spells because the tradeoff just wasn't worth it despite the fact his mind was the most powerful part of himself at the moment.
    What this Force Law Art provided was a path forward. Rather than stumbling forward himself, it was like Leonel had been handed a decryption key. Now, the enigma that had been the laws that governed Camelot's spells opened up to him and read no differently from any other bookбн
    And, the best part of all of this was the fact that the root of the Law itself wasn't restricted by Dimensions.
    There was no doubt that there were some Mythological Zones that were more valuable than others. Even if one cleared two and gained full rewards from both, there was no guarantee that the new magic system one gained from it would have the same potential.
    This was all to say that no two magic systems were built to reach the true heights of the universe and the odds of stumbling into a new magic system that could rival the oldest of the existing ones was slim to noneбн
    Still, even with all that being said, if there was going to be one world capable of producing such a magic system from the very first Mythological Zone it producedбн
    It would most definitely be Earth!
    As for whether Camelot's magic system truly had such potential, only time would tell. However, Leonel didn't mind even if it became useless after the Fourth Dimension. All he wanted was for it to be of use now. As for the future? He could deal with it then.
    With these thoughts completed, Leonel sat on his small bed and sank his mind into the snowglobe, still unaware that trouble had already come knocking.

 Chapter 616 - Spiritual Medium

    Leonel immediately felt overwhelmed.
    In order to hide the existence of the Force Law Art, a treasure Leonel was sure that even worlds would war over, he had chosen to keep it within the snowglobe. But, he hadn't taken time to consider the disconnect his mind and body would feel in doing so.
    Leonel felt as though his concept of time had been completely destroyed. As much as he would love to believe that this meant that he had unlocked some new cheat, he knew better than to think this.
    Maybe it was a product of his high Dream Force affinity, but he was quite good at seeing through illusions of the mind. As a result, he could tell that while his mind felt as though time had come to a grinding halt, his body was still very much experiencing it in real time.
    This seemingly small matter resulted in Leonel wasting over an hour before he even thought of gazing at the Force Law Art.
    Leonel immediately retracted his mind from the snowglobe, a cold sweat on his forehead. He realized then that had it not been for his high Dream Force affinity, he may very well have been stuck in the snowglobe to the end of his life.
    Of course, things wouldn't be so exaggerated. As long as just one person came to check on him, he would be able to leave. Wellбн As long as that person was determined enough to smash through the protections he had put up. But, it was a scary thought nonetheless.
    'Wowбн So this is Time Forceбн'
    This was the first time Leonel had come across Time Force and it was only now he truly understood how fearsome it was.
    Much like everything else in his Segmented Cube, he took the snowglobes for granted. But the reality was that their value was impossibly great as well. If someone with Time Force affinity knew that Leonel had such things and in such large quantities, they'd likely be willing to give up whatever large amount of wealth they had for just one. Wellбн That or they'd go all out to kill him.
    Being able to have the opportunity to observe Time Force at work was rare. Yet, it seemed like Leonel could do so whenever he wanted.
    Leonel took a deep breath. This time, he steeled his mind and was prepared for the sudden change.
    The world within the snowglobe was an expanse of white fog. At least, that was what it was normally when there was nothing to be stored within it. But now, there was a massive globe of floating golden symbols.
    It felt as though Leonel had stepped into the inner workings of a clock. Every shift in a rune or symbol here would cause a chain reaction that ricocheted throughout the whole Force Law Art. Just standing there, Leonel found himself awed at its beauty.
    At that moment, Leonel felt a tiny prick on his finger.
    '20 minutes alreadyбн?'
    This time, Leonel had commanded Little Tolly to give him a small prick in 20 minute intervals. He could hardly believe that even though he felt like he was on guard this time that he still managed to wash away so much time so easily.
    Still, there was a difference now. Leonel hadn't gotten lost due to some feeling of time dilation, but rather due to the beauty of the Force Law Art.
    Maybe only he would be able to say that such a complex system was beautiful, but this was truly how Leonel saw it. If he could one day create a craft so perfectбн Just what level would it be at?
    'So that's why Camlot uses Spiritual Wood as a mediumбн Ugh, Spiritual Wood is such a terrible name. Let's call itбн. Mage Woodбн. Wait, no, that's even worse. Let's throw out the Wood part entirely, it ruins everythingбн'
    Leonel settled on the name Spiritual Medium. Because, even after just 20 minutes of study, Leonel realized that this so-called Spiritual Medium didn't have to be Wood at all.
    The basic principle of Camelot's spells was amplification.
    When Leonel was first learning Light Elemental Mage Arts, he was stunned by how simple they were. But, what he soon found out afterward was that the simple layered on itself to form more and more complex spell structures. The amplification of this layering was where the strength of powerful spells came from.
    A Spiritual Medium took advantage of this foundational law of Camelot's Mage Arts. During the conjuring of a spell, it amplified each one of the individual basic parts, thus making the whole more powerful.
    Leonel realized right then that if he really wanted to heal his coach, maybe reforming a new healing spell wasn't necessary. If he could just find an excellent Spiritual Medium, his strength could increase by ten times without even learning a single new spell.
    As for what could be used as a Spiritual Medium, Leonel realized that anything with high Soul Force compatibility could work. The reason the trees Camelot formed their wands out of worked so well was because they were a special breed capable of purifying regular Force. This made them good outlets for Soul Force which was essentially just that.
    'I don't have any Spiritual Mediums powerful enough and I also don't want to carry around a wandбн'
    Maybe it was the teenage angst in him, but Leonel had no intention of running around like Gandalf.
    From what Leonel could tell, the wand format was just a product of circumstance. Wood wasn't exactly the easiest material to work with and restricting the Spiritual Tree too much would cause it to lose its functions.
    But, if Leonel picked a better Spiritual Medium, then he could mold it into anything he liked.
    Leonel nodded to himself. But for now, he didn't act on this thought.
    The Spiritual Medium he needed would have to be high grade within the Fourth Dimension. Getting such a resource from this place would require strength. And that once again brought him back to a need to heal himself.
    Leonel turned his attention back to the massive inner-workings of the Force Law Art again.
    Just 20 minutes got him such a breakthrough. Though it seemed meaningless and quite tiny, one needed to consider how long it must have taken Camelot to realize the benefits of a Spiritual Medium.
    There were many discoveries throughout history that seemed trivialбн Until they suddenly weren't.
    бн
    Outside of Leonel's dorm room-like accommodations, the commotion was only growing.
    A youth stood amidst many. His face was flushed red from exertion and his mouth opened so wide one could fit two fists into it.
    He looked somewhat comical, but the booming voice that came out as a result had already been shaking the freshman houses for several hours already.
    "бн COWARD OF THE FRESHMAN CLASS, COME SEEK YOUR PUNISHMENT!"
    All around this roaring youth, there was a group of what seemed to be six. But considering the emblem on their neckwear, everyone knew that they were from Hero Peak.
    "Hm, it seems that coward isn't enough of an insult for him. Start with Plan B.." One of the youths said plainly.

 Chapter 617 - Bad Luck

    The young man with the large mouth hesitated when he heard these words. Saying such thingsбн
    Usually, when to behemoths faced off against each other, it was always the little people who suffered most. He was just a freshman, no different from Leonel. Yet, because he, quite literally, had a big mouth, he ended up in this situation.
    In truth, he was among the group who had surrounded Leonel and Aina during that time. But, for obvious reasons, he hadn't been able to lay a hand on either. As a result, he ended up venting his frustrations in one of the few open bars freshman could afford and happened to be overheard. Once againбн because of his big mouth.
    Now, he had been standing here, yelling insults for the past several hours. By now, his throat was scorched and his tongue felt heavy. He really needed water, but he was also too afraid to ask these seniors for such aid. He couldn't even muster up the courage to look at them.
    From time to time, he would send pleading glances toward his fellow freshman, but they only returned rage fueled gazes back.
    These were the freshman living quarters after all. In an ironic twist, Leonel, the one person they wanted to bother the most, was likely the only one unbothered by this turn of events.
    Obviously, as mere freshman, they couldn't even dream of turning their anger toward the seniors. If even the likes of Ingkath had to tread carefully around these youths, who were they to do any different as youths who couldn't even match up to him?
    As a result, everyone turned their anger toward their fellow freshmen. Why the hell did he have to have such a big mouth?
    The young man was known as Thetris. But at this moment, the only thing he could be happy about was that very few knew this.
    He wanted to cry real tears, but could only suck it up.
    'I'll just have to wear a mask and change my voice until all of this blows overбн'
    Taking a deep breath and holding back a stream of salty liquid, Thetris began to bellow once more.
    "I HEAR YOUR NAME IS LEONEL! IT'S TOO BAD THAT YOU WERE TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO TELL US YOURSELF, SO WE HAD TO CALL UP YOUR MOTHER! DON'T WORRY, WE GAVE HER A GOOD TIME! HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK WE GOT HER TO SELL OUT HER OWN SON?!"
    A silence fell over the freshman quarters.
    Beads of sweat fell down Thetris' brow. He really thought that there was no way any man would allow such words to be said about his mother. If Leonel was ignoring him before, there was simply no fathomable way that he would continue to do so.
    The eerie silence that fell over the freshman quarters felt like a calm before the storm.
    But, even after more than two minutes, there was still no movement from the freshman quarters.
    The youth beside gave Thetris another signal. Since the first wasn't enough, they would just go down the rabbit hole. He really wanted to see if this Leonel would truly not dare to step out after they were through raking his name through the mud.
    [Author's Note: Fair warningбн I got a bit creative with these onesбн I think I need to see a therapist]
    "бн A man who doesn't step out to protect his own mother's name? Ah, I get it! When you were being conceived, your old man had his cock in his hand, bending over the side of the bed with sweat pouring down his face, taking bets for which of your whore mother's gang bangers would father you!"
    бн
    "бн I also hear that your mother birthed you along with a steaming pile of shit! She was so cum drunk, she couldn't tell which pile of garbage was you! Who the hell knows what she was doing up until she went into labor?!"
    бн
    "бн Don't worry about your little girlfriend! We have real men over at Hero Peak, she's getting your mother's treatment and then some! When next you see her, she won't even be able to remember your name! Her vocabulary will be whittled down to 'Yes, daddy!' and 'Right away, daddy!'"
    бн
    Thetris' barrage of insults only seemed to grow worse and worse. No stone was left unturned. It was like a rapid fire collection of what would only expect to find in the worst kind of doujin. It was a horror to listen to without a doubt.
    The youths who had come to the freshman quarters knew their limits. They didn't dare to cause a commotion throughout the whole city, or else they would be annoying people they couldn't afford to annoy. So, Thetris' voice was restricted to the few kilometer long strip assigned to freshman, but that didn't stop news from spreading like wildfire, especially after there was not a single movement from Leonel even after all this time.
    On a building a distance away, a youth wearing the emblem of Valiant Hall sat, looking on with a half bored, half amused expression. He had come here to protect Leonel at Sael's will, but he didn't expect this brat to actually be such a coward.
    'Aiya, of all the Hero Peak members you had to catch the attention of, it had to be that sadistic bastard.'
    The young man, who went by Gersan, looked at the back profile of the youth standing by Thetris, handing him orders every so often.
    Even just his back view made him seem like a writhing snake, ready to pounce.
    He had only been in Valiant Heart for three years, yet he had already been promoted to a white belt and was only a step away from entering the ranks of blue belts.
    Unfortunately, his strength was just one aspect. What he was truly known for was being the King of the Ores. He was a business savvy individual who practically hoarded merits thanks to his borderline evil business practices.
    Him targeting Leonel like this was truly a case of bad luck. It seemed that this King of Ores, Sarrieth, was using Leonel as a stepping stone to ease his promotion to blue belt.
    'Tchбн Bad luck indeed. But, what does this have to do with me?'
    Gersan leaned back on the rooftop, half closing his eyes.

 Chapter 618 - Mage Core

    Leonel had no idea what was happening on the outside. How could he? Even if someone was knocking on his door at this very moment, he wouldn't hear it.
    The more he studied the Force Law Art, the greater his comprehension became. Every so often, he would test this by, somewhat ironically, buffing the protections on his little room. This only made it even more unlikely for him to hear what was going on.
    Even if the whole of the freshman quarters fell to an earthquake, it was very likely that Leonel would be left unharmed. He might not even be able to tell that such a thing was happening to begin with.
    Leonel completely immersed himself in the world of Camelot's magic system. He made one discovery after another. He almost felt like a kid who had gone back to grade school. The rapid changes in his thought process almost left him in awe.
    He realized then that he was actually forming a way of thought.
    All throughout one's formative years, maybe what was most important wasn't what you learned, but how you learned it. What was more important than how much you knew, was they way you had come to understand it all.
    Unfortunately, too often, methods of thought were extremely high level classes left to youths who had already had their minds molded. By then, it was often too late to change much of anything.
    But at this moment, Leonel felt that he was in a unique position. Not only was he aware of the importance of this method of thought, but he was also simultaneously in the position of a youth learning everything for the first time.
    He immediately realized that this was yet another opportunity. And, maybe just as quickly, he realized what the corner stone for his method of thought should be.
    There were two factors: flexibility and foundation.
    As described before, Camelot's magic system was bottom up. Rather than constructing new spells for every use case, what it instead did was build upon existing spells to create new, more powerful and more useful ones.
    One might wonder how this might be different from other magic systems. Well, one could take, for example, Leonel's Morales family's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. This alone could be constituted as its own magic system, this one reliant on the absorption of metals. One could build an entire civilization on this concept alone.
    These two magic systems were similar in that they both relied on setting strong foundations. Leonel could build new affinities for himself, but he had to start from the bottom and work his way up. In this way, the two were very similar.
    However, where they differed was in their flexibility. The foundational pieces of Camelot's magic system could be easily swapped and weren't as rigid as the Morales family's.
    If Leonel started building a Space affinity for himself, he couldn't just discard it for the sake of a Time affinity. In Camelot's system, though, if Leonel began to build his way toward an extremely powerful Fire Mage Art, swapping out its foundational pieces would be as easy as thinking it.
    One might think that this wasn't a fair comparison. After all, one was a Mage Art that could be deployed and retrieved at will while the latter was a body cultivation art that was in perpetual action.
    But, Leonel felt that this was an improper way to think about it, especially the more he studied Camelot's magic system.
    Leonel believed that the best way to maximize this magic system was to focus on the Element you had affinity with an slowly build a massive spell structure over time. This spell structure would combine all the lowest level spells you had the highest compatibility with to form the strongest Mage Art you could cast.
    If one looked at it this way, with the spell being a lifelong partner that could be refined over several decades, to centuries, to even millenniaбн Then was it really so different?
    Leonel believed that if given enough time, Camelot would have eventually stumbled onto this truth as well. They already had the foundation and this was obviously the most logical next step.
    'Yesбн This is the right path, the most optimal path for this magic systemбн I'll call itбн Mage Core.'
    Mage Coreбн
    As a young mage, one would begin to form this Mage Core within one's Ethereal Glabella. Not much unlike the Spear Embryo within Leonel's, one would nurture and help foster the growth of this Mage Core.
    One would begin with the lowest level basic spells and build upward, eventually constructing an ultimate spell unique to yourself.
    This was the basic idea Leonel settled upon after the second hour concluded. But, by the time he got to the fourth, it evolved once again. By the time a half day had passed, the concept of this Mage Core had been morphed once more.
    All the while, Force Elements were slowly congealing within Leonel's Ethereal Glabella.
    At first, it was a sphere. But, it began to slowly change, growing a stem, and eventually beautiful twinkling leaves.
    As the hours and eventually days ticked by, a gorgeous multi-colored flower had bloomed within Leonel's mind.
    Its stem was a swirl of colors that eventually opened to a budding rose.
    It had one petal that flickered with a deep crimson, licks of fire dancing across its surface.
    It had another petal that seemed white on first inspection, but had a delicate blue hue to it. It twinkled like the finest stars in the sky.
    Yet another petal was a radiant gold. Yet, unlike the heavy metal, it waved in the wind, looking more flexible than the lightest feather.
    The final petal was a deep black. Its every movement caused the space around it to crack and fold. How it managed to stay in place without shattering the delicate flower to pieces was a wonder of nature.
    Leonel felt that calling this a Mage Core was no longer appropriate. However, he chose to stick with it, not knowing how this budding flower might choose to change in the future.
    On that day, almost half a month after he first entered meditation, Leonel expelled a long breath and opened his eyes.
    At that moment, a swirl of Force shot toward him, inadvertently shattering his protections.
    A massive cyclone formed overhead, throwing the freshman quarters into another upheaval.
    Leonel's Mage Core rose within his Ethereal Glabella, finding a home amidst his three rotating Stars.

 Chapter 619 - Leo The Cuck

    The sudden change took hold of the whole of Valiant City. Whereas the commotion had once only taken hold of the freshman quarters, at this point, it was as though the Force of Valiant Heart had all chosen to concentrate toward one region.
    There wasn't a single person that didn't sense the change. From the weakest to the strongest, they all looked toward one particular direction.
    Leonel looked down at his own body, feeling strength flooding through it.
    'This is itбн' Leonel lip curled.
    One had to remember that the core of Merlin's Trial World encompassed the whole magic system of Camelot. Back thenбн was it only mages that had entered?
    The answer was obviously no. So, in that case, why was it that it seemed that Leonel was so focused on the path of a Mage but didn't say anything about Knights from start to end?
    The truth was that there was a thin line of separation between the two! The path that Camelot had split into two had always meant to be one!
    The four petals on Leonel's Mage Core bloomed, growing a fold in size. At that moment, a fifth petal began to form, growing until it balanced the rest into a state of absolute perfection. Even the crackling of the black petal seemed to ease, calming until it only sent small ripples in every direction.
    This fifth petal was none other than Leonel's Earth variant affinity. It held a beautiful bronze color, its every movement causing what sounded like sharpening metal to ring through the air.
    This was the process of Leonel's body perfectly combining with his magic. He could feel it coursing through his pores, filling his body up with a brimming strength.
    As the Light Element flooded through him, his body began to rapidly heal. As the Fire and Star Elements surged through his veins, he felt as though his resistance against his own Scarlet Star Force had skyrocketed. As the Earth Element rippled through his body, the foundation of his Metal Body grew steadier, opening up a path toward forward progress.
    And finallyбн As the Space Element shook his body to its very core, he felt as though his Divine Armor had fused with him toward a new level of perfection.
    'This is Camelot's true magic systemбн A system where the best Spiritual Medium is none other than one's own body.'
    Leonel felt like he could call down the elements with a thought, fueling his actions with the Force of the world.
    It was difficult for Leonel to concentrate his half month of study into just a few words, but if he had toбн It almost felt like he had turned his body into a lightning rod for magic.
    Whereas in the past he needed to use his Soul Force to draw Force Arts to call down the elements, he didn't need Force Arts to do so anymore. It was almost as though Leonel had gained an ability.
    However, what was scariest about this ability was that when Leonel consciously chose to draw Force Artsбн Not only would it be even faster than his already blazing speed, it would be tens of times more powerful.
    This was the true beginning of Camelot's magic system!
    '[Grand Heal].'
    A pillar of golden light fell from the skies. It tore a path through the dorm rooms, leaving everything practically unscathed. The only change was that everyone who passed by this light suddenly felt lighter on their feet, like all their hidden injuries and worries had been washed away.
    Leonel took a deep breath, soaking up all the golden lights as though a drunkard.
    With just a single [Grand Heal], he had gone from 70% healed to over 80%. He cast it a few more times, feeling intoxicated. After the sixth, he finally managed to return to 100%.
    He felt his bones pop and crackle. He stood, the floors beneath his feet threatening to shatter.
    Having stepped into the true gate of this magic system, Leonel didn't even have to modify the spells he already knew to display combat prowess equivalent to the Fourth Dimension. This was how great a boost forming his Mage Core had given him. Even the simplest of spells had become exponentially more powerful.
    'It's not quite enough to heal coach, but I only need to focus on rebuilding the spell from the ground up to get the results I wantбн If I was a doctor, restructuring healing spells would be much easier, but unfortunately иC'
    As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, the commotion of Force he had caused slowed until it was as though nothing had even happened. It was at that exact moment that a voice familiar to all the freshman sounded once again.
    "бн Leonel, you scolding piece of trashбн!"
    'Huhбн?' Leonel's gaze seemed to penetrate through the walls. He didn't like having his thoughts interrupted and he would have already put up another silencing array had it not been for the fact he just heard his own name.
    "бн I heard your mother picked your last name out of a hat! Too bad she couldn't remember who her bastard kid's daddy wasбн!"
    Leonel's gaze went cold.
    бн
    Outside, Thetris' voice continued to boom. He had been shocked by the sudden shift in Force, but he regained his confidence after it dimmed down.
    Over the past two weeks, he had gotten more bold. Since Leonel was too scared to come out, what did he have to fear exactly?
    The best part was that he was also getting paid handsomely and he didn't even have to yell continuously like he had in the past. Now, he only had to say something every few hours and he even got ample time for rest and play. His only task was to remind everyone that Leonel was a coward who didn't dare to do anything in the face of such insults.
    He was quite happy with this arrangement even though he wasn't necessarily needed. By now, Leonel's face was plastered all over Valiant City in the form of a bounty parody. Even without him, people wouldn't forget.
    He took a swing of water, a wide grin on his face.
    "Did you know, Leonel?! Everyone knows you as Leo the Cuck now! The bounty posters are everywhere! It's a shame you can't see them! It's alright though, every night when we fuck your girlfriend to sleep, she cuddles up with one in her arms!"
    Thetris took another swing of his water, ready to shout out at the top of his lungs again, but his words were suddenly caught in his throat.
    He didn't know when, but a tall shadow had suddenly appeared before him.
    бн
    On the roof of a building not far away, Gersan's eyes shot open.

 Chapter 620 - Community Meditation Square

    Leonel looked down toward Thetris whose mouth hung half open. The latter was so stunned by the sudden change that the swig of water he had just taken drizzled out from his mouth, falling down his chin and drenching his shirt completely.
    Leonel's hand was like a snaking whip, shooting forward so quickly that Thetris didn't even have a chance to register its movement, let alone react to it.
    Thetris keeled over, feeling as though every bone in his rib cage had shattered simultaneously.
    His body seemed to lag behind the shot of pain he felt. Time dilated, his body convulsing in a fit of pain before, only then, shooting backward like a rocket.
    He crashed into a thick pillar, his spine warping.
    The freshman quarters fell into another bout of silence.
    Truthfully, over the past two weeks, they had learned to live with Thetris' voice. They had no choice in the matter. It was either they accept it, or leave Valiant Heart entirely. None of them dared to deal with a person protected by a white belt, so how would they dare touch Thetris?
    The pillar Thetris had just crashed into was just one of many surrounding a community meditation square. It was meant to be one of the many tasked with helping concentrate Force in this region. Though it was much worse than the personal meditation rooms, as freshman who couldn't afford anything, this was the best they could do with.
    Knowing this, there was no surprise, then, that there weren't a small number of people present. Many of them had learned to ignore Thetris, so they hadn't seen the initial collision. But, they had most definitely heard the end result.
    When they looked toward the direction Thetris had come flying from, they all felt their heart skip a beat.
    Leonel was completely expressionless, but the energies around him seemed to be seething in rage for him. The wind around him was still, almost too still. But, it was as though the world refused to regain its normal color.
    Leonel's figure blurred, appearing before Thetris in another blink.
    "Hey, hey, hey."
    Leonel found his wrist clamped down by someone else just as he was about to grab Thetris' head.
    "What are you trying to do here exactly? Kill him?" Gersan frowned, looking at Leonel as though he had lost his mind. "If you were going to vent, don't you think it's a bit pathetic to wait until the true culprits have all disappeared just to take out your rage on a pawn? Are you even a man?"
    Gersan's disdain for Leonel boiled over. He couldn't help but feel disgust when he looked at this young man.
    He didn't know why Sael had asked him to protect him, but if he had to guess, it was because Leonel's family background wasn't simple.
    But, for Leonel to have a family background robust enough for Sael to tiptoe around him, yet end up in Valiant Heartбн Well, wasn't the conclusion obvious?
    He was too pathetic to make it in his bigshot family so he came here to flex his talent, only to realize that Valiant Heart had its fair share of steel plates to accidentally kick.
    The result was him hiding away in his little dorm room for weeks, only to come and bully someone far weaker than him.
    If that wasn't pathetic, then what was?
    It was clear that many agreed with Gersan's words. The freshman remained silent in their places of meditation, but most of them agreed. Their looks of disdain alone seemed to make the atmosphere several times heavier.
    But, what no one expected was for Gersan to have hardly finished his words before he suddenly found a knee approaching his chin.
    'Huhбн?'
    Gersan couldn't even react before he felt his jaw rattle. It was as though a steel club had swept up and through him. If it wasn't for the fact he had just shut his mouth, he would have bitten his tongue clean off.
    Leonel ripped his wrist out of Gersan's grasp.
    His fist cocked back even as Gersan's feet lifted off the ground. Flames suddenly erupted on his knuckles, concentrating to the point they formed a level a crimson that seemed reserved for hell.
    BANG!
    Leonel's fist collided against Gersan's chest. The latter flew backward, a trail of smoke and crackling flames following his trajectory.
    It felt like he had been before Leonel in one instant, but in the next, he had collided with another pillar, blood flying from his lips.
    Gersan sank down, violently coughing.
    Unlike Thetris, though, he didn't lose consciousness immediately. He landed on the ground, his face grimacing in pain, but the flicker of rage behind his gaze was palpable.
    "Hahaбн Attacking a member of Valiant Hallбн it seems you really have a death wish."
    Gersan growled, pushing his body up. At that moment, his blue eyes flickered with arcs of lightning.
    He stood, his body exploding forward with an impossible speed.
    But, he lost track of Leonel almost instantly. When next he saw him, he found a palm closing in on his face.
    Leonel appeared to Gersan's side, his palm shattering the latter's nose. In that very instant, his fingers clamped down on Gersan's skull.
    His back flexed, his thigh bulging.
    BANG!
    The back of Gersan's head smashed into the ground.
    The stone tiles of the community meditation square shattered, shooting up into the skies in a rain of rubble.
    Gersan's eyes rolled back, their whites looking up into the sky.
    Leonel stood, his pace even as he walked back to Thetris. It was as though he had never fought Gersan to begin with, as though he never truly took the latter seriously.
    Just like that, in the blink of an eye, a promising youth of Valiant Hall, a genius who had already gotten promoted to a white belt, was defeated.
    Leonel kneeled by Thetris' side, picking up the latter by his hair to force their eyes level.
    Thetris teetered and winced, his consciousness fading in and out. He wanted nothing more than to collapse and forget the pain his body was in, but the more Leonel moved him around, the less of a chance he had at this dream of his.
    "Start speaking, or else I'm going to pin your headless corpse to this pillar."

 Chapter 621 - Small Bar

    [Reminder that since it's the weekend, there will only be two chapters today and tomorrow. Back to 4 on monday]
    The streets around Leonel seemed to grow especially silent. The sight of a single young man dragging two half dead youths behind him was quite one to behold indeed, especially when one of them wore the emblem of Valiant Hall. Even Hero Peak didn't dare to mistreat the members of that Hall so blatantly even though they had launched plenty of underhanded schemes of their own.
    It didn't take long for many to match Leonel's face to the bounty posters that had been plastered all around Valiant City.
    Though the most promising youths of Valiant Heart usually spent most of their time in their Peaks, making use of training rooms, the city was almost always filled by the lesser-than characters of the organization. Beyond this, there were also some high class establishments that the true talents used to blow off some steam.
    However, Leonel's goal wasn't one of these high-class establishments, but rather a low class one almost anyone could afford. And, unfortunately for Gersan who wouldn't be caught dead in such a place, his actions had made Leonel think that he was part of all of this, resulting in him being dragged through the city to this very establishment.
    Leonel's foot blasted through the doors of the low class bar. One would think that he had to rely on his strength to do so, but he was certain that even if he was still a normal human, he would have been able to accomplish the same feat just as easily.
    The doors of the bar hung loosely from their hinges, barely holding on even before Leonel's actions. Now, however, they found themselves flying out, finally free from their rotting wooden frames.
    If the inside of the bar had to be described in just a single word, it would be stale.
    It had dingy yellow lights, a musty smell, and brimmed with testosterone. It was almost as though a woman had never set foot into this place, and if they hadбн It definitely hadn't been with pure intentions.
    This was apparently the bar that Thetris had been overheard in and was also the place the so-called King of Ores had recruited him from.
    "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
    The immediate response to Leonel's actions was hostility.
    Most of the businesses run in Valiant City were owned by youths. As one might expect, the competition over land and their rights was quite stiff. Even for a dilapidated place like this, there was no doubt that there was a genius behind it somewhere.
    Attacking a place like this was no different from slapping the face of a senior. So, it was no wonder the reaction, despite the perpetual rowdiness of the place, was still so exaggerated.
    The bartender immediately jumped to action. Even in the dim lights, the white belt wrapped around his waist was clear for all to see.
    It didn't take Leonel more than a single glance to tell that he was Tier 5 in strength. Not only was he Tier 5, but compared to the Tier 4's Leonel had originally defeated when he first stepped foot in this city, he was exponentially more powerful.
    However, even as he jumped over the counter, planting a single palm down as an anchor, Leonel only spoke a single sentence that stopped him in his tracks.
    "You're free to keep attacking, but in return I'll burn this whole place to the ground."
    Flickering flames danced across Leonel's skin. He looked no different from a flaming human, prepared to blast the small bar to smithereens.
    The bartender paused, his brow furrowing into a frown.
    He scanned Leonel up and down, eventually landing on the two he dragged by their hair. His pupils constricted when he recognized Gersan.
    White belt might have been the line of demarcation between freshman and seniors, but there were obviously lines of division between them. Usually, this was decided by time taken.
    The bartender had taken three years to promote to white belt. But, all geniuses like Gersan took less than a single year. The fact that Gersan was in such a state made the bartender realize that he should be thanking Leonel, or else he would have ended up in the same state.
    He gulped, his body tensing. Even though the owner of this bar wouldn't have to fear Leonel, by the time he got here for revenge, wouldn't he have already suffered the worst? Considering how little that senior cared about this place, why would he care about a small-time bartender?
    "Why have you come?" The bartender spoke, trying to maintain his calm.
    "Two weeks ago." Leonel said plainly. "There was a senior who came here to recruit him."
    Leonel threw Thetris forward without a care for his injuries.
    "Who is that senior and where is he."
    Leonel seemed to be asking a question, but his demeanor was so bitingly cold and his words so demanding that it almost felt like a statement. The bartender didn't even feel like not answering was an option.
    Sending a scared glance toward Thetris, a stream of memories immediately flooded the bartender's mind. But, when he realized the kind of information Leonel wanted, he froze.
    A cold sweat began to pour down his forehead, his fingers beginning to tremble.
    On one side, there was the youth right in front of him, clearly uncaring about humiliating the senior who owned this bar. He was a madman and clearly nothing like the coward the Leo the Cuck posters painted him out to be.
    But, on the other side, there was the King of Ores, a vicious man known as a snake by many. The kind of poisonous existence who had done any and everything to claim the wealth he had now.
    Not answering the question would cause this demon incarnate to come down on him. But, while answering it would save his life for now, what would happen when the matters of today returned to the ears of the King of Ores?
    "It's just a simple math equation, don't you think?"
    Like the voice of a reaper, Leonel's voice drifted into the bartender's ears.
    "If you do answer, you'll anger just one man. But, if you don't, I'll burn down this bar and beat you half dead. That way, you'll enrage both me and your boss, while eventually telling me what I want to know anyway.
    "So, what do you choose?"

 Chapter 622 - Ore Market

    The Ore market was the most lucrative in Valiant Heart. If one thought about it, this wasn't too surprising. What else would one expect to find in a world of such mountainous regions if not and endless number of Ores? Valiant Heart was especially known for its rich Urbe Ore reserves.
    One might imagine, then, for a mere white belt to claim such a large portion of this market, he definitely couldn't be a normal man.
    No one knew exactly what the King of Ores' secret was, but what they did know was that he was a vicious man not many dare to cross.
    All this said, the Ore Market of Valiant City wasn't what one would expect. The youths of Valiant Heart had no need for buying raw Ores. Aside from some Crafter factions within their organization, sales rarely, if ever, ended up in the hands of the students of Valiant Heart.
    Rather, the Ore Market was a hotspot for traders coming from outside Valiant Heart.
    The youths usually took missions that could range in anything from finding the sources of new Ore Veins to excavating already existing mines. Usually, these youths would be under the wing of factions who laid claim to these Ores for themselves.
    These Ore Factions designated youths with unique abilities to find new Ore sources while deploying their stronger members toward guarding the veins they claimed. The lowest ranking members were tasked with minding and bringing these Ores back.
    These Ores would then be brought to the market and sold, mostly in bulk, to various trading companies.
    Valiant Heart Mountain was content to allow their students to battle it out over these resources, taking a kickback from the taxes. This way, they could both accumulate resources and funds while training the next generation all at once.
    Due to these reasons, the Ore Market was simultaneously a place of profit and a battlefield of commerce.
    бн
    At that moment, within one of the many pitched tents of the Ore Market, a palm slammed down on a large wooden table, rattling all the scales and measuring devices on it.
    This tent was among the largest the Ore Market had to offer and a line that extended for hundreds of meters could be found outside its flaps.
    The tent alone was over five meters tall and had an almost twenty meter diameter. The inside placed a large, thick wooden table at the front. But, to the back, rather than being one large room like most tents, there seemed to be several divided lots. It was hard to tell if these were storage spaces, or if they were offices.
    Either way, neither the people within the tent, nor outside of it, were worrying about this at the moment. They were entirely focused on the scuffle that was about to ensue.
    "Whoa, whoa. Calm down Kaela, you'll destroy our precious map if you hit any harder."
    A young man sitting behind the large wooden desk chuckled, gently patting the beast-skin map sprawled out over the table. Then, just as calmly, he picked up the measuring devices that had fallen over.
    Kaela, a young woman who stood over the desk fuming, only became more infuriated when she heard these words.
    "Why is the price so high?! It's 50% up from just half a year ago! How are you expecting us to afford it?!"
    Kaela was quite the looker, especially when her chest was heaving like that. She wore spectacles that couldn't hide her vibrant green eyes and had a curvaceous figure. She was definitely the subject of admiration for many male students.
    Unfortunately, she spent much of her time locked away in a lab. Even if one wanted to court her, it was near impossible. Even now, she wore what looked like a lab coat over her uniform, partially hiding what was definitely a sight that would be even more enticing.
    The young man picked at his ears.
    "We set the price, you buy. If you don't want to buy, then don't."
    Kaela grit her teeth, her rage palpable. If it wasn't for the special gloves she seemed to be wearing, her nails might have already drawn blood from her palms.
    "Does Sarrieth think that just because he promoted to blue belt that he can do whatever he wants now?!"
    The young man smiled slyly. Yet, despite the fact he didn't give a verbal response, his entire demeanor seemed to scream: 'Yea? And what are you going to do about it?'
    "I'll remember this well, Nigmir. Your King of Ores faction can forget about buying any Crafts from my Polished Glass faction!"
    The young man was stunned for a moment before he began to laugh uproariously. He laughed so hard that one would have thought that he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
    He wheezed, only managing to calm himself after taking a large gulp of water.
    Almost immediately afterward, in striking contrast, his expression became bitingly cold.
    "Do you see how many people are outside waiting to trade with us?" Nigmir all but growled these words out. "Your pitiful faction only comes here twice a year so you have no idea that the prices have been like this for over a week already. Yet, do you see any of them running away from it?
    "You think you can use your weak trash of a Crafting faction to pressure us? What is the best weapon you can even provide at your best? Tier 4?
    "If I trade enough Ores, I can lay hands on enough Tier 7 treasures to outfit every Captain of the King of Ores faction. Who the hell do you think you are?!"
    Kaela glared back, matching Nigmir's gaze. At that moment, a hair scrunchy that kept her hair in a pony tail seemed to come alive, dancing with flames. But in the end, she chose not to attack.
    She turned away, fury lighting her gaze.
    "Oh, andбн Since you seem to like pressuring people, how about this? You can forget about buying Ores from Ore Market, period. Anyone who trades with you will now be an enemy of King of Ores faction!"
    Nigmir's voice boomed, spreading across the whole Ore Market, drifting to the ears of everyone.
    Kaela's fists gripped tighter, her shoulders trembling slightly. But, she didn't turn back as she continued to walk away.
    It was at that moment that a sudden commotion sounded from the outside of the tent.
    "Stop! Can't you see there's a line here?! Scram before I help you roll out of here!"
    The only response was a muffled groan and a figure flying into the fragile fabric of the large tent, ripping another large hole open aside from its entrance.
    The entirety of the Ore Market fell into chaos.

 Chapter 623 - Quarter Inch

    Leonel had entered the Ore Market with slow, deliberate steps. Everyone who saw him seemed to give him a wide berth whether it be by design or instinct.
    Originally, he hadn't known exactly where to go, his hands now empty of Gersan and Thetris with them having out lived their use. But, Nigmir's shouts gave him an easy road map to follow. Since they wanted to roll out the red carpet for him, he would happily oblige.
    бн
    Nigmir shot up from his seat, a deep frown on his face when he saw one of their peace keepers come flying through the tent's wall.
    At first, Nigmir thought that this was Kaela's doing. With her fiery temper, he didn't think that she would take this laying down. He had most definitely expected her to at least try to inform the elders of Valiant Heart. But, directly attacking was a foolish choice, it would only give them even more leverage when it came to the inevitable trial.
    Nigmir didn't think Kaela was this stupid. And, as expected, when he turned to face her, she was just as surprised by the turn of events as he was.
    At that moment, a young man whose body danced with what looked like golden flames slowly made his way forward. His posture was casual, his hands even being in his pants pockets. Yet, no one dared to approach him. The heat he was giving off was simply too much.
    "бн Black belt?"
    Nigmir was stunned. A mere black belt dared to make so much trouble?
    Not only was this brat a black belt, but he didn't even have a Peak emblem on his belt either. The only youths who had yet to join a Peak by now were the average to below average talents. They would need more accumulation before they could think of passing the Peak Exams.
    This meant that Nigmir watching Leonel stroll into the Ore Market like this was almost like a King Beast watching an ant try to take over its territory. It wasn't just a small bit ridiculous.
    Before Nigmir could regain his bearings and realize that he should have been enraged at this moment, this so-called ant suddenly spoke.
    "Sarrieth. Where is he?"
    Leonel's voice was cold and detached. His words alone seemed to cause the elements to bow down even to the point many felt as though space itself had been constricted.
    Nigmir's mind went blank.
    Sarrieth?
    He, of course, knew the name. But, since when did a mere black belt not respectively call him King of Ores? Since when was it a brat's turn to call out their leader's name so casually as though it was worth nothing more than dirt?
    It was then that Nigmir finally recognized Leonel.
    They had taken some liberties with the Leo the Cuck posters, almost making Leonel look like a caricature of his own self while making it recognizable enough to pick him out on the streets. But, at this moment, Nigmir found it almost impossible to match Leonel with those posters.
    That saidбн This had long ago stopped being anything about Leonel's talent.
    No person who could defeat a Tier 4 existence while in the Third Dimension was weak. No person who could claim ten tags during the Freshman Exam was weak. No person who could enrage the vice leader of Hero Peak was weak.
    Those who still thought this was about Leonel's talent were fools. This was about nothing more than seniors enforcing the hierarchy they had worked hard to climb.
    Nigmir stared at Leonel for a long while.
    "Peace Keepers!" Nigmir roared.
    At that moment, the sound of shuffling feet surrounded the massive tent.
    Everyone knew that the Ore Market was nothing more than a hidden battle ground. Though it had been a long time since anyone deemed to test the King of Ores faction, that didn't mean they weren't prepared at all times.
    Amidst the Peace Keepers, a young man with teeth as sharp and jagged as a shark's burst into laughter.
    "Nigmir! Your prestige seems to have taken a hit! You can't control a black belt on your own and even had to call for help?!"
    "Don't blame him too much, Cormus. His senses have gotten dull after doing nothing but counting money all day!"
    The Peace Keepers erupted into laughter together. Their two leaders, Cormus, the jagged tooth young man, and Ardryn, a young woman carrying a massive great sword, bantering back and forth.
    Kaela frowned at this sudden change of events.
    Though Cormus and Ardryn only seemed to be joking, their underlying point still stood. It didn't make sense for the King of Ores faction to bring out so much fire power to deal with one young man. It was as though they wanted to end this swiftly and strongly, displaying their dominance to the utmost degree.
    But the question wasбн why? Who was this boy? Since when did King of Ores care about a mere black belt so much?
    Unfortunately for Kaela who spent 99% of her time in the lab, she was completely unaware of the viral Leo the Cuck phenomena. And, she was equally unaware of how much of an uproar Leonel's actions today had already caused.
    'This is not good!' Kaela snapped out of her thoughts, suddenly realizing the severity of the situation.
    If King of Ores wanted to make an example of Leonel, even if they didn't kill him, beating him half to death would at most get them a light punishment, especially since Leonel was seen as the aggressor in this case.
    To make matters worse, even though King of Ores was all constructed of youths who had joined at the same time as Sarrieth, no more than five years ago, each an every one had become a white belt within two years and the most elite of them would at most need another half year before becoming blue belts.
    If the elite of the sophomore class had to be picked out, it would most definitely be them. And now, they had all turned their weapons toward this one boy.
    Yet, when Kaela laid eyes on Leonel, she suddenly felt frozen in time.
    He stood there in silence, his hands in his pockets and his expression emotionless. Every so often, his eyes would flicker with a wild shade of violet-red, only to return to their original pale green as though the change had never occurred to begin with.
    The wind was oddly still around him, the pumping of his heart even slowing to a crawl.
    BANG!
    Land in a 10 meter radius around Leonel instantly sunk down by a quarter inch.

 Chapter 624 - Synergy

    The Earth seemed to respond to Leonel's call. At that moment, Bronze Runes jumped to life all across his toned torso, a halo of light appearing about his head.
    But this time, something seemed different.
    Black sparkling energy, radiant golden light, glimmering soft blue brilliance and a raging inferno of crimson followed the path of his Runes, fusing with his body as though they had always been there.
    In the blink of an eye, over 80% of the Peace Keepers fell face first into the ground, facing a level of gravity they had never experienced before. Even those who managed to remain standing found it difficult to stop their knees from trembling.
    Many innocents were caught in the crossfire, namely those who had been waiting to purchase Ores of their own and even Kaela who had been thinking of helping Leonel. But at this moment, the youth didn't seem to care.
    Leonel could feel the ground beneath his bare feet. Well, he had always been able to and this only became easier after he began to wear Valiant Heart's uniform.
    But at this moment, it almost felt as though the world was in the palm of his hands.
    He could feel it. Even without summoning a Force Art, controlling the Earth was as easy as thinking it.
    The instant he thought it, numerous earthen chains shot out for the group, shooting toward every Peace Keeper present.
    Those that had been on the ground didn't have the time to react. In the blink of an eye, their limbs were wrapped and locked, their faces pressed so hard into the ground that they even found it difficult to breathe.
    Cormus, Ardryn and Nigmir reacted quickly, the first and the last jumping high into the air while Ardryn swung down her heavy sword, bashing the ground beneath her apart.
    The white tent collapsed, everything that was once inside it falling to the ground in a bloom of dust.
    However, that had only been the beginning.
    A pillar of earth formed beneath Leonel's feet, rising two meters into the air. As though it was an artillery unit with a mind of its own, a rain of earthen arrows began to fly out from within it, aiming toward Cormus and Nigmir who had both jumped into the air.
    Unable to dodge, Cormus growled, bearing his sharp teeth as a tough, leathery grey skin instantly spread across his body. The bones in his knuckles grew out, piercing through his skin and forming gloves of white that shimmered with a glossy finish.
    He rained a hail of fists forward, displaying much more power than he should have been able to midflight.
    Nigmir's reaction wasn't slow either. An illusory pair of greenish wings appeared to his back, his body becoming wrapped in a typhoon of wind.
    With a single flap, a violent, surging tornado tore the earthen arrows apart.
    BANG! BANG! BANG!
    Cormus landed on the ground and instantly shot for Leonel. By that point, Ardryn had done so as well. Her speed was much slower than Cormus', but their teamwork was impeccable. Their timing was so on the nose that they both reached the base of Leonel's pillar in unison, the latter jumping into the air again with a rain of fists and the former swinging her heavy sword with every intention of cutting the pillar in half.
    Nigmir stood in the air, a whirl of wind around him. He brought his hands together, his lips beginning to move in a silent chant. The more words he spoke, the greater the winds around him seemed to become.
    It grew more and more dense, the illusory green becoming almost solid as time went on.
    The wind gradually coalesced, forming a vibrant ivory armor around him.
    His hand grabbed out, causing an ivory lance with a length of over four meters to appear in his palm.
    The sky whimpered and wavered as he shot downward, his gaze flickering with thoughts of violence.
    At that moment, Cormus' fist reached Leonel even as the base of the latter's pillar was cut across by Ardryn.
    However, Leonel didn't even react. Cormus found his fist smashing into Leonel's chest, a bloody grin on his face.
    BANG!
    Cormus' face twisted.
    In that split instant, he looked up to meet Leonel's indifferent gaze. The man stood above him, his hands still in his pockets. In fact, it didn't even look to Cormus that Leonel was actually gazing upon him. Rather, it felt like he just happened to be in his line of sight. Nothing more, nothing less.
    An audible crack sounded. The bones that covered Cormus fists fractured and shattered, causing a roar of pain to leave his lips.
    Ardryn, who had just severed Leonel's connection with the earth and sought to take advantage of the moment was caught off guard by Cormus flying back toward her.
    She side stepped, gritting her teeth and ignoring her teammate for the moment in hopes of still getting to Leonel.
    But, what she didn't expect was for the pillar she had just cut down to suddenly shoot into the air, taking Leonel alone with it.
    BANG!
    Cormus landed heavily on the ground, his entire arm feeling as though it had been shattered into a million pieces.
    Leonel rose his foot, his gaze locking onto Nigmir who was swooping toward him with lance in hand.
    Nigmir's expression changed, but it was already too late.
    Leonel lightly lowered his foot, a ripple spreading across the pillar beneath him.
    What once was a pillar of more than a meter and a half tall was suddenly left with nothing more than a small disk beneath Leonel's feet.
    The rest of it?
    Plunging down toward the ground, directed toward a horrified Ardryn and Cormus.
    BOOM!
    The two Peace Keepers were instantly buried, their life and death completely unknown. The collision was so violent that even if there were cries of agony, it wouldn't have been heard over the loud, cacophonic ripple of the earth.
    The ground quaked and splintered, cracks spreading like wildfire all through the Ore Market.
    Leonel stood in the air upon his thin disk of earth, his hair violently flying about. A dense fog of violet hung around him, his body singing as it brimmed with overwhelming strength.
    The synergy between Leonel's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor and Camelot's magic system was completely beyond even his expectations. But now, the King of Ores faction had to accept the brunt of this surprise.
    Nigmir came to a grinding halt, his body quaked with rage and the wind around him kicked up a violent storm.
    The clouds above him seemed to react, becoming a churning swirl of white hanging in the skies.

 Chapter 625 - Playtime

    "For a freshman brat, you sure have a lot of guts." Nigmir's voice seemed to be everywhere, being carried by the wind to all corners. If Leonel didn't know better, he would have thought that he had cloned himself. "Since someone has yet to teach you your place, let it be me."
    Nigmir's four meter long lance trembled, a tempest of wind kicking up and concentrating around its shaft. In one moment, it looked no different from an enormous lance. In the next, it had become a drill bit, tearing through the skies with a momentum that would send a cold shiver down anyone's spine.
    Nigmir's arm flexed.
    In that instant, a cone of rotating wind shot through the skies. It was impossibly fast, crossing a distance of a hundred meters in what felt like a blink.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed, a deep black Force flickering around him.
    His body vanished, reappearing just a meter to the side.
    The cone of wind shot by, causing the merchants below to scatter.
    It tore through the ground, burrowing through the earth. The Force was so concentrated and controlled that not a single crack appeared outside the hole. However, even with that being the case, the cone shot through at leas ten meters of ground, and might have had no intention of stopping had it not been for Nigmir's Force running out.
    Leonel expression looked at his arm. Numerous shallow cuts had torn into his skin, some of which even drew blood.
    His gaze shifted back to the hold in the ground, flashing with a hint of something unknown.
    It had to be known that Valiant Heart was a Fifth Dimensional world. Even though it was nowhere near the most powerful Fifth Dimensional worlds there was, it still had a very sturdy construction. Any attack that could effect change in its landscape was a powerful one.
    Leonel, himself, despite how overwhelming his current strength seemed, was also very limited. At that moment, he could only control the Elements in a ten meter radius around him, and even then, it required much more effort than it had on any Fourth Dimensional world he had ever been on, especially since he wasn't a natural citizen of this world.
    For Nigmir to be able to display such prowessбн
    Nigmir's arm flexed once again. This time, his attacks became like a blur, raining down an avalanche of spiraling cones.
    They whistled through the air, screaming with an ear grating harshness.
    Kaela's eyes widened. 'He's gone insane!'
    "Run! What are you all still doing here?!" Kaela roared.
    The merchants, even if they didn't have guards, were often well versed in the art of self protection. And, those that didn't, had most definitely heavily invested in protection from outside sources.
    But, they were ultimately still small-time merchants. The true elite merchants wouldn't be trading with what effectively amounted to college kids. Or, more accurately, they wouldn't be waiting in line to do so.
    If these fools didn't run, a few really might die. Leonel seemed to have had a sense of propriety in his actions outside of what he had done with his gravity field, but Nigmir didn't seem to care even the slightest bit.
    Leonel drifted through the skies. Every time he appeared again, he would only shift a single meter in any direction, but with his calculative abilities, he was able to make use of this single meter as though it was an endless lifeline, shifting through Nigmir's barrage with an almost practiced ease.
    However, Nigmir didn't seem to care in the slightest, a savage expression lighting his face.
    The wind in the surroundings seemed to only grow more and more volatile. With each spiraling cone of death, the situation only grew worse.
    Outside the scope of the battlefield, a violent tempest was being kicked up. If a normal human had been in such a situation, even just walking around would have been impossible.
    Tents went flying, dust clouds kicked up, and even keeping one's eyes open became an impossible task.
    "Wind Style. Hurricane Paradise." Nigmir's voice covered the skies.
    Kaela's expression changed. 'This madman is using a Style on a freshman?!'
    However, what Kaela felt next made her close her mouth. If using a Style on a freshman was shameless, then what could this be called?
    Nigmir peered down from above as though a god. He watched Leonel continue to dodge, his lip curling with disdain.
    "Four Seasons Realm. Spring's Storm."
    At that instant, what once were violent, uncontrollable winds became even more so. The entirety of the Ore Market seemed to have become Nigmir's domain.
    "Do you think that what you saw before was the extent of a senior's prowess?! We went easy on you before, but it seemed that you didn't take our kindness to heart. So, today I'll show you, the difference between a brat like you and the Elites of the King of Ores faction!"
    Nigmir was truly and elite amongst elites. Not only had he mastered a Style, but he had also comprehended a Season of the Four Seasons Realm even to the point of perfectly fusing it with his Style.
    This wasn't a simply additive change to his strength. The combination of his Style and his Spring Realm was no weaker than if he had comprehended the entirety of the Four Seasons Realm through second hand means. If he mastered a second Season Realm that perfectly fused with his Style, he would even be able to match up to someone who had self comprehended one or two Seasons!
    The clouds above reacted to Nigmir's call. The scent of spring hung in the air, the almost metallic scent of wet grass assaulting the senses.
    Nigmir rose his arms into the skies as though basking in his own glory. The tempest of wind seemed to only grow more and more powerful, the strands of green, illusory air becoming like whips lashing through the skies.
    Nigmir opened his eyes once more, his body brimming with strength.
    Then, he exploded forth, booming concentric circles of air lighting his pathway and accelerating him forward.. Playtime was over.

 Chapter 626 - Wind

    Leonel watched as Nigmir shot forward.
    To everyone else, it looked as though it was effectively teleportation. Nigmir had almost instantly reached speeds of several hundred kilometers an hour. At such a speed, the mere hundred meters or so separating them might as well have been teleportation.
    But, in Leonel's mind, this might as well have been a snail's crawl. This wasn't because Leonel was faster. In fact, Nigmir, in raw speed, was likely faster than him unless he used his Four Seasons Realm to fuel his Speed Branch Lineage Factor. Rather, it was because Leonel's mind simply processed things too quickly.
    This combination of Style and the Four Seasons Realm fascinated Leonel. If Nigmir was right about anything, it was that he had indeed underestimated the so-called seniors of Valiant Heart. He definitely had to reevaluate how easily he would be able to defeat them.
    If this combination was possible, it wouldn't be surprising if other combinations were likewise in existence. Leonel was too ignorant of the ways of the Dimensional Verse, who knew how many unique things he had missed on?
    In fact, now that he thought about it, that weird chant Nigmir had used to solidify his Wind Force into armor and weaponбн Leonel had never seen something like that before either.
    Of course, it could just be Nigmir's ability, but it was fascinating nonetheless.
    'I guess there is value in learning things from this placeбн Well, if they let me stay here after this, that is.'
    Nigmir still had half the distance to travel when Leonel flipped his palm, causing a long, flexible spear to appear.
    The spear itself seemed hollow, several deep etchings across its surface showcasing its empty insides. However, it was a truly beautiful sight to behold.
    The spear was almost four meters long. Its blade was long, thin and sharp. Just a small flick of Leonel's wrist caused the spear to bed and sway, waving about like a rigid whip.
    Nigmir crossed the 50 meter distance between them, blazed through the 40 and erupted past the 30. His speed only seemed to grow, the wind pressure from his movements alone blew against Leonel's body, seemingly ready to send him tumbling back and press him into the ground.
    However, it was only after Nigmir reached the five meter distance between them, just a meter or two from thrusting his lance through Leonel's heart, that the latter finally reacted.
    "Wind Domain."
    Leonel's body flickered.
    Nigmir's gaze sharpened. All this time, Leonel had been using a space teleportation art. Though Nigmir had been surprised about this at first, after a while, he calmed realizing that Leonel could only move a single meter in any direction.
    This made sense. After all, this was a Fifth Dimensional world. Space was far sturdier here. Nigmir concluded that Leonel likely had a treasure on him of some sort that had lost most of its effectiveness after entering a higher-level world. This was a common matter.
    With this conclusion, he realized that there was no way Leonel was faster than he was, so he confidently shot forward, ready to end this battle in a single sweep.
    But at that moment, Leonel displayed speed no slower than his ownбн No, it was even faster!
    Before Nigmir could react, he found a spear at his throat. For the first time, he didn't have the weapon length advantage in battle, making his eyes widen.
    Still, he reacted quickly, his body shifting slightly. Just this slight movement required all the speed he could muster. It likely would have been impossible for anyone else, but he was able to time it perfectly.
    'The spear should graze off my pauldrons. I can use this opportunity to attack.'
    Nigmir was confident in the defense of his armor. Leonel had been right, this was indeed his ability and it synergized perfectly with his Lineage Factor. As for which was which and how they were relatedбн That was something Nigmir would never tell.
    However, what Nigmir didn't expect was for the blade of Leonel's spear to shear through his armor entirely, nicking his shoulder and shattering a part of his wind armor.
    "What?!"
    Nigmir reeled, countering with his lance as he had planned. However, somehow, despite having attacked already, Leonel was faster once again.
    Leonel spear jetted out like a venomous viper. His two arms controlled its polearm with a deft accuracy and mind-numbing speed.
    Nigmir began to panic and soon found himself continuously blocking. He didn't even realize that Leonel was no longer rising in the air with the help of a piece of earth.
    Leonel's speed only grew faster and faster. Every exchange seemed to cause another piece of Nigmir's armor to chip and another slice of his Lance to be taken.
    Leonel's indifferent gaze was grating on the soul. Nigmir couldn't understand what was happening, his mind simply couldn't wrap itself around the current events.
    He wanted to retreat, but Leonel's pursuit was endless. Shallow cuts began appearing all over his body. It wasn't long before there was nothing left of his armor, yet Leonel's speed seemed to only be growing.
    Nigmir's lance began to feel heavy as though it wanted to fly out of his hand and return to the skies.
    It was only then that Nigmir realized what was happening. The windбн His hurricane paradiseбн It was no longer under his control.
    Nigmir's gaze landed on Leonel's spear. But now, it was swirling with the very same green Force Nigmir had been relying on from the very beginning.
    Leonel's wrists flicked, causing the spiraling tip of the lance to finally be cut off.
    He turned his blade toward Nigmir, tearing a deep cut through the latter's chest.
    His gaze flashed, the tip of his spear beginning to spiral just as Nigmir's had. This time, he wasn't sweeping across. He had every intention of skewering Nigmir through just as he had planned to do to him.
    At that moment, the commotion of such a large scale battle could no longer be ignored.
    "STOP!"

 Chapter 627 - Valiant Heart Squad

    Leonel's spear didn't pause, shooting through Nigmir's chest without the slightest halt in momentum.
    Nigmir looked down, stunned, unable to grasp what had just happened. Even though he could feel that Leonel had deftly avoided all of his most vital points, the pain that shot through him was not fake.
    Wasn't this exactly what he had planned on doing to Leonel? How had he ended up on the other side of things? What was going on exactly?
    Nigmir lost his strength, feeling as though standing in the air was impossible. But, even as he wanted to fall to the ground, he found himself stuck on the other end of Leonel's spear. His body bowed and swayed, following the movement of the flexible spear, but he never seemed to dip down far enough to slip off.
    Leonel's gaze shifted downward, only to find a squadron of Valiant Hall members led by none other than Sael making their way forward.
    Looking at the carnage, Sael felt as though her head was going to explode. But, seeing the state Nigmir was in and even worse how Leonel seemed completely unaffected, she couldn't help but feel that this world was truly too unreal.
    Unfortunately for Sael's mental health and Nigmir, for that matter, the latter was simply asking to be directly countered.
    Nigmir relied on a combination of his Style and Four Seasons Realm comprehension to form a pseudo Domain for himself. Leonel had to admit that he was quite innovative and had definitely shown a level of ingenuity Leonel had yet to.
    Leonel still felt that his ability had a lot of room to grow, but ever since it reached the Quasi Silver Grade, he hadn't come up with any new ground breaking abilities. He still felt that he hadn't unlocked the full potential of his ability, something he couldn't really say for Nigmir who had very clearly squeezed out a lot of potential in his.
    This aside, Nigmir's goal was always to raise the concentration of Wind Force and make the area as volatile as possible. The more torrential wind there was, the faster and stronger his attacks would be.
    Unfortunately for Nigmir, though, Leonel's flexible spear was the perfect counter. So perfect, in fact, that Leonel almost instantly ended the battle.
    At the end of the day, the Wind Domain spear was created to gather momentum through Wind Force and continuously increase the speed of attack of the user. Yet, Leonel was able to skip all of those steps and ignore the fact he had a poor affinity all because Nigmir set the perfect stage for him.
    This was all to say thatбн The moment Nigmir began to take Leonel seriously, he was destined to lose. And, maybe more depressingly, if he hadn't begun to take Leonel seriouslyбн He would have lost anyway.
    Leonel shifted his gaze away from Sael, ignoring her completely.
    In his eyes, Valiant Hall was nothing more than a joke. He had no idea the true reason Gersan had been there in the first place, so he only assumed that Valiant Hall was just about as corrupt as every other organization he had been a part of. At this moment, the weight of Sael's words might as well have been non-existent to him.
    Even if Gersan wasn't a part of this, the fact that Valiant Hall did nothing while one of their students had their name dragged through the mud for weeks on end, and even worse that they simply allowed the relentless bullying of the freshman for just as long by Thetris' antics, was enough for Leonel to turn his nose up at them with disdain.
    This sort of world where organizations thought that the best way to train their youths was to pit them against each other in a dog eat dog environmentбн
    It made Leonel sick to his stomach.
    Sael froze when she saw Leonel's look of disdain. She would have thought that Leonel was just acting like a typical young master from a lofty family again had it not been for the very clear underlying disappointment in his gaze.
    Disappointment? Why was that emotion there?
    "Where is Sarrieth?" Leonel asked coldly, flexing his wrist.
    The action caused Nigmir, who had been just about to fall unconscious, to wince. Pain shot through his body, his muscles seizing and his breathing growing short and hurried. One could hardly imagine the amount of strain it took to carry one's own body weight with nothing more than an already near fatal wound.
    Nigmir coughed violently, blood drizzling from his lips.
    A hint of undisguised fear was now in his eye. He felt like if he really chose to not say anything his life would be forfeit.
    "Hбн He's not here! He's not here!"
    "Where is he?" Leonel asked just as coldly.
    "I-I don't know!"
    Nigmir coughed again. But, instead of feeling pity, Leonel turned his wrist.
    Nigmir's face turned pale. Even though the thin blade had already run all the way through him, the polearm of this spear had numerous etchings drawn across its surface. Even if it was a smooth pole turning inside of him, he would have felt untold pain, let alone a pole with edges that could catch on his fragile inner organs.
    "бн I really don't know! I really don't!"
    By the end, Nigmir was practically pleading, but Leonel didn't stop slowly turning his wrist again and again.
    "AGH! I REALLY DON'T KNOW! IT'S POLICY NOT TO TELL US WHICH MINE HE'S VISITING!"
    It was only after Leonel heard this that he finally let Nigmir slip off of his spear, not even watching as he hurtled toward the ground.
    Sael snapped awake the moment she heard Nigmir screaming.
    "Dammit! Catch him!" She bellowed, ordering those around her to help Nigmir.
    In the meanwhile, Leonel had begun slowly descending toward the ground. As for his aim? It was none other than the rubble of what remained of King of Ores faction's white tent.. He didn't seem to notice how many eyes were on him at all as his eyes scanned the wreckage.

 Chapter 628 - Are You?

    Leonel used what remained of his Wind Domain's momentum to blow the white tarp away, leaving behind what looked like a garage yard of scrap metal and splintered wood.
    Nigmir was finally caught by one of the Valiant Hall members and now many were looking toward Sael to figure out what to do. But, the young woman suddenly felt stifled.
    She had come here after receiving reports on what happened to Gersan, but the investigation led to a matter she had no idea how to deal with especially since Leonel was involved. To make matters worse, while her own prestige and that of Valiant Hall was on the line, Leonel had completely turned his back to them as though they were worth nothing in his eyes.
    Sael grit her teeth. "Help the others!"
    The Valiant Hall squad members looked at her in confusion. Were they really not apprehending this brat? What was going on here?
    "Can't you see how many of them are buried beneath a pile of rubble?! Are you going to take responsibility when they all die?!"
    Sael held onto her final lifeline. It was only then that those around remembered that Cormus and Ardryn had been buried beneath a pillar of Earth, their life and death completely unknown. They had almost forgot how terrible this matter could become.
    Leonel found what he was looking for and pulled up a beast skin map. He had seen through the flap opening earlierбн Obviously, this had happened before he sent one of the Peace Keepers flying. But with Leonel's memory, that split moment was all he needed.
    He spread the map out with his hands, scanning through it. As expected, there were no small number of mines marked on this. The territories of the King of Ores faction, along with their competitors, were all marked out.
    Of course, Leonel knew that the most valuable mines were most definitely not marked on this map. Sarrieth's caution was made obvious by the fact he didn't let anyone know which mine he was travelling to. However, even still, there were more than 20 mines marked here alone.
    Leonel memorized the map with a single look then incinerated it. As for whether the King of Ores faction needed it or not? Who cared?
    After he was done with that, Leonel flicked a finger.
    At that moment, a large swath of Ores shot up.
    With a single look, Leonel could tell that all of this wouldn't fit in his spatial ring which had shrunken in size considerably since coming to this world. And, it definitely wouldn't be convenient for him to carry it around like this.
    Unfortunately, Leonel had left the Segmented cube with Aina. And, since she hadn't reacted to all of this, in all likelihood, she had her head down, training, just like Leonel had for the past half month. In fact, if it wasn't because his Mage Arts had shattered during his breakthrough and he had happened to hear Thetris' voice, Leonel likely wouldn't even be here.
    Leonel could use a few of the snowglobes he had kept in store for himself just in case he would have need of them. But... He decided on doing something different after a moment of thought.
    Leonel's gaze shifted and it happened to land on Kaela.
    "You want these?"
    Kaela was startled. "Iбн"
    Leonel's hand spread out. A portion of the Ores went to Kaela while the rest spread out to the merchants who had gotten caught up in the battle.
    In an instant, a small fortune's worth of Ores was given out for free.
    Leonel kept a large portion for himself, putting it all into his ring without a care. Then, he turned to leave. His destination?
    Well, wasn't it obvious? He was going to destroy every one of the mines on that map. One by one.
    "Leonel! Wait!"
    Sael grit her teeth, she finally couldn't continue to watch what was happening.
    For one, even though it seemed like this business was entirely owned by King of Ores faction, this couldn't be further from the truth. Over 80% of this world was owned by Valiant Heart Mountain. This was obviously the same for the mines.
    Every ore was the property of Valiant Heart. King of Ores faction was only selling them on behalf of the organization and taking a cut. They would then need to pay taxes to Valiant Heart depending on their sales and this amounted to upwards of 70%.
    Beyond this, there was a reason that none of the Ores Leonel had picked out were of the Fifth Dimension. In fact, there wasn't a single Tier 7 or and above either. All of these were exclusively sent to Valiant Heart's Founding Peak.
    In fact, students weren't even given jurisdiction over ore minds that could produce such high level Ores to begin with. And, in the rare cases they stumbled upon such treasures, they were obligated to report to the organization in exchange for some compensation.
    This was all to say that while it looked like Leonel was stealing from Sarrieth, he was, in fact, stealing from Valiant Heart Mountain. Everyone else seemed to be aware of this with the exception of him, which was why the reaction of the merchants hadn't been too excited.
    However, that didn't stop a few of them from taking advantage of the chaos to embezzle a few for themselves.
    "Youбн" Sael's words were caught in her throat, especially since Leonel didn't even stop to listen to her. "бн Those oresбн They're the property of Valiant Heart Mountain, not the King of Ores faction!"
    Leonel continued to walk as though he hadn't heard a single thing.
    "Dammit! You aren't allowed to leave Valiant City unless you've joined a Peak!"
    Sael might have been grasping at straws, but she wasn't lying. After seeing the map, it was too obvious what Leonel planned to do. She really couldn't allow this. Those mines represented 30% of Valiant Heart Mountain's ore resources. At least when it came to Tier 6 ores and below.
    "Then I quit." Leonel said plainly, continuing to walk away.
    Sael clenched her jaw so hard that she almost drew blood.
    "Think of your girlfriend! Are you really going to leave her alone!"
    Leonel suddenly came to a grinding halt.
    A heavy air descended, the slow beating of a heart sounding in everyone's ears. It would be a long while before they realized this heart was their own.
    Leonel cocked his head backward, his irises beginning to flicker with red-violet once again.
    "Are you threatening me?"

 Chapter 629 - ??

    Sael froze.
    That wasn't what she had meant at all. All she was trying to say was that if Leonel left now, it wasn't exactly easy for those not of Valiant Heart Mountain to see Peak students. Unless Aina left on her own accord to go and see him, it would likely be a long time before they could see one another.
    But, after several weeks of observation, it was clear that they often got lost in their own worlds. In fact, part of the reason Sael hadn't intervened with the Leo the Cuck posters was firstly because she was busy with her own matters and hadn't even been aware of it until recently, and secondly because so much time had passed since the initial action versus when she found out that she thought Leonel simply didn't care about any of it.
    Sael couldn't figure out where everything went wrong. She thought that she had been as accommodating as she possibly could be. Was it her fault that the higher-ups had chosen to keep his identity under wraps? Was it her fault that Aphestus felt his authority had been subverted? Was it her fault that Leonel offended Hero Peak so severely that even those of the Peak that hadn't been involved previously, like Sarrieth, had chosen to get involved?
    None of these matters were her fault. She was trying to make do with a situation that only seemed to become more volatile with every passing day.
    Seeing the expression on Sael's face, Leonel finally frowned.
    He knew Sael's strength. He had experienced it personally. If she wasn't already in the Fifth Dimension, then she was very close. One only needed to look at the violet belt around her waist to understand this.
    Leonel had seen it too many times. When people of this level of strength acted, it usually had very little to do with logic.
    Just take Aphestus for a moment. Was it really about Leonel's lack of talent? Of course not. It was never about that. Once again, anyone who thought such a thing was nothing more than an absentminded fool.
    What had exactly happened that day?
    If one thought about it, Aphestus hadn't even insulted Leonel. Rather, he insulted the four youths who failed to climb up the mountain pass and ignored Leonel. Leonel hadn't even been on his radar.
    One might think this was a version of underestimation, but this was a level of arrogance that shot past narcissism. Who was Leonel that he deserved to grab everyone's attention just by standing there?
    As far as Aphestus was concerned, Leonel was just a person who hadn't taken the mountain pass challenge. It wasn't until he stated that Aina would be the only student they took in, and she then proceeded to challenge him on this fact, that he became enraged.
    Once again. From beginning to end, it had little to do with Leonel's talent. If it was about that, the moment he defeated those three floor sweepers, he would have been admitted.
    This was about nothing more than authority.
    But, it was exactly all of this that made Leonel's aura suddenly deflate seeing Sael's reaction. He felt like he was missing something, as though there was a massive piece to this puzzle that hovered right in front of him, yet he had no ability to grasp.
    Sael didn't look angry, she didn't look like she was holding back her rage in the slightest either. With Leonel's senses, he would have most definitely been able to pick up on it.
    Noбн She just lookedбн Defeated.
    Why would someone so powerful feel defeated? If she was going to threaten him, why would she reel it back now? She should feel that she was powerful enough to squash him beneath a single finger. And, honestly, Leonel wasn't convinced that she'd be wrong in thinking that.
    If he wanted to fight Sael or someone of her level, he would definitely have to go all out. Not only would he have to use his Divine Armor, but his Quasi Silver spear couldn't remain dormant either.
    The only reason he challenged her so boldly was because he refused to let anyone talk ill of Aina or threaten her. He didn't care even if she was a monster of the Sixth Dimension, she couldn't just say whatever she wanted to say before him.
    Butбн
    At that moment, Leonel was just as confused as Sael had been previously when she read disappointment on his face. Neither of them could understand the other.
    And, as fate would have it, Leonel had picked up on Sael's previous confusion as well. It was just that he was in the middle of a battle and didn't have the time to spare her so he had ignored it.
    Leonel's frowned furrowed tighter and tighter.
    'A misunderstanding? But a misunderstanding where? And why?'
    Arcs of lightning flashed throughout Leonel's mind and his memories continued to spin.
    Maybe someone else would have continued to allow this misunderstanding to go unchecked. In fact, maybe the only reason Leonel had realized this disconnect earlier was because he had let his emotions cloud his judgment. If he hadn't allowed his anger to get the best of him, Sael's actions after he put those three Hero Peak experts up in the tree would have been enough to tip him off.
    'бн The root of thisбн My talent assessment?'
    Leonel's gaze flashed.
    That was right. Sael began treating him oddly the moment his talent was assessed. But, he was so happy about seeing Aina again for the first time in months иC more than a year if he counted what he experienced in Camelot иC that he didn't have the mind to care about anything else.
    However, none of this changed the fact his memory was impeccable. He could practically rewind all of Sael's mannerisms from that day in his mind.
    All of this might have taken a while to explain, but in the real world, only a blink of an eye had passed since Leonel's rage fueled sentence was spoken.
    And in that moment, the other Valiant Hall members who had been holding back for the sake of Sael's orders couldn't do so any longer.
    Once they got over the shock of Leonel's aura, they felt nothing but fury.

 Chapter 630 - Can We?

    "I can't take it anymore, Sael! This brat needs to be taught a lesson!"
    Not a small number of those who had followed Sael to this place took a step forward. First, their junior had been beaten half dead to the point his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Second, even after they appeared, Leonel dared to strike a near fatal blow on a senior of his. And third, he was now blatantly threatening their captain.
    "Waitбн!" Sael tried to step forward to stop things again, making another effort.
    "That's enough, Captain! I know you have your reasons for acting like this, but I don't give a damn what special background this brat has! We'll take the heat for you!"
    Growling several members of Sael's squad stepped forward, glaring at Leonel as though they were a pack of wounded animals. They wanted nothing more than to tear him limb from limb.
    Leonel had been absentminded, still trying to put the pieces together when he heard those words.
    'Backgroundбн? What doбн' Leonel's eyes flashed with a bright arc of lightning. It almost seemed to manifest itself into a spiraling whip, beating against his mind for taking so long to come to the proper conclusion.
    'Is this about Earthбн? No, if Terrain could just attack us because they felt like it without any sort of intervention, that should be impossible. If anything, since Sael had alluded to troubles Valiant Heart had been having, they would be salivating at the prospect of Earth entering the Fifth Dimension so they could send an attack force of their own.
    'If this was about Earth, they would just kill me off. There would be no need to allow a talent from there to live.
    'That means this either has something to do with my maternal grandmother's Snowy Owl Lineage Factor and the family it came fromбн Orбн dad's Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн'
    Leonel didn't know which one it was. Technically, both could have been exposed during his talent assessment. Now that he thought about it, Sael didn't read his results aloud back then either.
    It wasn't that Leonel didn't know how powerful his background was. He did. Wellбн Sort of.
    He was well aware that the Morales family was of the Seventh Dimension. And, he was also aware that the Snowy Owl family, or, rather, the Luxnix family, according to the dictionary, was of the Sixth Dimension.
    The issue wasбн He didn't really know what this meant and what weight it carried. He was like a baby carrying around a shot gun, having no idea where the trigger was or what kind of backlash pulling it would have.
    What Leonel was lacking wasбн context.
    The universe was such a massive place. He didn't know what influence, if any, a family on that level could have.
    This might sound silly, but think about it for a moment.
    With how large the universe was, how many countless light years away would the Morales or Luxnix families be situated? From so far away, how much influence could they possibly have on every corner of the universe?
    In Leonel's view, there was a high likelihood that the people here wouldn't even know of the existence of these families almost like how the common people might not even know the name of their governor.
    As powerful as Leonel's grandfather was on Earth, it still took outfitting every single person with a monitoring wrist watch to maintain perfect control. Now imagine if instead of just having to control a single world, he had to man an entire galaxy? Or several galaxies? A galaxy cluster?
    These were sizes and measurements Leonel couldn't even wrap his mind around.
    Even if Leonel ignored all of this, he wasn't even sure how to prove that he was from these families. It wasn't like he hid his last name ever, but practically no one cared that he was named Morales.
    And if the more powerful Morales name was useless, there was obviously no point in changing his naming to Luxnix because he was sure that the result would be just as underwhelming.
    Beyond this, there was an even more important point. The most important, in Leonel's estimationбн
    He didn't even know if these families cared enough about him.
    Even if these families did have great influence. Even if everyone knew he was a part of them. Where was the guarantee that this would mean anything? He had no idea if these families would even accept him at all.
    From what he knew of Aina's backstory, her mother was executed while she and her father were expelled from the Brazinger family. And why did all of that happenбн? All because her mother wasn't of a particular Bloodline.
    Leonel had no reason to believe that these higher level families weren't even stricter. Why else would his father raise him on the much weaker Earth? Why else would his mother vanish like that despite the loving eyes she used to look at him?
    This was the only explanation Leonel could come up with considering the limited information he had.
    Soбн Why would he trust this 'background' of his at all?
    "STOP!"
    Sael blocked the path between her squad and Leonel.
    "If you all defy my orders one more time, I'll really get angry!" Sael growled.
    Though her heart felt warm, these little fools were in over their heads. This was a Seventh Dimensional family they were talking about. What did they mean by 'take responsibility'? Did they think the Morales family would only take them?
    With their strength, they only needed to send one Sixth Dimensional monster to annihilate their entire world. No, that was just foolhardiness on Sael's part. Just look at Leonel's strength. Maybe it would only take one of their Fourth Dimensional geniuses to uproot their organization entirely.
    Everyone thought that Leonel was a reject from his family, but Sael knew quite well how rare it was to awaken both of the Morales family's Lineage Factors. Not only was Leonel not a castaway, he was probably the topic of hot discussion over there.
    He, under no circumstances, could be allowed to shed all pretenses with them!
    "бн"
    Leonel snapped out of this thoughts, his gaze locking onto Sael's back view.
    Sael turned to face Leonel, her face flickering with all sorts of emotions.
    "Can we talk?" She finally managed to eek out, almost pleading.

 Chapter 631 - What?

    Leonel and Sael gazed toward each other somewhat awkwardly. Well, Leonel seemed to still be trying to get a read on Sael with the latter felt as though she was walking on pins and needles.
    At this moment the both of them were in the private room of a nearby restaurant. Usually, only seniors of high standing would be able to come to this place, but with her standing, it wasn't a difficult task to get Leonel in. Though she had to withstand quite a number of odd looks, she was still able to brave through it.
    Finally unable to take the silence any longer, Sael finally spoke.
    "Are you from the Seventh Dimensional Morales family or not?!"
    She spoke all these words out in a single breath, the tension she was under carrying a palpable weight.
    Leonel blinked slightly. So this was indeed the case, it seemed that his deductions were correct. This made everything make much more sense.
    If this was the case, then in all likelihood, Gersan hadn't been there to help Thetris, but had rather been there to either monitor or protect him. It seemed he had jumped to conclusions.
    That said, he didn't feel very bad about teaching Gersan a lesson. At worst, the young man would suffer a mild concussion. This sort of injury for someone in the Fourth Dimension might as well have been non-existent. His worst injury was definitely to his pride. But, who asked him to speak such venomous words?
    "No." Leonel finally responded.
    This response seemed to be enough to deflate Sael completely. Had she really done all of this for no reason?
    But in that case, then didn't how was this situation supposed to be handled? If she began to punish Leonel appropriately now, what kind of message would that send?
    Everyone wanted to claim to be upright and morally superior, but when you were facing a behemoth like the Morales familyбн Was it really possible to hold onto your ideals?
    In the face of absolute power, there were very few that wouldn't bend. And, those brave enough not to were either courageous beyond belief or were just as stupid. In all likelihoodбн It was both.
    And of courseбн Such people were also likely dead.
    Sael sank into her seat, feeling as though all her world views had shattered. Her situation only seemed to become worse when she heard Leonel's next words, though.
    "But my dad is. So, that's likely where the confusion comes from."
    Sael froze before her lip started to twitch. She looked up from her hands to meet Leonel's placid gaze. For some reason, she really wanted to strangle this handsome boy to death at this very moment.
    However, she managed to calm herself. This hardly changed much of anything if she was being honest. The fact that Leonel seemed to indeed be related to the Morales family made her previous actions warranted. But, this didn't fix her almost existential crisis.
    It really grated on her conscience to not be able to follow the rules.
    She loved Valiant Heart Mountain. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been so eager to gain Leonel's help. She thought that meeting him with a light at the end of the tunnelбн It wasn't until she spoke to her master and the other elders who were far more wise than herself that she remembered nothing ever came so easilyбн
    If one wasn't strong enough to achieve your dreams on your ownбн Then it was best to accept that they would never happen. Relying on someone else was no different from selling your soul.
    "Is there a difference?" Sael replied, trying to curb her sharpness.
    "Yes, there is." Leonel nodded in affirmative. "I have never stepped foot onto the Morales family lands a day in my life. I am not even sure if they're aware I exist or not. I was raised onбн another world from birth to this point.
    "I might be aware of them, but this doesn't mean much of anything."
    Hearing these words Sael was stunned before she finally came to an understanding. So, from the very beginningбн This was all a misunderstanding!
    "Youбн You're saying that you're not affiliated with the Morales family and they might not even be aware you exist?"
    Sael's breathing grew hurried.
    "That's right." Leonel said, raising an eyebrow. Why did she look so excited?
    "And you came here of your own free will? Just to join us?"
    Sael's face flushed. Out of context, this was really too precarious a situation. She looked as though she had been throughбн Well, Leonel didn't even want to finish the thought for fear that it might manifest in the universe.
    "бн Well I came here for Aina's sakeбн Butбн Yes?"
    It shouldn't have been so difficult to say yes, but Sael's gaze seemed to put a heavy pressure on him. This girl seemed to have forgotten how powerful she was. If it wasn't for his strong mind and body, Leonel would have collapsed. Any other freshman in his seat would have definitely drowned their seat in sweat by now.
    Leonel felt as though Sael had become a beast stalking her prey. If he didn't know better, he would have thought she was a cougar with a youthful taste.
    He didn't know how old Sael was, but she definitely had to be at least a few decades older than he wasбн At least that was his guessбн
    "Hm?"
    Leonel blinked. For a moment, he swore he could sense killing intent in Sael's eyes. It can't be that she could read his mind right? Or were women really so sensitive?
    But it disappeared as quickly as he saw it.
    "This is great news! Excellent news! Couldn't be better! HAHA!"
    Leonel was taken aback by the sudden outburst. He could only watch on in a daze, certain that if Sael jumped around any harderбн Her chest band definitely wouldn't be able to hold up anymore.
    "Wait!" Sael stopped dancing and turned back toward Leonel. "So you really have no idea about the Heir Trials? Be honest with me."
    Leonel blinked. "Heir Trial? What's that?"

 Chapter 632 - Why?

    Hearing this, Sael was stunned for a moment before she sighed and sat back down again.
    "To thinkбн" She mumbled to herself. "This was the real cause of all this trouble but you weren't even aware of it."
    Sael kept shaking her head as Leonel waited patiently. It seemed he had much more fortitude than she did.
    "The Heir Trials are the reason we were so cautious with you." Sael finally looked up. "In fact, the Heir Trials are the only reason we even know of your existence in the first place.
    "Usually, Seventh Dimensional organizations are way too far out of our reach. As far as we know, they're the pinnacle of the universe. But then again, that's just our limited knowledge. There might very well be an Eighth or even Ninth Dimensional existence, maybe even Tenthбн We have no way of knowing.
    "However, our Valiant Heart Mountain has records of your Morales family's Heir Trials because of how unique they are. I stumbled upon a record of one of our ancestors from several generations ago. According to him, he got the chance to participate as a friend of one someone who, I assume, is one of your Ancestors.
    "He speaks of this experience as being one of his fortuitous encounters and it's even because of this that we were able to lay claim to 70% of the Valiant Heart World. In the past, we barely had control of even 20%."
    Leonel continued to listen quietly.
    "That saidбн While the ancestor said this had been a great opportunity, it was simultaneously a terrible thing as well. If all he received was benefits, let alone 70%, even 100% of the Valiant Heart world would be in our hands.
    "Don't look down on this. Valiant Heart has the potential to enter the Sixth Dimension. In fact, if it wasn't for particular struggles we face, we might have cleared enough Zones to do so already. Having full control of this world would be a great boon for us. Unfortunatelyбн we couldn't.
    "Do you know why?"
    Leonel didn't respond. Obviously, he didn't.
    "Participating in the Heir Trials might have given us great benefits, but we were ultimately just canon fodder, too weak to make a large difference.
    "The memoire made it sound like our ancestor participated alone, but in the end, he explained the whole truth. It wasn't just him but tens of thousands of our fellow Valiant Heart disciples. And yetбн
    "He was the only one who came back alive."
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. Such a high death total?
    "In truth, our ancestor almost died as well. He was lucky to come back alone."
    Sael sighed. "That year, there had only been two candidates for the Heir Trials and the one our ancestor sided with lost.
    "Despite the fact there were just two, the carnage was unimaginable. Of course, the Heir themselves always survive to the end, but what about the people under them?"
    Sael looked up to meet Leonel's gaze.
    "My Valiant Heart Mountain is too small to get involved in such conflicts."
    Leonel paused.
    "So the reason you've stayed at arms length is because you don't want to owe me any favors."
    "Nothing in the Dimensional Verse comes free." Sael replied. "If we used your help to solve our problems, it would be impossible to refuse your help in the future. The rage of a Seventh Dimensional existence isn't something that we can afford to bearбн"
    "I see." Leonel nodded. "But now that you know I'm not affiliated with the Morales family, at least not in any important capacity, you're hopeful that I will be able to help you now without asking for anything in return later?"
    Sael bit her lip hard, but eventually nodded.
    "Mmбн"
    Leonel nodded, looking out the window of the restaurant.
    Down below, the streets were quite clean and orderly, a far cry from the freshman quarters. Everything seemed prim and proper. There was just a single thing out of placeбн A picture stapled to a pole light that carried the face of someone easily recognizable, having the words Leo the Cuck written across the top.
    Leonel didn't react much to seeing this caricature of himself. Why would he? By now, he had already seen hundreds of them plastered everywhere.
    "бн So what you mean is that you expect me to help as a student of Valiant Heart Mountain and for nothing more, is that right?"
    Leonel didn't look back toward Sael, but he could tell that she had nodded.
    "And I assume that, as a student, the reason I would want to do this is because I should feel a sense of comradery and hominess from this place, is that also right?"
    Sael nodded, biting her lip harder.
    Leonel looked back toward Sael, his indifferent gaze causing her heart to shudder.
    Leonel's life wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface. After all, he had spent most of his childhood going to school with those he thought had far higher standing than himself. Back then, he had no idea he was a prince. So, all he saw was himself, a commoner, facing an entire class of nobles, each one with a nose arched higher than the other.
    One might wonder, then, how it was that Leonel had managed to go from that reality to suddenly becoming a celebrity everyone greeted on campus. Let alone being bullied, everyone seemed to love him.
    Obviously, this wasn't because everyone at Royal Blue Academy happened to have kind hearts. What kind of ridiculous statement was that? There was no such thing as pure goodness or pure evil. This was why Leonel always found the notion of light versus darkness to be so asinine.
    In Leonel's opinion, the youths of Royal Blue Academy were no better nor worse than the youths of Valiant Heart, or any organization he had been in for that matter. In fact, in Leonel's mind, the only difference between that organization and these ones was that he hadn't spent very long in any of the latter.
    So what was the answer?
    Obviously, he beat them into submission. He defeated them one after another, so harshly and so resoundingly that they could only smile when they saw him, fearing that he would turn around and crush them again.
    In the past, Leonel had used academics, sports and a sharp tongue to achieve this effect.
    But in this world, the only thing he could use was his fist.
    "Mm. Then why is it, exactly, that I don't feel that way at all?"

 Chapter 633 - Accept?

    Leonel's words made Sael feel as though she was sitting on pins and needles. She never thought that there'd be a day where she felt so uncomfortable in the face of a junior. The worst part was that Leonel didn't even seem to be trying to pressure her. He simply sat there, asking a simple question.
    It was only at this moment that Sael understood that even though Leonel had no real connections with the Morales family, that didn't necessarily mean that he would make some with Valiant Heart Mountain.
    He had already made his stance clear multiple times already. He wasn't here for the sake of this organization. He was here for Aina and no one else. He didn't give a damn about anything other than her wellbeing.
    As for using Aina to pressure Leonel into doing something?
    Sure, that might work. In fact, Sael was slightly worried that some fool would try to do exactly this. But ultimately, the action would be akin to shooting themselves in the foot all in an attempt to take just one step forward.
    An organization was built on an expectation of mutual benefit. If they showed that they were willing to sacrifice talents so easily for the sake of their own goals, it wouldn't be long before they no longer had an organization to speak of at all.
    Leonel's meaning was as clear as crystal.
    What right did they have to ask anything of him when he'd received nothing but disrespect since the moment he stepped foot into this place? On top of that, they were actually trying to stop him from getting revenge too.
    There was something else that Leonel had said that made Sael realize that just because Leonel wasn't associated with the Morales family, it didn't also follow that he had no backing to speak of.
    Namelyбн That father he mentioned.
    Even if Leonel's family was from the lowest rung of the Morales family it would still be more than enough to ride atop their heads with impunity.
    Sael felt stifled.
    She really couldn't allow Leonel to do as he pleased. If she did, there would be no law and order left in the organization.
    After a long while, she managed to organize her thoughts.
    "I will make sure that all the posters are removed within the half hour."
    "That's not enough." Leonel said plainly.
    Was that a joke? Did Sael think that she was doing him a favor by undoing something that shouldn't have been done in the first place? Then what then? He was supposed to graciously help her now?
    "Let me finish." Sael said with an exasperated sigh. "I can't allow you to rampage about as you please. Butбн There are plenty of ways to get revenge that are above board and don't require breaking any rules, don't you think?
    "You could join a Peak and make your own Ore faction. That way any battles that happen outside of the mountain range would be sanctioned, for example."
    Leonel's gaze remained placid as Sael tried to make an unappetizing suggestion seem palatable.
    He was supposed to patiently bide his time and wait? Why? All to deal with Valiant Heart's red tape? No matter what it might seem like, Leonel wasn't a patient man when it came to certain things.
    If there was one character trait that he would always have, it was an unwillingness to lose. If this wasn't losing, then he didn't know what was.
    Seeing that Leonel was completely unimpressed by her suggestion, Sael bit the sides of her cheek, really not knowing what to say.
    Dammit, how had things gone this far? She really shouldn't have allowed Gersan to handle matters, but she had things to do. She couldn't very well sit idly by for weeks watching Leonel's every move. In a lot of ways, her combat strength was far more linked to Valiant Heart's survival than even Leonel's help might be.
    She couldn't afford to fall behind in strength. No matter what.
    Seeing Sael struggle so much, Leonel shook his head and sighed.
    "Feed me."
    "Huhбн?" Sael looked up in confusion.
    "Feed me." Leonel repeated, picking up a menu from the table.
    Under Sael's stunned gaze, Leonel called in a waiter and ordered a feast that would easily feed 20 men. He didn't say a word even up until the point the food was prepared and brought over, and also didn't say anything as he began to gouge it all down.
    Sael's lip twitched. How much would this meal cost exactly?
    It was then she remembered what Leonel said before he ordered all of this. And that was exactly when the heartache set in.
    Leonel devoured the meal in what felt like a few minutes. Sael had no idea how he managed to do so without her being disgusted, but she didn't even consider this thought until Leonel was getting ready to leave.
    'This wasn't as good as Aina's food.' Leonel shook his head as he stood. It seemed that he had been spoiled.
    He had thought that such a high-end restaurant would be able to at least be close, but it seemed that girlfriend of his was more amazing than he knew.
    "Leonel! Please wait!"
    Sael began to panic again. Even after watching Leonel eat all this time, she still didn't have any good answers. She bordered on shedding real tears at this point.
    She knew that if Leonel did as he pleased, the upper echelon wouldn't be able to stand by for long. At that point, to save space, they would at the very least expel him. If that happened, it would all be over.
    "Justбн Please at least join a Peak first!"
    Leonel looked back toward Sael and raised an eyebrow. He looked her up and down as though he was observing a new species of animal he was fascinated by. And in truth, he was. He found Sael to be quite curious indeed.
    "You're too na?ve, don't you think? What Peak do you think would accept me now?"
    Sael froze.

 Chapter 634 - Confusing

    Leonel continued to observe Sael.
    She knew well how the Peaks operated. There was no small number of internal conflicts. The question was which Peak would be willing to be enemies with Hero Peak? And the answer was none.
    It was that simple. From the very beginning, the idea of joining a Peak to get the right to leave the mountain was asinine. It would never happen.
    As for joining Valiant Hall? That was even more ridiculous. Compared to the Peaks, the restrictions they had on their members was even fiercer. They weren't even allowed to become involved in such struggles to begin with, after all, their main purpose for existing was to remain neutral.
    From the very beginning, Sael's ask of him was ridiculous. There was no other way to put it.
    "You want to save your organization, but you aren't willing to risk owing any favors. You want my help, but you don't want me to seek revenge for the slights levied against me. You want me to lower my head, not the rock the boat, follow all your rules, and still care enough to help you in the end.
    "You take everything and sacrifice nothing.
    "Don't you think this is a little too na?ve?"
    Sael opened her mouth to say something but she really couldn't find a response.
    "Maybe I'm too na?ve too." Leonel muttered. But considering Sael's dazed state, it was unknown if she even heard him.
    He might have been right in that he was, because at this moment, seeing how lost Sael looked and knowing how much effort she had tried to put in to make sure everything stayed togetherбн He didn't know if he even had the heart to go after Sarrieth any longer.
    He might have reprimanded Sael about sacrifice, but maybe James was right. He was just a hypocrite. He wasn't much different from her at all.
    бн
    Leonel made it to the ground floor of the restaurant, walking out.
    He looked across the street, finding that the poster had already been removed. It seemed that while he was eating, Sael had kept her promise. But, this only made him sigh again.
    'I want to see Aina.'
    Leonel took out a talisman and poured Force into it. But, there was no response.
    It seemed that Aina was still neck deep in whatever training she had thrown herself into. Since that was the case, he'd leave her be for now.
    Remembering Aina, though, Leonel's gaze flashed with rage.
    He never cared much about what other people called him. It was only because they had dragged his parents and Aina into this that he was so furious. If not for this, would his reaction have been so violent?
    Definitely not.
    Leonel shook his head and took a step forward, only to find a figure blocking his path.
    "Hm?"
    Leonel's gaze traveled up from the well paved roads, up a pair of slender, long legs, only to land on a familiar face.
    This woman. He had seen this beauty at the Ore Market. In fact, he had given her a large amount of ores as well.
    He distinctly remembered that unlike everyone else who was cautious with accepting their piece of the pie, she wholeheartedly swallowed up everything, leaving nothing behind. Leonel remembered feeling curious about it, but he had more important things on his mind back then, and most definitely did now as well.
    "Yes? I don't have any more Ores to give you if that's what you want."
    Hearing the light teasing tone in Leonel's words, Kaela found herself rolling her eyes to avoid her feeling of embarrassment. She really had looked like a bit of a beggar back then, but her Faction really needed those Ores!
    At the same time, though, she sighed a breath of relief.
    After seeing Leonel battle, she had thought that he was some hardened brute. At least he was easy to talk to. She didn't even know why, but she felt relaxed in his presence as though there was no expectations.
    That was quite an odd thing to find in the men she spoke to. Usually, more often than not, they all wanted to crawl into her bed.
    Truthfully, with all the stress she was always under, sometimes she wanted to accept such an offer just to blow some steam. But with how this world treated women who weren't picky enoughбн Well, let's just say she didn't want to add any more stress to her plate so she avoided such things as well.
    Kaela was the type of woman who would curse the unfairness of it all, but secretly also couldn't be bothered to deal with the backlash that came from stepping outside the status quo.
    "I'm not here for Ores, but your help would be nice."
    "My help?"
    Leonel raised his brows.
    "Mhm. My faction happens to need a bodyguard like you. Word of me accepting all of those Ores will definitely reach Sarrieth's ears and I just need you to help us bide some time."
    "Oh? How much time? And why are you so certain that you only need a small amount of it?"
    Leonel was intrigued by this. He quite liked Kaela's boldness.
    "The Valiant Heart Zone is opening up soon so there's going to be a lot of preparations for it. I'm confident that with these Ores, we'll be able to complete a project we've been working on for years now. With it, we'll be in the good graces of a lot of Peaks, including Hero Peak which Sarrieth is from.
    "As long as we succeed, Sarrieth won't dare to target us so blatantly."
    'The Valiant Heart Zone?'
    Leonel blinked in confusion. Was it a Sub-Dimensional Zone? But why did it have a name? It made sense to be able to predict the opening up of a Zone, but this name seemed fairlyбн permanent?
    Wouldn't a Zone that had been opened so often been cleared by now?
    There were too many confusing things about this single line.

 Chapter 635 - News

    "What's this Valiant Heart Zone?" Leonel asked.
    "Oh, I keep forgetting you're a freshmanбн" Kaela looked Leonel up and down as though observing some kind of extraterrestrial creature. "бн The Valiant Heart Zone is the world the Valiant Pillars gate."
    "It's a Zone?"
    "Wellбн Yes and no. There are four types of Zones, normal types, Mythological types, Variant Types and Unique Zones. Valiant Heart Zone is a Unique Zone."
    "Aren't Unique Zonesбн"
    Leonel was confused. He was certain that Unique Zones were Zones where outside interference caused their difficulty to multiply several times over.
    It was only after he heard Kaela's explanation that he understood the definition of Unique Zone was far broader than he thought it was.
    The strict definition of a Unique Zone was any Zone that was influenced by outside forces. In this case, it encompassed both the Zone which had to deal with Shield Cross Stars interference and apparently this Valiant Heart Zone.
    According to Kaela, organizations of a certain level kept and refined certain Zones for different levels of benefits. Sometimes these Zones could perpetually produce resources for an organization, almost like a respawn rate in a game.
    Zones kept for that purpose were an easy income source for worlds and could act as a renewable resource.
    However, the Valiant Heart Zone wasn't this kind of resource Zone. Rather, it was a training ground.
    "бн Yes, the Valiant Heart Zone when it first appeared was a Variant Zone. In the past, Valiant Heart Mountain was on the brink of destruction and it was because of one of our Ancestors and the appearance of this Zone that we were able to survive.
    "According to legends, our Ancestor brought back a treasure that allowed us to monopolize this Variant Zone for continuous use. Those treasures are the pillars that guard the mountain pass."
    Leonel's eyes widened. If he was a betting man, he would certainly put no small amount of money on the fact this Ancestor was the very same one that Sael had mentioned.
    He didn't know what level of treasure it would take to claim a Zone for yourself, let alone a Variant Zone which was known to have the greatest treasures.
    Kaela spoke of the treasures so simply, but wasn't she a Crafter? Shouldn't she know how difficult it was to construct such a treasure?
    Leonel might not understand much about the Dimensional Verse, but what he did know about was Force Crafting. Any treasure on this level couldn't be from the Fourth Dimension. It was a surprise that Valiant Heart Mountain had lasted for so long letting such a secret become common knowledge amongst its disciples.
    Or maybeбн That was exactly the point.
    'Are they using the prestige of the Morales family as a protective covering?'
    Thinking to this point, Leonel almost wanted to laugh.
    He couldn't blame them. They gave up tens of thousands of their members for the right to use this shield of protection.
    But, that only made things more ironic. It was because of this sacrifice that they were able to enjoy such spoils. And now what? They suddenly weren't willing anymore?
    Leonel felt that this was a matter that started at the head, this all pervading cowardice. Valiant Heart Mountain was quite literally rotting from the inside out.
    The worst of them were so worried about holding onto their authority that they made enemies of freshman for perceived slights despite supposedly being holy seniors.
    The best of them were too cowardly, trying to hold onto a meaningless status quo that held no weight whatever.
    And what were the Heads doing? Weren't they the exact same?
    In the blink of an eye, Leonel felt that he had completely grasped the weakness of Valiant Heart Mountain in an instant. All of this only confirmed the first of his thoughts. He had no intention of tying himself to this place.
    As for the so-called Heir Trial? He had not a single intention in participating to begin with. But, even if for some reason he changed his mind, this sort of weak, back boneless organization wouldn't even be on the list of allies he chose from.
    They thought too much of themselves.
    Of them all, this Kaela was the first one he had run across that was slightly better to look at. Obviously, this wasn't because of her looks, but rather because she didn't carry the same hypocrisy.
    "Are you sure you want me to join? There's likely not a single Peak that would take me in right now. And, from what I can see, you're a part of Brave Peak. You sure your seniors would be okay with this?"
    Kaela snorted. "If they kick you out, they'll be kicking me out anyway. Plus, whether I'm part of a Peak or not, my Polished Glass Faction will exist no matter what. There are members from plenty of Peaks in my Faction. Crafters are too rare so I couldn't afford to be stingyбн I mean, I'm very open minded so it was never a problem."
    Kaela rubbed her nose slightly beneath Leonel's smiling gaze.
    "Alright, alright! That's enough, follow this senior of yours! I'll take you to see a world you never have before!"
    Leonel had his wrist grabbed by an oddly firm and sturdy hand, especially since it was from a woman.
    'Seems she's quite a decent Force Crafter.'
    бн
    As Kaela was dragging Leonel around, another uproar was sweeping across Valiant Heart Mountain.
    News of a freshman defeating several sophomore level white belts spread like wildfire, especially when it was learned that one of King of Ores captains, Nigmir, wasn't spared in the slightest. In fact, according to reports, he was defeated without even a chance to fight back.
    This news might as well have been like a ton of bricks slamming against the minds of seniors. However, this had only been the beginning.
    News of Valiant Hall removing all the Leo the Cuck posters posted around the city caused another uproar. Rumors that Leonel had joined Valiant Hall began to spread.
    It was then that the landscape completely shifted.
    Someone had spotted King of Ores, Sarrieth, returning to the organization.
    Everyone sat patiently, waiting for what they thought might be an eruption to explode forth.

 Chapter 636 - Sensitive

    Kaela quickly led Leonel to a small house near the base of Brave Peak. It was so close to the Peak, in fact, that the back of the house was no more than ten meters from a rockface.
    Luckily, the home wasn't very close to the main path of the Peak, or else it would be too loud and bustling to get anything done.
    The space was under the perpetual shadow of a floating island as a result of this, though. So, it was give an take. But, it seemed that Kaela quite liked the darkness they were cast under.
    Luckily, Kaela had had the sense to let go of Leonel's wrist long ago, or else who knew what kind of new rumors would be spreading through the city?
    She kicked down the door as though she wasn't its owner, her excitement almost being too great. Leonel couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.
    "Everyone! I come bearing gifts!"
    "Beautiful big sis!"
    Hearing a familiar voice, Leonel's lip twitched. How did Radlis get here, exactly? Did he just follow all the beauties of the organization like a dog without a home?
    Radlis stormed up from what looked like the basement with every intention of throwing himself into Kaela's arms. But, all he received was a kick in return.
    Kaela's elegant leg hung in the air. Unfortunately, she wore the customary uniform of Valiant Heart, so there was no soft skin or slenderness to enjoy.
    Radlis crashed against the wall beside the opening to the basement, sliding down with a hurt look on his face.
    "Damn useless mut. You're lucky I didn't kick you out of here after learning you can't Craft anything yet you still want to take advantage of me. Here."
    Kaela threw over a spatial brace to Radlis.
    "Organize all the Ores in here. You probably don't know their functions so just do it by feel like you usually do. After you're done, you can get Litia to take inventory of them."
    "Ah, yes ma'am."
    Radlis stood up quickly as though he had never been hurt.
    It was only after he finished leering at Kaela that he finally realized that there had been someone by her side all this time. In fact, it was also at this moment that the others came from the basement. Aside from Radlis, there were five others, all wearing a lab coat similar to Kaela.
    It seemed that this lab coat was their marker as a faction. It wasn't a bad look though it did seem a bit out of place.
    "Ah! Bro, it's you! You actually have the confidence to show your face. Respect, respect!"
    Radlis laughed for a moment before looking wearily between Leonel and Kaela. After a moment, his eyes sparkled.
    "How's your girlfriend doing? Is everything alright at home?"
    "Hm? You have a girlfriend?" Kaela looked at Leonel curiously.
    Radlis grinned as though a devious plan of his had succeeded.
    'Don't blame me, bro. You can't keep hogging all the women. Us ugly men need to live too.'
    "I do." Leonel nodded with a smile.
    "I see." Kaela nodded. Then as though it was nothing more than a brief interlude, she looked toward the five who had come up the stairs.
    "The giant who can barely stand to his full height is Rum. The twin sisters are Madia and Litia. As for the final two, the girl with the spectacles is Thilly and the boy who's even lankier than Radlis is Vaglor."
    Radlis open his mouth to say something, but in the end he just closed it.
    'Are all women so shameless? First Balthorn and now Kaela? None of them care that he has a girlfriend? Where is the justice in this world?'
    "Nice to meet you all." Leonel said with a smile, greeting them all warmly.
    "I may have gotten us into some troubleбн" Kaela coughed lightly.
    The moment their leader began, the five sighed as though they were already used to this. Leonel could imagine the number of conundrums Kaela had caused in the past.
    "бн Anyway, the short of it is that we've been banned from buying more ores from King of Ores Faction and Hero Peak may or may not be coming to find trouble with us in the coming days."
    "Kaela!" Litia looked exasperated. "What did you do?!"
    "Nothing! Honest! Those bastards wanted to double the prices, how was I supposed to take that laying down?!"
    Litia wanted to face palm. She already knew her leader was exaggerating, but there was nothing more she could say.
    "It's all okay, though! I've found us a bodyguard!"
    Everyone looked toward Leonel. But, when they saw his black belt, they felt as though black was all they could see. Their legs swayed and they almost fell over.
    They were supposed to entrust their safetyбн to a freshman?
    Even Radlis, who had seen Leonel in action, was one part speechless.
    'He definitely did something to beautiful big sisбн' Radlis wanted to shed real tears. 'бн Just because he's good in bed, big sis, doesn't mean he's good at fighting. Those are two completely different battlesбн'
    Radlis felt as though his world was crumbling. It seems he would have to find a new big sis to fawn over. This was too depressing.
    His dreams of sleeping on a beauty's lap were going up in smoke just because of Leonel.
    "Ah, you're all thinking too much about it. Leonel is even stronger than I am, by a good margin. Stop worrying so much. Come on, let's go work!"
    Litia shook her head. Seeing that Radlis was trying to escape, she grabbed him by the ear and pulled him down into the basement.
    Everyone followed, even Leonel. He was quite curious to see what kind of lab the Polished Glass Faction was working with.
    The result was completely out of his expectations.
    "I'll show you around so you can think of some security measures. I haven't really thought of your payment butбн Bah, I'll think of something. How about free room and board? This place might be shabby, but it's still far better than the freshman quarters.
    "Oh! Don't touch anything and try not to breathe too hard! The experiments we're working on are very sensitive to outside stimuli, especially impurities."
    'Better indeedбн'
    Leonel looked around.
    The basement was filled with endless walls of white and steal tables. It looked more like a biology lab than a crafting station.
    But, they were dealing with a very precious ore that Leonel immediately recognized.
    'They're working with something so sensitive? What are they trying to do here exactly?'

 Chapter 637 - I Guess

    The Ore Leonel immediately recognized was quite a unique metal that manifested like glass. It had all the texture, feel and pliability of metal, but also happened to be see-through. This ore was simply known as Polished Glass Ore and it seemed that Kaela's faction received their name directly from this source. The only difference between it and normal glass was that it had a slight black hue to it as though in warning of its dangerбн
    The issue with Polished Glass, though, was that it was incredibly volatile. And as Kaela mentioned, it was best not to leave it with any impurities unless one wanted a face of what would amount to a stack of TNT.
    However, as it seemed with most things, the more difficult they were to deal with, the better the reward for dealing with them. The problem, though, was that Polished Glass had a very specific use case that would benefit it the greatest and it was difficult to reach this balance.
    Seeing that Leonel had spent so long looking toward their stores of Polished Glass, Kaela smiled.
    "Definitely do not touch that. Radlis, that brat, actually almost caused us to go up in smoke a few days ago. It's lucky that he has some use or else I really would have strangled him to death by now."
    Though Kaela seemed casual with her words, the lab itself was in great order. Even at this moment, the Polished Glass was locked away safely and securely.
    The five members of the faction, excluding Radlis, had all gone off to work.
    Rum held two massive hammers, pounding away at something with his head hidden under a hood. Litia and Madia seemed to be taking whatever product he finished and purifying it what looked like flames. Thilly inspect their products, while it was the lanky Vaglor who took the most volatile product and placed it within the protective covering.
    To give Radlis some credit, though, it seemed that he had also gotten started on the task Kaela had for him. But, for whatever reason, he kept looking back toward Leonel and Kaela with tears streaking down his cheeks. One would have thought that he was cutting onions.
    The last station was completely empty. Leonel was certain that whatever processing was left would be left to Kaela herself.
    "You want to watch?" Kaela asked, seeing that Leonel was still curious.
    "Sure."
    Kaela made her way to the last lab table, her expression turning serious. Everyone seemed to take a pause on what they were doing to look over.
    The hair scrunchy that kept Kaela's ponytail in place began to flicker to life, dancing with a golden-red.
    Taking a deep breath, she slipped her hands into the two openings within the transparent container, her gaze growing focused.
    Her flames licking across her hair danced down her neck, along her shoulders and arms, through the slots and onto the tips of her fingers.
    Very delicately, she began to handle the piece of transparent Polished Glass.
    At this moment, it already looked like a finished product. There was no amount of polishing that could make it any clearer.
    But, as Force Crafters, they all knew that this was an illusion. Handling such a piece of Polished Glass felt no different from standing in a nuclear war zone. Even if your eyes couldn't see itбн You didn't have to for you to already be considered dead.
    The most dangerous part of handling Polished Glass didn't come from purifying it to this extent.
    This shouldn't be taken out of context, because it was indeed dangerous to reach this step. Rather, because the impurities were so obvious during the first steps, they were easier to deal with and manage.
    But right nowбн? They were like hidden assassins ready and waiting to take your life.
    This was the most dangerous step. Not the purification, but the molding of Polished Glass into your weapon of choice.
    It took Kaela several hours of careful, step by step processes to finally mold the final product.
    She gently pulled her hands out and grinned triumphantly, sweat matting her brow.
    Despite how happy she was with her work, she didn't take it out of the container. Rather, after pressing a button, the container collapsed in side very gently and formed a small box of metal that Kaela then put to the side, ready to receive the next.
    "бн So you're making grenades?"
    Kaela gave Leonel a surprised look.
    "How did you know that?"
    The final product looked no different from a Christmas tree ornament. It had a small round body, so small, in fact, that one could fit three into the palm comfortably. Combining with its transparent appearance and it was quite a beautiful ornament, indeed. The slight black light it radiated only made it more intriguing.
    The only other oddity about the design was the small hole at the top. It was barely a centimeter and a half across and was hard to pick out amidst all the transparent glass.
    This was all to say thatбн other than a vague similarity in shape, it should be impossible to tell what the purpose of the vessel wasбн Especially since it wasn't truly the final product! There was still one more step Kaela had to complete in secret before it could be deemed to be finished.
    Leonel shrugged and spoke casually. "Just a guess."
    Kaela's mouth opened to answer but couldn't come up with anything.
    Was it really just a guess?
    "It's definitely an innovative idea. Usually, Polished Glass is used as the edge of blades due to its extraordinary sharpness. But, your design is innovative. Since you can't purify the Polished Glass completely, you're taking advantage of this to finish a completely novel Craft. It's quite genius."
    Leonel's casual remarks filled Kaela with pride in the beginning before she was left more stunned than anything else.
    "Youбн Howбн? What?"
    This wasn't analysis a layman could complete no matter how learned they were. Just telling that the Polished Glass wasn't completely purified required a deep level of knowledge.
    "How?" Leonel blinked. "Oh, that's what you mean.. I'm a Force Crafter too, I guess."

 Chapter 638 - Take A Chance

    "Youбн"
    Kaela was speechless.
    Having such combat prowess at such a young age yet also having such insight as a Force Crafterбн Was this supposed to be a practical joke?
    Kaela could be considered rare enough, having decent strength along with good skill as a Crafter. But, she was also much older than Leonel. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was easily over double his age.
    Wellбн Double what she estimated his age to be. If she knew Leonel was only 19, it would be much closer to triple than double.
    Leonel raised his brows. Was it really so shocking? He understood that Crafters would be rare on Earth, but even if they were also rare here, running into one or two every so often shouldn't be impossible. There was no need for such surprise.
    Kaela shook her head.
    "You're right, we are making grenades. Initially, as you said, we wanted to use the Polished Glass stores we found for the sake of making sharp weapons.
    "If we managed to succeed, even if the finished products were only Tier 3, they'd be able to rival Tier 5 and 6 weapons in pure sharpness alone. They'd be hot commodities among the lower class of Valiant Mountain and there would be more than a few elites interested in them too."
    Leonel frowned.
    Polished glass was a Tier 6 Ore. To use it to make Tier 3 weapons was a bit wasteful. He didn't quite understand why they would do that.
    If he thought about it more deeply, though, Kaela likely planned on using an exceptionally small amount right on the edge of the blade. This would indeed make a big difference in the sharpness of a weapon.
    But, even then, Kaela spoke as though she had no plans at all of making true Tier 6 weapons. If used properly, they could nearly rival Tier 7 weapons. That would truly make them a hot commodity and this endeavor would be far more worth it.
    Of course, that was ignoring the idea of grenades which Leonel felt was an excellent pivot.
    Seeing Leonel's look, Kaela put on a wronged expression.
    "I know what you're thinkingбн"
    Leonel raised his brows.
    "But Valiant Heart Mountain only has stingy people. If you came here hoping you could find a pathway to Tier 5, 6 or higher, this senior of yours will have to disappoint you.
    "The elders hoard everything, even from their disciples. I used to be under the tutelage of the best Crafter Valiant Heart has to offer, Tier 9 Black Crafter, Jac Beinala. But after realizing that that old fogie only want to work me to the bone while giving me nothing in return, I left."
    Kaela sighed as she 'broke' the news to Leonel.
    She had correctly guessed that Leonel's weird expression was about her not being able to complete Tier 6 Crafts. But, what she incorrectly guessed was that Leonel was also unable to.
    "Because of that bastard, I can only Craft up to Tier 5 on an excellent day, and that's despite the fact I already have the skill to complete Tier 7 Crafts. Even if I have all the materials, I just don't have the knowledge of Force Arts necessary to bind them properly."
    The lab entered a somewhat depressing state.
    'Oh? So that's the limitationбн?'
    Leonel grasped a bit of what was going on.
    He agreed with Kaela's assessment of herself. Her hand speed and control was indeed at the Grade Two Designation. Though it was a far cry from Leonel's own Superior Grade One Designation, it was still good enough.
    Speaking of which, Leonel had long since begun on his Bronze hand exercises, so he had actually already entered the Grade Three Designation and was approaching Advanced Grade Three Designation. So, technically, he was already beyond his previous Superior Grade One Designation for the Black Grade and could begin to work on Fifth Dimension Crafts.
    Still, to put this matter into perspective, not all Bronze Crafters even reached Grade One Designation first. So, Kaela was indeed not wrong when she said she had the skill to complete Tier 7 Crafts.
    What did all this mean? It meant that Kaela's only real limitation was her lack of understanding in high level Force Arts.
    Leonel sighed. This was his first time finally understanding the scope of what he had in his hands.
    Even a Bronze Organization like this one was hoarding knowledge Leonel might not even deem important enough to write on a piece of tissue paper.
    The words of his grandfather couldn't help but come back to his ears. Should he be handing over his things to those who were less privileged than he wasбн?
    Leonel could only sigh again.
    At that moment, he felt a light pat on his shoulder.
    "There's no need to feel so down." Kaela said with a smile, trying to comfort Leonel. "Those old bastards are just jealous of our youth. Once they croak, it's not like they can take their knowledge with them. By then, we can just rob their graves."
    Hearing such words, Leonel could only burst into a fit of laughter.
    This Kaela was indeed quite an interesting character. She somewhat reminded him of Mordred.
    'I wonder how Camelot is doing nowбн?' Leonel thought somewhat absentmindedly before shaking his head.
    Clearing his mind, Leonel suddenly clapped, startling everyone in the lab. By now, even a casual clap from Leonel seemed to send swirling winds in every direction.
    "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you trying to kill us all?!" Kaela panicked.
    Leonel grinned. "Hey Kaela, I have some ideas. I wonder if you're willing to take another gamble on me?"
    Kaela blinked, her beautiful eyes sparkling somewhat.
    For some reason, whenever Leonel entered such a state, just his aura alone seemed to make everyone gravitate toward him. The confidence he exuded bordered on intoxicating.
    Kaela looked around at the others, only to find that they were curiously observing Leonel too. It seemed that they had been caught up in it all as well. In the blink of an eye, the depressing atmosphere had vanished with the wind, the entire room orbiting around Leonel's bright smile.
    "Alright freshman, what ideas do you have?"
    Leonel's eyes sparkled.. Since Valiant Heart wanted to hoard high level Force Arts, he would just have to show them how powerful low level Force Arts could be.

 Chapter 639 - Baffling

    "What plan do you have in mind?"
    Instead of answering, Leonel walked over to Rum's station. The massive man towered over Leonel, but he seemed to be the quiet type. In fact, aside from Litia and Kaela, excluding Radlis, it seemed as though every member of Polished Glass was quiet.
    "I'm just going to borrow your station for a little bit." Leonel smiled.
    Rum hesitated but bowed out of the way eventually. None of them knew how skilled Leonel was, but at least in this station, even if there was an explosion, it would be manageable. If Leonel insisted on starting at Kaela's station, then maybe even Kaela herself wouldn't have been able to allow it.
    However, what stunned Rum was that instead of going under the hood like he had, Leonel removed the coverings entirely, revealing the existence of a special violet light and numerous unprocessed Ores.
    Without a spirit, Rum could only use the most primitive method of purification. But, that didn't necessarily mean that it was an inferior method. There were many Force Crafters who swore by their blacksmithing methods. Leonel had even read about a famous Crafter who wielded 16 hammers at once during all his crafts.
    Though, he obviously used a special telekinetic ability, or else it would be too ridiculous.
    Rum, however, used just two hammers. But in his hunched position, one could imagine the limited range and control he had. It took a lot of discipline to work at his station, for sure.
    Unfortunately, he had no choice but to do so. The Polished Glass faction could only afford a single open space like this. So, in order to maximize the special light he used to pick out impurities, he had to use such a posture.
    Leonel picked up a piece of ore under the horrified gazes of everyone present.
    Rum couldn't help but take a few steps back. Even Radlis scrambled away, pressing his hands together in prayer.
    But what happened next left them all stunned.
    A regular wrist band that had been wrapped around Leonel's arm with not a single hint of movement suddenly made its presence known, enveloping the ores completely.
    "Metal Spirit!" Kaela screamed out, her breathing hurried.
    Her face flushed read, her body trembling as though it couldn't grasp what it was seeing.
    A familiar, of any kind, was rare beyond compare. Kaela's hair scrunchy seemed to be a Fire Spirit, but this couldn't have been further from the truth. It was nothing more than a manifestation of her ability.
    Kaela's ability was somewhat like Monet's except it emphasized control over both flames and their heat.
    She could make flames as fluid as gas in one instant and as solid as iron in the next. She could also make her flames as flexible and soft as a scrunchyбн
    The only downside of her ability was that her output of flames wasn't very powerful. So, usually, she went out of her way to find sources of good flames then stored them on her body in various ways. Her scrunchy was just one aspect.
    This was all to say that Kaelaбн Had never even seen a Spirit in her life before, let alone the Metal Spirit.
    The Metal Spirit was widely accepted as one of if not the best Familiar for Crafters to have. But, they were notoriously impossible to control and there were very few with the ability to do so.
    Yet, even those people would never casually leave a Metal Spirit on their wrist as though it was any other accessory. That was ridiculous and asking for death.
    Butбн That was exactly what was happening before her.
    Leonel overturned the piece of ore in his hands, his eyes flashing. His aura became stifling, a heavy air hanging over the lab.
    'Dream Sculpt.'
    In the blink of an eye, the ore, its every imperfection, its every crevice and peak, was perfectly reflected in Leonel's mind.
    Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, what took Rum hours of hammering to accomplish was completed by Leonel in just 10 minutes. Noбн This couldn't be said. Compared to Rum's unfinished productбн Leonel's was perfect.
    *Bloop* *Bloop*
    Little Tolly hopped around Leonel's palms happily.
    In one of Leonel's palms, there was a rock that looked no different from any other. It had a plain greyish appearance and sat silently.
    On his other palm, there was a perfect glass ball. Not a single imperfection could be picked out of it.
    Kaela didn't need to ask Leonel to understand. That perfect ballбн It was exactly the product she slaved over continuouslyбн But this was the first time she was actually seeing it.
    "Thisбн"
    Kaela's eyes brightened.
    "With this, we could actually make those Tier 3 weapons!"
    Leonel smiled. "We could. Orбн We could make a better version of your grenades.
    "Butбн In that state, the Polished Glass is completely inert."
    Kaela could tell this easily. In fact, anyone could.
    The way was simple. The black light the Polished Glass usually gave off had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a shallow, barely perceptible grey light. This was how one knew you had reached perfection.
    "True. But this still exists."
    Leonel tossed the pile of impurities up and let it land on his palm again.
    "Youбн What?" Kaela was confused.
    She didn't understand. The impurities were exactly thatбн impure. They weren't even unique to Polished Glass Ore.
    Impurities were just anything that happened to be in the environment the Ore was birthed in. Ore Veins had to grow around a lot of rock and sediment and often times these impurities would seep in and disrupt its growth. These would have to be taken out during the refinement process.
    Though some Ores could only be grown in special environments and thus usually had impurities in common across their Ores, Polished Glass Ore had too many potential growing spots to have anything so convenient attached to its lore.
    This was all to say thatбн The impurities in Leonel's hand could be from anywhere. In fact, it was no different from a rock one could pick up on the roadside. If one tried to sell it, you'd get beaten to death for being a fraudulent merchant.
    Leonel's actions were simply too baffling.
    However, he only smiled and his hands began to move again.

 Chapter 640 - Not Lying?

    This time, having snapped out of her daze due to the appearance of a Metal Spirit, she paid more attention to Leonel's hands. Seeing how deft he was and the level of speed he was able to maintain, Kaela felt as though she had entered a completely new world.
    'This is at least Grade One Designationбн That'sбн Impossibleбн'
    Elder Jac Beinala only allowed them to watch him work from afar, but she was certain that he was at the Advanced Grade Two Designation at best. In fact, Kaela was only able to reach Grade Two thanks to a fortuitous encounter while searching for flames to empower her Crafting.
    It was thanks to this that her scope broadened and she realized the Beinala wasn't as great or mysterious as he claimed to be.
    But even though she was aware of this, seeing Leonel now still made all she had learned in the past several decades feel like nothing more than a waste.
    In 10 more minutes, the rock of impurities had been reformed into six different segments.
    Leonel's right palm, which held the Polished Glass, let go, allowing a portion of Little Tolly to let it float.
    With a flip of his palm, an elegant black quill appeared in Leonel's hand. Just its sight alone made Kaela's breathing quickened. This time, it wasn't only her either.
    The Metal Spirit was so rare in this corner of the universe that only the most well learned would recognize it on first sight. But this quill was something they all recognized because all of them had one.
    A Crafting Quill wasn't a rare thing. Howeverбн One of the quality Leonel was wielding nowбн Well, that was a different matter entirely.
    They all thought that it was at least Tier 7, having never seen a Quasi Bronze Quill before. If they had broader knowledge, it would have been easier to guess. But, even without knowing, they were practically drooling.
    Leonel, however, was completely focused.
    His wrists flicked, several Force Arts being drawn in what felt like in an instant. It felt as though his quill would pass by a region, only for a pristine Force Art to appear where he had just been.
    This was the first time they had watched someone draw Force Arts so quickly, and on a useless piece of rock, no less. But at that moment, they didn't care.
    Unlike Jac who always found ways to hide his process, Leonel didn't hide a single thing. Kaela even managed to see through what Force Arts Leonel was drawing.
    The language was a bit different, but the function was the same. She felt certain that these were just modified versions of the Arts she had drawn on her so-called final product, but Leonel was drawing them on the useless rock.
    "We'll use the same Arts you used with just a single change." Leonel began to speak.
    Kaela's lip twitched. A single change? Leonel had already altered the whole designed. She had no idea what he was thinking.
    "You combined an air purification, wind shield and air suction Force Art in order to simulate a vacuum. It was a genius combination, I won't change anything about thatбн"
    Leonel knew a higher level Force Art which didn't require this combination and could simply form a vacuum by itself. But, he felt that there was no need to do this. Kaela was the leader of this team, not him. There was no need to make her years of hard work meaningless when it was a method that would work well enough.
    Kaela beamed with pride, practically grinning ear to ear.
    "The only think I'll add is a spacer. It's a simple magnetic Force Art that adds a charge to an ore."
    Kaela blinked. She was really curious because she had never seen such a Force Art. But, at the same time, she was even more curious about what it would be used for.
    At that moment, Leonel's left had began to move. Little Tolly, who had been doing nothing but holding the pristine ball of Polished Glass Ore up, shifted.
    The pristine ball was separated into several marbles. A single palm sized ball formed what seemed like over 30 thumbnail sized ball.
    Leonel took just a single one, his fingers moving like a blur.
    The marble was molded and folded, forming small, surgical knife blades that couldn't have been thicker that a hair's width.
    Leonel's pen began to move again, place the final Force Arts in place.
    With deft fingers, he slid the knife blades into the six pieces of rock. Thenбн
    *Snap.
    Kaela jumped.
    When she saw the complete Craft, she was stunned.
    It was a small ball, less the third the size of a palm. But, it had numerous thin perforations. If it wasn't for the fact she had seen Leonel slide the Polished Glass Ore pieces into them, she wouldn't have noticed this as all.
    On top of the ball, there was a small pin no different from any other grenade.
    Leonel smiled, his expression just as relaxed.
    "This is the final product. It looks like the blades are touching but they aren't. The blades are just a small bit thinner than the perforations in the ball. The magnetic Force Arts repel each other from all sides equally, causing them to hover in place.
    "The pin completes the circuit for the completion of the vacuum. The moment the pin is removed, air rushes in. The sudden surge, causing by a high concentration of air flowing into an area of low concentration, will cause the thin blades to rattle.
    "The moment the thin blades touch the impurities, the etchings I had to carve in for the sake of the magnetic Force Arts will ignite.
    "The magnetic Force Art on the Polished Glass Ore with shatter before the ones I drew on the impure rock. The disruption will cause the blades to be ejected outward. The combination of the magnets and the explosion of the Polished Glass Ore will combine into one, making the explosion far more violent than it was originally.
    "I'm fairly certain that this grenade could put someone in Tier 5 at death's door. Someone in Tier 6 would still be severely injured and it only costs a thirtieth of a weapon."
    Leonel smiled, pointing toward the 29 remaining marbles.
    Kaela and the others looked toward Leonel as though they were looking at a monster.
    Radlis, especially, was at a loss, remembering what Leonel had said on the mountain pass that day.
    'He wasn't lyingбн.? He isn't a foolбн? He really doesn't care about Tier 7 weaponsбн?'

 Chapter 641 - Change

    Radlis felt his intestines overturning. Was this the mysterious gold mine of legends? Was his luck finally turning for the better?
    "Bro иC No, Big Bro иC No, Senior Leonel!"
    Radlis flashed and appeared in front of Leonel, a wide smile spreading across his pale face. If Leonel didn't know better, he would have thought that Radlis was a ghost doing its best to scare him half to death.
    However, before he could say more, he found himself being kicked away by Kaela again.
    "You idiot! That's a ticking time bomb in his hands! What would you do if it accidentally fell because of you?!"
    After she was done, Kaela immediately looked toward Leonel with sparkling eyes. Radlis saw a gold mind, but she saw an endless store of information. Even if she was beaten to death she wouldn't believe that Leonel had gained all this skill on his own. He most definitely had a teacher. And, with a teacher came all sorts of information.
    Kaela knew that all the Force Arts Leonel had used to form this grenade were Tier 4 at best. But, she didn't believe that this was the extent of Leonel's knowledge.
    It had taken her months of research and experimentation to complete the sequence of Force Arts she needed to form the vacuum that kept the grenade stable. But, in the blink of an eye, Leonel saw through its purpose and even adapted her design to suit his changes.
    Her breathing quickened. The only way he'd be able to do this was if his knowledge of Force Arts was so far beyond hers that there was no comparison whatsoever. She didn't even believe her former master could see through her intentions without at least a few days of observation and tests.
    After a while, Kaela slowly calmed herself and smiled bitterly.
    If even a hack like Jac was so close to the vest with his knowledge, how much more so would a true master like Leonel's teacher be in this regard? As arrogant as Jac was, Kaela had no doubt that Leonel's teacher was several times more. But at least he would have more of a right to be.
    Kaela knew it would be ridiculous of her to expect a junior she just met to divulge such important information, so she didn't even bother to ask.
    Recollecting herself, Kaela finally found a few oddities with the grenade. Namely, there was one she just couldn't wrap her head around. Hopefully, Leonel wouldn't mind answering this.
    "How did you manage to get the inert Polished Glass to explode, though?"
    Hearing Kaela's question, the five members of the Polished Glass Faction seemed to realize something too. Sighing, the excitement in their eyes also dimmed.
    The Dimensional Verse was a cruel world where those at the top always sought to hoard power for themselves. Even if Leonel was a good person, asking something so great of him would be too much and far too ungrateful.
    Leonel nodded when he heard Kaela's question.
    If the inert Polished Glass could be forced to explode so easily then it would never be used as the blade of a weapon. No one wanted to deal with their own weapon lashing out at them mid-battle, that would be too ridiculous.
    It had already been established that the so-called impurities were just regular rocks. Since there was nothing special about them, who was to say that contact with an enemy's blade wouldn't also cause the Polished Glass to explode if it was really so unstable?
    "The secret is the thinness of the hidden blades." Leonel explained. "The explosive effect of unrefined Polished Glass is caused by disruptions in its chemical structure. After it has been properly refined to the point of becoming inert, there are no longer any impurities to disrupt its structures.
    "When you refine it into a blade, any outside interferences are too small to effect the overall situation. Whatever chain reaction that would have occurred is easily halted before it can gain any steam.
    "Butбн When its thin enoughбн"
    "бн To the point where it's just a few atoms thick, the structure is much easier to disrupt. Especially when you draw a Force Art onto it, thinning it out even more."
    Kaela's eyes glowed. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't wrap her mind around how Leonel had come up with such a design in just a few minutes. Everything about it seemed perfectбн It was the kind of design one should have spent years laboring over every detail of yet he had completed it in an afternoon.
    It was baffling.
    Leonel grinned. "Want to test it?"
    Kaela shivered. She felt like she was looking at a madman.
    "No way. The testing rooms that could withstand something like that are way too expensive to rent. Forget it."
    The two looked one another and burst into a fit of laughter.
    Not long later, the first grenade of Polished Glassed Faction was completed and stored. Having let the excitement sink in, the team prepared to make as many as possible.
    The Valiant Heart Zone wasn't an event just anyone could join. One had to gain enough merits to enter a tournament and only by placing well in this tournament would one then be able to enter.
    However, gathering merits was simply too time consuming and many would rather spend the time training. The fact that they were time consuming was just one aspect, though. Often times, missions were a good way to train as well. The main issue was the fact the injury rate was simply too high. If one suffered a severe injury, how would they recover in time to participate even if they managed to gather enough merits?
    This consumable device would fix much of this. There were a countless number of missions that would be made far easier if one had such a destructive device on hand. Kaela herself, who had participated in a number of these missions to gather enough funds to buy more ores, knew exactly how much such a product would be desired.
    Unfortunately, they often could only be bought from outside markets and in small quantities.
    The Polished Glass Faction would change all of that.

 Chapter 642 - Exchange Fair

    The next month passed by in an odd silence. Leonel didn't appear again, but neither did Sarrieth seem intent on doing anything. For those who had been waiting for sparks to fly, this was an exceptionally odd lull that left many feeling disappointed.
    However, whether or not the two had actually thought of letting matters settle just like this, it was completely unknown.
    бн
    "That should do it."
    Leonel raised his head for the first time in a long time. He seemed to have sat in the same place endlessly, completely focused on his task. Before him, there were two finished products. One was the grenade they were all familiar with while the other was most definitely not. However, considering the nonchalant responses the others had to this phenomenon, it was clearly not the first time in this last month that they had seen this design.
    Leonel ended up having to simplify the two designs he created, effectively forming a stream of four different products, two of which could only be crafted by him, while the latter two were made easier for the other members of Polished Glass to complete themselves.
    The result was a line of elite products and common products that would give the group some better leverage on the market.
    Kaela smiled. "Rum!"
    Rum obediently took hold of another behemoth-like stack of boxes and began to bring them out.
    Leonel stretched his back, his eyes slightly red.
    "Go take a shower, hermit. We can't have our prized engineer walking around like a rat's nest." Litia teased Leonel ruthlessly.
    Toward such a thing, Leonel could only smile bitterly.
    "Big sisterбн That's too meanбн" Madia tried to stop Litia from being too harsh, but all she got was a palm to the forehead.
    "He's a big man. He'll be fine."
    Leonel gave Madia a thankful smile before rushing off to shower and get dressed. At the very least, this small home had such accommodations.
    It wasn't long before the group had set off.
    бн
    "How exactly does this showcase work?" Leonel asked curiously.
    "I applied for a section from Valiant Hall half a month ago and it was decided that today would be our day. As long as we perform well, our products will appear on the Valiant Hall Exchange List and the system will be pretty much automated for us from then on."
    Leonel was enlightened. "I thought we would have to open a shop or something."
    Kaela's expression darkened a bit, taking Leonel off guard. Had he said something wrong?
    "бн We can't afford that." Kaela looked up into the skies as though she was truly hurt.
    Litia cleared her throat. "Don't mind her, she's a bit of a money grubber. The Valiant Hall Exchange List is safe and about as no-hassle as you can get. But the consequence is that the taxes we have to pay are higher.
    "It would be better for us to have our own store as long as it was in a decent part of the city, but all the land has been bought up by seniors long ago. Usually, you would just have to defeat the store owner and take over the rental fees to take over a store, but the network of store owners is too complex right now.
    "Most store owners are part of Union. Defeating one essentially means offending the whole Union, it's really too much of a headache to deal with. So, stores usually only get passed on willingly these daysбн And most of the time to close family juniors thanks to nepotism..."
    Hearing Litia's explanation, Leonel could only shake his head. The more he learned about Valiant Heart's system of competition, the more he realized just how little real competition there was.
    Not long later, the group made their way to Valiant Hall, Rum's heavy steps causing the city's to quake.
    "You sure you don't need any help, Rum?" Leonel asked for the third time already.
    "No, I'm okay." Rum smiled almost too gently for a man his size. He was practically an enormous teddy bear. "You've already done so much work for us, this is the least I could do."
    Leonel finally gave up. This big teddy bear was truly too stubborn.
    "Thilly, this is the registration information. We'll go start setting up." Kaela handed over some forms over to the thin and spectacled Thilly who quietly accepted them and moved into the building.
    Kaela put her fists on her hips like a valiant hero, a bright smile spreading across her face as her lab coat fluttered in the wind.
    After a moment of basking in her own glory, she strode forward, finding a space outside of Valiant Hall to begin her setup. Rum followed obediently behind her, a sheepish smile on his face.
    'Seems the big guy has a crush on Kaela.' Leonel chuckled to himself.
    Valiant Hall was just as grandiose as Leonel remembered it. The only difference between now and then was that there were a few groups gathering around its entrance as though setting up a fair.
    Kaela found a nice location beneath the shade of some trees and began to set up their display. It even reminded Leonel somewhat of his school science fair projects, a wave of nostalgia he wasn't quite ready for.
    The number of people here to witness this event were quite small in number, though. But, Kaela and the others didn't mind. After all, as long as the judges approved of their product, they could enter the Exchange List.
    Out of habit, before going out to any missions, students would always check for new products so they'd be able to get their name out that way.
    At leastбн That was what Kaela thought until there was a sudden change to the situation.
    On the horizon, a large number of people began making their way toward the Exchange Fair. There were only a couple hundred at most, not even enough to make the entrance of Valiant Hall feel crowded, but compared to the mere four or five stations of Crafters and Force Pill masters ready to display their products, this number was massive.
    Kaela couldn't ever remember there being such a large influx of people. Even when the most famous Factions displayed their products, there would never be this many.
    Her eyes along with Leonel's narrowed simultaneously.. They couldn't help but feel that some sort of conspiracy was afoot.

 Chapter 643 - Old Timers

    As the crowd around Valiant Hall was steadily growing, Thilly came back out seemingly having completed his task. But, even he, who was usually even keeled and expressionless couldn't help but be shocked by the sudden change.
    Why were there so many people coming? What was going on exactly?
    Leonel had been certain that they had come to cause trouble. During his month of time with Kaela and the others, he hadn't lowered his guard, always being prepared for a sudden ambush from the King of Ores faction. But, even to this point, he hadn't seen a single thing.
    However, what was even more shocking about what was going on was the fact that after reaching the Exchange Fair, the more than 200 youths who had come began to observe each display curiously.
    Leonel thought it was just an act. How could he not? According to what he learned from Kaela, they would be lucky to have a dozen audience members, and that was including the judges themselves.
    But, the longer he observed, the more he realized that he was wrong.
    Leonel was very good at reading the intentions of people. He thought himself to have quite a high level of emotional intelligence, it was part of the reason many were fond of him. However, even with these skills and his acute senses, he couldn't find anything wrong with this crowd of people. it was as thoughбн
    They had really come for the Fair? Just what was going on?
    While Leonel was distracted, the entrance of Valiant Hall opened up once again. This time, three old timers came out.
    "Ah?"
    Kaela's expression changed drastically.
    "What's wrong?"
    Leonel was about to ask this question, but Rum was far more attentive to Kaela's change than even he was.
    "Thatбн" Kaela blinked, trying to regain her bearings.
    She shook her head and took a deep breath.
    Kaela couldn't take her eyes off of the old man in the center. Though Leonel had only known her for a short time, he was easily able to guess who the old man was.
    Jac Beinala. The only Tier 9 Black Crafter Valiant Heart Mountain had to offer.
    He was an old man that seemed to have a foot in the grave already. His skin was loose, his wrinkles prominent, and his face was covered in aged spots, making it difficult to tell what its original tone was meant to be.
    However, despite this, and despite the fact he used a metallic walking cane to move, his back was ramrod straight, making one wonder why he needed the walking stick at all.
    As though this old man wasn't odd enough to look at, his eyes seemed to have aged even quicker than his body, reflecting a milky white beneath his spectacles. And, much like Kaela, he too wore a lab coat. It seemed that during her time under his tutelage, she had still managed to pick up some of his habits.
    Beside Elder Beinala were two others, both of whom were women. They were considerably younger than Beinala, but they had still been classified as old timers in Leonel's mind. So, it went to show just how old Kaela's former master was.
    The two old women seemed to be in their late 50's to early 60's. Compared to Beinala, their skin was much more well taken care of. It was rare to see an older woman exposing so much, but such was the reality of Valiant Heart Mountain and their uniforms. Regardless, it made it clear that these two older women had taken good care of their bodies and even still seemed somewhat perky in some areas.
    If it wasn't for the deep wrinkles by their eyes, they would have looked closer to 40 that they did 60.
    Observing the atmosphere between the three, Leonel had a feeling that they had quite a close relationship. He wouldn't be surprised if they were marriedбн
    Leonel felt weirded out when he had this thought. Despite how much time had passed, monogamy was still very much the norm on Earth. In fact, now that all cultures had been assimilated, it was even more prevalent.
    Leonel had never seen a person with two wives beforeбн
    "Why are they hereбн" Kaela's voice was hardly audible, but it snapped Leonel out of his useless thoughts.
    That was right. Usually, only minor students and members of Valiant Hall would come to judge the Exchange Fair. Something like a Tier 9 Black Crafter coming to oversee what should amount to children's playthings in his eyes was ridiculous.
    'What the hell is going on?' Leonel furrowed his brow.
    He felt a bit stifled at this moment. His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
    There were only two possibilities. Either whoever was playing games with him now was far smarter than he was or they were working with information Leonel simply didn't have.
    Leonel calmed himself almost immediately, his irises becoming deathly still of all emotion. The world that had slowed under his exceptional thinking speed seemed to pick back up again.
    The crowd of people began to roam freely, going from station to station as they curiously observed the products.
    Having not been ready for such an audience, many of the smaller factions presenting alone with Leonel and the others were flustered. But, without a choice, they could only press forward.
    At their own pace, the three old timers also began to visit the stations one by one. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with their actions.
    But, for the first time since this crowd had come, Leonel finally picked out some oddities from the three. Every so often, their gaze would sweep over their station as though there was something interesting to pay attention to here.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed.
    Finally, the time came. The three judges finished with the station nearest to them and moved forward, their expressions impossible to read.
    'Is it coming now?'

 Chapter 644 - Genuine

    At least that was what Leonel thoughtбн But when the old timers actually came to their station, he began to question himself all over again.
    "Hello Kaela." Jac smiled amiably. "How have you been?"
    Kaela's face was a bit stiff, but she still managed to squeeze out a smile.
    "I've been good, Elder Beinala."
    "Ai, what a distant form of address. What happened to the little girl who would always cutely call me master? Is there a need to be like this?"
    Kaela's face still remained somewhat stiff. Every fiber of her being wanted to stick a middle finger up and tell this old fart to go to hell, but she knew that despite the amiable personality of this old man, he wielded quite a bit of power in Valiant Heart. She didn't want to risk her path being cut off for no reason.
    She had already managed to separate from this old man without incurring too much of a penalty. She didn't want to risk anymore.
    "Alright, Jac. Stop teasing the poor girl. If you had lightened up the workload on those poor little kids like I told you, she would have never left."
    "Ai, I was just trying to get her full potential out!"
    "Alright, alright. You've said this many times already. It seems your favorite disciple is doing quite well for herself, even ready to submit some new designs for the Exchange List. How about we give her the stage."
    Who Leonel thought were Beinala's two wives mediatated the situation, finally letting them get down to business.
    Leonel realized at that moment that he might have misread the looks the old timers had been given their station. He forgot to consider the fact they might just be looking because they recognized Kaela.
    From their talk, it seemed that these old timers were closer to Kaela than he thought. At the very least, though Kaela was unsatisfied with their relationship, the three of them didn't dislike the young girl. They even seemed to somewhat understand her decision.
    If this was the caseбн Was there really no trump card coming? Was there no table flip? No sudden evil plot?
    Leonel couldn't wrap his head around it at all.
    Kaela took a deep breath and began to introduce the products.
    "We have four products total split into two categories. We have a consumable product and a defensive product.
    "Starting with the consumable, we call them the Polished Grenade and Elite Polished Grenade. They make use of our Faction's signature ore, the Polished Glass Ore."
    "Oh?" One of Beinala's wives perked up.
    She was a great Crafter in her own right, being Tier 8. So, she was obviously aware of the difficulty there was in handling Polished Glass.
    Kaela nodded, growing more relaxed.
    "Both the common and Elite version work on the same principle. We make use of бн"
    When Kaela regained her wits, her words became more confident. Soon, her presentation became somewhat of a performance. Leonel couldn't help but think that she'd be a good saleswoman.
    "You say that the Polished Grenade can kill anyone below Tier 4 and severely injure someone at Tier 4? And the Elite version can kill anyone below Tier 6?"
    Kaela beamed. "Yes."
    She had never actually tested the grenades, but she was confident in Leonel's assessment. If there was anyone whose calculations could be trusted without a doubt, it was his.
    And, of course, Leonel used the standard of Valiant Heart, not Earth.
    "And the price?" Jac asked the final question.
    Kaela's smile grew brighter. "The common version will cost just 5 merit points. The Elite version will cost 10."
    The old timers blinked, looking at each other in shock. The only reason they hadn't been too shocked by the strength of these grenades was because they expected it to be expensive. This was usually the case with the inventions of youths.
    They would have good ideas, powerful, even. But they would be much to expensive to manufacture on any large scale.
    However, 1 merit point was just 10 kilograms of Fourth Dimensional Urbe Ore. To buy something that could kill a Tier 6 existence with just 100 kilograms of Urbeбн That was cheaper than even the price of a Tier 3 weapon! Even money grubbers might jump at this chance!
    "Are you sure that this is the price you want to sell it at?" Beinala looked toward the youths deeply.
    "Certain." Kaela said confidently.
    Beinala's wizened eyes narrowed, but he eventually turned his gaze toward the defensive product they had brought forward.
    "And this?"
    Kaela smiled. "This is our Mending Armor and Elite Mending Armor.
    "As you might guess from the name, the main function of this armor is in stitching and cauterizing wounds. The Mending Armor has the ability to defend against weapons at and below Tier 4. The Elite Mending Armor has the ability to defend against weapons at and below Tier 6.
    "However, in the cause that their durability fails or a location is overloaded and pierced through, its main function will kick in. The armor will not only self-mend, but it will do the same for the skin beneath, constricting any wounds below until medical attention can be sought.
    "It's the perfect flexible armor for many."
    Beinala took a deep breath. Even if this armor was too expensive, it would still be worth the buy for many if it worked as advertised.
    "And the price?"
    Kaela sent a glance toward Leonel, grinning.
    "The Mending Armor will be sold for 50 merit points. The Elite Mending Armor for 100."
    The old timers were stunned once again.
    "бн If everything is as you say and the final tests show the accuracy of your words and sustainability of the designsбн I can take responsibility to place your four products on the Golden Exchange List!" Jac said with an amiable smile.
    Kaela was stunned before her expression became ecstatic. This was more than she ever even dreamed of!
    Leonel watched all of this silently, not knowing what to think. Everything seemed so genuine.
    Was this really not a plot?

 Chapter 645 - Celebration

    Earning a place on the Golden Exchange List was indeed a marvelous turn of events. Usually, only the most well established factions with years of experience earned the right to be placed on such a list.
    The Golden Exchange List wasn't just a small honor, it also came with many tangible benefits.
    For one, the taxes they would have to pay was lessened by more than half. Whereas 65% of their profits would have had to be handed over previously, now they would only have to give up 30%. Though this was still higher than the 20% stores had to give up, they had one added benefit the stores didn't have.
    All items on the Golden Exchange List were products Valiant Heart Mountain had recognized personally. As a result, aside from orders from the students, their faction would also receive bulk orders from the organization as well.
    These bulk orders were where the true money was waiting to be made. It was still unknown if a product would become popular amongst students even if it made the Golden Exchange List. But, these bulk orders would guarantee a large sum of merit points to be paid in advance.
    This influx of merit points would allow a faction the breathing room it needed to experiment with other creations and also gather enough resources to fulfill their orders. Even if Valiant Heart Mountain only ordered once, it was enough to give a faction a great kickstart as long as they took advantage of it.
    For them to gain such an honor while presenting their first productsбн How could Kaela not be excited?!
    The young faction leader couldn't help but beam, her smile spreading from ear to ear.
    Jac took the samples to be tested and they would learn of the results in just a few hours. She couldn't help but be ecstatic.
    Unfortunately, for some reason, Leonel couldn't find it within himself to be happy.
    'If something is going to go wrong, now would be the timeбн'
    Their samples had been taken away to be tested by the old timers. If nothing went wrong, maybe Leonel would really have to admit that he was just being paranoid.
    But, what happened next left him stunned.
    Barely half an hour later, Elder Beinala came back with a smiling face and officially announced the matters.
    The team could no longer hold back their excitement. Even Thilly who was always expressionless had his lip curl ever so slightly. In fact, Radlis, who had been running around getting them refreshments also beamed.
    Though, whether he was smiling because he was happy about their success, or the bounciness of Kaela's chest as she celebratedбн Well, maybe only he knew the answer to that.
    Jac chuckled. "Don't celebrate too early, this is where the real challenge begins. The organization has ordered 500 Polished Grenades and Elite Polished Grenades. On top of that, we also want 100 of each type of Mending Armor. Can you do it?"
    Kaela's eyes brightened. "Of course, of course!"
    Though she didn't say this, in the past month, they had already made more than ten times this number. Handing over such an amount was child's play, mostly due to Leonel. She could only say that that young man was a monster.
    She remembered the first time she watched Leonel Craft 20 Elite Polished Grenades at once. She had only recently been able to pick her jaw up from the floor.
    Plus, the organization never set deadlines for their bulk orders. Even if they took half a year, it wouldn't be a problem. This could only be considered to be a medium sized order.
    "Good, good. Your merits will be transferred over immediately. You've done well, I hope to see more in the future."
    With those final words, Beinala and his wives left to Valiant Hall. And, true to their words, someone soon came to take the massive crates Rum had been holding away.
    Kaela almost squealed with delight when she saw the merit points flood her identification ring. She felt as though she was floating on a cloud.
    "Leonel." She turned toward the man with a hint of moistness in her eyes.
    Leonel hid his worry and smiled back. "Don't look at me that way or else your fan club would think I did you wrong."
    Kaela sputtered with laughter. "What fan club, stop teasing me. Here."
    Kaela touched her ring to Leonel's, causing over 80% of the merit points to flood over.
    "I don't know why you insisted on handing over all the credit to our Faction, but as promised, here are your merits."
    Leonel blinked. "Thisбн Seems to be more than we agreed upon, no?"
    They had made 15 750 merit points after their bulk sale, but Kaela had given Leonel more than 12 000 in one sweep when they had only agreed to a 40/60 split with Leonel receiving 40.
    This wasn't only because Leonel was kind hearted, but rather because he was providing none of the materials. Plus, there was just one of him and six other members excluding Radlis and including Kaela. He thought that taking 40% was already asking for a lot.
    However, he had no choice but to ask for this. As soft as he was, he couldn't forget the reason he came here in the first placeбн And that was for the sake of Aina. Not just for her sake, but specifically to cure her curse.
    Without resources, he couldn't do this. And, the best resource to have in this place were merits.
    Kaela smiled. "Consider it a down payment for the future. I can tell that you probably won't be here for long, but I hope that during the time you are here, that you'll stay with us."
    Leonel raised his brows before grinning.
    "That, you don't have to worry about. Who would want a castaway like me anyway?"
    The team looked toward one another and burst into a fit of laughter.
    "Let's go celebrate!" Kaela happily shouted. "Dinner's on the newly minted rich tycoon!"
    Leonel coughed. It seemed that Kaela hadn't reformed from her money grubber ways just yet despite her generosity.
    However, he didn't fight it. He might as wellбн
    Just as Leonel was about to accept, his eyes flashed. He pulled out a talisman from his spatial ring, a happy light shining in his eye.
    Aina had contacted him.

 Chapter 646 - Nod

    The Polished Glass faction members looked toward one another as Leonel dashed away as though his feet were on fire.
    Was this the same young man who displayed such confidence the whole time they had known him? Why did he seem soбн whipped?
    "See? I told you he had a girlfriend." Radlis beamed.
    But, his smile didn't last for long before he found Litia's foot and Kaela's fist closing in on him together.
    бн
    Leonel dashed through the city, most seeing nothing but a golden blur as he whizzed by. Despite the fact he hadn't trained his body in a month, his control over Force had reached new heights.
    Leonel's purpose in spending a month Crafting went beyond just accumulating merit points, it also allowed him to train his mind. He hadn't just been showing off when he began to Craft 20 Elite Polished Grenades at once, he had actually been focused on honing his split minds.
    The same way Leonel found that he could dull his senses by splitting his experiences of them between different streams of consciousness, he also found that he could sharpen these same senses by doing the reverse.
    By focusing on the same task with many different minds, he could also heighten his senses.
    But, what Leonel ultimately found was that this approach was much less effective than the dulling of his senses.
    If one thought about it, it made sense. Ultimately, Leonel's split minds would lose some computational ability in comparison to if he focused his entire mind on one thing.
    What was the solution to this? It was obviously to strengthen his individual streams of consciousness.
    Leonel found that there were two ways to do this. The first was to improve his control of Dream Force. It was ultimately Dream Force that allowed him to do all these fanciful things.
    The second method was more crude and that was simply to practice.
    So, Leonel did both simultaneously and continuously for the last month, only resting rarely.
    As a result, his control had reached new levels in just this month alone. The use of his Mage Core and its connection with his body especially had become far easier.
    During his battle with Nigmir, Leonel mostly relied on his Earth Element because he still found that he was most comfortable using it despite the fact his Fire Element affinity should be higher. But now, he believed he could be far more versatile in battle.
    Leonel was happy with his progress. Soon, he'd feel confident enough to break into the Fifth Dimension with his Soul Force. Once he did this, he would finally have enough capital to look for the latter portions of [Dimensional Cleanse]. When he reached that step, curing Aina would become much easier.
    Of course, there was also the chance that he wouldn't have to go so far to help her at all. Who knows, maybe the Valiant Hall Zone would have a solution?
    Leonel blazed a trail to the freshman quarters, a place he hadn't been in a long time.
    He couldn't help his smile from blooming when he saw a familiar silhouette standing near the community meditation grounds.
    Before she could react, Leonel had dashed over, sweeping her petite figure into his arms.
    "Ah!"
    Aina, caught off guard, couldn't even react before she found herself practically enveloped. If it wasn't for the fact she was currently wearing her mask, even her lips might have been assaulted at that moment.
    Leonel hugged her tightly, taking a deep breath. A familiar smell of apple tickled his nose, making him feel at peace. For a moment, he forgot about all his worries and basked in her softness.
    Aina wiggled around in his embrace, her face flushed completely red. She seemed keenly aware that she was being looked at by all sorts of people. And how could they not be? After all, they were in what was effectively a community square.
    Finally, Aina managed to wiggle her way out. But, she simultaneously wanted to hide her face away from everyone, leading her to the point of resting her forehead against Leonel's chest in defeat.
    Leonel grinned. "Okay, okay. I'll stop teasing you."
    With a wave of his palm, Aina and Leonel seemed to disappear from everyone's view even though they hadn't moved a single inch.
    "Happy now?" Leonel's smile became gentler as Aina looked up toward him.
    Without a word, Aina wrapped her arms around his back. It seemed this workaholic missed him too.
    Aina stood to the tips of her toes, taking her mask off to plant a kiss on Leonel's cheek.
    "Sorryбн I missed your call before." Aina was a bit embarrassed. She hadn't seen Leonel's attempt to contact her until more than a month later.
    Leonel raised his brow. "Just a kiss on the cheek? Is this how shallow your apology runs?"
    Leonel's voice sounded broken and hurt, causing Aina to pout.
    "Hmph, I --."
    She didn't get to finish her words because Leonel had already sealed her lips. He greedily took a taste, his mind whirling. It had really been too long.
    This girl dared to disappear for almost two months, she deserved this bit of punishment.
    Aina's spine tingled as she felt Leonel's hands slide down her waist. She almost lamented the exposed skin. How gently he caressed her, as though he was afraid to harm a hair on her head, made her heart flutter.
    She hopped up a little bit when Leonel's palm traveled just a bit too far down. Like a scared little rabbit, she wanted to escape but found that her knees were a bit weak.
    Leonel pulled back, his eyes jumping back and forth between Aina's own. Her gaze seemed somewhat hazy, her lips still slightly parted.
    The feeling of her plump bottom in his hands made him feel just as intoxicated. The combination of firmness from her training and elasticity from her excellent genetics made Leonel feel as though he couldn't get enough, he almost didn't notice Aina slightly hurried breathing.
    Leonel couldn't decide what felt better between a memory of a soft chest and thisбн Though, he guessed the former would have an edge since it wasn't impeded by any fabric.
    "Want to go back to my dorm room?" Leonel asked with a slightly expectant and gruff tone.
    He rarely, if ever, spent time over there. But, it should technically still be his.
    Aina nodded almost imperceptibly, something that Leonel himself almost missed.
    With a smile, he swept his girlfriend into his arms and dashed off to the freshman living quarters.
    бн
    At that moment, four new items silently appeared on the Golden Exchange List.

 Chapter 647 - The Look In Her Eyes

    Leonel slammed the door of his room closed, his lips sealed over Aina's. His hands clasped beneath her thighs, holding her small frame up. He found himself completely lost in the feeling of her touch, though still not forgetting to blanket the room in protective and silencing arrays.
    The room wasn't anywhere near big enough to accommodate the Segmented Cube Aina had surely brought with her, so Leonel gently laid her onto the small bed.
    Aina's body coiled around Leonel's, immersed in her own hazy feeling. She allowed Leonel to toss away the heavy neckwear that hung around their shoulders, not caring the slightest bit when they clanged to the floor.
    The feeling was intoxicating. Their tongues intertwined in their own sort of dance but that alone was enough for Aina to flush completely red, her breathing somewhat labored.
    She felt something hard pressing against her from below. It was the sort of sensation that filled her with one part fear and another part ambiguous excitement.
    Memories of the last time she had seen that beast below ran through her mind. She could still remember the throbbing heat in her hand. Something about it made her heart quicken with a faint anticipation.
    Lost in her own haze, she hardly realized when Leonel had taken off his pants. Even though he still had a pair of undergarments below, the steely rod only seemed to become more prominent and more difficult to ignore.
    Her hand reached out as though with a mind of its own, gently following the outline.
    'бн Thisбн This is just an apology for disappearing for so longбн'
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath feeling the sudden touch. Even he didn't realize when Aina's hand had disappeared from the side of his face to appear where it was. But, he had no intention of stopping her either.
    He pulled away from their kiss, his eyes opening to meet Aina's. He could see a partial absentmindedness behind her gaze, but there was also a sparkling hint of excitement.
    Leonel held himself up with a hand, using the other to outline Aina's silhouette, her hand still proceeding below. He felt the curve of her breast through her chest band, the toned softness of her belly, and traced down to her belt before tugging at it.
    Leonel's breath quickened, feeling a slight squeeze below.
    Seeing his reaction, Aina's lip curled, the happiness in her eyes growing as she felt her belt slip off.
    As Leonel continued to look in her eyes, he realized something.
    At that moment, all of Aina's pleasure was being derived from making him happy. She seemed to enjoy this very much, but for some reason, this wasn't the kind of look Leonel wanted to see her wear right now.
    He had never been with a woman before, but whenever he imagined the woman, a part of him wanted to see his every touch make her melt, his every kiss cause her body to convulse.
    Maybe these were just the idealized dreams of a teenage boy who didn't know the faintest thing about a woman's body, but a man could hope, right?
    On one hand, Leonel felt a sweetness in his chest that Aina looked so happy right now. But on the other, he didn't just want to see happiness. He wanted to see pleasure, he wanted to see intoxication, he wanted to hear sounds and see sights that could make his legs weak.
    Butбн How would he do that?
    Leonel's thumb traced along Aina's hip. Just beneath the waist of her pants, he could feel two layers of fabric. His heart couldn't help but quicken again when he realized what was just belowбн
    Hooking his thumb between the two fabrics, he slowly pulled Aina's pants down.
    Aina's flushed appearance deepened, but she didn't stop Leonel's hands. She pulled her hands away from Leonel's crotch, still feeling that faint heat on her palm.
    Leonel took a deep breath, his eyes unable to come off Aina's body. He had expected to find Aina's usual boxer briefs, but for whatever reason on this day, she had instead worn a pair of black panties. It wasn't anything fancy, nor was it the lingerie one might see a model wear, but it was so tight that it was practically like a second skin.
    It clung tightly to Aina's hips, curling around the precious lips below in a way that almost gave Leonel a perfect outline of what was beneath.
    The sight was so tempting and enticing that Leonel simply wanted to rip them away at that very moment. And, he could tell by the look in Aina's eye that she wouldn't stop him. In fact, she would be happy as long as he was happy.
    "бн Do you want to see?" Aina's soft voice caused him to gulp.
    He looked down again. But this time, Aina's arm partially obstructed his view, having found its way to his heated shaft once again.
    Every fiber of Leonel's being screamed yes. Not only did he want to see what was below, but he also wanted to rip that damned chest band away. He wanted to drown in the pleasure that was his girlfriend's body, lose himself in her fragrance and fall into her soft touch.
    But there was that look in her eye again.
    There was a slight haziness and her breathing was somewhat shallow, but ultimately there was none of the look Leonel wanted to see. He wanted her to feel what he was feeling, to be enraptured by such a feeling of pleasure that she almost lost control just like he almost did. He wanted her to have shyly nodded when he asked if she wanted to come here not because she wanted to please him, but because she wanted to please herself.
    But Leonel was at a loss. As easy to understand as the male body was, he had no clue about a woman's. He didn't even know where to begin.
    Leonel looked up to meet Aina's eyes again, his breathing haggard. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He just wanted to make her happy.
    At that moment, Leonel's mind suddenly flashed with thoughts of Mordred.
    'What would she do?'
    Mordred's laughter sounded in Leonel's mind, her words teasing him about not knowing how to treat women resounding.
    Leonel's gaze cleared somewhat.. He looked toward Aina from above and lowered his head for another kiss.

 Chapter 648 - More Potent

    Aina felt that Leonel's reaction was a bit weird.
    In truth, she had two favorite types of underwear. The first were loose boxers and the second were these skin tight plain panties. The latter allowed more freedom of movement but was less comfortable, while the former was far more comfortable to wear.
    This time, she purposely chose to wear the second not just for her training, but because she thought they were more flattering to her figure. As expected, her heart rushed with excitement when she saw Leonel's reaction.
    That said, she had also expected Leonel to practically lose control when he saw them as well. She was looking forward to seeing him react like this. Much like Leonel wanted to see her in throes of pleasure, how could she not also feel the same way?
    In Aina's mind, during their moments of intimacy, she only cared about Leonel. He did so much for her, wasn't it her duty as a girlfriend to help him in this regard? It was also a bonus that she quite liked doing it too.
    Since that first time in the pool, her and Leonel had had this dance more than a few times and she found it just as pleasurable every time. In fact, she faintly anticipated these momentsбн
    What she didn't know was that a building determination had been rising in Leonel's heart all along.
    'Take it slow.' Leonel's mind reached a state of calm. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting Aina to see the sharpness hidden within them.
    'Dream Sculpt. Dreamscape.'
    Aina's body in every perfect proportion was reflected in Leonel's mind. Her every bead of sweat, the precise shade of her flushed skin, and every curve of her body was being updated in real time.
    'Beginning the analysis on partially nude formбн'
    Aina couldn't tell that anything was wrong. Leonel had already split one of his minds to focus on her entirely. He kissed her just as patiently and reacted just as passionately to the movement of her hands along the outline of his cock.
    And that was when his hands and lips began to move.
    Leonel gently pulled down Aina's chest band, revealing the bounce of her breasts. The two delicate orbs rebounded healthily, shimmering with a slight pink hue beneath the dim lights of Leonel's room.
    Aina blushed, but was quickly distracted by Leonel's caring touch. His lips dotted across her body, causing her back to arch slightly under the novel stimulation. She was caught off guard, even to the point of forgetting that her hand was on Leonel's crotch at all.
    Leonel's hands caressed her chest and played with her protruding pink nipples.
    Aina's hips subtly grinded upward, making contact with Leonel's shaft. It was only for a brief moment, but she felt as though a sharp arc of electricity had shot through her spine.
    She took in a sharp breath.
    At first, Leonel seemed to touch odd places around her body. Her love handles, her belly button, she even felt him gently rub her earlobe while caressing her cheek. But, lost in allowing Leonel to do with her body as he pleased, she found herself gradually rising along a slow rising peak.
    Leonel's head rose, his lips planting on Aina's once again.
    As though finally getting a taste of water after so long, Aina greedily nibbled at Leonel's lips, loving the feeling of his large hand gently rolling her breast in his palm.
    'Hints of arousalбн change in breathing rhythm, increased perspiration, goosebumps, rising hair, moving to facilitate action, hand grabbingбн'
    Leonel's hand moved from Aina's breast, trailing down her toned belly and toward her skin tight, black panties. He slipped a finger beneath their fabric, slowly pulling them down.
    Aina rose her hips, seemingly forgetting her embarrassment in her haziness. The beautiful, steamy picture of nature's perfection below almost made Leonel lose track of his focus, but he immediately split the stimuli between his more than 20 minds, shutting his eyes closed again.
    Even with his eyes closed, though, the Dream Sculpt of Aina had already changed in his mind. It was truly a gorgeous sight beyond belief.
    There was a well kept patch of black hair hovering above two gently folded lips. An enticing pinkness plucked at the strings of the mind, a fresh fragrance tickling the nose and making one feel as though flames were dancing within their veins.
    Leonel steadied his breathing, continuing to build his Dreamscape of cues for Aina's arousal. He noted down his ever action and her every reaction, stringing together a list of combos that left Aina floating on a cloud.
    Leonel's lips trailed down Aina's body, his tongue testing the curves of her breasts and the sensitivity of her torso.
    His breathing hitched as his nose grazed past a patch of hair below. It was only then that Aina seemed to realize what was happening, causing a slight panic to take hold of her features.
    Leonel's senses immediately caught on.
    'Arousal plummetingбн'
    Leonel pinpointed the problem immediately, his head raising back up. He began to kiss the sensitive skin just below Aina's belly button, his hands running across her body.
    Her anxiety seemed to give way to a breath of relief, which shifted to a hint of disappointment, which soon gave way to pleasure. Her hands drifted to the back of Leonel's head.
    Leonel's every action became slow and deliberate. He reacted to Aina's wants instantly, building a more and more robust Dreamscape with each passing moment.
    'Most sensitive regionsбн Neck, collarbone, lower belly, inner thighsбн
    'Areas where forcefulness is appreciatedбн Butt, hips, thighs, breastsбн
    'Areas where softness is the best approachбн Kissing, earlobes, neckбн
    'Best combination attacksбн Neck and breastsбн
    'Scared to try new thingsбн will take her out of the experienceбн Best approach to combatбн Take it slow, attack nearby region before moving toward targetбн'
    Leonel found a formula that worked, finally breaking past Aina's mental block and touching his lips to those pretty pink folds.
    At that moment, for the first time, a long moan left Aina's lips. She didn't even seem to realize what was happening. In fact, all her panic about Leonel's mouth being down there was completely forgotten.
    Her mind was entirely filled with the feeling of Leonel's tongue running through her most sensitive region. The experience was so electric that she found it difficult to control her legs, her toes curling along the bed sheets.
    'Hints of arousalбн add leg trembling, toe curlingбн
    'Cunnilingus filesбн prefers soft to medium sucking over just tongueбн arousal increases when hands are in motion as opposed to staying stagnantбн exposing the clitoris makes her reel back, too sensitiveбн keeping clitoris hood on is best sides of both worldsбн she tends to run away from feelings of pleasure, keep her clamped in placeбн'
    "Ohбн" Aina's breathing hitched, her hands gripping onto Leonel's head tightly. "бн Leonel!"
    Aina's moan came out in a low groan, her legs snapping shut as her body curled.
    Within his Dream World, one of Leonel's minds expressionlessly observed her form writhing with pleasure before its face gave way to a smile.
    At that moment, Leonel realized that he had always been taking the wrong approach to battle. He expected his main Dreamscape to grow enough such that he would be able to guess the movements of any enemy even without battleбн But such a goal was far too lofty and far too far away to ever achieve. It was also exactly because of this flaw that his Dreamscape Battle Sense took so much stamina to use.
    However, if he built a separate Dreamscape for every battle, not unlike how he had just done to bring his precious girlfriend to the best feeling she had ever experiencedбн How much more potent would his Battle Sense become?
    Leonel gazed at the pure ecstasy on Aina's face. He took in the bounce of her breast as she curled, the fragrant liquid that dripped from between her legs, the way every muscle of her toned body flexed simultaneously.
    This was the look he wanted to see. This was the happiness he wanted to bring to his woman.
    'Orgasm achieved.. Time taken, 27 minutes and 39 seconds.'

 Chapter 649 - Torture

    Leonel gently nuzzled his nose between Aina's pretty pink folds, feeling a faint wetness and soaking in a sweet scent that took over his mind.
    Aina's body trembled, her fingers tensing at odd angles. Her mouth opened and closed, seemingly wanting to say something but not having the strength to do so. It was only after Leonel's tongue still didn't seem satisfied that she could only use what remained of her stamina to pull his head up.
    Her body was weak and feeble. The astonishing power she usually had fading into near nothingness.
    Things might have been fine if Leonel stopped after the first time, but he hadn't. Aina's body was like a small rowboat swaying to Leonel's whims. By now, she had already lost count of the number of times that strong electricity had coursed through her body.
    At this point, she couldn't even see or think straight.
    Leonel felt Aina struggling to pull his head up. He knew that he could easily fight against it. Compared to her usual strength, the current Aina was practically a toddler now. But, he didn't.
    Aina faintly felt Leonel over her again. Her lips puckered gently, searching for Leonel's touch. But, she didn't seem to have the strength to do even that. Luckily, Leonel completed it for her.
    Aina faintly caught Leonel's lower lip, sucking on it slightly before letting go. A gentle smile spread across her face, her eyes half open and half closed.
    At that moment Leonel's eyes opened, a cold sharpness still within them. Though it slowly faded, Aina was still able to catch a glimpse of it.
    One would have thought that seeing such a thing would have completely ruined her mood but, her reaction was almost the exact opposite. Seeing Leonel's cold gaze woke up an excitement within her. As though she forgot her fatigue, there was a flame that lit within her heart, fueling a growing want for Leonel to ravage her.
    The feeling slowly faded, overwhelmed by Aina's heavy limbs and tired eyes.
    Leonel blinked, realizing that he had made a mistake.
    "Sorryбн" He said softly.
    He began to explain himself, somewhat afraid that Aina wouldn't like what he had done. Though he had acted for her sake, he could also understand a reality where she wouldn't like it very much. Breaking down such an intimate moment into raw numbers and calculations was something that Leonel could see not many people liking, which was why he had closed his eyes to begin with.
    If he wasn't worried about it, he would have never tried to hide it.
    "бн It's alright though, in the future I won't have to becauseбн"
    Just as Leonel was about to finish his explanation, he found Aina's small hand over his mouth.
    Her gaze was still somewhat absentminded, but now had a bit of focus to it as she looked up at Leonel.
    "бн I бн Like itбн Don't stop... doing itбн" She said softly.
    "Huh?" Leonel blinked, not understanding what she meant.
    Aina blushed. As her mind regained some clarity, she understood what she was saying a bit better. Weren't women supposed to like it when their partners were lovie dovie? Why was it that she felt so excited when Leonel looked at her so coldly?
    She wanted to explain what she meant, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words. What was she supposed to say exactly? 'I want you to look at me like I mean nothing to you?'
    Aina's blush deepened even further when she had this thought. Was there something wrong with her?
    Of course, she was only thinking about the worst possible way her desire could be taken. It wasn't that she wanted Leonel to treat her like she was worthless. Rather, she just like the cold look in his eyesбн She didn't really know how to explain itбн
    Aina had always been the only one completely unaffected by Leonel suffocating aura and the only one unperturbed by his cold gaze. Well, at least that was what it seemed like. But the truth was that it wasn't that she was unaffected, but rather that she wasn't impacted by it like everyone else was.
    While others feared it and were filled with thoughts of anxiousnessбн Aina found it to be like a magnet that drew her closer and closer to Leonel.
    What she liked the most about Leonel wasn't his charisma, not his leadership, not his handsome looks, his kindness or even his smileбн Of course, she liked those things about him too. Without them, he wouldn't be Leonel.
    But, what she liked the most was his coldness, his detached logic and his emotionless control. It was his ability to act as though nothing could faze him, as though the world were a meaningless ant to be squashed beneath his feetбн That was what filled her with the most infatuation.
    Aina regained her bearings, the blush on her face receding. The thought of Leonel's cold eyes staring down at her as he broke past her final line of defense was most definitely a fantasy she hadn't thought would come bubbling up like this, but she also knew that this was probably the only chance she'd have at not having to explain it all in so many words.
    If there ever came a day she had to, she might very well die of embarrassment. So instead, she was thankful she now had a way of making Leonel continue without having to say why.
    Aina smiled lightly. "You're a smart boy, you can figure out what I mean. Just don't close your eyes next time."
    Aina already felt a faint anticipation for this next time. If her loins weren't screaming no, she might want it to be right now.
    Leonel continued to blink in confusion. How could he guess the whirlwind of thoughts in her mind?
    His Dreamscape sputtered and fell flaccid, unable to understand in the slightest. He was just an innocent teenage boy in the youthful stages of his first relationship, how could he know that women could have fantasies sometimes even more elaborate and eyebrow raising than men?
    Since Aina had said so, he could only accept her word at face value.
    Aina used the last of her strength to pull Leonel down to her side, wrapping around him like a koala bear before falling into a deep and satisfied sleep.
    Leonel found himself looking up at the ceiling, confusion still lighting his gaze. To his right, a beauty clung to his body tightly, her cheek resting on his arm.
    Leonel suddenly realized that Aina's breasts were pressed flush against his torso. He still couldn't understand how such a petite body could form such mountainsбн But as though that wasn't bad enough, her leg wrapped over his own, so he could faintly feel the outline of that special place on his skin, the softness of her thighs and those lips hammering against his mind.
    Leonel looked down at his boxers which still hadn't been taken off from start to finish, the prominent outline of a rod standing at attention clearly visible with nowhere to vent.
    'бн I think I can give Dark Cloud Prison a few tips on how to torture their prisonersбн'
    An illusory tear fell down Leonel's cheek.

 Chapter 650 - Sonorous

    Leonel slowly woke up to the feeling of something soft in his palms. His hand subconsciously squeezed at Aina's bottom, the elasticity bringing a smile to his face.
    'How comfortableбн'
    His Aina was quite petite, but whether it be her breasts or her bottom, they existed on a plane of their own. He hadn't been bold enough to touch her so freely in the past, but as their relationship grew deeper, he found an odd peace doing exactly this.
    "бн Pervert."
    Aina mumbled under her breath, but she didn't open her eyes. It seemed that she still wanted to nap.
    At the moment, she was feeling very comfortable. In the past, she wouldn't have dared sleep by Leonel in the nude either. But, it seemed a bit silly for her to be so reserved after what happened in the past day.
    Leonel smiled. "How's Hero Peak been?"
    Aina's brow furrowed when she heard this question. Her cheek continued to rest on Leonel's arm, but it was clear that she didn't like this question very much. Or, rather, she didn't seem to like Hero Peak very much.
    "The Peak is fine, but it's not right. It doesn't make sense for you to still be in the freshman quarters."
    Aina had obviously known that this would happen, or else she would have never come here to find Leonel in the first place. But, that didn't mean that she would be satisfied with such a thing.
    Leonel chuckled. "Am I missing a lot by not joining a Peak?"
    Aina bit her lip slightly, but even without saying anything, it was clear that the answer was yes.
    After a bit, she began to explain and Leonel too realized that he was indeed missing out on a lot.
    If one thought back to Brave City, it would be easy to recall the number of resources that city had. Whether it was the special Force Abodes, to the Style monuments, and even to the secret formations within the tower at the center that neither Leonel nor Aina got to experienceбн They were all top tier places to train.
    If there were such things for a mere city reserved for recruitmentбн Just what did the main organization have? Those things were just the tip of the iceberg but many things Leonel learned in the place were still a part of his main fighting prowess.
    To this very day, Leonel still used the Dream Force he gained from Brave City and it was responsible for the greatest leap in his strength. Even if he ignored that, he used the angelic swordman's movement Style almost as often.
    If Leonel were to have never stepped foot into Brave City, he wouldn't even be half as powerful as he was now.
    When he put these matters into perspectiveбн It seemed that he was indeed missing out on a lot. Maybe he should be more infuriated about being blue balled in this wayбн
    Well, maybe. But, he couldn't bring himself to be mad with a naked beauty by his side. Who cared about those things?
    Leonel smiled stupidly, gazing down on Aina's face. At that moment, she happened to be itching her cheek, causing a small pang to ripple through his chest.
    He didn't care about Aina's scars. Even if they never disappeared, he would still choose her over everyone else. But, watching her suffer through such discomfort left him feeling more rage than any mere Vice Leader of Hero Peak could causeбн
    Noticing how stuffy the room was, Leonel felt a bit guilty. The dorm rooms left for the freshman were indeed terrible.
    The room only had a small window nearing the ceiling, the room itself being barely five meters long and three meters wide. As expected, there was hardly any ventilation in here.
    To Leonel, though he hadn't realized before, but humidity and heat had little to no affect on him. So, he hadn't even realized that the room was getting so uncomfortable.
    Leonel had never even thought of resources before, but at that moment, the thought of never allowing Aina to suffer bloomed in his heart again.
    She was his girlfriend, his future wife, the woman he wanted nothing more than to spend his life with.
    Leonel's gaze flashed with a cold light. Anyone who wanted to make her experience such discomfort deserved to pay a severe price.
    It seemed he would have to move out of this place.
    Leonel reached out a hand. With a thought, the concentration of Fire Elemental Force in the room dispersed.
    It was just a simple principle. There was no such thing as cold. Fundamentally, cold was just the absence of heat. If he wanted to help Aina feel more comfortable, it was just as easy as if he had some sort of ice ability.
    The itchiness Aina felt plummeted instantly, a sweet smile spreading across her lips.
    "Don't worry about the Peaks. Even if I don't join one, I'd like to see if they'd really stop me from using their facilities." Leonel's lip curled.
    "You're going to cause trouble again?"
    "Me? Trouble? Does this look like the face of someone who causes trouble?" Leonel grinned.
    Aina opened her eyes just to give Leonel an unimpressed look. But, unfortunately for her, while Leonel only had to look down to see her, she had to prop herself up on an elbow to see him. The result was Leonel's vision being drawn to two delicate pink protrusions.
    When Aina realized where Leonel was looking, she blushed profusely, however she didn't get a chance to run away before Leonel's lips found their way to her own.
    Leonel pulled Aina on top of him, his hands firmly grasping onto her plump ass. His fingers sunk into their softness, a certain member of his standing at attention almost immediately.
    Aina pulled back from their kiss, her gaze already having become somewhat glossy.
    "бн I almost forgot, I brought you something to eat. Don't you want toбн"
    "We can eat laterбн" Leonel said quickly, greedily tasting Aina's lips again.
    Just as the couple seemed intent on entering a round two, a blaring siren rang over the organization. No, not a blaring siren, but rather the sonorous ring of a large bronze bell.
    Leonel was shocked into sitting up, a single arm of his wrapped all the way around Aina's waist. It shouldn't have been possible for such a sound to reach them through all his protections.
    It was then he realized that the sound hadn't reached the room. Rather, it was touching upon his senses that hovered outside of it, this was his first line of defense. He had decided to put it up after what happened last time with Thetris. As for what reached the room itself, it was a strong vibration that shook the whole building.
    The direction of the sound... Leonel was sure that it was Valiant Hall.
    But why?
    For some reason, Leonel got a sinking feeling.. Sparks sputtered in his Dreamscape, unable to connect.

 Chapter 651 - Quiet

    "What's wrong?"
    Aina's hazy gaze cleared thanks to Leonel's sudden movement. It was only then that she sensed the vibration of the room, causing her to frown.
    "There's a bell ringing outside." Leonel said after a moment.
    "A bell? Ohбн" Aina seemed to have realized something.
    "You know what it is?" Leonel's gaze met Aina's.
    "Mmбн You would know too if not forбн"
    Aina's frown deepened. She had forgotten because of Leonel's advances, but she was still very unhappy about Hero Peak's actions. If Leonel didn't have the right to join a Peak, then considering the talent level of this organization, no one should be able to.
    Aina shook her head. "We can ignore it if you want."
    After listening to Aina's explanation, Leonel understood. Apparently, this bell was meant to call for a meeting. Depending on the tone of the bell, it could be a meeting of all sorts.
    Apparently, in this instance, a Peak was challenging another.
    This challenge was usually a battle for resources outside of the annual tournament and only occurred when there was a grudge boiling between two Peaks that needed to be quickly settled. However, apparently this wasn't always the case. It was also a court of sorts to expose the wrongdoings of a Peak as well.
    Leonel frowned when he gained this informationбн Because it was completely unhelpful to him.
    He had a bad feeling, but he had never joined any Peaks, so it was impossible to target him through such a thing. It was all too confusing.
    'Am I really just being paranoidбн?'
    Aina didn't seem very intent on going. She wanted to spend more time with Leonel after so long apart. If it wasn't for Aphestus, they could at least train side by side which wouldn't leave her in such a state of longingбн But at least for now, it wasn't very possible.
    She had already decided that when she was gathering up merit points for the right to join the competition to enter the Valiant Heart Zone, she would go together with Leonel.
    However, Aina could sense that there was something making Leonel uneasy right now.
    Leonel took a deep breath. "бн I think I have to go."
    "Okay. I'll go with you, then."
    Technically, Aina knew that it was mandatory for everyone within the mountain range to be present for this meeting, but she hadn't cared. If Leonel had wanted to skip it, she would have skipped it. But since he wanted to go, she would go.
    The couple quickly got dressed.
    "Do I look okay?"
    The words fell from Aina's mouth before she even realized what she was asking, but she was indeed a bit worried. The two had been tangled up for the better part of a day and weren't exactly the neatest and cleanest at the moment.
    Luckily, both of their bodies were within the Fourth Dimension, so it took more than just a day for them to start smelling terrible. But, that didn't change the fact Aina's hair was a mess at the moment.
    Leonel chuckled. He knew that Aina would prefer to have short hair. He really had no idea why she insisted on keeping it so long.
    As for Leonel own hair, its form retention was exceptionally high due to the odd material it was made out of. It was flexible, but snapped back into place just as easily. Even he was surprised by how straight it was right now.
    "Stop laughing." Aina all but pouted. "I can't go out like this."
    "Okay, okay, okay." Leonel chuckled.
    Taking the Segmented Cube from Aina, he caused a stream of Cleansing Water to douse her completely just like he had done when he found her on the White City battlefield. Now that he thought about it, he definitely should have used this during the freshman trialsбн
    Before Aina could panic about being wet now, Leonel touched her shoulder, a controlled stream of Fire Elemental Force drying her completely.
    With the abilities of Cleansing Waters, just a drizzle was hundreds of times more potent than taking a normal shower.
    "Perfect." Leonel smiled. "Let's go."
    Grabbing Aina's hand as she slipped on her mask, Leonel's expression turned serious.
    бн
    The location was Valiant Hall. As the symbol of justice for Valiant Heart Mountain, it was obvious that any grudges would be chosen to be settled in this very place.
    In the back of the Hall, there was a large open space that would look somewhat like a football field by Leonel's estimation. But, rather than having a large grass field, there were instead massive stone platforms, each with a tall pillar on its four corners.
    At that moment, flocks of people were swarming in, whispering among themselves. For some odd reason, no one seemed intent on making a lot of noise.
    It had been many years since the last challenge between Peaks was instituted. Although it wouldn't be a massive event every time, there was no doubt that most massive events were centered around it.
    This alone wouldn't be enough to cause such a hushed atmosphere. The truth was that the root cause lay in what standing one had to have to call such a meeting in the first place. How could a normal individual mandate the appearance of everyone in the organization? Who was able to do this was an existence the vast majority here couldn't afford to offend.
    After entering the arena, everyone split into seven streams. The seats in the stands around the massive structure was also split into seven seating sections, each separated by a wide set of steps.
    Each and every one of these sections represented a different Peak, each with thousands of students of their own.
    It was at this moment that Leonel and Aina appeared amongst the stream of people hand in hand.
    Rather than heading toward the Hero Peak seating arrangements, Aina chose to sit on the ground floor with Leonel along with all the other freshmen.
    As more people streamed in, the more quiet the place seemed to become.

 Chapter 652 - Challenge

    The freshman seating arrangements were not very well thought out. Since freshman like Leonel hadn't even been informed of the importance of the bell, it was obvious that not many were expected to appear in the first place.
    Usually, at sporting events, the closer one was to the ground floor, the better. But, in this place, it wasn't quite the same.
    With the strength of vision those in the Fourth Dimension had, the viewing experience would hardly be any different whether they were near the bottom or near the top. Regardless, it was only a difference of a few hundred meters.
    Thanks to this difference in foundation, those with more strength preferred to sit higher, looking down on those beneath them.
    This was especially so for the seating arrangements set aside from Founding Peak, the Peak of Elders.
    Whereas every other Peak gained a large somewhat cone shaped seating section, Founding Peak was the only section that didn't have a range of seats from the absolute closest to the absolute furthest. Rather, the entire bottom section of their seating arrangements were outfitted with stone slabs, leaving just a small section at the very top for sitting.
    As a result, Founding Peak only had five rows of seats as opposed to the almost hundred every other seating section had.
    With such a grandiose display, not many paid attention to Leonel and Aina to begin with. Even those that recognized Leonel from the posters or saw the Hero Peak emblem on the masked girl beside him, didn't say a word.
    This wasn't the situation for them to be poking their nose into the matters of others. No one wanted to be the person who caused a scene right now.
    бн
    The Hero Peak stands had a haughtiness about them the other Peaks simply didn't. When one became used to standing at the top, this could only be expected. By now, the pride of the Hero Peak students had sunk into their very bones.
    Nearer the top of their seating section, the leg room increased and the chairs became more luxurious.
    On the second highest row, one could find a group of old timers. These were Peak specific Elders and they were usually tasked with making sure the Peaks themselves didn't get too out of order.
    But it was in this row that a middle-aged woman scrunched her brows.
    She kept scanning the Hero Peak section and had taken note of every student that had come, but she hadn't caught the faintest glimpse of the person she was looking for. Could it be that they had really gone off on a mission?
    "What are you frowning about so much, Magnaril?"
    Magnaril gazed toward the elder who had spoken to her, her frown not lessening.
    "Aina hasn't appeared in more than a day now, but she hadn't said anything to me before disappearing. Now I can't find her. I already told that girl to not go off and do any missions, what good is that brutish battle ax to such a petite young woman? She should be spending more time in the lab."
    The elder who had spoken, just for the sake of idle chatter, gave Magnaril a weird look.
    This was Valiant Heart Mountain. They weren't known for their secondary professions, if not for this, their top Force Crafter would at least be Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension. Students came here to learn to fight, not Craft or Concoct.
    If this Aina had enough talent to make this Magnaril pull her hair out just looking for her, then if she had really wanted to pursue Force Pill Crafting, she would have gone to any number of Force Pill Guilds rather than being here.
    This was to say that for anyone saneбн It was obvious that Aina would want to keep swinging her 'brutish' battle ax, right?
    Plus, from what he had heard, this Aina was quite well known on Hero Peak alreadyбн And it was most definitely not for her Force Pill Crafting.
    But this old man knew better than to say such words to Magnaril. Everyone knew how crazy this woman was. Plus, she controlled the highest class food Hero Peak had to offer. No one wanted to get on the bad side of their chef unless they really wanted to die.
    Of course, Magnaril was still aware of all of these things, but Aina was simply too talented. She had practically picked up everything she had to teach in just a month. From a novice, she could already rival a Tier 7 or 8 Force Pill Crafter in techniqueбн It was just that her foundational knowledge was abysmal.
    Whenever that girl did something crazy that Magnaril thought no sane Force Pill Crafter would ever do, not only would it seemingly always work out, when Magnaril pressed for an explanation, Aina would always say that it was just a feeling.
    This kind of abilityбн How could it be wasted on battle?!
    Exasperated by her own rant, Magnaril scanned the crowd again only to happen to land upon a mask she found too familiar. The issue was that this mask wasn't anywhere near the Hero Peak seats at all!
    Finally finding her precious Aina, Magnaril sighed a breath of relief. But, seeing that she was also holding the hand of a boy, she froze.
    Magnaril felt her heart shatter into a million pieces as though she was watching her daughter fly off to another home.
    'Don't tell me that she disappeared all this time for a boy? And a freshman who hasn't entered a Peak yet after two months?!'
    Magnaril felt as though she was having an aneurysm. But, not only did she also not have the guts to cause a scene here despite her elder status, it was then that the stone slabs beneath the Founding Peak seating section began to shift.
    A hushed quiet fell over the whole arena.
    Soon, the rumbling movement of the stone came to a pause, revealing a platform. On this platform sat a podium that a few figures slowly walked out of the darkness to approach.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. There were two individuals there, one of which he recognized with ease.
    Aphestus.
    His long arms, his terrible posture, his impossibly shredded body, even down to his toothy grin. Leonel recognized it all.
    Hero Peak? What were they doing?
    The young man Leonel didn't recognize stepped forward. His height was head shorter than Aphestus and his looks were just ordinary. He didn't look very special in the slightest, yet Aphestus gave way to him.
    The young man stepped to the podium, his gaze without a hint of emotion. Without even an introduction, his monotonous voice began to speak.
    "We of Hero Peak are here to issue a challenge." He said plainly and without any hurry.
    The seating sections tensed. Everyone looked around, trying to find the target. No one had heard about any big conflicts occurring recently, so they hoped to tell by the reaction of the individual Peaks who might be the likely victim.
    But what no one noticed at that momentбн Was that the reaction was the same for every Peak.
    It was then that the plain young man spoke words that seemed to hollow out the arena.
    "We hereby challenge Valiant Hall for all their wrongdoings.. They no longer deserve their throne as peacekeepers of Valiant Heart Mountain and should be demoted back to a Peak."

 Chapter 653 - Colder

    Leonel's pupils constricted. Had he heard wrong?
    His hand couldn't help but tighten slightly against Aina's. He still hadn't gotten an answer for his worries, but he felt as though he was inching closer to it.
    Leonel didn't quite understand why he cared or why he had a sinking feeling to begin with. Valiant Hall didn't mean much of anything to him. No one he really cared about was a part of it. In fact, he had only interacted with two members.
    One was Sael who he had a bit of a complicated relationship with. After he dealt with their misunderstanding, he didn't hate her, but he also didn't have strong feelings toward her either. At best, they were just acquaintances who got off on the wrong foot.
    The other was Gersan. Though he hadn't seen him since their battle, that could be considered to be a negative relationship.
    This was all to say that Leonel shouldn't care about what happened to Valiant Hall in the slightest. In fact, he should care so little that if things made sense, he'd be eager enough to get back to his and Aina's alone time that he might very well leave this very second. As for whatever backlash that came with that? Why would he care?
    All of this was only one aspect of these matters. The other aspect was something that seemed even more difficult to wrap his head around.
    Demoting Valiant Hall to a Peak? How?
    If the organization was structured such that Valiant Hall was the only neutral party, the only party that could settle disputes, the only party that could maintain orderбн Then what Hero Peak was essentially demanding was a complete restructuring of Valiant Heart Mountain.
    Was that even possible? Was it allowed?
    The only answer could be yes. Leonel didn't believe that Hero Peak would actually be stupid enough to propose something that wasn't feasible.
    Leonel was faintly aware that there was some competition between Hero Peak and Valiant Hall. But as a new member of their organization, he hadn't paid much attention if any at all. It seemed that those matters hadn't been as small as he once thoughtбн
    The young man continued to speak unperturbed as though he couldn't sense the shock of the crowd.
    "In recent years, Valiant Hall has had an unprecedented strength in controlling the outcome of matters in our organization. Despite supposedly being neutral, they seem to very clearly have their own biases and have grown corrupt to the point of believing themselves to be infallible.
    "Two years ago, my Hero Peak proposed a plan to bring our Valiant Heart Mountain out from the brink of despair and back toward a brighter future. But, instead of calmly analyzing this plan as they should, Valiant Hall ignored our pleas.
    "In the past, I thought that maybe we were in the wrong. The plan we set forth was indeed ambitious. And, though our hearts were in the right place, the truth was that changing the status quo after so long would be jarring for all.
    "However, the actions of Valiant have made my heart run cold."
    By now, the members of Valiant Hall had been aware of all the commotion.
    In order to enforce their neutral stance, usually, only a few members of Valiant Hall came to organize this event. However, they wouldn't show their faces. Rather, the individuals who opened this platform for the young man to speak were the only members of the Valiant Hall present.
    When they heard to the words the young man was speaking, how could they not panic? They had thought, much like everyone else, that this would be targeting another Peak. The likely guess was Brave Peak or maybe Honor Peak, but they had never thought that it wasn't a Peak at all.
    This may sound odd. If Valiant Hall wasn't here in some substantial capacity, then how would these things be settled upon?
    The answer came in two layers. First, the crowd, with the only exception of freshmen who had yet to join a Peak, would vote on the validity of the arguments presented. As long as there was a majority acceptance for the claims levied, the final outcome would be decided by combat.
    Whatever battles that occurred would be restricted to the youth as a way of maintaining the majority of the peace in the organization.
    Butбн with this came a massive issue.
    By now, if everyone didn't know who this young man was, they'd be too foolish. This young man was a legend in his own right, the most powerful youth on Valiant Hall Mountain, a young man who would soon grow into a man that could overshadow even Valiant Hall Mountain's Head.
    Despite his plain appearance, despite his unhurried words or his monotone delivery, even despite his relatively short stature, he was the most respected student of Valiant Heart Mountain.
    The Hero. Raylion.
    Finding another member of the younger generation to defeat him? Was that a joke?
    The moment Hero Peak stepped forward, this matter was as good as over. As long as their evidence was strong enough, Valiant Hall didn't stand a single chance.
    But the question wasбн Was there evidence strong enough?
    The fact that they dared to call this meeting seemed to signal that the answer to this question was yesбн And the moment Raylion began to speak on these matters, was the exact moment they realized just how true this was.
    Raylion stretched out a hand. Understanding his meaning, Aphestus immediately handed over a scroll.
    Unfurling it without much fanfare, Raylion allowed the end of the scroll to clatter against the ground. His actions seemed unhurried and without theatrics, but anyone who understood anything about human psychology could realize just how terrifying this Raylion was.
    Leonel didn't notice it, but Aina definitely did. His gaze only grew colder and colder, not moving from Raylion from start to finish.. At that moment, it was hard to tell exactly what Leoenl was thinking of.

 Chapter 654 - Common

    "бн Valiant Hall uses 20% of resources allocated for students without ever participating in resource competitionsбн"
    "бн Valiant Hall has exactly 793 cases of corruption in just this past half year alone since we began to trackбн"
    "бн Case 1: Student Aderil, guilty of embezzling merit pointsбн"
    "бн Case 2: Student Xiron, guilty of embezzling merit pointsбн"
    "бн Case 3: Student Faeynore, guilty of embezzling merit pointsбн"
    "бн Case 7: Student Ren, guilty of exchanging merit points for favors..."
    "бн Case 8: Student Engkas, guilty of exchanging merit points for favorsбн"
    "бн Case 11: Student Morgo, guilty of exchanging merit points in exchange for sexual favorsбн"
    Like a monotonous drone, Raylion began to list all the instances of the past half year. The stories were packed with such detail that one found it difficult to believe that they were fake. Things were only made worse by the fact these individuals of Valiant Hall weren't presence to defend themselves.
    Things only continued to become more and more oppressive the more time Raylion spent speaking. It seemed that he had done thing on purpose, placing the most benign crimes ahead of the quickly worsening ones.
    Explanations of exploitation, theft, and even sexual assault and violence were described in vivid detail, leaving many sitting in a state of half being at a loss and another half truly uncomfortable.
    "бн Case 22: Student Salor, guilty of бн"
    "бн Case 31: Student Kirs, guilty of бн"
    "бн Case 47: Teacherбн"
    The moment Raylion said the word teacher, the entire arena seemed to have deflated. It wasn't the kind of deflation one might experience from a waning balloon, but rather the kind that one would experience the second after a bomb droppedбн The kind of deflation where the world lost its sound, color and feel before a blinding light and a cacophonic boom assaulted the senses.
    Up until this point, Raylion mentioned no one but students. Though these matters were serious, especially since many of them were in high positions, it felt as though this matter could still be dealt with easily. At the very least, if it was only the young that were corrupt, things would be easier to handle.
    But the moment Raylion said otherwise, it felt as though the whole world came to a grinding halt.
    "бн Arnla, guilty of skipping out on private tutoring and stealing the merit points of students for nothing in return."
    "бн Case 48: Student Nige, guilty of бн"
    "бн Case 49: Student Ril, guilty of бн"
    "бн Case 50: Teacher Ven, guilty of бн"
    There was no respite. The names of teachers, famous ones even, began to be named one after another. It was a relentless onslaught of detailed stories spoken in a voice that couldn't have been less lively. But, that only made it all the more grating on the soul.
    "бн Case 102: Teacher Lujor, guilty of бн"
    Raylion's words were endless. By the time he reached higher into the triple digits, many began to realize that some names were appearing more and more often. Whereas in the beginning one might appear just a single time, the worse the crimes became, the more it seemed as though the same people were committing them.
    "бн Case 239: Student Lanceryn, guilty of posting fraudulent missions for enriching himselfбн"
    "бн Case 243: Student Lanceryn, guilty of бн"
    "бн Case 331: Teacher Dryn, guilty of using disciples for labor without teaching appropriately in responseбн"
    "бн Case 334: Teacher Dryn, guilty ofбн"
    "бн Case 549: Teacher Poolбн"
    "бн Case 561: Teacher Poolбн"
    "бн Case 792: Teacher Ingsan, guilty of selling Valiant Hall's inventory to the merchants. His actions were learned of by one of his students, resulting in her rape and subsequent death."
    "бн Case 793: Teacher Ingsan, guilty of gross negligence. In a Campaign against our sworn enemy, the Oryx Tribe, his decisions led to the death of 14 geniuses of our Valiant Heart Mountain. The only survivor has been bribed into silence and has suffered through untold humiliation, Sael Liers."
    Leonel's gaze, by now, was boring holes into Raylion. This only became worse after he heard Sael's name. He didn't care for the woman, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear her name in this context.
    Even if what Raylion said was true, weaponizing the names of victims in this way, was simply gross beyond recourse.
    Raylion calmly rolled up his scroll, taking his time as though he didn't have a care in the world.
    By this point, there were numerous members of Valiant Hall who had stormed into the arena. But, without a place for them to sit, they could only stand on the dueling platforms, their gazes alight with fury as they stared at Raylion.
    Amongst them, there was a familiar figure in Sael. Her aura was so heavy that a wide space had been carved out around her. Everyone knew that if there was going to be a battle, she would be the one to fight. But at that moment, it seemed it took everything within her not to rip Raylion limb from limb at this very moment.
    "I've listed out many names. By now, they've likely become jumbled in your minds to the point that their crimes are meaningless. Honestly, I never wanted to reveal the trials and tribulations of victims in this way, but there was one matter that pushed me over the edge. It was this exact matter that made me understand that Valiant Hall had no right to be the arbiter of justice any longer."
    Raylion continued to speak, completely unperturbed.
    "Six months ago, a Brave City on a small Fourth Dimensional world known as Terrain accepted three disciples.
    "This seems like a story we all have been through, however that isn't the case. There is nothing about this story to be respected or revered.
    "Of these three disciples, only one actually went through the necessary trials and earned a right to stand by our sides. As for the other two, they were let in through the back door."
    A murmur went through the crowd, but Raylion seemed to have not noticed.
    "This was truly an unfortunate case. Whether out of jealousy or spite, this third disciple, a man who should have become one of our brothers, was killed by one of these two disciples before ever getting the chance to step foot onto our Mountain. The name of our lost brother is Anared Keafir, may we mourn his loss."
    The crowd grew silent, a bubbling animosity brewing in their hearts.
    "Unfortunately, this is only the beginning. The killer of our worthy brother appeared at our gates no more than two months ago. Intent on keeping his lofty status, he disregarded our customs and disrespected his seniors, even to the point of smearing our treasures and weapons as trash.
    "The end result was three of your fellow brothers bleeding to death while hanging from a tree.
    "And what did Valiant Hall do, you might ask? Out of fear for this person's background, the matter was swept under the rug and ignored.
    "I wish this was the end of our story, but unfortunately it is not. In retaliation, our brothers did the only thing we could. Since we didn't dare to offend a man with such a powerful background, we could only try to smear his name.
    "But no more than a week after our only path toward redemption was taken, Valiant Hall stepped in once again, not only allowing the destruction of King of Ores Faction, but also removing our posters and smothering our hearts."
    Raylion swept his gaze over the crowd, his gaze just as expressionless.
    "However, it was this final matter that broke my final hint of hope in Valiant Hall.
    "Rather than fighting for those it should, Valiant Hall sought to appease this man. Despite not being a part of a reputable Faction, and even without the slightest hint of understanding toward Crafting иC this was a man who had the audacity to say that a Tier 7 treasure was nothing but garbage иC was allowed to enter the Golden Exchange List at the behest of Valiant Hall.
    "Not only was this man appeased to the extreme, but his so-called Crafts led to the deaths of seven more of our brothers."
    The atmosphere was silent but seemed to simultaneously boil. By now, even Sael's momentum seemed to have lost its sails, her rage feeling as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over it.
    "I will not say the name of this man. Some of you know of him, some of you don't. But, his name is one I feel too much disgust to speak with my own lips.
    "I can only say that the tyranny of Valiant Hall will come to an end this day. I, Raylion Wranleth, will not stand for it."
    Raylion finished and stepped from the podium, his expression just as calm and unhurried.
    They say that the worst movements in all of history always had a common enemy. There may have never been a Nazi Party had the Jewish never existed.
    It seemed that Raylion had decided to make Leonel exactly that.

 Chapter 655 - A Woven Story

    [lmao, I just keep waking up later and later, so chapters are coming out later and later. I wonder if my sleeping schedule will eventually go full circle. Second chapter coming soon]
    It was an intricately woven story, indeed. In fact, it was certain that there wasn't a hint of falsehood in his words as well. Though the truth behind its interpretation might be different, one had to hand it to Raylion. He didn't step outside of his bounds to stretch the facts even by a small measure.
    Yet, what these audience members didn't know was that Raylion had sacrificed ten of his so-called brothers in order to allow his words to ring true.
    Those three floor sweeper Leonel hung from a tree? The Force Art he drew around them to keep people away would last a few weeks at best. Fourth Dimensional existences could easily last that long without sleep, let alone food or water.
    Beyond that, their injuries shouldn't have been severe enough to cause their deaths either, or else Leonel wouldn't have left them there.
    It was no wonder Leonel didn't hear anything about those three after the initial instance. Hero Peak had already decided to make them a part of this plot from the very beginning.
    Then there were the seven who supposedly died from Leonel's Crafts. Leonel didn't know anything about this, but did that matter? Since when did Raylion and Hero Peak care about whether he was 'in the know' or not?
    The truth was that Kaela and the others had already been panicking about this for the past more than day. However, they weren't able to contact Leonel because he had spent his time with Aina all the while. And, unlike with his Aina, he hadn't given Kaela and the others a method of contacting him.
    It could be said that the Polished Glass Faction had fallen from the greatest of highs to rock bottom in the blink of an eye. Who would dare to do business with them? They had been blacklisted from the Golden Exchange List. The seven that had died were all from Hero Peak, so normal students didn't dare to risk offending such an existence. Even if they created a perfect product next time, who would care?
    It had to be admitted that this plot was sinister indeed. Maybe the most infuriating part was that the target wasn't even Leonel, he just happened to be a useful catalyst.
    Humans tended to grow desensitized to things quickly. Hearing about millions dying across the world would never be as impactful as watching one person being murdered right in front of you. This was the truth of human psychology.
    Raylion didn't need Leonel's story. Without it, he would still have more than enough evidence to take Valiant Hall down and implement the changes to Valiant Heart Mountain he had always wanted to see.
    But, the convenience of Leonel was too good to pass up.
    Without Leonel, there would likely still be some resistance to his plans. But, with a public enemy to point to every time, a dark example of what could have been, molding the people to his will would be much easier.
    At that moment, Aina was seething with rage. A bloodthirsty aura hung around her, almost forming a crimson fog dotted with blackness. However, just as she moved to stand, she found Leonel lightly pulling her back.
    Aina looked back, only to find Leonel looking toward her with a light smile.
    There was no anger on his face, no coldness. In fact, he looked toward Aina with the same loving gaze he always gave her. It was as though these matters had nothing to do with him in the slightest.
    Leonel wasn't a meat head who flew into a rage at every slight. If Aphestus and the others believed this, Leonel could only say that they weren't as intelligent as he thought that they were. Anyone who believed this, for that matter, was nothing but wrong.
    What could make Leonel lose control were only matters related to his Aina and his mother. In fact, even if one insulted his father, he might not even get angry. It was more likely that he'd burst into a fit of laughter as opposed to anything else.
    With all the trauma that old man had given him in his life, he deserved some harsh words thrown at his back. By now, Leonel only used the dictionary when he absolutely had to. He kept running into his father's practical jokes. Plus, he was tired of being called 'Seed' and hearing about how great 'Father Overlord' was.
    It was a pain in the ass.
    But, Raylion hardly mentioned Aina, likely because he couldn't afford to disparage a member of his Peak at such a sensitive time. And, obviously, he hadn't mentioned his mother either.
    One might think that Raylion's biggest mistake was provoking Leonel and making him out to be an enemy. But, this wasn't true.
    His biggest mistake was provoking Leonel and making him into an enemyбн Without first enraging him.
    Facing a calm Leonel with a level head? A Leonel with an amused expression in his eye rather than one of rage? It was clear that Hero Peak had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.
    Leonel pulled Aina down to his side, placing a palm on her thighs and squeezing gently to reassure her.
    "Don't worry about it." Leonel said lightly.
    Aina's chest heaved in her rage. Clearly, she hadn't been able to calm down just because Leonel said so. But, seeing the look in his eye, she could only sit obediently.
    The voting process went exactly as one would imagine. Even with attempts at refuting Raylion due to lack of evidence, Valiant Hall was still woefully unequipped to handle these matters, having never been challenged in this way before.
    With no suspense, Hero Peak won their suit by a landslide. As a freshman, Leonel didn't even have the right to vote and he could only watch as the members of Valiant Hall trembled with rage.
    Sael balled her fists, her shoulders trembling. It felt as though everything she was trying to protect was coming crumbling down. In fact, it was the action she took that brought everything to a head.
    She couldn't help but be wracked with guilt, embarrassment, and anger. There was only one chance she had to fix all of this.
    "Raylion, get down here!" She roared, her aura causing whipping winds to slash across the stone platform.

 Chapter 656 - Steel Plates

    "Big sisбн" Gersan's face was filled with all sorts of complicated emotions.
    She could feel Sael's rage, but he also knew it was all futile. Defeating Raylion? It was impossible.
    Everyone knew how terrible his ability was. Even if he never trained an ounce of Force in his life, he would be an undefeatable force. To ask Sael to carry this weight on her shoulders was no different from asking her to walk through a wall of fire. She might not even leave this place in one piece.
    Raylion looked down from the stone rising, his gaze just as expressionless. As though Sael's challenge didn't mean anything to him, he began to speak again.
    "Now that the will of the people has been spoken, the context of the coming battle must be laid out."
    The crowd grew hushed once again, their emotions still boiling from the recent events.
    This was the most important part of every trial. After the majority agreed, the wager would be set. This wager would decide what changes would occur and what spoils would be given to the winner.
    Usually, this would just be a change in the percentage resource allocation. But, something was telling the crowd now that this would be a much larger change.
    Raylion brought out another scroll and handed it to Aphestus.
    With a toothy grin, Aphestus accepted the scroll and leapt down from on high. His stride was so long that he practically did the splits in the air, plummeting down more than 20 meters and landing with a soft thud on the toes of his feet as though it was nothing.
    Aphestus cracked his neck, standing amidst the ground of Valiant Hall members without a care in the world. It was as though he didn't fear them lashing out at all.
    "Well? Aren't you all going to scram? I have a battle to fight." Aphestus said with a wide, toothy yawn.
    If everyone didn't understand what was happening by now, they'd be fools. Rather than stepping forward himself, Raylion had actually sent Aphestus to battle in his stead.
    This sort of nonchalanceбн
    Sael's chest was steaming pile of rage by this point, but she could only watch as the Valiant Hall crowd parted for Aphestus to walk through them.
    With light toss, Aphestus threw the scroll into a bowl. Immediately afterward, it erupted into a pillar of flames, but he didn't react much to this. It seemed that he was already prepared for this outcome.
    "It's been set." Aphestus said with a grin, beginning to exaggeratedly stretch out his body. "Are you idiots still not leaving yet? There only needs to be two people up here."
    Aphestus showed not the slightest hint of respect for the Valiant Hall members, forcing them to clear out even beneath their seething anger.
    "Are we really going to allow this?"
    Within the Founding Peak Section, the elders had been watching the happenings without a word from start to finish. They had initially set up the Valiant Heart Mountain political system to allow competition between the youths, but they were certain that whatever changes Hero Peak had proposed with that scroll couldn't just be a matter of the younger generation. It would cause great, rippling tides to drown whatever semblance of their old teachings that remained.
    If the elders of the organization couldn't tell that all of this was a farce, then who would? Still, even now, while Sael and Aphestus faced each other in a pending duel, none of them stepped forward to do anything? Even the elder who spoke had never really expected an answer to his question.
    For years, they had done it the traditional way. But, those traditional ways were exactly what put them on the brink of destruction.
    Valiant Heart Mountain seemed to be at peace right now, even to a point where they could leisurely have such bouts of internal strife, but the elders knew better. They were a wilting flower, prepared to collapse at any moment.
    Maybe in as little as ten years, they wouldn't be able to hold their heads up high any longer.
    But Raylion was a beacon of hope. Even if his methods were underhanded and cruel, which part of the Dimensional Verse was clean?
    Maybe, before it was all too late, they should try everything they could. Who knows, maybe this new system would bring about a surprise for them. Maybe, with this new system, they'd be able to rise from the ashes and become something greater.
    Who knows if these elders were correct or not. But, what was true regardless was that an organization without courage would never get anywhere.
    Sael balled her fists, the air around her continuing to tremble.
    Aphestus faced her with a cheeky grin, his back still bent over with terrible posture. But, anyone with sharp senses could almost see the bestial aura forming around him. He looked like a beast pulling against its chain, the bars that locked him in just about to snap.
    It was the moment when his momentum reached its peak that he suddenly moved.
    His head fell toward the ground, his leg stretching out. His body seemed flexible in ways it shouldn't be, his movements far too agile to come from a human.
    A swirl of wind was left in his wake, an upsurge of air moving quickly as though in an attempt to fill the space he had just vacated.
    He appeared before Sael in the blink of an eye. Her face was still seething, her fists still balled tightly to the point her nails were outlined in a coating of dripping blood.
    Aphestus' long legs whipped forward, his lanky arms tightening around his body. The sudden shift made the torque of his hips reach astonishing levels. It felt as though a viper was snapping at her head rather than a foot. It didn't seem impossible for such a strike to decapitate her entirely.
    It was then that Sael finally moved, her rage bubbling forth.
    BANG!
    She crossed her arms in the path of Aphestus' foot, the torrent of raging winds causing her hair to flutter and even her cheeks to deform slightly.
    It sounded like two steel plates had collided, neither willing to give in to the other.

 Chapter 657 - Vertical Slits

    Sael latched on to Aphestus' leg, her eyes glowing with a dangerous light.
    This battle was indeed an insult to her. She, the preeminent youth of Valiant Hall was looked down upon to the point of fighting a mere Vice Leader of a Peak. This kind of humiliation wasn't small. And, the sinister plot behind it was even worse.
    She needed to win. She had to win.
    Sael's gaze grew bloodshot, her fury finally reaching a peak.
    She roared, blossoming blue tattoos of blooming flowers growing along her fair skin. Her wrists grew out with delicate blue lily petals and her hair lengthened, growing out into long, whipping vines.
    In what felt like an instant, the stage of the battle had been covered in these think bluish-green vines, each blooming with large swaths of flowers.
    Sael's delicate exposed belly, her frail shoulders, even her lovely cheeks became covered in these tattoos. Yet, instead of ruining her appearance, it seemed to give her an exotic air. It was the kind of feeling one might have when gazing upon something alien. The feeling was only made more potent by the change in Sael's eyes.
    Her brown eyes became a bright blue, her irises morphing into the form of a six petaled flower.
    Anyone who knew Sael knew that she was going all out.
    Sael's gaze glowed, her flower petaled irises spinning one petal over.
    In that instant, a tattoo bloomed on Aphestus' chest before he could put his leg away.
    Chuckling, Aphestus finally pulled back, hopping through the network of vines and dodging their snapping whips as he touched the tattoo on his chest.
    "Hohoбн How curiousбн"
    Aphestus felt that his body was slightly sluggish as though his Force circulation had slowed.
    He suddenly ducked down, dodging a vine aimed for the back of his head. By the time he looked up, Sael was already before him again, her movements not affected by her obscenely long hair in the slightest.
    She threw out a punch, forcing Aphestus to block with a knee. His chuckling grated on her ears. There was nothing she wanted more than to rip that smile off of his face.
    "Ooo, big chested beauty. Your eyes seem a little strained after that."
    Sael didn't respond, her fists raining down. The petals that surrounded her wrists suddenly separated, forming a hovering crown of sharp blades around her knuckles.
    Aphestus' pupils constricted.
    His back arched backward until his palms touched the ground. The muscles of his torso flexed and writhed, his feet kicking up toward Sael's chin.
    Rather than meeting delicate skin, though, he found a blockade of vines in his way. Unable to dodge, his booming kick was stopped in its track.
    The air vibrated wildly as they clashed. But this time, Aphestus couldn't pull his leg free so easily.
    Vines wrapped around his ankle, lifting him up and into the air.
    At that moment, it was as though Sael was walking on air. The same petals that formed around her wrists formed around her ankles, anchoring her legs as they pierced into the ground.
    Using them to gather the momentum and foundation she needed, Sael's arms flexed, her back pulsing with strength as she sent a punch toward the dangling Aphestus.
    "Hehe, how interesting."
    Hanging upside-down, Aphestus seemed as though he was still able to react perfectly. His palms flipped over, causing two daggers to appear.
    Each was three quarters of a foot long, shimmering beneath the setting sun.
    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
    The daggers and Sael's blade-like petals crossed, her fists' endless barrage being met and countered by Aphestus instantly.
    At that moment, Sael's irises rotated by another petal, causing another flower tattoo to bloom on Aphestus' body.
    In that small instant of time, Aphestus' body slowed by another measure. He mistimed his block, Sael's fists shooting by his guard and ripping toward his chest.
    Aphestus reacted as quickly as he could, flexing the muscle dense tapestry that was his torso to swing himself to the side.
    But, Sael's vines weren't stationary. Her gaze seemed to be able to counter everything, her sight seeing through Aphestus' intentions with ease.
    In the instant Aphestus wanted to swing, Sael's vines countered his weight, resulting in him staying in place.
    PUCHI!
    The blue blades hovering around Sael's fists shot through Aphestus' chest, piercing toward his heart.
    Her fury didn't seem to be satiated in the slightest. She wanted to watch her fists tear a whole through his body, to feel his blood running down her forearm.
    Valiant Heart Mountain meant too many things to Sael. She did everything she had to do, even lowering her head when she didn't want to, for the sake of watching it thrive and survive.
    There was little she cared more about than this. And of the few that existed, there was her master, a man she respected more than anyone else. Yet, not only was Hero Peak trying to force her dream to crumble, they were actually attacking her master in the process and dragging his name through the mud.
    She couldn't tolerate it!
    Sael roared, her fists driving forward. Her stance sunk downward, the petals around her ankles anchoring her into the ground as she pushed with all her might, the veins in her eyes practically bursting apart into a sea of red.
    At that moment, Aphestus coughed, his body wracked with pain.
    "Oof. Are you trying to kill me, big chested beauty?"
    Sael's pupils constricted. She found her petal blades were stuck, not because Aphestus had caught her arm, but rather because she couldn't seem to slice through the bones of his rib cage.
    Taking advantage of Sael's shock, Aphestus spun, rapidly slicing apart the vines around his ankle and landing nimbly to avoid the vines that covered the ground.
    He looked down at his chest, watching the blood trickle down the blue tattoo that now covered it.
    He looked back up and grinned, licking his lips.
    But, all Sael saw were the vertical slits his pupils became.

 Chapter 658 - Fun

    "Your ability isn't bad, big chested beauty. Did we strike a nerve?"
    Sael's ability wasn't one that was publicly known. It was often difficult to tell what a person's ability was unless it was far too outside the norm. Something like the combination of techniques Sael had just used were most definitely too out there to not be an ability.
    Her eye technique, especially, made Aphestus quite serious despite the grin on his face. She had only landed two of those tattoos on him, but just those two was enough to cut his Force circulation down by 20%. Whether it was his Force control or output, it all took a hit.
    Beyond that, Aphestus' instincts also told him that landing these tattoos also allowed Saels to see through his Force circulation as well, as though she had a connection to them. While her tattoos were hindering his Force circulation, she could sense this flow and predict his next action based on this.
    It was truly a fearsome ability, indeed worthy of coming from a top disciple of Valiant Hall. In fact, if it wasn't for the lack of destructive ability, Aphestus would feel that this ability was even better than Raylion's. If Aphestus was honest, Sael's ability might even be at a higher evolutionary stage than Raylion's too.
    But, there was a difference between Sael and Raylionбн
    Aphestus grinned a toothy grin when Sael didn't respond.
    "I guess it's about time I get serious. It's a shame, big chested beautyбн You would think you would have realized by now that a fancier ability doesn't necessarily make you more powerful."
    At that moment, the change to Aphestus' eyes set, his eyes glowing with a radiant yellow as the sun continued to set.
    His muscles wiggled and writhed, seemingly intent on bursting out from Aphestus' tanned layer of skin.
    If Sael's ability made her a radiant diamond, Aphestus ability was just a copper coin found by the road side.
    Sael could use all these beautiful tattoos and flower petals. As for Aphestus, his ability was known simply from its title: Beast Mimicry.
    [Author's note: stay away Kiba]
    Aphestus could copy the physique of any beast he consumed the meat of into a humanoid figure. It allowed him their agility, their flexibility, their strength and their instincts all in a human form.
    Of course, he could do this with beasts only powerful to a certain limit. Or, rather, the more powerful the beast, the more of its meat he would need. Even a lower level beast would need tens of carcasses for him to devour.
    However, even though Aphestus could do so with any beast, he didn't. Rather, there was just one beast he liked to consume. One of the most powerful beasts of Valiant Heart Mountainбн
    The Black Patterned Jaguar.
    Aphestus' canines grew, his body crouching.
    Sael's pupils constricted.
    BANG!
    The ground beneath Aphestus' feet cracked, the wind pressure of his sudden movement blowing the vines that had been near his feet away.
    In a flash, he appeared before Sael.
    With quick reactions, Sael countered the punch of his dagger, aiming for his head. She didn't block in the slightest. She directly pitted her determination against Aphestus' as though she couldn't sense the blade striking toward her liver.
    However, Aphestus was dauntless. Mid-flight, his shoulder dropped and his neck curled to one side.
    Sael immediately realized that if the trajectory of her punch were to continue, she would mere take a small chunk of Aphestus' shoulder. But, if she didn't pull back, her torso would be stabbed through.
    Sael abandoned her thoughts of countering, retreating instantly. But it was then that her irises rotated by yet another petal. This was her true goal. As long as this tattoo landed, a 30% decline wasn't something even Aphestus' ability could bridge the gap of.
    However, almost instantaneously, Aphestus' strike came to a grinding halt at the same time.
    As though an agile jaguar, his muscles flexed all at once, his body hopping to one side.
    It was then that Sael's irises stopped rotating, but there was no third tattoo that appeared on Aphestus.
    Eye-sight was near instantaneous. But, as expected, the flower pattern had to travel through the air to land, making it avoidable. And, if Aphestus was correct, Sael wouldn't be able to prepare another for another few minutes.
    He leapt forward, his daggers raining down in a combination of feints and sharp attacks.
    Sael landed a heavy foot backward, the blades hovering around her feet cracking the ground. But, at that moment, rather than helping her, they were a hindrance.
    When Sael went to lift her foot to take another step back and reposition herself for a counter, the split moment it took for her to pull out were all Aphestus needed.
    He closed the distance between them, his daggers sweeping across and causing arcs of crimson to bloom.
    Sael narrowly dodged, her gaze flashing with anger when she realized that Aphestus almost ripped her chest band in two. Was he still trying to humiliate her?
    In the next instant she winced, feeling a deep slice run through her torso.
    "Sael!" Gersan roared from the sidelines.
    Aphestus' attack was relentless. The moment Sael suffered her first injury, it wasn't long before she suffered a second, then a third. As though a beast cornering their prey, Aphestus' gaze bore down, he stalked forward, her momentum increasing and his canines glistening.
    His body became a lethal killing machine. His close combat ability was off the charts. His reaction time, his combination attacks, his counters. Each was more furious than the last.
    With just his two arms, he seemed capable of battling all of Sael's vines alone with her own arms and feet simultaneously. A single one of his strikes could sever a vine and counter her blade infused punches. A single swing of his blade could tear a cut into her delicate skin and push her further into the pits of despair.
    The reversal was near instantaneous, and it only occurred to a single mistake, a single lapse.
    But in a battle of experts, this was all it took.
    Sael was pushed nearer to the end of the arena, her hatred brimming forth so fiercely that unshed tears brimmed at her eyes. However, what did fall wasn't those tears, but rather the blood from her popped blood vessels as she tried again and again to use her ability, only for Aphestus to dodge as though he could predict her action before she took them.
    The members of Valiant Hall clenched their fists. Many shouted for Sael to just give up, but she didn't seem to hear any of them as the blood fell from her cheeks.
    Aphestus cocked his hip back, his torso flexing as his leg whipped forward.
    It seemed to be the same strike he started the battle with, a devastating kick to the head capable of decapitating such a frail beauty. However, compared to then, after activating his ability in full, it was more than three times as lethal.
    Sael reacted quickly, putting up her arms to block. But, this action was as good as giving up her arms for the rest of the battle. She already knew what would happen.
    It was then the words were spoken.
    "I think that's enough. Valiant Hall has lost."
    It was impossible to tell when exactly he appeared, but Leonel grabbed at Aphestus' leg while sweeping Sael in his other arm.
    BANG!
    Both Leonel and Sael were sent flying, skidding across the arena and almost falling over another side.
    Leonel whistled, looking at his hand just as he managed to steady his feet from falling over the edge. He couldn't help but smile a bit bitterly.
    'Seems my wrist is fractured.'
    He looked down at Sael who seemed to have all but collapsed from exhaustion. Shaking his head, he walked down from the arena without looking back at Aphestus.
    Withstanding the furious gazes of the Valiant Hall members, he handed Sael who had fallen unconscious to Gersan.
    "Let's go." Leonel said to Aina. "Let them have their fun for now."
    Leonel looked over his shoulder one last time, his gaze locking onto Raylion. A small smile tugged at his lip before he left.
    An odd atmosphere hung over the arena.

 Chapter 659 - Abolish

    Those in the arena found it difficult to wrap their heads around what had just happened. They had all thought that some knight in shining armor was planning on swooping in, yet after 'saving' Sael, this mysterious person hadn't done anything else.
    No one was sure how this person appeared, or how they even managed to stop Aphestus' furious kick without suffering severely for it. It was as though he had simply teleported to the location.
    Of course, there were some who made the connection between this mysterious person and the posters that had been recently taken down. By extension, they also realized that it was this young man who was meant to be considered their public enemy at the moment.
    But, this only made things more confusing.
    On the surface, it made sense. Since Valiant Hall and this young man were in cahoots from the very beginning, didn't it make sense for him to save Sael?
    But, on a deeper level, this was pure nonsense. Raylion had painted a much different picture. The narrative he had formed wasn't one of mutual interest, but rather one of a man with a powerful background preying on the corruption of Valiant Hall.
    If this latter story was the truthбн Would the arrogant young master described ever care to save anyone useless to him? In fact, shouldn't he be raging about since his name being swept through the mud?
    The odd shift in the atmosphere occurred without a single word being exchanged. But, what was done was done. The moment Sael was unable to battle, Hero Peak had already won and the changes they wanted to implement to Valiant Heart Mountain would soon rule all of their lives.
    Yet, in the moment he should have been basking in his victory, Raylion's expressionless gaze flickered.
    Only the well learned, thoughtful, and intelligent would be able to reach the second layer of analysis needed to understand the underlying oddity of Leonel's actions. The vast majority of people were not this and still felt that Leonel had acted because he was allied with Valiant Hall.
    But, the support of such people was meaningless to Raylion. Such fools who could be so easily swayed could just as easily be swayed in a new direction tomorrow.
    бн
    Even as the first to leave the arena, allowing them to walk through the empty streets of the city, Aina was still fuming.
    Though her enraged expression was hidden beneath her mask, Leonel still thought that it would be boundlessly adorable.
    "There's no need to waste your emotions on them." Leonel said with a chuckle.
    Still, in thanks for his efforts, he received a glare in return.
    Aina wasn't wrong to feel this way. Leonel always saw blood when someone poked at Aina, yet now he was telling her to not feel enraged for the vice versa. He was definitely being a hypocrite.
    Still, Leonel continued to chuckle. He really didn't care about this very much. In fact, he was almost happy it happened. He found this to be much more interesting. He could even see a quicker path toward curing Aina now, how could he not be happy?
    Seeing that Aina was still upset, though, Leonel sighed.
    "What I did at the end was really the most I could do under those circumstances. Proving my strength or displaying my Force Crafting ability wouldn't have been as impactful as you think.
    "In the story he painted of me, the Raylion guy implicitly acknowledged my prowess. How can someone who is weak kill three Hero Peak members and destroy King of Ores faction? What infuriated the people most was my sense of superiority, so how would proving my superiority all the more help me?
    "It would at most be short term satisfaction that could easily be spun on its head, especially since I had no legal pathway to participate in these matters."
    Aina bit her lip beneath her mask, knowing that Leonel was correct.
    Had Leonel been a part of Valiant Hall, things might have been different. In the worst case, he could just battle Aphestus personally even though he had apparently underestimated the strength of this Vice Leader.
    "None of these are reasons to be smiling." Aina finally said.
    "How could I not be smiling? They're about to give me exactly what I want the most." Leonel grinned.
    Aina looked up toward the side of Leonel's face in confusion.
    "Think about it, Hero Peak has already effectively been the ruler of the Peaks for a long time now. They control 20% of the resources just like Valiant Hall does and no one can challenge their position due to their apparently undefeatable leader.
    "With their strength, they have the power to sway the politics of Valiant Heart Mountain any way they please. And, those elders have apparently already decided on Raylion being their next Head so they're allowing him to do whatever he wants.
    "Knowing all of this, what else could Hero Peak possibly want? Where is there more power for them to grasp? What could they do to claim more strength for themselves?"
    Aina's eyes narrowed. "Weaken the other Peaks."
    "Exactly. They don't care to take over Valiant Hall's position. What would that do for them? They already control much of everything without the forced label of having to be neutral.
    "In that case, their goal is to break the balance and weaken their opposition and the best way to do thatбн
    "Is to abolish the Peak system entirely."
    Aina's pupils constricted.
    "Just snatching away more resources for Hero Peak wouldn't work. Raylion would just end up fueling the discontent of the more common talents of Valiant Hall.
    "In that case, he has to 'snatch' those resources away using an above board manner.
    "In order to stop the laymen from realizing what's happening right under their noses, he'll abolish the Peak system, opening up Valiant Heart Mountain.
    "In the old system, Hero Peak would always be capped at 20% of the resources. But, if there is no longer a Hero Peak, it becomes a free for all and suddenly that hard cap becomes much larger."
    Aina calmed, her irises flickering. "He wants a place where the law of the jungle truly rules."
    "Exactly.
    "You don't have enough resources? You must be too weak. Why would you blame others for your own failures?" Leonel said in a steady tone. "But, why would I fear such an environment?"
    At that moment, Leonel suddenly heard the sound of a sneer.
    "You certainly talk a lot for a freshman without a Peak."

 Chapter 660 - Gloom

    Leonel didn't look very surprised when he looked up. There might be an ability out there that could catch his senses off guard, in fact, he had run into one during the Freshman Trials, but it was clear that this older woman before him didn't have one. Or, maybe she just thought that her previous concealment was good enough.
    Magnaril appeared before the couple silently. Her greying hair was done up in an untidy bun, her appearance being somewhat eccentric.
    She had thought that Leonel would be shocked by her appearance, but she was quite bitterly disappointed.
    "Little Aina, is this where you've been? You didn't even leave a word behind."
    Leonel curiously observed Aina. It seemed that these two knew each other?
    Honestly, Leonel had thought that this was an elder Valiant Heart Mountain might have sent for the sake of trying to appease him.
    In reality, Leonel wasn't aware of who was in the know about the affairs surrounding him. He hardly knew much about the structure of Valiant Heart Mountain, let alone understanding which elders were considered the highest echelon and which weren't.
    But, it seemed that he was wrong. This meant one of two things.
    Either Valiant Heart was no longer afraid of offending him, something that was highly unlikely. Or, the highest echelon weren't aware that he had been dragged into this matter at all.
    How likely was it that the highest ranking members of Valiant Heart, existences deep within the Fifth Dimension, had time to care about prank posters posted about a freshman? They might not even understand who Raylion had been referring to.
    "Elder Magnaril, what brings you here?"
    After a small hint of surprise, Aina politely responded just the same way one would expect someone younger to speak to a member of the older generation.
    "How could I not come here and see who my disciple is frolicking about with? You know, the reputation of a young woman is very important."
    Aina's brow wrinkled.
    She had felt alright with leaving this woman because she had already learned everything there was to learn from her after engrossing herself in study for almost two months.
    Magnaril kept insisting that Aina become her disciple, but Aina's perspective on such things was different from Leonel.
    Leonel might not care very much about such a title. He had grown up on Earth, so the importance he attached to the word 'master' wasn't very high. In his mind, it wouldn't be much different from having another coach.
    However, to Aina, who was far deeper into her understanding of this world in comparison to Leonel, she knew the heaviness one placed on such a title.
    Aina would accept her as a teacher, but a master? Aina didn't think they were fated in such a way.
    Yet, this woman kept calling her a disciple and was now commenting on her relationship.
    Leonel wasn't quite sure how to step in even though his brows were raised at an odd slant.
    "I'll keep Elder Magnaril's words in mind." Aina said lightly.
    Magnaril shook her head, feeling Aina pulling further away. Seeing that this wasn't working, she turned her attention toward Leonel.
    "Boy, how did you get involved in these matters?"
    "What matters?" Leonel blinked.
    "Do you take me for a fool? Even if I wasn't aware before, there's most definitely a grudge between you and Hero Peak. If not, you'd have a screw loose for interfering in that battle at the moment you did."
    "Oh, that?" Leonel shrugged. "Is having a few grudges with Hero Peak a big deal?"
    "Of course it is a big deal. You don't need to pretend, I know you suffered no small defeat thanks to that one attack. If you can't even withstand a single strike from Aphestus, what makes you think you can take on Raylion?"
    Leonel really wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the antics of this old woman, he didn't even know what her purpose here was exactly. He found it difficult to get mad at an old lady who had to strain her head to look up at him just to meet his eyes.
    Rather than Leonel, it was actually Aina who didn't like Magnaril's words very much.
    "Elder Magnaril, I think that's enough."
    The old lady frowned, clearly not liking the tone of Aina's voice.
    "Don't you know that being embroiled in these things will only slow down your speed of improvement? If you have grudges with such powerful students so early on without having the strength to protect yourself, you'll be hampering your own growth. Are you willing to allow yourself to be dragged down?"
    Aina's gaze sparked, but Leonel pulled her back.
    "Thank you for your kind intentions, Elder Magnaril." Leonel said with a light smile.
    "Bah, who's your Elder?! The biggest thank you that you could give me is leaving Aina alone!"
    Leonel smiled and pulled Aina along to walk past Magnaril. He seemingly didn't take the words of this old lady to heart.
    However, Magnaril was stunned. She was an elder of Valiant Heart Mountain, was she really being ignored like this?
    She was just about to snap with rage again, when she suddenly heard Leonel chuckling about something.
    "I really don't get it. Why do people think I'd be afraid of someone who didn't even dare to say my name?"
    Magnaril stood frozen in place, her next shrill comment caught in her throat.
    бн
    As though Leonel's true ability was to see into the future, matters worked out exactly as he had predicted.
    The Peak system was abolished, no longer requiring students to join specific Peaks for the sake of using unique resources. Rather, everything now functioned via a merit system.
    Due to the distrust many had for Valiant Hall, all previously earned merit points were deemed null with the sole exception of those gained via battle missions which had easily verifiable conclusions.
    With Valiant Hall abolished, a new neutral party was needed to be constructed. But, rather than forming a separate existence, a council was constructed. This council, known as the Valiant Council, would be made of the most senior youths.
    It was hardly a surprise that the majority of this council was quickly filled with former Hero Peak members, among which was a certain King of Ores Sarrieth who had seemingly vanished during the past monthбн
    It was while these vast and sweeping changes were occurring that Leonel brought Aina back to Kaela's home, only to find a far gloomier atmosphere than even he was expecting.

 Chapter 661 - Do You?

    [Second chapter otw]
    Leonel led Aina into the basement. The sudden movement caused everyone to look in his direction simultaneously, their gloominess on full display.
    Kaela smiled somewhat weakly when she saw Leonel. Realizing that he was holding a girl's small hand, she looked over and gave a polite nod to Aina as well. As for the fact she was wearing a maskбн Well, Kaela wore a lab coat everywhere, so who was she to judge.
    Leonel scanned their faces. He couldn't help but feel a twang of guilt seeing their downcast expressions.
    The truth was that Leonel wasn't very surprised to find them all here. It was clear and obvious that none of them cared to go to the arena after hearing the bells because they somewhat already knew what would happen.
    However, what Leonel didn't expect wasбн
    "I'm sorry!"
    After a deep breath, Kaela suddenly stood and bowed to everyone. She did so, so deeply that her forehead almost rebounded against her shins. It would have almost been comical had tears she had been holding back not spilled forth at that very moment.
    It was obvious to everyone that Kaela was only waiting for everyone to be present for her to give this apology. All her frustration and rage welled up in her eyes, flooding forth. It became obvious very quickly that she had only bowed so low in an attempt to hide the tears she could no longer hold back.
    "It's all my fault. The moment I saw him, I should have known things wouldn't be so simple and should have pulled us all out. It's my fault, it's all my fault."
    She felt that she had failed as a leader. She had walked them all right into a trap and wasn't even any wiser. She knew that her former master wasn't such a nice person, and neither were his wives. Each was more evil than the last. To have trusted them was the worst mistake she could have ever made.
    Kaela's knees buckled, falling to the ground.
    But, before she could lose balance, a strong arm had already propped her up.
    Leonel's arm had reached forward at the same time as Rum's, but his speed was much faster. It was easy for Leonel to tell that Rum wouldn't have made it in time.
    With a subtle wink, Leonel passed Kaela off to Rum. But, the big man was just as depressed as everyone else and hardly noticed this at all.
    "It's not our fault at all, Kaela!" Litia immediately interjected, rushing up and helping Kaela to wipe her tears. "We'd never blame you for something so sinister. It was clear that we were just unlucky to be targeted."
    Everyone supported Litia's words. Even the quiet Thilly hummed in almost silent acceptance.
    Leonel sighed. If there was anyone to 'blame', it would be him. Kaela was a convenient target not much unlike he was. Leonel had a feeling, though, that regardless of which Faction he had chosen to enter, the result would have been the same.
    Now, not only had their name been dragged through the mud, but all the resources they had poured into their products were considered to have been wasted too. They had no Ores left, their merit points were now deemed useless, and even if by some miracle they managed to recover, who would buy from them?
    Realizing this, even with the comfort of everyone, Kaela couldn't hold back her stream of tears, her shoulders quaking.
    Years ago, she had left the safety of Valiant Hall because she believed her master wasn't looking out for her. Since then, despite having poor combat prowess as a Crafter, she managed to join Brave Peak and claw her way back, gathering a group of friends and setting out to build her own faction.
    Unfortunately, things like this never went smoothly. Everywhere she went, it seemed that she would run into another roadblock.
    Whether it was the soaring price of Ores, the monopoly on stores, the difficulty in completing a novel design with her lack of knowledgeбн It was like continuously climbing one mountain after another.
    Yet, when she finally reached the peak of the last, instead of finding shining sun and colorful rainbows, she found a steep drop into an endless abyss she could never climb back out from.
    All those years of torture and laborious work didn't break her, but this most definitely did.
    Aina clenched her fists watching Kaela's breakdown. She didn't know of her story, but she could still feel a shadow of something familiar when she looked at her. It almost felt like Aina was watching a possible ending for herself.
    The Dimensional Verse was a cruel world. Hard work didn't necessarily mean you would succeed. The successful like to think that they reached their level simply because they did and sacrificed more. But, this was nothing but the rose tinted glasses of the rich and privileged.
    Hard work guaranteed you nothing. Sacrifice guaranteed you nothing.
    For a long while, Leonel stood and said nothing. He crossed his arms across his chest, allowing the group to comfort each other. Watching them support their leader in her time of need made his heart warm, but one wouldn't be able to tell by the look on his face.
    Leonel emotionlessly watched it all from start to finish as though engraving this moment into his mind. Every tear, every tremble, every sobбн He imprinted it all.
    Eventually, Kaela managed to hiccup her way into a semblance of a steady breath. She felt quite embarrassed by her actions. Her plan was to apologize and then try to prepare a future path for everyone, likely without herself.
    But, instead of succeeding in this, she had made a bumbling fool of herself.
    She looked toward Leonel with a hint of shame on her face, but all she saw was a sturdy pillar, standing there as though the world couldn't impact him in the slightest.
    Leonel suddenly smiled, but somehow, it seemed detached, as though it was a reflex rather than a display of his genuine emotion.
    "Now that that's out of your systemбн" Leonel said slowly. "Do you want to watch Valiant Heart Mountain dance on the palm of your hands?"

 Chapter 662 - Challenge

    Leonel's words seemed to come with an air of calm around them. Despite the fact he didn't explain any detailed plan, they somehow felt at ease.
    If others knew of this, they might find it to be quite baffling. Leonel's words effectively amounted to telling them to wait patiently and nothing else, yet they gobbled it up like na?ve children.
    But maybe this was just a product of how broken their spirits were. Any small light of hope they could get was enough to calm their hearts. It might have been as the saying went, ignorance was bliss. Maybe by choosing to live in ignorance, they would stave off this pain for just a small bit longer.
    "Do we really just have to wait?" Kaela asked softly.
    Her eyes were still puffy from her tears, but she still gathered herself up for long enough to say these words. Unlike the others, she couldn't afford to just accept everything at face value. It was exactly this passiveness that she felt landed them in this situation to begin with.
    Leonel smiled reassuringly.
    "We just need to wait for the honeymoon period to come to an end. It might take a week, it might take a month. But once we hit that tipping point, it'll be time to make our move."
    Kaela opened her mouth to respond, but she really didn't know what to say. At this point, she could only take Leonel's words at face value.
    "Then what do we do in the meantime? We don't have any resources and our merit points became useless before we even got a chance to use them. All I managed to buy were some rations to fill up our empty fridge, but I didn't really expect that to last more than a month."
    In this new system, even something as simple as good had be scratched and clawed for.
    The so-called 'rations' Kaela bought in the past were only a result of her own quirks. She didn't like spending money, so she often bought dry rations that most only bought for the sake of missions.
    Most of the time, the group would rather eat at the free lunches given by the freshman quarters or the Peaks, but now there would be no such thing. Even the freshmen would begin to starve unless they had the capital to trade large amounts of Urbe Ore. Either that, or they'd have to go hunting on their own.
    Basically all freshmen perks had been stripped. The only 'benefit' they had gained was that now they were allowed to travel outside the mountain range on their own without first passing any Peak Exams.
    But, that was about as good as telling them that they had the right to go and die now.
    Thinking of Freshmen, Leonel couldn't help but be keenly aware that Radlis was nowhere to be seen at the moment. However, he only spared it a fleeting thought.
    "I sent him away since he was never really one of us to begin withбн" Kaela said softly as though she could read Leonel's mind.
    "That's not a problem. He might be even more useful when he isn't here.
    "As for food, don't worry about it. I also plan to take no small number of missions quite soon. But as for what you can do nowбн"
    Leonel flipped his palm, secretly communicating with the Segmented Cube as he sent out one ore vein after another.
    "бн How about train?"
    Leonel grinned.
    He might have used up much of Camelot's high level ores, but Leonel had a city's worth of low level ores he had yet to use, all of which he got from the hive during his time with the Slayer Legion.
    For Leonel's current needs, these low level ores were too weak to build anything that could be useful to improving his strength. However, his strength wasn't what would need help very soon.
    "I'm going to impart some low level Force Arts to you. With your current level of skill, you should be able to grasp them quickly and it should help solidify your foundations. After that, we'll be able to start preparing."
    "Butбн" Litia's twin sister, Madia, couldn't help but speak up in her soft voice.
    Though she didn't say the words, they hung at the tip of her tongue. Even without her bluntly stating it, everyone else was already aware. Though they were happy to learn new Force Arts, what good was it when no one would buy from them? Even if someone was willing to take the risk, who would dare to offend the members of Hero Peak?
    Though the Peak system had been dissolved, only the na?ve believed that they would all be one happy family nowбн
    Toward this question, though, Leonel only smiled mysteriously, not explaining further.
    **
    Three days later, Leonel left the small abode under the shadow of Brave Peak and headed toward the former location of Valiant Hall. He walked hand in hand with Aina, not caring in the slightest for what looks he might receive.
    He strolled through the front doors, walking into the hustle and bustle. Compared to when he first entered Valiant Hall, it felt even rowdier. The excitement of the new changes still hadn't quite settled just yet so everyone was still hopping around with mad joy.
    A few recognized Leonel and gave him hostile glances, but it wasn't exaggerated enough for everyone to stop what they were doing to look toward him.
    Without a care, Leonel made his way to the front counter. There were many receptionists manning the long curved desk, but one didn't need to go through them to accomplish their goals. One would only need a receptionist upon handing in a mission. But, as for accepting them, it was a simple matter.
    Leonel reached forward to open a catalogue of missions, only for a large hand to slam onto the cover before he got a chance to open it.
    Leonel gazed at the hand for a while before his eyes traveled up to the face of its owner. On the end of it, he found a young man with a patchy beard he could probably do with shaving clean. Despite being a head shorter than Leonel, he had the haughtiness of someone twice his height.
    "Is something the matter?" Leonel asked calmly.
    "Obviously. You're not welcomed here, scram."
    The words immediately drew far more attention than Leonel silent appearance had.
    "Oh?" Leonel raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
    "Did you not hear me? Scram!" The sneer of the young man only deepened.
    "Interesting."
    Before the young man could react, Leonel tapped his identification ring onto his.
    A small light spread out between the two of them, immediately forming an illusory dueling stage. The only oddity was that this dueling stage was split in half by a receptionists desk.
    &lt;Challenge issued and accepted&gt;
    &lt;Leonel Morales&gt; . &lt;Halgo Warine&gt;
    The words hovered in the air about the two, making their names clearly visible to all who were around.
    Leonel reached a hand forward and caught the front outline of Halgo's hair.
    BANG!
    Halgo found his nose smashing into the catalogue, a dizziness he had never experienced before making his sight blurry.

 Chapter 663 - His Eyes

    BANG!
    The first hit left Halgo in a complete daze. But, the second made his vision go black. The last thing he felt was a rush of heat to his nose before he collapsed to the ground.
    As for everyone else? All they saw was a flash of light denoting the start of the duel, only for it to quickly end in a fountain of blood spraying out from Halgo's nose.
    Yet, not only did the blood not touch Leonel, it didn't even touch the catalogue either. By some mysterious force, it shot back, splattering all over the falling Halgo's face.
    Leonel blinked, looking toward Aina.
    "Is that another cool vampire ability?"
    Aina pouted slightly beneath her mask. "I'm not a vampire."
    "Are you sure about that?" Leonel grinned.
    Aina turned away and ignored him. How could she be a vampire? Wasn't she walking around in the sun just fine? Garlic was probably her favorite flavor to add to food. Plus, she never really craved bloodбн unless you counted that one instance.
    Leonel was just teasing her.
    As though the couple couldn't sense all the eyes around them, they bantered as Leonel flipped through the selection of missions.
    "бн A shame."
    A while later, Leonel shook his head.
    "Seems we can only take missions allowed for black belts. In that caseбн"
    Leonel took ten missions. Truthfully, he wanted to take more despite the penalty and time constraints placed on these missions, but he decided to hold back a bit. Plusбн There might just be more to do than just these missions once he stepped out.
    "Let's take these ten, they have relatively good rewards. Once we accumulate enough, it'll be easier to promote to white belt and open up more avenues for us."
    "Don't you think it would be easier if we prioritized being promoted first?"
    Aina wasn't exactly wrong. Nibbling at these easy missions was a good way to waste time.
    There were a lot of things about the changes to the rules that benefited them. For example, the duel Leonel just initiated. This duel had always been a part of Valliant Heart Mountain's culture, but now it was even more important and prominent.
    In the past, it was only used to clear up grudges and essentially sanction battles that occurred within Valiant City. That way, one wouldn't be accused of breaking the rules like Leonel had been on his first day here.
    But now, thanks to the rule changes, it had essentially become a court system, not much unlike the Valiant Hall Meeting that was called just three days ago, except on a smaller scale.
    Now, it wasn't just for settling grudges, but could be used to battle for resources, decide contracts, and many other similar things.
    In fact, the only rule policing these duels was that those of higher belts couldn't challenge their younger classmen.
    However, while this was a benefit, there were still many other hindrances. Black belts, while receiving these protections, were also restricted in many ways.
    There were certain kinds of resources that black belts couldn't touch, certain establishments within the city they couldn't enter, and, as seen here, certain missions they couldn't choose.
    In Aina's opinion, it would make more sense to raise their status first even if things might get a little bit prickly for a moment.
    Leonel smiled. "No rush."
    "Alright, you keep being mysterious. I can be mysterious too."
    Aina said these words without much oddity in her tone, but she seemed to be hinting at something that made Leonel freeze.
    "Wait, what is that supposed to mean?"
    Aina gazed up at Leonel as they began to walk toward the exit together.
    "I don't know. What does it mean?" She replied.
    At that moment, the little mink hopped out from the Segmented Cube, nuzzling up against Aina. Letting go of Leonel's hand, Aina began to play with the little guy.
    "Yes, yes. We don't need him right? He can go act mysterious by himself." Aina smiled sweetly beneath her mask, stroking Little Blackstar's glossy fur.
    The little mink nodded in agreement. "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel opened his mouth to say something, but he already felt as though he had been checkmated.
    "Alright, alright. You win." Leonel laughed. "Being a black belt is restrictive, but it's also freeing too. There are quite a few loopholes in their new laws as well. The fact that higher ranked belts can't challenge lower ranked ones is just the first. For exampleбн black belts might not be able to own ore mines or stores or even form factions of their own. But, they likewise don't have to report what they gain on missions or pay taxes on their resources."
    "You're planning on causing trouble again, aren't you?" Aina shook her head.
    "Me? Trouble? Never."
    "You said three days ago that we couldn't solve things with violence. Yet, what was the first thing you did when you ran into a roadblock today?"
    Leonel coughed. "Extenuating circumstances."
    Aina giggled, ignoring Leonel's shamelessness.
    Just as the couple were chatting and laughing, they had made their way to the exit of the former Valiant Hall. They didn't seem to notice that most of the attention was still focused on them at all. They might as well have been in their own world.
    It was then, though, that a small group of five happened to be walking in their direction.
    Completely focused on Aina, Leonel's senses only noted that these people were there, but he didn't really care to identify them. That was until he noticed that they had come to a stop before them, all of their auras locked onto him simultaneously.
    Leonel finally looked up only to find a face that he recognized immediately. In fact, he recognized multiple.
    There was the jagged toothed Cormus, the giant sword wielding Ardryn and even Nigmir who seemed to have recovered quite well from a spear in the chest.
    As for the last two, though, Leonel didn't recognize them at all. One was a young lady with fiery red hair that seemed to be accented with highlights of blackness. But, it was the second that caught Leonel's attention the most.
    His eyes were dangerous.
    It didn't take Leonel much to understand who this person was. It was none other than the King of Ores, Sarrieth.
    Leonel's smiling expression gave way to a coldness, a heavy air forcing the surroundings into silence.

 Chapter 664 - Hyena

    Sarrieth had a tall stature, being just two or three inches short of Leonel. From his exposed torso, he didn't seem to be very muscular. In fact, compared to the others Leonel constantly ran into, he could be considered to be average at best in terms of physique. Other than being somewhat lean, he didn't have any other stand out qualities.
    However, it wasn't his physical stature that made those around him feel uncomfortable. It was most definitely the look in his eyes.
    Meeting his gaze felt like locking onto a venomous snake. He seemed capable of peering through everything, his intuition and sharpness reaching a level that most couldn't hope to ever even touch.
    Sarrieth was very used to people looking away when they saw his gaze for the first time. Even if they recovered later, that first instance would leave a mark on their soul. However, to his surprise, Leonel didn't seem to be one of these individuals. In fact, he locked onto Sarrieth as though he was a beast who had finally found his prey.
    The flood that was Leonel's aura made it feel as though the gravity in the surroundings had grown by a factor of ten. Hardly anyone dared to breathe too heavily, scared to gain the ire of this beast.
    "I received word that there's been a disturbance here." Sarrieth suddenly spoke, far more quickly than anyone expected him to. Others would have assumed that this standoff would last much longer, but Sarrieth was far too cunning for this. Seeing that he had lost to Leonel in momentum, he immediately shifted tactics. "Care to elaborate?"
    "Disturbance? I didn't see any." Leonel said plainly.
    Sarrieth didn't seem surprised by this response. He continued to speak unhurriedly.
    "Are you aware that lying to a member of the Valiant Council is considered to be an act of rebellion."
    "I'm well aware of all your little rules." Leonel replied. "Unfortunately, though, 'disturbance' isn't clearly defined within your by-laws. So, I can only interpret your question to the best of my ability.
    "If, though, what you meant was to ask if a battle had occurred, then the answer is yes. But, this was a sanctioned battle recognized by Valiant Heart."
    Sarrieth's gaze narrowed. "Oh? In that case, it seems that I've made this trip for nothing."
    "Indeed." Leonel nodded, moving to walk by Sarrieth. "But, you also seem to have a habit of doing exactly that, no?"
    Sarrieth didn't react much to these words, but Nigmir's forehead vein bulged. It seemed like he wanted to attack any moment now. How could he not tell that Leonel was referring to the matters of that day? In fact, it felt as though he was publicly mocking them.
    Back then, not only did Sarrieth come too late to do much of anything, for the sake of the bigger picture, he also had to swallow his pride and wait patiently for all the matters to be concluded. It was precisely because of Sarrieth that their plot went so smoothly and it was also because of this his path toward the blue belt was so easy and why he had a place reserved for himself on the Valiant Council despite being the youngest member.
    Now, they could only watch as Leonel's back receded further and further away.
    "King, we should have taught that brat a lesson! We could have easily come up with any number of fake charges if we wanted to!"
    Unable to hold back his anger, after Leonel had left, Nigmir couldn't help but growl this out in a low tone. But, what he received in return was a smack to the back of the head.
    This smack wasn't from Sarrieth, but rather the red-headed beauty beside him, Aanlin.
    "Don't say such stupid things again." Aalin warned.
    Nigmir bit his teeth. "Why?!"
    If it wasn't because he knew that this woman was Sarrieth's closest confidant, he would have most definitely lashed out by now.
    "Use your head. Why is it that that 'brat' was effectively accused of killing ten students, a crime punishable by death, yet is still able to walk and strut about?"
    Nigmir froze.
    "Now you want to use your head? Do you really think that Raylion didn't say his name because he disdained to? That was just a convenient excuse. The real reason he didn't say that kid's name is because it's obvious that the elders are hiding a secret about him that they haven't told any of us. Not saying his name is akin to leaving us a way out should anything go wrong in the future.
    "As long as matters stay like this and everything remains above board, things can be dismissed as matters between kids. But, the moment you start bending rules to suit your needs, it becomes bigger than that.
    "Rules are agreed upon by the upper echelon, if they're ignored, it can be argued that it's by tacit agreement of the elders. In that case, this matter will blow up.
    "He can be suppressed, he can be bullied and even somewhat humiliated, but don't take things too far until we learn of what his background really is."
    Nigmir clenched his jaw so tightly that his gums almost bled.
    "Are you trying to tell me that we should just let him strut about as he pleases because he comes from a powerful family?"
    "Are you a child?" Aanlin snapped. "That's exactly what I'm saying. The world isn't fair. You better put that murderous intent of yours away. It's not like you can defeat him anyway.
    "The only reason Raylion pitted himself against this Leonel so firmly was to force the elders to choose. He sees himself as the future of Valiant Heart Mountain and can't allow the elders to be swayed by the potential of outside support.
    "None of that means that he's willing to become enemies with such a family. If you want to seek death, do it yourself. This arena we're playing in right now is a duel between those two. Read some history books if you want to find out what happens to those who stick their noses into the battle between two lions."
    Sarrieth didn't say a word from start to finish. But, his gaze told a completely different tale outside his expressionless visage.
    'Two lions, huhбн? Aren't their corpses devoured by the hyena in the end regardless?'

 Chapter 665 - The Weather Problem.

    "You aren't going to do any work?" Aina sent a glance back toward Leonel, standing over a beast corpse.
    As opposed to Earth which was mostly water, the world Valiant Heart Mountain resided on was mostly land. This not only made water an extremely valuable resource, but it also made controlling ownership of land just as difficult.
    One would think that the reason Valiant Heart Mountain was set up at its current location was because of the seven Peaks acting as a great protective barrier. But, the truth was that this was only a secondary condition. The main reason that location was chosen was due to the floating islands. Namely, the waterfall phenomenon on said floating islands.
    With the Valiant Heart World being over 90% land, and with the remaining 10% of water being mostly salt, it was no surprise that such freshwater sources were incredibly valuable.
    This was all to say that many of the missions Valiant Heart handed out in exchange for merit points were population control missions. Of course, not population control for people, but rather, beasts.
    One would think that with such a low supply of water, the population of beasts would also suffer, and this line of thinking wouldn't be wrong. However, before one could reach that saturation level, Valiant Heart Mountain would likely be overrun.
    As one might expect, then, all of the missions Leonel chose were targeted toward these matters. And, since they were freshmen missions, all the beasts were also quite weak and easy to deal with. In fact, Leonel felt that the beasts that had stored the regular tags from the Freshmen Exam were actually more powerful than their current targets, let alone the golden tag beasts.
    The result was Leonel watching Aina do all the work while he supposedly laid back. It was no wonder she was complaining.
    Leonel grinned from atop a tree.
    "I can't enjoy watching my girlfriend fight? Your battle tactics are too mesmerizing."
    Aina blushed beneath her mask, but unfortunately for Leonel, he couldn't see it. Instead, all he received was a scathing reply.
    "You have that sort of fetish?" Aina blinked innocently, but there was very clearly a judgey light in her eyes.
    Leonel looked from Aina, toward the massive ax in her hand, and then back. Thinking about how she manhandled the beast previously, he coughed.
    How had he gotten himself painted into such a corner?
    James once told him about a sex position called reverse missionary where the female did all the pumping. Leonel remembered thinking that it was absolutely ridiculous, what kind of man allowed such a thing. But now he was being painted out to be that man.
    He really couldn't afford to get into a war of words with this girlfriend of his. How was he always on the losing end?
    Leonel coughed. "A fetish for petite beauties? Of course!"
    Aina burst into a fit of laughter. Hiding her own kinks while teasing Leonel for his? Would she be a good girlfriend if she didn't do at least that?
    "Truthfully, I'm trying to model your fighting style." Leonel hopped down from the tree.
    With swift movements, he cut the right paw of the massive bear off and placed it into his spatial ring. As for the rest of it, he gazed at Aina.
    "Do you think it would make good meat?"
    Aina took a quick look before shaking her head no. With that, the two quickly left the area, needing seven more right paws to finish their quota.
    "What do you mean by modeling?"
    Aina followed after Leonel. With his senses, it was basically like a compass that always led them to the next target quickly and safely. She had no reason not to trust him.
    "I'm working on a new ability. If it works out, it will allow me to quickly complete a prediction model for an opponent after a few exchanges in battle. But, coming up with the perfect parameters is a bit difficult."
    Not many would understand what Leonel was saying, but considering Aina had been in Class A alongside Leonel, she of course understood.
    "Sounds like the weather problem." Aina commented offhandedly.
    Predicting the weather had been the bane of all meteorologists on Earth for centuries. One would think that after the turn of the 25th century, it would be easier. But, ironically, noбн In fact, the Ascension Empire had an easier time forcing certain weather patterns through their terraforming technology as opposed to guessing it with 100% accuracy.
    The so-called 'weather problem' Aina mentioned was actually one the pair learned about in one of their many philosophy classes. Ironically, it had very little to do with the field of meteorology. In the schooling system of the Ascension Empire, that you thought was far less important than how you thought.
    The weather problem essentially emphasized the important of taking hold of the future in your own hands and not being passive. Who cared if you couldn't predict the weather if you could cause the weather?
    The instant Aina said those words, Leonel's feet came to a grinding halt. His actions were so abrupt that Aina, who had been running diagonally to him, crashed into the side of his shoulder and spun like a top.
    But, before she could fall, Leonel caught her waist and rose her into the air as though she was a baby rather than a full grown woman.
    "You're a genius!"
    Leonel happily laughed, bringing Aina down into a strong hug.
    "бнMmmбн I can't breathe."
    "Sorry, sorry." Leonel grinned wildly. He would have planted a kiss on this girl had she not been wearing her mask.
    That was right. Creating a perfect predictive model was a tall task, it would probably require as perfect an understanding as he had for the spear for every weapon in existence, not to mention a myriad of other factors. Even if Leonel slowly built a model mid battle, how many exchanges would it take? Would it even be worth it? Would he be defeated before the model even finished? Or would he defeat his opponent long before, thus making his efforts useless?
    'But thisбн This could workбн'
    Just as Leonel was about to answer to Aina's questioning gaze, his head snapped in a certain direction.. A powerful howl reached their ears followed by the screams of humans.

 Chapter 666 - Dream Model

    Leonel and Aina locked gazes for a moment before simultaneously jetting off in the same direction.
    Aina couldn't help but look toward Leonel with a hint of surprise.
    "When'd you get so fast?"
    Leonel turned toward Aina and winked. Leaping off the ground, he shot into the trees like a swallow, the faint image of an illusory pair of wings appearing to his back.
    "бн" Aina shook her head. "Show off."
    Aina's body was instantly wrapped in a thick crimson fog. Her thighs bulged to a one size increase, causing her body to catapult forward.
    The couple almost instantly made it to the source of the sound. But, they weren't foolish. Rather than instantly jumping into the fray, they both hid in the trees, watching what was happening below with furrowed brows.
    The beast could only be described as grotesque.
    It stalked forward on four legs, its jagged teeth dripping saliva that stunk of rotting flesh. It was two and a half meters in length, not including its tail which seemed to have had a chunk bitten out of it.
    Its body was covered in patchy, mustard yellow fur with a sprinkle of black spots. Somehow, though it was clearly a four legged creature, its upper half was far bulkier, manifesting itself in a large hunched back that bulged with muscles that could make one's scalp tingle.
    The creature's claws were about the only clean thing about it. They were so polished and sharp that dirt, grime and blood couldn't seemed to get any hold on them. They almost seemed completely out of place.
    Though the creature's looks weren't great and it was even missing an eye, its strength was undeniable.
    As though its bones were formed of heavy steel, its every step made the ground quake. The rippling of its muscles bulged with energy, carrying a strength that could snap even these ancient trees, tempered in a Fifth Dimensional world, right in half.
    Leonel could immediately tell that this creature had the strength of someone at Tier 6 at the very least, and that was only if he considered its lack of intelligence. Objectively, it had the strength equivalent to someone at Tier 7.
    If it wasn't for the situation, Leonel would suck in a cold breath. What kind of monster was this? And what the hell was it doing here?
    What made it even more baffling was that the screams from below were from black belts just like them. In fact, Leonel recognized two among them: Irolana and the massive Ingkath.
    Along with Radlis, Balthorne, and of course, his lovely Aina, these two were supposed to be the cream of the crop of this freshmen batch. And, as expected, they didn't disappoint, joining a Peak not even a few days after entering Valiant Heart.
    Due to this, Leonel hadn't seen them since that fateful day.
    The last time he interacted with them, they tried to draw a line between him and them so as not to offend their seniors. But, Leonel didn't mind this very much. After all, they didn't owe him anything, he didn't expect everyone to be as stupid as he was.
    Now, though, he was in a bit of a dilemma. A fight against a beast with Tier 7 strength most definitely wouldn't be easy.
    Just as Leonel was fighting against his own morality, he found Aina looking at him with a blazing gaze. Within it, he saw excitement and anticipation, as well as a slight pleading.
    Leonel knew Aina well. She wasn't begging to save these people. In this regard, she was far more cold blooded than he was. Rather, she wanted to battle.
    Leonel grinned. "Alright. Let's do it."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    "Sit tight Little Blackstar."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    "Yes, yes. I know you want to fight too. But I want to test something."
    Aina shot out of the tree that instant, leaving deep footprints in its bark.
    She fell like a speeding bullet, her palm flipping over to reveal an ax shimmering of gold and red as she landed heavily on the ground between the group and the creature.
    Leonel stood, his expression turning a jarring cold as a bow appeared in his hands. His breathing grew steady, his heartbeat slowing to a crawl. Every blade of grass seemed to be reflected in his mind. The speed of the wind, the humidity, the shade of the trees and the rays of the sunlight, all of it was perfectly formulated.
    The group of freshmen below were stunned. At first they were happy beyond measure, but when they noticed the black belt around Aina's waist, they fell into despair once again.
    "Run!" One of them yelled.
    It might have been nice had these words been targeted for Aina, but they very clearly weren't. The words had hardly left his lips before he turned tail. The only thing he wanted was for Aina to last just a few more seconds than the last person did before getting ripped apart. Maybe then he would be able to escape.
    Leonel's senses locked onto this person, but soon he wasn't the only one running. A group of what was at least seven only had three left in the blink of an eye.
    Leonel couldn't be bothered to care anymore. This was the world of the Dimensional Verse. Over time, he was getting more and more used to it.
    Aina faced the creature as it ripped into the corpse of a freshman, one of its paws anchoring the carcass down as it used its sharp teeth to rip into the poor kid's chest.
    Sensing Aina, it looked up, its one eye turning hostile instantly.
    Leonel stood within the tree, his breathing relaxed as Aina brandished her ax.
    'Dream Model.'
    Leonel's gaze flashed, his Dream Force churning as the Three Stars of his Ethereal Glabella began to rotate faster and faster.
    Leonel nocked three arrows, releasing them all at once as Aina charged.
    One whizzed a centimeter from her earlobe. The second deflected slightly off the neckwear that hung from her shoulders. The last shot just beneath her elbow as she raised her ax.
    If anyone was looking on from afar, it would seem as though Leonel was trying his best to kill Aina and she just so happened to subtly move enough to dodge all his attemptsбн

 Chapter 667 - Thirds

    As much as Aina trusted Leonel, the feeling of whipping wind slicing so close to her body couldn't help but make her freeze for a moment. It wasn't like Leonel had never supported her from the rear like this before. In fact, this was their favorite battle style whenever they fought together. The main issue was that usually Leonel's arrows would be half a foot from her at the closest, he had never toed the line like this before.
    Luckily, Leonel had already accounted for the chance of Aina freezing.
    His arrows tore past her, two curving toward the snout of the prowling creature and the last shooting for its last remaining eye.
    Distracted by the arrows, the creature couldn't take advantage of Aina's lapse, immediately finding itself targeted in some of its most sensitive regions.
    PENG! PENG! PENG!
    The creature reacted quickly, swiping its paw and knocking down all three arrows at once.
    "Trust me." Leonel's voice drifted to Aina's ears.
    Aina had already begun to move, her ax descending from the skies with a valiant strength.
    Leonel's gaze flickered, several simulations layering in his mind at once.
    After his training, Leonel was able to split his mind into 27 ways. Originally, Leonel had been planning to rely on this to complete Dream Model.
    By now, Leonel was able to simulate matters of the Third Dimension with a probability infinitely close to 100%. Even when it came to matters of the Fourth Dimension, he had a better than 90% accuracy.
    The issue came in that 90% was not good enough in battle. It worked fine when Leonel had time to complete thousands upon thousands of simulations for the sake of his Crafts. But in battle, if he tried to do such a thing, he would be asking for death.
    At best, in battle, he would be able to use his 27 minds to complete 27 simulations in a split second. This was nowhere near enough with such a low accuracy rate.
    As if this wasn't bad enough, the accuracy of Leonel's simulations in a controlled environment versus one with endless variables varied wildly.
    It was one thing to simulate the creation of a Craft in a laboratory with no outside influences, but how could it be just as easy to map out the simulation of a living, breathing being?
    When Leonel ran into this roadblock, he was enlightened during his time of intimacy with Aina. Rather than trying to have the perfect parameters already formed pre-battle, why not build them in the midst of battle? This would give him far more flexibility and it would also take far less stamina.
    However, it was then that Leonel was met with yet another stone wall.
    Leonel became like a machine, his arrows raining down in an endless avalanche. Every time, they would narrowly slide past Aina, almost making it seem as though she was spontaneously dodging every time.
    Leonel's gaze grew fiercer and fiercer, his fire rate increasing.
    PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG!
    Having long since tapped in the Four Seasons Realm, Leonel's endless barrage filled the surroundings with a biting cold. It felt as though a relentless hail was falling. The combination of both he and Aina made the creature constantly backtrack, its steely body becoming peppered with terrible wounds.
    'This is itбн'
    Aina had brought enlightenment to Leonel. In battle, why should he be the one to wait for the opponent to react? Wouldn't that constantly put him in a passive state?
    The weather was so difficult to predict because even the smallest changes in variables could lead to large sweeping changes. However, who cared if you could control it as you pleased?
    In battle, Leonel wasn't the only one that needed to counter. His opponent needed to counter as well. Just like he was trying to see through his enemy's movements, so was his enemy trying to see through his own.
    In that case, rather than wasting time trying to guess every possible reaction his opponent might have, why not force him to the point only a few reactions were even possible?
    If an enemy felt a strike coming for their head, they might be able to dodge and counter quickly. But, if that same strike was coming for their knee, would it be just as easy?
    Most would have to block in that situation, thus delaying their counter. The only exceptions would be someone with a special ability that allowed them to circumvent this. But in that case, Leonel would only have to tweak the model.
    'Model complete.'
    Within Leonel's Dream World, a life-like construction of the creature appeared. It was as though he had Dream Sculpted a living, breathing beast.
    However, there was a difference between this construct and the real one. This Dream Model had pulsing red points dotted across its body almost like a location tracker.
    In the real world, Leonel's aura reached its peak.
    He grasped at air, pulling out two arrows from nothing.
    He held one between his pinky and ring finger, nocking the other one and releasing it in swift motions.
    Without pausing, he nocked the second, flipping it between his fingers as though it was a pen rather than a lethal weapon.
    The two arrows flew in a completely straight line, headed directly for the back of Aina's head. One would think that Leonel surely had murderous intentions. But, in that instant, Aina's weight suddenly shifted.
    Aina's hips dropped. Swinging her ax to a side, she gathered up momentum, feeling the arrows whizz by her.
    Within Leonel's Dream World, 27 creatures faced 27 Aina's and 54 arrows. In that moment, the images all overlapped, all pointing toward a single future.
    Caught off guard by the sudden attack from a blind spot, the creature could react before its only good remaining eye was pierced through.
    Before it could even cry in agony, the second arrow arrived right behind it, tearing the butt of the first arrow in two.
    The creature felt the two arrows spreading its eye and brain matter apart. A horrified howl finally released along with the rotting stench of its breath. But, there was no recourse as Aina's ax swung down.
    As though by coincidence, the large blade fell over the creatures wounded eye, splitting its head into a third and a two thirds piece.

 Chapter 668 - Skeleton

    Leonel jumped down from the tree, landing heavily on the ground beside Aina.
    "Not bad." He said with a grin.
    What he received in response, though, was an elbow to the side.
    "Were you trying to get me killed?"
    Leonel smiled sheepishly. "Of course not, how could I bear to hurt you?"
    "Yip! Yip!" Little Blackstar landed on Leonel's head, knocking him a few times on the head.
    It seemed this little guy would never take his side again. Leonel really didn't know who his true partner was. Was her chest really so comfortable?
    The moment he had this thought, Leonel grew absentminded before he nodded. Maybe it wasn't so shocking after all.
    'Alright, fair enough. You win.'
    "At least give me an inch next time." Aina rolled her eyes, feeling that Leonel was thinking of something lewd.
    Leonel laughed. "Nope. I understand my precious girlfriend's combat style the best, you're the only one I can do this with. How can I not take advantage?"
    Aina was speechless. She was precious? So precious that you didn't mind almost killing her?
    Aina shook her head. If it was anyone else, she might refuse to the end. But since it was Leonelбн Well, she knew that he would never harm her.
    Maybe to Leonel, the barely half centimeter of breathing room he gave her was already him being overly cautious. If he really didn't care about her life, he might leave her small cuts with his every arrow to be the most efficient.
    Though Aina only had this thought fleetingly, she had no idea how true it really was. To Leonel, that half a centimeter had no difference from a meter or more.
    "Fine. Get to dissecting then." Aina spoke.
    "Huh?" Leonel blinked.
    "This beast has some useful pieces."
    Leonel's expression changed. Sniffing the air and confirming that the rotting smell was indeed coming from this vile creature, his face warped.
    "Areбн You sure? You're not just saying that to spite me, right?"
    Aina didn't even respond to Leonel. Rather, she looked back toward the three who still couldn't believe what they had seen. Though her expression instantly turned cold when she saw them, she still felt that they were better than the four of their teammates who ran.
    Ingkath and Irolana, along with a third Leonel didn't recognize, were still in shock about what they had just seen. Were these two really freshmen?
    The third individual might have been wearing a black belt, but they had already been in Valiant Heart for more than two years. But, they had never seen such a thing before.
    Two freshmen defeating a Tier 7 beastбн Was this a joke?
    "Thank you!"
    Ingkath was the first to step forward and display his gratitude. In truth, he was a bit embarrassed. Most of his team had run away, while he, himself, hadn't dared to help. Though he was sure that he would have only gotten in the way had he tried, it still didn't feel too good.
    He had come to this place with such high aspirations and thought he wouldn't ever have to fear anything as long as he had his two fists. Everything was supposed to be smooth sailing.
    Yet, the moment he got here, he met roadblock after roadblock. First he failed to join Hero Peak, that honor going to the girl before him now. Then he barely passed the Exam for Honor Peak, leading to a whole host of injuries he couldn't afford to cure. This eventually led to him falling behind and not getting a chance to take advantage of any resources.
    By the time he had slowly healed, the rules of the organization were flipped on their head. Now, even as a freshmen, he had to leave and complete endless missions before he could even think of training in exchange for merit points.
    Now, he was seeing Leonel, the very man who he had looked down on before, casually dissect a beast he couldn't dream of beating.
    From his kneeling position, Leonel waved an arm toward their thank you.
    "No problem, don't worry about it. We're fellow freshmen anyway."
    Ingkath looked back toward his teammates, not knowing what to say to this. As for Aina, she remained completely silent.
    "Do you need the whole thing?" Leonel suddenly asked.
    "Not the whole thing. Just its kidneys." Aina replied.
    "Alright."
    Leonel learned his lesson from last time. This time, he wore his Crafting gloves so as not to get dirty.
    If others knew he was using such a treasure in this fashion, it would likely start riots. But, since they had no other use for him now that he Crafted bare handed, he didn't really care much.
    "Oh, this skeleton is pretty good."
    Leonel's brows raised. He had guessed that the creature definitely had a heavy frame, but he didn't really expect its whole skeleton to actually be made of metal. The best part was that it was Tier 7 to Tier 8 in sturdiness despite not having any other special abilities.
    Leonel smiled, making sure not to breathe as he stripped the whole beast bare of flesh. He realized during this battle that his arrows were far too fragile. He could definitely use this skeleton to form some powerful arrow heads.
    "Ah!"
    At that moment, the third of the group, the very one of the freshmen Leonel didn't recognize, suddenly covered his mouth in shock.
    Leonel's head snapped around, but he frowned when he realized there weren't any other enemies around. Now that he thought about it, how could anyone possibly sense an enemy before he did?
    He raised an eyebrow, his gaze landing on the young man.
    "Is something wrong?"
    "Tбн Thбн Thatбн." The young man felt his knees going weak. "That's a Silver Clawed Titan Hyena!"
    Leonel blinked. "бн And?"
    If it was poisonous, Aina would have already warned him long before this young man said anything.
    The lip of the freshmen quivered, realizing that no one understood how important this matter was.. It was only then he realized that these people had hardly been here for two months.

 Chapter 669 - Oryx

    "We need to run! Now! The Titan Hyena is the favored mount of the Oryx Tribe. You don't understand how rare it is for this species to have a complete skeleton of metal!
    "Originally, I didn't think much of it. Titan Hyena's with incomplete skeletons are still rare, but it wouldn't be impossible to run into. But, one with a complete skeleton is a completely different story. The full metal skeleton genes are all recessive alleles. If even one is missing, the Titan Hyena will have an incomplete skeleton. There's no way the Oryx Tribe would mistakenly let such a pure bred Titan Hyena loose without reason!"
    The freshmen was so agitated that he spoke out everything in a single breath.
    Leonel frowned.
    This Oryx Tribeбн It wasn't the first time he had heard of them. During Raylion's speech, many of the worst sins toward the end involved the mention of this Tribe. But, that was about all Leonel knew. He wasn't aware of anything else about them.
    A recessive allele wasn't complicated, at least not on Earth. There were only two types Leonel was aware of. The dominant allele and the recessive allele.
    When a baby is conceived, it will receive one allele from each parent for every gene expression it might need in the future. A dominant allele only needed one of itself present to manifest. A recessive allele, however, would need both from both parents.
    This essentially meant that for the Titan Hyena to have a full skeleton, both of its parents would have to also share this trait.
    Well, that was as long as genes were expressed in the same way across worlds, something that Leonel wasn't exactly sure of. For all he knew, the process was more complicated than this for Titan Hyenas.
    Technically, if things worked like they did on Earth, two parents who each had one dominant allele and one recessive allele could still come together to produce a child with two recessive alleles. But, from the words of the freshmen, it seemed that the Titan Hyena needed multiple sets of recessive alleles for multiple gene expressions rather than just one.
    In that case, the luck that would be involved for the spontaneous creation of a perfect Titan Hyena would be astronomical. It was no wonder this freshmen was panicking.
    In all likelihood, a member of the Oryx Tribe was definitely nearby. Or, at the very least, they were scouting in preparation for a mission and just never expected that there would be anyone in this region who was capable of taking down such a beast.
    Thinking it through, the likelihood of it being the latter was incredibly high.
    This was a region where freshmen were deployed for population control missions. Logically, there shouldn't be danger on this level here.
    Leonel's gaze sharpened. 'What an interesting opportunityбн Seems lady luck is on my side.'
    Leonel looked toward Aina, their gazes seeming to have come to a tacit understanding. It seemed that things were getting interesting.
    Leonel stood from his kneeling position by the Titan Hyena's corpse, taking out a spear with a long blade. It was a weapon those of Valiant Heart Mountain would drool over, yet he seemed to always use it to dissect corpses now.
    With swift movements of his wrist, Leonel sliced all the flesh off. If it wasn't for the sparse droplets of blood that still remained on the corpse, one would have never guessed that the skeleton had ever been attached to any flesh at all.
    "Have you run into other teams in this region?" Leonel asked, putting the skeleton away.
    "бн Yes, there should be quite a few." Irolana replied. "Ever since freshmen began to need merit points to train, this has been one of the most popular regionsбн"
    Leonel nodded. He had been focused on Aina and finding their next target, so Leonel had functionally ignored everything else.
    "We're going to need to start getting everyone to retreat. Is there some sort of signal you all learned?"
    Leonel was aware that until just recently, only freshmen who had joined Peaks were allowed to leave the mountain. Logically, there would probably be some life saving measures Valiant Hall taught to decrease the casualty rate.
    "бн We have flares, but they only call for help." Irolana explained.
    Hearing this, Leonel shook his head. He only needed to remember the reaction of those four who ran away to know how that would go. Even if he lit the flare under the guise that they needed help just to attract everyone over, who knew how many would come? Plus, wouldn't the signal flare also alert the Oryx Tribe?
    "The Oryx and their Titan Hyena's only see in infrared and the warmer colors of visual light. They basically only see in reds and everything else blends into it. The color of the flare was chosen to easily blend into their vision and fuse with everything else. Even if we shoot it, unless the Oryx are specifically looking for it, they won't notice."
    Leonel paused. Considering this was likely a plot by the Oryx, it was still possible that they'd be looking out for such a flare. But, this was better than nothing.
    "Let's do it. Light up the first flare.
    бн
    "Wait! Wait! I can't run any further!"
    Deep within the thick forest, a group of four gasped for breath. You would think that as Fourth Dimensional entities they would be able to run for much longer. But, no matter what strength level you were at, going all out was going all out.
    Plus, this was a Fifth Dimensional world. The fact they could even stand in this place without falling to their knees was a testament to their talent.
    "It's not chasing us, is it?"
    "I think we got far enough away."
    "бн The othersбн?"
    The three looked toward the one who had spoke these words before looking toward each other. A hint of guilt in their eyes.
    Eventually, a young man amongst them steeled his resolve.
    "Staying would have only gotten us killed. We didn't have the strength to be of any help, what good would it have done to throw our lives away?"
    The three felt somewhat better hearing this.
    Right. Wasn't it better that some of them survived? Would there even be a point to sacrificing themselves? What a joke.
    "Hm? Did you guys hear that?"
    "Hear what?"
    A slight tremor shook the ground.
    The four froze, looking in a certain direction.
    The trees seemed to bend out of the way, the foliage snapping and flattening under the presence of this humanoid.
    At first, all they saw was a simple shadow.
    The ground trembled once again. But, this time, it made their knees quake. The vibrations traveled through their feet, reverberating throughout their chests.
    What the four saw next was a sight they would never forget in their lives. Though, for how long said lives would last for beyond this periodбн Maybe that was something they knew well wouldn't be long.
    The figure could barely be considered to be humanoid. Its frame was incredibly wide and its legs were inverted at the knees and covered in coarse black fur.
    The digitigrade legs of the figure ended in bestial feet with curling sharp claws that dug deeply into the ground.
    The torso of the humanoid was bare, but it bulged of muscles that seemed constructed from steel cords. Its individual muscle fibers were so clear from every minute movement that it looked as though it was flexing as hard as it could constantly. But, the reality was very far from thisбн
    Even with the height of the humanoid being almost three meters, the eyes of the four weren't drawn to its fur covered legs, or its steely torsoбн Rather, they couldn't take their eyes off of its face.
    Two tusks so long they nearly pierced into its chest hung from its mouth. Its horns were thick and rounded almost like a sheep's, but it radiated with a light that made it look like polished steel.
    The humanoid had three eyes. Two placed normally and a third running a vertical slit between its brows. Each was a furious shade of red that made it look as though they had been dyed in blood.
    Crisscrossing scars danced across the humanoids body, its vision expressionless as it locked gazes with the four before it.
    "бн Orбн Oryбн. Oryx Tribeбн"
    The four stuttered. But, the humanoid walked by them as though it had seen and sensed nothing. If they hadn't been so racked with fear, they would have noticed that within the eyes of the Oryx, there was an absentminded, one track thought that had taken over its mind.
    The four stood frozen. The stench coming from the Oryx was so palpable that it made their eyes water. Yet, they didn't dare to move from start to finish, even as the Oryx disappeared into the distance.
    The four held their breaths even long after the Oryx had disappeared, not daring to move a single inch.
    Minutes later, their heart beats began to return to normal. Had they really survived?
    They looked toward each other with excitement and happiness before their expressions immediately became one of horror.
    SHIIING!
    Not a single one of them got the chance to speak another word. Their bodies were sliced and diced apart, their remains being minced into such fine paste that they appeared like a crimson fog.
    Their last thoughts were filled with grievances. Not a single one of them seemed to understand how it is they had diedбн.. Not a single one of them had noticed the massive crimson halberd on the Oryx's back move.

 Chapter 670 - Flare

    "Hold on."
    Leonel stopped Irolana just as she was about to release the flare.
    "Hand the flare to me."
    Irolana was confused but nodded in the end.
    Leonel rolled the flare in his palm, scanning it from top to bottom.
    "Let's move." Leonel said, gazing at the Titan Hyena's corpse.
    The group quickly complied as Leonel continued to observe the flare.
    If the Oryx could only see in red, that would be fine. But, according to Irolana and the others, they could also see infrared. This was a problem for two reasons.
    For one, they'd be on a time crunch. Things would be fine as long as the sun was still in the sky. But, once it set, the Oryx would gain a decisive advantage.
    During the day, the Oryx's red sight would interfere with tracking somewhat. But, at night, an Oryx might be able to pick out a human through hundreds of meters worth of foliage just based off their body heat.
    The second issue was tied to this issue of heat. The signal flares Leonel was aware of were essentially controlled bursts of combustion. Even if it was masked with color, it might be an issue.
    'Oh, so it's not the same. It works with a Light Prism Oreбн. In that caseбн'
    Leonel's fingers began to move at a blistering pace, leaving blurs in their wake. In the blink of an eye, he deconstructed the signal flare and put it back together.
    "Little Blackstar."
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink hopped down from Leonel's head and snatched the newly made signal flare. He vanished into thin air before suddenly appearing a hundred meters up a thick tree.
    Quickly reaching the outer edges of the canopy, the little mink hid his body within the foliage and raised the signal flare up, his little paws swiping at the triggering mechanism.
    A muffled pop rang out. But, the dull nature of the sound was nothing compared to the tall light that suddenly pierced into the sky.
    It looked as though a laser had shot into the skies, only to be swallowed by the clouds above. The most shocking part, though, was the fact it didn't disappear. It hung there like a beacon even long after the little mink hopped back down.
    "A blue flare?" Irolana was shocked.
    She found it hard to still call that pillar of light a flare. At most, it should have lasted two or three seconds. In addition, the color shot should have been red to blend in with the shades of red the Oryx saw in. What was going on?
    "I don't know enough about the Oryx to guess what shades they see in. Don't you think it's much easier then to just copy the sky's color? In that case, no matter what shade they see in, it will blend in no matter what?"
    Leonel explained off handedly, but he had already brought out the Titan Hyena skeleton.
    Little Tolly sprung into action, rapidly helping Leonel form arrow tip after arrow tip.
    Leonel didn't seem to have any idea that his simple explanation had fried the minds of the freshmen who followed him. They looked up into the skies, only now realizing that after taking their eyes off of the beacon for a moment, it took them a moment to find it again and that was despite knowing that it was there!
    For anyone who knew how Light Prism type Ores worked, even a subtle tweak could result in a completely different color. It was easy to hone in on a large group like 'red' or 'blue', but to nail down a specific shade required accuracy on the order of a fraction of a fraction of a degree.
    How Leonel had accomplished this without measuring tools or even a proper working environment was completely beyond them.
    "Isбн Is it really alright to make it so difficult to find?" Ingkath couldn't help but ask.
    At the moment, the three felt like lost sheep. They absentmindedly followed Leonel without even knowing why. Maybe it was because all of his actions seemed so confident, but they couldn't really explain why themselves.
    Due to this, they had missed an obvious flaw. If it was so subtle even for them, was this really conducive to gathering more people? How many would actually recognize the signal for help? Not only had Leonel changed the usual color, he had changed its usual function and even made it difficult to spot.
    Leonel shook his head. "Things will be even better this way. Even if only a few come, that's even better. Soon, we'll be setting out to find them so even if they don't, it won't be a big deal."
    The pupils of the three constricted. Could it be that Leonel only casually did this so that they wouldn't be too idle while he completed his Craft?
    Hold on, he was Crafting?!
    Watching the liquid metal run through Leonel's hand with such deftness left them in a state of shock.
    Aina shook her head watching Leonel, a light smile on her face.
    "It's more than that." She supplemented, clearly realizing that Leonel was focused on forming these arrows as quickly as possible.
    "The fact that the flare isn't normal will help us. The first thing people will think when they see it isn't that someone is asking for help. If they thought that, very few if any would come and some might even run in the opposite direction."
    The three blushed furiously when they heard this, still embarrassed about the actions of their teammates.
    "But, if it's like this, it will make people curious instead. They might even think that there's a hidden treasure here and that they were the only ones sharp enough to spot it. That will make many more come than what you might expectбн"
    Aina had hardly finished her words when the shuffling of grass and the soft words of a few groups reached their ears.
    It had hardly been ten minutes and the first few had already come.

 Chapter 671 - Hyper Evolution

    "Huh?"
    The first group was stunned to find that there was already a group standing in the small clearing. They immediately put their guards up, thinking that they would have to fight for the treasure before they could even lay eyes on it.
    However, that was when a second and a third group appeared.
    The tense atmosphere only grew worse.
    Leonel looked up. When a few saw his face, they were quite shocked.
    While it was a toss up whether or not a senior would recognize Leonel's face, freshmen, especially those who had yet to join a Peak before the rule changes, were a completely different story. After all, because of Leonel, many of them hadn't gotten a good night's rest for weeks. If they didn't know him, they'd be way too ignorant.
    The freshmen's gazes flickered with some hints of confusion and hesitancy. Unlike the seniors of Valiant Heart, they hadn't been here for long enough to understand a lot of the rage around Leonel. They simply followed the flow in most cases. Those of them that looked down on Leonel were just going along with the crowd.
    But while it was easy to do this when amongst their own friends and their private groups, when faced with the man himself, especially when his fingers were working on the corpse of a massive Titan Hyena, they suddenly couldn't find the words to say.
    "Moos." Leonel spoke. "Explain the situation to them, you understand it all far better than I do."
    "Ah! Yes!"
    Moos, the third freshman amongst Irolana and Ingkath, began to explain things from the very beginning. As he began, Leonel put up a small silencing barrier that only allowed sound in but not out and handed the dictionary to Aina.
    As his fingers worked, he began to pepper the dictionary with questions about the Oryx Tribe. He realized that knowledge was power a long time ago. The fact he knew nothing about the Oryx could come back to bite him very soon.
    Leonel wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he could take on whoever the Oryx Tribe had sent.
    Whoever they dared to send so deep into Valiant Hall Mountain's territory was definitely extraordinarily skilled. Beyond that, who said that there was just one?
    Leonel had a feel that this matter was far larger than he knew.
    'So it's like thisбн' Leonel's eyes narrowed, his fingers never stopping. By now, he had already formed over a hundred arrow heads.
    He split one mind toward thinking of what Force Arts were best suited toward it, focused another on the discussion between Moos and the others, another was trained on his surroundings, and the last focused on the words of the dictionary. The more he learned about the Oryx, the more he was intrigued. It seemed that he had finally met a non-human humanoid race.
    Leonel quickly summarized what he had learned.
    The Oryx were the original race on this world, it wasn't until later that Valiant Heart was established.
    This was quite rare for this quadrant. No, for this entire galaxy.
    The Milky Way was a galaxy of humans, the population of other races and species was quite low unless one counted beasts. But even then, the beasts one could find here were decidedly less mystical than one could find in other galaxies.
    The Oryx were known for their superior strength, their three eyes, and especially the metal skeleton. The uniqueness of this world in being 90% land allowed the birth of certain special Ores that triggered the evolution of the Oryx down this path.
    When coming to this point, Leonel couldn't help but wonder if the Morales family evolved in this way as well. He couldn't help but draw comparisons even though the Oryx were still definitely inferior in this regard.
    What intrigued Leonel even more than this, though, were the eyes of the Oryx. According to the dictionary, that was one line of their evolution that was rapidly progressing with each generation.
    Apparently there was a special term for this. The dictionary knew it as Hyper Evolution.
    Hyper Evolution appeared rarely in the history of a species. It allowed the process of evolution that usually took billions to trillions of years to complete to have massive leaps every generation.
    Hyper Evolution usually targeted a single trait and allowed it to progress quickly. But, obviously, it wasn't helping the Oryx see a wider range of colors, so what was it building up to?
    Leonel shook his head, even the dictionary couldn't predict the future, and neither could he, so there was no use in wasting time speculating.
    If a species entered a state of Hyper Evolution, they would either rise to the top in one shot or fall to the wastes of history. As a non-human species, the Oryx most definitely had a tall mountain to climb, especially since most Hyper Evolutions ended in failure.
    'Is this why they're suddenly making such large movements?' Leonel's gaze narrowed, dispelling the sound proof barrier around him.
    "бн All of you should know about how dangerous the Oryx Tribe is, we've suffered at their hands too many times despite their populations being a mere fraction of our own."
    'A fraction?' Leonel frowned. 'During Hyper Evolution, fertility is also increased for a period of time. But, even the dictionary can't tell me how long they've been in Hyper Evolution for, its too loose a conceptбн'
    "Are you trying to tell us to trust you all? Let's say the Oryx Tribe is making such a big move so deep in our territory, who are we supposed to follow exactly? Him?"
    The young man who spoke was called Senior Lu despite also being a black belt freshman. Maybe he was emboldened by the respect his 'juniors' gave him, but he pointed toward Leonel whose hands were still moving like striking lightning.
    At that moment, the group had already grown to almost 30 and more were still arriving.
    Having finished going through the entire skeleton, Leonel whipped out his quill and began to write at a blazing pace. But, his actions left 'Senior Lu' feeling stifled.
    Leonel continued to work, his eyes locked onto this Senior Lu.
    Regaining his composure after realizing the Leonel didn't dare to do anything to him here without fear of losing the support of the crowd, Senior Lu continued to speak.
    "I'm not one to cast judgment, but I'm sure many of you were there that day when Senior Raylion gave his speech. If we follow this man, won't we just end up like cannon fodder to fuel his escape?
    "Remember, he is the one who called us here. He needs OUR help. Why should we risk ourselves for the benefit of his safety? I've seen this play out way too many times.
    "If he wants our trust despite his terrible reputation, he needs to prove himself. He should be taking up the most dangerous tasks and heading the vanguard, or else won't he just be using us?"

 Chapter 672 - Serious

    When Moos, Irolana and Ingkath heard these words, they couldn't help but panic. Even if they hadn't seen Leonel's strength today, they had still heard about what happened between him and Gersan. To take out a Valiant Hall white belt in just two exchangesбн There wasn't a single person here who could replicate that feat.
    No, that wasn't true. There was one other. But, she just so happened to be his girlfriend.
    They could only say that this Senior Lu was far too bold. Was he really not afraid of death?
    What Senior Lu had misunderstood was Leonel's reason for calling them all here and bringing them together. In his mind, Leonel was afraid of the Oryx and thus needed their help. Even if Leonel was enraged into leaving this group, who cared? The group had already been brought together. Would one more or one less Leonel make a massive difference? They could then look after each other's backs.
    This was the way of the world. Even if two people needed each other, the person who asked for help first would always be on the losing end while the other would have all the leverage. As long as he understood Leonel's weakness, Senior Lu felt that manipulating this situation and finding opportunities to protect his own life would be easier.
    "Sure. I'll take the vanguard."
    Leonel's response stunned even Senior Lu, let alone Irolana, Ingkath and Moos.
    "I'm the strongest, isn't being the vanguard obvious?" Leonel's brow rose.
    Though his expression was quite neutral aside from the change in his eyebrow, it still made others feel like he was looking at Lu as though he was an idiot.
    However, Leonel's words made the freshmen feel as though their whole worlds were being flipped upside down.
    The strongest taking the vanguard? It sounded so obvious, but why was it that they had all simply expected Leonel to refute this? When had they ever come across a senior who didn't try to take advantage of their position? When had they ever run across someone stronger than them who didn't also treat them lesser than?
    The strongest taking the vanguardбн That was a concept they had simply never heard before.
    "A general who leads men from the back isn't a general." Leonel said off handedly, his right hand flicking about quicker as he completed the last of his Force Arts.
    The freshmen stared at Leonel in a state of speechlessness. A hushed silence fell over the group.
    Aina smiled as she looked at Leonel's side profile.
    'He's so bad.'
    With a final flicker, Leonel placed the final batch of arrows into his spatial ring. Taking out his bow, he strapped it to his back and smiled toward the crowd.
    "Our goal is simple, it's only to return to the mountain pass. If there really are a troop of Oryx here, it's unlikely that they'll dare to travel so closely."
    The freshmen looked toward each other. By now, the crowd had grown to over 50. Yet, not a single one of them wasn't paying attention. Even Senior Lu felt as though there was a frog in his throat.
    "Between here and the mountain pass there is about a 50 kilometer distance. Usually, we could cross this in just an hour or two, but I have a feeling that things won't be so easy this time around.
    "The presence of the Oryx will most definitely cause a change in the habits of the beasts around here. If not yet, then very soon. Previously, the Oryx were trying to keep a low profile. But, it likely already knows that its Titan Hyena companion has died and will deduce that it can no longer keep itself hidden.
    "If the Oryx is only here for reconnaissance, then this is good news. In that case, we should make it back without any obstacle and I'm being overly cautious.
    "However, if their goal is to probe Valiant Heart's bottom line, then things won't end peacefully. We need to be ready to battle.
    "Aina."
    Aina stepped forward and flipped her palm. Soon, long and narrow boxes began to appear, each housing what looked like three small spheres which were barely a quarter the size of a palm.
    "These should be able to save your life at a crucial moment. Unfortunately, I don't have enough to give everyone more than three. But, a single one should be able to take out a Tier 4 beast and below."
    The eyes of the freshmen lit up when they heard this while Leonel's internal smile only grew wider.
    Raylion had made many mistakes that day, each of which Leonel planned on picking on and tearing apart one by one.
    But, one of his biggest of them was in just how vague he had been when listing Leonel's crimes. Even when he mentioned Leonel's faulty Crafts, he never explained what those Crafts were, what they looked like or what they did.
    Not many would instantly connect the treasures Leonel had handed out to the matters Raylion spoke of that day precisely because he had been so vague.
    Leonel wondered how Raylion would react when the very Crafts he deemed to be faulty works were suddenly in hot demand.
    The best part was that this stock didn't even have to be replenished by Leonel anytime soon. He had had this in his spatial ring for a long time already. And, by having Aina hand them out, a person who was still wearing Hero Peak's emblem, they were even less likely to make the connection.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Little Blackstar suddenly appeared to Leonel's side again, having disappeared at some unknown time.
    "Done?" Leonel whispered.
    "Yip! Yip!"
    Leonel nodded. To everyone else, it looked as though he was only rewarding Little Blackstar with a pat on the head. By this point, Aina had finished handing everything out.
    "Alright everyone, it's time to set out." Leonel took a deep breath, his demeanor shifting.
    At that moment, several howls suddenly reverberated across the forest.
    Whatever excitement the freshmen had had at that point was doused all the way through.
    Silence fell again, the trees swaying beneath a hollow wind.
    Leonel's expression grew serious.

 Chapter 673 - Two Matters

    An arrow whizzed by, arching between two thick tree branches and splitting the skull of a prowling jaguar. The beast didn't even get a chance to roar out in pain before it collapsed, falling from its high perch and landing with a heavy thud on the forest floor.
    Leonel rubbed his fingers, a tingling sensation making him very much aware that the arrow had been shot by him. Ever since his body entered the Fourth Dimension, he hadn't needed to worry about slicing his fingers on his own bowstring again. But that didn't stop the thin almost metallic string from digging into him.
    'There's a lot more than I thought there'd beбн'
    The freshmen separated out into teams to Leonel's back. If they tried to move forward in a swarm through this forest, they'd be asking to suffer.
    Instead, Leonel and Aina took the vanguard as promised. As for the others, they split into the team they had originally come with, forming up groups of five to seven as they slowly followed.
    By now, the group had run into several beasts, more than enough for them to realize that something was wrong. The populations shouldn't have been this dense.
    Only Leonel seemed to be aware of what was happening as he had already warned them that this would occur.
    The Oryx gave off a very strong odor. To humans, this was no different from any other foul smell and many would choose to just hold their nose as opposed to analyzing what was wrong.
    But the truth was different from this. The foul smell that came off the Oryx was an evolutionary quirk to scare off competition. Back when the Oryx were a much weaker race, they relied on this to carve out their territory and keep themselves protected.
    However, over time, this smell became more potent. It was even to the point that the most talented of the Oryx tended to have the most foul smells which helped them to gain the favor of mates.
    As a result, the effect of the Oryx's smell grew even more exaggerated, it was even capable of sending beasts into a frenzy from fear.
    The influx of beasts now wasn't because the Oryx could control beasts, but rather because these beasts were running away from the Oryx.
    Even with Leonel senses leading the vanguard of the group, allowing them to dodge the most populated regions, they still ran into so many.
    Leonel had taken down the most beasts, but the other groups were fighting as well. Unfortunately, things weren't so convenient for all the beasts to come down toward them from just a single area.
    Still, Leonel's constant support had long since won the favor of many of the freshmen. Even after over half an hour, though they were still over 45 kilometers from their destination, not a single person had died yet.
    As the group moved along slowly and cautiously, they ran into other groups. Assimilating these groups wasn't as difficult as it had been to convince the first. This was simply human nature, it was far easier for others to accept something when many others already had.
    Aina walked silently by Leonel's side, brandishing her ax with both hands. In a thick forest, such a weapon should have been cumbersome yet Aina didn't seem to have any problems with it at all.
    Aside from the two of them, Moos, Ironala and Ingkath followed closely behind. Since most of their team had been wiped out, it was difficult for them to split out alone with just the three of them. As such, Leonel allowed them to join up with them.
    The three remained on high alert, not wanting to be burdens. But, it felt like every time they sensed something, Leonel would have long since acted. Even the more stealthy of beasts couldn't avoid Leonel's detection.
    They had a feeling that Leonel found these beasts long before, it was just that he only acted when the best opportunity presented itself.
    'The atmosphere is too tense.' Leonel thought to himself.
    But, he wasn't sure how to alleviate it. The group walked forward in silence, the slight rustling of leaves being about the only thing one could here. The sun was still high in the sky, though obstructed by the thick canopies, one would think that it was the dead of night considering the atmosphere.
    Maybe that was a part of the issue, though. With their pace, it would be impossible to make it to the mountain pass before night fell. And, even if they tried to speed up, they would only be asking to get killed.
    'Little Blackstar already finished throwing the Oryx Tribe members off our trail, if there is more than one. But, I'm not sure how long that will last so there's no point in telling them this to get them to relax. Maybe this tense state is the best for them, they would be more likely to be alertбн'
    Leonel had sent Little Blackstar back to spread the blood and guts of the Titan Hyena in a different direction, hoping to fool the Oryx. With their love of scents, it was no surprise that they were also quite sensitive to them. So, Leonel felt it would work.
    After a quick dip in the Cleansing Waters, Blackstar didn't even have any lingering smells on him.
    But, Leonel couldn't help but wonder if it really was enoughбн
    At that moment, Leonel's pupils constricted. Holding a hand up, he brought the group to a stop.
    Everyone strained their ears, trying to sense what Leonel had. Some of them with better senses grasped onto the faint sounds of battle. In fact, it sounded as though there was a large group fighting.
    The group slowly moved forward as Leonel stretched his senses to their limits. He had to decide if they should attack or change course, but what he saw made him frown.
    Reflected in his Internal Sight, he saw the outline of a familiar silouhette. It was none other than the busty Balthorn. At that moment, her fleshly underboob was still just as prominent even as she fought amidst a group of more than a dozen at that very moment.
    Aside from her right hand lady, Henorin, she was unsurprisingly still surrounded by a flock of men. Some of these men were cowering, but others among them were still boldly trying to gain Balthorn's favor by battling valiantly.
    However, there were two matters that made Leonel pause. The first was an eyebrow raiser, but the second was something that made his own pupils constrict.
    The former was the fact that amongst the dozen, there was a man whose white belt was very prominent. It was clear that this senior had come here for the sake of either protecting or impressing Balthorn, likely even both.
    The latter though almost made Leonel sigh with helplessness.
    The creature they were battling was yet another Titan Hyena. And, since Leonel knew what to look for this time, he didn't need to cut it open to know it also had a full skeleton.
    That confirmed it for Leonel.. The likelihood that there was more than one Oryx in this forest just skyrocketed.

 Chapter 674 - Silver Spheres

    Leonel brought the group to a stop again, his senses continuing to be focused on the battle ahead.
    They were no more than 200 meters or so between them. But, through the thick forest, it was impossible to spot them with the naked eye from the distance. It was no surprise, then, that the group of about a dozen had yet to notice their appearance as well.
    Leonel steadied his breathing, slowly pulling out a silver tipped arrow. Compared to the arrows he had been using, this one was easily twice as thick and several times heavier. Its tip was split into four serrated edges, a look alone that made one want to have nothing to do with such a vicious killing instrument.
    If one looked closely, it was possible to see a faint energy coating the arrow tip. But, one who wasn't especially sensitive wouldn't notice it at all.
    With a calm inhalation, Leonel nocked his bowstring and pulled it back.
    He stood on the forest floor, aiming toward what looked like nothing but endless trees, his eyes filled with a cold calculating light.
    бн
    Beads of sweat fell down Belthorn's delicate brow. After hours of battle, her long black hair had long since been soaked through, clinging to her forehead and even parts of her collarbone.
    Around her, what looked like silver spheres hung around. Every so often, she would make a gesture with her slender hands, causing these spheres to shoot forward and smash into the limbs of the Titan Hyena.
    It was hard to tell if this was a telekinetic ability or something more complex. But, at this moment, the men and singular woman that surrounded her were most definitely not thinking about this.
    To this point, they had already lost several members of their team. If it wasn't for the combination attacks of Belthorn and the white belt senior, Jaelis, far more would have fallen.
    This sounded like a glass half full type of approach, which was good. After all, it was always better to remain optimistic in this kind of situation. But, it took a turn for the worse when one realized that their group of just over a dozen had been double this size not long ago.
    Jaelis held the Titan Hyena down with the help of others, his spear rotating quickly with his every attack. But, even with how haughty he was, he had to admit that had it not been for Belthorn's odd ability, he would have fallen several times already.
    Jaelis and three others struck forward at the same time, their blades all aiming for the snout of the Titan Hyena.
    Their blades almost reached their target at the same time, but Jaelis' eyes flashed at the last instant. In a hardly perceptible action, he slowed by a measure.
    The Titan Hyena roared, swiping a strong paw across and snapping three weapons at once.
    Its foul breath hung in the air as it lunged, plunging both sets of claws into the shoulders of another.
    The Titan Hyena ripped downward, tearing the freshman into six strips.
    Jaelis was the first to retreat, his spear tip having been spared.
    At that moment, Belthorn reacted, sending several silver balls smashing into the torso of the Titan Hyena. With it having jumped into the air, it didn't even have the chance to dodge.
    The Titan Hyena was launched back, deep dents appearing in its side. Any other creature would have been entirely crippled. But, Belthorn and the others had been through this once before. The flesh of the Titan Hyena might have deformed, causing terrible bruises, but its bones were just fine.
    The Titan Hyena latched onto a thick tree to stabilize itself, its eyes filled with fury as it locked onto Belthorn for the third time in this battle already.
    BANG!
    The Titan Hyena launched itself forward, causing the tree it had just been on to partially snap and begin swaying from side to side.
    "Form up!" Jaelis roared.
    He took a protective stance before Belthorn. Or, rather, it seemed like he had. Before Jaelis would take any sort of protective measures, the Titan Hyena had soared over its head. It seemed that Jaelis had miscalculated the flight trajectory of the beast.
    Belthorn's eyes widened, watching the massive mustard yellow furred beast falling down toward her.
    Biting her teeth, she mobilized what remained of her floating silver spheres. In order to launch her previous attack, she had flung the previous five outside of her ten meter range of control. Usually, Jaelis would find a way to throw them back to her, but he had already been retreating before he could this time.
    Now, she only had one left, the one she had left behind for emergencies. But, just this singular sphere wouldn't be able to toss the beast away like those five before had.
    She needed time to accelerate her spheres to reach that level of power. But, this foul beast was already falling toward her. Even if she by some miracle managed to kill this Titan Hyena, this wouldn't change. There was no way her body could survive the collapse of a beast so heavy onto it.
    Henorin stood beside Belthorn. Seemingly not knowing what to do either.
    "Dammit! Protect her!" Jaelis roared.
    At that moment, Henorin's eyes narrowed.
    Belthorn roared, her final sphere shooting up. Her face was drained of all color, clearly having been overtaken by fear. If anything, her final roar was less about her confidence and much more about gathering up the courage she needed to do anything at all.
    The silver sphere shot upward, but it was off target.
    Belthorn had aimed for the beast's chest. In such a situation, aiming for the largest target was best and it would hopefully give her better leverage to throw the beast off course.
    But, in her agitation, she missed, aiming too high and causing the sphere to smash against the bared fangs of the Titan Hyena.
    A splutter of bone and broken teeth flew, sending the sphere spinning off in another direction. The Titan Hyena roared in pain, but as expected, its downward trajectory didn't change. In fact, it was now even more infuriated.
    It was exactly then that a sharp whistling sound filled their ears. It was as though someone was blowing the flute right next to them all, intent on making them all go deaf.
    SHUUUUUUUU!

 Chapter 675 - Jaelis

    A blinding silver light tore through the forest. It curved in an elegant arc, snaking past the thick trunk of several ancient trees as though a god had personally come down and drawn a line through the forest.
    It appeared amidst the fighting group in an instant. The number who even noticed its appearance were too few. But by the end, everyone saw the result.
    PENG!
    PCHUUU!
    It was as though some mysterious force had ripped the Titan out of the air. The arrow was far too fast to spot. To an outside observer, it really did seem like an invisible force had torn it away from its original flight path.
    BANG!
    The Titan Hyena smashed against a tree in the distance, its body hanging limply as though a stuffed animal. It hung pinned to the thick tree, its eyes steadily growing vacant amidst its whimpers.
    At that moment, there wasn't a single person who wasn't shocked by the sudden change.
    Balthorn, who thought her life was forfeit, brought a hand to her chest, her heart beating so erratically that it sent ripples throughout her ample breasts.
    Jaelis was maybe the most stunned outside of Balthorn. That Titan Hyena was a bit weaker than the one Leonel and Aina battle previously, capping out at Tier 6 in strength. But, it still wasn't something they were able to casually face.
    Not long after his surprise faded, it was filled with rage.
    'What fool did this?! Does he not know the consequences of killing a Silver Clawed Titan Hyena?!'
    Jaelis clenched his fists.
    'Fuck! The smell. I need to leave this place quickly!'
    Jaelis hesitated, gritting his teeth. Though he couldn't defeat the Titan Hyena, he hadn't been looking to in the first place. From the very beginning, he was looking for a covert way to slip away without exposing himself.
    He was a sly man. Even if there was a small chance things would come back to bite him, he wouldn't take the risk. If not for fear that these brats would survive, he would have run away more blatantly.
    It turned out that he was right to be cautious. Had he run away, this bastard would have still interfered in the end. By then, his name would have been dragged through the mud.
    Still, calmly analyzing the situation, Jaelis realized that whoever this bowman was, he was an expert marksman. That strike only carried the strength of a Tier 5 existence going all out. In fact, it might have been just Tier 4 while infinitely close to Tier 5.
    But, this person's marksmanship, not to mention the quality of their arrows made up for this weakness.
    The instant the arrow shot through the Titan Hyena's eye, Jaelis sensed that its brain had been turned into minced meat.
    Jaelis had a sensory ability as well. It was just that his family's Lineage Factor also gave him a strong body, so he wielded the spear to make use of it. But, he was much more fond of using his ability.
    'There's more than one of them?'
    Jaelis took a deep breath, turning toward a certain direction.
    At that moment, Leonel and Aina, followed by Irolana, Moos and Ingkath entered the small clearing. Seeing Leonel, and especially noting the bow in his hand, Balthorn's eyes lit up with surprise.
    However, not long later, everyone was shocked because there were actually more than 50 individuals following behind them.
    Leonel looked at the carnage. He felt a bit of guilt looking toward the freshmen who had been sliced into six, but had he acted too soon, things wouldn't have ended so simply.
    Things became more and more complex the more people he had to take care of. With that came many more variables. That saidбн
    Leonel turned his attention toward Jaelis, ignoring Balthorn.
    At that moment, Jaelis felt as though he was being locked onto by a beast. Even the stare of the Titan Hyena hadn't nearly been this uncomfortable.
    According to Leonel's original simulation, the three freshman plus Jaelis would have struck at the snout of the Titan Hyena. Following this, the Titan Hyena would chase after Jaelis since he was the strongest and Leonel would then shoot at the perfect time to save him.
    Yet, Jaelis pulled back at the last moment which eventually led to a death Leonel couldn't stop because he had to recalculate everything at that instant.
    If Jaelis hadn't pulled back, they wouldn't have suffered anymore deaths in the slightest. How could Leonel not be infuriated?
    But at this moment, Leonel knew that it was impossible to convey this matter properly. Jaelis' actions were so subtle and well calculated that Leonel was sure that he was the only one who noticed the change at all.
    If Leonel tried to call him out now, the fragile trust he had built to now would crumble. He would come off as a man who wanted to get rid of a potential rival rather than someone indignant иC rightly so иC about the death of a fellow student.
    Controlling his emotions, Leonel pulled his gaze from Jaelis and scanned everyone else. His look hadn't lasted more than a split second. But, for a sensory type like Jaelis, it felt like an eternity.
    "I'm sure you all are aware of what's happening by now. The Oryx seem to be making a move and could be coming down at us any time now."
    As Leonel spoke, he had already walked to the pinned corpse, stripping it clean. He doused the tree bark and surroundings in cleansing waters then sent Little Blackstar off with the remains again.
    "We'll follow you." Balthorn spoke before Leonel could even ask.
    Leonel nodded. "Alright. We're still about 40 kilometers away, so let's work together."
    Balthorn was the reason so many of these freshmen had come together in the first place, so it wasn't much of a surprise that they all agreed. The only one who was hesitant was Jaelis.
    Unlike Leonel, he didn't seem intent on being the vanguard in the slightest. At this moment, he just wanted to look out for himself.
    In the end, though he decided to follow along. As much as he trusted his senses, he knew he wasn't infallible. In the case, wouldn't it be more convenient to escape if there were others blocking the way?
    Jaelis made his decision.
    **
    An unknown distance away, a familiar large humanoid figure reached thick, dirty fingers forward. The Oryx's nails looked as though they had been bitten down to size before being caked in the foulest dirt.
    However, a moment later, the Oryx's fingers were coated in a thick crimson.
    It looked around, but soon realized it had come to the end of the trail.
    It seemed that he had been following a false path.
    The Oryx stood to his full height, wiping the line of crimson across his chest.
    He rose his nose to the sky, taking a deep whiff. But after a while, he couldn't seem to sense anything.
    In the end, he looked into the sky, watching the sun that was slowly setting. This didn't matter much.. Once night descended, they wouldn't be able to escape anyway.

 Chapter 676 - Era Of War And Expansion

    Back on Earth, the matters of the war were only just beginning to be settled. It was no surprise that even after the death of the Puppet Master, Terrain was still able to put up a great fight. After all, they still had Anared's father, City Lord Keafir, and the mighty City Lord Black.
    However, a great fight was all they were capable of.
    After Anared's death, much of the hope had already crumbled. His existence was simply too important to the core plans of Terrain. Now that he was gone, even if they did win, it held no merit. With their pitiful talent, holding onto Earth until they could begin to birth Fifth Generation children who could take over for them was nothing more than a pipe dream.
    In the end, the City Lords of Terrain all committed suicide in hopes in that the innocent citizens they had brought along would be spared. Maybe then, in some small way, Terrain would become a part of Earth and live on in another form.
    Not unexpectedly, Camelot became among the greatest contributors of the war. Their sudden appearance after the second fall of White City had turned the battle for the Capital on its head. In thanks to them, the desperate last struggles of the Cities didn't cause many waves at all.
    The war finally came to a close and a time of reform began. However, this didn't mean that every place on Earth was experiencing this kind of peace.
    бн
    "You knew. Didn't you?"
    James stood before his father, his fists clenched. He tried his best to keep his expression even, but he had never been as good as Leonel at doing this no matter how hard he tried to copy his former best friend.
    James simply wasn't that kind of person. He wasn't good at hiding his emotions and often wore them out openly. It was precisely because of this that he called Leonel a hypocrite that day, not just any hypocrite, but a psychopath as well.
    Of all the people who knew Leonel, maybe other than his own father, James knew him best. He knew more than enough to know that the charisma that seemed to be the foundation of Leonel's personality was nothing more than a thin veneer hiding his true depths.
    But that didn't change the fact that James had always seen Leonel as his best friend. Yet now, the pressure from his father had split them apart.
    How could he choose between his best friend and his family? But this was exactly the choice his father forced him to make more and more frequently nowadays.
    "Did I know what?" James' father responded without even looking up from his documents.
    Hearing such words, James snapped.
    "You told me to go to Conrad's family and tell them that it was Leonel and not Aina Brazinger who kill their trash of a son! I'm asking you if you knew that Leonel was a Prince back then!"
    James' voice came out in a roar. He had never raised his voice against his father before, but right now, he felt as though his world was spinning.
    By now, who on Earth didn't know of Leonel's true identity? Let alone his name, even his picture had been broadcasted through the skies. If James didn't know by now, how much of a fool would he be?
    James' father paused, looking up.
    His gaze was sharp, seemingly drilling holes into his son with each passing second.
    At that moment, James seemed to realize that he had actually yelled at his father. An uncontrollable fear hooked into him, causing his knees to tremble and collapse under him.
    He sat on the floor, staring at the tiles before him with a blank look. His father hadn't even said a word but he still felt all his will power collapse in the blink of an eye.
    James' father looked back toward his document, not saying a word to his collapsed son for a long while. Yet, James himself didn't dare to move.
    "бн I can only say that it's a shame about the Siegfried family. They were the only ones not present when The Emperor revealed his connection with Leonel that day so it presented a great opportunity. I can only say that it's unfortunate."
    James shivered. So that really was what it was. His father wanted to use the Siegfried's family's ignorance to target Leonel, believing that all The Emperor's nonsense about going out to kill his grandson was just nonsense. Was there really a grandfather who wouldn't take action when their grandson was killed? One only needed to look at what happened to those Shield Cross Stars members to understand.
    "Setbacks like this are an inevitable part of aspiring for lofty ideals. If not for this, wouldn't everyone succeed?"
    James' father rose.
    "Soon, Earth will be opening up diplomatic channels. The worlds whose people got wrapped up in this war due to Terrain's abrupt action will use this as an excuse to reach their fingers toward this place.
    "When this happens, the nobles have decided to send you youth out to experience the world and there are a few organizations you can choose from."
    James' father paused, looking toward his kneeling son.
    "Your ability underwent a great evolution after Earth evolved, correct?"
    James' lip trembled, but he couldn't seem to form any words.
    "Good, then." His father continued without a care. "You'll go with the others and train yourself properly. This is an age of war and expansion. I don't believe that this most recent Code Black will be the last. We took great advantage of it this time, but we have yet to reclaim the former glory of the Bennett family.
    "Soon, thoughбн Our time will come."
    **
    Across worlds and through several Folds of Reality, Leonel had no idea that such a talk was occurring between James and his father, nor did he know that many were about to set out to the wider galaxy not much unlike he and Aina had.
    However, even if he did know, he would be hardpressed to spare it any attention at this point.
    The sun in the sky seemed to be sinking faster and faster, the usually quiet surroundings filled with the labored breathing of the freshmen Leonel was dragging along.
    There were still more than 35 kilometers that separated them and the mountain pass.

 Chapter 677 - Dont Disappoint

    Leonel's breathing held steady. Ever since his magic and body became interconnected, it wasn't just his speed that gained a great boost, but also his recoverability. This was only to be expected. After all, his Light Elemental Force had awakened its Healing Branch and now it was one with his body.
    Even though his current Healing Branch was almost like a glass canon, providing one massive heal in exchange for months of dormancy, it had gained a somewhat passive state as well thanks to Camelot's magic system.
    The only shame was that Leonel had been so busy recently that he hadn't had the time to research more of this magic system. He felt that he definitely had to find this time in the future.
    Leonel had already simulated the best path for him, and he felt that that was fusing his magic and spearmanship into one. As things stood now, he always either used one or the other, but that was almost like crippling himself. He would definitely have to do some more experiments.
    'It'll be night soon.' Leonel sighed.
    Nearer to dusk, the pace of the group had slowed considerably. This wasn't just due to the poor lighting, but also because of Leonel's orders.
    In the afternoon, they had focused on speed, killing every beast they came across while dodging large dens. However, when the lights began to dim, Leonel became more cautious.
    Every time a beast was killed, they would go out of their way to clean the scene and move the corpse elsewhere to throw the Oryx off course. In fact, Leonel had even gotten a few freshman with ice abilities to chill the corpses ahead of time as well so they would be even more difficult for the Oryx to find.
    All of this caution led to their pace slowing down even further.
    Though many understood why Leonel had chosen to do this, there were other anxious individuals who would have much rather focused on their speed. If they had, they might have already been half way there and just another four or five hours away.
    But, Leonel had chosen to take the opposite approach, something Jaelis was greatly unsatisfied with.
    Logically, this was the best approach to limit casualties and help the most people survive. But, why should he care about the survival of some mere freshmen?
    The darker the skies grew, the more antsy Jaelis became. He really began weighing his options for whether he should split off on his own or not.
    What he was more surprised about, though, was that he had already tried to sway the group's opinion earlier in the day. He had thought that with his white belt status, many would listen to him. And in truth, a few did.
    Among them, there was no surprise that the silent Senior Lu had also taken his side.
    But, to their surprise, the vast majority still took Leonel's side. They weren't fools. If they could come to Valiant Heart, they definitely had some intelligence of their own.
    Though Leonel's approach was a bit overly cautious, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it.
    Like this, Jaelis' small stint at rebellion had fallen flat.
    He looked toward Leonel's back at that moment, only to find that the latter didn't seem to be paying attention to him in the slightest. He didn't seem to realize that Leonel's Internal Sight was observing every single one of his actions from start to finish.
    But how could he? As far as Jaelis knew, Internal Sight was easily detectable. When had he ever run into one as subtly controlled as Leonel's?
    'I guess it's about time.' Leonel thought.
    "Alright, everyone. There should be a mine network up ahead. As long as we have metals interfering with their sight, it will be even more difficult for the Oryx to find us. We can hide away here until the morning."
    When Leonel's voice silently reached all their ears, everyone perked up.
    So it seemed that Leonel really did have a plan. This was great!
    Of course, if they all knew that the mine network Leonel was speaking of was one from the map he had memorized on the day he launched an attack at the Ores Marketбн Who knew how they would react?
    Aina looked toward Leonel's side profile.
    'He's getting more and more bad everyday.' Her lip couldn't help but curl.
    This had been Leonel's plan from the beginning. He knew they couldn't make it so he had laid a map of their progress atop of a map of Sarrieth's mind network within his Dream World. Then, he picked out a suitable location they would reach just before the sun officially set.
    Soon, the group found a small rock field. Sparse grass sputtered through every so often, but the minor 20 or so meter wide space were mostly made of greys.
    Near its center, a cave mouth hung open, dipping into the ground quite quickly. But, what was especially eye catching was the fact that there were four white belted seniors playing a game of cards by the cave entrance.
    The four sat at a table together, taking swings of what looked like liquor and happily laughing amongst themselves. It was clear that they had no idea of the looming threat hanging over their heads.
    At that moment, the four suddenly went on high alert, their eyes widening when they saw a group that now numbered over a hundred walking toward them.
    Had they really been so out of it? How had they not sensed these people approaching?
    Of course, they had no idea that Leonel had set up several sound blockades around the large group.
    "Who are you?! This is the territory of King of Ores faction! Turn away unless you want trouble!"
    The moment the four saw that this was nothing more than a group of freshmen, they relaxed.
    When had the fresh meat become so trash? They completed such simple missions in groups of a hundred now? How pathetic could they get?
    Leonel's lip inwardly curled. 'Well isn't this just perfect?'
    Raylion had no idea that Leonel's trap was slowly closing in on him.
    Clearing his throat, Leonel stepped forward.
    "Respected seniors, we're here to ask for shelter. Our group has run in to evidence of Oryx activity. It's too dangerous to stay in the forest after the sun sets. We only want to hide within the mines until morning comes."
    Leonel's expression looked sincere, but he already knew what the response to him would be.
    'Come on, King of Ores Faction.. Don't disappoint me now.'

 Chapter 678 - Scram

    The four seniors were stunned when they heard Leonel's words. Mention of the Oryx was guaranteed to cause such a reaction. After all, there were very few who could reach white belt without having heard at least one horrific story about that race of people. It was safe to say that they wanted absolutely nothing to do with this matter.
    After the initial surprise, though, one of them frowned.
    "What proof do you have of this? Why haven't we heard anything?"
    The question made sense. After all, they were about 35 or so kilometers from the mountain pass. That region had a strong concentration of Valiant Heart Mountain elites, so it was relatively safe. In fact, it was due to this that Oryx Tribe attacks so close to the heart of their organization were so rare. They usually wouldn't dare travel this close.
    Though the scuffles at the border between their territories was growing by the day, normally those were trouble only blue belts and above had to deal with. Even white belts like them weren't even qualified to worry about those matters. So, how could they so easily believe Leonel's words.
    Now that they thought about it, they felt ridiculous for the way the acted and were even somewhat embarrassed.
    Leonel hesitated when he heard these words.
    Proof? He didn't have any. He had turned the skeleton of both Titan Hyena's into hundreds of arrow heads. As for their bodies, their stench had been distributed in directions opposing to their own thanks to the help of Little Blackstar, so they obviously didn't have any pieces of it remaining.
    Leonel decided to quickly explain all of this.
    "бн So the only thing we have left that might be of some proof are the kidneys of the Titan Hyena's. Those are the only parts of them that I kept for myself."
    The four white belts looked at the large hand sized kidney in Leonel's hands then looked at him as though he was an idiot.
    "So what you're saying is that you have no proof whatsoever. But, somehow you expect us to believe that the Oryx Tribe is stupid enough to attack so close to the mountain pass? Do you take us for fools?"
    Leonel frowned. "бн. Listen, we--"
    "No. You listen. Do you think we can't recognize you? This is the last chance we'll give you to scram, or else don't blame us for being impolite.
    "If you think you can overwhelm us with numbers, think again. Not to mention the fact that we'd never lose to a pack of trash like you freshmen, do you really think that there's only the four of us here?"
    The four card playing seniors stood.
    Leonel inwardly shook his head. It seemed that these four had no idea what happened to Nigmir and the others. But, this was fine too. In fact, this was even better.
    "If it's about me, then fine." Leonel said resolutely. "I won't enter the mine, but can you at least allow them to?"
    "Leonel!" Ingkath was the first to step forward.
    Ingkath had already done too many things he was ashamed of himself for. The guilt of what his teammates had done still lingered over his head even to this very moment. Hearing Leonel want to make such a sacrifice, he couldn't stand idly by anymore.
    Leonel smiled lightly and patted Ingkath's shoulder. Even though the two of them were about the same height, at that moment, Ingkath somehow still felt that he was looking up at Leonel.
    Leonel was actually quite confident that he could survive alone, not that this was what he was aiming for right now. He was quite certain by the display these four seniors had put up to this point that they wouldn't disappoint him.
    And indeedбн
    "We're not here to negotiate with you! Since we said to scram, scram!"
    Seeing Leonel's willingness to take a step back, instead of compromising, the four seniors only became bolder. This was the true way of the world. Sympathy was something reserved for the strong. And, often times, the strong wouldn't bother to hold onto such a virtue.
    The more they thought about it, the more they realized they had to chase these bunch of freshmen away.
    By now, they didn't believe that Leonel could really be lying. Considering his status, convincing a hundred freshmen without proof of what had happened was impossible. Most of them wouldn't want anything to do with him for fear of offending those they couldn't afford to offend.
    But, even in the case that they weren't lying, they still needed to be chased away.
    There was a reason only the strong factions could hold onto mines. This wasn't only because they had to defend them from other factions, but also because mines weren't exactly safe. There were all sorts of creatures that lived in the underground networks.
    As a result of this, there were only a few 'safe' regions that could be used to hide away in. But, even all these regions added up together couldn't possibly house all these freshmen along with all the seniors that were currently already at work below whether that be in mining or in clearing new paths to be mined.
    The short of it was that they had to thank these freshmen for giving them such a warning, but if they actually expected to get any help out of themбн Well, they could wake up from their pitiful dreaming right now.
    Hearing such words, Leonel hid smile behind a cold mask.
    "You really want to turn us away?"
    His voice was frosty, even to the point the seniors didn't even respond immediately. But, this didn't last long. It wasn't even a moment later their expressions were overtaken with rage.
    "Are we not speaking in a language you can understand?!"
    Leonel's gaze narrowed, his palm flipping over to reveal three arrows as he slid his bow off his back.
    The four seniors were stunned. He actually dared to attack?! How could they not be infuriated?!
    "Wait!"
    The sudden voice stopped the sequence of events.
    Leonel frowned, watching Jaelis and Senior Lu push their way through the crowd.

 Chapter 679 - Condition

    At this point, Leonel was really curious about what exactly these two wanted to do. How would stepping out now help them, exactly?
    The reason Leonel was so confident that these four would turn him away was because he knew that whether or not he was telling the truth didn't matter. But, he was certain that Jaelis and Senior Lu believed that as long as they could prove themselves to be trust worthy, they would be allowed in.
    Leonel found this to be particularly amusing. They thought that they were being clever, when the truth was that they were simply dancing clowns.
    It was still possible for the seniors to allow them in, but Leonel could guarantee that they wouldn't allow all over 100 of them to do the same.
    The reason for this was simple. This wasn't the first of King of Ores mine they had run across. In fact, it wasn't even the easiest to get to. Leonel had made a slight detour to choose this one in specific.
    With Leonel's ore expertise, he was capable of guessing which ores could grow where simply depending on the environment. From his understanding, the ores in this place were among the most valuable assets King of Ores faction hadбн Of course, this was restricted to those mines that Sarrieth had actually shown on his map.
    This was to say that this place had the tightest security along with some of the highest priority for the faction. There was no way that Sarrieth, with his character, would place fools here. That definitely meant that they had already guessed he was telling the truth, yet couldn't allow them in for other reasons.
    Seeing that Jaelis was wearing a white belt, Leonel's internal smile only grew brighter despite the fact his face told a completely different story. In fact, now he quite hoped Jaelis was allowed in.
    "What are you two trying to do?" Leonel asked with a frown.
    Senior Lu swept Leonel a sneering gaze before completely ignoring his question.
    "Esteemed seniors." Lu bowed slightly. "I know that it's difficult to trust us, but there really is solid proof of the Oryx Tribe's movement.
    "I've heard a lot about some of the issues your King of Ores faction has had with this Leonel. But, we implore you to not punish us all simply for his mistakes. We are willing to denounce him completely."
    The atmosphere seemed to shift slightly.
    Though Senior Lu hadn't come outright and said it, many began to remember at that moment that the King of Ores faction seemed to have a great rivalry with Leonel. Could it be that this was the true reason they were being turned away?
    Moos, Ingkath and Irolana frowned deeply. It could be said that many of them had only survived so long because of Leonel. Even if it turned out that their worries about the Oryx were unwarranted, what they had all seen personally was the change in the beasts.
    On their way here, they had noticed the increased attack rate and violence the beasts displayed. Even if there was no Oryx, this alone was enough to say that Leonel had saved them all. For Senior Lu to do this now was nothing short of abhorrent.
    Yet, when they looked toward Leonel, he had paused. His three arrows remained nestled in his fingers, but he didn't seem like he was about to nock them any time soon.
    The four seniors frowned when they heard this.
    Dammit, couldn't these fools get a clue? They didn't want any of them here!
    Jaelis' expression flickered. He seemed to have understood something as well. It seemed they had misread the situation. But, he smiled inwardly. After all, he wasn't the one to speak.
    "Didn't youбн!"
    One of the seniors seemed to be about to snap when he was stopped. They began to whisper amongst each other.
    "What did you stop me for?"
    "Hush, lower your voice idiot."
    The four huddled together, believing their voices couldn't be heard by anyone but themselves. And in fact, they weren't wrong. Leonel indeed couldn't hear them at this moment, it seemed that one of them had quite the special ability.
    "Think about it, don't you think this is a good opportunity?"
    "For what? We can't afford to let them in, there's no space!"
    "Use your head for once, Yako. King gained a lot of benefits from allowing The Hero to use our faction's name, but at the same time, our prestige took a hit because of it.
    "King had no choice but to swallow this insult. After all, our rise was too abrupt. King managed to become a blue belt in just a couple years, how could he not be seen as a threat? It isn't yet time for us to go against those behemoths.
    "But, this is a good chance for us to recover some of the prestige we lost by 'losing' to a freshmen. If we humiliate him like this and the news spreads, we'll be able to get in the good books of King, don't you think?"
    The four were suddenly enlightened.
    "You're not bad Miyaбн Even though your name is a bit girly."
    Miya slapped Yako on the head, snarling. But, his lip curled into a sneer not long after.
    Miya stepped out of their group, his arms crossed over his chest. His gaze swept over the group, his demeanor looking like that of a commander in charge.
    Seeing the apprehension on the faces of them all, he couldn't help but take a breath of satisfaction.
    The feeling of having the lives of so many in the palm of his hands made him feel intoxicated.
    "We've come to a compromise." Miya said calmly. "We still have no way of telling if you're telling the truth or if you're here to sabotage our mines. So, we will allow some of you in. As for the majority, you will camp out in the surroundings.
    "If the Oryx really attacks, our detection systems will find it long in advance and we'll allow you into the mine. If not, you all will stay out here for the night."
    The freshmen felt a light of hope when they heard these words, naively trusting in the words of these seniors and in their so-called 'detection' system.
    Miya's lip curled. He had truly found a group of useful idiots.
    Allow them into the mine? If an Oryx came they'd execute one of Sarrieth's contingency plans and collapse the mine entrance and run away through the tunnels before waiting for morning. As for the lives of these freshmen? Who cared.
    "However, we have one condition."
    Miya's gaze turned toward Leonel, locking onto him.
    "If he's here, all of you can scram. I don't want to see his face.. It's displeasing to my eyes."

 Chapter 680 - Mine

    [Woke up with a splitting migraine this morning, so that why chapters are even later than usual. Really not sure if I'll be able to write a third and a fourth today... Anyway, here's at least two to enjoy]
    Leonel's gaze flashed with something that looked like rage. However, this only made Miya feel emboldened, his chest spilling over with a sense of satisfaction.
    Leonel took a deep and steady breath, looking over the crowd of freshmen that had followed him to this point. But, not a single one seemed to want to meet his gaze. Without fail, they all looked away.
    Senior Lu's sneer deepened when he saw such a scene.
    "What are you trying to do right now, exactly? Didn't you say the strong should take the vanguard? Since you're so bold, why are you trying to pressure the group of us who are so much weaker than you?"
    The heads of many of the freshmen remained lowered. But, after hearing Senior Lu's words, a small number of them regained enough courage to look up and meet Leonel's eyes.
    That was right. Since Leonel had said that the strong should sacrifice, why wasn't he sacrificing now?
    Leonel's hand trembled. But, he slowly retracted his bow, putting his arrows away. Without a word, he turned toward the forest and began to walk into it.
    Seeing such a scene, Miya and the three were stunned for a moment before they erupted into an uproarious laughter. They really didn't think that things would end so easily. To think that he was actually such an idiot.
    "That's right, scuttle away little doggie. I almost feel a bit bad, look at how pitiful he looks." Yako laughed so hard he could barely breathe.
    Miya's lip curled. But, his smile froze not long after.
    Among the freshmen, Aina didn't hesitate to follow after Leonel. It would have been fine if it was just one, but outside of even Leonel's expectations, Ingkath, Irolana and Moos clenched their fists tightly, turning away with stiff steps and following Leonel as well.
    Balthorn's expression warped. It looked like she too wanted to follow, but before she could, a slender hand chopped at the back of her head. She couldn't even understand what happened before she collapsed into darkness.
    Henorin caught Balthorn's body. Yet, by some oddity, no one blinked an eye. It was as though it had never happened at all.
    Miya soon recovered as their figures disappeared into the forest. Who cares if a few chose to follow him? A mere four out of over a hundred, such a ratio was pitiful.
    Senior Lu smiled ingratiatingly after Leonel was gone. He hadn't even opened his mouth yet, but one could already hear his fawning.
    "Esteemed seniorsбн. How will we decide who can enter the mines, if you don't mind me asking?"
    "Oh, that."
    It was only now that Miya remembered that he had indeed promised such a thing. What a hassleбн
    Now that Leonel had been thoroughly humiliated and his life was even on the line now, he didn't really care what happened to these freshmen.
    But, after some thought, he realized that there was really no point in humiliating Leonel if no one could spread the tale later. So, he had to make sure that at least some of them survived in the end. In that caseбн
    Miya scanned the crowd, his gaze lighting up when it landed on Jaelis. How could he not be drawn to the only white belt in the crowd? This was perfect.
    Freshmen were nothing but deadweight, but it was a different matter entirely if there was someone who could actually be of help here.
    "Let the strongest among you decide." Miya said after some thought. "No more than five can enter."
    Senior Lu's expression twisted, but he still looked toward Jaelis almost immediately, a pleading look in his eye.
    Almost like a ghost, Henorin appeared with Balthorn in her arms, standing beside Jaelis as though she had always been there. Even to this point, no one seemed to realize that Balthorn was knocked out. Or, maybe, they simply didn't care about the details in this sort of situation.
    Jaelis swept a gaze over. "I'll just take them."
    With that, Jaelis walked toward the mine, not bothering to pick out two more to fill in the five number cap.
    Senior Lu's expression was ugly to behold. He sent a pleading gaze toward Miya, but the latter had clearly cleansed his hands of the matter. He wanted nothing to do with it. He truly couldn't be bothered to care.
    Without a choice, the freshmen began to silently set up camp, quietly vying for position closer to the cave's mouth.
    Senior Lu clenched his fists, a hint of despair marking his brow. The complicated looks he received from the other freshmen only made it all worse.
    бн
    While two seniors guarded the entrance to maintain order, Miya and Yako led Jaelis and the two women into the mind.
    One would have expected the tunnels to be dark, especially so nearing the night, and possibly lit by torches, but this was far from the truth.
    The walls of the cave seemed to sparkle with their own pale light. The visibility wasn't as bright as day, but it wasn't as poor as dusk either. It was a nice, gentle in between that was easy on the eyes.
    After a while of silence, Jaelis suddenly spoke.
    "Tell me the truth, you don't actually intend on allowing the others in, right?"
    Miya's steps paused for a moment before a sneer spread across his face.
    "Of course not."
    "Good." Jaelisi said casually.
    Not long later, Miya led them down a few diverting paths before they made it to a medium size opening. It seemed capable of fitting about 50 or so people.
    "This is our safe house. Any further and we'll have to deal with Stone Beasts."
    "Miya, who the hell did you bring here?"
    A voice that almost sounded more like a bark sounded out, snapping at their ears.
    Miya smiled bitterly before quickly explaining the situation.
    "The Oryx?"
    The expression of the King of Ores members working the mine changed. If this was true, they were in no small amount of trouble.
    It was at that moment the ground quaked.
    The setting sun had finally disappeared over the horizon.

 Chapter 681 - Whizz

    Several minutes ago.
    Leonel's rage disappeared like the wind after he entered the forest. He almost couldn't stop himself from laughing. He really hadn't expected things to work out even better than he had thought they would. He felt like this was what people called digging their own graves.
    Aina shook her head and rolled her eyes. Unlike the others, she could clearly see that mischievous light in Leonel's eye.
    The Leonel she knew wasn't very good at controlling his emotions in the slightest. If he was truly enraged, he would have just attacked and thought of the consequences later. The fact he never attacked meant that he wasn't angry to begin with.
    The only thing Leonel really didn't expect, though, was for Ingkath, Irolana and Moos to actually follow him. As for his lovely girlfriend, wasn't that already a given?
    If Leonel had to be honest, their following made his task a bit more difficult that it would otherwise be. Their strength was definitely not up to par with him and Aina. But, Leonel definitely wouldn't turn them away. In fact, he would remember this well.
    Taking a deep breath, Leonel turned to the three.
    Unlike Aina, they didn't understand Leonel very well. So, they had been just as fooled by his previous act. Seeing the solemn expression on Leonel's face, they felt their hearts seize again.
    After a while, Leonel smiled. It was quite true that the world couldn't be painted in black and white. The very same Ingkath and Irolana who had drawn a line between them just months ago had actually chosen to side with him today. The human psyche was quite a fascinating thing.
    "Alright everyone, take these."
    Leonel handed out another few packages of grenades.
    "Theseбн These are the grenades." Moos asked softly.
    Moos and the others weren't very surprised that Leonel had more even though he had said that he didn't previously. But, Leonel's next words stunned them.
    "These aren't the same. The others could only injure a Tier 4 existence and kill anyone below that. This one can even kill anyone below Tier 6."
    The three youths trembled fiercely when they heard this.
    Every step forward in the Fourth Dimension was considered to be massive. By the time one got to the difference between Tier 4, 5 and 6, you were talking massive gulfs one could waste a lifetime to cross.
    Tier 7 to Valiant Heart Mountain was considered to be the absolute cream of the crop. Only blue belts touched upon such a level, yet these three could only lower their heads if they came across a mere white belt.
    The idea that they could injure a Tier 6 with just one of these was baffling. Yet, Leonel had given them ten each. How could their hearts not beat wildly?
    "Be careful when you use them." Leonel advised. "Whether it's the Titan Hyena or the Oryx, I have a strong feeling that they won't work in the slightest, so don't even bother to throw them in their direction. You'll only be bringing down their attention toward you."
    The three nodded solemnly. But, Irolana soon raised a question.
    "In that case, how do we use them?"
    "To survive." Leonel spoke bluntly. "Not long from now, the Oryx will definitely track us to this location. Trying to escape through the forest will be impossible, so we will be using the mines.
    "If I'm correct, the King of Ores faction will definitely do their best to seal off the mine from new entries, so we'll need to work fast.
    "These grenades will be useful to you within the mine tunnels themselves. There will also be beasts that enter a frenzy down there. Use the weaker grenades on them, they won't be able to harm the structural integrity of the tunnel
    "If you feel that an Oryx is closing in on you, a strategic use of the stronger grenades can collapse a tunnel they would have otherwise used to pursue you."
    The three gulped hard when they heard Leonel. He made it sound like the Oryx were already right on their trail. But, didn't night just fall?
    Waitбн night?
    The three looked up into the sky, their legs growing week when they noticed there wasn't a hint of the sun left.
    At that moment, the ground began to quake, the trees swaying from side to side as though they were juvenile rather than the thick ancestral beings they actually were.
    "Get ready." Leonel said solemnly.
    бн
    Senior Lu bit into his cheek, his expression jittery. He had managed to take advantage of his seniority to build a campsite as near to the cave mouth as he could. Unfortunately, in order to succeed in this, he had to be more aggressive than he usually was, causing many to feel off put by his presence.
    To make matters worse, he wasn't even that close to the cave mouth. Under the order of the white belts, he had to be at least ten meters away.
    The clearing was already only 20 meters wide to begin with. As a result, most were pushed into the camping in the forest. Though this was more comfortable than setting up came on the hard rock, in terms of security, they felt as though they had none.
    The freshmen found themselves feeling empty. Their minds were filled with such a perpetual fear that they couldn't even find it in themselves to relax. They realized then that their current state was a far cry from how at ease they had been during the day.
    Though they were tired and spent from their trek here, at the very least, none of them felt as though their lives were on the line.
    Even without the appearance of the Oryx, this suffocating feeling alone made them realize just how much they had relied on Leonel. Unfortunately, it was already too late to hold back anymore.
    "Fuck this." One of the freshmen rose from their small sleeping bag. "What's there to be afraid of. Would one person really make a difference? How ridiculous."
    No one responded to the freshmen's grumbling.
    He stood, going a distance away to find a tree to take a whizz behind.
    He sighed as a steady stream began to drizzle. He had been so scared before that he had truly held this in for too long.
    The more relaxed he became, the more assured in himself that he also became.
    "бн Just blame yourself. Who asked you to piss off the King of Ores faction as a freshmen?"
    The young man continued to mumble before his nose caught the whiff of something terrible.
    "Fucking gross, who the hell is taking a shit here? Couldn't you choose another place?"
    The young man suddenly froze. It was night, so it was of course dark. Butбн Had it always been so dark?
    His neck slowly cranked backward, only to find a massive silouhette looming behind him.
    The young man opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out was a gurgle, his head sliding off his shoulders and plopping to the ground.

 Chapter 682 - Let Us In

    A shrill scream shook the campsite, smells of blood and carnage hanging in the air. The Oryx hadn't even tried to hide himself. Facing a group of such weaklings, why would it have to? Such things were meaningless in the face of true power.
    However, had the four deserters who had died earlier in the day been present, they would have realized that something seem to be wrong. The Oryx they had seen had a massive crimson halberd strapped to his back. But, this one had a massive great sword almost as thick as its burly body on its back.
    Unless this Oryx had for some reason chosen to change weapons, it was all but confirmed at this point. There was more than just one Oryx bearing down on them.
    Senior Lu felt his heart seize. He couldn't believe that his worst fears were already coming to fruition.
    'It's just ten meters, just ten meters. It's the blink of an eye. I can make it!'
    The distance that separated them and the cave mouth was practically negligible. Senior Lu didn't care if he had to trample over the corpses of his fellow freshmen, he just had to make it. As long as he did, he would be safe, he would live another day.
    Without a care for the materials strewn around him, Senior Lu scrambled to his feet, not even looking back to the forest. He scratched and clawed to all fours before leaping up to his feet.
    He bolted for the cave mouth with all the speed he could muster. For some reason, despite the fact his destination was right in from of him, despite the fact it should have only taken him two large leaps to make it, he felt as though it was a world away.
    At that moment, his worst fears were realizedбн again.
    The two seniors had already leapt to their feet.
    "What the hell?! Already?!"
    It was clear that they were caught completely off guard. They knew that the Oryx story Leonel had told was likely to be true, but shouldn't it still have taken some time to find this place?
    At this point, they didn't care to confirm the appearance of the Oryx.
    "Hurry up!"
    "I'm on it already! You go do your damn job nagging bastard!"
    The senior who spoke last stood with a ferocity, his feet stamping into the ground. The clearing of rock and gravel quaked for a moment, trembling beneath his Force.
    "Senior! Please!" Senior Lu called out, panic clear on his face.
    But at that moment, a strong wall of Force sent him flying backward. Horror painted his face as he watched a wall rise up from the ground. In an instant, a ten meter tall makeshift fortress surrounded the cave mouth.
    Senior Lu scrambled to his feet, launching himself onto the wall and trying his best to climb it.
    Once again, it was just ten meters, it was a distance that was harder to climb than run across, but he was still a Fourth Dimensional existence. Even if he couldn't jump that high in a Fifth Dimensional world, he could still climb it.
    The makeshift walls were coarse and unkempt. There were more than enough dips and crevices for him to latch onto.
    But, he had barely begun when a spike of earth suddenly jetted out for his chest.
    Senior Lu twisted to avoid it, displaying his small bit of talent. But the result was still the flesh near his hip being ripped through. If he had been just a bit slower, his hip bone would have been shattered to oblivion.
    Senior Lu fell back to the ground, being thrown away from the wall.
    "Let me in! Let me in! I helped you all!"
    The more Senior Lu screamed, the more careless he got with his words. Who cared about offending seniors if he couldn't even live to reap the benefits of it? Soon, he began cursing, even insulting their mothers, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
    By that point, many of the freshmen had long since caught up with Senior Lu. Some had tried banging against the wall, but those not as strong as Lu found themselves skewered. It was hard to tell if more freshmen had died at the hands of the Oryx who had seemingly yet to make an appearance or their so-called seniors.
    On the other side of the wall, the senior who put up the rock wall, Hallis, sneered, his hand pressed flush against the wall as he sensed what was happening.
    "Seith, are you done yet?!"
    "Don't hurry me bastard, just hold the wall! Oryx aren't that intelligent anyway, as long as they had prey on the other side, they won't bother with us anyway!"
    "Why the hell is it taking so long?!"
    "Do you know how hard it is to set up a controlled explosion?! I'm trying to destroy the entrance well enough that it can't be dug through easily, but not bad enough that it takes the whole tunnel with it! Plus I have to put it on a delay!"
    "Whatever, whatever! Keep your nerd speak to yourself. Just hurry up! Can't believe those bastards left us with this job, dammit!"
    Though Hallis said this, considering their abilities, they were the only two that could be left with such a task. Seith with his explosion ability and him with his control abilities.
    Seith continuously drew Force Arts around the cave entrance. He had started on this a while ago, but he had never expected the Oryx to get here before he could even finish.
    Unfortunately, in order to hide things from the freshmen, he had to be too subtle before, slowing him down considerably. But now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no need to take things slow any longer.
    "Let us in! Let us in!"
    In a desperate attempt, many no longer cared about the earthen spikes, rushing at the wall in an attempt to overwhelm it with numbers.
    It was then, though, that an Oryx finally stalked its way out of the forest, its large figure pushing thick trees out of its way.
    His massive great sword rested on his shoulder, the claws of his pawed feet digging into the coarse ground.
    The Oryx was caked in blood. It splashed across his furred legs and clumped the hairs together. The result was a smell even more foul than usual.
    The freshmen felt as though their souls had fled their bodies.

 Chapter 683 - Ability Or Lineage Factor?

    Senior Lu slowly looked back, his head tilting up to see the massive, looming figure that had appeared. Just its weapon was larger than any one of them, let alone the Oryx itself.
    Those that had been in Valiant Heart for a few years had all heard their fair share of Oryx Tribe horror stories. But, no freshmen had ever seen an Oryx personallyбн Or, more accurately, no freshmen had ever survived such an encounter to tell the tale.
    Senior Lu's knees went weak. He fell to the ground, his eyes turning almost vacant as he looked up. At that moment, he along with every freshmen felt no different from those beasts who lost their minds to fear.
    The foul smell of the Oryx was seared into their souls. It was the kind of memory they would never forget in their lifetimes.
    At that moment, though, the Oryx looked into the skies. As though none of them even existed, he focused all three of his eyes into the clouds, training his gaze on something that seemed to be flying.
    Leonel looked down from his surfboard, his gaze twinkling.
    'What a monsterбн'
    This was Leonel's conclusion after just a single glance. Compared to humans, if the measure was pure combat ability, the Oryx were superior in everyway. Their digitigrade legs made them faster than any human of similar stature could hope to be. Their muscle structure stored more than ten times more energy. Their bones were more than tenfold sturdier. And their eyesбн There was something deeply unsettling about them.
    As though this wasn't bad enough, those of Valiant Heart seemed to think that the Oryx weren't intelligent, but Leonel's dictionary hadn't said a word about their poor intelligence. Just looking at the eyes of the Oryx before him, Leonel didn't even need his dictionary to know that these Oryx were no less intelligent than any human.
    Leonel held Aina in one arm, the three freshmen standing in a row to his back. It was difficult for the surfboard to fit all of them on, but they just managed it.
    "Okay. I'm going now." Aina said softly.
    With a leap, she plunged onto the other side of the wall, falling down heavily between Hallis and Arfire.
    The two seniors were stunned. A flying treasure?
    Maybe it was only at that moment that everyone realized that Leonel had never been worried about his survival from the very beginning. Had he used his flying treasure from the start, he could have already made it back to the mountain pass.
    The freshmen who realized this felt a second wave of guilt assault their souls.
    Leonel pulled out his bow, nocking two arrows. However, he didn't raise it.
    "How about it, Mr. Oryx? Why don't we both take a step back?"
    The Oryx continued to stare at Leonel without saying a word. But, it was at that moment that a translation he could comprehend drifted to his ears.
    The Oryx's expression changed, his tusks vibrating slightly. However, it was just for the briefest of moment.
    By this point, Aina had an ax at Hallis' throat. Senior? Since when did a mere white belt pose a challenge to her?
    At that moment, though, Leonel wasn't feeling relaxed in the slightest.
    An intelligent creature like the Oryx would know that at Leonel's current vantage point, it was at a great disadvantage. Even someone as powerful as this Oryx wouldn't like to be used for live target practice. But, that was exactly what would happen if it couldn't find a way to deal with Leonel in the skies.
    However, at that moment, though it was hard to tellбн. Leonel was certain this Oryx was smiling, the blood on its body slowly trickling to the ground beneath it.
    At that instant, Leonel's pupils constricted.
    "Hold on!"
    With barely a warning, Leonel rolled the surfboard to the side as a beam of red shot into the skies. It continued for so long that it seemed intent on penetrating the canopy of the world.
    Ingkath and Irolana barely managed to hold on, but Moos slipped, he hand only just managing to grasp at the side of the surfboard.
    Unfortunately, before Moos could get a solid grip, Leonel was forced to swerve violently again, causing Moos to lose whatever hold he had left. In fact, even Ingkath and Irolana couldn't hold on any longer.
    The vertical eye of the Oryx pulsed, red veins popping across it as it released its second beam. It even seemed to be preparing a third.
    'Little Blackstar!'
    "Yip! Yip!"
    The little mink flashed, strong surges of black-green swirling around his body. An upswing of wind slowed the descent of the three, allowing them to fall into the wall Hallis formed unharmed.
    The situation instantly became more complicated.
    Leonel's eyes narrowed. He felt that if he let that beam hit him, he would be finished. What good was a Metal Body if it was melted into scrap? The strong destructive character of the blast sent a shiver down his spine.
    Yet, even now, he had no idea if this was a unique ability of the Oryx, or if all Oryx had access to this. If it was the latterбн
    The surrounding forest began to shift and rustle again. The freshmen below could hardly hold in their horror as another Oryx appeared.
    Two Oryx, one from the south and the other from the north, pincering the freshmen from both sides.
    This second Oryx wielded a crimson halberd, its stature no less imposing. Yet, Leonel was certain that he felt more pressure from it.
    At that instant, Leonel suddenly felt like the space around him had been locked.
    The first Oryx reacted immediately, its third eye pulsing as yet another beam was sent in Leonel's direction.
    Leonel's pupils constricted into pinholes.
    One's eye pulsed an locked him in place. The other's eye released a devastating attack.
    What the hell kind of species were these Oryx? How could they possibly be so powerful?
    If this was the caseбн Valiant Heart was not in just a little bit of trouble. Forget Valiant Heart, even he was facing quite a tall mountain right now.
    The crimson beam tore through the skies, bearing down with every intention of splitting Leonel's skill in two.

 Chapter 684 - Rush

    Leonel let out a roar.
    In a blink, his body was covered in a sparkling black light. The sound of a shattering barrier resounded as he snapped his neck to one side, feeling the searing pain of the crimson beam flying just by his ear.
    Leonel breathed heavily, a hint of fear causing his heart to palpitate.
    If it wasn't for the fact he had built the Space Element into his Magic Core, allowing him to coat his body in the Force Element and forcefully shatter the Oryx's bind on him, he really might have died just then.
    Leonel realized at that moment that these two Oryx's alone were far beyond his means to battle. Hoping to stall them with his terrain advantage was nothing more than a pipe dream. If he wasn't careful, it would be him who would be played with to death.
    Whether it was a Lineage Factor or an ability didn't even matter right now. All that did matter was that they could and would kill him if he was the slightest bit careless.
    Leonel didn't wait for the Oryx to be surprise that he had managed to break out of their pincer attack.
    With swift movements, he nocked the two arrows he had pulled out earlier. He rose into the skies, aiming downward and releasing.
    The two arrows spiraled out of each other's path before slamming into one another.
    Sparks flew, their trajectories snapping toward completely separate directions, both of which happened to be headed for one of the Oryx each.
    The Oryx didn't seem flustered by this in the slightest. One raised their halberd, the other raising their great sword. With swift, unhurried movements, they slashed outward.
    However right then.
    BANG!
    The arrows exploded. It felt as though two red suns had suddenly appeared in the midst of the battlefield. For a moment, the world was dyed in crimson.
    The two Oryx roared, all three of their eyes shutting under the assault.
    Leonel quickly landed on the top of the rock wall, his feet stamping down. In the blink of an eye, four passageways appeared all around the wall.
    "Hurry up!" Leonel shouted.
    The freshmen recovered, scrambling to enter the wall.
    Leonel brandished his bow. Taking advantage of the temporary blindness of the two Oryx, Leonel began to rain down arrows.
    'The fur on their lower half provides a large boost to their defenseбн Their skin can be vulnerableбн Aiming toward patches of skin without bone directly underneath is the most effectiveбн'
    Leonel managed to send five arrows toward each Oryx, learning more and more with each strike. But, after a while he noticed that after being hit by his third arrow, the Oryx quickly adapted. Even with their eyes closed, they began to dodge and block.
    'Internal Sightбн'
    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. He had to stop treating these Oryx as though they were beasts. Not only did they have intelligence, but they seemed to have access to all the same network of abilities humans did.
    Leonel's own bias was thwarting his judgment. He had never interacted with other races of people before, but this should be enough to tell him the universe didn't play favorites. If anything, with how unlucky the Oryx had been in having their home world taken over by humans, the universe would favor them just a touch more.
    How ironic. Leonel had just finished repelling an invasion of his own world, just to participate in the invasion of another. What kind of sick place was this Dimensional Verse exactly?
    'They're already recoveringбн Seven seconds exactlyбн I'd be lucky to get even three if I managed to catch them off guard againбн'
    Leonel swept his senses over the youth. Though they were weak, if they couldn't cross a mere ten meters with seven seconds, a feat that even an injured mortal could manage, they would have never been admitted to Valiant Heart Mountain.
    Even with the jostling and fighting that was inevitable, the freshmen still all managed to cross the barrier in that time.
    Leonel shot another arrow, but this one flew right toward Seith.
    It landed right at the senior's feet, causing him to jump in a panic.
    "Let them in." Leonel said coldly, not even looking back.
    Seeing the over 70 freshmen who still remained and glancing toward Hallis who still had Aina's blade to his neck, Seith realized that it was a futile effort.
    Before anyone could react, he turned tail and ran into the tunnel. Leonel had said to let everyone in, but that didn't mean he was just going to stand there and accept his fate.
    From the way it looked, Leonel would be those two Oryx's first target when they fully recovered. Maybe that would give him enough time to escape through the network of tunnels. He had to hurry.
    The freshmen didn't have the time to mind it all, rushing into the tunnel after Seith. The only difference between this time and the last was that some actually looked back toward Leonel.
    This was already the second time Leonel had saved them all. If they couldn't at least realize this, they'd be sub-human.
    The Dimensional Verse may seem like an endlessly cruel place. But, in some small corners, there would always be kindness. If not, how could people have survived so long against the elements this world always threw at them?
    The freshmen threw a look back toward Leonel and dashed into the tunnels, the image of him raining down arrows searing into their minds.
    Leonel's jaw remained clenched, his eyes growing colder and colder as he rained his arrows down, doing his best to distract the two.
    'They haven't used their abilities ever since their eyes closed. It seems that they're reliant on their third eye being open. But, if I can predict when it will open and react firstбн'
    Leonel's heartbeat grew steadier and steadier, his breathing and his release of his arrows syncing into one.
    Aina sent a worried glance up toward Leonel.. Then, gritting her teeth, she too rushed into the tunnel.

 Chapter 685 - Im Not

    Leonel's feet stamped down hard again. The wall thickened by a factor, and closed tight. He was limited in how far he could control earth away from himself, so this was about the best he could do. But, this much should be enough.
    Leonel leapt backward.
    Reading his intention, Little Blackstar appeared on Leonel's head just as he casted [Float].
    As expected, in a Fifth Dimensional world, the act was even more difficult. Unfortunately, Leonel didn't get a boost because he hadn't added wind to his Magic Core. So, the best he could do was try to slow his fall by a large measure as he continued to fire arrows.
    Eventually, Leonel was no longer high enough in the air to fire his shots directly.
    Aiming into the sky, Leonel mooned several shots in a single volley. Pulling out another set of six arrows, he nestled two between every finger, sniping his moon shots down from the air.
    The 12 arrows rebounded off of each other, one set of six soaring higher into the air and another set of six plunging down like meteors.
    Those who could still see Leonel's marksmanship from within the tunnel felt as though they were seeing the work of a magician. It felt like Leonel's marksmanship wasn't limited by anything but his imagination. Was there nothing he couldn't do with a bow?
    PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG!
    The Oryx blocked the first rain, only to find that the arrows that had soared further into the skies had arched back down to aim right for them. It was as though they were being controlled like puppets on the ends of Leonel's fingers.
    Leonel landed on the ground, sliding back to the cave entrance.
    His pupils moved rapidly scanning the Force Art Seith had left behind. It took him no more than a split second to understand it and point out several flaws. But, he simply didn't have the time to make it perfect.
    BANG!
    The walls began to quake. Despite being reinforced by Leonel, just a single strike from both Oryx from completely opposing sides caused a gale of cracks to sweep through the whole structure. It looked as though it was a wall of partially cracked eggs rather than one of rock, stone and earth.
    Leonel didn't even look back.
    He flipped his palm over, retrieving his favorite spear for these tasks. After all, it wasn't just useful for dissecting animal carcasses.
    Leonel felt it was unfortunate that the cave entrance itself was too sturdy for an Elite Grenade to work on it, or else he wouldn't have to do all of this.
    BANG!
    The wall collapsed. If Leonel deemed to look back at this very moment, he would see that the gaze of the great sword wielding Oryx had a straight line of sight to his back. But, as though he couldn't sense a thing, Leonel's arm finished the last of the Force Art at warp speed.
    At that moment, Leonel abruptly spun back, shooting another arrow aimed right for the Oryx's eye.
    "Enjoy being blinded again!"
    The words reached the Oryx's ears secretly. The moment he understood, his expression changed, his eyes closing and his great sword coming out to block.
    Leonel grinned and jumped into the open pit.
    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
    By the time the Oryx realized it was just a normal arrow, the cave entrance had collapsed completely.
    Leonel sprinted down, a rain of rock and rubble collapsing around him and threatening his life.
    While Seith had been cautious to not put too much power into the Force Art so as not to destroy the tunnel, Leonel did no such thing. In fact, he put enough power in to collapse at least half of this entire tunnel.
    His reasoning was simple. He couldn't allow the Oryx to dig through with too much ease. With how simple it had been for them to break down his reinforced wall, digging through some rubble was child's play. Leonel didn't want to stop them, that was impossible. He just needed to delay them for five minutes, just five minutes would be enough.
    Leonel shot down the tunnel, leaving a trail of gold in his wake.
    Little Blackstar flashed to the side, skipping through the tunnel even faster than Leonel himself.
    бн
    Much further within the underground network, Seith burst into the small clearing that could house about 50. Compared to the freshmen who had followed after him, especially since he had a few seconds of a head start, it was no surprise that he had gotten here so much sooner. Not only was he the only one of them familiar with the network, but he was a white belt.
    Plus, his explosive ability helped him with far more than just attack, he could also apply it to his internal Force and his legs, boosting his speed to inhuman levels.
    "Seith?"
    "Shut up! Shut up!" Seith snapped, wheezing. "That Leonel bastard came back after the Oryx came. I don't know if the tunnel has collapsed by now or not, but we need to go. There's a bunch of freshmen on the way here."
    Miya, Yako and the others frowned deeply.
    "I left them all far behind, but that masked girl took Hallis hostage. They'll find their way here even without my guidance!"
    The expressions of everyone changed. This was bad. They really hadn't expected things to develop this quickly.
    Their original intention was to leave more than just Seith and Hallis behind, but who would have thought that the Oryx would come so quickly? Miya and Yako had barely gotten here to drop Jaelis and the others off when the commotion began.
    What should they do?
    бн
    In the tunnels, Senior Lu was running as fast as he could. But, the injury to his hip caused him to be far slower than he usually was. He had gone from being among the best of the freshmen, to lagging behind even the worst.
    Though his bone hadn't been injured, the skin and muscles had been. The fact he was moving his leg at all was a testament to just how much he wanted to live.
    At that moment, his thoughts weren't even filled with gratitude. And unlike most, he hadn't spared a single look back to Leonel. He just wanted to live.
    Senior Lu stumbled and fell, a strong wince coming from him as he struggled to pull himself up, running forward again. But, not long later, he fell once more. This time, however, it wasn't a coincidence.
    Senior Lu struggled to look up, only to find a masked and petite young lady standing over him with Hallis' neck being squeezed between her fingers.
    "He's too nice to kill you over just a few words, especially since he's using you anyway. But I'm not." Aina said plainly.
    "No! Please! I'm so--"
    Aina's foot stamped down hard, squashing Senior Lu's head into meat paste.
    Lu's fingers twitched, his body seemingly not believing he had fallen even after death.

 Chapter 686 - Ring

    Aina turned away from the corpse, not making any attempts to hide it. Rather, she walked away and shook Hallis awake.
    Even though she didn't care much about killing, she knew that even in its current state, Valiant Heart Mountain had rules against murdering fellow students. Since she still needed Hallis and couldn't kill him as well, it was better if he didn't see anything, lest it be used against Leonel in the future.
    Aina was well aware that she was Leonel's only weakness in this place. If she thought about it, maybe the way Leonel had handled things up until now would have been completely different had she not been there and maybe they wouldn't have been pushed into a corner.
    If Leonel heard Aina's thoughts, he would probably laugh. He had terrible luck with organizations. In his opinion, this would happen regardless of whether she was here or not. After all, she hadn't even been with him during his adventures with the Slayer Legion or Camelot.
    Thankfully Camelot was now a good ally of Leonel's, but the Slayer Legion remained in a gray zone while even Leonel didn't know whether he would be friends or enemies with Valiant Heart in the future.
    Sometimes, Leonel felt that his falling out with organizations was inevitable. When someone as talented as him joined an organization seemingly from nowhere, without the same foundations as the geniuses that they home-grew, maybe his existence itself became contentious.
    "бн Hm? бн Ah, ah!"
    Hallis was shocked awake, feeling his throat being clamped down upon. He tried to gasp, but only managed to suck in half the air he would normally. The sudden change made him feel as though he was suffocating.
    He looked down in horror, only to find that it was a petite young woman a half head shorter than him who held him up like this. The fact that she was a freshmen only made the feelings of humiliation all the worse.
    Hallis, though, had no choice but to swallow his pride. It only took Aina a single sentence for him to throw away any thoughts of subterfuge.
    "I hope you remember that the Oryx are coming after us right now. So, if you don't lead well, I can guarantee that you'll be the first to die."
    If Aina had used petty tricks to subdue Hallis, he might be willing to pull some tricks anyway to find a means to escape. But, cold shivers traveled up his spine every time he remembered that bloody ax. He could only obediently do as he was told.
    It took Aina only a moment to catch up to the freshmen who were rushing down the tunnels aimlessly.
    Shaking her head, she shouted a few words about following her. As for those who went down wrong tunnels and would have to backtrack, they were on their own. If they were quick enough, they might still stand a chance. If not, it had nothing to do with Aina. She wasn't 100% certain on Leonel's plan. But, what she did know was that as long as half of them survived, it would be fine. She wouldn't go out of her way for such two-faced people.
    бн
    Leonel dashed down the tunnels. Despite seeing all the diverging paths, he didn't seem to hesitate in the slightest between which he chose.
    At that moment, though, he came to a grinding halt and sighed.
    'You left this here on purpose, didn't you?'
    Leonel shook his head. Reaching out a palm, he sent a blaze of fire downward, incinerating Senior Lu's corpse to ash.
    After forming his Mage Core, all of Leonel's Elements fused with his body. A happy by-product of this was the Fire Element Leonel could cast gaining a very small Scarlet Star Force character.
    Something like incinerating a Fourth Dimensional entity's body to ash like this would have been impossible for him in the past without using his Scarlet Star Force. But now, it was just a casual wave of his palm.
    If Leonel's Mage Core progressed enough and his body became a better vessel for flames, he might even be able to make use of his Innate Force Node far ahead of timeбн
    'Hm?'
    Leonel was about to walk away when he suddenly found a ring lying on the ground. By its placement, Leonel deduced that it had likely been hanging around Senior Lu's neck.
    It shouldn't be surprising that a piece of refined metal survived an incineration, but Leonel had purposely put enough strength into his flame that this shouldn't have been possible. Even a Tier 6 treasure should have been melted completely through even if it wasn't turned to ash.
    Leonel bent down and picked up the ring, rolling it between his fingers. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to be a spatial ring. At the very least, Leonel's probes didn't find a hidden space within.
    However, what his Internal Sight did find were countless small etchings he couldn't perceive with his eyes nor his touch.
    The instant Leonel noticed this, he was reminded of his basement. His father had placed such small etchings on the door handle as a small test before he entered. This was only the second time Leonel was seeing such a methodбн
    Was it just a coincidence? Or was this ring on the level of what his father would find fascinating?
    Leonel definitely decided that he should ask the dictionary about this, but now obviously wasn't the time. He didn't think that this Senior Lu would ever have something so interesting on him.
    бн
    At that moment, the very face-off the seniors had wanted to avoid was occurring.
    Aina stood with an unconscious Hallis in one arm and her ax in the other. To her back, there were over 20 freshmen, and the number was still steadily growing.
    On the other side, the few seniors who had still not been able to decide what they should do stood. However, their numbers weren't small either. The four watching the cave entrance were just the tip of the iceberg, in the mining tunnels themselves, they had numbers approaching 30, and that didn't even include the addition of Jaelis, Henorin and Balthorn who had seemingly finally woken up.
    It was during this very face-off that Leonel finally caught up. His appearance, though, only made the seniors' expressions turn even more sour.. While for the freshmen, it was the exact opposite.

 Chapter 687 - Enough

    Leonel's lip twitched when he saw Hallis being treated like a strung up chicken in Aina's hand. It took all the will power he could muster not to laugh. It really was too much seeing a grown man being treated like this.
    However, with how serious the situation was, he still managed to keep his calm. What he was surprised about, though, was the fact that these so-called seniors had actually not left already.
    The underground network of mines of this world were impossibly vast. From Leonel's understanding, there were even some mine tunnels that could be followed from one end of the world to another. This was considered to be the special quirk of this world that was more than 90% land.
    The vast majority of mine tunnels, though, had a span of a few tens of kilometers. But, this was more than enough for an escape, especially since the Oryx saw in infrared.
    Infrared couldn't see through polished, shining and cool surfaces. So, what better place would there be to hide if not a mine of ores? It could be said that as soon as they made it here, they had a better than 70% probability of surviving until morning and making it to the mountain pass.
    This was why the actions of the seniors were just that much more selfish.
    Though it was true that more people would lead more traces and leave a longer trail to be followed иC and, more people would also make hiding far more difficult should it become necessary иC even with all of that factored in, there was a still better than 60% probability that they would survive to the end of this.
    Still, this only made the fact that these seniors hadn't left yet all the more surprising. How did they get caught up here?
    Seeing the looks on their faces, though, Leonel concluded that they definitely didn't mean for this to happen. They had been caught off guard by the timing and speed of everything. To make matters worse, they were still arguing about which path they should be taking and how best to handle the situation.
    Some of them thought that hiding was still best. The creatures in these tunnels were no joke and only became worse the further you traveled. Something like trying to find another exit was something they had never tried before and would obviously require traveling quite far into this danger zone.
    The opposing side was against hiding. As dangerous as these creatures were, could they be more dangerous than the Oryx? Waiting like sitting ducks and hoping they wouldn't be found was ridiculous, especially since it wasn't like the Oryx would just give up in the morning.
    These tunnels were a disadvantage to the Oryx in the night. But, in the morning, it ironically became an advantage to them. It was far better for their hunt to take place in the dim lights of the tunnels as opposed to the bright lights of the sky.
    Unfortunately, before they could settle their argument, Aina's speed had caught them completely off guard.
    It should have taken a normal freshmen two or three minutes to get here, even if they went all out. Yet, Aina had gotten here barely a minute after Seith and that was even including the time she spent killing Senior Lu.
    Leonel grasped the entire situation with a look. Seeing that a stalemate was suddenly at hand, he saw that another opportunity had fallen right into his lap.
    His expression darkened. "Why haven't you all left? It can't be that you still plan to deal with us? And you call yourselves seniors?"
    Leonel's words placed the freshmen even more on guard.
    If they planned on using the freshmen as bait to lure the Oryx away, it would be too difficult for them to resist. If not for Leonel and Aina, even if they outnumbered the seniors, they really didn't stand a chance.
    Miya and the others frowned. However, they soon sneered, feeling that they had nothing to fear. Even if Aina and Leonel could beat them one on one, they outnumbered the two of them and the other freshmen were nothing but canon fodder.
    "If you dare to follow us, don't blame us for being rude." Miya said coldly.
    Leonel's gaze narrowed.
    Even those who had sided with hiding knew that it was impossible now. With all these freshmen here, there only chance at survival was to run.
    But, the freshmen seemed to take things the hardest. Even up until this point, their so-called seniors still refused to raise a single helping hand. In fact, they would be fools if they didn't realize that the earlier words they had spoken about letting them into the mine was nothing but garbage. They always meant to let them all die from the very beginning.
    'I think that's about enough for now.' Leonel thought to himself.
    Aina threw Hallis over to them, not flinching as he tumbled to the floor.
    A clear line of division was drawn between the freshmen and seniors, the atmosphere not vanishing even after the white belts had disappeared down their own path.
    Though the seniors had gone, though, there was no sense of relief amongst the freshmen. The seniors knew everything about the tunnels but they knew next to nothing. Wouldn't they end up walking around aimlessly until they were found by the Oryx and died?
    Leonel let the atmosphere stew for a while, keeping a pensive expression on his face.
    "How did you catch up to us so fast?"
    The sudden voice made Leonel smile. He couldn't help but grab onto Aina's small hand and squeeze it a bit.
    "How? I just followed the smell of apple."
    Aina was speechless. "Are you a dog or something?"
    Leonel grinned but didn't respond. He had learned long ago that Internal Sight was just an extension of his senses. Whether it be sight, touch or hearing, he could do it all. In the past, he refused to do this because he had been traumatized by some terrible smells. The potency of smelling with your nose versus your Internal Sight were on two completely different levels.
    But, luckily, his Aina smelled quite pleasant.
    Leonel saw the festering atmosphere of the freshmen and finally felt that it was time.
    'It's been about four and a half minutes since the tunnel collapsed. The Oryx should almost be through. Now is the best time.'
    "Alright everyone, I will lead you out." Leonel said confidently.
    What no one expected was for Leonel to actually succeed. Just a few hours later, the group found themselves above ground again. But, this time, right before them all, there was a mountain pass they had been thinking of even in their dreams.
    Leonel's gaze flashed with a dangerous light. No one seemed to know how much he had accomplished in just his first mission outing but himself and Aina.. He would quite enjoy watching Hero Peak and its allies crumble bit by bit.

 Chapter 688 - How?

    The freshmen who followed behind Leonel felt as though they were walking into a paradise. After so long without seeing the sky, they realized how much they had taken something so simple for granted. Still, what they were the most shocked about was the fact that they had actually made it out at all.
    After the seniors left, many of them had been thrown into the pits of despair. Though Leonel had managed to lead them to the mine itself, following underground tunnels was a completely different animal and there were even many times they thought it was all over.
    Yet, Leonel had actually succeeded. And, to make matters even more shocking, despite running into several enemies below, the grenades Leonel had given them were just strong enough to kill them without also bringing the tunnels crumbling down around them.
    By this point, many looked toward Leonel's back with hints of worship, even Ingkath and Irolana were no exception.
    "Hey! You lot! What the hell are you doing here?!"
    Leonel inwardly smiled, thinking that yet another group of King of Ores guards were going to get in their way.
    What the group of freshmen following behind Leonel didn't know was that he had been confident in leading them out because he had seen Sarrieth's network of mines. Though that map hadn't had the underground tunnels marked on them, Leonel was able to deduce which might be connected based on the ores they produced and their proximity.
    From the very beginning, Leonel knew he would be able to find a path out even if it took some trial and error.
    However, for the first time, Leonel was surprised to find that his deduction was wrong. What he found weren't the guards of the King of Ores faction, but rather a group of blue belts who still had their former Peak emblems on their person.
    From Leonel's understanding, they were from Loyal Peak. But, after scanning the situation, he realized that it didn't matter much.
    The group was now so close to the mountain pass that it was within eyeshot. But, compared to the past when there might have been just a few groups travelling up and down the path, it was now flooded with activity.
    In truth, the number of people here now was so large that it was surprising that their group was noticed at all. It could only be said that these patrolling seniors were on high alert.
    Recovering quickly, Leonel explained the situation.
    "We were on a mission when we ran into a pair of Titan Hyena's and their Oryx partners. We were lucky to escape through the mine tunnels and make it here."
    As expected, the blue belts didn't seem surprised by the mention of the Oryx. Rather, they were surprised that a group of freshmen actually managed to make it so far.
    This alone made the reason for the hustle and bustle of the mountain pass obvious. It seemed that the news of Oryx activity had finally made it back to the organization.
    The reason the seniors were shocked was because many had already signed off all the freshmen in the area to death after receiving reports of where the Oryx had targeted. Never did they imagine that not only would some survive, but that there would actually be so many of them.
    The blue belt at the helm took a deep breath.
    "Since that's the case, it will likely be necessary for you to answer some questions about your experiences."
    Leonel nodded. "Understood."
    "My name is Garlando, I'll take you all to be processed. We've got some new procedures now so bear with it, please."
    Leonel looked back at the group and nodded.
    Garlando was a bit surprised to find that every single one of these freshmen was looking toward Leonel as though to seek approval. Was his word as a senior not enough? What was going on here exactly?
    Shaking his head, Garlando didn't have the time to mind this. These freshmen were the first to come back after having contact with the Oryx. If not for this, how could he be so polite to a group of black belts?
    Even as Garlando shrank to his own thoughts, Leonel had also done the same.
    'There's definitely more security issues to deal with in an era of abilities, their caution makes sense. Who knows if one of the Oryx awakened a disguising ability or not?'
    The group was quickly led away, having no idea the kind of commotion their returns would cause.
    бн
    Leonel was separated from the group. In fact, they all were. It wouldn't be much of an interrogation if they were all kept together.
    Still, Leonel wasn't very worried. He sat silently, a light smile on his face as the dim lights of the interrogation tent flickered. His mind, finally free from having to account for the safety of over 70 individuals, began to work on other matters. As far as he was concerned, they could take their time.
    Leonel's mind focused on his Mage Core.
    'If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead right now, hm?'
    Leonel shook his head. That close call with death was still fresh in his mind. Sometimes his infallible memory was a good thing. But, in regards to things like this, it definitely wasn't.
    What if the Oryx's ability was like Little Nana's and not space based? Would he still have been able to escape? Leonel really didn't want to think about it, but with his speed of thought, he always seemed to circle back to it.
    This was the first time in a long time Leonel had felt this way. He gained so much strength day by day, improving in hours what it would take others months to accomplish, so the fear of death had been slowly washed away.
    But, this wasn't because he had become braver. It was rather just a confidence in his own strength.
    This, however, was most definitely a rude awakening.
    Hours later, the flaps of the tent finally moved as three figures walked in.
    One was an elder Leonel recognized, that old man who oversaw the freshman exam, the one Aphestus called Elder Tobis. As for the other two old men, Leonel didn't recognize them. But, they both wore red belts just like Tobis did.
    The three sat down across from Leonel without a word of introduction and got right to it.
    "How did you survive?"

 Chapter 689 - Almost Forgot

    Leonel smiled. "Luck?"
    Though Leonel had said this lightly, the elders didn't seem to find it very funny. Even Elder Tobis, one of the few Leonel had seen that weren't so uptight, wasn't very moved.
    But, this only made sense. Valiant Heart Mountain was already in a terrible situation even long before the Oryx made such a move. Now they felt as though they were being pincered from all sides.
    For these elders, it must have felt like watching their legacies crumble before them all in real time. How could they be in the mood for jokes?
    As much as these elders wanted to believe that so many freshmen could survive, they had already prepared themselves to be wiped out completely. But now, instead of being pleasantly surprised, they were just skeptical. And, after interrogating all of the freshmen about what happened, it all seemed to revolve around this one young man.
    Leonel sighed when he saw such a scene.
    "I'm a Force Crafter who has a high affinity for metal and whose ability happens to be a sensory type. Finding mines and navigating them is probably what I'm best at."
    Leonel's reply was straight to the point.
    The elders looked toward one another. This matched up with pretty much everything they knew.
    The elder who sat to Tobis' right scanned Leonel up and down, his eyes blazing with a peculiar light.
    "Your explanation sounds perfect, but I still have some questions."
    "Mm?" Leonel met this elder's gaze.
    "What happened with your seniors?"
    "My seniors?" Leonel sneered. "If you can even call them that. They were directly responsible for several deaths and separated from us after we entered the mine tunnels. In order to avoid the breakout of another fight, we had no choice but to not follow them as they asked."
    "So your seniors abandoned you in a crisis, yet you were still able to leave before them? Despite having to protect more than 70 other freshmen? Does that make sense even to you?"
    "Oh? Then what do you think happened?"
    "It wouldn't be the first time someone took credit for something they had no hand in." The Elder replied plainly. "It also wouldn't be the first time some with less than optimal motives used outside help to become more storied and hallowed than they should be."
    "I see. Well, you're entitled to your opinion, I guess." Leonel replied. "It would probably be up to you, then, to prove that I colluded with the Oryx to leave safely. If that's all, I'll be leaving now."
    Leonel stood and stretched his back, feeling a satisfying crack.
    "Did we say you could leave?"
    "Nope, you didn't."
    Leonel waved goodbye and walked out of the tent.
    "That snot-nosed brat!" Heinla grit his teeth.
    "Alright, alright." Elder Tobis stopped the elder before he could blow his top. "We have certain rules we need to follow too, Heinla."
    Tobis could tell that Leonel lost patience almost as soon as the line of questioning began.
    The truth was that Heinla had an excellent interrogation ability. But, in order to hide this truth, he often asked questions he didn't need to. Somehow, Leonel had seen right through this and knew that the main bulk of the interrogation was complete.
    This alone proved two things: one that Leonel's ability was indeed sensory and two that it was even powerful enough to see through elders on their level.
    After that point, Leonel truly didn't have anything left to prove. Though his leaving was a bit rude, wasn't treating him like a traitor when they mostly confirmed that he wasn't also rude? Especially since Leonel had to put his life on the line to gain the results he had?
    "Fine, fine! These brats are getting worse and worse every generation. I can't stand any of them." Heinla snapped.
    Despite his words, he didn't seem intent on going to make trouble for Leonel.
    Tobis smiled bitterly. "We're getting old. It's best that we just let the younger generation take over now."
    "That Raylion brat is too full of himself, and now it's getting contagious. He didn't even care for the opinions of any of us old timers before he flipped years of foundations on its head. Now look at the fucking result?
    "At any other time, would there have been so many freshmen out doing missions? If it wasn't for the rule changes, they wouldn't have been in the line of danger at all!
    "Fuck, we should interrogate that Raylion little brat too and see if he's the one colluding with those foul smelling bastards."
    The third elder, who had remained silent until now, chuckled.
    "Alright, alright. We should be happy that he cut things short, there's something far more important to turn our attention to."
    The elders all became serious at once.
    "That's right." Tobis' gaze sharpened. "Of the more than 30 freshmen who died on their journey here, half of them were actually killed by their fellow seniors. The punishment must be swift and harsh. In these times, if we aren't united, we are finished."
    The two elders remained silent. Clearly, they were all in agreement.
    At that moment, the flaps opened to reveal a familiar blue belt youth.
    "Elders, there's movement. The seniors you were looking for just entered the mountain pass. But, of the more than 30 of them there were, only about 10 remain."
    Elder Heinla practically growled out his next words.
    "Arrest them all."
    бн
    Leonel stepped onto the mountain pass to find a sight that left him pleasantly surprised. At first, he had thought that only Aina would be waiting for him after so long. But, to his surprise, all more than 70 of the freshmen were also waiting.
    The moment the youths laid eyes on Leonel, they sighed a collective breath of relief. Though they didn't say anything, the gratitude in their eyes was clear.
    Leonel couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since he felt such a feeling, he had almost forgotten how good it was.
    ...
    [I've begun to commission art work for DD on my instagram. Just posted one of the Oryx, check it out at awespec_ on instragram (mind the underscore)]

 Chapter 690 - Zoo Animal

    Valiant Heart Mountain was on high alert. The sudden attack of the Oryx turned out to not just be restricted to their secret deployment into the deep regions of the organization. Not only had they done this, but the Oryx Tribe simultaneously launched an all out offensive on the frontlines, reaping even the lives of some blue belt seniors.
    The territory between Valiant Heart and the Oryx Tribe had always been a contentious region, making it one of the most dangerous places to accept a mission, though it likewise had the best rewards. However, it hadn't been this bad in a very long time.
    According to the experts of Valiant Heart, it seemed that the Oryx had sensed their weak and vulnerable position and began to counter. At least that was what they believed.
    However, Leonel was of a differing opinion. He believed that even if Valiant Heart was in its peak state, this would still happen. The Oryx had been gathering up momentum for a long time and their period of Hyper Evolution was finally reaching a tipping point.
    It could only be said that Valiant Heart had terrible luck.
    бн
    Not long after separating with the freshmen, Leonel and Aina headed toward Valiant Hall to hand in their missions. With his planning, Leonel wouldn't allow such a 'small' speed bump to disrupt his goals.
    Over the course of the next year or so, he had to be perfect, not giving outsiders any angle of attack. With this meant that even if he was being hunted down by Oryx, he still had to complete all the missions he had accepted.
    Surprisingly, at least in this case, it was easier than it seemed to be. With the frenzied nature of the beasts, clearing them out became easier only because they were also easier to find in such a state. Thanks to this, the couple managed to hit their quotas with ease.
    There was no surprise that the students working as receptionists for the revamped Valiant Hall were in shock. But, without a choice, they could only hand over the merits Leonel had earned.
    бн
    "All that work for just 2000 merits." Leonel sighed.
    Though it had taken him a month of work to earn just over 10000 merits before, whereas this was just a matter of three days, one had to consider that Leonel had yet to sell all of the Crafts he made during that month. Had he, he would have been drowning in merits by now. But, he had Raylion to thank for the reason he wasn't.
    Aina smiled and shook her head. Leonel was acting even now and she found it very amusing. She hadn't known that he could get so engrossed in a role like this.
    Even after crippling King of Ores faction like he just had, and even having them arrested to be tried and punished, he still had the cheek to complain. He was definitely becoming more and more of an evil villain.
    "Look at you," Leonel pouted, "Laughing at my pain. Where's the moral support?"
    "You can find it the same place you picked up this shamelessness."
    "Yip! Yip!" Little Blackstar called out in agreement.
    Leonel burst into a fit of laughter. He really was in a good mood. He wondered what kind of face Sarrieth would have when he realized what happened. It took everything in him not to walk around with a grin as wide as the gap between his ears.
    "Since that's out of the way, what say you we become white belts? I'm a bit tired of this color, don't you think? It's lacking in fashion."
    Aina rolled her eyes. She would never understand Leonel's fascination with cool clothing. If it was up to her, she'd wear the same military uniform everyday. She didn't like Valiant Heart's uniform very much at all, it left her feeling too exposed.
    "Okay."
    Still, she agreed. If not for Leonel, she would have promoted long ago. But, after seeing the haul he got from his patience, she couldn't be too mad at it.
    The couple made their way deeper into Valiant Hall.
    In the past, white belt exams would take place in one's individual Peaks. However, with the advent of the new system, it all took place with Valiant Hall as a central hub. Now, the Peaks were basically just training centers one had to exchange merits to use.
    Unsurprisingly, Hero Peak had the most expensive training facilities. But, Leonel didn't expect anything different from them.
    "Hello, we'd like to take the white belt exam."
    The exams took place on the second floor of Valiant Hall so it hadn't taken the couple long to reach this place. There were a sparse few black belts hanging around, seemingly waiting for their exams as well.
    A man with a dead look in his eyes looked upward.
    "Alright." He replied blandly. "The exam will begin in 10 minutes."
    Leonel and Aina accepted their plaques and registered themselves. The man with the dead look gave them a weird expression when he noticed that they had been here for less than two months. Were they only here to get humiliated?
    "Please note that it is only possible to take the white belt exam once every six months. If you fail now, you have no choice but to wait."
    Leonel and Aina nodded, not taking this advice very seriously. Toward this, the man could only shake his head and go back to staring into space. He had already said more than he usually did in a whole week.
    "Aina?"
    The voice interrupted the couple before they could even find a place to sit.
    Leonel looked up to find a group of four walking before them, three of which were men and the last of which was a woman. The woman especially caught Leonel's attention not because she was beautiful, but rather because she had an odd nose shaped contraption over her own.
    It didn't take long for Leonel to notice that their belts still held the Hero Peak emblem. By then, it was easy for him to deduce how they might have known Aina.
    But, he really couldn't understand why they were looking at him like he was some sort of zoo animal. He was only holding his girlfriend's hand, did he do anything worth such a reaction?

 Chapter 691 - New Rules

    What Leonel didn't know was that his action of holding Aina's hand alone was more than enough to be looked at in this way.
    During her time on Hero Peak, Aina hadn't just been learning a new profession, she spent just as much time training her body as she always did. She completely engrossed herself in improving, which was why she actually didn't notice how much time had passed until she realized she had missed a call from Leonel.
    In the span of that time, Aina broke no small number of freshmen records, even those Raylion had held had been obliterated. If it wasn't for the fact Hero Peak was such a closed off community of elites, Aina would have caused an uproar that swept through the entirety of Valiant Heart.
    That said, an uproar did happen. It was just that this commotion was concentrated between the walls of Hero Peak.
    The main issue was that Aina seemed to be completely closed off from everyone else, especially men. There were rumors that she had come to Valiant Heart with a boyfriend, but after observing her for a while, many of them had concluded that that was bullshit.
    Now, though, running into Aina after she had disappeared for more than a week, only to find her holding the hand of a man they didn't even recognizeбн how could they not be shocked?
    It seemed that Hero Peak was even more closed off than they knew. Even as freshmen, they actually had no idea about Leo the Cuck.
    But, if one knew anything about the culture of ultra elite circles, this made sense.
    In the past, white belt exams had to be taken within one's Peak. One can easily guess, then, that different Peaks had different standards. Becoming a white belt from Hero Peak was far more difficult.
    Due to this, an intense competitive environment was brewed. Most freshmen of Hero Peak spent years keeping their head buried in their training before they could burst out with all their potential at once.
    The freshmen of Hero Peak were much like the elders of Valiant Heart in that way, having no idea about such petty squabbles.
    Leonel smiled and looked toward Aina. "Are these your friends?"
    Aina opened her mouth to respond but didn't quite know how to. Friends? They were at most acquaintances.
    The young woman with the odd nose contraption hopped forward and grabbed Aina's arm between her hands and breasts.
    "Aina, why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend? Are you hiding all the good men to yourself? This is too unfair!"
    Aina was speechless. She couldn't even think of a response before the young lady continued.
    "You wouldn't mind sharing right?" The young lady fluttered her lashes, taking long, sweeping glances at Leonel. "You can't keep such a boytoy to yourself."
    Leonel didn't know whether he should laugh or not. Clearly, these few had misunderstood their relationship. But, in their minds, this was the only thing that made sense.
    A member of Hero Peak picking someone who hadn't even joined a Peak yet was quite ridiculous. What else could Leonel be if not a boytoy to relieve some stress?
    Though there was a stigma around it, there were no shortage of women who simply didn't care about the opinions of others, and this was especially so if these women were very strong. Aina happened to have both the uncaring personality and the strength, so this seemed like the logical conclusion.
    Unfortunatelyбн
    "Yes. I mind." Aina said coldly, slipping out of the young lady's embrace and grabbing Leonel's hand to walk away.
    The group was stunned for a moment before one of the boys burst out into a fit of laughter.
    "Gretta, it seems you won't be getting a taste."
    Gretta's expression warped. She hadn't really wanted a taste of Leonel, she cared too much about her reputation. In truth, she only wanted to ingratiate herself with Aina a bit. Who wouldn't want a relationship with such a genius?
    But, she hadn't expected it to backfire like this.
    "Whatever. I would much rather focus on my strength than whoring myself out." She ground her teeth in spite.
    "It seems like he's taking the white belt exam too?" One of the boys said curiously.
    Upon hearing this, they froze for a moment. They had never heard of someone taking the white belt exam before even joining a Peak.
    At that moment, a light ding noise sounded.
    "The exam will begin now. All those who have registered, please proceed to room 2-A."
    Among the group of four, the young man who originally called out to Aina remained silent, his eyes never leaving Leonel's back.
    "Edmorn, snap out of it. If we're late, it'll count as a fail and we'll have to wait another six months."
    The young man seemed to awaken at these words. "Rightбн"
    Soon, the group had entered the spacious room. Looking around, aside from the six of them, there were about ten others, leaving the total number of participants at just under 20.
    The room was bland. The floors, walls and ceiling were all covered by large one by one meter black grey tiles. There didn't seem to be anything special about it to a layman. But, to one with sharp senses, it was possible to feel a subtle and unique flow of energy.
    "The exam requirements are more stringent than they have been in the past." A lazy voice suddenly played and completely filled their surroundings. "Now, more than ever, what is most important is your strength. In addition, the requirements for passing are no longer summarized into a single line. Rather, you will be graded on a curve. Of the 18 of you here, only four will be allowed to pass regardless of your performance."
    The crowd was stunned.
    What Leonel and Aina didn't know was that they had happened to stumble into just the third white belt exam that had taken place. These new rules had thus yet to become public knowledge.
    It seemed that Valiant Heart was doing its best to increase the quality of its students.
    "Now, we will begin the first round."

 Chapter 692 - Reflexes

    In the past, in order to become a white belt, one needed to reach a Tier 4 standard. But, judging by the words of the lazy, omnipresent voice, there was no longer such a clear dividing line. If they wanted to become white belts, they would have to place in the top four overall by the end of these rounds, or else they would have to wait for another half year.
    "The first round will be a test of reflexes. Begin."
    The youths looked around in confusion. They had heard of this test of reflexes before иC well, assuming it was still the same considering this generic name. But, from what they knew, this test should have taken place one at a time. Why was it that the voice didn't pick out who should be going?
    Before any of them could figure out what was going on, the large grey tiles that made up the room pulsed with a dull ray of white light. They didn't have time to understand what this meant before several illusory balls appeared in the air, slowly growing solid.
    &lt;3бн 2бн&gt;
    Everyone's pupils constricted at once.
    A mechanical voice reached zero in its count and hell suddenly descended.
    The now solid balls shot in every which direction. Two of the freshmen couldn't even react before these 'solid' balls shot through their bodies.
    Their expressions changed. In that moment, it felt as though a large chunk of their Force was suddenly ripped out of their bodies.
    The good news was that they weren't injured. But, the bad news was that their stamina had suddenly been sapped away.
    Leonel took a casual step forward as a ball whizzed by his head.
    'So this was what they meant by a test of reflexes, huh?'
    Not only did they have to deal with these balls shooting toward them, but they would definitely have to keep an eye out for their fellow student as well. It was definitely not just out of the kindness of their hearts that that lazy voice had made it clear that only four would pass.
    From the very beginning, they were pitted against each other.
    Leonel raised his foot.
    A solid ball shot beneath his sole, rebounding off of the ground and crashing toward the wall behind him.
    'The room is a 20 by 20 by 20 meter cube. There are 18 of us in here and there are 100 moving balls the size of a head. They didn't set a timer and being hit doesn't seem to eliminate youбн So I wonder what the grading criteria isбн?'
    Leonel sent a gaze toward Aina.
    The control she had over her body was immaculate. Even though compared to Leonel, the time she was having was harder, it was still of incomparable ease if she was measured up against everyone else.
    There were only about four others who seemed to be taking this exam in stride.
    The weird nose contraption wearing Gretta. The young man who had called out to Aina, Edmorn. And two other young men, one of which had a sword strapped to his back and the last of which insisted on dodging around with his hands in his pockets. Whether he wanted to look cool or if this was just his style, Leonel didn't particularly care.
    Unlike the others, Leonel hardly moved from his spot. The balls could only be obstructed by each other and the wall. Even when they ran through an examinee, they simply turned illusory for a moment while continuing at the same speed. Quite frankly, this exam was too easy for Leonel.
    With his ability, he could map out the trajectory for all hundred balls over the next several minutes. Then he could directly ignore the ones that wouldn't cross his path and mark out the ones that would. After that, it was a simple matter of knowing how the ball would attack him and dodging accordingly.
    However, it was then that the walls flashed again.
    The change was subtle, but Leonel's eyes narrowed.
    'They increased the speed by 1%. My calculations are off.'
    Leonel adjusted his simulations almost instantly.
    He took a step forward, side stepped to the right, then went diagonally back to the left. In just a few breaths, he had dodged five balls and was back to standing exactly where he had been from the very beginning.
    It was only a subtle increase to Leonel, but when these balls had already been travelling at over a hundred kilometers an hour, a 1% change was steep.
    A Fourth Dimensional existence would only be able to reach such speeds in a Third Dimensional world. In a Fifth Dimensional world, however, even speed aces would struggle to touch such a level unless they were absolute geniuses.
    As a result, everyone in this room had to read and react long before the ball reached them, or else they would have no chance whatsoever.
    This 1% change cause enough of a shift that those that had been doing alright previously suddenly found themselves backed into a corner. The more they got hit, the greater the sap to their stamina was.
    Beads of sweat fell from their brows, their faces paling.
    As expected, once again, it was only those four aside from Leonel and Aina that seemed to be just fine with these changes. It was clear that Hero Peak was having an elite showing.
    At that moment, a youth who felt he was on his last legs roared in despair. Shooting forward, he tackled another youth that was nearby, tumbling onto the floor with him.
    In that instant, the youth and poor guy he tackled were run through by several of the balls, sapping all of their strength completely.
    The expressions of everyone changed. They had all known in the back of their minds that such a thing would happen eventually, but no one had known who the first person to act would be.
    Everyone looked around at each other warily, not wanting to be the next victim. But, this split consciousness caused some to lose the focus that had kept them in it to this point.
    It was then that the lazy voice suddenly appeared once again.
    "Round one completed.. Round two commencing."

 Chapter 693 - Speed

    Leonel's brow raised. It was over? Just like that?
    There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. The balls only increased their speed just once. In addition, Leonel had started paying attention to who was getting hit and who was dodging after a while, but everyone other than the six of them seemed to have gotten hit at least two or three times.
    That meantбн
    'So it's based on elimination.'
    Leonel looked toward the two youths too tired to even stand up. Their Force had been completely run dry.
    The young man who had been tackled wanted to vent out his rage and unwillingness, but he couldn't do anything but glare and breathe heavily.
    Eventually, a flash of light sent both out of the room.
    As expected, they really were eliminated. This likely meant that these rounds would continue until there were just four remaining.
    'If that's the case, depending on this next round, we can just end things early.'
    "This next round will test your strength. Begin."
    The walls flashed and all the balls suddenly vanished. With another subtle glow, numerous lights coalesced. This time, however, instead of forming balls, they began to form humanoid puppets.
    Leonel found that his soles were stuck to the tiles beneath his feet. He tried to lift his leg and found that it was an enormous task.
    'Gravity? Magnetism?' Leonel couldn't decide what it was.
    He didn't think it was gravity because though moving his legs was hard, the other parts of his body didn't feel heavy. As for magnetismбн He might have been a man of metal, but everyone else seemed to be experiencing the same thing. It couldn't be that they were all metal men and women too, right? How could there be such a coincidence?
    'What a weird phenomenonбн'
    Leonel found the balls that could sap energy to be quite fascinating. He could imagine how over powered such a thing could be if it was an ability.
    But as broken as that ability seemed, if someone could make you suddenly magnetic to the ground beneath your feet mid battle without any warning, how devastating would that be.
    Leonel couldn't help but wonder how these things worked. It made him realize that he should definitely be more eager to use Valiant Heart's training rooms.
    The puppet before Leonel suddenly through out a punch.
    Reacting quickly, Leonel too threw out a punch, obliterating the puppet before him into motes of light.
    Leonel felt the magnetism at his feet disappear. But, before he could be confused, another puppet began to form. This time, he felt as though all the air in his surroundings had vanished, not allowing him to breathe in the slightest.
    The sudden change caught Leonel off guard, but it still took him just a single punch to eliminate the puppet before him.
    On the third, he felt like his skin was being seared in a vat of lava. On the fourth, he felt a chill down to his very bone.
    'Is this a strength test, or an adaptation test?'
    Leonel was so wow'd by the changes that he completely forgot to end the exam early like he had wanted to. How this testing arena managed to cause so many changes in such a fine area was beyond Leonel.
    It was all the more shocking because Leonel knew how poor this organization's standard of Force Crafting was. It was impossible for them to create something like this.
    "Second round concluded. Third round commencing."
    'Huh?' Leonel was caught off guard. Only then did he realize that he had gotten completely lost in his analysis. Maybe he liked Force Crafting for more than just defeating his father one day. He didn't even realize how ingrained it had become to his very being.
    Two more youths who couldn't survive the round were suddenly teleported out. No, it wasn't two, it was actually six.
    Leonel raised his brows. It seemed that they had all fallen at the same stage so they were taken out together. Some of them were convulsing, obviously still stuck in whatever harsh environment they had been feeling.
    Just like that, only ten remained.
    "This round will test your speed. Begin."
    Leonel's eyes flashed, his body instantly flickering to the side.
    A sharp silver dagger whizzed by him.
    'Another dodging test?' Leonel raised an eyebrow.
    But, he had hardly finished the thought when the dagger suddenly stopped midair, flipped backward, and headed for him again.
    'Ohбн'
    Leonel rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging the dagger again.
    But, some others weren't lucky. This time, not only did they feel a piercing pain, freezing their nervous system for a moment, but their stamina and Force was snatched away once again.
    The corners the dagger took to stab toward Leonel grew sharper and sharper. Eventually, it reacted so fast that Leonel didn't even have the option to stay in the same place.
    He swiftly dodged backward, the dagger bearing down on the tip of his nose. Leonel almost became cross-eyed trying to keep his gaze locked onto it.
    'What a test. They want us to display this level of speed in a 20 by 20 meter room with nine other competitors amongst us? The worst part is that they didn't even make any effort to separate out allies from one another, so there are most definitely people who will work together. Unlessбн?'
    If this was done on purpose, Leonel could see it having a potentially good effect. Teamwork was good for the sake of building the foundation of an organization. But, Leonel felt it would be better to promote this teamwork against their enemies, not their fellow students.
    The more Leonel thought about it, the more likely he felt it wasn't a coincidence that Hero Peak had sent exactly four to participate in this test. And, it was most definitely not a coincidence that they had all come together at the very last minute, even later than he and Aina.
    Leonel sent a gaze over toward Aina. Considering her speed, he wasn't worried about her. What he was worried about though wasбн
    Leonel's eyes narrowed.. Even without turning, he could feel that someone had targeted him from the back.

 Chapter 694 - "Most Logical"

    To Leonel''s back, a lanky youth ran with all his might. He most definitely hadn''t expected for the speed round to start at such a level. If things were like this, what would he do if the speed increased again like it had during the first round?

    It was already impressive enough for a Fourth Dimensional existence like him to be able to walk around and run in a Fifth Dimensional world like this one. But now they were most definitely asking for too much.

    ''I can''t wait six months! I can''t wait!''

    The more pressure Valiant Heart was under, the more resources and opportunities they brought out for everyone.

    Leonel and Aina weren''t aware of this yet since they had just come back, but even the tournament for entry into the Valiant Heart Zone had moved up. Not only this, but they were allowing far more students in now than they ever had in the past.

    But, the minimum requirement for entry into this tournament was to have a white belt. If he failed this time, there was no way he''d be able to join because by then, the tournament would have already passed!

    Due to all this mental pressure, the moment this youth saw Leonel''s back flying toward him, a mad light radiated from his eyes.

    He didn''t just need to survive. It was fine as long as he just outlasted everyone else. How could he pass up a chance to attack at someone''s back?

    Unfortunately for this young manбн

    Leonel''s feet suddenly became wrapped in a beautiful golden sheen, causing his speed to grow explosively. In the blink of an eye, the dagger that had been at the tip of his nose was over a meter away from him.

    Leonel, as though he had eyes at the back of his head, flipped into the air, soaring over the head of the examinee aiming for his back.

    The young man suddenly found himself pincered from both sides. His own dagger was still chasing him from behind while Leonel''s own dagger bore down on him from the front.

    It was too late to dodge.

    The youth felt a sharp pain rip through his chest, causing his speed to falter. Just that small split moment allowed his own dagger to slice through his back, leaving him completely paralyzed.

    The twin spikes of pain left his body trembling. Even after the daggers became illusory and flew out of his body, he had still collapsed to the ground, only to be pierced through again by his own dagger as Leonel''s chased after him.

    That third strike was the final straw, laying him out completely. His vision went dark, his dreams fading along with it.

    Leonel shot a glance over toward Aina. She seemed to have been targeted as well, but dealt with her pursuer much more straight forwardly. Unfortunately for the poor young man who targeted her, he was probably the only one to take on a true injury since the start of this competition.

    And just like that, there were eight remaining. Butбн The round didn''t stop.

    The walls flashed.

    ''1% increase in speed.''

    Leonel slowed down his own speed. After activating his Lineage Factor, even this 1% increase couldn''t make a difference to him. It was also more convenient for future moves if his dagger was closer to him. It would allow this farse to end quicker.

    "He''s still here?" Gretta frowned.

    When the exam began, Gretta and the other four had completely focused on themselves. Though they had entered together and planned to pass together, they knew that the entry of Aina had thrown a wrench into their plans.

    Because of this, the four became slightly wary of one another, knowing that one of them would likely had to be sacrificed so that Aina could pass. But, obviously, none of them wanted to take the fall.

    As a result, an exam that should have been easy left them walking on the tips of their toes, bringing out everything they had to be among the final four. In such a situation, they didn''t even care to pay attention to exactly who had survived as long as they weren''t being targeted.

    It wasn''t until yet another fell, leaving just seven remaining, that Gretta realized that Leonel, who she thought would have already fallen long ago, was still here. In fact, he seemed to be having an easy time as well.

    If this was an exam where it was possible for Aina to help him, she would be more accepting of this. But, this was obviously impossible. Even though they took all the tests together, everything had been pretty individual. Without a certain level of strength you could call your own, it would have been impossible to make it to this stage.

    Gretta''s frown deepened.

    Just one Aina was already enough of a headache, making their carefully planned alliance crumble before it could even start. But who the hell was this guy?!

    Gretta swept a glance toward her three ''partners'' turned ambiguous enemies.

    At that moment, the young man who always had his hands in his pockets, Arnid, swept a kick toward the seventh participant.

    BANG!

    The youth slammed against the large tiled wall.

    With his head spinning and his body practically pinned by the force, the slight acceleration he received from Arnid didn''t help him to escape his dagger for long.

    Just like that, there were six.

    Aina and Leonel stood on opposite sides of the room, each focused on escaping their daggers. As though they couldn''t sense the subtle change in the atmosphere, they remained stuck in their own worlds, not showing any sign of trying to come together.

    The four Hero Peak members sent a gaze toward one another. Sparks flew, a silent communication whizzing through the air.

    In a split moment, they all came to the same conclusion. If they wanted to give themselves a chance, there was only one logical path to take.

    Arnid, Gretta, Edmorn and the last, Fox, stamped their feet down in unison, sending a resounding boom throughout they room as they shot toward Leonel as one.

    Their plan was obvious. Take down Leonel first and as quickly as possible.. Then take down Aina.

 Chapter 695 - Next Step

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smile. ''Dream Model.''

    Leonel''s gaze radiated a blinding light. He had been mapping out simulations of this room for the past three rounds, how could he not have accumulated data on the other participants?

    The truth was that he had no need to use Dream Model on these enemies. Not only were they much weaker than him, they had no single attribute that surpassed him. Whether it was in speed, strength, dexterity, agility, he blew them out of the water.

    However, in that moment, Leonel halved his physical attributes. Then, still thinking it wasn''t enough, he halved them again. He just barely maintained enough speed to stay ahead of his dagger.

    Anrid was the first to make it to Leonel, his leg raising high into he air and slamming down for a vicious ax kick.

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly dimmed down, becoming cold and calculating. The four felt as though a beast had locked onto them all.

    Anrid''s kick missed Leonel''s shoulder by a hair, causing his eyes to widen. He had missed? How? He didn''t even see Leonel dodge and he had already accounted for his trajectory.

    At that moment, Leonel slipped by Anrid, only to find Gretta having morphed into a bird with an almost two meter wing span. The odd nose contraption she always wore suddenly became a sharp blade at the end of her beak.

    With a single flap, her speed increased explosively.

    ''Mmбн Dream Model.''

    Leonel shifted and rebuilt his model for Gretta. His subtle action caused Fox''s sword to just barely miss him.

    He slipped through the pincer of three, only to find the silent Ermond waiting with a fist he put his all into.

    ''His strength is beyond these three, but he still chose to attack me. Seems he''s really afraid of my lovely girlfriend.''

    Unfortunately for Ermond, Leonel slipped by his strike just as quickly and with just as much ease.

    Leonel was like the wind, weaving in an out of their attacks as though he was taking a stroll. Often times, the youths couldn''t even see how he dodged, not knowing that he had planned out his steps several moments ago, to slip by their predicted attacks.

    To them, it didn''t look like he dodged, but that was only because he already knew where they would attack and chose not to be there.

    Leonel''s dagger followed him around like a ghost, but couldn''t even touch his shadow.

    At that moment, the walls flashed again.

    ''Another 1%. Perfect.''

    Leonel lithely dodged another round of attacks.

    ''When I begin to build up my Metal Body after this, I''ll need to make sure I don''t lose my flexibility. I feel a bit stiff.'' Leonel absentmindedly noted something he should have noticed long ago, seeming not realizing that he had been backed into a corner.

    With a shocking call, Gretta swept down from above, looking to pierce him through the head.

    The three remaining youths shot toward him. A fist, a leg and a sword, all sweeping toward him with perfect precision, not to mention. There really was no place left to dodge.

    Leonel''s cold eyes regained their light, a smile spreading across his face.

    ''It''s been fun, I guess.''

    Leonel took a step forward, his body sliding to the side.

    In a perfectly timed movement, he slipped between Anrid''s leg and Ermond''s fist.

    PUCHI!

    "Round three has concluded. End of exam."

    бн

    "You couldn''t lend me a helping hand?" Leonel had a hurt expression on his face.

    With the handicaps he placed on himself, it took him three minutes of dodging to defeat those four without attacking. Yet, his Aina hadn''t even tried to help, how cruel.

    "You know I''m still in the Third Dimension. Just one hit from those daggers would have sucked me dry, then what would you have done?"

    Aina shook her head an ignored Leonel''s nonsense. If anything, she should have helped those four. They probably didn''t know how they lost even near the end. By all rights, Leonel should have been down and out. Even Aina almost made a move in that final moment.

    The couple made their way to the receptionist of the second floor again to find the same man with a dead look. However, at that moment, the men seemed to be completely focused on the screen before him, looking intently toward something.

    From their angle, Leonel could just barely see the last moments of his battle, how he slipped through and caused each of the four to be attacked by another''s dagger. Even Ermond who managed to dodge was somehow assaulted by Leonel''s dagger near the end just as the latter slipped by his fist.

    Just like that, all four were eliminated at the same time, causing this round to only have two passers.

    Leonel cleared his throat slightly.

    The man slowly looked up and gazed deeply at Leonel before throwing a white belt over to the both of them. He didn''t seem intent on saying anything else after this, just going back to what he was watching on the screen as though Leonel and Aina couldn''t see him.

    The couple looked toward one another and could only leave in the end.

    Leonel suddenly grinned as they left Valiant Hall.

    "Want to go piss off a few seniors?"

    Aina rolled her eyes. "I still have to train you know. All I''ve been doing is following you around, I haven''t even gotten a challenge in the past few days."

    "That''s not true, what about the Titan Hyena?" Leonel rebutted.

    "Not enough." Aina replied straight forwardly.

    "Fine, fine. You go off and leave me all alone again for another few months."

    Aina''s eyes flashed with a hint of guilt. "I''ll come see you at least once a week."

    "Good." Leonel nodded.

    "Don''t cause too much trouble." Aina said sternly. "And you can always come to Hero Peak, you know."

    "How can you ask me not to cause trouble, then say that?"

    Aina giggled. "Well, Valiant Hall''s training facilities aren''t any worse than Hero Peaks. Use them."

    "Mm." Leonel nodded, seeing Aina off.

    After watching her disappear into the distance, Leonel turned his gaze toward the distant freshmen quarters. It seemed he would have to piss off some seniors on his own.

    For the next step of his plan, he would need a store.. Then, he''d really be able to take advantage of his haul, courtesy of the King of Ores.

 Chapter 696 - Bear Rose

    Leonel pushed the broken doors aside, walking into the familiar dilapidated bar with a smile on his face.

    When the white belted senior saw Leonel, he froze. He had only planned to give a casual look over to see who had come. But, what he hadn''t expected was for this demon to suddenly appear again.

    "Hey!" Leonel grinned, sitting at the bar. "Long time no see!"

    The freshmen bar was quite full at the moment. Usually, most would be out on missions right now with the new rules that had been implemented. However, with the sudden danger of the Oryx now being common knowledge, few freshmen still dared to venture out.

    Without a thing to do, and with even the most common of training centers now requiring merit points to operate, the freshmen only really had three options: risk their lives, go sleep in their dorms, or hang out here.

    It was unsurprising, then, that most chose to come here.

    By now, news of Leonel had spread amongst the freshmen and though many couldn''t pick him out by his looks, there were still a good few that could. As such, it was no surprise, then, that his appearance caught no small amount of attention.

    The bartender shivered under Leonel''s gaze but did his best to regain his composure. Seeing how innocent Leonel looked now and comparing him to the monster he had seen before, it was really like night and day. He really had no idea who the true Leonel was.

    "What''s your name?" Leonel asked politely.

    "Myбн I''m called Mernik."

    Leonel nodded. "Mernik, I''m about to do something that will probably cause you a lot of trouble. But, in return, I''m willing to extend you protection should you need it. In addition, if you don''t mind, I wouldn''t have a problem if you continued to work here."

    Mernik gulped down hard, his pupils trembling. At that moment, he had a hard time maintaining eye contact with Leonel.

    "Thisбн What do you want to doбн"

    Leonel sighed, he really did feel a bit bad. But, he also needed this place.

    "This store, I need it. I''m officially issuing a challenge. Your boss can come here to defend this place, or I''ll take it for myself."

    "Ahбн"

    Mernik really wanted to shed tears at this moment.

    Why would a white belt come be a bartender at this place filled with freshmen? The answer was obvious, it was him who was tasked with maintaining order and rebuffing these challenges.

    The owner of this store only casually used it to make some passive income, but it was still a store that had been passed down through several generations of their family. It might be shabby, but enough ants could even kill an elephant. The freshmen didn''t spend a lot in this place, but there were so many freshmen and so few places for them to gather that this place made quite a sum even though it wasn''t comparable to the best bars and restaurants Valiant City had to offer.

    Mernik, thanks to his position, was able to greatly benefit from this. But, with these benefits came harsh requirements as well.

    With his strength, Mernik was actually above average amongst white belts. But, when compared to Leonel, he felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, and that was over a month ago.

    The current Leonel felt even sharper and more powerful despite the fact he wasn''t enraged like he had been last time.

    "Iбн Iбн Alrightбн"

    Mernik didn''t even raise his hand to battle. His palm flipped over, revealing a plaque. With a pained look on his face, he erased a Force mark and handed it over to Leonel.

    Leonel raised his brows, grabbing onto the plaque. After a quick sweep of his senses, he realized it was an ownership plaque that seemed to have the unique ability of reading one''s Force signature.

    ''Interesting concept.''

    Leonel nodded and chose to use his Star Forse to leave behind a mark, using the unique pulses of his Three Star Constitution that had yet to display its true might.

    In that moment, a hidden formation beneath the store rumbled.

    DONG! DONG!

    A pillar of light shot into the air, forming a beautiful pink-red emblem.

    The light form a budding rose with two horns crossed in the back. It was quite an elegant emblem and even seemed someone feminine. Or, rather it would if not for the roaring black bear that took up its background.

    Leonel raised his brows. "So much fanfare for such a small shop?"

    Mernik''s lip twitched. Did this person not do any research before he chose to take this action? Were all strong people like this? Acting first then thinking later?

    This shop might look run down, but that was a testament to its age, not its quality. The past few owners of this shop just couldn''t bother to take care of it. But, even then, it took hundreds of years for its state to become like this.

    This spot was one of the oldest in Valiant City and also happened to have been in the hands of a senior whose family had one of the longest tenures in shop ownership as well.

    Due to this, the Union this shop was under wasn''t a small one either. In fact, this Union was under the jurisdiction of one of Valiant Heart Mountain''s three most powerful factions: The Bear Rose Faction.

    In terms of most powerful factions on Valiant Heart, there were three. One was Raylion''s Hero Faction, practically taking the entirety of Hero Peak as its stomping grounds. The second was the Severed Heart Faction which was headed by one of the few geniuses outside of Hero Peak that could stand amongst Aphestus and Raylion. And the thirdбн Was the Bear Rose Faction, formed by the preeminent genius of Honor Peak.

    It was the existence of Severed Heart and Bear Rose that made many think that Raylion was levying a challenge toward either Honor or Brave Peak when he called for his meeting.

    But at this moment, Leonel had just done something that hadn''t occurred in over a century.

    He dared to snatch a store under the protection of a Union and had kicked a bees nest.

    In the skies above, the emblem of the Bear Rose Faction crumbled into motes of light, leaving nothing but a pillar of white.

 Chapter 697 - Fallen Tunnels

    "So it''s like that?" Leonel smiled. "No big deal."

    Leonel turned back toward the freshmen who were sitting in a bit of an awkward situation. They weren''t sure if they should all be leaving now or not. After all, this shop was no longer under the ownership of its original owner.

    "No worries everyone, drink and chat to your heart''s content. Everything is on me tonight. Tomorrow, I''ll close this place down for some renovations and will open it back up the day after so you''ll only miss out on a day.

    "After that, it will be business as usual plus some added perks."

    The freshmen were stunned for a moment before they cheered. Free drinks and food? Which of them wouldn''t be excited about such a thing?

    Plus, this place was actually finally getting some renovations? Who knows how long they had been waiting for such a thing? Their only worry was that prices might go up along with them.

    "Give me something mild, Mernik. I''m not a big drinker." Leonel said.

    Leonel had never really understood the fascination with alcohol. Though he had been underage on Earth, considering his track record, there were plenty of ways for him to break the law. The issue was that alcohol wasn''t something he found worthwhile to break the law for.

    It was gross and harsh on the throat. Plus, Leonel could never seem to get drunk in the past, so there wasn''t even a reward or buzz at the end waiting for him.

    By now, Leonel knew that that was likely because of the vomit brew his dad had fed him for years. But, he had already missed his window to join the ''cool kids''.

    At this moment, he was content with sipping on something a middle aged wine mom would love the taste of. He could almost hear his teammates jeering him in the back. Even Mernik was giving him weird looks.

    But, as far as Leonel was concerned, this was only to pass the time until the inevitable storm came.

    Mernik diligently cleaned Leonel''s glass, spending more time on it than he ever had before. He might have been caught in a struggle between behemoths, but now his only option was to rely on Leonel''s protection. Without it, he was finished. So, he could only make Leonel as happy as possible.

    бн

    Valiant City was in an uproar. The sign of a shop falling hadn''t been seen in decade, let alone one that carried the Bear Rose emblem.

    It was safe to say that this news spread quickly. But, due to another mind blowing event happening nearly in conjunction, it didn''t grab the attention of the people as sharply as one might expect.

    Just before the Bear Rose events began, news of the King of Ores faction and their being responsible in the deaths of almost 20 freshmen spread like wildfire. But, this news wasn''t even nearly as big as the fact that the culprits would be put on trial for their crimes. Of them, the prime culprit, Hallis, a young man with the earth ability that ended all of these lives freshmen would be tried for expulsion and even the death penalty.

    The news was shocking enough to rock Valiant Heart to its core. Punishment on this level had not been levied in a very long while and showed everyone just how serious Valiant Heart was about maintaining unity.

    Almost immediately, the whispers began to grow more fervent.

    There was such swift and exact punishment for this, but what about those seven youths who died at the hands of that unnamed man? What about those three seniors before them?

    It was clear that someone was still trying to control the overarching narrative, bending it so that the focus of the people would change. But, unfortunately for these individuals, there was a difference this time.

    Almost just as swiftly as these ''whispers'' began to be spread, it was snuffed out by the heart warming story of a freshman leading his fellow freshmen to safety even under the oppression of his seniors.

    In the blink of an eye, the half constructed narrative crumbled while Leonel continued to sip at his fruity drink.

    **

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    "Explain this shit to me! Where are the tunnels?! Where are the Ores?! Why can''t I see shit down here anymore?!"

    Nigmir roared, venting his rage on the new crew that had come to rotate in place of Miya, Hallis and the others. However, before they could even get to work on their shift, they almost immediately sent word back to the faction that there was something wrong.

    The instant Nigmir got the report, he felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

    This network of mines was among their most important. No, it was the most important.

    If there was one thing the Valiant Heart World had, it was an endless supply of Ores, especially Ores within the Fourth Dimension. However, among these, there were definitely differences and strength and weaknesses among them.

    This Ore Network, on top of being relatively close to the mountain pass and thus much easier to defend compared to others, it carried two of these precious Ores.

    The first was Twice Refined Diamond. This Ore was known for its hardness just like normal Diamond. But, its chemical structure was several times more robust to the point where only someone with strength nearing the Fifth Dimension could use it in metal work.

    Mining this Ore was important for two reasons. First, to keep it out of the hands of the Oryx who loved to use this heavy and hard Ore in their armors. And, second to sell to large metal working merchants and organizations for a hefty profit.

    The second Ore was Twice Refined Steel. If Twice Refined Diamond made the perfect armor for those on the stronger side of spectrum, Twice Refined Steel was perfect for the formation of heavy weapons. However, it was also good for forming the foundation of exceptionally heavy machinery and fortifications.

    Both of these Ores were favorites of the Oryx and important to keep away from them. But, they were simultaneously among the most lucrative.

    How lucky had they been to find a network of tunnels that connected both such resources?

    Yet now, it was all over. It was all gone.

    The tunnels that they could reach had all been cleaned out to the point where the walls didn''t even shine anymore, leaving the underground space completely dark.

    And, to make matters worse, the other paths were completely blocked by collapsed tunnels. Without several months of work, maybe even years, it would be impossible to clear them all. This mind had suddenly become useless to them, slashing down the King of Ores faction earning potential by more than half.

    Who else could they blame if not the Oryx? Even if they wanted to suspect Leonel, he was allowed to keep all the profit he made to himself as a black belted freshmenбн

    But would they even have the mind to suspect him? That was all fine, though.. He planned to make it quite obvious very soon.

 Chapter 698 - Cruel

    Leonel sat silently, sipping at a sweet drink. In his fingers, he rolled what looked like a silver ring, sliding it between his digits with a deft flexibility. His hands seemed capable of performing tasks that would otherwise be impossible.

    ''This ringбн what is it?''

    Leonel found it hard to believe that someone like Senior Lu could be holding onto something so valuable. But, when it came to random events of the universe, who was Leonel to say that he could perfectly understand them all?

    Leonel had already been trying to Dream Sculpt this ring for the better part of the last half an hour, but he was still only half of the way there.

    To put this matter into perspective, after Leonel reached the Peak of the Fifth Dimension with his Calculative Mind ability, completing a Dream Sculpt for even one of his Quasi Bronze Spears would take a few minutes at worst, and that was a treasure at the very peak of the Fourth Dimension.

    Leonel had never tried to Dream Sculpt his Quasi Silver Spear before, but he really wasn''t sure if even it would take so long. If he had to guess, the times would be fairly close.

    If Leonel used this to deduce the value of the ring, it would at least be of the Fifth Dimension.

    Once he broke things down like this, it wasn''t impossible to believe that Lu could get his hands on such a thing. After all, as a student of Valiant Heart, he had the potential to one day become a Fifth Dimensional existence even though the probability was smaller than running into this ring in the first place.

    Intuition told Leonel that maybe even Lu didn''t know what this ring was but he kept it close understanding that it had to be special. Considering the sly nature of that Senior Lu, this did indeed sound like something he would do.

    Leonel sighed. He couldn''t help but think of nights Lu probably stayed up dreaming of what kind of treasure this ring would bring him to, hoping that he would shoot into the stars in one sweep the moment he learned of its secret.

    And yet now, those dreams had been stamped out and the final light of his hopes was now rolling between Leonel''s fingers so casually.

    ''This world is a cruel placeбн'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Ultimately, Leonel decided that he would need to ask the dictionary about this. But, before that, he would need to find a quiet place.

    BANG!

    The small shop suddenly shook, a violent force flinging the doors from their handles. A few shrieks sounded amidst the freshmen as they scurried out of the way. But, with their talent, such a flimsy, half rotten door couldn''t cause any severe harm to even the weakest of them.

    What could cause harm, though, was the force that had sent it flying.

    "Who was it?! Which bastard dares provoke Bear Rose?!"

    The members of Bear Rose had come here with fires in their bellies. No matter how they thought of it, they were certain that Hero Peak had begun making their move again.

    What bullshit abolition of the Peak system? Anyone with half a brain knew that Peaks still existed, they just hid behind the label of factions all the more now. This rule change only gave Hero Peak more freedom to snatch resources.

    However, the cohort of Hero Peak dogs they expected to find here weren''t here at all. Rather, a singular young man walked out from the now broken doorway, standing before them all.

    Bear Rose had come prepared for an all out war. Not knowing that they had been challenged by a brat who had barely been here for two months, they brought a full entourage of several white belts and even sent a blue belt to lead them all. Their lineup consisted of one of their most talented upper mid-level teams and totaled nine.

    They almost opened their mouths to tell Leonel to get the hell out of the way until they all froze seeing the plaque in his hands.

    Leonel scanned the nine before him. Eight white belts and one blue belt. Each of them wore the emblem of Bear Rose on the belt fabric that hung between their legs, making their affiliations quite clear.

    "This shop." Leonel pointed over his shoulder. "I''m taking ownership of it."

    The members of Bear Rose were stunned. The spectators who had come here for a good show, hoping to see a clash between Bear Rose and Hero were also stunned.

    By this point, Leonel hadn''t even switched off his black belt for his white belt yet. But, even if he had, the reaction wouldn''t be any less speechless. It only made it all worse that Leonel was wearing no emblems to speak of.

    The blue belt who led the group narrowed his eyes. His arms crossed over his broad chest, pressing down the dense patches of hair that covered his torso almost like coarse fur.

    Even with his arms crossed, he still held two massive hammers connected by a single thick chain. He looked toward Leonel deeply, his spine tingling.

    This young man before him was too calm.

    "You, a freshman, decided to challenge my Bear Rose faction?"

    "Well, I didn''t choose to challenge you specifically. I just happen to need this store." Leonel replied.

    "Are you aware of who owns this store?"

    "I am not."

    The frown of the blue belt grew deeper and deeper.

    "Fril. Bane. Take him down."

    Losing his patience, the commander coolly commanded. Since this freshman didn''t know what was good for him, it was best that they deal with this quickly. The more time they spent here, the longer Bear Rose''s name would be dragged through the mud. Even Hero didn''t dare to provoke them so casually.

    Without a word, two white belts shot forward. As though by prior agreement, they weaved in an out of each other''s paths, appearing before Leonel in a flash.

    Their legs whipped out like vipers, each aiming for a side of Leonel''s head.

 Chapter 699 - Heavy

    Leonel''s eyes never left the blue belt. Up to now, he had only fought the most elite of white belts, but he was truly curious to see how big the gap between a white belt and a blue belt was.

    As far as he knew, the process for becoming a blue belt was far more complex. In fact, part of the reason he even got involved with Sarrieth in the first place was because the latter was trying to complete his requirements to be promoted.

    ''I guess I''ll find out todayбн''

    Leonel hopped back, feeling the wind pressure of their kicks send his hair flying.

    A golden light enveloped his legs, explosively increasing his speed. In the blink of an eye, he managed to close the distance he had created again, slamming a fist into the chest of Bane.

    Fril reacted quickly, trying to use the opening of Leonel''s attack to counter. But, he found his leg slipping through air again.

    His planted foot suddenly felt a sharp pain at the joint of his knees. He could only intake a sharp breath, his vision spinning under the unholy amount of agony.

    His knee bent backward under the pressure of Leonel''s sole. The worst part was that Leonel didn''t even seem to be applying much pressure. He simply stood there, his head just under the range of Fril''s attack and his foot resting on the latter''s knee cap.

    In the blink of an eye, two white belts fell to the ground, leaving Leonel practically unscathed. Even after a few moments, it was difficult for the youths around Leonel to put into words what they had just seen. It almost felt like they were watching two men trying their best to harm themselves. They practically walked into their injuries.

    "A sensory type?" The blue belt''s spoke evenly.

    Leonel was quite surprised when he heard this. This was the first time someone had ever guessed his ability. Most thought it was one of his Lineage Factors.

    However, the combat experience of a blue belt couldn''t compare to those Leonel had battled in the past. They had seen too much. Rather than being flustered by Leonel''s display, this blue belt only came to the only logical conclusion. It was simple deduction.

    But, this only made Leonel more curious.

    With a grin, Leonel flipped his palm, causing a massive spear to appear.

    BANG!

    The spearhead crashed into the ground, its weight so great that a wild array of cobweb-like cracks spread in every direction.

    "Back away." The blue belt said coolly.

    "But, captainбн!"

    "He''s mine."

    The blue belt stepped forward, his heavy step causing the ground to quake almost as much as Leonel''s heavy spear.

    He stretched out his two massive hammers to his sides, holding them out as though to display the strength of his arms.

    The chain that hung between the hammers jingled and sparkled, glistening with cracked and dried blood.

    Leonel rose his heavy spear from the ground, pointing it forward in a feat of strength that was no less impressive. The massive three-dimensional head of the spear was double the size of his head, probably carrying at least 60% of the spear''s entire weight. Yet, the polearm didn''t so much as bend the slightest bit while being held this way.

    "My name is Arte."

    "My name is Leonel."

    BANG!

    The two shot forward, appearing before one another in a blink.

    Leonel''s body embodied the spirit of his spear. His figure became larger than life, his every movement imposing and grandiose. For just a moment, he seemed to even dwarf Arte in size despite them being about the same height.

    Arte didn''t seem fazed. His hammers swung down simultaneously, his back flexing madly beneath the carpet of hair they hid under.

    Leonel swung his spear out to the side, slashing in a wide arc upward and toward Arte''s head.

    Arte smashed his hammers downward as one, looking to shatter Leonel''s spear into countless little pieces.

    BANG! BANG!

    A shockwave of wind shot in every direction. As though walking through hurricane force winds, several spectators covered their eyes with their forearms, leaning forward to not be blown back.

    The freshmen within the bar to Leonel''s back especially found themselves in a precarious situation. The front wall of the shop bent and wheezed, seemingly about to cave in at any moment.

    Leonel''s arm creaked. He felt a pressure the likes of which he had never experienced before even despite using the Four Seasons Realm to support his spear.

    Arte felt his shoulders about to collapse, the resonating ring of metal colliding against metal shaking his body to its core. But, maybe the most shocking thing was that there wasn''t a single scratch on Leonel''s spear. In fact, Arte faintly felt his own hammers giving way, cracking as though they might collapse into a pile of ash at any moment.

    Arte was in shock. His two hammers were both Tier 6 treasures. It took him decades of saving every penny to finally be able to commission them to his specifications. But now they couldn''t even last a single blowбн?

    Arte''s expression changed. He realized that going head on with Leonel would only result in him losing his precious babies. He couldn''t let this continue.

    Arte shot backward. Deep inside he felt embarrassed. He knew the moment Leonel took out such a heavy spear that he had met a fellow man who wanted to fight a battle of strength. But, he couldn''t afford to do this now.

    With deft movements, Arte''s style completely changed. Leonel almost took a step forward to pursue, but his instincts suddenly flashed with danger warnings.

    Arte''s chains sprung to life. Leonel could see a subtle fluctuation of Force coursing through them with a level of control he rarely if ever saw.

    Before Leonel could react, Arte whipped his hammers across his body.

    At that moment, Leonel found a chain loop closing in around his neck.. At that level of force, he just might lose his head even with his Metal Body.

 Chapter 700 - Arte

    Leonel''s eyes flashed.

    With quick movements, his heavy spear disappeared, replaced by a twin set of spears he immediately speared into the ground on either side of himself.

    CLANG!

    The chains rang out, clashing against the polearm of the spears.

    Leonel leapt into the air, balancing the tips of his toes on both spears and pushing against them to stop the chains from closing in any more.

    Arte felt a strong repulsive force, stopping him from tightening the chains any further. He was shocked by Leonel''s response, but his lip couldn''t help but twitch when he saw the quality of the spears Leonel was using as foot rests. Where the hell was this freshmen getting all of these weapons from?!

    Unfortunately for Arte, Leonel''s unconventional response had a purpose.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a tall, sleek black bow. In the blink of an eye, he had released three arrows. They streaked across the slowly setting sky of dusk, reflecting the gorgeous violent and deep red hues of the sun above.

    Arte reacted quickly, releasing his grip on one hammer and pulling back on the other hard.

    The chains were finally free.

    A hammer shot out like a cannonball. Arte pulled back so hard that Leonel felt his footing quake.

    Sparks flew as the chains slid across the polearm of the two spears. The hammer wrapped around one edge, changing trajectory and shooting for Leonel''s head as though it had a mind of its own.

    At that same instant, Arte roared. He raised his remaining hammer, continuously pulling back to give the other more and more speed. When he reached his peak, his arm flexed, swinging downward with all his might.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    At the exact moment Arte countered Leonel''s three arrows, sliding back further and further with every strike, the hammer had accelerated toward Leonel''s head, having every intention of decapitating him.

    ''How cleverбн'' Leonel''s eyes flashed.

    His own attack ended up giving Arte even more momentum. As he pulled back further, the hammer, linked to the chain, shot toward Leonel even faster.

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly glowed with something other than coldness or surpriseбн It was excitement.

    He felt his blood boil. The whistling wind of the hammer shooting toward him making his nerves scream.

    Calculations ran threw Leonel''s mind at a speed that was inconceivable to most. As clever as Arte''s attack was, it had one fatal flaw.

    Leonel''s feet shifted. The spears he balanced upon shook, pulling against the chains still sparking against them.

    The trajectory of the hammer shifted, flying over Leonel''s head by barely an inch at the very last instant.

    It wrapped around the two spears, shooting back toward Arte. However, it was then that Leonel suddenly grabbed at the flying hammer.

    At that moment, it was flying at several hundred kilometers an hour, being just shy of the speed of sound. Trying to grab onto such a thing at that moment, even if you succeed, felt no different from courting death. And if you failed, the best that you could hope for was a lost hand.

    However, as though it was the most normal thing, Leonel completed it all in a single motion.

    Runes flickered to life across his skin, a surge of bronze violet hanging around him as a halo manifested above his head. He looked like a Roman God, his eyes filled with a confidence that could topple worlds. At that moment, his image was imprinted into the minds of all those present.

    The instant Leonel grabbed onto the hammer his body shot forward. His reached out his free hand, causing one of the spears to shoot out of the ground and slam into his palm.

    Arte''s expression changed, suddenly finding Leonel flying toward him at impossible speeds.

    Give up his hammers? That was impossible. Control it as he had been previously to change Leonel''s trajectory? That seemed like the best choice, but at that moment, Arte found that his weapon wasn''t responding to him. All the Force he tried to poor into it was blocked, countered by an opposing force that could have only come from Leonel.

    Arte''s eyes widened, unable to wrap his brain around what was happening.

    But, Leonel didn''t allow him to think for very long. The spear he grabbed didn''t remain with him for long while.

    Using his momentum, Leonel''s arm became like a canon, shooting his spear out like a harpoon. It flew toward Arte as though a star streaking across the skies.

    Arte''s eyes lit with panic. The distance was too close and his hammer wasn''t responding to him. Even if it was, considering the quality of Leonel''s weapons, could he even block such a thing safely?

    Arte roared. "Absolute Control!"

    His Force erupted, his hand stretching outward. He poured all his strength into his free hand, reaching out for the spear streaking through the skies.

    BANG!

    Arte''s arm ripped backward at an awkward angle, his shoulder popping out of its socket. He grimaced, his face turning pale. However, it was at that moment that Leonel reached him.

    A heavy spear appeared in Leonel''s hand again. But, at that moment, Arte felt like falling to his knees. A heavy air suddenly wrapped around him, making it feel as though his own weight had multiplied by several times over.

    One arm held onto Leonel''s spear, unable to produce any strength after its dislocation. The other was prepared to raise his hammer up and stop Leonel''s charge. But, now, it felt heavier than ever, as though the weight of the world had fallen onto him.

    His timing was thrown completely off, he couldn''t even counter when Leonel reached his range.

    Leonel shifted the blade of his heavy spear, streaking through the skies, he slammed the flat of it against Arte''s chest.

    Arte felt his ribs cave in, all the air in his lungs shooting out at once.

    He shot backward like an arrow from a bowstring, crashing over a hundred meters away, unable to stand.

 Chapter 701 - Mouthfuls Of Blood

    BANG!

    Leonel landed on the ground with a heavy thud, only to be surrounded by a wall of silence.

    Honestly, even he, himself, was somewhat surprised by the conclusion. The slight change in his mentality, courtesy of his lovely girlfriend, had actually caused such a great change to his combat prowess even without any fundamental upgrade to his strength.

    It had to be remembered that just a month ago, Leonel had to put in quite some effort to defeat Nigmir. Of course, his life was never in danger, nor did it seem difficult, but the reality was that if he didn''t have a perfect counter thank to his Wind Domain spear, that battle wouldn''t have ended so quickly.

    Yet, Nigmir was just a white belt. Of course, he was a white belt on the edge of becoming a blue belt and could be considered to be an absolute elite amongst them, but he was a white belt nonetheless.

    Despite this, Leonel was just able to defeat a blue belt in just a few exchanges and he almost made it look easy. The moment he stabbed his spears into the ground, Leonel felt that the battle was over, and that was the hard truth.

    His counter to Arte''s chains made the latter believe that the best option was to use the spears as anchor points to directly attack Leonel. As a result of this, Leonel was able to make use of Arte''s own momentum and strength against him in his counter, thus ending the battle far quicker.

    If not for this, it would have been impossible for Leonel to put enough strength into a throw to dislocate Arte''s arm, and thus it would have been impossible for him to land such a clean hit on Arte''s chest.

    It was just a single, simple moveбн Yet it was like a master stroke that decided the battle almost immediately.

    ''Why guess your opponent''s next movement if you can choose that movement for themбн?''

    Leonel didn''t know it now, but this philosophy would be one of the most important changes to his psychology, only second to what would occur just a few months from nowбн

    Leonel put his heavy spear away, reaching out a palm and causing the final spear to shoot out from the ground and into his hand. With slow movements, he put it away as well.

    Now that Leonel''s Earth affinity had been ingrained into his very body, something like causing a metal spear to fly toward him was as easy as breathing. He hardly needed to think about it in the slightest.

    Leonel swept a gaze through his surroundings and his eyes landed on Arte who was coughing up blood in the distance. But, before he could start to walk to him, he found his path blocked by six shivering white belts. Though the fear was evident in their expressions, they seemed to have no intention of taking a step back.

    They had no idea that Arte''s strength actually surpassed Leonel''s. After all, Arte was a Tier 6 existence. For a Leonel who had yet to refine his Metal Body past the Tier 1 stage, and whose Force was still in the Third Dimension, it was too large a gap. It was just that none of it mattered because Leonel''s ability made up for the gap in spades.

    However, whatever the details were, all they saw was a young man who could easily defeat their captain. They refused to let him get close again.

    Leonel sighed and shook his head.

    "What do you think I''m going to do? Kill him? His entire chest is caved in, if someone doesn''t do something he really might die. Plus, I need my spear."

    "I will heal him." One of the white belts said coldly.

    Leonel shrugged. It made sense for a team like theirs to have at least one person with a healing ability. It seemed he stuck his nose in something it didn''t belong in.

    It wasn''t like he hated Arte, they just happened to be on opposing sides this time. He didn''t even know the guy.

    With a wave of his hand, the spear that had been in Arte''s hand shot out, weaving through the six and snapping into his palm. Even though Leonel had countless spears of this caliber, that didn''t mean he would just leave them lying around so casually.

    Plus, if someone who wasn''t acknowledged by Spear Domain held onto the spear for too long, it would shatter into ash just like every spear that wasn''t acknowledged by it.

    "You can take him away. If you have any problems with my ownership of this shopбн Well, you know where to find me."

    With that Leonel turned to walk toward the bar under the gazes of many.

    "Oh, and!" Leonel suddenly stopped and looked back. "Tell your captain that if he wants his hammers repaired, he can come here the day after tomorrow."

    **

    News of what happened spread like wildfire. The fact that Bear Rose had lost was enough to cause an uproar to begin with. But, for it to be at the hands of a supposed freshmen it was even more worth it.

    The idea of a freshmen defeating a blue belt was enough to overturn all the understandings they had.

    However, what was released next somehow surpassed even that.

    According to reports, this Leonel was actually now a white belt. This should have made the news easier to accept rather than causing another uproar, but what really shook everyone to their core was the fact that this Leonel was part of the most recent batch of freshmen. He had been here for barely two months!

    The current Leonel, though, had no idea that he had caused such a commotion. If he had known, a wide grin would most definitely spread across his face. The more people who knew that he owned this store the better.

    By now, Leonel had shut the bar down and spread out his Internal Sight to memorize every nook and cranny. It took him just under ten minutes to perfectly Dream Sculpt the entire structure. Though it was large, there wasn''t anything special about it other than the array which was drawn into its foundation. If not for this array, it would only have taken him a few seconds at most.

    Leonel took a deep breath. He had never attempted to apply his Force Crafting to an entire building beforeбн

    He grinned. ''This should be fun.''

    With a thought, numerous heavy metals began to clang to the ground one after another.. If a member of King of Ores faction had been there, Leonel would even think of taking bets on how many mouthfuls of blood they''d cough up.

 Chapter 702 - Blackstar

    Among the many blueprints Leonel''s father had left behind, there were even a few buildings among them. To this point, Leonel had mostly ignored them, focusing on the designs that could hone his skill in armor crafting.

    That said, this didn''t mean that he had never looked over them. In fact, he had memorized them all already. They were able to give Leonel a basic understanding of construction and the physics that went behind it.

    Most of it was quite simple in Leonel''s estimation, just understanding forces like tension, compression, shearing and the like. He had already learned about all these things in high school.

    Plus, even if he hadn''t, he could just test his design plans within his Dream World. If he did things like that, he would hardly need to think at all.

    After a few minutes of thought, an amount that was likely equivalent to several hours for even other sensory types and probably several days for normal individuals, Leonel had settled on everything.

    The first thing he did was completely shroud the small shop in a Light Elemental illusion, making it look like nothing but a blank space from the outside.

    Then, he burnt everything down to ashes.

    ''Let''s reconstruct this foundationбн Oh?''

    Leonel chuckled.

    The formation that made up the foundation of the small shop had a few functions. The first was to mark the owner, the second was to mark which Union the owner was a part of, and the third was very clearly a monitoring function.

    Of course, this was only ''clear'' to Leonel. At most, this formation was on the level of a Tier 4 Force Art, it wasn''t anywhere near complex enough to throw Leonel off any scent. The only reason it took him so long to Dream Sculpt was because of its size.

    Leonel immediately began rearranging the formation.

    ''Hm, an emblemбн? Let''s go with some spears, maybe a bow, a touch of silver, and we need a mascotбн Let''s give that honor to Little Blackstar and give him some wings made out of Little Tolly.''

    Leonel chuckled to himself. With his ability, though he wouldn''t call himself an artist, he was most definitely able to perfectly replicate anything in his mind. Something like drawing an image he had in mind was as easy as breathing.

    He ended up creating an emblem that was one part valiant and another part adorable. How else would one describe a graveyard of spears with a little mink flying overhead with its little wings, pulling back the string of a bow?

    Leonel encased it all in an elaborate silver border that made it look particularly royal and put the finishing touches on the formation.

    ''I guess we can call it the Blackstar Faction. Why not? бн You should be happy little guy, even though you left me behind forбн softer pastures.''

    After Leonel was finished with amusing himself, he truly got to work.

    ''We''ll do just two levels, no need to get too wild. The first will sell goods, the second will deal with repairs.

    ''The structure needs to be eye popping, but what could be more eye popping than using Twice Refined Steel and Diamond on a small shop?''

    Leonel grinned like a madman, not caring in the slightest that he was wasting what amounted to millions of kilograms of Urbe Ore. In fact, he relished in it. If he was going to make a bang, he was going to go all out.

    Leonel built up the frame of the small shop with Twice Refined Steel. This Ore was exceptionally good at forming heavy weapons. Not only did it have quite some heft to it, but it was also quite ductile while simultaneously being very sturdy. Let alone a two story building, it would easily be able to form the framework for a building several kilometers tall even in a Fifth Dimensional world.

    Working with large beams of metal wasn''t as difficult as Leonel had thought it would be, but the precision required was just as important. Thanks to Leonel''s metal affinity, though, he had senses almost too strong for this kind of matter. Even when he was moving around several tons of metal around, he hardly broke a sweat.

    Once Leonel was finished with this, he began to work with he Twice Refined Diamond. The material itself looked quite like the diamond of Earth. The main difference was that it radiated a gentle sky blue that could become a pale white depending on how you looked at it.

    Leonel had a plan.

    Building a shop of this material would almost make it tacky. As cool as it sounded to have bricks of diamond, it might look more ridiculous than anything else by the end of it all.

    Butбн what if he made use of the formation below? The transparency and high refraction index of the diamond made it very sensitive to light, especially when introduced at a certain angle.

    ''Yes, this could work if I shift the design a bit and tweak the formationбн''

    Leonel got to work. His fingers were a blur as he practically fused with Little Tolly.

    He cut the Twice Refined Diamond into perfect pieces. Some times they would be prisms, at other times they would be perfect bricks, and there were even some others that had irregular shapes.

    Leonel mapped out exactly how all of these shapes would fit together. When it all came together, the outside of the building would almost look like a kaleidoscope of shapes. And then, when Leonel activated the formation and the black and silver lights shone through itбн

    The hours began to tick by. On the outside, all anyone saw was a vast blank space. They weren''t foolish enough to believe the shop had actually disappeared, but they were shocked that such a formation could actually be laid without issue.

    It was then, on the morning of the second day that the Light Illusion Force Art finally began to fade. What people saw, though, left them completely stunned to the point that many came to a grinding halt.

    The Blackstar Emblem hung in the skies, showing no signs of dissipating. It was so clear that it could be seen from every point within the city.

    Thenбн the doors opened.

 Chapter 703 - BLACKSTAR

    It should have been impossible for a two story shop to be so imposing. Yet, that was exactly what it felt like.

    Its outer surface was formed of what looked like shards of glass. A deep, black light shimmered throughout it all, giving it an almost sinister outlook that had a sort of demonic beauty to it.

    Up above, its emblem slowly turned, radiating out with black silver lights. The graveyard of spears contrasted by the flying, bow wielding, little mink should have been jarring. But, somehow, it felt just right.

    The shop had no windows. It didn''t even seem to have a single door either. It made one wonder if this was just here for looks or if others would actually be able to use it.

    At that moment, lights coalesced near the second floor, soon forming a line of curved words.

    BLACKSTAR.

    Unable to withhold their curiosity, many approached the building. It was no surprise that quite a few had been observing this location ever since the battle that occurred two days ago ended. Some came with neutral intentions, some just wanted to watch the world burn, while others came to see if there was anything they could take advantage of.

    However, right when the first person approached, a somewhat disjointed voice began to speak.

    <First Floor: Shop>

    <Second Floor: Repairs and Sales>

    The youths that had come forward out of curiosity blinked in shock. They had never seen such a thing before. Out of curiosity, some chose the first floor option, only to find that a strong spatial force suddenly latched onto them.

    Panicking, many who felt such a thing immediately resisted, causing the teleportation to fail. Their hearts almost beat out of their chest, perspiration falling from their brows.

    Spatial abilities were very rare. Even those who had such abilities in Valiant Heart usually had them in small doses, making their strengths somewhat neutered. But, that didn''t change the fact that being forcibly teleported was maybe one of the most hair-raising experiences one could ever suffer through.

    After calming down, though, they seemed to have finally come to an understanding.

    First of all, the spatial tug on them had been very small. In fact, now that they thought about it, it didn''t take much effort at all to snap. That likely meant that whatever forced teleportation there was, it wasn''t out of malicious intent. And, now that they had thought this far, they realized that this force only appeared after they chose which floor to enter.

    "So it''s like thatбн"

    Many began to mutter to themselves.

    They prompted the message again and this time, they didn''t resist. Their sight blurred for just a moment before they suddenly found themselves in what felt like an all new world.

    The walls shimmered like black diamond, filling the room with soft, dim light. The first floor was separated into a few corners. One seemed to sell armor, a few sold weapons of various kinds, separating them into types, and the last seemed to be consumable items.

    The floors beneath their feet, the walls and the ceiling all made it feel like they were hovering in the depths of space. It was an ethereal feeling that filled them all with wonder.

    "Thoseбн Those are Tier 5 weapons!"

    "Wait, look at that, those are Tier 6!"

    "Those at the center there, aren''t those Tier 7?!"

    The youths felt like fainting. Many of them were just white belts, they wouldn''t even normally be in the freshmen quarters if not for all the commotion Leonel had caused. But, seeing such weapons, weapons they would usually have to scratch and claw to even catch the sight of being displayed so grandlyбн

    Many eyes lit up with fervor and greed. They rushed toward the counters, scanning through the prices.

    "Why do these damn freshmen get a discount on weapons at and below the Tier 4 level?! Where are our discounts?!"

    <Warning. Proximity alarms triggered. Display appropriate merit points required for exchange>

    The sudden warning blared through the first floor, making many snap out of their greed induced states. But, when they looked around, they found that there were really no workers in sight. Not to mention the fact there wasn''t a single blue belt to manage such a place, there wasn''t even a white belt.

    Realizing this, the greed in the eyes of many lit up once again.

    <Warning. Second infraction detected, no merit points exchanged. If there is a third, you will be expelled and banned from BLACKSTAR>

    Some hesitated when they heard this, but when they remembered just how weak the forced teleportation had been on the outside, their sneers returned even deeper than before. They couldn''t even fathom how this shop owner could be so stupid.

    Jumping forward many grabbed at the lofty Tier 7 treasures on display.

    "Get out of my way!"

    "Are you trying to die?!"

    "Come on then, bastard! See if I don''t break your legs!"

    At that moment, before they could even truly become rowdy, they all froze.

    Feeling a strong spatial Force envelop them, they all snorted. They all erupted with their own Force in unison, expecting to break out of the hold just as easily as before.

    But, in the blink of an eye, they felt as though their Force had fallen into an endlessly vast ocean. Before they could even realize what had happened, they had all been booted. When their vision cleared, they were right back on the outside.

    <Access Denied>

    <Ban Reason: Attempted Theft>

    <Ban Length: Indefinite>

    Many instantly tried to re-enter, only to be stone walled with this volley of messages.

    Their eyes widened.

    "No! Let us in!"

    "Dammit! Let us in!"

    Their insides twisted with regret. They couldn''t wrap their heads around what had just happened. Their had just been so much wealth at the tip of their fingers.

    Those watching on who had yet to enter were shocked by their fervor. Just what was inside?

    "You think a damn wall can stop me?!"

    A particularly fiery tempered man stomped on the ground. He had seen a Tier 7 Battle Ax in there he had to have. He practically salivated when he laid eyes on it. He had to have it. He had to have it.

    He stepped forward, flipping his palm over to reveal his own battle ax and swinging forward with all the strength he could muster.

    His arms flexed, his back practically splintering as he swung.

    BANG!

    The man paused for a moment before he was sent flying back like a meteor. A cry of horror left the man''s lips before he collapsed in a pile of his own flesh and blood.

    Women who laid eyes on him shrieked in horror. The man''s arms had become nothing but a mesh of blood and gore.

    It was then everyone realized a shocking fact.. The entire shop exterior was formed of Twice Refined Diamond.

 Chapter 704 - Repair

    The realization shocked everyone to their core. How could a person be so extravagant?

    They finally understood why it was that this place had no doors and not even a single window. How could anyone hope to deal with this fortress? Let alone claiming this plot of land back, one might not even be able to find the shop plaque to snatch back in the first place.

    One of the only quirks of shops was that their plaques couldn''t leave the immediate vicinity of their territory. This rule was implemented to stop shop owners from simply running away with the plaque so that their stores couldn''t be claimed by others.

    Of course, all the rules meant to promote competition were eventually rendered useless by the existence of things like Unions and the like. But, obviously, Leonel didn''t have any intention of letting such things control him in the slightest.

    And the result? It was yet another uproar.

    News of Tier 5, 6 and even 7 weapons being sold spread like wildfire. In the face of such things, the vague descriptions of Leonel that Raylion had made were akin to trying to envelop a fire within a thin sheet of paper.

    This was the second mistake Raylion committed.

    If Leonel was a mere Tier 3 or 4 Crafter like his grenades and Mending Armor seemed to show, then his words then would have been more than enough. But, an attempt to suppress a Crafter who could forge Quasi Bronze Crafts with nothing more than unsubstantiated wordsбн

    Well, how well would that work out for you?

    This was simply what happened when a youth from a mere Fifth Dimensional world tried to apply the common sense of his limited scope toward something far beyond his means of understanding.

    бн

    On the second floor of BLACKSTAR, Leonel lay on a luxurious cushion. His hands were behind his head and his legs were crossed one over the other. Every so often, he would lightly snore, making a somewhat adorable expression. At the moment, he most definitely didn''t have the face of the man who had flipped Valiant Heart on its head once again.

    The members of Polished Glass, even after having already been here for a few hours, couldn''t help but look toward him from time to time, still unable to wrap their heads around exactly what they were experiencing.

    When Leonel called them here, their first reaction was to panic. They had never thought that the one who had claimed this shop and caused all the commotion was actually Leonel himself. But, whatever panic they were feeling was immediately drowned out by even more of the same.

    How had Leonel gotten his hands on so much Twice Refined Diamond? They knew well that this Ore was among Valiant Heart''s most valuable exports. For him to gain so much, Kaela couldn''t help but think back to the moment Leonel dug through the rubble to take King of Ores'' mapбн

    As much as they were panicking though, their minds were completely overwhelmed by other thoughts not long after. They knew what level of skill it took to work with such a high quality Ore. Yet, Leonel had not only worked with it, he had formed an entire building of it.

    Not only did his Craft come out almost perfect, but it also looked like a glistening work of art. Even now, they felt like they were floating amidst the stars, making it difficult for them to continue on with their work.

    <DING!>

    At that moment, the group was snapped out of their thoughts. That sound meant that someone had chosen to teleport to the second floor.

    After they made this choice, they would appear within a small waiting lobby where they would send in the specifications of their order to be accepted by one of them.

    Up until now, there had yet to be a single order placed despite the fact they had heard this sound several times already. It was obvious that in the beginning stages, everyone was just curious about everything, so it wasn''t a surprise for many to teleport to the second floor just to check things out.

    The group thought that it would be more of the same again, but surprisingly, this time, an order actually went through. But, when they saw what it was for, their expressions changed.

    <Order Submitted>

    <Requestor: Arte (Blue Belt)>

    <Request for: Tier 6 Twin Hammers>

    <Request Charge>

    <Base Tier 6 Repair Fee: 1000 merit points>

    <Damage Multiplier: x2>

    <Weight Multiplier: x2>

    <Blue Belt Multiplier: x2>

    <Final Price: 8000 merit points>

    There was a slight pause. But, not long later, a figure manifested within the Crafting room. It was none other than Arte, the member of Bear Rose Leonel had defeated just a day ago. To think that he would truly come to repair his weapons.

    In truth, Arte hadn''t planned to. But, after all the commotion began, his team members mentioned Leonel''s words from that day.

    Even then, Arte decided against itбн Until he realized just how expensive it would be to repair his hammers normally. He had come here hoping that since this was Leonel''s first day of business, there would be some discounts. But, what he didn''t expect was for the price to actually be so low!

    A single merit point was worth 10 kilograms of Urbe Ore. It had cost Arte almost 100 000 merit points just to buy his hammers, the equivalent of nearly a million kilograms of Fourth Dimensional Urbe Ore! This was how expensive such a weapon was.

    Even for a repair, many Crafters had ask Arte for at least half of the price of his weapon, making his insides turn green.

    Yet, even after a supposed multiplier for being a blue belt, Leonel''s price was still a fraction of the cost. It almost made him sway side to side with happiness.

    But, in the end, he managed to control himself. He had heard all about the weapons on the first floor, but he had also fought Leonel personally. In his estimation, Leonel was a rich tycoon from a prominent family from the way he pulled out so many high level spears to battle with. For all Arte knew, Leonel was just pulling out some of his wealth to show off.

    There were no small number of rumors about this young man from a family so powerful even the elders of Valiant Heart didn''t dare to do anything to him.

    This was all to say that displaying weapons was one thingбн But actually repairing them? This was a completely different matter entirely.

    Steeling himself for disappointment, Arte stepped forward and cleared his throat, his gaze landing on the sleeping Leonel.

 Chapter 705 - Beautiful Little Shop

    "Hm?"

    Leonel''s eyes fluttered open, a hint of fatigue hidden within them. He could usually go several days to even weeks without sleep now, especially with his ability. But, building this shop had really taken a lot out of him.

    Of course, this wasn''t because of the materials itself, nor did it have anything to do with the physical structure of the shop. As for what the true reason was, wellбн Only Leonel knew that.

    "Oh, you''re here." Leonel said.

    Arte shifted somewhat uncomfortably, clearly very nervous about what state his hammers would be in after all of this. If they were completely ruined, the price he would have to pay to fix them would be even several times worse.

    When he thought of this, he hesitated again. But, unfortunately, it was already too late to back out. In order to stand here, he had to have paid the appropriate price already. Even for him, he couldn''t just casually give up 8000 merit points just like that.

    If it wasn''t for the sheer volume of missions Leonel had accepted all at once, he would have never made 2000 in a single outing. Plus, without his sensory ability coupled with the frenzy those beasts had entered, he wouldn''t have completed it all in just three days either.

    This was all to say that it took a unique set of circumstances for Leonel, a man with combat prowess rivaling a blue belt, to reach 2000 merit points. So, it was no wonder Arte still felt a small ache even though the price was much cheaper than what he had been expecting.

    Of course, accumulating points through Crafting was much easier.

    "Alright," Leonel sat up, his torso flexing, "You can bring them over here."

    "Yes."

    Arte walked forward somewhat stiffly, causing Leonel to chuckle. He could tell what Arte was worried about. But, clearly the latter didn''t know just yet that if there was one person in the whole of Valiant Heart he could trust, it was most definitely him.

    Since the others couldn''t deal with Tier 6 weapons, Leonel took it upon himself.

    It wasn''t even five minutes in before Arte began to shed real tears. Leonel had actually melted down his hammers completely. It was all over for him.

    **

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Furious roars shook the King of Ores faction. Nigmir flew into a rage, his violent Wind Elemental Force tearing whipping marks across the floors, walls and ceilings. He seemed completely intent on dicing the building into minced pieces.

    "That bastard! Bastard! Bastard! BASTARD!"

    His fury was practically eating him from the inside out. It felt as though he was going to explode if he didn''t vent.

    This time, Aanlin, Sarrieth''s right hand woman, didn''t try to stop him. She too was furious, but there was nothing she could do.

    They had already thought of reporting Leonel for misappropriation of resources. But, Sarrieth had told them not to waste their time. Leonel had most definitely taken these resources while he was still a black belt. As such, he didn''t need to report them. This was just a small and normally useless benefit freshmen got. After all, they were so weak, what goods could they possibly get for themselves?

    Yet now, this small, seemingly insignificant rule, had crippled their faction entirely.

    Their best bet was to wait for Bear Rose to take action. But, if Leonel holed himself up in a structure formed of Twice Refined Diamondбн Was it even possible to get to him? The worst part was that he wasn''t violating any of the rules in this regard either.

    Better yet, the main force of many of the powerful factions were occupied. The war at the border between Valiant Heart and the Oryx Tribe was continuously heating up. Many blue belts, including the owner of the shop location Leonel had taken for himself, weren''t even present.

    As though all of this wasn''t terrible enough, there was an upswell of dissatisfaction recently. It was unknown where exactly it originated from, but freshmen especially seemed to be enraged by getting the short end of the stick.

    They had hardly gotten to benefit from Valiant Heart at all, yet it seemed like they had to scratch and claw for everything. Now even many of their own were losing their lives even to the simplest of missions. How could they not be enraged?

    Of course, this was easily dealt with by Aanlin''s estimation. Who cared what a group of freshmen thought? They would be put in their place like they always were.

    Aanlin shook her head. ''It feels like we''re being walked into a corner. But, I can''t even see who we''re playing againstбн Is it the Oryx? Or have those other Fifth Dimensional organizations amped up their underhanded schemesбн?''

    Valiant Heart had been getting suppressed by these other organizations for a long time already. This was the main reason Valiant Heart had been in such a troubled situation recently, making the timing of the Oryx all the more terrible.

    It only made sense. The upper echelon of those organizations had been eyeing their Valiant Heart Zone for tens of thousands of years already. Now that they sensed a chink in their armor, they believed they finally had a chance to pounce upon. But, even now, they were still apprehensive about certain thingsбн

    Now, thoughбн They were getting impatient.

    ''Forget it. King has already left to the meeting. I''m sure he will be back with a solution.''

    As though by design, the even footsteps of a familiar figure cut Nigmir''s rampaging tirade short.

    Sarrieth entered with an expression just as calm as always. From beginning to end, he had never shown the slightest hint of a change.

    "It''s all been dealt with." He said indifferently. "There should be a conclusion soon."

    бн

    At that moment, outside of BLACKSTAR, three figures approached. When the youths who were hanging around outside saw this, they were shocked. Those red beltsбн those were elders!

    Had Leonel been paying attention, he would have recognized these three almost immediately. It was none other than Kaela''s former master and his two wives.

    Jac Beinala smiled with his usual warm smile.

    "What a beautiful little shop."

 Chapter 706 - What Difference?

    Jac observed the shop with a smile, his eyes scanning it from top to bottom. The youths who were standing around, some of whom had already been banned, could only watch on. In all their time on Valiant Heart, this was the first time they had ever heard of an elder taking the initiative to come to a student''s shop like this.

    Those who recognized Jac as the top Force Crafter of their organization, though, were even more shocked. Someone of Jac''s status was only a step below the true powerhouses of the organization.

    In truth, a Crafter would usually have even more power than Jac did. The only issue was that Jac couldn''t Craft Bronze weapons. As such, most of the strongest warriors of Valiant Heart went to outside sources to get what they needed. This meant that Beinala''s power wasn''t as great as it could otherwise be had he been a Bronze Crafter.

    That said, Jac still had quite a bit of power within the lower echelon of elders and among the elite students. It was he who created their weapons and did maintenance for them. As such, he had a great hold on the middle tier of Valiant Heart.

    Still, Jac''s greatest aspiration in life was to breakthrough and enter the Bronze ranks. In order to succeed, he needed resources, more than even he could gain by normal means.

    He needed special natural treasures to temper his fingers and help them reach a higher Designation. He needed more materials so that he could practice creating Bronze treasures to stabilize his realm. And, most importantly, he needed the astronomical funds that would be required to buy Bronze Force Arts.

    No matter which it was, it all required an impossible mountain of resources.

    When faced with such an impossible to complete task, for the sake of his ambitions, which man wouldn''t bend a littleбн? Even if it meant listening to some of the ''suggestions'' of those he deemed to be his juniors.

    Though all of these things were flowing through Jac''s mind, his smile never faded.

    "Let''s go." He said to his wives. With that, they walked into the range of teleportation.

    <DING! DING! DING!>

    <Three Fifth Dimensional entities detected>

    At that moment, the boxy, fabricated voice faded away to reveal a recorded message left behind by Leonel.

    "Apologies, esteemed elders. I am honored that you would come to my little shop, however it should be noted that BLACKSTAR only has weapons suitable for those of the Fourth Dimension.

    "If you understand this and would still like to take a look around, feel free. Unfortunately, due to my inadequate skill, only one of your level of status can enter at a time.

    "Should you still choose to enter: Welcome."

    Leonel''s voice was warm, inviting and carried several layers of humility. It was actually quite soothing to listen to and gave many the illusion of a junior dutifully greeting his grandparents and their close friends.

    However, for some reason, when it registered to Jac, he felt it was particularly grating on the earsбн as though there was a hidden mocking tone he couldn''t quite pick up on even with his senses.

    Jac looked toward his two wives. They had a slight frown on their faces as well. But, when they thought about it, did any of this really make a difference?

    If Leonel''s voice had said that his ''pitiful'' skills didn''t allow him to teleport any Fifth Dimensional entity in then there was nothing they could do other than maybe try to slander him. But, he had actually said that he could allow one in?

    What was the difference between one and three? Regardless, a brat in the Third Dimension wouldn''t be able to do a thing.

    "I will go then." Jac said with a smile. "With such a courteous junior, I can''t possibly keep him waiting, right?"

    Jac''s two wives watched their husband disappear before sending a glance toward one another. They had been looking for some kind of relief, but all they saw in each other''s eyes was a hint of discomfort.

    бн

    Arte was at a complete loss. Watching Leonel work felt like he was watching a deity gingerly constructing a new race of being.

    His hands oscillated with such speed that they left a blur in the air. From time to time, small popping noises would shake Arte to his core. He knew instantly that this was actually a product of Leonel''s fingers blasting through the sound barrier in small bursts. He could hardly comprehend how mere fingers could reach such a level, not to even mention the fact that this was a Fifth Dimensional world where something like breaching the sound barrier was several times more difficult.

    The truth was that Leonel didn''t need to go so far for a mere Tier 6 weapon. It was just that he just received a message that told him that he just might want to hurry up a small bit.

    With a flick of his wrist, a black feathered quill appeared. With nimble movements, he quickly wrote several Force Arts, their every line precise to an extreme.

    Leonel expelled a heated breath. He swept a glance over his fingers, only to find that they carried no small amount of heat.

    "Your hammers should be good now." Leonel said plainly, tossing the chain connected twin hammers over. "Force should flow through them even better than before."

    Just as Arte was eager to test them, a sudden sound interrupted them.

    <DING!>

    This time, though, there was no prompt to commission a work. Leonel had thought that this might happen, so he had designed  the teleportation arrays to send any elders that might come right to this place.

    On cue, Jac''s vision cleared, only for him to see the expansive space of the second floor. From his vantage point, it was difficult even to tell where the walls started and the floor and ceiling ended. It really did feel like he was standing in the middle of the vast expanse of space.

    When Kaela laid eyes on who had come, she clenched her fists hard, her teeth grinding against one another.

    The atmosphere grew heavy.

 Chapter 707 - Its A Good Thing, Then.

    Leonel looked up, seemingly having no intention of standing from his location.

    "Ah, Elder Beinala. What brings you here?" Leonel smiled lightly.

    Arte stood in the middle, at a bit of a loss in what to do. He could feel that there was something off about the current atmosphere, but he had no way of understanding why that was. And, for some reason, he also found it much too awkward to try and leave at the moment. In factбн He didn''t quite know how to leave, there wasn''t exactly a door. He assumed that Leonel would have to send him out, but he was clearly occupied at the moment.

    The room was split into several workstations and had a very open atmosphere. Usually, one would be able to choose whoever they wanted to work on their treasure, but, obviously, Jac didn''t have such a thing.

    Jac snapped out of his stupor, finding Leonel smiling back at him. Though he as an elder smiled back, he still felt somewhat stifled.

    After being allowed in, Jac thought that he would be able to directly enter the shop''s first floor and view the items. Yet, instead of that, he was sent here. Any thought he had of saying a few casual words to sow some doubt was thrown out of the window immediately.

    "Ah, Leonel is it, right?"

    Leonel smiled. "I''m honored that you would remember my name. Yes, I am Leonel."

    "Good, good." Jac chuckled. "I was very much looking forward to seeing your shop, but have you brought me here to see repairs instead?"

    "Ah, yes. You actually came at a good time. I just finished a repair for Arte, here. He was just about to test it out."

    Leonel turned his gaze toward Arte. But, by now, the latter was drenched in cold sweat.

    After years on a battlefield, he felt that he was somehow in the heat of another one despite the fact no one had drawn a blade.

    On one side, there was a Fifth Dimensional entity he couldn''t hope to defeat. Even if Beinala was a Crafter, there was no doubt he could crush him with a finger. Worse yet, he was Valiant Heart''s best Force Crafter.

    On the other side, there was an existence that might not have been in the Fifth Dimension, but he was just as impossible to defeat for Arte. He felt that Leonel was an insurmountable mountain he couldn''t see through in the slightest. And, to make matters worse, he was the only affordable Crafter in Valiant Heart.

    He didn''t know what was going on here, but he knew that he didn''t want to get involved.

    "Thisбн Rightбн I was going to head out to test it a bit. After all, I wouldn''t want to break anything hereбн" Arte chuckled a bit awkwardly.

    "There''s no issue." Leonel said with a beaming smile. "This entire shop is constructed of Twice Refined Diamond. Even if a Fifth Dimensional existence wanted to cause some damage here, they would have to go all out."

    Arte''s lip twitched, trying to look toward Jac out of the corner of his eye. Wasn''t that a very clear provocation?

    "A sturdy construction, indeed." Jac said with a smile, seemingly not having picked up on any sort of threat. "I say, how did you manage to accumulate so much?"

    "Oh the Twice Refined Diamond? It was just a bit of luck." Leonel chuckled. "Two days ago a group of freshmen, including myself, found ourselves being hunted down by a group of Oryx and ended up escaping through some mine tunnels. I ended up taking advantage of the situation and making a small bit of profit. Luckily Valiant Heart is good to us freshmen in some ways despite shafting us in most others, so I was able to keep my profit without reporting."

    Leonel had nothing to hide so he laid everything bare.

    "I see, I see." Jac stroked his chin. But, as though a light bulb had gone off in his head, his eyes widened before his expression suddenly turned to one of worry and concern. "You say that all of this happened within the span of a day?"

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed into meaningful slits, his smile becoming almost demonic.

    "Yup!" He replied cheerily. "Just a day was enough. Luckily the shop was quite small. If not for these limitations, I might have added a third floor."

    Jac sighed. "Leonel, oh Leonel."

    Jac shook his head as though lamenting something terrible.

    "What is it Elder, is something wrong?" Leonel asked with concern.

    Jac looked up toward Leonel and sighed again.

    "You might not know this because you are just a freshmen, but there are certain rules that come with owning shops. One of these rules is that outside resources cannot be used regardless of the circumstance. Whether it be the shops construction, maintenance, management, or its merchandise, it all must be the product of the student''s own hand and created from the resources of Valiant Heart Mountain.

    "The shops were created to promote competition amongst students, not the families that back them."

    Jac sighed again. He pulled off his concerned elder face very well. However, Leonel didn''t miss his emphasis on the word merchandise. It seemed that among other things, Jac seemed to believe that the Tier 7 weapons below were brought in by Leonel from outside sources.

    "Oh? Really?" Leonel said somewhat stunned.

    "Yes." Jac shook his head. "I can help you by not reporting this, but it will be necessary for you to take all these things down. If you donate these Ores and weapons to the elders of Foundation Peak to be repurposed into Valiant Heart''s strength, this can easily be swept under the rug."

    "That''s good then." Leonel continued. "Considering I did all of this on my own, there shouldn''t be a problem. Elder doesn''t have to worry."

    Jac''s smile froze before he forced out a laugh.

    "Don''t joke around, Leonel. I am trying to help you. Even I couldn''t accomplish so many things in just a single day."

    "It''s a good thing, then, that I''m better than you are.." Leonel replied plainly, his smile fading.

 Chapter 708 - Craftsmen Duel (1)

    Jac''s laughter came to a grinding halt when he heard Leonel''s words. For a moment, he thought he had heard wrong, but seeing the cold expression on the latter''s face, he thought he had been sent to some parallel universe.

    A Fourthбн No, this brat was actually in the Third Dimension and actually dared to talk to him in this way. It felt like he must have been living in some sort of matrix, or this was possibly some sort of great practical joke. But, where were the cameras?

    He was stunned for a good long while, not knowing what to say in the slightest.

    It wasn''t just him. Even Kaela and the others forgot to breathe. Although they all had a tacit understanding that it was Beinala who had screwed them all over, none of them actually dared to say anything. Even when Kaela was wronged by Beinala for so many years, she hadn''t dared to do anything other than leave. But, even that took great courage.

    As for Arte? He felt like he was about to faint.

    Who knew how arrogant Higher Dimensional Beings were? They practically looked at those within lower states of being like they were ants, and they weren''t wrong to. Every Dimension was a great watershed. Even though Leonel had experienced this with his body and mind, he couldn''t be truly considered to have.

    In the simplest terms, Beinala who was in the Fifth Dimension should have been like a god to them. Yet, Leonel actually dared to say such words.

    "бн What did you just say?"

    "I don''t think my words were unclear, Beinala. Others might see your smiling face and feel forced to ignore the atrocities you''ve committed, but I feel no need to. I don''t have to kiss at your feet because in my eyes, what you can provide to me is worthless. My calling you an Elder is nothing more than respect for your being born earlier than I was.

    "According to my understanding, due to your haughtiness, you''ve never truly joined Valiant Heart. Instead, you a contracted representative brought over from a Crafting Guild. This only makes your coming here to try an enforce rules on behalf of the organization laughable.

    "However, since I still have some accounts to settle with you, I will play along. This is already the second time you''ve slandered my Crafts. I promise you, there won''t be a third."

    Leonel''s temper flared. Rage he had been holding down for several weeks already boiled over.

    He gripped the quill in his hand. With swift movements, he removed his Crafter Gloves from his spatial ring and threw them to the ground at Beinala''s feet.

    Jac looked on stunned.

    Of course, he understood the meaning of this gesture. He had never thought he would see such a thing here. Memories of years gone by swirled through his mind, his expression twisting to the point it became dark beyond recognition.

    A Duel of Crafters looked eerily similar to one of gentlemen. The issue was that the Crafting Gloves were meant to represent the blood, sweat and tears of the Crafter. But, the last time Leonel had used these gloves, he had been dissecting a beast''s corpse.

    For trash like Beinala, he didn''t deserve this kind of respect.

    Elder Beinala suddenly began to laugh. He threw his head back, his amiable smile fading to one of near madness. Who knew what kind of memory Leonel''s actions had forced to resurface. But, what was clear was that he was wholly infuriated.

    "Good, good, good. An ant of the Third Dimension dares to challenge me. I, Jac Beinala, accept!"

    Jac pulled out a shimmering badge from his spatial ring, slamming it toward the ground by Leonel''s glove.

    The pressure of a Fifth Dimensional existence swept through the room. Without quarter to fight back, Arte fell to his knees, his face smashing against the ground not long after. As for the other youths who had already been sitting, their bodies crumpled.

    Leonel, however, stood. His foot lightly tapped against the ground, causing a subtle flash of light. In the next instant, Jac felt as though his pressure had fallen into an endless ocean. After a small rumble, the building stabilized.

    Cracks spread out from the outside, catching those watching off guard. But, what shocked them even more was that the BLACKSTAR emblem faded to reveal two men, one young and one old, facing off against one another.

    "Set the rules, Beinala." Leonel''s voice coldly projected outward.

    At that moment, on the outside, Jac''s wives were caught off guard. Seeing the badge and gloves on the ground, their expression changed wildly.

    Their faces warped. A Craftsmen Duel? How had this happened?

    There was no way Beinala challenged Leonel, so that only left one other option. But, if that was the caseбн The expressions of the two wives became uglier.

    They were observing this from an outsider''s perspective, so they were less hot blooded than Jac and could thus calmly analyze the situation.

    Strictly speaking, a Craftsmen Duel wasn''t a common thing. In fact, it was strictly uncommon. That was because it was an extremely old relic of the Craftsmen community and was usually a tradition only carried out by the oldest of families and organizations.

    To even be aware of its existence was evidence of having a certain level of standing.

    For all these things to be true, and for Leonel to challenge Beinala regardless of the circumstances, meant that this matter wouldn''t be so simple.

    The competition was overseen by Beinala''s Crafter''s Badge. Even if Leonel didn''t have one, just one being present was enough.

    If Leonel stated that the reason for this duel was Jac''s slander of his Craft and even won, the consequences would be disastrous. Even losing his Crafter''s Badge wouldn''t be an impossible outcome.

    How could they not know why Jac had rashly accepted such a thing. He was probably seeing red at the moment. If not for a challenge just like this one, how could he be in such a place without any hope of entering the Bronze Grade?

    For a child to dare challenge him like this, how could he not be infuriated?! It was hard to tell if Beinala was even aware that his image was being projected out like this.

 Chapter 709 - Craftsmen Duel (2)

    Jac''s face was livid, veins bulging through his forehead like coiled snakes.

    "I won''t bully a brat like you. We''ll complete a One Ore Weapon Medley. The ore will also be something a brat like you can deal with. In fact, how about we choose something that you''re very familiar with. Polished Glass."

    At that moment, Leonel was slightly surprised. This wasn''t because Jac was being unfair, but rather because of the exact opposite. In fact, he was being almost too fair.

    Polished Glass was just a Tier 6 Ore. If Leonel was claiming to have forged Tier 7 weapons, this was more than reasonable. In fact, Jac had taken into account that it might have been difficult for Leonel to complete Tier 7 weapons and even chose to take it a step down so that Leonel would have no excuses.

    Even beyond that, Jac knew that Leonel was a ''part'' of the Polished Glass Faction. Polished Glass was an inherently difficult ore to work with if you were unfamiliar with it, but after a certain point, it could be handled with ease.

    However, for Jac who might not have made a weapon with Polished Glass in years, he was purposely giving Leonel the leg up knowing full well that not long ago, Leonel had completed several Crafts with exactly this Ore.

    As though that wasn''t enough, the One Ore Weapon Medley, especially, was a shock to Leonel.

    A Medley, in terms of a Craftsmen Duel, was a gauntlet in which a Craftsman would create a series of Crafts. As such, there was no surprise that there were many different types of Medleys.

    A One Ore Medley locked a Crafter in to using just one Ore. This might sound simple, but when having to complete differing Crafts having varying kinds of uses, being locked in to the use of just one particular Ore was akin to tying a Crafters hands and feet.

    By extension, there were obvious Two Ore, Three Ore, or even Hundred Ore Medleys where Crafters were forced to use every kind of chosen Ore in each one of their Crafts.

    These sort of Medleys followed a bell curve in difficulty. Usually, the lowest number of One would be among the most difficult to complete. Numbers around Three or Four Ores were slighty easier and were pretty good from novices. Numbers entering the dozens to hundreds very quickly became more difficult than even One Ore Medleys were.

    As such, it could be said that Jac''s choice was once again in the middle. It was difficult, but not obscenely so. In Leonel''s estimation, this was once again very fair.

    That only left, then, the talk of ''Weapon Medley''.

    A Weapon Medley was once again a specific type of Medley. But, this one focused in on the Crafting of weapons. As such, one might imagine that there could be Armor Medleys, Consumable Medleys, Movement Treasure Medleys, Escape Treasure Medleysбн So on and so forth.

    A Weapon Medley also came in several shapes and sizes. But, since Beinala didn''t specify, this meant he was referring to the most commonly used Weapon Medley: The Nine Core Weapon Medley.

    The Knife, Sword, Saber, Battle Ax, Staff, Spear, Glaive, Halberd and Bow.

    In this exact order, one could find the least to most difficult weapons to Craft. During a Nine Core Weapon Medley, a Crafter would start at the easiest and work their way up. In this case, they would only be able to use a single ore to complete each one of these Crafts.

    Of course, there was only one problem with all of themбн

    If Leonel tried to make a spear, it would most definitely combust into a pile of ashes. And, according to the rules of the Medley, he wasn''t allowed to continue to the next weapon unless he finished the one that came before it.

    This only left Leonel with one choice.

    If he didn''t sweep the first five weapons of the Medley, he would lose.

    When Leonel heard Jac''s choice for their Duel, his opinion of the Elder had already somewhat changed. Even if it might have been because Jac didn''t believe he needed any underhanded tricks to defeat Leonel, Leonel still altered his opinion somewhat and even believed that Beinala might have been a more skilled Crafter than he gave him credit for.

    This realization placed a faint pressure on Leonel. After all, it wasn''t as though he could forge a Quasi Bronze treasure with a Tier 6 ore. He would be limited in this regard. As such, he had to surpass Beinala with quality.

    At that moment, Leonel grinned, a stifling aura rushing from his body.

    "Alright, Elder Beinala. Let''s do this."

    Jac''s expression flickered when he noticed Leonel had gone back to politely calling him Elder, but his mind was still too furious to linger on this for very long.

    "Kaela, we still have a large store of Polished Glass, right?"

    "бн Ahбн Yes, yes." Kaela, who was still trying not to shiver, weakly called out.

    "Good. Bring it all here."

    Leonel''s words were full of confidence, his momentum rushing through the room. For a moment, he didn''t lose out to Beinala in the slightest despite no longer relying on the Force Arts of his shop.

    As Kaela rushed away, news of what was happening in BLACKSTAR spread as though a nuke had fallen in Valiant City. It wasn''t long before the news had been sent back to the King of Ores faction.

    At that moment, they were all looking toward Sarrieth for an explanation of what to do.

    Sarrieth frowned. It was only a subtle shift in his demeanor, but the members of the King of Ores faction felt as though their breaths had been taken away. In these three years, not once had they ever seen Sarrieth''s face display anything but indifference. Just what was going on?

    "We will go." Sarrieth said coolly, his frown smoothing out.

    бн

    It had been a long time since anyone had seen the remnants of Valiant Hall. It seemed that after they had all been humiliated, they had completely disappeared.

    However, somehow, news of these matters reached their ears as well.

    Sael sat within a training room all alone, beads of sweat falling down her body like a rain. In fact, as though she had known her clothes wouldn''t be able to take it, she was completely naked, her lovely curves partially obscured by countless floral tattoos that covered her.

    "Again."

    She rose up, causing numerous fighter puppets to appear.. With a light roar, she charged out.

 Chapter 710 - History

    Jac''s expression solidified, a coldness rarely seen on him manifesting.

    His gaze leaving Leonel, he slowly slid on a pair of white Crafter Gloves, diligently ensuring that each of his fingers reached the very tip before strapping it around his wrist tightly.

    With a clap of his hands, a Crafter table appeared before him. Its size was about the same as Leonel''s. However, the materials it was constructed of were easily seen through by Leonel whereas he was unable to replicate that same feat with his own.

    Leonel was aware that a Crafter''s Workbench should be as inseparable from hinself as his Crafter Gloves, Force Art Quill, and his Familiar. But, to this point, at least while following his father''s training regimine, Leonel hadn''t had to rely heavily on his Workbench. At the moment, it was just a convenient place for him to sit at.

    For the current Leonel, whether he had a table to sit at or if he was Crafting mid-air, he could do both just as efficiently and without a single issue.

    Working at his own pace without a care in the world, Jac carefully wiped down his Workbench, cleaning every nook and cranny as though he was trying to please a lover. Despite this, his expression only seemed to be growing colder, his hands grew more steady and unhurried. Eventually, he reached a state where he seemed to forget all that there was.

    Leonel silently observed, displaying at least this modicum of etiquette. When it came to other matters of the Dimensional Verse, he might have been clueless about a lot of things. But, when it came to Force Crafting, there was rarely if anything he could come across without understanding.

    This sort of ritual might have seemed useless, but almost every Force Crafter had one. It helped them to settle their minds and center their focus. Those that completed this meditation ritual would always perform better than they otherwise would.

    Leonel''s father had suggested he get himself such a ritual, formally known as a Crafter''s Meditation, to help himself as well. But, Leonel had never bothered. When it came to losing himself and becoming absolutely focused, there was likely no one better at it than Leonel.

    Still, Leonel found it to be oddly therapeutic watching Jac like this and his tone of seriousness was raised another notch.

    For a man who thought so little of Leonel, for him to still go so far as to complete his Meditation so seriouslyбн It could only be said that Beinala, despite being a vile man, at least took his Crafting as a matter close to his heart.

    Jac slapped his hands together in a sudden and abrupt movement.

    In that moment, a flurry of flames shot from out of his palms, dancing about in small spheres of fire like miniature spirits.

    Leonel''s eyes lit up when he saw this, a gentle smile spreading across his face. This was the very first spirit he had ever seen aside from Little Tollyбн

    No, this wasn''t a true spirit, it was a Spirit Embryo. Spirit Embryos were much more common than true spirits and could be considered to be the second best choice for those that couldn''t afford true spirits.

    Spirit Embryos essentially gave a Crafter all the same freedom a true spirit did, but with a few limitations.

    For one, a True Spirit could grow indefinitely, but a Spirit Embryo had a very stringent ceiling. Secondly, True Spirits had intelligence and life while Spirit Embryos did not. And, finally, True Spirits were much more fluid in their usage whereas Spirit Embryos were more difficult to control and guide.

    A later training regiment Leonel''s dad suggested was using a Spirit Embryos should his Crafting ever reach a bottleneck. The increased difficulty would give him more room to improve within his realm.

    Leonel couldn''t help but be fascinated. In fact, so was Little Tolly who peeked out from his wrist. If Jac hadn''t been so focused on his craft, he would have definitely been shocked out of his wits seeing a True Spirit. However, by now, he had already blocked out all distractions.

    ''I guess its time we start, hm? Little Tolly?''

    *Blop* *Bloop*

    бн

    "What did you say?"

    "I heard that Leonel challenged Elder Beinala to a duel amongst Crafters. There''s already a large crowd gathering around BLACKSTAR and it seemed like Elder Beinala is going all out."

    Sael listened to the voice through the intercom of her training room, her expression flickering.

    Ever since she was defeated by Aphestus, she realized just how much she was lacking. She had spent so much time worrying about trying to keep Valiant Heart together that she neglected her own strength. Ultimately, it ended up being her own weakness that led to the downfall of Valiant Heart.

    The words Leonel had spoken that day continuously rang in her mind like two hammers smashing continuously against her skull and pulling at the strings of her heart.

    They were truly quite pathetic, were they not? They wanted Leonel''s help, but were too cowardly to ask for it. They wanted to keep the status quo but weren''t brave enough to fight for it. They wanted Valiant Heart to survive into the future, but they were actively allowing it to rot right before their eyesбн

    Sael realized after all of this introspection that she didn''t even hate Raylion as much as she should. In fact, if it wasn''t for the fact he slandered her master and dragged his name through the mud, she might not hate him at all.

    Unlike her, he was willing to do something, to fight for something. Even if the end goal was to fulfill his own ambition, ultimately, his ambition was to rule over Valiant Heart. Would he want to take on a crumbling faction? Of course not.

    In his own way, Raylion was trying to force Valiant Heart to rise up again, just like she was. It was just that while she was passive, he was willing to fight.

    For Sael, this was a complete shift in her mentality. It was also why even after awaking from her injuries, she never went to seek out Leonel.

    Still, now suddenly hearing about all of this, Sael was suddenly left feeling somewhat expectant.

    If there was anything that represented the old order of Valiant Heart, it was most definitely Beinala. He hoarded so many resources and so much knowledge for himself, working the students under him to the bone even if they had talent. He was the product of a system that was fundamentally rotting from the inside out.

    Then there was Leonel. He always seemed to tip toe the line of rule breaker and law abiding student, testing the limits as he pleased without a worry in the world. He was the budding talent of their Valiant Heart, trying to push through the oppressive rule of those who got here before him.

    Sael felt likeбн She couldn''t miss this.

    She rushed to a corner of her training room, turning on a blisteringly cold shower head and getting rid of every ounce of sweat on her lovely body. The tattoos that covered her faded back to fair, delicate skin, her wet hair clinging to the curve of her breasts.

    Not long later, she shot out of the training room in her uniform, her hair still dripping wet. Without a word, she grabbed onto Gersan''s wrist and shot out.

    "Let''s go! History''s being made."

    Gersan couldn''t hope to resist against this senior sister of his and could only be dragged along.

    бн

    The crowd grew larger and larger, yet the silence seemed to only become more deafening. Many present couldn''t even understand the intricacies of Crafting and Craftsmen. Yet, for some reason, they all held their breaths.

    In a distance restaurant, in a glass walled room tall enough to see BLACKSTAR from its vantage point, a familiar young man sat.

    Before him, a massive plate of over a meter in length and at least half that in width sat. Despite being so large, though, the meat that sat on it still hung off its side, dripping aromatic juices.

    All signs pointed toward this young man being barbarian of sorts, but he was the exact opposite.

    He had a plain looking, but cleanly shaven face. He wasn''t very tall, being only about 5''8" if he stood from his position. And, he was quite normal in stature, neither being too lean nor too fat.

    He dug into the carcass of meat before him not with ferocity, but with a noble air. It seemed almost odd having such a large piece of meat being eaten with fork and knife as though a normal steak.

    The young man turned his gaze toward the projection in the distance from time to time, a contemplative look deep within his eye.

    Who else could this young man be if not The Heroбн Raylion?

    бн

    On the ground floor beneath BLACKSTAR, yet another group stood. This one was of two more familiar figures, Henorin and the busty Balthorn.

    Somehow, despite the fact all the others had been arrested a few days ago after exiting the tunnels along with Hallis, these two stood here just fine.

    Balthorn sighed. ''Why''d you have to choose big brother''s shop of all of them?''

 Chapter 711 - Centrifugal Oscillation

    In that moment, as though a ball had dropped, the movement of Jac and Leonel''s hands became blinding. Anyone who might have thought that their skill would be too far apart immediately felt as though a bucket of cold water had been dropped over their heads. In fact, none of them were fools and many of them had eyes sharp enough to see through to the truth.

    Leonel''s hand motion was slower than Jac''s, but his finger speed and dexterity was more than just a single level beyond.

    By this point, Leonel had long since moved on from the beginner level techniques he used when he first started as a Force Crafter. His every action carried an air of sophistication and purpose he hadn''t had before.

    Years of simulations layered themselves in his every action, creating the image of an expert amongst experts.

    Leonel''s fingers rapidly oscillated, Little Tolly following the rhythm of his digits. The Polished Glass in his hands vibrated, its impurities being brought to the surface to be systematically cut off one after another.

    When Leonel first began, he didn''t have the skill to do this. As such, he could only use Little Tolly like a glorified Flame Spirit, using the little guy''s ability to agitate the chemical structure of Ores to raise its temperature.

    It was a simple concept. Heat actually reflected itself in the activity of atoms. By using this principle, Leonel was able to heat his Ores to incredibly precise levels, making use of sometimes even one or two degree differences in melting point to separate out impurities.

    Though this level of control over heat was far beyond what a Flame Spirit wielder could hope to match, it was still considered a crude technique to Leonel''s father. This alone was able to make the value of a Metal Spirit clear.

    A Flame Spirit Wielder would only be able to gradually heat an entire Ore. Little Tolly, however, as long as the Ore was within a reasonable size иC a size that was steadily growing as the little guy continued to evolve under Leonel''s constant nurturing иC could cause the same change to occur through the Ore simultaneously.

    Being able to control the temperature of an entire Ore to incredibly precise levelsбн Well, it didn''t need to be explain any more just how useful this would be.

    Still, there were many downfalls to the use of this technique.

    Ultimately, the heating and cooling of an Ore would inevitably cause changes. One of the most useful techniques in changing the strength and structure of a chemical bond is the clever usage of heating and cooling.

    Even if the purpose of the original heating would be to remove impurities, this wouldn''t stop the Ore from being affected in other ways.

    These subtle changes wouldn''t be a big deal to a beginner. However, to an expert, every introduced variable was a tick away from the perfect product they sought.

    This problem, though, was only one for those who didn''t have special Spirits.

    This technique was called [Centrifugal Oscillation] and was considered to be a technique only Silver Crafters could use. But at that moment, Leonel brought it out with all the confidence of the world.

    He first used Little Tolly to separate the several Ores of the Polished Glass before him into several head sized pieces.

    One after another, he picked them up. For a moment, it would seem to hang in the air, suspended upon nothing. Then in the next instant, it would begin to vibrate.

    This technique required delicate control. Vibration, especially at these high levels, could also cause a transfer of heat. However, this was where the special properties of the Metal Spirit came into play.

    A unique push and pull affect was created.

    Little Tolly placed the Ores in a half digested state, giving the metal a level of fluidity it would never have in its natural state, almost making it like metallic liquid. The result was a fluid far thicker than oil, even faintly beyond the consistency of peanut butter or molasses.

    However, this fluid state resulted in two things.

    First, the metal''s ability to retain heat plummeted and its specific heat skyrocketed. The changes caused by vibrations were negligible.

    Secondly, the consistency of the pure metal and its impurities would have varying changes. As long as Leonel locked onto a particular frequency, he would use a combination of vibration and centrifugal force impurities to the surface.

    The best part about this technique is that it put all Ores in an inert state. Even the usually violent Polished Glass became like a docile kitten between Leonel''s fingers.

    It was only at that moment that the members of Polished Glass realized how casually Leonel had taken his previous time with them. He had most definitely not used this technique with them before.

    But, there was a very obvious reason for this. Little Tolly was still an infant and functioned on his instincts most of the time. Even up to now, Little Tolly''s intelligence was still far beneath that of Little Blackstar.

    Using this technique for the little guy was akin to bringing a foodie to the best restaurant in the world, then telling them that they could only taste the food, but not swallow.

    Now imagine trying to control the impulses of a toddler to do the same. It was a tremendous strain on Leonel''s focus to do this. However, he had already decided to go all out.

    In just ten minutes, several tons of Polished glass had been purified to the point they shimmered of white. In fact, if one looked closely, it would even be possible to find flecks of gold hidden within.

    That was it. The perfect Refinement Stage.

    Despite the hint of fatigue between his brows, a grin was spread across his face. His smile beamed, leaving many in a daze.

    Even as Beinala was still working on his first few refinements, Leonel had already moved on. His target? The knife.

    On the outside, the crowd was left completely stunned, especially the Force Crafters among them. For a layman, what they saw was enough to be shocked. However, for them, it felt like they were watching the work of a deity.

    Is thatбн A Metal Spirit?

 Chapter 712 - Five Weapons

    Beinala''s two wives, especially, were shaken to their core. They had already decided that Leonel must be of an elite class family just for knowing of the existence of the Craftsmen Duel. However, the scene before them made them realize just how true this had to be.

    They didn''t have enough knowledge to know whether what Leonel wielded was a True Metal Spirit or a Metal Spirit Embryo, but regardless, an Embryonic Metal Spirit was worth more than even many True Spirits.

    Still, after some were shocked that Leonel was actually ahead of Beinala, many realized that he seemed to be quite tired.

    "Did he overextend himself trying to show off?" On the top of a distant building, Sael frowned.

    However, when she saw Leonel''s grin, something about it made her brain switch off. It was as though it said: "I''ve won."

    бн

    Jac was completely lost in his own world. He had no idea about Leonel''s progress, nor did he care to know.

    He carefully rolled the Polished Glass between his fingers, making sure that there was an even distribution of heat.

    Then, with practiced movements, he began to roll the metal within the many wells of his Workbench. This allow him to press the metal out, forcing a new surface to the top. Whenever he spotted a new impurity, he would target it with his Embryonic Flame Spirit, burning it to ash and separating it out.

    His hands were a blur. Compared to Kaela who had to sweat every single step, Jac was a master of his craft, plowing through the refinement stage with a deft pace. If it wasn''t for the fact Leonel was contrasting him, his speed would have definitely been a point of shock.

    20 minutes after Leonel, Jac managed to finish, moving onto his first Craft.

    The knife and the short sword had a thin line of separation between them. However, what was most important for either was their light weight, their sharp edges, and, most importantly, their balance.

    Thinking through this, Jac believed he had decided on a perfect path.

    By now, though, Leonel had long since begun and was only putting the finishing touches. Despite the fatigue between his brows, his speed didn''t seem to slow in the slightest. In fact, it even seemed to faintly increase.

    Leonel knew, much like Beinala, that the knife category also encompassed short swords. Without hesitation, he began to make a foot and a half long blade. Polished Glass was the best for its edges and sharpness. Leonel believed that a short sword could more easily take advantage of this.

    However, the striking differences between his actions and that of Jac''s once again left the crowd in silence.

    Jac had to melt his refined metal down, delicately picking out molds and using the wells of his Workbench to fine tune the final product down to his specifications.

    But Leonelбн? All he had to do was send a perfect image of what he wanted to Little Tolly through his Dream World. In the blink of an eye, Little Tolly would envelop the appropriate amount of refined metal, and by the time the little guy released, a perfect mold would be left behind.

    To the eyes of a layman, it looked like Leonel was cheating. Only the Force Crafters in the audience who were well aware of how difficult it was to control Metal Spirits stood in awe, their hands trembling.

    Leonel, however, couldn''t be bothered to consider the thoughts of those on the outside. Whether they believed he cheated or not didn''t matter to him. What was most important was that they knew BLACKSTAR existed and that they knew if he could ''cheat'', then how could he possibly have made a faulty product?

    ''I''ll add a Force Art to help its swiftnessбн If I modify this Force Art like this, it''ll be able to gather the wind''s momentum behind it with each successive combo it lands, effectively giving it a small wind domainбн''

    бн

    ''This sword has an incredibly thin blade, but Polished Glass is too brittle in such large quantities. I''ll give it a heat treatment and space out some Force Arts to make it more ductile. Most importantly, I''ll add an impact dispersal Force Artбн I should probably use this dispersal Art on the rest as wellбн''

    бн

    ''A saber is heavier than a sword, it''ll be more difficult to forge out of Polished Glass. I''ll add a strong curve to it, with that, the force on the blade will be applied in increments rather than all at once. I''ll modify the dispersal Artбн''

    бн

    ''The battle ax is actually must easier than the saber in this rare case. The blade of a battle ax would be just as large as a saber, but it has a more defined structure to support it. If I make the blade especially thin as the edge and widen it very gradually, there''ll be a natural force dispersal. It will slice through anything thanks to its weight and sharpness long before the structure failsбн Just to be cautious though, I''ll addбн''

    бн

    ''Polished Glass has none of the flexibility a staff needs, I need something more than just dispersal Arts for this, I need to change the whole structureбн.

    ''Alright, I''ll hollow out the center and weave a double helix structure down its middle and fuse it to the inner wall of the staff. I''ll add dispersal Arts at all the joints of the double helix, making the structure even stronger.''

    бн

    Leonel worked one miracle after another, his smile becoming brighter and brighter. If others didn''t know better, they would think that he was actually recovering the longer he workedбн But, that was exactly what was happening!

    Compared to using a technique reserved for Silver Crafters, this was like a walk in the park for Leonel. His Dream Force was recovering far faster than he was using it at this moment, so how could he not be getting better and better?

    The moment Leonel finished his staff, he rose it high with a triumphant pride.

    He swung it down with all his force. Under the astonished eyes of all the Crafters present, the staff bowed under his strength. Yet, the brittle Polished Glass showed not a single sign of snapping.

    Leonel grinned, satisfied. The double helix structure could be seen through the transparent casing of Polished Glass, it gave those watching on the feeling of watching a work of art rather than a weapon.

    Thenбн Leonel sat with his five weapons before him, a calm smile on his face.

    However, those who knew the rules of the One Ore Weapon Medley suddenly had warped expressions.

    Why did he stop? Wasn''t this too arrogant?!

 Chapter 713 - Boy!

    Jac had not a single clue that Leonel had finished. His hands continued to move at their same steady and quick pace, his expression unhurried, and his brows focused. However, it wasn''t long before everyone began to realize that something was wrong, even those who were completely uninformed on matters of Force Crafting.

    Everyone had expected things to come to a conclusion after Jac completed his staff. But, rather than doing this, Jac continued on to diligently and calmly complete a spear, then a glaive, then he even completed a halberd before he came to a stop.

    His brows furrowed in thought for at least a half hour before he shook his head. He couldn''t think of any way to complete a bow with just a single ore.

    He might be able to apply some principles he used to forge his flexible polearms to make the main body of the bow. But, not only did he feel like it would be no good, he couldn''t even begin to think of a method to forge the bowstring out of Polished Glass. Any attempt he made would end in failure, that he was certain of.

    Realizing this, Jac finally allowed his gaze to regain focus. He stretched his body, feeling only a slight tinge of fatigue. But, if he needed to, even doing this ten more times wouldn''t be much of an issue. After all, he was a Fifth Dimensional existence while this was nothing more than a few Tier 6 treasures.

    Jac looked up for the first time to find Leonel sitting in silent meditation. His lip twitched. Had this brat really finished before him?

    But, when he saw the mere five weapons before Leonel, his brows raised.

    His first thought was that Leonel had been stumped when it was time to form his spear much like he had been stumped at the forming of a bow. After all, Leonel was just a kid, it didn''t make much sense for him to be proficient in so many weapons.

    Compared to the sword, the spear was a much rarer weapon in terms of how many used it. The learning curve needed to learn it was far more difficult.

    However, when Jac''s gaze landed on Leonel''s staff he froze. A moment later, fury lit his features, a wild Force whipping out from his body.

    "BOY!"

    Leonel, who had been in meditation, frowned and opened his eyes. Though he seemed to be mostly able to ignore Jac''s pressure, he still didn''t like the feeling. It made him feel as though a bucket of honey was being dropped over his head. The stickiness and discomfort was about the same.

    "You''re finished?" Leonel said plainly.

    "Are you trying to humiliate me? Do you think that I''m so simple to handle?!"

    Leonel''s frowned deepened. "If you want to take it that way, I can''t stop you from doing so."

    Jac''s chest bellowed, heaving up and down. It might have been a nice side had he been a woman, but unfortunately, he was just an old man who had lost himself to his rage.

    If before Leonel wasn''t already certain that Jac had some terrible memories surrounding Craftsmen Duels, he was certain now. This man was usually much too good at hiding his intentions to be acting like this due to what he thought was a single slight.

    However, Jac thought he had a reason to be infuriated.

    The spear was indeed more complex than the staff, but the principles behind their creation was almost identical. The main difference was in the blade and in ensuring that the spear was properly balanced even with such an addition.

    Seeing that design of Leonel''s staff, Jac''s immediate thought wasбн genius. For several seconds, the equivalent to an eternity for a person with his power, he couldn''t take his eyes off of it.

    At that moment, he understood that Leonel was looking down on him. For him to complete exactly five weapons, just enough to claim victory in a Medley with nine roundsбн It was nothing short of abject humiliation.

    How could he not be furious?

    Leonel could only sigh. This sort of disrespect was something he would never do, especially when Jac was giving him a high level of respect back. The two most important pillars of Leonel''s life were Respect and Persistence, concepts his father had long since ingrained into his very being. How, then, could he slap Jac''s face when it wasn''t warranted?

    He would always return the same energy he was given.

    Unfortunately, though, this time, there was really nothing Leonel could do.

    Creating a weapon meant embodying its spirit at every step. If there was a way Leonel could circumvent this, he would. But, for a Spear Master like himself to create a spear, it was impossible for his Spear Force to not take center stage. The moment this happened, whatever he was working on would shatter no matter what step of the process he was at.

    Trying to force this not to happen would be akin to trying to use the Silver Grade technique on a much higher level than he was currently. Such a thing would drain him completely.

    Even if he did succeed, the product would be faulty since he didn''t put his heart into it. And, beyond that, his stamina would have been completely drained in the attempt, meaning he wouldn''t be able to continue to make more anyway.

    No matter how he looked at it, it simply wasn''t worth it.

    "Bring out your knife!" Jac restrained his voice, reining in his emotions. Since this brat wanted to play, he would play. He would make sure he was crushed so thoroughly that he could never raise his head agin.

    Leonel reached out a hand, causing the short sword to zip into his palm. He swung it lightly, causing the wind in the surroundings to sing.

    Before the first round even began, just looking at this scene, Jac''s expression sunk.. At that moment, his heart trembled uncontrollably.

 Chapter 714 - Overestimated

    Jac''s face turned completely ashen. The crowd on the outside hadn''t even gotten to say a thing when they noticed his uncontrollable trembling.

    However, the process had already begun.

    Elder Beinala''s badge, which was still on the ground beside Leonel''s Force Crafting glove, suddenly began to glow. With a subtle sweep, a gentle energy rose Leonel''s short sword up to meet Jac''s knife.

    Jac gripped his fists, calming his breathing.

    Polished Glass was used to refine edges of blades, normally. As a result , it was known for its sharpness, but lacked in other important qualities like ductility. Due to this, it could become extremely brittle when used in large quantities.

    As an expert Crafter, Jac, of course, knew this. So he tried his best to limit the size of his Crafts.

    When he saw that Leonel had made a short sword, he almost snorted in contempt. In fact, he would have had he not instantly been shocked by Leonel''s staff.

    But at this moment, he couldn''t find the heart to sneer.

    The gentle energy exuding from the badge rose up both short sword and knife. Soon, both weapons began to tremble.

    The weapons medley tests all came in two parts. The first testing the structural integrity of the Craft while the second tested its strength. This trembling was a part of the first test.

    Different frequencies of energy would be poured into the two weapons at varying speeds. Gentle and long streams of Force, fast and choppy, large and abruptбн

    The integrity of the blades would be put through a gauntlet. However, this gauntlet was only a preliminary test. The threshold that needed to be met would be decided by the level of the badge of the Craftsmen. As such, both Leonel and Jac were being tested by the standard of a Tier 9 Crafter.

    Unfortunately, for Jac, this round was nothing short of torture because he knew that the true test was only coming.

    In that moment, the trembling finally came to a stop. Jac felt his heart was in his throat as the two weapons were raised against one another.

    Thenбн They collided.

    CLANG! CRIP! TSSS! DING!

    Silence felt as half a blade clattered to the ground. Jac watched on with a vacant expression as his knife was sliced through. It felt as though his soul had left his body.

    Kaela and the others were at a loss for words. Let alone them, every member of the audience looked like they had seen a ghost. Many had to pinch themselves to make certain that they were still awake.

    Leonel opened his palm, allowing his short sword to fly back to his hand.

    *Bloop* *Blip*

    Leonel chuckled. "Yes, yes. You did good."

    "Thбн Thaбн Thatбн Metal Spirit?"

    Jac was unlike his wives. Not only was he personally here in the flesh, he had more knowledge. There was not a single doubt in his mind what he was looking at.

    All sorts of emotions shot through his body. Astonishment. Shock. Despairбн Greed.

    This Metal Spirit, just how much was it worth? If he had it and sold it, let alone enough resources to enter the Bronze Grade, he might not have to worry for a thing well into the Silver Grade.

    Of course, Beinala was being delusional. Whether or not he still had the talent to become a Silver Grade existence was still unknown, yet he was counting his chickens before they hatched.

    Before he could do much of anything, though, their two swords rose out as one. They began to tremble just like the others but soon stopped to be set against each other.

    CLANG! CLANG! CRIP! TSSS! DING!

    Jac''s sword only lasted two strikes.

    DING!

    His saber only lasted one.

    DING!

    His battle ax managed to last three.

    Two staffs rose into the air.

    On one side, there was Leonel''s double helix encased structure. On the other, there was Jac''s cut out spine design. Much like each of the clashes before, Jac''s weapon was only a fraction the weight of Leonel''sбн And it showed.

    After a single strike, Jac already heard his spine structure crack. The sound was so jarring that he felt for a moment as though it was his own back that had snapped.

    The second strike bent Jac''s staff out of shape. If it wasn''t for his spine structure, the weapon itself would have already long since collapsed.

    Butбн This only meant that it didn''t stand a chance on the third strike.

    Five weapons. Five losses.

    Jac was so shell shocked that he wasn''t even sure how to react. Shouldn''t it have been close? Shouldn''t there have been some suspense? Some intrigue? Some small bit of face left for him?

    ''Thisбн This must be the power of a Metal Spiritбн It must бн It mustбн'' Jac''s pupils flickered between greed, rage and another emotionбн He might not have recognized it himself, but his wives most certainly hadбн

    It was sadness.

    ''Hmбн Seems I overestimated him a bitбн'' Leonel couldn''t help but think this to himself.

    This was the first time he had seen the standard of a supposed expert that was meant to be on his level. Though Leonel was close to the skill of a Bronze Crafter, he had still yet to actually Craft one so it could be said that he and Beinala were at about the same level.

    If he had known the gap was so large, he wouldn''t have wasted time using a Silver Grade technique that took so much out of him.

    "Are you convinced?" Leonel asked.

    Jac, however, didn''t seem capable of responding. He stared blankly at Leonel.

    The silence of the crowd was palpable. From the very beginning, most never breathed a word, watching this all playout in complete silence.

    The freshmen, and even many white belts and blue belts watching on felt as though something had clicked in their minds. Something about their demeanors shiftedбн Though it was subtle, it was there.

    However, before they could fully grasp onto that feeling, Jac finally spoke again, his eyes almost reddened with a tinge of madness.

    "Your Metal Spiritбн Give it to meбн Give it to me now."

 Chapter 715 - The Difference

    Kaela''s expression changed, a strong worry taking over her heart. Yet, at that moment, Jac''s aura was so stifling that she couldn''t speak even if she wanted to.

    For Arte who had been caught up in the mess since the very beginning, he could only smile bitterly. Was this really how things were going to end? Leonel would have had a better chance if he didn''t allow Jac in at all. At least in that case, he might be able to argue that his shop was razed to the ground and get himself some compensation.

    However, even with all this worrying around him, Leonel didn''t seem to react much to Jac''s demand nor his fiery gaze.

    "This seems to be a running theme with those of you who hold power in this place." Leonel replied. "You all believe that you can just do anything you want."

    Jac took a step forward. If it wasn''t for his own Workbench blocking his way, his hand would already be on Leonel''s throat. But, this sort of small obstacle wouldn''t hold him back for very long, if at all.

    The only reason Jac was still showing a modicum of restraint was because he was well aware of how dangerous True Spirits were, especially Metal Spirits. Though he could protect himself with his Force, he also knew that this wouldn''t last long.

    What would ultimately happen is that the Metal Spirit would eat through him and enter its overeating phase. If that sort of frenzy happened here, it would be a wonder if anyone could stop it.

    He needed Leonel to hand it over willingly and without a choice, making the little spirit believe that this was just another part of its tasks. After that, brainwashing and making the Metal Spirit forget Leonel was just a matter of time. With how gluttonous such spirits were, it would only require a large amount of food.

    As for the idea that Leonel wouldn''t hand it over? Jac didn''t even think of such a thing. Did a Third Dimensional ant have the right to resist him?

    Unfortunately, Jac had no idea that on the outside of the shop, the faces of his two wives were growing uglier and uglier by the second. At this point, the two didn''t even dare to look around for fear of meeting a gaze they didn''t dare to match.

    The silence of the audience was just the same, but the atmosphere was completely different. Maybe in the past many wouldn''t react like this seeing someone powerful assert their dominance. But, for some reason, many in the crowd felt a discomfort down to their very bones at that moment, as though something fundamental about their ideologies was shifting.

    "Give me the Metal Spirit, boy." Jac practically growled.

    Leonel indifferently remained in his seated position.

    "Do you think the reason I defeated you is because of my Metal Spirit? Don''t you think your actions right now are a bit sad? Even an Elder can''t take their loss in stride?"

    Leonel''s words seemed to hit Jac''s sore spot. However, this time, Beinala didn''t answer, he took another step forward, even sliding his own Workbench out of the way.

    Leonel sighed and shook his head.

    Jac''s footsteps suddenly froze. An image of what was being projected to the outside alongside an image of the crowd appeared above him, causing his face to twist and distort. He suddenly realized now why Leonel felt so calm.

    How could he actually not notice that he was being recorded? How long had this been going on for? How much had they seen?

    When Jac locked onto the faces of his wives, he realized that the situation wasn''t good. However, wasn''t it already too late? Since these people had already seen his true face, who cared anymore?! What was a position in Valiant Heart worth in comparison to a Metal Spirit? Just a single Metal Spirit could probably buy out this entire world!

    "Give it to me!" Jac growled, his patience had run this.

    A swirl of endless emotions threatened to erupt outward as he took another step toward Leonel. But, it was exactly this step that made him freeze once again. He didn''t even manage to take a second at all.

    He felt his aura disperse as a strong spatial Force locked onto him. He realized in that moment that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t move a single inch.

    Leonel continued to sit with an indifferent look on his face as though he always knew Jac wouldn''t be able to take those final steps.

    "You should be embarrassed to call yourself an Elder." Leonel continued coldly. "Since you don''t seem to be convinced, I''ll make you convinced. Little Tolly."

    *Blop* *Bloop*

    Leonel snatched a refined piece of Polished Glass. His fingers began to move, gradually picking up steam as though they were doing nothing but warming up.

    In what felt like not even ten minutes, the arc of a bow appeared before all their eyes. It curved along an elegant path and stood at two meters tall. In addition, it had the very same double helix pattern Leonel had used for his staff sparkling and reflecting the gentle blacks of the second floor.

    "You must have felt that it was possible to make the bow''s body, but its string is what you couldn''t figure out how to do, correct?"

    Leonel seemed to be asking a question. But, judging by the fact his hands never stopped, it seemed he didn''t care to receive an answer at all.

    Jac clenched his jaw, his eyes reddening. But, even to this point, he couldn''t move a single inch.

    "Here''s the difference between you and I."

    Leonel took what remained of the refined ore and separated them out in small fingernail sized balls in the blink of an eye. Snatching one, he had one of Little Tolly''s many parts envelope it completely.

    Pinching his fingers, Leonel began to oscillate them back and forth, slowly pulling his hands apart as the ball quickly became a long string so thin it could hardly be seen.

    Leonel repeated this exact process over a hundred times. His precision was so perfect that each and every thin string of Polished was exactly five atoms wide. But, they were simultaneously as brittle as glass. Just a single touch could make any one of them snap.

    Just what was he thinking?

 Chapter 716 - Itching

    Little Tolly split into over a hundred small pieces, coating each and every one of the fragile pieces. For a moment, it looked as though Leonel had a hundred long lines of silver stacked before him.

    Then, with a thought, they began to twist relative to one another.

    First they combined in groups of five, twisting into a thicker line. Then, those groups of five combined with three others like them to form groups of four. Finally, those full bundles of twenty came together, forming a final line.

    All the while, Leonel''s quill moved like lightning. His movements were so controlled and precise that he didn''t have to pause Little Tolly''s actions even a single time. He was absolutely perfect.

    When Little Tolly finally slipped out from and revealed the final product Jac felt as though his eyes were about to bulge.

    However, as though he didn''t notice, Leonel calmly attached the newly made bowstring to its body and lightly pulled.

    The twang of a bowstring seemed to pluck at the hearts of all those who saw it.

    *Bloop* *Blop*

    Little Tolly''s many parts came together as one and happily landed on Leonel''s hands, snaking around his fingers until it snuggled around his wrist.

    It was only at that moment that Jac realized that Leonel hadn''t used his Force Crafting Gloves from beginning to end. He clenched his jaw, but still couldn''t move an inch.

    "I''m not one to be bullied in silence." Leonel said. "Seniors like you can''t be considered my senior."

    Who knows whether it was by design or coincidence, but Leonel didn''t call Beinala Elder this time. His message couldn''t have been more clear.

    "I was lucky this time because my Force Crafting saved me. But it''s impossible to tell what would happen if I was on the outside. I can only hope that there''s a swift and justified punishment."

    Leonel''s plain words were like hammers to Jac''s heart. Unfortunately for the latter, he was soon forcefully teleported out.

    Jac appeared on the outside, finally regaining control of his body. His first instinct was to blast all the energy he had been holding in toward the shop. But, before he got a chance to, he felt like several eyes had landed on him.

    Jac''s aura completely deflated. His rage had nowhere to vent itself and his embarrassment seemed to have only increased by several times over.

    Without a word, he turned and sliced through the crowd on his way out just as the picture above BLACKSTAR reverted back to its silver and black emblem.

    The crowd all watch silently as Beinala, followed by his two wives, departed. Though none of them said a word, somehow, the silent condemnation was even worse than receiving a verbal barrage.

    On a distant rooftop, Sael watched on in silence. She didn''t even notice when her eyes had begun to brim with tears.

    "What are you crying about?" Gersan frowned, looking at Sael as though she had lost her mind. What was wrong with this senior sister of his?

    Gersan didn''t like Leonel very much to begin with for obvious reasons. Plus, he also didn''t know much about Force Crafting. He just barely knew enough to know that it was impressive for Leonel to defeat Beinala, but he didn''t quite know how impressive.

    What he felt, though, was even if this was a pinnacle achievement, it definitely shouldn''t be anything worth crying like this overбн right?

    The only thing that truly shocked Gersan was the fact Leonel was actually able to send a Fifth Dimensional existence packing without lifting a single finger.

    Sael wiped her eyes with a forearm and smiled, not bothering to explain in too much depth. Gersan didn''t quite get it because he was one of the few who would have fought for his rights against his seniors regardless. Even when he found out Leonel had a great background, he disdained him more than respected him.

    In the mind of a talent like Gersan, he could already fight for everything he wanted, so Leonel''s words made no difference to him. However, if everyone was like Gersanбн The organization would have never fallen to this point to begin with.  By now, it had little to do with him and everything to do with those below.

    She didn''t know what Leonel had done, and she had a strong feeling that this was definitely not the first time he had planted such seeds, but the result was something she was seeing right before her eyes now.

    ''He''s doing all of this just for revenge toward a person who didn''t even dare to say his nameбн How good would it be if he was doing all of this for less petty reasonsбн? What result would there be if he did it because he loved Valiant Heartбн?''

    бн

    In another distant building, Raylion finished the last of his meat, leaving behind nothing but an exceptionally clean plate of bone.

    "бн These petty tricks are meaningless if you don''t have the strength to back them up. As quickly as you can light a fire in their bellies, they can just as quickly be extinguished."

    бн

    Leonel collapsed to the ground the moment the images disappeared. Compared to his previous appearance, his current look was pitiful. In fact, he looked as though he had placed a step into a long since prepared coffin.

    He had really outdone himself this time. He could have just sent Jac out right after locking him down, but he had insisted on making his bow first. If it wasn''t for the fact that Jac had been so focused on his Craft and forgot to struggle with all his might, Leonel really would have collapsed first.

    Leonel was able to rely on a combination of his Divine Armor and his prepared Force Arts to barely deal with a single weak Fifth Dimensional existence in a prepared environment. But, in order not to reveal his Divine Armor too early, he put even greater strain on himself that he needed to. Now, the world around him was completely blurry.

    Even as Leonel''s consciousness faded, his lip still curled.

    He could consider phase one over. Now came the fun part.

    His fists were really itching.

 Chapter 717 - Regimen

    If there was ever such a thing as rolling in merit points, Leonel had definitely reached the epitome. The sales his shop reached day in and day out could make even some elders bleed.

    Of course, much of these merit points went toward buying more materials to sell even more. However, even with this being the case, the profits alone were astronomical.

    There was simply no other place in Valiant City where they could get such cheap high level weapons. It could be said that Leonel single handedly raised the strength of all black and white belts by at least a level. As for blue belts, due to the fact he never sold weapons above the Tier 7 level, their strength remained about the same.

    When BLACKSTAR truly began to pick up steam, the Ore Factions made their move, each signing contracts with Leonel. Like this, Leonel didn''t even have to worry about acquiring Ores himself. Every week, he would receive a large supply of his own.

    It was no surprise, then, that the ones who suffered the most were the King of Ores faction.

    Not only had Leonel used their foundation to build the impenetrable BLACKSTAR, but they obviously couldn''t sign a contract with Leonel who was now effectively holding what amounted to about a 10-20% share of the Ore Market.

    This didn''t seem large, but when it was considered that most of the customers the Ore Factions had came from merchants of the Milky Way, the fact Leonel managed to swallow up such a large share was enough to make anyone mad with greed.

    All of this said, there was only so large such a small shop could grow. Even setting aside the fact that 70% of all the sold weapons, armors and consumables were crafted by Leonel personally, Valiant Heart was only so large and there were only so many students.

    Of course, the consumable and repair market kept the merit points flowing in droves. But even with this accounted for, there was a cap.

    This cap, however, wasn''t a bad thing. In fact, Leonel had accounted for its existence.

    What Leonel wanted the most out of this place was a method to cure Aina. That was his main goal. His so-called revenge against Raylion and Aphestus was nothing more than a blip on his radar, he hardly took them seriously.

    In order to do this, he needed to bring the Segmented Cube to Phase Three. If the shop kept growing to infinity, it would be difficult for him to find time to do any of this.

    Up to now, the Cube had been slowly absorbing the Fifth Dimensional Force in the atmosphere. However, at this pace, it would still take several years to finish. If it wasn''t for Leonel running into a Force Eruption, the Segmented Cube might very well still be in Phase One.

    There were two methods that Leonel could think to accomplish this.

    The first were Force Crystals. It had to be remembered that the cause of the Force Eruption Leonel faced was a Force Crystal mine. Each Force Crystal presented a high concentration of Force. This might speed up the process.

    The issue with this, though, was that Valiant Heart Mountain keeps a tight lid on all Fifth Dimensional resources. Whether it was Ores, Herbs, or anything of the like, students like Leonel would never have a chance to lay hands on them.

    And this made sense from Valiant Heart''s perspective. After all, what would Fourth Dimensional brats do with such resources? They''d probably end up selling them off to their enemies.

    To the elders of Founding Peak, Fifth Dimensional resources were all strategic. It was they that decided how strong or weak their Valiant Heart would be. They couldn''t possibly be allowed to reach the hands of others.

    Of courseбн It wasn''t necessarily impossible for Leonel to lay hands on a Fifth Dimensional Force Crystal.

    He was certain that Valiant Heart had at least one vault of such treasures. In order to access them, he just had to become a Bronze Crafter. He didn''t believe he couldn''t exchange Fifth Dimensional weapons for these resources. In fact, the elders of Valiant Heart might fight over him just like their students were.

    However, there was another issue with this.

    In order to practice with Bronze Craftingбн Leonel needed Fifth Dimensional Ores.

    Theoretically, thanks to his ability, he could Dream Sculpt such Ores and practice in his Dream World. But, to do that, he would need to actually lay eyes on them first.

    By now the problem was obvious.

    Leonel had a work around, thoughбн If he Dream Sculpted the Bronze Spears in his Spear Domain, then broke them down to the ores that made them up, he could then practice enough in his Dream World to breakthrough. But, the logistics of that were more difficult than they seemed.

    Luckily, there was another option.

    The more Leonel learned about the Valiant Heart Zone, the more intrigued he became.

    According to Kaela, the training rooms that Valiant Heart were so proud of, even the one Leonel took his white belt exam in, were all products of treasures taken from the Zone. The rewards for bringing such things out were most definitely not stingy.

    Knowing this, Leonel was already certain in his choice to enter the Valiant Heart Zone. Who knew, maybe he would find something to directly boost the Segmented Cube to Phase Three without having to trade anything in.

    BLACKSTAR already ensured that Leonel would reach the merit point minimum for entry into the tournament. This tournament would have spots of entry on the line. So, Leonel''s only task at this moment was to make sure he was strong enough to snag these spots.

    Though Leonel had won his battle with Arte, it also taught him that he was still beneath the blue belts in raw strength. With something like Aina''s life, he would never let the shave be so close.

    With those thoughts swirling in his mind, Leonel prepared a training regimen for himself, consulting with the dictionary.

    His first step was to raise his Metal Body to its next bottleneck.. And now, he finally had access to more Ores than he knew what to do with to accomplish exactly that.

 Chapter 718 - Tier 4

    Leonel sat in a private room, looking at piles of ores that dwarfed his body in size. He had long since finished his work for the day, so he was focused entirely on himself.

    Of course, with Leonel''s level of skill, he could complete even a Tier 7 weapon in barely ten minutes. As for weapons below that level, he was even faster. Considering how few could actually afford a Tier 7 weapon, he only needed to make a small number a day. So, after about three to four hours, he had already wrapped up.

    ''My Metal Body is at the lowest Tier 1 right nowбн''

    The meaning behind this was simple. Leonel''s body, when his Runes were activated, was as tough as a Tier 1 Fourth Dimensional Ore. Since his foundation was built upon Urbe Ore, the strength of his body scaled along with it.

    Normally, it would be very difficult to raise his body beyond this. However, Leonel had the Puppet Master to thank for why this was not the case for him.

    After absorbing the Puppet Master''s Force and healing his body, Leonel''s senses picked up on the changes to his body. Though there was no great change to his strength, the bottlenecks he would have experienced all the way up to the Tier 4 level were completely cleared. All Leonel had been missing to improve were the Ores themselves, and now he had them.

    What Leonel had left was a choice of how to progress his Metal Body.

    Ultimately, all Metal Bodies were excellent at defense. How could they not be, metals and their ores were among the toughest materials in all of existence. However, this didn''t mean that there weren''t certain choices to be made.

    It had to be remembered that from this point on, Leonel could give himself affinities through his Metal Body and his Divine Armor. His Divine Armor could be considered to be a temporary boost until he switched to a new one. However, his Metal Body was permanent and had to be slowly grown over time.

    But, in this way, much of Leonel''s choice had already been made for him.

    Without a doubt, Leonel''s strongest asset was his Innate Force Node and his Scarlet Star Force. However, he couldn''t even use it without burning himself from the inside out. The best way to deal with this was obvious:

    Leonel needed to refine his body with Star, Light and Fire Elemental Ores until his body could withstand his own strength without imploding.

    After consulting with the dictionary and using some of his own deductions and speculations, Leonel came to a decision.

    Ores that carried three Elemental characteristics were too rare and often wouldn''t'' appear in lower Dimensions. As such, he could only choose three separate Ores.

    The first was Blazing Night Ore.

    Right from the very beginning, if others knew that Leonel actually wanted to absorb such a thing into his body, they''d believe him to be a maniac.

    The Ore looked like a crystal with a dancing red-black flame within. Just gazing upon it made one feel as though a shiver was crawling up their spine.

    Blazing Night Ore was a Fuel Type ore. Much like how ancient Earth used coal and crude oil, Black Night Ore could fall within such a category of combustible energy as well. It was a favorite of Force Crafters and Force Pill Crafters who might need an extra boost of heat during crucial moments.

    The method of using this Ore was quite special. Rather than actually combusting them, they would be rubbed against an abrasive material until the Ore began to give off fine dust particles. These fine dust particles could then be added to a flame in intervals to explosively increase its destructive capability and its heat.

    Though a flame seemed to be dancing within the crystal-like exterior, it was nothing more than an illusion. The danger wasn''t hidden within, it was the entire Ore itself. If it came into contact with any heat sourceбн BOOM!

    Yet, Leonel had an entire pile of them stacked up in front of him in what could only be said to be far from a controlled environment.

    The second ore might be even more dangerous than the last. It was known as Refractive Gold.

    Living up to its name, Refractive Gold was an exceptionally beautiful ore. Beneath the dark blacks and silvers of Leonel''s private room, it seemed to dazzle all the more. But, even Leonel didn''t dare to bring it out into the sunlight casually.

    Refractive Gold looked like one might imagine a golden crystal to look like. Much like the previous Ore, it too looked a bit transparent. But, whereas Blazing Night Ore''s danger was an illusion of the eye, Refractive Gold''s danger was completely invisibleбн until it wasn''t.

    There was no dancing fire within it, but Refractive Gold had a special structure that could turn even the most benign of light sources into a laser beam capable of obliterating a Tier 4 existence.

    If a light was trapped by the Ore just right, it would bounce around its inner mirrors, before concentrating into a beam that would rival even the best of lasers even the current Earth had to offer.

    It was safe to say that whoever pioneered the use of this ore as the Vessel Type Ore had to be a powerful individual unafraid of such things.

    Finally, there was the final ore. This one was the rarest of the bunch, and though it was nowhere near as dangerous, it was definitely by far the hardest for Leonel to get his hands on despite also being a Fourth Dimensional Oreбн Technically.

    This Ore was known as Star Core Ore. And, like Urbe Ore, it was not only a Foundational Type Ore that could form the base of any Craft, it also had the same name regardless of its stage of evolution.

    This Ore was produced at the Core of any dying star at and above the Fourth Dimension. As one might expect, it could be found in large quantities. But, even still, due to the difficulty of mining this Ore, its price was still sky high.

    This Fourth Dimensional Star Core Ore would be the foundation of Leonel''s Metal Body.. He would absorb three parts Star Core, two parts Refractive Gold, and one part Blazing Night and shoot to Tier 4 in one sweep.

 Chapter 719 - Synergy

    Leonel began to absorb the Ores one after another, without a care for how dangerous they were. No matter how volatile they were to others, to Leonel, they only represented strength. In that way he was much more like Little Tolly than maybe even he knew.

    What Leonel most looked forward to, though, wasn''t just the strengthening of his body, but rather the synergy his Metal Body had with his Mage Core.

    Under normal circumstances, the absorption of these Ores would result in the following changes.

    Taking in Blazing Night Ore would increase Leonel''s ability to suppress the volatility of his Scarlet Star Force. The Ore itself had an uncanny ability to remain inert without the presence of flames. When this Essence was taken in by Leonel, he too would gain this ability to suppress.

    Taking in the Refractive Gold would give Leonel the ability to better control and concentrate.

    Finally, Star Core was known for its heaviness. It was a Foundational Type Ore well known for increasing the weight of a weapon far beyond its proportional size. At the same time, this added weight would both stabilize and increase structural integrity.

    It could be said that by absorbing Star Core, Leonel was heavily increasing the density of his body and also its defense. This would offset the volatility of Black Night perfectly and stabilize Refractive Gold to give him even more control.

    Howeverбн This was only if Leonel hadn''t grasped Camelot''s magic system for himself.

    When Leonel formed his Mage Core, his Variant Earth affinity did not appear as one of the petals despite the fact space иC his weakest affinity should he not use his Divine Armor иC had a flickering black-silver petal for itself.

    The reason for this was simple. Leonel had made his Variant Earth affinity the stem and roots of his Mage Core.

    This didn''t seem like a big deal and even seemed to make sense. After all, what better stabilizing Element was there outside of Earth? This was only more so for its metallic variant.

    However, when Leonel''s Metal Body is taken into consideration, the fundamental nature of this choice comes with implications far more than something so simple.

    A Mage Core is the representation of a Mage''s magic. In Camelot''s magic system, it roots a connection between body and spirit, allowing Magic to be controlled more like the extension of one''s body rather than requiring the use of a Force Art every time.

    This was why, after the formation of his Mage Core, Leonel was able to wield the elements and bend them to his will even without evoking any spells or Mage Arts. And, it was also why even the most basic of spells had gotten a massive boost even without Leonel modifying them.

    This would be the same for anyone who formed a Mage Core as long as their affinities were high enough. So what was the difference with Leonel?

    The core lay in his Metal Body.

    Due to the characteristics of his Lineage Factor, Leonel''s Mage Core and Metal Body formed a symbiotic relationship where one could feed off the other in an endless feedback loop. This was the fundamental change that occurred when Leonel made his Metal Variant affinity his root and stem.

    This meant that whenever Leonel absorbed Ores, the changes would occur not just in his bodyбн but in his magic too!

    To put things as simply as possible, while Leonel''s body gained all the aforementioned boosts, his magic subtly changed as wellбн Or, maybe the changes weren''t so subtle at all.

    First, Leonel''s Flames gained an explosive characteristic thanks to Blazing Night. If before they could just emit heat, now they wrought destruction. Even a simple fire ball spell from a Tier 4 Leonel would manifest like a nuke being dropped from the skies, maybe not quite so much in strength, but most definitely in feel.

    The second change to Leonel''s magic would be his ability to concentrate his Mage Arts into incredibly fine beams, this would be especially so for his Light Elemental Magic. Though this effect would be less prominent than the explosive characteristic he would gain, if used properly, it could be even more dangerous than the first change.

    The third change would be in thanks to Leonel''s Star Core. Though Leonel had yet to learn any Star Elemental Mage Arts, not having had the time to research just yet, this wouldn''t change the fact that he could still bend the Element to his will with just his body alone. He could effectively add an impossible amount of weight behind his every strike with a thought.

    Yet, as amazing as these changes were, none of them touched upon the most fundamental and most drastic change. And this is where the prowess of this Synergy began to show itself.

    With just a thought, Leonel would be able to cast Earth Elemental Force Arts that manifested the character of any one of these Ores he was currently absorbing. In fact, if he wanted, he could even form any one of these Ores from thin air no differently from how he might have formed an Earthen Arrow from a Mage Art in the past!

    In the past, Leonel''s Variant Earth affinity would add a slight metal sheen to his Mage Arts. This change would increase the strength of his casts by a measure to be beyond that of a normal Earth mage.

    However, the effect of this was limited. It would strengthen an offensive attack like [Earthen Spear] or a defensive Art like [Grand Bell Construct]. However, when it came to other more unique Earth Elemental Arts, it would be useless and even sometimes become a hindrance.

    However, now Leonel had more control over exactly what Variations would occur because he could now evoke specific Ores, bringing his Earth magic to an entirely new level.

    With his Metal Body as his foundation, and his Mage Core as an equal partner, Leonel believed that should he ever learn how to perfectly integrate his Spear Force with his Magicбн He would be undefeatable even amongst those several levels higher than himself.

 Chapter 720 - Ring

    Leonel felt his strength sore. Beneath his closed eyelids, his eyes flickered with all sorts of colors and even his hair began to dance with a mysterious light.

    Leonel''s skin shimmered like polished metal even beneath the dim lights of his private room.

    When his eyes opened, though, his gaze was surprisingly calm, albeit far deeper. Looking at the emptiness in front of him, Leonel sighed. Improving his Metal Body was definitely not cheap.

    And, even though now he could probably swipe at the air and make more Ores, that obviously took stamina. How foolish would it be for him to sap his energy just to gain more energy? Though, it might be useful in battle to heal himself. But, even then, it would be better if he just carried around a store of these Ores for those kind of situations.

    The cost effectiveness of creating these Ores wasn''t worth it. However, if it was a matter of using them in a strong attack or defense, that was a different matter entirely.

    The new Mage Arts Leonel wanted to create would be centered around these Ores. This was why he hadn''t gone out of his way to start formulating new Mage Arts on the level of the Fourth Dimension just yet. Only this way would he be able to maximize his strength.

    ''It seems that now is a perfect time to take Aina''s advice and visit the Valiant Hall training rooms. Maybe I can finally get something out of this organization then. But firstбн''

    Leonel took out a familiar ring. But, he was instantly surprised by the feeling he had when he rolled it in his palm.

    ''It feelsбн different?''

    Leonel was certain that this ring hadn''t changed at all. His Dream Sculpt made sure that he wouldn''t make such a mistake and he had long since stored this mysterious ring into his Dreamscape. So, the difference was definitely not due to a change in the ring itself, but most definitely a change in Leonel.

    ''So it''s like thisбн''

    Leonel''s eyes glowed.

    The moment he touched the ring, he pinpointed many things.

    First, it was made of Fifth Dimensional Ores. Second, it was formed of seven different types of Ores on this level. Third, he was able to pick out the exact Ores used with a simple touch. Fourth, he was even able to see through some of the smelting and Crafting processes the ring had undergone.

    Leonel felt like if he were to Dream Sculpt the ring now, it would take him a fraction of the time it did before.

    What was shocking about this change wasn''t the information, because Leonel''s Dream Sculpt had long since informed him of all of this. What was shocking about it was that the information had been transmitted to him in a completely new way.

    Leonel was certain. His Earth Affinity had taken a massive leap forward. He had neglected such a simple thing.

    As Leonel refined his Metal Body, it seemed that his Earth affinity would also increase. But, this increase was far more than what Leonel was expecting. The only explanation, thenбн was the synergy between his Metal Body and his Mage Core.

    At this moment, Leonel felt that he had the equivalent Earth affinity to a Morales family genius who had stepped into Tier 9 of their Fourth Dimensional Metal Body. And the feeling was like standing high up on the clouds.

    Before, Leonel could only control a ten meter range of space in this Fifth Dimensional world. But now, he felt that controlling even a hundred meters wouldn''t pose much of an issue.

    Leonel took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Now wasn''t the time to get engrossed in such things.

    "What is this ring?" Leonel finally asked.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Replying to Seed, it is a key ]

    Leonel raised his eyebrows.

    "A key to what?"

    The dictionary didn''t respond. Leonel had experienced this once before in the Camelot Zone. It seemed that the dictionary didn''t know the answer to this. Though the dictionary somehow knew about the Oryx and their Hyper Evolution, but not about this, Leoenl wasn''t too surprised.

    From Leonel''s understanding, the dictionary didn''t ''know'' anything like one might expect a database to. In fact, Leonel was certain that the only ''data'' within the dictionary were the messages left by his father and his lesson plans. Aside from this, everything else the dictionary ''knew'' was based on deductions and scans.

    If it couldn''t scan something to understand it, then it wouldn''t have an answer.

    Leonel was quite astonished when he came to this conclusion because it meant that his father managed to create a device that was even better than his ability at doing what his ability was meant to do.

    Shaking his head, Leonel recollected himself.

    "Where are the engravings from?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Engravings are from a language not yet evolved ]

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. At that moment, he understood.

    A language not yet evolved? That meant that this language already existed, but it had not gained the dialects or quirks of the engravings placed on the ring.

    The ring deduced that there was a language similar enough to these engravings, but not similar enough that they could be called the same. Almost like a comparison between English and Old English.

    That could only mean one thing: This ring was from the future.

    It sounded absolutely ridiculous when Leonel put the only logical deduction into tangible thought. But, often times, the things that less intelligent people couldn''t accept were things that those who were could easily.

    How difficult the concept was to accept didn''t matter. All that mattered was that it was the only logical conclusion. As long as this was true, Leonel didn''t care even if the dictionary told him that this ring was his son. He would accept it.

    What he needed to focus on was not how ridiculous the conclusion was, but rather on how to make it make sense. This was what separated the laymen from the experts.

    And for that, Leonel already had an answer. In fact, he thought of it almost instantly to the point it made the original premise far easier to accept.

    This ring. It was from a Variant Zone.

    The only questions that were remaining was if this ring was from the Valiant Heart Variant Zone or another. Andбн How the hell had ''Senior'' Lu of all people, gotten his hands on it?

 Chapter 721 - Rising Sun

    Leonel didn''t have an answer to his question. And, unsurprisingly, neither did the dictionary. But, Leonel didn''t mind. Even if this ring led to a dead end, he could still accept it.

    Leonel knew that Variant Zones only appeared when a world was on the verge of collapse. According to Kaela, Valiant Heart managed to use a treasure they earned participating in the Morales family''s Heir Wars to maintain this Zone and continuously benefit from it.

    Other than these facts, everything else was too variable to make any conclusions on. So, Leonel didn''t waste any brain power on things he knew he didn''t have enough knowledge to reach a logical conclusion with.

    Instead, Leonel stood and began to make his way to Valiant Hall.

    бн

    "Hello, I''d like to take a look at the training rooms you have available."

    Leonel soon found himself on the second floor of Valiant Hall once again. In fact, he could even see some black belts getting ready to take their own Exams and the receptionist he spoke to was the very same dead-eyed man whose disposition hadn''t changed a single bit.

    Without a word, the man pushed a booklet to Leonel.

    With a quick look, Leonel realized that the training rooms of Valiant Hall were different from the ones you might find on Hero Peak.

    Rather than having specialized rooms, Valiant Hall had their training rooms separated into grades. The grades decided the intensity of the setting within the room, or more accurately, the range the settings could be used within.

    Though Valiant Hall was less specialized, and also more expensive to use, it made up for it in convenience. For the current Leonel, they were actually quite perfect.

    "I''ll take the S-grade Training Room, then." Leonel decided.

    There were three grades below this. And, unfortunately, the grades above this all require elder or equivalent status. So, this was the best Leonel could do.

    The receptionist looked at Leonel. The prices were very detailed, so he didn''t believe that Leonel hadn''t seen them. A single day cost 1000 merit points, and that was only if you used the simplest functions of the room like weight training or target practice. If you planned on using anything more special than that, the points would quickly rack up.

    Yet, Leonel hadn''t hesitated.

    It seemed that this receptionist with a dead look was quite the recluse. There were very few who didn''t know of Leonel''s wealth by now. It was almost amusing that he was surprised.

    бн

    Leonel took a deep breath, standing at the very center of a spacious room.

    The S-grade Training Room looked almost identical to the Exam room. It, too, was constructed of large meter long and wide tiles, each of which was a perfect in between for white and black. And, it also happened to be in the shape of a perfect cube.

    The only different aesthetically was that the S-grade Training Room was a hundred cubic meters large while the exam room was only 20.

    Leonel waved his hand forward in a command gesture. Without much lag, a hovering control panel appeared before him, filling his eyes with fascinated lights. He was once again certain that this level of Force Crafting was beyond Valiant Heart. But, now that he knew that these things came from the Variant Zone, it was all easier to accept.

    ''First things first, I need to work on my body''s flexibility. Let''s seeбн''

    Leonel had already decided on this long ago. Having a Metal Body was great, but he had noticed during his run-in with the Oryx that his body movements were growing stiff.

    If things continued like this, his Lineage Factors would end up restraining one another rather than complimenting each other.

    His Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor should have given him great speed. But, if his joints became a rate limiting factor, then what good would that do him?

    The good news was that there should be a solution to this. The Morales Clan''s Metal Body, a Lineage Factor they relied upon to reach the top of the Dimensional Verse, wouldn''t have such a glaring weakness. At least not so early, anyway.

    The bad news, though, was that while Leonel''s father had left him any and all techniques he would ever need with regard to Force Crafting, when it came to matters of actual combat, he abandoned his son completely.

    Leonel could almost imagine his father cackling somewhere far off in the universe, his feet up on a table and a grin on his face, watching his only son struggle.

    Why his father had done this, Leonel had no idea. But, if there was anything his father was good at, it was being really stubborn about arbitrarily drawn lines. If he wasn''t like that, Leonel probably wouldn''t have spent his whole life thinking that his mother had abandoned them.

    Leonel still had a shred of luck left, though. At the very least, the dictionary didn''t leave him hanging this time.

    Dealing with the stiffness of his body was all about taking a pre-emptive approach. The immediate aftermath of a breakthrough in Metal Body would leave the metal Essence he had absorbed in a very malleable state. While it was like this, it was the best time to lay the foundation for a more flexible body.

    Thankfully, Leonel realized this issue early on, or else he might have great problems to deal with later down the line.

    Not wasting anymore time, Leonel opened the technique library.

    This was a second benefit of using a Training Room in Valiant Hall. Members of Valiant Hall had access to the techniques of all peaks as long as they paid for it with merit points. Though the price here was more expensive than if Leonel went to each individual Peak. It was once again matchless in convenience.

    Leonel soon found what he was looking for. And, not long later, he used the help of the dictionary to decide what the best choice was. However, his face couldn''t help but twist when he realized what it was.

    He really wanted to cry tears but had none to shed. His hand hovered above the screen, twitching.

    [108 Rising Suns]

    <Description>

    <Supplementary Yoga techniques for [36 Setting Suns].. It is advised that these techniques be practiced by the ''Moon'' partner so as to avoid possible injury. Only in this way will you maximize your ''Sun'' partner''s *rise*>

 Chapter 722 - Path Ahead

    Leonel closed his eyes as he pressed the accept prompt. He felt as though he was losing a portion of his innocence forever. No matter what, he couldn''t let Aina know about this, or he wouldn''t ever be able to live it down.

    Everything only got worse after the technique was projected to Leonel.

    As one might expect, [108 Rising Suns] had exactly 108 positions, all curated to ensure that a sun did indeed rise. The issue with all of this was that Leonel would have to be the one to complete all of them.

    ''Fuck itбн It''s not like there''s anyone here to see this anyway.''

    So, Leonel began. With the help of the training room, not only was the technique projected to him, but there was even a live model to follow. At the very least, watching the model going into such poses was far better than watching Leonel himself do it.

    The poses began innocent enough. The first few were nothing but normal stretches. What was special about them would be the fashion by which Force was circulated and used to supplement these positions.

    Due to this special use of Force, Leonel found himself sweating just by trying to touch his toes or twist his back.

    Things only got progressively worse from there. By the end of it, Leonel was folded into a pretzel, his ass sticking up high into the air and his face flushed completely red, soaked through completely with sweat.

    The good news was that by the time he got to pose 108, he was far too tired to even consider how embarrassing his poses were. The bad news, however, was more of the same. He might have to kill anyone who saw him like this.

    Leonel collapsed into a star fish position, his lungs gasping for breath. How could he have ever thought that an exercise created for the sake of sex would be so grueling. Was sex this demanding?

    Leonel shivered.

    At that moment, Leonel realized something quite uncomfortable. He looked below only to see that a certain rod was standing completely at attention.

    ''бн''

    ''Dammit.''

    It seemed that the use of Force wasn''t so innocent after all. This damned exercise was meant to stimulate him like this?

    Leonel looked up at the ceiling, his dick throbbing and no Aina in sight. It was then that he realized according to the dictionary, he had to do this twice a day for at least a month to get the lasting results he wanted.

    In fact, he would have to maintain this regimen for as long as he was in the Fourth Dimension as he would likely have to find another for the Fifth.

    ''Is this what they meant by absolute power corrupts absolutely? I haven''t even gotten to absolute power yet, thoughбн''

    бн

    Several dozen minutes later, Leonel''s loins finally managed to calm their fire. Of course, a harsh and cold shower helped volumes with this. Luckily, this training room also had this available.

    After Leonel was finished, he ordered a meal and practically inhaled it all before getting back to his training.

    ''Now that this flexibility nonsense is out of the way for now, we can focus on what really matters.''

    Leonel was quite excited for this. He felt that his body was lighter and more powerful and explosive than it had ever been. And, that was just after one round of [108 Rising Suns]. Now, he was ready to put it into use.

    There were a few things Leonel wanted to do.

    For one, his spearmanship was far too basic. As of now, all of Leonel''s attacks were of the simplest variety that might be taught to a child who had just entered a dojo. The only ''spear'' technique he had was [Call of the Wind], but that was technically a modified archery technique. Ironically, he never used it with his bow.

    By now, [Call of the Wind] was too weak for Leonel to use in battle so he never did. It was more worth it to use simple and straight forward attacks. But now, he finally had the time and the funds to use real techniques.

    The truth was that [Call of the Wind] wasn''t weak. It had be a C-grade reward, which made it about a Tier 3 or 4 technique. Leonel could use it effectively even now.

    The main issue was that after modifying it into a spear technique, it became even weaker than that. And, Leonel had a poor Wind Elemental affinity without Little Blackstar by his side, so he found it to be more of a hindrance than anything to his marksmanship.

    What Leonel wanted to do now was clear, then. He wanted to look for a few spear techniques that would suit him and give him more powerful explosive strength.

    After he did this, he definitely needed to find a few bow techniques that suited him as well. As of now, he was only using the things he learned from Merlin''s Trial. And, though they were good and quite many in number, they ultimately lacked the one hit strength Leonel was looking for. If not for this, he wouldn''t have been forced to run from the Oryx.

    Beyond this, Leonel would throw his focus into creating new Mage Arts around his Metal Body and Mage Core synergy.

    As for things like movement techniques, Leonel already had one he was very fond of and suited him perfectly. Even up to now, he still hadn''t unearthed all of its potential.

    The final things Leonel thought he might as well look into would be Styles and, maybe most importantly of allбн Leonel wanted to see if Valiant Heart had anymore resources that might help him understand how to utilize his Dream Force just that much better.

    As much as he seemed to despise Valiant Heart, if not for them, he would still be using normal Soul Force as opposed to the much more powerful Dream Force. Leonel felt it was about time he see through to the true potential of his Dream Force.

    With that thought, Leonel opened up a panel of spear techniques.

 Chapter 723 - Spear Techniques

    Leonel soon realized that these techniques got very expensive, very quickly.

    The yoga technique he had just bought only cost a few hundred merit points. But, these Tier 7 and higher spear techniques Leonel was looking through all cost several thousand at the cheapest, there also weren''t a small number that could only be counted in the tens of thousands.

    However, if others could afford it, for Leonel, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. In fact, the only reason he was thinking of the expense now was because of Aina. She had never spoken about how expensive these places were to use, and Leonel was pretty certain that he had a good grasp on her merit point situation.

    ''I guess I''ll just have to give her a bunch next time I see her.''

    Leonel shook his head and began to focus.

    He not only needed a technique or maybe techniques that could fit in well with his affinities, but he also needed them to not clash while being used with a potentially two headed spear.

    Leonel''s most powerful weapon was his Quasi Silver double headed spear. It would be a shame if he was in a tough enough battle to be forced to bring it out, only to find out that he couldn''t use it to its greatest potential.

    Immediately, Leonel eliminated all spear techniques that didn''t align with his affinities.

    From what Leonel could see after this, there were many spear techniques usable by those with Fire Elemental affinities. Almost too many.

    In contrast, there were only a handful that could be used with his Light Elemental affinities and only three he found had Star Elemental affinities as their root.

    This made sense. After all, the rarer the affinity, the less likely one would be to find techniques for it, especially when you were looking for the use of a specific weapon. Not only this, but they also became many times more expensive.

    However, what was odd was that Leonel didn''t find even one Earth Elemental technique. To put that into perspective, he did manage to find one Space Elemental spear technique.

    ''Is it difficult to make an Earth Elemental technique with the spear in mind?''

    Out of curiosity, Leonel checked through all the Earth Elemental techniques Valiant Heart had, only to find that it wasn''t just rare for the spear, but for weapons in general. It seemed that it was difficult to translate the Earth Elemental into combat techniques if a weapon was involved.

    ''бн I seeбн''

    Leonel made a mental note of this and moved on. The Earth Element wasn''t known for its attack prowess to begin with so Leonel had never expected to choose a technique with it in mind.

    The moment he had laid eyes on the Space Elemental spear technique, he knew he had to have it. Even though it cost 90 000 merit points, an amount that wasn''t small even to him, it didn''t matter. Leonel knew that it was the perfect technique for his double sided spear. If used in conjunction with his Divine Armor, he could truly be undefeatable, especially on a battlefield.

    Without hesitation, Leonel snatched it, adding [Vanishing Blade] to his arsenal.

    Then, he turned his attention to the Light, Fire and Star Elemental techniques.

    From the light, he chose a technique worth 30 000 merit points called [Harmonic Spear]. From the fire, he chose two techniques worth 17 000 merit points combined called [Infernal Cyclone] and [Meteoric Impact].

    As for Star Elemental techniques, Leonel decided that of those available, none suited his style very well. He believe that [Meteoric Impact], [Infernal Cyclone], [Harmonic Spear] and [Vanishing Blade] would all synergize very well and flow immaculately in battle.

    However, the Star Elemental techniques were all focused on heft and weight.

    In Leonel''s opinion, the Star Element was about more than just its weight. However, these techniques were rather crude despite how expensive they were. If Leonel ever wanted a Star Elemental spear technique, he would either have to make one of his own, or join an organization with better spear techniques than Valiant Heart.

    Leonel took a deep breath. With a thought, a gorgeous silver spear appeared in his palms.

    The moment it did, it was as though it wanted to fight against Leonel, causing him to grin.

    ''You''re quite arrogant for a spear. But, you fighting against me like this is exactly the training I need right now. Keep going.''

    The double headed spear was three meters long, dwarfing Leonel in size. Though at the moment it was impossible to see with the naked eye, Leonel knew well from just a touch that it had the capability to split into three segments.

    ''Let''s begin with the foundation. [Meteoric Impact].''

    Leonel held the trembling silver spear out with one arm, watching the motions of the live model with an intent gaze. There wasn''t a single twitch of the muscle or shift of Force that he missed. Without leaving out a single detail, he reflected it in his Dream World.

    Leonel split his mind 30 ways, having had even more improvement recently. He assigned each to a crucial point of his body, having it entirely focus on reflecting the technique to absolute perfection. Then, using his infallible memory, he etched the feeling into his very being.

    [Meteoric Impact] was split into four stages of mastery. The first was the ''Large Rock'' stage. The second was the ''Small Rock'' stage. The third was the ''Sand'' stage. And, the final was the ''Ash'' stage.

    This technique was all about focusing explosive fire power into the very tip of one''s spear. By following this unique flow and making use of perfect timing, one would be able to unleash an explosive assault capable of doing devastating harm.

    Without Leonel having to say anything, the training room understood his need and manifested the forms of several large rocks.

    With an explosive step, Leonel erupted forward, his spear streaking forward like a piercing meteor. On its tip, a whistling shield of flames flickered.

    BANG!

    The spear tip collided with the massive rock before him. In one moment, the rock trembled, and in the next, it shattered, exploding outside into numerous tiny shards.

    In his first attempt, with a spear that didn''t want to listen to him, Leonel immediately crossed the ''Large Rock'' stage and entered the ''Small Rock'' stage in a Tier 7 technique.

 Chapter 724 - Spear Techniques (2)

    ''You really don''t want to listen, huh?''

    Leonel chuckled as he looked down at the spear in his hand. If the elders of Valiant Heart knew he had such a treasure, who knows how they''d react. They''d probably, rightfully, get a bunch of satisfaction out of the fact Leonel couldn''t control it very well.

    By Leonel''s estimation, if not for his spear fighting back against him, he would have been at the Sand stage at worst, destroying the rock into fine dust particles. Unfortunately, he didn''t manage to reach that threshold.

    But, Leonel was fine with this. Mastering these techniques posed little to no difficulty for him. He hardly had to try, he just needed to perfectly copy what he saw before him and use his ability to replicate it. If he wanted, it would take no more than two or three strikes to reach the Ash stage. Without his spear fighting back, it would almost be too easy.

    Of course, Leonel had this training room to thank for this. At the same time, he got the idea for a new ability.

    Just then, he had decided to split his mind across his body on a whim, just trying to make sure the technique was fine tuned. But, he hadn''t expected the feeling of absolute control it gave him. In that moment, Leonel felt that even if he wanted to control how fast his heart beat, he could do it.

    ''I''ll store this at the back of my mind. I''m sure there are many potential applicationsбн''

    Though Leonel thought this nonchalantly, what if there was one day he could split his mind trillions upon trillions of ways, allowing him to fine tune every cell of his bodyбн?

    Of course, Leonel didn''t even know if such a thing was possible. He was already at the peak of the Fourth Dimension with his mind and though he was still incrementally becoming stronger in this aspect even without breaking throughбн There couldn''t be much more room for growth, right?

    Leonel shook his head and focused once again.

    бн

    A wheel of fire whistled through the room. Leonel''s hands passed over one another, his twin bladed spear shifting from side to side as it spun at impossible speeds.

    Sweat beaded down Leonel''s face, but the cold look in his seemed to freeze the air.

    SHUU SHUU SHUU

    Rolling wheels of fire shot out from Leonel''s spear, rolling along the ground like death traps bearing down on an enemy.

    They smashed everything in their path to the ground, exploding them into fine dust upon contact.

    Leonel spun his spear around his waist, the speed of its spin accelerating as an arc of fire shot through the air. It looked as though a wheel of flame followed every spin, encasing Leonel in a gyroscope of endless red-black flames.

    ''Explode, explode, explodeбн''

    Every rock Leonel came up against was immediately blasted apart, sending bits and pieces pelting around the room.

    The strength of [Infernal Cyclone] was undeniable and it was more relentless than [Meteoric Impact], albeit much more difficult to control. But, this was to be expected for a Tier 8 Black treasure.

    [Infernal Cyclone] was built on the back of this wide sweeping and spinning spear technique. It only became more potent when two blades as opposed to just one were involved, making it perfect.

    Of course, it was much better when there were multiple enemies to face, but this was exactly why Leonel hadn''t chosen it as his only technique.

    In terms of stages, [Infernal Cyclone] didn''t have any. Rather, it had move stances. These were broken down into the ''Forward Spin'' and ''Reverse Spin'' which could be broken down into many iterations that didn''t need to be explained.

    What was important, though, was that when mastered to a certain degree, these wheels of flames could jet out from the spear, leaving devastation in their wake. This was considered to be the ultimate form of mastery for [Infernal Cyclone] and one Leonel was still having trouble controlling.

    His accuracy was a bit off, and the wheels weren''t as compact and powerful as he would like. But, he felt like he would grasp it soon.

    бн

    Leonel took deep heavy breaths. A strong golden light resonated around him, making him seem particularly holy as his hair danced about.

    Leonel swept his spear forward. His actions seemed to be particularly slow. Yet, somehow, his spear left afterimages in its wake. These afterimages were so clear that they almost appeared to be the real thing.

    Leonel shifted his feet, sweeping his spear backward and using its second blade to pierce forward.

    The images layered atop of one another, making it seem as though Leonel''s blade was twice as long as it truly was.

    This was the [Harmonic Spear] technique. It emphasized two things: Speed and trickery.

    The afterimages were so clear because Leonel was using his Light Elemental Force to reflect perfect images of his spear. At this level of mastery, they became so clear that they were almost indistinguishable from the real blade.

    When this illusion was layered with the speed of the technique, it made Leonel look as though he was moving slower than he really was. In battle, this trick of the eye would prove to be deadly.

    While one might think that Leonel was still a meter from them...

    BANG!

    Another rock shattered. But this time, the result was so devastating that the dust didn''t settle quickly. Rather, what looked like black snowflakes slowly drifted to the ground, making it look like some eerie winter wonderland.

    When supplemented with Light Elemental Force, Leonel felt that his spearmanship was more than twice as fast as usual, more than three times, in fact. With [Harmonic Spear], he felt like a god amongst men.

    [Harmonic Spear] was also formed into stages. But, unlike the others, it didn''t have a cap. It was entirely dependent on the number of after images you could sustain at once.

    Though Leonel felt like sustaining dozens wasn''t a problem for him. He felt that it wouldn''t be useful. Nine was about optimal for the opponents he would be calling enemy very soon.

    Once he managed to integrate these three spear techniques into one, and then layered [Vanishing Blade] on top of themбн Even Leonel anticipated the kind of strength he would be able to display.

 Chapter 725 - Ability Index

    An arrow streaked across the training room. Exploding pockets of air hovered like a halo around it for just a moment before it shot by.

    If one looked closely, though, this ''arrow'' seemed to be far too large to have been shot out of the bow of a normal human. It was encased in a Force that made its weight and substance far more substantial.

    The moment it impacted against the opposite wall, tearing a path through several prepared stones, the training room shook and quaked.

    Leonel slowly put his bow away. He had put this room through a lot in the past several days, he was surprised it hadn''t collapsed yet.

    Of course, he had no intention of holding back. After everything Valiant Heart had put him through, maybe destroying a few training rooms would be the best way for him to get some payback.

    Shaking his head, Leonel began his second round of yoga for the day.

    Leonel was very surprised by how much these yoga poses were helping him. Without exaggeration, if he had to pick the single best technique he had learned during this partial seclusion, it would be [108 Rising Suns].

    It wasn''t the most powerful, obviously, and it couldn''t be applied directly in battle. But, the benefits it gave to Leonel as a whole couldn''t be understated.

    Leonel felt that his coordination was through the roof. At the same time, his speed and even his strength had taken a tick up. The more limber his body became, the less work Leonel had to put in to fight against its limitations, and thus the more direct and efficient strength he could apply.

    From Leonel''s estimation, a small tick up in flexibility caused sweeping changes through his body, especially since Leonel was a person with high levels of coordination to begin with.

    All of this should have made Leonel very happy. But, the reality was the opposite of this.

    Of course, this unhappiness had nothing to do with the embarrassment of the poses. Leonel had long since gotten over that. Rather, much more seriously, it put a big problem of Leonel''s into perspective.

    This time, Leonel had been able to pick out a facet he could improve in and fix it. However, what about next time?

    Leonel wasn''t Aina who had an intuition about how to best train her body. Leonel had to deduce and often guess at everything. Never in his wildest dreams did Leonel believe just adding some flexibility to his body would cause such wide, sweeping changes.

    This led to Leonel being stifled by a fear of missing out. What if there was some other simple method he hadn''t quite grasped just yet? What if there was some important training method he should be starting now to set a foundation for the future he was completely unaware of?

    Toward such a thing, Leonel could only sigh. Dedicating one of his split minds to always pay attention to his body''s state was about the best he could do in the regard.

    Finishing up his exercises, Leonel took another cold shower and engulfed an entire family''s worth of food before turning his attention back to the control panel.

    At this point, Leonel was quite satisfied with his gains. He had learned four spear techniques, one excellent bow technique, and he even had the framework for several new Mage Arts being configured and tested in his Dream World even right now.

    For now, Leonel decided against choosing a Style. After looking through all of them, Leonel didn''t find any that were truly worth it. Though those Styles seemed extremely powerful when he first learned of them in Brave City, months removed, Leonel realized that they weren''t much different from parlor tricks.

    Leonel found that shifting his state of mind to use these Styles was a hindrance to his optimal battle state. And, splitting his mind to maintain them would still, likewise, be hindering his best self.

    Leonel was a cold and calculating warrior. He meticulously broke down his movements and that of his opponents into countless numbers a very rare few could understand. However, none of these Styles were quite like that. And, those that were seemed like cheap knock-offs of something Leonel could do on his own better.

    So, Leonel ignored Styles for now, deeming them to be a waste of time. Instead, he turned his attention to everything Valiant Heart had on Dream Force, his eyes lighting with excitement.

    If this went well, he might very well be able to bring his ability to a new level.

    What was unique about Dream Force that set it apart from every other Force type was in the fact every living thing with a consciousness had it. It might have appeared in very small quantities in most people, but that didn''t change this fact.

    What made those with Dream Force affinity special was that they were able to use this unique Force in large quantities. These individuals could be considered to be ''hyper aware''. They had minds that worked on a different level than everyone else.

    When Leonel began to delve into the world, he truly began to learn something new.

    Within the Dimensional Verse, abilities weren''t as random as Leonel once thought. Though there were always instances of unique, uncharted abilities popping up here and there, most abilities could be separated into defined categories and graded in very specific ways.

    This grading system was known as the Ability Index and it was widely accepted. It was likely due to a comprehension of the Ability Index that Arte was so easily able to decipher that Leonel had a sensory type ability!

    For example, take for instance the Ability Index of Telekinetic individuals. These people were separated into four categories based on the strength of their ability.

    The first level was called Control. The second level was called Strength. The third level was called Amplification. And, the fourth and last level was known as Sublimation.

    There were countless individuals born with Telekinetic abilities, but most of them fell into the weakest ''Control'' category.

    As one might expect, thenбн Those with Dream Force related abilities also had their own Ability Index and were likewise separated by strength.

 Chapter 726 - Monster

    Leonel''s eyes brightened. This sort of systematic categorization was exactly what he was missing!

    Leonel had long since abandoned his stat reading habit because it would often throw him off in the midst of battle. Without understanding a person''s Lineage Factor or Ability, doing something like reading their stats would only handicap himself.

    But, this Ability Index was a completely different story. If he could grasp an understanding of itбн

    Leonel smiled, making a decision to memorize the entire Ability Index when he had the time. But first, he would have to focus on himself.

    Leonel turned his attention to Dream Force.

    The first level, Opening. The second level, Awakening. The third level, Visualization. The fourth level, Control. The fifth level, Manifestation.

    The fifth level in particular, had a red underline, causing Leonel to sigh.

    The reason this Ability Index existed was obvious. But, it was also a guide to follow on how to improve one''s ability and what path to follow. In a lot of ways, Leonel wished he had known about this Ability Index long ago.

    The issue was, according to the legend, this red underline meant that this evolution was impossible to reach unless one was directly born with it. It was an Ability almost exclusively awakened by Savants and no one else.

    Obviously, Leonel wasn''t even close to touching this fifth level and he never would. That said, he could remember a certain Savant who had done exactly that.

    Leonel shook his head.

    The first level, Opening, was a subtle awakening of Dream Force. This gave one added thinking capacity, greater memory, faster thinking speed and higher intellect. This was considered to be the lowest level.

    The second level, known as Awakening, was a level where the user was more aware of the existence of their Dream Force. This allowed them everything gained on the first level but with an added sensory perception. This was also the minimum requirement necessary to absorb and utilize Dream Force actively.

    The third level, Visualization, allowed one to utilize Dream Force to recreate objects in one''s mind and simulate reality. This was where consciousness became almost tangible and real, allowing one to control vivid Dreams to insanely high levels of detail.

    The fourth level, Control, went beyond this. At the lowest level, it allowed on to control one''s mind and sensory perception, raising it and dulling it as one pleased. At the highest level, one could take hold of their consciousness to manipulate every aspect of their body even to the smallest level.

    The fifth level, of course... didn''t need to be explained.

    Within each of these levels, one could be given three grades of proficiency. If Leonel had to grade himself, he believed himself to be at third grade of the Visualization level. In fact, he believed that he had taken a half step into the Control level.

    This Ability Index really put things into perspective. There were always those out there who were better.

    Leonel seemed to be running through all the talents no matter where he landed, butбн wasn''t that only natural? This was a mere Fifth Dimensional world whereas his father, at the very least, was from a Seventh Dimensional world.

    If Leonel really wanted to see where he measured up, he would need to first face geniuses from those high level worlds. If he came out unscathed, only then would he be able to hold his head up high.

    As of now, Leonel was just bullying those who had a much lower starting platform than he did.

    ''The Ability Index is adjusted depending on where you can display your optimal strength. Obviously, any Seventh Dimensional existence would be able to display their ability''s highest level on a Fourth Dimensional world. But, whether they could do the same on a Seventh Dimensional world was a completely different matterбн''

    Right now, Leonel''s ability was considered to be in the Peak of the Fifth Dimension. However, it was only being fueled by Fourth Dimensional Dream Force and his Third Dimensional existence.

    ''Ohбн''

    The deeper Leonel read, the more he realized that it seemed he had underestimated himself.

    Leonel had mistakenly believed that since his ability was in the Fifth Dimension, it was thus already at a Fifth Dimensional standard. As such, the fact he could Visualize Fifth Dimensional matters was normal.

    However he was wrong. Very wrong.

    The foundation for everything was which Dimension you were in. By still being in the Third Dimension, Leonel was handicapping his own ability by unfathomable levels.

    This was a difficult concept to understand. After all, Leonel''s mind and body were both in the Fourth Dimension. His ability was even in the Fifth Dimension while the Dream Force he used was in the Fourth Dimension. So, what exactly was the issue?

    The difference here was that crossing into Dimensions wasn''t a ''power up''. It was a fundamental change of a person on a molecular level.

    The simplest and boldest way to put it was that you were ascending into Godhood. Quite literally, to those in a lower Dimension than yourself, you were nothing less than a God.

    Leonel was unable to undergo this complete transformation until he stepped out of the Third Dimension. Unfortunately, he couldn''t without the later portion of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    The truth was that the only reason Leonel was able to ''step'' into higher Dimensions in other facets was as a result of his talent. His potential was much higher than his current level, so the bottlenecks that would have existed for someone else simply didn''t exist for him.

    But, none of this changed the fact that his overall abilities were all weighed down by a massive Third Dimensional anchor.

    This was all to say one thingбн The fact that Leonel could exhibit the fourth level, Control, in his current state, even while being in the Fifth Dimensional world that should have suppressed himбн Made him nothing short of a monster.

    ''I seeбн'' Leonel came to a realization.

    This was why his split minds kept increasing. He had never reached a cap to begin with. And maybeбн The only reason he was struggling so much with simulating his enemies was because of this same reason.

    Leonel''s understanding of his own ability took a massive leap forward.

    ''In that case, what information do you have on using and manipulating Dream Forceбн?''

 Chapter 727 - Idiot

    Leonel began to very seriously go through all the information Valiant Heart had on Dream Force. To his surprise, there was quite some amount of it. But, Leonel quickly realized how.

    Among all the abilities one could run into in battle, and as devastating as many could be, maybe the most feared one were all related to Dream Force.

    Matters related to consciousness were among the most enigmatic in all of existence. To face someone who could seemingly control it was daunting. As such, the amount of information here had less to do with Valiant Heart''s prowess, and was more reflective of the Dimensional Verse''s focus as a whole.

    This much made sense, though. The Ability Index Leonel attached to himself was the Sensory Dream Force type. However, there were still many others. For these others, all of them ended with the very same red underlined ''Manifestation'' level, but the first four and something three or two levels greatly differed.

    For example, there was an Illusion Dream Force type. These individuals were excellent at using tricks of the mind and thrusting others into their fabricated worlds.

    It was safe to say that no one wanted to run into such a person in battle.

    ''Ahбн''

    Even among the very first things Leonel learned, he was floored.

    ''Dream Force is a type of Soul Force. Yet, all this time I''ve been treating it just like any other Forceбн''

    Leonel almost felt like kicking himself. It was such a simple shift in ideology but it was important enough to flip the table of his understanding.

    What was the difference between Force and Soul Force? Well, the simplest difference was in tangibility.

    Force could apply change into one''s surroundings at a whim. For example, Leonel could directly strength his body with his Force. Likewise, his Force Strengthening Deviations could be directly applied to the environment as well.

    When Leonel used his Light Elemental Force, his legs were directly enveloped by it. When he used his Scarlet Star Force, his organs were charred by it. When Leonel activated his Metal Body, his body was directly strengthened by it.

    These were all abilities that encompassed Force.

    What about Soul Force, though?

    If Leonel wanted to make use of Soul Force, usually he needed a medium. This medium usually came in the form of a Force Art, just like the mages of Camelot.

    In Camelot, one needed to use their Spirit Pressure to execute their Mage Arts. This so-called ''Spirit Pressure'' was exactly the same Soul Force being mentioned of here.

    ''It didn''t become possible for me to use Mage abilities with any sort of fluidity in the absence of Mage Arts untilбн''

    Leonel''s body froze. He almost couldn''t stop himself from trembling all over.

    The current Leonel could bend the Elements to his will with nothing more than a single thought. His body itself had become a perfect medium for this. However, the only reason it was possible was because he had formed his Mage Core!

    In the past, Leonel could still forcefully manipulate the Elements without his Mage Core, but the strength he could display then wasn''t even a tenth of what he could now. And even then, his magic was still the most powerful only when he used Mage Arts in conjunction with his Mage Core.

    It all suddenly hit Leonel like a ton of bricks.

    All this time, he had been applying his Dream Force just like any other Force. But, what he had been doing was the equivalent of manipulating the Elements without Mage Arts and without a Mage Core.

    Leonel really didn''t know what to say to his own stupidity.

    Not only was he handicapping his Dream Force, but he was handicapping his magic as well!

    Right now, Leonel had three Stars rotating within his Ethereal Glabella''s world. These three Stars continuously purified normal Force for him. However, what it converted it into wasn''t Dream Forceбн but rather normal Soul Force.

    Leonel had been subconsciously splitting this Soul Force into two streams. One remained intact for the sake of casting his spells, manipulating his Mage Core and bending the Elements to his will.

    The second portion was ''sent'' to his Dream World and was then catalyzed into Dream Force by himself. All this time, he had been treating Dream Force like just another Element he could conjure up with his Soul Force.

    ''Idiotбн I can''t let dad know about this or else I''ll never hear the end of itбн''

    Leonel felt like he was doing a math proof for 1+1=2, but the first line he started with was already 1+1=2. He went through all those laboursome steps just to prove nothing. It was mildly infuriating.

    Without hesitation, Leonel suddenly took a massive step. He flooded all of his Dream Force toward his three Stars.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s mind went blank. It felt as though an explosion had gone off in his mind, ripping his consciousness to shreds. However, oddly enough, he felt not a single ounce of pain.

    It wouldn''t be until long later that Leonel realized the true strength of the Three Star Constitution. However, what he knew for sure now was that Star Force wasn''t only exceptionally heavy, it was also very good at using this weight of its to purify.

    All this time, silently churning away at the atmosphere''s Force to turn it into Leonel''s Soul Force, it never stopped, it never deviated, it never slowedбн

    At this moment, though, suddenly being flooded with Dream Force that rapidly catalyzed its very core into the highest level of Soul Force in existenceбн It finally evolved.

    The slight diamond blue color of the Three Stars became more prominent. Its pure white was peeled back to reveal a heart tingling blue that sparkled like the most gorgeous of crystals.

    The mist that hung around Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella gained this gentle blue hue as well. It especially enveloped the roots of the Mage Core, causing its small budding form to suddenly grow.

    From a size of just over six inches, the Mage Core shot up, soon soaring to over two meters in height.

    Its petals gently swayed in the turbulence, now being several feet across eachбн

 Chapter 728 - Complicated

    Leonel''s eyes shot open, his body leaping upward out of his control. Blinding golden lights enveloped him completely almost as though Light Elemental Force couldn''t stop itself from flooding toward him.

    BANG!

    Leonel crashed against the ceiling, his face distorting and his nose nearly being flattened.

    "бн Uhбн"

    With nothing to grab onto, Leonel fell back toward the ground.

    He tried to flip over to land on his feet, but he overcorrected, causing his body to spin more than ten times even though he had been aiming for just once.

    It was safe to say that he completely screwed up the timing, resulting in him landing face first and his face being smashed into a flat patty once again.

    "бн What the hellбн"

    At this point, Leonel was far too scared to move, so he remained deathly still until he could understand what happened. It took a moment, but after simulating everything with his infallible memory that had seemingly gotten even sharper, he finally understood.

    Since Leonel was still in the Third Dimension, his body''s strength was still lacking, especially in comparison to the white and blue belts he had to fight. Though his mind could keep up, his body often couldn''t.

    In order to compensate, Leonel almost always had his Speed Branch Lineage Factor activated, just to different degrees depending on the situation. This allowed him to make up for his weaknesses.

    His Speed Branch allowed him to make use of Light Elemental Force in his surroundings to boost his speed exponentially. This benefit only became greater after forming his Mage Core.

    But, just now, way too much Light Elemental Force had come, causing him to overcorrect by a larger margin than he was ready for.

    The reason was simple enough, but the cause of itбн This was what was truly baffling.

    With just a sweep of his body, Leonel realized many changes.

    His Three Stars now produced Dream Force directly and seem to have grown tenfold. To account for their explosive increase, the space within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella had also expanded massively.

    ''My Internal Sight''s range has gone from a few hundred meters to over ten kilometers even in a Fifth Dimensional worldбн My Mage Core grew by more than ten timesбн My mind can split more than 60 ways nowбн My magic is easily ten times more powerfulбн''

    Leonel was at a complete loss.

    Just a weeks ago, he had been worried about this exact thing. He had almost missed out on the benefits flexibility could have brought him. And, right here, there was a more than tenfold increase to his strength that had been sitting here untouched all this time.

    As the purest and highest form of Soul Force there was, Dream Force was ideal for the usage of Camelot''s magic system. The Force Arts Leonel drew with it, even without changing a single symbol, were immediately several times more powerful.

    At this point, Leonel felt confident in healing his Coach back to full health right this moment. If it wasn''t because he wasn''t certain of how to send the old man back to Earth, he would have already.

    Leonel finally managed to get a comprehensive understanding of his strength and sat up without being blown toward the ceiling.

    He looked down at his hands, shaking his head. How many more things was he missing out on? Just from a slight shift in philosophy, he had gained so much strength. How many other thoughts of his was wrong?

    In the end, Leonel''s frown vanished, his gaze sharpening.

    Lamenting over this was a waste of time. He wasn''t that kind of person.

    Since he realized how valuable knowledge was in this world, he would just have to swallow up as much of it as he could. He would strip Valiant Heart of all the information he had before he inevitably left this place.

    бн

    The days continued to tick by. As promised, Aina did indeed come to visit Leonel once a week. But, this only made her feel more at a loss.

    Aina was very sensitive to Leonel''s increase in strength. He seemed to be like a fish in water whenever it came to matters of training. She had only left him for a week, but he had grown so powerful so suddenly that she couldn''t see where his limits lay. It was difficult for her to wrap her head around it.

    The feelings she had were quite conflicting, thoughбн

    That day in the Joan Zone when she said she didn''t want Leonel to change, she meant it.

    Maybe this was just how the complex mind of a woman worked. On one hand, she had been berating Leonel for being too adverse to killing and too lenient with his enemies. But, on the other hand, that cheerful boy who always had a smile on his face wasn''t a version of Leonel she wanted to lose.

    She had lost too many people already. She hardly wanted to open up to Leonel at all in the beginning and this was a large reason why. And, maybe, it was still a reason. She didn''t know what she would do if she ever had to lose Leonel too.

    Seeing Leonel grow by leaps and bounds, the hooks of the Dimensional Verse sinking further and further in, Aina didn''t know how she should feel.

    Should she feel happy that her boyfriend was growing more powerful? Or should she try to shelter him away as much as possible, hiding him from this cruel world?

    The emotions tugged and pulled at her from every direction. But, without an answer, she could only bury it deep, not much unlike she always did.

    She smiled as she watched Leonel happily eat away at her food, keeping those complicated emotions locked away.

    **

    On this day, the day of the Selection had finally come. Having been moved up by several months due to the times of turmoil, it held much less fanfare than it once had in the past.

    The other organizations that would often come to keep an eye on the next generation of Valiant Heart were somewhat strikingly missing, leaving only internal members.

    It was under this half festive, half somber atmosphere that Leonel and Aina arrived.

 Chapter 729 - Unexpected

    Leonel held onto Aina''s small hand as they walked forward. This was the second time that Leonel had been to this open arena. The first time he had been forced to step in to save Sael. This time, however, he would take center stage.

    The participating members were mostly white belts and blue belts. Though there were some black belts that wanted to try their luck, they were mostly here for experience and nothing else.

    The members of Polished Glass weren''t too keen on joining. They weren''t confident in their combat prowess and were focused on their Crafting. With all the knowledge Leonel had taught them over the past several weeks, they felt like they had enough to study for a lifetime.

    None of this was too surprising by Leonel''s estimation. What was, though, was the fact that Radlis was among these participating black belts.

    The pale skinned and lanky jokester had disappeared from Polished Glass for a long while. But, at this moment, Leonel could see him up ahead, registering himself for the selection. The result made Leonel''s brows arch upward.

    It had to be known that much like Aina and Leonel, Radlis had only been here for about three months. A part of Leonel wanted to dismiss this as Radlis being like the other black belts, simply looking to gain experience. But, for some reason, Leonel didn''t feel this way.

    In order to join the Selection, one needed to accumulate a certain amount of merits. Though the black belts that had been here for years could just barely scrap together such an amount, what about Radlis who had only been here for such a short time?

    ''Interestingбн''

    Radlis, seemingly sensing Leonel''s gaze, turned his neck and gave him a wide grin before walking off with his registration plaque.

    Not long later, it was Leonel and Aina''s turn. To their surprise, though, the one handling these registration affairs was a familiar old lady.

    "Hello, Elder Magnaril." Leonel said with a warm smile.

    The old lady snorted, clearly still not liking the shape of Leonel''s face. The fact he was smiling now only made her feel even worse. And, he just had to still be holding her precious student''s hand in public like this, right in front of her, no less.

    Over the past month, Aina hadn''t come to the lab even a single time. Magnaril knew that she had done nothing but train and train. Seeing such a talent waste away their potential like this truly made her intestines feel as though they were being twisted.

    At this point, though, Magnaril could only obediently register the couple.

    "Break a leg." She said while giving Leonel a fake smile.

    "Sure. But it won''t be mine."

    Leonel''s casual response made Magnaril freeze. In the end, she just sneered. She had no idea where this brat got his confidence from.

    ''Hmбн?''

    Magnaril frowned. She had hardly finished her thought when she realized something.

    Was he wearing white?

    бн

    Leonel and Aina found a seat amongst the competitors. Ironically, this was the same place Leonel had been forced to sit as a freshmen before.

    This time, though, sitting on the ground floor, he felt as though his vision was far wider.

    "Are you nervous?" Leonel asked.

    "Nervous?" Aina was stunned by the question.

    Leonel laughed seeing how baffled she was. "I guess the answer to that is no."

    Aina shook her head, realizing that Leonel was just trying to tease her.

    Was she nervous? Of course not. If there was anything she was feeling, it was a hope that these battles wouldn''t be too easy or else there wouldn''t be much of a point.

    Unfortunately, though, there were many seeded participants who already had their entries locked in. The rest of them were essentially fighting for the remaining four spots.

    Leonel was probably the most disappointed by this, though. He had waited long enough to teach Aphestus a lesson, only to find out that the latter didn''t even have to participate. In fact, he was probably not even in attendance today.

    Still, these seeded positions hadn''t been monopolized by Hero Peak. Even they couldn''t get away with something like that.

    From Leonel''s understanding, there were eight spots already taken. Two for the Hero Faction. Two for the Bear Rose Faction. Two for the Severed Heart Faction. The last two were listed as miscellaneous, but considering one of them was Sael, Leonel assumed that these two were reserved for the former Valiant Hall members.

    Compared to the idle chatter of the two, the atmosphere hovering around the rest was quite heavy.

    The time continued to tick by until the final individual was registered and the elders convened a small meeting.

    Finally, Magnaril stepped forward to explain, standing on the very podium Raylion had used to flip Valiant Heart Mountain on its head. However, the message she disseminated was simpler and far less contentious.... At least in the beginning.

    "The rules for this Selection will be simple and straight forward.

    "Today, we will open up four battle platforms. The Selection will begin when the sun officially rises and will end when the sun officially sets. Whichever four manage to hold on to the very end will be given the four remaining spots to enter the Valiant Heart Zone.

    "Each participant will have unlimited challenges. However, this comes with its own set of rules.

    "First, you cannot challenge a platform defender more than once unless said defender loses and reclaims their spot. Only then can you challenge this individual a second time.

    "Second, you can only challenge once every half hour.

    "Third, a defender is allowed ten minutes of rest between every challenge.

    "Fourth, a defender than has failed to defend three times will no longer be allowed to challenge.

    "Now, the rules of challenges aside, this Selection will be unlike the past. Valiant Heart is currently in the midst of struggle and what we need are warriors, not cowards.

    "In the past, there was a prohibition on crippling. This has been removed.

    "There was a prohibition on killing. This has been removed.

    "Those who join but fail to issue at least one challenge or defend a platform at least once, will be expelled from Valiant Heart.

    "Those who want to withdraw, do so now or bear the consequences later."

    Many of the participants turned a deathly shade of pale. What was going on? When had the Selection become like this?

    There was no surprise that many of the black belts that had come to test their luck immediately stood up and withdrew. In fact, from numbering in the hundreds, there weren''t even 200 participants left after Magnaril''s words fell.

    The elders remained expressionless as they watched this scene. At this point, seeing the lack of backbone many of these students had, they felt that maybe Raylion had been correct.

    There were no shortage of elders dissatisfied with Raylion''s approach, but seeing how much they were rotting from the inside out бн It was hard to continue to fuel hatred for his methods. If things continued like this for too long and they continued to weaken with each successive generation, very soon, there wouldn''t be any Valiant Heart Mountain left to be spoken of.

    Long before their enemies got to them, they would crumbled from the inside.

    Magnaril waited patiently until just about 180 were left. Finally, when it seemed like no one else was intent on leaving, Magnaril nodded.

    Even though 180 was less than she had hoped for, it still wasn''t to the point that they had no good seedlings left. Though she was certain that many of those who remained believed they could just concede quickly enough to not be harmed, this was still good enough for now. Maybe with Raylion''s methods, they''d soon breed even more warriors.

    On the ground below, Leonel didn''t really feel much about the sudden allowance of killing. He had already deduced this much. He could see through Raylion''s plan quite well.

    What he was surprised about, though, was that, once again, Radlis didn''t show any signs of backing down. It was quite baffling indeedбн

    "Now we will begin." Magnaril said coldly. "Four defenders, come forward. For every ten minutes four defenders haven''t been chosen, the quota for entry remaining will be sliced by one. If you deem to waste all forty minutes, not only will there be no spots remaining for the lot of you, but you will all be expelled."

    Everyone knew one would be at a disadvantage being amongst the first defenders and challengers, especially since everyone only got three chances to defend. However, if everyone wanted to hold back from taking a small loss, then everyone would lose!

    Surprisingly, though, there was a couple that looked toward each other with knowing smiles.

    In a flash, Leonel and Aina shot forward. Before anyone could react, they had already taken one platform each, their auras steady and even somewhat overbearing.

    No one had expected for the first two defenders to appear to be a pair of white belts. And, they definitely wouldn''t have expected them to be white belts who had only just joined Valiant Heart!

 Chapter 730 - Suggestion

    Leonel took a deep breath. The subtle movement seemed to make Force from the surroundings swarm toward him, making it seem as though his skin was twinkling with a subtle radiance.

    Aina silently held out her battle ax, her expression hidden behind her mask. She didn''t seem to prepare anything, but her aura was as steady and unmoving as a mountain.

    It was safe to say that no small amount of individuals were shocked by what they were witnessing. Though, eventually, it would be the white belts that would be forced forward by their seniorsбн no one had ever thought that it would be done willingly.

    Among the crowd of youths that remained, there were no doubt members of Bear Rose who locked onto Leonel immediately. Not only were there individuals from Bear Rose, but there were no small number of King of Ores faction members, including Sarrieth, within the crowd.

    For a moment, the youths weren''t entirely certain of what to do. The fact two had gone up willingly made them all feel as though the momentum had been snatched. If they continued to lay back and force others up, it might not be as beneficial to them as they had once thought.

    It was then that the ground quaked.

    One would have thought that such a thing was caused by an earthquake or maybe a huge explosion in the distance, but when their gazes swung over to the source, all that was found was a massive bear of a man slowly walking forward.

    The man stood at two and a half meters tall. From top to bottom, he was covered in a thick rose-gold plate armor. The chest plate of this armor had the image of a roaring bear on it that reminded Leonel a lot of King Arthur''s white lion armor.

    The detail on the armor was so intricately laid that it looked far more like a display piece than a battle armor. It was hard to fathom that someone would take such a gorgeous Craft to warбн

    What was maybe most astonishing about this armor, though, was that far more than just one individual wore it. In fact, there were exactly 12, all of whom were wearing this elaborate art piece and completely concealing the organization''s uniform.

    The design wasn''t subtle in the slightest. To Leonel, it couldn''t have been more obvious that these people were from Bear Rose. However, it was also very clear that this massive bear of a man wasn''t walking forward for the sake of becoming a defender. His target was clear.

    As though to confirm this, just as the massive man was about to walk through the final line of waiting participants, his hands snatched outward with a surprising deftness and speed.

    Before anyone could react, the massive man had already taken two necks into his large palms. Then, with one swift motion, he threw them in an arc through the air.

    The dull sound of bone and flesh meeting stone resounded alongside groans of pain and confusion. But, unfortunately for these two randomly picked white belts, they already found themselves on the stage against their will.

    They looked around in dismay, even sending a glance back toward Elder Magnaril for some help. But, all they received in response was an indifferent glance and an icy cold sentence.

    "Stepping down will forfeit one of your rights to defend."

    This simple string of words was like a bucket of ice water being poured over the heads of the both of them.

    The massive bear of a man continued to walk forward as though nothing had happened. He, much like anyone else who was relatively astute, was quite clear on the shift the Elders and Valiant Heart were experiencing now.

    As important as strength and hierarchy was in the past, it had only become more so now.

    Who cared about small petty rules or the inconvenience of a few? As long as your fist was big enough, you could do as you pleased! Things were this simple and would only become simpler!

    BANG!

    With a small hop, the rose-gold armor wearing giant landed heavily onto Leonel''s platform. Even now, his face was obscured by a heavy helmet and visor. Despite the somewhat feminine color of his armor, it didn''t seem to take away from his bloodthirsty aura in the slightest.

    "Never did I think that the brat who dared to slap the face of my Bear Rose Faction would choose to appear so soon. Butбн This is good. This will be a memory impossible for others to forget. The Hero Faction isn''t the only Faction not to be trifled with."

    Leonel''s lip twitched when he heard this. The Hero Faction was not meant to be trifled with? Did he think that Leonel had a bias for one against the other? If anything, the things Leonel had done to the Hero Faction were far worse.

    But, clearly, these Bear Rose Faction members had only just come back from the frontline battle against the Oryx. They knew little of what happened in Valiant City during their absence.

    It made one wonder. With so many out on the frontlines, why did it seem like Raylion and Aphestus were always here?

    Of course, that might just be an illusion. After all, it wasn''t like Leonel could bother to keep an eye on them all the time.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel had removed all distracting thoughts in his mind. He stood just 20 or so meters away from the massive bear of a man, his expression placid. As things were now, this was the only challenge that had been issued. It was as though the entirety of the arena had fallen silent for the sake of observing this one battle.

    "If you want to stand a chance, I advise you to take your armor off." Leonel said evenly. "If not, this battle will end before you get a chance to do anything."

    The massive man snorted. "My name is Dune. I''ll be sure to engrave it onto your gravestone after you die so you don''t forget what happened to you even on the other side."

    BANG!

    Dune launched himself forward, the stones beneath his feet cracking with fine lines.

 Chapter 731 - Wanted To

    Leonel shook his head, his gaze still indifferent.

    Just when Dune had reached his range, bearing down on him with a fist that sent a fiery blaze crackling through the air, Leonel took a subtle step forward. His one movement threw Dune''s fist off course, causing it to whistle by his ear.

    Golden lights coated Leonel''s body, his every movement being follow by a fluid arch of radiance that left a beautiful pattern in the air. Just by following it, one could see the subtle bobs and weaves of Leonel''s figure, capturing the immaculate elegance of his simple movements.

    Leonel''s hip sunk down. Enveloped by Dune''s body, it seemed as though he would be swallowed whole by the giant. Yet, his fist twisted forward, a delicate spiral of light whistling in its path.

    Dune felt a heavy thud resonate through his rose-gold armor, but he sneered. Was that why Leonel was so confident? His speed? What good was speed when you couldn''t break past his defense?

    However, it was then an audible crunch filled Dune''s ears, causing his expression to change. He explosively retreated, his gaze иC the only visible part of his face through his visor иC contracting.

    Dune looked down at his armor, his face warping when he noticed the sheered metal on his torso. Not only had it distorted a portion of the bear''s roaring face, but had it been just a bit deeper, it would have dug into his flesh, ripping past his chainmail and leaving him with severe injuries.

    What just happened? Wasn''t it a simple punch?

    Dune had felt a subtle shift in Leonel''s fist that let him know that Leonel was actually able to call upon the Four Seasons Realm for his fist technique. But, with Leonel''s tight control, it was difficult to tell what level he was at.

    Still, what was clear to Dune was that the power behind Leonel''s punch still shouldn''t have been enough to cause such a thing.

    "Still don''t want to take it off?" Leonel asked evenly once again.

    Dune''s expression warped as the crowd suddenly realized what had happened. In the first exchangeбн Leonel won?!

    Everyone knew that though these armor wearing Bear Rose members weren''t in their uniforms, each and every one of them was a blue belt. Not only were they blue belts, they were elites among blue belts that had years of experience, decades even, in fighting the Oryx.

    In Leonel''s estimation, the fact that Dune actually managed to come out unscathed from that exchange иC outside of his distorted armor, of course иC was enough to prove just how powerful he was. No normal blue belt would have come out without a hole blasted through their stomach.

    However, Leonel''s words of ''kindness'' and his polite ''reminders'' seemed to only infuriate Dune further. At this point, if he truly took off his armor, wasn''t he just conceding defeat?

    Dune began to laugh. The movement of his diaphragm and the displacement of his lungs were so exaggerated that his bellows seemed to cause claps in the air.

    BANG!

    Dune slammed his fists together, fiery crackles lighting the air and dancing like embers.

    "I''m going to enjoy pummeling you into the ground!"

    In that moment, the image of a harsh sun appeared above Dune''s head, an expanse of endless sandy dunes appearing around him.

    The temperature of the surroundings seemed to skyrocket, beams of sunlight bouncing off Dune''s reflective rose-gold armor.

    The expressions of the crowd changed. They all understood in an instant. This was Summer of the Four Seasons Realm. Not only that, but it seemed more powerful than just that.

    There were no small number of people who chose to focus on just one of the Seasons, priming and prepping it to a level that surpassed even some who had grasped all four. In some ways, these individuals also forged their own path, making their Four Seasons Realm comprehension no weaker than one that had comprehended it all on their own.

    Of course, such individuals would always be a tick below a complete Four Seasons Realm master. But, they were not to be trifled withбн Especially when Leonel already had to make use of the Four Seasons Realm to close the gap between the Fourth Dimension and himself.

    Dune shot forward again. This time, he was truly like a cannonball soaring through the air, fiery streaks of red leaving devastation in his path. He seemed to be unstoppable, an untouchable mass of fury.

    Leonel''s cold, indifferent eyes meant Dune''s fiery rage.

    He took another well-timed step forward, his movements as fluid as water. In fact, the Light Element that rippled around him seemed to respond exactly like waves in the ocean, his every movement sending a wave of changes within it.

    This time, though, Dune was ready. His first fist was nothing more than a feint, his second was already prepared, hooking forward to smash toward the side of Leonel''s head.

    Leonel didn''t seem to be off put by this. His fist and rolled shoulder protected the side of his face, a subtle shift in his footwork causing the blazing punch to barely glance off him.

    This glance should have been enough to char Leonel''s body into ash, but the flames tickled off his skin, dancing about as though a fire spreading across glass.

    Standing within Dune''s range, a blinding golden light enveloped Leonel''s body. His fists exploded forward, a barrage of punches shooting through the air.

    ''Shoulder joint, visor, hip joint, elbowбн''

    Leonel''s speed was so quick that Dune couldn''t react.

    There was a lull in all the noise for just a moment before a consecutive flood of air exploding fists seemed to land at once, leaving Dune''s armor looking like the surface of a cratered moon.

    The sturdy rose-gold armor was twisted apart and shattered, piercing into the flesh beneath and ripping Dune''s bone apart. Maybe if it wasn''t for being a battle hardened veteran, Dune would be crying out in pain.

    But, due to the regions Leonel had targeted, Dune couldn''t even see the battlefield or his opponent. On top of that, he couldn''t move his arms without a slicing pain shooting through his spine.

    He was finished.

    Leonel shook his head inwardly. ''First you wear a full armor of metal, then you use the Element I fear the least.. It''s like you wanted to lose.''

 Chapter 732 - Shifted World

    Leonel looked up. He was still in range of Dune''s attack, but he was also very much aware that there was no way this big guy was moving. Every one of Leonel''s punches had torn a rotating hole into his armor, sending bits of shrapnel into his body.

    The worst part about this shrapnel, though, was that it was still connected to the rose-gold armor, making the situation even worse than it would otherwise be. If Dune wanted to move, he would not only be slicing apart his own limbs, but he would also have to fight against the sturdiness of his own armor.

    It could be said that fighting against Leonel while wearing a full suit of metal was probably the dumbest thing you could do. The use of the Fire Element wasn''t even half as egregious as this alone.

    Leonel didn''t know if the Morales family had any enemies, though he could guess that they probably did. No matter how powerful an organization was, it would always have its contenders. However, what Leonel didn''t have to guess was that whoever these enemies were, there was no way they wore armor like this.

    Either they wouldn''t wear metal armor at all, or they''d find a way to enchant the armor to stop those with Metal Synergy from manipulating it.

    Facing metal weapons was a different matter. Often times, there would be Force poured into it, disrupting Leonel''s control. And, the weapon would often be moving too fast for Leonel to deal with before he was harmed.

    But, an armor like this was practically a stationary target.

    Simply putбн Dune was asking to lose.

    Leonel reached forward, touching the now distorted bear on Dune''s chest. He sighed, shaking his head.

    By all rights, he should kill Dune. It was obvious that the latter wouldn''t have shown him any mercy had he been on the other end.

    Was killing really a necessary extreme? All he had done was take a shop, right? He hadn''t even killed any of their members.

    This Dimensional Verse was really too ridiculous.

    Leonel shoved his palm forward, deforming the rose-gold bear until its original form could no longer be seen.

    Blood leaked out from Dune''s helmet. From start to finish, he didn''t say a word, not even for the sake of begging for mercy.

    Leonel could sense the rage fueled gazes from the eleven remaining rose-gold armor wearers. But, none of them said a word either. It was clear that each of them were warriors that had seen a lot. Since they dared to act, they also dared to die.

    ''Hm. Maybe Valiant Heart isn''t completely rotten yet.'' Leonel thought absentmindedly.

    Leonel''s palm squeezed into a fist. As though scrap aluminum, the chest plate on Dune crumpled.

    Leonel ripped downward, tearing the armor away from Dune''s body.

    With a kick, he sent Dune''s half-dead body out of the arena.

    Dune sputtered and coughed, looking up at the sky with hints of unwillingness. This wasn''t because he was dying, but rather because he knew he would have had Leonel not just helped him take his armor off. Somehow, he had ended up being shown mercy. But, it only filled him with a sense of endless humiliation.

    At that moment, many felt their minds going numb. If this was what Leonel could do to armor they were wearing, what were they supposed to do?

    Leonel looked down at the large piece of rose-gold in his hand and tossed it to the side.

    Dune slowly rose on his own despite the state of his body, knowing that no one would come to get him. In fact, he didn''t want anyone to.

    Without looking back, he dragged his body away, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

    From start to finish, the remaining eleven didn''t spare Dune a glance, each one of them staring down Leonel with murderous intentions. It was clear that all of them were waiting for the ten minute timer to come to an end, each of them wanting nothing more than to rip him limb from limb.

    Within the silent crowd, Nigmir trembled hard. He, who had fought Leonel once before, knew for a fact that he wasn''t this powerful before. Any thoughts he had of defeating him seemed to have gone out the window, his body drenched in a cold sweat.

    The members of the King of Ores faction watched on with clenched jaws. With such strength, were their plans of wearing Leonel down even viable?

    Nigmir''s gaze flickered with rage, his eyes shifting from Leonel to Aina. He would get his revenge. He needed to get his revenge. No matter what.

    Nigmir''s body flashed, a strong assault of wind whipping through the surroundings and catching many off guard.

    No small number of people were still trying to wrap their minds around what had just happened. No one thought that someone else would levy a challenge at this exact moment.

    Nigmir''s body crossed over Leonel''s platform as though in blatant provocation before landing heavily on Aina''s. His mind was twisted with fury, causing the Wind Elemental Force around him to respond in kind.

    Leonel frowned, his fingers twitching. A suffocating aura exuded from him. If it wasn''t for the rules, he would have already attacked Nigmir right then and there. If it was a normal challenge against Aina, it wouldn''t be a problem. But, this was very clearly not that.

    Nigmir''s body shook under Leonel''s oppression. But, he grit his teeth, his rage taking over his rational mind.

    He laughed into the skies. "You just stand right there and watch!"

    Nigmir shot forward, his speeds reaching mind numbing levels. The wind enveloped him, an ivory armor manifesting and a four meter long lance appearing in his hand.

    "DIE!"

    Nigmir saw something flash by him. In that moment, he felt as though the world had shifted, one side sliding up while the other slid downward. He couldn''t wrap his mind around what happened until he plopped to the ground, his body split in two halves right down the middle.

    Another silence fell over the crowd as droplets of blood fell around a masked beauty with fluttering hair.

 Chapter 733 - If Not For...

    Aina stood with her back to Nigmir''s fallen body. Though one couldn''t see her face, the cold look one could see through the slits in her mask were enough to send shivers down one''s spine.

    The contrast between Leonel and Aina was too drastic. There was no mercy, no hesitation, there wasn''t even a small chance. The moment Nigmir showed such signs to her, she cut him down where he stood.

    At that moment, Aina was pissed. She wasn''t only pissed at the members of Bear Rose, she was pissed at Leonel too. He might think it was fine to forgive your enemies like this, but how was she supposed to react when a boorish brute who just tried to kill her man was let off so easily?

    It was always easiest for the victim to forgive, but what about those who cared for the victim? Was she supposed to let things go too?

    Aina felt that she was maybe too agitated, but the feeling was stifling. She didn''t know how many times she had to tell Leonel to stop showing mercy like this. She didn''t know when he''d finally realize that a hint of mercy shown today could easily come back to bite him the next. It was infuriating to the point she didn''t even want to look at him right now.

    If it wasn''t for Nigmir coming in a timely fashion to give her something to vent on, she might have exploded already.

    The volatile feelings in her chest rampaged around. And now, she had to wait ten minutes for the next victim.

    Aina herself hated that she reacted so violently. She found it harder and harder to keep her cool when things were related to Leonel, a problem he ironically had the same issue with though toward her.

    But, compared to Leonel who only wanted to protect her, Aina found some of Leonel''s actions deeply frustrating sometimes.

    She was fine with them saving all those freshmen because she knew it was a part of Leonel''s larger scheme, a scheme that was working out perfectly now. But what was the point in sparing Senior Lu back then? And what about this Dune character? How much longer would he be like this?

    ''Dammit.'' Aina''s amber eyes tinged with red.

    She reached out a hand and made a snatching motion toward Nigmir''s corpse. What happened next left the crowd shivering.

    The two halves of Nigmir''s corpse convulsed. In the next moment, all the blood that had been pooling shot toward a single point, forming into a ball of crimson that left Nigmir''s corpse looking like nothing more than a mummified figure.

    But, even that didn''t last long. Soon after, what remained of Nigmir''s body dispelled into the wind like ash, floating away like meaningless motes of dust.

    It was the kind of scene one would never forget in their lifetimes.

    The blood continued to float by Aina as though it had a mind of its own, hovering there and reflecting the now high sunlight. It acted as a silent reminder of the scene they had all just witnessed.

    Leonel''s frown deepened. But in the end, he could only sigh.

    As intense as his feelings were for Aina, he had yet to tell her than he loved her. Maybe it was because he didn''t know what those words meant, or maybe it was because he still wasn''t sure if he did.

    Up to now, their relationship had managed to jump over many hurdles. But, the one that had yet to be cleared was ironically the very first one they faced.

    That dayбн The image of Aina''s delicate, small hand piercing through the heart of another human being was forever imprinted into his very soul.

    He knew why she had done it. She was telling him that this was the person she was, the person that she had always been. The gentle, graceful young woman he had known in school was nothing but a mask she wore, both figuratively and literally.

    She killed Conrad that day not only to protect her friends, but to show him that the girl he thought he liked wasn''t her at all. She took this action even though she knew it would alienate not only him, but her own close sisters as well.

    And it had worked. It sent him into a tailspin, one that he hadn''t recovered from even now. Maybe he had only gotten better at ignoring it. Nothing more, nothing less.

    It was quite funny. It seemed that he was very good at doing exactly thatбн ignoring things.

    Even to this point, he still didn''t believe that he could stand to his grandfather''s ideology without feeling as though his comprehension of the world was crumbling.

    All Leonel knew was that he liked Aina enough to ignore even such a blatant conflictбн a core ideology that left them diametrically opposed.

    As though this wasn''t enough, the deeper and deeper Aina fell for Leonel, and the closer they became, the more this bothered her.

    The more she cared for Leonel, the more she couldn''t stand to lose him. In her mind, Leonel''s softness was exactly a thing that could make such a situation happen, it was exactly that something that could cause this radiant sun before her, this man she adored so deeply, to vanish forever and never return.

    Leonel smiled somewhat bitterly. Since Aina was fine, he could only let things be and allow her to vent.

    However, now he was pissed as well. If it wasn''t for the ways of that Raylionбн If not for this Valiant Heartбн If not for the way of this damned Dimensional Verseбн If everything could be peaceful, if there simply was no conflict, would his Aina have to feel such conflicting emotions all the time?

    Leonel''s jaw set, his arms crossing over his bear chest. He looked blankly into the distance, his aura becoming heavier and heavier.

    The stone beneath his feet snapped and whined, but he didn''t seem to notice as his gaze flickered between various degrees of fury.

    At that moment, the stone platform shook as another red-gold armored warrior faced Leonel.

    This time when they met Leonel''s gaze, it felt as though a wild beast had locked onto them. It felt as though Leonel wanted to see the whole world burn to ash.

    Flames that seemed reaped from the depths of purgatory erupted.

 Chapter 734 - Meteoric Impact

    The clanging of metal sounded as the Bear Rose faction members stripped down from their armor. Piece after piece clanged to the ground, resounding throughout the quiet arena.

    It felt as though every action taken in during this Selection had a deeper meaning, as though every battle should put them at their edge of their seats. Even the audience didn''t understand why this was, but it still felt like the metal pieces were crashing against their hearts rather than the stone platform.

    Though the Bear Rose Faction member didn''t say a single word, the action of being forced to take off their armor was humiliation enough. It felt as though, simply by standing there, Leonel was smearing their faces.

    Compared to Dune, though, this Bear Rose Faction member was far calmer. By the time he tossed off his helmet, revealing the expressionless visage within, the audience had already seen his battle worn body through and through.

    Though this faction member was a level beneath Aphestus in terms of muscle definition and fast twitch fibers иC maybe even two or three levels, in fact иC the strength his body was bursting with was undeniable. Even the scars that ran across him didn''t detract, but rather added to this perceived strength, leaving those watching on holding their breaths.

    At that moment, there were many in the crowd who suddenly recognized the young man before Leonel.

    Quite ironically, this was a young man who had had a falling out with Hero Peak as well. But, rather than not joining any Peak like Leonel had, he rather chose to join the Peak of their direct competitors.

    Those that knew him called him Jeren the Scytheбн Despite the fact he didn''t wield a scythe at all.

    Leonel stood with his arms crossed across his chest, not moving an inch as he watch Jeren take his armor off. Even though the battle had technically started already, Leonel didn''t seem to care.

    The stones beneath his feet began to ripple, beginning to glow a faint red.

    The last piece of Jeren''s armor fell to the ground. His palm flipped over, revealing a katana of outrageous length and with a curve just as obscene. Even with Jeren''s strength, he allowed it to rest on the stone before him, but the gentle action alone caused the blade to sink.

    Without even a touch, the stone was split in two, plunging the four meter long curved blade into its depths.

    "Leonel Morales, is it?"

    Leonel didn''t respond, his expression remaining placid. His heartbeat grew steady as a mountain, its every thump sending a surge of blood through his body. His veins and arteries hardly swayed beneath the pressure, their sturdy walls even facilitating faster movement.

    Leonel seemed to subconsciously control the strength of his heart, every pump reflecting his emotions.

    "You have quite some potential for a new white belt. However, there are some lines you can''t cross no matter how much potential you have. Vice Leader Abethor can''t be here to deal with you personally for the slight of taking his family''s heirloom, and quite frankly, can''t be bothered to deal with you personally. I will be the one to send you on your way."

    "Are you done?"

    The platform suddenly quaked, sinking into the ground by a whole inch. The air seemed to collapse, fine ripples of space discharging in every direction. On first sight, it looked as though fine lines of black rain were falling through the arena.

    "I''m getting really tired of this bullshit." Leonel spoke again, taking a single step forward.

    The quaking became more harsh, the ground groaned and whined.

    "Are you all really so eager for me to kill you? Would it make you feel better if I put your heads on a pike? If I desecrated your corpses? If I pissed on your graves? Is that what you want?"

    Jeren''s hands trembled, his brows frowning slightly. His palms grew sweaty outside of his control, soaking the hilt of his katana through. The grip of the material became slippery.

    Leonel''s voice seemed to rise up from an abyssal hell. The flames around him caused the air to crackle and pop, whatever moisture there had been being burned into nothingness.

    "I asked you a question." Leonel''s words hammered Jeren''s heart.

    Jeren''s lip trembled. His instincts screamed, frying his nerves. He felt as though he was facing an Oryx Chief. Somehow, Leonel''s body seemed to be ten times larger than it truly was, engulfing his field of vision until he couldn''t see anything else.

    At that moment, Jeren roared, his Force erupting into a skyscraper of energy. He took a heavy step forward, pushing his fear down. He had seen too much on the battlefield, he had no intention of falling without fighting. He had his own pride.

    Arcs of lightning whipped around his body, his eyes lighting up with the same presence.

    He bolted forward, his body leaving streaks of crackling lightning in his wake.

    Jeren raised his sword, slashing down with a speed that was almost impossible to track. All much of the audience could see was an arch of flickering images, as though a fan of katanas was opening up in the path of his wing.

    At that moment, Leonel''s palm flipped over, a flexible, four meter long spear appearing.

    With a flick of his wrist, the sound of metal meeting metal resounded through the ears of all in attendance.

    Jeren''s pupils constricted.

    The tip of Leonel''s spear balance the edge of his blade effortlessly. In fact, he could very clearly see a chip in his long, curved katana. Ifбн

    KACHA! BANG!

    An explosion of fire caused Jeren to freeze. He watched as a two meter length of his once four meter long blade flipped into the air, spinning like a wheel of silver before piercing into the stone below like a hot knife through butter.

    The eyes of the spear masters in the crowd widened [Meteoric Impact]!

    Jeren looked at the half that remained of his katana, his mind completely blank.

 Chapter 735 - Since You Want Death

    It was no wonder the crowd was stunned. [Meteoric Impact] was a Tier 7 technique, just learning it in the first place was something only blue belts with months of training could accomplish. It was one of the most powerful and devastating techniques Valiant Heart had access to, period.

    But, to not only use it, but to use it with such a precise delay and such fine control left those who wielded spears feeling at a loss.

    They had all seen it clearly. The spear and katana came into contact first. They even had time to see Leonel balance the tip of his spear on the katana''s blade edge. Only then did [Meteoric Impact] activate.

    But, wasn''t this technique supposed to rely on momentum, speed and explosiveness? How could you accomplish all those things if you took a pause?

    Leonel walked forward, the heat on his body leaving Jeren''s body a blistering red. It was as though his presence alone just might burn the latter to ash, leaving him drifting in the wind no differently from Nigmir.

    BANG!

    A scorching foot was left imprinted onto Jeren''s chest as he soared out of the arena. He twitched and writhed, his situation being even worse than Dune before.

    Leonel raised his spear, pointing toward the remaining ten Bear Rose members.

    "I don''t need ten minutes. Hurry up and get up here, or else I''ll come down to you."

    Space continued to bend and quake. Fine black lines rained down, making the knees of all those in Leonel''s presence bend. Maybe the only one who seemed completely unaffected was Aina herself. But, somewhat ironically, it was because of her such a thing was happening to begin with.

    Leonel hadn''t planned on unleashing his wrath in this way. But, at this moment, if he didn''t vent he felt like he really might implode.

    BANG!

    Leonel couldn''t wait any longer.

    He shot off the platform, tearing a path toward the ten Bear Rose members.

    Their eyes widened, never expecting that Leonel would actually choose to do such a thing. Even the elders were at a loss to deal with what was happening right now. But, they were also well aware that this had been tacitly allowed.

    The moment Dune didn''t receive a reprimand for forcefully throwing two white belts onto the stage, was the exact moment everyone realized that this so-called Selection was nothing but a free for all.

    The so-called rules were nothing more than a thin veneer, enveloping what was nothing more than chaos.

    The members of Bear Rose weren''t left with any choice. They all shot forward, feeling the pressure Leonel placed on their shoulders. It felt as though a beast had been unleashed from its chains.

    The instant Leonel''s feet landed on the ground, he found himself pressed by four attacks. But, his spear pierced forward just as many times, a flow of golden light enveloping his body.

    His spear technique seemed slow, leaving afterimages in its wake. For a moment, it looked like Leonel had split into four people, each wielding the very same spear and sending out the very same attack.

    The air exploded, rings of fire raining downward and space warping. Leonel reflected their weapons with a speed and deftness that numbed the mind. Even pressed by so many high level opponents, he seemed intent on pressing forward, rage lighting his eyes.

    If he could just crush them all, if there were just no obstacles left before him, no enemies to fight, no looming danger to worry about, would he still have to feel this way? Would she still have to feel this way?

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, a wheel and vicious wall of fire manifesting.

    The participants scattered, fear evident in their eyes. The destruction Leonel was levying against Bear Rose was the likes of which they had never seen from a white belt. It was the kind of anger and pure rage that seethed from the soul.

    Leonel roared, Bronze Runes flickering to life as his irises turned a violet-red.

    The earth beneath his feet crumbled, sinking down into a crater under the pressure of just a single step.

    The Bear Rose members felt as though a boulder had just smashed down on their heads from above.

    Was this a gravity field? How could it be so powerful? These sort of area of effect abilities shouldn''t be so strong in the hands of a Third Dimension existence standing on a Fifth Dimensional world.

    Unfortunately, Leonel''s speed only seemed to get faster. Illusory wings spread from his back, radiating out white and deep golds that was almost blinding to look at.

    With a flicker, Leonel''s spear shot through a chest. Before the Bear Rose member could even react to the bloody hole that had opened up within him, Leonel had already appeared before another.

    Leonel''s hand ripped through the air like a claw, grabbing onto the shoulder of a female Bear Rose member and pulling downward.

    A shocking cry left her lips as her left shoulder was shattered into meat paste.

    Unfortunately, whatever was left of her cry was cut short when Leonel''s foot collapsed her mid section, sending whatever air she had left in her lungs jetting out like a stream.

    At that moment, the wheels of fire Leonel had already sent out collided with as much as five Bear Rose members. Their shrieks and cries sounded, their armor practically melting onto their bodies with each passing second.

    It was exactly then that the wheels imploded, raining down embers from above.

    The region was completely decimated. Leonel stood with his gaze still lit with fury.

    Every time he looked at the half-dead bodies of the Bear Rose members, he only got angrier. It didn''t need to be this way, it didn''t have to be this way.

    Everything about this, from start to finish, was simply infuriating.

    Within the stands, Magnaril sat at a loss. She simply couldn''t wrap her mind around what was going on. How could he have such strength? His movements almost made it seem like everyone was happily walking into his spear.

    Leonel looked up into the skies, his rage palpable.

    In one motion, he threw his spear. With a bang, it landed dead center on his platform.

    "Since you all want death, I''ll give you death.. The next person to dare challenge me, I''ll send to the underworld."

 Chapter 736 - BANG!

    BANG!

    Aina felt a small gasp of air jet out from her body as her back smashed against the wall of Leonel''s room. The impact was so fierce that the wall cracked, leaving a small crater that just barely fit her petite body.

    However, before she could catch her breath, she felt herself being enveloped, Leonel''s lips suffocating her.

    Aina felt her clothes being ripped away, her body swaying like a boat in a storm under the whims of Leonel.

    A heat seared her chest, her heart boiling. Someone else might have felt uncomfortable beneath Leonel''s smoldering heat. But, to her, it felt as though she was drifting on cloud nine.

    Her body took in the assault with open arms. Everything from Leonel''s roughness, to the strength of his hands, to the coldness in his eyes made her shiver. She felt an excitement the likes of which she never had before, an excitement that even somewhat faintly surpassed all the orgasms Leonel had helped her experience until now.

    When Leonel dragged her away from the Selection, fury still lighting his eyes, she hadn''t known exactly what to expect. But, when Leonel actually threw her against a wall, the small gasp that came from her mouth registered like a struggle for air in her mind, but the reality was that it came out almost like an excited squeal.

    It was the kind of sound that captured the hearts of men, latched on, and refused to let go, squeezing until they lost all rationality while hovering between a line of life and death.

    Such a small impact hardly even jarred Aina''s inner organs, let alone caused her any harm. The training she put herself through made these walls they were cratering, the furniture they were smashing and the floors they were collapsing seem like nothing more than child''s play.

    As though a pair of wild beasts, the couple seemed to unleash their frustration onto one another.

    Aina''s nails clawed into Leonel''s back, leaving bloody streaks even his Metal Body couldn''t defend against. She sheered through is Tier 4 defenses as though a hot knife through butter.

    Leonel''s blood seeped into her nails, subconsciously being drawn into her body. But, the result was far beyond Aina''s expectations. The instant Leonel''s blood clashed with her own, a deep moan left her lips, her pelvis grinding against the bulge in Leonel''s boxers.

    Leonel''s blood was like a drug pumping through her veins. It carried a scorching heat and a soothing mellow. It was a dichotomy of feelings that almost perfectly meshed with the feeling of Leonel''s tongue in her mouth.

    In that instant, as though being burned by hot coals, Aina''s curse screeched.

    Pain Aina had experienced for a lifetime suddenly retreated into the depths of her body, fleeing from Leonel''s blood.

    However, Aina hardly seemed to notice. She continued to greedily absorb Leonel''s blood, feeling as though the two of them were finally fusing into one.

    At that moment, Aina realized that she loved Leonel, loved Leonel so much that it left a throbbing pain in her chest.

    Her body began to enter its real form.

    Her slender legs, wrapped around Leonel''s waist, became longer. Her breasts, pushing against the fabric of her chest band, threatened to rip out a path for themselves even without Leonel''s input. Her scars already retreated, leaving a visage so perfect behind that the energies of the world seemed to sing.

    Her hips became fuller, her bottom rounder, her hair longer...

    Leonel''s mind was too calculative to not notice these changes and he also immediately understood what was happening. His heart thrummed out of his chest, rebounding against his rib cage and sending vibrations to Aina''s own.

    The heat in Leonel''s lower belly continued to rise. His rushing blood made his cock so hard that it sprung out from the elastic bands of his boxers.

    Aina felt the scolding heat touch her inner thighs, her body trembling with excitement. Her amber eyes brightened into a luscious gold, an overwhelming mental dominance being exuded from her body.

    She pushed forward, her slender legs touching the ground as she pushed Leonel into the opposing wall. Her strength was so great that it completely collapsed. However, she didn''t seem to notice as her cherry lips enveloped Leonel''s, her graceful legs stepping out from her pants with an elegance that was impossible to match.

    The skin tight, black panties beneath completely outlined her silhouette. But, Leonel only got to see the enticing sight for only a split moment before he felt that soft, small pink tongue slide into his mouth.

    From being just 5''7, Aina had grown to over 6''0 tall, leaving her just three or four inches shorter than Leonel. Rising just a bit on her tippy toes, she was able to taste those lips she couldn''t get enough of.

    However, her dominance didn''t last for long before she found herself being hoisted into the air again. A sturdy hand ripped her chest band away.

    The healthy bounce of two fleshly mounds was cut short as they pressed flush against Leonel''s chest.

    The couple left devastation in their wake, a trail of destruction following after them as they somehow traveled from room to room of the Segmented Cube.

    "I can''tбн I can''t take it anymoreбн" Leonel''s hoarse growl made Aina shiver.

    At the moment, she was perpetually releasing a sort of mental coercion that even Leonel wasn''t immune to. The instant Aina''s curse was suppressed, it felt as though her Soul Force had become no weaker than even Leonel''s own. But, rather than being tailored for computation, Aina''s Soul Force seemed to be able to cast the mind into a state of absolute obedience, as though the whole world should call her Queen.

    Aina''s hips shifted, one hand wrapped around Leonel''s neck, she used the other to slide her skin tight panties off.

    With the soft sound of skin slapping against skin, Leonel felt his cock gently split the delicate folds of skin so soft his mind went blank.

    Aina blushed profusely. "Do youбн have a condom?"

    Leonel choked on air.

    [It''s LIVE people, this is NOT a drill! Official Vampire Empress Aina art available on my instagram right now :) >> @awespec_ ]

    [Can''t believe I''m sharing these goodies with you all.... should have kept her to myself]

 Chapter 737 - Shit.

    Even after so many years of advancement, Earth only had two methods for male birth control: the condom and the vasectomy. Luckily, the latter had become quite and easy procedure and had a near 100% guarantee of reattachment later down the line, while the former had become so advanced it felt as though it wasn''t there to begin with. But, unluckilyбн Leonel had neither of these things on him.

    At this point, he felt like shedding real tears.

    These matters weren''t even close to being at the forefront of Leonel''s mind. He was a lifelong virgin despite his standing in high school. And, even if he hadn''t been, something like a condom was nothing more than a press of a button away.

    Now, though, the watch on his wrist that he had practically completely forgotten about was nothing more than scrap metal, especially after entering a Fifth Dimensional world.

    Beyond that, there wasn''t even a guarantee that a condom from a Third Dimensional world would even work on the current him. For all he knew, he shot out real bullets at this point.

    They say that a normal Third Dimensional male could already dwarf 40 kilometers an hour. Leonel didn''t know if his training would affect this, but if it did, he had to assume it would be far beyond just that.

    As though thinking of all this wasn''t depressing enough, even if Leonel wanted to choose the option of a reversible vasectomy, could he even find a skilled enough and strong enough doctor to cut into his body?

    As complicated as all of this was, Aina probably had even less options. All female birth control options relied on a keen understanding of their biology. Who knew how much different Aina''s biology was not from when she had been in the Third Dimension?

    ''бн Fuck.''

    Leonel stood there, his forehead leaning against Aina''s own. Somehow, they had managed to crash their way all the way to kitchen. In fact, at this moment, Aina sat on the large stainless steel table at its very center, still subtly grinding against Leonel.

    It was very clear that the both of them wanted to go a step further, but Aina''s question had doused them both with a bucket of cold water.

    At this point, they couldn''t help but think of the situation that got them here in the first place. Even they had to admit that it wasn''t exactly the healthiest of things.

    If it wasn''t for Aina knowing that she most definitely couldn''t risk having children right now, they likely would have both lost themselves to the heat of the moment.

    Even now, Leonel could feel Aina''s fragrant juices moistening the tip of his cock. It was almost maddening. Just a single thrust and he would probably experience the greatest feeling this world had to offer.

    However, as his mind cooled down, he realized that this matter was deeper than just not having birth control. There was a deeper issue that neither of them seemed to want to deal with.

    Leonel felt Aina cup his cheek.

    His head was pulled up to match her gaze, his breathing hitching as he laid eyes on her flawless countenance.

    Leonel had never cared what Aina looked like. But, to have the emotions he had for her reaffirmed by the existence of this goddess before him was almost too much to handle. It was already difficult enough for him to control himself around Aina normally, but, at that moment, it felt as though all his inhibitions were being knocked down one after another.

    Leonel barely stopped his hips from thrusting forward, his thighs trembling as he grit his teeth.

    Aina''s breathing became somewhat haggard. Though Leonel hadn''t completely pierced through her final lines of defense, she could still feel herself opening up. It was at most half a centimeter or two, yet the feeling was already so intoxicating.

    Aina knew how dangerous this position was. The very entrance was among the most sensitive regions for a woman. Let alone Leonel, even she was playing with fire right now. That didn''t even consider the danger of the leaking of Leonel''s own fluids.

    Taking a deep breath and gathering up will power he didn''t know he had, Leonel pulled away. He felt as though he was about to burst, but he also knew that this was the best decision.

    If it was up to him, he would put a child in Aina right this very moment. It would probably be selfish of him to do so, but the same way Aina wanted to keep him safe, so did he too want to keep her safe.

    As powerless as he was, making her belly round and her feet swollen seemed to be the only method he could think of.

    Leonel was so absentminded that he didn''t notice when Aina had pushed herself off the steel table and begun to pull at his hand.

    He followed behind her, barely keeping track of the swaying pendulum of her waist. He almost felt that it was unfortunate her long hair obstructed so much of the view. For the first time, Leonel had a negative emotion toward the long hair he loved so much.

    Before Leonel could react, he found himself in Aina''s room, seemingly the only one their rampage had missed.

    Truthfully, the two usually slept together nowadays, so this room remained relatively unused and had been that way for months already. However, at this point, it was a saving grace.

    Aina sat Leonel down on the edge of the bed, her next action making his eyes widen and his heart skip a beat.

    Aina sat on her knees between his legs, looking up at him with a somewhat nervous and bashful expression.

    At that moment, Leonel''s cock throbbed. He hadn''t thought it was possible to feel more turned on at this point, but the image of a beauty with the face of a goddess kneeling before him like this made his blood seethe.

    Aina''s slender fingers grabbed forward, her two hands wrapping around his member with a gentleness that only made it pulse more.

    Then, with slow movement''s Leonel caught every frame of, her slightly parted cherry lips kissed the very tip.

    Leonel felt the greatest humiliation he had in his life right at that very moment. He didn''t survive to even experience the softness of her small pink tongue.

    "Shit."

    Aina was confused by the word until she suddenly wasn''t. With reflexes that surpassed human understanding, she dodged out of the way. Unfortunately, the ceiling could not.

 Chapter 738 - Why Care?

    Leonel took long, deep breaths. Somehow, that one shot seemed to have drained him completely.

    Looking up at the ceiling, he smiled bitterly. He had been partially joking when he spoke of the 40 kilometers and hour matter. But, why did it look like someone had been throwing darts at the ceiling?

    Replaying it in his mind, Leonel realized that he had been right. It was at least a several hundred kilometer difference. And, the volume was much greater, giving it more impact.

    Aina, who still kneeled before Leonel, her head having dodged out of the way, suddenly giggled.

    Leonel choked. "бн What you laughing about? It''s not my fault you suddenly turned into a succubus."

    Aina, though, only continued to giggle. She wasn''t laughing at Leonel. Rather, she was laughing in happiness. For some reason, these series of events made her very happy. For just a moment, she seemed to forget all of her worries.

    With the actions of a caring wife, Aina found a moist towel in her room and began to clean Leonel''s cock with gentle strokes. This action left her at peace and also resurfaced some of her memories that made her smile deepen.

    The truth was that Leonel stunk slightly of sweat right now. It wasn''t anything too potent, but it was the truth nonetheless. After all, the two had just been at the Selection not much more than 20 or so minutes ago. Then, they probably used even more energy during their ''battle'' just now.

    After Leonel made his declaration, not a single other person dared to challenge him. What a joke, he had just single handedly wiped out the more elite members of Bear Rose. Was there even a point to continuing the Selection?

    Still, Aina didn''t care very much about Leonel''s slight stink, even to the point of not minding to touch her lips to it.

    That said, just because she didn''t care, didn''t mean Leonel didn''t. It was part of that anxiety and realizing he was too late to stop Aina''s actions that made him fail to control himself. In the end, he could hardly savor the feeling before he blasted off.

    Leonel watched Aina work with a smile on her face, an indescribable feeling of warmth spreading through his chest. At that moment, he too realized that he loved her, loved her so much that his heart hurt.

    Yet, for some reason, much like Aina, he didn''t say those words aloud either.

    Leonel pushed Aina''s hand aside and scooped her up, catching her somewhat off guard.

    "Oof, you''ve gotten heavier."

    Aina''s brows shot up. "What did you say?!"

    "Nothing, nothing!" Leonel laughed.

    Leonel smiled. He found that Aina''s every emotion seemed to have an area of effect to it. It was quite interesting, almost like she was imposing her will onto the world subconsciously.

    The couple entered the bathhouse and began to clean themselves off. An air of comfortable silence hung between them as they helped each other. It was as though they had already been doing this for years.

    "I didn''t know my blood would be of such help to you." Leonel said after a while, helping Aina to shampoo her hair with his favorite apple scent. "If I had known, we could have done this long ago. How do you feel?"

    Aina smiled. "I feel better than I have in a long time. The curse isn''t gone, but it seems too afraid to surface."

    Leonel nodded.

    "I think it might be because of my Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor and my Scarlet Star Force. I already awakened my Healing Branch and after my Innate Node recovered to its mature form, it subtly changed the characteristics of my Star, Light and Fire Elementsбн"

    Aina''s brows arched in understanding.

    If Leonel''s healing factor was combined with the destructive capability of his Scarlet Star Force, and especially the purifying characteristic of the Star Force aspects, then his blood would indeed be the bane of all poisons and curses.

    This was only made better by Leonel''s Mage Core. After synergizing with his body, Leonel''s passing healing factor was more than tenfold stronger than it had been in the past.

    "What do you think, can my blood heal you?" Leonel asked.

    There was no better person to ask this question than Aina. Who better than her, with her ability to perfectly understand her body, to have the right answer?

    Leonel was quite prepared to be disappointed by the answer, but he was shocked by the reality.

    "I think so, yes. The curse has already been burnt away by more than a percentage point. Even though it''s hiding, it''s my body, I can easily find it. If my mind is clearer next time, shaving it down by even five or ten percentage points with the same amount of blood wouldn''t be an issue."

    Leonel grinned. This was a pleasant surprise, indeed. He had thought that he would need to do far more to find a cure for Aina, when the reality was that he was the cure.

    "You knowбн"

    Leonel blinked. "Hm?"

    Aina turned back to meet his gaze, her supple breasts in full view. They looked like perfect droplets of ambrosia, shaped by the hands of a master sculptor. Their small, pink protrusions especially still made Leonel gasp for air even now. It was a lethal combination that ruined what was an otherwise wholesome moment.

    Aina smiled but didn''t seem to mind Leonel''s gaze. She had gotten used to it.

    "бн Your blood is very valuable." Aina continued. "I only had a small bit of it, but I felt my strength take a large leap forward. Are you sure you want to give me so much of it?"

    Leonel raised his brows. "What nonsense are you saying right now? Why would I care about any of that?"

    Leonel shook his head, reaching a hand forward to caress Aina''s cheek. Her skin had always been this soft, but without the trenches of her scars, it felt endlessly supple.

    Aina pushed herself up to the tips of her toes, planting a gentle kiss on Leonel''s lips.

 Chapter 739 - Territorial Puppy

    Leonel''s hands outlined Aina''s silhouette. Her figure was so much fuller that he felt as though he could lose his fingers in the softness of her flesh. By the time he grabbed handfuls of her ass, he felt his breathing had already grown heavy.

    Even experiencing her touch now, he had a hard time fathoming how something could feel so good. So springy, so elastic. It had just a touch of firm muscle, only to be surrounded by a supple flesh that was beyond words.

    "Owбн" Aina pulled back, biting Leonel''s lip in a cute retaliation. "бн If you pull any harder, you''ll rip them off."

    Leonel laughed when he heard these words.

    Aina''s voice had a subtle change to it after her transformation. The best way Leonel could describe it was like two silk sheets gliding against each other. Her cadence seemed to tickle at his ears, enticing him with every step.

    He really could barely hold back. But, this time he managed to control himself.

    One day, when the time was right, he would taste her ripeness. And hopefully by then, the issues the two of them had yet to address, would also be concluded.

    Neither of them seemed eager to speak on these things, but for the first time, Leonel didn''t feel like he was running from it. Rather, he simply didn''t know how to put what he was feeling into words and Aina seemed to be the same way.

    But, Leonel wasn''t worried. Were all relationships nothing but smooth sailing? Even with his limited experience, Leonel didn''t believe so. There would always be a push and pull, an effort both parties had to put in.

    Given enough time, Leonel was confident that they''d be able to take that step together. And, when that day came, he would definitely put a baby in this goddess. After all, he had to make sure everyone knew that she was his.

    Leonel suddenly felt a pinch at his waist.

    "What nasty thoughts are you thinking about?"

    Leonel was stunned before he burst into a fit of laughter. It seemed that Aina''s senses had become almost too good after her curse retreated. It was like she could practically read his mind now.

    "Nothing much, just thinking of marking some territory." Leonel said with a devious smile.

    "Territory? I''m territory now?" Aina blinked quite adorably, however her gaze seemed to hide a dangerous light.

    "Of course, I have to mark you off properly. We wouldn''t want someone else trying to claim you, right? How embarrassing would that be?"

    "I see... I think it''s better if we mark you off first. Not as territory, though. I think you''d be a good little puppy, I''ll get you a nice leash. Wouldn''t want you going around to mark other territories that weren''t yours, right? How embarrassing would that be?"

    Aina''s eyes blinked with a beautiful twinkling light, her smile was gorgeous to an extreme.

    The mental pressure of her gaze was so strong that Leonel almost asked her where the leash was so he could go and get it.

    **

    The time for the opening of the Valiant Heart Zone came quickly. Usually, there would be a few weeks to even month buffer period to allow those who would enter time to prep and prime themselves. But, this time, it felt as though everything was being sped along at an accelerated pace.

    The chosen time for the Zone''s opening was the day following the Selection. Since of the participants that were chosen, only a single one of them suffered injuries, it was decided that time for rest wasn''t needed.

    What was surprising though, was this singular injured student was none other than Radlis who had managed to claim the fourth and final spot for himself.

    After Leonel had taken out the Bear Rose members, the landscape had shifted. However, it definitely shouldn''t have shifted enough for Radlis to claim a spot. After all, there were still the remaining King of Ores members, there were the Severed Heart Faction members that hadn''t made a move, and on top of that, there were still the other members of the Hero Factionбн

    It could be said, then, that though Leonel''s action had undoubtedly helped Radlis, if he hadn''t had such strength of his own, he would have never come so far.

    Such a thing would have left Leonel feeling intriguedбн If he had known about it, that is. Neither Leonel nor Aina had taken a step into the outside world for about a day now and were simply enjoying each other''s company. The matters of what was happening here wouldn''t be known to them until they actually appeared.

    At this moment, though, many were already gathering around the Valiant Pillars. The ceremony for entry into the Valiant Heart Zone wasn''t one they got to see often, so many didn''t want to miss it.

    Beyond this, though, there were some small benefits to be gained by being near the entrance. It was said that those nearby could be blessed by the aura of the Valiant Pillars, allowing them some minor breakthroughs.

    Though their gains wouldn''t be anywhere near as good as the youths who entered, it was at least something, right?

    Still, rather than being filled with an excited air, the atmosphere was quite solemn.

    At the center of the Pillars stood a group of elders, but one singular man stood out amidst them all.

    This man was none other than the current Head of the organization, Hutchin. Even given his age, his body rippled with vitality, his bronzed muscles shimmering beneath the rising sun.

    Since this man wass till silent, no one dared to breathe a word.

    "бн Can''t you at least let me be a lion or tiger pet or something? Why a puppy of all things? This is spousal abuse."

    "Who''s your wife?"

    The two voices weren''t very loud, but the second one especially seemed to grip at all their hearts. Never had they heard a voice so soothing and enticing.

    Rather than reprimanding, many couldn''t help but crane their necks to see where it had come from. But, what they saw left them all at a loss. In that moment, Leonel might as well have been invisible despite the fact he held her hand.

    The two descended down the mountain pass, but the world seemed to revolve around just one of them despite the fact she wore a mask and her figure was hidden behind a black military uniform.

 Chapter 740 - Aina Brazinger

    Leonel was speechless. How Aina was still drawing so much attention even while wearing her mask was beyond him.

    To Leonel, he didn''t particularly care how the world saw Aina. When she chose to wear her mask out today, he hadn''t said a word. After all, to the current Aina, the mask was about more than just hiding her face, she treated it like a present to be treasured, much like the necklace he had given her for her birthday.

    Plus, she wasn''t quite used to her new face yet. Rather than having to waste her time talking and explaining things to people she didn''t care about, she would rather just hide herself completely and leave her looks for the only one who mattered.

    To make things worse, Aina had even covered up most of her body wearing her black military uniform once again. Of course, this was because Leonel had tactlessly ripped away her Valiant Heart outfit during theirбн battle. But, one would have thought that this would make her even less conspicuous.

    Yet, all it took was just a single word from her in range of the crowd''s hearing for hundreds of pairs of eyes to land on her as though a pack of lustful wolves.

    It truly wasn''t their fault, though. Aina''s mental coercion was on a level these students, and even the elders, had never experienced before. Her every action seemed to put them into a trance. She wasn''t even swaying her hips as she moved, yet her gait mesmerized them all nonetheless.

    Leonel''s lip twitched, his eyes narrowing into a glare. It was only after his own presence solidified that many were snapped out of their daze, looking toward him with a hint of apprehension.

    Even at that point, though, it was hard not to wonder where this woman had come from. It was only those who recognized the blue veined mask Aina wore that seemed to make the connection. But, even then, they were greatly confused.

    Could a person undergo so many changes in just one night?

    Leonel and Aina made it to their designated location within the mountain pass. Technically, they weren''t late, but it seemed that everyone was so eager to get this done that they had all come early. This even included the likes of Raylion and Aphestus who one would have assumed would come last.

    This only meant, then, that regardless of what Leonel wanted, the path of him and Aina was followed even down to the final moment.

    Eventually, twelve youths stood before the elders of Valiant Heart.

    Elder Magnaril stepped forward. Clearly, it was still her duty to complete the last writs for this event. However, at this moment, she was greatly confused.

    "You. Who are you?"

    Magnaril was trying her best to keep her calm, honestly.

    Given the current situation, she couldn''t snap and rant like she wanted to. After all, they were in the presence of the Head. And, although Raylion had been causing quite some stirs in recent months, there was no one who could shake his position. Even Raylion was very far from doing so.

    However, even if she couldn''t do as she pleased, that didn''t mean she wasn''t inwardly seething.

    Of course, she recognized Aina''s mask. But, was she also supposed to just believe that this person was Aina just because of this? For all she knew, Leonel had had this harlot wear this mask so that he could try to sneak her in.

    But, not only was this woman not wearing the official garb of their organization, but she was clearly not Aina. She was much taller, her demeanor seemed different, her ability felt different, and even her voice had undergone a subtle change.

    To Magnaril, Aina''s current voice sounded like someone who was trying their best to sound like her, and was just missing the mark by a small tidbit. That small tidbit of difference was the reason why all these men and even the women couldn''t take their eyes off of her.

    The Elders looked at this situation with a frown.

    The Selection had happened for a reason. They couldn''t just allow anyone into their most valuable treasure.

    Of course, at this moment, things were a bit different. Whereas usually the topmost echelon of elders would be missing, they were here now. As such, those that knew of Leonel''s true identity were likewise here.

    Looking toward one another, they saw a tinge of helplessness in their eyes. If Leonel wanted to bypass their rules and bring just a single person in, they should just allow it, right?

    Head Hutchin turned his gaze toward Leonel. For the current youth before him, this gaze was still heavy. In fact, Leonel seemed to notice it immediately and looked up.

    For the first time, Leonel and this mysterious Head of Valiant Heart met face to face. But, Leonel felt that this man was difficult to read.

    "I am Aina Brazinger." Aina replied softly.

    Toward this response, Magnaril''s brow only furrowed deeper. Was this harlot really still trying to fool her?!

    Magnaril looked toward Leonel, a fury hardly hidden in the depths of her eyes. Her precious disciple had fallen for this bastard and he had actually betrayed her like this. How could she not be furious? If it was up to her, she would cut Leonel down where he stood!

    Leonel felt this murderous gaze too. But, toward this he could only bitterly smile. This really was Aina. How else was he supposed to prove this?

    It was at that moment that Aina pulled her mask off.

    For an instant, the air seemed to come to a grinding halt.

    ''Ah, dammit.'' Leonel clicked his tongue.

    Aina rolled her eyes and ignored him as her body began to change. A looming curse energy formed into a fog around her face, obscuring the enchanting view.

    Her body shrunk, her military uniform downsizing along with it.

    "Do you recognize me now, teacher?" Aina spoke in her former voice.

    At that point, Magnaril was stunned into silence.

 Chapter 741 - To Their Knees

    [It''s LIVE people, this is NOT a drill! Official Vampire Empress Aina art available on my instagram right now :) >> @awespec_ ]

    [Can''t believe I''m sharing these goodies with you all... should have kept her to myself]

    After finding a path to cure her curse, Aina chose not to get rid of it completely. She had complete dominance over it with her ability and could continue to use it as she had in the past to help with her training.

    Doing something like exploiting its effects for a moment to prove her identity was as easy as breathing, even though it put her in an uncomfortable position for a few moments.

    Not long later, though, she returned to her true form, the form that left her feeling the most comfortable. Like this, she felt as though she could destroy a mountain range with a step and hold the world in the palm of her hands.

    For a moment, that flawless countenance appeared again.

    Her shapely nose, the gentle slope of her jaw, her willowy brows and slender neck. It was all perfect to an extreme. But, it only appeared for just a moment before she blocked it all with her mask.

    Maybe some of the most stunned people by this change other than Magnaril were the likes of Balthorn, Radlis  and the other freshmen.

    Radlis still remembered making fun of Leonel for his poor choice in women while Balthorn very clearly remembered why it was that Leonel didn''t like her very much in the first place. But now, it felt like this woman they had once poked fun of had become an untouchable goddess.

    "Hm?" Aphestus, who stood in the line of twelve youths, raised an eyebrow.

    He had never thought that the girl he had picked up actually had a true appearance like this. If it hadn''t been for Aina''s less than optimal looks, the method they used to try to put Leonel in his place would have been very different.

    At this point, let alone Aphestus, even Raylion''s heart, which was usually as calm as the unmoving surface of a lake, ''woke up'' for just a moment.

    Aphestus grinned a toothy grin. If they thought that it was all sunshine and roses after entering the Zone, they would be sorely mistaken.

    Leonel, sensing Aphestus'' gaze, looked over. Leonel''s eyes were placid, his demeanor completely unmoved by the toothy grin he saw.

    Instead, his gaze shifted down to the twin daggers by Aphestus'' waist, his lip curling with disdain.

    Aphestus froze.

    The words Leonel spoke all those months ago about how pathetic his weapons were suddenly rang in his ears like a furiously ringing bell. Outside of his control, his face suddenly burned hot as though Leonel''s gaze alone carried a fiery heat.

    Aphestus remembered exactly the kind of contempt he had treated Leonel''s statement with back then, only to find out that Leonel had meant every word of it.

    Leonel shook his head, a look of pity lighting his eyes as he looked away. But, this only infuriated Aphestus even more.

    ''бн Boy, I''ll make sure you pay.''

    Leonel ignored Aphestus'' heated gaze. As far as he was concerned, let alone dealing with him, his lovely girlfriend probably didn''t need any help at all to all but solo them.

    Leonel didn''t know where Aina''s limit lied at this moment, but he knew that it was most definitely not shallow.

    At that moment, Magnaril and the other elders finally recovered.

    "Little Ainaбн Youбн Your curse, it''s lifted?"

    Aina nodded. "My boyfriend helped me find a way."

    Magnaril opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of Aina''s enchanting voice saying the word boyfriend seemed to shatter the budding fantasies of countless youths.

    "That''sбн That''s good." Magnaril squeezed out a smile.

    Though it seemed force due to her irrational hatred of Leonel, there was still a wave of genuineness found within her eyes. Clearly, she was very happy for Aina.

    ''I guess this old bat isn''t so bad after all.'' Leonel thought with a smile.

    Still, Magnaril was confused. The person that should be happiest about this lifted curse should be Aina. But, why did she sound like she was speaking of just another matter?

    ''It seems that there is indeed something weighing heavily on this young girlбн'' Magnaril sighed.

    She had known that Aina was carrying a heavy weight long ago. She could only hope that Leonel could help her bear some of the burden.

    Magnaril nodded.

    "Since these matters have been settled, we can move on to important matters."

    Magnaril stood straight, regaining her dignified air.

    "These matters have been a barely hidden secret for a long while, but the Elders have decided to speak of them in blunt terms.

    "Our Valiant Heart is at a crossroads. We face internal enemies in the Oryx and external enemies in the Milky Way. We have sat at the top for a long while and the beasts chewing at our scraps have become restless, wanting a larger piece of the pie."

    Magnaril''s words were simple, but they seemed to make the blood of the crowd boil. Who would ever want things that were rightfully theirs snatched away by another?!

    "This Valiant Heart Zone to my back represents the pride of my Valiant Heart Mountain. It is our most treasured possession and the light we use to guide the leaders of the next generation.

    "When you enter, I hope you understand the important role you play, and I hope that you grasp every opportunity presented to you.

    "I will not lie. The Valiant Heart Zone is not without danger. The longer a Zone is forcefully held open like this as opposed to clearing it, the more variables can appear.

    "Our Valiant Heart Zone is especially susceptible to this because it is a Variant Zone that reflects the future. Variant Zones are meant to be the easiest and safest Zones to enter, however, our Valiant Heart Zone has long since stopped being such a thing.

    "In my heart, I wish for you all to enter as children and exit as men and women иC to enter as foot soldiers and exit as Generals.

    "You are the pride of our Valiant Heart, our future!"

    Magnarils'' voice resonated through the quiet mountain pass, a heavy atmosphere only growing heavier at that moment.

    "Go forward and claim what is yours."

    The Valiant Pillars began to quake, an overwhelming surge of energy descending from above and crashing down toward the twelve youths.

    This Force had every intention of forcing them to their knees.

 Chapter 742: To Pass

    Chapter 742: To Pass

    In the face of such overwhelming pressure, Leonel and Aina were unmoved. If before it had been difficult for Aina to climb this mountain pass, at this current instant, she felt like she was walking through a field of fragrant breeze. Hand in hand, the couple glided forward, a number of the other twelve following along with them. Counting the number of individuals who took this pressure in stride, there was Aphestus, Raylion, Sael, and two others that Leonel did not recognize. But, from what it seemed like, one of them was from Bear Rose and the other was from Severed Heart.

    Among those struggling, there was the remaining member of the former Valiant Hall, a member of Bear Rose and Severed Heart, along with Radhs.

    Of all these, there was just one person Leonel didn''t account for, and he was the fourth individual to gain a spot of entry alongside, Leonel, Aina and Radlis.

    And that person was King of Ores, Sarrieth. Sarrieth seemed to be at the very center of the pack He didn''t seem to be mightily struggling, but he also didn''t seem to be having an easy time either. Even to Leonel, this in between state seemed genuine. If Sarrieth was faking it, he''d have to be on a completely different level entirely. However, after this thought, Leonel didn''t pay any more attention to Sarrieth. In his opinion, he didn''t have any life or death struggles with Sarrieth.

    The King of Ores Faction targeted him so that Sarrieth would have an easier path toward blue belt promotion, and they had succeeded in that regard. In retaliation, though, they had to face Leonel''s wrath. They lost their prestige and their hold on the Ore market in one sweep. It could be said that Leonel felt that he had dealt them a devastating enough blow.

    Of course, Nigmir had died at Aina''s hands, but he had also clearly tried to kill her.

    That said... by now Leonel should [mow that things like logic and fairness didn''t exactly work this way in the Dimensional Verse. 0

    With a step forward, Leonel and Aina crossed into the swirling Gate first. Almost immediately, their vision blurred.

    Leonel squinted, before his vision cleared. When he got a look around, his brows raised in surprise. He and Aina stood in a hall of massive proportion. The walls were lined with bronze statues standing at 50 meters tall and there was a large dome of glass overhead that sparkled with rays of sunshine. The dome alone was at least yo meters above the ground. To stand in this hall truly made one feel no different from an ant. 0 Compared to the width and even height of the hall, the length was several times more obscene. Leonel couldn''t quite see to the end of it despite the fact there was nothing obstructing his view. Before him, there was nothing but a long road of marbled floors that extended to infinity. Every 50 or so meters, there would be another pair of outrageously tall bronze statues facing each other with backs against the wall. Somehow, each of these warriors had a different air to them and a different strength. They all wielded all sorts of different weapons, wore all sorts of different armors and gear, they even seemed to come from different races.

    Leonel was shocked. ''An Oryx?'' Not far ahead, just two statues displaced from his current location, there was a large Oryx among the statues. Leonel couldn''t help but be off put. Wasn''t this supposed to be Valiant Heart''s Variant Zone? Why was there an Oryx statue here? It had to be remembered that Variant Zones only appeared when a world was on the brink of destruction. This particular Zone had appeared thousands of years ago when Valiant Heart was about to collapse. It was only thanks to a treasure they gained from the Morales family that they were able to sustain this Zone for continuous use.

    Technically, a Variant Zone allowed one to peer into the future and gain some benefits from it. Aina, for example, gained the Abyss Panther bloodline that had yet to appear on Terrain.

    If this world was originally inhabited by the Oryx, maybe this Variant Zone was never Valiant Heart''s to begin with?''

    As soon as Leonel thought of this, he shook his head. Things weren''t this simple, for sure.

    This Variant Zone still carried the air of Valiant Heart Mountain. This was definitely their Variant Zone. But, these statues of different races...

    The more Leonel observed them, the more shocked he became. These weren''t ''different'' races at all. All the statues that depicted a species other than human was actually a variation on what the Oryx could become!

    When Leonel made this connection in his mind, his heart skipped a beat. Of the statues, about 70./i) of them were human. The other 30./i) were this other form and forms of Oryx. Was this what Magnaril had meant by the longer a Zone was held open, the more variables that could be introduced?

    If Leonel thought about it, a Variant Zone was meant to be a projection of the future, right? At the some time, the Oryx were in a state of Hyper Evolution they were trying to take advantage of. Could this Hall be reflecting not just the potential of Valiant Heart, but also a potential future where the world was ruled by the Hyper Evolving Oryx?

    Leonel took a deep breath. It was at that moment that the others entered the hall one after another, wearily watching one another.

    When Radlis stumbled his way in, the portal to the outside world finally closed.

    In that instant, all the lights of the Hall dimmed. If Leonel could see a few kilometers down before, now he could barely see a half kilometer ahead, and that was only if he squinted.

    The only source of light remaining seemed to be the halo of bronze hanging around the statues.

    It was then that the first two statues facing each other showed movement.

    gut snot out rrom men bodies, crasmng

 Chapter 743 - Invisible Pillar

    Chapter 743 - Invisible Pillar

    [I feel bad saying I even have a real upload schedule and quota now... Sorry guys :''( Thanks for sticking with me <3]

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed but he didn''t even have the time to process what was really going on before a certain agile shadow flickered toward his back.

    Since Leonel and Aina had entered first, despite the sheer size of the hall, the remaining ten members were all following to their backs. So, it wasn''t surprising that they try to take such a chance.

    Leonel''s eyes sharpened, his palm flipping over to reveal a silver arrow as he quickly whipped backward.

    Sparks flew as metal clanged.

    Aphestus bore down on Leonel with a toothy grin, his twin daggers having pierced toward the latter''s heart. Yet, Leonel was clashing with one with his reinforced arrow and had caught Aphestus'' wrist with his other hand.

    Feeling Aphestus'' strength personally for the first time, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow. Even with his Tier 4 Metal Body, he would have been blown away had he not immediately reinforced himself with Four Seasons Realm Universal Force.

    Though this long armed, hyper muscular man was an annoyance, there was no doubt that he had real strength.

    The arms of the two men trembled, sparks continuing to fly between the arrow''s body and the blade''s edge.

    "Your knife is looking a little bit dull there. You sure it could even slice butter?" Leonel asked.

    Aphestus'' gaze flashed. It was indeed a humiliation for a dagger to be unable to cut through a mere arrow''s shaft, especially since the latter wasn''t designed for this kind of clash. But, at this point, there was already nothing he could do about it.

    The clash of Aphestus and Leonel had suddenly taken center stage. The other youths were hesitant to do much of anything, scanning one another to avoid being attack from the back.

    Aina, who had been right by Leonel, didn''t raise a finger to help. Obviously, though, this wasn''t because she was abandoning Leonel.

    It was on the outside, on the mountain pass, that others were truly panicking. The elders had never thought that there would be such a sudden and drastic change to the rules.

    Cold sweat matted their backs. If Leonel really died here, what would they do? It was one thing if Leonel died to the machinations of the Zone. But, if he died to one of their students, they were finished!

    For the first time, the Upper Echelon began to regret not divulging Leonel''s identity.

    "Shut it down." Hutchin spoke.

    His voice was even and allowed no path for refusal. Without a choice, the Elders could only do as they were told.

    Projecting the images from within the Zone were functions the treasure from the Morales family allowed. In addition, this function was stupidly expensive, requiring the use of a Fifth Dimensional Crystal once an hour. However, it was an expense they were all willing to pay, hoping that the events of the Zone would reforge their organization with a sense of pride and belonging.

    But, watching their future generation kill each other for the sake of treasures would definitely not help them to reach their goal. In fact, it may very well have the direct opposite effect. This was something Hutchin most definitely couldn''t allow.

    Just like that, the image that had been projected to the whole of Valiant Heart flickered out, disappearing from the sights of the viewing public.

    The elders could only hope that Leonel didn''t die in there. And, if he did, they hoped to have some plausible deniability on their side.

    бн

    Aphestus'' arms pulled back as he retreated to prepare for another attack. But, what he hadn''t expected was for Leonel to follow him like a shadow, a blinding golden light enveloping his every action.

    Leonel''s legs blurred, his stance shifting and his arrow vanishing. His fists left explosions in the air as they shot forward, raining toward Aphestus.

    Aphestus reacted quickly, a sneer coating his lips. An unprotected fist versus his daggers? He didn''t care how poor his equipment was, Leonel was asking to be skinned alive.

    Unfortunately, Aphestus soon realized that Leonel''s fists were nothing but feints. No, could this even be called a feint at all?

    The sound of fabric being sharply pulled back sounded as Leonel''s fists came to a grinding halt. There was just a slight pause before an explosion of flames rocked the air, catching Aphestus completely off guard.

    The explosions completely blinded Aphestus. He didn''t even notice when Leonel had pulled out his spear, slashing downward with an undeniable momentum.

    Aphestus'' bestial instincts tingled with wild abandon. But, deep within his heart, he felt that it was already too late. He had underestimated Leonel, he hadn''t even entered his true battle form but he already no longer had time to do that.

    The violent explosion of flames completely blocked his vision and even charred his skin to a painful degree. He felt as though he had suddenly met the sun. He only just managed to coat himself in a skin of Force to fight back.

    But it was exactly then that a massive blade appeared above his head, descending with a weight of several thousand jin.

    Just when Leonel was about to smash Aphestus'' head into meat paste, his own primitive instincts screamed through every cell of his body. But, unlike Aphestus, Leonel had a calculative mind that saw through many situations before they even occurred. Something like Raylion interfering was well within his plans.

    What he didn''t account for, though, was just how much strength Raylion''s attack carried. Any plans Leonel had of both killing Aphestus and leaving unscathed were thrown out the window.

    The heavy spear in Leonel''s hands vanished and his feet smashed against the ground, sending himself shooting backward like a golden star.

    BANG!

    As though an invisible and indomitable pillar descended from the skies, just as Leonel dodged backward, the space he had just been gained a perfectly uniform hole. The whole was so flawless that it seemed to have been purposely sculpted by a master artist.

    Even though the hole was more of an indent, and even though it was only about an inch deepбн Those who understood the sturdiness of the marble they stood upon all felt a cold shiver travel up their spines.

    In the distance, not having moved an inch, Raylion stood with his hands in his pockets, his visage expressionless.

 Chapter 744 - Targets

    Chapter 744 - Targets

    Leonel''s mind calculated many things in a split instant.

    To be able to create a hold in this sort of marble was a feat in and of itself. It took strength beyond Tier 8 alone. However, this was just the beginning.

    Creating a hole was one thing, but doing it so perfectly that no cracks were formed in its creation was a completely different matter. It showed a level of ease that made one''s spine tingle.

    There were two last factors that would truly make one shocked. The first was the speed. Between Leonel sensing Raylion''s intention and the actual execution, there was no more than a split moment.

    The second was the distance. Raylion had been able to complete that near instantaneous attack from over ten meters away and seemingly without a hint of fatigue. Everything about his actions was nonchalant and casual.

    Leonel took a deep breath, using the momentum of his explosive step backward to glide along the marble back to Aina''s side. It was only then that he looked up and gazed toward Raylion.

    Without a word, he flipped his palm over.

    Many eyes narrowed when they saw the appearance of the small disk, thinking that Leonel was going to do something with it. After all, which of them here dared to underestimate such a high level Force Crafter? Who knew what sort of gadgets he had?

    However, they only got more nervous when they saw Leonel''s lips move but no sound travel to them.

    "What''s his ability?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Subject: Raylion ]

    [ Telekinesis ]

    [ Evolution Stage: Tier 7 Bronze ]

    When Leonel heard this, his brows furrowed.

    "What is his Ability Index?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Replying to Seed, Two Star Amplification Stage ]

    Leonel took in a breath. Now he understood.

    He had already gone through the Ability Index once and memorized it all. The Telekinesis Ability Index was separated, from lowest to highest, Control, Strength, Amplification and finally, Sublimation.

    For Raylion to be at the Two Star Amplification Stage, it meant that he was one sub level away from the very Peak of the Amplification Stage. It could be said that in terms of progression in his ability, he wasn''t too far away from Leonel. And, the fact he reached this level while still in the Bronze Grade spoke to the potential for growth he still had.

    This was extraordinarily rare, exceedingly so, for a person born within a Fifth Dimensional world.

    From what Leonel understood, Control was the weakest. This was the level Aina''s good friend Yuri was at with her ability, at least when it was initially awakened. This level allowed one to enforce control over things outside of one''s body.

    The next step, Strength, took this a level beyond. Strength represented the ability to enforce more power with your Telekinesis than your body could alone. As one might expect, the power of this level varied greatly from person to person. But, usually, this strength was not small.

    Even a petite young girl who could hardly move a 20 kilogram weight on her own might be able to shatter boulders ten times her size after reaching this level.

    Then there was the third level, this was Raylion''s level. At this stage, the Amplification Stage, one would gain a subtle and fine control over their Telekinesis that allowed them to apply it directly to their body without risking harm.

    It was this subtle and precise control that allowed Raylion to imprint such a hole into the ground without causing even a crack to spread. It was also this control that allowed him to give form to his mental strength, making Leonel feel as though a steel pillar was falling upon him from above.

    Leonel lips curled into a smile. This ability was indeed worth all the hopes the Elders had pinned onto him, Leonel was even a bit jealous. It was just a shame that this Raylion had chosen to be his enemy for reasons that still made little sense to Leonel himself.

    This Raylion seemed to think that Leonel cared about what little authority controlling this organization would give him when the reality wasбн

    Leonel didn''t care about Valiant Heart at all.

    At that moment, Aphestus slowly pulled himself up from the ground, his pupils having mutated into slits. It was clear that now he was truly serious, his gaze practically boring holes into Leonel.

    However, Leonel wasn''t looking at him at all. Rather, from start to finish, Leonel''s eyes were trained onto Raylion who also had his eyes locked onto him.

    Putting his dictionary away, Leonel looked away from Raylion and back toward the bronze soldiers that were blocking their path forward. Then he looked toward the group of ten before him and Aina again.

    Did they really have to kill two? But what if in the end there was only him and Aina left, would this damnable place ask him to kill her? How far did it want to go, exactly?

    The best decision for Leonel would be to ''kill'' these opponents and place them within his snowglobe. If he was lucky, then the Zone wouldn''t register them being alive and allow them to pass.

    However, how would he convince these people to do such a thing? The simple answer was that he couldn''t. One way or another, he''d have to defeat them first.

    Dealing with Raylion with how flexible his ability was right now was impossible in such a chaotic battle. That likewise meant that Aphestus was also off the board. This meant that there were eight people he could possibly eliminate right now.

    The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier. The weakest among them felt cold sweat trickling down their brows, their fingers twitching. Many of them seemed to be about to make the first move out of sheer nervousness, unable to take the mental pressure that was bearing down on them.

    It was in that exact instant that Raylion and Leonel suddenly moved in unison. However, their targets were far outside of everyone''s expectations.

    BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, slowly lowering a bow that had appeared so quickly people hardly registered that it had been there.

    With a crash, the two bronze projections shattered into motes of light that surged toward the two.

    Leonel and Raylion both reached out a hand, snatching their rewards out of the air.

 Chapter 745 - Resemblance

    Chapter 745 - Resemblance

    [It''s LIVE people, this is NOT a drill! Official Vampire Empress Aina art available on my instagram right now :) >> @awespec_ ]

    [Can''t believe I''m sharing these goodies with you all... should have kept her to myself]

    The bronze lights slowly coalesced, forming in a transparent orb. It looked no different from a polished crystal ball except for the faint light it gave off.

    Leonel rolled the ball between his fingers, a curious light in his eyes.

    As though sensing something, his hand suddenly squeezed into a fist, shattering the orbs of light and causing a mysterious energy to surge into his body.

    The moment Leonel felt this energy, his eyes narrowed.

    Now that Leonel had learned his lesson, he no longer used Soul Force, at least in its normal form. Whenever he deployed his Internal Sight or used his magic, it was now all controlled by his Dream Force. Over time, he came to realize that this did more than just give him a basal boost to his abilities, there were some more interesting and insightful tidbits as well.

    For example, when Leonel used his Internal Sight now, he felt that he was more sensitive. It wasn''t just that his range had grown explosively, but he felt like his attention to detail was far greater. If he used his Internal Sight to smell, Leonel felt that he was even better than most beasts at this point, and that was just one instance.

    So, when Leonel observed the changes to his body now, his attention to detail was far greater. He could see his blood moving through his veins and arteries, he could see nerve signals firing within his nervous system, he could even see the perforations in his bone leading to his marrow.

    As a result, the moment the energy entered his body, Leonel almost instantly understood what it did.

    It was identical to the energy he received from the Puppet Master. Though in far lesser quantity and quality, this energy was able to open up the path of bottlenecks that lay before him. Albeit to an very small extent, he felt the bottleneck to his Tier 5 Metal Body loosen just a small nudge, a nudge he might not have even noticed before.

    Leonel nodded to himself. ''So it''s like thisбн''

    There were many eyes trained onto Leonel. But this made sense. If they had to choose a person to display any sort of greed over, it would definitely be him. After all, the legend of Raylion had been firmly implanted into their minds for years already. But, Leonel didn''t pay them any mind as he turned to Aina.

    "It''s good stuff, though it won''t be very helpful for now. It''s like the Puppet Master energy."

    Aina nodded, understanding without Leonel needing to explain further.

    Force that loosened one''s future path as opposed to directly upgrading one''s strength was the most sought after. Though Leonel hadn''t bothered to ask the dictionary about it, this sort of Force was extraordinarily rare and could only usually be found after killing Variant Invalids.

    This fact alone should prove the level of rarity assigned to this Forceбн A Force named Life''s Breath.

    It was the rawest and truest form of Life Elemental Force. And, the fact that it was appearing in the Variant Zone of a Fifth Dimensional Bronze Organization just went to show that this place had evolved far beyond what even Valiant Heart knew it to be.

    Ignoring everyone else, Aina and Leonel walked forward together.

    Realizing that this hall would likely be an endless road of battle, Aina brought out her battle ax, her light steps making it seem that this Brazinger family Heirloom had the weight of a feather when it realityбн It was likely far heavier than even Leonel''s Heavy Domain Spear.

    Before the group could react to the movement of the couple, they had already taken down the next two guardians and had already moved on.

    "It feels good." Aina said softly after crushing the orb and allowing the Force to enter her.

    "You can''t just casually say that kind of stuff now." Leonel said ''seriously''. "Someone might take it the wrong way."

    Aina turned and gave Leonel a glare, but all she found was a man trying his best to stop his lips from twitching.

    Aina''s current voice was really too seductive. Anything she said could easily be taken out of context. Yet, simultaneously, she had a presence no one dared to blaspheme. It was an eerie combination that could drive a man wild.

    Luckily for Leonel, he didn''t mind lewding his own girlfriend, even if she did have the presence of an Empress.

    The one thing Leonel would never feel is inferior, he had always pursued Aina with his head held high. If she was an Empress, he would be an Emperor. Plus, someone had to put a baby in the Empress right? Of course it should be him!

    At that moment, the others seemed to have recovered, presenting a new problem to the group.

    With only two guardians appearing each time, but there being 12 of them, how exactly would they decide who battled?

    The logical choice would be that since practically everyone aside from Radlis and Sarrieth had come in pairs of two, they should allow a rotation of six with each pair getting a shot.

    But, this sort of logical and fair routeбн Would it really be accepted? Leonel had thought of it long ago, but he already knew it would be rejected by Raylion and Aphestus, so why would he waste his breath?

    As for majority rule? That only worked on the weak and those who thought of themselves as weak. And, obviouslyбн Raylion and Aphestus wouldn''t think of themselves in this way.

    As expected, when Leonel and Aina made it to the line of the third pair of guardians, a sharp wind pierced toward their backs.

    The couple simultaneously each took a step to the side, separating from each other by a measure as an arrow soared between their shoulders and splintered the forehead of a guardian in two.

    Leonel sent a casual look back to find a young man with features he seemed to recognize grabbing an orb out of the air. However, though Leonel recognized his features, he didn''t recognize the man himself.

    ''Family member? Cousin? Most likely siblingбн Balthorn.''

    Leonel''s mind completed the circuit in a split moment and realized that this person must be an elder brother of Balthorn''s. And, from the looks of it, he was a member of Bear Rose.

    For some reason, though he was clearly the Vice Leader, the Leader, a petite young woman only tall enough to reach his shoulder, seemed to differ to him. In fact, this Bear Rose ''Leader'' was among those struggling against the mountain pass'' pressure.

    Leonel couldn''t help but be intrigued by this dynamic.

 Chapter 746 - Glass Dome

    Chapter 746 - Glass Dome

    The arrow that had soared by Leonel and Aina suddenly rose back up and shot back, landing in Balthorn''s elder brother''s palm as though it had always been there.

    ''Telekinesis? Noбн This is a bit different from that. The control was specifically on the arrow tip. There''s no reason for that unless what he can control is limited to metal and metal alone.''

    Thinking back to Balthorn and her control over those massive and heavy steel balls, Leonel came to a realization.

    It was either that these siblings just so happened to awaken similar abilities. Or, this was related to the Lineage Factor of their family.

    It had to be remembered that the awakening of abilities was completely random, it was a gift given by the Universe and technically gave those with weak backgrounds a chance to rise up.

    As such, there was no shortage of individuals from powerful families who awoke abilities that were completely useless. In fact, Leonel had fought his fair share of battles where the losing party didn''t use their ability even when a loss was imminent.

    It''s clear that in that situation, it wouldn''t be a matter of hiding one''s trump card, but rather a case where this ''trump card'' was useless.

    The most common abilities were low level boosts to one''s physical attributes like strength or speed or eyesight or maybe hearing. Not all abilities had all the fancy bells and whistles Sael''s ability did, and most weren''t as useful as Leonel''s despite not having a tangible form.

    From Leonel''s deduction, Balthorn was likely born with a useless ability, which was why she didn''t use it even when her life was on the line against the Titan Hyena. As for her brotherбн Well, his control over their Lineage Factor was clearly much greater and had a much greater range. But, only time would tell if his ability was useless.

    Or, rather it would if Leonel hadn''t already used the dictionary to check everyone''s ability and knew for a fact that his ability was indeed ''useless''. But, his sharpened eyesight most definitely helped with his archery.

    At that moment, the second guardian fell. But, this one was taken by Raylion who had still not shattered his first orb.

    The tension in the group seemed to reach another level. No one seemed eager to allow Leonel and Aina to continue leading the group, but no one wanted to stand too close to each other either.

    Unfortunately, in such a tense atmosphere, one couldn''t possibly expect peace to last for longбн and that it didn''t.

    It didn''t even take much time at all. When the group reached the fourth pair of guardians, hell erupted.

    The moment they appeared, the Leader of Severed Heart, a man with an expression that seemed carved out of the purest ice cold, took action swiftly, a spear of lightning appearing before him and tearing a path toward the guardian.

    However, at that same instant, Sael seemed to want to make a move as well. Her wrist manifested several swirling petals. But, instead of becoming her melee weapons like last time, she seemed to have evolved them to become capable projectiles.

    The path of the lightning spear and seemingly dainty petals crashed, resulting in an explosion that ended up not injuring even a hair on the guardians.

    At that same instant, Balthorn''s elder brother moved again, but his action was impeded by Aphestus who also seemed to want in.

    But, Aphestus didn''t have any long ranged attacks, so he directly deflected the Bear Rose Vice Leader''s arrows before grabbing it out of the air.

    Clearly not willing to let such a thing slide, Balthorn''s brother let loose a rain of arrows, not giving Aphestus a chance in the slightest.

    In an instant, though only four were fighting, it essentially placed eight in a deadlock. Though the petite girl by Balthorn''s brother hadn''t moved yet, one would think that she wasn''t as simple as she looked, especially since Raylion had yet to take action.

    At the same time, Severed Heart''s Vice Leader was glaring daggers at Sael''s companion, seemingly only waiting for an opportunity to tear him to shreds.

    Leonel watched all of this with a helpless expression while Sarrieth and Radlis didn''t seem amped to take action.

    Seeing Leonel''s gaze from across the sparking lights of the battlefield, Radlis put two thumbs up, raising them to the sides of his pale face as he looked from Aina to Leonel and back again.

    Even though Aina was masked, he still couldn''t help but click his tongue. This woman was truly too pristine.

    Leonel was left speechless by this Radlis once again. If it was anyone else ogling Aina like this, he''d probably send a few arrows their way. But, this Radlis always seemed to be covered in a thin layer of fog. Leonel couldn''t tell if he was serious or not.

    Up to this point, none of Radlis'' actions seemed to add up.

    Leonel shook his head and chose to calmly observe the battle. Considering how long this corridor was, he was under no illusions that this would end any time soon. They might spend weeks, even months in this place.

    If they had to fight it out like this every time, it would take even longer. So, Leonel was under no illusions that he had to save everyone.

    These people were aware of the dangers and they were still fighting, he wasn''t their babysitter. If some got eliminated early here, it would be better for the atmosphere of the group.

    The best he could do for them was if one was close to dying, he would just throw them into a snowglobe to give them a chance. That was the best his kindness could give them right now.

    Leonel''s eyes began to wander. Even though his senses remained trained on the battlefield in case anything untoward could happen, he found that this hall was far more fascinating than he gave it credit for.

    Leonel''s pupils suddenly constricted.

    The glass dome above them had originally been flooded with sunlight. But, the moment the hall went dark, only illuminating a small light around the bronze statues, the sunlight had also disappeared.

    But now, with the sun gone, Leonel was suddenly able to see subtle patterns that the bright lights had obscured before.

    ''Those patternsбн?''

    Leonel flipped over a palm, bringing out a familiar ring.

    But, what he hadn''t expected was that the moment he did, he vanished, leaving just eleven youths behind.

 Chapter 747 - What the

    Chapter 747 - What the...

    Aina''s eyes widened. Her hand subconsciously reached out to grab at Leonel. But, by the time she had reacted and moved, her palm could only touch at empty air.

    Her brows creased beneath her mask, confusion coloring her face.

    There was nothing that Leonel kept from Aina. On the days they spent together, they meandered through conversation that usually lasted hours at a time. It could be said that the only thing Leonel had never told Aina were the words his Coach had spoken on that day.

    This was all to say that Aina had long since been aware of the existence of the ring and had just seen Leonel pull it out while no one was paying attention.

    Knowing this, though still worried about Leonel''s safety, it wasn''t to the point that Aina was plunged into a well of despair.

    After she took a deep breath, practically hypnotizing herself into believing that Leonel would be fine, she looked up, her eyes several shades colder than they were just a moment ago.

    If she had to face the ten who remained alone and without a partner, that was fine too.

    In her heart, though, she couldn''t shed a last stubborn and sinking feeling. However, this just filled her with the will to ventбн and she definitely wouldn''t be as merciful as Leonel.

    **

    As Aina was panicking, one could only imagine what Leonel was feeling.

    "FUCK! SEND ME BACK!"

    Leonel''s roar bellowed into a wide expanse of sky.

    Worry for himself? He never felt it. But, the idea of leaving Aina behind in that cesspool of human angst and ambition made his heart feel as though it was being lit on fire.

    "General?"

    Leonel''s head snapped in the direction of the voice only to realize that he was seated on a steed in the middle of a thousand strong army. His roar that shook the skies seemed to have awakened them all, however, the words Leonel spoke make the dreary atmosphere even worse.

    Even the General knew that this was a losing battle, why should they even bother to fight? Shouldn''t they just lay down their arms and give up now?

    Leonel''s rage had yet to dissipate. At first, he really didn''t have the mind to care who was calling out to him or if he was even being called out to at all.

    He had never thought the simple act of taking out the ring would result in this. To make matters worse, it was now stuck on his finger and he couldn''t even take it off if he wanted.

    However, Leonel soon realized that he had to calm down. No amount of roaring or rage was going to make this ring magically pop off, nor did this world seem prepared to listen to him.

    It was only after Leonel reached this infuriating conclusion that he finally decided to look around.

    The army he stood within was indeed a thousand strong. However, there wasn''t a single unifying identity to them in the slightest. In fact, they looked like nothing more than a group a ruffians. If they were holding hoes and plows, Leonel could easily mistake them for farmers rather than the warriors they were supposed to be.

    Beyond that, the horses they road, if they could be called that at all, looked as though they had been starved for several weeks. They had discolored patches of skin, their ribs were visible through their dull coats, and their legs seemed several measures too thin.

    Was this supposed to be a cavalry? Weren''t they better off on foot?

    Leonel had hardly finished this thought when his Internal Sight swept over the men once more. It was only then that he realized that beneath their cobbled together armor was sunken skin, malnutrition, and a vulnerability so keen they could hardly withstand the heft of their own weapons.

    ''What the hell is this?''

    "Generalбн?"

    Leonel looked over to the source of the voice, only to find out that this person was indeed talking to him. He seemed to be a young man, no older than Leonel himself. He had a nervous look hidden within his blue eyes, but his hands gripped at his sword so hard his veins threatened to burst.

    Leonel could see an almost pleading look in the eyes of this young man. Whereas the others only had fear, this young man had a small bit of hope.

    Gazing around once more, Leonel realized that of the army, only this young man stood almost level to him. Though he was a half step back as a sign of respect, he was nearly shoulder to shoulder with Leonel.

    ''Right hand man? Lieutenant maybe?''

    Leonel''s brows furrowed.

    Before he could truly understand, a rumbling began to sound in the distance. Though they were several kilometers away, they still seemed capable of making the ground quake. Their presence alone plunged Leonel''s army into a deeper bout of despair.

    Though they were so far away, with the improvement of his Internal Sight, Leonel could easily see them. What he saw, though, made him sigh.

    Compared to their army, this one was leagues above. Though they didn''t have high class and shimmering armor, their weapons were well kept, their steeds were well fed, and their bodies bolstered a strong health that rippled through their muscles.

    As though that wasn''t enoughбн their numbers were double their own.

    ''I need to get out of this place as quickly as possible.''

    At that moment, Leonel''s spear appeared with a flip of his palm as he jumped down from his horse. This sort of steed would only hinder him, not to mention the fact he hated riding horses.

    "DID YOU HEAR ME?!"

    Leonel''s sudden roar shook the warriors to his back again.

    "If this is the kind of heart you want to showбн that kind of spineless, cowering, effeminate garbageбн Just send me back, I want no part of it!

    "But, if you want to be men, if you want to defend your lands and protect your women and children, then raise your weapons!"

    Leonel''s roar echoed through the valley.

    On either side of them, tall walls of rock stood. There wasn''t a single place to go but forwards or backwards.

    However, backward is where their homes lay, it was where those they loved and cherished rested. Going backwards was not an option.

    The gaze of the blue eyed youth shimmered.

    "FORWARD!" Leonel roared, charging ahead, his body wrapped in golden light.

    If one looked upon the valley from above, it would feel as though one was watching a blazing laser of gold tear a path forward. It felt as though Leonel could cross hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye. His speed was undeniable, but his momentum was even higher.

    "What are you all waiting for?! CHARGE!"

    The blue eyed youth rose his weapon into the air, pointing it forward and kicking the side of his horse.

    The army surged forward like a tide. They had poor coordination and their formation was faulty, but, at the very least, a fire burned in their eyes.

    Leonel''s back was a like a fuel that lit their bellies.

    As for Leonel himself, though, he was inwardly shaking his head, wondering how he had gotten himself into this mess.

    As amped up as the soldiers following behind Leonel were, he himself just wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible, hoping that this would send him out.

    Unfortunately, no matter how powerful Leonel felt that he was nowбн He really wasn''t confident in taking down 2000 warriors at the same time, especially since they were all in the Fourth Dimension.

    The only reason Leonel shot ahead on his own like this wasn''t because he could do it alone, it was because he was the only one strong enough to disrupt this army''s formation before they reached his men. If he didn''t, this well-trained army would run through his like a knife through butter.

    Leonel shook his head. ''Is this another Zone? Why would it teleport me here? What the hell does it have to do with the ring?''

    Leonel really couldn''t fathom just what was happening. However, he had also never been in a Zone that could be continuously reopened for the sake of training future generations.

    That said, the Zone should still fundamentally follow its original purpose, right? A Variant Zone was supposed to be a Zone that allowed those who entered to benefit from things in the future. It appeared when a world was on the brink of collapse in order to give it a chance.

    Plus, this time, rather than coming in as himself, Leonel seemed to have been loaded in as some sort of pre-designed character? This wasn''t how it had been before at all.

    However, what did this have to do with that ring? And, what was maybe even more mind boggling was how Senior Lu got his hands on this ring to begin with.

    Leonel had to be very cautious with investigating Senior Lu''s background. After all, why would he be making such inquiries if there wasn''t anything suspicious going on?

    But, he hadn''t been able to catch anyone snooping around after his disappearance.

    That made Leonel conclude just one thingбн Maybe Senior Lu really had only stumbled into some luck, only to end up benefitting Leonel in the end?

    But was this even a benefit?! Leonel didn''t even want to be here!

    ''Dammit.''

    "Scan this place. How the hell do I get out of here?!"

    By now, Leonel was just a kilometer from the charging army, his annoyance becoming more and more palpable.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [Sub-Dimensional Zone detected: Valiant Heart]

    [Sub-Dimensional Zone grade: Quasi Silver]

    [Clear requirements: Valiant Heart]

    [Side Quest: Valiant Heart]

    [Side Quest: Valiant Heart]

    [Hidden Quest: Valiant Heart]

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Seed is warned to be wary of Valiant Heart ]

    Leonel almost tripped over and fell. What the fuck was this?

 Chapter 748 - Sorrow

    Chapter 748 - Sorrow

    Leonel didn''t have time to make sense of what he was hearing. He subconsciously felt that even if he had all the time in the world, it still wouldn''t matter.

    Somewhere deep inside, he subconsciously felt that his father was playing another practical joke on him. But, how could his dad possibly know that he would stumble into such a ring and be teleported to this place? Senior Lu was too insignificant of a character to be predicted by anyone and maybe this was simply what some called Fate.

    Practical joke or not, though, all Leonel knew was that the dictionary had lost its usefulness in this situation. He could only hope that he could finish things quickly or that the time dilation here bordered on excessive. He couldn''t afford to be here for as long as he had been in the Camelot Zone.

    Leonel''s figure flickered, his four meter long Wind Spear following in a stream behind his strike.

    The opposing army seemed stunned that a single man had led the charge all on his own. And, in fact, Leonel supposed right hand man was also beginning to panic. Though he had wanted Leonel to be fired up and lead the army well, this was a bit too much, no?

    However, it was already too late to call him back.

    The blue eyed youth hesitated. Trying to call Leonel back now would dampen the momentum of the army by a considerable bit. But, at the same timeбн wouldn''t'' Leonel''s death be even worse.

    Gritting his teeth, the eye lieutenant made a decision. However, just as he opened his mouth to speak, the situation abruptly changed once again.

    Illusory wings spread to Leonel''s back. As though the golden image of a heavenly Roc, his speed increased explosively.

    In one instant, he was still a hundred kilometers from the opposing army. In the next, he had appeared above their general, his spear jetting out like a meteor.

    The opposing General couldn''t even react before a spear had split through his brows.

    The battlefield fell into silence for just a moment. But, that was quickly ended by an explosion of fire that lit the air aflame.

    The opposing General''s head combusted until all that was left was ash.

    Leonel landed on the General''s still running steed, his steps unexpectedly light. His motion to kick the opposing General off before landing was so seamless that the horse didn''t even seem to realize that its owner had already been slaughtered.

    Leonel raised his head up to the sky and roared, billowing flames jetting out from his mouth as though to signal his victory.

    His army was stunned for a moment before they erupted. Their blood boiling to the absolute limit, they saw nothing but red. Their own roars echoed through the valley, their charge suddenly gaining organization and purpose.

    It was then that a slaughter was released.

    бн

    The battle ended not even an hour later. With Leonel leading the charge and taking on much of the pressure, they managed to survive. However, there was only so far motivation could get an army.

    Despite the victory, Leonel lost at least 50% of his men, leaving barely 500 remaining. And, though he expected the result to be like this, he was still very much in this world with no sign of getting out.

    Sighing deeply, Leonel shook his head.

    "Gather the scattered horses, don''t let them run far. Those that are able bodied will become our new war horses. Those that are too injured to be of use will be slaughtered and used for food.

    "Other than this, take spoils as you please."

    This army was clearly lacking in food and equipment. Though this was a hard fought battle and they had lost many, it ironically guaranteed that everyone would gain a large upgrade in this regard.

    Using the carriages the opposing army had brought along, they began to organize their loot. However, this was undertaken only after they dealt with their dead, giving each man a proper burial.

    Even though Leonel wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, he couldn''t help but feel the weight of these deaths.

    Ever since he had entered the Mayan Zone, Leonel had never been able to separate the lives from a Zone to those in real life. To him, whether the past, future or present, these were all people.

    He couldn''t help but feel that maybe he had been too rash. Maybe he should have thought of a different plan, a different approach that would have ended in more surviving.

    Logic told him that with the army already in the valley and the enemies charging forth, there was no other course of action to be taken. But, emotions seemed to rage through his heart.

    He was supposedly intelligent, right? Why hadn''t he even tried to think of anything else?

    And the truth was that he knew the answer to this. He knew exactly why he threw the lives of these men away without caring to look for another wayбн

    It was Aina.

    He was so worried about his own loved one that he neglected to care about the fact that these men had their own girlfriends, their own wives, their own children and mothers and fathersбн friends and grandparents, dreams and aspirationsбн

    Leonel clenched his fists, his jaw steeling.

    When they all finally returned to the small town they all called ''home'', it hit Leonel like a ton of bricks.

    Walls of women and children stood anxiously at the gates. They flooded the outer town limits, many of them camping and even more staying completely awake, unable to sleep until they laid eyes on their lovers, their husbandsбн their fathers.

    When they saw the army return in victory, a cheer that shook the town resounded. The walls quaked and the ground trembled.

    However, when the number they expected to return was reduced by half, the wails and cries were just as resounding.

    This sweeping sorrow, flooding the town like a monsoon, crashed through Leonel''s heart in waves.

 Chapter 749 - Small Home

    Chapter 749 - Small Home

    The men and women of this town had all been prepared to die. The threat they faced was too great and they were simply too weak.

    They knew that they should be happy simply for the sake of surviving, they should be grateful, thanking their lucky stars that they could see another day. However, how could pain be washed away by logic?

    "General?"

    The blue eyed youth always stood silently by Leonel''s side. Seeing him blankly staring at the pain and grief before him, he couldn''t help but check up on him.

    "Hm?" Leonel absentmindedly responded, his gaze never shifting.

    There was a little girl over there, no more than seven years old, clutching the blood stained scabbard her father had left home with.

    Not far from her, there was a woman. She had a young and youthful face. Though she wasn''t extraordinarily beautiful, she was very pretty, maybe even the prettiest within this small, malnourished town.

    Yet, tears streamed down her face endlessly, her sobs echoing as she grasped onto a necklace that hung from her neck with both hands.

    With every quiver her body made in her fit of sorrow, her dress shifted in the wind, making the baby bump she sported all the more obvious.

    On another side, there was an elderly couple. The old woman with deep grey hair trembled in her husband''s arms, her tears getting lost in the folds of her wrinkles.

    The eyes of the two were already murky with age, but they clutched their son''s leather armor between the two of them, their fragile bodies seemingly ready to be blown over by the wind.

    Leonel''s senses were too sharp. He didn''t miss a single story of grief, a single cry of pain, not a single tear not a single quiver. It was all seared into his mind and stored in a place he would never forget, leaving a mark he could never ignore.

    The blue eyed youth sighed again.

    "The pain they experienced would have been far worse if not for you, General."

    Leonel didn''t respond.

    Was that the metric he should be using? Especially when just hours ago, he didn''t even spare the lives and deaths of these people a single thought?

    Once again, logic seemed to tell him one matter, while his heart pulled him toward another.

    Leonel wanted to roar into the skies, but he knew that even if he did, he wouldn''t be able to vent his rage in the slightest.

    Suddenly, Leonel suddenly felt a tight grip on his wrist. He looked down to find that his blue eyed, right hand man had grabbed onto him.

    "Come on, General. I can''t let you wallow away in another bar all night after saving our asses. I''ll take you to meet my girl, you haven''t met her yet, right?"

    The blue eyed youth beamed.

    Leonel forced a smile and allowed himself to be pulled along. He didn''t know what he should be doing in this world, but he knew that wallowing in self pity wasn''t it.

    "Plus," The youth continued, "Our esteemed General can''t be the only one without a proper home to be greeted by, right? How embarrassing would that be?"

    The blue eyed youth''s laughter seemed to want to fill Leonel''s soul with light and hope.

    The two entered the town, traveling through its streets.

    Leonel noticed the shabby roads, the half broken homes, the filth and the poverty. It seemed that whether they camped out at the town''s entrance or not, the living conditions of these people truly wasn''t that much better. In fact, they might have been better off living in nature.

    However, what Leonel did notice was a large building at the center of the town. Compared to everywhere else, it was almost like a heaven, unblemished by the trash of this world. He couldn''t help but wonder just what it was.

    Soon, though, the blue eyed youth led Leonel to a modest little home of stone and wood.

    "It''s nothing much, but I managed to secure it with our military salary. That sum you lent me? This is what it went into!"

    The two entered the small home, only to hear a sudden cry.

    "Rollan!"

    A blur of blue leapt into the blue eyed youth''s arms. When this ''blur'' cleared, it became obvious that it was a petite youth lady who was about the same age as the two leaders of the town''s army.

    Seeing, her, Leonel realized that there was a hidden flower of this town. It seemed that Rollan was quite a lucky man.

    At the same time, Leonel felt relieved to finally know this young man''s name. With how familiar they apparently were with one another, it would have been too embarrassing if Leonel had to ask.

    "Elise, come, come." Rollan beamed. "This is our General and my very best friend."

    Leonel smiled in greeting.

    "Ah! My manners." Elise politely curtsied, her dress spreading outward that a blooming flower. "I was just getting preparations for dinner finished. In just about half an hour, everything should be finished. There''s more than enough for a plus one!"

    With those words done, as though a little bundle of energy, Elise skipped off to the kitchen under Rollan''s delighted laughter.

    Leonel suddenly felt a great peace observing this small home. Though he still felt like a third party observer to this world, he couldn''t help but think of how nice it would be if he and Aina could have such a life.

    If she never had to go through such trauma as a child, if she never lost her mother, if her father never disappearedбн Would they be able to be together like this? In a home they called their own, cooking side by side, laughing and joking with one another without a care in the world?

    He truly wanted this. But, he also knew how important revenge for her mother was to Aina. He knew that it gripped her and consumed her every waking moment.

    Maybe such a peaceful lifeбн They were never destined for.

    An hour later, as the trio was exchanging banter over a warm dinner, a heavy almost obnoxious knocking came from the door. What was more shocking though, was that this person didn''t wait for the door to be answered. Rather, it was very soon broken from its hinges.

 Chapter 750 - Yes

    Chapter 750 - Yes

    The house was very small to begin with. It only had a single room, a single bathroom, and the dining room, living space, and kitchen could all be considered to be one cobbled together homogenous zone.

    This was all to say that the trio had a very clear line of sight to the door. And, it was even more to say that it wouldn''t have taken any of them more than five seconds to reach and open it.

    Could there really be anything so important that it couldn''t wait five seconds?

    Leonel frowned.

    The moment the door crashed down, a large figure stomped in. No, maybe it was more accurate to say that this person looked quite large because of the heavy and somewhat flowery armor they wore. Though, their massive belly wasn''t helping.

    Leonel had seen his fair share of warriors to this point and there were some who could have large bellies and still be explosive athletes and powerful soldiers. Leonel''s own teammates were among them. His offensive lineman were essentially his body guards and in terms of strength, at least before the Metamorphosis, Leonel couldn''t match up to a half of them.

    However, Leonel could immediately tell that this person was most definitely not a warrior of any kind. The armor they wore seemed to be lined with Force Arts that gave his frail body the capability to move around and even exhibit the strength he just had to breakdown the door. This alone made it impressive. But this alone didn''t make this person worthy of fear.

    And yetбн The instant this individual appeared, Rollan and Elise shot up from their seats, saluting seriously. Even after several moments, they didn''t dare to raise their heads.

    The fat, armored made scanned the small home with a clear disdain painting across the narrowed slits of his eyes.

    From the beginning, he didn''t even care to check that everyone was showing him his due respect. After all, he already expected it. Was there even a need to question?

    "His Lordship Helyes has demanded the presence of The General. He questions why it is that an hour has passed since your return, yet there has still been no formal report sent to His Lordship''s manor?"

    It was only after speaking out words that seemed squeezed from the mouth of a weasel that the fat, armored man turned to the dining room table.

    At first, he nodded in satisfaction when he saw that Rollan and Elise still had their heads lowered in a deep bow. But, his face froze when he realized the Leonel was still sitting at his seat, his gaze scanning him up and down as though observing something inconsequential.

    At that moment, Leonel stood.

    "It seems that I will have to come back a later time. Thank you for your hospitality."

    The fat, armored man trembled with rage. But, when Leonel took a step toward him, he suddenly felt like a towering giant.

    Rollan''s expression changed. Though his head was still lowered, he had known ''Leonel'' all his life. That tone of his voice made it obvious that he was angry. He wouldn''t go and do something foolishбн. Right?

    Rollan''s expression changed. He wanted to call out, but if he did so, he might turn whatever wrath would be aimed toward Leonel, toward him and his wife as well.

    Rollan hesitated. However, in the end, he gritted his teeth.

    Raising his head before he received an okay from the fat, armored man, he stepped forward and grabbed Leonel''s arm seriously.

    Leonel was stunned. When he looked back and into Rollan''s eyes, he couldn''t help but shiver.

    That look. He hadn''t seen it in a long timeбн It was different from the reliance and trust Leonel had experienced that day after he saved the freshmen. No, it was a look of willingness to walk through the fires of hell together, a look Leonel had only seen from the few brothers he trusted the most in this life.

    "Don''t." Rollan said firmly.

    Leonel stayed silent for a long while.

    It was at the moment Rollan thought that he had gotten through to him that Leonel''s suddenly lashed out, punching Rollan squarely in the jaw and sending him sprawling to the floor.

    Elise''s small shriek sounded as she watched her husband tumble to the ground.

    Leonel fixed his sleeve as though washing Rollan''s dirty hands away and walked up to the fat, armored brute.

    "Hurry up." Leonel barked.

    "Youбн!"

    Before the fat man could say anything more, Leonel was already standing less than a step from him. It felt at that moment that thought Leonel was only a head taller, he might as well have been ten. It was like a mountain was weighing down on him from above.

    Fearing for his life, the fat man could only turn back, a sinister light flashing in his eyes. It was almost as though he could already see the image of Leonel''s demise.

    It wasn''t long before the small home fell into an eerie quiet.

    Elise scrambled to her husband''s side, tears falling uncontrollably down her delicate cheeks.

    "Why did he do this?!"

    Elise entered a state of half hysteria. The mixture of fear and seeing her love hurt like this left her not knowing how to react or feel.

    Elise was quite a na?ve and pure young woman. She didn''t seem to understand the danger of war, or she at least chose to be relentlessly optimistic about it. Why else would she be waiting with dinner prepared for Rollan while practically everyone else felt that the town was finished?

    Yet, because Rollan told her his best friend, The General, would most definitely succeed, she believed his word and even began to almost deify Leonel as well. But nowбн

    Rollan sighed deeply, wiping the blood from his lip.

    "Don''t blame himбн He did this for our sake."

    A flash of determination lit Rollan''s gaze.

    He reached out and grabbed is wife''s hand.

    "Eliseбн Are you willing to be with me in life and in death?"

    Elise froze when she heard these words, but soon her tears came spilling forward even faster than before.

    She buried herself in her husband''s arms, but her words were surprisingly clear and firm.

    "Yes."

 Chapter 751 - Crest

    Chapter 751 - Crest

    Leonel wasn''t very surprised when he was led to the manor he saw in the distance previously. However, he still couldn''t help but watch as the streets became cleaner, more well paved, better kemptбн

    It was as though he was slowly traveling into a new world, step by step.

    The houses grew larger, more elaborate. Guards began to show their presence more and more often. The number of luxuries seemed to skyrocket with every street he passed by.

    The most common marker of this wealth was weight. Overweight women and men seemed to be everywhere, chatting idly, drinking things the poor could never get and spitting out food the poor could never taste.

    Then, there was the holy grail of them all.

    The manor was four stories tall and just its front face was 50 meters long from end to end. At its doors, true guards stood, wearing the same armor as the fat man by Leonel''s side. Except, these guards were actually powerful, powerful enough that Leonel''s patience fell by another measure the more of them he saw.

    Where were these strong warriors when they fought that battle? Where had this equipment and armor they wore been? It can''t be that they stood here this entire time to protect a manor that was dozens of miles from the battlefieldбн right?

    "His Lordship has requested The General''s presence." The fat man spoke to the guards.

    Seemingly recognizing this man''s identity, even some of the guards gave him looks of disdain. But, toward these kind of people, Leonel didn''t particularly care if they sided with him or not. Ultimately, were they not here while men much weaker than them, far less trained, and far less fed fought in their stead?

    Who were they to feel disdain toward anybody?

    Leonel''s emotions fluctuated slightly. The moment his foot reached the top step, the marble cracked and splintered. But, he continued walking as though nothing had happened, passing by the guards without a greeting.

    Long after his back had disappeared into the manner -- the fat, armored man forgetting to follow -- the cold sweat that covered the backs of the guards could practically form a pool.

    бн

    The inside of the manor was as luxurious as one might expect. But, each and every item Leonel laid eyes on cause his mind to flash to another under nourished soldier, another poor steed they were forced to ride, another blunt sword they were forced to swingбн another weeping family member that was forced to grieve.

    Leonel didn''t need anyone to guide him. With his Internal Sight, the entire layout of the manor had already been reflected in his mind.

    With large strides, he pushed open two large wooden double doors to be greeted by an elaborate feast. If there was ever an incarnation of gluttony, Leonel felt that he had found it.

    Just for the sake of feeding what amounted to just eight people, there were numerous large bird and beasts, endless piles of fruit, two cakes that were at least a meter tall each, pitchers of juice that could all fill their own tableбн The spread was practically endless, each dish having an assigned servant of their own.

    Leonel could tell at a glance by the speed and pace these eight men and women ate their food with that it would be impossible for them to finish it all.

    Of the food they tasted, large amounts of meat remained on the bone, sandwiches lay with a bite or two taken out of them, juice cups were swapped between with the nourishing fluids within having been forgottenбн

    Every detail Leonel laid his eyes on made his expression calmer and calmer. Eventually, he became so placid that he didn''t even seem to exist anymore. As a result, no one seemed to notice he was here for several long seconds, allowing him the time he needed to thoroughly imprint everything he saw into his memory.

    "Ah, General. I''m quite disappointed."

    One of the eight men began to speak, a half finished chicken leg still being worked on by him.

    "Though you won this battle, I am not a very patient man. Not only was there no report of spoils given to me, my own General didn''t appear and made we wait over an hour before I was forced to send an attendee to retrieve him.

    "What do you think a Lord like me is to do with such disobedient subordinates?"

    Leonel didn''t respond as he stood at the doorway.

    "Hm?"

    The Lord looked up from his food to see Leonel wasn''t even looking at him. Rather, Leonel was looking up at a crest that hung from the wall.

    It was quite beautiful, truly.

    At the forefront, there was a silver shield with the image of a roaring lion etched onto it. To its back, there were two spears crossed, exuding a valiant aura of dominance.

    Across the bottom, a fluttering ribbon of words written in an odd, ancient language with rune-like lettering could be found. Yet, Leonel somehow understood what it said perfectly.

    ''The Valiance of a Warrior. The Heart of a Protector.''

    The words seemed to resonate with Leonel. But, he only felt more and more disgusted when he realized it was painted onto the wall of a person who couldn''t understand its meaning.

    Or maybe he did understand itбн And simply didn''t care.

    "Boy! Did you not hear the words of His Lordship?! Have you nothing to--?!"

    The shrill voice of an obese women was cut short by Leonel''s spear in her throat.

    The sound of a struggling gurgle brought the place to a halting silence before the screams of the attendees suddenly sounded through the hall.

    The guards manning the walls suddenly sprung into action, leaping for Leonel. But, they were dispatched with just as much ease, the last gaze they had of the world being those sharp, cold eyes.

    Leonel killed the gluttons one by one. In what felt like just a few seconds, he stood before the Lord.

    Grabbing his fat neck, Leonel raised him up from his seat.

    Foul smells began to waft off of the Lord. One part came from his poor hygiene, but the others definitely came from him soiling himself.

    "Yбн You can''t kill me! I was appointed by His Majesty himself! AGH!"

    Leonel''s spear shot through his heart.

    He watched on coldly as the Lord slowly bled out, his gaze becoming more chilling with each passing moment.

 Chapter 752 - Silence

    Chapter 752 - Silence.

    Leonel watched as the corpses fell before him. The screams of the attendees and the subsequent commotion of the manor all shook the city, yet he didn''t seem to be able to hear anything.

    He stared at Lord Helyes'' body as it slowly bled out before him. Even now, the man struggled to gasp and gurgle, his gradually dimming eyes still filled with shock.

    Even as he died, he couldn''t fathom the idea of someone killing him, he couldn''t wrap his head around how someone beneath him, someone he had appointed, no less, could possibly treat him in this way.

    When Helyes took his last, struggling breath, Leonel turned and walked out of the dining room, his gaze still suffused with coldness.

    Walking down the hallways, there were some guards who simply charged by him despite the fact he still wielded a bloody spear. Maybe in their minds, they still couldn''t wrap their heads around the idea of someone attacking their Lord either. So, when they heard such commotion and alarm, their first reaction was to understand the situation before taking action.

    As for the few guards with sense enough to realize that these matters were definitely related to Leonel, they received a whipping spear to the side of their heads, causing their brains to rattle within their skulls.

    The commotion of the city continued to grow. However, it soon became obvious to Leonel that not all of it was caused by himself. There was most definitely something else going on. But, even Leonel was shocked when he stepped out of the manor doors to find the source.

    At that moment, Leonel stood at the top of the manor''s marbled steps, his position unwittingly being right above the cracks his own feet had caused earlier.

    Down below, there was an accumulating surge.

    One would have thought that this was the result the movements of the Majesty Helyes mentioned before his death. But, Leonel knew that such a thing was far too quick. He had no idea who this Majesty was, but what he did know was that they couldn''t possibly be so close by and things couldn''t possibly be so coincidental.

    When the surge got closer, though, even Leonel couldn''t help but be stunned.

    He was correct. It really wasn''t this so-called Majesty. But the source was potentially even more shocking.

    A hodgepodge of men and women, even some Leonel would deem as children, all pushed through and into the noble district. Without a care for the risk to their lives, they clashed against the patrolling guards, their rage palpable.

    Compared to the shimmering armor of the guards they faced, their equipment was shabby.

    Many of them ran along with their bare feet, unable to afford shoes. Most wore rags that could barely cover their bodies. Some gripped makeshift weapons or kitchen knives so awkwardly that it became clear they had never done such a thing in their lives before.

    At the helm of this army was a young man Leonel recognized all too well. Even from so far away, Leonel could see the fury and determination that lit his eyes. But, what was maybe even more heart stopping was the fact his petite little wife followed right by his side.

    She too wielded nothing but a kitchen knife probably due to the fact any other weapon would have been too heavy for her. Her face was the picture of nervousness crossed with resolve, but the tears that simultaneously fell from her cheeks made Leonel''s coldness dissipate somewhat, an involuntary chuckle escaping his lips.

    This wasn''t because he was laughing at Elise''s weakness. Rather, he felt as though he was watching his little sister try her best to open a jar with her tiny hands. She squeezed and grunted, putting in all the effort her small body allowed. However, it only resulted in sniveling tears that made one want to protect her with all their heart.

    The resolve for such a woman to enter a battlefield like this one was beyond Leonel''s range of understanding. He didn''t even know if he himself had such resolve.

    Butбн What he knew for certain was that if he was Rollan, he most definitely wouldn''t have the resolve that would be needed to march into enemy territory with his wife by his side like this, knowing that he couldn''t possibly guarantee his ability to protect her.

    Was Rollan wrong for doing this?

    Leonel felt that the answer was too complicated. He had no idea.

    On the one hand, one had a duty as a husband. To protect one''s wife, one''s children, one''s familyбн In a lot of ways, keeping them out of danger in the first place was part of this responsibility.

    But on another, Rollan had a duty to himself, to continue to be that man his wife fell in love with, that man of pride and honor, of sacrifice and valiance. If he hid his family away and ignored all of this, could he had continued to do that?

    And then there was a third perspective. Didn''t one also have the duty to bring about the best life one could for one''s family?

    If the world you experienced everyday could be considered to be nothing but a living hell, a place where endless suffering was abound and every minute your family spent within it was more heartache than anything elseбн What would you do?

    Would you still have to protect the status quo? Would you still be doing your duty as a husband, a father, if you allowed your family to continue to exist in such a world?

    Where was the line? Which duty should you be most loyal to? Was safety the most important? Were your ideals the most important? Or was happiness the most important?

    As Rollan continued to lead the charge, his every step was like a hammer on Leonel''s heart. When the flood of makeshift warriors finally made it to the manor, they all looked up toward Leonel who hadn''t moved an inch and Leonel looked back toward them.

    A silence hung over them all. Even though the city still seemed to be alight with blaring alarms and screaming nobles, it still seemed quiet to them, for some reason.

 Chapter 753 - Three Months

    Feeling their gazes was more than just that. It wasn''t like what one would experience standing before a crowd and being expected to give a well thought out speech.

    Noбн It was far heavier than that. As though the burden of their hopes and dreams had suddenly been settled onto his shoulders, as though he was their light bearer, as though he was their only hope.

    It was a different kind of weight, one that would definitely crush the heart and soul of any man unworthy of it all.

    Rollan stood down below, holding onto the small, trembling hand of his wife. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through the space between them, landing on Leonel with a burning light, an endless fervor.

    He looked from Leonel''s face to the bloodied, four meter long spear in his hand. The crimson liquid dripped slowly from its tip, rebounding off of the marbled steps.

    The sound, slow and rhythmic, beat along with their hearts.

    "This is your choice?" Leonel asked.

    In return, silence was all he received.

    "Alright, then."

    The crowd of commoners erupted, their roars and cheers surging through the small town like a torrential wave. For the first time, the nobles began to feel some fear of their own, none of them daring to so much as peek out from their windows.

    **

    Over a month later, in a distant city that dwarfed the small town in size and stature, a man with a greying beard sat upon a throne, listening to a report expressionlessly.

    Though his beard was indeed greying, rather than giving him the look of an old, out of his prime man. It instead gave him an air of wisdom and confidence, even bolstering his looks to a level that could only be matched by other refined middle-aged men.

    "бн Your Majesty, Helyes'' death has been confirmed. According to reports, he lost his life at the hands of his General. Since then, the town has been gathered beneath the rulership of the General and has even begun to rapidly expand.

    "Rather than continuing to defend the border as they''re meant to, they''ve turned their weapons toward the Capital and have been steadily eating away at our Territory. At this point, seven town and two cities have already fallen."

    The King listened to this matter without much of a change in expression. However, the court ministers around him already began to bluster in rage before he, himself, got the chance to say anything.

    BANG!

    A man with a round belly smashed his fists down on an expensive wood railing. However, considering his stature and power, Leonel wouldn''t conclude that he was useless in combat like he had for the other nobles. In fact, this man was definitely quite dangerous, carrying with him strength that could rock the earth.

    "So much noble blood is on his hands! This scourge must be eradicated!"

    "Then why don''t you go lead an army to stop him? Hm? Let him see what the esteemed Mikael the Round can do?"

    Mikael shot a look of fury over. His title was Mikael the Sturdy, not Round. It was clear that someone was trying to humiliate him.

    When he looked over and so who it was, his fury only compounded.

    "You sure have a lot to say, Normand the Cuckold. How about you come over here and do it to my face?!"

    Normand was of much smaller stature than Mikael. Despite the fact he was in the King''s presence, he had reclined back in his chair, his feet laying up on a similar wooden railing to the one Mikael slammed. The only difference was that the two were on completely opposite sides of the royal court.

    Normand had long, flowing blond hair and shimmering green eyes. Everything from the shape of his jaw to the outline of his nose could be considered to be at the peak of perfection. He was truly a handsome man amongst handsome men. Even though he was slouched and his figure wasn''t clear, one had no doubt that he would match up in this aspect as well.

    Despite being insulted even more blatantly than Mikael had been, Normand didn''t react in nearly as enraged a fashion. In fact, he laughed as though the insult wasn''t about him at all.

    Those who knew the story behind this could only show a range of reactions. Some shook their heads, some ignored the situation entirely, but the majority snickered. It was clear that amongst nobles, Normand wasn''t well liked at all.

    Andбн his next words proved exactly why that was.

    "Ah yes, my wife-to-be was indeed snatched away by His Majesty at the behest of his favorite son. What can I say? I simply did my duty. It''s very amusing, even I laugh, I don''t mind if you do.

    "But, you know what I find even funnier? If any one of those ''nobles'' you''re crying and moping about right now were here, would you even let them lick the dirt off the sole of your boots? Do you even really care about them?

    "To you, mighty Dukes and Marquises, what are Barons and Earls worth? You only care because someone even lower than them is doing the slaughtering.

    "It can''t be that you''re all unaware of the atrocities they''ve all committed at the border, right? Having such ''nobles'' defend such important and volatile parts of the land was a mistake to begin with. But you never cared then, so why do you care now?

    "A failure all around, in my opinion."

    Normand yawned.

    In just about a minute, he had said more than enough to warrant public execution ten times over.

    He mentioned a taboo subject he wasn''t meant to. He insulted the sovereignty of the nobles and as such the Majesty who bestowed them this title. And finally, he insulted His Majesty directly by calling his rulership and policies a failure.

    Why this man was still alive with such a nonchalant attitude was beyond them.

    "Three months."

    The voice came from nowhere. It carried a baritone kind of majesty that couldn''t be ignored.

    Normand didn''t bother to move as two heavy set knights picked him up by the arms and began to drag him away. He really seemed too lazy to make any movements.

    His laughter rang through the courtroom. "See you all in three months!"

 Chapter 754 - Alexandre the Apex

    A silence fell over the courtroom. No one dared to breathe a word. Even Mikael, who should have been gloating, didn''t dare to say a thing. In fact, he took a seat, regaining his silence as though nothing had happened.

    Their King, Alexandre the Apex, was a man they all feared from the deepest recesses of their heart. When he spoke, the world listened. When he commanded, the world moved. However, sometimes, his inaction was the scariest of all.

    It had already been 12 years since Normand''s fiancижe was snatched from him. In these 12 years, Normand had probably only meant maybe a few weeks of them free, if that.

    In that time, he had never been allowed to die, forced to watch as the love of his life became a tool for another man, and a weapon for a King to exercise his authority.

    By now, every outburst Normand had was like a plea to have his head lopped off, a hope that one day he would stumble upon a word combination so foul and so pointed that Alexandre would finally have enough and put him to death.

    But, each and every time, The King would remain unmoved, passing down a sentence of time without so much as blinking. Then, he would continue about his duties as though absolutely nothing had happened, yet not a single person dared to say a word.

    It was as though all of them had been watching a session of torture for over a decade. The seed of fear planted within their hearts only seemed to grow with each passing day, a rational fear of their King being etched onto their souls.

    It took a special kind of sick and twisted person to so nonchalantly do what this King of theirs had done, and none of them dared to be the next.

    On a whim, their King had destroyed maybe the greatest talent their Kingdom had ever seen in Normand, just for the sake of proving a point and asserting his dominance.

    Then, still not satisfied, he continued to torture this young man who had done absolutely nothing wrong simply so that they would never forget just what he was capable of.

    This sort of manбн You shouldn''t ever get on his bad side.

    "Mikael."

    "Y-Yes! Your Majesty!"

    Mikael rocketed up to his feet, his belly seemingly made of steel as it didn''t bounce even a single time. However, that didn''t stop his attempt at keep his arms straight down his side from being laughable.

    "You will lead the expedition. I want this matter handled. Do not bother to come back unless it is."

    "Yes!"[]

    "You''re all dismissed." Alexandre said emotionlessly.

    The King stood and left the court room, leaving Mikael sweating buckets.

    The truth was that Mikael didn''t want this assignment. He had stood out for some brownie points, to get some nobles on his side. However, the rumors of the rebel army were too striking to ignore.

    Of course, it wasn''t that he feared Leonel. This was far from the truth. He felt that he could even crush Leonel with ease if that was all there was to it. The issue, though, was that many believed that these things weren''t so simple.

    Before this rebellion began, there were reports of the enemy Oryx Tribes making moves. Though they had only sent their human subordinates, it was definitely one of their stronger troops.

    Yet, somehow, this General and a ragtag group of commoners had defeated them? How could this not smell fishy?

    The consensus was that the Oryx were using this rebel General to sow discord within their Kingdom. As such, this rebel army wasn''t so simple. They not only had a charismatic leader, but they were receiving support form an enemy even Alexandre the Apex could only share land with.

    This sort of situation was something Mikael wanted to stay far out of. Or, at the very least, he wanted to share the burden with numerous nobles so that he didn''t have to take the brunt of the blame. But, he just had to open his mouth and call Normand a cuckold.

    Why did you think Normand was laughing so uproariously? It was because he not only gained another chance to take a dig at the King he hated with all his being, but he knew that he was dragging Mikael down with him.

    The moment the words ''cuckold'' left Mikael''s lips, his fate was sealed. Now, he had no choice but to succeed.

    Mikael looked around, but not a single noble dared to look him in the eye.

    Quite ''noble'' indeed.

    бн

    Alexandre walked through the castle with a dull expression. He wore fiery red robes and had a single silver shoulder guard over his left shoulder. It gave him the dignified air of a Warrior King although he hadn''t been on a battlefield in decades.

    Alexandre pushed open a door.

    "Royal Father!"

    A young man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties immediately stood.

    The location was a small garden that contained a concrete space for sword practice. Considering the drenched state of the young man and the numerous felled sparring partners nearby, filling the air with a bloody scent, it was clear that he had been taking advantage of this training area until his father arrived.

    In the distance, a young lady sat by a stone fountain. Her eyes quite dead, she stared off into space without a word and seemed to show no intention of greeting the King.

    "Come with me. Bring the girl." Alexandre said expressionlessly.

    "Yes!"

    The Prince, Raoulin, didn''t hesitate to follow his father''s order. Alexandre''s steps were already far away by the time the words drifted to his ears, but he didn''t dally.

    Without much care or affection, Raoulin grabbed the girl''s tender arm and pulled her up, dragging her along with him. Seeing that she didn''t seem to want to move, he threw her over his shoulder, uncaring that the location he had grabbed her arm at had already begun to bruise.

    Not long later, Raoulin found his father''s back waiting by a set of stairs that headed underground.

    Seeing Raoulin''s arrival, Alexandre began to descend.

 Chapter 755 - Godhood

    Raoulin didn''t say a word as he followed his father. Even though he had been to this garden almost every day of his life without ever seeing this staircase, he still didn''t say anything.

    He knew his father well. Even as his son, he didn''t dare to take a single step out of line.

    His father spoke when, and only when, he wanted to. No question, no words, no insult, could ever budge him from his own pace of doing things.

    However, the more Raoulin saw, the more he found it difficult not to say a word.

    The underground space was impossibly vast. At first, Raoulin thought that it must span at least the whole garden. Then he became certain that it spanned at least the whole Castle. But, by the end, he wasn''t even certain if even the entire Royal City was as large as it.

    There was nothing but a large grey expanse held up by pilar that muster have been at least a hundred meters tall and ten meters thick. Just standing by one of them could make one feel like an ant without goal or purpose. And, just walking within such a large space made one feel as though you would never reach your destination.

    Yet, though it took several hours, they eventually did.

    From start to finish, as though to allow his son to soak everything in, Alexandre never increased his pace. He took one step after another, his feet perfectly spaced and the cadence of the to of his shoes resonating in perfect, controlled harmony.

    It was then they reached those doors, those very doors that Raoulin would never forget so long as he lived.

    Compared to the pillars they weren''t very tall, just ten meters or so. Yet, their presence was so much larger that Raoulin felt as though he was being suffocated.

    The doors were the only color in this large expanse of grey. They were cast in a heavy, solid bronze. Even without trying to open them personally, Raoulin felt that he would never have the strength needed to open them alone.

    On its face, ancient runes were drawn across it. The more one stared at it, the more it felt like one''s vision was blurring.

    Raoulin lost himself in the runes, suddenly finding himself imagining the start of the world.

    There was nothing but endless darkness until a hand seemed to reach down from nowhere and began to form things as it pleased.

    Raoulin couldn''t even last through the formation of the first star before his brain practically combusted, his nose erupting in a rain of blood that almost made him pass out completely. The only reason he didn''t was because he knew what would happen to him if he failed here.

    His father could always have another son, but he only had this one chance.

    Swaying, Raoulin managed to stay on his feet, his jaw trembling as he grit his teeth. He bit down so hard that a tooth of his cracked in half, almost splintering completely through. But, it was this pain that managed to keep him awake.

    Without a word, nor even a faint acknowledgement, Alexandre placed his palms on the doors and pushed hard.

    At first, all Raoulin saw was a blinding light. But, what he saw next almost made him drop the girl slinked over his shoulder.

    His father, the man he respected most in his life, the King who seemed to hold the world in the palm of his handsбн

    Dropped to his knees and kowtowed with such fervor that the banging of his forehead against the ground made Raoulin feel as though his ears were ringing.

    Raoulin stood frozen, his gaze traveled up and into the room, only to find that within the entire expanse, there was nothing but a singular silver tablet.

    It sat upon a pedestal, a river of flowing energy hovering around it without a sound. There was nothing present to even acknowledge his father''s kowtowing.

    Moments later, Alexandre stood.

    "Give me the girl.", Alexandre didn''t say anything about his son having to kowtow. Instead, he began to speak of things Raoulin didn''t know how to accept.

    "In this world, every being is separated by their worth."

    Alexandre placed the girl down on an altar before the silver tablet, stripping all of her clothes off. Yet, even to this point, the girl hadn''t reacted with even a flinch. It was only at that moment that Raoulin understoodбн He was the only one who was here for the first time.

    "This world that we live in, is nothing more than the Fifth Dimension. However, even then, most who live upon it are just of the Fourth Dimension because even amongst other Fifth Dimensional worlds, we are weak."

    Alexandre brought out a blade, cutting into the young girl just above where her womb would be. One would have expected crimson blood to flow out, and that it did. However, there were very clear specks of gold mixed within that caught Raoulin completely off guard.

    These specks of gold poured down the side of her hips and between her legs, pooling around the alter. However, after reaching a certain point, even as blood continued to flow, the pooling blood didn''t continue to rise. Clearly, it was being siphoned somewhere.

    "Compared to the Fifth Dimension, those of the Sixth Dimension are Gods.

    "Compared to the Sixth Dimension, those of the Seventh Dimension are Deities.

    "Compared to the Seventh Dimension, those who could step into the Eighth were Beings beyond comprehension."

    At that moment, the silver tablet began to glow with a slightly crimson light that slowly grew more golden.

    "To many, this is where the limit of the universe is. Not everything has to end in beautiful, round numbers. The world is often not perfect. After all, there is no real tangible thing as the First Dimension. At the very least, it hasn''t been properly observed.

    "As for the Second Dimension, some say that word of mouth and stories can be placed into this category, but even then, the consensus is not there.

    "It could be said that the first Dimension to truly exist is the Third and the last is the Eighth. Even the strongest existences in our Dimensional Verse is of the Eighth Dimension, and all of them are recluse entities that haven''t appeared in countless epochs.

    "An awkward Five States of Beings, Five Steps to ascend to the true Apex, to true Godhoodбн

    "Butбн There is still one more. The true overlords of all that there is, the only existences truly worthy of being called God, the Creators. Or as some would like to call themбн

    "The existences of the Ninth Dimension."

 Chapter 756 - God

    Raoulin could hardly understand the words his father was speaking. But, each and every one weighed on his heart like a booming war drum.

    The Ninth Dimension? Even to those of the Morales family it was nothing more than a mythical existence. In fact, even to those of these ever elusive Eighth Dimensional families and organizations, such a level doesn''t exist, though many have tried to push past these limits.

    There was a reason why Earth, despite ''only'' having Eighth Dimensional potential, is still seen as a hot commodity by the Dimensional Verse as a whole.

    To put these matters into perspective, as far as the Dimensional Verse laymen are concerned, the Seventh Dimension is the absolute highest. Existences like the Morales family, then, are seen as being the pinnacle.

    It is only organizations on the Morales family''s level, at this ever illusive Seventh Dimension, that understand there is at least one more step to take. But to them, whether these Eighth Dimensional family''s and organizations exist is still a mystery!

    Now one can properly understand just how ridiculous Alexandre''s words were. He spoke of an existence a step beyond even what the Morales family could prove existed as though he had personally witnessed it all with his own eyesбн Yet, he himself admitted to the fact that he was nothing more than a King of one of the weakest Fifth Dimensional worlds in existence.

    Raoulin couldn''t think so deeply about these things. He didn''t have enough scope of understanding to grasp what his father spoke about. In his mind, this world was the only one and his family was the strongest.

    Butбн This time it seemed that reality had played a joke on him.

    Raoulin looked down at the girl who was meant to be his wife. She had a wound right above her womb cut open, flowing out with ever goldening blood. However, she stared at seemingly nothing blankly, her body being almost lifeless.

    If Raoulin couldn''t understand by now, he would be too much of a fool.

    His father hadn''t given him Normand''s fiancижe for the sake of making him happy, nor was it because he had begged and pleaded for it. His father had given him this woman only because it would be more convenient for him to use her like this.

    What reddish gold blood was flowing out of her at this moment was clearly very important to this tablet. However, none of this explained what this tablet was and what it could do.

    Raoulin opened his mouth to ask, but he hesitated. He really couldn''t afford to make a mistake at this critical juncture. There was a reason his father hadn''t shown him this until just now. For some reason, Raoulin was certain that if his performance wasn''t perfectбн

    He would never walk out of here alive.

    Cold sweat began to drench Raoulin. His skin became tingly and the room''s temperature seemed far hotter now than it had been in the past.

    Without even understanding what he was doing, he kneeled down, smashing his forehead against the ground toward the tablet. His kowtows were even more resounding than his father''s, even to the point where blood trickled down and stung his eyes and salted his lips.

    For the first time since they entered, Alexandre looked back. It was just slight, but if one had been looking closely, it seemed as though two slits just beneath his eyes had closed at that exact moment.

    "Come here."

    This voice was almost like the call of an angel to Raoulin. He realized then that he had finally done the right thing and managed to transverse this tribulation.

    Soon, father and son stood before a bleeding young woman in the nude.

    Raoulin took a deep breath, suddenly feeling as though his body was invigorated. The bottleneck he had been at for years suddenly shattered and he stepped into Tier 8 of the Fourth Dimension.

    The Prince stood frozen in shock. He had only breathed in a small bit of the air this tablet had to offer, but he had broken through so easily?

    Raoulin looked toward his father but didn''t have the words to say. He might look like he was in his mid-twenties, but he was way older than this. Even though he trained hard, he still found it difficult to reach this step, something that pissed him off especially when everyone seemed to want to compare him to Normand.

    Yet, this tablet had done exactly thatбн?

    Raoulin''s eyes glowed with a fervor even beyond his father''s.

    "Soon, we will be able to call down the Gods. The True Gods." Alexandre said, his voice quivering just the slightest bit. It was imperceptible to most, even his own son. "When that day comes, this world will be oursбн

    "But that will only be the very first step. With God''s strength, we will claim the Dimensional Verse for our own."

    If Leonel had been there, these talks would have sounded eerily familiar to his ear.

    **

    "General, news will have reached the Capital by now and they will definitely be preparing countermeasures. There''s a good chance that they may send one of their Titled Knights."

    Within a military tent of beast skin, Leonel sat listening to a report given by one of his scouting units. The young man was dressed like an assassin, but also wore goggles over his eyes as he squinted toward a report.

    Over the past month and a half or so, Leonel had gathered up many subordinates. But, it could be said that the ones he trusted with the most tasks were Rollan and this young orphan everyone called Goggles.

    "A Titled Knight, huh?" Leonel smiled. "How powerful are they?"

    "Powerful. Each and every one is at least Tier 7 with the strongest being Tier 8. But, that''s not what''s important. There are plenty of experts on that level in the Kingdom which is why I keep saying we''re all going to die.

    "You know, if everyone just listened to me, we could still turn back right now and trek into a distant mountain somewhere and never return. How would they ever find us? At worst, we could just live off nature for the rest of our liбк"

    "Alright, alright, Goggles. Get back to the point."

    He really was a greatly talented young man. Too bad he was afraid of everything.

 Chapter 757 - Goggles

    After being cut off before he could go on yet another emotional tirade, Goggles could only mumble under his breath about building an HR department and how much abuse he was suffering through.

    Toward this, Leonel could only shake his head while the meeting tent burst into shorts spurts of hidden chuckles.

    "бн Titled Knight isn''t just a randomly handed over title. In other societies, a Titled Knight is still beneath the lowest noble. Even a Baron could easily look down at them. However, to Alexandre the Apex, his Titled Knights represent something completely different.

    "He''s able to breathe power to their Title, giving them a buff they can use in battle. In addition, beneath the flag of a Titled Knight, their army gains the same buff, making them extraordinarily powerful."

    Leonel finally perked up with interest.

    "An ability?" He asked.

    "Yes. Alexandre the Apex has the ability to breathe power to a word. Due to the fact he is a King, he can also mobilize Royal Force to fuel his ability and make it far stronger. As such, within the borders of the Kingdom, his Titled Knights are even more powerful."

    ''Royal Forceбн'' Leonel narrowed his eyes.

    This name was the one used by this world. However, Leonel had already learned about it long ago despite not having heard it referred to with this title.

    This so-called ''Royal Force'', wasn''t Royal at all. Or, rather, it wasn''t exactly related to the Kingdom. It was more likely that Alexandre had spread this myth so that he could establish his sovereignty.

    But, the truth was that this Royal Force was actually World Force. World Force was a strength one gained access to so long as you wielded at least a quarter of a World Spirit. It was similar to Universal Force in that it gave a strong boost to one''s overall techniques, however, there were some differences.

    For example, World Force could be used to directly strengthen one''s ability. But, Universal Force couldn''t be used so flexibly, especially when it was anchored to one''s comprehension of the Universal Cycles.

    This said, World Force also had its own weaknesses as well. For one, it was capped by the potential of one''s world whereas Universal Force''s only limit was one''s comprehension. And second, it became weaker the further from one''s World one got.

    "I see." Leonel nodded. "Well, here''s the plan."

    Seeing Leonel go from listening to his concerns to listing off their next plan of attack left Goggles feeling like he should find a wall to bang his head against. Was his explanation not clear enough?! They should be running!

    "We''ll split the army into four. We''ll attack here in exactly three weeks."

    Leonel pointed toward a location on the map.

    "A week later we will attack here. Two weeks after that here."

    Leonel continued to point.

    "I will personally head every battle. Don''t worry about how I plan on crossing so much distance, just trust me.

    "Once those attacks are completed, the first army will take this routeбн the second thisбн the third thisбн And will all meet with the fourth army exactly two weeks from now.

    "That day will be when their Titled Knight falls. Alright, everyone is dismissed. Rollan, you will lead the fourth army. Concealment is your main objective until the second month arrives. Goggles, stay here for a moment, I have a task for you."

    Goggles groaned. "бн More danger for me, yay. How could I not be excited? Torture me more, daddy. Clearly, I''m a masochist for staying here."

    Rollan laughed uproariously, patting Goggles'' shoulder.

    "You''ll be fine. Stay safe out there."

    All the military officials shuffled out. Not a single one of them seemed to even care for Leonel''s plan. It was either they truly couldn''t be bothered, or they had already built a trust in him that was irrefutable.

    "Goggles. Your task is the same as always, you''re the key cog here."

    Goggles rolled his eyes. Of course he was.

    "You want to take advantage of their slow network to hit them from the back, right? But the only way to make sure information doesn''t spread too fast is little old me?"

    Leonel grinned. "Well isn''t that so?"

    Goggles glared at Leonel. "And my reward?"

    "What do you want?" Leonel laughed.

    "I want to marry my goddess, Elise!"

    Leonel gave Goggles'' forehead a karate chop. This young man could never stop screwing around. How was he supposed to promise him Rollan''s wife?

    "Fine, fine!" Goggles slinked off, his shoulder exaggeratedly slouched. "I''ll just slave away for the cause until one day I die on a nameless battlefield, no one to remember my name, and no woman to call wife.

    "OH! DESTINY! Why do you treat me so?!"

    Leonel shook his head, laughing.

    Goggles was indeed an important part of their operations. He had a sensory type ability, but it was quite unique. It was similar to Leonel''s simulation ability, except for the fact it all occurred on its own without conscious thought.

    This ability allowed Goggles to not only sense a problem before it happened, but also understand exactly what sort of cause and effect would force it to occur. This thus allowed him to stop this ''problem'' before it even began.

    The only drawback to this ability was that Goggles needed enough foundational information. The broader his target, the more vague his understanding of cause and effect was. The more focused his target, the sharper his senses became.

    At this moment, Goggles only had one task: Take out all the messengers of the opposing Kingdom. Not only that, but he had even one extra step of specificity, he only had to focus on messengers carrying information about the movements of their armies within a very specific timeframe. His job was essentially to make their information late and dated.

    For Goggles, this sort of focused and specific task practically made him like an oracle who could gaze into the future. When Leonel first met him, he almost mistook him for a savant.

    This kind of chess pieceбн It was the kind any King would kill to have.

    Yet, as ''cowardly'' as Goggles was, he had chosen to join their cause.

 Chapter 758 - Nice To Meet You

    Chapter 758 - Nice To Meet You

    Mikael walked around with dark lines on his forehead, cups, tables and other furniture smashed all around him.

    As though this wasn''t bad enough, he had torn a hole in his military tent out of rage and a few of the comfort women were currently trying to sow it back together. But, this only pissed him off even more.

    The corpse of one of these women was lying on the ground, having been killed by him in a fit of rage. But, none of them dared to move her body, they could only step over her as they continued their attempt to sow the tear shut.

    As though by design, this of course managed to piss Mikael off even more. Why wouldn''t they stop sniveling and crying? It was just one dead woman and now they suddenly couldn''t take it? They were fine with servicing a dozen men during any given night, but murder was where they drew the line?

    Clearly, in his ridiculous tirade, Mikael had completely forgotten that most of these women weren''t here by choice.

    "Fuck!"

    Mikael ripped one of the women away from the tear, ironically making it even wider as she subconsciously grabbed out.

    "Dammit!"

    The woman was quickly bent over a table, her dress being torn away and a sudden cry leaving her lips as she felt something enter her.

    Mikael began to vent all his frustration, clearly not caring that he was using far too much strength.

    "Sir Mikael."

    At that moment, an attendant walked into the tent. Despite seeing the woman pressed into the table and Mikael furiously humping her from the back, he didn''t have much of a change in his expression as though he was very much used to seeing such a scene.

    "What the hell is it?"

    "We''ve gotten news of their movements."

    Mikael''s eyes went red with rage.

    "Oh yea? We''ve gotten more word, is it? What about the first time at the Alpes? The second time at the Treeant Forest? Why am I spinning my army around in circles just to find cities they''ve abandoned and hardly touched?! Are you fucking with me?!"

    The woman below Mikael whimpered. The hand Mikael used to press her face into the table exerted too much pressure, making it impossible for her to breathe.

    "This time we''ve done more due diligence. We are certain that this information is at most three days old. We will most definitely be able to intercept them if we move now. From my understanding, it seemed that the net they cast to stop our messengers finally showed a flaw. This time, we''ve got them."

    Mikael squeezed and threw the woman he had bent over to the side. She gasped for air like a fish out of water, scrambling to return to her work mending the tent''s fabric.

    "Why didn''t you say that from the very beginning?!" Mikael roared. "We''re moving out!"

    **

    Mikael road a magnificent steed. It had a muscular body that seemed pumped of steroids and flowing hair that made up its mane and covered its hooves. It almost looked like it was galloping on air with the way it moved.

    The army tore through the plains.

    "I don''t like this valley, circle around it!" Mikael roared.

    Even though Mikael seemed hot headed, he was still a general with decades of experience. He refused to be led by the nose. He would be cautious whenever there was an opportunity to do so.

    Circling around the valley would at most add half a day. Rather than harming them, this would only help. Instead of arriving in the morning, they would be arriving in the afternoon. If they managed to catch the rebel army mid siege, this ''war'' was as good as over.

    However, what Mikael didn''t expect was to have to pull the reins of his horse, forcing himself to come to a grinding halt, barely a day later.

    Before them, a river that had never appeared before had suddenly appeared as though a god reached down and created it on a whim.

    It wasn''t very wide, just five or so meters. It probably wasn''t very deep either, maybe a meter or two at most. Yet, for an unprepared army like theirs, it was enough to bring them to a screeching halt.

    Go around? They had no idea how this river appeared here in the first place, just suddenly appearing at the end of a forest of sparse trees. Without knowing this, how could they even make such a decision?

    Was the only option to go across? But if they were forced to cut down some trees to build a bridge, they would add another half day to their journey. By then, they might as well have not gotten the message on time at all.

    If they tried to brute force their way across, it would be too easy to get caught with their pants down.

    It was exactly then that Mikael heard something he least wanted to hear at this moment.

    "CHARGE!"

    Mikael''s expression changed.

    His neck snapped back, suddenly realizing that an army was approaching from his back.

    ''How the hell did they get behind us?!''

    Mikael froze. ''The valley?!''

    He had chosen to go around. But, what if there was an army hiding within the hole time, waiting for him to make exactly that decision and prepared to pounce on him?

    If he went into the valley, he was finished. If he went around the valley, he was finished.

    "Cross the river!" Mikael roared.

    But, as soon as his command fell and began to be acted upon, the sound of arrows whistling through the wind came from the other side of the river.

    Hiding within the widely spaced trees, archers Mikael hadn''t even noticed before suddenly made their presence known.

    "FUCK!" Mikael roared, charging his horse through the shallow waters to make it to the other side. He would hack these archers to pieces!

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa, now. I can''t let you do that."

    In a streak of golden light, Mikael suddenly found his path blocked by a boy who was young enough to be his grandson.

    Leonel smiled lightly, holding a spear in his hand.

    "Mikael the Sturdy, right? Nice to meet you."

 Chapter 759 - No Choice

    Chapter 759 - No Choice

    The instant Leonel''s greeting fell, so too did his spear.

    Mikael''s expression changed, reacting quickly. He was a veteran of battle after all. And, as far as he was concerned, Leonel challenging him on foot while he sat atop his horse was one of the most foolish decisions he could have ever made.

    Mikael pulled at his reins, pulling a massive hammer from his back and using the momentum of his horse reeling back and stamping down to swing with all his might.

    But, as though he had seen through Mikael''s ploy from the very beginning, the trajectory of Leonel''s spear had already shifted, its long, flexible body snapping in the air at a flick of his wrist and shooting through to the steed''s falling throat like a meteor.

    With how things were now, the momentum of the horse''s stomp would only help Leonel sheer apart its throat. In fact, its current situation was no different to have jumped into the air for an attack despite the fact its back hooves were still on the ground. There was no way for it to change its trajectory.

    However, even Leonel was surprised by the result.

    "Sturdy."

    As though enveloped by a holy light, man and beast accepted a pillar of blessings from above.

    In that instant, Leonel''s spear reached the black steed''s throat, prepared to sheer it apart completely. But, what he actually found was a sturdy steel wall.

    Leonel''s brows shut up. With swift steps he retreated.

    The heavy swing of Mikael''s hammer left his hair whipping about, his clothes even threatening to shatter beneath the wind pressure alone. The shave had been so close that Leonel could see the hammer''s body pass a mere centimeter from the tip of his nose.

    Leonel didn''t panic. He felt that that was at best a temporary invulnerability. There was no way an ability could so casually block such a strong strike from him. The issue wasn''t just how strong his strike had been, but also the quality of his weapon.

    There was no way for a Quasi Bronze weapon to be so easily dealt with by a barrier. The most logical explanation that this was a temporary matter. The amount of energy it would take to sustain such a thing would be too great.

    And, Leonel was exactly right. He analyzed the situation perfectly.

    The instant Mikael''s swing missed, he had already shot forward again, pressing forward knowing that such a heavy weapon couldn''t be recovered so easily.

    The follow through of Mikael''s swing didn''t throw him off balance, but he was definitely in no position to attack right this second.

    In that split moment, Leonel''s spear struck out a dozen times in the blink of an eyes, an explosion of [Meteoric Impact]''s raining down on the steed and Mikael.

    As though crimson roses were blooming in skies, they opened up a current of red and black, covering the duo whole.

    It looked as though no one could survive such a thing, but Leonel still explosively retreated the moment he finished. And, it was exactly at that moment that Mikael and his steed leapt out from the flames, flames licking at their armor but ultimately leaving them unscatched.

    Mikael raised his hammer to the sky, roaring with all his might. For a moment, it seemed as though his mighty shout would collapse the sparse forest around them.

    All around him, his men were falling like flies. He couldn''t do anything about the archers sniping them down even though he had crossed to the other side of the river, nor could he do anything about the surging army pincering them from the back, at least not directly. But, that didn''t mean that he would take this lying down.

    "I am a Titled Knight of His Majesty Alexandre the Apex! I am Mikael the Sturdy! I have Legs of Iron! Arms of Steel! And a Heart of Stone! My defenses are Eternal!"

    Mikael''s army roared to match his words. "ETERNAL!"

    Shimmering pillars of light descended upon the whole army. Each and every man seemed to gain immunity for a moment. Some used it as an opportunity to charge across the river, others turned back, facing the enemies toward their back line.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. ''It seems that though the invulnerability was indeed temporary, I underestimated the buff to their defense.''

    Leonel couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. This buff from just a single Title Knight under Alexandre was already enough to put his Metal Body to shame. What a fascinating ability indeed. If this was what the Sturdy title could do, what exactly did Apex do?

    Leonel didn''t realize it, but for some reason he was eager to see.

    Dodging swiftly backward, Leonel nimbly leapt out of the way of Mikael''s swinging hammer. The Titled Knight left absolute devastation in his wake, chasing after Leonel with an undying fervor.

    Every time Leonel''s spear snaked outward, making contact, he would barely pierce a centimeter or two of flesh, resulting in what was nothing more than superficial wounds to a man and beast so powerful.

    The worst part was that Sturdy seemed to have an exceptionally high Elemental resistance. Even with a perfectly timed [Meteoric Impact], the damage was nothing more than a bit of charred skin.

    Leonel had a feeling that this wasn''t just about the sturdy ability, but was definitely related to the armors Mikael and his horse were wearing. He had been intrigued by it ever since he saw that fat man at Rollan and Elise''s home. But, apparently, that had been nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.

    Golden lights enveloped Leonel''s body as he shifted from side to side. He slid with ease through the forest, and though the trees were as much as ten meters apart most of the time, Mikael was clearly not having as easy a time. For people moving as fast as the two of them, what was a ten meter distance worth? It felt like he was forced to circle around another every exchange.

    However, Leonel likewise was making no headway. And, judging by Mikael''s current battle style, he wasn''t worried about a time limit for his ability either.

    ''бн I guess there''s no other choiceбн''

 Chapter 760 - Fall

    Chapter 760 - Fall

    Leonel flipped his palm over, causing his spear to vanish.

    Mikael seemed to want to press his advantage the moment he saw this. He didn''t believe that Leonel was giving up, but that didn''t matter. All that did matter to him was that this was a chance to finally end this battle.

    Though Leonel had seemed to survive so long because of his speed and agility. Mikael could tell that another large portion of the reason was the length and reach of his spear.

    He had never seen such a long spear before. The Crafters of their Kingdom were excellent, but the logistics of forming such a long and flexible spear was a nightmare, especially if you wanted it to carry any strength.

    If it wasn''t for his Sturdy Title, he felt that he would have already lost his long time partner.

    However, would Mikael really have the chance to press such a small advantage? Leonel''s spear had hardly disappeared before another one appeared in its place. And, though this one was exactly a meter short of four, Mikael''s pupils immediately constricted.

    It was the kind of spear that held a presence of its own, a fiery aura that seemed to want to battle against even its own owner. Just laying there in Leonel''s palm, it made the energies of the world tremble, its mere existence exuding an undying superiority.

    Leonel twirled his spear in his hands, its double blade slicing apart trees tens of meters away with its wind pressure alone. He hardly put any effort in, yet the devastation he wrought had reached an all new level.

    ''Let''s end this.''

    Leonel shot forward. However, Mikael immediately retreated, his pupils constricted into pinholes. He didn''t dare to meet that spear with his hammer. He could already see the future where a weapon that had followed him for decades would be split into two, taking his arm along with it.

    However, Mikael''s wishes didn''t matter in this regard, not even in the slightest.

    Leonel''s spinning spear came to an abrupt halt, the sound of tearing air making Mikael''s hair stand on end.

    At that moment, Leonel pierced forward.

    ''It''s not enough, the range is too shallow. He won''t make it.''

    Mikael remained composed, ready to look for a lane to counterattack.

    If he ran from this battlefield, his army would lose the buff he had given them. The instant this happened, the slaughter would ensue once more.

    Even though at this point the situation still wasn''t in their favor, it was at least far better than the alternative. And, as long as he killed Leonel, the momentum would shift and victory would be his. Such a ragtag group of commoners, what did they know about honor? About duty? About bravery? The moment their spiritual leader collapsed, so too would they!

    Mikael''s eyes lit with fury and contempt. But, what happened next made him feel as though his whole world was flipping.

    The instant Leonel reached the limit of his piercing movement, completely short as Mikael had expected, he suddenly burst past it.

    Leonel''s spear splintered into two of its three segments, a snaking chain shooting through the air as the blade continued forward.

    Mikael couldn''t even react before his valiant steed of decades had its throat pierced, a pained neigh followed by gurgling blood leaving it as it died.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, ripping upward.

    The spear''s blade followed suit, tearing through a defense he could hardly dent moments ago as though a knife through butter.

    A hot rain of blood blinded Mikael for a moment as his steed''s head was split in two. Even though he reacted quickly, blocking his front with his massive hammer, he found that Leonel''s next attack came from his side.

    Leonel''s spear separated into three parts, as it spun in his hands, it was almost like a massive meat grinder. Mikael couldn''t even reacted before his body, along with his horse''s, was bisected four different ways.

    The rotation came to a grinding halt, Leonel''s spear snapping back together.

    As though the clicking noise was a sign for the world to begin moving forward again, dozens of trees in the surroundings were sliced into four or five pieces, collapsing to the ground like piles of fire wood.

    Leonel looked toward Mikael''s collapsing, gory figure in silence before looking at his spear. He had most definitely not expected the difference to be so drastic.

    The scariest part was that at this point, he could only make use of this spear''s innate sharpness, he couldn''t even pour Force into it. Yet, just its sharpness alone was able to have such an effect. It felt as though the same strength he applied to Quasi Bronze spears, when applied with this Quasi Silver spear was easily a hundred times more destructive.

    Leonel clearly didn''t understand the level of privilege he had. What he was doing was the equivalent of taking a weapon forged by a God into a world of mortals. How could it not have this sort of effect?

    But, it was for this exact reason Leonel never casually took this spear out. He could use it here because he was in a Zone. Logically, he either found a way to leave this place or he would die, so whether people knew about it or not was irrelevant.

    However, things were different in the outside world. It wasn''t like he could just leave everything behind and expect it all to be erased.

    Leonel shook his head. The outside world didn''t matter right now. He had to focus on this task so he could get out of here as quickly as possible.

    Since he had the advantage of being in a Zone, there was no need to hide the strength of his treasures here.

    Taking a deep breath, Leonel shot into the battlefield. He didn''t bother to change his spear again. Since he was free to do as he pleased in this Zone, he might as well take it as an opportunity to train in controlling it.

    Since speed was his goal, why would he hold back with his strength?

    Unfortunately for the Kingdom, the fall of this Titled Knight would only be the first and most definitely not the last.

 Chapter 761 - Visitor

    Chapter 761 - Visitor

    The moment Mikael died, the buff his warriors had gained vanished. In an instant, a battle that could have been described in terms of 60-40 had become 90-10.

    When Leonel joined, especially with his Quasi Silver spear, the result was devastating. Not a single on the Kingdom''s men survived, though this wasn''t out of Leonel not wanting to spare them.

    It was clear that this Alexandre and an iron grip on his men. Though there had been plenty of those willing to join their cause in the cities they had conquered to this point, they had all been people of common birth. There were very few nobles who chose to take their side.

    Obviously, Alexandre the Apex had a very tight hold on these people, likely holding the lives of their families over their heads.

    Of course, Leonel fell a small bit of sympathy for this. But, he had always believed that no singular life was worth more than another, even if that was his own.

    The lives of these soldier''s families in the Capital weren''t worth more than the commoners who suffered everyday under their rule. The lives of the soldiers themselves weren''t more valuable than the commoners who fought beneath Leonel''s banner.

    Not to mention the fact that since these warriors had chosen to die on the battlefield, their families would be just fine. Other than a small pity he felt, most of Leonel''s rage was aimed toward a singular man.

    бн

    The news of Leonel''s army taking out a Titled Knight spread like wildfire, but nothing was more shocking than the sweeping conquest that occurred right afterward.

    Leonel doubled back to the cities his four armies had probed in these last two months. Each and every one was manned by an Earl, making them among the largest cities this Kingdom had to offer.

    They had only barely begun to recover from Leonel''s first assault when they suddenly found themselves under a second siege. But, to make matters worse, Leonel was no longer using his Quasi Bronze Spears.

    Every time his spear spun, even without the use of technique, he reaped dozens of lives. And, maybe the ironic part was that it was better when Leonel didn''t use a technique at all. Not only did this preserve his stamina, but the extension of these techniques weren''t as potent as meeting the blade of the double headed spear alone.

    If Leonel was just powerful, things might still be fine. But, the issue was that he paired this with seamless tactics that completely stifled the Kingdom. It felt that in just a year, half of their territory had fallen. Yet, they were supposedly facing a ragtag bunch of commoners.

    Not only did those four cities swiftly fall. But, reports that a main water source had been diverted reached the ears of the Kingdom soon afterward.

    Somehow, Leonel had managed to both block a main river source and divert it.

    What was truly baffling about this was that he used this diverted river source not only as a tactic to pincer Mikael and ultimately kill him, but he simultaneously used it to give his new claimed territory a steady supply of water and resources that was impossible for the Capital to cut off.

    At the same time, this diverted water source resulted in a shortage of clean water for three separate Dukedoms located nearer to the capital. It felt like he was killing ten birds with a single stone.

    When the Crafters learned how Leonel had done it, they stood shocked before the collapsed mountain turned immovable dam, their faces paled from shock.

    Facing this kind of genusбн Weren''t they all finished?

    It felt like the next year was nothing but the Capital receiving one slap in the face after another.

    Four more Titled Knights fell, each more powerful than the last. The Kingdom had lost 40% of their territory. And at the moment, they were in the process of being completely starved out, their resources systematically claimed by Leonel one after another.

    By the second year, the Kingdom was being brought to its knees and had less than 30% of its land left, most of which was a vast expanse of natural protections keeping the Capital within its turtle shell.

    It was then, sometime during a heavy storm of winter that Leonel received a visitor.

    бн

    "You little brat."

    Rollan kept Goggles in a firm headlock, his legs wrapped around the latter''s hips for extra leverage.

    The rest of the military tent chugged beer, laughing heartily at the spectacle.

    "Dammit! I just asked for one night!"

    "With my wife!"

    "Yes!" Goggles squeezed out shamelessly. "She''s too good for you!"

    Rollan''s headlock tightened, Goggles'' eyes almost popping out. The latter''s face turned a bright shade of red as he struggled, trying to tickle at Rollan''s side so he would let go.

    Leonel chuckled lightly. As usual, he was sipping at a fruity drink rather than the hard liquor of the others. Elise had actually personally made this batch for him, he had to admit that that little girl was indeed as close to a guardian angel they all had.

    ''Hm?''

    At that moment, a messenger came into the tent.

    "Saluting all Lieutenants!" The young man said respectfully, an air of fanaticism lighting his eyes. "There is a diplomat here to see The General!"

    "A diplomat? From where?" Leonel asked.

    "The Oryx Kingdom, sir!"

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. At the same time, the rowdy atmosphere of the tent grew more somber.

    It could be said most felt that the Capital was pretty much finished even though Leonel had never expressed such an opinion. However, if there was to be a wildcard, it would definitely come from the Oryx Kingdom.

    If they threatened to attack them from the back now, all their momentum would fizzle out. Their upstart group, even after two years, didn''t have a strong enough foundation to deal with such things.

    It would be one thing if Leonel had had these two years to bolster them with his Crafts. But, after entering this world, aside from his Spear Domain ring which seemed unaffected by the odd restrictions of this Zone, Leonel hadn''t been able to bring anything else with himбн This included Little Tolly.

    At that moment, Rollan let go of Goggles just in time for Leonel to look over.

    Goggles shook his head, seemingly understanding Leonel''s meaning.

    ''No danger, huhбн''

    Leonel nodded. "Let them in."

 Chapter 762 - Cannot

    Chapter 762 - Cannot

    The tent fell into silence as a cloaked figure walked in.

    Outside their expectation, they weren''t hit with a wall of the foul stench one would expect from an Oryx. In addition, though this figure was actually quite tall, in comparison to other Oryx, they were still lacking by two or three heads.

    Could it be that the Oryx had sent a human to negotiate for them? This was a thought that Leonel couldn''t help but have.

    From what he knew, the Oryx Kingdom of this world did indeed have humans under their rule. In fact, during his very first battle here, it was the humans under their banner that he fought. However, he found it hard to believe that for their first contact, the Oryx would send a human to represent them.

    Though Leonel had grown up in a world where most problems of race had been laid to rest, he had quickly realized that such problems were dotted all over the Dimensional Verse. It was just that instead of harping on skin color, it was a matter of human versus creatures he had only ever seen from fantasy novels.

    Of course, humans would always be humans. Wherever there were divisions to be made, as long as there wasn''t a strong overarching power like The Ascension Empire, they would make these divisions.

    This was all to say that the Oryx definitely treated the humans under their charge like secondary citizens. So, how could they possibly send one for such an important thing as first contact?

    "Greetings."

    The robed figure gave a polite greeting. As the representation of the Oryx Kingdom, he obviously couldn''t bow. But, he had done more than enough.

    Leonel continued to scan the figure before him for a moment.

    "I have been looking forward to communicating with the Oryx Kingdom for a long time." He said with a light smile.

    "Yes. We have heard a lot about The General. After hearing so much, our King couldn''t help but be intrigued himself. It is an honor to meet the man who has brought The Human Kingdom to its knees."

    Leonel and the figure exchanged some pleasantries before the latter was invited to sit. Leonel didn''t really care much for etiquette. As far as he was concerned, he wasn''t really a King to begin with. He didn''t mind sharing a table with an envoy.

    "So, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Leonel finally asked.

    "бн" The envoy, hidden beneath is black robes, took a moment before speaking.

    "I am sure that you understand the sort of precarious position your rebel army is in, correct?"

    The atmosphere immediately took a turn for the worst. Never mind the fact that even the usually cheery Rollan was frowning, even Goggles who would usually want nothing to do with this dangerous stuff was practically staring daggers at the envoy.

    However, Leonel continued to smile.

    "We would only be in a precarious position if the Oryx Kingdom chose to attack, don''t you think?"

    The envoy''s gaze seemed to look toward Leonel, his eyes like two dull balls of light hovering in the shadows of his hoodie. It was almost as though he couldn''t understand why Leonel was so uncaring.

    He had known that his words would be contentious and even seen as a veiled threat. In this era, though there unspoken rules about preserving the lives of envoys like him, who could do anything if a King lost their temper?

    So, this envoy was probably even ready to lose his life today. But, what he hadn''t expected was for Leonel to reply to his ''threat'' with a smile.

    "бн Please don''t misunderstand." The envoy replied. "This isn''t a matter of choice, it would be one of necessity. The Human Kingdom isn''t as simple as you think it is.

    "We Oryx are superior in every way. Whether it be resources, strength of army, numbers, territory, politics, cultureбн You all have seen the corruption at the borders of your Human Kingdom yourselves. Eating at the borders, at the very least, should be very easy for us.

    "Yet, we only ever send our lesser warriors into skirmishes and never lead full assaults. There is a reason for this."

    Leonel''s expression finally showed a slight shift. However, even then, it was just a slight raise of his brows.

    "So tell me, then." Leonel began. "What would you like us to do?"

    The envoy took a deep breath.

    "We of the Oryx Kingdom hope that your rebel army will retreat from this endeavor. If you choose to do so, you will be handsomely rewarded. You, General, will be rewarded the title of Count. As for your Lieutenants and warriors, for the best of them we can provide Barony titles and Knighthood."

    At that moment, a fiery red head amongst the group couldn''t seem to take it anymore. Her hair really seemed to be a wreath of flames as she stood and slammed her seemingly delicate palm to the oak table.

    BANG!

    The entire tent quaked even down to the ground beneath their feet.

    "You want us to do what!?"

    This red head was indeed a beauty. Among those who had joined Leonel''s cause, she was amongst the earliest and even happened to have once been the daughter of a Baron. She was one of the very few nobles who had chosen to join their cause.

    Of course, she had her reasons. While the other nobles had their hearts gripped by Alexandre, Gertrude and long since lost her family. Ironically, they had been executed by Alexandre long ago.

    It was safe to say that her fury toward the Human Kingdom was no weaker than any of the commoners of their army.

    "Gertrude."

    Leonel''s even voice snapped the former young noble out of her rage. Though still seething, she slowly sat, her gaze flickering.

    Leonel looked toward the envoy.

    "And what do you plan to do with all the people we''ve taken to protecting? The weak? The women? The children? The elderly? It can''t be that your Oryx Kingdom want to take them all in too, right?"

    Leonel asked this knowing the answer very well. If they accepted all the people Leonel had conquered, what would be the difference between that and actually conquering the land?

    "I am sure you already know the answer, General. These people must stay in the Human Kingdom. We cannot accept them all."

 Chapter 763 - Unknown

    Chapter 763 - Unknown.

    A heaviness hung over them all. It was as though all the happiness had been sapped away. It was the kind of fog that wouldn''t easily be removed.

    They were all intelligent. They understood the kind of weight this sort of visit brought with it. It was likely that the Oryx Kingdom had already chosen to attack as long as they dared to reject.

    As for why they feared the Human Kingdom so much, who knew? It was unlikely that this envoy would have a reason for this. And, even if they did, it was even more unlikely that he would tell.

    When the standing between two parties was so far apart, an equal exchange of information was impossible. Though this seemed to be a peaceful talk, it was ultimately an ultimatum. They would either do as they were asked and received their rewards as good dogs, or they would face the consequences.

    "Mm, I see."

    Leonel finally broke the silence, slowly rising to his feet.

    "So, the Oryx Kingdom would like the pain and suffering of our people to be the buffer between you and this future you fear so much. A noble cause, indeed."

    Leonel''s voice no longer carried the smiling tone it had had since the beginning. However, it wasn''t fill with rage either. Rather, it was very even with hardly any inflections. If they didn''t know better, they would think that an AI had spoken these words.

    However, that feeling soon vanished when Leonel spoke again. This time, it was low, forceful, filled with a charisma that washed the lands in a radiant light.

    "We will not be your sacrifice."

    Leonel turned to the envoy, his gaze looking down from above.

    "I do not know what it is you fear, nor do I care. What I do know is that in my eyes, you aren''t much different from the Human Kingdom. If you would like to attack, Come!"

    Leonel''s voice seemed to carry the weight of the air with it, causing a sudden stillness to be swiftly followed by a surge. Even the heavy flaps of the tent couldn''t help but kick up, whipping about beneath the forcefulness.

    "We will show you the might that brought the Kingdom you fear so much to its knees."

    Silence fell however the heat seemed to rise. A fire lit themselves in the gaze of the Lieutenants. The pressure the envoy faced multiplied several fold. The fact he could remain seated in his position at all was impressive.

    After a long while, the envoy lowered his head.

    "I understand. It seems that I have overstayed my welcome. I wish you the best."

    With these words, the envoy bowed.

    "Escort our guest out." Leonel said faintly.

    With those words spoken, two lieutenants rose, doing exactly that.

    Leonel suddenly chuckled. "What are you all so down for? Is there a need to worry with me here?"

    Leonel''s grin seemed to light up the room.

    Goggles snorted. "You were going to get me killed one day, anyway. This way, it''ll just be a lot sooner."

    Those words immediately got Goggles a slap to the back of the head.

    "Hey! Hey! Paws off!"

    "With that kind of attitude, it''s no wonder you still don''t have a wife, Goggles." Gertrude smiled, seemingly enjoying Rollan''s slap to Goggles very much.

    "I don''t have a wife because my dream woman was stolen from me!" Goggles protested, rubbing the back of his head.

    This, rightfully, earned him another headlock from Rollan.

    Laughter returned to the room as Goggles struggled.

    The clanging of drinks and the swinging of beer began once more. But, it was clear that there was still a slight fog hanging over them all. They chugged their alcohol just a bit more enthusiastically, spoke just a little less confidentallyбн laughed just a little less heartily.

    The night waned and eventually everyone began to stumbled back to their own homes. The only ones who remained were the poor single folk with no families to go back to.

    A brutish man wrapped an arm around Leonel''s shoulders.

    "What do you say, General? Want to head to the brothel? I hear this city we just conquered has a really good one."

    Leonel rolled his eyes. "Get some sleep, Castello. You''re drunk."

    Castello laughed heartily. "Only if I get to embrace two busty babes. Miles, Austin, let''s go! Those soft clouds are waiting!"

    "Keep your gross talk away from the General." Gertrude snapped, sending a kick at Castello''s ass.

    "Oh, oh! Right, right, right! We can''t be all so lucky as to have a beauty like you pining after us."

    "Who''s pining!" Gertrude growled, reaching for her halberd only to remember she hadn''t brought it with her.

    Castella, Miles and Austin''s laughter rung as they ran from the tent, leaving no one but Leonel, Goggles and Gertrude behind.

    Goggles, who was lying on the floor, opened a single eye. Noticing the odd atmosphere and realizing his plan to just sleep here for the night wasn''t working out, he hopped up and coughed lightly.

    "You two mingle. My wifeбн I mean my daughterбн I mean myбн Forget it, I''m going to the brothel too. Don''t you dare tell my goddess about this!"

    Goggles scurried away under Gertrude''s deathly glare and flushed expression.

    At the moment, Gertrude''s countenance might have been as red as her flowing hair, but it only made her more beautiful.

    The way her leather armor clung tightly to her curves, outlining her bust and hips to an almost intoxicating degreeбн The way the slight bit of her lower lip almost drew blood from their plumpnessбн The way her emerald eyes sparkled even beneath the dim lightбн

    She looked like a woman ready to finally bloom. However, just as quickly as she was prepared to bud, she wilted even faster.

    Leonel rose with a smile. "Have a nice night, Gertrude. Get home safely, I have something to handle."

    Before Gertrude could say anything, Leonel had already vanished, leaving her looking down at her own chest wondering if she wasn''t big enough to be considered a ''soft cloud''. She had half a mind to go and measure herself against those prostitutes. But, her logic slapped her back to reality.

    She sighed, a sad smile on her face.

    бн

    In the depths of the night, a robed figure rode its steed like a shadow, reaching a speed that seemed beyond what a normal horse should be capable of even within the Fourth Dimension.

    Suddenly, that horse came to a grinding halt as the figure pulled on its reins.

    "бн"

    "It can''t be that the mighty General wants to kill me just for passing on some words?"

    Leonel stood before the horse in silence, his gaze even, his breathing unhurried, and his purposeбн

    Unknown.

 Chapter 764 - Envoy

    Chapter 764 - Envoy

    Leonel didn''t respond to the envoy''s words. He simply stood there silently, his expression not giving way to any emotion. It was as though he didn''t even notice that there was someone before him.

    At this moment, they were in the dead of winter. Heavy snow fell all around, coating the ground, the trees, and sprinkling through the air as though to coat the whole world in white.

    Still, the cold didn''t seem to bother either of the two men as they faced off in an endless snowy plain. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to seek reprieve, nowhere to runбн

    It was then that both men suddenly moved.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a four meter long, flexible spear. Aside from his Quasi Silver spear, this one was quickly becoming on of his favorites. The range of flexibility and freedom it gave him made his battle style reach an impossible level of fluidity.

    At the same moment, the envoy didn''t bother to stay on his horse. He had read all the reports about Leonel. This was a man who never rode a horse, yet had felled more Titled Knights than anyone else in history. If there was anyone confident in battling a man and a steed together, it was Leonel.

    In that case, why allow him the chance to do what he was familiar with?

    His palm flipped over to reveal an outrageous, monstrosity of a saber.

    Its blade was an obscene three meters long alone. It had a width of almost two feet and a curve that almost made it look like a scythe as opposed to a saber. Yet, it had a thickness as thin as two or three strands of hair.

    When the saber was swung, it felt like the wind itself was being split in two. If swung at the perfect angle, the blade was so thin that it was almost impossible to spot. And, whether by coincidence or not, this envoy seemed capable of finding this perfect angle with ease.

    A streak of gold and one of black tore through the snowy plain, their clash causing a whirlwind of violent explosions to swirl around them.

    Despite the size of their weapons, the two men seemed to exchange hundreds of blows in a single breath. And, as though that wasn''t enough, their speed only seemed to get faster and faster.

    Gold lights enveloped Leonel''s body, massive white gold wings spanning ten meters two his left and right blooming from his back.

    Ancient patterns of gold began to outline each individual feather. It felt that with each passing moment, the pair became less illusory and more corporeal as though Leonel was birthing true wings from nothing more than light.

    One would have thought that Light Elemental Force would be difficult to gather in the depths of the night like this, yet Leonel seemed completely unaffected.

    These two years, just because he had been stuck here, didn''t mean that he was stagnant.

    With a single flap, he retreated more than a hundred meters in a single step.

    His feet stamped the ground, causing a tsunami of snow to rise into the air. The wall of white rose up more than 10 meters and was at least 20 across. Yet, what was most shocking about it all was that this was simply the result of the earth beneath heeding Leonel''s call.

    Leonel roared, his chest expanding as bronze runes surged over his body. The robes he wore shattered beneath the surge of Force, unable to handle it.

    Beneath the shimmering white gold of his massive wings, Leonel''s bronze runes stood out all the more. Under the night sky, he looked no different from a Roman God descended from the skies above, his halo hanging above his head.

    The massive slab of stone that Leonel had lifted from the ground shattered into tens of pieces, rising into the air to form several stones of over a meter in diameter each.

    "[Armageddon]."

    In that instant, the stones erupted with flames.

    In the skies, as though tens of miniature suns had appeared, they raged with a fiery light, their surfaces beginning to melt in a near instant.

    The envoy''s pupils constricted. What kind of attack was this? Something of this caliber could level an entire city!

    The battle hadn''t reached such a peak yet. He couldn''t understand why Leonel had dared to come to fight him like this in the first place, especially after he had traveled so far away from their encampment. But now, it really seemed like he wanted to kill him.

    The envoy roared, raising his saber into the skies.

    A violent black energy coiled around him, forming countless black chains from seemingly thin air.

    The ground around him suddenly exploded, the expanse of snow being washed away beneath his rippling might.

    His robes fluttered in the raging wind, his eyes trained on the meteors descending toward him.

    "HA!"

    The envoy stomped his feet.

    In that instant, the earth seemed to respond to his call. In one moment, there was nothing. But, in the immediate next, sparkling spikes of black shot out from the ground, impaling the descending meteors and causing explosions that rocked throughout the night.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Those pillars were definitely not normal. In fact, he could faintly tell that they stood on a level nearing his Scarlet Star Force.

    Somehow, the spikes seemed to be both made out of small dust particles, yet remained solid at the same time. Each of these little particles radiated out with a faint black light that made it look as though it was sparkling beneath the high moon.

    It was as though the envoy was controlling iron shavings and darkness to form themбн

    If the envoy had heard Leonel''s thoughts, he would have been shocked. Just a short observation, yet he was already so close to the truth.

    However, no matter what the envoy did, Leonel wasn''t shaken. To use a Force on this level at this envoy''s strength was akin to painting oneself into a corner. There was a reason Leonel didn''t use his Scarlet Star Force so casually.

    As expected, the envoy was truly gasping for breath. He hadn''t thought that he would be forced to use such an ability, but Leonel''s combination attack had strength beyond his wildest imagination. If he had used normal earth to counter, those meteors would have blasted through with ease.

    He couldn''t understand how Leonel could pull earth capable of withstanding such heat from the ground so casually. Of course, what he didn''t know was that Leonel''s Earth Elemental Force was Variant just like his.

    However, this didn''t mean that the envoy was finished, he gripped his saber.

    Since the pillars had already been formed, manipulating them was much easier.

    The chains that floated around his body constricted as Leonel''s wings flapped one more time.

    He appeared ten meters before the envoy.

    In that moment, the latter was prepared to turn the earthen spikes of shimmering black light toward Leonel. But, he stopped when it seemed that Leonel had no intention of attacking. In fact, Leonel stood there unmoving, his eyes calmly observing the black chains wrapping the envoy.

    "Earth Elemental Force. Dark Elemental Force. Star Elemental Forceбн"

    The envoy froze when he heard this.

    "Chaotic Particle Force. Number one in Earth Elemental Forces, top three in Dark Elemental Forces, top ten in Star Elemental Forces." Leonel concluded. "бн Your talent is quite high for an envoy, don''t you think?"

    The envoy''s eyes narrowed as he gazed toward Leonel.

    "бнYou were testing me?"

    "I guessed that you were an Oryx a long time ago." Leonel said plainly.

    "Butбн"

    "But your cloak blocks senses? But you don''t look or smell like an Oryx?"

    The envoy didn''t say a word, but clearly this was what he meant as well. This shouldn''t have been possible.

    Leonel didn''t explain himself either, at least not with words. He had seen a long lineup of possible evolution paths for the Oryx in that hall, so he knew well that a stature like the one this young man had wasn''t impossible.

    As for how he had known? It was just a guess.

    This envoy hadn''t tried very hard to convince them to change their minds and also didn''t have the tact one would expect the representation of a nation to have.

    "So why don''t you tell me the true purpose you had for coming?" Leonel responded.

    The envoy remained silent for a long while before he finally removed his cloak. What was beneath made Leonel raise an eyebrow.

    It was a young man with flowing white hair and handsome, delicate features that would make any woman and some men swoon. His skin was quite tanned, giving him an excellent, exotic sort of contrast and his eyes were the very same bright white his hair was.

    Growing from this young man''s forehead were two branching horns that were a very pure shade of white, yet they didn''t seem to detract from his beauty at all, even the vertical slit between his brows was completely unable to do so.

    Aside from these clearly Oryx-like features, the young man was strikingly human. If Leonel didn''t know better, he would think that this young man was some sort of demon prince risen from hell. And maybe, in some ways, he was.

    "This is just my natural state. My battle state, however, is much different..."

 Chapter 765 - Stall

    Chapter 765 - Stall

    The moment the young man''s words fell, his body grew a size. From shorter than Leonel, he became an entire head taller.

    Pristine white fur began to coat his entire body. His cloak burst apart, revealing a rugged appearance. Of the parts Leonel could see, the only parts that seem free of hair were the young man''s chest and chiseled torso. He almost looked like a King of Apes for a moment.

    But, what was strongest was the sudden explosion of a smell so strong Leonel almost passed out from exposure to it alone. It was so potent that he had no choice but to stop breathing entirely. Even trying to do so through his mouth had him feeling as though he was trying to swallow fumes wafting from a vat of vinegar.

    "The smell is somewhat strong for you humans." The envoy said nonchalantly.

    It was clear from his words that though his face remained expressionless, he took some pleasure in Leonel''s discomfort. He obviously didn''t like being led by the nose as he had just been, so he would enjoy this small victory.

    Leonel was inwardly relieved when the envoy returned to his normal form. He could tell that such a scent would be extremely attractive to female Oryx. But, Leonel felt he would suffocate to death in its presence.

    Compared to the Oryx he had met, the difference was so striking that there was really no comparison at all.

    Leonel could tell, though, that the envoy hadn''t just shown him this battle form to force him to smell such a thing. It was also to show that he had yet to battle at his true peak state.

    As taxing as Chaotic Particle Force was, unlike Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force, it didn''t damage the envoy''s body. All he was experiencing now was fatigue and nothing more. If Leonel really pushed him, especially since he had already formed such large reserves, this battle would definitely be in his favor.

    However, Leonel didn''t mind what the envoy was thinking. His purpose here was much different from this. He had already probed what he needed to probe. What he needed to do now was talk.

    "Now that we''ve gotten pleasantries out of the way, do you mind telling me what kind of status you have among the Oryx?" Leonel asked.

    The envoy remained silent, seemingly trying to decide whether he should answer or not.

    "No, I think it would be better for me to ask which of the Oryx Kingdom''s Princes are you?"

    The envoy''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

    "You can''t think that these matters could be hidden? No matter what Kingdom it is, falsely representing them would be a crime punishable by death. And, I''m willing to guess that the Oryx Kingdom actually did plan to send a real envoy who was, for whatever reason, intercepted by you before they could fulfill their duty.

    "Anyone daring enough to do this, and even so casually return to the Oryx Kingdom right after without special means, is definitely of high standing. Your actions seem to show that you don''t particularly care whether you get caught by your Kingdom or not, which means you''re confident in not being punished.

    "Of course, you could beбн I don''t know, a Duke? Trying to sow chaos and look for a chance to take the throne for yourself. But, you are too young, one. And secondly, once again, your actions aren''t secretive enough."

    Leonel was able to spend hours drinking with his lieutenants and still catch up to this Prince because his tracks were so obvious.

    Of course, Leonel was also likely one of the very best trackers in existence, especially with the new abilities he had formulated for himself in the last two years, but he hadn''t even needed to use them to find this young man.

    "бн I am Elthor Umewraek, Third Prince of the Oryx Kingdom."

    Leonel smiled. "It''s nice to meet you, Elthor."

    Leonel had given up on telling people his name after these two years. For some reason, no matter how many times he told people what it was, they would still call him The General and nothing else. Even after so long, he couldn''t quite wrap his mind around this.

    "I hope that you understand that even though you''ve learned of my identity, this changes nothing. The Oryx will still stop you from attacking The Capital. The only thing my actions have done is give you a small buffer of time."

    "You say this, but wouldn''t I just have to kidnap and hold you hostage?" Leonel said casually.

    "You''re overestimating my value, General."

    "Am I? You may not have stepped off of this world, but do you think those with Chaotic Particle Force are common? Whether you know or not, your family likely see you as the future of the Oryx Kingdom. It''s even possible that they''re only willing to take a backseat and not poke the bear that is Alexandre the Apex so that you have time to grow.

    "Knowing this, do you still think I''m overestimating your value?"

    Elthor''s heart trembled. Looking into Leonel''s cold, calculating eyes, he suddenly felt the same fear his enemies had ever time they met on the battlefield. He could hardly understand how a person could see through so much with so little information.

    The chains that floated around Elthor rattled as though he was prepared to spring to action at any moment. He felt the tension even down to his very bones.

    "However, I am not here to antagonize the Oryx." Leonel finally said.

    Elthor felt himself deflate at that moment.

    He couldn''t understand. He was a Prince. Why did he feel so much pressure in the face of a man who was born a commoner?

    "I will still need you to do something for me in exchange for your freedom, though." Leonel continued.

    "бн And what is that?"

    "You need to stall. I need two months. In two months, The Capital will fall and Alexandre''s head will be in my hands."

 Chapter 766 - Armageddon

    Chapter 766 - Armageddon

    Even long after he had left Leonel, Elthor still felt his heart pounding. For the first time, even as a Prince, he felt as though he should bow down to a knee before a man.

    He had never felt such emotion before, not even before his own father. Somewhere deep inside, he had already admitted to himself that if the Oryx and The General were to fight, even if they gained small advantages in the beginning, even if it seemed that The General might lose, in the end, it would be they who ultimately suffered.

    Elthor clenched his fists.

    He had never really wanted to be Prince in his life, this was why he had always been happy to be born third. He was content to allow his elder brothers to take the reins. All he wanted to be was a powerful warriorбн The most powerful.

    However, the day his Third Eye was awakened, it all changed. The looks his father gave him shifted from love and a doting adoration to looked of expectation, hope, and pride.

    It was the kind of look Elthor had always wanted to see, but he had wanted to see them for the sake of support toward him chasing his own dreams. He wanted to be the spearhead that finally unified their world under one bannerбн He didn''t want to be the Ruler that did so.

    Unfortunately, his father didn''t see things this way. To the King of the Oryx, there was no greater strength than to be King.

    This sort of philosophy thrust Elthor to the forefront and created a tension between him as his eldest brothers. The favoritism his father showed couldn''t have been more obvious. It didn''t matter how much he said he only wanted to be a Knight under their charge, it didn''t seem to change anything.

    It was then he began to hear stories of The General.

    At first, it was just a small blip on their Kingdom''s radar. This wasn''t the first time the people of the Human Kingdom had rebelled.

    But, this time turned out to be different. Two years later, it seemed that they might really fallбн

    It was then that Elthor finally learned of why his father placed so much hope in him, of why he was willing to risk ripping their family apart for the sake of pushing him to ascend the throneбн of the fear that had gripped his father, his mountain of support, for so long.

    However, this fear that his father had buried deep within his heart for so long only showed Elthor more of why he didn''t want to be King.

    Burying such anxiousness within yourself, carrying the burden of hope for so many, being responsible for the lives and deaths of billionsбн

    He didn''t want any of this.

    He just wanted to step onto the battlefield and fight to his heart''s content, to let his strength quake the earth, shake the skies and sunder the starsбн

    Today, thoughбн Elthor learned something that could make his eyes lock with resolve.

    In his pursuit of being that warrior, he had neglected something very important.

    If he wanted to be that deity of the battlefield, that existence who could make an opposing army quake with nothing more than a roarбн He needed a banner to fly under, a might to grow beneath, a King to follow.

    His father wasn''t that King, he was too eager to pass on his burdens. His brothers weren''t that King either, they had already allowed jealousy to plague their relationship. It was obvious that they had no confidence in themselves.

    But The Generalбн He somehow seemed incomplete as well. He was almost perfect in every aspect but something subconsciously held him back from choosing him too.

    That saidбн Elthor felt that by following a man who was so close to his ideal, he just might find that King he was looking for.

    ''Two monthsбн I can do thatбн''

    бн

    Leonel dashed through the night, an incomparably calm expression on his face.

    In these two years, he had felt a certain anxiousness slowly leaving his body. He felt as though he was even calmer than he had been in the past. Much of this had to do with him learning of the existence of a fourth Lineage Factor lingering within his body.

    No, it was inaccurate to say that it was lingering. In fact, this Lineage Factor had been following him for the longest of the four he had. He had just never realized that it was indeed one.

    Even now, it was still mostly dormant. But Leonel felt that it was slowly awakening as though a slumbering dragon shaking millennia of fatigue from his foggy eyesбн

    бн

    Time continued to tick by. And, soon, a month had flown by.

    As promised, there wasn''t any movement from the Oryx. However, Leonel hadn''t breathed a word of his conversation with Elthor to his lieutenants. Rather, they all focused on tightening the noose around The Capital''s neck.

    Every movement they made seemed to constrict the once mighty Human Kingdom.

    From above, one could almost see the image of a boa coiling its body around The Capital. The more they struggled, the tighter the squeeze became.

    Waterways were blocked, supply routes were cut off, escape paths were destroyed.

    Every city was systematically conquered. It felt as though one was reading a textbook on military execution rather than a telling of true events.

    As the rebel army descended and the second month was quickly drawing to a close, the nobles began to truly feel the heat.

    Maybe it was because of the fear Alexandre had instilled in them from the very beginning, but none of them had ever thought that things would reach this point. Or, if they ever did, it still wouldn''t be long before their awe inspiring King flipped the tables with a casual move.

    Yet, even when the rebel army was bearing down on their Gates, there was still no sign of movement.

    Were things really going to end like this for them?

    It was then the fateful day came.

    Leonel stood before The Capital''s tall walls with an army of tens of thousands to his back.

    He rose his spear into the air, his aura dignified and his momentum like an endless tidal wave.

    At that moment, as though they were all witnessing an act of God, it happened.

    "[Armageddon]."

 Chapter 767 - Two Options

    Chapter 767 - Two Options

    The earth rose high into the skies, forming boulders that were each two meters wide.

    It took time, but not long later, dozens had formed before erupting into a blaze of black-red flames. The searing heat alone seemed to want to melt the city to ash.

    Even without Leonel saying a word, the rebel army felt their blood boiling.

    There were no words of rage, none of fury or animosity. Even with this goal they had been working toward for years, praying for, for decadesбн There was still nothing that needed to be said.

    Actions spoke far louder than words ever could at this moment.

    This was indeed Armageddon. It was a judgment day for The Capital and its nobles who had had their foots on their throats for centuries.

    It was finally their turn to return the favor.

    The meteors descended toward the gate in a blaze of fire.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The cacophonic booms resonated like drums of liberation. Walls that had stood tall for centuries came crumbling down. A Gate which had never been opened to them incinerated to ash. A City they hadn''t been deemed worthy to step foot into had suddenly been opened to them all.

    However, Leonel didn''t give the order to charge. He continued to stand before the army, his chest wide, his back straight, his gaze cold and indifferent.

    At that moment, a figure suddenly began to appear out of the blazing fires as though they weren''t there to begin with. When this figure became clearer, many began to look on with frowns on their faces.

    Truth be told, this man looked as though he had been living on the streets for several months. His clothes were beaten, ripped, dirtied and ragged. His hair could only be described as a rat''s nest, their natural blond color discolored by what looked like and hopefully was mud. His eyes looked both groggy and lazyбн

    Of all the things the rebel army expected to find when they came here, this was the last. The fact that there were no anti siege tactics prepared by The Capital was odd enough. It was even weirder that there hadn''t been a single person atop the wall before their attack. And nowбн there was this odd man?

    The man stumbled over the rocks before dropping down awkwardly before the carnage.

    He stretched his back in an exaggerated manner as though he had spent far too long sitting. The crackles and pops that sounded from his action were so loud that they carried throughout the battlefield, even given the destruction to his back.

    This alone seemed to make those of the army take this man far more seriouslyбн

    The man coughed, slinking his hair back and spitting at the ground before him.

    Somehow, a sword appeared in his hand. Despite the fact they had been observing him from beginning to end, no one had been able to pick up on its appearance.

    If it was as simple as a spatial ring, they obviously wouldn''t react like this. But, there was not a single spatial treasure on the man''s body. It was as though the sword had really popped up from out of thin air.

    The man''s action of sweeping his hair back revealed a devilishly handsome appearance. If he wasn''t so dirty, he would truly be a lady killer. In fact, the fact they could think this at all could only mean that the dirt and grime that covered him couldn''t possibly be as much of a deterrent as they thought.

    "бн Blah, blah, My name is Normand. Blah, blah, your General is weak, he should fight me to prove his worth. Blah, blah, not just anyone is worthy to fight my lovable bastard of a Kingбн You get the gist of it right, hurry up mister General sir."

    The rebel army was speechless. Was this person issuing a challenge? Or were they acting out a comedy skit? What the hell was going on?

    Rollan, who sat on his horse not far from Leonel''s back, also frowned. Challenges were rare on the battlefield but not to the point that they never happened. But, it was rare for the supposed ''stronger'' party to issue them.

    Usually, the point was to get a shot at taking out an important member of the opposing army with the least amount of hassle. It was also a good chance to lower the momentum and morale of an army.

    Still, challenges had to be issued by those of equivalent status. It was one thing if it was Alexandre who had issued this challengeбн But where had this homeless man come from? Who was he to challenge their General?

    However, surprisingly, Leonel held out a hand before Rollan could say anything. He simply walked forward, leaving the immediate protection of his army to stand in no-man''s land.

    "Normand the Swift, I presume?" Leonel asked.

    Gertrude''s pupils constricted when she heard these words. Normand the Swift? He was a genius no lesser than the Third Prince of the Oryx Kingdom. The only difference was that Normand was far older and had actually grown into his potential.

    But then, years ago, he suddenly vanished from the public eye and stopped appearing on battlefields all togetherбн

    Normand chuckled, still stretching his back.

    "You didn''t know, mister General sir? I go by Normand the Cuck now. As you can see, my Kingdom treats me great. But you, mister General sir, are quite well informed. I''m surprised you''ve heard of such a title."

    "I am quite informed. More than informed enough to recognize the actions of a useless King when I see it."

    Normand''s gaze narrowed. In all these years, only he ever dared to say a word slandering Alexandre. And even he often hid behind layers of sarcasm. Maybe due to an innate fear of what could happen to his former fiancижe, he never truly went too far.

    But this Generalбн Didn''t seem to have any such qualms.

    "I will give you two options Normand. Though your hand is being forced, without first razing this city to the ground, there is nothing I can do for you.

    "The first option is to step aside and either physically or spiritually join our effort. The second option is for you to die beneath my spear."

    Leonel had hardly finished his words when a sword light so swift it seemed to skirt reality appeared before his throat.

 Chapter 768 - Pure Speedster

    Chapter 768 - Pure Speedster

    CLANG!

    The polearm of Leonel''s spear appeared before him vertically, blocking the pierce of Normand''s swift sword. It was such a precise block that the sword didn''t slip one direction or another, it simply trembled in place, unable to move forward any longer.

    "What a coincidence." Normand said, his voice sounding particularly flat, all of his playfulness and sarcasm vanishing. "I''ve been looking to die for a long time already."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. His spear shifted, forward, the tip of Normand''s sword to get caught in one of the hollow grooves of his long, flexible spear.

    Normand suddenly experienced his sword being twisted as Leonel''s spear spun to the side. The pressure bore down on his wrist, threatening to break it entirely.

    But, it was at that exact moment that Normand left his feet, his body spinning in the air along with his sword.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. ''Weightlessбн''

    He didn''t get to dwell on the thought for very long before, Normand swiftly pulled his sword back, piercing forward again with a speed even greater than the first time. He seemed to have no need of his Swift Title at all, his actions existed on a plane all to their own.

    Leonel took a calm step back, the spin of his spear picking up as he blocked its pierce precisely. He controlled the speed with such accuracy and precision that even when Normand tried to aim for the gaps, he would always find Leonel''s polearm waiting.

    Normand pulled his sword back, his lazy eyes seemingly becoming even more lazy. His body loosened, his limbs becoming flexible to an extreme.

    He seemed to fall toward the ground. But, when his leg pounded against the dirt below, a crack spread out instantaneously, even reaching back toward the collapsing city wall to his back and forcing it to fall even faster.

    His speed was so blazingly fast that Leonel''s eyes couldn''t keep up no matter how hard they tried. He became nothing more than a slight ripple of wind, yet it still felt that his body was still accelerating.

    Leonel coldly watched on, his spear moving in a blur of its own.

    Clashes sounded throughout the battlefield.

    One man stood almost unmoving. Even when he did, it would be to take a slight pivot in a given direction. His foundation was as steady as a mountain, a singular strike of his seemingly blocking many from his opponent.

    The other was nothing more than a blur. Over 90% of the battlefield couldn''t even follow him movements, while another 10% could only barely catch a glimpse of him the instant his sword clashed with Leonel and he was forced to slow for just a moment.

    This ratio wasn''t much different even among those watching from the Royal Court. They all wore somber expressions, watching from the Castle. Somehow, the one man they had hated for so long had become the one man they hoped would save them all.

    Leonel''s spear suddenly descended with a fierce light, sending Normand skipping backward.

    ''So it''s like that.'' Leonel nodded to himself. ''He''s a Speedsterбн''

    The Speedster Ability Index had many categories just like any other ability. There were some Speedsters that relied on the Wind, Light or Lightning Elements. But, pure Speedsters like Normand were quite rare. He wasn''t relying on an Element, he was using nothing more than his bodily talent.

    As odd as it might sound, such Pure Speedsters were monstrous talents no less sought after than a genius with a deep Space or even Time Affinity.

    The Speedster Ability Index was broken down simply: Speed, Weightless, Acceleration, Control, and Warp.

    Speed was the simplest. It allowed one to break the body''s limits and display an uncommon pace.

    Weightless is where the true strength of Pure Speedsters began to show. This state allowed the freedom of the body to unlock. Maneuvers like the one Normand had pulled earlier occurred as easily as him thinking it.

    Acceleration built upon Weightless. This allowed a Pure Speedster to ramp up to the greatest speed far quicker and at the highest level, allowed it to be near instantaneous. This allowed a Pure Speedster to both save on the stamina they would normally need to hit their top speed and also allowed them more flexibility in using their ability in battle.

    Once reaching Control, both Weightless and Acceleration were built up. At this level, one gained an inhuman amount of agility. Stopping from speeds far surpassing the pace of sound on a dime and turning to a completely new direction without putting any sort of pressure on your body would become as easy as breathing. This was something that Elemental Speedsters would never be able to accomplish.

    Control also allowed onto to turn Speed into power with the highest level of efficiency. This level made pure strength types look like nothing more than a joke.

    And thenбн There was Warp. At this highest level, a Pure Speedster could bend light, space and at the pinnacle, even time to their whim. Such an existence was beyond reproachбн nigh untouchable.

    At Normand''s levelбн Leonel was absolutely certain that he was at the Three Star Acceleration stage. And, that was despite still being a mere Tier 3 expert and likely not having the opportunity to train in over a decade.

    If he used his Titleбн

    Normand finally appeared once again, his head shaking. He had no idea how these fools expected him to display any true strength after spending so much of the past dozen years in a cell.

    However, this was a beautiful irony to him. He would definitely go all out. He would pour his blood, sweat and tears into this battle, not just for the sake of hoping to save the love of his life a small bit of hardship, but also so that they could regret itбн Regret what could have been, regret what they had done to him from the depths of their souls.

    He wanted The General to crush him at his very best. He wanted to fall beneath that mighty spear while they knew full well he had done all he could.

    Then, he wanted this Kingdom to fall to its knees before the same blade.

    Normand suddenly began to laugh into the skies, his aura blazing.

    "I am a Titled Knight of His Majesty Alexandre the Apex! I am Normand the Swift! The Wind calls me Brother! The Light calls me Friend! The Gods try to Strike me down, but my Speed is Eternal!"

    "ETERNAL!"

 Chapter 769 - Why

    Chapter 769 - Why.

    A pillar of golden light descended from the skies and seemed to blind the entirety of the battlefield.

    Normand''s roars shook the Capital, his conviction splitting the clouds in the sky apart and causing a fissure that divided the two opposing forces.

    When he reappeared, it seemed as though he had been completely reformed. His body was flooded with a white gold light, making it look as though he was wearing robes. His golden hair had been completely cleansed and his emerald eyes shone like two true gems. As though his form had become ethereal, he seemed as light as a wisp of smoke and as fleeting as a fragrance in the wind.

    Then, he moved.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. He circulated [Golden Feather Step], causing two massive wings to appear toward his back. Their white gold appearance was no less dazzling, especially as each feather became more and more defined.

    However, they had hardly formed when Normand had already appeared before him. It was as though it had only taken him a single flicker, a small twitch of the muscle, a minute intention, for him to suddenly cross a distance of hundreds of meters.

    Like a streaking light, his sword struck forward, its speed so fast and its pattern so all encompassing that a singular thin blade almost formed a curtain all to its own.

    Leonel frowned. ''[Grand Bell Construct].''

    DING! DING! DING! DING!

    Instantaneously, an illusory bronze bell appeared before Leonel, his casting speed having reached ungodly levels. However, before he could take advantage of the spell''s construction to attack while he was being protected, his pupils constricted.

    In the blink of an eye, Normand''s sword lights doubled. In an instant, [Grand Bell Construct]''s defensive limit was reached and a rain of piercing swords surged toward Leonel''s vital points.

    Brandishing his spear, Leonel accelerated backward, a single flap of his enormous semi-illusory wings taking him dozens of meters with ease.

    Yet, as though Normand was nothing more than his shadow, he pressed his advantage. It seemed to take not a single ounce of effort to keep up, his body draped in an endless white gold that streaked to infinity toward his back.

    Leonel''s eyes couldn''t keep up with him even if they tried. But, his Internal Sight could see Normand''s face almost as clearly as if he was standing perfectly still.

    The red eyes, the gritted teeth, the streaming tearsбн The first opened a window to a man on the brink of madness. The second was so fierce that it drew blood, causing crimson to drip down his chin and be whipped away by the wind. The last sparkled beneath the golden light, carrying a beauty with it that it had no right to haveбн

    Leonel''s jaw set.

    Every fiber of his being did not want to kill this man. Anyone with even the slightest shred of sympathy wouldn''t want to do such a thing.

    Emotions dictated that he should find a way, that he should climb through a mountain of corpses to save this man he had only just met today. It was a silly, meaningless nicety, especially when he knew very clearly that this was a person who wanted nothing more than to die.

    However, logic told him a single life wasn''t worth how many he would sacrifice by taking such a route. Wasn''t that how he had dictated his life until this point? The reason he hated killing so much was because he didn''t feel that his own life was worth any more than another''s.

    So, how could he on one hand believe that. Then, on the other, feel so torn in this moment?

    Normand roared, his call feeling like the madden wail of a wounded beast. His shout spread throughout the Capital as he pushed himself to his very limits.

    Leonel could see it all. The blood that fell from his eyes, how his bulging thighs tore streaks of flesh away from his legsбн He could even sense his heart pumping past its limits, causing micro tears to appear one after another.

    He wasn''t just going all out. He was going beyond his means for just one goalбн

    To kill Leonel.

    A deep breath seemed to silence the entire battlefield. Leonel could no longer hear a thing.

    He couldn''t feel the collapsing walls of the city. He couldn''t sense the crunching ground beneath his feet or the shouts of his men. He could hardly even hear the beating of his own heart.

    He closed his eyes, the flow of his blood reaching a crawl.

    Why did everything always have to be such a burden? Why did every choice he had to make come with such a dull pain? Why did he live in a world where he had to make such choices to begin with?

    Leonel''s focus reached an extreme height. Beneath his thinking speed, even Normand''s blazing speed seemed as slow to a snail''s crawl. He felt that he could accomplish days of thinking in just a few seconds.

    And soбн He sighed.

    The world sped back up, Normand''s blazing pace starting to leave sparkling motes of red as his blood vaporized into the air. His muscle fibers tore apart one after another, but his roar seemed endless, bellowing into the skies above.

    At that moment, Leonel lightly tapped his foot.

    On a piece of ground to his back, a small patch of earth no more than three inches across rose a half centimeter up.

    In the blink of an eye, he had already crossed this distance. However, Normand couldn''t react to the change. No, maybe he never saw it to begin with.

    Chasing after Leonel, his entire focus on piercing his throat, how could Normand realize that such a small change had occurred on the ground?

    Soбн he tripped.

    He fell forward at blazing speeds, his body losing all of its coordination in an instant.

    It was just a small moment. Having stepped into Control with the help of his Title, coupled with his deep comprehension of Weightless, it wasn''t more than a micro second.

    Yet, it was in that second that he suddenly found a spear plunged through his chest, shattering his heart into an eruption of crimson flesh.

 Chapter 770 - Eternal

    Chapter 770 - Eternal

    Normand crashed into Leonel''s body, impaling himself further. However, Leonel didn''t move an inch. As though a steady mountain that had stood since an ancient era, he remained unmoving even as Normand''s chin fell over his shoulder.

    Normand sputtered, his mouth, already leaking with blood, suddenly beginning to flow with it. The tears that fell down his face only seemed to make the crimson stream down faster, sapping away the heaviness of his life''s blood and washing it away as though it was meaningless.

    A light chuckle left Normand''s lips, his raised sword slowly falling to the side. He no longer had the strength to hold it up. Even now, the only reason he could continue to stand on his feet was because of Leonel''s spear and shoulder.

    "бн Howбн patheticбн" He coughed violently, shards of flesh flying from his mouth and coating Leonel''s back as though to mark him for a lifetime.

    "бн Iбн Normand theбн Swiftбн Lost becauseбн I trippedбн"

    He found it hysterical.

    He could see through the difficulty in doing such a thing to him. The location of the change to the earth had to be precisely chosen, it had to be well hidden, and it had to be perfectly timed.

    At the speed he was going at, his feet hardly touched the ground even once in tens of meters and the intervals weren''t even evenly spaced. Depending on the attacks he chose, the acceleration or deceleration he could choose mid combat, any number of changes could occur.

    At his speed, any one of those changes could cause deviations of several meters. Yet, Leonel still chose the precise point where his toes would strike the ground, causing the greatest amount of devastation to him.

    He understood all of this well. To be a Pure Speedster, he had to have a thinking speed that could keep up with his legs. However, he still found it all to be hysterical. If he had the energy to laugh into the skies, he would do it.

    Normand''s mouth sputtered with another mouthful of blood, this time completely drenching Leonel''s back through.

    "Thanksбн For the battleбн" He said softly.

    His eyes dimmed, his body going completely limp.

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while, his spear still running through Normand''s body, the latter''s chin still resting on his shoulder.

    He couldn''t see it now, but he could feel it. He could feel the light smile on Normand''s face, that satisfied upturn of his lip, that peaceful dimming of his eyes.

    It was the look of a man who had finally died on his own terms. Not in a cell surrounded by rotting mold or scurrying rats, but on the battlefield fighting with all he had.

    Silence rang over the battlefield.

    There wasn''t a single hint of the cheering one would expect to hear after a successfully won challengeбн None of the pride, none of the adulation.

    There was only a brewing heaviness, an unwillingness that radiated outward in the syncing of their heartbeats.

    ''бн I was Normand the Swiftбн The Wind called me Brotherбн The Light called me Friendбн The Gods tried to Strike me downбн But my Speed is Eternalбн''

    Eternal.

    Leonel''s spear vanished as he slowly lowered Normand to the ground.

    Kneeling to his side, he closed the lids of his eyes with two fingers, uncaring as the tips of his hands were drenched through with blood.

    Leonel''s head slowly turned to the sky above the castle in the distance. There, there was a man who stood amidst the clouds.

    His black hair, dotted with strands of grey, was immaculately well kempt. Even as it shifted in the wind, whether it was his short hair or his partially greying beard, not a single strand seemed to leave its preordained spot.

    He had long, flowing imperial robes wrapped in the body of a golden dragon. His crown sat upon his head, completely straight. It seemed to connect him to the skies aboveбн Even as his robes fluttered and his hair shifted, this was the one constant that never seemed to change.

    Looking down on the world, he seemed indifferent to it all. As though a passive observer rather than the King of a Nation that had lost almost all his land, he didn''t seem angry, nor saddened, nor even somber.

    If one didn''t know better, one would think that he was a deity, observing the work of his creation as though it was passive, middling entertainment rather than the lives and hard labor of real people.

    His demeanor was worse than any debasing snicker, any snide remark, any cruel chortle.

    Leonel looked back down to Normand''s corpse. Even now, his lip was curled into that very smile Leonel had imagined. He was unmoved by the supposed Apex.

    Rising to his feet, Leonel''s palm flipped over, a glistening, double bladed, silver spear appearing in his hands.

    The moment it did, for once, it seemed to be completely docile. It didn''t move or rattle, it didn''t fight back against Leonel''s control, it didn''t throw a tantrum. It was as though it could feel that if it pissed Leonel off now, it would never see the light of day again.

    Leonel''s steps didn''t make a single sound. In fact, they were as light as a feather, as soft as a gentle breeze. And yet, every one resonated with the beating of their hearts.

    As light as they were, they only seemed to grow heavier.

    There were no piles of rubble, no tall fires, no single warrior that could stop his path forward. As though he had decided that he would go straight ahead from the very beginning, he didn''t deviate an inch from that path.

    He stared toward that man in the skies, his gaze expressionless.

    Leonel''s foot rose as he stepped into the city.

    When it descendedбн

    BANG!

    Massive stones of earth jetted out from his back, shattering the ground beneath his feet as he shot into the air.

    There was nothing in this world that he wanted more than the death of this man.

    The crown of a Kingбн He didn''t deserve it.

 Chapter 771 Want

    In a location barely ten miles from the Capital, Elthor sat on the ground, his face swollen with bruises and his lip dripping with a small bit of blood.

    It was clear that someone had roughed him up, but not to the point of leaving any lasting injuries. In fact, even though he had a cold look in his eyes at that moment, it didn''t seem to be a real rage. Rather, it was more of a dissatisfaction.

    Other than his partially swollen face, his clothing was in rags and his arms were chained behind his back. He sat in the dirt, not looking toward any specific direction despite the fact that several individuals were standing above him. It was as though he couldn''t hear their rage at all.

    Of these people, two were particularly pissed off. Just with a simple look, one could see that they bore some resemblance to Elthor, although they weren''t quite as handsome.

    By now, their faces had gone red from fury and their throats hurt from yelling. But, it only made it worse that Elthor didn''t respond no matter what it was that they said. He simply sat there, unmoving.

    He had already succeeded in his goal. The Capital was definitely being attacked right now and whether they won or lost would be in Leonel''s hands.

    As for the rage of his familyбн So what? He only did what he thought was right.

    At that moment, the ground suddenly split. A silence fell as they moved out of the way one after another, even the two men who bore a resemblance to Elthor fell into silence, moving out of the way. In the presence of this man, they didn''t dare to say a word.

    Elthor felt a shadow cast over his body. For the first time, he looked up. But, what he saw made his pupils tremble.

    The man that stood above him was none other than his own father, the King of the Oryx. Somehow, at that moment, his wrinkles seemed far deeper than they had been, as though he had aged ten years in the span of just a few moments.

    He was a man of tall stature, his hair completely wizened with white. His robes were plain, and he didn''t wear a crown, but he had a dignified momentum that forced those around him into silence.

    He had a forceful, sort of square face. Compared to Elthor, his horns were far larger, branching out almost like the canopies of a large, ancient tree. Even though his eyes were somewhat murky with age, they hid a sharpness that seemed capable of piercing through his son''s soul.

    He didn''t say a word for a long time. He only continued to observe his son.

    For the first time, Elthor didn''t see love, adoration or hope. He saw a deep rooted disappointment that made his heart tremble and his eyes water. His father didn''t have to speak for him to suddenly feel a weight he had never experienced in his life before.

    In that moment, for some reason, he felt that burden a King carried.

    "Why?"

    The Oryx King''s voice was calm and soothing. It carried a silky quality one could listen to for a lifetime without becoming tired. It was hard to tell if this was simply natural, or if it was a cadence he had learned from years of ruling.

    Elthor''s jaw trembled before he clenched his teeth.

    Due to his blatantly false information, the Oryx armies had ended up in the wrong location, too far from the battle to make it in time. It would be one thing if they were only sending a few people, but to lead such a large army, it would take too much time. Before they got there, much of the result would be set in stone.

    Plus, their original goal wasn''t to fight for or against anyone. They simply didn''t want the rebel army to attack The Capital. Anything else they did didn''t matter. However, it was obviously too late to change anything now.

    "I didn''t agree with your orders." Elthor finally said as firmly as he could.

    "So, instead of following them, you chose to place all your people at risk instead?" The Oryx King continued calmly. "Do you understand how many will die when this plan of yours fails? Do you believe that this is something a King should do?"

    Elthor snapped. "I NEVER WANTED TO BE KING!"

    His breath came out harsh and hurried. He was tired of hearing the same bullshit day in and day out. This was never something he had wanted, so why were things always being framed like this to make him out to be some sort of failure?!

    The King of the Oryx didn''t even flinch at his son''s outburst. His breathing remained steady, his gaze unmoved, his mood unchanged.

    "Even after all these years, you still do not understand. Being King is not about what you want."

    Elthor wanted to yell again, but his father''s soothing voice spoke again before he could, making him feel as though he was choking on air.

    "Becoming Kingбн is also not about what you want."

    The Oryx King continued to gaze at his son.

    "A Kingship is a burden. It presses on your shoulders, it bends your back, it weighs on your heart and soul. You do not become a King by wanting, you become one by circumstance.

    "Those who cannot feel this burdenбн Even worse, those who chase after it, lusting after it, pleading for itбн These are not men fit to Rule."

    Elthor''s two brothers looked to the ground. For some reason, they felt a pang in their hearts, their expressions becoming overcast by hints of shame they couldn''t hide despite the best of their efforts.

    Elthor himself trembled fiercely, his eyes watering outside of his control.

    "Iбн"

    He couldn''t find the words in him to rebuttal.

    "Everard. Richeut."

    "My King!"

    Both Generals spoke in unison, their voices booming.

    "Today, we ride to battle."

    "Father!" Elthor called out, sensing that something was wrong.

    The King no longer looked toward his son.

    "From this day forth, Elthor Umewraek, will be the 57th King of our Oryx Kingdom. Ensure that the ceremony is grand and his name resonates with the Heavens.

    "This King will watch on from the other side."

    The Oryx King leapt onto his tall, black steed, his back straight and his halberd appearing in his hand. To his left and right, Everard and Richeut sat just as tall, their expressions determined.

    Then, they charged into the distance, carving a straight line toward the Capital.

 Chapter 772 Harmony

    "Let me go! I SAID LET ME GO!"

    Elthor fought with all his might. But, compared to the Generals that remained and just how many of them there were, Elthor was just a young boy without a chance.

    With so many restraining him at once, he had no chance of breaking through.

    Rage lit his features, his body breaking into his battle form and even shattering the chains that held him down. But, even this wasn''t enough. It only made the strikes he suffered even heavier.

    The Oryx were never a light handed race. Even knowing that this was their new King, they didn''t hold back. They refused to allow him to charge off into a battle that meant nothing but death.

    He was their future, their light and their hope. If they ever wanted a chance to avenge their King, they needed him to grow and matureбн Or else their Kingdom wouldn''t last very much longer.

    Even as they pummeled their young King into the ground, their fists heavy, tears streamed down their faces in an endless torrent. Not a single one of them looked toward their King''s back receding into the distance. But, they all knew that this was the last time they would see him.

    Elthor collapsed onto the ground, his bones beaten and broken. He couldn''t stand even if he wanted to. It felt as though every inch of his body had suffered a severe injury other than his organs themselves.

    However, somehow, he still found the strength to pound the ground with his fists, his wails spreading through the entire Oryx army.

    "He''s a King! I''m the warrior! I should be on the frontline! Not him! NOT HIM!"

    The ground cracked, splintered and cratered beneath his strength, his pupils darkening the more rage he felt.

    All around, the upper echelon of the Oryx Kingdom stood. The only sound for miles seemed to be the cries of their young King.

    **

    Leonel felt his arms almost shatter the instant he made contact. His leverage in the air wasn''t the best to begin with since he had to rely on a piece of earth floating beneath his feet, but he had a feeling that even if he had such leverage, it wouldn''t make much of a difference.

    Alexandre was immovable. His palm stopped the blade of his Quasi Silver Spear as though it was any ordinary weapon.

    The forces of repulsion almost blasted Leonel back to the ground. At least, it seemed like it was just almostбн Until the piece of earth beneath his feet shattered and he was sent careening into the city below as though a falling meteor.

    The air shot out of Leonel''s body.

    In these years he hadn''t managed to progress past the Tier 4 stage of his Fourth Dimensional Metal Body because he couldn''t find the specific Ores he needed in this place. However, this didn''t mean that his body wasn''t obscenely sturdy.

    Even though he didn''t cough up blood, though, his inner organs were rattled. Falling from almost 30 meters in the air like that was tough even for him.

    Yet, Leonel shot out in the next instant, appearing in the skies again with a whole barrage of broken stone and earth following behind him.

    Leonel unleashed a flurry of attacks, the tip of his spear exploding with flames as bombs of fire erupted in the skies.

    Alexandre calmly glided backward, navigating through the earthen projectiles flying toward him at astonishing speed as though he was skating on ice.

    Every time he lightly pressed his palm forward, Leonel''s attacks would be rebuffed as though meeting an impenetrable wall. The attacks almost seemed to be nullified completely and none of the strength even traveled to the other parts of Alexandre''s body.

    ''A defensive type ability? Is it just his palm? Or is it his whole body?''

    Leonel''s white gold wings appeared once more, his body erupting as Bronze Runes surged throughout his skin. A violet-red colored his eyes as his strength exploded.

    He hopped from floating rock to floating rock, his speed growing faster and faster.

    ''[Harmonic Spear].''

    At that moment, Leonel''s body was suddenly cloned, each of them seemingly leaving afterimages in the air. In the blink of an eye, he looked to be everywhere at once, both being a long distance from Alexandre and a short distance at the same time.

    Alexandre''s eyes narrowed. Spears descended toward him from all directions.

    Just when it seemed that he would be skewered, his Force surged.

    BANG!

    All the images dissipated at once, leaving just one Leonel piercing toward Alexandre''s back.

    However, rather than the image of him being run through that many might have expected, a spherical shield had appeared all around Alexandre, making Leonel''s arms rattle.

    There was just a slight pause before Leonel found himself being shot out once again. Like a ball out of a canon, he crashed through the city, bounding through walls and the stone tiled grounds.

    Leonel coughed, shaking his head.

    Looking up into the skies, he saw Alexandre looking toward him with an indifferent expression.

    ''So it is a defense ability fueled by World Force. No wonder even my Quasi Silver spear can''t break his defenses. His ability is probably equivalent to a Sixth Dimensional one with the support of his World Force. And, unlike his Titled Knights, he doesn''t have to call out his Titleбн

    ''But, Goggles said that this Alexandre had an ability related to wordsбн Was that wrong? Or am I missing somethingбн?''

    Leonel slowly stood, his expression indifferent. It was as though he wasn''t the one who had just suffered such a loss.

    ''It seems it''s time for you to make your debut.''

    Leonel pierced his spear into the ground, his momentum growing fiercer as Force whistled around him.

    At that moment, the Halo above his head began to glow fiercely, expanding a fold in size as it continued to tremble.

    Then, it grew another fold, then another. Eventually, the Halo was over two meters in diameter alone, shining such a bright Bronze-Violet that it almost looked like a violet-gold.

    When it reached its peak it descended over Leonel''s body, reaching his feet in a single bound.

    Nothing seemed to have happened. But, as it rose back over Leonel''s bodyбн

    A brilliant armor began to appear.

 Chapter 773 Apex

    The whipping winds came to a grinding halt.

    Beaming sunlight reflected off of the plates of armor. Bright silvers and delicate blacks alternated along its elaborate patterns. Just its presence alone seemed to make time itself stop, an eerie stillness hanging all around it.

    As the halo passed over Leonel''s head, it was slowly covered by a helmet, sealing away his handsome, indifferent features.

    A light clicking locked everything into space. As though it had come alive, the armor shrunk a size, clinging to Leonel''s armor as though it was nothing more than a second skin.

    This was the true ability of Divine Armor. It didn''t function like a normal armor would. For all intents and purposes, it had become a living, breathing part of Leonel''s body.

    When it was damaged, it would be repaired. When it moved, it would have a flexibility other armors couldn''t match. Its power was now Leonel''s own, its presence Leonel''s presence.

    Leonel ripped his spear out from the ground, the world quaking beneath his benign action.

    White gold wings spread along Leonel''s back once more. The contrast between his silver-black armor and them seemed to dazzle the world. However, whatever absentmindedness one could have had vanished when Leonel suddenly shot forward.

    In a blink, he was already above Alexandre. Without any aid, he stepped into the air as though it was as easy as breathing, his spear descending with such forcefulness that one would have thought that his goal was to split the planet below rather than the man before him.

    Alexandre''s pupils constricted. He was able to fly not because of an ability, but because of World Force which granted him such a strength. This was the first time he had seen someone who shouldn''t have a flying ability do so.

    None of the reports he had received ever mentioned this armor, nor did any mention his ability to fly. It was clear that this was a trump card that Leonel had left hidden just for this exact moment.

    Alexandre reacted quickly, his palm shooting outward toward Leonel''s blade just as it always had.

    But, in that moment, he suddenly felt as though his hand was moving through a wall of wind or a depth of quicksand. It slowed considerably even though he felt it was moving just as fast as it originally was.

    The cognitive dissonance threw him for a loop. However, it was then an alarming sense of danger shook him to his core.

    Without hesitation, he shot backward.

    Leonel''s spear descended. In one moment, it was before Alexandre''s palm. But, in an act that could only be said to break the laws of reality, it appeared past it in the next instant. It didn''t even seem to have teleported. Somehowбн it felt that it had always been there.

    Alexandre''s dodge came just in time, but he was too late to stop his Kingly robes from being torn in two, a shallow line of blood running down his chest.

    Alexandre''s acceleration met the same muddy pastures. It was as though he was locked down from all sides. No matter where he moved, how he moved, or how much effort he put into it, it felt as though his speed had been cut down drastically.

    The sight of the Apex suddenly finding himself on a backfoot left those watching stunned. To a degree, these even included those of the rebel army. But, very soon, they began to roar at the top of their lungs, emotions they had been bottling up for decades bubbling forth.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands.

    Through the air, he took slow and deliberate steps forward, bearing down on Alexandre.

    His spear lashed out, splitting into two of its three parts. The blade shot forward like an arrow, completely unaffected by the same slow in speed Alexandre was. In fact, it seemed to have become even faster than it would be normally.

    Alexandre put up his barrier once more. The only way he had managed to keep his head all this time was by protecting his body from all sides like this.

    However, just when he was expecting the blade to pierce at his chest, it vanished, a massive pressure slicing into the shield to his back.

    The sight left the nobles in horror. By now, they were absolutely certain. It was a spatial ability, and a devastating one at that.

    Leonel''s chain snapped back into place, but in one fluid motion, he spun the opposing side forward sending another chain snaking forth.

    What began as a slow, methodical approach became a torrential assault in the blink of an eye. The sound of snapping and retracting chains rang through the battlefield, shadows of grey and silver whipping about as Leonel practically used the supposed king for target practice.

    Alexandre''s expression darkened. As though he was hiding in a turtle shell, he could only take the endless barrage, the sound of clanging metal ringing in his ears endlessly.

    Looking at the armored figure standing in the skies even above him, his heart filled with intent to murder. It had been a very long time since someone truly thought to test his sovereignty.

    He had never really counted Normand. In his eyes, such a man was nothing more than a rat struggling on his very last breath, a rodent caught in a trap without even the slightest chance to escape.

    However, this was very different. This sort of assault on his rulership was unprecedented.

    He was Alexandre the Apex. This world was nothing more than a stepping stone to him. There would come a day where he ruled this universe and would become the true Apex of all!

    Alexandre roared, what remained of his robes shattering to reveal a powerful and toned torso.

    The singular line of red running down it quickly healed, a large pillar of light descending from the skies.

    At that moment, he truly evoked his Apex Title, his strength soaring.

    He tore a trail forward through Leonel''s Domain, his palms squeezing into fists.

    With a single punch forward, a golden fist appeared in the skies. It felt as though the world might collapse at any moment.

 Chapter 774 Luck

    Leonel''s cold and calculating eyes watched as this golden fist bore down on him.

    As though it was still being constantly fueled by the energies of the world, it continued to expand in size. From matching Alexandre''s fist, it was soon larger than even Leonel''s body, wanting to crush him into minced meat.

    Leonel didn''t seem to realize that this fist was meant for him. He remained unmoving, his spear being held between his fingers and thumb as though it was as light as a feather.

    In his mind, thoughts of Normand continued to surfaceбн The pain of the commoners, the nightmare of the noblesбн All the pains and atrocities this man had committed in the name of maintaining his power and strength.

    Leonl found that there were too many people like this in the world. It was just that not all of them had the power Alexandre had.

    It was as though a cancer had been brewing in the Dimensional Verse for millennia, but not a single person had been able to do a thing about it.

    Those that were at the bottom simply suffered in silence. Those at the top perpetuated it to hold onto their power. Those that managed to raise up from the former and enter the ranks of the latter believed that their hard work gave them the right to do as they pleased.

    Maybe the third group of people was the worst. They had perspectives on both sides, and yet they chose to maintain the status quo, saying garbage like those at the bottom should just work harder as though they had a monopoly on what it meant to put in effort.

    Such people completely forgot about what help they might have received, what luck they might have stumbled into, what aid someone else had given themбн Once they succeeded, nothing else mattered to them than to make sure others knew they reached their goals while you didn''t because you didn''t work hard enough.

    And then there was this Alexandre. He was already at the top of this world, but Leonel could see the ambition in his eye. It couldn''t have been more obvious.

    This ''king'' had already been lucky, being born into royalty in the first place. Now whatever card he had up his sleeve that made him so confident that he could face the whole of the Dimensional Verseбн Do you think that he felt he was lucky to stumble into such an opportunity too?

    No. He probably thought that he was destined for such a fate. That it was his ''hard work'' that put him in position to benefit from such a boon. That he ''deserved'' it.

    It all sickened Leonel to the very pits of his stomach.

    Why was it that he never thought his life was more valuable than another''s? Wasn''t it obvious that he was worth more? Just look at his talent, just look at his strengthбн Him dying wasn''t the same as another dying, how could it be?

    But this was never how Leonel had seen it.

    Why did his talent give him more worth than someone else?

    He had been lucky to be born to a father from the Seventh Dimension. He had been lucky to be born to a talented mother who could catch such a man''s eye. He was lucky to have a grandmother from a Sixth Dimensional family, lucky to have a grandfather who ruled a world with Eighth Dimensional potential.

    What had he done to deserve any of this? He won a lottery. That was all it was.

    He hadn''t earned anything. And, neither did this false king before him.

    Such trash with an overinflated sense of worth, all because they were born with a golden spoon in their mouthsбн

    Leonel hated them all.

    In the past, he hadn''t been able to put his thoughts together so clearly, to understand what it is that sickened him so much with such clarity.

    But he understood now. If there was anything that could change the world, it would be reliant on those at the bottom to rise up. It would require those who understood the plight of those lesser than them, those were deemed lucky enough to win the Dimensional Verse''s lottery, who would have to choose to do something.

    So, right here and now. In this world. Leonel chose to do something.

    A dense black energy coated Leonel''s spear. Its presence alone made space quake, the fabric of reality threatening to tear apart.

    He rose his arm into the skies.

    When it descended, silence reigned, Alexandre''s roar coming to a deathly silence.

    A scythe of Spatial Elemental Force tore through the air, splintering the massive golden fist in two as though it was deflating a balloon.

    Leonel took a step forward, his body vanishing only to appear before Alexandre.

    The Apex? The greatest speed. The greatest strength. The greatest power.

    But who cared? That was only the Apex in this false king''s small world view. Leonel would show him the view of a person far luckier than he wasбн He would show him an Apex above his.

    "Die." Leonel said coldly.

    Alexandre shot a fist forward, still believing in his barrier. But, at that moment, Leonel''s blade vanished.

    When it reappeared, it had already crossed Alexandre''s defenses, appearing above his collar.

    Before Alexandre could even react, the blade had already cut into the traps of his shoulders, slicing his body across diagonally.

    Blood rained through the sky, Alexandre''s two halves flying through the air past Leonel without the ability to stop their momentum.

    But, as all things, this too eventually came to an end.

    With Alexandre''s eyes dimming, his body lost any strength it had, falling through the skies in a shower of crimson.

    Blood droplets hung around Leonel, completely unable to touch his body. They fell down one after another, bathing the Capital in the life of their false king.

    The cheering of the rebel army came to a grinding halt.

    Had they done it? Had they really succeeded? Were their years of suffering finally over?

    Hot tears fell down their cheeks, falling to the lands that were now their own.

    Leonel stood in the skies, his armor glistening, his spear point relaxed.

    He looked up into the skies, a light smile hidden beneath his helmet.

    But, it was at that exact moment that his pupils constricted.

    His head whipped in the direction of Alexandre''s corpse, his expression frosting over.

    A deep cackle filled the air, the manic laughter plunging the temperature of the Capital down by dozens of degrees.

 Chapter 775 Fifth Dimension

    The laughter held a madness that could only fill one with a sense of apprehension in fear. It was the kind of laughter that came from a man who had lost his mind, the kind only one who had stepped over their breaking point could produce.

    The two halves of Alexandre''s body began to stitch itself back together.

    As though it was a mere surface stitching, as he tried to rise up, his body threatened to fall apart again. However, slowly but surely, the connection became steadier and stronger. By the time Alexandre had risen to his feet, the stitching began to mend itself, disappearing beneath healthy, healed skin.

    In the skies, Leonel watched on with narrowed eyes. He was trying to understand if he had made a mistake or not. Where had he gone wrong? What exactly was this ability? Where did it come from?

    Was this another ability of World Force? Did Alexandre''s Apex Title give him superior healing? Now that Leonel thought about it, he had already injured Alexandre once before in this battle. And, though it had been an exceptionally shallow wound, it had also healed very quicklyбн Or, could it possibly be something else entirely? Something he had no idea about?

    At this moment, the inconvenience of the dictionary shone through.

    He was certain that his father had done it on purpose. He didn''t believe for a moment that his father didn''t have the skill to make the dictionary more convenient to use. Even the people of Earth could make microchips the size of a single cell, let alone what his father would be capable of.

    Leonel could feel a great and suffocating aura coming from Alexandre. At that moment, he didn''t dare to take out the dictionary. He primed his entire body to be prepared for battle and could only think about this himself.

    Leonel''s jaw set as Alexandre''s manic laughter only grew more pompous.

    Nothing about Alexandre''s actions made sense. If he had such power, why is it that he would allow things to reach this point? If he didn''t have such power and this was nothing more than a fa?ade, why was he wasting time laughing like this?

    All signs pointed toward this man having fallen into madness, but why did Leonel feel a cold, murderous and calculating intent constantly locked onto him? The feeling was both chilling and sticky as though ice stuck to his skin was being forcibly peeled off.

    It was then that Leonel saw Alexandre''s eyes. With a single look, he understood where this feeling was coming from.

    Alexandre''s mouth was peeled open, his laughter ringing out to the point Leonel could even see his tongue vibrating. However, none of it seemed to reach his eyes. His irises were drenched in a cold fury as though his laughter was out of humiliation rather than humor.

    It was exactly at that moment that Alexandre''s aura shattered and reformed itself. His entire being seemed to transcend.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. ''Fifth Dimension.''

    Nothing seemed to make any sense anymore. This was supposed to be a Quasi Bronze Zone, how could a Fifth Dimensional threat appear here? Was it a Unique Zone? But where was the outside interference?

    Leonel had done too much research, too much due diligence in the past two years to have possibly missed an outside influence. He would have noticed it long ago. That, he was absolutely certain of.

    This aside, even if there was going to be an outside interference, they would have had to take some sort of action in order to cause this Zone to evolve, but where had this action been taken? Leonel hadn''t sensed any outside Forces, no foreign energies, not even an unexpected change to the battlefield.

    On top of all of this, this was supposed to be a Variant Zone. The fact that Leonel had had to slave away for two years and still hadn''t seen any sort of reward yet was already outside the norm, so how could this also happen as well?

    It couldn''t be that all the variables had piled up to the point things reached this level of unpredictability? Was it even possible for him to fight a person on such a level?

    Before Leonel could even think about it any longer, he found that Alexandre had appeared before him.

    A fist that felt like it could collapse worlds drew closer, swimming through a see of dense Spatial Force with a speed that felt like it should be impossible.

    Leonel dodged to the side, barely using his Divine Armor''s warped Domain to leave unharmed. However, he instantly felt the drain, his body feeling like a fish out of water.

    Fueling his Divine Armor to slow the movement of a Fourth Dimensional existence was one matter. But, to try to do that same against a Fifth Dimensional existence was almost a fool''s dream.

    Alexandre stood in the air where Leonel had been, not moving an inch as the latter rose higher into the skies and made some distance between them. He seemed quite shocked that his blow hadn''t landed.

    His manic laughter seemed to still hang in the skies, echoing through the slowly accumulating and greying clouds.

    He rolled his shoulder, seemingly stretching it out or getting used to his new strength.

    After a moment, he clenched his fist, causing all sorts of energies to begin rolling in from all sides.

    First it was World Force. Then Leonel sensed Universal Force. Then there came a neutral Force.

    The three together caused the space around Alexandre to quake as the images of four dark seasons began to form around his body.

    The skies quaked, a rumbling, low growl of thunder accumulating momentum.

    In that moment, a single drop of rain rebounded off of Leonel''s armor. To him, it almost sounded like a pin dropбн And yet, it resonated through his mind like the roar of a lion, resonating through his armor with impunity.

    Thenбн Alexandre''s fist shot forward again.

 Chapter 776 How Much Longer?

    Leonel roared, his spear vibrating with large amounts of Spatial Force as he met this golden fist.

    Sparks flew, what looked like arcs of black lightning contrasting against a sparkling gold.

    Leonel was continuously pushed back, his anchor in the sky and his strength not being nearly enough. Just to fly, he had to use the Spatial Force around him to his advantage. But, after just a single exchange with Alexandre, it felt as though he could hardly bring forth this strength anymore.

    Just as Leonel was struggling with just a single one, Alexandre appeared in the skies above him, his fist sending out a second strike.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted, his arms trembling as he fought back. But, whatever small leverage he had had facing one completely collapsed in the face of the second.

    Without suspense, his body practically crumpled, his armor threatening to shatter beneath the might of the two strikes.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s body was forcefully tunneled into the ground, two fist imprints layering over one another to drive him further and further into the dirt.

    A silence hung over the battlefield as the small drizzles of rain became more frequent, picking up momentum until a constant rattle rang in all of their ears.

    Leonel shot out from the ground, his armor looking as pristine as when he first produced it. And yet, the state of his inner organs told a completely different tale. If it wasn''t for his Metal Body and Divine Armor working as one, he might have been half dead already.

    But, even then, he already found it difficult to stand.

    Leonel took deep breaths, his gaze locking onto Alexandre and his grip holding on tightly to his silver, double bladed, spear.

    ''Dreamscape Battle Sense.''

    A strong Dream Force suddenly swept over the battlefield. As though a scanner sweeping a probe, everything was reflected in Leonel''s mind.

    ''Dream Sense.''

    Leonel''s mind split almost 200 ways, each taking control of a different section of his body as though he was a machine to be operated rather than a human being.

    Leonel''s body began to move with an extreme amount of precision. Even in cases where his muscles couldn''t meet the mark, Leonel used his Earth Variant Affinity to take control of his armor and forcibly pull his self to the proper position.

    In this state, he had the greatest control over his body and the absolute clearest mind.

    If Alexandre wanted a battle, he would get one. Even at this moment, Leonel could sense the heavy gazes on his back.

    He could see Gertrude''s tearful eyes. He could see Rollan''s steeled jaw. He could see Goggles'' clenched fist, Castello''s warped polearm, Miles'' bleeding lip, Austin''s quivering kneesбн

    There were hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people reflected onto his mind, each and everyone looking toward him with a light of hope.

    The burden was heavy. So heavy that he felt it might sink his knees, crush his shoulders and shatter his back.

    And yet, he stood tall, his spear pointed forward.

    Leonel raised his foot, the space beneath him quaking. In the next instant, he vanished, appearing before Alexandre.

    Yet, rather than attack, he took a step to the side.

    As though having read into the future, Alexandre''s fist punched at empty air, entering a space that would have run through Leonel''s chest completely.

    The air shook, a deep trench tearing through the city below and causing explosion of dirt.

    Leonel''s cold eyes flickered beneath the visor of his helmet, his spear sweeping upward in a motion to slice Alexandre''s arm off.

    A shield of Force manifested once again. However, Leonel''s spear didn''t even connect. It shifted through space, continuing toward Alexandre''s arm as though no shield had been there to begin with.

    The sight of blade contacting skin played in all their minds. Yet, before anything could happen, Leonel vanished again.

    In his place, a blast of energy rocked the air, causing concentric circles of energy to radiate out.

    Leonel appeared again at Alexandre''s opposing side, his expression, hidden beneath his silver-black helmet, completely unfazed.

    He had already seen through Alexandre''s skill as a close combat expert. After entering the Fifth Dimension, one''s ability to control the Force in the air around them, as opposed to just the Force in their bodies, reaches an all new level.

    In that split instant, Alexandre had used the jetting out of his elbow to counter Leonel. But, only the slightest twitch of the muscle was needed for Leonel to see completely through it.

    By the time Alexandre understood what had happened, Leonel''s spear descended again, slashing down on his left arm with full force.

    PCHU!

    Leonel''s blade cut through Alexandre''s skin, only to be stopped by his flesh and bone. His spear which had a sharpness he was keenly aware of, couldn''t even take an arm off any longer.

    Leonel understood the problem. His stamina was already running low, he couldn''t afford to fuel every attack with Spatial Elemental Force. At the same time, the stamina he needed to upkeep the use of his Divine Armor at his current stage didn''t allow him the right to use other Elemental Forces.

    In the end, he could only rely on his Spatial Force in this state, but it was simultaneously the most draining Force he had.

    Leonel dodged out of the way of yet another strike, his labored breathing causing puffs of fog in the steadily increasing rainfall.

    Alexandre''s figure flickered, completely moving out of the way of Leonel''s snaking chain blade. It was clear that he had given up on simply staying in place as the wound on his left arm rapidly healed before their eyes.

    Alexandre didn''t say a word. The rumbling Universal Force around him grew more fervent.

    Leonel vanished once again. Without a word, Alexandre had appeared in the exact location he had been in, his fist eviscerating a quarter of his castle to dust without a care for the nobles that might have died inside.

    "I wonderбн How much longer can you keep that upбн?"

    In that moment, over the horizon, the galloping of three pure bred horses charged through the rain, entering the battlefield as Leonel and Alexandre faced off.

 Chapter 777 Stop

    Leonel took heavy, deep breaths.

    When he first created Dreamscape Battle Sense, he never thought that there''d come a day where he would become so proficient at it that his body would give out before his mind did.

    It almost felt like the greatest irony. Even now, facing a newly advanced Fifth Dimensional entity, he was able to read, predict and react to his actions without much issue. And, even though it had already been several exchanges, and even though he was using Dream Sense and splitting his mind and senses almost 200 ways, he had barely used 10% of his Dream Force stamina.

    But, every time Alexandre moved with his Spatial Domain, every time he threw a punch and forced Leonel to slow him down, it was like another chunk of Leonel''s life was taken.

    If his Divine Armor was removed now, it might look as though only a skeleton remained. Even his so-called ''heavy'' breathing was only heavy to him. By now, he hardly had the strength to take anything more than shallow, quick breaths.

    To make matters worse, the injuries he had suppressed after getting hit by Alexandre the first time seemed to want to flare up again.

    Leonel''s senses had long since locked onto the three Oryx approaching from the distance. In fact, he had sensed them long before they even came into view. But, he really didn''t know what to do about it. He couldn''t even find a path to deal with Alexandre, if these three decided to attack his army, he wouldn''t be able to help even if he wanted to.

    A strange helplessness overtook Leonel as he was forced to dodge again.

    He coughed violently. Though no blood came out, it felt like searing hot coals were being plunged down his throat. His lungs felt as though they had been lit on fire.

    Despite his worry, Rollan, too, noticed the charging Oryx. Realizing that the problem could become bad, he immediately took charge.

    Sending numerous signals, the left wing of the army did an about face, grasping their weapons as they faced the oncoming assault.

    "ALEXANDRE!"

    The booming voice rolled over the thunder that quaked the skies. It was deep and held an undeniable majesty to it that resonated with one''s heart and soul.

    Completely ignoring the army before him, the King of the Oryx leapt from his steed, bolting through the air with his two Generals in tow.

    ''бн World Forceбн'' Leonel smiled bitterly.

    He had already guess that the King of the Oryx would have the other half of this world''s World Spirit. But, if he really had to deal with two World Force users, he would really be finished. Could it be that he would never be able to step foot outside of this world? Was all the blood, sweat and tears he had poured into this meaningless?

    Leonel could almost feel the hearts of his army constrict. Then, as though madmen completely forgetting military law, the entirety of the rebel army surged toward the Capital without thought for their safety.

    "GENERAL!"

    It didn''t matter who it was. Whether it was Rollan all the way down to even the cowardly Goggles. They all seemed to have lost their rationality in that moment.

    When Leonel saw such a scene, he wasn''t sure how to react.

    With happiness? With rage? The bitter sweetness made him feel as though the weight on his back was still growing heavier. By now, it was heavy enough to make him feel suffocated to an extreme, his heart pumping with a continuous pang.

    However, Leonel could have never guessed what would happen next.

    Just as he was preparing for a battle that would likely be his last, the Oryx King and his two Generals appeared before the indifferent Alexandre.

    As though he had already expected such a result, Alexandre punched outward.

    Eyes steeled with determination, Everard stepped in its path, his mouth sputtering with blood as Alexandre''s fist shot through his chest.

    A wild grin painted the Oryx General''s face. His claws stretched out, latching onto Alexandre''s arm as though his life depended on it, the only thing holding him up in the air being the Oryx King''s World Force.

    Alexandre frowned and was about to pull his arm back, but the Oryx King appeared before cutting down with all the force his halberd could muster.

    Reacting quickly, Alexandre shot a palm forward to block, only for Richeut to step in its path.

    Though his face didn''t carry the same wild, bloody grin Everard''s had, his eyes had the glint of a madman. This glint, even after his chest was completely pierced through, even while Alexandre glare back at himбн Even while his King''s halberd split his head in two on the way to Alexandre''sбн

    Never faded.

    Leonel''s heart trembled as he watched the Oryx King''s halberd pass through his own General as though he wasn''t there.

    Everything felt as though it was moving in slow motion. Leonel could see the trembling of the Kign''s hand, he could see the sadness reflected in his eyes, he could see the pain trembling through his soul.

    The halberd killed an excellent General, only to be stopped by a shield of Force manifested through thin air.

    "бн Do you really think this is enough to kill me?" Alexandre said plainly, gazing upon the Oryx King''s halted blade.

    "No." The Oryx King replied, his hands having grown frighteningly steady.

    At that moment, Leonel felt the King''s gaze lock onto him. He didn''t know why this King would choose to look toward him at that momentбн But, he saw none of the disgust, rage or blame he thought he would find.

    Insteadбн All he received was a calm smile. It was the kind of smile that told him to relaxбн That told him that someone with larger, stronger shoulders than his own would take on this burden for him.

    And then, the Oryx King erupted into flames. Everything around him from his halberd to his Generals, to even himself imploded in a massive cascade of World Force.

    Leonel''s heart came to a grinding stop.

 Chapter 778 One By One

    The fire reflected in Leonel''s irises. He didn''t know what was happening. He didn''t know why or even how the Oryx King sacrificed himself. He didn''t know if this was an ability of World Force, if it was a Lineage Factor, or even if this was the Oryx King''s original ability being fueled to a new level by his World Forceбн

    Even with all his intellect, even with all his senses, he just couldn''t understandбн

    But maybe that was the way things were meant to be. When those at the top took on the greatest burden for themselves, wasn''t it all to allow those beneath them to live on in ignorance?

    The flames, despite never touching the city below, seemed to engulf it whole. Whether it was the heat or the moment, it was all ubiquitous. This was likely a moment they would never forgetбн And yet, maybe the greatest irony was that they had treated this man as an enemy just moments ago.

    It was yet another bittersweet moment. But, it was one filled with an underlying respect that pounded through their hearts.

    Maybe, thoughбн Life wasn''t filled with such fairy tales. Sometimes, even when the greatest sacrifice is made, even when all the tears are shed and all the hearts were brokenбн It still isn''t enough.

    As the fires even Leonel didn''t dare casually touch began to die down, the image of a singular man still standing in the air became clearer and clearer. By the time the flames faded away completely and they saw what remained, a horror could only grip their minds.

    There, Alexandre stood.

    His skin was burnt black, flaking off to reveal bloodied, mangled flesh beneath.

    Both of his arms were nowhere to be seen and his once handsome features had all been burnt away to the point that one could make out bits and pieces of his skull.

    At that moment, the manic laughter appeared once again. As the rain sizzled and boiled, coming into contact with the supposed king, this laughter only grew.

    "Kill me?! I AM THE APEX!"

    Alexandre''s voice boomed, the projection of his voice tearing a cyclone into the thick, black, cumulonimbus clouds coating the sky.

    Arcs of lightning flashed and thunder boomed. It looked like a hellish descent coming to reap all of their lives.

    "No!" Leonel suddenly roared, his body flickering.

    But when he appeared again, he had traveled less than half the distance he had wanted to.

    Completely out of his range, Alexandre had shot down from the skies, his armless body looking like an arrow through the rain as he appeared amidst the army.

    His mouth opened wide, skin flaking and falling from his skull even as he bit down.

    At that moment, from across the battlefield, Gertrude smiled. Even from so far away, Leonel could see it clearly.

    She knew Alexandre was too fast for her to react to. She didn''t even have time to raise her weapon.

    Her final thoughts were quite simple, really. If she was going to die anyway, wouldn''t it be nice to see his face one last time?

    It was just a shameбн that his head was covered in that damned armorбн

    Gertrude''s throat was ripped out by Alexandre''s teeth in that moment. As though a man dying of thirst, he sucked with all his might, leaving her withering until she breathed her last.

    Alexandre''s body flickered again, fiending for blood, needing that taste of life to grace his lips.

    The reason he had been able to gain such great regenerative abilities was by sacrificing his own son. After having gone so far and with the unification of this world right at his finger tips, how could he die now?!

    Leonel saw red, his body driving itself forward. Even if he couldn''t use Spatial Force anymore, he still had his speed, he still had something.

    Unfortunately, without Spatial Force, he plummeted from the skies, crashing into the buildings below.

    Leonel allowed his Divine Armor to sink into his skin, bursting with whatever Light Elemental Force he could muster.

    But, by the time he managed to leap over another building, he could only watch as Alexandre surged toward Rollan.

    Leonel felt as though his heart was being ripped out. These last two years couldn''t have been any realer to him. He could still hear every one of Rollan''s laughs, he could still feel every time he patted his shoulder, he could still taste every meal they had had together.

    Thinking of how he could possibly explain his death to Elise, or if he would even ever get a chance to, tore him up from the inside out.

    However, Leonel didn''t see Rollan die. Somehow, what he saw instead shook him even more.

    Just when Rollan''s throat was about to be torn out much like Gertrude before him, Goggles kicked him out of the way, appearing before Alexandre with a dagger wrapped by both hands and plunging down with all the strength he had.

    "Goggles!" Rollan roared.

    "Shut up!" Goggles shout hid the trembling in his voice. "I won''t let this bastard be the reason my Goddess cries!"

    Leonel''s world completely lost color.

    All the times Goggles had gone on a convoluted rant played in his mind in a flash. And yet, this time, he hardly got to finish a single sentence before the rest was filled the gurgling sounds of blood.

    Goggles'' eyes dimmed as his throat was ripped apart by a shining row of white teeth.

    Leonel plowed his way forward, his ears ringing with an eerie high pitched, monotonous sound. He couldn''t see straight or think straight. Everything he had left was poured into running as fast as he could as though it didn''t matter that Alexandre had already regrown his limbs.

    Alexandre''s laughter rang through the skies, a familiar silver tablet rising out of his body and exuding an endless pressure.

    Leonel appeared before him, but could hardly swing his spear before a dome of Force blocked him completely.

    Leonel wildly swung his spear at the dome, but none of what he did seemed to matter in the slightest.

    "You knowбн" Alexandre laughed, his mouth bloodied with the flesh of Leonel''s lieutenants. "бн I once had a subject just as disobedient as you. Why don''t I give you the same chance I gave him?

    "You want to save the rest of them, right?"

    Alexandre picked up Rollan who had been sprawled to the ground by Goggles, lifting him up as though to make certain that Leonel could see his face.

    "Bow down."

    The dome of Force around Leonel constricted, plowing him into the ground and smashing his forehead against the cracked paved roads of the city.

    "Swear your loyalty. Recognize the Apex. I, King Alexandre, will be the ruler of this world!"

    Leonel''s face was grinded into the dirt. He didn''t even have the leverage he needed to stand up with his arms pressed flush against the ground, let alone the fact even if he did, there was no way he''d have the strength to shatter this barrier.

    He couldn''t crack this barrier even when he was at full strength, how would he do it now?

    "If you do notбн I''ll make sure to kill each and every one of them. One by one."

 Chapter 779 Burden (1)

    Leonel grit his teeth, his jaw clenching with such force that it might have been heard if it wasn''t for the heavy rain falling from the skies.

    Up above, a vortex of black clouds rumbled and sparked with lightning, becoming louder and more dangerous with every passing moment as though a tornado trying to touch down to the earth.

    The moment Leonel heard Alexandre''s words, a rage began to pump through his veins.

    In the past, he hadn''t cared about kneeling very much. It wasn''t a devaluing of himself, but rather that he had never assigned the action as something that would grant or snatch such a thing as value from a person.

    Having grown up in a world that was more monarchy than democracy, something like paying respects to the Emperor was a part of everyday life. It had never been a struggle to keep or hold onto a meaningless pride, especially when everyone around you had been indoctrinated in the very same way.

    It wasn''t until Leonel met King Arthur that he suddenly gained a revulsion toward kneeling. But, even then, it wasn''t because of the action itself, but rather because he felt as though it was being used as a power play to elevate another at his expense.

    Back then, King Arthur was meant to tell him to rise, yet purposely chose not to as a method of applying more pressure on Leonel. What he didn''t know was that even someone like Leonel had their own breaking point, especially when they put as much emphasis on Respect as Leonel did.

    Since that day, Leonel never casually kneeled. But at this moment, with his face being grinded into the ground, with the fury of his army billowing around him, he hated it even more.

    Veins popped across his body. Even though his skin couldn''t seem to sustain his Bronze Runes anymore, his eyes still pulsed with a strong red. But, at that moment, for whatever reason, the usual violet hue that curbed the murderous violence of the crimson was nowhere to be seen.

    The barrier seemed to give way to Leonel. But, the moment he managed to rise high enough to make eye contact with Alexandreбн

    BANG!

    Leonel''s body was smashed into the ground once again. It felt as though the whole front of his skull was threatening to shatter. If it wasn''t for the fact his Metal Body was stronger than the stone ground he was being forced into, his injuries would most definitely not be so light.

    "Wrong answer." Alexandre shook his head. "I''ll give you as many chances as you need, don''t worry."

    "GENERAL!"

    Alexandre waved a hand, causing a barrier to block a wave of soldiers from charging through. However, it became very clear, very quickly, that he hadn''t done this for the sake of his safety.

    One man found himself flying through the barrier, his momentum not having stopped along with everyone else.

    He seemed to realize instantly what happened, but a flash of madness took over his eyes as he continued to charge forward, his roar being drowned out by the increasingly heavy rain.

    A splatter of blood rained down on Leonel, causing his trembling body to freeze.

    The droplets of crimson sounded far heavier than the falling rain. As though an anvil hidden within a mountain of clouds, it crashed in waves against Leonel''s heart.

    At that moment, he felt the barrier around him loosen once again. Clearly, Alexandre was giving him another chance to stand, another chance to bow down.

    Leonel didn''t move. He didn''t know what to do. The fury pulsing through his veins hadn''t lessened, and yet he felt as though he should push it aside, that he should lay down his pride for the sake of a greater good.

    The lives of these people here, was it worth less than his pride or the cost of his humiliation?

    It Leonel had to be honest with himself, the truth was that the answer to that question didn''t matter to him. The reality was that it was all too much. He wasn''t willing to bear the burden of so many deaths, to have the lost lives of his men weigh on him for a lifetime.

    Why did he try so hard? Why did he slave over every meticulous detail of their battles in the last two years? Why was it that he felt the need to be present at every battlefield? Why was it that he insisted on charging as the head of the vanguard no matter what the danger that lied ahead was?

    It was all because he didn''t want to feel that weight, that heavinessбн The things he asked for himself, he couldn''t ask from others. He wanted to protect, he didn''t want to feel this gut wrenching guilt.

    Leonel''s fingers scraped along the ground, his strength causing it to shatter and leave shallow trenches behind.

    Using his fists, he pushed himself up to his knees.

    His hair hung over his face, dirtied by the mud and grime of the ground. It didn''t seem to hold the same metallic sheen it always had anymore.

    His face, partially hidden by his hair, was covered in a mixture of blood and dirt, his eyes having returned to their usual pale green. Yet, at this moment, it appeared to be far more grey than anything else.

    His breathing was shallow and weak, his rib cage threatening to shatter into pieces with every gasp he took.

    If it meant not having to carry this burden, what was his pride worth? If he felt even his life wasn''t as valuable as theirs, why would the cost of his humiliation be any higher? He was just a bit luckier than they wereбн That was all.

    Leonel began to lower his head to the ground, his entire army having fallen into complete silence. Their eyes turned red watching Leonel''s back arch.

    They knew that for others, it might take hundreds, even thousands of them dying before they broke.

    However, for Leonel, the single death of a warrior whose face was forgettable was enough for him.

    "King. Don''t."

    Rollan gathered up all the strength he had left, his throat still being clamped down by Alexandre, to finally squeeze out these words.

 Chapter 780 Burden (2)

    Leonel''s head paused, his fists trembling. He didn''t dare to look up. But, just as easily as he had been able to see Normand''s face back then, he could just as easily see Rollan''s.

    He could see the reddening of Rollan''s blue eyes, the tears streaming down his cheeks, the tight grit of his teeth. Leonel could almost see the reflection of Elise in Rollan''s eyes, he could feel how heavy the weight of the words he had just spoken were.

    They didn''t just represent his willingness to die, they represented a willingness to leave his wife behind to a life of loneliness and pain. It was a weight of a completely different magnitude, it was the kind of weighted words no husband ever wanted to speakбн no father ever wanted to say.

    Leonel knew well that Elise had found out that she was pregnant not long ago. He knew well that Rollan knew this truth as well. He even knew that Goggles'' had sacrificed himself knowing this about as well as any one of them did.

    And yet, Rollan still spoke these words.

    Leonel felt the burden on his back increase once again, his limbs quaking and tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He was so shaken that he completely didn''t realize that Rollan''s form of address had changed.

    Alexandre didn''t interrupt, a cold smile curling his lip. Interrupting now would only make them resolve themselves even quicker. He didn''t want to push Leonel one way or another. He wanted Leonel to feel the weight of the decision himself.

    He had already made his ultimatum as clear as it came. If Leonel didn''t bow down, he would kill them all one by one. He didn''t need to say anything more.

    Seeing Leonel struggle, Rollan smiled, his eyes closing as the rain washed away his tears.

    "Weбн have already madeбн our choiceбн King."

    Leonel''s heart trembled.

    He thought back to that day Rollan and Elise marched through their small town and stormed the Lord''s Manor. Despite being a feeble and petite woman, Elise held onto the heaviest weapon she could with both hands and walked side by side with her husband.

    That day, neither of them knew what to expect. They had no idea what kind of strength Leonel had. For all they knew, that was the final day they would be on this earth together. Yet, they had still done itбн together.

    Leonel remembered asking Rollan how he had managed to hold together his emotions and make such a decision. As powerful as Aina was now, if there ever came a time where Leonel surpassed her by a large margin and had to enter a dangerous situationбн He simply couldn''t imagine taking her with him. He would rather face death alone and protect her to his back.

    But, the response he received from Rollan back then was far simpler than anything he could have ever imaginedбн

    ''бн I just asked herбн I asked her if she was willing to share life and death with meбн Then, I trusted her decision.''

    The stone beneath Leonel''s fists shattered, the chattering of his teeth growing to the point it seemed he just might break his own jaw clenching so hard.

    His heartbeat rose, his blood surging through his veins like dragons. His skin sizzled and his eyes regained their green, two tear droplets finally falling and rebounding against the muddied ground.

    "Are you willing?"

    Leonel''s voice was soft, but it held a penetrating power that seemed to travel through to all of their ears.

    Rollan''s smile grew wider as his eyes remained closed. Images of his wife and what his unborn child might have looked like swirled in his mind.

    "I am willing, My King."

    Those were Rollan''s last words. Blood fell from the corner of his lips, his smile forever dipped in crimson that even the rain didn''t seem capable of washing away.

    His voice lingered in the air, echoing throughout the ravaged Capital.

    Alexandre had never thought Rollan would do such a thing. Even though he hadn''t taken action, he had known the most important information about all of Leonel''s lieutenants.

    Could it really be that Goggles could stop him from killing someone he wanted to? He was in the mighty Fifth Dimension, all those here were nothing more than ants to him. He had merely allowed Goggles to do as he pleased because he decided that the emotional damage would be far more if things happened in this way. He had even known of Rollan''s wife and unborn child. Wasn''t that why he was so confident that this wouldn''t happen?

    And yetбн what was happening now?

    Leonel gripped his fists, his hands and knees still on the ground and his eyes never looking up.

    "I am willing."

    Castello stood at the barrier, a wild grin on his face as he plunged a dagger into his chest.

    "I am willing."

    Miles looked up in the skies, his heart trembling as he used his Force to shatter it.

    "I am willing."

    "I am willing."

    Leonel gripped his fists tighter and tighter, the weight on his back becoming heavier and heavier.

    His arms and legs trembled, his body threatening to collapse to the floor. Every voice that sounded out shook him to the core. He just wanted to shout at the top of his lungs. He didn''t care if it ripped his throat apart or if his chest burst beneath the pressure.

    But he held it in, listening to each and every one of them and imprinting their voices onto his soul.

    Castello laughed into the skies as his eyes dimmed, his burly body teetering back and forth.

    "Farewell, My King!"

    The bodies fell to the ground one after another, a sea of blood seeping through.

    The rain fell heavier, washing the river of red onto Leonel''s hands and feet as though to stain him for a life time.

    When the voices finally faded, Leonel slowly looked up.

    His every action seemed heavy. Even though it was true that his body was injured, it seemed to be more than that. Even his injuries shouldn''t have made him reach such a point.

    It felt as though it took several minutes, but Leonel finally stood to his feet, his gaze locking onto Alexandre.

    An ocean of crimson around him, a mountain of corpses laying at his feet, and a burden the likes of which was so heavy he almost sunk back to his kneesбн

    Yet, he stood, his eyes glowing a fiery violet light.

    "This burden. I will take it."

    There was no one left for Leonel to speak to other than Alexandre.

    At that moment, Alexandre''s gaze flickered with rage. He felt a fury the likes of which made him want to tear the world to shreds.

    Unable to control himself any longer, he roared and struck outward.

    By the time he realized what he had done, his arm had run through Leonel''s chest. However, all he saw in the latter''s gaze was an eerie calmness even as his heart was shattered.

    Somehow, even though he had wonбн Alexandre felt that he lost.

    Leonel''s corpse fell to the ground, drowned in a river of blood.

 Chapter 781 He Was Leonel Morales

    Leonel''s vision slowly cleared, only to find himself in a space of endless fog. However, what his gaze first locked on wasn''t this eerily familiar setting, but rather the delicate feathers of white gold falling from an unknowable height onto his body.

    The moment Leonel saw this sight, he sighed deeply. The sight of this meant that what he had experienced wasn''t an illusion, it was every bit as real as any of the other Zones he had entered.

    This much he had expected. He had already guessed that there was a better than 95% chance that this would be the case. If even the mere fairy tale of Camelot could become real, he really had no leg to stand on in hoping that these matters were fake.

    Each and every one of those lives weighed heavily upon himбн

    How, then, was Leonel so sureбн? It all went back to the fluttering white gold feathers and the gaping pain in his chest that was being closed even now.

    Among the new abilities Leonel had formulated in these past two years, one was Dream Counter.

    Dream Counter, if explained in the simplest terms, was like Leonel programming his body to complete an action without his input. By assigning one of his split minds to a task, he could trigger an ability, a set of actions, or any sort of response, for any given specific situation of his choosing.

    Over these last two years, Leonel had been able to increase his number of split minds from less than a hundred to more than double that. This allowed him to ''sacrifice'' one of his split minds for the sake of Dream Counter.

    In this case, Leonel assigned Dream Counter to his Snow Star Owl Lineage Factor''s Healing Branch ability: Instant Recovery.

    Instant Recovery was an ability that Leonel could only use once every several months and could bring him back from the brink of death. With such a valuable ability, wouldn''t it be laughable if Leonel died simply because he wasn''t quick enough to activate it?

    Leonel thus did the logical thing and assigned his first Dream Counter to activate upon his imminent death.

    Leonel''s hope for Dream Counter would be that he would eventually be able to split his mind so many ways that he could almost auto-pilot his body. Such a Battle State would be even more powerful than his Dreamscape Battle Sense because there would be no need to read and react. However, whether such a thing would be possible in the future was unknown. How could it be possible to form a counter for an infinite number of possibilities?

    At this point, the reason why Leonel was so certain was obvious. The fact his Lineage Factor had activated now after Alexandre blasted a hole through his chest meant that he had truly experienced all of that.

    Leonel closed his eyes once more, allowing the fluttering feathers to touch and disappear into his body. It was an absolutely beautiful sight he wasn''t in the mood to enjoy.

    ''This burden. I will take it.''

    Leonel clenched his fists.

    Images of Rollan, Elise, Gertrude, Goggles, Castelloбн They all ran through his mind. In fact, his near infallible memory didn''t stop until he had run through all more than ten thousand of his men.

    Subconsciously, they all arranged themselves into their own Dreamscape, their smiling faces hovering in Leonel''s Dream World as though his guardian angels smiling down at him.

    At that moment, Leonel''s heart was reformed and released a beat so powerful that it resonated through the endless fog.

    BADDUM.

    A strong surge of violet energies swirled around Leonel. Even as his eyes remained closed, an undisguised majesty made the world around him tremble.

    For a long time, Leonel hadn''t cared for much. He flew by the seat of his pants and followed a garbled together moral philosophy he probably couldn''t express with any sort of coherency.

    Why was he the way he was? What did he want to do with his life? When he breathed his last breath, would he be leaving this world with a smile? Or an endless pile of regrets?

    Leonel''s usual response to such things was to just ignore them all. He didn''t have the answer and with is personality, he never felt like giving a half-assed one. He felt that when the day came that he had an answer, it would be the day he truly began to live.

    BADDUM.

    Maybe up until even the final moments, Leonel still hadn''t had an answer. Or, maybe he did have the answer but was just unwilling to accept it.

    The burden of accepting it was too heavy. The weight he would have to carry would be astronomical. He would likely have to spend the rest of his life chasing after something he might never catch when, somewhere deep in his heart, he only wanted a small home to share with Aina as he lived out the rest of his days.

    BADDUM.

    But thisбн Was no longer something he could run from.

    He had accepted their hopes, their dreams. He had heard their last words, the final wills. He had felt their tears and soaked in their blood.

    If he continued to run now, could he even be considered a man? Could he continue to wake up everyday and see his face in the mirror? Would he still be able to laugh and smile? Would he be able to look toward himself with any sort of pride? Could he face his motherбн his father? Could he stand side by side with Aina with his chest broad and his back straight?

    He wouldn''t allow himself to fall into such depravity.

    They say that everyone had the possibility of having a turning point in their lives, but Leonel had always believed that this was bullshit. No one could simply change on a dime. Becoming a better version of yourself meant making countless little decisions time and time again.

    Eventually, those little decisions had led Leonel to this very place.

    BADDUM.

    He didn''t want to be a General. He didn''t want to be a soldier, a warriorбн He didn''t even want to be an Emperor.

    He was Leonel Morales. He would be a King.

 Chapter 782 ???

    A glass barrier shattering resounded. Violent cyclones of violet energy surged, enveloping Leonel''s body in what almost looked like a cocoon.

    By the time the energy faded and Leonel''s form appeared again, he seemed to radiate with an innate sort of excellence, his bronzed body exuding a faint purple light that seemed to make those around him gravitate toward him.

    Leonel''s eyes slowly opened, a blinding light shooting out from their depths.

    He sat up, his face expressionless. But, when he caught a glimpse of his hair out of the corner of his eye, he could only smile somewhat bitterly.

    From its bronze sheen, Leonel''s hair had become a bright white gold, so bright, in fact, that it almost looked as though it was made out of motes of light rather than hair filaments.

    As though this wasn''t odd enough, there was a faint violet color emitting from it. From the right angle, it almost looked as though Leonel had extremely pale purple hair.

    He had to admit that such a look would be extremely beautiful on a woman. But, on him, it made him look like a pretty boy.

    If he could see the fact that his eyes had gone from a pale green to a pale violet as well, he would probably throw his hands up in defeat.

    ''This should beбн A Lineage Factor synergy of sortsбн'' Leonel concluded.

    Leonel''s fourth Lineage Factor, unsurprisingly, came from the Fawkes family иC his mother''s side, and specifically his mother''s father, the Emperor.

    After years of introspection, Leonel realized that the faint pressure he gave off whenever he focused was exactly this Lineage Factor shining through, and this was why his cousin also had the same ability as they had both awakened it.

    However, things weren''t so simple as this. It also seemed that his Fawkes family Lineage Factor had resonated with a portion of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factorбн The odd purple energy in specific.

    This resulted in the two combining to form something quite different and unique.

    Leonel sighed. This look didn''t feel like him at all. He could just barely accept his bronzed hair because it still remained manly, but this hair made him look like a dainty fairy prince.

    Knowing that he would likely fail again, Leonel tried to cut his hair once more. Bringing out his Quasi Silver spear, he hoped for the best and cut across. Who knows, maybe his increased strength would help.

    But, what Leonel couldn''t have expected was for the cut to come with such ease. If it wasn''t for the strands of hair that remained in his hand, he would have thought that he cut across empty air.

    ''Ahбн''

    Leonel looked at his clump of hair shocked.

    ''That wasбн coercion?''

    It was almost as though Leonel told his hair to become easier to cut, so it obeyed and became easier to cut. It was a subtle change that Leonel might not have noticed if he was unable to retrieve his own memories so perfectly.

    With narrowed eyes and spinning thoughts, Leonel put his hair away into his spatial ring, feeling that he shouldn''t get rid of it.

    He stood, ruffling his short hair with a grin. This felt so much better, he felt like he was himself again. All he was missing was his favorite tracksuit and a football.

    The moment Leonel stood to his full height, the world trembled.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel blinked.

    In those final moments he was within the Zone, he felt that he had passed its requirements. It was a subconscious feeling that resonated with his soul, so he was almost certain of it.

    If he was on Earth, he would have been transported to a world with Uncle Montez. But, obviously, this wasn''t Earth. And, despite the fact this place looked very similar to where he would be transported to on Earth, there was a very clear lack of Uncle Montez.

    Leonel thought that maybe there would be someone else here. But, even after all this time, no one had appeared. So, he had no choice but to believe that much like Terrain, Valiant Heart wasn''t deemed as important enough to gain support from higher Dimensional worlds.

    Then againбн This was a Variant Zone. It should be capable of producing its own rewards as well. But, to this point, Leonel hadn''t seen anything like that either.

    Until nowбн

    As the fog dispersed somewhat, Leonel finally saw an object that made his heart tremble.

    This sudden change to himself shocked Leonel. It wasn''t that Leonel had never felt his heart tremble before. Butбн Right now he felt so confident and grounded that he believed it would take nothing short of a galaxy collapsing for him to lose control of his own reaction.

    Yet, merely moments after Leonel gained this confidence, this tablet seemed to shatter it into countless pieces.

    Whatever this tablet was, wherever it was from, or whatever powers it hadбн It was so far above the current Leonel that he couldn''t even begin to see the base of the mountain it was at the peak of.

    After being stunned for a moment, Leonel began to laugh.

    "Then from today on, you are mine."

    Leonel reached out as though his shattered confidence was nothing more than a meaningless moment.

    The moment his palm made contact with the tablet, his body shook to the core of his soul, threatening to shatter into countless pieces. Yet, Leonel held on firmly, allowing a stream of information that seemed almost endless to flood his mind.

    Even for him, it was hard to keep track of it all.

    As though it sensed this, the tablet released a surge of energy.

    Leonel''s mind trembled, his Dream World suddenly explosively expanding as his Dream Force entered the Fifth Dimension.

    Such a reality made Leonel''s pupils constrict.

    In the blink of an eye, this tablet was able to shatter a barrier that he had been at for almost three years. Though Leonel knew that his mind had the capacity to enter the Fifth Dimension long ago, actually doing so was a completely different animal.

    This tabletбн Just what was it?

 Chapter 783 An Unexpected Outcome

    Leonel soon realized that the breakthrough of his mind in to the Fifth Dimension wasn''t as much of a watershed moment as he thought it would be. But, he immediately picked out the reason.

    The further away the rest of his body became from his true core Dimension, the less benefits from it that he would receive. If he wanted to truly benefit from a Fifth Dimensional mind, he would have to break into the Fifth Dimension.

    In truth, Leonel''s combat prowess was confusing to a lot of people, especially those who didn''t understand his background. But, these people weren''t at fault.

    When one saw a young man in the Third Dimension being capable of fighting threats at the Quasi Fifth Dimensional level, taking a pause of confusion was only natural. But, there were multiple things to consider here.

    Firstly, the Fourth Dimension in this corner of the universe meant far less than it did to a world with a Sixth Dimensional Peak, and likewise the same was true to a world with a Seventh Dimensional Peak and so onбн

    Leonel was born from a father from a Seventh Dimensional world and to a mother from a world with Eighth Dimensional potential. Every step forward he took was worth more than it was for another for this very reason.

    A child born on a Seventh Dimensional world would start at the Third Dimension just like everyone else. But, only a fool would think that his existence within the Third Dimension was equivalent to a person born on Earth before the Metamorphosis. The fact that this child could even exist on a Seventh Dimensional world without collapsing from the pressure was more than enough to illustrate this.

    Simply put, it was likely that if the current Leonel attempted to battle a genius from a Seventh Dimensional world, he would at best be able to match someone at Tier 3 or 4.

    This breakthrough thus made it clear to Leonel just how important raising his foundational Dimension was. But, toward such a thing, he could only continue to be frustrated.

    Breaking through wasn''t as simple as swapping out the caliber of Force he used. He had to follow the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique he chose from the very beginning unless he wanted to switch to a completely new one. And, in order to do that, he would need to use the map Uncle Montez had given him.

    The good news was that now that he had entered the Fifth Dimension with his Dream Force, he finally met the minimum requirements to actually read it. The bad news, however, was that he would need to leave Valiant Heart to do it.

    Of course, Leonel didn''t care about Valiant Heart. What he cared about was Ainaбн

    In the past, this was all he cared about. But, the burden on Leonel''s back right now was a constant reminderбн He couldn''t be as aimless as he was in the past.

    Leonel shook his head. ''Aina is healed now. With her strength before, she was already a match for a Tier 7 genius Valiant Heart. Now, though, even I''m not sure of the limit of her strength, especially since unlike me, she''s truly entered the Fourth Dimension.''

    Leonel chuckled. His girlfriend just might be stronger than him. He wasn''t sure if he could defeat her even if he used his Divine Armor.

    But, he wasn''t mad about this. After allбн What King didn''t need a Queen?

    ''We''ve outgrown this place. Aina will probably agree to leave with me.''

    Leonel was confident in this. Aina''s entire focus was on becoming stronger. If she felt that even her current strength wasn''t enough for revenge, then that could only mean that the Brazinger family had more secrets than even he knew.

    But, this was good. Leonel''s goals and Aina''s goals didn''t diverge. They could rise to the top together.

    Leonel''s eyes sharpened as he released a low shout.

    In that moment, the tablet finally reached the end. But, at this point, not only had Leonel entered the Fifth Dimension with his Dream Force, he felt that his bottlenecks all the way up to the Tier 9 Fourth Dimensional Metal Body had all been blasted wide open.

    ''What a reward indeedбн''

    If this was all Leonel received for his two years of labor in that Zone, it would still be worth it. Yet, from what he could tell, this was just a by product of the true reward which must be this tablet.

    Observing the tablet, Leonel immediately noticed something.

    ''These patternsбн They''re the sameбн? No, they''re far more complex, but they''re definitely derivative.''

    Leonel couldn''t read the ancient markings on the silver tablet. But, he recognized the patterns as being quite similar to the ones on the ring that thrust him into this situation.

    To make matters more curiousбн Leonel couldn''t help but notice that the ring that had been on his palm was nowhere to be seen.

    However, before he drew any conclusions, he chose to remain reserved. After all, even now, he still couldn''t sense Little Tolly, so maybe he needed to leave this place first.

    Leonel shook his head and began to organize all the information the tablet had flooded into his mind. Due to the fact he had gotten distracted, he allowed all his more than a thousand split minds to handle it while he thought.

    But, he had hardly gotten to the first bit of information when he froze completely.

    ''Whatбн?''

    The moment Leonel ran across this bit of information, he left his Dream World and focused on the tablet in his hand. He looked at it as though it was a cross between the most terrifying things in the world and a treasure from the heavens on high.

    It was then that Leonel''s mind was absorbed into the tablet, bringing to another world of fog. But, compared to the one he had just been in, this one was far less bright, oozing out a darkness that made one''s spine tingle.

    However, Leonel wasn''t focused on any of this at all.

    Rather, all around him, hovering like greyed out, floating spirits, faces he recognized all too well were present.

    Rollanбн Gogglesбн Eliseбн

 Chapter 784 The First

    Leonel snapped himself back to reality, a cold chill seeping into his heart.

    Of these spirits, the majority were ''greyed'' out. As though a locked character on a gaming screen, Leonel knew that he didn''t have anywhere near the power or strength that would be needed to awaken them. In fact, from the information he received, he might never have this strength.

    However, among these ''greyed out'' spirits there were several that had color to them. Among them was a face Leonel thought he would never see againбн Alexandre.

    That ''king'' with so much ambition, waiting to conquer the world with this very same tablet in his hand, ended up becoming just one of the many spirits within.

    It was then Leonel fully understood.

    This tablet, in exchange for a price, was capable of resurrecting those from the Zone Leonel just exited.

    Rather than being excited at such a prospect, Leonel suddenly felt the need to vomit.

    Just what was this tablet? How could it gamify the lives and deaths of living, breathing people? How could it set a price on them and a cost for them to see the light of day again?

    Leonel felt a gut wrenching urge to throw this tablet away. No, he wanted to destroy it with every fiber of his being, shatter it into a million little pieces and incinerate it with the hottest star in the universe.

    Seeing the sacrifice of his men being twisted in such a perverse and sickening way made his pale purple eyes redden with unshed tears.

    Was this all a joke?

    Had this tablet fabricated such a world for the sake of finding Leonel? Or had it cursed an already existing world for the same purpose?

    Leonel couldn''t decide which was worse. Both possibilities felt like a knife twisting through his intestines, gouging him from the inside out.

    Leonel took several deep breaths, his hands falling to his knees and his chest heaving. His mouth began producing saliva at a rate that made it seem he really might vomit any moment now.

    It wasn''t until several long minutes later that Leonel managed to calm himself, that sinking weight on his back acting as a counterbalance to his emotions.

    Leonel almost wanted to laugh at himself. He had just gained this newfound confidence, yet in just a few minutes, it had already been shattered not just once, but twice. In fact, this second time, he almost fell apart completely.

    Others might see this tablet as some sort of work of God, but Leonel found it hard to look at it as anything other than the hand of a Devil.

    Leonel closed his eyes, sealing away his emotions. He found it far easier to do this the more ways he could split his mind. Now that he had reached more than a thousand, it was even simpler now.

    ''The greyed out souls are of those who are died. The tablet needs to be fed a certain amount of sacrifices in order to even prepare to resurrect one of them.

    ''The colored souls are those that didn''t die. The cost of recovering them is far less. In fact, the tablet already has enough to do so for one right now.

    ''In terms of sacrifices, Invalids have a good exchange rate, especially Variant Invalids. Talented humans are another good exchange, especially those with Innate Nodes, and even more especially for those that have Innate Nodes related to Life Elemental Force.''

    These were the main rules Leonel was able to piece together, but he could tell that there were several exceptions.

    For example, someone with a Life Elemental Innate Node like Normand''s fiancижe didn''t need to be killed, taking her blood over a longer period of time would even be more beneficial. After all, killing her would be like killing a goose who laid golden eggs.

    In addition to this, though Leonel didn''t believe Aina had an Innate Node, at least as far as he knew, he could tell that her blood to this silver tablet would be even more valuable than Normand''s fiancижe''s.

    Of course, Leonel had no intention of bleeding his girlfriend dry just for the sake of this tablet. In addition, Normand''s fiancижe was greyed out like the others. But, rather than this being due to her dying, it seemed that it wasn''t easy for the tablet to reproduce what could give it life.

    That said, considering Leonel''s personality, he had no intention of using her even if he could resurrect her now.

    ''I can only resurrect one person for now and there''s no telling when I''ll be able to accumulate enough energy to resurrect another. So, I need to choose a person who puts me in the best position to lay out the next portion of my plansбн''

    Leonel had already decided.

    In the past, he had no intention of joining the Morales family''s Heir Games. But, now, things were different.

    Leonel had no intention of not taking advantage of the luck he had been given in this life. If he wanted to reach his ultimate goal, even given how impossible it was, he would have to take hold of whatever leg up he had.

    In that case, not only would he become the Successor of the Morales family, he would become the Successor of his grandmother''s Luxnix family and he would most definitely snatch Earth away from his grandfather.

    This Dimensional Verseбн He would change it.

    In that case, there was one person here who would facilitate that better than everyone else, one person that would make Leonel''s next steps far simplerбн And this one person also happened to cost just as much as the remaining energy the tablet had.

    Choosing this person would most definitely piss the people of Valiant Heart off. However, when it came to the future he envisioned, Leonel wouldn''t allow anyone to stand in his way.

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, their pale violet hue shimmering through the darkness.

    With a thought, the young man he was looking for appeared before him, carrying with him a handsome face that most definitely rivaled Leonel''s own.

    "Elthor Umewraek, Third Prince of the Oryx Kingdom. You will be the first."

    [End of Volume. I''ve chosen to change Volume 4''s title from Milky Way to Valiant Heart. Many more adventures to come! This is where Leonel''s journey truly beginsбн His journey to stand atop the Dimensional Verse!]

 Chapter 785 Saber

    Leonel appeared in the world of white fog again. But, this time, there was an extra light.

    The silver tablet began to vibrate, glowing with a fierce white that made Leonel squint.

    Soon afterward, a figure began to form and the lights began to wane. It didn''t take Leonel much thought to recognize this figure, especially since he had consciously chosen this person to begin with.

    Still, at that moment, Leonel couldn''t help but be slightly in relief. If who he was resurrecting was based on what he wanted and not what he needed, then it would most definitely be Rollan. Though they had only spent two years together, Leonel felt a sort of comradery that he hadn''t felt in a very long time.

    Whenever Leonel looked at Rollan, he couldn''t help but think of James, his partner in crime for over a decadeбн Even though they had always had diametrically opposed personalities, they had always fit well together. Yet, after all this time, Leonel still didn''t know what caused it all to change.

    Leonel''s thoughts on James, though, somewhat scared even himself.

    When he remembered James, what he felt wasn''t an unwillingness or an unfortunate emotion. Rather, it was simply a fleeting memory almost as though he was remembering a city he had visited before or a car that had caught his attention on the side of the road.

    He felt so detached from his former days with James that the recalling of the memories had become less of a function of emotion and more about just how good his mind was at recalling events. It was nothing more, and nothing less.

    That said, Rollan was different. Leonel felt that he was the sort of man he would fight with to his final breath. And in those last moments, he had proved that without a shadow of a doubt.

    ''Sit tight, Rollan. Soon I''ll be able to introduce you to my someone special tooбн''

    This way, Leonel wouldn''t have to worry about the guilt he''d feel. Whether Rollan was available to be resurrected now or not, Elthor was still the correct option.

    At that moment, the figure finally formed and Elthor''s face became clear.

    All of Leonel''s excess thoughts stopped right then as he observed Elthor. The truth was that he wasn''t sure how this would go. He didn''t know if Elthor would still have his memories from the previous world or if he would be a blank slate.

    The worst part was that even if Elthor did have his memories from the Zone world, there was no telling if he would view Leonel the same. After all, during these last two years, no one had called him Leonel even once no matter how many times he introduced himself. It made him feel as though he was playing a separate character other than himself. Leonel wouldn''t have even been surprised if this ''character'' was available somewhere within the tablet to be resurrected.

    Then there was the last potentially unfortunate circumstance. It was also possible that Elthor had his memories, remembered what happened, recognized Leonel, yet chose not to follow him.

    This was a very real and distinct possibility that Leonel might have to face. Should it happen, he would have to simply accept it or do his best to convince Elthor.

    Leonel''s eyes steeled with determination. If he wanted to be a King yet couldn''t even convince his first General to follow him, what kind of King could he possibly be? He might as well give up this impossible dream right here and now.

    The lids of Elthor''s eyes opened. He looked around in confusion for a moment, a strong cognitive dissonance hitting him from all sides as though he couldn''t figure out what was going on.

    When he saw Leonel before him, his eyes shot up in surprise.

    "бн Generalбн?"

    Elthor''s frown deepened. For some reason, he felt that calling Leonel this now felt inappropriate. Something had changed, something so fundamental that just that form of address alone left him with a bad taste in his mouth as though he had said something unforgivable.

    "King."

    Elthor almost immediately changed his words. It felt subconscious, like the world itself was whispering it into his ear.

    Leonel grinned. "I''m no King yet."

    "Butбн" Elthor''s mind still felt foggy.

    The last he remembered was being dragged away by his Kingdom''s Generals. He had tried scratching and clawing, yet no matter what he did or what he tried, they were all too strong for him.

    Ultimately, he had even lost to Leonel, and quite easily at that. Despite having access to Chaotic Particle Force, he had yet to truly grow into his ability. In addition, he was born in a Fifth Dimensional world and was the same age as Leonel.

    After stepping out of the Zone, Leonel realized that the time had been one to one with the outside world. So, he had to accept at this moment that he was now truly two years older and had missed his own 21st birthday.

    To Leonel, 21 was already an age he should be growing into true adulthood. But, to the Dimensional Verse, especially to a Fifth Dimensional world, even 60 was still considered young.

    It was safe to say that if Elthor wanted to follow Leonel to the very end, he would have some growing to do. But, Leonel was confident that he''d be able to do it.

    "What do you want in life, Elthor?"

    "Iбн" Elthor struggled, remembering his father''s words.

    Shouldn''t he be a King? He had to take on the burden of his peopleбн He couldn''t disappoint his father.

    However, just when he was going to say these words, he met Leonel''s light violet eyes and felt his heart tremble. For some reason, meeting this gaze, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t bring himself to lie.

    "бн I want to be a True King''s Saber. I want to live on the battlefield and become the weapon that shatters all obstacles. I want men who''ve soaked in a river of blood to run at the mention of my name!"

    Leonel''s grin only became wider and wider.

    "Elthor, are you willing to be my Saber?"

    Elthor''s eyes glowed with a furious light.

    "YES!"

 Chapter 786 Its All Fine Now

    The tall walls and pillars seemed to sing, a radiating bronze light that shone down.

    A singular hall opened up wide to a circular room that spanned an almost 500 meter diameter. Valiant warriors with statues over a 100 meters tall lined the walls, all looking toward a four sided prism of stairs.

    At the bottom of these marbled steps, etched with delicate rune patterns and reflecting the bronze lights that shone from all around, a group of bloodied figures lay gasping, barely holding onto their lives with whatever energy they had left.

    Those from Valiant Heart would only be stunned by such an outcome.

    Two years was simply far too long of a time. No one had ever expected for the Zone to remain open for so long. Realizing that so much time had passed without their geniuses returning, the elders had no choice but to open up the projection once again.

    But, what they found was a long and grueling battle. So long, in fact, that they couldn''t afford to keep it open continuously and could only check in once a month.

    And yet, what they saw time and time again was something that left them numb with shock, and it all seemed to relate back to the only figure who wasn''t collapsed on the ground. In fact, she was the only figure that had climbed the four sides stairs and was the only one who stood at the very top.

    She was a beauty gorgeous beyond words. Her delicate features carried the valiance of a Valkyrie and the elegance of a Queen. Even while her face beaded with sweat and her long, flowing hair stuck to her cheeks and forehead, her image didn''t seem marred in the slightest.

    Several cuts and bruises dotted her body, her black, military uniform drenched in dried, flaking blood and still drizzling crimson.

    And yet, she stood tall, the only one of her peers that had reached this step.

    Down below, the likes of Raylion, Aphestus, and Sael couldn''t even move an inch. It could even be said that the only reason they had reached the end of the hall to begin with was because of Aina leading the charge.

    In the past two years, despite how murderous Aina was, it became very obvious, very quickly, that this trial wasn''t one they could pass alone. As powerful as Aina had become, there had still been a limit to what she could do.

    But in the end, none of it mattered. She stood here at the peakбн And yet, her eyes felt somewhat vacant.

    "бн What are you moping about for?"

    The sudden voice made Aina freeze.

    On the outside, those who had still been following the events of the last two years were absolutely stunned. The appearance of this person, a person many had assumed to have died long ago, was the very last thing any of them had expected.

    At that moment, Aina''s head whipped back, only to find Leonel strolling out from the hall she had been forced to cut a bloody path through over the past two years.

    A pair of massive white gold wings spread from his back. Yet, as though he was trying to look as cool as possible, his hands were in his pockets and a casual smile hung from his lips.

    He wore a black tracksuit and a pair of sneakers. His hair was a bright white gold with a faint violet hue that seemed to radiate with its own light. Even his eyes had completely changed, carrying a pale purple light that bordered on a pinkish-grey.

    At that moment, though, Aina could tell that Leonel wasn''t just trying to be cool. The aura he exuded was so confident that it almost made her reach a point of intoxication.

    As much as her mental coercion worked on Leonel, the opposite seemed to be so true that he became like a magnet she was being violently pulled toward.

    Leonel took a single step forward and vanished. When Aina blinked and cleared her vision, he already stood before her, looking down into her eyes with the same care and affection she had been missing for so long.

    Aina could feel that Leonel had changed. His eyes carried a charisma she couldn''t ignore, even his smell was something she couldn''t get enough of.

    The emotions were so much that she couldn''t handle them after a certain point.

    At that moment, the valiant woman who had blazed the path of a warrior in these last two years broke down into tears, her trusted battle ax falling to the ground as she dove into Leonel''s arms.

    Her sobs seemed endless. Even though she tried to speak, she couldn''t form the words. Every time she tried, it only made her cry harder.

    No one knew but her what kind of emotions had been running through her mind all this time, what kind of turmoil had wrecked her heart.

    As hard as Aina had cried that day she almost lost her virginity to Leonel in the Bathhouse the first time, this time she cried even harder.

    Back then, Aina had only thought she might lose Leonel, causing her to try everything she could to hang onto him however na?ve that was. But, this time, she really thought she had lost him forever.

    Two years. Two entire years.

    Leonel smiled somewhat sadly, wrapping arms around her waist. If he could melt her into himself, he would do so. He was certain that she was the woman he wanted by his side for a lifetime.

    Leonel raised his hand to Aina''s cheek.

    When she looked up at him, he could see her golden eyes red from crying, her little nose sniveling with snobs, and even her lip quivering as she tried to form the words she wanted to say.

    "It''s all fine now." Leonel smiled, wiping her falling tears with a thumb. "I''m here."

    Leonel kissed her lightly. It was soft and slow, but it conveyed all his emotions in a single, simple action.

 Chapter 787 Okay

    Aina wiped her tears away, finally regaining her composure after several dozen minutes.

    By this point, she was quite embarrassed. She had been trying to stop for a while now, but it kept flooding outward. Even she hadn''t realized how much she had ignored until now. But, somewhere deep inside, she knew it was deeper than just this.

    It wasn''t just the emotion of not seeing Leonel for so long, but she could also feel it. She could feel that Leonel had finally truly stepped into the Dimensional Verse. Whatever it was that he had experienced in these last two years had definitely been no lesser than her and it had changed him.

    She knewбн There was no going back for him now.

    Aina forced a smile as she wipe the last of her tears.

    "You finally cut your hair?"

    Leonel scoffed. "Are you trying to say you didn''t like my long hair?"

    Aina giggled, a girlish charm twinkling in her eyes.

    Ironically, though, at that moment, Leonel could tell that she had truly become a woman. In these two years, Aina had truly grown into her own. He found it hard to believe, but her curves were even fuller and her charm just a measure greater.

    Even covered in blood and sweat, Leonel was certain that he had never seen a woman as beautiful as her, nor would he ever.

    "You look much better like this." Aina skirted around the question. "Much more handsome."

    Her smile grasped onto Leonel''s heart. It was as though the two were in their own world, oblivious to the several geniuses bleeding out below and the hundreds watching them from the outside.

    In truth, Leonel might have been inclined to at least help the geniuses below if it wasn''t for the fact he was certain that no small number of the wounds on Aina now had been caused by them. The fact he wasn''t killing them all one by one, especially Raylion and Aphestus, was an act of kindness in his opinion.

    After a moment, though, Leonel feigned hurt.

    "At least I''m not as smelly as a certain someone else."

    "Ah!" Aina looked down at herself, suddenly embarrassed. "Do I really? Go away, take a few steps back!"

    Aina was suddenly flustered, especially since she found Leonel''s scent to be particularly good right now. It was fine if they both smelled bad, but if it was just her she would rather find a hole to crawl into and die.

    Leonel erupted into a burst of laughter, bringing her into a tight bear hug.

    "It''s okay, I''ll take you and all your little imperfections. You have a good, earthy smell to you. Almost like a hibernating bear."

    "Leonel!" Aina shouted out his name in embarrassment, but that didn''t stop Leonel from burying his nose into the hook of her neck.

    Her body was suddenly filled with a hint of lust and ticklishness, followed by a flood of mortification.

    Aina pushed Leonel away, her hands pressing firmly against his chest.

    "People are watching!"

    Leonel had half a mind to say let them. But then he realized that such beautiful sights should be left to him and him alone. Who were these bunch of peeping toms to take advantage of his Aina?

    With a wave of his hand, Leonel and Aina suddenly disappeared from public view. The elders could only looked toward each other with bitter smiles.

    They had no idea where this young man had gone for two years. But, in all this time, they had begun placing all their hopes and aspirations on Aina, especially as their Valiant Heart''s situation became more and more precarious.

    But now it felt like they were all watching their daughter being snatched away right in front of them and there was hardly anything they could even do about it.

    It wasn''t until 30 minutes later that the screen hiding them both finally reappeared. Yet, somehow, Aina was wearing a completely new set of clothes. She had ditched her military uniform and even ignored her Valiant Heart uniform to wear a tracksuit that was almost the exact replica of Leonel''s.

    "You planned this, didn''t you?"

    Leonel blinked innocently. "Couples wear matching pajamas during the holidays, right? What''s wrong with matching tracksuits."

    "The problem is that it''s a littleбн smallбн"

    Aina wrinkled her nose, moving her waist as though to check whether the material would hold up.

    "бн"

    Leonel was speechless. It should be a crime to make such an innocent movement so seductive.

    "Are you trying to give me a nose bleed? It''s not my fault that you''veбн grown so much in the last two years."

    Aina rolled her eyes, but she was still inwardly smiling.

    "Ah! I forgot!"

    Aina looked back toward the center of the prism they stood at the peak of.

    Right there, a large orb of bronze sat. It was clear that this was the ultimate reward of the Zone. At the very least, it was the ultimate reward for this part of it.

    As for how the ring was related to all of this, Leonel still wasn''t absolutely sure. He only had two guesses he had no way of verifying.

    The first was that the ring and the tablet were connected in some way and were actually an outside influence. In this case, the tablet would have originally had nothing to do with this Variant Zone and was instead just using it as a convenient medium to accomplish its goals.

    As for what those goals were, Leonel had no way of knowing.

    The second possibility was that the ring and tablet were related to the Morales family and thus an extension of the treasure used to keep this Zone opened indefinitely in the first place.

    Which of these were more true? Leonel was leaning more toward the first, but he couldn''t confirm.

    Aina smiled. "I saved all the rewards, we can share them later."

    Leonel looked at Aina like she was crazy.

    "Don''t be ridiculous. Keep it all, I''ll be just fine."

    Aina opened her mouth to respond. But, seeing the look in Leonel''s eye, she simply nodded. She felt, for some reason, that she''d never be able to change his mind.

    "Okayбн"

    Aina touched the bronze orb.

    It was then the Zone was filled with a blinding light and they all vanished.

 Chapter 788 Destroy

    A flashing light swirled between the two Valiant Pillars.

    By this point, the crowd of individuals watching was considerably smaller than it had been two years ago. And though this was in part due to the fact it had been so long, it was also obvious that there was an air of heaviness around Valiant Heart that hadn''t quite been there before.

    When the group of geniuses appeared, the only two who were still on their feet were Leonel and Aina. But, on the ''bright'' side, only three of their twelve geniuses had died. One was Sael''s partner, the other two were both geniuses from Severed Heart.

    Somehow, Radlis had managed to survive until the end, but Leonel hadn''t really gotten around to asking Aina what had happened to her in these last couple years. They had both decided that things would be less annoying if they handled whatever these Valiant Heart elders would throw at them first.

    As expected, the elders seemed to swarm the group the moment they reappeared.

    To Leonel''s surprise, though, after getting the other medical attention, most of their attention was focused on Aina, something that made Leonel laugh inwardly.

    There were any number of reasons they were acting like this. But, it was likely a combination of them being consumed by Aina''s talent and not having actually seen him in action. The final cherry on top was that these elders truly didn''t dare to question Leonel and by extension didn''t even consider asking Aina for her things.

    As far as they were concerned, as long as they could win over Aina, wouldn''t they win over Leonel as well?

    Still, humans were also creatures of recency bias. It had been too long since they had seen Leonel in action. And, even if they remembered what he had shown, it was still nowhere near as impressive as what Aina had done right before their eyes.

    That said, from the very beginning, Leonel''s sights had been far beyond this Bronze Organization. And now, this truth was only truer than it had ever been before.

    Even beneath the onslaught of questions from the elders, seeing that this was going to take forever, Leonel ignored them all and pulled Aina away. He hadn''t suffered through two years just to suffer some more under such conditions.

    The two soon vanished over the horizon, leaving the elders at a loss.

    The elders looked toward Head Hutchin, trying to understand what it is they should do.

    "Give them some time." Hutchin said evenly. "Make sure that the others are well taken care of, they too have made great progress. As for the two of them, we can only hope that they are willing to help."

    **

    "What?"

    "What? Bad timing?" Leonel replied.

    "You think?" Aina rolled her eyes.

    She thought that her man had become far more confident and attractive, but she didn''t think that he would also become more tactless.

    At that moment, the two were both naked. Aina sat on Leonel, her breasts even touching his chest. She could very clearly feel his member pressing against the cheek of her ass. And yet, he chose this moment to talk about Oryx? Couldn''t he pick a better time? Her eyes were still glazed over from the orgasm she had just felt.

    Leonel laughed. "It''s already been like half a day."

    The two had already been rolling around in bed for more than ten hours. Even Leonel didn''t bother to count the number of peaks Aina had climbed to in that time, yet she still wanted more. It seemed that in these two years this girlfriend of his had become insatiable.

    "That still leaves you with 729 and a half more days to make up for!"

    Leonel sputtered with laughter. He had to admit that he didn''t hate this clingy version of Aina at all. It seemed like she wanted to stay attached at his hip and he loved it, quite honestly.

    Though the two were still subconsciously ignoring the topic of sex, still feeling as though that portion of their relationship hadn''t quite been sorted out yet, Leonel felt closer to Aina than he ever had before. And at this moment, he felt that that was enough.

    "I''m serious, this is important." Leonel finally said.

    "Fine. Tell me what about the Oryx is so important."

    "Well, it isn''t that the Oryx are important, but rather what I want to do with them that is. Our relationship with Valiant Heart could become quite contentious, especially when I succeed."

    It was only after Aina heard this that her hips stopped subconsciously gyrating and she focused on Leonel''s words.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I plan on taking over the Oryx Tribe and ruling them."

    "Huh?"

    Aina was stunned by Leonel''s words.

    From her position, her gaze was slightly higher than Leonel''s. Looking down into his eyes, she could tlel he was completely serious.

    Aina blinked. She found the dauntless confidence in Leonel''s gaze right now to be fatally attractive. She even faintly wanted to drop everything and simply follow his lead.

    "How do you plan on doing that?" She asked.

    "I have a talented Oryx General under my charge. I''ve already sent him to their Tribe. He''s not powerful enough yet to take full control over them, but his talent is enough to do most of the work for him."

    "An Oryx General?"

    Seeing Aina''s confusion, Leonel began to explain everything he had experienced and for the firs time since the two reunited, they did something other than tease and embrace one another.

    When Aina learned about the tablet, though, her expression changed. Such an objectбн Could it bring her mother back to life?

    Having such a thought, she couldn''t help but bite her plump, pink lips, her bad habit shining through once again.

    "бн And what do you plan to do with Valiant Heart? If you want to take over the Oryxбн What does that mean for this place?"

    Leonel''s light violet eyes flashed with a cold light that made Aina shiver with an uncontrollable excitement.

    "The Oryx are the far more talented group and their potential will be useful to me. The same cannot be said of Valiant Heart. If they get in my wayбн

    "I''ll destroy them."

 Chapter 789 Big Plans

    Aina looked deeply into Leonel''s eyes. Once again, she saw that look иC that look that told her she wouldn''t be able to change his mind.

    This was something she hadn''t been used to seeing from Leonel. She felt that on some level, she always had a chance to shift his line of thinking. Whether it was by coaxing or logic, she felt that she always had such a possibility even if the likelihood was small.

    Yet, this was twice now in less than a day she had seen this look. She could feel a higher purpose coming from Leonel, one that came with no less determination than her will to see the Brazinger family brought to its knees.

    "бн Leonel."

    "Hm?"

    Despite their sexually charged position and state, the couple seemed to enter a serious exchange.

    "What is it that you want to do? Say it to me clearly."

    Leonel looked into Aina''s eyes, seeing himself reflected within her golden irises. Eventually, his gaze became so intense that he could even see two floating balls of violet within them.

    "I will change this world." Leonel said evenly.

    Aina''s gaze narrowed. "бн How?"

    Change this world? Was such a thing even possible? That would practically be trying to change human nature. At such a point, one might as well say that they wanted to become a Deity.

    "By having the largest fist."

    "Youбн"

    Aina was speechless. She was quite well aware that as a girlfriend, her duty, at the very least, was to support Leonel in all his dreams and aspirations. But, wasn''t it also her job to tell him when something was impossible?

    Aina''s view of the world had been jaded for a long time. With her disposition, it was a miracle that she had even opened herself up to a relationship with Leonel in the first place. It could be said that it was a mixture of Leonel''s timing being perfect and her having suppressed her feelings for him for too long.

    Right now, thoughбн Even though the look in Leonel''s eyes made her heart tremble, even though his confidence made him far more attractive than he had ever been, even though she really wanted to smile brightly and say that she would support him to the very endбн

    She couldn''t bring herself to do so.

    She found herself wanting to pull Leonel back, to stop him from treading down an impossible path. She almost wanted him to go back to his old self. Even if she had to deal with his long hair. Even if she had to deal with him being aimless. Even if the shadow of his grandfather still lingered over head.

    However, she could see it once again for a third timeбн That light in his eyes that said it was impossibleбн

    Inwardly, she felt disgusted with herself when she had such thoughts.

    How long had Leonel spent unselfishly following her wishes? Even now, she could tell that he had no intention of abandoning her. In fact, he might even be more determined and confident now to help her than he ever had been before.

    But at the moment, she felt like Leonel was running on a path to infinity. She couldn''t see the end of it, but what she could see were all the pitfalls that dotted even the first stretch, let alone the abyssal blackholes that lay ahead.

    Aina suddenly felt her heart constricting again, her breathing hitching as though there wasn''t enough air in the room. She was already in the beginning stages of another panic attack before she even truly understood what was happening.

    It was at that moment that she felt two sturdy hands tighten on her hips.

    Aina looked into Leonel''s eyes, still finding it a bit difficult to calm down. But, every time she felt like she might slip into another fit, she would always sense those sturdy hands.

    Aina collapsed on Leonel''s chest, seemingly having been sapped of all her strength.

    The soothing feeling of Leonel''s hand stroking her hair and the sound of his heartbeat against her ear seemed to help her own heartrate calm.

    "Iбн Don''t want to lose you." Aina said softly.

    Leonel didn''t respond. He didn''t know if there was anything he could say to this.

    He realized that while these last two years had brought him great changes to his character, the same couldn''t be said for Aina. Butбн He should have expected as much.

    He had spent these last 24 months in an entirely new world, meeting people, forming relationships and tiesбн Taking on responsibilities he never had before.

    But, in Aina''s case, she had spent the last two years in that very same constant battle. Though her body had grown and her strength had become greater, there was no such opportunity for her. If anything, she only sunk further and further into her fear of losing him.

    Leonel could easily see how his decision could make Aina feel as though she was jumping out of a frying pan and into a fire. She had just got him back but she felt that she was losing him again.

    But, Leonel didn''t see it this way. Was there really a problem if they simply took every step together? If they grew as one, rose to the top as a pair, would she still have to worry?

    Leonel continued to run his fingers through Aina''s hair. There were some things that words couldn''t fix and only actions could show. So, he would show her.

    The couple fell into a light sleep and were only awakened two days later by Leonel sensing someone trying to reach them.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar hopped into Leonel''s arms after he got dressed, causing the latter to laugh.

    "Yes, yes. I missed you too buddy." Leonel smiled, stroking the little guy''s fur. "I''ve got big plans for you Little Blackstar, are you ready?"

    The little mink blinked curiously at Leonel. But, he only smiled mysteriously toward this curiosity.

    Not long later, Leonel and Aina both left the Segmented Cube, only to find a group of elders led by Magnaril waiting outside the small shop.

 Chapter 790 Compensation

    "Elders." Leonel smiled as though he hadn''t just been talking about destroying them all. It seemed he had already gained the two face nature of a politician.

    Leonel didn''t see it this way, though. As long as Valiant Heart didn''t get in his way, there wouldn''t be any need for them to lock horns.

    Of courseбн He was planning on aiding their mortal enemies for what must have been several millennia already. So, maybe his thinking was still a bit green, albeit more forceful than it had been in the past. Even Aina couldn''t help but give him a side eye.

    "I see that the shop is still going strong even after so long." Magnaril tried to open the conversation up with some small talk.

    Leonel nodded in return. "My partners from the former Polished Glass Faction have improved greatly in my absence. I''m quite proud of them."

    Leonel had left Kaela and the others without much guidance or instruction, not expecting his departure to actually be for so long. He had never thought that they would end up grasping the opportunity and growing so much in his absence, especially Kaela.

    Long before he left and before even building BLACKSTAR, Leonel had given the group material and information they needed to greatly improve their Crafting. However, in the end, an opportunity was just an opportunity. Often times, people even took such things for granted to the point of squandering their chance entirely.

    But Kaela, Rum, Madia and the others most definitely hadn''t. In fact, their improvement even impressed Leonel.

    Leonel knew that he needed strength to achieve his goals. But, his foundation couldn''t be built without a layer of trust, respect and loyalty first.

    Though they were weak, this group had more than proven to him just what kind of people they were. And to Leonel, this was far more rare than just an individual with talent or power would be.

    Soбн he had already given them even more resources and knowledge. As far as he was concerned, they were his people now.

    The group exchanged some more pleasantries, something that would have been weird to any outside observer. It seemed as though they were having a talk of equals rather than a talk between seniors and juniors. But, at this point, the elders had no choice.

    Let alone what they had seen from Aina in the past couple years, Valiant Heart had practically been turned upside down in their absence.

    The longer Raylion spent away, the more and more backlash his system received. The Freshmen seemed to only become more and more enraged with each passing day. As the pressure from outside sources also increased, no small number of people had withdrawn from the organization entirely.

    Hearing such talks, Leonel could only rub his nose lightly, pretending to be completely oblivious despite knowing that he probably had the largest hand in all of this. But, was it really his fault? Who asked Raylion to piss him off?

    The moment Raylion had given that speech, Leonel had laid down the ground work to cause the collapse of his system. Unfortunately for Valiant Heart, though, before he could rein things back in short of their collapse, he became trapped in another world for two years. The result was seeds he had lay years ago growing and festering to the point the situation could hardly be handled with any sort of ease.

    Of course, the only ones who knew that Leonel had intentionally done such a thing, causing an uprising amongst the freshmen against their seniors, were Leonel and Aina. So, feigning ignorance was quite easy despite the fact Leonel felt a little bad.

    ''Forget it, things are better this way. The weaker they are, the less inclination they''ll have to get in my wayбн It''s either that or they''ll react like cornered beasts. Hopefully it''s the former and not the latter.''

    Since the elders didn''t want to have such a talk out in the open, they eventually chose to go to a nearby restaurant. Leonel still had a rule up that only a single Fifth Dimensional entity could enter his shop at once and he didn''t feel like changing it quite yet.

    Not long later, the group sat down. Once again, Magnaril took the lead. Maybe because they believed her familiarity with Aina would help, she seemed to always be the one who headed their talks. As for the others, they were clearly here purely for support.

    "I will get right to the point." Magnaril spoke after a deep breath. "Valiant Heart is in trouble and we''ve reached a point where the strength of our elders isn''t enough to stave it off.

    "As things stand now, Valiant Heart still has the strongest Fifth Dimensional experts in our quadrant. The problem is that this is hardly meaningful if multiple choose to target us at once. The power of a few will never be able to match up to the power of the many.

    "By paying a price, Valiant Heart has been able to receive the support of a neutral third party. However, after mediation, the only chance we have to protect our territory with be our Gathering.

    "Unfortunately, because you all were stuck in the Zone for two years, we''ve been forced to make concessions to buy more time and have thus been forced into an even deeper corner. The odds are even more unfavorable for us now than they were before."

    Leonel listened to this from start to finish, not interrupting.

    "The Gathering will be exceptionally dangerous, so dangerous that we have chosen not to make it mandatory any longer. We cannot guarantee the lives or deaths of any of our students. We as teachers cannot take the burden of this choice from you. But, we still hope that you will choose to fight by Valiant Heart''s side.

    "Toward this end, we would be willing to give you no small amount of compensationбн

    "What do you say? Will you fight with us?"

 Chapter 791 Emperor Vs King

    Leonel and Aina left the restaurant not long later, their expressions not giving much of anything away until they were already back in the Segmented Cube.

    "Why did you agree to help them?" Aina finally asked after the two were alone again.

    "Why turn down free resources?" Leonel said with a laugh.

    "Butбн If we help them protect their territory, wouldn''t that make it more difficult for your plans?"

    "No, it would actually help. You and I aren''t representative of the younger generation of Valiant Heart. With how shaky their foundations are, isn''t it best to leave it in their hands?"

    "Wellбн Raylion actually isn''t so weak."

    Leonel blinked, looking over at Aina who had seemingly begun to cook something.

    "Should I be jealous?"

    Aina looked up from the stove, blinking innocently, a sweet smile on her face.

    "You left me for two years. Who knows, maybe I wavered."

    "Ahбн"

    Leonel looked like a wounded puppy some sick bastard punted across the room. Aina almost forgot it had just been a joke and nearly felt guilty. She really would have if Leonel didn''t clench his chest and fall over in his chair, causing her to sputter with laughter.

    "бн Laughing at my painбн Who did I wrong in my last life to have such a cruel girlfriend?"

    "Stop being so dramatic. I have fought him, he is indeed very powerful. If we had not lifted the curse, I would have lost to him without a doubt. There''s a reason Valiant Heart had so much hope in him.

    "Also, I''m not sure if I agree with you. From what Teacher Magnaril said, there are multiple organizations vying for their territory. Whatever land was ceded would definitely have numerous hands wanting a piece, especially since this world is so rich in ores.

    "Chaos is an opportunity, no?"

    "Usually, yes." Leonel nodded. "But, if there''s one thing humans are good at doing, it''s forming in-groups and out-groups.

    "This is a predominantly human part of the universe. What would happen if several organizations of humans converged to split resources and there was a single race of people that didn''t quite look like the others?"

    Aina''s hands paused. She looked over toward Leonel who was playing with Little Tolly. After two years of not bonding with the little guy, unlike with Little Blackstar who reaffirmed their connection practically instantaneously, Leonel had to put in some effort with Little Tolly.

    That said, Aina wasn''t looking toward Leonel because of this. Rather, she looked over because those seemingly simple words he just spoke carried a wisdom that shocked her.

    After a while, she realized that maybe she shouldn''t be so surprised. Leonel''s understanding of human nature was so deep that he practically collapsed Valiant Heart Mountain with just a few casual movesбн

    Maybe the irony in all of this was that he still couldn''t perfectly read her. But, that was less about him being unable to, and more about his love for her clouding his judgment.

    The Leonel that could so easily see what would happen to the Oryx should Valiant Heart lose, was the cold and calculating Leonel. No matter how he pretended, when it came to Aina, Leonel couldn''t ever completely throw away all his emotions. At best, he could suppress them.

    "Hm?" Leonel looked up from Little Tolly after realizing it had been a while since Aina said anything.

    When their gazes met, he blinked in confusion for a moment before grinning.

    "What is it? Am I very handsome?"

    Aina subconsciously nodded before she registered what she was doing.

    Leonel erupted into a fit of laughter when Aina froze. He hadn''t laughed so hard in a long while.

    He realized at that moment that he was very happy. These simple, peaceful moments, sharing a kitchen with Aina, helping her with simple tasks and teasing one anotherбн it made him forget about the burden on his back, albeit for just a moment.

    After hiding away her embarrassment, Aina couldn''t help but agree with Leonel.

    "If that''s the way you''re looking at it, then you''re probably right. The clash between the Oryx and Valiant Heart is inevitable, though. Have you thought about Sael, Kaela and the others?"

    Thinking of Sael, Leonel sighed.

    Sael had worked very hard. Much like Raylion, she wanted to see Valiant Heart thrive, but neither one of them truly took the correct steps.

    Still, if he was going to feel bad about crossing anyone, it wouldn''t be Raylion. However, Sael was completely different. Though she had done a poor job, at the very least, she tried to help him.

    The current Leonel, though, had come to an understanding that sometimes emotion couldn''t always dictate his actions. The same way he would have chosen Elthor even if he could resurrect Rollan, was the same reason he would face off against Valiant Heart even if it meant slighting Sael.

    Seeing the look on Leonel''s face, Aina seemed to understand something.

    "So, you''ve answered your grandfather''s question?"

    Aina had always avoided this question like the plague. She knew that Leonel was avoiding it, so she didn''t want to be the one to bring up such horrible memories for him. But, for some reason, she felt supremely confident now that there wouldn''t be an issue.

    Leonel smiled. "He has his path, and I have my own."

    There was a reason that Leonel didn''t want to be an Emperor. Despite the fact it sounded like the highest and most esteemed title, Leonel didn''t believe it. To him, the title Emperor only represented detachment and coldness.

    However, a King was different to Leonel. A King was a man of the people, he was a man who could make tough decision and bear the weight of a nation, but he could also joke and smile with his men, his laughter bringing brightness to his lands.

    Leonel knew that one day he would have to clash with his grandfather. After awakening his Lineage Factor, he understood that the Fawkes family was inflicted with its own sort of curse.

    A matchup of an Emperor versus a King. It would be a sight to behold, indeed.

 Chapter 792 Third

    The next day, a large delivery of Star Core, Refractive Gold and Blazing Night Ores was delivered to Leonel.

    By this point, Kaela and the others had already accumulated more than enough merits for Leonel to be able to trade for this much on his own. However, why spend it if he could save these merit points for something else?

    Leonel felt that this was more than enough to push his body to Tier 9 of his Metal Body, something Leonel had to thank the tablet for allowing him to accomplish.

    After sorting out the information the tablet had flooded him with, Leonel had come to a solid understanding of what it was and how it worked, though its origins were still a complete mystery to him.

    Leonel''s conclusion was quite simple, the tablet seemed to be especially tied to Life Elemental Force and Dream Elemental Force. If Leonel had to describe it, he might even say that it was a combination of the two Forces to create an even higher grade Force he couldn''t fathom.

    Unfortunately, this unnamed Force was too illusive. And, even if it wasn''t, Leonel didn''t have the Life Elemental Affinity that would be needed to control it.

    This aside, Leonel felt that the Force itself was less important in this context. What was important was the fact the tablet could produce it and make of it to perform all sorts of amazing actions.

    The first and most obvious was resurrection. However, from Leonel''s understanding, this wasn''t an all encompassing resurrection. Only ''spirits'' the tablet had accepted into itself could be allowed to be rebirthed. And, even then, it would only be once.

    Leonel wasn''t sure how this worked or why the tablet had such rules to begin with. It almost seemed too arbitrary and lacking in sense. Why would someone be able to be resurrected once but not a second time? And if Rollan, Elthor and the others were real people, then why was it that the tablet could only resurrect them but not others?

    After some thinking, Leonel couldn''t think of an answer to the first question. But, he felt that he had a good guess for the second.

    A Zone was essentially an instance of time folding in on itself. If left alone, it could cause a collapse of the present. However, there were a whole host of time loop problems that were introduced with this.

    For example, if Leonel went back in time like he did in the Joan Zone, which timeline was real? Was it that one he learned about in school? Or was the real version of events the one where his actions killed her?

    Using logic to try to explain these things was near impossible and it was simply easier to accept that time in the Dimensional Verse was not linear. However, since it wasn''t linearбн what did that represent?

    If Leonel had to make a somewhat educated guess, he would pinpoint that the difference between people like Rollan and Joan, versus say himself or Aina, was that the former two had been plucked out of the normal laws of causality, where as the latter two, although travellers to these past and future eras, were still fundamentally in the presence and thus still bound by it.

    Leonel wasn''t certain if he had properly wrapped his mind around it. For instance, it might be better described as a twist or shift in causality rather than a dismissal of it.

    But, the fundamental truth was that whatever laws of causality that applied to them did not apply to others. And, it was this fundamental shift in causality that the tablet was able to take advantage of a loophole in to resurrect people.

    Having accepted this, Leonel found that it was easier to wrap his mind around and gave him a deeper appreciation for the other abilities of the tablet.

    This led to the second ability, which was tied to loosening and undoing bottlenecks.

    Using this higher level Force, the tablet was able to clear away obstacles usually presented by a body''s lack of maturity or slow adaptation. In exchange for the energies it liked to absorb, the tablet could open up bottlenecks for Leonel, thus making his future progress much quicker.

    It was the third ability, though, that made Leonel feel like the stars were aligning for him.

    Truthfully, this wasn''t an actual ability of the tablet in the meaning that it was created for this purpose. Rather, it was Leonel''s Dreamscape that sparked and suddenly made a connection to another problem he hadn''t had a solution to for years.

    Long ago, Leonel had learned about Little Blackstar''s fantastic ability to steal the powers of those he killed. The only shame about it was that the little guy could only take on one ability at a time for himself.

    The bright side of this had been the fact that Little Blackstar could allow others to absorb these abilities as well. But, with that came two severe downsidesбн

    The first was more manageable. Not every ability would result in an increase in strength. For example, if Leonel tried to absorb the ability of someone else with a Dream Force affinity, the likelihood was that he would get weaker and not stronger.

    Absorbing an ability required it to be compatible, for it to be of equal or higher strength, and for it to have a synergizing effect with your own. If not, it would be more of a detriment than anything else.

    The second downside, though, was crippling, so crippling that Leonel hadn''t even considered using Little Blackstar''s ability in this way until nowбн

    When one absorbed the ability of the dead, a lingering personality or soul would remain behind, permanently changing one''s disposition for a lifetime!

    Howeverбн The tablet was able to absorb this lingering soul, leaving behind nothing but the pure ability!

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, flames crackling between his teeth and lips.

    His eyes opened, a calm light within them as he stood and entered the Lab Setting.

    Not long later, he stood before two snowglobes he had kept under lock and key, unwilling to take any risk with them at all.

    Within these snowglobes, there were none other than Candle and Vice, the two Savants that remained of Earth.

 Chapter 793 He Said We Could

    When Candle and Vice appeared, it was no surprise that both were shaken. The last time they had been in the world, they had been on the verge of dying and even now, both were still severely wounded.

    Everything within the snowglobe was frozen, even their thoughts. The good news was that they didn''t experience any time passing so they hadn''t felt confined. But, the bad news was that the moment they saw Leonel''s face, they panicked and almost unleashed their strength once again.

    Fortunately, though, they had obviously had no improvement in the last three or so years, while Leonel himself was on a completely different level. Just a flicker of Leonel''s pale violet eyes made the pair freeze, their bodies trembling beneath his presence.

    Leonel wasn''t sure of the name of his fourth Lineage Factor, but he chose to call it King''s Might. He didn''t feel particularly bad picking out a name for himself either because he was certain that his current Lineage Factor was a mutation and not the same as any one of the originals it merged from.

    This lockdown effect was easy to use when there was a large difference between himself and his opponent. It was most effective when there was direct eye contact, though his released aura had a similar, albeit weaker effect.

    The main ability of this King''s Might Lineage Factor was in its coercion. It seemed to add a mysterious Force to Leonel''s attacks, defenses, and actions that made them harder to deal with. It was almost like a universal boost similar to Universal Force, but this one was reliant on his King''s Path.

    As expected, the greatest change Leonel experienced was in his Domains, but he had yet to try this out in battle.

    Soon, realizing they couldn''t move, Candle and Vice sat what they must have thought was still. But, their bodies trembled uncontrollably, their lips quivering.

    Seeing them in such a state, Leonel sighed.

    When he came here, he had every intention of killing these two. In fact, he knew well that the smartest thing to do would be to do exactly this and hand their abilities over to someone he could value and trust. Howeverбн Seeing them in such a state made his heart waver.

    Ultimately, much of Candle and Vice''s issues weren''t their fault. From a young age, they had been trapped in a cage all alone, unable to see or experience the outside world, not for anything they had done, but rather for the small chance of what they might do in the future.

    Leonel couldn''t imagine the loneliness they had experienced, the hardship and heartache they couldn''t even explain without the experience or references to do so.

    Leonel could suddenly feel their fear almost innately as though they were bearing their souls to him.

    He could see the cold, harsh nights they had suffered. He could see the timidity they cultured within themselves as whatever semblance of personality they had was snuffed out. He could see them wondering if there even was an outside world to experienceбн thinking if this really was all there was to life.

    ''This must beбн a hidden ability of King''s Mightбн''

    The moment Leonel saw such scenes, he knew he couldn''t kill them anymore.

    It was his own grandfather who had chosen to lock these children away, likely wanting to find away to rear and control them in the future. If he took such a path, how different would he be from him?

    ''I don''t always have to choose the least palatable decisionбн''

    Leonel sighed. "I''m sorry."

    Candle and Vice''s gazes darted about. For a moment it seemed like they were trying to find out who Leonel was talking to, but their ability to read and pick up on social cues was too poor. Despite the fact Leonel was still gazing at them, it was like they were letting the logic of it being impossible for him to say such a thing override the reality that he had.

    Leonel smiled bitterly, releasing his hold on the two.

    Suddenly finding the invisible chains around their bodies loosened, the two Savants weren''t sure how to react. The result was them naively sitting in place, too afraid to move in case they were punished for it.

    Leonel gazed at them for a moment. He really wasn''t sure what to do. He had come here with a purpose, but now he almost felt like it would be best if he simply put both back into the snowglobes.

    "бн When you chose to follow Lionel, what did he promise you?" Leonel finally spoke these words.

    The two Savants were taken off guard by the question and began to fidget. They were too worried to answer, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

    However, Leonel patiently waited, not saying a single word. He didn''t want to influence them one way or another.

    Candle clasped her hands together, erratically rubbing her thumbs and biting at the inside of her cheeks.

    She kept throwing glances at Leonel as though she expected him to lash out. But, after several moments, she realized that Leonel was simply waiting for them.

    She didn''t know why, but Leonel''s expression seemed pleasant. There was no harsh coldness in his eye, his lip was lightly curled, and his disposition was patient.

    Was that a smile? Her vocabulary wasn''t very deep. The only reason she knew how to speak at all was due to the time before she was locked away and from overhearing the guards speak.

    How long had it been since she saw a smileбн?

    Before she realized what was happening, Candle''s gaze began to turn blurry with tears. She couldn''t control them before they came out in an onslaught, drenching her cheeks and the grey prisoner uniform she still wore.

    Her breathing hiccupped, her chest heaving as she tried to fill her lungs with air to no avail.

    The harder she pushed, the harder she seemed to cry.

    "He saidбн He saidбн" Candle''s breathing hitched. "бн He said бн we could бн see the outside worldбн"

 Chapter 794 As Long As

    Leonel''s heart softened even more so than usual.

    Candle was just a teenage girl. After having her age frozen, she was even younger than Leonel in comparison to before. At that moment, Leonel couldn''t see her as anything other than a little girl. And likewise for Vice, he was just a little boy.

    Just their age alone made it difficult for Leonel to work up the courage to harm them. But, their backstory made it even more difficult.

    "Is that all you want? To see the outside world?"

    Candle nodded up and down, her forearm trying to wipe her falling tears away.

    Vice''s eyes turned red, seemingly caught up in Candle''s emotions. But, he simultaneously seemed quite detached from it all, almost as though he was just copying Candle rather than truly feeling the emotions she was.

    Leonel took note of all of this. He couldn''t possibly expect that his pity would suddenly turn around and cause these two Savants to become normal people. As cruel as his grandfather was, there was a reason they were locked up to begin with.

    Some psychopaths were good at imitating the emotions they saw around them but lacked the empathy that came with it. Unfortunately for Vice, having been locked away since he was a child, he never properly built up his skill. Coupling that with how sharp Leonel''s perception was to begin with and he never really stood a chance of hiding it.

    Usually, this imitation ability of psychopaths didn''t come naturally. It would be a lengthy process of being called out for their behavior that would eventually have them realize they needed to fit in more. Some would become so good at it that they would lean into their narcissistic traits and even begin to manipulate the people around them.

    At least this was the surface level understanding Leonel had. He wasn''t an expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, he did find that King''s Might allowed him to almost take a peek into a person''s psyche.

    Leonel sighed internally. It seemed that Candle was still relatively normal, maybe with some increased sensitivity compared to normal people. But, that could only be expected with her experiences. Vice, though, was a different story entirely.

    That saidбн not all psychopaths were evil mass murderers. In fact, the majority were not and could function in everyday society just fine despite the stigma attached to them. As for which one Vice was иC the majority or the minority иC only time would tell.

    Leonel made a decision.

    "Alright, I will let you see the outside world. But, we have to make a deal first. Is that okay?"

    Candle blinked away tears, looking up toward Leonel from her position on the floor beside Vice.

    "бнA бн Deal?"

    Leonel smiled lightly, but he still felt that he was taking advantage of a child. Whether it was Candle or Vice, both had too little understanding of the world and the kind of life they were living. Having them make such a life altering deal themselves wasn''t the most ethical. But, he had no choice.

    "I will be honest with the two of youбн With your power, you are very dangerous, maybe even more dangerous than any other existences in this world. Do you understand what I am saying?"

    Candle''s eyes dimmed. She felt that she had heard something like this before.

    "However, I do not want to lock you up like others have. Though the likelihood that you will cross me is very high, I am willing to give you a chance to prove me and everyone else wrong."

    Candle blinked, a small light of hope brightening her gaze.

    "I need two bodyguards." Leonel continued. "With your power and talent, I have no doubt that you two would be an excellent choice.

    "If you accept, you will be able to travel the world with me and see what the outside looks like. You''ll grow by my side and eventually there''ll come a time where there won''t be a single place you won''t be able to step into.

    "I''ll protect the both of you like I would my own brother and sister, that I can promise you. What do you say?"

    As expected, the two Savants accepted Leonel''s proposal. The truth was that Leonel had never expected them to say no. The power imbalance between the two parties was too large. And, though they were a bit na?ve and slow, they weren''t stupid.

    Leonel had purposely not mentioned what would happen had they rejected, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t piece two and two together. Even if Leonel didn''t kill them, they might very well spend the next however long within the snowglobe.

    Still, Leonel was greatly satisfied. If there were two people one had to choose to be body guards, two Savants was already beyond anything most could match, but the combination of Candle and Vice was almost impossibly great.

    Vice had an exceptionally high spatial affinity. He had the ability to lock down space even to the point of freezing the movement of those several times more powerful than himself without much effort.

    At the moment, his ability was still within the Fourth Dimension both due to a combination of him having barely gotten any chance to improve it and having been sealed away for so long. Yet, it was already so powerful that even the current Leonel didn''t dare to underestimate it.

    If it wasn''t for his Domain, Leonel would have died to Vice''s hands long ago.

    Then there was Candle. Vice''s ability alone was excellent. But, when paired with Candle''s, once they reached a certain level Leonel would have a hard time believing that he could ever get hurt.

    Candle had the ability to reflect and multiply an attack back with her mirror ability. It was the ultimate defensive ability and even the best Leonel had ever seen. He had even wanted to kill Candle and give this ability to one of his teammates who shared a strong defensive ability as well.

    As long as the two didn''t betray him, Leonel would be almost impossible to kill by someone within range of their skills.

    Butбн That was only as long as.

 Chapter 795 Suicidal?

    "Coach?"

    With a hint of grogginess, an older man with a thick mustache awoke, looking around with calm, narrowed eyes.

    When Coach Owen saw Leonel looking over him, he blinked.

    "Son of a bitch. You died too, kid? And what the hell is with that hairdo, you look like a dyke."

    Leonel pinched the bridge of his nose. Whenever his coach had a sip to drink, all his political correctness went out the window. It was as though he didn''t know you weren''t allowed to say that kind of stuff. And, apparently, his almost dying had the same effect as a shot of whisky.

    Leonel slapped his coach''s chest, knocking a bit of wind out of his sails.

    "Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing, brat?! Can''t you see I''m lying here?! If you''re mad, go dye it black like a real man!"

    Aina sputtered with laughter, unable to hold it back anymore.

    "Huh?" Coach Owen looked over. "бн Well, at least the angels are beautiful."

    Leonel''s expression darkened. Had this old man gone senile?

    "Stop ogling my girlfriend, coach, or else I''ll throw you back in the snowglobe!"

    "Hm?"

    Coach Owen blinked, touching his chest. He seemed to finally register that though Leonel''s slap had stung, for a man who should have been pierced through the chest, it hadn''t hurt nearly enough.

    At first he thought that heaven just healed injuries, that made sense, right? But, he felt as though his body was very much in the present and didn''t feel any different at all. It was only then he understood that he must somehow still be alive.

    Though he couldn''t understand how, he was a military man. Spending too much time harping on details wasn''t his style. Instead, he looked over toward Aina.

    "Hey, little girl. I just thought you should know that before you, this ungrateful brat spent at least four years pining over another little girl. He wouldn''t shut up about it, truly ridiculous. Make sure you protect yourself from his grubby hands, never fall for a man with another woman on his mind."

    Leonel was speechless while Aina''s laughter only grew. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t stop her bell-like laughter from resonating across the room.

    "What are you laughing about? Gramps here is only trying to give you some advice. This little twerp actually asked the same woman out more than 500 times and still had the face to continue, going on about some ''Persistence'' nonsense. I almost sent him to the school board to be reviewed for sexual harassment."

    Aina finally couldn''t take it anymore, she clenched her stomach, her abs aching from laughing so hard. There didn''t seem to be enough air in the room for her to breathe.

    "Have you said enough yet, old man?!" Leonel snapped.

    "Hey, what are you getting mad at me for? She''s too beautiful for you anyway, brat. At the very least, she deserves a man with a better haircut. I thought I taught you better than this."

    "That''s Aina, dammit!"

    "Huh?"

    Coach Owen blinked, looking toward the laughing Aina once again.

    "You met a girl by the same name?"

    Leonel almost fainted.

    бн

    After a long while, Coach Owen finally dropped the senile act. Though it was a bit hard to accept that these Ainas were the same person, his ability to brush off the details of how things worked was still immaculate.

    "бн Ah, so you healed meбн What a busybody, I was looking forward to finally having some rest."

    "бн"

    Leonel didn''t know how to respond to this. This old man was really ungrateful. Who could possibly want to miss out on this era?

    "Spit it out already, brat. You''ve been tiptoeing around something ever since I woke up. You know I don''t like it when people can''t get to the point."

    Leonel''s expression turned serious.

    "I need you to betray the Ascension Empire."

    Coach Owen froze before slowly looking up toward Leonel.

    "бн Okay, maybe that was a little too to the point. I take it back."

    Leonel gaze met his coach''s eyes, but he didn''t back down.

    Coach Owen rubbed his forehead, grumbling. "You leave a brat to their own devices and suddenly they''ve become a little monsterбн You know, when I asked you to gain your own goals, I didn''t also say to become suicidal."

    Though he said this, Coach Owen was inwardly grinning from ear to ear. This wasn''t because he had some tragic backstory that made him want to harm the Ascension Empire. In fact, the Empire had always treated him well. What he was grinning about was the look in Leonel''s eye.

    It was finally there. That fire that had been nothing but smoldering embers before.

    "Do you need to do this?" Coach Owen asked.

    "Yes."

    "You could likely inherit the throne naturally if you just make your intentions known." Coach Owen replied seriously. "Your grandfather isn''t as ramrod as you think he is. In a lot of ways, he is very flexible and progressive."

    "It won''t be the same." Leonel didn''t hesitate in his response. "Andбн If I understand that man well enough, then there is no way he will give up the Throne because now he doesn''t have to.

    "His goalбн Is the same as mine."

    Aina listened without breathing a word. She could feel how serious this was and the fact that Leonel was speaking of this with her and Coach Owen here clearly illustrated that the two of them were the people he likely trusted the most in this world.

    Coach Owen met Leonel''s eyes and released a puff of air.

    "Alright. But, I''m not suicidal, brat. If you don''t have a solid plan of approach, I won''t act and I will leave you hanging. I have a beautiful life to enjoy still, many women I have yet to taste, sights I''ve yet to see. I''m not dying for you."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Wasn''t this old man just complaining about being revived? How had it suddenly gone from that to him not being suicidal?

 Chapter 796 Life And Death

    "It won''t be anytime soon, Coach. It''s just that your Province is without a doubt the best launching point. The only trouble is I don''t really understand my grandfather''s ability. If he has the World Spirit, taking Earth from him will be difficult."

    At first Leonel thought that his grandfather was able to display such strength because of the World Spirit. But now, he wasn''t so sure. In fact, he was almost certain that during the attack that wiped out the entire fleet of Shield Cross Stars members, not a single ounce of World Force had been used.

    Leonel could be certain of this now because he had experienced real World Force during his battle against Alexandre the Apex. After comparing and contrasting that strength, Leonel had come to understand that the energy he had felt that day wasn''t like World Force at all and was much more like the energy of his King''s Might Lineage Factor with some obvious differences.

    Still, it was similar enough that Leonel was able to recognize it.

    Such a reality was indeed a scary prospect. How powerful, then, was his grandfather really? And how had he managed to grow to such a point?

    Leonel realized that his grandfather wasn''t simple long ago. After all, he had known for a very long time that his grandfather, despite not knowing who he was, had had his mother with a woman from the Luxnix family. This family had a Sixth Dimension Lineage Factor and was, as such, most definitely at least in that Realm.

    But, now that he knew who his grandfather was, it only raised more questions. How had his grandfather managed to interact with such a person as a human of the Third Dimension? Was this related to why his own father was on Earth? And what about his mother? Was her disappearance related to matters of this story?

    "Hm? Your grandfather doesn''t have the World Spirit. Your mother does."

    Leonel, who had practically been mumbling to himself, suddenly snapped his head upward.

    "What?"

    At first Leonel was shocked by the news, then the fact Coach Owen knew this at all.

    Then, Leonel remembered how much Coach Owen knew about himself, even down to the true origins of his father. If Leonel recalled correctly, Coach Owen had even commented on his father''s vomit brew more than once before, clearly pointing toward something quite important about it in hindsight.

    In a lot of ways, knowing these things was just as if not more impressive than knowing his mother had the World Spirit. Clearly, Coach Owen''s standing on Earth was not small. Or, it could be that his relationship with his father was truly very close.

    Now Leonel realized he truly never had a chance at it. If his mother gained the World Spirit even before he was born, how could he ever had had a chance at a piece of it? And, he was definitely not going to snatch it from the woman who gave birth to him.

    Leonel took a deep breath and organized his thoughts. It was fine, it just meant that he had no fate with Earth''s World Spirit. It didn''t matter. He didn''t need it.

    When Leonel recollected his focus, he spoke to his Coach for an hour more before finally sending him back to Earth.

    **

    "You''re insane."

    Leonel listened with a smile as Aina practically talked his ear off. Ever since he had revealed his plans to her, she had reacted like this.

    He didn''t blame her. After all, they had gone from having the Abode Setting all to themselves to suddenly having to share it with two not particularly mentally stable people.

    At that moment, the couple walked hand in hand, soon reaching the depths of Founding Peak. Today was the day they were meant to set off for the Gathering. Yet, while everyone else seemed tense, the two of them were still chatting as though the world wasn''t collapsing around them.

    "It''s just called a calculated risk."

    Aina rolled her eyes. "Candle and Vice were helping me in the kitchen yesterday and do you know what happened?"

    Leonel coughed awkwardly. "The meal came out бн great?"

    It did indeed come out great. He practically inhaled it all like he always did with Aina''s cooking. She was simply too good and was even getting better everyday, something he hadn''t thought would be possible.

    Aina gave him a sidelong glare.

    "Candle was shocked by the beast corpse and ended up stabbing it with a knife a few dozen times before we even got a chance to clean the carcass. There was blood and guts everywhere."

    Leonel blinked innocently. "Sounds like she did a good job tenderizing the meat."

    Aina''s glare became sharper.

    "That''s just the start of it. I told Vice to boil some water, I even told him how much water to use, which pot to pick, and what temperature to put it on. But, the moment the water started bubbling, he panicked and froze everything."

    "No harm, no foulбн right?" Leonel forced a grin, unfortunately, Aina''s glare only became more intense.

    "I shattered the spatial lock around myself on instinct, but that only made him panic more. He ended up sending the boiling water flying toward Candle.

    "And of course, Candle reflected it back, making the scolding water go everywhere."

    Leonel coughed. He had been focusing on training and hadn''t been anywhere near the kitchen. He knew that if something went wrong, Aina was more than strong enough to handle it especially since the two Savants had yet to properly mature.

    Usually, boiling water wouldn''t be an issue. After all, it was just a hundred degrees Celsius. Butбн That was only in the Third Dimension.

    The kind of water Aina was talking about now was the Cleansing Waters that ran all throughout the Segmented Cube. If it had been brought to boiling, it was practically bubbling lava.

    "бн Did the steel table surviveбн?" Leonel asked.

    "No." Aina replied shortly. "All the food that had been on it fell to the ground too."

    "бн You want a foot massage?"

    Aina''s harsh gaze vanished into a brilliant smile that seemed to illuminate the world around them.

    "At least you know."

    "Yes ma''am!"

    The two laughed, oblivious to the heavy atmosphere around them.

    Soon, they entered a clearing. Before them, the familiar youths they had gone into the Valiant Zone with came into view alongside a cohort of five elders, of whichбн Leonel only recognized one, Head Hutchin.

    The others tried to hide it, but Leonel''s senses were too sharp. Each and every one of them was more powerful than Head Hutchin by a large margin.

    It seemed that Valiant Heart Mountain was going all out. For them, this was a matter of life and death.

 Chapter 797 Disaster Rating

    Leonel sat in silent meditation, his legs crossed. To his side, Aina rested her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes in a peaceful state of closure.

    The ship they both sat within moved silently through the depths of space, but not a single person seemed apt to say a word. The silence weighed heavily and seemed to be anchored by the four elders that followed after Head Hutchin.

    Of course, there was another hidden layer beneath this. The youths that followed couldn''t help but steal glances at Aina. But, this time, it only had a small part to do with her beauty, especially since she wore her mask, covering her enchanting expression.

    Rather, the true reason behind their sporadic glances was because of a deeply ingrained inferiority that had been marked into their soul during their Zone entry. Shockingly enough, though, there were even some youths who hadn''t participated that had this same look in their eye.

    Valiant Heart had brought along a bit over two dozen youths. The number that would survive this was unknown, but they all seemed to look toward Aina as though she was their light of hope.

    The truth of it all made Leonel''s lip curl into a smile. It seemed that he had made an excellent choice in Queen.

    Though she tried to hide it, it had taken Aina a long recovery period to feel as though she could battle again. Maybe even now, she wasn''t quite back to 100%. But, with Leonel''s support, and help from her resources, she was quickly recovering.

    Unfortunately, Valiant Heart didn''t have the luxury of pushing back the date any further. The result was a lot of their geniuses being stuck at about 70-80% recovered.

    In this sort of ironic situation, while all the youths looked toward Aina as their light of hope, Head Hutchin and the four mysterious elders who followed after him kept looking toward Leonel.

    бн

    The next three days seemed to be a constant state of silence. Other than food apparently prepared ahead of time by Magnaril personally, there was no other break in it. Everyone seemed to be priming themselves for a life and death battle.

    It was on the fourth day that Leonel sensed the ship slow. It was only a fraction and was imperceptible to most. But, it was more than enough for him to open his eyes, a dull glow shimmering within.

    Leonel suddenly felt his primitive instincts tingling at his nerves.

    ''It seems that this matter won''t be as simple as I thought it would be.''

    After awakening King''s Might, Leonel was more sensitive in several facets, including this one. He immediately put up his guard, his heart pounding with a faint excitement.

    This was it. This would be the first of his steps toward his true goal.

    All his life, everyone had always told him that the moment he truly gained something he wanted to fight for, he would become a monster. It was about time he found out if this was true.

    бн

    With a flash, the ship appeared above a large planet. At a glance, Leonel could tell that it was easily a thousandfold larger than Earth. Usually, within the Third Dimension, such a planet would be gaseous. But, in what seemed to be the Fifth Dimension, its state was likely even a greater state of solid than even Earth itself.

    The planet was quite beautiful. From their vantage point, it was possible to see a swirl of several cloud formations, a radiant green and blue making it shine like a polished marble.

    However, beauty didn''t always equate to safety. Those gorgeous swirls of clouds were all hurricane formations. The planet, despite its large size, was completely covered in just a handful of these massive storms, making one wonder just how violent they were.

    As expected, when the ship broke into the atmosphere, the harsh winds and natural death traps began to make their presence known. The vessel, which had been steady up until this point, began to rattle and quake, threatening to break apart into its many pieces.

    "This is Planet Vincero."

    Head Hutchin''s voice was like a sudden gunshot amidst an endlessly silent night. Though it was nowhere near as abrasive as a true fired shot, and was even quite soothing, after so many days of silence, it felt just as jarring.

    "It is a world with a Disaster Rating of Two Stars."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. He had learned about Disaster Ratings during his Force Crafting studies. This was because planets with great Disaster Ratings had difficult to reach resources and were thus also great sources of food for Metal Spirits.

    Of course, Disaster Rating worlds were also mentioned by the Overeating Hazard chapter his father had left behind. Metal Spirits that had lost their rationality were even known to swallow entire planets of this caliber, causing catastrophic events.

    This aside, a Disaster Rating of One Star had death traps that could even swallow someone a half-step into the Fifth Dimension. A Disaster of Two Stars could destroy someone even a half-step into the Sixth Dimensionбн

    It was safe to say that such a world wasn''t just a little bit dangerous. The fact that the Gathering was being held hereбн

    "This world is the property of the neutral Third Party overseeing this event and was chosen as a neutral site. There are some marked safe zones, one of which we will be landing on. Do not stray from these Zones unless you want to forfeit your life."

    The ship continued to descend. Leonel''s senses latched onto the hull, following its trajectory like a hawk. He very quickly realized that there was a planned route of descent, almost like how rockets back during Earth''s 21st century had to re-enter the atmosphere at a specific angle to avoid burning up. But, this technique was clearly most complex.

    The turbulence reached near disaster levels, but the vessel seemed to hold up well, not wavering.

    "I will now explain how this Gathering will work. Stay sharp, understanding will decide your life and death."

 Chapter ?798 Head Student

    "Your battle over the next few days will be against both the terrain and the geniuses of other Bronze Organizations. The more victories you claim, the more protection Valiant Heart will gain.

    "The first round will be a battle for placement. It will require your teamwork and strength. As for the details of this, it is unimportant for now. It will be best if you take in the terrain and circumstances yourselves over the next few hours.

    "However, what I will explain is which enemies you will face."

    Head Hutchin didn''t looked toward the group of youths. From beginning to end, his eyes remained closed as though he was visualizing everything in his mind. It was difficult to tell just what he was thinking.

    "There are three other Bronze Organizations competing in this Gathering иC Misty Woods, Rusted Blade, and Crimson Hall.

    "Of these three, Crimson Hall is the most murderous, Rusted Blade has the most offensive strength, and Misty Woods has the most mysterious and unpredictable methods.

    "The Head Student of Misty Woods is known as Wissan Shathana. His ability is classified under the Energy Shield Ability Index and has reached the Misdirection Stage.

    "The Head Student of Rusted Blade is known as Rafthin Valeth. His ability is classified under the Physical Strength Ability Index and has reached the Explosion Stage.

    "The Head Student of Crimson Hall is known as Emna Beiceran. Her ability is classified under the Blade Affinity Ability Index and has reached the Body as Blade Stage."

    Leonel listened to all of this silently, slotting in these individuals into certain positions within his mind.

    The Energy Shield Ability Index was separated into Partiality, Misdirection, Nullification, Reflection, and Amplification. This Wissan was at the second stage of five. This allowed him to change the direction of attacks aimed for him, which was a step above Partiality which allowed for a percentage based blocking of an attack and a step below Nullification which negated attacks entirely.

    The Physical Strength Ability Index was among the most straight forward. It was separated into Power, Explosion, and Pull. Though there were only three stages as far as Leonel knew, the separation between each was quite large. Those at Explosion were quite rare and were separated from those at the Power Stage by being able to implement their strength in an instant without any build up.

    Finally, the Blade Affinity Ability Index was probably the most interesting. It was split into Sense, Feel, Body as Blade, Union and Transcendence. Much like most fifth stages, Transcendence could only be reached by Savants. But, Body as Blade allowed one to use close combat techniques as though their every body part was another blade.

    Though Head Hutchin hadn''t explained what Star Level these abilities were at, even if they were all at Three Stars within their individual stages Leonel couldn''t help but come to one conclusionбн

    Weak.

    The abilities weren''t very unique or enigmatic. Sael''s ability alone seemed to blow them out of the water. When Aphestus and Raylion were added into the mix, such a group shouldn''t stand a single chance. This realization made it difficult for Leonel to wrap his mind around where all this worry was coming from. Until, that is, Head Hutchin spoke again.

    "This information I have given you is what we''ve been able to gather over the last two decades. But, everything seems to point toward it being outdated. There is also a good chance that these three have become nothing but puppet Student Heads while the true powerhouses are covertly hidden within their shadows.

    "All I can say is to remain alertбн We are here."

    The rattling of the ship came to a sudden halt.

    Head Hutchin''s eyes finally opened as he stood to his full height. He moved to the hull of the ship, his aura suddenly flashing.

    With a BANG! the large doors of the ship suddenly swung open.

    The influx of wind threatened to throw them all from their seats. Even with Leonel''s hair barely being about two to three inches in length now, it still whipped about furiously.

    The sound of blades sharpening resounded as the winds lashed out across Leonel''s skin. He couldn''t help but look down at himself, only to find shallow white marks being left all across his chest and torso.

    Since he was representing Valiant Heart, both he and Aina had no choice but to wear their official uniform so his upper body was almost completely bare. And, unlike everyone else who reacted with their Force Skin, he had been confident in his body''s defenses.

    Yet, even then, this wind was still leaving marks as though he was being whipped. Plus, if he let things keep going like this, even if he would be fine, his pants would be torn to shreds.

    Leonel''s eyes glowed a faint violet. At that moment, a subtle and imperceptible sheen spread across his body.

    The next blade of wind that whipped against him shattered and scattered into the air.

    Aina awoke, her cheek rising from Leonel''s shoulder.

    "Student Aina Brazinger." Head Hutchin''s voice suddenly spoke out. "From this moment on, you will be the Head Student of Valiant Hall."

    Whether by coincidence or design, everyone seemed to turn their attention toward Raylion. Yet, they found nothing but indifference. There was not even a sign of a clench fist or jaw. He simply rose from his seat.

    Aina blinked but didn''t react with much more than a nod.

    Head Hutch and the four mysterious elders took the lead with every expectation that their new Head Student would take the lead of the others.

    Leonel smiled and bowed magnanimously toward Aina.

    "My esteemed Head Student, I will cross into the fires of hell to follow your lead!"

    Aina rolled her eyes and blinked toward the hull''s doors.

    Down below, an expanse of white fog was all that could be seen. If one was sharp, though, it was possible to make out that the ground was about 50 meters below. Unfortunately, in such an environment, the takeoff of a ship couldn''t be guaranteed, so it could only be docked in the air where it was easier to maintain its lift.

    Without much hesitation, Aina leapt after the five elders.

 Chapter 799 Seeded

    Leonel fell from the skies rapidly, falling through the clouds at a gradually increasing pace.

    It should have probably felt quite refreshing to plunge through what was effectively a plume of mist like this. However, for most of the geniuses, it was impossible to enjoy this sensation with the whipping winds threatening to throw them off into the distance.

    Leonel, however, didn''t seem to have this problem. The winds hardly tickled him and he found the sprits of water quite invigorating. However, he didn''t bask in this sensation for long as he had already focused on the figures below.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, his body causing no small amount of commotion. He didn''t seem to care about breaking his fall in the slightest. And, aside from a slight bending of his knees, he didn''t seem to be affected by it at all.

    Aina descended to Leonel''s side. She held the polearm of her battle ax in one hand, placing a foot in the hook of its blade at the same time. Controlled by some mysterious force, her descent was as gentle as a feather''s and as graceful as a swan''s. It would have been easy to believe that she was a delicate young lady if not for the size of her weapon.

    One after another, the youths descended from the skies. Sael used her petals, Raylion used his telekinesis, and Aphestus rolled the moment he hit the ground, dispelling the impact with the deftness of a prowling creature.

    The five elders looked back toward Leonel, taking keen notice of the cracked stone beneath his feet. Even a strength based ability user shouldn''t have been able to do that. 50 meters in a Third Dimensional world and a Fifth Dimensional one were most definitely not created equal, and neither was stone capable of withstanding this sort of perpetual storm.

    Leonel didn''t seem to notice their looks as a particularly naughty little mink hopped out from his spatial ring and onto his shoulders.

    Little Blackstar jumped to Leonel''s head, his little nose wrinkling. Clearly, he hadn''t taken a liking to the atmosphere. Though his body glowed with the dark green of the ability he had stolen, he eventually abandoned using it entirely and simply entered his incorporeal form.

    Leonel smiled, scratching the little guy''s head. It seemed that Little Blackstar had outgrown the wind affinity ability he had snatched from the Puppet Master''s lacky. In this sort of environment, it wasn''t very helpful at all despite this being a wind-based Disaster Rated world.

    "It seems that the mighty Valiant Heart has finally decided to appear."

    Leonel looked up, only to find a man wearing a blade twice the height of his body on his back.

    The blade was almost three feet thick and had not a single spot on it that wasn''t covered by a rustic, brownish-red rust. Though it had some taper to it, the blade edge itself was most definitely blunt, or at least it seemed to be.

    In any other setting, especially if it was set up alone, this would be quite a dignified weapon, albeit old and more of an antique. However, on the back of a man clearly two meters too short to be wielding it, it looked more comical than anything else.

    Leonel couldn''t hold back a small laugh. Even though he rolled his lips over each other, holding the rest of it back, how could a Fifth Dimensional existence miss such a thing?

    The man who was clearly from the Rusted Blade Organization frowned, looking toward Leonel. But, he couldn''t quite figure out what was so funny. Still, he somehow felt irritated by the way Leonel avoided his gaze.

    Usually, a brat like that would dodge his eyes out of fear. But, this was clearly something much different from that.

    In an atmosphere that had fallen silent after the man''s taunt, Leonel''s snicker was all too obvious. Several eyes all fell toward him at once. Even through the partial fog, who here wasn''t an expert capable of dealing with such a minor matter?

    Leonel cleared his throat. "Sorry, sorry. You were saying?"

    Aina, who understood Leonel quite well, smiled beneath her mask. With his near obsession with ''cool'' outfits and uniforms, he was especially in tune with what was very much not cool. Carrying around a four meter long sword that made you look like a walking crucifix? Definitely not cool.

    However, this was only the surface level. In a single action, Leonel seemed to dispel all the tension in the air. Whether on purpose or by coincidence of his charm, the youths following behind them all let out a collective breath, their backs standing just a bit straighter.

    Head Hutchin gave Leonel a deep look.

    They had been late on purpose. The ship had been filled to the brim with a healing agent that could be inhaled. They wanted to delay for as long as possible so their youths could heal up as much as possible. Toward that end, they were willing to withstand just a bit more pressure.

    However, what Hutchin hadn''t expected was for Leonel to deal with it all for them.

    Without a word, Hutchin turned toward the other groups.

    At the moment, they all stood on a tall stone pillar that was easily 500 meters across. There seemed to be ancient patterns etched into it that caused even the cracks Leonel had created with his fall to quickly mend.

    This pillar was the roof of one of the few bases the Third Party the four Organizations had contracted had on this planet. However, it was very clear that no one was intent on entering this base. It seemed that the first round would start now.

    "I think we can drop the pleasantries, correct?" Hutchin said coolly.

    The man with the crucifix sword still felt irritated for reasons he couldn''t even explain. It was clear that no one had ever laughed at his sword before, so how could he possibly guess that that was what Leonel found to be so ridiculous?

    Before he realized what was happening, Hutchin had already taken control of the narrative and was forcing things forward.

    The man''s expression darkened, but he could only let it slide after sweeping a dark glance toward Leonel.

    "The rules for the first round will be as we''ve agreed upon. As for the later rounds, they will be handled by our trusted Third Party." An older woman who seemed to already have a foot in the grave spoke up from the side of Misty Woods. "The youths who cannot pass this round won''t be allowed to participate when it really counts. You can each choose three seeded geniuses to skip this."

    Hutchin didn''t flinch at these requirements.

    "Aina. Raylion. Sael. You three will be Seeded."

    Hutchin waited for the other three organizations to call out their own seeded geniuses, but none of them spoke a single word.

    The elders of Valiant Heart all narrowed their eyes. They could all see the Head Students Hutchin had mentioned earlier amongst their crowd of geniuses. Yet, none of them were called out.

    The wrinkled older woman smiled. "You do not need to worry, our Seeded Geniuses have already been chosen and set aside."

 Chapter 800 Rafthin

    At this point, there was nothing that Hutchin could do. The three Organizations hadn''t broken any of the rules, there was nothing that said they couldn''t hide their seeded geniuses. Valiant Heart would have tried to do the same thing if it wasn''t for the fact the last two years exposed all of their cards to their enemies. It could be said that right now, the only true trump card they had was Leonel.

    "Ai, how embarrassing. I''m not even seeded."

    Leonel chuckled lightly, his expression still carefree.

    Stretching out his back, Leonel''s bare toes curled along the stone floor. For a moment, it even seemed as though he would tip over and fall. Yet, he was able to snap back up like a rubber band, his body feeling light and springy.

    In these two years, Leonel had never stopped training his flexibility. But now that he had reached Tier 9 of his Metal Body, it was likely that he would need a new yoga-like technique quite soon.

    Head Hutchin turned back to the group. Seeing Leonel''s casual appearance, he somehow felt a bit of worry drop from his heart.

    "You all have to be careful." Hutchin spoke, his tone solemn. "We won''t be able to interfere in this round, even if you should lose your lives, so you must take care of yourselves and each other.

    "This round will be both a race and a competition. Do you see those thinner pillars in the distance?"

    Everyone looked off toward Hutchin''s gaze. There, through the harsh winds and dense fog they could see a number of thin pillars that were exceptionally tall, some even taller than this roof they stood upon, but only about two feet across.

    In these hurricane force winds, these tall pillars waved back and forth. Given their height, it was only an incremental movement relatively speaking, showing off a level of great engineering. However, due to their narrow thickness, it felt like a great distance nonetheless.

    The sturdiest of the pillars had a movement radius of one meter for a full range of two meters in any of the cardinal directions. The most ''flimsy'' though, had a movement radius of upwards of five meters for a full range of ten.

    The pillars bounced back and forth from their limits so quickly that they left blurry afterimages in the air. It was a speed even someone nearing the Fifth Dimension wouldn''t be easily able to deal with.

    Seeing such a scene, the youths suddenly got a bad feeling.

    "Those pillars are the best transportation option Planet Vincero has outside of flying shuttles. They''re structured with several valuable ores, so it isn''t necessary to worry about them snapping. But, their movement is an inevitable part of their design. If they were too rigid, they would snapбн

    "Your task is to use those pillars toward a destination marked ten kilometers from here. There is both a time limit and a ranking requirement.

    "Only 20 of you will be allowed to move on to the next round and you must reach the end destination within an hour. Do you understand?"

    Hutchin gave the youths all a deep look. But, not a single one of them didn''t have a serious expression on. It was clear that they weren''t failing to take this seriously. They had already seen through the unwritten rules. This was most definitely not a simple ''race''.

    Leonel took in Hutchin''s words and looked back toward the waving pillars.

    ''What a fascinating Craftбн Usually, if a construction was oscillating so quickly it would only be a matter of time before it reached its limit. It''s clear that these pillars aren''t simple. But, I guess a Two Star Disaster World is worth the investment.''

    The participating youths began to gather. It was then that the unfairness of it all became quite obvious.

    With so many participating youths from the other organizations, many of whom were clearly here just to fill in the numbers, the problem of jostling for position became very obvious, very quickly.

    Though there were more than enough pillars, the real question was whether there was enough in the particular direction they needed to go. And, the answer to that was obviously no.

    This was the headquarters of the Third Party they had enlisted the help of, so of course there would be plenty of pillars in the immediate surroundings. But, they would definitely split off into numerous paths and become sparse very quickly.

    And yetбн There were over 200 youths participating and only about 20 of them were from Valiant Hall. The bloodthirst in the air was practically palpable.

    "Milady! Please give me the honor of introducing myself!"

    At that moment, the somber atmosphere filled with mostly murmurings was cut by a booming voice.

    A young man with a tall rusted blade on his back, just one meter short of his Head''s, practically glided over to Aina''s position on a single knee.

    He had a hand placed over his heart and the other rose off to the side and into the skies as though he was bearing his heart and soul. He truly looked as though he had been copied and pasted out of a romantic comedy.

    His looks weren''t bad either and could even be considered to be quite handsome. He had a strong jaw, partially wet jet black hair and sparkling green eyes. On top of that, his body was well built. Given his strength, he definitely had many suitors amongst women.

    Having seen Aina''s figure from a distance, even with the mask she wore, he had long since decided that he would have to have a chat with her. But, waiting until the race was over would be too boring. He had to make his confidence known.

    Leonel, who was watching this scene from beside Aina raised an eyebrow. However, the amused light in his eye didn''t fade.

    "I am Rafthin! Head Student of the esteemed Rusted Blade! I would like to dedicate this race to this lovely lady for all to see! I will claim first place as a professing of my heart and soul!"

 Chapter 801 Simple Enough

    Aina looked down toward the kneeling Rafthin then toward Leonel. By now, wouldn''t Leonel have done something? So why was he just standing there holding back a laugh?

    In these last couple years, Aina had gotten better at controlling her coercion to the point that it no longer leaked without her direction. So, that sort of primal desire everyone had when they looked at her was no longer there.

    Unfortunately, there was only so much she could do aside from this. Even if she covered her face, the annoyances would come. She hadn''t had to deal with such things in the last two years, but it seemed that she would have to get used to it now.

    That said, there was quite a simple answer to all of this.

    Aina''s hand flashed to the side and caught Leonel''s arms, subtly pinching his skin as though blaming him for not doing something.

    Rafthin''s expression froze, his mouth half open as he had been prepared to give another long spiel.

    His head slowly turned toward Leonel, but all he received in return for his glare was a shrug and an almost sheepish smile.

    "Better luck next time."

    In the distance, the Head of Rusted Blade''s expression darkened. Rafthin was truly not a bad student, but his understanding of timing and place had always been off.

    Had he done this after the first round, there wouldn''t have been an issue. But, to be embarrassed in such a fashion before it even began would only dampen the mood of the others even more.

    ''At least maybe now he''ll actually take this seriously. How ridiculous.''

    Rafthin rose from his knee, patting it until it was free of dust. Without a word, as though nothing had happened, he strolled off into the distance.

    "Emna! My beautiful future wife!"

    Leonel really didn''t know what to say to thisбн But, as the saying went, you missed 100% of the shots you didn''t take. It seemed that Rafthin had taken this philosophy to heart.

    Leonel swept a gaze over Emna. She was a beauty with overly pale skin and short cut black hair. All over her body, sheathed daggers could be found. Just from a cursory glance, Leonel was able to pick out over a dozen tied to her small frame. It was obvious that there were many more in some definitely less than obvious places.

    Of course, Leonel hadn''t looked toward her to compare her to Aina. Rather, Emna should be the name of the Head Student of Crimson Hall.

    With another sweep of his gaze, Leonel managed to pick out Wissan who should be the Head Student of Misty Woods. He was quite an obscure and lowkey character. A bit chubby and even wearing glasses. He was definitely not the first look one would have in mind for a Head Student.

    However, Leonel was still able to pick him out based on his strength and the subtle atmosphere of those in his immediate surroundings.

    ''I guess that''s enough reconnaissance. About time this starts, right?''

    "Be careful."

    Leonel paused mid movement, looking back toward Aina with a raised eyebrow. She wouldn''t usually say such a thing when he was clearly up against inferior competition. Yet, she had said it anyway.

    He looked into her eyes and nodded, a light smile spreading across his face.

    At that moment, the elders moved. One of the mysterious four from Valiant Hall along with three others, one from each of the Organizations, dashed forward, sprinting along the waving pillars as though it was flat ground before disappearing into the distance.

    The youths remained jostling for position, waiting for the elders to reach the target destination just over ten kilometers away.

    Anxiety filled the hearts of the Valiant Hall students. It felt as though they were surrounded from all sides by hordes of enemies, nearly outnumber ten to one.

    It was then that Leonel slowly strolled into the backline, not even attempting to push for a frontline position like the others. Looking off to the side, he made eye contact with Aphestus.

    Aphestus'' glance was quite placid. But, when he noticed that Leonel looked toward his twin daggers again and shook his head, he felt a spark of rage that he immediately calmed.

    ''He''s not the enemy right now. There are bigger fish to fry.''

    Aphestus looked away, a bestial aura wafting out from his body. His limbs seemed to lengthen, his pupils turning into slits.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. ''Hoho, how mature of you.''

    Leonel smiled more brightly. If they all accepted that their enemy wasn''t each other, then this would be easy.

    ''Since you''ve made such a smart decision, I don''t mind helping all of you pass.''

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, causing a jet black spear to appear. Chains hung all over its dark body, whipping about as the harsh winds lashed against it.

    "BEGIN!"

    A booming voice came from the Rusted Blade Head. But, before anyone could react, a massive pair of white gold wings appeared to Leonel''s back.

    As though a leaf blowing in the wind, Leonel, who had been behind them all, shot past the entire group, his foot landing on the first pillar before anyone had even stepped off of the roof.

    Leonel''s body waved about, swaying from side to side along with a narrow pillar. His face was the picture of calm and composure.

    For some reason, even without him saying a word, those at the very front came to a grinding halt, their rising feet freezing mid air before they could even take a step forward.

    An eerie silence filled by the sounds of howling winds filled the space, leaving many at a loss for what to do.

    There were easily hundreds of other pillars to jump to, all of which could be used to wrap around Leonel, so why did it feel like no matter which one they pickedбн it would be a death sentence?

    "Alright everyone, we''re going to have a very simple exercise." Leonel smiled lightly. "The game is pretty simple, even a toddler could follow the rules, I promise.

    "If you''re from Valiant Heart Mountain, it''s safe sailing ahead.

    "If you''re not from Valiant Heart Mountain, it''s not.

    "Simple enough, right?"

 Chapter 802 L Disagree

    A stunned silence hung over the surroundings. If it wasn''t for the howling winds, there wouldn''t have been any sound at all.

    Surprisingly, it was Aphestus who broke this silence. He sprung forward, landing on the pillar by Leonel.

    In truth, he half expected to be attacked, but all he received was a grin in return. That was the only sign he needed to shoot forward, his body displaying an agility and flexibility most couldn''t match.

    This change seemed to shake the other three organizations out of the stupor. What had this young man just said? Who did he think he was?

    The three organization Heads all looked toward Hutchin at once, frowns deeply etched on their faces. To this point, there had been a subtle centering of the past events that all seemed to revolve around this young man. From the snicker in the beginning to this point, everything seemed to point toward him. Yet, they hadn''t noticed until this moment.

    Hutchin didn''t say a word nor did his face give away any emotion.

    Of the three organization Head, the last was a middle aged man from Misty Woods. His eyes seemed to sparkle with something imperceptible as he gazed from Hutchin to Leonel and back again.

    "What are you all waiting for? There are over a hundred of you and only one of him. Did we waste all the resources we spent on you?!"

    Hutchin frowned the moment he heard these words. But, coaching from the sidelines also wasn''t against the rules, especially since it seemed as though the race hadn''t even truly started yet.

    A flash of determination crossed the faces of the youths who led the pack, a tinge of rage coloring their gazes. That was right, what did they have to fear?

    Leonel''s light smile didn''t fade. His wrist flexed, his jet black spear following an elegant arc.

    A surge of at least a dozen dove forward, all of them aiming for a separate pole from Leonel.

    "Wellбн I tried to warn you. Chain Domain."

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    In that moment, it seemed as though the world was enveloped in black. Whether it was by coincidence or on purpose, even the elders couldn''t move out of the way. In the blink of an eye, a world of darkness and whipping chains covered a more than 500 meter radius.

    Before they could react, all dozen youths who stepped forward found themselves wrapped from head to toe, their bodies frozen in space and a look of twisting pain on their faces.

    "AH!"

    Screams filled the skies as they struggled against the chains.

    Whatever defiance they had had vanished in an instant, fear coloring their features as they realized the only thing keeping them suspended in the skies was Leonel''s will. The moment he no longer felt that it was necessary, they would plunge to their inevitable deaths below.

    "See? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

    Leonel looked down toward the seemingly endless abyss below.

    These pillars were so high up for a reason. They were purposely built at a height where the atmosphere was sparse, leaving the perpetual hurricanes with less substance to work with. It could be said that this was the safest location on the entire planet.

    What was most fearsome wasn''t the several dozen kilometer drop below, because with their strength, it was impossible that they''d make it all the way to the bottom. Before they could even make it a few hundred meters, they would be shredded to pieces by the violent winds.

    At that moment, a small group of three individuals leapt into the storm, but Leonel pretended as though he hadn''t seen them at all. It was clear to everyone that they were members of Valiant Heart.

    "Thank you!"

    Leonel smiled when he heard this, nodding lightly.

    He knew that he wouldn''t be able to protect them like this later, so he might as well do the best he could now.

    In the past, his Domains could only stretch out about 10 meters, even less within a Fifth Dimensional world unless he fueled it with Universal Force. But, at this moment, not only was Leonel not using Universal Force, but his range was already 50 times greater.

    This was the benefit of King''s Might.

    It was then that the sickening sound of bones snapping sounded. The dozen figures that hung in the air at Leonel''s whim screamed out in pain, their bodies shivering uncontrollably as they were thrown back to the pillar.

    "Consider this a warning." Leonel spoke lightly. "I might not be so nice next time."

    Another group of Valiant Heart Mountain members shot forward. No one dared to stop them. If Leonel could so easily deal with them crossing into the air, given the range of his odd Domain, just how hard would it be to stop them from interfering.

    It was when the fourth group gathered the courage to move forward that a voice called out.

    By this point, the three organization Heads were popping blood vessels. Of all the ways they had expected things to go, this was most definitely not one of them. And, to make matters worse, it almost felt like a slap to their faces that Leonel''s Domain covered them as well. It was as though he actually dared to give them, as mighty Fifth Dimensional existencesбн a warning?!

    Luckily, Wissan stepped forward.

    "Don''t you think that this is a bit too far?" He pushed up his glasses, his chubby body weaving through the crowd until he stood at the very edge of the pillar''s roof.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade as he looked Wissan up and down. Rather than rebutting, he asked a simple question.

    "And what wouldn''t be too far in your opinion?"

    "That would be allowing the race to continue as designed, of course."

    "Mm." Leonel nodded. "Well I disagree."

    Wissan expected Leonel to say something else after this, but he simply stood there, waving about on his pillar with a smile on his face.

    At that moment, a chuckle came from Wissan''s back before a light slap landed on his shoulder.

    "It seems you finally lost a war of words, Wissan. I always told you that that shit doesn''t matter. All that does is whether my blade is bigger than yours. What do you say, Emna? How about we have some fun? If we wait any longer, I won''t be able to be first anymore."

 Chapter 803 Second General

    Emna didn''t respond, just the same as always. Instead, she immediately took action. From within the midst of the group, she tore a path through the air, seemingly not worried about getting caught up by Leonel''s chains.

    "Oh?" Leonel''s brow raised.

    Since he had gained his Chain Domain, this was the first time anyone had so confidently seen through its deficiencies. He had to say, for Emna to accomplish this with just a single look and a moment of observation was impressive.

    ''I wonder, could I have her as one of my Generals too?''

    If others knew what Leonel was thinking, they''d rightfully label him a madman. Was this really the situation to be thinking about such things?

    As Leonel was lost in thought, Emna had already crossed half the distance. It wasn''t until then that he sprung into action, his chains suddenly lashing out at her.

    But, as expected, Emna reacted quickly. Two daggers seemed to almost magically appear in her hands.

    She twisted in the air, hooking the tips of her blades into the links of the chains and using them as anchors to send herself flying forward at an even faster speed.

    There was no doubt that her agility and flexibility were both off the charts. Beyond this, her judgment, senses, decisiveness and reaction time were all impeccable. The more Leonel observed, the more he wanted her.

    Emna had definitely seen through the weakness of his Chain Domain. At any given time, most of the Domain was made up of a net of illusory chains that could manifest into a true physical form at any time. However, ''could'' was the operative word.

    It took energy to facilitate this change, firstly. And, secondly, chains didn''t manifest out of thin air. This meant that the only chains that could manifest and lash out were ones that could already be seen.

    The third weakness was one only those with incredible senses would pick up on. There was a shift in the energy around the chains that would manifest, allowing one to pick out which would gain physical form long before it happened.

    It was clear that Emna had already pinpointed each and every one of these weaknesses and was even using it to her advantage.

    ''Interestingбн''

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hand, expertly blocking Emna''s strike.

    ''The shortest distance between to points will always be a straight line. Unless you can somehow attack from two points more than two meters apart simultaneously, I''ll always be able to block your two daggers with a spin of my spear.

    ''And nowбн You also don''t have any footing left and I definitely won''t manifest anymore chains for you. So, what will you do?''

    Rather than having these thoughts as a form of a taunt, Leonel''s eyes shone as though he was testing someone, almost like he was giving a job interview rather than fighting a life or death battle.

    The pillar Leonel stood on was just two feet wide and it was still in the process of whipping back and forth in the wind. There was definitely no space for another person to step onto it. And, even if there was, why would Leonel allow that?

    Emna, though, dealt with this issue without a single shred of awkwardness.

    Using the momentum of her failed strike, she dove backward, agilely landing on a pillar ten meters to Leonel''s right.

    Leonel''s eyes glowed. ''She already had her escape plan mapped out from the very beginning. She struck with her left dagger far heavier than her right, forcing me to compensate for the power imbalance. Using that momentum, she leapt backward, confident that I wouldn''t be able to block her in time.''

    Leonel had obviously moved most of his illusory chains before him to compensate for the large mass of enemies he was facing, leaving Emna with more than enough gaps to shoot through on his right.

    Leonel''s gaze seemed to be lit with a fire as he scanned Emna up and down.

    For some reason, despite having dealt with Rafthin''s ogling for much of her life, Emna felt particularly uncomfortable at this moment. It was as though she was stark naked before Leonel and there was nothing she could do to cover up.

    "Hey."

    Leonel suddenly called out, startling Emna for some reason.

    "I want you to become one of my Generals, what do you say?"

    Emna was completely startled, her face flushing. One would have thought that Leonel had asked her to follow him into bed.

    Aina''s expression became a bit weird in the distance, though no one could see it beneath her mask.

    Could this count as sexual harassment tooбн?

    "Well, this probably isn''t the best time to askбн"

    You don''t sayбн

    Everyone seemed to be of one thought at this moment despite having stood on opposite sides before.

    "бн But, think about it. If you accept, I''ll make you as many Quasi Bronze daggers as you can handle."

    Emna and the others were completely speechless. What nonsense was this man talking about?

    It was only those of Valiant Heart that understood Leonel wasn''t bluffing at all.

    "Are you flirting with my woman?!" Rafthin snapped. "Dammit! This selfish bastard wants to hog all the beauties! Let''s go, Wissan!"

    Rafthin shot forward, unsheathing his massive three meter long rusted blade. Compared to Emna''s approach, his own was far different.

    A blazing Universal Force shot around him, the illusory images of a two Season dichotomy forming.

    On one side, there was the harsh reality of Winter. On the other, there was the beaming heat of Summer.

    This was the fifth weakness of Leonel''s Chain Domain. The fourth was the split moment it took for the chains to manifest from their illusory form. As for this fifth, it was that this time could be even further slowed and even completely halted under the influence of certain forces, among which were the Forces of the Four Seasons Realm.

    Leonel''s wrist flickered once again, the aura of his spear suddenly unleashing.

    At that moment, the presence of a Quasi Bronze spear made itself known.

    Leonel grinned. These three Head Students shouldn''t be far from Raylion in strength, otherwise they wouldn''t be able to share a title with him. Though, Raylion no longer held it.

    Leonel was quite eager to see the depths of their strength.

 Chapter 804 Silence

    A resounding CLANG reverberated across the battlefield as Rafthin''s rusted blade met Leonel''s spear.

    To the former''s surprise, Leonel met him head on without much issue, the chains of the spear suddenly lashing out to wrap around his broad sword.

    Rafthin quickly tried to retreat, but Leonel had reacted too fast. Though he managed to pull back before the chains could wrap all the way around, the momentum he lost from freeing himself left him far short of the pillar he was aiming for.

    Rafthin plummeted down from the skies. It seemed for a moment that just like this, his life would be forfeit.

    But it was then that what looked like an energy platform appeared beneath his feet, saving him from his fall and allowing him to jump back to one of the pillars.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow, his gaze locking onto Wissan in the distance.

    ''An energy shield ability could be used with such flexibility, hm? His range is also not bad at all.''

    Energies of clashing hot and cold reverberated around Leonel, the lingering impact of Rafthin''s strike persisting. But, the harsh pulling and pushing Force didn''t seem to impact Leonel very much.

    "Attack together." Wissan said. "I will cover you."

    Emna and Rafthin took the hint. And judging by their demeanors, it was clear that they were very much serious this time.

    Leonel smiled for a moment before his gaze turned an eerie cold for the first time since the battle began.

    The temperature seemed to plummet and the energies stilled. Even the howling winds slowed by a measure, all sound seemingly vanishing.

    Bright white-gold wings appeared to Leonel''s back once again, a surge of winds picking up around his feet as he shot forward, missing Emna''s pincer from the side and clashing with Rafthin in the air.

    His spear skimmed across the flat of Rafthin''s blade. The latter, who had been expecting another clash of strength, felt as though he was swinging against air.

    This should have been the perfect opportunity. With Wissan''s support, and Leonel''s lack of the same, the result should have been obvious. The battle should have been decided the moment Leonel was foolish enough to leave his pillar.

    However, was Leonel really such a fool?

    Leonel slid by Rafthin in the air, wrapping to his back in a single motion.

    Kicking out with his leg, he both used Rafthin as leverage to gather up his momentum once again and send him tumbling down toward the harsher winds below at a faster speed.

    Wissan''s pupils contracted as he realized Leonel''s target was himself from the very beginning. But the question was, would he protect himself by placing several shields between him and Leonel to prevent the latter from reaching him? Or, would he save Rafthin?

    Wissan''s expression changed. The speed Rafthin was suddenly falling through the air at was too fast. It didn''t even give him much time to think about it all.

    Not only would Rafthin soon be out of his range. But, even if he managed to stay within his range, the harsh winds would put a lot of pressure on his energy shields. There was no telling if they would last long enough to help Rafthin out.

    ''Dammit.'' Wissan''s visage warped. He was so used to being calm and collected, but it felt as though a single move had already driven him into a corner. ''Aren''t you supposed to be a battle expert?! How did you lose so thoroughly in a single exchange?!''

    If it wasn''t for Rafthin being so easily handled, none of this would have happened.

    What Wissan didn''t know, though, was that if every battle had to be decided in a single exchangeбн The last person you wanted to fight would be Leonel.

    The fact that Rafthin was in the air and couldn''t easily change his attack method only sealed his fate all the more. In these last two years, Leonel''s Dream Simulations had practically reached a point of perfection in the Fourth Dimension. Now that his mind was in the Fifth Dimension, the gap was even more exaggerated.

    It was then that Wissan met Leonel''s cold eyes through the air, his body involuntarily freezing.

    Those eyesбн Could they even be considered human?

    Wissan forgot to act, hardly realizing it when Leonel had already stepped before him, his spear swinging outward. Even though Wissan was at the very edge of the largest pillar, a place that should have been plenty secure, he still felt as though he was quickly falling into an abyssal hell.

    The pressure Leonel exuded was the likes of which he had never seen before. He could see endless bloody battlefields and a blade that carved through them all with a cold, calm precision.

    The weight of everything Leonel had experienced bore down on his soul, sinking him beneath waves of despair, horror and pain.

    His knees collapsed, his eyes rolling back. A sickly paleness took over his skin, the chubbiness of his cheeks trembling as he sunk to the ground.

    Leonel''s spear didn''t even get to land before it came to a grinding halt.

    His cold eyes flickered for a moment, regaining some humanity. He looked at Wissan kneeling before him, his mouth bubbling with saliva, his nose running, and tears streaking down his face.

    ''Hm?''

    According to his simulation, he would defeat Wissan in three exchanges. By then, he predicted Emna would do something to save Rafthin, but their precarious position would quickly lead to their defeat as well.

    But now, Wissan had collapsed before he could even do anything, resulting in Emna still diving through the air to catch Rafthin.

    If he wanted, he could kill them both right this very moment and it wouldn''t even be very difficult. Clearly, even the thoughtful and meticulous Emna hadn''t expected Wissan to simply collapse just like this.

    The area around Wissan cleared out, no one wanting to travel too closely to Leonel for fear that he would kill them all.

    A heavy silence hung overhead, one even the perpetrator himself hadn''t quite expected.

 Chapter 805 Splendor

    ''Seems this Wissan has quite a weak mind.'' Leonel thought.

    This was the best explanation. Though, to be fair to Wissan, he was the first person Leonel had truly made eye contact like that with after awakening his King''s Might. But, Leonel still believed his analysis wasn''t very far off.

    It was clear that King''s Might amplified more than just Leonel''s attack and defense. In fact, the amplification of his presence and aura was probably stronger than the amplification to anything else. If this wasn''t true, the result wouldn''t have been so exaggerated.

    ''I wonder, then, what would happen if I stopped using King''s Might passively on my Chain Domain and used it actively? Would the change be greater than just an increase in range and size along with a lowering of the energy requirements?''

    Leonel turned his head back toward Emna and Rafthin.

    As expected, Emna had jumped through the air and caught Rafthin. Using a dagger attached to a chain, she shot it toward a distant pillar and began to swing her way over. It would truly be too easy for Leonel to deal with them.

    Leonel reached a hand out, causing the expressions of the three organization Heads to change. But, they couldn''t even make a move without Hutchin, the three remaining elders, and even Aina herself glaring toward them all at once.

    Their expressions warped when they saw that even a little girl dared to do such a thing to them. But by then, it was already too late.

    Stuck in the air and unable to change her trajectory, both Emna and Rafthin were bound in chains from all sides, only to be carried over Leonel.

    Leonel separated the two of them into two separate chain bundles, then broke all of Rafthin''s limbs without much remorse. As far as he was concerned, this was already mercy.

    Even if he was more bloodthirsty, Leonel understood that it would be foolish to kill these three. The reality was that this Gathering was only taking place because these three organizations believed that they could win. If it came down to it, Leonel was certain that they would simply ignore all the restrictions and attack Valiant Heart the normal way.

    For now, they were simply unwilling to pay the cost and chose this cheaper path. But, if Leonel pushed them too far, they just might drop all pretenses ahead of schedule, and that wouldn''t'' be very good for him.

    Leonel hoped for Valiant Heart''s sake that they had a plan to deal with this, because even if Aina and he helped them to win thisбн There was no way that things would end so simply.

    Emna braced herself, ready to grit her teeth through her own limbs being shattered. But, why would Leonel harm someone he was trying to recruit? He simply left her suspended in the air and turned his head toward the remaining Valiant Heart members who had still yet to move.

    "Well? Aren''t you guys going to go?"

    Snapping out of their stupor, the remaining group jumped forward, disappearing over the horizon.

    Leonel''s smile returned, his demeanor once again carefree.

    "Well, I guess it''s time for me to go as well."

    Leonel dropped Emna to the ground and shot forward. Even as he disappeared in the distance and the Chain Domain was no longer a threat, no one dared to move and even the elders didn''t bother to force them to.

    бн

    Leonel passed by numerous Valiant Heart members. Though he didn''t particularly care about his placement, there were only 20 spots but more than 20 Valiant Heart Mountain students. He didn''t really have much of a choice but to pass them by if he wanted to participate in the next rounds.

    Of course, Leonel didn''t take this Gathering seriously because he knew what would happen even if they won. But, he was still curious about many things.

    For one, this mysterious Third Party everyone kept mentioning that had still not shown up. He was also curious about the seeded geniuses the organizations were hiding.

    Wissan, Emna and Rafthin were actually quite powerful. It was just that Leonel was uniquely suited to battling in strenuous environments because of his ability to use it to his advantage. The best chance someone would have at beating him was on as neutral a ground as possible.

    To make matters worse, their teamwork wasn''t very great. Without Wissan''s hesitation, the battle wouldn''t have ended so quickly.

    Leonel was curious, then, about what geniuses the organization would actually place above them.

    Not long later, Leonel made it to the destination with about ten having reached before him. At that moment, the mysterious elder of Valiant Heart had a rare smile on his face while the others sported ugly expressions.

    Many looked toward Leonel, their eyes filled with a mixture of emotions, but he only grinned back casually.

    **

    The inside of the pillar could only be described as luxurious. Delicate arrangements, precious metal fixtures, maids, butlers and servants as far as the eye could seeбн

    The group of students was quite in awe of such things, but they understood that this made sense. It might have been hard labor to work a Two Star Disaster World, but one had to be powerful to survive.

    These weren''t normal ''miners'' working here. These were powerful mercenaries, often with strength well into the Fifth Dimension, working for high end salaries. It only made sense that they would be treated appropriately.

    Though it was the first time Leonel had seen such a luxurious labor force, he too was quickly able to accept it.

    It seemed that whatever Third Party the organizations had commissioned was quite well off. But, they would have to be to dare to step into the business of such powerful Bronze Organizations. They would, at the very least, have to be infinitely close to becoming a Silver Organization to take such a task on. It was clear that they were very confident in themselves.

    It was upon entering a wide lounge area that Leonel suddenly understood where his bad feeling just might have been coming from. His mind flashed back to memories of a fat merchant with jingling jewellery and chains as his eyes narrowed.

    Above, a large, magnificent sign shimmered with all sorts of splendor.

    MILKY WAY GUILD.

 Chapter 806 Bad Luck?

    ''Is my luck really that bad?'' Leonel smiled bitterly.

    The issue with the Milky Way Guild obviously wasn''t that Leonel was an enemy of them, but rather in what they might or might not know.

    Leonel was certain that the fat, jeweled man was among the lowest ranking members of the Guild. He might even be selfish enough to keep the information to himself in hopes of making it rich on his own. But the issue was that this was only the best case scenario.

    In the worst caseбн Well, Leonel might as well start picking out his casket now.

    In this time, he had pretty much ignored the threat of Shield Cross Stars. But, that was only because right after those events happened, his talk with his grandfather took up the vast majority of his mind. He simply didn''t care about Shield Cross Stars because his thoughts were focused on something completely different.

    Now that Leonel was quite confident in the response he would give to his grandfather, he suddenly remembered just how big of a deal being a wanted criminal of Shield Cross Stars was. If it wasn''t for the structure of this police force and the approach Scithe and Anared''s fiancижe had taken, it could be said that Leonel would already be finished.

    ''бн Really such bad luck.'' Leonel shook his head.

    Aina, who was standing right beside Leonel, didn''t need him to explain what the problem was. The moment she saw him pause and felt the shift in his emotions, she connected the dots. She had been there when they met the fat merchant and definitely knew that the fat merchant had still been on Earth when Leonel''s face was projected to everyone.

    It was quite funny too. Had Leonel not dropped White City onto Earth, the fat merchant might have never known. But, who knew how many other Milky Way Guild merchants there might have been at the time?

    As for where this fat merchant was now? Neither of them had anyway of knowing. But at this point, she knew to brace for the worst.

    Aina''s grip on Leonel''s hand involuntarily tightened.

    Leonel looked over and smiled, the wrinkle between his brows having long since calmed.

    The Milky Way Guild? Weren''t they just a Quasi Silver Organization? Leonel remembered very clearly, their highest ranking member, Augustus Ovilteen, had still not even stepped into the Sixth Dimension yet.

    This was still far beyond Leonel''s current level, but what did it matter?

    If they wanted to come, let them come. They''d be a nice and shiny stepping stone.

    Of course, in all of Leonel''s thoughts, he felt that the odds were still quite low. This was a high level planet and the people that frequented this place obviously had the status to match it. What were the odds a Merchant that had to do business in a small place like Terrain could ever be here?

    What he didn''t know quite yet was that his luck was indeed that bad.

    бн

    In a control room located in a hidden department of the pillar were several monitors projecting images from all over the Two Star Disaster World. From a single look, one would have thought that this place was plucked right from Earth to be deposited here. But, upon further inspection, the reality was far more complex than this.

    The images were projected onto thin glass sheets that hung about at all sorts of angles. There were clearly no electronics or wires to be seen anywhere in the room whatsoever.

    It became clear fairly quickly that the ''technology'' being used here were related to a complex branch of Force Arts. These Force Arts allowed the Milky Way Guild to monitor the whole of the planet for any activity of interest.

    It was quite a complicated task to handle a Disaster Rated planet. There was more required than simply mining its resources. The location had to be protected, the weather had to be analyzed and predicted for safe and dangerous times, and any unexpected activity had to be properly reported.

    As such, while there were a large number of high level workers, there were also a fair share of low level ones as well, many of them tasked with observing these monitors and passing on the necessary information to higher level officials for final decisions to be made.

    It wasn''t that Leonel didn''t notice he was being monitored. He obviously had. The difference back then was that he thought it was only natural, not only because of the reasons just mentioned, but also because the Milky Way Guild wouldn''t be a very good ''Third Party'' if they weren''t doing at least that much.

    But nowбн

    There were hundreds of men and women in this monitoring station, each of them focused on the four to five fluctuating images before them.

    The task was usually monotonous. Most spent nothing but days on end watching winds whip across of rocks that had already evolved to not be very affected by their surroundings.

    The ones that had it worst, though, were the pillar monitors. At least those who were tasked with watching the mines could observe powerful warriors breaking stone and shattering gems from time to time. But, those on ''pillar duty'' only had the task of ensuring that none of their ''roadways'' ever failed.

    With the sturdy build of these roadways, such a failure might only occur once a decade. So, most of the time, those tasks with this job just watched as the pillars waved back and forth in the same, endlessly repetitive motion.

    The Milky Way Guild had long since done that math, and hiring this drone of people to monitor for failures was far more cost efficient than hiring a Force Crafter to automate the whole process.

    Those working here weren''t complaining, though. They were paid decently and their jobs weren''t dangerous. What more could they ask for?

    However, there were still some among them that had no intention of staying in such a place for a lifetime, some among them who aspired for more and greater.

    Within this group, there was one young man who was very obviously not the fat merchant Leonel had met. He got lucky on this day, getting to watch a competition on his section of pillars.

    But, when he saw Leonel, his eyes narrowed. Leonel''s luck was indeed quite bad.

 Chapter 807 Havoc

    Havoc was indeed not the fat merchant. The fat merchant had never stepped foot onto this planet and had always been far more interested in increasing his wealth in other ways.

    Havoc, however, wasn''t afraid to stoop to any low to rise. The fat merchant had long since gotten used to his lavish lifestyle within the Fourth Dimension, he had no grand hopes of starting from the bottom of the Fifth Dimension and working his way all the way up again. The two were simply vastly different people.

    One was as boisterous as possible while the other was quiet and reserved, laying in wait for the perfect chance to strike.

    At first, Havoc didn''t immediately recognize Leonel. Compared to the last time he had been seen, the difference was too great.

    Leonel had matured by two years, firstly, making his jaw more defined, his back wider and his shoulders more broad. Beyond that, his hair was no longer long and its color, along with his eyes, were completely different.

    For a person who had only seen Leonel once, it would have been easy to ignore the signs of familiarity and even possible to have even not connected the memories together at all. But, Havoc was different.

    Compared to the others who had almost dead eyes as they scanned their monitors, his had always been like that of a hawk''s, scanning through every detail with a meticulous tediousness that others wouldn''t care to suffer through.

    It took a while, but Havoc finally remembered.

    Years ago, he had taken some work on Terrain. Unlike the fat merchant who frequented that world to begin with, Havoc had been there because that was where his research led.

    Terrain was a world exceptionally close to Earth and there had been a more than 90% likelihood that when Earth opened its doors for trade, Terrain would be the first it gravitated toward.

    Havoc refused to allow lucky bastards like the fat merchant, without foresight and forethinking, to benefit from something like this. So, he had begun plans to carve out a foothold for himself.

    Unfortunately, because of the suspicious nature of all his covert actions, he had been flagged by Shield Cross Stars a lot like Leonel had been. But while Leonel managed to have his erased in just a few weeks, Havoc still bore his mark to this day, something that enraged him to no end.

    Due to this mark, he had to delay a lot of his plans and could only barely get this job.

    That aside, he ended up getting swept up into the war not much unlike many others who had come from different planets and had thus seen the projection of Leonel''s wanted poster.

    Until this point, Havoc had simply stored this at the back of his mind. Though the reward was exceptionally handsome, it didn''t matter if he couldn''t find or locate Leonel for himself.

    But as time passed, Havoc began to notice something odd.

    Outside of that time on Earth, he had never seen a single wanted poster for Leonel. This was odd, especially since Leonel was supposedly a Tier 4 Fugitive. Shield Cross Stars should be doing everything in their power to find him, especially since he should be the only criminal of that caliber in the Milky Way. There was no excuse for him to have been ignored for so long.

    That was when Havoc''s senses went off. There was something not quite right about all of this.

    So, he began to monitor Earth as well. In the last few years, Earth, having entered the Fourth Dimension, began to open itself up to forms of trade and communication with the outside world, making this task far easier.

    And, as expectedбн Earth didn''t even receive a warning for destroying a ship of Shield Cross Stars and neither was Emperor Fawkes placed on a wanted list either.

    This made even less sense than Leonel''s wanted posters not having been placed anywhere. It just didn''t make any sense.

    Howeverбн Havoc had an advantage others hadn''t. During his stay on Terrain, he became quite familiar with the merchants that frequented the small planet. With how meticulous he was, how could he not take the time to know his enemy?

    After realizing that something was wrong, Havoc began to reach out to them. Using tactics that were sometimes covert and sometimes even overt to the point of threats, he managed to piece together a narrative that he was fairly certain was true.

    Firstly, the charges levied against Leonel were, in all likelihood, false.

    Secondly, the true perpetrators were the Cities of Terrain.

    Thirdly, for Shield Cross Stars to neglect this, and given their odd actions in detaining him when he hadn''t done anything wrong, likely meant that the Cities and Shield Cross Stars were in cahoots.

    Fourthly, for them to take this path instead of countless others they could have, this meant that Leonel''s background was most definitely not simple. It was difficult to tell if these were connections he had through his grandfather иC since Emperor Fawkes remained untouched as well иC or if they were ones he had alone. Either way, it didn''t particularly matter.

    And fifthly, if he could learn all of this, he was certain that Shield Cross Stars could as well. But they hadn''t either because they didn''t care to, didn''t want to, or very few of them were aware of this matter to begin with.

    From Havoc''s understanding, it was definitely a combination of all three.

    This meant something quite simple. He would be a fool if he simply ran out of this room, shouting at the top of his lungs that he had found a wanted criminal. Even if he got some immediate gratification and even a large part of the reward, his life wouldn''t last very long afterward.

    But, there was one piece of information he had been holding close to his heart. As cautious as he had been with everything else, he had been even more cautious with this one.

    That Mistress Heira of the Keafir family had disappeared that day according to the information he had gathered. But, what was more important was her full name now that her marriage would no longer happen.

    Heira Ovilteen.

 Chapter 808 Surprise

    "You''re making another gun? Didn''t you say you preferred your bow?"

    Aina, who had seemingly decided to not leave Leonel''s side ever since she learned he might very well be in danger soon, was watching Leonel Craft for the first time.

    Well, this wasn''t necessarily the first time. She had been in the vicinity before, but this could be considered the first time all her attention was on him completely. Usually, when the two were working in the same room, they would be in their own worlds. But this time was different.

    "I didn''t have the skill to make anything better than a bow in the past." Leonel replied. "But this doesn''t mean I''m abandoning my bow."

    Leonel had far more flexibility with a bow than he ever would with a gun. The maneuvers he could make, most of which relied on his ridiculous coordination and calculation abilities, would always be beyond anything he could do with a gun no matter how he built it. Sometimes the most ancient way to do something was the best way for a reason.

    However, there was a reason the gun had surpassed the bow, at least on Earth.

    For one, the learning curve was far steeper. And secondly, the power would never be able to match up.

    In the past, Leonel had reached an odd state where his Crafting skill wasn''t high enough to surpass his personal strength, thus resulting in him not being capable of creating things that would truly help him in battle.

    He quickly outgrew his pair of pistols. He couldn''t form consumable items he found worth using in battle. And, the ultimate almost ''slap'' to his face as a Crafter was his Spear Domain Ring.

    If there was one Lineage Factor Leonel always neglected before he spent two years diligently breaking down and rebuilding his weaknesses, it was his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. But, there was a very good reason for this.

    When you had access to spears of a quality far beyond what anyone else had, it became too easy to rely on them.

    Just think about it, Leonel had access to Quasi Bronze spears before he could even make a Tier 5 Craft. And now, he could pull out a Quasi Silver spear with a thought, but he had yet to even successfully Craft his first Fifth Dimensional Craft.

    When it came to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, following the branches and sub-branches was as easy as just choosing a path on a forked road to follow.

    When it came to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, it was even simpler. Just choose your Ores to absorb and break open those layered, chained doors when the time was right. It couldn''t have been more straight forward.

    But what about his Spear Domain Lineage Factor? How did he measure his progress? Was it by mastering more spears? Was it by strengthening his way of the spear? Was it by improving his Domains?

    Leonel even felt that he had learned and understood more about his King''s Might Lineage Factor in just the few days he had had it than he fad for his Spear Domain Lineage Factor even with years more time.

    His King''s Might was simple as well. It gave an amplification to all his abilities with an emphasis on his Domains and his aura or presence. As for how to improve it, that was even simpler: Just increase his burden. The more people who trusted and relied on him, the more people who were loyal to him, the more powerful his King''s Might would become.

    One would think that the best way to improve Spear Domain was just to conquer more spears within the Spear Domain ring. After all, the Lineage Factor stemmed from this mysterious ring, right? In fact, the ring was able to appear within the Zone while even the Segmented Cube hadn''t been able to, so it was likely even more unfathomable than Leonel knew.

    But Leonel didn''t believe things were this simple.

    For one, doing so ended him relying too much on the strength of his weapon. And secondly, there was an elephant in the room he hadn''t addressed.

    There were billions of Morales family members. Among them, there were many who had awoken their Spear Domain Lineage Factor. But, there was obviously only one ring.

    So how had they improved theirs?

    The next logical answer was with Universe Cycles. Wasn''t that how everyone improved their skill whether it be with a weapon or an Element?

    However this only made it more complicated for Leonel. His Universal Cycle comprehension wasn''t tethered to a single weapon or Element. He had grasped it to its purest form and could apply it to anything, which left his spear in somewhat of a limbo.

    The current Leonel, though, believed that he had grasped onto something. It had taken time, but he just might have carved out a path ahead.

    That said, though, his current focus was entirely on his new gun. Well, it was less accurate to call it a gun and more accurate to say that it was a sniper rifle. With the design he had in mind, it would be a behemoth of epic proportions.

    What he needed wasn''t a gun that could deal with canon fodder. What he needed was a steel giant that could blast a hole the size of a barrel through the chest of a Fifth Dimensional expert.

    One would think that in the two years spent without Little Tolly or Crafting, Leonel''s skill would have diminished, or, at the very least, remained stagnant. However, this couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    In a world with nothing to do and weeks, even months passing between battles, Leonel had nothing but time on his hands. There was no Aina to distract him, no drama to take up his mental faculties, and a mind that was constantly strengthening its ability to split everyday.

    Not only had he conquered all of the Quasi Bronze spears in his Spear Domain ring, but he had lost count of the number of Crafts he had completed in his Dream World.

    Even when he couldn''t get his hands on Fifth Dimensional Ores to work on, he simulated their characteristics using the information he new about them to an almost 99% threshold toward perfection.

    Leonel''s skill had long since crossed into the Realms of a Bronze Crafter. As for his limits, he wasn''t sure. But, he would definitely be using the Fifth Dimensional Ores the Valiant Heart elders so graciously gave him to give his enemies a good surprise.

    Leonel didn''t know, though, that he''d be receiving a surprise of his own very soon as well.

 Chapter 809 Complicated

    Leonel couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. This sniper rifle would have even more components than his Divine Armor, yet comparing the difficult he had in creating his armor versus how almost easy it felt to finish it, it was almost surreal.

    "You''re not abandoning the bow so I assume this gun will be very powerful?"

    Leonel nodded. "Very. It will probably be able to blow a hole right through a mountain. If that mountain was in the Fourth Dimension, it would probably be able to level it completely."

    Aina blinked, looking at Leonel''s side profile.

    If there was one thing Leonel never did, it was exaggerate in order to gain her awe and affection. Aina didn''t believe he consciously did this knowing that she would like it. Rather, it was just how he was. He was confident enough in himself to feel that he didn''t need to lie to impress people, and he had always been like this.

    Plus, hadn''t he already gotten her now? He had even less of a need to try to impress her now compared to the past. Yet, he had still said these words.

    That only meant one thing to Aina: He meant them.

    It had never truly sunk in for Aina just how good Leonel was at Force Crafting. Even before learning he had such a skill, she had been in awe of Crafters for a long time already. She could remember memories of her father speaking about the experts who forged the battle ax Heirloom she wielded even to this day. From a young age, she had been indoctrinated into believing how special they were.

    So, when the day came that her man seemed capable of completing things even they found difficult with ease, it was so surreal that she sometimes forgot Leonel was on such a level.

    Watching him focus so diligently on even the smallest of parts like this left her with an unknown feeling in her heart.

    "бн What about the recoil? Will you be alright?"

    Leonel grinned when he heard this.

    "This is what''s so special about this sniper rifle. I built it with the specifications of my Metal Body and Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor in mind. Even if it lands in the hands of another, it might as well be scrap metal.

    "At its lowest setting, blasting a hole through the head of someone at Tier 8 and even 9 if their defenses aren''t great would be as easy as me pulling the trigger. At least if this Tier 8 or 9 individual is in the quadrant of the universe, anyway.

    "But, at the highest setting, if I go all out, someone at Tier 3 or 4, even 5 of the Fifth Dimension would definitely have to dodge out of the way. Though, I could probably only make such a shot once or twice."

    Aina blinked, finding it all to be almost too ridiculous.

    "That doesn''t fix the problem of recoil. You''d end up blasting a hole through yourself." Aina frowned.

    Even hearing this, Leonel''s grin only grew wider.

    "That''s only if the bullet''s strength came from within the sniper rifle itself. But, that would make the design too boring."

    Aina raised her brows.

    **

    The days passed quickly and the time for the second round was already upon them. Unfortunately, while the start of the second round wasn''t a surprise, the circumstances were very different.

    For one, it turned out that the reason the Milky Way Guild agreed to act as their third party was if and only if they could profit from their internal struggle.

    A fight for power between four of the Milky Way''s most powerful organizations? Who wouldn''t want to watch such entertainment? And, those who didn''t want it for entertainment would definitely want to know the outcome. This battle alone could change the landscape of the entire galaxy, or at the very least, the quadrant they shared.

    Unsurprisingly, then, the Milky Way Guild sold countless seats, both real and virtual. By the time the Valiant Heart youths walked into the indoor arena the guild usually set aside for entertainment, it was packed to the walls with people.

    The atmosphere was rowdy and humid, the shouts of the people above threatening to be even more violent than the winds outside.

    But, that was only the first surprise. And even then, it was only a surprise to some of them. It was clear that the others had already expected as much.

    What they didn''t expect, though, was for the established rules to suddenly be thrown away.

    What should have been a simple elimination tournament with a perfect number of 32 had suddenly become something completely different. While Valiant Heart should have had the leverage to fight against this, for some odd reason, this change gained the approval of the Milky Way Guild.

    It was clear that their supposed ''neutral'' third party had a certain loyaltyбн and that was to money. There was no doubt that this change would be far more entertaining.

    What once was a elimination tournament had become a nine versus nine rotation battle. The three organizations were no longer even pretending to be separate, opting to combine their strengths into one from the very beginning.

    Just like this, Valiant Heart which should have had over 20 participating members was forced to cut their options back down to nine, three of which were already taken up by their seeded geniuses. How could they not be infuriated?

    Yet, they couldn''t even sulk and bask in this fury. It was simply too difficult. With the rowdy crowd only getting louder as the event was introduced, they couldn''t even simmer, feeling as though the entire world was laughing at their struggles.

    As Leonel listened to Hutchin slowly explain the changes, he remained silent. At the very least, Hutchin''s own calmness seemed to say that he expected something like this. Either that, or this was just his disposition.

    Hopefully, if it was the former, he had a plan to deal with this beyond today.

    "I''ll go first." Leonel suddenly said.

    Many eyes looked over toward him, including Hutchin. Usually, they would save the most powerful for last. And though the elders weren''t convinced that Leonel was this most powerful individual, he was at the very least not the weakest.

    But Leonel only shrugged, not explaining himself.

    In this sort of environment, facing this sort of hostility, you couldn''t let your enemy linger around.

    If Valiant Heart won by a close shave, there were any number of steps the three organizations could take and still come out clean. However, if they were crushed, whittling to nothing before the eyes of so many, even if they took those steps, they would only be seen as bottom feeders and shameless.

    If Valiant Heart was lucky, the latter path should save them a few more years. Leonel would gladly accept these years too as they would only help him.

    "Okay." Hutchin agreed.

    Leonel smiled and winked toward Aina, leaping for the stage to find a cloaked figure waiting for him.

    ''This must be the first of their secret seeded geniuses? What''s the point of still wearing a cloak now? If I want to see who you are, it won''t be very difficult.''

    Just as Leonel was about to pry through this person''s cloaked defenses, something he had never expected to happen, happened.

    The cloaked figure froze, shuttering for a moment. And then, they yelled something that caught Leonel completely off guard.

    "CAPTAIN!"

    "Ahбн" Leonel''s lips hung partially open.

    ''Dammitбн'' Leonel thought. ''бн This just got a hundred times more complicated.''

 Chapter 810 Dejavu

    The cloaked figure suddenly charged for Leonel. But, when many thought the battle would begin, he suddenly enveloped him into a massive bear hug.

    The rowdiness of the crowd continued for a while, thinking that maybe this hug was some sort of attack. When it came to the strongest individuals, after all, a bear hug might be among the most vicious ways to kill someone.

    But, it became very clear, very quickly that this wasn''t a vicious bear hug at all, especially when the cloaked figure set Leonel down, removing his cloak to reveal a beaming smile.

    "Hey, Milan. How''ve you been?" Leonel forced a smile.

    He should be happy to see his teammate, but this supposedly good thing was most definitely not one, especially if he was correct. Leonel didn''t even need to look now to understand that most, if not all of the ''mysterious'' nine geniuses that the three organizations had hidden until now were from Earth.

    It might sound like Leonel was angry because he couldn''t fight for Valiant Heart Mountain, but this wasn''t the case at all. This was much deeper than that. It was the sort of problem that was giving Leonel a major headache just thinking about it.

    If it was just about winning, what could be simpler than this? His teammates would forfeit long before he even had to ask. It was just the kind of men they were.

    And, even if there were others from Earth that weren''t his teammates, that hardly mattered. The fact they were from Earth meant that they had been training for the same amount of time Leonel had, and he didn''t believe anyone who fit into such a category could defeat him, at least not in this segment of the universe.

    What was the problem, then? It was a matter of flexibility and maneuverability.

    Things might have been fine if the three organizations didn''t know the relationship between Leonel and the others, but now that they did, it would be impossible to just hide them all away.

    Using the snowglobes sounded like the logical answer, but he would need the actual chance to do so first. And, beyond that, who was to say that these nine were the only ones he had to worry about? What about the others that were likely still within those three organizations right this very moment? Leonel wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that only nine total had been sent out.

    The only potential good news was that Leonel had a feeling that this was done in partnership with Earth. It was unlikely that these organizations would choose to forego this partnership, especially given Earth''s potentialбн At least they wouldn''t do so blatantly and without thought. This might give them a bit of breathing room.

    However, even with this being the case, Leonel didn''t believe that this would be a great deterrence. Not in the face of whatever value Valiant Heart Mountain''s territory and the Milky Way Guild could provide, anyway.

    Leonel''s instincts were tingling all over. He could feel that he had already been found out, that a trap was being slowly closed in around him. He could understand that if the person he thought was behind this was, that this was definitely the approach they would want to take.

    They wouldn''t want him to die an easy death or be simply captured. They would want something that would help them to vent all the rage and frustration that had been brewing within themselves for over two years already.

    Milan blinked when he looked at Leonel''s face and scratched the back of his head.

    As Leonel''s center on the football field, a position that was essentially considered to be Leonel''s Head Guard, Milan was quite good at realizing when he had done something wrong. But, usually, it took some detective work. It had never been this obvious before, which could only mean one thing.

    He had definitely made a big mistake this time. And, it was a big mistake that even Leonel wasn''t confident in cleaning up.

    He had all sorts of jokes lined up about everything from Leonel''s hair to who that new beauty next to him was, but he couldn''t even bring himself to say it any longer.

    Milan scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Cap."

    Leonel opened his mouth to respond. But in the end, he sighed a smile and shook his head.

    "Forget it. Maybe things will be more interesting this way. How many are with you?"

    "There''s Joel, Raj and Drake."

    Milan''s response carried an undertone of seriousness, his cadence even and his voice quite booming. It almost seemed as though he was speaking too loudly, but this was just his natural volume. He was quite used to speaking like this, especially given his original profession.

    "Drake? The Rookie?"

    Milan grinned. "He''s already almost 18, Cap. I dunno if we can''t still call him that."

    Leonel smiled. "I guess you''re right. By this point, he would have already taken our spots, huh?"

    By this point, the entire arena had fallen into an awkward lull. The three organization Heads weren''t sure how to respond to this sudden situation. This was especially so for the old man of Misty Woods considering Milan was one of his three hidden seeded geniuses.

    "What''s the problem, Cap?" Milan asked. "Do you need Valiant Heart to win?"

    "It would help, but that''s not the main problem. It also doesn''t mean as much as it would have in the past anymore consideringбн"

    Milan forced a sheepish grin. Indeed, it wouldn''t mean as much anymore. Even if Milan was the only one in ''cahoots'' with Leonel, the three organizations would still use it as an excuse to void the entire competition.

    "Then what should we do?"

    Leonel looked around for a moment, his eyes drifting toward a certain section of the arena where a few sat silently, many of whom wore masks. It was difficult to tell if they were hiding something or if this was simply their usual style of dress.

    "That depends," Leonel responded, "Who else is here?"

    "Everyone is from Earth, I''m not sure if you know them. But, there is that girl that used to follow her around."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. "''Her''?"

    Milan blinked. "Don''t worry, Cap. I won''t mention her in front of your new girl. Scout''s honor."

    Leonel touched his hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming along. How many times would he have to deal with this, exactly?

    "That''s Aina, you big lug."

    Milan looked over Leonel''s shoulder toward ''Aina'' who still wore her mask, then back to Leonel.

    "You met another girl by the same name? Do you have a fetish or something, Cap?"

    The wave of dejavu almost made Leonel faint once again.

 Chapter 811 Sorry

    Leonel couldn''t blame Milan too much. Aina had gone from 5''7 to over six feet tall. It was only inevitable that many would think her to be a completely different person.

    Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Leonel''s mind kicked into overdrive. Numerous thoughts and plans flashed one after another, his thinking speed becoming faster and faster.

    Leonel felt sparks flying through his Dreamscape. But, the final connection couldn''t be made no matter how hard he tried.

    ''Augustus Ovilteen, the Head of the Milky Way Guildбн The worst case scenario is having to fight a man of that caliber, but there''s also a high likelihood that he''s involved. Such a high profile deal wouldn''t have been made without his approval.''

    Leonel looked up and into the high ceiling lights before looking back toward Aina who had been staring at him right from the very beginning.

    His lip curled into a slightly bitter smile. It was the kind of look that made Aina''s heart skip a beat outside of her control. She knew at that point that Leonel was about to do something that placed him in a ridiculous amount of danger.

    It felt as though all her fears were collapsing onto her chest in waves. Leonel hadn''t moved, but to her, it was almost like he was fading from existence.

    "Don''t you dare!" She roared, sirens blaring in her mind.

    Leonel''s lips moved without a sound.

    Sorry.

    Aina''s mind went blank. She hardly registered what happened next. All she could hear was the whining high pitch of her breathing. All she could see was a blurry world of flashing light and cacophonic explosions.

    When she realized that she should probably move, to do something, do anythingбн

    бн

    Leonel sprung into action. ''Sorry about this, big fella.''

    A blinding pair of white gold wings appeared to Leonel''s back. Before Milan could react, Leonel appeared behind him, his foot snapping outward with such force that the air crackled and popped.

    On reflex, Milan''s energy shield ability activated. On first look, his own ability was identical to Wissan''s. But it was clear by the fact he was chosen as a seeded genius and Wissan was not despite being from the same organization, that he was the clear cut better of the two.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t matter.

    Lights of gold and fires of black-red exploded around Leonel''s leg. It was an objectively beautiful sight, the way the lightness and darkness contrasted and danced about one another. But, as beautiful as it was, the devastation it wrought was on a completely different level. p an da no v el

    Leonel''s planted leg shattered the arena beneath his feet.

    The half to Leonel''s back crumbled into large, irregularly shaped stone slabs that kicked up into the air as though a skateboard that had an end pressed down.

    google p an da no v el The half to his front splintered into a web of shatter pieces all at once like a pane of glass clattering against the floor.

    And that was when Leonel''s kick connected.

    Milan''s body curved into an inverted ''U''. The backs of his hands and the soles of his feet nearly touched as he streaked across the arena like a meteor.

    He carved a path of light and fire in the air, a sharp pain stinging his lower back as he drew a line right toward Aina.

    бн

    бн She realized a figure was shooting toward her. Her mind was a garbled mess. She could feel that Leonel had a reason for doing all of this, that he had a reason for cutting her away like this when they had already both agreed to rise to the top together, but she was too distraught to think of it.

    She should have been able to stop Milan in the air without injuring the both of them, and yet she was too late to raise even a hand. The worst hadn''t even happened yet, but she had practically collapsed because she knew all too well how it would end.

    At that moment, Head Hutchin flashed to Aina''s side, placing a hand on her shoulder and stopping Milan mid-flight.

    It was exactly then that Leonel pulled it out.

    It was a sniper rifle of epic proportions, yet it seemed drawn up from the fantasy of all men. It had a base of black accented by vibrant golds and silvers. Its barrel was over a meter long alone and its body as a whole was nearly two. Just looking it made one feel its heft.

    The sniper rifle whirled with power. For a moment, all the air in the arena seemed to swirl toward it leaving streaks of humidity whirling into its nozzle. search p an da no v el

    The body of the sniper rifle began to glow. It was imperceptible, but the heat of the arena also rose by a measure as Leonel rose it to his shoulder, his eye training along its length.

    At that moment, his smile completely faded. All that was left was cold, a heavy violet air manifesting around his very being. His short hair waved about with violent shifts that made it feel as though he was about to be the center of his own hurricane.

    His gaze locked onto the silent masked figures, the barrel of his gun lining up with his sights, his will and his determination.

    Since things were going to be like this, he might as well set the world the ablaze.

    ''Ainaбн You are the only one I can trust to keep them all safeбн You are my Queen, after allбн

    ''As for the rest of this burden, I''ll take it on personally.''

    The sniper rifle jolted.

    TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

    A blazing streak of light shot through the arena. Leonel had acted so quickly and so without logic and sense that many couldn''t grasp what was happening until it already had.

    Leonel slid back a meter due to the recoil, but it was clear that he wasn''t injured in the slightest.

    Up above, thoughбн In a location where the masked figures had beenбн The dignified figure of a young woman sat.

    Just before, she had been silently observing everything without a word. But, right then, she sat stunned, unable to believe what had happened.

    Her neck slowly craned downward, only to find a cauterized, bowl sized wound through her chest.

    At that moment, her mask slowly slid off beneath the surprise of everyone present, just in time for them all to see the last light of her life leave her.

    Leonel looked up with narrowed eyes.

    ''I hope you find peace in death knowing the hell I''m about to experience, Heira.''

    Leonel hardly finished the thought before that hell descended.

    [... In line with the title of today''s chapter, I would like to say sorry for the fact there will only be two today. Don''t go all Aina on me, *tears*]

 Chapter 812 Blazed Trail

    In the beginning, there was nothing but silence.

    The crowd, which had believed the battle was starting up with Leonel''s kick was ready to get into the action. Seeing Leonel''s display of strength and power, even to the point of shattering the arena for all that it was worth, how could they not feel their blood boil? This was what they had come for. This was what they wanted to see.

    However, how could they know that Leonel''s reason for sending Milan flying like that had little to do with giving them the entertainment they so ravenously sought after. He had two purposes, both of which were fulfilled by a single action.

    The first was to give himself space. The vicinity around the sniper rifle when it fired couldn''t be handled by just anyone. And, he also didn''t want Milan getting swept up in what was coming. He needed speed and that unfortunately had to translate to power as well.

    The second reason was layered. He needed to ensure that Aina couldn''t interfere in the immediate aftermath. Even though he was certain that she would be able to handle Milan without injuring either of them, he obviously hadn''t wanted to harm the two of them to begin with. What he wanted was for Aina to be distracted and unable to get caught up in these matters.

    This, unfortunately, resulted in him taking advantage of Aina''s distraught state. Because the only way to truly ensure that Aina didn''t interfere was by making sure someone more powerful than she was stepped in. And, that was where Head Hutchin who currently had a hand on her shoulder came into play.

    The silent, tacit deal that was made across space between the two men was clear: Protect my people and I''ll give your Valiant Heart Mountain a chance to survive this ordeal.

    The crowd was obviously unaware of all of this. They had been excited to an extreme until the point they witnessed Heira''s chest being torn through.

    She didn''t get a chance to reveal her master plan. She didn''t get a moment to vent her hatred and fury. She didn''t even get a chance to say a last word to Leonel before she suddenly found her life to be forfeit.

    In the irony of all ironies, she died just the way her future husband had: In a state of despair, unable to even lift a finger of resistance.

    Maybe her only solace in death was that Leonel''s current actions made him like a frog in a boiling pot of water. Except for the fact that in this analogy, there wouldn''t be a slow upturn of heat. Whatever blazing fires there would beбн

    Would be happening now!

    The masked figures by Heira''s side, seemingly guards that should have been protecting her safety, suddenly snapped out of their daze.

    For a moment, they couldn''t believe that they had allowed a Third Dimensional brat to kill their charge right before them. It didn''t make any sense. Their reaction time, their training, their prowess, it should have all been far beyond Leonel''s. None of this even mentioned the fact they were in arm''s length of Heira while Leonel was easily three or four hundred meters away.

    When they realized what happened, they were first stricken with horror, then an all pervading fear sunk into their bones, then right after, their expressions twisted with rage beneath their masks, their Fifth Dimensional auras shattering the space around them.

    In a corner within the same seating section, Havoc hung onto the crashing slabs of rock and metal for dear life, fear paling his face.

    If that gun had been aimed toward him, wouldn''t he be dead right now? If Leonel hadn''t assumed he was just some servant boy standing quietly in the corner, would he have aimed for him instead?

    Havoc''s overinflated sense of worth seem to seep even into his thoughts of fear. The truth was that even if Leonel had known his identity and the role he had played in all of this, his sniper rifled would have still been aimed for Heira.

    His actions weren''t about simple revenge. It was deeper than that.

    Three blazing auras tore a path toward Leonel as the screams began to rock the arena. Those watching the events from a distant place didn''t quite know how to react to this change either. But, there were a few older gentlemen and noble women that leaned back in their chairs and took a sip of wine.

    Someone challenging the Milky Way Guild? How long had it been, exactly?

    "Yip! Yip!"

    ''Save it for now, buddy. We''ve got some running to doбн'' Leonel thought bitterly as Little Blackstar hopped to his head.

    Every fiber of Leonel''s being wanted to take just one more look toward Aina, but he suppressed the feeling. He knew that if he did, he would see something he definitely did not want to see.

    All the while, his teammates in black cloaks wanted to rush out, especially Raj who had grown into a towering wall of fat. But, it was Joel who clamped down on both of them hard.

    "You idiots! Control yourselves!"

    Joel barked out harshly. If Leonel was the captain of the offense, Joel was the captain of the team''s defense. His leadership qualities only fell a few steps behind Leonel''s own. Even though he couldn''t quite understand why Leonel was doing all of this, it was more than obvious that he didn''t want them to interfere.

    Leonel''s hands flipped, causing his sniper rifle to vanish.

    His gaze turned a shade of cold that made it seem as though he had detached from the whole of the world. Sadness, regret, rage, furyбн They all seemed like foreign objects he couldn''t grasp.

    This world? It was his Domain.

    The instant the guards were about to touch the ground and shoot toward Leonel, the latter''s palm flipped over, revealing a heavy spear as a wild violet bronze aura erupted around him.

    The guards felt their weight increase what felt like a hundredfold for an instant, causing what should have been their sure steps to falter just enough for Leonel to blaze a trail by them.

 Chapter 813 Light Clones

    No one expected for Leonel to survive a single exchange. But, by some means only known to himself and the three men who chased after him, he had managed to do exactly that, streaking toward the collapsed seating section Heira''s dead body was currently sliding down from, a trail of blood following her descent.

    The three Fifth Dimensional guards'' heavy step shattered the ground even more resoundingly than anything Leonel could have accomplished. But, the result was them being trapped knee deep for just a moment.

    In that instant of time, they had a horrifying thoughtбн Had he done it on purposeбн?

    Even if Leonel was trying to get rid of Milan as quickly as possible, shattering the arena with his foot before was still overkill, no? Could he really have shattered it for the expressed purpose of facilitating their entrapment?

    If the arena wasn''t so damaged to begin with, a simple falter of their steps wouldn''t have forced them to lag behind for so long, let alone be trapped knee deep.

    The intuition of a Fifth Dimensional expert was scary despite the fact none of them had mental abilities. Whether it was true or not, a hint of caution was birthed in their hearts. But, by the time they ripped themselves out from the ground, their heads snapped in the direction of Leonel, he was already three quarters of the way to the collapsed seating arrangements.

    The guards immediately reacted, shooting toward Leonel and catching up quickly. But, they were soon horrified to find Leonel picking up Heira''s corpse by the neck and throwing it hard into the crowd.

    It was as though they were watching their own hearts being thrown across the room.

    They obviously had no feelings for Heira. In fact, in the last two years, not many had good opinions toward her at all. She seemed to have sunk into an obsession and all her time was spent in a rage. Taking on the task of guarding her was already thankless, but now even those horrors seemed benign to what was happening now.

    To the Milky Way Guild, this wasn''t just about losing a family member of the Head. Heira was hardly worth much in the eyes of Augustus, or else Anared would have never had the chance to marry her in the first place.

    This was an issue of face and prestige.

    They were called the Milky Way Guild. This entire galaxy was meant to be beneath their thumb. Even the Shield Cross Stars branches in their territory had to listen to the whims of a child of theirs who didn''t hold real power in this galaxy.

    And yet, now one of their own had not only been publicly assassinated, but was even being thrown about like a rag doll.

    One of the guards had no choice but to split from the group, leaving booming concentric circles of air as he went toward Heira''s arching corpse.

    p an da no v el The two remaining redoubled their efforts, seething as they shot for Leonel. It was as though with his every action, they witnessed their chances at surviving this ordeal slipping further and further away.

    Leonel landed heavily on the shattered seating section, his expression cold and indifferent. He didn''t even glance toward Havoc who was trembling in a corner barely two arms'' reaches from him.

    The latter clung to a slab of broke rock, trying not to fall below. But, his trembling hands seemed to want to forsake him entirely.

    Leonel, though, simply struck out a palm, causing the already partially collapsed rock to shatter completely under a combination of his Earth Elemental Force and his power.

    Even in his escape, Leonel took the most efficient route, not wasting even the slightest bit of effort he didn''t have to.

    Leonel dove into the hole he created and stepped into the hallway. His body rippled, several clones of himself splitting in all direction as the hold behind him sealed completely shut.

    google p an da no v el Not even a split moment later, the two guards shot through, but what they saw left them frozen.

    Hundreds of Leonel''s ran in every direction.

    With the shape of the pillar, the building plan of this settlement was based out a circular circumference. The arena had been like a nestled egg within this circumference and had a hallway that wrapped all the way around it.

    In order to accommodate such a large number of people, though, this hallway was wide, being at least 20 meters thick. And, at the same time, it had numerous exits, entrances, stalls, shops and even teleportation formations.

    Leonel took full advantage of it all, his clones rushing toward every location like a swarm of locusts. His skill in [Harmonic Spear] had reached such an impossible point that even sustaining so many to complete so many different actions was as easy as thinking it.

    Still, the guards reacted quickly. In their experience, clones were just visual tricks. They''d be able to easily pick out the real one by using their Internal Sight. How could a Third Dimensional brat hide from them?

    But, to their horror, no matter how diligently they swept through the grand hallway, they saw nothing more than the same images of refracting light.

    In a rage, one of the guards shot a fist toward the Leonel clone, only to find that it passed right through as though he was touching nothing more than air. And, to add insult to injury, the clone continued to run like nothing had happened, still pretending to be one of Leonel.

    ...

    The real Leonel had long since stepped through the cracks. search p an da no v el As for why the guards couldn''t find him? That was because his Internal Sight was far beyond the two of theirs.

    Not only could Internal Sight be used to sense, it could also be used to protect from the Internal Sight of others. Against two guards at the very beginning stages of the Fifth Dimension, did he even have to worry about such a thing?

    But, the prerequisite for him continuing to hide like this was in sustaining as many clones as possible. Unfortunately, that would be impossible the further from them he got.

    Leonel, though, was already prepared for this possibility. The true games would begin when he stepped onto Planet Vincero.

 Chapter ?814 Sign

    The arena was shell shocked. The Heads of the three organizations weren''t quite sure how to react to all of this.

    A part of them wanted to act to stop Leonel as well, but the complications of the matter stopped them from acting rashly.

    For one, who would think that Leonel could deal with three Fifth Dimensional existences? Second, with the way he interacted with Milan despite the fact they had kept their seeded geniuses as a hidden trump card meant that he was likely also from Earth. Third, this was a matter of the Milky Way Guild''s face, if they couldn''t deal with the situation themselves, the whispering voices would only become louder.

    None of this even mentioned the odd optics of it all.

    Somehow, the four organizations got several geniuses from Earth, all of these geniuses seemed to know one another, they just so happened to gather after the four organizations asked for the Milky Way Guild to be a Third Party observer, and the result of it all was the death of a direct line child of the Guild Head?

    No matter how you looked at it, it was suspicious to an extreme.

    What if they acted and Leonel somehow managed to escape? What if they had sprung to action and Head Hutchin along with the four mysterious elders took the opportunity to sow some chaos which facilitated Leonel''s survival?

    How could they wash their hands cleans of such optics? With that single move, they would be dragged down along with Valiant Heart Mountain. They would go from enemies, to allies by circumstance in a single move.

    To make matters worse, now that Leonel had managed to escape while they didn''t act, they were suffering under optics that were just as bad. Now it seemed like their enaction had only helped Leonel as opposed to shining light on their innocence like they had wanted it to.

    Worrying about Valiant Heart Mountain now? How could they? They had to go all out to find and trap Leonel or else once the dust settled and cleared, even if the Milky Way Guild didn''t punish them directly, they had plenty of ways to make them suffer.

    As though all of this wasn''t terrible enough, if they had thoughts of harming the people of Earth to prove the fact they had nothing to do with all of this, the avenues of retaliation Leonel had were now as open as a great sea.

    With just a few hints, a few innuendos here and there, a couple inexplainable situations, he could easily make it seem like he was in cahoots with the three organizations. If he chose to do so, the stain on them would be inerasable.

    He had bound their hands completely. As long as they behaved themselves, they could chase him all they wanted for their revenge. But them moment they stepped over the line, everything they had built would come crumbling down.

    As the three Heads were thinking these thoughts, how could Head Hutchin and the others not understand all of this as well?

    In a single, seemingly reckless and thoughtless move, Leonel had saved quite literally everybodyбн

    But himself.

    бн

    Leonel dashed through the halls of the settlement. At that moment, the blaring horn of warning bells sounded, vibrating with such a booming cadence that even the walls vibrated. It was the kind of obnoxious sound that made one''s ears bleed and one''s eyes blur beside themselves.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    This would be where the true challenge began.

    There was just one method of entering and leaving this place, but there were multiple methods of doing so. Unfortunately, Leonel was only familiar with just a single method since it was the only one he was shown.

    All methods of leaving led to the roof. The surface of Planet Vincero was too dangerous for anyone not of the Sixth Dimension to casually step onto. As such, transportation on the surface was mostly neglected. All the mining the Guild did was high up on mountain peaks. They would then carve paths through these mountains downward and toward thicker and richer deposits.

    The singular method Leonel knew of to reach the roof was through the guest holdings. He had already memorized the path.

    Up 27 floors, through the wide lobby he had seen the Milky Way Guild sign from, then to the teleportation pad.

    If they were smart, they would have already shut down all teleportation platforms. But, this was something that Leonel had already thought of as well. Would he even be a Force Crafter if he was stalled by such a thing?

    Leonel shot up a flight of stairs, his heavy steps purposely pressing down just hard enough to send him forward and shatter what was behind him.

    He no longer cared about hiding his tracks, he had already dispelled his clones. On top of that, he was certain that there were eyes all over this building, so whether he shattered the steps or not, they would know his location.

    Though he could easily sense and destroy the Force Arts manning the images of himself, a trail of broken images would just as easily point out where he was.

    ''Thirteen floors left.''

    Leonel''s speed did him wonders. He had already cut the distance he needed to cross by almost half just by not bothering about covering his tracks.

    ''бн So that''s their plan? Got it.''

    Leonel''s gaze turned cold, his speed rising to an even higher gear as he tapped into his Snowy Star Owl lineage factor.

    ''Star Path.''

    A lane of sparkling Force appeared before Leonel. As though he was gliding across ice, his pace skyrocketed. This second stage of his Speed Sub-Branch was on a completely different level.

    He burst through the doors of the guest floor, his momentum so great that he rose into the air, a massive pair of wings spreading from his back.

    With a single look below, he saw a swarm of Milky Way Guild elites. There must have been almost a hundred, each of them ready and waiting.

    It was clear that they didn''t believe Leonel warranted such a reception, but rather that they no longer wanted any mistakes.

    All of this would end here.

    Leonel''s aura blazed, his white gold wings of Force spreading out as his halo glowed with a fierce light.

    The MILKY WAY GUILD sign that hung to his back shattered into motes of sparkling lights, crumbling down to the ground below.

 Chapter 815 Residual

    Leonel almost immediately fell to the ground nearly as fast as he had soared, but for some reason to those below, it felt as though he had flown. The image was ingrained into their minds, searing the presence of an existence that would be molded into their very psyches.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel''s Chain Domain appeared again as his palm flipped over. A cascade of illusory and real chains manifested, crisscrossing the room in a sea of endless blackness.

    The instant Leonel touched the floor, he shot forward.

    The Fifth Dimension? It was a level far beyond him. Even after pushing his Metal Body from Tier 4 to Tier 9, the change wasn''t as drastic as he hoped.

    Though his body was indeed stronger than it had been in the past, the chain of his true Dimension was like rock sinking him further and further. This weight only became heavier the more he progressed in his mind and body to the point it was suffocating him.

    However, Leonel had already decided that the moment he escaped his planet, his destination would be wherever the map Uncle Montez had given him pointed out. It was high time he stepped out from the Third Dimension.

    Leonel didn''t swing his spear even a single time.

    He weaved in and out of a barrage of attacks, his mind seeing through ten, twenty, thirty steps ahead even in the face of so many Fifth Dimensional experts.

    This was a completely different situation than the one he had faced with Alexandre. He didn''t need to defeat these people. He didn''t have to protect anyone. His only obligation was to reach his target destination and keep himself safe. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Even the little mink on his head had long since entered his incorporeal form. Even if they wanted to target Little Blackstar, their attacks would just pass right through.

    Leonel''s chains whipped out.

    Sometimes they would appear at an enemy''s feet, slowing their forward progress. Sometimes they would appear beneath or before their swinging arms, delaying their attacks. And sometimes they would even appear in Leonel''s path, being footholds for him to flip through and change direction in the air.

    One would have through that they were experiencing some sort of circus act. A room of almost a hundred Fifth Dimensional existences, yet none of them could seem to stop a single brat.

    Leonel had long since realized that most abilities were only useful when you only had to worry about yourself. The larger of a group you were in, the less likely you would be to use your own.

    This wasn''t only because an ability was often a trump card to change the tides of battle, but also because it was too difficult to ensure the avoidance of friendly fire. Unless of courseбн You didn''t care about it at all.

    "Get the hell out of my way!"

    A roar suddenly came from a man who was fed up. Leonel had already crossed halfway through the lobby area in what felt like an instant. To say that it was an embarrassment was an understatement.

    This sort of stain wasn''t one any of them were willing to take on.

    Leonel felt a violent Force lock onto him.

    Black flames rose toward the ceiling, wreaking havoc everywhere it touched.

    Many who surrounded the man scattered, their expressions warping as though they were looking at a madman.

    A wide beam of fire shot toward Leonel, carrying a heat that could melt mountains. Even furniture and art pieces tens of meters away erupted into their own blaze, becoming sparkling piles of ash.

    Normally, Leonel wouldn''t be afraid of fire, and even now, he wasn''t. But the issue with this attack wasn''t in the flame, but rather the force behind it. Even if he could survive the flame, he would still be tossed back by its forward momentum.

    Not only would that harm him, but it would also undo all his progress not to mention make any further advancement almost impossible.

    Yet, even if the face of such a devastating attack, Leonel''s gaze remained placid, his steps not even slowing.

    "Die!"

    Leonel vanished into the sea of black.

    A scorching mark shot through the lobby region, even blasting a hole into the staircase Leonel had come from before being stone walled by the outer barriers of the pillar.

    "Marcus! What the hell are you doing?!"

    "Shut the hell up! You think I want a brat slipping away right from under out noses to be on my resume!? Over my dead body!

    "Go pick up his corpse and thank me later, son of a bitch!"

    There weren''t a small number of people enraged by Marcus'' course of action. They weren''t even guards, they were just miners who had come here to make a profit but were suddenly tasked with this. This was the main reason they hadn''t used their abilities, they weren''t even familiar with working with each other like this.

    However, they still felt this was better than nothing. At least it was over.

    "Did you burn him to ash?" Someone asked in confusion.

    "Ha, what the hell did you expect? A Third Dimensional brat, how could he possibly handle my flames?"

    The group mostly nodded to this. As long as things were done, that was fine. As for the damage, that would be the Milky Way Guild''s problem, not theirs. They were just contracted workers.

    At that moment though, the whirring of a teleportation formation caught them off guard.

    One of the miner''s face warped.

    "There''s residual spatial qi in the air! He used your fire as cover to teleport!"

    Marcus'' expression became quite colorful. He couldn''t understand it. If the brat could teleport, why not just do it before? Why did he need to use his flames? It felt almost like he had been targeted for embarrassment by Leonel.

    The group sprinted out of the lobby, shooting for the teleportation formation they were certain should have already been shut down. But, they were only in time to find Leonel vanishing, the blaring sounds of the alarms ringing in their ears.

    бн

    In a familiar room of endless glass monitors, an older gentlemen with a beard as long and white as his hair sat with one leg crossed over another. He watched this scene in silence, a cup of tea being held between his palm and the hook of his fingers.

    Before him, a kneeling Havoc lay, trembling from head to toe, not speaking a single word.

    [Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]

 Chapter 816 Im Taking It!

    The old gentleman''s fingers flickered, causing the monitors to shift and images of Leonel to be spliced together one after another. The video feeds paused, skipped forward and backward, and zoomed in and out to his leisure.

    However, even after being finetuned to the most final and even the most inconsequential detail, the old gentleman still couldn''t see how Leonel had managed to teleport.

    There was no device, there was no flash of Force, even the spatial ripple itself was hidden beneath the all encompassing sea of black flames.

    There was only one explanation for all of this. Even in that situation, Leonel had timed his trump card so perfectly that even the cameras were unable to pick it up. That meant that he had been willing to be completely covered in those flames for a split moment in exchange for anonymity.

    But this wasn''t the only shocking part about this. The timing was obviously immaculate. What was more impressive, though, was the fact that someone of Leonel''s strength actually managed to survive such a thing.

    The old gentleman flipped the images once again, watching as Leonel reappeared upon the teleportation platform. But once again, there was nothing to find there. The only difference between the Leonel of before and the Leonel of then was in the fact his spear was no longer anywhere to be seen. Yet, his spear wasn''t left behind, so it was clear that Leonel had hidden it before his maneuver.

    Interestingly enough, Leonel''s clothing was also in good shape. And, though he wore the uniform of Valiant Heart which left his chest completely exposed without protection, he didn''t seem to have been burned at all either.

    "Interesting. Interestingбн"

    As though he had all the patience in the world, the old gentleman cycled back to the very beginning of it all and watched everything frame by frame. He didn''t miss out on a single detail, imprinting everything onto his mind.

    "To give us so much footage yet not make a single mistake at any timeбн The only information this absence of information gives us is the fact he most definitely has a sensory ability. No other existence could be so flawless.

    "Yet, despite having an ability lacking in combat, he still has such strong offensive strength. Just what family could he come from to have such powerful Lineage Factorsбн?

    "Orбн Is he a Spark?"

    If Leonel had been here, even his own face would have been twisted into confusion. A ''Spark''? It was a term he had never heard before. However, when the words drifted to Havoc, he trembled outside of his own control.

    Havoc had been on pins and needles from the very beginning. He hadn''t been called here by this gentleman. Rather, he had taken the initiative to come forward and give all the information he had. Since he hadn''t done anything wrong or illegal, there was no issue with him being upfront, and it might even help him forge a path for his future.

    So, the reason he was shaking right now wasn''t because he feared dying, but rather because the presence of this old man was too stifling.

    It seemed that a long time had passed while he was scanning imaged of Leonel, but the truth was that he had been moving so fast and analyzing images so quickly that he left blurs in his wake. Just the small amount of Force that leaked from his actions left Havoc in such a state.

    Still, that didn''t stop Havoc from picking out the old gentleman''s words.

    A Sparkбн

    It was said that just as easily as the past could influence the future, so too could the future influence the past. When one saw a talent of immense potential, it seemed ''logical'' to assume that they came from a great background, but that was a conclusion only those ignorant of the ways of the Dimensional Verse would make.

    A Spark was a genius without foundation or backing that had such a bright future ahead that they were able to awaken to Lineage Factors beyond even the imaginations of most.

    One would think that a Spark was rare, and in fact they were, but this was only a matter of relativity.

    In a powerful section of the Dimensional Verse, it was more likely to run into a genius with a strong background than it was to run into a Spark. However, in a weaker segment of the Dimensional Verse like this one, if a genius was displaying talent that should only appear in Sixth and Seventh Dimensional Folds of Reality, the most logical conclusion was that they were a Spark.

    "We had already predicted that Earth would birth numerous Sparks in the coming centuries, but to actually birth one so powerful so soonбн Fascinatingбн"

    The old gentleman arranged everything he knew about Leonel in his mind.

    He had a sensory ability. He had high affinity for Light, Fire and Earth. He likely had a hidden Spatial affinity or, at the very least, a treasure that could instantly teleport him. And, he was more likely than not a Spark.

    "The best counter would beбн Alright."

    The old gentleman pulled out an odd partially glass device. It looked like a small glass orb imbedded into a rectangular cut out of precious metal. The interesting part was that the glass orb floated in space, not attached to anything.

    "Manson."

    The line was silent for a moment before the groggy face of a half-naked woman appeared on the screen. It was difficult to tell if she was just too tired to notice her state of if she simply didn''t care.

    The old gentleman, though, didn''t seem to mind at all as he continued speaking without missing a beat.

    "You have a new target. His particulars areбн Get the job done. You have until the end of the day."

    "Mmmmmбн. I don''t wannaбн"

    "He''s a Spark."

    Manson suddenly shot up, her breast jiggled along the bottom of the glass orb, but her face was too up close and personal to see much of it at all.

    "Don''t you dare give this to any other squad! I''m taking it!"

 Chapter 817 How Many Times?

    Leonel stood atop the pillar, the whistling of the harsh winds playing in his ear like an eerie flute.

    He didn''t seem eager to move. One would have thought that he wasn''t being chased at all as he simply stood there, taking deep breaths one measure at a time.

    The next steps couldn''t be taken casually. Maybe hiding on this planet wouldn''t be difficult for him, but leaving it would be a different story entirely.

    One would think that he would have an easy time. After all, he had sent his coach back to Earth from Terrain, so couldn''t he do the same to himself? Even if it took some time to set up such a formation or draw such a talisman, if he could take his time to breathe, he definitely had time to at least do that, right?

    Unfortunately, things were not so simple.

    These winds and hurricanes might have appeared to be just simple works of nature, but the reality of it was that the moment one stepped into the Fourth Dimension and beyond, all phenomena had a push of Force behind them. The only difference was in how much Force there was.

    This was among the reasons why the fundamental laws of physics began to change which each step of evolution a world took. There was a foreign energy introduced that continuously evolved and grew as it became stronger. How, then, could the same laws of the past apply to it?

    As a result, Leonel was in a bit of a predicament.

    Trying to teleport out of a world that was practically shielded by wild fluctuations of Force would be asking to die. There was a reason why the only teleportations that occurred on this world were within the protected shield of the pillar. Even coming to this rooftop required the Force Art to be etched directly onto the sturdy surface of the roof itself.

    The only way Leonel would be able to teleport away from this world was if he could draw a Sixth Dimensional Force Art, something he obviously could do. Or, if he had prepared an anchor on another world similar to the teleportation Force Art on this very rooftop.

    On top of that, he had to be very careful about using even short distance teleportation in this world. In fact, if he could help it, he would rather not risk it at all.

    Leonel had gone out of his way to hide the use of his Divine Armor from prying eyes using that wall of black flames. He hoped he wasn''t pushed to the point he had render those efforts useless.

    ''Then, it seems like the only way to really leave this planet is to build a ship.''

    Leonel''s cold eyes dimmed, a light chuckle leaving his lips.

    He pulled out a talisman and poured his Force into it. He wanted to tell Aina that he was fine. At the very least, he was still close enough that the winds shouldn''t interfere too much. He had poured a lot of effort into these talismans just in case.

    But soon, Leonel frowned.

    ''Hm? Are the pillar walls blocking it?''

    He really didn''t plan on leaving Aina for a long while. At most, he would just take a week or two and then sneak back to Valiant Heart while no one was looking. By then, they could just travel together again. There was nothing stopping him from doing this.

    But, if the pillar walls were more sturdy than he thought them to be, he would have to wait until Aina left this world to another place.

    ''Annoying.''

    Leonel shook his head. It made sense this pillar would have such high resistance against Force. After all, it was built to withstand these harsh winds all year. But, that didn''t stop him from being ticked off.

    It always seemed that everything in this Dimensional Verse was designed to piss him off. He just could never have a moment of peace. And, the small times he did, were all the moments he spent with Aina.

    ''Forget it. I need to scout out what kind of mines this place has and see what I have to work with. I''m sure there''s an elite team that''ll be coming after me soonбн Let''s go.''

    Leonel shot forward, vanishing in the wind.

    бн

    At that moment, unbeknownst to Leonel, a talisman lay on Aina''s palm.

    It could only be said that Leonel''s judgment was clouded. He trusted in his own Crafting. He knew at the back of his mind that his level of Force Arts was far beyond what this Pillar could match up to. He knew that his message should have gotten through. He knew that in Aina''s current state, she would probably be watching the talisman like a hawk and see it immediatelyбн He knew all of this.

    However, he subconsciously ignored it for one very important reasonбн Because if he accepted the logic of it all, he would also have to accept that Aina had consciously chosen to ignore his call.

    Aina had been sitting in a corner of the arena all to her own, her expressions hidden beneath her mask. But, the redness of her gaze couldn''t be.

    She held the talisman in both palms, watching it like a hawk as Leonel expected her to. When it lit up, she nearly cried out in joy, her tears rushing forth in a new, fresh torrent.

    However, just as she reached to respond, her heart froze over.

    This fearбн How many times would she have to experience it? Time and time again, for as long as she had known Leonel, he was constantly placing himself at risk, doing things she could never agree with for the sake of things she couldn''t ever accept.

    How many times would her heart drop? How many times would she have to be gripped by panic and anxiety of losing him forever? How much could she take?

    Would this be the last time he did this? If he could promise her this was the last time, she would answer right now. She would throw herself into his arms and never let goбн

    But she knew it wasn''t the last time.

    Even now, she could see the determination in his eyesбн That unwavering will that couldn''t be swayed by even herбн

    The talisman fell from Aina''s palms.

    She began to cry. It wasn''t out of panic or anxiety, but rather because she felt that something inside of her had broken forever. Even as she regretted it and tried to reach out to pull it back, it escaped further and further away. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t undo it.

    Her sobs rang louder and louder, her shoulders feeling as though they had returned to their formerly petite frame.

 Chapter ?818 Misaligned

    Aina tried to rein in her cries, but she couldn''t seem to do so. At a moment like this, Leonel would have already swooped in and placed a silencing array everywhere and even hidden her from the crowd. But, he wasn''t by her side at the moment.

    Having had such a thought, she only seemed to cry harder.

    Milan, who had taken up the duty of ''guarding'' Aina as he felt he should as one of Leonel''s teammates, suddenly became flustered beyond compare. How was he supposed to deal with this? What the hell was going on?

    "Ahбн" Milan grabbed onto his back. "бн Dammit, Capбн Couldn''t you have been more light handed?"

    The blaring alarms of the pillar made it difficult for even Milan to hear himself, and yet Aina''s sobs felt so clear to him. He didn''t know if it was because he was close by or if it was something else, but it was almost as though her emotions were being painted onto the air.

    The truth was that Aina had completely lost control of her mental coercion. Let alone Milan, even if one couldn''t hear her, it felt as though her sobs were being projected right into their minds. And, instead of growing quieter, they only seemed to grow in strength.

    Just when Milan truly had no idea what to do anymore, Yuri seemed to appear out of nowhere, sinking to her knees before Aina.

    Aina, sensing that someone was before her, tried to look up. But, all she saw was the blurry silhouette of someone she felt she would recognize if not for her tears.

    "Young Mistressбн?"

    "Y-Yuri?"

    Aina hardly finished her words before she plunged into Yuri''s chest. Her tears fell like a waterfall, casting a melancholy halo over the surroundings.

    Yuri was stunned. She had never seen Aina like this before. In fact, she could never remember having seen Aina cry at all. The Young Mistress she knew was like a towering fortress, unaffected by mundane things around her.

    Even back in the days of Royal Blue Academy, most everything was just a fa?ade. Aina pretended to be the shy, quiet and reserved type in order to not draw attention to herself, but her true personality was nothing like that.

    Yuri''s arm lightly wrapped around Aina''s back. She could feel the pulsating trembling and hear the cadence of the ugly cries through her palm. Everything from Aina''s wheezing exhales to her sniveling attempts at breathing was felt by her.

    She could almost feel Aina collapsing from the inside out. Her grip around her only grew tighter, her emotions less and less in her control.

    "бн I can''tбн I can''t do it, Yuriбн He''sбн He''s going to бн to hate meбн"

    The last words were like a time piece falling to the ground.

    The clattering of shattered glassбн The destruction of perfectly crafted gearsбн The ruin of a delicate mechanism sculpted with care and affectionбн

    Yuri''s expression flickered. This was about Leonel? But why did it sound like Leonel hadn''t done anything wrong? But if he hadn''t done wrong, then why was her Mistress crying?

    "бн He''sбн He''sбн He''s going to hate meбн"

    Yuri rubbed Aina''s back, trying to console her. She had come with good news, ready to tell Aina that she had contacted her father again for the first time in such a long while. But, she hadn''t expected that things would turn out this way.

    Yuri didn''t know what to do.

    At that moment, her expression suddenly changed. Her aura flared and a strength many didn''t think she had was about to lash out.

    Just when she was about to reveal something she probably shouldn''t, she calmed, realizing that the energy had no malicious intent.

    It collided with Aina, knocking her out completely. At that moment the blaring sounds of the alarms seemed to grow a pitch louder, but the reality was that they were finally perceiving it as they should.

    Yuri looked toward Head Hutchin in the distance, her gaze expressionless. But, neither of them said or exchanged anything more than a glance.

    бн

    "Will this be a problem?"

    One of the mysterious elders spoke. The four of them along with Head Hutchin had all sent a glance toward Aina. Usually, they wouldn''t care about the relationships between their students. They didn''t have a practice of arranged marriages, so they cared little for it all. However, Aina and Leonel were obviously a special case.

    There was clearly something wrong here.

    They were aware that Leonel was from the Morales family. The power he wielded or could potentially wield in the future was enough to crush them several times over. They were already in such a predicament to begin with, they didn''t need another enemy.

    Originally, their main goal was to use Aina to keep Leonel on their side. As time progressed, though, they realized that Aina was a shining talent all to her own and was highly likely to be a Spark.

    Once they learned this, their goals slightly shifted and they began to value them equally, not because Aina would definitely rise to Leonel''s level, but because she was their best option. Sometimes, having a genius that was too great was more a detriment than a good to an organization as weak as their own.

    Of courseбн They didn''t quite understand the boundaries of Aina''s talent. Even now, she was keeping her curse within herself to push and train to her absolute limits. She didn''t care about showing off to people, her main goal was revenge for her mother.

    The issue was, though, that if there was something that splintered Aina and Leonel, this could become something extremely troublesome, especially if there was animosity that remained.

    From their understanding of young master''s, a category they seemed to place Leonel in, they might chase after a girl to win her heart. But, the moment they failedбн

    If Leonel turned his rage onto Valiant Heart Mountain, what would they do?

    Head Hutchin remained silent for a long while before he spoke.

    "бн Wherever it was that the young Leonel Morales entered these last two years, he was able to mature to a point that left his past self far behind. Little Aina, however, has not taken a single step forward.

    "Their maturities are misaligned. Their values are misaligned. This was bound to happen.

    "All we can do is brace for the worst and hope for the best."

    [Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]

 Chapter 819 Manson

    Leonel leapt from pillar to pillar, his speed melding his body with the wind. He seemed completely unaffected by it all, his senses spread out over a large region.

    He spotted every single one of the Force Arts monitoring him, but dealing with them would be troublesome. He had the thought of going to the control room of the Milky Way Guild''s settlement to deal with all of them at once, but he knew that that idea would never bear fruit, so he didn''t waste any time on it.

    Not only would he have not known where the control room was, he also had a feeling that there would be someone powerful monitoring the situation there very soon. By the time he found it, such a person would have been enough to paint him into a corner.

    He wished that he could have mapped out the entire building into his mind, but there were too much defensive structures and blockades getting in his way. So he simply had to deal with the fact his actions were being watched.

    ''I''ll have to look into creating a new ability around that. It will probably require a unique method of utilizing Dream Force. Being able to map out an entire building with a single touch might come in handy in the futureбн''

    Leonel made it to the first location very quickly. The last pillar waved about before a cave entrance carved into the tall face of a mountain. It was practically impossible to reach this place unless one took the path the sway pillars provided.

    ''[Light Refraction].''

    Leonel''s silhouette vanished.

    In these years, his skills in casting Mage Arts had reached a completely different level. The only reason he hadn''t cast the upgraded [Light Refraction] until now was because it wouldn''t have mattered. Anyone with a sharp eye would be able to pick out the subtle shifts in motion the pillars he stepped on would have, thus resulting in him being exposed anyway.

    But now that he was entering the mountain range, the situation was different and it would be easier for him to hide.

    Leonel wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that he would be so lucky as to stumble into an empty mine. A working establishment like this one, especially on a planet they settle upon for its resources, definitely wouldn''t allow there to a be a time where their mines weren''t being worked on.

    ''If there was ever going to be a world I was stranded on and needed to get out of, I would definitely choose this one. This Disaster World most definitely as a high number of Wind Elemental Ores, without a doubt. In addition, it should have a high number of very durable Ores as well.''

    Leonel flipped over his palm, entering the mine as he brought the dictionary out.

    Though he could use his Internal Sight to scan for Ores, why would he waste his stamina like this? He had to conserve as much energy at all time as he could. Plus, the dictionary was excellent at these things.

    The walls of the mine clearly showed the frequency of its use. Rather than being in a perpetual darkness, it was lined with what Leonel could only describe as exotic torches. They seemed to hold flickering flames, but when one looked closely, it turned out to be a collection of miniature Force Arts dancing about like fireflies.

    It was quite a unique invention Leonel had never seen before. But, it still only took him a glance to formulate its blueprint in his mind.

    ''Interesting.''

    Leonel turned away from the exotic torches and continued to walk down the well made tunnels. He was careful not to displace any small rocks at his feet nor leave any footprints. Toward that end, he had brought out his heavy spear, using its Domain to decrease his own weight to an extreme.

    "Scan the surroundings. What Ores can I find in this mountain range?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    Leonel listened carefully, blocking out the sounds from reaching others. However, the list was far longer than he expected, causing him to cut the dictionary off.

    "What Ores are easily accessible?"

    [ *Ping*]

    This list was far more manageable, though still quite long.

    ''If I want to make a getaway ship, functionality shouldn''t be the only requirement. In fact, it should only be the bare minimum requirement.''

    Teleporting in space was almost impossible. One would first need to make it to another planet before they could think to do this.

    The reason for this is because space did not have Force. Force was birthed from planets, moons and stars, and would occasionally be present in other celestial bodies as well.

    If one wanted to teleport in the absence of Spatial Force, the only way would be if you practiced a Force Technique that allowed you to store Spatial Force, if you had a natural ability related to Spatial Force, or if you had an incredibly rare store of Spatial Force Crystals.

    In addition, even if you had those things, due to the absence of other Forces in space, detecting and tracking Spatial Force fluctuations also became far easier. This meant that one''s whereabouts could be located in an instant and followed.

    Obviously, Leonel had access to none of these things. So, his only option was to make it from Planet Vincero to the next closest planet where he could then teleport. Hoping, of course, that this planet wasn''t another Disaster World.

    This meant that Leonel needed a ship strong enough to survive and break out of Planet Vincero''s atmosphere. And, he would also need a ship fast and nimble enough to escape any pursuit he might suffer as a result.

    Was he a madman for thinking he could do this when he had never done it before?

    Yes.

    Did he care?

    No.

    Leonel grinned to himself. This would be fun.

    ''Sit tight, Aina. I''ll be back soon.''

    **

    At that moment, a woman holding a bottle of liquor stumbled out of a teleportation formation, her eyes blurred and her tongue licked her lips and teeth like she had an addiction to doing so.

    She wore a tight one piece that extended from her ankles all the way up to her shoulders and down her wrists. But, it had a deep V-line down the middle that almost exposed her belly button.

    Her chest wasn''t very busty, so she could get away with such clothing without too much worry. But, they were still just busty enough to outline two round mounds few could take their eyes off of.

    She took a swig of her liquor and stumbled forward, only to be caught by the arm by someone who teleported in after her.

    Soon, a formation of four was formed, but the lady seemed too enamored with her liquor to speak to any of them.

    "Shouldn''t we get to business, Manson? What did the old man task us with?"

 Chapter ?820 Codenames

    "Shut up."

    Manson steadied herself. Despite the fact she was bare foot, one would have thought with the way she was stumbling around that she was wearing the highest of heels. One could only imagine how hard the liquor she was drinking had to be to put a Fifth Dimensional expert like herself in such a state.

    The three men who followed to Manson''s back looked at each other and shook their heads. Clearly, Manson had been called up during her leisure time, but when was it ever not her leisure time?

    Their special team was basically on call at all hours of the day and were a trump card unit of the Milky Way Guild.

    Adrian. A short man that hardly came up to Manson''s shoulders. As though his genes didn''t give him enough of a terrible set of cards, he was also balding at his crown and couldn''t seem to afford a wig that didn''t flap with his every moment.

    His codename was Shadow Rat.

    Ru. An average looking man with two pistols strapped to his waist. One would have thought that he had come right out of an 80''s era cowboys'' movie. Everything from his boots to his hat fit the bill, even his twin guns had a retro feel to them as they sat in their holsters.

    His codename was Double Shot.

    Son. He was the tallest of them all, even towering above Manson who was second. He had deep bags under his eyes that made it look like he hadn''t shut them for some sleep in his entire lifetime. The discoloration was so jarring that it even appeared that he had suffered two blows to the face.

    His codename was Panda.

    And then there was Manson, the stumbling drunk. One wouldn''t be surprised if her codename was something like Drunken Fist. But, in a feat of unoriginality, Manson chose the codename Drunken Feet for herself, not that she ever cared to use it. Everyone seemed to know her real name despite the fact the code was supposed to have been there to protect her.

    At that moment, though, the bottle of alcohol in her hand suddenly felt to the floor. The glass shattered and the brownish gold liquid flew in all directions, creating a puddle of booze and shards.

    However, as though she wasn''t worried for her safety, Manson suddenly dropped to the floor, her palms slamming into the shattered glass.

    She glided forward on all fours, her bare feet eventually skidding through the mess.

    The three men didn''t seem too surprised by what was happening. The fact Manson was practically sniffing around like a dog right now didn''t perturb them in the slightest. Instead, they leaned back and enjoyed the view of her ass sticking in the air, taking in the good of the moment and not thinking too much.

    "You think it''s gotten bigger?" Shadow Rat asked, pulling his wig down out of habit.

    "They say alcohol makes you fat. Manson''s always getting fat in all the right places." Double Shot replied in affirmative.

    "Except her chest," Shadow Rat pointed out.

    "You sure have a lot to say for a baldy."

    "A man''s value is beyond his looks!" Shadow Rat snapped.

    "Sure, sure. I''ll believe you when you finally get laid without having to pay for it."

    The mutual appreciation soon became bickering. Though Panda stood between them, feeling their loud voices jar his eardrums and even their spittle bounce across his cheeks, he didn''t move a single inch nor say a single word. He was just too tired to and couldn''t be bothered.

    While they were arguing, he was just enjoying the nice view, his mind thinking thoughts no one would ever know of.

    ''бн Almost thereбн Almost thereбн Almost thereбн''

    Manson suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Her nose, which had been in the air, angled downward with a sudden speed.

    She stood on all fours near a burning trench left by the battle between Leonel and the miners. In fact, if one replayed the video and overlaid it with Manson''s current location, it was the exact spot Leonel had used his Divine Armor to teleport and vanish.

    Panda, however, wasn''t focused on this at all. His mind seemed to be taking several mental pictures and storing them into his memory bank.

    In that abrupt movement, a subtle flash of pink had been revealed. Clearly these two arguing bastards were missing the real show.

    ''бн Nice, nice. A pair of soft nipples, that''s rare indeed. Usually they''re hard by the time she enters her battle state. This is definitely one for the memory bankбн''

    One would never think that the biggest pervert of them all was the man who hadn''t said a single word from start to finish.

    Manson leapt to her feet. Her palms, which should have been cut and bruised by the shards of glass seemed completely fine. And, her movements, which should have been sluggish and uncoordinated had suddenly become a little too smooth.

    Her wardrobe malfunction seemed to fix itself. But, even if it hadn''t, she would have probably been uncaring.

    "Let''s go." She spoke, stepping back onto the teleportation formation.

    The three men followed after her, Double Shot and Shadow Rat still barking at one another while Panda''s lazy eyes remained trained on her swaying bottom.

    **

    Back within the arena, an unexpected confrontation was taking place.

    No one had moved or attempted to leave since these things happened for fear that it would be seen as a sign of guilt or involvement in these matters. As a result, many stayed in a state of limbo, though many in the crowd were beginning to get restless.

    For obvious reasons, things were no longer being broadcast. The Milky Way Guild had no intention of showing off just how difficult it was for them to catch Leonel. And, even the blaring alarms had finally come to a stop, leaving everyone in a state of unknowing.

    However, at that moment, while everyone was trying to remain blameless, a clash was occurring, the culprits of which were unexpected.

    On one side stood Leonel''s teammates. On the other stood Yuri and Aina.

 Chapter 821 What Is That Supposed To Mean?

    "What is this supposed to mean?"

    Joel stood as the core of the group, he knew that he had to. If he let anyone else lead the conversation, there would definitely be some words exchanged that couldn''t be taken back. It was his duty to at least try to keep things as amicable as he could, but even he was on the verge of losing his temper.

    They had all been worried about Leonel. This state of ignorance they were all in just made things a million times worse, especially since they were all forced to stay here without the ability to interfere.

    It could be said that their nerves were fried, their tempers were short and their fuses were even shorter. It was a powder keg that was difficult to keep control of, even for Joel.

    He could barely keep the edge of aggression from his voice, his tone even and calm. At that moment, he wished he could detach himself as easily as Leonel did.

    At that moment, Yuri stood with several things in her hands.

    One was the Segmented Cube that Leonel almost always left with Aina these days. It was one of his most important treasures, and it was the closest thing to home he had. His reasons, then, for leaving it with Aina so often was clear.

    He wanted her to know that he would always return, that she was where his heart was and only with her could he truly unwind and relax.

    The second was a talisman that lay on top of it. From time to time, the talisman would light up as though someone was trying to make use of it. But, Joel knew enough about the Dimensional Verse now to know that anyone who wasn''t Aina that tried to use this would trigger something he wasn''t sure if he was ready to handle just yet.

    Joel was certain that this was a mechanism Leonel had left behind to protect Aina. If anyone other than her used it, it would begin recording and relaying the situation back. He knew that if Leonel knew what was happening now, regardless of the danger, he would cut a path back. But that would only end up harming himself.

    Aina stood a step behind Yuri, her golden eyes reflecting the pulsing light of the talisman. Every time it happened, her gaze seemed to become more and more dead, the paleness of her skin reaching the point of sickliness.

    She could almost see Leonel on the other side. He should have been focused on his escape, but once or twice a minute he would pour his Force into his own talisman, checking to see if Aina had ''left'' the restrictions of the pillar.

    The third thing was the necklace Aina always wore. Leonel had made it for her 19th birthday. Since that moment, she had never taken it off.

    The necklace was more than just a pretty gift. That day Leonel gave it to her was the day she was finally open about the feelings she had for him. She had almost forced herself onto Leonel for fear that if she hadn''t done so, she would lose him forever.

    Leonel had disappeared for months back then, working on the Crafts that helped them win the war against Terrain. Aina could still remember every feeling of horror, pain and anxiety she had experienced in those months. But that necklace was like a promise that he''d always protect her.

    The last thing was her mask.

    As sentimental as the other things were, Aina found this to be the second hardest to part with. Every item was like a piece of her soul she was giving away, but this one felt different for some reason.

    A mask should have been worn in shame or when one wanted to hide. If any other man had given her such a thing, Aina might have assigned it with feelings of self loathing and hate.

    And yet, when Leonel gave it to her, she could feel the care put behind it. He didn''t give it to her because he was ashamed of her face, he hadn''t given it to her because he wanted to help her hide eitherбн He had only given it to her for the sake of helping her live in peace.

    Everyday of her existence had been a constant torture. The pain, the itchiness, the constant reminder that her face was forever marred by the people she hated most in the world, that her mother had likely experienced far worse than just thisбн

    Until she received this mask.

    It was as though she had stepped into a new world, one that didn''t always have to be filled with agony and remembrance of the worst memories of her life. Instead, whenever she woke up and didn''t feel the discomfort she had long become used to, she instead felt the care and affection of the man who poured his heart and soul into making it for her.

    Aina''s eyes reddened, but no more tears fell. Even in her previous unconscious state, she had flooded her cheeks with more than her body could account for. At the moment, even if she wanted to cry more, she couldn''t force anything else out.

    So she stood there, her lips pressed into a line of silence, her skin paling with every passing moment, her eyes losing the golden glow they once hadбн

    "What is this supposed to mean? I''ve said it already," Yuri spoke calmly, "Please pass on these things to Leonel. We have to leave now."

    "What. Is. That. Supposed. To. Mean."

    Joel emphasized his words one at a time, the edge of his voice being more and more difficult to hide almost like an ever sharpening blade.

    "It can mean whatever you want it to mean. Aina has not met her father in over a decade and I plan on taking her to him. This is the most I will tell you. Now will you take these things or not?"

 Chapter 822 Harsh Words

    Joel felt like he might snap, and he wasn''t the only one.

    To his back, the towering walls that were Raj and Milan were like raging bulls wanting to go. Even the rookie, Drake, who was usually the most quiet and reserved of them was staring daggers at Yuri. If it wasn''t for their being raised on Earth and being uniquely keen on the differences between men and womenбкsomething that was far less prevalent in the Dimensional Verse, at least in terms of strengthбкthey would have most definitely lashed out already.

    It was safe to say that had Yuri been a man, even Joel would have thrown the first punch already.

    It was one thing for Yuri to be speaking so rudely to them, but it was something entirely different for Aina to not even try to speak at all. Even if it might not be the case, it felt like she was looking down on them.

    While others might have been inclined to go easy on her because of her beauty, Leonel''s teammates felt the exact opposite. They had never looked toward Aina as a potential partner to them. In their eyes, she could only be with Leonel and no one else. For all they cared, she could be a goddess and it would still be the same.

    If anything, her beauty made them look at her with an even harsher light.

    On the other side, it wasn''t that Yuri wanted to be harsh, but if she wasn''t, how would she move the spotlight from Aina to herself? With how fragile Aina was now, could she handle the scrutiny of these men?

    None of them were Leonel, but they were the closest things to brothers that Leonel had in this life. It felt as though she was facing the derision of his family. The fact that she could even stand here right now was the strongest display she could muster. Anything else was too much.

    "So." Joel took a long pause. "My Captain is out there risking his life for our sakes. But, your destination is so important to you that it''s not even possible to wait for him to be safe? Is it really that this is so important? Or is it that you can''t stand to look him in the eye?"

    Aina''s shoulders trembled, something that many might have missed due to its subtlety, but Yuri most definitely would not.

    At that point, she snapped.

    "Watch what you say." Yuri almost growled. "Or I''ll watch it for you. Do you think I''m afraid of you?"

    Joel''s eyes narrowed, his body almost giving off a steamy mist. His blood had revved to such a high level of revolutions that his dark skin began to heat up. He was really just that close to snapping, but he wasn''t the first to do so.

    "Fuck this! I swear to God if you stop me from talking I''ll fight it out with you too, Joel. Who do you think you''re talking to, tramp?! If I ate you, you wouldn''t even fit between the gaps of my teeth!"

    Raj was fuming, his big belly rumbling as he tried to step past Joel. If it wasn''t for the latter holding him back, he really would have swung already.

    "Stop holding me back, dammit! She really thinks she can just say whatever she wants without getting punched in the lip! Then there''s the one behind her who''s suddenly as timid as a mouse right now. What?! You''re too noble to speak to us?!"

    Raj was still subconsciously careful with his words when he spoke of Aina. He still felt that there were some line he shouldn''t cross over. Even for a man who usually always spoke his mind without the hint of a filter, he had too much respect for Leonel to completely unleash all the things he wanted to, but he had already had it up to here.

    Joel didn''t let go of Raj, but he didn''t stop him from speaking either.

    "Fuck! Shit! I always said Captain wasted his time on her! She doesn''t even have the courtesy to do it face to face!"

    As though to add insult to injury, oblivious to what was happening, the talisman shone with a bright light once again, sending Raj into an even worse spiral of fury.

    Even before they learned about Aina''s scars, the team had always thought it was ridiculous that Leonel was so focused on one girl, they even teased him endlessly for it.

    After they found out about her scars and that the face they had come to know was just a coverup by the high tech cosmetics of the 25th century, they had felt that it was even less worth it.

    They were just teenage boys at the time, after all. All they could think with was their lower regions, they didn''t understand why a star quarterback would ever waste so much effort on Aina when there were much better girls he could have.

    Of course, they never said these things aloud, keeping it to themselves. They respected Leonel too much and while they might clown someone else among their brotherhood for banging an ugly duckling, it was clear that Leonel saw Aina as more than just a one night lay.

    But now, all that pent up emotion, all those times they had bitten their tongues, had come bubbling forth in righteous indignation. They were far more angry for Leonel than they would ever be for themselves.

    "FUCK! Every time I think about how many bitches Cap could have knocked down by now, I get pissed off! He could have a roster spot filled for everyday of the week, but he''s wasting his time on this?!

    "He spent years chasing you! And fine, you don''t owe him reciprocation just because he liked you, but you did it anyway! And now you''ve become beautiful now so you can''t be bothered with Cap anymore?! Well fuck you too!"

    Joel''s initial reaction was that Raj''s last words were too much. In fact, what was once subtle trembling on Aina''s part had become obvious even to them. But, there was no sympathy in their eyes, nor did Joel make Raj apologize for what he said.

    However, for Yuri, hearing these words, she saw red. Her arm raised with every intention of blasting Raj''s head off.

 Chapter 823 Not To Me

    "Don''t fight!"

    These words didn''t come from Aina. She was in too much of a daze from Raj''s harsh words to even register what Yuri was about to do. If it wasn''t for this person calling out, they would have definitely crossed a line of no return.

    Yuri might have only been trying to protect Aina, but killing one of Leonel''s brothers would have been as good as signing a death warrant. There was no way Leonel would ever forgive something like that. And, it was impossible to tell if Aina would ever be able to forgive Leonel for killing Yuri.

    Luckily, at that moment, a cloaked figure flashed between the two groups, her speed beyond their expectations.

    When she removed her cloak, they all immediately recognized her. This girl, Savahn, had always been the third in the group of Yuri and Aina. Though Yuri had known she was here and among the nine seeded geniuses, Savahn had been keeping her distance from Aina and Yuri ever since Conrad''s death.

    Back then, when Aina did something no one ever expected her to do, it was probably Savahn who had been most jarred along with Leonel about that experience.

    Of course, that moment was just yet another one of the reasons Leonel''s teammates felt that Aina wasn''t good enough for him. They knew their Captain well and could tell that the image he had built up of Aina until that point had all come crumbling down in a single instant.

    As devastated as Leonel had been that day, Savahn was equally so, albeit for somewhat similar but mostly different reasons.

    Savahn had always been the abrasive friend. When Leonel persisted in always asking Aina out, it was her who tried to draw a line between them. But, things hadn''t always been that way. Savahn might have seemed to have a fiery and combative personality, but that was only because she had wanted to protect Aina.

    She hadn''t had very many friends in her youth. Much like Leonel and Aina, she had only been able to enter Royal Blue Academy because she was found to have a Five Star Profession. With how poor her family was, making friends in a school filled with noble children seem impossibleбн Until she met Aina.

    Aina always had a shy and reserved smile, but she treated everyone the same. Savahn had long since forgotten the details, but by some miracle, she had managed to make her first friend.

    Savahn had always been protective of that friendship, and it eventually translated toward always wanting to protect Ainaбн

    But the image she had of the girl she always admired and respected crumbled that day. The result was her maintaining her distance, not quite knowing how to confront her emotions.

    She closed off and shut down, just the same way she always had before she ever met Aina and Yuri.

    In the past few years, she had dealt with a lot on her own.

    The death of her parents. The difficulty of a young girl living alone in such a cruel world. She had even survived a war and managed to make it this far. Having done all of this on her own, she had more than just a little to be proud of.

    In truth, she hadn''t planned on interfering in this situation. She didn''t have all the information, she had no idea who was in the right or who was in the wrong, or even if there was such a clear line between the two at all.

    But, as the argument became more heated, it became too difficult for her to ignore. The final straw was when she saw Aina on the verge of collapse.

    For a moment, she flashed back to the same shy girl who had reached out a helping hand to a younger her without a single friend. Right then, she felt that maybe the Aina she had known wasn''t as much of an act as she thought.

    "Don''t fight." Savahn repeated. "Whatever disagreements you have, even if they can''t be fixed through words, just give it time to breathe. Don''t say or do something you''ll regret for your lifetime."

    Yuri''s hand trembled in the air before she clenched it into a fist.

    She held all of Leonel''s things in a single hand before pushing it forward to Savahn.

    "Can you please give this to them? They won''t accept it."

    Savahn opened her mouth to respond, still feeling slightly uncomfortable. But, before she could say anything, it was Aina who finally stepped forward, her gait somewhat uncoordinated and shaky.

    She reached for the things in Yuri''s hand, not allowing the latter to stop them as she took them and stepped past Savahn. Her arms trembled and her head lowered as she stretched the items toward Joel.

    In his mind, Joel had every intention of still refusing, but his arms almost moved on their own. Though the anger within him was still bubbling forth, it somehow felt suffocated.

    Unable to control her mental coercion, Aina''s feelings were practically painted all over her sleeve. For a moment, Joel, Raj, Milan and Drake felt like those feelings were theirs.

    Joel took hold of the items, clenching them just a bit too tightly. But, considering the quality of them, they were hardly affected in the slightest.

    "бн I''m sorryбн" Aina said softly.

    The trembling of her voice almost making Joel feel some sympathy. But, he managed to keep it down.

    He had dealt with his fair share of women in his life. They had always been good at turning on the waterworks when it suited them before going off and doing whatever hurtful thing they wanted forgiveness for anyway. Even if they were in the wrong, somehow they would make you feel bad for it.

    Joel had no intention of allowing such a thing to slide so easily. He didn''t know if these were Aina''s real emotions or not, or if it was just a fa?ade. But, it didn''t matter to him.

    The talisman lit again, filling the silence that hung in the air with the soft whirring of energy.

    Joel looked down at it, his anger threatening to bubble back up again.

    "These aren''t words you should be saying to me." He responded coldly.

    Joel turned and led the boys away.

    **

    Leonel dashed through the cave pathways, making use of blind spots in the monitoring system to quickly gather up the materials he needed. His ship only needed to accommodate a single person, so he didn''t need much. Even if he had to pull his knees to his chest, he would do it.

    He had no idea about the clash between Aina and his teammates, nor did he know that a group of four was stalking toward his location, led by a woman who seemed to have the nose of a hound.

    [Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]

 Chapter ?824 Three Hours (1)

    Leonel dashed down tunnel after tunnel. He had already lost count of the number of miners he had come across. In fact, he had to give up on some valuable deposits for exactly this reason, realizing that it wasn''t worth the risk.

    It shouldn''t have been too difficult to accumulate how much material he needed, especially since it was a ship only meant to carry himself, but the task ended up being more difficult than he gave it credit for. It seemed that he would either have to buy a ship in the future that he could modify to his standards, or he would just have to build one completely from scratch with more time on his hands.

    As Leonel went from location to location, being forced to abandon what seemed like half of them due to too much activity, he grilled the dictionary on the danger of space.

    Once his head cooled down from the adrenaline, he realized just how crazy his own idea was. Jumping out into space just because he felt like it was the move of a maniac. Who knew what kind of dangers were out there?

    Unfortunately, this adrenaline didn''t come from escaping as one might think. It was instead due to the creeping feeling at the back of his mind that only seemed to get worse every time he sent a string of Force into his talisman.

    Leonel shook his head, dodging around a corner and pressing himself flat against a wall.

    Two miners walked past him with light steps, neither realizing that they had just been less than half an arm''s reach from a criminal their entire organization was scouring Planet Vincero for.

    Leonel had an advantage right now. Though he had been forced to reveal some of his skill as a Force Crafter in order to activate the deactivated teleportation formations, there was no way they could guess he would have the skill to build his own ship.

    The question remained, thenбн What did they think he was doing? Did they believe that he was waiting to die?

    It was more likely than not that they believed he was waiting to be rescued. In that case, what course of action would they take?

    Obviously, anyone confident in saving him would be a true rival of the Milky Way Guild. That means that the Guild would definitely turn most of their resources toward preparing for this enemy.

    What did this mean? It meant that Leonel could safely conclude that at least within a day or two, at most a handful of elites would be coming after him as the Guild entered a state of war.

    Leonel was only helped by the fact his actions seemed like their own declaration of war. The Milky Way Guild probably thought that some great power was targeting them by first staining their prestige. What would be a greater stain than Leonel escaping unscathed?

    Of courseбн How could Leonel have not already considered all of this?

    Leonel slid past another group and rounded another corner.

    His arm suddenly shot forward, his actions looking like he wanted to punch a hole through the rock face. And yet, there wasn''t even a single sound or ripple as Leonel''s arm slipped right in.

    Beads of sweat fell from Leonel''s brow as Little Tolly wiggled around his arm, slipping through a narrow crack and appearing at the tips of the fingers he had pierced into the wall.

    With deft movements, Little Tolly devoured a large cavity around the ore Leonel was aiming for before the ore vanished into his spatial ring.

    Leonel pulled his arm out along with Little Tolly and sprinted away. The wall his arm had just been through seemed completely untouched.

    Leonel gulped down huge breaths as he ran. That was already the dozenth time he had completed that action and he felt he was already pushing himself past his limits. That should be enough for now, if he didn''t recover, he would end up placing himself at risk.

    Using Spatial Force, especially without activating his Divine Armor first, was really taxing for Leonel. Unfortunately, activating his Divine Armor alone was even more taxing.

    Leonel could only blame himself for this, honestly. He had been overly ambitious in creating his Divine Armor, so he made use of Evolution Ores in the process. As a result, an Armor that should have been Peak Fourth Dimensional at best, was comparable to the Fifth Dimension already. The fact he could use it at all was a miracle.

    The good news was that as Leonel grew, he wouldn''t need to replace his Divine Armor so quickly. And, once he broke through, his Spatial affinity would sky rocket.

    The bad news, however, was that he needed to deal with it being an extraordinarily heavy weight to him for now.

    ''This is enough. I just need to find a quiet place.''

    Leonel had already collected enough ores to fill his five by five by five meter spatial ring to the brim. Luckily, he had some snowglobes he always kept on hand to give him some breathing room in this regard, or else he might not have had enough.

    Using the dictionary, Leonel found a location with plenty of escape routes and not a single soul within 200 meters worth of tunnels. After deploying numerous detection throughout all tunnels, he immediately got to work, pulling out all the ores he needed.

    At the same time, the over 500 split minds he had assigned toward designing the blue print of the ship had already formulated several iterations and tested them all using the information about space the dictionary had given.

    ''Let''s go Little Tolly.''

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly became ice cold. He threw every distracting thought from his mind, turning all of his thinking power, aside from what he reserved for Dream Counter, toward the task at hand. Not only would this be his most difficult Craft to date, but he had to complete it within a day, preferably a half day.

    ''Three hours. I give myself three hours.''

 Chapter 825 Three Hours (2)

    Leonel opened his arms wide. Suddenly, Little Tolly, who could fit neatly around his wrist, became a large blanket of liquid, silver metal. If the little guy, or rather, not so little anymore, wanted to swallow Leonel whole, it was more than possible.

    In two years without Leonel, Little Tolly had grown stagnant. But, even before that, the Metal Spirit had long since entered the Fourth Dimension and was well on his way to the Fifth. If not for Leonel stalling his progress, he would have already entered such a state.

    Luckily, despite still being in the Fourth Dimension, Little Tolly didn''t seem to have many problems swallowing and molding Fifth Dimensional metals. But, this only made sense. After all, in order to step into the next level, a Metal Spirit would need to be capable of devouring on step above it.

    That said, there was less ease to it. Leonel had to be more forceful and deliberate with his control. The difference was akin to filling a cup with water versus filling one with wax.

    In the first case, the water would easily take the shape of the vessel. In the latter case, though, the wax would have to first be melted. And, in the case that it wasn''t melted, one would have to struggle to mold it by hand and press it into the shape you wanted.

    Given this analogy, molding Fourth Dimensional metals was like water, while molding Fifth Dimensional one was like wax.

    Even with this being the case, though, Leonel''s skill didn''t seem to miss a beat. His mind had split so many ways that he could control every minor little detail with a level of comfort that made it seem as though it was no more difficult than it had ever been.

    The design Leonel had decided upon would be centered around the dictionary. It would be his navigator and his trusted AI. Leonel had reached a point in his skill where he was confident enough to do this, and he also realized that it would make much of the rest of the process easier on him.

    With the internals figured out, all he needed to focus on were the defenses of the spacecraft and its propulsion system.

    The outer hull would be an alloy of Splitting Sky and Dusted Cloud Ore. The inner hull would be formed of Whistling Howl Ore.

    Splitting Sky Ore was a durable but light Wind Elemental Type Ore. It was very good at deflecting winds and dealing with high speeds. At the same time, it had more durability than the usual Wind Elemental Ores.

    Its domineering name came from its wind nullification ability. A location where the Ore swept through would be devoid of Wind Force for a moment, at least that was the illusion that it portrayed.

    The truth was that the Wind Elemental Force was being frozen, its particles attracted to this Ore almost like a magnet. This usually made this ore a good option for Wind Elemental weapons used by those who had mastered momentum type techniques. However, this was maybe the first time such an Ore was being used as the shell of a ship.

    Dusted Cloud Ore was a Star Elemental Type Ore. It was named as such because it was often used as a finisher, somewhat like a coat of painting for certain types of Ores. This coat of painting, though, was great at muting the effects of the metals it coated, as well as giving it added durability and heft.

    Finally, Whistling Howl Ore was a Wind Elemental Vein Type Ore capable of using accumulated Wind Force.

    Usually, ships were either designed with Light or Space Elements in mind. It was rare for an interplanetary ship to be built with the Wind Element as its focus for obvious reasons: It wasn''t the most efficient.

    There was only so fast wind could propel you through the vastness of space. However, Leonel had his own plans about this matter. His conviction only seemed to grow as his hands moved faster and faster.

    It went without saying that while Leonel had improved his Crafting through his Dream World in those two years, he also improved his hand and finger speed and coordination.

    He was already at the Superior Grade Two Designation at a Bronze Standard. If it wasn''t for the limitations of his body, he knew that he would already be at a Superior Grade One Designation.

    The hours blazed by one after another, Leonel''s hands never pausing for even a moment. In fact, he only seemed to quicken his pace as though he was only becoming more and more comfortable.

    "Since you''re already here, is there a need for you to continue to hide?"

    Leonel''s voice came suddenly, his hands never stopping.

    Bits and piece of ship seemed to come together like fusing tides. But, Leonel knew he wasn''t quite finished yet. Of the three hours he had given himself, only two and a half of them had passed. It seemed that even his worse case scenario wasn''t as worse case as it should have been. It could only mean that those looking for him were indeed quite skilled.

    Leonel believed that best shot at finding him would be some sort of tracking ability or a minor level of omniscience similar to Goggles. But, the latter ability would require a lot of information that Leonel had been sure not to leave, while the former should have been very difficult given the climate.

    How would you follow someone''s scent with so many winds whipping about so viciously, for example?

    By the time those experts found his trail, whatever smell he had left behind would have been scattered to the other side of the planet. And, if they instead chose to observe Leonel''s actions instead, he had left behind enough subterfuge to delay them for three hours.

    But it seemed that even he wasn''t perfect.

    Now he had an incomplete ship and four experts walking out from the shadows to face him.

    Of course, it only made things better that this mountain happened to be filled with miners as well. All in all, this was an excellent situation indeed.

    Leonel sent a glance toward Manson and the others, scattered pieces of his ship laying about.

 Chapter 826 Why Not?

    Little Blackstar gripped onto the ends of Leonel''s hair, baring his little teeth toward the coming enemies. If it wasn''t for the sturdiness of Leonel''s skin, his scalp might have begun to bleed already.

    Leonel reached a hand up and gave the little mink a pat on the head, trying to calm him down. The instincts of beasts were usually beyond that of humans, so it was quite clear that Blackstar felt that both he and Leonel were in quite some danger. But, this only seemed to be the tip of the iceberg, Little Blackstar''s attention had definitely been caught by something else as well.

    Manson''s gaze wasn''t on Leonel. Rather, from beginning to end, she had never taken her eyes off of the scrap metal, or what seemed to be scrap metal, before them. Even now, she couldn''t'' be certain of what Leonel was building and didn''t even know if it was one step away from completion or if it was a hundred steps.

    This was why she had chosen to be cautious from the very beginning, whatever hint of drunkardness she had had having vanished a long while ago. She had been hoping that she could observe in silence for long enough to figure out what it is that Leonel was building, but she hadn''t expected to be called out like this ahead of time.

    With Shadow Rat''s abilities, being found out before they wanted to be found out almost never happened. It was safe to say, then, that the one who was most shocked was the short man with the flapping wig. In fact, he forgot to hold it down for a moment, causing it to almost flip off his head entirely.

    Manson finally took her eyes off of the pieces that lay around Leonel. She wasn''t a Force Crafter, so though she might be able to recognize an Ore in its raw or purified form, after it was processed like this, she was at a loss.

    Still, she couldn''t help but look toward Leonel with an eye of curiosity.

    Even if she couldn''t name these metals, what she could do was tell with absolute certainty that they were metals of the Fifth Dimension, each and every last one of them. Yet, not only was this child able to mold and manipulate them, he was clearly building something.

    She was a layman, but at least she understood that this meant what ever Leonel was buildingбн Had to be of the Bronze Grade at worse, right?

    Manson''s heart skipped a beat.

    Third Dimension. 21 years old. Escaped an encirclement of Fifth Dimensional existencesбн And a Bronze Crafter?

    What the hell was this?

    Out of habit, Manson began to lick her lips and teeth again, but the distinct lack of an alcohol taste left her feeling slightly frustrated. However, she was filled with a different sort of intoxication when she looked toward Leonel, and it definitely wasn''t because of his handsome looks.

    She could almost feel it already. What kind of high would she experience snuffing out such a genius? How good would it feel?

    Manson''s bare toes curled along the cold stone ground, her legs squeezing.

    Ten short claw marks were left in their path, filling the quiet atmosphere with the sound of scraping and cracking stone.

    Manson''s entire body quivered, a gentle gasp leaving her lips. Her breath was so hot that despite the temperatures not being near freezing, a steamy fog left her.

    Her face flushed red and her pupils dilated. She looked as though she had entered a drunk state once again, except this one seemed even less innocent than the one from before.

    Sparks flew within Leonel''s Dreamscape, but he frowned when he noticed where they came from. That region of his Dreamscape only lit up when Aina reached a less than holy peak. The fact it was lighting up now for a woman he didn''t even know filled him with an irrational rage.

    Leonel didn''t know why he was reacting this way. Maybe it was because his talisman still wasn''t connecting, maybe it was because he felt he had done something wrong, or maybe it was purely because this woman was encroaching on something she should have never touched.

    But whatever it wasбн

    He was pissed.

    Leonel''s pale violet eyes suddenly gained a flash of red.

    BANG!

    The tunnels quaked, a surge of violet-red energies emitted from Leonel''s body. In one instant, he had been a calm young man unperturbed by all. In the next, he felt like blasting his fist through someone''s chest.

    Manson shot forward, using the ground she had scraped as an anchor to propel herself. She seemed to have every intention of destroying everything before her, including Leonel''s Crafts. No matter what it was, it wouldn''t matter if it was all in pieces, right?

    She rose her leg up high, performing a perfect vertical split.

    Winds and Forces swirled around her bare heel as she ax kicked it downward. Just the momentum of her planted leg was enough to destroy everything. As for the strength of her actual kickбн Did it even need to be explained?

    Leonel coldly watched on, his senses reached out and grasping at each one of the pieces of his Craft. With a thought, they all shot backward under his control, floating as though he had a telekinetic ability to manipulate them.

    Leonel dodged out of the way of Manson''s kick, trying to store away the pieces of his Craft one by one. It was just unfortunate that doing so required touching his hand to them.

    The result was Leonel dodging around the wide cave expanse, jumping, hopping and leaping toward the pieces he purposely hung in the air out of the way of danger.

    He had expected Manson to target the pieces of the Craft after a while, but she was so enamored by the prospect of crushing him that none of it mattered to her.

    If Leonel was dead, would he even get the chance to use his Craft in the first place? So why not focus on ripping his head off?!

 Chapter 827 Shameless

    The seething rage pumped through Leonel''s veins. He tried to rationalize it, but after a moment he was too pissed to do even that. Every time Manson felt like she was close to bursting his head like a watermelon, her body would be rocked by a wave of pleasure and spark yet another connection in Leonel Dreamscape.

    After the third time, Leonel cut himself off from that bundle of connections entirely, his thoughts fuming. And yet, every time it happened, Manson''s face would only become more flushed and her actions more drunk.

    Even as this happened, her kicking speed seemed to increase and her body became more limber. Leonel was suddenly having a tougher and tougher time predicting her next attack because they simply had no logic to them. This forced him to go from using his predictive model toward his muscle analysis model.

    Leonel was under no illusions about his strength versus Manson''s no matter how pissed he was. As far as he could tell, Manson was Tier 2 of the Fifth Dimension while the rest of her companions were Tier 1.

    Leonel wasn''t able to dodge her attacks because he was strong enough, he was completely relying on his ability to do so and that was quickly becoming almost impossible.

    As though Manson was just stretching her limbs and only just getting into a rhythm, the whistling of her kicks became sharper and sharper, trailing Leonel by a hair''s breadth.

    "The kid''s survived quite a while." Double Shot spoke, his hands itching.

    "She just likes playing with her food. Just enjoy the show, she''s getting more perky." Shadow Rat responded.

    As usual, Panda didn''t say a word, taking a snap shot of every wardrobe malfunction he could catch a glimpse of.

    ''This is some good material. It''ll last me at least a week. This is good, really goodбн''

    "It''s been about half a minute, don''t you think the miners should have heard something by now?" Shadow Rat asked.

    "If they know what''s good for them, they''ll stay out of Manson''s way. I doubt she''ll go as easy on them as she''s going on this kid."

    "It might also be that they''re just used to it and know to mind their own business," Shadow Rat replied, "I used to work the mines too. Everyone is trying to meet and surpass their quotas for an extra bit of cash. Stealing someone else''s deposits isn''t very rare, fights like this happen all the time."

    "Ah, I forgot you were a sewer rat before."

    "Go fuck yourself, you think it''s easy being here? I made more money doing this than you''ve seen in your lifetime."

    "Maybe if you had made less money, and had gotten more sun, you''d be less bald."

    "I hope your gun jams, son of a bitch."

    "I hope your wig glue dries like dandruff, baldy."

    BANG!

    Leonel felt his hair whip about, the side of his uniform hammer pants gaining a large rip as Manson''s failed to land yet another ax kick.

    Her heel shattered the ground, but immediately became an anchor point as she swung her other leg in a roundhouse.

    Her kicks were as fluid as any sequence of punches. They were relentless and flexible, perfectly timed and powerful.

    At that moment, Leonel grasped at the last piece, allowing it to vanish into his spatial ring. He rolled to the side, avoiding another disastrous heel and leaping up to his feet.

    Despite the unmoved look in his eyes and the all pervading coldness that exuded from him, his actual appearance was quite terrible.

    His clothing was ripped in many places, his skin was already dripping with sweat and the flying particles of stone that had hung in the air due to Manson''s violent barrage clung to him, making his look dirtied and battered.

    Still, despite all of this, he still didn''t have a single injury on his body. Even as he breathed long and hard, his body moved freely.

    ''This is aboutбн 20% of her strength. The others still haven''t moved because they''re quite confident in her ability to end all of this. Should I take the opportunity to kill her? Or should I run?''

    Leonel coldly analyzed Manson''s actions, dodging in a sorry state every time. He had already thought of three plans with a better than 80% likelihood of ending in her death, each one more bolted down and perfected than the last.

    But, every time he hesitated about whether to proceed, Manson''s brow would twitch and her actions would shift. It was as though she subconsciously felt that something was about to happen and reacted accordingly.

    The more drunk her mind became, the sharper her instincts were.

    None of her actions actually countered Leonel''s intentions. However, the fact she reacted at all sent alarm bells off in Leonel''s mind. If she could adapt with nothing to go off of now, then the more information he gave her, the better her adaptation response would be, and the less chase he would have at succeeding.

    If it wasn''t because he was infuriated, Leonel would find this ability of Manson''s to be fascinating. But, the fact she seemed to need to be inebriated to use it was a huge negativeбн Unless she could fight someone she wanted to kill as much as Leonel.

    ''In that caseбн''

    Leonel''s foot planted, his body attempting to slide by Manson''s kick.

    It shot down from above, barely missing his chest by a centimeter. Yet, before it even had, in a feat of shocking flexibility, Manson''s back arched backward, planting her palms to the ground as she aimed her once planted leg for Leonel''s chin.

    Usually, Leonel would dodge. But, a kick from Manson''s currently bridged body position was likely amongst the weakest in her arsenal. It was still enough to tear the head off a Fourth Dimensional existence nine out of ten times, but Leonel happened to be the one.

    Bronze Runes flickered to life beneath the grime and sweat on Leonel''s skin, fingers from both his hands intertwining as he went to block Manson''s kick.

    Shadow Rat, Double Shot and Panda''s eyes glowed. A blow was finally about to connect. It was a nice run but it seemed the kid was at the end of his rope.

    However, what happened next shocked them. It wasn''t because of the result of the kick, but rather because of what happened before it even landed.

    Manson shouted out, calling to her team members.

    "Shoot now!"

    Her words slurred, but the meaning was clear enough. She wanted them to interfere?

    Despite his confusion, Double Shot reacted on instinct.

    His gun flipped out of its holster with an unconscious speed, his palm sliding back across its barrel twice in quick succession as he shot from his hip.

    The world slowed in his eyes. He could already see the bullets piercing Leonel whose hands were still prepared to block Manson''s kick. One through his throat, the other through his skull.

    As slow as the world was for Double Shot, though, it was even slower for Leonel. But, this wasn''t the happy tale one would have thought it was.

    ''бн This shameless bitchбн'' Was just the first of Leonel''s thoughts.

 Chapter 828 Darkness

    Leonel''s mind accelerated to the point he could almost see the movement of the bullets through the air on a frame by frame basis.

    As old and dated as Double Shot''s pistols looked, they shot with a speed beyond anything an old western movie could match. In fact, if those two shots were fired off in a Third Dimensional world, even space itself would be torn apart to carve a path out for them.

    With that speed came a lack of responses Leonel could make. He was at most 50 meters from Double Shot and the speed of the bullets wouldn''t allow him to tilt his head and neck out the way in time. Orбн Rather it wouldn''t have had Leonel reacted to the two shots as opposed to Manson''s words.

    Leonel''s ability had been entirely focused on Manson, and more specifically the movement of her muscles, from the very beginning. The moment her throat prepped to speak, he had already picked up on it.

    For a woman who hadn''t spoken a word since she entered, what could she possibly be preparing to say? Obviously it wasn''t for idle chitchat or smack talking, so she could only have been calling for her teammates to take action.

    Assigning a probability of over 90% to this, Leonel had already been prepared.

    The earth beneath one of Leonel''s planted feet shot up at an angle, sending him flying to the side.

    The upward swing of Manson''s kick reached him long before the bullets would and even as the earth rocketed him to the left. One would have thought that Manson''s toes would be fragile and delicate like most everyone else''s, but just a slight graze against what was just Leonel''s prepared defenses tore a bloody gash through his wrist.

    Leonel''s jaw clenched as he rolled out of the way, sending one of his minds to inspect his injury.

    It was luckily only skin deep, but it had only been a small measure away from damaging his muscle and ligaments. Had that happened, he didn''t know if it would still be possible to complete his Craft. His hands were too important.

    Leonel thought he had accounted for the upward swing of Manson''s kick. Yet she somehow managed to change her trajectory just enough that he was both nicked and was unable to react at the same time. To make matters worse, she actually tore through his Bronze Rune activated defenses so easily.

    As surprised as Leonel was, Manson was even more so. She had been certain that she would at least lop Leonel''s wrist off with that kick, but she found more resistance than she expected. How did he have such a strong body?

    Manson made use of the momentum of her kick to flip herself back to her feet, her movements looking as agile as a cat''s. If it wasn''t for her drunkard appearance, she would definitely be capable of playing the role of feared assassin. But the light gasps that left her lips and the flush to her face ruined that entirely.

    "Get in formation." Manson''s words slurred again.

    As much as Manson''s previous words shocked her team, this was like a nuke going off in their minds. Even though they always set out as a team, the reality was that they rarely, if ever, actually used their formation. Usually, it would just be one of the three of them dealing with the target, as for Manson, she only participated if the mission was interesting enoughбн Like if there was a Spark involved.

    But, the four of them all taking action at onceбн? That only happened ifбн

    ''How annoying.'' Leonel''s gaze grew colder.

    It seemed that they truly wanted to take things seriously. He had yet to ask the dictionary what Manson''s ability was because he hadn''t gotten any breathing room to do so, but he could piece together most of it himself.

    Manson had an Intuition Ability Type. This Ability Type was split into: Alert, Foreshadowing, Instinct, Prediction, and Foresight. Once again, the fifth, in this case Foresight, was reserved for Savants.

    From what Leonel could tell, Manson was usually in the mid to high level of the second stage, Foreshadowing. She could gain an inkling of what was happening and react to it, but the image wasn''t clear nor obvious. Often those at this stage had to rely on many decades of experience and training to make good use of Foreshadowing.

    Manson, though, seemed to be quite unique. She had learned to dull her senses to an extreme to simulate a higher level of her Intuition Ability Type, crossing over into high levels of Instinct, bordering on Prediction.

    The caveat, though, was that she had to be drunk off alcoholбн or orgasms.

    If Leonel wasn''t so enraged with Manson encroaching on something she shouldn''t have, he would have been impressed by her ingenuity.

    In a Third Dimensional world, Manson would practically be an oracle, at least when it came to one on one combat. In a Fifth Dimensional world, though, her ability could almost be classified as useless to most, yet she managed to find a way to make it so powerful. It felt like the methods of the Dimensional Verse were endless.

    But this was no time to be praising Manson. With her words, Shadow Rat, Double Shot and Panda came forward, encircling Leonel as though he was some sort of demon war lord.

    One would have thought that with their personalities, they would crack a few jokes or tease Leonel a bit, but they seemed to have thrown all of that out of the window. It was either that they were consummate professionalsбкmen who understood when it was time to play and when it was time to workбкorбн they had an almost blind confidence in Manson''s Intuition.

    If it was the former, Leonel would still have some wiggle room. Even as professionals, there was a chance they might still believe him to be beneath them.

    Butбн If it was the latter, that would mean that right this moment, they saw him to be just as dangerous as Manson believed him to beбн And that was a problem.

    The blood from Leonel''s nicked wrist rolled down his forearm and pooled at his elbow, culminating into a drop that fell toward the cracked stone floors.

    As though a cue, the instant it rebounded against the ground, Panda''s aura surged as the entire hollowed cave was plunged into darkness.

    [Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]

 Chapter 829 He

    Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    In that moment, it wasn''t just about sight. If it was that and that alone, he could take this ability to be nothing more than a parlor trick. With his Internal Sight, why would he care about a little darkness? This cave wasn''t exactly well lit to begin with, especially given the sheer size of the space.

    However, it wasn''t just that.

    Leonel felt his senses get cut off one after another. First it was sight, then hearing, then even his touch went. As a final cherry to top it all off, his proprioception was completely cut off.

    Leonel''s first instinct was to release his Domain, but he restrained himself. This sort of uncomfortable feeling where he wasn''t even sure of the relation of his limbs to the other parts of his body even left him suffocating.

    Proprioception was such a fundamental sense to the human body that those who lost it wouldn''t even be able to walk without watching their feet move.

    It was the ability for one to subconsciously know where your body parts were in relation to one another. Even if one closed their eyes, they would be able to touch a finger to their nose without much difficulty or thought. Someone who had lost their proprioception would be completely unable to do such a thing.

    Just living day to day life without proprioception was enough to drive someone mad, let alone having lost it in the middle of a battle. For Leonel, who was used to controlling each and every aspect of his movements, it was no wonder he felt so stifled and almost reacted on instinct rather than logic.

    He couldn''t reveal his Domain so easily. While they should already have information on his Chain Domain, as far as they were concerned, all it could do was help restrain people, and if used a bit cleverly, it could give him some flexibility to his movements.

    But, they wouldn''t understand the suppressive abilities of his Domain, nor would they know that it would mostly give him control of his body back. He had to save this for the perfect moment.

    ''My senses are cut off, my proprioception is gone, and my Internal Sight has been restricted to an extremeбн I can''t monitor the detection arrays l left behind anymore, but I have just enough range to cover this entire cave space.''

    There was no way that the four teammates would guess that Leonel would still have such a long range and Leonel immediately made countermeasures to ensure that Manson couldn''t learn this through intuition.

    ''I''ll lock onto the three menбн Simulate where the woman will be and avoid allowing my Internal Sight to touch herбн Only lock onto her when she enters a 10 meter rangeбн That will be cutting it close, but it should be just enough to reactбн.''

    Leonel''s Internal Sight sprung into action. He wrapped it around his own body, replacing his lost senses with it. He locked onto Double Shot, Shadow Rat and Panda. And finally, he began to simulate Manson''s movements, using the shifts in the ground to avoid accidentally passing her by with his Internal Sight.

    Leonel made all these decisions in a split moment. His drop of blood hadn''t even completely settled onto the ground when he finished.

    "10 meters."

    The voice wasn''t meant for Leonel to hear, but he knew it was Manson''s. The moment it descended, he knew his plan had worked.

    Manson''s voice traveled through this odd dark domain in such a way that made Leonel realize that it was meant to be a covert form a communication built into Panda''s ability. This was a huge plus, it made it even easier for Leonel to pinpoint Manson''s location, he just had to pay attention to these strings of conversation.

    At that moment, Shadow Rat vanished. He seemed to sink into the ground, his short body disappearing without a trace. And yet, even after another split moment, he didn''t appear anywhere. However, that didn''t stop Double Shot from suddenly letting off another two rounds.

    Leonel''s body shifted slightly to the side.

    He thought about letting the rounds hit him, just so that he could continue to leave Manson in the dark. But in the end, he decided to test something. It was a calculated risk.

    He realized that when he intercepted Manson''s voice, she hadn''t seemed to notice. At the very least, her Intuition hadn''t gone off.

    There was a chance that Manson had realized and was simply hiding this fact, but Leonel believed that there was a 70% likelihood that she hadn''t noticed at all. If that was the case, that meant that the less involved with Manson herself the action was, the less likely it was that her ability would pick up on something odd.

    Not only had her voice left her body, but it was being carried by an ability that wasn''t her own. This made it difficult for her to read Leonel.

    ''Perfect.''

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. The more things he could take advantage of, the better. However, what he heard next made him realize that things would be difficult.

    Leonel had managed to jump the hurdle of his lost proprioception by coating his body in his Internal Sight. That way, he could ''watch'' his every movement and control it at the same time. Thanks to this, he was able to sway out of the way of the bullet.

    Butбн

    "He dodged."

    Panda''s voice traveled to Double Shot and Manson, making Leonel''s heart skip a beat. It seemed that he had still underestimated this ability. It could not only cut off his own senses, but despite being affected themselves, the four teammates had one of them who could ''see'' just fine.

    Panda might have not realized that he was listening in on their conversations, and he also couldn''t tell the range of Leonel''s Internal Sight, but he could still keep track of almost everything that happened within his ability''s range.

    Just when Leonel''s mind was kicked into overdrive again, a shadow suddenly gained form to his back, melting into the darkness of Panda''s domain seamlessly.

    Shadow Rat had appeared again, a glistening dagger in his hand.

 Chapter 830 Bitter

    Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    A Domain that cut off the senses. A sharpshooter that wasn''t bothered by it. A leader that could ignore it all with intuition. And now a fourth team member that could make use of the all encompassing shadows to move where they pleased?

    The composition of this team was enough to make anyone numb. But for Leonel, his eyes suddenly lit up. He had gotten the final piece of the puzzle he needed.

    ''Little Blackstar.''

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Shadow Rat suddenly found himself frozen, stuck in a state of corporeal and shadow. He couldn''t retreat and he couldn''t advance. It felt like some higher being had grasped onto his very soul.

    PCHU.

    In the darkness, a little mink flashed. When he appeared again, grasped between his little claws was a still beating heart. With just the smallest squeeze, it burst apart, falling in a rain of blood and gore.

    Panda was the only one who could see this scene. The contrast between Blackstar''s adorable little twitching whiskers and his bloody actions made even the apathetic veteran''s heart seize.

    To use a darkness domain and a shadow teleportation ability against a Sovereign of the Shadowsбн It was like leaping with both feet into an early grave.

    Panda was at a loss for words. He didn''t quite understand how to explain this. In the midst of battle, the greatest weakness of his ability was how long it took to communicate things. This was why it was so important to have Shadow Rat who was unaffected by the darkness, Double Shot who could mark his target ahead of time and aim accordingly, and Manson, who could move on instinct.

    Together, they needed minimal communication even in the midst of such darkness. When Manson said ''ten meters'', that was about the only communication that would come from others to himself. When it came to those with high level sensory abilities, Manson was the only one who could pinpoint their limits quickly.

    Yet, not only had Leonel dodged two bullets that were shot from outside his range, Shadow Rat had picked the time just after Leonel dodged to attack as well. Usually, this was the perfect moment. But, in practice this time, he had walked right into a trap.

    ''That little mink?! Why wasn''t there any information about that little mink?!''

    The laziness of Panda''s eyes vanished. He realized that he had to pull his domain down. This was the only way they would have a chance.

    However, he realized right then that his movements became sluggish. A mental coercion dulled his reflexes. All he could see were two floating orbs of violet hovering within the darkness piercing into his soul.

    When time sped back up, he grabbed at his throat, the words he tried to speak coming out in a gurgle. He couldn''t fathom how the old gentleman, a man known for his care and meticulousness, could possibly miss such an important detail. Not once had he mentioned this little minkбн Not a single timeбн.

    As Panda''s vision darkened, he felt that at least it was good that his domain would fade awayбн That would give Manson a chance.

    Unfortunatelyбн His last sight was of a little mink leaping down from his throat and tearing a hole through his chest, taking with him a shadow that somehow felt eerily familiar to him. He couldn''t even think about what this meant before he collapsed completely, dead.

    Leonel lightly tapped his foot, appearing before Double Shot in a flash.

    The latter panicked. He couldn''t see in the darkness like Panda or Shadow Rat could, but his ability was a Sensory Type under the category of Marksmanship. It allowed him to attach a marker to a given target that would give him information about their location and give him the ability to aim toward them even with his eyes closed.

    Obviously, it was a low level marking ability because it didn''t have a homing ability, but it was still enough to tell that Leonel had suddenly gone from 50 meters from him to less than five.

    Knowing where Leonel was, he was still able to aim and shoot. But, how could Leonel be pinned down so easily?

    Leonel sidestepped once, sliding out of the way of the bullet the instant Double Shot pulled the trigger. The latter however, was still a veteran.

    Flipping the holster of his second gun he aimed and prepared to fire, only to feel a piercing pain to his back.

    His hands trembled, his shot firing awry. Even though he couldn''t see a thing, he didn''t need to, to feel that gaping wound that now hung at his chest.

    He diedбн? Howбн?

    As had been said long agoбн The best chance one would have at beating Leonel was on as neutral a ground as possible. The more variables you added, the more abilities you had, the greater advantage you thought you had graspedбн

    The more likely you were to end up dead.

    Leonel turned toward Manson''s location. All of this had occurred in just a few seconds, it seemed as though she was still waiting for Double Shot and Shadow Rat to finish their probing strikes before she took action again.

    Those flashes of her death she had felt when she fought Leonel were firmly imprinted onto her heart. Even now, she was being as cautious as she could be, having no idea that three of her teammates had already died.

    Leonel calmly took out his sniper rifle, resting it on his shoulder. Now that Little Blackstar had taken Panda''s ability, he could feel Manson''s presence with absolute ease, even without risking her sensing his Internal Sight.

    But at that moment, Manson''s hair all stood on end. She suddenly felt that danger that had been to just one direction was coming from everywhere. The suffocating feeling of her death bore down on her from all sides.

    A bitter smile curled her lip. It seems that she was dead too.

    Leonel pulled the trigger, sliding back a meter beneath the recoil.

 Chapter 831 Unacceptable

    Leonel took deep, heavy breaths.

    As the domain faded and Little Blackstar hopped back to his spot on his head, the last shards of sparkling crystals shattered and collapsed before the barrel of the sniper rifle.

    Firing with enough Force to kill a Tier 2 Fifth Dimensional expert was really almost too much for him. It wasn''t even necessarily the Light Elemental Force, but rather the construction of Earth Elemental Force he needed to use.

    Leonel shook his head, his face a bit pale.

    He looked toward Manson''s corpse, seeing the large hole through her heart. He could only say that he was quite lucky to have Little Blackstar.

    The reason the old gentleman had never mentioned the little mink wasn''t because he underestimated Blackstar. This was a man who had spent precious moments pouring over the footage for even the smallest detail. He would never forget to mention an odd little mink that seemed capable of sitting completely still even in the face of so many Fifth Dimension experts.

    The real reason was because the old gentleman had never seen Little Blackstar to begin with.

    Little Blackstar liked to be in his incorporeal form. This form allowed him to continue to benefit from his Shadow World, continuously growing stronger with every moment.

    When one was in the presence of Little Blackstar, you could see him in this form, anyone could. You could even hear him should he choose to allow you to. The issue, though, was thatбн cameras couldn''t.

    Had the old gentleman questioned the miners under his charge or those who had personally gone to the arena, they might have been able to tell him that Leonel was followed around by an odd little mink. However, how could he know to ask such a thing? Especially when time was already so tight?

    The result was the old gentleman being completely unaware of Little Blackstar, leading to the group being caught completely off guard.

    Of courseбн It also helped that Little Blackstar was already at the Quasi Fifth Dimensional level. The little guy might not have had as much battle experience as Leonel or Aina, but he definitely had far more raw strength.

    When this was paired with Leonel directing him in battle, the duo wasn''t to be trifled with. In fact, Leonel believed that he had almost neglected the little guy too much.

    Blackstar was still an infant, yet he was growing so fast. If it wasn''t for a cap in resources caused by Leonel''s absence these last two years, the little guy would have already entered the Fifth Dimension. Leonel understood that he definitely needed to direct Blackstar''s growth with more purpose and caution.

    Leonel smiled lightly, scratching Blackstar''s little head. He tried to use his talisman, but once again, it didn''t go through.

    ''Let''s move from this placeбн That panda-eyed man''s ability won''t be very useful to Little Blackstar in the future. But, it''s decent for now.''

    There were too many weaknesses to Panda''s ability. If not, how could Leonel have dealt with it so easily? Had he not been saving his Domain and his stamina, he could have blown that fake ''domain'' away, and anyone with a strong comprehension of Universal Cycles could do the same.

    The good news was that the ability was more powerful in Little Blackstar''s hands, but not enough to make it lamentable to give up in the future.

    Leonel gazed toward the corpses around him and shook his head. Their abilities weren''t worth taking either.

    With a flash, he disappeared down a corridor, finding another location to finish his ship.

    бн

    By this point, the planet was completely surrounded. Ships of massive proportion hung around in a silent orbit, all focused on a single task.

    They all understood their task well. Failure would not be allowed. The prestige of the Milky Way Guild was on the line. To fail to capture the young man that had so publicly slapped their faces would be a failure of epic proportion. It could not be allowed, and they all knew it.

    Within one of these ships, in a luxuriously decorated cabin, there was a different atmosphere. While the others might have been filled with a horrid weight, this one was filled with rivalry, youthful vigor, and most important, condescension.

    "Even in death that little bitch couldn''t do anything right. First she brings home some Fourth Dimensional piece of trash, and now she causes all of this trying to get revenge for him. I swear if I could, I would dig her up just to bury her again."

    The voice came from a snarky young woman wearing a fiery red dress. She would have had the elegance Heira had when she was alive if it wasn''t for the perpetual sneer that upturned her bright red lips. It was hard for one to decide whether they wanted a taste of her beauty, or if they would prefer to just punch her in the face.

    Her two elder brothers, though, didn''t seem to want to correct the attitude of their little sister. In fact, the look between their brows seemed to suggest that they wholly agreed. This time, Heira had really screwed them.

    The Milky Way Guild wasn''t exactly in a precarious situation. In fact, they were stronger and more powerful than ever.

    The trouble was that any decline in all of history was almost invisible to those at the top. Their father, Guild Head Ovilteen, had drilled this into the minds since their minds since a very young age. The more powerful they were, the more the weak would want to ban together to knock them down a peg. The only way to avoid this was by being so powerful that no one dared to do even that.

    Their father was on the verge of entering the Sixth Dimension. Once he did so, they would finally move forward with the next of their plans and bring the guild to a bigger stage.

    And yet, just when they were on the cusp of an even greater height, this happened.

    It was simply unacceptable.

 Chapter 832 Gretta

    Gretta Ovilteen.

    As annoyed as the many guards of the Milky Way Guild were at the prospect of being assigned to Heira in the last two years, it was less annoyance and more dread when the target of protection was Gretta.

    As abrasive as she was now at a seemingly ''unique'' situation, she seemed to find any number of reasons to act like this on a day by day basis. If it wasn''t Heira who became her living, or rather dead, target, it would have been someone or something else, without a doubt.

    However, there wasn''t much that could be done about this. Gretta, unlike Heira, was a great talent valued by Guild Head Ovilteen. It might seem from the situation in the luxurious holding room of the flying ship that there were only four Ovilteen siblings, especially with how they ragged on the now deceased Heira, but this couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    Guild Head Ovilteen had just one wife, but dozens of women he frequented. Unfortunately for those women, ''frequented'' was the best word to be used to describe their relationship as the Guild Head never gave them any status, not even a lesser title like concubine.

    Of the three siblings here, only the eldest among them, Tobyn Ovilteenбкa young man whose standout feature were his blazing green eyesбкwas from the only wife of the Guild Head. The other two, including Gretta, were from these ''frequented'' women.

    It could be said that the only thing somewhat special about Heira was that she, too, was birthed from the Guild Head''s wife. But, it was also because of this that she gained an extra hint of spiciness from Gretta''s ire.

    The truth of the matter wasn''t as one might expect. The Guild Head didn''t only marry a single woman for the sake of showing some symbolic loyalty to her. In fact, it could be said that the Guild Head''s wife, Emerra Ovilteen, was a dime a dozen.

    She had delicate and beautiful looks, even as she entered the later stages of her life. Her talent was decent, having entered the Fifth Dimension, and even having reached its higher tiers, but having no chance at entering the Sixth. Her family background was not too weak, but also not too strongбн

    If she had to be described she was akin to a trophy in a display case, but one that could easily be glossed over in favor of the larger trophies sharing the same shelf.

    The reason Augustus Ovilteen chose her was because she ticked just enough boxes without ticking too many.

    As for why he had done this? People had their own speculations. But, maybe only Augustus himself knew the truth.

    All that mattered to his children, though, was that even if Emerra''s role was just superficial and lacking in weight, the children she birthedбкtwo, to be exactбкwould still given this same respect, albeit also superficial and lacking in substance.

    Heira, simply by virtue of who she was born to, might not have been able to hold any true power in her life, but at the very least, she wouldn''t have to bite, scratch and claw for every chance she was givenбн She could live a life of leisure and without worry. There would always be as much wealth as she could spend, as much food as she could eat, as much entertainment as she could consumeбн

    She would never be wanting for anything.

    Isn''t that why Gretta resented her so much? Even with her talent, how many piles of bullshit did she have to crawl out of just to stand here?

    But to Gretta, that was just the tip of the iceberg. What made her truly resent Heira was that the bitch didn''t seem satisfied with what she was given. She started to fight and jockey for position with the rest of them as though she had to, and the methods she chose made Gretta feel as though her skin was crawling.

    She was so weak, so frail, but just her face irritated Gretta to an extreme. And yet, unlike with everything else that pissed her off, Gretta couldn''t just punch a hole through Heira, or else everything she had worked to build up would come crumbling down.

    Gretta would never admit it to herself butбн

    Even in death, she could still see Heira''s elegant bearing, the noble air of her gait, the perfect measure of her smile. She was a woman who was refined down to the last detail. Even though she might have been weak, when it came to matters of character and intelligence, and even looks, she was perfect beyond compare.

    And what was even more infuriating was that she had almost succeeded.

    Was if that Fourth Dimensional trash of her really managed to conquer Earth? Wouldn''t they all have to bow at her feet?

    To be born with something she couldn''t have like status, Gretta could accept. But, to be born with such a thing and still be superior to herбн

    That, Gretta could not accept.

    The only thing that infuriated her about Heira''s death was that she couldn''t do it herself.

    As enraged as Gretta was, though, Rollo had long since gotten over the fact he was lesser born and didn''t hate Heira nearly as much. Maybe a part of that was due to the fact Heira was a woman and he felt ridiculous being jealous of a little sister of his as a grown man, but what he did know was that he didn''t like this situation at all.

    Tobyn would be just fine regardless. But, failure on Gretta and his part would likely mean years of work just to return to the favorable light they had right now. It was like suddenly being met with a pop exam that was worth 90% of your grade all because someone you hardly knew was snarky with the teacher. How could he not be pissed?

    Regardless, this was just the life of the child of a ''frequented'' woman. He had long since become used to having to prove himself day in and day out.

    Suddenly loud blaring noises sounded as a ship rocketed out of the atmosphere.

    The siblings raised an eyebrow simultaneously. ''What an idiotбн''

    "Shoot it down and let''s go home." Tobyn said carelessly.

    His words hardly fell when beams of energy fell from all sides. Such strengthбн It could turn a Fifth Dimensional moon to rubble.

 Chapter 833 Abhorred

    The moment the small ship was locked onto by several behemoths, as though a rock out of a slingshot, its acceleration suddenly doubled.

    Sparks and explosions rang through the quickly thinning atmosphere, and yet they only seemed to propel the small ship faster as it squirted out of their encirclement.

    The lights were so bright and the ship was so tiny in proportion to everything else that it was immediately assumed that the operation was successful. But, if it was so easy to fool such high tech, why would the Guild have ever invested however many billions they had to build them?

    However, what left the siblings at a loss for words was that the moment the ship used the momentum around it to shoot by the last thinning layers of the atmosphere, runic patterns exuding a magnificent aura bloomed like a halo.

    At first, the runes were etched right onto its sleek, silver surface. But in the next, they became animated, wiggling about as though life had been breathed into them.

    They rose from the surface, forming a protective disk of flickering silver the grew brighter and brighter until it rivaled even the second barrage of beams headed right for its small frame.

    Tobyn''s eyes widened.

    "RETREAT! EXECUTE EVASIVE MANEUVERS, NOW!"

    Very few seemed to understand the purpose behind Tobyn''s orders, but their job wasn''t to understood. Even though some of the Guild Head''s children saw themselves as less than, any one of them that was known to have such a connection wouldn''t be easily crossed. On top of this, Tobyn wasn''t like them, he was born from the Head''s legitimate wife. His orders were even less likely to be ignored.

    It wouldn''t be long, though, before they realized that Tobyn had saved all their lives.

    The rippling silver runes reached an unspeakable peak, touching upon a level of brightness that seemed to rival the sun in the distance.

    And then, everything seemed to collapse.

    A black hole that was of miniature proportion and devastating impact ripped through the Fold of Reality. The orbit of the planet was shaken, tilted off its axis. The moons in the distance were warped, threatening to be slinged into the ether as they trembled to maintain the path they had followed for billions of years. And the ships that had once surrounded them all fell into chaos.

    Some of the ships were simply too close.

    Their front hulls were smashed to pieces, warped beneath the twisting space. What once were behemoth-like ships the size of large asteroids suddenly became scrap metal.

    Sparks flew and blood floated through the air. Whether by irony or simply as a display of the cruelty of this world, the latter was nothing more than fleeting droplets amidst the carnage, the much larger ship parts making them difficult to even notice.

    The ships that were further away were a bit luckier, but the result was still them losing control of their steering.

    The end was devastating.

    Some of the ships plunged toward Planet Vincero below, painting what looked like beautiful swirls of white, green and blue from the outside with heart trembling explosions and the blood curdling sounds of groaning and whining metal.

    Some of the ships were flung out of their orbit, drifting into the depths of space with off kilter propulsion that wrestled and fought against their control.

    But, the most devastating were three ships that crashed headlong into one another. The resulting devastation was even more furious than that of the ships that had been too close. At least in the latter case, it ended as soon as it started. But, in this one, it seemed to continue into infinity. Whenever the explosions had seemingly come to a stop, another chain was let off.

    The skies were filled with fireworks and smoke, but it wasn''t the kind one could enjoy on a national Independence Day. Rather, it was the kind that made one''s ears bleed, one''s gaze dazed, and etched their minds with the memory of every shake and tremble they experienced.

    Many years later, when this matter became a case study for the history booksбн It would become known that the Milky Way Guild had suffered such devastating losses targeting a ship that didn''t even have their target on board.

    In factбн the ship wasn''t related to their target in the slightest.

    бн

    On board the silver ship, tunneling through space to a location unknown, one could find three women.

    One wore a stoic expression, taking control of the steering before passing it on to an AI. The second wore a look of confusion, seemingly wondering how it is she had gotten caught in this mess while her heart was lodged in her throat. And the last was in a daze, blanky staring at something on her wrist without a word. In fact, from her demeanor, it seemed that she might not speak for a very, very long time. And maybe if you pried into her mind, you would find that she might not have had the intention of speaking ever again.

    Who else could these three be if not Yuri, Savahn and Aina?

    It was quite an irony that an action Leonel could very well abhor with all his heart and soulбн Had all but guaranteed his safety.

    What no one realized, though, was that half a day later, it wasn''t only a small ship that covertly slipped through the cracks left by the Guild''s defenses. There was another protected vessel that seemed to have been doing the same. And, oddly enough, these two left from completely different ends of Planet Vincero and headed in direction opposite to each other.

    The first held Leonel who was shocked by the ease of his escape. He had been certain that he would need to use almost all of the trump cards he had planned. Had he known things would be like this, he could have left within the first hour.

    As for the secondбн

    The vessel meandered through space. It looked like a small glass orb traveling through the darkness, not being even half the width of a palm. Obviously, it was impossible for it to hold a person, and its speed was on a level that put Leonel''s own vessel to shame.

    Weeks later, this vessel descended onto an obscure, desolate planet.

    It tore into the almost none existent atmosphere, following a path into a hole so small even a fist couldn''t fit down and through an elaborate set of complex and steadily widening tunnels that looked more and more manmade with every trek forward.

    And thenбн It appeared in a large lab setting covered wall to wall in silver metals, complex glassware, and thick, forearm sized wires, all of which could be found in one aspect or another upon the centerpiece of the whole thingбн

    It was a large tube... filled with fluid up to the very brim.

    Around it, three men and women sat monitoring it, their expressions serious.

    When they noticed the vessel, they sighed a breath of relief. It seemed that everything had been successful. They could finally begin. Though they knew and understood the ability of their patron, the logistics of this mission had seemed far too complex to accomplish. But, none of that mattered. In the end, they had succeeded.

    The vessel entered a special compartment, finding itself floating with the glass tubeбн Along with the body of the half naked girl that hovered within.

    The moment the vessel touched this girl, a light pulse rippled and she opened her eyes.

    The three men and women smiled as the young woman stepped out, her body dripping with thick, viscous liquid.

    "Welcome back, Miss Heira."

    [Important announcement below 04/28/2022!!!!!!]

 Chapter 834 Soul Manipulation

    Heira''s body and hair dripped with the thick, light blue liquid. Two women quickly stepped forward, helping her to dry off and slip a robe onto her shoulders. The liquid was a bit difficult to work with usually, but it was clear that they had long since been prepared for this.

    Heira remained silent for a long while, but none of the three said a word to rush her. After all, she had just experienced her own death, it would take some time for anyone to become used to such a thing. The fact she wasn''t having a visible mental breakdown was already enough of a testament to her fortitude.

    It could be said that Heira''s ability was quite unique and fell under the Soul Manipulation Ability Index. The existence of this ability was exactly why many referred to Soul Force as such, despite the fact it would usually be more accurately described as a Mental Force or pressure.

    Despite Leonel''s talent, he had never seen any sort of manifestation of his soul. He didn''t see any miniature version of himself nor could he find a center of his consciousness. As far as he knew, there was no tangible form of the soul, or at the very least, there wasn''t one for his.

    Heira, though, was different. Those with her ability were capable of not only seeing this form, but also making use of it. As for the Ability Index itself, it too was split into five levels.

    Seed. Root. Form. Manipulation. Immortality.

    The first Seed levels refers to the most immature form of the soul. It is a step beyond what most would have and is usually available to only those with either this ability, are from a special race, or have a special Lineage Factor.

    At the second level, this Seed takes Root. This represents a growth in the soul''s strength and also an increase in its sturdiness and durability.

    Finally, at the third level, the Root takes Form. The most common form is a representation of the person, usually a smaller, more ethereal image of the body. However, this doesn''t always have to be the case, especially for those who reach the fourth level.

    Upon reaching Manipulation, not only can the Form of the soul be changed, but it can now exist completely independent of the body without penalty. One who has touched this fourth level could live just as long as they would with a body as they would without one.

    Finally, Immortality, reserved for Savants. At this stage, the soul gains a lifespan as long as the planets and the stars. Even if the body decays and wilts, the soul will last far beyond this.

    No one is sure if this is true Immortality or not, but what is guaranteed is that you will far outlive those of your Dimension and even higher Dimensions.

    All of this mostly explained the form the soul would take at each stage, but otherwise, it seemed like a useless ability unless you could reach the fourth or fifth levels. But, this is far from the case.

    Those with the Soul Manipulation Ability Index have many abilities outside of taking control of their souls.

    They are more intelligent than most, they are more perceptive and sensitive, their senses are otherworldly, and when paired with the right techniques, their soul, thanks to added durability compared to others, could display quite devastating prowess. Meeting someone with a Soul Manipulation ability, who also had the techniques to pair with them, was amongst the bravest things a person could ever do.

    Heira had reached the third level, the Form stage. At this level, her soul couldn''t exist indefinitely without a body like it would be able to at the fourth level, but it could still last several months to even years without one. This had given her more than enough time to make it to this lab and take over this vessel that had been prepared for her.

    This ''vessel'' was actually a clone of her original body with its face modified just enough that those familiar with her wouldn''t be able to recognize her.

    The issue with clones is that they had short lifespans and were usually far different in personality from the person they had been cloned from. But, they weren''t difficult to prepare. After all, even the people of 21st Century Earth, a mere Third Dimensional land, could accomplish this. So, how could Heira not with the resources of the Milky Way Guild?

    That said, the issues clones faced were all erased when it was paired with a Soul Manipulation ability. As long as her soul was intact, Heira could do this as many times as she pleased. In factбн

    "You''ve made this body to my specifications?"

    "Yes, Miss Heira! We spared no expense. The weaknesses of your former body are no longer present. This body has the strength of someone at the Peak of the Fifth Dimension and we''ve also given it the Light Elemental Innate Node Miss requested."

    "Which Light Elemental Innate Node?" Heira asked.

    "We weren''t able to procure anything high level. Integrating an Innate Node into a clone proved to be far more difficult than we thought. It is only an unranked Light Elemental Innate Node."

    "I see.."

    Heira seemed neither disappointed nor happy about this. Though, it was hard to tell if this was because she didn''t care one way or another, or if it was because she was still getting used to using the facial muscles of her new body.

    Preparing powerful clones like this had been a technology available for thousands of years already in the Milky Way, probably even longer than that when the scope of the entire Dimensional Verse was taken into account.

    The issue was that it was far too expensive for a soldier that would only last a year if you were lucky. It could be said that Heira''s ability was simply perfect to take advantage of this and was quite reminiscent of a certain special race of people who built their own bodies after birthбн

    "Good." Heira clenched and unclenched her fists. "What''s happened in my absence?"

 Chapter 835 Fade

    "бн So he survived."

    Heira''s voice carried a level of monotony that bordered on robotic. If it wasn''t for the fact her voice flowed smoothly, it would be easy to mistake her for an AI. But, as time passed, she seemed to warm upбкnot toward a happier emotion, but rather just toward feelings in general.

    "We cannot be sure, Miss. According to our analysis, the flying ship that caused the commotion originated from the main base. However, the last sighting of Leonel Morales was at mining site 102A where the corpses of Drunken Kicks, Shadow Rat, Double Shot, and Panda were all found.

    "We have cause to believe that the flying ship did not have Leonel Morales on it. But Planet Vincero was thrown into chaos soon afterward. So, it is impossible to tell if he is still on the surface or if he has long since left."

    "He has left." Heira confirmed expressionlessly.

    The three scientists looked toward one another but didn''t bother to ask for an explanation. They had been working with Heira for long enough to know that she would provide an answer if she wanted to. If not, there was no use in asking.

    Heira took a deep breath and her body suddenly relaxed. In what felt like an instant, her usual demeanor had returned. The subtle elegance of her movements, the intelligent twinkle of her eye, the calming rhythm of her breathбн As though something had snapped back into place, her personality was back.

    "Took a bit longer than expected." Heira shook her head. "That isn''t all that happened, right?"

    "Right. Gretta Ovilteen and Rollo Ovilteen have suffered quite some backlash due to their failure.

    "Second, the four organizations who had participated have returned to their territories but have entered a state of near seclusion. Their movements are limited, and much of the movement that there is has been turned finding Leonel Morales.

    "Thirdly, the Old Gentleman seems to have Havoc in hand as expected. It seems that he still feels as though there is a piece of the puzzle he is missing."

    Heira nodded. "That old man has always been sharp. If not for this, he wouldn''t be put in charge of such an important asset. However, it doesn''t matter how sharp he is if he doesn''t have enough information."

    "бн Miss, is it safe to trust that Havoc merchant?"

    "It doesn''t matter." Heira said without care. "He too doesn''t have enough information to make a change. One way or another, the Milky Way Guild will fall to its knees before me."

    Did Heira love Anared, her late fiancиж? The answer was yes. But, the reason why might be surprising to most.

    Those with the Soul Manipulation ability were incredibly sensitive. They experienced emotions at a much higher high than most and were natural empaths.

    Heira originally saw Anared as a light along a path toward her ultimate goal. However, that easily blossomed into a true infatuation, very quickly. It didn''t help that Anared''s feelings for her were as clear as if she could read a book on his thoughts.

    To her, the death of Anared was both the loss of a loved one and a setback that ruined plans she had been laying for decades.

    Still, she was Heira Ovilteen. Failure was something she had long since become accustomed toбн

    The truth was that she hadn''t expected to die in this way. Though she had assigned a small probability to it, it could be said that Leonel had surprised her once again, something he had quite the habit of doing. But, she still felt that this outcome was even better than the one she had planned.

    It was so surprising and out of left field that no one would even have an inkling that she had staged it. That made it perfect.

    "I''ll kill him soon enoughбн But in this case, I have to thank him. I''m one step closer to overthrowing that so-called father of mine."

    Things would have been easiest if she could have Earth in her back pocket. Had she succeeded, it would have only been a matter of time before the Guild Council would be completely on her side.

    However, she felt that this method might taste even sweeter than her original plans.

    **

    It took Leonel even longer than it had Heira to reach a planet he could disembark upon. Unfortunately, he had invested most of his Craft''s utility in escaping the immediate surroundings of Planet Vincero. This was why he leaned so heavily into Wind Elemental Ores. He had been planning on making use of the volatile winds to give him an added boost the people the Milky Way Guild wouldn''t be able to match.

    What he hadn''t known at the time was that there wouldn''t be any of the defensive nets he had been expecting to find. In fact, there was nothing at all. He soared away from the planet as though he was on a simple commute.

    When Leonel managed to land on this mostly uninhabited planet, he didn''t even step out of his ship. Instead, he took out his communication talisman and began to modify it with his Crafting Quill.

    By now, he felt that Aina should be back on Planet Valiant. So, using the connection already established between the two talismans, he would teleport to her location. This would also help just in case they were someplace unexpected, that way he wouldn''t make a trip without reason.

    Aina''s half already had a built in protective measure that would alert and send him over should someone other than her use it. So, piggy backing off of this mechanism wasn''t difficult.

    ''I should hide the fluctuations and maybe add some concealment on the other end. It would be pretty ridiculous if I teleported over just to be chased againбн''

    бн

    In a rented room of a restaurant, a heated debate that had been going on for weeks already was still raging on. It most definitely didn''t help that there wasn''t a single ounce of estrogen in sight. From what could be seen, no one would expect that these were a group of brothers that had been together for ages.

    "бн We can''t do that! I still think we should just tell him she went to see her dad and will be back!"

    "You want to lie to him?!"

    "It''s not lying! It''s the truth!"

    "When in her words did she say she would be back?! Why are you defending that woman?!"

    "I''m not defending her! But she clearly had her own reasons!"

    "I don''t care what the reasons are, they''re all bullshit! We need to tell Cap the truth!"

    Another volley of testosterone filled insults and roars was about to be levied when an amused voice suddenly and easily cut through it all. Its volume wasn''t even particularly loud, and yet it caused them all to turn their gaze toward the very same location.

    "Tell me the truth about what?"

    Leonel appeared with a smile, canceling his concealment since it didn''t seem to be necessary.

    His gaze drifted across the room before it landed on the table. A stack of objects immediately caught his attention, causing his smile to freeze and slowly fade.

 Chapter 836 Golden Balance

    "Cap!"

    The voices all called out in unison, drowning out even the volume they had been arguing at before. And yet, Leonel didn''t seem to hear them. His gaze was expressionlessly locked onto the items on the table.

    The Segmented Cube. The blue veined mask. The talisman. The necklace.

    His eyes almost carelessly swept through them all, his expression giving nothing away. Still, it was as though he was standing in a parallel dimension, a space he shared with the items on the table. He couldn''t see, hear or even smell anything else. The floor beneath his feet might as well have been nothing but an endless void he was freefalling through.

    The room fell into silence when they noticed the direction of Leonel''s gaze. They all suddenly felt that it was ridiculous that they had been debating this topic for so long, only for Leonel to see through it all due to a slight carelessness.

    They could have never expected that Leonel would suddenly appear in this fashion. Even if they had wanted to hide the items, they never had a chance to.

    "Cap?"

    Joel stood from his position, approaching Leonel.

    None of them had ever seen Leonel get emotional. Even when he felt rage, he would instead enter a state of coldness that made even them uncomfortable.

    These group of brothers had been together for more than ten years, not including the time they had spent apart. They had grown togetherбн From the time they were five years old, putting on their first football pads, to the time they were all 17 year old seniors.

    As long as they had played together, they had, of course, lost their fair share of games. However, not a single one of them could ever remember losing when Leonel got like this. It was as though they were all forced into a hyper tense state, their minds and bodies on full alert like they were awaiting orders.

    Joel stood before Leonel, but the latter seemed to look right through him. It was the most uncomfortable Joel had ever felt in his lifetime.

    Leonel didn''t divert his gaze, he didn''t crane his neck or tilt his head to the side. In fact, Joel felt as though a hole was being torn through his throat.

    "Is that everything?" Leonel spoke.

    His voice didn''t seem to carry much hurt. In fact, it was quite soothing. It was the kind of voice one could listen to when falling asleep.

    Leonel''s voice wasn''t normally like so. It wasn''t too deep nor was it too high. It had a mellow, carefreeness to it that drew those around him in. But at this moment, the soothing nature masked a sort of coercion that demanded an answerбн it was the kind of question anyone hearing it was compelled to answer, the kind of question they couldn''t lie in answer of even if they tried.

    "Yes, that''s everything." Joel responded.

    "I see."

    Leonel fell into silence and the room followed suit. The eyes of all his teammates focused on him, worry marring their brows. However, none of them spoke a single word. They knew that at this moment, nothing would get through to Leonel as he stepped into his own world. It was just like it had been in the beginning. He wouldn''t even be able to hear them.

    And they were exactly right.

    Within Leonel''s Dream World, a Dream Clone of himself stood. Before this Dream Clone sat a golden balance. On one side of the balance, there was a near perfect replica of Aina but it was possible to see right through it. On the other, there was a perfect replica of Leonel that could also be seen right through.

    Leonel''s Dream Clone waved a hand. Replicas of the blue veined mask, the talisman, the necklace and the Segmented Cube manifested, falling onto Aina''s side.

    The golden balance shifted, falling heavily to one side. A booming noise reverberated through the white walls of the Dream World, sending wave after wave of trembling sounds in every which direction. However, Leonel''s Dream Clone hardly reacted, even as the heart of Aina''s replica fell.

    Grasping at hair, the Dream Clone began to form motes of light. After each one of these motes was formed, they would gently float to the side of Leonel''s replica.

    Leonel grasped at air, forming another mote of light. Within, an image of him first meeting Aina played. One could see her short cut hair and shy smile.

    Leonel lightly tossed it forward before forming another. Within this one you could find his first ever confession to Aina. One would have thought that her first reaction would have been that flustered runaway everyone had become used to. But, Leonel''s recollection was different.

    That day, she beamed a smile so bright it was etched onto his heart forever. It was only after that that she seemed to panic and run awayбн

    Leonel tossed the mote of light forward. The balance shifted slightly, but it wasn''t nearly enough to balance things once more.

    One after another, the motes of light continued to build. Every memory, every emotion, every first time, every experience.

    However, even after the last memory landed, the balance hadn''t been balanced.

    Leonel stood expressionlessly. There were no memories left. He had placed down everything from the seven years he had known Aina. Yet, all of it wasn''t enough to outweigh those four items.

    At that moment, it was almost as though scissors hovered above Leonel''s heart, ready to snip at something that had been with him for what felt like a lifetime. However, just as the shimmering blades glistened, prepared to snap close, a memory hovered into Leonel''s view, dancing upon the side of his replica.

    It was an image of Leonel kneeling on all fours over Aina''s body. The bottom of her legs had been blown off, charred beyond recognition. His own face was covered in soot and grime, rage painting his expression.

    Without a word, Leonel''s hand grasped at air once again. This time, it wasn''t a memory that formed but rather an item. Compared to the other items, it was shabby and even cracked in multiple places. And yet, it weighed heavily in Leonel''s hand.

    It was a bracelet, a mere C-grade Treasure.

    Leonel tossed it forward.

    When it landed, the balance trembled, finally shifting until both platforms were perfectly level.

 Chapter 837 Stir Up?

    Aina sat in silence, having not moved in the weeks they had been on this spacecraft. Despite her usually large appetite, she hadn''t eaten anything. And, completely out of character, she hadn''t lifted a single finger to practice or train.

    She simply sat their, staring at her wrist the same way she had been for ages already.

    On it, an old, cracked bracelet lay. She couldn''t drum up the courage to hand it over with everything else. She convinced herself that Leonel didn''t need it. After all, he had so many valuable things, right? He wouldn''t miss a C-grade Treasureбн right? It would be fine if she kept it, it wouldn''t be a big deal. He''s probably already forgotten about its existenceбн

    Aina blinked, causing a discomfort to surge through her body. The dryness of her eyes almost made her feel as though something was scraping along them, making her shiver.

    "Aina, you need to restбн"

    Savahn tried to convince Aina to take a rest again. She had lost count of the number of times she had tried already. Even for someone within the Fourth Dimension, it most definitely wasn''t healthy to remain awake for so long. Even Leonel who had Dream Force within the Fifth Dimension still felt the need to sleep at least once a week, let alone Aina whose Soul Force was only in the Fourth Dimension.

    Before Aina could once again give her a perfunctory answer about being just fine, Yuri''s Force suddenly surged. Aina couldn''t react before she found her eyes closing involuntarily.

    "Ahбн"

    Savahn reached her arms out and caught Aina before she could slump out of her seat.

    The ship didn''t have a lot of space. There was Yuri up ahead who took the helm and there was just enough space for about four people to sit facing each other in pairs toward the back. The seat could also recline to allow a decent sleeping experience and there was a compartment in the back with plenty of preserved food.

    Savahn helped put Aina''s seat into a reclined position and let her sleep.

    She couldn''t help but sigh under her breath. She had witnessed a lot of breakups in her lifetime. After all, she had once been a high school student. But, this clearly felt like it was something beyond that.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t have any personal experience in such matters. She had never fallen for a man, so she didn''t understand any of what Aina was experiencing.

    But she still couldn''t wrap her mind around it all. If it hurt you so much, why did you do it at all?

    "We will be crossing from a Fifth Dimensional Fold of Reality into a Sixth Dimensional Fold very soon." Yuri''s voice came from the front. "You should prepare yourself. The jump from Fifth to Sixth is the largest you will have experienced until this point. You might even feel like you''re back to being a normal mortal.

    "Whether you can adapt or not will decide if you have a future ahead of you or if the Fifth Dimension will be your limit."

    Yuri explained this nice and succinctly.

    "бн Do you want me here, Yuri?"

    Savahn spoke after a long pause. In fact, it had been so long that Yuri had thought she didn''t have to expect a response at all. But, the content of the question was even more shocking.

    The circumstances that led to Savahn being here were quiteбн unique. Aina had been clinging to her to the point of refusing to let go. As a result, Yuri had no choice but to propose a deal to Savahn.

    That deal was quite simple. It was an opportunity to step into the broader world and experience the Dimensional Verse in a way she never had before. Compared to a middling Bronze Organization, the place they were going was not just a single step above.

    Savahn wasn''t sure how to answer initially. She wasn''t drunk for power, she didn''t really have anything to strive for, and she had no family leftбн If she were to answer why she had said yes and chosen to come, it wasn''t due to the enticement of Yuri''s offer, but rather because Savahnбн Just didn''t want to be alone anymore.

    She wanted that sisterhood the three of them had had before, but she felt like it was less and less likely with every day that passed.

    "Do you think I hate you?" Yuri countered.

    "Iбн"

    Savahn didn''t really know how to respond. She didn''t think she was hated, it was just that these two had shared a secret that she wasn''t privy to. It was like finding out you were the third wheel in a relationship formed for two. If she was honest, this was a good portion of the reason she had pulled away as well.

    The irony of it all, though, was that back then, she had drawn a line between herself, Aina and Yuri because Aina killed Conrad so viciously. But, Aina had done that for Leonel''s sake. And now, it was a matter between Aina and Leonel that once again brought them together.

    "Savahn, I am a child that Miss Aina''s father adopted. I have an obligation to protect her above all else. However, none of this means that I never saw you as a friend."

    Savahn was stunned into silence, not knowing how to respond. But, her gaze glistened with unshed tears, her lips curling into a slight smile.

    "бн Thank you, Yuriбн"

    "Ah, what are you thanking me for? I need some support to deal with the Miss''s mood swings."

    The two girls giggled, crossing through the depths of space with a small bit of warmth.

    **

    "Alright."

    Leonel''s gaze regained their focus as he smiled lightly, patting Joel''s shoulder.

    "What''s wrong with you, you look like you''ve seen a ghost."

    "Ahбн Capбн?" Joel didn''t know how to respond to this.

    One second, Leonel was completely expressionless. And, in the next, he was smiling warmly. What the hell was going on?

    "Oh? It looks like everyone''s here. That''s good."

    Leonel suddenly released a fiendish grin.

    "How about we stir up some trouble?"

 Chapter 838 Brothers (1)

    "Cap? You''re alright?"

    Leonel blinked. "Why wouldn''t I be?"

    Joel was speechless. He knew that Leonel''s EQ wasn''t this low. Was he just pretending? Or did that brain of his finally short circuit? He didn''t even know how to respond to all of this.

    Leonel smiled knowingly but didn''t say anything else. The way his own logic worked wasn''t something that he wanted to take the time to explain. The number of calculationsбкone part rigorous, and another part arbitraryбкthat went into his final decision was so large that he would have to be here all day if these guys insisted on him explaining it all.

    To make matters worse, they might not even understand and assume that he was simply forgiving Aina because he was lovesickбн When he was probably the only person in this world who wouldn''t be guilty of such a thing.

    Did Aina''s actions hurt? Of course they did. Did Leonel understand why she had done so? He understood that as well.

    He knew that Aina had abandonment issues. He knew that she suffered severely from panic attacks and anxiety. It was because of this that he didn''t want to look at her during those final moments. As much as he cared for her, he simply couldn''t ignore the life and death of his brothers for the sake of her emotions, right?

    It was harsh when he put it that way, but it was the truth.

    Maybe Leonel''s greatest disappointment was that he had left Aina behind expressly so that she could protect his teammates from anything unexpected. Yet, from what it seemed like here, she had left before they were in the clear. The irony of it all wasn''t lost on him in the slightest.

    The second greatest disappointment was that she didn''t believe he could come back alive. That lack of trust stung almost as much as anything else. It stung so much that Leonel knew he had made those memories far lighter than they should have been.

    He had told Aina a long time ago that the one thing he would never tolerate was her losing trust in him. This time, she was barely within a threshold he could accept. If there was a next time, though, the golden balance might be even harsher than it was this time around.

    Either way, the best case scenario right now was to pretend as though nothing had happened. At least that way, the boys would think that he just didn''t want to talk about the topic and avoid it. He knew that they had likely said their fair share of harsh words about Aina in his absence, but since he had already made his decision for now, he didn''t feel that that should continue.

    And, truthfully, even if his decision had landed on the other side, rather than constantly hearing about how terrible she was, he would prefer if all thoughts of her were simply frozen out.

    "What trouble are you trying to stir up, Cap?" Joel asked, seemingly realizing something. Since this was what Leonel wanted, who were they to not oblige? After all, it wasn''t their relationship and it wasn''t they who had invested so many years of their youth into it.

    Leonel grinned, scanning the room. Right now, there were far more than the four that had come as seeded geniuses. Though many of his teammates had died during the Metamorphosis, it seemed that eight still remained. He couldn''t help but feel genuinely happy seeing all their faces like this.

    "Joel."

    "Yes?"

    "If I said that I want us to rise to the top of the Dimensional Verse and stake our control over it all, what would you say?"

    Joel''s eyes glowed. All nervousness he had felt about Leonel''s demeanor vanished with the wind. His back snapped straight and his chest broadened. One could almost feel the sharp aura of his ability whistling around him, leaving blade streaks in the air.

    Was this it?

    Looking into Leonel''s pale violet eyes, he could see purpose, ambition, determinationбн It wasn''t as though he had never seen the last of the three in Leonel before, but they had always been aimed toward short term goals. This was the first time he had ever seen the first two aimed toward something other than Aina.

    If the team had to pick out their greatest fear in this whole ordeal, it wasn''t in the fact Aina was leaving Leonel at all. Objectively speaking, they had always believed that Leonel could do better. And, even with how beautiful Aina had become, wouldn''t it be too ridiculous if she was the only being with that level of beauty throughout the whole Dimensional Verse?

    With their Captain''s qualifications, why wouldn''t he be able to find another?

    Noбн What they had feared the most was that without Aina, the man they all respected and admired so much would suddenly become aimless once againбн An arrow with untold power flying toward an endless abyss without target.

    But nowбн

    Joel began to laugh. His boisterous laughter was even fuller and rounder than Leonel''s own.

    His dark skin almost glowed with an aura of its own. Even Leonel was slightly surprised to see that Joel had suddenly gained a slight violet tint to his energy that most definitely came from Leonel, himself.

    Looking around the room, Leonel found seven more grinning faces looking back at him, each one of taking a portion of Leonel''s violet energy for himself.

    A warmth couldn''t help but bloom in Leonel''s heart. They hadn''t asked any questions, they didn''t want to know how or whyбн They simply took the leap because they trusted him.

    And, for Leonel''s violet energy to react on its own, taking it upon itself to share his King''s Might with them all, that could only mean one thingбн

    Leonel trusted them unconditionally.

    These were his brothers for a lifetime. These were the warriors that would stand by his side to the very end. These were his Generals.

 Chapter 839 Brothers (2)

    Joel. Milan. Raj. Drake. Franco. Arnold. Gil. Allan.

    [Author''s Note: No need to remember these names. I''ll mention them so often in the future and with small reminders of who they are that they''ll become your brothers too, lmao]

    "Are you sure about this, Cap?" Joel asked. "After what happened on Planet Vincero, even though we''re talented compared to their normal students, they''re pretty much drawing a line between us and them. Something like taking them over from the inside would be difficult with how cautious they''re being."

    The group nodded in confirmation. Even while they were here, they were likely being monitored by someone or something. The only reason they weren''t worried enough to warn Leonel was because they were sure that he wasn''t stupid enough to come here without any sort of plan or counter to that.

    That saidбн Leonel''s next words made them question themselves.

    "Oh right! Speaking of which, where are we right now?"

    The group looked toward Leonel as though he was a madman. He had just escaped the pursuit of Fifth Dimensional entities, and it could even be argued that the only reason he managed to do so was because of the element of surprise.

    Now, however, whoever came to track him down would be prepared and likely even more informed about all his abilities. He wouldn''t just be able to wiggle his way out of this again so casually.

    The fact he didn''t even know where they were currently was a huge red flag. But, seeing how careless he seemed about it all, they were too speechless to reprimand him.

    "бн This is an Allied Planet, Cap." Gil spoke out.

    Gil was Leonel''s favorite receiver outside of James when they were on the football field. Rather than playing tight end like James, though, he played wide receiver. And, in fact, he was the one who caught the game winning touchdown in the final play after coach subbed James out in a rage.

    He was a tall man, only an inch or two shorter than Leonel. But, he was quite lanky. In truth, his body composition and poor posture was eerily reminiscent of Aphestus. It was just that Leonel knew quite well that Gil wasn''t nearly as jacked as Aphestus was. He had always said muscle training messed up his hand-eye coordination.

    "Allied?" Leonel blinked, he had never heard this term before.

    "Yeah. A lot of worlds are under joint ownership like this. They also double as pretty good entertainment centers and trade hubs. After this, we should definitely hit the strip club."

    Gil''s usually lanky and lazy appearance lit up when he reached this point. Leonel had wondered why the usually laid back brat had so graciously decided to explain things to him. It seemed that this was his purpose all along.

    In their group, it could be said that the second biggest pervert outside of James was definitely Gil. Who knew how many hearts he had broken in Royal Blue Academy with that casually handsome face of his. That 5 o''clock shadow he could never bother to shave completely off and his swooping dirty blond hair left those poor girls not standing a chance.

    Leonel chuckled. "Maybe later."

    "Ah!" Gil almost leapt from his seat. "Did someone take over your body, cap?! Lemme check!"

    Gil almost leapt across the table, expressing his shock in the most ridiculous of ways. But, he couldn''t get very far before Franco palmed him in the face.

    Seemingly knowing exactly what was going to happen next, Arnold, who sat between the two of them, put a hand to both of their chests, keeping them apart.

    "Are you trying to go, Elephant Ears?!" Gil snapped, his sharp nose leaking droplets of blood.

    "Can''t you see there''s food on the table, Quasimodo? I don''t want your BO stinking up my meal."

    Gil and Franco had aбн Love-hate relationship.

    While Gil played wide receiver, Franco played cornerback, the latter of which was meant to defend against the former. It could be said that they were at war during every practice. One would think that they were enemies rather than teammates.

    Franco was quite known for his overly large body parts. He had big feet, big hands and big ears. Somehow, it all came together for him in a pretty nice package. At the very least, he wasn''t ugly. But, that wouldn''t stop Gil from going at him.

    Ironically, Arnold, who had stopped the two of them, had pretty much the same relationship with Milan due to on the field stuff. Arnold''s gut was just as big as Milan''s and his chest and arms were just as solid and robust. The palms of his hands were probably even bigger than Franco''s, completely stopping the two men from leaping at one another.

    This was quite helpful to Arnold. After all, he played defensive tackle while Milan played center. Their battles during practice were quite infamous as well.

    Leonel watched all of this with a smile on his face. How long had it been? It seemed that in his obsession with Aina, he had neglected his brothers. The fact they weren''t blaming him now when he knew they had every right to do so only made him affirm his resolve to not forget them again.

    "Of course, we can go later." Leonel laughed.

    "No, Cap, for real. Did someone mess with your head?"

    The entire group looked over. Since when would Leonel ever agree to go to a strip club?

    This time, though, it was Allan who slapped the back of Gil''s head. It was ''obvious'' to him that Leonel was just trying to get over Aina. Why were you asking so many questions about it?

    Leonel chuckled and shook his head.

    "I once read somewhere that the places people are most vulnerable and open is a place like a brothel or a strip club. I wonder how much information is hidden in those walls?"

    The group blinked as they looked at Leonel. Gil rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Allan. But, even he stopped and looked at Leonel when he heard this ''explanation''.

    Go to the strip club forбн ''information''? Riiiiiightбн

 Chapter ?840 Before L Go (1)

    "Cap, it''s okay for you to join the ranks of us perverts. I won''t judge you."

    Leonel laughed at their reaction. He had been mostly joking. He didn''t ''need'' much information right now. Or, more accurately, there wasn''t any information that he could suddenly receive from going to a strip club right this moment that wouldn''t be like a pie falling from the sky.

    Leonel knew that the likelihood he would find something useful in such a case was minimal if anything. Rather, he only put forward the idea because he had something else on his mind: An information network.

    During his time battling Alexandre the Apex''s Kingdom, Leonel had long since learned the value of not only having information, but subverting your enemy''s information as well.

    The trouble with all of this was that even Leonel wasn''t exactly sure where to start with all of this.

    As things stood now, he hadбн nine subordinates. His eight brothers here and Elthor who he had already sent to take control of the Oryx, a task that shouldn''t be too difficult for him to accomplish.

    But, an information network, especially one that would need to cover the whole of a galaxy, at the very least, was far beyond his current self.

    The ''logical'' answer would be to make use of information networks that already existed. Leonel was sure that he would find multiple. But, the trouble with those information networks is that their ''confidentiality'' only extended as far as their benefits did.

    If Leonel started purchasing large sums of information related to the rise and fall of great powersбкnot to mention the fact he didn''t have the funds to do such a thing currentlyбкthere was no way that these information networks wouldn''t take advantage of this.

    Of course, Leonel could use this to his advantage as well and walk a tight rope of painting a false image of what he truly wanted while siphoning away information he actually needed.

    However, such a thing would only be possible if he already had a full understanding of the scope of many thingsбн But if he had that, why would he need the information networks to begin with?

    And just like that, he was back to square one.

    After reaching such a dead end, many would feel despair, but Leonel grinned beside himself. This sort of challenge, how long had it been since he felt it? How could he possibly hold back his smile?

    Unfortunately, when the boys saw Leonel''s eyes glaze over and a ''creepy'' smile spread across his face, they still thought he was thinking of the strip club.

    Allan shook his head, shifting his glasses up his nose.

    "Cap has already fallen."

    "I think we might need to replace she who shall not be named soon before he falls into depravity." Drake agreed.

    Drake, unlike the others, played the same position as Leonel: quarterback. It was just that he was a rookie when Leonel was a senior, and given how good Leonel was, he never got the chance to play.

    Still, he had spent most of his freshman year emulating everything Leonel did because Leonel was his idol. So, he had picked up many of Leonel''s habits, including an overall disdain for all things women until he could find his own Aina. By now, what once was an emulation had become the true Drake, so he too felt an obligation to ''save'' their captain.

    As for Allan, he was pretty much asexual. He didn''t find any fondness in women or men, he just liked his computer screens and programming. Unfortunately, rather than gaining a programming profession, he had been slotted in as a Five Star Safety and was forced to play football from a young age. Want to see more chapters? Please visit p a n d a -n o v e l .co m

    To make matters more depressing, the ability he awakened also had nothing to do with programming, leaving him even more depressed. It seemed the world didn''t want him doing what he loved to do the most.

    "Alright, alright." Leonel chuckled. "Forget the strip club for now. In a bit, I plan on leaving for a legacy I''ve been putting off for a long time. It won''t be right to do anything until I can leave the Third Dimension and enter the Fourth and hopefully Fifth."

    Leonel knew that he would be able to blaze through the Fourth Dimension. Thanks to his Metal Body, his body was mostly tempered already. While it would take even most talents years, it should take him at most a few weeks to months. Theoretically, anyway.

    But, in order to do this, he definitely needed the rest of [Dimensional Cleanse] first.

    "You''re leaving again already?" Raj pouted.

    For such a big man, the face he made was almost adorable.

    Leonel smiled. "This time I won''t be away for long. In fact, I promise that every step we take forward from now on will be together."

    Hearing such a promise, the eyes of the group lit up. It seemed that Leonel realized he had been neglecting them too. Since that was the case, there was no need to say anything more. If there was anything they could trust in Leonel for, it was that he would never make the same mistake twice.

    "For now, I think you guys are right. Trying to take down your organizations from the inside out will prove to be difficult. Rather than that, I only want you to monitor them and gather up information. Even things you all feel are useless, note them down and preferably, memorize them.

    "Since I''m here, though, I won''t leave without giving you all something in return."

    Leonel scanned the room. He had left them all to grow and improve on their own for too long. If he wanted to be a King, his own combat prowess wasn''t the only one of importance. He had to make sure that everyone around him would grow as well.

    And luckily, he had formulated a technique perfect for this based on the Ability Index.

    Dream Path.

 Chapter 841 Before L Go (2)

    Dream Path took inspiration from both the Ability Index and Aina''s ability. Leonel had always found it fascinating that Aina was able to intuit the next step of her progression and had wondered what it would feel like to have such an ability.

    Of course, Leonel was under no illusions that Dream Path would be anywhere near as good as Aina''s own innate ability. At best, it could simulate maybe 1 or 2% of the effect. However, Leonel still felt that this was enough of a helping hand to push his teammates in the right direction.

    It was clear that they were growing well on their own. If one was purely looking at their Dimensions, they had already left him far behind. But, Leonel wanted to give them more focused growth.

    "Joel, you fall into the Blade Affinity Ability Index, right?"

    Joel nodded. In the beginning, he could only add a sharpened aura to his weapons. But now, he had grown far beyond just that. The only difference between himself and Emna from Crimson Hall was that the latter specialized in short blades and daggers while he preferred polearm weapons like his pike, or a halberd or spear.

    At the moment, he still used the same D-grade Pike he had earned from his very first Zone. But, this was still enough to leave him among the average in terms of weapons. He had mostly not changed it due to sentimental value.

    "How far along are you in comprehending your Universal Cycles?"

    "I''ve comprehended Winter and Summer on my own. But, I''m having trouble with the milder Spring and Fall."

    Leonel continued to ask Joel several questions before he fell into silence, closing his eyes.

    After several minutes, Leonel extended a finger forward, pressing it to Joel''s forehead. In that moment, Joel experienced what felt like a dream, but it was as though he was lucid for every moment of it. Everything was so vivid that he almost began acting out every step of it.

    The dream didn''t have any words or any expressed advice. It was more like a feelingбн Joel felt like he was experiencing years of life and becoming wiser with every passing moment. By the end of it, he ''felt'' as though he could see a vague path forward.

    Leonel exhaled a long breath as he retracted his finger.

    If he wanted Joel and the others to comprehend everything on their own, he couldn''t just give them comprehension. What he could do instead was give them a vague feeling of the path forward that made an unfamiliar path seem familiar to them.

    At the moment, Leonel was able to simulate about a year ahead for them. This would be able to streamline the process they would have made in a year into a fraction of the time. This was Dream Path.

    Leonel knew that he could likely simulate more time, but the more he pushed, the less accurate he would become and more likely it would be for them to stray off course. This was the best outcome for his current level.

    Once he was finished with Joel, Leonel moved on to Milan.

    "Milan, your Energy Shield Ability Index is almost at the Reflection Stage, correct?"

    "Mhm." Milan nodded. "Very close. But, I doubt that if we went up a Dimension that it would even be at the Nullification Stage."

    "And your Universal Cycles?"

    Milan scratched his head. "I''ve never really thought about it. Isn''t that just for weapons and elements? I wouldn''t even know how to integrate it with my ability if it was possible to integrate with an ability at all."

    Leonel nodded, fell into silence then pressed a finger onto Milan''s forehead as well before moving on to Raj.

    "Raj, your Earth Affinity Ability Index is a bit uniqueбн It''s difficult to rise it up to higher levels on your own..."

    The Earth Affinity or any Elemental affinity ability could be separated into multiple potential branching evolution paths. Some paths focused on volume of the Element that could be moved, others focused on evolution of the Element itself say from red flames to blue flames, and still others focused on auxiliary abilities that could be produced. For example, Supreme Monet''s Fire Affinity Ability Index evolved abilities that could heal her. This would fall into the third category.Do you want to read more chapters? Come to p a n d a - n ov el,c.o.m

    As for Raj, Leonel believed that his fell into the second category: the evolution of the Element. This meant that Raj''s strength wouldn''t be in the volume of earth he could move, but rather in the quality of earth he could produce.

    Something like Elthor''s Chaotic Particle Force would be at the highest end of what Raj could achieve. As for at the simplest end, it would be the normal earth beneath their feet.

    However, this is just an example. Leonel knew that Raj''s evolution path was especially tied to carbon. If the Third Dimension was his peak, he would be aiming for something like Diamond, Graphene or Buckypaper.

    In higher Dimensions, there would be even more unique structures to form and it would all rely on Raj''s training and ingenuity. The unfortunate part was that Raj wasn''t the sharpest tool in the box. Even until this point, he was still using normal earth as though this was his limit.

    If one took an objective measurement of all eight of them, Raj''s ability definitely had the greatest potential and was one of the few Ability Indexes that didn''t have a simple five step journey to the top.

    But, ironically, this difficulty for Raj made it the easiest for Leonel to guide. Unlike everyone else who Leonel had to be subtle with, with Raj, Leonel could just etch the step by step progression into his mind.

    Raj would never understand the nuances of the chemical structure. However, Leonel could make him understand the ''feel'' so that he could do it naturally.

    If there was anyone who could guide Raj in the subtleties of minerals and rocks, it was Leonel. Not only this, but Leonel could also simulate unique structures for Raj to create and make use of that might not even exist naturally in the world. It was almost a shame that this ability was born within Raj and not Leonel himself.

    Leonel was certain that by the time he returned, Raj would probably be the strongest of the eight of them.

    "Ah! I could do this?! Why didn''t anyone tell me?!"

    Raj smacked his own forehead with a meaty palm, causing Leonel to laugh beside himself.

    Wiping tears from his eyes, Leonel looked toward Allan.

    "Allan, you''ve always wanted to become a programmer, right? How about I help you with that?"

 Chapter 842 Four Eyes

    Allan''s eyes glowed beneath his glasses as he stared at Leonel with a little too much passion. One would have thought that he had every intention of jumping over the table like Gil almost did previously. Except this time, there didn''t seem to be anyone prepared to stop him.

    "Do you have something, Cap? Everyone is so stingy. I can''t find information I want at any time like we could back on Earth. Even if we couldn''t take it back home, at least we had everything at school."

    Allan''s excitement turned down into a frown. Leonel''s brothers had no idea what kind of background he had, especially since Leonel hardly understood as well. Leonel didn''t see the Morales or Luxnix families as backers, he rather saw them as connections he would have to take control of in the future. With how this Dimensional Verse worked, he was under no illusion that these families would just accept him with open arms.

    Since even Leonel was in a limbo, his teammates were even more so. Though Leonel was more powerful than they were and clearly more talented, there was nothing certain about his accumulation of resources.

    Back on Earth, as students of the third ranked Academy, they had more information at their finger tips than they could consume in an entire lifetime. Though there were restrictions about taking this information off campus, that could be fixed with a single late night stay at the library. The only reason Leonel hadn''t done this and was thus ranked third in his class behind both Aina and, ironically, Allan, was because he had a schedule to keep in order to return to his Paradise Island.

    The Dimensional Verse was the exact opposite. Anyone with information always hoarded it, and even organizations placed them behind gates that required ''merits'' or ''contributions'' to access. There was even some information that no number of merits could ever get you without an equivalent amount of status.

    It was clear, then, why Allan would feel so stifled. The fields that could relate to programming or coding in the Dimensional Verse were amongst the most gate keeped. Things like Force Crafting or Force Pill Crafting, or any number of branching fields, were especially protected by their owners. It was because of this that Kaela had been taken advantage of by Jac Beinala for so long.

    Leonel smiled at Allan''s question. Rather than answering directly, he asked a question of his own.

    "What is your ability?"

    "I have a magnetic ability. I can apply magnetic fields to any surface. It works best on inorganic materials, but I can do it on organic materials as well like skin. But, it functions best on my own skin. If I wanted to apply a field to someone else, it would require touch because usually my ability could be repelled by Force Skin if I tried to apply it from a distance."

    Leonel''s smile widened into a grin.

    "You were first in our class but you can''t see how useful such an ability would be?"

    Allan pushed up his glasses. "You want me to use it for something other than just making battle more convenient?"

    Allan''s use of his ability was actually quite skilled and clever. He applied his magnetic fields to surfaces to increase his speed and attack power. He could also apply them in reverse to act as a defensive barrier that could slow and sometimes even stop attacks entirely. And, in addition to that, he was working on an absolute death domain of sorts that could make use of his ability in a longer ranged sense.

    It could be said that while Raj''s ability had the potential to become the most powerful, Allan''s intelligence and ingenuity in using his ability would likely put his above the former. Raj''s thinking was simply too simple and that couldn''t be changed just because of a few tips. Want to see more chapters? Please visit p a n d a -n o v e l .c o m

    As far as Leonel was concerned, though, with his guidance, they''d all become that powerful.

    "You''re practically a living, breathing battery. Magnetic fields can be used to form anything from electricity all the way up to nuclear fusion."

    Allan raised an eyebrow. "I know this, but Earth''s technology is useless in the Dimensional Verse. What would be the point in using it that way?"

    "Well, it''s only as useless as you allow it to be. If you didn''t have such an ability, I would probably tell you to give up. But, the fact you do makes it a different story entirely.

    "You know what I noticed on my trip here?" Leonel smiled mysteriously. "Even Fifth Dimensional stars undergo nuclear fusion. The energies they produce are different and the process might have a few differences here and there, but the core of the process doesn''t change."

    Allan''s eyes suddenly lit up. "You meanбн"

    "As your ability grows, I have a feeling that the magnetism will continue to have similar affects to what it once had on Third Dimensional Earth. You just might have a shortcut to bringing Earth''s technology to the higher Dimensions."

    "Ahбн"

    "Don''t get too excited." Leonel laughed. "I have a feeling that you won''t really be the first. I doubt that there''s a complete absence of technology at the very top, and if there is, that only means that it would be even more difficult than we think to accomplish it.

    "But, we have an advantage. There should be very few if any worlds that reached our level of technology before entering the Fourth Dimension. Our Third Dimension technology was even capable of harming Fourth Dimensional existences.

    "Second, we come from a very talented world, the most talented if the information I have is correct. That means if there''s anyone who can do it, it would be us.

    "And finallyбн Even if we fail to form the technology itself, if you can become what essentially amounts to a sentient star reactorбн"

    Leonel didn''t finish his words but Gil already began to complain.

    "Damn, who gave four eyes such an OP ability?"

    Leonel laughed and pointed a finger to Allan''s forehead before he focused his attention on Gil. He might as well do him next.

 Chapter 843 Shocking Discovery

    Gil''s ability was related to the Lightning Element. But, rather than falling into the second category like Raj, his own fell into the third category like Supreme Monet''s. Instead of gaining access to volume, power or an evolution, he gained access to special abilities as his Lightning progressed.

    From what Leonel could tell, these abilities were all related to speed, making Gil a speedster, albeit not a Pure Speedster, but one that relied on the Elements.

    Still, after some inspection, Leonel realized that Gil''s ability was more subtle than that and worked especially well on the nervous system. The good news was that it didn''t just work well on his nervous system, but that of others as well.

    Having come to this conclusion, it was easier for Leonel to map out Gil''s next steps with Dream Path. He would focus not only on his speed, but also preventive measures in battle. He would be very effective at area control alongside Raj and Milan.

    Following this, Leonel moved on to Arnold. After a while of observation, he couldn''t help but be intrigued.

    "Explain your ability to me, Arnold."

    Arnold held up his large hands. The simple action caused the rippling muscles and veins along his arms to flex and pop. One would have thought just from this sight that he had a strength based ability, but this was far from the truth.

    "I''m not sure what to call it," Arnold started in his gravelly voice, "but my palm shoots out energy that has strong vibrations."

    Leonel couldn''t help but smile at Arnold''s simple and direct answer. One would have thought that his deep, raspy voice hurt his throat to use because this was about as many words as he would say in a single sitting.

    "Do it." Leonel said.

    Arnold blinked but didn''t think much of it as he shot a palm toward Leonel.

    Leonel''s pale violet eyes glowed as he matched it with his own palm.

    BANG!

    The table beneath their blow splintered and shattered.

    "Ah! No!" Raj dove after the food, displaying a nimbleness his large body had no business having.

    Leonel''s eyes widened. The sleeve of the tracksuit he had swapped into was torn to shreds, revealing the toned arms beneath.

    Unable to hold it in, the chair beneath him shattered, sending him tumbling backward.

    Even after Leonel''s hand separated from Arnold''s, he could still feel it trembling on an almost cellular level. If it wasn''t for his Metal Body, his arm might have already burst at the seams, but he could tell that Arnold had most definitely held back.

    "Wowбн"

    Leonel felt that Arnold''s ability fell into a unique category.

    Every so often, an ability without an Ability Index would appear. Sael''s odd flower pupil ability was among these. There was no strict Ability Index for her and she could only gradually strengthen her ability and find out its particular quirks on her own. Do you want to read more chapters? Come to p a n d a - n ovel,c.o.m

    At first glance, Arnold''s ability seemed similar to Big Buddha who had been killed by Leonel in the Camelot Zone. This ability would fall into the Palm Affinity Ability Index and be categorized by power, size and the quality of Force it produced.

    However, there were many problems with this categorization.

    Firstly, Big Buddha''s hand physically expanded, but Arnold''s did not. And, second and most importantly, this unique Force that Arnold produced was on a level all to its own.

    It was one thing to induce vibrations, but to do it on a cellular level was a different beast entirely. What if Arnold''s ability increased to the point he could do it on a molecular level? What about an atomic level? What about an even deeper level than that?

    Of course, it had to be considered that Leonel''s body was only at the Fourth Dimension, so Arnold might not have such an affect when facing someone at the Fifth or higher Dimension. But, the potential was striking nonetheless.

    ''Fascinatingбн'' Leonel''s eyes glowed.

    "And your Universal Cycles?"

    "I mastered them all." Arnold replied simply.

    The group of brothers all looked toward Arnold as though he was some sort of monster. Even the best among them, Joel, had only mastered two. When was he planning to tell them that he had already grasped all of them on his own?

    Leonel began to laugh beside himself. This was just like Arnold. He didn''t present information that wasn''t asked for. And, even then, it would depend on how much he liked you. If you weren''t a friend of his, he wouldn''t even bother to answer a question that had been asked.

    This was probably why Arnold wasn''t among the seeded geniuses. His organization probably had no idea how powerful he was.

    "And have you touched the Heavenly Body Realm?"

    Beyond the Four Seasons Realm was the Heavenly Body Realm. Knowing Arnold, even if he did succeed, he wouldn''t say a word. So, Leonel decided to purposely ask.

    Arnold wasn''t the smartest in the room. However, there was something about his straight forward and stoic personality that made him an absolute beast when it came to comprehending such arts. He knew what he wanted and he never overthought things. This was a deadly combination when it came to reaching Realms that often relied on feelбн

    So, when Arnold gave his answer, Leonel wasn''t surprised in the least.

    "I have a small grasp of The Meteor."

    Leonel exhaled a light breath along with everyone else.

    While the Four Seasons Realm was split into concepts of Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall, the Heavenly Body Realm conceptualized four levels of Heavenly Bodyбн The Meteor, The Moon, The Planet and The Stars.

    To be within the Fourth Dimension and grasp The Meteor through self comprehension placed Arnold among the best in the Dimensional Verse in terms of Universe Cycle comprehension.

    "One more thing, Arnold," Leonel continued with his eyes narrowing slightly, "did you comprehend to supplement your Palms or your Body?"

    This was maybe the most important question Leonel could ask. To have comprehended it just for his Palms would be impressive enough. But, if he was like Leonel and could apply Universal Force freelyбн It was a different matter entirely.

 Chapter ?844 High Hopes

    Arnold blinked, showing the first hints of an expression: confusion. He wasn''t sure what Leonel meant by that.

    But, this only made sense. Even Leonel hadn''t known about this. It could be said that he had randomly stumbled upon it out of luck.

    That day when he first learned about Universal Cycles and exited the Camelot Zone to speak to Uncle Montez, he had off handedly said something about applying Universe Force to everything from his spear to his bow to his movement techniques. He hadn''t realized it then, but he had already planted a seed for what was to come.

    After stepping into the Dimensional Verse in earnest, though, Leonel had come to learn that his thinking was radical. In this part of the Dimensional Verse, at least, no one spoke of Universal Cycles outside of their use with Elements and Weapons.

    Due to this, Arnold''s scope of comprehension had been unwittingly cut off by the ignorance of those around him, limiting his growth. If he grew too far, it might have even become impossible to reverse at all.

    In that caseбн Leonel knew exactly how Arnold should progress.

    Leonel brought out a new table from the Segmented Cube and helped Raj order more food before he cried too many tears. Then, he pressed a finger to Arnold''s forehead.

    Arnold''s expression changed numerous times in the span of just a few seconds. He had never known that Universal Cycles could be comprehended in this way. If it was possible, the boost to his strength wouldn''t be small. But, if he wanted to do this, he would have to give up his conception of The Meteor in order to take a step back and rebuild his Four Seasons conceptions.

    At the same time, though, Leonel learned something from Arnold as well.

    Leonel had never really been trying to progress from the Four Seasons Realm toward the Heavenly Body Realm. That said, he had always subconsciously believed that something was missing. What he hadn''t known, though, was that what was missing was so blatantly in his face.

    Whenever others used Universal Force, their conceptualizations would cause phenomena to appear in the form of the blazing heat of Summer or the blistering cold of Winter, as two examples. But, whenever Leonel used his ownбн nothing happened.

    Leonel had previously thought that this was because he had transcended the need to do this, but now that he thought about it, that made no sense. If the true form of the Four Seasons Realm had nothing to do with the Four Seasons, then why did it even have such a name to begin with?

    It would be one thing if it was only known as such in this corner of the universe, but even his father''s dictionary called it the Four Seasons Realm, and Uncle Montez did as well. Obviously, he was missing something important.

    Feeling the subtle use of Universal Force Arnold had and even how powerful his conceptualizations were left Leonel in awe.

    He realized then that his Universal Force use might have been more powerful than others, but it was ultimately still just a shell. He was at the very beginning of a Realm with endless depths and he hadn''t even bothered to take a single step forward. How foolishбн

    That fear of missing out on something important Leonel had formed two years ago suddenly came back in full force. He realized that he needed to be more diligent and conscientious. He couldn''t allow such big holes in his comprehension to continue on for so long.

    Once Leonel removed his finger from Arnold''s forehead, the latter suddenly smiled.

    "Huh? Am I seeing things?" Milan rubbed his head. "This block head knows how to smile?" Want to see more chapters? Please visit panda-novel ,co.m

    Arnold swept a gaze over toward Milan, clearly filled with silent disdain.

    "You want to go, meat for hands?!"

    Arnold once again didn''t respond, ignoring Milan completely.

    It seems that it was inaccurate to say that Milan and Arnold had a rivalry similar to Franco and Gil. Milan had been losing for years and it seemed he would never turn it around. What kind of rivalry was that?

    Leonel chuckled and looked toward the final two, Drake and Franco.

    Drake had a top tier marksmanship ability. Unlike Double Shot, his own came with a homing ability.

    The Marksmanship Ability Index was split into multiple categories. Drake, though, seemed to gain the abilities from two, making him what was called a Pure Marksman.

    The categories were as follows for a Pure Marksman: Sharp, Lock, Curve, Homing, and Marksman.

    Sharp gave one a heightened sensitivity to the environment and how it might affect a shot. Lock allowed one to tag an enemy with stronger senses than what one would have in Sharp, giving one at this level a small predictive ability along with the prowess to not lose sight of an enemy within a certain range.

    Curve branched the senses of a marksman toward more telekinetic abilities. The difference here is that it relies on communication between the sensory Lock and the marksman. The deviation allowed was very small compared to the next level.

    Homing allows for far more freedom and a projectile from a marksman at this level can even follow an enemy through a weaving path for an extended period of time without losing power.

    Finally, there was Marksman. Unlike most Ability Indexes, this was not reserved for Savants, though its highest levels were. Marksman allowed near omniscient predictive abilities about what an enemy would do next and how they would react. It was eerily similar to Leonel''s own Dream Simulation ability.

    At the highest level, reserved for Savants, they could practically see into the future. At the lowest, it was possible to see a few branching paths and their probabilities.

    The main difference between Leonel and someone at this level was that the latter would be completely reliant on their eyes, this would not extend to their Soul Force.

    At the moment, Drake was doing quite well and had stepped into the lowest levels of Homing within the Fifth Dimension. This was excellent for a Fourth Dimensional existence and Leonel had high hopes for him.

 Chapter 845 How Long?

    Finally, there was Franco. He looked toward Leonel with anticipation, hoping that his outcome would be as great as everyone else''s.

    His ability was quite simple, it was a pure physical boost. However, it wasn''t as simple as the most common increases to strength, speed or the like. Rather, it was a holistic upgrade in everything from his senses to his speed to his reaction time.

    Franco would probably benefit the most from comprehending all encompassing Universal Force, but Leonel understood that such a thing couldn''t be expected. There would be very few people like him and Arnold. He had to be careful with setting the bar too high or else Franco would be the one to suffer most should he fail.

    Rather than doing this, Leonel tailored Franco''s future path to what he loved.

    Franco seemed to think that the broad sword was the coolest weapon that there was, so Leonel allowed him to continue along that path. At the same time, he incorporated a mandatory daily routine for flexibility.

    "Capбн You don''t really want me to do thisбн Right?"

    Leonel grinned. "What''s the matter?"

    "I would rather die!"

    "Oh come on, it''s just a little stretching."

    "A little stretching in preparation for what?!" Franco was almost speechless. "I don''t swing that way even for you, Cap!"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. He was just trying to help, how did this become a question of his sexuality. Franco really had an overactive imagination.

    "Stop complaining so much, if you want to maximize your ability, your limbs need to be limber. If they aren''t, you''ll only be impeding yourself. Also, be sure to only perform the stretches after weight training. If you do it before, you''ll affect your performance and increase chances of injury. If you do it after, you''ll be able to loosen up tightened muscles and promote more healthy growth."

    "Aggghhh! Why couldn''t I get a cool routine like everyone else!"

    "What did Cap ask you to do?" Milan asked curiously.

    "Fuck you! I''m taking this to the grave!"

    Light laughter filled the table as the nine of them talked and chatted. Finally, Leonel felt that it was about time he left.

    "бн I''m going to give each of you two treasures that suit you. But, you have to remember to only use the more valuable of the two if you''re in a life or death situation. Don''t go around showing off unless you all want to be buried before your time.

    "I''m not entirely sure how long I''ll be goneбн But I don''t think it will take much time. The person who gave me the map didn''t specify too much, so I assume that since I can read it, I''m strong enoughбн"

    Leonel casually explained some things before he began to Craft. It was clear he had no idea the level of commotion he was about to cause, nor the kind of sparks he was about to light ablaze.

    **

    Days later, Leonel found himself on the same small ship he had left behind on a deserted planet. He sat in silence for a long while, seemingly organizing his thoughts. His heartbeat was steady, his blood flowed smoothly, and his breathing had a calming cadence to it.

    The items that Aina had left behind sat on his lap without making a single sound. He had already checked, but there was no final message, no apology, and not even an enraged rant about how terrible of a boyfriend he was.

    Even if one pried Leonel open to the point of being able to read his mind, one would never guess that he was going through a breakup. Maybe even Leonel''s own Dream Simulation wouldn''t be able to pick up on this at all.

    ''I wonder how long dad has been away from momбн At least 18 years, right? Did they talk in that time? Did they miss each other? Why did they separate at all? Was there a good reason? Or was the reason as terrible as this one?''

    Leonel wonderedбн His dad had left him without even a word of goodbye. Well, if his holographic messages were excluded, anyway. Could that be because he was so excited to reunite with his wife? Or was there another reason?Want to see more chapters? Please visit panda-novel ,co.m

    Now that Leonel thought about it, he wasn''t even certain that his parents were still together. For all he knew, they were divorced.

    ''It would be nice if you were here, old man. You really know how to disappear at the worst of times.''

    Leonel didn''t even bother to try and speak to the dictionary. Although it had his father''s voice, it sounded too synthetic. It would piss him off more than it would help him.

    Before him sat a split path between Duty and Love. Somehow, Leonel almost knew that this same split road was what had separated his parents for so long. It was a cruel choice, indeed.

    Leonel leaned his back into his chair and closed his eyes. Deep, rhythmic breathing filled the quiet ship.

    Like this, a lone young man sat upon a desolate planet, being the only living soul within dozens of light years.

    **

    Within the depths of space, a small ship tore through the Fabric of Reality. It rattled and shook, but eventually pierced its way through. And what it saw on the other side was nothing short of maybe the most spectacular scene the three women on board have ever witnessed.

    There wasn''t just a single planet ahead. Rather, there were three. They slowly rotated around one another as though they were each others'' moons while simultaneously having numerous smaller true moons hovering around them.

    One planet was covered in deep violet oceans and had light lavender clouds to match. Its continents were endless expanses of silver that twinkled even in the night.

    The second planet looked like a golden marble matched with swirls of the whitest white. The clouds formed gorgeous patterns across its body, making it look like a delicately sculpted pastry or a beautiful piece of abstract art.

    The last planet was covered in mountains so tall that they protruded like horns out from its surface, through its clouds and past even its atmosphere. These monumentous mountains stood proudly as the lush blue oceans and delicate white clouds circled its feet.

    Each one of these planets had a unique character to it that could shake one to their core. And this was the first sight these three women saw the moment they stepped into the Sixth Dimension.

    Aina gazed out of the window, her red eyes having receded and her expression having become more neutral.

    How long had it beenбн? How long had it been since she saw her father?

 Chapter 846 Curled

    Leonel opened his eyes once more, a pool of calmness resting within their pale violet depths.

    Funny enough, what he most struggled with wasn''t the emotions themselves, but rather the decision to abandon them or not. With the balance having been even, the choice was left to him. The ''logical'' decision was to leave things as status quo. After all, a tie was usually dealt with in that fashion. But, such a decision also meant that he would have to carry this around and he almostбн didn''t want to.

    It was impeding his thought process too much, taking up too much of his time. In the end, Leonel was forced to compartmentalize his distracting thoughts. However, somehow, one mind didn''t seem enough to do that. He was forced to assign over a hundred before they were satisfied, and that left him at a 10% deficit he wouldn''t normally have.

    Still, Leonel paid the price. Anything so that his mind would be clear and free. If he hadn''t done this, the impact to his cognitive function would have been even worse.

    At least now he could split his mind more than a thousand ways. Since he had gotten by with just a few dozen in the past, if he couldn''t wreak havoc with over 900, then he might as well give up all his goals right this moment.

    With that done, Leonel took out the piece of polished Memory Ore. It had been with him for years already, but this was only the second time he had it in his hands like this.

    It had a gentle oval shape to it and it was such a shimmering silver that Leonel could see even his own reflection with astounding clarity. And yet, it felt rough to the touch.

    Leonel was certain that the Memory Ore hadn''t felt like this when he first got it. But, now something had changedбн After eliminating several possibilities, Leonel realized that it must be that his own sensitivities had evolved.

    Not only did Leonel''s Tier 9 Metal Body make him far more sensitive to Ores and their refined metals, but the habit Leonel had built in splitting his minds to increase his sensory perception was also coming into play as well.

    Leonel realized at the moment that his Internal Sight wouldn''t be enough to read this map. Even though he had entered the Fifth Dimension with his Dream Force, it was being weighed down by his true Dimension. He would have to rely on a combination of his Variant Earth Affinity and his Internal Sight to accomplish his goal.

    After observing the Memory Ore for a moment longer, Leonel focused and began to read it.

    According to Uncle Montez, this Memory Ore was a map. But, Leonel knew that Memory Ore was capable of housing so much information that the computer chips of even 25th century Earth would run out of space before even a dent could be put into it. And that was ALL the computer chips to ever exist and would ever exist. The difference was that exaggerated.

    Leonel found it hard to believe that a map would need so much space. And, if it didбн How could he ever read it?

    A Memory Ore would be capable of housing a map of the entire universe. But, if this was really what was in here, Leonel might as well give up and choose a different technique to enter the Fourth Dimension with.

    How would he even begin to orient himself on such a large map?

    Leonel could only hope that while the Memory Ore had such great capacity, only a fraction of it was being used. Maybe it was just a habit of large families and organizations to waste Memory Ore like this? Even on Earth the rich like using precious metals in places they had no business beingбн like toilets. Want to see more chapters? Please visit panda-novel ,co.m

    What Leonel actually found, though, left him stunned.

    ''This isn''t a mapбн There''s not even any information in hereбн What is this? A clue? An encryption?''

    The image Leonel was seeing was blurry at first. One had to remember how difficult it was to use Memory Ores. It required an incredibly subtle use of Soul Force to disrupt its chemical structure. This disruption could then be decoded as a message by the next individual.

    The issue with this, though, was that reading a Memory Ore was like wading through a mine field. If you were too forceful or not careful enough, you could disrupt the chemical structure and thus destroy the information you were trying to read.

    Of course, Leonel''s own Dream Force was still too weak to inspire grand changes in such a high level ore, which was ironically why it was still possible for him to do this with little experience. However, even if he caused a small shiftбн In a map that was meant to point to a position in the vastness of this universe, he could very well end up tens of thousands of light years off course.

    So, Leonel was careful. Even with how confident he was in his Dream Force control, he was even more careful than he had to be. He was taking no chances.

    The result was that by the time he could see the first layer of information, he was stonewalled by the fact it wasn''t information at all. Orбн It wasn''t exactly information just yet, more accurately.

    Information could be stored in the Memory Ore at several levels. The deepest and most difficult level to read was at the near atomic level. The easiest, though, was stored in about the size of a cell on the human which contained about 100 trillion atoms. So, the disparity was clear.

    The good news was that this encryption was on the cell level, so Leonel, who had been working with things that size since he began practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] to begin with, could see it clearly.

    The bad news, though, was that that was where the familiarity and ease came to a grinding halt.

    Stillбн A smile curled Leonel''s lip.

 Chapter 847 Solutions

    Encryptions? Puzzles? Codified games? This was what he was best at.

    Leonel ignored the first layer of encryptions and sunk deeper. The first layer was on a scale of 100 trillion atoms. The second was on a scale of 10 trillion. The third was on a scale of a trillion and was the final layer.

    The interesting thing about the Memory Ore was that it had no blockades toward looking toward a deeper level. However, the deeper one delved, the more convoluted and difficult it would be to pick out the layers, almost as though one was trying to untangle a pair of earphone cords with a single pull.

    However, for Leonel, it felt like he was staring down this tangled mess of cords, his eyes flashing as he followed the snaking path of one wire at a time.

    ''I seeбн So if I had just stepped in and completed the first encryption layer, I would have ruined the rest of it. At best, I would end up completely off course and never find the later portions of [Dimensional Cleanse]. At worst, I would end up in some blackhole somewhere and never be seen or heard from again.''

    Leonel chuckled at his own dark humor.

    If there was one thing he loved to do, it was win. But, he was also a softy at heart and often took a backseat so he wouldn''t hurt the feelings of others. This led to an odd imbalance where sometimes he would go all out, and sometimes he would seem as though he was just taking a leisurely stroll and couldn''t be bothered with the outcome.

    But, single player games like this one were different. There was no one to ''hurt'' the feelings of here. It was him versus a puzzle some old man had probably had a lot of fun putting together. So, for a moment, he forgot about all his worries.

    Leonel had almost made the very same mistake he had just warned himself against. The moment he had seen the first encryption, he had already thought of a solution and it was probably the easiest solution available. But, his instincts told him that things probably shouldn''t be so easy.

    As intelligent as Leonel was, he was also aware of what was considered difficult for others and what was not. This perspective was incredibly important, especially if he wanted to be a King. He couldn''t just simply assign people impossible tasks because he thought they were ''easy enough'' to complete.

    Luckily, Leonel had good EQ and an objective, almost too systematic, view of the world to pair with it.

    That first solution was something everyone but Raj would be able to think of within the first ten minutes of seeing it. And, even Raj might be able to fumble his way through in about five more minutes as long as he didn''t give up.

    Simply putбн the solution was too easy.

    So, Leonel grew suspicious and looked deeper. As expected, it was a layered puzzle. Shifts in the first layer impacts the next and subsequent layers.

    But, this made perfect sense. The Memory Ore was a whole and solid piece. It had a chemical structure that was entirely interdependent. Of course a change at the beginning would impact the rest.

    The irony of it all was that if Leonel went with the first solution, the second layer would untangle in a way that made it even easier to solve. And, should he go with the first solution he thought of for the second layer, the third layer would follow the same pattern. Do you want to read more chapters? Come to panda-novel,com

    But, if Leonel then followed suit and completed the first solution for the third layer, the second layer would deform into a more complex form. And if he solved the second layer again, the same would happen to the first.

    It would result in a cycle of ever increasing complexity without end.

    The good news about accidentally following this path was that, as far as Leonel could tell, it was possible to undo it by backtracking. But, the bad news was that backtracking couldn''t be done by simply doing the reverse of what you had done.

    Leonel placed down the Memory Ore on his lap and entered his Dream World. With a thought, a replica of the first three layers formed.

    The first thing he did was begin to count the number of solutions for the first layer. But, after he got to ten thousand, his lip couldn''t help but continuously twitch.

    Not only did each subsequent solution become harder to find, but Leonel had a feeling that there truly were an infinite number. If he tried to count them out and choose the best, he would be here for a lifetime.

    ''What a clever puzzleбн''

    The three layers floated in space almost like chemical model made of sticks and balls. Every shift, even if it was just in one, interrupted everything else, making the task especially daunting.

    At that moment, Leonel''s eyes glowed.

    ''Every shift interrupts everything elseбн In that case, why bother starting with the first layer? No, more accurately, there''s no obligation to start there.''

    If Leonel looked at each layer individually, they all seemed to have countless solutions. For every solution he thought of for the first layer, he would proceed to the second layer to count its solutions, and then do the same for the third.

    The result was what felt like an overload of information. If not for Dream Sculpt to keep track of everything, Leonel would have long since been overwhelmed.

    However, what would happen if he ignored the first layer and started with the others instead?

    ''Interesting. The second layer still has hundreds of solutions, but it''s far less than the tens of thousands I already found for the first layer. And, better yet, there is a hard cap.

    ''If I ignore the first two layers and start with the third, there are just a few dozen solutions. And, once again, there''s a hard capбн''

    Leonel''s eyes glowed, calculations spinning about in his mind at an ungodly speed.

    ''There it is. The real solution.''

    Leonel''s eyes flashed open, his Dream Force surging into the Memory Ore.

 Chapter ?848 Waiting

    The moment things clicked into place, Leonel felt that the rough surface of the Memory Ore had suddenly become smooth once again. He smiled lightly, knowing that he had come to the right conclusion.

    Now that Leonel thought about it, he probably could have asked the dictionary to do it all for him. On a distant world, Uncle Montez was definitely choking on his drink.

    The test of the Memory Ore was meant to be completed individually. The dictionary was definitely something the person who created it wouldn''t have taken into account and it would have been nothing short of cheating to make use of it.

    Either way, the dictionary might have been able to direct a solution, but the deft control of Dream Force it took to implement it was a different story entirely. There was nothing that it could do about that.

    Leonel''s mind delved into the Memory Ore once again. This time, however, it felt as though he was witnessing the birth of a gorgeous and clear picture. Compared to the jumbled mess there was before, it felt like Leonel was going from reading the scribbles of a toddler to the master works of a world renowned writer.

    Leonel had always thought that a Memory Ore had to be ''read''. But now he knew it was something you experienced and felt.

    The best way he would describe it was like ringing a tuning a fork. Depending on the size and material, a resonance of sound would be produced. A Memory Ore was like thisбн But for the mind''s eye.

    The Memory Ore resonated like it had been rung under the influence of Leonel''s Dream Force. The result was a vivid picture being painted in his mind. Leonel realized then that it would always be obvious when he had come to the right conclusion. Only this conclusion could make the Memory Ore sing like this.

    Suddenly, Leonel didn''t just have a location in mind, but he could feel it.

    What was most astonishing, though, was that he didn''t get the chance to go toward that location. He couldn''t even react before the sparse Force around him began to resonate along with the Memory Ore.

    Leonel''s eyes hardly had time to widen before all the Force on the small, desolate planet he was on whooshed toward him.

    A massive dust storm of red-brown sand, dirt and rock was formed. From above, it looked as though the small planet was forming an eye of its own all around a tiny spaceship barely two meters in length.

    Thenбн It all vanished.

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    When the dust storm cleared, there was nothing but a small crater left. As for Leonelбн He was nowhere to be seen.

    **

    Within the depths of the Sixth Dimension, a small silver ship hung in the skies. Unlike what one would find in the Fifth or Fourth Dimensions, space travel within the Sixth was as common as driving a car was back on 21st Century Earth.

    All around, there were ships of all shapes and sizes, following ''lanes'' controlled by magical beams of light.

    These lanes of light seemed to manifest from nothing and curved in controlled paths as though they had minds of their own. If one observed closely, they even seemed to follow orbital-like patterns of their own, slowly and subtly shifting through the deep skies as they weaved in and out of each other.

    Yet, as opposed to the chaos one might expect from such a thing, it had a maddening sort of order to it that everyone involved seemed completely used to.

    Some spaceships shot into the distance, leaving the orbit of the three planets. Others carefully changed lanes to reach their desired planet. And, still others like the small ship manned by Yuri, took their time to circle around the sparser regions to enter their desired path.

    After a moment, Yuri managed to find a lane toward the planet violet planet with silver lands, following along the congestion. Despite the traffic, she was finally able to relax and allow things to go on autopilot.

    As ''in control'' as she had pretended to be this whole time, this was the first time she had manned a ship to cross Folds of Reality. Doing such a thing was incredibly dangerous and many died doing so. This was why no one casually shifted between Dimensions if it could be helped.

    If one was going to do so, the easiest way would be to use a top quality talisman. At least this way, the process would be smooth. Unfortunately, Yuri hadn''t had one.

    Yuri her chair back to look toward Aina and Savahn. She nodded to herself when she noticed that Aina was at least more put together now. The only shame was that Aina''s gaze had returned to the same coldness it had when she exited her very first Zone, the very eyes she had had when she killed Conrad. If Yuri had to pick a moment, that was the one where her determination was the highest.

    Right then, it seemed that Aina was consumed with thoughts of revenge.

    "This planet is controlled by the Viola family and shares their namesake. They are a powerful Sixth Dimensional family. To be honest, I don''t know how adoptive father is related to them, so I can only say that we should be careful."

    Savahn nodded as she stretched her limbs and fingers out one by one. She was still trying to get used to the Sixth Dimension. It wasn''t as exaggerated as Yuri made it out to beбкat least she didn''t feel as weak as a mortalбкbut it was definitely far heavier than a Fifth Dimensional world. It felt like the gravity was three or four times the norm despite the fact they weren''t even on a planet yet.

    "Aina." Yuri called out.

    "Hm?"

    "You can''t walk around with that pretty face out like this. The Sixth Dimension is dangerous enough without having to deal with horny men all the time, where this."

    Yuri took a mask out of her spatial ring and tossed it over. Aina was speechless, but she could only shake her head at Yuri''s teasing.

    Still, she put the black mask on. But, at least Yuri also took out two more for herself and Savahn as well.

    At that moment, the silver ship broke through the atmosphere of the planet. Down below, a certain man was already waiting.

 Chapter 849 Raw Experience

    A ship docking station wasn''t a simple operation. From the inside, it looked more like a honeycomb with several hexagonal compartments. From the outside, it looked like a massive glass dome one could watch the chaos from a distance thanks to.

    The honeycomb like parking stations came in various shapes and sizes depending on, obviously, the size of the ship that needed them. Some were permanent and bought out by frequent travellers, merchants or various other companies. But, most were temporary stations that were rented out based on need.

    If one was from a family with a decent background, it was more likely than not that that someone would park their ship within their own estate. However, only those of a superior noble standing were allowed to do this.

    With so much traffic coming in and out, how could a world like this not have its own laws?

    These glass domes that were dotted around the planet at various popular locations weren''t just for show. One couldn''t just land your ship wherever you pleased. If one wanted to travel around the planet, there were very specific and very few lanes you could take with a spaceship. Should you want more freedom, you would need different permits and also a different kind of vessel to take you as well.

    Only the very rich and influential could have exclusive lanes of their own that allowed for more private and less regulated travel.

    Unsurprisingly, Yuri allowed the ship''s autopilot to follow along with everyone else and toward one of the many honeycomb parking stations. This was the number and location her adoptive father had told her to go toward. And, as expected, before the ship even docked, the three women caught sight of the man.

    Aina''s heart stopped beating for a moment, her eyes reddening beneath her mask. Even though she thought she had squeezed all the tears her body had left out, seeing her father for the first time in such a long time placed her on the verge of breaking down once again.

    Even within the hustle and bustle of the docking station, this man seemed to have carved out a piece of space all to his own. The hem of his robes were unaffected by the whipping winds and ships subconsciously took the long way around him.

    He had a head of fiery red hair with such volume that it almost looked like the mane of a lion. It was only accented all the more by his full face of crimson facial hair.

    He had a back as broad as a bear''s and a chest as wide as a gorilla''s. He stood at over seven feet tall, and yet it didn''t seem out of place or awkward. He filled out his frame with power and strength that made the wind around him slow by several measures.

    His pair of ruby red eyes almost seemed lazy. But given the rest of his appearance, it was like he was giving the world a chance to breathe. If even they had been sharpбн Maybe the whole of the docking station would have been frozen in place, unable to go about their day with any sort of ease.

    However, what Aina saw wasn''t the scary sort of projection, or a stifling, grueling portrayal of what a man could beбн

    She just saw her father.

    She leapt out from the spaceship before it could even settle down.

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    **

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself still in his small ship, but the surroundings felt completely different.

    ''Whatбн''

    Were Memory Ores meant to be capable of teleporting individuals? From Leonel''s understanding, the answer to that question was no. But, if he thought about it a step further than thisбн Maybe?

    The resonance of the Memory Ore when it entered that perfect state was quite resounding. What was a Force Art if not resonance of energy?

    Force Arts used various languages written with Force in order to induce specific and practiced reactions in the world at large. Who was to say that a Force Art cleverly hidden within a Memory Ore couldn''t produce the same affect?

    In fact, in order to draw more permanent Force Arts like Leonel did when he created treasures, didn''t he have to use precious ores and materials? What was a Memory Ore if not a precious material? In fact, using it to draw in Force to accomplish this feat may very well have been overkill.

    May have been, anyway. Leonel wasn''t certain if it was because he had no idea where he was. What he did know, though, was that this was the heaviest pressure he had ever experienced.

    Even when Leonel entered a Fifth Dimensional world as a Third Dimensional existence, it had felt no different from a spring breeze. But, the moment his body became aware that it had reappeared in wherever this place wasбн he had actually had trouble breathing for a moment.

    Unlike other ships, Leonel''s didn''t have windows. He had built it with speed, escape and defense in mind, so how could he leave such an obvious weakness? He had instead used his Internal Sight and the dictionary to make up for this deficiency.

    But at the moment, that choice left him blind for the first few seconds he had spent in this mysterious place.

    Taking a deep breath, Leonel steeled himself. He couldn''t just stay in here forever, right?

    Somewhere deep inside, he felt like he needed to see what was out there with his own two eyes. His instinct told him that this was a feeling that had to be experienced in the rawest of forms.

    The hatch slowly opened, the compressed air sizzling out in a low, drawn out steam. Leonel couldn''t help but take a breath when he saw what was before him.

    It was a road. However, this road was formed of sparkling, white motes of light and extended toward what felt like infinity.

    It was about ten meters in width and was surrounded by nothing but endless darkness. Leonel didn''t need to be a genius to know that if he took one step off, his life would be forfeit.

    In the far off distance, a blue star hovered in silence. It was maybe the most gorgeous blue Leonel had ever seen. A wide expanse of skies or a cool, transparent ocean didn''t seem capable of measuring up. Maybe only a delicately sculpted and polished sapphire gem could even begin to compare.

    The star was caged by an enormous Dyson Sphere Leonel assumed his road of light connected to. It was the sort of picture Leonel could have never thought he would ever see just five years agoбн

    And with it came a spine tingling alert of danger Leonel had never experienced before.

 Chapter ?850 Numerous

    Leonel took a cautious step outward, his hair standing on end. However, no matter how he swept his gaze or his Internal Sight, he couldn''t catch a wisp of anything. As far as he could tell, there really was nothing but a single expansive road headed toward that beautiful blue star surrounded by a cage of rotating silver.

    The Dyson Sphere was something Leonel had only read about in science fiction novels. Even 25th century Earth had never been able to accomplish such a thing.

    According to a scientist by the name of Kardashev, civilizations could be separated in strength by their energy resources. At the lowest Type I level, a civilization could be capable of making perfect usage of Nuclear Fusion, the energy of the stars. By this logic, Earth of the 21st century was not yet Type I as it could only use the much less efficient Nuclear Fission.

    Beyond the Type I level was the much grander Type II, and that was where the Dyson Sphere came into play. Such a civilization would be able to harness the energy of their star or stars with the use of the cage Leonel was seeing right this very moment.

    A Dyson Sphere was a spherical cage that could wrap around an entire star to gather its energy. This particular Dyson Sphere was constructed of numerous silver rings spinning about one another like the rings of a planetбн It was a truly fantastical scene.

    Of course, as a young man born in the 25th Century, old enough to witness the Metamorphosis, Leonel now knew that while Kardashev''s ideas were quite good, they were ultimately wrong because he had no way of knowing about the evolution of Dimensions.

    Earth never got the chance to progress beyond Type I. And, at the same time, Type III civilizations beyond Type II might not be necessary considering the ever increasing strength of stars as they progressed through the Dimensions.

    This was all to say that a world capable of harnessing a Fourth Dimensional star''s power would likely be more powerful than even the Type IV, V, or beyond civilizations that Earth had posited.

    This painted a perfect picture for why Leonel was so stunned. After all, he was seeing something that he had only ever ''witnessed'' in fictional novels and movies right in front of him. But, none of this explained why his hair was standing on end or why his foot had stopped half way down from stepping out of his space shuttle.

    Leonel took deep breaths. Rather than pushing himself forward, he pulled his foot back. He had a feeling that the moment he stepped down, an event would begin that he would have no chance of stopping until he walked to the very end.

    In the past two years, Leonel had managed to master every Quasi Bronze and below spear within Spear Domain. It could be said that his comprehension of the spear had reached a godly level amongst those at the Fourth Dimension and even experts at the Fifth. The only shame was that his ability had also grown so powerful that when he fought, he rarely if ever had to lean on this skill at all.

    The reason Leonel was remembering back to this now was because during that time, the number of primitive consciousnesses that he had absorbed were almost too numerous to count. With that, the instinct Leonel had fostered within himself likewise grew to a point where it almost became a second ability of his.

    Panda Novel Leonel felt that there was a reason the Spear Domain was constructed like this. It was built on a philosophy that skill, senses and power weren''t enough to make a true master of a weapon. What one needed to complete the cycle was an ingrained reaction and experienced instinct to react to even situations one had never seen before.

    It could be said that Leonel''s own philosophy clashed with this. The same way he had chosen the spear out of convenience rather than love like Old Man Hutch had, he didn''t like the idea of relying on something so vague. But, at the same time, he was logical enough to understand just how many times this instinct had helped him to this pointбн That could not be denied.

    Leonel closed his eyes and adjusted himself.

    When he opened them once more, he began to move. He didn''t know why, but amidst a sudden wave of nostalgia, he pulled out the same pair of sweatpants and long-sleeved compression shirt he had worn when he entered his very first Zone.

    Compared to back then when it stank to high heaven, it had a faint touch of a lavender scent to it that made it clear that it had been cleaned.

    Leonel slipped the grey sweats on and rolled the tight compression shirt over his toned torso. Bending down, he tightened a pair of worn sneakers, his heart feeling lighter and lighter with his every action.

    Finally, Leonel slipped on a simple chain necklace that seemed formed of stainless steel. This was a third treasure he had formulated for his teammates and would be the only defensive treasure he wore. But thisбн Just felt like enough.

    Standing upright within his open shuttle, Leonel stretched his limbs.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel smiled. Seemingly having sensed the danger, Little Blackstar had come out of the Segmented Cube. The little guy had been obsessed with ordering Candle and Vice around recently.

    "I''m going to have to do this one alone, buddy. Don''t worry, I''ll be back soon."

    Little Blackstar blinked, staring into Leonel''s eyes. It took a while, but the little guy soon disappeared as well.

    With that, Leonel''s gaze steeled, his ship and the bits and pieces of earth that had been swept up along with it vanishing as his feet made contact with the road of light. At that same moment, a monstrous double sided spear appeared in Leonel''s hands, his body limber and ready.

    It didn''t take even a moment for the road to suddenly begin to tremble, a shimmering figure beginning to manifest.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was that all around, facing the brilliant star from directions so far from him he couldn''t even sense themбн Were numerous more youths just like him.

 Chapter ?851 Strongest

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. He suddenly felt that his entire body was being chained down by something. He had a feeling that if he tried to cast a Mage Art, it would fall flat. He was even having a difficult time communicating with his Lineage Factors. In fact, of all his Lineage Factors, his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was the only one he could sense clearly.

    After some thought, Leonel realized that the only reason he could sense his Lineage Factors at all was likely due to King''s Might. If it wasn''t for the will of King''s Might, it might have been possible that all of his strength would have been locked away.

    As for why he could sense his Spear Domain Lineage Factor the clearest, it was definitely because he currently held a spear in his hands. The combination of King''s Might and this was likely whyбн

    These were only speculations in the end. Leonel had no way of being certain that his deductions were correct. What he did know, though, was that his body suddenly felt heavy without his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. He hadn''t realized just how much he had relied on it.

    Due to the heaviness of his Metal Body, he was meant to be inherently slow and lumbering, especially at Tier 9. Of course, this problem was mostly mitigated because the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was so high level, so the drawbacks weren''t as obvious as other defensive Lineage Factors. However, that didn''t mean there wasn''t any trouble at all.

    Unfortunately, while these invisible chains could seal away much of his strength, it couldn''t change the heaviness of his Tier 9 Metal Body. Now, not only did he have the drawbacks of a heavy body, he couldn''t even activate his Runes to maximize its usage.

    ''Fantasticбн'' Leonel smiled bitterly as the illusory spirit before him finally formed.

    The spirit became a semi-transparent blue that looked like a paler shade of the star in the far off distance. It didn''t have a face, but it wore an elaborate armor. Whether by coincidence or intention, it too wielded a spear as it faced Leonel.

    Without warning, the spirit shot forward, its spear whistling.

    No, it wasn''t whistling, at least not in the normal, slicing through wind sense. From what Leonel could tell, the spirit and its weapon was unobstructed by wind as though they had become one with it. What was causing the whistling was the spiraling Star Force that accumulated at the spear''s very tip.

    However, even when the spear was just half a foot from his face, Leonel had yet to move. It wasn''t because he was frozen stiffбн But rather becauseбн

    It was too easy.

    If there was one opponent Leonel feared the least in going against, it was a spearman. Especially a pure spearman who didn''t seem to have any other abilities.

    Leonel had seen so many styles of the spear and used just as many of them. His Dream World was filled with a countless range of techniques, each with their unique quirks, triggers and weaknesses immaculately marked down.

    Even though his Spear Domain Ring didn''t seem to activate against an illusory spearбн It didn''t matter.

    Leonel''s spear shot forward in an almost casual arc. The spirit couldn''t react before it was bisected from the shoulder to the opposite hip, its spear completely losing its momentum.

    As it fell, it turned into motes of light that entered Leonel''s body. But, this only cause Leonel to frown all the more.

    One would have thought that defeating the spirit should come with a reward? So why was it that his body felt even heavier instead? Panda Novel

    It was just a small change, maybe only as small as a fraction of a gram, not even heavy enough to match up to a feather. But, how could Leonel miss something like this, even if it was so subtle?

    The moment he had noticed that he was being suppressed, he had focused many of his minds onto monitoring every change in his body from now on. He wouldn''t miss this even if he was absentminded, let alone now that he was intentionally looking out for such a thing.

    If this trial only added more chains to you as more and more powerful enemies came and wentбн It would be troublesome indeed.

    But, none of this explained where that overwhelming feeling of danger came from.

    **

    There were, indeed, multiple other roads of light leading to the same star. The moment Leonel''s feet had touched down, it was as though something numerous had been waiting for finally began. Leonel seemed to be the only one unaware that he was not alone.

    With how swiftly and almost without caution the other youths were moving, it was easy to tell that they were racing against an enemy they couldn''t see, bringing out as much speed as they could to try and widen the gap between themselves and the others.

    Unfortunately, the roads were simply too far apart. Just how massive was a star even in the Third Dimension? Even if there were thousands, tens of thousands of roads even, with how long they were and with how large the blue star was, it would be a long while before any of them set sights on one another.

    Still, that didn''t mean there weren''t a few among the group who were just as ''leisurely'' as Leonel. The unfortunate part was that even though they were moving forward as though they were taking a stroll, they were still moving along much faster than Leonel wasбн

    It seemed that rather than taking things casually, these few young men and women were instead pacing themselves. Even with their measured speed, they were keenly aware that their swiftness would soon begin to matter.

    But it was difficult to tell if this was because their placement was importantбн Or if there was a time limit.

    The trouble was that this ignorance was the least of Leonel''s worriesбн

    Even the weakest of these participants were in the Fifth Dimension.

    As for the strongestбн?

    They had long since entered the Sixth.

 Chapter 852 All That Was Left

    Aina dove into her father''s arms, her tears falling like rain. For some odd reason, though, she was completely silent, her shoulders hardly trembling and her sobs having been completely stifled.

    Miel couldn''t help but be stunned for a moment. One because Aina had jumped from a still moving ship. Two because his daughter was far taller than he thought she could beбкand that was saying something considering his own height. And three because she was actuallyбн crying?

    Miel had never seen his daughter cry before. Aina had never personally witnessed her mother''s death, Miel hadn''t allowed her to. However, Aina had definitely experienced every bit of the curse being etched into her body as a little girl, and she hadn''t shed a single tear thenбкsomething that definitely couldn''t be said for Miel himself.

    Even when Miel was forced to separate from Aina, leaving her to Earth''s orphanage system, he hadn''t seen Aina shed a single tear.

    So, what exactly was happening here? Was he seeing things? Was this maybe not his daughter at all? But with his demeanor and presence, who else would ignore it all just to hug him if not for his daughter?

    What Miel didn''t know was that it wasn''t that his daughter had never criedбн It was just that she had never cried in his presence. This could be said to be the very first time it had happened and he wasn''t exactly sure how to react to it.

    If he knew this truth, he could probably guess why. After all, his method of training Aina in her youth had been no different from how he would have treated her had she been his son rather than his daughter.

    If he was honest, had Aina come sniveling and crying to him when she was five years old, it would have been more likely for her to receive a reprimanding as opposed to any sort of care and attention. If there was anything of the sort in Aina''s life, it had only come from her mother who had long since passed.

    But, oddly enough, now that Aina was a grown woman of 21 years of age, Miel didn''t have the instinctual reaction he would have normally had. This wasn''t because he didn''t want to have it, but rather because he was too caught off guard.

    If you have never seen your daughter cry before you as a toddler, only for them to suddenly burst like a dam when they should have been an adultбн How would you react exactlyбн?

    Maybe that was exactly why Aina wasn''t sobbing. For the first time, she couldn''t completely control herself before her father, so she had controlled what she could.

    After several moments, Aina felt two strong hands grip her slender shoulders. She sniffled slightly, but didn''t dare to look up at her father. She knew that all she would see is disappointment in his eyes and she didn''t want to see it.

    By this point, her tears had already stopped, a decision marking out a place in her heart.

    Emotions? She didn''t need them. This could be considered the last time she would display them.

    Miel opened his mouth to speak, but it was at that moment that Aina had regained enough calm to look up. Whatever words he was going to say vanished within the depths of coldness he saw.

    Staring back at him, a pair of bright amber eyes seemed suffused in a layer of frigid ice.

    Indifference. Apathy. An unfeeling calculationбн

    That was all that was left.

    Miel''s mouth slowly closed, his lips almost completely covered by the thickness of his crimson beard. He looked down at his daughter silently. Even through her black mask, he could almost see the ice carving that must have been her face at this moment.

    It was difficult to tell just what it was he was thinking in the depths of his mind.

    **

    Leonel shook his spear lightly, his gaze reflecting a cold light. Another spirit fell, but Leonel himself wasn''t nearly as healthy or fresh as he had been before. Panda Novel

    The road ahead seemed endless, but Leonel had already been marked by a number of shallow injuries. Though his revamped chain necklace had been able to repair the rips in his clothing, it didn''t nothing about the blood that marred them.

    Things had started off so easy, especially since all the experts Leonel faced were spearmen.

    But, as time progressed, Leonel''s body grew more sluggish and heavy. His mind was just as fast as it had always been, but his reactions were lagging behind further and further as though a burden was being strapped onto his shoulders as more and more weight was added.

    To make matters worse, without his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, or access to Forces other than the Force that swam through his Force Nodes due to [Dimensional Cleanse], he couldn''t even heal himself.

    The only good news was that his wounds were mostly superficial as he was able to avoid more fatal wounds. But, the bad news was that many of these superficial wounds were still bleeding, refusing to harden.

    Leonel was certain that this was due to the odd blue Force the spirits were using, but there was nothing he could do about it.

    Looking ahead, Leonel shook his head. Despite what he had been through, he felt as though he hadn''t made any progress at all. The star was so large that he couldn''t even tell if he had gotten closer or not. Regardless, the path ahead still seemed to be without end.

    ''Am I really doing this right? It took brain power to enter this place, but now it''s suddenly nothing but fighting and battle? Is that really the end of it? Or is there something more?''

    Leonel''s frown deepened.

    There was a possibility that the test to come to this place was enough to prove his intelligence, and as such, whoever made this space felt that it was no longer necessary to test this aspect. It was because of this logic that Leonel hadn''t looked for another way until now.

    Howeverбн there was also the possibility that Leonel was missing something very important, something that would give him more of a chance than he seemed to have now.

 Chapter 853 Reason?

    Leonel released a steam laden breath.

    He slipped his backfoot further backward, anchoring himself with power, strength and leverage as he pierced forward.

    The moment he released the attack, he knew that his trajectory was off. This wasn''t because he had aimed incorrectly, but rather because the spirits were becoming smarter and more skilled. It was maybe the world''s greatest irony that on the day Leonel faced the most spearman he had in his lifetime, that his Spear Domain Heirloom which was supposedly invincible against them, had become completely useless.

    Of course, he knew that this was likely because these were energy spears rather than real, tangible ones. But, that didn''t mean he didn''t feel aggrieved.

    Leonel knew that it was too late to change his spear''s path. Shifting his momentum had been easy in the past, but his current self was too slow and lacking in agility.

    His mind spun through several calculations before he made a choice.

    His body''s momentum continued forward while falling slightly to the side. The anchor that had been his feet wavered, weakening his strike. But, he also managed to just barely survive with just a graze to his shoulder.

    He used his fall to turn his pierce into a downward sweeping motion, raking his spear across the chest of the spirit.

    ''Dammitбн not deep enoughбн''

    The good news was that Leonel''s Quasi Silver spear was still very much effective against his enemies. Usually, as long as he could land a strike, it would be enough to end the battle.

    The bad news, however, was that the spirits were becoming sturdy to the point that even his Quasi Silver Spear didn''t seem to have as great of an affect as it had once had.

    Leonel knew how dangerous this journey would be, that was why he hadn''t even bothered to try to use his Quasi Bronze spears, trying to gain as much of an edge as he could. But, he had never expected for his once reliable trump card to become neutered before he even made a dent in his journey.

    At that moment, the spirit reacted as Leonel fell to the ground. Its illusory spear spun in its hands before piercing downward with stifling momentum.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. His mind had already thought of numerous counter measures, but his body wasn''t fast enough to execute even a single one of them.

    His hairs stood on end, his muscles constricting and his nerves firing.

    Death wafted about his neck and whispered into his ear as though it was ready to descend, coaxing him toward the ''other'' sideбн Whatever it is that wasбн

    Leonel knew that if this spear struck true, he was finished. Not to mention the fact he didn''t have access to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor to heal himself, even if he did, he had just used it to bring him back from the brink of death just a few weeks ago. It hadn''t been nearly enough time for that life saving measure to replenish itself.

    At that moment, Leonel''s mind went blank.

    His silver spear vanished, replaced by a jet black Quasi Bronze spear in an instant.

    He reached out a palm as he fell to the ground. The instant it made contact and not a moment sooner or later, a mighty Chain Domain appeared around him.

    A chain hooked around his ankle, whipping his body to the side with his singular palm as an anchor.

    The illusory blue spear missed Leonel by a hair, clanging against the light road as Leonel was spun to its back. The spirit couldn''t react in time before a spear was suddenly jetted through its chest, its body becoming another cluster of light that entered Leonel.

    Leonel collapsed to the ground, his breathing heavy. He really thought for a second there that he was finished. This trial was truly something else. He didn''t even have the luxury of lying here to rest. He had already tried to do that before, but after a few minutes of not moving forward, the same spirit would manifest again and the penalty for defeating it was the same. Panda Novel

    That meant that if Leonel wanted rest, he also had to accumulate more weight to himself. Whoever made this trial was definitely a sadistic bastard. Why couldn''t they go back to doing puzzles? That had been fun.

    Leonel was pushing himself up when he suddenly sensed something odd.

    His Chain Domain felt different at the moment. In fact, now that he thought about it, it wasn''t his mind that had come up with a plan to avoid that deadly strike. Ratherбн It was more like his Chain Domain Spear hadбн called out to him?

    Called out to him was what it felt like if he tried to attach some logic to it. But, in practice, it was more like he instinctually knew what to do.

    The issue was that this instinct hadn''t come from the primitive consciousnesses that he had absorbed, but had rather come fromбн

    Leonel frowned, turning his senses toward his Ethereal Glabella to gaze upon a silently floating spear embryo.

    This was all too confusing. Was he right about the reason his Spear Domain Lineage Factor felt so clear to him right now? Or was there another reason that had nothing to do with him holding spears or his King''s Might?

    If his King''s Might could keep his Spear Domain active, why not do so for the more useful Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor? Was there another purpose for this? Or was he overthinking things?

    Maybe this space was able to suppress Lineage Factors that gave direct boosts to the body but allowed more ethereal Lineage Factors like King''s Might or Spear Domain to thrive? That was possibleбн After all, [Dimensional Cleanse] gave the most benefits to the mind not the body, so it would make senseбн

    But none of that explained the odd feeling Leonel had just experienced.

    Of his Lineage Factors, it would be accurate to say that his Spear Domain was the most neglected. Could it be that that neglect had caused him to miss something so life changing?

 Chapter 854 99

    Leonel took deep breaths, pushing himself up the rest of the way.

    If this most recent thought of his was correct, that would mean that the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse], or at least whoever it was that set up this competition, did in fact want him to use his mind over the raw strength of his body. It was just that now, rather than applying it to puzzles, he or she wanted it applied in battle.

    Leonel would still remember the borderline narcissistic comments the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] had left in the first part of their technique. Back then, Leonel had been in the Joan Zone and his life was on the line every minute of every day, and yet he still couldn''t help but chuckle. Even now, with his body in such a state, he was caught between rolling his eyes and laughing some more.

    When he framed things like this, if the creator was really the one who set up this fiasco, it was no wonder it was all so sadistic. That person was really a bastard.

    ''97 secondsбн'' Leonel thought to himself.

    He had to make it to the next spirit in that time or else he would have to fight the one he just had again. The distance wasn''t far, just a kilometer. But in this endless stretch of road Leonel felt like banging his head against a wall.

    ''There''s got to be something to thisбн''

    The truth was that Leonel was at a striking disadvantage. It was very rare for those with powerful bodies to choose [Dimensional Cleanse] of all things to practice. They would usually pick a technique that could supplement their power, not their mind.

    But, back when Leonel was choosing [Dimensional Cleanse], he hadn''t awakened any of his Lineage Factors. His mind was the only strength he had thanks to his ability. He hadn''t really had a choiceбн He had simply made the best choice he could.

    Unfortunately, that led to a state where now his Metal Body, rather than being an asset, was actually the worst detriment to him. He shouldn''t feel so heavy right now, at least not at such early stages. But, the situation was exasperated by his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Ironicallyбн Leonel would have had an easier time had he left his Metal Body at Tier 1 before entering this place.

    Not only was his body heavier to start, but the blue Force that entered his body after every victory worked on percentages. This meant that the added weight he experienced was also greater than that of others. It was as though the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] was snubbing his nose at Leonel for being a muscle head that dared to pine after his precious technique. Panda Novel

    As though this wasn''t bad enoughбн This place was located in an unknown Higher Dimension. The pressure Leonel was experiencing as someone in the mere Third was simply unprecedented.

    The misfortune of it all was that Leonel didn''t have the luxury of whining about it.

    There was no road back. Leonel''s Force Arts didn''t work so he couldn''t even try to teleport away from this place. Stepping off of the light road meant certain death. And, to top it all off, there was nothing but an endless abyss to his back.

    If it wasn''t for the beauty of the blue star, all of this would feel like nothing more than a death trap.

    Leonel took a measured step forward. He had already calculated the pace he needed to maximize his rest time while not being forced to fight the same spirit again. But now, he had to think of a solution. He couldn''t just continue like this. If he did, there would eventually come a point where he couldn''t hold on any longerбн And by then, only death would await.

    Leonel wasn''t a fool. In fact, he was being overly optimistic right this moment. The truth was that he had already reached his limit.

    Every subsequent spirit was always between 5-6% more difficult to defeat. This was calculated using a combination of Leonel''s added weight, along with the spirit''s increase in defenses and skill.

    If Leonel fought more passively, he felt that he could at most defeat three more spirits. But, even if he couldn''t see to the end of the light road, he could definitely see three kilometers aheadбн And that was enough to know that that put him no closer to his destination.

    What was the conclusionбн?

    100% chance of death.

    For Leonel, whose very foundations were rooted in logic, there was no false hope birthed in his heart, nor was there a steely determinationбн All there was left was the acceptance that if he didn''t change something, he was finished. And, he had 97 seconds to think of it.

    Even though he would last three more rounds, he had already calculated that he would suffer grievous wounds after just the firstбн They would definitely be terrible enough that even if he did figure something out, he would be finished.

    Leonel''s gaze was left with nothing but an eerie calm.

    They say that when one faced death, their lives would flash before their eyes. But, nothing of the sort happened to Leonel. Maybe it was because he wasn''t like other individuals, or maybe it was because the control he had over his mind was too greatбн Whatever it was, it saved him valuable mental strength, all of which was focused on a solution.

    What did he have? He had his King''s Might. He had his Spear Domain. And he had his spears.

    He knew that this trial would never allow him to rely on anyone else, so he didn''t even consider using Little Blackstar, Candle or Vice. He also knew that there was no Force allowed to be used here other than the Force [Dimensional Cleanse] produced, which should be Star Force.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Maybe that meant that it wasn''t that his Force or Mage Arts were useless, but rather that Mage Arts that used Forces other than Star Force couldn''t gather the energy they needed with these restrictions.

    A small crack opened in Leonel''s logic as the chance of death fell to 99.9%.

 Chapter ?855 Coexist?

    Leonel''s Dream Force acted. Thanks to his Dream Force having fused with his Three Star Constitution, it wasn''t restricted by the laws of this place. This thought led one of Leonel''s split minds to explore the possibility of fusing other Forces with his Stars, but it was quickly dismissed. It had required a very special set of circumstances to allow for this.

    Leonel soon ran into another problem, thoughбн He had never constructed any Star Elemental Mage Arts.

    It took a second of his time leftбкmore than he had even spent to deduce things to this levelбкto reformulate a simple arrow spell to be formed with a Star Elemental foundation.

    The moment the Mage Art was complete, to Leonel''s pleasant surprise, an arrow of sparkling Star Force radiating a pure silverish white appeared. In fact, Leonel realized the abundance of Star Force was so great in this place that the spell was completed about 10% faster than it would have otherwise been.

    Leonel nodded to himself. This was a good sign, he was learning more about this place. Though he was inwardly kicking himself for not trying to deduce these things earlier, it was better now than never.

    To Leonel 97 seconds with his thinking speed and split minds might as well have been days. Though, that 97 seconds was now 96. He adjusted himself realizing the next time he calculated the restructuring of a spell, he would have to assign more minds to it to cut down on the time.

    Though it was a shame he never formulated any Star Elemental spells, there was no use crying over spilt milk. Now was a unique opportunity. But, he also wasn''t foolish enough to believe that this alone was enough.

    The road ahead was nearly endless. Now that he could use spells, he would indeed have some added flexibility in battle, but it wasn''t enough to be life changing. At the very least, he would need time to formulate more powerful spells that would have a greater impact.

    That placed him right back at square one. King''s Might and his Spear Domain.

    In that moment of life and death before, his mind had gone blank and his instinct had taken over. Leonel wasn''t a fool, he knew well what this meant. The instinct he hated so muchбкor, rather, dislikedбкhad actually been the very thing to save his life.

    As Leonel''s mind grew powerful, he unfortunately fell into a very human-like trap, the very same trap so many fell into when they gained new wealth. It was simply human natureбн

    What happened when someone came into new money? Usually, those who managed to take advantage did the opposite of what was in their nature.

    If someone received a promotion at work, they might choose to move into a larger apartment or house, buy a fancier or faster car, maybe have another kid or two to celebrate. What these actions ultimately did was raise their cost of living to the point that even with their promotion, they were once again living life the same way they always had.

    How did this apply to Leonel? Panda Novel

    Every time he gained a plus one to his split mind and his cognitive function became more powerful, he would assign his ability to do more and more things, to accomplish and seek after more and more. The result was him feeling that even with the capability of splitting his mind more than a thousand waysбн that it still wasn''t enough.

    In battle against an opponent he couldn''t properly react to, this shone through like a sore thumb. Leonel''s mind was calculating so many things, weeding through so many possibilities, but he hadn''t been able to come up with something actionable in those final moments that could save his life. It had been up to his instinct to act for him, the very thing he had looked down upon from the beginning.

    Leonel was very stubborn in his own wayбн It didn''t display itself as overt arrogance, at least not often. But, it was there nonetheless. His feelings and the way he did things were quite rigid even when others might tell him to do different.

    Why was it that his Spear Domain was his weakest and most neglected Lineage Factor? It was because he kept trying to fit its square peg into a triangular hole.

    Every time Leonel mastered a new spear, rather than fusing it with his fighting style, he would build another Dreamscape and add it to his existing one. Then, he would try to calculate when it was the most optimal to use in battle.

    Every time Leonel did this, he added another shackle to his Spear Domain. It was meant to be a Lineage Factor all about feel, instinct and fluidity, but Leonel was constantly trying to break it down into an exact science that could be brewed and reproduced.

    In a lot of ways, having the Spear Domain Heirloom by his side only exasperated the problem. With so many styles and techniques at his fingertips, it fed into his philosophy all the more.

    He always thought that maybe, just maybe, if he memorized enough spear techniques, absorbed enough spear consciousnesses, and mastered enough Spear Domains, he would reach a level where he could instantly react to almost any situation.

    And therein lied the problem.

    Leonel had over a thousand minds that could think at once. And, he only had access to about 900 of them now. How could he possibly compute things fast enough to react to what was effectively an almost infinite series of possibilities?

    He might be able to get away with it if his opponents were relatively tame and his body was in its peak condition. Butбн As his enemies grew stronger and his body grew heavierбн He might as well have been putting the chains around his own neck.

    That was the problemбн But what exactly was the solution? Was it even possible to reconcile his Lineage Factor with his ability?

    Noбн That wasn''t the question, because the answer didn''t matter. If he couldn''t do so, he would die.

    The trouble was how could you allow for computation and feel to coexist?

 Chapter 856 Speechless

    Three young women and a large man shared a table in the private room of a restaurant. Among them, the blond young girl clenched her hands tightly on her lap, staring down at the wooden patterns before her.

    Savahn felt like she was walking on pins and needles. This had to be the oddest family dynamic she had ever been apart of. Miel hadn''t even asked her about who she was or what she was doing here. After Yuri casually introduced her, that was the end of it and he hadn''t said a single word to her. In fact, he barely noddedбкsomething she almost missed because she found it difficult to look him in the eye.

    The father was expressionless. The daughter was expressionless. The adoptive daughter was expressionless.

    This sort of family almost made her thankful that her own didn''t have to step into the oddity of this world. Even if she had to be alone because of it, at least she and them would never reach a point where this was how they interactedбн

    Finally, a waitress came into with large amounts of food. A bit of the pressure Savahn felt was finally alleviated because someone with a normal smile and expressions had come. Unfortunately, seemingly sensing the atmosphere, the waitress didn''t dare to stay long and practically bolted away, holding up the hem of her skirt.

    Things only became worse after the food came. What once was an atmosphere of silence became filled with gnawing, cracking and chewing. If Savahn closed her eyes, she would have thought that she was sitting amidst a pack of wolves.

    To Savahn''s right, Yuri elegantly cut apart her food with a fork and knife. However, across from her, the father and daughter pair seemed to be fighting to the death.

    Their elbows clashed every so often, causing resounding booms to reverberate through the air. It sounded almost like claps of thunder every time they struck. And yet, they continued to bite at the piles of meat and bone as though nothing had happened.

    Savahn had never known that Aina could eat so much. But, even if she could eat so muchбн How had she suddenly become a barbarian? It was as though any womanly elegance she had had in the past completely vanished.

    If Savahn didn''t know better, she would have felt that Aina''s hair and irises were slowly tinging red as though she was becoming more and more of a Brazinger with every passing moment. She really had no idea how to process all of this.

    It took several more orders and another hour before the father-daughter pair finally stopped eating.

    By some miracle, their clothes, hands and faces were completely stainless of food. Even though Savahn had watched from start to end, she had no idea how they had accomplished it at all.

    Thenбн As though nothing had happened at all, Miel began to speak. His voice sounded like smooth stones slowly grinding against one another. But, his word choice was short and succinct. It was as though he didn''t want to waste a single breath more than he had to.

    "I am a vassal of the Viola family. The reason that I''ve called you here is because I now have enough capital and cachet to not fear direct action from the Brazinger family. Your growth here will be faster. Use the resources well. I give you ten years."

    With that, Miel vanished.

    Noбн He didn''t vanish, he simply moved too fast for them all to register.

    His words, though, left far too much information out. It was all so vague and open ended that it was difficult to draw any solid conclusions from anything, and it said even less about how he had managed to carve a path from Earth to become a vassal of such an important family within the Sixth Dimension. Panda Novel

    However, rather than looking toward where her father had left, Aina simply looked toward Yuri. For as long as Aina had known her, Yuri had always been the interpreter of her father. In a lot of ways, one would think that Yuri understood more about him than she did as his biological daughter.

    Still, she seemed unmoved by this as she waited for a deeper explanation. Luckily, Yuri didn''t disappoint.

    "At these Higher Dimensions, it''s impossible to find a powerful family without the backing of an even larger family. Adoptive father has become respected and useful enough to the Viola family that they won''t casually get rid of him for some benefits. At the same time, the Viola family has enough backing from higher places that targeted their assets would be something one would need to think twice or thrice about.

    "Though adoptive father used the term vassal, he is more important than this. It could be said that he is an integral part of the Viola family''s combat prowess. We can take advantage of this to grow beneath their umbrella.

    "Under the proper circumstances, it may become possible to gain a chance from the backers of the Viola family to take a look at the Seventh Dimension and gain even more benefits, but this will be difficult and the Viola family will not casually give such benefits to outsiders.

    "The only way to circumvent these barriers is by doing as father did and become more useful than they could possibly ignore. But, it will be difficult because even adoptive father has not had a chance to look at the Seventh Dimension. He has always been passed up not due to his lack of skill, but rather due to the fact the Viola family Elders don''t want to use their few opportunities on an outsider."

    Savahn looked from Aina to Yuri and back again a few times. She was very much confused.

    Brazinger family? Wasn''t that Aina''s last name? So she hated her family?

    Alright, she could accept that. But, the problem was why did it take a Sixth Dimensional family with backing from the Seventh Dimension to finally make it safe for Aina''s father to bring her here?

    Wasn''t the Brazinger family from Earth? Weren''t there protections for lower worlds from higher ones? What was going onбн?

    "Hoбн How strong is the Brazinger familyбн?" Savahn finally managed to ask.

    Aina and Yuri looked over toward her together.

    "We don''t know."

    The answer left Savahn speechless.

 Chapter 857 96 Seconds

    On one hand, there was Leonel''s ability. As powerful as his Lineage Factors were, he still felt that it carried much of the burden for how he had made it this far.

    On the other, there was his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. It had been mostly neglected, but now it was practically his only path toward salvation. As powerful as his King''s Might Lineage Factor had the potential to be, not only did Leonel not have enough subordinates to scale it properly, it was ultimately just a supplement to strength he already had. This led him right back to his Spear Domain Lineage Factor.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed as the time continued to tick by.

    It was an impossible question. It had taken him fractions of a second to think to this point, the moment he came up to this blockage, time seemed to flow like water, and its speed was only getting faster.

    Even after 80 seconds was left, Leonel still hadn''t made any headway to answering this question. Did he just have to abandon his ability entirely? But that couldn''t be right. Cutting off his ability would feel no different from losing an arm to him. Who was to say that there wouldn''t be a point in battle where it would be useful?

    But Leonel couldn''t just leave things as is. It obviously wasn''t working how things were now. If he just tried to press forward, he really could be that brainless meat head the creator was trying their best to weed out completely.

    60 seconds.

    It was like trying to hold two extremes at once. Was it even possible?

    Leonel could execute two different Styles at once because he could split his minds, but this felt even more fundamental than that. It resided on a layer deeper than just a Style and was almost ingrained into Leonel''s very bones.

    If he could just split his mind and solve the problem, he would have already done it.

    50 seconds.

    Leonel could almost feel his silver spear chuckling. The little bastard had always hated him ever since he broke the rules to reach it. He was supposed to use his comprehension of the spear to move forward, but Leonel had always used his strong Soul and Dream Force to travel further than he should have been able to. But, therein lied the problem he was forced to deal with now.

    40 seconds.

    Was this really days worth of thinking to a normal person? Leonel felt as though time was moving faster than it ever had for him before.

    Even as his measured steps continued forward and he approached the next trial faster and faster, the coldness in his gaze seemed to only deepen.

    Maybe he really had relied on his ability too much. He had been so confident that 97 seconds would be enough to think of a solution. Who other than himself would actually be so arrogant as to think that? 97 seconds wasn''t even long enough to cook a proper meal, but it was enough to change the entire philosophy of a person stuck in his ways?

    30 seconds.

    Leonel''s blood slowed to a crawl, his bodily functions shutting down one after another. This wasn''t because he was feeling the looming fear of guaranteed death, but rather because he was diverting all his brain power to his singular task. He barely left just enough thought to keep his body moving forward and store away his thoughts and feelings toward Aina. Panda Novel

    20 seconds.

    Time was like an endless drain on Leonel''s psyche at this point. No matter how hard he wracked his brain, he couldn''t find a solution.

    He felt as though he was stuck in a box. His thinking was too rigid almost as though he was a two dimensional construct observing something created by a third dimensional construct. He had a viewpoint that wouldn''t allow him to understand no matter how hard he tried.

    Understandingбн This was the first time Leonel had ever run into something he truly couldn''t wrap his head around.

    Should he just do it? Should he just give in?

    If he didn''t change something, he would be finished anyway. Wasn''t it better if he just took a leap of faith and hope that his instinct could carry him through this battle?

    Butбн Why was it that he had such a strong revulsion toward such a thing? He felt as though he was ripping out a piece of his own soul just thinking about something like thisбн

    10 seconds.

    Leonel''s jaw steeled. He was less than a hundred meters away. He felt like he had overturned every possibility and simulated everything he could.

    At this point, he felt that he had wasted his time. Would he have been in a better situation if he had turned all of his brain power toward formulating new Star Elemental Force spells?

    However, Leonel knew that this was a foolish thought to have. Even he would need days to formulate new Mage Arts that could battle near and at a Fifth Dimensional level. Even if he dug through his memories and found some Arts from Camelot, they would all be at a Third to Fourth Dimensional level at best.

    5 seconds.

    Leonel had no choice. He unleashed all more than thousand of his split minds.

    Waves of emotion he had long since suppressed practically blindsided him despite the fact he thought he was ready. But it still caused him to lose a second, his mind spiraling into a well of memories.

    4 seconds.

    "бн It''s not the first time I''ve seen it."

    Aina''s voice might as well have been whispering into his ears. The wererat and the other weremen lay dead beneath their blades and the man''s primitive consciousness had taken hold of Leonel''s body, forcing him to pull down his pants.

    Even now, Leonel had no idea what Aina had meant by that. What did she mean she had seen it before?

    3 seconds.

    Leonel''s footsteps froze. He faced a line the demarcated his life and death.

    He hadn''t even taken the first step toward his goal yet. Would he really die like this?

 Chapter 858 Domain

    The memory suddenly hit Leonel like a ton of bricks. It was as though he had thought of something but the true ramifications, or maybe more accurately, implications of it didn''t hit him until a moment later. It felt like he was on a rollercoaster with everything whizzing by so fast it was difficult for his eyes to keep trackбн But there was just that one small moment that appeared for just long enough to catch his attention just barely.

    That dayбн That was the first and one of the only times Leonel had ever allowed one of the consciousnesses to take over his body. It had given him combat prowess far beyond his means at that time.

    Ultimately, though, what he had done that day was out of necessity rather than desire. After all, he had only just stepped out of his second Zone and hadn''t even really understood what it meant to wield a spear. It also had to be remembered that he had had the Spear Domain Heirloom for all of a few minutes at that point, so he wasn''t even really sure what he was getting himself into.

    However, what was especially memorable and important about that time was the fact that the primitive consciousness hadn''t snatched his body away forcefully. In fact, Leonel was able to take his mind back as he pleased, he never truly felt that he wasn''t in control.

    Leonel wasn''t sure if this was how things were supposed to have gone or if he had been meant to struggle to keep his mind safe, but all of that was irrelevant. The fact that he was so clearly unaffected was a very good thing.

    The issue with allowing consciousnesses to take over his body was the blurring of the lines between what was you and what wasn''t. But, Leonel was able to define this line so clearly and easily that there wasn''t even a chance at such confusion.

    The question wasбн Was the answer to allow his body to be taken over?

    What was so powerful about that memory was that Leonel had been able to take a back seat and observe everything while his body was being controlled by another. If things were like this, then he could take a step back and calculate the progression of battle. This would allow him to step in should he ever be neededбн

    However, the trouble was which consciousness should he allow to take over his body? The logical answer was the consciousness of the Quasi Silver Spear. The issue with that, though, was that Leonel had forcibly snatched the spear and let alone experiencing its consciousness, he hadn''t even experienced its Domain yet. As far as he knew, the Quasi Silver Spear didn''t even have a Domainбн Which was definitely untrue.

    This was just only one problem, thoughбн

    Something about allowing others to control his body while he observed left a bad taste in Leonel''s mouth. It was like he wasn''t earning it. And if he wasn''t earning it, was he truly winning? Could that even be considered the path of a True King?

    ''I feel like I''m closeбн So close to somethingбн''

    2 seconds.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. ''Spear Domainбн''

    What did those two words truly mean? What did they represent?

    Leonel had gotten mixed up in the powerups each spear provided. He had spears with Elemental Domains, ones with restrictive Domains and even others with boosting Domains. Every spear he added to his arsenal felt like another button he could press when the going got tough, so he got lost in themбн With every spear he claimed, the problem only became worse and worse. Panda Novel

    However, if Leonel broke things down as logically as possible, there was a disconnect here.

    There were the Spear Domains of the actual spears. Then there was the Spear Domain Heirloom, which shared the same name. Then, even beyond that, there was his Spear Domain Lineage Factor.

    Of these three, the only one Leonel ever really paid attention to was the first. He treated the second like a one stop shop for spears. And, he treated the third like a mere boost in sharpness for his Spear Force, yet another one of his neglected abilities.

    Leonel''s Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor allowed him access to the abilities of a Snowy Star Owlбн

    Leonel''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor allowed him a oneness with metal that could both improve his body and his controlбн

    Leonel''s Spear Domain Lineage Factorбн Was used how, exactly?

    1 second.

    Leonel suddenly took a step forward, crossing a line of no return. His gaze was just as cold as always, his palm flipping over to replace his chain laced black spear with a spear that sparkled like a shimmering ruby.

    Even if Leonel held this spear up to his face, he would be able to see his palm right through it. It seemed as though it was carved out of delicate crystals, yet it had a heft beyond the 50 kilogram Chain Domain spear and completely lacked any sort of flexibility whatsoever.

    What was the most ''shocking'' about this spear, though, was that it didn''t have a blade. It looked like a rod or a staff, something that had baffled Leonel until he learned exactly how it was meant to be used.

    Due to its abilities, of all the Star Elemental Domain spears he had, Leonel chose to start with this one.

    As the spirit began to form, the Star Force in the surroundings began to whip about.

    Leonel''s spear twirled about in his hands. With every spin, it became faster and faster, Leonel''s gaze becoming sharp as the spirit grew more and more solid.

    Wheels of a metallic blue Star Force followed the arc of Leonel''s spear.

    ''Star Domain.''

    The blue Star Force surged, connecting with Leonel''s crystal red spear and suddenly flashing toward a blinding ruby color.

    In that moment, the blades spear suddenly gained a vibrant crimson point.

    Within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, his Spear Force Embryo trembled. The sharp sound of blades colliding began to flow all around Leonel, his pale violet eyes beginning to glow brighter.

 Chapter ?859 Two Things

    The blade of red energy looked no different from a real blade. It shook the surrounding air, sparkling with a translucent sheen that emitted a grandiose power.

    However, its majesty was overwhelmed by the ever growing sound of blades clanging against one another. A strong Force whipped about Leonel, forming into a growing dome of strength that enveloped him and eventually even the spirit before him.

    What did it mean to have a Spear Domain Lineage Factor?

    All this time, Leonel had focused too much on the spear aspect. However, it was precisely due to this that he had ended up neglecting one of the most powerful cards in his hand.

    It was like a clash of memories was finally coming together into one, forming a full picture that Leonel had completely missed until now.

    That day his consciousness was taken overбн That day he mastered the primitive consciousness for the first timeбн That day he touched upon the true form of Universal Force, causing him to step upon the King''s Pathбн That day he finally realized that he was truly meant to be a Kingбн

    What was a Domain? What was the Spear Domain Lineage Factorбн?

    An indifferent light reflected in Leonel''s gaze. He took a step forward, his spear spinning in his hand, following an elegant arc.

    His Spear Force Embryo continued to tremble fiercer and fiercer. It grew in size, becoming larger and more prominent. Eventually, it grew so large that it began to manifest in Leonel''s surroundings, the striking mark of a golden spear etching itself onto his forehead.

    Rather than ruining his appearance, it gave him a mysterious, exotic air that bordered on intoxicating.

    The mark of the spear grew brighter and brighter as Leonel clashed with the spirit. His steps were so steady and his strike so perfect that the sturdy spirit stumbled a step backward, its spear rebounding away from Leonel''s own.

    Leonel took another step forward, his spear spinning. Swirls of blue Star Force came into being, forming a second blade that slashed at the spirit.

    Recovering quickly, the spirit blocked with the body of its spear. However, Leonel wasn''t fooled. He could almost feel the imbalance of the spirit, causing him to instinctually apply pressure just a bit more to its right.

    The spirit''s steps faltered, clearly not having recovered as much as it had seemed to.

    Leonel''s spear didn''t stop. With a third spin, the head of the spirit shot into the air, an arc of crimson slicing through the air without a single sound.

    The spirit vanished into motes of light, sinking into Leonel''s body and adding to its heft once again.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he took deep, steady breaths.

    Every time he had mastered a spear, he slotted what he learned into his Dream World for his later use. But, this not only put a greater burden on his mind, slowing his cognitive function, but it also neglected the true form of what his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was meant to be.

    His Spear Force Embryo wasn''t a Spear Force Embryo at allбн It was a Spear Domain Embryo. Its purpose was to store Leonel''s comprehensions of the spear, forming it all into a unique path that could match up to its master.

    Of all the owners of Spear Domain, there were practically none that had systematically mastered so many spears at once. And then there were those with the Spear Domain Lineage Factor who would never touch the Heirloom a day in their lives.

    Yet, Leonel had the conceptions of so many spear masters in his mind. But, rather than using them as he was meant to, he practically tried to reformulate the Spear Domain Lineage Factor in his own image.

    What did it mean to have a Spear Domain?

    If one was referring to an individual spear, it was a narrow avenue of power related to an Element or a restriction.

    If one was referring to the Heirloom, it was a graveyard of spear masters of the past, an homage to the greats that once lived. Panda Novel

    Andбн If one was referring to the Lineage Factor, it was an area of absolute control, confidence and Kingship. It was a region where delicate and masterful control of the spear was demanded, a region where the spear was almighty and all must kneel before it.

    In those few seconds, Leonel had only managed to fuel his Spear Domain Embryo with just a few lower level consciousnesses and had yet to fill it with all the spears he had mastered, of which there were tens of thousands. And yet, the change to his combat prowess was mind numbing.

    ''I understandбн I''m not supposed to simply fill my Spear Domain Embryo with all sorts of spear disciplines. What I''m supposed to do is select those that match with my combat prowess the most and fuse those and those alone with my Spear Domain Embryo, allowing it to truly become my own. That''s the true strength of the Spear Domain Lineage Factorбн I can also tell that there''s more waiting for me as I help it to grow strongerбн

    "Howeverбн That is just for others. Others don''t have minds capable of housing a Spear Domain Embryo with endless assortments of spear disciplines. As such, they must be extremely selective. But, my mind is strong enough."

    Leonel had finally come to understand. This was where feel and computation met and fused into one.

    He didn''t have to allow his body to be taken over. From the very beginning, his Lineage Factor was designed to take on all the ''feel'' for himself. It was already one with him from the very beginning. It was just like he was taking a test he had studied thoroughly for, but had forgotten at the critical moment how to apply that knowledge.

    But nowбн

    Leonel shot forward, the mark on his forehead growing brighter and brighter with every passing moment. It resonated with a luminescence that seemed intent on outshining even the star before him.

    ''All of it. Fuse with all of it.''

    бн

    ''Hmбн?''

    A young man paused, the spirit he had felled with his sword turning into motes of light that fused with his body.

    He had quite the disposition. He had a starriness in his eyes that would make women swoon, his deep black irises somehow twinkling with their own light. He had long, sweeping jet black hair only tied at its very end. It made his hair almost look like a perfect flow of water.

    However, what was maybe the most shocking about this young man were two things in specificбн

    The first was an eerily familiar ring that could be found on his finger.

    The second was the bright sword mark that was etched onto his forehead.

 Chapter 860 Star Force

    The young man''s sword slightly twisted in his hand, the flat of its blade catching the blue rays of sun coming from the distance and sparkling with a translucent sheen.

    He wasn''t sure why it was he had looked in that direction, it was just the feeling of something familiar. As for what it was, he had no idea.

    "Curious."

    His robes fluttered, his steps seemingly slow but his true pace being at tens of meters a second. He seemed to effortlessly glide forward.

    His sword vibrated in his hands continuously, almost eager to the point of flying out of his hand.

    "Haha!" He could no longer hold back his grin. "It''s been a long while since I, the Sword Deity, has met something that made my blade thirst."

    Sword Deity was, of course, not his nameбн In fact, it wasn''t even closeбн The truth was that even others hadn''t given him this name like one might expectбкhe had named himself. If one went even deeper to the true root of the matter, no one even knew of him.

    After the humor of it all faded away, those who understood how the strongest powers of the Dimensional Verse worked would sink into their own solemn expressions, looking toward this young man with arrogance that could poke a hole in the skies with the utmost seriousness.

    To put matters into proper perspective, even if one was born into a higher Dimensional world, everyone would start at the Third Dimension. However, if one thought that made everyone equalбн you would be sorely mistaken.

    It seemed that Leonel was capable of punching above his weight because his individual abilities added up toward such a result, but it was far deeper than this. To put things in the simplest way possible, Leonel was a cup that could be filled to the Seventh Dimension but with only enough water in it to match up to the Third.

    There was a difference between a cup filled to its brim and one with so much room to maneuver. If Leonel was fierce enough with his cup, he could cause the water that made up his strength to slosh about and reach toward a height it shouldn''t be able to reachбн

    However, if someone with a smaller cup tried to do the same, their water would just spill over and be wasted.

    Why was all of this important now? It was important because depending on the strength of a family, it required a youth to reach a certain level of strength before they could leave and begin to experience the world.

    The stronger the family or organization, the stronger a youth of talent would have to be to meet their requirementsбн

    This young man was already in the Sixth Dimension. And, yet, not only was he arrogant enough to call himself the Sword Deity, he was a complete unknown to the world.

    So, the question wasбн How strong did his organization need to be to think that only the Sixth Dimension was decent enough to finally let him out?

    It likely wouldn''t be long before the name Amery, the Sword Deity, was known far and wide.

    бн

    Leonel took deep breaths as he continued to move forward. Unfortunately, his recent breakthrough hadn''t done much to alleviate his previous fatigue. But, it was gradually getting better for him.

    As his battles grew more efficient and wasted less energy, the gaps between them became more and more beneficial to his recovery. If it wasn''t because the battles also grew more difficult, he might have already been able to catch his breath.

    Leonel didn''t grow complacent, though. His battle prowess continued to grow as he integrated more and more of his comprehensions into his Spear Domain Embryo, but he was also keenly aware that this was not enough.

    At this rate, if the road was really as endless as it seemed and not just an illusion to test his mental fortitude, he would practically be nothing more than a stone by the time he reached the half way point.

    Leonel was already felt twice as heavy as he should be, something that effectively meant he was dealing with what felt like double gravity. In addition, it was only growing worse with every passing battle.

    The good news was that Leonel felt with his progression, it shouldn''t be a problem to continue for a long while. The bad news, however, was that he was certain he would eventually reach his limits again.

    Leonel wouldn''t make the same mistake, though. There was no need to wait until the final moment and hope and pray for another breakthrough. What he needed to do was think of a path of progression for himself that guaranteed improvement. He had to assume that he would be stuck here for years and act accordingly.

    Leonel''s head tilted slightly to the side, his free hand shooting up with a coating of Star Force forming a Force Skin over it. With a sturdy grip, he latched onto the spirit''s spear and pierced forward with his free hand at the same time.

    Moments later, Leonel''s body grew a small measure heavier as he continued forward.

    His steps maximized the time he would have between battles, both for recovery and so that he could continue to think.

    His best options for improvement were Star Elemental Mage Arts, mastering more spears within Spear Domain, and thirdly, there was Universal Force.

    If there was one Force that still functioned just fine in this place aside from Star Force, it was Universal Force. If not for this, Leonel wouldn''t have been able to keep up for so long. After all, Universal Force was one of the core reasons he was able to battle above his Dimensional level.

    The current Leonel used it so frequently and fluidly that he hardly even thought about it consciously anymore. But, that ironically led to it being neglected as well.

    Funny enough, Leonel found it difficult to use Dream Path on himself. However, that didn''t mean he had any intention of giving up so easily.

    ''Interestingбн I haven''t felt any hunger or fatigue since I''ve been here. Is it because of this Star Force that keeps entering my body?''

    If Leonel had to lament one thing about being stuck here for so long, it would definitely be the fact that he wouldn''t be able to eat or sleep. But, as time passed, he realized that he felt neither. Panda Novel

    Once Leonel realized this, he started paying more attention to his body. He had already been doing so, but he had mostly been monitoring weight. Now, however, he was trying to find out what this mysterious Star Force was doing to him.

    The conclusion he reached, though, was quite surprising. Becauseбн The answer was nothing.

    The blue Star Force didn''t do anything after entering his body except for fuse into his flesh and bone. After that, there were no surprising mechanisms, no subtle changes, no hidden dangers or even benefits. It seemed like it just fused and vanished.

    ''Interestingбн''

    If there was one part of Leonel''s body that was completely untouched, it was his right kidney. It sparkled like a polished, golden-red crystal, swirling about with a gaseous-like energy that looked like smoke being lit by vibrant gold and crimson light.

    Whenever the blue Star Force tried to fuse with this kidney of his, it would be eradicated.

    In truth, Leonel''s current body was only functioning on one kidney as he didn''t dare to allow his Scarlet Star Force to move about as it pleased. If it did, he might as well prepare himself an urn right this moment because nothing but ash would be left.

    Even now, Leonel had no illusions toward allowing it to go throughout his body right this moment just to deal with the blue Star Force. The exchange wouldn''t be worth it, especially since Leonel was no longer certain that the blue Star Force was harming him.

    There was no denying that this blue Star Force was making him heavier. But, at the same time, it was also the reason he didn''t need food or rest, two abilities that were all too important to actually completing this trial.

    ''бн Maybe?''

    Leonel suddenly thought of something that made his eyes narrow.

    Back on Earth, especially during its less technologically advanced Eras, everything was reliant on the sun. Plants needed the sun to produce their food, herbivores consumed these plants for their energy, and then omni and carnivores would consume these herbivores. This was how the cycle of life worked.

    All the most fundamental energies that allowed for life originated from the sun itselfбн

    Even when Earth continued to evolve and began to produce some energies itself, was it really self-reliant from the sun? Even on 25th Century Earth, the greatest source of power was Nuclear Fusion, the very same process the sun relied on to produce the energy it did.

    Earth, even when it began to be ''self sufficient'', was still just doing its best to imitate what a Star could do innately.

    When Leonel thought of Star Force, he thought of many of its abilities.

    He thought of its abilities to purify and cleanse. He thought of its heft and weight. Howeverбн He never really considered what it was most fundamentallyбн

    A power source.

    At that moment, it suddenly clicked. Why was it that he wasn''t feeling tired or hungry? The real question was why would he believe that he should feel those things when his body was being saturated with the purest form of energy the universe had to offer?

    For the second time in just as many days, Leonel''s world view had been flipped on its head.

    ''So I''ve been using Star Force all wrongбн But if it''s core use is as energyбн Why am I still breathing so hardбн?''

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, seemingly having thought of something.

    Maybe the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] wasn''t as much of a bastard as he thought. It was either thatбн Or he or she was even worse than Leonel believed.

 Chapter 861 Viola Estate

    The Viola family estate was impossibly large. One might think that this meant a few hundred acres, or maybe they owned a small forest to themselves, but even this wasn''t thinking nearly large enough.

    The estate of this family wasn''t limited to such a small range. In fact, even a large city wasn''t enough to cover it all. Instead, it was constructed by a network of ten large cities that encompassed an area equivalent to a small stateбкabout 30 000 square kilometers.

    Despite the impossibly large region for just a single estate, it was difficult to find even a single blade of grass that was out of place. And, this was despite the fact that much of the region between the ten cities were used as tempering grounds for the younger generation. One would think that it was nothing but an enormous and well kempt garden.

    This estate was, of course, just private property. Only the members of the Viola family and their vassals were allowed to step foot in the region. The only exception was when the family hosted some competitions in their tempering regions, but even then, it would mostly be youths from comparatively powerful families participating.

    Rarely, the Viola family would hold such competitions to find new Vassals like Aina''s father. But, this had many hoops to jump through to even be considered, the least of which were exorbitant fees, not to mention many rounds of screening.

    It could be said that not only were Vassals extremely rare in comparison to the number of the Viola family members, each one was a talent that could even match up to the Heirs of the family, not that they would ever have a chance at succession.

    As the only daughter of a Viola family Vassal, Aina had certain privileges as well. Due to the rarity of Vassals and given the size of the estate, it wasn''t surprising that the father-daughter pair would have a large mansion and room all to their own. In fact, their living abode could be considered to be an estate as wellбкjust that it was more normal in size.

    The accommodations left by the Viola family for their subordinates were quite excellent. Most Vassals who managed to succeed would move their entire families over to subordinate themselves to the Viola family, so Miel had enough room to accommodate thousands of peopleбн But, there was usually no one but himself.

    Now, though, he had gained three young women in his daughter, his adoptive daughter, and their friend.

    It didn''t take the girls very long to settle into their new lives.

    They had endless space to train. All the sparring partners they could ever want or need at their finger tips. Their meals were handled by elite Force Pill Crafters far beyond Aina in skill. The precious resources that made up their meals were so rare and nutrient rich that single bites for Fourth Dimensional existences like themselves made them feel as though they wouldn''t have to train another day in their lives in order to reach the top of the universe.

    Of course, this was all nothing but an illusion. Very soon, as the impurities of their bodies were flushed out and they became accustomed to such treatment, their rapid progress would slowбн That is if they didn''t know how to take advantage.

    But, were they like this? Panda Novel

    Let alone resting on her laurels, Aina seemed to become a madwoman. She ate more meals in a given day than words she might speak in the same time frame.

    She blazed through the elite sparring partners of the Viola family as though they were canon fodder, ate enough food for ten grown men in the Fifth Dimension, and honed her skill to a mind numbing degree.

    Everyone knew that the Vassal title wasn''t hereditaryбн There might be less hoops to jump through for someone with a connection to a Vassal, but there would be hoops nonetheless.

    However, with the way Aina was going, it might not be long before she gained such a right herself.

    It was just unfortunate for the Viola family that something that would start off so innocent, would ultimately end in their prestige built over tens of thousands of years being plundered and their estate being razed to the ground.

    **

    In a familiar land several Folds of Reality away, a young man who was just as familiar pinched down on one of his nostrils with a thumb before blowing hard.

    A jet of blood sprayed out along with not nearly enough snot. However you looked at it, this young man''s nose was a mangled mess. And yet, it didn''t do much to detract from his handsome features.

    This young man was none other than Elthor, the Oryx Prince Leonel had sent to handle affairs on Planet Valiant. But, clearly, he wasn''t having as good a time as one might hope he would. In fact, he was having a hard time not pulling out his blade to deal with every situation.

    Of course, as an Oryx, this was the preferred method. But, the issue was that he wasn''t strong enough to simply rule with an iron fist just yet.

    One might think that that the Oryx might be like beasts, just submitting to those with the greatest bloodlineбкor in their case, the strongest pheromonesбкbut this was far from the case. They were a race that relied on their minds just as much as humans would.

    Elthor''s appearance had definitely been seen as a great sign by the members of the Oryx, but this didn''t simultaneously mean that they would just hand over all the reins to him. There were simply too many questions.

    Where was he from? What was his purpose? What right did he have to take command of all of them?

    Leonel had definitely prepped Elthor to handle all of these questions far in advance after thoroughly studying Oryx culture. But, this didn''t mean that the plan would be without its bumps and bruisesбн

    It also didn''t help that practically every Oryx female was in love with Elthor and there wasn''t a single male Oryx who was a fan of this at all.

 Chapter 862 Good Or Bad?

    Elthor slowly picked himself up, shaking his head. He was getting really tired of having to get into all of these fights, not because he hated fighting, but because he always had to hold back.

    The ones he could kill, he couldn''t kill. As for the ones he couldn''t kill even if he tried, those were even more agonizing. Did they get off from beating a kid like him? Just because your wife was giving me googly eyes, doesn''t mean I touched her! Shouldn''t you blame yourself for her eyes wandering?!

    Elthor looked up and glared at the gorilla sized bastard he had just knocked out. His fists were really too itchy at this point.

    At that moment, though, Elthor''s pupils suddenly constricted. His head snapped up to the skies, his eyes narrowing.

    ''This isбн Most definitely not part of the planбн'' Elthor mumbled to himself.

    бн

    The Oryx community, despite their advancements toward the importance of the mind in conjunction with the body, was still quite primitive. Their sanitation wasn''t the best, their roads were still paved of dirt, their homes were simple constructs of wood, mud and dried grassбн They were ultimately still living in a time countless centuries behind everyone else.

    One of the tasks Elthor was left with by Leonel was to improve this. However, the method in which he did so was also important.

    Elthor was supposed to become their future leader, not their plumber or construction worker. He couldn''t just roll up his sleeves and get to shoveling. As shallow as that sounded, the minds of sentient beings all worked similarly.

    If Elthor did this, his image would be tainted in the eyes of most. As feel good as it sounded for a leader to get in the dirt and weeds with their subjects, most didn''t have the capacity to appreciate this and would even take it for granted.

    Of course, such an approach could be taken after power was already in your hands. But, if you had to shake off the label of commoner or poverty first, history would tell you how difficult that would beбн And even those that succeeded would have to wage war or lead an uprising, something Leonel had expressly told Elthor to avoid.

    As such, Elthor''s path toward improving the Oryx was to instead present his ideas through legislation. It was much slower this way, but it also gave him the opportunity to display his leadership qualities and to subtly prove himself.

    This would be the most difficult. Elthor''s combat prowess was clear enough. No one at his age was able to defeat him and even matured adults often lost to him. It was just that he couldn''t match up to the true warriors of the Oryx yet, and likely wouldn''t'' be able to for a long while. However, this didn''t matter because that was just a matter of time.

    Proving that he was the most appropriate leader, though, and also dealing with the fallout of those he would have to push out of the way to claim it, would be what really challenged him. Panda Novel

    The irony wasn''t lost on Elthor. He had never wanted to become a King in his life. And yet, in order to become the General he wanted to be, he would have to become a King first. Life truly liked to play tricks on the wearyбн

    At this moment, though, Elthor wasn''t thinking about all of this, at least not in his conscious mind.

    Due to the structure of the Oryx, they were quite closed off from the outside world and didn''t have diplomatic relations with any others. However, just moments a go, a ship had very clearly descended the skies, not bothering to hide its presence.

    There were only two possible explanations for this: It was either a declaration of war, or it was just the best way to establish contact with a race that was so primitive in its technology.

    Just minutes later, it became clear that it was the latter.

    The Oryx Tribe''s meeting room was among the first things Elthor had proposed to fix. As a result, it was the cleanest and most well established. It took up the center of the Tribe and though it wasn''t made of precious materials, there was no denying the care that went into making it. At the very least, there was no dirt, mud or grime to be seen. There was nothing but well polished dark wood all around.

    The focus of the Oryx and Elthor, though, wasn''t their well-built meeting room, but rather the group of diplomats that had come from parts unknown.

    The current leader of the Oryx, a wizened older man by the name of Raymundus, sat upon a wooden throne. Though his eyes were murky and his hair was greyed, his back still sat straight and his breathing was steady. He both looked like he could keel over at any moment, but simultaneously burst with an undying strength.

    To Raymundus'' left and right were two guards in their prime. Both were among the strongest warriors of the Oryx and their momentum was stifling. No matter how one felt about the Oryx, their presence alone was enough to force whatever disdain this group of diplomats might have had in their hearts down.

    The group was led by a young woman wearing a fluttering yellow dress. She didn''t seem off put by the strong smell of the Oryx in the slightest and simply bowed with respect before Raymundus, causing the latter''s aged eyes to twinkle with a hint of intelligence.

    "I''ve heard of the Oryx Tribe for a very long while," she began with a sweet voice. "Please don''t take this as useless flattery. Valiant Heart Mountain was once the strongest power in this quadrant, even beyond the Milky Way Guild, and yet your Oryx Tribe has managed to protect your lands from them, effectively hindering their path toward uniting this world and the World Spirit.

    "My organization has taken a great interest in working with you all."

    Elthor watched all of this in silence. Of all the plans, counter plans, and fail safes Leonel had given him, a contingency for this was not amongst them. Even Leonel couldn''t plan for every change ahead of time.

    To make matters worse, Elthor had no way of recognizing this woman. In fact, even if he had seen her face before, he still wouldn''t because her features had changed.

    This woman was none other than Heira.

    ''Is this a good or a bad thingбн?'' Elthor thought to himself.

 Chapter ?863 Puzzle

    Leonel had no idea what was going on so far away from himself. It was true that he had never considered the possibility that someone would try to form diplomatic relations with the Oryx, but this was mostly because of how unlikely that it was.

    The Oryx were not human. This was maybe the most important reason. Though racism wasn''t very prevalent amongst humans any longerбкat least not in Leonel''s experienceбкthat was only because it was replaced by another sort of race war, one between species.

    Unfortunately, no matter where you were, racism was an almost inevitable part of life. There was nothing people liked to do more than participate in tribalism. The grotesque part of it all was that it was rooted in good. People had the inherent want to be connected and feel connected to one another. It was just unfortunate that this good was often twisted and contorted into what Leonel believed to be the ugliest thing in the world.

    What better way to feel more connected to those around you than to exclude the ''others''? If everyone was connected, was anyone connected at all?

    It was these kind of thoughts that had always pervaded the psyche of the Dimensional Verse and it manifested in the form of race wars all too often.

    It could be said that the only reason Earth had weeded out racism was because of its hands on approach. The Ascension Empire fused the continents into one. A monolithic culture was formed. There were no large swaths of communities where only a single type of face could be seenбн

    Of course, Earth still had its own in groups and outgroupsбкthat being the people who could call the surface home and those that could not. But, they had still made great leaps and bounds in that direction and it was about the only thing Leonel respected about his grandfather''s Empire.

    Howeverбн outside of Earth, these things couldn''t be said to be the same.

    The Milky Way happened to be a Galaxy of humans, so these matters weren''t very prevalent on a large scale. But, they still appeared in small doses here and thereбн One of which was the Oryx themselves.

    Leonel had never thought that anyone would reach out a hand to ally with the Oryx because of these reasons. He felt that he understood human psychology very well, at least enough to be quite firm in his predictions against this happeningбн

    But, what he never considered was the fact that someone would make this move precisely because they felt that no one else would do so.

    The trouble was that now, even though Leonel had the initiative and the advantage of race on his side, he wasn''t able to plan out his next move because he was stuck in this trial world.

    It would all be up to Elthorбн

    бн

    Leonel took deep, sweeping breaths. Every time he did so, large swaths of blue Star Force swarmed into his mouth, spiraling about the air and into a funnel formation.

    Leonel sealed his lips almost as though he was tasting something, but the truth was that he was monitoring the change in his body, trying to see if the changes he had made were functioning properly or if he needed to make more adjustments. Panda Novel

    ''Fascinatingбн''

    The more time Leonel spent in this trial, the more he realized just how much of a genius this creator was. It seemed as though this was nothing but a long, drawn out trial of battle, but with every new discovery Leonel made, he realized how far from the truth this was.

    Logically speaking, it didn''t make sense that a Star Force that could stop him from feeling hungry or tired couldn''t also help his stamina. At least this was the case if he was correct about Star Force being this all encompassing energy source that could be applied to anythingбн

    But, who was to say that this was true?

    Anyone with half a brain knew that depending on the device, it would need a different power source. Or, at the very least, that power source would have to be packaged in a different way.

    Back in the 21st century, Earth had batteries that were split into all sorts of rankings. Technically, they all functioned similarly and had near identical mechanisms by which they worked, but they came in all different shapes and sizes and couldn''t be casually swapped out for one another.

    Leonel believed that this blue Star Force was like a single type of those batteries. In its base form, it was capable of halting fatigue and hunger, but did nothing for muscle recovery, oxygen supplementation, or anything of the like.

    However, Leonel then realized something else. Technically, this blue Star Force should be unable to become the blade of his weapon, right? After all, it wasn''t an attack type Star Force like Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force was. And yet, hadn''t it fused with his blade just fine?

    That was when Leonel understood that this was a hidden puzzle. In fact, maybe the gradual weight his body was gaining was a puzzle as well.

    As for what Leonel''s task was? It was adjust the uses of this blue Star Force to fit his needs better than they already were.

    Even if he didn''t feel hunger or the need to sleep, if his stamina hit a wall, what good would that do for him?

    So, Leonel got to work. His first goal? To have this Star Force become capable of replacing his oxygen intake with far more efficiency.

    Funny enough, this brought Leonel right back to Mage Arts and their creation. This time, he focused everything he had on the Star Element, trying to formulate a Force Art that would allow him to satiate his body''s thirst for air.

    Once he finished that, he would move on to his muscle fatigue and attack that weakness as well. With the abundance of Star Force there was in the air, how could he not take advantage?

    Due to his measured steps and far weaker body, Leonel only fell further and further behind the others, completely unaware that he even had competitors. However, the further toward completion he approached with this Force Art, the brighter Leonel''s gaze glowed.

 Chapter 864 Wrong Shape

    Leonel took another large breath. The spiraling of blue Star Force this time was even more violent and rampant. Every ounce of Force within ten meters surged toward him, filling his lungs to the point they seemed like they might burst.

    ''Not quiteбн Almost thereбн''

    Leonel''s mind spun, undergoing several calculations at a time as he continuously adjusted the Force Art.

    However, as Leonel progressed, he quickly realized he was approaching a bottleneck. His progress was slowing and he subconsciously felt that he would reach a barrier he couldn''t push past with more calculations very soon.

    This wasn''t'' the first time Leonel had run into such a problem. While he was Force Crafting, there were many times the blueprints he thought of couldn''t quite meet he mark the wanted them to. When things reached that point, the best choice was to always scrap the design and start anew because this barrier definitely meant that there was a fundamental flaw to his approach.

    ''A fundamental flaw, hmбн?''

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened as he took a heavy step backward.

    A blade of blue swung down heavily before him, missing the tip of his nose by just a hair. A fine line of blood trickled down and dripped from Leonel''s nostrils, his pupils constricting to an extreme.

    This wasn''t a kilometer. This was 500 meters. The parameters had changed again. Had he been just a moment late in his reaction, he would have been sliced in two. Noбн If it wasn''t for his Dream Counter, he would be dead right this very moment.

    Leonel reacted quickly, his spear jetting forth so fast that it cast a inescapable net.

    Ding. Ding. Ding.

    The spirit countered with a deft skill, its speed far beyond Leonel''s. If it wasn''t for Leonel''s own skill surpassing it, allowing him to use a single attack or defense to block multiple assaults, he would have been riddled with holes by now.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened, his short hair wafting about in a slight breeze as the spear etched onto his forehead grew ever brighter.

    Leonel stepped to the side, the blue illusory spear ripping a gash along his black compression shirt but missing just enough to leave not a single mark on his skin.

    Leonel spun his spear in one hand and clamped down his free forearm and elbow. After trapping the spirit''s spear, he pierced its throat through, kicking it off his blade just a moment later. Panda Novel

    Exhaling a long breath, Leonel''s brow furrowed. Was it going to be every 500 meters now? Did that also cut down the time he would have to think in between?

    Leonel decided not to make a rash guess. Since things were like this, he might as well wait here until the spirit appeared again, even if it meant he would have to take on additional weight once more.

    The time ticked by and in less than 50 seconds, the spirit reformed.

    Leonel sighed. ''Fantastic.''

    Leonel shook his head as he began to battle the spirit again. At least the distance was also cut in half. If he had to cover the same distance in half the time, it would be even harder for him to restore his stamina.

    ''I''m missing somethingбн Still missing somethingбн''

    Leonel felled the spirit again, accepting the same penalty twice.

    He knew that he had to change something drastic. However, he didn''t know how.

    When he failed with a Crafting design, there were any number of paths for him to take. He could try a completely new design, he could swap out the materials he used, he could even try a different tempering technique.

    Butбн What would he do in this case?

    The equivalent changes would probably be to try and use a new Force Art language, maybe it would be more receptive to what he was trying to do. Butбн Leonel only knew two languagesбкthree if he counted what he learned from that time he almost lost control of his body in the Joan Zoneбн A mystery he had still yet to properly solve.

    The first language he learned was in the Joan Zone incident. That was from the mysterious entity with the ability to turn abilities into Force Arts and bestow them upon people.

    The second language he learned was from his father and the Morales family teachings.

    The third language he learned was from Camelot''s magic system and it was also the one he was currently using.

    At this point, the problem was obvious. The first language was restricted to the Third Dimension for Leonel. The second language was constructed for use in creating Crafts and though it could be adapted, Leonel was still certain that the third language was best suited to this.

    Why? This was because Camelot''s magic system and language was perfect for integrating the body and magic. If Leonel wanted to take Force and use it to energize his body, it was by far the best choice. And, if it wasn''t workingбн That meant that Leonel had run into a dead end.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. He absentmindedly stared at the looming blue star in the distance that didn''t seem to be getting any closer. Someone else at his strength level might have already felt like they were finished.

    ''Waitбн''

    Leonel''s steps came to a grinding halt.

    The combination of body and magic? Was that correct? Or was it more accurately described as the body and mind? Didn''t magic manifest itself from Soul Force? Wasn''t that how Force Arts were drawnбн?

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. ''The batteryбн Is in the wrong shapeбн Is that the real purpose of this trialбн? If that''s the case, then whereбн Where should I put itбн?''

    All the while, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t be torn away from the blue star in the distance, his cold eyes giving way to a burst of passion that hadn''t been there in a long while.

    Leonel ignored everything and suddenly took another massive breath. But, this time, he didn''t seem into on stopping even as a tornado of blue Star Force began to form above his head, growing by tens of meters at a time.

    At that moment, a door had creaked open.

    As for what it lead toбн?

    It was the Fourth Dimension.

 Chapter 865 Blue Star Force

    Leonel felt his body surging toward a barrier with such momentum that even he, himself, couldn''t stop it even if he chose to.

    Leonel believed that he had understood the purpose of this trial. Maybe it wasn''t that this was a puzzle at all and maybe there wasn''t the reward of the remaining portions of [Dimensional Cleanse] waiting at the end for him. What if the entire purpose of this road was to comprehend the next step of [Dimensional Cleanse] yourself?

    What did it mean for Leonel to say that battery was the wrong shape?

    Well, all this time, the perfect image was hanging before him. He continuously tried to use the blue Star Force as though it was normal air he could breathe in, before then trying to adjust it to function like oxygen would. But, was that the right way to do things?

    Then there was the blue Star Force that fused into his body and kept making him heavier. Why did it feel like the process was eerily similar to what one experienced when entering the Fourth Dimension? Wasn''t that the Dimensional Realm one spent time tempering their bodies and drawing more Nodal Pathways?

    On top of that, there was the fact that Leonel felt he was using the blue Star Force all wrong. He felt that if he wanted to get the most out of it, taking Star Force from the surroundings and directly applying it to himself was the wrong method.

    If he wanted to flip the table and approach this from a completely different angle, then he believed that the best course of action to take would be to accept the Star Force into his body, convert it into the form he needed, and only then would he apply it to himself.

    But this processбн How was it any different from his Three Star Constitution?!

    When Leonel completed the first phase of [Dimensional Cleanse], he managed to complete what the creator called a near impossible feat and form a Three Star Constitution. Back then, he had felt like the creator only knew how to exaggerate because he hadn''t even struggled.

    One had to remember that forming nine Nodes didn''t guarantee the formation of a Star. Rather, it only allowed one the capacity and chance to form one. Every three Nodes one formed with the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique gave one the chance to form another Star. However, Leonel''s own Stars had formed immediately and without his conscious effort the moment he met the threshold requirements.

    How could Leonel not think the creator was exaggerating in such a situation? For Leonel, who didn''t often get lost in the thick of his own emotion, it all sounded like a simple mind game.

    If the creator was lost in his or her own narcissism and wanted as many people to use their technique as possible, what would they do? They would probably make said person feel like they were part of a special ''elite'' group that could accomplish something almost ''impossible''.

    Leonel concluded that the formation of his Three Star Constitution was likely something similar. However, that didn''t mean he couldn''t recognize the importance of them. At the very least, he felt he could trust the strength of the technique because he felt like he could trust Uncle Montez.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was that the creator hadn''t exaggerated in the slightest. And, what he also didn''t know was that the Three Star Constitution was just the beginningбн Or ratherбн He didn''t know until this very moment.

    Leonel''s body began to tremble with a violent abandon.

    Within his Ethereal Glabella, three slowly rotating Stars of pure silver-white suddenly began to pulse. At first it was subtle, but in just a few moments they began to expand and contract so wildly that they would double and even triple in size in one moment before shrinking to the size of a fist in the next.

    Such violent movements made Leonel''s mind feel as though it might collapse at any moment. Panda Novel

    His Three Stars were the root of much of his mental prowess. Thanks to it, he was able to quickly and continuously replenish his Dream Force. As a result, he was able to use his ability with an almost negligent abandon.

    With it suddenly becoming unstable like this, surging out with pulses of power that shook Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, it felt like the situation might turn bad.

    The truth of the matter was that this wasn''t the fault of the technique. The Three Star Constitution, at least at its current state, was designed to be used with Third Dimensional Soul Force. And yet, not only did Leonel use the more powerful Dream Force, it was even at the Fifth Dimension!

    However, where there was danger, there also came benefit. With the Three Stars seemingly evolving under the pressure of Fifth Dimensional Dream Force, their overall character and quality were improving by leaps and bounds.

    If the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] had been observing, they would be able to tell that despite the fact Leonel was suddenly pushing toward the Fourth Dimension, the quality of his Three Stars were actually closing in on something closer to the Fifth.

    This, thoughбн Was just the tip of the iceberg.

    It was right then that the blue Star Force tore a path into Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, rotating about as though under the influence of savage winds. It felt like it wanted to tear everything in its path apart, and compared to the more docile silver-white Star Force, it had the heft and strength to do so.

    Luckily, the barriers of Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella were comparable to an existence at the Fifth Dimension thanks to his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor''s Wisdom Branch. As a result, though the surroundings quaked and a splitting headache shook Leonel''s mind, everything managed to remain together.

    The swirling blue Star Force began to rotate faster and faster. As time passed and it swept through the entirety of Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, its form became clearer and clearer. Or ratherбн its three forms did.

    The blue Star Force began to form three more Stars that very instant.

 Chapter 866 One Sweep

    The three swirling masses of blue Star Force began to compress as the silver-white Star Force continued to pulse. They fed off one another, seemingly trying to find some sort of balance. However, maybe in the history of the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique, no one had ever formed all Three Stars of the Fourth Dimension at once.

    There were three foundation layers for Dimensional Cleanse. The first was for the Third Dimension, the second for the Fourth, and the last for the Fifth. Each would produce a maximum of three Stars, of which most wouldn''t be capable of forming even one.

    However, let alone not forming even one, Leonel had suddenly begun to form three at once and no matter how he tried to slow the process so that this splitting headache would leave him alone, nothing would work.

    The truth of the matter was that Leonel''s body had been ready to spill over to the next Dimension for too long now. Not to mention the fact he had one parent who was bestowed the complete World Spirit of a world with Eighth Dimension potential on one hand, on the other he had a parent born from a Seventh Dimensional world that had birthed a Clan with a Lineage Factor with Eighth Dimensional potential as well.

    The fact he had remained in the Third Dimension for so long, all while spreading his limits thin through his Metal Body and his Dream Force, was almost a form of blaspheming. If it wasn''t for the fact his body didn''t know how to progress to the next level, it would have long since done so.

    It was like a hole had been poked through the barrier toward Leonel''s next advantage, large waves of crashing waters ramming through it and forcing it wider and wider.

    If it was said that the best breakthrough was one that came naturally, this was more than just natural. It was almost like a wine locked away for thousands of years, fermenting to the point of achieving a potency that could knock someone out with a single whiff, let alone a sip. The trouble was that Leonel''s body had to be the bottle that contained it all, and it was on the verge of collapsing. Panda Novel

    Leonel roared into the skies, his body pulsing with a blinding light.

    He could feel every individual cell in his body being washed over by a seemingly endless torrent of energy. His blood vessels dilated, his nerves fires continuously, impurities poured out of his body like a flood, pooling around him just to be incinerated by the Star Force in the surroundings.

    At that moment, enough time had passed for yet another spirit to form, but it could hardly mold itself into a silhouette before it suddenly found itself obliterated, unable to withstand even a single strand of the moment of Leonel''s breakthrough.

    Leonel''s hair began to fall from his scalp once again, only to rapidly grow to lengths that would put some rivers to shame. His skin''s pores opened and closed as though it was breathing, pouring out with foul smelling odors that would put even the Oryx to shame. Leonel could feel his mind and body transcending. It was the very first time he had ever experienced such a thing.

    Leonel had thought he could predict how his breakthrough into the Fourth Dimension would go. After all, he had ''experienced'' it before with his Metal Body and his Dream Force. Wasn''t it the same thing?

    But he was wrong. He couldn''t have been more wrong. This was a completely different experience. It felt like rather than breaking through, he was becoming a completely different person, as though he was shedding away what he once had been to become something new.

    If Leonel had to describe the differenceбн It felt like he had been in charge of constructing an enormous building. But, for some reason or another, he had started to build the foundation with wooden planks.

    Feeling like this wasn''t good enough, he hid those wooden planks underground and swapped out the upper tiers of the building for more elaborate building materials like steel beams decorated with polished glass.

    However, ultimately, the foundation of his building was still weak. The wooden beams could hardly hold up its heft and the structural integrity was lacking to a great degree.

    Finallyбн He decided that he had made a mistake. But how would one rebuild a foundation?

    The only answer was to tear everything down and build it up again!

    Leonel felt as though every single one of his cells was being reborn. It was simultaneously like he was both the weakest he had ever been and the strongest all at the same time.

    As his body reconstructed itself, it remembered the previous blueprint with ease. It reconstructed his Metal Body, making Leonel feel as though it had become what felt like hundreds of times more powerful in the blink of an eye. At the same time, it reconstructed his mind and his Dream Force. Even if some of the foundation was still too weak for Fifth Dimensional Dream Force, it was powerful enough that Leonel improved by leaps and bounds.

    Leonel had once only been able to split his mind just over a thousand ways. But nowбн He felt that even splitting himself 50 000 ways wouldn''t be difficult in the slightest! And, he still felt as though his mind was only growing more and more powerful like chains that had held it down for the longest time were finally being released one after another.

    Leonel''s roar grew louder. Blinding lights that erupted from his body began to incinerate his clothing and the impurities it was dripping with.

    Within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, the six reforming Stars began to grow explosively in size along with the boundaries of his mind. At the same time, the body of his Mage Core grew along with it, its foliage becoming more exaggerated and the trunk of its stem expanding all the more.

    In one sweep, Leonel had stepped from the Third Dimension to the very Peak of the Fourth.

 Chapter 867 Oops

    Leonel''s body, which had been lifted from the star road, fell back down heavily upon it. He landed on his feet, but his face was obstructed by the sheer length of his light violet hair. It covered his body and his face, cascading for hundreds of meters as though it had a mind of its own.

    Leonel exhaled a breath. Even from beneath his endless pile of hair, the billowing steam made its presence known.

    Leonel''s long hair blew out of the way, revealing a body that put even Aphestus'' to shame. Despite the fact Leonel had never been as obsessed with training his body as Aphestus was, it seemed that his breakthrough had reformed his image into something the Romans would have carved out from white stone.

    From top to bottom, Leonel was covered in a sheen of colorless sweat that still pumped out what remained of his body''s impurities. However, by this point, his body had grown so pure that even his sweat itself released a refreshing aura, smelling like a faint cinnamon with just the slightest touch of honey.

    The fibers of his muscles could be seen from beneath his skin, their steel cord like construction wiggling about and following the contours of his tan. His abs seemed to have one too many pairs for a normal human and large veins pumped throughout his body, giving him a vascularity that put most body builders to shame.

    And yet, he was a lean, explosive machine, even down to his defined quads and calves of his legs.

    Leonel knew that this must be the result of his Metal Body. He had never had such defined muscles in his life despite the fact he had always been fit. That was definitely the only explanation, and he was correct.

    When Leonel''s body was reconstructed, the explosive strength of his Metal Body could finally manifest itself. The bulging strength that had been hiding all this time made itself known, threatening to burst out from Leonel''s skin.

    If one peeled all of Leonel''s skin off and took a look at the muscles beneath. Rather than a pure healthy pink, it would be tinted with a slight bronze that made it look as though his body itself was becoming a machine.

    Even though Leonel could tell that he was also far heavier than he had been in the past, he somehow simultaneously felt as light as a feather. His every breath filled him with a seemingly endless energy, his every heartbeat circulating his blood at impossible speeds.

    Still, Leonel hadn''t expected to step to the top of the Fourth Dimension in one sweep like this. He had yet to branch out his Nodal Pathways so it was quite shocking that he had managed to do so, at least on first inspection.

    Ultimately, the Fourth Dimension was all about bringing the body up to standard to deal with subsequent evolutions one would undergo in the future. However, Leonel, who had a Tier 9 Metal Body, had already laid out the perfect foundation for this.

    The Fourth Dimension made use of Nodal Pathways to accomplish this, but Leonel''s Metal Body made use of his Bronze Runes.

    One had to remember that because Leonel had managed to open the Fourth Dimensional Gate of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor to the ninth level, even his very bones had been carved with his Runes. Do you want to read more chapters ? Come to Panda-novel,com

    Thanks to this, the depth and completeness of Leonel''s Metal Body was at the highest possible level, allowing it to complete the same task Nodal Pathways would be able to and thus allowing his body to be capable of withstanding being filled to the brim with Star Force immediately upon his breakthrough.

    Of course, this didn''t mean that Leonel''s Runes could replace his Nodal Pathways. If he didn''t begin to form them on his own, it would cause problems in the future. But, at least for now, there was no problem treating them interchangeably.

    Leonel nodded to himself, rolling his forearms before his eyes. He still couldn''t believe all the veins popping up across his body, it almost felt unnatural to him.

    ''Once I finish forming my Nodal Pathways, I should be able to step into the Fifth Dimension right away, thenбн I don''t think that would take more than a few monthsбн''

    The unfortunate part about Leonel''s Metal Body was that due to its sturdiness, rearranging his cells and forming new pathways was now far more difficult. Had he not had a Metal Body, maybe just a few days would have been enough to finish since he had more than enough Star Force and wouldn''t face bottlenecks. But, Leonel wasn''t too disappointed.

    There were people stuck at the Fourth Dimension all their lives. Plus, a few months would probably still have him stuck in this place so it didn''t make much of a difference one way or another.

    Leonel shook his head, grabbing at his hair and slicing it short again. He felt that his hair was easily tens of times tougher than it had been in the past, but thanks to his King''s Might, it was just as easy to cut.

    ''Still no beardбн'' Leonel shook his head, rubbing his chin in disappointment.

    Somewhere deep inside, Leonel felt that he had no beard because he was progressing too quickly. What if he felt like he was 21, but his body still felt like he was 17? How depressing would that beбн? Not that a 17 year old without any facial hair whatsoever was exactly normal to begin withбн

    Maybe he just didn''t win the genetic lottery. Of course, if others heard him think such a thing, there wouldn''t be enough tomatoes in the world to throw at him.

    ''Forget it, I''ll just stay baby faced foreverбн''

    Leonel stored his hair away as he had done before. He wasn''t sure why he did this, but he just felt it would be a shame to get rid of it for some reason. Who knows, maybe one day, it would come in handy.

    With that, Leonel shot forward.

    What he hadn''t expected, though, was for his speed to be so fast that he would leap across over 200 meters in the blink of an eye. By the time he had skidded to a stop, he was already at the next 500 meter mark.

    ''бн Oops?''

 Chapter 868 Not Just A Single Step

    Leonel''s fist shot forward, blasting the head of the spirit into pieces.

    After he was done, he almost felt bad about it. He had just reacted as quickly as he could and didn''t even think much. The poor guy didn''t even get a chance to take a good look at his face.

    ''I should put on some clothesбн''

    Leonel, unfortunately, didn''t have another pair of sweatpants, so he could only use Valiant Heart Mountain''s white pair of hammer pants. It would have to do for now.

    Despite his success, Leonel didn''t feel any sort of complacency. The road ahead still seemed endless and it was impossible to tell how many more opponents he would need to face. Who knew, maybe after a hundred more rounds, he would be right back to gasping for air.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel measured the change of his strength he calculated with his last leap, then adjusted himself immediately.

    It only made sense that he had missed the mark like this. Though Leonel had been taken ''measured'' steps in the past, that didn''t mean he was going slowбкat least not in the eyes of a normal human. After all, he had to cover a kilometer in less than a hundred seconds, that would be like running that 100 meters ten times at world class Third Dimensional speed.

    He had been trying to tap into that speed once again, but forgot to account for the change in his body''s strength because he knew he was running out of time before the spirit appeared again. He didn''t want to take on any added weight he didn''t have to.

    ''Hmбн?''

    Leonel blinked.

    His weightбн It hadn''t increasedбн

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Could it be that this hadn''t been the trial? Or could it be that he was still at the Fourth Dimensional level and as such since he had cleared the mark, he wouldn''t have to deal with any of the drawbacks for now? Do you want to read more chapters?

    Leonel wasn''t sure which it was. He really didn''t have enough information. He had already tried to ask the dictionary about it, but it mostly functioned on scanning things. The information it stored was limited, and it seemed to not be capable of scanning this trial region.

    The further Leonel progressed, the less enigmatic and omniscient the dictionary seemed to become.

    Leonel pressed forward, but having adjusted himself, his steps were still calm and perfect. Since he didn''t know how long this would go for, he needed to use all the time he had to improve as much as possible.

    The next mystery he chose to tackle was quite a simple one on the surface, but the further he dug, the more his gaze narrowed.

    Why was it that his silver-white Stars were silver-white while his blue Stars were blue?

    It was an innocent enough question. The answer also seemed to be obvious as well. There was only silver-white Star Force on Earth and only blue Star Force here. Mystery solved, right?

    If one concluded this, though, didn''t that mean that the strength or abilities of your Star were dependent on where you formed them? In that case, did that mean that Leonel was at a disadvantage because he formed his first Three Stars on a Third Dimensional world? Come to p a n d a-n o v e l,c o m

    Something so important, shouldn''t the creator have mentioned it? Or was that sadistic bastard playing tricks again?

    It was easy to fall into this belief, even Leonel felt that it might be true. But, something about it all feltбн off. As though Leonel was missing something important.

    Of course, there was also the possibility that Leonel was wrong and this was true. But in that case, could he replace the foundational energy of his Stars?

    With far more minds to work with, Leonel assigned one to forging out his Nodal Pathways, then split the rest between his Spear Domain, comprehending his Stars, and formulating new Star Elemental Mage Arts.

    As for why he only assigned a single one to his Nodal Pathways, it was because the more he formed at once, the more Star Force it would take. It wouldn''t be smart to drain himself in such an intensive battle environment.

    Leonel continued forward like a madman with only improvement on his mind. All he could think about was becoming a step more powerful with every second, not knowing what kind of challenge laid ahead for him.

    Of course, he had no idea that he was currently dead last and even the second to last individual was several hundred battles ahead of him.

    **

    "Alright."

    Aina spoke indifferently, brandishing her ax. Despite the speed at which she swung it, there was no sound of whistling wind nor did the air shift at all.

    Her father simply nodded and vanished once again.

    Just now, Miel had come to bring her news of an opportunity to enter a Sub-Dimensional Zone of the Viola family.

    Entering a Zone on a Sixth Dimensional world was a fool''s dream for the current Aina. One had to remember that a normal Zone was a location where higher Dimensional Realms touched upon lower Dimensional ones. This meant that the Zones that would appear here may very well have Seventh Dimensional threats.

    That said, the Viola family controlled more than just a single world and, among them, there were more appropriate Zones that could be entered, especially if things were accomplished as a team.

    бн

    Days later, Aina found herself not on another world, but rather a moon. The atmosphere was thin, the ground dusted by dry red sand and rock, and the beaming stars in the distance made one feel an undying dread for the heat.

    By her side, both Yuri and Savagn were present, all of them wearing what could be considered to be excellent flexible armors even for warriors of the Fifth Dimension, accentuating their figures quite perfectly.

    At that moment, a young man with deep black hair and twinkling violet eyes stepped forward.

    "I am Samson, a Junior General of the Sixth City. I know that some of you may be disappointed as it is usually Rychard''s job to introduce potential Vassals to their first trial, but he was suddenly summoned some weeks ago for an important mission, so you''ll have to settle for me."

    Samson smiled lightly. Despite his candor and warmth, though, the disappointment on the face of many couldn''t be hidden. How had they gone from Rychard, a potential Heir to the Viola family, to Samson, someone from the Sixth Cityбн?

    This wasn''t just a single step downбн

 Chapter 869 The Weak And The Strong

    A Junior General couldn''t be looked down upon. In fact, beside being a potential Heir, it was the highest ranking a youth of the Viola Bloodline could have.

    When a world reached a certain level, especially for the Viola family''s that had reached the pinnacle of its potential, the only way to grow and expand was by conquering the lands of other worlds. Of course, the best way to do this wasn''t by fighting it out with worlds at your level. Rather, the best way was by targeting worlds beneath you.

    Lower level worlds had certain protections. That came either from tacit agreements, protection by higher level worlds, and/or natural barriers.

    Earth, for example, is among a few lower level worlds that had all three of these layers of protection. Due to its talent, it had gained the favor of numerous high level worlds, all of which had invested in some way or another toward their continued progress. In addition, due to its exceptionally low Dimensional level, the natural barriers of protection it had were leaps and bounds beyond most.

    One had to understand that crossing between Folds of Reality was always dangerous. However, crossing from a higher Dimensional Fold of Reality to a lower Fold as a higher Dimensional being was both exceptionally difficult and exceptionally dangerous. The only exception to this is if one had a certain affinity for the Fold of Reality in questionбкfor example, having been born there.

    This was all to say that the Junior Generals of the Viola family played a large role in bolstering their strength. It was they who led campaigns to lower level worlds and conquered them in the name of their family. To gain such a right definitely meant that you were among the best the Viola family had to offer.

    Howeverбн Being from the Sixth City was a small knock on Samson''s prestige among them. Do you want to read more chapters?

    The estate of the Viola family was formed of ten cities. These were named by number and went from Ninth to First. The tenth city was known as the Main City.

    Competition within the family was fierce and even which city you took up living accommodations in was regarded as a measuring stick for your value. Being from the Sixth City meant that though Samson wasn''t at the bottom of the barrel in terms of talent, he wasn''t very prestigious either. This was especially so since among the youths here, many of them lived in the Main City.

    Of course, their living accommodations had nothing to do with their own strength. Their parents were Vassals that had proven their worth over a long period of time and, as such, had gained the right to live in the Main City among the most important members of the elder generation.

    This number included Aina, Yuri and Savahn. Since Miel didn''t have any other family, they of course moved to the Main City as well and had maybe the best living accommodations of all those present. Howeverбн Unlike many of the other youths here, they didn''t feel any disdain, nor did they show it on their face.

    They hadn''t been here long enough to build up such an elitist attitude. And, even if they had been, they were led by Aina who couldn''t be bothered to care about such superfluous nonsense. Her emotions were practically even keeled all the time these days.

    Samson''s gaze swept over the youths, his hands clasped behind his back and his smile slowly fading.

    "I see, I see. You all think that because I''m from the Sixth City and many of you probably live in the Main or First City that you all are above me? For the mere children of Vassals, you all really do have quite some nerve. Rychard asked me to come so that I could scout out if there would be anyone worthy of joining his retainers and helping him claim the right to succession, but I see that you all are nothing but trash."

    The disdain the group had immediately flipped toward rage. Come to p a n d a-n o v e l,c o m

    A young man wearing a heavy set of dull grey took a heavy step forward. Beneath the somewhat weaker gravity of the red moon, his movements were large and unrestrained.

    "I''m not going to stand here and be insulted by a Sixth City swinбк!"

    "Then sit."

    BANG!

    The young man couldn''t even finish his sentence before he found his face being twisted into the red rock that should have been beneath his feet. Samson stood before him, grinding his face into the dirt with a foot.

    Hardly anyone had seen him move. His speed was beyond them. His means were beyond them. His strength was beyond them.

    "Youбн!"

    The muffled voice of the young man was practically swallowed by the ground. No matter how hard he moved, he couldn''t seem to free himself. To make matters worse, when he thought he would succeed, he felt that if he continued, he would end up ripping his own neck friom his own body.

    "You all must think you''re very special, hm?" Samson''s friendly smile had turned to an almost fiendish grin, his black hair waving about even in the absence of wind. "Do you ever wonder why it seems like there''s always another Vassal family being escorted out of the Viola family estate everyday? It''s because you''re all even more useless than the young masters you proport to hate.

    "You Vassal Heirs are rarely good enough to take up the mantle of your fathers and mothers. While we of Viola blood have to scratch and claw for everything we have, you all live a life of luxury, not having to worry about succession, not having to worry about being backstabbed, not having to worry about protecting yourselves from your own brothersбн

    "It''s quite funny, if you ask me. You all dare to look down on me when it''s the blood, sweat and tears of people like me that keep you all so carefree.

    "Do you know why you all dare to be like this? Because you are weak and there''s a sucker out there stronger than you willing to protect your fragile little existences.

    "To make things worse, you think they owe you this protectionбн But what are you going to do when that person''s gone?"

 Chapter 870 Spades

    Samson removed his foot from the armored youths head and kicked him away toward a relay station not far from them.

    "Get this bastard out of my sight. I have no interest in protecting dead weight."

    There weren''t a small number of youths of the Viola bloodline that were unsatisfied with the Vassal system. But, there was nothing they could do. They didn''t have the power to change things, and even when most of them did gain power, they chose to leave things as they were.

    The trouble was that Vassals didn''t have a very strong connection to the family to begin with. They were essentially glorified hired guns. So, the best method the Viola family had to keep these experts by their side was to treat their families well.

    If a Vassal died in the line of duty, their family would also be well taken care of. However, should that Vassal not have an Heir, their family would not be allowed to stay in the Viola Estate.

    The trouble was that the descendants of Vassals had an overinflated sense of worth. And, this was especially so for descendants from Vassals in the Second, First and Main Cities. This was because the Vassals in these cities were amongst the most important to rope in for succession wars. In such a situation, wouldn''t it be too foolish to offend a family member of such a Vassal?

    So why was it that Samson dared to do this at all? It was because Rychard was a special case. He had the support of one of the two Eternal Vassalsбкone of the only two Vassal families that managed to pass down their title from generation to generation.

    In addition to this, his mother''s background wasn''t simple and should he succeed on the current expedition he was on, there was a 60% chance the claim to succession would be his.

    On top of thatбн The youth he had just kicked away had a father who was a Vassal from the Second City. And, considering his lack of talent, there was no way this title would be passed down.

    Also, as far as Samson was concerned, the potential Heirs that didn''t dare to offend the youths of Vassalsбн Never stood a chance at the Head Position to begin with!

    "Alright." Samson clapped, feeling that he had established his authority well enough. "This Zone is quite a special one. According to our analysis tools, it actually seems to be related to General Fye.

    "After doing some research, I found out why. This region was among those the General conquered back in his youth. It was only after the Empire fell that it then fell into our handsбн"

    Samson was about to continue explain, but he saw the blank looks on all their faces. Even the few he thought were comparatively better than the others, like those three masked women over there, didn''t seem to know what he was talking about.

    [Do you want to read more chapters ? Come to Panda-novel,com] He shook his head, lamenting the state of these youths as though he wasn''t actually younger than a lot of them.

    From a young age, he had been training to be a General. In addition, as a member of the Viola family''s main Bloodline, he had also been drilled with all sorts of history. However, the legend of General Fye shouldn''t be one that one had to be a history buff to know.

    How could one be in the Sixth Dimension and have never heard of the Silver Empire?

    The name sounded simple, but it was just an unfortunate part of the language being lost in translation. To General Fye and his people, ''Silver'' represented the highest prestige, an unmatched glory, but most importantly, and underestimated, unrefined talent that rose to the top.

    This last definition is why Silver was the most appropriate translation as it always lost out to more precious materials like gold, diamond or platinum. But, it still wasn''t exactly perfect.

    "Our Tri Pillar Galaxyбн Forget it, I''m not wasting my breath. All you need to know that it is very possible that we will have to face General Fye in his youth. I don''t have the time or patience to protect all of you, so some might die. If you don''t want to see your coffin lids close early, follow my instructions and cut the bullshit."

    With that, Samson turned and vanished into a swirling portal, almost a dozen youths following after him.

    бн

    It was an odd feeling indeed. Zones seemed to pass down legends of an age long past. But, what would happen if that age hadn''t exactly ended yet?

    **

    The discussion between Heira and the Oryx didn''t seem to last very long, just three hours. And yet, it felt like the Tribe had suddenly become a swaying rowboat amidst an ocean of waves in just that small moment.

    The promises she made were quite monumental. She promised to hand this world over to them, she promised that they would have a place in this galaxy, and she promised that her success would be theirs.

    The Oryx weren''t so na?ve to simply believe everything that was thrown at them. After all, they were an intelligent race of people. And, they had more than enough experience dealing with humans, and even the much more powerful Valiant Heart Mountainбкor rather, the Valiant Heart Mountain of the past.

    Howeverбн The temptation was also great.

    In their current state of Hyper Evolution, the Oryx had a very small window to either rocket to greater heights or crashбн never to rise up again.

    Hyper Evolution wasn''t something you could just sit idly by for and reap the benefits of. It was the last chance this world was giving them to claim what was theirs. If they couldn''t fight for it, they would be finished.

    But, if they got lost in the weeds battling the dying Valiant Heart Mountain, leaving themselves without enough room to expand beyond this world, then they would have wasted a golden opportunity.

    Of all the things, thoughts and plans Elthor had come withбн What he was lacking the most in were the resources the Oryx Tribe needed to crash through the barriers that were holding them backбн

    Resources Heira had in spades.

 Chapter 871 Lssue

    Heira did not overstay her welcome. She very cleverly didn''t push too hard and turned to leave the moment she had said her piece. The only thing she left behind was a method of contacting her and nothing else.

    Long after she was gone, a silence weighed over the council room. Even Raymundus didn''t say anything.

    Elthor sat in a corner, his brow furrowed. He really was being pushed into a position he didn''t know how to deal with.

    The good news was that while Elthor knew nothing about Heira, what he did know was of the strain between the Milky Way Guild and Leonel. After all, Leonel wouldn''t leave him without such a valuable piece of information and most definitely had a way of contacting Elthor.

    The issue was that Elthor had tried to contact Leonel, but had failed to do so repeatedly. Leonel had said that this might be a possibility, but that didn''t stop it from being a huge problem when it actually did happen.

    From then on, there was nothing but problems. Elthor had no idea who Heira was, so he still wasn''t sure if he should be cautious of her or not. And, at the same time, he didn''t have a rebuttal for the benefits she would potentially be providing.

    The most obvious thing to do would be to use the card of distrustбн The problem was that there was no real reason to distrust Heira with the exception of oneбн

    She was human.

    For obvious reasons, Elthor would be a fool to use this card to try and sway the Oryx. Why? Because in just another few months to a couple years at most, Elthor would definitely have to transfer over whatever strength he gained from the Oryx to Leonel.

    If at this moment he tried to stifle their growth by using distrust of humans as an excuse, then what would he do when that time came? When it was exposed that he had been working for a human all along, not only would any trust he had built up crumble, any shot they had at a smooth transition would go up in smoke.

    It was already contentious since Leonel had ties with Valiant Heart Mountain which had been oppressing them for so long. They really couldn''t afford any more variable to ruins things like this.

    Elthor entered a state of calm. Stress wasn''t something he was unaccustomed to dealing with. He was the Prince of an Empire after all, and he wanted to be a great General. Since when did such people give up before even trying?

    ''At this moment, they all believe that I come from an Oryx Empire, and that much is true. It isn''t a lie.

    ''The trouble is that my brothers and the others are still trapped within that silver tablet. And, since my father died, Leonel has no way of resurrecting him in a short time. It''s even possible that my father would never be able to come backбн''

    Elthor closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    ''бн The pressure of this potential deal will push this Oryx Tribe in two directions. The first is that they will grasp at this opportunity for the sake of taking advantage of their Hyper Evolution. I wouldn''t be mad at them for taking this chance, we didn''t manage to take advantage of our own very wellбн''

    In Elthor''s world, he had heard of the Hyper Evolution state of his people. In fact, his seemingly human-like appearanceбкwith the exception of his hornsбкalong with his battle form were all elements of this.

    However, Elthor''s people didn''t manage to maximize their Hyper Evolution. If they had, they wouldn''t have been forced to share their world with Alexandre.

    Though Elthor kept referring to things like this, the reality was that the world he had experienced was just one of the many potential branching futures of Planet Valiant. So, he was well aware of just how important the Hyper Evolution state was.

    Though he had benefited from it, he would be even more powerful if his Ancestors had made better use of it. So, he really couldn''t blame this Tribe for being tempted.

    ''The second option or path is that their dislike of humans will cause the pressure I face to increase. More and more will want to learn more about my origins. They''ll want to know where my people are, what they''d have to do to goбн Their urgency will be on another level.''

    Elthor exhaled a long breath. ''The only way to fix this is resources. They need resources.''

    The Oryx Tribe didn''t need things like weapons or treasures. What they needed was nutrition and energy. They needed to stimulate and be able to train their bodies to maximize their potential. They needed training and sparring to push themselves to their limits. Only like this would they be able to maximize their Hyper Evolution state.

    The latter could be provided by Heira. Obviously, she would want to send them into countless battles, or else she would have never come here.

    However, if they also relied on Heira for the formerбкie the food and energy sourcesбкthen they wouldn''t be just warriors, they would be slaves.

    Being warriors was easy enough to extricate themselves out ofбн But if they became dependentsбн That was how they''d be controlled.

    The truth was that the situation wasn''t as bad as it seemed. Just like Leonel didn''t know what Heira was up to, neither was Heira aware that Leonel was slowly pulling the Oryx to his side. If Elthor could manage to make it so that the Oryx could use Heira put not be manipulated or abused by her, then this might very well be a good thing.

    The ultimate question, thoughбн Was how?

    At that moment, just as Elthor was racking his brain, he felt movement within his spatial ring that made his eyes narrow. When he heard the message he received he fell into deep thought before nodding inwardly.

    The message wasn''t from Leonel, butбн

    "Little one, what do you think of all of this?"

    Raymundus'' words interrupted Elthor''s thoughts. Right then, numerous gazes shifted over to the overly handsome Oryx Prince.

 Chapter 872 Accept

    Elthor looked up to meet the murky gaze of the head of the tribe. He didn''t answer immediately, instead looking around and gauging the reactions of everyone else.

    As one might expect, not everyone was happy that Elthor would express his opinion first. Though the men who were on the Oryx Council were much more measured than the ones who would pick fights with him day in and day out, as far as Elthor was concerned, they were just better at hiding it. No amount of maturity would make a man okay with his wife being so attracted to another.

    Toward this, Elthor could only shake his head. His smell wasn''t even present while he was in his normal form. But, in order to prove that he was an Oryx back then, he had no choice but to enter his battle form which had practically imprinted his scent in the minds of everyone.

    Luckily, Leonel had expected this and constructed a few counter plans, but they would still take time to implement, that much couldn''t be changed. That saidбн This was an opportunity to bring up the due date by a few measures.

    "I believe that we should accept."

    Let alone the others, even Raymundus was surprised by these words. He wasn''t a fool, he could tell that Elthor had been brought over to rope them all in. If anything, Heira''s appearance was no different from throwing a wrench in his plans.

    The fact that Elthor wanted them to join him wasn''t a secret, this wasn''t something that he could hide. The only real secret was that he was working at the behest of Leonel rather than some mysterious, unknown Oryx Kingdom. This information was more than enough for them to understand that Elthor may very well be against this.

    Raymundus had asked Elthor first precisely because he knew all of this. He didn''t want his small Tribe to end up in a power struggle between two entities.

    They knew too little about the worlds outside of Planet Valiant. There very well could be an Oryx Kingdom that they had never heard of. But, think for a momentбн Why would such a Kingdom go so far out of their way to send a Prince to recruit them?

    Even if they were from the same race, one only needs to see the interaction between humans to know that this isn''t normally enough to maintain peace. There''s no reason for such a Kingdom to care about a group they''d see as no different from a bunch of hillbillies.

    Why then would Elthor come? Wasn''t it obviousбн? He needed their strength. And if that was the case, didn''t that mean that this Kingdom was in trouble? It was a very logical conclusion to leap to and one that neither Leonel nor Elthor would blame them for having. In fact, it was almost preferrable that they believed this.

    It was in the nature of the intelligent to not believe in what was too good to be true. Someone who was wizened and had seen much of the world wouldn''t easily accept that some higher power was helping them out of the kindness of their heart.

    As long as Raymundus and the others believed that Elthor had a purpose for using them, they could then assess the situation themselves. If things were in the form of a transaction, it would be easier to swallow, especially if the Oryx felt they had some use.

    Oryx weren''t afraid of battle. What they wanted to maintain was their pride and dignity. Beyond that, they wouldn''t even mind drowning in a river of bloodбн

    However, it was exactly for all of these reasons that Elthor''s words were so baffling. Him saying this made Raymundus raise his guard. It felt almost too good to be true and nearly reset Elthor right back to square one.

    Until, that isбн Raymundus continued.

    "The same way they want to use us, can we not use them as well?" Elthor said.

    Raymundus'' murky gaze narrowed. "Continue."

    "Your Tribe is currently in a state of Hyper Evolution. What I failed to tell you all before is that my Kingdom had once been in such a state as well, that is why I have two forms I can enter, one of which is capable of hiding my scent."

    Raymundus looked toward the other elders and they all simultaneously nodded. It seemed that they had reached this conclusion long ago as well. But this was perfect for Elthor, it made him more believable, especially since he was already using large kernels of truth.

    "Unfortunately, though I am quite talented as a result of our Hyper Evolution period, we never took full advantage of it. My father always said had we prepared adequately, even the galaxy itself would be in the palm of our hands."

    The temperature of the room seemed to rise, the blood of warriors that ran through their veins surging at faster speeds.

    "I myself never wanted to be a King. In my opinion, we Oryx aren''t meant to rule, we are meant to conquer. Whatever means that we can grab at that greater strength with is the path that we should take.

    "There is no illusion here, I do want you all to join my Kingdom as warriors beneath our flag. However, I am also keenly aware of my Kingdom''s current weakness and its inability to help you all.

    "At the same time, I don''t want to see my fellow Oryx fall into the hands of someone who only wants to use you without understanding you.

    "So, I say to use her. Take her as a chance to see the broader universe, to fight on larger battlefields. I will be there to fight by your sides.

    "I can also guarantee that my King will do everything in his power to ensure that you aren''t reliant on outsiders. We can use this opportunity to make this Galaxyбн No, this universe, fear the name of the Oryx!"

    Elthor''s voice boomed. Even if he never wanted to be a King, what General couldn''t rally his soldiers? This burning passion he was seeing reflecting back in their eyes, this was exactly what he wanted. The Oryx would rise again!

    Elthor rolled his spatial ring between his fingers, an undisguised determination lighting his eyes.

 Chapter 873 Stars [Bonus Chapter]

    Many hours later, Elthor returned to a small home of wood and hay. When he closed the door, he breathed out a long sigh.

    He wasn''t sure if he had made the right choice or not, but his instinct told him that this was the best case scenario for the current moment. Whether or not that yellow dressed woman''s intentions were pure or not, he had no idea. He could only do his best to ensure that this Oryx Tribe survived.

    Sitting down on a mat of tied together thin strips of wood, Elthor calmed his breathing. It was about time he started his training regimen for the night. But, firstбн

    Elthor pulled out the talisman from within his spatial ring. He didn''t worry about being overheard because Leonel had already left certain fail safes for this.

    He replayed the message he received earlier and nodded to himself.

    Like he had thought before, this message wasn''t from Leonel. Rather, it was from a person named Allan. He remembered Leonel describing him as a man who wore glasses for the hell of it. If he recalled correctly, Leonel seemed to have been laughing a bit too hard at that prospect, humor he didn''t quite understand.

    Of course, he had no way of knowing that Leonel''s own father wore glasses for no reason as well. It didn''t make sense in the past considering Earth''s technology, and it made even less sense now that Leonel knew how powerful his father probably was.

    Leonel, for some reason, found it amusing to compare Allan to his father, another thing that Elthor wouldn''t understand.

    If Elthor knew Allan, though, he''d know why Leonel found it so hilarious. Before Leonel''s breakthrough into the Fourth Dimension, it could be said that Allan''s physique was the greatest out of all of them. The man was chiseled year-round and never took a break on anything whether it came to his diet or training.

    But, at the same time, he didn''t chase women, he always wore baggy clothing, and he cosplayed like he was a nerd even to the point of being obsessed with computer programming. If it wasn''t because they shared a locker room together, none of them would ever know how ripped Allan was.

    Leonel had known Allan for so long that it all seemed normal to him by this point. But, he realized when he was trying to describe him to Elthor that all his teammates were a bunch of weirdos, so he had laughed beside himself.

    This aside, Allan had contacted Elthor to let him know that he had managed to establish contact with Kaela and the other former members of the Polished Glass Faction. Very soon, Elthor would be able to accept a shipment that would be a great boon.

    Leonel didn''t detail his other plans to him, but it seemed that Allan and the Polished Glass Faction would become the backbone of raising funds while Leonel was away. With their help and Leonel''s support from the background, they should be able to accumulate enough fairly quickly.

    In the past, there used to be many Oryx Tribes but war and attrition had whittled them down to just one. This singular Oryx Tribe contained about 10 000 Oryx, a number that almost made it a shame to consider them as a mere Tribe. It was just unfortunate that their living conditions were so sorely lacking.

    The Oryx had emphasized fighting prowess for the sake of survival so much, that they had lagged behind in other aspects from sanitation all the way up to agriculture.

    Though there would be too much stress for Leonel to support so many, so early on, it shouldn''t be a problem to keep the elites well fed.

    As the skill of Allan and the others grew, it would only become easier to accommodate them all.

    ''We need to hurryбн'' Elthor thought, putting the talisman away as he took deep breaths. ''бн The unknown organization led by that woman isn''t going to give us the time we needбн''

    It all depended on how fast Leonel could get back here.

    **

    Leonel''s spear shot forward again, piercing through yet another spirit. He had already been in this place for three months by this point and if it wasn''t for the fact his mind wouldn''t let him forget, he would have lost count of the number of battles he had fought.

    By now, Leonel was certain of one thing.

    The first was that the color of his Stars was indeed reliant on his environment and they didn''t seem capable of being changed. Even when he tried to flood blue Star Force toward his white stars, it was purified back into white.

    However, this didn''t seem to be as big of a problem as he thought because he could evolve his Stars as he pleasedбн The only issue lay in the fact his Stars were out of wack.

    The foundation of the Third Dimension was supposed to be energy. The foundation for the Fourth was meant to be the body. And the foundation for the Fifth was supposed to be the mind.

    But, while Leonel''s blue Star Force was perfectly tailored for his body, the silver-white Star Force he had absorbed for the Third Dimension worked best for his mind.

    His blue Stars weren''t as good as his silver-white Stars at replenishing his mind. And, in the vice versa, his silver-white Stars had never been very good at helping his body out.

    After a while of panicking about this, Leonel realized that he was overthinking things.

    The Star Force that formed his Star Constitution wasn''t tied to the [Dimensional Cleanse] technique at all. Whenever Leonel used [Dimensional Cleanse], he didn''t have to communicate with his Stars first. It was more accurate to say that his Stars were a byproduct allowed by cultivating the technique and priming the body properly. They could almost be seen as a separate existence!

    This was excellent. This meant that even if Leonel had wanted nine Stars to be entirely focused on his mind, or nine entirely focused on his body, it wouldn''t be a problem.

    This also meant that when he formed his Seventh to Ninth Stars, he could use a Star Force that would be perfectly suited for his energyбн And he had a feeling that he had the perfect Star Force to fulfill that role already.

    Leonel''s lip curled as his senses swept over his kidney. What better choice than his Scarlet Star Force?

    In these three months, he had already managed to complete all of his Nodal Pathways. It was only a matter of time before he stepped into the Fifth Dimension.

    Unfortunatelyбн

    Leonel''s upturned smile faded. ''This road hasn''t given me any clues about the next part of [Dimensional Cleanse], I have no idea how to continueбн How much longer is itбн?''

    Leonel still had no idea that he hadn''t been meant to deduce the next stage of [Dimensional Cleanse] himself at allбн

    However, what was once a ''peaceful'' journey forward was very soon to become something much different.

    Leonel looked up, his pupils constricting.

    There, just barely peeking over the horizon, Leonel finally caught sight of a second road.

    ''I''m not alone?''

 Chapter 874 Confusion

    Up ahead, what must have been at least a dozen kilometers, Leonel caught sight of the faint luminescence of another road. It was a bit of a jump for him to assume that there must be others due to this alone, but the angle of approach the light road was taking was far too damning.

    From what Leonel could tell, both his road and the other were converging toward one another. But, what was particularly interesting about this was that they were converging toward the star.

    If this was simply another road for Leonel to take, why would it have the same destination as the road he was already on? There were only two possible explanations for this.

    The first was that there were multiple potential starting points of this trial and he just so happened to be given a Memory Ore tied to this road as opposed to that one. In that case, it wasn''t necessarily true that there was someone else over there.

    The second option, though, was that he was never alone to begin with and the roads were just so far apart that even with his senses, he couldn''t spot them until now.

    It didn''t take long for Leonel to realize that the second was the answer.

    By the time he crossed the dozen of kilometers that separated him from the distant road and he could finally see where and how the two roads of light connected, his gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

    In the distance, a young lady sat cross legged with her back facing him. However, something told Leonel that she had already sensed his presence long ago. Not just that, but the strength she radiated made Leonel''s skin tingle. It didn''t take Leonel long at all to realize that she was the most powerful individual he had ever metбн

    Whether or not this was true, even Leonel had to admit he wasn''t certain. It might have been more accurate to say that she was the most powerful individual he had ever metбн who also had limits he could actually sense. These two statements were very different from one another.

    Leonel eventually came to a stop when he was just about a hundred meters from where their roads met. Something told him that there weren''t any more spirits to worry about, at least not until he passed herбн

    At that moment, the young lady placed a hand on her knee and pushed herself up. She had a graceful bearing that made it almost a shame that she wasn''t raring a dress, but rather a tight fitting flexible armor that clung to her curves.

    Despite the well defined outline of her silhouette, her clothing didn''t seem raunchy or overly sexual in the slightest. One almost couldn''t see even a single hint of her skin, it was to the point where her flexible armor rose up from her collarbone to form a half mask that revealed nothing but her eyes and her forehead.

    She had deep, warm blue eyes and delicate brown skin that looked smooth even under Leonel''s scrutiny. It was almost a shame that the only piece of it available for observation was on her forehead.

    "I don''t know if I should thank you or hate you for making me wait two months."

    The young woman suddenly spoke, her voice sounding far louder than anything Leonel had expected. Every stereotype he had formulated about this woman seemed to fly out of the window in just that single instant of time alone. He had expected her to not talk at all, or even if he pressed her to, that her voice would either be cold and detached or soft and restrained. And yet, it was none of those things.

    Loud really was the best way Leonel could describe it, almost to the point of being grating on the ears. It wasn''t that her voice sounded annoying, but rather that it was hard to appreciate it when she put so much power behind it. It was like Leonel was listening to a speaker with the volume up so high that the sound distorted.

    "Two months?" Leonel blinked.

    "I guess it makes sense now, though. You actually entered this place at the Fourth Dimensionбн Who are your elders, exactly? What were they thinking? You know, you only ever get two chances at this.

    "Forget it. This is good news for me. I got to rest for so long amidst such revitalizing Star Force and I get an easy ticket out of the first round."

    The young woman blinked innocently. Even though Leonel couldn''t see the rest of her face beneath that mask, he still felt that she seemed quite adorable. As for being angry at her words, he really didn''t feel bothered at all. If anything, he took it as a joke.

    He was much more interested in getting information out of this woman.

    "First round?" Leonel asked.

    The young woman blinked before shaking her head.

    "Oh, you poor poor child. You must be one of those stragglers that stumbled on one of the map pieces, right?" The young woman shook her head before freezing. "Wait, if you''re one of them, then how did you solve the puzzle? Are you trying to feign ignorance to get me to lower my guard?"

    The young woman looked at Leonel for a moment before bursting into a boisterous laughter even more booming than her voice.

    "Never mind, never mind. I guess if you have a strong Soul Force type ability or Lineage Factor, the Peak of the Fourth Dimension might be barely enough to stumble through the puzzle."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Why did it seem like this woman was perfectly content having a conversation all by herself? He could hardly get a word in, but her assumptions were only getting wilder with each passing moment.

    "Anyway, I don''t mind telling you about it so that you don''t waste your second chance. Next time, enter at the Peak of the Fifth Dimension if you can help it. In fact, the Sixth would be even better. Though you''ll have to restart from the beginning, [Dimensional Cleanse] is worth it!"

    Leonel blinked, feeling more confused than he ever had before.

 Chapter 875 Cant Catch A Break

    Firstlyбн You could restart from the beginning? Had Leonel known this, why would he waste all this time being stuck at the Third Dimension? He would have switched to another technique as a placeholder to bolster his strength. By then, would all of the things that had happened in the past months even have a chance at getting off the ground?

    Of course, Leonel knew that he was being na?ve. When it came to things between he and Aina, they had ignored a lot of the problems that had been creeping up for too long. If it wasn''t this, then it would have been something else down the road that separated them. And, that separation, having festered for even longer, might have been even worse than this one.

    Leonel shook his head, ignoring these useless thoughts.

    "You can restart?" Leonel cut the young woman who was about to go on a rant off. He had to know this.

    "Oh, right, you probably don''t know this either. [Dimensional Cleanse] is a very special technique, it''s very compatible with pretty much everything. You don''t necessarily have to ''restart'', but you do ''re-cultivate'' from the beginning. You can then layer [Dimensional Cleanse] and your other technique for a stronger effect.

    "Most, though, only practice the first three layers of [Dimensional Cleanse], because even a One Star Constitution is a massive boost to someone''s combat prowess. If you''re lucky enough to get two or three out of nine, you''ll be set for a lifetime."

    Leonel raised his brows. So that was how it wasбн Should he be layering another technique with [Dimensional Cleanse], then? Or did it matter at all?

    "Anyway, like I was saying before, this is the first round. The Third Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] is pretty much widely spread, but it''s really too difficult to form Stars from that layer. Most say that it''s easiest to form Stars at the Fifth Dimensional layer of the technique, but still quite difficult. I say you might as well give yourself as many chances as you canбн

    "Oh, right! The first round. Like I was saying, the trial before is just the first leg, the real test starts now. When I win this round, they''ll give me the Fourth Dimensional layer of the technique. I''ll have to win the next round to earn the Fifth Dimensional layer and so on."

    "I seeбн And are all the rounds like this?"

    The mask the young woman wore moved in a way that made Leonel believe she had to be pouting.

    "No. That''s why I don''t know if I should thank you or not. Up ahead, there will more complicated battle structures where three or even four roads come together as one. In those cases, only one will be able to pass by, yet I''ve wasted so much time here.

    "Even if I got to rest a bit, the enemies I''ll have to face ahead will have ample time to rest too while I''ll have to hurry up. It''s not fair."

    Leonel shrugged. "Why hurry, then? Take your time since you know they''ll get there before you no matter what."

    "Ah!" The young woman blinked. "That''s not a bad idea, seems you''re not a bad guy after all. What''s your name? I''m Kira Salvatine!"

    Leonel smiled lightly. "Leonel Morales."

    "бн"

    The young woman fell into silence before her brows furrowed in an unhappy frown.

    "бн You really did trick me. Did you make me explain all of this so that you could rest?!"

    Leonel was speechless. He hadn''t been tired since the moment he got here, was that not obvious enough? He wasn''t even sweating. In this environment, he was practically invincible in terms of stamina, there was so much blue Star Force around that every breath of his was filled with life and vitality.

    The young woman''s mask moved again. This time, Leonel was certain that her pout had become even more pronounced.

    "I didn''t know that the Morales family had such a shameless junior now!"

    The young woman shot forward, stepping onto Leonel''s road without a care. Her palms flipped over to reveal twin sabers with blades that radiated a rose-gold light. Each was as thin as a cicadas wings and seemed to flutter gently along with the young woman''s hair.

    Leonel shook his head. He could only describe this woman as an adorable airhead.

    They had only been talking for a minute or two, was that even enough for anyone to recover in a large capacity? How was he ''tricking'' her, then?

    Still, Leonel took these trials a measure more seriously now, even more than he did before when he realized his life was on the line. Kira recognized the Morales family''s name instantly. On top of that, there was none of the reverence that he had seen from Valiant Heart Mountain.

    The conclusion, then, was clear: Those participating in this trial most definitely had backgrounds close, equal, or potentially even surpassing a Seventh Dimensional family. And, to make matters worse, Kira said the Peak of the Fifth Dimension was the minimumбн

    Leonel sighed. ''бн Just can''t catch a breakбн''

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a familiar crystalline red rod. He didn''t dare to underestimate an opponent that had managed to clear the road he just faced so quickly. Without hesitation, he activated his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, lighting his forehead up with the mark of a golden spear.

    "You really are from the Morales family! Dammit! To think I helped you!"

    In any other situation, Leonel would have chuckled. It was rare to find such an innocent and sweet heart in the Dimensional Verse. At least, he hadn''t been able to find one outside of Earth. Everyone seemed enraptured by their own benefits and improvement.

    Butбн Maybe this was just the luxury Kira had due to being from such an outstanding family or organization.

    Stillбн Leonel''s emotions were one thingбн This battle, however, was another.

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly gained a biting cold at the same time Kira''s did. Both of them no longer said a word as blue Star Force began to rotate about around them.

    BANG!

 Chapter 876 Unfortunately

    Leonel blocked the twin sabers with the body of his spear, but his gaze still narrowed. He was so used to his weapons and treasures being far beyond that of his opponent that he was somewhat caught off guard when he was finally on the losing end for once.

    According to his calculations, if not for the large swaths of blue Star Force in the surroundings, his spear might have already been cut in twoбн No, three pieces.

    ''Those twin sabersбн Are both Silver Grade weaponsбн'' Leonel''s lip twitched.

    Even his best weapon at the moment was a Quasi Silver Spear. Of course, it could be used for more than just its sharpness. But, he had a feeling that Kira''s sabers were the same. It was just that he hadn''t managed to push her into using them to their full potential.

    ''Is it normal to give Fifth Dimensional youths Sixth Dimensional weapons like thisбн?''

    Leonel lamented this as though he hadn''t been using Fifth Dimensional weapons at the Third Dimension. At the same time, he had no idea that Kira had only been loaned these weapons for the sake of the trial, they would be taken right back after she was done. In fact, if not for her status, even borrowing would have been impossible.

    Of course, Leonel could access Silver Spears now as well. It was just that it wasn''t worth it. Only the Spear that claimed a Peak would have a Domain to learn and Leonel wasn''t quite ready to claim a Quasi Gold Spear just yet. He would have to cross into the Fifth Dimension first for that, and even then it would be difficult.

    Leonel had all of these thoughts in an instant, but Kira had already reacted quickly. Realizing that she couldn''t slice Leonel''s weapon apart like she wanted, she pressed forward, raising her sabers again to maintain her forward momentum.

    However, Leonel, who had been standing in place all this time, swept his spear downward toward Kira''s legs. The timing was so immaculate that it almost seemed as though Kira was presenting her thigh to be chopped off as she stepped toward him.

    Kira''s eyes flashed, her wrist twisting as one of her sabers blocked. Though Leonel''s actions had stifled her forward momentum, she was still able to brandish her second saber, spiraling it toward his neck with another twist of her wrist.

    Leonel''s calm gaze didn''t falter. He shifted his spear''s trajectory slightly, causing Kira''s saber to perfectly collide with its blade. Using the downward momentum of Kira''s swing, he allowed the upper end of his spear to swing upward, blocking Kira''s second, twisting strike.

    This wasn''t the first time Leonel was battling a dual wielder, but it was most definitely the first time he was battling one with such deft skill.

    Neither one of Kira''s hands seemed to be dominant. Her attacks were swift, controlled, measured and powerful. Her close combat instinct didn''t seem to lose out to Leonel who was both relying on his Spear Domain Lineage Factor and his innate ability. In fact, Leonel found himself constantly being on the defensive.

    ''Her body is heavier than what it should be. It''s either that she also has a defensive Lineage Factor that''s been locked away by this place. Orбн''

    Leonel''s brows raised. Was he really so lucky?

    "Hey Kira."

    Kira didn''t respond, her sabers becoming swifter and swifter. Her body began to sway in a unique rhythm, her mind becoming lost in a dance of blades.

    Every one of her strikes left a trail of blade Force in its wake. The paths it took were etched into Leonel''s mind even without conscious effort. But, when he put them together, he felt a slight hint of awe.

    It was the most beautiful budding rose he had ever seen.

    He watched its progression from start to finish.

    First it was small and closed off. Kira''s blades in that moment were sharp, compact and sturdy, emphasizing stability and a slow, steady rate of growth.

    And then it opened for the first time, blooming into a youthful maturity. Kira''s blades grew more wild, unrestrained, filled with a willingness to see the world and to have the world see her. A gorgeous dance of passion, excitement and curiosity.

    The flower began to age. Its stem weakened, its beautiful rose petals greyed, and it gave the world the last rays it had left to offer.

    It was then that Kira''s blades became the most deadly, filled with a death-like energy. The energy itself never truly appeared or manifested, suppressed and disregarded by this world of Star Force. But, Leonel had a feeling that if he ever had to truly meet it in battle, his life wouldn''t be in just a small amount of dangerбн

    And yet, even now, Leonel felt as though he was battling with his life on the line. Kira''s blades didn''t carry the intent to kill, but if they didбн

    Leonel''s jaw clenched.

    "I thought I could beat you without using it." Kira suddenly spoke, her voice softer than Leonel had ever heard it before.

    At that moment, Leonel could finally hear the intricate layers of her cadence and the delicate softness of a beautiful sound that matched Kira''s original elegance perfectly. The only voice Leonel had ever heard that made him swoon more was Aina''s, and that was only when she was in her un-cursed form.

    "But, you''re way too strong for someone in the Fourth Dimension, you learned the true form of Universal Force? I guess I have to use it tooбн"

    Kira suddenly began the dance again. But, this time, the air around it was completely different.

    Leonel, who already had cuts all over his body after the first time, had to face the same dance again. This time, howeverбн Kira wouldn''t be holding back.

    What once was nothing but an illusion suddenly became so corporeal that Leonel felt that he could reach out and touch it.

    Universal Force surged all aroundбн Unfortunately, it wasn''t at the Four Seasons Realm.

    It was at the Heavenly Body Realm.

 Chapter 877 One Place

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, his body explosively shooting backward without hesitation.

    There simply wasn''t enough space to maneuver. The road might have seemed quite wide being at least 10 meters in width, but with his speed, this number might as well have been a single meter.

    In order to prevent accidents, he had been purposely leaving a meter of buffer space between himself and the edge, so this further cut down his room to just eight meters. This made it all the more difficult to avoid Kira and her thin sabers.

    Leonel knew that Kira was in Tier 4 of the Fifth Dimension. It was clear that she hadn''t listened to her own advice when coming here or maybe she just believed that she didn''t have to be restrained by the same rules Leonel did.

    However, Leonel didn''t blame her even if the latter was the truth. He could tell that if it wasn''t for the Star Force weighing her down, he wouldn''t be a match for Kira. In fact, even if the Star Force was weighing her down, as long as she had access to her Lineage Factors and her ability, dealing with Leonel would be child''s play.

    What Leonel had yet to realize even to this point was the fact that had his own ability not been related to the mind, it too would have been suppressed in this place just like Kira''s!

    That said, Leonel also didn''t feel bad that Kira was at such a disadvantage. What greater disadvantage could there be outside of being an entire Dimension beneath her?

    Thanks to all of this, the playing field had been leveledбн Until, that is, Kira suddenly began to use her Universal Force. Not only that, but it was also an entire level beyond Leonelбкa complete Heavenly Body Realm comprehension.

    Leonel smiled bitterly as Kira''s energy rose explosively. Her strength increased by more than ten times and whatever heft her steps had been limited by seemed to practically vanish.

    She became like a leaf floating in hurricane force winds, and yet her seemingly frail body was unaffected, following the ebbs and flows with a deft skill.

    A map of the stars appeared behind Kira. Leonel could see the streaking meteors, the sparkling moons, the vibrant planets and the radiant stars.

    All of it revolved around a delicately sculpted rose. It had more petals and layers than a lotus. Its color was as crimson as a drop of blood and more beautiful than a twinkling ruby.

    Amidst it all, Kira''s figure followed the strokes of the flower, her blade dancing in gorgeous arcs that left Leonel at a loss for words.

    The cuts that ran across Leonel''s body increased explosively in number. At times, the blade didn''t even seem to touch him before a streak of blood was forced out, following the arcs of Kira''s Force as though to become one with her saber as well.

    Still, amidst all of this, Leonel could tell that the only reason he was still here was because Kira had no real intent to kill. He could see it from the twitch of her muscles to the trembling of her blade that she didn''t seem to want to take that final step.

    Of course, it wasn''t because she was scared to kill, Leonel felt that wasn''t it. Ratherбн It was more like pity, she actually felt bad for him.

    "Hey Kira. What do you say about becoming one of my Generals?"

    Leonel once again shamelessly asked such a question, his pale violet eyes sparkling as he observed every one of Kira''s movement. Compared to Emna, not only was Kira far better in terms of strength, she also had character that Leonel was fond of. Of course, Kira was also a bit of an airhead, so she wasn''t as intelligent as Emna was.

    Kira was speechless. Couldn''t this annoying brat tell that she was holding back? Was he trying to take advantage of her again?

    "My family has never participated in the Morales Heir Wars, nor will it ever. Plus, even if I participated under my own name, it would cause some problems if I chose to help you as opposed to that annoying guyбн Wait a minute! You''re an Heir?!"

    Kira had spoken off handedly at first, just assuming what Leonel meant by General. But, when she thought of the implications, she was left speechless again.

    To be an Heir of the Morales family, one had to have both of their Lineage Factors. Now that she thought about it, the Morales family Metal Synergy Lineage Factor would be suppressed here.

    "I don''t mean just for the Heir Wars, I mean permanently." Leonel replied with a smile.

    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kira looked toward Leonel through her blades as though he was crazy. "Forget it, you''re too weak to recruit me anyway. Save me some time and just give up, will you? Just jump over the edge of the road and you''ll be teleported back to where you came from."

    Leonel blinked. So that abyss wasn''t an instant death? He felt that he could believe Kira''s words, but he obviously had no intention of giving up.

    "So if I can beat you, that''s a yes?"

    Kira''s brows furrowed. "Noбн I mean, noбн Wait, I mean you can''t beat me anyway, stop asking stupid questions! You''re trying to take advantage of me again!"

    Leonel couldn''t help but chuckled. "You''re so powerful, why are you always worried about people taking advantage of you? Just chop them up with your sabers."

    "That''s what my mom said to do too! But I can''t chop everyone up. That annoying cousin of yours is one of them, I really want to chop him up too, but I can''t!"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. He didn''t know he had a cousin to begin withбн Well, aside from a certain young man from Earth. Did his father have brothers or sisters? Or did she just say cousin because they were loosely related? Leonel wasn''t sure.

    "How about this?" Leonel''s lip curled. "If I beat you here, you have to promise to become my General."

    "Ah! That sounds like a terrible deal. Dad always says to not accept one sided deals. What are you giving up if you lose?"

    "If I lose, I''ll Craft you a pair of Silver Grade sabers perfectly tailored to you."

    Kira blinked. "You''re a Silver Crafter?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched as he avoided Kira''s gaze. He wasn''t oneбн Yet. But it was only a matter of time, right?

    "Soon, I''ll be one soon. Very soon." Leonel lied shamelessly.

    Kira blinked again. But, during all this time, her sabers had never stopped. In fact, they only seemed to be growing more and more powerful.

    "Okay! But it''s not like you can beat me anyway!" Kira''s mask moved in a way that could only have been caused by a bright smile.

    Leonel laughed heartily. "Remember! You said it. It''s not very good for people to lie."

    Leonel''s body suddenly began to shimmer. Runes were forcefully manifested all over his body, but rather than having the bronze color they usually had, they sparkled like a translucent blue diamond, coating Leonel''s chiseled frame in a beautiful light blue.

    Kira''s eyes widened. "That''s impossible! You shouldn''t be able to use that here, you''re cheating!"

    Leonel''s grin only widened as his speed increased explosively.

    Dense Force began to billow out from his body like solar flares. And yet, despite how much he was giving up, he seemed to swallow even more, an endless supply funneling into him from the surroundings.

    All of Leonel''s pores seemed to open up at once, steam billowing form his body faster and faster with every breath. In just a split moment, his strength stepped over an unimaginable threshold.

    ''[Star Fusion].''

    Leonel''s irises became so bright that they shimmered like two floating balls of amethyst.

    He shot forward, breaking through Kira''s initial defenses with a shocking ease. The latter was so taken aback that she forgot to hold back, but just when she was panicking at having unleashed her full strength, she found that even that wasn''t enough.

    ''Whatбн?''

    Kira was at a loss. Crossing Dimensional barriers to do battle was something you only heard about in Lower Dimensions. Such a thing happening in the highest Seventh or Eighth Dimensions was absolutely unheard of, especially not when the person in question was a genius like her.

    Unfortunatelyбн Kira was at too much of a disadvantage. Leonel had formed three Stars with the special blue Star Force in the surroundings, something even the creator could never have predicted. As a result, he was completely immune to the increases to his weightбкa privilege Kira obviously didn''t have.

    To make matters worse, Kira''s Lineage Factor and ability were sealed. She couldn''t use any of the Elemental Forces she was practiced with. And, as though all of that wasn''t bad enough, she was facing an opponent who had an endless supply of energy thanks to the gorgeous blue star that was up ahead.

    Before she realized what was happening, she felt the ruby blade of a spear resting on her shoulder, just barely pressing against the skin of her neck.

    Leonel stood before her, his hair a stream of radiant blue energy even down to his brows. Diamond blue Runes pulsed about his skin, even forming a crown upon his head. His whole figure radiated a striking hue that made one believe that he, himself, was a star... He looked as though he was a spirit deity, grinning down at her mischievously.

    If there was one place Leonel felt he was almost invincible, it was here.

    [Announcement Below]

 Chapter 878 You

    "I win." Leonel grinned, his teeth practically sparkling like shimmering diamonds as the energy continued to billow around him.

    "Youбн Iбн" Kira was truly speechless this time even to the point she forgot to shout out her words like she normally did. She almost sounded like a little girl who had been wronged at this point, the pout beneath her mask becoming more and more pronounced.

    "Remember, you have to keep your word." Leonel''s grin didn''t fade.

    "бн Humph, you cheated. How did you use your Metal Synergy Runes, they should be blocked in this place."

    Leonel smiled knowingly but didn''t explain. If he did, he would also have to explain how he had formed three Stars in this place by deducing the Fourth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    Even if he was unaware before, it was impossible for him to still be ignorant now. Obviously, he hadn''t been meant to deduce anything. In fact, Leonel felt that he understood what was supposed to have happened here now that he had interacted with Kira.

    That blue star in the distance radiated a special energy that was quite good at revitalizing the body. It was chosen not for the sake of allowing comprehension of the Fourth Dimensional layer, but rather so that those taking this trial wouldn''t have to worry about sleep or food.

    At the same time, though, due to the special properties of the star, it had the side effect of adding to your weight. This did well to allow the star to double as a positive and negative for this trial. On the one hand, you wouldn''t need to worry about fatigue or hunger, but on the other, it made the challenge tougher.

    Leonel, though, foolishly thought that he was meant to deduce the next layer from the context clues left behind. However, it seemed that he had really overthought things this timeбн This, unfortunately, left some lingering worries.

    If the test wasn''t designed for him to deduce things, then that meant it was very possible that he could have missed something important. Now, he was even more eager to get his hands on the real version so that he could compare and contrast. Luckily he hadn''t been able to deduce the next layer, or else things might have been difficult to reverse should he really have made a mistake.

    Even with all of this said, there was still something else that Leonel was completely unaware ofбн

    That ''blue star'' in the distance was no simple blue star. In fact, to call it as such was doing a disservice to its true ability. Among the top ten Star Forces in existence, the Force that this star produced was among the only two that were made of pure Star Force without the addition of other Elementsбн

    This blue Star Force was known as Vital Star Force. It was among the rarest Star Forces in all of existence and the stars that produced it were even rarer. In fact, it might not be an exaggeration to say that this Vital Star was the only one of its kind left.

    The Dyson Sphere that spun around the Vital Star wasn''t there to just harness its energy, it was also in place to keep the star living far beyond its normal lifespan.

    What did this meanбн?

    Wellбн Leonel was probably the only one to be foolish enough to deduce a cultivation method amidst a battle trialбн He was also probably the only one foolish enough to not only deduce it, but actually act upon what he deducedбн He was further the only one foolish and lucky enough to have the affinity necessary to form not just one star but three simultaneouslyбн

    This was all to say that maybe in the entire Dimensional Verse, Leonel was the only one currently living to have form three Stars of Vital Star Force!

    "You''re not going to go back on your word, right?" Leonel blinked innocently.

    "Youбн Shameless! Mother said to avoid shameless men like you!"

    Leonel laughed. He had no idea how Kira''s family felt confident in sending such a na?ve young lady here to fend for herself.

    Then again, considering her strength, maybe they didn''t feel like they had anything to worry about.

    "Whatever, I can''t help you with the Heir Wars even if I wanted to. It would cause too many problems and my mom and dad would have to get yelled at again. I don''t want them to get yelled at."

    Leonel sighed. Even though Kira was clearly going back on her word, he had never seriously expected her to accept so easily in the first place. With the plans he had in mind, it would most definitely be powerful families like Kira''s own that stood in his way the most, so he couldn''t'' very well ask someone who hardly knew him to betray their family, right?

    Ironically, though, this all seemed to be tied to that ''cousin'' of his. Even without really knowing what was happening, Leonel could only think of two explanations.

    The first was that this ''cousin'' had blood ties to Kira''s family. These ties were most likely related to one of their parents or grandparents at the very worst. Since the Heir Wars relied on gathering outside help, families ties were among the most important. So, Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if his competition had strong backing from either their mother or father''s side.

    The second possibility was a marriage alliance. In that case, Kira would be betrothed to one of his ''cousins''. That would make it even more difficult for her to side with Leonel regardless of the situation.

    Truth be told, Leonel didn''t really want Kira for the Heir Wars, he was thinking far beyond this. As far as he was concerned, the Heir Wars were just a convenient and seamless way to take over the Morales familyбкnothing more, nothing less.

    "Alright, alright. Fine. I should have known I couldn''t trust you." Leonel said teasingly. "Go ahead and jump over the side, then."

    Kira stamped her foot. "You cheated! It definitely doesn''t count!"

 Chapter 879 Ocean Drop Vial

    Leonel was speechless. This girl was really an airhead. If it was so easy to ''cheat'' in this place, why didn''t everyone do it?

    "Okay, okay. I cheated. But you still lost."

    Kira glared at Leonel and began muttering to herself. Clearly, she was feeling conflicted. After all, their competition hadn''t said that no such ''cheating'' was allowed. So, Leonel hadn''t done anything wrong.

    Leonel laughed to himself as he could practically see the gears turning in her little head through her radiant blue eyes. He was caught between believing that this young woman was quite attractive and thinking that she was an adorable little girl.

    Of course, Kira was at most a year or two younger than he was. But, that was neither here nor there.

    "Fine. Fine. Fine. FINE!" Kira stomped her foot.

    Before Leonel could react, he found a delicately sculpted vial being pushed into his chest in thanks to Kira''s palm. He felt a slight cold sweat mat his brow because that airhead was actually still holding her saber at the same time. If she was just a little careless, she might have cut him in half.

    "Thisбн?" Leonel blinked in confusion, tilting his head.

    The vial was filled with a dense red liquid. But, what shocked Leonel was that when he caught it, his hand almost crashed to the ground.

    By the time he picked himself up, Kira was already at the edge of the light road, glaring back at him.

    "Consider that as compensation. Oh, and remember that you only get to step off the road like this on your first attempt. During your second attempt, you''re only allowed to quit after gaining a fragment of [Dimensional Cleanse]. Quitting at any other moment means death.

    "Humph, I don''t know why I''m explaining these things to you. You''re clearly a cheater."

    With that, Kira stepped off the road as though there wasn''t an endless abyss below. Even Leonel couldn''t help but slightly panic for her. But, before he could do anything, she had vanished.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. He found himself hoping that she was okay. Even though she was an airhead, she had clearly helped him more than he could put into words.

    And this thingбн

    Leonel''s frown deepened as he struggled to pick up the vial. Even his fingers themselves struggled to keep their grip around it. If not for him still being in his [Star Force] form, he would have already dropped it with hardly any hope of picking it up.

    Now that Leonel thought about it, even Kira hadn''t exactly lifted it. She had pressed her palm against his chest, then took it out of her spatial ring, passing it off to him.

    Remembering this, he couldn''t help but chuckle. It seemed she wanted to get one more dig in before she left. At least she had a conscious, though.

    "Hey dictionary, what the hell is this thing."

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Replying to seed, this is an Ocean Drop Vial ]

    Leonel raised a brow. He had meant the liquid within, but he had almost forgotten how specific he needed to be with the dictionary. Now, though, he was curious about this Ocean Drop Vial.

    "What does an Ocean Drop Vial do?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [It can turn an ocean''s worth of liquid into a single drop. It is especially good at preserving the vitality of blood. It can decrease the weight of the liquid within it by a factor of up to ten thousand.]

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. Ten thousand?! And it was still so heavy?!

    Wait, if it could hold an ocean''s worth of liquidбн Even a factor of ten thousand wasn''t nearly enough!

    "And what is within it?" Leonel asked slowly.

    [ *Ping* ]

    Leonel''s pupils constricted once again, his expression becoming serious.

    The lag between the *ping* and response was about a millisecond off. The only time this happened was when a recorded message was about to play. And if that was happeningбн It meant whatever was in this vial was important enough for his father to leave a message behind about it.

    As expected, Leonel''s ability never failed him. Soon, a shimmering hologram of his father appeared for the first time in a long while.

    The projection of his father blinked, looked around, and finally focused on Leonel who was above it.

    "Hey, brat. What''s up? Been a while, huh?"

    Leonel''s face remained expressionless. Did this old man really expect him to fall for this same prank call bit again? He had already done it once before, he didn''t plan on doing it again.

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Leonel was no fool, he would just let his father''s practical joke play itself out. He was more interested in hearing about just what was in this vial. The curiosity was itching at him.

    "Huh? You can''t say hello to your own father after so long? After all the years I spent raising you? After birthing you from my Seed?!"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. The old man was really laying it on thick this time, huh? He really wasn''t in the mood. In fact, he was running out of time. With Kira gone, who knows if the spirits would start to appear again?

    "Ah, I get it. You think I''m pranking you again. I had my fun already, it''s really me this time."

    Leonel remained silent, staring back at the hologram without a word. This game of chicken, he had no intention of losing. He could almost see the moment of victory when his father burst into a fit of laughter, saying it was a pre recording, only for him to not have fallen for it at all.

    "Fine, fine." Leonel''s father shook his head. "I get it, I can see that look in your eye. You''re angry about something. What is it? Your little girlfriend dumped you?"

    Leonel''s eye twitched. His dad always had a way of reading his mind when no else could. After the Metamorphosis, Leonel almost wanted to believe that that was his ability.

    "Listen kid, I always told you women were complicated. You spent four years chasing after that little girl, she probably thinks you''ll always be there for her whenever it is she wants to come back, so of course she''ll leave you. Let alone women, people in general can''t appreciate something until they can''t have it when they want it.

    "Come on, talk to your old man. Us Morales men are better than this."

    Leonel froze, his father''s words echoing in his mind. "Iбн"

    His eyes glazed over as though he was trying to think of how to respond when a boisterous laughter suddenly shook him awake.

    "Fuck! Dammit! I can''t breathe! Just imagining the look on your face! My son''s a dumbass! You actually fell for it again!"

    Leonel was speechless. He really had.

    He suddenly felt the need to find where his father was right now and strangle him to death.

 Chapter 880 Void Lnvalids

    Leonel shook his head. Maybe someone else would have been truly enraged by now. After all, making jokes about such a sensitive subject was enough to trigger a lot of people, especially when it was about themselves. But, Leonel had always been good at compartmentalizing things.

    At least he hadn''t said too much before his father went off. This old man was really getting more and more annoying with age.

    The good news was that this was less likely to be a serious matter. After all, the last time a recording of his father was triggered, it was about the death of his paternal grandfather. Back then, there hadn''t been any room for joking at all. In fact, Leonel distinctly remembered his father being on the brink of rage, an emotion Leonel had never seen on him before.

    Since his father could joke now, at least that meant that this was a lighter matterбн

    Unfortunately, Leonel couldn''t have been more wrong.

    бн

    Leonel speechlessly looked from the dictionary to the vial and back again after his father''s hologram faded. For a long while, or at least what would have felt like it with how many things ran through his mind, he didn''t move or say anything.

    Void Invalids.

    If it could be said that Invalids were the ''failures'' of the universe and Variant Invalids were among the greatest threat, then Void Invalids were the creature lurking in the nightбкnot in the sense that they were a bedtime fairy tale, but in that they were an existential threat to all.

    Invalids, as ''failures'', were often the carbon copy of the races they supposedly failed from. Leonel had never thought about it before because all the Invalids he had ever come across were humans, but what if the Invalid in question was from another race? There had to be Invalid beasts, maybe Invalid Oryx, or Invalids of any myriad of other racesбн Right?

    Void Invalids were Invalids of a particular race, a race that would have ruled over the Dimensional Verse had they still existed. His father called these creatures Void Beasts.

    Void Beasts had never had a world to call home. They were birthed from Celestial Bodies and roamed space with the same freedom that birds roamed the skies. They swallowed worlds as snacks and burped out stars for relief. These were the kind of creatures that were simply far too beyond Leonel''s understanding to grasp.

    The current Leonel couldn''t even sustain himself in the depths of space without special equipment. In fact, only Sixth Dimension existence with special abilities and upward could do such a thing. However, from infancy, such Void Beasts took what he would find difficult as a time of leisure.

    And yetбн They were not only extinct, they had been devoured by the Invalids of their race, creating an all new category of Invalids all to their ownбн

    Void Invalids.

    The truth was that this blood wasn''t from a Void Invalid. As far as Leonel knew, Invalids didn''t really have blood. Or rather, they did, only up until their death wherein their bodies became motes of light and Force.

    The blood that Kira had given him was from the corpse of a Void Beast. According to the dictionary, it had less than 1% of its original potency left by the time Kira''s Salvatine family had found it.

    From analysis, the original Void Beast had been dead for hundreds of thousands of years, likely longer than even that. The dictionary had further deduced that the Void Invalid that killed it likely only snatched away its Ethereal Glabella, swallowing it for its evolution. As for the rest of the Void Beast''s body, it was fairly useless to it.

    Leonel could imagine a mountain corpse the size of a planet floating about in space, an endless river of red orbiting about itбн

    It was said that the empty space in the universe was so vast that even if you pointed in a random direction and headed in it without deviating to the left or right, there was an almost 100% chance you would reach the end of it all without touching a single thing.

    For a beast as massive as the Void Beast, this was likely still true. Who knew how long its death had been an unknown blight on the world?

    Leonel was suddenly reminded of another thought experimentбн If a tree fell in a forest with no one to witness it, does it make a sound?

    If you die alone in the vastness of space without a friend or family to remember youбн Did you really die?

    It was quite chilling. The Void Beasts were so powerful, and yet there were so fewбн They had no parents, no friendsбн They could hold the fate of the Dimensional Verse in the palms of their hands, but what did that count for?

    Leonel clenched the vial tightly.

    Just months ago, he was worrying over exactly how to continue to press Little Blackstar''s evolution forward, only for such a boon to end up in his hand. Even though the potency was less than a percent what it was originally, Void Beasts were still the rulers of all Shadow Sovereigns.

    Even though Little Blackstar''s ability placed him at the very pinnacle, he was greatly limited by how ordinary his origins were. The small body of Earth''s minks weren''t entirely conducive to producing powerful beings. This was why Leonel needed to help Little Blackstar''s evolution along with the blood of stronger beasts.

    The stronger Little Blackstar''s body became, the easier he would be able to accommodate the strength of his ability, and the faster he would grow.

    After absorbing the Mimicry Bat''s blood, Little Blackstar''s talent shone through and he was immediately able to awaken the strongest form of mimicry: ability steal. Right now, this was already one of Leonel''s strongest trump cards toward building the ideal world he had in mind.

    This alone was enough to prove just how strong Little Blackstar''s talent was.

    Leonel was curious to see just how much Little Blackstar would progress after fusing with the blood of a Void Beastбн

    ...

    Leonel''s subsequent pace was just as slow. He took his own advice quite well. Since he would be behind no matter what, why would he ruin his own stamina just to not catch up anyway?

    Even though Leonel didn''t have to worry about stamina at all in this place, he still chose this route. This was because the time he gained to not only strengthen himself but to reflect and think was invaluable. With every day that passed, Leonel grew by leaps and bounds.

    [Star Fusion] was a technique Leonel formed using Camelot''s magic system. He was able to further improve upon it by using his Bronze Runes as a medium.

    [Star Fusion] could be considered a Knight''s technique rather than a Mage technique. It essentially used his body as a core of a star, combusting energy to boost everything from his strength to his speed to even his reaction time.

    Leonel calculated that in the real world, he would probably last a few minutes in that state and it would give him the strength of an entire Dimension above himself, something that proved just how fearsome Vital Star Force was. At least this was the case when the gap between the Fourth and Fifth Dimension was the target.

    However, in this world, with a Vital Star looming and the location being saturated with it, Leonel could stay in that state for as long as he wanted to. The only real limitation was the stress on his body. But, even that had been fixed thanks to using his Bronze Runes.

    When Leonel activated his Bronze Runes, his body became sturdier and more solid. It was essentially like releasing hidden shackles on his Metal Body and allowing him to become even stronger.

    The reason this was necessary was quite obvious. Skin would never be as sturdy as Metal and Metal would never be as flexible as Skin. In order to gain advantages of them both, some sacrifices had to be made, sacrifices that were unnecessary once Bronze Runes were activated.

    In their activated state, Leonel''s body became both as hard as metal and as flexible and spongy as flesh, giving him the best of both worlds.

    By using his Bronze Runes as the passageways for his Vital Star Force, Leonel was essentially forcefully awakening his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor without truly activating it. This gave his body added strength the Vital Star Force was able to feed off of in a feedback loop.

    Vital Star Force would make his body more explosive and powerful. This would result in his Bronze Runes becoming stronger and make his body more durable and harder. And, due to his body becoming more durable, Vital Star Force could make him even stronger.

    It could be said that the formation of Leonel''s Vital Stars and his creation of [Star Fusion] was enough to make this trip more than worth it even if he didn''t gain a single other thingбн And that was ignoring the fact he had found Little Blackstar the perfect path toward evolution.

    Of course, the best part that Leonel was happy to find out was that he really had perfectly deduced the Fourth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    After defeating Kira, it had appeared in his mind as though it had always been there. The result was Leonel being impressed with even himself.

    ''Not bad, if I do say so myself.'' Leonel chuckled. ''Ohбн?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed slightly. There, up ahead, he realized that he had made it to the next round after another three months. This time, however, there wasn''t just a single road meeting his ownбн There were two.

    The two young men seemed to sense him at the same time, their gazes glowing with a hidden sharpness.

    It seems that they weren''t nearly as friendly as Kira.

 Chapter 881 Pressure

    Leonel''s steps slowed, his mouth shaping into a small ''o'' as he sucked in a long breath.

    The wind reacted to his action, a vacuum of swirling blue moving about as his chest expanded. Even before he stepped into the range of the two young men before him, his body was filled to the brim with Force.

    The two young men looked at one another. Much like Kira, they had been waiting here for a long while. They couldn''t exactly be considered as friends and were just acquaintances. However, what they did have was a tacit agreement.

    The easiest target here was as bright as day. Who else could it be if not the man who hadn''t had a chance to rest?

    In a three way battle, the number of variables were too numerous to account for. It was much easier to deal with what might come their way if they only had a single other person to worry about. In the end, the choice was obvious: kill Leonel first.

    The two young men slowly rose to their feet.

    "бн He''s in the Fourth Dimension, Rychard."

    "All the more reason to get rid of him as soon as possible."

    "What are the odds, though, that he managed to meet up with someone weaker than himself during the first round. Something smells fishy."

    Rychard''s gaze narrowed. Now that he thought about it, making it through round one wasn''t the only challenge in getting to this place. There was a month worth of battles to survive through as well. Though those battles were scaled by your own strength, helping you slowly squeeze out your own potential, by the time you got to this point, strength at the Fifth Dimension was a must.

    For most who entered this trial, succeeding in this second round was their goal. The three foundational layers of [Dimensional Cleanse] along with the potential to birth up to Nine Stars was what was most enticing.

    As a result of this, it could be said that the first and second rounds were a massive filter. The creator couldn''t just allow people a chance just because they wanted one, right? That wasn''t how things worked.

    But, it was exactly because this was such a great filter that Leonel''s being here was so baffling.

    The moment Leonel''s breath ended, his aura suddenly blazed. His Runes burst to life, a gaseous Star Force emitting out from his hair, skin and even eyes.

    It was clear that in the last three months, his [Star Fusion] had grown even more powerful. In fact, it had grown powerful to the point he knew that without opening the Fifth Dimensional Gates of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he didn''t stand a chance at using it outside of this world.

    His hair became a long, gaseous, almost illusory river of Force. His eyes lost the distinction of its irises, pupils and whites, becoming an orb of blue that encompassed it all. His body was wrapped by a beautiful blue fog, his Runes shining a brighter and brighter diamond blue.

    The pupils of the two young men constricted, but Leonel had already bolted forth. If they could make the deduction that Leonel was the easiest target, how could Leonel not deduce what they were thinking? However, as far as he was concerned, it simply didn''t matter.

    In this place? Against those of the Fifth Dimension? He was invincible.

    Rychard pulled out a long rod. It was pitch black to the point it seemed to warp all the light that hung around it. Just by gazing upon it, one could feel its weight and heft.

    The second young manбкwho went by the name of Higlisбкreacted just as quickly, a large hammer appearing with just a flip of his palm.

    It only took a single glance for Leonel to tell that these two were well into the Fifth Dimension. In fact, both were at Tier 7. Their strength was undeniable, and yet still several measures beneath Kira. It was clear to Leonel that neither was from a family anywhere near as strong as Kira''s. Either that, or their talent simply couldn''t match up.

    At leastбн The second was still a possibility until Leonel activated his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, causing his forehead to shimmer with a bright gold amidst all the sparkling blue. The moment he saw that the two before him didn''t seem to recognize his Lineage Factor, it became obvious that the former was true.

    The only chance these two had was if their teamwork was seamless. Unfortunatelyбн

    Leonel appeared before Higlis, his aura blazing. He had swapped a heavy spear into his hands, his momentum causing the air to fizzle and crack as it raced to get out of his way.

    His spear descended from above, his swing so forceful that even its sturdy polearm warped.

    Higlis'' expression was unsightly. This level of strength, he would be hard pressed to find it even in a person a half step from the Sixth Dimension. What the hell was this nonsense?

    He had heard of geniuses that were capable of relying on Universal Force to cross Dimensional barriers. But, this was very clearly not Universal Force. In fact, the Universal Force he could sense was at the mere Four Seasons Realm, not nearly enough to cross such a large gap between them.

    Higlis had never felt so humiliated in his life. He had always had the utmost confidence in his strength, and yet that was what he was about to lose in?!

    BANG!

    Higlis'' expression changed as a weapon cracked and shattered to pieces. He would have bet everything that it would be his own, and yet it was Leonel''s own heavy spear that couldn''t withstand the impact.

    And yetбн He didn''t even have the time to celebrate. It was right at the moment of his elation that the wall of pressure slammed into him.

    His legs bent to the point his back slammed onto the road, the polearm of his hammer was pressed into his chest, threatening to split his body in two, and worse of all, he felt his orifices burst beneath the pressure, his body feeling as though it might implode form the inside out.

 Chapter 882 Smoldering Fury

    Higlis violently coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. But, due to the fact he was facing the sky, he nearly choked on it all to death a moment later.

    Rychard, who still had his rod brandished, couldn''t help but narrowed his eyes, gazing at Leonel who was current looking at the now bladeless spear in his hand.

    Leonel sighed and shook his head. He knew that this heavy spear of his was only at the Quasi Bronze level, but he hadn''t expected for just a single blow to leave it in such a state. Luckily, it had lasted just long enough to leave Higlis in a state where he could obviously no longer battle, or else maybe he would have been on the losing end.

    Higlis rolled his head to the side, continuing to cough. His blood, which should have pooled on the surface of the light road, was instantly purified, vanishing into thin air without even the slightest puff of smoke.

    Such a sight left Leonel sighing. How many people had died on this road, only to be purified away in that exact fashion? There weren''t even any lingering markings remaining of what once was.

    Leonel gazed down at Higlis. At the moment, the young man had still not begged for a word of mercy. Truth be told, Leonel didn''t plan on killing if he didn''t have to. It wasn''t like they were meeting on a battlefield, they were forced to go head to head for the sake of this technique.

    Still, the fact he hadn''t gave Leonel a faint amount of respect for him.

    With a single movement, Leonel hooked his foot at Higlis'' hip and kicked him over the side of the road.

    Of course, he had no idea if this was an act of mercy or not. For all he knew, this was Higlis'' second attempt and not his first. If it was the second, that would mean that Higlis would die. But, there was nothing that Leonel could do about that. He had no intention of giving up a chance to complete [Dimensional Cleanse] just for the sake of kindness.

    He was slowly learning how to balance his morality with what he felt like he had to do. Ultimately, he knew well that if Higlis had the chance, he would have killed him. So, this was the best Leonel could do for such an enemy.

    Higlis, obviously, couldn''t fight back. But, his gaze seemed to lock onto Leonel in those final moments as though trying to sear the memory of his face into his mind.

    Leonel turned his attention toward Rychard. The latter was a well dressed young man with long cascading black hair and deep violet eyes. The rod he held trembled slightly, but it seemed to be more due to its heft than fear. Leonel felt that this young man had probably taken out a weapon beyond his ability to control after he realized just how powerful Leonel was.

    With a movement, Leonel put away his heavy spear. He wasn''t worried about it being broken since the Spear Domain Heirloom had the ability to repair breaks to spears it had recognized.

    It seemed that he had gone a bit overboard. With [Star Fusion: Infusion], the version he had used against Kira, he could have already defeated these two. However, he was using the second version, [Star Fusion: Combustion] at the moment, which was most definitely overkill.

    It was unfortunate. He had wanted to test the third version he had come up with, but it seemed that he wouldn''t get the chance to this time around.

    "May I know your name?" Rychard asked, a smoldering fury hidden within the depths of his eyes.

    He had really needed to succeed here. He just had one step to go, yet such a roadblock had appeared. How could he not be infuriated?

    However, he was a person used to setbacks. He had been fighting against his brothers and cousins all his life. After many decades of hard work, he finally managed to get his hands on a map to the [Dimensional Cleanse] trials and had prepared for years for this very moment.

    The trouble was that even though this was just his first attempt, who knew when the next round would begin?

    Leonel thought that he was alone initially precisely because the trial began the moment he solved his puzzle. So, how could he not think this?

    But, the truth of the matter was that this trial would only begin after a certain number of individuals activated the map. Leonel thought the world revolved around him when it was just that he just so happened to be the last to activate his own.

    One might think that this was a simple task, but this couldn''t have been further from the truth. There were more maps than there were the number of people who could enter the trial at any given time. However, this didn''t mean that meeting the quota was simple.

    How many were on their first try currently? How many would dare to start up their second trial immediately after the first despite knowing the risks? Wouldn''t they take their time to grow much more powerful before trying again?

    How many were on their second trial currently? What would happen to their map pieces after they were teleported out of here? Whose hands would it fall into? How long would it take that person to decipher the puzzle?

    Most would enter from a safe, secluded placeбн So who knew how long it would take to find their map fragments again?

    With all these variables in place, it took an average of a hundred or so years for the trial to reset itself and begin again. At the shortest, it was a decade. At the longest, it could even take a millennia or several of them.

    Leonel had no idea about all of this, or else he would have been in awe of Kira''s integrity rather than making fun of her for not keeping her word. At the same time, he would also understand why Rychard was smoldering with unwillingness and rage at this moment.

    "My name is Leonel Morales. And you?" Leonel asked politely despite the fact he didn''t particularly care.

    Rychard frowned. Morales? It felt both familiar and foreign to him for some reasonбн

    "My name is Rychard Viola, let''s have a good battle."

 Chapter 883 Released

    The two shot forward simultaneously. Though he knew that it would be overkill, Leonel didn''t want to waste another spear. He could tell how powerful Rychard''s rod was and it was made of a material that reminded him of Elthor''s Chaotic Particle Force.

    It had heft, an almost tangible gravitational pull to it, and it seemed like an endless void fashioned into a pole.

    Howeverбн it didn''t seem to matter very much.

    Leonel could tell that Rychard''s skill was top notch, even beyond his own. Leonel was still refining his Spear Domain and hadn''t touched many spears at the Fifth Dimensional level. In addition, he had spent much of the past few months tweaking and refining [Star Fusion] because he knew how important it would be to his combat prowess in his world.

    However, though it was faintly beyond him, the gap wasn''t enormous. And, while there was a small gap in skill, the gap in power was an almost endless abyss. Rychard''s skill wasn''t great enough to pin Leonel down and his strength was far too weak to last more than a few dozen exchanges.

    After just several minutes, Rychard found himself standing on the edge of the road, his heels not even touching ground anymore.

    He continued to glare at Leonel through the striking of their weapons.

    In this place, he couldn''t make use of even a single percent of his true strength. His body was heavy, his Lineage Factor and ability was sealed away, and to make matters worse this young man he was fighting didn''t seem to have any of these limitations.

    He could tell that Leonel was holding back for some reason. And, even though he didn''t know what that reason was, it only infuriated him more.

    He was so close. There was just a single person blocking his path toward securing the Viola family''s Heirship for himself. And yet, he had actually run into such a roadblock.

    ''I shouldбн'' Rychard grit his teeth and shook his head.

    It wasn''t worth it. If he used it now, he would waste it and his intuition told him that it wouldn''t fix much of anything. The gap between his current self and Leonel was far too wide. However, he held on so that he could continue to analyze Leonel.

    If there were two things he was, it was patient and vengeful. He didn''t know if he would ever run into this Leonel Morales again, but when he did, he would pay him back a hundredfold.

    ''He likely has either a Star Force Lineage Factor or ability. It gives him a massive leg up in this place. But, outside, he won''t have nearly as much Star Force to work withбн''

    The only way to match up to this density of Star Force would be to battle near a Star. However, unless you were in the Sixth Dimension, you couldn''t even consider battling in space. And, unless you were in the Seventh, approaching even a Third Dimensional star was asking for death without appropriate protection.

    Stars, blackholes and other celestial bodies were among the existences in the Dimensional Verse that were dangerous regardless of their Dimensionбн Depending on how you looked at it, this could either be an intriguing mystery, completely irrelevant, or something that made little to no senseбн

    When Rychard found he could no longer hold on, he didn''t give Leonel even the chance to kill him. He slipped a foot back, hooking his toes beneath the light road before pushing back with his remaining foot.

    His rod spun in his hand as he swung at the bottom of the road with all his might.

    Like an arrow out of a canon, he shot into the abyss below, his two flickering violet irises the last things that were visible before he completely vanished.

    Leonel didn''t react much to this, he hadn''t been planning on killing Rychard to begin with. That said, he hadn''t been holding back to spare him but rather to focus on his [Star Fusion] and see if there was anything that could be tweaked and fixed.

    At that moment, a flood of information entered Leonel''s mind, causing him to close his eyes. He took long, steady breaths, his mind assimilating it all very quickly.

    Compared to the Fourth Dimension segment, the Fifth Dimensional was a lot more involved. Ironically, though, also compared to the Fourth Dimension, cultivation within the Fifth Dimension was far easier as wellбкespecially for someone like Leonelбн Depending on how you looked at it, that is.

    Even as early as the Third Dimension, one had to restructure their body on a cellular level. This was a massive leap for anyone. The difficulty was already beyond the understanding of most.

    Within the Fourth Dimension, this became even more complicated. Rather than just forming Nodes and the connection between them, one had to essentially form a completely knew circulatory system that could connect, fuse and make use of all of their inner organs, muscles and bones.

    Back then, just for the sake of adding a Node to his Brain Stem, Leonel had to rearrange the pathways of tens of thousands of his neural cells. Now, one could imagine the level of rearranging that would be necessary for someone to make a new circulatory system for themselves.

    Howeverбн The Fifth Dimension didn''t require any of this. In fact, it could be said that the reformation of the body could be considered to be complete, for now.

    The Fifth Dimension was entirely focused on the mind and eliciting growth within it. There were no new cells or nodes to form, one could entirely focus on increasing the size, durability and strength of their Ethereal Glabella. It could even be said that from now on, one''s Ethereal Glabella would only become more and more important.

    Leonel had been disappointed that his number of minds had only increased to 50 000 after reaching the peak of the Fourth Dimension. This might sound like a lot, but when he already had a thousand at the peak of the Third Dimension, the number seemed too small. How could there only be a 50x difference between the Third and Fourth Dimensions, let alone that being the gap of their Peaks?

    But now he understoodбн The Fifth Dimension would be where the shackles of his mind were truly released.

 Chapter 884 Catching Up

    Leonel''s eyes opened, his gaze narrow.

    ''I''ll be ready soon.''

    If there was anything staying in the Third Dimension for so long taught him, it was that there was always far more potential left to squeeze out than he thought.

    There was a point in the Third Dimension where he thought that his limit was 60 split minds, only for him to end up with over a thousand.

    Of course, this wasn''t to say that Leonel planned to spend several more years in the Fourth Dimension. In fact, he planned on breaking through on this road so long as he was forced to. If he wasn''t forced to, he would breakthrough the moment he left this place.

    His reasoning was simple.

    The reason he had been able to go from 60 to a thousand split minds wasn''t because he had that much potential to squeeze out but rather because his mind was already in the Fifth Dimension. It had long since been far more ready to reach that level than he had given it credit for. Such a large difference could be explained by his body slowly acclimating and growing stronger within the limitation of the Third Dimension.

    Leonel had a feeling that even if he had broken through back when he only had 60 split minds, he would have still gained more than ten thousand after reaching the Peak of the Fourth Dimension.

    Still, the reason Leonel wasn''t breaking through immediately wasn''t for his mind. He felt that no matter what, he would be able to bring it to its full potential. Rather, the reason he was holding back was due to his body.

    He had barely tasted Fourth Dimensional Force and he was still acclimating himself to it. His [Star Fusion] and these last three months had sped up the process tremendously, especially the former. He felt it wouldn''t be long before he spilled over in the Fifth Dimension much like he had the Fourth.

    ''I''ve spent a lot of time here, it''s probably time to speed up a bitбн''

    Leonel shot forward. ''It''s interesting, though. I feel like I could tell anyone I want about the Fourth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse]. But, for some reason, there''s a barrier when it comes to the Fifthбн''

    Kira had jumped off before Leonel got a chance to call out to her. But, he had wanted to give her the Fourth Dimensional layer at least before she left. He hadn''t felt anything stopping him, so he thought it would be the same for all the layers.

    And yet, he found that the Fifth Dimensional layer was locked away in his mind with no intentions of allowing him to speak of it. In fact, Leonel got a small headache whenever he tried.

    ''Is it because I comprehended the Fourth Dimensional layer on my ownбн?''

    Leonel frowned. When he heard that [Dimensional Cleanse] could be practiced alongside other techniques, he had already had thoughts of passing it down to his brothers. But now, it seemed that things weren''t so simple.

    ''бн What if I dissect and comprehend the Fifth Dimensional layer on my own, too? Would that be possible?''

    Leonel wasn''t sure, honestly. Could you ''learn'' something you already knew? Leonel felt that there was a subtle difference he might be able to take advantage of.

    Of course, what he didn''t seem to realize was just how utterly ridiculous what he was thinking of doing was. Comprehending the Fourth Dimensional layer on your own was shocking enough. But, to even attempt to do so for the Fifthбн

    Suddenly, Leonel''s eyes widened.

    He crossed the barrier at which a spirit warrior should have appeared. By now, they were appearing every 20 or so meters, so he had already been prepared to go all out. But, the reality was different from what he expected.

    A spirit hadn''t appeared at the 20 meter mark. In fact, even after traveling over a kilometer, he didn''t find one.

    When he was about to hit ten kilometers, Leonel''s senses caught onto the faint traces of a barrier. It was the same barrier he sensed whenever he had yet to defeat a spirit and also the same barrier he sensed during his battle with Kira and those two young men from before.

    But, this time, there was no spirit warrior.

    ''A puzzleбн?''

    Leonel blinked before his lips spread into a wide grin. This was what he was best at.

    What he didn''t expect, though, was that for the subsequent puzzles to take all 50 000 of his split minds to complete. There was nothing simple about this trial in the slightest.

    However, Leonel''s speed compared to others at this point was like a night and day switch of before.

    By the time he made it to ''round three'', there was no one around but himself. He had actually managed to bridge a gap of almost half a year in a single round.

    **

    On a moon covered in red dust and sand, a portal opened up. Slowly, but surely, several figures walked out, each more ravaged and injured than the last.

    Even still, many of them could only look toward the back of a particular young woman with reverence clear in their eyes.

    Her armor was caked with blood from top to bottom, some of it having yet to completely dry. The grip she had over her battle ax hadn''t weakened not even a single measure in all this time. And, even now, her back was straight and true.

    The depths of her eyes carried an emotionless cold that was hard to meet with any gaze.

    Samson was among the last to come out. In truth, he seemed to be in the worst condition, even having lost an arm. He would have died had it not been for Aina being far stronger than any of them thought. In fact, all of them would have died.

    He looked toward her back with a hint of worship. He had never managed to catch a glimpse of her face, but maybe that was for the best. He felt that such a warrior shouldn''t be blasphemed in this way just because she was a woman.

    ''It seems that the Brazingers will be yet another hereditary Vassal familyбн I will have to tell Rychard about her as soon as possible. The girls by her side aren''t bad eitherбн Who would have thought that this would have been a Unique Zone...?''

 Chapter 885 Unless

    Rychard appeared back within a familiar space, his expression the mark of coldness. Every one of his features seemed to have been etched out of a slab of marble, remaining unmoving for several moments past what was natural.

    It was only after half of an hour passed that he took his first breath, expelling all of the rage that had built up within him. Looking down at the map piece in his hand, he stored it within a hidden spatial compartment in his belt, his expression returning to a normal baseline as though nothing had happened.

    After another deep breath, he steadied himself completely.

    There were still a few years left. He already had a lead amongst all the other potential heirs and this would have just placed him far above them. But, since things had ended like this, he would have to find another way to end this competition for good.

    He had still managed to gain the Fourth Dimensional layer. If he combined it with the Third Dimensional layer, should he be lucky enough, he might not have to worry about not having received the Fifth Dimensional layer.

    ''By now, the others should have found the stars I''m looking for. I''ll complete the first two layers first before moving on with the next step of my plan.''

    Rychard was about to make a move to communicate with his subordinates covertly, not wanting anyone to know that he had returned just yet, when he realized that he had actually already received a message. Toward this, he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow.

    Anyone with the specifications of this talisman knew that he didn''t want to be disturbed. The only reason they would dare to reach out to him anyway was if the matter was of the utmost importance.

    As expected, Rychard had hardly begun reading into the specifics when his pupils constricted.

    ''A Unique Zone related to the Silver Empire?!''

    Even for Rychard who had seen a lot of things in his life, such a thing couldn''t help but make his heart skip a beat.

    The truth was that Silver Empire Zones were not rare. It might have collapsed long ago, but its territory had been wide and expansive. The number of situations that would have occurred in such a large region to trigger the creation of a Zone into the future was enormous.

    However, any Empire of that size, as a form of protection to themselves, would have numerous fail safes against the formation of Zones. Although they wouldn''t be able to stop them from being formed, what they could do was twist and distort the connection, making whatever ''gains'' one could make in their Zones bordering on useless.

    One might wonder what the point of all of this was. But, the answer was plain as long as Leonel''s experiences were taken into account.

    When Leonel entered the Joan Zone, he had truly stepped foot into medieval France. If he had wanted, he could have learned what most historians would spend a lifetime unearthing just with a few moments of patience.

    He was able to fight in wars they could only speculate about, meet Joan of Arc who they could only deify, and he had even shared a building with a King that had died centuries ago. If he had wanted, he could have learned even what underwear Joan wore on a daily basis, it was just that all of this information was meaningless to him as a person from the 25th Century.

    Howeverбн What if the target in question was an almighty Empire who, at the height of their powers, ruled over several galaxies and stood atop Seventh Dimensional worlds? In that case, wouldn''t a single Zone be a gateway to a wealth of information they could only dream about?

    The concept was the same for Earth, honestly, depending on the situation. Some conspiracy theorists believed that things like the former Egyptian Empires were formed by aliens, some others even believed in lost cities of gold or mythical cities like Atlantis.

    Wouldn''t such pivotal events be stored in Zones as well? What sort of secrets might be hidden in the tale and legend of such events?

    This ultimately led to a problem.

    It was fine if an Empire was already destroyed. But, if these Zones were popping up erratically all over their Empire while they were still reigning, wouldn''t these Zones also give their enemies a chance at their secrets?

    One might say at this point that it wasn''t like Zones were safe havens. After all, if Leonel had wanted to learn the secrets of the French, he would have still had to put his life on the line. This was even more so for an Empire like the Silver Empire.

    However, think of this for a moment.

    When an Empire is growing, they obviously start at the lowest levels. They might start as a Bronze Organization before becoming a Silver Organization and finally growing to a Gold Organization or Empire like the Silver Empire had.

    What if the secret to your success had been with you since the very beginning? What if there was an ability you wanted to hide, a Lineage Factor you wanted to keep secret, an unworldly treasure you didn''t want others to know of?

    But, as you grow, wouldn''t the enemies you had to face also grow stronger? If those enemies targeted Zones where you still had the strength of a Bronze Organization while they had the strength of a Gold one, wouldn''t all your secrets be laid bare?

    This was exactly why powerful organizations, families, Kingdoms and Empires all chose a completely different path.

    By using an unfathomable amount of resources, they were able to distort what one would find in Zones. These distortions made it impossible to tell what was true and what wasn''t, leaving their enemies with no information at allбн

    These Distorted Zones were useless for information and could only be used for training. Unlessбн

    It became a Unique Zone.

 Chapter 886 Familiar

    By definition, Distorted Zones were technically Unique Zones to begin with. Unique Zones were Zones where outside influence changed the initial difficulty. Distorted Zones were Zones warped by outside influences as well, it was just that their difficulty didn''t tend to change much at allбн

    However, there wee exceptions to this rule, and that was reserved for Zones formed as the fall of an Empire neared or its formation was nigh.

    At these two opposing points in an Empire''s history, its impact on the timeline was the greatest, making any attempted distortion very difficult. The result would be a Unique Zones whose difficult was far and above away what it should have been. Not only would the distortion fail, but the likelihood of death would skyrocket.

    Even still, many would clamber at the chance to enter such a Zone, some even more so than Mythological Zones. After all, a Mythological Zone was a random spin of the wheel, there was no telling if you would get a magic system that was powerful or weak. However, a Unique Zone that had been distorted was almost a guaranteed jackpot as long as the Empire was powerful.

    By now, Rychard''s reaction to it all was more than just a little bit justified. The Silver Empire more than fit the bill for what was worth it. However, he soon calmed himself.

    For one, the timeline that Aina and the others had entered had been the Empire''s infancy, not near their downfall. Samson had long since said that they would be meeting a young General Fye, that alone spoke for itself.

    Though it was possible for the Silver Empire to have grown off the back of some ultra treasure that this Zone would unveil the existence of, the likelihood was small. Most Empires didn''t rise like that so Rychard wouldn''t put his hopes into such a thing. Many of an Empire''s trump cards came later as they accumulated wealth over thousands of years.

    The second reason Rychard calmed himself was because of the rules of the Viola family.

    He could probably ignore them usually, but Samson had been tasked to do a duty that he was meant to have done. Obviously, this meant that all those who participated were high profile and exactly the people the rules were created for.

    Simply put, he couldn''t just snatch their gains because he felt like it.

    It would be one thing if Samson was the one to accumulate all the wealth of information, but from what he could tell from this recounting, the one to having likely benefited the most was a woman by the name of Aina Brazinger.

    Rychard''s eyes narrowed.

    Samson had left behind a glowing assessment of this woman and he trusted Samson''s judgment. She also seemed to be the daughter of Vassal Miel Brazinger, which was good because Miel hadn''t chosen a side yet. He seemed to have wanted to stay neutral.

    If Rychard could get Aina to his side, wouldn''t it be like also having Miel as well? Even if Miel didn''t see it this way, what would the other Heirs think?

    ''This could work. But, geniuses like this are often haughty and she seems to have the right to be. Samson describes her as cold and detached, approaching such a woman would border on impossible.''

    Rychard wasn''t foolish enough to believe that he could charm his way through such a situation. Even though he was quite confident in himself in this regard, to have such a woman warm up would take years. In fact, in his experience, unless you got to her quite young, it would be almost impossible.

    At the same time, though, depending on the kind of cold and detached she was, things could also be easier.

    If she was the prideful type, then Rychard could forget it. But, if she was simply the cold and unfeeling type, she would be easy to convince with logic and reasoning. The latter type of woman wouldn''t hesitate to even marry him so long as his pitch was convincing enough to her.

    ''One step at a time,'' Rychard thought as he read the information to himself all over again. ''This ''Yuri'' seems like the best bet. She is far more social and open than Aina is.

    ''Also, this Aina seems obsessed with training as well. For now, I don''t need my training resources, giving them to her in exchange for her joining my side might be something she finds easy to accept as wellбн''

    Rychard thought of many plans, all of them he felt were viable. So, he put several into motion.

    Once he was finished sending out orders, his gaze flashed with a cold light.

    **

    Leonel looked around, baffled. There really was no one else around. But, looking at the roads, it seemed thatбн six people were supposed to meet together? Was this supposed to be another battle like before? Or was everything going to be related to puzzles now?

    Leonel was actually quite eager for the Sixth Dimension layer. He had been analysing the Fifth Dimensional Layer for a few weeks now and the more he delved into it, the more fascinating it became.

    Practicing the Fifth Dimensional layer, unlike the previous two, was like an act of silent meditation. It all happened in the mind and one''s concentration and comprehension of the technique decided how fast it went and how pure the Force you absorbed was.

    It was just that Leonel had never expected it to grow so complicated. But, the more and more he observed it, the more he got the feeling that the Fifth Dimensional layer reminded him of something oh so familiar, something so familiar that he practically worked with them everyday.

    Force Arts!

 Chapter 887 Visualization

    The first step of the Fifth Dimensional layer was to clear your mind of distracting thoughts. After this was the visualization.

    Back on Earth, even in the 25th Century, there were entire sciences based around state of mind and its importance. In order to understand, one only need to look toward stories of mothers lifting cars up and off of their children. In those moments, it wasn''t about whether or not they could accomplish it, but rather they had to no matter whatбн Or else they would lose something precious.

    Visualization was a way of artificially allowing a person to reach such a state. There were athletes and pro lifters who could place themselves in the most horrid of situations mentally all the for the sake of gaining that extra boost in strength.

    Simply putбн The mind was a powerful thing.

    That said, the Fifth Dimensional layer didn''t take advantage of this in a physical aspect, or, more accurately, not directly. Rather, it allowed the mind to reach the optimal state for large influxes of Force. This would then in turn allow the body to reach a higher state of being by proxy.

    The Fifth Dimension could be seen as a process of using the mind to undo the artificial shackles on the body, bringing you to a higher state of being.

    However, Leonel couldn''t help but feel that the ''visualization'' needed to accomplish this was eerily familiar to Force Arts.

    Rather than relying on raw emotion or the imagining of terrible events to raise strength, the Fifth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] used a complex series of patterns.

    At first, it felt like it was directing you in how to circulate your energy. But, as Leonel layered these patterns atop of one another in his Dream World and it became more and more complex, he realized that it was indeed just one big Force Art.

    ''Force Arts can be used like this tooбн?''

    Leonel was stunned. It felt like an all new world was opening up to him and he could hardly believe it. The possibilities seemed endless.

    Every time he thought that he had grasped Force Arts, it felt like an all new door would suddenly swing wide open.

    First it was Crafting, then it was Mage Arts, and now it was visualizations. None of these three even mentioned the fact the first time Leonel had ever come into contact with Force Arts, it was under the ability of a person who could not only use it to control others, but even to replicate abilities!

    Back then, Leonel understood too little about the world to understand just how shocking this was. But, the more he learned, the more he felt that the individual with such an ability was most definitely among maybe the most powerful existences in the Dimensional Verse without a doubt.

    ''If I combine this concept of visualization with Camelot''s magic systemбн''

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly felt like two blazing torches.

    Raising your mind to a higher state of being before casting a Mage Artбн Just what kind of effect would that have? Would it allow him to cast Mage Arts beyond his capability? Would it allow him to use less Dream Force in exchange for the same power output? What kind of effects would it have on his Knight Arts?

    Leonel knew that he was getting far too ahead of himself. This was no longer a simple matter of observing and analyzing the Natural Force Art that encompassed Camelot''s magic system, it would also require manipulating and changing it.

    Something like that would be difficult to do without a full grasp of Camelot''s magic system. And, at least with how things stood now, he was a long way away from that.

    ''A more realistic goal for now would be to take the next step forward in the Wisdom Branch of my Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.''

    One had to remember that much of the reason Leonel''s mind was so powerful wasn''t just because of his ability, but also because he had awakened the Luxnix''s family''s Wisdom Branch so early on. This had allowed his mind to gain the fortitude of the Fifth Dimension immediately which basically saved him from facing any bottlenecks from the Third to Fifth Dimension in terms of Dream Force.

    But now, Leonel was obviously about to reach the limit of the Snowy Star Owl. After all, it had to be remembered that they were a Sixth Dimensional beast. Obviously, its abilities wouldn''t be able to help him beyond that cap.

    Still, there was no use in lamenting such a thing if Leonel hadn''t even reached its peak potential yet. He could worry about not having a Lineage Factor for his mind to rely on when that time came. But, for now, he had to find a way to progress first.

    The good news was that Leonel already had a pretty good idea. The evolution paths for the Snowy Star Owl were quite narrow when it came to the Wisdom Branch. Leonel had already faintly touched on the next layer as wellбн

    The Snowy Star Owl''s eyes.

    When Leonel evoked his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, sometimes its eyes would appear to his back. It didn''t take much thinking for him to realize that this only happened when he entered his most calculative states.

    Leonel had been confused about this in the past, but after piecing together the intricacies of ''visualization'' to the Fifth Dimensionбн What if the Snowy Star Owl''s eyes were intricately tied with this? What would happen if instead of just manifesting those sharp eyes, he imagined and meditated on themбн?

    ''An interesting thoughtбн It might workбн''

    Leonel lulled his boredom away with countless streams of thoughts, eliminating the useless, lingering around the maybes, and latching onto the most promising.

    However, just as he was ready to wait for months like he had done to others, he suddenly sensed the barriers before him vanish.

    Leonel was shocked. He didn''t have to fight? What was going onбн?

    Leonel didn''t even get the chance to think very much before a flood of information that almost split his skull in two assaulted his mind.

 Chapter 888 Scandal

    Leonel frowned deeply. Though he was soon able to spread out the trouble through his more than 50 000 minds, he still felt a slight cold sweat mat his back.

    The difference between taking in the Fifth and Sixth Dimensional layers was actually so great. He felt that if he had tried to do this while still in the Third Dimension, his head would have exploded into bits of bones and gore.

    He hadn''t even realized that there was such a lurking danger in this place. But, he was even more surprised by the fact that there was actually no one around him at all.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that the reason there were so many roads connecting into one was precisely because it was so rare for many to make it this far. After the first two rounds, things only became more difficult. There weren''t a small number of individuals who were forced to give up after reaching a puzzle that was far too difficult for them to complete.

    Those on their second attempt who weren''t confident in crossing to the third round would definitely leave after getting the Fifth Dimensional layer. As for those on their first attempt, it was rare for them to even clear the second round, let alone making it into the Sixth.

    Most would drop out after gathering the first three layers of [Dimensional Cleanse] because they were all aware of one simple fact: Unless you could form at least three Stars between the first three layers, completing the Sixth Dimensional layer and beyond was impossible.

    The result of all of this was the second round becoming a major watershed moment where most would drop out.

    Usually, this would mean that one would gain an easy pass to the next round. However, the road of puzzles had something different in mind.

    When Leonel finally regained his bearings and felt okay to move again, the first puzzle he came across made his lip twitch. The creator was truly a sadistic bastard. How was he supposed to do this?

    It had already taken him up to several days to complete the last of the puzzles leading up to round three. But, just at a cursory glance, Leonel could tell that it would take him that long just to make a dent in this one. As for how long it would take him to actually complete it? At least a couple weeks.

    ''Unlessбн''

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. It had been a long while since he used this. As time passed, his mind grew so powerful that he simply didn''t need it. But now, it seemed that he would definitely have to rely on it again.

    At that moment, a heavy, ancient aura began to accumulate around Leonel.

    Auspicious Air. Ancient Aura. Heavenly Enlightenmentбн

    Whenever Leonel gazed upon the Natural Force Art he had gained from the Force Crystal Mine Eruption, his mind would enter into a state of overdrive that even his ability alone couldn''t reach.

    Leonel had been worried that the affect it would have would lessen due to the fact it was a Fourth Dimensional existence while he was already in the Fifth, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn''t the case. Though it was less helpful than in the past, it wasn''t by an exaggerated amount.

    In fact, Leonel suddenly felt confident.

    ''I had only completed 99% of it in the past, yet it had this effect. I feel like I canбн Finally do it.''

    Leonel couldn''t help but be excited. He had been stuck at this level for such a long time. Even though he had neglected this Natural Force Art, he had never forgotten just how useful it had been to him in the past. Much of his quick progression could even be assigned to it.

    He felt that reaching from 99% to 100% wouldn''t just be the change of a single percentage pointбн It would be an evolution just as whole as crossing a Dimensional barrier.

    What kind of benefits would it give him?

    It seemed like that bet he made in the hive all those years ago was finally about to pay off big time.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was at this point, there was only a single other person still within the trial with him. This person was also gaining the benefit of not having to fight a single person as he leisurely strolled forward, completing the puzzles with even greater ease than Leonel.

    He hummed a small tune, almost carelessly swinging his sword from time to time. But, anyone who looked closely enough would be able to tell that this young man''s every stroke was filled with an enigmatic mysteryбн

    He was none other than Amery, the Sword Deity.

    **

    "You''ve found the information I want?"

    Rychard was a bit surprised. He had expected it to take several months to even years to receive information back about that Leonel Morales. After all, the Dimensional Verse was an enormous place, finding a single family, even if it was one as powerful as a Sixth Dimensional one, would be almost impossibleбкin a short time, anyway. Yet, Samson had come back to him with an answer barely a week later.

    At that moment, Rychard was flying in a sleek black space shuttle. It was outfitted with the latest stealth technology. Though it couldn''t hide his activity from the old fogies of his family, he didn''t need to hide from them. He just needed to keep his movements secret from the other heir candidates.

    From his vantage point, he could see the three planets that revolved around one another. In truth, each of these three planets was ruled by a different Sixth Dimensional family. The black and purple one was for their Viola family. The other two, the planet with the mountains that looked like horns and the other that looked like a polished golden marble with swirling white clouds were controlled by two families just as powerful.

    As for the history behind this, it was long and complicated. Whenever Rychard saw the three of them like this, he couldn''t help but think back to it. After hearing Samson''s explanation, though, his gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

    Rychard suddenly couldn''t take his eyes off the golden-white planet even as his ship sped into the distance.

 Chapter 889 Lt Did Matter

    The Viola family. The Torra family. The Luxnix family.

    The three revolve around one another, maintaining a balance within this region of their Tri Pillar Galaxy. It could be said that they were friends, rivals and enemies all in one, each keeping the other in check but all three being interdependent on one another.

    In his wildest dreams, Rychard never thought that he would run into such a matter. In fact, it was even more shocking that such a matter had been hidden from him for so long. The potential implications of such a thing weren''t simple at all. If he used it properly, this bit of information could be even more useful to him toward claiming heirship than even the Fifth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] would have been.

    Of course, that was also depending on the details surrounding this case as well. However, Rychard felt that he had grasped 90% of the story the instant Samson passed this information on to him.

    What was clear and obvious immediately was that Leonel didn''t share the Luxnix name. This meant that it was the maternal side of his family. This point alone made a lot of things make sense, especially since it coincided with some things that the Luxnix family hadn''t managed to hide so well.

    Wasn''t such a thing all too common?

    Woman of a powerful family falls in love with a weak man. The result is a child out of wedlock that is looked down upon by his family. Ultimately, the man and son are either killed off and chased away, while the woman is locked up under house arrest as a reminder to future generations to not dare to make the same mistake. All the while, the son''s name is stricken from the family records as an undying stain on his life and legacy.

    This story was simple enough and it lined up with quite a few things.

    About 50 years ago, the Luxnix family suddenly came out guns blazing with a genius on the level of which the three families had never seen before. The most shocking part was that she was a member of Rychard''s generation, so he had personally lost handily at her hands once before. It was the kind of loss that left an untenable mark on his psyche that he hadn''t managed to leap over even after all this time.

    To make matters worse, back then, he had already been well into his teens while that little girl was barely over 10 years old!

    However, that girl also vanished years later without word, rhyme or reason. The Luxnix family seemed to have completely ''forgotten'' about her as though she never existed.

    If those two timelines were fused into oneбн

    Rychard''s eyes suddenly glowed with a fierce light.

    Would he really get revenge on that little girl in such a way so decades later? He had always wanted to wash that shame away, but he had always meant to do so with his fists. However, that girl had already vanished even after he became so confident in himself.

    Rychard''s lip curled. What a present, what a present indeed. Pa nda

    No vel He had thought that Leonel was a devil come to ruin all of his plans and test his resolve. Who would have known that he was actually a guardian angel come to hand him such a victory on a silver platter? Not only would he get revenge on a foe of long ago, he just might be able to guarantee this victory for himself.

    Rychard thought for several more moments before he suddenly began to write out a detailed message.

    Even as Rychard began to scheme, he had no idea that the story he had deduced couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    However, there was a reason he didn''t bother to wait to see if his deductions would be correct or notбн it was because it didn''t matter.

    The mere fact he could comfortably deduce this at all made it believable. And believable was all he needed.

    **

    Leonel had no idea what was happening so far away, nor did he know what kind of storm such a casual interaction would bring about. In truth, he had already mostly forgotten about Rychard. How big was the universe? How could he ever just assume that he would have such a connection with this person? And, even if he did, how could he know that the young man would actually be petty enough to seek out revenge for something a 10 year old girl had done to him?

    Of course, to be fair, Rychard was at most 14 or 15 back then. But, by now, he was a man who was almost 70 years old. At some point, you had to let bygones be bygones, rightбн?

    Unfortunately, Rychard was a petty man who was simultaneously patient to an extreme. And, at the same time, this information was far too useful to him. Even if he wouldn''t be able to get revenge at all, he would still do it. In fact, even if not a word of it was true, it would still have the very same effect. That was the beauty of it all.

    It didn''t matter to him whether the little girl from back then was really Leonel''s mother or not. The optics of it all was all he needed.

    What Rychard didn''t know, though, was that it did, in fact, matter. Because, that little ten year old girl from back then had grown into a powerful woman who met a man by the name of Velasco Morales. Years later, the two birthed a child by the name of Leonel Morales.

    Andбн Leonel Morales happened to love his mother very much.

 Chapter 890 Cant Continue

    BANG!

    The aura around Leonel suddenly shifted. Despite the fact he hadn''t aged even a single day, the presence he gave off was old and wizened. Short of a long head of white hair, his every movement exuded a scholarly and ancient air.

    It took Leonel an entire three days to complete the Natural Force Art, but the result was far outside his expectations.

    He suddenly realized at that moment that visualization wasn''t new to him in the slightest. Wasn''t this Natural Force Art exactly that?

    Just gazing upon it rose his mind to an elevated state. Even if it wasn''t permanent, with Leonel''s mental fortitude, he could sustain it for much longer than most others would be able to. At the same time, as long as he was in this elevated state, he felt like his mental capacity had risen by more than ten times.

    Something clicked for Leonel at that moment.

    ''The Fifth Dimensional layerбн I can''t describe all of it, but I suddenly feel like if I tried, I could pass down some portions of it without being stopped by that mysterious forceбн''

    Leonel had grasped that subtle difference between knowing and understanding. The moment he crossed that barrier, it felt like the shackles around his knowledge of [Dimensional Cleanse] had loosened once again.

    ''So that''s how it isбн The Fifth Dimensional layer is evoking a Natural Force to raise the state of the mind. It''s milder than the Natural Force Art I have, but its effects are also more permanent, especially when used over a long period of timeбн

    ''I was having some issues drawing a line between my Soul and Dream Force versus what the Fifth Dimension asked of me. After all, both were related to the mind and yet my Dream Force was already at the Fifth Dimension. I thought I might be able to step into the Sixth Dimension immediately. But, it seems like this isn''t the case. In fact, the more powerful my mind is, the longer I''ll have to spend in the Fifth Dimension, but this will also simultaneously lead to even better benefits from the Realm as well.''

    Leonel had, indeed, believed this. After all, if his Metal Body could prime his body for the Fourth Dimension, why couldn''t his Wisdom Branch prime his mind? But, the functions were completely different.

    In the Fourth Dimension, there was only so much Fourth Dimensional Force could do. In fact, the fact Leonel had had such a massive spike in his body''s potential was more related to just how good Vital Star Force was as opposed to it being in thanks to the Fourth Dimension itself.

    That said, elevating one''s state of mind depended on the initial foundation one was starting with. In addition, one had to remember that the Fifth Dimension might start with the mind, but it still connected back to the body.

    With how powerful Leonel''s mind was, it had far more potential to release the shackles that might be found holding his body back. However, it was precisely because it was so powerful that Leonel''s body would need so much time to adjust.

    This wasn''t a bad thing. Even though it would take more time, Leonel would also have more steps forward to take compared to anyone else, allowing his growth to be far greater as well.

    Awakening his Wisdom Branch so early on had already been a great help to him in the recent years. But, it was only about to get even more useful.

    ''Let''s finish this.''

    Leonel''s eyes opened, Auspicious Air still hanging around him in a heavy fog. He only had 50 000 or so minds to split, but with its help, he felt more like he had 500 000.

    The weeks he thought it would take to complete this puzzle had suddenly been cut to a few hours.

    бн

    Leonel''s speed couldn''t be compared to the past. He found himself sweeping through puzzle after puzzle, each more complicated than the last, with an ever increasing pace.

    Although he couldn''t use his Auspicious Air continuously and endlessly, it was for more than long enough to get solid breaks in between.

    At the same time, Leonel was realizing that these puzzles themselves weren''t so simple eitherбкand that wasn''t just about their complexity.

    All of these puzzles seemed to be variations on the map puzzle that allowed him to come here. Leonel didn''t believe that the creator wasn''t creative enough to think of a different format. The best explanation was that this sequence of puzzles wouldn''t likely be useful sometime in the future.

    Unfortunately, even after completing the Natural Force Art, Leonel got the sinking feeling that he wouldn''t be able to reach the end of this road.

    The path toward the fourth round was growing in difficulty with every passing second. In fact, the progression of the difficulty was far faster than it had been on the path to the third round.

    By now, the puzzles were already down to clusters of just a few billion atoms while the scope was simultaneously growing larger and larger. Every minute change had an exponential affect on the surroundings that was giving Leonel an increasing headache.

    ''If things continue like this, I''ll be forced to break into the Fifth Dimension before I even reach the fourth roundбн But if I am, this how could I ever make it to the fifthбн?''

    The truth was that Leonel didn''t even know if there was a fifth round at all. A fifth round would imply that [Dimensional Cleanse] had an Eighth Dimensional layer, while a sixth would guarantee a Ninth Dimensional layer.

    Due to the silver tablet, Leonel had already been made aware of legends of a Ninth Dimension, but even the dictionary only mentioned the Eighth. And, when it did so, it spoke of the Eighth Dimension exactly like the silver tablet spoke of the Ninthбн An ethereal, mythical state that might not exist at allбн

    Except for the fact the Morales family''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor also had five rounds.

    But the question was, was [Dimensional Cleanse] also so transcendent?

    Leonel bit his teeth hard. ''I can''t continue. I need to breakthroughбн''

    бн

    What Leonel didn''t expect, though, was that soon after breaking through and making it to the fourth round, he would find a young man curiously observing him from top to bottomбн All before that young man''s gaze landed on the Spear Domain Heirloom on his finger.

    "Huhбн How interestingбн How did such a thing end up in your handsбн?"

    [Just two today]

 Chapter 891 L Dont Like

    Leonel never thought he would feel such an intoxicating feeling so soon again. At least, he didn''t think he would leave the Fourth Dimension so soon. However, he hardly got to enjoy it because he realized it was just barely enough. The high of entering yet another Dimension felt full when you realized your power wasn''t as amazing as you thought it would be.

    Of course, if others knew Leonel''s thoughts, they''d deem him to be insane. In just a single step, Leonel''s split minds now approach a million. On top of this, he felt the gates of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor calling out to him. Compared to the last time when he struggled, opening the Gates before he had even completed his nine Nodes, this time would be a completely different animal.

    At the same time, Leonel''s [Star Fusion] reached a new height, now fueled by Fifth Dimensional Vital Star Force and Leonel also finally felt that he could use his Scarlet Star Force for a few split seconds before his body imploded into a pile of ash.

    There were sweeping changes with Leonel''s Lineage Factors, he felt that the burden of using his Divine Armor was practically nonexistent now, and on top of all of that, his ability seemed to have transcended to a new height.

    Even though Leonel would never be able to cross the Savant barrier and reach Manifestation, Leonel had been able to cross into the fourth level, Control. This allowed him to control his own body as though it was a machine his mind was within. In fact, Leonel felt that he had reached a point where he could even control the speed of his own cell division.

    This was the absolute greatest height that Leonel''s Dream Force ability could reach. Of course, Leonel had yet to have any practice with it. And, controlling the body down to a cellular level with only a million split minds was a fool''s game. In addition, even if he could control his cell division, anyone with even the faintest background in biology would be able to tell you that such a thing required energy to execute.

    The good news was that Vital Star Force was among the best energies to fuel such a thing. The bad news was that it would only be in endless supply for Leonel in this place. Anywhere else and he would have to slowly catalyze and store it for himself with the help of his Vital Stars.

    None of this even mentioned the fact that Leonel hadn''t had the time to create new branching abilities based on his new peak. And, he hadn''t gotten time to learn to control or practice with it either. It could be said that he had been given a big rail gun that he was far too small to use at this point.

    The best way Leonel could describe it was like he felt that he was just a hair away from having and controlling as much power as a Savantбн And yet, he didn''t have nearly their luck in receiving the Blessings of the Dimensional Verse. He had to figure everything out and, most importantly, power everything with his own energy.

    All of this, not to mention the every increasing difficulty of the puzzles he continued to run into, dampened what should have been a happy moment considerably. The only good news was that he had been here for long enough to solidify himself in the Fourth Dimensionбн But it seemed that the bad news was intent on continuing to come. Pa nda

    Novel бн

    Leonel stared at the young man in front of him. Though his expression was closed off and gave nothing away, he felt a solemn feeling welling up in his heart.

    The intuition of the primitive consciousness had only grown stronger and more potent after being incorporated into Leonel''s Spear Domain Lineage Factor. With that potency came an increased sensitivity toward danger. It was just that Leonel hadn''t run into any such opponents since he realized the true purpose of his Spear Domain Lineage Factorбн

    However, right now, it was screaming at himбн screaming that even if he used the third form of [Star Fusion], even if he was released from the shackles this world had on him, even if this young man was under double the suppression he was currently underбн

    None of it would change the inevitable outcome.

    Leonel didn''t respond to the young man''s question. Instead, he looked at the sword in his hand. It only took a glance for Leonel to tell that the young man was holding a normal wooden sword. It reminded Leonel of the first primitive spear he had ever managed to take out of the Spear Domain Heirloom.

    However, Leonel knew for a fact that if he took out the primitive spear right this moment, the level of danger he exuded wouldn''t even be half of the young man''s.

    Amery didn''t seem to care very much for Leonel''s response, he only continued to look at the ring.

    "Well, this is pretty lucky, if I do say so myself." Amery smiled. "I''m quite a fan of competition, but if I''m to be honest, I could have defeated you back when I was still a toddler. So, I don''t think there''s any real point to this, right?

    "I''m not a bloodthirsty man so I can let you live. But, you''ll have to hand over that ring. I happen to know someone that would be far better suited to it than you. I''d like to have a good battle when the time comes, and I have a feeling you won''t be able to give me one."

    Leonel didn''t respond to this, but that didn''t change the fact that he was confused by the young man''s words.

    He wanted to give his ring to someone else so thatбн when the time came he could have a better battle than he would have otherwise had with Leonel? What was that supposed to mean?

    Seeing that Leonel didn''t respond, Amery sighed and shook his head.

    "Forget it, forget it. Every time I try not to end things with blood, no one wants to listen."

    Amery took a step forward and brandished his wooden sword.

    "I don''t like to give second chances."

 Chapter 892 Wooden Blade

    Could Leonel give Spear Domain over just to save his own life? The answer was obviously no. This was something his father had left behind for him and it was the Heirloom of the Morales family. He had no intention of losing it in this place.

    But at the same time, Leonel felt like he had really painted himself into a corner. He already knew that receiving the next portion of [Dimensional Cleanse] had become impossible. He had no illusions about defeating Amery. However, the main issue was that though jumping from the edge of the road seemed to be just two steps away, in the current situation, Leonel felt like it was a world awayбн That was how far apart the skill between the two young men were.

    Still, the more helpless it all seemed, the colder and colder Leonel''s expression became. By the time Amery had raised his foot to take a second step, Leonel''s countenance was like an iceberg, his features all individually carved out in the strongest of lines.

    Amery paused, scanning Leonel up and down before shaking his head.

    "Definitely not worthy. Emotionless, blockheads like you should stick to fighting with your fists, at least that way you won''t be drawing a line between yourself and your weapon. How can you hear your blade if you don''t want to hear it? What a sad excuse for a spearman."

    Leonel didn''t react to this in the slightest. Even though they were said in a different way, hadn''t he already heard these words once before? It was exactly what Old Man Hutch had told him when he tried to get him to switch to the machete.

    Leonel simply didn''t believe that a weapon needed to be loved. He had said it then and he would say it again. He had chosen the spear out of convenience because he just so happened to have been born with a Lineage Factor that suited it. If he had affinity with a sword or saber or a machete, he would have chosen that as well.

    All this rambling about ''loving'' your weapon and ''communicating'' with it sounded like the ravings of a madman to Leonel.

    To him, it felt like Old Man Hutch and this young man before him were both abstract artists trying to convince you that the banana they taped to the wall had a deeper, underlying meaning you were just missing because you ''didn''t get it''.

    Their words fell into the same pot of ridiculousness for Leonel. As far as he was concerned, these two just had talent in the blades they chose and explained away their innate gifts with nonsense like ''love'' and ''emotion'', when the truth was that they were just better suited to those weapons in comparison to others.

    To Leonel, it was just that simple.

    However, at least now, he understood why it was that Amery said he wasn''t worthy. Unfortunately, that changed nothing.

    How would Leonel face his father if he lost the Heirloom he had been entrusted with? How would he subdue the Morales family if he lost something so precious to them without having even earned the right to have it in the first place? How would he look himself in the mirror if he couldn''t manage to take two steps to the left against an enemy no older than himself?

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, his body suddenly erupting with Vital Star Force from head to toe. But, this time, it felt far different than it had in the past even as his Runes flickered to life.

    Rather than a billowing diamond blue steam, he suddenly began to radiate an incomparably majestic amethyst. From top to bottom, his body was surrounded by a delicate light violet hue, his hair becoming an endless river of foggy energy and his eyes becoming homogenous with it all.

    This was Leonel''s third form of Star Fusion: [Star Fusion: King''s Might].

    Even with his aura rising like a tide, Leonel didn''t make a single move. He brandished his spear, his nerves walking a cliff''s edge. However, it was then that it happened.

    Compared to Leonel, Amery''s aura was a wisp of nothingness. He stood there, his robes completely unaffected by what should have been winds that would put any hurricane to shame.

    In one instant, he was ten meters from Leonel, his body having not moved a single inch. In the next, Leonel''s pupils constricted to an extreme.

    A wooden blade appeared before his nose, slashing downward with a slow, unhurried momentum that simultaneously weight as heavy as a mountain. Despite how much effort Leonel had put into watching his every action, despite how much care and attention he had placed toward predicting his next movement, it had all been completely useless.

    Leonel''s life flashed before his eyes. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t seem to think of a method to survive. It was crushing.

    In just those few milliseconds, Leonel''s mind seemed to slow down the events into a stretched length of time that spanned what almost felt like several days.

    What did it feel like to be contemplating your own death for so long? One would think that it would be enough to drive a person mad. It was like a ticking clock set to come to a stop the moment you breathed your lastбн

    How would it feel to know the exact date, time and second of your death? How would one feel as the moments waned and the sand within the hourglass became lesser and lesser? How would you feel watching a guillotine being taken to your future aspirations and goals.

    Maybe you might even find the humor in it all. Why was it that your mind was slowing everything down to such an extent now, but couldn''t have done so while the person who wanted your life was swinging his swordбн?

    Leonel was in exactly this sort of hopeless situation, a lethal wooden blade descending like a heavenly punishment to sever his ties to the world.

 Chapter 893 Not Bad

    ''Indeedбн Why is it all so slow nowбн That must be whyбн''

    Leonel was unaware of the vast difference between the Fifth and Sixth Dimensions. But, someone moving so fast that even his own Internal Sight couldn''t keep up with it was enough to lay it out to bare right in front of him. It was clear that Amery was on a level so far beyond himself that it was impossible to fathom, and that was even while being weighed down by four rounds worth of Vital Star Force.

    Now that he knew, he realized why his intuition had been screaming at him to run all this time. Butбн running was impossible. The moment he took a step back, he would be finished.

    Leonel''s spear was held between both hands in the most defensive stance that he could muster. And yet, Amery had a complete disregard for it as he attacked as though his spear wasn''t there at all. However, it was exactly this disregard that gave Leonel the faintest hope for survival.

    Leonel''s arm exploded. This wasn''t a metaphor, it wasn''t a fancily worded set of prose, but rather an accurate description of exactly what happened.

    Right at his elbow, Leonel''s arm imploded into a rain of blood and gore. It was such a vicious, cold hearted, blood curdling wound that even Amery''s brow furrowed lightly even as his sword continued downward.

    However, it was this explosion that erupted Leonel''s arm into movement, arching his spear upward in a move that was seemingly intent on forcing it into the path of Amery''s blade.

    Amery furrowed brow smoothed out just as quickly as it formed. To him, this didn''t matter in the slightest. He would show Leonel the difference between the two of them as clear as day.

    His wooden spear was of a common grade, it couldn''t even be ranked among Fourth Dimensional weapons and even Earth''s Third Dimensional cold weapons would be able to slash it apart ten out of ten times. At the same time, Leonel was holding a double sided Quasi Silver spear. The difference in quality was as clear as day. It should be a given that the latter would block the formerбн

    And yet, Amery knew felt that anyone would be a fool to believe such a thing.

    A Quasi Silver weapon? It might as well have been a piece of tinfoil to him.

    He had already given Leonel a chance to live. Since he didn''t want it, this would be his death bed.

    Amery''s sword continued to descend, an air of confidence hanging around him. One could tell from the aura he exuded that no matter what stood before him, he would slice it apart. It was an air that matched Leonel''s King''s Might and even far surpassed it, and yet it wasn''t contingent on subordinates or a number of them, it was entirely reliant on Amery''s belief in himself and his blade.

    ''Goodbye.'' Pa nda

    Novel BANG!

    Amery''s expression suddenly changed. It was just a small flicker of light within his irises, but it was a change nonetheless.

    Leonel''s hand exploded into a mist of blood, his bone sprinkling down like ash and his flesh falling like lumps of processed meat. In that very instant, what had once been the hand of an Elite Force Crafter had become nothing but a mangled mess, impossible to see the start or finish of.

    Leonel flew backward like an arrow leaving a bow string, a side of his body completely collapsing to the point that his inner organs threatened to spill out. Just a casual strike from Amery left him in a half dead state, his breathing hardly holding on. If it wasn''t for the fact he had entered the Control level of his Ability Index, allowing him to force his inner organs to stay functioning as best he could, he really might have died to just that single strike.

    Leonel crashed along the road, sliding back to the point he landed on its very edge. Even though the Vital Star Force within him was trying to quickly fuel Leonel''s cells to begin repairing themselves, they found that no amount of energy they provided was enough.

    Something was far too special about Amery''s Force. It seemed to hinder Leonel from being able to heal himself, at least through ''normal'' means like this. It was only after Leonel began to fight back against Amery''s aura with his own King''s Might that things began to shift. But, even then, it was only because it was a casual swing on Amery''s part.

    "Hmбн Not bad." Amery spoke.

    He seemed to truly mean his words, there wasn''t a hint of derision or disdain hidden within them. He was actually praising Leonel.

    "You knew that your spear wouldn''t be enough so you used the ring to block even at the cost of your hand. I believe it was the Morales family that had the Spear Domain ring, right? Hands are quite important to you Force Crafters, I guess I don''t have to feel too bad about you surviving that strike, then."

    Leonel didn''t respond. Even now, as he sat at the edge of the road, a step away from surviving, his senses had never stopped locking onto Amery. This time, however, he used his Auspicious Air and kept his body in a state of near death, slowing down everything to an extreme.

    It had taken a few seconds for Amery to speak those words. And yet, to Leonel, it felt like it had taken him hours to finish.

    "Well, I guess you''ve earned it, then. Next time we meet, I definitely won''t make the same mistake again. The Domain Rings shouldn''t be in the hands of people who can''t appreciate them."

    Leonel didn''t say a single word. Even with his mangled hand, he managed to pin the Spear Domain ring between the ground meat that was it and his badly caved in chest.

    He rolled over the edge of the road, just barely dodging a secret strike of Amery''s, the Spear Domain Ring tightly clenched to his heart.

    "You dodged that one too, huh? Not bad! Not bad, indeed!" Amery''s laughter was all Leonel could hear as his body whistled through the abyss below. "Make sure to remember my name well, I am Amery, the Sword Deity! When next we meet, I''ll take your life!"

 Chapter 894 Twice

    Leonel instantly appeared on the very same abandoned planet he had left from, hanging onto his life by a thread. But, the situation instantly became several times worse.

    There wasn''t a hint of oxygen to be found on this planet, but that was only the first issue. At Leonel''s current level, holding his breath for several hours wasn''t a problem. The trouble came from the lack of air pressure.

    In that instant, his bodily fluids seemed to want to boil themselves to oblivion. If it wasn''t for the fact Leonel had stepped into the Fifth Dimension, he would already be finished. It only made matters worse that the temperature felt far below negative 100 degrees Celsius.

    As Leonel progressed, temperature began to feel different to him and was adjusted not just based on the Dimension, but also how he felt within that Dimension. For him to experience such cold right now, it could only be said that this planet was not just a little bit harsh.

    Without his space shuttle to protect him, Leonel was facing all the elements by himself, his body far too weak to protect himself from it all.

    With the last hints of strength he had, Leonel managed to use his Internal Sight to pull the Segmented Cube out from his spatial ring and teleport inside.

    Leonel instantly took a massive breath, one he just as quickly regretted. His nerves were completely fried, the constant firing of pain receptors making his mind feel as though it was in a mine field, flash bangs sounding time and time again with every minor movement he made.

    At that moment, Leonel''s expression would have warped into quite an ugly one if he could have afforded the energy.

    He had thought that after so many months within the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world, his Healing Branch''s [Instant Recovery] would have already recovered after he used it to survive the Valiant Zone. But now he realized that he had made a massive mistake.

    Why did his [Instant Recovery] have such a variable refresh date to the point where even Leonel could only vaguely say that it would take a ''few months''? It was because of the process his Lineage Factor went through to prepare it!

    [Instant Recovery] required a special fusion of Light Elemental and Star Elemental Forces to combine to be completed. However, Leonel had just spent months in a place where no Force other than Star Force was allowed. So, how could his [Instant Recovery] have possibly recovered?

    Leonel had no choice but to try to use Vital Star Force again, but once again, the world seemed to want to see him suffer.

    First, he was slapped in the face with the reality that the large amounts of Vital Star Force he had become used to was gone. Even to call it a fraction of what he once had was an insult, it was more like a sliver.

    Second, he realized that Amery''s odd energy still hadn''t disappeared and it was still hindering his body from healing itself. It was borderline infuriating.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that this was how things were meant to be. Being injured by someone an entire Dimension above you made the same wound far more difficult to heal. A cut caused by Fifth Dimensional Force, even at the same size and depth as one caused by Fourth Dimensional Force would be far more difficult to deal with.

    Leonel had never experienced this issue before because of his own talent. But now he had met someone just as if not more talented than himself for the very first time. On top of that, that person was within the Sixth Dimension whose gap with the Fifth Dimension was far larger than the latter''s gap with the Fourth and so on.

    As though all of that wasn''t enough, Leonel''s illusion that Amery had access to an ability similar to King''s Might wasn''t wrong. And, this energy hindered Leonel''s ability to heal far more than even Amery''s Sixth Dimensional Force did.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar appeared above Leonel, jumping to and froe with a panicked expression on his little face. He had thought that it was great that Leonel was finally back, he had been bored of just playing with Little Tolly all the time. Plus, for safety, Leonel had locked Candle and Vice away in the snowglobes before he left to the trial because they simply progressed too fast, so there was no one else.

    And yet, just when he came to greet Leonel, he found him in a half dead state, in a hallway of the Abode Setting, with blood pooling around him faster and faster.

    The sound was like the sound of an angel to Leonel.

    "Littleбн Blackstarбн Drag me toбн The bathhouseбн"

    Leonel had been too focused on just getting into the Segmented Cube to think about exactly where it would be best that he went. Luckily, Blackstar had appeared, or else he really might be finished this time. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, the Cleansing Waters would be able to purge his body of Amery''s aura, or at least help him suppress it.

    Little Blackstar didn''t take long to understand. A black fog appeared beneath Leonel and acted as a bed to pull him along.

    Little Blackstar struggled to maintain it as Amery''s aura corroded even his Dark Elemental Force, but he managed to grit his teeth through it.

    Leonel never thought he would end up in such a sorry state. His intuition had told him that Amery would easily slice his spear in two along with his body if he tried to block with it. So, his only choice had been to use the Spear Domain Heirloom as a last effort defense, believing that it definitely had to be a top quality treasure.

    Unfortunately, just to get it in Amery''s way, he had to shatter his own elbow and explode it with Star Force to get it to move fast enough. Then, as though all that wasn''t bad enough, the form of the ring was obviously far too small to give him any extra protection.

    The result was Amery''s strength dispersing around it and nearly killing Leonel.

    The good news? As expected, the ring didn''t have a single scratch on it. The bad news?

    Well, just look at him!

    When Little Blackstar finally got him to the Cleansing Waters, Leonel let out a roar that threatened to shatter the Segmented Cube apart.

    Leonel had seemingly forgotten something elseбн

    What did the Segmented Cube need to evolve? It was Fifth Dimensional Force, was it not?

    Where had the Segmented Cube been for the last almost year? Was it not in a place that not only had large amounts of Fifth Dimensional Force, but also large amounts of Sixth and even Seventh Dimensional Forceбн?

    The Cleansing Waters Leonel had just had Little Blackstar drop him into was no longer the Fourth Dimensional Cleansing Waters he had become used to. In fact, it was a completely different beast entirely.

    At that moment, Leonel felt like he was being boiled from the inside out. The more pain and setbacks he experienced, the more muddled his mind seemed to become and the more mistakes he seemed to make. And, clearlyбн This was another one.

    The Segmented Cube had evolved not just once in the past several monthsбн But twice.

 Chapter 895 Bite You To Death

    Leonel felt like he was being boiled from the inside out. He immediately realized that this weren''t the Cleansing Waters he had been expecting. In fact, if not for the fact he was so focused on keeping his body alive and couldn''t spare Internal Sight to take a glance at his surroundings, he would have realized that the Segmented Cube he had come to know was a completely different beast at this moment.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that these were Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters as opposed to the Fourth Dimensional waters he had become accustomed to.

    It was a bit exaggerated to say that these waters were like rubbing alcohol to Leonel, but it was functionally the same at this very moment. These Cleansing Water were too good at wiping away foreign objects from existence. The issue was that it had decided that much of what was in Leonel''s body could be classified as such.

    When one was trying to measure the body of a Fifth Dimensional existence, especially when Leonel''s Metal Body was still within the Fourth Dimension, up against the standards of a Sixth Dimensional one, the gap was simply too wide and the process would could be seen as abrasive.

    The Cleansing Waters were essentially flushing out all the impurities of Leonel''s body, but it had chosen the absolute worse time to do exactly that because Leonel had open flesh wounds all over himself!

    Even as jets of ink black shot out from his body and Amery''s aura was completely purged, the process of them flooding out from him was so savage that Leonel felt as though he was being ripped from the inside out.

    If Leonel''s father had been here, he would have coughed up a lung from laughing so hard. Only his idiot son could possibly turn one of the gentlest existences in the whole of the Dimensional Verse into one of the most dangerous just because he forgot to use his head.

    Leonel tried to remain lucid but it was growing in difficulty the more and more time passed. He hardly registered when the last of Amery''s aura shot out from himself, so he also didn''t realize that he should be doing his very best to heal at this moment. At the same time, his consciousness began to slip away, his mind jarred by the flashbangs of pain.

    It had been a long time since Leonel had run dry of his Dream Force. But, truth be told, he really didn''t have a choice this time. Had he not poured everything he had into his battle with Amery, he wouldn''t even be able to scream out in pain this wayбн because he would be dead!

    Unfortunately, because he ran out of Dream Force, he no longer had the ability to use Dream Sense to dull his pain receptors and his mind also became incredibly foggy at the same time. If not for the pain, he would have long since passed out.

    And the moment he did lose consciousnessбн He would be finished.

    What Leonel couldn''t see at this moment, though, was that a little girl who was all motes of light from the waist down was hanging in the air, looking down at him as though she was gazing upon the world''s greatest idiot.

    ''What is wrong with this gene pool? Both father and son are fools! Foolish! Foolish! Foolish! Humph, I should just let him die!'' Pa nda

    Novel The little girl was adorable to an extreme. Her eyes were large and sparkling, her chubby cheeks triggered the impulse to pinch, and the way her small little hands rested on her waist made her look like a miniature adult that could make even the most stoic man''s heart burst with a willingness to die protecting herбн And yet, the words she spoke were so vicious.

    Though the little girl was visibly annoyed, she still waved a hand and caused Leonel''s half unconscious body to rise up from the water.

    The truth was that his state was terrible.

    His arm had imploded at the elbow and its hand was nothing more than a mangled mess. Beneath that, his chest had half caved in and was threatening to leak out inner organs of its own. His face was a sickly shade of white and his hair, which was usually a sparkling light violet, had lost whatever color it usually had as he hung on by a thread.

    ''Annoying. I was so close to the Seventh Dimension but this little fool made me wake up early, now all that energy is disappearing. Annoying! Annoying! Annoying! Who knows when he''ll enter a Seventh Dimensional world with such rich energy like that again?!''

    Even while she was enraged, the little girl still continued to wave her hands about.

    "Activate [Force Conversion]. Set target to Vital Star Force. Convert toбн" The little girl sent a gaze toward Leonel. "бн Snow Force."

    The moment the little girl finished these words, rays of light began to fall upon Leonel. The looked like falling snowflakes at one moment, but soon began to look like falling feathers in the next. The purity was unmatched and the sights were gorgeous to an extreme.

    In just a few seconds, Leonel''s Instant Recovery was filled to the brim and Dream Counter activated due to his near death state. The moment this happened, Leonel began to recover at a speed even the naked eye had a hard time keeping up with. However, the little girl didn''t seem satisfied.

    She continued to shake her head, looking at Leonel''s hand. She was clearly hesitating about something.

    ''The Instant Recovery of a Sixth Dimensional beast is not enough to heal that injury. His hand won''t ever be the same if I let it heal like thisбн Forget it, just take this as payment for the future. If you can''t raise me to the Ninth Dimension like your father promised me you would, I''ll bite you to death!''

    The little girl knew that there''d be a price to pay for doing this, but she had no choice.

    "Change conversion to Sixth Dimensional Life Force."

 Chapter 896 Factory

    Leonel shot up. He jumped so high that he thought he would have crashed into the ceiling barely half way up, but he soon realized that somehow, the walls of the Segmented Cube had become far taller. In fact, when he looked around, even as he began to fall back to the ground, his eyes couldn''t help but widen.

    ''Thisбн''

    Leonel was still in the bathhouse. At this point, any blood that had been here had long since disappeared. But, this was to be expected. After all, the self cleaning function of the Segmented Cube''s bathhouse was unmatched for obvious reasons.

    However, what Leonel saw wasn''t the bathhouse he was used to, but what felt more like a bath mansionбн No, a bath estate? Noбн A bath island? What the hell was going onбн?

    The bathhouse had suddenly become enormous. The pool couldn''t even be described in meters anymore but could only have its dimensions broken down in kilometers. It was impossibly vast and could accommodate tens of thousands of people without issue.

    At the same time, this was just the tip of the iceberg. Leonel could see that there were several more bathrooms, resting rooms, in addition to new additions like saunas and massage rooms? It felt like an ultimate destination resort where the ''pool'' had instead become the beach front for everyone to admire.

    What was most shocking was that in the skyбн No, it was the fact that there was an actual sky at all!

    The dome of the bathhouse had become glass and above, blue skies, white clouds and a yellow sun could be seen. Leonel had the feeling that it was artificial, maybe due to a faint connection he had with the Segmented Cube, but it nonetheless all looked so real.

    When Leonel finally snapped out of it, he shuddered remembering what had happened to him. He could vaguely remember the sight of a little girl with motes of light for feet and legs in his half unconscious state. But, right now, she was nowhere to be seen.

    Without a choice, Leonel could only do what he did best and ask the dictionary for help. Luckily, it was able to give him the straight answers he needed.

    There were three types of answers the dictionary could provide. One was where it scanned and provided an answer. This was where its greatest limitations lied. The second were recorded segments. This was where his father got a chance to be annoying. And, the final were recorded answers.

    Recorded answers were a bit different because they weren''t recordings of his father but rather recordings of things Leonel believed his father had written.

    For example, Leonel''s Force Crafting lessons were ''recorded answers''. And now, the deeper matters of the Segmented Cube seemed to have been unlocked as lessons as well.

    Leonel blinked. He hadn''t known that the dictionary had hidden another tutorial for him. Usually, he needed to figure out the new abilities of the Segmented Cube on his own and the only way he could do that was by walking around.

    But, obviously, with how large it had suddenly gotten, there was absolutely no way that he would be able to do the same now. Even though he could try, it was even more likely that he would miss something.

    Leonel, though, was quickly overwhelmed. As deep as his Force Crafting lessons were, the operation ''manual'' of the Segmented Cube was just as if not more intensive.

    It was a lab, a home, a hideout and a spaceship all in one. The fact that even Leonel was overwhelmed wasn''t a surprise in the slightest. He had expected it to gain one or two more benefits with each step forward, but this was an exponential change he wasn''t quite ready for.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel smiled as Little Blackstar jumped into his arms. If there was anyone who was worried, it was this little guy. Unfortunately, after bringing Leonel to the pool, there was nothing else he could have done.

    "Don''t worry, I''m here now, aren''t I? I have a present for you."

    Leonel grinned and was about to take out a certain vial when he remembered how heavy it would be. He was definitely under no illusion that he would be able to easily carry it now.

    Leonel could have given Little Blackstar the vial to absorb previously. But, he had been worried about the little guy running into trouble during a moment he couldn''t reach out to help. Now, though, the fact he waited made these matters almost too perfect.

    The Suspended Animation ability of the Segmented Cube had evolved from freezing biological processes to now being able to accelerate them as well. With its help, Little Blackstar would be able to absorb the blood in a stable environment while also finishing with greater speed.

    "How long will it take Little Blackstar to finish absorbing the Void Beast blood with the help of Accelerated Animation?" Leonel asked.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ 13 months ]

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. That long?

    "How long would it take without Accelerated Animation?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ 21 years ]

    ''A 20 times accelerationбн I guess I can''t be mad at thatбн?''

    "Is there anything else I should prepare?"

    Usually asking open ended questions like this to the dictionary resulted in it rambling for hours. But, Leonel still did so. This was Little Blackstar''s life, after all. He couldn''t play around with it.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ It is advised that Seed read the [Force Conversion] manual ]

    ''[Force Conversion]? Wasn''t that what that little girl had said?''

    The more Leonel listened in on what [Force Conversion] could do, the more shocked he became. And, the more shocked he became, the more possibilities sprang up in his mind. Each plan seemed crazier than the last. With the Segmented Cube''s help and his Crafting skill, he should become a very rich man, very quickly. If he used this properly, his plans would immediately take several enormous leaps forward.

    In the end, he came to a simple conclusion. The Segmented Cube was a Force Crystal factory.

 Chapter 897 Force Crystals

    Force Crystal Mines were quite rare existences. Even after all of Leonel''s travel, his stints on Planet Valiant and even his robbery on Planet Vincero, Leonel had still yet to run into a second Force Crystal Mine after the one he found on Earth.

    What Leonel hadn''t known back then was just how rare Force Crystal Mines were. To be produced, they not only needed time, but they also needed a world of a certain talent to produce the Force density that would be required.

    Even something like a Force Eruption, which had the function of quickly increasing the energy density of a world, was an absolutely rare event only the most talented of worlds would experience. Other worlds would have to slowly accumulate their Force over time rather than being gifted it.

    If one thought about it, didn''t it make more sense for the common currency of the Dimensional Verse to be Force Crystals as opposed to Urbe Ore?

    Well, the harsh truth was that Force Crystals were so rare that it simply didn''t make sense to demand them for payment. It would be the equivalent of 21st century Earth suddenly demanding that all services be paid for in diamonds.

    However, the Segmented Cube had a very unique ability called [Force Conversion].

    The first and most obvious thing that could be accomplished was the conversion of one Force to another. This alone was a shocking feat enough to shake the Dimensional Verse. It was a shocking enough ability that even though the Morales family allowed many to know of the existence of the Spear Domain Heirloom, a very rare few were even aware of the existence of the Segmented Cube!

    To change from one form of energy to a higher form of it was practically the work of a God!

    Of course, there were drawbacks to this. Obviously, if you were converting from a lower level energy to a higher tier one, it would require exponentially more of the lower level. However, this price alone was one most would scramble to match no matter what the cost!

    Not only could the Segmented Cube form higher levels of energy, it also had the ability to raise it to a higher Dimension as well! In fact, the only cap on this was dependent on the level the Segmented Cube was at currently.

    At the moment, the Segmented Cube was in Phase Four. As such, it could only raise a given Force to the Sixth Dimension at best. But this was still shocking to an extremeбн And it was just the first part!

    Leonel couldn''t help but look toward his hand.

    As he was being healed, his consciousness was also slowly recovering. That had allowed him to see just how poorly his right hand had been healing.

    Had it had been allowed to continue, Leonel was able to guess that he would probably have to deal with some phantom pain and countless layers of scar tissue for the rest of his life. Or, at the very least, until he broke into the Seventh Dimension.

    But, near the end, a far higher source of Force in comparison to the Snowy Star Owl''s Snow Force had invaded his wound and saved him from such a life. Toward this, Leonel could only be endlessly grateful. Without his hands in top condition, his Force Crafting would take a hit and he would have to change a lot of things about his plansбн

    Leonel wanted to thank that little girl, but he had no idea where she was at this point.

    Shaking his head, Leonel turned his attention back to [Force Conversion].

    Maybe even more fearsome than the first ability, [Force Conversion] was able to concentrate Force into an incredibly pure form and create Force Crystals with them!

    The uses for Force Crystals were practically endless.

    They could be used to power weapons of extraordinary power. They could be used as the energy source for high-level, grand scale Force Crafts. They could be used to speed up practice or meditation speed. They could be used to breakthrough bottlenecks. They could be used to comprehend the use of new Forces. They could be used to almost instantly replenish your stamina in battleбн

    The list seemed to go on forever. Leonel had had no choice but to cut the dictionary off at one point. But, he had latched onto one particular ability.

    ''Use to comprehend new Forcesбн?''

    Everyone had an affinity, but this didn''t mean that they couldn''t use other Elements. In addition, there were many with certain affinities that had always been boxed into using one particular kind of their Element without ever exploring other options.

    Two examples of this were Snow Force and Scarlet Star Force for Leonel.

    Snow Force was a name Leonel was just learning today, having heard the young girl use it. Despite its name, it wasn''t related to the water or ice element but was rather a fusion of Light and Star Force.

    Compared to the fusion of Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force, which was also a combination of both those Elements along with Fire, of course, Snow Force was very much lacking. One was top ten among Star Force, top three among Light Force and top one amongst Fire Force, but the other would be lucky to be ranked in the top 1000 of Star Force while it was not even top 100 in Light Force.

    What was the point of this? Well, it was all to say that Leonel had an exceptionally high affinity for the Light and Stars, but the only forms of the Light Element or Star Element he used were the ones he was innately aware of how to use.

    This was the same for most everyone else as well. It was difficult to grasp new forms of Elemental energies. Many were simply forced to stick with what you were born with.

    However, Force Crystals in high enough concentrations would form their own Natural Force Arts. By observing and comprehending these Natural Force Arts, one could learn to use and evoke new forms of their Elemental energies.

    After reaching this point in his thoughts, something in Leonel''s mind clicked and he suddenly had a maddening idea he almost couldn''t help but grin about.

 Chapter 898 Could He?

    Leonel smiled as he rubbed Little Blackstar''s head.

    At the moment, the two were within the Lab Setting which had also gotten a massive upgrade. Rather than a single lab, it might as well have been an entire campus focused entirely on research and higher learning. Leonel even missed the small space and the ambience of it all, honestly. But, at least there were several private rooms he could still take refuge in like this one.

    Little Blackstar curled up within a large glass tube which had an opening that had yet to be closed. The vial of Void Beast blood had been inserted into a mechanism to the side. It seemed that the Segmented Cube practically had everything for such an event prepared.

    "Next time I see you, you''ll have become a little monster." Leonel chuckled.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar''s long whiskers excitedly twitched. He kept looking over to the Void Beast blood. If not for the fact he knew things would be easier like this, he would have already tried to swallow it whole. Clearly, the little guy liked this present very much.

    Leonel laughed. "I''ll introduce you to Kira later. You''ll have to thank her properly."

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel reached out a fist and Little Blackstar bumped it with his little claw.

    Taking a deep breath, Leonel closed the opening, watching as it filled up with a dense liquid and Little Blackstar fell into a peaceful sleep.

    Though Leonel had double, triple, even quadruple checked everythingбкeven to the point of converting a lot of the Seventh Dimension Force the Segmented Cube had remaining into Sixth Dimension Life Force for Little Blackstarбкhe couldn''t help but be worried.

    As a mink, Little Blackstar''s body was his greatest weakness. Though his talent in the Dark Element was even greater than Leonel''s own in the Light Element and his evasion abilities were the greatest Leonel had ever seen, his origins would always be a limiting factor. After all, what was a little mink to all those grand and mythical creatures that existed in the Dimensional Verse?

    This Void Beast blood was a chance to loosen and maybe break some of those shackles. But, with that came some risk.

    Leonel had minimized it as much as he could. The rest was up to Little Blackstar.

    бн

    Leonel soon found himself strolling through an enormous garden. It was nothing but long stretches of green grass for as far as he could see. He assumed that it was meant to be used for growing vegetation or high level plants, but there was obviously nothing hereбн Well, except for the apple-cinnamon flowers Leonel had planted for Aina''s sake.

    Soon, Leonel felt that he''d have to hop into battle again, so he chose to take the time to decompress. He also had to open the next Gate of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor before he left, so he just wanted to organize his thoughts first.

    Though he thought he preferred the smaller, more compact Segmented Cube. It was nice to be able to do this.

    Leonel wasn''t feeling particularly down about his loss to Amery. He didn''t like to lose, but losing wasn''t something that caused his confidence to waver in the slightest. In fact, Amery''s threats had no impact on him, and Amery''s ideology had long since been thrown from his mind.

    Leonel didn''t believe that there was anything in this world that didn''t have an explanation, nothing that couldn''t be broken down into nuts and bolts and analyzed piece by piece. The idea of ''listening'' or ''feeling'' a weapon was and always would be asinine to him.

    Leonel felt that as long as he reached a high enough level, even Lineage Factors would be able to be taken apart and reconstructed by him. That, he was confident in. And, it was because of this confidence that he had allowed this insane idea of his to proliferate to the point he couldn''t get it out of his head.

    At this moment, Leonel felt that his Snowy Star Lineage Factor was quickly reaching the end of its rope. It was quite a funny thought to have considering he wasn''t anywhere close to the Sixth Dimension, but it was a thought that he had nonetheless.

    If he had to pinpoint the weakness of this Lineage Factor, it wasn''t in the abilities themselves, but rather in the limitation of Snow Force. If Snow Force was swapped for a more powerful or potent Light Elemental Force, the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor would instantly be comparable to many Seventh Dimensional Lineage Factors.

    The question wasбн How?

    Well, if Leonel was a sane, well put together individual, he might move on to a new idea right this moment. Messing with such a thing was beyond people, most would sayбн

    Or was it?

    Lineage Factors had to be birthed from somewhere, right? From what Leonel understood, they could be passed down from parents and in some rare cases, they could come from the future imprinting itself onto the past as well.

    Leonel had just stepped into the Control level of his ability. He could now, theoretically, control his own body down to a cellular level. In addition to this, he had just gained the backing of the Phase Four Segmented Cube, allowing him to convert Force and form highly pure Force Crystals.

    Force Crystals themselves were rare enough. But, Pure Force Crystals were rare to the point that even Force Crystal Mines seemed ubiquitous compared to them. And yet, Leonel now had the ability to exchange a price for themбн

    At the same time, Leonel had comprehension abilities that transcended the understanding of most, his mind putting even super computers to shame.

    So, the question was, if Leonel could pick out the perfect Force to replace Snow Forceбн If he could find a Force that could replicate its nourishment of the mind, its great healing, and its supreme speedбн Even surpassing it in all these aspects and maybe even granting the Snowy Star Owl abilities it had never had beforeбн

    Could he upgrade his own Lineage Factor?

 Chapter 899 Breaking Down Lineage Factors

    Leonel was absolutely fascinated by the idea, but he had so much to learn about it.

    How were Lineage Factors formed and passed along? Were they just like the DNA of humans? Or was there another method?

    How were Lineage Factors birthed? If they could come from the future, were there complex time laws to take into consideration? Or was it less about the ''future'' and more about a much higher Dimension rewriting something it considered to be trivial in a lower Dimension?

    Could Lineage Factors be snatched and taken? What really was the difference between abilities and Lineage Factors other than the fact the latter was hereditary while the former was not?

    The ability steal Force Arts Leonel had run into in the Joan Zone, could they be used on Lineage Factors as well? Was there much of a difference to begin with? But this line of questioning also led back to what could possibly separate a Lineage Factor from an ability.

    As far as Leonel could tell, in a broad sense, Lineage Factors were more wildly variable than abilities were. With the exception of unique abilities like Sael and Arnold''s, most if not all abilities could be documented into an Ability Index, separated into levels, and have their abilities described in incredible detail.

    However, Lineage Factors weren''t like this at all. Some manifested like abilities, but many were so unique and variable that they were mostly kept close to the chest.

    This conclusion was wildly different from what Leonel had originally thought of Lineage Factors. Back when he was much younger, he had thought that Lineage Factors were simple boosts to strength, speed and the like. In fact, Leonel very clearly remember questioning just how it could be possible to pass down affinity for a weapon from generation to generation. Such a thing baffled him, he almost hadn''t believed Aina when she told him he had a Spear Lineage Factor.

    However, Leonel wasn''t as ignorant as he was in the past. He realized that his Spear Domain Lineage Factor wasn''t giving him affinity for a weapon, it was giving him affinity for a certain kind of Force that was perfect for the spearбкie Spear Force.

    It was a step deeper than this as well.

    Through his analysis, Leonel found that the Spear Domain Lineage Factor essentially rewired a portion of his forebrain for its use. This rewiring of his brain made it easier for him to digest techniques while simultaneously routing his muscle memory in such a way that it was perfectly primed for usage.

    If Leonel took it a step deeper, he would find it that this Lineage Factor not only made it easier for him to rewrite his muscle memory to take in large amounts of techniques, but it was also done in such a way that it made it particularly easy to use the spear.

    If one wanted to route muscle memory for a sword, one would focus on flexible fibers and fast twitch muscles. However, Leonel''s was routed in a way that emphasized power and balance more.

    The more Leonel learned about his body, the more he realized just how scientific even the originally unknown could be. Leonel had grown to the point where he could describe the basic function of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor and why it worked so much better than Dreamscape did in learning spear techniques. However, it also made him keenly aware of just how far he was away from ever deeming to even attempt to improve such a Lineage Factor.

    Still, Leonel found it all to be fascinating.

    On Earth, ''muscle memory'' wasn''t ''real'', per se. It was essentially a conditioned response to something that had been practiced over and over again. But, here, it was quite literal. Leonel could even follow the path of his firing neurons down to their final destination.

    ''It''s beautifulбн'' Leonel thought to himself. ''бн Not only are the connections there, they only grow the more techniques I learn. However, while it happens immediately, it also works like memory.''

    The memory of a human was fascinating. Clusters of neurons would be assigned to certain events and a memory would become more robust the more pathways to those neurons lighting up existed.

    This meant something very simple. Just using his split minds to ''master'' spears wasn''t enough. Leonel had to also practice and apply these.

    Now that Leonel thought about it, Amery had a weird habit of continuously swinging his sword even when he wasn''t in battle. Each swing seemed normal, but they each had a profound truth behind it that Leonel couldn''t grasp since he wasn''t a swordsman.

    Amery''s habit must have been born out of him realizing this. He lived and breathed the sword.

    Leonel was certain that if he could analyze Amery''s body like he was doing his own, he was certain that the memory clusters, their connections, and their routes toward his muscles would be thousands of times more robust than his own.

    A part of that would be due to the fact Amery had had more practice, another part would be because Amery was of a higher Dimension and thus had a mind with greater capacity, and the last part would be that Amery was far more obsessive than Leonel was.

    What Leonel realized was that he couldn''t just simulate this practice with his Dream Clones. Practicing in his Dream World wouldn''t allow the neurons a chance to fire and proceed along the paths they were meant to. He needed to form a connection between the actual movement of his muscles and his memory. It was no wonder his Dreamscape was so much weaker than his Spear Domain Lineage Factor.

    Leonel felt that there would come a day where he could control his cells to the point that even this could be simulated by him. But, for now, with his capacity so limited, he would have to do things the old fashioned way.

    Leonel became more than just a small bit fascinated about all of this. When he turned his attention to his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he found more points of interest.

    For example, his Bronze Runes worked like an entire organ system all to their own. It was they that both allowed Leonel''s body the ability to digest and use metals to supplement his strength, almost like a cross between a digestive and circulatory system.

    The process of ''opening'' the gates within his body was essentially like opening the valves of a plumbing system. The more gates he opened, the more complex the Bronze Rune Organ System would become and the more layers and power it would manifest.

    Of all Leonel''s Lineage Factors, the only one he couldn''t make heads or tails of was his King''s Might Lineage Factor, at least not in a scientific sense.

    But, at the same time, his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was the absolute simplest of the bunch.

 Chapter 900 Littlest Nova

    The Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was the most straight forward. It too caused a change down to the cellular level, but it was in Leonel''s blood.

    Usually, blood was formed of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells and finally platelets. Leonel''s blood, though, had all sorts of extra oddities in it, one of which had the signature of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. Since Leonel didn''t know what one would call it, he just called them owl cells.

    This nameless cell was what Leonel believed gave him the innate affinity toward Snow Force and there were about 50 trillion of them in Leonel''s blood. And, each one of these owl cells had a special organelle within them that Leonel felt was very reminiscent of mitochondria.

    According to a theory from 21st century Earth, the mitochondria was formerly a bacteria absorbed by a larger eukaryotic cell. The result were the two existences gaining a co-dependent relationship and continuing their evolution together. Eventually, humans evolved from these ''ancestors'' and the mitochondria is now boiled down to being the ''powerhouse of the cell''.

    Obviously, Leonel''s body wasn''t exactly like those humans of old. After all, his Lineage was technically a quarter from Earth with the rest originating from higher Dimensional worlds. The result was the insides of Leonel''s body being far different from what he had learned from school, and yet surprisingly similar at the same time.

    This aside, his mitochondria were likely among the greatest changes as they had no business being in a human. In fact, if Leonel had to hazard a guess, these mitochondria were likely identical to what he might find in a Snowy Star Owl.

    Of course, Leonel wasn''t certain it was appropriate to call this organelle a mitochondria. But, after just some observation, it was indeed responsible for allowing his conversion of Light Elemental Force into Snow Force.

    Obviously, trying to change each one of these owl cells would be foolish. If Leonel wanted to change how they worked, he would need to change the source. He would have to look into his bones.

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more lost he became in his own world. He felt like everything was in the palm of his hands, but he was also keenly aware of how foolish it would be to believe that things would be so simple.

    How many things in history sounded good in theory but were actually extraordinary mountains to climb?

    Leonel didn''t have Aina''s ability, he couldn''t rely on feel. He had to comprehend everything from the ground up. He had no choice but to take things one step at a time.

    At the same time, though, Leonel felt that he had opened a gateбн one it just might be possible for him to walk through.

    Leonel thought of the silver tablet. If it was possible to have a treasure that could resurrect people in this world, he didn''t believe that he couldn''t break down something even less fundamental than life itself into its nuts and bolts as well.

    Leonel took a deep breath. He had to push these matters aside for now. He wasn''t quite informed enough to even attempt to do any of this. He would first need more information.

    In the meantime, it was about time he entered the next stage of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    бн

    "Hm? There''s movement."

    In a familiar world with incense sticks as tall as mountains looming in the distance, a group of elders were alerted to movement on the family tomes. In their old age, without much hope for further advancement, some of their best entertainment came from watching these advancements take place.

    With the billions of Morales family members there were depicted here, there was almost always something going on. It was just that most of the time it was uninteresting so most movement ended up being ignored. After all, who cared much about someone past their prime making a breakthrough they should have made years earlier?

    "Oh! It''s a good one!"

    It didn''t take long for the elders to realize that the movement had come from the Nova Generation, causing some of them to perk up.

    If there were two movements that were the most entertaining to watch, it would be the oldest generation tablets and the newest generation. For the oldest generation, movement near the top of the tablet would lead to worldwide commotion. For the newest generation, the Nova Generation, movement from anywhere was worth a look.

    It had to be remembered that names were ranked in terms of birthdate before the Heir Wars. Only after the Heir Wars would they be ranked based on potential and strength.

    It wasn''t long before many gazes focused on the name at the very bottom of the tome.

    "Oh? It''s the Littlest Nova again? It''s been how longбн three years? A bit over that? To take that long to go from the First Gate toward opening the Second is a bit slowбн"

    The elders all nodded. The Third and Fourth Dimensions were practically speed runs for talented youths. At the fastest, some would only take a few months at most. Things only began to slow down in the Fifth Dimension and became especially slow after stepping into the Sixth.

    With how much drama there had been around Leonel''s first breakthrough, for him to take so long was a bit disappointing, indeed. But, since he was one of the Heir candidates, they didn''t turn their attention away.

    "It can''t be helped. How could his resources compare to the others?"

    "Humph, that stubborn brat stole the Heirlooms for himself, what more resources could they need?"

    Clearly, this ''brat'' they referred to was no longer Leonel. And, it was a fair point, indeed. Of course, they had no idea that Leonel was basically flying blind. Plus, he was in worlds with not nearly the same Force density, not to mention the fact he had waited to get the latter portions of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    "How long do you think it''ll take? You think he will open all Nine Doors this time too?"

    "That''s a tough ask, don''t you think? It already took three years to get to this point. Plus, opening up the Seventh is pretty good for a first attempt at the Second Gate."

    Of course, for an elder to say ''pretty good'', this essentially meant elite amongst elite. Only such a level was worthy of a ''pretty good'' evaluation.

    "Hmбн? That auraбн?"

    "What is it, Mila?"

    "That''s the Fifth Dimension of [Dimensional Cleanse], I''m certain. I didn''t say anything the first time because everyone has the Third Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] and it could be considered an excellent foundational techniqueбн but thisбн"

    The elders blinked. Not many of them used [Dimensional Cleanse]. In fact, Mila was among the very few that did. It required a deep familiarity to pick out something like that from the mere aura of a shining name.

    But, what this observation meant was even deeper than just thatбн

    The elders looked toward one another, their eyes sparkling.

    "WHAT?!"

    The elders were startled awake by a shout, their heads snapping in a particular direction.

    "What the hell is wrong with you? Have you gone senile?!"

    The elder in question didn''t say a single word. Instead, he extended a wrinkled finger toward the Nova Generation tablet.

 Chapter 901 Second Gate

    The elders were frozen in shock.

    One would think that this was because of some overwhelming phenomena, maybe some flashing lights or a rare occurrence not seen in thousands of years. But, this couldn''t'' have been further from the truth.

    The reality could be described in a single word: nothing.

    That was right, nothing was happening. The flashing lights had dimmed, Leonel''s aura had vanished, and the tablet had returned to its previous state. In fact, the elders were so speechless by this change that five minutes later, when yet another Morales family member began making a breakthrough, none of them even turned their heads in that direction.

    "Thisбн"

    "бн That''s it?"

    These elders weren''t fools. The markers for failure were not there. At the same time, the change in Leonel''s name couldn''t have been clearerбкhe had succeeded. The issue wasбн Why the hell was it so fast?

    How long had it been since he started his breakthrough? A minute? Less than that? What the hell was going on?

    If three years to prepare for a breakthrough from the First to Second Gate was slowбн Then what could opening the Second Gate in such a short time count as? In all their years, the elders couldn''t remember ever seeing such a thing.

    "His aura was very pure," Mila said slowly. "It felt like he spent a very long time in Tier 9 of the First Gate. But, it also feels like this isn''t enough to explain thatбн I have a feeling that he hasn''t just awakened one or two stars of [Dimensional Cleanse]."

    The elders looked toward Mila. Aside from being one of the only few to practice [Dimensional Cleanse], he also happened to have some of the sharpest senses amongst them.

    It had to be remembered that during Leonel''s first breakthrough, the elders had even been able to see through how many cells he used to form his Nodes. If it wasn''t for the fact they had all been distracted when Mila said Leonel practiced [Dimensional Cleanse], they would have been able to pick up on some of these things as well, though it wasn''t an exact science.

    "He''s a madman just like his father." An elder shook his head. "To enter the Fifth Dimension with [Dimensional Cleanse] would mean that he entered that Vital Star Trial World at what levelбн? The Third Dimension? Does he have a death wish?"

    The lips of the elders twitched.

    It was a shame. Had Leonel built his foundation with a different technique, he could have entered the trial world with more strength backing him. Then, he might have been able to succeed in one sweep. Now, if he wanted the rest, he would have to put his life on the line.

    Though most only wanted the first three layers of [Dimensional Cleanse] for the sake of the Stars it would allow them to form, it was clear that Leonel wanted to cultivate past that point. It was hard to tell without seeing him breakthrough whether he had gained the Sixth or higher Dimensional layers, but they felt that the odds were slim. He was lucky to have left with his life.

    "This brat is always doing reckless things. If he wins the Heir Wars, I can see years of headaches coming our wayбн"

    First Leonel opened his First Gate after only forming six Nodes. Then he entered the Vital Star Trial World at the Third Dimension. And now he had opened the Second Gate in under a minute, not even allowing his body to slowly acclimate to the changes.?????-?????

    How much pain had Leonel suffered through just from the First Gate? Now he was experiencing much more pain than that all at once.

    If he wasn''t a madman, then what was he?

    Despite the words of the elder, though, the group of old men and women suddenly began to laugh. They laughed so heartily that the hidden world of the Morales family began to tremble.

    A madman? Who of the Morales family wasn''t exactly that?

    **

    Contrary to what the elders thought, Leonel sat in silent meditation as though his body wasn''t being carved into piece by piece.

    Before, this pain had truly been unbearable for him. But now, he had Dream Sense which allowed him to split his sensory perception between several minds. At this moment, Leonel had used a thousand of his more than million minds to dull the pain by that factor.

    Of course, he could have used even more minds to make it all almost negligible, but he did not do so. Something about dulling his pain entirely made it feel like he was losing a piece of his humanity. It was a rare emotional decision for someone like Leonel who usually didn''t care for such things.

    That said, there was another reason as well. Leonel had turned his other minds toward observing each and ever aspect of his body and the changes it was undergoing. He wanted to see what changed now that he was entering the next level of his Metal Body, how the organ system of Runes evolved, and how it might synergize, suppress or coexist with the other Lineage Factors of his body.

    Leonel had hardly realized just how easy it had been for him to open the Second Gate. But, this obviously wasn''t without reason. Elder Mila was also correct in assuming that he didn''t have the full picture and it could be said that there were two main reasons.

    The first was that Leonel had formed Six Stars before even stepping into the Fifth Dimension. His body had been purged of its impurities to the point he was practically like a newborn baby who had immediately stepped into such a height.

    However, the second reason might be even more important. Not only did Leonel receive the cleansing of six Stars, but he had also been baptized by Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters. Let alone the Second Gate, if it wasn''t for the fact he had yet to bring his Metal Body to Tier 9 once again, he could have likely opened even the Third Gate now!

 Chapter 902 Contain

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, the Runes dancing across his skin dimming before vanishing completely.

    Not only had the internal Runes gained far more pathways, but they had also grown thicker while simultaneously gaining some life to them.

    Before, Leonel''s Bronze Runes were static and unmoving. But now they pulsed as though they had their own heart. They were truly beginning to look and act more like they had life to them, as though they really were an organ system.

    What was truly fascinating was that Leonel felt that his Divine Armor had gained an upgrade as well. It had firmly stepped into the Fifth Dimension, gaining a qualitative change to it. The result was something that made Leonel''s gaze sparkle beside himself.

    ''Dad was rightбн''

    It had to be remembered that Leonel had formed his Divine Armor with Evolution Ore as its core foundation. This allowed what should have been his Fourth Dimensional armor to display power far beyond its means. And now, it was displaying even more power than before, feeding off of Leonel''s advancement to improve itself.

    At the same time, Leonel felt that his control over the Spatial Element had skyrocketed along with the advancement of his armor.

    In the past, it was difficult for him to displace himself just a single meter within a Fifth Dimensional world. But, at the moment, the Segmented Cube''s space was as sturdy as a Sixth Dimensional world''s, and yet Leonel could still move about half a meter in any direction.

    Since that was the case, just how far could he move in a Fifth Dimensional world? And how far would he be able to move if he activated his Divine Armor?

    ''Excellent. It''s time. I need resources to build my Metal Body back up from Tier 1 and what better target than the Milky Way Guild?''

    **

    The situation in Valiant Heart Mountain could be said to only be getting worse day after day.

    Not long after Leonel''s disappearance, a full blown effort toward finding him had been put into effect. Unfortunately, how could they possibly succeed in such a thing? Leonel had entered a trial world which even had Seventh Dimensional Force in abundance, it was a place that those who deemed to call him enemy would never see in their lifetimes.

    The result of this failure was an even further suppression of Valiant Heart Mountain.

    It had to be remembered that Misty Woods, Crimson Hall and Rusted Blade had all been implicated by Leonel''s actions. This had given Valiant Heart Mountain a small bit of breathing room. But, as the three organizations panicked at their inability to find Leonel, pressure was ramped up once again on Valiant Heart. ?????-?????

    This matter hadn''t happened naturally. After being punished thoroughly by the Guild, it was Gretta who led the charge for revenge.

    As a child of the ''frequented'' women, she had to scratch and claw for every merit she received. She couldn''t allow herself to be passive and allow all the prestige she had worked for to crumble.

    The result of Gretta pressing so hard were the three rival organizations of Valiant Heart Mountain beginning to press them from all directions. Their territory was eaten away at, their resources were snatched and coopted, and they found themselves further and further on their backfoot.

    The irony of it all was that the only thing keeping Valiant Heart afloat was Leonel''s little shop. Somehow, it managed to continuously pump out treasures that allowed them to hold on, bolstering their strength and power bit by bit everyday.

    Unfortunately, there was nothing that Gretta could do about this. Let alone the fact that even the elders of Valiant Heart themselves were completely unaware of how it was they were doing this, even if they did know, there was nothing they''d be able to do about it.

    The secret to the success of Leonel''s BLACKSTAR shop couldn''t be found on Planet Valiant at all. The root of it all was in the Force Crafting Guild.

    As for why even the Milky Way Guild would be able to do nothing about this was because the Force Crafting Guild had a scope far beyond just the Milky Way. Much like Shield Cross Stars, they had establishments across all corners of the Dimensional Verse. The Milky Way Guild, and least of all Gretta, would have no way of stopping their interaction.

    Leonel had no one else to thank but Jac Beinala for making him away of the existence of the Force Crafting Guild, something that would have been the irony of all ironies to the man in question. And, in addition to this, with Jac Beinala having been chased away by Leonel, the Valiant Heart organization had no choice but to rely on Leonel''s small shop entirelyбн

    The trouble was that this alone wasn''t enough.

    As quickly as Allan, Keira and the others were improving their skill with the help of Leonel''s resources, they still hadn''t caught up to Leonel. Even the best of them, Keira, even after Leonel had vanished for two years, was still only a Tier 9 Black Crafter. She was still a measure away from being able to Craft Quasi Bronze treasures and was even further from entering the ranks of Fifth Dimensional Crafters.

    This couldn''t be helped. Not everyone had the perfect Lineage Factor, ability, not to mention a Metal Spirit to support their advancements in Crafting. Without more help, it would be impossible for them to have progressed any more than this and it could be said that Keira''s improvement was a testament to her hidden talent.

    Unfortunately, Fourth Dimensional treasures weren''t enough to turn the tide of battle between organizations who had Fifth Dimensional existences as their main backbone. At best, it was able to stall for some timeбн

    But how long would that be exactly?

    If Gretta had anything to say about it, not long at all. At this moment, she had already laid out the plans for her first full scale invasion of Valiant Heart Mountain and had begun to press toward the core of their territory.

    The space field surrounding the mostly earthen planet suddenly trembled beneath the presence of a mighty ship.

    The planet''s magnetic field twisted and bent, its atmosphere growing volatile as an enormous kilometer long ship descended from above.

    At the helm, Gretta stood expressionlessly, a fiery red dress clinging to her curves. But, her once delicate features were marred by a red, pulsing scar that ran from her cheek, across the bridge of her nose, and finally ended by cutting across her eyebrow, leaving a thick hairless slash through it.

    Though Gretta''s face seemed to give nothing away, the trembling of this scar seemed to contain all her rage.

 Chapter 903 Genius Deductions

    Valiant Heart Mountain instantly found itself to be under a lot of pressure. Gretta hadn''t moved to attack in several days, and yet she also hadn''t tried to hide her presence. Whether it was the lowest worker in the organization up to the highest standing elder, there wasn''t a single soul that didn''t know that Valiant Heart Mountain had finally reached the end of its rope.

    What was especially odd was that the Oryx Tribe had been quiet for several months already. This alone had made many feel like something was fishy. But, before they could learn what was happening, they landed in this situation.

    бн

    Within BLACKSTAR, Keira, the twins and Rum were present. If the rest of Valiant Heart Mountain could be described to be in a panic, these four were tranquil. Even the usually reserved and panicky Litia managed to exude the same confidence as her more boisterous younger sister, Madia.

    "Do you think they will really attack?" Madia asked Keira.

    "I бн I don''t think so." Keira said after a moment of thought, her gaze still focused on the Craft she was working on.

    Those familiar with training Crafters would immediately recognize that Keira might have been drawing Force Arts with her quill, but she wasn''t actually Crafting. Rather, her target was what looked like a solid piece of wood. And yet, beads of sweat fell from her forehead with every stroke she made.

    This wood seemed simple, but it was actually a very hard substance with an irregular pattern of grain. This combination of characteristics made it especially difficult to control a Crafting Quill. The substance being dense and tough made things difficult enough, but the irregular grain patterns made it so that the quill tended to want to follow the path of said grains rather in the direction a Force Crafter wanted.

    The result was a perfect training tool for those who wanted to increase their skill.

    "Oh? Why not?"

    Madia had been certain that the Milky Way Guild would eventually attack. Still, she wasn''t very worried about it. Worst case scenario, they would just flash the badges they had earned from the Force Crafting Guild. Unless the circumstances were very particular, no one would harm a Crafter without reason.

    Of course, in order to not put their lives in the hands of others, there were all sorts of other things they could do. For example, hiring a body guard from the Guild was possible. They could also simply leave Planet Valiant for the Guild as well. So, it was no wonder none of them were worried about their safety.

    That said, leaving the Planet would be an absolute last resort precisely because the optics would be poor. Whether they liked it or not, they were still representing Leonel even now. Though outsiders didn''t know it, the people of Valiant Heart did. If they failed to live up to this ideal, it would make Leonel''s future plans more difficult.

    As far as they were concerned, Leonel was the reason they could live a life of such leisure now. They had gone from a Faction no one wanted to work with to the most important Crafters of the organization in just a few years. If it wasn''t for Leonel so graciously sharing his Crafting knowledge with them, how could they ever accomplish such a thing?

    Though it was impossible to tell if their resolve would hold firm even to the point of death, at least for now when their lives weren''t in immediate path of harm, they had no reason to betray Leonel.

    "The same reason why we can''t just leave," Keira replied, "the optics would be terrible. The Milky Way Guild is a Guild of Merchants. What is most important to Merchants is profit, connections, and most essentially: Neutrality. ?????-?????

    "If they had managed to handle things back on Planet Vincero, it would have been fine. After all, that was their territory being encroached upon. They had the right to defend it. But now, they''re baring their teeth toward others. Whether they want it to or not, this action suddenly reminds everyone that this ''friendly'' group of Merchants they''ve allowed into every corner of their lives might not be so ''friendly'' anymore as long as they make one wrong move.

    "If the Milky Way Guild really bares their fangs completely, nothing might change initially, but soon they''d find themselves slowly being suppressed in the future.

    "It might start with a demand for higher taxes from the territories they operate in, and then it might become their operations having to be ''overseen'' in case of illegal activity, then it might become smaller merchant Guilds eating up contracts they had held on to for yearsбн It could all eventually snowball to the point the Milky Way Guild of old would be no more."

    "Ah! Keira, you''re so smart!" Litia''s innocent, child-like eyes lit up.

    Keira coughed lightly, her Crafting Quill deviating from the path she had planned.

    "Yes, yes. Of course." She said, hiding the tinge of red that colored her cheeks.

    It was actually Leonel who had said all of this. He had left behind an explanation of what might happen with Allan who had passed it on to Keira. But now she was being praised for something Leonel had deduced months ago.

    "But then why are they here if they won''t attack?" Madia asked after a while.

    "Well," Keira started, "they''re probably trying to apply pressure. Also, there are probably very few people who are certain that that ship is from the Milky Way Guild and that''s only because we have information on the ships they sent to Planet Vincero.

    "To a layman, though, those ships are unmarked. If I had to take a guess as to what might happen, they plan on pushing us into a corner. When we''re thoroughly suppressed, lacking in supplies, and low on morale, they''ll probably send in the three organizations to deal a decisive blow to us.

    "Of course, they might sneak in a few elite soldiers from their personal fleet. But, by then, who will really pay attention to such a small detail?"

    Keira coughed lightly, giving out her ''well thought out'' opinion eloquently and even taking some pauses to make it seem more authentic. When she saw the worshipful gaze in Litia''s eyes, she couldn''t help but grin to herself.

    At that moment, though, Thilly came rushing in, pushing up his glasses as he hurriedly spoke.

    "They''re attacking! They sent down a first wave!"

 Chapter 904 Moping

    Thilly seemed to have appeared from thin air. Clearly, he had just teleported into BLACKSTAR''s top floor as they all had the right to do.

    Without knowing when they Milky Way Guild, or more accurately, its lackies, would take action, some of them had been sent to continuously monitor the situation. Of course, that fell on the shoulders of the other members of the former Polished Glass Faction. After all, Allan and the others, not to mention most definitely not Elthor, couldn''t casually stroll around Valiant City.

    By this point, the organization had been on high alert for a very long while. They weren''t caught off guard by this sudden attack, but this didn''t mean that their nerves weren''t fried. Many of those tasked with the first line of defense hadn''t had proper rest in weeks, and those on the backline weren''t much better.

    "A first wave? They''ve grown impatient, they should have waited at least another week." Keira spoke based on Leonel''s analysis once again. "If they had waited that long, Valiant Heart would collapse in a day or two at most. Whoever is commanding them is either pressed for time or immature.

    "Do you know what the first wave is wearing?"

    "They seem to be a cluster from all three organizations. But, they''re all in the Fourth Dimension. The strongest amongst them is at the Quasi Fifth Dimension. They''re still holding back."

    Keira shook her head.

    Leonel had left behind several archetypes for what sort of commander might be leading this charge and he had ranked them all from most dangerous to least dangerousбн Or, as Keira liked to put it, smartest to dumbest.

    The most dangerous Commander they could face was one that not only waited an extra week like Keira had expected, but said Commander would also swarm Valiant Heart with its full power immediately, not holding anything back and claiming the city in one sweep.

    As for the least dangerous and dumbest Commanderбн They would not only be impatient, but they would also be wishy washy in their impatience, choosing to balance their early attack with probing strikes.

    In Leonel''s opinion, such a commander was a fool. Sending out probing strikes would give their enemy a chance to solidify and reaffirm their resolve. Without sending out a group that could immediately crush them, you would allow the light of hope to burn. By the time your enemy realized they should be despairing, you would have suffered casualties just as great as they did.

    Of course, these were all based on Leonel''s simulations, simulations that were only growing better and more accurate by the day. And, this was only one thing to consider.

    The commander was Gretta, she was the one directing the three organizations. As such, not only did she not care about casualties, the more of them they suffered, the better.

    The importance of a merchant Guild''s neutrality wasn''t lost on her. In Gretta''s mind, she was killing two birds with one stone. Not only would she take out an enemy, but she would also weaken four organizations who had seen their teeth being bared. Wasn''t this the perfect result?

    Unfortunately for Gretta, Leonel still thought she was a fool. Though her actions would indeed weaken the three organizations, she had not only missed a golden opportunity, but she had brought the Milky Way Guild back to square one. ?????-?????

    Those observing this battle from the sidelines weren''t fools. They knew who the mastermind behind it all was. They could turn a blind eye to it if it was just the Milky Way Guild ''observing'' things, but if it was the Milky Way Guild forcing four organizations to suffer such resounding losses, what was the difference between this and the Milky Way Guild acting personally?

    Of course, there was still a small difference and the Guild might have slightly more leeway taking this action. But, it would still result in some pushback the Guild would have to take delicate steps to resolve. And, it was all caused by Gretta outsmarting herself.

    What even Leonel didn''t know, though, was that Gretta wouldn''t usually be so foggy minded despite her abrasive personality. She hadn''t climbed out a heap of Augustus'' children just because of her fists, she had her mind as well.

    The trouble was just a couple months ago, after suffering a terrible punishment from the Guild, she was finally sent out on another mission. During this mission, though, she suffered another resounding loss, this time at the hands of a troop of Oryx, creatures she had never personally laid eyes on before.

    The result of that loss was the scar that now ran down her face. Even now it continued to throb, filling her with an endless rage.

    After suffering two losses back to back, Gretta was on the verge of collapsing. She didn''t care about the future of the Guild, she just needed results right now, no matter what the cost. Even if the Guild suffered pushback later, it would still be difficult to pin all the blame on her.

    This winбн. She needed it. She had crawled up so far through a bed of needles. She refused to cough back up the rewards of her labor so easily.

    бн

    "Should we go and fight?" Rum suddenly spoke up for the firs time, his large frame sitting up.

    Though he was so massive, he was basically an enormous teddy bear. Let alone fighting, he didn''t even like to raise his voice.

    "No. We''ve done our job as Force Crafters. All the frontline men and women are equipped with the best we can give them. How long they survive is up to them." Keira said with a heavy tone.

    The group fell into silence.

    In truth, they all had complicated emotions. Somewhere deep inside, they knew that Valiant Heart Mountain was finished even as the first wave charged up the mountain pass. It was hard to tell how they should feel. Before Leonel, they had experienced nothing but bullying at the hands of the Valiant Heart system. Butбн It had still been their home for several decades. Should they rejoice? Or should they feel sad?

    "What are you all moping around for?"

    The sudden voice cut through all their thoughts.

    "Leonel!"

 Chapter 905 Resolve

    Leonel suddenly appeared amongst them all, a casual smile on his face. But, the instant he did, the members of Polished Glass felt like prostrating themselves, their very souls trembling in his presence.

    They couldn''t wrap their heads around what they were feeling for a long time until Keira''s eyes suddenly widened, a shocking realization hitting her.

    "You''re not in the Third Dimension anymore!"

    The shock sunk in for them all at once. They were so used to Leonel doing ridiculous things that they had completely forgotten that he was an entire Dimension below them. Now that he was suddenly a Dimension above them, it felt like they were in the presence of a God. Despite the fact Leonel''s clothing couldn''t have been more casualбкeven down to the sneakers on his feetбкthey still felt like they should be worshipping him.

    "Ah, right." Leonel grinned. "I broke through. That''s why I had to leave for such a long time, the next pieces of the technique I practice require passing a trial to get to."

    Keira suddenly felt itchy all over. Leonel''s strength was already so ridiculous in the Third Dimension, he had even managed to run from a building filled with Fifth Dimensional existences! Of course, they hadn''t been prepared for his sudden murder of their young heiress, or else it wouldn''t have been so simple. But the fact still stood.

    Now that Leonel was in the Fourthбн Noбн

    Keira''s eyes widened. "You''re not in the Fourth Dimensionбн"

    Keira gulped. Taking eight or nine months to cross an entire Dimension. What kind of monster was he?

    Leonel had already told them all that he was from a family in the Seventh Dimension. He didn''t seem to care about hiding massive matters most others would keep close to their chest. And, that was especially so when he was around his own people.

    This was all to say that Keira knew that he would be a monsterбн But wasn''t this too exaggerated?

    Of course, if she knew that the Morales family still thought he was slow, she wouldn''t know where to bow her head in shame.

    "Let''s forget about those little details. They''re attacking, right? I can feel it."

    Leonel''s affinity for the Earth was on another level. In fact, he directly took off his sneakers even as he spoke, feeling the diamond etched flooring beneath his feet.

    In that instant, he felt as though he could feel the vibrations throughout the whole of the planet. If he couple this with the now ridiculous range of his Internal Sight, hardly anything would escape his notice, even if it occurred hundreds of miles from him. ?????-?????

    "Yes, they''re attacking. But, there''s no one of the Fifth Dimensionбн"

    Leonel''s lip curled. "So the least dangerous commander, huh?"

    Keira grinned mischievously, nodding in agreement.

    "Then we can have a little bit of fun."

    "Butбн" Keira hesitated.

    "I know what you want to say. I''m no longer in the Fourth Dimension so my going out will force their hand, right?"

    "Not just that, but you''re also the one they''re looking for! If you go out, they''ll ignore everything else and just target you."

    Leonel chuckled. That was a fair point. He was so excited to jump into battle again he had almost neglected this. He could already hear his blood rushing and his heart pumping.

    "Also, Leonel, what is your goal, exactly? If you save Valiant Heart, then what?" Thilly suddenly spoke up, his eyes flickering nervously behind his glasses.

    Unlike Allan, it seemed that Thilly really did need his glasses. Leonel hadn''t been able to tell before, but now it caught his attention, making him quite curious.

    "I''ll be giving this planet to the Oryx." Leonel spoke without hesitation. "As for Valiant Heart Mountain, as presently constructed, they have reached the end of their road."

    The room fell into silence. As for Leonel, his eyes narrowed. The first clash had begun.

    Through his feet and his Internal Sight, Leonel''s gaze was practically transported dozens of kilometers away. As though he was right there, he watched the first clash happenбкthe first spurt of blood, the first clang of two weapons, the first mournful cryбн

    The reason Leonel hesitated wasn''t because he was worried about his safety. It would take a lot to threaten his life right now. What he was worried about was the implications it would have for Valiant Heart Mountain.

    By now, Shield Cross Stars had definitely heard of these events. So, if he appeared now, not only would the Milky Way Guild think the organization had been harboring him, but Shield Cross Stars would likely also begin to target them in an above board manner for colluding with a fugitive.

    But, Thilly''s question had put everything into perspective for him. He had already decided that Valiant Heart Mountain couldn''t exist anymore. In fact, the pressure that would be applied by both the Guild and Shield Cross Stars would make it even easier for the Oryx to take this planet.

    ''I''ll have to apologize to Sael when I get the chance. Hopefully she won''t hate me too much. After allбн I owe her a favor for removing the slave brand from my forehead.''

    Leonel bent down, rolling up his sweats until both legs rested at his calves. His palm flipped over, revealing a simple wooden spear. It seemed pristinely crafted, but there wasn''t an ounce of a special aura coming from it or its blade.

    "You guys head to the Force Crafting Guild. After I am done here, I will go meet up with you. Leave the treasures in the shop behind, they can consider it as a final farewell gift."

    Without another word, Leonel vanished. When he appeared again, he stood so high in the skies that he was nothing but a faint dot to most.

    His aura spread out, a rumbling might shaking the battlefield as though to alert them all of the presence. A Warlord of the battlefield had come, and his purpose was singular.

    Then, Leonel began to fall.

 Chapter 906 Apology

    On the ground below, the blue belt wearing seniors had taken up the vanguard. Those that were left were absolutely loyal to Valiant Heart, and surprisingly, both Aphestus and Raylion were present.

    With their talent, most organizations would accept them. In fact, many of the blue belt seniors had long since found reasons for leave. Whether it was to ''visit their families after such a long time'' or to ''go out on an adventure'' and sometimes it was completely without reason, many of them slipped away.

    However, maybe the two men Leonel hated the most were still here, holding down the frontline.

    The former brandished his two daggers with ever growing ferocity. The latter made a ten meter radius around him an absolute death zone. Anyone who stepped foot into his range was crushed into minced meat without warning.

    To their side, Sael flourished as well, the petals and vines of her unique constitution taking on the role of both offense and defense, not to mention giving them an even greater advantage in terrain.

    Not only did the Valiant Heart army hold the advantage of high ground as they defended the mountain pass, with the help of Sael''s vines, the smooth terrain had become treacherous to cross. The combination of these three geniuses made it feel like they had a chanceбн

    But there was only so much they could do.

    Valiant Heart was completely out numbered. Though the impact of those three was quite large, there was only so much of the battlefield that they could cover for. And, without the support of other geniuses like Leonel or Aina who hadn''t appeared in almost a year now, they were all the organization had.

    Since their enemies hadn''t sent out Fifth Dimensional existences, this became a tacit agreement that such powerhouses wouldn''t participate just yet. This was their best chance to make an impact with their strength, so they had to go all out.

    But, how much could they do as three against an army of tens of thousandsбн Among which were geniuses just as great as them?

    At that moment, Rafthin of Rusted Blade, Wissan of Misty Woods, and Emna of Crimson Hall all made their presences known, charging for Raylion, Sael and Aphestus. The instant the latter three were occupied, a slaughter would commence. They all knew this well.

    Rafthin grinned wildly, sending Emna a wink as he brandished his massive three meter long rusted blade.

    "Come die!"

    His boisterous laughter filled the skies as he prepared to swing.

    But, it was at that exact moment that a suffocating aura suddenly pressed down upon the battlefield. The expressions of everyone changed, especially those of the elders observing things from the side of Valiant Heart and the three organizations.

    No Fifth Dimensional existences were supposed to take action yet. What was going on?!

    Each side thought the other had shamelessly duped them and prepared to rush out. But, what they saw next left them completely stunned, their hearts shuddering.

    Leonel fell down from the skies, his expression indifferent as he sweats rustled through the whistling wind. He seemed completely at ease. ?????-?????

    The closer he got, the more suffocating his aura became.

    BANG!

    As loud as the sound of his landing was, it wasn''t nearly loud enough. To fall from several kilometers up in the sky and to barely cause the earth to tremble was a feat that made little to no sense. In fact, Leonel''s knees hardly bent on impact. One would have thought that he had been standing there the entire time.

    In an instant, he had appeared at the dividing line between two armies, his right hand casually swinging his spear in what seemed to be a more and more refined arc.

    It took no more than a moment for most to recognize Leonel. The spear, that light violet hair, that bronzed skinбн It was undeniable.

    But, as soon as they realized this, the reactions were vastly different. One side couldn''t believe he had appeared while the other was caught in the excitement he had crossed with the shock he felt so imposing now.

    Rafthin, who had raised his blade to attack already, narrowed his gaze, a sinister light flashing within their depths. Before, he had lost to Leonel handily, but he couldn''t display even a tenth of his power. He felt like he had been suppressed from all angles and he couldn''t manage to get a foothold anywhere.

    But now, they were on solid ground, not those ridiculous waving pillars. The power he could display now was like night and day.

    After just a moment''s delay, Rafthin shot forward, the aura of his blade rising again and against as the manifestations of his Four Seasons Realm comprehension rose into the skies.

    On one side, there was a blazing heat. On the other, there was a treacherous cold. They wrapped around one another, threatening to implode in a cacophonic boom.

    "Leonel! You shouldn''t have appeared here!" Sael''s voice was caught between anxiousness, anxiety and a shrill disbelief.

    Leonel sighed and looked back toward Sael.

    "I''m sorry about this."

    Sael was stunned by Leonel''s words, her expression warping. What was that supposed to mean? Her mind was too befuddled to come up with a conclusion immediately. And, by the time she was on the precipice, she suddenly noticed Rafthin''s actions.

    "Watch out!"

    Leonel shook his head, seemingly still lost in his apology. It really was hard for him to cross Sael like this. Though he had reprimanded her almost a year earlier for expecting him to help an organization that didn''t want to help itself, that didn''t mean he wouldn''t feel bad doing what he was about to doбн Or rather, what he had already done.

    But, there was no changing that now.

    At that moment, Rafthin had appeared before Leonel, his long blade raised high in the air.

    "Getting distracted on a battlefield?! DIE!"

    Rafthin released all his resentment. Because of Leonel, he had to spend months recovering from his wounds. The result was his progression slowing by several measures, all because of this bastard.

    Sael didn''t even get a chance to reach out a helping hand. Just as she was about to go all out, the casual arc of Leonel''s wooden spear suddenly shifted completely.

    Rafthin''s roar was caught in his throat, his eyes widened in shock even as he suddenly found himself staring at a headless corpseбн his headless corpseбн

    With a single blow, Leonel had felled a genius of the Rusted Blade organization.

    He turned to face the remainder of the army, his aura steadily growing the point they felt their knees go weak. Without Leonel raising a finger, they began to collapse one after another, the resolve in their hearts shattering.

 Chapter 907 Shrill Cry

    Leonel''s aura continued to rise as one group after another fell to their knees. It felt like no matter how hard they tried, there was simply nothing they could do before his majesty. They could only watch in horror as the head of a genius spun through the air before landing on the ground with a dull plop.

    Let alone the enemy organizations, even those to Leonel''s back were in shock. It wasn''t just that he dared to appear here, but also that he had taken just a single strike to deal with Rafthin who had just moments ago displayed a strength that made them all shiver.

    Wissan''s chubby cheeks trembled. The moment he saw Leonel attack, he felt the threat of death force the hair on the back of his head to stand tall. Out of reflex, he formed as many shields as he could in the blink of an eye and shot backward. However, even then, his knees continued to tremble, a deep fear taking root in his heart.

    Emna clutched two daggers so forcefully that despite her palms never having touched the blade, blood still began to fall from them.

    Her senses were even sharper than Wissan and Rafthin''s. After Leonel appeared, she didn''t move a single inch because she felt that it wouldn''t make a difference. Whether she was one meter away or a hundred, it would only take a single thought for her to die. The only way for her to have preserved her life on this day was to not have stepped onto the battlefield at all.

    Of course, Emna was also smart enough to know that Leonel''s appearance here was like a death sentence to Valiant Heart, but who cared? She would be dead by then. Why should she care about her organization ultimately winning in the end?

    "HOW DARE YOU?!"

    Rage filled roars rose up from the backline of the three organizations. Their auras surged forward, trying to dispel Leonel''s hold on their armies, but it was to no avail.

    Leonel''s foot rose. The clear movement of his toes, the glimpse of his sole, and the casual flex of his ankle made his actions seem as mundane as they could. And yet, by the time his foot touched the ground once more, he had vanished, appearing before Wissan who was just a moment away from pissing his pants.

    The swing of Leonel''s spear seemed slow. Every half a foot it moved in an arc left behind another clear image, harmonizing with the Light Elemental Force in the surroundings.

    Leonel had found that practicing the swing of his spear while activating [Harmonic Spear] caused the nerves that made up his Spear Domain Lineage Factor to fire multiple times for just a single swing. The result was a single swing being worth up to ten or even more depending on the afterimages he produced.

    He found it to be fascinating. The act of mapping out exactly the position his body had been to relay it to [Harmonic Spear] and thus leave a cloned afterimage in the air was actually helping him to train.

    It seemed that this low level technique would have to follow him for a while.

    PCHU.

    Wissan''s energy shields were sliced through like partially melted butter. He didn''t stand a chance before he too found himself looking at his headless corpse. However, unlike Rafthin, he had been aware that he was about to die from start to finishбн The result was him being forced to watch as a moist patch spread across the crotch of his corpse.

    He died. Humiliated.

    At that moment, the enraged auras of the elders of the three organizations charged through the army. It seemed that none of them had the ability to fly, so they could only take large leaps forward, crossing hundreds of meters at a time with fury lighting their gazes. ?????-?????

    Among them was the elder from Rusted Blade with the exaggeratedly large great sword that had previously made Leonel chuckle, the old woman with a foot in the grave from Crimson Hall, and finally the silent old man from Misty Woods.

    Even the silent old man couldn''t seem to hold back his rage. He stared at Leonel with a brewing storm threatening to leap from his chest. They had never thought that such a thing would have happened right at the start of the battle. There was supposed to be a tacit agreement against such things, and yet here was Valiant Heart breaking those rules.

    But, when they saw Leonel''s face, they suddenly understood that his appearance couldn''t have possibly been related to Valiant Heart. Sending him out, especially when the battle had just begun and they weren''t anywhere near being in dire straits, was foolish to an extreme. It was like nailing their own coffin.

    The fact that Leonel had come out of his own volition was obvious to anyone with half a brain. However, why would they give up this opportunity by admitting such a thing?

    "Valiant Heart!" The shrill cry of the old woman shook the skies. "My Crimson Hall won''t rest until only one of us remains! Such a shameless organization has no right to exist! ''Valiant''?! What exactly is Valiant about yбк?!"

    The old woman''s shrieks were suddenly cut off as she rapidly moved to the side, horror painting her face.

    In one moment, she looked perfectly fine. In the next, her arm flew into the air, flipping continuously amidst a fountain of blood. It looked oddly poetic.

    Leonel shook his head. He should have been able to kill her with one stroke, the power gap between them was enormous. And yet, he was only able to take an arm.

    Granted, he hadn''t activated his Spear Domain Lineage Factor and was only using a single neuron at a time. But, he shouldn''t have to go so far against such a weak opponent. He needed more practice.

    "YOUбк!"

    The old woman froze. In the next moment, a thin line of red appeared at her forehead and quickly grew.

    Before the stunned eyes of those watching, she was suddenly split into two, falling to the ground in two gory halves.

 Chapter 908 Good Time

    The silent old man and the Rusted Blade elder were stunned. Their raging blood suddenly iced over, whatever momentum they had dying out like the last embers of a fire.

    Leonel had no idea why the old woman had been the most ''enraged'' of them. After all, her genius, Emna, was the only one that Leonel hadn''t killed. Of course, that was because Leonel still wanted to recruit Emna, but that was beside the point.

    The fact she was still so shrill and annoying despite the fact her Crimson Hall had suffered the least was enough to prove that they had already latched onto Valiant Heart''s ''weakness'' and were prepared to eradicate them for Leonel''s appearance.

    This much Leonel had already expected, but he still found it annoying that they would bloviate about having the high moral ground so grandly. So, he decided to kill her first.

    Plus, what got to Leonel the most was the mantra of Crimson Hall. They were an organization that loved blood and murder. They even taught their disciples that there was nothing more important. And yet here was their leader, shrieking over the death of warriors who had come to a battlefield.

    It was ridiculous.

    By now, there wasn''t a single soul who didn''t know Leonel was in the Fifth Dimension. It was hard to tell because he couldn''t be quite considered to have firmly stepped into Tier 1, but his battle prowess was more than enough to force the elders to ignore this small difference.

    To become an official Elder of a Bronze Organization at their level, one needed to enter Tier 1. The Organization Heads like the shrill old lady and Hutchin of Valiant Heart would be either Tier 2 or 3. As for the mysterious protector elders that had followed them to the competition on Planet Vincero, they would be Tier 4.

    Much like in the Third and Fourth Dimensions, every three Tiers resulted in a large watershed, causing the gap between Tier 3 and Tier 4 to be quite large. This gap was enough for these old men and women to become the trump cards of a Bronze Organization.

    However, what these numbers also showed was that Valiant Heart, Rusted Blade and the other two organizations were at the bottom of the barrel in terms of Bronze Organizations. They most definitely couldn''t be compared to the Milky Way Guild which stood amongst the peak of Bronze Organizations, having a Quasi Sixth Dimension existence as their Head.

    Knowing this now, it was no wonder the two Heads were frozen into silence. A Tier 3 expert had been killed with just two swings. Didn''t that mean that Leonel already had the ability to single handedly eradicate their organizations?

    The Head of Rusted Blade took a step back, slowly communicating with his four meter long great sword. For the first time in his life, he regretted just how enormous his weapon was. Why was it taking so long to enter his palm?!

    The silent Head of Misty Woods released his aura, shattering his shoes into scattered fluttering pieces of leather and fabric.

    His toes dug into the soil of the mountain pass, a strong surge of Wood Elemental Force pervading the surroundings as he kept his nerves tight and primed.

    ''Oh? Tier 4бн''

    Surprisingly, the Head of Misty Woods was already at the level of a mysterious elder. Clearly, he had kept this card close to his vest until now because even the Head of Rusted Blade was stunned.

    Of course, it wasn''t that Leonel couldn''t have pried into the secret previously, it was that there was simply no point until just now. Who knows, maybe the gap between Tier 3 and 4 would be large enough to make this interesting.

    "If you are doing this for your friends, I can tell you that they''ve already returned to Earth."

    Leonel blinked when the usually silent old man spoke. Was he trying to get him to give up? What a sly old man.

    If he left now, Valiant Heart would still be labeled as traitorous and it would only make it easier for them to take down. It seems the Head of Misty Woods thought that Leonel was worried about his friends so he took this risk.

    The reality was that Leonel already knew his brothers returned to Earth. It couldn''t have been more perfect timing. By now, Earth should have already entered the Fifth Dimension. Its speed was shocking to many, indeed.

    Leonel simply smiled in response. "Let''s fight."

    Leonel shot forward, his figure leaving afterimages in its wake.

    In that same instant, a tsunami of tree roots surged out of the ground, causing Leonel''s brows to raise. The power of this move was not small. Surrounded by forest from all sides, it seemed that the Head of Misty Woods wasn''t a pushover. ?????-?????

    The Head of Rusted Blade finally got his blade into his hands, his aura flourishing. His gaze locked onto Leonel, his mind filled with murderous thoughts and intentions as Universal Force began to formulate around him.

    Leonel suddenly found himself dashing through a death trap of thick trees, roots and branches. Sometimes he was right side up, but he often found himself running sideways and upside down just to dodge out of the next vice trap.

    Leonel quickly realized, though, that the Head of Misty Woods'' goal wasn''t to immediately kill him. He was changing the terrain to make the battlefield as beneficial to himself as possible.

    It was clear that compared to the shrill old woman and the Head of Rusted Blade, this old man knew how to use his head.

    The Head of Misty Woods took a deep breath as scales of bark began to cover him from head to toe. An ancient, wizened aura exuded from him as his strength and momentum continued to grow.

    He rose his palms before him and turned them to face the sky, angling them at a 45 degree angle to make it seem as though he was holding a large book with pages twice the size of his head.

    At that moment, Leonel''s pupils constricted as he felt a subtle shift in the atmosphere. Today would be the day he met his first religion of the Dimensional Verse. It was most definitely not going to be a good time.

    "O Goddess of the Evergreen. Hear my callбн"

 Chapter 909 - Time

    Chapter 909 - Time

    An energy Leonel had never sensed before pervaded the air. If he had to describe it, he would say that it felt as though World Force and Universal Force had fused into an all new sort of Force that suddenly gave this Head before him, who was already going to be slightly difficult to deal with, even more strength to work with.

    The trouble with Leonel''s current level was that he had yet to create or learn Fifth Dimensional techniques that could supplement his raw strength. The only exception to this was [Star Fusion], but he couldn''t very well take out his trump card for this battle, right?

    Now with the Head suddenly bringing out his full power, feeling the threat of Leonel, this would be troublesome indeed.

    At that moment, the countless layers of wooden vines around Leonel suddenly began to rise up and fuse into one. The odd Force grew into a tempest, even faintly suppressing Leonel''s own aura to the point he couldn''t help but narrow his eyes.

    In one moment, Leonel was jumping through an obstacle course of tree roots. In the next, a large palm formed of wood suddenly blotted out the sky.

    It was ten meters from palm to tip and was constructed of numerous overlapping vines. Just the momentum of its downward swing alone made it feel as though the air around Leonel was solidifying, the harsh whistling and whining grating on the ears.

    It felt to anyone observing that the moment the palm fell, everything beneath it would be eradicated. But, what was most shocking to Leonel was that he found his Force being restricted as though he had suddenly stepped into a higher Dimensional world. Even his Spatial Force didn''t seem to want to allow him to dodge out of the way.

    How could Leonel not be shocked? He had never heard of such a Force before, and he had definitely not expected someone like the Head of Misty Woods to have access to it.

    The Head continues to hold out his palms, his face the picture of piety and reverence. It was like he could almost feel his Goddess embracing him, like he could sense the touch of her lips to his forehead. For her, he would do anything.

    Leonel found his ankles bound and his wooden spear refused to listen to him. It was clear that his spear preferred to listen to the call of the Wood Elemental Force around it rather than Leonel himself.

    Leonel shook his head. He had a feeling that if it was Amery, even a Seventh Dimensional Wood Elemental Force user wouldn''t be able to make his sword react like this.

    Leonel''s spear couldn''t have been more common. With a simple knife, he could easily carve one far better. But, Leonel still felt like this was true.

    ''It might be in the way I use Spear Force. Is it just a blade for sharpening? Or is it more than that? If it''s just a blade, what would be different between different weapon Forces? Wouldn''t they all be the sameбн?''

    Leonel felt like he had grasped onto something. His Dreamscape began sparking, but what was especially curious was the fact the sparks were trying to connect his Spear Force, his Mage Artsбн and the Head of Misty Woods'' odd Force? What could possibly link these?

    Seeing that Leonel was actually absentminded in battle, the people of Valiant Heart panicked.

    By this point, the palm was only five meters above Leonel''s head. Depending on the angle, it seemed that he had already been engulfed. There was already nowhere to run.

    Leonel''s clothing fluttered wildly beneath the pressure, his hair almost threatening to fly from his scalp. Even keeping his eyes open at this moment was a difficult task as hurricane force winds whipped about with impunity.

    Leonel finally looked upward, a calm expression on his face. For a moment, the winds around him settled down as though they couldn''t move in his presence.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

    Leonel sent out a simple piercing strike upward, its image layering several times over.

    ?a?da ?o??l The instant his spear blade met the palm of wood, the world went silent for a moment. And then, it all imploded.

    BANG!

    A tempest of raging flames shot into the air like a crimson cone. It blasted a whole through the palm so wide that Leonel''s figure was completely unharmed when the rest of it descended.

    Leonel''s sudden burst of Fire Elemental Force was so massive that all the water vapor in the air vanished in an instant. The temperature skyrocketed, the air became dry, and the skin of those in the surrounding became to crackle and redden.

    Flames licked across the Head of Misty Woods'' technique, threatening to burn an entire forest of trees along with it.

    At that moment, the Head of Rusted Blade appeared before Leonel, his four meter long blade descending from the skies with every intention of severing everything in its path.

    Despite having blade in their title, the men and women of Rusted Blade all used blunt weapons. Their mantra focused on power. They didn''t care if their edge was dulled by rust, their strength alone was supreme!

    The Head was a veteran of battle. He had chosen the instant Leonel released a devastating attack to make his move, believing that the latter wouldn''t be able to release another so powerful in a short time. His action would also give the Misty Woods Head a chance to regroup and form an even more powerful attack.

    Unfortunatelyбн He had no way of knowing that Leonel saw [Meteoric Impact] as a foundational skill to his combat style. Meaningбн It was his least taxing technique and the one he would use the most often.

    A powerful attack? Sure, maybe to him. But to Leonelбн

    ''[Vanishing Blade].''

    Leonel stabbed out his spear at empty air. Before the Head could even be happy that it seemed his guess was correct, he felt a splitting pain at his forehead.

    Just like that, before he could even cross the last hundred meter distance between himself and Leonel, and even before he could get a clear view of Leonel''s face through all the branches and roots, his life was snuffed out.

    Leonel, though, was shaking his head. He hadn''t wanted to use techniques in this battle, but he had already been forced to. It seemed he had a long way to go.

    The Head of Rusted Blade''s sacrifice had done something, thoughбн It didn''t buy a lot of time, but just a small bit of breathing room was all the silent old man needed.

    His aura was pushed to a new level and Leonel''s flames were snuffed out in a single breath.

 Chapter 910 - Familiar Feeling

    Chapter 910 - Familiar Feeling

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. He felt that mysterious energy snuff out his flames much like it had suppressed his other Forces previously.

    Wood should naturally had a weakness to Fire but it seemed that whatever this mysterious Force was had the ability to counteract this weakness to a small extent.

    What Leonel saw next, though, left him baffled.

    A lotus began to form amidst the winding wooden structures. But, it was completely unlike any lotus Leonel had ever seen or read about before.

    This lotus was constructed entirely of arms and hands. They overlapped over one another to form petal-like structures, each layer exuding a more and more powerful aura. Although the Head of Misty Woods seemed to only be capable of forming three of these layers, it was more than enough to display his might to an almost heavenly degree.

    The skies trembled, the earth shook and the density of Wood Elemental Force only seemed to grow exponentially with each passing moment. After a few breaths, it felt less like his Forces were being suppressed and more like there was simply no other Forces to call upon to begin with.

    The lotus of arms and hands began to rotate, the piety in the Heads face only growing as he closed his eyes, feeling the world around him through his countless roots and branches. It was like the death of his comrade meant nothing to him, all there was in his mind was his Goddess. Nothing more, and most definitely not anything less.

    It was hard to tell if he wanted to prostrate himself before this invisible Goddess or if he wanted to worship the lotus itself. But, those worshippers of the Evergreen Goddess had a hard time distinguishing between the two.

    The Evergreen Lotus was the symbol of their Goddess. It was their privilege to be able to use even a portion of its power like this. They were blessed beyond belief and gratefulness overflowed in their hearts.

    To kill the enemies of the Evergreen Goddess, that was their duty!

    "DIE!"

    A roar left the lips of the silent old man. He seemed to have changed into a completely different person.

    The bark that covered his skin became an ink black color. His irises were painted over in an unnatural, almost poisonous sort of green. He bared his teeth, their pearly white sparkling amidst the contract of black and harsh green. At that moment, his murderous intent even made those of Crimson Hall bow out in inferiority.

    The rotating lotus of arms and hands suddenly began to lash out. Each whipping palm was more furious than the last, leaving cracks of thunder and shattering sound barriers in their wake as they cratered the ground beneath Leonel''s feet.

    Without even touching the ground, the wind pressure of the palms alone made it feel like meteors were falling from the sky. The earth exploded apart, mushroom clouds of dirt and rock shooting upward and showering the battlefield in a fog of brown.

    Even as he rolled and dodged for his life, Leonel couldn''t help but be astonished.

    He could tell that the power of these palm strikes was beyond just the Wood Element alone. It wasn''t that a powerful enough Wood Elemental expert couldn''t create such an affect, but rather that the Head of Misty Woods organization wasn''t using enough raw Force to cause such devastation.

    There was something else hidden within, a secret Leonel felt stemmed from the palms themselves that held a mysterious power.

    Leonel felt that it was related to that mysterious Force that seemed to be a cross of World Force and Universal Forceбн But he simultaneously felt that it was a layer even deeper than that.

    "O Goddess of the Evergreen! Shower your Blessings down upon me so that I might cleanse the world of a scourge!"

    The aura only seemed to grow. The longer the usually silent old man held his palms upward, the longer his prayer lasted, the more powerful he seemed to become.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    This chapter is updated by

    The lotus of arms and hands was originally a gorgeous shade of brown, a beautiful grain of wood that woodworkers would give an arm and a leg to work with. But now, it suddenly became even more so, gaining vein patterns of gold that reminded Leonel a lot of his Bronze Runes.

    The instant these veins appeared, the aura of the lotus of arms and hands skyrocketed, their strength more than just doubling in a single breath.

    A palm shot out with such blazing speed that Leonel''s knees bent beneath the wind pressure before he managed to dodge out of the way.

    BANG!

    An abyssal hole of at least 20 meters deep was excavated in the blink of an eye. Yet, the palm had already retracted, shooting forward in twos, threes and even fours as the aura of the lotus continued to climb.

    ''[Infernal Cyclone]!''

    ?a?da ?o??l Leonel''s spear began to spin in his hands, causing wheels of fire to jet outward, rolling through the ground and slicing through the air as they took out one arm after another.

    ''I have to end thisбн''

    Leonel sighed. He realized that battling like this really wasn''t his style. He was relying a lot on skill and technique, not to mention raw strength, as opposed to his mind. If he was using his ability like he usually did, this battle would have ended dozens of exchanges ago.

    He needed to find a balance. But, right now, he couldn''t afford to get embroiled in a battle that might injure him and also drain his stamina. After all, he had enemies closing in from all sides right now. It would be foolish to continue like this.

    ''Stillбн I have to thank you for opening up a new world to me nowбн I think I understand how to progress my Universal Force after so long.''

    Leonel stopped holding back, his gaze suddenly turning a deathly shade of cold. The entire world reflected in his mind. If he wanted, he could envelop the whole planet in his senses.

    Leonel''s steps flickered, his body vanishing and reappearing as it weaved in and out of sweeping roots.

    In the midst of prayer, the silent old man was shocked to find Leonel suddenly before him, holding a spear that had gone through his chest. And yet, he couldn''t understand how Leonel had done so while standing more than 20 meters from himбн

    ''[Vanishing Blade].''

    Leonel retracted his spear, his head tilting up to the skies as the jungle of wooden vines collapsed all around him.

    Were they finally going to take action now?

    Suddenly, Leonel''s expression changed.

    This feeling. It was the same as when Shield Cross Stars branded him with a slave mark!

    His head snapped toward the Head''s corpse, the latter''s face still etched with an endless piety.

    ''It''s coming from there. Shit!''

 Chapter 911 - Furious

    Chapter 911 - Furious

    The temperature around Leonel dropped by several measures, a shocking feat considering tongues of fire were still nipping around the battlefield and him. But, this was simply the representation of how much rage he was feeling.

    Leonel had never truly gotten a chance to vent out what had happened to him almost three years ago now, but that didn''t mean that he had gotten over it. He usually wore a charismatic smile and had a carefree attitude, but that only hid a deep rooted pride that he didn''t often show, a pride that had been encroached upon in this way once before, and a pride he refused to allow to be encroached upon again in this very same way.

    The moment Leonel sensed the change, he react, shooting backward as his gaze became frightening. He didn''t need to think very much to understand what was going on.

    With all the prayers that the Head of Misty Woods had been so pious in chanting, it didn''t take a genius to understand that he was a very religiously devout man, it also wasn''t that much of a leap for Leonel to conclude that his strength and that odd, mysterious Force also came from his worship.

    For someone like Leonel, he might not have believed in a God back when he was on Third Dimensional Earth. But, he was also a person who was very flexible when presented with new information. He wasn''t stubborn to a fault. In fact, he could very easily accept new theories with solid proof behind them.

    Since he was aware that there was higher Dimensional beings far greater than himself and he could see how the Head''s prayer led to an increase in his strength, was it that great of a leap to accept that Gods and Goddesses, or at least what lower Dimensional beings would perceive as Gods and Goddesses, did exist?

    And, in the case that such a being existed, it also wouldn''t be too large of a leap to believe that they got something out of people worshipping them, not much different from how Leonel''s King''s Might grew stronger the more subordinates he hadбн In fact, it was quite eerily similar in that way.

    Having reached a conclusion up to here, what would a God that lost a devout follower do? Shouldn''t there be some sort of punishment so that no one dared to casually target their people?

    By this point, everything made sense. Clearly, Leonel was being targeted for having killed a follower of this Evergreen Goddess. In fact, he was precisely being punished because the man in questionбкOssan Jovyreбкwas deeply involved to the religion to the point where he had become a Titled Member.

    This so-call ''Title'' differed depending on the religion. But, the label of Titled Member was the same across all of them. Simply put, they were individuals who had enough belief to gain some small favor from their God or Goddess.

    However, understanding this didn''t lessen Leonel''s fury in the slightest. In fact, it only made his rage all the more palpable.

    What was the underlying meaning of this action? Wasn''t it that the followers of this religion could kill as they pleased and those without a ''God'' or ''Goddess'' to protect them could only accept whatever punishment such a person deemed them deserving of? What kind of bullshit was that?

    Leonel''s pupils flickered with red.

    If this seal was on the same level as the one Shield Cross Stars had put on him, it would have only been a matter of a thought to obliterate it. After all, the current Leonel was so far beyond that previous Sael in strength that it would be child''s play. But, clearly this one was on a completely different level. Leonel could tell that not only would it brand him, but it would even weaken him like a curse.

    ?a?da ?o??l The sight of Leonel shooting back and dodging air was a shocking one for many to behold. Most here weren''t even qualified to sense what was chasing Leonel. In fact, any member of the Evergreen Religion or Church would be shocked at Leonel''s mere reaction to it, let alone the fact he was actually still dodging it.

    "FUCK OFF!" [ Updated from. c o m ]

    Leonel''s roar shook the skies. He pointed his finger forward at what seemed like empty air, his gaze alight with a furious crimson.

    At that moment, a beautiful light of twisting golden red appeared. Those that saw it initially felt it was among the most gorgeous colors they had ever seen. Something about it seemed otherworldly and transcendental. But, in the blink of an eye, that fascination turned to horror.

    A fear the likes of which rose up from the very depths of their hearts took hold. It was a kind of instinctual fearбн Like one a child would have to the dark or prey would have toward its predatorбн This energy felt like it was meant to take hold and destroy the world.

    Everything in its path turned to ash.

    BANG!

    The energy exploded, clashing with the air before blasting through in the next moment. It tore into the ground and incinerated a line down the army of the three organizations. Anyone touched by this Force was left without a body. Anyone even near it burst from the inside out, every ounce of liquid in their body vaporizing in an instant.

    The world fell into silence. A moment later, all that was left was a certain young man heaving out deep breaths, his gasps radiating out with a black fog that seemed to originate from his inner organs.

    Leonel had suddenly gone from a man who finished a battle with three Fifth Dimensional existences without breaking a sweat to a mortal man who looked like he had just finished running a marathonбн If marathons also charred your inner organs black, that is.

    It was safe to say that Leonel was furious, even now. He shouldn''t have been pushed so far just to deal with something like this.

    Planet Valiant began to rumble. The line Leonel had cut through the earth bubbled forth with waves of lava that seemed to originate from its core. The destruction such a small beam of energy was beyond their wildest imagination. They could only look toward Leonel as though he was some sort of monster.

    It was at that moment that several cloaked figures descended from the skies, seemingly not worried about the planet''s state in the slightest. All of their gazes locked onto Leonel.

 Chapter 279 - Universal Cycles

    [Author''s Note: I keep getting caught up in the story and always forget to properly explain this part of DD''s magic system, so we''ll finally get to it now, lmao]

    In the universe, the current state of Leonel''s Force Strengthening Deviations can be called by many names. However, the one that resonated the most with Leonel was the Embryonic Stage. These so-called Embryos were represented by the small translucent spear and the 12-sided Star in Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella -- each representing Leonel''s Spear Embryo and Light Embryo respectively.

    Unlike the various fictions Leonel had indulged in back when his life was more normal, the comprehension of Force Strengthening Deviations was incredibly complex. Each path had a myriad of variations making it so that two people at the same level could be of vastly differing strengths.

    Ultimately, the path of improving one''s Force Strengthening Deviations бк or, rather, comprehending and refining them бк was known by some wise men as the Comprehension of the Cycles of the Universe.

    Force Strengthening Deviations represented the mysteries of the universe. In order to use them to the highest standard, it was thus necessary to comprehend these so-called Universe Cycles. And, how thoroughly one comprehended them dictated just how powerful one''s Force Strengthening Deviations would be.

    This matter was difficult to comprehend at first, but the highest level skills of Merlin''s Trial painted it perfectly.

    The simplest Universe Cycle in all of existence were the Four Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. This level of comprehension was known as the Four Seasons Realm. The current Leonel could be considered to be at the Embryonic Stage of the weakest Four Seasons Realm!

    That said, calling the Four Seasons Realm weak simply did not do it justice. Even those strong enough to progress through this Universe Cycle and comprehend the next may not do so perfectly. Refining one''s Force Embryo to the point of comprehending the profundities of the Four Seasons wasn''t a simple task by any stretch of the imagination.

    What made mastering this Realm exceptionally difficult was the fact that not all Force Embryos were compatible with this compression.

    If you comprehended a Fire Embryo and wanted to master the Winter Variation of the Four Seasons Realm, just how difficult would that be? Just the idea alone didn''t seem to make any sense.

    As a result, many failed to comprehend the Four Seasons Realm in its entirety and could only be assumed to have gained small insights into it. Only the most exceptional of geniuses could comprehend all four aspects of the Four Seasons Realm and use it as a foundation to proceed to the next Universal Cycle profundity.

    Compared to Elemental Force Strengthening Deviation, Weapon Force Embryos had a comparatively easier time. However, the difficulty was still as troublesome as ascending to the skies. One could spend a lifetime comprehending just a portion of the mysteries in this so-called ''weakest'' Universal Cycle.

    By now, it should be obvious why Leonel was so shocked by these Merlin Trials. If he was to believe what was before him now, it would be possible to comprehend all four aspects and even fuse them into one if he completed this Trial to its entirety.

    One had to know that the fusion phase of the Four Seasons Realm was the most difficult. It was already hair raising to attempt just to comprehend each of the Four Seasons individually. But, combining them into one was even more so. However, it was only by completing a perfect fusion that one lay the most perfect foundation for the next stage.

    This was the world of Force Strengthening Deviations. Only by comprehending these profound Universal Cycles could one truly become powerful.

    This was exactly why Leonel couldn''t just break into the next realm with his Spear Embryo. The more spear comprehensions he observed, the more all-encompassing his eventual fusion would be. The better he could capture the myriad of changes the Four Seasons representedбн the more potent and powerful his spear would be!

    ''The next Realm after the Four Seasons Realm is known as the Heavenly Body Realm. It requires comprehending The Meteor, The Moon, The Planet and The Star. But, I can forget about comprehending them perfectly or even fusing them into one if I can''t clear the Four Seasons Realm first.''

    The Four Seasons Realm was the equivalent of the Third Dimension. However, when mastered, it was the equivalent of peak existences within the Fourth Dimension. Likewise, the Heavenly Body Realm was the equivalent of the Fourth Dimension, when fully mastered it was the equivalent of peak existences within the Fifth Dimension.

    Thoughбн these things are easier said than done. And the reason for this is due to the fact there are different kinds of comprehensions within each Realm.

    The first kind of comprehension is one who doesn''t attempt to grasp the Universe Cycle at all. For example, Leonel could try to forcefully evolve his current Third Dimensional Spear Embryo into one of the Fourth Dimension as long as he gains access to Fourth Dimensional Force.

    This sort of comprehension is the weakest and is known by various existences as ''Shell Comprehension'' or ''Empty Comprehension''.

    The second kind of comprehension is the one displayed here. This is relying on the comprehension of another to grasp the truths of the Four Seasons Realm.

    Leonel wasn''t certain if he would be allowed to keep Merlin''s comprehensions when he left these trial grounds, but if he could, then he would fall into this second kind of comprehension.

    This sort of comprehension was in the middle of the first and the third kind. It wouldn''t be as powerful as the peak existences of the Fourth Dimension, but it should be able to make Leonel undefeatable within his own realm of strength with a fair amount of ease.

    The third kind of comprehension was the most powerful. This kind was the result of one relying on themselves to comprehend the truths of the Four Seasons and fusing them into one. Only in this instant would the true strength of the Four Seasons be perfectly displayed and only then would it truly be possible to leap an entire realm to battle.

    After knowing all of this, the reason why Leonel would be so eager to gain these skills was obvious. Even though it wasn''t as good as comprehending the third way, it would still be very helpful to him. It would allow him to lay a foundation for his own personal comprehension in the future!

    In addition, this was just for the bow. Currently, Leonel''s main weapon was the spear. He wasn''t so arrogant to believe that he could grasp everything in his hands. He was only one man and he was already struggling with juggling everything he had to learn and master already.

    In such a case, wasn''t mastering the second kind of comprehension better than not comprehending it at all? In that way, he wouldn''t have to worry about his bow skills lagging behind for a long while. In addition, by using his bow as a framework, he would be able to light his path of the spear. It would definitely become many more times easier to bring his Spear Embryo to completion in these circumstances.

    But, once again, Leonel forced himself to calm down. The number of skill points he would need numbered in the tens of thousands. In addition, he hadn''t even formed a Bow Embryo yet. He was getting too ahead of himself. He had to take this step by step.

    Just as Leonel was reaffirming his own resolve, a familiar voice sounded once again.

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

    His head immediately snapped toward the platform to see who had gotten such an exaggerated result, only to find King Arthur standing over the metallic beast, his back straight and his aura towering.

 Chapter 912 Forget Lt

    The destruction Leonel had just caused was enough to, ironically, put the fear of god in anyone. It was just an instinctual, ingrained fear that one would find it hard even to face this Force, let alone fight against it.

    The truth was that as Leonel''s body grew through the Dimensions, so too did his Scarlet Star Force. To have a Force known to cause the greatest destruction in his body made it a miracle that Leonel was even alive at this point. But, that was the benefit he gained for having been born with such an Innate Force Node.

    One might wonder, thenбн Did this mean that Leonel would never be capable of using his Scarlet Star Force? If it increased in difficulty to use every time he broke through, then what was the point of being born with such a Force Node to begin with?

    The reality, though, didn''t quite work like this. It could be said that rather than Scarlet Star Force shackling Leonel, it was actually the other way around.

    For a Force to be ranked amongst the top ten of a powerful Force like Star Force, one could imagine that this wouldn''t just be for lower Dimensions, but especially so for higher Dimensions. In fact, the ranking system was based on the highest Dimension said Force could reach.

    Scarlet Star Force was essentially a high Dimensional Force, forced to restrain itself in Leonel''s body to an artificially lower Dimension. This meant that every time Leonel broke through, Scarlet Star Force was actually just undoing chains Leonel placed on it.

    What was the difference between this and Scarlet Star Force growing with Leonel? The difference was that eventually, the Scarlet Star Force would return to its original state and stop outgrowing Leonel. When that day came, Leonel would finally be able to use the gift he was born with without reserve.

    For now, thoughбн Even in the Fifth Dimension, Leonel felt like he was on the verge of dying after having used it for just a small moment. Still, the result shock even Leonel himself.

    Leonel had been racking his brain, trying to figure a way out of this. But, he knew that even his current Dream Force wasn''t enough to counter that seal. In the end, he had no choice but to bring out one of his greatest trump cards.

    What he hadn''t expected, thoughбн Was to almost cause the destruction of the planet.

    Leonel had felt it. Had he been able to hold out for about ten more seconds, he could have caused the entire planet to implode.

    Of courseбн asking for ten more seconds when he had barely just held it for a split moment just now was far too much to ask. But, the reality was shocking nonetheless. And, it happened to be a reality that these cloaked figures had all witnessed.

    Even as lava overflowed from the split in the earth, they only had eyes for Leonel himself.

    "Innate Force Node, and a very powerful one at that. I have a feeling that you can''t use that attack more than once, right? I wonder what kind of state your body is in right now." The man chuckled. "Who asked you to blaspheme a Three-Layer Hand of the Evergreen Goddess. I would take a step back and let them hunt you down to the death, but they won''t mind if I present your corpse to them with a small piece missingбн right?"

    The lead cloaked figure stared at Leonel as though he was looking at a priceless treasure.

    Leonel paused practically mid cough.

    "What did you just say?"

    His tone was icy to an extreme. As ridiculous as it had been for the temperature to drop previously, it was even more ridiculous now.

    The heat of Scarlet Star Force still hung in the air. Even now, the foliage of the trees in the surroundings would spontaneously combust from time to time, erupting in a new rain of fire that would only make the situation worse.

    As though that wasn''t enough, lava continuously pooled out from the split in the earth, forcing the youths in the surroundings to scatter and run, breaking the formation of the three organizations with absolute ease.

    And yet, the temperature still plummeted.

    Leonel''s gaze locked onto the man before him, his fury from before still not having faded before this man dared to poke at the flames.

    When Leonel had learned that something of his had been taken out of his body when he was too young to do anything about it, he had already been furious. That anger wasn''t satiated by his father helping him to regrow his Innate Force Node. Rather, it was simply stored away.

    Leonel didn''t care about the Innate Force Node in all reality. After all, he hardly got to use it and had been living life just fine without knowing it existed. However, the principle of it all infuriated him to an extreme.

    He had a feeling that if he hadn''t had such a powerful father, wouldn''t he be dead right now? Wasn''t this yet another example of the people of the Dimensional Verse doing as they pleased to the weak? Prattling on about survival of the fittest, etc etc.

    Leonel had no idea whether his parents had already made those who did this to him pay or not, nor did he care. Even if they had, this anger wouldn''t fade because it was rooted in something deeper than just himself. And yet, this cloaked bastard, come from nowhere, had actually thought to poke at that open wound.

    It was difficult to see the face of the cloaked figure, but Leonel could almost feel his smile spread out into a wide grin. His chest puffed out, his gaze flared with derision, his contempt was so palpable that it hung in the air like a foul odor.

    "I saidбн"

    "Forget it. Just die." Leonel said coldly.

    An enormous sniper rifle appeared in Leonel''s hands. Before anyone could react, a beam of blinding golden light cut through the air.

    The cloaked man didn''t even get a chance to finish his words before his head was eviscerated into nothing, his headless corpse teetering back and forth before failing to maintain its balance and plopping to the ground.

 Chapter 913 No Longer

    The cloaked figures that had been standing around the leading man stood in shock. Though he had a big mouth, that man was still a Tier 4 expert.

    One had to understand that not all Tier 4 experts were of the same strength. Just like Leonel could battle them with ease despite not having firmly stepped into Tier 1, there were many Tier 4 experts stronger than what the Head of Misty Woods had displayed.

    The truth was that the Head of Misty Woods had a large weakness: He needed to be in a state of prayer to display such strength. However, the cloaked man Leonel had just killed could display the same strength without needing to rely on a God or Goddess. And yet, just like that, he had been killed.

    To make matters worse, they were standing almost half a kilometer from Leonel. They had thought to probe him to see if he really could use that attack again or not. And yet, the result was absolutely devastating. In the blink of an eye, one of theirs had been killed.

    Leonel didn''t even react to this. Standing within 500 meters of a sniper even back on Third Dimensional Earth was a death sentence. To the current Leonel, they would have to stand more than ten kilometers away to have a chance at dodging.

    Leonel had wanted to use this battlefield as a chance to gain some battlefield experience and maybe hone himself a bit. The fact he wasn''t taking this seriously was almost too obvious.

    He hadn''t activated his Bronze Runes nor his Spear Domain. He was using a wooden spear and he had initially not even wanted to use the spear techniques he had learned previously.

    Unfortunately, his nonchalance almost caused him to suffer. Of course, there wasn''t much he could do about being targeted by a God''s seal, but it still pissed him off. Then, these cloaked figuresбкobviously being the ''hidden'' experts the Milky Way Guild had sentбкpissed him off even more.

    Clearly, this wasn''t going to be the battlefield he got to practice on. In that case, he might as well just end this all as quickly as he could have before.

    With a slight shift of his barrel, Leonel''s sniper rifle whirred to life again. It was unlike anything those around had ever seen.

    The moment it jumped to life, the barrel began to radiate with a beautiful golden light, following the pattern of Force Arts etched directly onto it. Before the light could make it to the end, though, several hovering disks of precious metals appeared before the barrel of the rifle, each with a slight curve of their own.

    BANG!

    The instant the rifle fired, the light charged out, coursing through these hovering disks of gold. If one looked closely, with every one it passed through, the beam of light only became more concentrated and faster. By the time it exited the last of the disks, it had a speed so fast that it was almost impossible to react to at all.

    In the blink of an eye, another head imploded.

    "RUN!"

    The rest of the cloaked figures didn''t dare to stay around any longer. Their hair stood on end and fear gripped their hearts. Butбн What would running now do?

    With cold precision, Leonel sniped them down one after another. The last one that fe.l had already managed to make it more than seven kilometers away despite how fast Leonel was shooting, and yet it didn''t matter at all. He fell just the same.

    Leonel swept a gaze over the scattered remains of the three organizations'' army.

    "Are you all going to run? Or would you like me to kill you too?"

    The army, which had already been scattered, didn''t need to hear this twice. Without hesitation, they all dashed off, returning to the platform they had used to descend to the planet in the first place.

    They raged and jostled for position as they fought to be the first ones to leave. In the end, they ended up using far more time than they needed to eventually completely evacuate.

    Leonel''s gaze on their backs was like the sigh of a reaper weighing down on them with a scythe. None of them even dared to look back as they rushed forward, unwilling to stay even a moment longer.

    Moments later, the battlefield was silent. Right then, there were several pairs of eyes on Leonel''s back which seemed all too ridiculous considering the sight of lava still gushing forth before them all. And yet, Leonel seemed far more fascinating than it all.

    Aphestus clutched his daggers. Raylion didn''t seem to have much of an expression at all, but something within his eye told a different story. As for Sael, she felt a whirl of complicated emotions.

    Just two years ago, she was powerful enough even to extend favors to Leonel. But now, the difference between them was so great that she almost felt embarrassed.

    Was this the benefit of being born from such a large family? Even if Leonel didn''t benefit from their resources, was just having a portion of their genes enough to warrant such an enormous gap between the two of them?

    Unfortunately, that seemed to be the way of the world.

    Leonel coughed lightly, another clump of black fog flying from his mouth. Luckily, the passive healing of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor had increased. Unluckily, so had his Scarlet Star Force''s ability to cause trouble.

    Leonel didn''t even bother to cast [Grand Heal]. He knew that at his current level, it was absolutely meaningless. It wouldn''t even heal a paper cut for him right now, he needed to research stronger spells. Luckily, his run-in with Goddess Evergreen had given him some ideas.

    Finally, Leonel looked up into the skies, his gaze narrowing. Without looking back, he spoke.

    "I''m sure you all are smart enough to understand. From this day forth, Valiant Heart Mountain can no longer exist. For your own safety, I hope that none of you are stubborn about this."

 Chapter 914: All Her Fault

    Chapter 914: All Her Fault

    Sael''s heart sunk when she heard these words. At that moment, it all clicked. She understood exactly why Leonel had apologized to her before the battle even began. From the very beginning, he had already planned to say these exact words. This was his goal from the very beginning.

    "Youбн Youбн"

    Sael''s voice trembled.

    She had tried so very hard, giving everything she had for the sake of keeping the organization she had been born in together. She owed Valiant Heart and her master everything she had. She had scratched and clawed, working herself to the bone so that she would never have to watch it crumble in her life time.

    The result of her hard work resulted in her neglecting her training. She had been so caught up in the politics that she forgot to raise her own strength. The result was her losing to Aphestus and that reality slipping even further from her.

    After that, she had reapplied herself, nearly entirely forgetting politics just for the sake of gaining a larger fist. In fact, even now, she had finally stepped into the Quasi Fifth Dimension. It was just unfortunate that this breakthrough often took decades, sometimes even more for those born in this region of the Dimensional Verse to complete.

    But once againбн All of that was meaningless.

    Now she was being told the home she had done her all to protect was finishedбн And it would mostly be by the hands of the young man she brought here.

    Emotions of guild, fury, unwillingnessбн All of it bubbled up within her. She didn''t know whether she should cry, shriek, or rain down all the curses she could think of onto Leonel. She wanted him to both vanish from her sight and somehow repay Valiant Heart for all the harm he had caused at the same time.

    The result of all of this was her body trembling beside herself. She clenched her fists so tightly that even the blood that began to pool on her palm couldn''t find a path out. It only seemed to make her skin more crimson, her emotions slowly spiraling out of control.

    All the while, Leonel didn''t even look at her as though he couldn''t be bothered to.

    Just as Sael was about to implode, she found a wrinkled hand suddenly find its place on her shoulder. When Sael looked over out of reflex, she was stunned to see that it was actually her master.

    It only took a moment for Leonel to recognize this old man as one of the four mysterious experts who had moved out with all of them that day. His aura seemed to be particularly weak, as though he had been injured some time before. However, it was still just as strong as anyone else within Tier 4 that Leonel had ever met. This made Leonel believe that he might have even actually been Tier 5 or maybe even Tier 6, maybe even stronger.

    Leonel''s mind instantly flashed with a thought.

    ''Case 793: Teacher Ingsan, guilty of gross negligence. In a Campaign against our sworn enemy, the Oryx Tribe, his decisions led to the death of 14 geniuses of our Valiant Heart Mountain. The only survivor has been bribed into silence and has suffered through untold humiliation, Sael Liers.''

    Those were the exact words Raylion had said back then.

    Clearly, Ingsan was more than just a ''teacher''. In addition, the price he had paid to allow Sael to be the ''only survivor'' wasn''t small in the slightest. The old man was practically on his death bed.

    Beyond this, Leonel had a feeling that those 14 geniuses weren''t just any geniuses either. They might have even been beyond Raylion in talent if they could go on a mission with Ingsanбн The question was, then, why was Sael there?

    Of course, this was all just speculation. Leonel had no way of knowing these things.

    "Thank you." Ingsan spoke lightly. "From this day forth, Valiant Heart Mountain will be no more."

    "Butбк!" ???? ????s? ???????s ?? ????????????.??? ????.

    "That''s enough, Sael. You''re not a little girl anymore. If you want Valiant Heart to be revived one dayбн You just need to be strong enough that no one would dare to stop you."

    Sael opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a sob. She finally couldn''t hold it in any longer and dove into her master''s arms.

    "It''s my fault. It''s all my faultбн"

    Ingsan sighed, stroking Sael''s hair.

    "It''s not your fault. This is the fault of us old menбн We lost out edge and let our enemies eat away at us until there was nothing leftбн"

    Ingsan knew how Sael felt. She thought that everything she tried to do to help only ended in disaster. Ingsan even had a feeling that if it wasn''t for the fact she was so weighed down by the matters of the past, she would have long since entered the Fifth Dimension. Let alone Raylion and Aphestus, Sael was probably the most talented disciple Valiant Heart Mountain had ever produced, including their founder who managed to gain the favor of a Morales family Heir.

    Back then, Sael was too eager, wanting to skip steps and grow more powerful, more quickly. She ended up sneaking her way onto a mission she had no business taking part in. The result was the death of 14 of her seniors and her own master being heavily injured to the point of near death.

    Of course, Ingsan had told her many times that it wasn''t her fault. Even if she hadn''t been there, the casualties would have been terrible. It was a mistake on his part, not hers that had caused such a thing. But, the little girl had already internalized her guilt.

    And now she felt like she had done it again. It wasn''t hard to point toward Leonel as the reason they would collapse now. He was, at the very least, a catalyst if not the cause. Without him, maybe they could have survived a few more centuries and found a chance to turn it all around. But with his appearance, they were finished.

    It was her fault againбн It was her fault Valiant Heart lost 14 geniuses that would have been their chance to turn things aroundбн It was her fault Valiant Heart''s most powerful expert was so severely injured that they were no longer feared anymoreбн It was her fault that Leonel had been able to come here and quicken their destruction.

    It was all her fault. All her fault.

 Chapter 915: Unexpected Voice

    Chapter 915: Unexpected Voice

    Leonel sighed inwardly. It wasn''t in his heart to do things like this but he had no choice in the matter. The moment he had decided to take the side of the Oryx, the fate of Valiant Heart had already been sealed.

    He couldn''t help but shake his head to himself. Was he very much different from those people he hated so much?

    Why was it that he chose the Oryx over Valiant Heart? Wasn''t it because he felt that their talent was greater? In their state of Hyper Evolution, they even had a chance at becoming monsters that could rival talents from Dimensions far higher than this one. Due to this, Leonel had felt that if he was going to invest in a group, the Oryx would be the very best.

    He could tell himself now that he was just doing this out of necessity, that after he accomplished his goals he would treat everyone equally, but would things really work out that way?

    History told tales of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Leonel wouldn''t deem himself to be the perfect human being and, no matter how logical he was, he would often find himself fighting against that side of his being. Often, Leonel felt that he only leaned into his own ''morality'' so much because he was scared that if he didn''t follow archetype of good person to the final point, he would be giving himself up to that darkness within him.

    Leonel had always said that he didn''t fear losing his life to save someone others would deem worthlessбн What he feared was the day he would convince himself that his life was worth more than othersбн if that day ever came, even he was scared of the monster he would become.

    Despite thinking and being aware of all of this, though, there was one reason Leonel didn''t label himself a hypocrite, at least not completely: бн

    Valiant Heart had never wanted to help itself.

    During the time Leonel had spent with this organization, they were always fighting against progress, always gripped by a fear that not only stopped them from moving forward, but even forced them to regress.

    Despite knowing that he was a member of the Morales family, rather than taking this opportunity to soar into the skies once more, they cowered from it, worried about the consequences choosing to place their hopes in Leonel might cause.

    These simply weren''t people that Leonel could take under his wing, at least not with how they were presently constructed. Unless they could change their mentality, this would be as far as any of them went.

    Leonel knew that he had a very fine line to toe. He both acknowledged that talent was necessary to make it in this world while simultaneously believing that it didn''t make one person worth more than another. If he wanted to stick to such ideals, it would be difficult to keep his head straight.

    The good news was that he had been blessed with opportunity. He had Little Blackstar''s ability steal powers on his side and he had the silver tablet to wipe the consciousnesses away from them. This combination of treasures was almost perfect to deal with this moral dilemma, but it also made Leonel realize just how much luck was involved in this thing he called lifeбн

    He had done all he could do for Valiant Heart. What was left was up to them.

    "Young Heir," Ingsan called out once again to Leonel, trying to comfort Sael at the same time, "please take the pillars with you. They were the treasures of the Morales family to begin with and we''re in no position to continue protecting them."

    Leonel, who was still facing away from the group and monitoring the air above frowned.

    Those pillars? They had the ability to keep Zones from permanently closing, thus allowing them to be repeatedly used as training grounds. It was a valuable set of equipment to have, especially if you managed to use them on a Variant Zone designed to bestow treasures to begin with.

    As good as this sounded, though, to the current Leonelбн They were useless.

    Leonel''s Dreamscape suddenly flashed.

    Well, not completely useless, actually. With the new path of Mage Arts he was thinking up in his mind currently, the pillars would be a valuable asset and might even allow him to create an extremely powerful Earth-Space Elemental Art.

    However, Leonel couldn''t help but feel disappointed. The fact that Ingsan was trying to give these pillars to me signified that he truly had given up.

    ''Maybe it''s wrong of me to judge him for this. He''s been injured for several decades now and probably feels he''s at the end of his rope with no chance to progress forward or even just heal himself back to his original height. Blaming him for this decision is cruelбн''

    Leonel took a deep breath, not responding immediately. After a while, he nodded.

    "I will hold them for you. If anyone of Valiant Heart decides that they are ready in the future, they can come to find me."

    A light of gratitude lit in Ingsan''s eyes. But, he couldn''t help but sigh when he looked down at the young girl in his arms.

    She had just been starting to cast the previous shadow on her heart away, finally allowing her to continue progressingбн Would she ever manage to get rid of this one?

    "Everyone, you''ve heard it well. This is no longer our home. You have half an hour to pack your belongings. The Organization will send you all to a safe place as a final thank you for your service. Go!"

    With heavy hearts, the students of Valiant Heart followed their orders. Those who had stayed behind so long despite the danger their lives were in were already the most loyal members of Valiant Heart to begin with. It was clear that none of them were willing.

    ''I guess they''re not going to attack anymore?'' Leonel concluded.

    Just as Leonel was about to make a move to stop the flow of lava and dig up the pillars to his back, he heard an unexpected voice.

    "Too cowardly to face what you''ve done, huh?"

 Chapter 916: lncisive

    Chapter 916: lncisive

    Leonel didn''t need to look back to recognize the voice of Aphestus, of all people.

    Of course, Leonel knew why Aphestus was saying these words. Leonel hadn''t looked back from start to finish, so it wasn''t too hard to guess that he was feeling guilty. However, it was still a bit of a surprise that Aphestus would be the one to come to speak with him.

    From what Leonel could tell, everyone else had already rushed up the mountain, there wasn''t even another line of defense here. It was clear that Ingsan had trusted Leonel with protecting them while they went off to evacuate. But, Aphestus didn''t seem to care much about this so-called evacuation.

    "Cowardly? No. Guilty? I guess you can argue that." Leonel replied. The speed was too fast, and with a swoosh, Wang Xuan was pulled into the whirlpool, like a little crucian carp that had been hooked and was violedntly pulled out of the water.

    Aphestus snorted. "Semantics."

    "That''s a pretty big word for a muscle brain like you."

    Aphestus'' lip twitched. Wasn''t this bastard supposed to be feeling guilty? Where did he find the face to quibble like this? If your dare to fish against him like this, no matter if it''s a strange thing on a mobile phone or that ferocious giant fish, you''ll have to pay the price.

    Plus, looking at Leonel now, even though it was hidden beneath his clothing, Aphestus could tell that somehow this brat had come back with a physique even better than his own. So, who was the muscle brain exactly?

    "бн Were you serious about keeping the pillars for us?"

    "Yes. Anyone who feels ready can come and get them from me. Even if I disagree that you are. It''s not mine to begin with, I won''t police which of you can take it. To be honest, it''s not very useful to me now. Or, rather, it will be in the short term, but not in the long term."A fisih is mocking him!

    "So you''re just going to wipe your hands clean of it all, hm? Don''t you think you hold a bit of responsibility?"

    Leonel shook his head and sighed, finally looking back toward Aphestus. He was a bit surprised to find the abrasive young man to be red eyed. He seemed caught between tears and rage despite how calm his voice had sounded previously.

    Aphestus seemed as though he might eat Leonel alive. Who knows, maybe his ability would kick in and he would gain Leonel''s ability as well. Who cared if he became a cannibal if he could accomplish what he and Raylion had always hoped to accomplish? Then, it was noisys and motionless, instead of reviving here, it chose to disguise it.

    However, he didn''t move. He knew that he was no match for Leonel two years ago, let alone now. He would just be setting himself up for death.

    Unlike Sael, he still hadn''t given up. Raylion was too prideful to ask anything of Leonel. But he, as Raylion''s right hand man, would scratch and claw for anything he thought could help his brother rise to the very top.

    Leonel stared into Aphestus'' eyes for a long time. Despite the bestial aura radiating out from the latter, he seemed completely unmoved. If ones piece of sword energy can''t solve the problem, then take a few more pieces. Wang Xuan is going to kill it.

    "Aren''t you the one who''s very cowardly now?" Leonel spoke. "Why are you beating around the bush? Just say what you want to say. What''s there to be scared of?"

    Aphestus'' jaw clenched. If a gaze could murder, Leonel would probably have died ten times over.

    "бн It''s impossible for us to progress on our own. We''ll always be labeled as the disciples of Valiant Heart. The other students might be fine, but those like Sael, myself and Raylion are too famous, we''ll never be able to escape that label. No one would let us join their organization, and that would just be the bright side. The more likely scenario is that they''d offer us up to the three organizations or the Milky Way Guild to curry favor."

    "Stop beating around the bush." Leonel repeated.

    Aphestus'' eyes were practically spewing fire at this point.

    "Take responsibility. We will fight for you and even help in your Heir Wars. We just want resources to help us grow. If we''re left like this, we''ll never be able to reach a point where we can take those pillars back."

    Aphestus had expected Leonel to pause for a moment and think about it. After all, even if they couldn''t compare to Leonel, they were still great talents, rightбн?Even ignoring Sael and Raylion, he, himself, was mostly limited by the caliber of beast he got the chance to eat.

    Aphestus was slotted into the Swallower Ability Index which was also separated into five stages. Speed, Efficient, Blackbody, Steal, and Dimensional Gut.

    Speed allowed one to digest at impossibly fast speeds. Such a person could consume far more energy than another and thus recover far faster as well.

    Efficient allowed one to not only have the abilities of Speed, but allowed them to eat with less wastage. Blackbody allowed one to consume 100% of the energy of their food and even directly convert it into power. It could be considered the pinnacle of Efficient.

    ??? ?? ? ???? Finally, there was Steal. The next step from converting food directly into power was snatching the powers their food had had back when they were alive.

    As usual, the fifth, Dimensional Gut, was reserved for Savants. Such existences were practically Void Beasts in human form. The things they swallowed no longer had to be living and some could even digest entire worlds with a single bite.

    By this, Aphestus'' talent was clear. He was actually at the fourth Steal level. Even Raylion was only at the third stage of his Telekinesis Ability Index!

    Of course, this was the case when Aphestus was swallowing Fourth Dimensional beasts. But, who was to say he couldn''t do the same with Fifth Dimensional ones as well? After all, he had never had the chance to try!

    This was all to say that Aphestus thought Leonel would at least think about it. But, Leonel didn''t hesitate in his reply. Not only did he not hesitate, it was sharp, incisive, and left no room for rebuttal.

    After hearing it, Aphestus was stuck in limbo, forgetting even the fact that he should have been enraged. He almost couldn''t believe what it was that he was hearing to begin with, he was that close from asking Leonel to repeat himself.

    "Absolutely not. I will not accept murderers into my people. As far as I''m concerned, you deserve to die."

 Chapter 917: Deal?

    Chapter 917: Deal?

    Leonel didn''t understand these people. Did they just expect him to forget?

    What happened to those three disciples that he had hung from a tree? What happened to those disciples that had died testing his apparently ''faulty'' products? Was he just supposed to ignore the fact that ever happened? In fact, maybe the fact he wasn''t cutting Aphestus and Raylion down where they stood was him failing those victims.

    Aphestus blinked and shook his head before he truly registered what had just happened. The rage in Leonel''s voice was hidden under a layer of coldness and just listening to it made him feel as though a bell was ringing in his ears.

    What Aphestus didn''t know was that this was Leonel''s King''s Might seeping outward. If Leonel had been more intentional with his actions, Aphestus'' head might have already imploded just from his words alone. The speed was too fast, and with a swoosh, Wang Xuan was pulled into the whirlpool, like a little crucian carp that had been hooked and was violedntly pulled out of the water.

    At this point, the coercion in Leonel''s voice was such that he could almost manifest his will into existence. Since Aphestus was a Dimension below him, he wouldn''t even have the chance to fight back before his body listened to Leonel''s will almost as though these events were a story and Aphestus was a character Leonel was writing.

    ??? ?? ? ???? This was the difference between Dimensions.

    A talent like Leonel might be able to rely on his Lineage to fight above. But, when a talent like Leonel was above a lesser talent like Aphestus, the true difference between Dimensions was as clear as day. The current Leonel might as well have been a God to Aphestus. He could die to a single one of Leonel''s thoughts. If your dare to fish against him like this, no matter if it''s a strange thing on a mobile phone or that ferocious giant fish, you''ll have to pay the price.

    It took a long while for Aphestus to finally regain his bearings, but he felt as though his IQ had dropped by several points, like his brain had turned to mush. He completely forgot that he should have been enraged.

    When his vision cleared, he found Leonel still looking at him expressionlessly. But, at that moment, he felt a deep rooted fear in his heart that seemed birthed from something intangible to become a heavy representation of his reality.

    "Iбн" Aphestus shook his head. "бн They''re not dead. We just sent them away. They didn''t have much talent as disciples anyway so we just staged some stuff, gave them some money, and shipped them off. To enjoy the rest of their lives."A fisih is mocking him!

    The moment Aphestus finished saying these words, he suddenly snapped.

    "FUCK YOU!" Aphestus regained his fiery edge, his canines extending and his pupils becoming slits.

    He suddenly realized that he had fallen under Leonel''s coercion. His rebuttal should have been a ''gotcha moment''. But, instead, it came out weak as though he was pleading with Leonel to understand his plight. How could he not be seething? Then, it was noisys and motionless, instead of reviving here, it chose to disguise it.

    Ingsan might have let them slander him, but he would have never allowed them to start killing disciples. For proof of this, one only needed to look at what happened to the seniors that tried to block Leonel, Aina and the other freshmen from entering the ore mines.

    Those seniors, for causing the potential deaths of their juniors, had been punished swiftly, harshly and without mercy.

    How could the seniors of Valiant Heart have reacted like that then, but suddenly let Raylion do as he pleased? If ones piece of sword energy can''t solve the problem, then take a few more pieces. Wang Xuan is going to kill it.

    Of course, Raylion was talented, so one might think he would get a bit of extra leeway. But, even in his injured state, Ingsan was still the most powerful individual in Valiant Heart Mountain. He could have done as he pleased, especially to a disciple that was blaspheming his name.

    "Oh? So it''s like that?" Leonel''s coldness vanished and he smiled lightly. "Didn''t you still try to kill me though? That''s hard to forgive."

    "Fuck you! You think I''m going to grovel at your feet?! DIE!"

    Aphestus attacked as swiftly and viciously as he could, his aura climbing to the point that the ground beneath his feet shattered, quite a decent feat for someone in the Fourth Dimension to accomplish on a Fifth Dimensional world.

    However, Leonel only chuckled and caught his wrist.

    "Alright, alright. There''s no need to throw a temper tantrum, right? I was just joking around."

    Leonel had used a bit of his coercion to force down Aphestus'' barriers and get him to tell the truth. But, surprisingly, the truth was different from what he thought it would be. It could be considered to be a pleasant surprise, actually.

    Aphestus kept attacking furiously, even trying with his legs and feet, but it was all to no avail.

    Leonel knocked him out and threw him over his shoulder, casually strolling to the pillars with a grown man hanging from his side. He placed a palm on the pillars, feeling the ancient carvings dance across his fingers.

    ''Yesбн This could definitely workбн Definitelyбн''

    "Ah, gross. Stop drooling, will you?"

    бн

    In the spaceship above Planet Valiant, it was safe to say that Gretta was seething. But, at the same time, she didn''t dare to go down.

    Contrary to what one might expect, this wasn''t because she was afraid of Leonel, but rather that she didn''t dare to show her face. If she did, things would only become even worse for the Milky Way Guild which was already experiencing some trouble.

    At that moment, a welling up of dread filled her heart. She had already taken a risk by okaying this operation. Now, not only had the three organizations suffered great losses, but among them, three Fifth Dimensional existences fell.

    As though that wasn''t bad enough, she had lost five Fifth Dimensional subordinates that she had worked hard to groom over the last several decades. There was no way that she could make up for such a loss to herself in a short time.

    None of this even mentioned the kind of punishment she would receive this time. Gretta even began to think of running away. Maybe this time, if she dared to go back to the Guild, she would really be finished. Was there any coming back from this?

    However, where would she go? To another galaxy? Traveling between galaxies required at least a Sixth Dimensional ship, though. How would she procure such a thing? She definitely couldn''t stay in the Milky Wayбн If she did, there wasn''t a single corner she could hide in where she wouldn''t be foundбн

    Fear began to flood Gretta''s heart, more and more crazed thoughts forcing her scar to tremble and wiggle about as though it had a mind of its own.

    She had to kill Leonel. That was the only way to survive. It was the only way to survive.

    It was exactly at that moment that Gretta received a call. But when she heard the voice on the other side, she couldn''t help but be frozen solid.

    "Hello, little sister, your big sis is here to save you. How about we make a deal?"

 Chapter 918: Blasted Open

    Chapter 918: Blasted Open

    Sael stood in a training room, her expression quite blank. Dried streaks of tears left trails of salt down her cheeks, but she didn''t seem to notice.

    She had lost count of how much time she had spent in this training room. It was quite funny, she had made so little progress despite how much time she had put it. At the same time, as much as she would miss Valiant Heart Mountain, she probably had the most memories in this place as opposed to any otherбн this bland, grey walled, vacuous space.

    As for packing her things up, Sael realized that there really wasn''t much to take. When it came to the resources, she decided to let those lesser than herself have those things. When it came to her personal thingsбн All of the most important items were in her storage ring anyway.

    She just wanted to stand here. The speed was too fast, and with a swoosh, Wang Xuan was pulled into the whirlpool, like a little crucian carp that had been hooked and was violedntly pulled out of the water.

    Sael forgot about the half an hour time limit and just stood without a word for a length even she wasn''t aware of. It wasn''t until there was a sudden click at the door that she snapped away, turning her head over. But, when she saw who it was, she simply looked away, her gaze remaining blank.

    "What do you want?" She asked.

    In her mind, she thought her voice would come off colder. But, the reality was just that it sounded quite broken and hollow. She didn''t have enough energy to put up a tough front. She just turned away, not facing the person. If your dare to fish against him like this, no matter if it''s a strange thing on a mobile phone or that ferocious giant fish, you''ll have to pay the price.

    ??? ?? ? ???? This person was, surprisingly, Raylion.

    "Are you done?" He asked.

    The words in context sounded like he was asking about Sael''s state of packing. But, both of them knew quite well that Raylion was actually referring to something far deeper than just this. A fisih is mocking him!

    "Isn''t that exactly what you wanted?" Sael replied. "For me to give up and hand everything to you? Well now you''ve gotten your wish. Congratulations. Enjoy these empty walls none of us can protect."

    Raylion didn''t answer for a long while as the two stood in silence.

    "You aren''t the woman I''ve been chasing after." Then, it was noisys and motionless, instead of reviving here, it chose to disguise it.

    The words were like a stone thrown into a still lake. They seemed to be layered with two meanings that made Sael tremble.

    "All those years ago, Teacher Ingsan chose you as his 15th disciple. I didn''t say anything and just accepted it, even after he said that he would never take another.

    "I''ve always been jealous of you. You are more talented than I am. You have more support than I do. And even though we are both without family, you at least have a little brother left while I have nothing. If ones piece of sword energy can''t solve the problem, then take a few more pieces. Wang Xuan is going to kill it.

    "As much as you love Valiant Heart Mountain, I love it ten times more. As much as this might pain you, it pains me a hundred times more. As much as you want to give up, I want to give up a thousand times more.

    "But, I haven''t."

    Raylion turned to walk away. "I really look down on you, Sael."

    ?????? ???? ????????????.???.

    Sael''s shoulders shuddered, her eyes reddening as her dried tears threatened to burst forth once again.

    **

    Leonel stood at the mountain pass, continuously drawing in the air with a finger. Every swipe he made seemed to carry a unique air to it. If it wasn''t for the fact he was carrying a grown man over his shoulder, he might have even looked to be quite enigmatic.

    An odd Force began to follow the flow of Leonel''s finger. It was an extremely pale violet that was difficult to spot with the high sun above their heads like this and it didn''t seem intent on growing any brighter. Even Leonel himself could only gain a faint glimpse of it. To others, it might not seem to be there at all.

    Leonel had spent a long time thinking about how to strengthen his Mage Arts. But, he realized that his thinking had been far too rigid in this regard.

    Whenever he prepared to create a Mage Art, his first thought would be about the practicality of the Element and what it could accomplish. For example, the Light Element was good for healing, the Star Element was quite hefty and good for energy, etc etc.

    But, after seeing the lotus of arms and hands, Leonel realized that his thinking was lacking.

    He thought to himself, if he had the Wood Element as an affinity, how would he use it? Would he be able to create such a powerful result?

    The answer to that was no. He probably wouldn''t even consider using the Wood Element to attack. He would use it for area control and at most use it for ''life stealing''. However, he would never even consider the possibility that it could create such flexible, powerful attacks.

    It was then that he realized what he was missing.

    [Grand Bell Construct] had been one of the most powerful defensive spells Leonel had. But, why was its shape important? Why was it a bell and not a shield or a dome? Why was it that if Leonel tried to change its form, it would weaken?

    Leonel''s conclusion was that there was an underlying Natural Force to the substance of an object.

    Wasn''t this where Universal Force originated from? It was the comprehension of one of the most natural and ubiquitous Cycles of the Dimensional Verse. Reflecting the Four Season or Heavenly Bodies in one''s comprehension gave a tangible boost to one''s strength.

    But who was to say that these Cycles were the only things that held such a power?

    What if [Grand Bell Construct] was so powerful because it embodied the essence of an ancient bell? What if his Snowy Star Owl''s Instant Recovery was so powerful because it embodied the essence of a mythical creature?

    What if he started forming spells not from scratch, but rather using Natural Phenomena and powerful treasures of the Dimensional Verse instead?

    The possibilities were endless when he thought of things this way. He could imagine Fire Arts created from powerful mythical creatures. He could imagine Star Arts formed by observing real stars. He could imagine using medicinal herbs to form recovery Arts. He could even imagine Space Arts created from observing Void Beastsбн Just what kind of result would that have?

    And right now, observing the Force Arts that formed this pillar, Leonel felt like he was on the verge of creating a spell so powerful it even made him shudder.

    A world of Fifth Dimensional Mage Arts had been blasted wide open.

 Chapter 919: Weed

    Chapter 919: Weed

    Something within Leonel clicked. If one looked within his Dream World, it would be possible to find a partially complete Dream Sculpt of the Valiant Pillars.

    The truth was that the Valiant Pillars weren''t a simple treasure. They had aspects far above the Fifth Dimension to their design and obviously Leonel didn''t have the time to Dream Sculpt all of it, nor would there be a point to. After all, in his current state, the best Mage Arts he could use would be in the Fifth Dimension.

    Luckily, Leonel''s skill in Dream Sculpt had increased. He was able to ''lower the resolution'' of portions that would slow his progress and Sculpt the parts he needed in the highest ''resolution'' possible.

    This technique not only allowed him to Dream Sculpt things with greater speed, but it also left him with just enough information to go back and complete the Dream Sculpt later should he need it, using the parts of ''lower resolution'' to deduce a ''higher resolution'' result. The speed was too fast, and with a swoosh, Wang Xuan was pulled into the whirlpool, like a little crucian carp that had been hooked and was violedntly pulled out of the water.

    This Dream Sculpt had been completed by Leonel long ago. In the past several minutes, he had been using it as the foundation for a new Mage Art, his finger continuously sweeping through the air.

    ''Fascinatingбн King''s Might makes it easier for me to see through the essence of something and capture what makes itбн it. Then these Mage Arts would probably benefit from having King''s Might incorporated into them.''

    Leonel took a deep breath. "[Valiant Seal]."If your dare to fish against him like this, no matter if it''s a strange thing on a mobile phone or that ferocious giant fish, you''ll have to pay the price.

    In that moment, all the wind of the world seemed to freeze as though time itself had come to a halt. The air itself solidified, compressing onto itself in layers and making it harder and harder to move.

    Just then, the ground began to tremble. Something began to rise from beneath the surface forming a dome of earth at first and quickly refining itself into a polished cylindrical construct.

    The moment this odd pillar began to manifest, the impact on the world it had accelerated. By this point, the green leaves of trees stopped swaying, the grass no longer rustled, and even the lava that had been flowing in the area came to a grinding halt, not moving forward a single inch more. A fisih is mocking him!

    The pillar had only risen half a foot out of the ground when Leonel cut his Force off, forcing the spine tingling phenomena to come to a stop.

    Leonel coughed, his charred organs acting up again. Toward this, he could only shake his head.

    If he was still in the Fourth Dimension of his Metal Body, he could probably try absorbing some Star Core, Refractive Gold or Blazing Night to heal himself. But, he had already broken into the Fifth. He wasn''t sure if those Fourth Dimensional Ores would still have the impact he wanted. Then, it was noisys and motionless, instead of reviving here, it chose to disguise it.

    The good news, though, was that those combination of ores had indeed helped his body to withstand his Scarlet Star Force a bit better. If not for this, his Metal Body which currently couldn''t even truly be considered Tier 1 wouldn''t stand a chance.

    ''I need to find Fifth Dimensional Ores very soon. I also need to heal myselfбн It seems that the Force Crafting Guild really is the place I have to go. But maybeбн''

    Leonel narrowed his eyes. His experience with creating [Valiant Seal] taught him a few things. If ones piece of sword energy can''t solve the problem, then take a few more pieces. Wang Xuan is going to kill it.

    First, with a reference to work with, creating new Mage Arts was far easier and tens of times faster. This was probably the inverse for someone else, but for Leonel who had his Dream Sculpt ability, it wasn''t a problem in the slightest. In fact, it could be said that Leonel practically had a cheat code toward creating Mage Arts now.

    ??? ?? ? ???? The second thing he learned, which was a proxy to the first, was that these Mage Arts he created would be far more powerful, not to mention having far less drain on his stamina. This latter conclusion was a surprise to Leonel, but he came to understand after a moment.

    When Leonel ''deduced'' the creation of new Mage Arts, he was building something from the ground up. In addition, though he could streamline the process later, this would often weaken the effective result of the Mage Art.

    Leonel''s attempts at building Mage Arts from the ground up resulted in overly elaborate, though quite beautiful and intricate, constructs. Unfortunately, that made it so that they took time and effort to draw in battle.

    To Leonel, it was still possible due to his abilities. But, just because he could do it didn''t mean that he should, even if he could often quickly replenish the Dream Force he used thanks to his Stars.

    However, now, with King''s Might involved, Leonel only had to use half the Dream Force he would have to otherwise. Coupling that with a far less complex Mage Art overall and this resulted in an added ease that could be measured in tens of times.

    Of courseбн This was only in comparison to if Leonel had to build up a Mage Art from scratch that accomplished the same goal. Just now, Leonel had felt that if he completed the cast of [Valiant Seal], it would have taken up 10% of his stamina, and that was just with the formation of one pillar.

    He had already calculated that for the best, fool proof method of use, he would need to form four pillars. That meant a single cast of [Valiant Seal] would take almost half of his stamina up. And, that was the simplest form of [Valiant Seal] with much of its more complex portion drawn out in ''low resolution''.

    On the other hand, if he used his original method, he would have needed to wait until he reached the peak of the Fifth Dimension to even dream of casting it at all.

    If that was the case, what Leonel needed to think of wasn''t new Mage Arts to use, but he rather needed valuable references that were worth him creating Mage Arts based off on.

    ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? ????????????.??? ?? ?x???????? ??s??? ?????? s????.

    With a thought, Leonel took out a special herb he had had with him for years. Back during the hive island event, he managed to plunder this herbбн Three-Vein Mending Weed.

    Leonel remembered his curiosity back then quite well. He wondered if he could incorporate the Natural Force Arts of this Quasi Black Grade Herb into his armor to give it self healing properties. Of course, back then, he hadn''t known enough about his Divine Armor to know that it was naturally ingrained with such an ability to begin with.

    Now that he thought about itбн he had definitely been really close to using nature as his muse back thenбн

    This was just a Quasi Black Grade Herbбн But it was a good test to see just how powerful this new method of Force Art creation was.

 Chapter 920 - l Need

    Chapter 920 - l Need

    Leonel didn''t have to Dream Sculpt this herb. He had already done so back then and it took him an entire two days. Of course, it would only take him a split second now, but that hardly mattered.

    Leonel closed his eyes for a moment before they flashed open.

    "[Mending Light]."

    Leonel''s body suddenly began to glow as crisscross patterns of what looked like blade marks erupted across him. One could have thought that some sort of Light Elemental Swordsman had instantly cut him into a thousand pieces before retracting his blade.

    Soon, the patterns solidified and sunk into Leonel''s body like some sort of binding rope. Even Leonel couldn''t help but be fascinated by the method the Mage Art took.

    Usually, when he built Mage Arts from the ground up, he would know exactly how it would function before he cast it. But, this form of Mage Arts gave him little surprises from time to time.

    ''I wonderбн No two herbs are identical. What would happen if I had used a different herb of this exact same species? Would the pattern be different?''

    Leonel was completely intrigued. It took him a moment to actually begin analysing the results.

    ''The impact was minimal. But, the fact there was a slight change at all is shocking enoughбн That was a Third Dimensional Mage Art yet it still had some impact, though some of that is because it was created with Fifth Dimensional Light Force.

    ''There''s a glaring problem, though. The Three-Vein Mending Weed is a Wood Elemental herb. Using it as the basis of a Light Elemental Art is already handicapping it.

    ''I not only need to find a stronger herb as a foundation, it also needs to be one that fits with the affinities I have.''

    This was the third thing Leonel realized. He couldn''t just use any reference.

    Why was his [Valiant Seal] so powerful? It was because he had the appropriate Earth and Space Elemental affinities. In fact, because his Space affinity was reliant on his Divine Armor, if he ever chose to build a Divine Armor with a different Element, he likely would never be able to reach the full potential of [Valiant Seal]. That was something he needed to be aware of.

    ''This pathбн It''s excellent.'' All ????? full.com

    Leonel found himself to be quite excited about this. But at the same time, the dread of missing out creeped back up again.

    If he hadn''t run into the Head of Misty Woods and he hadn''t been forced to use his religion in a bid against him, how long would it have taken Leonel to have this breakthrough? There was just so much of this world that he had no idea about.

    ''Holing myself up and thinking of ways to accelerate my strength will never work. I need to experience the worldбн''

    "Mmбн"

    A groggy voice suddenly caught Leonel''s attention.

    "Hey? Hey?! Hey! What the hell is this?! Let me down! Let me down rightбк!"

    Leonel let Aphestus go, causing the latter to fall right onto his large nose.

    It was safe to say that Aphestus was furious. First he had been humiliated by Leonel. Then he had been easily defeated. Then, as though that wasn''t bad enough, he was held up like a sack of potatoes then dropped to the ground like trash.

    He jumped to his feet. Though his nose wasn''t broken as it would take far more than just that to harm his body, it still began to bleed, making his fury funnier than it should be.

    Just when Aphestus was going to implode, he and Leonel both noticed a figure descending from the skies.

    Flying was a difficult thing to do unless you had an ability or a treasure that helped you. Clearly, this person was among the former group and had an ability. It didn''t take long for Leonel to realize that it was Raylion.

    Raylion touched down to the ground, standing exactly two meters from Leonel and the furious Aphestus. He was just as apathetic as ever. This was the same expression he had worn even after Aina had beaten him all those months ago. He just seemed unmoved by most things.

    "Let''s go, Aphestus."

    "Ahбн Butбк!"

    Aphestus had gone through all that trouble to lower himself and ask Leonel to let them join all so that Raylion didn''t have to do the same. But, clearly, Raylion still had no intention of staying like this.

    Raylion didn''t say anything to convince Aphestus, he simply turned and walked away.

    Aphestus let out a deep sigh. He knew that there wasn''t anyone more prideful than Raylion. Or maybe there wasбн But he had just yet to meet the person. Even against such odds, he had no intention of bending a knee.

    Aphestus swept a glance at Leonel, half pleading. But, it soon became obvious to him that Leonel had no intention of saying anything either.

    He felt a flash of hatred for Leonel, but it was quickly overwhelmed by helplessness. Why would the potential Heir of such a powerful family care about them enough to lower his pride for their sake? He probably thought Raylion''s so-called pride to be nothing more than a joke.

    Aphestus clenched his fists and his canines nearly shattered as his jaw trembled.

    They hadn''t known previously that Leonel had such a strong background. Ingsan and Hutchin had only recently ''let it slip''бн Their meaning had been clear, they hoped that some of them would be taken under Leonel''s wing.

    But, Sael was broken, Raylion was too prideful, and heбн well he wanted to stay by Raylion''s side. That was his brother, he couldn''t leave him for greener grass now.

    Aphestus turned and walked away, his poor posture straightening in a rare instance.

    "I need information."

    The voice came suddenly and out of nowhere. It was clearly from Leonel, but when Aphestus'' head snapped back, Leonel was already no longer there.

    "And I need a lot of it."

    The voice rang again.

    Raylion didn''t seem to have stopped his steps for even a moment. But, if one could gaze into his eyes, it would be possible to witness a blazing fire.

 Chapter 921 - Bureaucracy

    Chapter 921 - Bureaucracy

    The Force Crafting Guild was a place of abject luxury. Every tree, every blade of grass, every paved road, and every crystal clear window was immaculately sculpted. Not a single thing was out of place and the pompousness could almost be smelled through the air.

    Although Leonel had never been to the Capital of Earth while war wasn''t raging, he had always imagined that it was like this. However, even to his imagination, this place felt likeбн a bit too much of an exaggeration.

    Every person he passed by seemed to want to make sure that their status was plastered for all to see. They wore their badges prominent to one chest and their affiliations just as proudly to the other. Their noses were practically so high in the air that they didn''t even bother to look down on Leonel for dressing so casually. How could they? Their gazes were enraptured by the skies above.

    It was a miracle that they weren''t constantly bumping into one another on the road. Clearly they weren''t looking where they were going to begin with.

    It could be said that the only good thing about this place was that the air was exceptionally pure and clean. There was even a slight fragrance to it that reminded Leonel of a bakery, but it also wasn''t overwhelming to the point it was taking up all of his senses. In fact, it was barely noticeable at all.

    That, though, was where all the good stopped.

    The moment he had stepped foot into this place, he had been under scrutiny.

    First, at the gates, he was scanned from top to bottom. The check was even more invasive since he didn''t have a Crafters Badge or an affiliation to name. The checked everything from his age to his Dimension level and at some point he was certain the formation they had active took a scan of his teeth as though they might need to identify him when he died.

    After dealing with that ridiculousness, he needed to deal with filling out a questionnaire that would put any security detail at an airport to shame. Not only did he need to state his purpose, how long he would be here, etc, there was even questions asking him about how often he might need to use the bathroom.

    When he asked the attendant why they were asking such ridiculous questions, he received an answer from a completely straight faced lady that said: ''We don''t want needless waste from outsiders.''

    It was like they thought Leonel taking a dump would shift their ecosystem for the worst. But, now that they were being so insistent, Leonel almost wanted to lay a deuce for the ages. All ????? full.com

    He had never seen a place more pompous in his life. It made him feel the urge to piss from some tall walls. He had wondered why even his father''s training program hardly mentioned the Force Crafting Guilds, and now he had a pretty good idea why.

    Leonel still remembered clearly the killing intent in his father''s eyes when he mentioned treating Little Tolly like a friend and companion, not a tool. That fury had to stem from somewhere, and if Leonel had to guess, it was most definitely from this place.

    "Halt! This region is for Crafters alone. Common citizens are not allowed to step foot into this region!"

    Tall guards wearing the most ridiculous golden armor stunted with diamond Leonel had ever seen stopped his forward progress.

    Shaking his head, Leonel presented his documents. He had already gone through all that trouble of filling out those papersбкsomething that had taken up almost 12 hours of his timeбкso he wouldn''t run into trouble later. At least now, it was all prepared and ready. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. After all, he was still in constant pain. Having your inner organs charred to near ash was not a good feeling. If he wasn''t dulling the pain with Dream Sense, he might not even be standing right now.

    "I''ve come to take my Force Crafter Exam." Leonel spoke.

    The guards, each of whom was difficult to look at straight due to how blinding their armor was, looked Leonel up and down. As though seeing him for the first time, they scrutinized his clothing and demeanor. It became clear quite quickly that they weren''t impressed with what they saw.

    One of the guards was about to speak when another pressed a hand to his chest, stopping him. The two made eye contact and a look of realization dawned upon the latter as though he suddenly remembered something.

    "The Force Crafter Exam won''t be taking place today. Come again another time."

    "What?"

    Leonel was stunned. He wasn''t paying very much attention to the actions of the guards because he thought it was all just a formality. But, when he heard these words, he was stunned.

    Leonel had just gone through customs to enter this city. According to all the stuff he had filled out, that was his purpose in this place. With how strict the rules were, if he couldn''t become an official Force Crafter, he wouldn''t be allowed to stay. But, if he wasn''t allowed to stay, that would mean he would have to come back and repeat this process all over again tomorrow.

    Not only would that mean another day of this pain in his organs, it would also mean that he would have to use another 12 hours to go through all that bureaucracy once again. As though that wasn''t bad enough, who''s to say they would even allow him through this time? He had read through the entire sheet and there was a question about how often he had visited the Force Crafting Guild city in the past. Leonel had no doubt that the fact his answer was zero weighed in favor of him entering. What if there was a hidden cap on the number of times individuals could enter this place? Wouldn''t he be screwed, then?

    Leonel''s gaze turned cold when he thought through all of this.

    "Why?"

 Chapter 922 - Charges

    Chapter 922 - Charges

    The guards were stunned by Leonel''s question. Were theyбн being doubted?

    The two suddenly began to look around as though to check whether or not they were in a dream world. Seeing the individuals walking around, some of which had actually noticed that something was off only to begin observing, they quickly came to the realization that they were, indeed, not in a dream. Some Tier 1 fool was actually questioning themбн?

    Leonel stood in silence, his gaze carrying with it a hint of cold. However, without even answering, the sound of tearing paper resonated through the gate entrance. Leonel could only watch as the documents it had taken him half a day to earn were torn to pieces.

    His gaze followed the fluttering pieces of paper as they were whisked away by the wind. The guard who acted seemed intent on staring him down as he tore the documents into smaller and smaller pieces, trying to humiliate Leonel to the greatest extent.

    It was as though they were eager for Leonel to snap, waiting for him to attack so that they''d have all the reason in the world to teach him a more physical lesson.

    "The Force Crafters Exam will not be taking place today. Come again another time." The words were repeated by the sneering guard. "If you can, that is."

    The spectators watched on in curiosity, some who were even waiting to enter the Guild after Leonel rolling their lips over one another as though to hold themselves back from laughing. One of the first rules anyone who came to this planet would learn was the importance of status. The second rule they would learn was the importance of not offending those your status couldn''t be above.

    As long as you followed these two rules, even if you were trampled all over, you would at least be left with a small bit of a face. The question was if you were willing or able to protect this small bit and go about your merry way.

    Over the years, there weren''t a small number of individuals who hadn''t managed to control their anger. However, each one of them had a more miserable ending than the last. By now, it had already been a very long time since anyone tried to stir up trouble. Or, at the very least, it had been a very long time since anyone who dared to cause trouble actually managed to stir up any waves.

    Usually, such people would end up like Leonel here, having barely gotten a question out before suddenly and harshly being ruthlessly suppressed without even room to breathe.

    Leonel didn''t say a word as they guards continued to sneer.

    "What are your names?"

    The second question came out of nowhere almost like the first. In fact, it stunned the two guards once more before the one who tore up the documents began to laugh uproariously.

    "Who the hell are you to ask for our names?! Didn''t you hear me earlier?! SCRAM!"

    The second guard laughed maybe even harder than the first.

    "No, no. Hold on. The little guy must be thinking of revenge, how about we give him some hope, Rio? My name is Xander. Now that you know, what are you going to do about it? I''ll give you three seconds before we throw you out of here."

    Xander already had at least three charges he could drop on Leonel''s head. With how harsh the punishment was in the Guild''s territory, this alone would be able to get him locked away for years, not to mention being pinned with an additional ban even after he got out. He couldn''t help but chuckle as he thought of how this bastard was just ruining himself because he didn''t know how to control his rage.

    What Xander and Rio didn''t know, though, was that if Leonel really wasn''t able to control his angerбн They would already be dead.

    Leonel didn''t even look them in the eye as they reported their names. He stretched out a finger, causing dozens of thin strings of neutral Force to connect with the fluttering torn pieces of document. The moment these Force strings connected, the papers vanished into Leonel''s spatial ring.

    Xander and Rio put on odd expressions when they saw this. What was the point of that exactly? They were more baffled by the action and didn''t even register just how much skill it would have taken to replicate what Leonel had just done.

    "Do you know how many monitoring Force Arts there are in this region? Xander? Rio?" Leonel asked a third question.

    The two guards frowned, but this time, Leonel didn''t let them answer as he began to point.

    "There''s one at every street corner. Given their scopes, there were four that had a vantage point toward this location. There are two at the top of this very gate, that makes six. And finally, there''s my own, making seven in total."

    Leonel finally looked up again. But, even when his gaze met theirs, it felt as though he was seeing right through them, as though they weren''t truly worthy of him gazing upon them.

    "Do you know why I bothered to tell you all of this? The reason is quite simple."

    Leonel''s fingers flipped over, suddenly revealing a piece of torn paper pinched between two of them. On this torn piece of paper, there was a symbol that looked like it had just been freshly stamped. Clearly, it was an authentication seal, something that represented the Guild''s bureaucracy department.

    "What do you think the punishment for destroying government documents is, exactly?"

    The two guards froze.

    бн

    Back in a certain office, a young woman with a cold expression sat at her desk, reviewing some things. She had her hair up in a neat bun without even a single strand out of place and skin tight office clothing that clung tightly to her curvaceous body. However, with her expression, it was hard for anyone to sexualize her.

    Suddenly, she froze.

    ''Hm? He was approved? How? That should be impossibleбн''

    Before the young woman could even investigate, a man with an expression just as cold walked into her office

 Chapter 923 - Bad Luck

    Chapter 923 - Bad Luck

    "Amoray, what is the meaning of this?"

    The stoic middle-aged man stood before the cold young woman, his expression even colder than it usually was.

    Amoray, who had just been delving deep into her own thoughts, was thrown completely off guard by this line of questioning. She hurriedly stood to display her respect, but this didn''t help her understand what her superior was getting at.

    "Sir Engnaril!"

    Amoray''s back stood tall and straight as though she was a soldier rather than the office worker she truly was. She was maybe a bit too eager in her actions because her button down shirt almost threatened to burst. Luckily, the material was flexible and durable enough to hold up.

    Engnaril, though, didn''t seem to notice this in the slightest. Instead, he pulled out a tablet that looked as though it was pulled right from Earth''s technological age. And yet, when one looked at its screen, there were nothing but floating Force Art nodes. It was impossible for a layman to understand just what it was that they were seeing. But, Engnaril read through it as though it was written in plain and simple English.

    "According to this, there was an indefinite visa approved for entry into the Guild''s territory today. Didn''t I tell you that all such processes should be stopped? This is a sensitive time, only those who had already been accepted into an affiliation should be allowed here at this time. You don''t usually make such mistakes, what is happening?"

    Amoray blinked in shock. So, it really was about that.

    "Sir, I did everything according to your orders. But, it would cause problems if everyone who came was simply turned away, so subordinate adjusted the entry requirements to make it so that it should be impossible to enter. Subordinate has no idea how one slipped through, I triple and quadruple checked the algorithm."

    Engnaril frowned.

    Though Amoray didn''t follow what he asked her to do exactly, this was part of the reason she had risen through the ranks so quickly. She understood how to not only follow orders, but how to also choose the best method to do so as well.

    In this case, she was once again thinking of the larger picture.

    The Force Crafting Guild was already labeled as quite uppity and noble by outside sources. It was just that they provided such a necessary service and they were so powerful that the quibbles of the commoners hardly mattered.

    However, even for their Guild, simply turning everyone away without cause or reason would breed more resentment than they were willing to handle. After all, they were just a small branch of the main Guild, even if they enraged all the powers in this region and ended up getting destroyed, there was little the main Guild would be able to do.

    Of course, getting revenge for the main Guild would be as easy as snapping a finger. But, by then, they would already be dead. So, how would that help them?

    To make matters worse, it was unlikely that the powers in this region would do such a thing. It was more likely that they would try to suppress the Guild in various ways and that would be even more annoying to deal with.

    In truth, the odds of these things happening was very small. But, there were always a few madmen who couldn''t understand logic and reason, only to go about doing as they pleased anyway. Though these madmen would often suffer terrible fates, it wasn''t like their victims could come back to life.

    This was all to say that maintaining a balance and at least a fa?ade of fairness wasn''t a bad idea for the longevity of the Guild in this region.

    So, rather than just turning everyone away due to the special guest they were receiving, Amoray decided to modify the algorithm that decided whether a visa would be granted or not to make it so that it would be impossible for anyone to be granted access.

    And yetбн Somehowбн Leonel was still approved.

    "Show me his documents." Engnaril said coldly.

    "Yes, sir!" Amoray reacted quickly, finding Leonel Morales and passing everything on to her superior.

    She had just been about to look through them after realizing what happened. But, she suppressed her curiosity.

    Engnaril flipped through Leonel''s answers, realizing that each one only got more and more sarcastic as he went on. He could almost feel Leonel''s contempt for them all, and yet he didn''t miss even a single line. Engnaril had turned his fair share of people away for accidentally missing questions, and most of them had been annoyed with the long process like Leonel. Yet, Leonel himself hadn''t made this mistake.

    ''There''s nothing special about these answers. Could it be a mistake with Amoray''s change to the algorithm? But that was unlikely with her thoroughness. In addition, there were 10 877 people who tried to gained entry today, yet only one of them got through? If it was a problem with the algorithm, there would have been more than this. Unlessбн''

    Engnaril suddenly through of a possibility.

    "Give me his biometrics."

    Amoray was stunned. Biometrics were saved and stored, but once again to protect against public outrage, there was a large burden that needed to be proven to allow them to be accessed. After all, no one wanted themselves to be laid bare like this just to visit a place.

    But, this was the way of the world. ''Rules'' were only for the weak.

    Engnaril got his hands on everything from Leonel''s teeth X-rays to his blood samples. What he saw made him widen his eyes. By the end of it, his pupils simply couldn''t constrict any further.

    ''бн What bad luckбн A talent like this shouldn''t be in this galaxy. Where did he come from? And why on this day of them all?''

    What he saw could all be summed up in two lines.

    Age: 21

    Dimension: Tier 1, Fifth

    Before Engnaril could even think of making a decision, his tablet vibrated and a voice began to speak.

    "Engnaril, Lady Anya is prepared to take her Force Crafters Exam."

 Chapter 924 - Blood Mercury

    Chapter 924 - Blood Mercury

    Leonel stood before the gates indifferently. Did he think that this would be enough to make it in? Quite frankly, he doubted it. However, he had to try no matter what.

    The truth of the matter was that the greatest issue he was facing weren''t his injuries or even the time it would take to go through this process all over again. Of course, these things were major problems, but they weren''t existential. The main issue was that this might be one of the only chances he ever got to enter the Guild normally.

    Leonel hadn''t forgotten that he was still a wanted criminal. The universe was just so large that enforcing such things was difficult, especially when the information had been suppressed by those who put out his warrant to begin with.

    However, Leonel wasn''t a fool. There was still very much a chance that he would be exposed soon. When that time came, this matter would only blow up all the more. By then, he wouldn''t have a chance to exchange 12 hours for entry into this place at all, even if he was willing.

    He had to take this opportunity while his name and face weren''t known galaxy-wide to accomplish some things or else he would just ram head first into trouble wherever he went.

    If Leonel had to point out what his goals were right now, it was to place down a solid foothold in the Milky Way that extended beyond what he could build on Earth. He didn''t know whyбкat least, it wasn''t something he could put into wordsбкbut for some reason, he innately saw his own grandfather as competition. He saw Earth as a place to be conquered, not as a power backing him.

    Looking at things this way, Leonel was on his own. But, he wasn''t aimless.

    Since the Milky Way Guild was targeting him, he didn''t mind sacrificing it toward his goals. What better way to lay a foundation than to use the resources of the largest Merchant Guild in the galaxy?

    This was all to say that Leonel couldn''t be stalled here, not now. For all he knew, Shield Cross Stars was already aware of his appearance here. He didn''t know how deep their hooks had sunk into this galaxy, but he had to be cautious.

    Just as Leonel was fully prepared for the worse case scenario, a commotion to his back never allowed the guards to reply to his hardly veiled threat. Turning back, Leonel found a carriage of white wood and golden leaves being pulled along by a white steed. The beast''s limbs were powerful and its mane was long and pristinely tailored.

    In truth, it felt as though the beast had stepped right out a fairy tale. The only thing it was missing was a horn and Leonel would believe he had been teleported into another Mythological Zone, this one being for Cinderella.

    However, though this horse looked like a relatively normal horse Leonel would even be able to find on Earth, this was only on the surface. Leonel could sense that its blood was very heavy, rushing through its veins like mercury. Its eyes didn''t seem to be formed of flesh, but rather of an intangible light that floated within their sockets. And, most shocking of allбн

    This steed was within the Quasi Sixth Dimension, and yet it was only tasked with pulling a carriage.

    ''That carriageбн Is a Silver Treasure.''

    The longer Leonel observed, the more ridiculous it all seemed to become.

    Carriages weren''t exactly frequently seen, especially not on this Planet. As one might have expected, those who were allowed vehicles were those of high standing, and most of them chose to travel through the air in sleek, top of the line shuttles. Everyone else had to use their own two feet. Only when it was necessary to cross large distances would they use convenient teleportation hubs drawn from Force Arts.

    This was to say that this carriage was the only one on the streets and its destination was also quite clear.

    The expressions of Xander and Rio changed.

    "Get out the way, move, move!" Rio barked at both Leonel and the others lining up behind him.

    Currently, there was a queue waiting to enter the main territory of the Guild. Of these queues, there were two. One door for those who could enter and exit the main Guild freely and a second for those like Leonel who had more special circumstances.

    These two doors were only small side entrances to the main gate. However, in order to open the main gate, both doors had to be closed and the mechanisms had to be activated.

    Obviously, whoever could ride in a Silver Grade treasure pulled along by a Quasi Sixth Dimensional beast couldn''t possibly use a side entrance to enter the Guild.

    Xander and Rio hadn''t expected the special guest to come so early on so they were already shouting orders. Truthfully, most hadn''t needed their warnings. They knew their place well. They had no intention of getting in the way of such a bigshot.

    Howeverбн Leonel didn''t move a inch. He stood in the middle of the gates as though they were being prepared to be opened for him and him alone.

    "Did you not hear what we said?! Scram!"

    This was their last chance to scare Leonel away. They couldn''t show such an unsightly appearance to this guest. They had been warned so many times that everything needed to be perfect. This was why they couldn''t allow Leonel into the Guild. And yet, this bastard was still causing trouble.

    They immediately unleashed their strength, bearing down on Leonel as though to show him that they weren''t joking.

    Unfortunately for them, other than a slight fluttering of his hair, Leonel was completely unmoved. Both Xander and Rio were Tier 4, making them quite powerful, truth be told. But, Leonel had killed four such experts just yesterday.

    The horse and carriage continued to move forward. The oppressive pressure of the steed alone made Xander and Rio shiver, fear lighting their eyes.

    Leonel might not know the exact species of this steed, but they did.

    The Blood Mercury race. A steed with the temper of a demon and the patience of a lit fuse.

    And now, it was too late to get out of its way.

    Leonel felt a billowing heat suddenly blow down the back of his neck.

 Chapter 925 - Lady Anya

    Chapter 925 - Lady Anya

    Leonel''s hair wafted beneath the wind. He could tell that if it wasn''t for his innate Fire Elemental affinity, this breath alone might have been enough to scorch his skin.

    He turned back, an indifferent look lighting his eyes. It was as though he couldn''t see the fear in the guards nor the surrounding experts.

    When Leonel''s gaze met the steed''s, the latter trembled slightly, its nostrils flaring and its body tensing. For some reason, this steed felt a large amount of pressure from Leonel. It wasn''t the kind of pressure that said Leonel was stronger than it, but rather just the kind of pressure that said it should be afraidбн It was a very subtle difference, almost like it was looking at what Leonel might become rather than what he was.

    There were many races of people in the Dimensional verse, humans and the Oryx being just two that Leonel had met to this point. However, there was a large dividing line between species and this dividing line was humanoid versus bestial.

    Humanoid races of people like humans and Oryx evolve more to rely on their active abilities and their talent was more malleable. But, the consequence of this is that there are more untalented humans that there are talented ones.

    Bestial races evolve to rely on their innate abilities and their talent is far less malleable. However, this likewise means that there are more talented beasts than there are humanoids.

    This major dividing line of knowing how to take and accepting what is given is maybe the most fundamental diverging path of evolution the Dimensional Verse had to offer, from which there were a myriad of differences that could be deduced.

    One such difference was that the instinct of bestial races happened to be far sharper than humanoid races. As such, this steed of the Blood Mercury race was very much in tune with how much fear it should have for Leonel and was thus far more prepared to act on it compared to humans.

    Leonel, who had been indifferent, suddenly smiled and reached out a hand. Under the stunned gazes of those watching, Leonel stroked the horse''s jaw.

    At first, the steed trembled as though afraid that Leonel would harm it. But, when it sensed that Leonel had no ill intent, it neighed lightly, nudging at Leonel''s hand.

    Xander and Rio were frozen in shock. Was this a horse of the Blood Mercury race? Weren''t they known for their fiery tempers? Weren''t they able to stomp a mountain to rubble with a single hoof and disperse the clouds with a single neigh? What the hell was going on here?

    "Little White? Is something the matter?"

    At that moment, a sudden voice rang out. It was so melodious and sweet that silence almost fell, the only thing gracing their ears being the flute-like whistling of the wind as though it too wanted to show its appreciation.

    Leonel couldn''t help but look up and toward the carriage. In his life, he had only heard one other voice comparable. Suddenly hearing such a thing now caught him somewhat off guard.

    This voice didn''t carry the same innate coercion, but something told Leonel that this was only because she was able to control it better. And, even without this coercion, even without seeing her face, one could already feel the innate want and need to protect her.

    Just from this voice alone, Leonel could tell that this woman within the carriage was powerful.

    It had to be said that the carriage itself didn''t have a driver, nor were there any windows. Clearly, this Blood Mercury steed had more than enough intelligence of its own to find its destination on its own. But, it was exactly because of this that the sudden and abrupt stop was out of the young woman''s expectations.

    The guards suddenly snapped out of their shock and remembered their duty. However, by the time they wanted to figure out a path to take out of this so that they could avoid blame, the clicking sound of the carriage''s doors openedбн and then they all witnessed the descent of a Goddess.

    The first thing any of them saw was the hem of her long, white dress, so long in fact that it completely masked her feet, leaving it all to their imagination. The dress itself was quite plane and wasn''t overly embroidered, but despite how loose it was around her legs, it still couldn''t'' help but cling slightly to her hips.

    When the young woman''s head dipped out of the carriage, it was like a refreshing breeze whistled through the world. The sun seemed dimmer, the skies more somber, even the beautiful streets of the Guild paled, unable to match upбн And this was all despite the fact this young woman wore a veil.

    Her long white hair fluttered, disappearing into the folds of her dress. A pair of golden eyes looked around curiously, an innocent twinkling within their depths that made one hope no harm would ever come to her. The only patches of her soft, fair skin one could see were upon her forehead and her slender, swan-like neck, and yet it was still enough to entice the masses.

    The young woman blinked when she saw Leonel petting her horse. She knew well the kind of temper her Little White had. It didn''t even allow others to get close, let alone touch her. This was a shocking scene, indeed.

    "Ah! Lady Anya! I''m sorry for failing to greet you!"

    At that moment, several powerful auras surged out from the Guild, each wearing aggrieved expressions as the large gates were finally opened wide. This Lady Anya was really too difficult to get a read on. She had just informed them minutes ago that she wanted to take her exam now, yet she was already here. She didn''t give them time to prepare much of anything.

    All this time, though, Lady Anya, who was still part descended and part not from her carriage, continued to look at Leonel with an almost child-like curiosity in her eyes.

    "Who are you?! Why are you in Lady Anya''s way?!"

    One of the elders immediately snapped upon seeing Leonel''s back, her aura bearing down with the pressure of a Tier 7 existence as though she had every intention of slaughtering him where he stood.

 Chapter 926 - Justice!

    Chapter 926 - Justice!

    The aura washed through the streets. The spectators felt as though their hearts were suddenly caught in their throats and the two guards, Xander and Rio, caught in the line of fire, almost wanted to prostrate themselves to the ground.

    Everyone seemed to look toward Leonel who must have been feeling the brunt of it. Some had expressions of subterfuge, others pity, and others were just focused on staying out of it, not wanting to get dragged into this mess.

    However, what no one expected was for Leonel to suddenly look back and gaze toward the older woman who had yelled at him as though he was seeing a savior.

    "Ah! You finally came! I really need your help!"

    Leonel dashed to stand before the woman, ignoring the beautiful Lady Anya and Little White. Among the two of them, though, it seemed that Little White was the most dissatisfied with Leonel''s ''departure'', as she was very much enjoying being pet.

    Leonel stood before the older woman with a half pleading expression as though a child seeking out his grandmother for being wronged. Obviously, the older woman had no security to speak of. After all, even though Crafters usually had poor combat prowess, they were also known for having various Crafts to make up for that gap.

    If there was any singular group of people with the most trump cards in the world, it was definitely a Force Crafter. And, more specifically, a Force Crafter who was nearing the end of their lifespan and had little else to do but tinker in hopes of a breakthrough.

    Plus, the older woman was a Tier 7 existence. She wasn''t under any threat from anyone. Even the guards of the Guild should be afraid of her. The only reason she was even making a public appearance now was due to Lady Anya''s own appearance.

    This was all to say that not only was there no one who blocked Leonel, but there was also no one even in position to block him to begin with.

    In the blink of an eye, he had appeared before the older woman. Due to their difference in height, he was practically towering over her, and yet he still managed to seem like the harmless child in this exchange.

    "Ma''am, you seem to be very powerful and have high standing, right? Then I ask that you please administer justice for me.

    "I just spent the last half day going through customs and this is my first time in the Guild''s territory. I have to say that I''m in awe of its beauty and grandeur, and up until the moment I reached the gates, I was enthusiastic and excited to become a great Crafter.

    "However, when I got to the gates and presented my documents, these two guards here actually tore them up! I was appalled. The dignity of the Guild was actually being blasphemed in such a way, even two guards dared to simply shred its prestige in the face of so many eye witnesses!

    "I have to say that I''ve never felt more terrible, even my heart aches. I was told that the Force Crafting Guild was the best place to be for my future, that it was a place where anyone could become a Crafter so long as you had the skill.

    "But, I was turned away just because I wanted to take the Force Crafters Exam! These two, Xander and Rio, even implied that they''d turn me away every time I came! Please help me!"

    Leonel''s voice was imploring and moving, it even looked like he might shed a real tear at any moment. On top of that, he had spoken so quickly and with such conviction and clarity that despite being stunned, the old woman who had had every intention of blowing her top, could only be shocked to the point of deflating like a balloon.

    It was clear that even she couldn''t ignore the slight coercion in Leonel''s voice. In fact, many of those who were listening, even when they had been sneering before, suddenly felt the need to feel bad for him.

    If the old woman had gathered her thoughts first, maybe she would have had a different reaction. But, seeing Leonel''s plea and how he suddenly swung his body to point toward the two pale guards, she spoke before she even realized what was happening.

    "Is what he says true?"

    The old woman regretted her words almost instantly. This wasn''t what she should have asked. She should have pretended that Leonel was speaking nonsense and told him to scram, maybe even find a trumped up charge to have him arrested or banned from their world. However, since she asked this, she had opened up a can of worms.

    ''Dammit! Deny it! Deny it you fools!'' The old woman screamed in her mind.

    Xander and Rio, having no idea what the old woman was thinking, panicked. All they could remember was Leonel pointing out all of the cameras, not to mention pointing out that he had recorded the event personally as well. How could they assume that the older woman would be willing to lie for them? They both thought they were caught. They only hoped that by telling the truth, they could get a lesser punishment.

    The two lowered their heads and gripped their fists.

    "бн Y-yes. It''s true."

    "Youбн Youбн"

    The older woman pointed a wrinkled finger toward the both of them. To outsiders, it looked as though she was enraged by their foul conduct. But the reality was that she was infuriated by the fact they hadn''t dared to be foul enough!

    How was she supposed to deal with this situation now?! Not only had their branch Guild made a terrible first impression, but in order to save some face she might even have to extend some sort of olive branch to this troublemaker.

    She practically seared Leonel''s face into her memories. She was already thinking of several ways to make Leonel''s life a living hell. Since you wanted to be in the Guild so bad, she would show him what it meant to be in the Guild!

 Chapter 927 - Who Said?

    Chapter 927 - Who Said?

    Just when the older woman was about to reach a decision for what to do, a sudden aura approached. Engnaril appeared in their midst not long later, scanning the situation with a hint of helplessness marring his brow.

    After a split moment, he bowed respectfully.

    "Lady Anya, Elder Isoltihneбн"

    He greeted Anya and the older woman, giving the other elders a cursory greeting as well.

    "My apologies, there''s been a mistake at the border. Leonel Morales, correct? Since this mistake is on me and my department, how about I extend you a Green VIP card? You''ll be able to enter and exit Guild territory for a year without fees or due process. It''ll just take a day to finish the procedures and then you can go about your business. Will that be okay?"

    Leonel''s pleading expression had already vanished toward one of neutrality. He already realized that there wasn''t much of a point in keeping the act up. The moment this Engnaril appeared, the situation was already far out of his control. Unless he was willing to completely fall out with the Force Crafting Guild and battle it out right here, this was as far as he would go.

    Plus, how would that end, anyway? In order to get anything out of it, he would probably have to just plunder the treasure stores of the Guild. If he really did that, he''d just gain himself another powerful enemy.

    From what Leonel understood, this Force Crafting Guild was just a small branch. But, it represented the prestige of the main branch as well. No one would be let off after just randomly plundering an entire Guild, unless he could hide his identity.

    But, it was already too late for that. He didn''t have enough skill to fool all those scanners and sensors just yet, nor did he have the time to invest in creating the Force Crafts or Arts that could. This was why he didn''t even bother to try for a disguise this time.

    However, if he kept running into trouble like this, it might be a worthwhile investment.

    All this said, this so-called ''Green VIP'' Engnaril spoke of might be a worthy trade offбн if he ever got his hands on it, that is. It was clear that by Engnaril saying ''it would take a day'', that they still wanted Leonel to get out of their sights as quickly as possible. And, it didn''t take a genius to understand that all of this was for Anya.

    Seeing the sudden indifference on Leonel''s face, Engnaril''s gaze narrowed. He knew well how Leonel had managed to slip through the cracks.

    The immigration practices across the universe was actually not much different from what you might find on Earth. Visas, citizenship, green cards, workers permitsбн Even if they might not always go by the same name, the concepts are the same.

    For more stringent worlds like this one, even for a ''vacation'', you had to meet certain standards comparable to what most worlds would ask to become a citizen. In that case, the algorithm had a test for youth and talent, obviously preferring people of a certain caliber to enter these walls.

    Leonel''s talent was so great that even under the modified algorithm, he still managed to get through the screening which led to this situation.

    Ultimately, everyone else thought that Leonel was a country bumpkin stirring up trouble. But, Engnaril knew well that things weren''t so simple. In fact, if it wasn''t because of Anya, he might be forced to fawn over Leonel instead. Still, he had no choice but to pick his battles.

    At that moment, though, he felt as though Leonel was seeing right through him, unfazed by his word games and his attempts at pleasing both parties.

    In truth, Leonel was infuriated. He valued Respect above most things and right now he felt like his time was being wasted because these people thought it was better to anger him on route to pleasing Lady Anya.

    This so-called ''Green VIP'' card he would be given, regardless of how rare or nice it was, practically felt like a pat on the head he would receive for being a ''good boy''.

    He had followed all the rules, done everything he needed to do, and even up until this point he had yet to lash out at anyone, but it simply didn''t matter. Even in a situation where you did everything perfectly and as they should be done, if those with power wanted to find fault with you, they would find it.

    So, while Leonel stared at Engnaril emotionlessly, about to begrudgingly accept his proposal since he had no real choice in the matter, he had already remembered these matters in his heart.

    "Um, excuse me?"

    Before Leonel could speak, that sweet voice rang out again. As though moths to a flame, all the elders and Engnaril turned over. All they were missing were tails to wag.

    Anya blinked her large, golden eyes. Though it was hard to tell with her veil on, she looked to be at most around 17 years old. Though, she had the voice of a mature woman.

    "Did I come at the wrong time? If we can''t take our exams today, I can just come back another time."

    The expressions of the elders changed. How were they supposed to respond to this? Were they supposed to say that they were barring others from taking their Exams just so that she could do so alone? But saying such a thing so bluntly would cause problems.

    Plus, no one had known she was here to take an Exam even if they had some guessesбн Until right this very moment. Now it was almost impossible to hide it.

    Luckily, Engnaril was quick on his feet.

    "No, no. It isn''t that, Lady Anya. The problem is that our small branch is most suited to give Black Grade Exams. Even all the elders here had to travel to larger branches to receive their Bronze certifications. So, in order to prepare and be certified for you Bronze Grade Exams, we had to set up a lot of things. As of right now, we couldn''t hand out a Black Grade Exam even if we wanted to, that is why we''re turning so many people away."

    The elders quickly nodded, feeling that Engnaril was truly quick on his feet to think of such an excuse. Plus, it wasn''t entirely incorrect either. It had some kernels of truth to it.

    But it was then that Leonel''s lip curled.

    "Who said I wasn''t here to take a Bronze Grade Exam? Did you even ask?"

 Chapter 928 - Target

    Chapter 928 - Target

    Engnaril was stunned. He had thought his plan to be foolproof, but now he could only try his best to hold back an ugly expression.

    According to the files, Leonel was Tier 1. In addition, the scan hadn''t caught the sign of any other lifeforms on him, so it was most likely that he didn''t have a Spirit by his side, making it so that his Force Crafting would be limited.

    Of course, Spirits were rare, so this wasn''t exactly a negative on Leonel, it was just an observation, one that was just as important as the first.

    As someone who was in Tier 1, it was impossible for Leonel to have had the Soul Force needed to Craft Bronze treasures for long. In addition, considering Leonel age, Engnaril would guess that Leonel had been in the Fifth Dimension for a month or two at best. Any longer, and considering his talent, he would have progressed far more than he had.

    This was all to say that if Engnaril had to assign a probability, he would guess with 97% assuredness that Leonel was not a Bronze Crafter and was, at best, a Quasi Bronze Crafter, a feat that was still very much excellent for his age. In fact, Engnaril thought that he had vastly overestimated Leonel as well.

    But hearing this, he felt like he was at a loss for words.

    The elders looked over toward Leonel as though they wanted to tear him to shreds, especially Isoltihne. It was clear that none of them believed Leonel. They weren''t aware of what Lady Anya''s backing was exactly, but they knew of the person who requested for them to take care of her. Such a person wasn''t an individual they could afford to offend, and yet even they were subservient to Anya. This was enough to tell them just what a fearsome existence Lady Anya must be.

    And yet, this little troublemaker was trying to ruin everything.

    Unfortunately, before they could say anything, Anya''s expression lit up. She clapped her hands together, her slender fingers and delicate palms turning red at just the slight strain.

    "That''s excellent! Then we can take the exams together!"

    Anya seemed to be excited. Her smile bloomed beneath her veil, but it was just a shame that they could only catch the faintest shadow of it all.

    At that moment, the elders knew the situation was helpless. They didn''t even get the chance to twist Leonel''s arm into admitting that he was lying. It was all very infuriating. However, the troublemaker himself no longer spared them a glance, smiling in thanks to Anya.

    Leonel had never blamed Anya to begin with. After all, it was clear that this had all been done without her knowledge. At the same time, he also had a feeling that she wasn''t as na?ve as she was pretending to be. Clearly, she was helping him. For this, he was grateful.

    A beauty who also had a kind heart. Worthy of praise, indeed.

    Engnaril and the elders looked at each other, not quite knowing what to do. But, Anya pushed them along with her next words.

    "Little White is getting tired after pulling my carriage along all day, she would like to graze and relax a bit. I hope that we can start the Exam sooner rather than later so she can have some rest."

    "Ahбн Yes, yesбн" Isoltihne reacted. "Please, this way."

    Anya didn''t bother to enter her carriage once again, walking beside Little White with a light smile on her face.

    "Thank you."

    Leonel''s voice was neither too loud nor too soft, so the elders leading the way forward, including Engnaril, definitely heard him aim these words toward Anya. And yet, they could only pretend like they hadn''t heard a thing.

    Anya looked over toward Leonel with sparkling eyes, her gaze carrying a hint of mischief, another hint of intelligence, and a splash of curiosity and kindness as she examined Leonel''s face.

    "I''m Anya."

    Leonel chuckled. "I''m Leonel."

    "Just Leonel?" Anya blinked.

    "Just Anya?" Leonel replied.

    "Ah, right, Lady Anya." Anya said triumphantly.

    Leonel was speechless for a moment before he burst out into a fit of laughter. What was truly adorable was that Little White followed along with Leonel''s lead, letting out successive ''jijiji'' sounds.

    Anya felt betrayed. Little White seemed to like Leonel even more than her.

    **

    Across galaxies, Aina walked through a mansion under the escort of a maid, a cold expression hidden beneath her black mask.

    "Here, Miss Brazinger."

    Aina nodded and entered the room. However, she was a bit surprised to find that there wasn''t anything but an empty desk and chair. Of course, there were other office-like decorations like book cases and the like. But, other than that, the person she was sent here to meet was nowhere to be seen.

    "Sorry for not being able to meet you face to face, Miss Brazinger. However, we''re in a bit of a sensitive time, at the moment. I had no choice but to bring you forward like this."

    Aina understood and didn''t say much as the sudden voice pervaded the room. It was impossible to tell where it came from and even more impossible to pinpoint where the Force Art sustaining it was. So, there was no point in bothering.

    "I''ll get right to the point. I have a mission for you."

    Aina was prepared for as much. She had accepted Rychard''s proposal to join his faction for a few simple reasons.

    For one, she didn''t particularly care what sort of position it put her father in. This wasn''t to say that she didn''t care about her father, but rather that they weren''t a family that harped over minor details. ''Political'' strife wasn''t something they took seriously.

    Secondly, Rychard''s proposal provided her the most training resources. It was as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less.

    However, she was also aware that there was nothing free in this world. But, she didn''t mind. These missions would just be more opportunity to train and hone her skills.

    "Your target is the Luxnix family."

 Chapter 929 - Show Me!

    Chapter 929 - Show Me!

    Leonel and Anya were escorted into a large room. There was just a single workbench present at the very center of it all and five chairs prepared for the elders that would be, presumably, overseeing it all. Clearly, they had only prepared a single workbench believing that Anya would be the only one taking her exams, but Leonel had thrown a wrench into those plans.

    To make matters worse, Leonel and Anya seemed to be laughing and joking amongst each other as though they were two old friends. It was difficult for the elders to even interject with any snide remarks without simultaneously offending Anya herself who was clearly enthusiastically responding to everything Leonel said. So, they could only bite their tongues.

    In truth, they didn''t care about whether one or two people took the exam now. Their issue with Leonel wasn''t that he was here, but rather that he had made them lose face. Every happy interaction Leonel had with Anya was like another slap to their faces. It was as though they felt like he was snatching the good impression Anya was supposed to have of them for himself.

    Engnaril followed along with furrowed brows. He was meant to act as an ambassador for Anya so he wasn''t necessarily participating in this as a Crafter. But, that only made his emotions even more complicated than the other elders.

    In the end, there was Elder Isoltihne who would have very much liked to lop Leonel''s head off his neck. But, she too could only stifle herself.

    "I thought that you would be mean, but you''re actually very nice." Anya said with a giggle.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Him? Mean? Since when did he give off that sort of impression?

    "Mean?"

    "Mhm. Your eyes always look like they''re calculating something, like you have a barrier up for the world. Plus, there''s something dangerous coming off from your body that you seem to be suppressing. You should smile more, yours is not bad to look at."

    Anya seemed to be commenting off hand, not thinking very much about what she was saying as her soothing voice tickled their eardrums. But, Leonel felt his heart skip a beat.

    Was he like that? He had always thought himself to be quite charismaticбн He had even managed to turn a school of nobles into one with a student body that actually respected a commoner like himбн

    Leonel would often think of those times as he hopped from organization to organization, baffled as to why he couldn''t have the same positive effect on them he had had on Royal Blue Academy. Why was it that he made enemies everywhere he went and yet he was probably the most popular guy in his school?

    The dichotomy was something he had always blamed on the Dimensional Verse. It was a place that could even ignore his own charisma because it was more intent on fighting and killing than forging relationships and building a kind heartбн

    But was that true? What if he was just receiving the energy he was putting out?

    Leonel didn''t think the answer was so simple. There definitely were cruel factors in the Dimensional Verse he couldn''t control. But, did that mean he had to close himself off completely?

    Leonel''s pale violet eyes seemed to glow lightly. His emotional intelligence and charisma were among the most useful traits he had, but it seemed that he had been handicapping himself. He rarely led with his charisma anymore. He was more apt these days to lead with indifference and only open up to a smile if someone responded the way he wanted them toбн But that built up a flaw in his character.

    He had been so on guard against the Dimensional Verse that he was changing even himself to fit the parts he hated so much about it. What an irony.

    Leonel couldn''t help but gaze at Anya quite deeply. This woman had only known him for about ten minutes. Was it a coincidence she had said something so profound? Or was it deeper than that?

    "There you go, calculating again." Anya said with a pout.

    Leonel didn''t seem to mind this and smiled instead.

    "You''re quite smart for a little girl."

    "Hey! Who''s a little girl! I''m already a woman, I''ll have you know. I''m 20 years old!"

    Anya stuck her ample chest out as though to prove a point, but all she got from Leonel was more laughter, causing her pout to only grow more pronounced.

    "Thank you," Leonel suddenly spoke seriously. "That''s already twice today. I guess I owe you two favors now."

    Anya smiled knowingly but didn''t say much of anything else.

    At that moment, Elder Isoltihne cleared her throat, taking the central position of the five chairs. The room was exceptionally hollow, making their voices echo. It was obvious that this room was usually able to test thousands of amateur Crafters at a time. But now, it would only test two.

    "Apologies, we only prepared a single Bronze workbenchбк"

    "No problem, granny. I don''t really need a workbench."

    Elder Isoltihne''s jaw clenched so hard it twitched. Who was your granny?!

    She cleared her throat, trying to bury her rage.

    "We didn''t prepare the theory section of the Crafter''s Exam because we have reason to believe that Anya has already met the standard. But, it is uncertain thatбн"

    Elder Isoltihne looked up toward Leonel, clearly wanting his name for the record. Usually, Leonel would just hand over his documents. But, obviously this was impossible nowбн Unless he got a whole bunch of tape first.

    "Leonel." He finished.

    Elder Isoltihne all but rolled her eyes. "We need your full name for the records."

    "Right," Leonel chuckled, forgetting that he was no longer playing a game with Anya, "Leonel Morales."

    "Ah!" Anya''s eyes widened.

    She lifted her skirt, hopping to stand before Leonel and looking him up and down. She looked like a little girl who had found a new toy. The elders had no idea how to react to her antics.

    "Do you have one? Show me! Show me!"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Couldn''t this girl choose her words more carefully?

 Chapter 930 - Certification

    Chapter 930 - Certification

    "What are you talking about?" Leonel chuckled and shook his head.

    Though he could make a few guesses, he still didn''t jump to any conclusions. Who knew what this girl was asking to see?

    In truth, Leonel knew that he was a bit too casual with his treasures. He didn''t put enough effort into hiding them. A portion of the reason why was because he didn''t have a good frame of what was rare and what wasn''t, but another was definitely that he was just a bit careless.

    The more powerful Leonel became, the more he felt that the people of this quadrant were actually quiteбн weak. He felt like the difference between him and them wasn''t very far apart even while he was in the Third Dimension, let alone now that he was in the Fifth. Even Elder Isoltihne who had experience two watersheds of the Fifth Dimension wasn''t able to make him feel any pressure.

    However, Leonel''s experiences in the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world showed him that it wasn''t that the world was weak, but rather that his scope of the world was too small. Even while so heavily suppressed and with himself having every advantage, he had still lost so miserably to Amery.

    If it was just this, things might have been fine. After all, Amery was in the Sixth Dimension while he hadn''t even truly stepped into Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension. However, Leonel felt that if it wasn''t for the suppression of the trial, he wouldn''t have stood a chance against Kira while he had been at the Peak of the Fourth Dimension. Even beyond that, he didn''t believe that defeating even the likes of Rychard and that other man would have been a simple matter either.

    If there was anything that trial taught Leonel it was that he shouldn''t underestimate this world. There would be nothing simple about achieving his goals.

    This was all to say that he felt that if he was going to really do this, he had to learn to be a bit more cautious about some things. So, he didn''t immediately guess at what it was Anya wanted to see.

    "Don''t be like that!" Anya said with an almost pleading tone.

    "You know, just because you heard my last name, are you really sure of my origins? Can''t there be other people with the Morales name that aren''t from where you think I''m from?"

    Anya pouted. "Isn''t the fact you said that enough to prove that I am right? Then againбн Only ignorant people say stuff like that, maybe you really aren''t from themбн"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. He was finding it harder and harder to get a read on this girl. Was she mischievous? Introspective? Empathic? Or was it just that she enjoyed pointing out his flaws so much?

    Seeing that Leonel wasn''t reacting as fast as she wanted him to, Anya shook her head and turned toward the elders.

    "I can vouch for Leonel. His skill in theory is maybe better than mine. I don''t come from a family of Crafters, but his family is one that can ignore even the main branch of the Force Crafting Guild and not suffer from it. In fact, the main branch was only created so that other families would have a way of countering them. Good enough? Okay. Let''s move on to the application part!"

    Hearing these words, the elders froze, looking toward Leonel with incredulous expressions.

    By now, though, Leonel was certain that what Anya wanted to see was Little Tolly. If not for this, she wouldn''t be so eager to move on to the application portion of the exam. As for the reaction of the elders, he didn''t particularly care.

    Leonel knew that he didn''t have much relation to the Morales family. For all he knew, they were quite hostile to him.

    Of course, this wouldn''t stop him from participating in their Heir Wars. And, it most definitely wouldn''t stop him from allowing these elders to misunderstand. This was an opportunity to save himself some trouble, so why wouldn''t he take advantage?

    "Thisбн" Elder Isoltihne wasn''t sure how to accept this information.

    On the one hand, she didn''t want to believe it. But, on the other, she couldn''t refute this young girl either. Even if she reached out and said that she wanted half the resources of their branch, Isoltihne would just have to accept it.

    Engnaril stood a distance away with his face also having frozen. But, there was nothing he could do either.

    "Thenбн" Isoltihne cleared her throat. "бн We will begin with the spirit control portion of the exam."

    A strong pressure descended after Isoltihne clapped her hands. However, Leonel felt that his body was perfectly fine. If there was any change at all, it was a slight sluggishness in his Soul Force.

    That was when he understood. This pressure was supposed to make it more difficult for you to use your Soul Force freely. This sort of control was invaluable for a Crafter.

    Two sets of rings appeared before Leonel and Anya, stretching out a ten meter distance from them. There were just a pair of rings before each of them, one within arm''s reach and the other exactly ten meters away. However, somehow, this ten meter distance felt like infinity.

    "Take control of your Familiars to travel the distance between these rings. A minimum travel distance of one meter is necessary to pass. Please begin."

    "One moment." Leonel suddenly called out. "I have a question."

    Isoltihne, who still couldn''t stand the sight of Leonel''s face, still had no choice but to accommodate him for nowбн At the very least, she had to until they could corroborate Anya''s words. It was obvious that Anya had just met Leonel, so how could they take her words for fact? Especially when they didn''t want to believe these words to begin withбн

    "Yes?"

    "Is it only possible to become a Tier 1 Bronze Crafter during this exam? What do I need to do to aim for a higher certification?"

    Isoltihne''s expression darkened. "We can certify up to the Tier 3 Bronze Grade. However, that requires a minimum of three meters crossed for this test."

    She truly felt like her time was being wasted.

    Leonel shook his head. Was there that much of a difference between Tier 1 and 3? If it wasn''t for the fact he needed the resources of this place, he wouldn''t even bother.

    "Alright." Leonel nodded.

    Flipping his palm over, a smooth ball of silver appeared, bobbing up and down above his hand.

    Anya''s eyes lit up. However, when the elders saw it, their gazes lit up with something far different than an innocent curiosity.

 Chapter 931 - Rumors

    Chpater 931 - Rumors

    ''Metal Spirit!''

    The heartbeats of Isoltihne, the other elders and even Engnaril in the distance all skipped at once. But, even then, it was especially so for Engnaril.

    Engnaril had assumed that Leonel couldn''t be a very powerful Crafter because the scanners didn''t detect even a Pseudo Spirit, let alone the complete one he was seeing now. So, to him, the appearance of this Metal Spirit meant something far different than what it did to the others and his heart couldn''t stop trembling out of control.

    ''He has a spatial treasure that can store life.''

    Engnaril forced himself to calm down. For one, there was the matter of Leonel''s background. If he had such a treasure, that only confirmed Anya''s words as more than just nonsense a mischievous little girl was spewing to help someone they saw as a friend.

    In addition, it was also possible that this was Leonel''s ability. The one thing their scanners didn''t test for was Ability Index. If they did so, it would cause an uproar, so they had no choice but to make such a Concession. Some forms of Beast Taming Ability Indexes also evolved such that their users could have inner worlds to maintain and nurture their creatures. So, he knew he shouldn''t jump to conclusions.

    Howeverбн when that greed bloomed, it became difficult to suppressбн Especially when the Metal Spirit before him was more valuable than even most spatial treasures of that caliber.

    Leonel ignored those around him, a bright smile blooming on his face.

    "Hey little guy, how was your spa day?"

    "*Bloop!*Bloop*"

    Leonel chuckled. Usually, he would have Little Tolly on his wrist. But, after the Segmented Cube evolved, it gained the ability to nurture spirits as well. So, he had been leaving Little Tolly in there.

    In truth, Leonel felt a bit bad after neglecting Little Tolly for so long so he had been spending a lot of time communicating with the little guy, especially during the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial where he didn''t really have much to do anyway. So, the two were much closer now than they had been back when Leonel had left him for two years.

    Of course, it wasn''t exactly Leonel''s fault that that had happened. But, Little Tolly was still in his infancy stages. You couldn''t exactly tell a baby why it was logical that their parent had left them, right?

    The result was Leonel being especially doting toward Little Tolliver now.

    "So cute!" Anya all but squealed as she watch Little Tolly turn into all sorts of shapes and sizes.

    Leonel smiled but didn''t say much of anything.

    "Alright, Little Tolly. Let''s go."

    "*Bloop!"

    Little Tolly shot out from floating above Leonel''s palm like a speeding bullet. In one instant, it was before Leonel, and in the next, the little guy was hovering just past the three meter mark, dancing about with a childish flare.

    Sometimes Little Tolly would take the shape of a star, sometimes something as random as a baseball bat, and other times it would even become creatures.

    The little guy''s favorite creature to imitate was definitely Little Blackstar, so it would often become an adorable little silver mink, its whiskers twitching about as though to mock its foe in his absence.

    Leonel didn''t restrict Little Tolly''s freedom or adventurous side in the slightest. One would have thought that this would impede his control, but even as Little Tolly flipped between whatever images came to its mind, the little one still hovered exactly at three meters without strain to either Leonel or itself. pa?da ?ov?l

    With just a casual beckoning of his finger, Little Tolly came back, hopping up and down in the air as though asking for praise.

    The elders and Anya watched in astonishment as Leonel actually pet the little silver mink without a care for his hands. Anya would have screamed out to say something, but she too was a bit in shock that Leonel had passed the test so easily.

    They suddenly realized right then that Leonel wasn''t bluffing. If not for the Tier 3 cap, how far could he go?

    As the tests blazed by one after another, even the likes of Elder Isoltihne had to admit that they had provoked a monsterбн

    **

    Back in the Three Pillar Galaxy, Planet Luxnix had entered an odd state as though a fog was beginning to hang over them. Odd rumors about matters from decades ago began to circulate. Even now, the matter was still quite slow and subtle, no one daring to offend the Luxnix family with too much brazenness. But, every time it seemed that those rumors would be smothered, the fire seemed to be rekindled elsewhere.

    Though the Luxnix family was still unable to confirm it with absolute certainty, they were smart enough to begin guessing that someone was definitely targeting them.

    Rumors in and of themselves weren''t a big deal. However, the larger the family, organization or Guild, the more they would have to worry about such things. One only need to look toward the example of Camelot to understand why.

    When it came to the Dimensional Verse, even a false story when spread wide enough could come to life, let alone a story many thought was plausible or even probable.

    For the Luxnix family that placed such an emphasis on purity as a result of their Lineage Factor, such a story of impurity circulating around could even begin to subtly weaken the power of their Bloodline. Such a thing was far more serious than it seemed to the point where the Luxnix family would easily become irreconcilable with anyone who dared to spread such a thing.

    Butбн What would they do if everyone felt it was ''true''?

    бн

    At that moment, there was a group of young men indulging in the fine dining Planet Luxnix had to offer. It was said that the unique air of this world allowed women to grow up to become more beautiful, so they were quite famed for their gorgeous waitresses and hostesses.

    This reason alone was enough for countless young men, even from other noble Sixth Dimensional families, to flock toward this location, especially after finishing a hard mission.

    Among these group of young men, there was a particularly one by the name of Ossanбн The very target of the first of Rychard''s plans.

    He chugged his beer grandly, leering at the perky bottoms of a passing waitress before leaning forward toward his group of friends.

    "Have you all heard those rumors?" He whispered with flushed cheeks.

    бн

    Right then, a figure dressed in leather armor and wearing a black mask casually entered the same restaurant.

    [Author''s Note: There will only be 2 chapters today, a headache has gotten the best of me. There will also, unfortunately... Be no chapters tomorrow. I will be back the day following with 4 chapters. It''s about time we get to the meat of this volume...]

 Chapter 932 - 10%Faster

    Chapter 932 - 10%Faster

    The moment the young men around Ossan heard his words, their expressions twisted. Whenever this fool got a few shots of alcohol in him, he always forgot about everything else.

    They were quite literally in Luxnix territory, all while having lunch in one of their more famous restaurants. This was the worst time to bring up a scandal like this.

    As young nobles of their families, they had been trained in etiquette and personal brand and safety since they were old enough to put their clothes on by themselves. Among those lessons was the care they needed to take when out in public, especially when there were so many flies with ears buzzing around.

    Who knew how many young masters had had their lives ruined by being overheard by a pretty waitress?

    The truth was that they weren''t meant to be there to begin with. The moment such rumors started floating around, Ossan''s elder brother had strictly banned his young buffoon of a younger brother from coming to planet Luxnix to begin with. However, it was exactly this ban that made Ossan want to come all the more.

    The current Ossan was followed by two youths, one of which was from First City but wasn''t an Heir Candidate. The second was also from the First City, but was the son of a Vassal. Their names were Mall and Willaith respectively.

    The moment the words fell, both Mall and Willaith''s necks snapped in a particular direction. But, what they saw allowed them to sigh a breath of relief.

    The waitress whose bottom Ossan had just been leering at seemed too far away and also hadn''t reacted to the words. This set their hearts at ease.

    Mall waved a hand, causing a thin barrier of Force to appear around their table that was nearly completely invisible to the eye. This was part of his ability, but it was slightly different in comparison to other energy shield abilities of the like.

    "Ossan, please watch your words."

    Ossan snorted. "I can''t ask questions?"

    He took another chug of his beer, his cheeks already turning rosy. One would have thought that his alcohol tolerance would be far greater with how burly he was. But, a secondary look would tell you that Ossan was far less burly than he was just chubby. He was just quite lucky in the fact that his frame was quite large thanks to his lineage. But, rather than filling it out with muscle, you could probably cut him open for a few pints of beer if you were so inclined.

    Mall and Willaith sighed in relief, thinking that Ossan was going to lay the topic to rest. But, when he sat back up from swinging his head back, Ossan''s gaze seemed more fiery than ever.

    "You two don''t remember? Probably not, actually. I don''t really remember either, I''ve just heard my brother talk about her a few times. I''ve never seen Gradeyr take a liking to anything. You guys know my older brother, he''s a stone faced statue. If it wasn''t because I''ve seen him a few times in the bathhouse, I''d think he was stone down there too.

    "But when it came to that woman, his eyes always used to light up like two gems. You could say that he''s an outright simp, a simp of epic proportions, a simp to end all simps. He''s actually pining over a woman that apparently let a country bumpkin put a baby in her иC HAHA! I can''t stop laughing!"

    Mall and Willaith looked toward one another with pale expressions.

    Only Ossan would dare to say something like this about Gradeyr. But, luckily, they had the barrier up and Ossan''s words were still vague enough that even if it wasn''t, people wouldn''t necessarily tie the two events together.

    Whenever Ossan got like this, they didn''t quite dare to stop him, not out of fear of Ossan himself, but rather his elder brother. At the same time, though, they didn''t dare to join in either. What a joke, they still wanted their lives. And, Gradeyr always seemed to have a method of finding out things other people didn''t want him to figure out.

    So, they remained silent.

    "HAHA! That big brother of mine has always been so perfect, and yet he made such a mistake! I really can''t stop laughing! It''s too funny!"

    Ossan hiccupped, his awkward breath getting caught somewhere between a gasp, a heave and a burp. It was like the mouth equivalent of not trusting a fart. Only Ossan could accomplish such a great feat, admirable indeed.

    In the end, what came out was a bubble of spit before Ossan fell over in his chair. He hadn''t even reached the ground before he was suddenly snoring so loudly that Mall and Willaith almost felt the need to cover their ears.

    Mall shook his head. Waving his hand again, he dispelled the barrier and called a waitress over. He then used a connected service to book a room in a nearby inn the owner of this restaurant had a stake in.

    He had flown in a shuttle with a drunk, bloated and burping Ossan before. He refused to do it again. One such event was enough trauma for a lifetime.

    Plusбн There was still some business to handle.

    **

    Hours later, the sun set and Planet Luxnix fell into darkness. With how the three planets rotated around one another, there was always at least one that was experiencing a bright day, this coupled with how frequent and easy travel between them was, there was no such thing as closing time for most establishments.

    However, this didn''t mean that workers didn''t have off shifts. It was right then that a particular young lady with a perky bottom accentuated by her tight, short skirt, waved her goodbyes to her colleagues and boss.

    She drifted out of the restaurant, a peculiar light in her eyes glowing bright after being hidden all day. Her steps were about 10% quicker than they usually were and her breathing was also slightly shallower than normal. It was like she had an excitement within that could hardly be contained.

    And yetбн All of that deflated the instant she chose to take a shortcut through an alleyway. An alarming feeling of danger gripped her as two figures blocked her path forward and back.

 Chapter 933 - Young Waitress

    Chapter 933 Young Waitress

    The waitress froze, her small frame trembling. She suddenly felt as though it was particularly cold despite the fact Planet Luxnix had spring-like temperatures year ''round.

    There was no surprise that the two figures that had blocked her path were Mall and Willaith. Likewise, it was also no surprise that this young woman was the very same waitress with a perky butt that Ossan had been ogling at.

    Mall and Willaith were too experienced with cleaning up Ossan''s messes to take a chance like this. At the same time, these waitresses knew well the kind of job they had. Not a single waitress picked out for such a high-end restaurant wouldn''t'' be extremely beautiful, extremely skilled, and most importantly of all: extremely intelligent.

    A waitress might be a position many stereotypically looked down upon. But, the higher end the restaurant, the more stringent the requirements. At a certain level, becoming a waitress was not only exceptionally lucrative, but highly revered as well.

    Due to knowing such things, Mall and Willaith had even come together, cutting off all paths of retreat and not taking a single chance. Even when this young woman began to shiver in fear, they didn''t lower their guards in the slightest.

    It was possible that she really was so weak. But, it was equally as possible that she was a talent that surpassed the two of them.

    In that moment, without even waiting for any words to be exchanged, the two shot forward, killing intent thick in their gazes. Mall had already set up a barrier to block out all sounds. This one was even thicker than the one he laid in the restaurant.

    A vast energy coated Mall''s palm as he struck toward her chest. A spark of lightning ran through Willaith''s irises as he too struck out, but toward her back.

    It was right then that the seemingly frail young lady sprung to life. She slipped out of her high heeled shoes in one smooth motion and tore a line up the thigh of her pencil skirt, uncaring for the skin or undergarments she exposed in the process. What was her dignity if she couldn''t keep her life?

    She knew exactly what was happening here. It seemed that her act in pretending not to hear a thing earlier hadn''t worked. Or rather, maybe it had worked but they still chose to cut away loose ends and not leave anything up to chance.

    It seemed that after a few years of working in the industry, she finally ran into her first life and death situation. But, all hope wasn''t lost. They were in the middle of the city. As long as she could find a chance to break through those barriers the guards would be alerted and she would have a good chance to live.

    If this was Viola family territory, it would be helpless. But, luckily, this wasn''t their arena to control.

    The young woman''s body became as nimble as a panthers, her body taking a quarter spin to the side and arching out of the way of the two strikes.

    Mall and Willaith''s palms smashed against one another, missing their target. The resulting impact sent the woman flying toward a wall of the alley-way, something she took full advantage of.

    Her toenails seemed to grow into two inch claws, tearing through her black stockings and cutting into the wall to anchor her propulsion upward.

    Before Mall and Willaith could react, she was already more than ten meters in the air, her arm cocking back as her fingers also grew with claws, each one having their own metallic sheen beneath the twinkling golden moonlight.

    The young waitress''s back was bloody from the impact of Mall and WIllaith''s strike, her once tight shirt having been ravaged by violent force and her trinkling blood. She could feel her vision swimming as she forcefully kept it together.

    Just the aftershocks of their strikes put her in such a state. Yet, even without looking back, she could tell that both of them weren''t injured even after exchanging blows like that. The difference between them was clear and obvious, at least in terms of defenses.

    This was her one chance. She had to break through this barrier.

    The young woman''s eyes lit up with excitement. She had made it!

    Her claw ripped forward, coated by a menacingly sharp Force. It tore through the energy barrier Mall had set up like a knife through butter.

    The young waitress''s chest expanded as she took a deep breath.

    "HELP! SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL ME!"

    She roared out at the top of her lungs. She put so much effort into tearing through the barrier that she lost sight of the building before her.

    In the back of her mind, she felt that tearing through that energy wall had been too easy. She had put so much effort in the swing that it knocked her off balance, causing her to lose a chance at staying latched onto the tall walls.

    The young waitress found her falling back to the ground, her expression changing. She realized in that moment that she still couldn''t hear the bustle of the city even after tearing through the barrier.

    ''There''s more than one barrier?!''

    She realized in that moment that she had made a mistake. It wasn''t that Mall and Willaith couldn''t chase after her, but rather that they didn''t have to. In all likelihood, they were confident that even if she realized this earlier on, she would have been blocked and sent tumbling down by the second barrier.

    Who would have known that she would ruin herself before she could even make it that far?

    Despair sunk its hooks into the young woman''s heart. She too had her own story, who didn''t? She thought that this would be her chance to take a step forward. But, it seemed that she would be like so many who got snuffed out by the harsh realities of the world long before they got a chance...

    Mall and Willaith''s gazes locked onto her as she fell to the ground, hopeless to do anything. They brandished their palms again, ready to kill her in one blowбн Until, that was, they sensed a killing intent sharper than even their own.

    Before the two men could react, a shadow had appeared between them, catching the young waitress who had accepted her fate out of the air.

    The masked shadow swept an indifferent gaze toward the two of them.

 Chapter 934 - Eight of Twelve

    Chapter 934 - Eight of Twelve

    Mall and Willaith felt a deep sense of fear for some reason. They didn''t even register that this shadow was a woman until they breathed their last breathsбн Maybe it was only then, when they could finally release their worries, that they could notice something so meaningless.

    The battle lasted less than a hundred exchanges and there were even some points they believed they might be able to win. But, the rate of improvement the masked shadow underwent was far beyond their expectations or anything they could handle.

    Noбн It wasn''t improvement. It was as though as this shadow was adapting their already ridiculously strong combat capabilities to counter the two of them specifically. It was the most shocking feat of battle they had ever seen. Even in death, they couldn''t help but admire it.

    The sound of two bodies falling to the ground resonated as the masked shadow finally put the young woman down.

    "Thank you! Thank you!" The young woman bowed deeply. Even though her back had been torn open and was still bleeding, she still took the effort to properly bow.

    The masked shadow, who was obviously none other than Aina, nodded lightly. In her hand, she brandished a spear, much different from her usual battle ax. But, it was hard to tell that if this was another training method to help her breakthrough, or if she was just trying to hide her identity. If Mall and Willaith had known that they died to someone not even using the weapon they were most comfortable with, who knew how they would react?

    Seeing that gratitude of the young woman, Aina nodded lightly before vanishing.

    Her mission had already been complete. In truth, she was supposed to follow Ossan around until he slipped up and could be pinned with the crime of spreading false rumors by the Luxnix family. But, this was just the third day and he had already failed so epically.

    Rychard knew that Ossan had his elder brother''s followers cleaning up after him so he had sent Aina here to interfere with their cleanup duties. The fact that Mall had put up such a convenient barrier only helped her out.

    The battle had been more difficult than she thought it would be, though. The two might have been from the First City, however they were under the umbrella of their families. Only when you became Junior General would you be assigned to a city based on your own strength.

    This was to say that a Junior General from City Six like Samson was far stronger than a youth without a title form the First City. But, it was clear that Mall and Willaith had been refraining from applying to become Junior Generals so that they could continue to protect and clean up after Ossan.

    If they applied now, Aina guessed that they would either be elites in City Six or even mainstays of City Five. They weren''t simple characters, indeed. But, that also meant that since Ossan''s elder brother, Gradeyr dared to send them here without worrying for their dissatisfaction, his true subordinates were far more powerful than this.

    It seemed that the competition of Heirs was ramping up as they slowly reached maturity. The closer they got to the Sixth Dimension, the closer the elders of the past generations would be toward having to make a final decision.

    And nowбн Rychard had thrown down the gauntlet.

    бн

    The young woman watched as Aina vanished, the sounds of the city entering her ears once more. She looked toward the dead bodies and panicked slightly before regaining her bearings.

    One part of her wanted to go home and forget that any of this had ever happened, but she was much smarter than this. She knew that the fact Aina had come here to save her was not a coincidence, this was definitely planned. Now, even if she wanted to, there was no way out of this.

    If she really went home, she bet it wouldn''t be long before Aina appeared before her again. And, if that happened, rewards she could have monopolized for herself would probably end up in someone else''s hands.

    Gritting her teeth, the young woman made her resolve.

    It was exactly like this that a small character set rolling the events that would embroil three planets into chaos.

    **

    Ossan snored away like some sort of big baby. The bed he rolled about on was easily enough to fit half a dozen people comfortably, and yet he somehow managed to go from edge to edge without much effort.

    The smell in the room was absolutely foul despite how high end and luxurious the accommodations were. Unfortunately, no amount candles and incense sticks could match the fog of alcohol, vomit and shit stain inducing farts.

    However, it was exactly then that Ossan''s dreams came to an abrupt end.

    BANG!

    The heavy oak doors of the hotel room flew off their hinges, shards of splintered wood sprinkling through the air and falling to the ground.

    Ossan, no matter how much of a deep sleeper he was, was instantly awoken. Fear, shock and confusion colored his features. It was clear that he had no idea what was going on. He had just been in a land of dreams when he suddenly heard a lot of banging, shouting and roaring.

    If it was just a battle, that would be fine. But, it felt like all this noise was being aimed at him? Why? What had he done? What the hell?

    At that moment, a middle aged man wearing tight, white leather armor walked in. He had a twelve pointed star radiating a delicate light on the left of his chest and two beautifully embroidered feathers on both of his tall collars. To his waist, an exceptionally thin sword could be foundбкso thin, in fact, that one might not even be able to tell that they had been stabbed until it was far too late.

    Ossan''s expression changed and the fog of his mind finally vanished when he saw this middle aged man. It was as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head as he was stunned awake.

    This uniform could only be worn by the most elite guard of the Luxnix family. While the Viola family had Vassals, the Luxnix family had Feather Star warriors and this man actually had eight of his twelve star points illuminated!

    Ossan didn''t know what he had done, but he knew that it was serious now.

 Chpater 935 - Try

    Chpater 935 - Try

    "Bind him."

    The middle aged man said coldly.

    Ossan''s expression changed. "What is the meaning of this?! I am a seed of the Viola family''s main bloodline! You can''t do this to me!"

    The middle-aged man hardly reacted to this ''realization''. It was clear that he was perfectly aware of Ossan''s identity as the young waitress had reported this. This was part of the reason why they had sent someone of his stature to deal with such a thing to begin with.

    The Feather Star warriors of the Luxnix family were not a joke. They were an elite guard that rarely, if ever, saw the light of day.

    They were split into four tiers. Starless, Four Point, Eight Point, and Twelve Point.

    Of course, this ranking system was based on the most famous symbol of the Luxnix Family: The Twelve Pointed Star. Not many knew or understood the secrets behind this symbol or how it related to the Snowy Star Owl, or if it was related at all, but what they did know was that the Luxnix family would be willing to go to war to protect its prestige.

    To be a Twelve Point Feather Star Guard was the absolute highest honor and such trump cards rarely left the family grounds. But, this could even be said for the Starless guards as well. The fact that an Eight Point Feather Star guard was actually sent here was enough to show just how serious this matter was and how furious the Luxnix family was about these circulating rumors.

    Ossan wasn''t able to resist as he found his wrists and ankles chained. His combat prowess wasn''t very high to begin with, so how could he be a match for such elite warriors?

    The entire city fell into silence as Ossan was dragged away. The number of eyewitnesses were so numerous that it was impossible to hide, and maybe the Luxnix family didn''t want to hide it.

    At the same time, though, those that had a guess as to what was happening didn''t dare to say a word.

    There was a saying on 21st Century Earth that said what appeared on the internet would always be there. It was just a way of letting everyone know that there were some things that couldn''t be taken back and it wasn''t so easy to erase the truth.

    However, were things still so simple when the technology in question was far beyond that time? What if the government had absolute control? What if there was a powerful existence that could decide your life and death on a whim?

    Maybe in those cases, it wouldn''t necessarily be impossible to shape and change the ''truth''бн

    Unfortunately, the Luxnix family wasn''t on its own. There were two other families with its level of strength in this region, and one of them was already targeting them.

    This was just the beginning of a brewing storm and the one who started it allбкRychardбкwas nowhere near the destruction.

    **

    Across the Dimensional Verse, back in a galaxy far weakerбкon the surface, that isбкa group of elders sat in abject shock, unable to gather themselves.

    It felt like every test they gave Leonel, he passed with just enough to reach a Tier 3 standard. And yet, it was done with such ease that it couldn''t have been more obvious to them that his skill was beyond just this.

    Even though Anya was also shocking in her own right, completing the Tier 1 trials with a steady and sweet smile on her face, they had already expected as much from her. But, this Leonel came out of nowhere and even seemed to have more skill than many of them.

    The truth was that Leonel was only truly being held back by his Designation. Due to his weak Dimension in the past, his finger speed, dexterity and strength couldn''t keep up with the rest of him. The only reason he had even been able to forge Bronze treasures back then was thanks to his Metal Body. Unfortunately, though it gave him strength, it didn''t give him the corresponding dexterity and flexibility

    Now, though, those shackles had been shattered. Leonel''s hand speed was at a Superior Grade One Designation for the Bronze Grade, granting him perfection. Leonel also felt that if he used [Star Fusion], he could even push past this to a Silver Grade Designation!

    In the end, there was no fault Elder Isoltihne could find. Somehow, their small branch had gained another Tier 3 Bronze Crafter, leaving them at a loss for words. Even their best Crafter, an older man who was currently not present, was only Tier 4. Right behind him was Isoltihne, but she was only Tier 3бн Just like Leonel.

    They truly didn''t know how to wrap their heads around this.

    One had to know that in the Guild, status wasn''t based on seniority or family powerбн It was all based on skill. In the blink of an eye, Leonel suddenly had the same level of authority they all did and also had the same amount of say.

    He had gone from someone who could be blocked at a gate to an existence that could directly kill a guard for even daring to think of doing such a thing.

    "Done?" Leonel asked.

    His expression didn''t look like he had done anything particularly impressive. In fact, he looked quite calm and relaxed.

    In truth, as he had been undergoing these tests, he had been thinking more about what Anya had said to him as opposed to anything else. He felt that she was definitely correct, no matter what her motives were. He couldn''t enter every situation bracing for hostility, then be shocked when that was exactly the energy he received. And, even when he still received hostility in return, who knew if he was just meeting someone who was as jaded as he had once been? In that case, shouldn''t he also give them a chance to change their tune like he would?

    He needed friends and allies right now, not enemies. He was well aware that he couldn''t do all of this alone.

    If his attempts still failed in the end, at least he would know that he tried.

    So, Leonel smiled. "Miss Isoltihne, I noticed that pendant around your neck has a bit of damage on it, how about you let me take a look, free of charge? Take it as a gift to a fellow Crafter."

    Leonel smiled warmly. Isoltihne suddenly found her old heart skipping a beat.

 Chapter 936 - Not a Big Deal

    Chapter 936 - Not a Big Deal

    Isoltihne snapped out of her surprise, subconsciously shaking her head. She had been so annoyed with Leonel all this time that she hadn''t noticed until just now that this boy was quite handsome.

    Wait, what was she thinking? She was old enough to be his grandmother''s grandmother. She had grown out of the swooning over pretty men stage a long time ago. Though there were still some faint lines of beauty on her aged features, definitely above average for a woman as lived as her, she wasn''t under the illusion that she could still attract men with her looksбкat least not men who weren''t at least as old as she was, that is. But, even those old bastards would prefer to chase after youthful swan meat.

    It was quite the double edged sword. As a Crafter, Isoltihne''s thinking speed might not match up to Leonel''s, but it was still far greater than most. This was usually a good thing, but at the moment she felt like she had overthought something as benign as a smile. It was embarrassing to the point her cheeks flushed slightly.

    Of course, this flushing had little to do with her attraction to Leonel and everything to do with the embarrassing train of her thoughts. After all, as she had told herself previously, she had long since grown out of such a stage.

    However, before she could regain her bearings, she found that Leonel was before her, his hand having already reached out to lightly grasp the pendant that had hung from her neck. In that moment, she found herself frozen again.

    This time, it was because of two things.

    For one, Leonel''s scent was unique. It wasn''t masked by cologne and felt fresh and natural, and yet it still held an edge of intoxication to it. The best thing it could be likened to for lack of a better comparison was fresh paper. When one entered an office, especially one that had large printers blasting at full tilt all hours of the day, the first few whiffs of that new paper smell was almost drug-like.

    Isoltihne felt that Leonel''s scent was like this, but it was far more layered, complex and fragrant. But at the same time, it wasn''t as overpowering nor was it as easy to get over as the smell of paper.

    The second this that shocked Isoltihne, though, was that Leonel actually dared to get so close to her without warning.

    Maybe if she still had that same hate for Leonel, she would have slapped him to death for doing such a thing. Or, maybe if he wasn''t so nice to look at or smell she would have reacted in that way even if she had a good impression of him. But, for some reason, she just froze, her gaze locked onto Leonel''s fingers as they twirled her jade pendant between them.

    Compared to Leonel''s face or his scent, Isoltihne found Leonel''s hands to be the most enticing. She couldn''t take her eyes off of them.

    They were slender and well kempt, but they also coursed with veins that traveled up his forearm. Their beauty was beyond anything she had ever seen and the longer she looked at them, the more she felt her chest being taken over by a searing heat.

    By the time Isoltihne realized that there was something wrong with her actions, a flash of silver covered Leonel''s hands for a moment before retreating.

    Leonel lowered the elder''s pendant back down, careful not to touch the skin of her chest before taking a step back.

    "Youбн" Isoltihne''s was going to speak before her pendant began to glow lightly.

    At that moment, a gentle green energy wafted out from it, pouring into her skin and coursing through her veins. In just a few circulations, Isoltihne''s cheeks seemed rosier, her skin less wrinkled and she felt as if her energy reserves had been replenished three times over.

    In just a few minutes, under their astonished gazes, her age regressed by at least five years. Though she still looked like she could be a grandmother, it was now to the point one might have to ask her just how young had she had her first child to still be so youthful.

    Isoltihne was stunned. ''Heбн He actually repaired itбн?''

    What Leonel didn''t know was that Isoltihne had won this pendant at an auction about ten years ago. It was made of a very precious jade known as Revitalizing Jade. Much like many other precious Ores, Revitalizing Jade came in several grades and this one just so happened to be of the Bronze Grade, allowing it to have great affects on helping a Fifth Dimensional existence to retain their youth.

    As one might expect, it was extremely expensive. It took trading off decades, centuries even, of hard work for Isoltihne to get her hands on it. And, even then, she only managed to succeed thanks to the fact this was an incredibly small piece and the fact it was sold damaged.

    If it was so easy to repair, Isoltihne would have done it herself long ago, or the auction house would have taken those steps long before they decided to auction this piece off. And yet, it took Leonel a brief moment? What kind of exaggerated nonsense was this?

    The jade around her neck now was easily worth a hundred times what she paid for it. This amount of wealth dangling from her neck almost made her want to forego youth and sell it off again.

    Was this really just a giftбн?

    No matter how stone hearted Isoltihne was, she couldn''t muster up the same hatred she had before. In fact, what happened before couldn''t even be considered hatred, it was more like annoyance. It was just that in her position, when someone or something annoyed her, the results would be devastating for them.

    "бн Thank you."

    The words sounded so foreign rolling off her tongue that Isoltihne flushed red again beside herself. This Leonel was truly the bane of her existence.

    Leonel just grinned. "It''s not a big deal, a Metal Spirit is especially good at forging small, intricate parts and is also excellent at repairing items. It was just a small task."

 Chapter 931 Rumors

    Chapter 931 Rumors

    ''Metal Spirit!''

    The heartbeats of Isoltihne, the other elders and even Engnaril in the distance all skipped at once. But, even then, it was especially so for Engnaril.

    Engnaril had assumed that Leonel couldn''t be a very powerful Crafter because the scanners didn''t detect even a Pseudo Spirit, let alone the complete one he was seeing now. So, to him, the appearance of this Metal Spirit meant something far different than what it did to the others and his heart couldn''t stop trembling out of control.

    ''He has a spatial treasure that can store life.''

    Engnaril forced himself to calm down. For one, there was the matter of Leonel''s background. If he had such a treasure, that only confirmed Anya''s words as more than just nonsense a mischievous little girl was spewing to help someone they saw as a friend.

    In addition, it was also possible that this was Leonel''s ability. The one thing their scanners didn''t test for was Ability Index. If they did so, it would cause an uproar, so they had no choice but to make such a Concession. Some forms of Beast Taming Ability Indexes also evolved such that their users could have inner worlds to maintain and nurture their creatures. So, he knew he shouldn''t jump to conclusions.

    Howeverбн when that greed bloomed, it became difficult to suppressбн Especially when the Metal Spirit before him was more valuable than even most spatial treasures of that caliber.

    Leonel ignored those around him, a bright smile blooming on his face.

    "Hey little guy, how was your spa day?"

    "*Bloop!*Bloop*"

    Leonel chuckled. Usually, he would have Little Tolly on his wrist. But, after the Segmented Cube evolved, it gained the ability to nurture spirits as well. So, he had been leaving Little Tolly in there.

    ж╤???? ??????? In truth, Leonel felt a bit bad after neglecting Little Tolly for so long so he had been spending a lot of time communicating with the little guy, especially during the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial where he didn''t really have much to do anyway. So, the two were much closer now than they had been back when Leonel had left him for two years.

    Of course, it wasn''t exactly Leonel''s fault that that had happened. But, Little Tolly was still in his infancy stages. You couldn''t exactly tell a baby why it was logical that their parent had left them, right?

    The result was Leonel being especially doting toward Little Tolliver now.

    "So cute!" Anya all but squealed as she watch Little Tolly turn into all sorts of shapes and sizes.

    Leonel smiled but didn''t say much of anything.

    "Alright, Little Tolly. Let''s go."

    "*Bloop!"

    Little Tolly shot out from floating above Leonel''s palm like a speeding bullet. In one instant, it was before Leonel, and in the next, the little guy was hovering just past the three meter mark, dancing about with a childish flare.

    Sometimes Little Tolly would take the shape of a star, sometimes something as random as a baseball bat, and other times it would even become creatures.

    The little guy''s favorite creature to imitate was definitely Little Blackstar, so it would often become an adorable little silver mink, its whiskers twitching about as though to mock its foe in his absence.

    Leonel didn''t restrict Little Tolly''s freedom or adventurous side in the slightest. One would have thought that this would impede his control, but even as Little Tolly flipped between whatever images came to its mind, the little one still hovered exactly at three meters without strain to either Leonel or itself.  ж╤a??a ???????

    With just a casual beckoning of his finger, Little Tolly came back, hopping up and down in the air as though asking for praise.

    The elders and Anya watched in astonishment as Leonel actually pet the little silver mink without a care for his hands. Anya would have screamed out to say something, but she too was a bit in shock that Leonel had passed the test so easily.

    They suddenly realized right then that Leonel wasn''t bluffing. If not for the Tier 3 cap, how far could he go?

    As the tests blazed by one after another, even the likes of Elder Isoltihne had to admit that they had provoked a monsterбн

    **

    Back in the Three Pillar Galaxy, Planet Luxnix had entered an odd state as though a fog was beginning to hang over them. Odd rumors about matters from decades ago began to circulate. Even now, the matter was still quite slow and subtle, no one daring to offend the Luxnix family with too much brazenness. But, every time it seemed that those rumors would be smothered, the fire seemed to be rekindled elsewhere.

    Though the Luxnix family was still unable to confirm it with absolute certainty, they were smart enough to begin guessing that someone was definitely targeting them.

    Rumors in and of themselves weren''t a big deal. However, the larger the family, organization or Guild, the more they would have to worry about such things. One only need to look toward the example of Camelot to understand why.

    When it came to the Dimensional Verse, even a false story when spread wide enough could come to life, let alone a story many thought was plausible or even probable.

    For the Luxnix family that placed such an emphasis on purity as a result of their Lineage Factor, such a story of impurity circulating around could even begin to subtly weaken the power of their Bloodline. Such a thing was far more serious than it seemed to the point where the Luxnix family would easily become irreconcilable with anyone who dared to spread such a thing.

    Butбн What would they do if everyone felt it was ''true''?

    бн

    At that moment, there was a group of young men indulging in the fine dining Planet Luxnix had to offer. It was said that the unique air of this world allowed women to grow up to become more beautiful, so they were quite famed for their gorgeous waitresses and hostesses.

    This reason alone was enough for countless young men, even from other noble Sixth Dimensional families, to flock toward this location, especially after finishing a hard mission.

    Among these group of young men, there was a particularly one by the name of Ossanбн The very target of the first of Rychard''s plans.

    He chugged his beer grandly, leering at the perky bottoms of a passing waitress before leaning forward toward his group of friends.

    "Have you all heard those rumors?" He whispered with flushed cheeks.

    бн

    Right then, a figure dressed in leather armor and wearing a black mask casually entered the same restaurant.

    [Author''s Note: There will only be 2 chapters today, a headache has gotten the best of me. There will also, unfortunately... Be no chapters tomorrow. I will be back the day following with 4 chapters. It''s about time we get to the meat of this volume...]

 Chapter 935 Try

    Chapter 935 Try

    "Bind him."

    The middle aged man said coldly.

    Ossan''s expression changed. "What is the meaning of this?! I am a seed of the Viola family''s main bloodline! You can''t do this to me!"

    The middle-aged man hardly reacted to this ''realization''. It was clear that he was perfectly aware of Ossan''s identity as the young waitress had reported this. This was part of the reason why they had sent someone of his stature to deal with such a thing to begin with.

    The Feather Star warriors of the Luxnix family were not a joke. They were an elite guard that rarely, if ever, saw the light of day.

    They were split into four tiers. Starless, Four Point, Eight Point, and Twelve Point.

    Of course, this ranking system was based on the most famous symbol of the Luxnix Family: The Twelve Pointed Star. Not many knew or understood the secrets behind this symbol or how it related to the Snowy Star Owl, or if it was related at all, but what they did know was that the Luxnix family would be willing to go to war to protect its prestige.

    To be a Twelve Point Feather Star Guard was the absolute highest honor and such trump cards rarely left the family grounds. But, this could even be said for the Starless guards as well. The fact that an Eight Point Feather Star guard was actually sent here was enough to show just how serious this matter was and how furious the Luxnix family was about these circulating rumors.

    ж╤???? ??????? Ossan wasn''t able to resist as he found his wrists and ankles chained. His combat prowess wasn''t very high to begin with, so how could he be a match for such elite warriors?

    The entire city fell into silence as Ossan was dragged away. The number of eyewitnesses were so numerous that it was impossible to hide, and maybe the Luxnix family didn''t want to hide it.

    At the same time, though, those that had a guess as to what was happening didn''t dare to say a word.

    There was a saying on 21st Century Earth that said what appeared on the internet would always be there. It was just a way of letting everyone know that there were some things that couldn''t be taken back and it wasn''t so easy to erase the truth.

    However, were things still so simple when the technology in question was far beyond that time? What if the government had absolute control? What if there was a powerful existence that could decide your life and death on a whim?

    Maybe in those cases, it wouldn''t necessarily be impossible to shape and change the ''truth''бн

    Unfortunately, the Luxnix family wasn''t on its own. There were two other families with its level of strength in this region, and one of them was already targeting them.

    This was just the beginning of a brewing storm and the one who started it allбкRychardбкwas nowhere near the destruction.

    **ж╤a??a ???????

    Across the Dimensional Verse, back in a galaxy far weakerбкon the surface, that isбкa group of elders sat in abject shock, unable to gather themselves.

    It felt like every test they gave Leonel, he passed with just enough to reach a Tier 3 standard. And yet, it was done with such ease that it couldn''t have been more obvious to them that his skill was beyond just this.

    Even though Anya was also shocking in her own right, completing the Tier 1 trials with a steady and sweet smile on her face, they had already expected as much from her. But, this Leonel came out of nowhere and even seemed to have more skill than many of them.

    The truth was that Leonel was only truly being held back by his Designation. Due to his weak Dimension in the past, his finger speed, dexterity and strength couldn''t keep up with the rest of him. The only reason he had even been able to forge Bronze treasures back then was thanks to his Metal Body. Unfortunately, though it gave him strength, it didn''t give him the corresponding dexterity and flexibility

    Now, though, those shackles had been shattered. Leonel''s hand speed was at a Superior Grade One Designation for the Bronze Grade, granting him perfection. Leonel also felt that if he used [Star Fusion], he could even push past this to a Silver Grade Designation!

    In the end, there was no fault Elder Isoltihne could find. Somehow, their small branch had gained another Tier 3 Bronze Crafter, leaving them at a loss for words. Even their best Crafter, an older man who was currently not present, was only Tier 4. Right behind him was Isoltihne, but she was only Tier 3бн Just like Leonel.

    They truly didn''t know how to wrap their heads around this.

    One had to know that in the Guild, status wasn''t based on seniority or family powerбн It was all based on skill. In the blink of an eye, Leonel suddenly had the same level of authority they all did and also had the same amount of say.

    He had gone from someone who could be blocked at a gate to an existence that could directly kill a guard for even daring to think of doing such a thing.

    "Done?" Leonel asked.

    His expression didn''t look like he had done anything particularly impressive. In fact, he looked quite calm and relaxed.

    In truth, as he had been undergoing these tests, he had been thinking more about what Anya had said to him as opposed to anything else. He felt that she was definitely correct, no matter what her motives were. He couldn''t enter every situation bracing for hostility, then be shocked when that was exactly the energy he received. And, even when he still received hostility in return, who knew if he was just meeting someone who was as jaded as he had once been? In that case, shouldn''t he also give them a chance to change their tune like he would?

    He needed friends and allies right now, not enemies. He was well aware that he couldn''t do all of this alone.

    If his attempts still failed in the end, at least he would know that he tried.

    So, Leonel smiled. "Miss Isoltihne, I noticed that pendant around your neck has a bit of damage on it, how about you let me take a look, free of charge? Take it as a gift to a fellow Crafter."

    Leonel smiled warmly. Isoltihne suddenly found her old heart skipping a beat.

 Chapter 937 Question

    Chapter 937 Question

    Isoltihne''s mood and attitude seemed to shift on a dime. Quite frankly, rather than being shocked, her colleagues were more jealous than anything else. As Crafters, they understood the value of her jade pendant quite well.

    But, after Leonel also extended helping hands to them, their tunes couldn''t help but change. Before Anya and Engnaril understood what was happening, the five of them were happily chatting about their Crafts, completely forgetting that there was a certification exam going on. If not for Engnaril clearing his throat and excusing himself, who knew how long it would have gone on for?

    ж╤???? ??????? бн

    Engnaril walked out of the Guild House shaking his head. He really didn''t know what to make of this day. He had some Crafting experience of his own and he had never seen a youth as talented in this aspect. Even Anya, who had gained acknowledgement of that person, couldn''t match up.

    Though it was clear that Anya was also holding back, Leonel did the same with far more elegance and ease. The gap between them was as clear as dayбн

    Still, Engnaril felt that much of this gap could be explained by their Familiars. A Metal Spirit was just too perfect for Crafters. Though it couldn''t'' be used across disciplines like a Flame Spirit, for example, within its niche, it was untouchable.

    As for Anya, though she had a great background, she only had an ordinary Flame Spirit.

    Engnaril shook his head. There was nothing ''normal'' about having a Flame Spirit. His perspective had been twisted by Leonel to the point where he forgot that Anya''s Flame Spirit was the first he had seen in his lifetime.

    Beyond that, even if Anya could get a Metal Spirit, not just anyone could control one. As far as Engnaril knew, they were incredibly dangerous, which was what made it even more shocking that Leonel didn''t even use Force Crafting Gloves.

    ''Just what kind of monster is heбн?''

    Engnaril shook his head, putting his greed away. He didn''t have a death wish. Even if he could defeat Leonel, what about his backers?

    The fact that everyone who came here had to be registered was a double-edged sword. He couldn''t'' just erase information that Leonel had been here. And, because of that, if something happened to Leonel, it wouldn''t be long before he and the other elders became suspects. By then, he would be finished.

    Plus, if Anya was correct about Leonel''s origins, let alone him being implicated, his entire family and even the Guild itself might be eradicated because of him. He had no intentions of getting embroiled in such nonsense.

    Engnaril shook his head for the third time in just as many minutes.

    At that moment, he suddenly got another message from his tablet. This time, though, the gears and Force Arts that ran across its surface shifted, forming the emblem of an organization Leonel recognized all too well: Shield Cross Stars.

    This wasn''t a very surprising development, at least not for Engnaril. The truth was that the security of worlds like this one were often left up to Shield Cross Stars. After all, they were the universe''s police force. At the request of powers, they could take root at your borders and give a layer of protection you wouldn''t otherwise have.

    The concept was similar to someone on Earth buying a security service and planting their emblem in their front yard for all to see. Sometimes, the fact that there was a certain level of security to begin with was more important than the security or its level itself.  ж╤a??a ???????

    This was mostly a route taken on by Guilds and Merchant Hubs while Organizations, Kingdoms, families and Empires usually handled their own security. Though, there would always be exceptions.

    Of course, this came with a fee. But for the Force Crafters Guild, it was negligible.

    As for Engnaril himself, he worked for Shield Cross Stars and could be considered to be a hired hand of the Guild. As such, though he answered to the Guild directly, those orders could be overruled by Shield Cross Stars in some circumstances.

    He had been tasked with Anya''s safety by both the Force Crafting Guild and Shield Cross Stars. So, the seriousness of this charge couldn''t be underestimated, which was why he had been especially sensitive to Leonel''s arrival. Even now, he hadn''t forgotten his job.

    Hours ago, he had ordered a detailed background check for Leonel. But, he had already expected not to find much of anything.

    If Anya was right about Leonel''s identity, he didn''t have the cachet to access information on those higher order families and organizations. So, he had fully expected to receive an access denied. But, when he looked down to casually accept his fate, he froze instead.

    ''Whatбн?''

    бн

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Leonel smiled, looking toward Anya who was observing him curiously behind her veil. She seemed to be trying to look into his mind.

    The two walked through the hallways of the Guild House, heading toward the treasure house. Though they had yet to build up any merits, in all their gratitude, the elders and Isoltihne had given a million Guild Points to Leonel directly.

    Leonel had no idea if this was a lot or not, but he still accepted them enthusiastically. It seemed that being kind no matter the circumstances came with its own perks.

    Anya blinked. "My mom said to avoid men who were too charismatic."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. First he was too mean, but now he was too nice? Maybe he should have been used to the difficulty of pleasing women by now. He couldn''t help but sigh as his mind wandered to Aina again.

    "Oh, right!" Leonel suddenly thought of something he had meant to ask Anya before, but it felt inappropriate to do so. "You said that only the ignorant would say what I said about family names. What did you mean by that? Is it not possible for others to be called Morales?"

    Leonel felt that there was something off about thatбн Morales wasn''t exactly a unique family name on Earth.

 Chapter 938 Like You Do

    Chapter 938 Like You Do

    Anya blinked, checking over Leonel to see if he was being serious. Before, she had thought that Leonel was just trying to be cheeky. After all, someone of his standing should be well aware of the reason. But, she was confused to see that Leonel was actually serious.

    Was he really not from the Morales family? No, that didn''t make sense. Metal Spirits rarely submitted to anyone outside of members of that family and Little Tolly seemed far too obedient. Plus, she could sense a strong Earth Variant affinity coming from him.

    Anya shook her head, not minding it anymore.

    "The higher level someone is, the more unlikely it is for them to share a name with such a powerful family. The Fifth Dimension is already too high for you to still be able to casually call yourself Morales without truly being from that family, especially since you''re so young."

    "Why, though?"

    "Well, just the same as the future can influence that past, the inverse should obviously be true as well. In fact, though that much should be intuitive, it''s even deeper than you think. It''s more accurate to say that the past can change the future."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. He felt like he was back in school learning algebra for the first time. What kind of nonsense was this? It was both obvious and baffling at the same time.

    It was obvious that the past affected the future. But what did it mean for it to change it? After the past happened, wouldn''t a set future decided by cause and effect already be set into motion? What did it mean to change it?

    "If I had to explain it as simple as possibleбн If someone of your caliber appeared and shared the Morales family name, all while not being affiliated with them, it would mean that the destruction of the Morales family wouldn''t be too far away.

    "Well, it might not be so exaggerated. But, the Morales family probably wouldn''t allow it to happen. You''d probably have your own personal swarm of bodyguards coming after you."

    Leonel''s expression became weird. How could any of this be considered an explanation?

    "Actually," Anya tapped a finger to her veil covered lips, "if it was you specifically, it would definitely mean that the destruction wouldn''t be far away. They''d probably even send a Seventh Dimensional existence a step away from the Eighth Dimension after you."

    Anya kept babbling on and on as though Leonel should already understand what she was saying, but he was only growing more confused. And why him specifically?

    "Why me specifically?"

    Anya blinked and turned her golden gaze toward Leonel. Something about her felt far more profound than it had before, an odd, almost ancient Force swirling about her.

    "Because you''re dangerous."

    ж╤???? ??????? For a moment, it didn''t even seem that Anya was the one who was speaking, but rather someone far more aged and mature. Compared to the mischievous girl that Leonel knew, she was completely different to the point they could only be comparable in looks and nothing else.

    Leonel didn''t know how to respond to this in the slightest. What about him was dangerous, exactly?

    He couldn''t help but think back to the words his Coach had spoken about and the backstory that connected him and Lionel. He still didn''t know how those machines of Earth had concluded him to be a danger to societyбн  ж╤a??a ???????

    However, Leonel believed he had come up with an explanation for this. Back then, Earth couldn''t even properly categorize his ability because it could only properly read 5% of his DNA and was confused by the remaining 95%. Wasn''t it obvious, then, that it could have misread him in this situation as well?

    This conclusion had helped Leonel to throw those matters to the back of his mind. He had always subconsciously ignored it, even to the point where despite always telling Aina everythingбн When it came to this, he never did.

    Plus, hadn''t he lived a perfectly normal life to this point? How could there be anything wrong with him?

    So why was Anya saying this stuff now?

    Anya looked away and Leonel shook his head, he found this woman too difficult to read. He just needed to focus on healing himself so that he could more confidently take his next steps. It was about time he checked in on Elthor and the Oryx.

    The guards of the treasure house were stunned to see two youths approaching but they soon had no choice but to accept the reality. A duo of such youthful Bronze Crafters was something they had never seen before.

    This storehouse was shared between both Force Crafters and Force Pill Crafters. It had shelves hundreds of meters tall and an eerily structured organization that made one think that someone had dedicated their lives to ensuring that everything would be perfect.

    Without much thought or a word toward Anya, Leonel found the section of healing Herbs before he realized something especially intriguing.

    He didn''t need to spend his Guild Points on these herbs. He just needed to use Dream Sculpt on them. That way, he could save his points for Ores he could use in the future.

    He doubted that this treasure vault would have the Ores he would need for his next Divine Armor. But, that didn''t matter. He could do a lot with what was before him right now. He just had to be quick about it. The matters related to Anya had already been thrown to the back of his mind.

    It didn''t take Leonel long to find several healing herbs with Light Elemental attributes. Though most were Fourth Dimensional, there were a handful of Fifth Dimensional ones. Each of these were worth hundreds of thousands of points though, something that truly put Leonel''s million points into perspective.

    Leonel, who was about to get lost in his own world, was suddenly startled. His head snapped back, only to find Anya had once again appeared by his side.

    Wait, had she appeared there, or had she never left? Now that Leonel thought about it, he wasn''t sure of the answer to that.

    "What are you doing?" Leonel asked.

    Anya blinked. "I have zero Guild Points. I don''t have a sugar mama like you do."

    She spoke as though this was the most obvious thing ever. Why wouldn''t she follow him around since she didn''t have points of her own to spend?

    Leonel was speechless.

    [Last chapter of the day. Didn''t have the energy to start writing the chaos that''s about to ensue, lmao]

 Chapter 939 Twinkling Bell Lily

    Chapter 939 Twinkling Bell Lily

    This girl was truly too loose with her lips. When she wasn''t saying things that made no sense, she was teasing him as though they had known each other for decades. She was really too difficult to get a read on and Leonel also had a feeling that her veil was only making it more difficult.

    In the end, Leonel could only shrug. He had thought that Anya was coming with him because she had free reign over the items in this treasure house. After all, with how the elders treated herбкlikely due to her statusбкhe had made certain assumptions. But it seemed that instead, she was just stuck to him like glue like a little girl chasing after her big brother.

    It reminded Leonel a bit of Little Nana, he couldn''t help but think back to that adorable little blue haired girl. The trouble was that even Little Nana was far more mature than Anya.

    Leonel found that his experience in the Valiant Zone had made him far more stoic and level headed. Even when he had been with his brothers, he hadn''t joked around with them as much as he usually did.

    What he couldn''t tell was if that was a part of him maturing, or if he was just becoming jaded. Of course, he could turn his charisma on and off like a faucet, but was it really the same if he had to consciously act like thatбн? It felt somewhat robotic.

    How many people could have heard Anya''s advice about being too ''scary'' and immediately change on a dime. Maybe Leonel was the only oneбн But a product of that was the realization that he was a bit too good at artificially producing his personality.

    Something like that made it difficult for him to tell who the real him wasбн

    Was he charismatic because he wanted to be and that was just the type of person he wasбн? Or, was he just abusing his emotional intelligence to get what he wanted out of the world?

    Leonel shook his head again. It felt like Anya''s presence was forcing him to introspect. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

    But, if there was anything Leonel was good at, it was stone walling those kind of things.

    In one moment, he had a pensive look in his eye. In the next, it vanished with a calculating light, scanning the array of Light Elemental healing herbs before him.

    Anya''s irises twinkled with something imperceptible. But, she stood obediently to the side, her sweet fragrance hanging in the air with a strange magnetism. Leonel, though, didn''t seem to notice, his mind completely focused.

    As beautiful as Anya was, to the point where Leonel was certain if she removed her veil she wouldn''t lose out to Aina in the slightest, there was still only one woman who could ever distract him from a task at hand. And, Anya wasn''t that woman.

    ''All the like herbs are here. Convenient, I don''t even need to move. There are 38 variations of herbs in the Fourth Dimension. There are three variations for the Fifth Dimension.

    ''A Fourth Dimensional Mage Art might be useful if I want to mass heal a large group of individuals. But, my priority right now is forming the most powerful healing spell I can muster.  ж╤a??a ???????

    ж╤???? ??????? ''I need an herb that not only matches the Light Element, but it also needs to be one that is compatible with Snow Force so it can synergize well with the Healing Branch of my Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. If those are the parameters I set, then there are only three of the Fourth Dimension that fit and only one of the Fifth Dimension.''

    Leonel ignored the three Fourth Dimensional herbs for a moment, training his eyes on the Fifth Dimensional one he felt responded the best to his Snow Force. By all measures, it was quite a beautiful herb.

    It had the six petals and delicate bell shape of a lily. It was a gorgeous white color and had veins of white that would even sometimes spring to life, dancing above its body for a moment and sprinkling down a heavenly light before going to rest once again.

    It had a long stem that attached it to three other companions identical to it. However, what was curious about this long stem was the fact it was covered in a white fur that waved about as though it had a life of its own.

    However, even this was just the tip of the iceberg. Amidst the six petals, coming out from the center, several stamens that seemed shaped of pure gold metals sprung upward. On their ends, each of them held a twinkling gold bell. Every time the flower swayed, these bells would release a delicate sound that tickled the ears, filling one with warmth.

    Or, rather, that''s what would have happened had the Twinkling Bell Lily not been enclosed by a glass case.

    Leonel didn''t waste much time, immediately beginning to Dream Sculpt the Twinkling Bell Lily.

    ''The root of this flower''s artistic conception seems to be the ringing bells. Even its name says so. Butбн I feel like the fur covering its stem is actually just as important. This beautiful plant is actuallyбн a bit carnivorous. No wonder it resonated so well with my Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, it might be more beast than plantбн''

    Leonel didn''t know much about Force Herbs, after all, he wasn''t a Force Pill Crafter. However, combining the dictionary and his Dream Sculpt allowed him to understand an herb far better than even an expert herbologist would.

    ''How fascinatingбн''

    Leonel had come looking for a Force Herb that could replace [Grand Heal]. But, he had never expected to find a combination heal-attack Mage Art like this. If he shifted it to a Light-Earth Elemental Mage Art, the results might be even more shocking.

    However, for nowбн

    "[Twinkling Lily: Bell''s Blessing]."

    At that moment, Leonel''s eyes snapped open, his body beginning to glow with a fierce light.

 Chapter 940 Be Careful

    Chapter 940 Be Careful

    Right then, Anya''s eyes widened. She had been wondering what Leonel was doing, but when she saw the result, her golden irises were completely filled with shock.

    At that moment, a lily manifested around Leonel, a strong surge of Light Elemental Force causing the surrounding winds to pick up and surge.

    The sound of delicate chimes resounded, the golden bells dancing above Leonel''s head. Every time they swayed, a sprinkle of golden light fell upon him, attaching to his skin and sinking into his body.

    Without a word, Leonel cast this spell 17 times before he finally exhaled a breath and gripped his fists, his body finally feeling light again as he expelled the last of the black ash that had been inside of him.

    ''It took 17 casts and 70% of my stamina just to heal from one split second usage. This Innate Node of mine is really the bane of my existence.''

    Leonel shook his head and chuckled. Though he had seemed fine all this time, he really only had about half his usual strength. He could only function normally thanks to Dream Sense dulling his pain.

    ''This [Twinkling Lily] series of Mage Arts I''ve come up with aren''t bad. The [Bell''s Blessing] only has about 20% of its max healing potential but it still did so well. Should I find some Star Force healing herbs that could be used with my Vital Star Forceбн?''

    Leonel thought for a moment before he shook his head. His Vital Star Force was too precious and took too long to replenish after he used it. It was best to reserve it entirely for using [Star Fusion] at a critical moment.

    As for why Leonel had only used [Bell''s Blessing] and not the full version of [Twinkling Lily], that secret was rooted in the hidden carnivorous nature of the Force Herb. He felt it wasn''t appropriate to test the of the Mage Art''s capabilities here.

    Leonel moved on without a word after Dream Sculpting the three Fourth Dimensional Force Herbs. He had already decided which Fifth Dimensional Ores he would use for his Metal Body so he didn''t need to think about it.

    Though his merit points weren''t enough to trade for a ton of Fifth Dimensional Force Herbs, Ores were a bit different in this regard since they were sold in quantities of kilograms. At the very least, he should be able to get enough to take a first step into and solidify his stance in Tier 1.

    Anya was so stunned she forgot to follow for a second.

    ''Did he justбн''

    She looked from the Twinkling Bell Lily to Leonel''s disappearing back and back again. She was certain, that spellбн It had given her the same feel of the plant right before her. How had he done that? How was that even possible?

    It took himбн Ten minutes? Maybe? To create a technique that could be passed down in Bronze Organizations for generations to comeбн

    ж╤???? ??????? "Ahбн!"

    Anya picked up her dress and dashed after Leonel, catching up quite quickly considering he wasn''t exactly sprinting. She continued to look at him as though he was some sort of monster, following closely behind.

    ''Fifth Dimensional Star Core will still be my foundation, upgrading from Fourth Dimensional. I''ll replace Refractive Gold with Dancing Lantern Ore and I''ll replace Blazing Night with a more volatile Fuel Type Ore in Devil''s Shavings Ore.''

    Leonel still felt the Star Core was the best foundational Ore for him. Dancing Lantern Ore worked similarly to Refractive Gold in that it could consume and concentrate the Light Elemental. But, whereas Refractive Gold was dangerous and could turn even a benign ray of sunlight into a deadly attackбкa property that made Leonel''s sniper rifle especially dangerousбкDancing Lantern Ore was very docile.

    Dancing Lantern Ore could accumulate the Light Element to the point of saturation. Once it reach that point, its internal structure would begin to move and shift, thus the ''dancing'' part of its name. This dancing wasn''t just an optical illusion, though. Once it reached this state, it was possible to choose one of two paths.

    The first was a steady output of power and the second was an immediate and violent burst that would put even Refractive Gold to shame. This made this ore quite good for armors, shields and the exterior of vessels, or the body of weapons.  ж╤a??a ???????

    Finally, Devil''s Shavings Ore was like a nuclear bomb in comparison to Blazing Night Ore. However, much like its weaker counterpart, it was able to maintain a steady and relatively safe form in its complete form. Only after it was chipped, and its shavings were introduced to flames would it cause a catastrophe.

    It didn''t take long for Leonel to find what he needed. He wasn''t stingy and directly spent all million of his points and was even lucky enough to gather enough Ores to enter Tier 3.

    Of course, he would need to be patient and couldn''t enter it directly. However, it was possible to use the silver tablet to loosen and erase his bottlenecks before moving forward. But, something told Leonel that he couldn''t casually bring that tablet out just anywhere. So, he would need a secluded place first.

    Anya remained silent as Leonel picked out his herbs, but the light in her eyes seemed to dim somewhat as she did. If Leonel had been paying attention, he might have even been able to notice that she sighed as well. But, he had grown accustomed to ignoring her completely so that he could focus his mind. Only after he was finished and stored his things away did he finally look at her again.

    "Where will you go now? It can''t be that you''ll follow me home, right?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Anya pouted. "What would be wrong with me doing that? Are you trying to get rid of me?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. He was indeed trying to get rid of her. He had things to do, he couldn''t drag someone he barely knew around with him. Though, he had to admit, she was a pretty good shield. Thanks to her, things had gone far more smoothly than he thought they would.

    Just as Leonel was thinking of something to say in reply, a light lit on Anya''s wrist, causing her playful expression to come with a touch of cold.

    "It seems I have to go," she said lightly.

    Her voice was just as enticing as it always was. But, for some reason, she seemed ten years older without aging a single second.

    "Oh." Leonel blinked. "Be careful, then."

    Anya''s brows rose at Leonel''s choice of words. She opened her mouth to say something before hesitating.

    "Youбн You be careful too." She finally said. "This galaxy isn''t as simple as you think it is. Your ambitions might let you down."

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that? My ambitionsбн?"

    "бн The birth of just a single planet of a certain caliber is enough to change the destiny of an entire galaxy. I''m sure you''re smart enough to understand what that means."

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. But, before he could ask more, Anya seemed to vanish right before his eyes. It was like he was both aware and unaware of what was happening at the same timeбн As though she had both always been there and never been there.

    ''Whatбн''

    Leonel suddenly realized that he had no idea just how strong Anya was. Before he could even think any further, he felt several strong auras sweep through his surroundings. He didn''t even have a chance to figure out what was going on before they all locked onto him.

    Leonel realized in an instant that their intentions weren''t kind, but at the same time, he was confused. He was still in the Guild, how could he be targeted like this? And for what reason?

    [Author''s Note: бн Oopsбн It seems that I''m bad at predicting chapter lengths as usual, lmao. The action starts tomorrowбн I guessбн dkm.]

 Chapter 941 Status

    Chapter 941 Status

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ???

    Leonel took a look around and sighed. If those auras could kill, he probably would have exploded several times over by now.

    He didn''t believe that Anya''s disappearance was a coincidence. But, he also didn''t think that she was involved in this. It was likely more accurate to say that whoever was moving in on him now had been waiting for exactly this moment. It seemed that his protective charm was gone now.

    ''They''re not moving?''

    Leonel''s brows raised slightly. After locking onto him, these hostile auras didn''t seem intent on moving in on him just yet. It was as thoughбн

    ''They don''t think I can sense them?''

    Leonel suddenly realized something. He described this sweeping feeling as ''auras'', but the truth was that they were just strands of Internal Sight. This was clearly different from an ''aura'', so why was it that he felt that this was an appropriate description? Beyond that, how could he tell they were hostile?

    ''King''s Might.''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He understood that this grasp of auras, artistic conception, the emotions and mental states of those around him, that he had were all related to this Lineage Factor. Whether it was his creation of new Mage Arts or a comprehension of a person''s mental state all they way up to even being able to influence another''s opinion of him, it all stemmed from this.

    ''I see. So they think I''m unable to sense them.'' Leonel almost chuckled to himself.

    Though as a Crafter, he definitely had strong Internal Sight, those that were targeting him right now likely believed that his control was far greater than his raw Internal Sight. They believed that even if they couldn''t match him in control, the quality of their Internal Sight should be beyond his since they were stronger. As such, they didn''t need to worry about being detected.

    Another possibility was that these people were completely unaware of his level to begin with. After all, they seemed to be cautious about acting on the Guild''s grounds and were likely waiting for him to step out. In that case, they might not be related to the Guild at all.

    ''Not related to the Guild? Targeting me? Waiting for an opportunity? It''s either the Milky Way Guild or Shield Cross Stars. But, the Milky Way Guild wouldn''t dare to be so brazen. I would dare to assume that over half of their profit is reliant on Force Crafters and Force Pill Crafters. Offending someone who just became a Tier 3 Bronze Crafter isn''t something they would dare to do, at least not so openly.

    ''Soбн Shield Cross Stars finally caught up to me, huh? Well, they sure chose a nice time.''

    Leonel looked around. It was a shame. If it was the Guild targeting him, he wouldn''t have minded sweeping this treasure house clean. But, he had already decided not to burn down bridges unnecessarily.

    Leonel concluded his deductions in a split moment, his expression never changing. Those who were currently monitoring him would never guess that in just that second, he had already guessed who they were, knew of exactly where they were, and understood their purpose.

    ''Well, since it''s like this, maybe this could be an opportunity.''? ???a ??????

    Leonel slicked his hair back, rolling his neck as he stepped toward the exit of the treasure house. His face didn''t seem to give anything away. His gait was casual and his expression carefree.

    When Leonel stepped out of the Guild House, he was greeted by the fresh scent of this world once again. Long stretches of green grass, perfectly paved roads, little pockets of exotic flowers and fishpondsбн It was quite a beautiful sight to behold.

    Leonel''s bare feet glided across this grass, his sweatpants having been rolled up to his calves. By this point, he had even removed his shirt, revealing an exceptionally cut body that pulsed with a bronze life and vitality.

    To the current Leonel, wearing clothing into battle was just asking for them to be destroyed. There was only so much the silver chain dangling from his neck could do about it.

    He seemed to be meditating as he walked, his body entering an odd state. Leonel allowed his King''s Might to be the lens he saw the world through. It gave him the feeling of someone riding an emotional high, completely in tune with the world surrounding him.

    It was then that the alarms of the world began to sound.

    High above in the skies, three war ships came into view, each about 20 meters from tip to end. They had a sleek black exterior and a platform upon which three men wearing a very familiar uniform stoodбкlong robes split into four at the waist, allowing the metallic leg armor they wore to shimmer beneath the sunlight every time the wind blew. And, most importantly, a star fused with a cross hanging from their lapels.

    Leonel smiled lightly, his eyes half closed. ''Those uniforms are still so coolбн''

    A pillar of light connected the hovering ships to the ground below, projecting a Force Art onto the ground. The moment the Force Art was burned into being, several squadrons of Shield Cross Star officers appeared at the Guild House Gates, taking up formation with those who had already taken position at the helm.

    Leonel didn''t recognize most of those who took the front position, but there was one man that made everything click for him. It was none other than Engnaril.

    At that moment, Engnaril stood a respectful half step behind a man who seemed to be a few years younger than him. By now, Engnaril had already switched into Shield Cross Star''s signature uniform.

    Seeing such a lineup, Leonel realized that the charges that Scithe person in collusion with Heira had levied against him were not small in the slightest. These people didn''t know the origin of Leonel''s charges, nor did they understand that he was being framed.

    All they knew was that Leonel had colluded with a Variant Invalid, evaded arrestбн And, most importantlyбн

    Was a Tier 3 Fugitive, a status that was high enough to warrant him being hunted down by the entire galaxy.

 Chapter 942 Sigh

    Chapter 942 Sigh

    "Evacuate the surroundings! Tier 4 Fugitive, Leonel Morales, stop all form of resistance!"

    The voice came booming, but it made Leonel raise an eyebrow.

    ''Tier 4? I thought that previous guy said that if I wasn''t handed in within two hours, I would become a Tier 3 Fugitiveбн It seems that never got the chance to take affect.''

    Leonel had no idea how lucky he was that this was the case. In fact, it could be said that Scithe was only using this as a threat to force Earth''s hand.

    The threshold between a Tier 4 and Tier 3 Fugitive was the difference between this matter being handled by an individual galaxy or pulling in the forces of others. What did this mean? It meant that up to Tier 4, one''s fugitive status was still relative to the strength of your galaxy. But, the moment you stepped into Tier 3, you would be the target of all Shield Cross Star branches across the Dimensional Verse.

    It could be said that the moment Leonel stepped outside of this galaxy, he would be a free man. But, with how difficult it was to travel between galaxies, how could they believe that it would be a simple matter for Leonel to do so? And even then, where would he go?

    All this saidбн Being Tier 4 was also equivalent to being among the most wanted of a Galaxy. And, the amount of vitriol pointed Leonel''s way spoke volumes about this.

    Leonel''s palm shifted slightly, causing a beautifully crafted wooden spear to appear in his hand. It was carved of a deep black grain and it was continuous with its wooden blade. It was clear that the whole thing had been cut out of a single piece.

    Though Leonel hadn''t said anything, his actions were clear as day for all to see. The laziness in his eyes seemed to vanish, his gait still steady as he walked toward the gates.

    Engnaril frowned. He had felt that something was off about this matter from the very beginning. The fact that Leonel was able to enter such a world without an alert going off in the first place was ridiculous. Then there was the fact it took hours to get back to him that this Leonel was actually a Tier 4 Fugitive?! If the system was always so terribly slow, then how would they protect the people?!

    It all smelt of someone trying to cover up and protect Leonel. But now that the truth was out, he couldn''t just stand idly by, right?

    The wind pressure of the hovering ships pressed down, flatting the stretches of grass and causing the ponds of water to ripple wildly.

    Leonel''s own hair danced about, its short strands giving him a sort of carefree air.

    "I''m quite disappointed in Shield Cross Stars." Leonel suddenly spoke.

    Despite not having the same amplifiers his enemy did, he still managed to cut through it all. His King''s Might didn''t seem capable of being suppressed, even by volume.

    "To accuse an innocent man without evidence, trial or proper proceedingsбн Is this the so-called protector of the universe you all claim to be?"

    Leonel decided that he might as well try to talk. But, he couldn''t take an approach that was too soft either.

    The holes in this charge against him were too numerous. He colluded with a Variant Invalid toбн attack his own planet? The very planet he was technically in line to potentially inherit? Then, when he was going to be punished for his actions, his grandfather, the ruler of said planet, still chose to step out to save him?  ? ???a ??????

    From top to bottom, it made little sense. Just a little investigation would tell anyone this. So, Leonel knew that he couldn''t take a casual stance with this. Anyone with half a brain would understand that there was something wrong. However, just in case, he still chose to say something.

    Unsurprisinglyбн he didn''t receive an answer.

    The younger man Engnaril stood respectfully behind raised up a hand before pointing two fingers forward.

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? "Captain Snyderбн" Engnaril spoke softly. However, a side glance from the younger man was all he needed to stop his words in their tracks. Sometimes, the truth wasn''t what mattered.

    Engnaril''s gaze narrowed. If they were going to offend Leonel, they might as well offend him all the way. There were no chances for half measures.

    In that moment, a squadron usually led by Engnaril shot forward. They were usually tasked with guard duties on this world. In fact, amongst them, there were two very familiar faces in Rio and Xander. It was no surprise that these two had the most sinister expressions of the lot. While the others were simply doing their duty, it clearly meant more to them.

    They no longer wore their flashy, golden, diamond encrusted armor. The change made their auras sharper and far less of a joke. It seemed that they did have some skill beyond being lackies to noble men and women far above their station. Butбн

    Did it matter?

    Leonel sighed lightly, his body stretching. He felt a bit stiff after just healing from so many injuries, but with as much emphasis as he placed on his flexibility and training it, it wasn''t long before he felt light and limber.

    The group of five had already cut the distance between themselves and him.

    ''Should I kill them?''

    Leonel sighed again, shaking his head. ''Forget it. I''ll just decide depending on the situation.''

    "DIE!"

    Leonel suddenly found two spears piercing toward him at once. He looked down at them, meeting the hostile gazes of both Rio and Xander. Before their blades could even pierce through his exposed abdomen, the situation changed.

    In an eruption of ash, their weapons crumbled to nothing. They continued forward in a piercing motion, but without their spears, they stabbed at empty air, making it seem like more of a comedy routine than the instigation of battle.

    A light glow coated Leonel''s black wooden spear. Before the two could react, their arms flew into the air in a rain of blood, their cries of agony filling the skies.

 Chapter 943 Pumping Blood

    Chapter 943 Pumping Blood

    Rio and Xander slid along the grass, gripping at their armless shoulders with the only hand they had left. Pain was etched across their faces, a mixture of surprise and horror hiding within.

    Leonel might have needed a few exchanges to defeat a usual Tier 4 existence since he wasn''t using his sniper rifle. But, who asked Rio and Xander to use the exact weapon that was completely useless against him?

    Leonel swept a gaze over the three remaining members before checking the surroundings once again. It seemed that the Guild House was quiet, almost too quiet. A part of that was because they hadn''t allowed many people in to accommodate Anya to begin with. But, another part was likely that Shield Cross Stars had already warned them all to stay out of the way.

    ''I should get out of here as quickly as possible. I don''t have the luxury of using this for training. Who knows if they have more reinforcements coming or not?''

    Leonel didn''t want to fall into a trap of overestimating himself. As confident as he felt right now, it was exactly at such a point that he was the most vulnerable.

    His gaze turned cold, a dull fog of violet hanging around him as though to curtail the world.

    Leonel''s steps shifted, a road of Star Force appearing in his path as he appeared amidst the three remaining warriors.

    ''[Harmonic Spear].''

    Leonel''s sweeping spear left several afterimages in the air, making it difficult to tell just which trajectory was real and what was fake. The three warriors were immediately overwhelmed, blocking what they thought was real only to end up pushing their weapons through fake images.

    Before they could react, they found their bodies being torn into, Leonel''s Spear Force slicing their flesh like a hot knife through butter.

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? As expected of a tactical unit, they were so focused on being a part of a team that none of them got the chance to use their abilities before it was too late. Without a chance, they could only watch as their blood sprinkled upon the greenery, dyeing it crimson.

    Leonel''s head suddenly tilted to the side, a whistling projectile streaking just by his head.

    In the distance, an archer''s pupils constricted. He had been certain that Leonel wouldn''t react in time. He had even shot the moment Leonel was most confident in his victory. And yet, Leonel seemed to swerve out of the way in a motion that was almost too natural.

    Leonel swept his spear toward his right hand, his left palm flipping over to reveal a sniper rifle. Before anyone could react, he fired.

    BANG!

    A look of horror froze on the archer''s visage. Despite standing on a building over a kilometer away, there was no room for dodging. In the split second he hesitated, shocked that Leonel had actually dodged, he had already sealed his own fate.

    A line of gold tore through the skies, shooting through several disks of Reflective Gold before landing on its target. Though the range was too far for anyone to get a feel of just how bloody the end result was, a sinking feeling still sunk into the pits of their stomachs.

    Leonel put his sniper rifle away in a motion just as smooth as the one he had used to bring it out. He had figured that there were likely snipers casting a net around him, but they clearly had their own methods of concealing themselves even from Leonel''s Internal Sight. In that case, he could only wait for them to expose themselves. The moment they did, they could consider their lives forfeit.

    Leonel rose his now free palm, spreading out his fingers and arching them toward the ground. In that moment, the metallic leg sleeves of the five warriors groaning splintered into their numerous pieces, rising up into the air and circling around him.

    Leonel had realized that this piece of their uniform was actually extremely valuable. Not only did they use Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore as a foundation, but each was constructed of an extra unique Fifth Dimensional Ore that he guessed must match the affinity of the officer that wore them.

    It was clear that the wealth of Shield Cross Stars was beyond Leonel''s imagining to be capable of doing this. So, he had no qualms about taking advantage.

    Engnaril stood a half step behind Captain Snyder with a solemn expression on his face. Was this the combat prowess someone at Tier 1 should have? Or was this the fearsomeness of Crafters?

    As though to answer his question, Little Tolly appeared like a river of silver, floating around Leonel as though it had become some sort of enigmatic shawl. In the blink of an eye, all the metals were swallowed up by the Metal Spirit, causing its size to expand.

    "All Units, forward!" Captain Snyder roared.

    The Guild House grounds were suddenly flooded. Leonel counted that there were almost a hundred of these ground units. And, unlike the group he had met in the Milky Way Guild, they were trained to work together and most definitely wouldn''t get in each other''s way.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem to have eyes for them. Instead, his Internal Sight was still locked onto those three floating ships whose pressure had still not let up. Namely, his senses were locked onto the three men, one for each, that stood at the helm. Their hands were clasped down to their backs, their expressions not giving anything away as they observed the battlefield.

    Leonel''s lip suddenly curled, his heart rate increasing as he continued to observe these three men.

    His smile became a grin, his gaze tinging with a bit of red as his aura blazed, the temperature in the surroundings skyrocketing to the point despite there being no flame, the grass in the surroundings still turned to ash.

    Leonel''s blood pumped, his pale violet eyes gaining a brighter hue with every passing moment.

    A pillar of flames suddenly erupted as Leonel shot forward. He appeared before the first of the warriors in less than a single breath, his spear piercing forward.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

 Chapter 944 Best At...

    Chapter 944 Best At...

    An eruption of fire turned whatever blood and gore there would have been to ash. In that moment, a headless corpse fell to the ground, much of its shoulders and collarbone burnt to black.

    Leonel''s fingers flickered, causing another pair of metallic leg sleeves to shoot to Little Tolly.

    His feet glided past several attacks, his left hand continuously tapping in the air. The speed of his fingers was so fast that concentrated blasts of air would arc downward every time he struck, it was as though he was playing the piano on the back of the wind, his veins pulsing with an undying power.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

    Whenever Leonel got even a semblance of breathing room, the rhythmic tapping of his fingers would come to a halt and his spear would pierce out like a spiraling fire dragon, shaking the air and imploding the head of yet another warrior.

    Every time one died, another set of metallic leg sleeves would be added to Little Tolly and the rhythmic tapping would grow faster and somehow more controlled and deliberate. The snapping of Leonel''s fingers became so fast that the sound barrier began to shatter with every tap. The speed was even beyond what Leonel could casually reach within such a strong world.

    Leonel sidestepped, allowing a pike to pass between his ribcage and elbow. He swung his arm down, pinching the polearm onto his body and twisting.

    A resounding snap caught the warrior off guard. Before he could realize that Leonel had targeted a weak point in his weapon''s craft to shatter it, an elbow glowing with Bronze Runes was already traveling toward his face.

    The sickening sound of shattering bone resounded through the already rowdy battlefield.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

    Leonel''s visage had entered a state of cold excitement. He was hardly thinking about his next action before he took it. He subconsciously felt that he didn''t need to calculate things in a battle of this level. And the result was his entering a state of free flowing where his Spear Domain Lineage Factor took charge.

    A blinding golden spear appeared on his forehead long before anyone realized what was happening. Then, without even considering the consequences, Leonel applied a spear technique to his elbow.

    BANG!

    The head of the warrior imploded.

    This time, the explosion was much less controlled as compared to what it usually was wit Leonel''s spear, resulting in a tail of wild blackish red flame to jet outward for several meters, catching a wave of warriors off guard.

    They hurried their Force to block, but the heat was excruciating, some of them even feeling their skin being boiled in real time.

    Unfortunately for them, Leonel instinctually took advantage of this as though a predator stalking prey.

    He appeared in their midst, his [Harmonic Spear] activating. He stood amidst the flames, allowing them to trickle across his exposed torso. Yet, it seemed to hardly affect him in the slightest.

    The confusion of fire, screams and countless spears covering the surroundings left the warriors at a loss for how to react. In the blink of an eye, half a dozen fell to Leonel''s spear, never to rise again.

    Leonel released a roar that shook the skies, his hair and gaze slowly gaining a crimson hue to them. His flames only seemed to become more powerful with each passing moment.

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? Now, every time his finger tapped at the air, a ring of fire would spread out from it, turning the lush greenery of the Guild House into a land of black ash.

    In that moment, Little Tolly finally rose high into the skies, pile after pile of Urbe Ore falling to the ground. With just a single look, it was possible to see hundreds of kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore, an amount that was practically a fortune to anyone who wasn''t a Crafter. However, it was still continuing to pile.

    In just a few minutes, Little Tolly had separated out the metallic leg sleeves to their fundamental components, effectively undoing all of the Crafter''s work.

    Just like that, several ores shaped into perfect javelins appeared. They looked like large needles, each three meters long and each being thicker toward their center and tapering out to their ends.

    "[Infernal Cyclone]."

    Leonel''s spear began to spin in his hands. Every revolution it completed formed another wheel of fire that jetted out with his spear as the center.

    Some of these wheels of fire were vertical, some horizontal, some diagonal. They ravaged Leonel''s surroundings so thoroughly that trenches dozens of meters deep were torn up.

    "Scatter!" One of the warriors roared.

    Leonel didn''t pursue even as his [Infernal Cyclone] ravaged the warriors around him. Instead, his spear vanished, his right hand stretching out to his side.

    As though it had a mind of its own, one of the six javelins Little Tolly had just completed fell into his palm, its aura completely changing as though Leonel was its one and only master.

    Leonel''s stance shifted, his right foot rotating to the back and his left anchoring his front. Deep, semi circular lines followed the path of his soles, his back flexing and his chest expanding as he cocked the javelin back.

    However, what shocked those around him the most wasn''t the fact he had completed several Bronze Grade Crafts while in the middle of battle, nor were they surprised that he had used their own equipment to do so, nor was it even that he dared to use such untested Crafts with his life on the lineбн

    No, none of that was surprising. What shook them to the core was that his gaze had suddenly locked onto the ships floating in the air.

    The fiendish grin on Leonel''s face only seemed to grow wilder, his muscles bulging to the point every individual fiber could be seen.

    He, Leonel Morales, was a decent sniper. He guessed that he was also alright at using the bow. But, if there was a form of marksmanship he was the absolute best atбн

    It was most definitely throwing.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s body shot out like a loaded spring. The sound of the javelin leaving his hand was no different from an iron ball leaving a canon, even the earth beneath his feet shattered, sinking downward what was at least half a meter.

    The javelin drew a line through the skies, whistling wind and concentric circles of shattered air spiraling in its wake.

    Without anyone being able to react, it tore into the hull of the left-most flying vessel before the world fell into silence.

    A moment later, chaos ensued.

 Chapter 945 Ablaze

    Chapter 945 Ablaze

    The javelin tore through the hull of the leftmost ship as though a hot knife through butter. There wasn''t an ounce of resistance and the hole it created wasn''t even visible to the naked eye. It felt like nothing would happen for just a few moments and many almost sighed breaths of relief.

    As scary as Leonel was when he wielded a spear, whenever he became a marksman, it felt as though they were all standing in the presence of a demon overlord. It felt that no matter which of them he chose to lock ontoбн they would die without recourse.

    Unfortunately, they never got a chance to breathe that sigh of relief.

    ''That javelin wasn''t bad. I think it combined a few Lightning and Water Elemental Ores? This will probably be the slowest acting one. Threeбн Twoбн''

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The nonchalant man who stood at the helm of the ship almost lost his balance, his hands unable to remain clasped at his back. The chain explosions his ship was undergoing only became worse with every passing moment.

    In that moment, another javelin had already appeared in Leonel''s hand, causing the atmosphere to shift once again.

    The pupils of the two remaining nonchalant men constricted, their hands already leaving their backs as their auras surged. However, what they hadn''t expected was for Leonel''s second throw to still target the leftmost ship, something that most definitely caught the man at the helm off guard. But, what happened next made them regret not stopping the javelin at all costs.

    The ship suddenly swayed, its explosion sending it careening into the middle ship. It was as though the explosions were perfectly crafted by Leonel to result in this. There was nothing they could do to stop the chain result.

    The moment the left and middle ship collided, a spiraling implosion resounded, only for Leonel to throw out a third and fourth javelin that resulted in the both of them colliding with the rightmost.

    The explosions were so loud and endless that even the long since evacuated residents could hear the commotion from hundreds of kilometers away. The skies sparked as though a network of fireworks had been let free. The clouds were singed black and ash rained down along with meteors of fiery metallic parts.

    Leonel stood amidst the destruction, his expression unmoved. From start to finish, a second archer hadn''t dared to target him, probably for fear of ending up like their other comrade. For some reason, even when Leonel was the most distracted, it felt like his vice grip was still holding onto their necks.

    As for Leonel himself, he felt like lava was rushing through his veins. He knew that the battle was over now. He could just hop into the Segmented Cube and use its new functions to leave this place now that there was nothing that could immediately pursue him. But, he still longed for battle.

    In that moment before, he had almost aimed the javelins at the men standing on the helms despite knowing just how stupid that would have been.

    Leonel shook his head. Using Dream Sense, his raging battle intent was dulled as it split between over a million minds. In an instant, he regained all his rationality, the slight red tinge of his violet hair and pupils vanishing.

    Little Tolly descended, wrapping itself around Leonel''s wrist. As for the remaining two javelins, Leonel stored them away before summoning the Segmented Cube.

    Leonel swept a gaze toward Engnaril and Captain Snyder, causing both to tense up.

    "BOY!"

    A roar sounded from the wreckage. Leonel had never expected his javelins to kill those three men, and clearly they weren''t feeling just a small bit pissed. Too bad he didn''t have the intention of sticking around.

    Maybe had they attacked with the original group, things might have become troublesome. But, since they had chosen to attack as though they were lofty and above everything else, they only had themselves to blame for the result.

    The Segmented Cube shifted, its numerous jigsaw-like puzzle pieces expanding and contracting until it reformed itself into a black ship made of the same pieces. This ship pulsed with blue lights, looking as though it might collapse at any moment. The crevices between the puzzle pieces were clearly visible. Though it gave it a beautiful, exotic sort of look, it was also difficult to tell whether the vessel would actually hold up.

    Leonel, though, felt that if he couldn''t trust this ship, then there was no ship in the world worthy of his trust.

    "HALT!"

    Leonel cocked an eyebrow. Was he actually supposed to listen to thatбн or?

    Leonel shook his head, stepping into the ship. Soon, his vision was filled with a complex series of control. Puzzle pieces hovered in the air in odd patterns before surging toward Leonel, covering his fingers.

    In that moment, Leonel''s nerves were fused with the ship. The only thing they didn''t share was pain. It felt as though he had gained a whole new body. Just the sensory overload alone was enough to overwhelm a normal individual.

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? Leonel shook his head. Even for him, it was hard to handle. After all, this ship was at a Sixth Dimensional standard. But, it was also ironically a perfect way to train his mind as well. Just riding this ship to come to the Guild''s world had helped his mind improve by a few hundred split minds.

    The ship shot into the skies with such speed it felt like it simply teleported into the stratosphere.

    It was then that a massive, dome-like Force Art activated. However, it might as well have been a thin sheet of paper.

    It broke into tiny shards of glass, sprinkling down over the world as it trembled. They had hardly registered what happened when Leonel had already vanished into the distance, travelling at speeds that were hard to fathom.

    A silence fell over the Guild World. It felt as though they had just witnessed history.

    The name Leonel Morales was practically burned into their minds. And soon, it would set a wildfire ablaze across the galaxy.

 Chapter 946 Crime Pays

    Chapter 946 Crime Pays

    On a corner of the Guild World, Anya sighed and shook her head.

    It was hard to tell exactly what sort of place she was in. All the walls were white and had a slight glow to them. However, there were no windows or even a door. The only thing in this room outside of Anya herself was a statue of a woman with a beauty that felt almost computer generated. She was too perfect, without a single flaw and without a weakness. Whether it was the symmetry of her face down to the ratio of her hips to waist, to her bust and bottom, even the individual strands of her hairбн It was all immaculate.

    This statue radiated an aura that Leonel would find familiar, having sensed it once before in his life. However, even to someone who had never sensed it before, they would feel the need to bow and prostrate themselves before this woman.

    All this said, as difficult as it was to tell exactly where Anya was, deciding what it was she was sighing about was even more difficult.

    At that moment, Anya''s bracelet rang once again. She bowed toward the statue and took a step toward the blank walls, vanishing as though she had walked through an invisible doorway.

    "You''re trying to encroach on my territory?"

    The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

    This time, Anya was in a simply decorated room without an ounce of anything special to it. It seemed like any other luxurious hotel room, except for the fact this wasn''t a hotel at all.

    "There is no such thing as encroachment when it comes to the word of the Goddess." Anya replied lightly.

    "How sanctimonious of you. It might not be an encroachment to you, but if I see any of your disciples, I''ll kill first and ask questions later."

    "Is there a need to be like this?" Anya asked with a sigh.

    "I''m getting tired of that loftier than thou tone. It would do you good to remember exactly what it is your Goddess represents. No amount of pure light and white clothing can wash your stains away. I''ve already given you my warning. Don''t test me."

    Anya shook her head. "Earth has already entered the Fifth Dimension. Their Fold of Reality has already expanded past just their Solar System and has consumed a dozen others. At this rate, they''ll truly be on pace to swallow the whole galaxy by the time they are prepared to enter the Seventh Dimension. This piece of the pie isn''t something any one person can swallow, and to try to do so is a foolish dream.

    "Your attempts to monopolize these gains for yourself will end horribly for you. There is a harmony that must be achieved."

    All Anya received in return was a sneer she could practically hear through the phone.

    "You make stealing the territory of another sound so noble. People like you disgust me the most."

    The person didn''t wait for Anya''s response and simply ended the call. They had already given their warning, they didn''t have the patience to say anything more. The longer they spoke with this Anya, the more they wanted to watch her head implode like a hammered watermelon.

    Anya shook her head once again and sighed.

    **

    Leonel took deep breaths, beads of sweat falling down his brow.

    Much of this was from the difficulty of controlling the ship, but another large part was rooted in the fact he had entered that battle with just 30% of his stamina remaining. He had avoided using Mage Arts as a result for fear that he would be sucked dry before he could actually do anything.

    ''But, this isn''t bad too. We made a nice little profit.'' Leonel grinned.

    Leonel thought of the Urbe Ore he had gained. He had only taken the metallic leg sleeves of about 60 or so warriors of Shield Cross Stars, yet he had gotten over a thousand kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore out of it. It seemed that crime really did pay.

    Leonel had half a mind to target the Shield Cross Stars offices so that he could build up the wealth he was lacking. But, in the end, he decided against this.

    The current Leonel couldn''t see the true depths of Shield Cross Stars. Without fully understanding his opponent, it would be foolish to provoke them too much. At the same time, Anya''s warning still lingered in his mind, making him realize that cornering this galaxy wouldn''t be nearly as easy as he thought it would be.

    In that case, he had to change his plans. He still needed resources and information, but how he would use them would have to change.

    ''I should also return to Earth since that''s where the boys areбн It''s about time we regroup and make some moves.''

    Leonel weighed his options and decided to put his other thoughts aside. He would return to Earth first, gather everyone up, then move forward.

    The chess pieces on the board were moving too fast. Leonel wasn''t even at the point where he could see the whole board to begin with, but he was already being overwhelmed by a small corner of it.

    ''No, I can''t return to Earth empty handed. Also, the Milky Way Guild has yet to properly suffer for their actionsбн''

    At that moment, a talisman lit up within Leonel''s spatial ring. At first he was stunned before his mouth spread into a wild grin.

    ''Your timing couldn''t be any better, Elthor.''

    Leonel''s mind raced as it quickly memorized the information Elthor was sending to him. A list of Disaster Planets, branches, and stores the Milky Way Guild owned were all systematically organized by Leonel. In the blink of an eye, Leonel had a grasp of much of the Milky Way Guild''s situation.

    Leonel wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that this represented all the assets the Guild had, but it was more than enough. In fact, he was surprised that Elthor had managed to gather so much.

    ? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? ''That woman he''s working withбн Isn''t simpleбн She knows too much, who is she exactly?''

    Leonel frowned for a moment before throwing it to the back of his mind. It didn''t matter who this woman was. She might have all this information, but he would be the one to act on it.

    As they sayбн Crime pays.

 Chapter 949 Her Destination? Her Goal?

    Chapter 949 - Her Destination? Her Goal?

    Planet Luxnix entered an odd state. Regardless of their status, the capture of a main bloodline member of an opposing family would always be a serious matter. And yet, the Luxnix family had done so without hesitation and without warning. It was clear that of all the things the Luxnix family was, pushovers was not among them.

    Ossan''s true state wasn''t as fierce as the Luxnix''s family''s state, though. He couldn''t be said to be comfortable, but at the very least, his life wasn''t on the line. He sat on the floor of a relatively clean cell, his hands and feet bound by chains. There was a single metallic toilet to the side and the empty tray in front of him had likely previously held food.

    Still, though he hadn''t been roughed up, for a nobleman this sort of treatment might as well have been the worst of tortureбкthis was only especially so for Ossan.

    He couldn''t see any pretty women. He couldn''t eat the food he loved. He couldn''t even have alcohol.

    It was inhumane.

    At that moment, there was a shuffle and large, clanking doors and grinding gears sounded. After a dull boom, the sound of footsteps echoed in a leisurely cadence. It was as though the person wanted Ossan to stay in suspense for as long as possible.

    "It''s you!"

    When Ossan finally laid eyes on this person, his heart couldn''t help but tremble. In a lot of ways, he felt that seeing this person hit him harder than even being in the presence of a Feather Star warrior. The fact that this person was here let Ossan know that there was no way this matter would end simply.

    The young man stood there with an indifferent expression on his face, his visage seemingly having been hand crafted by a god. He had exceptionally fair skin without a single flaw, his jawline was gentle, but strong, and he seemed to radiate a dim golden light just with his presence alone.

    Gold hair flowed down the young man''s shoulders down to the small of his back, equally golden eyes matching it in luster and brilliance. His body was wrapped in pristine, blemishless, white robes, a single golden belt of delicately sculpted feathers wrapping around his waist.

    As ignorant as Ossan was about a lot of things, there were certain matters that even he wouldn''t be in the dark about.

    One was the Feather Star warrior. He would immediately recognize one of them so long as they were wearing their uniforms without fail, even if he was in a state of lethargy like he had been previously.

    Another was the Heir of the Luxnix family, the sole Heir, a man without match or competition, Myghell Luxnix. And it was this exact young man who happened to be standing before his cell right this moment.

    Unlike the Viola family which was still deciding on its own Heir, Myghell had already claimed his position long ago. In this respect, he was without match or equal. Despite being several decades younger than Rychard and Ossan''s brother, Myghell was already at the Quasi Sixth Dimensional level. He might very well be capable of breaking through at any moment.

    The difference was like night and day.

    Myghell observed Ossan in silence for a long while. The pressure of his gaze fell on Ossan in waves, he couldn''t help but tremble, his teeth chattering and his limbs turning cold. He found that just breathing alone was difficult beneath this man''s presence.

    Without a word, Myghell turned and left. Ossan almost wanted to scream in frustration. Shouldn''t he have atleast said something?! Done something?!

    However, despite feeling so frustrated, Ossan didn''t dare to scream out, fearing that Myghell would come out.

    Myghell, though, didn''t spare Ossan a thought. He locked the gears behind him, turning toward the guards at the entrance. Each of them looked toward Myghell with reverence as though he was a God amongst men.

    "There is a chance that something will happen within the next coming days. Stay alert." Myghell said evenly, the cadence of his voice almost able to lull someone to sleep.

    At that moment, an entourage was making their way to Luxnix territory swiftly. It was no surprise that this group was led by Gradeyr.

    Gradeyr would have been a handsome young man in his own right, with short cut black hair and starry violet eyes. However, he had the stern look of a man already in his middle ages. It dulled his looks quite considerably and left a permanent wrinkle on his forehead as though he was perpetually frowning.

    He was truly frowning right then, though. He understood there was a very real possibility he would never see his younger brother again.

    **

    Back within Viola family territory, in a particular section of an estate and within a familiar setting, a group of three women could be found.

    "You just came back, are you really going out again so soon?"

    Savahn worriedly probed Aina. She had just disappeared for three days but had now been back for barely a short time before she decided to set off again. Though Aina hadn''t come back injured from her last venture, knowing her, this would only make her go harder this time.

    It wasn''t just a feeling, either. After what happened almost a year ago now, Aina had become a person of very few words. Yet, this time, she had actually told them that she might be away for a long while this time. This made all sorts of red flags go off for Savahn.

    Yuri''s expressionlessly observed Aina, seemingly not certain of what to say for herself.

    Instead of replying to Savahn directly, Aina shook her head.

    "I''ll be back."

    With that, she vanished into the shadows, her control over her Abyss Panther Bloodline becoming no different from breathing to her.

    In her mind, she went over her orders again and again, her gaze narrowing as a tinge of red took hold of her. She knew it was practically suicidal, but she still chose to do it without hesitation.

    Her destination? The Luxnix family dungeons.

    Her goal? Get caught trying to save Ossan and somehow manage to escape.

 Chapter 950 Little Rat

    Chapter 950 - Little Rat

    Leonel timed his entry onto Planet Solara using one of its lava flares. He trusted the Segmented Cube to withstand such pressure, though the pressure on himself was a completely different matter. He found himself gritting his teeth, withstanding the jarring impact.

    The Segmented Cube had never been great with defense, though it had great self-repair. Luckily, it seemed to have gotten better in this regard after entering its fourth phase, but it was all reliant on energy as opposed to its own physical ability.

    Leonel had a bit of a buffer for now in his use of the Segmented Cube thanks to the excess energy it had accumulated within the trial zone. This was what allowed him to use it, at least for now, without much worry. But, if he kept running into danger zones like this, he''d run out sooner rather than later.

    Luckily, this Disaster World was likely another good opportunity to absorb more Force.

    Leonel quickly landed on a planet, a large distance away from any hubs. He also instantly used his Light Elemental Force to vanish from plain sight, certain that there were maybe even more monitoring stations on this planet in comparison to Planet Vincero.

    Leonel had no way of knowing for certain whether he had been caught already, but it didn''t particularly matter to him. Compared to his stint on Planet Vincero, he was even more confident this time around, especially since this planet was dense in the Elemental Force he was most confident in using.

    Putting the Segmented Cube away, Leonel took a step out onto the stretch of obsidian land. He realized that compared to the endless peaks and valleys Planet Vincero had, Planet Solara was fairly flat. Most of the terrain depressions and peaks were caused by tides of lava and magma. Surprisingly, though, there weren''t any volcanos, at least not from what Leonel could spot at a single glance.

    ''My sneakersбн''

    Leonel shook his head, stripping down to the bare minimum. Eventually, he realized that he had no choice but to be naked. That might have been bad news, but the good news was that this environment that would likely have made most at his level feel like they were on the brink of death felt like a spring breeze to him.

    Leonel took a deep breath, swallowing up the hot hair in the surroundings. He couldn''t'' help but feel that compared to his Scarlet Star Force, the heat of this place was sorely lacking. Even though his bare skin was exposed and even though the soles of his feet were touching the scorching lands, he felt unmoved.

    ''This is good.'' Leonel nodded to himself. ''But, I still need to be careful. Heat isn''t the only danger of this planetбн''

    If Leonel was suddenly hit was a storm of charged particles, it likely wouldn''t be more than a few days before he died. Luckily, he had a contingency plan for this.

    *Bloop

    Little Tolly was also unmoved by the heat, but this only made sense. The little guy was used to high concentrations of volatile heat while partnering with Leonel to complete Crafts. In fact, Little Tolly wasn''t only good at withstanding this heat, but was even better an insolating it, something that seemed counter intuitive for a Metal Spirit.

    With a thought, Little Tolly coated Leonel''s body from top to bottom turning the latter into somewhat of a metal man. Leonel shielded even his eyes, not taking any chances. He was confident enough in his Internal Sight to continue on in this way. In fact, in a lot of ways, his Internal Sight was more trustworthy in comparison to his eyes.

    Leonel felt a cooling sensation all over his body. He realized then that even without his Fire Elemental affinity, just his partnership with Little Tolly alone would make it quite easy to step onto this planet.

    Of course, Leonel didn''t need Little Tolly for this. Rather, he was confident that Little Tolly could help him block against the radiation and volatile magnetic fields. As for the rest, that could be left up to him.

    With a leap, Leonel dove right into the lava, vanishing from sight as he swam into the depths of the world.

    If one could see him now, he would really look like a fish in water. With his Earth and Fire Elemental Affinities working as one, how could this world stop him from reaching its depths?

    бн

    It was truly hard to tell if Leonel had outstanding luck or if it truly was so terrible.

    The truth was that it was impossible for Leonel to have reached the surface of the planet undetected. He was simply too unfamiliar with the detection system such large organizations had in place while on the other hand, these organizations treated these resources like their life''s blood. How could they possibly leave it without proper security?

    That said, at this moment, Planet Solara was focused on receiving extraordinarily important guests, guests so important that even the hunt for Leonel had been placed on a slight hiatusбн Guests so important that even Guild Head Ovilteen had personally made an appearance to greet them.

    Everyone was becoming more and more keenly aware of the convergence toward the Milky Way. Silent plots that had been brewing for centuries, sometimes even longer, were slowly starting to bear their fruits and instances like Anya were just the tip of the iceberg.

    The next coming decades would decide who it was would rise to the top, and who would find themselves wiped out by the annals of history.

    Amongst these individuals beginning to slowly make themselves known were a small group of young men and women, all of which had fiery red hair and charcoal black eyes. Upon seeing them, even Leonel might have had the immediate instinct to draw a line of connection toward the Brazinger family. However, they were lacking in the crimson eyes needed and also had auras that were far differentбн

    At their helm, a young man with shark-like teeth and breath like sulfur stood at almost two and a half meters tall. The air around him warped simply due to the heat his pores almost seemed to constantly release.

    He took a deep breath, causing spiraling winds of Fire Elemental Force to jet toward him, his jagged teeth glistening beneath the blinding red-gold lights.

    BANG!

    An eruption of fire circled around his feet, shattering the sturdy grounds of the Guild House.

    "This world is not bad, indeed, Augustus!" Despite being far younger, the young man didn''t care and directly called the Guild Head by his name. "If the rest is as promised, my family won''t mind providing you the Crafters and backing you need. But, it seems as though a little rat is taking part in my resources."

 Chapter 951 12

    Chapter 951 - 12

    Augustus Ovilteen.

    One would have thought that he was a man of grand stature, the kind of man who could cause waves throughout an entire galaxy with nothing but a single word, the kind of man who would have an aura that made such a thing clear.

    However, while it was indeed true that he could flip the Milky Way on its head with a single thought, the rest wasn''t true. In fact, he was very easily overshadowed by a few overbearing youths and seemed to be unmoved by it all. Even worse than that, causing chaos in the Milky Way might not even be so easy for him any longer as the hidden undercurrents of this galaxy only became more and more pronounced.

    The man himself looked like a calm scholar. He wasn''t stoic, and instead had an even smile on his face that made him seem warm and inviting. At the same time, though he wasn''t short, he wasn''t tall either, being under six feet tall. There didn''t seem to be anything imposing about him in the slightest. He didn''t even seem to care when this youth called him by his first name.

    This realization might have been shocking to many. The very man whose decisions even his own children feared actually appeared like this. But, it was maybe those who could hide their thoughts so thoroughly that were the most fearsome.

    "If you and your friends would like to take this as a hunt for sport, I don''t mind. Consider Planet Solara your own grounds for as long as you''re here. However, we can also deal with this for you so that your training is more free and unrestrained. The choice is yours."

    Augustus'' voice was quite even and measured. He neither spoke too loudly nor softly. And, despite his ingratiating smile, his words had some backbone to them. It seemed that he was very much used to towing the line between servile and overbearing.

    The tall, shark toothed youth thought for a moment before shaking his head. He looked toward the other youths that were by his side, but all of them had on an expression that said they didn''t want to be disturbed. They had been the silently brewing undercurrent for too long, they didn''t want to be restricted by anything any longer.

    "It doesn''t make much of a difference. We''ll go ourselves."

    "Mm. Alright." Augustus nodded.

    The youths didn''t seem to need much more than this and instantly shot out of the rest location, each of them using their own methods to deal with the heat. Very soon, there was no one left but Augustus and his attendants.

    "Pull up what the scanners picked up." August spoke after they disappeared.

    Like an organized machine, the attendants began to move about. Soon, Augustus had several floating screens before him.

    "бн How clever."

    The images were all too obstructed to get a proper view. Though they had still managed to catch Leonel, because he had ridden a ''solar'' flare in, there was no clear image of him. And, but the time the images cleared, Leonel had activated [Refractive Light], causing him to vanish.

    About the only things they knew were where Leonel landed and the initial direction he went in.

    "Guild Head, there are large movements nearing the core of the planet. It is likely that this individual has that as their target destination."

    "Mm." Augustus nodded, his light smile not fading. "Send out a few elite troops adept at concealment. Don''t let anything happen to those youths, I don''t want a single hair on their heads harmed."

    "Yes! Guild Head!"

    Augustus directly ignored the choice of those youth. In fact, he continued to monitor the situation, fully prepared to act personally should the situation warrant it.

    These youths were his key to reaching the next level. All of these petty squabbles and this internal conflict were nothing but pebbles in his way. He had been planning for too long to give up his piece of the pie.

    All these mysterious factions that were suddenly popping up within the Guild he had built up with his own blood, sweat and tearsбн He would destroy them all one by one.

    бн

    Leonel wasn''t aware that he had long since been discovered. But, as he had already decided previously, it hardly mattered to him. He had already come here prepared to be hunted.

    A Disaster World provided a unique opportunity. Unlike a regular planet, even if they were aware that someone was invading, it wasn''t necessarily a simple task to do anything.

    At the same time, though, Leonel was aware that the closer he got to the core of this planet, the smaller the search radius would become, especially if they were already monitoring him. So, he still had to have some urgency in his movements.

    Leonel, who had been speeding through the curtains of lava like a bullet, suddenly came to a grinding halt.

    ''Here''s the first.''

    In this world, Leonel didn''t even need to rely on the dictionary to find ore deposits. His own affinities and sensitivities were enough, especially after entering the Fifth Dimension. He could sense things from hundreds of kilometers away as long as he focused, and that was only amplified in this world.

    This wasn''t the first ore deposit Leonel had come across, but it was the first that was worth his time because it was the first with a large store of Fifth Dimensional Ores. In fact, this vein alone was almost 70% Fifth Dimensional.

    If the Milky Way Guild found this deposit, it would most definitely be a hassle. Not only would they need to establish a safe route to get to it, but they would then need miners who were strong and sturdy enough to both deal with the pressure at this depth and the ridiculous heat. As though that wasn''t bad enough, digging up such ores came with dangers in their own right, who knew when you would run into a Fuel Type Ore that would implode in your face and take half your body with it?

    But for Leonelбн

    ''Hm, 12 minutes?''

 Chapter 952 Rich

    Chapter 952 Rich

    Little Tolly replied to Leonel''s commands almost instantaneously. In one moment, Leonel was covered in a thin skin of silver. In the next, his hands had grown to over three meters in size from the base of his palm to the tip of his fingers. If one looked closely, it would even be possible to see Leonel''s real hands moving about quickly, their fingers controlling Little Tolly''s every action.

    Leonel took a step to the side, stepping out of a rushing waterfall of lava and into a lavaless cave. His hand swiped at a side wall filled with what looked like sparkling rubies. However, instead of causing a loud explosion, the sound was akin to a hand running through sand.

    The large silver hand scooped out the hard rock as though it was nothing more than play puddy. The marks of its fingers ran across the almost molten rock, revealing even brighter and more refined ores beneath.

    As Leonel got used to this unique method of using Little Tolly, he grew bolder. Arms grew from his back and eventually he had ten hands going at it at once. Each scooping out ores like they were no more tough than tofu.

    ''Ten is the limit right now, I can''t stretch Little Tolly any thinner.''

    Leonel felt that his mind could handle controlling more of these large hands, but there was a limit to how large Little Tolly could become. Leonel would have to help the little guy enter the Fifth Dimension first before he tried to increase the number of hands he was using.

    Knowing this, Leonel stored about 95% of the Ores in the Segmented Cube and allowed Little Tolly to absorb the rest slowly. He had to be careful with how he fed Little Tolly, which was why the little guy couldn''t progress on his own like Little Blackstar could. But, in this controlled atmosphere, Leonel was confident in monitoring things himself.

    Just as Leonel calculated, in just a dozen minutes, the cave was a completely hollow husk.

    ''Not a bad harvest, but the best Ores here were only Tier 3 of the Fifth Dimension. It would be great if I could find a few Urbe Ore Deposits and a Devil''s Shavings Deposit.''

    Leonel shot away. He ended up coming across multiple Urbe Ore deposits, but they were all of the Fourth Dimension so he directly ignored them.

    As Leonel dove deeper toward the Planet''s core, he found that the density of Force was growing with every passing moment. Soon, it became a bit suffocating to him.

    No, suffocating wasn''t the appropriate wordбн It was more like intoxicating. Leonel felt that he wasбн getting drunk?

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. He knew that just because something was benign in small quantities didn''t mean that it would always be so in great quantities or concentrations. People could even overdose on water and become high off of oxygen. It wasn''t a large leap to say that this could happen with Force as well.

    ''Hm, I''ve been passively practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] all this time, but it seems like that might be dangerous hereбн At least it might be dangerous if I continue like this. Let''s adjust some thingsбн''

    Leonel was able to use his split minds to passively practice all the time. Thanks to this, he was already close to firmly stepping into Tier 1 after just a few weeks. But, it seemed that the combination of his affinity for this place and the concentration of the Force had left him with too much abundance, an abundance his mind couldn''t quite keep up with.

    ''Interestingбн Oh!''

    Leonel had just finished fixing the problem and balancing himself out when he caught sight of exactly what he needed. He grinned from ear to ear.

    ''I''m rich.''

    Leonel shot forward, spiraling through the sea of lava he made it to his target destination in just a few seconds. Bursting through another curtain of lava, dripping with red-gold, his grin was almost visible beneath Little Tolly''s skin of silver.

    Soon, ten massive hands appeared again, sweeping through the ore vein with impunity. Kilogram after kilogram of Urbe Ore found its way into Leonel''s pockets, his heart fluttering with the emotions of a nouveau riche.

    He had finally found his first Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore deposit and from his calculations, there was at least a thousand kilograms of it here. It made his gains from his battle with Shield Cross Stars look like child''s play.

    It hardly took Leonel five minutes to clear it all out. After that, the deeper he went, the more frequent the deposits became. It was clear that the more dangerous the environment got, the less likely the Milky Way Guild would have sent people so far.

    However, Leonel did find one thing curious. Even at the more manageable mines, he had yet to run across anyone. On Planet Vincero, he had had to skirt around several miners to avoid trouble, but he hadn''t sensed a single soul in this place.

    Leonel didn''t believe that it was because this planet was so much more dangerous. There would still be at least someone regardless of the dangerбн There had to be a different reason.

    ''Is a dangerous event coming soon? Or is there another reason they cleared everyone else out?''

    Leonel planted a small seed of doubt within his mind, readying himself for any potential changes or danger. However, it was very difficult to dampen his mood entirely. In just an hour, he had accumulated over 8 000 kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore. He could almost pay off his own bounty!

    ''This is it.''

    Hours later, Leonel was finally beginning to feel some real pressure from this planet. At the very least, Little Tolly could no longer remain as nonchalant as the little guy usually was. Unfortunately, it still had a small ways to go before entering the Fifth Dimension so it still had to put a small bit of effort in.

    Leonel, though, wasn''t thinking about this exactly. Rather, he realized that the concentration of Force had grown to such a level the first Force Crystal Mine he had run across since Earth was now right before him.

    Leonel was certain that the Milky Way Guild had no idea about its existence or else they would have stopped at nothing to mine it. But now, wouldn''t it all benefit him?

    Not only was it wealth, butбн

    ''The concentration of Force is great enough to form this mine. That should mean that the Natural Force Arts aren''t much further from here as wellбн''

 Chapter 953 Came to Us

    Chapter 953 Came to Us

    If the concentration of Force was already high before, it skyrocketed now. If Leonel had found this place while the Segmented Cube was still in its second phase, it probably wouldn''t have been very long until it entered its third.

    Leonel stepped into the bright cave, his eyes practically glowing.

    Whether it was the walls, the ceiling, or even the floors beneath his feet, they were all covered by a rubies with flickering silver flames dancing within them. The dichotomy of the two colors made for a fantastic sight and was quite beautiful to behold.

    ''This should be a special type of Fire Forceбн Oh, thisбн''

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. As beautiful as these crystals appeared to be, an instinct of danger took hold of Leonel''s heart just when he thought of plucking one out. It took several moments of observation, but Leonel came to understand.

    ''This Fire Force is dangerousбн''

    For Leonel, who had the Scarlet Star Force as a ticking time bomb within his body, to actually say something like this wouldn''t be just a small bit shocking.

    Of course, the character of this flame that was dangerous to Leonel wasn''t the Fire Element itself, but rather a unique mutation that likely occurred due to this planet in question. And somehow, Leonel felt that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

    ''This tunnel formation is formed almost like it overflowed from some place.''

    Just looking around, Leonel felt it was standing at the mouth of something that had overflowed. By logic, then, there was likely a deeper, more concentrated region.

    Leonel traveled down the cave and sure enough, he found numerous perforations and holes leading to something far deeper. The unfortunate part was that his body couldn''t personally fit in any of it.

    ''Maybe this is why they haven''t discovered this place yet. It should be a relatively new formation. Maybe a few months at most. But, that''s surprising in its own right. For just a spill over of Force to cause this, just what''s on the other side?''

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened. ''Swallow it all, Little Tolly.''

    *Bloop

    In just a few moments, the budding Force Crystal mine had vanished, swallowed by Little Tolliver entirely. Danger was all relative. It hadn''t reached the point where Leonel felt the need to take a step back.

    Plus, these Force Crystals were just Third Dimensional. The only reason Leonel bothered to have Little Tolly swallow them was because of their quality and to also get the little guy prepared for higher levels.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s fist shattered the opposing wall of the cave, expanding the perforations until they were large enough for him to fit through.

    The sudden change caused a violent energy to surge upward. It was the sort of boiling heat would might expect from an eruption of heated oil or a geyser shooting up and into the skies.

    ''Absorb it.''

    Leonel redirected this wild concentration of Force toward the Segmented Cube.

    In truth, Leonel wanted to form Pure Force Crystals out of this odd Fire Elemental Force. He had a feeling that this unique Fire Force might be the root to a powerful change within himself.

    His thoughts toward improving his Snow Star Owl Lineage Factor had opened up another door for him. He had the greatest Fire Elemental affinity one could possibly have. Not only did he control the number one source of Fire in the universe, but he also had it in the form of an Innate Node, the purest form it could appear as.

    With such an affinity, why was he constantly constraining himself to using normal Fire Force? Even if he couldn''t control his Scarlet Star Force just yet, weren''t there powerful Fire Forces he could control?

    And this one happened to catch his attention. If he was correctбн He just might be able to complete his Four Seasons Realm in a single sweep. And, if things worked out how he imaginedбн There might not be anyone beneath the Sixth Dimension who would be able to match him.

    At least not anyone from this quadrant of the universe, that is.

    As Leonel dove down, the heat and pressure became greater and the warning signs for danger skyrocketed. But, he pushed through, slicing through it all like a hot knife through butter.

    On one hand, Little Tolly split apart the rocks and ores that blocked their way. On the other, the Segmented Cube sucked up the high concentrations of Force in their surroundings. To Leonel''s shock, even this amount of Force wasn''t enough to form even a single Pure Force Crystal.

    To put matters into perspective, the amount of Force Leonel had just passed by was enough to implode his body a thousand times over. Yet, according to the Segmented Cube, he wasn''t even a single percent toward forming a Pure Force Crystal.

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened. He had been traveling for hours, his speed never letting up even as the heat became more and more scolding.

    In that moment, he broke through a barrier, only to find himself falling through a suffocatingly hot fog of air.

    Leonel felt as though he had entered a completely different world.

    All around, waterfalls of molten rock fell from on high. But, what was baffling was that some of them seemed to be running in reverse as though they couldn''t tell which way was up and which was down. This led to the odd scene of two waterfalls clashing together and yet being completely unable to eliminate the other.

    Instead, thin pools of hovering lava hung in the air where these waterfalls met, drawing a thin line that divided this odd world between a flip of up and down.

    ''The core?''

    In the center of it all, what could only be described as a miniature sun stood, rolling with reds, golds and silvers hues. The thin pools of lava formed a disk around it, unwilling to approach too closely.

    Deep within this miniature suns, complex runes of all kinds floated, pulsing with an undeniable power.

    ''This is itбн''

    "Oh? It looks like the Little Rat came to us."

    The sudden voice caused Leonel to blink several times.

 Chapter 954 Fog

    Chapter 954 Fog

    Leonel, who was still falling through the air, sent his Internal Sight toward the one who had spoken. Though, by extinct, he still turned his head toward the sound of the voice.

    Leonel''s senses took in the sight of six youths. They stood together on the thin pool of lava, a distance away from the miniature sun. However, it was clear that compared to Leonel, they were all having trouble of their own.

    The one who spoke out to Leonel in particular was wearing a massive set of black armor that radiated out with a strong shield that blocked much of the pressure from the others. At the same time, those that followed him were not only wearing their own armor, but they seemed to also be holding a glowing orbs in their hands.

    ''Those are Force Vesselsбн''

    Force Vessels were essentially artificial Force Crystals. They started off empty and had to be filled. And, even when they were filled, they didn''t have the purity of true Force Crystals, let alone Pure Force Crystals.

    That said, in some places, they were used as a replacement currency for Urbe Ore. But, these places were usually close knit groups like families or organizations that specialized in particular Forces that would benefit from a particular Force Vessel.

    It didn''t seem that these youths were using their Force Vessels to accumulate wealth, though. Rather, it seemed that they were absorbing the pure Force the miniature Star was giving off. This Force was so pure that it was just a single step from the Sixth Dimension.

    Leonel felt he didn''t have enough information to guess what they were doing. But, he believed it likely had to do with their training.

    He flipped through the air, eventually nimbly landing on his feet. Then, he did something the youths could have never expectedбн

    He ignored them.

    The shark-toothed youth was at a loss for words when he saw Leonel look away from them, focusing his attention on the core of the world. Just as he was stunned, he finally put aside his sneer and truly observed Leonel. In that split moment of shock before his inevitable rage set in, he was stunned.

    ''Metal Spirit?!''

    This close, there was no way he wouldn''t be able to tell what it was that coated Leonel''s body. In that moment, any rage he should have been feeling was completely overwhelmed by greed. And yet, just because he wanted to, didn''t mean he could directly attack Leonel.

    For one, he was still responsible for the lives of those behind him. If these were all individuals from his own Midas family, that might be fine. But there were two individuals from the Radix family, one of which was his fiancижe.

    "Libli." He suddenly spoke out.

    Compared to him, his fiancижe was practically a dwarf. He was 2.5 meters tall, but she was almost a full meter shorter than he was. Libli was the only one who hadn''t reacted much to Leonel''s appearance, her gaze focused on her Force Vessel as she continuously calculated something.

    "Don''t." Libli spoke without looking up. "Your chances of defeating him in this place are less than 1%. Your chances of taking his Metal Spirit in this place even if you do so is less than 1% of that probability. If you act, the likelihood the rest of us die will be over 60%."

    Libli''s fiancиж, Dynmo, almost reached out and picked her up by her scrawny little neck when he heard these words. But, all he received was a slight glance from Libli before he felt his entire body go limp.

    Dynmo gnashed his shark teeth together, sulfur billowing out from his lips.

    Sometimes he really wanted to tear this fiancижe of his from limb to limb. Of course, Libli was an absolute gorgeous beauty despite her petite stature. She fell just a single step behind the likes of Anya and Aina while also having her own unique air. But, Dynmo didn''t seem to care about this at all.

    As far as he was concerned, he was only marrying this annoying woman because his family said so. He didn''t care for beauty as much as an other man might. He was only worried about growing as strong as possible and now this woman was standing in the way of him doing exactly that.

    A Metal Spirit wasn''t just a Crafting familiar. It was far more than that.

    Of course, making it ''more'' than that would pervert the path of the Metal Spirit and turn it into that world devouring monster Leonel''s father warned so much about, but why should Dynmo care? This was exactly what he wanted.

    Unfortunately, as scholarly as this petite young woman was, she was just as dangerous as him and she hated to put her life on the line for anything less than 100% certainty. Knowing that, he knew that the moment her words fell, his chances at fighting Leonel here had dropped to zero.

    Dynmo snarled. "Focus. The moment we leave this place, I''ll be taking his head."

    From start to finish, Leonel didn''t spare them another gaze, his Internal Sight having become enamoured with the miniature sun before him.

    ''бн [Dream Sculpt].''

    A scalding heating began to come off Leonel''s skull. As though his mind was overheating, his veins reddened as blood pumped furiously throughout his body.

    The world began to rumble.

    "The next wave is coming. Retreat." Libli said calmly.

    She finally sent a glance over toward Leonel, her eyes narrowing when she saw that he had no intention of moving. Was he a fool? Orбн

    ''I see. A Metal Spirit truly might be able to weather this if his skill is high enoughбн Is he that confident? It might not be so simple to snatch it away later if that''s the caseбн''

    Dynmo''s jaw clenched but he still followed instructions. They had already experienced one of these eruptions since being here. He would have listened to Libli anyway, but after experiencing it himself, he had no objections.

    Leonel didn''t move from his spot, his gaze growing a fiercer and fiercer light as Universal Force began to dance about him as though it had gained its own mind.

    A fog of death began to accumulate around him.

 Chapter 955 Found out

    Chapter 955 Found out

    The core spun just a single degree. It was such a small change that with its size, it was almost impossible to notice. To a passive observer, it would have felt as though nothing at all had happenedбн Until, that is, the pulse appeared.

    In that moment, an invisible wave of energy spread out in all directions almost like a subtle calm before the storm. It expanded almost like a calm spring breeze. Even as it foretold the death of everything in its surroundings, it was surprisingly gentle for just a moment. Thenбн

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The instant the invisible wave touch the thin pool of lava that hung like a ring around the core it was like everything lost its form. What once was a solid, continuous stream of a lava became unsettled droplets and volatile gases.

    Leonel was suddenly hit by a wall that sent ripples even through Little Tolly. It felt as though he had been smashed by a sledgehammer, the bones in his body threatening to shatter beneath the pressure.

    ''[Valiant Seal]!''

    Leonel roared, an illusory pillar appearing around his body, lacking in the Earth Elemental Characteristics it needed to be complete. But, in order to cast it so quickly, Leonel had no choice.

    It was one thing for Little Tolly to take the brunt of the hyper charged particles the core was releasing at this moment. However, the pressure wave was something that Leonel would need to withstand himself. It was then that the prowess of a Two Star Disaster World manifested itself in its truest form.

    Even after draining his stamina and layering ten [Valiant Pillars] atop of each other, Leonel violently coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. And yet, his gaze never left the core, the fervor in his eyes growing to the point it became nearly manic.

    This pressure alone could eradicate someone at the Quasi Sixth Dimension. This was something that Leonel was absolutely certain of. However, he was in a unique position to withstand its impact.

    Firstly, the most dangerous partsбкthe heat and radiationбкwere all blocked by Little Tolly. That cut the lethality of the core''s rotation by tenfold. That just left a small percentage of its destruction for Leonel to deal with himself, and yet, he still felt his inner organs shake and quake.

    If Leonel wasn''t so enamoured by the Natural Force Arts of the core he would have realized just how large the gap between his current self and a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence was. Though, this was something the back of his mind was taking note of.

    That said, how long such a thing would lastбн Was still up in the air.

    ''I''ll call you Radiant Fire Forceбн

    ''Summer: Radiant Coreбн

    ''Fall: A Slow Deathбн

    ''Winter: Withering Snowfallбн

    ''Spring: Golden Dropsбн''

    The radiance in Leonel''s gaze only seemed to grow, the aura around him becoming thicker to the point even his Auspicious Aura began to leak outward.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s hair whipped around, his body finally firmly stepping into Tier 1. His mind felt as though it had opened up to a new level, his split minds gaining a few ten thousand extra splits.

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, his gaze regaining its focus. He could feel a wild vitality coursing through his veins.

    In truth, he hadn''t thought the results would be so exaggerated. Ultimately, the Four Seasons Realm was designed for the Fourth Dimension. He hadn''t thought that it would empower him so much, at least not until he progressed into the Heavenly Body Realm.

    But, the results spoke for themselves. Leonel felt that his current self could defeat his former self with one hand tied behind his back.

    Despite the fact violent eruptions were still continuing all around Leonel, he almost didn''t seem to notice. He looked around, realizing that this core was an exceptional concentration of not only Force, but also Force Crystals. He could also sense several more Urbe Ore deposits from this location.

    Leonel grinned. ''Might as well take as much as I can until this eruption ends. Ah, there''s huge Devil''s Shavings and Dancing Lantern Ore deposits nearby as well. If all I have to do is gather Star Core in the future, that would make things far more convenient.''

    Leonel shot out. By his calculations, he had exactly an hour.

    **

    Across the universe, as Leonel was making dangerous maneuvers of his own, Aina moved like a prowling predator through the Luxnix family estate.

    Her body seemed to have lost its shape, snaking around trees and branches as though she was a formless mass of Dark Elemental energy. This odd phenomena made it so that the wind pressure she had to deal with was minimal, and despite having broken through the sound barrier, she hardly rustled even a single leaf around her.

    Her body control was immaculate and her stealth was even more fascinating. The Luxnix guards didn''t stand a chance at detecting her before they found themselves being knocked out one after another.

    This choice was one of the most foolish ones Aina could make. She would have had a better chance at remaining unseen if she slipped by without touching them. But in that caseбн how would she fulfill her mission of being noticed?

    In a flash of darkness, she appeared before an inconspicuous building that looked no different from a storehouse. But, according to her information, Aina knew well that this place was one of the hidden entrances into the Luxnix dungeons.

    There was a main entrance within the family''s main home, but there were also many hidden locations like this one. As for why a prison would have such a foolish design, maybe only the higher ups of the Luxnix family were aware.

    Aina broke through the door with ease, only to find two guards waiting for her on the other side, their eyes widening in shock.

    But, before they could react, a hidden blade had already shot forward, causing two heads to shoot up into the air.

    She rummaged through their bodies, finding the keys she needed and opening the doorway that led down a path of darkness.

    It was right when she took her first step downward that the blaring sounds of warning shook the Luxnix family estate. Before even laying eyes on Ossan, Aina had been found out.

 Chapter 956 scheme

    Chapter 956 scheme

    Aina hardly reacted, her steps remaining at the same speed, not accelerating or slowing. She dove down the stairs, her body still weaving in and out of the shadows.

    In just a few seconds, she had made it down to the tunnels of the dungeons, her Internal Sight spreading out through the winding corners. With her curse suppressed so heavily, it wasn''t difficult in the slightest for her to release such powerful pressure from her mind. In an instant, she latched onto Ossan''s aura, slicing through the air as her powerful thighs bulged.

    In just another few seconds, she appeared before Ossan who was in a half daze. He had been drooling in his sleep when he was suddenly awakened by the loud blaring of the alarms. Now that a looming shadow had suddenly appeared before him, he was so scared that he nearly pissed his pants.

    He sat in his own filth, cradling his body amidst a pile of thick chains. His body trembled as he tried to make out Aina''s face. But, he only shivered more severely when he realized that she was actually wearing a mask. There was something particularly sinister about the way her golden eyes floated like two orbs of light within her black mask. Let alone pissing himself, Ossan almost lost control of his bowel movements at the same time.

    Things only got worse from there because this shadow actually took out a massive red-gold ax, only to swing down toward him with all the power it could muster.

    Ossan screamed beside himself.

    CLANG!

    The ax rebounded in Aina''s hands. She felt her wrists almost snap beneath the pressure, her arms and legs trembling as her battle ax continued to vibrate.

    There were three small nicks that spanned three different bars resulting from Aina''s strike. But, outside of this, there were no other great changes.

    A low shout left Aina''s lips, violent Universal Force hanging around her. Ossan watched on in horror as Aina''s jet black hair spread out around her looking like the snakeheads of Medusa. He couldn''t see clearly between all the darkness and the simultaneous blinding lights of Aina''s Force. It left him feeling as though he was walking to the end of a tunnel that led toward his death.

    Images of a rising moon caused the dungeons to tremble, a flood of Universal Force rising.

    BANG!

    The air itself shattered the moment Aina began to swing, the pole arm of her battle ax bowing beneath her might. The blade of her battle ax glowed with a fierce crimson light, her gaze being painted by a slight red.

    Like a hot knife through butter, Aina''s ax tore through the bars, drawing a diagonal line from top to bottom and shattering the locking mechanism of the door.

    Ossan''s heart shook, finally completely losing control of his bladder as Aina''s blade Force passed just over his head and shoulder. In that moment, he felt his life flash before his eyes. He swore that if he ever got out of this place that he would walk the straight and narrow. This was the most fear he had ever experienced in his life. In fact, it took him almost too much time to realize that he hadn''t been harmed in the slightest.

    Before Ossan could snap out of his shock and be thankful that he was still alive, Aina had thrown a ball of light toward him before he could react.

    The ball flashed a light and rebounded back toward Aina. When the light had faded, Ossan had disappeared.

    This ball was a special Vessel that could store life. But, it would only last for half a day before it burst. In addition, it only worked on those with weak strength like Ossan.

    Aina didn''t linger, shooting off. However, she didn''t travel far before she suddenly found her exit route being flooded by the Luxnix family guards.

    Her gaze turned a deeper shade of cold, her battle ax vanishing only to be replaced by two short swords. Her hair blazed to life around her, almost melding into the shadows just like the rest of her body. A fiendish, bloodied killing intent wafted from her body, the shadow of a looming panther forming over her head.

    бн

    In another corner of the Luxnix family estate, Gradeyr woke with an ugly expression on his face. After negotiations failed, he had been invited to stay as a guest. But now, it was far too dangerous to stay here.

    Without a word of explanation, he woke his entourage up one by one.

    "CUT DOWN ANYONE WHO BLOCKS OUR WAY! CHARGE OUT!"

    Gradeyr was too intelligent to not understand that he had been played. If he didn''t cut a path to leave now, he might never see the light of day again. The worst part was that he knew his actions would only give those plotting against him an even greater chance of survival, but he had no choice.

    Even if the Luxnix family believed him and understood that he was being framed, it still wouldn''t matter. For one, they might still detain him just to save face. Sometimes, the truth itself wasn''t all that mattered. And secondбн Gradeyr was certain that this person who was plotting against him had his younger brother in their hands right nowбн

    What choice did he have but to help them?

    Gradeyr grit his teeth so hard blood leaked from his gums. His usual calm, stoic demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

    The worst kind of schemes were the kind that came and yet one still had no choice but to play along. There was only one bastard clever and cunning enough to pull this off.

    ''RYCHARD! If a single hair on my brother''s head is harmed, I''ll tear you limb from limb!''

    бн

    Blood and corpses littered Aina''s surroundings. Her twin swords were like scythes of death as they flashed in and out of the shadows as though they had minds of their own. Dozens of Fifth Dimensional existences fell before her, as for those foolish enough to take action at the Fourth Dimension, they were obliterated into a rain of gore and blood.

    Her speed didn''t suffer. In fact, it only seemed to be increasing as she shot toward a pre-planned exit.

    Aina could feel that something had locked onto her. However, what was curious was that this person only seemed to be observing curiously, even up until the point just half a dozen minutes later when she burst out from the gates, entering a dense forest she almost completely vanished within.

    Yet, somehow, despite her concealment, Aina''s steps came to a grinding halt barely half a kilometer from the gates of the Luxnix estate. Before her, a young man fluttering golden hair stood wearing robes of such pristine white that they glowed even in the darkness.

    For some reason, he had instinctually decided to chase after Aina as opposed to Gradeyr. He could smell that some conspiracy was afoot, but it was hard to tell. Andбн There was something else that felt off.

    He looked her up and down as though trying to understand something, the pressure he radiated making it feel as though there was no way out.

 Chapter 957 Single

    Chapter 957 - Single

    Myghell stood in silence. After a while, he became certain. This shadowy figure was likely not a plot set by Gradeyr. But, this scheme was so great that it still didn''t matter. What the truth was, was irrelevant. All that mattered was what the optics were and only by dealing with them could his Luxnix family come out unscathed.

    Still, this was quite interesting, though. Myghell didn''t pay much attention to the outside world because there was no one of the younger generation even worthy of his effort. In fact, he felt that every second he spent in a Sixth Dimensional world was another greater waste of his time.

    That said, as the Heir of the Luxnix family, there were still some things he had to knowбкnamely, who the Heirs of the other families were and what strength they had.

    This was all to say that an existence like Aina wasn''t one he had heard of before. It was even more surprising that he would feel a slight pressure from someone who was merely a Tier 3 existence.

    Of course, he didn''t feel that there was any real threat of losing, but it was surprising nonetheless. The Viola family shouldn''t have such a genius on their side. And, even if they somehow did, sending this person on such a dangerous mission was impossible.

    The only explanation was that this person wasn''t a member of their bloodline lineage. This meant that this girl wasn''t some hidden trump card of the Viola family but more likely to be a Vessel, a Vessel candidate, or the offspring of a Vessel.

    Reaching this conclusion, Myghell stretched out a single finger, his other arm clasped behind his back. Seemingly without warning or buildup, Aina''s pupils constricted. A beam of light had already appeared just a foot from her face, leaving her almost no time to react.

    Leaning backward, she shot one of her twin swords upward, her wrist going numb as the light rebounded away, leaving an exceptionally smooth hole in the bark of a tree.

    Myghell didn''t say a word. He stood in the depths of the forest with a halo hanging around him. He looked like a spirit floating amidst the darkness, his outstretched finger releasing strength that could wipe out an entire city with ease.

    Each beam was highly concentrated, sending Aina onto her backfoot almost instantly. In just three attacks, Aina had retreated a hundred meters, eating up a fifth of the distance she had managed to put between herself and the Luxnix family estate.

    A coldness hung within Aina''s eyes, a tinge of crimson still leaking out of their corners. Despite the increased distance, the strength of Myghell''s finger lasers didn''t seem to weaken in the slightest. In fact, they seemed to grow more powerful.

    Was he really trying to push her back to the estate so casually?

    Before Aina could even have this thought, she was pushed back another 50 meters, and yet Myghell had still not moved a single inch, his pristine white robes still fluttering. The subtle flapping of their fabric resounded between the clanging of metal and laser, accentuating just how quiet the forest was outside of their clashes.

    Another beam of light shot forward. It pierced through the trunk of a tree with a dull thwack sound and rebounded off of Aina''s sword once again.

    This time, however, the collision was met with a sickening crack as Aina''s wrist gave way.

    By this point, with how many trees separated the two, it was almost impossible to use their eyes to spot one another. However, each was very clearly aware of the circumstances of the battle.

    Myghell''s finger lasers couldn''t be stopped by these trees while Aina herself was still continuously being pushed back without recourse. In just a few exchanges, she had already been pushed half way back to the family estate. If it wasn''t for the trust the Luxnix had in Myghell to handle this situation on his own, it could be said that Aina would be finished by now.

    Aina''s gaze hardly flickered as her sword fell from her hand, her broken wrist simply unable to maintain her grip. She suddenly flicked her forearm, snapping her wrist back into place only for it to be rapidly healed beneath her ability.

    Originally, she had been trying to focus on speed and stealth to get out of here. But, since even after all this time no one had come, it was likely that they would never. In that caseбн

    BANG!

    A demonic howl left Aina''s lips, a raging crimson Force rising into the skies like a pillar. An illusory black-red flame erupted around her body and flickered within the depths of her golden eyes.

    Her left hand cocked back almost like a snapping whip holding on to her remaining sword. Just as Myghell''s gaze narrowed, the whistling wind finally caught up to his ears and a glistening silver streak appeared right between his brows.

    Myghell tilted his head to the side. But, he was slightly too late. Three strands of his immaculate golden hair were tossed into the air, sprinkling downward without an anchor to root themselves to.

    ''This Lineage Factorбн Where have I seen it beforeбн?''

    Myghell never got the chance to answer his own question because Aina had already appeared before him like a she-devil, her golden-red ax leaving blades of red in its wake as it struck down with a spine tingling might.

    Aina''s hair whipped about as though it had a mind of its own, the fiery red glow around her body only growing fiercer as her mind descended into a peak battle state. All she wanted was blood and the flesh of her enemy.

    Myghell stretched out his arm once again, a subtle change taking place in his demeanor. The output of strength was far beyond what it had been in the past.

    BANG!

    The ground beneath Myghell''s feet shattered like an eggshell.

    All of Aina''s strength weighed down from above. A moon hung high up to her back and her Abyssal Panther blood was surging through her veins like a raging river. And yetбн

    It was still all stopped by a single finger.

 Chapter 958 Deal

    Chapter 958 - Deal

    Aina didn''t seem to truly register what had happened. Her body had entered a state of all out battle.

    Steam rose from her skin, her heart began to pump ten times faster, the radiant illusory flame around her only grew brighter and brighter with every passing moment.

    At the same time, the moon above her head began to revolve, the Universal Force projecting out from it growing with strength as its silver hue became a dripping blood red.

    Aina retrieved her battle ax, swinging down again with even more strength and power.

    Myghell took a single step back, his aura as stable as a mountain. Every swing of Aina''s ax was met by a parry from his finger. His movements were smooth and natural, but anyone who was paying attention could tell that he was being forced to pour out more and more of his power.

    ''If things continue like this, she is going to end up killing herself.''

    Though Myghell thought this, he made no moves to end this quickly. Something in his intuition was nagging at him but he couldn''t quite place a finger on it. He felt that he had some sort of connection with this woman but he was unable to put it into words.

    However, this didn''t mean he would go out of his way to save this woman either. As far as he was concerned she deserved death. If anything, the only reason she wasn''t a corpse right now was because of his curiosity.

    That said, he could also tell that this girl''s Lineage Factor was a self destructive one and could be classified as a Berserk type Lineage Factor. It was harder to classify Lineage Factors in comparison to abilities as the former were far more varied, but there were still some broad categories that existed.

    This Lineage Factor of this girl''s clearly placed great strain on her heart. At the same time, it ate away at her reasoning to the point she seemed to become a demon.

    In truth, it had been a long time since Aina fell into such depravity. The last time was in the Joan Zone when Leonel awakened his Spear Force to save her. Since then it seemed that Aina''s berserk tendencies had vanished, but the truth was that she simply stopped using her Lineage Factor entirely.

    One reason was because she didn''t want to put Leonel in that situation again. And, the second reason was because she didn''t want Leonel to see that side of herself.

    But right now, there was only herself and this enemy. If she couldn''t get past and survive, this would be the place she died.

    Unfortunately, Myghell felt like an insurmountable mountain.

    **

    Leonel floated up to the surface of a river of lava, his body still coated from head to toe in a skin of silver. Everything about his actions seemed carefree and casual. One would have never expected him to currently be in an incredibly dangerous situation. But, maybe it was just that wealth could mask a lot of things.

    Leonel had never been rich in his life. Though he had never been wanting for anything, when most of his life was spent in a schools of the children of celebrities, billionaires and politicians, it was quite clear that he would be inferior in this aspect.

    But, right now, Leonel truly felt rich. He had just mined locations the Milky Way Guild couldn''t even dream of mining and he had gotten away withбн

    Leonel looked up, his lip suddenly beginning to twitch. Alright, maybe it was a bit premature to say that he had gotten away with it.

    In that moment, several auras had already locked onto Leonel. Up above, a massive Force Art that protected the entire planet was deployed, causing the skies to be filled with swirling runes that gave the world a unique character.

    Leonel coughed lightly. Maybe he had taken a bit too much time clearing those mines up. He wasn''t sure if the Segmented Cube could burst through that Force Art. He would have to find some sort of weakness so he didn''t end up exploding along with it.

    Leonel pulled himself out of the pool of lava, standing firmly on the land of obsidian. He could sense several auras converging toward him. They hadn''t been certain of exactly where Leonel would appear. But now that he had come up, they could close the net around him.

    The smartest thing to do would probably be to wait for them to converge and then dive back down to appear somewhere else. But, Leonel had a feeling that they were smart enough to be prepared for such a possibilityбн Especially since there was already a group not even a half kilometer from him.

    Leonel''s playful demeanor vanished when he saw that group, his gaze narrowing. It was none other than Libli and Dynmo along with their group.

    Leonel didn''t believe it was a coincidence that they just so happened to be here. He had heard the words of that girl earlier. Her calculations were more rounded and less precise than his own, but it was hard to tell if that was because her calculative abilities were weaker or if she had just been dumbing it down for Dynmo.

    However, regardless of the answer, the fact that she could guess that he would appear here was impressive enough on its own.

    This location had just experienced the strongest surge of charged particles and volatile lava under the most recent explosion. This made the Force in this region chaotic and simultaneously meant that the Force Art that hung above this area would be the weakest and most prone to weakness.

    This was the second reason Leonel didn''t just turn tail and reappear elsewhereбн

    The fact that this Libli could calculate this matter was impressive indeed and it made Leonel take her with a few measures of extra seriousness.

    BANG!

    Dynmo''s fists knocked against one another. The sound alone made it feel as though one''s ears might burst. However, just as he was about to take a step forward, Libli reached out a hand and stopped him.

    "I can tell that you aren''t a simple opponent. But, as you can see, this situation is not very favorable toward you. In as little as a dozen or two minutes, you''ll be surrounded by Fifth Dimensional existences and weaponry. I guarantee that even if we cannot defeat you in that time, we can definitely stall you for that time.

    "So, how about we make a deal? Hand over your Metal Spirit and we will let you go without a fight before you''re surrounded."

 Chapter 959 Radix Cube

    Chapter 959 - Radix Cube

    Leonel didn''t answer Libli. In fact, he was still scanning the surroundings, trying to come up with the best plan of approach. The fact that Leonel was spending several moments to do such a thing should have been something these six youths tried to stop at all costs. However, they were still na?ve to just who it was that they were facing.

    ''There.'' Leonel''s gaze narrowed, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

    Libli''s brows furrowed when she felt the subtle shift in Leonel''s aura. It had gone from a slight tension to a relaxed confidence in just a few seconds. But, she couldn''t quite grasp just what changes had occurred in just those few moments to cause such a shift in him.

    Leonel suddenly began to walk forward, making the unease in Libli''s heart grow.

    In one moment, Leonel was walking casually as though a man of silver. In the next, his back had suddenly exploded with two wings of blazing Light Elemental Force. They spread outward for tens of meters, sparkling beneath the bright hues of Planet Solara.

    Leonel''s speed exploded, rippling air following in his wake as the obsidian ground beneath his feet shattered and cracked. Lava began to surge out from these cracks, pooling around and following the flow of Leonel''s movements as though they had a mind of their own.

    By the time Leonel appeared before Dynmo, just a split second had passed and a fist of lava following the arc of Leonel''s punch was mere inches from the latter''s chest.

    Dynmo''s shark-like teeth glistened, his muscles bulging beneath his armor as he shot a punch out. Even before his fist collided with the punch of molten rock a booming sound rocketed through the air. The power behind the strike of such a large man hardly needed to be described and could shake almost anyone to the core.

    BANG!

    ''Idiot.''

    Dynmo shattered the fist of lava but completely neglected Leonel''s real punch. In that moment, a spiraling Universal Force surged around Leonel''s knuckles and his forearm, the twist of his hips and torso accelerating as he seemed to flash an entire meter forward in the blink of an eye.

    Before Dynmo could react, a fist landed on his plate armor. First it felt as though all the air in his lungs had suddenly been squeezed out. In the next, it felt like his ribs were collapsing in on themselves, turning his inner organs to mush.

    Then, he shot out like a bullet from a barrel. The air screeched and whined as his massive body tore through it. It almost sounded like steam whistling out of a thin hole, the nagging, high pitched sound nearly enough to make one go deaf.

    Libli to a single step to the side, dodging Dynmo''s body as though she knew that exactly this would happen. But, another Midas family member right behind her wasn''t so lucky and ended up following their family Heir in shooting off into the distance.

    It could be said that Libli was visibly annoyed. Leonel''s fist of lava had only followed the arc of his punch, not enveloped his fist, so why did that fool think he only needed to block the bigger one? He was so simple minded Libli wanted to puke. Was this fool really going to be her husband? She heaved just thinking about it.

    Unfortunately, their two families had been attached at the hip since their very first generation. Their two Heirs had always been destined to marry from the very beginning. From the moment of her birth, her marriage had already been decided.

    The worst part was that Dynmo was most definitely not so weak. Of course, he was only Tier 4, an existence that Leonel had already defeated many of. But, comparing Dynmo to the other Tier 4 of this quadrant would be foolish.

    Leonel stood amidst the four remaining youths without much tension on his face. As things stood now, there were just two Midas family members remaining and two Radix family members. Yet, other than being annoyed, there didn''t seem to be any other emotion on Libli''s face.

    "Is this the choice you''re making? I can give you one more chance." She said plainly.

    In response, Leonel simply extended his opposite hand. A second flaming Lava fist formed and opened to reveal its palm. It expanded to ten times its usual size in an instant and covered the group in a shadow before descending downward like a falling meteor.

    Libli''s gaze narrowed, annoyance even more clear between her brows now. However, this didn''t stop her from reacting quickly.

    Her small hands came together at blazing speeds revealing a cube-like structure of complex moving gears and parts. In this way, it was a lot like the Segmented Cube except instead of puzzle pieces, it was made of gears, screws and what looked like miniature hydraulic systems.

    To Libli, a Metal Spirit was far too important. If it was paired with her Lineage Factor and her Radix family''s legacy techniques, it would be like adding wings to a tiger. Unfortunately, Metal Spirits were things she had only ever heard about in legend. Let alone getting her hands on one, she had never even heard of anyone partnering with one.

    She had wanted Leonel to give up because this would make things far easier. She could on one hand guarantee the Metal Spirit would fall into her hands while ensuring no other variables popped up. But, since Leonel wanted to play this game, she would play.

    Libli''s Radix Cube floated in the air of its own accord. The moment she stretched a finger toward it, it reacted as though it had a mind of its own, sending out one of its pieces.

    CLINK! CLANK! CLANK! CLINK!

    In that instant, something absolutely shocking happened. A small pieces of bronze metal jetted out from Libli''s Radix Cube. First, it just coated one of her fingers, but then it began to rapidly unfold, snaking all the way up her arm before expanding outward.

    In the blink of an eye, Libli''s right arm was covered in a bronze armor two times too long and three times too wide for her.

    With a look of indifference, she pointed this steam punk-like arm into the air, shattering Leonel''s lava palm into a rain of golden fire droplets with a single punch.

 Chapter 960 Radix Cube

    Chapter 960 - Radix Cube

    Though it was impossible to see with Little Tolly covering his face, Leonel''s gaze had lit up like a Christmas tree. Libli''s arm was the most complex piece of machinery he had ever laid his eyes on.

    Though Leonel could probably say the dictionary was more complex, he had never personally opened it up to see just what its inner workings looked like. However, this arm and especially the Radix Cube made Leonel feel as though he was a kid in a candy store, a reaction even he, himself, hadn''t quite expected.

    Leonel didn''t know when Crafting for him had gone from something he just did to beat his father at to something he loved to this extent, but it had to be said that even he was surprised by this change. Though, it might just be that his love for cool uniforms and things had spilled overбн. Because, no matter how much he disliked Libli trying to take Tolliver away from him, he couldn''t deny that her metallic armбн Was indeed pretty fucking cool.

    Libli''s arm twisted and moved in all sorts of unique ways. Though it appeared to only had three main jointsбкthe shoulder, the elbow and the wristбкmuch like every other arm, its degrees of freedom were enormous. And, somehow, despite its size in comparison to Libli''s petite body, she seemed completely unaffected.

    What was most shocking about this though was the second Radix family member, realizing that Libli was getting serious, acted quickly as well, taking out a Radix Cube of their own, and, rather than attaching a single arm to themselves, their Radix Cube fused into their bodies to form an entire armor as though they had become a mech.

    Leonel could tell with a single glance that this person following behind Libli didn''t have a Radix Cube even a tenth as complex as hers. But, it still filled Leonel with awe.

    Very soon, though, Leonel wasn''t able to continue to casually spectate.

    Libli stretched her free arm toward her Radix Cube, causing it to be coated in another arm as well. However, this one was far smaller and sleeker. It clung to Libli''s small arms like a second skin and almost seemed harmlessбн Until Libli pointed it toward Leonel, that is.

    All the hairs on the back of Leonel''s neck stood tall.

    "Stay back." Libli said plainly to the others. "This isn''t a fight you can take part in. Go wake that fool up and tell him to stop being so useless."

    Even as Libli''s words fell, a beam of bronze light tore toward Leonel, leaving him at a loss. Not only could he not tell what kind of Force was coming his way, but it was actually so fast that his Internal Sight almost failed to lock onto it.

    Leonel''s body curled backward in an arch, the beam just barely missing his chin. But, by the time he tried to recover, Libli had already acted again.

    Her large steam punk arm whipped downward almost in a mock gorilla''s pounce. It was so large in comparison to her body that its palm easily smashed against the ground even without her bending down. It propelled her forward with such speed that she had already appeared above Leonel even before the ground she smashed against registered the impact and shattered into countless pieces.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. The shadow of Libli''s gorilla arm swinging downward toward him was ominous in and of itself. But, the wind pressure was so great in addition to that that he was nearly forced flat onto the ground, Little Tolly distorting slightly beneath her might.

    Leonel quickly rolled to the side but the impact was far greater than anything he could have expected.

    BANG! BANG!

    The forearm of Libli''s gorilla arm suddenly twisted and pulsed. The result was Libli''s single smash registering like two as though she had layered two strikes atop of one another.

    The pressure blasted against Leonel''s back, catching him off guard. Little Tolly was blasted apart, revealing the skin of Leonel''s back and sending him flying dozens of meters.

    *Bloop*Bloop*

    Leonel''s expression changed. The impact was only enough to redden his back a little and maybe bruise him a bit. But, blasting apart Little Tolly was a different matter entirely.

    Little Tolly was most Spirit as such the little guy could separate into many pieces and even change form at will. However, this didn''t mean that the little one couldn''t be hurt, which was why Leonel panicked.

    ''Thank godбн'' Leonel sighed a breath of relief.

    Luckily, Libli''s strike was a normal physical attack. So, though it blasted through Little Tolly, it didn''t harm the little guy. It was only then that Leonel felt like he could breathe easy.

    Leonel slowly stood to his feet. It seemed he had been a bit careless.

    It was well known in the Dimensional Verse that a battle with Force Crafters would be the most unpredictable, and though he had been aware of this, he had still been caught off guard. There was no telling what other hidden mechanisms Libli could have within her arms.

    ''Alright, fair playбн''

    Leonel took a deep breath, putting Little Tolly away and gripping his fists.

    His aura blazed, Bronze Runes racing into existence across his body as his halo expanded and descended to his feet. As his halo rose up, a brilliant silver armor coated him from head to toe, his demeanor completely changing.

    He grasped at the air, a spear of black wood appearing in his hands as he faced Libli. Her Radix Cube continued to hover before her, her eyes having narrowed into near slits.

    She didn''t care about having seen Leonel''s naked body, but what she did care about was the glimpse of his face.

    "Youбн You''re Leonel Morales. I seeбн So you''re from Earth. That makes things more interesting."

    For the first time, Libli''s face showed something other than indifference even as Leonel''s head was slowly covered by a silver helmet. News had been spreading rapidly about this fugitive, but Libli still found it more interesting that he was from Earth.

    That said, Leonel didn''t seem to care, his body flashing forward. He needed to end this quickly.

 Chapter 961 - Cutting

    Chapter 961 - Cutting

    Libli found herself feelling as though she was moving through a swamp. At first, she had thought that Leonel''s armor was just a simple change. After all, she could see at a single glance that it was constructed of just a few dozen parts. Compared to the complexity of her Crafts and her Radix Cube, it was sorely lacking. It was almost like comparing night and day.

    Due to her innate biases, she had been lax even after it appeared. But, the moment space seemed to solidify, her pupils couldn''t help but constrict.

    ''What is this?''

    Her movements slowed by at least half and even though she didn''t test it, she felt that even the range of her attacks had been cut by a long measure. If she had to describe it, it was like her sense of distance had been warped, as though one meter was now worth the equivalent of two before.

    And yet, while she was suffering through this, Leonel was completely unaffected. In fact, it almost seemed like the reverse to him. For him, one meter had just become half of that. The result was Libli feeling as though she was swimming through water while Leonel was cutting through the air at an unconscious speed.

    In a single blink, Leonel was already before Libli, his spear swinging downward with a violent momentum.

    Libli still reacted as quickly as she could. Her left arm, the one coated with the more skin-like armor, flashed. Her fingers moved about as though she was forming special seals that her Radix Cube quickly reacted to.

    The cube sprung to life, its gears and pumps emitting a wild steam for an instant before it expanded, forming a shield of spinning parts.

    BANG!

    The shield held strong giving Libli enough time to stretch her arm out to the left. As though she had already predicted exactly what would happen, Leonel''s body vanished and appeared right before her fingers, being met with a familiar beam of bronze light.

    However, what should have been an instant victory was met by nothing but a cold, heartless gaze. Libli hadn''t realized that even as Leonel appeared, the flat of his blade would find a position right below her extended forearm. With just a twist of his wrist, Leonel sent Libli''s laser shooting off into the distance, passing well over his shoulder.

    Libli''s pupils constricted, her right arm whipping toward Leonel and causing the air to shatter and collapse even as barbed bronze chains shot out from their hidden mechanisms, but Leonel had already taken the initative.

    The strength of the spatial lock increased. Even though Libli felt that she was spinning her arm as quickly as she could, it was moving at a snail''s pace. The result was the activation of her chains being way off and missing Leonel entirely.

    Libli still managed to react quickly, her left hand once again forming several quick seals that turned her shield of gears into a royal sword of bronze that pierced down toward Leonel''s neck. At the same time, she didn''t bother to retract her chains, instead continuing to swing her arm toward Leonel as she used them as barbed whips.

    The dexterity with which Libli used her Crafts couldn''t be denied and she seemed to have a quick answer to everything. Unfortunatelyбн It wasn''t enough.

    Leonel''s spear had appeared before her forehead, piercing forward with an unquenchable thirst for blood. Libli could feel her life flashing before her eyesбн

    At that moment, she suddenly understood. Before the abilities of this armor before her, all her contingency plans and clever hidden traps were meaningless. What good was it all if she wasn''t quick enough to use them?

    BANG!

    In the instant before Libli''s head was pierced through, a necklace hanging from her neck automatically activated with its own mechanism, shielding her with swirling lights filled with spinning gears.

    Still, Libli shot into the distance not much unlike her fiancиж, her brain shaking within its skull. Even a Fifth Dimensional existence wasn''t immune from concussions.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''That shield is at least Sixth Dimensional. I can''t pierce through that.''

    He rolled his wrist. If not for his Divine Armor, he might have shattered his wrist during that pierce.

    ''Time to go.'' Leonel decided.

    In the instant before he killed Libli, he had sensed several auras suddenly pounce toward him. It was clear that they had protectors in the shadow but the spatial warping abilities of Leonel''s Divine Armor had caught them completely off guard, stopping them from reacting in time.

    Leonel couldn''t help but be impressed. Their concealment abilities were actually good enough to hide from his senses. But, now that they had exposed themselves in a panic, worried about Libli''s safety, it no longer mattered.

    Now that he finally had room to breathe, Leonel quickly took out the Segmented Cube and entered its shuttle mode before shooting off into the skies. However, he had barely made it just 20 meters into the air before a rumbling took hold.

    Powerful auras converged toward him from all sides, the greatest of which was at Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension. It seems they had finally caught up.

    ''Cutting it closeбн'' Leonel thought with a clenched jaw.

    **

    Across the Dimensional Verse, another battle was still taking place. However, it was even more one sided than what had just been experienced.

    On one side, there Myghell with just a few beads of sweat falling down his handsome brows. They were so few and scarce that the wind quickly wiped them away, making it seem as though they were never there to begin with.

    On the other side, there was a beaten and bloodied Aina. Tears and rips littered her flexible armor, matched well by the bloody holes that ran through her body. Large patches of blood stains littered the grass and trees, all signs of location she had once stood in.

    Every time she breathed, a crimson fog would escape her lips. It gave her quite a sinister appearance, but only the two of them knew that this crimson fog was none other than Aina''s own vaporized blood. Her heart would have collapsed from beating too hard had she not continuously repaired it.

    However, even with all of this being the case, Myghell''s eyes were drawn to the chip in Aina''s mask. It exposed just a bit of her lower cheek, jaw and lip. But, it was barely enough for Myghell to get an understanding of just how beautiful the woman before him was.

    Myghell brandished his thin sword, having been forced to take it out sometime within the last half hour. He could tell that as Aina grew more viscious, she was actually rapidly improving. In factбн

    BANG!

    Aina''s aura shifted once more, slamming through a barrier and spilling over into Tier 4 of the Fifth Dimension.

    Myghell shook his head. What difference did that make? Tier 3? Tier 4? To him, even such a watershed step was no different from simply fighting a slightly larger ant.

    He swung his sword again, ripping a huge gash from Aina''s shoulder to opposite hip. Blood sprayed like a fountain, blooming in the air like a flower.

 Chapter 962 - Shattered

    Chapter 962 - Shattered.

    Aina coughed violently, blood flowing out from her lips. But, she had hardly finished when she swung down her blade again. It was as though her cough was just instinctive but battle was all she truly cared about. Even if her body was on its last legs, she would still swing again and again.

    Myghell''s sword snaked forward, attempting to parry it. He added a small bit more strength to his strike, taking into account what he predicted would be her boost in power. However, his strike hadn''t even landed before his pupils constricted further.

    The moon to Aina''s back suddenly increased in size. It gained rivers of blood and land of bones. It held a gravity of its own, shattering the ground beneath their battlefield and causing it to cave in.

    Myghell''s steps faltered slightly and the pressure Aina''s swing placed on his wrist caught him off guard, causing it to fracture.

    A light frown finally marred his face. Though indifference was still the greatest ''emotion'', this change in him was equivalent to tidal waves in almost anyone else.

    Still, what he was most off put by wasn''t Aina''s power, that alone was still like nothing compared to him. He was still barely using 10% of his strength. What was shocking was Aina''s progress. Every time he felt that she had run into a wall, she burst through it.

    It wasn''t only this, but he felt that she always seemed to rapidly adjust to his battle style. If it wasn''t for the fact he didn''t need to bring out his true abilities to fight her and was only casually and randomly countering, Myghell had the feeling that this woman might even be in a better situation than she was now. It was a baffling thought indeed, but this woman was definitely a genius of battle.

    Suddenly, Myghell''s pupils constricted. A trickle of blood fell from his cheek. It was so subtle that he almost hadn''t noticed.

    ''I''mбн Injuredбн?''

    "бн Bloodбн"

    Aina spoke for the first time. In fact, they were the very first words spoken between them.

    She continued to huff out fogs of crimson, her veins having practically been lit on fire. However, on her third huff, her mouth suddenly opened wide, twin canines that glistened with a pearly light reflecting beneath the high moon.

    Myghell felt a suction force he couldn''t fight back against erupt from his very being. His pupils constricted as he finally unleashed his full strength. But, despite his quick reaction, a globule of blood half the size of his head was still ripped out from him in that instant.

    His expression twisted into a deep frown. If he had taken Aina as a serious opponent from the beginning this would have never happened, his Force Skin would have definitely blocked her attempt. But now, he felt that he had been humiliated.

    Despite this feeling, though, Myghell quickly calmed, unable to do anything as Aina swallowed his blood entirely. As far as he was concerned, doing this was nothing short of a death sentence. Only he knew what his true power was. Someone else trying to swallow it would only lead down a single road.

    Aina couldn''t read Myghell''s mind and even if she could, she was in a completely berserk state. There was hardly anything she could make sense of at this very moment.

    She swallowed the blood whole, instantly feeling as though her throat was being burned through. She shrieked into the skies, causing Myghell to shake his head.

    He had taken his time in this battle hoping to understand where that feeling was coming from. But, it seemed she would die before he got his answer.

    The truth was that he felt that he might never get an answer to begin with. He had already been fighting this woman for almost half an hour and yet he hadn''t gotten any clues. He was already close to losing his patience and just killing her anyway.

    Myghell was about to stride forward and take what was Aina''s corpse away when he suddenly froze again.

    Aina''s shrieks had suddenly come to a stop, replaced by sobs. The crimson had retreated from her gaze, rationality coming back to her person. Tears she couldn''t seem to control fell from her eyes, pooling both beneath and outside of her mask.

    Aina''s injuries began to rapidly heal. In fact, in the blink of an eye, she had returned to peak condition, something that left Myghell completely stunned. Not only had she survivedбн Just how high was her Blood Elemental Affinity?!

    Aina looked down from the skies, her tear filled gaze locking onto Myghell.

    "You''re not himбн Youбн Deserve deathбн"

    The irrational words caught Myghell off guard. She had already wanted to kill him before, so why did this feel so much different? It was as though she had been snapped back to reality and hated Myghell for reminding her of something she didn''t want to be reminded of.

    However, Myghell never got a chance to understand just what was happening or just what his blood reminded Aina of because she directly lost consciousness, her body falling over as tears fell like a stream.

    Just when Myghell thought this might be an opportunity to take her away, a towering shadow appeared and slung Aina over his shoulder. His crimson eyes swept over Myghell before he walked by the Heir without a single care. Yet, from start to finish, Myghell didn''t dare to do anything and could only watch them leave, his eyes narrowed.

    He had finally grasped where that feeling came from.

    бн

    The shadow soon made it back to Planet Viola, entering a familiar estate before laying Aina onto her bed.

    "Adoptive father."

    Yuri entered the room, laying eyes on Aina.

    Miel didn''t look back. "Her defenses are the lowest they will ever be. You can do it now."

    "Yes."

    Yuri nodded without resistance, placing a delicate palm on Aina''s forehead. This was indeed the best time. A year of patience had finally brought them to this point.

    Maybe someone else would have thought that a year ago would have been the ideal time, but Yuri''s experience told her that this was the moment Aina''s mind was the most solid. Time had proved her right, in these recent months, Aina had shown not an ounce of emotion.

    But, the things without any give were also the things most susceptible to shattering. And now, Aina had finally shattered.

 Chapter 963 Flaw

    Chapter 963 Flaw

    Miel watched in silence as beads of sweat began to fall down Yuri''s brow. This matter shouldn''t have taken so long but after the curse was mostly lifted, Aina''s mental strength had take an impossibly massive leap forward to the point her previous and current power in this aspect could be compared to night and day.

    Due to this increase in strength, what Miel had prepared became impossible to use.

    Of course, Miel was surprised by the fact his daughter had found a method of dealing with this curse on her own when even he had no way to do so. But, it seemed that even Yuri had no idea how this came about and whenever he asked Aina about it he would receive silence in return.

    ?? n?? - ? o? ?? , ?`?`m The relationship between them as father and daughter couldn''t be described so simply. They ate in silence with the exception of their clashing elbows. They hardly spoke to one another. And, they would often meet the other with silence even if a question was asked.

    Clearly, whatever had helped Aina heal was something she didn''t want to talk about. And, at the same time, Miel wasn''t a person who would insist on prying into the business of his daughter. She could do as she pleased so long as she also met his standards. As for what those standards were, they could all be described in terms of strength and power. As for anything else, he simply didn''t care about them.

    "It''s ready." Yuri suddenly spoke.

    Miel nodded, his palm flipping over to reveal something that made the mansion quake for just a moment before settling back down.

    Yuri''s gaze locked onto it almost immediately, but just as quickly, she looked away. She felt as though needles were poking into her mind. Each one was several inches long, pressing through her cortex and reaching down toward her brainstem as though to obliterate all that was her.

    "Don''t try to use your abilities on this. It''s beyond our understanding."

    Yuri blinked, trying to regain her bearings.

    Though Yuri had only displayed her telekinesis in the past, this was just the very tip of her ability. Rather, it could be said that telekinesis was just a branching power gained through her powerful mind.

    The core of the truth, thoughбн Was that Yuri was not human.

    When Yuri''s vision cleared, she locked onto the object again, her heart trembling with reverence. The object looked simple, but she knew that anything that could throw her mind into disarray was far from that.

    It was a tablet. It resonated with a bronze color and had words scrawled onto its front that Yuri couldn''t quite understand, yet somehow felt the power of.

    Even in the darkness, it radiated a slight light of its own, shining as though it had its own light source outside of the moon and the stars. Just its presence alone seemed to have been rooted in some ancient past and yet, at the same time, it felt to have a future that extended into infinity.

    It left one not knowing whether this was the relic of a past or something that had tumbled through the bounds of time and space to return to this age. For Yuri, someone who was from a race that was especially sensitive to the subtleties of objectsбкand was ironically quite terrible at doing the same with real peopleбкthis feeling left her baffled.

    "This tabletбн adoptive father, thisбн"

    "This is the tablet I used to send you to Earth all those years ago."pan da-nov el ,c`o`m

    "It can help?"

    Yuri was baffled. How could this tablet have such an ability yet also be able to help Aina with her problem? She couldn''t quite understand it.

    "There''s very little I know about this tablet. But, after having it by my side for decades, what I can say with absolute certainty is that it only really has one true abilityбн"

    Yuri listened intently, hanging on Miel''s every word. It was very rare for her adoptive father to speak so many words at once. This showed two things. He was definitely both nervous as to whether or not this would really help Aina or not, and, at the same time, he had a healthy respect for this object in his hands.

    "бн And that ability is that it Breaks Rules. It''s that simple."

    Yuri was stunned. These words sounded exceptionally simple but they made her tremble from head to toe. The headache she received almost made her collapse. In fact, she would have had her adoptive father not caught her.

    Miel''s sturdy hand pressed onto Yuri''s shoulder, stabilizing her.

    Miel had a lot of faith in this tablet, but he was also apprehensive. If this tablet was so good at breaking rules, why is it that Aina had still had her curse after so long? Clearly, this tablet had its limitations. And, even further, since they had to wait until Aina was so vulnerable, those limitations only became more obvious.

    As much reverence as he had for this tablet and it playing such a large role in how he had come so far so quickly, he knew that relying on it completely and solely would only lead to a dead end.

    But nowбн He should be able to help his daughter.

    "Over the next few months to maybe years, you will need to stay by Aina''s side no matter what, okay Yuri? As her father, it is inconvenient for me to do the same.

    "For all intents and purposes, Aina will become like a blank slate that needs to rebuild itself. If you want her to be the same Aina you know and love today, you need to let her grow and make mistakes on her own."

    "This tablet will erase her memories?" Yuri was shocked, instantly hesitating.

    "No. But, it will erase her personality. This is the only way to reverse what they did to my little girl all those years ago. As things are right now, her Lineage Factor is flawed and will always cause her to go Berserk. At the same time, this flaw is stifling her other abilities from shining through as they should while simultaneously slowing her progress.

    "This tablet will give her a reset and remove the flaw before allowing her to bloom forth once again. When her personality reawakens, she will be a force that can rule this Dimensional Verse with a fist."

    If Leonel had been there, he would have been stunned into silence. Removal of personality? Didn''t this sound eerily similar to what his own silver tablet could do with shadowsбн?

 Chapter 964 Meet

    Chapter 964 Meet

    Leonel had no idea what was happening so far away, nor did he have any idea that Aina had such a flaw in her Lineage Factor. Thoughбн It should have been obvious. Leonel had fought a small number of Brazinger family members in the past, including one who had his life on the line, but none of them had ever gone berserk like Aina had.

    That said, it wasn''t quite Leonel''s fault that he hadn''t realized this problem. Aina had only gone berserk a single time around Leonel and it had been so long ago that he completely forgot.

    Of course, what Leonel didn''t know was that Aina had purposely not used her Lineage Factor after that moment for fear of putting him in danger again. Even while seeking out the limit of her power, she was willing to handicap herself in this way.

    It was impossible to tell how many of such decision''s Aina had made for the sake of her love of Leonel since she had known him. It seemed that even as a man with such a sharp mind, he was ultimately still a man and Aina was ultimately still a woman who expected him to read her mind.

    That said, maybe of all the women in the world, Aina had the most right to expect something like this of her man considering Leonel''s abilities. But, it seemed that Leonel himself was still not quite perfect enough.

    Stillбн Leonel couldn''t be worrying about this moment because he was suddenly being assaulted from all sides.

    His vessel shook and quaked as he rocketed into the skies, barely dodging beams of light and fire with subtle flicks of his finger.

    The more Leonel controlled this ship the more he realized just how important his finger Designation was for it. If he hadn''t reached his particular level, controlling it would just be a pipe dream.

    The good news was that there was no one with the ability to fly and the ships they did bring were slower than Leonel''s own while taking away the flexibility they would normally have. As a result, Leonel was able to make it to the flaw he picked out long ago.

    At that moment, though, Leonel suddenly felt as though a gaze had locked onto him, making a cold shiver crawl down the back of his neck. His gaze narrowed, but he kept rocketing forward, shooting through an almost imperceptible gap and vanishing into the depths of space.

    ''You want to use me, hm?''

    Leonel''s lip curled. He could tell that whoever had locked onto him definitely had at least one method to stop him, maybe multiple. But, they had chosen not to. Clearly, the only explanation was that he was more useful if he escaped.

    Leonel didn''t seem to mind in the slightest. They say that the best schemes were ones that the enemy knew of and yet had to walk into anyway. But, whether it was Leonel walking into this trap or Augustusбн It remained that time would tell.

    бн

    Libli''s eyes opened, the images before her gaze blurring. Her head swam and her thoughts felt incoherent. It was clear that she was still suffering the most terrible symptoms of her concussion right this very moment and it took her a bit to regain her bearings.

    When she did, her hand shot up to her forehead, a light frown marring her features.  pan da-nov el ,c`o`m

    ?? n?? - ? o? ?? , ?`?`m Looking around, she found that her head was actually leaning on someone''s lap. She didn''t know what to say when she realized that it was actually the big oaf Dynmo. He didn''t seem to react to her waking up, seemingly finding everything but her face to be interesting to look at.

    Libli shook her head. It seemed this fool could be nice sometimes too, but he was still an idiot. She would have woken up long ago had he not insisted on leaving her on the surface of this terrible planet. Couldn''t he have carried her away to somewhere cooler?

    Forget it, this was about the best she could expect from him anyway.

    The relationship between the Radix and Midas family had always been one of matching brains and brawn. Whenever it was that both Clans had one female and one male Heir in a given generation, they would always marry to strengthen relations between the families. It just so happened that Libli and Dynmo were both the Heirs of this generation.

    The Radix family and their calculative abilities. The Midas family and their fire control.

    Of course, things weren''t so simple. Part of what made it so complex was that unique bronze Force that even Leonel couldn''t place or name. But, maybe that was the sort of secret only the two families would know.

    All that mattered now were their two Heirs had actually lost to a single young man from a fledgling world. It was more than just a little bit embarrassing.

    Of course, the two were greatly handicapped on this Disaster World while Leonel seemed to be even stronger here. But, there were no such thing as excuses in the matters of life and death. Today, they had been lucky, but what about next time?

    Libli rose and narrowed her eyes.

    This was what they had come to this galaxy for. They had already conquered their own galaxy but there were no more growth opportunities left there. If they wanted to reach the next level and enter the stage of the true powerhouses of this universe, these were exactly the challenges they needed.

    As for Leonel, she hoped that they would meet him very soon. After all, much like everyone here, they were all eyeing the same world and the same Fold of Reality. Soon enough, so long as Leonel would fight on Earth''s side, they would meet on the battlefield once again.

    **

    Days later, Leonel''s ship circled around a particular planet before descending. This time, he didn''t have any great hassle to go through as this was a world that emphasized the lack of exactly that. It was yet another Merchant Hub with fairly loose restrictions.

    For the first time in almost a year, Leonel would meet up with Elthor.

 Chapter 965 Addicted

    Chapter 965 Addicted

    "Look at you, you''re still as pale as ever."

    Leonel let loose a laugh, sitting opposite Elthor who was caught off guard by his sudden appearance. Toward such words, Elthor could only be speechless. He might have already taken out his saber for anyone else who had said these words to him, but for some reason he found it quite amusing when Leonel said so.

    It wasn''t much of a surprise that Elthor''s pretty face and seemingly sensitive skin was a sore spot. He wanted to be a General, not a male model and gigolo. Yet, he looked like the slightest bit of sunlight might leave him red the next day. It was a sad plight, indeed.

    "You''re one to talk, have you seen your hair lately? If it wasn''t so short, I''d mistake you for a woman."

    Elthor''s mouth was just as sharp as his blade, though, so he hardly missed a beat.

    Leonel grinned. "Oh this? You don''t think it makes me look quite Kingly?"

    Elthor snorted. "A King of solely women, maybe."

    Even as he said the words, Elthor knew that his retort was quite weak. Unfortunately, he just felt that Leonel''s hair quite suited him so it was a bit difficult to lie with a straight face. Annoyed by his failure, he just looked away, calling for a waitress to order a large sum of food he had every intention of making Leonel pay for.

    Leonel laughed, seemingly seeing through Elthor''s thoughts.

    Though the two hadn''t known each other for long and could really only be considered to have had two real interactions, Leonel felt that he had quite a good read on Elthor.

    He was a man who wanted to be seen as a man, first and foremost. But, he still had a lot of childish tendencies.

    That said, whether one could make him display these tendencies would both be dependent on how much stronger than him you were and just how close to him that you were. If someone was stronger than him and also not someone he recognized as family or friend, he''d be more likely to lash out than retort like he just had.

    At that moment, the two men shared a private room in a top-class restaurant. Leonel hadn''t really cared where they met, but Elthor insisted that a King should have some standards.

    Of course, Elthor also complained about Leonel''s choice in clothing, claiming him to be far too casual. But in the end, he was forced to give up and take it one step at a time. It was already enough of a miracle that he got Leonel to come here, the man wouldn''t even touch a drink usually.

    Clearly, the irony was lost on Elthor. He wanted to be a General, but he was always so concerned with his clothing.

    "So, how are things going?" Leonel asked as he was half way through a beast carcass half the size of his body.  pan da-nov el ,c`o`m

    "The movements of that woman I told you about are quite weird. She keeps attacks and claiming periphery territories of the Guild but has made any real moves toward the Guild itself. It''s almost like she''s stringing us along."

    "Oh?" Leonel blinked. "Show me on a map."

    Leonel used the projection ability of the dictionary. Usually, he used it to navigate through the Milky Way. But, this was an excellent use as well.

    Elthor reached his hand forward, pinching his fingers before spreading them out wide. The result was the 3D plane of stars zooming in toward a certain location.

    "We''ve attacked here, here and here. In these months, we''ve fought three major battles. The rest of the time has been spent consolidating territory and securing routes."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he saw these locations. He had already memorized the map of the Guild''s territory that Elthor had sent him previously so he knew exactly where these were and what they represented. But, that was also what made it all so fascinatingбн None of these territories were very valuable at all.

    ?? n?? - ? o? ?? , ?`?`m The best asset here was a lower level Disaster World called Planet Eistea. However, it was quite old and had already reached the end of its potential. Other than being a decent place to gather Lightning Element Ores and Herbs, it wasn''t very useful.

    The other two locations were just normal trade routes, asteroid and moon stations, long with planetary hubs. But, the thing about these trade routes was that they led to Fourth Dimensional world and Folds of Reality. Their use in the grand scheme was miniscule at best.

    The good news about this was the resistance the Oryx met was minimal while also giving them a chance to learn how to work like a real army instead of a bunch of powerful individuals like they normally did. But, the bad news was that Leonel couldn''t see through to the purpose of this woman.

    This wasn''t a feeling Leonel liked. He was normally able to read people quite well, but he had yet to meet this woman nor did he understand her connection or beef with the Milky Way Guild. At the same time, he couldn''t make heads or tails of her actions either.

    ''Interestingбн''

    Leonel continued to look at the map, thinking of several possibilities. But, he realized that he was missing too much to see things on as large a scope as this mysterious woman. The more he thought about it, the more curious he became about just who she was, and the more aware he became of just how little information he had.

    Though he had a verbal deal with Aphestus and Raylion, there was no telling if they would succeed or, even if they did succeed, just how long would it take them to do so? Unfortunately, that left Leonel flying quite blind.

    ''I bet Shield Cross Stars has a lot of informationбн''

    This singular thought began to brew some less than savory thoughts in Leonel''s mind. It seems that he had become addicted to being a madman.

 Chapter 966 A Union

    Chapter 966 A Union

    Elthor quickly caught Leonel up on a lot of things. Eventually, the topic came back to Leonel''s teammates and the matters related to Earth.

    Leonel had learned a while ago that Earth had successfully entered the Fifth Dimension and had recalled a lot of individuals as a result. Of course, this had happened while Leonel was within the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world. So, he hadn''t gotten whatever this message was.

    The wrist watch that had followed Leonel for so long had long since been taken off his wrist ever since he was able to control Little Tolly without the use of Force Crafting Gloves. However, Leonel hadn''t destroyed it and just left it within the Segmented Cube. So, after he returned to the Milky Way, he too received the messages.

    Ultimately, Leonel had just left his brothers to train and grow as strong as possible in his absence, so returning to Earth wasn''t a bad thing. After all, there was clearly ample opportunity to grow stronger as Silver Zones might begin appearing at any time. However, whether it was smart to enter those Zones as of now was still up in the air.

    Regardless, Bronze Zones were an excellent chance. Not only could they hone their skills, but they could still receive rewards from higher level worlds. Even Leonel who was a Bronze Crafter himselfбкif his spears were ignoredбкonly had a couple Bronze Crafts. So, this was a great opportunity for them.

    Now that Leonel didn''t have to worry about Aina, at least not immediately, he didn''t mind returning to Earth as well. After all, as far as he was concerned, there''d come a day where Earth was the center of his territory. He had to do his part to protect it too, even if it was under the control of his grandfather for now.

    "Yes, there''s a lot of good opportunities on Earth right now. In fact, they have been contacting me with methods on how to deal with it all."

    "It all?" Leonel was taken aback.

    "Yes. The main problem Earth is facing right now isn''t the Zones, those have slowed to a lull after the breakthrough. The main issue is the evolution of the oceanic creatures."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Earth never had to deal with much of an Invalid problem because Emperor Fawkes had cruelly chosen to kill over 99% of Earth''s population before the Metamorphosis even began. But, there was nothing even he could do about the vast ocean.

    In fact, this made Leonel wonderбн

    Long ago, Earth had gained great enough terraforming technology to fuse the continents into one. He wondered if that was a coincidence or by designбн Maybe his grandfather always knew that the ocean would be their greatest obstacle.

    Still, something about the movements of the galaxy made Leonel feel that the ocean was still the least of their worries. At the same time, he also wasn''t very confident in fighting in the water. At the very least, he had no experience in such a thingбн

    That said, he had two solutions to this. He could use his Water Domain spears and he could also create some Crafts to counter the ill effects. Either way, he would need to assess the situation first when he returned to Earth.

    "I think that''s everything." Elthor said, exhaling a breath.

    Leonel nodded slowly. "Andбн How receptive do you think they would be to a human leader?"

    "From the way I see it, they follow the direction of that woman just fine as long as they see what they''re getting out of it. But, it''s hard to tellбн They aren''t subservient. It''s a subtle difference between being employed and being loyal subjects.

    "Whether or not they would continue to follow you is impossible to say."

    Leonel nodded in understanding. This might be a bit of a delicate issue and it might be better if he made himself known to them sooner rather than later.

    "Alright, here."

    Leonel tossed a spatial ring over to Elthor. But, when he saw what was inside, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets.

    "How did you gather so much Urbe Ore?!"

    Leonel grinned. "You could say I procured them."pan da-nov el ,c`o`m

    "бн"

    ?? n?? - ? o? ?? , ?`?`m Leonel didn''t explain, his smile beaming as he rose to leave.

    "Use this to fuel their advancements. Don''t be stingy. I want all of that money gone within the next month."

    "Month?! This is a lifetime worth of money!" Elthor was left speechless.

    He was the Prince of a Kingdom, it wasn''t as though he had never seen such wealth before. But, this amount was the equivalent of what his Oryx Kingdom would spend in an entire population of millions in a single year. Yet, Leonel wanted him to use it on 10 000 Oryx in a single month. If he wasn''t a madman, then what was he?

    "I''ll replace it soon enough. After all, I have a feeling that the Beast Crystals of Earth''s oceanic creatures are quite rare and valuable, right?"

    "Thisбн"

    Elthor didn''t know what to say. But, he never had the chance to before Leonel suddenly vanished.

    ''бн He''s growing more powerfulбн''

    Elthor gripped his fists. He was lagging behind. He needed to raise his effort.

    **

    In another corner of the galaxy, back on a familiar Planet Luxnix, a young man strolled out from a forest, entering the estate once again.

    He looked around at the dead bodies littered around him and shook his head. It was unfortunate that this had happened in this way. Maybe he had been too careless. If he had known that she had come with such backing, he wouldn''t'' have been so casual about it all. But, he had thought that the Viola family would have been too scared of escalating the situation to this point.

    The action of Sixth Dimensional existences means something completely different from just Fifth Dimensional ones.

    Stillбн None of this was what took precedence in Myghell''s mind. He glided through the estate, making it to a particular place.

    "Yes, elder. I''m just here to meditate for a bit."

    The guarding elders nodded. Of the younger generation, there was only one allowed to casually enter this place.

    Myghell descended down a network of tunnels only to find himself standing before an altar. And upon this altarбн There was yet another Bronze Tablet.

    However, this one was different from the one Miel held. Sitting upon a marble platform, a translation was etched into the pedestals of this oneбн

    ''A union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star.''

    The Light character exuded an aura eerily similar to Myghell''s own.

    As for the Darkness characterбн

    Myghell had finally realized that it reminded him of Aina.

 Chapter 967 Familiar

    Chapter 967 - Familiar

    Myghell stared at these words for a very long time, his eyes eventually closing as he fell into a state of deep meditation.

    The Twelve Pointed Star was the most important symbol of the Luxnix family. Despite the fact they called their Lineage Factor the Snowy Star Owl, for some odd reason, within their Ethereal Glabella''s, their Light Elemental Embryos manifested exactly as a Twelve Pointed Star would.

    Of course, this was a secret no one would know about unless a member of the Luxnix family went out of their way to speak of it. However, even aside from this alone, there were still their Feather Sword warriors who used this star as a symbol of their prestige.

    There was no doubting that the Twelve Pointed Star was of immense importance to the Luxnix family and their strength. However, almost no one understood its significance and even less understood just what the origins of it was.

    Myghell, though, understood that everything originated with this tablet. If it didn''t exist, maybe there would be no Luxnix family today. And now, after all these years, he had finally come to grasp a clue about just what all of this could mean.

    Despite the calm look on Myghell''s face currently, he was doing his best to stop his seething blood.

    Since his youth, Myghell had always been extraordinarily talented. However, he was limited by two major factors.

    The first was that he was born in a world capped at Sixth Dimensional potential. Though Planet Luxnix was at a Peak amongst Sixth Dimensional worlds, it was ultimately still that. Compared to Seventh Dimensional worlds, it was still too lacking. And, compared to Seventh Dimensional worlds nearing the Eighth Dimension like the Morales family world, it might as well have been an ant by the roadside.

    Regardless of his talent, this would always be a limiter.

    The second factor that would always limit him was his Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor. If he truly wanted to progress, there would come a time where his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor became not only useless to him, but even a hindrance.

    Luckily, he was born with another talent that could mitigate this somewhat, but these would always be two anchors on his talent, anchors he could never get rid ofбн

    Unless he could learn these words.

    Myghell wasn''t a fool. Prophecies often had so many potential interpretations that taking anything at face value could end in his death. For all he knew, ''union'' meant Ailsa devouring his blood whole like she had done during their battle. In such a case, this prophecy would have little to do with himself as he would be dead.

    With how fast he had seen Aina''s progress to be, though he felt that she too would be limited by her birth and upbringing like he was, it wasn''t impossible to see this as a probable conclusion.

    When things are framed in this manner, there were all sorts of things that these words could mean. The worst part was that even if Myghell placed these words in the most favorable light, he might still lose out.

    For example, what if union referred to a child between himself and this mysterious woman? Though he wouldn''t be opposed to it considering the small part of her beauty he had seen, how would the talent of a child help him?

    He wasn''t an old man. He had yet to reach a point where the only way to progress would be passing on his Lineage to another. He had no interest in having a child who could surpass him. What he wanted was power he could grasp on his own.

    After cycling through these thoughts, Myghell managed to calm himself. Now, the beating of his heart and the slow circulation of his blood matched the indifference on his face.

    With so many potential interpretations, Myghell decided on patience. He would observe the situation for a while longer.

    If it was a prophecy, then that meant it was destined to happen. By definition, he shouldn''t have to do anything overt to cause it to happen.

    Of course, there was always the chance that this wasn''t a prophecy and was rather a helpful clue. After all, if this tablet was what bestowed the Twelve Pointed Star upon them, then it was more of a guider than a prophesier of the future, right?

    This was also a possibility that Myghell had thought of. But, he still decided on patience.

    He would calmly observe things for now. If he was right, then things should organically fall into place. On the other hand, if it was a clue, he would act accordingly to the circumstances.

    For now, he only had one real goal: to ensure that Aina did not die. It was that simple. This was why he hadn''t alerted his family elders about the appearance of Miel and gave no resistance.

    In addition to this, he chose not to tell anyone about his findings. If this was a prophecy, it was best that the maximum number of individuals acted as naturally as possible. Only if it turned out not to be one would he mobilize his family members should something beyond his control occur.

    After organizing his thoughts, Myghell sank into a true meditation, motes of light slowly accumulating around him.

    In the presence of this tablet, it felt like all bottlenecks would be loosened and the speed of his practice would accelerate many times over. Since he was already here, he might as well take advantage and also grasp the chance to replenish his stamina.

    Myghell could feel his lane toward the Sixth Dimension spreading open and wide. If he wanted to, he could step through it at any time, but for some reason he had always held back from doing so, continuously consolidating himself within the Fifth.

    Maybe only a select few number of individuals would know exactly whyбн

    Myghell gazed longingly at the path ahead before suppressing it and focusing on rejuvenating himself.

    As his senses swept through his body, checking for any weaknesses and focusing on improving, he swept over a particular location above his right hip flickering with the lights of a familiar Innate Node.

 Chapter 968 Berserk God Lineage Factor

    Chapter 968 - Berserk God Lineage Factor

    Beads of sweat fell down Miel''s brow as he channeled the strength of the Bronze Tablet. His strength seeped outward, pouring into Aina''s body and delicately erasing much of what was her.

    Yuri stood to the side, feeling very nervous. Before, she hadn''t been aware of just how important this was for Aina, at least not until it was described for her by her adoptive father.

    The truth of the matter was that though the Brazinger family was quite disgusting in their toting of eugenics and the importance of bloodline purity, there was a method to their madnessбкkeyword being madness.

    The Brazinger family''s Lineage Factor was known as the Berserk God Lineage Factorбкthis was its true name. What had been displayed on Earth was nothing more than the tip of an iceberg that branch family members would be held to. However, just how berserk you were depended on the purity of your bloodline. For Aina, who was only half Brazinger on top of not receiving any of the family''s special rituals or training, her Lineage Factor was far more Berserk than it was God.

    This Lineage Factor was objectively powerful. In its purest form, it was a Lineage Factor that many would scratch and claw to have.

    Its abilities could be broken down into a few aspects.

    The first was overwhelming strength. Every single muscle fiber of a Brazinger family member''s was worth more than that of another individual, even most strength Lineage Factors. Its potential for explosion and power was simply beyond reason.

    The second aspect was Battle Sense. The instincts of a Berserk God existed on a separate plane all to its own. Their ability to adapt and change their combat style to counter their enemies would make it feel as though they were all combat geniuses. What Leonel had to calculate, they did on instinct and at a much faster speed on top of that depending on how pure their bloodlines were.

    The third aspect was Rebirth. After experiencing terrible injury, a long fought battle, or masochistic training, upon healing, a Berserk God would have the strength of their bodies increase proportional to the weight of what they experienced.

    The fourth and final aspect was an affinity for all weapons. Whether it was a sword, a battle ax, a spear, even fists and kicks, a Berserk God wasn''t restricted to any weapon or martial art. They were geniuses of battle, existences created to wreak havoc on a battlefield.

    This was the true ability of the Brazinger family. The only person that Leonel had ever met who might have the true Berserk God Lineage Factor was Simeon. However, he was always focused on his beast taming and genetic manipulation abilities and Leonel had never seen him fight in hand to hand combat.

    Even now, it seemed that the Brazinger family and maybe even the other three families had hidden themselves very deeply.

    Knowing this, it was easy to see that what Aina experienced was an extremely perverted interpretation of the Berserk God. She only received some of these abilities in part and without clear or purposeful direction to any of them.

    Butбн This wasn''t all her fault.

    How was it that despite being half Morales and only half Luxnix, Leonel received their Lineage Factors in full while Aina did not? The answer was simple: It was done on purpose.

    The curse Aina faced was just the tip of the iceberg and also acted as a cruel agitator on her mental state, warping her emotions and her reality. How could anyone be completely sane after experiencing years of torturous itching and peaks and valleys of horrid pain?

    It was all done on purpose to make Aina fall further and further into depravity. The fact she had even a semblance of humanity left in her was a testament to just how mentally strong she was to begin with.

    The Brazinger family Lineage Factor was altered so that when met with interference with other Bloodlines, it would deviate from its predestined path. The result of this would be a deviation in the mind state that resulted in over-sensitivity.

    In the beginning, this over-sensitivity would only be minor.

    For example, it might be as benign as suddenly becoming greatly embarrassed when a boy you liked confessed to youбн even to the point of running away with a blushing face despite the fact you were normally an assertive and confident woman.

    However, as time progressed, it would steamroll and increase to the point the smallest things became enormous and the tiniest insecurities became tall mountains.

    Eventually, just the most minor activation of their Bloodline would result in this person going Berserk, overdrafting their bodies, and, ultimately, dying. It could be said that if not for Aina''s self-healing abilities, she would have long since fallen for the plot of this ancestor of the Brazinger familyбн It could even be said that due to meeting Leonel and allowing herself to fall for him, Aina had delayed the strongest onset of these side effects for as long as she couldбн

    However, this tablet provided a unique opportunity to reset the damage done and undo this second curse the Brazinger family had placed on Aina.

    When the Tablet erased a personality from a shadow, there was no living entity to cause the rebirth of that personality. However, Aina was different. She was a person with a propensity toward a certain disposition. As long as she was given time, she would become the very same Aina once again.

    This was why Miel had emphasized that Yuri should follow Aina around, but that she should also allow Aina to grow and make mistakes on her own. Only in this way would Aina grow to be her most authentic self.

    The story that wasn''t told, though, was that it had taken Miel decades to accumulate the amount of energy he was currently giving to Aina now. As stoic as he wasбн As unemotional and silent as he wasбн As harsh as he wasбн The one thing that would always be true is that he loved his daughter.

    That said, there was one matter that would be grating to most people.

    Just who had power enough to alter the course of a Lineage Factor in this way? Who could place a curse that followed a Bloodline like a reaper, gate keeping it for generations to comeбн?

    If Leonel had been there, especially as he watched the pieces of a Force Art break and shatter, floating above Aina''s head, his Dreamscape would have sparked with several arcs of lightning.

    Andбн When his Dreamscape settled downбн he would suddenly think back to a man he had learned of in the Joan Zoneбн A man they called God... A man capable of copying the abilities of people into Force Arts.

    Aina''s eyes suddenly shot open.

 Chapter 969 Sensitive

    Chapter 969 - Sensitive

    Earth was in a completely different state than the last time Leonel had been here. Where there had once been rubble and debris there were nothing but large stretches of greenery and nature. Whatever wreckage the Metamorphosis had left behind had long since been cleaned up, turning Earth from a concrete giant to a world that placed great emphasis on its natural beauty, something Earth, especially in comparison to other worlds, had a lot of.

    The Ascension Empire had taken advantage of the boon between the Fourth and eventual Fifth Dimensions to cause this great change. In this span of time, Earth had experienced many Force Eruptions and natural phenomena of the like that greatly accelerated its growth.

    Thanks to this, with just a small bit of help from humans who moved all the useless metals and artificial bricks out of the way, Earth was able to flourish in the way it was always meant to.

    Like this, the only marks of old Earth and its technologies were the nine major populace hubs of Earth, one to each of the nine Provinces. This included places like the Imperial Capital and the Royal Blue Fort.

    Outside of these cities and forts, there were only large expanses of greenery. There were trees that already rose up hundreds of meters into the air, there were precious herbs and grasses growing around every corner, and many beasts had been released from their experimental islands to populate and grow. Some of these beasts became food for humans, some became sparring partners, and others became a core part of maintaining the balance of Earth''s ecosystem.

    Just from this alone, the talent of Earth and its world was on clear and full display. It looked as though these resources had been growing for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. But, the truth was that these beautiful displays of nature had only been present for just a handful of years.

    Still, these changes were absolutely nothing compared to Earth''s two moons. The original still retained the name Moon while the second was dubbed Avalon by Emperor Fawkes.

    Leonel knew little of the Moon and its colonies, but they were every bit as part of Earth and had also faced Terrain''s attack those years ago.

    Before, the Moon had to be terraformed to maintain a population. And, even then, this population was forced to stay within a climate controlled dome.

    However, after the Fourth Dimension Descended, things began to change, allowing for the dome to be done away with and for the Moon to begin to gain characteristics of a world all to its own. This was in thanks to Earth''s Fold of Reality expanding and beginning to encompass larger and larger regions.

    Now, the Moon had unique herbs that even Earth itself couldn''t grow. And, though it didn''t have large bodies of water or oceans, it had begun to have its own self-sustaining lakes in addition to its own true atmosphere.

    The people of the Moon also seemed to take a unique evolution path compared to the people of Earth. Though they still looked human, they tended to be taller, more fragile, and had stronger minds comparatively speaking.

    Likewise, Avalon also underwent great changes. The Kingdom of Camelot was no more and was rather taken over by Secretary Marquis Pendragon.

    The more primitive side of Camelot had been washed away in favor of more modern comprehensions. In addition, the greatest benefit Camelot broughtбкits populationбкwas spread out and divided amongst the nine Provinces of Earth.

    Ultimately, the people of Camelot weren''t alien to the people of Earth and were easily accepted. After all, these were people created and based on themselves, how could they not assimilate well?

    It could be said that the only real growing pain were the somewhat outdated and backward ideas of the people of Camelot. They had yet to learn of the progressivism of modern times. But, ironically, it was the retreat of Earth from a technologically central ideal that helped this assimilation work all the more.

    In a lot of ways, the people of Earth felt like they were going backwards while the people of Camelot felt that they were being accelerated forward. This allowed the two groups to meet in the middle and reach a happy medium.

    бн

    It was amidst all these changes that Leonel returned to Earth. Hovering high above the sky, how could he not be shocked? He hadn''t expected such large, sweeping changes. In fact, he partly believed that he would come back to find the same dilapidated buildings.

    At this moment, he felt like he had grasped a difference between his grandfather and him. Leonel believed that he was quite forward thinking and quick on his feet, even not hesitating to spend what an entire Kingdom would in a year just for a single month of progress. However, it was clear that working harder didn''t trump working smarter.

    In just a handful of years, not even quite year three, Earth''s entire face had changed. And, Leonel was certain that his grandfather had planned it to be this way from the very beginning. There wasn''t a single step that he had taken that was out of line of this goal.

    Now, despite being a fledgling world, Earth was already in the Fifth Dimension, had no human Invalids to worry about, and had conquered all of their land without trouble.

    Leonel had naively thought that while his grandfather was struggling with getting Earth back on track that he''d be able to make some headway toward catching up, but he felt more wrong than he ever had before.

    Now that he was more sensitive to certain things, upon stepping onto his grandfather''s territory, he felt a suffocating aura from all sides. He had to try twice as hard just to take in half the oxygen he normally would.

    He didn''t need to look around to understand that his grandfather already knew that he was here and that he was backбн No, it could be said that nothing that happened within Earth''s territory or Fold of Reality would escape his notice.

    His eyes were everywhere.

    Leonel''s lip suddenly curled beside himself, his gaze turning toward the Imperial Capital before he shot in that direction.

 Chapter 970 l Hope

    Chapter 970 - l Hope

    "HALT!"

    Each one of the auras were blazing, several guards sent piercing gazes toward the air. Though they too wore golden armor, it was nothing like the superfluous garbage the guard of the Force Crafting Guild wore. Each one had an undeniable momentum that almost threatened to peel Leonel''s skin back.

    However, as though he hadn''t heard a single word, Leonel descended from the skies, landing at the very top of the ancient tree structure that was the Imperial Capital.

    Leonel strode forward, his pale violet hair fluttering and his hands in his pockets. A light smile hung from his face.

    "You''re not going to attack me, are you?"

    "Prince Leonel! Flying in the Imperial Capital is an offense even for you."

    A hardnosed man stood forward, his demeanor unchanged in the face of Leonel''s smile.

    "Oh? And why is that?"

    Leonel''s steps paused.

    At the moment, he stood at the base of the Imperial Palace. A large staircase of white marble and gold lay in his wake. Lining these stairs, warriors that even gave Leonel pressure stood. Despite being in the Fourth Dimension, Leonel felt that their combat experience was far beyond him. In addition, he could tell that as Earth continued to evolve, so too did their abilities. It likely wouldn''t be long before the base strength of everyone on Earth was of the Fifth Dimension.

    This was the true fearsome ability of a world with so much talent.

    Leonel hadn''t experienced it before since he was away from Earth, but after returning, he felt that his ability was being nurtured as well. As Earth''s Fold of Reality grew, there would eventually come a point where Leonel wouldn''t have to return in order to take part in these benefits.

    He felt quite refreshed at this moment, completely unlike his demeanor the last time he had come here.

    "You will be seen as a threat to be immediately taken down. Since you have broken the rules, we will have to detain you."

    "Ah, and that''s the case even if I''m not a real threat?"

    "Yes."

    The man answered seriously, not wavering in the slightest. He seemed unmoved by Leonel''s status, his smile, his charisma and even Leonel''s strength. None of it mattered.

    "I see. Emperor Fawkes is very good at raising loyal warriors. I''m impressed. I would try to poach you, but I have a feeling that I would fail."

    The man''s gaze narrowed. Poach him? What did that mean? Was this Prince trying to rebel?

    The grip he had on his halberd multiplied in strength, his aura blazing. All of the guards reacted in unison, each of their halberds also raising. Even without them completing their actions, Leonel could feel a unique Force Art of sorts resonating between them.

    ''Interesting, so Force Arts can be used like this as well, hmбн How fascinatingбн Emperor Fawkes seems to know quite a lot for a man who should have been born on a mortal worldбн''

    There was a lot about his grandfather that Leonel didn''t quite understand. For example, for Leonel to have the Luxnix family Lineage Factor, his grandfather would have had to have somehow taken a woman of that family as a wife. But, how had he, the Emperor of a Third Dimensional world, taken the woman of a Sixth Dimensional one as an Empress?

    It was all quite curious.

    At that moment, the enormous doors of the Imperial Palace opened, separating out the snaking golden dragons delicately carved onto its surface, and, even more importantly, the immortal tree that it wrapped around.

    Soon, a spectacled man appeared that Leonel immediately recognized as his uncle.

    "You returned." He said plainly.

    "I have."

    "For what purpose?"

    "To shamelessly steal resources and to issue a challenge." Leonel replied without blinking.

    "The former makes sense. As for the latter, you aren''t worthy of doing such a thing yet."

    Leonel''s smile brightened. "My grandfather owes me almost 22 years worth of birthday presents, I have to seek my reimbursement somehow. And, as to whether I''m worthy or not, that doesn''t matter much to me either. I will issue it either way.

    "One day, Earth will be mine."

    Though Leonel said things like this, there was a hint of coldness in his eyes that made his uncle''s gaze narrow. If there was anything Leonel didn''t like, it was not being Respected. His arrogance had been buried deep within his bones for a very long time because there was nowhere for it to flourish on Earth. There was nothing worth him rising to the occasion of.

    But now, things were different. He not only had a goal, there was actually someone who deemed to believe that he wouldn''t accomplish it. Though that wasn''t enough to tear into his Reverse Scale, it was definitely enough to leave an itch on it.

    The moment Leonel said these words, the halberds of the Imperial Guards all rose in unison, their blades carving out a sharp path toward Leonel.

    Yet, even as he faced a torrential rain of Force that could obliterate a city with just its momentum alone, Leonel remained unmoved.

    At that moment, a roar that seemed to originate from the very depths of his heart manifested. Leonel didn''t even open his mouth, and yet it swallowed the momentum of the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Palace whole, making the white gold hair of his uncle whip backward as though hit with a wall of wind.

    It felt like Leonel had suddenly become ten times his original size, his body looming over the Capital and his momentum causing the Earth to quake. Mists of violet fog rose around his body, a sight alone that made his uncle''s pupils constrict into pinholes.

    The roar drowned all things out, even their thoughts. It wouldn''t be until a long while later that they came to understand that it wasn''t a roar they had heard, but rather the will of Leonel''s heart.

    Without another word, he turned and began to walk away before coming to a sudden pause.

    "Oh right. I used my Imperial Pendant on claiming White City, if I recall correctly. I hope no one has stretched their hands toward my things."

    With that, Leonel flickered and vanished.

 Chapter 971 Head Butting

    Chapter 971 - Head Butting

    Emperor Fawkes'' laughter rang through the spring gardens. He laughed so hard that the birds dispersed and the Force around him seemed to warp. If it wasn''t for certain protections placed around the Palace, maybe the whole of Earth would have heard his laughter.

    Leonel''s uncle soon made his way to find his father in this state. Quite frankly, he was speechless.

    Maybe if Earth was still a Third Dimensional world, Leonel''s ''rebellion'' would be quite meaningless. There were simply a million and one ways to stamp out whatever hope he had toward fulfilling his goals. There was a limit to what mere mortals could do in that aspect, especially when the Empire had already unified the whole of Earth.

    Now that Earth once again had enemies to face toward the outside, the Slayer Legion had returned to their rightful place as the protectors of the Emperor, so there wasn''t even this foundation for Leonel to use either. It could be said that if Earth was in the Third Dimension, they would have the luxury of laughing and watching Leonel''s ambitions fizzle out. After all, he was their own flesh and blood, sometimes there was no need to be so harsh with family.

    But, in this sort of situation, it was much different.

    Not only had Earth entered the Fifth Dimension, Leonel clearly had methods of freely travelling between worlds. On top of that, they were well aware that he had a father who was quite unfathomable. And, Leonel''s uncle knew well just how much Leonel''s mother and loved and what kind of temper she had for certain people.

    This was all to say that if Leonel''s mother learned of Leonel''s ambitions, she would probably directly pass on her position as Crown Princess to him. And, even if Emperor Fawkes voided it, he would end up having to fight both his grandson and his daughter.

    If things continued like this, especially since Leonel was a brat who might not be able to see the bigger picture, Earth might suddenly be shaken with internal conflict when their blades should have been pointed toward the outside.

    Knowing all of this, despite the fact Galaeron had very rarely questioned his grandfather in his life, he still couldn''t help but speak.

    "Imperial Father, isбн This really a laughing matter?"

    Emperor Fawkes sputtered with laughter, his white gold hair shimmering as his emerald irises twinkled.

    "Look at that, Galaeron. He''s even rubbing off on you. You actually questioned me for once."

    Galaeron frowned slightly before his expression became somewhat bitter. Maybe only his father could make his expression warp like this.

    "You should learn from that brat a little bit more. You need to be more rebellious. Don''t you find it sad that I gave the position of Crown Heir to your little sister and not you? You would think that would have bred at least a little resentment in you. I expected to find some undercurrents brewing, maybe some schemes as you pulled the court to your side.

    "How is it that your sister has been gone for decades and yet you''ve done nothing? I''m quite disappointed."

    Galaeron was speechless. His father was lamentingбн Him not trying to start a rebellion?

    "Butбн This couldбн"

    The Prince truly had no idea how he should approach this. Leonel''s words couldn''t have been clearer.

    "Yes, yes. That brat finally grew some balls. It''s about time."

    Galaeron almost choked on air. This was the most vulgar thing he had ever heard his father say. What the hell was going on today?

    "Last time he came here, he was far too much of a pansy. He hated me but he hardly even showed it, letting his purpose become warped beneath the ideologies of another. A Fawkes man should think for himself."

    "But Imperial Father, he''sбн" Galaeron shook his head. "бн He''s being quite shamelessбн"

    This was the best argument Galaeron could think of. It was clear he had been rendered completely speechless by his father.

    "Shameless? I think it''s the opposite. If he had wanted to, he could slink around in the shadows, never letting anyone know his purpose before he suddenly struck at a critical time. But, he actually came here to issue a direct challenge, what''s so shameless about that?"

    "That''sбн not what I meanбн"

    "You mean resources? Well, the brat is right. I do owe him many birthday presents."

    After hearing this, Galaeron really didn''t know what to say anymore. He and his own son were like two sane people in a family filled with maniacs. Whether it was his brother-in-law, his nephew, his own little sister, his mother, evenбн They were all insane. Sometimes he wondered if he had been swapped with another child at some point.

    He didn''t know why he was so surprised. This was the same father of his who laughed up a lung after he learned that Leonel almost destroyed the Royal Blue Fort.

    To put that matter into real perspective, their Ascension Empire had known of the threat of the ocean for a very long time. Royal Blue Fort was one of their most powerful chess pieces toward countering this invasion of sorts. Yet, his father had laughed about it like it was nothing.

    Emperor Fawkes finally stopped laughing and shook his head.

    "Your vision is still too narrow, Galaeron. The reason he can do this is because he knows his worth. There are still some things that are inconvenient for me to do personally while he''s well aware that he''s maybe the strongest warrior on Earth right now. The oceanic beasts are just the beginning, another war is comingбн

    "As long as he''s working, who cares if he takes some advantages? That said, he''ll still have to pay a price for leaving us behind to go and chase skirts."

    Galaeron''s expression twitched, suddenly remembering that Leonel had mentioned White City before he left.

    Emperor Fawkes burst into another fit of laughter, this one even more uproarious than the last.

    "He likes his moral high ground so much, right? I''d like to see what he does when that moral high ground is exactly what''s holding him back from taking what he wants."

    Galaeron felt a headache coming on. He really wasn''t ready to deal with the logistics of head butting between a Prince and the Dove Grand Prime Minister family.

    [Just one more chapter coming later today... dkm...]

 Chapter 972 Then

    Chapter 972 - Then.

    White City was the very same city Leonel had dropped from the sky to crush Anared and the Variant Invalid. Truth be told, he had only just remembered that he had traded the Ruby Imperial Pendant he had earned for it. He thought it might be a convenient way to get things started. After all, he didn''t have the patience to build a new city even though he was uniquely suited to doing such a thing.

    As for what Leonel wanted the city for, it would be a convenient fort. Plus, he still had the enormous spatial Force Art he could repair and use again. Before he could only use it once before it got too damaged. But, he was more than confident in making it even sturdier now. Though, it would take an even more powerful formation to move about in a Fifth Dimensional world.

    Leonel wasn''t really sure what happened to White City, though. He had dropped it right in front of the Imperial Capital. And, now that he thought about it, there should have been a second city in the surroundings, not to mention the third city which was the one he crashed.

    The state of White City should be pretty terrible if it wasn''t touched. After all, it wouldn''t come out unscathed from such a thing. And, there was also no telling if it was still around the Capital or if it have been moved elsewhere.

    Truth be told, Leonel hadn''t been paying much attention when he was on his way here. He had been moving too fast and was entirely focused on crashing the Capital to cause a commotion. Well, he had managed to do that, so now he was content with settling down and making some money.

    However, when Leonel laid eyes on White City, his brow twitched.

    If it wasn''t for the fact he could still sense the lingering remnants of his large scale spatial array, he wouldn''t have even connected the two cities into one at all. The White City he had once known was nowhere to be seen.

    The city was about the same size as it had always been. Since Terrain had never quite fully conquered its own world, its cities were purposely built large so that it could accommodate large numbers of people and enormous sums of resources. This was to say that it was massive, about double the size of a normal large city.

    However, what was shocking were the number of people and the hustle and bustle. The economy was booming to a mind numbing degree, Leonel could almost smell the money in the air. But, what was maybe most shocking was that maybe only half the number of people here were actually from Earth. As for the other half, they had clear energy signatures that marked them as alien to this world.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that White City and the other Skyfall Citiesбкas they were now known as by the people of Earthбкhad become hubs for trade and diplomacy.

    The other Skyfall Cities had been razed to the ground. But, these two, White City and Black Cityбкthe latter of which had once pincered the Imperial Capital with Keafir Cityбкwere the two that remained and had become great tourist spots.

    Emperor Fawkes didn''t allow people to freely travel throughout Earth, but this made perfect sense. The resources Earth had as a talented Earth was far beyond what even many Disaster Worlds could hope to have.

    In order to ''hunt'' on Earth, one needed to pay an exorbitant price, usually worth more than even the resources one would manage to gather. However, many still bit the bullet and paid this price because the talent of beasts here was far beyond what they could find elsewhere.

    The Beast Crystals of Earth provided a unique opportunity to increase the strength of their abilities. Anyone who had any sort of money at all would definitely send their children here. The result was Earth swimming in more money than it even knew what to do with. Let alone robbing a Force Crafting Guild, Leonel should be thinking about robbing his grandfather''s coffers.

    This was all to say that the city Leonel stood above on his black surfboard treasureбкhaving long since been upgraded by him to the point it could stand hundreds of meters in the air even in a Fifth Dimensional worldбкwas an enormous well of resourcesбн

    And yet, Leonel knew he couldn''t casually touch it.

    Leonel''s expression turned cold. There was no way this city was functioning on its own, it was definitely being controlled by someone.

    Though Leonel hadn''t heard his grandfather laughing, he could very well imagine that old man''s brilliant grin. It was almost more annoying that that old man was more handsome than he should be at his age. Leonel almost wanted to tell him that his time was up and to give it up, but he knew that would just make him look even more bitter than he already was.

    What was he supposed to do?

    He couldn''t just kick these people out. Even though half of them weren''t from Earth, the other half relied on this place for a livelihood, they had already built their lives and families here over the course of the last three years.

    He couldn''t use force either. How would the react to someone who just tyrannically took over their home after they had been living in peace for so long?

    And he most definitely couldn''t just kill them all.

    Just from a glance, Leonel could tell that there was practically no one in poverty in this place. Though his grandfather''s genocide was something Leonel could never accept, what he did have to accept was just how good of a position it had put Earth in. They were in a place where every Earthener could prosper and benefit without needing for anything.

    Leonel stood a distance from the city, hovering in the air with his surfboard.

    After a moment, his lip curled.

    With a wave of his arm, he sent out several messages. It was about time he begin.

    ''Dove family, is it? Let''s play, then.''

 Chapter 973 Governance

    Chapter 973 Governance

    Leonel slipped through the city gates completely invisible to the eyes of the guards. He didn''t feel like going through an inspection process nor did he have anything proving his status as a Prince outside of his face, so he felt that it wasn''t worth it.

    After he was a distance away, he found a location to reappear and blended into the crowd. With just a few minutes of observation, though, Leonel realized that things weren''t so simple.

    Whether it was the residents of Earth that lived here or the tourists from other worlds, each had their own identification cards. It only took Leonel a moment to realize that Earth had replaced its original monitoring system with another one. What was surprising, though, was that this monitoring system was both less intrucive, and most surprisingly, it revolved around the very same wrist watch the people of Earth had always had.

    Of course, outsiders weren''t given their own wrist watches. Instead they were given badges they had to use to verify their purchases.

    Essentially, without either a wristwatch or a tourist badge, one could only walk around the city aimlessly without benefitting from anything.

    As Leonel continued to walk around, he picked up on more details. For example, outsiders had a higher sales tax to pay, they were restricted from certain regions, and they were only allowed to rent property but couldn''t own anything.

    Everything from top to bottom was meticulously organized and despite searching for it, Leonel couldn''t find signs of corruption and, more shockingly, poverty. It was as though the people of Earth had all simultaneously been risen in statusбн

    But, Leonel knew that this was far from the case. The cruel underbelly of this was that the poor had already been killed by his grandfather. All that were left were individuals with great connections, wealth and political affiliations.

    Of course, no country or world could possibly function without labor workers or those that did less than lucrative jobs, and yet it seemed that this had been handled as well.

    It seemed that Earth had either begun training Force Crafters of their own or had invited over Crafters to automate much of the labor process. And, where it was impossible to do thisбн There were the people of Terrain.

    Leonel had already noted that there was no poverty, and this was true. But, this was only in the in your face, dirty slums and grimy streets sort of ways. The true underpinning of what allowed the people of Earth to continue living their lush lifestyles while everything in the city seemed to work on its own were the inconspicuous workers wearing grey tunics and pants, gliding through the city silently with their heads lowered and their gazes glued to the ground.

    The invasion of Terrain didn''t just end with the war. After all, the cities themselves resulted in an influx of tens of millions of people who had been essentially uprooted from their homes by their City Lords.

    After their City Lords died, they were left behind with nothing and no way to get back home, leaving them stranded on Earth without recourse or power to do anything.

    In truth, Leonel had at some point assumed that his grandfather would have them all massacred. The image he had of his grandfather was that he was a cruel man willing to do anything to hold onto his power and take a step ahead. Ultimately, tens of millions of Terrain citizens, albeit far less talented than the people of Earth, were a threat to their forward progress.

    And yetбн They had been seamlessly integrated to the point where even Leonel had almost not noticed them at all.

    With some more observation, Leonel came to understand this as well.

    ''I seeбн So he created a hierarchy system with the promise that those born five generations from now would become true citizens of Earth. With this promise in place, the current people of Terrain are living silent and peaceful lives and are even helping Earth to fix its clear population problemбн As long as they don''t cause trouble, four generations from now they''ll be able to say that they birthed children who were true people of Earth.''

    Just from an hour of walking around the city, Leonel had seen several of what he would classify asбн ''sensual'' shops. Whether it was a small boutique that sold women''s lingerie or even something more in your face like outright sex toy shops, they were here in quite large number.

    On top of that, Leonel had seen many parents walking about with toddlers and newborns. Such a thing would have been impossible to see right after the Metamorphosis and most children did not survive the calamity for obvious reasons.

    Leonel could feel a clear push for the people of Earth to have children.

    Despite there being so many sensual shops, there wasn''t a single brothel in sight. In addition, despite the fact a woman of Terrain could have a fifth generational baby so long as she slept with a man of Earth, there seemed to be an invisible barrier between the two groups.

    Picking up on all of these subtleties, Leonel was astonished. This level of governance was far beyond his capabilities. He couldn''t help but feel a small bit of respect for his grandfather.

    Leonel''s emotional intelligence worked best on a micro scale. Of course, he could impact things at a macro level too with how he almost destroyed the foundation of Valiant Heart Mountain with just a few actions, but he still felt like he lacked the nuance and grace his grandfather had.

    Howeverбн With every step through the city Leonel took, he seemed to soak in something different, shifting his ideals and rebuilding them with new thoughts. To those who walked by him, it would almost seem like he was in a trance-like state of enlightenment.

    Before Leonel realized it, he had reached the end of his journey and found himself at what must have once been the City Lord''s mansion, though now, the flag of the Dove family flew high and proud.

    "Halt! The Grand Prime Minister''s Estate is closed off to outsiders!"

    Leonel kept walking forward as though he hadn''t heard anything. Just when the guards wanted to take action, they found their legs rooted to the ground.

 Chapter 974 Corner Office

    Chapter 974 Corner Office

    The Dove family guards looked down in shock, only to find that their legs had suddenly been encased in stone.

    In that moment, it wasn''t just the Dove family guards that were shocked, but the tourists in the area who treated the Estate like a landmark to visit were stunned silent as well. In all their time here, no one had dared to stir up trouble. This was the first time they were seeing such a thing.

    Of course, what the crowd didn''t know was that this wasn''t true at all. How could there possibly not be any bad apples? It was just that these individuals had been dealt with swiftly and with the utmost secrecy. Hardly anyone was even aware that such events had occurred.

    But, Leonel was the Prince of the Empire. He couldn''t exactly be stopped ahead of time, right?

    A blinding pair of white gold wings appeared to Leonel''s back in a flash. In one moment, he was on the opposite side of the gate. In the next, he had leapt over, landing softly on the other side as a small gust of wind followed his movements.

    Leonel strolled forward with his hands in his pockets. Every guard that rushed forward found themselves cemented into the ground, not harmed, but completely unable to move. The difference was so striking that it shook the observers to their core. They had no way of knowing just who this young man was.

    Leonel swept a gaze forward.

    The Dove Estate was Victorian in its construction. It had a somewhat castle-like, somewhat modern feel to it. It had great archways for each of its windows that melded seamlessly into the design. In addition to this, there were a few towers built right into it with a structure that finished the painting of a beautiful picture.

    The fences and gates that surrounded the property didn''t obstruct the view at all. Leonel''s actions were clear for all to see, from his gliding over the perfectly trimmed grass up to the point he began to walk up the stairs to the wide doors.

    To the surprise of the people watching, rather than alarms beginning to blare, the doors opened, revealing a man dressed in an archetypal butler uniform. Everything from his pristine white gloves, to his golden pocket watch and the tails of his suit were perfect.

    "Welcome, Prince Leonel. The Dove family feels humbled by your visit."

    It was right then that the guards suddenly came to understand that they had been trying to stop the Prince of an Empire. Not only that butбн

    A surge took hold of the crowd. Many of them were the people of Earth. The instant they heard Leonel''s name, things clicked and a look of reverence flooded their expressions.

    To the people outside of Earth, Leonel was a wanted criminal. To the people of Earth, Leonel was the man who dropped a city that ended a war.

    What was important for an Imperial Family? It was making sure they held on to the love and adoration of the people. The more they were revered, the more godlike they seemed, the more power they would manage to consolidate.

    Quite frankly, Leonel hadn''t expected such a reaction to his name. After all, the people of Earth should know that he was a ''criminal'' as well. However, it seemed that his grandfather had grasp an opportunity.

    Leonel couldn''t help but be astonished by his grandfather''s audacity. He knew that Leonel stood opposed to him, but he actually still took action to raise Leonel''s legend. What would he do if the people revered him as a Prince more than they revered him as an Emperor?

    Leonel let out a sort of speechless laugh.

    His grandfatherбн He was the most arrogant bastard Leonel had ever met.

    Leonel gave the butler a gentle smile. "Sorry about all this, I just came back and I don''t have the credentials, so I could only choose this sort of crude method. Speaking of which, I have to thank the Dove family for taking care of my city so well. This is far beyond what I imagined I would come back to."

    The butler was taken off guard by Leonel''s smile. It was an obvious sign of disrespect that a mere butler would come to greet a Prince, so why was he smiling? But the main issue was that the butler suddenly found it difficult to continue with a hardnosed approach.

    That said, his lip twitched fiercely when he heard the second half of Leonel''s spiel. This Princeбн

    The butler snapped out of his shock when he suddenly felt Leonel pat his shoulder. Before he could react, Leonel had invited himself in, stepping by him and into the residence. Without even needing the butler to guide him, Leonel cut through the home as though he lived here.

    ''Ahбн!'' The butler reached out to try and stop Leonel, but despite the fact Leonel seemed to be walking slowly, he was already 20 meters ahead of him by the time the butler reacted.

    The worst part was that the direction Leonel was headed in wasn''t where the butler originally wanted to lead him. According to his orders, he was meant to bring Leonel to the Young Miss. But, Leonel was actually going to exactly the place the Young Master and Grand Prime Minister Dove were.

    A cold sweat covered the back of the butler. This Prince really didn''t know how to follow the rules of etiquette. But, why was it so hard to get mad at him?

    бн

    Leonel went through three floors and five hallways, finding his way to a corner office that overlooked the city. With just a small knock, he entered, a gentle smile on his face.

    At the moment Leonel entered, he found what he almost felt were a pair of twins looking back at him. Both Tyrron and his father seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Despite being surprised by Leonel''s appearance, they didn''t seem to react much initially. It wasn''t until Leonel took a seat next to Tyrron and facing Grand Prime Minister Dove that the two of them finally smile lightly.

    Like this, three fake smiles met one another in a single corner office.

 Chapter 975 Everything,Right?

    Chapter 975 Everything,Right?

    It was only after sitting down with the father and son that Leonel finally began to pick out some differences between them. They both had on glasses, both were dressed prim and proper, both had measured and controlled attitudesбн it could be said that the only difference between them was that Tyrron''s father had a slight greying in his hair, but it was clear that even this was vanishing as he absorbed Force day by day just like how Leonel''s grandfather was also continuously getting younger.

    "I will be honest, I do not blame the two of you."

    The father-son pair were caught off guard. Usually, this would devolve into a game of pressure to see who it was would crack and be forced to speak first. In most cases, whoever spoke first would be seen as the more nervous of the two and thus be on the losing side of the discussion from then on.

    But, not only did Leonel not wait, he began to speak almost immediately. It was hard to tell if he was simply not used to such royal etiquette, or if this was a tactic to throw them off.

    "At the same time, I also don''t have the patience to play these games. I''m on a little bit of a time crunch. I won''t be young forever, you know. So, how about I lay things out how I see them?"

    Leonel sat comfortably in his seat and continued to smile.

    "You two are not my enemies. We just happen to see things differently.

    "To you, this is necessary. While you might be a Grand Prime Minister family now, as Earth expands and its territory grows, it''s impossible to say that your hold on power will remain the same. The best case is that it dilutes, the worst case is that you''re forgotten to the annals of history and washed away along with the other noble families that failed to continue to meet high standards.

    "This, however, is also an opportunity for you. You now suddenly have ample room to grow whereas in the past you had already met a ceiling you couldn''t break past. So, if a brat like me claims a city with a small bit of merit and then suddenly disappears for three years, it wouldn''t be surprising that you would choose to swoop in. After all, there are many things you could say.

    "For instance, you could claim that this isn''t the White City I claimed. There are practically no parts of the city I once claimed remaining and even a rational person might conclude that this was no longer my city to begin with."

    Tyrron''s eyes narrowed but he quickly recovered, continuing to listen to Leonel''s words without saying anything himself.

    "Of course, none of those petty tricks really matter. Ultimately, I am a Prince and this city was claimed for me by virtue of an Imperial Pendant. If you look at things this way, in terms of places on Earth that represent the Imperial family''s prestige, the Imperial Capital is number one, and this city may very well be number two.

    "However, I''m sure you father and son pair are smart enough to understand this as well, which means you have several other tricks up your sleeve.

    "If I were in your shoes, I just might send my butler to receive myself and announce my name and title to those present. Maybe very quickly the reverence the people held for me would take hold and I would walk around the city, suddenly finding that I couldn''t take a step without someone looking toward me with a worshipful gaze.

    "If that were to happen, I just might get full of myself and believe that I was untouchable. Once I began to believe that, I just might also think that snatching White City away by force was something that the citizens of this City wouldn''t fight against and even something they might accept with open arms.

    "But, if I did that, I would be walking into a trap, now wouldn''t I?"

    This time, even Grand Prime Minister Dove couldn''t help but narrow his gaze, staring toward Leonel intently. Unlike his son, though, he made no attempt to hide these changes.

    "Because if I were you, after I did something so foolish, I would leave silently while allowing the underpinnings of the city I painstakingly built to crumble one by one.

    "For example, I might use the contracts I''ve signed with merchants to manipulate the economy of the city. After all, those contracts were signed with White City, not the Imperial Capital or the Ascension Empire. These merchants might start withdrawing, decreasing the quality of life in this city and shifting it toward Black City instead.

    "Once I was finished doing that, those merchants might start demanding lower tax rates as they would have less customers to sell to. How would they be able to protect their profit margins without some help from the me?

    "When I thought that problem was finished, I would suddenly realize that the Hunters who came to White City to gain certificates to hunt beasts in the surroundings would suddenly plummet. And why wouldn''t they? The merchants would have been forced to lower prices on them and haggle for their goods. At the same time, I would probably have been forced to raise the price of certification just to keep the city afloat. Why would they continue to come here when they could go to Black City instead?

    "Then, just when everything seemed as though it was coming crashing down, the nobles you have in your pockets would finally begin to complain. If I lost my temper and used force to suppress them when they had legitimate matters to complain about, I would look like a tyrant, wouldn''t I?

    "By this point, I would barely be able to sustain the upkeep of the city and the final nail in the coffin would become the people of Terrain. How would I be able to feed and clothe them without money? Without proper care, their residences would deteriorate, resulting in a true slums forming in the city and ultimately causing many to want to move away.

    "Just like that, White City would collapse under my rule in give or take six months to a year.

    "That''s everything, right?"

    Leonel continued to smile lightly, observing the father-son pair.

 Chapter 976 A Smile

    Chapter 976 A Smile

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade amidst the silence of the father-son pair. In fact, it only grew. It was clear that this silence meant something far different than it would have at the start of all of this.

    "I see." Grand Prime Minister Dove suddenly spoke.

    His voice was deep and rumbling, a marked difference from his son''s more light tone. It seemed that Leonel had finally found a second difference between them.

    "Then what exactly do you propose, Your Highness?"

    Leonel waved his hand. "You don''t need to call me that, just call me Leonel. Not like it matters much anyway, not like you two went out of your way to kneel when I entered."

    Tyrron''s lip twitched. Members of the Grand Prime Minister family didn''t have to kneel to Princes. This was something that Leonel would have known had he not been raised outside the Imperial Family. But, it didn''t seem appropriate to correct him on this now since he had already waved it away so casually.

    "As for what I propose it is quite simple. For the next year, all profit White City makes will go to me. Beyond this, all shops that I come to own will be tax free and work without restrictions.

    "While I am away, this city will continue to be yours. Quite frankly, I planned to take White City and move it to the coast, but it is clear that this is impossible. So, instead, I''ll be building a city myself."

    Grand Prime Minister Dove''s gaze flashed, but he remained silent as he continued to listen.

    "In exchange for this, any Force Crafters you are nurturing can come under my wing for the time being if you aren''t afraid of me poaching them away. In addition, any boom in White City''s economy that are as a result of my actions can continue to be yours once I''ve gone and the year period I''ve marked out has passed. As for when I am in the city, I will take 30% of the revenue following this year period."

    Hearing Leonel conclude so simple, Grand Prime Minister Dove was quite shocked. He had expected to be completely fleeced by this Prince but Leonel had actually gone so easy on them?

    Though losing a year of revenue was a difficult pill to swallow, a year was ultimately just that. Before the Metamorphosis, the human life time had more than doubled already, making a year worth far less than it had been in the past. Now with the help of the Metamorphosis, Force, and the various rare Force Herbs Earth was continuously producing, they could live for even longer than that.

    In addition to this, Leonel said that after this year, he would only take 30% of the revenue for when he was actively in White City. He had already left for three years prior to today without a word, and though the Grand Prime Minister couldn''t guarantee that Leonel wouldn''t do this again, the fact that he wanted to build his own city was evidence enough.

    Without much thought, Grand Prime Minister Dove nodded.

    "I find this deal to be agreeable. From this date until this time next year, all the revenue of the city will be yours. If you need Crafter to help in your building a city, I will also provide them. If they are to your lacking, there is no problem with Prince poaching a few.

    "As for your shops being tax free, this is of course not a problem as well. I''m sure that the added business your endeavors will bring will leave us at a net positive regardless. There are easily half a dozen prime storefronts Prince can choose from. If you would like, you can have them all."

    Leonel smiled. It seemed that this Grand Prime Minister was quite the smart man.

    "Oh right, just one more thing," Leonel said, "When I say revenue, I mean all of it. Don''t bother sending taxes to that old man for this year either."

    Grand Prime Minister Dove was rendered speechless. Firstly, Leonel was calling Emperor Fawkes ''old man''. And, secondly, evading Imperial Taxes was not just a small crime. Even shaving a bit off the top was impossible, but not doing so for a whole year was a completely different level of face slapping.

    "Don''t worry about it, I''ve already spoken to him about it." ???? ??? ?????

    "бн Really?" Grand Prime Minister Dove looked toward Leonel skeptically.

    It wouldn''t'' be an exaggeration to say that White City represented at least 20% of Earth''s current wealth. Losing it for a year was not a small ask at all. The only reason Grand Prime Minister Dove wasn''t bleeding was because most of that money went to the Imperial Family anyway, so what he was left with wasn''t something he was unwilling to part with.

    The only thing he really needed to worry about was making sure all the guards and especially the Terrain servants were properly taken care of and paid. But, he was still willing to pay out of pocket to cover this for a year.

    Leonel, however, was clearly a maniac. Grand Prime Minister Dove couldn''t'' even fathom what Leonel would do with this money.

    Just to put things into perspective, the eye popping number of Urbe Ores Leonel had given to Elthor was something White City would make within three days. As exaggerated as that might sound, this was the true value of a world like Earth. The Ascension Empire was raking in funds hand over fist.

    Without more explanation, Leonel smiled and stood.

    "By the way, Tyrron, I wanted to apologize."

    Tyrron, who had still been trying to wrap his mind around all this, suddenly started. He was surprised to the point of being speechless.

    "When we first met I was a bit overly sensitive and ended up shattering your glasses. It was rash of me and something I shouldn''t have done. I hope we can move past it. In exchange, how about I Craft you a Bronze treasure to your specifications?"

    "Ahбн"

    Tyrron, who was almost always composed, didn''t know what to do. He had never expected an apology for that and he had most definitely never expected Leonel to be so nice to him. But, most shockingly of allбн Leonel was a Bronze Crafter?!

    "Tyrron, quickly thank His Highness."

    "Ah, yesбн Right, right." Tyrron shot up from his seat and accepted Leonel''s handshake.

    He looked deeply into Leonel''s eyes, trying to find some sort of contempt or sneer, but all he saw was warmth that made him feel almost too comfortable. The grievances he had held toward Leonel suddenly vanished into the wind and he blushed beside himself.

    ...

    Leonel left the corner office with a smile on his face. He realized just how correct Anya had been. If he had had a warmer relationship with Tyrron from the very beginning, instead of lashing out at him for just looking at Aina back then, maybe this matter would have gone even smoother. If he wanted to succeed, he had to lead with a smile. There would always be time for him to use his fists later if the situation suited it.

    "Young Miss! Please don''t!"

    As Leonel was about to leave the Estate, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. When he looked back, he saw the butler chasing after a young lady that seemed to be in her very late teens, likely 18 or 19 years old. Despite her age, Leonel''s first impression of her was that she was quite cute, in a cuddly sort of way.

    However, that fiery look in her eye as she stamped toward him was definitely anything but cuddly.

 Chapter 977 Coasts

    Chapter 977 Coasts

    Leonel smiled lightly.

    He had been monitoring the butler with his Internal Sight ever since he entered the estate. Initially, he had been rushing after Leonel, but after he realized he couldn''t catch up, he had changed directions and shot off toward where this girl had been lying in wait.

    If Leonel had to make a guess at what happened, he had probably entered a wing of the estate that the butler didn''t dare to enter. As such, the butler had no choice but to change tactics and go and seek help from this cute girl.

    It was very likely that this was the young woman the Dove family had prepared to field Leonel. And, clearly, she wasn''t very happy that Leonel had ignored her while going straight off to her brother and father instead.

    It was rare that the Young Miss got a chance to do something important, so it felt like Leonel had snatched away her chance. The result was the poor butler chasing around someone he couldn''t catch up to for the second time that day.

    "You are Prince Leonel?" Though it was a question, it almost came out like a demand.

    "You could say so." Leonel chuckled. "And you are?"

    "I am Avery Dove, the Young Miss of the Dove family! We were meant to have a meeting today, but why is it that you seem to be leaving already?"

    Leonel looked this girl up and down, suddenly realizing something. He had mostly met all of the noble young men and women during the war with Terrain. But, back then, Avery was just 14 or 15 years oldбкfar too young to participate. It was no wonder this was the first time Leonel was meeting her.

    "I see, so it''s Young Miss Dove. It''s a pleasure to meet you. I wasn''t aware that you were waiting for me, my apologies. How about this? Your father said that there are six prime store fronts for me to choose from, would you mind being my guide?"

    Avery, who was fully prepared to be a young lioness, was caught off guard by Leonel''s suggestion. She had felt that she would need to be more hardnosed because she was a young woman, but especially so because she had this face of hers to overcome.

    "Ahбн Yes, yes I can!"

    Avery didn''t know the details, but she knew everything about White City. The moment Leonel mentioned those store fronts, she already knew exactly which ones he was referring to and even exactly how to get there from the estate. It could be said that she was well prepared.

    Though she hadn''t spoken to her father or brother about this matter, she didn''t think that the Prince would lie about this, nor would he have to. She had already been briefed that there might be trouble when Leonel returned so thinking quick on her feet, she assumed that this was a compromise.

    Around a corner not far away, Tyrron, who had been prepared to step in to do something, chose to pause instead. Compared to the niceties that Leonel had given him before, this was worth far more. He suddenly found it very difficult to even think of tricking Leonel, let alone doing it.

    He shook his head. He felt ridiculous today. He had actually done something as embarrassing as blush. Now this.

    Not long later, Leonel was escorted out of the mansion under the lead of Avery.

    бн

    Along the way, Avery found herself relaxing even to the point she began to laugh and giggle at the things Leonel said from time to time. She almost forgot that she was meant to be on official business, representing her Dove family.

    "бн You really have seen a lot of things. My father won''t let me off of Earth, I''ve always wanted to see what the greater universe looks like."

    Avery had a slight longing in her gaze as she looked up toward the sky. But, unfortunately, there was nothing but an expanse of blue to see.

    Leonel smiled. "I never would have thought that the stoic Grand Prime Minister Dove would actually be so overprotective. It seems that all fathers have a soft spot for their little girls."

    Avery pouted. "I don''t want him to have a soft spot. He should treat me like he does Tyrron but he doesn''t take me seriously."

    "Who knows? Maybe Tyrron wishes your father treated him more like he does you."

    "Definitely not." Avery shook her head, her black hair sprinkling about. "My big brother is a workaholic. He''s been like that even since he was a kid. If it has nothing to do with self-improvement, he wants nothing to do with itбн"

    Leonel''s brows raised but he didn''t refute Avery. Who was he to correct her views on her family members? She definitely knew them far better than he did.

    "бн It''s only a coincidence that Tyrron is even here right now. If it wasn''t for father calling him back, he''d probably be on the coasts with everyone else."

    "On the coasts?" Leonel asked.

    "Oh, right. You just came back so you might not know. Most of the young nobles aren''t near the Imperial Capital anymore, they''ve gone off to the coasts to hunt the oceanic beasts. There''ve been a lot of them trying to come on land as of late. Not only is their meat really good for strengthening bodies, but their Beast Crystals sometimes go for exorbitant prices depending on their level."

    "I seeбн" Leonel''s lip curled into a smile.

    "Ah, we''re here. This is the first prime store front. We were planning on holding auctions for these in the coming few months, but since father said you can have your pick, feel free."

    The location was indeed perfect. The shop was on a prominent street corner and had a body that wrapped around its edges. No matter what direction you were coming or going from, it would be impossible not to spot this storefront.

    On top of that, the surrounding ambience was perfect. The smell in the air made one feel relaxed, there was a hint of nature with a park being nearby but not too close that it would ruin the metropolitan atmosphere, and there was even a bank not too far away in case one ran out of money to spend.

    Leonel nodded when he saw all of this. "No need to go check out the other ones, I don''t need more than one storefront anyway. I''ll take this."

 Chapter 978 Beach

    Chapter 978 Beach

    Avery blinked. Leonel really made decisions fast.

    The truth was that it didn''t'' really matter to Leonel if there was another storefront that was a little bit better than this one. As long as it was closeбкas he expected they would beбкhis store would become the most popular among them. In fact, even if he didn''t get a prime storefront, it was only a matter of time before his store still reached the top. It would just take a little longer.

    "Do you need me to assign some people of Terrain to you? They can help with the upkeep of the store and can also manage it for you. There''s a small fee to pay, but it''s nothing too great."

    It made Leonel slightly uncomfortable to hear this but he knew it was probably the best choice so long as his grandfather followed through on his promise to integrate their later generations as one of their own.

    "No, that won''t be necessary."

    Leonel could just automate everything like he had with his Valiant Mountain store. As long as he upgraded it from time to time and had his people maintain them Force Arts, there wouldn''t be a problem.

    Avery nodded. "Alright."

    Leonel was about to say something when he suddenly sensed several responses from his talisman. He had sent out quite a few messages earlier and they had finally gathered up. It was about time for him to go.

    "Seems that I have to go now. Tell your elder brother that he can come here in about a week with the specifications for the Craft he wants. If you''d like, I can make something for you too." Leonel said with a light smile.

    Avery was stunned again but before she could react, a black surfboard had appeared beneath Leonel''s feet as he shot into the air.

    Toward such a thing, Avery could only be speechless. Flying was most definitely prohibited within city limits. This Leonel broke rules left and right without regard for anything. But, rather than feeling that he was a pampered Prince, Avery couldn''t help but smile. It was clear her impression of Leonel was quite good.

    "Oh no, there''s so much work to do." A bulb suddenly went off for Avery.

    She needed to sign over the property in Leonel''s name, handle the paperwork for the property and service taxes, and on top of that she needed to get the permit to sell goods from the Imperial Capital itself. She suddenly felt as though Leonel had saddled her with a whole bunch of work he was oblivious to.

    It was a whole other can of worms if Leonel planned on opening a Crafters shop. Just think about it, back on 21st century Earth, not just anyone could open up a gun shop or a gun range. It was definitely far more difficult than opening up a restaurant, but even a restaurant needed to meet certain health guidelines.

    Compared to a gun shop of the 21st century, a Crafter''s shop was thousands of times more dangerous and such things had already been taken into account and heavily regulated by the Ascension Empire. Now Avery needed to wade through these waters and handle it all.

    She pouted her cherry lips, her appearance becoming even more adorable than it was previously. She didn''t think Leonel had done it on purpose, but he was really too reckless.

    ''Forget it, maybe he knew something since he offered to make me a treasure too.''

    Avery did an about face and began to stroll back to her family estate, thinking of all the stories of the outside world Leonel had told her about.

    **

    "The air is so salty, my skin is drying out." Allan frowned, his brows furrowing behind his glasses.

    "Stop complaining, four eyes. You''re already wearing so many layers of clothes to begin with, how much of your skin is being affected at all?" Raj called out.

    As usual, Allan had buried his perfect physique beneath layers of baggy clothing. Considering they were currently standing on a beach, he looked especially out of place. Though, that could be said for all of them. Despite the surroundings, they didn''t have the luxury of wearing swim trunks and exposing their torsos.

    Up ahead, rather than sand meeting water as it usually would, there was an enormous border of steel. Not just that that, but the ocean''s water was filled with tankers and warships. It was easier to spot a wall of metal than it was to see the blue of the waters.

    The eight brothers stood a distance away. If not for this, they wouldn''t even have the luxury to stand on sand. It was clear that Earth was taking the defense of its coasts extremely seriously, but if you had seen the kind of monstrosities that were trying to make their way to land, this wouldn''t be a great surprise at all.

    After just a year, the auras of the eight had grown exponentially. It felt like they could conquer anything.

    "Hey you eight, what are you standing around there for?"

    A modified military jeep drove through the sand, rolling toward the boys. It only took a simple glance at their wrists to know that these eight came from Earth. However, the soldier was casting them looks of disgust.

    There were no small number of youths that had come to the coast to show off and say they participated when in reality they would just stand around and avoid danger just like these eight. At leastбн That was what the man sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep thought initially until he got closer.

    He didn''t recognize them all, but when Arnold cast a glance over toward him, he froze.

    A memory of Arnold shooting into the air and smashing a 20 meter tall squid to minced meat with a single palm replayed in his mind. In that moment, his next words couldn''t help but get caught in his throat.

    However, by that point, the eight young men had already ignored him as they had all locked eyes with another young man who rode the back of the military jeep with a wide grin on his face.

    Who else could this man be if not for Leonel?

    "Cap!"

 Chapter 979 Steroids

    Chapter 979 Steroids

    Leonel hopped out of the military jeep only to be tackled into a bear hug by Milan.

    "Oofбк"

    Though Milan wasn''t nearly strong enough to knock the wind out of Leonel, the latter still feigned weakness. Unfortunately, that didn''t garner him any sympathy as Milan just squeezed him harder.

    Before Leonel realized what was happening, he was suddenly dog piled. In fact, the only two who didn''t move were Allan and Arnold. The two looked toward one another and shook their heads. It seemed that they were in lockstep when it came to matters like this.

    The driver and passenger of the military jeep looked on incredulously. That was a Prince of the Empire, what was going on? Since when could you treat a Prince like that?

    Thinking about Prince Noah and how stoic he was, not to mention the cold, short haired beauty that was always by his sideбн This Leonel was really too much of a drastic difference from the kind of royalty that they were used to.

    "Alright, alright!" Leonel muffled groans sounded beneath the six man pile. However, they seemed to have no intention of letting him go.

    "Hehe, consider this a little punishment for leaving us for so long, Cap." Franco''s voice rang through the pile, his big mouth being the first to open. Maybe if he could see Leonel''s sly grin from beneath the pile he wouldn''t have been so cheeky.

    BANG!

    Suddenly, six bodies went flying in all directions, flying up and outward completely out of their control and releasing squeals along the way.

    Leonel rose from the sand with a grin, patting it away from his body and winking toward Arnold and Allan who seemed to have guessed that things would end this way.

    "Captain, you''re in the Fifth Dimension already?" Allan shook his head. Last time they met Leonel, he was still in the Third and he had already been stronger than them back then. Now, he had suddenly leapfrogged them all. Wasn''t this a bit too ridiculous?

    Of course, they had also grown far more powerful in the last year. So, they couldn''t compare to their former selves as well. But, this was still too much, wasn''t it?

    Raj spat out a huge mouthful of sand, his rotund body rolling out of a massive dune.

    "Fifth Dimension? That''s bullshit, Cap! You can''t just shoot up PED''s just cause there''s no athletic commission to check on you anymore!"

    [Author''s Note: PED''s are performance enhancing drugs. Steroids, essentially]

    "Oh? I had some for you, but if you don''t want it, forget it, forget it." Leonel shook his head and sighed as though he was lamenting something.

    "Fuck that! Give me the drugs!"

    The six recovered quickly, surrounding Leonel with their eyes lit up. They didn''t need to be a genius to know that Leonel had brought back good things.

    "What happened to doling out punishment?" ????????????.???

    "Oh Cap, you''re a broad-minded person, right? You wouldn''t fuss over such a little thing, right?" Franco''s eyes blinked innocently, but the movement of his big ears made it look like his head would fly away any moment now.

    Leonel laughed. "To tell you the truth, I did bring back some good things that should help you get to the Quasi Fifth Dimension very quickly. But, I''ll still need to see whether your bodies can handle it."

    While on Planet Solara, most of what Leonel had found were precious Ores. Most of the Urbe Ore had already been handed to Elthor to feed the Oryx for the next month. As for the other Ores, they had been kept by Leonel for the sake of Crafting. However, aside from these Ores, near the core of the world, Leonel had found a small patch of Force Herbs.

    For these herbs to grow in such harsh conditions, it wasn''t a surprise that they were exceptionally valuable. Leonel had to rely on the dictionary to identify them since plants and such weren''t part of his expertise. And, he wasn''t disappointed in the slightest.

    They were a Fifth Dimension Herb known as the Bone Burning Rose. According to the dictionary, in the hands of a Force Pill Crafter, such an Herb could be used to cleanse and strengthen the body all the way through to the Quasi Sixth Dimensional level.

    The bad news was that Leonel wasn''t such an expert and Aina was no longer with him. The good news, however, was that there was a cruder method that required blending and diluting the Herb with Cleansing Waters.

    Though it was a bit of a waste to use the Force Herb like this, it was for the best. Taking in a Fifth Dimensional Herb of such potency was obviously too difficult for their current bodies. But, when diluted like this, it would take just enough edge off.

    In addition, thanks to the Segmented Cubes new abilities, as long as he saved a single stock of this Force Herb, he''d be able to make more of this Herb in the future so long as he absorbed enough Fifth Dimensional Force to do soбкsomething the Segmented Cube had ample of.

    That saidбн According to the dictionary, the best state to take this crude concoction was after being pushed to your very limits. So, Leonel needed to run his brothers through the gauntlet first.

    Seeing the evil grin on Leonel''s face, the eight suddenly felt a cold wind nip at their necks. They fused the image of the current Leonel with Coach Owen, causing traumatic memories of suicide runs in 40 Degree Celsius weather to resurface in their minds.

    Just as Leonel was about to explain, his head tilted in a certain direction. In the distance, he could see rolling black clouds heading in their direction. They were still several hundred miles away, but Leonel estimated it wouldn''t be more than two or three hours before they made it here.

    Still, this wasn''t what Leonel was looking at. It seemed his cousin was on this coast as well.

 Chapter 980 Three Natural Basins

    Chapter 980 Three Natural Basins

    Leonel smiled as he saw Noah riding over with the daughter of the Grand Prime Minister Scarlet family, Jessica. The two sat on the back of an enormous turtle with an obsidian black shell. It was definitely the case that this creature was being controlled by Jessica''s ability and it was actually well into the Fifth Dimension as well.

    Leonel couldn''t help but sigh to himself. This was a difference in talent.

    From what Leonel had seen in the outside world, finding someone who could battle the Fifth Dimension while being in the Fourth was impossible out there. But here was Jessica, who was clearly still within the Fourth Dimension, using her talent to control a Fifth Dimensional beast. In that case, couldn''t it be said that she could fight across Dimensions as well?

    The people of Earth might have been lacking in their foundation and their Dimension level, but as the people of Terrain had learned first hand, the talent granted to them by their abilities was so great that this gap could be closed.

    If it wasn''t for the fact Leonel''s ability was auxiliary and not strictly offensive, his own prowess would be even more exaggerated.

    Wellбн That might not necessarily be true. But, Leonel was still a young man. He couldn''t help but think that the grass was greener on the other side. As he aged and matured, he would definitely come to realize that his own ability was the most suited to him. If he had been born with an attack type ability, let alone becoming stronger than he was now, he may very well become weaker.

    "Noah, Jessica. It''s good to see you." Leonel greeted with a smile, looking up toward them as they leaped down.

    The two were immediately caught off guard by Leonel''s greeting, this was especially so for Noah. Leonel''s attitude toward him had always been lukewarm. In fact, if it wasn''t for the fact that he was Leonel''s cousin, he might have already died at Leonel''s hands.

    Of course, there was a good reason for this. For one, they hadn''t grown up together like many cousins would. At the same time, the first time they met was on a battlefieldбн After Noah tried to kill the woman he presumed Leonel loved. So, it could be said that they had gotten off to a rocky start.

    The reason Noah had come over despite knowing this strain in their relationship was because he always put duty before his own comfort. He and Leonel were the Princes of this generation, if they were on the same coast and yet didn''t meet, it would make the people conjure up stories in their mind. If the Imperial Family wasn''t a solid block, how would the Empire be whole?

    However, he had never expected for Leonel to greet him so warmly. It almost caused him to falter.

    "Ahбн Yesбн Right." Noah forced a smile of etiquette, his white gold hair fluttering in the salty winds.

    "Is this your cousin, Cap? Wow, I''ve seen him on live broadcast before. You really are a Prince." Raj spoke foolish words as he tended to do, granting him a slap to the back of the head by Milan.

    "What''s that supposed to mean? You think Cap lied?"

    "Piss off," Raj snarled, rubbing the back of his head. "I just meant it''s kind of lame. If he was a Prince, he should have told us a long time ago. Think about how many noble young women I''ve missed out on!"

    "Keep dreaming, even if Cap was Emperor it wouldn''t help you get pussy, you tub of lard."

    "Are you tryna go, Milan? I won''t let you off easy like your papa Arnold would."

    "The hell did you say to me?!" Milan reacted like a cat who had his tail stepped on. Claiming Arnold was his better was definitely a reverse scale of his.

    Leonel shook his head. It seemed he overthought things about these guys growing stiff in the face of nobility.

    "Let''s go over there. These guys have gotten riled up, it seems." Leonel chuckled. "I don''t know a lot about this coast and how things are set up, maybe you could clarify some things for me?"

    Noah nodded, having already regained his composure. "Yes, I can do that."

    The pair of cousins began to exchange information and Leonel quickly gained a picture of just how things worked.

    "бн When Earth was Terraformed, it was designed with this day in mind," Noah explained. "Though we combined all seven continents, the truth is that Earth''s mainland only has the equivalent land of about a third of that."

    Leonel nodded. He knew this as he was taught in school. But, it was always explained away as a necessary trade off, not something that was done out of necessity like Noah was explaining it now. Leonel could immediately think of several possibilities now that it had been brought to his attention, one of which Noah began to describe soon after.

    "The remaining two thirds of land was left to form underwater defensive measures. As Earth evolved beyond the Third Dimension, those mechanisms will only become stronger with time.

    "The first line of defense are the Three Natural Basins. Essentially, most of the main continent is surrounded by shallow water not surpassing about 20 meters in depth. Essentially, powerful marine creatures avoid these areas as they''re not deep enough to live in. These shallow water stretch out for hundreds of miles from the ''coast'' and can essentially be counted as purposely flooded lands."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. This was indeed a great defensive option. Even in the rare instance a powerful creature did make a move there, it would be easily handled.

    "The Three Natural Basins are the only locations surrounding the continent where this rule is broken. Not only are the waters not shallow, they''re even purposely deep. Even right up into the coast, the water is as much as half a kilometer deep. An oceanic beast might not even realize they were approaching the coast as a result of this.

    "These Basins are shaped like water droplets with a narrow coast and a wide base. This allows many creatures in but they begin to crowd the nearer they get to the coast. This leaves us with only about a hundred miles to defend.

    "We are currently at one of the three Natural BasinsбкThe Royal Blue Basin."

    Leonel shook his head. His grandfatherбн Was an extraordinary genius. This wasn''t something he could deny any longer.

 Chapter 981 Storm

    Chapter 981 Storm

    "Is it fine for the both of us to be here?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    His reasoning was fairly sound. It seemed that Emperor Fawkes was once again leaving these matters up to the younger generation mostly. However, Leonel and Noah were most definitely two of the most talented youths Earth had to offer. To send them to defend the same Natural Basin seemed like overkill.

    Leonel had picked to come here only because his brothers were here. But, it wouldn''t be much of an issue to move toward another Natural Basin before matters really began to get out of hand.

    Surprisingly, though, Noah shook his head.

    "No, it''s probably good that you''re here. The Northern and Southern Natural Basins have an extra layer of defenses that come with the icecaps that surround them. The Royal Blue Natural Basin is the only one that has truly open waters, and due to the more favorable temperatures there are a wider range of species in this region as well."

    Leonel nodded. He hadn''t been certain of where the other Basins were as everything was underwater and well hidden. But, if things were like this, it was perfect. This was definitely the most dangerous of the Basins. Plus, if something went wrong with the other Basins, Leonel was certain that he could get there in a timely fashion.

    "Sounds good." Leonel nodded before suddenly smiling toward Jessica. "Jessica, right? If I had to guess, your Scarlet family probably controls Black City?"

    Jessica blinked, shocked by the sudden change in the conversation. However, she didn''t seem to grow as flustered as Noah, her emotions remaining even and calm.

    "Yes. Why do you ask?"

    "Just a guess." Leonel smiled, not explaining himself. He still hadn''t decided whether it would be worth it to build another shop or not. It might just be an extra headache for no reason.

    "Another storm is coming." Noah''s gaze narrowed.

    By now, the black clouds Leonel had seen earlier were visible even to those who didn''t have his senses. Considering Noah''s serious expression, it seemed to be something that occurred every so often.

    "Has this happened before?" Leonel asked.

    "It happens at least once a day now, sometimes twice. We think that there might be some high level oceanic beast with a storm ability that''s directing this."

    "Directing?"

    When Leonel thought of Little Blackstar''s intelligence, he didn''t think that such a thing would be impossible. But, the question was why? With enough intelligence to direct other beasts of its kind, shouldn''t this creature also be smart enough to know that the Earth''s surface wasn''t a place it would live happily?

    "It''s actually quite intelligent. It could be said that among the oceanic beasts it directs, at least 80% are Invalids. We think that it''s using us to rid its Kingdom of these scourges."

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. It seemed that this answer his question perfectly. He had never seen an Invalid from another species, but this was a good chance to saturate the Silver Tablet.

    Leonel still hadn''t forgotten that the Silver Tablet needed such high and pure level Force to function. What better target than a whole horde of Invalids coming to deliver themselves to him? Even if he wouldn''t get as many Beast Crystals as he was hoping for, this was a good opportunity, nonetheless.

    "Just 80%?" Leonel suddenly realized an oddity.

    If this creature had perfect control, wouldn''t it be 100%? That likely meant that this was something different from true control.

    Noah nodded, understanding Leonel.

    "The storm is a bit special. It seems to accumulate a lot of the Force from the death of the Invalids before concentrating them into clouds. Then, it rains down what seems to be a rain infused with high concentrations of Force, this is registered like a small Force Eruption.

    "Invalids are the most sensitive to such changes, but normal oceanic creatures, so long as they''re close enough to the coast, will sense it as well."

    Leonel inwardly chuckled, suddenly remembering a battle he had with a particular octopus years ago. That was back during the days just absorbing Force could send a whole host of Invalids to kill you. Leonel had been particularly unlucky back then as a real beast from the sea came after him while he was carrying Aina on his back.

    "So this beast is quite stingy. Not only is it making us fight its battles, but it''s not letting us benefit from the Force of the Invalids either."

    Leonel had to admit that it was the perfect plan. It seemed that the humans weren''t the only ones who had schemers among them. But, Leonel really wanted to see which was better at absorbing Force. The ability of this mysterious oceanic beast? Or the Silver Tablet?

    "It''s coming."

    Noah looked toward Jessica and nodded, hopping back onto the back of the obsidian turtle. Leonel walked back toward his teammates, his mind spinning. He almost didn''t notice when he stood amidst them.

    When he looked up and met their gazes, he suddenly grinned as a rip of thunder boomed across the skies.

    "Let''s go."

    Leonel shot into the distance, eight of his brothers following closely behind him. A line of golden energy followed him.

    The instant he reached the edge of the beach, he jumped, the ground beneath his feet trembling as he shot up, landing on the first enormous cruiser and continuing to blaze a path forward.

    In just a few seconds, the group of nine had made it to the very vanguard, standing at the helm of a cruiser ship and watching as the ocean waves slowly became more violent, the lush blue waters darkening to the point they became an inky black.

    At that moment, the howl of a beast shook the skies.

    A blue whale the size of three cruisers stacked front to back shot out of the waters. One of its white eyes locked onto them as it rolled in the skies, a blank sort of greed hidden within.

    Then, it smashed down onto the surface of the ocean, causing a wave that rose up 200 meters to blanket their sights.

 Chapter 982 Competition

    Chapter 982 Competition

    "HOLD!"

    The roar of an Admiral thundered in Leonel''s ears.

    This region was under the control of Unit 7 which was under the command of Tier 7 Admiral Ellie. As one of the three central pillars of this Natural Basin, he was unfazed by this rolling wave and hardly reacted to the sudden appearance of Leonel and his brothers.

    As far as Admiral Ellie was concerned, the main backbone of this defense was and always would be the military. He would let these youths do as they pleased, but he would continue to command things as though they weren''t there. The day he relied on these ''talents'' would be the day he died and early death.

    The 200 meter tall wave seemed to cover all things. But, this was hardly the most fearsome part of it. Hidden within, a whole host of carnivorous fish bearing their teeth and beady little white eyes wiggled about, shooting forward outside of their control.

    However, while they might have struggled initially, when they caught the scent of fresh meat coming their way, they completely stopped. They rode the wave, a menacing killing intent bearing down on the souls of those on the backs of the cruisers.

    By now, many of the youths who had come here for fame and glory had long since taken a backseat. This wasn''t the first storm they were experiencing and they realized that they were in way over their heads. At least some of them, anyway.

    With this shedding of the weak, all those who stepped forward now were the cream of the crop.

    Despite the looming death wave that hung over him, Leonel turned his head to the side, and locked eyes with a young man standing at the helm of a cruiser to his left. Much like Leonel, he too ignored the wave, having glanced toward Leonel''s direction.

    If Leonel had to describe this young man in one word, it would be: Vampire. If he had to describe him in two, it would be: Handsome Vampire.

    The young man was as thin as a pole, but had extraordinarily broad shoulders. His skin was an almost sickly pale color as though he had just risen from a coffin and he stood at nearly seven feet tall. As though that wasn''t damning enough, he had long, fluttering black hair that reached the small of his back, shimmering crimson eyes, and a nose and jawline so sharp that they could cut glass.

    The young man, seeing that Leonel was looking at him, smiled lightly. He crossed an arm across his chest and bowed slightly, a formal greeting of nobility. It was clear that he recognized Leonel as a Prince and was adequately respectful considering the circumstances.

    Leonel smiled as well, returning the gesture. This was his very first time meeting someone from the Moon, it seemed that they lived up to their reputation. Let alone the young man, all the youths that followed him had exceptionally pale complexions and tall statures. Even the women were well over six feet tall.

    Despite being separated by almost 300 meters, Leonel and the young man interacted as though they weren''t more than three meters apart. The young man took this especially seriously as he actually began to mouth words toward Leonel.

    For Leonel, it was child''s play to read the lips of someone. He immediately understood what this young man was saying.

    "A competition, huh?"

    Leonel grinned, gazing toward the people with the young man. He just so happened to have eight people following him as well.

    "Alright, Karolus. I accept."

    Karolus'' smile brightened. All around him, the air began to crack like shattered glass, causing Leonel''s gaze to narrow.

    ''What a powerful spatial ability.''

    Karolus'' excitement alone seemed to cause the world to tremble and crack at its seams. He didn''t seem impacted by the fact this was among the most sturdy Fifth Dimensional worlds there was.

    "You heard him, boys. What do you say?"

    Leonel''s aura changed, his pale violet eyes blazing to life.

    "HOLD!" Admiral Ellie roared again.

    In that same moment, Arnold slapped his palms together. The sound was so loud that even the claps of thunder above were drowned out. Universal Force blazed to life around him.

    Leonel grinned. Karolus grinned.

    Without a word, their teams shot out, the two young men still staring each other down as though they hadn''t noticed the change behind themselves at all.

    Arnold took the helm, his strength soaring as his enormous body bolted through the air. His muscles rippled, his shirt shattering as though it was made out of glass and not pliable fabric. Whether it was his broad back or chest, it was filled with striations the shook one to their core.

    He rose his large palms into the air, Universal Force swirling about him. In one moment, everything seemed normal. In the next, a massive palm of energy suddenly manifested, swinging downward with a momentum that could crush all things toward the wave.

    Opposite Arnold, a young lady had also jumped into the air. Joyce''s aura flourished, her tiny fists tucking against her body before shooting out like blazing meteors. At first, the energies that coated them were just the same size as the fists they came from. But, in the blink of an eye, it multiplied to a size that matched Arnold''s palm.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    In an instant, a wave that rose up more than 200 meters was crushed. Two holes, one shaped like a palm and another shaped like a fist tore through, taking with it hundreds of carnivorous fish.

    At that very moment, both Leonel and Karolus stretched out a palm. The two never took their eyes off of one another, but it was as though they could already see the blue whale on the other side of the two holes.

    Space shattered around Karolus'' palm while a massive shield of translucent gold crystal formed before Leonel''s.

    The world fell into absolute silence form a moment before a beam of grayish black and a laser of bright white gold tore through it all.

    The blue whale that had risen into the skies again intent on sending another wave forward froze in the air.

    For a moment, it seemed as though nothing had happened, the world entering a state of stillness. But then, it happenedбн

    Two enormous, bloody holes were torn through the blue whale''s body. In the blink of an eye, it had lost 99% of its head, leaving nothing but a thin film of flesh and gore that had been the distance separating Leonel and Karolus'' attack.

    BANG!

    The blue whale fell back to the ocean, dyeing the surface crimson.

    [Just two chapters for today 6/20/22]

 Chapter 983 Beginning

    Chapter 983 Beginning

    The blue whale''s corpse caused another enormous wave to shoot upward. However the sixteen men and women had long since been prepared, shooting through the holes Arnold and Joyce created to face the next on coming curtain of black water.

    Drake took out a twin pair of pistols as he landed on the surface of the water, a layer of Force protecting the soles of his feet. A twinkle lit in his eye when he raised them up, exuding an air of confidence the rookie hadn''t had before.

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    His fingers began to move in rapid succession, causing another projectile to flash outward with every squeeze of the trigger. It felt as though he had the entire world within his domain. Every single one of his shots, without fail, pincered the brow of a carnivorous fish. It didn''t seem to matter whether they were hiding deep within the black waters, nor did it matter that their images were distorted. None of it could escape Drake.

    The other seven dropped down along with him. This time, Milan took the helm, a deep snort erupting from the depths of his chest.

    "You think you can just blow a single hole through the wave and call it a day, Arnold?! HA!"

    Milan''s deep rumbling voice shook the waves beneath his feet, his Force rising to an unprecedented degree. He and the group behind him began to sink down as more and more of the dark waters were pushed to the side.

    BANG!

    At that moment, an enormous energy shield of silver shot out with Milan''s body at the center. At first, it was just barely 1.8 meters tall. But, in the next instant, it ballooned to over 300 meters tall and wide, dwarfing the second oncoming wave.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The wall of black water was completely stone walled, crashing against Milan''s energy shield and even reflecting back with such force that a tsunami formed in the retreating direction.

    With a wink, the energy shield vanished and the Moon youths shot forward as well, smiling in Milan''s direction as though to give him thanks.

    "I''ll take a date with any one of you beauties as repayment!" Milan called out through the rumbling storm.

    Joyce snorted. "You''re too short for any one of us."

    An uproarious laughter came from Milan''s back the moment these words fell. Raj and the rest were practically wheezing.

    Milan wasn''t exactly short, but he was a tick beneath six feet tall. He was just more stocky than he was gifted height wise. This made him the perfect size for anchoring an offensive line at the center. But, to think he would be looked down upon like this.

    Another young lady who went by the name Aulina winked in Milan''s direction, clearly siding with Joyce on this matter. Her light giggles penetrated Milan''s heart, causing it to crack and shatter. The only thing he was missing was a single tear rolling down his face.

    "Dammit!" Milan roared. "I''ll show you all the prowess of a Short King!"

    "Keep up first!" Joyce called out, already having separated them by a distance of 50 meters.

    Every time her fist flashed, an abyssal hole would form on the water''s surface, mincing the fish that were just below into minced meat. Soon after, a whirlpool of surging black waters would form. The result was the ocean''s surface growing more and more volatile every passing moment.

    The tsunami Milan had just reflected back began to roll backward, but the group of 16 was completely unfazed, their synergy only seeming to increase with every exchange.

    Aulina''s delicate feet touched the surface of the water. In the blink of an eye, several spiraling water javelins formed around her. And yet, they reflected with such clarity that it almost looked as though they were instead polished works of black glass. However, as beautiful as they were, they were even more deadly.

    These javelins shot forward, skewering the carnivorous fish. In fact, every one seemed to reap the lives of at least two or three. Though not as devastating as Joyce''s fists, they were much faster and there was an endless supply all around.

    Just when it seemed that the tsunami would come back to wipe them out, Aulina stretched a hand forward, causing the rolling waters to stop in its tracks. The fish within began to whine and struggle, suddenly finding it difficult to move within.

    Then, in a motion that could only be described as casual, Aulina squeezed her palm shut.

    There was no eruption of blood, no shocking screechбн There was just a sudden vacant noise. A chattering of teeth that they had gotten used to, knowing it was coming from the carnivorous fish, vanished. If it wasn''t for the rumbling thunder above and the rain that was slowly starting beginning to fall on the battlefield, the silence would be pregnant.

    Milan''s roar was cut short by this sight as he stared at Aulina''s back view. He looked as though he had been shocked out of his wits. He pressed his lips together, seemingly too scared to say anything more. At least, that was what it seemed like before his pursed lips began to whistle.

    "Hey, tall beauty wait for me!" Milan suddenly called out, shooting forward.

    "Forget him, I''ve got the height you want!" Raj called out.

    "And you''ve got the flub she doesn''t!" Milan chided without looking back.

    The group shot ahead together, their momentum only growing as though they were just getting started.

    By this point, their display had already raised the morale of the Ascension Empire military by a great deal. It wasn''t just them but the youths who had come here to display their talents also felt emboldened.

    There were more than a hundred kilometers worth of coast to defend so it wasn''t surprising in the least that there were many other groups displaying the same kind of valor Leonel''s brothers and these Moon youths were as well.

    However, as the rain began slowly picking up from a drizzle, to a storm, and eventually becoming a torrential downpour that made it difficult even to see a meter ahead of yourself, it became very obvious, very quickly that this was just the very beginning.

 Chapter 984 Which?

    Chapter 984 Which?

    Leonel and Karolus still stood facing one another, a light smile on their faces. It felt as though the torrential rain couldn''t stop them, nor did it seem to touch even the hem of their clothing. A seemingly delicate barrier surrounded the both of them. Leonel''s looked like a halo of golden light while Karolus'' looked like arcs of greyish black lightning which were, in truth, just the shattered glass of space.

    For now, all the fish that had come were barely B-grade within the Fourth Dimension, and that was only if the blue whale was part of the equation. As for the carnivorous fish, they were D-grade at best.

    To the current Leonel, and apparently to Karolus as well, even an SSS-grade existence within the Fourth Dimension would be child''s play. So it was no wonder they had yet to move just yet.

    What Leonel found fascinating, though, was the fact the energy source of the blue whale really hadn''t come to them. Though Leonel didn''t seem to be paying attention to the battlefield, he truly was. He had easily seen that the stream of lights the blue whale had become had sunk down instead. This made it impossible to tell whether it was Leonel or Karolus who had landed the finishing blow on the oceanic beast.

    At that moment, when the rain seemed to reach it peak, several domes of water began to form in the water. It looked as though several looming waterfalls were forming but none had a sheer cliff to fall from. These domes continued to rise, large swaths of water falling the top.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted from Karolus to these domes of water. In the blink of an eye, several dozen had formed. Soon, there were hundreds.

    Someone with lesser senses would have thought that this was some sort of apocalyptic ability, but Leonel immediately saw through it all. Each one of those domes of water were enormous creatures of impossible sizes and they had all come at once.

    As though affirmation was triggered by Leonel''s thoughts, the first large disks of white formed. Amidst the darkening storm, the white irises of the invalid creatures shimmered like blinding light houses. Each one was five meters tall all on their own. Nothing needed to be said for just how large the bodies of such creatures were if their eyes were so enormous.

    ''Now things are getting interesting.'' Leonel''s lip curled. ''Plus, if I didn''t go out now, how am I supposed to steal this energy from this greedy beast?''

    The disk of gold crystal still hovered by Leonel''s hand. It was no surprise that this was Refractive Gold.

    Now that Leonel was in the Fifth Dimension, manifesting the ores he had used to build the foundation of his body in the Fourth Dimension was as easy as breathing. With it, he could make a casual flicker of light into a beam that could eradicate an enormous creature with a thought, allowing him to use the same concept his sniper rifle used with much more flexibility.

    With a glance back toward Karolus, Leonel left him a smile before they both shot out.

    Leonel stepped into the air, plates of earth manifesting with his thoughts.

    As for Karolus, he too stepped into the air. However, what was shocking was that his steps caused cracks of space to form. It was like he was stepping on space itself to ascend into the skies, a sight that showed just the level of control he had over his spatial affinity.

    At the same time as these two moved, no small number of others who deemed themselves to be on the same level did so as well. Among these, there was of course Jessica and Noah.

    Leonel, though, wasn''t thinking about these individuals at all. He truly wanted to see just what sort of creature he was up against.

    The heads of the creatures finally rose up completely, the last of the water falling from their skulls to reveal colossal squids with bulbous heads that shimmered with various shades of pink to violet.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, several plates of Refractive Gold appearing around him to total nine. Not a single one was more than foot wide. But, they alone exuded a murderous aura so potent that it felt like everyone around Leonel should retreat as far as possible.

    Like this, Leonel stood in the skies having swapped in his plate of Earth for his black surfboard. His hair danced about in the wind as the torrential rain seemed to wrap around him, not touching a single inch of his clothing.

    A hand rested in his pockets while the other stretched outward, causing the nine shields of Refractive Gold to rotate about in a circle before him.

    SHUUU!

    In that moment, a beam of golden light tore through the skies, piercing the head of a colossal squid. Compared to the enormous size of the creature, it looked no different from a needle poking at a human. And yetбн

    The eyes of the colossal squid seemed to dim. What once was a gaze as bright as a lighthouse faded and the creature began to collapse. However, before it could even hit the dark waters, it turned into motes of light.

    Leonel seemed to have almost not noticed the change at all. His nine shields of Refractive Gold rotated once. The result was another beam of gold tearing its way forward.

    With every rotation, another colossal squid fell. They seemed to not even get the chance to attack before they were mowed down. As though a human machine gun, Leonel glided through the skies. His every action reaped another life.

    At this point, even Karolus'' lip was twitching. It had only been a single minute but Leonel had already taken out over 60 of the colossal squids. What kind of competition was this, exactly?

    He could tell that Leonel was making it look so easy because he was pinpointing their crystals and shattering them with a single strike. But, if it was so easy to find such a thing within such an enormous body, wouldn''t everyone be doing it?!

    The skies became so saturated with so much Fourth Dimensional Force that it almost forced the darkening clouds back into believing it was day time once again.

    It was then that Leonel took out a shimmering Silver Tablet, a smirk creeping up on his face.

    ''Which one will win? The Silver Tablet? Or you?''

 Chapter 985 Reawaken?

    Chapter 985 Reawaken?

    The result was beyond Leonel''s expectations.

    Though he had expected the Silver Tablet to win out, he hadn''t expected the result to be so exaggerated. Let alone the Force of the Invalids, it felt as though all the Force of the world had suddenly surged toward him. In fact, he felt that much the same way this mysterious creature had somehow gained the ability to break the rules of the universe, so too could this tablet snatch the Force of Invalids others had killed.

    ''I seeбн''

    With a bit of conscious thought, the tablet seemed to react to Leonel''s wants, only snatching up the Force provided by the squids he had defeated. With his speed, he didn''t feel like he needed to snatch from others. The results spoke for themselves.

    Every step Leonel took through the air, another colossal squid would fall without even a chance to fight back for even a single moment.

    From below, his teammates shook their heads.

    "What a show off. Look at that, my tall beauties are looking at Cap with such sparkling eyes. This has to be classified as discrimination." Milan looked as though he had lost his soul.

    He continued to use his energy shields to rip large amounts of fish out of the water for Drake to snipe out in a single breath.

    As they tag teamed a wing, Joel and Gil tag teamed another. Gil sent out arcs of lightning, shocking the large swaths of fish until they were frozen. Following up, Joel send out strikes of his halberd, skewering them dead with his lethal blade qi.

    Without large amounts of earth around him, Raj probably experienced the greatest drop off in his strength upon stepping out into these open waters. But, he had come prepared.

    Large amounts of metal shavings hung around him almost like metallic sand. With a thought, this black sand would solidify into drill bits, even hardening to the point they shimmered like diamond.

    Raj''s skill in fluctuating the hardness of the earth his controlled had grown exponentially. He could go to and from the quality of earth he wielded depending on the situation, even up to the point he could now control these fine earth particles to act at his whim.

    Even though his fat jiggled with his every action, each one was still purposeful and powerful. A swing of his arm came with several tons of shimmering diamond, crushing the fish that stood in his way with impunity.

    Arnold''s actions were just as if not even more overbearing. While Joyce was leaving whirlpools with her every punch, he left trenches that split the ocean in two.

    The oceanic beasts were being put through a grinder. But, they were also steadily growing more powerful. Soon, the concentration of S and SS-grade Fourth Dimensional beast increased from one in a thousand to one in a hundred. Eventually, it became one in fifty.

    When things reached this point, the group of 16 could no longer push forward with naked abandon. Getting surrounded just once with such powerful creatures would be the equivalent to a death sentence. Though many of them were confident in taking on even Fifth Dimensional creatures, the battle reaching this point meant that the true challenge was coming.

    Leonel had never taken his senses completely away from his teammates. But, he didn''t go to support them either. Though he was taking out these SS and SSS-grade colossal squids one after another, that was about all he was doing for them. If they didn''t reach the very end of their limits, they wouldn''t be able to absorb the Bone Burning Rose properly.

    Leonel looked down at the tablet again, sending his senses into it. By now, he had taken out over 200 of the colossal squid in barely a few minutes. There were no lack of eyes on him as a result of this, but he acted as though he didn''t notice at all.

    On the Unit 7 cruiser, Admiral Ellie was especially speechless. His Unit hadn''t even gotten a chance to do anything yet. All he could yell out every so often was ''Hold''.

    It had to be said that these cruisers didn''t work on Third Dimensional technology. Rather, they were designs created after studying the wreckage of the Shield Cross Stars airship and were fueled by Force Crystals. The innovation of Earth truly shouldn''t be underestimated.

    The confidence that everyone had for dealing with the inevitable Fifth Dimensional creatures that would be coming were on the basis of these cruisers. To Leonel, though, it was too great a waste of treasures.

    Earth, no matter how much they had prepared, lacked proper Force Crafters. In order to make up a gap of skill, they used brute force instead. With the amount of resources they had poured into a single cruiser, let alone a cruiser that could face Fifth Dimensional existences, Leonel could make one that could damn near eradicate a Sixth Dimensional existence.

    That said, Leonel felt that this matter wasn''t so simple as it seemed. If his grandfather had truly planned out everything for this moment, and even managed to somehow take a woman from a Sixth Dimensional family as a wife, could it really be he didn''t know to train a unit of Force Crafters?

    Leonel felt like every time he ''understood'' Earth and his grandfather, he would only simply be peeling back another layer of mystery.

    Leonel shook his head before his expression brightened.

    Those over 200 colossal squid he had killed had accumulated enough Force to awaken someone from the tablet!

    ''It seems to only be enough to awaken someone who didn''t die, though. If I want to awaken someone who died in the Zone, it''ll needбн''

    Leonel''s happy mood faded. From what he could see, he would need somewhere between 500 to 1000 times the amount of Force he had accumulated now to awaken a single dead comrade. But, that person would be only the most normal of soldiers.

    If he wanted to awaken a talent like his good friend Rollan, he would need as much as 10 000 times the amount he had now. As for a supreme talent like the Pure Speedster Normand, he would need nearly 100 000 times.

    Leonel exhaled a long breath when his head suddenly snapped in a particular direction.

    ''Hm?''

 Chapter 986 Crimson Lightning

    Chapter 986 Crimson Lightning

    Leonel suddenly sensed a strong surge. He could immediately tell that this aura was doing its best to snatch up the Force that he had taken away. But, the sudden change suddenly made a line toward where this suction was coming from clear and obvious.

    Without hesitation, Leonel shot into the distance. Before anyone could react to what he was doing, he had already shot over the horizon and disappeared into the storm.

    "CAPTAIN!" Joel called out to try to get Leonel to come back, but it was already too late. A frown immediately marred his brows. "Dammit."

    Karolus stopped in the air as well. Beneath his feet, space fractured and cracked, causing the colossal squid beneath him to shatter as though it was made of glass. His lethality wasn''t to be questioned. Maybe if it wasn''t for the fact he couldn''t use long ranged attacks as freely as Leonel could, he wouldn''t have fallen so far behind in their competition. But, even he couldn''t help but frown about Leonel''s actions.

    There wasn''t a single soul here who didn''t think that Leonel was being far too reckless. There was a reason the basin was formed the way it was and why the cruisers and defenses were positioned as such. Leaving this place was akin to a death sentence.

    Without the basin to funnel creatures, those oceanic beasts no longer had to deal with crowding. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg. The most dangerous location was the choke point where the basin began. It was there that these creatures would realize that the ocean wasn''t so wide and endless any longer and they began to be funneled.

    The result of these was a large accumulation of powerful oceanic beasts stuck outside waiting for their turn to charge in. To those creatures, the appearance of Leonel would be like a flame to a moth.

    There was a reason the creatures started small and slowly got bigger and bigger as the battle went on. This was because it was easiest for these small creatures to squeeze through, leaving the true behemoths stuck on the outside.

    Leonel was playing with his life. To these creatures, even jumping several kilometers into the air wasn''t a problem in the slightest. And, many of them were talents that would have various abilities that would allow them to fly not much unlike Leonel himself and Karolus. He was really dancing on death''s blade.

    ''бн He must have sensed itбн I sensed it too but I wasn''t able to lock on quickly enough. It seems his senses are more powerful than mineбн''

    Karolus frowned not because Leonel had bettered him, but rather because even he wasn''t confident in delving into a sea of creatures like that, at least not until he reached the Fifth Dimension and the restrictions on his ability loosened.

    He gripped his fists. ''I need to enter soon.''

    His father had told him that Earth would likely face another war very soon. In fact, their enemies might very well be bearing down already. He couldn''t afford to be slow.

    бн

    Leonel continued to shoot forward. He had, in fact, heard Joel''s call. But, everyone was still underestimating him, quite frankly. With his senses, he could blanket hundreds of kilometers with his Internal Sight. Let alone having to be warned, he could see the danger up ahead live and in person. There was no surprise waiting for him.

    But, if he could kill this creature, he would effectively solve all of Earth''s problems in one sweep. He too could tell that there was likely war looming over the horizon. They couldn''t afford to split their attention like they were currently.

    On the one hand, this was a good way of training up warriors. But on the other, if this went on too long, especially without those fighting on the coast being able to absorb the Force the Invalids released, it would be a detriment rather than a positive.

    Leonel''s Refractive Gold shields continued to rotate as he flew. Large octopus arms and flying sword fish competed to swat him out of the skies and skewer him, but he dodged them with a deft ease, shooting out a single golden beam to kill them all.

    At first, these flashes of gold were all that told those he had left behind that he was still alive. But, very soon, he had grown too far away for even those blinding lights to reach them. The rain and the darkness was too much to see through.

    As Leonel tore a path through the skies, allowing the Silver Tablet to swallow up the Force he earned, the creatures only seemed to grow more powerful. The first Quasi Fifth Dimensional creature appeared and its aura seemed to tower over the others.

    The shark sat menacingly in the waters, the surrounding ten meters around it completely empty of other creatures. It had deep crimson eyes and was actually the first non-Invalid Leonel had run across.

    Sparks of what looked like blood drenched lightning coursed around its fin. Every so often, a spark would light the black waters around it, resulting in a sizzling fog that quickly vanished into the air.

    Leonel had planned on just shooting over this creature but when he saw this odd, corrosive lightning, his interest was piqued. He wondered if Gil could evolve his lightning if he used this shark''s Beast Crystal. Though Gil was a speedster, due to the fact it was Element based, he gained lightning affinity along with it.

    Right now, Gil only used normal natural Lightning Force. But, this blood red lightning seemed to be at least top 100 among Lightning Elemental Forces in Leonel''s estimation.

    ''Plus, I need to gather up some high quality meat for everyone to eat. I can''t skip over these creaturesбн''

    Making a decision, Leonel rose a hand. But, he was shocked to find that the instant he did, the menacing glare of the shark vanished as it turned tail and ran.

 Chapter 987 Size

    Chapter 987 Size

    Leonel was shocked for a moment before he chuckled. It seemed that this beast had already realized it stood no chance. Unfortunately for it, it likewise stood no chance of running away either.

    Leonel shot downward, weaving through the several suction cupped arms of the enormous octopuses and squids in the surroundings.

    The jet black surfboard touched the surface of the water, shooting after the shark. However, seemingly realizing that it was being chase, the shark dove into the sea, diving downward as it continued to swim away.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed but he also dove downward without hesitation. That said, he wasn''t completely unprepared.

    He pressed his palms forward, causing four triangular sheets of Fourth Dimensional Star Core to form. They pressed together, forming a prism without a base and allowing Leonel to drill into the ocean. It shot forward with such speed that an air pocket formed right behind it, leaving Leonel untouched.

    At the same time, the nine shield of Refractive Gold shattered beneath the water pressure and speed. Unfortunately, the reason the Leonel had to rotate the gold crystal shield to begin with rather than just continuously using one was because he had to repair them after each use. After all, Refractive Gold was a Fourth Dimensional Ore while Leonel''s Light Elemental Force was in the Fifth Dimension. The fact that it could even survive a single beam was a testament to Leonel''s Crafting skill in choosing the perfect crystal structure.

    But, now that Leonel was rushing forward like this, their fragility was exposed. In addition, Leonel knew that the beams of light he produced with the shields wouldn''t be enough to kill this shark. That was why he hadn''t even tried.

    It was fine for dealing with canon fodder of the Fourth Dimension, but a creature so close to the Fifth Dimension, especially one that was living like this, was a completely different story.

    Luckily, Star Core was known for its sturdiness, allowing Leonel to keep up the speed.

    Soon, he caught up to the shark at the point they were already a hundred meters below surface level. A spear appeared in his hand and a low roar left his lips.

    The moment it did, a surge of Force shot out from Leonel''s body, causing a sphere of air to appear around him as all the water in the surroundings was forced away.

    The shark suddenly found itself like a fish out of water, gasping for breath without recourse. It fell through the air pocket, flailing about.

    Unable to fight back, it could only watch as Leonel severed its head from the rest of its body.

    ''What a large sharkбн''

    The shark was at least 50 meters long. Leonel wasn''t exactly a marine biologist, but he knew enough to know that creatures of this size should be rare, even in the sea. And yet, it felt like they were suddenly everywhere now.

    It seemed like the best explanation was that this was just the result of the increasing Dimensions on beasts, but why was it that Little Blackstar hadn''t increased in size? And why was it that humans didn''t seem to grow larger either? At least not to such an exaggerated extent, anyway.

    Leonel shook his head, quickly catching the shark and allowing it into the Segmented Cube before the walls of water closed in around him again. He quickly shot upward with his prism of Star Core leading the way once more.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed just as he was about to reach the surface. With a flick of his fingers, his Star Core prism split, a rush of water threatening to crush him the instant it did. But, he was prepared for this long ago.

    With a clench of his fists, Leonel sent a punch surging with Universal Force flying forward.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The column of water shattered. At the same time, four blade-like pieces of Star Core shot out, slicing apart tens of oceanic beasts into minced meat as Leonel rose back into the skies, a rain of blood that soon turned to motes of light hovering around him.

    Leonel flipped over his palm, causing a large Beast Crystal to appear. Its insides flickered with a wild red lightning that made Leonel narrow his eyes.

    ''Maybe I underestimated this Force. Top 100 might just be a minimumбн''

    The Force was weak to him because it was still Fourth Dimensional and it had come from a beast he easily killed. But, this was mostly because Leonel himself was in the Fifth Dimension. This had little to do with the actual strength of the lightning. After all, not every Force could be as powerful as his Scarlet Star Force, capable of injuring those even Dimensions above it. The fact that this lightning could catch his eye at all was a testament to its strength.

    Leonel nodded and put the Beast Crystal away. Even if he didn''t end up giving it to Gil he still hadn''t forgotten that he had mainly come here to earn money to begin with.

    That saidбн Leonel had a feeling that the Beast Crystal of the creature controlling all of this would be far more valuable.

    Leonel tore a path into the distance but very quickly came to a stop again. What he saw this time left him speechless.

    A beaver the size of a mountain. A crocodile that dwarfed a blue whale. A black swan twice his own height. Swordfish so numerous they formed several formations of their own. Ravenous carnivorous fish led by a rainbow scaled piranha that looked like it could be its own islandбн

    This sort of lineup was enough to make anyone go numb but Leonel was speechless because of something completely different.

    ''This creature is actually so cowardly. I''m still hundreds of miles from its locations and yet it already sent this sort of vanguard after meбн''

    Leonel knew now that the creature couldn''t move far from the location he sensed it from or else the storm would disperse. That much made sense. But, it actually didn''t even wait for Leonel to get remotely close for it to send these freaks of nature after him.

    The only way for these creatures to have gotten here now was for them to have been sent the instant that creature felt Leonel lock onto it.

    For one, for this creature to actually sense Leonel''s Internal Sight was one matter. Even when Leonel was in the Third Dimension, no one could do that. And yet, this creature had even though Leonel was currently in the Fifth Dimension.

    Secondly, for the creature to react like this only had two explanations. Either it hated taking risks or it was cowardly to an extreme. How could Leonel not be speechless?

    To make matters more shocking, Leonel had yet to run into a single Fifth Dimensional beast in his time here, but there were suddenly hundreds of them before him now, including the school of endless swordfish.

    ''бн At least they''re all Tier 1бн?''

    Leonel was about to learn very quickly that a Tier 1 talent from Earth meant something far different than a Tier talent from the worlds he had been running around on recently.

    Andбн A Tier 1 talent from a world like this that also happened to be a beastбн Well, that was another sort of death sentence all together.

    It could be said that everyone was perfectly correct that Leonel had gone out seeking to die.

    At that moment, the mountain sized beaver suddenly raised its flat tail. In that instant, Leonel''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

 Chapter 988 Mountainous Creatures

    Chapter 988 Mountainous Creatures

    ''Shitбн''

    Just the wind pressure of the beaver''s tail alone almost sent Leonel flying into the distance. He realized at that moment alone that a Tier 1 expert that shared his size was completely different from a Tier 1 expert that was so large. That much power scaled to a body that large was obscene on several levels. And, that didn''t even consider just how much more talented they were than other beasts of their kind to begin with.

    BANG!

    It was like someone had suddenly slammed a frying pan with a 50 meter diameter onto the surface of the water.

    The waves immediately shot into the skies. Whatever darkness there had already been was instantly plunged into an even darker state of blackness. Whereas there was still a flash of color previously due to lightning streaking through the skies, at this moment, it was as though Leonel had fallen into an abyss.

    Water seemed harmless to most people, but that was only because of the usual state it was run across in. However, it couldn''t be forgotten that water had its own weight and could very easily become among the most dangerous materials in the world given the right circumstances.

    Leonel saw this wave as hardly any different from how a normal human would see a palm swipe from a grizzly bear.

    Without hesitation, Leonel immediately activated his Bronze Runes and donned his silver Divine Armor. Reflecting beneath the blacks, the silver gained a dark hue to it that gave it a sinister vibe.

    The instant his visor covered his gaze, the surfboard beneath Leonel''s feet vanished as he truly stepped into the air. His body blinked and vanished, appearing past the tall wave and above the beaver. With a spin of his spear, his Universal Force and Spear Force surged, the golden mark of a spear appearing to hover before the forehead of his helmet.

    However, before Leonel could even attempt to end the beaver''s life, he felt several dangerous auras lock onto him.

    Leonel could hardly react as dozens of swordfish shot out from the dark water. They pierced through the heavily falling rain and the fog of darkness like cutting blades. They were so fast that Leonel''s Internal Sight almost failed to lock onto them, causing his pupils to constrict.

    ''They''re coordinatingбн''

    Leonel''s black wood spear immediately shifted, his feet sweeping through the air as he changed his stance. He took a heavy step backward, causing a boom across the air and instantly sent over ten piercing strikes forward.

    DENG! DENG! DENG! DENG! ?ree ?eb ?ovel

    The odd sound of a cross between his flesh and blade resounded. Leonel quickly deflected many of these swordfish, sending them flying past his shoulder. However, these well coordinated attacks didn''t seem to have any intention on stopping anytime soon.

    Leonel had hardly finished his last pierce when a flutter of black appeared before him. He caught a fluttering black feather out of the corner of his eye. In most circumstances, it would seem like an ominous sign, and that it was.

    The black swan seemed to have only needed a single flap of its wings to appear before Leonel. Its wings were coated in a dark, scythe-like energy that split the air in its path. Leonel almost didn''t notice its presence, and when he finally did, its wing was already before his throat.

    It was right at that moment that Leonel''s demeanor changed. It only took him a few exchanges to understand that these weren''t simple opponents. Not only did they seem to have intelligence matching that of humans, but they also had individual power that made him feel somewhat numb. Any singular mistake might truly cost him his life.

    In that case, it was time to be serious.

    Beneath his visor, his expression suddenly became a deathly cold.

    Seemingly sensing something, the black swan suddenly rolled itself into a ball, vanishing into the shadows and teleporting dozens of meters away.

    ''That''s Little Blackstar''s ability. Does it also have a shadow world?'' Leonel made a mental note but he had already stepped across the skies.

    A next volley of swordfish had already appeared before him. They tore through the skies even more menacingly than they had in the past, seemingly having used the beaver''s tail as a spring board this time.

    Another wall of wind threatened to send Leonel flying into the distance, but he held his ground, the tip of his spear vibrating for just a moment.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

    Every time Leonel''s spear swept forward, another swordfish would be blasted into minced meat. The penetrating power of his Spear Force seemed to have increased to another level, almost making it seem as though they were being destroyed from the inside out.

    It was then that the enormous blue whale dwarfing crocodile seemed to have finished preparing something, its gaze seething as it locked onto Leonel. It was clear that the sudden murder of so many of its comrades had infuriated it.

    It opened its large mouth, revealing a row of shimmering jagged teeth. Unlike what one might expect from a crocodile''s mouth, it was eerily clean, almost as though it hadn''t had a drop of meat in its lifetime, something Leonel felt should have been impossible.

    However, what happened next gaze Leonel all the explanation he needed.

    Beneath the ocean''s surface, the crocodile''s stomach had bulged to three times its original size. The instant it opened its mouth, its neck followed the same pattern. Its scales stretched so thin that the translucent skin between them became obvious, reddening beneath the strain.

    And thenбн It roared.

    A jet of a water the likes of which put the previous wave to shame suddenly erupted. It was so violent that the sound barrier shattered instantly, concentric circles of air being torn and blasted apart as it ripped a path toward Leonel.

    In one blink, it had exited the crocodiles mouth but in the next, it had already swallowed Leonel whole, far too quick for him to react.

 Chapter 989 No Way

    Chapter 989 No Way

    Leonel felt as though all the bones in his body were being shattered. Even his Divine Armor cracked in several places, finding it difficult to hold up. It was though he was being crushed by a continuous wall that only seemed to grow more powerful as he was shot into the air.

    Blood flew from Leonel''s mouth, marring the inside of his silver helmet. He knew well that if it wasn''t for his Divine Armor''s space domain being activated by him in the last moment, he would have already been crushed into minced meat.

    By the time the last of the water vanished, Leonel had been blown so high into the atmosphere that he could see the light of day again. His armor was filled with cracks from head to toe and his body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. It was only thanks to a combination of his Spatial Domain and his Metal Body that he was still able to hold onto his consciousness.

    ''Damnбн''

    Leonel coughed.

    If only he had the luxury of taking a breathing. Unfortunately, that was exactly what he didn''t have. Seemingly sensing that Leonel was somehow still alive, the black swan appeared from thin air, delicate black feathers once again signaling its appearance.

    Its wings pierced toward Leonel''s neck once again. Somehow, its feathers felt like an abyssal black hole. They had no weight or depth to them and seemed endless. A single touch from them could result in someone becoming just as emptyбн

    Before it could slice through Leonel, he vanished once again. His body might have been collapsing, but his Dream Force was just fine. There was nothing in this world stopping him from casting spells nor did he have any intention of dying in this place.

    The black swan seemed to realize that something was wrong, but it was already too late.

    ''[Valiant Seal]!''

    To form four pillars took more than half of Leonel''s stamina, but that was if he was on the ground. Because he had to accumulate his own Earth Force without relying on the earth, the difficulty suddenly skyrocketed, taking with it at least 70% of his stamina. However, this time, Leonel felt he only needed three, so it took up just over 50%.

    At that moment, the skies trembled, three pillars etched with ancient carvings appeared around the black swan in an instant.

    It immediately tried to blink away as it had done before, but just when it rolled onto itself, vanishing into the shadows to blink away, there was a sudden spine tingling sound of bones snapping and breaking.

    BANG!

    The neck of the black swan was twisted into an odd angle. Leonel hadn''t even needed to do anything before its vitality began to fade away.

    As expected, the black swan wasn''t teleporting, it was rather moving through space at an alarming speed. When it entered its shadow world, its speed had almost no limits on it as it was no longer corporeal, so it would feel as though it was teleporting.

    However, the barriers of Leonel''s [Valiant Seal] were almost like the barriers to a world. Trying to charge through that even with a shadow world would be impossible. In fact, even if the black swan was truly teleporting, it would have been in for the same rude awakening.

    The black swan just so happened to lead with its neck, the most fragile part of its body, so it was unlucky in seeking its own death without understanding the situation it was in. But, this saved Leonel the stamina he would need to use to truly finish this battle.

    He took deep breaths, stepping into the triangle of pillars and stretching out a palm.

    ''[Twinkling Lily: Carnivorous Stem].''

    At that moment, delicate flower petals formed of Light Elemental Force began to form around Leonel. However, their beauty only lasted for a moment before they suddenly whipped out with vines. The vines themselves were quite beautiful, being coated with delicate, white cotton filaments. But, their actions were horrifying.

    They latched onto the body of the dying black swan, tearing into its flesh and pumping out its vitality. Leonel could feel his body quickly healing. In just a few breaths, not only was he back in top condition, but even his Divine Armor had been healed of all its cracks.

    The body of the black swan turned to ash, leaving behind a Beast Crystal swirling with black fog. Leonel could tell that it was of exceptional quality. It would most definitely sell for quite a number.

    Leonel took a deep breath. The Dimensional Verse was really too unpredictable.

    He knew that it was a bit reckless to rush out into the ocean all alone like this. However, if that creature wasn''t handled, it would only cause more problems in the future. Leonel felt like he was the only one who could do it.

    Of course, a part of him also understood that his grandfather had such great control over Earth that he could have likely stopped this already if he wanted to. It was once again a case of Leonel and his grandfather''s ideologies clashing.

    Emperor Fawkes likely believed that this was a good method of tempering his people, while Leonel didn''t feel like lives needed to be risked needlessly. And yet, here he was, risking his life.

    Leonel shook his head.

    Putting his black wood spear away, he flipped his palm to reveal another. It radiated the aura of a Quasi Silver Spear but it was very much different from the silver spear he usually used.

    It had a blade on just one end and it almost looked like a trident. However, its second and third blade were so small in comparison to the middle blade that they almost looked like accessories.

    The body of the spear was coated in beautiful sapphire scales and its blade was a translucent blue crystal that the waters below seemed to have already reacted to.

    ''Let''s end this quickly.'' Leonel thought, shooting forward.

    Leonel had no way of knowing that he wasn''t the only one gunning for this mysterious, storm controlling creature.

 Chapter 990 Logic

    Chapter 990 Logic

    Across the Dimensional Verse, in a familiar villa, just days after undergoing what could be considered to be a life altering change, Aina''s eyelashes finally fluttered open.

    The first thing she felt was herself being hit by a wave of memories. As though she was reliving her own life piece by piece, she recalled everything with striking clarity. If it had to be described, it felt like she was a computer downloading files one by one.

    She stared blankly at the ceiling, all sort of weird emotions coming one after another, but she didn''t quite know or understand how to process them. It was similar to how a child might not understand the complex inner workings of relationship dynamics.

    A child might comprehend surface emotions, but complex, multi-layered ones would be beyond their comprehension. At the same time, empathy would also be something difficult for them to grasp, at least not when it came to placing another above themselves.

    These matters became very complicated, very quickly. A toddler might be able to understand emotions by reading someone''s facial expressions, but they wouldn''t necessarily understand that someone''s outward showing of emotion might be different from what they felt on the inside. And even if an older child might understand this, they wouldn''t understand more complex emotions like bittersweetness, nor would they grasp morality and beliefs and how it might connect to what a person was feeling.

    Aina didn''t lose her memories, nor did she lose her ability to feel emotion, but what she had lost was the ability she had built over her more than two decades of life: how to interpret and maneuver around her own feelings and that of others. And, when it was all boiled down, wasn''t this the core of what a person would call personality?

    Things like holding onto two frames of mind at the same time, how to control impulses and the emotions that came with them, or what sort of morality should govern her emotions had all been lost on Aina.

    The result of this was Aina becoming somewhat detached form her emotions not because she didn''t have them, but because she didn''t quite understand what they meant. Even her sense of self hadn''t quite redeveloped, so while logic told her that the person in her memories was indeed herself, she still couldn''t quite connect to this version of Aina.

    It was like she was trying to fit together two puzzle pieces that were misaligned. No matter how hard she pushed, she couldn''t quite fit them together.

    "Aina?"

    Aina blinked. She turned her head toward the voice, but there was a lack of recognition in her eyes. It was clear that she had turned not because she heard her name, but rather because someone had spoken when she had thought the world was filled with silence.

    It was quite a unique feeling. It was almost like she was a baby hearing sound for the first time.

    While she had been going through her memories, she hadn''t quite grasped that everything she remembered had sound attached to it. So, for those brief moments, she thought that the world was soundless and she was okay with that. Only to come to find out that she was wrong about this.

    Yuri stood over Aina''s bed with Savahn by her side. By now, Savahn had already been briefed on what was going on with Aina, so she had agreed to stay by Aina''s side until she could finally manage to fit those two pieces together again.

    Seeing the somewhat blank look Aina was giving them, Savahn was shaken. There was a hint of recognition in Aina''s eyes, but it didn''t come with the same emotion it should have usually come with. It was almost like the two of them had been estranged.

    It was a truly odd feeling. Aina clearly remembered them, but it was like she might as well not have.

    "Ohбн"

    Aina tried to speak but it felt somewhat foreign. She paused and adjusted her voice to speak again. But, it came with a sudden blast of mental coercion that made Yuri and Savahn shiver.

    The wave of Soul Force whipped about the estate, causing many to freeze in their tracks. And yet, Aina had only spoken a single syllable.

    Yuri''s pupils constricted. ''Adoptive father was correct. With her mental blocks gone, her talent has been fully unleashed. I never thought that the difference would be so exaggeratedбн''

    Seemingly realizing that something was wrong, Aina closed her mouth again. She felt like a piece of her was going away whenever she spoke and it made her feel weird, almost like she could project herself onto the outside world.

    An added layer of complexity that was difficult to manage suddenly manifested itself. Yuri had no idea how Aina''s ability to project her will onto the world would affect the rebirth of her personality.

    At first, Aina was a bit cautious with speaking, finding the novel feeling somewhat odd. In her memories, she could tell that she always had this ability but she consciously reigned it in after she awakened it. However, she couldn''t quite understand why.

    From what she could tell, there were two reasons. First was that it was wrong to coerce people? And the second was that it saved stamina for battle?

    No matter how hard Aina tried, she couldn''t quite come up with a reason that justified the first. Why was it wrong to coerce people?

    However, when she traveled down the rabbit hole of the second reason, she found it made more and more sense. Battle was about survival and every human wanted to survive. Apparently, she really liked to battle, it was exciting. She also liked to win. Winning was fun. In that case, it made sense to save power for those moments.

    "They call itбн Logic?"

    Aina thought aloud, not quite realizing that she should be thinking in her head. After Yuri spoke, she thought that all her memories had sound to them, including her personal thoughts. So, she spoke them out loud not quite knowing better.

    "Logicбн He likes logic, right?"

    Yuri blinked. She could tell who this he was immediately.

 Chapter 991 Water Domain Spear

    Chapter 991 Water Domain Spear

    Aina didn''t seem to need much convincing that survival and battle were important. Maybe she felt that these things were extremely fundamental and didn''t need to be explained further, or maybe she was just not aware of the hypocrisy of her own thoughts.

    She easily accepted one thing she liked but couldn''t easily accept something that could be deemed as her sacrificing for the sake of someone else. At the same time, she also found that she very much liked the concept of this logic?

    She sat up from her bed a bit too easily. Luckily, she didn''t use excessive strength of she may very well have hit the ceiling already. She blinked and looked around.

    "If you use logic for everything, things become very easy, right?"

    Aina didn''t seem to be speaking to anyone in particular. It was only then that Yuri and Savahn realized that she was thinking out loud, leaving them somewhat speechless. They looked toward one another but didn''t say much. Just talking aloud had already shifted Aina''s mentality so much, they were almost scared to say anything more.

    At the same time, though, wouldn''t everyone be speaking around her? It wasn''t exactly like they could just shelter her from everything or else that would defeat the entire purpose.

    So, rather than staying silent, Yuri tried to start a conversation.

    "Logic? Why do you say that?"

    "Ohбн Because my memories say that I love him but I don''t understand why. I thought that if maybe I thought like him then I could understand. I also like the way he thinks, it seems to make sense."

    Aina blinked. Yuri didn''t know if it was an illusion or not, but Aina''s golden eyes seemed to grow brighter whenever she said him. They practically radiated heir own light at this point, making it difficult for Yuri to look at her directly.

    "I see." Yuri nodded. "So what do you want to do?"

    "Ahбн Umбн Right! Train!"

    Aina''s eyes lit up. She found in her memories that she really liked to do that. And, she felt it was logical too.

    The more training she did, the more powerful she would become, and the more battles she would win. Also, the more fit that she was, and the stronger she became, the longer she would live and the higher her chance at survival would be. These things all made logical sense to her.

    Plus, she felt something in her blood calling out to her. She really wanted to swing a blade. The bigger, the better.

    Before Yuri and Savahn could react, Aina had already dashed by them, her speed seemingly having increased by several levels. If it wasn''t for Yuri''s powerful mind, Aina would look no different from a blur to her.

    Yuri could sense that Aina''s blood was flowing far more smoothly. If in the past it had been working against her, it was now working with her side by side to the point their sum was exponential of what it had been before.

    When Yuri and Savahn finally caught up, they found Aina standing in the courtyard but there was a slight panic on their faces.

    The current Aina truly looked like an untouchable fairy. She had a bright, childish smile on her face as she swung her ax. But, this wasn''t the main problem.

    The issue was that she was wearing a silk nightgown that Yuri had put on her after helping her clean herself thoroughly during the last few days. It came to her knees, but the string straps that hung from her shoulders revealed much of her alluring collarbone and graceful arms.

    Though she hadn''t exposed anything too unseemly just yet, with every flutter of the wind the gown came closer and closer to doing so, riding up the elegant curve of her thighs and hips.

    Luckily, Aina was wearing proper undergarments or the sight might have been even more scandalous than it was now. But everything from her long, fluttering hair to the delicate structure of her face made it feel as though the world was revolving around her.

    The servants of the estate all had come to a grinding halt. Most of them were women, but there were most definitely some men around. This was the very first time they had seen Aina without her mask on and they felt shaken to their cores.

    The way the silk wrapped around her toned belly and nearly split down her two round, bouncing cheeks was enough to make almost anyone faint from desire.

    "Aina!"

    Yuri rushed forward with a blanket, covering Aina completely and almost getting her head cut off in the process.

    "Hm?" Aina blinked in confusion, not sure why Yuri was stopping her.

    Her first instinct was to fling Yuri away from her, but her memories told her that this was a bad thing to do even though she didn''t quite understand why.

    However, what was obvious was that she was visibly annoyed. She glared at Yuri, causing the latter to shiver uncontrollably. She could sense a killing intent pervading Aina''s gaze that made her blood run cold.

    Just when Yuri was at a loss for what to do, a figure entered the courtyard under the escort of a maid and Aina''s father. This figure had a servant of his own by his side, carrying a box that held several precious ingredients to wish Aina a speedy recovery.

    However, when he laid eyes on Aina, he stood frozen. Even though she stood in such an odd position, holding a massive ax in one hand and with Yuri draping a large curtain over her body, he still felt as though all things had stopped.

    Rychard had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life.

    **

    Across the Dimensional Verse, deep within a storm, a young man swung a trident-like spear, violent whirlpools of volatile water surging around him.

    Three pillars carved with ancient patterns swirled about him like an ultimate defense. He weaved in and out of large swaths of oceanic beasts like he too was a fish in water, his momentum only climbing and growing.

    Raising up his Water Domain Spear, its dragon-like sapphire spear heeded his call. The roar of a flood dragon shook the skies as several water serpents surged out from the blackened ocean.

    Leonel stood amidst them all, several carcasses of colossal beasts floating about the surface around him.

    "Get out of my way."

    His voice reverberated like a low, rumbling growl. For reasons he wasn''t quite certain off, he suddenly felt enraged.

 Chapter 992 Flexibility

    Chapter 992 Flexibility

    Horned water serpents wrapped around Leonel as though they were flood dragons. Every time he swept his spear forward, one would blast through the air with no less strength than the water beam of the crocodile.

    Carnivorous fish and swaths of swordfish were shattered on impact, erupting into blood mist that was instantly swallowed up by the dark waters.

    Leonel stepped onto the surface of the ocean, whirlpools surrounding his feet and making it almost impossible for anything to attack him from below. His spear spun in his hands, the roar of the flood dragons fusing the booming thunder above.

    Beneath the surface of the water, schools of carnivorous fish tore a path toward Leonel''s feet. However, they were shredded to pieces the instant they entered the range of the whirlpools. Even in the darkness, the blood around where Leonel stood grew so concentrated that the blackness of the sea became a deep magenta.

    A violet fog hung around Leonel, fusing into his Domain and making its strength and range increase by several fold.

    At that moment, the blue whale dwarfing crocodile had prepared another projectile, sending it beaming across the ocean''s surface and toward Leonel.

    Right then, it was like the waters had been split in two. The surface curved and bent away from the thick pillar of sonic booming water. Just the trench alone was as much as a hundred meters deep, making one feel especially small beneath the vastness of the ocean.

    However, Leonel didn''t even look in that direction. Three ancient pillars that had been revolving around him suddenly sprung into action on their own, splitting two away from the group.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    A sheet of spatial Force seemed to separate Leonel from the world of the crocodile. No matter how the beam bashed and banged against the two connected pillars, they did nothing more than tremble slightly.

    Just when it seemed that things were finished, the third pillar suddenly acted, forming the triangular formation once again. But, this time, the beam suddenly found itself passing through the initial barrier and becoming trapped.

    Under the shocked horror of the crocodile, the pillars rotated and space distorted. At that instant, the beam of water that had been as straight as an arrow warped, curving back toward the mountainous crocodile.

    A roar pierced the skies, but the crocodile couldn''t react in time. It was pierced right through the eye, its scaled erupting into a rain of hard carapace, flesh and blood.

    The crocodile was rocked out of the ocean and sent shooting backward, even crashing into the beaver.

    Leonel vanished, appearing above the two rolling beasts. His silver armor shimmered beneath the dark hues, the frequent streaks of lightning that rumbled the skies above causing the lighting and shadows to dance across its peaks and crevices, making Leonel look quite menacing despite the fact his face was hidden from view.

    Seemingly sensing that something bad was about to happen, the island sized piranha stopped commanding its carnivorous fish after Leonel and took action itself, quickly trying to close the distance. But, by then, Leonel had already raised his spear high into the skies.

    The countless flood dragons surrounding him began to revolve, quickly fusing into a singular snaking dragon whose roar tore a hole in the dense black clouds above, revealing a singular ray of sunlight that shone down upon Leonel.

    Leonel''s blade descended, the water dragon fusing into one with his downward momentum.

    SHUU! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel ripped a gaping wound right through the crocodile''s injured eye, turning its brain into minced meat. But, as though that wasn''t enough, the water dragon didn''t pause for even a moment, shooting out of the crocodile''s body and ripping right through the mountain sized beaver it had collided with.

    Leonel shot back into the skies, a tornado of crimson blood following his wake.

    He roared beside himself, shaking the rainbow piranha to its core. However, it was already too late by the time the piranha realized it had fallen into a trap.

    Its head separated from its body, leaving a trail of fishy organs as it continued to swim forward several dozen meters before it realized what had happened. Only the moment before its gaze dimmed did it realize that it had swam between two of Leonel''s pillars.

    Leonel took a deep breath, his heart still simmering. The power and flexibility of his [Valiant Seal] technique couldn''t be underestimated. It was most definitely the core reason he won this battle, even beyond his Quasi Silver Water Domain Spear. And, the best part was that after they had been summoned, the stamina it took to sustain them was far less.

    However, Leonel didn''t have the mind to care right now. He shook his head, not quite understanding why his emotions were so agitated. He had been in quite good control of his own mind recently. This was definitely odd.

    Shaking his head again and forcing the crimson from his eyes to recede, Leonel didn''t bother to unsummon his Divine Armor. He had a feeling that he would be needing it again quite soon.

    Instead, he began to allow the massive corpses littered around him into the Segmented Cube. Quite soon, he had three enormous Beast Crystals before him, one from the beaver, another from the crocodile and the last from the rainbow piranha.

    ''This beaver has very powerful physical abilities. It''ll be good for Franco to absorb this. I had thought that this crocodile had a water based ability, but it seems that it''s actually a swallow ability, it just has a clever way of using itбн The piranha has a beast control abilityбн I guess these last two can be sold thenбн''

    Leonel distracted himself with these thoughts. But, he was very soon distracted once again by something less superficial.

    ''These swordfishбн''

    Leonel had long since realized that these swordfish all seemed to have the same bladelike ability. He had planned to see if there were any powerful ones among them that could help Joel strengthen his own but what he actually found left him surprised.

 Chapter 993 Range

    Chapter 993 Range

    The swordfish all seemed to be identical. Even their Beast Crystals were all the same. It made Leonel feel somewhat speechless. How was this possible?

    Logically, abilities should be random. He had already found it weird that all the swordfish seemed to be using the same ability but he had accepted it in the midst of battle for two reasons. The first was obvious, he simply didn''t have the heart to mind such things while his life was on the line. But, the second reason was more satisfying, or at least he thought so.

    Since humans could have Lineage Factors, why couldn''t beasts? Leonel wasn''t certain of this before, but he thought that the appearance of these swordfish proved that this was possible. After all, he couldn''t think of any other reason why all of these creatures would have the same ability if not for this.

    The truth of the matter was that being born on or near the water had no bearing on what kind of ability an ocean beast was born with just the same way being born near the coast had nothing to do with what Leonel''s ability became.

    Even the crocodile who Leonel thought had a water ability turned out to have something completely different. The black swan had a darkness related ability. The beaver had a physical boost abilityбн So on and so forth. None of it was related to water despite the fact many of them were fresh or salt water beasts.

    The same should be true of the swordfish and yet all their Beast Crystals were identical. Not only were the identical, but they had the same size, same roundness, and were even located in the same part of their body. With what Leonel knew about the Dimensional Verse, this was ridiculous.

    There was a reason his feat of killing those colossal squids was so impressive. The location of a beast''s Crystal varied and this variation only grew as these beasts grew in size. Though their Beast Crystals did often grow in size along with them, it wasn''t to scale, often resulting in one having to find a needle in a haystack.

    These fish were quite small compared to their counterparts, but each swordfish was still between one and two meters long. After Leonel realized the oddity, he paid closer attention only to find that the eerie similarities only seemed to continue.

    All of the swordfish were exactly 1.75 meters long. All of them had Beast Crystals that deviated 0.23 centimeters to the left of their skulls. They all had the same number of scales, the same length of sword blade, the same exact shade of colorбн

    ''Were they cloned? What the hell?''

    Leonel found it all to be incredulous, and for good reason. If someone had the ability to clone this many Fifth Dimensional beasts, just what kind of power could they wield?

    It might have looked easy for Leonel to deal with the swordfish he had, but it had to be rememberбн That he was Leonel! Not just anyone could do what he had done.

    Quite frankly, Leonel had gotten lucky. The larger the beast, the more powerful they seemed to be. Though Leonel didn''t know what this meant for Little Blackstar, this was what he had experienced at least on this battlefield.

    If instead of cloning these small swordfish it was instead something far more dangerous than thisбн No, this wasn''t even necessary, just these school of swordfish could probably blast a path through the coast.

    Leonel realized then that this creature had more power in its hands than it seemed, it just couldn''t be bothered to use it against the Invalids and preferred to force the humans to deal with it. Leoenl was truly at a loss for how he should be reacting to this.

    ''These Beast Crystalsбн'' ?????? ???? ????w???ov??.co?.

    In the end, Leonel had collected as many as 238 of them. All of them still identical. However, he had already accepted this. What he was more intrigued by was the Force swirling about them.

    ''This Blade Forceбн It''s so pure, so controlled, but it still feels fundamentally different from Spear Force and it also feels fundamentally different from Sword Force as wellбн''

    Leonel''s heart shuddered and he felt like he had suddenly been enlightened by something. He stared at the Beast Crystals so intently it felt like he might bore a hole into them, the Golden Spear on his forehead becoming brighter and brighter.

    Leonel had always been wondering what was so special about Spear Force. As far as he was aware, it just sharpened his blade. But, why was there a distinction between it and other blade weapon forces then? Why not just call them all Blade Force?

    Leonel stretched out two fingers and pierced at empty air, causing a dull SHING sound to resound.

    He did it again. This time, the sound was even sharper. It was as though to blades were running across each other.

    He repeated the action for a third time. This time, the Force seemed to vanish into the void. But, in the next moment, the ocean was split into two, forming a trench even deeper than the one caused by the crocodile''s breath.

    When Leonel was observing the swordfish''s Beast Crystal, he realized that they all seemed to act in a similar and predictable pattern. Blade Force wanted to hack at and sever everything. It was quite violent. And yet, within the Beast Crystal, it actually became something that Leonel could see a pattern in.

    The moment Leonel saw this, he reframed the way he viewed his Spear Force. Rather than focusing on what confused him about it, he focused on what he could put into a designated patternбн What was predictable about Spear Force?

    Leonel thought the answer was quite simple: Range.

    If there was one defining characteristic that separated Spear Force from Blade and Sword Force, it was that singular word.

    Leonel had only barely latched onto the idea when he suddenly felt that there was nowhere his Spear Force couldn''t reach so long as he willed it. And yet, he wouldn''t need to rely on Spatial Force.

    Leonel pierced his fingers out again.

    Over half a kilometer away, the head of an approaching colossal squid imploded from the inside out.

    Leonel had no idea just the Realm he had stepped into. He almost forgot about the danger looming overhead as the Quasi Silver spear in his hands began to tremble madly as though to roar out its happiness.

 Chapter 994 Resources

    Chapter 994 Resources

    Leonel felt like he was in a daze, his Spear Force undergoing a qualitative change that even made his Spear Embryo evolve. The Spear Mark on his forehead became more prominent and the Spear Domain around him seemed to increase in power by a measure.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel looked down at the spear in his hand. It vibrated wildly, dancing about in his hands as though praising something. Leonel continued to look down at it for a long while, consolidating something within his heart.

    He knew that this excitement wasn''t from the spear but rather from the consciousness that was buried within it. This consciousness didn''t come from the spear itself, but rather its previous owner whose will had been imposed upon it.

    Why was it that Leonel found ''listening to your weapon'' to be so ridiculous? It was exactly because of this. To begin with, it wasn''t a weapon that was speaking. If he picked up a normal spear, no matter how much he improved his Spear Force, it wouldn''t react in the slightest. This was why despite having felt the sentience of his spears before, Leonel was completely unmoved by it all.

    Leonel was in a position where he was lucky enough to learn from his predecessors, but he also didn''t want to be controlled by their thoughts. His current Spear Force had suddenly increased in power by more than tenfold, but if it had been explained to him by someone else, the leap wouldn''t be nearly as exaggerated.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, if there was a planned path for how a spear should progress and increase in strength, there had to be someone who had done it first. Then, that person had to have had the ability to explain and describe just what evolution they had undergone to reach that stage so that their knowledge could be passed down to others.

    By this point, Leonel''s feelings on the matter should be clearбн If someone else could do it, why couldn''t he? Listening to a spear? What kind of ridiculous nonsense was that? He only needed his own self. In fact, if not for the thoughts of these spears distracting him, he felt like he could have figured this out long ago.

    If not for him having set aside these powerful spears to use his black wood spear for a while, his mind wouldn''t have been so clear on what the next step would be. Even if he managed to see the oddity of the swordfish Beast Crystals, his mind would have been too fogged to take the next step so confidently.

    Why was it that these spears claimed Peaks for themselves within the Spear Domain Ring? Why was it that a Quasi Bronze and Quasi Silver Spear could have a Spear Peak of their own while there was an endless graveyard of spears around them?

    When you thought about it this way, it was quite odd. If Leonel wanted to, he now had just the right combination of mental strength and Spear Force mastery to pick up any number of Silver Grade spears. However, none of them would have a Spear Peak to their own.

    The reason was simpleбн Quasi Bronze and Quasi Silver represented the Peak of their levels! They were the Kings among experts within their range and they reigned supreme as a result! This was what separated them from the spears that could only loiter around the base of their Peaks and this was why Domains represented Kingship.

    Why was it that Leonel''s King''s Might could strengthen his Domains so much? Why was it that Leonel''s Domain led him to Kingship over Universal Force? Why was it that this Spear was now trembling in Leonel''s hand?

    It all led back to same idea. They were all interlinked and interdependent.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, causing the Water Domain Spear to vanish in place of his black wood spear.

    He swept it out to the side, his Spear Force splitting the waters and causing waves that stretched out for several kilometers.

    Leonel shot forward, his three [Valiant Seal] pillars following closely behind him. He truly wanted to see if there was anything that could get in his way now. As far as he was concerned, wherever he stepped foot was his Domain.

    **

    Yuri was forced to weather the storm of Aina''s killing intent. She hoped that it wouldn''t cost her life but now that Rychard was here, she definitely couldn''t afford to move now.

    Savahn moved forward and happened to block Rychard''s view of Aina''s face. It was only at that point that he finally managed to snap out of his daze and recover, remembering why it was that he was here.

    The truth was that Rychard had never been interested in seeing Aina''s face nor had he ever gone out of his way to get Aina to remove her mask. As far as he was concerned, their relationship was strictly business. Even the thoughts he had of asking Aina to marry him had all been related to how useful she was and little to do with how attracted he was to her.

    Plus, there were only two reasons why a woman would wear a mask. Either she was far too beautiful or she was far too ugly. However, Yuri and Savahn wore masks alongside Aina and Rychard had received reports about them being spotted without them before. This made Rychard think that Aina was likely the latter of the two possibilities and that her friends were just wearing masks along with her as a form of solidarity.

    He realized now, though, that his conclusion couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    Shaking his head, he gestured to his servant who cleverly passed on his box to Savahn as opposed to Aina. Though Rychard was a bit confused about exactly what was going on here, he knew that it was probably best not to ask since Miel had almost not let him in at all.

    "This is just a token of my appreciation, Miss Brazinger. Much of the resources you asked for can be found within here and much more."

    Aina blinked. "бн That''s right, resources are important to me too. Very importantбн"

    Rychard''s brow furrowed slightly. He wasn''t quite sure of how to respond to this.

 Chpater 995 Sniping?

    Chpater 995 Sniping?

    Miel frowned. If he had known that Aina was awake now, he would have never allowed Rychard to enter. It was only because he thought that his daughter was still in a coma that he had allowed Rychard to come under the latter''s insistence. After all, as a Vassal of the family, there was still a small bit of due respect that he owed to the potential Heirs, especially since it seemed that Rychard had taken the secure lead in this aspect.

    It could only be said that this timing was horrible.

    Miel didn''t really care who did and didn''t find his daughter attractive, he wasn''t one to care about such things. The main issue was that he didn''t want any undue influence on Aina''s recovery.

    Rychard was a very intelligent young man, he most definitely already realized that there was something off about Aina''s current demeanor. Though he likely wouldn''t be able to guess exactly what had happened, he didn''t need to do that in order to cause problems.

    Miel took a slight breath and shook his head. For now, pressing forward and rushing Rychard out would only make things seem more peculiar than they already were. He could only ride this out and hope that Aina didn''t think anything too ridiculous out loud.

    Though he had a weird expression on for a moment, Rychard quickly recovered once again, giving Aina a light smile.

    "You''ve done a lot for me and I can say with great certainty that you are a large part of the reason I''ve almost secured the official position of Heir for myself. Since you''ve helped me so greatly, how could I not properly reward you? I''ve made sure to give you more than what you''ve asked for and if you need anything in the future, please don''t hesitate to reach out."

    Rychard''s smile became more natural by the end of his words as he lightly nodded toward Yuri and Savahn before turning toward Miel.

    "I appreciate you allowing me into your home, Sir Brazinger. I won''t continue to intrude and will take my leave now. If you need anything, you can feel free to contact me as well."

    Miel nodded lightly but didn''t say much. He knew that the reason Rychard insisted on entering his estate today was because he no longer had a reason to hide.

    Rychard had been away from Planet Viola for a long time before returning today. Yet, the first thing he had done was come here. He was clearly signaling to everyone that not only was he back, but that he had a powerful Vassal under his banner.

    Since Aina had almost died fulfilling his mission, even if Miel wanted to wash his hand clean of Rychard, he couldn''t do so. By the time the details of what happened that night became clear, the Brazingers would be irrevocably tied to Rychard.

    "бн Sorry, adoptive father. Aina just woke up and we couldn''t stop her before she came out here." Yuri spoke after Rychard and his servant disappeared.

    Miel shook his head, telling Yuri not to mind. He took a few steps forward and looked into his daughter''s eyes but all he found was a hint of vacancy that made him sigh.

    Well, it wasn''t like he wasn''t used to Aina giving him a cold look back, but this was different. There was no frost here, it just bordered on indifference. In a lot of ways, this stung more than the former did and for good reason at that.

    Miel wondered if he should take Aina away from Planet Viola now, but in the end, he decided against it. Though the climate here was volatile, with her being forced to make so many decisions everyday, she would quickly come to reform her personality. If things took too long, she might never awaken to her former self ever again.

    "What is most important to you?" Miel suddenly spoke, his gruff voice being aimed toward Aina.

    This was the question he planned to ask Aina everyday. It was the only push he could give her without influencing her too much.

    "Ahбн Logicбн Battleбн Resources!" Aina listed out three things, her list having increased by one.

    Miel nodded and didn''t commentate. How this answer evolved would decide if his Aina would ever come back to him or if she was forever lost.

    Aina didn''t seem to understand the complex emotions of her father as she pushed Yuri to the side and let her ax fall to the ground. With a childish excitement and the blanket around her almost falling to the ground, she rushed toward Savahn who was holding up the large spatial box.

    She was too excited to see what resources she would get.

    **

    Leonel could feel himself getting closer, there was nothing capable of stopping him. Not only was his speed blinding, but his spear had increased its lethality by several folds.

    A road of starlight painted Leonel''s path forward. His Speed Branch had long since evolved to this level and though it was most useful in the vacuum of space, that didn''t mean it couldn''t be used on land or water as well.

    ''Just 20 kilometers away.'' Leonel thought with narrowed eyes. ''бн 10бн 5бн''

    This sort of range was ridiculous. To be able to control a storm from so far awayбн Just what kind of beast was he up against?

    Of course, Leonel had a feeling that starting and maintaining the storm were two vastly different concepts, similar to his [Valiant Seal]. But, Leonel couldn''t control his [Valiant Seal] from more than maybe a kilometer away before things became far too troublesome. And, even then, he would need to rely on his Divine Armor to boost his spatial affinity.

    Suddenly, Leonel came to a grinding halt. His stop was so abrupt that an ocean wave shot up several dozen meters.

    In that moment, a deathly silent arrow pierced through the wave and shot through the water just half a foot before Leonel. Had he still been running, at that angle, his forehead would have been pierced through cleanly.

    Several seconds later, a deep rumbling boom came from within the depths of the ocean causing the dark waters to surge.

    ''Sniping me?''

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, his sniper rifle appearing in his hand and whirring to life.

    бн

    Almost three kilometers away in the depths of the storm, a bowman with shimmering gold hair and eyes lowered his arm slightly, his expression of confidence being marred by a hint of confusion.

    "Is it done?"

    Around the young bowman were several other youths with various colored matching hair and eyes. Together, they almost looked like a cosplaying rainbow. However, they didn''t get the answer they wanted immediately.

    The young bowman''s pupil constricted before a beam a golden light suddenly appeared right before his brows, causing his heart to freeze over.

 Chapter 996 Four Young Men

    Chapter 996 Four Young Men

    Just when the young golden hair and eyed young man thought that his life was forfeit, a hand with translucent scales suddenly appeared before his face.

    BANG!

    The hand was unable to stop the full momentum of the beam of gold, resulting in the golden haired young man''s face being bashed in with the back of it.

    Blood flew as the golden haired young man''s nose caved in, his body sent reeling backward to the point he nearly fell off of the flying disk the group of them stood upon. He was immediately concussed and felt as though the world was spinning without end all before he fell to his butt, the grip he had on his bow loosening to the point he almost lost hold of it entirely.

    At that moment, the young man who had saved his life looked down at his palm. He could feel an ache in his wrist that told him that he had nearly broken it. It was clear that he had underestimated this beam of light almost too much.

    This young man had a head of blue hair and eyes, and judging by his stunned look, he was clearly very much confident in his defensive abilities. Though his translucent scales hadn''t been broken, he still felt a hint of pain.

    "Who?!"

    This time, it was a green hair and eyed young man who spoke, being the third of the group of four. It seemed that his temper was the most fiery of the group, but it somewhat made sense. Being so far away from land made him itchy and trigger happy. It was definitely safe to say that he was the most uncomfortable of the current group.

    By now, it was very much clear that these young men were members of Earth''s hidden families and also that their goal may very well be identical to Leonel''s own.

    The gold hair and eyes of the Laevis family. The green hair and eyes of the Crudus family. The blue hair and eyes of the Adurna. And, finallyбн

    The fourth and final member of the group was the only one who didn''t seem to react with shock or fury. He stood silently, a monocle with numerous floating lenses revolving around his left eye as though the moons to a planet.

    He was none other than Simeon Brazinger, the first main branch member of the hidden families Leonel had ever met. And, even until now, he was still the only one.

    Simeon''s gaze narrowed. ''It''s youбн''

    He still remembered four years ago now when he was forced to retreat from the Project Hunt Island. It was a humiliation he still wore on his chest to this very day. He hadn''t seen Leonel in a very long time but the pure dislike he had for him was just as palpable as it had always been.

    Back then, Simeon had chosen to come out ahead of time to try and lay a foundation and some groundwork for his future plans. However, at every turn, it seemed like Leonel was there to stop him. He had even tried to use the Royal Blue Fort to deal with him, but even that had ended in failure.

    The result was Simeon being forced to return to the family''s lands where he hadn''t even been allowed to come out for the Terrain war. Only after Earth entered the Fifth Dimension was he finally given some degree of freedom back in return. Yet, in the irony of all ironies, the moment he tried to accomplish something, here was Leonel once again to stand in his way.

    How could he not want to tear Leonel limb from limb?

    "Simeon?" The blue haired young man called out, seemingly realizing that something was up.

    "Adrin, Elilar, Zannos. Don''t you dare move. He''s mine."

    Simeon''s words were baffling. ''He''? Who was ''he''? And plus, if there was anyone who should get first crack, shouldn''t it be Zannos? Just look at him.

    The blue haired youth, Adrin, looked toward Zannos to say as much. But, when he saw that the latter had grown a mustache of blood from his bleeding nose and how he still seemed to be in a daze, he shook his head.

    "бн Never mindбн"

    Elilar, who had snapped earlier, looked toward Simeon oddly. They all knew Simeon well, he practically never showed any emotion at all. It wasn''t coldness, it was just indifference to all things. This had to be the first time they had ever seen him lose his cool.

    Simeon''s face was quite expressionless, but a deep red Force had begun to pour out from his body.

    ''Sometimes I forget that he''s a Brazingerбн''

    Simeon''s palm flipped over to reveal a rattling chain that must have been at least ten meters long. It had a black body and was coursing with crimson veins and golden barbs. It looked as though there wasn''t a single place on its bod that you could touch without ripping your flesh apart and yet Simeon began to slowly wrap it around his palm, down his wrist and up his arm as though he couldn''t feel a thing.

    At that moment, Leonel, donning his silver Divine Armor, suddenly appeared in the air no more than 20 meters from them. As for how Simeon had recognized him with his helmet on, maybe only he would be aware of the answer to that.

    Seeing Leonel, the gazes of Elilar and Adrin narrowed while Zannos was still far too out of it to even register just what was going on.

    Simeon''s red hair waved about gently, the harsh rain in the surroundings not even touching the hem of his clothing beneath the bubble of his flying disk.

    With a wave of his free hand, two balls of light hovered before him before bursting. What was left behind left Leonel''s gaze narrowing beneath his visor.

    Two enormous metallic birds appeared. Or, rather, that was what they looked like on the surface. But, their true nature most definitely caught Leonel''s attention.

    [One more chapter coming today]

 Chapter 997 Any Time

    Chapter 997 Any Time

    The two metallic birds weren''t entirely metallic at all. With a sweep of his Internal Sight, Leonel could see that they had flesh and blood.

    The answer, then, seemed simple. Weren''t these two birds just wearing armor, then? But this wasn''t the reality either. The metal wasn''t being wornбн It *was* them. It was as much their skin as flesh could be. In fact, it seemed that there were a few parts of their bodies that could be classified in much the same way.

    If Leonel didn''t have such a dislike of Simeon, upon stumbling upon his first cyborg sighting, he probably would have felt that this was very cool too. However, unsurprisingly, Simeon wasn''t a person he liked very much at all.

    Even setting aside what Simeon had tried to do to him, just the fact Simeon treated humans like experimental subjects was enough for Leonel to hate him. Leonel didn''t even want to consider what sort of horrid torture these two birds had gone through to reach this state either.

    Leonel''s gaze swept by Simeon, landing on Zannos. It didn''t take much deduction at all for Leonel to realize that he was likely the one who had shot the arrow. If not for his bloody nose, the bow he was barely holding onto was a dead giveaway.

    However, after looking around some more, Leonel realized that this storm definitely wasn''t being caused by these four. This meant that there was a more than 90% probability that they were looking for the creature at the core of all of this just like he was. There was no coincidence that they were in the exact direction Leonel had been heading in considering the sheer vastness of the ocean.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed when he remembered was Simeon''s ability was. If he was allowed to get his hands on such a creature and he controlled its genes to come under his commandбн Just what kind of devastation would that bring?

    Remembering back to how Leonel met Little Blackstar, his grip on his spear rotated slightly. Back then, he had almost killed Little Blackstar just to ensure that he never ended in Simeon''s hands. Now, it seemed that history was replaying itself.

    The difference here, though was that while Little Blackstar had only been playful, this beast was costing people their lives.

    Leonel had no idea what it was that these hidden families wanted, nor did he understand what their purpose on Earth was. But, what he did know was that when Earth was pushed into a corner facing the people of Terrain, he hadn''t seen a single member of their ilk.

    All they had done was show up on Avalon and try to poach away King Arthur and his people. After they failed, they vanished and didn''t appear again until now when there were once again benefits to be gained while others were falling and dying in the background.

    These sorts of peopleбн They were the kind Leonel abhorred the most.

    "I''m going to give you two options." Leonel said coldly. "Either get the hell out of my sight, or you fall beneath my blade."

    The fluttering red Force around Simeon suddenly surged, his pupils constricting into pinholes. This was most definitely not the Leonel he knew. The Leonel he knew didn''t have this edge to him, he didn''t have this blood thirsty air. In fact, he didn''t have a willingness to kill at all.

    That Leonel was like a lion without its claws or a shark without its teeth. But nowбн

    Leonel raised his spear, pointing it between Simeon''s brows. It was a blatant, undisguised provocation. At that moment, Leonel''s aura was palpable. It hung in the air like a violet mist, raising above Simeon''s own and suffocating it.

    "Leonel Moralesбн" Simeon said slowly. ????w???ov??.co?

    However, what he hadn''t expected was for Adrin to suddenly stand out.

    "Huh? What did you say Simeon?"

    Simeon frowned, turning his gaze toward Adrin. The coldness in his eyes made Adrin''s own gaze narrow, but the latter didn''t back down. All four of these young men were on the same level. On top of that, all of them had entered the Fifth Dimension. Adrin felt no fear for Simeon although the latter''s power was great.

    Adrin looked away from Simeon and toward Leonel, suddenly understanding something.

    "I can''t let you kill him, Simeon." Adrin finally said.

    "What?" Simeon''s voice simmered like hot coals, his red eyes flashing with added menace.

    "Leonel Morales is the name of the man who saved my little sister. I owe him a favor. So, I''ll only repeat myself once more. I can''t let you kill him, Simeon."

    Adrin''s own aura began to leak out, a dense blue Force wafting about his body. Though he and Simeon were about the same height, Adrin was far broader, making it seem as though he was towering over Simeon completely.

    "Haбн" Simeon released a cold laugh. "бн Did you forget why it was that we came here?"

    "All of that is meaningless in the face of my little sister''s life." Adrin replied coldly.

    "So you''re going to stand in my way no matter what? Do you really want to war against my Brazinger Family?"

    "Since when as my Adurna Family been afraid of you all? I''m sure you know best that we''re the ones who best counter your Lineage Factor. Do you want to have a try to see how that''ll work out for you? I''ll give you a sneak peek."

    Adrin wasn''t wrong. If the Brazinger family was the absolute pinnacle of offense, then the Adurna family was the absolute pinnacle of defense. It almost felt like nature knew they were meant to clash, coloring them both blue and red.

    Adrin turned to Leonel without another glance toward Simeon.

    "Little Nana has told me a lot about you, so consider this my thanks. I won''t allow them to interfere and you can take this as repayment. Next time we meet on the battlefield, though, we will most likely be enemies."

    Adrin was confident in saying this even if Zannos and Elilar chose to side with Simeon in this matter. When it came to stalling and buying time, no one was his better.

    Leonel gave Adrin a deep look before nodding and shooting off into the distance, his three pillars following closely behind him.

    "бн I''ll make you regret this, Adrin."

    Simeon''s voice had once again returned to neutrality, his Force vanishing and even his twin pair of metallic birds having disappeared. He regained his composure so quickly that it almost felt too ridiculous.

    Adrin''s eyes narrowed. "Any time."

 Chapter 998 Beautiful

    Chapter 998 Beautiful

    Simeon soon vanished, teleporting back to what must have been the Brazinger family''s estate. This left the three young men behind with Zannos slowly regaining his bearings.

    When the golden haired Zannos finally realized just where he was, his head snapped around and he blinked. It was clear that his healing abilities were also far beyond that of a normal individual''s. Rather than still being concussed, he seemed to be back to 100% in just a few minutes, just enough to catch a bit of the conversation between Adrin and Elilar.

    "бн Now he''s pissed. You know Simeon is unpredictable Adrin, I wouldn''t want him as an enemy."

    Adrin shook his head. "This has little to do with how uncomfortable it makes me. It''s a matter of principle. If not for Leonel, not to mention my little sister, a few of my cousins and other members of the younger ones would have been finished."

    "Pft," Elilar laughed beside himself. "Your family went around snatching Zones and ended up almost dying, isn''t that too funny?"

    Adrin glared at Elilar but let it slide only because no one had truly ended up losing their lives.

    "It was a Mythological Zone, so the risk was different. If I hadn''t already been in the Fourth Dimension back then, I might have gone as well. It was just unfortunate that it mutated into a Unique Zone."

    Elilar''s pupils constricted. "бн He survived a Unique Zone?"

    A Unique Zone was something that Leonel had already come across twice. Well, once that very nearly became twice if he counted the Joan Zone. As such, to Leonel, it was no big deal and not even as rare as most made it seem to be.

    But, the reality was that to most peopleбн A Unique Zone was a death sentence! Pure and simple.

    To put this matter into perspective, one only need to think of the Valiant Pillar Heirlooms of the Valiant Heart Mountain organization. That was the level of the technology one needed just to keep reusing an open Zone. If one wanted to enter and interfere with a Zone, the necessary threshold to meet was even higher.

    What did that mean? It meant the use of a treasure that was equivalent to the Gold Grade Valiant Pillars or even their superior!

    When things were put into this kind of perspective, just how shocking it was for Leonel to survive was painted out clearly. It also made it more obvious just what kind of enemy he had made by now handing over his findings from the Camelot Zone as well. It was no wonder that they were infuriated.

    If not for the difficulty of traveling to lower Dimensions as a higher Dimensional existence, maybe they would have already sent someone Leonel couldn''t possibly match up against.

    "бн I see. So it seems that Earth really does have some young heroes of its own."

    Zannos spoke, wiping the blood from his lips. He didn''t seem enraged by what had happened at all. In fact, his eyes had lit up to the point it seemed he might chase after Leonel right this moment. If they didn''t know better, they''d think this battle freak was a member of the Brazinger family while it was Simeon who was a member of Zannos'' Laevis family.

    "They don''t just have one of them." Adrin said, looking off into the distance.

    "Well my fingers are itching." Zannos said with a grin.

    Elilar rolled his eyes. "Can you be a little less shameless? You almost died just now."

    бн

    Leonel very quickly closed in on his destination, the rain above still pelting down and the thick, rumbling black clouds growing as solid as the earth itself.

    He hadn''t hesitated to take Adrin up on his offer. After all, there was no need to fight a battle he didn''t have to. Plus, the value of whatever was up ahead was no small matter, this Leonel knew for certain. It was likely that Adrin was also aware which was why Leonel had birthed a healthy respect for the young man as well.

    Leonel''s forward momentum came to a grinding halt once again. But, this time, there was no bowman nor was there any arrow.

    Up ahead, as though a halo of heavenly light, there was a small hole in the dense black clouds. Compared to the kilometers of distance these storm clouds covered, this ten meter wide hole was like a pin drop.

    A ray of golden light descended from it, gently touching the surface of the water to create a scene that left Leonel completely speechless.

    All around, the raging tides of black water rose and fell, even crashing about the pillar of slightly slanted light. And yet, the waters that were graced by this light''s touch were not only completely and perfectly still, but they had a beautiful sky blue color to them that made one think of clear tropical oceans one could see to the very bottom of.

    Within this beautiful, still and clear water was a single koi fish with gorgeous golden scales and fins so delicate and flexible that they looked like transparent silk fabrics soaking in the water.

    The koi fish was just two feet in length and was practically an ant in comparison to the colossal creatures Leonel had come across today, and yet it pulled him in while simultaneously giving him a sense of danger he had never experienced before.

    ''бн Beautifulбн''

    It was the most gorgeous creature that Leonel had ever seen. Let alone killing it, he couldn''t even muster up the fortitude he would need just to harm it. It was like a delicate flower, the absolute last of its kind, radiating the beauty of its ancestors and carrying the weight of an entire species on its shoulders.

    For a long while, Leonel just stared, his heart gripped by something inexplicable that he couldn''t even begin to express in words.

    He was so enraptured that he didn''t notice the grotesque, vile, and foul smelling creature that raised its tentacle to his back.

 Chapter 999 Risk

    Chapter 999 Risk

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. He felt his heart pump vigorously and his veins suddenly double in size.

    Outside his control, his Dream Counter activated, pumping his body into a state of fight or flight. Without hesitation, Leonel blinked away.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s eyes widened as he watched one of his [Valiant Seal]''s shatter into pieces beneath the might of a tentacle of blackish purple. Just like that, he was left with only two that he quickly brought to his side.

    His expression warped as he laid eyes on the monstrosity before him. Had it not been for his Dream Counter, considering the strength behind that strike, Leonel felt that he would have most definitely died. However, the most shocking thing was that for his Dream Counter to activate, something must have made his mind go murky.

    Leonel had many Dream Counters. One was to activate his instantaneous heal ability when he was on the border of life and death. A second one was the one that had activated just now. It was attached to a strand of Internal Sight that always monitored his surroundings and was detached from his conscious mind. This strand of Internal Sight''s only job was to calculate the strength of an oncoming blow. If the blow was beyond what Leonel could handle, Dream Counter would activate and drive his body into an optimal state for escape.

    However, under normal circumstances, Leonel was aware of this process from start to finish. But, this time he wasn''t woken up until the moment his blood vessel dilated and his heart began to pump wildly. Thanks to this, he was snapped awake.

    It made him realize that he had entered an odd trance just now, and it was all related to that golden scaled koi fish.

    That said, Leonel didn''t have the time to mind that koi fish now as this tentacle monstrosity before him was bearing down with a foul smell that he only just now registered.

    Without hesitation, Leonel used Dream Sense, splitting his sense of smell to the point it was dulled considerably. Brandishing his spear, he swept it forward, his wrist flicking several times as he retreated.

    In and instant, dozens of the monster''s tentacles were severed, flying about in a rain of purple blood that dripped down the sea below and revealing bowels that left Leonel stunned.

    ''It''s defensesбн are terrible.''

    What Leonel didn''t realize just yet that it wasn''t that the monster''s tentacles lacked defense, but rather that his Spear Force had become too power for it to defend against. If it wasn''t for Leonel''s improvement, it would have taken at least three hacks to sever a single tentacle, but now a single sweep took out several.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    After taking out so many tentacles, the monster retreated, but it wasn''t before Leonel could catch a glimpse of what was behind the curtain of all those tentacles.

    ''A womb?''

    Leonel''s conclusion even made his own face go weird. This was because the conclusion wasn''t based on his own normal deductions, but rather the result of a spark within his Dreamscape. This was to say that what he had just seen ticked off enough boxes under the categorization of what a womb would be to cause a reaction in his Dream World.

    ''Eggs, warmth, nutrition, placentaбн''

    Leonel''s eyes widened, his gaze suddenly snapped back toward the gold scaled koi fish before going back to the monster. He felt like he was on the verge of understanding something when the koi fish suddenly acted.

    Its mouth opened, causing a small sphere of golden light to form. It looked completely harmless and was just as beautiful as the fish it came from. But, in that instant Leonel was shaken.

    That small bead had a concentration of Force that dwarfed anything that had come from the storm previously.

    ''This little bбн''

    Leonel didn''t get a chance to finish his thoughts.

    The wild churning of the sea suddenly became like a pot of boiling water. The siren call of a what sounded like a dying whale sounded from all directions. It was so loud that Leonel was forced to use his Dream Sense on his ears as well, dulling his senses once again.

    At that moment, on the coast several kilometers away, the onslaught of Invalids suddenly did an about-face and charged toward Leonel''s location.

    Leonel understood immediately that this was the last resort of the koi fish.

    From what he could see, the koi fish and the tentacle womb were two separate existences. The tentacle womb needed the koi fish for the energy it could provide it while the koi fish, without combat abilities of its own, needed the tentacle for protection.

    The earlier onslaught of colossal beasts Leonel had fought were already all the guards the koi fish had outside the tentacle womb. It had sent them all in hopes that Leonel would never get close to it. But, that had failed miserably.

    The tentacle womb could be considered the last line of defense and was indeed far stronger than any of the beasts Leonel had fought on his way here. However, what the two had never expected was for Leonel''s breakthrough to make the tentacle womb fair even worse than their vanguard of beasts had.

    Without a choice, the koi fish could only use its final resort, calling an onslaught of Invalids over to deal with Leonel in its stead in hopes that it could find a path to escape.

    ''Can''t you just take your loss with grace?!'' Leonel chided in his mind. ''Fuck it.''

    "Vice!"

    Leonel senses reached into the Segmented Cube and pulled Vice out. The young man blinked in confusion, unsure of what was going on.

    Vice was none other than one of the two Savants that Leonel was raising. Leonel was always hesitant to use them for fear that they''d grow more powerful than he could control, but he had still been slowly releasing their reins. Now it was time to see whether his risk was worth it or not.

 Chapter 1000 Vice and Candle

    Chapter 1000 Vice and Candle

    Vice was confused about what was happening but sensing a threat to his life, he immediately reacted with all the strength he could muster, freezing everything for several kilometers in space as he took a step behind Leonel, fearfully looking around.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed when he felt this.

    For one, Vice''s ability no longer seemed to have any impact on him. This wasn''t because Vice wasn''t as good a Savant as he seemed to be originally, but rather that his ability had barely reached a Fifth Dimensional level.

    Thanks to Leonel''s Divine Armor being constructed with Evolution Ore as its core, what should have been his Fourth Dimensional armor actually had the strength and abilities of a Fifth Dimensional Armor. Thanks to this, he was able to concentrate his Spatial Domain down to becoming the equivalent of a Force Skin, thus allowing him strong control over the Space Force around himself.

    This was all to say that Leonel was likely the only one not impacted by Vice''s ability. However, even this was just the tip of the iceberg.

    Vice''s ability wasn''t as simple as a spatial lock. Its boundaries worked similarly to Leonel''s [Valiant Seal] and were like the borders separating two worlds. This meant that not only were all the Invalids surging toward the two of them frozen, but this also meant that the Invalids that had been rushing toward them could no longer sense the wild fluctuations Force being released by the golden koi fish.

    Leonel whistled, feeling that Savants were really the universal cheat code. If he wasn''t restraining Vice''s progress, just how powerful would he be by now? Leonel couldn''t even wrap his head around itбн

    "How long can you maintain this?" Leonel asked Vice.

    Vice, who had been ''hiding'' behind Leonel, looked toward him with a blank expression. Every time Leonel looked into his eyes, all he could see was vacancy.

    With Candle, she at least had a normal range of human emotion, it was just that she tended to the extreme. However, after a long while of observation, Leonel felt that Candle might have grown up to be a perfectly normal girl had she never been locked away. Now, though, her trauma was a weight on her heart that was difficult for her to release.

    Vice, however, didn''t have these emotions. And, any emotion that he did show was just a reflection of what he saw around him as though he was projecting what he thought others wanted to see rather than being his true self.

    If someone like Vice had grown up in normal society, he would probably be very charismatic and have a knack for manipulating the people around him. It was just too bad for him that his skill in this facet was stunted by his upbringing, thus allowing Leonel to see through him easily.

    Even now, while Vice was acting scared and ''hiding'' behind Leonel, he was only doing so because this was exactly what Candle would do if she was suddenly brought out like this. The more time those two spent together, the more of her personality that Vice imprinted onto himself.

    At this moment, though, Vice was looking at Leonel as though he couldn''t understand the question. It was then that Leonel chuckled and understood. ????????o???.co?

    Stamina? That was something only non-Savants had to worry about. Vice''s look was as good as telling him that he had no time limit and could hold this indefinitely. He didn''t have a concept of ''how long''.

    "Got it. Then keep it up."

    Leonel brought out the surfboard and allowed Vice to stand on it so he could release his grip on the latter''s shoulder. Then, he also brought Candle out.

    As expected, seeing the dark clouds above, the frozen rain in the surroundings, and the giant tentacle monster to the side, Candle immediately shrieked and hid behind Leonel as well.

    Leonel''s approach to dealing with Candle was much different than how he dealt with Vice. He gave her comfort and a few caring words almost immediately. He realized that this was his own bias shining through. After all, he felt that Candle was genuine while Vice was not. But, for now, he let things play out this way.

    He wanted to see just how Vice evolved from here.

    ''Maybe I shouldn''t do this myselfбн I wonder if the Dimensional Verse has therapists and psychologists specialized in dealing with Savantsбн But if they do, which of them can I trust?''

    There was a hidden reason why Leonel had chosen to take the risk of raising two Savants on his own, and that was his grandfather.

    Leonel simply didn''t believe that his grandfather could be so cruel as to kill 99% of Earth''s population for the sake of clearing out as many Invalids as possible ahead of time, and yet leave such a hidden danger like these Savants behind without cause or reason. There was definitely something about this choice that Leonel didn''t have enough information to understand just yetбн

    Leonel patted Candle on the head until her tears were soothed and her breathing became even once more.

    "I just wanted to let you out to experience the world, if you want to go back in it isn''t a problem. Just let me know."

    Candle sniffled and looked around, her shoulders shuddering when she saw the tentacle womb. She stretched a hand out and caused a massive mirror without borders to appear in the sky, blocking the view of the monster. Only then did she relax.

    When she swept her gaze around and saw the koi fish, her eyes lit up.

    "бн So prettyбн"

    Leonel smiled. "You two stay here, I''ll be back."

    "Okay." The two replied at once.

    The surfboard hovered just a foot over the dark waters, allowing Candle to sit and glide her feet about it.

    бн

    Leonel appeared on the other side of Candle''s mirror and observed the tentacle womb. He could tell that it was struggling to move away, but it couldn''t no matter how hard it tried. The abilities of Savants were truly too sick. Such a powerful creature couldn''t even lift a finger to stop it.

    "Can this tentacle womb clone creatures?"

 Chapter 1001 Units

    Chapter 1001 Units

    Leonel asked the question that had been on the tip of his tongue for the longest time instantly, not holding back at all.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Replying to Seed, yes. ]

    "How does it clone creatures?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Replying to Seed, the creature clones byбн ]

    "Stop, stop." Leonel shook his head.

    The dictionary had begun going on a long rant about the biological process that the tentacle womb underwent. Clearly, Leonel''s question wasn''t specific enough.

    "Let''s tryбн What do I need to give this tentacle womb in order to cloneбн Little Blackstar?"

    Leonel didn''t really have intentions of cloning Little Blackstar because he felt it would be a bit weird. But, after hearing the response, he realized that it was na?ve of him to an extreme to even believe he could.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ бн ]

    [ 1 283 490 985 Units ]

    At first Leonel was confused. But, after several probing questions he came to understand the a ''Unit'' in this context was the equivalent of one complete Beast Crystal. That meant that for this tentacle womb to clone Little Blackstar as it was presently constructed, it would need over a billion ''Units'' of Little Blackstar.

    Leonel soon came to understand that this was because of the Void Beast blood that Little Blackstar had ingested. But, even if this blood was ignored, according to the dictionary, it would still take 1 983 Units to clone Little Blackstar.

    Leonel could only be left speechless by this.

    For one, the value of Void Beast Blood had suddenly become very obvious to him. There was actually such a large gap between the value of Little Blackstar alone, even as a Shadow Sovereign, and just a vial of its Bloodбн Not even its Beast Crystal!

    And secondly, he realized that just a beast as talented as Little Blackstar required almost 2000 Units alone.

    "Hold onбн" Leonel suddenly realized that he had forgot something important. "What''s the amount of energy the tentacle womb would need to produce one Little Blackstar?"

    Leonel almost didn''t want to hear the answer, but when he did, he felt his body go numb. He had thought that the needs of the Silver Tablet were already ridiculous, but this tentacle womb made it look like child''s play. Even if Leonel killed all the oceanic creatures Earth had to offer the amount wouldn''t be enough.

    Leonel shook his head. He hadn''t considered one other thing as well.

    This was all theoretical. Just because the dictionary calculated that the tentacle womb would need this amount, that didn''t mean that the tentacle womb would survive swallowing such an amount. In fact, Leonel''s next question confirmed this perfectly.

    ''So that''s how it is. As of right now, the womb''s limit is producing Fifth Dimensional creatures it needs to consume 13 Units to reproduce. If I tried to make it clone a creature worth 14 Units, it wouldn''t be able to ingest it properly and would even end up hurting itself.

    ''It''s no wonder the creatures it cloned were so small and weak comparatively speaking, that''s its limit. The Swordfish was worth about 3 or 4 Units at most.

    ''The question becomes, then, how do you find creatures close enough in identity to count as Units of one anotherбн''

    This was the next problem Leonel ran into. These so-called ''Units'' implied that you needed to swallow creatures that were nearly identical in species and ability. But, how was such a thing possible to find? Even among those sharing the same species, their abilities could vary wildly.

    Even if this tentacle womb could handle cloning Blackstar and Leonel was willing to do it, the current Leonel only had one ''Unit'' of Little Blackstar and didn''t even know where else he would find another Shadow Sovereign Mink. How the hell would he even start this journey? It made no sense.

    But, clearly, there was something he was missing, or else how had the tentacle womb created so many swordfish? Was there really a school of identical swordfish out there? What was he missing exactlyбн?

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened as he thought of something.

    After a series of pointed questions and inquiries, he landed on the response he wanted and his eyes glowed with understanding. The conclusion? Though this tentacle womb had a limit of 13 Units, the truth was that it could mostly only produce creatures worth between 3 to 5 Units.

    The reason for this was simple.

    Rather than absorbing multiple Units of the same creature, something that would be impossible, the tentacle womb instead swallowed up powerful creatures and then segmented their abilities into smaller Units to create these weaker level creatures.

    So, say for example the tentacle womb swallowed up a creature worth 10 Units. It was impossible that it would find nine more exact types of this creature with the same genetic code and ability. So, instead of doing this, it would parse this creature into smaller parts.

    Because the original creature was innately worth more to begin with, its smaller parts were able to cover all the Units these weaker creatures would need to be produced to begin with!

    To put this in the simplest terms possible, the swordfish that Leonel had fought earlier likely came from a more powerful King Swordfish. Unable to reproduce this King Swordfish, the tentacle womb instead divided the King Swordfish up so that it would be worth multiple Units of the weaker creature it eventually came to represent.

    ''I understandбн So, if this tentacle womb were to, hypothetically, absorb Little Blackstar, the creatures it would produce would be several weaker versions of Little Blackstar insteadбн''

    Leonel''s gaze glowed brighter and brighter as he thought of this, his thoughts spinning as one idea after another popped into his head. He thought of everything from using the blue whale dwarfing crocodile''s corpse to create an army of living water guns all the way up to just what kind of monster this tentacle womb would be if he one day strengthened it enough that even giving birth to Void Beasts was no longer impossible.

    Leonel understood now just how important this tentacle womb would have been to Simeon. If it was paired with the latter''s genetic modification abilityбн It would be like giving wings to a tiger.

    ''I guess that favor can really be considered to be repaidбн''

    Leonel took a deep breath and didn''t get ahead of himself. Just the birth of a single creature took a ridiculous amount of energy. Why else would the tentacle womb pair up with this golden scaled koi fishбн?

    That saidбн Wasn''t that fish still right here?

    Leonel''s gaze shifted toward the frozen koi fish, still looking as beautiful as ever. He even almost fell into another trance.

    "Dictionary, how many Units would cloning this guy take?"

    Leonel was curious. Was Little Blackstar or this little guy better?

 Chapter 1002 Energy Purification

    Chapter 1002 Energy Purification

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ бн ]

    [ 30 923 Units ]

    Leonel''s eyes opened wide in shock. This little fish was 30 times more ''valuable'' than Little Blackstar? At least the Little Blackstar before he ingested the Void Beast bloodбн

    Leonel appeared around the halo of the golden scaled koi fish, his mind running in overdrive.

    This fish was very unique. Even now, Leonel could feel the wild surges of Force that was coming from the ball of light that hung out from its mouth. However, to him, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

    This koi fish had actually been able disrupt Leonel''s mind for a moment, there was no doubt about that. For Leonel, who was very much used to being nearly infallible when it came to matters of his mind, this was both a scary and intriguing truth.

    The reality of the matter was that the boundaries of Leonel''s mind had had Fifth Dimensional protection ever since he was in the Third Dimension. In fact, back when Leonel was in the Third Dimension, he had even been able to ignore the mental coercion of a Fourth Dimensional Variant Invalid! But, now that he, himself, was in the Fifth Dimension and was also beginning to meet opponents at that level, those protections would slowly become less and less impressive.

    Unless Leonel took steps to create mental protections for himself, he would only become more vulnerable as time went on. So, in a lot of ways, he had to thank this koi fish for revealing this weakness to him. On the other hand, he was curious.

    This koi fish seemed to have the ability to gather up Force. Its affinity for Force was so great that it could even overrule a Force''s natural tendency to bend it to its will.

    The question, though, was what did this have to do with the mental coercion Leonel had experienced?

    ''It''s not that large of a logical leap. With all the types of Forces that this koi fish can control, who''s to say that there isn''t one particularly good at mental coercion? I can''t use my Dream Force to force people into illusions, but there are those with different abilities to my own that do rely on Dream Force to do exactly that. It''s possible, then, that this koi fish made use of this branch of Dream Force to place me in a tranceбн But that only makes it more embarrassing that I actually almost fell for itбн''

    Leonel shook his head.

    Every time he felt he had a grasp on the Dimensional Verse, he would get blindsided with something new. For a person like him who liked to be prepared for every possible variable, it was a bit frustrating. In the past, he used to blame his recklessness for this, but he had weeded much of that out of his system long ago. After all, he had so many Dream Counters in place to deal with things, that was evidence of his caution.

    The main issue, though, was that it felt almost inevitable that there''d come a day where his Dream Counters wouldn''t have an appropriate countermeasure. By then, it would be too late to regret.

    Leonel sighed. He knew that worrying about this was useless, just like his fear of missing out was also useless. Simply put, he didn''t know what he didn''t know. But, for Leonel who liked to be in control of things and build a logical structure to his life, he found this particularly hard to accept.

    Leonel reached a hand forward and scooped at the water the golden scaled koi fish lay in. Thanks to Vice basically freezing everything, he just had to manipulate his own spatial Force to form barriers. The result was a sphere of hovering water holding a frozen fish.

    The golden scaled koi fish regained the ability to move thanks to Leonel''s barrier blocking it from Vice''s ability, but there was nowhere it could go. It continuously rammed against the barriers, but it quickly became obvious that it was just harming itself.

    "Calm down, I''m not going to eat you." Leonel chuckled before immediately frowning.

    This koi fish had really caused too many problems. Who knew how many had died because of its actions? Under normal circumstances, Leonel would be pissed off about it. And yet, he had actually chuckled and laughed.

    The charisma of this koi fish was really too much. Leonel felt like he almost forgave it entirely.

    ''This must be some sort of evolutionary protective mechanism. It''s pseudo symbiotic relationship with the tentacle womb isn''t natural so it had to survive in other ways before it formed this co-dependency. Its ability to be likeable is probably what protected itбн

    ''Thirty timesбн Thirty timesбн''

    Leonel really couldn''t wrap his head around it. The only explanation was that this koi fish''s ability was beyond what Little Blackstar could match.

    But, the reality was that Leonel felt this koi fish was no better than his Segmented Cube. Couldn''t his Segmented Cube also gather up energy? In fact, not only could it gather it up, but it could even form Crystals and Pure Crystals out of this Force, making it far more valuable than this koi fish.

    Unable to figure it out, Leonel chose to cover all of his bases.

    "What is the ability of this koi fish?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Energy Purification ]

    ''Waitбн''

    Leonel''s Dreamscape sparked, something within his mind churning.

    A flood of questions came from his mouth, each more pointed than the last as he zeroed in on the answers he wanted. As he spoke, a plan of action continuously formed in his mind and his gaze grew brighter. By the end of it all, he looked toward the koi fish as though it was a priceless treasure, his heart thumping madly.

    Leonel carefully placed the golden scaled koi fish into the large lake of Cleansing Waters and sent the tentacle womb to be slowly healed back to its peak condition.

    Then, he picked up Vice and Candle before shooting off into the distance, his intent blazing.

 Chapter 1003 Connecting the Ocean and the Sky

    Chapter 1003 Connecting the Ocean and the Sky

    The Royal Blue Basin was a complete mess. Many of the cruisers were nothing more than scraps of metal, the lives and deaths of several were either unknown or never had a chance at the former, while those who survived were beaten and bloodied, finding it difficult even to breathe properly.

    This wave was far worse than the previous ones and even now was still raging on. There had been a slight moment of reprieve when the koi fish released its dense ball of energy. But, after Vice appeared and that world was cut off from the Invalids, they had once again charged back toward the coast and the raining waters.

    The only good news was that the heavy and dense clouds above were beginning to slowly disperse and the rain was weakening. Like this, they could be certain that this was the last wave. They just had to survive thisбн Just thisбн

    бн

    "бн I''d rather be running suicides."

    Gil felt like his legs might fall off at any moment. He was supposed to be a Speedster proud of his speed. But, quite frankly, he wanted nothing to do with anything related to running any longer. All he could do was squeeze out currents of lightning in hopes of stopping these colossal creatures from assaulting the coast anymore.

    By now, the military units had finally taken action. Large ballistae were firing and several cruisers had been sacrificed for the sake of battering ram maneuvers. However, it somehow felt that the road ahead was endless.

    That said, there was good news too. They could finally claim the Force from the Invalids they were killing. The only unfortunate part was that while this helped with morale, it didn''t do much for their stamina.

    Invalids released a unique energy that strengthened a person, but this strengthening happened toward one''s bottlenecks and progression, not necessarily toward one''s immediate state. Even a breakthrough wouldn''t bring their bodies back to tiptop shape as though nothing had happened. Unless, of course, they were breaking through a major Dimensional barrier.

    There was another reason this rose morale, though. The eight brothers were certain that this change had something to do with Leonel. Not just the rain dispersing, but this control they regained over Invalids was definitely a sign that he had succeeded.

    "Cap needs to hurry back, I''m dying over here." Raj groaned, sending another powerful fist forward.

    The heavy metallic sand his controlled was only getting heavier by the minute. But this point, he couldn''t even kill these creatures with a single blow any longer, he could only tear into their bodies and hope to rip them from the inside out.

    "Some left tackle you are," Franco chided. "You''re supposed to be protecting Cap''s blindside, not the other way around."

    "I protected him for ten years already, dammit. It''s might turn to get protected. You think that just because I''m so big and muscular that I don''t deserve love?"

    Several gazes fell onto Raj at that moment, scanning him up and down.

    It could be said that that only redeeming quality about Raj was his smooth brown skin. It was clear that it was soft and well taken care of. They all knew that Raj had an obsession with lotion. However, that was where it all stopped.

    Raj was almost two meters tall but he seemed just as wide. His torso was so big that his long legs seemed small by comparison. And, his fat was so layered that it caused his clothing to fold in several layers along with it.

    Muscular? Why was it that they couldn''t tell this?

    "You all need to stop ogling my immaculate physique. I''m a person, not an object for you to drool over. Have some common decency."

    At that moment, the fluttering laughter of several beauties drifted over. Joyce, Aulina and the others couldn''t stand Raj''s jokes anymore. But, it was about the only thing that kept their heads straight amidst all the fatigue that was weighing down on their shoulders.

    "Shit. It''s another one." Joel''s voice cut through the noise and roaring waves.

    In the distance, a billowing pillar of water seemed to connect the ocean''s surface and the skies above. The pressure was so fierce and the sound so loud that Joel''s voice was quickly drowned out by it all before heavy, pelting drops of water began to rain down.

    It was yet another enormous whale. They had been appearing one after another and were easily the most dangerous of the creatures yet.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The water rained down like bullets, growing harder and harder with each passing moment. In the distance, a soldier who didn''t get out of the way in time was hit head on, his skull being driven into the deck of his cruiser. By the time the water dispersed and his face was revealed, a large dent was left in his head as his eyes stared vacantly into spaceбн Dead.

    "Milan!" Joel roared.

    "Already on it."

    Milan clapped his hands together, the last dregs of his Force being dragged up as he roared with everything he had.

    His energy shield exploded in size growing from two meters to hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye. Veins popped up across Milan''s forehead, blood seeping between his teeth as he tried to force his energy shield to grow in size.

    However, as it grew, it also became thinner, causing the heavy droplets of water to crash through, shattering some sections into pieces.

    Milan continued to hold on, his blood silently falling into the ocean beneath him. His own energy shield began to fuse with that of others with similar abilities, large sections of defensive formations glowing blinding lights as they lifted into the sky.

    Right then, though, the worst case scenario occurred.

    A second pillar of water connected the ocean to the skies. But, this one came from a completely different location than the first.

    A second whale had appeared. And just behind it, there came a third.

    [Just two today. Back with four tomorrow unless something happens]

 Chapter 1004 Boiling Point

    Chapter 1004 Boiling Point

    A heaviness took over the atmosphere, even more dark and pregnant than it had already been before. Just a single volley of this heavy rain had already taken so many lives, it was impossible to imagine a scenario where they could truly survive such an onslaught.

    These whales came from the truest depths of the ocean. Their skin was so pale and sickly that it was impossible to conclude that they had ever seen even a drop of sunlight in their lives. But, this was also what gave them impossibly strong bodies.

    Not only were their walls of tough, rubbery skin and thick blubber nearly impossible to penetrate, but their bones were used to the high pressure of the ocean''s deep waters. On top of this, their bodies were also suited to dealing with rapid changes in this pressure and had adapted such that they could use this to their advantage. The scariest truth that came from this was the fact that their abilities had nothing to do with the water pillars that came from their blowholes and was rather just a release of this obscene pressure their bodies were prepared to adapt to.

    This was the true fearsome nature of the Dimensional Verse. These whales had yet to even display their true lethality and were only taking a breathбн And yet, this singular breath had already cost the lives of hundreds.

    Right that very moment, a third water pillar shot into the air as the third whale also took its breath.

    An apocalyptic disaster fell from the skies. Water droplets as large as half a human''s body fell, keeping their shape and form beneath the globules of snot that came from the whale''s blowhole. Despite the grotesque image, each held a lethal capability of a small grenade, pelting holes even into the tough exterior of the remaining cruise ships.

    "We can''t continue to be passive." Joel immediately took command.

    It was one thing when they believed there had only been a single whale, but now that there were three they couldn''t continue to sit back and drain Milan of whatever small amount of stamina he had left. If they didn''t charge forward and end this quickly, there was no telling if these whales would take action again.

    From experience, Joel knew that Invalids lacked intelligence but living oceanic beasts were no less crafty than humans were. Most of the Invalids had already been dealt with and it was clear at a glance that these three whales were normal beasts. If not for this, they wouldn''t have been patient enough to both evade Leonel''s detection and only attack at this crucial time. They had even staggered their appearances so they would be truly caught off guard.

    Without Leonel here, it was a given that Joel would take the helm. Not a single one of them raised a word of protest.

    "Arnold, how much do you have left in the tank?"

    "However much is needed." Arnold replied plainly, neither his voice nor his expression having shifted a single iota since the very beginning.

    "Milan, Drake. You two will be tasked with Raj and Allan''s safety. Raj, you and Allan will need to synergize for this. Just follow everything Allan says and it''ll be fine."

    Clearly, Joel and Allan had a tacit understanding about something which didn''t need to be said aloud. Without even communicating, Allan had already sprung into action, his ability kicking into high gear as he gave Raj command after command.

    Even though Raj was a jokester, he knew how to follow instructions and he most definitely knew when he needed to be serious.

    "Gil and Franco. You two will support the Moon people."

    When Joel said this, his gaze turned over to meet Karolus'' eyes.

    "Can you do it?"

    Seeing the confidence in Joel''s gaze, Karolus was taken aback a bit. As far as he was concerned, he felt that Leonel was the leader of this group. What he hadn''t expected was for them to suddenly pull it together in the face of danger as though Leonel wasn''t needed at all.

    But, this was exactly what the truth was. Leonel wasn''t needed. These eight had been surviving in the Dimensional Verse without Leonel by their side for years already. They weren''t the same as these Moon youths waiting for Karolus'' action.

    "I can take one." Karolus nodded.

    Joel''s gaze flashed. "Good. Then we''ll take the other two."

    Joel didn''t wait for a response as he dashed forward, cutting a path across the water. To his side, Arnold followed, sticking to him like glue.

    To the two of them, nothing had changed. Joel was the captain of the defense, the head hunter at the linebacker position. As for Arnold, he was the anchor of the defensive line, the defensive tackle. It was his stability that allowed Joel to run wild.

    When they came together, the world would feel their power.

    The scene of two youth men streaking through the no man''s land between the three whales and what remained of their coastal defenses was imprinted onto the minds of all that were there. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they came to accept that there was still a chance to survive.

    At that moment, the center whale opened its mouth, rows of brownish yellow bristles appearing. They looked absolutely harmless at first before they all turned rigid at once, lighting on fire in unison.

    In a sight that was one for the ages, the bristles separated from the whale''s mouth, shooting out like arrows that rose the temperature of the surrounding oceans by dozens of degrees.

    Under the astonished gazes of those watching on, and much to their horror, Joel and Arnold were swallowed by this follow of flaming bristles, a huge billow fog of steam rising from the air as the waters reached a boiling point.

    At that moment, as the steam rose into the skies above, the slowly dispersing clouds suddenly regained their life, growing more and more powerful. The light drizzle of rain seemed to recover, a heavy precipitation weighing on all their souls once more.

 Chapter 1005 Ready?

    Chapter 1005 Ready?

    "Not good." Karolus'' pupils constricted.

    He had thought that they would charge together, but Joel and Arnold had actually gone ahead on their own. But that wasn''t even the main problem.

    Even if the two managed to come out unscathed the battlefield had completely changed with the billowing steam. Let alone the fact they would need to protect themselves from the boiling steam, but their vision would also be obstructed, making it more difficult to coordinate their movements.

    Within the Third Dimension, hot steam from freshly boiled water could already cause severe burns. Fire hot enough to boil Fifth Dimensional waters were even more exaggerated. It was like Joel and Arnold were under a perpetual deadly assault from all sides.

    "Dammit. Stay here." Karolus made a decision, about to dash forward.

    "Don''t go."

    Franco and Gil stopped Karolus. The two were practically mortal enemies usually, however at the moment, they had a tacit understanding. Joel had told them to help Karolus and the other Moon people, but there was a clear hidden meaning behind his words which was quite simpleбн

    Don''t let them mess anything up.

    At that moment, two shadows suddenly surged out from the fog. No, it wasn''t that they had surged out of it, the steam had grown far too tall and covered a space far too wide for that. Instead, they had dispersed the steam around them, their Force billowing like a raging torrent.

    Arnold took the helm, Universal Force the likes of which made the very ocean surface itself tremble for several kilometers rising out from him.

    Images of a trembling asteroid belt rotating about a golden moon hung high above his head, illuminating the endless fog in his image.

    His large palms shook, the energy around them growing in size to the point it dwarfed the head of the whale beneath his. His expression went from indifferent to ferocious. It was the kind of look that had always been hidden beneath his football helmet on the field but was now displayed prominently for all to see.

    It struck fear in their hearts. It made blood run cold. It made the wind itself turn still, hanging in the air as though purposely waiting for Arnold''s next action just so that it could escape.

    BANG!

    Right then, the palm descended, deforming the head of the blue whale into the form of a hand and five fingers. The sound alone was loud that it drowned out the thunderous booms of the clouds above and the devastation was so potent that the left and right whales were sent sprawling just by the ocean waves alone.

    However, Arnold himself wasn''t satisfied with his strike. He could tell that the whale''s skull hadn''t given way beneath his power. In fact, though its head had deformed, much of that was just its thick skin and fat being displaced irregularly.

    That said, Arnold''s strike wasn''t useless. It stopped the fire bristle whale from being able to send out another strike immediately. Not only had it been sent several hundred meters into the water below, but whale''s had brains as well. It most definitely wasn''t immune to being disoriented and concussed. That left just enough time for Joel to prepare his own strike.

    Like clockwork, Joel appeared by Arnold''s side, both of them riding atop the massive wave the latter''s attack had caused.

    Joel''s dark skin danced with light as he concentrated strength within his halberd. Space trembled and cracked as his forearm flexed, keeping a tight control.

    Suddenly, he opened his eyes and smiled in Arnold''s direction.

    "Just like old times, huh buddy?"

    Arnold expression, having returned to an eerie calm. But, his words came out smoothly.

    "I pin them down."

    Joel''s smile turned to a grin. "And I''ll take their heads."

    It was at exactly that moment that the fire bristle whale rebounded out of the ocean, the waters surging forward to quickly fill in the empty space. halberd descended in a devastating arc, aiming for the thinnest and most vulnerable location within the injury Arnold had caused it. As far as Joel was concernedбн This whale was nothing more than tenderized meat.

    SHUUUU!

    A blinding light of blade qi drew and line through the sky, piercing through the whale''s skin and through its skull. An ear tearing roar shook the skies filled with a mournful plea, but it was already too late.

    Gasping for breath, Joel fell back to the ocean''s surface as the wave they stood upon faltered. He was completely spent. Even before this attack, he had already been running on nearly empty but now it was far worse. His lungs felt like he was breathing in the very steam fog that had threatened to char him to ash just moments earlier.

    Arnold caught Joel by the arm, helping him to stabilize himself as they retreated.

    As the coarse and foul blood of the fire bristle whale began to pool in the dark waters, the two young men suddenly found themselves having their auras locked onto by two extraordinarily enraged whales.

    What they hadn''t been aware originally was that these three whales were actually brothers. And, unlike many beasts of the Third Dimension, these Fifth Dimension beasts actually had concepts of kinship and comradery.

    Arnold''s own Force reserves had long since run on empty, he could only use what Universal Force had had left to fuel himself. But, he was quickly running out the Focus he needed to sustain it.

    As for Joel, he was only able to remain upright with Arnold''s support. It was clear that taking out a single whale had already been their upper limit. The two could only run with everything they had left, rushing to get away from the two enormous whales that were out to seek revenge.

    Howeverбн neither had an ounce of panic on their faces. As for why, that much was obvious. They had six other brothers.

    In the distance, Allan gave Raj a final command as his magnetic ability began to take action, his Force surging in large, rolling waves. Even as he worked, his gaze was locked onto the two in the distance.

    Around Allan and Raj, Drake continuously fired at the large droplets of water falling the skies, bursting the mucous membranes and rendering their lethality useless.

    "Ready?"

    "Ready!"

    Under Allan and Raj''s prowess, a crude rail gun rose up from ocean''s surface, its menacing tip aiming for the whale closest to the running pair.

 Chapter 1006 Sound Wave

    Chapter 1006 Sound Wave

    Beads of sweat fell down Raj''s brows. He had to put in his everything just to get this thing finished in time and he still wasn''t even sure of what it did. However, if it could be said that that Joel was the best leader they had after Leonel, then it could also be said that Allan had the greatest mind after him as well. In fact, before Leonel awakened to his ability, it was Allan who was ranked first over both him and Aina in Class A.

    The rail gun was pieced together with Raj''s metallic sand and squeezed until it formed a crystalline structure stronger than anything diamond could match up against. Its barrel had a top half and a bottom half separated by a gap just perfect to fit in a ballista Allan had long since slotted in.

    From a certain angle, it almost looked like the maw of a dragon, Force pulsing about the tip of its barrel as Allan poured everything he had into it.

    "Drake!"

    Drake didn''t need to be told twice. As the Pure Marksman of the group, he had already known exactly who would be tasked with shooting this shot.

    "This is everything I''ve got." Allan said solemnly.

    "Leave it to me." Drake''s gaze glowed, a confidence that exuded from his bones pervading his surroundings.

    The Metamorphosis had descended long before Drake got the chance to do so, but it had to be remembered that Drake was the heir apparent chosen to replace Leonel after he graduated by Coach Owen himself. He might have been a rookie four years ago, but now he had grown into his own man and had the broad back to prove it.

    He grabbed onto the railgun''s two anchor points, his gaze locking onto the distance. He could see Joel and Arnold running for their life, the fatigue painted on their faces being as clear as day. It looked as though they just might collapse at any time, their stamina running out before they could do anything.

    However, Drake''s gaze could also see the look in their eyes. Over the several kilometers that separated them, their gazes met. That look of confidence was one that he would never forget.

    ''Such a big, slow-moving targetбн'' Drake grinned. ''бн As if I could miss.''

    BANG!

    The sound of the railgun firing resounded like a cacophonic boom, but it was quickly drown out by a whistle so loud it felt as though it could be heard around the world. The recoil was devastating, the ocean waves around them being no less violent than when Arnold palmed the fire bristle whale into the ocean.

    Drake could feel his arms fracturing even beneath Raj''s control. The latter had down everything he could do to mitigate the recoil, but even then, both of Drake''s arms became useless in the end.

    However, Drake didn''t even seem to notice, his gaze focused on the projectile that was currently splitting the ocean in two.

    It was so fast that it seemed to teleport. A single blink would cause it to vanish across hundreds of meters. In fact, it had already appeared by the second whale by the time the first wave of pain was registered by Drake''s mind.

    The whale''s tough exterior was like a wet piece of paper. It didn''t even seem to register what had happened to it until it swam forward half a kilometer more, bearing down on the Joel-Arnold pair with every intention of swallowing them whole.

    As expected, for the intelligent whale''s to try to obstruct their vision with steam, one of them had to have an auxiliary ability capable of helping them to maneuver such an environment. Joel and Arnold just happened to be lucky enough that the whale that recovered the quickest to rush after them was exactly this whale, leaving it with no other option of attack.

    It was then that a second mournful cry in just as many minutes resounded. This one, though, was particularly sombre as though it was well aware it was leaving its last brother alone. Andбн Maybe that was why it was instantly followed by a roar the likes of which shook the battlefield.

    The sound wave of the roar alone sent wave after wave of dark waters spreading outward. Cruisers that got caught in the mess were upended and flipped. Even Joel and Arnold who were in the process of running away was hit by a wall of this sound, their bones threatening to fracture beneath the pressure as they were sent flying.

    "Joel! Arnold!"

    Gil''s gaze flashed. He took a deep breath, his chest expanding as he dug deep.

    With a bang, he shot forward. Arcs of lightning followed his steps as he sliced through the sound wave. It felt almost like he was trying to run in water, his limbs pushing as hard as they could for less than half the usual result. But, he knew that he was the only one who could get to those two in time.

    Joel and Arnold had already expended what Force they had left. Being so close to that sound wave, they had definitely taken the brunt of the pressure. With Force to protect them and under such a fatigued state, they had already lost consciousness. If no one went after them, they''d be finished.

    Karolus'' gaze flashed. Space fractured around him as he anchored himself. The moment he did this, it was as though he was standing in a world different from everyone else and the sound wall vanished.

    He rushed after Gil. At this point, it was a free for all. If he didn''t take action now, when would he?

    The devastation the shook the coast only seemed to be getting worse with every passing moment. However, it was then that the final whale stopped roaring, its bloodred gaze rising from the ocean and bearing down on everyone before it as though the world itself was its enemy.

    At that moment, a pressure crushed down from above, compressing the water and forcing many to pour more Force toward their feet so that they could stay afloat.

    The whale raised its tail, bloody murder marring its gaze.

 Chapter 1007 Halt

    Chapter 1007 Halt

    The sudden shift in the gravity caught many completely off guard. Those that were unable to react in time found themselves forced beneath the ocean''s surface, struggling to swim back up to no avail.

    Panic took hold of the coastal defenses once again. This kind of cruel use of a gravitational ability was far more devastating on the open waters than it ever could be on land. The horrible sight of numerous valiant soldiers being drowned one after another was a sight that shook those that managed to stay above water to their cores.

    Fourth Dimensional existences could hold their breaths for far longer than most Third Dimensional existences could, but this didn''t mean they could do so indefinitely. The gravity whale had suddenly placed a timer on all their lives, a cruel light pervading its gaze.

    "Dammit!"

    Gil roared, his steps having slowed considerably. He poured everything he had into his forward momentum, but he was still a step too late.

    Joel and Arnold crashed into the waters. They already hadn''t had any Force remaining, how could they possibly scrounge up enough to resist the pull of the waters?

    "Joel! Arnold!"

    Gil''s gaze turned bloodshot. He hadn''t made it in time. The worst part was that he knew if he dove into the waters after them now, there was no way that whale would allow him to resurface. Fighting against such gravity in the water felt almost impossible.

    "Fuck!" Franco''s gaze was just as red as Gil''s. In fact, the same went for all of them. Those two were their brothers, how could they not react this way?

    Franco swept his gaze through the Moon people before he landed on Aulina. He knew that of them all, Aulina most definitely had the best chance at saving them, only she could manipulate these waters even if it would be more difficult beneath the gravity field.

    Franco didn''t waste any time and grabbed Aulina''s waist, hoisting her over his shoulder and shooting forward.

    "Hey!"

    Franco knew what he was doing was wrong. He had no right to force someone else to risk their life for his own brother but he couldn''t just sit by and do nothing. He was the only one who felt like he hadn''t contributed anything.

    Of all of Leonel''s brothers, Franco''s ability was the least flashy. All he had was the strength of his body, but he had worked it to the bone. If he couldn''t blast through this curtain of gravity, then what good was his strength to begin with?

    "I''m sorry." Franco said as he shot ahead. "But I can promise you that if one of us is going to die, it will be me. If the both of us are going to die, it will be me first."

    Aulina, who had been caught off guard by Franco''s actions and couldn''t muster up the strength to fight back against his powerбкobviously not expecting one of their own to suddenly scoop her up like thisбкstopped resisting when she heard this. panda-novel,c,om

    The words resonated with her heart.

    "Don''t worry about me." Aulina called out to her teammates, letting Franco carry her instead the distance.

    "If anything happens to herбк!" Joyce couldn''t push through the curtain of gravity as easily as Franco could. Without anyone to turn her rage on, she turn a red gaze toward Milan and the others. But, what she found there was shocking to an extreme.

    All of them who remainedбн Milan, Drake, Allan, Rajбн Each and every one of them lowered their heads in the direction of the Moon people. Even without saying a word, their sincerest apologies were as crystal clear as a blue sky.

    Despite not seeing their gazes, Joyce, who had been stunned into silence, could imagine them. She could sense a resolve that came even without them saying a single thing.

    Though Franco''s words hadn''t managed to reach her ears as they had been for Aulina and Aulina alone, Joyce could tell that these four who remained had the resolve to take their own lives should anything happen to her.

    Whatever rage Aulina had had deflated like a leaking balloon. She couldn''t find it within herself to be pissed off any longer.

    бн

    Franco''s muscles pumped and pulsed. His somewhat fair skin was filled with blotches of bruised fibers as he pushed his body to its limits, but he didn''t seem to notice in the slightest.

    From over two kilometers away, he crossed the distance, cutting it in half then cutting it by another half.

    Gil, who had already noticed Franco''s approach rushed back as fast as he could. But, despite the fact that the gravity curtain became weaker the further he went, that didn''t change the fact it was there.

    In the time it took Franco to cross almost two kilometers, Gil had cross just a hundred meters. But, it was still enough for them to meet.

    Franco''s face was covered in sweat, his cheeks even becoming somewhat hallow. All the nutrients in his body seemed to have gone to his limbs, pushing him forward one stride at a time.

    Without a single word, Gil clasped a hand to Franco''s shoulder, pouring Speedster Lightning Force into him. Franco tossed Gil over his other shoulder and shot forward again, his speed more than doubling what it had been before. However, the strain on his muscles only grew worse.

    His muscle fibers tore, his bones threatened to fracture and his knees grinded against one another, thinning his cartilage one layer at a time.

    "Aulina!" Franco gasped out.

    He entered the general area of where Joel and Arnold had been forced beneath the water.

    "I''ve sensed them already! I got it!" Aulina replied, not trying to move from Franco''s shoulder. She was under no illusions that she could survive beneath this gravity curtain without Franco''s support. "I got them! I got them!"

    In the distance, the looming gaze of the gravity whale hung like two crimson orbs. After it had activated its ability, it seemed to have lost the ability to move, its rising tail having long since come to a halt.

 Chapter 1008 Fuck You[Bonus chapter]

    Chapter 1008 Fuck You[Bonus chapter]

    Vein''s pulsed through Aulina''s delicate brow, her face reddening beneath the strain as she released a low shout.

    Joel and Arnold were ripped out of the waters, their consciousnesses still not having been regained. Panic took hold of Franco''s heart as he wondered just how much water they had swallowed, but he didn''t have the luxury of finding out now, he needed to bring everyone back.

    Franco dug deep, pulling out everything he had. He stacked two people to each one of his shoulders, taking heavy steps back toward the coast. Every time his leg rose and fell, violent rippled of water would surge through, forming tall waves that drenched him through from head to toe.

    Blood leaked between his teeth as he stomped back. He knew that the gravity whale was behind him, but he also knew that it had a choice to make.

    If it moved, the curtain of gravity would vanish as Franco had enough distance to shoot away. However, if it didn''t move, then Franco would just continue adding to the distance between them. Even if he had to turn his bones into dust, he would bring them out of here.

    Unfortunatelyбн What actually happened was far out of their expectations.

    The curtain of gravity suddenly shifted as the whale''s tail twitched. As though it was playing a cruel game with them all, the range of the curtain shrunk and began to concentrate on Franco.

    BANG!

    Unable to control what was happening, Franco fell to a single knee, feeling as though his bones had splintered. The pain was so excruciating that the blood vessels in his eyes popped, filling his whites with a crimson hue.

    Franco roared, pushing himself back up inch by inch. Butбн

    BANG!

    The gravity curtain multiplied again, slamming Franco''s knee back onto the waters.

    It was a cruel fate. Franco had no choice but to coat his knee with Force to stop himself from sinking. But, it was also exactly this rigidity that was harming him, yet he had no choice but to accept it.

    At that moment, Karolus, who had been trying to force his way over as well but had been stalled by the gravity curtain, watched on with bloodshot eyes. Gravity was a perfect counter to his spatial affinity as they were inextricably linked to one another. This gravity curtain made it almost impossible for him to crack space like he usually did, especially since this whale was in the Fifth Dimension while he was not.

    BANG!

    Franco couldn''t stop his second knee from hitting the water. He tried to keep his back as straight as possible, but even that was beginning to bend.

    Aulina gasped for breath, his stamina having been drained to its limits. Every time she tried to control the waters, it would gurgle and ignore her. This was the first time she had ever experienced such a thing in her life, but it was also because she knew she had pushed herself too far to pull Joel and Arnold out.

    "FUCK!" Franco''s teeth cracked beneath the power of his clenched jaw. He pushed himself as far as he could. But, no matter what he tried, he couldn''t seem to rise back up.

    He could feel his vision swimming, but his will was raging like an endless torrent.

    His mind was repeating just a single thought: He wouldn''t stop until he died. Until his nerves gave out, until his brain shut down, until his heart burst from pumping too hard.. He wouldn''t stop pushing.

    Franco roared to the point his throat was torn to shreds. However, this pain seemed to be like an escape from everything else he was feeling.

    Under astonished gazes, he rose back up to a knee, his toes bending and his ankles arching as he pushed his body forward. Even if he couldn''t stand to his feet anymore, so what? He could still push himself forward like this.

    Franco could feel an endless torrent of Force coming to him from Gil. He knew that Gil was also at the end of his rope, scrounging up whatever small bit of will he had left to try an support his supposed enemy. It was only Franco that was well aware that he would have run out of Force long ago if not for Gil sacrificing as well.

    The whale''s gaze flashed, a furious light entering its eyes as though it couldn''t believe the audacity of these ants to still continue struggling. Butбн if they could barely survive against this, what would they do against its true strength?

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Franco could no longer lift his knee, nor could he keep his back straight. His face crashed into the waters, feeling like a resounding slap to the face.

    ''I can''tбн''

    Franco held the four up on his back, coating his forehead with Force and using it to push himself forward. It was the kind of scene that made one''s blood boil with rage and indignance.

    The rage of the whale was no less, though. It felt as though its ploy to play these humans to death continuously slapped his face, making it absolutely furious. It wanted nothing more than to crush these humans beneath its enormous weight.

    It opened its mouth and roared again. But, beneath the suppression of its gravity curtain, the waves couldn''t even rise up. A sonic boom of sound shattered their ear drums one after another, threatening to rip Franco to pieces.

    Without being able to be sent flying, the strength of the sound wave couldn''t be dissipated and Franco was forced to take on the brunt of it, his mouth coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

    He felt his vision swimming as something within him snapped. The last dregs of energy Gil had was already sapped clean. What Franco hadn''t noticed was that it was also Gil''s lightning that kept his mind awake. But the moment it ran outбн

    Franco collapsed, the weight on his back pushing him into the waters below.

    However, just when it seemed that their heroic tale would truly end here, a hand reached down and touched his shoulder, shrouding him in an energy shield that seemed to render the gravity curtain completely useless.

    Karolus'' pupils constricted. ''Who is thatбн?''

    The young man lifted Franco and the others up and out of the water, his gaze filled with a furious light as he gazed toward the gravity whale.

    From top to bottom, the young man was coated in a beautiful blue light. It surrounded him like a halo, making him seem like a Deity descended from some world above.

    "Fuck you." The young man said coldly.

    He reached out a hand, causing the whale to suddenly become enveloped by an energy shield of blue that was eerily similar to the halo that surrounded him.

    Caught off guard, the whale couldn''t react in time. It found that its gravity curtain was suddenly concentrated in its immediate surroundings, its own power being turned against it.

    Its flesh collapsed and a pained howl left it. Unfortunately, even the sound wave rebounded against the barrier, causing its own voice to tear at its skin.

    The young man''s hand rose up high, lifting the whale that must have been almost a kilometer long as though it was nothing more than feather. Thenбн He squeezed.

    The energy shield of blue morphed, forming spikes that pierced the whale''s body through. Its harsh cried turned to gurgles that eventually died out completely. All that was left was an energy shield hovering in the air like a sack of flesh and blood.

    At that moment, a blazing light appeared from the distance like a streak of gold cutting across the skies. When that light came to a grinding halt, another young man appeared, this one far more recognizable to the masses.

    Leonel looked around the battlefield, his pupils constricting. But, when he saw the young man with his hand raised in the air, his expression evened out to the point it neared placid.

    ''James.''

 Chapter 1009 Veil

    Chapter 1009 Veil

    James Bennett.

    Much like the rest of the talents of Earth, he too had taken advantage of Earth connecting with the wider Dimensional Verse to explore what lay beyond their world as well. He hadn''t ended up going to the same location as the rest of his former teammates and instead ended up elsewhere, the result was him only recently returning.

    He had, of course, chosen to come to the coast much like all of Earth''s talent had and he happened to run into this situation the moment he had. Regardless of how he had fallen out with Leonel, the fact remained that these were his brothers as well. They had all grown up together from the time they put their first football pads on to the day they won their last championship. How could James sit idly by and watch them die?

    Let alone sitting idly, James was actually infuriated and he took it all out on the whale instantly. What he hadn''t expected, though, was for his appearance to coincide with Leonel''s own so perfectly. Leonel was just a half minute later than him or else maybe their roles would have been completely reversed.

    James was quite used to seeing those eyes of Leonel by now. As Leonel''s best friend for over a decade, he had long since come to know Leonel''s personality as well as his own. In fact, he wasn''t even sure if Leonel understood himself as well as he understood him.

    Everyone thought that Leonel was a nice guy who had a bright smile for everyone, but James knew better. He knew that Leonel was a man who was measured in the way he acted and would only make a move when it benefited him the greatest while costing him the least. This was how he moved through life, constantly weighing and balancing things to optimize everything for himself.

    That gaze Leonel was giving him now was the very same one he gave to anyone he knew nothing about. It wasn''t coldness, it wasn''t rage, or anger, it wasn''t even indifference. It was just a placid, vast and endless abyss with a depth impossible to see and a steadiness impossible to match.

    He would use those eyes to mark down every little detail he could about a target. Only when he was confident in his assessment would he make a moveбн

    But the trouble was that Leonel should already understand James well. Giving this sort of look to a young man who should have been the greatest friend you had ever had hit differently. It was worse than experiencing a cold glare, one filled with rage or even indifferenceбн It was as though Leonel was pretending like he had never known the person before him.

    Flashes of what happened the last time the two met took hold of James'' mind.

    His father had asked him to stall Leonel so that he would end up caught. In truth, James knew that he had lied to himself, convincing himself that Leonel wouldn''t be harmed and that he would just be captured. With Leonel''s talent, he would be too useful to the Fort to maim or kill, so he would eventually be released on his own meritsбн

    But deep inside James knew that was a lie. With how much the Junior Governor Duke hated Leonel and how even Simeon had come for him, how could anyone ever conclude that Leonel would be just fine?

    The plain and simple truth was that he almost drove Leonel to his deathбн But those words he said in those moments reverberated the loudest.

    "I''m disappointedбн I reallyбн took you to be my closest friendбн"

    ~

    James remembered absolutely snapping when he heard those words. His mind spun and his eyes saw red to the point he released something he had held deep within him for the longest time. Before he could even properly suppress and think about what he had been going to say, it all spilled out.

    "Bullshit! You pretend to care about so many things, you pretend to be kind hearted, but all you really care about are things ending up exactly like you want them! You don''t like killing only because you don''t want to deal with the guilt! You don''t like playing football only because you didn''t get to choose it! You only want to do things your way and nothing else matters!

    "You''re a fucking sociopathic hypocrite!"

    No one knew Leonel better than James did aside from maybe Leonel''s own father. Maybe his words had a tinge of jealousy to them, maybe they were spoken in the heat of the moment, but in all such things there was always a kernel of truth to be found. James'' feelings most definitely didn''t come from thin airбн

    However, whether or not he had the right to feel this way was a different matter entirely.

    It was hard to tell just how much had changed in the last few years, if anything at all. James was still tied to his Bennett family, working hard so that they might once more regain their former glory. At least when it came to James, nothing much had changes aside from his maturing face having gained a bit of stubble to it.

    As for Leonel, he had probably changed the most between the two. He didn''t have such obvious signs of maturity on his face, but unlike his previously aimless self, he now had a goal that he was chasing after just as fervently as James wasбн

    It could be said that the greatest difference between them now was that Leonel was fighting for himself while James was fighting for his father and his ancestors before himбн

    In what could only be considered a twist of ironic fate, thenбн Leonel hadn''t really changed at all in James'' estimation, still doing things that benefited himself the mostбн

    The veil that separated two men that had once been as inseparable as brothers only seemed even more impossible to penetrate now.

 Chapter 1010 lrony and Exchange

    Chapter 1010 lrony and Exchange

    Leonel descended from the skies, landing before James. He checked the condition of Franco, Gil, Joel and Arnold with a frown. When his gaze finally landed on Aulina he realized that she must have been a person of the Moon and he felt a tinge of gratefulness in his heart.

    Finally, he looked up and met James'' gaze. He could still remember that Coach Owen had told him that he should forgive and reconcile with him, but as easy as it was for Leonel to turn his emotions off when it came to a person, turning them back on was a tall mountain to climb. It was almost like his natural resting state was unbothered and unmoved while rising up from this level took effortбн

    As for this effort, those he had deemed unworthy of it would never get it again.

    "Thank you for saving them." Leonel finally said.

    "You don''t have to thank me for saving my own brothers." James replied, a bit surprised that Leonel''s eye level was now even with his own. James had always been taller than Leonel, but it seemed that this would no longer be the case.

    "Fair enough." Leonel replied.

    Someone else might have accused James at this point. If he really cared so much for brothers, why would he have taken the actions he had during the past several years? However, Leonel couldn''t be bothered with such emotion. He could already simulate what would happen if he said such a thing and it would ultimately just be a waste of his time.

    Leonel waved a hand as Earth Force surged, forming a platform he laid them on one by one.

    James'' gaze narrowed. The Water Force in the surroundings was so potent that it was hard to imagine anyone managing to gather up so much Earth Force, let alone in such a short time.

    "Shouldn''t you heal them?" James asked.

    "No. This is the perfect state for them take something I prepared for them. If I heal them now, all their hard work will be meaningless."

    James frowned when he heard this, but he didn''t say anything as Leonel placed a hand over Aulina''s forehead.

    "[Twinkling Lily: Bell''s Blessing]."

    A gentle chime began to resound. Whether by coincidence or maybe due to the strength of Leonel''s spell, the dense clouds above instantly began to disperse as strong surges of Light Elemental Force descended.

    From an injured state, Aulina''s cheeks suddenly became rosy and her breathing became even. In the blink of an eye, it was as though she hadn''t fought a single battle all day.

    There was no doubt that let alone James, this was the most powerful healing spell anyone present had ever seen in their lives.

    "Bring the injured to me. I''ll heal them." Leonel didn''t seem to be trying very hard, but his voice boomed across the battlefield.

    After he finished speaking, he reached out a hand toward the energy shield of flesh and blood. Pure white vines coated in a cotton like fabric shot out, sucking out the vitality of the blood one pint after another.

    "Please hold it up." Leonel spoke to James who only gave him a nod in the end.

    **

    Admiral Ellie watched with numbness as Leonel flipped the devastation on its head. He had used a few hours to heal tens of thousands and he simply walked away with his brothers in tow as though it was nothing special at all.

    Of course, Leonel had relied on the large amounts of vitality the whale''s flesh and blood had to accomplish this, but who else could do such a thing? The healers they had were quite talented, as one might expect from citizens of Earth, but even they couldn''t hold Leonel''s shoes in this regard. The difference was too shocking.

    "Admiral, we need to make a report."

    "Oh! Rightбн" Admiral Ellie shook his head, looking at the wreckage of his cruiser and shaking his head.

    "The two Princes are really something, hm Admiral? I heard that Prince Noah was the sole reason Unit 3 was able to survive."

    "Yesбн" Admiral Ellie said slowly, sighing as he looked up into the skies.

    Were the days of his militaristic pride numbered? What happened to strength in numbers and the power of order and duty? What happened to following rank and dutifully fulfilling your orders? These days, all the battles seemed to whittle down to who had the largest fist while those of them that were less talented found themselves in the role of canon fodder.

    Shaking his head, Admiral Ellie went off to make his report. He had a feeling that things would only become more exaggerated in this way as time went onбн He also felt that it probably wouldn''t be long before they were on a battlefield even grander than this quite soon.

    бн

    James took a deep breath as he watched his former walk away. Wellбн Walk was a strong word. The only eight people Leonel hadn''t healed were them. So, aside from Drake, Milan, Allan and Raj who could just barely shuffle their feet, Joel, Arnold, Gil and Franco were all being carried along by Leonel''s island of Earth Force.

    It was all quite sobering. Of the nine of them, the only one who had spoken to him was the one of them that should have hated him the most, Leonel. As for the other eight, they had met his gaze but hadn''t said a word.

    James knew how important Leonel was to them and that a slight toward Leonel was just as great of a slight toward them. So, even though James knew that he had done his best to protect them during the Metamorphosis, he also knew it wasn''t enough.

    ''This is quite a lonely pathбн'' James thought to himself.

    He had already chosen family over friends. If he hadn''t, he wouldn''t have betrayed Leonel like he had. But, it was easy to put his head down and ignore the loneliness when no one was around himбн He had ironically become the hard worker he never had been in school, giving him strength that dwarfed many of his acquaintancesбн

    And in exchange, he lost his brothers.

 Chapter 1011 Stone

    Chapter 1011 Stone

    The groans resounded throughout the Segmented Cube to Leonel''s laughter. He was quite used to his teammates groaning like this, but usually it was thanks to the expert hands of a beautiful masseuse. However, this time, it was for something much less satisfyingбн And rather than groaning, it could be said that they were screaming.

    The Bone Burning Rose was truly working its magic and because Leonel hadn''t allowed them to heal even the smallest bit, the results they were gaining were excellent.

    As though that wasn''t bad enough, Leonel had thrown them all into the Sixth Dimensional Cleansing waters at the same time. And, in a feat of true sadism, the Bone Burning Rose concoction that Leonel had given them had Cleansing Waters as part of the ingredients, making it feel as though their throats, stomachs and intestines were being burned from the inside out.

    Not only were the impurities of their bodies being weeded out one after another, but their foundations were being strengthened inch by inch.

    If Leonel wanted to help his brothers blaze through the Fourth Dimension, he didn''t need to go through all these problems. After all, with the Silver Tablet, he could loosen any bottlenecks they faced.

    However, Leonel knew that the Silver Tablet wouldn''t be able to help them to the very end. After all, even now, it had its limitations.

    For example, the amount of energy it took for Leonel to undo a bottleneck versus someone far less talented were vastly different. The less talented a person was, the more energy it would take. After a certain point, the effort put in wouldn''t match up to the rewards gained if things continued like this.

    Thus, the best course to take wasn''t relying solely on the Silver Tablet, but rather instead combining its use with natural treasures that could keep their foundations firm and steady.

    Leonel had learned first hand the benefit of patience and consolidation. After staying in the Third Dimension for so long, his foundation had greatly benefited and his strength displayed that in spades. He wanted the same for his brothers so they would have to experience a bit of pain first.

    After checking that their situations were stabilized, Leonel nodded to himself.

    Under lesser circumstances, the harsh reality was that his teammates would be in danger of dying. But, with all the equipment of the Segmented Cube, Leonel didn''t feel the need to worry about this at all. There were too many fail safes in place.

    ''It seems like Franco will gain the greatest benefits from this, but that makes sense. His ability is physical and he really pushed himself to the limits. He''ll probably be the first to break into the Fifth Dimensionбн''

    Leonel swept one more gaze before walking away and entering a different lab.

    The Segmented Cube had so much space now that Leonel hardly knew what to do with it all. The Lab Setting was more like several Lab Settings with technology from civilizations Leonel had never even heard of, let alone would understand how to use.

    He decided to keep things simple and stick with what he knew.

    Not long later, he found himself standing before the tentacle womb whose wounds were still slowly healing. Leonel had plans but a lot of it would revolve around this tentacle beast, the koi fish and the Segment Cube working in tandem. However, currently, the tentacle womb was the weakest link.

    While it seemed like its abilities were astounding, when Leonel really thought about it, it wasn''t all that impressive. Considering the resources he would need to pour into it, he might be better off just pouring it all into his Crafts. It was easier to make, say, an automated machine gun.

    The worst part about the tentacle womb was that its energy consumption didn''t stop at just its creations. After all, what it produced were living, breathing creatures. They would need to be fed and taken care for.

    Even though the Segmented Cube had more than enough room to accommodate such things, whether it was worth it was an entirely different question.

    Simply put, using the tentacle womb to spam out weak creatures was a waste of time and resources.

    Just take the swordfish as an example. Leonel could create a gun and hundreds of bullets in less than an hour that could take out an entire school of them. The best part about this gun with his current skill is that it could be wielded by a human not even in the Fifth Dimension yet.

    When things were put into this frame, it could be said that the tentacle womb wasn''t as ground breaking at it seemed, nor was its ability particularly unique either.

    Just from a cursory thought, Leonel could already think of two people with semi-similar abilities to the tentacle womb. One was Aphestus and his swallow ability. He was able to ingest creatures and make their abilities his own if he ate enough of them. A second was Simeon who could genetically modify the ability of both people and creatures.

    If Leonel wanted to make this tentacle womb a trump card, it would have to be far stronger than it was now, and such a thing would take time and patience.

    However, he had a trump card in this regard: The Silver Tablet.

    If there was anything that could help this tentacle womb evolve, it was the Silver Tablet. The key to unlocking this path, though, would most definitely be the golden scaled koi fish.

    **

    A far distance away from the pressure cooker Earth was becoming, a murderous aura hung, sinking deep into the walls of the office space.

    Rychard sat at his desk, his hands clasped before him and his face expressionless. But, the bulging veins on his forearms painted a completely different picture. It was clear that he was pissed off, and how couldn''t he be?

    It had been two weeks since he met Aina in that odd state and he had immediately guessed a few things. He had tested his conjectures on multiple occasions and concluded that he was about 90% correct while the remaining 10% were miscellaneous details he would never grasp unless Aina herself told him.

    He took advantage of this opportunity to try and court Aina, but despite receiving no resistance from her father or her friends, he was stone walled time and time againбн

 Chapter 1012 Competition

    Chapter 1012 Competition

    Rychard was a man who was very good at controlling his emotions. In fact, his patience had been displayed for a long while now. He had practically taken over what remained of the race to Heirship without lifting a single finger. In fact, now that he had Gradeyr''s brother in his possession, it could be said that it was all over now. Gradeyr had been his only real competition and he no longer dared to fight against him.

    However, those that saw him as a weak man now simply didn''t understand just how infuriating the last two weeks had been. He had never experienced such a continuous and relentless assault on his ego. It was mind numbing.

    At first, he had tried to be cautious and beat around the bush with Aina, but then she had caught him completely off guard.

    "Are you trying to court me?"

    Aina stood in her courtyard, a faint sheen of sweat on her face. She had learned ''modesty'' during the past few days and now dressed in a new flexible armor. According to her, modesty was important for a woman, but not to the point where she should hide her beauty completely. Surprisingly, this was a conclusion she had come to without either Savahn or Yuri saying so explicitly.

    However, Yuri still felt that she took some responsibility in catalyzing this due to how she had covered Aina''s body previously. This experience made her realize that even the smallest push could lead Aina in a particular direction, it made her hesitant as to whether she should take action or not.

    Now, she could only watch as Rychard visited daily as though trying to imprint himself onto her mind. Without a choice, Yuri could only drag Aina out of the estate to experience the world. If all she knew was this small corner, her awakened personality would be far too negatively affected, or it might never reawaken at all.

    Still, even Yuri almost choked on her drink when she heard Aina''s words, let alone Rychard. However, Rychard, who felt he had an ''understanding'' of Aina, regained his composure quickly.

    Previously, he had put Aina into one of two categories. She was either a block of ice that could be easily convinced to marry him or she was a block of ice that would never marry anyone. Such cold beauties were the kind that were either logical to a fault or stubborn to a fault.

    In the time he had known Aina, it had seemed like she was the latter and couldn''t be budged from her position. But, now that this change had occurred, and even the fact she was being so straightforward, made it seem like she had now somehow transitioned to becoming the former.

    "Indeed." Rychard said confidently. "I am the Heir Apparent of the Viola family and all of this will soon be mine. I would, of course, need a wife of your caliber by my side."

    "The Viola family? Isn''t that just a Sixth Dimensional family?"

    If Rychard was a lesser man, his facial expression would have already warped at these words alone. What the hell did ''just'' Sixth Dimensional mean? Did she understand what such a family represented?

    What Rychard didn''t know was that Aina did and she felt like Rychard had a cap on his potential. Rychard would be shackled by his Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factors, but Leonel had been born with a Seventh Dimensional Lineage Factor. The difference was large.

    Luckily, Aina had learned in her lesson on ''modesty'' that thinking out loud wasn''t a good thing either, so she hadn''t said this. Butбн She also wasn''t quite good at filtering what she should and shouldn''t say eitherбн Something that would become very apparent to Rychard very soon.

    "Yes. My Viola family sits at the very top of Sixth Dimensional families and can be considered to be a hair''s breadth away from the Seventh. What we''re lacking is a generation of talent that can lead us to leap over this final hurdle. This is a task we can take on together."

    "I see, that is a decent argument." Aina nodded. "After all, building something on your own will be more reliable than relying on others especially with how important lineage is. I can be considered single right now, I thinkбн So I can allow you to court me."

    Rychard''s internal frowned disappeared when he heard this and a light smile spread across his face.

    "But, though I''m single right now and he might be very angry with me, according to my calculations, because I held onto this, there is still a chance between us," Aina spoke, looking down at a broken bracelet she couldn''t stand to take off of her wrist for some reason. "So, it could be said that you are in competition with my ex boyfriend."

    Rychard almost choked on air.

    This cold woman had an ex boyfriend? What the hell kind of nonsense was this?

    That was when he remembered a conclusion he had made himself long agoбн The only way to break into the heart of such a cold woman was by knowing her from a young age. Thinking of this, he relaxed. A childhood friend might have an advantage, but women usually became more realistic as they grew older. With Aina acting like this, it was clear that he wasn''t so difficult to erase.

    Rychard looked at the bracelet Aina had pointed out. ''A broken Fourth Dimensional treasure? How pathetic. If this is my competition, this will be easy.''

    Famous last words like these had never been spoken before.

    "If it''s a competition, I believe it''s proper to let you know what the parameters are, correct? I can only tell you that you are far behind. Even setting aside talent for a momentбн There is value in being attracted to your husband as this would represent strong genes for rearing children.

    "Butбн You are shorter than my ex boyfriend by half a foot and are even an inch or two shorter than myself. Your shoulders aren''t as broad, your skin isn''t as healthy, and your eyes aren''t as pretty. Your hands are smaller, your smile isn''t as appealing, and judging by the silhouette of your robes pressing against your lower bodyбн"

    Aina looked down toward Rychard''s crotch and shook her head.

    "I believe commenting on that would be inappropriate so I will refrain."

    Aina''s ''oh so kind'' words had nearly turned Rychard blue.

 Chapter 1013 Coming

    Chapter 1013 Coming

    When Rychard had left that day, for the first time in a long time, he almost wanted to destroy everything around him. It had taken all of his self control to leave that place with a calm smile and a nod, maintaining his image as a noble young man. But, being told that he was inadequate in the face of the woman he was courting was enough to make several of his blood vessels pop and snap.

    Rychard regretted wearing the latest fashion trends now.

    Much like Earth, there was a certain appeal women across the DImensional Verse got from looking at the silhouette of a man''s lower body. For Leonel who liked to wear sweatpants so much, Aina had seen it many times before and had quite liked it even though she never voiced it aloud.

    Rychard''s robes worked much the same way and were even designed to accentuate that portion of his body both subtly and aesthetically. And yet, without so much as a filter, Aina had pointed it out without reserve or holding back.

    No, she had been ''polite'' enough not to say it so clearly. He was so ''grateful'' for her grace. had almost wanted to say that he was a grower and not a shower, but he knew whatever last bit of face he had left would have been completely destroyed the moment he said anything to that effect. The more he thought about it, the more infuriated he became.

    As though that much wasn''t bad enough, after displaying her ''grace'', Aina had gone on to point out several other things, saying that his jaw wasn''t as sharp, that his voice wasn''t as deep, she had even said that his butt wasn''t as round. Yet, he had had to stand there and take it from start to finish.

    It took Rychard several days to calm himself, but he had returned everyday to hear Aina''s ''scrutiny'', only to come back to his estate more and more dejected. He should have been entering the happiest phase of his life, but instead he was having his ego stamped down one ''polite'' insult after another.

    He was so caught off guard by these things that he hadn''t even registered that Aina said that her ex boyfriend was more talented than he was, too wrapped up in the other more deliberate blows to his ego.

    Rychard forgot all the ridiculous tricks he had used to try to get Aina to change her mind, but the ending of each was more painful than the last.

    "There''s something to be said about just feeling good and doing what''s right in the moment, right? I believe that everyone should be free." Rychard spoke with a light smile.

    "Feeling good is an easy way to get swept up in indulgence." Aina replied. "Plus, such talk of freedom would only work if I was a man. My reproductive burden is higher than yours and it will also make it more difficult for me to find an appropriate husband should I indulge due to the widely accepted societal norms.

    "In addition to this, a woman feeling good isn''t necessary for copulation and birthing the next generation, it is only an added bonus and is not as important as other things. It will be the last thing I consider.

    "This is a good thing for you, though. It would be impossible for you to make me feel better than him."

    Rychard left that day almost coughing up blood.

    бн

    "What do you like in a man?" Rychard asked.

    "I like a man who can take charge and protect me. Unfortunately, you lost points in this aspect by sending me on a dangerous mission you didn''t want to do yourself.

    "You are too cunning and too scholarly. You have no edge to you and you lack a kingly air. You would rather be on the backline of a battlefield than on the front line and that''s not very attractive.

    "However, that doesn''t mean you don''t have redeeming qualities. After all, I love to battle. So, if I have your child, you can stay home to rear and guide them while I fight. I can give you half a mark for that."

    He tried everything but nothing seemed to move her in the slightest. In fact, it only buried him into a deeper and deeper hole. By now, it had been half a month of this and it only seemed to get worse everyday. By this point, whatever attraction he had for Aina had whittled down to a pure and condensed rage as though he would sooner stab her through the heart than walk down an aisle with her.

    Rychard''s hands clasped together hard over his desk as he slowly attempted to regain his bearings. He took deep breaths causing the vibrations of the room to cool down bit by bit.

    Right then, there was a knock at the door.

    He looked up and unclenched his fingers, patting down whatever wrinkles might have appeared on his robes.

    "Come in."

    Rychard was expecting a normal servant, but what he actually saw left his pupils constricted into pinholes.

    A skinny middle aged man no thicker than a broom''s pole entered with light steps. He had a thick mustache on his upper lip and aftershave covering the rest of his face in a thin shadow. His head, though, was completely bald.

    Rychard recognized this man immediately and shot up to his feet. He was none other than the current head of the oldest Vassal family their Viola family had and was probably the most trusted aid the of the current family Head: Vassal Obrien.

    "Vassal Obrien, please forgive this junior for his rudeness."

    Vassal Obrien looked Rychard up and down before chuckling. "No need to be so stiff, young one. I''ve come with good news."

    Rychard''s heart sped up. Was it that time already? Would he be officially appointed?

    "They''re coming."

    These words weren''t what Rychard wanted to hear the most, but it could be said they were most definitely the second thing he wanted to hear the most.

    They had known for a long time that Myghell had purposely held back from entering the Sixth Dimension and that he had a purpose for doing soбн It seemed like it was time.

    ''This is an opportunity, one that no one would want to give up. I''ll see how she escapes from my palm now.''

 Chapter 1014 Pure Neutral Force

    Chapter 1014 Pure Neutral Force

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a snowglobe. Within, the half dead body of Monkey, the third Savant, lay. A sort of Internal struggle took hold of him, but he eventually shook his head.

    ''Little Blackstar still hasn''t woken up yetбн This is a decision I''ll be forced to make later.''

    Shaking his head, Leonel pushed this thought away. He knew that there would be a lot of tough decisions he had to make on his road into the future and he had to be mentally prepared to make them. For now, though, he still had time to think about this one.

    Instead, he focused on the less morally existential issues.

    ''Energy Purification will make things much easier on me.''

    Energy Purification was exactly what it sounded like, it was the process of cleansing Force into a higher form. This pure Force was not only easier to absorb, it was marginally more powerful than Force of normal kind.

    To understand how this worked, one needed to understand how Force worked normally.

    After a Metamorphosis descended, physics would gain a new law not present within the Third Dimension and those new laws would revolve around Force. This new law was why Leonel had gotten so lost in the weeds when he was comprehending his first offensive technique back in the Joan Zone.

    When Leonel learned more about the Dimensional Verse, he eventually allowed these overly complicated and verbose explanations fall into the background. He used his understanding of these intricacies to understand the nuances of techniques, but it was no longer at the forefront of his mind.

    What was key to understand was only that in addition to atoms, Force also made up the existence of everything. Everything in existence beyond the Third Dimension had Force attached to it and the characteristics of this Force was what changed the fundamental laws that governed the world.

    This truth was why the concentration of Water Force was so great on the ocean and why James was so shocked that Leonel was able to gather up Earth Force so quickly in a region it shouldn''t have been so easy.

    However, it was exactly this that made most Force impure. The fact Leonel could gather up so much Earth Force in an environment that wasn''t conducive to it at all spoke volumes. Often, in nature, it was impossible to find a single pure Force of a singular kind without influence of other Force.

    Just taking the ocean as a continued example, were there not countless particulates that made up its being? Setting aside the most obvious in salt, there was oxygen content within water, countless other gases, and that didn''t even mention the numerous microscopic organisms.

    This was all to say that there was never any true ''Pure'' Force and this was exactly why Neutral Force was the most abundant of any kind. This was because Neutral Force represented the amalgamation and balance of countless different Forces into one.

    The natural inclination of Force was to amalgamate and enter this balanced form and it took effort, affinity and power to separate this Neutral Force into its individual parts.

    And this was where the abilities of the golden scale koi fish truly began to shine. Not only could it separate out Neutral Force into its individual parts, but it was also capable of producing Pure Neutral Force, the pinnacle Force that all Force tended toward.

    The individual parts of Neutral Force were easy enough to understand, but Pure Neutral Force was a somewhat novel concept but it didn''t take much explanation to grasp either.

    While all Force tended toward fusion, there would, of course, be less stable and less perfect fusions. These forms of Neutral Force were everywhere, they had reached a ''good enough'' balance, but there would definitely be clashes within its structure that would lower its power. This imperfect Neutral Force could be akin to regular gas at a gas station while Pure Neutral Force could be akin to premium gas.

    The gold koi fish was able to gather up this Force and help it to enter a perfectly balanced state. This was the shocking ability of its Energy Purification.

    But why was this useful? What good was this Pure Neutral Force?

    The answer to that was simple. Pure Neutral Force went further in the energy it could produce. A single Unit of impure Neutral Force was worth maybe a hundredth of Pure Neutral Force, and that was at the lowest Third Dimension. The higher the Dimension, the wider the gap became because the formation of Pure Neutral Force also became more difficult.

    In addition to this, the energy that Invalids released upon their deaths was actually a form of Neutral Force a step above impure Neutral Force but a step below Pure Neutral Force. It had already been seen by Leonel long ago that this Force was able to loosen and undo bottlenecks one might experience in the futureбн So just how much better would Pure Neutral Force be at this?

    In truth, Leonel knew the answer to this because Pure Neutral Force was exactly what the Puppet Master Variant Invalid had released upon its death! Thanks to that single Variant Invalid and single absorption of Pure Neutral Force, Leonel''s bottlenecks in his Metal Body had loosened by three or four stages.

    By now, the prowess of the little koi fish should be obvious. If Pure Neutral Force was worth so much more, and this little one was actually able to produce Fifth Dimensional Pure Neutral Force, then wouldn''t that cut down the amount of Force Leonel needed to awaken his former army?

    Rather than allowing the Silver Tablet to absorb the Force directly, why not allow the koi fish to do so instead? Upon creating the Pure Neutral Force, Leonel would allow the Silver Tablet to absorb it and the benefits would be even greater.

    On top of this, this was the high level Force that the Silver Tablet needed to awaken Normand''s former fiancижe, the very young woman whose blood had fed and awakened the Silver Tablet to begin with!

    Objectively, when it came to undoing bottlenecks, the Silver Tablet was better than even Pure Neutral Force was. But, if the abilities of the koi fish and the Silver Tablet were synergized, just what kind of impact would that have?

    The best part was that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

    To now, Leonel had only been following a single train of thought, one that followed the benefits of Pure Neutral Force. However, what he hadn''t yet touched upon was the opposite path.

    Just what were the benefits of the dissection of Neutral Force to form other Pure Forces?

 Chapter 1015 Pure Force

    Chapter 1015 Pure Force

    The path of Pure Force was what Leonel might have been the most excited about and it was also the path he believed just might be the way to making this tentacle womb more useful to him.

    As one might expect, Pure Force was most definitely linked to Pure Force Crystals. Only with Pure Force could Pure Force Crystals be formed. This was why Leonel had originally thought that the koi fish would be useless to him. Why keep around a creature he would have to feed and raise, not mention worry about its betrayal, if he had a perfectly fine and loyal machine that could do the same exact thing? It didn''t make sense.

    The koi fish had already exposed itself to have intelligence no less than that of a human. Though it couldn''t communicate with Leonel, Leonel didn''t believe it didn''t have the ability to. If it could put him in an illusion, then it could most definitely convey its thoughts through said illusion.

    Without appropriate benefits, Leonel wouldn''t keep such a dangerous thing around.

    But, Leonel had been wrong.

    The Segmented Cube was much like the Silver Tablet. Its ultimate function was better than the koi fish alone, but what it put out was dependent on what went in.

    The Silver Tablet could produce an energy that seemed to be even above Pure Neutral Force while the Segmented Cube could produce Force and Pure Force Crystals, however it was still all dependent on what they took in. The Silver Tablet needed to absorb the relative purer Neutral Force of Invalids while the Segmented Cube needed Force dense environments of a certain level or caliber.

    Due to this, the koi fish essentially became a branching point that allowed both objects to display their true abilities with far less drawbacks.

    This was where the first ability of this path came into play: The koi fish would allow Leonel to form Pure Force Crystals much faster and with much greater ease. It had already been over a month since he learned of the Segmented Cube''s ability and had even gone to the energy dense region of Planet Solara, yet he had yet to form even a single one. Clearly, this wasn''t as easy as it seemed to be.

    With the koi fish, though, so long as Leonel gave it some time, this would be a matter of ease. Very soon, he would gain the Force Crystals he needed. And, once he found the perfect Light Elemental Force to replace his Snow Force, he would then be able to upgrade his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor relying on the Force Arts displayed by the Pure Force Crystals.

    However, this was just the beginning.

    Why were Pure Force Crystals so valuable? It was because they could do the same thing Pure Neutral Force could do in loosening bottlenecks, but it was far more targeted.

    When Pure Neutral Force is taken into the body, it cleared away impurities and cleanses one''s foundation. This lays stronger ground work to take the next step forward and it works this way for everyone regardless of their affinities.

    However, Pure Force in general is usually tied to a particular ability or a particular Lineage Factor. The root of these powers comes from Pure Force. So, when one absorbs Pure Force, rather than increasing one''s overall foundation in a general sense, Pure Force targets what it is familiar with an bolsters this instead.

    Take Supreme Monet, for example.

    She has an Elemental ability and it falls under the Unique Elemental category. It had to be remembered that the three forms of Elemental ability were either unique in that it gave a special ability, neutral in that it gave general control over Elements, or evolutionary in that it allowed onto to improve the Element into higher and higher forms.

    Supreme Monet could use her flames to heal herself, not much unlike a phoenix, so she falls under the unique category.

    Under normal circumstances, there are only a few ways for Supreme Monet to increase the strength of her ability. She could swallow a Beast Crystal, she could be patient and wait for it to mature through her training, she could increase her Dimension and finally, she could wait for her home world to increase Dimensions as well.

    These latter three options all took time and patience while the very first option was a crapshoot. There was a very low probability of a Beast Crystal taking effect and it might cause a varied mutation that wouldn''t be exactly what you were looking for.

    However, Pure Force Crystals were different. Not only did they take near immediate effect, but there was no unpredictability factor. It would work 100% of the time and it wouldn''t mutate your ability, it would only allow it to progress along its designed path.

    By now, what Leonel wanted to do was obvious, then.

    All he needed to do was understand the underlying Pure Force that governed this tentacle womb''s ability. Then, he would use the koi fish to create and feed the tentacle womb these Pure Force Crystals. Over time, the tentacle womb would eventually strengthen to the point investing in its reproduction was worth it for Leonel.

    It only took a few questions from the dictionary for Leonel to understand exactly what the tentacle womb needed to evolve.

    ''Life Force and Blood Force had already been guessed by me, so this much was obviousбн I can probably gather up the two Forces just from killing beasts since I''ll have to do that anyway. But, this third Forceбн What is Breaking Force?''

    Leonel was intrigued. This simple matter had seemingly become complicated once again. This so-called Breaking Force was something Leonel had never come across before, nor had he expected it to be so fundamental to how the tentacle womb functioned.

    ''Interestingбн''

    Leonel suddenly felt he had stepped into a new world. This Breaking Force, the tentacle womb only needed a small portion of it, only a single crystal for every thousand Life and Blood Pure Crystal it consumed, and yetбн It was the core part of its ability.

    ''Is it really above Life Forceбн?''

    Just as Leonel was thinking about this, a wailing siren reached his ears. This was definitely something new as he had no idea what it meant, but he had a good guess.

    Was Earth being attacked again?

 Chapter 1016 cold

    Chapter 1016 cold

    Leonel frowned lightly and turned. With quick steps, he made it to the pool he kept the koi fish in.

    Almost immediately, the fish jetted away, trying to get as far from Leonel as possible. However, its efforts were meaningless. It didn''t have a strong body to begin with and the only thing it could do with the energy it purified was inhale and exhale it, it didn''t seem possible for it to use it personally.

    With a wave of his hand, Leonel brought the koi fish out in a globule of Cleansing Waters and faced it.

    "You like these waters, right? They''re the best waters you''ve ever swam in?"

    Leonel felt a bit ridiculous talking to a fish, but he didn''t patronize it nor did he dumb down his tone of voice. Instead, he laced his Dream Force in with his words, conveying in intent with their subtleties. With this koi fish''s Force affinity, it should be able to understand Leonel very clearly.

    The koi fish released an air bubble that looked a bit adorable in Leonel''s direction. But, when the Soul Force waves reached Leonel, his lips twitched.

    ''This little bastard just spit at me?''

    Leonel wasn''t sure whether he should be angry of if he should be laughing. It was a so abnormal that he really wanted to do both.

    Clearly, this not so little fish didn''t want to admit how much it enjoyed swimming in cleansing waters. Just from a couple weeks, it felt like it had been reborn, its abilities even worked much faster and better than it ever had in the past.

    On top of that, Cleansing Waters was the best medium for Force transfer it had ever come across. Normally, when it was stuck in water, it had to divert a bit of its energy toward creating a cleansing halo around it. This was why when Leonel first met it, it looked like it had a spotlight on it.

    However, this took a lot of preparation and slowed down its efficiency in gathering up and converting energy by more than half. The Cleansing Waters fixed all of this with ease. Plus, it wasn''t salty like the ocean it hated so much.

    It could be said that the koi fish was a clean freak. It had been worried about where Leonel would put it earlier, but it felt at ease now. That said, it would never admit that to Leonel.

    The koi fish obviously disliked humans, or else it wouldn''t have done what it had done. Though, it could be said that it also disliked Invalids as well for clogging up its waters and always coming after it.

    "So you don''t want to admit that you like this water, huh?" Leonel smiled lightly. "Okay, I''ll put you back in the ocean, then."

    The golden scaled koi fish suddenly panicked, wiggling about the waters. It looked quite beautiful, its fins floating about like silk fabrics.

    "Oh, so you want to stay, then?"

    Another bubble.

    Leonel grinned, but it was quite cold, cold to the point the koi fish trembled beside itself.

    "Do you know how many people your actions killed? Do you know how many mothers will go without sons now? How many fathers will go without daughters? On my battlefield alone, there were almost 50 000 individuals defending a stretch of a couple dozen kilometers. Now, there''s barely 40 000 remaining, and all their deaths are on your head."

    The koi fish stood frozen in the globe of water, suddenly feeling suffocated. Fish needed to move to be able to breathe, but no matter how hard the koi fish tried, it couldn''t loosen itself from Leonel''s death stare.

    "Did you think that just because you look beautiful, that just because you seem innocent enough, that I would be fooled? To me, you''re a mass murderer that deserves death no less than if it was a human standing before me now. The only reason I haven''t killed you is because my partner is in a coma and I can''t extract your ability.

    "However, I promise you, if you don''t cooperate, if you don''t make yourself seem useful, if you can''t give me a reason not to kill you and put your ability within something else more beneficial to me in a year from now, I''ll give you the most horrible death you can imagine.

    "Do you understand me?"

    Leonel was inwardly furious at the audacity of this koi fish. If it was before he had made his resolve to become a King, he would have long since slaughtered this koi fish and its companion. However, now, he felt like he had to make choices that were a bit beyond the scope of his own moral compass.

    Objectively speaking, the koi fish would save more lives under Leonel''s control than it had ever taken. This was the cold logic of it all, so it was the choice Leonel had chosen to make this time.

    However, Leonel didn''t have a beast control ability nor did he have anyone he trusted enough to hand over these responsibilities to. So, if this koi fish didn''t cooperate, he wouldn''t hesitate to toss it into a snowglobe and kill it once Little Blackstar awoke.

    The fear the koi fish was palpable but it still forced itself to nod. Though it couldn''t understand the intricacies of Leonel''s words, it understood the gist of it enough to understand what would happen to it if it didn''t cooperate. Ultimately, it was still willing to do what it had to do to survive.

    "Good." Leonel said coldly.

    With a motion, Leonel took out a familiar vial. This was none other than the Ocean Drop Vial that Kira had given him. But, it had been modified by Leonel a bit.

    Of course, if others knew that Leonel was modifying a Silver Grade treasure as a Bronze Crafter, there would likely be an uproar. But, Leonel himself didn''t find it to be that big of a deal.

    Leonel hung the Ocean Drop Vial around his neck after siphoning large amounts of Cleansing Waters into it. Then, he transferred the golden scaled koi fish into the necklace vial.

    After he did this, he also transferred the Silver Tablet before dropping in the Ores he would use to refine his Metal Body.

    "Purify the Essence of these Ores and transfer them to me after you are done."

    After issuing this command, Leonel shot off toward where his brothers were resting.

 Chapter 1017 ...тАЭ

    Chapter 1017 б░...б▒

    When it came to refining his Metal Body, the koi fish was also a godsend. The Essence of Ores could also be considered a type of Force, a variation on Earth Force. So, it could, of course, be multiplied as well.

    This came with many benefits. Leonel would be able to use less Ores to temper his body to the same level, his bottlenecks would also become thinner now that he had less impurities to worry about, it would even be possible to create stronger Ores or start Ore Veins with the koi fish''s abilities.

    The possible applications for the koi fish seemed endless. It was no surprise it took so many Units to duplicate it.

    бн

    Not long afterward, Leonel made it to the residential units. He had planned to let everyone choose whatever rooms they wanted. But, since they had been dealing with the pain of the Bone Burning Rose until recently, they had mostly chosen to stay together.

    By the end of it, they ended up sprawled all over a patch of greenery and had been asleep for three days already.

    Leonel jogged into the garden to find them still lying there. Seeing their ridiculous states, he couldn''t help but shake his head and chuckle.

    Suddenly, Leonel released a loud clap!

    "Wake up!"

    "Hey!"

    "What the hell!?"

    "Cap? Fuck! I was in the middle of at least three beauties!"

    "In your dreams."

    "It was my dreams!"

    Leonel grinned. One after another, strong auras standing firmly within the Fifth Dimension began to blossom forth. It was a fantastic enough sight for Leonel to ignore the terrible smell that was coming from them for just a moment.

    Truthfully, Leonel was pleasantly surprised. Though they weren''t exactly far from the Fifth Dimension to begin with, Leonel still thought it would have taken at least a month or two.

    ''It''s probably the influence of Earthбн Coming from a talented world really has such a large benefit. It''s unfortunate, though... I also wanted to get them to practice [Dimensional Cleanse] too, but there''s no time right now...''

    "Alright, alright." Leonel finally put an end to the commotion. "There''s a war about to start soon, you guys need to get ready."

    "War?" Raj looked up from his comfortable spot in the grass with confusion. He seemed to have lost at least 50 pounds, but he was still a large mound of fat. It could only be said that he was still enormous. "Why haven''t I heard anything?"

    Of course they hadn''t heard anything, the Segmented Cube was perfect at isolating sound. The only reason why Leonel knew is because his Internal Sight was paying attention to the outside world.

    Plus, in the last two weeks he had been doing a lot of stuff on the outside world whether that be preparing his shop or fulfilling his promise to the Dove siblings. So, he had no choice but to pay attention to the outside world anyway.

    One might argue that Leonel should be depressed that his store wouldn''t be making as much money anymore, but was that even true? Now that there was a wore, he could shake his grandfather down for some real funds.

    There was no better Force Crafter on Earth right now than himself. If the Ascension Army wanted his help, they would, of course, have to pay.

    After a brief explanation, Leonel kicked them all toward getting cleaned up.

    бн

    Barely ten minutes later, they all stood spirited, their gazes glowing with battle intent. It seemed like they all wanted to take down the world together.

    "I don''t really know what''s going on in the outside world right now, but we''ll stick together as an elite squadron. This time, I won''t go ahead on my ownбн Probably." Leonel touched his nose.

    "At least tell us you brought back some goodies, Cap." Franco rubbed his hands together.

    "I did." Leonel smiled. "For some of you anyway."

    Franco''s expression sank before he suddenly caught an enormous Beast Crystal Leonel threw at him.

    "I happened to find one perfect for you. This one came from a beaver, but its physical strength was ridiculous. It should help to strengthen your muscle fibers to a next level. And for Gilбн"

    Leonel tossed over a Beast Crystal swirling with crimson lightning.

    "I haven''t really found anything good enough for the rest of you. But, what I do have are treasures.

    "A halberd for Joel, a pair of gloves for Arnoldбн"

    One after another, Leonel handed them perfectly tailored treasures, all of which were Tier 7 Bronze Crafts. They had no idea that Leonel''s skill had already reached such a level.

    Raj sniffled. "I always knew that Cap was the best. Give me a hug!"

    Leonel dodged out of the way of Raj''s fat rolls, a clear sign of laughter on his face.

    **

    The borders of Earth''s Fold of Reality suddenly found themselves surrounded as it slowly stretched to its limits. Having swallowed up several solar systems, what was once ''Earth'' had gone from a single planet to countless light years of territory.

    After thorough investigation, there was no one who wasn''t aware of Earth''s greatest weakness: Population.

    Having suddenly gained so much territory, it was simply impossible for Earth to defend it all. This was the best chance they would have to claim the talent of a future Eighth Dimensional world for themselves.

    Among these individuals, there were many that were more than just a little familiar, many that Leonel had fought not too long agoбн Including the Midas and Radix family.

    However, if one thought that was the end of it, they would be sorely mistaken. The greed that such soon to be fertile lands represented was simply too much for anyone to give up.

    It was amidst this chaos that Elthor sent Leonel a message.

    **

    "Imperial Father, the expansion of our Fold of Reality has reached a critical point. If they take advantage of this to send Sixth Dimensional existences inбн"

    Galaeron finished giving his report to Emperor Fawkes. However, what he hadn''t expected was for his father to uncaringly continue meditating after speaking a few careless words.

    "They won''t." Emperor Fawkes said casually, not opening his eyes.

    "бн Why?" Galaeron asked.

    "Because they''re cowards." Emperor Fawkes said lightly.

    Galaeron blinked but didn''t quite understand how to respond to this.

    "бн Should we move out the Elite Troops?"

    "No." Emperor Fawkes replied.

    "But, Imperial Fatherбн They''ll be overmatched."

    "So what? Just sic my grandsons at them. What the hell did I birth them for if not this?"

    Galaeron: "бн"

    [Just two chapters today...]

 Chapter 1018 Forget

    Chapter 1018 Forget

    "Leo!"

    A beauty jumped into Leonel''s arms under the astonished gazes of his teammates. She was gorgeous to an extreme and had a mature charm that women their age hadn''t quite refined yet. On top of that, she had a sort of Queenly air most women would never birth.

    And yet, the moment she saw Leonel, she sprung into his arms as though she had always meant to be there.

    "What the fuck? And to think I actually felt bad for this bastard. Cap''s been holding out on us." Gil felt like he had been betrayed.

    Leonel laughed and hugged Mordred back. It had been a long time since he had seen her and it seemed that she was living life well. At least, her relationship with her father and mother seemed far better now than it had been in the past.

    After Mordred practically squeezed Leonel to death, she pulled back and pinched his cheeks with both hands.

    "You brat, you just left us for years and disappeared. Where''s Little Aina? I need to see if you''ve bullied her while she didn''t have me to protect her."

    Seeing the shift from love affair to brother-sister doting Leonel''s brothers practically got whiplash. However, Gil''s perverted mind worked very differently.

    "So Cap has this kind of submissive little brother fetish, huh? What a scandal."

    Leonel touched his nose when he heard Mordred''s question before coughing lightly.

    "About thatбн She isn''t here right now."

    Mordred raised an eyebrow and looked toward Leonel deeply. She had a unique perspective on the relationship between Aina and Leonel because she had been there at its infancy. If she had to be honest, she felt that this sort of crossroads between them was inevitable because their foundation was far too shaky.

    Leonel had never been able to address all of Aina''s insecurities not because he wasn''t good enough, but because there were some forms of confidence that one could only give themselves.

    On the other hand, Leonel himself was too good at detaching himself. Though he was good at reading people, he had blinders on when it came to himself and those close to him.

    In some ways, Mordred felt that Leonel put these blinders up as a self protective mechanism. He subconsciously knew that it wasn''t right to treat his friends and woman like they were numbers on a screen to be dissected. As such, he purposely ignored a lot of thingsбн

    In much the same way someone who could read minds wouldn''t want those around them aware of such a thing for fear of making them uncomfortable, in a lot of ways Leonel was like this. It was yet another layer to the fa?ade that was himбн

    However, Mordred wasn''t quite certain of who the real Leonel wasбн Or if it was even a good idea for this version of Leonel to be the one who presented himself to the worldбн That hidden Leonelбн Felt more dangerous than she had ever been and Mordred felt that Aina was the balance to him.

    It was such a fragile and immature balance that could collapse at any time.

    At least for now, it seemed that Leonel still felt that the relationship was mendable as he hadn''t had a fierce reaction to Mordred''s words. However, she could also feel that this tipping point wasn''t very far awayбн If something went wrongбн

    "Alright, in that case, I can let you off the hook a bit. But, only a bit." Mordred replied.

    Leonel suddenly grinned. "Really? But I come bearing gifts."

    Leonel took out the Beast Crystal he got from the black swan. The moment it appeared, it radiated a powerful aura of darkness that attracted Mordred instantly.

    Mordred''s eyes twinkled, grasping the Beast Crystal with both hands.

    "Not bad, not bad. I guess Big Sis can forgive you." Mordred giggled beside herself.

    "Where''s my gift?"

    The sudden voice came from deep within the Throne room. Leonel had come to Avalon for the sake of taking hold of the vanguard. Since King Arthur was still only a Secretary Marquis, he wasn''t able to take command of an army on his own as only Governor Dukes could do so.

    Originally, Leonel had thought it would just be him and his brothers, but now it seemed he would have King Arthur at his back.

    This would work excellently for them both. Mordred and Arthur both were very competent Generals and wouldn''t need Leonel''s constant support. This would allow Leonel and his brothers freedom while being able to rely on a backbone. It would definitely be a lethal combination.

    At this moment, the group stood within a hallway of Camelot''s castle, though it couldn''t really be considered a castle any longer and was much more like a modern estate. The whole of Avalon had been modernized and the remnants of royalty had been expunged.

    The so-called ''Throne Room'' was just no longer this and was just a meeting place they should have been headed to. But, Leonel had gotten distracted reuniting with Mordred and forgotten this.

    Unsurprisingly, the voice was from Arthur who accompanied by Guinevere and Lancelot both. In fact, there were other Knights of the Round Table present, but many of them weren''t the original members that Leonel had become used to. Obviously, new talents had risen up in the time Leonel had been away.

    With the new system of the Ascension Empire, the talents that Camelot had mostly neglected in the past due to their poor backgrounds were rising up one after another. And, as citizens of Earth, they were all extremely talented as well.

    Leonel laughed. "I didn''t manage to find anything you. But, if you still need help with your streaking problem, I might be able to do something to help."

    Arthur, who had come with kind intentions, suddenly faltered.

    He had gone through great pains to ignore the fact his bare ass had been bared for all his citizens to see during the war just four years ago, all for Leonel to pick at this scab the moment he appeared.

    "бн Forget I asked for anythingбн" Arthur grumbled.

    An eruption of laughter followed his words.

 Chapter 1019 A-Order

    Chapter 1019 A-Order

    After pleasantries, the group got to business quickly. They were all aware that they were under the command of Leonel, but it was ironically Leonel who knew the least about what was going on right this moment. So, he listened patiently as things were explained to him by Arthur.

    A star map was laid out on a large wooden table. It had a faint holographic character to it. Every time Leonel''s eyes refocused, he would find a new layer to observe. It was definitely a clever piece of technology that left him a bit intrigued.

    "бн The situation is getting more complicated with each passing moment but we believe that we have a good grasp on where the borders of our Fold of Reality will stop. It will be defined as suchбн"

    Arthur pressed a finger down and the star map changed. The instant the borders became defined, Leonel''s Dreamscape went haywire, his pupils constricting. A bit of his aura leaked, causing the atmosphere to shift.

    Arthur looked up from the map toward Leonel, his pupils also constricted. He couldn''t fathom just how powerful Leonel had become in just a few years. He felt like a completely different monster.

    "Is something wrong, Leonel?" Arthur asked.

    Leonel narrowed his eyes and didn''t respond immediately. But, he soon calmed and exhaled a breath.

    "It''s not important for now, you can continue. Sorry about that."

    Arthur paused for a moment before nodding. Since Leonel had said so, there was no point in pressing him. Since he would be taking charge of this anyway, Arthur had confidence that Ryu would definitely put them in the best position to win. After all, it was thanks to his contribution that they had dealt with White City alone, something that gave them more than enough leverage to negotiate with the Ascension Empire. Thanks to that, they were able to maintain a semblance of autonomy today.

    "бн With the borders defined how they are now, as it''s been explained to me, it isn''t quite necessary to panic despite the large area we now have to cover, mostly because of two matters of importance: habitable worlds and suppression.

    "Starting with the latter, it has to be remembered that these are people coming into our world, a Fifth Dimensional Fold of Reality. This makes it near impossible for Sixth Dimensional existences to appear. At the same time, our world has matured.

    "Previously, we were attacked the moment we stepped into the Fourth Dimension and had yet to form our teeth. But now that Earth is in the Fifth Dimension and has matured greatly, those who invade our lands will experience proper suppression. It will be more difficult for them to use Force and also more difficult for them to replenish their Force.

    "This aside, there is the matter of habitable worldsбн"

    Even though Earth''s Fold of Reality was expanding and the planets within it were gaining massive benefits as a result, that didn''t mean those benefits would be immediate, nor did it mean that all of these planets would become habitable.

    In just Earth''s main solar system alone, only Earth, the Moon and Avalon were habitable. The remainder of the planets either could not sustain proper life and were useless, or could not sustain proper life and were slowly becoming Disaster Worlds.

    Of these planet, Venus and Neptune both were becoming Disaster Worlds while the remainder showed no signs of becoming useful. Only Mars seemed to show a small bit of potential in maybe becoming another habitable planet, but that would take several years to come to fruition.

    This was all to say that what these Invaders needed was a foothold. Without a foothold, what good was it to claim a piece of Earth''s Fold of Reality for themselves? They were all just waiting for the perfect moment, just before Earth''s Fold of Reality boundaries solidified, to pierce through.

    Luckily, these habitable planets were rare. And, not only were they rare, but there were levels of desirability among them.

    For example, take Earth and the Moon. As evolved as the Moon had become, no one would choose the Moon over Earth as a desirable location.

    "бн We have reason to believe that the first wave will be those with true ambitions toward what is rightfully ours. As such, we''ve divided the planets into three orders of desirability, Order A, B and C, with C being the least.

    "Our Fold of Reality will cover about a hundredth the size of the Milky Way when it is finished. There are about 43 habitable planets in this range. 29 are C-Order. 12 are B-Order and 2 are A-Order. We''ve been tasked with defending one of the A-Order Habitable Planets and also setting up a small scale civilization there.

    "This A-Order Planet has been designated the name EarthX1. For reference, the B-Order Planets will be designated starting with the MoonX1, while the C-Order planets will follow after AvalonX1."

    Leonel nodded. He remembered Aina explaining to him how this naming nomenclature worked. ''X'' designated that this planet was in the same Dimension as Earth while 1 designated that it was the first world outside of Earth to earn this title. The second A-Order planet was probably named EarthX2.

    Leonel didn''t have a problem with this, but the others were shocked.

    There were nine Governor Dukes, two Grand Prime Ministers, and yet it was them tasked with guarding EarthX1? Why did this seemed too ridiculous? Shouldn''t they be guarding a B-Order planet instead? That seemed to make more senseбн

    Leonel, however, understood that this was just his grandfather being his grandfather again. In Earth''s first defense against the wider Dimensional Verse, how could two Fawkes not take the helm?

    "Finally, we have the reports on the potential threatsбн"

    Leonel rose from his seat after Arthur was finished. He stretched slightly, a confident air hanging around him.

    "I assume that the teleportation platforms have already been prepared? How many people can move out at once?"

    "A single trip can take about a hundredбн" Arthur said with a sigh. This really wasn''t enough. If they were too slow, by the time they got there, instead of being the defending party they''d be forced into the attacking position.

    "I''ll stabilize this side then head over first. I should be able to improve on that number." Leonel grinned.

    Leonel suddenly felt his hands itching. This war was an opportunity calling out to him. He had a feeling that what he gained from these battles would make or break the next ten years for him.

 Chapter 1020 EarthX1

    Chapter 1020 EarthX1

    If EarthX1 were to be described in a single word, it would be: Wet.

    It felt like a light drizzle was perpetually falling from the skies and the thick canopy of rain forests were so wide ranging that it felt that every piece of land was covered in lush greenery. During the rare times of the day where this rain would stop, the sky would be filled with a beautiful bluish light violet color that radiated life and vitality.

    EarthX1 didn''t have any oceans, but what it did have were large networks of rivers that crisscrossed about its surface in raging torrents. It had three main river channels that were easily 50 kilometers wide and had lengths in the thousands of kilometers. All of the river networks found life from these three, filling the planet with a rich vitality.

    Due to this ecosystem of rivers, EarthX1 only had freshwater systems. In addition, all of its soil was perfectly irrigated leading to the richness of its vegetation and greenery.

    EarthX1 didn''t have any polar icecaps because all of its water was quickly flowing from one place to another. As such, even its snowy caps had lush vegetation, albeit covered in thick layers of snow they had adapted to living in.

    The planet itself was about 5% larger than Earth and despite lacking oceans, due to the large number of rivers, it was still covered by waters to a mark of about 70%.

    These things made EarthX1 a very hotly sought after commodity. Such an environment practically made the entire planet a perfect garden. And, with it entering Earth''s Fold of Reality so quickly, it would have many centuries and millennia to take advantage of Earth''s talent and birth Force Herbs maybe never before seen in the Dimensional Verse.

    бн

    It was this world that Leonel found himself and his brothers teleporting to. However, he didn''t like what he saw almost immediately.

    EarthX1 was such a beautiful world, but the instant they stepped foot onto it they were already destroying it. The teleportation formation alone had cleared out a large ten square meter space and it clearly looked like it was done in a rush or else there would be more destruction.

    In fact, the moment Leonel appeared, he caught sight of numerous individuals preparing to clear the forests around them.

    "STOP!"

    Leonel''s voice thundered, catching the workers off guard.

    Let alone the workers themselves, even Leonel''s teammates were confused. This was basically a necessity. If they didn''t clear the forests, how would they build their base? If they weren''t quick about building their base, they would go from having some advantage to having no advantage at all in the face of these invaders.

    Leonel, however, couldn''t bear to see this happen. He wasn''t some save the forest activists, but he felt like if it wasn''t absolutely necessary, why would they destroy something so beautiful? Plus, just from a cursory sweep of his Internal Sight, he had vastly better ideas than whatever these people were doing.

    "Bring whoever is directing you all here for me quickly."

    It didn''t take long for the workers to recognize Leonel as a Prince and immediately follow his orders. They had all seen Leonel''s face in the skies that day and they had all heard Emperor Fawkes act to protect his grandson. If anything, it was almost impossible to find someone who didn''t know Leonel on Earth.

    After giving these orders, Leonel immediately began to work on improving the teleportation formation. Rather than destroying the ecosystem like the others had, Leonel decided to work upward. Since they had already destroyed this patch of land, there was already no going back. So, Leonel used the materials he had been given to improve the formation and began to communicate with Little Tolly to build upward.

    By now, Little Tolly had firmly stepped in the Fifth Dimension which had been the root cause of Leonel''s skyrocketing skill. Without Little Tolly holding him back, the Crafts he could make were simply on another level.

    In just a few minutes, Leonel had already completed three floors of a simple tower structure. His engineering principles were so sound that his speed didn''t seem to impact the structural integrity of the tower in the slightest.

    ''If I build things this way it''ll be slightly inconvenient for large amounts of soldiers to trek outwardбн Okay, I''ll modify it. Every new batch of soldiers will immediately be teleported to the top of the tower then subsequently teleported down one floor at a timeбн They might get a bit dizzy, but this is the best I can do for now before a real base is builtбн''

    By the time the temporary leader of the operation made it to Leonel, Leonel had already completed a tower with ten floors, increasing the number of individuals who could be teleported over by tenfold.

    The temp leader, a middle-aged man sent from the Imperial Capital, stood in shock. He was a quite high ranking government official and was just sent to maintain order here and ensure that Leonel didn''t do anything crazy. But, he suddenly realized that he would be nothing more than a figure head here.

    He smiled bitterly. ''бн I''m in over my headбн''

    Hamon was a man who had held his position before the Metamorphosis but he didn''t hold any exceptional talent all to his own. He was basically as normal as they came. Any pride he had in his position immediately deflated when he saw Leonel build a ten-story tower in not even that many minutes.

    "Minister Hamon, right?"

    Leonel hopped down form the top of the tower, softly landing in the soil as he used his Earth Force to disperse the impact.

    Minister Hamon bowed deeply. "Your Highness, that is indeed my name and title."

    Leonel nodded with a smile. "No need to be so overly polite. I only called you here so that we could get on the same page. I think it''s a bit of a shame to destroy the makeup of this world. I have a few options I think would be better and could help us in the long run."

    Minister Hamon looked up with a slightly relieved and partially curious light in his eyes. What did Leonel want to do exactly?

 Chapter 1021 River Network

    Chapter 1021 River Network

    The truth was that Leonel wasn''t the only one who felt that keeping the ecosystem of this world intact was important. Even on Earth, much of the concrete jungle had been replaced with large swaths of forest and natural ecosystems.

    If they destroyed the natural environment of Earth, much of what it meant for them to come from talented worlds would be destroyed. After all, only by allowing Earth to grow in its natural state would the resources they were so looking forward to grow into maturity.

    The same could be said for EarthX1. It was just that they had barely gotten Earth to its current balanced state, they hadn''t had time to worry about other worlds, not to mention the fact that EarthX1 had only recently entered Earth''s Fold of Reality so there wasn''t anything they could have done earlier.

    On such a time crunch, they could only take the most forceful approach. But, Leonel had other ideas.

    "This is a unique environment. If we want to take advantage of it, whatever we build must first take it into consideration so we can maximize this effect. Do you know what the advantage of this planet is, Minister Hamon?"

    Minister Hamon blinked before shaking his head. "Please enlighten me, Prince."

    "It''s its rivers. The river networks of EarthX1 connect to every location on this planet. At its slowest, these river networks still move at hundreds of kilometers an hour. Its fastest rivers move within the thousands of kilometers an hour rangeбн"

    Leonel did a rough estimate of speed based on the discharge rate of the rivers. The speed he provided wasn''t actually the speed of the river, but was rather what he estimated the speed of a boat on said river would be.

    "This is what our advantage is. If this network of rivers is used efficiently, even in an infancy state, it would only take at most two or three hours to send reinforcements to a particular location. Once the network is mature, half an hour to an hour would be all that''s necessary for reinforcements to reach any location."

    Leonel wasn''t a fool. Earth simply didn''t have the Force Crafters necessary to make a wide network of teleportation stations. In fact, Leonel didn''t believe that the enemy would either. Space Affinities were extremely rare and Force Crafters that understood how to apply such principles to Force Arts were even rarer.

    This particular teleportation station was likely bought from a Force Crafter Guild and was definitely the best the Milky Way had to offer, and yet it could only move 100 people at a time. This wasn''t nearly enough for a large scale war.

    In addition, the fact that Earth could only buy one even for an important A-Order planet like this one, despite the wealth it had currently, spoke volumes.

    On top of this, even though Leonel could build this network, he simply didn''t have the time. And, even if he forced himself to find the time anyway, what would happen while he was away? What would happen when the enemy wisely targeted and destroyed these teleportation stations? Even if they managed to protect the teleportation stations, who would upkeep their maintenance?

    Leonel knew that he couldn''t stretch himself too far. So, he decided to kill multiple birds with a single stone.

    He would create a network that could be easily maintained without him while also protecting the ecosystem of EarthX1.

    Minister Hamon''s gaze glowed, understanding much of Leonel''s thought process without Leonel speaking aloud. Leonel was essentially pushing for simple Crafts that could be forged by even weaker Black Grade Crafters. It was technology that even 21st Century Earth would have had, let alone 25th Century Earth.

    If the rivers were used as the propulsion system, all they needed to worry about was aerodynamics and ensuring that material of the boats were strong enough to withstand the high speeds. That was it. Minister Hamon could imagine that if this was executed properly, Earth would claim a decisive advantage on this world and it was one the enemy wouldn''t easily be able to claw back.

    However, Minister Hamon had one scrupleбн

    "I only have a single concern, if Prince doesn''t mind hearing out this old man."

    "Please speak." Leonel responded without hesitation. "You don''t have to hold back your opinions around me, I''ll take them all into consideration."

    Minister Hamon sighed another breath of relief before nodding.

    "Right. Though EarthX1''s ecosystem is thriving, there''s a lot of danger as well. The animal kingdom tends to be quite poisonous and many of them have evolved to have excellent camouflage abilities. This was why we thought it safer to clear away the land for the sake of building a base.

    "Beyond this, any creature that can survive the harsh rapid waters of the river is most definitely powerful to an extreme. I don''t believe that these rivers won''t have any dangers at all, in fact, they might have the greatest dangersбн

    "Does Prince have a solution?"

    Leonel nodded. He had considered this problem as well. Protecting nature always sounded like a beautiful idea, but the issue was that nature didn''t always appreciate your kindness. The river creatures would, especially, be an obstacle, especially as they continued to birth more and more talented creatures under Earth''s influence.

    Luckily, Leonel had a solution.

    "Beasts can become very intelligent as they rise through the Dimensions, but there are two problems they will face. For one, this world isn''t as talented as Earth just yet so most of the creatures will still be at a Fourth Dimensional level. In fact, they''re likely struggling to adapt to suddenly being thrust into a Fifth Dimensional Fold of Reality as we speak, which is probably why you have yet to suffer any attacks.

    "The second thing to consider is that though they might grow more intelligence, they will still lack the plasticity and flexibility of thought that humans have. The best counter to these beasts is right in front of us."

    Leonel suddenly took out a rainbow colored Beast Crystal he had gotten from the rainbow island-sized piranha. He had planned to sell it to Jessica, but hadn''t gotten around to it just yet.

    "What beasts fear most is other beasts, especially beasts more powerful and more talented than they are. I have plans to create a shroud for the network of Boats and Floating Forts we''ll create.

    "The first layer of defense will be these Beast Crystals. Normal creatures won''t dare to get close to them as they can''t yet match up to Earth''s beasts.

    "The second layer of defense will be concealment. Invalids aren''t as intelligent as normal beasts and rather than being off put by powerful creatures, they''ll surge toward them in hopes of evolving. This will be our second defense.

    "As for the details, just leave it up to me."

    Leonel took a few steps out and entered the forest. Not far away, a small sized riverбкat least by the metrics of this planetбкlay at a width of a few hundred meters.

    With a light toss, the Segmented Cube left Leonel''s hand. Just before it landed in the waters, its jigsaw pieces moved and morphed, connected by a large array of motes of light.

    With a splash, it landed, having become a large yacht.

 Chapter 1022 Layered Hand

    Chapter 1022 Layered Hand

    Earth''s Fold of Reality slowly solidified. In this state of flux, it became comparatively easy to cross over. This was especially the case since the Milky Way was a predominantly Fifth Dimensional galaxy. Since Earth was also currently entering the Fifth Dimension, it was more a process of assimilation than evolution, helping to facilitate the crossing over all the more.

    There were quite a number of powers waiting for an opportune time to cross over and many that had already done so. Having lost the protection that came with being a lower Dimensional world, Earth had begun vulnerable and thus had no choice but to gain the strength to defend itself.

    This moment was one that many had been preparing for a long while. Those that came from higher order worlds had many special techniques for predicting and marking the borders of evolving Folds of Reality and had thus scouted out the region long in advance.

    With the information in their hands, they retreated, knowing the danger of being present in an area a Fold of Reality was moving over. However, now, they were prepared to make a move forward once again.

    Those with confidence in themselves eyed pieces of the A-Order worlds. But, there were many that chose to not overestimate themselves, aiming for B and C-Order worlds, feeling that they wouldn''t be as protected.

    However, these people had no way of knowing that Emperor Fawkes was a madman. Not only had he focused his most elite troops on the lower order worlds, he had left EarthX1 and EarthX2 to his still maturing grandsonsбн

    бн

    "Are you sure about this?"

    Within a ship streaking through the vast stars, a meeting was taking place. Though their destination had already been picked, many still weren''t sure about their leader''s choice. Since it wasn''t too late to change their destination, some were still doing their best. However, it seemed that this group was just a minority.

    At first glance, these individuals looked like normal humans. However, upon second inspection it was possible to see that these people weren''t entirely so. Many of them had odd birth marks randomly growing upon their skin that upon a closer look actually seemed to be no different from the bark of a tree.

    Some didn''t have these marks at all, but considering their nonchalance toward their fellow comrades'' imperfections, it was likely that they had similar imperfections just placed in less than obvious locations.

    At the helm of the room the man who this question had been aimed toward had a similar ''birthmark''. However, his own was prominently placed on his forehead and had a rich brown color to it. Rather than seeming out of place, it actually gave him a lofty character the others didn''t have.

    "I''ve already explained myself once, what need do I have to do it again?" He replied coldly.

    The man who had questioned him immediately became flustered. The discussions were still amicable to this point but it seemed that they had pushed it too far. They had clearly almost forgotten just who this man was.

    "If you fear death, what right do you have to follow Her Holiness?"

    "No, no, noбн I didn''t mean it that way. It''s just that though Her Holiness is all knowing and all powerful, we are not. We never asked the other Branches for help like we should have."

    "For help?"

    The man rose, the brownish gold bark on his forehead radiating an oppressive aura.

    "Do you know what happened just a couple months ago?"

    The others shivered, unable to say a word. Though joining a religion gave you untold power, it was also a shackle like no other. So long as you were in the face of someone more favored by your God or Goddess than yourself, it was impossible to raise even a finger of resistance.

    Compared to them all, this man was a tier higher and as such held the ultimate strength. They didn''t have the option to resist even if they wanted to and leaving the religion wasn''t an option either or else all of their strength would be stripped from them in the best case, and in most cases they would die horrible deaths.

    "A month ago, a blasphemer of Her Holiness slaughtered one of our Brothers, a pious follower of Her Holiness, the Goddess of the Evergreen.

    "Our faith lost a Three-Layered Hand but this is only the beginning. This blasphemer not only killed a child of Her Holiness, but he also destroyed Her Holiness''s mark."

    A shocked silence reigned over the ship. At that moment, whatever hesitancy they had turned into a righteous indignation. For the mark of the Goddess to be destroyed was a slap in the face of their Holiness. This wasn''t something they could allow.

    "This blasphemer is a citizen of Earth. This isn''t just about spreading the word of Her Holiness, it is a crusade to wipe this blemish from her name and make those of the secular world understand the nature of Her Holiness Evergreen."

    The atmosphere boiled over. However, though the man who had initially questioned Four-Layered Hand Iemes seemed to be dutifully praying right now, his heart was shaken.

    He wasn''t fearful of Earth and its people, that wasn''t why he had brought up such concern to begin with. The issue was that they had gotten word that two colossuses of the religious world had chosen to move in on Earth as well. However, their Four-Layered Hand was blinded by his own greed and refused to call over reinforcements.

    It was clear that Iemes wanted to promote to Five-Layered and likely even the legendary Six-Layered Hand. Only by claiming land in such a fertile world would he have a chance at doing so. So, against all their advice, he had chosen to target an A-Order worldбн

    But, at what cost?

    Aderlard clenched his fists within his robes tightly.

    ''We need to sweep through this planet as quickly as possible and lay our roots deeply. Within the nature of this planet, our Evergreen Force will have a great advantage. In addition, due to the blessings of Her Holiness and our location advantage, we should be ahead of everyone else by at least half a day.

    ''I can only hope that this will be enoughбн''

    Without proper reinforcements, it might be possible that their Evergreen Religion would be wiped from the face of this Galaxy. From start to finish, thoughбн Aderlard never worried about what resistance the people of Earth would put up.

 Chapter 1023 Soundless

    Chapter 1023 Soundless

    The ship of the Evergreen Goddess believers streaked through the vastness of space. In just a few hours, they entered the range of EarthX1''s solar system, a bright yellow sun hanging a long distance away.

    The trip had been exceptionally smooth. They had long since calculated the least turbulent root and due to Ieme''s ambition, he had used up a large amount of accumulated Evergreen Force to ensure that they would be ahead of everyone else.

    Though Aderlard was right to be worried about the other religions that had come to the Milky Way, especially after they had monopolized much of the galaxy for so long, that didn''t mean that they didn''t have any advantages.

    Due to the fact their Temple was located here, they could make use of years of accumulation to accomplish things these other two religions could not. As such, they had a head start on everyone else, even though this head star cost them centuries of accumulation.

    In Ieme''s estimation, though, it was all worth it.

    In a religion, one was able to rely on your God for certain things. These things could be asked for in Prayer and the return you received would be a function of your piousness and your offerings. Piousness was often measured by what level you had reached in a religion, each one having their own ranking system. As for offerings, for the Evergreen Religion, it was a measurement of Evergreen Force.

    Evergreen Force could be accumulated through meritorious feats, sacrifices and offerings of treasures. These could then be converted into units of Evergreen Force which could be put toward Prayer.

    Having been rooted in the Milky Way Guild for so long, the Evergreen Religion had most definitely accumulated large amounts of Evergreen Force and they had a home field advantage the others would not have as there were certain complicated penalties associated with Prayers involving events that were too far away.

    Without overcomplicating matters, the fact was that Ieme had sacrificed much of their Evergreen branch''s previous efforts all for the sake of EarthX1, because the world was simply too perfect for them.

    What better world could there possibly be for their Evergreen Religion to thrive than one with such lush greenery? And this was a sentiment that even those who had disagreed with Ieme''s methods immediately agreed with the moment they laid eyes on the beautiful planet hanging upon nothing.

    EarthX1 was filled with crisscrossing rivers and two soft ice caps delicately covered with soft snow. The rest was nothing but endless greenery with trees so tall they threatened to pierce through the atmosphere and puncture a hole through it all.

    Ieme stood with a dignified expression on his face as he faced the wide glass windows. But his heart jumped and leapt with joy. Even from here, he could feel the rich Wood Force even as it slowly grew more and more powerful.

    Calming himself, he took a deep breath.

    "Follow the plan. Land at point A and take root. Our first priority is to build our Shrine to her Holiness. In that way, this will become the new main base of our Evergreen Religion in this galaxy."

    "Yes!"

    The ship shot around the planet before descending at a preselected location.

    Back when EarthX1 had yet to enter Earth''s Fold of Reality, Ieme had long since scouted out the region. Then, through Prayer, he located the best location to build their shrine.

    The ship came to a grinding halt after descending through the atmosphere. Its pressure caused the waves of water beneath it to separate and spread, almost flooding the opposite banks.

    Unsurprisingly, the Evergreen Religion was also very much invested in protecting nature. This wasn''t only a fundamental root of their teachings, but it also had selfish foundations as well. After all, if they destroyed the greenery, the Wood Force would weaken and so would they.

    ''Accumulating Evergreen Force in this place will be at least three times faster than normal.''

    Ieme stood on the helm of the ship, his underlings having already gotten to work. While the ship hovered above the water of the large river, on the coast dozens of brown robed individuals sat beneath the trees in silent mediation. At first, it seemed like nothing would happen, but very quickly, Wood Force began to accumulate and the already large trees actually began to grow.

    The branches began to reach over and intertwine with one another. Even the thinnest grew thicker than a man''s waist. At the same time, even branches from two separate trees began to fuse as though they had always been one. It was an astonishing sight to see.

    Very quickly, these intertwining branches became elaborate tree homes that carried an elegance even beyond normally built estates. And, at the same time, they didn''t disrupt the natural ecosystem even one bit. If one looked closely, it even seemed that the trees had been strengthened.

    How could they not be? The brown robed men and women had all been using Fifth Dimensional Wood Force to help these trees grow while many of the trees themselves were still within the Fourth Dimension.

    "Help the shrine take root. Once this is finished, we can be said to have taken a strong footholdбн"

    Ieme directed traffic. Once he was satisfied, he fell to his knees in deep prayer, the bark on his forehead beginning to shimmer as the blessings of the Evergreen Goddess began to strengthen their Fort to an extreme. If it had already been powerful before, now it had a certain enigmatic character to it that was difficult to deal with.

    Just as Ieme was about to put the finishing touches, investing even more Evergreen Force into their new home, a shout caught him completely off guard.

    "Four-Layered Hand, Sir! The distance!"

    Before Ieme could lose his temper, his pupils constricted. Without a sound, half a dozen boats moving at hundreds of kilometers an hour appeared over the horizon. They were already within a kilometer before anyone had noticed anything.

    At the helm, a young man with pale violet hair stood at the edge of the ship, his gaze narrowed.

 Chapter 1024 Speed

    Chapter 1024 Speed

    Ieme''s heart jumped.

    None of the normal signs of an approaching enemy had been there. There wasn''t an influx of Force, there wasn''t an odd sound, there were no fluctuations in spaceбн There was absolutely nothing.

    It took him a moment to understood, but he soon grasped it. There were none of those signs to grab a hold of because they weren''t there to begin with. Those boats weren''t being propelled by Force, they were being propelled by nothing more than wind and the rapid waters. On top of that, because they were using the water, their movements were masked by the rivers itself. It was no wonder none of them had realized that something was wrong until they were already so close.

    After understanding this, Ieme calmed. He had been through a lot in his life and as a man who had been willing to uproot everything on this singular bet, he was decisive and intelligent as well. He immediately came up with several weaknesses to this clever plot of Earth, one of the main one''s being that if Earth was intent on using river flow for movement, that meant that they could only ever attack from one direction.

    Ieme stored these conclusions away and immediately stood.

    His gaze narrowed when he got a better look at Leonel''s face. To think he would meet the man who killed his Three-Layered Hand Brother so quickly. It seemed that the Goddess worked in mysterious ways and had laid this opportunity at his feet.

    The others weren''t aware of this, but the truth was that after Leonel shattered the seal that would have been placed on him, he had gained the fury of the Evergreen Goddess. As such, his head was worth a large amount of Evergreen Force so long as he was sacrificed to their altar.

    The real reason Ieme had been willing to take this enormous risk was that Leonel''s head was worth more than ten times the Evergreen Force he had used to gain this speed advantage over everyone else eyeing Earth.

    So, seeing Leonel now, it felt to Ieme as though everything was snapping into place, as though the world itself wanted him to succeed and like the Goddess was smiling down upon him.

    "Prepare for battle!" He roared.

    They had already set up their Shrine in the two hours it had taken for Leonel and the others to get here. Though not everything was complete, it was enough to give them a small area of effect advantage and dampen many of the oppression they would normally face after entering another''s Fold of Reality.

    This was the advantage that Religion provided.

    At that moment, the Layered Hands began to get into formation. Though they were men of Goddess, they were very much used to battle. In fact, even compared to other organizations, they were even a cut above.

    Despite the speed of the raging waters, none of them was fazed and they easily stepped onto the rapid waves, forming up a strong formation before the quickly speeding boats.

    Now that the formation of six was closer, they got a good look at the design. Those who had some Crafter experience couldn''t help but nod their heads in appreciation toward the perfect design of the boats. They were truly built for speed.

    At that moment, the six sleek boats suddenly simultaneously released their parachute systems, cutting their speeds in half as heavy anchors fell.

    In as little as a hundred meters, they had come to a grinding halt. But, things didn''t stop there.

    The so-called ''parachute'' system were actually wings of silver the boats suddenly deployed. Despite their thin and frail appearances, they hardly rocked as they brought the boats to a stop and also formed up a line of sturdy barricades at the same time.

    In the blink of an eye, the formation of six sleek boats had become a miniature fort on the ocean, turning the advantage the Evergreen Brothers and Sisters had had in mounting a defense to almost nil.

    "Fire!"

    Leonel voice boomed over the battlefield.

    At that moment, Ieme became almost too keenly aware that Leonel was the only individual present. At least, Leonel was the only one visible right this moment. And yet, he had just barked out orders.

    Before Ieme could understand what was happening, a rain of hundreds of arrows suddenly shot out from above.

    ''This speedбн!''

    Ieme and the others were completely caught off guard. From the boats appearing, to them coming to a grinding halt and suddenly firing, not even half a minute had passed. The sudden shifts in the battlefield were far faster than anything they had ever been a part of.

    "Again!"

    Before the first wave even landed, Leonel roared again.

    In a panic, the religious men and women put up their defenses, trying to work together to create a large shield of wood. Their speed was exceptionally fast, especially under the influence of their nearby Shrine. And yet, it was right then that Leonel pointed out two fingers.

    ''Range.''

    Despite still being 200 meters away from their frontline and despite the fact that two volleys of arrows had already been loosedбн

    Leonel''s Spear Force still made it first.

    SHUUU!

    The barely constructed wooden shield was sliced in two and continued unhindered, piercing into the hull of the spaceship still hovering above the waters and bisecting it as well.

    Under the horrified gazes of the Evergreen Brothers and Sisters, their ship collapsed into the water and the shield was sliced apart, interrupting their rhythm.

    With their collaborative efforts destroyed, their attempt to build a large shield failed and they could only quickly attempt to put up their own individual defenses. But it was exactly then that the first and second volley fell, causing a chorus of pained cries to call out.

    Right then, Leonel shot forward. From behind the silver wings of the sleek boats, eight individuals quickly followed suit.

    With a flip of his palm, a wooden spear of deep black appeared in Leonel''s hand, his speed so fast that the waters seemed to separate below him as a streak of gold followed his wake.

 Chapter 1025 swing

    Chapter 1025 swing

    Ieme was almost shocked into complete inaction.

    Slicing apart the wooden shield was one matter. However, bisecting a ship designed to weather the dangers of space was a completely different matter entirely.

    This ship was designed to handle the extreme temperatures of stars, withstand the barrage of an asteroid belt with a One Star Disaster Rating, and even capable of surviving a sudden change in Fold of Reality. It could be said that spaceships were designed to be among the sturdiest builds in the whole of the Dimensional Verse, which was why it was especially insane that Leonel escape Planet Vincero with one he personally designed.

    And yet, with a single stroke of two fingers, this ship was cut in two. How could Ieme not be shocked?

    ''How could he possibly be so powerful?!''

    Ieme''s mind spun, realizing that the situation was most definitely not good. Facing an enemy with such a strong offensive output even without relying on a weapon was among the most dangerous things you could do in the Dimensional Verse.

    Understanding the danger they were in, Ieme immediately made a decision.

    BANG!

    Ieme''s palms slammed together, his aura blazing. At just a single glance, it became clear and obvious that he was actually at Tier 7 of the Fifth Dimension. But, as a servant of the Evergreen Goddess, this meant much less than his rankingбкFour-Layered Hand.

    Ieme was confident that he could battle it out and even had a good chance of defeating Leonel. However, even if he did so, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

    Aside from his, there were only a dozen Three-Layered Hands that had come and the rest were Two-Layered or One-Layered. The strength they could display was much less and for most of them, their strength of faith was much weaker than their own strength, as such they relied on the latter.

    By the time he defeated Leonel, it was likely that their current number would fall. There weren''t many clergymen of the Evergreen Goddess in general. The more people there were, the less Evergreen Force there would be to pass around, so religions tended to have small numbers of true believers.

    As a result, each was precious and the loss of too many would result in an overall weakening of the faith. If Ieme failed to protect his people, let alone being promoted, he would likely be demoted.

    In that case, he would have to take a chance.

    Ieme released a low roar, the Wood Force in the surroundings surging toward him. The illusory image of a lotus formed of several wooden hands began to shimmer into existence. However, it was clear at a single glance that this lotus was far more elaborate than the last Leonel had seen.

    Seeing Ieme''s actions, the Three-Layered Hands of the clergymen also took action, feeling large amounts of Evergreen Force surging out from their shrine and toward them. With the support of their base, their strength became at least a half better than it was normally.

    Leonel''s speed never slowed. However, he wasn''t the first one to reach them.

    Gil shot by him, arc of crimson lightning following his steps. Taking advantage of the break in their organized formation caused by the rain of arrows, two daggers flipped about his fingers and palms as he appeared within their midst like a flash.

    Leonel was the second to arrive, his spear immediately beginning to dance about. The smoothness of his cuts were so immaculate that the spray of blood was heavily delayed. Sometimes, even long after falling to the surface of the water, the corpses were pushed into the distance by the raging tide without leaking a drop of blood.

    ''Interestingбн''

    Leonel didn''t stop the preparation of the Three and Four-Layered Hands because he somewhat felt that it was impossible to do so. Instead, then, it was better to whittle down whatever resistance there was as much as possible before he continued onward.

    A single sweep of his spear seemed to take a half dozen head at a minimum. It was as though whatever location he wanted his spear to reach, it would do so. His current abilities made [Vanishing Spear] seem more like a joke than anything else.

    When the added range of Leonel''s Spear Force was combined with his marksmanship and calculative abilities, the result was absolutely devastating. Even Leonel himself had underestimated just how powerful this breakthrough in his Spear Force was.

    At that moment, Leonel''s expression turned serious. Bronze Runes raced across his skin and a silver armor appeared not long after.

    With a step, he appeared before a Three-Layered Hand just as the remaining seven of his brothers crashed into the clergymen army.

    Before the latter could react, his head had flown into the air, his last expression being one of unwillingness and shock. Leonel sudden attack was completely outside of their expectations and so was his sudden and abrupt uptick in power.

    Several wooden lotuses spun, their hands assaulting Leonel from all sides, however, he pretended as though he hadn''t seen them at all.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, the tip of his spear suddenly erupting with a silver-red flame as he pierced into seemingly empty space.

    BANG!

    Hearing the satisfying crunch, Leonel grinned.

    That was one seal down. It seemed it wasn''t so difficult to blaspheme a God after all. If before he had to rely on his Scarlet Star Force, now he had Radiant Fire Force. He didn''t have to choose between either destroying his own body or relying on a much inferior Fire Force.

    As expected, though Radiant Fire Force was nowhere near Scarlet Star Force in destructive capabilities, compared to normal Fire Force, it was countless levels above.

    ''This seal only seems to appear when the clergymen is of a certain rank. That makes sense, the higher their rank, the more their Goddess values them. So, this seal will likely only appear for those at the Three-Layered Hand level and higher.''

    Leonel immediately came to this conclusion as his body flashed, dodging out of the way of several wooden palms and appearing to the back of another Three-Layered Hand.

    One movement, one swing, and there came yet another head.

 Chapter 1026 Quickly

    Chapter 1026 Quickly

    The rage of the clergymen was practically palpable. As much as they were infuriated that someone had killed their fellow Brothers and Sisters, they were even more infuriated that this individual had actually destroyed the seal of their Goddess.

    Ieme was especially furious. The more Three-Layered Hands that died, the more likely it was that he would be punished and the less likelihood he would have at defending a position on this world. This Leonel had to die!

    Ieme roared, his lotus finally completely forming. However, compared to the others, there was a clear and striking difference.

    His own pumped with veins of gold, giving the wood a more ancient and dignified character. Just the pressure it exuded alone was enough to dwarf the other lotuses entirely.

    Whether it was One or Three-Layered Hands, all of them fell into the category of Junior Clergymen. However, upon stepping into the Four-Layered Hand ranking, Ieme officially became a Senior Clergymen. His power was on a completely different level compared to the others.

    However, just as his confidence was hitting a peak, he was immediately shocked to find that Leonel had appeared before him. It was as though Leonel was waiting for the perfect time to come. Knowing that it was impossible to stop Ieme, he instead chose to come right this moment before he could even think of targeting the others.

    "Leave it to us, Cap!"

    By the time Leonel appeared before Ieme, there were exactly eight of the twelve Three-Layered Hands left. It was clear that this was by no measure a coincidence.

    "CHARGE!"

    The one who roared this out was Leonel. The moment he did, the silver wings of the half dozen boats in the distance split, revealing a flood of warriors. Though they weren''t the most elite troop of Avalon, they weren''t bad either, most of them having a firm hold within the Fourth Dimension.

    The timing was once again perfect.

    The clergymen had their hands full with dealing with the nine of them, causing the formation to scatter and weaken. Just when they thought they would finally have some relief as they became occupied by their Three-Layered Hands, a group of twice their number suddenly charged for them, leaving them all at a complete loss.

    The worst part of it was that Leonel and the others had already killed all of the Fifth Dimensional existences beneath the Three-Layered Hand rank, leaving them not only outnumbered, but without even a strength advantage to take advantage ofбн

    They were finished.

    Ieme''s forehead pulsed with rage as several wooden palms attempted to smash Leonel to death.

    ''This feels different.'' Leonel thought as he calmly dodged. ''It isn''t just that this is more powerful, there''s a certain character to it as wellбн It feel a lot like the artistic conceptions that I''ve been basing my Mage Arts on recentlyбн I seeбн It''s a Style.''

    Leonel came to an understanding. ''If things are like this, thenбн''

    Leonel''s body swayed and shuffled. Rather than slicing apart the arms as he did normally, he allowed them to swarm him. Very soon, it felt as though he was being smothered and caged.

    Ieme''s gaze sharpened, sensing an opportunity. He didn''t understand what Leonel was trying to do, but in battle, second guessing yourself when there was a chance of victory right before you was a massive taboo. If you didn''t have the confidence to fight, you had likely already died long ago.

    Many of Ieme''s wooden palms shot into the water below, beginning to wind and intertwine about each other, forming a cage below and above Leonel that he had no chance of escaping.

    ''[Evergreen Style: Creaking Wood].''

    A strong surge of Evergreen Force blossomed forth from the center of the lotus. It rotated about, its sudden action causing the trap Ieme had set to snap into place and block out all of Leonel''s potential escape paths.

    A palm much larger and far more elaborate than the others descended with an unprecedented momentum. The waters beneath Leonel''s feet had already split apart long before it reached even ten meters above him, displaying its power outright.

    However, its target was completely unmoved. While it was true that there was no escape to the right or left, or down and up, who said that he had wanted to escape in the first place?

    The waters beneath Leonel''s feet began to sizzle, his gaze flashing with a slight silver-crimson color for just the briefest of moments.

    It was one thing if Leonel didn''t have a time crunch, but this was hardly the only enemy he had to deal with. There were more yet still coming and there would be even more after even them. He didn''t just need to win, he needed to win quickly. Holding back and bringing out trump cards one after another wasn''t conducive to this at all.

    Soбн he didn''t do that.

    ''Four Season''s Realm: Summerбн Radiant Core.''

    BANG!

    The palm suddenly came to a grinding halt.

    In the beginning, it looked as though it was stopped by nothing more than air. It was only after a second inspection that it was possible to see a small sphere of silver-crimson hanging upon Leonel''s palm.

    The core trembled lightly, radiating out with a heat that caused billowing steam to rise up from Leonel''s feet. At the same time, it seemed to release a barrier around it that the palm above couldn''t cross no matter how hard it tried. It was firmly stopped five meters above the core, unable to move a single inch.

    At the same time, the palm of wood began to sizzle along with the water, its surface being burnt away piece by piece until to Ieme''s horror, it began to crumble.

    Leonel''s spear hand twisted, his wooden spear dancing in his hand before piercing forward.

    The Radiant Core balanced upon its tip, using the momentum of Leonel''s spear swing to shoot upward and shatter the palm entirely.

    At that moment, as though the lotus had lost its supporting core, the cage around Leonel began to crumble along with the arm. In the blink of an eye, a lotus that had dwarfed all the others was burnt to ash, leaving nothing but a small Radiant Core the size of a palm hanging in the skies above.

 Chapter 1027 A Step

    Chapter 1027 A Step

    Ieme''s heart shook when he looked at the small ball of reddish silver flames. He could feel the danger stored within it to the point it made his heart skip several beats. It was such that he almost completely forgot to react to the fact that his lotus had actually crumbled.

    He knew what happened. Leonel had targeted the core of the lotus and ruined its structural integrity. But though Ieme understood this, it didn''t mean that he was willing to accept it.

    Doing such a thing required understanding the Style to an in depth degree. It was something Ieme had only seen when higher ranking clergymen faced lower ranking ones. It simply didn''t make sense to him that Leonel could do this.

    ''Let''s call this abilityбн Dream Rupture.''

    Dream Rupture. It was Leonel''s ability to grasp the artistic conception of an enemy, find the root of it, and destroy it from the inside out. It was an ability that Leonel felt rose a level above finding the weakness of a normal techniqueбн This Dream Rupture instantly became one of his stronger powers.

    Leonel found that when he stepped into the Fifth Dimension firmly, his sensitivity toward the nature of things and the artistic conceptions that they represented was heightened. Of course, this made perfect sense as Leonel had always been meditating on the Natural Force Art that was the core formation of [Dimensional Cleanse]''s third layer.

    As Leonel tried to master his Natural Force Art, his comprehensions grew deeper and the way he saw the world began to subtly change. If the improvement in his Spear Force was half due to the fact he had switched to using a wooden spear as his main weapon, then it could be said that the other half was related to his meditation on [Dimensional Cleanse].

    His Summer comprehension, Radiant Core, was another example of his grasp of artistic conception shining through. Despite it only being a quarter of the Four Seasons Realm and couldn''t display its full power without the other three Seasons being present, it was actually still so powerfulбн

    The Radiant Core shot down from the skies, once again finding itself hovering above the tip of Leonel''s spear. Yet, despite its heat, it didn''t seem to affect the wooden spear in the slightest.

    "Youбн"

    Ieme''s expression flashed and suddenly became ferocious. With a single glance, he could tell that this battle was lost. It wasn''t just him who had lost, but his Three-Layered Hands were just a few exchanges from no longer being able to hold on.

    However, just as he wanted to use his countermeasures to escape, Leonel''s hand suddenly stretched out.

    "[Valiant Seal]."

    A strong surge of Space and Earth Elemental Force soared. As heavy as the Wood Force in the air was, the Earth Force and Water Force were just as heavily present. The ease with which Leonel completed this spell, even at the expense of more than half his stamina, was far beyond any speed Ieme could match.

    Right then, Ieme finished chanting and the pendant on his neck began to glow. A moment later, his body vanished. Butбн

    BANG!

    Ieme crashed into the spatial walls of the [Valiant Seal], a cry of pain and horror leaving his throat.

    Leonel shook his head. Ieme ended up even more miserable than the black swan had. At least the latter''s death was swift. But, Ieme had tried to forcefully teleport himself away, only to be restrained. That sort of forced end to a teleportation could end horribly in several ways and, despite Ieme''s current sorry state, he could actually be considered to be lucky in how things turned out for him.

    Leonel''s [Valiant Seal] was constructed based on the artistic conception of a treasure capable of forcefully keeping a Sub-Dimensional Zone open. As long as something was within the parameters of the Fifth Dimension, it was simply far too difficult to deal with. In fact, Leonel felt that if he could properly improve his [Valiant Seal], it would be a spell that followed him for a long time.

    It could be used flexibly for both attack and defense and was a Mage Art that Leonel was especially proud of. It was just unfortunate that passing it on to others would be difficult since you would have to have an extremely high Space and Earth affinity to cast it. Leonel couldn''t think of a single person that met that requirement.

    ''This should be the end of things for nowбн I really didn''t expect enemies to get here so quickly, it seems that things could quickly get complicatedбн''

    Leonel reached out a palm and squeezed. He wasn''t confident in whether or not the seal that protected Ieme was stronger than the others or not. If it wasn''t, everything would be fine. But, if it was and he was forced to use his Scarlet Star Force again, it wasn''t worth it.

    So, rather than doing this, Leonel chose to toss him into a snowglobe and worry about it later. Of course, though, Leonel used the [Valiant Seal] to pin him down and take his storage treasures first, then he threw him away.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s head whipped around. Reacting quickly, he sent his Valiant Seals hurtling through the air in a particular direction. His gaze happened to lock onto the battle between Arnold and a Three-Layered Hand. However, he was still a step too late.

    Before his [Valiant Seal]''s reached their destination, the Three-Layered Hand vanished from sight, just barely dodging Arnold''s palm before he was crushed into minced meat.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed lightly.

    The pendant that Ieme had tried to use was a high level Bronze grade treasure and the same was the case for this man who had just disappeared. But, it was clear that none of the others had this treasure so it was obviously not something the Evergreen Goddess gave to all her high level subjects.

    The reason Leonel wanted to stop this man was precisely because it was odd that he had this treasure and Leonel''s instincts told him that he should try to stop him. Unfortunately, Leonel was still a step too lateбн

 Chapter 1028 one Group

    Chapter 1028 one Group

    Across the Milky Way, in a religious building that had turned quite silent to this point, Aderlard appeared, gasping for breath.

    This location was none other than the abandoned Shrine of the Evergreen Religion and had once been their main base of operations. Ieme, in all his ambitions, had chosen to uproot them completely and move everything to EarthX1.

    If the bet worked out, there was no doubt that there would be a great boon to take advantage of. However, even Arderlard couldn''t have imagined that the Earthlings would be so powerful. At first, he thought that the only anomaly was Leonel, but he realized that without showing his hidden trump cards, he had no chance to defeat Arnold either.

    He realized then that he had made a grave mistake. He had been so worried about the other religions come to encroach of the Evergreen Goddess'' territory that he hadn''t even considered the idea that Earth would fight back.

    It was beyond just the idea of them having the strength to do so or not, though. Usually, lower level worlds were hesitant to fight back against religions because of the power their Gods and Goddesses represented. There was a reason why Aderlard was scared of the clergymen of other religions, but not of the other families and organizations aiming for Earth.

    But, it was either that Earth was ignorant to what it meant to offend a God, or they simply didn''t care. And, Aderlard was afraid that it was the latter.

    The perfect counter to religious Force was World Force.

    When Leonel fought his first clergymen at Valiant Heart Mountain, he had analyzed Evergreen Force to feel like a cross between Universal Force and World Force. In truth, he wasn''t entirely incorrect as it had aspects of both.

    Without getting lost in the details of it all, a powerful World Spirit was able to counter the advantages religions could usually create for themselves, this was why many religions targeted weaker galaxies to spread their religion.

    With Earth''s talent, Aderlard was sure that Earth''s World Spirit was also powerful. He had originally thought that it would still take time to mature, but if they were actually so bold in killing clergymen without thought for the consequencesбн

    Aderlard took a deep breath and shook his head.

    Leonel had no idea that his decisiveness had actually bought Earth valuable time to grow, while Aderlard had no idea that the wielder of the World Spirit, Leonel''s mother, was nowhere near Earth''s Fold of Reality right this moment.

    ''This is still an opportunityбн I can make a trip to another branch and slowly replenish my Evergreen Force. Then, I canбн''

    Just as Aderlard was thinking of what his next steps could be, he froze. Up ahead, there was what could only be described as a Goddess descended from on high. She wore a white and fluttering dress and the small bits of skin she revealed were enticing to an extreme. It was just a shame that she actually wore a veil and no one could see what peak her beauty reached fullyбн

    Aderlard was immediately on guard.

    He had always been a cautious person but this woman had appeared without even alerting him. He even had a feeling that had she not allowed it, he would have never found her.

    "Your Shrine has been uprooted?" She said lightly.

    The voice was as delicate as a spring breeze and was easily ten times as refreshing. She seemed to sing with her words despite the fact she was only speaking normally.

    "Yбн Yes. Our Four-Layered Hand made a gamble and lost."

    "I see, so you chose to try to plant a seed on Earth as well but you were destroyed."

    Aderlard clenched his fists but didn''t say anything. He couldn''t understand why but his entire back was drenched with cold sweat. This young woman didn''t seem to be exuding any killing intent and she seemed as harmless as a fly, but right now he wanted to do nothing more than turn tail and run.

    The veil of the young woman shifted. It looked as though she might have smiled, or maybe she had frowned. Aderlard''s palms were too drenched for him to focus on the difference.

    "You''re scared."

    She spoke so lightly that it was difficult to tell whether she was asking a question or stating something. She might have even been trying to comfort him, but he wasn''t'' in the state of mind to know.

    "This tends to happen when people can sense my Religious Force and it mostly only does when I''m in the presence of other clergymen. I think that''s why he was so fascinating to meбн He could definitely feel my Religious Force, and yet he wasn''t scared at all. In fact, he treated me like a little girlбн

    "But, I guess when you''re so dangerous yourself, why should you feel fear?"

    Aderlard had no idea what she was talking about at this point. It took everything he had to keep his knees from buckling and collapsing beneath him. Even his eyes were forced to rapidly blink as he tried to keep the sweat streaking down his brow from stinging them.

    "He is very dangerous, too dangerousбн But he hasn''t done anything bad yetбн It''s a very hard moral dilemmaбн Should you kill someone knowing that they will do something horrible? Or should you wait until after they''ve done it?"

    The young lady sighed, seemingly talking to herself at this point.

    Shaking her head, her gaze fell onto Aderlard again.

    "You have it with you, correct?"

    Aderlard froze.

    "According to customs, in case of a Head Clergymen going rogue, a second-in-command has the right to request aid, isn''t that correct? And I have a feeling that a smart man like you used that aid to give yourself a way out. If I was as smart as you were, I would requestбн a secondary Shrine."

    "Youбн You''reбн"

    There was only one group of people that would care for the Shrine of a religion that wasn''t their ownбн

 Chapter 1029 woodworking

    Chapter 1029 woodworking

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. He didn''t like the fact this person was able to escape, something told him that it would bring him more trouble in the future.

    ''Forget it. What''s done is done.''

    Very quickly, what remained of the battle came to a close. Most of the clergymen were directly killed. As for those that surrendered, Leonel chose to throw them all into the snowglobes.

    Leonel didn''t have the heart to slaughter people that had given up, but he also knew that it would be impossible to try to integrate these people into Earth''s population like they were currently doing for the people of Terrain.

    The people of Terrain had no choice but to rely on Earth. Their original world was practically empty now, they had no methods to return easily, and Earth provided them a better future due to the implemented policies of Leonel''s grandfather. Most people of Terrain were a lot like the people of Earth before the metamorphosis, not knowing much about the wider Dimensional Verse.

    But, these clergymen didn''t share the same ignorance of the world and they wouldn''t have the same gratefulness the people of Terrain would foster. If anything, they''d be a ticking timebomb ready to erupt at any time.

    Without a choice, Leonel could only throw them all into snowglobes. At least this form of imprisonment didn''t allow them a chance to escape and everything would remain under his control.

    ''This operation didn''t go poorly. Our casualties are few and the Speed Boats work as designed.''

    "How do you guys feel?" Leonel asked.

    Franco swung his arm as though he was already ready for another fight in response.

    "Light weight." He grinned wildly.

    Leonel laughed. He had been paying attention to their battles and their prowess was beyond his expectations. He realized that he had looked down on his teammates far too much. Maybe if he had chosen to grow with them from the very beginning rather than just chasing after Aina alone, they would be far more powerful.

    He felt a bit of guilt toward this. After all, he was always so worried about morality and the lives and deaths of strangers, but he always left his own brothers behind to fend for themselves. He truly was all over the place.

    "A few with water affinity, come over."

    Leonel called out. After giving a few directions, a small squadron of those with water related abilities came forward and began to pull the sunken spaceship out of the waters.

    ''This space has enough material to make at least a dozen more Speed Boats. As for the useless material, I''m sure I can find another purpose for it... Hm?''

    Leonel cast a glance into Ieme''s spatial treasure and his pupils constricted. After a moment of thought, he came to an understanding.

    ''How luckyбн They must have tried to uproot their whole religion and take root here. It''s no wonder he''d have so much wealth on him, they wanted EarthX1 to be their new base of operationбн''

    The wealth within Ieme''s spatial treasure was not small. In fact, it was greater than the wealth that Leonel had dug up from Planet Solara if only Urbe Ore was considered. There were 20 000 kilograms of Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore present, enough to pay Leonel''s bounty twice overбкif his bounty was still the same, that is.

    Aside from the Urbe Ore, there were many precious ornaments, all of which were shaped of wood and sized into various statues. From a cursory glance, Leonel guessed that these either depicted their Goddess Evergreen or important figures of the Evergreen Religion.

    The Force they radiated was a dense Evergreen Force and they were likely designed to be displayed within the church. Leonel wasn''t exactly certain if these were valuable or not, so he set them aside for the moment.

    What did intrigue him, though, were the pile of old texts that were neatly arranged in their own corner of the spatial treasure. Many of them were religious texts that retold tales with valuable lessons or accounts of their Goddess'' feats. But, there were a pile of technique oriented texts that caught Leonel''s attention.

    Of course, Leonel didn''t have Wood Elemental Force so he wasn''t very interested in this for himself. Rather, he was more interested in what these techniques could do for their war efforts.

    With a flip of his palm, Leonel took out on of these texts, his gaze glowing.

    ''Principles of Wood Elemental Architecture''.

    This text began with reminders of the importance of nature and harmony before it introduced methods of creating homes for humans without interfering with the fundamental state of an ecosystem.

    However, this was just the simplest section of the text. It went on to describe what was known as an Architecture Style that reminded Leonel a lot of concepts of Feng Shui back from Earth. Essentially, depending on the complexity and delicate balance of the arrangement, a certain architectural creation could either be more powerful or less powerful.

    Within the Crafting Lessons Leonel''s father left behind for him, there was a section on working with living things and another section on woodworking. The living things section encompassed everything from Beast Crystals down to rare Crafts that required certain Force Herbs to complete. As for woodworking, it was an intriguing lesson that Leonel had yet to gain the opportunity to apply.

    Currently, Leonel used woodworking purely to solidify and improve the Designation of his fingers. That required doing things like carving out small statues or other small woodworks. He also knew that this would be important in the future because except in the case of some rare metal and gem trees, Little Tolly''s abilities didn''t work on normal wood.

    However, it seemed that his lessons on woodworking might finally come in handy on a broader scale. This text was definitely a heaven sent.

    Leonel''s solution to not disrupt the ecosystem had been to build on the water. It was a fine solution and allowed for quick deployment of the Speed Boats, but the defenses weren''t as great as he would like nor were there any terrain advantages to take hold of.

    This text would be a great help to ending this war and solidifing Earth''s defenses quickly.

    [Just one more chapter coming today, love you all <3]

 Chapter 1030 Lake Crossing

    Chapter 1030 Lake Crossing

    The main base of EarthX1 underwent enormous changes in just a few days.

    The chosen location was one of the only two points on the whole of the planet where the three largest rivers intersected. Due to an odd case of flow dynamics and physics, the water at these intersections was quite calm comparatively speaking. Though, the borders to this intersection were likewise extraordinarily dangerous due to the clashing waves.

    This was as close to a terrain advantage as Leonel could find on the waters aside from a few waterfall formations that could be found around the planet. But, he knew that he needed something better than this, which was why he was happy to have found ''Principles of Wood Elemental Architecture''.

    Though the boundaries of this intersection were especially violent, the range of the calm water had a several kilometer wide diameter. It looked so much like a lake as opposed to the clash of three rivers that this was exactly what Leonel called itбкLake Crossing.

    The three main riversбкnamed West River, South-East River and North-East River by Leonelбкmet at their curves. Rather than actually crossing each other, the intersection was like a joining of three ''U'' shapes at their base to form a sort of triangle with curved edges.

    The locations were just to rivers met were exceptionally volatile, giving the region some cover. But, the main issue was that Lake Crossing had bodies of land as well. These bodies of land were exactly the weakness of this location and exactly the reason why Leonel wasn''t confident in this terrain advantage.

    However, now with ''Principles of Wood Elemental Architecture'', Leonel was confident in fortifying these entry points to the water and that was exactly what he didбн The result was a grand fort formation that became the result of less than a week''s work.

    бн

    Sitting right at the center of Lake Crossing an enormous fort lay. Taking inspiration from the Slayer Legion, it was like a large metal cube sitting on the calm waters. It was impossible to tell how deep into the waters it went, but the top of this cube reached up more than 20 meters.

    This cube, or at least what appeared to be a cube, was connected with chains so large that its links dwarfed the size of a human body. These chains anchored to the land around it, keeping the ''cube'' in place.

    Upon the surface of these lands, grand wooden constructions stood. At first glance, it looked no different from a normal wide ranging and thick forest of brown and green. However, the longer you looked, the more exaggerated it all seemed to become.

    Enormous tree homes, interconnected pathways, and most importantly defensive structures that took the earth itself as their foundation. The most shocking part of it all was that Wood Force continued to accumulate and grow in the surroundings. The trees absorbed this Force greedily, speeding along their evolution far faster than the rest of EarthX1

    One after another, these trees grew thicker and wider, breaking into the Fifth Dimension one after another and showing not a single sign of slowing down.

    The first day this tree fort was created its defenses could only be considered to be alright. But, come the third, fourth, fifth day and beyond, the sturdiness of it all dwarfed what Leonel could have created with his current Crafting prowess, at least not on the time crunch he was on.

    It could be said that the Evergreen Goddess had truly left Leonel a great boon.

    бн

    Leonel stood in the midst of the forest. On his lap lay a spear that seemed to be made of green vines and had a blade that looked like the closed petals of a pink rose. It radiated the aura of a Quasi Silver spear and sat docilely before Leonel, seemingly not minding at all that he didn''t even have the slightest Wood Elemental affinity to speak of.

    When controlling spears he didn''t have an affinity for, Leonel often had to spend two, three, maybe even ten times the stamina he would normally. But, he had no other choice in this matter. Only he could comprehend the Evergreen Goddess'' text and execute the completion of this Fort fast enough.

    Luckily, he had the golden scaled koi fish to help him quickly replenish his stamina, or else things would have been even more troublesome.

    The good news, though, was that manipulating Fourth Dimensional trees was much easier. If these trees had already become Fifth Dimensional, Leonel might not be able to accomplish this even with several months.

    Comprehending the artistic conception was easy for him, though. He just had to manipulate the Fourth Dimensional trees into Fifth Dimensional levels of complexity and watch the Force do the work for him.

    ''I need to be fast. I need to finish all the Forts before EarthX1 and undergo a qualitative change under Earth''s influenceбн I''m still too slow.''

    Leonel suddenly looked up. "They''re here, right?"

    Arthur appeared in a streak of light. Whether it was Gil or Leonel himself, there was no doubt that Arthur had the fastest speed. It couldn''t be helped, he could quite literally deconstruct himself into the Light Element at will.

    "Seems you know already." Arthur responded.

    Leonel sighed. "I wanted to take over both Lake Crossings, that way we''d always have the decisive advantage, but my wood affinity is just too weak. I couldn''t finish here fast enough."

    Arthur''s lip twitched. Leonel had created such an elaborate fort in less than a week. It was practically impenetrable. Only a fool would attack it without several months of preparation. The fact he accomplished this was enough.

    But Leonel didn''t feel this to be true. He felt an anxiousness in his heart that he couldn''t seem to get rid of. He needed to be faster, to be better.

    They had known from the very beginning that there were two point that all three rivers met at. Unfortunately, Leonel could only choose to build one base at a time.

    "There''s no need to worry. They should have just arrived, it would be impossible for them to set up any sort of powerful defenses. In fact, they might very well be fighting amongst themselves for such a prime spot."

    "Hm?" Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Arthur looked into the distance, his gaze also turning somewhat gloomy.

    "It seems they want to test how good this Fort is too." Arthur said lightly.

    "Leave this to you?" Leonel asked.

    "No problem." Arthur laughed, his blade had been dry for too long. "Make sure to give those other bastards hell."

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smile. It seems that they really thought that Earth was ripe for the picking. It was about time they entered the grand stage and showed them all just what made Earth so talented to begin with.

 Chapter 1031 six

    Chapter 1031 six

    Beneath Lake Crossing, an opening of the cube suddenly widened, causing a rush of water to flood in.

    As calm as the surface seemed, the underwater current charged around like hidden flood dragons hiding in the dark. The moment this opening was breached, several Speed Boats jetted out like submarines, following these underwater currents until they blasted through the surface, appearing on the opposing side of the water barriers in a single blink.

    Leonel appeared at the helm of one of these Speed Boats, his expression serious as the sleek watercraft accelerated along with the currents. He was under no illusions that this matter would be simple to handle.

    бн

    On the other side of EarthX1, as Leonel had already guessed, the sparks of battle were already being slowly lit.

    Much like the first Lake Crossing, this intersection of the West, North-East and South-East Rivers was likewise a connection of ''U'' shapes.

    It had to be understood that the reason Leonel had given the rivers these names were because of their locations on EarthX1. The three main rivers were like irregularly shaped circles claiming a section of the planet for themselves. The West river circled around basically the whole left side of the planet, and the remaining two followed the same pattern.

    Ultimately, these three rivers met as a unit twice and these were easily chosen to be the best locations. As a result, a portion of the individuals who targeted EarthX1 shot for one of these points while another portion shot for the other.

    The competition was fierce and the battlefield became no different from a powder keg ready to explode at any time, no single individual willing to take a step backward. Such a defensible position on a planet without large mountain ranges or valleys was about the best they could hope for. How could they allow others to have it?

    бн

    "This is troublesome."

    A familiar petite young lady of Radix family, Libli, stood in the depths of the forest, eyeing the second Lake Crossing through the foliage. Though the appearance of the others weren''t yet obvious, she hadn''t let down her guard, nor did she make any big movements just yet.

    Much like the others, they had chosen a separate location on planet EarthX1 to build a temporary fort before sending a vanguard to scout out this region. There was no doubt that at least half of their most powerful warriors were here.

    Everyone hid in the shadows, watching for the movements of everyone else, and none seeming to want to take the first step.

    "Young Miss."

    A middle-aged man of the Radix family stepped forward.

    "Is the scouting complete?" Libli asked without looking back.

    The middle-aged man reached out toward the air and allowed a dark gold moth to land on his hand. At first, it seemed no different from a member of the small creature race. However, upon second inspection, one would be shocked to find that the dark gold moth was actually not living at all! Rather, it was a delicately constructed mechanism of parts!

    "We''ve deployed 9283 scouting units successfully and the planet has been mapped out to about 38%."

    "38%? Good. Continue your report."

    Libli nodded, satisfied with this result. It might sound like a small number, but 100% would entail mapping everything even down to the core of the planet. This would include the rivers'' floors and potential hidden pathways as well. 38% was already far more than they needed.

    "There are a total of six powers that have targeted this world, this includes all those that are potential threats. If non-factors are accounted for, there are as many as 31. However, much of this number either includes those who are acting on an individual or small scale basis, or they encompass families and organizations that have overestimated themselves."

    "Detail the seven." Libli spoke coolly, clearly not caring for the full 31 number. It would be a waste of time to do so.

    "Yes. The first are the Evergreen Goddess religion. They have set up a shrine at these coordinatesбн However, they don''t seem to have made a move just yet and the scouts don''t dare to get too close."

    Libli''s gaze narrowed. Religions were making their move as well, it seemed that they had to be cautious. There was no need to offend a God without reason and there was also no real conflict of interest at least for now. So long as the church didn''t go too far, they could coexist.

    "The second is ourselves. The third through fifth are all individuals that come from outside the Milky Way just like we do. There''s the Rain family, the Umbra family, and the Florer family. The Rain family has set up their base at the north pole. The Umbra family has taken the south. The Florer family has taken the largest stretch of land, the Center Island, as theirs."

    The Rain, Umbra and Florer familiesбн Though the Libli hadn''t had run-ins with them all, she knew them well as they knew her. They had all been vying for position in the Milky Way for a long while already. And, on top of that, they were as close to mortal enemies with the Florer family as one could get.

    When it came to matters between the Florer and Midas-Radix families, their philosophies were too antithetical to one another to coexist.

    "And the final?"

    "They are the powerhouse of this quadrant. Well, not just this quadrant, but of this Galaxy as a whole. The Crars family.

    "They have the most flexibility when it comes to this war. They have many worlds that they control near Earth''s borders and are also under the most threat from Earth''s current advancements. Earth''s Fold of Reality missed them this time, but when Earth enters the Sixth Dimension, they will be finished. They have no choice but to go all out now бн And their position is probably the most powerful on this world."

    Libli took these words in and fell into deep contemplation.

 Chapter 1032 Crars

    Chapter 1032 Crars

    If Leonel had been there to hear the name Crars he would have immediately realized that everything the middle-aged man said was true.

    During the war with Terrain, a few citizens of Crars had ended up getting caught in the conflict. These individuals had all been arrogant and lofty despite the fact they came from worlds like CrarsX10 and even Y''s in some cases. It was no surprise they were so arrogant, though, considering the strength of their world.

    Now, it seemed that Crars had no choice but to target Earth.

    When one Fold of Reality swallowed another, or more accurately, when a higher Dimensional Fold of Reality swallowed a lower Dimensional one, the original would be erased and its World Spirit would be swallowed. This meant Crars world would no longer be Crars at all but would rather become a world of Earth. This would effectively cripple an entire generation of Crars citizens.

    The only way to escape this fate was by claiming territory within Earth''s domain and rooting the World Spirit to it. In this way, Crars people would have a route to survive and maintain their sovereignty without being swallowed up by another.

    It could even be said that there were many worlds that had exactly this same thought process. As much as this was about greed for Earth''s resources, it was also a matter of survival.

    "Does it seem like their entire focus is on this world?" Libli asked.

    "Wellбн"

    Before the middle-aged man could answer, an enormous anchor fell onto the second Lake Crossing. A pillar of water shot up into the skies, covering up what it was that had landed.

    At first, Libli immediately went on high alert, as did the individuals hidden in the surroundings. If this was some sort of bomb, they had to be prepared to protect themselves. But, what actually happened next left them stunned.

    The pillar of water crashed down, sending a rain into the surroundings. Considering EarthX1 was almost always precipitating anyway, even if there seemed to be no clouds up above, it hardly changed anything. What was a point of caution, though, was what the descending waters allowed to be revealed.

    A spider beast sat at the center of the second Lake Crossing. Even without using Force, its eight limbs held it above the waters, its beady, crimson eyes looking like a set of shimmering rubies.

    It was at least 20 meters long, wore blinding silver armor, and it released a nauseating clicking sound every so often that made one''s stomach turn over. It was almost like one could hear its inner organs digesting whatever it was that it had just eaten.

    Atop this spider beast stood a group of a dozen. Compared to the youths sent by the Radix, Rain, Umbra and Florer families, it was clear that these individuals were a tick older. But, this could only be expected.

    All four of those families were of the Sixth Dimension but could send such experts in currently. As such, they could only send the younger generation. Freewebn?vel.com.

    The Crars family, though, was just a Fifth Dimensional family, held back by the weak talent of the Milky Way Galaxy overall. As such, most talents they did have were already older, having been stuck at the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension for decades alreadyбн

    Except for two. And these two happened to be a pair of twins that stood at the helm of the spider beast, both radiating the aura of a Tier 9 Fifth Dimensional existence. Yet, they were both exceptionally young. If not for knowing better, most would think that they were still in their late teens.

    "I think this hiding isn''t doing us any good, right?" One of the twins spoke. "If none of you will come out, we will simply take this base for ourselves.

    "Veronica."

    The moment the twin spoke these words, the spider beneath them opened up its jaw and raised its large abdomen into the air. Before anyone could react, a spiraling pillar of webs that sparkled like a cross between silk and diamonds shot upward.

    In just a few seconds, the entirety of Lake Crossing had been covered in a thick platform of web. Just a slight moment of hesitation had allowed the Crars twins to take the initiative. There were truly very few who dared to take a step onto that web.

    Just at a glance, it wasn''t difficult to tell that this web was incredibly sticky. From Libli''s calculations, she felt that just walking along it would take about three to four times the amount of Force they would use on water normally just to keep themselves from getting stuck.

    On top of this, there was a high likelihood that the web was also poisonous and may very well already be spreading a silent killer into the air.

    "Ousen, poison detection." Libli commanded.

    "Yes." The middle aged man released the moth for just a moment before his expression changed. "Nerve numbing. Airborne."

    "I see."

    Libli took out her Radix Cube and fused Force into it. With a click, what looked like a spider jumped out with its legs and clamped onto her face. Very soon, the lower half of her face including her nose were covered by a bronze mask.

    "Who has come?"

    "Young Miss, it seems that the Rain and Florer family have attacked Earth''s base. As for the rest, the Evergreen Clergymen don''t seem to have made a move while the Umbra familyбн Is very, very difficult to find.

    "That said, there is an uptick of about 0.1% of atmospheric Dark Elemental Force in the general surroundings. According to our information, there''s a 97% chance that the Umbra family is already here."

    As Ousen spoke, he too used his Radix Cube to cover his face.

    "Gather the vanguard, it''s time to move. We can''t let them do as they please."

    Libli''s words had hardly fallen when several scythes of darkness cut at the large platform of spiders webs from all sides. The speed was so fast that the twins could only narrow their gazes as a large chunk of their foundation was ripped apart.

    When it came to a stop, the whispering fog of several shadows drifted into the air, disappearing one after another. However, just one stayed behind, a cheeky grin on his face.

    This young man was exceptionally pale and was lanky to almost an extreme. And if Leonel had been there to see him, he would have been shockedбн

    Because this young man was none other than Radlis, the first friend Leonel had ever made on Valiant Heart Mountain.

    He twirled twin short swords in his hands as his body seemed to drift into the wind. His legs disappeared into fog and his torso quickly followed suit. Eventually, there was just his head and his cheeky grin remaining.

    "I''ve been suppressing myself for too long. Since you''d like to play, let''s play. That''s what my Umbra family does best."

    The instant Radlis vanished, the clinking of armor resounded as the Radix family charged forth. A three way battle erupted with hardly any warning, sending the calm water of the lake into a frenzy. Bronze Force, Dark Elemental Force, and a spider''s web all spiraled out of control.

    Chaos descended upon the second Lake Crossing.

 Chapter 1033 l Told You

    Chapter 1033 l Told You

    The battlefield had less than 50 people taking part. It was clear they all had a tacit understanding that this was a place reserved for elites and elites alone. Anyone else would only be like fodder to a flame.

    Libli and Radlis clashed with the twins. The latter seemed to flicker in and out of existence as he pleased while the former had already put on an entire mech suit. From a delicate and petite young lady, she had become a bronze behemoth.

    Back on Planet Solara, there were certain delicate mechanisms that she didn''t dare to deploy for fear the planet''s environment would destroy them. But now she had no qualms at all.

    Her one enormous bronze arm billowed with the odd bronze Force and endless steam. Her slender arm was quick and flexible, sending out blades of energy that pressed one of the twins down.

    Radlis'' twin short swords were like arcs of black lightning. They appeared without warning, struck with unconscious speed, and moved like deathly shadows.

    "Not bad." Radlis laughed as he vanished and appeared on a whim. "I thought that only those two would be good in this galaxy, but it turned out that there were other talents here too. It''s a shame you aren''t a woman or else I''d want to take you as a concubine."

    The Crars twin remained indifferent to Radlis'' taunting.

    All around him, shields of spider web silk hung around him. In total, there were at least a dozen, each of which was just a foot in diameter. The twin''s fingers moved about with a deft swiftness, controlling both these shields and several hiltless blades.

    In his battle with Libli, the other twin also seemed to use the same silk based ability, their flexibility in battle coming as no joke.

    Just earlier, ''Veronica'', the spider beast, had vanished and became a tattoo on the latter twin''s back. However, this was impossible to see as this twin wore flexible armor throughout his body. All that was possible for the others to tell was that these two brothers seemed to have abilities related to the very spider they had just ridden.

    Radlis suddenly found a silk thread attached to his blade, catching him somewhat off guard.

    With a quick deployment of his Dark Elemental Force, it began to corrode. But, the process was far too slow, showing just the kind of strength these silk strings had.

    "You could never defeat us." The twin spoke plainly. "This world is ours."

    The twin''s finger flexed, causing a surge of energy to threaten to snap Radlis'' wrist if he didn''t release his weapon. At the same time, a hiltless blade shot toward his compromised arm, aiming to pierce through the left of Radlis'' chest completely.

    Radlis suddenly chuckled. "I managed to survive that lovesick woman while hiding my strength for two years. What makes you think this is enough to deal with me?"

    Radlis'' back suddenly erupted with tendrils of dark energy. Soon, though, it became clear that they were actually several tails. Of which, there were three in total.

    With a bang, one shattered the ceiling of the speed of sound. Like a streaking shadow, it whipped through the air, slamming against the incoming hiltless blade and sending it spiraling into the air. Before the twin could regain control of it, Radlis'' tail shot up, wrapping around it tightly and sending it flying.

    The air felt as though it was being cut apart. The strength of Radlis'' tail was completely beyond the expectations of the twin. Free?ebn?vel.c?m.

    Several of his spiderweb shields shot out, lining up in a line to block the incoming blow.

    SHUUU! PENG! PENG! PENG!

    It took three shields before the blade finally got stuck in the fourth. However, before he could even have a chance at catching his breath, Radlis who had vanished into thin air appeared with his short sword at his throat.

    бн

    At that moment, on the other side of the battlefield, Libli''s battle with the other twin was raging on just as fiercely. Without having to hold back, Libli''s actions flowed far more smoothly from one action to another. It was as though she had an endless supply of mechanisms, each more lethal than the last.

    Chains, needles, hidden blades and spikes, extending arms and legs. The array of options she had felt infinite and it was quickly becoming more and more difficult for the second twin to read and react. No matter how many shields he had, none of it seemed to be enough.

    Libli''s massive steampunk bronze arm rotated a quarter, causing several small holes to appear at a joint.

    An eruption of nine missiles shot out in a rotating an spiraling circle as though they were coordinating themselves in the air.

    The twin shot backward explosively, sending out several shields. Trying to use the massive fog as a cover, he sent out several hiltless blades. Beneath the cloud of explosions and their noise, it should have been impossible for Libli to react.

    The aftershock sent the twin flying, his feet losing their balance as he was blown backward. But, completely out of his expectations, he found the he suddenly couldn''t fly any further.

    To the twin''s horror, a chain had wrapped around his ankle. Without even a chance to fight back, he was reeled back into the range of the explosion just in time for the final chain of missiles to implode.

    бн

    Just like that, at seemingly the exact same time, one twin lost their head and another was blown to bits, falling within split moments of each other.

    The fog around Libli slowly dispersed while the surge of Dark Elemental Force around Radlis calmed. The darkness that had taken over Radlis'' gaze began to pale as he looked toward Libli with a fiendish grin.

    "You''re quite a beauty. It''s a shame that you''re not my type, I like more vuloptuous women."

    Radlis'' gaze went blank as he thought back to the large breasts of Balthorn. He almost began to drool.

    Libli didn''t react much to Radlis'' words, simply brandishing her weapons and pulling back her chains. But, before the two could battle, the sound of two voices caused their pupils to constrict.

    "See, I told you, Dee. We''re at too much of a disadvantage. The Milky Way is too untalented, we can''t beat them one on one like this."

    "Fuck off, Dre. I''m unresigned. This is bullshit."

    "Wouldn''t everything be alright once we take Earth''s talent for our own? Then nothing would hold us back any longer. For now, just listen to me."

    Libli and Radlis turned their gazes to find an enormous bird hovering in the skies. On its back, two individuals that they should have just killed stood, perfectly fine as though nothing had happened.

    "Since our talent isn''t good enough, we''ll just drown them in numbers."

    At that moment, the sky that was fairly clear aside from the light drizzle of a few clouds suddenly warped. From just a single bird, there were suddenly hundreds, each of them with squadrons of ten on their backs. Instantly, a battlefield that barely had 50 people suddenly ballooned into one where a side had thousands in a single blink.

    Libli and Radlis'' pupils constricted into pinholes.

 Chapter 1034 Retreat

    Chapter 1034 Retreat

    Libli, who liked to calculate everything before she even took a single step, realized that she had been played. She couldn''t quite grasp what ability had been used to string her along like this, but it didn''t particularly matter right now. All she knew was that there was trouble.

    Scanning the current state of the battlefield, all of her elite troops had been spread apart, as were Radlis''. On top of this, they were being pinned down by the elite troops that the twins had led forward earlier, making it difficult for them to regroup.

    Libli had thought they all had the tacit understanding that this would be a battle of elites and had gotten complacent. After all, as much of a powerhouse as Crars was in this galaxy, their main ability came in their foundation and their numbers. But, if they were willingly tossing such an advantage away, she had been willing to gladly take such a benefit for herself.

    However, Libli had forgotten one important piece of information.

    Ousen had informed her of where the Rain, Umbra and Florer families had set up their bases. But, he had never said anything about where the Crars family had set up theirs. It was only now she understood that they had never set one up to begin with, from the very beginning, their only target had always been this second Lake Crossing.

    "Regroup!"

    Libli raised her enormous mechanical arm, pointing its massive fingers forward. Mechanisms on their tips opened up and shot out a rapid hail of bullets as she tried to cover for her people''s retreat.

    But, how could Dee and Dre allow such a thing? They had revealed their true cards at the perfect time and they would most definitely take advantage.

    Right at that moment, the birds dove down from the skies. One would have thought that they would slow as they approached the water, but it was the exact opposite. They accelerated like speeding bullets, their feathers ripping from their bodies one after another.

    Howeverбн If one looked closely, those very feathers turned into an odd inky energy as they fluttered away, sinking back into Dre''s body.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The birds, without a care for their lives, crashed full speed into the waters below. At that moment, an inky blackness was cast over all of their visions, making it impossible to see what was happening. Before Libli could even regain her bearings as the water beneath her rose and fell like tides, her bronze armor jumped into action on its own, blocking a strike to her left.

    Libli''s gaze narrowed. Her armor only acted without her expressed command under very few situations. She realized then that her life was truly in danger.

    The inky blackness dispersed, revealing the state of the battlefield once more. But now, Libli found herself surrounded from all sides. With the Crars having claimed the very center of the battlefield, it had suddenly become impossible for any regrouping to take place.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have been a terrible move to make as it essentially forced the Crars to be pincered from all sides. However, with so few people being on the battlefield to begin with an many birds still hanging in the skies with hundreds more attackers, it felt like the perfect action for this given situation.

    Libli immediately found herself embroiled in battle. For the first time in her life, she actually regretted not bringing that massive meat head somewhere. However, she had had no choice but to leave her husband-to-be back at their base so that there would be someone there to defend should Earth send a pre-emptive attack.

    ''We need to retreatбн It seems we''ll really have to give up this location. If they build an entire base of that spider silk, it''ll be difficult to take this back without at least a few thousand troops. But even then..''

    Libli''s mind spun as she thought. The bare minimum requirement for attacking this second Lake Crossing once the Crars had established themselves would be an antidote for this nerve numbing poison that was slowly accumulating in the air. Not everyone of the Radix family had good enough crafting skill to block this poison like she did. And, the Umbra family was known for their immunity to such things and Libli truly didn''t want to let them have the upper hand.

    ''Dammit.''

    "RETREAT! NO SEQUENCE!"

    Libli''s mask projected her voice over the battlefield. Her words told her men to use whatever means to escape they had. Without a sequence allowed them to scatter.

    Dre and Dee, who were still in the skies, smirked when they saw the attempted retreat. They acted in unison fitting themselves into all sort of twinning stereotypes.

    "Fire at will." Dre said lightly.

    Those who remained on the backs of the birds weren''t just anyone, they were the best marksmen the Crars Empire had to offer. They weren''t fearful of being pincered because they simply had the best cover imaginable. They had essentially started an air fight on a group of people who were clearly not ready for one.

    Radlis'' gaze narrowed. When it came to escape, his people were probably the best. But, it was difficult when they were forced to engage in battle like this. They needed both time and space to vanish like they usually did. And, unfortunately, the sun was still too high in the sky to lower the requirements.

    The marksmen above began to target the escaping Radix family members together. If one wasn''t enough, three or four volleys were often sent. The casualties began to slowly increase.

    It was right then that the situation on the battlefield changed once again.

    "Dre."

    Dre subconsciously looked in a certain direction, his gaze narrowing when he saw an array of Speed Boats racing down the river. In fact, much like the clergymen, he almost hadn''t noticed them at all.

    "Shoot them doбк"

    Dre hadn''t even finished his commands when a beam of golden light tore through the skies, ripping through the throat of his bird.

    In the distance, still just over two kilometers away, Leonel frowned, holding his sniper rifle in his hand.

    ''The birds aren''t realбн? In that case, let''s do this.''

    Dre and Dee fell from the skies, an inky blackness hanging around them. Unfortunately for them, Leonel had already locked on.

 Chapter 1035 Bow Force

    Chapter 1035 Bow Force

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a sleek and simple bow. It was the very same bow he had gotten from the Camelot Zone.

    Though it was just a Quasi Bronze treasure, when it came to this battlefield, it was already among the best weapons in appearance. Andбн when it came to matters of marksmanship, Leonel truly didn''t need anything more than just this.

    In the blink of an eye, half a dozen arrows appeared on Leonel''s bowstring at once. As though he hardly needed to calculate anything, they shot outward, piercing through the throats of just as many birds in what felt like an instant.

    No amount of maneuvering seemed to matter. With every light breath Leonel took, another ''bird'' fell from the sky. His single arrow seemed to be capable of covering the whole battlefield. No matter how many barricades you stood behind, no matter how much effort you put into running, it was all meaningless.

    Leonel''s body and the bow seemed to vanish. No, it wasn''t that it had vanished, but rather that they seemed to have become one.

    The twang of the bow string was no different from a flex of Leonel''s arm or a whipping of his leg. The curve of the bow''s body was no different from a tensing of Leonel''s spine and a priming of his heart.

    It had been so long since Leonel used a bow, rather choosing to rely on his Crafting skill to create powerful sniper rifles. The only reason he was using it now was because he realized that it was a more efficient use of his stamina. Even though the sniper rifle didn''t drain him like it once did in the past, it still packed a punch.

    However, Leonel never expected to suddenly become immersed in this feeling he hadn''t touched upon in such a long time. There was something about the bow that existed on a plane separate from the gun.

    No matter how hard Leonel tried, he always felt that there was a barrier between him and his guns truly breathing as one. And yet, that barrier seemed to be as thin as a sheet of wet paper when he picked up his bow.

    Leonel asked himself the same question he had asked of his spear.

    What was so special about Bow Force?

    It was a funny question because Leonel wasn''t even certain that he had ever used Bow Force before. Had he ever grasped it? In truth, he wasn''t really sure. He thought he had, maybe, possibly. But, had he really? Likely not.

    For a long while, he hadn''t felt that there was any difference between the weapon Forces. They just made things sharper, right? In that case, why grasp Bow Force when he could just attach Spear Force to his arrows? Wasn''t it the same thing regardless?

    Unknowingly, Leonel had restricted his Bow Force in this way, making what he had comprehended from Merlin''s Trial quite benign and useless.

    So, he asked himself again.

    What separated Bow Force from other Forces?

    It felt like the answer was Range again. In fact, it felt like the answer was Range times ten. But Leonel felt unsatisfied with this answer. It wasn''t because this answer was wrong. In fact, it was correct. The reason he was unsatisfied was because he felt that it was too simpleбн

    Leonel fell into a trancelike state. His fingers moved faster and faster and the arrows he released seemed to blot out the skies all on their own. Before the boat had even crossed from two kilometers away to just a single kilometer, more than half of the birds in the sky had been slaughtered.

    At that moment, Leonel entered the range of the Crars marksmen and they began to try to snipe him out of the skies before Leonel could get to them. But, that was when something Radlis, Libli and the twins would never forget in their lifetimes happened.

    Leonel''s speed hit a new gear. He ran out of arrows and simply began to form them with his Earth Force. His arm became like a blur and the bowstring often didn''t even have a chance to settle before he slotted another arrow in and pulled.

    At that moment, they all witnessed a single bowman facing off against dozens. Leonel sent out several volleys, his arrows perfectly clashing with the ones the Crars marksmen released.

    At first, it was even and they seemed to have reached a stalemate. The clashing in the skies grew resounding, flashing lights of all colors coming from one side only to be blocked by a curtain of bronze from another. It was as though the arrows had become no different from droplets of rain rebounding against one another in the sky.

    But then, the situation changed.

    Leonel''s arrows began to skim against the sides of the oncoming arrows. It seemed that he had missed at first, but then it became clear that a single one of Leonel''s arrows began to disrupt the path of two others. Then three others. Then four others.

    BANG!

    A surging aura burst from Leonel''s body. A golden spear light flickered into and out of existence on Leonel''s forehead as though it was fighting back against something, but it was to no avail.

    Leonel''s arrows suddenly gained life of their own. Rather than speeding up, his pace suddenly slowed. And yet, under the astonished gazes of those watching on, it wasn''t Leonel who began to lose, but rather the marksmen of Crars.

    Leonel took a light breath, an arrow releasing along with his exhale.

    It curved through the skies, skimming against the side of one arrow after another. It used the arrows of the Crars marksmen almost like a race track, its trajectory curving along as though it had a mind of its own.

    Thenбн

    SHUUU!

    The neck of a ''bird'' was pierced right through, the very first one to be felled in the last several exchanges. It felt as though the battlefield had fallen into an eerie silence, a single young man with a blazing aura becoming the center of attention.

    Range was indeed too simple to describe Leonel''s feelings for the bow. When he held it in his hands, he had an indelible confidence.

    What separated Leonel''s Bow Force from his other Forces? It was the fact it was his Bow Force.

    ''With a single arrow, I can do anything.''

    A mighty violet fog billowed to life around him.

 Chapter 1036 With a Single Arrow

    Chapter 1036 With a Single Arrow

    What Leonel had needed to understand was why Range felt like too simple of an answer to him, and it had only taken a moment to do so.

    The truth was that it was too simple because Leonel''s state of mind when it came to the bow was far beyond his state of mind when it came to the spear. The reality was that despite having a Lineage Factor related to the spear, and even having the Spear Domain Heirloom, his thought process revolved much more around the bow than it ever did the spear.

    Much like how switching to wooden spears for a long while helped Leonel grasp something he had been missing, so too did using his sniper rifle for so long. It made seeing the fundamental difference so much clearer.

    The reality was that Leonel''s explanation was much more complex for the bow because if his Spear Force could be considered to have stepped into Level 2, then Leonel''s Bow Force had just entered Level 3, skipping over Level 2 entirely.

    Leonel was sure that there were probably names and categories for this stuff already documented, but he had purposely not used the dictionary to learn about them. He didn''t want his progress in this fashion to be influenced by anything else.

    It was quite interesting. Leonel was always worried about missing out and had always wanted to learn as much as he could about everything. But, for some reason, when it came to his Spear and his Bow, he wanted the exact opposite. Something about them felt deeply personal in a way he found difficult to describe.

    In the end, he chose to follow his gut. And as things stood now, it was doing wonders for him.

    Leonel released another arrow but the result of this one caused the expressions of everyone around to change wildly. The air around the arrow vibrated out of control and the Force in the surroundings seemed to distort. It hadn''t even reached its destination yet, and yet not a single soul failed to see through its danger.

    Dee and Dre who were among the very first to fall victim to Leonel''s arrows and lose their bird, had their pupils constrict.

    Dre had been waiting for the archers to deal with Leonel first before he deployed his bird once again to command to the battlefield. But to his shock and horror, Leonel alone had actually rendered his men completely useless. And now this arrowбн

    SHUUU!

    Leonel blinked. ''бн I missed?''

    Leonel was baffled. Even back to the days when he was a normal boy playing quarterback on a football field, he had never missed. It sounded ridiculous, but it was the truth. Leonel couldn''t ever remember being inaccurate in his life.

    And yet, for the first timeбн he actually missed?

    BANG!

    The sight was devastating.

    Leonel''s arrow passed over the head of a bird, missing its neck. However, just as it did so, it was as though everything ruptured.

    The head and part of the bird''s torso was shredded to pieces. The marksmen on its back screamed in horror as they too were torn and ripped apart. It was as though a spinning vortex of Space Element Force whipped by, forming a blackhole that pulled everything apart and left nothing but droplets of blood, flesh and an inky blackness.

    The space in the surroundings continued to tremble as the arrow shot into the distance. As though it was a nuke, everyone on the battlefield scattered, rushing out of the range of the arrow before it could get anywhere near them.

    BANG!

    The arrow collided with the calm waters of the second Lake Crossing. A devastating whirlpool formed and water as sharp as knives and needles jetted out in all directions Freewebn?vel.c?m.

    Screams of agony and pain erupted. Those that hadn''t managed to get far enough away found themselves sucked in, the devastation of the arrow shocking them to their cores and reaping their lives. At least a dozen fell into the silence of death in that one instant.

    Leonel frowned, raising his hand to his bow again. But, right as he was about to fire again, he felt his forearm spasm and a large chunk of his mental stability vanish.

    ''What the hellбн''

    Leonel''s mind spun, his near perfect recall activating as he replayed what had just happened. When he came to an understanding, his expression became somewhat solemn.

    His Bow Force had actually surpassed a level he could casually sustain. There wasn''t much of an impact on his body as Bow Force came from the external, but his mental focus took a huge hit. It felt as though he was a normal human again and had just spent all day studying.

    It was exaggerated to the point he couldn''t lift a single finger any longer. But, Leonel felt like his current self only had about two more of these arrows in him before he really wouldn''t be able to think straight anymore.

    ''Unlessбн I use Auspicious Air. But, even then, I think I would only be able to increase the number by oneбн I never thought that would become a problem.''

    What Leonel didn''t know was that this was only natural. His so-called ''Level 3 Bow Force'' was actually a concept usually only grasped by those at the Sixth Dimension, something he would know had he done his research. In fact, it couldn''t even show its full strength due to Leonel''s current limitations.

    Leonel could sulk about this and be unhappyбн But was it even necessary?

    ''Three more of these arrows to end this battleбн?'' Leonel grinned. ''Isn''t that too easy?''

    Leonel had had many plans brewing in his mind for how to deal with this battle, but he hadn''t expected to have such a breakthrough before it even started. In fact, as long as he wanted, he could lower his Bow Force to Level 2 and not have to worry about this drawback at all.

    However, where would the fun in that be?

    It was about time these people understood that what they should fear wasn''t those vying for a piece of Earth along with themбн What they should fear was Earth itself.

    Leonel raised his bow again, his free hand drawing two fingers together from the curve of the bow down the string. Everywhere his two fingers passed, a shimmering bronze arrow of Earth Force formed, wrapped in spiraling Level 3 Bow Force.

    "RETREAT!"

    The roars came from all over the battlefield as the same thought resounded in Leonel''s mind once again.

    ''With a single arrow, I can do anything.''

 Chapter 1037 Right?

    Chapter 1037 Right?

    Leonel had barely drawn his bow into a partial crescent when panic took hold of the battlefield.

    Libli froze and suddenly couldn''t move a single inch. No matter how she calculated, no matter how she wracked her brain, she couldn''t manage to figure out a method to live. So long as Leonel targeted her, she would die. For the first time in her life, she was 100% certain of a conclusion.

    The only people capable of resisting that strike were powerful Quasi and True Sixth Dimensional existences. In addition, they couldn''t be normal Quasi Sixth Dimensional existences either. Considering how weak the Tier 9 pair of twins had been, losing to Libli who wasn''t even Tier 7 yet, it was doubtful that there was anyone born in the Milky Way capable of such a feat.

    The only chance they had was if Leonel didn''t fire at allбн But what chance was there of that?

    Leonel''s fingers released from the string, his actions smooth and unhurried. From barely being able to pull this bow to 20% of its potential, Leonel could now pull it to 100% with ease. However, he had chosen not to because it was simply unnecessary.

    Rippling waves of distorted air pulsed around the flying arrow. At first glance, it almost looked like the warped images one would see around an extraordinarily hot object. The air wasn''t steaming, but its surroundings twisted and bent almost like a rippling puddle of water.

    "Protect the Princes!"

    The roar came from the backline but the Crars warriors all fell into rank. As though this order was an injection shot of bravery, their eyes went red.

    ''A commander type ability?'' Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''But this works out well too.''

    SHUUUU!

    Several roars shot into the skies, rows upon rows of warriors blocking the path of Leonel''s arrow toward Dee and Dre.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, the large number of Crars warriors was the main roadblock to him capturing this space. So, he hadn''t hesitated to target their leaders as he had done from the very beginning. As for the results, they were just as shocking.

    Leonel''s arrows became no different from a screeching projectile shot from a powerful ballista. It tore through the first line of warriors, reaping three lives at a time. Even the waters it traveled over split beneath its momentum, creating a violent churning effect that made the situation all the more disastrous.

    This time, the arrow was on target. Leonel wouldn''t be taken off guard by the same thing twice and he had already adjusted his calculations. The result was an arrow far more devastating than the last.

    The first casual arrow reaped just over a dozen lives despite hitting nothing but air the whole time. This arrow, however, reaped that many on just first contact.

    It tore through the army, shredding armors to pieces and twisting flesh and bone into grinding meat paste.

    Dee and Dre watched on in horror, their hearts trembling. Even the elite warriors they had originally come with found it difficult to even move an inch. The only one who had managed to do anything was the old man who shouted out earlier, but even then he had only done so to protect himself.

    ''Thisбн Is a suppression between Dimensionбн Who is this monsterбн?''

    At that moment, Dre finally understood. They were truly finished.

    BANG!

    The arrow finally landed on the waters, a violent churning of water jetting outward. Shards of space followed suit, shredding anyone in its way to pieces.

    By the time the waters calmed, a quarter of the thousands the Crars had brought had been wiped out.

    The Speed Boats finally entered the range of the battlefield, their parachute systems deploying like the wings of a silver bird and their anchors falling.

    Bow in hand, a dense violet fog hung around Leonel. Fused with his Level 3 Bow Force, it felt like a curtain a gravity had fallen over the second Lake Crossing, making the knees of those who laid eyes on him weak.

    Right then, Milan, Raj, Drake and Allan stepped out of the boats ready to fight. However, what they saw when they came out left them speechless.

    The retreating warriors had come to a grinding halt, not daring to move a single step any longer. A cone shaped had opened up toward the center of the battlefield, followed by a path of blood and gore. And, every one of the warriors despite some clearly being on opposing sides had locked gazes with Leonel, the fear in them clear.

    "Hey, Capбн What''d you do?"

    Raj cleared his throat and squeezed these words out. Allan, however, noticed that Leonel''s back wasn''t as straight as it normally was. In fact, his skin was paler than usual as well. Whatever it was that Leonel had done clearly took a lot out of him.

    While it was true that Leonel could fire two more of these arrows if he dug deep, that was only if he dug deep. He would only be able to fire one more without using his Natural Force Art and relying on Auspicious Air, so really he only had one more in him currently.

    A theoretical number was far different from the true number. The reason Leonel hadn''t pulled his bowstring all the way back was because he was well aware of this.

    Very rarely could humans reach their true limits. It often took trying circumstances and lack of choice to push someone to that limit. The fact that Leonel only had one more in him already put him in a state of sheer exhaustion.

    However, he still stood there, glaring at the battlefield menacingly as if he could release a hundred more so long as they dared him to.

    Leonel''s gaze swept through the battlefield before it landed on seemingly empty space. The moment it did, it narrowed somewhat, causing that empty space to shudder, releasing a hint of Dark Elemental energy that had most definitely not been there before.

    Radlis was forced to appear before the coercion, coughing somewhat awkwardly.

    "бн Hey buddy, long time no see. How''s Aina? I bet she''s just as beautiful as ever, right?"

 Chapter 1038 Stone

    Chapter 1038 Stone

    Radlis coughed awkwardly.

    In truth, it could be said that he and Leonel had a decent relationship. They could have been friends had it not been for Radlis maintaining some distance between them by always disappearing to places unknown. However, it was also the case that Radlis had been a help to Leonel at least once before as well. Though it wasn''t really a big deal now, back then, it had been about as far out as a person could stick their neck for someone they hardly knew.

    Back when Leonel had been faced with those three seniors, it was Radlis who had run off to get an authority figure who could help out. Even though Leonel hadn''t ended up needing the help, had he actually needed it, it could have put Radlis in an awkward situation for the rest of the time he was there.

    Leonel, of course, recognized Radlis. But, he wasn''t as surprised as the latter might have thought he would be.

    Radlis had always been odd to Leonel. He always seemed to be aimless at Valiant Heart Mountain, chasing girls and even joining a Force Crafter Guild even though he was clearly not a Force Crafter. And yet, despite being so ''aimless'', he had managed to gain a quota to enter the Valiant Heart Zone. Not only had he entered it, but he had actually managed to be among the few who survived all the way to the end.

    From that moment, Leonel knew that there was something off about Radlis, but he never pressed to find out because he could tell that the latter was trying to keep some distance between the two of them. In addition, given Leonel''s state of mind back then, he didn''t really care about the feelings of anyone else outside of Aina, so he hadn''t been in the business of making friends.

    Seeing Radlis here, rather than making things more confusing, actually made things make more sense. At the very least, it made the questions Leonel have about him far more pointed.

    Had Radlis gone to Valiant Heart Mountain for the Valiant Heart Zone? That was very likelyбн But why? Was the Valiant Heart Zone enticing even to someone with a background like Radlis? To the point where he would actually choose to infiltrate it?

    Leonel had to believe that for Radlis'' family to be scheming on Earth, they must have gathered a lot of information on the Milky Way. With that information, they should have known that Valiant Heart Mountain was being eyed by three other forces all at once. That meant that there was nothing to be gained from establishing yourself in such a place unless your only goal was their treasure.

    Due to this line of reasoning, Radlis must have entered the Valiant Heart Mountain for the sake of its Zone, this would also explain why he didn''t show his talent until the crucial moment. Butбн Leonel still felt like he was missing an important part of the puzzle.

    Rather than replying to Radlis, Leonel spoke to the army as a whole.

    "You all have two options. Since there are three groups among you, I''ll let you make the decision for your respective people.

    "The first option is to continue this one sided massacre. The second option is to surrender and become prisoners of war. Which will you choose?"

    When Leonel''s words fell, he had already raised up his bow and began to draw his two fingers through the air. Another bronze arrow began to take form, shimmering with Bow Force that bent and twisted the space around it.

    Of course, Leonel was only using Level 2 Bow Force currently while masking it with Space Elemental Force to mimic the same effect. But, they didn''t need to know that. Right?

    Leonel knew that if he really pushed himself to draw a third arrow, he''d fall into a coma for a long while. If he wasn''t here to command the war, then who would? He had too many responsibilities to fall here.

    "I surrender."

    Leonel raised a brow.

    The voice was female and came immediately after his words fell. It was clear that this person had made a decision long ago and chose to surrender.

    Leonel was a bit surprised to find that it was Libli. From what he knew about this young woman, she was quite headstrong. But, it seemed that she also knew how to be flexible as well.

    From the look in her eyes, it didn''t seem like she was afraid of death. But, she also didn''t seem like she was faking it either.

    Leonel nodded her way. As long as Libli surrendered, it meant the rest of the Radix family would follow suit as well.

    "Raj."

    "Gotcha."

    Raj''s chubby fingers moved and a swarm of metallic sand shot forward, wrapping around Libli who had long since stepped out of her battlesuit.

    "I surrender as well." Radlis chuckled. "You won''t treat me badly, right Leonel?"

    Toward Radli''s casualness, Leonel could only be speechless. Did he not realize how serious these matters were? Or maybe this guy was just always like this?

    Dee and Dre took this matter the most harshly. The Crars family had the most to lose in this endeavor and they had gone all out to fulfill that goal. And yet, their plan had been thwarted like this?

    Even though Dee and Dre only represented one prong of their attack, they were among the most powerful. What did this say for the rest?

    However, as much as they wanted to fight back, fear gripped their hearts. The river was still dyed with blood that had yet to be washed away. If they answered wrongly, that could be them.

    "Brother." Dee''s jawline clenched.

    The twins looked toward one another, their expressions grave.

    Dre sighed. "I''m with you if you''re with me."

    Dee grinned. "Might as well go down swinging."

    This wasn''t a casual matter for them. Libli and Radlis might be able to surrender, but that was because their people would be just fine. Their families would likely negotiate a large ransom for their return. However, the Crars could not afford this. All of their chips had been pushed to the center of the table. Even if they couldn''t win this battle, they had to weaken Earth as much as they could.

    Leonel could already tell what their answer would be the moment he saw these looks.

    "Men of Crars!" Dee''s voice boomed. "Protect your homes!"

    Dee and Dre dashed forward through the cone of blood formed amidst the battlefield, taking on the vanguard. If they died, then they died. As Princes of their empire, they had to be the last to give up hope.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed and he waved his hand.

    Thousands of soldiers swarmed out of the Speed Boats, the final battle for the second Lake Crossing beginningбн

    Unfortunately, it seemed that the finale was already set in stone.

 Chapter 1039 Radix Cube

    Chapter 1039 Radix Cube

    The battle lasted less than an hour. Even without releasing his arrow, just the oppressive might of Leonel''s Level 3 Bow Force was like a Domain all to its own. Its presence alone had a suppressive effect on the Crars that lasted until the very end. By the time they realized that this was all because Leonel couldn''t casually release such attacks, it was already too late.

    Dee and Dre found themselves caught much like Libli and Radlis had been. They had wanted to fight to the death, but why would Leonel allow that if he didn''t have to? These two represented a treasure trove of information. As for whether they gave it up willingly or via the use of different means, Leonel didn''t particularly care. He was sure that there was someone with an ability useful in this respect somewhere.

    бн

    "You tricked us." Libli spoke plainly.

    At this moment, the second Lake Crossing was no longer empty. It had gained a large metallic cube chained to its surrounding islands as well. Within this metallic cube, Libli, Radlis and the twins lay in chains while the remainder of their armies had been placed within Segmented Cubes.

    Leonel stood before their jail cells, made of the very same material the Dark Cloud Prison of Earth was formed of. Though it didn''t work as well against Fifth Dimensional existences as Earth had yet to produce such Ores at the Fifth Dimensional level, it was still good enough to severly weaken them.

    Leonel shook his head.

    He hadn''t tricked them. If Libli and the others insisted on battling, he would have definitely drawn his arrow once again. Libli was well aware of this as well, which was why despite what she said now, she didn''t regret her decision.

    She was logical almost to a fault and unless it was strictly necessary, she would never sacrifice herself meaninglessly like the twins tried to. As long as she survived, there would be a chance at another day. But, if she died, any hope there might have been would be lost. It was wholly irrational to fight a losing a battle, so she refused to do so.

    Leonel ignored Libli for a moment and looked toward Radlis. The latter was still as pale and lanky as ever, but his breath was stronger than it had been in the past. It was clear that he had hid himself deeply and may very well still be hiding himself. For someone who had been captured as a prisoner of war, the smile on his face was too bright.

    "Why did you join Valiant Heart Mountain?" Leonel asked.

    Radlis blinked. "Can''t a man chase skirts? I''m still in the prime of my youth."

    Gil, who wasn''t too far away, burst into laughter.

    "Hey, Cap! I like him. Maybe we should let him go."

    "Two perverts in a pod." Allan shook his head.

    "What do you know? A sign of a healthy man is his perversion. Only we can allow the true nature of the repressed female to shine forth in its true glory. It''s you prudes that are responsible for the double standards those repressed flowers must suffer through."

    "Oh yea?" Milan laughed. "There are plenty of brothels on Earth right now and our population''s lacking, why don''t you go take a few of those repressed flowers as your wives and have some babies?"

    Gil coughed. "Everything in moderation, friend. Everything in moderation."

    The exchange made the boys laugh, especially Radlis, but Libli''s expression twisted with a hardly concealed disgust. Was this how men talked when they were ''alone''? She wanted no part of it.

    Seeing that he wasn''t going to get any answers from Radlis in this state, Leonel shrugged his shoulders.

    The most basic interrogation tactic was to separate your targets and question them individually. Even though Leonel didn''t want the same answers out of them as they were from different powers, it would still help to apply some mental pressure on them. After all, they were far too relaxed right now. The only ones who had dark expressions and didn''t say a word were the twins, but this made sense since they were in the worst situation.

    Still, Leonel hadn''t bothered to do any of this because he didn''t expect deep answers from any of them. Rather, he just wanted to know some surface things. As for what was hidden underneath, he would leave it to those with special abilities to find out. His only purpose was to find out some useful surface information.

    "Your cube, I''m very interested in it. What is it?"

    Libli frowned. But, it wasn''t exactly a secret either, so she felt that if this information could allow her to continue remaining here comfortably until someone saved her, that would be fine too.

    "The Radix Cube is a tradition of our Radix family. From the moment we begin to learn Crafting and awaken our Bronze Force we begin to build our own. During our lifetimes, we''ll modify, change and improve our Radix Cube until it can become more and more powerful."

    Leonel felt intrigued by this, his eyes glowing until he thought of something.

    "None of you restart?"

    "No!"

    Libli''s reaction was fiercer than Leonel had expected. She seemed to realize this as well so she calmed down considerably after a moment. It seemed that Leonel''s question had touched on a taboo he wasn''t aware of.

    However, Libli clearly didn''t want to say more after this and directly fell into silence. Unfortunately, her outburst had revealed enough. Clearly, this Radix Cube was a core part of their power and couldn''t be easily abandoned. At the same time, though, taking it was also difficult. After all, even after searching Libli, it was nowhere to be found. The only explanation was that it had been absorbed into her body, something that made sense considering how Leonel had originally seen it be taken out.

    Leonel didn''t bother to press any further. If he wanted to know more about the Radix Cube, he would likely have to take some risks. As for how far he was willing to go, maybe only Leonel was aware.

    "And your Bronze Force, what is it and what does it do?"

    "Our Bronze Force is capable of invading the structure of metals. On the surface, it seems to just change its color. But, when the Bronze Force of a metal reaches a certain point, it can then be controlled by our Radix family to act and react in ways it wouldn''t normally. It''s especially useful for Crafting small and intricate parts... When you don''t have a Metal Spirit, that is..."

    Libli gazed toward Leonel, clearly remembering why they had clashed the first time to begin with. As for Leonel, he could tell that Libli probaly hadn''t told him the full explanation, but his alone was enough for now.

    Finally, Leonel turned his attention toward the twins. However, the result of this was far more complicated than he had expected. Seeing their downtrodden appearances, even setting aside their injuries for a moment, Leonel felt as though something within himself had shifted.

    "Just kill us." Dee said without raising his head. "We won''t tell you anything."

 Chapter 1040 Sin of Pride

    Chapter 1040 Sin of Pride

    Leonel gazed toward Dee then his brother for a long while, his expression not shifting very much.

    Pride in one''s world wasn''t something Leonel was familiar with. Things like nationalism and cultural pride had already been weeded out by the Ascension Empire long ago. It was easier to bring people together when they didn''t believe that there were things that separated them.

    But, what Leonel realized just now was that this pride hadn''t vanishedбн It had just been buried. There was nowhere to flaunt this pride if everyone around you shared the same identity.

    Much of Earth''s Pride turned into one of status and wealth. But, it was also something that anyone could get so long as they performed well enough on the Gene Assessment. As long as you were talented, building up a noble family in just a single generation wasn''t impossibleбн

    Leonel himself was a prime example of this. Even though he had no interest in being a quarterback, there was no doubting that it would have made him a very rich and very popular man. The fact he was born on a Paradise Island didn''t hinder his future in the slightest.

    Due to all of these things, Leonel never truly felt this sinful sort of a Pride. In fact, he had always subconsciously rejected it, even to the point he built his future aspirations on hoping this sort of pride never restricted the life of anyone elseбн

    But what happened the moment Earth was opened up to the rest of the Dimensional Verse?

    Suddenly, what once was a closed system became an open one. The cohesive unit of Earth became a minority and the enemies that surrounded them forced Earthlings to look upon them like the ''others''.

    What had Leonel thought the moment he stepped onto the battlefield? He had wanted to show these people that the citizens of Earth weren''t pushovers and that they were to be feared. But, wasn''t that the antithesis of everything he wanted to accomplish?

    In just a few steps, even he who was consciously aware of it all, or at least assumed himself to be, had fallen victim to the same sort of indoctrination. In fact, the more enemies he defeated in Earth''s stead, the further the citizens of Earth would fall into this line of thought.

    If Leonel made Earth the center of his Empire and tried to enact his vision, there would come a day where those who aimed their blades toward him weren''t people from the outside, but rather the very men, women and children he currently protected to his back.

    Leonel felt a heaviness on his heart at this moment.

    What was the best sort of trap? The greatest sort of schemeбн?

    It was one you knew was there and yet you had to walk into it anywayбн. And this was very sort of cage Leonel''s grandfather had him trapped in.

    Leonel sighed and looked up toward the metallic ceilings above him.

    He wasn''t ready. He was nowhere near prepared enough to face his grandfather or challenge his ideologies. Who was right and who was wrong didn''t matter because regardless of it all, if things continued in this way, Leonel simply had no chance of winning.

    ''I want to be a King but I have not the faintest inkling of how to do thatбн I don''t even really understand myself, how can I grasp the hearts of people I want to follow me? My uncle is probably right to say I have no right to challenge that old man.''

    Leonel closed his eyes, his aura going from turbulent to calm. The emotions that Dee and Dre had showed on the battlefield replayed in his mind again and again. They had put everything on the line just for a chance at weakening the people of Earth just the smallest bitбн

    Without a word, Leonel turned and left. His teammates looked at one another, but they too remained silent. They didn''t feel like there was anything to add to the conversation.

    Ultimately, they didn''t have the same ambitions as Leonel. And while Leonel hated the game of football, they actually quite loved it. It could even be said that Leonel was a rare exception when it came to hating the results of the Gene Assessment.

    They followed Leonel because that was what they had always done. This sort of team bonding, relying on each other and having each other''s backs is exactly what they lived life for. If they could have a few laughs with their brothers along the way, that was also what they would do.

    If Leonel wanted to figure this out, he would have to rely on himself. But, once he did, they would be the first to follow.

    бн

    Leonel spent several days building the wooden fort of the second Lake Crossing. His speed and skill this time was much greater. As for the matter from the first Lake Crossing, Leonel didn''t worry. If things had gone horribly wrong, Arthur would have already contacted him.

    By the end of the week, everything was prepared. In that time several, scouts had come from other regions to see what had happened, but how could they hide from Leonel''s Internal Sight? They were all dealt with swiftly and easily.

    On the eighth day, there was finally movement.

    "Cap, we just got word from Big Sis M."

    Leonel looked up, a familiar spear made of vines and a blade of roses lying on his lap.

    "What happened? Do they finally need help?"

    "No," Allan spoke as he came into view, a slight sheen of sweat from his daily workout still on his forehead. "Something weird is going on. It seems like the other families found out that we caught their geniuses. We captured that Libli and Radlis guy over here, and Arthur, M and the others captured a few of their own.

    "According to the message, they''re issuing a challenge. Apparently it''s a custom of the Dimensional Verse to claim their prisoners of war back with one on one challenges."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. That sounded absolutely ridiculous.

    "They also said that if there was anyone who could defeat their warriors on neutral ground, without the suppression of Earth''s Fold of Reality, they would directly retreat and leave Earth alone."

    Leonel''s expression warped.

    How shameless were these people exactly? Why did it sound like they were being done a favor? And as if Leonel would believe their nonsense about retreating. They probably realized that Earth wasn''t as simple to take a hold of as they originally thought so they would take this opportunity to retreat to their bases in the Milky Way and wait for a better chance to assault their Fold of Reality. They might even wait until Earth broke into the Sixth Dimension so the could send their true powerhouses forward.

    There was also a good chance that it was a combination of all of these things on top of being a trap. Leonel wouldn''t be surprise if they used this so-called ''neutral'' ground to make a move. This was war and history was written by the victors. Leonel wasn''t naive enough to trust them.

    Standing up, Leonel took a step and vanished.

    "Let''s go!" His voice rang through the air. "This is a money making opportunity!"

 Chapter 1041 Coddling

    Chapter 1041 Coddling

    The location was the deck of a spaceship. However, to call it as such would be doing a great disservice to the true magnitude of the behemoth that hung among the celestial bodies of this particular solar system. It almost felt far more appropriate to call it a starship.

    Of course, this would be an exaggeration. True Starships were at a minimum capable of rivaling a moon in size while the largest of them could lived up to their namesake and could stand side by side with suns. This one, however, was ''just'' ten kilometers in length, hovering outside the Milky Way''s Fold of Reality.

    A distance away from this junior starship was a planet that hovered on neutral ground. It wasn''t currently claimed by any major powers of the Milky Way Guild and was actually meant to act as a relay station to the starship.

    Leonel, who had appeared on this planet with his brothers to his back couldn''t help but chuckle.

    Before Leonel, a middle-aged man with a cold expression stood. His left eye had been replaced by a rolling bronze eyeball and his right was covered in a monocle. Currently, he was the one responsible for manning the teleportation station to the starship hovering overhead.

    This planet was an edge planet. It existed at the very border of a Fold of Reality and was valuable for its use as a jumping point. But, outside of that, it was quite barren and lacked in resources. So, not much unlike the asteroid gas station Heira had gone to for the sake of reporting Leonel, there was hardly anyone here.

    It wasn''t just Leonel who had come. Noah and Jessica were present, along with Tyrron and the Moon people. However, they were all infuriated as well.

    The issue challenged by the Sixth Dimensional Galaxies was clearly a blatant provocation. Not only was it a ridiculous excuse piggybacking off of a rule that didn''t exist, but they had even insulted the intelligence of the people of Earth a step further by actually placing so many hoops before them for them to jump through.

    Leonel held an amiable smile on his face even while realizing the situation they were in. Since he had chosen to approach every situation like this until he was forced not to, then he would follow through with that choice, even if it seemed blatantly obvious that the purpose of these people was not pure.

    "I don''t think that this would be in our best interest. How about we meet in the middle?" Leonel spoke to the middle aged man. "Since we are already here, why not come down? We are more than willing to have this battle. However, stepping on your ship doesn''t seem to be necessary, nor does it fulfill your original promise of a neutral sight."

    The reality was that the fact that they could pick the location of this planet inherently made it not neutral to begin with. If they could set up teleportation stations here, who was to say that they hadn''t set up anything else?

    Still, Leonel chose to attempt to compromise first.

    His thoughts from just a few days ago were still weighing on his mind. He didn''t want to think of his enemies as ''others''. He wanted to think of them as future subjects that he would one day subdue, people no different from himself. He was consciously trying to fight back against his own human nature to form ingroups and outgroups. As such, he couldn''t just come in guns blazing just because someone was trying to play hardball in negotiations.

    But, what Leonel was going to find out very soon was the fact that sometimes it simply didn''t matter how charismatic or nice you were. Often times, logic was irrelevant as well. At a certain point, only those that were strong got a say in what could be deemed as reality and what couldn''t be.

    And, as though to prove thisбн The middle-aged man''s lip curled into a crooked sneer as though only a single half of his face worked properly.

    "We have already laid out the requirements to end this war with as little bloodshed as possible," he said. "However, if you don''t want this olive branch, we''ll directly use this planet as a springboard to send out Sixth Dimensional powerhouses into your galaxy. Then we''ll end things our own way."

    At that moment, Leonel came to an understanding. They hadn''t called them here to battle or even have these peace talks. They had been called here as a display of their strength and also as another slap to Earth''s face.

    It was as though they were coddling Earth, showing them their trump cards like they didn''t have the ability to find these things out on their own or understand them.

    And the most disgusting part of itбн Was that they were correct.

    "So, let me get this straight. You made up a bogus rule you thought we would be stupid enough to believe actually existed. You then made us teleport to this so-called ''neutral'' ground. And yet, instead of this neutral ground being the location of battle you asked for, you want us to teleport again so that we can go to *your* spaceship?"

    Milan spoke without a care for courtesy. Usually, with Leonel and Noah taking the helm as Princes of Earth, it wasn''t the turn of others to speak. But, having been following Leonel for so long, a man who didn''t really care about such strict hierarchy, Milan never hesitated to speak his mind, even in the face of these people.

    He was already infuriated at this point. These people, did they really think that they were stupid?

    The reason they had come here despite knowing that this prisoner competition was bogus was to prove that they had nothing to fear. Even if it was one on one battles, who cared? Since when were the people of Earth afraid of anything of the sort?

    But now they were very clearly taking it too far.

    The middle-aged man''s bronze eyeball spun, landing on Milan. Without a word, a formless pressure shot outward, forcing Milan to retreat explosively. Even one of his energy shields imploded on contact, not being able to withstand even a single surge of aura. Before anyone could react, Milan had already been forced backward dozens of meters.

    "Tell your barking dog to watch his mouth. It''s already beneath me to waste my time here. This isn''t a negotiation. You either do it, or you face the consequences."

    Leonel''s smile slowly faded.

 Chapter 1042 Reapers

    Chapter 1042 Reaper''s

    On the back of the junior starship, several groups of individuals stood. It became clear after some observations that they mainly fell into four categories. There were the unit of the Radix-Midas families, then there came the Umbra, Rain and even the Florer family.

    Despite their status as lifelong enemies, the Florer family had still come together with the Radix-Midas families. It was clear that benefits were placed above all things when it came to these large families. Though there was some tension in the air, it wasn''t anything these noblemen and women hadn''t experienced countless times before. What was a gathering of noble families without millennia of pent up grudges and never ending revenge stories?

    At this moment, though, they all stood with cocktails and drinks in their hands, laughing and amused expressions on their faces as they gazed down toward the planet below.

    "It was definitely a good choice to send Rotsan to go and make our stance clear. Look at how much fun he''s having down there."

    The one who spoke was a gorgeous middle-aged woman. She had sparkling blue eyes and cascading black hair. There was something about her that seemed particularly illusory even though she stood on the back of the junior starship just like the rest of them.

    This woman was the current head of the Rain family, Deloris Rain.

    "My little brother has been a pain in my neck all his life, it''s about time he put that talent of his to some use."

    The Head of the Radix family, Avarone Radix, laughed. He currently stood right by the Head of the Midas family, a man of enormous stature with teeth shimmering like sharpened rubiesбкSiris Midas.

    "The fools of Earth actually dared to capture one of my sons and yet were stupid enough to come here as though there could be negotiations after that. This is the first time I''ve met a Fifth Dimensional world that actually dared to be so arrogant. My Florer family has been sorely lacking in Elite Spores recently, I''ll be certain to teach them what fear and respect is."

    The Head of the Florer family was a woman with breasts twice the size of her head. But, this was also because she could be considered to be overweight.

    Her belly bulged beneath her green gown and her chest threatened to pop it at the seams. It was clear that even if she lost the extra weight, she would still be elite in that department. The trouble was that this was hardly enough to make up for other бн odd features.

    Head Belize Florer had a head of hair constructed of dark green vines. They appeared to be somewhat slimy on first glance as they were constantly exuded an odd viscous liquid that released a smell even more pungent than Head Siris'' sulfur breath. This smell was akin to concentrated cut grass, making it difficult to breathe.

    If that was it, it might still be acceptable. But Head Belize also had a spider lily growing out of her forehead and its roots were visible beneath her skin. It made one''s spine tingle watching the roots pulse every so often, sucking in her blood from nourishment.

    For a family of supposed tree lovers and huggers, the Florer family was seemed to be the scariest of them all. If they were aware of exactly what ''Elite Spores'' were, this conclusion would be even more set in stone.

    The final Head was, of course, of the Umbra family, Silam Umbra. However, neither he, nor the youths to his back, spoke a single word. It seemed like unlike Radlis, the remaining members of the Umbra family matched their pale skin with stoicism and quiet.

    "Isn''t it because they''re fools that we have to lay it out so plainly for them?" Deloris chortled. "We clearly only sent the younger generation after them as a sign of good faith and a form of taking a step back as the strong bullying the weak, but they actually took this as being our own weakness. Since they don''t appreciate kindness, we''ll show them something else entirely, then.

    "Avarone, it''ll be best if your brother lets a few of them escape, but as punishment I think about half of them should die. What do you think?"

    "I agree." Belize supported Deloris. "I would say to kill them all, but we still need to get the young ones back."

    Avarone chuckled. "There''s no need to worry, Rotsan knows what to do. I think Earth actually sent two of its Princes here as well, we might as well capture them both too."

    "Fools." Belize sneered. "They really think we haven''t sent anyone in the Sixth Dimension because we can''t when in reality it''s because who would pay such a heavy price to crush an ant?"

    The youths behind the five Heads all held an undisguised contempt in their eyes.

    So what if Earth had potential? It was ultimately just that: potential. When in the face of a higher Dimensional world, what chance did they stand?

    бн

    On the barren planet, Leonel looked back toward Milan who had been forced to retreat. At that moment, the young man who had been protecting Leonel all his life had a trickle of blood running down his lips and dripping from his chin. There was something especially sharp about that red color in Leonel''s eyes currently. It was as though he could only see the whole world through shades of it and nothing else.

    "Barking dog?" Leonel said lightly.

    ? "That''s right, did I not speak clearly enough for you?" Rotsan''s sneer deepened. "Do you need me to repeat it a bit louder for you? Keep your barking dog on a leash or else I''ll leash him for you."

    The youths of Earth suddenly flared up. Many of them knew Milan well as they had been fighting together for years before Leonel returned. This sort of humiliation wasn''t something they would stand for, however the strength of Rotsan was completely out of their expectations. They found it difficult even to stand near him.

    However, even as their tempers flared, the two Princes, Noah and Leonel, only seemed to get calmer.

    "I seeбн I don''t think I care anymore." Leonel said lightly.

    "Don''t care? That''s the right idea. Dogs should be dogs, what need is there to care for them?"

    Rotsan''s next words couldn''t help but pause when Leonel turned back to meet his gaze. At that moment, the twin oppression of the Princes bore down, causing the wind in the surroundings to turn heavy.

    "Sometimes being nice is just a waste of time. I wonder if your head would make your galaxies understand?" Leonel''s voice had become akin to a reaper''s.

 Chapter 1043 withering Snowfall

    Chapter 1043 withering Snowfall

    Rotsan''s smiling expression became even, a murderous aura coming off of him before the smile returned. This time, however, it seemed particularly bloody despite not having the slightest tinge of red associated with it.

    ? "What did you just say to me?"

    The aura of a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence rose into the skies, rippling waves of earth spreading outward, threatening to send the youths before him flying into the distance.

    He had decided, he would thoroughly humiliate them all. Only then would he kill half and send the other half crawling back to Earth. Who did they think they were to challenge the dignity of a Sixth Dimensional world?

    Those within higher Dimensions were the Gods of those below. This wasn''t a simple barrier separating people, it might as well have been a chasm separating species. If you were from a lower Dimension, you were nothing more than an ant. This was the way of the Dimensional Verse. The idea of a Fifth Dimensional world challenging the authority of a Sixth Dimensional oneбн was unheard of.

    And Rotsan would make sure that it remained that way. After this day, Earth wouldn''t dare to raise its head up again.

    "Noah." Leonel spoke just as lightly, his hair and clothing billowing beneath Rotsan''s strength.

    "Yes."

    "I''m going to kill him."

    "Okay."

    Leonel''s foot raised. Just when it began to descend, he vanished, crossing the already short distance between him and Rotsan.

    бн

    Up above, the Heads were speechless before Belize erupted into laughter.

    "They really overestimate themselves. This makes things easier. Now no one can say we bullied the weak, it''s clear these fools who attacked first."

    The others Heads remained silent, but the look in their eyes painted a picture that couldn''t have been more clear. However, their expressions changed when Leonel reappeared.

    бн

    A man donning silver armor appeared before Rotsan, his twin bladed spear sweeping through the air with an eerily silent momentum. It was as though everywhere it passed by, it would be spliced into two. There was nothing that could obstruct its path and even less that could force it to halt.

    Rotsan''s pupils constricted. He could feel the strength behind Leonel''s strike, and it somewhat surprised him. But, it was nowhere near enough to force him into a corner.

    He raised a hand, his Radix Cube actually appearing, something that made his brother''s gaze narrow. For Rotsan to take out his Radix Cube to face a junior, this was definitely out of their expectations. It was clear that they might have miscalculated a small measure.

    However, even then, they felt that this was good. If Rotsan wasn''t underestimating his opponent, this would only end swifter.

    Rotsan''s Radix Cube shimmered, adhering to his palm and coating to fit it. He struck out toward Leonel''s strike, but what happened next was only further out of his expectations.

    ''Four Seasons.''

    BANG!

    An eruption of Universal Force rocked the skies. Rotating artistic conceptions fused and defused around Leonel, each forming a gorgeous image in the skies that gave the barren planet some character.

    ''Summer. Radiant Core.''

    The images shifted and grew brighter, a singular core of silver-red less than a quarter the size of Leonel''s head forming. It appeared between Leonel''s spear blade and Rotsan''s bronze palm, leaving a sickening crunching sound in its wake.

    Rotsan''s eyes widened, a shrill cry leaving his lips. He could feel the Force of his Radix Cube being distorted. And, even worse, there was a strong radiation and heat searing his skin to it. In the blink of an eye, not only had his hand shattered, but it had also gained a coating of molten metal.

    He retreated explosively, his mind going blank. This was his Radix Cube! How could it possibly be so fragile? It was designed for battle!

    It was only at that moment that Rotsan noticed the weapon in Leonel''s hand. As a Force Crafter, it only took him a single glance.

    ''Quasi Silver?!''

    Rotsan didn''t get much time to think when he realized that someone was actually behind him.

    Noah had appeared with his enormous saber. It rested on his shoulder, his gaze remaining just as placid as Leonel''s own.

    An eruption of Universal Force surged out of him, the skies beginning to twinkle with flashing meteors, radiant moons, gorgeous worlds and sparkling stars.

    Like this, Leonel and Noah split the battlefield in two. On side was a paradise of the skies, the other was a paradise of the Earth. A clash of the greater Dimensional Verse and the simplicity of the Seasons. It was the kind of gorgeous painting that deserved to be immortalized.

    Noah swung down.

    Unlike Leonel''s silent strike, his resounded like rumbling mountains. The air quaked and the ground beneath his feet split.

    ''Dammit!''

    Rotsan was infuriated. He had been caught off guard by Leonel and now he was suddenly being pincered by two brats. Did they really think that he was a push over?!

    Rotsan brought down a strong chop mid way up his forearm, slicing his own hand and wrist off.

    The Radix Cube fell to the ground along with his flesh. But, just before it hit earth, it rebounded as though it had a mind of its own, shooting up into the air again.

    Rotsan shot out his bloody stump as his bronze eyeball rotated. A laser shot out from it and toward Leonel. At the same time, the Radix Cube morphed despite some of its internal components being melted. It reformed an enormous palm, replacing Rotsan''s missing hand.

    With quick actions, Rotsan spun back toward Noah, slamming a palm of spinning gears toward his saber.

    BANG!

    A surge of Force clashed between the two. Having been forced to attack in a hurry, Rotsan was only able to gather up enough strength to match Noah evenly.

    ''Complete cycle of the Heavenly Body Realmбн'' Rotsan''s pupils constricted to an absolute extreme before his expression changed. ''бн That''s impossible, Iбк!''

    Rotsan couldn''t finish his thought, his Force surging as he sent out an opposite palm toward his back. He didn''t know how Leonel could have possibly managed to deal with his laser so quickly, but he didn''t have time to think.

    ''Winter... Withering Snowfall...''

    "No!"

    A spurt of blood shot into the sky, an arm spinning about in the air beneath the fountain of crimson.

 Chapter 1044 Respect

    Chapter 1044 Respect

    Rotsan''s shock reached an untold level. He was certain that he had done enough to block Leonel, whether that be his laser or the subsequent attack. But, he had somehow lost his arm.

    That should have been impossible! His laser was a hidden measure and carried the impact of a Tier 9 expert, not to mention a speed that dwarfed even a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence.

    To make matters worse, his strike should have been more than enough to deal with a Tier 1 expert like Leonel who had only grasped the Four Seasons Realm. But, to his shock, not only was Leonel''s Four Seasons Realm far more powerful than any Rotsan had ever come across before, but his Winter Artistic Conception was actually able to corrode his Force.

    The result was the Force Rotsan prepared as a counter being rendered useless and his arm flying off as a result.

    To Rotsan''s horror, Leonel''s assault didn''t come to an end, nor did Noah take even a step back. Their oppressive auras rose in unison, burying Rotsan''s own beneath their might.

    Rotsan dove to the side, running from Leonel''s blade and trying to slip Noah''s in such a way that the two Princes would be forced to clash.

    However, it was right at that moment that a new oppression descended.

    Leonel''s gaze was cold, the pale violet hues of his irises dancing with a darker and darker light.

    He held out his silver dual bladed spear, the air around it trembling.

    Leonel had had this spear in his possession for a very long time. But, he had never been able to use its Domain. Every attempt he made resulted in the spear fighting back, its disdain for him being almost palpable. However, things were different now.

    A buzzing sound appeared from thin air, the spear continuing to tremble.

    "Duality."

    Leonel and Noah''s speeds suddenly broke through a barrier. Realizing the change, Noah no longer hesitated, his body weight increasing explosively as a sheen of diamond coated his skin. His saber doubled in size as he swung down.

    Rotsan''s expression warped. He tried to retreat again, but for some reason he found that his speed had plummeted.

    His bronze eyeball spun, a sudden realization hitting him. The percentage of his speed he lost was exactly how much Leonel and Noah gained, simply split between the two of them.

    He was a Crafter. Picking out the subtle details and completing quick calculations was something he had been doing all his life. He realized then that there was no way this was a coincidence. Was this the ability of Leonel? How could he have such a powerful abilityбн?

    The exchange between the three grew heated, Rotsan throwing out everything he had to survive. But, the delicate instruments of his Radix Cube had been destroyed by Leonel right at the outset of the battle, leaving him with only the most crude of his Crafts.

    He realized that Leonel had planned this from the very beginning, driving him into a corner from the start and ensuring that he never got to use his full strength as a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence.

    His actions had seemed reckless, but they were calculated to an extreme. Rotsan wanted to shout this out at the top of his lungs, to warn his brother and the others of what they might have to face, but he was so suffocated by the two Princes that he couldn''t even find the space to take a breath.

    бн

    On the ship above, an eerie silence had fallen. Avarone Radix''s veins popped along his forehead, the aura of a Sixth Dimensional existence threatening to shatter the space around him. The creaking of the ship grew more and more violent.

    "Head, I will go!"

    A young man stepped out from the Radix family. He knew that if the Head could go, he already would have. Unfortunately, even though the junior starship seemed to be hovering just above the planet, the reality was that they were literally a world away. Crossing into a Fifth Dimensional Fold of Reality took a lot out of a Sixth Dimensional existence. By the time he succeeded, the battle would be over.

    "Go!" Avarone practically growled.

    бн

    Sabers, spears and palms crossed and clashed. Rotsan''s body was beaten and bloodied, barely using the reserves of his strength to hold on. But, it was very quickly becoming apparent that he wouldn''t be able to hold on much longer.

    All around him, the youths of Earth watched on coldly, a pride blooming in their hearts as they watched their two Princes drive such a powerful man to his death.

    Who said that they were weak? That they were dogs?

    The billowing violet aura hanging around Leonel only seemed to grow thicker while the emerald of Noah''s gaze grew brighter.

    Noah''s saber doubled in size again.

    Rotsan swung out his bronzed palm in retaliation, but his attack speed was suddenly halved while Noah''s accelerated even after seemingly already reaching its top speed.

    "FUCK! I''ll go all out with you!"

    A billow Bronze Force shot up around Rotsan''s body, causing his skin to quickly turned metallic, all sorts of hidden gadgets within his body piercing outside and coating him from head to toe. But, if this would really change the outcome of the battleбн he would have already done it.

    In that moment, Leonel appeared to his back, his spear arching upward and taking with it Rotsan''s other arm just as it rose up to block Noah''s strike.

    Rotsan''s expression became ferocious, his teeth becoming bronzed as he bit down toward the blade. But, Noah''s wrist shifted, hacking at Rotsan''s waist.

    The sound of metal sheering metal resounded, Noah''s saber getting stuck half way through Rotsan''s body.

    Horror lit the latter''s gaze as he fell to his knees, blood and fluid oil falling out from him. Even nearing his death, he had no idea how Leonel had rendered so many of his abilities so useless.

    It was only after a small Metal Spirit wiggled its way out of his wounded hip that he came to understandбн

    ''Metalбн Spiritбн''

    Leonel and Noah stood over Rotsan''s kneeling figure, their expression unmoved and indifferent. If it wasn''t for their slightly hurried breathing, it would be difficult to believe that they were human.

    Leonel raised his spear. Right now, he had no intention of being diplomatic nor merciful. He wasn''t a fool. He understood exactly what would have happened had he and Noah not been strong enough today.

    "STOP!"

    A figure was forming in a not too far off teleportation platform, the very one they had planned to use to bring them to their ship. However, this figure was horrified to find that his body was still illusory as though caught between two states.

    Leonel swept a gaze over. As if he would allow reinforcements to casually come and go as they pleased. Did he really look like a fool to them?

    His spear didn''t pause for even a moment.

    "I swear if that spear falls, you''ll regret it!"

    The moment these words were said, a crimson light lit Leonel''s gaze.

    The two most important things in his life, the mantra he had lived by since he was a child, was Respect and Persistence. What he hated the most was being disrespected.

    SHUUU! *SSSS*

    Leonel''s spear swept through Rotsan''s neck, a fountain of blood following suit. Then, he pointed it toward the illusory figure.

    "As many as you send is as many as I will kill."

 Chapter 1045 Dissatisfied

    Chapter 1045 Dissatisfied

    Noah watched as Leonel''s spear descended and he made no move to stop it.

    In the past, Noah had put in a lot of effort trying to match the status quo. He became the perfect prince, followed all of the rules, and was in lockstep with everything that was expected of him. If the himself of just four years ago was in this same position, he may very well have stepped out to stop Leonel before they escalated the situation beyond the realms of return.

    However, after experiencing the battle with Terrain, watching his close friends fall one after another while his own individual power seemed completely unable to stop it all, something within him had shifted.

    He had worked harder in the last four years than anyone, but the greatest change was definitely in his demeanor. Outwardly, it seemed as though he was still the same person. But inwardly, he was a caged beast lashing out against his chains, waiting to be released.

    So, when Leonel said that he would kill this man and even called out to him, Noah didn''t hesitate to step forward for even a single moment.

    He was the Prince of the Ascension Empire. All the youths here were people he was duty bound to protect with his life. A slight against them was a slap across his face.

    They wanted to use them as an example? To kill and capture them as a warning to Earth? Well in that case, they could taste his blade.

    The youth stuck within the teleportation platform fumed with rage. However, after speaking his final words, Leonel no longer paid attention to him, walking back toward Milan.

    "Are you alright?"

    Milan gave Leonel a cheeky, yet bloodied grin. It seem he wasn''t quite aware that his teeth were soaked with blood at this moment. Milan tried to speak, but he ended up coughing.

    Leonel frowned deeply, placing a hand on Milan''s shoulder. When he used his Internal Sight to see the state of Milan''s body, the coldness in Leonel''s gaze grew deep.

    Milan might have been standing now, but that was only because his pride hadn''t allowed him to fall. As prideful as Leonel was, his brothers were just the same. It could be said that there wasn''t a single one of Milan''s inner organs that wasn''t damaged. In fact, maybe if it wasn''t because of his skilled application of his energy shield, the result would have been worse.

    Both James and Milan shared the same ability. However, when James awakened, he was A-grade while Milan was C-grade initially. As both matured, the gap between them increased exponentially.

    After seeing James'' application of his energy shield, Milan realized that he was far behind in not just talent, but ingenuity as well. So, he began to experiment with changing the form of his energy shield and the result of this actually saved his life this time.

    Leonel seemed to realize this as well because his Dream Path ability hadn''t computed this progression for Milan either. Of course, that was because he had yet to use Dream Path again since he returned, but it was the reality nonetheless.

    Calming his emotions, Leonel began to heal Milan. Only after the latter was back in perfect condition did he look toward the youth who was currently still stuck between teleportation states. No matter how hard he tried, he could neither go forward nor backward. At this point, rather than his usual bravado, he had silently begun to feel fear. If Leonel had already killed one of them, why not one more?

    BANG!

    Leonel clenched a fist, the space around the teleportation platform warping and shattering.

    "NO!"

    Leonel was completely unmoved.

    "Let''s head back." Leonel looked toward everyone before landing on Noah. "I''m sure that their attacks will be more furious now, but I can also tell that you''re all dissatisfied as well. Make sure they feel that dissatisfaction."

    Leonel waved a hand, activating the teleportation platform they had used to come here. However, everyone''s gaze was on Leonel who was clearly not coming with them.

    "I won''t be far behind you all, I just have some things to finish first." Leonel said with a smile.

    Even though his smile looked just the same as it always did, for some reason, it felt especially cold at this moment. It was only now they realized just how easy it was for Leonel to fake this smile and it made them wonderбн How many other times had he done exactly that?

    The youths all vanished, returning to Earth''s Fold of Reality and leaving no one but Leonel and Rotsan''s corpse on the barren planet.

    Leonel sent a gaze up toward the junior starship looming on the planet''s horizon before directly ignoring them and moving toward the decapitated corpse.

    Little Tolly bobbed upon Leonel''s shoulder, looking on with excitement. This was the first time the little guy had gotten to participate in a battle so directly and it was clearly more than just a little excited. However, Leonel let it have its fun. After all, if it wasn''t for Little Tolly, the battle wouldn''t have ended nearly as simply.

    That moment when Leonel used his Radiant Core artistic conception, Rotsan thought that it was it that melted the core components Radix Cube when in reality it was a clever and stealth application of a small piece of Little Tolly''s body.

    In a panic, Rotsan cut his forearm off, but that was the perfect mask to allow Little Tolly to sneak into his body. Under any other circumstances, Little Tolly burrowing through your flesh would have alerted you to something being off due to the searing pain, but because Rotsan had expected pain from his forearm since he cut it off, he hadn''t realized that anything was wrong.

    By the time he understood that something had to be off, Little Tolly had already reached the metallic parts hidden within his body and began to destroy them all. In that state, since they were all his artificial body pieces, Rotsan hadn''t felt any pain at all and only realized something was wrong when he tried to activate their mechanisms.

    Leonel wasn''t under any illusions that he could defeat a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence, especially not one from a far more talented galaxy than the Milky Way. So, he felt no shame in using such hidden tactics for victory.

    The Radix family only had themselves to blame for daring to use metals in a battle with him.

    Leonel squatted down by Rotsan''s body and shot a fist through his skull. With one swift motion, he ripped out the latter''s bronze eyeball.

    At that moment, the fury of the Radix family had definitely reached a peak.

 Chapter 1046 Radix Shield

    Chapter 1046 Radix Shield

    As though he hadn''t mutilated the corpse enough, Leonel''s finger twitched, sending Little Tolly barreling into Rotsan''s now empty eye socket.

    At that moment, Rotsan''s body began to deflate, his skeleton losing its shape and his flesh slumping to the ground. By the end of it, the normal bone that was left was nearly none at all, leaving a grotesque flesh suit behind.

    Little Tolly shot out of Rotsan''s eye socket. But, this time, the little guy was followed by a long snaking chain of bronzed metals. It was clear that these precious metals represented all of the hidden components within Rotsan''s body. Obviously, Rotsan hadn''t undergone just a small bit of modification.

    Unfortunately, when facing Leonel, he hadn''t been able to bring out even a fraction of this strength. He had been forced to use his raw Quasi Sixth Dimensional Force, but this was clearly something that he was very much not used to doing. The end result was him being hounded to death.

    ''There are some Sixth Dimensional metals in hereбн''

    Though the chains of metals looked homogenous due to the fact they all shared the same color, Leonel realized immediately that this wasn''t the case. It only seemed like that because of the odd Bronze Force that the Radix Family used. But, the properties of these metals were clearly very much different.

    If Rotsan had been able to deploy the mechanisms constructed of these Sixth Dimensional metalsбн

    Leonel shook his head. His caution had bore fruit this time and it alerted him to just how much he couldn''t underestimate these higher Dimensional worlds. Maybe in some ways, they deserved their arrogance. But, Leonel would make them pay for it nonetheless.

    ''I''ll put you to good use.''

    This was the first time Leonel had set eyes on a Sixth Dimensional metal, which was funny considering he had seen a Seventh Dimensional one with his Memory Ore. However, he was still very much in tune with how valuable this could be.

    Leonel put the Sixth Dimensional metals away and let Little Tolly devour all the Fifth Dimensional ones. Then, he turned his focus to the rolling eyeball in his hand.

    This eyeball had been set to self destruct upon Rotsan''s death. But, due to Little Tolly, the chain reaction mechanism linked to Rotsan''s heart had been destroyed before it could be deployed. As a result, the eyeball managed to survive. This alone made Leonel realize that there should probably be something valuable about this eyeball.

    Just as Leonel was about to look into it more deeply, his gaze narrowed.

    *Bloop* Blurp* BLURP*

    Little Tolly began to make noises different from its usual before it expelled a fog of Bronze Force. In fact, to describe it as such did a disservice to just how large the quantity of it was. The Force shot out like a cyclone from the little guy, quickly forming a huge cloud formation in the skies that blanketed hundreds of meters of sky.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed before his finger tapped the necklace hanging from his neck.

    The gold scaled koi fish, no longer daring to disobey Leonel, reacted quickly. A large suction force manifested from within it, sucking in the entire Bronze cloud in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel still didn''t know much about this Bronze Force as Libli had refused to tell him much of anything. However, he could find out on his own and even ask the dictionary to analyze it for him. So, he wouldn''t miss this chance.

    Clearly, this Bronze Force wasn''t exactly a Metal Force, or else Little Tolly would have been able to absorb it. There had to be something different about it.

    After reaching this conclusion, Leonel actually chose to forego checking the eyeball for now. He had been working under the assumption that whatever was inside was a secret of the Radix family so it wouldn''t particularly matter if he opened it up under their watch or not. But, what if it wasn''t? What if it was something Rotsan wanted to hide from his family as well?

    If that was the case, then opening it here would just be Leonel exposing something he could have otherwise kept a secret. So, he chose to head back first.

    Looking at the disfigured corpse beneath his feet, Leonel waved a palm and sent out a ball of Radiant Fire Force. The corpse was instantly engulfed and quickly burnt to ash.

    Without looking back, Leonel took a step into the teleportation platform and vanished.

    бн

    Up above a silence reigned. In fact, the only sound that could be heard was the gasping breath of a familiar young man who kneeled on all fours, his gaze flickering between fear and rage.

    Just before the teleportation platform was shattered by Leonel, the young man was forcefully pulled out by Avarone, saving his life. Now, a deep seeded humiliation was beginning to grow within his heart. He wanted nothing more than to tear Leonel limb from limb.

    Avarone''s expression had become placid. Watching Leonel mutilate his brothers corpse despite knowing full well that they were all watching had brought him over a peak. He was more infuriated now than any Florer family member had ever made him.

    To make matters worse, Leonel had gotten his hands on his brother''s eye. This wasn''t just a small loss for the Radix family, it was possible that all their secrets would be exposed.

    The structure of the Radix family''s Head system was split into two. There was the Patriarch and then there was his right-hand man. The right-hand man, known as the Radix Shield, controlled the family in the shadows while the Patriarch controlled it in the light. The duty of the Radix Shield was to maintain order, protect the family, and most importantly, protect the family secrets.

    As for how a Sixth Dimensional family could give such an important task to a Quasi Sixth Dimensional existence, the truth was that even Avarone wasn''t confident in defeating his younger brother despite the gap in their strength! The reason for this was because of all of Rotsan''s powerful hidden mechanisms.

    Rotsan was effectively their trump card. He wasn''t in the Sixth Dimension, so he could freely enter their Fold of Reality and his combat prowess was on the level of them as Heads.

    But nowбн Not only was he gone, but so were the secrets he protectedбн

    "бн I want all the people of Earth dead by the end of this month."

 Chapter 1047 Dare?

    Chapter 1047 Dare?

    Avarone''s voice dripped with a barely concealed fury. The junior starship shook and quaked, the seams threatening to burst. However, if a starship was so easy to destroy, it wouldn''t have such a name to begin with.

    "We can''t go that far."

    The words cut through all of Avarone''s momentum despite its softness. To the shock of the Heads, it was actually Silam, the silent Head of the Umbra family, who spoke, shutting down Avarone''s thoughts before they could even be put into action.

    "What did you just say?" Avarone growled.

    "I''m not a fan of repeating myself, you heard me just fine. In case you''ve forgotten, Earth is the subject of interest for countless powerful existences. As much as you look down on them, those that have a vested stake in what happens to Earth going into the future are the very same individuals that would look down on you.

    "The only advantage we have over these existences is proximity. Don''t let your overinflated ego blind you to that fact. If you dare to commit mass genocide, even setting aside the fact that Shield Cross Stars would never allow such a thing to happen, even if you somehow manage to succeed there will be hell to pay.

    "I agreed to participate in this war to claim a small piece of this fertile land for my Umbra family. I didn''t come to kill or maim. I would advise that you all wake up and realize the true nature of the situation that we''re in.

    "We''re nothing more than mice nibbling at the edges of meat prepared for lions. The more you pretend as though you''re the lion, the greater you''ll suffer in the future.

    "If you want revenge, go and seek it. But if you dare to step over the bounds of reason, I''ll be the first to stop you."

    From beginning to end, the Umbra family Head''s words were even and unhurried, and yet it simultaneously felt as though there wasn''t an opportunity to interrupt him at all. His momentum was smooth and consistent, his silent confidence weighing far more than any false sense of bravado ever could.

    Despite the fact he was calling himself a mouse, it still felt like something far more profound than just that.

    Silam''s words seemed to wake everyone out of their delusions, even Avarone to some extent.

    That was right, they had the advantage of proximity and they could take a hold of it. But, if they went too far and compromised the food of the true giants, it would be they who suffered first long before Earth did.

    In addition, as the police force of the universe, there were many heinous acts that Shield Cross Stars would never allow. Something like genociding a whole world of people was most definitely on that list. If their families were placed on a list of evildoers, it wouldn''t even matter what gains they made here because it would all be stripped away very soon.

    Avarone looked off into the distance, his hands still clasped behind his back. His fury was still buried deep within his heart.

    They had been breathing in their own bullshit for so long that they actually believed it. The reason they didn''t dare to send Sixth Dimensional existences after Earth wasn''t to ''avoid bullying the weak'', it was because they didn''t want to incur the wrath of those higher powers.

    They were still walking on eggshells when they came here. They were trying to probe out the bottom lines of those organizations which was why they hadn''t even tried to attack Earth directly and only aimed for the peripheryбн

    Wasn''t this exactly why Emperor Fawkes would call them cowards?

    Avarone took a deep breath before suddenly closing his eyes. When they opened again, they reflected the same calm they had before. But, this time, he was truly calm. He had experienced too much life to lose his cool for an extended period of time.

    "Silam." Avarone said calmly.

    "Yes?"

    "What is your end goal?"

    "As I said, I don''t like to repeat myself."

    Silam had made himself clear. He just wanted to carve out a small piece of these fertile lands for his Umbra family. Nothing more, nothing less. Greed was the bane of human existence.

    "I understand, however I still need to know your bottom line. How far are you willing to go? Or how far are you willing to cower?"

    Avarone''s words were clearly provocative, but Silam didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    "As long as Earth isn''t eradicated, I''m willing to go as far as necessary."

    Silam''s stance was also clear. If he didn''t want to take any risks at all, he wouldn''t have come to this battle. However, he was obviously willing to do so, he just knew that wiping out the people of Earth would be way too far.

    "Then are you willing to push our plans forward? Do you dare?"

    Silam fell into silence.

    The original plan of the families came in two steps. The first step was to claim a strong foothold in Earth''s Fold of Reality when it entered the Fifth Dimension. The second step would occur when Earth entered the Sixth. When that happened, they would no longer be restricted and could use that foothold they had earned to expand and carve out a territory for themselves.

    According to even the most conservative predictions, Earth''s Sixth Dimensional Fold of Reality would swallow the entire Milky Way. In the most aggressive, it might even encroach on their nearby galaxies. Knowing this, the families were ready well ahead of time.

    If they ''pushed'' their plans forward, they would be throwing caution to the wind and effectively strangling Earth by bringing out their full power ahead of time. Even if this plan didn''t go as far as to eradicate the people of Earth, what it did do was put them in a strangle hold they would have little chance of getting out of.

    To them, this wasn''t a risk that involved Earth. As things stood, Earth wasn''t prepared to deal with a full scale attack from Sixth Dimensional worlds. Their loss was inevitable. Rather, this was a risk that involved the reaction of those powers. Did they dare to do this or not?

    "Ahбн" Silam let out an odd sound. "Finally some real backbone, it''s about time. Why would I not dare?"

 Chapter 1048 Little Lion

    Chapter 1048 Little Lion

    While the Sixth Dimensional families likely believed that Leonel had returned to Earth, the truth was that Leonel was currently streaking across the stars in the Segmented Cube. As for his destination, it was a branch of the Force Crafter''s Guild.

    Leonel hadn''t forgotten the chance the Golden Path Branch had given him and he planned to cash in on that chance right this moment. Although Leonel''s father disliked the Force Crafting Guild for some reason, Leonel doubted that that problem stemmed from these lower level branches, so he formed relationships without worrying about it.

    When Leonel felt that he was on the right trajectory, he allowed the Segmented Cube to cruise and pulled out the bronze eyeball.

    Just looking at it now, Leonel could tell that it was intricately structured. In fact, it was no less complicated than the inner workings of Rotsan''s Radix Cube. Remembering how violently Libli had reacted to even the idea of restarting your Radix Cube, Leonel chuckled to himself. It almost felt like Rotsan had indeed restarted, it was just that he hid it in a different form.

    ''There''s a lot of hidden mechanisms in this eye and I would be stupid to think that there aren''t other lines of defenses. If I take a wrong step, it would probably self destruct. But, could it be more complicated than the Memory Ore?''

    Leonel highly doubted that and he was correct. He sunk his Internal Sight into the eyeball and quickly deciphered its inner workings.

    ''Metal doesn''t act like thisбн It''s almost like a living organism rather than a dead objectбн This has to be related to the Bronze Forceбн''

    Leonel realized that the inner workings were indeed not as complex as the Memory Ore. However, even though it was less complex, Leonel was still at a bit of a loss on how to open it up.

    It felt like Leonel had a perfect lock picking set for the Memory Ore, but for this eyeball, even though the mechanisms were simpler, he was missing the appropriate tools. Leonel knew that if he acted rashly, he would end up losing the eye entirely.

    Leonel narrowed his eyes.

    With a flip of his palm, the bronze eye vanished and was replaced by a shimmering bronze crystal. There hadn''t been enough Force to form a Pure Crystal, but there had been enough for the Segmented Cube to form a normal Crystal. This should be more than enough for the dictionary to analyze.

    Leonel thought for a moment, trying decide what the best question to ask was before he settled on one.

    "What type of Force category does this Force fall under?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [Replying to Seed, this Force falls under two categories: Life Elemental and Limit Breaking]

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

    "Is Breaking Force also a type of Limit Breaking?"

    Leonel had gotten so swept up in the war that he forgot about the tentacle womb. He didn''t have the luxury to care about it. But now that the Seed had actually said something like this, it clicked.

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ Breaking Force is a name that the Limit Breaking type goes by ]

    Leonel was suddenly endlessly intrigued. So maybe this Breaking Force wasn''t as rare as he thought, or maybe it simply came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, not to mention qualities.

    But, to think that the Bronze Force truly wasn''t related to Metal Forces at all. Leonel had already guessed this, but even in his most extreme conclusions he had thought that it could be routed back to Earth Force in some way, shape or form. Clearly, though, this wasn''t the case.

    "What is the strictest definition of Limit Breaking?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    [ To twist the fundamental governing Laws of Force ]

    "What happens when Bronze Force is applied to metals?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    The dictionary took a pause. It was the sort of pause that usually happened when a recording was about to go live. But, to Leonel''s shock, there was no recording this time. That meant that there was only one explanation: The dictionary needed time to compute the answer.

    This truth shocked Leonel maybe more than anything else. He had never seen the dictionary need time to do anything. Clearly, this was taking a lot out of it.

    [ Replying to Seed, there is a 97% chance that the inorganic metal with gain organic properties ]

    The answer was simple and to the point, but it left Leonel speechless.

    "What kind of organic properties?"

    [ *Ping* ]

    There was another long pause, but this time, even after ten minutes, there was no answer. This made Leonel realize something.

    "Don''t list all the possibilities, just give me a general answer."

    Leonel tried to throw out this lifeline to the dictionary. Even though its answers were usually as specific as possible, he hoped it had the ability to make an exception.

    [ Replying to Seed, the organic properties would depend on the metal. A general property would be that the metal would become an extension of the body the Bronze Force originated from and become like an additional limb ]

    Hearing this response, Leonel''s gaze glowed fiercely. Even the Morales family Lineage Factor couldn''t do such a thing.

    However, there was something nagging at Leonel. It felt likeбн The Radix family was misusing their own Lineage Factor. Sure, this Bronze Force had such an effect on metals, but what about its effect on other things? There was nothing about this Force that made it so that it could only be used in this wayбн

    Leonel fell into deep thought.

    **

    Within the Ascension Palace''s gardens, Emperor Fawkes sat in silent meditation as usual. He was looking younger and younger by the day. From an old man, in just a few years he already seemed to be back in his 40''s. He exuded a handsome charm that could make countless women swoon and had a maturity and forcefulness to his aura that demanded respect.

    It was the kind of demeanor that allowed him to speak as outlandishly as he usually did, and yet still no one dared to slight him.

    "Daddy."

    At that moment, a sweet voice drifted into Emperor Fawkes ears. It held a delicate melody to it that even dwarfed Anya''s own. It came with the kind of richness Anya simply didn''t have because she lacked the age and refinement.

    Emperor Fawkes'' eyes opened, his expression softening when he heard this voice.

    "Little girl, you''ve finished?"

    "I am coming back now, I will return to the Luxnix family very soon. Can you help send my little lion over? His mother misses him."

 Chapter 1049 The Princess

    Chapter 1049 The Princess

    Hearing his daughter''s words, Emperor Fawkes became silent for a moment.

    He wasn''t surprised at the sudden voice. As the owner of the World Spirit, the Princess had all sorts of abilities that only grew as Earth became more powerful. Something like this was easy to accept. Emperor Fawkes'' silence had nothing to do with this.

    "You''re still so stubborn."

    "The Luxnix family should have been destroyed a long time ago." Emperor Fawkes said lightly.

    "You know mom would never allow that."

    "She lacks backbone and determination. Why else would she have been stuck at her current strength for so long? She allows emotion to interfere with what should be done. Such a family should have been wiped from existence for daring to touch my grandson."

    "Those who are responsible have already paid."

    Though the Princess said this, her voice seemed to have lost some of its cheeriness. In fact, her tone had become even colder than her father''s, but it was clear that this rage wasn''t aimed toward the Emperor.

    "Even she doesn''t believe that." Emperor Fawkes'' tone likewise became colder. "Do you think the events of back then could have happened with just the nod of one or two people? Even now they''re reaping the benefits and relying on the foolish kindness of that woman and her hold on you."

    "Alright, that''s enough. That''s still mother you''re talking about."

    "I would have less to complain about if my daughter returned home instead of going to that cesspool."

    The Princess sighed. "I still can''t move freely. I''ve only been allowed to return to the Luxnix because it''s that time in the cycle again, they''re beginning to recruit. In fact, I had to apply to be here. They almost didn''t let me, but Val came and wreaked some havoc."

    Emperor Fawkes smiled and shook his head. Of course this ''Val'' his daughter was so casually affectionately calling out the name of was his son-in-law Velasco Morales. For him to go and wreak havoc over there, it could only be said that his balls were big enough.

    "I''m sure they''re very excited about that." Emperor Fawkes replied.

    "Dad, Myghell is just a child, he can''t be blamed for this."

    "No one is innocent. He is now benefitting from the sins of others and will likely continue to benefit. But, he is still the least of my issues. The entire council of elders should have been slaughtered."

    "Dadбн"

    Emperor Fawkes shook his head. "Your usual temper has been watered down in this situation due to your mother''s involvement. However, my grandson has grown into a very particular type of young man in your absence and his temper is worse than that of his parents and even his grandparents.

    "If you really want him to go over to the Luxnix family right now, I can''t promise that the peace your mother sacrificed so much to keep won''t be destroyed within the year. He''s been very unpredictable ever since that girl left him."

    The Princess remained silent for a very long time until she suddenly registered her father''s last sentence. This chapter is updated by Free?ebnovel.c?m.

    "Girl? Left my little lion? What wench is this?!"

    Emperor Fawkes closed an eye, the sudden outburst of his daughter hurting his ears. She had immediately gone from docile mediator to enraged lioness. If it wasn''t for actions Emperor Fawkes took, the whole of Earth''s Fold of Reality would be trembling right this very moment.

    Emperor Fawkes coughed lightly. Even with his temper he wouldn''t get involved in the matters of children. However, his daughter clearly didn''t care about this one bit. It even felt like she might truly ignore the rules of that place and go hunt that poor girl down right this very moment.

    It was obvious that she had no intention of asking what Leonel might have done or if he had done anything wrong at all. All she cared about was the final result. As far as she was concerned, any little girl who dared to choose a path opposing her son deserved to be punished.

    "About thisбн" Emperor Fawkes suddenly regretted bringing this matter up at all. "бн Shouldn''t you be more concerned about what will happen if he goes there? If his relationship with his grandmother is severed because of this, there will be nothing any of us can do."

    Emperor Fawkes was more clever this time and chose not to admit that Leonel also seemed to hate him as well. It had been too long since he spoke to his little girl and he had no intention of making her infuriated toward him too.

    At this point, his reasoning wouldn''t matter. When a mother wanted to protect her son, she would turn even against her own father. This, Emperor Fawkes was absolutely certain of.

    Either way, he had been observing Leonel for a long time. There was a point where Leonel didn''t even care about the life and death of his own mother because he had no memories of her. Of course, he wouldn''t tell his daughter this either, or else who knew how she would react? At that point, because of what happened back then, it might be both Leonel and she who fell out with the Luxnix family completely.

    If not for that event, Leonel wouldn''t have been forced to come to Earth and wouldn''t have had to leave his mother''s side before he was old enough to remember her.

    Trouble is that the same indifference Leonel had for his mother previously was likely the same indifference he currently had for his grandmother. If he was also to find out that it was her efforts that protected the perpetrators of something Emperor Fawkes was sure Leonel was furious aboutбн

    Wellбн That young man truly loved to cause trouble, so the outcome was obvious. If Myghell didn''t react appropriately to the situation, the efforts they made in saving him from Velasco as a child would all come to nothing if he just died at Leonel''s hand anyway.

    As for Leonel suffering at the hands of the Luxnixбн? Emperor Fawkes didn''t even consider it. If Leonel really ended up like that, he would just disown him as a grandson.

    Unfortunately, Emperor Fawkes'' diversion tactic didn''t work.

    "Who. Is. This. Girl?"

    [Just one more chapter coming today.... dkm]

 Chapter 1050 Wildly

    Chapter 1050 Wildly

    Leonel had no idea that his mother was currently speaking with his grandfather about such things and he also had no idea that his grandfather actually knew so much about his life. It would be hard to tell how Leonel would react to such a thing.

    It was an odd coincidence, though. Leonel''s mother might have contacted Leonel directly to tell him to go to the Luxnix family, but Leonel wasn''t currently in Earth''s Fold of Reality so the Princess hadn''t been able to use her World Spirit to find him and could only speak with Emperor Fawkes.

    But, maybe this was for the best. If Leonel had to be hounded by his mother about what happened with Aina, who knows how such a thing would end.

    This aside, the current Leonel was still thinking about Bronze Force, imagining the ways that it could be applied and used.

    According to the dictionary, Bronze Force reacted differently based on the metal it was targeting, but the fundamental truth was that it could give the inorganic characteristics of the organic. This was what allowed the Radix to fuse their cubes into their bodies, presumably, and it should also be what allowed them to control the metals to form delicate structures.

    Under these conditions, the Radix family should be quite good at creating Crafts for themselves but lacking creating Crafts for others. After all, it wasn''t like they could give their Bronze Force to others to use.

    There was something else curious about this as well, and that was the close relationship between the Radix and Midas family. That must factor in somehow. However, Leonel couldn''t really wrap his head around what was so special about their relationship and why they insisted on maintaining it generation after generation.

    From what Leonel understood, the Midas family was one with great Fire affinity. But, he didn''t know much else. He wasn''t sure what could be so useful about this, especially since the crafting of the Radix family obviously didn''t rely on fire.

    ''This is just surface level stuff. But ultimately, if Bronze Force has such abilities when applied to metals, what else could it be applied to? If I had the ability to form Bronze Force of my own, could I add it to fire to give it life as well? What about light?...''

    The possibilities were endless. If the inanimate could be controlled by a person like it was another limb, just how powerful would that be?

    ''Butбн''

    Leonel couldn''t help but think back to Libli''s aversion to starting another Radix Cube. What if that was a taboo created for a reason? A taboo potentially related to a limitation of Bronze Force?

    Leonel shook his head. None of this mattered because Leonel ultimately didn''t have the ability to produce Bronze Force. And, without a high enough concentration of this Force to form a Pure Force Crystal with Natural Force Arts he could study, he couldn''t draw a Force Art to accumulate it either.

    That said, the solution to this was simple.

    ''Blood Force is very easy to accumulate, it just requires killing and beasts tend to have it formed in large quantities. I can use [Twinkling Lily] to extract it and then pass it off to the koi fish. And now, I have a method of easily accumulating Life and Breaking Force tooбн

    ''I just need to kill all the Radix I come across.''

    Leonel''s expression turned cold. Since the Radix wanted to be his enemies, he would use them to upgrade his tentacle womb.

    The cold in Leonel''s gaze slowly receded. What he needed was information and this eyeball likely had much of what he needed within it. There was no way he could let it sit doing nothing, but he also couldn''t rashly take action.

    Leonel stared at the Bronze Crystal in his palm. He wanted to take control of the energy within it, but he had no affinity with it. He could hardly budge it at all, let alone use it with enough deftness to dodge the traps of the bronze eyeball.

    ''Unlessбн''

    Leonel suddenly took out the Silver Tablet.

    His reasoning was simple. He had a feeling that the Silver Tablet fell into the Limit Breaking type as well considering all of the things it could do. In fact, it was on a much higher plane than the Bronze Force was.

    At the same time, the Silver Tablet was a perfect medium. It was great at consuming, redirecting and controlling energy. In addition to this, it was very docile before Leonel and listened to his thoughts without reserve. Leonel even had a feeling that he was only scratching the surface of what this Tablet was capable of, but that was a problem for another day.

    ''Goodбн This should work.''

    Using the Silver Tablet as a medium, the unmoving Bronze Force suddenly became very responsive. After a few tests, Leonel gave a confident nod and flipped his palm to reveal the bronze eyeball.

    Just like that, in not even a few minutes, a light click resounded as the mechanisms of the eyeball fell into silence. Nothing seemed to have changed and the eyeball hadn''t changed shape, but Leonel knew that everything was safe and clear now.

    ''So it''s a spatial treasure, I seeбн''

    Leonel''s gaze glowed. It seemed that all of these mechanisms were put in place for the sake of hiding the spatial properties of this eyeball. But now that the protections were gone, a new world opened up to Leonel.

    ''бн So largeбн''

    Leonel was shocked. Aside from the Segmented Cube, this was the largest inner space he had ever seen. In fact, it was an entire library and was at least 50 by 50 meters with a ceiling height of at least double that.

    The spatial treasures that Leonel was used to were at best five cubic meters large. But, he soon realized that this spatial treasure from a Sixth Dimensional world should probably be exactly this large. Plus, it wasn''t like it could hold living things like the Segmented Cube could.

    That said, the state of Leonel''s calm only lasted for a moment because Leonel was immediately shocked just a split second later.

    After a long pause, he grinned wildly.

 Chapter 1051 One Word

    Chapter 1051 One Word

    Leonel had expected something good the moment he saw the size of the hidden space within, but he had most definitely not expected anything so good.

    It was one thing if this ring carried all the secret techniques of the Radix family. Though this would be interesting and a decent reference for Leonel, especially as he moved toward maybe one day soon starting on his second Divine Armor, it wouldn''t be to the point that Leonel would react like this.

    Even though Leonel managed to take control of Rotsan''s Bronze Force with the help of the Silver Tablet, it had to be understood that this didn''t change the fact that Bronze Force was ultimately something Leonel could not use.

    The Radix were able to use Bronze Force as an extension of themselves to make their Radix Cubes a part of their very being, almost like gaining another complex limb. However, because Leonel couldn''t produce Bronze Force himself since he didn''t share their Lineage Factor, he would never be able to replicate this feat. Without the ability to produce Bronze Force, Leonel wouldn''t be able to make the metals his own.

    Even if Leonel stole from the Radix and formed more Bronze Crystals like these, he would end up making objects that could act as extensions of others rather than him. Say for example he used Libli''s Bronze Force, whatever object he changed would ultimately be hers to control.

    This was all to say that though Leonel was intrigued by the Radix family''s Crafting skill, it wasn''t to the point that it would be life changing to him. Ultimately, it was highly unlikely that any Sixth Dimensional family would be able to match up to the knowledge the Morales family could provide, especially when it was remembered that the branch of the Force Crafter''s Guild itself viewed the Morales as a rival.

    So why was Leonel so excited? It could be summed up in one word: Secrets!

    Leonel had never expected that Rotsan was such an important individual. The information he held within his eye went beyond the scope of the Radix family but even touched on secrets of not only the Midas, but even their enemy and potential enemy families.

    This meant that not only did this library have the resulting espionage on the Midas family, but it also had in depth information on the Umbra, Rain and especially the Florer family. Even beyond that, there was a dense breakdown of the Milky Way and a half a dozen other galaxies in the general vicinity.

    Leonel could have never thought that such a thing would fall into his lap.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that Rotsan was a contingency plan of the Radix family. This store of information was actually a copy of the main source. In case anything happened to one, there would always be the other. This was why Rotsan set things up to so confidently destroy all of this valuable information.

    But in the end, how could the Radix ever prepare for a day where their Radix Shield would run into the wielder of a Metal Spirit whose combat prowess was low enough in relation to him to warrant such a sneaky use of the Natural Treasure?

    The irony of it all was that if Leonel was powerful enough to crush Rotsan without such underhanded means, Rotsan''s plan would have gone smoothly and this information would have never landed in Leonel''s hands.

    ''It seems my luck isn''t too badбн'' Leonel grinned.

    This information was what he lacked the most, it was also one of the reasons he didn''t dare to make large moves in the Milky Way. Well, that and the fact his foundation was sorely lacking. He hadn''t even convinced the Oryx to be on his side yet.

    But now, things were different. For the first time, Leonel was actually thankful that someone had tried to kill him.

    Leonel began to pour over the information instantly, his Internal Sight working at a near unconscious speed. Compared to what he was going to do at his destination, every bit of this information was far more important. Even if it took a month to go over it all, he would still have to do it.

    Though, Leonel was confident he didn''t need so long. Judging by his pace, he would need three days at most to go over information it took the Radix centuries to gather. And, that was only because the Radix stored their information in a language Leonel wasn''t used to.

    Leonel blazed through the information one after another. He was immediately intrigued to find that the waters in the Milky Way were much deeper than he thought and the center of the storm was most definitely the Milky Way Guild and its Seated Council.

    According to this information, the Radix and the others had been slowly infiltrating the Milky Way Guild for decades already, slowly pushing their pawns into positions of power on the Guild''s governmental body.

    ''Just one wifeбн A seemingly ordinary ladyбн Only two ''legitimate'' children and one of them is Heiraбн''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. This Guild Head Ovilteen was definitely a difficult character to read. And Heira was maybe even more intriguing.

    How had Heira, the only legitimate daughter of the most powerful man in the Milky Way, end up the fiancижe of a man from a Fourth Dimensional world? The answer was obvious: Earth. From the very beginning, that had been the target.

    But it seemed that Augustus had nothing to do with Heira''s actions, so did that mean that father and daughter were working separately toward the same goal? A way to throw off the scent of those who were gnawing at their family wealth? Or was it that father and daughter had the same goal, but were rather competing against one another?

    Right then, a violent spark of lightning tore a path through Leonel''s Dreamscape.

    ''Heira Ovilteen.''

    ''Age: 4x''

    ''Ability Index: Soul Manipulation.''

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened, his aura fluctuating wildly.

    "She''s alive."

 Chapter 1052 Themselves

    Chapter 1052 Themselves

    Leonel sat in silence for a long while before he relaxed slowly.

    ''Well played.''

    A small smile crept up on Leonel''s lips. Truthfully, he wasn''t sure exactly how valuable this piece of information was just yet, but he knew that it at least held a small bit of weight to it. At the very least, it was better than going around without realizing that there was likely a guillotine hanging over his neck.

    ''There''s aбн 78% chance that the woman directing Elthor and the others is her. It seems unlikely that there''d be anyone else with the resources and the forethoughtбн''

    As Leonel continued to read about the powers of the Milky Way and cross referenced them with the information Elthor had told him about this mysterious woman, the percentage ticked upward until it sat nearly at 100% by the end of the Radix family''s reading material.

    Leonel stopped reading for a moment and he almost laughed. There was a saying on Earth said the world was small, but could you really say the same thing about an entire galaxy?

    The Oryx had become one of Heira''s most important trump cards but those hired guns were actually Leonel''s own men. Even if right now it wasn''t certain that they''d follow him, Leonel only needed to make a single sacrifice to ensure that this 50/50 chance would become a 100% chance of ruining Heira''s plot. It was simple as resurrecting Elthor''s father.

    Although Leonel couldn''t guarantee that the Oryx King would follow him, what he could guarantee was that he''d be able to take over the Oryx from Heira''s hand. In addition, Leonel had already seen that man''s character and his willingness to sacrifice, there was no way he would refuse to do Leonel, the man who gave both him and his son another chance at life, a favor.

    Leonel delicately formed Dreamscape after Dreamscape, building a complex web of interconnected information by the time the third day came to an end. When he was finished, he was certain that he knew more about the situation in the surrounding nine or so galaxies than any individual in the Radix family did.

    ''I see, so things are like this.''

    Leonel finally felt that he had gained a small grasp of the Dimensional Verse.

    The section of the Universe he was in right now was dominated by humans. The Radix didn''t know much about the strongest families, but they knew enough to understand that the most powerful existences here were of the Seventh Dimension, which made sense since information about the Eighth was practically folk tale, if it existed at all.

    The ''section'' was known as Domain and was known by races outside of it as the Human Domain or Humanity''s Domain. Though there were other races sprinkled about this Domain, like the Oryx or the Demons of Avalon, for example, over 99% of the population was human.

    This made Leonel wonder what other Domains might exist, but the Radix family''s scope was far too small to have this information as it seemed that Domains usually kept to themselves.

    A Domain was broken into Sectors, Sectors were broken into Galaxies, and Galaxies were broken into Quadrants which further fell into Solar Systems and ultimately planets. Folds of Reality were outside these common groupings because they tended to vary wildly in size. As for a Sector, it could encompass anywhere from 10 to 20 Galaxies, sometimes more depending on several factors.

    This Sector, denoted by a string of numbers and letters by the Radix, was ruled by three powerful existences. Though, ''ruled'' wasn''t an appropriate term. It was more accurate to say that these three could move unopposed, but they didn''t usually have a reason to pick on weaker powers.

    Surprisinglyбн One of these three powerful existences was exactly the Luxnix family. As powerful as Leonel''s Morales family background was, in this Sector of the universe, it would ironically be more beneficial to him to identify as a Luxnix than a Morales. The Dimensional Verse was simply too large to expect weaker powers to immediately recognize the hallmark of extraordinary Lineage Factors. It wasn''t even certain if many would understand the Snowy Star Owl when they saw it.

    ''I''m finally not too ignorant about how these things work anymoreбн only tookбн almost five years.''

    Leonel laughed to himself and shook his head.

    Still, what was maybe the most fascinating about all of this wasn''t the Dimensional Verse''s structure, it wasn''t the information on the Umbra or the Rain, and it wasn''t even the fact that Heira was most likely still alive.

    No, the most fascinating was the history between the Florer family and Radix family, not to mention the reason the Radix and Midas family seemed to be such a solid alliance.

    According to their history, this all began over a Zone. Not just any normal Zone, but a Variant Zone. In fact, that alone wasn''t enough to paint the picture. Because the truly shocking realization was that it was a Variant Zone not for one of the three familiesбн But rather a Variant Zone apparently related to the Silver Empire!

    If Aina had been there to see Leonel connect such dots, she would have been shocked as well. The Silver Empire? Wasn''t that the fallen Empire whose Zone Aina had entered just a few months ago? In fact, it was because of that Zone in specific that Aina caught the eye of Rychard''s subordinate.

    Of course, Leonel had no idea about this, he only found the root cause of this turmoil to be fascinating. This could be considered to be a top secret of the Radix family. There was no doubt if more powerful existences knew that the Variant Zone of the Silver Empire fell into the hands of three comparatively fodder families rather than the former ruler of this and multiple other Sectorsбн It was impossible to tell how they would react.

    However, maybe the greatest irony of it all was that this was the fault of no one else but the Silver Empire themselves.

 Chapter 1053 Little Use

    Chapter 1053 Little Use

    The Silver Empire was indeed to blame for this. Because they manipulated their Zones so that others couldn''t learn their secrets, their Variant Zone appeared in an obscure part of their Empire rather than an easily accessible location. As a result, a Zone that might have turn their fortune around fell into the hands of three small families who were still fighting over it to this day.

    According to the history, the ultimate treasure of the Variant Zone wasn''t claimed by any one of the families. Instead, it ended up split, with the Radix and Midas claiming one half while the Florer family gained the other.

    Due to the treasure being split, neither group could gain the full and true benefits and the result was what they saw today. Neither family was able to rise up to the level of the Silver Empire, but they weren''t necessarily weak either. In terms of the power scaling of this Sector, they could be considered to be in the dead center, maybe a tick above.

    The three families were definitely a restraining force on one another. If not for this, they would likely only be second to the Luxnix family and its two counterparts. But, it was because they knew this that their greed for the entire inheritance was so fierce, resulting in all three parties suffering.

    As for why the Midas and Radix families came together? It was because they shared a half. Only by being together could they resist the Florer family. That also likely meant that the most powerful existences Leonel might have to face in this coming war were the Florer.

    Leonel''s expression went cold as he recalled the practices of the Florer family. These were most definitely individuals that had committed too many sins to be left alone.

    Leonel took a deep breath and calmed himself. ''I''ve wasted enough time, I have to hurry or else all of this information will be meaningless.''

    **

    "Over there. The process for entering the Eight Eye Branch will take about a day and you will need toбк"

    Leonel placed down his badge, causing the words of the individual before him to get caught in their throat. The older gentleman didn''t know what to say for a long time, his gaze slowly arching up to meet Leonel''s own.

    Realizing his folly, the old man shook his head.

    "Ah, esteemed Crafter. Forgive me for my rudeness. Please be on your way."

    A cold sweat covered the old man''s forehead. He knew that Crafters tended to have terrible tempers, and one as young as this was even more likely to fall into such a category. Even though it wasn''t an exact science to tell someone''s age after the Fourth Dimension, the fact Leonel could still look so young and yet be a Bronze Crafter was impressive enough. Even the most talented Force Crafters this old man had ever seen were at least deep into their middle ages.

    However, Leonel just smiled, catching the old man off guard. He didn''t even recover until Leonel had long since stepped into the teleportation platform and vanished.

    ''Thisбн Did he just smile at meбн?''

    That only meant one of two things, either he met a rare, nice person, or he''d come home tonight to find his family nailed to stakes and decapitated. The old man suddenly felt the urge to run.

    бн

    "Where is he? Who''s here?!"

    Another old man with messy white hair rushed into a room as though his ass was on fire. Noбн His ass really was on fire. Somehow, no one had stopped him on his way here to point out that the back of his robes were quickly burning.

    "Iselan! You''re on fire!"

    The middle-aged woman who had a cold sweat on her forehead identical to the receptionist from earlier flew into a panic. It was only then that the old man realized that he was indeed on fire. In fact, another few inches and his undies would be out for the world to admire.

    Iselan waved a hand and the fire shot into his palm.

    "What are you shouting about? Where''s the Sixth Dimensional Ore!?"

    The middle-aged woman was speechless. Wasn''t it you who shouted first? And weren''t you still shouting now?

    Leonel chuckled at this scene but didn''t seem to mind. He had thought of using the Sixth Dimensional Ore in his creations, but he felt that using it like this was actually far better.

    The Eight Eye Branch was the largest and most powerful of the Force Crafting Guild Branches in the Milky Way, information Leonel had thankfully learned from the Radix. Their reserves of riches made the Golden Path Branch look like beggars and their influence was far greater. They were almost like a mini-main branch of this Galaxy and actually had Tier 8 and 9 Bronze Crafters.

    Of course, Leonel knew that this was actually a recent change.

    Not too long ago, the strongest Crafters in the Milky Way were just Tier 3 or 4 at best. But, a slight shift began to occur as the Main Force Crafting Branch began to send over stronger experts bit by bit. Obviously, this was all for the sake of taking part in Earth''s Fold of Reality.

    The waters of the Milky Way were far deeper than Leonel had ever known. It really put into perspective how na?ve he was thinking that he could take it over in a few years.

    This aside, this made the Eight Eye Branch perfect for Leonel to target. So long as they made such a transaction with him, they would be biased toward Leonel to an extreme. Not only would this give Leonel a large amount of funds, but it would make perfect use of the backdoor the Golden Path Branch had paved for him.

    With Leonel befriending the Eight Eye Branch with his Ores and Crafts, it would make it almost impossible for Shield Cross Stars to continue to target him freely and would give him some added freedom.

    Leonel smiled and respectfully greeted Iselan.

    "Elder Iselan, I was indeed lucky enough to stumble upon a small ore of Sixth Dimensional metals. They''re of little use to me now so I wanted to sell them to your Branch."

 Chapter 1054 Spells...

    Chapter 1054 Spells...

    "Yes, yes, yes. Excellent. Bring it out, I need to see it now. I mean, I''d like to see it."

    Iselan was truly too excited. He reacted almost like a child on Christmas day.

    It wasn''t that he had never seen a Sixth Dimensional metal before. It was rather that he had never seen one that he would have the liberty of using and experimenting with. However, when he saw the metal Leonel brought out, he almost directly fainted from happiness.

    "Is thisбн Is thisбнRefined? No, it''s not just refined, it''s perfectly refinedбн"

    Iselan''s hands trembled.

    He had expected to be given a Sixth Dimensional Ore rife with impurities. Usually, the higher the Dimension, the more difficult it was to deal with such things. Iselan was already prepared to lose at least half the Ore''s value due to his inadequate skill. However, this Ore was actually perfectly refinedбн

    The Refinement of Ores worked just like it did for Forces, not in practice but at least in theory. That was to say that Ores became more powerful the purer their refined result was. In addition, the purer the resulting metal, the more powerful the subsequent Craft would be as well.

    Most only had a single Refinement Technique they poured their heart and soul into for all their lives. However, Leonel had dozens at his finger tips and he usually decided which to use depending on the metal he was working with. It could be said that this first step of Crafting was among the absolute most important.

    That said, it had to be remembered that this Ore was already partially refined by Rotsan, though not perfectly. Leonel had only re-refined it after breaking it down into its individual parts and separating them out.

    Ultimately, Rotsan had had 10 kilograms of Sixth Dimensional metals in his body, of which there was just one kind. This metal was an Foundation Type Ore like Urbe Ore, except rather than solidifying foundation like Urbe Ore did, it instead increased explosive and penetrative power. It was exactly this Ore that allowed Rotsan to take his Bronze Crafts and make them no less lethal than many Silver Crafts.

    While it might sound odd that Rotsan only had a single type of this Ore, it made perfect sense. After all, Rotsan was ultimately in the Fifth Dimension. Even if his knowledge extended into the limits of Silver Crafting, there was a limit to what his Bronze Force would accomplish since it was in the Fifth Dimension.

    Rotsan focusing on a single, optimal Ore that could guarantee him a huge boost in strength was definitely the smartest decision. And, it was a decision that also benefited Leonel greatly.

    This Ore was known as Shearing Ore. It was incredibly stable, stable enough for Rotsan to trust it within his own body, and it also only needed small quantities to qualitatively change the strength of even lower Dimensional Ores.

    For a Bronze Crafter like Iselan who didn''t yet have the skill to form Silver Crafts, this Ore felt like the most valuable thing he had ever seen in his life. It represented not just research potential, but also a windfall of funds to help him reach the next level.

    The problem with Silver Crafts is that those from lower Dimensions have problems using them properly. They often take too much skill or energy which is why people usually stick to their own Dimensions in many cases.

    However, with this Shearing Ore, Iselan could make Fifth Dimensional constructions with the power of Sixth Dimensional ones. If he found the right buyer, likely a rich family wanting to pamper a weaker youth, the amount of money he could make would be enough to support him until he entered the legendary ranks of Silver Crafter!

    Iselan was so excited that he wanted to kiss Leonel on the face.

    "Your price! Name it! Name it!"

    Leonel laughed beside himself. The childish eagerness of Iselan grew on him almost immediately. He had half expected for him to have to show off some of his own strength to ensure that he wasn''t scammed or strong armed, but he had never expected the Head Crafter of this Guild to be so straight forward.

    "I''m willing to exchange this five kilogram piece of Shearing Ore for ten billion contribution points. What do you say?"

    Leonel had chosen to keep five kilograms for him and chose to give Iselan the other portion. However, he felt that this was more than enough to meet his needs.

    "DEAL!"

    "Iselan!"

    The middle-aged woman who had initially met with Leonel, Aluniya, was shocked. Ten billion merit points wasn''t enough to empty their treasure store, but it was damn near close to that.

    "What are you screaming about, woman? Is ten billion merit points not worth five kilograms of a Sixth Dimensional perfectly purified metal?! This isn''t an Ore!"

    Iselan was usually fairly easy going, but having his expertise questioned wasn''t something he was willing to tolerate. He was just a step from the Quasi Silver rankings, but that didn''t mean he had gone blind by greed!

    In, there was a reason he didn''t even try to strong arm Leonel, and that was because he wasn''t a fool. Such a young Bronze Crafter even holding such a perfectly purified metalбн Wouldn''t he be asking for death if he actually dared to slight such a young man? Even if he was beaten to death he wouldn''t believe that there wasn''t an absolute expert backing Leonel.

    Plus, beyond that, the price was fair.

    Usually, no matter the proposed exchange rate, no one would ever trade in a Sixth Dimensional metal for any number of Fifth Dimensional ones. But, Leonel''s ask for merit points, knowing full well there weren''t Sixth Dimensional Force Metal or Herbs here, was essentially doing exactly that.

    If anything, he was the one taking advantage of Leonel right now. It felt like a godsend was brought straight to his door.

    "Butбн"

    Aluniya wasn''t trying to question the dollar amount, the problem was that this transaction would stall the work of the Guild branch as a whole. And, if that happened, it might offend some of their more powerful backersбн After all, those individuals in the shadows were why they had come to this backwater galaxy to begin with. This might spell troubleбн

    [At least two more chapters coming later today, I''ll try for three, but at least two for sure]

 Chapter 1055 something Different

    Chapter 1055 something Different

    Iselan waved a hand. "Stop, you''re overthinking things. How this branch functions is irrelevant to them for now. In fact, it will probably be irrelevant for several decades."

    Iselan didn''t say anything more since Leonel was right there. The only reason he had ever said so much was because he was getting annoyed and wanted to take this Shearing Ore away as quickly as possible so that he could start his research.

    Of course, though Leonel knew more about such words than Iselan thought, he didn''t show any particular reaction, simply handing the metal over to Iselan who all but squealed with joy. As for poor Aluniya, she was still worried but no longer dared to do anything.

    Though Iselan had explained things away so simply, Aluniya knew that things weren''t so easy. It would only take one curmudgeon to ruin everything and in the worst case, Iselan might even lose his position as Branch Head.

    But, at this point, Leonel didn''t particularly care about it all. He was only smiling as he saw the points jump within his Crafter''s Badge. With a wave to Aluniya, he vanished, accelerating toward the store room with frightening speed.

    By the time Aluniya realized something was wrong, she suddenly found herself all alone and speechless. Soon, she became a bit jealous of the both of them.

    бн

    The Eight Eye Branch''s treasure store was far beyond what Leonel had seen in the Golden Path Branch. The storehouse alone was at least a kilometer long and about 200 meters wide. Though there was a large glass dome above that must have gone at least 50 meters upward, the shelves themselves weren''t necessarily so tall.

    Each row of shelves only had three racks. The lowest rack was at eye level and the spacers between the racks were at least two to three meters.

    The organization of it all was immaculate and the storage was even better. The latter was the best Leonel had seen aside from his own snowglobes which could be considered near perfect. These storage devices weren''t able to freeze Force Herbs and Ores in their optimal states, but they were all perfectly temperature controlled to provide the best environment for each.

    ''Ahбн Being rich is niceбн''

    Just a single five kilogram piece of Ore had netted him all of this. If Leonel wanted, he really could mostly clear out this entire storeroom.

    Not only did he had ten billion points, but things here were cheaper than they had been in the Golden Path Branch so his points went further. It was like Heaven for a Crafter.

    Soon, Leonel calmed himself. What he needed was a systematic method of crushing his enemies. He couldn''t get lost in the fascination of all of these Ores and forget the task at hand.

    The first thing Leonel did was blanket the storehouse in his Internal Sight. In just a few breaths, he had a replica of the entire place in his mind and could even map out the ideal pathways for reaching anywhere in the most efficient way possible.

    ''Alright, goodбн

    ''The Umbra family. Great darkness affinity, the root of which is beast blood not much unlike the Luxnix family and the Snowy Star Owl. The root of their strength is the Shadow Tailed Fox and their strongest abilities are their concealment and unlike other assassin-like families, they have great power output through the use of their tails. Aside from this, they have an immunity to poison and very strong mental defenses.

    ''The Rain family. Great water affinity, known for their Rain Lineage Factor allowing them to gather small storm clouds above their heads and use the precipitation like needles. Their offensive output is lacking, but their area control abilities are frighteningly powerful, especially near high concentrations of Water Force.

    ''The Florer familyбн''

    Leonel''s Dreamscapes sparked and flashed, his mind spinning as he connected the Ores around him to Crafts he could make.

    Despite the information that Leonel had, what was difficult to nail down was exactly how those families would react to him killing Rotsan. This meant that whatever Crafts Leonel formed to counter them had to be mobile and had to work in a variety of environments.

    ''бн Got it.''

    Leonel flashed and vanished.

    бн

    Hours later, Aluniya stood within the storehouse with a blank expression on her face. It was she who was responsible for organizing this storehouse so seeing the state of it now, she felt as though a little piece of her had floated away.

    Of course, Leonel hadn''t left a mess, but the room itself felt so empty now. Rows upon rows of open storage systems lay before her, leaving the aged Crafter at a loss for words.

    Aluniya released a deep sigh and walked away.

    She moved back toward the Guild House, making her way to Iselan''s quarters and walking in without saying a word. The old man was hunched over his Crafter''s Workbench, the back of his robes still mostly burnt.

    "Do you know who that kid was?" Aluniya said.

    "Hm? Why are you interrupting me?" Iselan replied, visibly annoyed.

    "He was Leonel Morales."

    "What does this mean toбн Wait, what did you say?"

    "Leonel Morales."

    Iselan coughed awkwardly. "Tier 4 Fugitive, Leonel Morales?"

    "Yes."

    Iselan scratched his messy hair. "Wellбн I guess tell Shield Cross Stars that I change my mind. We can''t help them."

    Aluniya was speechless. Couldn''t this be considered bribing? Where was his integrity?

    бн

    Right this moment, Leonel who had left as quickly as possible just to avoid the possibility of being found out too early, was standing before the Silver Tablet.

    Of course, Leonel expected Iselan''s reaction. After all, by the time he left, it was already too late for the Eight Eye Branch to do anything. They were effectively stuck with him now, everything going just as planned.

    That said, Leonel wasn''t thinking about that right now. Instead, he had steeled himself and made a decision. He had been saving up his energy to resurrect someone else, but the circumstances called for something different.

    Leonel stretched his hand forward. It was time to resurrect the Oryx King.

 Chapter 1056 Oryx King

    Chapter 1056 Oryx King

    The first thing that hit Leonel was the stench. It billowed into his nose and made his mind go blank. It was the kind of smell that could make a person pass out completely. But, luckily, Leonel was ready for this and didn''t back down.

    The Oryx King''s shadow slowly rose until he eventually towered over Leonel. When his gaze opened, an undisguised majesty swept forth, crashing against Leonel in waves. It was as though they were two polarized magnets set to the same path, repelling one another violently.

    If Leonel had been ready for the first wave to hit him, he had most definitely not been prepared for this second. However, even while being caught unprepared, Leonel''s feet remained rooted to the ground. He felt something subconscious within him that made him feel like a step back now would mean a permanent step back for life.

    The Oryx King seemed to feel the same thing as he too didn''t take a step back. Compared to his son, his reaction was much less confused, maybe due to the fact that he immediately entered a state of fight or flight because of Leonel''s appearance.

    ''A humanбн? No, this boyбн''

    Right then, the Oryx King seemed to remember everything up until the very moment of his death.

    The pours of the Oryx King closed, causing the pervading stench to recede and disperse in the air. He was used to dealing with humans so he was aware that his own smell was a bit much for them to handle. If he disliked the human, he wouldn''t bother to show this empathy. But, clearly, he had a good impression of Leonel.

    His head tilted down, his gaze landing on the Silver Tablet. A touch of a complicated emotion colored his irises at that moment, a sigh leaving him.

    "So it really was this thing."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He suddenly remembered that during his time in the Valiant Zone, Elthor had come to him to convince him to stop attacking the Human Kingdom or else they Oryx would be forced to pincer him from the back.

    Back then, Leonel had realized that the Oryx Kingdom obviously feared the Humans for some hidden reason, and it wasn''t until after he learned of the Silver Tablet''s existence that he understood exactly why.

    "You knew about the existence of this thing? What else do you know about it?" Leonel asked.

    The Oryx King''s gaze turned dim for a moment as though he was trying to recall exactly how he knew about the Silver Tablet. But, he realized that there were suddenly holes in his memories, almost as if he hadn''t experienced these things personally but rather that someone had told him he experienced it.

    Leonel had expected something like this. After all, in a Variant Zone, the location was the future, but it wasn''t a future that was set in stone. Rather, it was a glimpse into the future that allowed those of the path a chance to grasp an opportunity.

    So, the question was, if you entered a Variant Zone and are ''transported'' into the future, would the people you meet there have experienced time equivalent to the amount you had traveled for? It seemed like from the Oryx King''s reaction that the answer was no.

    Maybe the people in the Zone had been in limbo and had their memories given to themбн

    This was a thought Leonel had had for a long time but he found it difficult to accept. Wasn''t this a person right in front of him, living and breathing just like he was? How could their existence feel soбн flimsy at the same time, then? How could life be so casually created?

    Entry into the Valiant Zone wasn''t the first time Leonel had had such a thought. In fact, it all started with the Camelot Zone and how they too entered reality. It was all tooбн too difficult to accept.

    For someone who liked to understand exactly how everything worked, it was too much for Leonel to handle so, like most things he couldn''t handle, he ignored it. Right now, he couldn''t afford to have an existential crisis.

    The Oryx King shook his head again.

    "All I know about this Tablet is that it is a taboo. A great taboo. It shouldn''t exist and I would advise that you use it as sparingly as possible."

    Though the Oryx King said this, he felt that it would be better if Leonel didn''t use it at all. However, he knew that with such temptation before him, it would be impossible to have him agree with this.

    Leonel remained silent for a long while before he sighed. It was impossible for him to not use this Tablet. It was too important to his future thoughts and plans. He couldn''t be a passive observer anymore.

    "Oryx King, I need your helpбн"

    Leonel explained things as clearly as possible, not leaving out any details.

    "бн So you need me to take control of the Oryx, but haven''t you forgotten something very important? I am only of the Quasi Fifth Dimension. In fact, from what it seems like here, even you are more powerful than I am now. Ruling without sufficient strength isn''t ruling at all, it is being a figurehead."

    The Oryx King gazed toward Leonel deeply. It was clear that he believed that this was exactly what Leonel wanted him to be.

    "I will help you enter the Fifth Dimension." Leonel said. "In addition, you are an Oryx who has completed your Hyper Evolution so your talent is greater than theirs. This breakthrough will make you far stronger than anyone they have currently.

    "Also, I hope that you and Elthor will choose to follow me, but I''m aware that it isn''t something I can strongarm you into doing. Instead, I hope that in exchange for this favor, that you will help me until this war ends. After that, you can make a decision."

    "Follow you, hm?"

    The Oryx King looked toward the tablet blankly.

    Within he Human Domain, species like his were at a disadvantage. It was impossible to grow without the backing of a human but it was also impossible, normally, to find a human that wouldn''t treat them like cattle to be reared and used.

    As for the kind of person Leonel was, the Oryx King didn''t know. He had a good impression, but a good impression wasn''t enough for a King to make a decision.

    At the same time, though, he was also keenly aware that whether the rest of the Oryx Kingdom was resurrected or not lay in Leonel''s palms. Why would Leonel continue to spend resources resurrecting people who had no intention of following him? Even if he had a kind heart, he would probably go through all of the humans first and who knew how long it would take to get to them?

    "Alright. I will help you with this war. As for what happens afterward, time will tell."

    The Oryx King slammed a fist into his chest, causing his ribcage to reverberate like a drum.

    ...

    Hours later, Leonel was streaking through the skies ones more, this time headed back toward EarthX1 at full tilt.

    Since those families wanted to play, he would play. By the end of today, he''d clear EarthX1 of all foreign existences.

 Chapter 1057 Enough

    Chapter 1057 Enough

    Leonel slowly walked through a thick forest, his bare feet sinking into the nutrient rich soil and making him feel as though he had truly become one with the earth around. Something about the wonderful smells and fragrances in the air made him feel particularly at peace as though nothing in this worlds could stop him.

    "HALT!"

    The sudden voice was like a clap that should have stunned Leonel out of his odd state. And yet, Leonel himself didn''t seem to notice it at all.

    His chest rose and fell with a steady cadence, his eyes half closed and his blood gliding through his veins with a silent smoothness.

    In that moment, an arrow shot for Leonel. The voice that had spoken earlier was one of the many scouting units on the periphery of this base. Normally, this individual would have shot first and asked questions later, but the appearance of a boy wearing sweatpants in the middle of the forest caught him completely off guard. No matter how he looked at it, Leonel didn''t seem like an enemy.

    Realizing this mistake, though, the scout no longer hesitated. This reaction was far too weird. Even if Leonel was a ''normal boy'', they had most definitely not sent any ''normal'' people here to attack Earth, so it was clear and obvious that no matter what, he wasn''t one of theirs. In that case, he would attack first.

    But the result was completely out of his expectations.

    Leonel, who had been leisurely walking at a pace that hadn''t deviated for even a moment came to a sudden stop. If things continued like this, the arrow would miss him entirely.

    The scout was taken off guard. But, he quickly recovered. He realized that his intuition was correct, Leonel couldn''t possibly be a normal individual.

    A deep sneer took hold of his features as his finger curled upward. There was a reason he was chosen to be a scout. Not only was his Internal Sight powerful, but his ability was quite helpful for his marksmanship.

    The arrow suddenly curled upward. It couldn''t change path enough to pierce Leonel''s chest, but it could definitely tear a hole through his kneecap. By that point, the end of the battle would already be in sight.

    The scout expected to see Leonel''s calm expression finally break and for there to at least be some panic or sudden movement in those final moments. But, reality was completely outside of his expectations. Not only did Leonel show no fearбн He didn''t move a single inch.

    CLANG!

    The arrow tore through Leonel''s sweatpants and seemed to have pierced him. But, not even a split second later the sound of metal clanging against metal resounded through the forest.

    Leonel took a step forward, his body flickering with dense Bronze Runes. The sun hanging high in the sky, partially masked by a few white clouds, sent beams through the dense foliage that rebounded and reflected off of his skin.

    A slight wind whipped by, pressing Leonel''s already tight compression shirt even more firmly onto his body. The outline of his torso made it obvious that his already toned stature had became even more so, even the line of his muscle fibers being clear beneath the fabric.

    Leonel fingers lightly reached out for the air, causing the arrow which was now flipping through the air to suddenly come to a stop, pointing directly toward the scout in the distance. The metallic tip trembled as the scout tried to retake control of his own arrow, but he immediately realized that it was futile.

    The scent of death loomed over him, his heart quaking beside himself.

    "ENEMY ATTбк!"

    PCHU!

    The scout never saw how the arrow closed the distance. His voice came to an abrupt stop, the gurgling of his blood filling the once silent forest.

    Things fell into a peaceful quiet once more, but this only lasted for but a moment before the blaring signs of horns raged through the trees. The sound was so loud that the leaves rustled and were stripped from their branches while birds and beasts alike scattered, running for their lives.

    Leonel didn''t seem to notice the noise at all, his finger beckoning forth once again.

    The arrow that had just pierced the scout''s head suddenly whizzed back toward Leonel, changing direction abruptly and shooting off into the distance. Once after another, cries muffled by the blaring sounds of horns resounded. And yet to Leonel, each might as well have been right by his ears.

    Right this moment, all around EarthX1, battles had erupted. Despite having taken control of the two most strategic points on the planet, Leonel didn''t choose to stay back on the defensive. Instead, he chose to raise an all out assault, one that would sweep through the planet completely.

    Arthur had been charged with wiping out the Umbra. With his Light Elemental affinity and the Camelot troops to his back, he was the best suited to dealing with them quickly and efficiently.

    Mordred was tasked with taking out the Rain family. Her area of control magic was the best among the Earthlings Leonel knew and had a chance to counter the Rain. At the same time, the strong bodies of the demons who followed her were perfect to deal with the advantages of them as well.

    Leonel''s brothers were tasked with clearing EarthX1 of all Florer family members. These were maybe the strongest experts on this planet and they were individuals that deserved the attention of as many upper class talents as possible. Leonel had full faith that his brothers would be able to send them away with their tail between their legs.

    This only left the remnant of the Crars. This task was left up to Lancelot and what remained of the knights and mages of Camelot. This group would have, by far, the largest numbers and would be perfectly equipped to counter the large number of Crars.

    By now, it was obvious that this still left one more group. In fact, it was a group of two families, the Radix and the Midas.

    As for that, wasn''t that why Leonel was here? One with metal affinity. The other with fire affinityбн

    For such an enemy, Leonel Morales alone was enough.

    [Second chapter coming]

 Chapter 1058 Fortress

    Chapter 1058 Fortress

    BANG!

    The first line of defense crumbled, clearing the forest of trees to reveal a mighty metal fortress. With every step Leonel took forward, a silver armor slowly manifested, following the upward trajectory of his Bronze Halo and coating his body one inch at a time.

    The instant the last of Leonel''s hair vanished beneath the helmet of silver, a flourishing spatial Domain swept over the surroundings. Right then, it felt to all those in the surrounding several kilometer radius that every effort to move took twice the speed, twice the power, twice the will.

    On the top of the enormous bronze metal fortress, several ballistae aimed for Leonel, each controlled by an individual. Though the Radix and Midas hadn''t thought that anyone would attack them so blatantly, that didn''t mean that they weren''t ready. Even as Leonel''s domain fell, they reacted quickly.

    The arms of the marksmen bulged and pulsed as they swung the huge machinery toward Leonel. Their blood pumped and veins threatened to burst along their foreheads. They were strong men and women to begin with, but the abilities of Leonel''s Divine Armor made it feel like they were toddlers trying to pick up something heavy.

    Leonel''s steps didn''t slow.

    The looming metal gates made him sigh inwardly. He had already expected that he wasn''t the only one capable of quickly building up a fortress, so that wasn''t what made him react this way.

    These individuals came from their worlds to claim a piece of Earth for themselves. In doing so, the first thing they did was destroy the land.

    Leonel could tell at a single glance what had happened. They had dug out the soil for more than a hundred meters, destroying nutrients that had taken thousands of years to build up. They filled that hole with all sorts of metals and stone to build the foundation of their behemoth-like fortress. They shredded the trees, chased away the animals, and completely upturned the balance of the nature.

    There wasn''t a single ounce of respect.

    BANG!

    Leonel vanished. In that time, tens of ballistae sent violent beams of energy, drawing a line through the land where Leonel had just been. The massive arrow heads dug deep into the rich soil, causing an eruption of it to be thrust into the air all while uprooting several trees.

    It seemed at first glance that Leonel had already been hit. The timing was simply too perfect. By the time the marksmen realized that the weight of Leonel''s Domain hadn''t vanished yet, it was already too late.

    Two heads flew into the air, sparkling fountains of crimson following their arc.

    Leonel lightly stepped onto the top of the Fortress, his armor releasing gentle clinking sounds as he touched down.

    "SPACE ELEMENTAL MASTER!"?

    The shout rocked the fortress. The weight of such words were heavy to the greater Dimensional Verse. The rarity of such existences couldn''t be understated and their impact on a battlefield was even more exaggerated than their rarity. However, due to this, how could powerful families not have certain counters?

    The moment the words fell, a strong churning took hold of the fortress. It was subtle to most, but Leonel''s Internal Sight had already been placed on high alert. The moment things began to change, he sensed the shift of Force and realized that it was being deployed toward a large scale Force Art.

    Leonel concluded his deductions in an instant and sprung into action even faster. His twin bladed spear had already appeared in his palms, the gaze beneath his visor having touched upon a startling coldness. He no longer saw life and death, he only saw numbers and their computations.

    Leonel kicked at a ballistae, sending it flying across the ramparts. Under a combination of his strength and his metal control, the heft of the projectile system alone crushed everything in its path. The harsh sound of screams and shattering bone and flesh resounded.

    Leonel didn''t stay to watch the end result, nor did he need to. With his Internal Sight, everything was under his control.

    His spear whipped outward, slicing a door that led down into the fortress.

    ''Judging by the reaction of the Force, this is definitely a Spatial Type array. The formation should cover the entire Fort and disrupt Spatial Force. It will make it difficult to have controlled teleportation and will distort my Domain. There''s about 37 seconds left until the Force Art is fully deployed.''

    Leonel completed his calculations in the time it took him to step through the door. His spear swept forward without regard for the low ceilings and the narrow walls. The blade was so sharp that one would have thought that Leonel was out in the open.

    With every head that flew and body part that was severed, another deep gash appeared on the thick metal walls. In fact, sometimes Leonel''s movement was so quick that he would have taken two to three steps forward before the blade mark even appeared.

    Level Two Spear Force seemed to be unstoppable. Even as warriors rushed up the stairs, thinking that the enemy may very well still be beyond the walls, they found themselves adding to the pile of flowing blood and flesh.

    бн

    Within the depths of the fortress, the upper management of the Radix and Midas had already been alerted. With Libli captured, things should have fallen under Dynmo''s control. But, in reality, things were being run by an elder individual of the Radix family as Libli knew well that Dynmo couldn''t be trusted with such things.

    In fact, Dynmo was currently being shackled and jailed. When he learned that Libli was captured, he had wanted to rush out at fast as possible to get her back. But, he ended up being held back by others who said that would be a foolish choice.

    Dynmo didn''t even like Libli very much, but he still became furious. Just yesterday, he lost his temper completely as he was tired of waiting, but that also just so happened to be the day the Radix and Midas had sent someone to inform them about the plans for the coming weeks.

    As for who that person was, Leonel would recognize him very well. After all, just three days ago, Leonel had almost killed him within a teleportation formation.

    "Sir Dycon! The fortressбк!"

    Dycon held up a hand, his gaze filled with bloody murder.

    "I know. Hurry up and release Dynmo. He''ll finally have someone to vent on."

 Chapter 1059 Four Seasons

    Chapter 1059 Four Seasons

    ''34 seconds.''

    Leonel''s steps didn''t pause nor did they slow. Beneath his Spatial Domain, the enemies he came across didn''t stand a single chance. With many of the numbers that made up the Radix and Midas being lower Fifth Dimensional existences, all it took to cut them down was a single swing of his spear.

    Leonel reached the bottom of the steps. His foot kicked outward, a warp in space following his actions. His control had gotten so smooth that whether it was stacking space or splitting it, it could be done as easy as breathing.

    BANG!

    The heavy metal door, weighing at least a ton, went flying from its hinges, the center where Leonel''s foot contacted crumpling up like aluminum foil.

    A line of warriors on the opposite end found themselves in a splatter of their own blood, their vision going black and their lives fading before they even registered what had happened.

    The moment Leonel stepped out, a rain of projectiles shot for him. But, his expression didn''t so much as flicker beneath his visor. In the blink of an eye, the space around Leonel stacked and folded upon each other.

    One after another, the projectiles flew by his arms, legs and head, drilling holes into the metal frame to his back. At just a single glance, it looked like the marksmen had tried to lance a fish through the water, but the image distorted, causing them to miss completely.

    Clearly, Leonel had expected exactly this much and took another step forward.

    The opening beneath the stairs to the ramparts was an open space to yet another gate further ahead. If Leonel wanted to shut down the large scale Force Art before it activated, he would have to cross through this second gate. However, the space had distorted too greatly for him to trust leaping toward that location already. In addition, Leonel could tell that there were several hidden Force Arts baked into the thick metal walls that would make his attempt impossible.

    Leonel''s spear spun, its body separating into three pieces connected by chains. With deft control, Leonel manipulated the length of these chains.

    It felt as though the entire field was filled with Leonel''s Spear Force. Every time it cut across the air, a light of white was left like a cyclone of blades and wind. With every spin, another head flew into the air. The cold calculating light in Leonel''s gaze becoming the arbiter of the reaper.

    CLINK!

    Leonel''s spear snapped close, the light sounds of his footsteps reverberating through the blaring sounds of warning as he stepped toward the second gate.

    His body flashed, his singular stride crossing dozens of meters as he reached a hand toward the metal doors that appeared much more like the gate to a vault than a fortress. As though it was a cue, it was only after he did so that the headless corpses of the warriors that had come to stop him slowly fell to the ground from their feet, the dull plopping noises playing like a horrific symphony.

    Leonel closed his eyes. The effort it would take to slice this vault door apart was too much and he had to be mindful of his stamina. However, brute force wasn''t the only thing he had available to him.

    It took just a moment for Leonel''s gaze to snap open.

    ''Little Tolly.''

    Leonel hardly needed to think a thing. The tacit understanding between himself and his Metal Spirit had reached an unconscious level. No matter how majestic these doors seemedбн What were they in the face of Tolliver? ?

    BANG!

    The vault doors broke beneath a single punch, fissuring at odd angles and collapsing before Leonel one step at a time.

    The warriors on the other side could only watch on in horror as metal doors dozens of meters crumbled. Many of them had their Radix armors on, ready for battle, while another half had blazing tornados of fire around themselves. They had all been prepared to whittle Leonel down and in the case he made it so far, take him down. But, the ultimate result was completely out of their expectations. It hadn''t even been ten seconds since the warning blares begun, but he was already here.

    The glistening light of Leonel''s silver armor sparkled beneath the falling shards of metal. Even amidst all the destruction, he remained the center of attention.

    As the last of the vault doors collapsed, Leonel took another step forward, the might of his Spatial Domain suddenly becoming exceedingly heavy. If they had experienced a light pressure before, they were now feeling the full brunt even to the point they found it difficult even to lift up their arms.

    ''Four Seasons Realm.''

    A violent pillar of Universal Force shot down from the skies, crashing down to Leonel in waves. It spun about, fusing with Leonel''s King''s Might and causing the warriors before him to tremble in fear.

    ''Summer. Radiant Core.''

    A delicate orb of silver-red appeared above Leonel. The oppressive heat shrouded the large opening, causing even the metallic walls to begin to slowly melt.

    ''Fall. A Slow Death.''

    In the surroundings, gently falling Fall leaves formed, dancing about in the wind. They seemed to be formed of delicately sculpted flames, and yet they looked so real and tangible at the same time. Some were a pale gold color, others were a deep red, and the remainder were pale silver.

    ''Winter. Withering Snowfall.''

    The skies darkened as ash began to fall from the clouds above. Upon closer inspection, this ash seemed to be snowбн But it reverberated with the deep scent of death. The gray flakes filled all those who saw it with fear, making one believe that their very lives were withering right before them.

    ''Springбн Golden Drops.''

    A dichotomy of grey and gold began to play. One was the slow falling clouds of ash, while the other was the much heavier droplets of golden rain. They pelted against the ground, balancing slow and fast, bright and darkбн death and life.

    It was the perfect Duality.

    SHUU!

    Leonel vanished.

 Chapter 1060 Alone..

    Chapter 1060 Alone..

    The warriors immediately understood what they were seeing. There were a few of them who had mastered one or two facets of the Four Seasons Realm. But, a Complete Cycle was something rarely seen. It was enough to make them stunned for just a moment.

    It had to be remembered that just because many people of Earth had grasped the full cycle, including Old Man Hutch, Arnold and Noah, to others, even in Sixth Dimensional worlds, they may very well go their entire lives without meeting even one such person.

    However, that was all it was: rare. It wasn''t enough for them to feel fear, or at least, it shouldn''t be. The Four Seasons Realm was good for helping someone of the Fourth Dimension to cross the barrier and challenge those of the Fifth. But, after stepping into the Fifth Dimension, it should have become less useful than true Fifth Dimensional Force. Soбн

    Why the hell was it that this Four Seasons Realm seemed to be so powerful!?

    Before they could even get their answer, Leonel had appeared before the first Radix family member. He was a man of Tier 6 and an individual greatly confident in his strength. If not for this, he wouldn''t dare to stand at the vanguard and hold his ground.

    He reacted quickly to Leonel''s arrival, swinging a chainsaw arm down toward Leonel. Though his confidence had waned somewhat, it wasn''t enough to erase decades of training. There was simply no way that he would freeze up in such a critical situation.

    Unfortunatelyбн

    Leonel''s Radiant Core appeared before the swinging chainsaw. A strong repulsion force suddenly formed, powerful electromagnetic forces bombarding against the assault until it found itself completely unable to move forward. At the same time, the heat was so overwhelming that the warrior felt as though his own mech suit had become an oven, his components melting all around him.

    He was stunned into silence.

    ''Howбн How could it be so hotбн''

    These were the last thoughts he had before Leonel''s spear ran through the back of his head. Before he had even fallen, Leonel had shot away, a path of gold appearing beneath his feet.

    Everywhere Leonel appeared, his Radiant Core would lead his vanguard. Its abilities seemed to practically be untouchable.

    Its repulsion forces were exceedingly strong, the heat it gave off was even stronger, but its hidden danger was even more devastating than any of this. It wasn''t just Fire Force, it seemed to carry the effects of radiation. When it wasn''t touching you, its existence was oppressive enough. However, the moment it did touch you, it felt like you would crumble long before you even began to melt.

    This was the power of Radiant Fire Force. It was as though Leonel had the power of a nuke at the beck and call of his blade. One could only imagine what would happen if he ever allowed it to explodeбн

    The roars of the Midas family members billowed forth. The massacre of the Radix was so completely one sided that they realized it was impossible to stay idle any longer and many charged forth completely disregarding the consequences.

    However, Leonel''s movements didn''t slow in the slightest. ?

    Everywhere he appeared, he effectively cut off the charge of the Midas. It was clear that they hadn''t been able to get into proper formation before Leonel appeared or else they wouldn''t have been so helpless.

    The Radix fell one after another, Leonel''s clever footsteps using their half collapsed corpses like shields as he shot through the battlefield.

    At that moment, a Tier 7 existence of the Midas furiously roared. It was clear that the Radix relied too much on their suits of armor to fight Leonel. The combination of Leonel''s Fire affinity and Variant Earth affinity was too much for them to handle. If they wanted to even out this battle again, they would have to be far cruder.

    Without regard for his comrades, the Midas warrior burst through, knocking several members of the Radix completely out of the way.

    He made a straight line for Leonel, his body billowing with flames and sulfur. There was something decidedly murderous about his eyes and there was an explosiveness beneath his muscles that caused the layered space around Leonel to crack and crumble.

    But it was exactly then that the most horrible sight the Midas and Radix had seen since this war began occurred.

    A light breeze passed by, causing a gentle fall of ash to press against the cyclone of flames around the warrior''s body. It seemed for a moment that he would just be able to shrug them off, but the reality was completely out of his expectation.

    Just the delicate petals of ash seemed to suffocate the flames like a blanket. By the warrior''s third step, his skin of fire had vanished, leaving him completely exposed and allowing his face of shock to be clear for the world to see.

    However, before he could react to just what had happened, a droplet of gold fell onto his skin.

    The warrior was shocked by the heaviness, but other than this, there wasn''t anything special about it. His body was far too powerful to worry about such a small, meaningless attack. Even though it left holes in the metal, he was far sturdier than that.

    But then a second fellбн Then a thirdбн Then a fourth.

    Very quickly, it became obvious that the golden droplets weren''t harming him, but were rather spreading along his skin. The man was slowly becoming a golden sculpture and his movements became more languid and labored.

    His every step became heavy and his knees buckled beneath his weight. His jaw popped with veins as he stretch for Leonel, but it was all meaningless as the last droplet fell, covering his face completely.

    At that moment, the fluttering Fall leaves fell upon the man''s body. Soon, he became like a collage of tree leaves, covered by an assortment of pale colors.

    Others rushed to try to save the man, but reality was cruel.

    The moment a second Midas touched him, the man crumbled, his body falling into a pile of ash.

    The beautiful Fall leaves fluttered away, painting a gorgeous scenery. No one could ever guess the horror hidden within them just from this image aloneбн

 Chapter 1061 Strongest Attack

    Chapter 1061 Strongest Attack

    The Radix and the Midas were shocked to the point of not knowing how to react. Wasn''t Universal Cycle comprehension supposed to be supplementary? It could form all of these pretty pictures and sights, but ultimately they would just be that. The true lethality of it all should have been hidden within the fists, weapon or Element of the person using it.

    However, completely out of their expectations, Leonel''s Four Seasons Realm actually had attacking potential all of its own. The worst part was that Leonel had made them think that it was completely harmless by making it so that none of them were attacked previously, all so that he could completely catch them off guard when it was far too late.

    The worst about this was that aside from some loss of focus, none of the strength of these abilities rested on Leonel''s shoulder. Because they were manifested by Universal Force, Leonel''s stamina was practically untouched.

    With the strength of his mind, how could he not sustain the images and artistic conceptions of a Realm that even Fourth Dimensional existences were capable of using? And now that the cat was out of the bagбн

    He had no need to hold back any longer.

    BANG!

    It felt as though the skies had opened up. The snowfall of ash, the rain of gold, the fluttering of leaves, it all came together to paint a gorgeous but deathly picture.

    In the center of it all, Leonel became like a reaper, the lantern of which was none other than his Radiant Core. Everywhere it went, it repelled attacks, burnt the ground to a crisp, and unleashed waves of violent radiation that made one''s skin curdle and boil.

    The results were absolutely horrific. The synergy between Leonel''s Spatial Domain and his Four Seasons Realm turned the Radix-Midas Fortress into a Disaster World of its own.

    Withering Snowfall made it almost impossible for anyone other than Leonel himself to gather and use Force. Golden Drops turned poor, unsuspecting, otherwise valiant warriors into gold statues that froze the horror on their faces. And, finally, A Slow Death whistled by their ears, crumbling what remained of them to ash and leaving absolutely nothing for them to be remembered by.

    ''Seven secondsбн''

    Leonel''s body was like a fluttering wind, calculating every angle of the battlefield, every line of sight, and every powerful strike. It looked to an outside observer like he was battling hundreds of warriors all alone, but the cleverness of his steps made it so that only at most four at a time could even dream of aiming for him. At the same time, the various stacking effects of his area control skills made it almost impossible for these four to gain any sort of support.

    Leonel''s toes lightly tapped against the ground, the halo above his head vibrating slightly as he vanished.

    When he reappeared again, he stood in an inconspicuous location, the winds around him growing violent to the point they could be scene with the naked eye.

    Leonel rose his spear in the air, surges of Force brightening around him. Tangible Spear Force that somehow appeared to be both real and unreal manifested, tornadoing around Leonel like numerous blade arms.

    Right at that moment, the reinforments surged into the loading region.

    The truth about this location was that it was where the Radix and Midas brought in all their supplies. It was a region designed for heavy machinery to be moved around constantly as the Fort was reinforced and strengthened. It was clear that this place wasn''t quite designed for battle, but it wasn''t vulnerable to it either. Though enemies were never meant to make it past the second gate, that didn''t mean they weren''t ready for the worst case scenario.

    This was exactly why the design of the Radix was so clever. In this sort of large region, littered with heavy machinery to the sides and with walls blanketed with thick silvery metals, one would never expect to find the core of this Forts formations here either.

    The others had likely believed that Leonel would rush off to the core of the base, hurrying toward their decoy. They didn''t believe that anyone could deduce the true location of the formation even with time, let alone in the less than minute it had been since Leonel entered this place.

    Unfortunatelyбн reality was cruel.

    Dycon, who had just followed Dynmo in to watch as they forced Leonel toward a slow and agonizing death suddenly froze.

    "STOP HIM!"

    It was far too late for that.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s Radiant Core crashed toward the thick metal ground first. It hovered between the metal and Leonel''s spear, violent swirls of Spear Force suddenly beginning to spin around it faster and faster.

    It seemed on the surface that the most powerful ability of Leonel''s Radiant Core was its radiation. But, Leonel was of a vastly different opinion.

    When one thought of a planet, what was its most powerful force?

    Leonel didn''t feel comfortable taking Little Tolly out in such a large scale battle. He had already almost gotten his partner hurt being too reckless back on Planet Solara and he had no intention of making the same mistake again. So, he would just have to show these people his most powerful attack in this state.

    The Radiant Core took hold of Leonel''s Force, bending it into a violent orbit.

    It all happened in the blink of an eye. In one moment Leonel had pierced downward. In the next, a vortex of Force tore through the ground like a diamond drill bit, ripping the thick metal apart as though it was nothing more than thin sheets of paper.

    Leonel had hardly dug a meter deep before the radiation of the Radiant Core took hold, vaporizing the Force Art hidden below and causing the accumulating Force to disperse.

    With a light breath, Leonel retracted his spear, his back straight and a deep hole of black before him. The fortress quaked beneath his strike even as his silver armor glistened beneath the silver-red hues of his miniature star.

 Chapter 1062 Too...

    Chapter 1062 Too...

    For a moment, Leonel''s slow and deliberate breaths became the only sound in the loading lobby. That attack just now was simply too shocking. They all felt that if they entered even the general vicinity of it, they would have been torn to shreds. At this point, they could only be happy that the Radiant Core was only the size of a palm. If it was any larger and retained the ability to send Force, especially sharp Level Two Force, into a wild spin like thatбн There was no telling the kind of devastation that Leonel could cause.

    As for Dycon and the members of the Radix family, their level of shock was even beyond the Midas.

    If it was the other regions of the Fort, they might still be able to accept it. However, beneath the thick metal flooring, there was a highly compressed Fifth Dimensional metal, processed via a special technique. The result was a metal alloy only marginally weaker than true Sixth Dimensional metals.

    Though Dycon had roared out to stop Leonel, that was only meant to be a diversion tactic. He had, in fact, wanted Leonel to go all out. In the worst case for Leonel, he would end up killing himself. Even in the best case, his weapon should have been shattered and he should have suffered some terrible backlash. By then, the battle would be over. Of course, in the latter case, Dycon had no idea just how many Quasi Silver spears Leonel had in his possession.

    However, the result was completely unlike anything Dycon had guessed and he couldn''t wrap his head around why. Even though that attack was powerful, it shouldn''t be Sixth Dimension powerful. Just what was going on?

    ''Earth affinityбн?''

    Dycon was formulating a thought in his mind but, unfortunately for him, he wouldn''t have the breathing room to finish it.

    Leonel took one final breath, his wrist turning slightly. A whirring sound manifested as the Radiant Core moved about his spear tip. Every time it shifted, a heat wave would spread and the smell of danger would linger in the air.

    "Good. Now I can end this." Leonel said slightly.

    Dycon''s facial expression twisted. The blatant disregard it took to send just a single person after another entire Fort was already infuriating enough, but Leonel''s remarks were even more unbearable.

    Before Dycon could do anything, though, Dynmo shot forward like a raging T-rex. The clanging chains around his wrists and ankles had still yet to be removed. In fact, his feet were followed by bounding steel balls the size of his head, leaving deep craters in the metal ground as he rushed forward.

    In the blink of an eye, Dynmo had closed the distance and kicked out toward Leonel. The wind shattered and whistled beneath his might, the ball of steel following the arc of his kick. It was clear that he was completely enraged and recognized Leonel. While others were analyzing the situation, he didn''t care to.

    Leonel watched on indifferently, his hand slowly reaching out.

    ''[Valiant Seal].''

    Four sturdy pillars of metal rose out from the ground. In fact, the root of these pillars were the very same near Sixth Dimensional metals Dycon had been so confident in. From the moment Leonel had drilled through it, he had already begun to take control. By the time Dynmo attacked, he had already been circulating the Force Art for Valiant Seal for several seconds already. And, by the time the attack landedбн

    BANG!

    ''I seeбн''

    Leonel observed without a word as Dynmo''s attack sent a few ripples through the sheet of dense Spatial Force. He seemed to have realized something at that moment.

    This was, indeed, a Space-Earth Dual Elemental Force Art. Leonel had leaned in far too much on the Spatial Element as it was the most prominent feature of the technique, but the truth was that both Elements were equally important, only then could the Artistic Conception be the most powerful.

    Until now, mostly due to circumstance, Leonel was always conjuring his [Valiant Seal] in the air and some times he wouldn''t even use the Earth Element at all. It was only this moment when Leonel finally properly infused the pillars into the ground as they were meant to be used that he realized just how powerful this technique could truly be. In fact, even the stamina drain was far less.

    Leonel hadn''t cast [Valiant Seal] until just now despite how useful it was in large scale battles because he was worried about the fluctuations in space caused by the Fort''s Force Art. But now he realized that his [Valiant Seal] was the perfect counter to it right from the very beginning.

    Leonel took another light breath, his gaze freezing over once again. As he had already saidбн It was time to end this.

    бн

    It was a complete, one sided massacre. The combination of Leonel''s Valiant Seal and his Four Seasons Realm made his defenses near impenetrable while making his offense potent to an extreme.

    Even when the Radix and Midas managed to coordinate their attacks well enough, it was all useless. Leonel was practically immune to Fire while the mech suits of the Radix were too easily crushed by him one after another. By the time the armies realized that the only chance they had against Leonel was to use their abilities rather than relying on their Lineage Factors, their numbers had dwindled too greatly. To make matters worse, because they were now using abilities their allies weren''t used to, they hindered each other more than usual, ironically making it even easier for Leonel to pick them off one by one.

    The only expert above Tier 7 they had was Dycon himself. However, he soon realized first hand how foolish it was to try to entrap Leonel in a metal box.

    The entire fortress became Leonel''s weapon. He remained hidden within his [Valiant Seal], indifferently watching as he pestered Dycon to death. When the latter was at the end of his rope and prepared to take things to an extreme, he found an arrow right between his brows.

    ''бн Tooбн Powerfulбн''

    These were the last words he could say before his head imploded into a rain of blood and gore.

 Chapter 1063 Risks

    Chapter 1063 Risks

    Leonel took deep breaths, sweat falling down his brow. All around him, corpses lay, blood flowing along the reflective surface of the now distorted metal fort.

    Leonel could have never done such an outrageous thing if not for the golden scaled koi fish. Even if his strength was enough, his stamina wouldn''t be. Plus, with his three Vital Stars, his body''s innate fortitude was beyond anything his enemies could have ever imagined.

    With a single more deep breath, Leonel''s breathing slowed, steam slowly billowing out from the layers of his armor.

    ''There''s more than a few who''ve escapedбн''

    Leonel looked off into the distance and through the two now collapsed gates. He wasn''t a fool, he knew that there''d be some stragglers. But, just because he didn''t usually spread out his Internal Sight several hundred kilometers for the sake of conserving his stamina, that didn''t mean he couldn''t do so. He was confident in dealing with those individuals very quickly.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel gaze shifted, landing on the body of Dynmo.

    ''He''s alive?''

    Dycon was most definitely dead. There was no way that anyone could survive having their head imploded like that. Well, maybe not nobody. At the very least, Heira somehow managed to survive having her chest destroyed. However, Dynmo himself seemed to have survived Leonel''s assault.

    With deliberate strides, Leonel made it to Dynmo''s side and looked him up and down.

    Truthfully, Leonel was very interested in completing the Silver Empire''s legacy, but not for himself. Leonel wasn''t entirely sure what the complete inheritance was. However, logically speaking, it should be very powerful. Though, there was a chance it could be mediocre as well.

    It had to be remembered that the Silver Empire, at its peak, controlled several Sectors all to its own. It was a powerhouse of epic proportions and though Leonel hadn''t asked the dictionary about it just yet, not having really had the time to focus on miscellaneous things, Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if this Silver Empire rivaled or even surpassed the Morales family in the past.

    Logically, then, a Variant Zone triggered by the coming crossroads of such an Empire would be life changing. After all, Variant Zones were depictions of a possible future and appeared when an Empire or world had to make a decision that would decide its future life and death.

    Functionally, Variant Zones were the safest Zones to enter. After all, they had to facilitate the hope of their generations. Why would it be made purposely difficult?

    So what was the problem then?

    Well the main issue is the fact that the Zone landed in the hands of the Florer, Radix and Midas families to begin with. A Variant Zone''s ease extended to the ability for its people to find it as well. It could be said that if Aina''s luck wasn;t extremely good, she as an outsider would have never had a chance at the Zone of Terrain''s people.

    This made it obvious that the Zone manipulation of the Silver Empire had led to all sorts of odd downstream effects. In that case, who was to say that the Zone''s rewards were as powerful as they should be? The only way for Leonel to find out would be to combine them into their true form and observe the outcome.

    If, at the same time, Leonel could get the helpers he would need for the Morales family''s Heir Wars, then that would be a major plus. Whether or not he could actually do such a thing, though, was still up in the air.

    With the state of things, there was no way for Leonel to trust these people in battle. In addition, even getting them to fight for him would become a tall hill to climb. After all, what was he supposed to say: "Sure, I massacred your people, but clearly you attacked first?"

    That might sound logical, but when you were dealing with the emotions of others, things were rarely if ever so clear cut.

    Still, Leonel had already begun to way his decisions on a basis of risk versus reward. He was likely far behind those other Heirs, whether it was in development, connections or starting point, he was severely lacking. If he didn''t take risks, it would be nothing more than a dream to compete against them. In addition, on that stage, he would no longer have the advantage of talent and bloodline that he had been mostly relying on to this point as well.

    If Leonel learned anything from Kira, it was that comparing the talents of his corner of the Dimensional Verse to the true grand stage of Humanity''s Domain was nothing short of foolish. Leonel had just defeated an entire army of existences between the Tier 4 to Tier 7 just now. If he tried to do the same to an army of comparable Dimensional level from the Morales family, he wouldn''t have even made it through the gate.

    Of course, if Leonel knew that he was also the youngest of the Morales family''s seven Heirs, he would only be able to smile bitterly.

    Leonel shook his head, unconsciously looking down toward his right hip. Had his Innate Node not been taken, it would have been able to grow with him. Instead, because he rashly tried to form a Tenth Node out of it, it grew out of his control and now he couldn''t even use his own strength. Even after entering the Fifth Dimension, Leonel wasn''t sure how long it would take for his own power to truly be his own power again.

    His gaze flashed with killing intent, his pale violet irises flickering with a crimson light.

    Leonel retracted his hand, realizing he almost crushed Dynmo''s shoulder.

    With a single movement, Leonel tossed Dynmo into the snowglobe. He would deal with the future when it came. Right now, he couldn''t get ahead of himself. He couldn''t make Earth the center of his Kingdom if it was taken by others, now could he? First, he had to destroy these invaders.

 Chapter 1064 Crimson

    Chapter 1064 Crimson

    Leonel looked around the Fort. It was a good opportunity and a wealth of riches, however it was also troublesome as well. With how large and thick the walls of this place were, it would take even Little Tolly a few hours to work through all of it.

    ''No, I can''t leave things like this, what would be the point?''

    Wouldn''t it be too foolish if he cleared this placed of all its defenders, only to leave it and find more Radix and Midas had moved in? By then, it would be like he hadn''t done anything.

    Leonel didn''t have time to deploy a planetary Force Art like Planet Solara had had. As such, it was too easy to move in and out of the Planet''s range. If Leonel left things here like this, the results were too obvious.

    "Little Tolly, I''ll be back."

    Leonel tossed Little Tolly at the massive Fort and vanished. He still had a few Radix and Midas to hunt down.

    бн

    By the time Leonel came back, the Fort was raised to the ground, leaving nothing but a deep square down to the bedrock of the planet. Within this deep pit, large, perfectly spherical piles of metals lay. Just from these piles alone, there was over half a million kilograms of Urbe Ore.

    Leonel was speechless. Every single last ounce was Fifth Dimensional. Was this the wealth of a Sixth Dimensional world? This wasn''t even meant to be their main Fort. They originally wanted to claim on of the Lake Crossings. Just what kind of behemoth would they have built over there.

    At this moment, Leonel could only feel inadequate.

    ''My bounty was only 10 000 kilograms? Am I just a petty criminal? What the hell is this?''

    Compared to the piles of Urbe Ore, the rest was practically worthless to Leonel. It suddenly forced him to realize that he was much too poor. If a mid-level Sixth Dimensional world was this wealthy, what about peak Sixth Dimensional ones? Seventh Dimensional ones? Peak Seventh Dimensional ones like the Morales family?

    Leonel was truly speechless.

    He had been controlling Little Tolly from afar with his Internal Sight, but he didn''t truly register just how much there was until right this very moment. And, despite all of thatбн

    Leonel felt that it was completely useless.

    He could probably by a whole planet with this amount of money in the Milky Way, but what was the point? It took this moment for Leonel to realize just how small his scope on things was.

    He was scratching and clawing for wealth in this tiny little corner of the universe while there were real whales out there laughing at his efforts. Even his own grandfather was probably laughing at him. He didn''t even have to lift a finger to make thousands of times what Leonel had to lay his life on the line to get.

    Why did he waste his time going for these small fry, then? He was worrying about the wrong things. Noбн it wasn''t that he was worrying about the wrong things, it was rather that he needed to work smarter, not harder. He was wasting his efforts and had to target the appropriate things. What good was it to build a shop on Earth so he could accept the patronage of people even poorer than himself? It was a waste of time.

    ''Noted.'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Leonel took the pillars of the near Sixth Dimensional metal and placed them within a spatial ring. Then, he stored the Urbe Ore away before sweeping a gaze over the remaining metals.

    Unsurprisingly, they were all related to defense whether that was Force absorption, shock absorption, or just overall sturdiness. They would be greatly helpful in upgrading the cubes, but Leonel had a feeling that the next wave of battles wouldn''t be occurring on EarthX1.

    Leonel sent his senses toward the Silver Tablet. He didn''t want to do this, but he knew that he would have to. His current strength wasn''t enough and if he wanted to use his trump cards, he had no choice. Before, he hadn''t had enough resources to do it. But, after lootingбн exchanging his merit points at the Eight Eye Branch, he had reached his quota.

    It was time to push his Metal Body up to Tier 9.

    Though it would make his subsequent uses of the Silver Tablet cost more energy, Leonel had once against decided that the trade off was worth it.

    Not only this, but he would also have to use the Silver Tablet for one more thing. Once that was complete, the rest would be left up to fateбн Not that Leonel had any intention of relying on such an enigmatic thing.

    "Little Koi Fish, it''s time to work."

    **

    The battles across EarthX1 began to end one after another. The shock of Earth''s sudden and aggressive counterattack left the invaders stunned. They had never expected that Earth would choose to do this despite having the clear defensive advantage. Their aggressiveness was outside the calculations of even the Radix, let alone the others.

    But, this was only the tip of the iceberg. Each assault unit was seemingly equipped with perfect counters to them all.

    The Umbra suddenly found that it was difficult to call upon Dark Elemental Force. The Rain suddenly found that the weather itself was fighting against the formation of their clouds. The Crars was steam rolled, the number of machinery overwhelming their great population leaving them without a choice but to surrender or be massacredбн

    Each experienced a fate worst than the lastбн

    бн

    Reports of what was happening on EarthX1 returned to the approaching fleet of invaders as they cut across the stars. But, it only served to accentuate the counterattack of those on EarthX2 as well, those invaders experiencing a story that was all too familiar.

    Fury bubbled forth as the fleet traveled through the depths of space, hearing the cries of their fellow clansmen ringing in their ears.

    Their blood boiled. They wanted nothing more than to see Earth dyed crimson.

 Chapter 1065 Snowy Star Order

    Chapter 1065 Snowy Star Order

    The Three Pillar Galaxy had entered a state of simmering. It felt as though they were all being slow cooked in a large pot, their anxious emotions and feelings being squeezed out one step after another all to be infused into a flavor packed soup.

    The odd turn of events had resulted in a situation where the volatile undercurrents of the orbiting three planets had been calmed considerably. From one moment, it seemed like two powerhouses would erupt into a state of war. But in the next, each was suddenly on their best behavior, none of them daring to do anything to enrage the guests.

    бн

    At that moment, the Luxnix family was welcoming these very guests. All signs of battle and the several corpses that had littered the property previously had long since been cleared away.

    Beneath the sunlight, the family estate radiated a pure beauty that was difficult to match. Even the grass by the roadsides radiated a subtle golden color as motes of light hovered about the air. Light Force was condensed and plucked by hidden formations in a perpetual cycle. Not only did it take concepts of Solar energy to an absolute extreme, it painted a gorgeous picture that was difficult for one to take their eyes off of.

    The clean air smelt like one was standing by a pure stream, the neutral, but intoxicating scent sunk into the bones and made one feel like you were walking on clouds. Every single little detail was refined to an extreme and perfectly curated for the guests.

    The Gates of the Luxnix were opened wide and several elders stood as one. Each wore white robes that seemed to have been interlaced with silver strands of silk fabric. The combination made it so that depending on the angle the sun touched down, they would either sparkle and shimmer, or radiate a gentle light.

    No matter where you looked, the elders either had snow white or beautiful, bright gold hair. There was simply no in between and not a single one of them didn''t exude an aura that could be summed up in just a single word: Pristine.

    At the helm of these elders, the current Head of the Luxnix stood.

    He was a middle-aged man with a charming smile and sharp brows. He was tall, but his figure was slim. He had a sharp jaw and nose, but gentle golden eyes. On his lapel, the mark of the Twelve Pointed Star rested. It was a subtle piece of jewellery that touched the aspects of the wealthy the nouveau riche couldn''t hope to match.

    This man was known as Seith Luxnix, a talent who had garnered great respect during his generation and a man whose genius still shone forth to this day. Despite his relatively young age, he had already stepped into Tier 7 of the Sixth Dimension.

    The higher ones Dimension, the more exaggerated these small steps would become. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that the gap between Tier 6 and Tier 7, a large watershed between the Middle and Higher rankings of the Sixth Dimension, felt like a Dimensional Divide all to its own.

    Still, though Seith stood at the helm this day, he was nothing more than a figurehead. Standing by the gate in an inconspicuous manner, a group of five older individuals with hair of pristine white stood. In fact, their presence was hard to detect and it was almost easy to forget their existence the moment you looked away, but they were most definitely there.

    These were individuals of the highest authority within the Luxnix family, a council that Seith would retire to when his time came. They were known as the Snowy Star Order.

    It might seem odd that these older individuals would stand to Seith''s back in such a situation as it might feel customary that the old would take the forward charge. But, the truth of the matter was that this was the Luxnix''s family''s way of saving face.

    This wasn''t the first time they had gone through such a thing. In fact, it was only a few decades ago that these individuals had come to their Sector for the very same purpose.

    The truth was that the individuals coming today could only be considered the younger generation of said organization. It was inappropriate for them as elders to be the forefront of the greeting, but they also wanted to ensure that nothing went wrong either.

    Considering what had happened last time, they refused to allow trouble to rear its ugly head again. This time, they would keep a tight rein on everything even if they had to lurk in the corner.

    Right then, space trembled. It was just a slight fluctuation, but it was already enough for the elders to sharpen their gazes.

    "They''re here."

    The one who spoke was an older man with a rounded back. His stature seemed quite off because despite the shape of his back, his neck seemed to be quite straight itself. It made it look like there was something hidden beneath his robes rather than his posture actually being so poor.

    He was known as the Winged Star Order. Upon entering the Snowy Star Order, elders were granted their title. It was a reminder that their own identities no longer mattered and their first and foremost duty was now to the family.

    Despite the Winged Star Order hardly holding his voice back, it seemed that the only ones who actually heard him were the few by his side.

    On cue, the space cracked and began to spin. A whirling portal of black and deep violets appeared. If a true Spatial Master had been present, they would have watched on in awe. Though it seemed simple enough, this was a true feat of long distance teleportation.

    "I wonder who they will send this timeбн"

    The woman who spoke was known as the Sparking Star Order and had a red, flickering flame on her forehead as though to remind others of this.

    Despite the innocence of her question, the atmosphere between the Snowy Star Order elders grew heavy immediatelyбн. It was clear that the answer to this question was of the utmost importance. Maybe the answer would be the most important thing to happen to the Luxnix since the last time this organization appeared.

    [More chapters coming. I''m late so I thought I''d at least upload them as I finish them so that you guys have something to read]

 Chapter 1066 Quadrant Ranked

    Chapter 1066 Quadrant Ranked

    Light steps were heard from the other side of the whirling portal before two legs stepped out. Beneath the gazes of Seith and the rest of the Luxnix, two young men appeared. Both didn''t seem to be any older than 21 or 22 years old, and yet their aura rolled out in waves, completely suppressing whatever momentum Seith and the others had had.

    Despite sharing the same age, the two young men couldn''t have been more different in stature and looks.

    The left young man had deep, dark skin and eyes that seemed to dance between black and brown depending on how the sun hit him. He was extraordinarily skinny, but was well dressed for his body type. His robes had several layers that would have reminded one of a formal, three piece suit, but there was a distinct martial arts touch to it that made it clear he wouldn''t have any issues fighting with it on.

    The only real oddity about this young man was that he had a pair of golden balls strapped to his waist, but even as he moved they didn''t seemed sway or shift. It led to an odd cognitive dissonance that made one''s brow furrow and one''s head spin if you gazed at them for too long.

    The young man on the right was as pale as a sheet of paper. Compared to his well groomed counterpart, his hair was an absolute mess and his robes, though clearly meant to be a uniform they both shared, looked nothing like it was supposed to.

    His robes split to reveal his bony chest, one of his sleeves swinging in the wind completely empty as he rested the arm that was meant to be within it upon his cloth belt. His gaze was like a deep blackness as his irises seemed a size too large for a normal person. In fact, so were his pupils. It was hard to tell if he just had odd genes, or if the truth of the matter was that he had snorted someбн less than savory substances before coming here.

    Still, despite the completely unserious appearance of this young man, the massive wooden box attached to his back would make one withhold their judgements. That was especially so after you noticed the wrapped handle coming out of the top of it. It was doubtful that anyone would want to be on the other side of whatever weapon was hidden within.

    Seeing these two young men, Seith smiled. He had already been well prepared to deal with the pressure these youths exuded. Without appropriate strength, surviving such long distance travel would get you killed. So, he didn''t feel like these youths were trying to show off. If they hadn''t released their strength, they would have ended up shredded to pieces.

    But, the fact the two looked so relaxed made Seith take them with one to two points more seriousness. These were clearly not normal youths, but how could they be if they were from that place?

    "Greeting. I am the current Patriarch of the Luxnix family. We welcome you to our humble estate.

    The pale skinned youth looked around somewhat blankly before shaking his head.

    "Damned bullshit wormhole. I can''t hear shitбн"

    The dark skinned youth looked over toward his partner and shook his head.

    "Hello. You can call me Orinik. This is my partner for the time we''ll be here, Ganor." Orinik pointed toward the pale skinned youth, seemingly used to his nonsense by now.

    In truth, Orinik''s hearing wasn''t very good right now either, but with their translation treasures, the meaning of Seith was transmitted right to their minds. Clearly Ganor was making something out of nothing like he mostly always did. Probably trying to extort people for some money again.

    While Seith and the non-Order elders exchanged pleasantries with the two youths and invited them in, the atmosphere around the five Star Order elders grew heavier.

    "бн Those robes. They''re not Domain Ranked students."

    "Domain Ranked? They aren''t even Galaxy Ranked. They sent Quadrant Ranked disciples here to us. Are they looking down on my Luxnix family?!"

    Sparking Star Order gripped her bulbous wooden cane, the sturdy stone beneath her cracking.

    "Remain calm. Quadrant Ranked disciples aren''t like our people. If you make too much of a commotion, we will be noticed."

    A calm voice came from another female Order elder, this one known as the Fluttering Star Order. She seemed to be the only one watching these proceedings without much of a reaction.

    "Don''t speak to me like I''m a child, Fluttering Star Order. We''ve given them a Sector Ranked disciple and informed them ahead of time that we have yet another Sector Ranked disciple ready to be examined by them, yet they send two Quadrant Ranked trash?!"

    Even those who had agreed with Sparking Star Order initially couldn''t accept her words right this moment. To call any student of that organization trash was liable to get your entire family destroyed. Sparking Star Order had allowed one generation of success to get to her head, they were nothing like those families who produced Domain Ranked disciples every generation.

    On top of that, Orinik and Ganor was exceptionally young. Who was to say that they''d remain as Quadrant Ranked disciples?

    This was like a lifelong peasant raising a single millionaire son, then pointing fingers at other self-made millionaires to call them trash. It was ridiculous.

    "We produced a Sector Ranked disciple?" Fluttering Star Order asked lightly. "Why is it that I remember you all doing everything in your power to push her away? And now you want to claim her as your own? And isn''t that second Sector Ranked disciple something you tried to artificially create by stealing something that wasn''t yours? Does that flame on your forehead also help to thicken your skin?"

    "You had better watch your mouth when you talk to me, Fluttering Star Order."

    Sparking Star Order immediately became frighteningly calm, but the fire on her forehead told a different tale.

    Fluttering Star Order looked toward the elders around herself, seeing all of the stern warnings in their gazes. Shaking her head, she turned around and left.

 Chapter 1067 Parameters

    Chapter 1067 Parameters

    Nominal student. Quadrant Ranked. Galaxy Ranked. Sector Ranked. Domain Ranked.

    These were the five ranks of disciples for this so-called mysterious organization. It seemed then, that maybe Sparking Star Order''s fury might be warranted. But, in practice, it was a ridiculous inflation of her family''s worth.

    To put the idea of a sending over a Domain Ranked disciple into its proper ridiculous frame, one had to understand that there was likely not a single Domain Ranked disciple that wasn''t well on their way to the peak of the Seventh Dimension.

    Why would this organization spend the resources that would be necessary to send someone down the Dimensional chain for a single Sixth Dimensional family that had currently only produced a single Sector Ranked disciple?

    The main issue here was that the Luxnix family were too lower on the totem pole. They knew enough to be aware of these rankings, but they didn''t know enough to truly understand what they represented. It was rare enough for a family like theirs to gain a Nominal student position. In fact, in their history, they had never produced even a single Quadrant Ranked student before she came along.

    Due to lacking a proper understanding of the overall picture and what their true worth was, let alone Sparking Star Order, even the other three Order elders were a bit disappointed by the outcome. They thought that now that they had proven that the could produce worthy disciples, that they would gain the respect that came with that.

    Unfortunately, expectation was the root of disappointment.

    бн

    The four elders watched as Fluttering Star Order walked away, each displaying different emotions. Some had a complicated look while those like Sparking Star Order watched on coldly. This latter group included Winged Star Order who had watched on from the very beginning as the two fought.

    "She should have been kicked from the Star Order along with the other one years ago." Sparking Star Order said coolly. "This kind of dissent can''t be allowed. There is nothing more important than the face of the family. Anyone that puts anything above our best interests has no right to sit on this council."

    The other Order elders remained silent, some had expressions that agreed, but others remained on the fence. In the end, one finally spoke up, an older man by the title of Resting Star Order.

    "This isn''t the time for this. We can consider such a motion after our youths have been selected. If that woman chooses to make a commotion now, it will mean trouble for us all. Let this matter rest."

    Sparking Star Order didn''t say anything to this. She simply raised her cane and tapped, a flurry of butterfly shaped flames swarming around her feet. By the time they vanished, she too had vanished. In fact, so had the elders as wellбн

    бн

    In the Viola estate, a similar situation was occurring. Well, similar in that they were likewise greeting guests, but their level of entitlement was several levels beneath that of the Luxnix as they had never produced a disciple above the Nominal Rank. In fact, they would be very much ecstatic if they could produce another one. They didn''t even care to check what the rank of the disciples that had come were, it wasn''t even at the forefront of their minds.

    The Viola family wined and dined their two guests, giving them the living of Kings.

    Though these two young men had come from families far stronger than the Viola family, the truth was that training in that organization year in and year out was a living hell. The fact that they could come here to relax was a true blessing, so they took great advantage.

    As the day waned and the banquet began to taper down, the Viola finally couldn''t hold it in anymore and asked the questions that had been burning in their gut for so long. However, the response they got was completely out of their expectations.

    A large youth with a belly to match his stature scratched his head awkwardly and let alone a laugh.

    "I won''t lie to you all, we truly do not know the parameters of this cycle''s competition. In fact, our overseer didn''t really give us a timeline either. We''re as blind as you all are about all of this."

    The large young man looked toward his partner. They knew well how this looked. These families would probably think that they were milking them for greater benefits. But the truth was that they really were in the dark. They didn''t know much of anything.

    "What we can tell you is that this year will likely be different from the last. There will be more opportunities and the restrictions will be laxed. Though it will be just as difficult to gain a disciple position, we will be allowing more people the chance to try. So long as you have the ability, you can come forward."

    The large young man spoke candidly, but his partner really wanted to smack him in the back of the head right now.

    All these families would hear from those words were: "Yes, we''re going to accept all your great service, but it won''t really matter how well you treat us because everyone will get a chance anyway."

    This na?ve bloke thought he was being nice by offering this information, but the reality was that this was probably the last thing the Viola family wanted to here.

    As expected, though Rychard''s face remained plastered with an amiable smile, inwardly he was seething. This wasn''t actually because of the waste of resources, after all it might still help in a close decision. Rather, he wanted to use this opportunity to manipulate Aina. Not just anyone could get a spot to participate in the past. In fact, even their family would usually only get a handful of spots.

    Simply put, Aina wouldn''t even be able to try out without him.

    ''Wait, this is something only those here are aware of, and this is clearly insider information. Why would I have to tell her this at all?''

    Rychard''s smile became more relaxed and genuine. That was right, everything was still within the palm of his hand. Once he clinched this Nominal disciple spot, there would be no one capable of stopping him from becoming the true Heir. And as for Aina, just because she got a spot to participate, that didn''t mean she had to succeed, right...?

 Chapter 1068 Third Best Option

    Chapter 1068 Third Best Option

    Miel sat in silence.

    Adam Renier Brazinger.

    His meditation was disrupted, his mind spiraling down a well of memories. Every so often he would remember his true name and it would fill him with a rage that was difficult to temper down. Maybe the reason his visage was always so unmoved was precisely because he had gotten so used to burying this name and everything that came with it down into the depths of his soul.

    Realizing that his blood wouldn''t be calming down any time soon, Miel began to think about the problem at hand. Not only was he worried about his daughter who was making progress that was far too slow in comparison to his expectations, but there was also the issue of this mysterious organization.

    Aina seemed to be improving everyday, gaining more thing to add to her own ''moral'' code and slowly building up what could be considered to be a ''personality''. But the main issue was that it most definitely wasn''t herбн

    Miel had no idea who this ''Leonel'' character was until Yuri and Savahn explained to him that he was his daughter''s first boyfriend.

    In truth, Miel had a difficult time accepting this, as any father would. At the very least, he wanted his daughter''s first boyfriend to be vetted by him. How would she know what was or wasn''t a good man without him by her side? Wouldn''t she have to slowly test by herself in that case? Wouldn''t that result in her making a lot of mistakes?

    Miel had never really considered this possibility before, and maybe that was because he was too foolish. His daughter was human, after all. Who was he to tell her she couldn''t have feelings for another? Wasn''t it his fault to begin with that he had never been there?

    But this wasn''t even the main root of the problem any longer. Of course Miel felt lacking, but the root cause of his worries was that Aina seemed to be trying to build herself up as a second Leonel. She had hinged her whole world around this ''love'' she said she felt for this person and had begun to build up qualities she believed he had from the ground up.

    The problem then was obvious: Whatever the end result would be would never be his Aina.

    To state the obvious, Aina and Leonel were almost nothing alike.

    One hated to kill, the other was indifferent to it. One wanted to save the people of the world, while the other was only interested in bettering her own life and those she cared about. One was a slave to analytics and refused to rely on his own instincts, while the other was a battle maniac fully prepared to rely on whatever it took to make herself stronger. In fact, Aina''s entire ability was based around her instincts.

    It wasn''t so exaggerated that they were polar opposites, but there were definitely fundamental and foundational differences between them that could never be equated.

    Aina''s own self seemed to realize this as her progress forward was at a snail''s pace. It seemed that while she was rebuilding her personality, she was simultaneously going against everything that made her, her.

    Miel really didn''t know how to deal with this situation. The only way seemed to be to convince Aina that her love for Leonel wasn''t that important, but he couldn''t find it in himself to manipulate his daughter like that.

    The second best option seemed to be to have Aina meet Leonel again. At least that way, it might trigger something and act as a catalyst for the real Aina to awaken.

    But, not only was there no guarantee for this to work, it was also extremely risky. Who knows what this Leonel would say to his daughter if they ever met again? Aina seemed to repeat all the time that he hated her now, what if he said something in a rage that would send Aina spiraling down a dark path?

    The third option and the one of least risk while potentially being able to work would be to have Aina replace Leonel of her own accord. If she chose to replace Leonel, the foundation for her personality would no longer have to be his qualities and she would finally be able to follow her own path.

    This option was slightly different from the first option. Rather than convincing Aina that Leonel wasn''t important, it would be allowing her to move on. Leonel would still be an important memory to her, but he would shift just enough to the background that the true Aina could shine through.

    In truth, all of this made Miel greatly hesitant. He hadn''t wanted to interfere in his daughter''s awakening process, but he hadn''t expected this Leonel to be such a problem. It would have been easiest if he had sealed memories of him away before doing this, but by now Aina''s mind was too powerful for even Yuri to handle.

    ''бн If I allow things to continue on in this way, I''ll lose my daughter forever.''

    Miel closed his eyes. The risks weighed heavily on his heart but he knew that inaction was no longer an option. Aina would no longer be if he didn''t step in.

    That led Miel to the second problem: the mysterious organization.

    He knew well that it was already too late for him. That organization didn''t accept anyone beyond the Fifth Dimension as they had a specific method of molding Sixth Dimensional existences to groom powerhouses. However, this was an opportunity he wanted for Aina, not himself.

    The trouble was that even a spot to participate in a selection was hard to come by, giving this spot over to a Vassal, especially one that only had a single generation to offer for now, would be a hard pill for the Viola family to swallow.

    That saidбн It seemed that his first and second problem had the same solution, did they not?

    ''This plan will make me an enemy of the Viola family, but for the sake of my daughterбн''

    Miel''s gaze snapped opened, a cold light hidden within.

    He needed to use the Viola family, but he would never allow his daughter to exchange her innocence for something like this. Even if he had to massacre them to their last person after they had fulfilled their worth, he would do so.

    With a flip of his palm, Miel revealed a talisman. It glowed for a moment before a familiar voice spoke out on the other side.

 Chapter 1069 Both

    Chapter 1069 Both

    Deep within the Luxnix Estate, there was a calm river of flowing golden waters. Sometimes, it would appear to be a liquid and at other times it would appear to be a gas. It flowed unpredictably, even often rising into the air in defiance of gravity. And yet, it stayed along a controlled path, circulating in silence.

    Near the center of this ethereal garden was a middle-aged woman who was getting on in years. It seemed that it wouldn''t be very long before the term middle-aged no longer suited her. However, her features still radiated a calm beauty that touched the soul.

    Even though she didn''t have a smile on her face, her presence seemed to make all those around her feel relaxed and cheery, the gentleness of her golden gaze soothing the heart.

    She sat in a rocking chair carved of white wood. Every time she swung back and forth, a delicate fragrance that tickled the nose would be released. It smelt like the cross between a less invasive pine scent with a touch of cinnamon.

    At that moment, a shadow was suddenly cast over the older middle aged lady.

    Despite the sudden change, she looked up quite slowly, her pace still leisurely. As far as she was concerned, anyone who could sneak so far into the Luxnix Estate was an individual who was definitely supremely powerful. Reacting any more quickly than she was no would only give her whiplash in her old age and not be very helpful at all.

    However, when the older lady saw who it was that stood before her, she was dazed for a moment before her gentle eyes glistened with tears.

    "бн Alienor? You''ve returned?"

    Before the older woman was a beauty gorgeous beyond words. She had white gold hair that reached past the small of her back, shimmering emerald eyes that seemed capable of piercing through anything, and delicately sculpted features that appeared to have been formed by a master artisan. Nothing about her felt out of place, not even the alternating soft and hard armor she wore that clung to her curves.

    The patterns of white leather that looked like dragon scales and silver plate armor gave her the appearance of a valiant Empress that had just returned from the battlefield, and yet none of her enemies had dared to drop even the slightest hint of blood on her.

    "Mother."

    The voice of Alienor was just as sweet as one would expect. It matched the refreshing atmosphere of her mother with an incredible ease.

    The older woman''s gaze dimmed somewhat hearing her daughter''s short greeting before she sighed lightly, her gaze becoming somewhat vacant again.

    "It seems that it''s that time, again." She said lightly.

    "Yes." Alienor replied.

    "It''s good that they''ve allowed you to return. Their standards are too oppressive."

    "It''s the only way the Human Domain can remain safe."

    "I understand. I''ve already said too much." Alienor''s mother nodded as her chair continued to rock back and forth. She seemed to have returned to a state where nothing could affect her.

    "My Little Lion will be coming soon. I thought I would tell you."

    Upon hearing this, the older woman trembled beside herself, her wrinkled hand clasping down on her rocking chair''s arms. Maybe if it wasn''t for the hidden strength of this white wood, it would have already been shattered. It had definitely taken a great master to even carve it to begin with.

    "бн Is he doing well?"

    "I''m not sure. I didn''t get to raise him like I wanted to."

    The older woman''s face turned several shades paler, something that felt almost impossible given the fierceness of her earlier reaction.

    "бн I''m sorry. It''s all my faultбн"

    Alienor remained silent for a long while, staring down at her mother.

    "Even now, you''re apologizing for the wrong reasons. Rather than blaming those who should be blamed, you blamed yourself because if not for you, their reaction toward another one of their daughters marrying an outsider wouldn''t have been so fierce, when in reality, this family has never been so understanding to begin with."

    Alienor shook her head.

    The Luxnix family had a poor reaction to her choosing someone they hadn''t chosen, and that reaction was compounded by the fact her mother had likewise chosen someone they hadn''t chosen. In part to prove that there was nothing wrong with marrying outside expectations like this, her mother had gone out of her way to try to side with the family, trying to prove that just because a daughter married out, didn''t mean that she''d forget the wellbeing of the family that raised her.

    Of course, this was only part of the reason, but it was a part nonetheless.

    "I only hope that this time, you don''t allow foolish sentiments to stand in the way of things. I hear that my Little Lion has a temper even worse than mine and even my husband''s. I wouldn''t mind seeing this family lose its overinflated self of worth one peg at a time.

    "In the past, they saw it fit to bully my son because they thought themselves to be stronger and they thought their own purpose to be grander. They had no idea who my husband was, and even now they have no idea that if not for me, let alone their estate, even their entire galaxy may have been massacred down to its last person.

    "But if there is one thing I will thank you for mother, it is this opportunity for the Luxnix to experience what it truly feels like to be bullied. I wonder how they''ll be able to lay a hand on my son while I''m here?"

    Alienor looked up toward the sky, her expression seemingly blank but her irises painting a picture of a thousand words.

    "You will have another choice to make, mother. I hope that you don''t choose incorrectly, again."

    Alienor vanished, leaving her pale faced mother slowly rocking in her chair.

    Empress Fawkes slowly closed her eyes, her trembling taking several hours to come to a stop. They were both her family, but which family would she choose?

    **

    Back in the Milky Way, the tension of a situation countless light years away had nothing to do with them. Rather, they had their own tense atmospheres to deal with. And, these, rather than just being complex moral dilemmas, truly took on the weight of life and death.

    In the depths of space, several ships stood in a long chain. Upon one of these ships, exposed to the surrounding vacuum, was a silent Leonel.

    [Just one more chapter coming today]

 Chapter 1070 Piece by Piece

    Chapter 1070 Piece by Piece

    The sight of several hundred ships standing in a row in the depths of space was a sight to behold, indeed. However, the truth was that this was just a fa?ade. These weren''t true ships, they just appeared to be.

    These deep black platforms, each of which was capable of holding several dozen warriors comfortably, were actually just that: platforms. Leonel was cleverly keeping them in a defined path using the Forces in the region and a few hidden Force Arts that linked these platforms as one.

    Though these platforms couldn''t be considered to be real ships, they were still able to provide comparable safety and could also double as resting and medical centers.

    The choice here was obvious: They would hold this line. This battle would decide whether Earth could defend its Fold of Reality or not.

    Earth was definitely at a great disadvantage. Fighting in space was something that only Sixth Dimensional existences could do comfortably. However, Leonel had considered this as well and solved it using the third hidden ability of these hundreds of platforms.

    When linked together in this fashion, the platforms could refine and produce Force, creating an atmosphere that was somewhat like Space Lite. It wasn''t as comfortable as a planet, but it wasn''t as volatile as space itself.

    As a result of this, Leonel managed to turn a disadvantage of Earth into the opposite.

    Space normally didn''t have Force and if you were unlucky enough to run into pockets where Force did exist, they were normally extremely dangerous. By the time you noticed them, you would likely already be dead.

    Due to the nature of space, absorbing Force here was particularly dangerous, especially if the Force didn''t acknowledge you. So, where was the advantage?

    The advantage was in the fact that this was Earth''s Fold of Reality. This Force innately recognized them. However, it wouldn''t do the same for their enemies. Normally, it would just be difficult for invaders to absorb Force in a world that wasn''t their own. But now, it would be almost lethal.

    бн

    At the helm of the fleet of platforms, Leonel sat in silence, his feet dangling down into the vast expanse of space. The artificial gravity in the surroundings wasn''t as strong as it was on Earth or EarthX1, so he felt exceptionally light at the moment, his gaze looking off into the distance.

    Just a few years ago, Leonel would have never thought that he would have the chance to see the stars like this. Sitting far outside the solar system he had spent almost two decades of life in, gazing at moons and planets he had never even seen pictures of, let alone laid his own eyes uponбн It was a surreal feeling.

    For much of Leonel''s life, he had never really been ambitious. Nothing caught his attention enough for him to put his full effort toward it, and though he Respected everything he did and gave it all its due, there was always a tiny piece of him buried deep that never seemed to truly activate.

    But at this moment, staring off into the stars, seeing the vastness of the universe laid out before him as his people were being oppressed from all sides, he felt a dull throbbing within as though a deep recess of his soul was ready to be awakened.

    Space suddenly shook and shattered.

    Watching on in silence, Leonel didn''t even move as the ten kilometer long starship came into view, crashing through layers of space one after another.

    To Leonel''s back, eight young men appeared, all of them standing tall. One couldn''t truly grasp the horror of a starship, even a junior one, until you laid eyes on it personally.

    It felt like watching reality itself collapse as it tore a seemingly empty space to shreds. Space shattered and cracked like glass, miniature blackholes formed and collapsed, combustible star cores sparked as though they were nothing more than lit matches before they too crumbled.

    It looked as though the starship wasn''t moving at all, just standing in place. And yet the violent commotion around it painted a completely different picture as what looked like black lightning danced about it. And thenбн

    BANG!

    As though a pouncing beast, the ten kilometer long behemoth shattered the final layer, its body coming to a sudden and violent halt.

    Upon the helm of the junior starship, the five family Heads stood, the gaze of each one of them practically dripping with blood. However, when they saw Earth''s fleet ahead of them, these very same gazes couldn''t help but narrow.

    Though their one junior starship was far larger than any single ship Leonel had brought forward, the number of the latter was still great enough to surround them.

    At the forefront of it all, Leonel continued to sit, his feet hanging down to the endless abyss below. Even in their presence, he didn''t stand. It was as though he didn''t remember at all that he had brutally murdered Avarone''s younger brother.

    "Ram them through." Avarone spoke coldly, his expression hardly fluctuating.

    To these Heads, fools would be fools. Did the people of Earth really believe that just because they had brought their people out here that it would be enough? Since they were foolish enough to pool all their strength here, they would just crush them in the crudest way possible.

    However, just as the junior starship was gearing up to charge forward after losing its momentum breaking into this Fold of Reality, reality struck hard.

    Leonel continued to sit indifferently, watching as a wave of Force swept by.

    ''Your blueprintsбн I have them.''

    It looked like nothing more than a gentle breeze, but the moment it touched the exterior of the junior starship, it began to shut down. Its light flickered off, its accumulating energy dissipated, even it forward momentum entered a cruising state.

    To the horror of the five Heads, their junior starship became nothing more than a hunk of metal, stuck in the limbo of space.

    At that moment, the black platforms took action.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    One after another, dense chains shot toward the junior starship, each lancing through the exterior hull and locking the junior starship in place.

    Just below Leonel''s feet, another thick chain shot outward, this one piercing the very front-center of the starship.

    With a light hop, he landed on the heavy chain, his halo manifesting above his head and his silver armor beginning to appear piece by piece.

 Chapter 1071 Raised Blade

    Chapter 1071 Raised Blade

    Leonel took a light breath, his body relaxing and his heartbeat becoming smoother.

    Beneath the gaze of the warriors of Earth and the Heads of the Invaders, he walked forward with a slow and deliberate pace. A crackling of Force silently built around him as a spear appeared in his palm.

    Even beneath this artificial atmosphere, it was difficult for sound to travel very far. It made the heaviness of Leonel''s steps feel just that much more substantial as his King''s Might spread outward, an aura of undeniable superiority bearing down upon the junior starship.

    In the face of five Sixth Dimensional experts, Leonel didn''t flinch, he didn''t wait for them to come to him, he didn''t even show an ounce of hesitancy. These were his lands, his peopleбн Unless they could get past his blade, they could forget about stepping foot on Earth.

    The blood of those around Leonel boiled. He didn''t give an impassioned speech, he didn''t goad at their insecurities or pry into their dreamsбн Instead, he took the simplest and most direct form of action.

    Leonel had always believed in this truth. A King should be at the very front.

    When you felt weak, look toward his back. When you felt that the mountain ahead was too tall and the task was too difficult, look toward his back. When you were on your last legs, your lungs on fire, your limbs unresponsive, your energy drained to its final dropбн

    Look toward his back.

    "This weight on my shoulders is too light."

    Amid the silence, Leonel''s voice pierced through it all. It boomed amid the stars, seemingly causing them to twinkle in response.

    In that moment, a cube appeared above Leonel''s head as his foot rose and fell. Its jigsaw pieces were all attached by a dully glowing lighting, making it look quite enigmatic as it hung there in their silence, an ominous feeling being exuded from it.

    When Leonel''s foot touched upon the chains once again, he vanished, appearing in the air above the five Heads and falling down at an ever quickening pace. He streaked down like a falling meteor, his gaze hidden behind his flickering silver-black visor.

    "[Star Fusion]."

    BANG!

    Leonel''s body suddenly erupted with a vibrant blue light. It shot out from the gaps in his armor like jet fuel, his strength skyrocketing in the blink of an eye. The sudden oppression was so violent and heavy, not to mention bright, that Leonel seemed to have taken up center stage.

    The Segmented Cube burst to life, its pieces fragmenting and spreading outward. A surge of pure energy swept out from within its depths, matching the very same radiant Vital Star Force that Leonel was making use of right this very moment.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed heavily on the helm of the junior star ship, its body waving about wildly beneath the control of the countless heavy chains. His armor continuously billowed with bluish-white vapor, his aura still steadily climbing even as the metal beneath his feet crumpled and shattered.

    He rose up his dual sided spear, an arc of blue Force following its path. It seemed to draw a line through the air, its body vibrating wildly with excitement.

    When the blade stopped, it pointed toward the five Heads, radiating a blinding light. .

    A subtle silence fell over the battlefield once again before thousands of roars pierced into the dark veil above. The warriors of Earth responded with their own pride, their blood surging to unconscious degrees as their gazes glazed over and their hearts beat wildly. Each and every one of them suddenly gained a slightly violet hue to their Force, their strength rising by a half step.

    The chains rattled and the platforms shook. One after another, the warriors began to charge.

    The people of Camelot. The people of the Moon. The young noble men and women. The geniuses from lesser families. The army veterans.

    All at once, they brandished their blades and weapons, appearing on the junior starship and lighting the final spark of battle.

    Leonel''s eight brothers grinned wildly, their Force rising like tides and their muscles bulging.

    "The one with the least kills washes Raj''s laundry for a year!" Gil roared.

    "And what if Raj is last?" Milan laughed.

    "Then he has to wear a thong for just as long!" Gil''s body sparked with crimson lightning. In the blink of an eye, he vanished, not even giving the others time to protest.

    Leonel stood before the five Heads, his Force still billowing wildly. Torrents of the bluish white vapor rose up and away, even making his blade seem like it was being steamed beneath a smoldering heat.

    Even as the battle erupted, the five Heads didn''t move. They looked toward Leonel with brows furrowed, seemingly not realizing that their starship had suddenly fallen into a battle they weren''t ready for. With the people of Earth taking the initiative like this and their warriors not being organized, it could very quickly become a problem.

    However, what was more shocking about all of this was that Leonel actually dared to face them. Not only did he dare to face themбн But exactly what had just happened to their junior starship? On top of that, why was it suddenly so difficult for them to absorb Force? And what was this blue Force coming off of Leonel in waves?

    It was clear that Leonel actually planned on stopping them all himself, but wasn''t this too ridiculous? Was he an idiot? Or was there something else that they were missing?

    Leonel didn''t move a single inch, his blade still stretched forward in an act of blatant provocation. His breathing was steady and his back was straight. Nothing could make him waver at this moment.

    "He''s bluffing. What are you all still waiting for?! Kill him!"

    The first one to act was Avarone. He didn''t even wait for the others to react after he spoke. He struck forward with a palm instantaneously.

    In that moment, it felt as though the world was collapsing. Even in the face of Leonel''s earlier momentum, it was like an impossibly vast mountain, towering above, unblemished.

    Beneath his visor, Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    "Shit."

 Chapter 1072 A Step Back

    Chapter 1072 A Step Back

    Leonel had indeed been stalling. He needed to take the initiative so that the morale of Earth could be as high as possible, that was why he had acted so recklessly. Thankfully, due to the chaos of the current battlefield, all of which was taking place on a singular ten kilometer long ship, it was harder for them to actually pay attention to what was going on in Leonel''s battle. This was especially so since Leonel and the five Heads were still on the roof of the ship while many of the other battles had begun within the ship itself.

    Leonel was trying not to move right now because this inaction would cost him the least amount of Vital Star Force. If he went all out, he could last in this state for three to five minutes max. If he added the supplementation of the Segmented Cube into the mix, he could last about half an hour.

    The trouble was that the Segmented Cube''s supply was limited. Right now, he was using what remained of the excess energy it absorbed, but it was only a tiny sliver. The only reason there seemed to be so much was because that tiny sliver was Seventh Dimensional and Leonel had converted it to Fifth Dimensional Vital Star Force.

    But Avarone had actually been so impolite as to actually attack. That would make things troublesome.

    Leonel quickly reacted. ''Duality.''

    His spear swung forth, slicing the palm Force in half. But he was blasted backward to the edge of the ship, his armor fracturing before quickly mending itself beneath the large amounts of Star Force.

    Avarone frowned. He had only casually thrown out a palm, but he hadn''t expected Leonel to truly be capable of receiving it. In fact, Leonel didn''t even seem to be particularly hurt.

    ''What is this weird feeling?''

    Avarone felt an odd oppression around him, as though a formless energy had taken form and latched onto his skin like a thick humidity would. But, he couldn''t truly touch or feel it, it was as intangible as it got.

    ''That''s impossible. My attack was weakened but there shouldn''t be any ability a Fifth Dimensional existence could possibly have that could weaken me?''

    Avarone couldn''t wrap his head around it. The gap between Dimensions wasn''t a simple step. You were quite literally shedding your imperfections to become a greater being. This was why a powerful ability might be so in a lower Dimensional world, only to become useless in a Higher Dimensional one.

    Many who were born in the Milky Way who had brought their abilities to the third or fourth level of their Ability Index, might not even be at the second level upon stepping into a higher world.

    Knowing this, how could Avarone not be shocked? He had actually felt his attack weaken just then.

    Leonel''s head leaned from side to side, his neck cracking. He took a deep breath and waited for the rumbling of his inner organs to calm. Then, he began to pour his King''s Might into his Duality Domain, its layers becoming sturdier and sturdier with each passing moment.

    "Go kill the rest." Avarone said coldly. "I alone am enough to deal with him."

    "Is that so?" Leonel''s cold voice sounded.

    In that moment, it felt like he was whispering into all of their ears, causing the Heads to remain rooted in place. Head Umbra especially narrowed his gaze, his feet spreading apart and his back arching as though he was prepared to pounce at any moment. An alert of danger sounded off in their minds.

    "I promise you that the first of you to try to leave this battle we have here will die. Care to try it out?"

    The five Heads stared at Leonel for a long time. There were a few that wanted to call his bluff, but seeing Silam''s reaction, they weren''t foolish enough to do so.

    The Umbra family Head had the best instincts of them all. If he was reacting like this, they would truly be asking for death if they ignored it all. They could only looked toward the youth before them, their nerves standing on end.

    "See? Isn''t this better? If we all just stand here everything will be fine." Leonel said lightly.

    BANG!

    At that moment, a pillar of fire shot out from the hull of the junior starship. Several screams of agony followed it as what looked to be dozens of Florer family members were tossed into the depths of space. Wellбн Their ashes were tossed into the depths of space, anyway.

    The gaze of Belize turned crimson when she saw this, her large belly rolling and the spider lily growing from her forehead writhing.

    "Attack him as one. When he''s dead, there won''t be any threat left."

    Leonel watched on coldly from within his visor. This was exactly what he needed. As long as they weren''t attacking others, he could do what he needed to do.

    Taking a steady and long breath, Leonel concentrated his Duality Domain, imprisoning the six of them.

    Before him stood five Sixth Dimensional existences. In fact, they weren''t normal Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional existences either, each of them was at least Tier 3 or 4. To any objective outside observer, Leonel was seeking death. In fact, even Leonel felt that he was a bit too crazy.

    But in life, there were certain things you had no choice but to do.

    "This weight on my shoulders is still too light."

    Leonel exhaled, his Universal Force surging.

    Ash colored snow began to fall from the skies even as five Radiant Cores appeared before him. Leonel chose to forgo A Slow Death and Golden Drops, focusing all his strength into Radiant Core and Withering Snowfall.

    There was no path for a loss. Even if he died today, he had to win. He would win.

    Leonel''s ankle flexed downward, his calf springing to life and his thigh bulging.

    When you couldn''t afford to take a step backward, the true strength of a person would shine through.

 Chapter 1073 Molten

    Chapter 1073 Molten

    The metal beneath Leonel''s feet crumbled as he vanished. His spear spun in his hands, wild lines of silver, white and blue following its arcs. It felt as though it was both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, touching upon a realm of speed, dexterity and skill that made the pupils of the five Heads constrict.

    When Leonel appeared once again, the lines of his blade became less important than the shimmering mark of the golden spear that hung before his forehead. The world fell into a calm silence as every stroke of his blade suddenly gained the ever so slightest golden hue.

    It wasn''t immediately obvious to the five Heads just exactly which of them he was attacking. The current Leonel felt like the center of a budding rose, his blades outlining each petal one by one. Before the five realized it, his blade had appeared before Belize, descending with every intention of splitting her skull in two.

    "Is this a joke?"

    Belize''s rage filled eyes hardly fluctuated as she reached out a finger. But, before she could counter, her expression slightly changed.

    A swarm of ash snowfall disrupted her flow of Force, shocking her and causing her reaction to be slightly slow.

    A spray of blood shot into the air as her finger was severed. The line of blood played beneath the whites, silvers and blues, looking especially striking in contrast.

    Belize didn''t feel pain or rage for just a moment, her expression colored in shock. She turned her gaze toward Leonel, but the latter had already vanished, appearing to her back.

    Leonel figure seemed to be enveloped by a shadow as his spear pierced forward. His technique shifted, his demeanor morphing and his artistic conception became several times more layered.

    A Radiant Core appeared before his piercing blade, a spiraling Spear Force beginning to spin wildly about it. The Force became so fast that the core itself vanished, as did the spear blade. All that was left was a drill of pulsing energy, carrying the momentum to pierce all things with it.

    Belize, who had still not quite begun to take Leonel seriously despite Silam''s reaction was in a daze. She had just had her finger cut off by a Fifth Dimensional ant. Her world spun about her and she couldn''t quite regain her bearings. By the time she realized that her back was about to be skewered, it felt like it was all too late.

    Unfortunatelyбн There were four others.

    At that moment, Siris Midas'' hand reached down like a clamp. Without a care for the spinning blades or the Radiant Core, his finger scraped through the air as though grating against metal. The sheer force of his strike left tears in the artificial atmosphere, leaving a trail of true space for just a moment.

    BANG!

    The sight was enough to shake one to their core. It was like watching a mortal stop a drill the size of their body with nothing more than a hand.

    Motes of shattered blade lights spun about wildly, some cutting into Belize''s back and some even slicing into Leonel himself. And yet for Siris, his hand remained completely unscathed. It was as though he had just stopped spinning cotton. But somehowбн

    "Retreat!" Silam''s voice boomed.

    Unfortunately, it was already too late. Level Two Spear Force might have been a Fifth Dimensional equivalent, but much like Domains, it existed in a categorization of its own, allowing it to affect those of higher Dimensions. Even for Siris who had an extraordinarily powerful body, such Spear Force would at least leave shallow marks on his skin. The fact it left nothing at all smelled of a conspiracy. And a conspiracyбн

    Was exactly what it was.

    BANG!

    The Radiant Core imploded on contact, attaching to Siris'' arm and Belize''s back like leaches.

    On the surface, Radiant Core looked like a bundle of flames, but it was fundamentally very different from this. Radiant Core was Leonel''s artistic conception for Summer, an artistic conception built on the core of a Disaster World. The core of a planet wasn''t a ball of flamesбн

    It was a ball of molten metal.

    Belize shrieked, feeling as though her body was being burnt from the inside out. She and Deloris had, by far, the weakest defenses of the five, making them easy first targets. It wasn''t long before the smell of cooked skin and fat rose into the air.

    It would be one thing if Leonel had formed his Radiant Cores normally this time around. But, what if he had formed them with the very same Shearing Ore he had taken from Avarone''s younger brother? The radiation of the Radiant Core wasn''t potent enough to affect Sixth Dimensional existences, but this heat and metal most definitely would be.

    Plants sprung up around Belize''s feet as Siris'' clawed hand changed angles and swung for Leonel.

    However, Leonel had long since retreated, his figure blinking several times, jumping a meter or two backward every moment. But, when the four Heads expected Leonel to take another meter or two step back with his fourth blink, he suddenly vanished.

    Deloris'' pupils constricted, feeling danger bearing down on her. Beneath the ash snowfall, she couldn''t seem to accumulate her rain clouds. To make matters worse, even if it hadn''t been for Leonel''s artistic conception, the odd environment they were in made it difficult to deploy area of effect abilities, especially ones that relied on atmospheric Force.

    That said, after watching Belize suffer and seeing that Siris had taken serious damage as well, Deloris would never be caught off guard in the same way. During the Fifth Dimension, one''s mind would be raised to another state. Deloris'' speed of thought and the pace at which she processed information was far beyond the enemies that Leonel was used to dealing with.

    In a single exchange, she had already adapted and taken note of Leonel''s propensity to scheme.

    Her dress fluttered and her palm struck out. The air rippled like the waves of a disrupted lake.

    Without waiting for the result, her palm flipped over, revealing a sapphire blue whip that instantly arched through the air right for Leonel.

 Chapter 1074 Angles

    Chapter 1074 Angles

    The whip was fast and swift. Despite having used the palm as a diversion tactic, the whip itself actually reached Leonel first, causing his pupils to constrict.

    For one, this told him just how cautious Deloris was being and it marked a change in attitude amongst the five of them. Secondly, it revealed the true strength of these Sixth Dimensional monsters.

    It was clear at a glance that Deloris was using nothing more than Level One Whip Force. However, the Sixth Dimensional Force backing it made Leonel''s Level Two Spear Force look like nothing more than child''s play.

    However, this was a reality that Leonel had already long since become ready for.

    ''Duality.''

    In that instant, Deloris'' whip accelerated, its tip turning into pure Water Force. But, under her own astonished gaze, it shot over Leonel''s head, missing him by several centimeters.

    ''Whatбн?''

    The flat of Leonel''s blade shot upward, slapping Deloris'' whip even further off course. It was a subtle tap that hardly slowed his forward momentum, but simply due to the fact that her momentum had already been heading in that direction, the change was exponential. By the time she realized Leonel had closed the distance, it was too late to pull her whip back.

    However, Deloris didn''t panic. Her whip had reached Leonel much faster, but that just meant that her palm energy was still a layer of protection for her. Though it was sent out quickly, it still carried at least 50% of her strength.

    ''Duality.''

    Deloris'' palm strike suddenly decreased to half its size, allowing Leonel to slide by it with deft steps. Blinding golden lights wrapped around Leonel''s body, his speed stepping onto a completely new tier as he flashed through space once again.

    His spear spun before snapping into place, the momentum carrying his blade toward Deloris'' neck.

    Deloris still had an arm up, connected to her whip. As for the other, it was still in the position of sending out a palm strike, but the energy from it had long since been dissipated.

    Still, she was an expert among experts. How many battles had she already been through in her lifetime? To be outmaneuvered by a child several times in a row was already humiliating enough. She most definitely wouldn''t allow him the satisfaction.

    Her Force circulated, her eyes glowing with a gentle blue.

    ''Separationбк''

    ''Duality.''

    Leonel''s blade suddenly accelerated, causing Deloris'' eyes to widen. The skin on her neck bloomed with a touch of red. In that moment, she truly felt the scent of death, her body freezing over and the horror being painted clearly on her lovely features.

    It was right then that her body collapsed into a pool of water, Leonel''s blade cutting through the curtain of liquid blue but ultimately gaining nothing.

    A moment later, Deloris reformed from a surge of water, her face pale and crimson dripping down her swanlike neck. Her blue dress still fluttered, but its collar was slowly being dyed red, her chest heaving as she was caught between shock, horror and rage.

    Leonel stopped moving, suddenly finding himself encircled by five absolute experts. Avarone and SIlam had yet to move an inch. Siris had chopped off his hand at the wrist, and yet had already replaced it with a bronze fist he likely got from Avarone, resulting in his combat prowess practically being the same. Finally, there was Deloris was bleeding and Belize who was in the worst situation of the five by far.

    The sight of Belize right now was truly horrid. Her entire back had been covered in Leonel''s Molten metal. By now, she had already gone through several flower constructs, each of then burning to ash as they tried to deal with the situation.

    Right this moment, if not for the massive carnivorous plant sucking at her back like a leash, she might have been dead already. In fact, her state was so bad that all of her clothing had already been burnt to a crisp. Only the vines of her leach flower were keeping up her modicum of modesty at this point.

    Leonel took a deep breath, his body thrumming.

    His Duality Domain allowed him to pick a character to shift the balance of. This character could be either speed or power, and how much Leonel wanted to shift it decided how easy or difficult it would be. The difficulty was also influenced by whether he was giving or taking away as well.

    Obviously, when facing Sixth Dimensional existences, doing this was almost impossible. And even the small bit he could, he could only manage a few percentage points of a percent.

    This was where Leonel''s genius came into play. He didn''t need to take away from them, why not give them more power? Not only would this cost almost nothing to him as he was taking away from himself, but it would also throw the timing of these experts completely off.

    A few percentage points here and there with Leonel''s calculative abilities was enough to change the tide of battle completely. It was just unfortunate that he didn''t manage to kill even a single one of them before they noted that he could do this.

    "I''m going to kill you!"

    Both Belize and Deloris spoke at that same time, their fury and humiliation being practically palpable.

    Leonel didn''t respond, his gaze remaining as cold as ice. In the skies above, the fluttering ash continued to fall. Four Radiant Cores spun silently around Leonel.

    "I see. You''re using angles to your advantage." Silam spoke lightly, a twin pair of jet black daggers appearing in his hands as snaking black tails slowly rose out from his back. "But, I wonder what good accelerating my attack will do for you if my blade is completely straight?"

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. But, they hardly had time to do even that before the blade appeared right before him.

    Leonel tried to dodge, but the blade pierced through his armor without suspense, splitting his collarbone in two and threatening to take his entire arm with it.

 Chapter 1075 NO!

    Chapter 1075 NO!

    The pain was like a shock through Leonel''s system. It felt as though his entire arm had been dipped into a vat of lava. Even the smallest twitch sent signals that felt like arm thick strikes of lightning right to his mind.

    Silam, who had casually thrown his dagger over as a test, was now rightfully assured and his words enlightened the others. So long as they were facing directly in front or directly behind the path Leonel was taking, it would simply be impossible for his Domain to be of any use.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, but there wasn''t any time for leisure. The five Heads had already moved.

    Leonel''s steps shifted, his body falling out of the way of a swing of Silam''s tail. The sound of whistling wind shot over his head even as Siris swung in his direction with his new bronzed fist.

    Leonel rolled to the side, his palm latching onto the dagger stuck in his shoulder, having had no choice but to put his spear away to do so. His left arm couldn''t move at all and his right hand pulled at the dagger, the searing pain racking his body.

    Silam didn''t say anything toward this, but his gaze twinkled.

    In that moment, Leonel felt as though tendrils of darkness had drilled their way into his body, anchoring the dagger within him. They reached outward, drilling through his flesh and squirming toward his heart. The feeling was both the most disgusting and the most painful thing that Leonel had ever experienced in his life.

    ''His bodyбн'' Silam''s irises flashed.

    Using such a technique against a Fifth Dimensional existence should have meant an instant death. But, Silam had actually already used more strength than he would have to even against some Sixth Dimensional existences and yet he was still several seconds away from Leonel''s heart.

    The shock of this made Silam almost miss something that was even more bafflingбн

    Where was the scream?

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze had become frighteningly cold. A murky crimson crept through his irises, mixing with the original pale violet. He felt absolutely furious at this moment, but it only made him calmer and more detached.

    Deloris'' wrist flexed, her instincts catching hold of an opportunity. Her whip reacted in kind, tearing a path through the air and right for Leonel''s other shoulder.

    The golden spear on Leonel''s forehead flashed, but he didn''t move. Or rather, it seemed like he didn''t have the time to move.

    The whip''s tip turned into pure Water Force once again, lashing against Leonel''s right arm and shattering the sleeve of his armor into tiny little pieces. In the blink of an eye, all that was left behind was a beaten and bruised arm covered in Bronze Runes that had lost much of their light.

    Siris rapidly approached. Long distance combat was most definitely not his forte. Seeing how easily Leonel dodged his earlier Fist Force and seeing his current state, he no longer held back, charging forward.

    However, he quickly found four Radiant Cores blocking his path.

    The pressure of what had happened earlier weighed on Siris'' heart. He retreated explosively, but Leonel didn''t dare to allow his Radiant Cores to travel too far from himself.

    Rolling to the side to avoid another attack, Leonel flexed his beaten and bruised right arm. A surge of Vital Star Force returned, pouring into his pores from the Segmented Cube above and quickly healing his injuries.

    His arm flipped over, revealing a javelin.

    He quickly planted his leg, his torso torquing as he unleashed it with all his might. The streak of silver light appeared before Deloris in an instant, but she had long since been prepared.

    With another plop, Deloris collapsed into a pool of water, appearing even further away than last time.

    Right this moment, Silam''s gaze had narrowed, gazing up at the Segmented Cube above Leonel''s head. He hadn''t missed the fact that Leonel had just healed himself using the energy coming from it. If not for the fact his dagger was slowly digging toward Leonel''s heart, maybe that injury would have been dealt with already as well.

    Leonel suddenly exploded forward. Taking advantage in the gap of the encirclement that Deloris'' retreat caused, Leonel''s body alternated between a mad sprint and several teleportations.

    Beneath the influence of these five Sixth Dimensional existences, he didn''t dare to teleport too far, but he was supremely confident in these short spurts and so long as he could just burst throughбн

    It was then that Avarone, who had done little to nothing since the very start of this battle took action.

    He pointed a singular finger toward a particular direction. The instant he did so, Leonel''s expression changed and he came to a grinding halt.

    A solid beam of bronze jetted outward, crashing into the metal flooring before Leonel and causing a massive upsurge of explosions.

    Avarone drew a calm line down Leonel''s exit path, the beam coming from his finger never breaking once.

    It was clear that he had found yet another weakness to Leonel''s Domain. What good was accelerating a continuous attack like this one? So long as it made it to Leonel''s destination first, he would have no path toward escape.

    Avarone took his time blocking Leonel''s escape before his laser slowly began to push back, inching toward Leonel who was forced into quickly retreating again and again.

    It was exactly then that Silam pounced. However, his goal wasn''t Leonel, but was rather the Segmented Cube above his head. With a single whip of his tail, he crumpled the metal beneath himself and shot his body into the air, appearing near the Segmented Cube in the blink of an eye.

    "No!"

    Leonel shouted out for the first time since the battle began. But, before he could do anything, Deloris'' whip lashed out once more, this time carrying even more power than it did before. As distracted as Leonel was now, he was completely finished.

    But, Deloris had never expected for the flustered Leonel to suddenly turn back toward her as though nothing had happened. She could almost feel the coldness of his gaze beneath his visor, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.

    ''Duality.''

 Chapter 1076 A Second

    Chapter 1076 A Second

    Silam''s expression changed. He felt as though all the strength he had put into his daggers was suddenly sapped away. His control was broken in an instant and all the effort he had put toward digging toward Leonel''s heart went up in a puff of smoke.

    However, he was already in the air and the Segmented Cube was in arm''s reach. Who cared what happened as long as Leonel could no longer heal himself? He had already torn a path through Leonel''s bones and lungs. Practically the entire left side of his body had become nothing but a useless pile of mush. If he lost the ability to heal, he would be finished.

    It was right then that Leonel''s arm reached out, grabbing onto the end of Deloris'' whip to pull hard.

    At first, Deloris thought that Leonel had a death wish. Firstly, her whip had the ability to turn intangible just like she could. With just a thought, she could freely turn its body into pure Water Force. And secondly, did Leonel think that just because her whip looked flexible and flimsy that it truly was? A single snap of her weapon could shatter an entire mountain range, even Siris wouldn''t casually reach out to catch it.

    And yetбн That was exactly what happened.

    Deloris'' expression changed, immediately reacting to turn her whip into pure Water Force, but in that moment it felt like all the Force she poured in was sucked out by a powerful vacuum. No matter how much effort she put in, her whip remained solid.

    By the time she realized the problem, it was already too late.

    Her body propelled through the air like a streak of blue.

    In one swift motion, Leonel released the whip and flipped his palm, revealing his spear once again.

    His arm, beaten and bloodied, erupted with Vital Star Force, healing in the blink of an eye as he pierced forward with all his might.

    A spiraling vortex of Level Two Spear Force manifested, twisting and spinning about Leonel''s Radiant Core.

    "NO!"

    Somehow, Deloris'' screech made just how fake Leonel''s earlier outcry was seem all the more obvious. They had been lured into a false sense of security. But, their mistake was ever believing that they could be safe around Leonel at all.

    SHUU! BANG!

    Deloris'' Force shield was blown into smithereens. Her dress was shredded to pieces, allowing the underlying armor to save her life for just a moment. Unfortunately, Leonel''s drill was too large.

    Her torso remained somewhat safe, but her arms, legs and head were all torn to shreds, causing a rain of blood to fall upon the battlefield. In ironic fashion, it was only after the Head of the Rain family fell that the first rainfall followed.

    Silam and the expressions of the others warped wildly. The idea that one of them could die had never truly crossed their minds.

    Silam had no choice but to continue reaching for the Segmented Cube. But, he too was stunned by what happened next.

    The Segmented Cube suddenly shifted, opening wide. Before Silam could stop himself, he fell into the midst of the lights, vanishing before all their eyes.

    In a final struggle, his roar pierced through the battlefield, but he still vanished nonetheless.

    BANG!

    Leonel was sent flying as Avarone''s beam finally reached him. The back of his armor was torn to pieces and blood gushed down. However, that was all. Even with five now becoming three, Leonel still stood.

    Coughing heavily, Leonel rose to his feet once more. He ripped the dagger out from his shoulder, Vital Star Force erupting around him. Slowly, the pieces of his armor began to reform even as his body itself healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

    The battlefield was quite chaotic at this moment, however there were still plenty of individuals who were still within earshot and eyeshot of this battle. Seeing the five Leonel was facing be whittled down to just three, a surge of fire was lit beneath those of Earth while the exact opposite occurred for the Invaders.

    "I see." Avarone spoke lightly. "When your armor broke, you purposely revealed your broken and bruised arm, displaying none of the blue Force. Then you absorbed it from the cube above even though you could produce it yourself to goad Silam into falling for your trap, now maybe the most dangerous one of us is out of the way for you, hm? But, I really don''t understand how you managed to gain enough strength to kill Deloris with a single strike."

    Leonel remained silent.

    "No, no. It wasn''t that you have the strength to kill her in a single strike, it was Silam who did, right?"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he still said nothing.

    "That odd power and speed displacement ability you have, I bet it works better based on proximity too, hm? I guess we''re all fools in your eyes, then? Silam was pouring in his own strength into your body, likely trying to kill you. But in the end, all he was doing was giving you the exact strength you needed to kill one of his allies. Fascinatingбн"

    Avarone looked Leonel up and down.

    "You know so much about our abilities and you always act accordingly. Yet, we know absolutely nothing about yours and fall into such simple traps.

    "Let me guessбн You managed to open my younger brother''s bronze eye?"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed further, but silence was still his choice, his breathing becoming more and more even. He had only 10 more minutes of Star Force left, he couldn''t afford to waste it. He needed to kill these three swiftly.

    "I''ll take your silence as affirmation." Avarone chuckled. "Siris, kill her."

    At that moment, Belize''s expression changed. She had been putting so much effort into silently healing herself all this time, not having taken any action whatsoever. It was clear that she had expected something like this to happen. But, now that it was actually happening, she was completely flustered.

    Siris sprung into action, brandishing his fists as he pounced toward Belize.

    "Avarone, you dare!?"

    Avarone didn''t even look in her direction. Instead, he looked into the skies as the boundary of this Fold of Reality began to splinter and crack once more.

    "It''s about time we end this."

    On the horizonбн A second junior starship made its presence known. And it seemed that when it came to this oneбн Avarone was confident that Leonel didn''t know a thing about it.

    [One more chapter coming today]

 Chapter 1077 Skit?

    Chapter 1077 Skit?

    The battlefield came to a grinding halt. The pressure of a second junior starship weighed down on them all.

    Leonel wasn''t the only one who was having a tough battle. All around, blood and tears were being shed, flesh was being torn and bones were being shattered. They had all pushed so hard to reach this step, all for it to come crashing down on their heads like this.

    Space crackled and twisted, familiar streaks of black lightning nearly warping reality as it pushed its way through, having every intention of crushing everything that lay in its path.

    To the side, the battle between Siris and Belize raged on. However, the latter already hardly stood a chance. She was already on her last legs to begin with and had used up much of her Force in an effort to heal herself.

    She did everything she could to try to get to Deloris'' corpse, but it was all meaningless. Siris was far too familiar with the abilities of the Florer family. After centuries of battle, they finally had a chance to get a slight one up on the Florer. How could they not take it?

    With a world to take root in and grab energy from, the strength the Florer were known for couldn''t be displayed. To make matters worse, Belize had already used her Elite Spore in an attempt to heal herself. If she separated from it mid process, not only would she worsen her injuries, but she might even directly die soon after.

    "Boy! Help me!"

    Reaching out for a last line of hope, Belize looked toward Leonel. It was quite ironic, the boy that she had been looking down upon all this time might be her only chance at surviving.

    "Don''t be stubborn! There is no such thing as eternal enemies as long as the benefits are great enough! Even my Florer family chose to ally with these bastards for a time! Look at the bigger picture! If you remove these metals from by body, I can heal in just a few seconds! Alone I''m already powerful enough to fight these two. With you, we can crush them!"

    Leonel didn''t even gaze toward Belize.

    Work with her? People like her were the absolute scum of the earth.

    Leonel had read about how the Elite Spores were formed. He couldn''t even imagine how many thousands of lives Belize had sacrificed just to cause hers to sprout. To make matters worse, to get it to grow to its current size would have taken tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even.

    Even without the earth to root in, with he Elite Spore, Belize was likely the most powerful warrior on this battlefield. That was why Leonel had taken her out first while all of them were still underestimating himself. Even now, he was tormenting her with the molten metal that was still stuck to her back. The fact she was alive at all was a testament to just how powerful she truly was.

    "BOY!"

    Belize almost lost her cool entirely, her rage reaching a palpable level.

    The truth was that her death wouldn''t change much. They might have been the Heads of their families, but there were still numerous elders and hidden experts they hadn''t brought out for this battle. How could a mid-level Sixth Dimensional world possibly only have a single Sixth Dimensional expert?

    The reason Avarone still insisted on killing her was because of her talent and the potential trouble she might bring in the future, in addition to the potential that she might be carrying something important about the Florer family''s legacy.

    At the same time, even if she wasn''t a talent or wasn''t carrying anything so important, her death would guarantee that the Radix and Midas families would be able to monopolize Earth for themselves without having to share.

    Once these two families established themselves, even if the Florer, Umbra and Rain families came later, defending was far easier than launching an attack. By then, the power dynamic between the families would shift and in a few decades, the Radix and Midas would gain enough power to crush the Florer themselves and complete the legacy.

    "Justбн Think about it. This second junior starship has nothing to do with me. It''s obvious that the Radix and Midas decided to send more experts. Without Sixth Dimensional experts, how will Earth defend itself? Don''t think that just because you killed Deloris that you can do it yourself!

    "The trick you used with Silam won''t work twice and Deloris was by far the weakest of us all. In addition, now that they know how your ability works, they won''t make the same mistake Silam did again and you won''t have a chance to kill another one of us with a single strike!

    "I can tell that your body is very powerful and this is likely the reason you''ve been able to fight and harm us, but I can also tell that you''re relying heavily on that blue Force to boost your strength. How much more time will it buy you? Five minutes? Ten minutes?

    "Even if it will last you an infinite amount of time, I can tell you that it won''t matter. These two are still hiding their Ability Indexes because they don''t want to expose themselves. In addition, they''ve yet to use the true prowess of Sixth Dimensional existences because this odd atmosphere is restricting it. But, once this second junior starship descends, this environment you''ve created will shatter and their strength will at least double!

    "I won''t ask for much in return! Just save me and allow me a piece of the spoils! I won''t take any of Earth''s territory! I wouldn''t even have the numbers left to continue fighting you all after this, the warriors of the other families would not listen to me!"

    Belize did everything she could to convince Leonel and all of her arguments were perfectly sound. In fact, though Avarone had said nothing from start to finish, he was ready to stop Leonel at any time, his gaze firmly locked onto the latter.

    However, Leonel himself was still looking toward the ship that had finally broken through the final layer, his gaze somewhat vacant, though it was difficult to tell beneath his visor.

    On the helm of this second junior starship, a man stood with a tall back and wide shoulders. Though Leonel had never personally laid eyes on him before, he almost instantly recognized this man as Guild Head Augustus Ovilteen.

    However, a half step to the back of this man was a woman he was actually a bit surprised to see there. Not because she was alive, he had already guessed that. But it was rather that she was actually standing a half step behind her father. He had thought that the two of them were enemies with differing goals... But if they weren''t, that meant...

    Leonel''s lip suddenly curled into a smile, his gaze shifting toward Avarone. He could hardly control his amusement, causing his cold exterior to collapse.

    "What? Did you all prepare a comedy skit just for me? You really shouldn''t have."

    Avarone''s gaze narrowed. What the hell did Leonel mean by that?

 Chapter 1078 19%

    Chapter 1078 19%

    Up above, even Heira''s gaze narrowed. Leonel had very clearly seen her, but his reaction was actually so nonchalant. Was her survival really not that surprising to him? How could that be possible?

    "Even up until now, you still don''t get what''s going on?" Leonel looked toward Avarone. Though his gaze was hidden behind his visor, his mockery was practically palpable. It hung in the air like a venomous snake, making Avarone, who had always felt supremely confident in himself, feel his skin slowly become prickly and uncomfortable.

    At that moment, the forward momentum of the second junior starship came to a slow halt. The speed it had been building up to shatter the artificial atmosphere Leonel had built here dropped to zero, stunning Avarone and the others.

    "I''m not entirely sure why you think yourself to be so clever," Leonel continued. "Did you think that just because one of you two protected her initially that I would forget that you were mortal enemies? Even now you don''t understand that I could kill her whenever I want, so why do you think that she''s still alive?"

    Avarone''s gaze narrowed.

    He had forgotten one very important thing. From the beginning, the reason why they were forced to fight Leonel all at once instead of spreading out to support the rest of the battlefield was that they felt he was too dangerous. If one of them turned their backs away, they would most definitely die. And yet to this point, Leonel had yet to use that ability.

    On top of that, with Belize''s current state, she would have been the easiest target to get rid of. So why was it that Leonel had hounded Deloris so much?

    At that moment, Belize, who no longer had the leisure to split her mind and her focus screeched. Her voice was like that of a banshee, making all those who heard it feel as though their very blood was vibrating as their ears threatened to burst.

    "I''LL TAKE YOU WITH ME!"

    The leech-like carnivorous plant attached to Belize''s back suddenly pulsed as the spider lily on her forehead sprouted and bloomed. The roots of the spider lily double in size, wiggling beneath Belize''s skin as it sucked her completely dry.

    In one moment, she had been a morbidly obese woman. In the next, she was nothing more than skin and bone, what remained of her face actually carrying some of the charm a beauty would have. Unfortunately, that beauty was warped by a twisted expression and a leeching spider lily that made it difficult to appreciate.

    Belize''s naked form appeared before them all, but there were no curves or healthy, glossy skin. Her body had been completely drained of its blood and its fat. Being too weak even to walk on her own two feet, the vines of the carnivorous planet attached to her back propped her up, raising her into the air.

    With another vicious screech, a vine whipped outward, slamming into Siris. The devastation made Deloris'' whip look like nothing more than child''s play.

    The air split, the space cracked and Siris'' ribs caved in as though a god had drawn a finger across his chest. In just a single attack, he was put in a half dead state, shards of his own ribcage tearing into his lungs and heart as he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

    Belize lost her rationality, chasing after Siris like a madman.

    "See that?" Leonel spoke casually as though he was watching theater.

    "Youбн" Avarone''s pupils constricted.

    "Do you know how many battles between your Radix and her Florer family are recounted in your records?" Leonel continued to passively observe without a word. "The answer is just 10 706. Of course, these aren''t all of the battles, just the ones of note.

    "Of those battles, about 2 803 of them are between experts of your families. These can be considered small scale battles with between two to five people participating at once. Regardless, it''s usually less than ten.

    "Do you know how many of those battles your family won? Don''t worry, it''s a bit embarrassing, so you don''t need to answer. The percentage is about 24%. As for how many the Florer outright won, that would be about 57%. So, what do you think happened with the remaining 19%?"

    Siris lost his arm to pure blunt trauma. Without relying on the slightest sharpness, it was ripped from his in terrible fashion, his blood pooling out to the ground.

    "Fascinating, don''t you think?" Leonel asked. "Of that remaining 19%, all of them were counted as draws. These weren''t any normal draw, but rather they were draws where all parties died."

    Leonel looked away from the battlefield and back toward Avarone.

    "Now, if you''re like me, you''d find this statistic to be weird. A situation where everyone dies is too odd, especially since your records didn''t seem to have an explanation for it. And, after reading through all the techniques and abilities of your Radix and Midas families, you most definitely didn''t have what was necessary to force such a draw in a fifth of cases.

    "The only logical answer, then, is that it wasn''t you forcing the draw. It was, rather, the Florer family forcing it. And, lo and behold, in 93% of the cases where the battle ended in a draw, it had been an ambush by your Radix family, meaning the Florer had been forced into a desparate situation and left without a choice but to use their hidden trump card."

    Avarone''s breathing was no longer as steady as it was before.

    This Leonel wanted him to believe that just by reading the outcomes of battles, he was able to deduce that the Florer family had a hidden ability that even they hadn''t been aware of?! Not only did he deduce this ability, but he was able to grasp the nature and even the timing of it to the point he could make use of it in his plans?!

    Just what kind of monster was standing before him now? Just who was this Prince Leonel and how could he possibly out calculate his Radix family?

    Avarone took several deep breaths. This wasn''t the end of it, so what if the Florer had such an ability. The fact that Leonel dared to stand here meant that Belize had lost her rationality. She would likely burn herself out fighting Siris and when she was dead, everything would go as planned regardless. This was all meaningless!

    So why did he still feel like Leonel was smiling?

 Chapter 1079 Based On

    Chapter 1079 Based On

    It made sense that the Radix never saw this pattern. They had accumulated this data over several centuries and they never categorized them in terms of wins, losses and draws, they just documented what happened. For Leonel to draw that connection himself after flipping through them spoke for itselfбн

    However, that didn''t explain why any of this was important.

    "I''m not entirely sure why you''re so confused." Leonel said lightly. "The fact you don''t think it''s important that you''re standing here, doing nothing, while your supposed partner and equal is fighting down to his last breath doing something you commanded him to doбн You don''t really understand how people work, hm?"

    Avarone''s pupils constricted.

    "If you still don''t get it, I can give you another stat, maybe that''ll help things sink into place for you. Of those 10 706 battles fought, there were 17 092 members of your families that died. Of that number, 64% were from the Midas family.

    "How about another stat? There were 27 893 participants of the battles total. That means that there were 10 801 survivors. Of the number of survivors, 72% of them were members of your Radix family."

    Avarone''s expression darkened with every word Leonel spoke.

    "And now, once again, a member of the Radix family is watching a member of the Midas fight to the bloody end. But do you know what the difference is between this time and all those other times?"

    Leonel smiled, and looked around. "You have spectators."

    The battlefield had already fallen into a silence the moment the second junior starship appeared and it felt like the tides were shifting. However, because of all the commotion and noise the battle between Belize and Siris were making, not to mention the distraction of Leonel''s words, Avarone hadn''t even noticed the issue until it was pointed out to him.

    His gaze subconsciously swept about, only for him to find several members of the Midas family looking back toward him. His expression couldn''t help but turn ugly.

    The glue that held the Radix and Midas together was the outside threat of the Florer family. The Florer were simply far too powerful as they had monopolized an entire half of the Inheritance all to their own. Without banding together, they would die separately.

    Due to this, a lot of the internal conflict between the two families was ignored and allowed to fester. But, having a spotlight shone on it like now made the problem several orders of magnitude worse.

    Because the Midas always had such powerful bodies and because the Radix were so calculative, the nature of these battle stats had always been an open secret. If there was anyone that would be smart enough to survive a close battle, it would more likely be the Radix.

    And now this scab wound would be torn open for all to see.

    "But I know what you''re thinking." Leonel continued with a smile. "Or rather, I know what you''ll eventually conclude, because right now it seems that you''re too flustered to think properly.

    "Once this Head of the Florer family dies beneath the backlash of her own technique, the Florer family will retaliate fiercely. After all, it''s been 207 years since one of their Heads has died, and last time that occurred, they were able to retrieve their corpse and not lose anything.

    "Now, however, this woman will die in the midst of a battlefield with no other powerful enough members of the Florer family here to retrieve her. There''s about an 83% likelihood that she''s holding something supremely important and precious on her person as well.

    "Because of this inevitable and fierce coming retaliation, the Midas will have no choice but to swallow their discontent and your issues can once more be swept under the rug, right?

    "Butбн There''s just a small problem with that."

    Leonel''s head angled up to the second junior starship whose engine was still stalled.

    "The problem is that you''re a fool and you still think that they''re on your side when they''ve obviously already decided to betray you."

    The moment Leonel said these words, both Heira and her father narrowed their gazes.

    "I bet you that by now, all of the members you bribed and placed on their council have been assassinated. I can also see, no matter how he tries to hide it, that Guld Head Ovilteen has entered the Sixth Dimension.

    "Now you think about it yourself. The goal of your Radix-Midas alliance is to combat the Florer family. The Midas allow the losses they''ve accrued over the years because when it comes down to it, your Radix family''s intelligence is the backbone of your operation while they are the brawn.

    "But, what would happen if the largest scale plot you had cracked was thwarted by another? What if all the resources you had poured in, all the effort, was meaningless? How would the Midas continue to trust you all if you can''t do the one thing you''re meant to do? What are they losing their lives for everyday if you can''t complete a single task?"

    Avarone''s chest heaved, his gaze practically red at this point.

    "I''m not sure why it is that you''re getting angry with me, I haven''t done anything but point out the obvious. Your Radix family got played. If the Milky Way Guild succeeds in getting a foothold in Earth''s Fold of Reality, you all won''t even be that large of a threat to them anymore and everything you''ve done to this point would be meaningless.

    "So, don''t you agree with me? Isn''t this a funny little skit you have going here?"

    Avarone suddenly began to laugh, the sounds of clinking resonating throughout his body as the gears of several mechanisms sprung to life.

    "I''m going to enjoy killing you." He growled.

    The metal beneath Avarone''s feet warped as he suddenly shot forward. His strength bloomed and his Force threatened to collapse the space he shot through. Since everything was falling apart around him, he would piece it together himself!

    In all this nonsense Leonel was spewing, he had forgotten that he was the most vulnerable person.

    However, it was then that Avarone felt that something was wrong. Leonel stood there, unmoving as he rapidly closed the distance between them. It was as though he hadn''t noticed the murderous intent at all.

    Leonel slowly shook his head.

    "If it was possible for them to lose their minds to the point of getting hyper fixated on a single person, how is it that all of them would die 19% of the time? Do you know why I haven''t moved an inch since she began to rampage? It''s because carnivorous plants find their prey based on movement."

    A vine appeared above Avarone''s head, slapping down with the weight of a mountain.

    "Dumbass."

    BANG!

 Chapter 1080 Luck

    Chapter 1080 Luck

    Avarone''s head was blasted into pieces. The power gap between a Belize who had activated her secret technique and him was simply too far apart. In fact, for the past several dozen seconds now, Belize had already been beating nothing more than Siris'' corpse. The only reason the latter was even relatively intact was purely because of how powerful his body was. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Leonel watched as Avarone crumpled before him. Bits and pieces of his skull and brain flew out in all directions, falling to Leonel''s feet.

    His eyes only barely managed to remain intact, their gaze locked onto Leonel, flickering through a whirlwind of emotions.

    Various colors of anger, fury and rage, dipped in a layer of helplessness and pleadingбн But it was all meaningless. Even if Leonel wanted to save him, he couldn''t. Healing a Sixth Dimensional existence was beyond his abilities, not that he would even try to do so to begin with.

    The instant Avarone plopped to his knees, another vicious vine whip descended from above, booming down again and again. He lost the rest of his head, then his neck, then torso. Eventually, he was nothing but a lump of meat and metal heated through repeated pummeling.

    The entire battlefield remained silent as Belize rampaged about, not a single soul daring to move even an inch. Leonel could tell that there were a few madmen who wanted to sacrifice their own lives just to force him to move, he could sense the look in the eyes with his Internal Sight. But, toward this, he only smiled. He was very much ready for whatever they brought.

    Smartly of them, though, they didn''t take action in the end. Just ten minutes later, Belize released a final screech, her wrinkled body writhing wildly as the spider lily on her forehead squeezed. In the next moment, she fell into a pile of ash, the leech on her back screaming as it had lost its final support.

    At that moment, Leonel suddenly sprung forward, a snowglobe flickering in his hands as he stored away the carnivorous plant before it could truly wither away. As he was the only one even remotely close to the incident, no one was even in position to stop him.

    Then, with light steps, he walked to Avaron''s bloody pulp.

    Little Tolly wiggled around Leonel''s wrist, squeezing out from the cracks in his armor and borrowing into the steaming pile. When the little guy came out, it was still a pristine and shimmering silver as though it would forever remain unblemished. However, within its body, a large amount of Sixth Dimensional Ores had been excavated. In fact, the amount dwarfed Avarone''s younger brother by several measures.

    After working at his own pace for several moments, Leonel finally looked up to the ship above. By now, the father-daughter pair had been completely surrounded, several thousand Oryx driving them into a corner. Their expressions remained placid, however the conclusion of all of this seemed quite obvious.

    At this moment, the people of Earth couldn''t help but cast worshipful gazes toward Leonel''s back. Although they weren''t quite sure what was happening, it was clear by Leonel''s earlier words and everything that happened after that he was well aware of how thing would play out.

    Completely beside himself, Augustus began to clap slowly, his placid expression giving way to admiration. It was the kind of look one wouldn''t expect to see from an enemy. Even Leonel could only say that he was taken aback.

    The truth of the matter was that he had gotten lucky, and he knew it. If not for the Oryx becoming such a backbone of the Milky Way Guild''s plan, things wouldn''t have been able to end so simply. Just the odds of such a thing happening alone were baffling, and yet he had greatly benefited from it.

    Leonel couldn''t help but think what would happen if one day he was the unlucky one? This Dimensional Verse seemed so fickle at times. It was impossible that he would have every tidbit of information he''d need at every turn.

    If by some miracle, Leonel gained that ability, it would be amazing. He didn''t believe that there was anyone he could ever lose to if he did. But, was that even realistic?

    ''I have to awaken Goggles as soon as possibleбн Only when I have someone with his abilities by my side can things become a bit easierбн''

    "I can only say that I should have killed you that day." Augustus said lightly. "I''ve lost, thoroughly."

    Leonel didn''t need to think much to know what Augustus was talking about. That day on Planet Solara, he had definitely locked onto him. However, Augustus had chosen not to act to stop Leonel back then, likely wanting to use him as a tool to whittle down the geniuses of the Radix and Midas families. But in the end, that choice came back to bite him.

    "You were just unlucky." Leonel said lightly.

    Augustus gazed toward Leonel deeply.

    Right now, he had more than enough power to charge out of this encirclement and leave this place. Butбн Then what?

    He had spent his entire life building the Milky Way Guild. Before coming here, he had killed off more than 70% of their core strength, weeding out the plague that had been infecting them for so long. Now, they were nothing more than a shell of their former selves.

    Augustus had wanted to use this foothold in Earth''s Fold of Reality to recoup his losses, but he had been stonewalled before his dreams could even take flight.

    Hearing Leonel''s words, he wanted to be angry, but he was appreciative at the same time. This young man''s view on lifeбн It was one even he could admire.

    Only those at the bottom thought that everything was due to luck. Only those at the top thought that everything was due to hard work.

    To meet a young man who could be so superior to those around him and yet acknowledge the nuance of it allбн It was rare. Rare indeed.

    Heira stood in silence, her gaze locked onto Leonel from start to finish.

    [Second chapter otw]

 Chapter 1081 Blazing

    Chapter 1081 Blazing

    "This doesn''t have to be the end if you don''t want it to be." Leonel suddenly said. "You also don''t have to rebuild everything from scratch."

    Augustus'' gaze narrowed. "What do you mean by this?"

    "Well, that would depend on how much your daughter hates me and how much you value that hatred." Leonel responded with another hypothetical.

    Augustus'' frown deepened, but he didn''t immediately look toward his daughter. He knew well that his daughter''s feelings for her late fiancижe weren''t fake. And, he knew his daughter''s temperament well. Bending wasn''t something she took too kindly to. Even if she bent now, there was a good chance she would snap back in the future.

    However, before he could think anymore, Heira suddenly spoke.

    "Rie and Syl. Where are they?"

    Leonel didn''t need to think long to remember who these two were. Syl was Anared''s younger sister and would have been Heira''s sister-in-law. As for Rie, she was apparently Syl''s best friend, but there was a bit of a scandal behind this.

    According to what Leonel had learned, Rie was actually the child between City Lord Whiteбкwho Aina had killed in her berserk stateбкand City Lord Kaefir, Syl and Anared''s father. She was thus treated very well by the family as she was technically a part of them. But, Rie herself along with Syl seemed to have no idea about this.

    Regardless, this was a story that Leonel had thrown to the back of his mind because, truthfully, he simply didn''t care. It didn''t seem relevant.

    "They are currently both on Earth." Leonel replied lightly.

    "And my father-in-law?"

    "Executed."

    Heira fell into silence. She should have already guessed this long ago. There was no way that Earth would let the main leaders of the attack live. However, the population of people itself was a different story entirely. They could be slowly integrated and fix Earth''s current greatest problem: population.

    Augustus finally looked toward his daughter, but she was still looking toward Leonel.

    "Earth isn''t worried about the two of them seeking revenge for their father?"

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What would you prefer?"

    Leonel had no way of knowing his grandfather''s true intentions. But, if he knew anything about that man, he was prideful to a point and immensely logical when it came to weighing positives and negatives.

    Emperor Fawkes had chosen to allow the Paradise Islands to fall from the sky, effectively killing billions of Invalids before they could even take form. However, just think about the method he used.

    The Paradise Islands had been staples of Earth for several decades already. It was so well integrated that it didn''t even look like a plot. He was a man who had essentially gotten away with murdering 99% of his people and it didn''t even spark a rebellion.

    This was to say that Emperor Fawkes knew how to be cruel to meet his ends, but he was also intelligent in the way he went about it.

    Killing the City Lords was justified. But, if he went as far as to execute two little girls, he would come off as not only a coward, but it would be even more difficult to rein in the people of Terrain to become one with Earth. The risk wasn''t worth the reward.

    Heira fell into silence. Soon, it was clear that she had already gotten everything she wanted out of this exchange.

    "You want me to join Earth?" Augustus asked.

    Leonel''s armor began to slowly vanish, revealing his real form. At the moment, he was drenched and sweat from head to toe and blood clung to bits and pieces of his body. Yet, when he ran his hand through his wet hair, he seemed oddly dignified and in control.

    "No, I want you to join me."

    Augustus was stunned into silence when he heard this. Was this brat rebellingбн On Earth? Wasn''t he a Prince? What was going on here, exactly?

    Leonel smiled. "I''m the only noble in the Empire without a legion of my own. All I have are eight brothers and sometimes they''re not too reliable."

    "What the fuck!"

    "Cap, don''t lie to the people!"

    Leonel grinned but kept looking toward Augustus.

    Augustus was baffled at the audacity of this child. He was a Sixth Dimensional expert. In fact, he was a genius in his own right. Making it so far in the backwater dregs of this Sector was something to boast about without a doubt.

    Now, a young man who was effectively a child in his eyes, was actually asking him to follow him. If you told Augustus an hour ago that this was how this event would play out, he would have probably killed whoever spoke with a wave of his hand.

    "Do you understand what you''re asking right now? Why wouldn''t I just leave the Milky Way? And go to parts unknown. Why should I wait on you?"

    "I wonder. Have you heard of the Morales family?" Leonel asked.

    He gauged Augustus'' reaction.

    Leonel had already deduced that for Shield Cross Stars to act the way it did, it had to be wary of him having a backer. It was possible that the backers it was worried about were those that supported Earth, but if that was the case, why would they have dared to mess with Earth''s Sub-Dimensional Zones? If not for Leonel, the true treasure of Camelot would have ended up in an outsider''s hands.

    That meant that what they were worried about weren''t the people backing Earth, but rather people that might be backing Leonel himself in particularбн And since Heira was most definitely responsible for Leonel being framed, it was likely that she had been the one to reach this conclusion first.

    Simply put, there was a good chance Augustus might be aware.

    As expected, Augustus'' pupils constricted into pinholes, his muscles tightening. It was just for a brief moment, but it would never escape Leonel''s notice.

    "I have no idea what you''re talking about." Augustus said with a straight face.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade. "Oh? Me too, honestly. It''s just a random thing I heard people throw out there. But, what about this?"

    Leonel''s Force suddenly surged, two pairs of white gold wings spreading out for tens of meters appearing upon his back. Above them, an owl''s gaze lingered between reality and illusion, bearing down on the world with an undeniable momentum.

    The call of a bird rang through the stars, a single flap of its wings bringing one tens of light years away.

    At that instant, the people of the Radix, Midas, Florer, and Umbra families froze in place, their knees trembling.

    "Lбн. Luбн Luxnixбн"

    It was impossible to know who said it first, but they all cowered at once. Not a single one of the Invaders didn''t recognize the symbol of this Sector''s rulers. The Snowy Star Owl was a symbol of dominion, of rulership, and of wisdom.

    Though Aina was currently on the Luxnix''s main planet, the Luxnix territory spread far beyond that and it could be said that they had dozens of strongholds across the strongest galaxies of this Sector. There was no way a mid-tier Sixth Dimension family like those here wouldn''t recognize them.

    Augustus gripped his fists tight, his gaze blazing with fire.

 Chapter 1082 Nest

    Chapter 1082 Nest

    The reaction was only as one might expect.

    The truth was that Leonel hadn''t tried to lean on this advantage because he truly felt that it wouldn''t matter much to begin with. His ties with the Luxnix and Morales families wereбн loose to say the least. Not only that, but Leonel was a bit stubborn about it all at the same time.

    He wanted to use his Luxnix and Morales blood for the sake of taking over said families. But, as far as relying on them? He never really had any intention of doing so.

    As far as he saw things, he would be the one in position to elevate them, not the other way around. And, he also wasn''t fond of the idea of having to rely on others as well. This wasn''t just a matter of pride, it was also a matter of practicality.

    Just seeing how Aina''s family had treated her, Leonel felt it would be a fool''s dream to hope that his own families would welcome him with open arms. If he really went into the world with that kind of thought process, he would end up chewed up and spit out before he realized what happened.

    Leonel had always subconsciously known that his own power and strength would always be the most important. But, seeing how things ended up for Augustus today, and how many times he had been forced to change and alter his plans before he could even take the first step on his journey, he realized it even more now.

    If he didn''t wield enough power and strength himself, it would all be meaningless. There would be a day where no amount of scheming could get him out of a situation and he would be forced to face it head on. If when that time came he was still trying to play chess when the situation demanded checkers, all his dreams and aspirations would be for naught.

    ''Maybe I''ve been going about this all wrongбн''

    Leonel forgot that he was supposed to be waiting for an answer from Augustus for a moment as he lost himself in a trail of thoughts.

    ''I''m trying to build a Kingdom, but before it''s even gotten off its feet it''s already pulling me in so many directions. I''m worrying about recruiting, about loyalty, about resources and moneyбн It''s diverting my attention so much at just this scale, what would happen on a larger scale?''

    Leonel shook his head.

    It was difficult to make a choice.

    In truth, he needed somewhat of a Kingdom just to fight for position during the Morales Heir Wars. Those individuals probably had far better connections than Leonel could even dream of right this moment.

    But, if he focused too much on this, his own power would be lacking when the time came.

    Ultimately, Leonel realized that he once again knew too little.

    When would the Heir Wars take place? What were the rules? Who was allowed to participate at his call and who wasn''t?

    If Leonel could just bring his mother and father with him to the Heir Wars, would he even need to worry about victory? If he could do something like that, why was he wasting so much time recruiting people?

    In that case, wouldn''t it be better to just focus on himself and a small group of elites? Then, when the time came, he could sic his dad''s foul mouth on all his enemies and lay back and relax.

    Though Leonel wasn''t exactly sure how powerful his parents were, he assumed they were pretty good. And, even though his dad would be against helping him at first, from what Leonel remembered of his mother in his memories, he only needed to ask her once and he would fall in line.

    Leonel might be against using the Morales and Luxnix family, but he had no qualms about relying on his own parents, even if he had to be a bit shameless about it.

    These sorts of thoughts were exactly what left Leonel at a bit of a loss. He realized that he was still too overeager and impatient. A dream like uniting the entire Dimensional Verse was maddening enough, and yet he was actually trying to speed run it at the same time.

    He needed to take a breath and calm down. There were more important things to consider.

    When Leonel reached this conclusion, he finally looked upward again, only to find Augustus looking back toward him with clenched fists and a gaze that was just a little bit too fiery.

    It was hard to tell if he wanted to tear Leonel limb from limb or kiss him passionately. The oddity was so striking that even Leonel''s own expression couldn''t help but turn weird. This Augustus was anбн interesting character?

    "I will follow you." Augustus suddenly said.

    Leonel blinked. It''s that easy?

    Leonel was stunned. He was used to things going wrong one way or another. Even his own organizations had turned on him more times than he could count by now. It was baffling that anyone would be so straightforward with him.

    In the end, though, he grinned.

    **

    An unknown amount of time later, Leonel appeared within the Segmented Cube, gasping for breath. His body was aching all over. Truthfully, he felt as though he had just ran ten marathons back to back to back. He really didn''t know what he would do without his Vital Star Force.

    ''There''s definitely even more potential in Camelot''s Magic System than just this tooбн'' Leonel''s mind wandered as he moved through the Cube.

    He eventually made his way to a large training field, just one of several. But, at this moment, it was a complete mess.

    Craters littered the ground, large amounts of Force hung in the air, making it difficult to breathe, and there were even the dull sounds of struggle still lingering in the air.

    Leonel stopped looking around to find the Head of the Umbra family pincered by Vice and Candle. He was on his knees, his hand raised up to his sides as though they had been nailed down, when in reality there was nothing there at all.

    However, the most intriguing part wasn''t any of this, but rather the little mink who took the Umbra Head''s hair as a nest to rest in.

    [Three more chapters coming later today]

 Chapter 1083 How?!

    Chapter 1083 How?!

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar suddenly shot up, springing off of Silam''s head and into Leonel''s arms.

    Leonel smiled lightly, chuckling at the little guy''s antics. Even after absorbing all of that blood, Little Blackstar appeared to be the exact same with no change to his size or his demeanor. But, Leonel had a feeling that this was all due to the Silver Tablet.

    A few days ago, Leonel realized that if the root of the Silver Tablet''s abilities was to break convention, then didn''t that mean it could also shorten the 13 months Little Blackstar needed down as well?

    But, Leonel realized then that he had underestimated the Silver Tablet a bit too much. Not only was it able to cut down the time to a mere fraction of a fraction of the original 13 month period, but it was also able to help Little Blackstar reach a state of perfect integration.

    What did this mean? It meant that the current Little Blackstar wasn''t a mutated beast. Even if the foremost experts of the Dimensional Verse examined the little guy now, they would conclude that he had been born with all the talent he currently had now. This sort of integration was far beyond what even the Segmented Cube could accomplish with its original 13 month span.

    This also made Leonel realize another important thing: If the Silver Tablet could do this for Little Blackstar, it meant that it could also do so for himself. His path toward upgrading his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor wasn''t as far away as he thought it was initially.

    Of course, it took Leonel giving up a lot of the resources he traded to the Eight Eye Branch to accomplish this, but it was more than worth it. Not only would Little Blackstar''s future be far brighter, but the little guy was now the bane of the Umbra family''s existence.

    The suppression Silam faced was twofold. Not only was his Shadow Fox Bloodline suppressed in the face of a stronger beast, but his Darkness affinity was practically useless.

    Then, on top of that, he actually had to face two Savants at the same time, one which could reflect all of his clearly weakened attacks and another that could lock him in place or make it near impossible to move with any sort of freedom.

    Just like that, maybe the most powerful Head after Belize fell.

    The most baffling part was that Leonel hardly raised a hand and ended up killing them both with ease. Even now, Silam could only shake his head.

    They knew from the beginning that Earth had a high chance of producing Savants, but their reports showed that there weren''t any. A high chance didn''t mean a guarantee, so they had moved forward with that reassurance.

    Little did they know that Earth had simply hidden it too well.

    When Terrain attack Dark Cloud Prison, they hadn''t done it with Savants in mind, they had only wanted to release talented people with a vendetta against Earth. They were even more clueless about it all than the Umbra and the other families were.

    The simple truth was that they had underestimated and looked down on Earth too much. Even to the final moment, he had actually jumped head first into a trap and delivered himself directly to Leonel. Toward such a thing, he could only feel embarrassed.

    "I don''t have anything to tell you, just kill me."

    Leonel almost couldn''t refrain from rolling his eyes.

    "Is this some sort of third rate movie? Can''t you say something more original than that?"

    Silam''s brow furrowed. Movie? What the hell was that? And why did he feel the sudden need to punch Leonel in the nose?

    "Killing you would probably give me the least trouble, but I have a small friendship with Radlis so I thought I would at least try to speak with you first."

    "We have nothing to speak about." Silam said coldly.

    "Oh? Nothing? So you don''t care about this little mink in my arms that could probably eradicate your entire family on his own just by virtue of his suppressive effect on you all?"

    Silam''s brow furrowed.

    "I think I would be fairly justified in going to your Umbra Galaxy and wreaking some havoc. After all, your people saw it fit to do that with Earth, right?"

    Silam remained silent, there was simply nothing to say. The two of them simply had vastly different perspectives on things and Silam didn''t feel that any one of them was wrong. He would just have to trust those who remained to find a way to survive.

    "Well, I could do that. Or, I could release you."

    Silam''s expression warped.

    If he could survive, he would very much like to. Who wouldn''t? But right now he just felt like Leonel was just playing with him.

    "Don''t be so quick to think I''m lying. In truth, I have dreams that are quite big and I''m trying to look into the future. A family like your Umbra family, already well versed in the art of assassination, would be greatly useful to me."

    "My Umbra family doesn''t work for others."

    "Mm, I know you don''t work for others. Ever since your split from the Three Finger Cult, right?"

    Silam''s expression changed violently, his gaze snapping up to meet Leonel''s.

    "How the hell do you know that?!"

    "Well, I didn''t. Until just now, anyway," Leonel smiled and shook his head. "Now look, your clichиж lines are rubbing off on me."

    "Youбн"

    Silam wasn''t a fool. He couldn''t be goaded into admitting such a thing. The issue was that there shouldn''t be anyone who could even take a guess at this to begin with. It was similar to someone being so shockingly and overly specific that it couldn''t possibly be that they weren''t already certain of the answer. The mere fact that Leonel had asked such a thing meant that he was already at least 90% sure of its possibility.

    The issue was obvious, thoughбн How the hell did Leonel know something like this?!

 Chapter 1084 Read

    Chapter 1084 Read

    Silam was stunned silent, but Leonel only continued to smile lightly.

    "Howбн How do you know this?"

    "It''s quite interesting actually, I was just flipping through the record of the Radixбк"

    "That''s impossible. There''s no way they would know something so sensitive or else they would have long since used it. With how precarious their situation against the Florer family has been, it''s impossible that they wouldn''t have used us to help clear them of their enemy."

    Silam was originally a man of few words, but for some reason he found himself spilling in Leonel''s presence. He ended up overcorrecting himself and speaking even more than he would have to usually. But, that didn''t change the fact that he was correct.

    The Florer family was too powerful and only seemed to steadily grow with every generation. Even with just half of the inheritance of the Silver Empire, the strength they displayed only grew more astounding with every successive generation. In fact, Silam had reason to believe that the strength they displayed now was just the tip of the iceberg. For whatever reason, the Florer family was very concerned with keeping a low profile.

    Yet, contrary to that, the Florer family also seemed to be in constant war with the Radix and Midas families. Just on the surface, one could see that there was some sort of secret grudge the two families shared. But, as for the details, neither the Umbra, Rain or any of the other surrounding families had been able to find the truth.

    This aside, Leonel stats were perfectly correct. Not only had the Florer won more than half the battles they fought with the Radix, even among the rest, the Radix and Midas still ended up losing all participants in 19% of cases. This was all to say that the Florer were slowly but surely winning the war.

    With the Radix and Midas slowly losing ground, if they had such a trump card, wouldn''t they have used it? It simply didn''t make much sense.

    "I couldn''t help but notice that you didn''t react much when I said the name Radlis." Leonel said lightly.

    Silam narrowed his gaze, but didn''t respond.

    "I found your response to be quite interesting, because make no mistake, I was watching intently. I thought that if I mentioned Radlis, there would at least be something. I wouldn''t call myself perfect, but if there''s one thing I have, it''s senses that are quite sharp.

    "However, when I mentioned Radlis, there was absolutely nothing. Your heartbeat was extraordinarily steady, your gaze was placid, and your temperature remained unchanged. It wasn''t until a split moment later when I mentioned potentially sparing you that you shifted and became cold, outright rejecting my proposal.

    "I found that reaction to be quite fascinating.

    "The odds of a family Head like yourself knowing a small figure like Radlis should probably be small. The exception would be if he was a member of your family, maybe your son or your grandson, or maybe if he was a great enough genius.

    "I thought that maybe since the like of Radlis, Libli and the others were sent as the vanguard, that they had quite high standings amongst your families. Yet, not once did any of your Heads ask for their wellbeing during our battle or any time before. It made me realize that to you all, these youths were probably a dime a dozen.

    "Reaching that conclusion, it should be quite obvious then why you didn''t react. After all, you don''t really know Radlis, isn''t it normal? But the answer to that question would actually be no.

    "The normal human reaction to hearing a name they weren''t quite familiar with would be inquisition, a bit of processing, memory retrievalбн Things of that sort. But your reaction was so benign that it was abnormal, don''t you think?"

    Silam''s gaze narrowed further. Even now, he was kneeling on the ground, his arms spread outward and nailed seemingly in thin air.

    "I found it odd, until I remembered the techniques of your Umbra family. From your records, you''re not only adept in the Dark Elemental Force, you''re excellent at concealment, you prefer short weapons or throwing weapons, your minds are resistant to mental probing and you''re immune to poisons.

    "Paint me a man who''s quite fond of his cliches, but isn''t that just the perfect character build of an assassin?

    "Your lack of a reaction was a trained response you''ve honed over the years, correct? It probably makes you impossible to read for most people."

    "It seems you''re not most people." Silam said coldly.

    Leonel chuckled. "Maybe not. But, I''m starting to think that I''m not quite normal to begin with. I scare myself sometimes. I wonder just how much of me is a fa?ade I put up to protect myselfбн And how much of that fa?ade is there to protect others."

    Silam''s pupils constricted. He felt an odd pressure coming from Leonel that made him feel suffocating.

    A deep fear welled up in his heart, sweat involuntarily pouring down his brows and spine. It felt for a moment that he was before a wild beast.

    Many people thought that the scariest thing about animals was their strength. Compared to humans, their teeth were sharper, their strikes were stronger, and their propensity for violence was far greater. But, as an assassin, Silam knew what truly scared most about animalsбн

    In a day, humans might interact with dozens to hundreds of their peers. In each one of these reactions, there are clearly learned and easily observable behaviors one can detect. We can sense when someone is uncomfortable, when they''re happy, when they''re sad, and when they might grow violentбн

    Knowing these things is what helps humans survive. Only by being able to read the intentions of those around you could you maneuver about the world properlyбн

    However, many humans couldn''t read animals. A normal man could never tell when a snake is happy, or sadбн or ready to lash out. Their faces were unreadable to the average person, and that was what was so fearsome about them.

    And right this momentбн Despite his years of experienceбн

    Silam couldn''t read Leonel at all.

 Chapter 1085 Perfect?

    Chapter 1085 Perfect?

    "Anyway," Leonel continued with a smile, "it''s obvious to me now that you clearly know of Radlis. Your trained lack of a response likely means that not only do you know him, but that he''s also important to you. It''s either that he''s related to you or that you sent him here to do something important. The answer is more than likely both.

    "What I''ve been baffled about for the longest time, though, is the fact that Radlis would come here and join Valiant Heart Mountain of all places. It never really made much sense to me. The only logical reason I could come up with was maybe that your Umbra family had taken a fancy to the Valiant Heart Mountain''s Valiant Pillars? That seemed to be an adequate enough reason. But, it simply came with too many holes.

    "With your family''s concealment abilities, wouldn''t it just be easier to sneak in and snatch the treasure for yourself? What would be the point in sending a young man like Radlis who, at the time, was merely in the Fourth Dimension? It seems quite counter intuitive and like a grand waste of time.

    "Then there was the fact that Radlis'' actions were quite odd in and of themselves.

    "During the first trial for new entries, his performance was good, but it wasn''t top tier. He didn''t manage to climb very high and was actually outclassed by a few others. Knowing his true talent now, he had clearly been holding back to quite a large extent.

    "After Radlis entered the organization, he seemed to be quite aimless as well, doing nothing much other than chasing girls. There was even a point he joined a Crafter''s Guild despite the fact he wasn''t a Crafter in the slightest.

    "By all measures, it seemed like he wasn''t doing much at all. Or, maybe that he was rather waiting for somethingбн

    "And that was when the selections rolled around. I missed Radlis'' performance due to someбн reasonsбн"

    Leonel almost couldn''t stop himself from smiling as he remember the ''reason'' he missed Radlis'' battle was because he was having his own ''battle'' with Aina. But, that was neither here nor there.

    "бн But to my surprise, he actually managed to gain one of the slots to enter the Valiant Heart Zone. To think, he had gone from not even being the best among the freshmen recruits, to suddenly claiming a place among the seniors. Quite baffling, don''t you think?

    "However, you could say that I didn''t really have the mind to care about such things. His purpose had nothing to do with me and I was still busy chasing skirts. But, that didn''t change the fact that he surprised me once again by actually being among the few to survive the entire two year period.

    "At this point, though, I didn''t really have much of anything," Leonel shrugged. "I had a suspicious person, but nothing to show for it."

    Of course, Leonel was lying through his teeth. Even back then, he had already connected Radlis'' appearance to the odd ring he had found that day in the mining tunnels and his eventual run-in with the Silver Tablet in the Valiant Zone.

    The issue was that he had no real proof. There was no way of him confirming or denying such a thing and it merely seemed like two coincidences coinciding with one another.

    However, Leonel had already decided that he would be releasing Silam after today. Once he did, too many things would be out of his control. So, the less Silam knew, the better. In that case, it was in Leonel''s best interest to manipulate the truth behind his deductions a bit and mix in some lies with the truth. Even before a veteran assassin like Silam, Leonel had no fear about blatantly lying to his face, nor did such a proposition make him nervous.

    "At least, I had nothing to show for it until I read a curious report the Radix had gathered on this galaxy''s Valynore family."

    Silam''s jaw clenched. But even if he wanted to move, he couldn''t do so.

    "The Valynore family is quite interesting. According to the people of the Milky Way, they are one of the three most powerful families of Planet Crars. I''ve met one of their members before, actually. In fact, she insulted a woman that I quite like the first time she met her. Her name is Balthorn Valynore.

    "Interestingly enough, when Radlis met her, he was quite enamoured by this Balthorn character as well. Of course, Radlis is quite the pervert, he reminds me a lot of my brother Gil, so it seemed to be quite in character for him. After all, Balthorn was quite voluptuous and she wasn''t shy about showing off her assets.

    "But, finding a report on the Valynore family within the Radix family''s records triggered another memory for me.

    "During the freshman trial, there was a battle for golden tags, in which I participated. At one point in that battle, dozens of individuals managed to sneak up on me without a single sound, not even alerting me.

    "You may not understand how shocking this is, but I certainly did. Back then, I had already awakened the Wisdom Branch of my Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, so my mind was in the Fifth Dimension. A Fourth Dimensional existence being capable of dodging my detection was quite baffling.

    "Back then, I brushed it off quite easily. I was ignorant and felt it would be ridiculous if there was absolutely nothing that could make me falter. But, as I learned more about the Dimensional Verse and where I stood within it, I realized more and more how baffling the situation from back then had been."

    Silam''s brow furrowed. Leonel mentioned the Snowy Owl was shocking enough for him, but the rest of this...?

    "Patience, patience. I know you don''t quite understand what the point of me telling you all this is, but I promise it all ties in together.

    "When that group surrounded me and my then partner, I noticed that there was one individual among them that I recognized. In fact, despite her inconspicuous appearance among them, my intuition told me that she was the impetus behind it all.

    "Do you know who she was?

    "Her name was Henorin. And she happened to be the little maid servant by Balthorn''s side, the very same Balthorn your Radlis was enamoured withбн

    "Such a powerful concealment type ability, one capable of fooling a Fifth Dimensional mind while in the Fourth Dimensionбн

    "Sounds quite perfect for an assassin, now isn''t it?"

 Chapter 1086 Three Finger Cult

    Chapter 1086 Three Finger Cult

    Silam''s breathing became uneven and his pupils couldn''t seem to constrict any more. Each and every one of Leonel''s words seemed perfectly measured and dialed in, every syllable controlling the beating of his heart. He couldn''t seem to control his body anywhere near as easily as he had done in the past.

    "It all felt quite disconnected and disjointed to me.

    "The Crars, as you can see by how easily Earth handled them in this war, are quite weak. Despite being a ''powerhouse'' of this quadrant, the only advantage they really have are numbers. But, many of their territorial planets are still within the Fourth Dimension while their Fifth Dimensional existences simply didn''t have the talent to match up to us.

    "But, I couldn''t help but notice that despite the fact Balthorn and her elder brother were among the greatest talents Crars had to offer, I didn''t catch even a glimpse of them during this war. In fact, there wasn''t a hint of the Valynore family, at least not on a scale that would make sense for one of the supposed three most powerful families of Crars. Soбн I became intrigued.

    "That was when the Radix family''s records fell onto my lap. I guess I really have to thank your five Heads for trying to deal with us like you had, or else I would have never gotten the information I needed to end all of this so quickly.

    "You might not understand where I''m coming from, so I can explain it.

    "When the Radix began their preparation for storming the Milky Way Galaxy, they did multiple risk assessments. They were quite well aware that there were many supremely powerful entities eyeing Earth and they were also aware that it was impossible that these supreme powers wouldn''t have made any moves yet.

    "It was easier to believe that those powers were simply still lying low, waiting for an opportune time to strike. In that case, they had probably sunk their roots deep into well established families. In fact, it might be possible that the reason some of these families and organizations grew powerful in the first place was due to the puppet strings of these hidden powers.

    "So, the Radix did a risk assessment. They began an analysis of all the powers of the Milky Way, big and small, all for the sake of drawing lines around which toes they shouldn''t step on.

    "But once again, much like your reaction to Radlis, the Crars passed with flying colors and were designated as no risk at all. Quite baffling, don''t you think? I thought it was baffling too, until one of Earth''s geniuses with a mind reading ability tried to look into the memories of two Prince''s we had captured, Dee and Dre."

    Silam froze, but Leonel''s next words made him shudder. No, it was more accurate to say that his laughter did exactly that. He felt like he was being toyed with.

    "Once again there was nothing. Their memories were frighteningly clean. Everything about them was completely orderly, not a thing out of place, not a step out of line.

    "At this point, my theories were running on fumes. I have no information on anything, no proof of anything, I only have a few anecdotal experiences. But that was when something interesting happened to me."

    Leonel smiled lightly, scratching the back of Little Blackstar''s ear. The little one seemed to like that very much, yawning and sticking out his little pink tongue as though he might fall asleep at any point now.

    "You can probably tell by my demeanor that I don''t really like leaving loose ends and that I might be meticulous to a fault.

    "Well, a few weeks back, I had a battle with the Evergreen Religion. They were among the first to set foot on Earth, but we made quick work of them. Unfortunately, one of them managed to escape and this escape had been nagging at me for a very long time already.

    "Luckily, thanks to the Radix family''s risk assessment analysis, the Evergreen Religion''s main Shrine had been marked as a warning zone. Now, I finally knew where this last enemy had likely escaped to so I went to scout out the situation and hopefully snub any subsequent planned attack before it could even take form.

    "But you''d be surprised to know that not only did I find not a single soul at the shrine, all that was left was a pungent smell of roses and blood. It was the kind of strong scent that could make one either pass out or throw up, but there was a very select few that could bask in it without worries, wearing it as a light fragrance."

    Silam trembled fiercely. Even Vice''s spatial lock couldn''t seem to stop the innate physiological reaction.

    "Ah, it seems that you''re getting it now, hm? You''re better than I was back then, because I was baffled. No matter how ignorant I was, I could tell that something very bad happened to this Shrine, but I had no way of knowing exactly what that wasбн Until I cheated a little bit."

    Leonel flipped his palm over to reveal a small silver disk.

    "I have to say that my father rarely gets serious about anything. He''s the kind of man that can turn even his own son''s heartbreak into a joke. However, the moment I set the analysis of the little silver disk on that scene just a few days ago, I saw my father get serious for just the third time in my life."

    A recording flickered and it replayed the image of Leonel''s father staring off into the distance in somewhat of a daze. It was clear that when this original clip played, he would have been staring into the Shrine of the Evergreen Goddess.

    << "бн You ran into this sooner than I thought you would, brat. Remember this scene well, but remember this name even moreбн The Three Finger Cultбн It''s they who are responsible for your grandfather''s deathбн" >>

 Chapter 1087 What Do You Think?

    Chapter 1087 What Do You Think?

    Leonel''s palm flipped and the rest of the message was cut short.

    "You see, I''m not a very sentimental person. It''s very easy for me to not care about things, even if I once cared for them in the past. There are very few things in life that can weigh me without very concrete stipulations being met... Howeverбн"

    Leonel''s expression darkened, the aura around him growing several levels heavier. It felt to Silam as though he was within a whirlwind of murderous intent, his heart threatening to leap out from his throat.

    "бн My father is a man who exists beyond those stipulations for me. His rage, is my rage. His sadness, is my sadness. His love, is my love.

    "To dare to touch my grandfather, a man my father so clearly cares so deeply forбн I sentenced this Three Finger Cult to death the moment I heard its name."

    Silam''s gaze rolled back, his consciousness almost passing out completely. However, before his mind could go completely blank, Leonel''s rage receded like a tide, leaving Silam like a small boat swaying in the wind.

    "бн With this new information my father brought me, finding the traces of the Three Finger Cult was far easier than it was before and it wasn''t long before I realized that as clean as the Valynore family was, they weren''t nearly clean enough to escape my deduction.

    "The trouble was I had all these loose ends that had yet to be tied together. I had ultimately lucked out in stumbling upon the conclusion, but the road leading to it was still fuzzy and couldn''t be quite pieced togetherбн Until, that is, I learned that the Three Finger Cult had a Shadow Fox Bloodline within its ranksбн Sorry, I mean the Shadow Tail Bloodline, right?"

    Silam couldn''t even meet Leonel''s gaze any longer.

    Yes, it was true that they had changed the name of their Bloodline from Shadow Tail to Shadow Fox. The truth was that their Lineage Factor had nothing to do with foxes at all. As for the true nature, even Silam didn''t know. This was a truth kept stored away so that the Umbra family would be able to continue hiding away.

    Of course, Silam didn''t know that Leonel was lying through his teeth.

    What truly connected all of this for Leonel was actually Senior Lu, the very same poor sap Aina had killed and Leonel had ultimately gotten the ring that led him to the Silver Tablet from.

    When Leonel originally investigated Senior Lu, he didn''t find anything special. He was a normal youth and didn''t have anything special about him. The only thing of slightest interest was thatбн

    He was from Crars!

    Just like this, everything was pieced together. Why would the Three Finger Cult infiltrate the Crars Empire of all powers they could have chosen if not for this reason?

    Everything began to tie in one after another once this was understood.

    After managing to hide away from the Three Finger Cult for so long, the Umbra family definitely had their methods of detecting and avoiding their capture. However, it would also be the case that the Umbra would likely feel that they couldn''t simply hide away forever.

    In this way, the Umbra family was a lot like the Florer family. They were more powerful than they showed on the surface, but they had to continue to maintain a low profile. And, in the case of the Umbra, the only way they could guarantee their survival was by rising up to one day matching the strength of the Cult they left behind.

    Doing so by normal means was impossible. Leonel didn''t quite know just how powerful the Three Finger Cult was, but if it could kill his grandfather and make his father so serious, there was no doubt that he needed to treat it with the utmost respect as well.

    It was likely, then, that before separating from this Cult for whatever reason, the Umbra family caught wind of some of its plans and chose to get a step ahead of them. With how powerful the Silver Tablet was, Leonel had no doubt that in the hands of a powerful family, it could cause a qualitative change in their strength given just a single generation.

    Putting this into perspective, it was no wonder the Umbra would be willing to take this risk. Unfortunately for both parties, the ring landed in Leonel''s hand and not theirs.

    If things were reverse engineered from Leonel''s perspective, he was able to deduce the connection between the Umbra and the Cult by virtue of Radlis'' reactions.

    Radlis'' appearance couldn''t have been a coincidence, that was the first flag. Him being so interested in Balthorn was a second flag, it smelled of keeping friends close and enemies closer. Then him finding a way to enter the Valiant Zone despite it exposing his true talent was the third.

    In the end, there were only two conclusions: either the Umbra family was a rival of the Cult, aiming for the same goal, or they were a piece that had broken off from them that just happened to share the same knowledge on this particular mission.

    Considering how weak the Umbra family was on the surface, the first option was highly unlikely considering this was a Cult Leonel''s own father took seriously. In the end, that just left the second deduction.

    However, Silam didn''t need to know the truth behind how Leonel made these deductions. Any ''holes'' in this new chain of reasoning Leonel was presenting could be explained away by saying ''the silver disk told him''бн

    "бн So now, as you can see, Head Umbra, we share the same goal. You need to grow stronger to face the inevitable day the Cult finds you, while I want to burn them all to ash. We stand on the same side, don''t you think?"

    Leonel''s smile remained, but all Silam could seem to see was a devil in sheep''s clothing.

    "With all of that out of the way, I''ll ask you again. What do you think about me releasing you now?"

 Chapter 1088 A Chance

    Chapter 1088 A Chance

    Time passed and it wasn''t long before Leonel was all alone within the Segmented Cube. Well, alone if Vice, Candle and Little Blackstar were ignored. As for Silam, he had left after recollecting himself, realizing that he and his family didn''t quite have much of a choice in the matter.

    Life worked in quite mysterious ways, honestly. Leonel had initially wanted to target the Radix and Midas families in order to complete the Silver Empire''s legacy, but he actually ended up gaining the Umbra family instead.

    Of course, it was a chess piece that he couldn''t use quite yet, but it was one nonetheless. Having them would make thingsбн Interesting.

    As of right this moment, though, Leonel wasn''t really concerned about such matters. Even now, with how real everything had suddenly gotten, it felt like a distant future. Instead, he was spending some time with Little Blackstar, trying to figure out exactly how the little guy had changed.

    Raising the little mink by his arm pits, Leonel looked into Blackstar''s deep black eyes. The little mink''s long whiskers twitched as though to show his dissatisfaction toward being treated like a baby. Toward this, Leonel could only laugh.

    "You''re only three or four years old this year, right? You are a baby."

    "Yip!!" Little Blackstar protested. "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel, who could feel Blackstar''s meaning through their connection, almost choked on air. Did he gain another little pervert for his group? Why was this little guy saying such vulgar things.

    "Look at you, being so boastful. What are you so proud about? The both of us are virgins."

    "YIP!" Blackstar tried to claw at Leonel''s face, but he only burst into a fit of laughter.

    Leonel was quite surprised at the little guy''s strength, though. It was only a casual swipe of the paw yet the wind pressure made Leonel''s face sting a little bit.

    For Leonel to even feel anything he didn''t want to feel was a tall task considering his body had been forcefully raised to Tier 9 recently, let alone for him to feel pain. Yet, not only had Little Blackstar done exactly that, the little mink hadn''t even tried very hard.

    With a single look, Leonel could tell that Little Blackstar''s Dimensional grade hadn''t budged a single inch. The little guy was still in the first tier of the Fifth Dimension. And yet, his power had actually undergone such a qualitative change.

    Leonel''s smile beamed. He would have to remember to thank Kira when they met again. He had a feeling that they most definitely would at some point.

    Little Blackstar hopped up to his favorite perch atop Leonel''s head as Leonel himself turned toward Vice and Candle.

    "Thank you two for helping me out."

    Candle immediately turned flustered. Someone without context might think she was a girl in love, but Leonel knew enough to understand that Candle''s mind hadn''t even matured enough to give breath to such emotion. She was functionally still a child, as was Vice.

    In truth, the more time he spent with them, the more guilty he felt treating them like he did.

    Ultimately, no matter what predispositions the two had, they were still human. Locking them away and rearing them like cattle while only releasing them when they were useful to himбн It truly didn''t sit well with Leonel.

    Leonel sighed.

    If he released the reins on them, their power would grow far too quickly.

    Leonel took a deep breath and looked up into the skies. Finally, he made a decision.

    "I''ve treated the two of you poorly. You may not understand enough about the world to understand this, but the fact that I know it is enough. I hope to treat you both the same as I do my brothers. I will trust you two so long as you don''t give me a reason to doubt you."

    Candle and Vice both blinked, clearly not quite understanding Leonel''s words. Even concepts like freedom and free will were foreign to them, let alone terms like family and ''brother''.

    However, Leonel had expected as much and chose to take things slowly.

    He realized at that momentбн If he wanted to unite the Dimensional Verse, was he just going to avoid all the Savants to ever be born? There were most definitely powers out there that used Savants like their own hidden trump cards, would he just have to leave those powers alone?

    Of course not.

    Was he willing to give up his dream then? After all, how could a normal human possibly defeat a Savantбн?

    But the answer was the same: Of course not.

    In that case, why was he so scared of the two Savants by his side? If he couldn''t out pace their growth, if he couldn''t subdue them with his own strength, what right did he even have to think of conquering the Dimensional Verse?

    Having made such a decision, Leonel suddenly felt lighter. His King''s Might involuntarily wafted out from him, growing thicker as the color of his pale violet irises deepened before cooling back down to their original shade.

    Without much hesitation, Leonel reached out into thin air, causing a snowglobe to appear in his hands. With a thought, Monkey''s body appeared in the training arena, blood beginning to ceaselessly pool out from his wounds.

    The expressions of Candle and Vice changed. They both remembered this man, though his face was greatly disfigured at the moment. However, before they could understand what it was Leonel was trying to do, Monkey''s vocal cords finally healed back into place.

    The moment they did, an enraged roar shook the Segmented Cube, causing Leonel to shake his head and sigh. He had wanted to give Monkey a chance at the same deal Vice and Candle gained as well, but it seemed that this wouldn''t be possible.

    ''I will still give it a shot.''

    Leonel''s oppressive aura bore down, locking onto Monkey''s every action, however the latter had seemingly grown feral. Before Leonel could understand what was happening, his expression warped.

 Chapter 1089 Hm?

    Chapter 1089 Hm?

    Monkey began to wither away, his roars growing fainter.

    Leonel was stunned as he reached forward, but everything happened too quickly. Soon, what was left of Monkey became nothing more than a pile of ash, leaving Leonel absolutely baffled.

    ''What the hell just happen here?''

    Little Blackstar jumped into action without waiting for Leonel''s command, snagging a shadow out of the air before returning. However, Leonel hardly registered the little guy''s actions.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed tightly, his emotions whirling about and his mind in a fog. He had truly wanted to give Monkey a chance and it was most definitely not his own action that caused the latter to end up like that.

    Leonel hadn''t been shocked that Monkey was roaring in rage, it made sense. The last time they met, he was battling Leonel. If Leonel blamed him for this, it wouldn''t have been fair, that was why Leonel was still willing to try and calm him down first.

    But reality was both cruel and unexpected. Leonel had no idea what could have happened to cause this, but he was left completely in shock, unable to speak a single word for a long while.

    The reason for this was simpleбн For the first time in his life, he had no explanation for what was before him. There was no spark in his Dreamscape, no small clue he could grasp on, no immaculate, god level deduction to makeбн

    There was simply nothing.

    The snowglobe should have preserved Monkey in an absolutely perfect state. The only plausible explanation seemed to be that Monkey had run to the end of his ability and didn''t have anymore strength to duplicate his cells and heal himself anymore, but the snowglobe should have frozen that process entirely.

    That left only one possibility: Whatever caused this had to have happened before Leonel put Monkey in the snowglobe. But, this possibility seemed even more impossible than the first.

    After several minutes, Leonel couldn''t find a reason nor could he find any clues. Without a choice, he closed his eyes, sighing deeply.

    Someone was toying with him. And he didn''t like it one bit.

    **

    "This is it, Leo? This thing is disgusting."

    Allan, aside from being obsessed with a physique he hid beneath baggy clothes, was also the well known clean freak of the group. Seeing the disgusting tentacle womb before him, despite the fact it was behind a thick wall of glass, he still couldn''t'' help but gag as though he could smell it from here.

    Leonel chuckled. "It''s pretty useless the way it is now, but it has potential."

    "You''re thinking of using that hell spore on it, huh?"

    "I actually don''t know quite yet. Remember Little Blackstar''s ability? I have something much better for it to absorb nowбн"

    Allan blinked before he nodded in understanding.

    "Then you want me toбн?"

    "You''re probably the only one who''s smart enough to manage this. If I leave it to the others, I''ll probably find this thing dead by the time I return."

    "Are you calling me dumb, Cap? Where''s the worker''s union? I want to propose a strike!" Franco yelled out in indignation.

    Allan, however, seemed to hear something completely different.

    "You''re leaving?"

    "Nope." Leonel shook his head. "I actually plan on managing the tentacle womb myself. It''s just that I''ve realized that I''ve left you all in the dark about too many things until now. In fact, you all don''t even know what my goal is, even though you likely know me well enough to have guessed by now."

    Leonel suddenly felt a strong arm envelop his shoulder. He looked to the side and up to find Raj''s big faced grin looking back at him.

    "Tell us, Cap. How much of it are we conquering?"

    Leonel saw eight pairs of eyes looking back at him, each one with their own level of fervor. He couldn''t help but grin himself. As expected, it seemed like he didn''t have to say a single word.

    "All of it."

    **

    Leonel strolled through the Imperial Capital, his steps not very hurried as he looked around. This was probably the first time he came while also having the time to leisurely stroll around.

    The war couldn''t technically be considered over as there were still several skirmishes still ongoing on the border of Earth''s territory. But, from what it looked like, it didn''t seem that they would be ending any time soon. Those individuals wouldn''t stop until Earth simply grew too powerful for them to even dare. But, with the current state of things, it would definitely take some time before they got there.

    Leonel eventually made it to the Imperial Palace and the guards were still as stiff as they always were. But, Leonel just ignored them as he usually did. The difference was that this time, none of them reached out to stop him.

    At the large, arching doorways, Leonel''s uncle Galaeron already stood waiting, still wearing his spectacles as always. This man always seemed to be quite rigid.

    "You''re on time." Galaeron spoke.

    Though his voice was quite even, he seemed to have been trying to convey surprise. Clearly he didn''t expect this out of Leonel.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Punctuality is the foundation of any man."

    Galaeron''s brows shot up this time. He looked toward Leonel deeply, a hint of something else in his eye.

    "I heard that you''re on better terms with my son?"

    Leonel grinned. "Are you scared I''ll steal him away from the Empire?"

    "Cheekyбн" Galaeron stopped himself, realizing he was sinking into Leonel''s rhythm. This was something that usually only happened to him when he spoke with his father orбн When he spoke with his brother-in-law. To thinkбн

    Galaeron shook his head. "Come with me."

    Soon, the pair had entered a familiar garden and Leonel laid eyes on a man who was now much younger than he remembered him. But, he didn''t think much of it. There were probably odd twists and turns around this that he wasn''t quite aware of and didn''t quite matter for now.

    Emperor Fawkes opened his eyes and looked Leonel up and down. The two remained in silence for a long while before he spoke.

    "Not bad."

    "You''re not bad either." Leonel replied. "Too bad you''re a mass murderer."

    Galaeron''s brow furrowed, but Emperor Fawkes just laughed.

    "I have a feeling that the blood on your hands will be much denser than mine when all is said and done. That is the difference between a King and an Emperor. You can''t escape that reality."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he remained silent.

    "This aside, your mother has contacted me."

    "Hm?"

    "She''s waiting for you and Noah on Planet Luxnix. Feel free to go over whenever. I have to say, I''m quite eager to watch this play out."

 Chapter 1090 Satisfaction

    Chapter 1090 Satisfaction

    Leonel didn''t react immediately to this news. On the inside, he was quite excited to see his mother. But, on the other hand, he had several questions he wanted to know the answer of first.

    The first and most obvious was why his mother had left him in the first place. There were too many things about his family dynamics that he couldn''t quite grasp.

    First there was the oddity of the fact he hadn''t even known Emperor Fawkes was his grandfather until just a few years ago. Of course, Leonel knew that that was somewhat related to his status as someone who should have been imprisoned in Dark Cloud Prison, but that only made things more confusing to him.

    Was he really such a menace to society? Just how accurate was that test if it could only possibly read a fraction of his real DNA?

    But then there was the question of just how Earth''s Empire had become tied to one of the three leading families of this Sector. How had his grandfather even met his grandmother to begin with? How had their relationship even taken root?

    His grandfather was maybe the greatest mystery of all of this.

    On first inspection, he seemed to be weak. After all, he had gotten old.

    From what Leonel knew, there had only ever been one Emperor of the Ascension Empire, and that was this man before him. Thanks to Earth''s technology, or what seemed like it, he had been able to live for more than 200 years, making it to the 25th century.

    However, things didn''t really add up. He had enough strength to slap a Fifth Dimensional existence like Scithe to death years ago, yet he couldn''t maintain his youth?

    Several small inconsistencies like these made Leonel shake his head. Practically, a weak man would never be able to win over a woman from a Sixth Dimensional family. Unlessбн

    Leonel looked his grandfather up and down.

    "Are you a drafted son-in-law?"

    Galaeron choked on air. He bent over, gasping and wheezing.

    A drafted son-in-law was probably the most humiliating position a man could be in. It was a situation where instead of a wife marrying into her husband''s family and sharing his family name, the vice versa occurred. In this case, the man would take on the wife''s family name and become a part of her family.

    Traditionally speaking, it was always the son''s duty to carry on the family name while it was the daughters duty to birth the lineage of the man she married. Even with how progressive 25th century Earth had become, this was still the default order of things.

    To insinuate the Emperor of Earth was a drafted son-in-law was an insult probably only short of saying the Ascension Empire would fall. Even the guards hidden in the surroundings, tasked with protecting Emperor Fawkes'' safety couldn''t help but falter.

    Leonel, though, felt that it was plausible.

    Maybe the Luxnix wanted a piece of Earth but couldn''t get it through normal means due to various reasons. This could have been a compromise between them and Emperor Fawkes. Who knows, maybe it''s because of the secret help of the Luxnix that his grandfather was able to rise to power.

    On top of this, the help of the Luxnix would become very important, very soon. As quickly as Earth had managed to enter the Fifth Dimension, they would likely speed run into the Sixth as well. In that sort of situation, without the backing of a well established and powerful Sixth Dimensional power, Earth''s luck would finally run out.

    The higher the Dimension, the harder it was for ''talent'' to bridge the gap. If his grandfather made such a ''sacrifice'', it would seem like truly the most logical decision.

    For the first time, Emperor Fawkes was truly speechless. He gazed at Leonel as though trying to gauge something, but in the end he just shook his head.

    "I would teach you a lesson for that mouth of yours, but then your mother would start nagging me again." Emperor Fawkes continued to shake his head. "I planned to tell you some things, but since you want to be so cheeky, how about you go find out for yourself?"

    Leonel''s placid expression spread into a smile.

    "Sure, but where are my rewards?"

    "Rewards?" Emperor Fawkes smoothed out his immaculately sculpted beard. "For what, exactly?"

    Now it was Leonel''s turn to be speechless. Did one have to be thick skinned to be an Emperor?

    "Hey, uncle. Are you hearing this?"

    Galaeron, who was still choking on his own air, coughed lightly, straightening out his back. His eyes flickered as he remembered Leonel''s teasing words from earlier.

    "Hear what?" He asked with as straight a face as possible.

    "Ah, I see how is. I guess I''ll just have to tell the whole of Earth just how ungrateful Emperor Fawkes is. I''m currently a hero of heroes, I''m sure there''ll be plenty of people willing to heed my call."

    Leonel cleared his voice as though he would truly begin to opine on his hardships.

    Both Emperor Fawkes and Galaeron remained silent, light smiles tugging at their lips. It was clear that they weren''t afraid of Leonel in the slightest. Plus, it wasn''t as if anyone would hear anything even if he began shouting here. This was the Emperor''s private garden, as if sound could casually travel outward.

    Seeing their lack of a reaction, Leonel realized that his tactic wouldn''t work, at least not as presently constructed.

    "Oh, I see, I see. Got it." Leonel''s smile became thinner. "I guess when I see my mother for the first time in over a decade, and her heart is overflowing with warmth and the motherly instinct to protect, I''ll just have to let her know that her father and her brother have taken advantage of her son.

    "While her precious baby was on the frontlines, putting his life on the line. They were resting in a cozy palace, doingбк"

    **

    Moments later, Leonel walked out of the Palace with a wide grin on his face, tossing a 12 sided star pendant up and down, his visage the picture of satisfaction.

    [Just one more chapter coming for today]

 Chapter 1091 Losses

    Chapter 1091 Losses

    "Imperial Father, youбн"

    Galaeron looked toward where Leonel had vanished with a complicated look in his eye. This pair of grandson and grandfather really didn''t like to take any losses. At this moment, he actually felt a little bit bad for Leonel.

    If things had gone normally, Leonel might have still gotten a little something out of them. But thisбн It was a little bit much.

    Emperor Fawkes, after making sure that Leonel was gone, burst into a fit of laughter. He laughed harder than he had in a very long time, what remained of his wrinkles seemingly fading away with every peal of laughter.

    It took several moment for him to calm down, his move having been lifted by several levels.

    "Who asked that brat to be so cheeky? Since he wanted a reward, I gave him a reward."

    "Butбн"

    Galaeron''s gaze flickered.

    The ''reward'' Leonel had gotten was a pendant of the Luxnix family. It was one you received for granting a great service to the family and held just as much, if not more, weight that the Imperial Pendant Leonel had received from his grandfather in the past.

    The difference here was that one granted you the favor of a world like Earth that was ultimately still weak. However, the other granted you the favor of a family at the very pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension. Ultimately, the vaults of the latter were far more valuableбн At least on the surface, anyway.

    The Star Pendant, when exchanged with the Luxnix family, would give one the ability to freely pick out a treasure from the Luxnix family treasury. The ability to pick out a single reward might seem stingy, but the truth was exactly very much the opposite of this.

    As one of the three most powerful families of the Sector, the treasures the Luxnix had monopolized were beyond one''s wildest imaginations, at least from the lens of a Fifth Dimensional world and below. Even in the eyes of many Sixth Dimensional existences as well.

    Butбн It was exactly because of this that the Snowy Star Pendant was more like a ticking timebomb than a reward. It only made it worse that the reward was originally given to Emperor Fawkes to begin with.

    Emperor Fawkes was dying of laughter because he could already imagine Leonel''s face when he realized that his reward wouldn''t be so easy to cash in.

    "What are you so worried about? Alienor is there."

    It was only after hearing this that Galaeron realized that things would be alright and it allowed him to settle down the weight on his heart. It seemed that he had long since given up on his own mother''s backbone. Only in this way could he feel that his son would be safe.

    As for Leonel, that cheeky brat could use a few beatings.

    However, there was one things still weighing on Galaeron.

    "Imperial Fatherбн The service you rendered to earn that pendantбн"

    Emperor Fawkes waved a hand. "I don''t need a single thing from that family. They can consider themselves lucky that I haven''t razed them to the ground yet."

    Galaeron fell into silence as Emperor Fawkes closed his eyes.

    A gentle wind passed by, washing the weight of their words away.

    **

    Leonel had no idea that his grandfather had still had a trick up his sleeve. Currently, he was still blind about a lot of things and wasn''t even aware, just yet, that the Luxnix family estate was potentially hostile ground.

    Oblivious, Leonel rounded up his brothers and contacted Noah. It wasn''t long before the group of them had set off to a journey across the stars.

    In a somewhat unexpected twist, Leonel ended up taking more people along than he thought would be involved to begin with. It wasn''t just Noah, but he also brought along Jessica. Along with the two of them, several other talents of Earth including the people of the Moon followed along as well. In fact, there was even Arthur''s son, Lionus.

    It hadn''t been long since Leonel saw Lionus as they had fought together on EarthX1, but in an odd twist of fate Leonel ended up being closer to Lionus'' father and his big sister by several decades than he was to Lionus himself despite their ages being so close. The world worked in odd ways, indeed.

    Seeing so many people, Leonel realized that he was definitely missing a large piece of this story. Whatever was going on at Planet Luxnix was definitely far more important than it seemed. He thought he was just going to see his motherбн But things clearly weren''t so simple.

    Still, Leonel welcomed them all with open arms. Since they were headed to a Sixth Dimensional world, there would definitely be a lot of chances to grow stronger. Why wouldn''t he want the people of Earth to benefit from this?

    After learning about the Three Finger Cult, Leonel realized that there were far more claws sunk into not just the Milky Way, but the Dimensional Verse as a whole. None of them had the luxury of growing up slowly.

    бн

    As was natural, the men and women split and the rowdiness of Leonel''s brothers came into full effect. Noah, who was clearly not used to such situation, stood out like a sore thumb.

    "бн No, really. I was a fan." Karolus tried to hide a bit of his embarrassment. "It''s just that we didn''t tend toward playing football on the Moon because our bones are more fragile than yours. We were too prone to injury. So I could only watch."

    Milan burst into a fit of laughter. "You hear that, Cap?! I have a fanboy!"

    "Who''s a fan of you? I''ve never heard of someone tripping over themselves to praise a position as boring as yours!" Raj snapped. "Clearly he''s infatuated with my elegant blocking."

    "Piss off. There''s nothing elegant about people crashing into that jiggling stomach of yours."

    "It''s called insulation, you uncultured swine. In the eyes of mother nature, I have an evolutionary advantage over you. Good luck in the long, cold winters!"

    The rowdiness of the group only grew as the days passed. Not long later, the rotating orbit of three planets that couldn''t have been more different from one another appeared before them.

    However, it was difficult to enjoy the beautiful sights at all because the densely packed starways of spaceships clogged up the view.

    "What the fuck?" Raj exclaimed. "There''s traffic in space too?"

 Chapter 1092 Go

    Chapter 1092 Go

    The sight was a bit overwhelming.

    To many of the youths here, the wider Dimensional Verse was still new to them. Back on Earth, before the Metamorphosis, though technology had been very high level, space exploration was still something that had numerous sanctions and holds. Something like seeing a large army of spaceships was beyond their scope of experiences.

    It only made things worse that of all the galaxies in this Sector, the Milky Way was practically considered to be bumpkin country. There were many planets, worlds and organizations that remained fairly restricted and rarely allowed inter-planetary travel. The population of space craft owners was a small enough percentage of the larger picture that this was the very first time any of them had seen such a scene, including Leonel.

    This being the first time they were in such a situation, even Leonel felt at a loss for a moment. But, after quickly analyzing the situation, he grasped a general understanding.

    The starways were essentially just motes of light that guided the space crafts toward their destinations. It was hard to tell exactly which to choose not because Leonel couldn''t tell which roads went where, but rather because each of the planets had hundreds of starways to choose from.

    The trouble was that Leonel only knew which of the three planets was Planet Luxnix, he didn''t really have any other information. Without a choice, he could only pick out a random starway and follow it, falling into line along with everyone else.

    While the Segmented Cube was in a state of cruising, it was no issue for everyone to be within the same region. Leonel, who was still monitoring the overall situation, almost didn''t notice that after Raj''s initial outburst, the atmosphere had become quite silent.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel took his gaze away from the starway and swept it over everyone. At the moment, they were all in a dining room of the Abode Setting, supposed to be enjoying a cross of the beautiful scenery of space, comradery and the food spread. However, instead of this, many of them had furrowed brows.

    Some had more serious expressions than others, and some were clearly more comfortable, but there was no doubt that the vast majority seemed to be going through an adjustment period. The only one who didn''t seem affected at all was Leonel''s cousin, Noah. But, then again, his face was always that serious so it was hard to tell.

    It was only then that Leonel remembered that they had just stepped through a Fifth Dimensional Fold to enter a Sixth Dimensional one. At the same time, the pressure here was far beyond any normal Sixth Dimensional Fold of Reality. If it was normal, why would three such powerful families be forced to share it together?

    Logic dictated that they had probably warred over this region in the past and ended up settling for ruling over it together when neither could get an upper hand. As such, it wasn''t a large leap to believe that this was the most beneficial location of this Sector to all three families.

    Seeing through the issue, Leonel chose to slow the Segmented Cube even further, allowing everyone the time they needed to get acclimated properly. If they didn''t even feel comfortable in their own bodies, whatever danger they may or may not face would only become all the more so.

    Leonel, who had still never experienced such a dissonance upon entering a higher Dimension, could only believe that it must have to do with his parents. Noah''s lack of a reaction would seem to back this up as well. To Noah, coming to Luxnix should have been no different from returning to Earth. Both worlds should recognize him as one of their own.

    Due to the slowing of the place, it took the group several hours before they finally approached the planet. But, the good news was that everyone''s furrowed brows seemed to have relaxed immensely by this point and the banter seemed to have come back.

    ''It seems that there are some fast track starways around tooбн I don''t feel very comfortable claiming to be a Luxnix before I understand the situation of the family first so it might not be too good to use them for now, but I''ll keep it in mind for the future.''

    Leonel was too used to entering and leaving planets on a whim, he hadn''t even realized that this was a product of just how far behind the Milky Way was in comparison to other galaxies in the Sector. He would definitely have to be more thoughtful in the future, lest he stir up trouble he wouldn''t'' be able to handle.

    At that moment, the Segmented Cube rumbled, touching down through Planet Luxnix''s atmosphere. The slight shake caused everyone''s gaze to light up, it seemed that they would finally touch down soon.

    The speed of the spacecrafts accelerated, swooping down and finding a familiar large hive of parking spaces.

    It was only at that moment that Leonel realized another problem. He didn''t like the idea of leaving the Segmented Cube ''parked'' here. It was far too important to him.

    But at the same time, it was kind of odd to swoop down in a spaceship that suddenly vanished as well, especially considering how it seemed bureaucracy would get involved very soon.

    Once again, the simplest thing to do seemed to be to rely on the Luxnix family name. He would even have the pendant to prove it if somehow his own Lineage Factor wasn''t enough. But, the idea once again didn''t sound very palatable to Leonel.

    Before Leonel could come to a decision, his Segmented Cube was led to a hub of the spacecraft hive. From the outside, it had once again taken the form of a cube, but this wasn''t too surprising to anyone as there were all sorts of odd spaceship designs all around.

    When Aina had touched down with Yuri and Savahn, her father had been waiting. Unfortunately for Leonel, when he touched down, rather than finding his mother, he found a middle-aged man with glasses riding his high-bridged nose, wearing a tight suit and holding what looked like a clipboard made of transparent glass.

    He stared coldly at the cube, clearly waiting for someone to step out.

    Leonel stood to go, but he surprisingly found Noah''s hand on his shoulder.

    "I''ll go."

 Chapter 1093 Perspective

    Chapter 1093 Perspective

    Leonel found Noah''s actions to be amusing. It was clear that Noah was a lot more sensitive to trouble Leonel might cause if he went instead, so he chose to bite the bullet. Toward such a thing, Leonel''s eight brothers laughed until they couldn''t'' breathe anymore.

    "Look at that, Cap. Someone else notices all the trouble you put us through." Franco almost fell out his chair.

    "If anyone was going to cause us trouble, it''d be that big mouth of yours." Leonel snapped back.

    "Not cool, Cap. Poking at your boy''s insecurities. No wonder Noah doesn''t trust you."

    Franco feigned hurt, his overly large hands also pressing against his chest. But, no one could take him seriously while he was wheezing with laughter.

    Since he seemed to be having such a great time, Leonel kicked at the leg of his chair, causing him to truly fall over completely.

    "Ah! I swear I''ll make a worker''s union! By then you won''t be able to bully me anymore!"

    The laughter in the dining room continued for a while. However, as the minutes passed it became clear that it was actually taking Noah quite a while. In fact, it wasn''t until half an hour later that he finally returned, his expression just as placid as ever.

    "What happened, Noah?"

    Everyone looked over. They might have been able to tell a problem or the good news by another''s expression. But, Noah was truly too difficult to read.

    "There''s a lot to do because we''ve brought so many people along with us. However, it seems that due to some special event occurring, the restrictions on travelers has been laxed. That said, there''s still a bunch of requirements we have to meet.

    "We all have to register and it''s fairly detailed."

    Noah began to pass out what everyone assumed would facilitate the registration process. But, when they all saw just how detailed the analysis had to be, they couldn''t help but frown.

    It had to be remembered that in the Dimensional Verse, the less information others had of you, the easier it was for you to protect yourself. But, this form of analysis was clearly overly invasive, it even required information about their Ability Indexes, something most kept as close to the vest as possible.

    They couldn''t'' help but feel that Planet Luxnix was taking advantage of them all.

    Leonel, though, saw one step deeper.

    There were so many spacecrafts flying into Planet Luxnix, and now Noah was mentioning this special event. Connecting the dots, it felt like the Luxnix were using this opportunity to form a census of the people of their Sector. Leonel couldn''t be surprised if this information was used to gain a general understanding of the strength of the Sector.

    Unfortunately, they didn''t really have much of a choiceбн At least that was what it seemed like until Noah continued talking.

    "бн After speaking with our overseer, I realized that there was a bit of a loophole here. Because Leonel and I both carry Luxnix blood, I believe we''ll be recognized as members of the Luxnix branch families.

    "So long as you all register as our vassals, it should be possible to circumvent a lot of the more invasive questions and leave them with only a surface level understanding of you all. But, the decision is up to you all."

    "Oh, since it''s like that why didn''t you just say so? You made it sound like I''d have to give up my precious cherry!" Raj exclaimed.

    Several weird looks were sent over toward Raj, their expressions warping. Preciousбн cherry?

    "What are you all looking at? My body is a temple!"

    Raj''s speech was so impassioned that the jiggles of his chin vibrated to their own rhythm. Unfortunately for him, his opining was matched with the sound of dry heaving.

    "I think I''m gonna throw up. Hey Franco, cup your hands together for me real quick." Gil heaved, only to be met by a slap to the back of the head by none other than Franco himself.

    Noah blinked as he watched this scene, feeling somewhat stunned. He had presented this matter with the utmost seriousness because it most definitely wasn''t a joke. It might have sounded nice to explain it away with a word like ''vassal'', but the ultimate truth was that for the duration of their stay on Planet Luxnix, they would essentially be at the whims of Leonel and Noah.

    There were no such thing as human rights in the Dimensional Verse, there was only those with strength and those without, those with background and those without. If they signed up in this fashion, their lives and deaths would be in the hands of the two of them. The amount of trust it would take for someone to take such measures without hesitationбн

    Noah''s expression remained placid, but he couldn''t help but be moved.

    Unlike many Princes, he had never experienced the cruelty of nobility, not personally, anyway. The Fawkes family had never had internal machinations, at least not at the highest levels. So, things like brothers backstabbing brothers wasn''t part of Noah''s lived experience.

    That said, Noah''s upbringing had still been extremely strict and he had seen exactly this sort of cruelty in the royal court and other noble families countless times. He always followed the rules to their ends, but he was also perfectly aware that he couldn''t'' expect everyone to be like him either.

    On top of this, due to Noah''s status, he didn''t really know what it felt like to have real friends either. He didn''t get the chance to grow up with his cousin by his side and everyone else was either his subordinate or someone who wanted to get close to him for the sake of the power he wielded.

    Understanding Noah''s perspective, it was no wonder he was so shocked right now. At the very least, Leonel''s eight brothers didn''t hesitate in the slightest to jump head first into acceptance.

    Lionus looked toward Noah with a knowing smile. Of all those here, he probably had experienced the life most like Noah. It seemed that they both had some growing to do.

 Chapter 1094 Speechless

    Chapter 1094 Speechless

    An hour later, the overseer returned to the parking hub, but his stoic expression could only be replaced with shock. He looked around, but he couldn''t seem to find the spacecraft that had been here anywhere.

    ''Weirdбн Did they leave? No, that''s impossibleбн''

    The overseer''s brow furrowed. ''Maybe it''s a concealment formation? Those are pretty popular these daysбн''

    Checking his glass clipboard, the overseer saw that this party was led by two Luxnix branch family members. In fact, judging by the density of their blood, they should be ranked quite highly amongst the branches as well. So, he was more than willing to overlook some things.

    That wasn''t the only reason the overseer was impressed either.

    ''They actually brought more than 50 people along with them. Any branch with this density of talents is definitely very highly rated. It''s best that I know my place and don''t pry into their business too muchбн''

    After nodding to himself, the overseer opened a hidden panel to the side and pressed a few buttons. Soon, the parking hive''s screen began to descend, moving just slowly enough for the overseer to slip out and move toward the next waiting group.

    **

    The hoard of Earth''s talents had had dreams of living it up on this new planet and finally exploring a Sixth Dimensional world for the first time. Unfortunately, reality was like a cruel slap in the face.

    "Fuck! We''re so poor!"

    Gil was by far the most heartbroken. He could only look at the pretty women through the large glass windows, knowing that he didn''t have the money he needed to even take a single step in.

    They were all swiftly met with the disparity between Fifth and Sixth Dimensional worlds. There wasn''t a restaurant, a boutique, or even an inn in sight that didn''t use Sixth Dimensional Urbe Ore as the common denomination.

    In fact, Planet Luxnix preferred the use of a purple coin that was recognized throughout the three families. You could exchange Urbe Ore for these coins but it took ten kilograms of Sixth Dimensional Urbe Ore to exchange for a since purple coin.

    The only Sixth Dimension Urbe Ore Leonel had on hand came from what he plundered from Belize, Avarone, Deloris and Siris, but they could only be considered mid-level Sixth Dimensional powerhouses. Even between the four of them, Leonel only managed to gather 50 000 kilograms, which was only enough for 5000 purple coins.

    Even the lowest prices Leonel had seen just casually glancing through these windows had cost dozens of purple coins. He most definitely couldn''t support more than 50 people to experience this planet in leisure. In fact, with how things were going, they might have to sleep in the wilderness tonight.

    Luckily, before things got that bad, Noah came to the rescue.

    "There are some special accommodations for Luxnix family branch members that we can go to. I didn''t think that we''d need them so soon. But, judging by the situationбн"

    Noah blushed slightly. Clearly, he was a bit off on his assessment of his own wealth as well.

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh seeing Noah''s state. It was rare to see him shift from his baseline coldness, he couldn''t help but wrap his arm around his shoulder.

    "That old codger is too stingy." Leonel sighed and shook his head.

    Noah choked on air. Old codger? You mean grandfather? Thatбн

    Noah didn''t know how to react. He had never heard anyone say such things about his grandfather before. But, then again, he was Leonel''s grandfather too. What was the appropriate response to this?

    Noah suddenly found that he didn''t have a diplomatic solution to this at all, but that only made Leonel laugh harder.

    "Come, since we''re so poor we might as well check out these accommodations."

    Leonel felt that they didn''t really have a choice.

    He didn''t really want to rely on the Luxnix without understanding the situation. But, technically, both Noah and Leonel were actually members of the main branch. After all, his grandmother should be an elder of the main branch, so her lineage would of course receive like treatment. So, technically, Leonel was already taking several steps back by only accepting the accommodation of a branch family member.

    That saidбн Leonel obviously had no idea that his name was stricken from the family records. If he had known this, his attitude wouldn''t have been nearly as casual.

    бн

    The accommodations for the branch family members of the Luxnix were truly not bad. Though it wasn''t near the Luxnix family estate, it had its own unique character. Well, as much character as a series of enormous buildings could have.

    Just at a single glance, it was possible to tell that the Luxnix had set aside a series of luxury hotels for their extended family members. The only unfortunate part was that the congestion at the front made everything that much harder to appreciate.

    "Do you know who I am?! I''m heading the younger generation of the Nypso Branch! We''ve contributed so much to the main branch over the years, now you want to give us such normal accommodations?!"

    "Piss off? What fucking Nypso Branch?! I''ve never seen your names in even the top ten of the branch contribution rankings. What have you been doing? Conquering little Fifth Dimensional worlds? Maybe you aren''t even doing that! Are you taking their moons and calling it a day?! What right do you have to a Penthouse Suite?! There are only ten of them! How about you go take a look in the mirror!"

    "You haven''t seen us in the top ten?! Do you need your eyes checked?! I''ve seen your Conlon Branch barely holding on at the 12th spot, maybe your eyes can''t look up so high! Imagine looking at the daily rankings and thinking you''re something special! We of the Nypso Branch only care about the yearly rankings! It''s just that we''ve taken some time off recently to prepare for this event!"

    Arguments of a similar nature seemed to be erupting all around as swarms of people fought back and forth. But, it was quite obvious at first glance to Leonel that while they were rowdy, none of them had stepped over the red ropes that separated them from the experts waiting to assign their rooms. However, these experts didn''t seem to be willing to make a move either.

    ''бн What a shit showбн'' Leonel was speechless.

 Chapter 1095 0.10

    Chapter 1095 0.10

    The ruckus had reached such a ridiculous level that no one even really noticed the arrival of as many as 50 people. That was more than enough to paint the picture of not only just how large the group was to begin with, but how invested they were in causing trouble.

    Just from eavesdropping a few arguments, Leonel was able to tell what the main issue was.

    There were several large hotel-style buildings up ahead. These hotels were surrounded by lush gardens, various sports fields, dining regions, and other places of leisure. But, it seemed that the most hotly contested regions were within the hotels themselves.

    There were exactly ten of these hotel buildings and it seemed like each family was scrambling for a Penthouse Suite. The problem was not just that there were more than ten branch families, but a single Penthouse could only room so many people to begin with.

    Just by counting the windows from the outside and judging by the height and thickness of the buildings, Leonel realized that the problem was more than just the Penthouse and it seemed that many hadn''t realized this just yet.

    There were ten hotels, and by Leonel''s calculations, each had about 200 rooms. If the average was taken, each room could probably house between two to three people. Even if Leonel chose the upper limit, that was still only room for about 6000 people. And, if Leonel was honest, it was likely closer to 5000.

    The trouble was that this crowd seemed to already have thousands of people in it. And, this obviously didn''t count whatever groups had arrived earlier than them all. After all, Leonel hadn''t exactly left Earth on a timely schedule, so it was a bit much to expect that they would have been the first batch of arrivals.

    That meant that there was a good chance that many of the rooms had already been accounted for, yet these people were out here screaming like this would do something.

    ''There are screaming matches not only between branches, but there''s even competition and internal struggle within branches themselvesбн''

    Leonel shook his head.

    As far as he was concerned, this was a matter of life and death for himself and those he had brought with him. While they had joked about sleeping in the wilderness earlier, on a pinnacle Sixth Dimensional world like this one, there was no telling what kind of dangers lay outside the breadth of the protected cities.

    Even now, the Segmented Cube couldn''t be considered to be a fort and it was very susceptible to being penetrated from the outside. It was relatively safer in a weaker Dimensional world as it had entered its Third Phase. But, now that it was in a world of equivalent status, what advantage it had once had was now null.

    Leonel cast a glance toward Noah and they both seem to have come to the same conclusion.

    Quickly scanning the crowd, Leonel couldn''t seem to find a way through. At the same time, there didn''t seem to be any signs directing them in what to do, there was only a line of red rope blocking their further advancement.

    The two didn''t act rashly. They could tell that there were plenty in the crowd who had also fallen silent, realizing their rowdiness wouldn''t get them anywhere.

    Leonel initially wanted to ask for normal rooms, making it clear he would give up a fight for the Penthouses for the sake of those around him, but he felt like if such a decision was possible, others would have made it already. There was something decidedly off about the current circumstances and it felt more like people were waiting for a signal or a time of some sort.

    Understanding the situation that they were in, Leonel instead began to slowly analyze those around him. Now that he was in a Sixth Dimensional world, he no longer dared to just casually release his Internal Sight as he did in the past, but the hit on his senses wasn''t too profound.

    ''No one here is about the Fifth Dimension, but there are several well into the middle tiersбн''

    Leonel expressions turned serious. He didn''t dare to take Fifth Dimensional existences above himself casually now. This was no longer the Milky Way or its surrounding galaxies. The power and talent of these people was on an entirely different level.

    The young man hollering about the Nypso Branch had three silent youths to his back. In fact, he was the weakest of them all. He was Tier 5, however of the three youths to his back, two were Tier 6 and one was Tier 7.

    The Conlon Branch was comparable in strength. Likewise, the young man yelling was ''just'' Tier 5, but there were two Tier 6 existences to his back and one Tier 7.

    Right now, these two groups seemed to be the most powerful, but Leonel had found a silent young woman who stood almost completely by her lonesome. Her hair colored a red-gold flare and her jaw was quite strong. Despite this, she still managed to keep her feminine charm.

    It only took a glance for Leonel to realize that she was actually Tier 8.

    Seemingly feeling Leonel''s gaze, the young woman turned her head, her twinkling irises matching Leonel. She looked him up and down without reserve before looking away. It seemed that she hadn''t found anything particularly special.

    Right then, the silent overseers looked up into the sky. Seemingly deciding something, they chose to step forward.

    In the middle of them, a youth with sweeping white hair and piercing golden eyes took the helm. The aura he exuded seemed to silence any and all before him. Despite the fact he was ''only'' Tier 4, he commanded an aura of absolute obedience and dominance.

    "Today, 50 rooms will be up for claiming. 30 will be three person rooms. 20 will be two person rooms. 9 will be one person rooms. 1 will be a Penthouse Suite.

    "The rules will be the same as they''ve been. Only those with 0.10 Bloodline density and above can participate. You may fight for one or multiple rooms depending on your ability.

    "Those who will participate, step forward now."

 Chapter 1096 Density

    Chapter 1096 Density

    ''0.10 Bloodline Density?'' Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    He wasn''t familiar with this form of measurement. But, since things were like this, he had no choice but to hope he met the mark. He should be fine, but there was no real certainty.

    If things worked like they did on Earth, then Leonel would probably have 25% of whatever DNA would make a Luxnix be considered to be ''purebred''. But, something told Leonel that the Lineage Factors of the Dimensional Verse functioned differently. At the very least, he hoped Noah could meet the mark and claim a few rooms for them.

    The moment the youth spoke these words, several had ugly expressions, and this even included the two Tier 5 youths who had been the loudest of the bunch. Soon, those who knew they would never make it began to move away from the red ropes, knowing their place.

    ''They don''t meet the mark? Hm, but it seems they aren''t moving away. Are they going to try their luck?''

    This told Leonel one very simple thing: this Bloodline Density could be changed. If they were certain that it couldn''t, they wouldn''t even bother.

    "You guys can take a step back as well. Noah and I''ve got this."

    Leonel gave the youths of Earth a reassuring grin. Even if it was hopeless, he would have to find a way to make it hopeful. He was only Tier 1 now, a far cry from the other participants, but he didn''t have much of a choice but to make sure this worked out.

    Soon, there were only a few dozen people left of the thousands that had been at the ropes. Everyone else had given them a wide space at the base of the first hotel. There were hundreds of meters worth of perfectly paved stones in every which direction, making a single person seem particularly small.

    The Tier 4 youth representing the Luxnix took out a crystal ball he was forced to hold with two hands. It was a size larger than a normal human head and perfectly rounded. It was quite a beautiful construction.

    Its appearance seemed to remind Leonel of Camelot''s crystal balls as well. It had been a long time since he thought of them, but he remembered being fascinated about just how they stored information.

    ''Maybe there''s a lot more to Camelot''s magic system that I''ve been ignoringбн I wonder if it''s possible to deduce the path of evolution their technology would have taken over time as wellбн''

    As Leonel was lost in thought, the Tier 5 Nypso Branch member stepped forward, seemingly wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Compared to his previously rambunctious self, he seemed to become especially timid after crossing the red ropes to the other side. It was almost as though the difference between himself and the youths before him was palpable despite the fact he was technically a Tier above the young man before him.

    The Tier 5 youth pressed his hand down on the sphere and took a deep breath. Then, his body erupted with a white-gold Force, filling the crystal ball to the brim in the blink of an eye.

    The youth quickly removed his hand and took a step back, watching the crystal ball with anticipation and his fists clenched.

    Soon, a pillar of light rose out from the crystal ball. ent it reached that height, it began to slow considerably, barely crossing past eight as it struggled forward.

    The forehead of the youth became covered in sweat, his hands clutching so tightly that even the blood he drew couldn''t find a path to drip to the ground.

    The pillar rose past nine feet finally, but every subsequent inch felt like scratching and clawing. Eventually, after rising up just eight more inches, four from the ten foot mark, it came to a grinding halt and released a pulse of light.

    "0.0967. Failed."

    The youth deflated in an instant, but he didn''t protest. He knew better than to do something so foolish. At the very least, so long as his companions won an extra room, he would be priority in claiming it.

    "0.0963. Failed."

    The Tier 5 Conlon youth failed soon afterward. One after another, youths just barely missed the mark, whittling down the few dozen that had stayed behind to less than even a single dozen total. It was quite depressing to see one individual after another just barely miss the mark, but this was only to be expected. Only those who were close to begin with would even dare to take this test.

    At that moment, one of the Tier 6 Nypso Branch youths stepped forward, carrying a level of confidence the others hadn''t had. He bowed lightly in greeting to the three main branch youths.

    "Clyde Luxnix." He introduced himself.

    Not wasting anymore time, he placed his hand on the crystal ball and his Force surged.

    Before he even got a chance to step back, the pillar of light shot upward, beginning to climb faster and faster. This time, unlike it had with the others, the pillar didn''t seem to slow in the slightest, bursting through eight, nine and even ten feet in the blink of an eye!

    Eleven feet. Twelve.

    The pillar didn''t begin to slow until the light crossed 15 feet. Soon, it crossed 16 before it slowed to a crawl and finally came to a grinding halt.

    "0.1623. Pass."

    Clyde''s face lit up. Clearly, he was very much impressed with his own performance and felt like he was on cloud nine. However, he was soon hit with the reality that the youths before him didn''t seem to care about his performance in the slightest. In fact, one of them, seeing how excited he was, couldn''t help but turn a look of disdain his way.

    Clyde''s excitement very quickly became embarrassment. Without a choice, he scurried back, unwilling to humiliate himself any further.

    Soon, the second Tier 6 member of the Nypso Branch stepped forward, their expression much more reserved after seeing what happened to their companion.

    All of them became keenly aware at that moment that they were nothing more than ants in the eyes of the main branch youths.

 Chapter 1097 Pass

    Chapter 1097 Pass

    "0.1783. Pass."

    "0.1812. Pass."

    "0.1405. Pass."

    The youths who came next no longer bothered to introduce themselves, the shame of Clyde still burned fiercely into their minds. None of them wanted to suffer through the same humiliation. Even without speaking a single word, these youths had made them feel as though they were less than trash. And yet, they could only clenched their fists in silence, enduring.

    Leonel watched on without saying a word, his arms crossed about his chest. To his side, Noah stood just as expressionlessly.

    A slow building of an oppressive aura rose around the two of them as neither seemed to be willing to make a move. As far as they were concerned, what they did wouldn''t matter much.

    In the case that their Bloodline Density was enough to impress these three youths, then there would be no real point in doing anything. Their action would only reinforce the disdain these youths had for those of low Bloodline Density.

    In the case that their Bloodline Density didn''t meet the mark and they fought against these youths, they would only be shooting themselves in the foot. They had no money and no where else to go and this world was too dangerous to be taken casually. It was one thing if they only had to take care of themselves, but they had the safety of more than 50 other individuals to cover for.

    The young woman with red-gold hair couldn''t help but look over toward Leonel and Noah. Their auras were quite reserved, but she was a lot closer to them than the main branch youths were. As such, it was far easier for her to pick up on it.

    Her lips couldn''t help but curl into a smile. The good was that they actually dared to still have a temper before these three youths. But, the bad was far worse. What good was a temper if you were too weak to do anything about it?

    With the smile still tugging at her lips, she stepped forward. .

    "Riah Sage."

    She was the very first to introduce herself after Clyde. No, it was more accurate to say that she was the only one who dared to introduce herself after Clyde''s humiliation. And, what was even more astonishing was that her last name wasn''t Luxnix. Clearly, she had taken her father''s name.

    The boldness of this Riah girl couldn''t be understated in the slightest. The Sage family was one only second to the Luxnix, Viola and Montex families as such it wasn''t a humiliation for a woman of the Luxnix to marry into their family. The trouble wasбн If Riah had the support of the Sage family, why would she come here?

    The only explanation was that she hadn''t come for the sake of gaining a place of accommodation, she had come for no other reason than to test the Luxnix youths.

    She wasn''t very interested in these regular branch members. She was far more intrigued with the youths in the Penthouse, so she thought that she would claim one for herself. As for what the youths before her thought of that, she didn''t really care.

    Technically, she was indeed a member of the Luxnix branch families.

    Without waiting for a response, she too put her hand on the crystal ball, her Force surging. Her palm had hardly touched the smooth glass when the hidden Force within stirred, waking up like slumbering dragons.

    The call of a bird cawed through the skies. In one moment, there was no pillar at all, and in the next, a beam of light over 30 feet tall manifested, still rocketing upward.

    The youth holding the crystal narrowed his gaze. The 30 foot mark demarcated a Bloodline Density of 0.30. That was already enough to match the lower ranked members of the main branch.

    Every ten feet could be considered a watershed moment. It was already impressive enough to cross the first watershed as a member of a branch family. Beyond 20 feet and you could be considered a rare find among these branch families. These were individuals the main branch entrusted with tasks of great importance like managing valuable Disaster Worlds and other similar resources.

    The 30 foot mark, though, was the baseline for being nurtured by the main branch. If such a youth was born in one of their branch families, so long as their background was clean and didn''t evolve any scandalsбкlike bastard children and the likeбкthey would be entered into the main family records.

    If one managed to cross the 40 foot mark, thoughбн

    The pillar trembled, crossing the 39 foot mark before it finally began to slow down. As though it had met firm resistance, it pulsed wildly. However, ultimately, it couldn''t cross the next threshold, finding itself stuck and unable to move on.

    "Tsk." Riah shook her head. "Shame, a shame."

    "бн 0.3989. Pass."

    The youth holding the crystal ball narrowed his gaze. This Bloodline Density was beyond his own yet she didn''t even share the Luxnix family name. Inwardly, he was more than just a small bit infuriated. However, with such Bloodline Density while being at Tier 8, it was clear and obvious to him that he stood no chance against this woman. In addition, there was a good chance that since she chose the Sage family name despite having such thick Luxnix Blood, that she was actually an extremely rare dual Lineage Factor wielder.

    Those that could maintain two high Bloodline densities at a time were geniuses among geniuses. He didn''t dare to mess with this girl whether her name was Luxnix or not.

    Leonel smiled lightly as he watched this scene. But, he still had no reference for how impressive this mark was, so he only watched on as Noah was forced to follow it up. In the end, there were only the two of them left, there wasn''t much of a choice.

    Noah''s expression carried not a hint of fluctuations as he stepped forward. Riah couldn''t help but raise her brows. She had gone up before the two of them on purpose after seeing their obstinance, eager to see if their egos were just for show or not. But, who knew that they wouldn''t have reacted at all.

    However, her intrigue soon turned to shock the moment Noah placed his palm down.

 Chapter 1098 Both of Them

    Chapter 1098 Both of Them

    The cry was so loud that many were forced to cover their ears. What once had been a pillar of light for everyone else became a bird soaring into the skies, every flap of its wings covered ten feet without fail as it rose up.

    Riah''s eyes widened when the bird tore through the 40 foot mark. Unlike Leonel and Noah, she knew exactly what this meant, as did the three youths of the main branch. Their expressions couldn''t help but change.

    Bloodline Density sounded like a very loose term, but there were actually very stringent markers to meet. These markers were designated by the number of Lineage Factor talents you had awakened and what depth you had in each one of their branches.

    The Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor had three main branches: Speed, Wisdom and Healing. Whether it was 0.10, 0.20 or even 0.30, none guaranteed you an awakening of any one of these. These densities essentially decided what level of affinity you would have for Snow Force. If the metrics of Valiant Heart Mountain were used, 0.10 would be about Third Grade Affinity, 0.20 would be Sixth Grade, and finally, 0.30 would be Eighth Grade, while nearing 0.40 would give you Ninth Grade.

    It had to be remembered that this was affinity for a very particular Light Elemental Force in Snow Force, this wasn''t the same as having a general Light Elemental Affinity. Having Ninth Grade Affinity for Snow Force was much different from having Ninth Grade Affinity for Light Elemental Force in general.

    However, 0.40 was a different beast entirely. To have 0.40 Bloodline Density meant that you had awakened at least one of the three main branches. This didn''t just make you a genius, it made you one the Luxnix would nurture with everything they had.

    To awaken a Branch of the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor while not having reached the Sixth Dimension yet was a rarity among rarities even in the main branch. The Tier 4 youth could count on both hands and feet the number of youths who met this mark, and that was in spite of the fact there were millions of members of the main branch and billions of the side branches.

    Seeing Noah cross the 40 foot markбн How could they not be shocked into silence?

    Leonel''s gaze scanned the reactions of those around. When he saw how they were reacting, his lip curled into a smile. It seems that his cousin wasn''t bad indeed. But, what no one expected was for Noah''s Snowy Star Owl illusion to continue, crossing the 50 foot mark before it even thought of slowing down.

    The hands of the youth holding the crystal ball trembled.

    In the younger generation of the Luxnix family, there were only three youths who could cross the 50 foot mark. Actually, there were four, but the fourth was such a lofty existence all to his own that everyone subconsciously set him apart from the others despite the fact he was technically a lot younger than most of them.

    Noah looked up into the skies, just as expressionlessly as always. His emerald irises reflected the light but no real emotion. Unfortunately, the youths of Earth wouldn''t allow him to continue acting cool.

    The sounds of whistling matched the call of the bird in the sky.

    "Show them who''s boss, Noah!"

    Raj took off his shirt and revealed his ''temple'' to the world, waving it in the air like a pumped up cheerleader. Whether by coincidence or not, the flapping folds of his fat matched the flaps of the illusory bird as it hovered in the air, looking down on everyone proudly.

    The cheering of Raj and the others tested the thickness of Noah''s face. He could only pretend as though he didn''t hear anything so that he could scurry off to the side.

    Leonel burst into laughter, walking forward and patting Noah''s shoulder. The bird in the skies didn''t seem to want to disperse. It was probably possible to spot it from several kilometers away. At the very least, those in the city most definitely all saw it and couldn''t help but look toward it in awe.

    Soon, the Snowy Star Owl began to disperse, motes of light dancing about the air as they faded.

    The Tier 4 youth looked toward Noah with a narrowed gaze. Unlike Riah, Noah hadn''t introduced himself. This made things kind of weird.

    "Who are you? Which branch do you come from?"

    Something like this had to be reported without a doubt. It likely wouldn''t be long before this spread far and wide. How had such a talent not been brought into the main branch already?

    "My name is Noah Fawkes. I don''t come from any named branch family."

    The Tier 4 youth''s brow furrowed. ''A bastard child?''

    This conclusion was very likely. With how the Dimensional Verse worked, there were likely no shortage of illegitimate children out there for several Luxnix family elders. This made the situation very complicated. If Noah was the bastard child of a Star Order Elder, it would be even more troublesome as it was a scandal the family wouldn''t like at all. Purity was especially important for the Luxnix.

    The Tier 4 youth could only hope to end this all as quickly as possible so that he could go back to report this. He looked toward Leonel, a hint of impatience in his eye. However, seeing how close Noah and Leonel seemed to be, he didn''t dare to be too dismissive at the same time.

    Leonel smiled lightly and took a step forward, placing his palm on the crystal.

    The difference was simply too striking. Whether it had been Noah or Riah, both gained a reaction that was instantaneous even without the deployment of their Snow Force. However, for Leonel, there was absolute silence. It made those around think that his result would be just as benign as those that came before Riah.

    But realityбн Was very much different.

    In complete silence, the illusion of a Snowy Star Owl appeared to Leonel''s back. Its sharp gaze lingered in silence as everyone paid attention to the crystal ball. None seemed to notice that change until it was far too late.

    The crystal began to glow slowly. So slowly that it was agonizing. However, there was a difference between this time and any other time before itбн The Tier 4 youth felt that his palms were meltingбн

    CRACK!

    The sound was jarring, shaking many out of their lull. It was only then that the pair of eyes to Leonel''s back seemed to enter their vision. Somehow, no matter whether you were facing Leonel''s front or back, the pair continued to pierce through your very soul.

    The call of the bird followed, but it was neither loud nor grating. Rather, it became a sonorous call that touched the heart, filling every inch of Planet Luxnix. There was not a single soul who didn''t hear it.

    Right then, the crystal ball burst apart, releasing a blinding light that shot into the skies and pierced the clouds above.

    It continued for such a long and sweeping distance that it even tore a path out of Planet Luxnix''s atmosphere, presenting a sight that could be seen even from Planet Viola and Montex.

    бн

    In a particular garden, an old woman slowly rocking her chair of white wood looked into the skies. Her glazed over gaze trembled slightly, her heart skipping a beat.

    She didn''t need to be there to know that it was her grandsonбн Both of them.

 Chapter 1099 Perfection

    Chapter 1099 Perfection

    Leonel looked up into the skies. Even with the second stage of his Wisdom Branch activated, he couldn''t see to the end of it.

    Of course, this so-called ''second stage'' were the eyes of the Snowy Star Owl. In fact, Leonel had reached the second stage of both his Wisdom Branch and Speed Branch long ago. The star path that appeared when he hit his top speed was exactly the second stage of the Speed Branch and his white gold illusory wings.

    The only Branch Leonel was still at the first stage for was the Healing Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, and it could only be used once every several months.

    It was precisely because these things had come so easily to Leonel that he wasn''t aware of how he compared to the others of the Luxnix family. In fact, he took these awakened talents for granted so much so that he rarely used them in battle, often choosing to rely on his Ability Index much more than other things.

    This wasn''t entirely Leonel''s fault, though.

    Leonel expected for his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor to be like his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Leonel could squeeze out so much more power from his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. As such, when he didn''t receive comparable results from his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, he thought that the problem was that his Lineage Factor was too weak.

    Due to this, Leonel actually began plotting how to strengthen a Lineage Factor that could already be considered to be at the very pinnacle of what the Sixth Dimension could offer. It could be said that if the others of the Luxnix family were aware of his thoughts, they would hate him more than they already did.

    The truth was that the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor wasn''t weak. In fact, it was far from it. It could even be said that there were some lower level Seventh Dimensional families that couldn''t compare to it. The main issue was that Leonel didn''t have the appropriate techniques to pair with it, as such he could only display a fraction of what his true strength should be.

    It had to be remembered that the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was greatly reliant on one''s affinity for Snow Force. However, what good was an affinity for a Force if you didn''t have the proper medium to make use of it?

    To put things into proper perspective, one needed to understand a few things.

    Firstly, the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor worked differently from the Morales'' family''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. The truth was that it was far less structured and systematic.

    To most of the Luxnix family, the ''talents'' of the Snowy Star Owl couldn''t be accessed until entering the Sixth Dimension, only a rare few geniuses could awaken some Branches before reaching this level. Before then, they mostly relied on their Snow Force affinity.

    As a powerful Sixth Dimensional Force, Snow Force stood at the pinnacle of most Light Elemental Forces at this level.

    In the past, Leonel had dismissed Snow Force because he hardly considered it to be top 100 amongst Light Elemental Forces and it was hardly top 1000 among Star Elemental Forcesбн What he didn''t know was that such rankings were astoundingly good!

    How wide was the universe? How many families were there? How many different types of Forces? To be ranked so highly on a list that was nearly infiniteбн If that wasn''t excellent, then what could be?

    This advantage alone separated the Luxnix from other Sixth Dimensional families. Though it wasn''t enough to be treated with the utmost respect by that mysterious organization, the mere fact they had produced Nominal Students in the past was enough to show just how talented the people of their family was.

    Yet, even then, upon entering the Sixth Dimension, people of the Luxnix would undergo a qualitative change. They would begin to awaken their Branch talents and their strength would explode forth by leaps and bounds.

    The most astounding of the Luxnix would ''Awaken their Branch Talents to the Second Layer''. These were the individuals that would become potential Heirs, Star Order elders, and Eight Point and Twelve Point Feather Sword Warriors!

    Somehow, despite not even touching the Sixth Dimension, Leonel had Awoken the Second Layer of two Branches already, another shocking feat in its own right. Many of the best geniuses of the Luxnix would only ever awaken a single Branch talent in their lifetimes.

    Noah shook his head as he looked up into the skies. I guess there went any chance they had of keeping a low profile.

    Unlike Leonel, Noah was aware of many more things. He knew exactly the kind of trouble this would bring.

    He knew about Leonel''s temper and had been trying to find a way to ease into the discussion eventually since obviously, this had been thrusted onto his shoulders by his father and grandfather, but it seemed he wouldn''t have the chance to be delicate about it all any longer.

    Sensing Noah''s gaze, Leonel looked over and grinned.

    "Not bad, right?"

    Noah was speechless. Why did this cousin of his only seem to smile so brightly when there was trouble on the horizon?

    The Tier 4 youth holding onto the crystal ball stood speechless. Even as the lights in the skies slowly dimmed and the crystal ball finally shattered in his hand, crumbling to the ground, he still didn''t quite know how to react.

    "Thisбн"

    Every fiber of his being wanted to say that it was fake, that the crystal ball was faulty. But, he knew better than to say something so foolish. The only way for the Bloodline Density tester to react in this way was if the Bloodline was considered to be ''perfect''.

    The only way to bring the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor to perfection was by awakening one of the Branches to the second layer. Butбн

    There was only one other person in the younger generation who had done this while still in the Fifth Dimensionбн

 Chapter 1100 Patient

    Chapter 1100 Patient

    "бн We need to report this."

    The Tier 4 youth snapped out of his daze, realizing just how big this matter was.

    "Galthin, we still haven''tбн"

    A youth behind Galthin spoke out. They were meant to hand out 50 rooms a day until all of them were given away. They couldn''t exactly shirk their responsibilities, right?

    Galthin''s expression flickered but he made a decision.

    "This is more important. We need to go now. We''ll move this back to another day. We have to hurry."

    Galthin turned to dash away. His two companions turned to leave as well, but they suddenly heard the sound of someone clearing his throat.

    "Are you three really just going to leave like that?"

    Galthin''s steps froze and he turned back, his brows tightly furrowed into a frown. He was a member of the main branch, no matter what Leonel''s Bloodline Density was, wasn''t he being a bit too liberal with his words?

    The simply truth was that Leonel looked nothing like a person with a high density of Luxnix blood should. His skin was several shades too tanned, his hair was a nice shade of violet, but it definitely wasn''t the same white or gold one would expect from a Luxnix, nor was it anywhere near as bright. By all rights, Noah looked far more like a Luxnix if you overlooked his emerald eyes.

    Due to these reasons, he hadn''t expected much from Leonel to begin with, but now that he was calling out to him so casually, his suppressed displeasure was threatening to bubble forth.

    In the end, though, Galthin managed to control his emotions. Regardless of what Leonel looked like, the test wouldn''t lie. And, knowing the family, he would likely be drafted into the main branch very quickly. In that case, Leonel''s standing would be far superior to his own. There was no need to offend him for no reason.

    "Do you need something?" Galthin asked as neutrally as possible.

    Leonel smiled lightly, pretending not to see through Galthin''s internal struggle.

    "I and my companions are a bit poor. If we don''t find a place to stay now, I''m afraid that we''ll have to return to our home. By then, things might get a bit inconvenient for you."

    Galthin''s expression flickered again. He couldn''t decide whether Leonel was shameless or if he should be disdainful. What the hell was this?

    Clearly, Leonel was trying to get himself some free room and board using his newfound status.

    ''Forget it, it doesn''t matter. If he enters the main branch, the room he claims will end up empty and it''ll be the same result no matter what. I''ll just give him the keys, he''ll end up returning it anyway.''

    "How many rooms do you need?"

    Leonel gaze flashed as he finished the calculations. "I need 12 three-person and 11 two-person rooms."

    Galthin''s brow twitched. But he could already see that Leonel was trying to take a step back by not asking for the Penthouse. In that case, it could be seen that he really needed these rooms.

    "Alright, here." Galthin tossed a spatial ring over. "As for everyone else, please come back tomorrow."

    Without waiting to hear the cries of discontent, Galthin scurried away, leaving Leonel with a smile on his face.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered when he noticed that Riah had appeared before him. Without hiding the curiosity in her gaze, she looked him up and down as though trying to understand something.

    "You two are related?" She asked.

    Leonel tilted his head. "He''s my cousin."

    Riah''s gaze lit with curiosity. For two young men related to one another to have such high Bloodline Densitiesбн It most definitely wasn''t a coincidence. It was more likely than not that both were tied to the same scandal.

    At that moment, everyone from Earth surrounded Leonel and Noah again, their expressions beaming as they hoisted the two into the air. Or ratherбн tried to.

    "What the hell, Cap! Why are you so heavy?!"

    Leonel laughed. His weight didn''t bother him in the slightest, he didn''t even feel that it slowed his agility or speed at all. However, the same couldn''t be said for others. In the end, they hoisted Noah up beneath his protest and kicked Leonel to the side entirely.

    Riah watched on with a curious light in her eye. Who were these people exactlyбн? They seemed quite close.

    бн

    Galthin and his two companions rushed toward their air crafts. As members of the Luxnix family main branch, they had permits others would have to leap through countless hurdles to get, allowing them to fly their own crafts outside the designated starways. With their speed, they''d be able to return to the family estate in just a few hours.

    However, the three of them could have never expected to find the most beautiful woman they had ever seen waiting for them.

    None remembered what happened. But, later that day when they returned to the estate, they reported none of what occurred almost as if they had forgotten entirely.

    бн

    Sitting on the clouds with a leisurely smile on her face, Alienor''s delicate features tinged with a red excitement as she enjoyed the simplicity of watching over her son. She hadn''t felt so fulfilled in a very long time, but eventually she sighed.

    "бн Mom has wronged you, Little Lion, but I need to do so one more time. This will be the last chance I give your grandmother. As a mother, my priority will always be your safety, however I don''t want to live in a world where my son and my own mother cannot speak to one anotherбн So be patient with mom, we will meet soonбн"

    Alienor''s expression flickered with a complicated light, but soon her smile returned as she watched her son interact with his friends. Her joy bubbled forth again as she could hardly contain it.

    бн

    Later that night, as the sun set, Leonel was pleasantly surprised to find the Penthouse key in the spatial ring. He simply assumed that Galthin was trying to curry favor with him and had no idea that it was his own mother who couldn''t stand the idea of her son having anything less than the best.

    If Leonel knew that his mother had actually managed to secretly put something in the spatial ring without him even noticing, he would quickly realize just how large the disparity between himself and true experts was.

    However, Leonel didn''t think much of it, because when he entered the Penthouse, he found something waiting for him on the massive bed.

    "Thisбн"

 Chapter 1101 Enlightened

    Chapter 1101 Enlightened

    When Alienor saw Leonel notice the things she left behind, her smile beamed. She giggled foolishly in the skies as though she was a young girl again.

    бн

    Leonel blinked when he saw what was on the bed because even without touching it, he felt that it was all far too valuable. A part of him believed for a moment that this might have been in every Penthouse Suite, but something within him said that that should be impossible. Would the Luxnix really give so much to a branch family member?

    Leonel''s brows furrowed, suddenly remembering the state the Radix family''s wealth had left him in. Just one casual Fort they had built used up enough Urbe Ore to bury the Milky Way. Could it be another case of this?

    However, such thoughts were swept away in just a few momentsбн The Luxnix shouldn''t know anything about Leonel yet, but these items felt tooбн personal.

    Leonel took a step forward, not having the mind to care about the luxury around him. He climbed the small set of steps covered in lush carpets that led to the enormous bed, reaching out and grabbing the first crystal ball he saw.

    As though sensing Leonel''s touch, the crystal ball gently burst into sparkling motes of light, releasing the item within. When it landed in Leonel''s hand, he almost fell over. Despite his strength, the item was so heavy that just holding it up made him feel as though his biceps would tear.

    Luckily, seemingly sensing his weakness, the item sparkled, its weight becoming instantaneously lower. In fact, it suddenly felt as light as a feather in Leonel''s hands.

    бн

    In the skies, Alienor blinked in shock before her eyes bloomed into crescent moons from smiling so wildly.

    ''That damned thing actually recognized my Little Lion from a single touch. Haha! My son is so talented.''

    The wind around Alienor seemed to respond to her laughter, vibrating as though the space itself would collapse. But, by some sort of magic, all the turbulence vanished just a few meters from her.

    бн

    Leonel looked at the bow in his hand, his gaze sparkling.

    ''This is a Gold Grade weaponбн No, it''s not just Gold Grade, it''s Tier 9 Gold Gradeбн There''s just no wayбн''

    Silver was the hallmark of the Sixth Dimension. Gold Grade meant that this was a Seventh Dimensional weapon. If Leonel was unsure before, he was now completely certain that it was impossible for the Luxnix to have been the ones to leave these things behind.

    He looked up and around, but he really couldn''t sense anything. Even after analyzing the room again and again, he couldn''t find a single thing out of place. If that person left even a single strand of hair, Leonel would have been able to find it with his current abilities. And yet, he couldn''t pick up on even that.

    ''Was it mom?'' Leonel blinked. ''That seems to be the only explanation, but why didn''t she come to see me?''

    бн

    Seeing Leonel looking around and scanning, Alienor felt her heart leap into her throat. She clutched her hands over her chest, pressing down firmly. It seemed to take all the strength she had in her body not to dash down there and embrace her son.

    ''Look at youбн You''ve gotten so bigбн''

    бн

    Seeing that he couldn''t find anything, Leonel turned his attention back to the bow. It was without a doubt the most beautiful weapon he had ever seen, and it was most definitely the largest bow he had ever laid eyes on.

    From tip to tip, the bow was three meters long. Its string grooves were fashioned into the heads of two white maned lions with shimmering rubies for eyes while its body was embroidered gold and white gold. Finally, its bow string itself glistened like it was woven of crystal fibers, twinkling even in the non-invasive light of the Penthouse Suite.

    Leonel couldn''t help but raise the bow up and pull at its string.

    He had expected to not be able to move it even an inch. Back when Leonel first ran into Merlin''s Bow in the Camelot Zone, it had only been a Quasi Bronze Bow, and yet despite the strength of his body at the time, he could only pull it to 10%.

    With this being a Gold Grade bow, a Tier 9 one at that, Leonel fully expected to not move it a single centimeter. If he could move it at all, he would feel shocked instead.

    And yet, to his surprise, not only did he move the bowstring, before he even realized what was happening, he had pulled it to 100%.

    A wild pressure circulated about the room. Leonel felt that the Level Three Bow Force that had been such a drain to accumulate in the past swirled around him as though it was on a leash. In fact, Leonel felt that even if he had to release dozens of such powerful arrows, he could do so now.

    ''бн Wowбн'' Leonel''s gaze lit up.

    This bow was beyond his expectations. Such an ability frightened even himself. Just based on a change in equipment, he was actually suddenly so much more powerful. And, Leonel felt that this was likely just the tip of the iceberg when it came to this bow. Maybe... he couldn''t use its full abilities just yet because it was purposely lowering itself to his levelбн

    бн

    Leonel had no idea that as shocked as he was, his own mother was quite speechless.

    ''Enlightened Bow Forceбн? While in the Fifth Dimension?''

    If Alienor had been laughing before, she was practically gasping for air now. Even over at that place, her son would be near the very top just based on this alone. Those bow enthusiast old fogies would be fighting tooth and nail for him.

    бн

    Realizing that he was maybe causing too much of a commotion, Leonel slowly released his grip on the bowstring, looking at the bow with a hardly contained fondness in his eye.

    He didn''t know how freely he would be able to use this bow. After all, a Seventh Dimensional treasure was far too valuable. Who knew how many people would try to kill him just to lay a hand on it? But, it couldn''t be denied that this gift was extraordinary.

    After a while, Leonel finally managed to peel his eyes from it and store the bow away. But, when he touched the next crystal ball and saw its contents, his gaze widened.

 Chapter 1102 Last Crystal Ball

    Chapter 1102 Last Crystal Ball

    The Ores fell into a beautiful pile on the soft bed. For a very long time, Leonel couldn''t bring himself to move or even breathe. He had to double and triple check that he was seeing correctly, and with his thinking speed, he actually ended up checking several hundred times before he realized that it all wasn''t an illusion.

    Evolution Ore. Not just any Evolution Ore, but both Fifth Dimensional and Sixth Dimensional Evolution Ore. Of the former, there were actually 20 Essences worth. For the latter, there were exactly 10, the minimum amount Leonel needed.

    This was why Leonel had felt that these gifts were simply far too personal. Evolution Ore was exactly what he needed to form the foundation of his Divine Armors if he wanted to continue following his father''s crazy plan.

    It had to be remembered that the Divine Armor Leonel was wearing right now was still Fourth Dimensional. The reason it could display so much strength within the Fifth Dimension was precisely because Leonel had used Evolution Ore as its foundation.

    The trouble with this approach, though, was the difficulty in finding Evolution Ore. Even after all this time, he had yet to catch the faintest clue about Fifth Dimensional Evolution Ore. But now, he suddenly had all he would need for his next two Divine Armors!

    Toward such a turn of events, Leonel could only be speechless. He knew that even for a Seventh Dimensional existence, these two gifts shouldn''t have been so easy to get one''s hands on. In fact, it wouldn''t really be an exaggeration to say that it was near impossible.

    A Tier 9 Gold Grade bow?! Sixth Dimensional Evolution Ore?! How could Leonel not be shocked. Even with his limited scope of the Dimensional Verse, he knew just how valuable these things were.

    Leonel couldn''t help but look around again. But, even with all the giggling of his mother, he couldn''t detect her at all. Without a choice, he could only store these ores away as well. Now, he just needed to find the core piece of his next Divine Armor then he could start designing it.

    Leonel had already planned to use the Snowy Star Pendant to exchange for the core of his Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor. Now, he was even more determined to do so.

    Leonel moved on to the next crystal ball, but this time he braced himself. If he got shocked to the point of silence every time, he might very well be here forever.

    The next crystal ball burst into motes of light and crystals, revealing a delicately embroidered pouch. It alternated in deep blacks and gently glowing golds.

    When Leonel opened it up, he found that it was actually a spatial treasure. Within it, he not only found billions of purple coins, there were even billions of kilograms of Sixth Dimensional Urbe Ore and millions of kilograms of Seventh Dimensional Urbe Ore.

    It was safe to say that Leonel had never seen such wealth concentrated in one place. It only confirmed just how low his previous bounty wasбн He really was just a petty criminal.

    Of course, this wasn''t exactly true. Tier 4 Fugitives don''t just fall out of thin air. The main reason Leonel''s bounty was so ''low'' was because he was still technically a galaxy level criminal, as such his bounty was tied to the Milky Way which was a poor corner of the universe. This was only to be expected.

    Still, in one moment, Leonel had been poor. And in the next, he could be considered to be one of if not the wealthiest man on Planet Luxnix. The difference was so striking that he almost experienced a bit of whiplash.

    With this, there were only two crystal balls left.

    Leonel stepped toward the second to last one, allowing it to shatter just like all the other ones had. However, unlike what Leonel had come to expect, there was actually another crystal ball waiting for him on the other side of this one.

    Curious, Leonel sank his mind into it, only to be bombarded with all sorts of information. At first, it was a bit overwhelming until Leonel pulled back. He had gotten into the habit of wielding his Internal Sight like a sledgehammer because he could usually take in everything at once. But, clearly this was too much information even for him.

    Once Leonel did so, his eyes practically shot out lasers of their own.

    Techniques. Thousands of them. And, each and every one related to Snow Force and the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. There were Third Dimensional, Fourth Dimensional, Fifth Dimensional and even Sixth Dimensional techniques all in one place. There were techniques designed for those who hadn''t awakened any branches whatsoever, and other techniques designed for those who had awakened one or even multiple branches at a time.

    It was as though the entire history of the Luxnix family''s advancements were all painted in this singular crystal ball, and Leonel had a feeling that if the Luxnix were aware of this, they would have been pissed off to an extreme.

    Leonel suddenly realized that the difference separating his combat prowess and that of the top geniuses of this Sector was in his hands. These gifts were definitely all carefully selected for him. They were exactly what he needed.

    Leonel stored the crystal ball for now and moved on to the final one. When it shattered, he found that there was yet another crystal ball waiting for him. In fact, within, he found more techniques. However, these techniques were far different from the Luxnix family techniques. In fact, they were designed not for the Luxnix, but rather the Fawkes.

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

    There were only a handful of techniques, but each was uniquely curated. Each taught how to apply the Fawkes family Lineage Factor in cooperation with your strengths. If Leonel was correctбн These techniques were likely personally designed and created by his mother. Only she could have all these unique combinations of powers.

    The first of the techniques Leonel seemed to gravitate toward made his heart tremble:

    <Starry Eyes>

 Chapter 1103 Crystal World

    Chapter 1103 Crystal World

    Whether by coincidence or just a well timed stroke of Fate, the unmutated form of the Fawkes family Lineage Factor was actually called Emperor''s Might, the perfect mirror of Leonel''s King''s Might.

    Just from a casual introduction, Emperor''s Might functioned on the backs of your subjects and those who believed in you. It was an intangible sort of belief system that relied on how those around you viewed you.

    Despite not being an Empress herself, Leonel''s mother had great fame in the Dimensional Verse even though her own son was oblivious to it all. That said, even if she didn''t, Alienor was a bit of a special case due to her World Spirit.

    By virtue of the fact she was chosen by Earth''s World Spirit it was accurate to say that the life of Earth''s population was tied to her. As such, even in comparison to Emperor Fawkes himself, Alienor''s Emperor''s Might was on another level entirely.

    All of this said, after several months of observation, Leonel''s King''s Might wasn''t exactly the same, though the power itself presented very similarly.

    The first difference was that Leonel felt that he had the ability to share his King''s Might with his companions. Emperor''s Might could not do this.

    The second difference was that Leonel''s King''s Might partially relied on his ''subjects'', however it gained no boost from how others viewed him or his legend. Instead, Leonel''s King''s Might seemed to feed off of Leonel''s personal mental state rather than the mental state of others.

    These differences aside, the application of Emperor''s and King''s Might were exactly the same and Leonel didn''t believe that there would be a problem in applying them to these techniques. But, Leonel was more interested in hearing exactly what was so special about this Lineage Factor.

    Luckily, his mother didn''t disappoint him.

    ''So, that''s how it isбн I seeбн''

    Leonel had partially guessed it, but he hadn''t quite grasped the full picture.

    Both Emperor''s and King''s Might were actually a derivative of Dream Force. In fact, they touched on a barrier that only Savants could reach, falling just short of that penultimate height.

    Lionel, the Dark Cloud Prison who had assumed the place of Leonel, had the ability to use his Dream Force to manifest his thoughts into reality. Using Emperor''s Might and King''s Might, you wouldn''t be able to go so far, but you were able to use your consciousness to effect change in your surroundings.

    Reading this sort of introduction, Leonel felt enlightened.

    When he had exited the Valiant Heart Zone, his hair had still been impossible to cut even with the increase in his strength. It was only by instinctively using his King''s Might coercion that what once was near indestructible hair became as fragile as paper.

    In fact, when Leonel brought his Metal Body to Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension, his hair had grown out wildly again and he was forced to cut it using this same method once more.

    Leonel never really thought much of it before, but this explanation made so many things click into place. It was no wonder why fusing his King''s Might into his Domains made them so much stronger. He felt as though these simple words were opening up enormous doorways to him.

    Learning that his King''s Might was an extension of his Dream Force made Leonel feel as though he had finally grasped onto something that had always been constantly slipping through his fingers. He felt much lighter and far more confident now.

    When he finally turned his attention back to <Starry Eyes>, it felt like it was made for him. In fact, he felt like all of these techniques were made for him.

    <Starry Eyes>. It fused the piercing gaze of the Snowy Star Owl with Emperor''s Might, forming a level of sensory perception that Internal Sight alone couldn''t match. It was able to see through illusions, the power levels of those beyond your Dimension, and even see through usually invisible fluctuations in Force.

    However, this was just the first level of the technique. Upon reaching the second level, your gaze could gain coercive effects of its own. In that case, your eyes could be used to disrupt and interrupt the flow of Force.

    Reading to this point, Leonel couldn''t help but remember back to the flock of birds White City had brought to attack Camelot during Terrain''s invasion. That species had been able to use their eyes to disrupt the flow of Force and it rendered mages completely useless. This technique seemed to take this to an extreme.

    If your <Starry Eyes> were potent enough and you could see through the weak point of a technique with enough speed, just your gaze alone could force it to disperse.

    It was truly a beautifully constructed technique. In fact, Leonel felt the same about them all. He almost didn''t care enough to even look through the Luxnix family techniques, he was completely immersed in the world of his mother''s creation.

    It took a lot for Leonel to be impressed, mostly because with his mind, he was usually able to quickly deduce how people accomplished the things they did. Such an ability made it difficult for anyone to move him from his baseline. However, Leonel had nothing but praise for his mother.

    The straw that broke the camel''s back was most definitely when Leonel saw a version of <Valiant Seal> his mother had created that was several times better and more flexible than his own. Instead, she called it <Crystal World>.

    The very same crystal balls that Leonel had received all of his gifts from were exactly an application of this technique. However, that was the easiest part to accept.

    What was absolutely fascinating was that a formation of <Crystal World> could have a ''law'' attached to it. This Law would be governed by your Empire''s Might. Or, in Leonel''s case, his King''s Might. So long as you were within the confines of <Crystal World> and the world was not broken, this rule had to be followed.

    That was when it clicked for Leonel. The Law his mother must have attached to his gifts was that the world would open so long as Leonel was the one to touch them.

    "Wowбн"

    Leonel was floored. The complexity of this technique was beyond his wildest imagination.

 Chapter 1104 lrony

    Chapter 1104 lrony

    Leonel felt that his <Valiant Seal> was inferior to his mother''s <Crystal World> in almost every way shape and form. The only advantage he would have was in the sturdiness of the space he could create thanks to his version being anchored by Earth Force. But, whether it was flexibility of use, stamina consumption, and applications in battleбн It was a clean sweep for <Crystal World>.

    Not to mention all of this, <Crystal World> was practically like having a Domain of your choosing on command. Of course, the Law you set worked better the simpler it was, so this wasn''t exactly true. But, if an ability like this was paired with Leonel''s intelligence in battle, who knew how many people he could play to death with it?

    Leonel''s fingers subconsciously stretched outward, wiggling about lightly as Force followed their movements.

    Leonel had thought that he wouldn''t be used to the foundational magic system his mother used to create this technique. After all, he had used Camelot''s Magic System to turn an artistic conception into reality, but his mother hadn''t returned to Earth in a very long time so she shouldn''t have had the time to learn about it.

    But, after analyzing the technique, Leonel was shocked to find that the foundation his mother used wasn''t only similar, it was identical. He had no other way of explaining this other than chalking it up to his mother''s World Spirit. There didn''t seem to be another way for her to have known about it.

    This conclusion led Leonel down another shocking revelation. His mother was like a cheat code. He had spent so much time analyzing and parsing out the secrets of Camelot''s Magic System, but his mother was years if not decades ahead of him.

    Subconsciously, the easiest first layer of <Crystal World> formed for Leonel, a small crystal ball appearing before him like a blown bubble. It reflected delicate rainbow colors as though it might pop at any moment.

    бн

    Still observing Leonel up in the sky, Alienor blinked in shock for already the third time that day. <Crystal World> was one of her most complicated techniques. Wasn''t it a bit exaggerated to form a rudimentary form of it in just a few moments?

    ''бн I see. So that magic system fell in your handsбн''

    Leonel had no idea how correct he was. As the wielder of Earth''s World Spirit, Alienor had many wide ranging abilities. One of these abilities was being able to assimilate with the Natural Force Arts that formed the foundation of Earth.

    When Camelot formed Avalon and became part of Earth''s reality, Alienor gained access to the Natural Force Arts that formed their foundation. This, in turn, allowed her to improve her <Crystal World> technique to the level it was currently at now.

    It could be said that Leonel had been helping his mom from countless light years away, something even she only became aware of right this moment. Had he never cleared Camelot''s Zone, their magic system wouldn''t have fused with Earth and his mother would have never learned of them.

    A flicker of guilt lit Alienor''s gaze.

    ''How ironicбн What a terrible mother I amбн''

    The idea that her son had been sweating and bleeding for her benefit made tears run down Alienor''s cheeks. She couldn''t seem to control her flood of emotions at all.

    Even now, all she could give her son was wealth and treasuresбн. She was under no illusions that this somehow made up for all the years of his life that she had missedбн

    бн

    Leonel was oblivious to all of this. He had no idea that it wasn''t because his mother was decades ahead of him, but rather that as the World Spirit wielder, she didn''t need to ''study'' Camelot''s Magic System like he did. It came as naturally to her as breathing.

    Technically, she had ''learned'' the magic system at the same time she did. However, functionally, they might as well have had thousands of years of separation between them.

    A light purple aura formed around him, forcing the rainbow colors of the bubble before him to take on various hues of violet instead.

    ''This is a good thingбн It also means that I''m right,'' Leonel mused. ''Logically, mother should have a far wider view of the Dimensional Verse than I do. The fact that she had so many options before her yet still chose to use Camelot''s Magic System in specific must mean that even compared to all of them, this system is far superior.''

    This conclusion made Leonel feel at ease. Before, he had guesses. But, he couldn''t be absolutely certain.

    Right then, his finger flashed outward, a beam of Spear Force cutting through and crashing onto the surface of the bubble.

    A blade mark rebounded off the surface of the <Crystal World> construction, leaving a deep mark. However, the world managed to quickly mend itself.

    Leonel calmly observed this before sending a fist covered in Fist Force forward. Unlike his Level Two Spear Force, this Fist Force was only the most ordinary Level One Fist Force. And yetбн

    The bubble shattered on the lightest impact, raining down motes of crystals and light.

    Leonel nodded to himself. He had set the Law of this <Crystal World> by stating that it was invulnerable to blade edges. However, by skewing the Law so heavily in one direction, it made it incredibly fragile to blunt trauma.

    Obviously, since Leonel''s blade had left a mark, the <Crystal World> wasn''t invulnerable. So, his Law wasn''t the end all, be all, at least not with his current proficiency. However, Leonel still felt that such a thing was endlessly useful in combat.

    ''If I can use my mother''s research to improve my <Valiant Seal>, just what would the result beбн?''

    Leonel''s mind worked in overdrive, but he felt like his King''s Might was missing something.

    His attention turned back to his mother''s techniques before he found exactly what had forced his Dreamscape to spark:

    <Dragon''s Might>

 Chapter 1105 Dragons Might

    Chapter 1105 Dragon''s Might

    <Dragon''s Might> was clearly a play on Emperor''s Might, as far as Leonel could tell. But, its use was far more than just that. In fact, it was quite fascinating.

    This technique was a method of Emperor''s Might manipulation. As things stood now, under normal circumstances, Emperor''s Might was like a sledgehammer. In its base form, both Alienor and Leonel could use it like a flood, trying to drown people out with it. However, just because it could be done, didn''t mean that this was the most efficient way of doing so.

    <Dragon''s Might> combined Emperor''s Might with concepts of visualizations and artistic conception. In fact, if Leonel was correct, him taking time to comprehend <Dragon''s Might> could actually go a long way in helping him master the Fifth Dimensional layer of <Dimensional Cleanse>.

    It had to be remembered that it was Leonel''s shallow understanding of the Fifth Dimensional layer of <Dimensional Cleanse> that led him down a path of using artistic conception to create Mage Arts. The Fifth Dimension was all about elevating the mind to release the shackles the body might harbor. This symbiotic relationship between mind and body was incredibly important.

    As such, using <Dragon''s Might> and mastering it, would actually give Leonel a path toward increasing the speed of his improvement through the Fifth Dimension.

    Right now, Leonel''s King''s Might was nothing more than a formless fog. Whenever he made use of it, it would permeate his general surroundings before eventually sinking into whatever target he had set it on.

    The trouble with this approach was that it wasn''t only a waste of energy, but it was also slow and not nearly as potent as it could be.

    The solution to this seemed quite simple. Since Leonel had such high Dream Force affinity, and he now knew that his King''s Might was a derivative of it, why not simply take control of this fog and change its form?

    Of course, he could do this, and this would likely help mitigate the slowing and wastage of his King''s Might. However, that was all. It was a mere surface solution to it all.

    It was only after reading through <Dragon''s Might> that Leonel came to understand why it was he was so lacking in his use of his Lineage Factor. He was only at the first Tier of the Fifth Dimension. He had yet to properly refine his mental state. In his current condition, his mind was like a wild and untameable beast that acted as it pleased.

    Leonel was under the illusion that he controlled himself, but just how much of his actions were based on his innate disposition? How much of himself was he controlling? And how much was decided at birth by an arrangement of his genes?

    It was quite the profound question.

    Why was it that some people endlessly procrastinated while others always seemed to be working? Was it really something as intangible as will? Or was it just a natural disposition? Or maybe will itself was decided by one''s innate disposition?

    <Dragon''s Might> removed the guess work from all of this. So long as Leonel practiced it properly, he would be able to rein in his mind to a certain extent. And, by attaching an artistic conception to his King''s Might, it too would become several times more powerful.

    Once he managed to do that, the Laws he set for <Crystal World>, or whatever upgraded version of his <Valiant Seal> that he formed would be exponentially more potent.

    ''Each level has a corresponding Force Art attached to it. Each really seems to be as complex as a Natural Force Art, was this really created by a personбн?''

    Leonel couldn''t help but be impressed once again. He had never seen a Force Art created by a person be so complex. Whether it was his Auspicious Aura Force Art or Camelot''s Magic System Force Art, both were exceedingly complicated. However, these <Dragon''s Might> Force Arts fell somewhere between the two in complexity with Camelot''s being by far the most complex.

    <Dragon''s Might> was split into nine levels with three major dividing lines. Despite being called <Dragon''s Might>, this name was actually more of a placeholder to convey the foundation of the technique''s secrets. In reality, the artistic conception used was up to the user. This also allowed one the flexibility to improve upon <Dragon''s Might> in the future.

    Leonel wouldn''t'' be surprised if his mother used the artistic conception of a Dragon to give her Emperor''s Might form. However, Leonel wouldn''t even know where to start if he chose that pathбн He had never seen a Dragon nor seen the depiction of one. Though he had read and seen a lot of them in fiction back in his younger years, that wasn''t nearly enough.

    ''Waitбн Do Dragons actually existбн?'' Leonel''s brow furrowed before he shook his head. That hardly mattered right now. What he needed was a proper artistic conception, one that was both easy to observe and easy to scale.

    With Leonel''s thinking speed, he immediately thought of several possibilities.

    The first was Little Blackstar. Though the little guy seemed quite adorable and unassuming, he was both a Shadow Sovereign and now an heir to the Void Beasts, a creature that even Leonel''s own father deemed it important to leave a message behind about. It might even be the case that Void Beasts were far more powerful than Dragons, if Dragons even existed, that is.

    The second choice was to choose something far more abstract, like a Disaster World. So long as Leonel kept visiting Disaster Worlds of similar elements, he would also be able to continuously upgrade the artistic conception of his King''s Might. In addition, he would likewise be able to improve his Universal Cycles. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

    Both of these ideas felt excellent, but for some reason they left an uncomfortable feeling in Leonel''s gut. He could somehow tell that if he really took this path, his King''s Might wouldn''t like it, but he couldn''t'' quite understand whyбн

    Until it all clicked.

    The difference between Emperor''s Might and King''s Might was that while the former gathered strength from outside influencesбн The latter gathered strength from yourself.

    Leonel suddenly felt a throbbing above his right hip and he subconsciously reached a hand downward.

    A searing heat threatened to torch everything in the room, but for some reason Leonel felt exceedingly comfortable.

    In that moment, he felt like he knew exactly what he had to do.

 Chapter 1106 Shared

    Chapter 1106 Shared

    The poolside was quite lively. The past three days had been spent in complete leisure as the youths of Earth basked in luxury. None of them had realized just how much of a toll the war had taken on them until this moment.

    What was shocking to many of them, though, was that they hadn''t been bothered at all. In fact, it didn''t seem like anyone else was moving into their hotel either. It was as though the entire building had been locked down for their sakes.

    In the end, they could only brush it off and chalk it up to Noah and Leonel''s performances. Maybe the Luxnix were still trying to figure out how to bring the two into their fold and as such made some concessions on the front end.

    Either way, the group had access to as much food and entertainment as they wanted. It truly felt like they were on vacation.

    That day, as the high sun began to calm a bit, a few dozen of them say by the poolside.

    Gil, practically grinning ear to ear, had an arm wrapped around two ravishing beauties he seemed to be whispering sweet nothings to. The two would often roll their eyes and giggle, but so long as Gil didn''t get too handsy, they let him do as he pleased.

    For Gil, this was enough for him to be on cloud nine. Just a few days ago, he could only stare at beauties through a windowpane. But now, he could actually enjoy the touch of such slim waists with a single pinch. This was truly Heaven.

    "Ladies, you really should give me a chance. I might be fast, but I still know how to finish last. How could I call myself a gentleman without allowing two beauties to go ahead of me?"

    Gil''s gaze twinkled, his eyes sparking with crimson streaks of lightning as though to remind the two of his Speedster status.

    The two women covered their mouths and laughed, but they gave Gil their usual non-answer.

    "Your pick up lines are lame!" Franco called over from the deep end of the pool.

    Gil snorted. "Don''t open that big mouth of yours too wide, you might drown."

    Franco sneered. "I''m bigger than you in other places too, but I''ll spare the beauties the shock."

    The two women in Gil''s arms turned completely red toward Franco''s frankness. Toward this, Gil could only be displeased.

    With a flick of his finger, Gil sent an arc of lightning toward the pool.

    "Shit!"

    Franco jumped, just barely getting out of the water before he was shocked.

    "You little bastard." Franco snarled.

    "Who are you calling little?!"

    Gil seemed to forget about the two women in his arms as he let them go to charge after Franco. Soon, their third battle of the day had erupted, leaving the two maids looking toward one another with speechless expressions.

    The laughter and ambience of the poolside didn''t fade as the two fought. In fact, it only seemed to become livelier. Some even began to place bets on who would win this time.

    To the side, Noah sat in silence. By some miracle, he had been convinced to wear a pair of swimming shorts and his bold, refined chest was displayed for all to see. With how defined his muscles were, it would be difficult to pick a winner between him, Leonel and Allan. Though, as usual, Allan was wearing overly baggy clothing even by the poolside.

    "Is there a problem with Leonel?"

    Jessica, who was wearing quite a conservative one-piece swimsuit, tried to strike up a conversation with Noah once again. Somehow, though, every time Noah looked toward her, he would look away just as quickly as though he was seeing something frightening.

    It was only after Jessica wrapped a shawl around her waist and partially covered her long, slender legs that Noah finally seemed to become normal again.

    "Noбн I think he should be fine."

    Thinking back to what Noah had found on his bed three days ago, he assumed that Leonel must have received something as well. He was probably enthralled by it all.

    "Cap!"

    As though on cue, Leonel opened the side doors of the hotel to find himself by the poolside as well. Seeing that everyone was here, he couldn''t help but smile.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar hopped from Leonel''s head, jumping toward the group of ladies who seemed to fall in love with him instantly. Clearly, they had no idea how much of a pervert the little guy was.

    "You guys seem to be having a lot of fun. Seems I''ve missed out."

    "Hehe, don''t worry, Cap. I know you were just enjoying the presents we sent your way."

    Gil, who had Franco in a headlock, looked over with a mysterious grin.

    Leonel blinked in confusion. "Presents?"

    "Yea, yea. Don''t worry, Cap. We''ll keep it a secret for you."

    Leonel was speechless.

    He had no idea that these guys had sent over some service women to his Penthouse. But, long before the could even make it to his door, they had been intercepted by his mother. How could Alienor allow her son to be serviced by such low class women?

    Alienor was all in favor of Leonel having dozens of wives, but they all had to be of the highest quality. He couldn''t just wildly seed any plot of land!

    Leonel, though, had no idea about any of this and could only make some connections through the hardly disguised lewd gazes of his brothers. It was to the point even the women picked up on it, leaving them with no other choice but to turn their heads away in embarrassment.

    Leonel opened his mouth to explain but in the end just shook his head and sighed.

    He had to admit that he was a bit pent up. The stronger his body became as he progressed his Metal Body, the stronger those urges seemed to become. It also didn''t help that he had been abstaining from such thoughts ever since Aina vanished.

    He shook his head again. ''What am I thinking? Gil''s perversion is rubbing off on me. Still, who knows, with how big the event these three planets are planning seems, maybe Aina will be here tooбн''

    Leonel was filled with a complicated emotion. How would he face Aina when he met her? He didn''t like the idea of apologizing because he didn''t feel like he had done anything wrong. Or, at the very least, he felt that they had wronged each other.

    Forget it, maybe as a man it was his duty to suffer a loss in this case. Who cared who was right or wrong as long as they could be together again?

    Wait, that was wrong tooбн If they they approached things like that, the festering wounds that led to their separation in the first place would only grow, then they''d probably end up separated again.

    Leonel felt a headache coming on.

    At that moment, several strong auras suddenly converged on their hotel''s poolside.

    Leonel looked up to see several youths making their way forward. All of them had a single thing in common:

    They shared the Luxnix Bloodline.

 Chapter 1107 Fortress

    Chapter 1107 Fortress

    Leonel calmly observed these approaching figures. There weren''t many of them and it also wasn''t clear what their purpose was at a single glance. However, Leonel had some guesses.

    The peace could only last for so long. Their group had not only somehow monopolized an entire hotel and its amenities for themselves, but they hadn''t even had to fight for it like the others had. Such branch family members wouldn''t dare to find trouble with the main Luxnix family, so the next best option was to attack the root of their dissatisfaction to begin with.

    At first, they were apprehensive. After all, some lingering rumors about what must have happened three days ago had circulated. Many thought that it wouldn''t be long until members of the main branch came to usher Leonel and Noah in. If they made a move before that, wouldn''t they be shooting themselves in the foot?

    But, after three days of no movement, not to mention a few more rooms being claimed through competition, the other branch family geniuses seemed to realize that the Luxnix didn''t have the intention of coming for Leonel and Noah now.

    Logically, it should only take an expert of the Luxnix a few hours at most to come here using a flying craft. If they used a teleportation formation, it would at most take a few minutes. Three days was definitely too long even if potential delaying factors were taken into consideration.

    The fact that the Luxnix hadn''t come more than likely meant that they were still waiting for Leonel and Noah to prove themselves. These branch family members had no way of knowing what the strength gauge for main branch members were. They only knew that Leonel and Noah were better than they were, but they didn''t have a frame of reference for the main branch. This along with the fact the matters of that day were only being spread by vague recollections made solid deductions even more difficult.

    In the end, the other branch geniuses found themselves to be greatly dissatisfied. The youths of Earth hadn''t even had to fight for their places. Since the Luxnix were clearly still testing them, didn''t that mean that defeating them would gain them fame as well?

    At the helm, three youths with gazes that practically spit fire led the group. Though Leonel had no idea who they were, their auras were quite strong, all of them having stepped into Tier 7. Behind them, there were a handful of Tier 5 and 6 existences.

    If Leonel was more informed, he would have known that these three youths were yet more members of the Luxnix top ten branches. This time, rather than the 10th and 12th ranked, it was the 8th, 7th and 5th.

    The Luxnix family system worked quite simply. The main branch was located within this Three Pillar Galaxy and shared the quadrants evenly with the Viola and Montex families. The branch families spread themselves throughout the Sector. Some of the most powerful controlled entire galaxies of their own, while the weaker ones controlled several quadrants within a galaxy.

    A branch family''s rank wasn''t static and rather fluctuated. There were monthly, yearly, and per decade rankings. This system stopped branches that were on top from growing complacent and also gave lower ranking branches a chance to display their hard work and claim rewards.

    This ranking system was based on contribution. This included Zones of note cleared, taxes paid, worlds conquered, and even additional elective contributions. These contributions were tallied and given scores that would eventually reflect in the rankings.

    Of course, the more powerful families tended to have the better rankings and received the most support from the main branch.

    The 8th Branch was known as the Mueter Branch, the 7th the Yunia Branch, and the 5th the Cuvan Branch. Though their rankings weren''t as stable as the top three branch families, their confidence spoke volumes for itself given how boldly they had chosen to come here.

    "What the hell is this? I spent all that time waiting, being held back, for this? They''re practically all in Tier 1, is this a fucking joke?"

    The youth from the Yunia Branch, Crakas Luxnix, wantonly swept his Internal Sight everywhere he pleased. Without even trying to hide it, he showed not a single person present a single ounce of respect. However, just before he could finish his sweepбн

    "Hm?"

    Crakas'' brows furrowed as he looked up to meet Leonel''s gaze. Leonel himself stood where he had always been, his hands in his pockets and his gaze indifferent.

    Crakas'' lip curled into a sneer. He had been holding back before, but since this brat wanted to playбн

    Without an ounce of hesitation, Crakas unleashed his Internal Sight in full force, already imagining the sight of Leonel''s Internal Sight shattering into shards of glass. Even though this would only leave the latter a bit dizzy for a few moments, he was already feeling a sick satisfaction from it.

    Great affinity with Snow Force, even without awakening the Wisdom Branch, made the Internal Sight of the Luxnix sturdier than most others. It had to be remembered the one had to take normal force to convert into Soul Force. With Soul Force, one could project one''s Internal Sight. However, some Forces were far better in conversion than others were.

    Crakas was confident in his own Soul Force, not only because of his Luxnix Blood, but also because of his Ability Index. Whoever this fool was would suffer very soon.

    Unfortunatelyбн Just as quickly as Crakas sneered, he found his expression warping in the next moment.

    Leonel''s Internal Sight was like a thick, impenetrable fortress. Crakas could feel his own crumbling just after ramming into it. No, it wasn''t crumbling, it felt as though just touching Leonel''s Internal Sight made his slowly erode.

    Right when Crakas panicked and wanted to pull back, the form of Leonel''s Internal Sight suddenly changed. From a fortress, it became numerous spiked ramrods, pushing forward with an air of lethality.

    Crakas shot backward to the very shock of his companions and retracted his Internal Sight as fast as he could. However, he was still a step slow.

    Crakas'' body convulsed, his knees buckling as his face turned pale. He fell to the ground, his gaze somewhat vacant.

 Chapter 1108 Food

    Chapter 1108 Food

    From start to end, Leonel didn''t move a single inch. In fact, those with weaker senses wouldn''t have even been able to tell that a clash was occurring at all.

    It could only be said that Crakas was too foolish. While he had Snow Force to strengthen his Internal Sight, Leonel had already awakened his Wisdom Branch to the second layer and his mind already had the boundaries and sturdiness of an individual at the Quasi Sixth Dimensional level. This had been the case long before he ever stepped into the Fourth Dimension, let alone now that he was in the Fifth.

    As though that wasn''t enough to widen the gap, Crakas used regular Soul Force while Leonel used the purest form of Soul ForceбкDream Force.

    With this disparity, even if Leonel only crudely controlled his Internal Sight, he would have still been able to crush Crakas. But, after being given the Luxnix''s library of techniques, Leonel had touched upon an entirely new level of Internal Sight control.

    The breadth of techniques the Luxnix had in this regard were impossibly numerous. Just now, Leonel had only used the most basic of Third Dimensional Internal Sight Manipulation techniques, and yet the difference was actually so striking.

    Of course, there was one other reason why the difference was so drastic, a reason related to the corrosive attack Crakas felt true fear forбн

    It could only be said that Crakas had shot himself in the foot.

    "Crakas!"

    The members of the Yunia Branch that had followed rushed after Crakas to help him up. The latter was still in a daze, but his cloudy eyes began to slowly sharpen, only for it to flash with a hint of seriousness and fear.

    He felt that if Leonel had insisted on pursuing him in that moment, his outcome wouldn''t have been as simple as a spout of dizziness for a small while. He almost felt as though his mind could have been destroyed.

    Of course, Crakas doubted that Leonel could really accomplish it. This wasn''t because he was looking down on Leonel, he had already learned a lesson against that just now in the harshest way possible. The main issue was that Internal Sight that had been retracted into the mind couldn''t be so easily messed with. In fact, trying to do so would have put Leonel in danger instead.

    The leading youth of the Mueter and Cuvan Branches looked back toward Crakas with equally serious expressions. They had been paying attention to what happened just now.

    Usually, Internal Sight was quite fluid. Several Internal Sights could overlap and pass through one another without issue normally. However, techniques for Internal Sight taking shape and form like that were extraordinarily rare, and those who had such proficiency in them were even rarer. It almost felt like a perfect one to one of Leonel''s consciousness.

    Of course, they had no idea that it was exactly this. With Dream Force, Leonel''s control of his Internal Sight was a thought away. After all, Dream Force was the embodiment of Consciousness.

    "So you were a specialist of the Wisdom Branch. It seems we''ve underestimated youбн"

    Nigreth, the Tier 7 youth of the 5th ranked Cuvan Branch, looked toward Leonel deeply, his tone and expression touched with a hint of seriousness.

    The Wisdom Branch was probably the most respected of the Snowy Star Owl''s three main talent branches. The Luxnix had a saying that it was from Wisdom that all other things sprout. Those who specialized in the Wisdom Branch had statuses that were a margin higher than those who were of the Speed or Healing Branch.

    However, that was all. This wasn''t enough for these youths to back down. It had only taught them that they shouldn''t get into a war of Internal Sight with Leonel.

    Seeing that they had come to such a conclusion, Leonel didn''t bother to correct them. There wasn''t much of a point, it likely wouldn''t be long before they learned the true extent of his abilities.

    "Might I ask what you three have come for?"

    Leonel smiled lightly, however his brothers had already snapped out of their fun-having state to stare toward the newcomers.

    Ridan, the final Tier 7 youth of the Mueter Branch, looked Leonel up and down, his fists itching. For some reason, Leonel''s smile reminded him of the hypocritical smiles of all those old fogies. But, for other reasons, he couldn''t seem to bring himself to hate it as much.

    "We came for battle, of course." He spoke out, taking a step forward. "In all this time, the other branches have been competing everyday for the sake of the resources they get to enjoy. Your hotel still has 100% of its maid servants, amenities, and food. Yet, you''re the only group that has yet to fight a single battle."

    It seemed that the competition didn''t stop at claiming rooms. After this, it became a contest of the hotels and a fight for resources.

    "I seeбн" Leonel nodded. "So you want our resources? Aside from the obvious, why''s that?"

    Leonel calmly observed the group before him.

    Ridan''s sneer deepened. "None of us know when the competition will begin. Isn''t it only right that we try to gather up as many resources as we can to improve in what time we have left? If we can sharpen our skills against good sparring partners, wouldn''t that be even better?"

    Leonel nodded. That did, indeed, make sense. He had hoped to learn more about this competition, but he guessed that this much was already enough.

    He gazed toward everyone around him and laughed.

    "Well, you all heard him, they want to spar for resources. I haven''t eaten in quite a few days, you guys have fun."

    Leonel''s feet glided against the grass and eventual polished stone surrounding the poolside. Under everyone''s gazes, he made it to the barbeque and started fixing himself an enormous plate of food.

    Whether it was the youths of Earth or the branch youths, they could only stand and watch, speechless.

    Before any of them had reacted, Leonel had already begun to munch on an enormous beast leg.

    He looked up with an innocent expression on his face. "What are you all waiting for? They only came with nine people, there are over 50 of us. Gang up on them."

 Chapter 1109 Roof

    Chapter 1109 Roof

    "Shameless!"

    Leonel looked up from his plate of food to see an enormous battle royale having broken out. Whether it was Crakas, Nigreth or Ridan, or even their followers, all of them were instantly infuriated. However, toward this reaction, Leonel could only shrug.

    Though Crakas was a bit rude in his remarks, that didn''t mean he wasn''t correct. The youths of Earth were, indeed, far too weak. Even the most advanced of them was only at Tier 2, and that happened to be Noah. Leonel himself would likely break into Tier 2 in a few days thanks to the benefits of , but compared to these Tier 5, 6, and 7 youths, it was really not worth mentioning.

    The worst part was that Leonel was fully aware that this was just the tip of the iceberg. He still remembered that Riah girl from a few days ago. She was already Tier 8 and her talent itself was far beyond the youths that had come here today. And, these were all Branch family members!

    If the difference between them and the branch families was already this large, what about the difference between them and the main branch? What about the other two pillar families, the Viola and the Montex?

    Leonel vaguely felt that maybe bringing everyone here was a mistake, but in the end, he shook his head. What good was it if they stayed sheltered? Facing the world like this would only help them improve faster.

    ''Why am I thinking like some old man? I need to improve too.''

    Leonel took another large bite out of his food, his gaze scanning the battlefield. From just a cursory glance, he could tell that it took on average three of Earth''s geniuses to face just one of them. The difference was there for all to see.

    In truth, this revelation was more shocking than not for the branch family geniuses. The gap between experts of the Fifth Dimension were enormous, especially if it was the gap of one or two watersheds. There were three Higher Tier geniuses and six middle Tier geniuses, while all of Earth''s youths were still in the Lower Tier. The fact that it only took three to bridge this gap was more shocking than anything else.

    To put this matter into perspective, even if they had to fight 50 Tier 1 experts alone, they should have been able to do it. If these Tier 1 experts were from lesser worlds, even hundreds to thousands of them shouldn''t have been able to bridge the gap. The fact that three could was shocking enough.

    Still, Leonel could only sigh at this result. He wasn''t quite sure of what to do.

    Should he use the money his mother left him to help? Noбн That wouldn''t make much of a difference. The accommodations the hotel provided were excellent. They had all the nutrients and support Fifth Dimensional existences could ask for.

    Should he use the Silver Tablet to help loosen their bottlenecks? This was a possibility, butбн Having learned about the Three Finger Cult, Leonel realized that his past acts of openly and freely using the Silver Tablet was far more dangerous than he knew. He had only done so because he thought he was the only one potentially aware of its existence, but clearly this wasn''t the case.

    Realizing this, Leonel knew that he couldn''t casually rely on the Silver Tablet any longer, at least not for people he didn''t have absolute trust in. He would trust his brothers with his life, but he barely had a surface relationship with the other youths of Earth. He didn''t have the luxury of freely believing in them.

    "Hold this, you SOB!"

    Raj swung down a massive hammer of metallic sand. His violent movements caused that layers of fat that coated his body to peel backward and press down, surprisingly revealing the hint of a powerful physique.

    This wasn''t too surprising to the others. Before the Metamorphosis, the strongest of them all in terms of raw power was most definitely between Raj and Arnold. It was too bad he refused to lose weight even after no longer needing it for football.

    Leonel smiled as he watched them all push the branch family geniuses back. His gaze slowly left the battle, aiming up toward a a distant hotel roof.

    бн

    "Hm? Did he see us?"

    "So what if he did?" Another responded with a yawn. "Isn''t this a bit too shameless? We should just storm down there and end it all. By the time we''re finished, they won''t have a place here any longer."

    "Maybe, but it''s interesting, don''t you think?"

    "What the hell is interesting about these weaklings?"

    "None of them have Luxnix Blood. Of the two that do, one of them is clearly not trying very hard, while the other is eating. Yet, despite not having Luxnix Blood, or Viola and Montex Blood for that matter, it only takes 50 of them to overwhelm nine of us."

    A snort sounded. "Don''t ''us'' me together with them. Those few down there don''t even have 0.20 Blood Density, why are you lumping me in?"

    "Just shut up about yourself for a second. If you want to be so arrogant, why don''t you take that attitude to the Luxnix family Estate, go see how the real geniuses feel about you."

    The snorter fell into silence, sending a glance over to the man by his side.

    "Anyway, use your head for a second. How is it that a group of youths without a drop of the three strongest Bloodlines of this Sector somehow have the strength to fight back in a 50 on 9 battle against individuals who do have it. Don''t you think it''s fishy?"

    The rooftop fell into silence. This was indeed a bit surprising. While the numbers looked unfair, it should have been unfair for Earth, not the other way around.

    "бн Oh? He disappeared."

    "No, he''s right here."

    The three shifted their gaze to find Leonel''s smiling figure looking back at them. At some unknown time, Leonel had gone from eating his fill to standing on the very same roof as them all.

 Chapter 1110 0.50

    Chapter 1110 0.50

    "Hello." Leonel smiled lightly as though he was meeting some old friends.

    The three youths before him were quite unique. They all had golden hair, though not as pure nor as bright as main branch members. However, what truly distinguished them were their eyes. One had a pair of radiant blue irises, another had very warm brown eyes that seemed only a shade or two away from amber, and the last very pale green eyes.

    These were the hallmarks of the top three branch families of the Luxnix. This chapter is updated by novelhall.com.

    There was Kian, the Tier 7 genius of the 3rd ranked Vora Branch and his pale green eyes. Vaan, the Tier 7 genius of the 2nd ranked Strach Branch and his brown, near amber eyes. And finally, there was Ren, the Tier 7 genius of the 1st ranked Ruaturn Branch.

    Each of these three branches controlled an entire galaxy all to their own and had positions that were quite interchangeable. The gap between them were so close that they were functionally seen as a single unit. In fact, there was a large disparity between themselves and the 4th ranked branch families and beyond.

    Leonel couldn''t help but note that all of these top line geniuses were Tier 7. The only exception had been Riah who was Tier 8. The was likely not a coincidence, but Leonel didn''t have enough information or data points to draw a conclusion.

    Of course, if Leonel had known that Rychard Viola, who he had met in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World, was a member of the Viola family, he would have noted that he too had been Tier 7. By then, he might have realized that there was more to this than what it seemed.

    Kian, Vaan and Ren all looked toward one another before looking back toward Leonel. They had been leisurely watching the battle in one moment, but the instant they lost track of Leonel, he had already appeared here.

    Was it teleportation? But there was at least a half kilometer distance between themselves and where Leonel had been. How could someone in the Fifth Dimension teleport so far in a Sixth Dimensional world?

    Their expressions turned serious.

    "I assume that you came here for a reason?" Kian, the most abrasive of the three, was the first to recover, dressing down Leonel with his gaze.

    "Of course." Leonel said lightly. "I just wanted to ask you all not to make things too difficult on me and my people. It would be quite a problem if we also had to fight you all too."

    The three were stunned. What had this man just said? Did they hear correctly?

    Kian burst into a fit of laughter, slowly standing up from his reclining chair. His green eyes flashed to a peak of emerald for a moment as he took a step forward.

    "Are you asking us to show mercy?"

    "Well, if you want to think of it that way to accept my proposal, sure."

    Kian''s sneer only deepened when he heard this.

    "This is the first time I''ve ever heard of a Luxnix being so cowardly. Sure, we can agree not to attack you. Just hand over all your resources and scram first. If you didn''t even want to fight, why did you come all the way here? To embarrass your ancestors?"

    "Not exactly." Leonel responded quite calmly despite Kian''s words. "How old are you this year?"

    Kian frowned hearing the line of questioning. However, it wasn''t like his age was a secret to begin with. Since Leonel was being so amusing, he thought he would oblige.

    "I''m 102 this year. If you''re thinking of using your age as an excuse, I''ve already been at Tier 7 for 13 years already. If I had wanted to, I could have been in the Sixth Dimension already."

    "Mm." Leonel nodded. "Well, the oldest of them is only 23. Don''t you think you should show some leeway as their senior?"

    The pupils of the three constricted.

    What they didn''t know was that it wasn''t exactly accurate to say that they were 23. After all, many of them had only been in the Dimensional Verse for four to five years. On the other hand, these branch family geniuses started training when they were toddlers. It simply wasn''t the same.

    After his initial shock, Kian''s face settled back down.

    "I don''t know if you''re trying to bullshit me or not, but do you take me for a fool? Where would you possibly get so many young Fifth Dimensional beings from? And, even if by some small miracle you weren''t lyingбн So what? You want me to give up my chance at a bright future because you''re all so ''young'' and ''innocent''? Even if you were a baby in a stroller, if it meant me claiming a spot among them, I''d stab a knife through your chest without hesitation."

    Leonel fell into silence when he heard these words. His gaze shifted from Kian to the other two.

    "бн You''re right." He finally said. "It was a bit stupid of me to ask for such a thing."

    Leonel''s palm flipped over and a three meter long dual bladed silver spear appeared.

    "Let''s fight, then."

    **

    Within the Luxnix family estate, two familiar young men sat, enjoying the lavish lifestyle they had been living over the last several weeks. It had simply been too long since they had a chance to rest like this. Being in that place had always felt like being in a constant hellish storm.

    Of course, these two young men were the prim and proper Orinik and the lazy, untidy Ganor. It wasn''t much of a surprise, then, that one side of the dining table was filled with clean plates and cleanly cut pieces of meat while the other looked as though a tornado had passed through.

    However, at that moment, both young men froze in unison, their gazes turning somewhat vacant as though they were listening intently to something.

    "Young Sirs?"

    Orinik and Ganor were currently being entertained by the geniuses of the Luxnix family. Though Myghelle wasn''t present, the only three youths of this generation to surpass 0.50 Bloodline Density were.

    The one who spoke was the youngest and shortest of them. Unlike most of the Luxnix, he had also cut his bright golden hair short with much of the sides of his head being completely hairless.

    He was Syllar Luxnix, the preeminent genius of the Luxnix main branch''s Speed Arm.

    When the two recovered their sharpness, Ganor completely ignored the question and went back to eating, But Orinik smiled lightly and explained.

    "We''ve received word that the first round of the selection event will begin in a month''s time."

    "Oh!" Syllar''s gaze brightened. He looked like he was still a child in his early teens, but the truth was that he was well into his 30''s already.

    "Hmбн"

    The second of the three geniuses spoke. He was none other than Elaquin, the preeminent genius of the Luxnix main branch''s Wisdom Arm. He seemed to carry the sharp eyes and slick tongue one would expect from such a person and he was the tallest of the three.

    "бн It seems that it''s about time we invite those of the branch families who passed to the family estate."

 Chapter 1111 Three Inches

    Chapter 1111 Three Inches

    Leonel''s blade flashed, his Bronze Runes blazing to life as a silver armor covered him from head to toe.

    The pupils of the three constricted. They could tell that this wasn''t an armor Leonel summoned, it was rather one that was perfectly integrated with his body. The first possibility was that he had constructed this armor out of exceptionally rare materials that could be fused with organic material. The second possibility was that this was a second Lineage Factor.

    Regardless of which the truth was, the objective reality was one thing: Leonel was powerful. Very powerful.

    As though to agree with their speculation, a strong spatial domain suddenly descended. The three youths felt as though it took twice the effort to move the same distance as it had in the past, forcing their expressions into an even more serious state. There was no doubt in their minds that this was an ability of this armor Leonel had just brought out.

    "You want to fight now? Fine." Kian''s expression settled down, his own Force beginning to roll forward in waves. "You must really think that I''m some sort of pushover."

    Kian''s palm flipped over, revealing a glaive almost an entire meter taller than himself. Its polearm was a sleek black and its blade was a striking, venomous green. The blade itself was somewhat transparent and even seemed refined of a special sort of glass. However, the instant Kian''s Snow Force erupted forth, it lost all its dullness and began to glow to the point its transparency vanished, leaving behind a blade that was not only almost double the size it had been originally, reaching almost three feet in length, but also one that shimmered as though it was made entirely of light.

    An uncomfortable feeling began to hang in the air. Leonel didn''t need to think very much to know that this stickiness on his skin was a poison warning. However, as though he couldn''t sense this strangeness at all, he shot forward, his spear drawing an elegant arc in the air.

    Kian sneered, his own blade swinging downward. But his pupils constricted at the result.

    Kian had been certain that his weapon would be beyond Leonel''s. He currently had a Tier 7 Bronze Grade glaive in his possession and it perfect synergized with his abilities. One would be hard pressed to find a youth with a better weapon than himself.

    However, the instant they clashed, Kian realized he couldn''t have been more wrong. Leonel''s spear was actually of the Quasi Silver Grade!

    Kian''s approach instantly changed.

    With a skill rarely seen, the instant their blades clashed, he pulled back, his stance shifting. His movement was so swift that it made it difficult to tell anything had happened, but Leonel himself felt as though he had just swung into a target made of cotton.

    Kian''s glaive continued to glide backward, dispersing the strength of Leonel''s blow and sweeping it to his back after a sidestep.

    His gaze lit with greed, but he reined it under control. Leonel might have wielded a spear, but the mechanics and design of it wasn''t far from his own glaive and the length was about the same. He could easily see himself using it. And, even if he decided that it wasn''t worth his time, he could easily sell it to afford to upgrade his own weapon.

    Since Leonel had chosen to make an enemy out of him, he didn''t mind taking him for all the money he was worth.

    ''He is more skilled than anyone I''ve battled beforeбн''

    This was the thought that Leonel had almost instantaneously. Leonel had never had any formal training in the spear and much of what he knew came from himself and cobbling together the insights of the masters of the Spear Domain. Compared to Kian who had clearly been wielding a glaive since he was a child, there was a bit of a gapбн

    At least, there was a gap until he activated it.

    Leonel didn''t hesitate, his forehead beginning to pulse with a golden light. Through the visor and helmet of his armor, the shimmering print of a golden spear made itself known.

    In unison, Leonel pressed forward, wild Spear Force suddenly erupting around him. In one moment, Kian was effortlessly gliding Leonel''s force to a harmless location. In the next, Leonel''s spear had flipped in his hands, a second blade cutting toward Kian''s neck with a violent momentum.

    Kian''s expression changed. ''Impossible!''

    Vaan and Ren no longer remained seated, realizing that this would be a problem instantly. Vaan and Ren both flipped their palms to reveal two swords. As though by tacit agreement, they pincered Leonel in from both sides. If Leonel dared to continue his strike, he would definitely end up fatally wounded.

    On one side, Vaan''s swordsmanship was like a rocky avalanche, erratic and alternating between soft mudslides and harsh, rolling boulders.

    On the other, Ren''s swordsmanship was akin to a rippling wave. A single flick of the wrist caused fluid and sudden movements. There was something decidedly beautiful about it all.

    The differences were both reflected in the size of their sword. Ren''s was barely two fingers wide while Vaan''s was easily four. One used a single hand while the other insisted on two.

    At that moment, though, the three were suddenly shrouded by an oppressive aura. Fear gripped their hearts and sweat coated their palms, nearly causing their weapons to slip from their hands.

    "Duality."

    The flickering image of a small man barely three inches tall appeared above Leonel''s head. The instant it did, Leonel''s Domains seemed to become like unshakeable laws of the world, so ingrained into reality that they became as fundamental as gravity itself.

    All the strength that Kian, Vaan and Ren had mustered in that moment was suddenly sapped away, flooding Leonel''s own body and filling him with a raging power.

    Kian''s gaze flickered with despair as Leonel''s blade reached his neck, drawing blood.

    The crimson droplets sprinkled to the floor, leaving the hotel roof beneath an eerie silence.

    [More coming]

 Chapter 1112 Excommunication

    Chapter 1112 Excommunication

    Leonel''s blade just barely nicked Kian''s skin, the cold glint in his eyes obvious beneath his visor.

    The three youths were shaken. Even though Kian was the only one with a blade to his neck, Vaan and Ren who were practically trapped in space were just as fear filled.

    Vaan and Ren had never stopped piercing their swords forward. It was just that so much of their strength has been sapped by Leonel''s Duality Domain that what once was twice the effort to move the same distance had become over a dozen times the effort. If one didn''t look closely, it would seem as though they had been frozen in time.

    The three had been able to pretty much ignore Leonel''s spatial Domain by diverting their Force to counter act it. But, when it was paired with this second Domain, it felt as though they were small fish swimming against the ocean''s tides.

    But this was only the tip of the iceberg.

    ''He usedбн He used Natural Spear Forceбн''

    Spear Force. Natural Spear Force. Enlightened Spear Force. These were Leonel''s so-called Level One, Level Two and Level Three weapon Forces. He might not know their true names due to purposely keeping himself ignorant, but this didn''t mean that the same could be said for others.

    The moment Leonel''s Natural Spear Force erupted, Vaan and Ren knew that they had still underestimated Leonel.

    To put these matters into perspective, even in the top three branch families of the Luxnix, not a single soul of the younger generation had awakened to their Natural weapon Force. In fact, each of them could count on a single hand the number of Sixth Dimensional old monsters who had accomplished this in their families.

    However, even with that being the case, none of the three of them could take their eyes off of the three inch being sitting above Leonel''s head. They felt as though their souls were being sucked out of their bodies every time they laid eyes on it, their knees threatening to collapse beneath them.

    It felt like that small little being was the antithesis of all that was life. It embodied pure death and destruction as though it wouldn''t stop until everything was eradicated.

    Just looking toward it made them all feel a piercing pain in their heads.

    Leonel slowly retracted his spear and pierced one end into the ground.

    "I think the result is pretty obvious now and we don''t need to continue, correct?" Leonel swept a gaze over the three of them.

    Kian, Vaan and Ren all remained silent, their jaws clenched. By now, Vaan and Ren had lowered their swords. They realized that there wasn''t much of a point in continuing. Even if this technique took a lot out of Leonel, something that was very clearly not immediately obvious, it was still more than enough time for him to take them out.

    Even after several moments of thought, none of them could think of a counter. In all likelihood, even if there was some sort of counter to this, they simply weren''t privy to it.

    Of course, this ''small figure'' was the manifestation of Leonel''s <Dragon''s Might>. Rather than taking the form of something else, it took the form of himself and gave his King''s Might a tangible representation. this vantage point, he could just barely catch a glimpse of a corner of the long pathway leading up to the ten hotels. Near the front, there was a large community square laid of stone. Under normal circumstances, such a location would be used for the in and out traffic of vehicles. But, with this being the private property of the Luxnix, it wasn''t truly used in this way.

    In that moment, a platform rose up and the large fountain that had taken up the center of the square became a teleportation pad upon which several individuals appeared.

    Leonel''s gaze immediately narrowed. He couldn''t see the others because his own hotel blocked the view of them from this view point, but the one he could see left Leonel feeling a tangible pressure. Leonel had no reference for how powerful those of the main branch were, so he had subconsciously believed that the gap between them and the like of Kian, Vaan and Ren couldn''t be too far apart. But, it only took this single experience for him to understand just how wrong he was.

    The gap was enormous. In fact, it was akin to night and day. The two groups might as well have been completely alien to one another.

    ''Is that soбн''

    Right then, the sound of a sonorous bell resounded. The battle between Leonel''s brothers and the people of Earth against those of the 5th, 7th and 8th Branch families came to a halt. Though, unfortunately for the latter group, their sudden stop resulted in many of them getting sucker punched. But, who could blame the youths of Earth? After all, they didn''t understand the significance of that sound.

    Whatever rage the branch family youths had about this though could only be quickly doused in water.

    "This is an edict of the Luxnix. All those with Bloodline Densities of 0.10 and higher are to report here within the next ten minutes. Failure to do so will result in ten lashes and excommunication from the family."

 Chapter 1113 lgnorance

    Chapter 1113 lgnorance

    Leonel''s brow raised when he made eye contact with Noah. There was something particularly shifty about Noah''s gaze at the moment as though he wanted to say something or was regretting something, but he also seemed to realize that it was too late to do so.

    The both of them had been making their way to the front of the hotel after hearing the announcement when they crossed paths. It was immediately obvious to Leonel that Noah was holding back something.

    ''It makes sense. Noah probably knows more about the Luxnix than I do, but he isn''t a very talkative person to begin with so he probably didn''t know how to start the conversation.''

    Leonel smiled and shook his head. He couldn''t decide whether this cousin of his was a block of wood or an adorable teddy bear. Either way, whatever it was, Leonel didn''t think it would change much. The fact that those presents had been left for him gave him a clue to somethingбн At the very least, he didn''t think that his life would be in danger.

    He would just greet what came with a smile until it warranted a frown. As for what happened from here on out, there was no point in worrying about it as he couldn''t change it anyway.

    Leonel patted Noah''s shoulder. "Don''t worry about it."

    Noah''s brows arched up. For some reason he felt better after Leonel said this. But, he still smiled bitterly on the outside. Leonel could only be so carefree because he didn''t have any idea what would likely happen over there.

    Noah didn''t know the full story of what happened back then and had only ever learned some snippets, but he knew enough to know that this was a sticky situation. But, much like Leonel, after seeing the gifts left on his bed, he had a bit of confidence that at least their lives wouldn''t be in danger, that was why he chose to come anyway.

    "Hm?"

    Noah''s gaze turned back to find Kian, Vaan and Ren. It wasn''t only him who noticed this, but the youths of the Mueter, Yunia and Cuvan Branches did so as well. Seeing the pale state of their faces, many of them were confused, but Noah gave a deep look toward Leonel who just grinned back.

    Noah shook his head and didn''t say much of anything. It seemed that Leonel had benefited from those gifts far more than he had.

    The group of youths suddenly froze in place, their eyelashes trembling as their breathing became shallow.

    The few of them had rounded the final corner to finally lay eyes on the group that had come from the Luxnix. But, the instant they did, it felt as though all the oxygen in the surroundings had been sucked away.

    There were only three individuals present. en to perfection and outlined the broad shoulder and chest of the man immaculately.

    Each had a twelve point star on their lapels and gorgeously embroidered and delicately detailed golden feathers on their tall collars.

    This was a uniform recognized throughout the whole of the Sector, a sign of one of the mightiest and strongest fighting forces of the Luxnixбн The Feather Sword Warriors.

    "Ah, such cool uniforms."

    Leonel''s words almost made Noah fall over. Whatever heavy momentum the Feather Sword warriors had faltered as they all looked toward who spoke through the silence with incredulous expressions.

    The three Feather Sword warriors had no idea how to respond to this. Technically, Leonel had complimented them so there was nothing to fault him for. However, couldn''t he read the atmosphere? And wasn''t he supposed to be awed into silence? This wasn''t part of the script at all.

    The male Feather Sword warrior cleared his throat as the two women covered their lips.

    "Line up." He said coldly.

    The branch family youths didn''t dare to be as nonchalant as Leonel. In the end, they all formed a line facing the three Feather Sword warriors. Though there were thousands in the hotels, most of them were subordinates that didn''t meet the 0.10 threshold and relied on the geniuses of their branches for a spot. So, in the end, there were only just over 20 who appeared.

    In the distance, many peeked in on what was happening, but the Feather Sword warriors didn''t seem to care as the male began to speak.

    "Today, I will be taking you to the Luxnix family estate."

    The moment he said these words, a sudden bubbling of excitement took hold. But, when he raised his hand to stop it, silence fell once more just as quickly.

    "My task today isn''t just to escort you, but it''s to also act as a reminder.

    "In one month''s time, the recruitment of the Void Palace will begin."

    The excited murmurings returned, but this time they hushed on their own. Many gripped their fists, their eyes lighting up with their hopes and dreams.

    "You all seem very excited by this prospect, but it''s clear that this is only because you have no idea what sort of weight the Void Palace name has. There is nothing to be excited about. The Void Palace is a place where those far more talented, far stronger, and far more valiant than you all go to die."

    The heaviness of the atmosphere amplified, many beginning to choke on their own attempted air intake.

    "The Void Palace is the line of defense that protects the Human Domain from those who seek to cause us harm. Being chosen by them means a lifetime of glory, but it also represents a lifetime of responsibility.

    "Today, the Luxnix family will give you a chance to prove yourself and gain their nurturing for the coming month, but what you receive will still depend on your ability. Your Bloodline gets you this far, and the rest will be up to you.

    "Step forward."

    The group of youths did as they were told and the teleportation platform began to flicker.

    When the lights faded, they too had vanished.

 Chapter 1114 Golden Gates

    Chapter 1114 Golden Gates

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he was greeted by grand golden gates. Unlike the day when the envoys of the Void Palace arrived, they were firmly shut this time around.

    Familiar motes of light still hung about the skies, illuminating even the day with both a delicate light and a refreshing fragrance. Standing here made even mundane air taste better that usual, the intoxicating feeling filling your lungs to the brink.

    Leonel''s hands slipped into his pockets, his expression hard to read. It was already normally difficult to tell what was going through his head, but at the moment it seemed to be even more so than usual.

    The three Feather Sword warriors stood at the helm waiting beneath the tall gates. The guards on either side of the it stood at attention, their faces obscured by their golden armor and their bodies as rigid as statues.

    Leonel found this situation to be a bit odd. Since the Luxnix should have known they were coming why was it that the gates were closed?

    Leonel swept another glance over the surroundings, leisurely taking it all in before his gaze once more landed on the Feather Sword warriors. They still stood beneath the gates without movement but they seemed to be silently communicating with one another. It didn''t take a genius to guess that they were ''confused'' about what was going on as well.

    "This policy seemed to have changed." The male Feather Sword warrior spoke. "Ever since that attack security has been a bit tighter."

    "You know that it''s not that simple. It was Lady Fluttering Star Order who commanded us to do this."

    The three fell into silence after they heard these words.

    Fluttering Star Order was part of the Wisdom Arm of the main family, but her identity was a bit more sensitive than this. She had also been experiencing the suppression of her other family members for a long while now and it only seemed to have increased after the envoys of the Void Palace returned.

    The three Feather Sword warriors had expected to face some resistance, but they weren''t in position to ignore the orders of a Star Order Elder, especially since they were only Zero Point Feather Sword warriors, they didn''t have as much leeway as their Four, Eight and Twelve Point superiors. To many, they were only considered to be trainees.

    Knowing the sensitivity of the issue, though they could do so, the three Feather Star warriors didn''t dare to command the guards to open the gates.

    Though their status was low, that was only relative to the true big shots. Anyone who could become a Feather Star warrior was an elite among the main family''s geniuses. Mere Gate Guards couldn''t ignore their orders at all.

    However, whether one could do versus whether one should do something were two completely different matters entirely. To reach their position, these three didn''t only have to have combat talent, but they were also very intelligent. They knew how to toe the political line.

    Fluttering Star Order had informed them to bring the Branch family members to the estate, and they had done so. They had even gone out of their way to speak flowery words and made these kids feel like they truly had a chance to snatch greatness. They had done enough.

    If the gates were shut here, Fluttering Star Order couldn''t blame them.

    Leonel continued to silently observe this awkward atmosphere as the minutes began to tick by. However, on the inside, his displeasure was already growing.

    He could make a guess at what was going on. Clearly not everyone in the Luxnix family were willing to welcome them with open arms and these Feather Sword warriors were caught in the middle of this strife. However, this didn''t stop Leonel from disliking the situation in the slightest.

    "Yip!"

    Little Blackstar, who had found his way back to Leonel''s head, patted his forehead with a small paw. At least the little guy had a conscience, Leonel had almost assumed that he would choose letting those girls play with him over following him.

    The little mink actually seemed to be warning Leonel about his temper, something that made Leonel himself chuckle lightly. Which of them was the older one now? You would think that Little Blackstar would have come back more bestial after absorbing all that Void Beast blood, but he was actually like this now.

    ''Alright, alright, I know. They''re a big Sixth Dimensional family, I won''t cause trouble.''

    Little Blackstar''s paw patting Leonel''s forehead again, but the look in the little guy''s eye made it obvious that he didn''t believe Leonel''s words even for one moment.

    Leonel smiled and shook his head. ''Maybe I should just leave. How long do they expect to have me wait at this gate?''

    Leonel hadn''t come for the Luxnix to begin with. He had only come here because his grandfather had told him his mother was waiting for him, it was only after coming to this place that he learned about all of this Void Palace nonsense and realized that this situation might be more complex than he thought.

    Unfortunately, his mother was nowhere to be seen and he had no idea how to find her. In fact, it even seemed from those gifts that she didn''t want to be found for whatever reason.

    In that case, why was he wasting his time here, then?

    Having lost his patience, Leonel looked over to Noah. He planned on explaining his thoughts and then Noah could decide for himself whether to stay or not. However, just when he was going to do so, something caught his attention.

    On the road on the opposite side of the closed golden gates, a white robed old woman was walking her way forward. Though her gait seemed slow, her every step took her tens of meters. In just a few blinks, she had made it to the gate with a light smile on her face.

    "Open the gates." She spoke lightly, her tone leaving no room for negotiation.

    "Yes!"

    The Gate Guards didn''t dare to hesitate. This was a Star Order Elder before them, the now infamous Fluttering Star Order!

    [More coming :) 08/04/22]

 Chapter 1115 Tour Guide

    Chapter 1115 Tour Guide

    Fluttering Star Order waited patiently as the large Golden Gates opened. Despite their size, the maintenance performed on them was impeccable. They swung open without the slightest noise. Even the wind itself seemed to still as they moved.

    The instant the Gates opened, the three Feather Sword warriors dropped to a single knee.

    "We greetбк!"

    Fluttering Star Order waved a hand and the Feather Sword warriors shot to their feet before they could realize what was happening.

    "There''s no need for so much formality. I''ll have to thank you three for bringing over these children to me, I appreciate it."

    The Feather Sword warriors opened their mouths to say something, but in the end they closed them once more and sighed. The fact that Fluttering Star Order didn''t allow them to pay respects to her seemed like an act of humility on the surface, but in practice in was her drawing a clean line between the two of them.

    On the one hand, this would protect them from the rage of the other Star Order elders. However, it would also mean that whatever relationship they had had with Fluttering Star Order would end from this day forth.

    The Feather Sword warriors couldn''t help but feel complicated at this point. Fluttering Star Order had always been kind to them, but now that she was in need, they had essentially turned their back on her. However, what else could they do? They were just small rowing boats amidst a storm of black waters. Even if they braced themselves for the storm and helped Fluttering Star Order out to the best of their abilities, they would only sink along with her.

    It was better to have no backing at all than backing that would guarantee your death.

    Bowing apologetically once more, the three rushed into the estate, quickly vanishing. All the while, Fluttering Star Order hadn''t spared them another glance. With a kind smile, her focus had been turned to the branch family youths.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed somewhat. He could sense the tension and could feel that this interaction entailed more than their simple words and actions would make it seem.

    ''It''s clear that their actions made this elder somewhat unhappy. For them to dare to do such a thing, it seems that the situation of the elder isn''t very good. That doesn''t bode well for the rest of us, it seems.''

    "Hello, I am Fluttering Star Order, you may call me Elder Fluttering for short. I''ve heard that the branch families have produced quite some talents in these recent years, it seems that this wasn''t incorrect."

    Fluttering Star Order swept a gaze over them all, but her words felt a bit empty. It was unlikely that an elder of her status would know much about them. Usually, the branch families would be lucky if even a Feather Sword warrior came to visit their families, let alone a Star Order Elder.

    When the Feather Sword warriors had come to pick them up, it had already been greatly surprising to a few. But, the sharpest among them could tell that this wasn''t exactly something they could be happy about right now. In all likelihood, they had just unwittingly become chess pieces in a game of political struggle.

    And, to make matters worse, since this Elder Fluttering had to stoop so low as to use them of all people, it was clear that her back was against the wall and she didn''t have many other options.

    Unfortunately, they had even less options than the Feather Sword warriors did. Even if some of them knew, they could only allow themselves to be used.

    Leonel suddenly felt the distinct lack of Riah. He wondered if she knew that this storm was coming and chose not to participate on purpose. But, this was fine too. Unlike the others, he and Noah weren''t very afraid of what might happen. In that case, they might as well go with the flow.

    Fluttering Star Orders expression didn''t change from her cheery smile.

    "Good, good. Come with me."

    Fluttering Star Order turned and walked into the estate. Without a choice, the youths could only follow to her back, many of them wearing heavy expressions. However, Leonel''s smile had returned as he strolled forward.

    ''This will be interestingбн''

    "The Luxnix family Estate is quite large and covers about a hundred thousand kilometers squared. You can find everything you could ever want or need here without much issue, but there are also many restricted areas you have to be mindful of. Rather than listing them out, though, it will be much easier if I point out to you all the areas you can enterбн"

    Like this, a mighty Star Order elder suddenly became the tour guide of 20 odd youths, walking through the family estate while attracting the weird glances and looks of several passersby. Luckily, none of them dared to question the actions of a Star Order Elder. As such, the group travelled deeper and deeper into the Luxnix family estate, eventually reaching a particular section of guest rooms Elder Fluttering had likely prepped for them.

    Howeverбн There was only so long a cover of paper could hide a smoldering fire.

    "Fluttering Star Order! You''ve grown bold!"

    The voice was a cross of shrill, crass and hoarse. If Leonel didn''t know better, he would have thought that this old woman''s vocal cords was forged of a fork and a steel plate. If it wasn''t for Leonel''s mental fortitude, his spine would have shivered beside itself.

    The old woman wore a white robe not much unlike Fluttering Star Order and she had the lingering marks of a beauty in her old age as well, something both shared. However, this woman''s face was far more twisted and there was the mark of a flickering flame on her forehead.

    Had Leonel been there the day the Void Palace envoys arrived, he would have recognized this woman as Sparking Star Order. It seemed that the Star Order Elders were still at a head.

    Even now, the matter only seemed to have grown worse.

 Chapter 1116 What Do You Have?

    Chapter 1116 What Do You Have?

    The furious aura swept out like a torrent. In that instant, several of the branch family youths shivered and fell, their faces paling with fear. How could they possibly match up to the momentum of a Sixth Dimensional expert? Even someone who had just stepped into the Sixth Dimension would be enough to shake them to their core, let alone Sparking Star Order who was just a few steps from the Seventh Dimension.

    Fluttering Star Order frowned, releasing her own momentum to counter Elder Sparking.

    One side was like a raging wild fire and the other was a delicate breeze. They met in the middle and clashed, shooting up and dispersing into the air.

    However, the result was enough to sent hurricane force winds spiraling into the surroundings. The leaves of several tall trees and the well kempt grass pastures fluttered wildly, much of the greenery nearly being ripped from their branches to fall to their deaths.

    Fluttering Star Order turned back first to see if the youths were alright. She hadn''t thought that Sparking Star Order would be shameless enough to directly target them from the very beginning, so her guard hadn''t quite been up. She had been ready for a war of words, but it seemed that she had underestimated the vicious nature of her opponent.

    Several of the youths lay on the ground coughing up blood. But, Fluttering Star Order''s pupils constricted when she realized that there were two youths who were standing amidst the wild winds as though nothing had happened. Toward this result, even Sparking Star Order frowned lightly, not having expected this either.

    Of course, these Star Order Elders didn''t know that Noah and Leonel were fairly immune to such coercive attacks, at least within a certain threshold. Now that Leonel had a better understanding of Emperor''s and King''s Might, he too understood this as well.

    Because of this Lineage Factor, their focused states had always innately placed pressure on others and it also gave them a boost to their mental defenses. The Lineage Factor born of Earth''s Fawkes family was clearly not simple.

    "You have a lot of nerve targeting my guests like this, Sparking Star Order."

    Fluttering Star Order quickly regained her bearings, her gaze sharpening. Her expression wasn''t as ferocious as Sparking Star Order''s had been, but the solemnity in her tone was more than enough to bring her point across.

    Elder Sparking snapped out of her stupor, her shock settling into a sneer.

    "Your guests? Do you take me for a fool? You''re wasting valuable family resources on trash."

    "Valuable resources? Never mind the fact that I have yet to give them anything, how valuable are treasures of the Fifth Dimension? You really have the face to say you worry about the scarcity of something the family has so much of?"

    Sparking Star Order''s expression darkened. In the past, Fluttering Star Order had never been so combative.

    When the envoys arrives, Sparking Star Order and the others realized that Elder Fluttering''s words were a bit more biting than they usually were as well. They had already decided that after the selection of the Void Palace was over, that they would find a method to expel her from the Star Order. However, it seemed that what they had forgotten to consider was the fact that maybe Fluttering Star Order was being so abrasive precisely because she was prepared to counter attack in the first place.

    It was only after seeing how sharp Fluttering Star Order''s reply was that this finally sunk in for Sparking Star Order. Butбн What gave Fluttering Star Order so much confidence? She was facing up against almost the whole of the Star Order Council. Even if the neutral parties were ignored, that still left about 60% of the council while Fluttering Star Order was practically all alone.

    Sparking Star Order''s gaze narrowed further. She wasn''t a fool, nor did she believe that Fluttering Star Order was a fool either.

    Right at that moment, the door to the building behind Sparking Star Order opened to reveal the head of a beautiful young woman with a strong jaw. Her red-gold hair was especially striking beneath the shimmering sunlight as her eyes blinked innocently.

    Sparking Star Order looked back for a moment, the gears of her mind churning.

    ''Riah?'' Leonel''s brows arched, his own expression remaining placid, but the smile on his face curling all the more. He suddenly felt like this matter was only getting more interesting.

    "What are you doing, Riah? Properly greet your elders."

    "Ah, yes, right, grandmother!" Riah pretended to have forgotten basic etiquette as she scrambled to Sparking Star Order''s front, bowing respectfully. "Greetings, Elder Sparking."

    Sparking Star Order snorted, hardly acknowledging the greeting as her gaze shifted back to Fluttering Star Order.

    "You believe that you can turn the tables by relying on the Void Palace? You are truly too na?ve. Do you think that just anyone can gain a place?"

    "Oh?" Fluttering Star Order chuckled. "Now you want to give the Void Palace its due respect?"

    Just a few weeks ago, it was this very Elder Sparking who had raged about the Void Palace sending two Galaxy Ranked students to them. Now she wanted to paint a grandiose picture of the Void Palace? How two-faced.

    Sparking Star Order didn''t react much to this taunt. Much of her over the top temper was nothing more than a fa?ade. The reality was that she was very good at controlling her emotions, it was just that sometimes the impact of a Karen was far better than a docile elder. This image also allowed her to step outside the bounds of the rules from time to time to get things done her way faster. After all, an emotional elder, especially an elder woman, gained a lot of leeway from many people by default. How could she not take advantage?

    "Regardless of how I feel about the Void Palace, the fact you want to rely on branch family trash to dig yourself out of a hole of your own creation speaks for itself."

    Fluttering Star Order inwardly sneered. Obviously these branch family members are just a cover so that she could rightfully bring her granddaughter in to enjoy the resources of the Luxnix. Sparking Star Order definitely knew this as well, but that wouldn''t stop her from taking multiple digs.

    "In additionбн" Sparking Star Order continued unperturbed. "бн What use is it? Will any of them rank higher than Myghell? By that point, won''t all these petty games you''re playing be meaningless?"

    This time, Fluttering Star Order couldn''t hold back her smile in the slightest.

    "Myghell? What does he have to do with you? In fact, if I recall correctly, Myghell no longer has any close blood related relatives remaining. What right do you have to claim any piece of his success?

    "Howeverбн"

    Fluttering Star Order''s voice suddenly became so low that only someone as powerful as Sparking Star Order could possibly pick up on it.

    "бн I have an outstanding granddaughter and my grandson not only has 0.50 Blood Density while in the Fifth Dimension, but he is also the head of the Wisdom Arm''s younger generation.

    "What do you have?"

    Sparking Star Order''s body went rigid before she saw red. Her lack of descendants was her biggest reverse scale. Feeling it being pierced through with such venom filled her with such rage that she was about to erupt.

 Chapter 1117 Not So Subtle Warning

    Chapter 1117 Not So Subtle Warning

    [Author''s Note: Fluttering Star Order is NOT Leonel''s grandmother. She is simply someone who sided with Leonel''s grandmother at the time and received backlash for it. Now, she''s trying to carve out a path for herself]

    Fluttering Star Order no longer held back with her words. She knew well what kind of scar this was for Sparking Star Order, especially considering how she had lost her descendants to begin with, but Fluttering Star Order no longer cared about these matters of decorum. Considering how far these matters had gone, even if she wouldn''t lay all her cards face up just yet, she wasn''t far from doing so either.

    Sparking Star Order''s rage suddenly became a dark laughter. The smoldering heat of her fury simmered almost tangibly.

    For a moment, she truly almost lost control of herself. After she began to use this fa?ade of a short tempered woman, it had ironically been a very long time since anyone had blatantly provoked her in this way, so she was unused to it. It seemed that her acting skills had gotten just a bit too good.

    "Good, good." Sparking Star Order nodded. "I''ll take your words under advisement."

    Sparking Star Order lightly tapped her bulbous walking stick, her body vanishing in a flutter of butterflies formed of flames. Before they knew it, she was gone.

    Riah, who had just been politely bowing to Sparking Star Order straightened out her body and looked toward her grandmother. She never knew that her grandmother had such a sharp mouth, but this only made her feel even more guilty than usual. For a usually mild tempered woman like her grandmother to act like this now, it could be imagined how much hardship she had experienced in these past several years.

    Riah gripped her fists tightly. She had to claim a spot in the Void Palace for her grandmother, only in that way could she wash away the years of humiliation she had suffered.

    Fluttering Star Order patted her granddaughter''s head with a doting expression before turning back to the rest.

    "For the next month, you all can stay here. As I''ve said before, there are many areas you cannot cross into. If you die at the hands of someone you offend, there will be nothing I can do for you.

    "For the duration of these matters, you''ll be under the leadership of my granddaughter." Her expression turned far more serious as she continued. "So long as you can follow instruction and work hard, there will be benefits. If notбн"

    Fluttering Star Order didn''t finish her words, but the branch family youths, many of whom were still on the ground wheezing from the earlier confrontation, felt that this woman might very well be far less amiable and caring than they had originally thought.

    Riah swept a gaze over the youths and shook her head. It landed on Leonel and Noah before her brows scrunched up.

    She remembered Leonel and Noah, and even remembered how they had met. But, for some reason, she felt fuzzy on some things. She shook her head and everything seemed to go back to normal.

    ''They performed better than the others. I think their Bloodline Density was above 0.20? That must be why I have a good impression of them.'' Riah thought to herself before sighing once again. ''Grandmother might be being a bit too harsh with this approachбн''

    Riah shook her head once more and threw such thoughts away.

    "I''ll leave these matters to you, Little Riah."

    With that, Fluttering Star Order vanished as well, a gentle brush of wind being left in her wake.

    Leonel stared at where the elder had disappeared, his expression fused with a mixture of amusement and coldness. He didn''t need to understand the full story to know that even if Fluttering Star Order wasn''t so bold as to call them trash like Sparking Star Order had, she didn''t think of them very much differently at all.

    There was no doubt in Leonel''s mind that their role here was likely to act as canon fodder for Fluttering Star Order''s granddaughter and her grandson as well. As for what they were needed as fodder for, it was likely to be the Void Palace''s selection.

    Leonel wasn''t entirely sure how it worked, so he could only guess this to be the case. But, he didn''t believe that he was very far off either.

    ''So this is the Luxnix family, huh?''

    Leonel''s expression gradually lost much of its amusement to be left with nothing but indifference.

    Now that things had come this far, Leonel knew he couldn''t leave. Never mind whether or not Fluttering Star Order would allow that, but considering how frequently that woman had mentioned how they weren''t allowed to roam about the estate randomly, even mentioning how they might be killed, it was clear that this was a not so silent hint at just how caged they were.

    Fluttering Star Order''s stance couldn''t have been more obvious. She hadn''t gotten their names, didn''t ask about their abilities, and she hadn''t even double checked if they really had 0.10 Bloodline Density or not. It was as though it simply didn''t matter to her.

    Leonel crossed his arm over his chest, entering a state of absolute calm.

    "Ah!" Riah suddenly snapped out of her own thoughts. "Right, I will see if I can call someone over from the Healing Arm to help you all out. I will be right back.

    "In the meantime, feel free to choose your rooms if you can move. The door that''s closed and locked is mine, but you can choose from any of the other ones."

    Riah rushed away after saying these words. Clearly, the previous restrictions Fluttering Star Order had mentioned didn''t apply to her in the slightest. But, this much was to be expected. After all, if the grand child of a Star Order elder couldn''t move around freely, then who could?

    Of course, Leonel had no idea just how ironic this thought of his was.

    Without moving, Leonel turned his gaze over to Noah. The both of them made eye contact and the displeasure hidden deep within their irises didn''t escape the other.

    "I feel like you had something to tell me before, right?" Leonel asked.

 Chapter 1118 Slow and Deliberate

    Chapter 1118 Slow and Deliberate

    Leonel and Noah entered the building.

    It was quite the luxurious place, even several levels above the hotel the two had just been in. Leonel could feel that there was a Force gathering Force Art embedded into the building itself, making him feel as though he gain twice the results with half the effort in this place.

    The pair eventually realized that the so-called ''locked door'' Riah referred to was the entire top floor. It would have been a bit na?ve of them to believe after what happened before that their accommodations would be exactly the same, but after seeing the truth of it all, they couldn''t help but laugh coldly.

    The two ended up in the dining room. There wasn''t a large spread of food, but there were some small servings of fruit and snacks. Leonel had never gotten the chance to finish eating, so he just took what he could get.

    Noah sat across from him, seemingly hesitating on how to start. But in the end, he just shook his head.

    "I don''t know the full details of the story. All I know is what I''ve managed to pick up from the conversations of Imperial Grandfather and father. They also don''t seem to like to talk about it often. Or, more accurately, Imperial Grandfather can''t be bothered. Whenever Imperial Grandfather is finished with a topic, it''s too difficult to get him to open back up again.

    "To startбн The relationship between Imperial Grandfather and Grandmother is quite estranged. Though Imperial Grandfather has never said that they are divorced, it''s functionally no different. I have never met Imperial Grandmother, but from my understanding, she is likely somewhere in the Luxnix Estate, secluded from others. I''m not sure if she would even be aware of our arrival or not.

    "As for what separated our Imperial Grandparents, I wasn''t sure at first, but the matter is likely related to you.

    "Some time in the past, not long after you were born, you were entrusted to Imperial Grandmother. Your birth was very hard on Imperial Aunt from my understanding and she very nearly died. This caught many off guard because it wasn''t something even the Healing Arm of the Luxnix predicted.

    "Mothers sometimes face trouble during childbirth when the father comes from a far higher Dimensional world, but it was thought that Imperial Aunt wouldn''t have this issue due to her talent. Not only was Imperial Aunt already at the Sixth Dimension at the time, but she was also the wielder of Earth''s World Spirit, the amount of life energy and vitality she had should have dwarfed most women even of Seventh Dimensional worlds.

    "Regardless of what reasons there might have been, Imperial Aunt''s condition was a matter of life and death after your birth. Imperial Grandfather couldn''t do anything from Earth and Imperial Aunt had wanted to give birth by Imperial Grandmother''s side, so she chose to do so in the Luxnix estate. The result was Imperial Aunt''s life hanging by a thread and your father having no choice but to take her away.

    "I have no idea where your father took Imperial Aunt to be treated, but I do know that she came back healthy and feeling better than she ever had. The trouble, though, came in what happened while they were gone.

    "Though I''m not certain of where your father took Imperial Aunt, it must have been either a very dangerous location or at least one greatly inconvenient to take a child. As a result, you were left with Imperial Grandmother. ?

    "This is the point in the story where I have the largest gaps, I only have certain speculations.

    "Something was done to you in the absence of your father and Imperial Aunt. Imperial Grandmother likely trusted the wrong people.

    "Back then, Imperial Grandmother''s status in the Luxnix family was very high, maybe only short of one or two people, if that. Due to that, she carried the weight of many duties. Your father and Imperial Aunt were gone for far longer than anyone expected, as such things reached a point where there were certain duties that Imperial Grandmother couldn''t continue to put off.

    "As such, you were put into the care of people Imperial Grandmother thought she could trust and the result was something being taken from you. As for what that something was, I also have no idea."

    Noah gazed into Leonel''s eyes, but all he saw was a vast abyss looking back at him. From the start of the story to this point, Leonel hadn''t spoken a single word, nor did he interrupt or show any sort of reaction.

    However, Noah could feel it. That abyss in his eyes only seemed to be getting deeper. The fact Leonel had long since stopped eating spoke volumes.

    "This middle portion of the story is too muddled for me to give you any great details. What I do know is that whatever was taken from you also placed you on the brink of life and death. You had gone from a very healthy baby boy, likely a size too big for a child your age, to practically a shriveled up corpse. Had Imperial Grandmother not found you in time, it was very likely that you would have died.

    "I''m not sure where in this timeline your father and Imperial Aunt came back, but it was decided that the only way to save you was to bring you back to Earth. As for why that is, I''m not sure either.

    "Unfortunately, Imperial Aunt had already become a student of the Void Palace. Under normal circumstances, she should have been executed for getting pregnant while having this duty in the first place. But, the Void Palace, for whatever reason, looked the other way. Having already bent their rules once, they couldn''t allow Imperial Aunt to bend them again to remain by your side, so she was forced to return."

    Leonel''s expression didn''t fluctuate in the slightest, however his mind was a different story.

    When he first awakened his Dream Force, all of his memories had returned like a flood. And yet, he had only remembered his mother''s face, but he didn''t remember his grandfather or grandmother. Why was that?

    "You actually brought us here to tend to branch family trash?! Do you think my time is so worthless?!"

    A sudden sharp voice carried in from the outside to reach the ears of the pair of cousins.

    Leonel gently placed a half eaten fruit down on the plate before him and walked out with slow and deliberate steps.

 Chapter 1119 Plume of Soil

    Chapter 1119 Plume of Soil

    Noah raised a hand to say something but in the end he just sighed.

    ''Forget it. Imperial Aunt is probably somewhere, right? If not, Imperial Grandmother definitely is. Maybe if he makes a large enough commotion it''ll alert her before we die.''

    Noah rose up and followed after Leonel.

    бн

    Leonel stepped out the building to find a fuming Riah and a group of three youths, each of whom wore expressions that were a cross of unhappy and sneering. Riah''s height was shorter than theirs and it really seemed as though they were towering over her.

    Leonel swept a glance over the situation before stepping past them toward the branch family youths. Before, after hearing that Riah was going to get help, Leonel had decided to leave them be. After all, he was in an odd situation and wasn''t exactly sure whether he should be showing off his talents or not. The attitude of Fluttering Star Order was difficult to read. However, Leonel couldn''t be bothered to care right now.

    "Why can''t you just do as I''ve asked?! They might be branch talents, but they still have Luxnix Blood. What would outsiders think if you just let them die?!"

    "They still have Luxnix Blood? Don''t make me laugh. How could 0.10 density garbage possibly be considered to have Luxnix Blood? I could piss out a stream with higher density than that."

    Riah was immediately furious. He knew that if it was another Tier 8 talent on her level, or even if it was her cousin, they wouldn''t dare to say these things. Even if her cousin asked them to treat a homeless man by the roadside they would do so without hesitation. It was only because she was she that things had devolved to this level.

    They still had to give her respect due to who her grandmother was, but they didn''t have to go overboard and bend their backs over either. The fact they had come here was enough and no one could criticize their action already. In fact, even if they had rejected her, nothing would happen.

    Seeing the silence of Riah, the leading youth, a young man by the name of Alfin, sneered. However, his expression faltered a bit when he noticed Leonel.

    After a bit, he sneered. "You''re even stowing away more trash in your personal courtyard. To think that you''d waste the family lands like this."

    Alfin was already unsatisfied himself because he had yet to earn such a place. He could only stay with his branch of the main family or in the collective housing of the Healing Arm. Only those of the Sixth Dimension or Fifth Dimensional talents with great contributions could have a courtyard of their own. It was no wonder he was jealous.

    Leonel didn''t even seem to hear Alfin, something that greatly displeased him. Though the branch youths on the ground tried to hide it, Alfin could sense their trembling rage toward his words. And yet, Leonel had treated him like he was air.

    As though that wasn''t bad enough, a second young man came out not long after and swept a gaze by him. However, Noah too didn''t react much to the words of Alfin.

    Leonel stopped before the youths and looked them over one by one. After a while, he made a decision.

    ''[Snowy Grace].''

    Leonel reached out a hand and his Snow Force erupted. The pressure was so great that Riah''s pupils constricted and Alfin along with the two that came with him took a step back.

    At that moment, delicate snowflakes began to fall upon the 20 or so youths, mimicking the falling feathers of Leonel''s Healing Branch talent.

    Compared to Leonel''s self created Mage Art, this technique was leaps and bounds more potent. With just a bit of effort, more than 20 geniuses who each had strength near and at Tier 7 felt as though they had been given a new lease on life.

    "That''sбн?"

    Alfin''s brow furrowed as he watched Leonel help Vaan up. ?

    "Thank you." Vaan said, feeling a bit complicated.

    Leonel shook his head. "It was a small effort."

    "You." Alfin''s voice cut through what remained of the thank you''s the branch family youths wanted to speak. "How do you know a core technique of our main family?"

    Alfin''s tone carried a hint of danger to it. If before he had just been here to poke some fun and throw out some insults, he was now deadly serious.

    The technique that Leonel had just used was one of the very best of the Healing Branch. Just to exchange for it took many decades of storing up merit points. Alfin himself was still two or three years away from being able to afford it and he had only ever seen seniors much older than him or youths far more talented than himself cast it.

    "Alfin!" Riah finally snapped. "Do you think you can just treat my people however you want? If you wanted to come up with a lie, shouldn''t it be far better than that?! How could he possibly know such a technique?!"

    Alfin''s expression darkened. "Piss off, you know nothing." He continued to glower at Leonel''s back. "That technique was [Snowy Grace], it''s easily ranked top three among Fifth Dimensional healing techniques and is known for its area of effect ability. If I don''t hear a proper explanation today, don''t blame me for ignoring who your grandmother is."

    Riah''s face warped. She realized then that if Alfin was willing to bring up her grandmother, he definitely wouldn''t be making up nonsense.

    Her gaze couldn''t help but turn toward Leonel. Just what was going on?

    Who would have expected, though, for Leonel to completely ignore Alfin entirely?

    He turned back, walking toward Riah''s courtyard. It seemed for a moment that he was coming up to them, but it was exactly because of this that it was so shocking when he simply walked right by, not sparing Alfin a single glance.

    Alfin was so infuriated that he began to laugh. Trash of the branch families actually dared to treat him like this?

    Before Riah could awaken from her shock, Alfin had already moved.

    The wind crackled and popped as his fist aimed for Leonel''s back. He didn''t reserve himself in the slightest. In fact, he had struck to kill. The death of a mere branch family member wouldn''t even be a stain on his record.

    For the crime of daring to ignore him and actually having the audacity to steal techniques from the Luxnix main familyбн This was exactly what he deserved!

    BANG!

    A cloud of dust shot into the skies as the surrounding grass and soil catapulted upward.

    Riah''s expression changed. "Ah!"

    She rushed forward, cutting through the plume of falling soil. But, what she found on the other side froze her in her tracks.

    Alfin''s back bent and a mouthful of blood shot from his lips like a bullet.

    Leonel stood over him, his fist still pointed downward and his gaze partially obscured by his dangling hair. Flickering Bronze Runes danced across his skin before they slowly faded, making them look no different from an illusion of the light.

    Alfin''s right arm was bent at a disgusting angle, but this was the least of his problems. With the way his back contorted as it pressed into the ground, it was clear that his spine was deformed and practically all the bones of his torso were broken.

    Riah''s chest heaved as Alfin''s eyes rolled to the back of his head, looking into the sky with a face frozen of shock and fear.

    Riah''s heart stopped beating entirely. A member of the branch family had just crippled a genius of the main familyбн

    It was all over.

 Chapter 1120 Wait!

    Chapter 1120 Wait!

    Leonel''s fist dripped with blood that wasn''t his own, his forehead flickering with the light of a golden spear.

    In that moment, he had activated his Duality Domain and . Let alone harming Leonel, Alfin had had all his strength sucked away in an instant. Their exchange had become akin to a toddler throwing a fist at an adult.

    With the difference in the toughness of their bodies, Alfin was crushed near instantaneously. However, the smoldering abyss of Leonel''s gaze didn''t seem to calm in the slightest.

    He slowly rose to his full height as the loose soil fell back down to the earth and the true state of things was revealed to those beyond Riah.

    In that moment, the snide sneers of the two who had followed Alfin froze, their expressions warping.

    "Youбн"

    Leonel''s gaze didn''t spare them a glance. He simply turned and walked away.

    Riah was stunned. Why was he still acting like nothing had happened?

    "WaiбкWait!" Riah called out, but she found Noah instead of her true target.

    "I''m not sure if you want to be so eager to talk to him right now, honestly. He''s not the biggest fan of you either."

    Riah choked on air. What the hell did she do?

    Her expression changed. She had felt a bit bad about what her grandmother was doing, but that was all. Maybe, on a deeper level, she felt that this was more of an opportunity for these branch family youths than a detriment.

    In many cases, those that thought and acted like her were the worst kind of people. They had enough sympathy to understand, but ultimately their own goals superseded whatever inner moral compass they had.

    Riah hadn''t thought so deeply, so while she was off put by Noah''s words in the beginning, a slight resentment and an unwillingness to accept them came soon after. Her lips downturned into a frown as she immediately took the moral high ground.

    "Do you have any idea what your cousin has done?!"

    Riah''s head snapped back toward the two youths who still remained. But, they had seemingly long taken their cue to run, not wanting to be the next victim.

    Riah immediately had thoughts of silencing them, but this was obviously not for Leonel''s sake, but rather her own. The trouble that this event would bring wasn''t something that her grandmother was ready to deal with just yet.

    This area had just taken the clash of two Sixth Dimensional experts and yet no one had come to check up on them. The only reason why there was such damage here was because this soil was rich in nutrients and loose, its structural integrity was inherently not very high to begin with. That was to say that in such a sturdy Sixth Dimensional world, the ripples of battle didn''t carry very far.

    That seemed to make silencing these youth possible. But, the issue was that too many had seen Riah go over to ask for help. And, on top of that, these weren''t nameless youths. They weren''t anywhere near the topline geniuses of the Luxnix main family, but they still had quotas and responsibilities. Their absence would be noted. ?

    At best, she would be able to hide this matter for two or three days before it blew up in her face. And, because she had silenced them, the backlash would be even worse.

    ''Dammit! There''s no other choice but to let him take the fall for it. I have to inform grandmother so she can deal with the aftermath. If things aren''t properly handled, grandma''s enemies could use this to deal with us allбн''

    Noah simply gazed toward Riah and shook his head. Did the current Leonel seem like he cared about how much trouble he caused now?

    бн

    Leonel walked through the dining room and entered into the kitchen.

    "Hey! What are you doing here? This place isn''tбк!"

    One of the many cooks of the courtyard frowned when they saw Leonel. They had all been preparing a large feast for the youths who were coming today, so they had already been working all day. All of them were Force Pill Crafters so it was safe to say that they had plenty of arrogance of their own. Though, whether this arrogance was right or not was a different matter entirely.

    These were clearly still apprentice Force Pill Crafters. Why would Fluttering Star Order truly go all out for a bunch of branch family youths?

    Leonel, though, completely ignored them. His hand reached into an open oven with billowing flames and took out and enormous beast spread.

    The Force Pill Crafters'' expression warped. Originally, they had wondered if this young man had a death wish. The flames in that oven were enough to incinerate a Fifth Dimensional beast to ash. Who in their right mind would reach their hands in there?

    Yet, not only had Leonel come out unscathed, his finger flickered with Spear Force several times to cut the beast carcass into edible chunks. Taking a massive silver plate for himself, he placed the pieces down and began to eat.

    From start to end, his slow and deliberate steps didn''t seem to change. He walked out from the kitchen, his feet lighting up with sparkling lights.

    Hidden Force Arts of Riah''s courtyard began to activate one after another. But, after a subtle whirring noise, they calmed back down.

    Leonel cleaned bone after bone, his stomach churning like a furnace of its own. He subconsciously circulated a digestion technique of the Luxnix, speeding up his already fast metabolism. One would have never thought that he was a person who had just sentenced himself to death. It was like he was truly strolling through his own home.

    Noah saw this seen and shook his head. Others saw leisure, but he saw a war machine restocking its fuel. The eerie efficiency, the unemotive and lack of care for the searing heat touching his fingers, the bloody juices that fell from the uncooked meatбн

    A monster, indeed.

    At that moment, a strong aura descended upon the courtyard.

    "Grandmother!" Riah finally sighed in relief.

 Chapter 1121 Sufferina in Silence

    Chapter 1121 Sufferina in Silence

    Fluttering Star Order frowned. She hadn''t expected to come back here so soon, it had only been barely a dozen or so minutes since she left, if that. Had this matter occurred just a few minutes later, she wouldn''t have been able to return at all as she had many things to handle with her status.

    At the same time, she was baffled by it all. How, exactly, had things gone awry so soon?

    Fluttering Star Order didn''t immediately ask her granddaughter any questions and instead looked around. When she saw Alfin''s half dead body, her gaze narrowed.

    "Riah, did you do this? Didn''t I already warn youбк?"

    "No, grandmother. It wasn''t me, that''s the problem. It was one of the branch family youths."

    Fluttering Star Order''s brows furrowed. Her immediate thought was that that was impossible. Even with what she had planned, it would take the entire month to squeeze out the potential of these youths. And, even then, they would have to fight a long and drawn out battle just to match a person like Alfin. The idea that one could defeat Alfin in just a dozen or so minutes made little to no sense.

    However, she didn''t believe that her granddaughter would lie like this either. Riah knew how important these matters were to her and she wouldn''t'' mess around unnecessarily.

    Seeing her grandmother''s confusion, Riah quickly described the events as succinctly as she could. It was only after this that Fluttering Star Order came to grasp the details. Unfortunately, this did nothing to alleviate her state. If what her granddaughter said was true, this would be troublesome.

    She agreed with Riah''s decision to let the youths go. It would only make things worse to try to detain them or to even go as far as to silence them. But, the weight of everything else would be troublesome.

    ''There''s only one choice, then. This boy will have to bear the weight of his own actions.''

    Fluttering Star Order didn''t think much of Leonel''s victory. Alfin was as average as average got in the Luxnix main family. Plus, she had already noticed something off about Leonel and Noah after they withstood Elder Sparking''s aura. As far as she was concerned, it was just a small surprise as well as a shame that Leonel didn''t have the ability to control his temper. Obviously, Leonel could have been a great help to her granddaughter.

    Luckily, there was still Noah. Hopefully, he would bring her a pleasant surprise as well.

    "Where is he? Come out noбк"

    Just as Fluttering Star Order was about to force Leonel out, a sudden voice called out to her.

    "Esteemed elder, please wait!"

    Fluttering Star Order''s frown only deepened when she realized the one who had interrupted her was actually Kian, one of the branch family youths. In fact, he was from one of the top three branches Leonel had defeated before coming here.

    Everything had been happening so quickly that everyone almost forgot that there were still 20 odd youths in various states of injured waiting outside the courtyard. Most had recovered enough to stand, but the neglect they were experiencing was palpable.

    "Heбн He only antagonized the Healing Arm member to help us. Anбн And бн And he attacked him first."

    It seemed to sap Kian of all his strength to say these words beneath Fluttering Star Order''s gaze. ?

    That saidбн How could Fluttering Star Order have not already deduced these things?

    In her mind, it was likely that Leonel was a bastard child of someone of decent status within the main family. This individual likely broke the rules by giving Leonel a technique he shouldn''t have, which led to this result. But now, someone had to pay a price.

    Even if the Luxnix family were magnanimous enough to treat the life of a main family member and a branch family member the same, and thus could grant Leonel reprieve since he was attacked first, what could be done about the core technique?

    This didn''t even mention the fact the Luxnix family would never see it like that, and that was especially so for Fluttering Star Order''s enemies.

    The life of a branch family member could never match up to a main family member. It was to the point where Alfin wouldn''t'' even be punished had Leonel died.

    Fluttering Star Order shook her head, causing the hearts of the youths to sink. She turned her attention back toward the courtyard, prepared to use her aura to coerce the youths out and make it clear that she had no intention of protecting Leonel, but who could have expected for Leonel to walk out himself?

    Fluttering Star Order opened her mouth to speak, but that was when Leonel''s gaze swept over her. It wasn''t just Leonel, but the little mink atop his head suddenly made her feel greatly uncomfortable.

    Little Blackstar bared his teeth, feeding off of Leonel''s displeasure.

    In the end, though, Fluttering Star Order was still a Star Order elder who had experienced far too much life. Not only this, but she was well into the Sixth Dimension and could be considered to be only a few steps from the Seventh as well. Her ''falter'' only lasted a split moment of a split moment.

    But, by then, shockingly enough, Leonel had already looked away from her. He didn''t seem to be looking for her approval, nor did he care what her judgement was.

    In that moment, a surge of Snow Force erupted, two magnificent wings appearing to Leonel''s back, each one stretching out over ten meters. With a single leap, both Leonel and Noah landed on top of the building, sitting near the edge as though they were waiting for something.

    Fluttering Star Order was stunned into silence.

    Those wingsбн Even though they were illusory, they would only appear when one was just a step away from the Speed Branch''s Third Awakening. What was going on here?!

    Now Fluttering Star Order could understand why an elder would take the risk of giving their bastard child a core technique while breaking so many of the family rules in doing so. But, that still didn''t change anything.

    Fluttering Star Order''s body flickered, her figure appearing above where Leonel and Noah now sat in wait. By the expression on her face, her patience was already wearing thin.

    She had endured so much humiliation over the last several decades just so that she could have this chance. She had no intention of allowing a brat who thought too much of himself to ruin it all.

    Her pressure descended downward like a tsunami of waves, her gaze as cold as ice.

 Chapter 1122 Counterparts

    Chapter 1122 Counterparts

    Leonel tilted his head upward, not even the slightest hint of a rippling wave to be found within his irises.

    "Get the fuck out of my way."

    Despite what one would expect, there was nothing different about Leonel''s voice. It hadn''t deepened, it wasn''t hoarse, it didn''t carry any rage or forcefulnessбн One would have thought he was speaking about the weather.

    Fluttering Star Order was stunned by the evenness of it all at first. In fact, she was so stunned that she didn''t'' register what was said until a moment later. It was only then that her stunned expression warped toward the edge of shock and then unbridled rage.

    No matter how mild tempered Fluttering Star Order was, how could she still remain so now? Even her enemies didn''t dare to speak to her in this way, least of all a junior she could kill with a single palm.

    Below, Riah''s own expression changed. Did Leonel not understand the situation he was in? Even if her grandmother had no intention of saving him, she was still his only hope at coming out of this slightly less scathed. To slap the face of your potential benefactor like this, what was he thinking?!

    "Junior, do you have any idea who you''re speaking to?!"

    Fluttering Star Order''s words boomed, violent Wind Force spiraling about the surroundings. She bobbed in the skies as though she was as light as a feather, her fury on full display.

    "Isn''t it all the same?" Leonel replied plainly. "Aren''t you all the same? Just more worthless people overvaluing themselves above others. Even I don''t deem myself to be above another, what right do you have to?"

    Noah''s expression changed wildly for the first time. His gaze snapped to Leonel''s side profile as though he was looking at someone he didn''t recognize in the slightest.

    Why did it feel like these words were both spoken by Leonel and someone who was decidedly not Leonel? It was as though he had taken on the character of someone completely different, but it was impossible to tell until he opened his mouth to speak.

    "What did you just say to me?!"

    Fluttering Star Order couldn''t withhold her fury any longer. Her palm raised into the skies with every intention of obliterating Leonel where he stood. However, Leonel''s words seemed to continue like a slow stream, unhurried and unbothered.

    "I don''t know much about Force Pill Crafting, but I can recognize Breaking Force when I see it. To have prepared so many Force Herbs infused with such Force, what were your plans exactly? To squeeze out all the potential of us ''branch family'' members?"

    Fluttering Star Order froze.

    "And then what? Have us ride the wave of excitement, being ever thankful to the Luxnix main family for our rapid improvement? Maybe we would even be so grateful that we would lay our lives on the line for the sake of glory your granddaughter would be the greatest partaker of?

    "Now that I think about it, maybe those of us that died would be the luckier ones, because those who survived would soon find that they wouldn''t be able to progress even a single step afterward. They would probably end up thrown to the side like useless trash after you were finished, right?"

    Fluttering Star Order''s lashes fluttered. She was ultimately not a person who was so ruthless. It was easy for her to deal with the guilt when no one else was aware of it, but having things so blatantly laid out like this, she felt a deep shame.

    Leonel had simply learned too much about Breaking Force in recent months. And, using his Dream Sculpt and Dream Simulation abilities, deducing the end result was as easy as breathing. Not all Breaking Force was created equal. ?

    Leonel completely ignored Fluttering Star Order''s internal struggle, his foot lightly tapping the roof of the large mansion.

    In that moment, the ground began to rumble, four enormous pillars beginning to rise up from the earth. They all shimmered with a blinding silver luster, etched with all sorts of ancient and enigmatic patterns.

    "Youбн" Fluttering Star Order''s expression changed. She couldn''t really grasp what was going on, but as someone with high Snow Force affinity, her Internal Sight was likewise powerful. She gained a general understanding in just a breath.

    Leonel breathed out a heavy breath, showing the first signs of an emotion for the last several moments. However, it wasn''t anger, relief or happiness. Rather, it was just fatigue, something so rudimentary that even a beast could have displayed it.

    And yet, right then, an inconspicuous neckless around his neck began to glow as Force surged toward it, slowly replenishing Leonel.

    "When you go," Leonel began to state plainly, his palm flipping over to reveal the Northern Star Pendant, "tell your counterparts that I''ve come for what''s mine."

    ''When I goбн? Wait, is thatбк?!''

    At that moment, a gripping force took hold of Fluttering Star Order''s body. A strong spatial Force caught her completely off guard. Before she realized what was happening, her body flickered and disappeared.

    When Fluttering Star Order reappeared, she found herself in a random corner of the Luxnix estate, an expression of shock plastered onto her wizened features.

    ''бн My counterparts? What counterparts do I still have?''

    бн

    "Grandma?! What did you do to my grandmother?!"

    Riah''s shrill cry came from below. But, if even a Star Order elder could be teleported away, if Leonel didn''t want her to move, she wouldn''t'' move.

    Leonel stood atop the mansion as though he hadn''t heard a thing Riah said. His expression was just as indifferent as always, the abyss that was his gaze staring off into the distance. No one could tell what he was thinking.

    Noah''s looked toward the pillars. He could tell that even now, Leonel hadn''t quite recovered from summoning them, but this only left him speechless. Just what was Leonel planning on doing here, exactly?

    At that moment, a commotion in the distance was stirred. Two familiar figures leading a group of at least 20 quickly closed the distance, their expressions livid.

    Riah''s face warped, her heart skipping several beats. She recognized many of those seniors. What they lacked in talent they more than made up for in seniority and time spent practicing. Among them, there was even the current Head of Alfin''s division of the Healing Arm, the Quasi Sixth Dimensional Division Head Therin.

 Chapter 1123 Flickering

    Chapter 1123 Flickering

    Riah''s expression was filled with panic. This matter had already blown up far faster than she had expected. For a Division Head to already be making an appearance was far out of her predictions. It felt like everything was coming crumbling down.

    Division Head Therin''s expression didn''t give much away initially. He had a placid look on his face. He only showed the slightest hint of a frown when he noticed the four enormous silver pillars that surrounded the courtyard. He could sense the strong Spatial and Earth Force fluctuations and it left his heart unsettled.

    He came to a stop outside the pillars, his gaze sweeping over to find a small pit where Alfin''s body lay, still deformed. No one had come to help him ever since his exchange with Leonel. And, if not for the strong healing properties of Snow Force, it may very well have been the case that he would have already breathed his last.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Therin asked coldly.

    In truth, he had only overheard part of the story. Even Alfin himself didn''t have the right to ask a Division Head for backup, let alone his two lackies. As a result, all Therin knew was that a branch family member had attempted to murder a main family member.

    Learning this, he was immediately furious. Hierarchy was among the most important things a family should have. A lack of it would lead to far more trouble than it was worth. A collapse in hierarchy would lead to the downfall of a family not long later.

    However, in his fury, he hadn''t considered the details. And now that he saw these pillars, he felt that this matter would be even more troublesome than he thought.

    "Division Head, it''s him! He''s the one who struck to kill Alfin!"

    Two fingers found their way to Leonel who was still on the roof.

    At this moment, Leonel was still just as difficult to read. He stood on the roof, his breathing slowly becoming even once more, but it felt as though his eyes were detached form the rest of his body. Despite his fatigue, they were completely unaffected by it, their deep abyss only becoming deeper.

    Even now, as he swept a glance over the 20 or so individuals who had come, he felt unmoved by it all.

    What did he want to accomplish here? What was his end goal? Truthfully, he didn''t know.

    Destroying the Luxnix family? That was more than just a little unlikely. He didn''t have the strength to do it and it likely wouldn''t be a very long time until he did.

    Make those responsible pay? He was just as far away from that goal as well. If Noah''s story was anything to go by, it was precisely the most powerful of the Luxnix who were at fault to begin with.

    Vent his fury?

    Well, that didn''t sound so badбн Now did it?

    Leonel''s figure suddenly flickered and vanished. Twinkling stars were left in his original position, a strong surge of wind manifesting as he reappeared.

    The sound of a suffocated gurgle resounded. Division Head Therin''s head slowly turned, only to find Leonel''s hand clamped down on the throat of the two who had just been pointing at him.

    He had appeared within their midst like a shadow. Even though he was a Division Head of the Healing Arm, Therin immediately recognized when he saw it. Leonel''s proficiency in using it was so astounding that even he hadn''t been able to react in time. ?

    The two young men gripped at their throats, but Leonel''s hand had already cut off blood circulation to their brains. They couldn''t even think straight, failing to dredge up their Force in time or even remember the techniques they had learned. There was something about Leonel''s gaze that made them forget everything, as though they were beasts meeting the King of the Forest.

    They foamed at the mouth, their flailing legs going limp.

    In that moment, Therin finally reacted. Humiliation and rage bubbled up, his expression twisting and reddening all at once.

    "How dare you?!"

    A strong surge of Force erupted about him, his fist blasting through the air and piercing through Leonel''s skull. The enraged glint in his eye only grew fiercer when he saw that Leonel failed to dodge, however the feeling of emptiness his knuckles felt made his expression change once more.

    Leonel stood there, unmoving. Or, so it seemed.

    Half his face, the portion Therin''s fist had punched through, was nothing more than sparkling motes of light. As for the other half, his one eye gazed toward Therin without the slightest ripple. It felt to the Division Head that he was an ant being observed by the wayside. His heart leapt to his throat, his breathing becoming short and hurried.

    He recognized the technique almost immediately. It was .

    Just like that, in just a few minutes, Leonel had used , and . The first was one of the strongest techniques of the Healing Arm, the next was one of the strongest movement techniques of the Speed Branch, and the last was known as the most difficult technique to learn within the Fifth Dimension of the Wisdom Branch.

    Therin was at a loss. Exchanging for these techniques was one thing, it would usually take a person decades to accumulate enough merits. But, actually learning them to this extent was a completely different matter entirely.

    Just who was this boy?!

    BANG!

    The air shot out of Therin''s lungs all at once, spittle and a concentrated wind projectile shooting from his mouth as he flew back.

    The image of Leonel he had punched through slowly dissipated, the real form of Leonel appearing, the fist he had just used to punch the Division Head still hanging in the air.

    Therin blasted through the entourage he had brought around before skidding along the ground. By now, no matter how good a Sixth Dimensional world was at dispersing the signs of battle, the movement of a Division Head wouldn''t go unnoticed as more and more people started to turn their attention toward this courtyard.

    Therin''s gaze turned crimson, his Snow Force blossoming forth as he stood to his feet.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a three meter long silver spear as his skin flickered with Bronze Runes.

    A strong gravitational Domain fell from the skies, streaks of black lines pressuring the integrity of space itself.

    Leonel''s foot raised, his body flickering once more.

 Chapter 1124 Face

    Chapter 1124 Face

    When Leonel reappeared, he had already donned a silver armor from head to toe, a visor of silver-black blocking his abyssal gaze from the world.

    Therin felt a pressure the likes of which he hadn''t felt in countless years. How long had it been since he was forced into such a battle? He had long since stopped having to scratch and claw for his position in life, and even back when he still had to, his role had never been so violent or necessary.

    The bloodlust coming from Leonel''s body was practically palpable. It was as though the moment his gaze vanished, taking with it the distraction that froze the heart of the world, the tangible form of what had taken root in his chest was bared for all to see.

    King''s Might rolled off of him in waves, his very consciousness itself constricting the throats of those unlucky enough to lay eyes on him. And then, his spear swung down.

    Therin''s throat squeezed down on itself, his rage almost evaporating into the skies above. It was only then that a strong will to live manifested out from the depths of his soul.

    He roared. But, it was as much about shaking the fear from himself, as though cobwebs fogging his mind, as it was about asserting his dominance. The Snow Force that had receded under his apprehension came back twice as strong, his palm flipping over to reveal a flexible sword that shot out like a whip with just the slightest flick of his wrist.

    The sword had always been a favorite of the Luxnix. It could be said that over 90% of their weapon type techniques were constructed with the sword in mind. And, of those 90%, another 90% focused on the speed of said sword.

    It could be said that among the Pinnacle Sixth Dimensional families, the Luxnix had the swiftest blade.

    CLANG!

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, his downward swing becoming a frontal block that deflected Therin''s own blade to the side. A golden spear lit upon his forehead, its light growing every brighter with each passing moment.

    Therin''s wrist and forearm quaked every time his sword clashed with Leonel. Despite the size difference of their weapons, he couldn''t seem to gain a speed advantage. And, when it came to strength, momentum and heft, Leonel seemed to surpass in him all aspects.

    Under the astonished gazes of those who had come with the Division Head, including Riah who still couldn''t seem to move, Therin was forced back again and again.

    Leonel''s spear spun around his back. The clink of a mechanism unlocking as the opposite end snapped into his other palm resoundingly.

    Leonel held onto both ends of his spear, the chain that connected them dangling behind him.

    His fighting style changed, his speed becoming even quicker. Both of his hands seemed to have gained minds of their own and in the blink of an eye, Therin''s speed advantage vanished.

    ''Thisбн''

    ''.''

    The silvery splendor of Leonel''s spear suddenly gain an all new shine to it. Natural Spear Force erupted, every arc leaving crescent moon blades slicing through the air.

    The canvas of white, silver and blacks left a trail through the battlefield. Every action Leonel took was taken with such speed that only these swath of colors were left behind. And, every swing of his blades left an indelible mark on the surroundings. ?

    Therin lost the initiative and never regained it. Slicing arcs of blood travelled around and up his forearms, even his robes themselves being torn to tatters. He didn''t even have the presence of mind to try and grasp how Leonel had even learn .

    "AH!"

    Therin roared in pain, humiliation and rage. He couldn''t seem to get any leg up on Leonel. He was faster, smarter and stronger.

    Every time Therin thought he could counter, he hit nothing but an illusion. Every time he was forced to clash head on, he was sent sprawling back. Every time he tried to maintain some distance to gain some breathing room, Leonel would already appear before him a moment later.

    It was infuriating to an astounding degree.

    Therin suddenly froze.

    His head slowly turned to his right shoulder, only to find a vast emptiness. His arm twirled in the air, separated from the socket it should have been resting in and his sword barely clinging to the palm of it.

    A sharp arc of pain rocked his senses when the familiar sensation was doubled with his left shoulder.

    Before he could process what was happening, a foot was firmly planted into his chest, his body shooting backward as a trail of blood spurt out in his wake.

    "Trash."

    The word drifted to Therin''s ears even in his half stunned state. It infuriated him so much that a third projectile of blood shot outward, this time from his mouth.

    Leonel watched indifferently as Therin skidded along the ground, painting the picturesque scenery of the Luxnix family estate in crimson.

    He simply couldn''t understand why people as weak and inferior as Therin deemed themselves to be oh so great and important. When Therin went about his daily life, there were probably dozens, hundreds of people, even, that he would interact with that he could only greet humbly. And yet he came here to flaunt what, exactly?

    Therin continued to cough up blood violently. He wanted nothing more than to tear Leonel limb from limb, but he had actually lost so thoroughly.

    "Use the command token! Use it now!"

    Therin''s furious howl traveled through the air before dispersing into the clouds. The students of his department all put on shocked expressions before they scrambled to complete his order, each quickly pulling out a talisman.

    бн

    At that moment, at a gate entrance different from the one Leonel and the others had entered, a convoy of men and women from the Viola family were making their presence known.

    Rychard stood at the helm of the group.

    "Please inform your elders that the Crown Heir of the Viola family has something to discuss with them."

    Hearing these words, the guards didn''t dare to dally and quickly left to do as they were told.

    Within this convoy, there were many youthful faces. Among them, there were three young women Leonel would instantly recognize, one of whom was a woman he wasn''t quite sure how to face just yet.

 Chapter 1125 Today

    Chapter 1125 Today

    The sight of numerous talismans being activated at once was ironically quite beautiful despite the purpose they were meant to serve.

    In the Luxnix main family, there were numerous bodies or ''powers''. First there were the Three Arms, then there was the Elder''s Council, the Feather Sword warriors, the Star Order Council, and finally the Patriarch''s Faction.

    These seven facets of the family worked in a balance and counter balance sort of way. The Star Order Council, the Patriarch''s Faction and the Feather Sword warriors could be considered the high end of this balance, there were many push and pull effects that dictated the politics.

    At the lower levels, though, there were the Three Arms and the Elder''s Council. Of course, these Three Arms were the Wisdom Arm, the Healing Arm and the Speed Arm. These Three Arms were ''overseen'' by the Elder''s Council, a group of seniors that weren''t good enough to enter the true elite ranks of the main family, but still had strength given by their seniority and age, nonetheless.

    This was important to understand at this point because it also described the weight of this command token.

    The so-called command token was known by many things, but it was essentially a breadth of authority given to those of a certain rank. As a Division Head, a high-level position of the Three Arms, Therin was, of course, given this authority.

    With how the Luxnix were designed, it was no surprise that they promoted competition. At the lower levels, this competition manifested in the head butting of the Three Arms. Sometimes this internal struggle would travel up to the Elder Council who had once been part of the Three Arms themselves, but this was much rarer.

    Simply put, battles between the Arms was not rare in the slightest. The command token was used when these situations grew to a level that large portions of the Arm would become involved. The call of a Division Head was enough to spring several talents of the Healing Arm into action.

    The trouble was that middling talents like Alfin wouldn''t be the only ones alerted.

    **

    In a corner of the Luxnix family estate, a young man stood in the middle of an empty training field. Beads of sweat poured down his body, yet his eyes were unblinking and his sword was steady.

    He was about to take a step forward when he frowned.

    He trained topless, but he still had his spatial ring and some ornaments on him. As a force of habit, he never took them off. But, he was still baffled when he saw the pendant swinging from his hip glowing.

    ''What are these fools doing? It''s only a month out from the Selection and they''ve sparked a faction war?''

    This young man was none other than the third youth to have a Bloodline Density of above 0.50, Elody Luxnix. Like Syllar of the Speed Branch and Elaquin of the Wisdom Branch, Elody was the preeminent genius of the Healing Branch and had completed the first awakening of his Healing Branch, [Instant Recovery].

    Elody wasn''t in the mood to deal with such things. So much of his time in the last several weeks had been spent on entertaining Orinik and Ganor, the two Galaxy Ranked disciples of the Void Palace. He hardly had time for himself. ?

    And yet, now that he finally found such time, some idiot had used the command token?

    Elody was of the mind to completely ignore it. He did have a responsibility as the Head of the Healing Branch to show up for these matters when their small internal battles rose to this level, but it wasn''t strictly necessary either way. It wasn''t like any of them could reprimand him.

    He shook his head. ''Forget it, I won''t go. What a waste of my time.''

    Even as he thought this, Elody hesitated once more. If a command token had been used, it was possible that one of the other Heads was involved. If Syllar and Elaquin were participating, it might be worth his while to spar with them, it had been quite a long time since he did so.

    ''Hmбн I''ll waitбн It''ll be obvious soon if they participated or not.''

    Elody went back to swinging his sword.

    **

    Elody wasn''t the only one who noticed the sudden commotion. The flair up of a command token was something designed to be seen by as many as possible and many stragglers of the other two Arms were alerted to the change as well.

    In an irony of ironies, a command token meant to be used to signal battle between two Arms was not only sparked by just a single man, but it had suddenly put all three Arms into motion as neither the Wisdom nor Speed Arm was aware of just which of them was going to be attacked.

    A surge of Speed Arm disciples rushed for Riah''s courtyard, their gazes practically crimson with pent up energy.

    Many of these youths were individuals who knew well that the Void Palace was selecting disciples, but they were simultaneously aware that they would never be among the selected. This sort of existential nihilism, although in just small measures, had been building up among the ''average'' of the Luxnix for the past several weeks now.

    Suddenly having gained a target to vent their feelings of inadequacy on, they didn''t even care to consider which Arm they were fighting or if they were battling an Arm at all. Only a few who had witnessed Therin''s tirade earlier that day connected the dots toward what might actually be happening, but even they followed along, wanting to vent that uncomfortable feeling in their hearts.

    Soon, over the horizon from Riah''s courtyard, dozens of youths became hundreds. The spectators that had been slowly accumulating grew in number as well.

    Leonel stood in silence, the two ends of his spear in hand, still linked by a chain and separated into three. He hadn''t made any move to stop Therin''s commands or the others.

    Today, he would flip the Luxnix family estate on its head.

 Chapter 1126 Shackles

    Chapter 1126 Shackles

    The surge of youths with crimson eyes flooded the battlefield. But, the targets they were looking for didn''t seem to be anywhere to be found. All they saw were the littered and bloody bodies of their fellow Healing Arm members and a single silver armored man standing before a courtyard surrounded by four silver pillars.

    Many of them were confused, but even more of them seemed to realize that their enemy was precisely this silver armored man.

    "KILL HIM!" Therin''s enraged roar shook those who were confused out of this state.

    However, when they heard Therin call for murder, they were shocked. Though it wasn''t like no one had ever died in a faction war, it was still rare. On top of that, it was quite frowned upon. These were the types of things the Elder''s Council would step in to stop.

    That said, while there were many who stood frozen, there were even more that didn''t need to be told twice. Their egos had been poked and prodded at for too long, and it was already clear to them that a Division Head of their Arm had actually been crippled. This sort of humiliation wasn''t something they were willing to let go, even if they weren''t already in such a strung up state.

    They charged forward like a tide, the ground rumbling as large swaths of Snow Force rippled throughout at the air.

    Leonel''s chest rose, a sizzling heat at his right hip threatening to tear a hole through his own body. But, for some reason, it felt good. It felt almost too good.

    It fed off of Leonel''s angst, his fury, his indifference. It swallowed up all that was him and churned out a result that fed into the very fabric of his King''s Might.

    These hundreds of youths? It just wasn''t enough.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s foot rose and fell. In that moment, a tidal wave of earth shot out from the ground.

    First, there was a sprinting set of spiderweb-like cracks, folding and bending the earth to Leonel''s will. And then, in the next moment, they shot upward, crashing into the first line of charging Healing Arm warriors and throwing whatever semblance of unity and formation they had into absolute chaos.

    Leonel''s figure vanished. When he reappeared once more, the falling debris of earth sprinkled about him like the ashes of war. Without the immediate support of the man or woman next to them, the Healing Arm could only face the carnage they wrought.

    Leonel''s blades flashed, his body flickering and disappearing at will, only to appear and vanish once more. Arcs of blood and crimson followed his path, limbs and horrid screams leaving landmarks of his presence.

    Leonel used the techniques of the Luxnix seamlessly one after another. It felt as though there were dozens of him and his every action incapacitated another. Blood flowed in rivers and bones formed the earth.

    As the curtain of dirt finally descended and the vision of those around cleared to what was happening, half of the Healing Arm warriors had already been cut down, their life''s blood fueling the soil beneath their immobile bodies.

    A look of absolute horror was painted on the faces of those who headed the initial charge, at least those of them that had survived, anyway.

    From the rooftop, Noah watched on, sighing every so often. He could tell at a glance that Leonel wasn''t overpowering them with raw strength. If he tried to fight these many talents head on, he would have been cut down long ago. It was just thatбн Leonel was just so much smarter with how he used his strength.

    Noah knew the techniques Leonel was using as well, he too had received those gifts.

    was a technique that applied one''s Internal Sight to trick the senses of others. It was ironically useless against those who purely relied on their five senses in battle, but which expert wouldn''t subconsciously use their Internal Sight to boost their senses?

    This overlay of what the body was recognizing and what one''s Soul Force was seeing led to a cognitive dissonance that easy formed illusions of starlight in battle. The more powerful and deft one''s control of their Internal Sight was, the more deadly the technique.

    However, to use it with such skill, and especially against so many enemies, Leonel had to be capable of calculating the perspective of each and every person on the battlefield at the same time, only then would he be able to execute in the most optimal manner.

    Simply putбн He was like a machine. Noah had yet to see a swing of Leonel''s blade not draw blood.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with coldness, his every breath becoming so heated that steam billowed from his mouth. His skin reddened and his armor began to glow with a rosy silvery hue.

    The temperature in his surroundings sky rocketed, yet Leonel only felt more and more comfortable.

    Leonel''s blade blocked a sword from one direction, his free hand hacking down and severing the forearm that carried it. His movements became faster and more fluid, his want for destruction and violence billowing off of him in waves.

    The heat became so searing that the warriors of the Healing Arm couldn''t get close to him without using Force Skins. However, their wants and needs didn''t cross Leonel''s mind in the slightest.

    In that moment, a furious howl left his lips. It brought with it such momentum that violent concentric circles of pulsing air billowed from Leonel''s mouth.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s aura erupted, Force shattering the ground beneath his feet.

    The momentum of a Tier 2 expert rose from him, shattering the barrier that had held him back and multiplying his strength several times over.

    The shackles that held down Leonel''s body were being loosened one after another, his howl carrying with it a scorching heat that rose into the skies.

    The atmosphere seemed to be affected, rolling clouds of grey responding and slowly beginning to gather.

    At that moment, several Division Heads of the Healing Arm finally reached the battlefield. When they saw the state of things, their eyes widened, a furious light sparking within their gaze.

 Chapter 1127 Once More

    Chapter 1127 Once More

    The Division Heads were furious, but they weren''t fools. Having seen the state of the battlefield, they knew that it would take someone at least as powerful as them to leave these unranked students in such a state.

    The Arms had three sectors within them. There were the Division Heads, the unranked students and finally the Rankers. Number one among these Rankers was the Head of the Arm and there were three of them in total. Of course, these men were Syllar, Elaquin and Elody.

    The other Rankers were reserved for students ranked in the top 1000. When one reached deep into the hundreds of these ranks, despite being a lower Tier than that of the Division Heads, the students themselves were considered equals. Above this, the Rankers could dwarf and even one shot Division Heads.

    Rankers were the pool from which future Feather Sword warriors were chosen and it was impossible to enter the Patriarch''s Faction or the Star Order if you had not been a Ranker in the past.

    This was all to say that despite feeling the endless vitality coming from Leonel, and being certain that he was exceptionally young despite being unable to see his face, the Division Heads didn''t make the mistake of underestimating him.

    In the Luxnix family, strength wasn''t decided by how old you wereбн It was decided by your ability.

    At the helm of the Division Heads, there were three. These were men who had been in the outskirts of the Rankers in their youth but weren''t quite good enough to become Feather Sword warriors. In addition, because they were so young, they couldn''t join the Elder''s Council just yet either.

    Compared to the other Division Heads, they were several decades younger and they saw through their present situation with just a glance. They were Rayner, Ingram and Samson, a trio of Division Heads that usually acted as a trump card for these faction wars. But, it seemed like this matter wouldn''t be able to be handled by them. They had no idea who this silver armored warrior was, but they could smell the danger.

    "Send the signal again." Samson said with narrowed eyes.

    "Butбн" Another Division Head tried descent.

    "No buts. Those Rankers and especially not our Arm Head would never come out normally. This battle isn''t simple and I''m getting a bad feeling from those pillars and that little beast on his headбн If we don''t make sure that they know this matter is serious, they''ll never come."

    All of them had a mightier and higher than thou attitude. They would always wait until the last moment to swoop in and see if it was worth getting in on the action. But, if things continued like this, their Healing Arm wouldn''t even have anyone left.

    "Rayner, Ingram, we need to take the helm."

    The two Division Heads nodded, their auras silently brewing as the other Division Heads did as they were told. In that instant, a second round of signals were sparked and sent into the air.

    Leonel''s hand released one of his blades. With a sharp tug, he pulled on the other side, sending his spear spinning outward in a wide arc.

    Everywhere the blade passed, an arc of crimson would follow. The range of the spear had increased by a factor of ten, its chains stretching outward as much as 30 meters under Leonel''s control.

    With a flick of his wrist, the spear snapped backward. A resounding and satisfying clicking sound echoed across the battlefield as it shot back into place, leaving the afterimages of a silver crescent moon in its wake.

    The grass beneath Leonel''s feet began to wither and fall to ash, small sparks of fire dancing about and spreading into the surroundings. His steps were slow as he walked toward the Division Heads, the little mink upon his head bearing his fangs menacingly.

    A shimmering golden spear pulsed upon Leonel''s forehead, an invisible Domain spreading out with his body as the center. It sounded like the whirring of a magnetic field coming to life, just the slightest and faintest purple hue coating the surroundings as the clouds above continued to grey.

    The lush and beautiful atmosphere of the Luxnix family estate was withering away one step at a time. Blood pooled the ground, flames licked away at the foliage, and the skies slowly darkened, a slight drizzle beginning to pitter patter.

    The first droplet that fell upon Leonel jumped about wildly, reaching a boiling point in an instant and evaporating into nothingness. At first, there was only the slightest hint of steam, but as the rain began to grow heavier, the billowing plumes of water vapor grew more and more prominent until it seemed like Leonel himself was made of smoke.

    Casually using sword techniques was fine against the others, but facing these three, he felt the call of a sharper Force.

    The Duality Spear vibrated wildly like a beast pulling against its chain. The billowing fog shot up around it, allowing its blade to split it in two.

    The instant the Duality Domain crossed the three Division Heads, Leonel vanished. When he reappeared, he was already at Samson''s throat, his spear blade threatening to take a head with its swing.

    Samson''s pupils constricted, but his reaction was calm. His task wasn''t to win, all he had to do was stall. That was all. Just stall. Stall until they could get here.

    But, what was this piercing pain?

    Samson''s sword had shot forward to intercept Leonel''s spear and even successfully parried it. So what was this searing heat he felt in his opposite shoulder?

    Samson''s eyes widened.

    In that moment, a three pronged strike shot out from in front of him and carried into the distance, leaving deep trenches in the ground and causing an explosion of earth and taking with it a spiraling arm and a thread of crimson.

    Little Blackstar bared his shimmering teeth, his little claws still being held up in a swiping position.

    Samson felt a foot land on his knee in his distraction, a violent pain erupting throughout his body as his leg was shattered.

    By the time he had collapsed to the ground, Leonel had already flashed and vanished once more.

 Chapter 1128 Yellow Crystal

    Chapter 1128 Yellow Crystal

    Ingram and Rayner felt their souls leave their bodies. They hadn''t even sensed when the little mink attacked but in that moment they felt as though there wasn''t a single thing they could do to fight back against it.

    Light Force should have been the perfect counter to Dark Elemental Force. But, why was it that it felt like the exact opposite right now?

    The group of Division Heads fell into absolute chaos. It was clear that Leonel''s speed in dealing with these enemies had fallen drastically, but none of his fire had waned. In fact, with every passing moment, it felt as though Leonel was quickly becoming a rising star of his own.

    The rain became heavier and the steam became denser. Soon, it was difficult to see just three meters ahead of you.

    Without a choice, the Division Heads could only rely on their Internal Sight, but it was then that they realized that this was the worst decision they could have possibly made.

    In that moment, it felt like Leonel was both everywhere and nowhere all at once. Trails of sparkling Star Force sprinkled about the battlefield, giving it a beauty that didn''t match the carnage it was experiencing. Limbs flew about and cries of pain pierced the veil.

    Ingram and Rayner managed to survive the first exchange. Now that they were keenly aware of the danger of the little mink, they split their attention between Leonel and Little Blackstar, unwilling to end up like their counterpart had.

    When these two formed a team, the strength they displayed wasn''t just additive. However, in all their caution, they didn''t realize just how many of their fellow Division Heads were being cut down by Leonel himself.

    "Dammit!" Ingram growled.

    He pulled out a second sword, a light silver glow wrapping around him. They couldn''t allow things to continue like this.

    The familiar sequence of took form.

    "Cover me!"

    Rayner didn''t need to be told twice, pulling out a white leather whip from his hip. His gaze sharpened, a silver Force wafting out from them.

    His vision brightened. From being able to see just three meters, he could now see through the entirety of the steam without issue.

    Ingram crossed Leonel''s path, blocking him from crippling yet another Division Head. His twin blades moved with a practiced smoothness, alternating his speed with the expertise of a veteran. He had learned long ago that pushing your speed to the limit all the time didn''t make you a better sword master. Often times, lulling your opponent into one set rhythm before instantaneously changing it at the right time was far better.

    However, Ingram very quickly found out that such tricks were worthless before Leonel. In fact, using a technique that Leonel was familiar with before him was akin to courting death.

    The flat of Leonel''s blade skimmed against the sharp edge of Ingram''s sword, parrying it upward. The golden spear upon his forehead flashed as he took an in-step, counterintuitively giving up his range advantage as a spearman.

    However, from this vantage point, Rayner''s whip had instantly been rendered useless.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, his spear vanishing. His fist hit Ingram squarely in the chest before the latter could react, causing an upswell of blood to fly from his throat.

    Being hit in the chest, Ingram found the swinging motion of his second sword completely off course. He thought that it was a coincidence at first, but the violent breaking of his rib cage and the tenderizing of his muscles made his arms all but useless.

    As though Leonel''s fists weren''t heavy enough, Ingram found that the space behind him had stacked several times. Leonel''s Spatial Domain had made the several meter distance to Ingram''s back as much as several hundred meters.

    In the end, Ingram who should have been flying back at astonishing speed had practically become a practice dummy, his chest deforming as craters the size of fists formed within it.

    BANG!

    Ingram''s body finally shot out, appearing before Rayner in an instant. The stacking of space had immediately been reversed and shortened instead, resulting in the latter being caught completely off guard.

    Rayner felt all the air in his body shoot out in a torrent, spittle flying from his mouth as his tongue hung outside.

    In that moment, the robes protecting Ingram''s chest burst into flames and fell into a pile of ashes.

    Within the four pillars, the branch family youths, Noah, and especially Riah were at a loss for words. They could hardly see what was happening within all that billowing fog, but every so often someone frantic and screaming would run out for their lives, rushing away as fast as their legs would allow them.

    Leonel appeared above Rayner and Ingram. The depth of his gaze was filled with a blinding crimson light, the smallest hint of violet fighting for a small corner along the outer edges.

    He raised his spear above his head, prepared to swing downward with the same fiery momentum he had been slowly building up. Even his spear itself had begun to glow with a slight rosiness, impacted by the heat coming from Leonel.

    BANG!

    At that moment, an arrow suddenly shot through the billowing steam.

    However, without even looking in that direction, Leonel rose his left hand out and to the side, his palm flipping over to reveal an long sniper rifle.

    Light Elemental Force whirred to life and several complex shield shaped yellow crystal formations appeared before the barrel, each proceeding one larger than the last.

    By the end of it, the large yellow crystal shield was over three meters in diameter, dwarfing a human in size. And thenбн

    Leonel squeezed the trigger.

    A blinding beam of light shot out from the barrel, blasting into the first of the ten yellow crystal shields.

    The light was instantly absorbed by it, moving within its structure so quickly that it looked like a pinball fighting for its life.

    And then, the light shot out and entered the second shieldбн Then the thirdбн

    It all happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the light exited the tenth shield, it was so thick and fast that the clouds above split, the rain dispersing entirely.

    The arrow that had just shot into the wall of fog was incinerated before it even reached the beam of light.

    The space quaked and the fog domain was vanquished with a loud WHOOSH.

    The beam illuminated the whole of the Luxnix estate, piercing through the air with a speed impossible to track with the eye.

    ''Shitбн''

    The Archer, Ranker 302, only had time for her heart to tremble once.

    Her right shoulder was blasted through, a bowl sized hole taking her arm and a piece of her collarbone along with it.

    The fog completely dispersed revealing Leonel standing amidst hundreds of fallen, the ground beneath his feet dyed red and his breathing still billowing outward with piping hot steam.

 Chapter 1129 wonderland

    Chapter 1129 wonderland

    In that moment, Ranker 302 fell backward and collapsed, the Rankers around her still not having registered exactly what happened. It had all happened so fast that it was all still not computing. She had only just released her arrow, but in the next moment, she had a hole through her chest.

    Ranker 302 gasped for air, but her attempts all came out in gurgles as the viscous liquid filled her lungs.

    "Dammit. Someone heal her. This son of a bitchбн"

    They were still ultimately the healing branch of the family, and the best among the Healing Arm at that. However, when they bent down to help their fellow Ranker, their expressions couldn''t help but change.

    A violent aura of destruction ate at her wounds. As though a fire had started, her skin was slowly being burnt away. If things continued like this and the corrosion made it to her heart, she might really die.

    Reacting quickly, a young man, Ranker 239, brandished his sword, cutting away the flesh that was being eaten away at. Only after doing this was the healing process able to continue. Unfortunately, they didn''t have the ability to regrow limbs and too much of her arm had been destroyed. But, she would still have a chance in the future so long as she continued down this path and awakened her Healing Branch. With [Instant Recovery], she would be able to make her body whole again.

    "There''s something wrong with this Light Force." Ranker 239 spoke. "It has the speed of Snow Force, but Snow Force doesn''t have these corrosive properties. It simply doesn''t make any sense."

    "If Becqa was taken out so quickly, we''d be going over there just to die. The top 100 need to move out."

    Silence fell over the group, but they too agreed. They were just a bit over two kilometers away from the battlefield, standing atop a tall community building. When they received the second signal, they had thought the Division Heads were too useless and Becqa even bet that she could take out the enemy with a single arrow. Just moments ago, they had even been happily betting on how many it would really take her.

    Though they showed disdain for the Division Heads, they still had a baseline of reason to their opinions. Some thought that it would at least take Becqa three arrows to win. If it was within a kilometer, then maybe only then would they agree that it would only take one.

    But, who would have thought that Becqa would end up in such a state barely a split moment after the twang of the bow reached their ears? It almost felt like they were dreaming.

    "That beam caused too much commotion. If I''m correct, everyone in at least a 50 kilometer radius felt that. If they didn''t take it seriously before, they definitely will now."

    A Ranker that had remained silent until now, Ranker 129, looked into the distance with narrowed eyes.

    "They''re already here."

    What these few didn''t knowбн was that they were very lucky. In a Sixth Dimensional world, Leonel didn''t have the range or stamina to sustain his Internal Sight to a two kilometer range. He had dealt with Becqa using the trajectory of her arrow. If not for thisбн She wouldn''t be the only one on the ground.

    бн

    The fog violently dispersed as though a speeding bullet train had just run through it, the clouds above splitting beneath the surging momentum of the beam of gold.

    The ground beneath Leonel''s feet had burnt to black. From above it looked like the lush and vibrant lands of the Luxnix were slowly being corrupted one step at a time.

    Both Ingram and Rayner collapsed before Leonel, completely unable to move. Just the slightest breath from them imprinted every one of their broken bones into their minds, as though countless needles were being pierced through their bodies all at once.

    The atmosphere seemed to grow heavier all of a sudden. Though Leonel didn''t turn his back to where it was coming from, he could ''see'' it all almost as though his own eyes were watching it.

    Several small groups leisurely walked toward the battlefield. Some were alone, but many more were in groups of two or three. Judging by the smiles on their faces and their casual attitudes, they hadn''t been doing anything very serious before coming here.

    Compared to those Leonel had already fought, their power levels seemed to be far worse off. Leonel had already defeated dozens of Quasi Sixth Dimensional Division Heads, and yet within these many groups he was currently observing, even the best of them were only Tier 6 or 7. Some of the worst off were only Tier 3 or 4. And yetбн

    The pressure they gave off versus that of their Division Heads was practically night and day.

    Leonel slowly lowered his sniper rifle, allowing the barrel to rest against the ground. Though these individuals had walked into the range of his Internal Sight and he no longer needed to rely on their attacking first to respond, he knew that this weapon he had created while he was still in the Fourth Dimension would be useless against these geniuses.

    Leonel exhaled another long breath.

    ''Four Seasons.''

    Time seemed to slow for just a moment.

    The sky was instantly filled with fluttering Fall leaves, droplets of golden rain and quivering snowflakes of ash. As the ground continued to blacken beneath the heat Leonel was emitting, there was something decidedly beautiful about it allбн

    Nine Radiant Cores manifested, glowing with a silvery crimson light. They formed into an orbiting circle, rotating about Leonel''s back as though they had a mind of their own.

    The golden droplets pelted against the ground, dotting the blackness with the heaviness of gold, even as the four silver pillars finally began to quake.

    One after another, bubbles began to form on the surface of the spatial wall encasing Riah''s courtyard. Small ''s carrying the slightest violet tinge popped out, forming numerous crystal balls of all sizes.

    The space around Leonel had suddenly become a wonderland of gorgeous sights. But, the scent of danger in the air was practically palpable.

 Chapter 1130 Whetstone

    Chapter 1130 Whetstone

    Leonel turned, his sniper rifle vanishing. The slight sound of a blade sharpening resounded, but what was truly baffling was that Leonel''s spear hadn''t touched a single thing.

    The sound echoed once more, and then again.

    It felt like one was watching a master at work, a blade slowly gliding against a whetstone gently. The blade slowly gained an edge of its own, the slight flicker of the master''s wrist bending it to his will.

    The leisurely expressions of the approaching Rankers grew serious when they heard this sound, but it only seemed to continue.

    SHING SHIING SHIIING

    Pick up the blade. Gently apply pressure. Glide it back. Lift it up and repeat again.

    SHING SHIING SHIIING

    The water slowly dripped from the whetstone and the blade, falling to the ground in delicate droplets.

    A subtle but fiendish aura began to grow around Leonel''s spear. Steam began to rise up from its blade edges. Every time the sound of the blade resounded, the steam only seemed to become denser.

    "How many is that?"

    A Ranker spoke softly, his gaze having already narrowed. His leisurely attitude vanished and his sword appeared in his hand. Despite the fact he was Ranker 83, he still primed himself to the extreme.

    There was only one technique of the Luxnix that could brew this sort of atmosphere. It was known as <Whet Star Droplets>. It was a technique that used the Star Force characteristics of Snow Force to refine and strengthen a Blade Force. The continuous and abrasive sliding of Force against Force forced them to shine brighter and sharper. And the result?

    It was a weapon Force several times purer and more powerful than it was initially.

    "Sixбн Six refinementsбн" Another Ranker answered slowly.

    In the moment Leonel swung his blade, it was as though there was only him and his spear left in this world. The sound of the rustling leaves vanished, the battlefield turned wonderland lost its splendor, it was even difficult to feel the heat coming off of Leonel any longer.

    The blade shot out in a blinding light of white, gold and silver. If one looked closely, there was just the slightest hint of crimson as well, belying an aura of pervasive destruction that shook the soul and imprinted itself onto the heart.

    In that moment, the Rankers realized that they were completely in over their heads. Just this single blade seemed to overshadow their decades of hard work, all the efforts of their blood, sweat and tears, it was all meaningless.

    The group that had been targeted was one of three. Each of their expressions warped to an extreme, their Force surging. Without hesitation, all three leapt forward in unison, realizing that if they didn''t work together, they would be finished.

    Their three swords drew a line through the air, meeting at a single point.

    However, the instant their blades matches just the Blade Force of Leonel''s own, it felt as though they had been swallowed up by an unstoppable force.

    Their arms broke and their expressions became dyed with pain. Blood vessels in their eyes popped and their teeth cracked beneath the might of their clenched jaws.

    They put everything they had forward, knowing that if they took even a single step back, they would die here. The difference was too large.

    Unfortunatelyбн Understanding something and executing it was separated by an impossibly vast chasm.

    BANG!

    Sparkling shards of Natural Spear Force spiraled into the surroundings. Deep gouges tore through the earth and surrounding foliage and trees. In the distance, the windows of several pristine and unblemished buildings and homes shattered to pieces, piling onto the growing chaos of the Luxnix family estate.

    It felt as though they had all stepped into a violent spatial storm, swaying under the whims of deep space.

    When the battlefield finally cleared, the three youths who had faced the Spear Force together landed on the ground, their breathing heavy and hurried. All across their bodies, deep gashes of bloodied wounds even down to the bone could be seen.

    Before them, a young man who could be considered their savior stood. His torso was bare and there was the slight sheen of sweat from an earlier practice session still on his body. Yet, his vitality seemed to be brimming and his gaze was sharp.

    "Arm Head!"

    The excitement of both the fallen and spectating members of the Healing Arm were practically palpable. The hidden and observing members of the other Arms raised an eyebrow, feeling that this matter was becoming more and more unpredictable.

    Elody looked around at the state of the battlefield, a strong shield of Force Skin protecting him from the effects of Leonel''s Four Seasons Realm. His brow furrowed in confusion, a clear lack of understanding painted all over his features.

    Elody''s long white hair danced within the wind, his gaze finally landing on Leonel.

    "Who are you? Which Arm are you from?" Elody immediately began to question Leonel.

    Elody could still feel his wrist trembling from Leonel''s strike, but the issue was that none of the Arm Heads wielded a spear. Even that man who had the favor of all the Star Order elders also wielded a sword. He didn''t know of anyone who wore silver armor and used a polearm. But, he could also feel the pure Snow Force coming from Leonel that made it absolutely certain that he was a member of the Luxnix.

    "Armбн Headбн He isбн a branch family memberбн"

    Therin coughed violently. He had been carried away from the battlefield under the help of several individuals, but both of his arms were still glaringly missing. Though, he was far luckier than Becqa. Due to the fact he had lost his arm to a blade, reconnecting them wouldn''t'' be impossible for their Healing Arm.

    Therin''s words, though, were like a bomb being thrown amidst the battlefield.

    It wasn''t just the other Division Heads and unranked disciples that were shocked, but the Rankers and even Elody himself took on a great amount of shock.

    Elody''s gaze narrowed. "State your name and which branch you come from. Do you have any idea the kind of harm you''ll be bringing to your immediate family?"

    The only response Elody received was the sound of a sharpening war blade.

    SHIIIING.

 Chapter 1131 Path

    Chapter 1131 Path

    Elody''s pupils constricted, his sword reflexively coming across his body to block.

    BANG!

    Elody felt a strong surge of might intent on sending him flying, but his gaze flashed, his feet digging two deep trenches as he slid back.

    Dirt and soil rose from the ground, slowing Elody''s momentum by several factors.

    When he finally came to a stop, Elody couldn''t help but look down at his trembling hands, his face etched with a deep frown. The heaviness of Leonel''s attacks wasn''t something he had expected. Not only was the spear a rare weapon for a Luxnix to choose, even in the case that it was chosen, those that did would focus on the speed and flexibility of it, not to mention its range. Elody hadn''t expected for Leonel''s battle style to be like this.

    But, that didn''t mean that he was completely unprepared for battle either. Whether it was the Viola family, or the Montex family especially, they were known for their heavy handedness and their abrasive battle styles. As a great genius of his generation, Elody had clashed with his fair share of such talents. In fact, his techniques were refined to deal with them.

    The moment Elody adjusted his thoughts and breathing, his whole demeanor shifted. This was not a spar, nor was it a healthy exchange of pointers. This person was an enemy and he would treat him as such.

    Elody completed his thoughts in just the fraction of a breath. His sword balanced itself with a practiced flick of his wrist and his feet spread apart, creating a strong base for himself. The instant he was steady, his figure exploded forth, and yet the ground suffered not the slightest of damage.

    Leonel seemed to have acted before Elody, but the difference in the weight and size of their weapons resulted in their blades meeting perfectly. Elody could tell immediately that Leonel had done this on purpose, but he wasn''t shocked. If Leonel wasn''t at least this skilled, things wouldn''t'' have reached this extent to begin with.

    Elody''s body flickered and his sword left streaks of white gold in the air. For every one action Leonel took, he took three or four, the elegance of his swordplay shining forth.

    His rhythm changed with his breath and his footwork was immaculate. He seemed to always be capable of slipping out of Leonel''s heaviest strikes and countering with something decidedly clever and crafty.

    The clash of blades rang through the battlefield, the images of two young men flickering into and out of existence being imprinted onto all their minds.

    It was clear at a glance that Elody''s Blade Force was far inferior to Leonel''s own. One had already comprehended a Natural Blade Force while the other was still using normal Blade Force.

    However, on the other hand, Elody''s Fifth Dimensional Force was clearly several steps about Leonel''s in terms of thickness and purity, given due to the fact Elody was already at Tier 8 while Leonel was only at Tier 2.

    Streaks of Spear and Sword Force shot into the surroundings with each clash. There was something decidedly violent and existential about the clash of these two young men. Neither used any techniques that surpassed the crude nature of Force alone, and yet every time they met the impact was no less resounding.

    Elody had long since forgotten about what Leonel''s origins were and Leonel never cared about Elody''s to begin with. Their exchanges only became faster and more blinding, neither taking a single step back.

    Veins popped across Elody''s body, his spirit lifting and his gaze becoming fierce.

    "<Howling Snow: Feather''s Touch>."

    The ground beneath Elody''s feet imploded, a towering pillar of Snow Force shooting up into the skies around him.

    His sword descended, the clash against Leonel''s spear making the latter feel as though it wasn''t a light sword before him, but rather a great sword with the weight of a mountain.

    It shattered Leonel''s guard, shooting for his chest with every intention of piercing through, but Leonel''s own gaze was as placid as a lake''s surface beneath dim moonlight.

    ''<Starry Eyes>.''

    The piercing strike of Elody''s blade suddenly lost its edge. With a CLANG, it rebounded off of Leonel''s chest plate, deflecting to the side.

    Leonel took a step forward, taking advantage of Elody''s momentum to send a punch toward his chest.

    Elody reacted just as indifferently, his own fist soaring forward like a whistling bullet. The air cracked and whined, the ground beneath their feet trembling.

    BANG!

    The two separated, sliding back dozens of meters and creating a total of four new trenches between them.

    Leonel didn''t need to think to understand how Elody had gone from using his speed to match his strength to matching strength on strength. <Howling Snow> was a technique similar to Leonel''s own <Star Fusion>. It used the Healing Branch properties of Snow Force to push the body into a state of accelerated cell regeneration. Using that window, the Luxnix could gain bestial strength in exchange for continuous and rapidly healing injuries. As expected of the Head of the Healing Branch.

    Elody''s hair rose up, billowing white gold Force wafting outward like plumes of steam and heavy fog. His hair and eyes became a shade brighter, and the fiendish killing intent in his eyes only grew.

    The sound of Elody''s Force was like the howling wind of a storm, whipping up violent undercurrents and flattening what remained of the grass in the surroundings.

    "Show me everything you have. If today is to be the anniversary of your death, you wouldn''t want to pass on with regrets."

    Elody''s aura continued to surge.

    In that moment, the flickering star lights of the Heavenly Body Realm began to rise. Images of a beautiful golden planet, streaking white gold meteors, a silvery moon formed of shimmering gems and a resplendent star painted themselves across the greyish blue skies.

    Elody''s sword seemed to respond in kind, trembling and whistling under the influx of Universal Force.

    Then, he shot forward, his steps decidedly less light. Plumes of soil rose in his wake, his sword appearing before Leonel''s throat in the blink of an eye.

    However, when it reached that point, it found its Force dissipating once more, only to find a pale violet <Crystal World> in its path.

 Chapter 1132 Resounding Crack

    Chapter 1132 Resounding Crack

    Elody''s expression changed when he felt his sword pierce through the <Crystal World>, it made him feel as though he was trying to slice through a wall of sludge and his reaction to it was forced to be delayed.

    Once against, Elody felt like all the Force in his strike was dissipated. The first time he had assumed that it was an ability of Leonel''s armor, but this time his sword hadn''t even grazed it. It suddenly made him understand that Leonel was forcefully dispersing the Force attached to his blade, something that left him at a shock.

    The combination of Dream Rupture, <Starry Eyes>, Duality Domain, Withering Snowfall and Leonel''s Divine Armor''s Spatial Domain made Elody feel as though all his most powerful strikes were landing on a bed of cotton. Leonel had too many abilities that could siphon away and disperse Force, it forced Elody into using more and more Force to compensate, but that only drained his stamina faster.

    The instant Elody turned this into a battle of techniques, he found himself countered at every turn. He could feel that his actual strength wasn''t'' far off from Leonel, in fact in terms of raw ability, he was a step or two above. But, Leonel''s ability to calculate a step or two ahead of him and respond perfectly resulted in him getting pushed further and further into a corner.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Elody brandished his sword in one hand, his other drawing a circle in the air. A ring of blinding white gold formed in the blink of an eye as he parried Leonel''s piercing spear strike.

    The ring of white gold shot downward, landing perfectly in the spot Leonel''s foot would land next.

    Elody''s timing was perfect, everything about Leonel''s momentum said that he wouldn''t be able to dodge in time.

    However, the land in the middle of the ring suddenly shot upward, giving Leonel a place to rest his foot.

    Elody''s free hand squeezed closed, shattering the small pillar of earth, but completely missing the target of Leonel''s ankle.

    Right then, a blinding pair of wings stretching out for tens of meters spread to Leonel''s back. Leonel knew that he couldn''t allow his foot to fall to the ground, and could only activate his strongest movement technique.

    His body became as light as a feather, <Star Blink> circulating instantaneously.

    With a light tap of his foot toward the crumbling rock pillar, Leonel vanished and appeared to Elody''s back.

    The shock amongst the spectators was palpable. Even as the crowd grew, drawn over by both the commotion and Leonel''s earlier beam of light, there were likewise several members of the Speed Arm who were amongst them. However, even in the case that there wasn''t, there wasn''t a single member of the Luxnix main family that wouldn''t recognize those illusory wings.

    Elody''s pupils constricted into pinholes, he could feel the threat of danger creeping upon his neck, but he reacted just as quickly.

    A white gold ring shot out from the ground, catching Leonel somewhat off guard. At the same time, Elody''s sword pierced backward, his body twisting at an odd angle as he fell away from Leonel.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. Elody''s white gold ring was too solid and simple to find a flaw, and dispersing the Force that made it would take too much time.

    He finished these calculations in an instant, choosing to swing his spear downward. At the same time, another <Crystal World> appeared before him, blocking the odd angle of Elody''s sword.

    Frustration began to mar Elody''s brow. He once again felt as though his sword had entered a sticky mud wall. Luckily, he was falling back now and could use his momentum to pull free, but this was already the fourth or fifth time.

    Elody shot back, his body flipping and dodging as numerous golden droplets fell toward him like darts. His free hand remained active, drawing more and more white gold rings as he fell backward, only to send them flying forward toward Leonel.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear shattered the white gold ring, his expression just as placid as always.

    Seeing the flood of them coming for him, his gaze flickered, the unmoving nine Radiant Cores to his back jumping into action.

    A strong magnetic field repelled the rings, sending them spiraling backward as Leonel''s figure flickered once more.

    Elody''s Internal Sight locked onto Leonel who appeared to his back, but his heart shook in the next instant.

    ''Illusion.''

    Elody had fought too many battles with Elaquin to not sense the change. Surprisingly, though, Leonel''s <Starlight Illusion> was even better than Elaquin''s. Who was this man?!

    Elody''s slightly delayed reaction didn''t stop him from reacting in time. The billowing white gold fog around him surged, his thigh bulging as he planted it hard. He could feel the muscles in his legs tearing to shreds beneath the wild force, but just as quickly as they tore, they healed once more.

    Using the sudden change in momentum, his sword pierced forward, his rings rebounding back from Leonel''s repulsion and enveloping his nine Radiant Cores.

    In one moment, it looked as though Elody was piercing toward empty space. In the next, a flicker of starlight formed the outline of Leonel''s body as the image to Elody''s back vanished into nothingness.

    Leonel''s spear met Elody''s blade even as the former''s Radiant Cores and the latter''s ring clashed.

    ''Crush them.'' Elody''s gaze gave off a blinding light.

    His rings constricted, looking to shatter Leonel''s Radiant Cores back into the benign Force they came from. However, the result was far more explosive than he thought they would beбн

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Elody felt as though his ears had popped as his eyes were filled with the searing image of blinding white lights. The only thing he could feel was the very familiar and annoying feeling of his sword slipping into a mud wall. But, this time, when he tried to pull back, his expression warped.

    SNAP!

    Even amid all the loud cacophonic booms, as a swordsman, this noise was the most resounding of all. Even before he pulled back all the way, Elody could feel the emptiness past the handle of his hiltбн His swordбн was broken?

    In that moment, Elody was completely disoriented. His hearing was nothing but high pitched screeches, his gaze was filled with a blinding white light, and his Internal Sight was continuously being distorted by the wild magnetic fields pulsing and rebounding in the surroundings.

    The heat seared through his Force Skin and his body felt like it was floating toward death.

    It was exactly at that moment that he felt the second clear feeling he had since the explosionбн A piercing pain as his chest was skewered by the blade of a spear.

    Elody coughed, a flood of blood riding down his chin and soaking his throat and chest.

    He had no idea how any of this had happened, but he vaguely felt that he had been painted into this cornerбн No, he had stepped into this trap with his arms wide open.

    If Elody had known better, he would have understood that the Law Leonel chose for his <Crystal World>''s was the formation of an extremely thick and viscous corrosive semi-liquid. The more knowledge Leonel had on the Law he chose, the easier it would be for him to use his King''s Might to project the Law.

    With his ability, it took him a single glance to see through the flaws in Craftsmanship Elody''s Tier 9 Bronze sword had, and forcing it to collapse in on itself only took a few dips.

    Of course, understanding this would have done nothing for Elody if he hadn''t also understood that destroying Leonel''s Radiant Cores was among the most foolish things he could have done.

    Elody trembled and fell to his knees.

    The blasts cleared and the spectators were soon able to see the state of the battlefield. However, when they saw their Arm Head having fallen, and that the only thing holding him up was the blade running through his chest, they fell into a harsh and cold silence.

    Seeing the state of Elody, Leonel didn''t feel much of anything. No, that wasn''t exactly right. He felt an emptiness, an emptiness wrought by the fact he felt like he had accomplished nothing.

    A seething rage was still bubbling within his heart and pulsing through his right hip. His wrist slightly trembled, causing Elody to cough up another mouthful of blood.

    "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

    Right at that moment, while Leonel''s simmering rage was beginning to feel only more and more empty, a booming voice that could disperse the clouds and unsettle the wind fell.

    Numerous expressions changed as the aura of the current Luxnix family Patriarch, Seith, caught all of their attention. To his back, numerous Viola family members followed.

    Leonel felt like he had locked onto a new target, his blood seething and the crimson in his eyes only growing deeper and more prominent.

    But it was then that he felt as though someone had pierced a hole through his heart. Everything he was feeling suddenly deflated in an instant.

    ''Aina?''

    A resounding crack rang through Leonel''s body.

    Completely out of his control, he raised his head and roared into the skies, his Divine Armor shattering into pieces and shooting away from his body.

    His face was revealed to the world, but all anyone could see were the countless crimson veins pulsing beneath his skin.

    The barrier to Tier 3 collapsed and Leonel''s Seventh Star began to form.

 Chapter 1133 Danger

    Chapter 1133 Danger

    A blazing pillar of fire left Leonel''s lips.

    To those of the Luxnix, it really felt as though the world might end at any time. Elody, who was the closest to Leonel by far, took on a level of damage that could only be described as fatal. An entire layer of skin that faced Leonel burnt off piece by piece, the shocking amount of pain snapping him out of his half unconscious state.

    The devastation was difficult to grasp. Even Leonel''s Duality Spear couldn''t seem to withstand it at all.

    Seith''s expression changed. He had no idea who Leonel was. Or, more accurately, he couldn''t identify Leonel by his face alone. But, when he saw what was happening, even his own spine tingled. He was already well into the Sixth Dimension and someone on Leonel''s level should have been a matter of the flex of a single finger to deal with, but the Force being projected out of his body right now filled Seith with so much fear that he froze for several seconds, his mind going completely blank.

    \Under normal circumstances, Seith wouldn''t even be here. It was only because Rychard had come to communicate something with him that he had gone so far. Because Rychard was now the Crown Heir of the Viola family, something only recently announced, the was an amount of face that Seith had to give him. \

    In other families, Rychard would have been entertained by their own Crown Heir, but unfortunately for Seith, the situation of the Luxnix was a bit бн unique. In every other situation, the Patriarch had higher standing than the Crown Heir. But, in the Luxnix, it was the opposite. Myghell''s standing was far beyond Seith''s and the former had the backing of both the Feather Sword warriors and the Star Order Council. In the end, such a perfunctory job was left up to Seith.

    When Seith snapped out of it, he realized just how terrible the situation was and immediately began giving out orders.

    "Corner off this location! Don''t allow anyone to enter this kilometer radius! Someone give me a briefing of what the hell happened right now!"

    The moment after Seith said these words, he shot forward. He only had one goal in mind: To save Elody. \

    Because of the oddity of this generation, Elody, Elaquin and Syllar were an important balancing factor. Without them, Myghell''s influence on this generation would be too strong. Though it was a bit na?ve of Seith to believe that just these three could match up to Myghell, he had no choice but to play the long game.

    The loss of even one of them would be far too much. He couldn''t'' allow Elody to die. Even if he didn''t have such political implications to his thoughts, the Luxnix family couldn''t just allow a genius to die for no reason.

    Seith didn''t hold back, displaying the strength of a genius of the last generation. He used the Sixth Dimensional movement techniques of the Luxnix with such skill that he managed to cover a kilometer distance in what felt like the blink of an eye.

    His Force Skin began to melt away piece by piece, withering away under the wall of heat emitting from Leonel.

    His expression couldn''t help but change. He could tell that Leonel was just Tier 3 of the Fifth Dimension. How could a youth so far beneath him possibly corrode his Force Skin?!

    A murderous glint lit in Seith''s gaze. He didn''t know exactly what had happened here, but he didn''t recognize Leonel and just by his tanned skin and hair color, he shouldn''t be a member of the main branch. If Leonel could be controlled, it would be a boon for the Luxnix. But, seeing the carnage he caused here, how could things be so easy?

    Seith had every intention of killing Leonel where he stood until he felt something lock onto him. The danger was so profound that his steps almost faltered.

    The danger he felt from Leonel was more innate and instinctual, almost like what a child would feel toward the dark. But, it was still easy enough for one with a strong mind like Seith to bury this feeling and eventually get over it.

    But, this danger was completely different. It wasn''t an irrational or instinctual fear, it was the kind of fear one felt when they ran into something they knew they couldn''t overcome, the kind of fear that had to be learned through years of experience and training.

    Cold sweat drenched Seith from head to toe. He had no idea who was protecting Leonel in the shadows, but this experience was all he needed to know to understand just how vast the difference between them was.

    Seith appeared to Elody''s side. By now, the latter''s face had practically entirely melted, his features becoming impossible to distinguish and pick out. If things continued, he really would have no chance or hope at surviving.

    Without hesitation, Seith pulled him away and charged out in a beam of light, cutting a straight path away from Leonel as fast as he could.

    The beam of fire emitting from Leonel only grew fiercer, his roar underlying it and trembling the hearts of all those who heard it.

    The clouds above completely dispersed and the ground shattered, large amounts of rocks beginning to melt and pool themselves into a larger and larger crater of lava.

    Waves of heat rippled into the surroundings. By the time Seith got back to where he had been, he realized that even without his orders, no one would have dared to enter the kilometer wide radius. The heat was simply overwhelming and even from so far away, many were still continuously moving back. The only ones that couldn''t were the few stuck within Leonel''s four pillars.

    CRACK!

    The Duality Spear finally couldn''t take it any longer and completely collapsed, combusting from the inside out. Its pieces flew out in all directions, some even piercing directly into Leonel''s body, and yet, he seemed so numb to it all that he didn''t even notice.

 Chapter 1134 Now...

    Chapter 1134 Now...

    Leonel''s body looked as though it might crack itself. Wild and raging red veins pulsed beneath his skin as his bones seemed to glow as though they were metals rising in temperature.

    Upon his chest, every beat of his heart was met by a pulse of red-gold. It looked as though even his heart itself was overheating, filling up with lines of fire and magma. But, there was no more prominent light than the one coming from his right hip.

    Surging tides of Force rippled out again and again, the devastation only growing fiercer.

    The truth was that Leonel was a bit worried about things happening like this. But, he had never expected to enter Tier 3 so quickly. By his previous progress, it should have taken over a year, at the very least.

    However, Leonel could have never imagined just the kind of impact would have on his progress, especially when combined with the secrets of his Innate Force Node.

    When Leonel first learned he had an Innate Force Node, he had randomly stumbled onto it. According to his calculations he completed, his body would only be perfectly whole if he completed a Tenth Node, despite the fact the cap the universe placed on everyone was Nine.

    Being foolish and na?ve, Leonel went ahead and tried to form a Tenth anyway, not having any idea that he would almost get himself killed. If not for the preparations his father had made and the plentiful nutrients hidden within his body from all of those vomit smoothies he was forced to chug, Leonel would have never made it so far in his journey.

    Back then, Leonel had been all alone on Terrain and could only ask the dictionary about his Innate Node. The trouble was thatбн The dictionary had always been extremely specific with its answers. It never answered anything outside the scope of the questions Leonel posed to it, no matter how useful those answers would be.

    Leonel had asked the dictionary a very simple questionбн

    "What abilities is Scarlet Star Force known for?"

    And the dictionary had given him a very simple one word answerбн

    [ Destruction. ]

    Soon after that, Leonel realized that there was someone driving a carriage over his hiding spot and he was forced to go out and check on what was happening. But, even if he hadn''t been distracted, he could have never known just what kind of profound truths were hidden within this answer.

    Leonel had learned a lot about artistic conception and how they could breathe life into techniques and bolster one''s strength. One of the most powerful abilities a person could have, the Universal Cycles, relied on a comprehension of artistic conception to draw in Universal Force to supplement your strength.

    Ultimately, the Artistic Conception that the Universal Cycles were embodying was exactly that, the power of Cycles and beauty of the Dimensional Verse''s karma. One thing would lead to the next and a perpetual cyclical construct could be formed.

    In the end, these cycles would give birth to Universal Force, one of the highest forms of Force in all of existence and among one of the most enigmatic.

    How exactly did all of this relate to Scarlet Star Force? Well, it too represented a high form of energy. In fact, at least in human history, the importance of fire and the symbolism it carried was undeniable. Among all the Elements, it wouldn''t'' be an exaggeration to say that Fire stood out amongst the rest. Through the lens of the Human Domain, there was no denying this.

    When things are put into this sort of perspective, just what sort of weight did the first Ranked Fire Elemental Force hold?

    Destruction.

    Ironically, it was the antithesis of what human legends painted it out to be. So many painted it out to be a harbinger of life, a candle of innovation, a breath to a refreshing futureбн

    But Scarlet Star Force was anything but this. It was a Force that embodied chaos, an Elemental Power that would burn all things to ash.

    The Fifth Dimension was all about loosening the shackles the mind had on the body. In order to do this, techniques relied on Visualization techniques to allow one to shed the mundane limits one subconsciously placed on themselves.

    Whether it was King''s Might, , and their fusion into the manifestation of Leonel''s Innate Node, all of them were aspects of Leonel''s consciousness. By choosing himself as the root Artistic Conception of his , Leonel had inadvertently added an indelible characteristic of Destruction to his King''s Might.

    In the vice versa, the implementation of Leonel''s King''s Might to project the will of his Innate Node had resulted in him subconsciously beginning to comprehend this Scarlet Star Force which took his body on as a host.

    The result of these series of events were the preconceptions and misunderstandings in Leonel''s mind being cleared one after another. The more he began to embody his true abilities and his true talents, the looser the chains that bound him became.

    At the same time, Leonel had no idea how lucky he was for two reasons in specific.

    First, if Leonel had completed this breakthrough on a Fifth Dimensional worldбн Not only he, but everyone on the planet would have died. Scarlet Star Force was something that even Seith, a Tier 7 Sixth Dimensional expert couldn''t reliably counter for an extended period of time, how could a Fifth Dimensional world possibly stand a chance?

    And secondбн Had Leonel used the Visualization of to reach Tier 3 instead of relying on his comprehension of his Innate Node to release the shackles on himself insteadбн

    There was a 0% probability that he would have survived the formation of his Seventh Star. Without first grasping the Artistic Conception of Destruction, how could his body, which couldn''t even survive a split second usage of Scarlet Star Force, possibly survive the formation of an entire Star?

    Nowбн

    Leonel had a 10% probability of surviving.

 Chapter 1135 Fallen Angel

    Chapter 1135 Fallen Angel

    "That''sбн"

    Savahn and Yuri looked toward one another, then toward Aina''s back. But, ever since they had come here, Aina hadn''t said a word.

    In truth, this was a bit odd for her current self. She had become very talkative after losing her personality, mostly because she didn''t know the difference between thinking her thoughts and saying them out loud, so she just ended up saying whatever it was that was on her mind.

    However, it had already been several minutes since they reached this scene, but she hadn''t commented on anything.

    When Savahn and Yuri took a peek at her face, they once again found nothing. She stared toward the man roaring into the skies without even the slightest twinkle in her eye. If it were to be described, it was almost like she was sleeping or dreaming with her eyes open.

    The pair of girls looked toward one another again, but they were at a loss for what to say. They had already gotten used to one form of Aina''s slow recovery, but this was completely new territory for them.

    ''This couldбн get complicatedбн''

    The two felt a flicker of complex emotions, their tiny fists tightening. They didn''t know how these matters would end, butбн Wasn''t this the absolute worst time for Leonel to appear? And even under these circumstances.

    "Thisбн"

    Rychard mumbled something beneath his breath, his expression changing several times. He, of course, recognized Leonel. In fact, unlike the others, he was actually quite used to seeing Force wildly fluctuating around him like this. He might have had a harder time if Leonel was in his normal state, ironically enough.

    "Hm? Is something the matter?"

    Seith, who had been tending to Elody before passing him on to others, frowned when he heard Rychard. It would have been one thing if Rychard was just reacting to the ridiculous nature of the situation, but Seith was far sharper than a Fifth Dimensional boy would be. He could see a hint ofбн recognition in Rychard''s eye?

    "Do you know this boy?" Seith pressed.

    "Iбн"

    Rychard shook his head internally. He had gotten careless after so many years of vying for the Crown Heir position. He had been strung up so tight over the last several decades that the moment he got a chance to relax he became too loose. To think he would make such a rudimentary mistake.

    "Yes, I do." Rychard replied.

    He knew that it was a fool''s errand to lie to a Sixth Dimensional expert, especially when that expert was a Luxnix. Their Internal Sight was too strong and they were too good at picking up small little details. This was only more so for a Patriarch like Seith who was embroiled in political games all day.

    "Might I ask the young Crown Heir from where?"

    Seith was greatly curious about this. He didn''t expect that Rychard would be familiar with Leonel.

    Of course, Rychard had expected this much. The moment he made the mistake he knew he would have to tell the entire story. Seith had just done him a great favor by accepting his proposal, so he couldn''t just withhold such benign information from him.

    Plus, Rychard no longer had to keep the matters related to a secret since he had already secured his position. It was just a bit embarrassingбн But then again, considering the state of Elody, the embarrassment of Rychard''s loss was actually mitigated greatly.

    Savahn and Yuri couldn''t help but perk their ears up. They also found it hard to believe that Leonel would know Rychard. The difference between their statuses should have been enormous. He was even a step above the Arm Heads of the Luxnix and technically on par with Myghell. Though, in practice, he was more so on par with the Arm Heads and dwarfed by Myghell.

    "Yesбн I met him in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zoneбн"

    Seith''s pupils constricted. He didn''t need any more of an explanation. From Rychard''s tone and demeanor, it was clear he had lost. Butбн

    ''How could a branch family member possibly get their hands on a map to that Trial Zone?!''

    Seith suddenly felt like something was off about all of this. He had even noticed that Leonel had been wielding a high quality Quasi Silver Spear before it was destroyed. This didn''t even mention the fact he had practically wiped out half of the Healing Arm and even defeated Elody. All of these things made it hard to reconcile these matters.

    In that moment, the situation suddenly changed.

    Leonel hacked up a mouthful of blood so crimson that it glowed like rubies. It almost felt as though this blood had come from the spring of his life force itself. But, just as quickly as it appeared, it was burnt to ash.

    Not even a moment later, Leonel''s skin could no longer withstand the pressure, his veins burst and his body splintering. Fountains of lava-like blood flowed from him.

    Under the astonished gazes of those watching, Leonel''s blood began to sizzle as it fell into the pools of lava around his feet. But, what was shocking was that it wasn''t the lava causing the blood to sizzle and evaporate, it was instead Leonel''s blood itself causing the lava to release screeching pillars of steam.

    The roaring pillar of flames that came from Leonel''s mouth hung in the air, his roar finally waning. But, it was impossible to tell if this was because he was no longer in pain, or if it was just that his throat couldn''t produce noise any longer.

    Steam billowed out from Leonel''s mouth, his teeth glistening a pearly white beneath all the blood and fire. Sparks flew about with his every breath as though the air itself would ignite.

    Out of Leonel''s control, two enormous illusory wings appeared to his back. The radiated a gorgeous white gold, and slowly but surely, they began to take form, just the slightest hint of crimson hidden within its gorgeously sculpted feathers.

    Leonel''s head fell, going from tilted up to the skies to his chin resting on his chest. If not for the slight wheezing and coughing, not to mention the breaths of ash, it would be impossible to tell if he was still alive or not.

    It was then that his skin began to change once more. Scales of white gold erupted across his naked body. The source of this content is Freewebn?vel.com.

    From far away, they seemed to be the scales of a white dragon. But, when one looked closer, it was possible to see that each individual scale was actually a small, miniaturized feather, outlined like a white seashell with veins of gold.

    Leonel had completed the second awakening of the Healing Branch and the third of the Speed Branch at the very same time.

    Every so often, a piece of his body would burst with blood, only to be quickly covered by these white scales once more.

    The cycle repeated again and again as though he was breathing.

    Glistening lava fell from his wings as his feet dangled in the skies. His body, toned to perfection, every outline of muscle and fiber displayed for all to see, didn''t seem marred by the broken flesh and dripping blood in the slightest.

    At that moment, he truly looked like a fallen angel.

 Chapter 1136 Kidney Home

    Chapter 1136 Kidney Home

    Leonel could feel his body going through a wild number of changes. He felt it all now more than he ever had in the past and he realized just how narrow his scope truly was.

    It wasn''t that the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was weak, it was just that he never had the ability to bring out its full potential. First he was lacking in the proper techniques to supplement it, and second he had simply yet to fully unearth all of its secrets and fully awaken it all.

    This was when Leonel settled on a conclusion. The reason his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor felt so much more powerful was only a matter of relativity. How could a Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor ever match up to a Seventh Dimensional one, especially when they could both be considered to be at the pinnacle of their respective levels?

    Simply put, maybe if Leonel entered the Sixth Dimension and began to interact with many talents on a similar level to himself, he would then begin to feel that even the Morales family''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was weak as well, when in reality, he was also lacking the techniques to maximize its abilities.

    Right now, the potential Leonel had unearthed from his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was limited to a hard bodyбн But technically, <Metal Body> was a technique left behind to him by his father. Aside from that, there was his Divine Armorбн But once again, that was a technique left behind to him by his father.

    It was such a simple thing, but Leonel hadn''t truly put things into perspective until just now.

    The Morales family Lineage Factor was called Metal Synergy. It wasn''t called Metal Body Lineage Factor or Divine Armor Lineage Factor. Who knew how many more secrets were hidden within it that Leonel had never even touched upon?

    These matters put into perspective just how ridiculous Leonel was to think that he needed to improve his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor right now, as though he was already at the end of his rope. Let alone being at the end of itбн Leonel could just barely be considered to have grasped a piece of the first strands.

    Even if Leonel succeeded in mutating his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor and built it upon a new Force, it was very possible that even if this Force was leagues beyond Snow Force, the overall power of his Lineage Factor might instead regress.

    Why? Because this new mutated Lineage Factor wouldn''t have the countless millennia of refined techniques the Luxnix had built over their history. It would have to rely on Leonel to rebuild and modify it all from the ground up.

    It was possible that Leonel could be capable of this in the future. But, as things stood now, even with all his split minds, he was still lacking.

    As more of Leonel''s potential was dug out by his evolving Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, Leonel could feel more and more of its strength.

    The second awakening of the Healing Branch felt like a perpetual <Howling Snow> technique. Without allowing these feather-like scales to cover his body, Leonel''s base healing factor had skyrocketed by more than tenfold.

    To put this into perspective, the base form of the <Twinkling Bell> Mage Art Leonel had self-created was only marginally better than Leonel''s current base healing factor. Meaning, doing nothing was almost as good as casting <Twinkling Lily: Bell''s Blessing>, except it would cost Leonel almost no stamina at all, not to mention the fact it didn''t require a cast time.

    If Leonel activated these feather-like scales and entered this sort of beast-like mode, his healing factor would increase several fold more. By then, it would be a step better than casting the full <Twinkling Bell> Mage Art, <Twinkling Lily: Carnivorous Stem>.

    As though this wasn''t enough, Leonel felt that upon reaching this second awakening, his <Instant Recovery> had evolved as well.

    In the past, it took several months for one use to recover. This time period varied so much that Leonel couldn''t put a sure number on it. This was because in order to use <Instant Recovery>, a certain amount of Snow Force had be absorbed and stored for a single burst use. But, as a baseline comparison, while on Planet Luxnix, likely the densest region of Snow Force in this Sector, it would take Leonel about three months to recover a single use of <Instant Recovery>.

    Now, in this same environment, Leonel could feel that he only needed a single month to replenish his use of <Instant Recovery>. In fact, Leonel had yet to recover from his last use, but the instant he completed his second awakening, it had been replenished. This chapter is updated by Free?ebn?vel.c?m.

    Then, there was Leonel stepping into the Third Awakening of the Snowy Star Owl''s Speed Branch.

    In truth, Leonel rarely used his Speed Branch in battle. The reason for this was quite simple. As calculative and scheming as he was, he wouldn''t show an enemy his full abilities until he could force them into a corner with it.

    Speed was one of the largest factors in battle. In fact, Leonel felt that maybe the one thing no amount of calculation could overcome was indomitable speed. In addition, varying your attack speed made you a much more difficult opponent to handle than going full tilt from the very beginning.

    Leonel''s slow, meticulous and trap setting approach to battle always left his Speed Branch by the wayside, but it had ironically been the first to reach its Third Awakening anyway.

    This was only a matter of fate. It had to be remembered that the Snowy Star Owl was first and foremost known for its Speed and Wisdom, Healing was considered to be a secondary ability of its. Because the Lineage Factor was built on the back of Snow Force affinity, Leonel had a major leg up on the others of the Luxnix.

    Why was it that his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was leaps and bounds beyond the others?

    The simple answer was that Leonel''s Light and Star affinities were so high that Snow Force simply awakened to him naturally.

    In the end, it all linked back to the very same Innate Node that called his kidney home.

 Chapter 1137 ...

    Chapter 1137 ...

    Truthfully, all of these thoughts were simply running in the back of Leonel''s mind.

    After two subsequent breakthroughs of the mind, Leonel''s ability to split his attention had bloomed from just over a 1 010 000 to a number approaching 5 000 000. Such a thing could only be said to be both a blessing and a curse.

    When he was battling, bathing in blood, bone and limbs, his mind was quite blank. All he cared about was calculating his next attack and making those before him suffer as much as possible. Rage colored his thoughts and took hold of his heart. There was only it and everything else was a sheet of white.

    But, when he saw her gaze, it felt like years of buried thoughts and feelings had all resurfaced at once. Something within him snapped and whatever had been leashed within him was released, ravaging his body like a wild beast.

    He could still see that gaze now. In fact, he could piece everything that made it up. No matter how much he tried to distract himself with just how much was going on in his body now, no matter how much he tried to focus on something else, to put his mind to something else, nothing worked.

    He could feel her gaze almost as though he was still looking into it.

    A hint of recognition, an odd curiosity, and then nothing.

    Her gaze didn''t have any sadness, no remorse, no happiness, no glee. It was as though she was looking at the face of an acquaintance she had known long ago, a classmate that she remembered the look of and was mildly curious about just what they might be doing here.

    Leonel wished he didn''t have the ability to analyze everything so thoroughly, he wished that he could believe that it was nonsense and that he had seen wrong, that his memory was fallible and maybe his brain was playing a trick on him, forcing him to see the worst.

    But, he knew that none of this true. As many minds as he had turned toward focusing on his body, he still had too many more left over. Each of them picking apart every angle, every expression, every minute detail.

    Let along just her gaze, he could measure out the beat of her heart, the perspiration of her skin, the slant of her lips, the wrinkle of her nose. He could see the shift in her body, the angle of her arms, the position of her feet, the state of her hands.

    In just a split moment, he had gained a hundreds of snapshots of each.

    Her posture was too unmoved, her breathing to even, her heart too steady. Her hands didn''t clench, her gaze didn''t tremble, and her feet didn''t shift.

    Worst of all, her lips were just fine. How many times had he warned her not to bite those soft, pink lips of hers? And how many times had she ignored him?

    It was a habit she had built up over so many years. So long as she was biting them, Leonel was certain that something was wrong and he would have traveled through the Gates of Hell to make sure that she was okay.

    There was none of the characteristics of Aina he had come to knowбн

    Leonel didn''t feel rage, or anger. He just felt that the abyss that had been forming his gaze was now in his heart. It was a depth of emptiness he had never felt before, a level of nihilism he had never faced before.

    He had thought a lot about how this meeting after so long would go, but this was the last thing he had expected. Even indifference wasn''t as bad as this. Maybe if she had been indifferent, then he could have concluded that she was still madбн But this wasn''t that.

    Leonel''s body descended into the pool of lava beneath him. The searing heat was practically like cool waters to his skin. It glided off of him and even his wounds without a sound as his swim pair of wings retracted in a flutter of falling feathers.

    Two white-gold Rune marks appeared upon Leonel''s back before slowly fading.

    An eerie sort of silence fell over everything, no one quite sure of what to do. Seith was especially indecisive. He was the only one that had felt that aura from earlier. There was nothing that had changed between then and now. He didn''t believe that this hidden individual would suddenly allow him to kill Leonel now that his breakthrough was practically finished.

    ''.''

    Feathers of white gold began to fall from the skies.

    There wasn''t a single Luxnix family member that didn''t recognize this phenomenon. Though it was extraordinarily rare amongst Fifth Dimensional existences, to the point where only two could do itбкElody and Myghellбкthe same couldn''t be said for the Sixth Dimensional members of the Luxnix family. So, this was a sight that many had seen before, or at least heard about.

    It suddenly dawned on them all that Leonel was a master of several Branches, something that made them all numb with shock.

    From the start of the phenomenon to the end, Leonel didn''t move, his head still angled somewhat downward. It felt almost as though he was in his own world and couldn''t be bothered with everything around him.

    This placeбн He didn''t want to be here anymore.

    Leonel slowly stepped out the pool of lava, walking up the slope, apparently not aware of just how naked he was.

    He thought it was a shame that his Duality Spear was destroyed. It was probably the most useful and appropriate for his battle style among the Quasi Silver spears. Though the Spear Domain ring was able to repair spears, this was clearly beyond its limits. There wasn''t even a single piece left.

    Luckily, Leonel''s Divine Armor was a symbiotic part of him. After using , it was already in perfect shape.

    The sadness and relief of these two matters didn''t seem to move the needle for Leonel one way or another. Without a care for those around him, he simply walked toward the four pillars.

    Seith frowned. He didn''t know what those pillars were, but he knew that if he allowed Leonel to walk into them, he would be gone. But, what could he possibly do? Were things really going to end like this?

    [More coming]

 Chapter 1138 Placid

    Chapter 1138 Placid

    Yuri and Savahn looked toward one another, their expressions too complex to read.

    As surprised as everyone else was that Leonel was simply walking away, they were maybe even more so.

    Leonel was difficult to read. Despite the whirlwind of emotions going on his mind and heart, his face gave nothing away. The only hint of something was that his gaze was decidedly less cold. But, even this was only something they had gotten a brief look at when Leonel''s gaze met Aina''s.

    However, what neither of them expected was that Leonel would turn and leave without even trying to say anything to her.

    Their first reaction was that maybe Leonel was mad. They had lost count of the number of times that Aina had burst into a fit of tears, mumbling something about how much Leonel must hate her now. Of course, all of this occurred long before her personality had been reset to zero.

    This was a large part of the reason that Aina''s father didn''t want her to meet with Leonel. Aina was in a very sensitive time period right now, and meeting someone who might say vile things to her as a form of lashing out would be greatly detrimental to her.

    Things were especially bad because Aina was currently internalizing so much about Leonel right now, though she did so unconsciously. The reason she had chosen the path of absolute logic was only because in her own twisted way of viewing things, this was how she could connect with Leonel.

    Ironically, though, she didn''t seem to take it to its logical conclusion. But, this was only because her memories of her last interaction with Leonel held her back. Those memories told her that being with Leonel had caused her a lot of grief. So, as unimpressed as she was with Rychard, she still let him court her as he pleased.

    Aina''s priorities, as such, had become logic first, then came her love of fighting, and finally it became growing strong. Those three things seemed benign, but when combined with someone who wanted to use reason even down to a fault, it could become very complicated, very quickly.

    Surprisingly, though, the harsh words and the fireworks they had expected from Leonel meeting Aina again simply didn''t happen.

    Yuri and Savahn also thought that it was possible that Leonel didn''t want to implicate them in his troubles. In fact, the more they thought about it, the more it seemed that this made the most sense. But thenбн

    Why was it that no one was moving? Shouldn''t they be enraged by Leonel''s actions? Shouldn''t they be chasing him down now that the danger of his breakthrough had cleared? Why did it seem like they didn''t dare to?

    Neither of them knew how to wrap their heads around this situation. They couldn''t help but look toward Aina again, but she was still oddly silent. They couldn''t grasp anything she was thinking.

    Of course, Seith was in an even worse position. He somehow felt like he was missing something important, something so important that it made his spine tingle.

    Suddenly, his gaze sharped. "Crown Heir Violaбн What was the name of this young man?"

    Rychard blinked. He hadn''t said his name on purpose.

    Though the matters surrounding Alienor''s scandal had been pinned onto Gradeyr, his former fiercest competitor for the Crown Heir position, he still didn''t want the Luxnix to drag up the truth of those matters. If he admitted that Leonel was, in fact, Leonel Morales, the very same Leonel Morales he had used to slander his mother, then it was possible for it to be drawn back to him...

    Rychard frowned. But, now that Seith had asked, he truly couldn''t avoid it. He was already the Crown Heir anyway, and it wasn''t like the families were entirely buddy-buddy. Some underhanded schemes were inevitable.

    "He saidбн His name is Leonel Morales."

    Rychard didn''t know what he expected from saying these words. But, the reaction he got was so fierce that he almost coughed up blood.

    Seith''s aura shot into the skies like a pillar, making it difficult for the Fifth Dimensional existences around him to even stand properly, let alone breathe.

    Rychard rapidly retreated, his expression flickering.

    He realized then that this was a bigger matter than he had initially thought, but how could it not be. This tidbit of information was actually what had allowed him to secure his Crown Heir position and it was precisely it that buried his competition.

    The name Leonel Morales had been stricken from the Luxnix family records. In the history of the Luxnix, this had happened only a handful of times, and never to a child who couldn''t even walk on his own at the time. How could there not be a big secret behind this?

    "HALT!"

    Seith''s voice boomed for several kilometers. His palm flipped over, a badge of some sort appearing in his hands. The moment it did, he tossed it into the air.

    An enormous commotion broke loose, a pillar of blinding light shooting into the skies.

    The expressions of several changed, especially those of highest standing like the Rankers and the Division Heads. That badge was the Patriarch''s Emblem. In terms of rank, it was only beneath the Star Order Emblem. When it was deployed, it had the authority not only to deploy the Feather Sword warriors, but the Star Order Council had the obligation to send representatives as well.

    With this Emblem, the Patriarch essentially had 90% of the family''s forces at their beck and call. Of course, the strongest forces were definitely those old monsters on the Star Order Council. But, in general situations, just a representative or two from them was enough to deal with most problems.

    It had been just over two decades since the last time the Patriarch''s Emblem was used. And now, it seemed to have been deployed again.

    Yet, inexplicably, as though he hadn''t heard a single thing, Leonel continued to walk. Maybe the only change was that a pair of pants had appeared to cover his lower half.

    His placid expression made it seem as though he was entirely in his own world.

 Chapter 1139 Frozen

    Chapter 1139 Frozen

    Seith wasn''t a fool.

    As things stood now, he and the Patriarch''s Faction were in a precarious position. Of course, his chair on the Star Order Council was practically set in stone, as was the case for every Patriarch before him. Howeverбн He simply wasn''t satisfied with this.

    Of all the Patriarch''s in Luxnix history, Seith would not only be the one with the shortest tenure, but he would also be, by far, the most emasculated. Ever since Myghell began to show his talents, Seith had fallen by the wayside and this Crown Heir of their family had become the de facto Patriarch. In fact, many of Seith''s roles in the family now were the very same roles he had had as the former Crown Heir. It was nothing short of humiliating to an extreme.

    While he was sweating over the daily tasks of the family, Myghell lived a life of leisure. He had all the resources he could ever want, all the access he could ever want, and even had certain clearances that Seith himself couldn''t easily access.

    Seith had worked his whole life for the sake of claiming the Patriarch position, but everything he had dreamed and pined for was put on the back burner for a junior who didn''t seem to care very much for the family to begin with.

    He couldn''t understand why those old bastards couldn''t see it. Myghell had no family in the Luxnix, he at most had thin blood ties twice or thrice removed. Among all those who called themselves Luxnix in the main family, he was probably the most detached and he had clearly made it a point not to form ties that were too close to anyone else.

    However, the Star Order Council were blinded by his talent. Not only had they chosen Myghell over Leonel, but what Seith cared the most about was the fact they had actually chosen Myghell over him.

    They practically stripped his position of all the power it was worth. He was nothing more than a figurehead for his own family, a happy face to show to outsiders.

    In his youth, he had had dreams of eradicating the Viola and Montex families, claiming the entirety of the Sector for the Luxnix. But, he had practically been castrated.

    Everything in the family had entered a state of hibernation, all for the sake of Myghell and his maturation process.

    Quite frankly, Seith could never hate Leonel as much as he hated Myghell and the Star Order Council.

    So, why had he released such a signal? Well, wasn''t it obvious?

    He hoped that whoever it was that was protecting Leonel in the shadows could make these bastards suffer. Only in this sort of Chaos could he have the chance to rise again and become the Patriarch that he was always meant to be.

    It seemed that in the years of arrogance the Luxnix had been fostering, they had been brewing animosity within their own borders... and from more than one person, at that.

    BANG!

    The moment pillar rose up, it smashed into an invisible dome above. The instant the Patriarch''s Emblem had activated, so too had the protective Force Art of the Luxnix Estate.

    Beautiful and complex hieroglyph-like formations crawled through the skies, shimmering in golds, whites and silvers as the call of a bird resounded.

    The pillar of light splitting into countless pieces.

    All across the Luxnix Estate, thousands of Feather Sword warriors were alerted, the pins on their lapels lighting up one after another. Their expressions only had time to turn serious before they all vanished as one.

    Back in the location of the battlefield, the blinding lights only seemed to continue. The number grew in size, the vague outline of several figures taking form.

    By the time it all faded, the Feather Sword warriors all stood proud and tall. Of course, this number only included those that were currently in the estate and hadn''t been deployed. In addition, there were no Twelve Point Feather Sword warriors in sight as they were the personal guard of the Star Order Council. However, this line up alone seemed to breathe pressure into the air.

    "Patriarch!"

    The Feather Sword warriors all respectfully saluted at once. The booming sound of their voices even dwarfed Seith''s earlier shout. However, Seith made no move to command them. He was waiting, waiting for something in specific.

    He wasn''t going to send these Feather Sword warriors off to their death, that would do him no good. What he needed wasбн

    At that moment, a mountainous pressure descended from the skies. Whether by coincidence, an illusion, or maybe reality, the protective barrier of the estate seemed to glow with a fiercer light, even as the concentration of Snow Force more than doubled in an instant.

    In the skies, standing upon what seemed like nothing, an old man with a flowing white beard and hair appeared. His ancient robes fluttered in the skies and his sharp eyes scanned the battlefield, taking it all in, in an instant. His hunched back did nothing to take away from his momentum.

    "Who dares attack my Luxnix family?!"

    The momentum dwarfed anything Seith or the Feather Sword warriors could match. This man would have been very familiar to anyone who had been at the Gate several weeks agoбн This man was none other than the Star Order elder that had sided with Sparking Star Order, Winged Star Order.

    The old man seemed to deduce that all of this was caused by Leonel in an instant, the thinking speed of a Sixth Dimensional expert with such strong Internal Sight being far beyond what most could imagine. He immediately locked onto Leonel, his pressure falling down in waves.

    However, what he could have never expected was for that pressure to vanish like a refreshing spring breeze just before it could reach Leonel and right as a light sigh rang through the air.

    Leonel, who hadn''t turned his head back even once since he began to walk forward, even after all the oppressive auras rising to his back, was suddenly forced to stop his steps.

    Before him, an older woman wearing fluttering white robes stood. A cane of pristine white wood supported her right side, and though her face was covered in the wear of age, it still carried the delicate touch of beauty.

    She gazed toward Leonel with a complicated look, her eyes filled with regret, remorse and sadness.

    For a moment, it seemed that everything had frozen.

 Chapter 1140 okay

    Chapter 1140 okay

    Empress Fawkes'' gaze twinkled.

    This was the first time she was seeing her grandson in over 20 years. It was difficult for her to reconcile her emotions all at once.

    She couldn''t help but cast her Internal Sight toward Noah as well, but when it came to the guilt she held on her shoulders, it was mostly related to Leonel. While she felt terrible about not being able to be a part of Noah''s life the way she should have been, her negligence had almost led to Leonel''s death.

    Her negligence was just one matter. Anyone could make the mistake of trusting the wrong person or people. However, the way she dealt with those matters after finding out ended up alienating the entirety of her family.

    Her husband wanted nothing to do with her. Her daughter could hardly meet her gaze without resentment leaking through. Her son-in-law couldn''t stand to even be on the same planet as her. And, the family she had sacrificed so much to protectбн Seemed to show her day after day why they weren''t worthy of her giving up much of anything.

    Empress Fawkes'' hand trembled as it rose to Leonel''s cheek.

    In the air, it seemed so very fragile. Despite the sheer strength of the woman who owned it, it felt as though the slightest gust of wind might cause it to collapse.

    It was only after her frail hand touched Leonel''s face that it managed to gain some stability. However, the scolding heat of Leonel''s skin didn''t escape her attention at all. It felt as though it would burn her completely to ash, but she refused to take her hand away.

    Empress Fawkes looked up and into Leonel''s eyes. There, she found a gaze that was impossible to read.

    While everyone else saw indifference and apathy, Empress Fawkes saw something deeper. She could see that Leonel had been scarred by something. The realization made her heart squeeze with an inescapable pang.

    She could tell that this emotion was completely unrelated to her. Maybe it really was most accurate to say that Leonel met her with indifference. In fact, he couldn''t be bothered to snap out of his previous head space to register the fact that it was his grandmother before him.

    Empress Fawkes didn''t blame Leonel in the slightest. All she felt was a surging will to protect him. This was her grandson, her baby boyбн She would rather suffer through him looking toward him with indifference for the rest of her life so long as he didn''t have to suffer any pain or trouble.

    Empress Fawkes'' thumb lightly rubbed Leonel''s cheeks, her eyes holding back tears she didn''t want to shed.

    "Northern Star Order, what is the meaning of this?!"

    Winged Star Order''s voice was tinged with his frown.

    The name Northern Star Order spoke for itself.

    There were two categories of titles given to those who joined the Star Order Council. The first were unique names. These were decided by your method of battle, your ability, or any other unique affinities or proclivities you might have.

    But, there was a second category of titles all together. These were known as Hegemonic Titles.

    Hegemonic Titles were passed down from generation to generation, though, not so simply. It wasn''t rare for a Hegemonic Title to skip over a generation entirely. In fact, to say it wasn''t rare was a misnomer because it was, in practice, quite common for this to happen.

    In truth, even many of the Star Order Council were in the dark about how these Hegemonic Titles came about and what exactly their origins were. Only those who inherited the Title would become privy to the information that came with it.

    Within the Luxnix family, there were only three Hegemonic Titles.

    The first was Snow Star Order. The second was Wise Star Order. And, the final, and most powerful of them, was Northern Star Order.

    Empress Fawkes'' generation had been greatly blessed. For the first time in Luxnix history, two Hegemonic Titles appeared in the same generation. And, the most fantastic part of it was that this was all predicted to happen by the most recent Wise Star Order.

    One generation removed from Empress Fawkes, it was deduced by Wise Star Order that the Luxnix would soon have a great rise in talent. Over the next three generations, they would enter a well spring of prosperity that would allow them to finally step through the final threshold and leave the Sixth Dimension behind.

    At first, it was unknown just how true this prediction would be. However, in the very next generation, not only was Empress Fawkes born, but so was her close friend and the inheritor of the Snow Star Order Title.

    It was unprecedented in the Luxnix family''s history. Not only had it been more than 20 generations since the last Northern Star Order appeared, but to think that it would appear alongside a Snow Star Order!

    The family realized then that the fortune told by the Wise Star Order was true and they began to prepare.

    The so-called state of hibernation mentioned by Seith wasn''t by accident, nor was it solely due to Myghell. For two generations now, the Luxnix had experienced an unprecedented boom in talent and they were overflowing. In truth, it could be said that they already had the strength to crush both the Viola and Montex family.

    But, they still waitedбн Waited for the day the third and final generation would mature. Then, they would sweep through the world in one fatal swoop.

    Unfortunately, over the years, they had made many mistakes. Their overconfidence, sometimes warranted, but most times not, was tearing their family apart from the inside out. Too many had forgotten that this Northern Star Order of theirs even existedбн Or, more accurately, they too easily believed that she would simply fall in line just like she always had.

    But, right now, Northern Star Order was no longer just that. She was a grandmother who had just sensed her grandson''s pain. She no longer seemed to care about anything else. In fact, she completely ignored Winged Star Order.

    "Little Leoбн What do you want to do?"

    Empress Fawkes spoke as though even if Leonel asked her for the Moon, she would reach out and grab it.

    Leonel remained silent for a long while. A hint of sadness plagued Empress Fawkes'' gaze. There was nothing that pained her more than her grandson being unwilling to rely on her. But, surprisingly, Leonel finally spoke.

    "Iбн Don''t want to be here anymore."

    Leonel''s voice was cold, indifferent and detached. And yet, to her, they were like the most beautiful melody she had ever heard.

    Empress Fawkes finally couldn''t hold back her tears any longer as they fell like droplets of rain gently sliding down delicate leaves.

    "Okay. Grandma will take you away."

 Chapter 1141 History

    Chapter 1141 History

    The words felt like a tidal wave amidst a calm lake.

    Seith might have been aware of just who Leonel was, but it wasn''t until Empress Fawkes spoke these words that this information was suddenly known to everyone else. Whether it was the unranked or Ranked Arm students, the Division Heads, the Feather Sword warriors, or even Winged Star Order himself, they all felt as though time had frozen in place.

    Branch family member? Who had said such a thing? If the grandson of the Northern Star Order couldn''t be considered to be a member of the main branch, then who could?

    If Winged Star Order hadn''t called out Empress Fawkes'' title, maybe many of them would still be in the dark. But, who could dare to call themselves a Luxnix if they weren''t aware of the importance of the Hegemonic Title?!

    Elody, who had been forced to use his just to keep a hold of his life, suddenly laughed bitterly. He had come to just in time to hear this news and he wasn''t quite sure of how to take it.

    It wasn''t like having a Star Order grandparent was rare. In fact, all three of the Arm Heads could boast such a thing. Leonel had even already met the Wisdom Arm Head''s grandmother, Fluttering Star Order.

    Howeverбн Having a Hegemonic Star Order as a grandparent was a different matter entirely.

    Those that had been crippled under Leonel''s blade deflated. They had spent all their lives hearing about the coming rise of the Luxnix and the importance of the Northern Star Order to all of this. If she wanted to protect her grandson from something, wouldn''t'' it be too easy?

    Leonel''s status had gone from beneath them all to countless levels above in the blink of an eye. And, the worst part was that he had the talent and strength to speak for himself.

    Empress Fawkes smiled through her tears and lowered her hand from Leonel''s cheek. Stepping to his side, she wrapped an arm around his and led him forward. The pair walked toward the four pillars as though there wasn''t anyone else around them.

    Yuri and Savahn''s confusion reached a new height. They had no idea that Leonel had such ties to the Luxnix. If he did, didn''t that mean that what they had done wasбн unnecessary?

    But wait, did that mean he was keeping it from Aina? Why would he hide such a thing?

    Of course, they had no idea that Leonel had never kept anything from Aina. Let alone the Luxnix, he had already spoken about even the Morales to her. It was just that he could only tell her what he actually knew, and he had no way of knowing how these families viewed or would receive him.

    In practice, he was correct to be so skeptical. Wasn''t how things were going now evidence enough? He had support of his grandmother, but that clearly couldn''t be said for the entirety of the Luxnix family. It wouldn''t be long until the two girls understood this as well.

    Winged Star Order stood in the skies, his expression flickering wildly from time to time. The wrinkles on his face played between tight and loose, seemingly not understanding what state they were needed in.

    He looked down, his expression becoming ugly. He just noticed that there was an entourage of Viola family here and judging by it all, their standing was not low. How else could they possibly have Seith escorting them? This only matters all the more troublesome.

    But how could he just allow them to leave?

    If it wasn''t already obvious enough, Leonel''s actions an the amount of blood scent in the air painted the picture clearly. It was too obvious that this boy had animosity for them. Winged Star Order wasn''t exactly sure how powerful Leonel was as he hadn''t witnessed the battle, but judging by the state of things, it couldn''t be poor, right?

    Winged Star Order grit his teeth, his internal conflict only growing.

    There was no point in harping on how much others would learn of this matter. The dirty laundry of the Luxnix was already being laid out. The question was what was the risk assessment on starting this battle.

    He had no idea how powerful Northern Star Order was. Butбн

    His spine trembled when he thought of something.

    ''There''ll be a chance. So long as he''s here, he''ll definitely be participating in the selection. Myghell will deal with himбн He has the largest reason to do soбн Howeverбн a line still needs to be drawn here.''

    "Roesia, are you aware of what you are doing?"

    Empress Fawkes continued to not answer, gingerly walking forward as though she required Leonel''s support to walk at all.

    Winged Star Order didn''t seem surprised by this lack of an answer.

    "The name Leonel Morales was stricken from the family records 20 years ago. Your entire family line will follow suit."

    Empress Fawkes'' steps paused. A fury lit within her gaze, a bit of her strength imperceptibly leaking outward. She didn''t care about herself, but this was a matter of humiliation for her grandson. To bring it up so grandly like this.

    Her gaze shifted toward Leonel, but he didn''t seem to react at all. His mind was elsewhere and it looked as though he wouldn''t react even if the skies collapsed.

    Realizing this, Roesia''s heart settled down. There was nothing else of importance here. Since her grandson wanted to leave, she would help him to leave.

    With slow and steady steps, the two finally entered the world of the four pillars.

    "Withdraw." Winged Star Order commanded coldly.

    Seith''s expression changed. Not only was his Patriarch''s Emblem being treated like thin air, it hadn''t even accomplished a fraction of what he hoped it would. But, what was even worse was that the Feather Sword warrior didn''t hesitate to follow these orders.

    These matters seem to have defused, but the reality was that it had only set in motion something that would one day be an indelible part of the Three Pillar Galaxy''s history.

    At the center of it all, there would be a young woman who currently stood in silence with placid golden eyes and a dull expression.

 Chapter 1142 Roesia

    Chapter 1142 Roesia

    Leonel sat in silence, staring out into blank space. His breathing was even, his heartbeat was steady, and there didn''t seem to be anything particularly distressing about his current mood.

    He had returned to the hotel penthouse, but he wasn''t alone by any stretch. His grandmother sat across from him with Noah by her side. Her frail hands held onto Noah quite tightly, the two of them exchanging some words.

    Leonel wasn''t really paying attention to what the two were saying, but he could guess. Noah was likely being his usual awkward self, something he faced whenever someone showed him intimacy he wasn''t used to, while their grandmother was trying her best to toe the line between forging a relationship while not pressing too hard.

    Eventually, the topic of their discussion returned to the matters of all those years ago and Roesia couldn''t help but sigh. She sent a glance toward Leonel, but his gaze was still aimed out of the tall windows. It was as though his eyes could see to the very ends of Planet Luxnix itself.

    "бн I take full blame." Roesia said lightly. "Ever since my birth, the Luxnix have been focused on what they call the ''Hibernation Phase''. This was essentially a commitment that we made toward preparing the Luxnix for war.

    "In the generation before mine, Ancestor Wise Star Order made a prediction about the upward trajectory of our family. Though it wouldn''t be as exaggerated as Hyper Evolution, Ancestor felt that it would only be a step below. Should we grasp this opportunity, maybe even entering such a state wouldn''t be impossible.

    "Though I understand why Ancestor made such a prediction and chose to divulge it, often times I wish that he had kept these matters to himselfбн"

    Even now, Roesia couldn''t help but respectfully call this existence Ancestor. In the end, unlike Leonel and Noah, she had been born and raised in the Luxnix family estate. There were many ties that she had that were too difficult to sever even after so long.

    "Why is that, Imperial Grandmother?" Noah couldn''t help but ask.

    "The initial purpose behind the ''prophecy'' wasn''t in its prediction, it was to warn and stress the importance of patience. By putting a three generation number on it, the Luxnix formed a plan based on that assessment. The result was the most peaceful era the Three Pillar Galaxy has ever faced.

    "It seems like the three families are in harmony now, but the reality is that, for a very long time, there was nothing but endless battle and war. The Three Planet Formation was, on paper, a ''safe zone'', but in practice, more people died here than anywhere else.

    "The lull in Luxnix activity had a positive effect on the balance between the three families and they too fell into a lull. This allowed the family to enter a state of peaceful growthбн

    "Unfortunately, many of the blades turned internal as a result. When a family grows too powerful, to the point they don''t have any outside competitors, that is when they also become the most vulnerable. But, it''s functionally the same if a family is growing in power and has entered a truce-like state as well."

    Noah''s gaze glowed.

    One of the things he most admired about his grandfather was the creation of the Slayer Legion. Emperor Fawkes knew that in the time between the Ascension Empire conquering Earth and the Descent of the Metamorphosis, there would be a period of absolute peace. Due to this, it was very likely that the Empire might crumble before the Fourth Dimension Descended.

    Realizing this problem, Emperor Fawkes didn''t hesitate to sacrifice his strongest blade and turn the Slayer Legion into an enemy the Empire could unite against. Noah had no idea just what level of foresight that would take.

    Roesia shook her head.

    "In my generation, everything began well. Both the Northern Star Order and the Snow Star Order appeared and we were even very close. The family was very cautious in that time and took the words of Ancestor very seriously. In fact, they were so cautious that neither myself nor Snow Star Order were allowed to participate in the Void Palace''s Selection.

    "However, as you might imagine, that didn''t last for long. After your father and aunt were born, the family was a bit unsatisfied with my actions. But, because of the importance the Northern Star Order held, and the fact I was very important to the ascension mentioned by Ancestor, my actions were forgiven, but unfortunately not forgotten.

    "During my generation, both the Viola and Montex families managed to enter a Nominal student. This placed pressure on the Luxnix and many believed we had chosen to be too lowkey. So, when your aunt was sent to me by your grandfather and began to display her talents, it was already decided that she would take part in the Selection.

    "She was the perfect candidate. Her eye color was different from the usual Luxnix and made it seem like she was a branch family member. Thanks to this, even if she had an astounding performance, it wouldn''t raise too much alarm toward the Luxnix main family, but she could also release some of the pressure simultaneously.

    "Everything went well and your aunt performed astoundingly, entering as a Quadrant Ranked disciple. Of course, if not for the fact Earth was still in the Third Dimension back then, causing her World Spirit and Emperor''s Might Lineage Factors to be dormant, she would have likely placed even higher. By then, her climb up the disciple rankings would have been far easier as wellбн

    "But, trouble came again when your aunt returned to the family pregnant. Your aunt was meant to be the perfect cog in their plans. She was just Luxnix enough to be a part of ''us'', but just enough not Luxnix that she could be used as a tool. But, your aunt didn''t seem to acknowledge the fact that this was her ''use''.

    "Rather than marrying into a distant branch of the main family and birthing a pure breed Luxnix, your aunt had taken the same path I did.

    "Howeverбн Once again, we were forgiven. I was the Northern Star Order, and your aunt had already become a Galaxy Ranked disciple.

    "What couldn''t be forgiven, thoughбн Was that Little Leo was simply too talented."

    Roesia''s expression darkened, an array of complex emotions flickering through her gaze and expression.

    "бн This was already the third and final generation, and talents continued to pop up. But, there was too great of a power imbalance. Our branch of the main family carried with it too much of the talent and we had proven time and time again that we didn''t ''listen''.

    "When your cousin was born, the fact he almost took your aunt''s life was only one aspect, but the phenomena he brought with his first cry was a different matter entirely. To be born with an Innate Node was already rare enough. But, to have one of the caliber of the Scarlet Star Innate Node was a different matter entirelyбн

    "I was too na?ve. I thought that I had shown enough loyalty to the family, even leaving behind my husband and son to remain within the estate. I took on so much work and my every day was breathed for the sake of the moment the ''Hibernation Phase'' would endбн

    "But that day when I saw your cousin, my Little Leoбн He had gone from a baby boy so large and full of life to one that couldn''t even breathe on his own бн His skin had paled, his eyes lost their color, he was cryingбкhe never criedбн. He was such a good babyбн"

    Roesia''s tears fell like a flood, but her next words were laced with a dense cold.

    "бн I killed them. I killed them all."

    Her hands trembled as though she was back there once again. She could see the cold gaze of the woman she had once called friend, she could see the impatient and condescending sneer of her husbandбн

    Everyone who had been there, looking over her grandson''s small little body, watching as he struggled to even breathe without even lifting a finger, she killed them all.

    The very reason Myghell was an orphan, the reason he had no close relatives, parents or grandparents to call his own, was precisely because Roesia saw nothing but red that day.

    And among those that fell, was the Snow Star Order of old.

 Chapter 1143 Other Way Around

    Chapter 1143 Other Way Around

    It took quite a long time for Roesia to calm down after reaching this part in her story.

    The relationship she had had with Snow Star Order was very deep. They had only been born a few weeks apart and had grown up like sisters. They had practically been attached at the hip ever since they could crawl on their own.

    Even after so many years, Roesia couldn''t find it within her to get over that betrayal.

    In the moment, the fury she felt for the injustice her grandson had faced trumped everything, but when Snow Star Order''s blood touched her palm and the last of her blood was drained away, it all hit her like a speeding truck.

    Not only did someone she thought of as a sister betray her, but now she had to suffer the weight and guilt of having killed her and her entire family as well.

    One might say that she had no reason to feel guilty, and she had only punished those that deserved to be punished. And, maybe such thoughts were correct to have. Anyone who would do such a thing to a child simply didn''t deserve to live.

    Unfortunately, the human mind wasn''t always strictly rational. For some time, Roesia only blamed herself. Maybe if she had shown the family more support, maybe if she hadn''t been so selfish in her choices, maybe if she had followed the rules of the family more closelyбн maybe, maybeбн Maybe things wouldn''t have needed to go so far.

    Roesia understood why Snow Star Order had done what she did.

    While Roesia seemed to always be able to live life the way she pleased, choosing the husband she wanted, allowing her daughter to do the same, raising a family of her own and even benefitting with talented children and grandchildren as a resultбн Snow Star Order never got this chance. In fact, in a lot of ways, her life was made harder due to Roesia.

    Roesia got to pick her own husband, but Snow Star Order''s marriage was arranged. Roesia''s daughter was the gem of the family, but Snow Star Order''s own offspring were mediocre at best, unable to match up to the talent of their mother. Roesia''s daughter once again got the right to choose her own husband, but Snow Star Order had to watch as her own daughter was forced down the same path as herselfбн

    When Snow Star Order saw that Roesia''s grandchild was still far more talented than her own, maybe if one chose to be sympathetic, they could at least understand her thoughts and the motivations behind why she did it.

    While on the surface the reasoning was to bring more balance to the family and rein in what power Roesia''s branch seemed to be accumulating, the truth underlying those actions wasбн Jealousy.

    "That day I was barely able to stabilize the situation, but I wasn''t sure what else to do. The Scarlet Star Innate Node is especially volatile and difficult to handle. It was one matter if Little Leo was perfectly healthy, but having already barely survived one operation, there was no telling if he''d be able to survive another. ?

    "At the same time, while I held fury for their branch of the main family, the child that was given Little Leo''s Innate Node was innocent and couldn''t make decisions of his own. However, at the time, it really seemed like the little one would suffer due to the decisions of his seniorsбн

    "Assimilating another''s Innate Node isn''t rare and there''s even quite a large black market for it. However, how well it works is highly dependent on what the Node is and how it fits with your affinities. While the little one had the important Star and Light Elemental affinities, he lacked the Fire affinity. In addition, even if he did have it, the Scarlet Star Innate Node is a different beast all together."

    Roseia took in a deep breath and sighed.

    "For a while, it seemed that the family would lose both geniuses. Little Leo was very weak and frail after losing Innate Node while Myghell was constantly suffering backlash. If not for the preparation Snow Star Order had made, Myghell would have died long ago. Unfortunately, even Snow Star Order had underestimated the Scarlet Star Node and it all wasn''t enough.

    "Seeing how things were going, even at the sacrifice of an innocent child, I was willing to attempt to transfer Little Leo''s Innate Node back to him. After all, though both children were innocent, I couldn''t possibly choose another child over my own grandson, right? Plus, what life did Myghell have ahead of him? His living would only complicate the family''s internal strife in the future.

    "But, it was then that Little Val return with your aunt.

    "Back then, he was, rightfully, furious. If not for the guilt I harbored in my heart, it was likely that there would be no Luxnix family remaining.

    "I know thatбн he was right. Snow Star Order wouldn''t have done what she did without the consent of the rest of the Star Order Council, and I knew that Snow Star Order''s family had ties to many other main family branches due to her and her daughter''s arranged marriagesбн But I still couldn''t bring myself to allow it.

    "I will be as honest and upfront with you two as I can. I was weak, and I was always too tied up with former ties. Due to that, I ended up alienating your aunt and your mother, as well as your uncle-in-law and your father.

    "I relied on my relationship with Alienor to get Velasco to promise not to seek revenge. However, in return, they both resented me for it."

    Roesia''s gaze grew a bit misty.

    Her son-in-law was a man she never saw without a smile on his face. He always had a joke to tell or a prank to pull. She had to admit to herself that due to this, she thought that he would be easy to convince. In fact, she hadn''t even known the true strength of her son-in-law until after that talk they had that day.

    Velasco had fallen into a silence and didn''t say a word to her. It was only after Alienor described Velasco''s origins to her did she understand that it wasn''t her protecting Velasco from the Luxnix, but it was rather the other way around.

 Chapter 1144 Time

    Chapter 1144 Time

    Roesia''s gaze drifted to Leonel once again. But, even now, his gaze was still trained outside the tall windows. He didn''t seem to have heard anything Roesia said, but Roesia didn''t decide to push the matter. She didn''t know what it was that Leonel was going through, but she felt like she didn''t have the right to ask. She hadn''t been able to be a part of her grandson''s life for so long, so how could she just appear now and expect him to bare his soul to her?

    "бн Soon after these matters, Velasco took Little Leo to Earth. I''m not certain of what his reasoning was entirely, but it was likely that the combination of friendly atmosphere plus Low Dimensional world was the best environment for Little Leo''s recovery.

    "In his weakened state, staying in a Sixth Dimensional world was more of a detriment to Little Leo than anything elseбн But as for the specifics of how Little Leo was cured, I''m not sure. I can only say that it''s good that you''ve grown up so strong and powerful."

    A calm silence fell over the penthouse suite.

    The truth was that Leonel was listening, though not actively. With the way his mind worked, unless he used Dream Sense, it was impossible for him not to capture every little detail within hundreds of meters of himself. The only question was whether he would acknowledge it now, or later.

    But, after what he experienced today, this benefit seemed more like a curse than anything else.

    Leonel didn''t really know what he was feeling right now. In reality, maybe his grandmother was the only one able to tell that he was feeling much of anything at all. To everyone else, his face was quite indifferent and placid, as though he didn''t have any emotions to speak of at all. Who knew, maybe it was a mother''s intuition refined over two generations. They always say that a woman''s intuition is strong.

    It would be one thing if Leonel had chosen to cut Aina off completely. But, according to his balance scale, she had just barely managed to stay in his heart. The issue with that was now he had to drag all of this baggage around.

    He didn''t feel like doing much of anything. The moment he had seen her, it was like all the accumulated momentum and drive he had built up over this last year had vanished in an instant, drained out of him by a single look.

    If he was honestбн It was mildly infuriating.

    It wasn''t an anger he felt toward Aina, it was one he felt toward himself. He might have been fine with this feeling had he still had no goals or aspirations, but the current him wanted to accomplish something far bigger and larger than himself.

    To be weighed down by such emotion, such useless trash, it pissed him off. He almost wanted a reason, any reason at all, to cut this all away from himself like it was some sort of malignant tumor.

    Due to all of this, he hadn''t even been able to properly react to the truth of his history with the Luxnix. Was he more mad now? Indifferent, maybe? He didn''t really know, it was like his emotions were on a delayed timer, but now that the proper moment to react had passed, it was already too late to do much of anything about it.

    Did he want to vent?

    Not really. If it was about venting, wouldn''t the best place to do so have been the Luxnix estate? He couldn''t very well go back.

    Did he want to speak with Aina?

    He didn''t particularly want to do this either. They say a picture spoke a thousand words, well a snapshot of Leonel''s memory spoke millions. He didn''t feel there would be anything to gain from speaking with her.

    Did he want to replace her?

    He felt no drive to do such a thing. Maybe a woman would help him clear his mind and focus, but whoever that woman was would only end up being a tool. At best, they''d be a prostitute, such a person wouldn''t be a replacement to begin with.

    Then what did he want to do?

    Wellбн Sitting here felt alright.

    Leonel''s eyes drifted close, an odd peace overcoming him. In all his calculations, the one thing he didn''t note was exactly how long it had been since he simplyбн rested.

    When Leonel was with Aina, even when they didn''t need to sleep, they would do so. Of course, a part of that was due to their shenanigans in the bedroom, but Aina was always a reminder for him to rest as well.

    If there were two things Aina loved to do, the first was to eat a lot, and the second was to sleep. With her ability, she always knew exactly what her body needed to maximize her growth into the future, so rest and food were two of her biggest appetites.

    Ironically, it was meeting with Aina again after so long that seemed to hit Leonel like a Pavlovian response. Before he realized what was happening, his mind sank into darkness and, for the first time in a long while, his thoughts finally came to a stop.

    As fast as Leonel''s mind moved, he hadn''t realized just how much he needed sleep. He had taken on so much weight onto his shoulders in such a short time that he didn''t realize just how much it was all weighing him down.

    What he and no one else could have possibly expected was that this rest of his would last an entire month. His mind and body both entered a state of hibernation.

    However, what was unique about it all was that with the Second Awakening of his Healing Branch, rest for Leonel was far different than rest for others.

    In the past, when Leonel rested, he would use Dream Sense to multiply the effect of his sleep. But, that was ultimately just a parlor trick. While it would refresh his mind, his body was only falling further and further behind in its rest.

    This time, though, Leonel didn''t have the time to activate Dream Sense as he wasn''t even aware he was drifting asleep. The result was both his mind and body shutting down.

    Under the Second Awakening of the Healing Branch, after not having a proper rest in years, it was like Leonel''s body was being refreshed and rebooted. It was impossible to tell just what changes there would be when he awoke.

    By then, though, it would be time for the Selection to begin.

 Chapter 1145 shut Up!

    Chapter 1145 shut Up!

    Alienor sat by Leonel''s bedside, her expression one of endless doting. Every so often, she would glide a shimmering towel across her son''s forehead as though she couldn''t stand the slightest hint of dirt or dust touching him at all.

    After Leonel met with her mother, Alienor thought it would be easy to finally swoop in and see her son. But, the result was actually outside of her expectations. What was something she had been looking forward to for decades became something her hands trembled at the thought of doing.

    In a lot of ways, Leonel falling into a deep sleep like this was a great help to her. She got to be by her son''s side and take care of him without the weight of two decades of baggage. She felt more at peace now than she had in a very long time.

    Her eyes glistened with tears when she thought of all the milestones she had missed. Though she could watch them through Velasco''s eyes, it just wasn''t the same. She didn''t get to watch Leonel take his first steps, or be there for his first day of school, she never got the chance to watch any of his football games or teach him how to impress the girl he liked.

    Alienor smiled lightly, soon beginning to giggle beside herself. Her husband had always said that the worst people to ask for advice on women as a man was other women.

    ''Do you think a gazelle is going to teach a lion how to hunt them?'' That was what her husband had said.

    Velasco suffered the pinch of all pinches for saying these words, but thinking back on it now, Alienor couldn''t help but laugh. Her husband was always saying wild and outlandish things. Compared to him, her son was definitely the far more handsome and refined gentleman.

    Alienor''s smile became somewhat sad. She shook her head and dabbed her son''s forehead again.

    Her son was so perfect, how could any woman make him go through such things? She didn''t like this Aina at all. If it wasn''t for her worrying about how her son would react, she would have taught that girl a lesson a long time ago.

    ''I will change the bedsheets again.''

    Alienor transferred Leonel to another bed and replaced the sheets once again, even swapping out the pillows.

    If Leonel had been awake, he would have known where his meticulousness came from. Aina had always said his room was frighteningly clean and tidy, but witnessing his mother change bedsheets twice a day despite the fact he was giving off next to no impurities at all would make Leonel realize there was always a taller mountain somewhere.

    Alienor smiled brilliantly as she laid her son down to rest again, gently combing his hair with her fingers and dabbing his forehead once more.

    A month had already passed by now and many were waiting on the Selection to begin. However, Alienor had told them all to wait.

    What a joke. These people would just have to patiently stand by until her baby boy woke up.

    **

    Leonel''s eyes slowly opened. Rather than feeling the usual grogginess one might expect from just waking up, especially after sleeping so long, he actually felt refreshed to an alarming degree. It was to the point where even the air he was breathing tasted better.

    Leonel rose up and slid to the side of the bed. His bare feet touched the soft carpet and his mind subconsciously outlined every fiber. It was like the touch of his skin was no less sensitive than his actual Internal Sight now.

    ''6 700 000бн''

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. His number of split minds had been just over five million before he fell asleep, but now they were actually approaching almost 40% more. At the same time, even the most subtle of movements his body underwent made his bones crackle and pop as though they were breathing sighs of relief.

    Leonel didn''t need to stand to know that he had grown another two inches. He had been about 6''6 before, but now he was nearly 6''9 or 205 centimeters.

    He squeezed his fists, feeling the changing as his muscle fibers flexed and blood rushed to his limbs. He could almost see the light bouncing off his tanned skin as though he was truly made of metal. Thoughбн maybe he technically was.

    Leonel ran his fingers through his hair. ''бн It grew out againбн''

    Leonel shook his head and with practiced motions cut it off. A slight violet glow shimmered before his hair was coerced into being cut. Finally, as always, he stored it all away.

    Leonel rose up, realizing that he was only wearing a pair of white boxers. He blinked, suddenly realizing that he definitely did not own these. It dawned on him that someone must have been changing his clothes in his sleepбн He wasn''t exactly shy, but he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow.

    At that moment, Leonel''s stomach suddenly growled. Before he could think that he was hungry, Leonel spotted an enormous spread of food in the Penthouse''s dining room. He most definitely didn''t need to be asked twice and immediately dove in.

    BANG!

    "Cap!"

    The doors of the Penthouse slammed open as a rush of people came in.

    "Ahбн"

    Leonel didn''t get to say anything before he was tackled and dog piled, his poor beast leg flying out of his hands.

    Raj''s rotund figure was the first to collide with him and Milan followed suit not long after. Before Leonel could react, he found himself being piled by at least six 200 pound men on the most conservative end, with the likes of Raj and Milan pushing and crossing 300.

    Leonel coughed. "You guys couldn''t pick a better time? I''m starving here."

    Leonel''s muffled voice sounded beneath the pattern.

    "Shut up, Cap! Let me love you! Gimme a kiss."

    Leonel found himself fighting for his life beneath a pile of grown men, dodging lips left and right.

    For the first time in a while, he laughed.

 Chapter 1146 Brim

    Chapter 1146 Brim

    Hours later, Leonel seemed to have finally noticed something weird about his brothers.

    "You allбн How''d you grow so powerful so quickly?"

    The dining room table had been cleared of all food and Leonel was even sporting a small pot belly. His stomach never showed this sort of effect after eating, so it could only be said that he had truly stuffed himself full this time.

    By the end of it, he finally noticed the changes in his teammates. Judging by a few factors, it should have only been about 5 weeks since the last time he woke up. Yet, he could feel that the auras of his teammates were all several times stronger. If it had taken three of them to match a branch family member before, they could probably fight one on one to a stalemate now.

    Of course, this still left them far short of the Luxnix family main branch along with the other main branches. But, it was a shocking change nonetheless.

    After Leonel thought about it though, he felt that it made sense. For such talents, just staying and acclimating to a Sixth Dimensional world over an extended period of time would cause great positive changes to their strength. The pressure of such a high level world would squeeze out the latent potential they had within themselves and allow their talents to shine forth.

    ''I didn''t consider this before, but this is goodбн''

    "Ah, right. Granny Fawkes has been helping us out. She made a training regimen for us all and we''ve been following it for the past few weeks." Franco explained.

    Leonel''s brows shot up. It took him a moment to realize that Franco was actually talking about his grandmother. His lip curled into a smile.

    "Oh? What did she make you guys do?"

    The dining room suddenly turned quiet. Even Allan''s face tinged with red as he pushed his glasses up his nose, unwilling to make eye contact with Leonel. The only one who seemed alright was Milan.

    "She put us through a routine of cardio and stretching, nothing major. She just said that we had the talent, it was just that our bodies had not been placed under appropriate pressure."

    Leonel''s gaze immediately picked up the weird gazes of everyone when Milan said ''stretches''. Suddenly, he felt a great comradery with the brothers around him. He, too, understood the complex emotions associated with working on your flexibility. Even to this day, he hadn''t allowed anyone to see him stretch using that technique he got from the Valiant Heart Zone.

    As for Milan, of course he was uncaring. He took his flexibility the most seriously of all of them. Despite his 300 pound frame, he had actually spent quite some time as a gymnast and even dabbled in ballet. Milan surprisingly took them both quite seriously so he was rarely made fun of for it.

    Leonel was filled with sympathy.

    **

    The location was Planet Montex.

    Of the three families, they seemed to be the most silent, however the training their youths had been undergoing was anything but. Much like their tall mountains which pierced through their atmosphere and gave their world devilish horns, they too were stoically persistent.

    Maybe due to this or by coincidence, Planet Montex was chosen as the starting grounds for the Selection.

    After over a week of delays, the Selection was finally beginning and the pent up anticipation seemed only steps away from blowing.

    Amongst the Montex family youths, there was one particular young man that Leonel would recognize very well. That day in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone, in order to claim the Fifth Dimensional piece Leonel had been forced to fight not just one, but two people.

    One of those two people was Rychard. The other was Higlis, a young man who wielded an enormous hammer with the weight of a small mountain.

    Who knew what the odds were of meeting two potential airs of this Three Pillar Sector at once. But, all that was important was the fact that Higlis hadn''t forgotten Leonel. He too had wanted to rely on the Fifth Dimensional layer of to maximize his chances at becoming Crown Heir. Unfortunately, he wasn''t as meticulous or scheming as Rychard. The result was that he was still vying for position while Rychard had already claimed his Crown Heir position for himself.

    To Higlis, this Selection was the opportunity he needed to secure his position for life. So long as he could become a Nominal disciple, he was set. But of courseбн This wasn''t the limit of his ambition.

    бн

    Many forces converged onto Planet Montex. Among them, the Montex, Viola and the Luxnix weren''t the only ones, there was also Riah''s Sage family and numerous others who could only be considered to be a step beneath the ''Three Pillars''.

    Within this throng of people, Leonel, his brothers and his friends could be considered to be the most leisurely. While others were scrambling for position, they had already found their seats.

    It was unknown what was being planned, and even Leonel was still unaware that the overseer of this event was actually his own mother, but the Void Palace had set aside a large arena. Or, more accurately, the Montex had one built at their behest.

    Leonel assumed that there would be some group challenges ahead, or else Fluttering Star Order wouldn''t have tried to invest so much into branch family members. But, he wasn''t sure if this was set in stone, or if Fluttering Star Order had only been preparing for the possibility.

    By Leonel''s side, his grandmother held onto his arm like a frail old lady. One would think that she had a step in the grave already, but judging by her current vitality, living for several hundred more years wouldn''t be a problem in the slightest.

    At the moment, Roesia''s mood was very good as Leonel''s attitude toward her after waking up was far better than what she had expected. She thought that Leonel hated her, when the reality was just that Leonel hadn''t been in the mood for pleasantries previously. Even knowing his grandmother''s role in protecting the Luxnix, he didn''t hate her. In fact, he quite appreciated her.

    Wouldn''t Leonel be too much of a hypocrite if he hated his grandfather''s actions on one end, but was alright with genocide on another just because he had been wronged? If anything, of all his relatives, his grandmother''s personality was the most in line with himself.

    Over the last few days, the grandmother-grandson pair had become a lot closer and Roesia''s wrinkles seemed to vanish one after another the longer she spent smiling. She hadn''t felt so happy in a very long time, she almost didn''t care what the Luxnix did from now on.

    Like this, the arena which could house millions was slowly filled to the brim.

 Chapter 1147 Two Paths

    Chapter 1147 Two Paths

    Leonel split a bit of his attention to pay attention to the surroundings.

    Truthfully, the idea of joining yet another organization made him feel pretty weird on the inside. It could only be said that his luck wasn''t the best when it came to such things. Though his relationship with Camelot, the Slayer Legion and Valiant Heart Mountain could all be considered to be positive now, though the latter was now destroyed, the rockiness he had experienced at the start of his relationship with them was still firmly imprinted onto Leonel''s mind.

    After leaving Valiant Heart Mountain, Leonel had truly thought that he would never join another organization again. He had plans to simply build up his own faction until it was time for the Morales family''s Heir Wars.

    Though Leonel didn''t know how the Morales saw him, or if they might treat him the same way the Luxnix had or not, he had enough reason to believe that so long as he won these Heir Wars, it wouldn''t matter. The fact that he had two of their most important family Heirlooms in hand spoke for itself.

    After learning about the Void Palace, though, Leonel realized that he didn''t really have much of a choice in the matter. Whether he wanted to or not, if he had aspirations of reaching the pinnacle of the Dimensional Verse, joining the Void Palace was a must.

    To describe the importance of the Void Palace in the simplest way possible: They were the guardians of the Human Domain.

    Any dream Leonel had of uniting the Dimensional Verse would, without a shadow of a doubt, have to pass through them. It could even be said that becoming the Head of the Void Palace would be a shortcut, at least to claiming the Human Domain, that is.

    Even if this wasn''t the case, the Void Palace had vast stores of information Leonel couldn''t miss out on. Whether it was information about other Domains, thoughts and ideologies Leonel had never touched before, or even something as plain as techniques and Styles, Leonel had to grasp them all. It was a foothold of such importance that he could only grab onto it.

    Leonel had always had a phobia of missing out. Of course, this wasn''t a phobia about events or people, but rather, knowledge. He hated the idea of taking less efficient paths simply because of his own ignorance. He had experienced that feeling all too often since he enter the Dimensional Verse.

    One such example was the truth behind why so many of the youths participating in the Selection had stopped at Tier 7. Even Rychard, the Crown Heir of the Viola, was only at Tier 8 currently.

    Of course, the obvious answer was that the Void Palace only accepted those beneath the Sixth Dimension. But, this was just one layer of the answer.

    Firstly, if they accepted those beneath the Sixth Dimension, why stop at Tier 7 or 8? Wouldn''t it maximize your chances if you continued to the Quasi Sixth Dimension level? That would still meet the requirements, right?

    You could say that maybe these geniuses simply hadn''t had the time, yet. But, this answer only made sense for the first few times. Oddly, though, every expert Leonel ran across as they continued to flood this arena were all the same. There were simply too many of them for it to be a coincidence. They couldn''t'' possibly all be ''too young'', right?

    Then, there was the second oddity. Why beneath the Sixth Dimension? Weren''t there talents of all levels to be found everywhere? The former Guild Head of the Milky Way Guild, Augustus, was a great example.

    Augustus was a special sort of talent, able to enter the Sixth Dimension while bound by the constraints of a Fifth Dimensional world. The difficulty in doing so was astronomical. Though some of this could be attributed to him taking advantage of the Sixth Dimensional Galaxies that wanted to take advantage of him, this only went to further bolster and prove his skill.

    However, according to the rules of the Void Palace, they would reject him no matter what.

    When Leonel asked his grandmother about this, it was only at this point that he managed to understand why this was.

    The Sixth Dimension was an important crossroads and was divided into two major paths. First, there was a conventional path which essentially reboot and reframed the progress you made in the previous three Dimensions.

    To explain it as simply as possible, with the Conventional Path, your Sixth Dimension would become a re-run of the Third Dimension where you would form more and strengthen your Innate Nodes. Following this, the Seventh Dimension along this path would be redo of the Fourth Dimension where you would once again strength your body. And, the Eight Dimension would become a reboot of the Fifth Dimensionбн

    Of course, those who took this path would still be able to become extremely powerful and weren''t necessarily worse off than those who took the opposing path. However, while they weren''t necessarily worse off, it would be impossible to reach the ceiling of those who took the other pathбн Also known as the God Path.

    Should one choose the God Path, they would have a chance to reach the true peak of the Dimensional Verse. Of course, once again, those that chose the Conventional Path weren''t necessarily weaker, and there were many who chose this path that could match top experts of the God Path. However, without fail, the strongest individuals of the Dimensional Verse had stepped onto this second, unconventional path.

    In order to take the God Path, however, one needed to start early. The priming for diverging and taking this route began at Tier 7 of the Fifth Dimension. Using that buffer period, one could slowly begin to mold themselves and prepare.

    Once again, Leonel realized that he had almost missed out on something greatly important. He couldn''t help but feel that his dad was really too casual with informing him about such things.

    How could he pick any path other than the God Path?

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly shifted toward a certain direction, an aura of pure white gold descending as the Luxnix family arrived.

    [Sorry everyone, I started on DD chapters really late today, lmao. But you guys are probably used to late chapters by now. More on the way.]

 Chapter 1148 Luxnix Force Art Language

    Chapter 1148 Luxnix Force Art Language

    The arrival of the Luxnix could only be said to be quite grandiose. Being the last of the three major families to arrive, they seem to have made it a point to make a statement. But, maybe this only made sense. After three generations of slowly biding their time, they could finally see success on the horizon. This Selection would be the time for them to rise.

    An enormous golden bird flew through the skies. And yet, somehow, it carried not the slightest hint of a shadow.

    If Leonel had to describe it in just a few words, he would most definitely choose Golden Phoenix.

    It had a long and slender neck of perfect groomed plumes. Its wings gently flapped despite its size, wafting about intoxicating scents and unintrusive winds. Its tail feathers sparkled with delicate patterns, filling all those who saw it with awe.

    A sonorous call left the beak of the majestic bird. It rang through the arena like the clanging of a silver bell. Somehow, it didn''t feel annoying in the slightest but rather filled one with amazement and worship.

    By now, Leonel would have usually looked away, displaying a sheer lack of interest. However, he wasn''t the type of person to fake what he was feeling, at least not when it came to matters that weren''t superficial.

    While others saw a bird, Leonel saw one of the most elaborate and complex Force Arts he had ever laid eyes on. Regardless of how he felt about the Luxnix family, he didn''t take his eyes off of it, his gaze filled with curiosity and awe.

    Whether it was the lack of shadow, the wind movement ratio, or even the number of people it could carryбн everything about this bird seemed to defy the laws of physics and left Leonel intrigued.

    Creating such a lifelike creature was definitely something the Camelot Magic System couldn''t accomplish. While the Camelot Magic System was good at taking Artistic Conceptions and functionally applying them to an attack or defense, it didn''t have the malleability to form such a lifelike creation.

    Leonel wasn''t very surprised by this. If one magic system could accomplish everything, then there would never be a need for so many to exist. This was especially so for Force Art languages.

    Leonel knew three currently. One was the Morales family''s Crafting Arts, the second was the Camelot Mage Arts, and the final was the very first he had ever learned, the nameless Force Art capable of transcribing abilities into an Art.

    Of them, Leonel was the most unfamiliar with the third. He always had at the back of his mind just how dangerous the person who could use this ability was, but that was about it. At the level he had comprehended it to, he could at most copy low level abilities that couldn''t even really be considered to be at the first level of an Ability Index.

    Within the piles of Luxnix core texts and teachings Leonel''s mother had left behind to him, the Luxnix family''s Force Art discipline was detailed within it as well. Until now, Leonel hadn''t paid much attention to it as there were many other techniques that had caught his attention. But, seeing it all at work before him left him astonished.

    "Grandma, how familiar are you with the Luxnix Force Art techniques?"

    Roesia blinked. She had expected that Leonel was staring so intently at the Luxnix''s arrival because he was still enraged or angered. She hadn''t been sure of whether to try to comfort him or leave him be, but to think that Leonel was actually just observing the bird because he was curious about it. Such a turn of events left her stunned before her smile bloomed.

    It wasn''t the first time Leonel had called her grandma, but she still felt her heart bloom whenever she heard it. She was very much excited that Leonel was actually asking something of her.

    "I know a little. Do you want me to teach you?" Roesia''s gaze glowed. She forgot all about the Luxnix and even forgot about everyone in her surroundings. Her only focus was pleasing her grandson.

    Leonel smiled. "I''m just a bit curious. It''s unlike anything I''ve seen before. I remember that elder Sparking Star Orderбн When I met her before she tapped her cane and her body was enveloped in fluttering butterflies that seemed shaped of fire. Was that an application of the Luxnix Force Arts?"

    Roesia seemed to grow younger by several years every time Leonel spoke to her.

    "Yes, you could say so. Sparking Star Order is among the most skilled in the Luxnix Force Arts."

    "Are the butterflies just an aesthetic choice, or?"

    Leonel actually wasn''t sure. He didn''t have a high enough understanding of the Luxnix Force Arts to make an assessment. Plus, seeing through the technique of such a high level Sixth Dimensional expert was beyond even his means.

    "Not exactly, though in part." Roesia patiently explained, "the Luxnix Force Arts are very good at embodying and manipulating Life Force. When Sparking Star Order taps her cane and summons her butterflies, she''s using a fusion of her ability and her comprehension of Force Arts to disperse her aura and make her teleportation impossible to track.

    "The flapping of the butterfly''s wings are more than just an aesthetic choice as the frequency they do so at is very important. Even the most skilled of Internal Sights would find trouble tracking her down. It makes her movement both flexible and unpredictable."

    Roesia divulged a major secret of one of the Luxnix family''s Star Order elders without blinking an eye.

    "I seeбн Flexibility, huh?" Leonel fell into thought.

    Roesia nodded. "If the strength of the Luxnix Force Arts was to be described in one word, its adaptability. What it loses out in strength, it makes up for by melding into the perfect technique for the situation.

    "Take a Sensory Force Art as an example. A more rigid Force Art language might send a ripple into the surroundings to send back a static image to the user. But, with the Luxnix Force Art language, you might instead form and send out several wolf constructions. Their adaptability would be several fold greater."

    Roesia patiently taught her grandson what she knew, the two seemingly lost in their own world as the golden phoenix of the Luxnix touched down, dispersing to reveal a shocking reality.

    The Luxnix was being headed not by their Patriarch, and not by a Star Order elderбн

    But rather a single young man of barely over 20 years of age.

 Chapter 1149 Representation

    Chapter 1149 Representation

    A subtle silence fell over the arena.

    While many here could be considered to have only come for the fun of the spectacle, there was a matter of perspective needed as well.

    This arena could sit millions. However, the population of a single planet was counted in the tens of billions. The number of habitable planets in just a single quadrant could be counted in the hundreds. The number of quadrants in a single galaxy were numerous and the number of galaxies in a single Sector could be counted in the dozens.

    When these numbers are multiplied out, there were easily hundreds of trillions of people in a single Sector, and even that number was far too small to adequately paint the truth of the situation. Any yetбн

    There were only millions who could afford to be here.

    Even the most low level heckler within this crowd was a tycoon back on their home world. There wasn''t a single person present that wasn''t sharp and intelligent, not to mention well versed in the matters of politics and the importance of image.

    For the Luxnix to make such a grand entrance, all for the sake of allowing a young man to lead them all, it spoke volumes. In fact, it spoke so loud that everyone could only fall into an abject silence.

    Leonel, who had been speaking with his grandmother, didn''t really react to this. He found the Luxnix Force Arts far more fascinating than whatever grand entrance they had planned. Plus, he had already heard the story about Myghell, he wasn''t very astonished to feel something similar to his own Innate Node.

    That said, he sensed something quite curious about his original Innate Node. But, he shook his head and didn''t mind it.

    If he hadn''t managed to regrow his Innate Node back, he might be more infuriated. But after learning what happened, Leonel didn''t particularly hate Myghell. In fact, he felt quite bad for Myghell. After all, the actions of his parents caused him to be raised without family.

    Leonel had seen what a lack of familial love could do to a person. Every time he thought of Aina''s deepest insecurities, it was often always related back to this. In addition, he could see how great it was to have great family and friends around him everyday.

    He had grown up with his father by his side, and knowing that his mother and grandmother loved him filled him with a full sort of feeling. Even knowing that his grandfather had cut contact with his grandmother mostly due to himself even somewhat changed his opinion of the old man.

    Though he and his grandfather could never be on the same page, there was an odd complex emotion that Leonel couldn''t help but feel knowing that the old man still loved him.

    But, Myghell had never experienced any of this.

    Sure, there was plenty of ''love'' around him coming from the Luxnix family elders. But, didn''t they all just see him as a tool to be used? They didn''t love him unconditionally like his mother or father could have, they only loved him insofar as his talent could bring their family to the next level.

    When Leonel finally looked up and his gaze landed on Myghellбн What he felt wasn''t rage or furyбн

    All he felt was pity.

    Myghell didn''t look around, nor did he react to the crowd''s gaze. With light steps, he walked toward the region of participants, taking a seat in the section left to the Luxnix.

    His expression couldn''t be said to be indifferent, but he was clearly uncaring. He felt that everything was far beneath his notice.

    Even knowing that Aina was nearby, Myghell didn''t even glance in her direction. The matters of the Bronze Tablet was still at the back of his mind, but he had chosen to take these matters slowly, a single step at a time. There were simply too many ways to interpret the words of a prophecy and he was willing to let things bear themselves out naturally.

    The elders of the Luxnix smiled toward Myghell with feelings of gratification clear in their gaze. Without a word, he had very clearly supressed the momentum of all the geniuses present. How could they not feel fulfilled?

    After so long, it was time they bare their fangs.

    With a WHOOSH, the elders of the Luxnix rose to the stadium seats, leaving the ground region for the participants.

    Among those that had come, there was Winged, Sparking and Resting Star Order. After a quick sweep, Winged Star Order''s gaze narrowed when he noticed Roesia.

    Leonel, the geniuses of Earth, and his grandmother currently all sat on the ground floor. However, their seating arrangements were oddly luxurious, even more so than the three main families. Many had chalked it up to the appearance of Roesia, but the members of the Luxnix found that there was something decidedly odd about all of this.

    Before Winged Star Order could think about just what was going on and understand why his heart was feeling uncomfortable, Orinik suddenly appeared in the middle of the vast arena.

    In that moment, a wide sweeping pressure emitted from him.

    Orinik was usually a calm and scholarly young man. His dark skin was always glistening and perfectly taken care of. His clothing never had even the slightest wrinkled. And, his aura was always reserved and as calm as a lake.

    After spending so long in the Luxnix family, many of the elders had come to this very same conclusion. But, suddenly seeing him flip a switch like this and release a pressure that made even them burst into a cold sweatбн They finally realized just how large the difference between them and a young man who was ultimately just a Galaxy rank disciple wasбн

    Orinik might have been amiable and scholarly usually, but right now, he was representing the Void Palace, the protectors of the Human Domain and the greatest shield of Humanity. This was no longer for himself.

    This would be a day those present would never forget.

 Chapter 1150 Amethyst Token

    Chapter 1150 Amethyst Token

    Orinik took a deep breath. Just this subtle action seemed to agitate the atmosphere itself, a sweeping wind flying about the arena.

    "I will not explain to you all the weight the Title of Void Palace Disciple holds, because quite frankly, the majority of you all are not worthy of knowing. Instead, I will only tell you all that if you miss this opportunity, it will be one you regret for a lifetime.

    "Today will be the first of three days of trials. Usually, we have something of a more elaborate planned, but this time around, we will use the simplest and most crude of methods."

    What Orinik didn''t explain was that this was due to the actions of Leonel''s mother.

    In order to allow the youth of Earth more spots to be selected, it could be said that she abused her power to expand the Selection. This wasn''t'' exactly rare, as many overseers would do similar things when they were sent back to their home Sectors. Due to this, the Void Palace usually had a policy of sending over those who could be unbiased.

    Because of these factors, Alienor wasn''t meant to return. But, due to the interference of Leonel''s father and a series of events not many were aware of, the Void Palace ended up making yet another exception.

    In truth, the Void Palace wasn''t too worried about this at all becauseбн

    "There will be no absolute fairness. If you cannot make it through these rounds and rise to the top in just this Sector, you would have never stood a chance upon reaching the Void Palace. Don''t think me out to be cruel. If anything, we are saving your lives. The Selection that takes place here could never match up to even a tenth of the difficulty in the Void Palace''s True Selection.

    "If you can''t prove yourself hereбн You would never be able to do so there."

    Orinik''s words were strict and allow no room for rebuttal. In any sort of crude tournament format, expecting fairness was impossible. Even in the case that the organizers knew every single little detail about the participants and could organize the perfect tournament brackets, there would still be a few who ended up with a raw deal, let alone the fact that the people of Void Palace had no way of knowing all these secrets.

    If you could perfectly predict everything, what would be the point in the Selection to begin with? You might as well just pick out your favorites and get it over with.

    Orinik was wizened enough to know the hearts of people and how they could complain about such things, so he laid the cards out on the table immediately. He wouldn''t allow the organization of this Selection to go awry.

    "With these formalities out of the way, we can begin with the rules.

    "As I mentioned before, the Selection will be divided into three days with ample rest between these stages. We will provide adequate medical attention during these rest days, but during a tournament day, you can only rely on yourself.

    "This means there will be a ban on all extracurricular supplements. The only thing you can rely on is your own Force and Force replenishment ability. Those found violating this rule will be disqualified immediately."

    Orinik didn''t explain how he would monitor such a thing when there were so many participants, not to mention countless elders with a vested interest in their juniors succeeding, but no one doubted his confident expression. If the Void Palace couldn''t accomplish at least this much, they would be far too incompetent.

    "The first day will be a group stage. The second day will be a round robin. The third day will be a special day which has an undecided format as of now.

    "As I''ve already stated, this is just the beginning. Whether you will truly become the students of the Void Palace will be decided on how you perform when you reach those tall gates. However, there is still something that you can fight for here.

    "There are an unlimited number of Nominal Disciple positions. Whether you can claim one will depend on your performance. Those eliminated in the first day will have no chance. However, those who can make it into the second day can consider themselves to be on a short list of potential entries.

    "Above the Nominal Disciple position, there are three Gold Tokens up for grabs. These Gold Tokens, when exchanged at the Void Palace, allow you a chance to directly challenge to become a Galaxy Ranked disciple upon entry.

    "Of course, reaching the location to do so is not so easyбн But this is a matter you will learn about in the future.

    "Finally, there is the Amethyst Token. In this Selection, there will only be one. However, just like the Nominal Disciple position and the Gold Tokens, this Amethyst Token also isn''t guaranteed to be given out."

    Orinik allowed his words to drift into the air. He wanted those here to know that there was no guarantee that any of them would be selected. There was a very real possibility that even after all three days, not a single Token would be given out and not a single disciple would be chosen.

    "The Amethyst Token is a special Token reserved for a special level of talent. Across the Human Domain, in a given Selection Cycle, no more than two or three has ever been given out at the same time. In fact, in most years, not a single Amethyst Token would be awarded.

    "The Amethyst Token represents the Undefeated. To earn this Token, not only must you display dominance, you cannot lose. This Token represents the Number One Genius of a Sector, an undisputed Ruler amongst their peers.

    "Having this Amethyst Token, much like having the Gold Token, allows you to challenge for a higher disciple Rank. But, while the Gold Token caps you at the Galaxy Rank, the Amethyst Token has no such cap.

    "Whatever you accomplish will be solely up to you."

    The gazes of the youths all glowed with a fiery light. Just how many of them wanted to claim such a glory, to be undefeated and become the undisputed head of their generation?

    Fire burned in their chests and a blaze lit in their eyes. This glory, they would give their everything to strive for it.

    [More coming :)]

 Chapter 1151 Id Advise

    Chapter 1151 I''d Advise

    Orinik''s expression didn''t change when he saw this, but he inwardly sneered.

    Orinik wasn''t the kind of person to actively condescend. Or, it was more accurate to say that most who wen to the Void Palace had had their arrogance beat out of them long ago. The focus of the Void Palace was presenting a single shield to the outside world. There was no individuality, no room for self esteem and pride, there was only the task at hand and your role in said task.

    Despite its name and despite the prestige that came with being a part of them, the Void Palace, was essentially the Military. Nothing more, nothing less.

    To see all of these people being so excited already filled Orinik with one layer of disgust, as he too had once been one of them. But, seeing them actually pine over a reward as exclusive as the Amethyst Token was enough for him to want to vomit.

    Did they have any idea what kind of monsters had the right to grasp such a Token?

    Even if you really did defeat everyone in your Sector, if your competition was too weak, the overseer would never grant you such a badge. What good was it in being the best out of a group of trash?

    This was a Sixth Dimensional Sector and they actually thought they were worthy of such a thing? Was this a joke?

    Despite his feelings, Orinik remained silent. His Force surged and he waved a hand.

    At that moment, an enormous billboard formed of motes of light appeared in the skies. It was entirely blank, but what was fascinating about it was that no matter what angle you looked at it from, it would feel as though it was matching your gaze dead-on.

    Leonel''s eyes lit up when he saw it. It was yet another fantastic application of Force Arts and it left him fascinated once again. These days, he seemed to be finding Crafting and the underlying Force Art mechanisms of it more and more amazing.

    "Those who will be participating, send out a strand of your Force toward this construct. If you cannot do at least this muchбн"

    Orinik didn''t bother to finish his words this time. He had used this line of reasoning numerous times already. He was sure that those present understood that he wouldn''t be here to listen to their complaints and nonsense.

    Leonel''s brow raised.

    Controlling Force outside of yourself, or at least projecting your internal Force outward, could quickly become very difficult.

    The billboard might have seemed close, but in order for it to be so large, and yet appear in everyone''s vision so clearly, it had to be at least a few hundred meters in the air. Leonel could have never imagined projecting his Force out so far before he grasped Level Two Spear Force. At least that was the case if he wasn''t using his bow.

    Of course, since then, he had become far more skilled. In addition, after learning many of the Luxnix family''s techniques, he had grasped many Force Manipulation techniques that would make this not too hard to accomplish.

    Butбн This ''simple'' test made Leonel realize just how large the gap was.

    At that moment, an arrow shot into the skies. It streaked upward with a blazing speed before it pierced through the billboard above.

    While the arrow continued to fly higher before eventually rushing down below and crashing into the protective Force Arts that safeguarded the observers, the Force that had coated it was completely stripped away.

    The billboard began to flicker and a long string of numbers appeared.

    0000001 иC

    There was no name assigned to the number, but this didn''t seem to matter. To the Void Palace, you name was meaningless until you became one of them. All the billboard checked for was your Dimension and then tied you to a number.

    "HAHA! Number one it is!"

    A youth with a boisterous laughter held up his bow proudly. He didn''t seem to be from one of the three main families. In fact, he was from a family just beneath the main three and, on the surface, at the same level as Riah''s Sage family.

    His actions seemed to result in a cascade of events, numerous streams of attacks rushing toward the billboard as many hurried to get their spots.

    One number after another began to appear in the sky, each with their own unique Force signatures. It seemed impossible for one person to impersonate another, even when they used the same exact Force.

    Orinik''s internal sneer only grew fiercer. He could sense many Sixth Dimensional experts trying to squeeze themselves in. Though they masked it by using Fifth Dimensional Force, how could the Void Palace be so easily fooled? By now, dozens had tried, but each time, the billboard treated them like they were thin air.

    Howeverбн Ganor didn''t have such patience.

    At that moment, a sweeping pressure suffocated the arena. Ganor, who had been lazily reclining on a throne-like chair on the ground floor of the arena suddenly allowed his eyes to snap open.

    His palm reached out in a certain direction and the shrill scream of a middle-aged man pierced through the ambience of the arena.

    Before this middle-aged man could react or even fight back, they found their neck firmly grasped by Ganor''s hand.

    "Ahбн N-no! I''m sorry!"

    The middle-aged man could barely squeeze out those words, but the moment they did Ganor clamped down.

    Many of those spectating had never seen something so horrible.

    A gushing rush of blood shot up from the middle-aged man''s neck, his eyes popping out and his face doubling in size before his head imploded.

    Blood and gore sprung out in every which direction, but not a single piece seem to land on Ganor at all.

    The Galaxy Ranked disciple tossed the corpse to the side and sat back down, yawning and closing his eyes.

    Orinik shook his head and sighed. "If you want to keep your lives, I''d advise you stop trying."

 Chapter 1152 Mark

    Chapter 1152 Mark

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he didn''t say much.

    In truth, he thought it was a bit unfair. Not everyone had the ability to be aware that they should restrain themselves within the Fifth Dimension, and even less knew of the diverging paths upon reaching the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension.

    The difference being laid out before them now wasn''t one of greed or overestimation, it was just one of class differences. These people simply weren''t lucky enough.

    This was the first time the Selection had been so open and many of those who had tried just now were geniuses in their own right who never got a chance at a quota. Now that things had suddenly been open when they thought their turn would never comeбн Leonel could understand how they felt.

    If he wasn''t born to such parents, at the perfect time, would he have this chance laid out before him?

    If the Void Palace was so interested in gathering talents, shouldn''t they have made a better effort? Why were there quotas, and why did they allow powerful families who were inherently selfish to begin with control them?

    As Leonel was thinking this, there was another individual with a dark expression.

    If Miel didn''t realize by now that what he had done was unnecessary, he would be too much of a fool. He had only gone so far because he had been present during previous Selections and even with his talent often being clearly better than that of those who participated, he never got a chance himself.

    He didn''t want his daughter to go through the same thing, but how could he have expected that this year would be so open and free for all?

    Despite his fury, Miel''s expression gave nothing away. He didn''t cast any enraged glances nor did he lose his cool. With things being this way, it was even better for Aina. Even if she would take on a small stain, so long as she performed, there would be nothing the Viola family could do to her.

    At the same time, Miel marked this memory in his heart.

    бн

    It wasn''t easy for everyone of Earth to complete this task. Some even required a few pointers from Roesia before they managed to succeed.

    Leonel could tell that this had taken a toll on many of them. They had been so eager previously, but seeing how thousands had accomplished something they all struggled mightily with, whatever eagerness they had had was tempered down dramatically.

    They suddenly felt that the odds of them making it to the second day had gone down significantly. This sort of competitionбн Maybe it was too soon for them.

    Didn''t it take decades for many to make it through the Fifth Dimension? They had just entered. Maybe they were in over their heads.

    Leonel fell silent as he felt the shift in the atmosphere. As a leader, there was a lot of things he could do, but giving people confidence they didn''t or shouldn''t have wasn''t one of them. Something like self-belief had to be earned and trained. Often, those who had it without putting in such effort were simply overestimating themselves.

    A lot of things had gone too smoothly for the people of Earth. Compared to the people of the Milky Way, their talent was so much greater that how strong their foundations were never really mattered. And, even when the people of other galaxies invaded, much of the brunt of the work was honestly handled by Leonel, Noah, and the other pre-eminent talents.

    Being faced with the reality now hit them all hard. Even Leonel''s own brothers hadn''t found the task easy to complete. Only Drake had a relatively easier time, but that was only because he was a marksman to begin with.

    This time, Leonel chose to remain silent. He didn''t give them encouraging words, nor did he try to cheer them up. Sometimes, a person would only be able to convince themselves of what they needed.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted and landed on Elthor.

    Even compared to Noah, Elthor had been greatly silent during this whole journey. After all, this was his first time hanging out with so many humans at once. It only made it more awkward that the Void Palace was meant to be the protectors of the Human Domain, so how exactly did he fit into all of this?

    Of course, Leonel had already thought of this and asked his grandmother about it. According to Roesia, the Void Palace wasn''t completely devoid of non-human species. There were many guardian beasts and the like, as well as a few rare humanoid species like the Oryx. Though it wasn''t common, it wasn''t unseen either.

    That much allowed Leonel to rest easy and worry about Elthor a bit less.

    Right now, though, Elthor seemed to be in his element. Seeing so many powerful enemies before him, and seeing such a tall mountain to climb, his heart beat wildly, his gaze locking on to the stages ahead as though he couldn''t wait to hop on.

    Right then, the billboard formed of motes of lights calmed. The instant this occurred, the numbers began to flicker, rearranging themselves swiftly until several columns were formed. Then, a large number of numbers dimmed while a single group of them glowed brightly.

    "Those who can sense their auras glowing above, step forward. The first group match will begin now."

    Elthor stood almost too quickly, a bestial aura rolling off of him in waves. His excitement was practically palpable, his handsome, almost otherworldly features, gaining a menacing and devilish charm to them.

    He shot forward, appearing on the arena. At some unknown time, an enormous saber had appeared in his hands, a pervading aura of thick darkness hanging around him.

    This was what Elthor had always dreamed of. While others thought it might be nice to win the Amethyst Token, he wanted it and was willing to give up anything to get it, even if he had to cut his heart out of his chest.

    There was nothing he wanted in life more than to become the greatest General there ever was. Today, he would leave his first mark on the world.

 Chapter 1153 Drawn

    Chapter 1153 Drawn

    The appearance of Elthor and his bloodthirsty aura seemed to cause something in the surroundings to shift. Even with how human Elthor''s face seemed, his tall and branching white horns stood out like a sore thumb. However, he didn''t seem to care about it all in the slightest.

    Within the Oryx, there were two things a man could take pride in. The first was their smell. Out of consideration for the humans around him, Elthor had always restrained his own and even masked it quite well. However, this second pride was one thing he had absolutely no intention of hiding.

    The mark of an Oryx male, the pride of a Prince of the Oryx Kingdom, his horns.

    The stage slowly filled with participants. After the initial shock of Elthor''s appearance and his momentum, many calmed. Right now, Elthor was only at Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension, even a step or two behind a few of Earth''s geniuses, let alone those that were here. Even the weakest of the participants were Tier 4 and 5. Elthor quickly fell to the bottom of his bracket.

    The greatest shame was that there was no one else of Earth chosen with him. Though the odds were low considering the sheer number of participants, it was now certain that Elthor would be on his own.

    "Hey, hey, hey. What exactly are you? Did your mom fuck a deer or something?"

    A familiar young man stood forward, curiously observing Elthor from top to bottom. He was none other than 0000001, the archer who acted first.

    Being a member of the Arundo family, he was quite confident in himself. Much like every other genius from a family just beneath the heel of the Viola, Montex and Luxnix, they all believed they only needed just a single chance to shoot by them in a single step.

    He wasn''t the strongest genius of the Arundo, but he was definitely up there. If an equivalent rank was made, he would be like the Rankers of the Luxnix Arms, probably in the top 100. Of course, that was only if the Arundo were taken into consideration. Whether he could replicate such a feat if he was a Luxnixбн

    "What did you just say?"

    Elthor''s gaze narrowed.

    His saber hovered just above the platform they all stood on. However, if one looked closely, after Osron of the Arundo family spoke these words, the slightest twitch of Elthor''s wrist had caused the blade to nick the hard stone.

    The touch was so subtle and almost imperceptible that no one noticed, but the Force that coated the blade cut through the stone so smoothly that not a single sound was made.

    To Elthor, his mother was a great taboo. For as long as he could remember, it had always just been him, his father and his brothers.

    To birth a child with affinities for Force as powerful as Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force or Elthor''s Chaotic Particle Force took a lot out of a woman. Though Elthor was birthed with an ability rather than an Innate Node, and the difficulty was lesser as a result, it still wasn''t a smooth process by any stretchбн While Leonel''s mother almost died, Elthor''s own wasn''t so lucky.

    Though Elthor''s father and his brothers never blamed him nor made him feel like he was to blame, it was still a weight he carried with him. It might very well be why he was so independent as a child, always insisting on forging his own path.

    For this Osron individual to dare to say such a thing to himбн

    "Begin. The final three will make it to the second day."

    Orinik''s voice fell, uncaring for the squabbles of those on the platform. Even though there were just over a hundred on the stage now, he had seen too many die in the Void Palace, all of whom were hundreds of times more powerful than the few before him. He had seen hundreds just as eager and willing as Elthor as well, but weren''t they all buried just the sameбн What did it matter?

    "Hohoho, you''ve got a temper, huh? Did that come from the beast side of your family?" Osron laughed.

    BANG!

    Elthor had already vanished from his spot. His enormous saber trailed him like the tail of a comet lit by black light.

    Osron sneered, his bow having already appeared in his hands and two arrows having already been nocked.

    With movements as fluid as water and as easy as breathing, Osron glided backward as he released his arrows.

    Unlike Elthor, Osron had a few members of his own family present. They entered a loose formation together, leaving the former to Osron while they targeted the remaining members of the group. Almost immediately, the group stage was divided into several cliques.

    Those who had less to rely on immediately voiced complaints, but Orinik turned a blind eye to them all. Hadn''t he already said clearly there wouldn''t be absolute fairness?

    Elthor, tho, didn''t seem to care. A bestial aura continued to rise from him, the pores of his skin opening and closing as the white fur of his battle fur advanced and retreated. As furious as he was, he was having trouble keeping it all under perfect control, but that did nothing to slow his speed in the slightest.

    His saber glided forward, splitting Osron''s two arrows despite their speed and appearing outside the encirclement of their loose formation.

    Osron''s smile faded, his expression becoming a touch more serious. He hadn''t expected a Tier 1 to deal with his arrows so easily. But, he still didn''t panic, his Force surging. He realized that this wasn''t a place for him to fool around. Since he had caused this mess, he would deal with it quickly.

    Osron nocked an arrow, his Force surging. The arrow seemed to double in size in an instant, a wild and untameable silver Force wrapping around it with a vicious piercing light.

    Osron took just a half second to prepare this attack. He could already see Elthor''s head being skewered through. But, to his shockбн He never got to release it.

    Elthor suddenly vanished, his speed suddenly exploding forth.

    The last thing Osron saw was the menacing glare of a beast and a row of sharp, glistening teeth.

    Elthor''s saber swung downward with such speed that nothing seemed to happen even several moments afterward.

    It was only after a light gust of wind blew by that Osron fell into two halves, a bloody pool forming and filling in the cracks between the tough stones.

    The first blood of the tournament had been drawn.

 Chapter 1154 wide Grins

    Chapter 1154 wide Grins

    A mad howl left Elthor''s lips, a wild Dark Elemental Force surging about his body.

    The members of the Arundo family were instantly caught off guard. They had only formed their formation on a whim and hadn''t really considered its flaws. Elthor''s explosion in speed wasn''t'' something they were able to react to appropriately, leaving them at a loss.

    Light Elemental Force was well known for a few of its abilities. Its speed, its piercing ability or its ability to solidify and concentrate, and its healing ability. Though these things could vary depending on the exact type in question, these were general abilities all Light Elemental Forces seemed to share.

    Dark Elemental Force, however, was different. It was known for its concealment ability, its heaviness, its looseness and gaseous-like form, and, for lack of a better term, its cursing ability.

    If these things were to be summarized, it would be that Light Elemental Force was good at giving something of itself, while Dark Elemental Force was good at taking for itself.

    In that moment, while it felt like Elthor''s speed had increased explosively, what had actually happened was that everyone around him had slowed down. The same had even happened with Osron''s arrows, but the effect was so perfectly timed that even Osron himself didn''t seem to have noticed the change.

    The shock of the Arundo immediately shifted to fury. They might have been second to the three main families, but that didn''t change their view of themselves. To the rest of this Sector, they were still noble and esteemed, to have one of their own killed before them like this was a great humiliation.

    Unfortunatelyбн Their rage didn''t seem to move the needle one way or another. As for whyбн That was because Elthor hadn''t finished venting either.

    бн

    Blood flowed down the stage, a singular young man standing at the center. Elthor''s white hair seemed particularly blinding amidst all the crimson, his breathing moving with a labored rhythm.

    Though three had been meant to pass on to the next round, the actual number seemed to just be one. Orinik didn''t seem too fazed by this result. He would just give the spot to the last two to be cut down, if they could survive, that is. As for the rest of it, it had nothing to do with him.

    There was a furious sort of atmosphere permeating around the arena. Though Elthor hadn''t killed everyone in his group, there were quite a number that had been cut down, never to rise up again. While a few that had lost out fled the stage, many more would never see another sun rise.

    Did Elthor feel bad? Not at all. To him, this was no different from a battlefield. If you didn''t have the resolve to die, then don''t step foot upon this place.

    Elthor had been on many battlefields in his life. Compared to these noble young men and women who lived lives of mostly leisure, he had a different sort of edge to him. That edge was what allowed him to see the air of a veteran of war hanging around Orinik.

    Maybe even faster than Leonel had, Elthor realized that this wasn''t a joking matter, nor would making it into the Void Palace be all sunshine and rainbows. From here on out, they would wade through a sea of corpses. If those here couldn''t clear this trial, they would still find themselves dead eventually.

    Elthor slowly walked off the stage, his gait quite slow and his face a bit pale. Though he had won, he was still only Tier 1. And, for the sake of the second day ahead, he had refrained from using his trump cards, making things even more difficult on him.

    A cascade of boos suddenly began to fall from the crowd above.

    Seeing Elthor win wasn''t just something the Arundo family didn''t want. As humans, they disliked the idea of someone of another race taking such a resounding victory against them. Despite his handsome face, with the exception of a few swooning women who had fallen for his devilish charm, Elthor very easily became public enemy number one.

    If not for fear of the Void Palace disciples and the actions of Ganor earlier making many too apprehensive to step out of line, they might have started throwing things from their stands as well.

    Elthor inwardly shook his head.

    Though his father had let him come with Leonel, Elthor knew his old man quite well. With how stubborn he was, the likelihood that he would allow the Oryx to follow Leonel was very low. Of course, this wouldn''t'' be about being untrusting of Leonel, but mostly just an understanding of objective reality.

    Just look at how these people were treating him just because he was a bit different. Compared to his Oryx counterparts, he was about as close to human as you could get. From him, in only became worse from then on. If they couldn''t'' even accept him, how would they accept the others?

    Even knowing that the Oryx only had their best chance to maximize their Hyper Evolution state under Leonel, his father still chose to go his own way. And, seeing such a reception, Elthor couldn''t blame him.

    ''Hm?''

    Elthor felt a shadow wash over him. He looked up to find a smiling face looking back at him.

    "You did good, your saber needs some work, though. You wasted way too much energy swinging it around like that."

    Elthor was speechless.

    Leonel stood before him, grinning as though he couldn''t see or hear anything around him. Without a care, he critiqued Elthor''s battle and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. For a long time, Elthor didn''t quite know how to respond. He opened his mouth several times, but nothing seemed to come out.

    He had been by Leonel and the rest of the Earth geniuses for the past several weeks, but he had never really made an effort to ingratiate himself with them. He always felt that there was a barrier he could never cross over.

    But, seeing Leonel act like this, he suddenly felt a bit of guilt in his heart. Despite knowing he''d put a target on his back by doing this, Leonel had still stepped out without a care.

    Elthor was quite absentminded, so much so that he didn''t even realize that it wasn''t just Leonel.

    Looking up, he suddenly realized that everyone of Earth had come out with wide grins on their faces.

 Chapter 1155 Free Game

    Chapter 1155 Free Game

    "Who are these people?"

    Within the Arundo family, a young man with a dark expression sat, staring out toward the ''heart warming'' meeting between Elthor and the other geniuses of Earth. Of course, in the perspective of others, this was anything but a wholesome moment. He would have liked nothing more than to put an arrow between their brows.

    Osron wasn''t a person he knew personally. In fact, on a normal day, Osron wouldn''t even be worthy of carrying his shoes. However, in this sort of situation, things were very different.

    Every action made by a member of the Arundo family, especially when the person was as high profile as Osron to begin with, was a potential boon or blight on their reputation.

    To a high level family, reputation was very important. Though it wasn''t exaggerated as a saying like ''Perception was Reality'', it wasn''t very far off.

    When a family grew as large as the Arundo, they actually entered quite a precarious state. They had so much territory to govern, rule and, most importantly, protect. In such a situation, their soft skills became far more important than how large their fists were. Even the Luxnix family experienced such a thing, or else they wouldn''t have gone into such a state of hibernation for three generations.

    To make a complicated matter simple, the stronger your front as a family, the more battles you could avoid because those far weaker than you would know not to waste your time.

    As an example, take the Arundo''s territory. They might very well have dozens of much smaller families surrounding them. Under normal circumstances, due to the prestige the Arundo family had built up, these lesser families would never deign to attack them.

    The reality was that even if these families did all attack at once, the Arundo would still be able to deal with them. But, such a thing would result in the Arundo stalling their growth phase and wasting resources.

    The sturdier front a family put up, the less they would have to deal with such things. It was in the same way a chess grandmaster would know to resign when a game reached a certain point because they had trust that their opponent would be able to close out the game properly.

    If the prestige of the Arundo family took a hit, though, and people began to believe they lacked the skill to ''close out the game'', it would begin to breed trouble.

    The operative word was: Deterrence. Only with strong enough Deterrence could a family occupy large amounts of territory while withstanding the least amount of pressure.

    Of course, the youth who spoke was one of the Arundo family''s two candidates for their Crown Heir position, Isac. Much like the others of the Arundo, he too was a bowman, and, unsurprisingly, he felt that his performance in these Selections would decide whether he became the Crown Heir or not.

    "We don''t know who they are, but there are some rumorsбн"

    Another youth of the Arundo family rubbed his nose. He had quite a mischievous streak between his eyes as he seemed amused that Isac wasn''t as well informed as he was. Of course, the only person who dared to do this was Isac''s rival for Crown Heir, Ysac.

    "Stop beating around the bush, this matter involves us both. I don''t know about you, but I have no intention of inheriting a laughing stock of a family."

    Ysac snorted, clearly not enjoying his distant cousin''s lack of a sense of humor.

    It had always been this way. Ysac was the more social of the two and though he was slightly less powerful, his he had the far better social network. On the other hand, Isac was the stronger one, something Ysac accepted, but he lacked the skills a Patriarch should have. He didn''t know how to speak to people or manage people, he didn''t even know about something so important happening.

    This said, the relationship between the two wasn''t so bad. Not every Crown Heir duo or trio was at each other''s throats like Rychard and Gradeyr had been. Though, that was also because Ysac was quite easy going while Isac was quite simple minded.

    Still, Isac was right on this one. They were indeed a united front on this matter.

    "There was news that came a few days ago that there was a huge commotion that went down at the Luxnix estate. There were even reports that a pillar of light was viewable from outer space. There''s been a muddying of the details, but it seems to all revolve around one name: Leonel Morales."

    "Huh?" Isac didn''t seem to understand.

    Ysac rolled his eyes. "Leonel Morales, the name of the boy the Luxnix had stricken from their family records. There were even rumors resurfacing about him in the last few months. I thought it was just some political scheme to deal with the Luxnix, but it seems there were rumors because he''s back."

    Isac''s gaze narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean? We can''t get revenge because he''s a Luxnix?"

    Ysac was at a loss for words. "What is in that head of yours? Sand/ Didn''t I just say his name was stricken from the records and that there was a huge commotion caused at the family? And, didn''t you see that the Luxnix arrived but he wasn''t among them?

    "I''m thinking that they only got such good seating arrangements because of that granny over there. It seems his grandmother was one of the Luxnix family elders before they broke off from the family. So, he''s free game. In fact, they''re all free game."

    The light in both potential Heirs'' eyes lit up, murderous intent pervading from them. They might have been two opposing individuals, but they stood on the same side when it came to what they wanted for their Arundo family.

    At that moment, the billboard of motes of light had already shifted once more. Those that had failed had their names completely erased while a new set of individuals was highlighted.

    "Ah, it seems like its my turn."

    Aulina nervously stood, walking toward the arena under the encouragement of the other people of the Moon.

 Chapter 1156 Cast

    Chapter 1156 Cast

    Aulina fluttered onto the stage with her heart nearly beating out of her chest. She seemed quite delicate and frail despite her more than average height for a woman. But, this was just an unfortunate part of being born and raised on the Moon. Her bone structure was more fragile than normal and she had to compensate with her use of Force.

    Luckily, thanks to the Metamorphosis, a lot of her deficits had been made up for. But, at the moment, she was at yet another great disadvantage.

    Of the Forces, Water Elemental Force was probably the most fickle. The density of it varied wildly depending on how close to a water source you were, how long it had been since the last time it rained, and what sort of climate there was.

    As a person whose most powerful tool was her Water Elemental ability, Aulina today was much weaker than she had been on the ocean''s surface that day. However, Elthor''s performance had given her courage. Who said she couldn''t win just because she was weaker than those around her?

    Very quickly, all those called upon found their place in the ring. After the first battle, the nervous air was several times greater than it had been before. All those here were keenly aware that their lives might be forfeit at any time.

    Aulina calmed herself, steadily accumulating the Water Force in her surroundings.

    Suddenly, she felt several sharp gazes land on her, causing her brows to wrinkle. She looked up to find several individuals wielding bows looking right at her. It didn''t take her a genius to realize why it was they were giving her such looks.

    Aulina immediately went on the defensive.

    "Begin."

    This time, the battle didn''t start instantly. Wary eyes looked around, inching toward the edge of the arena to ensure that they couldn''t be stabbed from behind. Unfortunately, some unlucky souls realized that they were surrounded from all sides and couldn''t'' easily retreat. They kicked themselves for being so careless in stepping onto the platform so casually.

    This lull, though, only lasted for just a moment.

    On the sidelines, Leonel''s brow knit. There were less Arundo family members in this bracket, just three, compared to last time. However, if they insisted on targeting Aulina like this, it would be a problem.

    Aulina wasn''t some spring flower. She had fought two wars and had been on the frontline of the battle against Earth''s oceanic creatures. The issue was that she was outclassed by Dimension Tier here, and she was outnumbered.

    A low and delicate shout left Aulina''s lips, her accumulating Water Force erupting to form an enormous sphere of blue around her. She immediately surrounded the sphere with twin rivers of water, lashing out against the oncoming arrows.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Aulina''s expression paled as she slid backward, large amounts of her Water Force dispersing. She quickly refocused her attention, diverting one portion toward the accumulation of more Water Force and another toward monitoring her surroundings.

    Aulina knew that she had a weakness in movement technique, but she was very good at control. With this came a powerful Internal Sight, though not as exaggerated as one might expect to find with a Luxnix. Still, splitting her attention into two like this wasn''t a problem.

    Unfortunately, what she quickly found was that her only enemy wasn''t the Arundo. The Arundo were only one of the major families Elthor had offended with his killing spree and it was no secret to anyone in the arena that Aulina was tied with him.

    A youth approached Aulina from the side, swinging toward her sphere of water.

    Aulina reacted quickly.

    While it appeared to be a sphere, the reality was that a portion of it had sunk into the ground. Taking advantage of the cracks and the flexibility of water, Aulina had set up a spiderweb trap of sorts in the ground around her. Unfortunately, she hadn''t had enough time to make it as powerful as she could, but it would have to do for now.

    The youth was completely caught off guard, howling in pain as a spike of Water Force drilled through the sole of their feet.

    Having had their mind blinded by the torturous wound, the youth couldn''t even react as a whip of water blasted them from the arena.

    At that split moment of Aulina''s attention being taken, though, several arrows had already appeared before her.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Aulina couldn''t react in time to use her rivers, resulting in the arrows directly colliding with her sphere of protection. Panic colored her features as the arrows tore through, but her shield was just thick enough to slow the arrows to a crawl.

    They fell to the ground with dull clangs. However, Aulina had been completely shaken. Of the three arrows, one had been aimed right for her forehead, another had been aimed right for her heart and the last had been aimed right at her womb.

    Each was more sinister than the last and it made her feel that her life had been sucked dry. By the time she realized her shield had been just barely enough to block them and she snapped out of it, she was horrified to find that several more attacks were coming her way.

    Another attack came from her left, this time wielding a glaive. Her right side, which she had just cleared, had already been filled by yet another. And, right down her middle, a chorus of three more arrows sliced forward, right toward the holes in her water sphere that had yet to heal.

    ''I''m finishбн?''

    Aulina was at a loss for words. She had hardly been able to fight the battle she wanted to fight. She had just managed to drum up her courage to face these behemoths, but how had things ended this wayбн? Maybe she wasn''t one of the lucky ones after allбн

    "FALL OFF THE STAGE!"

    At that moment, Leonel''s voice seemed to cut through all the noise. Like a pointed roar, it shook her psyche awake.

    Not everyone could remain calm in the face of death, and they might even forget solutions they could easily think of in any other situation. Aulina had completely forgotten she was so close to the edge of the stage.

    But by the time she registered Leonel''s words, it was too late. Even if she fell back now, those arrows wouldn''t be stopped, they would still strike trueбн There was no way to survive this.

    ''Dammit.''

    If Aulina could see through this in her flustered state, how could Leonel not? When he yelled out, he had already moved.

    However, it was then another booming voice descended.

    "You dare?!" Orinik''s voice cast a shadow over the arena.

 Chapter 1157 l Dont Know

    Chapter 1157 l Don''t Know

    Orinik''s expression was as dark as the night, fury marked between his brows. He hadn''t thought that anyone would actually be so brazen as to interfere with the proceedings, especially after both he and especially Ganor had made it clear who held authority here and who didn''t.

    Did he understand why Leonel was moving? Yes. Did he care about what that reason was? Absolutely not.

    Death was an inevitable part of these Selections. There was a reason he hadn''t done a single thing as Elthor killed as he pleased. If anyone dared to try to stop Elthor previously, he would have killed them on the spot. For Leonel to dare to do something like this before himбн

    He was courting Death.

    Leonel, however, had a vastly different perspective. He didn''t care about the prestige of the Void Palace, nor did he care about Orinik''s ''authority''. All he cared about was the fact that Aulina was a woman who had put her life on the line to save his brothers just several weeks ago. If he stood by an did nothing as she died, he wouldn''t even be able to look the people of the Moon in the eye.

    Leonel didn''t want to put his grandmother in a situation where she had to take action. His movement and her movement held completely different weights. He was still a member of the younger generation and his actions could be left as a slight against Orinik himself. However, if his grandmother made a move, it wouldn''t be a matter of youths any longer, it would be a slap to the face of the Void Palace itself.

    Among the geniuses of Earth, Leonel knew that he was the only one with the speed to make it. So, he took it upon himself. Howeverбн

    The moment Orinik spoke, an oppressive aura fell like a hammer. It crashed against Leonel''s head and threatened to bury him into the earth. The difference in this aura from what Leonel had experienced before in the past was like night and day. Even Sparking Star Order had no ability to match it.

    Right then, though, Leonel''s gaze flashed with a blinding violet light, a deep crimson hidden within suddenly lashing out and causing Orinik''s aura to splinter like shards of glass.

    Leonel''s body flickered with Bronze Runes, his figure stepping through space and appearing by Aulina''s side and within her water sphere in the blink of an eye.

    Wrapping an arm around her waist, he stepped and pulled backward, his free hand tapping forward three times in quick succession. His arm moved so quickly that it left afterimages in the air, almost making it seem like he had four arms instead of just two.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The arrows deflected off of Leonel''s fingers like they had rammed into a metal wall, causing even Leonel to raise a brow. His Bronze Runes had already vanished as he had only needed to activated them for a moment to boost his spatial affinity for an instant, but he was surprised by the strength of his body. In fact, now that he thought about it, he had miscalculated the amount of effort he would need to get here as well.

    With soft steps Leonel landed with Aulina by his side, splashes of water landing around them as Aulina looked around shaken, her face as pale as a sheet of paper.

    "Are you alright?" Leonel''s brow furrowed, looking toward Aulina.

    "Iбн Yesбн Yes, I''m alrightбн"

    Aulina''s voice trembled. She had faced death before, especially during her fight with the three Whales. Butбн Never had it felt so close until now. It wasn''t just that she faced death, it really felt like she had died for a moment.

    The entire arena seemed to freeze over as Orinik''s gaze locked onto Leonel. The battle on the stage came to a grinding halt, no one certain of what to do any longer.

    At that moment, a torrent of boos rang down from the crowd above. They all felt they were rightfully pissed. It was fine when Elthor killed people, but not when others wanted to kill Aulina? Was there anything so good in this world?

    "Do you treat my words as air?"

    Leonel, who had been making sure that Aulina was alright, only now turned toward Orinik.

    "And what words are those?" Leonel asked.

    Clearly not expecting to receive such an answer, Orinik''s expression became fiercer. Ganor, who had been lazily reclining on his own chair, leaned his head on his palm, opening his eyes to reveal a gaze as sharp as a blade.

    "Do you think this is your playground and you can do as you please?"

    "How did I do as I pleased? I saved a friend of mine, so just disqualify her and continue with the round. I''ve done nothing to interfere with your process, nor did I take out anyone who didn''t deserve to be taken out."

    "So it''s fine for your people to kill others, but they can''t be killed themselves?"

    Orinik hadn''t expected to get into a shouting match with a junior. In fact, he would have already acted had it not been for the fact he knew that Leonel''s grandmother would never allow him to die.

    Orinik didn''t fear the elder, but without knowing where his own superior was, he would rather not put his life on the line to fight this battle. If he died and the Void Palace only punished them afterward, it wouldn''t be worth it.

    "First of all, I never stopped anyone else from trying to save their people, they can only blame themselves for being too slow. Secondly, weren''t you the one who said there was no such thing as absolute fairness? My friend has lost and won''t receive a position to enter the Void Palace, does that mean she also has to die?

    "Is that how your Void Palace proves how macho they are? By forcing people who don''t have to die to do so?"

    бн

    "Aina? Where are you going?" Yuri, who was shocked by what was happening here, suddenly realized that Aina had stood. But, Aina was headed away instead of toward the stage.

    "I don''t know, I don''t like this. I''ll be back when it''s my turn."

    Her voice was just as unmoving and lacking in substance as it had been for the past several months.

 Chapter 1158 Not...

    Chapter 1158 Not...

    Yuri and Savahn looked toward one another. The stress between their brows was almost too obvious for all to see. It felt like they were a pair of mothers trying to care for their child, but the problem was that this child had the strength to flatten a mountain with a single stomp of her feet.

    Was it jealousy? Maybe it was a bit of that. But, from what Yuri and Savahn understood about the situation, it was very likely that Aina was seeing something beyond that, something that she simply hated to see.

    Once again, Leonel was putting himself at risk for the sake of saving someone else. How many times had she already seen something like this?

    The trouble here, though, was the fact that they weren''t sure what this meant for Aina''s personality. Was it returning? Or was it a child-like temper tantrum triggered by something unknown?

    It was simply too hard to tell, and this wasn''t exactly a situation where they would be able to tell either. The two worriedly looked toward Leonel. Even if it wasn''t for Aina, they wouldn''t want to see Leonel die here. But, if he really did die, who knew how it would affect Aina?

    бн

    Hearing the clear taunt in Leonel''s words, Orinik''s fury was at risk of tipping completely over.

    "Leave it be."

    The sudden voice was like trinkling rain water, delicate and echoing. It was soothing to an almost impossible degree, and yet it washed over the arena with a momentum that made many freeze. The power behind it was so undeniable that no one seemed to even think of imagining the kind of beauty behind these words. Just the thought alone felt blasphemous.

    It was suddenly obvious to everyone present that Orinik, Ganor and the others were only the face of what the Void Palace had presentedбн The true brawn hadn''t bothered to appearбн Maybe precisely because they were unworthy.

    The only one who furrowed his brows at this voice was Leonel. There was something odd and artificial about it. Though the voice sounded beautiful, he was of the opinion that it would sound even better if it wasn''t so strained.

    Of course, he had no idea that his mother had changed the pitch of her voice slightly in the off chance that Leonel would recognize it. It seemed that she was right to be so ''cautious''. Maybe only Leonel would be sharp enough to parse apart the difference.

    Leonel recovered quite quickly and nodded in thanks to seemingly empty air. Only after this did he lead Aulina away and allow the rest of the second round to continue.

    Quite expectedly, no one dared to replicate what Leonel had done. The voice of the woman was like an imprint on their soul. She might have forgiven such a thing once, but who was to say that she would do so again?

    "You didn''t manage to stop him?" Ganor looked toward Orinik who had returned to their seating arrangements.

    The truth was that if Orinik had been standing near the stage, Leonel would have never been able to save Aulina, at least not in time. However, because he hadn''t seen much of a point in forcing himself to stand for the entirety of this day, he chose to return and sit, allowing the bill board to handle everything else.

    Unfortunately, this put him on the opposite side of the arena to where Leonel had come from, so he could only use his aura. He had thought it would be enough, but he couldn''t have possibly expected that Leonel would be able to ignore it.

    Orinik''s expression darkened, but he didn''t give an answer.

    Ganor''s lazy gaze had likewise become quite sharp. Despite his usual demeanor, he took his role in the Void Palace quite seriously as well. If not for their overseer saying something, they would have acted as well.

    "It won''t happen again. I didn''t expect someone to actually be so brazen. Next time, I will attack directly."

    Orinik had wanted to disqualify Leonel and strip him of the right to participate, but after their overseer spoke, he would be looking down on her if he continued to pursue the matter. However, he would remember this.

    бн

    "Why do you look so down?" Leonel smiled. He patted Aulina on the head, but she continued to look down at the ground.

    Unshed tears threatened to spill over. If she wasn''t scared about being an even greater burden by crying, maybe she would have already failed to hold them back.

    Leonel sighed. "We can''t win everything. Even though you failed this time, won''t there be a next time?"

    Aulina''s shoulders trembled. She looked up to find Leonel''s kind smile.

    "Nextбн time?"

    "Of course." Leonel reassured. "Isn''t the only requirement that you be below the Sixth Dimension? Right now, you''re only at Tier 2. Between now and the next cycle, how much will you grow? By then, who will be able to stop you?"

    Hearing such words, Aulina suddenly felt a lot better. She didn''t want to be left behind by everyone else, which of them here didn''t have their own personal battle to fight?

    Her small hands closed into fists. Two single streaks of tears fell down her cheeks as she forced a smile.

    "Yes, next time." She said resolutely.

    When the two made it back, Aulina was immediately smothered by Joyce. As scared as Aulina was to die, for a moment Joyce really thought she had lost her long time friend. The two cried in each other''s arms for a long whileбн

    Leonel took a deep breath, sitting by his grandmother''s side.

    "Grandma, am I too reckless?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    "Yes. Yes, definitely."

    Leonel smiled bitterly when he heard these words. But, he knew she was right.

    The trouble wasбн If he wasn''t reckless, then who would be? There were certain things he couldn''t just sit idly by and watch. These were his comrades and brothers and sisters in armsбн He couldn''t just let them die when he knew he could do something.

    Unfortunately, he knew that his actions had only painted an even larger target on the backs of the geniuses of Earthбн

    One after another, the rounds passed by. Numerous so-called ''geniuses'' of Earth went upбн But not a single one managed to pass.

    [More coming later]

 Chapter 1159 Sensory Image

    Chapter 1159 Sensory Image

    Leonel sat in silence as he watched his friends lose one after another, realizing that he was quite helpless to do anything about it.

    In truth, he blamed himself. He spent so long away from all of them that he never truly helped them to grow like he should have. He buried his head away, chasing a woman he couldn''t even explain his attraction to and leaving them to fend against the Dimensional Verse on their own.

    He spoke of helping people, but he couldn''t even properly help those closest to him. In fact, he had only made things harder on them.

    The mountain they would have had to climb to earn a spot to enter the Void Palace was tall to begin with, but now with this target painted onto their backs, and their number disparity, an improbable cause had instantly become an impossible one.

    There was not the slightest hint of remorse. Without fail, the geniuses of Earth were the first to be cut down every time. If not for Leonel wising up and giving them some protection before they went up, it was likely that each one would have died.

    Leonel''s brothers didn''t fair any better than the rest. They, too, found themselves on the losing end of their battles.

    "Fuck!"

    Franco kicked his chair over. It flew out with such speed that it shattered into wood splinters the instant it hit a wall. But, that didn''t seem to make him feel any better.

    Losing wasn''t something Leonel and his brothers were used to. They had been a team for so long and could count on two hands the number of games they had lost in that more than decade span. Yet, each one of them, no matter how far apart they were, hit just as bad.

    There was a heavy silence, a furyбн a subtle feeling of inadequacyбн

    All the confidence Elthor had helped them build up deflated like a balloon. A gloominess that Leonel didn''t know how to fix took hold, but with it came an underlying determination.

    Leonel knew well how his brothers responded to adversity. Giving them words of encouragement now would only undermine and insult them. He was certain that this sort of humiliation wasn''t something that would happen againбн At least not for a very long time.

    The billboard flickered once more and this time, Noah stood, his gaze having long since turned from indifferent to cold.

    His gaze shifted over and met Leonel''s. Though the two didn''t exchange any words, their meaning was already clear.

    Noah''s crystalline blue saber appeared long before he made it to the stage. His steps were even and measured while the sun seemed to dance off the edge of his blade. Every reflective light seemed to make those that saw it reflexively recoil, worried that one of these ''sharp'' rays might slice their neck clean off.

    Among those that had failed already, Jessica was among them. Her beast taming ability was useless against these enemies as her pets were simply too weak and hadn''t grown. On top of that, the wilderness of Planet Luxnix was far too dangerous for even Leonel to travel through casually, let alone her.

    Without a choice, she chose to not even summon her partners, resulting in her losing even faster than the others before her had.

    Though she returned gracefully and unwounded, without the same gloominess the others seemed to display, every time Noah sent a glance toward her he only seemed to become more infuriated.

    Jessica wasn''t weak, nor were her beast partners. The reason she didn''t dare to summon them was because she knew well that she would be ganged up on. It simply wasn''t worth risking the help of her pets just to lose anywayбн

    For as long as Noah could remember, Jessica had always followed by his side, a silent help and a right hand woman that was simply irreplaceable. He had long since learned how to read the different shades of her placid expression.

    She looked indifferent now, but everything from the sway of her short cut hair to the way she crossed her legs screamed to Noah that she was feeling sadness and guilt to the depths of her soulбн

    Sadness because she had failedбн Guilt because she couldn''t follow in his stepsбн

    And it was all the fault of these people.

    "Oh? Another one of you? Are you all still stepping up to get embarrassed?"

    Noah slowly walked up the steps of the arena, seemingly having not heard the jeers of the Montex family member. His steps were silent and his blade lightly bobbed just above the hard stone flooring. Everything from his breathing to the beat of his heart was steady.

    "Begin."

    Orinik''s voice still fell indifferently. He didn''t originally care enough about these proceedings to become invested, but he still found himself watching every time a person of Earth stood up. He told himself that this was to ensure that Leonel could never interfere again, but if he was honest with him, he got a sick sort of satisfaction watching them be wiped out one after another.

    The instant his voice fell this time, thoughбн He felt that something was different.

    BANG!

    It was a sound the audience had heard many times before. But, this time, it was so strong and cacophonous that the sturdy stone platform themselves shattered, sprinkling into the air like shards of glass.

    Each one of Noah''s steps were heavy and there was nothing remotely elegant about his movement. His body grew to three meters in height, his saber became as large as a door and his skin shimmered like diamond beneath the sunlight.

    He was like a rampaging titan, his limbs becoming like locomotives, crushing everything in his path.

    The soles of his feet shattered skulls, his blade bisected bodies, his fists crushed souls.

    Every heart rending cry and spine tingling snap of the bone resounded through the arena, painting a sensory image that would never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

 Chapter 1160 Begin

    Chapter 1160 Begin

    Noah heavily stepped off of the stage, his body drenched in blood from head to toe, none of which was his own. The arena couldn''t help but be silent outside of his heavy step.

    When Noah returned, Roesia stood with a doting expression on her face. She couldn''t help but start wiping Noah off.

    Seeing how nonchalantly his grandmother was treating so much blood, Leonel suddenly got the feeling that maybe his family wasn''t so normal. The dichotomy of sweet, old grandmother, helping her grandson wipe down the lifeblood of his murder victimsбн

    Just what kind of world was he in right now?

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smile. Though the gloominess hadn''t vanished, he could feel that Noah had vented much of their frustration. There was only so much that Leonel could do himself, at some point them witnessing his own success wouldn''t move the needle anymore. However, seeing someone else do itбн It gave them more courage to believe that they could do the same.

    Though the geniuses of Earth continued to lose after this, and even more miserably at that because Noah had re-energized their enemies, they still returned with their heads held high and a fire lit within their gaze.

    None of these people knew that the Leonel and his friends had only just experienced their Metamorphosis not even half a decade ago. To have already reached such a stage in a short period of time was something to be proud of. And, there''d come a day where they wouldn''t have to show pride in their defeat, but could instead do so in their victory.

    бн

    The events of the day continued to wane. Of the people of Earth, most had already gone up and lost, unfortunately falling short.

    However, there were some success stories nonetheless.

    Karolus, the preeminent genius of the Moon and a young man Leonel knew for his exceptionally high spatial affinity, managed to become the third person of Earth to claim their spot for the second day. His ability was devastating and one couldn''t even approach him without fearing for their lives. Despite the fervor Noah had reignited, he still managed to weather the storm and claim his place.

    The next success story was more so of luck than of skill. But, it was one that Leonel happily accepted nonetheless.

    Milan and Arnold were lucky enough to get drawn into the same group. Working together, Milan''s defensive energy shield ability and Arnold explosive palm ability, not to mention the latter''s grasp of Universal Force, was the perfect tandem.

    What Leonel didn''t notice was that Orinik''s pupils had constricted into pinholes when he saw Arnold''s use of Universal Force.

    It had to be remembered that originally, Arnold followed the same path of comprehending Universal Force as everyone else. He fused it with his Palm Force and made it one dimensional.

    However, after his meeting with Leonel and the others, Leonel pointed him toward the more complete path of Universal Force after seeing his talent in it. Now, Arnold walked the same path of Universal Force that Leonel did, it was just that neither of them seemed to realize just how impossibly rare this path wasбн

    But Orinik, Ganor, and the other envoys of the Void Palace most certainly did. In fact, they had all but decided who would get the Golden Token after seeing this displayбн

    бн

    Time continued to speed by. Unfortunately, outside of Elthor, Noah, Karolus, Milan and Arnold, no others made it. Compared to the accumulating numbers of the other families, it was quite pitiful. However, it wasn''t terrible either.

    Finally, after dozens of rounds and thousands of participants, Leonel felt a subtle connection call out to him as the billboard flickered.

    ''Oh?''

    Leonel looked up, finding the number he had claimed for himself shimmering brightly. It seems like it was finally his turn.

    With a light push off his chair, Leonel stood and stretched, his bones cracking. His mind and body both felt quite alert. After sleeping for over a month, he felt more energized now than he had in a long time.

    Almost the instant Leonel rose, many eyes fell onto him. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that ever since that incident of a few hours ago, many had been waiting for Leonel''s turn.

    The skill he had displayed in that short time frame wasn''t small, but it was still difficult for many to get a read on exactly what his limits were. This was mostly because by the time people realized that someone actually had the audacity to move against the wishes of the Void Palace envoys, Leonel was already more than half way there. It was hard to tell if he was just that fast, or if he had just reacted long before anyone else had.

    But now, all of those questions would be answered. The people of Earth had been being targeted by proxy only because they couldn''t get at Leonelбн But now that he was hereбн!?

    Leonel''s steps were a lot lighter than Noah''s despite the both of them being extremely heavy. He landed softly, his bare feet feeling the cool surface of the hard stone.

    Comparatively speaking, Leonel was very casually dressed. He didn''t have a weapon in hand nor did he wear any armor. He wore a loose fitting pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt that waved about in the wind, pulling against the toned silhouette of his torsoбн

    It was the kind of nonchalance that made those around him either furrow their brows or sneer.

    At that moment, the final contestant stepped forward, a curious glint in his eye. This young man was none other than Ysac and his bow was already in hand.

    His piercing gaze landed on Leonel. As though a hawk, he scanned him up and down, the rest of his Internal Sight focused on his surroundings.

    This matter couldn''t have been more perfect. Leonel and his people had slighted the Arundo. If Ysac defeated him, he would take a leg up on that distant cousin of his. But, he was still a cautious personбн One scheme after another began to play in his mind.

    Ysac thought he was clever and calculated, but Leonel''s mind was so clear at the moment that he could even count the steps of every insect within a kilometer radius right this moment, such obvious glances weren''t something he would miss.

    ''A bowбн? I don''t think I need to use one here, though.'' Leonel thought to himself. ''Why don''t we test out a few things instead?''

    Leonel stood in the dead center of the arena, seemingly oblivious to the danger of his position.

    "Begin."

 Chapter 1161 Constructs

    Chapter 1161 Constructs

    Almost the instant Orinik''s words fell, Leonel was bombarded from all sides with a flurry of attacks.

    The people of the Luxnix family narrowed their eyes. Too many of them hadn''t seen Leonel fight previously and many only caught the tail end of what had happened. However, while news was cut off from the outside, the elites of the Luxnix were very well informed about what had happened that day.

    Right this moment, other than maybe Myghell, there wasn''t a soul with Luxnix blood who wasn''t paying very close attention, and that went doubly so for the members of the Luxnix who happened to be in the same group with Leonel.

    Leonel, though, felt as though his mind was working at speeds too fast for the world. For a moment, he just stood there, watching as these attacks charged toward him frame by frame as though it was all in slow motion.

    ''Hmбн''

    Leonel''s hands slid into his pockets, his eyes slowly closing.

    ''Let''s tryбн .''

    A strong surge of Dream Force coalesced around Leonel, his foot lightly tapping on the ground and causing a quickly expanding ring of dark gold to form.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel was buried. A cascade of never ending attacks drowned his body in a flurry of Force of all kinds. The clashing of opposing and synergizing of like elements made the explosion all the more volatile, the entire center of the arena imploding into a rain of stone, rock and billowing smoke.

    However, right at that moment, a mighty roar sounded. It carried with it such a violent momentum that the smoke and dust cleared, shooting out and dispersing in all directions to reveal an enormous, ten meter tall, dark gold bear.

    Leonel stood leisurely on his bear construct''s shoulders, unmoved and unfazed by what had happened around him. The bombardment of Force sometimes rebounded and was sometimes swallowed by the thick fur and skin of the dark gold bear, even its roar alone caused a rain of arrows to shatter and fly off like broken kites in the sky, leaving those who were left to witness it all speechless.

    Leonel looked down at his bear construct. ''Not badбн''

    It was quite interesting. Compared to more static defensive Mage Arts, this bear was a bit special. It carried with it the elasticity unique to a living being, making it so that the rebound of attacks was less grating on Leonel. At the same time, its maneuverability in battle was several levels higher as well.

    "Aim for him!"

    Seeing Leonel standing on the shoulder of such an enormous bear shook many to their core. How could they not recognize the Luxnix Force Art system? But, they had never seen a Luxnix complete such a complex construct so quickly.

    That said, they knew the weaknesses of the Luxnix Force Art system. More complex didn''t always mean better.

    Leonel''s bear construct swiped a paw at the air, standing high on its hind legs as another billowing roar left its lips. But, its speed was too slow and many made it through, aiming right for Leonel.

    Leonel, though, seemed unmoved by this turn of events, his gaze glowing with a delicate pale violet light.

    He let out a slow breath, but the heat that came with it was so scorching that sparks of Fire Force lit in the air.

    Those sparks erupted, forming miniature flames about Leonel, all for the high pitched tweeting of birds to pierce the souls of all those who heard it.

    In one moment, Leonel was completely unprotected. In the next, dozens of hummingbirds with wings flapping so quickly they left nothing more than a blur in their wake appeared.

    They shot forward like guided missiles, piercing through the flurry of attacks aimed for Leonel with a spine tingling precision and burning them up from the inside out.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Like kamikaze bombers, they crashed into the stone platform below, causing concentrated blasts of fire to erupt in all directions.

    Leonel stood on the shoulder of his bear construct, orchestrating the disaster. He never removed his hands from his pockets. In fact, he hadn''t even moved a single inch since the battle began. One after another, he quick cast devastating Arts, causing screams of agony and horror to echo endlessly.

    Ysac''s pupils constricted. He had already organized several attacks, but none of them worked. Leonel seemed to see and plan out several steps ahead, and his casting speed was so fast that even if by some miracle you caught him off guard, it might not even matter.

    ''I''ll do it myself.''

    Ysac''s gaze flashed, flipping his palm over to reveal a sleek arrow decorated from tip to tip in a complex array of Runes.

    His gaze looked up, his Force surging. Leonel''s bear construct stamped a foot down, causing a ripple of earth to surge out in all directions, but Leonel himself remained unmoved.

    ''Die.''

    A blinding streak of silver shot through the skies. In the blink of an eye, it appeared just three meters from the side of Leonel''s head. It was so fast that the bear construct couldn''t possibly react in time. In fact, it was still stamping its feet, sending young geniuses sprawling and tumbling to the floor.

    ''бн Might be an interesting application of Radiant Force like thisбн''

    Just when it seemed that Leonel would be pierced through, a blinding light appeared on his shoulder. Ysac barely had time to register the fact that this light had taken the shape of a silver bat before a shocking screech forced him to cover his ears.

    The bat''s sonar sent ripples of concentric circles spiraling through the air, each rippled steadily getting larger.

    Ysac''s arrow suddenly froze in the air, an astonishing pulse of magnetism stopping its ability to move forward any further.

    Then, it shattered completely, crumbling into little pieces as it fell from the sky.

    Unfortunately for Ysac, the ripples of sonar didn''t stop. The high pitched screech tunneled its way forward, crashing into Ysac in what felt like the blink of an eye.

    He thought that he would fly backward upon impact, but what actually happened made his eyes bleed as they reflected despair.

    "Ysac!"

    BANG!

    Ysac imploded, falling in a shower of blood, guts and gore.

 Chapter 1162 Part of this world?

    Chapter 1162 Part of this world?

    The members of the Arundo family all shot up. Even though this wasn''t the first time a member of the Arundo family had died since this tournament began, it was most definitely the first time someone so high profile had.

    Isac''s blood vessels threatened to shatter and pop. If not for several members of the Arundo dog piling him to force him down and back, there was no doubt that he would have already sprung into action, his full fury on display.

    Isac tried his best to fight those that were on him off, but he was a bowman, not a hulk. With so many having come together to stop him, and without him having the desire to kill them at all costs, he found his body almost buried into the ground.

    He could barely tilt his head up slightly, freeing just a single eye to focus on Leonel for all that he was worth. The white of his gaze pulsed with so many vessels that it practically turned red and rabid, his body trembling completely out of his control.

    Butбн in the endбн he could only watch as Leonel''s beast constructs vanished into motes of light, the entire arena empty of participants outside of himself.

    A pregnant silence took hold of the arena.

    There had been many battles before this, but none were ended nearly as easily as Leonel''s own. They had thought that they might learn something about his speed from observing, when the reality was that Leonel didn''t even have to move a single inch. The gap was so large that it felt like they had just watched an adult bully childrenбн

    The Luxnix Star Order elders narrowed their gazes, watching Leonel walk away. They too hadn''t witnessed the fight between Elody and Leonel, but from what they knew, it lasted several exchanges and was quite heated, even though Leonel won in the end.

    With that bit of information, they had of course concluded that Myghell would win easily. The gap between Myghell and the three Arm Heads was so large that it might as well have been night and day.

    Seeing Leonel fight now, there wasn''t anything he had just done that Elody couldn''t. Well, Elody couldn''t quick cast in such a fashion, but their meaning was that he would have won just as easily. Stillбн Seeing Leonel''s talent in action made them wonder just how far he could go.

    бн

    Leonel returned to the group with a light smile on his face.

    "You''re such a show off, Cap." Milan laughed.

    "Is that jealousy I hear?" Leonel''s ears perked up.

    "Fuck you!"

    Milan dove forward and tackled Leonel, but he found his arms swinging at air. By the time he noticed Leonel jumped over him, it was far too late. He crashed into the ground, skidding for a few meters.

    An eruption of laughter filled Earth''s seating space. However, seeing the cheeriness of their atmosphere only made the fury smoldering within Isac''s soul burn even brighter. He had never felt so much rage in his life. But, he had already had his turn and didn''t even have anywhere to vent it.

    "Let me go. I''m leaving."

    Isac''s voice seemed to have dropped several octaves. Only after the others were certain that he was, indeed, leaving the arena did the rest of the Arundo relax.

    Amidst the Arundo elders, their Patriarch sat with a stoic expression, watching as Isac turned and left. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking by just his facial features alone, but he didn''t seem to have reacted to Ysac''s death at all.

    Inwardly, though, he felt that this was a turning point for his family. If Isac could climb this mountain, maybe it would be exactly what his Arundo family needed to cross that final barrier and grow to match those three pillar families.

    бн

    The events continued. By the time the end of the day began to roll around, countless geniuses had gone up.

    When it was Myghell''s turn, one might have thought that he hadn''t stepped onto the stage at all. Everyone ran around him as though they had blinders on, refusing to even think of attacking him.

    Myghell stood in silence, not bothering to make a move either. When just three individuals remained, he casually stepped off of the platform without a care in the world.

    The Luxnix Arm Heads received the same treatment. By coincidence, the equivalent geniuses of the three leading families didn''t meet, so their rounds ended just as easily and without fanfare.

    The likes of Savahn and Yuri surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, also gained a spot for themselves. Savahn was a talent of Earth and had been able to adapt on Planet Viola for far longer than the others had, so her success wasn''t too much to accept. As for Yuri, she was of mysterious origins to begin with and had always had more power than she displayed. Even after claiming a spot, she hadn''t seemed to have gone all outбн

    The Montex and Viola geniuses, of course, performed just as well. Though their deterrence wasn''t as great as Myghell, they still received their due respect. Rychard was among those that passed, only having to exchange one to two blows to properly display his might and prowess.

    Rychard couldn''t help but frown lightly when he stepped off of the platform before when he looked toward where Aina should have been, she was absolutely nowhere to be seen. However, he turned his head away not long afterward. After giving up so much to earn a spot, he doubted that she would miss out on her chance.

    Finally, the day waned and the billboard flickered for the final time, its motes of light forming around the last list of names...

    As though a ghost, Aina appeared once more.

    When she stepped out and toward the arena, the crowd itself seemed to suck in a cold breath all at onceбн

    This level of beautyбн Was it even meant to be a part of their world?

 Chapter 1163 Now

    Chapter 1163 Now

    The current Aina didn''t have the presence of maturity and elegance that a woman slowly reaching her prime should have. Her current mindset was quite infantile and she still hadn''t quite grasped concepts of her own feminine wiles and charms. In addition, she had already learned to perfectly control her own mental coercion. After the shackles on her talent were released, she improved by leaps and bounds everyday. And yetбн

    None of it seemed to matter.

    For those here, this was the greatest beauty they had ever laid eyes on. Despite her indifference to the world, it only added to her charms, making her seem as though she had descended from another world entirely.

    The current Aina wore a flexible armor that wrapped around her curves almost too well, an enormous battle ax of red-gold hovering to her back. Her every step carried its own explosive power and the depth of black her armor and hair shared seemed to give her the tinge of a devilish vibe.

    Leonel fell into silence when his gaze landed on her again for the second time in a month. His expression didn''t flicker and his arms remained crossed about his chest. He could tell with a single glance that she had improved vastly since he last saw her, even after all his own improvements, he had next to no certainty of defeating her. In fact, he faintly felt that he might very well lose.

    It was a surprising conclusion for Leonel to come to, but it hardly moved the needle for him one way or another.

    After a month of rest, Leonel felt that he finally understood what bothered him so much about all of this.

    Objectively, he knew how he had hurt Aina. She was in a vulnerable point in her life and she was heavily reliant on him. That moment hadn''t been the first time she got mad at him for risking his life for the sake of others, he had lost count of the number of times she had insisted that he should put himself first.

    He and Aina had been clashing in this way even long before they made their relationship official. That day, when Leonel excitedly left the Mayan Zone, eager to see her again, and she pierced a hand through Conrad''s heartбн Leonel knew that that had been her way of waking him up to reality.

    Not only was she not solely that shy and timid girl he had known, but she was precisely the kind of cold blooded murderer Leonel himself never wanted to become.

    Time and time again, they faced this exact clash. Even in the Joan Zone, when Aina and he almost died because he was too soft with how he used his blade, even so far back they had always butted heads.

    Leonel knew this. He knew how she felt. So why had he reacted the way he had? The answer was so obvious that Leonel felt that he had been running away from it as opposed to chasing it like he should have beenбн

    All those years, Leonel had always been chasing after Aina, always doing the things she wanted, how she wanted to do them. He never batted an eye, never complained, and always followed along, happy just to be by her side.

    This wasn''t a burden on him, and for him to pretend like it had been would be nothing more than revisionist history. He had been happy to do it. She was the woman he loved, the only woman he loved. To him, doing things for her wasn''t a sacrifice, it was a pleasure, a privilegeбн

    However, when the day came that Leonel finally had something he wanted to fight for himself, a goal he wanted to aspire toward and chaseбн Rather than receiving the same sort of support he had always given Aina, what he received in return was doubt and insecurity.

    When Leonel told Aina about his dreams, about how he wanted to unite the Dimensional Verse and have her by his side as his queen, he didn''t receive the eagerness and support he had been expecting. Instead, he received a questioning that he would have expected from a stranger or a person who didn''t care about what his own hopes and aspirations wereбн

    He received the words of a person who didn''t believe in him.

    That day, when Aina left him, it was just more of the same. Leonel understood how she felt, he truly did. She had gone through so much trauma in her life and didn''t deserve any more. But, in his eyes, the fundamental root of it all was that she didn''t believe in him.

    When Leonel met an opponent that didn''t believe in him, he would just defeat them. When he met an enemy that didn''t believe in him, he would just kill them. When he met a mountain no one believed he could climb, he would ignore those who looked down on him and climb it anyway.

    The one fundamental truth about himself was that he absolutely hated to lose. Maybe why he was so good at following his father''s mantras of Respect and Persistence was exactly because of this. This was such a core part of who he was that he exceled in everything he did, even when it was something he didn''t like very much.

    Maybe this was Leonel''s own brand of arrogance, that deep seeded belief in himself that couldn''t accept the speculation and doubt of others.

    The question thoughбн Was what would he to do when the person who didn''t believe in him was someone he had given his heart to?

    How could he ignore her? How could he defeat her? How could he kill her?

    He didn''t know the answer to that. Soбн

    He sat and watched as the love of his life wowed the crowd, her skills and movements breathing life into the world.

    He sat and watched as she cleared her group, easily claiming her spot with her back to him.

    He sat and watched as another man with a grin of pride on his face that should have been his own stepped before everyone, boisterously laughing as he pointed toward herбн

    "I want to thank the Montex and Luxnix family for allowing me this stage!" Rychard''s voice boomed. "Now that today''s event has ended and there will be a gap between today and the second day''s rounds, I would like to make an announcement to everyone.

    "Two days from now, my and my fiancижe Aina Brazinger will be getting married. I invite all those in attendance today to bear witness to the first day of the rest of our lives."

    A certain shift took place in the atmosphere. Feelings of awe, worship and envy took hold. To have such a woman as a wifeбн Just how lucky was this Viola family Crown Heir?

    Finallyбн Leonel stopped watching, his eyes closing in peace.

    He finally had his answer. Now, he could let go.

    [Author''s Note: I''ll have to ask you guys to trust me, this won''t end like you think it will. If you want books that can subvert tropes, you have to give an author a chance first, lmao. Anyhoo, the main purpose of this note is to tell you guys that my birthday is tomorrow so I won''t be uploading. Will be back the day after, love you guys <3]

 Chapter 1164 CRACK!

    Chapter 1164 CRACK!

    There was a stunned silence that overcame the Earth region of the arena. However, it was for just a moment. In the next instant, a fiery pillar of rage suddenly erupted.

    "YOU BITCHбк!"

    Milan, Franco, Gil and Raj all charged forward as though they had lost their minds.

    Seemingly having expected this result, it was Joel, Arnold, Allan and Drake who leapt forward just a split moment afterward diving for their waists and tackling them down.

    The eight immediately ended up in a furious sort of dog pile. But, compared to the warmness such a thing had carried just a day ago, there was something decidedly sad about it this time around. It only seemed to make it worse that in all the commotion of the arena due to Rychard''s announcement, the commotion caused by these eight was nothing more than a drop of water into a vast oceanбн

    No one seemed to notice at allбн No one except for Savahn and Yuri, that is.

    "Let me go! I held back enough! I''m going to tear them both a new asshole!" Raj raged.

    Unfortunately, the clamp Arnold had on Raj was far too strong. He could hardly move and he didn''t have the heart to use his ability on his brother. In the end, he could only squirm wildly, his gaze just as red as Isac''s had been just hours ago.

    Roesia''s eyes flickered with confusion. She didn''t quite understand what was going on.

    She looked toward her grandson, only to see that his eyes were closed. If she didn''t know better, she would think that Leonel was having a nap.

    It was then that she pieced everything together.

    That day when she saw the pain in her grandson''s eyes, hidden beneath his coldness and indifference, this Rychard and that Aina had both been present. Could it be that it was related to this? Was that why he had been feeling that way on that day?

    Coming to this conclusion, Roesia''s gaze also lit with fury. The murderous intent coming from her rose like the tides of a tsunami, threatening to drown the arena out in waves. It would only be a moment before everyone''s attention was drawn, butбн

    Joel, Arnold, Drake and Allan all looked back toward Leonel.

    Of Leonel''s brothers, there were two divisions. Raj, Milan, Gil and Franco had always been the jokesters. They had their own brand of humor and if there was a joke being made, there was a 90% certainty that it was coming from one of them.

    On the other hand, Joel, Arnold, Drake and Allan were far more reserved.

    Joel was always the de facto leader of the group when Leonel wasn''t present. Drake had meant to be Leonel''s successor after he graduated from Royal Blue. Allan had an introverted personality, so much so that he didn''t even show off his excellent physique, always wearing baggy clothing. And, Arnold was a man of few words, even when he was communicating with Leonel himselfбн

    And yet, at that moment, they all looked toward Leonel with the same crimson gaze.

    So long as Leonel gave the signal, no matter how high the odds were stacked against them, no matter how subtle such a signal was, they would immediately release Raj, Milan, Gil and Franco. In fact, not only would they release them, but they would be right along side them, charging forth.

    To them, any slight against Leonel was a slight against them. They had been there before Leonel met Aina. They had been there before Leonel fell for her, before he spent years chasing after her.

    He had never shown any interest in any other woman. His admirers could have wrapped around Earth itself, yet he had never bat an eyelash.

    They had always believed that Aina wasn''t worthy of Leonel. Even when she revealed herself to be a world toppling beauty, she left soon after, leaving a bad taste in all of their mouths. Now, they felt that things had gone too far. They found it difficult even to control themselves at this point.

    Leonel''s eyes remained closed, his face the picture of serenity.

    In his mind, he had once again entered a world of white, a familiar balance standing before him. After everything, it had been perfectly balanced, no one side outweighing the other.

    He gazed upon it silently, going through all the memories it held once more.

    His body felt quite light and his mind felt extremely clear. His reflection on these memories made him feel as though he was right back there again, simulating that moment in real time without missing a single detail.

    The first day he met her, the first time he realized he liked her, the first time he confessed to herбн the second timeбн the thirdбн

    The time they spent in the Joan Zone, their battle against Royal Blue Fort, his rage fueled tirade against the Puppet Masterбн Those final moments of peace they had together at Variant Heart Mountainбн The last time they shared a bed togetherбн

    They were memories enough to move a man to tearsбн Somehow, though, to Leonel, it felt like he was watching the movie of someone else''s life.

    He reached forward and touched the balance scale, his hand trailing down its frame before landing on the final object that had managed to keep it all even.

    It was a delicate, fragmented bracelet. It weighed almost nothing and was useless even to a Third Dimensional existence. It was nothing more than a sentimental ornament, but it weighed so heavily. It was the final strand of hope that Leonel had been holding onto, so much so that his logical mind had given it more weight than even it was worth.

    CRACK!

    With a light squeeze, Leonel crushed it to powder.

    He turned and walked away, the golden-bronze balance crumbling into a pile of ash.

    бн

    In the real world, Leonel opened his eyes. A strong pressure seemed to roll out from him in waves, his mind suddenly feeling extraordinarily free.

    He blinked, seeing the gazes of his brothers looking back at him.

    "What are you all wrestling for? Take it easy on Milan and Arnold, they still need to fight in a few days."

    Leonel laughed lightly, his aura dispelling the tense atmosphere into the wind.

 Chapter 1165 Didnt Care

    Chapter 1165 Didn''t Care

    Later that day, Leonel sat in silent meditation. He felt that everything about him was running smoother and faster than it ever had before. He could even feel his Innate Node far more clearly, so clearly, in fact, that he was shocked he hadn''t sensed just how special it was before.

    His Innate Node wasn''t just a source of a special Force, it was more accurately the root of one. If Leonel had to describe it, he would say that an Innate Node was a step beyond a Pure Force Crystal, maybe several steps, even.

    What this meant was that an Innate Node wasn''t just a store of Force, but it also carried with it the Natural Force Arts one might expect to find in a Pure Force Crystal. The difference was that an Innate Node''s Natural Force Arts were not only far more complete, they were far more layered and complex.

    Though Leonel had never laid eyes on a Pure Force Crystal, at least not yet, he was absolutely certain of this. The depth of his Innate Force Node was so vast that even he had a hard time believing it. He also came to understand that this was where the difference between himself and Elthor lay.

    Elthor had access to a Force on the same level as Scarlet Star Force in Chaotic Particle Force. The difference was that this was Elthor''s ability granting him this affinity, whereas Leonel''s own was an Innate Node.

    Leonel had thought that there wasn''t much of a difference originally, just a different rode to the same destination. But, he realized now that there was a world of difference. Elthor would never have access to the same depth of understanding Leonel could gain from his Innate Node.

    The world that opened up to Leonel was so large that he was having a hard time deciding where to start.

    Just to put matters into perspective, from only a cursory glance and look through, Leonel felt that he could: build a Visualization to aid his path through the Fifth Dimension, build a completely new Magic System, comprehend derivative Forcesбн

    The possibilities were endless. It felt like he had just been handed the blueprint of a vastly more advanced civilization and now he could benefit by piecing together all of its mysteries.

    The change was so great that even Leonel was baffled for just a moment. In the past, he couldn''t even send his Internal Sight near his Innate Node without it trying to destroy his mind. But, now, he didn''t have to risk his mind at all. It was as though his Innate Node was directly speaking to him.

    Destructionбн

    Leonel couldn''t have expected that releasing his own baggage would open himself up in this way. It was like the weight of Aina had been a blockage. Or, maybe it was just the act of allowing those feelings to shatter that allowed Leonel to ascend his understanding to a new level.

    ''Fascinatingбн''

    Leonel wondered, did Myghell have this same ability? Could he naturally feel what Leonel had? Or were there complications with the process?

    Leonel wasn''t jealous, he was more so curious. Because if one Innate Node could bring him such benefits, what about another?

    He already had the Little Mink who could snatch abilities from others. He could use the Silver Tablet to wash away the personalities of those abilities to allow his people to absorb them without backlash. He had the tentacle womb which he already had an evolution path for. If he also began to accumulate Innate Nodes as wellбн

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    Maybe he didn''t notice it, or maybe he did. But, he didn''t even consider what it would take for him to accumulate these Innate Nodes.

    ''Hmбн''

    Leonel raised a palm, his Force flickering and surging.

    After forming his Seventh Star, he realized that he had gained the ability to replenish his Innate Node faster. Unfortunately, this was a fairly useless ability since his body couldn''t even withstand using his Innate Node to begin with. Let alone draining it, he couldn''t even use a single percent of it.

    However, now, Leonel realized that his Innate Node was no longer entirely useless to him either.

    The Destructive Aura that he had subtly grasped alone made his attacks far more potent than they had been in the past. And, now that his senses toward his Innate Node were even sharper, his Destructive Aura would only grow.

    There may very well come a time where Leonel would only have to touch something to make it crumble from the outside, in. His presence alone would cause things to disintegrate.

    Though the effect would be lesser than using Scarlet Star Force, it was a good replacement while he focused on getting his body stronger.

    бн

    The current Leonel sat outside, near the pool of the hotel. He was in full view of everyone around him, causing him to be the subject of quite a bit of scrutiny. However, no matter how many times they looked over at him, no one could find anything wrong.

    "бн Is he really alright?" Milan mumbled.

    The eight of them, including Leonel''s grandmother, were all furious. In fact, many of those who hadn''t known the details previously were furious for Leonel as well. However, with the man himself acting as though nothing had happened, what were they supposed to do, exactly?

    "You know Leonel, when he cuts something off, he doesn''t even look back." Joel said lightly.

    Raj snorted. "Good. It would be embarrassing if I had a harem and Leo didn''t. This is the way it should be. He needs at least three wives and twelve concubines, I won''t let him stop until he has at least that many. Our boy is about to have an elite fuckboy arc."

    The women of the group looked toward Raj with disdain, but they refrained from saying anything since it was clear that he was just sticking up for Leonel.

    However, Raj didn''t seem ready to let it go.

    "What are you all looking at? All you women are the same. How many men are you going to turn into the monsters you complain about before you realize that YOU''RE the problem?!"

    Joyce suddenly snapped, her fists lighting with Force.

    "Are you trying to fight it out, you sack of shit?!"

    "Oh my, I''m so scared!" Raj rolled his eyes. "Come bite me. I can''t for the life of me imagine why you''re called the fairer sex, you''re all little demons in skimpy clothing. You ever think that maybe the reason you''re all so attracted to the hard exterior of a man is because you''re all just as hard on the inside?

    "Come on, come fight me, then. At least in this kind of world you actually stand a chance."

    Joyce was so furious she couldn''t even put her anger into words.

    Joel and the others felt a headache coming along. They knew the reason Raj was acting like this wasn''t just related to Leonel.

    At that moment, though, Joel''s brows suddenly furrowed, a message entering his ears.

    Joel immediately looked up to Leonel. He knew how sharp Leonel''s senses were, there was no way he would miss such a thing. However, he didn''t react in the slightest. It was either he was distracted by somethingбн Or he simply didn''t care.

    Considering who it was, Joel had the feeling it was the latter.

    "A few of you, come with me." Joel said lightly before going off.

 Chapter 1166 Did l?

    Chapter 1166 Did l?

    An odd silence reigned over the atmosphere in a forest just on the outskirts of a Luxnix city.

    Joel, Franco and Allan stood across from Yuri and Savahn, the latter two wearing nervous, fidgeting expressions.

    In truth, Joel was quite surprised that Yuri had managed to contact them from so far away. It had taken several hours just to get here. If not for Joel being pretty level headed, he wouldn''t'' have even deemed to come. But, for matters related to Leonel, he was still willing to go so far.

    That said, it made sense. This was Planet Luxnix, not Planet Viola. Plus, the status of these two was ties to Miel and Aina, so even if it was Planet Viola, it wasn''t like they could move about as freely as they wanted. Due to these reasons, they had no choice but to contact Joel and the others from so far away.

    The surprising part, though, was that Yuri was actually able to accomplish such a thing. It made Joel take her just that bit more seriously.

    "Where is Leonel?" Yuri finally asked, somewhat unwilling to meet their gazes. In fact, much of her fidgeting was because she was trying to see if Leonel was coming or not.

    Yuri had left a small tag on Joel''s Soul Force the last time they met, but she had never been able to do the same with Leonel. So, she had contacted Joel, hoping to contact Leonel through him. But, Joel didn''t seem to have come with Leonel at all.

    This was a problem. If Leonel was truly angry, this would make things even more difficult.

    Of courseбн this only showed how little Yuri understood about Leonel.

    "бн Is he that angry?"

    Joel, despite his usual calm disposition, couldn''t help but narrow his eyes at these words. What did she mean, ''is he that angry''? Setting aside the truth for a moment, so what if he was? Did he not have the right to be? The fact he hadn''t exploded onto the arena stage was a proof of his self control and nothing else.

    Joel reached out a hand and put it on Franco''s chest, stopping him from snapping.

    Among the three who had come, Joel and Allan were quite level headed, but Franco was most definitely not. Joel had made it a point not to take Raj along with them because he would only exacerbate any situation they ended up getting into, but the more rowdy of their group had insisted that at least one of them go because they didn''t trust Joel and Allan to say the harsh things when they needed to be said.

    That saidбн They knew that this was a gross exaggeration. The current Joel and Allan were just as enraged as any one of them.

    Seeing the expressions of the three men before her, Yuri''s own flickered, making her feel that maybe she had said something wrong.

    "Your words show just how little you understand about Leonel, but that isn''t your fault. You''re just the friend of the woman he liked, not the woman herself. The one who deserves the blame is her."

    Yuri''s jaw clenched. Just the same way Raj was willing to go overboard in protecting Leonel, even saying many things he shouldn''t have said, Yuri was much the same way with Aina. In fact, compared to the time Leonel''s brothers had spent by his side, Yuri had been with Aina even longer.

    However, this time, she took deep breaths, realizing that letting her temper flare like it had before would only be detrimental to her goal.

    "You бн You all have to understand that this matter isn''t what it looks like."

    Joel''s brow furrowed, but he chose to continue to listen instead of interjecting.

    The truth of the matter was that if Joel had told Leonel that Yuri wanted to talk, Leonel probably would have come. And, even if Leonel chose not to come, it wouldn''t be because he was furious, it would only be because he felt that his time was better applied to something else.

    Joel knew better than most that what Leonel was feeling right now wasn''t rage, it was indifference. If he felt that his time was better spent training and meditating, he wouldn''t come. If he was curious enough to hear what Yuri would say, then it would come. It was that simple.

    However, Joel knew well, at the same time, that there was a very lowly, maybe 0% probability, that Leonel would change his mind purely on what Yuri would say.

    Knowing this, Joel chose not to waste Leonel''s time. The three of them already had been booted from the second day of competition, they had nothing to lose wasting time like this. So, he listened to Yuri''s story from start to finish.

    "бн So you mean to say that Aina''s father agreed to this marriage for the sake of a position to enter the Void Palace Selection? But this was a lie because anyone could participate anyway?" Joel summarized.

    "Yes, yes." Yuri wrung her hands together. "But they lied. The marriage was only supposed to take place after the Selection, but Rychard used a loophole in the agreement to place it after the first day of the Selection. Also, the deal wasn''t of equivalent exchange because there was no quota this year to begin with! Even Savahn and I could participate."

    Joel, Allan and Franco watched in silence and Yuri continued to explain herself. They didn''t interrupt her and didn''t shift her gaze away.

    The only one of the two who seemed to realize that something was wrong with the atmosphere was Savahn who could only sigh inwardly.

    Yuri loved Aina too much. She was unwilling for Aina to take any sort of losses, even if others had to suffer for it. The same way Leonel''s brothers thought that Aina was unworthy of him, just how much more so did Yuri believe the vice versa, albeit subconsciously?

    "And what do you want us to do about this, exactly?" Joel asked.

    "Weбкwe have to save her! I saw earlier that Leonel''s grandmother is very powerful, if she works together with my adoptive father, can''t we kidnap Aina before the wedding?"

    A pregnant silence fell over the forest.

    "бн So let me get this straight." Franco began to speak, this time not receiving the interruption of Joel. "Your friend wanted to spread her legs for a chance to move up in the world, but now that she''s been played she wants everyone to risk their lives to save her from one of the strongest families in the Sector?

    "Did I get that right?"

 Chapter 1167 No One Else

    Chapter 1167 No One Else

    Yuri was stunned for a moment before she suddenly imploded.

    "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

    BANG!

    A violent invisible force shot out in all directions. The expressions of the three young men instantly changed as they hurried to protect themselves, but it was already too late.

    As though a wall of solid wind had hit them, they flew backward like an iron ball out of a canon. In fact, it wasn''t just them. The surrounding nature was completely flattened as though a fist had descended from the sky.

    The rippling wave spread outward like a fan, sending the three flying for dozens of meters.

    "YURI!" Savahn was shocked awake.

    Savahn violently pulled Yuri backward, disrupting the eruption of her fury. Then, she sprung forward at her fastest speed, her Force reaching out to slow the blow the three had suffered. She barely made it in time to ensure that they didn''t crash against the ground or any thick trees, however that didn''t stop the three of them from coughing up blood. Savahn had reacted far too slowly to stop the initial impact.

    Yuri was still furious enough to go for another attack, unfortunately, Savahn was standing in the path between herself and the three. Although she had plenty of methods of going around Savahn, she had a feeling that being so close, Savahn would definitely try to block her.

    Joel, Allan and Franco coughed out another mouthful of blood, their gazes lit with fury.

    "Savahn, get out of the way!" Yuri yelled.

    "This bitch." Franco growled, about to get up.

    Just when it seemed like things would truly get out of hand, Savahn turned back toward Yuri, her gaze livid. For a moment, she seemed to return to that same fiery tempered girl who always reprimanded Leonel for chasing after Aina.

    "YOU''VE DONE ENOUGH! STEP BACK!"

    Savahn''s near roar shocked Yuri out of her own rage and even made Franco take a pause. He was already furious enough to go all out with this woman, but Savahn''s actions seemed to snap them all awake.

    Savahn turned back toward the boys, kneeling down. She handed them all healing pills she had managed to accumulate, allowing their injuries to stabilize.

    "I''m sorry about Yuri, but she treats Aina like her own flesh and blood sister. She often says and does things she doesn''t mean when it comes to her, but please hear me out. She didn''t tell you the full scope of the truth and how things ended up this way."

    "Savahn!" Yuri''s expression changed.

    Yuri wasn''t a fool. She didn''t speak about those matters on purpose because the less people that knew, the better. Not only did it involve a treasure that Miel could be hunted down for, if Aina didn''t interact with the world as normally as possible, it was possible that it would have adverse reactions on the reawakening of her personality.

    If it wasn''t for the fact Savahn was so close with Aina and would immediately realize that there was something wrong with her personality, she wouldn''t have been told the truth of the circumstances either.

    Yuri had naively only ever seen things from her perspective. In her mind, Aina was perfect and everyone should treat her as such, not to mention care about her wellbeing just as much as she did. So, she had never considered telling them the full story because she didn''t think it was necessary. Wasn''t what she had said enough? Wasn''t it clear as day that Aina had been wronged? Then how could they possibly act like it wasn''t a big deal? How could they say such cruel words?

    What Yuri couldn''t wrap her head around was something that Savahn understood almost too intimatelyбн It could be said that of all the people who understood best how Leonel felt right now, Savahn was at the top of the list.

    Unlike Yuri, Savahn had been thrust into this world just like Leonel had, forced to scratch and claw for everything and even barely surviving her first Zone. And, just like Leonel, she had walked out to find her best friend of four years with her bloodied arm through a human''s chestбн

    That event had caused Savahn to become estranged from Yuri and Aina. And yet, instead of trying to bring her back into the fold and support her in the moment she needed it the most, they both left herбн

    Aina left to go off on her adventures with Leonel and Yuri only ever truly cared about Aina''s wellbeing, not considering Savahn very much at all. If Savahn hadn''t felt the need to step in during the argument between Leonel''s brothers and Aina, maybe they would have all remained estranged for a life timeбн

    And what had happened after that? Well, the broken and fragile Aina collapsed in her arms, sobbing and crying her worries away, pining over a man she herself had chosen to leave.

    She brought Savahn out like a crutch, even dragging her to this Sixth Dimensional world so she could continue to be used.

    When Aina hadn''t needed Savahn anymore, she was fine with ignoring her existence. But, the moment she had, she dragged her back into her life, forcing her to become a shoulder to cry on.

    Did Savahn understand that Aina was a broken person? Yes. Did she understand that it wasn''t entirely Aina''s fault? Yes. Did she blame Aina and hate her like another might? No.

    Howeverбн None of this changed the fact that it hurt.

    No one ever considered her thoughts and her feelings. Despite having friends around, she felt like she was alone.

    She had spent four years ''protecting'' Aina, but she never received the same in return. There was no one else who understood how Leonel felt right this moment more than she did. But even now, she was willing to help.

    So, she explained. The only details she missed were ones that she had never been privy to, but whether it was related to how broken Aina was after leaving Leonel, all the way up to her personality being completely erased, she left nothing out.

    When she was finished, the three young men looked toward one another. They hadn''t expected to have had the needle moved for them at all. But nowбн

    What were they supposed to do?

 Chapter 1168 Not Satisfied

    Chapter 1168 Not Satisfied

    Joel took a deep breath. This changed the dynamic of a lot of things, but he wasn''t sure of how to proceed from here.

    For one, the Viola family was far too powerful. The fact that they had moved the wedding up on purpose without regard for Miel meant that they were already determined to do this. It was clear that after the elders of the Viola family saw Aina''s talent, they were determined to make her theirs.

    But, this was just one aspect of it. Even if they had known this before, Franco would have still said what he said earlier. The fact that Aina wasn''t entirely in control of her faculties, though, was something that made even them hesitate.

    The choice was made by Aina''s father to begin with, not Aina. And it seemed that Aina agreed because she saw the ''logic'' behind it. Rychard wasn''t worth much to her before, but if he was a ticket to the Void Palace, then it made sense to her. As for matters of love, she hadn''t even considered it.

    "Weбн" Joel shook his head. "бн I don''t know, I can''t guarantee anything. I can only say that we''ll speak with Leonel and Granny Roesia. Maybe there is something they can do."

    Maybe if it have been before the first day''s selection, Joel and the others would have been ready to wade through hell or high water, not for Aina, but just so that Leonel would have a chance at happiness. The odds a man would be able to get over his first love marrying and lying with another man was minimal at best. And, for someone like Leonel, just the attempt toward the action alone was enough for him to shut down and not mind it anymore.

    Butбн Just earlier today, they had all received a rude awakening. All the pride they had had from their accomplishments in the Milky Way flew away like dust in a storm. They were nothing but ants here. They had barely gained the ability to fight against the geniuses of branch families, how could they possibly challenge the older generation of a pillar family like the Viola?

    Savahn smiled a complicated smile. It had a hint of bitterness to it, but it was mostly filled with understanding.

    The truth was that Miel hadn''t even sent them here. It was Yuri who realized that something must have gone wrong, causing her to come here of her own accord.

    She knew her adoptive father well and knew that he wouldn''t put Aina in danger on purpose. He likely wanted to use Rychard, and then when she was accepted by the Void Palace, throw him away. The trouble was that while Miel had spent most of his time training, pining after a day he could get revenge for his late wife, Rychard had been embroiled in political schemes since he was a boy.

    How could Miel outsmart Rychard? Rychard saw through his plan with a glance and adjusted accordingly.

    Without the halo of Void Palace disciple around her, Rychard had no need to worry about forcing Aina to do anything. And, because he was alone and this marriage had been accepted by the elders of the Viola family, Miel couldn''t snatch Aina away openly without being hunted down and killed.

    This left Miel with very little options and Aina with even fewer.

    Ultimately, they were all at a loss for what to do.

    **

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel smiled as Little Blackstar raced around his hands, arms and shoulders, messing about with Little Tolly. The two still had their rivalry and it only seemed to grow stronger after Little Blackstar awoke from his comatose state.

    Still, though they seemed to be at each other''s throats, Leonel could faintly feel that Little Tolly had missed Little Blackstar. The two little toddlers might as well have been the closest of blood brothers.

    Leonel was happy that he had his own brothers as well. Being an only child could have very well been too lonely if he hadn''t.

    "Ah, be careful, don''t touch that."

    Little Blackstar almost nicked the blade of a sword Leonel was working on.

    One would have thought that Leonel would be honing his skill, maybe practicing some more of the Luxnix family Force Arts. But, nopeбн He was crafting.

    The sword looked like it was straight out of Grecian times. It was quite short, being only about a foot and a half long. Its body was narrower near the hilt and thicker near its tip before ending at a point, giving it a sleek sort of ''S'' shaped curve.

    It had a bronze blade and a delicate wood handle that was immaculately carved. But, maybe its most astounding feature was that the air seemed to tremble around it, almost distorting reality everywhere it passed.

    Without Leonel even telling him, Blackstar suddenly sensed danger, rolling into a ball and vanishing into space before appearing high in the air. His beady black eyes looked down, his whiskers flickering between apprehension and curiosity.

    Little Blackstar didn''t feel like he would die from that blade, but he definitely felt that he would get hurt. In fact, he felt that he would be hurt even if he used his incorporeal ability.

    Blackstar was used to being immune to most attacks because he could just displace his body into his Shadow World. But, for some reason, that sword seemed to be able to ignore him, even attack him while he was in there!

    Leonel reached out and grabbed the sword, balancing it on a finger.

    "It''s just a prototype, but its pretty good." Leonel spoke with Little Blackstar. "If I made weapons like this, it would be good. The problem is that this sort of blade can only last one battle before its own destructive capability eats away at the metal it was made from. A shameбн I''m not sure if I could fix that, it would take quite some researchбн"

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel laughed. "I can make you some claw gauntlets like this if you want. But, they would probably have the same issue. Plus, don''t you think you scare your enemies enough?"

    "Yip!"

    Blackstar shook his head furiously. Clearly, the little guy wasn''t satisfied.

 Chapter 1169 Those Words...

    Chapter 1169 Those Words...

    Leonel laughed again, flicking his finger and sending the sword spiraling upward. With a dull slapping sound, Leonel grabbed the sword by its hilt and sent it flying forward.

    A soothing whistle sound filled the air, only to be interrupted by the sound of blade meeting wood. A tree in the distance was directly split in the middle and it seemed that the sword might continued travelling right through it. But, it was at that moment that something astonishing happened.

    As though it had been burnt from the inside out, the tree crumbled into a pile of ash, collapsing to the ground in a heap.

    The sword continued into the distance before falling not far afterward. Unfortunately, the ground it landed upon became like an ash land of death. The greenery withered, the rich soil turned to harsh granules, and a crater formed and collapsed, the weakened ground falling in on itself.

    Leonel whistled, the result being slightly more exaggerated than even he expected.

    Of course, this weapon was the result of Leonel applying what he had grasped from his Innate Node. It was just a low level destruction Force Art, but the result was quite devastating.

    Though that was just a normal tree and ground, and the crater wasn''t very large, barely half a meter in radius, they were both still tempered by a Sixth Dimensional world even if they weren''t anything special. To have them crumble like thatбн Well, it spoke for itself.

    The only trouble wasбн

    Almost as soon as the crater began to collapse, as though it had used up all its energy, the sword crumbled soon afterward. Leonel didn''t even bother to go after it, he knew it was finished.

    As he had expected, weapons he incorporated these sort of Force Arts into would have a short shelf life. He had predicted that they would last maybe one battle, but judging by the result, it might not last even that long. They might be good as a trump card, but as a main mode of battleбн Leonel didn''t think they could be trusted.

    On top of this, they were expensive. Just to survive as long as it did, Leonel was forced to forge the sword of the Sixth Dimension Ore he had gotten from Patriarch Avarone Radix''s body. When he had tried the same thing with a Fifth Dimension Ore, it didn''t even make it past the production stage.

    There were, of course, other problems as well. For instance, it wasn''t scalable since Leonel was definitely the only one who could Craft them. On top of that, they were obviously dangerous. Leonel wasn''t sure how easy it would be for others to harm themselves with it.

    ''The destructive power is undeniable. I might just need to stick to using it with arrows and maybe bullets if I ever decide to go that route againбн The Tier 9 Gold Bow should be able to handle firing those arrows up to a certain point, the only trouble is where am I going to find so much Sixth Dimensional Ore?''

    Leonel shook his head. Maybe instead of trying to find such things, he should instead focus on finding Ores better suited to withstanding the Destruction Force Arts.

    ''Alright, I''ll leave this be for now. There''s at least a proof of concept. I think I''ll turn my attention back to the Luxnix family Force Art system now.''

    Leonel''s mind was like a machine working on the best sort of fuel. Everything was so clear to him and his minds worked separately and in unison completely seamlessly.

    He let Little Tolly go play with Little Blackstar and he reallocated the minds he had put toward Crafting back toward analyzing the ins and outs of this new Force Art system.

    One might think that this wasn''t worth it. After all, Leonel''s mother knew of the Luxnix Force Art system, yet all of her most powerful techniques used the Camelot Magic System instead. So, wasn''t it better to focus on the latter?

    But Leonel saw it differently. After speaking with his grandmother and consulting the dictionary, he understood a bit more about the World Spirit.

    The reason why all of his mother''s most powerful techniques utilized Camelot''s system and not the Luxnix''s was because she had Earth''s World Spirit, not the Three Pillar World''s World Spirit which was divided between the three families.

    Simply put, his mother had perfectly grasped Camelot''s Magic System without even trying to its greatest depths. In fact, she was only limited by her current Dimension level. When it came to the Luxnix''s, though, her comprehension was shallow by comparison.

    Realizing this, Leonel understood that there was still great potential in the Luxnix''s system.

    Just when Leonel was about to completely close himself off again, he looked up, realizing that his brothers were all approaching him with complicated looks in their eyes.

    "Hm?" Leonel blinked. "What''s wrong with you all?"

    Joel shook his head. He was certain that Leonel already had a guess, probably multiple. But, he still started to speak.

    "Leo, this is how things areбн"

    Leonel listened silently, not interrupting even once. His expression wasn''t cold or indifferent, he simply looked like he was listening to a friend tell him a story. He nodded from time to time and even hummed in agreement depending on the circumstances. If one didn''t know just how much all of this should have mattered to Leonel, they would have never thought there was anything wrong with his actions.

    "бн The decision is up to you." Joel finally said.

    "I''m with you, Cap." Raj supplemented.

    After hearing the truth behind things, even Raj couldn''t help but change his tune. In fact, he felt kind of bad for being so hard on her. But, in the end, the one he would follow would always be Leonel, even if it was at the expense of Aina.

    Stillбн Being cursed from childhood, losing your mother, and effectively your father. Dealing with that sort of pain for a lifetime and having your insecurities amplified day after dayбн Raj couldn''t help but be sympathetic.

    "I see." Leonel nodded and remained silent for a moment before continuing.

    "Unfortunately, I have no intention of saving her."

    All those years ago, Leonel had made his stance very clear to Aina. In fact, he remembered the exact words he had spoken that day.

    ''I know you have a heavy burden on your heart. All I want you to know is that I''m here to bear it with you. I just want you to trust me, lean on me. Never go off on your own and do something stupid because I will not come to save you. Do you understand me?''

    Those words, he had spoken them and he had meant them.

 Chapter 1170 73%

    Chapter 1170 73%

    Joel sighed when he heard these words. He had already expected as much, but hearing it so clearly like this made him feel that it was unfortunate.

    Sometimes, Joel felt like there was some sort of god looking down on them and pulling these strings, making certain that they all looked as foolish as possible at any given time for their sick form of entertainment.

    For a long while, they thought that Aina was completely unworthy of Leonel. And, truth be told, she hadn''t really done much to change their opinion aside from becoming extraordinarily beautiful. Unfortunately, this wasn''t enough to move the needle for Leonel.

    Now, in an irony of ironies, it was they who wanted Leonel to step up. Of course, this wasn''t for Aina''s sake, but Joel believed that she was truly Leonel''s best chance at happiness. Or, at the very least, if they didn''t end up together, Leonel deserved some better form of closure than this.

    And yetбн It was now Leonel who wanted no part of it.

    Leonel hadn''t even bothered to say a word to Aina. They weren''t face to face when she left, and he didn''t even look in her direction after hearing Rychard''s announcement. No matter how you spun it, they just found it impossible to feel that such a thing was healthy.

    Joel wondered how they would take things from here. On one side, he wanted to support Leonel and his decision. After all, it was still Leonel''s right to decide how they dealt with these matters. But, on the other, he didn''t want Leonel to decide on something he would regret for a lifetime.

    Unfortunately, Joel felt that Leonel wasn''t a normal person by any stretch.

    If it was someone else, Joel might think that they were just being vindictive and wanted their significant other to suffer just as much as they had, taking responsibility for their own decisions. But, he simply couldn''t find any rage in Leonel''s eyes at all. No matter how good of an actor a person was, it was simply impossible for them to mask such a fresh wound so easily.

    Joel never got the chance to make his decision, thoughбн Because Leonel''s next words seemed to close off any sort of chance they had.

    "I know that you all might try to do something, thinking it to be in my best interest, but I hope that you won''t." Leonel''s gaze gained a sincere and patient light to it. "I do not want my brothers to risk their lives, and the same goes with my grandmother. I only just began to reform a relationship with her and her body is quite frail now, she''s no longer in her prime.

    "Though my grandmother is powerful, she''s not nearly as powerful as she once was and she''s currently stuck at a bottleneck she can''t break past. She has a lot of guilt on her shoulders even though I do not blame her, if you bring this possibility to her, I''m certain that she will go all out for a chance at giving me happiness.

    "But, I need you all to understand that this path won''t bring me happiness. If anything, it will lose me brothers and there''s an over 80% likelihood that it will lose me my grandmother."

    Leonel matched each one of their gazes. He wasn''t pressuring any of them, but he wanted to convey his feelings as clearly as possible. When he laid out the truth so plainly and succinctly, the expressions of the boys couldn''t help but change several times.

    They subconsciously knew how dangerous these matters would be, but hearing it explained like this truly made them understand what kind of game they were trying to play.

    "I can understand Aina''s plight, however the risk is not worth the reward. I can''t trade the lives of people I care about for the life of someoneбн I simply don''t."

    Joel and the others felt their hearts tremble when they heard this. But, it made Leonel''s stance as clear as day. There was simply nothing else they could do to refute it. Judging by Leonel''s tone, even though he didn''t say it, if he felt that they were about to take action, he would stop them. He knew the date of the wedding just as well as they did and it would only be a day from now. There was simply no time for them to devise any sort of plan that could fool Leonel.

    And even if they couldбн should they?

    Leonel sighed. "I don''t want these matters to weigh on you all, but I can''t force it to not either. If it makes you all feel better, the current Aina can snap Rychard like a twig and she''s completely immune to poisons due to her ability. Unless one of the Viola family elders stands in their wedding chambers, no one could force her to do anything she doesn''t want to do. And if she does want to do it, why should you all be the ones to worry about it?

    "Just focus on your training. We have much bigger things to worry about and much bigger goals in mind."

    The eight looked toward one another and nodded. Maybe this was the best way to look at things.

    They alone didn''t have the strength to even think of challenging the Viola. And, they had no right to put Leonel''s grandmother in danger when he explicitly asked them not to. How would they even face Leonel if they came back with Aina but his grandmother was dead? What if he cut them off just like he had James?

    In the endбн There was nothing they could do.

    бн

    The hours continued to tick by. Leonel spent a few moments relaxing with his brothers, mostly at their insistence, before he returned to refining his comprehension of the Luxnix''s Force Art System.

    While part of his mind was on this, another part was on something completely different, thoughбн

    ''Her father had something capable of erasing her personality, huhбн?''

    Sparks flew within Leonel''s Dreamscape.

    ''73% probability that it is another tablet based on currently available informationбн

    ''Soбн How do I get my hands on it?''

 Chapter 1171 Cloud

    Chapter 1171 Cloud

    Leonel could think of a few plans, but judging by the fact that Aina''s father was definitely well into the Sixth Dimension, he would have to be choosy with which one he approached things with.

    ''I also have to consider the possibility that her father is also aware of my own Silver Tablet.''

    When Leonel was in a relationship with Aina, he didn''t hide anything from her, that included the existence of the Silver Tablet. Not only did Aina know of it, but she was also well aware of all its abilities and even the details on how Leonel ended up with it.

    ''Savahn also mentioned that it was a Bronze Tablet? Is there a difference in strength with the color? It''s possible, but there aren''t enough data points. It could also be related to the type of power it has instead rather than anything elseбн But if they both have the ability to wipe personalities, maybe notбн''

    The easiest method was maybe to force Miel to exchange the tablet for saving Aina.

    ''This may work. I wouldn''t even have to save her, I would only need to stall the wedding.

    ''Judging by how things are going, the Viola are likely invested in Aina''s talent. That means that regardless of who her husband ends up being, their main goal is to ensure that she remains within their family.

    ''Because of how close the event days are, if I sneak into the Viola family compound and kill Rychard, the Viola would have no choice but to postpone the wedding. The optics of forcing a woman to marry someone else right after their fiancиж died would be terrible.

    ''Of course, there''s also the chance the Viola wouldn''t care. But, even then, they would still need to wait a day or two. By then, the second day of the Selection would begin.

    ''Aina would have to participate, so there would be opportunity for her father to snatch her away and bring her to safety.''

    This was the first plan Leonel thought of, but there were a few issues. For one, if it was so easy to get to Rychard and kill him, Miel would have probably done so personally already. However, the reason Leonel thought it was still possible was because the Viola family was well aware that they had offended Miel, they would always be on guard against him.

    The other problem was how Leonel would sneak in to begin with. Yuri and Savahn were probably having their movements monitored by now. In fact, if the Viola were smart, they would already know everything about their movements to begin with.

    ''They definitely know that Yuri and Savahn contacted Joel and the others. That would put them even more on guard and makes things even more difficult.

    ''Hmбн Seems like it''s not worth it.''

    The risk to reward ratio wasn''t there. Leonel refused to put his grandmother''s life in danger, which meant he would have to do it himself. And though he was confident, he wasn''t foolish.

    Not only was there a high likelihood he would die while the Viola were on alert, but the reward in return was likely not to be worth it. If the Bronze Tablet was just a weaker replica of his Silver Tablet, he would gain nothing from this.

    ''In that case, we need to minimize the risk more. Aina''s father should be present during the second and third days of the Selection. I think I can modify a Force Art technique of the Luxnix into a perfect tracker. By then, I can just deal with him and take the tablet away when I''m strong enough, it probably won''t take longбн''

    Leonel''s Force surged, forming delicate tendrils. Soon, a spider the size of a fingernail appeared on his palm.

    It scurried around under his control before touching Leonel''s spatial ring and vanishing within it.

    Leonel closed his eyes and made some quick calculations.

    ''Several problems need to be fixed. First, I''ll modify the shell of the spider. It needs to be more transparent to the point where any light that touches it goes right throughбн Alright, I''ll adjust this point here. Though it won''t be perfectly invisible, it won''t be a problem under my control.

    ''The second issue is that crossing the spatial barrier of a treasure weakens it considerably. That cuts down the effective range significantly and it would deteriorate to nothingness in just a few days. I''ll have to change the base element of the creation into the Spatial Element and have it fuse with the spatial Force of the ring, creating a sort of symbiotic relationship. That way, so long as the ring lives, the spider will live.

    ''The solution to the second problem should also fix the third. So long as the spider and ring become one, the ring itself will become a beacon and signal only I can see and hear. Perfect.''

    Leonel sat in silence for several moments, his calculations finishing in rapid succession.

    His eyes opened and his Dream Force surged once more. This time, it almost looked as though nothing at all appeared on Leonel''s palm. But, even if you looked closely, it almost looked like a droplet of fresh water. It was only after Leonel activated the Second Awakening of his Wisdom Branch and his eyes sharpened that he could see the beautiful crystalline body of the little spider.

    ''Excellent. I should be able to pick out Aina''s father based on the energy signature of the Brazinger family when the time comes. I''ve seen and met enough of themбн''

    Leonel nodded to himself and didn''t mind this matter anymore. So long as he and Miel were on the same planet, he would be able to find him with this method. As for the matters with Aina, he no longer needed to worry about them.

    Whether she got married or not had nothing to do with him.

    **

    The minutes turned to hours and then days. Soon, it was the surprise event many had been waiting for and the marriage union of Aina Brazinger and Rychard Viola was here.

    Those who had gotten themselves a place in the arena soon began to appear in the Viola Estate one after another. If it wasn''t for the fact that many other Sectors were also having their Selections now, they would have likely sent representatives of their own as well.

    The grand event was beginning.

    Leonel, however, was in his penthouse suite, having finally begun to take his rest seriously. He snored lightly and peacefully, his head resting on a cloud of pillows.

 Chapter 1172 Air

    Chapter 1172 Air

    Aina sat within a luxurious room upon a well cushioned stool. Before her, a mirror lay, reflecting her image back to her. In her palm, there was a pair of scissors. She held them open and up to her hair, thinking about how short she should cut it. But, for some reason, she was hesitating.

    ''Hm, it''s a bit amusing.'' She thought to herself. ''If I really was a vampire, I wouldn''t have a reflection at all, now would I?''

    It was a completely random and almost painfully childish thought.

    Ever since she woke from her sleep, Aina had found her long hair very annoying. She couldn''t use it to attack like some other people with weird abilities and she always had to compensate for it in battle so that her opponent couldn''t take advantage. She couldn''t for the life of her understand why she had allowed it to get so long.

    What was especially frustrating was that every time she entered her peak battle state, her vitality would be stimulated and it would grow even longer. By then, she would have to trim the ends just to make sure she wasn''t sweeping the ground with her every step.

    ''My facial structure is pretty good, I could probably pull off going completely baldбн Hmбн''

    As Aina was lost in thought, she heard the sound of footsteps and her door clicking open. She lowered the scissors in her hand, forgetting her original purpose as she met the gaze of the person who had entered through the mirror.

    The current Yuri was red and puffy eyed. She didn''t look like she had gotten an ounce of sleep, but for someone as powerful as her, missing out on a single night''s rest shouldn''t have been enough to put her in such a state.

    As though she had to sneak around, she carefully closed the door behind her and locked it soon afterward. Her chest beat so wildly that it seemed that her heart might fly from her chest.

    "Ainaбн"

    Yuri''s voice almost carried with it a pleading tone. Looking at her friendбн no, her sister of so long, she felt as though someone was stabbing her through the heart repeatedly.

    The current Aina looked as beautiful as an angel. The custom of white wedding dresses of Earth wasn''t shared here, but none of that stopped her from shining like she was her own star.

    She wore a dress of violet that wrapped around her proud peaks tightly before falling somewhat loosely down her hips and legs. Her delicate shoulders were adorned by a silk shawl embroidered with patterns of purple blooming flowers and her forehead wore a minimalistic crown of gold.

    Her hair was meant to be done up with a very special hair pin reserved for the ladies of the Viola family who shared similarly high status. This job was to fall into Yuri''s hands, but judging by her appearance, she wanted to use this chance to speak of something else entirely.

    "Hm?" Aina blinked.

    Her gaze looked Yuri up and down, seemingly trying to analyze something.

    "You can''t go through with this."

    Aina''s head tilted. "Didn''t we already have this conversation yesterday? Why are we having it again?"

    Hearing such a response, Yuri felt like banging her head against a wall. She knew that she shouldn''t be doing this, she should be allowing Aina to stumble and fall on her own, just like one would in real life. Only this way would she be able to rebuild her personality the way it had been before.

    But, Yuri just couldn''t accept this. Aina was her treasure, the one person she respected to the depths of her soul, maybe even more than her own adoptive father. She had watched Aina go through so much as nothing more than a little girl. She couldn''t stand the idea of her image and sense of self being tainted in this way.

    Plus, who went through life without receiving any sort of advice? Miel knew of the danger of Aina not reawakening to her true self soon enough, so he took a hands off approach trying to expedite Aina''s growth by allowing her to maneuver through situations alone. But then hadn''t he been forced to step in due to the Void Palace anyway?

    Everything was a mess. Everyone seemed to be trying to do their best with what they were given, but life and circumstances kept forcing them to trip and fall.

    "Ainaбн" Yuri said with more urgency.

    If she couldn''t get Aina to agree, any sort of escape plan was meaningless. If the person in question didn''t cooperate, any small chance they had was nill.

    The truth was that Yuri knew it was helpless. After two days, they had no plan. Miel hadn''t said anything to her, she had contacted Joel again only to learn that Leonel had refused, and now there was no one but her and Savahn. In fact, if it wasn''t for Savahn stalling the other maids, she wouldn''t even be able to be here to speak to Aina alone and give it one more try.

    .

    "Yuri, I know you worry for me, but there is really no need. The likelihood of escaping the Viola is near zero and even if we do, we''ll be hunted down. The only escape would be getting accepted by the Void Palace, but why would the Viola allow me to continue to participate if we somehow managed to escape? It''s one thing to run away, but if there''s a location they know we have to be at, what good would that do?"

    Aina''s words had suddenly gone from overly childish to coldly calculative.

    Yuri grit her teeth. "At leastбн At least do what I asked and speak to Leonel through me. If you have his grandmother''s help, there''ll be little the Void Palace can do to stop you from participating."

    Aina looked toward Yuri as though she was looking at a na?ve little baby.

    "Didn''t you see how the Luxnix treated them? If Rychard asks a favor of the Luxnix, do you think she could stop the combined might of the Luxnix and Viola all on her own?

    "Plus, I''ve already said I won''t contact him."

    "WHY NOT?!" Yuri completely lost her cool, unable to hold it back any longer. "This isn''t the time for pride! This is your life we''re talking about!"

    Aina shook her head. "Because he''s a man of his word. He said he wouldn''t come, so he won''t come."

    Yuri felt that all her air had been forcefully pulled out from her body as she fell to the floor.

 Chapter 1173 None Other

    Chapter 1173 None Other

    The hall the Viola had chosen for the wedding wasn''t much of a hall at all. There was no ceiling and the ambience was only enclosed by tall pillars holding up nothing more than the sky.

    The grass was a fantastical shade of violet, the waters shared a light shade of pink, and the trees in the surroundings all had white bark and delicate silver leaves.

    The picturesque scenery seemed like it was pulled right out of a fairy tale. Even with the thousands of guests present, with even more still coming, no one seemed willing to ruin the sheer beauty of it all.

    The conversation filling the air was often quite benign and uninteresting. But, of those that were worthy of note, many revolved around this curious turn of events. The marriage of a Crown Heir was most definitely worth at least this much fanfare. The trouble wasбн There actually wasn''t enough of it.

    For an event of this scale, it should have been announced months ago. Pillar families and organizations from across several Sectors should have made an appearance and the wife in question should have been a well known figure for ages.

    After being blindsided by this information, many began to look into this Aina Brazinger character and her background only made them more curious. She was the daughter of a Vassal of the family, but it wasn''t an Eternal Vassal, but rather a first generation one. This was quite surprising.

    Outside of this, she didn''t seem to have any other background. Her mother was unknown and presumed dead, while her father was quite low profile. The only standout feature, aside from her overwhelming beauty, was her merits in clearing Zones.

    Unfortunately, information on this was quite scarce and guarded. Though, this made perfect sense. After all, the highest rated Zone Aina had entered for the sake of the Viola was one related to the Silver Empire. This was obviously information she kept close to herself, and whatever she was forced to disclose was kept well by the Viola family.

    The only reason everyone didn''t assume that Aina was a flower in a vase, picked out by Rychard because of his lust, was because her performance during the first day of the Selection had spoken for itself. How could any of them look down on what they had seen that day?

    That said, this didn''t stop those with nothing better to do from placing her firmly atop the list of this Sector''s Beauties, a list that contained women who hadn''t moved their positions in several decades. On this list, there were princesses of families, famous entertainers, and even the spouses of some of the most powerful men of the Three Pillar Sector...

    And yet, she was placed number one.

    Among the growing crowd, Gradeyr sat in silence. Every so often, someone would send him a look of disdain or pity, but he simply pretended as though he hadn''t seen anything at all.

    Ever since he lost the battle for Crown Heir, he had been fairly silent. He didn''t reprimand his younger brother for being his Achilles Heel, nor did he snap. He continued about his business as though nothing had happened and like he hadn''t lost something he had spent his whole like working toward.

    Today, he sat at a wedding that may very well should have been for him had things not gone the way they had gone, but he continued to respect the rules of etiquette and took his loss in silence.

    He too had participated in the Selection and managed to get a spot on the second day, but so had many other members of the Viola family. There was nothing special about his achievement and it flew under the radar as usual.

    He was never as calculating as Rychard, but he was a man with his own pride and he would continue to act as such.

    The inflow of people began to slow. The number of invitees was easily pushing 10 000, making this a truly grand event.

    They all took their seats and began to wait patiently, their eyes sparkling as they laid eyes on the large purple lily that stood upon the large platform ahead. It had veins of gold and shimmering petals that swayed gently in the wind. It was the perfect center piece for such a grand wedding.

    And then, the delicate sound of music began to play.

    бн

    In a separate location within the Viola estate, the atmosphere wasn''t nearly as lively or beautiful. The lights were dark and the air was especially heavy, the scent of blood and sweat leaving a thick stench in the air.

    Standing tall, there were four men. Of them, three were well into their middle ages and the last was a youth just entering his prime. Among the three middle aged men, two seemed particularly subordinate to the last, but this didn''t change just how powerful they were individually.

    Without fail, all four of these men had flickering violet irises, carrying with them a depth of amethyst that danced between the vibrant color and the shade of black.

    Of the two weaker middle aged men, one was particularly tall, his chin, jaw and cheeks covered by the shadow of a short and scruffy beard. His posture would remind Leonel of Aphestus and he seemed to contain the same hidden explosive power within his limbs.

    The latter was quite fat and stocky, having such a large belly that one would have trouble understanding just how he walked through doorways. However, rather than jiggling, his belly was like a bronze cauldron, hardly shifting at all with his movement.

    These two men were none other than Eternal Vassal Rojeon and Qindi.

    And that made the identity of the last all the more obviousбн The strongest of the Eternal Vassals and the right hand man of Patriarch Violaбн Eternal Vassal Obrien.

    And yet, right this moment, they were all gasping for breath, their bodies beaten and bloodied, many of their bones broken, and standing amongst a litter of corpses around themбн

    .

    "To think that even after being schemed against to this extent, poisoned, trapped within a formation designed specifically for him, and sapped of his right to gather Force from the atmosphereбн It would still take so much to slow him down to this extentбн"

    The young man spoke slowly, his gaze flickering. If he wasn''t so cautious and hadn''t prepared so many contingencies, there was simply no way this would have succeeded. Among the dead, there were even countless main family members. The Viola had actually lost 20% of their Sixth Dimensional experts to this one battle, he almost couldn''t'' believe it.

    If the Viola elder knew they would take such a loss, they would have never done this. But, who could have known that this person would actually have hidden so much of their strength?

    The young man''s head tilted up, familiar music drifting to his ears. Hearing this, his frown faded and his smile returned.

    "In that case, I guess I''ll have to thank you for your efforts by marrying your daughter."

    The young man turned and flashed away.

    There was no doubt that this young man was Rychard.

    As for the man beaten to within half an inch of his life, lying chained to the ground before them allбн

    It was none other than Miel, Adam Renier Brazingerбн Aina''s father.

 Chapter 1174 Bad Question?

    Chapter 1174 Bad Question?

    The music drifted throughout the Viola estate. Yuri, who had barely cobbled her emotions back together, found herself crying once more. It was like the beautiful sound of plucking strings and warm horns was instead the call of death to her ears.

    Her fingers trembled as she tried to delicately form the strands of Aina''s hair. Step by step, her long hair became an elaborate bun. If it wasn''t for how blurry Yuri''s vision was, she would probably think it was really beautiful. Luckily, she still had her Internal Sight to rely on, or else she would be a true mess.

    As steadily as she could, she placed the ornament of Viola family women atop Aina''s hair, completing her hairdo.

    "This dress is a bit uncomfortable. It would be easiest if there was at least one slit down the leg." Aina spoke to herself, having long since realized that Yuri was beyond saving. If this was a life or death situation, she might just have to leave her behind completely.

    The childish and out of place thoughts in Aina''s head didn''t seem to stop. She hadn''t made any sort of progress at all.

    Yuri pulled away, trying hard to control her breathing.

    At that moment, there was a light clicking noise as the doors opened once again. Yuri''s head snapped back like a frightened kitten. But, when she saw that it was Savahn, the rock on her chest instead got heavier than lighter. It suddenly hit her that the opportunity Savahn had gotten for her was wasted once again. She hadn''t been able to budge Aina at all.

    Savahn, seeing Yuri''s pale, tear streaked face, sighed, realizing the truth without having to hear it explained to her.

    Deflated, Yuri collapsed onto a nearby couch. Soon, the maids Savahn had distracted would likely come back. And, with the music playing, it likely wouldn''t be more than five minutes before Rychard was here to truly begin things.

    The marriage ceremonies of the Viola weren''t very heavy on tradition. Outside of the hair piece heirloom, there wasn''t much to abide by. However, there were still its own set of rules.

    This grace period of music that was playing now was actually for the people to give their well wishes and blessings to the couple before the ceremony began. During this time, a silence would fall over the wedding hall and a peaceful meditation would take place. Beneath this silence and the music, the flower centerpiece would begin to bloom.

    The blooming of the flower represented the budding of lifelong happiness.

    Once the flower was on the verge of blooming, the soon to be husband and wife pair would walk down the aisle together. Their walk would be timed with the final blooming of the flower, and their stepping onto the stage would coincide with the maturity of said flower.

    The timing and control of all of this was taken under the man''s lead. As he would be the head of the household, it was his responsibility to take on. The better timing the husband had, the stronger his leadership skills and the more blessings the flower would bestow upon their union.

    Of course, Rychard would never ruin the timing of his own wedding, so there was no way that he would be late. And, even if he was, no one was na?ve enough to believe that the Viola didn''t have their own methods of making sure that this tradition of theirs was followed to the greatest degree possible. There were definitely many tricks and techniques they could use to slow or speed up the progress. In the end, there were no real blessings to be had, it was just a hint of superstition from an olden age and a ceremonial practice.

    They had all already run out of time. It was over.

    Savahn sighed. Forcing a smile she walked to Aina''s back, meeting her gaze through the mirror.

    "You look very beautiful. You will make Rychard very happy."

    Aina blinked. "I''m not interested in making him happy."

    "Oh?" Savahn raised her brows. "And why is that?"

    "It seems foolish to worry about the happiness of someone that doesn''t really care about your own happiness." Aina responded as though it was very obvious.

    "Isn''t it very hard to make someone you don''t know happy?" Savahn asked. "What makes you happy?"

    "Fighting and eating." Aina replied with a beautiful smile.

    "Being logical doesn''t make you happy?"

    Aina paused, not answering immediately for the first time.

    "Not really. It just makes him happy."

    "Does it make him happy? Or is that just what you think would make him happy?"

    "Is there a difference? I know him very well."

    Aina didn''t feel this was refutable. She did know Leonel very well. She even knew exactly how he would react to this exact situation. In fact, she was certain that he wasn''t even thinking about her right now.

    Truthfully, she was very annoyed by this, but she had already decided to be logical. Since she was being logical, how could she be illogically angry? He had already warned her and he was simply following through with what he said he would do. What would being annoyed change?

    Unfortunately, it didn''t seem that Aina had grasped the ability to differentiate between outward shows of emotion and inward showings. She thought that what someone showed them on the outside was exactly how they felt on the inside. It was a very childish way of viewing the world. She still had the emotional maturity of a toddler.

    But now that she was feeling this mix of external and internal emotion, she was suddenly confused.

    Was there a difference between what she thought and the reality? Savahn''s question left her wondering.

    "Savahn." Aina suddenly spoke before Savahn could respond.

    "Hm? Yes?"

    "I have been very, umбн Selfish? Yes, selfish to you, right? But you are still here. Is it because you lack backbone?"

    Savahn was stunned by these words. She wasn''t sure whether she should be angry, sad or enraged.

    She managed to calm herself down, but shuddered when she met Aina''s gaze again.

    "Was that a bad question? Did it make you angry? I''m sorry."

    Savahn was stunned again. That was the first time Aina had ever apologized since she lost her personality.

    Unfortunately, Savahn never got the chance to respond.

    At that moment, the doors opened much more forcefully than they had before. And, this time, it was Rychard standing on the other side.

 Chapter 1175 Unnecessary Things

    Chapter 1175 Unnecessary Things

    Rychard looked nothing like a man who had just been standing at the scene of a bloody crime. His robes were a deep violet, almost black, embroidered by a deep dark gold color. On his lapel, the symbol of the Viola sat, intertwining in flowers and vines, while his tall collars were embroidered with twin horned dragons.

    When this sort of outfit was matched with his noble disposition, his cascading black hair and his deep violet eyes, he gave off the feeling of a refined, handsome and confident gentleman.

    Rychard had a light smile on his face but it froze somewhat when he saw the crying Yuri. He couldn''t have something like this ruining his wedding.

    "Judging by the situation, it seems it would be best if the two of you just stayed here."

    Originally, Rychard didn''t find there to be any problem with allowing Yuri and Savahn to attend. A wife without friends would raise more questions than answers, it was already odd enough that Aina had no family background to speak of.

    However, if he had to choose between that small oddity and Yuri leaking tears, it was obvious which he would choose.

    Yuri immediately wanted to protest, but Rychard had already snapped his fingers. Several of the maids, one of whom had Sixth Dimensional strength, came forward.

    Seeing such a scene, Rychard couldn''t help but feel a bit of heartache. It was a good thing that the Three Pillar Galaxy had been at peace for a very long time now, or else the Viola family might very well fall due to this choice of theirs.

    Losing 20% of their Sixth Dimensional forces in a single sweep was absolutely unheard of. Even now, Rychard could hardly believe it. He was able to ignore the troubling feeling this caused him because he was simply too excited to take Aina as his own.

    But ultimately, women were just women. One day he would grow bored of Aina and this trouble would come back around full circle. By then, he wouldn''t be able to ignore it any longer.

    There was good news, though. They had managed to capture him alive, so they could more easily control Aina in this way. Also, there was definitely something special about Miel and his blood. It was even possible for them to strengthen their Lineage Factor in the future. Should they succeed, it would all be worth it.

    ''It''s fine, the area was too closed off. We should be able to keep this a secret for at least a decade. By then, we would have already recovered.''

    Seeing that the maids had come back, Yuri and Savahn could only accept their fate in silence.

    "Aina, it''s time." Rychard''s expression softened.

    Aina nodded and stood. Due to her current stature and the shoes she wore, she was even a small hint taller than Rychard now, something that made his lip twitch. But, he buried it deep within. Today was his day, he wouldn''t let anything stain it.

    "Hold on a moment!"

    Rychard frowned but Savahn continued to speak quickly

    "It''s just a small adjustment. I only want to wish my friend good luck and fortune."

    Savahn appeared before Aina and helped her to fix the last wrinkles of her dress.

    "Do you really want to know?" Savahn asked.

    Aina blinked before remembering what they had been talking about. Then, she nodded.

    "My grandparents died. My parents died. My siblings died. I tolerate the things you''ve done to meбн Because I have no one else. So yesбн I guess I am lacking backbone. If I was more like Leonel, maybe things would be easier for me."

    "бн"

    Aina remained silent for a long while.

    "бн No one elseбн?"

    Savahn let Aina go and returned to the couch to sit by Yuri''s side.

    In silence, Aina walked out of the room with Rychard by her side. She shuffled forward in silence, seemingly not hearing the small attempts at conversation that he was making.

    "бн We will have to wait until after the Selection for our Honeymoon, but I have amazing things planned. You must not have seen a lot of the Dimensional Verse yet, right? There are all sorts of extraordinary places.

    "For example in the Muratha Sector, there''s a world formed entirely of a thick mass of water. It''s ice caps have such a dense amount of Water Force that when it snows, it precipitates Force Crystals. Every 10 000 years, after enough accumulation, it will enter a Blizzard state where the entire planet becomes encased in a thick layer of ice. If you''re lucky enough, there''s a chance that it could snow Pure Force Crystalsбн"

    Rychard continued to babble on but when he looked toward Aina''s side profile to catch a glimpse of her otherworldly features, he almost snapped. She wasn''t paying attention at all.

    Rychard had always been good at controlling his emotions, plotting and scheming in the background. But, with the months he spent trying to court Aina, only for her to insult and belittle him at every turn, his patience had long since been wearing thin.

    He was truly about to snap, but his reason took over once again. Taking deep breaths, he closed his eyes. Soonбн Soon.

    It was then that Aina suddenly spoke.

    "You have the smell of my father''s blood on you."

    Rychard''s gaze flickered. But, he had just calmed himself, he wouldn''t lose it again so quickly.

    "Since you know then there''s even less to talk about. Be obedient and he will be fine. Step out of line, and he won''t be. It''s that simple."

    "You believe that I care for his safety enough to do every and anything you say?"

    Usually such a question would have some sarcasm laced into it, but Aina''s tone was indifferent and almost spoken as though she was genuinely asking.

    Rychard''s expression couldn''t help but change after hearing this. Thisбн Wasn''t how things were supposed to go?

    "My father has always raised me to be a weapon to seek revenge for my mother. Anything that compromises that isn''t something that he will accept. Even if he dies, so what? Do you think that this is enough to control me?"

    Aina''s gaze finally turned toward Rychard, but when their eyes met, the latter felt as though his soul had left his body. The cold chill and the scent of death had practically grabbed onto his nose.

    Aina looked away just as quickly. "I am doing this so that I can go to the Void Palace. At the same time, you will receive the social credit of being my husband not to mention a stake in my future. Don''t do unnecessary things and make me look down on you even more."

    Aina continued to walk forward, her gaze becoming somewhat vacant once more. She still couldn''t quite grasp Savahn''s meaningбн But it should have been simple, no?

 Chapter 1176 Foster Care

    Chapter 1176 Foster Care

    Rychard stood almost frozenбн

    Had he just lost 20% of his Sixth Dimensional expertsбн For no reason?

    Aina''s mind wandered. This time, she didn''t need to hide how she was feeling. It was surprisingly easy for her to separate out emotion and logic when it came to her father. Of course, she lacked the emotional maturity to truly understand why that was.

    It could have been because her father had always encouraged her to do so. It could be because her father simply didn''t mean as much to her as he should have. It could have even been because the weight Leonel held for her was even heavier than that of the man she shared so much blood with.

    The truth was that with her personality gone, many of the baggage and emotional scarring that came with it had vanished as well. The good news was that this had allowed Aina to heal from many things. Of course, the bad news was how these series of events was playing out.

    To Aina, she had always attached a lot of this baggage to her father, but most of it wasn''t love. It was duty, it was respect, it was an unwillingness to let him downбн But on the list of emotions she attached to her father, love was very, very far down the list.

    When Aina lost her personality, she essentially lost the ability to contextualize her memories. The things that weighed of heavy importance were often things she had the most and fondest memories of. But, with how long it had been since her father left her side, how could she have many of him to begin with?

    The result was this.

    Aina didn''t feel worry, sadness or angerбн She hadn''t even asked how her father was doing or if he would survive the beating they had likely given him.

    Maybe if Miel could peer into his daughter''s mind, he would realize that he had faltered somewhere along their path. As for exactly where, it would be up to him to grasp and understand this.

    That said, Aina herself was hardly considering this at this moment. As they walked through the Viola estate, following flowery reefs and paths of delicate rose petals, her mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.

    No one elseбн

    According to Aina''s memories, she had felt like Savahn had for a very long time. In fact, she had felt it for longer. There was a period in her life before her father returned with Yuri that she was completely ignored.

    The orphanage system of the Ascension Empire was very good. No children were starved or abused, at least not in the normal way. There was no yelling from their overseers and there was always food on their plates. There were even plenty of opportunities to have fun and live life.

    Unfortunately, being adopted was something that almost never happened.

    With the advancements in medicine, sterilization or impotency was practically non-existent. Even in the people that it did, the treatments were fast, affordable and easily administered, as was most health care beneath Emperor Fawkes'' rule.

    Of course, there were still kind hearted couples, not to mention same sex couples, who had it within them to help or start families for themselves. But, each of these had hurdles of their own.

    In the case of same sex couples, the options for surrogacy and sperm donation was so high class that many would choose to have their own children anyway. Surrogacy didn''t even need a living human anymore and would only need an egg donor, while the Gene Analysis Exam ensured that any and everything was known about the sperm and egg donors.

    Then there were the kind hearted couples, heterosexual or otherwise, who thought to adopt as a good deed to society.

    The first issue was that the foster care system of the Empire was so good, that often the treatment of the children was even better than what these kind hearted couples could provide, so much of the incentive one might have was not there.

    Then there came the issue of class disparity. Those on the surface of Earth were often too busy trying to maintain their status into the future generations to worry about adopting while those on Paradise Islands often lacked the resources to even begin the process.

    Then there was the biggest and largest issues: The fees that came with adopting a child depending on their Gene Analysis Exam varied wildly. The more talented the child, the more expensive it was to the point where even many nobles couldn''t or refused to afford it.

    This was done on purpose by Emperor Fawkes. Children wouldn''t understand the underlying system, all they would understand is that their government cared for them since they were children when their parents couldn''t and even when no one else wanted themбн

    With her Five Star Evaluation, Aina was doomed to never be placed with a family. Every time she made connections with a new friend, they might be adopted the next day, leaving her alone again.

    She closed herself off and focused entirely on her training. She had no one else but herselfбн

    Until her father returned with Yuri, giving her a sister and confidant that she had always wanted. But, her father didn''t spend any time with her, leaving her soon afterward to vanish toward parts unknownбн

    But Yuri never truly treated her like a sister. To Yuri, she was more like a master to serve and cater to. She took care of all of Aina''s needs, but it just wasn''t the same.

    Aina knew it wasn''t Yuri''s fault. Aina was human but Yuri wasn''t. The way the latter viewed and interacted with the world was very different.

    Unfortunately, due to the way Yuri was, Aina ironically felt even more isolated from the world than before, even more aloneбн

    The world was repetitive and the same in those days.

    Rise. Go to school. Study. Train. Eat. Sleep. And repeatбн

    Until, that is, she finally reached the end of the foster care program and was allowed to go to high school along with everyone else.

    It was there she met two people that changed her lifeбн Leonel and Savahn.

 Chapter 1177 Blooming Flower

    Chapter 1177 Blooming Flower

    Thanks to the live-in dorms of Royal Blue Academy, Aina was finally able to live a life close to normalcy after her 13th birthday.

    She remembered meeting Savahn in her dorm rooms. Back then, Savahn had been a really shy and reserved person. She was a lot like Aina, having entered the Academy thanks to her talent rather than her family background.

    For the first time, it was impossible for Yuri to become a wall against Aina meeting other people for the sake of her ''protection''. In addition, because of the environment, she had to tone down a lot of her usual personality, becoming a lot more quiet and reserved.

    Thanks to this, Aina was able to meet and open up to Savahn. Learning that Aina was an orphan, Savahn instantly felt more relaxed. Without having to tiptoe around the heiress of some tycoon family or some arrogant princess noble, she was able to slowly open up and become more and more of herself.

    Not long after Aina met Savahn, she met Leonel at their orientation. She honestly didn''t remember much about that day at all, all she could remember was his bright smile.

    He had his brothers around him and everyone seemed to gravitate toward him. She lost count of how many uppity noble girls cast him one or two extra glances, only to grow frustrated when he didn''t seem to notice them back or practically faint when he smiled in return.

    Aina had thought that he was the son of some famous noble, but she was shocked when she found out that his background was even poorer than Savahn''s, actually coming from a Paradise Island.

    From all the social conditioning she had been through, she had always thought that nobles were too high strung to ever care for a commoner like Leonel. But, he had already been proving them wrong for a very long time.

    It wasn''t until several weeks later their gazes finally met. As much as the first day was a blur, that day was something Aina remembered every moment of. It was as though her entire body had been shocked awake, her hairs standing on end and her heart beating wildly. Her blood rushed through her veins and the air flew from her lungs, retreating with no intention of coming back.

    Leonel must have felt the same thing to, because despite all the girls he had ignored up to that point, despite all the popularity he had gathered, he dashed away from his brothers, appearing before her like a gust of wind.

    "Will you please be my girlfriend?!"

    The words came out like a clap of thunder. He probably hadn''t tried to be so loud, but Aina became like a startled deer in headlights, his booming and confident voice becoming like an avalanche to her ears.

    Before she realized what was happening, she, Aina Brazinger, someone who had never been embarrassed or shy a day in her life, rushed off as fast as her legs could carry her.

    After that day, due to Leonel''s popularity, Aina, who had been practically invisible to the young noble girls, had practically become public enemy number one. They couldn''t get a glance but she got a confession? What made her worthy?

    Aina never retaliated to the bullying. She had always tempered her mind and remained calm and calculating. It only seemed to be around Leonel that she completely lost control of her emotions, not knowing what to do with herself or even where to place her hands.

    However, Savahn mistook her calmness for fragility, so she reformed herself, becoming something she was decidedly not. She became Aina''s shield, protecting her from the hail of criticism and mean girl tactics of those dorm rooms for an entire four yearsбн

    Since that day, Aina had always had something to lean on. She no longer had ''no one else''. She had a friend willing to become a she-devil to protect her if need beбн She had a crush that was willing to wade through hell and high water just for a chance she might say yesбн

    She knew that she didn''t need Savahn''s protection, she could have shut those girls up with a single punch. She knew that she couldn''t say yes to Leonel, the weight on her shoulders was far too much and she had to give her goals too much of her focusбн

    And yet, she didn''t stop either of them.

    When Aina and Rychard appeared at the beginning of the wedding aisle, it was as though they had become the center of the world. Despite her blank stare forward, Aina was like a fairy, unfettered and unblemished by the mundane. Even if Rychard had been a wooden stick, everyone''s attention would have been drawn to them.

    The two slowly walked down the aisle, the blooming of the flower steadily reaching its peak.

    Aina knew that she had been intoxicated by the feeling. For the first time in her life, she had received the attention, the supportбн the love she had always wanted. From then on, no matter what she did or how unreasonable she was, they were always by her side, even when she was uncommunicative, even when she blamed them for their weaknessбн Even when she left them behind.

    They had always been there.

    Over the years, she grew dependent on them, addicted to that feeling she had never had as a child, that feeling that should have been given to her by her mother, by her fatherбн

    The pair made their way down under the eyes of all. Rychard had his chest proudly out, a confident smile on his features as though what had happened previously never occurred.

    .

    Soon, such a woman would be his. Then, he would go off to the Void Palace and come back with the tools he needed to lead the Viola family into the Seventh Dimension and finally end this generations long war.

    Ten feetбн Eightбн Fiveбн

    The flower slowly reached its peak, prepared to allow the world to see its glory. Motes of Force gathered around it, filling the air with a sweet and delicate scent.

    Aina''s vacant gaze became somewhat misty, but she didn''t seem to notice at all, still blindly moving forward with her mind in other places. But, by now, the two had walked so far forward that the last line of spectators had been crossed. All anyone could see was the alluring view of her back.

    The fa?ade of Savahn had crumbled. Or, more accurately, she had finally told Aina the truth.

    Over the years, she had grown tired of always being Aina''s shield, silently waiting to be picked up when she was needed and dropped off when she wasn''t.

    And now, at this moment, when she was about to get married, she was no longer able to be here.

    Then there was her father. He was a man who should have been there for her since the very beginning, loving and supporting her. But, he too had failed, captured and likely without a chance to be free for decades to comeбн

    Her motherбн She had died not long after Aina was old enough to remember her face. And yet now, she could only recall blurry pieces of her visage. She cobbled together pieces that seemed to make sense, but she had no way of even guaranteeing that the woman she remembered was indeed her motherбн

    And then there was Leonelбн The love of her lifeбн

    Of them all, this was the only one that made Aina''s heart move. It wasn''t because it hurt the mostбн Or maybe it wasбн But even if it did, this was most definitely not the main reasonбн

    It was because of them all, whether it was her father, mother or Savahnбн All of them weren''t here because they couldn''t beбн Savahn was barred by Rychard, her mother had passed away, her father was imprisonedбн

    Only heбн Only he wasn''t here by choice. Only he had truly abandoned her.

    Aina raised her foot to step onto the final platform, but her entire body trembled. The mist of her eyes had turned into something much more than that, but given the vacancy of her gaze, it didn''t seem like she had realized this at all.

    Rychard rose his foot as well, beaming at the sight of the flower. It was perfect. His timing was immaculate and his confidence was completely off the charts. He didn''t seem to realize at all that Aina''s steps had faltered and she had fallen a step behind.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    At that moment, the dome of protection over the Viola estate shattered, shocking the spectators awake from their silence.

    Aina''s back trembled. The aura was so familiar. That blinding pillar of light, that hidden air of destruction and menace, that edge of danger and violenceбн

    It was so close. She had felt it too many times before, seen it too many timesбн Even now, with the vacancy of her gaze, she subconsciously grasped out for it, her eyes lighting up from indifferent to expectant.

    She felt her heart rise out of her chest, her lungs expanding wildly. Her blood rushed beside herself and her paling features were flushed with color in an instant. It was as though she had gone from dead to alive, as though she had finally been given reason to breathe again, to live again.

    Her head snapped backward, her gaze shooting up into the skies and landing on the figure.

    The instant she did, it was as though something inside of her had broken, a rush shooting out from her and her eyes flooding with tears she had already barely been holding back.

    Her whole world collapsed, her mind going blank and her lips moving to say words that were all too familiar.

    "You''re бн not himбн"

    In the skies, Myghell stood on the back of a golden phoenix, his hands clasped behind his back.

    "Kill."

 Chapter 1178 Return

    Chapter 1178 Return

    Rychard''s eyes widened. The sudden commotion would have snapped anyone awake, and he, who had been lost in his own world of fantasies, was no different.

    His head snapped into the skies, his pupils constricting in shock as he watched thousands of Luxnix swoop down from their bird constructs, immediately and without reserve levying attacks toward the guards that reacted from the Viola estate.

    For a moment, Rychard was in a daze. All his plotting and scheming, all his years of training and preparation, could have never made him ready for this day. He couldn''t wrap his head around what was happening.

    Had they already found out about their losses? That was absolutely impossible. Rychard had been discreet and as careful as one could be. On top of this, that battle had just ended. How could there possibly have been time to assemble such a contingent? If even that wasn''t enough, had this been knowledge the Luxnix used to act upon, the Montex would have definitely jumped aboard to take advantage as well.

    Everything pointed toward the fact that the Luxnix had been planning to do this from the very beginning. But, Rychard truly couldn''t understand where their confidence came from.

    If the Luxnix weren''t aware of their 20% loss, then why would they ever take this risk? The three families had always been neck in neck in terms of strength. Launching an attack like this would only cause suffering on both sides and leave the Montex to benefit from the ashes left behind.

    What Rychard had no way of knowing was that the balance had been broken long ago. In fact, the balance had been broken three generations ago and it had only continued to tip in favor of the Luxnix. Just a single generation ago, they had already had strength to rival both the Montex and Viola combined. And now, even though this generation had yet to fully mature, they had lost their patience and begun to bare their fangs.

    "Seith! What is the meaning of this?!"

    The booming voice of the Viola family Patriarch boomed.

    The Sixth Dimensional existences of the Viola hadn''t even had time to catch their breaths and restore their paled faces when they were forced to come out once again.

    Seeing such a seen, the Luxnix were visibly stunned. They had no idea what could have happened to put the Viola in such a sorry state before the battle had even begun. But, soon afterward, they laughed uproariously.

    To the arrogant Luxnix, wasn''t this just a sign of how correct their Ancestor had been? They had patiently waited three generations, biding their time and pretending to be equals with this trash. And the day they finally stepped out, ready the bare their fangs, the Gods smiled down on them.

    How could the sharp Internal Sight of the Luxnix possibly miss something so blatantly obvious?

    At this point, Rychard''s face turned several shades of pale. He had been harping so much on the 20% number that he had forgotten something else incredibly important.

    The 20% loss wasn''t nearly as problematic as the current state of the remaining 80%. To say that Miel had killed a fifth of them was only a small part of the story. This didn''t consider the at least 20% he had severely injured, or the 20% more than that that he had drained of stamina and vigor.

    If an accurate picture were to be painted, it would be more accurate to say that Miel alone had cut down the fighting prowess of the Viola by as much as 50%!

    Seeing such a scene, Myghell was even more affirmed in his decision.

    He had originally wanted these matters to continue naturally. But, he also understood that ''naturally'' didn''t mean passively.

    Myghell wasn''t a passive person to begin with. If he insisted on neutrality when allowing things to go on ''naturally'', he would ironically be going against his own nature to begin with.

    This sort of complicated maze to navigate was precisely why he wanted the fewest people to know of the details of this matter to begin with. He already realized that he was acting differently than he normally would, and that was counter productive to his goal.

    To Myghell''s mind, there was still only a possibility that the prophecy spoken of on the tablet spoke of a union of marriage between himself and Aina. But, even if it was just a possibility, how could he ever allow a woman who might be tied to himself in the future to be tainted by another?

    The was the ultimate underlying reason, but this was still a good opportunity nonetheless. In the middle of a wedding, with so many people invited and the guards of the Viola stretched thin, what better time would there be to attack? Plus, the three generation waiting period marked down by his Ancestor had already passed as well. What else was there to wait for?

    This, howeverбн was a truly pleasant surprise. It seemed that today, the Viola would truly be finished.

    Rather than waiting for Seith to respond, Myghell flipped over a palm and his slender sword appeared.

    SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

    Myghell took a light breath. For a moment, the world lost all of its sound. The only thing those below could hear was the steady inhale and exhale of Myghell''s air as time slowed to a crawl.

    "Return to Dust."

    Myghell''s arm slowly lowered, and yet it somehow felt impossibly fast.

    The world was split in two. The clouds separated, the blue skies dimmed to revealed a starry night, and reality itself seemed to pause.

    The expression of the Viola family Patriarch warped. He was an expert on the same level as Seith. No matter how weak he was from the previous battle, there was absolutely no way a Pseudo Sixth Dimensional brat should ever be able to make him feel pressure.

    And yetбн It was already too late.

    His body crumbled, falling in two before being carried into the wind like fluttering flakes of ash.

    [More coming]

 Chapter 1179 Lucky

    Chapter 1179 Lucky

    Aina sat blankly on the platform where her wedding was meant to take place. The carnage around her was still ongoing, she could hear the cries of pain and horror and almost feel the rivers of blood tingling the small hairs on her skin, but she was numb to it all.

    Rychard had long since left her side, rushing in an attempt to help the battle. He may have been a lot of things, but a coward wasn''t one. And though he was highly intelligent, there was absolutely no way he could have pieced together that the Myghell''s goal all along had been to take Aina away, while the destruction of the Viola was just a convenient bonus.

    So, Rychard had left Aina alone, knowing full well that if she faced something she couldn''t protect herself from, there was nothing he would have been able to do either way.

    But, there was no doubt that the fate of the Viola had already been sealed. The guests who had come to take part in the wedding but weren''t part of the struggle sat in a daze themselves, realizing that they were witnessing the collapse of an empire that had ruled for thousands of yearsбн And yet, just like that, they were finished?

    Aina, though, couldn''t be bothered to care. She didn''t pay attention to what was happening, she couldn''t hear the voices around her anymore, and she just blankly stared at the violet grass before her.

    Her tears had long since dried up. The sudden breaking of the dam had snapped her back to reality, a flood of thoughts, emotional compartmentalisations, and slowly grown maturity having come back to her one step at a time.

    It wasn''t an instantaneous process. In fact, it was quite slow at the beginning. The childish thoughts and immaturity seemed to always want to claw their way back. But, a single step at a time, what was, or at least had been Aina, began to return.

    But who was she, anyway?

    Aina seemed to realize now that something within her had snapped the first day she met Myghell. And, funnily enough, the day it all snapped back into place was the second time she met him.

    As she sat there, her arms wrapped around her legs and her head buried between her thighs, she felt a pain in her chest that she hadn''t felt in a very long time. But, almost like a genius of battle who had finally met her match, this pain wasn''t something Aina wanted to run from. Instead, she wanted to bask in it, to feel it fill her nerves and take over her mind.

    Aina knew she had masochistic tendencies. If it wasn''t her ridiculous training regimens, even sometimes going as far as to shatter her own bones just to heal herself, it was always something else. However, this time, she needed this pain not to grow stronger, but to finally feel alive.

    In these last several months, Aina felt like she had been standing before a tunnel with an exit of blinding white light. She had been trying her hardest, doing everything she could to run in the other directionбн But, as though she was stuck in a dream, her legs didn''t move as fast as she wanted them to and her movements felt sluggish.

    She pushed herself harder, only to fall and stumble, failing to claw herself backбн Until everything suddenly went black and she returned to this world once more.

    This pain in her chest right now, the pain she couldn''t ignore no matter how hard she tried or how much effort she put inбн It was her sign that she was back, that she could finally breathe as herself again, that she could finally be Aina again.

    But it hurtбн It hurt like hell.

    As much as that neutered version of herself wanted to be logical, she knew that wasn''t her. She couldn''t just bury how she was feeling, and even when she tried, it would always manifest itself in the weirdest of ways. She had too many memories exactly like thisбн Memories she was often too embarrassed to even recall.

    Aina took deep breaths, wiping the last evidence of her tears away. She looked up into the skies, almost as though to affirm herself that Leonel was truly not there.

    For the first time in a long while, she stood to her feet. Her body flashed, her wedding dress falling to ashes and her body being adorned by flexible silver and black armor.

    She reached for the hairpin that held up her elaborate bun and crushed it in her hands. Then, looking off in a certain direction, she began to walk as though nothing was around her.

    Surprisingly, or maybe not very much so, no one bothered her. To the Viola, she was their Crown Heir''s soon-to-be wife. And, to the Luxnix, she was on the list of those they weren''t meant to touch.

    Using her high Blood Force affinity, finding her father''s direction was as easy as breathing. Though Myghell took note of Aina''s actions, he also didn''t nothing to stop her. If Aina believed that they hadn''t come for her, that was fine too. He didn''t mind.

    She was indeed as beautiful as the piece of her face he had seen before told him, but most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but Myghell''s pride wasn''t something most could understand. He wouldn''t chase a woman, even if he wanted her.

    How things fell into place in the future, so long as he was the Light mentioned, he didn''t care. His goal wasn''t women, nor was it fame or wealthбн It was to stand at the pinnacle of the Dimensional Verse and he didn''t care who he needed to use to get there.

    The events of that day would spread like wildfire, setting the Sector ablaze and leaving a shocking amount of territory completely unprotected.

    But, what did these matters have to do with the Void Palace? Without even a slight delay in schedule, the second day would begin on the day it was promised.

    бн

    In the skies above, Alienor watched this scene with her arms crossed about her chest, coldly watching Aina''s every action before she lightly snorted.

    "Consider yourselves lucky."

    She seemed to be referring to the Viola, as though their collapse wasn''t punishment enough or like she had had something even worse in store for them. But, her next words were even more unabashedly wild.

    "And you. Even if my son doesn''t want you anymore, you''ll still have to spend the rest of your life single."

 Chapter 1180 Simple Words

    Chapter 1180 Simple Words

    Aina walked slowly, her father draped over her back. Despite the weight of the man, with Aina''s obscene strength, doing this much wasn''t very much trouble at all. In fact, had she wanted to, there were probably a myriad of ways she could carry her father without even touching him.

    But, in the end, she still chose this method.

    Despite the grief her father had brought her in her lifetime, he was still her father. While he could be considered to be emotionally abusive, Aina could still understand where he came from. At the same time, if she fell into some introspection, what exactly was the alternative?

    One of the few guilty pleasures Aina had was reading and watching dramas. When she wasn''t studying, training, eating or recovering, she lost herself in worlds that weren''t her own. But, in how many of those stories was the trouble the heroine faced the exact opposite of her own?

    In a father-daughter dynamic, would Aina even get the chance to do things as she pleased? Wasn''t it more likely that her father would try to protect and coddle her, closing her off to the world because she was simply too ''fragile'' as a woman?

    It sounded quite ironic to say such things now because of how many mental breakdowns Aina had had in recent months. But, after regaining control of her faculties, she could say with 100% certainty that she would choose a father like this 10 out of 10 times over a father who refused to let her chase after her goals and live life.

    Had her father made mistakes? Yes. Had his approach been terrible? Yes. Could he have picked a path that would make a lot of this much easier on himself and everyone else? Yes.

    However, he was still a man willing to hand over the Brazinger family Heirloom to a little girl, even knowing that it would cripple his own strength. He was still a man willing to leave her on the safety of Earth to slowly grow while he weathered the storm of the world alone to pave a path for her to be hereбн He was still a man willing to face the army of a Pillar family alone, all while poisoned and handicapped, just so that she wouldn''t have to do something she hadn''t wanted to do.

    He wasn''t a perfect father by any stretch. But, what in her life was perfect to begin with? This father of hers was the only family she had left, the one unconditional pillar of supportбн She wouldn''t allow anymore harm to come to him.

    Miel''s body was too weak to move. Being forced to rest on his daughter''s back like this, the rest of his body refusing to listen to his commands, when it should have been him protecting her. He felt a seething rage boil all through him, his flaming red hair and crimson eyes practically jumping about as though they had minds of their own.

    He felt a wild mix of emotions he couldn''t even properly process. But again and again, shame, humiliation and inadequacy popped up in a perpetual cycle, refusing to allow him to forget.

    "I''mбн sorry."

    Miel''s hoarse voice barely came out audibly. His vocal cords had been shredded and he barely managed to squeeze out these words before he hacked up a mouthful of blood and organs.

    The poison that Rychard had forced on him wasn''t lethal to begin with, but it would still take another day before it was flushed out of his system completely. That compounded by his injuries made him extraordinarily weak. If not for the Viola needing him for whatever reason, he would have long since died in battle.

    Aina''s steps froze when she heard her father''s words. She wasn''t quite sure how to react.

    This wasn''t the first time her father had said such a thing to her. In fact, this was precisely the second time. The first time was when she had just lost her mother and her father was forced to leave soon afterward.

    That was maybe the lowest point in Miel''s life. His wife died, his daughter was cursed, and he was useless to stop it all. He could barely stop himself from breaking down in front of his little girl.

    And now, over decade later, little else had changed. He was still here, still too weak to do anything, still apologizing to his little girl.

    His mistakes were always compounded. Every step he took forward, he cost those closest to him even more.

    If he had never allowed his love to grow and bloom, that beautiful woman he had loved with all his heart would still be alive. If he hadn''t let his emotions dictate his actions the gorgeous little baby girl they had birthed together wouldn''t have to live a life of suffering. If he hadn''t been too confident in his strength and spent more time refining his mind, he would have never let his daughter come so close to giving up the most precious moment of her life to a man who didn''t deserve it.

    He tried to teach his daughter to become a better him, a greater version of himself. But, he never realized that he was so broken and damaged himself that whatever he projected to his little girl would be broken and damaged as well.

    He truly didn''t know how he would face his daughter ever again, but for her to come out unscathed due to nothing more than trash luckбн He didn''t know how he should feel.

    This was the only thing he could do. Apologizeбн He was uselessбн It was the only thing he had left to giveбн

    Aina didn''t know how to respond. For a very long time, she just stood frozen in place, unmoving and in a daze. Compared to when she had been a toddler hearing those words, it hit much differently now that she was a grown woman.

    When she finally did open her mouth to respond, what she said was short and simple. But, it was still enough that Miel could no longer hold back his tears. Everything that he hadn''t shed for his wife, for leaving his daughter behind, for her growing without him by her side, for all the failures he had had in this lifeбн

    It all poured outward like an endless torrent, a silent stream of tears drenching his daughter''s back.

    "I love you, dad."

 Chapter 1181 odd Arena

    Chapter 1181 odd Arena

    Leonel woke up and stretched.

    With light steps, he hopped out of bed and began his revamped flexibility routine. This version was much less embarrassing than the former, but Leonel still preferred to do it alone.

    The Luxnix were natural healers, so the techniques they had in this regard were extensive and well thought out. Compared to the techniques of Valiant Heart Mountain, they were by far and away better. They couldn''t even be considered to be in the same league.

    Leonel wanted to focus on not just flexibility, but power in his flexibility. The importance of that would be his ability to apply strength in positions most could not.

    For example, in a deep squat where ones bottom nearly touched the ground. Most couldn''t even get into such a position to begin with, at least not without their heels coming off of the ground. But, even those that could reach such a position, how much weight could they push?

    Depending on the depth of a squat, the max weight that could be pushed varied along a predictable slope. What Leonel wanted to was eliminate this weakness as much as he could, and to do so with every similar type of movement as well.

    To perfectly fuse flexibility and power, that was his ultimate goal and he was well on his way.

    Leonel jumped to his feet and felt like a spring was coiled within his body. His joints felt good, his ligaments and tendons felt smooth, and his muscles felt explosive. Better yet, his mind was in its prime. Every breath of air felt fresh and beautiful.

    ''Time to go.''

    Leonel slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a crisp T-shirt. He no longer bothered with shoes these days as his body was already stronger than any shoe sole to begin with. On top of that, using his own two feet not only made him more sensitive to certain changes, but Leonel also felt more flexible in his movements.

    He smiled lightly to himself, running his fingers through his pale violet hair.

    ''Today should be fun.''

    **

    The young geniuses of Earth, though they had mostly failed in the first day, still came out to support in full force during the second day. Not only were they here in solidarity, but they also wanted to see the true extent of prowess the geniuses of the Sector had to offer. Like this, they would know exactly how much further they had to go.

    The boys seemed intent on watching Leonel from time to time, almost as if to check if he was truly okay. None of them knew what happened at the Viola estate a few days prior, but they believed that Aina had likely gotten married.

    Still, Leonel continued to act the same way he always had. He laughed and joked with the others as though this matter truly had nothing to do with him. This allowed them and Leonel''s grandmother to sigh a breath of relief.

    There were many people who would bloviate and draw a line on their self worth. But, when push came to shove, they would still allow others to steam roll over them. At least for now, it seemed that Leonel had not regretted his decision and could still function happily.

    What they didn''t notice, though, was that Leonel had raised an internal eyebrow upward.

    Due to his plan to deal with Aina''s father, Leonel had split much of his attention to focus on the arena and its people. He not only needed to locate him, but he also needed to find the opportune moment to act.

    Miel hadn''t been among the Viola family members previously, so Leonel was effectively scanning the whole arena for someone who should match his description. Leonel was certain that he would have red hair and eyes. In addition, he should have an energy signature similar to that of the other Brazingers he had met.

    But, what Leonel didn''t expect was the oddity of the arena.

    For one, there were far too many people on high alert as though they were waiting for the other foot to drop. They were either whispering amongst themselves, looking toward the entrances, or even muttering to themselves.

    Secondly, the Montex family region seemed to have several individuals walking on pins and needles. Many of them had nervous or fidgeting expressions that only calmed after they reached the arena. But, even then, the elders all seemed to have heavy looks on their faces.

    And lastlyбн the Viola family region which should have been filled to the brim was decidedlyбн empty?

    Leonel narrowed his eyes. It couldn''t have been more obvious to him that something big had happened. There was no way that the Viola would miss such an opportunity. And, considering the relaxed air and smiles around the Luxnix family, he had a guess as to what might have happened as well.

    ''A grand event like a wedding is indeed a good chance to catch a family of such great stature off guard. The Luxnix have been biding their time for three generations so maybe they thought this was the perfect opportunity.

    ''But what does this mean for Aina''s father? He was their Vassal, so he probably had to fight as well. If he died, did the tablet fall into the hands of the Luxnix?''

    This was possible, probable, even. If it was true, it would make things a lot more complicated. Rather than defeating one person, he would have to deal with a whole family, all while trying to outpace what growth they''d have with a tablet. That would be a tall mountain to climb.

    Leonel had hardly finished this thought when his Internal Sight flickered once more. His brows couldn''t help but furrow in slight confusion.

    Aina, Savahn, Yuri and Miel were right there, seated together along with the commoner ranks. The only difference was that all four were wearing masks.

    ''Did they manage to escape? Never mind, this is a good thiбк''

    Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    Aina who had been focused on the arena, her hands gripped together, suddenly snapped her head in the direction of Earth''s people. Leonel''s back was facing her as he didn''t need to look with his eyes to use his Internal Sight. But, that didn''t stop her from doing so at all.

    ''Sheбн sensed my Internal Sight?''

    Leonel didn''t get a chance to process this before Orinik flickered and appeared. He clearly had no intention of waiting for the Viola.

    "The rules have already been explained. Day two will be a round robin style tournament. Your performance will be vetted to decide upon the third and final day. The billboard will decide your groups."

    The flickering of the board began. There were only 300 individuals who made it past the first day and each round robin group would have 20 individuals. It also seemed that due to the fact these groups were smaller this time, all 15 groups would be going at the same time.

    Leonel looked up to spot his number, only for his eyes to narrow even further.

    Though there were no names, Leonel''s memory was simply too good. Of the 300 participating, he knew the numbers of them all. Even if he didn''t, he could recognize the energy signature of the Force that made up their numbersбн

    In his groupбн

    1 иC Leonel Morales

    2 иC Higlis Montex

    бн

    7 иC Isac Arundo

    бн

    13 иC Rychard Viola

    бн

    17 иC Syllar Luxnix

    бн

    20 иC Aina Brazinger.

 Chapter 1182 Prey

    Chapter 1182 Prey

    Leonel didn''t spend very long looking at the billboard of motes of light. As easily as he had memorized the numbers of everyone, he had also memorized his own group just as quickly. Instead, his mind was still spinning.

    Before lifting her curse, Aina''s mind was the weakest part of her by far. After she accidentally absorbed his blood during a particularlyбн rough session, they stumbled upon a cure for her curse. Back then, Aina had chosen to keep a small piece of her curse with her because it was useful for her training. But, by then, everything was already perfectly under control.

    Leonel remembered that her mental coercion was so powerful back then that it not only affected him, but she found it difficult to control as well. With such powerful suggestion, even if Aina had been an ugly woman, there would have been lines of men wrapping around several planets waiting to do her bidding. When such mental coercion was fused with her top tier geneticsбн Well, the results spoke for themselves.

    It was actually thanks to Aina that Leonel grasped how to use his King''s Might so quickly. That sort of coercive ability on the world was something that he had gotten a front row seat to everyday until Aina finally learned how to control it.

    But, even then, the change hadn''t been to the point where Aina had overtaken Leonel in matters of the mind. After all, Leonel was at the Peak of the Fifth Dimension in these matters. In fact, he was more accurately at a Pseudo Sixth Dimensional state thanks to awakening his Wisdom Branch so early.

    For Aina to be able to sense his Internal Sight so easilyбн

    In order to remain as stealthy as possible, Leonel had chosen to strip his Internal Sight of much of its strength. The reason why he could only tell that people were whispering amongst themselves and muttering, but he couldn''t hear exactly what they were saying, was because he had stripped his Internal Sight of that ability to make it less obvious. And yet, she had still sensed it.

    Of course, now Aina was well into the Fifth Dimension, the gap between his mind and hers then, versus it now was much smaller. But stillбн

    ''This makes things more complicated, but it isn''t impossible. She reacted, but her father didn''t, that means that her mental coercion and strong mind aren''t a shared strength of their Lineage Factor, so it''s still possible. In that case, isn''t there a perfect opportunity? I''ll just wait until she''s fighting a battle to make a moveбн''

    "Aina? Is something wrong?"

    Savahn''s voice snapped Aina awake.

    "Hm? No, it''s nothing."

    "I hope my group isn''t too hard," Savahn laughed self-deprecatingly. "They really made it hard with these numbers, I have no way of knowing who I''m matching up against."

    Aina smiled. "You''re very strong. I think you''ll do great."

    Aina didn''t need to lie, Savahn was, indeed, very powerful. Though far weaker than herself, Savahn was still a talent of Earth. After so long on a Sixth Dimensional world, the amount of potential she had unearthed was astounding.

    Plus, Savahn had a great amount of battle prowess because she had already become used to surviving on her own. Aina was very confident in her friend.

    бн

    The billboard flickered once more. This time, choosing the first set of matches. A total of 30 numbers lit up, preparing the crowd for 15 matches at once.

    ''Oh? Seems like it''s my turn already.'' Leonel thought to himself.

    "I''ll be back." He said with a smile.

    Leonel''s flickered, a small circle of dust being left where he once stood. When he appeared again, he was already on the stage.

    BANG!

    The stage before Leonel quaked, a heavy set young man landing before him. The stone threatened to crack and it took several moments before the stage itself ceased to move. Anyone else might have directly fallen from the impact, but Leonel''s body simply swayed from side to side as though an expertly engineered creation unmoved by natural disasters.

    BANG! BANG!

    A twin pair of aces slammed against the ground, the low growl of the young man matching the sudden eruption of cheers.

    He had entered a state of battle the moment he landed. Like many others, he saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime, one that he had no intention of squandering. He would make sure he squeezed everything he had out of his body.

    He wasn''t from a family like the Montex, Viola or Luxnix. He wasn''t even from a family a step below them like the Sage or the Arundo. However, he had still managed to claw his way here to the second day and he would make his every breath count.

    Seeing Leonel''s nonchalance, he couldn''t help but be disgusted, but it didn''t take him off his focus in the slightest. In fact, it only made him more focused, his Force rising up like a tide, steadily flooding throughout his body and crashing against the barriers he himself put up.

    He rose up his twin maces, unleashing a mighty roar into the skies before exploding forth.

    BANG!

    Leonel didn''t seem to notice the movement of the young heavy-set man before him. Instead, his head tilted to the side slowly, feeling a strong aura to his left.

    Myghell stood in abject silence, his eyes closed and his long hair fluttering in the wind. He seemed completely separate from everything around him, displaced from the world and higher than even the skies above their head.

    Leonel smiled. No, it might very well be more accurate to say that he grinned.

    The way his head tilted, the way his hands rested in his pockets, even down to the way the dancing wind pressed his clothing to his toned torso and how the shadows outlined his handsome features. It seemed that even with Myghell''s disregard and calm, Leonel was a Demon that had found his prey.

    [Last chapter for today

 Chapter 1183 Trash Like You

    Chapter 1183 Trash Like You

    Hughoc charged forward like a raging bull. The air formed a semi spherical curtain around him, his speed and mass so disproportionate that sparks flew in the air.

    To his back, his maces followed, sparking as they clashed with the wind.

    In the blink of an eye, he appeared before Leonel, his shoulder swinging as though it was nothing more than a lever. The flexibility was obscene and the power behind it was even more so.

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze shifted from Myghell back to Hughoc. His gaze was frighteningly cold and his body was completely unmoving. However, if one ignored the commotion around him and paid attention to the ground beneath his feet, it would be possible to see his toes hooking downward with such force that ten holes surrounded by spiderweb thin cracks had appeared.

    The deepest and most important things to Leonel were Respect and Persistence. Even if he felt his opponent was far weaker than him, he would give them their due respect. Myghell was one matter, a matter he would deal with in due time. However, Hughoc was a different matter entirely.

    Leonel''s entire demeanor changed in a matter of a fraction of a moment. The last three meters between himself and Hughoc happened within the blink of an eye to everyone else. But, to him, everything had slowed so considerably that he could see the fierce twinkling light in his opponent''s eyes, he could see the sizzling heat of the swinging mace as it scorched through the atmosphere as though a falling meteor, and he could see the steady drum of determination that reverberated through Hughoc''s heart.

    The mace appeared right above Leonel''s head, its leading spike barely half a foot from connecting.

    It was then that Leonel moved.

    His right foot swiveled backward in a quarter circle, shifting his body to the side and allowing the mace to whiz right by him.

    The harsh whistling was so grating on the ears that a lesser person with a weaker body might have felt their ears burst. But, Leonel had already reacted.

    His anchor foot remained down, his right foot moving again and lifting into the air, stepping down with a vicious momentum. The descent of Leonel''s sole made the previous meteoric assault of Hughoc''s mace seem like nothing more than child''s play.

    There was something about the timing of Leonel''s movements that felt incomparably smooth, something about the ease and conservation of energy that seem especially beautiful. He was like a well oiled machine, using only as much as he needed and nothing more.

    BANG!

    The polearm of the mace met Leonel''s stomp. The instance was so perfectly timed that the mace had just crashed into the stage''s stone platform. The result was Leonel''s strength fusing with Hughoc''s own, causing the latter''s expression to change.

    Hughoc felt his wrist nearly break, the skin of his fingers and palm suddenly experiencing so much pressure that that they ripped free from his muscle and bone, sending a shocking pain to his brain so severe that he froze for just a moment. The result was him missing a counter opportunity with his second mace even as he lost his grip on the first, his hand turning into a bloody mess.

    BANG!

    The stage imploded, a cloud of dust, rock and bits of stone rising into the air. But, that only hid the muffled bang that happened an instant afterward.

    The crowd was stunned to find Hughoc''s body flying out faster than it had come rampaging in. He shot out of the plume of debris so quickly that it became immediately obvious that he had lost consciousness.

    The steel metal plate he wore on his chest was completely crumpled, a hole the size of a fist becoming its new centerpiece.

    Hughoc crashed outside of the arena, his mouth violently erupting with a pillar of blood. There was no doubt who had won the battle. But, by this point, Myghell was already stepping off of his stage, his opponent standing frozen in place.

    For a long while, the young woman didn''t move, her expression staring out into blank space.

    "Moxxi!"

    It was unknown who had called out this name, but it became like a trigger for a chain reaction. The young woman''s body crumbled piece by piece, her expression becoming one of helplessness and sadness in her final moments.

    It felt as though she wanted to ask ''why did you have to kill me?''. But, whether because she didn''t have the strength to do so, or realized there wasn''t much of a point, she reserved the last of her strength to die with dignity.

    Her face wilted and collapsed into a pile of ash, fluttering into the wind.

    Leonel watched this with silence. He too could have killed his opponent easily. It was only a matter of using a little bit more force or a slight manipulation of his Force. He hadn''t done so because he didn''t see the point.

    When he fought large groups of people, killing as a deterrent and to ensure the safety of his life was one matter. He had learned to accept that this was necessary and began to live with the result. However, in a one on one battle where there were no variables to account for outside of the man right before him, not to mention the fact they didn''t have a grudgeбн He couldn''t help but thinkбн

    Why?

    Were lives really so worthless? Did they not mean anything? Even if they couldn''t defeat you, couldn''t they have still fought for their dreams against others? And even if they couldn''t, so what? Were they worthless because they happened to be born with less talent than others? Because they happened to have weaker backers? Because luck hadn''t shined down on them the same way?

    Who could make such decisions? Who had the right to be the arbitrator of who lived and who died?

    "Is this what you''ve been doing with my power?"

    Leonel''s voice seemed to carry a mysterious strength with it, so much so that there wasn''t a single person who couldn''t hear it.

    "In that case I''ll be sure to take it back. Trash like you is unworthy of having it."

    Myghell''s steps froze.

 Chapter 1184 Said Nothing

    Chapter 1184 Said Nothing

    Myghell''s head turned, his golden gaze meeting Leonel''s pale violet irises.

    For a moment, the world turned still, a hollow clash reverberating before what sounded like the roar of dragons and the cry of phoenixes resonated through the air. Though, it was difficult to tell if this was truly what was happening, or if it was simply an illusion created by the thumping hearts of those spectating.

    It felt as though the other still ongoing battles were meaningless, as though what remained of the Selection had suddenly become a poor attempt at extending vacant, vacuous entertainment when the true root of what they wanted to see was already right before them.

    Leonel might have still stood on his stage while Myghell had already stepped down from his own. And yet, their gazes still somehow felt level.

    A thick violet aura hung around Leonel, a dense golden fog hanging around Myghell.

    The trembling of Planet Luxnix itself seemed to shock people awake from their stupor, their grips on the armrests of their chairs and the erratic beating of their arms suddenly jumping forward several levels in strength.

    Then, it all vanished at once. The two looked away almost simultaneously, Leonel stepping down from his stage and walking toward Earth''s geniuses while Myghell walked toward the Luxnix.

    At their closest, their shoulders practically brushed against one another. But, by their reactions, one would have never guessed such a thing. If one had been entirely focused on their expressions, they might as well have been worlds away from one another.

    The elders of the Luxnix watched on with narrowed gazes.

    None of them understood the nuance of Leonel''s views. Many of them believed that Leonel would have targeted Myghell one way or another. And now, they felt that their guesses had only been affirmed.

    Even to this point, they didn''t have a firm understanding of Leonel''s strength. And, truth be told, they had no idea that Leonel had already regrown his Innate Node.

    If regrowing Innate Nodes was so easy, why would stealing them be such a large deal? If the matter was so simple, those with Innate Nodes would probably be reared like farm animals, being ''harvested'' every so often.

    Unfortunately, Leonel''s lack of understanding when it came to the Dimensional Verse was rearing its ugly head once again. If news that his father could regrow Innate Nodes came out, who knew what kind of commotion it would cause?

    To the current Leonel, he assumed that it was possible, it was just that it took a lot of time. After all, it took him 20+ years of drinking that vomit smoothie to instigate the regrowth of his Innate Node. To him, it was just a tedious processбн

    The truth of the matter was that Leonel''s father had joined the government of the Ascension Empire, entering their research branches, to personally create a method of healing his son by fusing his knowledge of the Dimensional Verse with Earth''s brand of technology.

    It could only be said that Leonel''s father was a genius that appeared once in several hundred generations. It was unknown if even Leonel could ever reach the level his father had, this was how exaggerated this matter was.

    Of course, even Velasco miscalculated sometimes. How could he think that his son would be so reckless as to try to form a Tenth Node?

    According to Velasco''s original intention, upon breaking into the Sixth Dimension using the God Path, Leonel''s Innate Node would naturally begin to regrow itself. But, it had appeared in the Third Dimension, far too early.

    This aside, the residual Scarlet Star Force that had leaked from Leonel during his breakthrough into Tier 3 was explained away by the elders with a myriad of different hypotheses. This went to show just how far the idea of regrowing an Innate Node was from their minds.

    Now that they heard Leonel''s words, they all believed that Leonel wanted to take his Innate Node back, something that left their brows furrowed and their gazes cold. But, when they realized that Leonel had just antagonized Myghell when the latter had cared little for him before, and how Leonel was merely at Tier 3 while Myghell could step into the Sixth Dimension whenever he wanted, they relaxed their murderous intentions.

    There was no need to antagonize the Void Palace when this matter would be easily dealt with by Myghell.

    бн

    Leonel returned to sit by his grandmother''s side with a smile on his face. It was as though what had happened previously hadn''t occurred at all.

    "Little Leo, you need to be careful. Scarlet Star Force is very dangerous. It''s one of the only Forces I know that can cause damage to higher Dimensional beings even in a lower Dimensional state. And if it''s at the same levelбн I don''t know if there''s a defense that can stop it if it''s not constructed by a Force on the same or near the same levelбн"

    Leonel blinked. "You don''t have to worry, grandmother. I know. I actually don''t feel much danger from him at all. If anything, Aina is stronger than him."

    Roesia''s brow furrowed. Her senses were sharper than Leonel''s and her Internal Sight was far stronger. She was absolutely certain that Myghell was still stronger than Aina was. So, why would he say something so reckless? Her grandson didn''t seem like the type to mindlessly boast.

    She opened her mouth to say something else, but in the end she just sighed. She was still only just beginning to form her relationship with Leonel, she felt like she was walking on eggshells not because she was scared of her grandson, but because she was afraid to say something that overstepped her bounds.

    She shook her head and made a decision. If Leonel was really in danger fighting Myghell, even if it meant offending the Void Palace, she would still move. She would rather lose her life than allow any harm to come to her grandson.

    The battles raged on and Arnold and Milan eventually got their turns. As one might expect, they didn''t perform astoundingly, but they didn''t perform poorly either, each winning about 30-40% of their matchups.

    Since performance was based on evaluations and not raw numbers during the second day, they might get a pass due to their low strength.

    Of course, Elthor, Karolus and Noah performed even better than this.

    Soon, it was Aina''s turn to step onto the arena once again.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. ''Let''s hope this works.''

    Numerous small crystalline spiders formed on his palm.

    Roesia raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in the end.

 Chapter 1185 Fan Clubs

    Chapter 1185 Fan Clubs

    Despite wearing a mask, Aina seemed to have become the center of attention once more. Though, this time, this only seemed to be in one portion due to her beauty.

    While her face might have been covered, there was simply no mistaking that enormous ax and figure that seemed to attract so many gazes like a magnet. It didn''t take much time at all for Aina''s own fan club to come out in full swing, their loud cheers rocking the stadium.

    In truth, several such fan clubs had crept up. Even Elthor had his own. Though, maybe this wasn''t so surprising since he did the devilish handsome archetype wonders. His horns only made him feel more exotic and made even more women swoon.

    Among the fan clubs, though, Aina''s and Myghell''s could be said to be the largest. Elthor was more like a niche specific to a certain population of unabashed degenerates and furries. As for Leonel, he was probably a close second to Aina and Myghell.

    Leonel never really considered it before because he had spent his whole life, practically, chasing after just a single woman, but he was quite handsome in his own right. Unfortunately, his style of dress docked him a few points, and his unknown background docked him a few more.

    If Leonel dressed in expertly tailored robes like Myghell and the other geniuses did, not to mention making his Morales family origins public information, he would probably speed by the latter with ease. But, he was quite comfortable where he was at.

    Unless it was a cool uniform, he wouldn''t compromise his own comfort to wear it. How ridiculous.

    Funny enough, Aina got the opposite reception.

    Though Aina and Leonel were opposites in a lot of respects, when it came to their casual form of dress, they were in complete lockstep. Aina put functionality over everything else, and Leonel placed his comfort above everything else. Something like fashion wasn''t at the forefront of either of their minds.

    But, because Leonel was a man, his style was seen as lazy as opposed to Aina who just received a more exotic label that made her ''stand out'' from ''other girls''.

    Her armor not only covered her from head to toe, something so shocking to see on a woman that it was practically its own fallacy, but every piece of it had its own purpose. Aina''s fan club couldn''t help but praise her modesty and she cared more about her battle prowess than how good she looked.

    Of course, there was one other reason Aina''s fan club was so passionate. They had all learned that she was still single and hadn''t gotten married. The women were excited for her, weaving stories about how she had been forced into her circumstances even without knowing the truth. Of course, Myghell became involved in these fanciful tales, becoming the Prince Charming that saved the Princess from her shackles like a gentlemen should.

    As for the men, they felt like there was still a chance for them, furiously rebutting the lovesick tales of the women.

    The ultimate result were deafening cheers, clapping hands and stomping feet that threatened to bring the whole arena down.

    Leonel, though, was completely unlike everyone else. The moment Aina had moved, he had become completely focused on his task, the small little crystalline spiders on his palms springing into action.

    Leonel followed them as they rushed through the arena, his mind completely focused. It would take a large expenditure to have them run so far from him, especially due to their small size. But, he had no other choice in the matter.

    He couldn''t afford to use any other means because it might very well alert others. If there were spatial fluctuations and it was picked up by the members of the Void Palace, they might assume the worst and think Leonel to be cheating.

    Though it would be quite obvious after an investigation that he wasn''t, he preferred to not have to deal with such a difficulty at all.

    From start to end, Leonel didn''t really think about the morality of what he was doing, mostly because he didn''t believe that there was anything wrong with it. The only way one could see something wrong was if he had a relationship with Aina''s father in some way, but considering that Leonel had accepted that he and Aina would never be together, he didn''t see things like that at all.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, Aina''s father was no different from a stranger to him.

    Now, an argument could be made that it was unethical to steal something from someone who hadn''t done you any wrong, and that was a fair point. But, this was a hit on his own morality that Leonel was willing to take.

    There were certain tough decisions that Leonel knew he would have to make if he wanted to reach his goals. When he chose to resurrect Elthor instead of his closest friend in those years, Rollan, he had already made one such sacrifice. And he knew well that there would be many others he would have to makeбн

    The spiders scurried through the arena. Leonel knew that he was on a time crunch, Aina wasn''t fighting a person she would have to try very hard against. It would likely only last a single exchange.

    However, he had timed things well. He began moving the instant Aina''s name blinked. With everything being within his calculations, he should make it.

    The spiders cut the distance.

    100 metersбн 50 metersбн 20 metersбн

    The gap closed rapidly, Leonel''s expression turning a bit pale. The distance between them was at least a kilometer to begin with. But, with the size of the spiders, it felt like a hundred times that.

    ''We made it.''

    Aina''s battle was already over, another resounding victory for her. She made her way back quickly, but it was already too late.

    The spiders closed down the last meter distance between them and Miel, ready to pounce onto his spatial ring and fuse with it.

    However, right at that moment, something Leonel had never expected occurred.

    Yuri snapped her head in the direction of the spiders, her gaze glowing with a dangerous light. Before Leonel could react, a vast pressure descended, shattering the three spiders into motes of light.

    Leonel slowly opened his eyes, his expression somewhat pale and his pupils constricted.

    What was that?

 Chapter 1186 Line of Thought

    Chapter 1186 Line of Thought

    Leonel took a deep breath, surging tides of Force coming in from all directions to replenish his stamina. Thanks to his Stars, even though Leonel couldn''t make use of the golden scaled koi fish without breaking the rules, Leonel''s personal ability to replenish stamina was exceptional. It would at most take him a few dozen minutes to fully recover.

    Still, his mind was wondering elsewhere as the battles raged on.

    He hadn''t expected that after he circumvented the problem of Aina, that he would run into another stone wall.

    The problem of the spiders being destroyed wasn''t actually much of an issue. They were just beast constructs, their death wouldn''t harm Leonel in any way. But, in that moment, Leonel''s own Internal Strength had almost been harmed. Had he not been fast enough, not only would Yuri''s Internal Sight have damaged his own, but she would have also been able to trace those spiders back to him.

    Leonel''s brow couldn''t help but furrow before he leaned back and sighed.

    The Dimensional Verse was much larger than he gave it credit for. Even after so many years, it was still giving him surprises. He had originally thought that no one would be able to match his Internal Sight, especially after he matched his innate talent with the manipulation techniques of the Luxnix. But now, he had been slapped in the face not just once thanks to Aina, but twice thanks to Yuri.

    As time went on, the advantage that Leonel had gained from his Wisdom Branche''s First Awakening would only become less and less obvious. He had originally been leaps and bounds beyond anyone else, having Fifth Dimensional boundaries in the Third Dimension. But now, everyone was in the Fifth Dimension, he couldn''t expect to continue with the same advantages. Orбн He would have to forge new advantages for himself.

    ''I need to step into the Third Awakening of the Wisdom Branch soonбн'' Leonel thought to himself.

    This was the first time Leonel actively wanted his Luxnix Lineage Factor to progress faster. In the past, it had always come naturally. But after these events, he realized that maybe just his own talent wasn''t enough anymore.

    As for the matters with Yuri, after calming himself from the initial shock, Leonel wasn''t too surprised.

    Aina had never told him about Yuri''s past, but she had told him that she wasn''t human. In addition, he knew that Yuri''s Telekinesis Ability, the very same ability Raylion had, wasn''t actually an ability at all. Rather, it was the innate skill of her race of people.

    Leonel didn''t know whether Aina didn''t want to tell him what race Yuri was a part of, or if she simply didn''t know, but the truth didn''t matter. It was likely just another example of her not trusting him while he entrusted everything to her. Regardless, he was no longer emotional about it.

    All that mattered was that Yuri was maybe even more troublesome than Aina in this regard thanks to her origins. And, now that he had failed once, they would all be on guard.

    бн

    "Yuri? What''s wrong?" Miel frowned, wincing slightly. His injuries still hadn''t fully healed, but he had insisted on being here. How could he miss such a thing? "You unleashed a lot more of your power than you normally do, I told you to be careful with that. Until you make it to the Void Palace, you can''t let others know of your origins. And even then, you have to be careful with who you can trust."

    Originally, Miel was going to send Yuri to the Void Palace along with Aina as a maid servant. With how many noble men and women were allowed entry, some were given exceptions to bring along one person in such a capacity.

    But, now that the quotas had expanded, Yuri could enter on her own, making things a lot easier.

    "I know, adoptive father. But, someone just targeted you." Yuri''s frown deepened.

    Her adoptive father had always made her keep a very low profile for her own safety. A large part of the reason she felt so broken up about Aina''s wedding was because she felt she was being forced to choose between her own safety and her sister''s happiness.

    That was rightбн Yuri felt like she could have saved Aina that day. Whether that was because of an overinflated sense of confidence, or realityбн Maybe only she and Miel knew the answer to that.

    "Targeted me?"

    Yuri sighed. It wasn''t that Miel''s mind was weaker than them, it was rather that using the Brazinger family Lineage Factor placed a lot of strain on the mind. After going all out just a day before, Miel''s Soul Force was fragmented and injured. How could he sense the danger as easily?

    "Yes. They were three beast constructs. I tried to track the person, but they retreated too quickly. But, from what it looks like, it''s the Luxnix family technique."

    Miel''s brow raised before he sighed. "бн Nothing in this world comes for free."

    Yuri felt deflated.

    The Luxnix had swooped in and saved Aina that day, but they hadn''t asked for anything in return. Originally, she had held the hope that maybe this was because Aina was never the target and that the wedding was just a good chance to deal with the Viola, but this attempt seemed to spit in the face of that.

    Could their goal have been more complex than the fall of the Viola?

    Miel''s line of thinking was the same, but he still didn''t conclude that these matters were related to Aina. Would a large family war with another just for the sake of a single girl? Though his daughter was exceptionally talented, weren''t all these families arrogant? Plus, they had Myghell, a child even Miel himself was greatly impressed by.

    On top of this, they couldn''t have known that he would be able to weaken the Viola so much before they fought.

    So, Miel''s thoughts were very, very differentбн

    ''Could it be that they learned of the existence of the Bronze Tablet? Could that be the true reason they attacked the Violaбн?''

    A hint of worry marred Miel''s brow. If his greatest secret was exposedбн This could be troublesomeбн

    бн

    On the other side of the arena, Leonel, who had long since calmed, began to deduce several things. Among them was the exact thought process of the current Miel and Yuri.

    ''Yes, if they believe I''m from the Luxnix family, that would indeed be their line of thinkingбн Maybe I can use this to my advantageбн''

    Leonel looked up, feeling a familiar aura calling out to him. It seemed that it was his turn to battle once again.

    Leonel Morales versus Syllar Luxnix.

 Chapter 1187 Man of Energy

    Chapter 1187 Man of Energy

    Syllar was like a spark of lightning. Among the Luxnix, he was probably one of the only few that cut his hair short and it made him look like a 16 or 17 year old kid, far younger than he truly was.

    He appeared on the platform eager to go. But, when he saw that his opponent was actually Leonel, his brows couldn''t help but shoot up.

    Leonel himself landed on the platform about a minute after Syllar, not having gone all out to reach the stage like his opponent had. However, he greeted the latter with a smile that took him completely off guard.

    Syllar was certain that with Leonel''s hatred of the Luxnix, a smile would be the last thing he would find. In fact, he was quite certain that he would find exactly the opposite of that. But, to think that Leonel would be looking at him like this.

    The truth was that Syllar along with many of the most recent generation were fairly in the dark about the truth of these matters. That said, they weren''t completely clueless, mostly because of the oddity of the generations and how things lined up.

    Syllar and the other two Arm Heads were technically in the generation of Leonel''s mother. They had experienced dozens of years of life and were already pushing toward triple digit ages in another decade or two.

    As such, when the commotion had been happening back during those days, they were more than old enough to remember. And, that also meant that of this third generation, the only ones that were of Leonel and Myghell''s age who could participate at this level were just the two of them, there was no third individual.

    This was to say that Syllar knew that Leonel''s name had been stricken from the family records. He was also aware that there was some sort of falling out between Leonel''s branch of the family and everyone else. But, he had always assumed that this was because Leonel''s mother had ignored the family''s wishes and married out.

    As for the truth, among the youths, maybe only Myghell was aware. But, that was because the Innate Node was actually within his body.

    "бн I didn''t expect you to be smiling in this situation." Syllar tilted his head to the side as though curiously observing Leonel. The other battles had already begun, but the two of them had yet to move a single inch.

    "And what situation is that?" Leonel asked.

    "Well, facing an enemy." Syllar was a bit confused by Leonel''s response.

    "An enemy?" Leonel thought for a moment. "I don''t really see it that way."

    Syllar''s brow rose. "Is that because you beat Elody, so you don''t really think of me like a rival? That would be a mistake. You''re my junior, so I don''t mind giving you a few pointers. In the Dimensional Verse, how powerful you are is sometimes less important than how your abilities match up to someone else. And speedбн Happens to match up well against a lot of things."

    Syllar''s irises flashed with a peculiar light, his muscles flexing and unflexing like they had minds of their own, wiggling about his body as though they were ready to explode.

    "No, no." Leonel shook his head. "I don''t mean it like that. I just mean that I don''t see you all as an enemy. As far as I''m concerned, I''ll be leading you all one day, why would I treat you like that when you haven''t personally done anything to me?"

    Syllar, who was prepared to go, was stunned speechless.

    What had he just said? Lead them? Was this guy delusional?

    "Are youбн Alright up here?" Syllar pointed to his head. "Do you have any idea how many of them want you dead?"

    Leonel''s smile became wider. But, for some reason, it felt decidedly cold. Syllar''s spine tingled, the tips of his fingers and toes becoming somewhat numb.

    "I don''t plan on leading them. I plan on killing them."

    Syllar''s palms flipped over on instinct, one short sword and one dagger appearing, each to a hand. He took a step back, his body growing tight and his pupils flickering with lightning.

    All their lives, the Star Order Council had advised them not to go all out. Despite having fought several exchanges with Elody and almost killing him, Leonel still didn''t know what the latter''s ability was. From start to finish, he had only ever used Luxnix family techniques.

    However, after the destruction of the Viola family, there was no need to hide their fangs anymoreбн. And Syllar had never been more grateful than he was now. For this Leonel before himбн He deserved for him to go all out. Because if he didn''tбн He would definitely suffer.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over soon after. With his Duality Spear gone, his favorite Quasi Silver Spear was no longer in his arsenal. But, there were still hundreds of others to choose. He was already eyeing a few Quasi Gold Spears he could see in the far off distance, but he wasn''t quite strong enough to make it there. So instead, he settled for this.

    The temperature began to drop, a frosted blade appearing in Leonel''s hands. It looked like a construct of black ice, its blade looking like a jagged abomination from the depths of hell.

    The air crackled and popped as the water vapor rapidly cooled. At the same time, a fog of cold and darkness rose from the blade into the air.

    Syllar felt his joined freezing up, the fast twitching of his muscles slowing down considerably. His gaze couldn''t help but narrow into slits.

    "Fine."

    His voice lost the childish tone it usually had, dropping by an octave.

    "I''ll show you my true strength then."

    BANG!

    An eruption of lightning violently sparked into the surroundings. Syllar''s short hair, in that instant, became a river of white gold sparks. The whites of his eyes and his irises vanished, replaced by streaking arcs that split out the side of his eyes.

    He became a man of energy. Then, he vanished.

 Chapter 1188 Not Sure

    Chapter 1188 Not Sure

    Leonel swung his spear upward instantaneously, but it was only just barely in time to meet Syllar''s blade.

    He was fast. So fast that without activating his Snowy Star Owl''s gaze, Leonel''s eyes alone could never hope of keeping up.

    As fast as Syllar''s legs were, though, his blade was even quicker. He caught the side of Leonel''s spear. With blade against blade, he took advantage of his own forward momentum to parry it upward, his sword skimming against the edge of Leonel''s spear as the backhand of his dagger aimed directly for Leonel''s throat.

    In the moment, Leonel understood.

    Syllar was the Arm Head of the Speed Arm of the Luxnix family. However, even then, he had only undergone his First Awakening of the Speed Branch, allowing his Light Elemental Force to fuel his speed and leaving trails of light in his wake as he moved. But, compared to Leonel who had awoken three times, what was that worth?

    With things being light this, though, Syllar truly showed his colors as the fastest of the Luxnix''s younger generation. Not only was his grasp of the family''s techniques impeccableбн But his own personal ability, the one he had been forced to hide for so much of his life, was actually so perfectly in tune with exactly the kind of fighter he wanted to be.

    While it seemed like Syllar was an Elemental Speedster, this wasn''t the case at all. Rather, he was a Special Type Lightning user. His Lightning wasn''t the destructive type, nor was it a Speedster Type, it was an Energy Type.

    His Lightning was able to fuel his body and give him strength. Whether it was improving his thinking speed, his explosive strength and his raw speed, it was able to do it all. This sort of ability was like an overall upgrade on his power, a holistic boost to how dangerous he was. And make no mistakeбн

    He was dangerous.

    Syllar''s dagger appeared before Leonel''s throat, flickering with arcs of lightning. It was impossible to read his gaze with just how much sheer energy was sparking out from it. The speed was so fast that everything happened far too quickly. Many weaker members in the audience didn''t even realize just how much danger Leonel was in right that moment.

    However, what happened next was even more shocking.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. As though something had sapped Syllar of all his energy, the blade trembled and then dulled. All the strength and lightning behind it vanished in a moment.

    CLANG!

    Syllar''s blade clashed with Leonel''s neck. But as though it had rebounded against a steel wall, it was pushed and repelled backward.

    Just as quickly, Syllar retreated. Like an assassin in the night, he struck just once and didn''t stay in Leonel''s vicinity.

    Beneath Leonel''s skin, a small flicker of Bronze Runes receded, hardly perceptible to the eye. However, his steps didn''t pause for even a single moment as he pressed down toward Syllar.

    A harsh, grating wind pulsed into the surroundings. Everywhere it passed, ice and icicles formed, turning the stage into some sort of winter wonderland.

    Leonel took a step forward, his figure flashing.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Syllar''s brow furrowed, his heated exchange with Leonel growing faster and faster. He felt as though Leonel was either adapting to his speed, or improving so quickly that he was being forced onto his backfoot.

    Ice began to creep up Syllar''s sword and dagger, his lips turning blue and his fingers trembling beneath the cold.

    Leonel''s short violet hair danced in the wind. The combination of violet, light blues and a dense darkness played off of each other very well. And yet, compared to the energy laden Syllar, it still felt somewhat muted and uninteresting.

    The battle slowly swung in Leonel''s favor, Syllar realizing that his opponent was getting faster and faster.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands. It had once been that Syllar could attack three or four times before he landed even one. But then it had shrunk to three, then two, then oneбн Now, Leonel seemed to attack twice as fast as Syllar did. If not for the fact that the latter wielded two weapons, he would have likely already suffered a fatal wound.

    Leonel caught the side of Syllar''s blade in one of the jagged grooves of his blade. With a strong flick upward, Syllar felt his wrist nearly snap, forcing him to get rid of his sword entirely.

    He moved to retreat once more, but his expression changed when he found that his foot hit air.

    His eyes widened as he fell on his bottom outside of the stage. He looked on wide eyed at seemingly empty space, still not quite understanding what happened. It was only after the frost slowly began to recede and he could feel his body again that he finally understood.

    His mind had actually slowed by that much.

    "бн That spearбн" Syllar finally looked up, looking at the Black Ice Spear, his expression still somewhat lost.

    Leonel smiled. "You said it best yourself. How powerful you are is sometimes less important than how your abilities match up to someone else. In this case, you met maybe the worst possible match for you."

    "бн I seeбн"

    Syllar still couldn''t quite understand, but he had a faint inkling. He didn''t really care that Leonel had relied on a treasure. It was clear that it was a Quasi Silver Spear, and that wasn''t much different from his own weapon. And, something made him think that Leonel had purposely chosen to fight in this way just so he could say those words to him.

    It was quite pathetic. He finally got the chance to go all out for once, and yet he had lost like this. He could almost feel the disappointed glances that were landing on his back.

    Leonel bent down and helped Syllar to stand before walking away. The latter didn''t even register that Leonel had helped him until several moments later, but that only left him in another daze.

    He wasn''t quite sure how he was supposed to feel.

 Chapter 1189 Good Chance

    Chapter 1189 Good Chance

    The Black Ice Spear wasn''t the true name of the spear, it was just what Leonel had chosen to call it. But, the reality was that this spear had little to nothing to do with ice and frost. In fact, its true name was the Kinetic Blade and its domain was the Kinetic Domain.

    Leonel had made Water type and Ice type spears to choose from in the Quasi Silver ranks, but the truth was that this spear wasn''t one of them. In fact, this blade worked so well with Leonel because it relied on his Fire and Light Elemental affinity. In this regard, it was even better than the Duality Spear which played on none of Leonel''s best affinities.

    The reason for the darkness and frost the spear exuded was because it was sapping its Domain of Light and Heat. Leonel hadn''t used the darkness ability of the spear at all and simply relied on its ability to absorb Kinetic Energy.

    Against an opponent like Syllar who relied so heavily on the energy he could output, this spear was, indeed, the perfect counter.

    Of course, the best part was not only in that Leonel could sap a region of its energy, but he could also use it to fuel the attacks of the spear itself. Leonel hadn''t needed to use it against Syllar, but it could be very useful in the future.

    With Leonel''s level of Fire Elemental affinity, he could absorb so much heat that he could bring a Fifth Dimensional region to near Absolute Zero. That kind of power was absolutely lethal. It could only be said that everyone was quite lucky that this was a Sixth Dimensional world, or else this Selection would basically be over.

    бн

    "Did you see it?" Orinik asked with narrowed eyes.

    "I''m not sure. It happened too quickly." Ganor said slowly.

    Orinik had been too infuriated before to think. But, when he thought back to the previous events, Leonel had used his bare fingers to deflect three Fifth Dimensional arrows. Then, he used a bare fist to leave a dent in Fifth Dimensional armor. And, just now, he blocked a Fifth Dimensional blade with nothing but the skin of his neck.

    In his life, Orinik had never heard of defensive abilities on this level, at least not with just one''s unaltered skin. It was to the point of being absolutely obscene. Unlessбн

    It was from that family.

    The trouble was, he didn''t really have any proof. And, even when it comes to that family, their defense only touches upon these levels when they activate their Bronze Runes, so why was it that he hadn''t seen Leonel''s Runes?

    Was it another ability? A technique he had never heard before? Or could it be a mutation of that Lineage Factor?

    The last was a strong possibility. After all, with how many members of that family that there were, how could they not have bastard children spotted all over the Human Domain? Just the recognized children of the Nova Generation alone numbered over a billion, let alone the unrecognized ones.

    "Why does it matter, anyway?" Ganor said. "Even if he''s from that family, if he''s here, he clearly doesn''t have high standing amongst them. Why would he be participating in a Selection if he could practically get guaranteed entry so long as the right person spoke up?"

    "You''re always thinking short term." Orinik shook his head. "Think about what event is coming soon and what it means."

    "You mean the Heir War?"

    "Yes."

    "And what about it? At our level we''d just be canon fodder and barely any of the spoils would be ours for the taking. You can''t want me to risk my life just to get a handshake and a pat on the head right? I''ll pass."

    Orinik ran his fingers and thumb through his brows. He felt like he was talking to a wall. How did such an idiot manage to get into Void Palace?

    Orinik didn''t stay on this line of thought for long, though. When he thought about that massive thing Ganor was always carrying on his back, he couldn''t bring himself to belittle the man anymore. That scrawny, half-dead looking body had far too much strength in it.

    "First of all, canon fodder is an exaggeration. We''d at least be in the middle levels, enough to get something in return. Andбк"

    "I''m adjusting for my own laziness." Ganor yawned while resting his cheek on a single palm.

    Orinik couldn''t refrain from rolling his eyes this time.

    "бкAs I was saying, the existence of a member of that family with a good bit of talent like this is pretty valuable. Just think about the possibilities.

    "The first potential reality is that his Lineage Factor mutated. You know how valuable such a thing is. Any mutation, even a regressive one, will want to be studied by even a weak family, let alone one on the level of them.

    "If we sold this information to one of the potential Heirs, it would be a great spike in their merits so close to the event and we would definitely get a nice thank you in return without even having to lift a finger."

    Ganor''s eyes brightened when he heard this. This idea indeed wasn''t bad. The fact Leonel''s skin could be so hard without fully activating his Runes was definitely something they would be interested in.

    Though it sounded like a great ability, it might still be regressive. After all, there were a ton of complicated variables at play. For all they knew, this mutation didn''t allow Leonel''s skin to grow any firmer beyond this point.

    Still, if it was a mutation, it was valuable nonetheless. Every mutation represented the potential of evolving a Lineage Factor to an all new level and it was a chance to deepen one''s understanding of the mechanisms that governed it as well. There was simply no family who would turn down such an opportunity.

    "The second potential reality is that he isn''t mutated but rather just hides it well. In that case, then he''s a pretty decent genius of their family."

    "Isn''t that much worse?" Ganor''s excitement dimmed.

    Orinik sighed and shook his head. What was he going to do with this one?

    "No. The competition has been raging on for so long already. Those that could be recruited have already long since been recruited and most of them are focused on grooming their faction to step into higher levels of strength.

    "Someone who isn''t tied to any of them and has good talent will always be worth something. Think about it, would you rather split rewards with others who will just leave and bring the benefits to their own families? Or would you rather split rewards with your own kin? If we sell this information to the right person, it won''t be as lucrative as the first potential reality, but it will be good business either way."

    Only after hearing this did Ganor''s expression lighten up again.

    "Finally, there''s the third potential reality that he isn''t part of that family at all. But, don''t you think they''d be very interested in someone who has a body even stronger than their ownбн?"

    Ganor''s gaze glowed like twin torches

    "It seems we''ll need to find a way to figure out what the truth is."

    Orinik smiled as though he could already see the dollar signs.

    "The third day of the Selection might be a good chance to see what his limits really are."

    [Last chapter for today. Tomorrow will be a 4 chapter banger, promise <3]

 Chapter 1190 Erupted Forth

    Chapter 1190 Erupted Forth

    Leonel was unaware of the thoughts of Orinik and Ganor, but even if he had known, he wouldn''t have reacted much. Though the two were trying to profit off of him, they weren''t necessarily doing anything detrimental, at leas not on the surface, anyway. Even if they were coming with sinister intention, Leonel would be at fault if he was honest with himself.

    Leonel had no idea just how rare his defenses were. Bodies that could match up to weapons in hardness didn''t just grow on trees and most techniques and Lineage Factors that replicated such things had enormous drawbacks. Someone like Leonel who could have amazing speed, flexibility and dexterity, all while having a body practically immune to blades, was unheard of.

    In the human race, there was only one family capable of such a feat, and that was without a doubt the Morales.

    Unfortunately, Leonel''s scope of the Dimensional Verse was still too narrow compared to young nobles and he never really hid his abilities at all. So, whether they were the ones to expose him or not, he would eventually end up exposing himself regardless.

    Leonel was already far behind the other Heirs who had already build up their factions and were training in preparation for that day. His anonymity was practically the only shield he had, but it seemed like that wouldn''t last for much longer.

    бн

    The battles continued to rage on and the excitement of the crowd only seemed to grow with each passing moment. Previously, the numbers and auras were all muddled and no one truly understood exactly how things would shake out. But, as more and more battles occurred, a picture of the various groups and standings began to form in the mind of the spectators.

    Upon grasping who was in which group and how the records were playing out, the excitement began to boil over.

    Though the Void Palace wasn''t here for the entertainment of the masses, their practices ultimately led to such a result regardless. After all, with everyone having to rely on themselves to treat their injuries, any large and clashing battle could make or break the chances of an individual.

    While it was true that record wouldn''t be the ultimate deciding factor of who received entry and who didn''t, the more battles one fought, the more accurate those of the Void Palace would be able to be in their assessments. As such, as the battles continued, those that still remained undefeated were separated out from the masses and their battles became hotly contested centers of hype.

    Fan clubs clashed with one another over which of their favorites would win and old, wizened men and women made their predictions in an effort to come off enigmatic.

    The geniuses of Earth that remained continued to perform to the best of their abilities.

    In the beginning, Arnold and Milan were practically neck in neck, but the more battles he fought, the more refined Arnold''s style seemed to become. He improved in real time, steadily pushing his win percentage of barely 40-50%, upward toward 60.

    Milan lagged behind, not sharing Arnold''s talent in the use of Universal Force and as such performing the worst of them all. But, he didn''t lose sight of his determination, managing to keep his head high and take his licks in silence.

    Karolus, Elthor and Noah all performed extremely well from the very beginning. Elthor was a lot like Arnold, improving rapidly with every battle. He was the quintessential battle maniac, his blood boiling every time he stepped onto the arena.

    When he was finally forced to use his Battle Form, morphing into an enormous, white furred wall of muscle with horns that pierced the skies, the furries in the crowd only seemed to go more wild.

    However, what the crowd saw and what Orinik and Ganor saw were two completely different things entirely. While the former saw a wall of muscle, the latter saw Chaotic Particle Force.

    "бн What the hell is going on with this Sector? First there was a True State Universal Force wielder, then there was a member of that family, and now there''s someone wielding one of the True State Elements?"

    Orinik felt like his head was spinning.

    "They all come from over there." Ganor said off handedly.

    Though he had spoken those words casually, Orinik froze upon hearing them, his head turning toward the location of Earth''s geniuses. He had been so busy analyzing how ridiculous it all seemed that he had completely missed the most obvious connection of them all.

    His gaze went toward Earth''s Geniuses and he immediately noticed something else. Not only were they all from this one place, they all seemed to look toward a singular young man for guidance. No matter which of them it was, even the Chaotic Particle Force wielder, after each of their battles, they would always go to him to hear his thoughts.

    Just when Orinik''s gaze landed on Leonel, he seemed to look up at the same time and smile. Orinik didn''t know if it was a coincidence or not, but Leonel''s gaze seemed to convey the message that he could see through his intentions quite clearly.

    "A member of that family leading so many talentsбн? If I recall correctly, not a single one of them is above Tier 2 except for him, yet they didn''t perform too badly. They''re just too youngбн" Orinik thought aloud to himself, not shifting away from Leonel''s gaze. "бн Hey Ganor, I think the price for him just went upбн"

    A lone member of that family was one matter. But, a member who had a talented faction under him was worth even more.

    Life in the Void Palace wasn''t easy, you had to scratch and claw for everything. The idea of a payday that could come without him having to risk his life was something that made Orinik''s blood boil and his heart stand at attention.

    The billboard flickered once more, causing Leonel to finally break eye contact with Orinik.

    Leonel Morales versus Isac Arundo.

    The moment Leonel landed on the platform, a baleful killing intent that blanketed the arena erupted forth.

 Chapter 1191 Bowmen

    Chapter 1191 Bowmen

    Leonel sighed.

    He could feel the rage of the young man across from him and considering the bow in his hands and the shape of his features, he could guess why. This young man was probably of the Arundo family and very likely related that Ysac character he had killed previously with a combination of his bat construct and his Radiant Fire Force.

    Resonance and vibrations were already dangerous enough on their own, let alone when they were paired with a Force capable of destroying cells down to a molecular level.

    Back then, Leonel had only wanted to casually try out what the combination would give him, and the result was devastating for Ysacбн To say the least.

    Isac had been forced to hold down his rage and fury for days, being held back by even his own family members so he didn''t rush out and do something that ruined his future. Though, Isac never expected to be so lucky as to get Leonel in his group.

    He slowly pulled the bow from his back, his gaze locked onto Leonel. If something like a simple looked could kill, there was no doubt that maybe Leonel would have died several times over.

    Leonel decided against saying anything. Sometimes, this was the best course of action. Often times in life, there was no one in the wrong, and yetбн you would have to be on opposing sides regardless.

    Seeing the bow in Isac''s hands, though, something within Leonel shifted. He couldn''t remember ever running into a true bowman yet. In his life, he had never met anyone more accurate or skilled than himself in this respect. He really wanted to seeбн

    Just what kind of strength a family of bowmen could produce.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a sleek black bow. It was quite a beautiful construct, but its Quasi Bronze level had long since become outdated. Even still, it had followed Leonel for several years already. Of all his weapons, this was the one he was probably the most familiar with.

    The gazes of the Arundo family flashed with rage when they saw Leonel''s actions. They couldn''t see into his thoughts, how could they believe that he was doing anything more than mocking them? Leonel had displayed skill in the Luxnix''s Force Arts and the spear, but now he wanted to be a bowman too?

    But Isac felt completely different. There was something about Leonel''s demeanor that shifted when the bow touched his palm. He went from a normal young man to a towering mountain. An invisible pressure pressed downward as though there was no distance that was safe, no defense that was impenetrable.

    ''Todayбн'' Isac thought to himself, slowly drawing his first arrow and tightening his back. ''бн Even if I have to give up my life, I will take you down with me.''

    TWANG! TSSSSSS!

    Two streaking arrows were released at once, each from opposite sides of the arena. At least, that was what it would seem like. However, if one had been paying especially close attention, it would have been just barely perceptible that Leonel had released a fraction of a moment later.

    Isac''s gaze flickered, numerous calculations being performed in his mind every second. He deduced the ending in a fraction of a moment and released a second arrow and a third.

    Leonel took a step to the side. His hands became a blur, mirroring Isac''s actions in a single blink.

    BANG!

    The first two arrows collided, creating a scene that stunned those watching.

    They split into four pieces, each one being split in two by the other in an astonishing feat the crowd had simply never seen before. Never had two arrows been so perfectly matched in such a way. But, such a sight didn''t even have time to settle in before the second and third volleys met one another.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, a wide grin spreading across his face.

    Isac''s second arrow deviated in its path just before it met his own second. Skimming against the side, it threw Leonel''s second arrow off course and right in the path of Isac''s own third arrow.

    In just a breath, Isac used Leonel''s second arrow to deviate the path of his own third arrow, forcing Leonel''s own third arrow to miss completely.

    Leonel''s second arrow flew by the right of Isac''s head and the third flew by the left of his waist. But, he didn''t move a single inch as though he already knew that exactly this would happen.

    At the same time, the forced deviation of Isac''s third arrow by Leonel''s second resulted in both of Isac''s arrows flying in a straight line, right for Leonel''s head.

    For the first time in his life, Leonel had been out maneuvered in a battle a snipers. But, rather than being enraged or saddened, he laughed, a vast violet aura exuding from him without his even noticing.

    Leonel was forced to tilt his head to the side to dodge Isac''s line of arrows. But, in the split moment of being off balance, Isac had already launched four more arrows, his gaze focused and his mind running on overdrive. He had never felt so focused in his life, so absolutely in control.

    This battle. He would win it.

    Right when Leonel shifted his head to the side, the first in line second arrow suddenly dipped down, ripping into his shoulder.

    A skidding white mark was left on Leonel''s skin as the arrow almost drew blood. His mind had been quick enough to pick up on the change, but he hadn''t been quick enough to activate his Bronze Runes in that area, causing the white mark that was there now.

    But, Isac seemed to have already long since been aware of how strong Leonel''s body was, because the third arrow which had been following the trail of the second fell in line perfectly. As though taking the white mark on Leonel''s shoulder as a landing strip, it burst with a flood of Force, piercing into Leonel''s left shoulder.

    A spray of blood began to fall down Leonel''s arm, his grip over his bow turning somewhat weak.

    However, there was no chance for rest.

    A volley of four arrows was already in the air and it was hard to tell just what sort of unpredictable tricks Isac had hidden within them.

 Chapter 1192 lt Seemed...

    Chapter 1192 lt Seemed...

    Leonel''s expression flickered.

    The instant the Force surrounding the arrow lodged into his shoulder dissipated, he used his Variant Earth affinity to send it flying out of his flesh. The wound itself immediately began to heal, Leonel''s passive Healing Factor having reached ridiculous levels after reaching the Second Awakening of his Healing Branch.

    Isac hadn''t expected for Leonel to deal with his wound so effortlessly, so he was somewhat caught off guard. This wasn''t because he thought his arrow would be lethal, but rather because he expected Leonel to have to be forced to find a moment to pull the arrow out. And, he thought that Leonel would also have to at least weather the injury for the duration of the battle. But, it seemed that he was wrong.

    Isac''s expression fell for only a split moment before his determination was lit ablaze once more.

    His gaze rapidly shifted between the four arrows he had released into the sky, completing another series of calculations in the blink of an eye.

    His aura blazed, his Bow Force wrapping around his body like a howling wind.

    The twang of his bow string became like the chords of a symphony. Every pull and release had its own unique rhythm. He didn''t care about the depletion of his state of mind, he didn''t care about the tingling pain at the tips of his fingers, he didn''t care about anything outside of the target right before him.

    Leonel rolled to the side. Having lost the initiative, his body was forced into weaving and dodging, his gaze flickering with an excited light.

    Isac was the best marksman he had ever met. His skill was immaculate. His calculative abilities were lesser than that of himself, but his talent and grasp of timing were impeccable. The moment he seized a leg up due to a folly on Leonel''s part, he didn''t let up, his assault only becoming more overbearing and relentless.

    There was no cover for Leonel to take, no partner he could use to distract his enemy, and as though by some tacit agreement between the two, Leonel refused to use any skills classified outside his talent as a bowman.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Plumes of smoke rose up outside the arena as arrow after arrow left craters in their wake.

    Steam began to rise off of Isac''s skin. His fingers trickled with blood, his back burned from the strain and his shoulders cried out. But, he pulled one arrow after another, slowly forcing Leonel back into a corner where he wouldn''t be able to step either left or right.

    Isac slowly shifted to the side, taking his first steps of the battle. His base remained steady and his feet were heavy. Everything he did was perfect and without flaw. He forgot about everything else, his mind touching an ethereal state where even the pain and aching of his body vanished.

    And thenбн

    BANG!

    A towering pillar of Force rose into the skies. Isac''s aura shifted, his arrows beginning to carry with them the screeching sounds of metal grating on metal as they tore through the skies.

    At that moment, Orinik and Ganor''s gazes narrowed, their expressions becoming serious.

    ''Natural Bow Force!''

    Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, Isac broke through just as he forced Leonel into a corner. And yet, the man himself didn''t even seem to notice. All he could think about was growing powerful enough to defeat the enemy before him, releasing an arrow with enough strength to rip through any defense before him.

    SHUUU! SHUU! SHUUU! SHUUU!

    The arrows whistled through the skies, their momentum leaving streaks across space and threatening to tear lines into the fabric of reality. However, while they were far from accomplishing such a feat, they were more than enough to shred apart Leonel''s defenses.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    A cloud of dust billowed into the skies, covering the scene of everything in the corner of the arena. The crowd watched on in awe. A battle that had started with such a fascinating beginning had turned completely one sided and lost much of their attention. But, the instant of Isac''s breakthrough, it was as though all eyes have been glued to him.

    Natural Bow Force! Wasn''t the conclusion obvious?

    However, right then, before the smoke could completely clear, a laughter sounded from within it, causing the plumes of debris to forcefully disperse.

    Leonel figure was revealed. Much of his clothing had been drenched in blood but the skin beneath was completely unscathed. What was obvious was the fact the final volley of arrows carrying Natural Bow Force hadn''t touched a single hair on his head.

    "I understand now, it makes so much sense. So you can use Bow Force like thatбн"

    Leonel was absolutely fascinated. When he thought of the potential applications and what he could do when he gained the skill to do so, he was ecstatic. Maybe he didn''t even realize how much he loved the bow until now. Maybe he loved it even more than he did Crafting. It was almost a shame that he was given the Spear Domain Heirloom instead of the Bow Domain Heirloom.

    "Let''s finish this."

    Leonel, who was now confident in his ability to dodge Isac''s arrows stood to his full height, tall and proud. He didn''t seem prepared to run as he drew his bow, even knowing that Isac held the initiative in his hands. He exuded all the unbridled confidence in the world.

    However, just as Leonel was about to nock another arrow to begin his counter, he blinked, slowly lowering his hands.

    Isac still stood tall, blood trickling from his fingers, but he was completely unmoving. He swayed slightly in the wind before he fell backward, crashing outside of the arena.

    He had given everything he had in that last strike. By the time the last arrow was released, he had already lost consciousness. He was in no state to battle.

    It seemed that Leonel had won.

 Chapter 1193 Hushed

    Chapter 1193 Hushed

    Leonel returned to Earth''s seating arrangements a bit disappointed, but also somewhat relieved. He didn''t want to have to kill Isac. Not only had he just enlightened him to many things, but he also understood where Isac was coming from.

    Leonel had long since grown past the point of allowing guilt to weigh down his soul and threaten his life. But, he had also come to the conclusion that those that wanted revenge on him for things he had done in the past weren''t individuals he would hate.

    In the future, he would have to cross and harm a lot of people. That was a weight he would have to carry on his shoulders and accept.

    The moment Leonel sat back down, after appeasing his grandmother and insisting that he was doing just fine, he immediately entered a state of meditation as the battles raged around him.

    The battles started up again in full force, but Leonel had entered his Dream World, several Dream Clones standing around and performing the same actions again and again.

    Leonel was absolutely fascinated by Isac''s bowmanship not only because of its applications, but also its simplicity. Although the amount of skill it took to use it at high levels was obscene, the entry was simple. It was the sort of thing that was accessible to everyone but very difficult to get extremely skilled atбн Kind of like driving a car.

    Anyone could take a vehicle from point A to point B. But, how fast could you drive a car without losing control of it? 150 kilometers an hour? 200 maybe? Anyone could park, but how many could parallel park with ease? And what about drifting into your parking spot? Anyone could drive manual, but how many could drive automatic?

    The layers of complexity and skill increased almost instantly.

    Similarly, Isac''s bowmanship started simple but very quickly became complicated. In the start, it was a game of balance and projectiles, but then it evolved into aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, and at its highest levels became the physics of chaos and chaotic events.

    To make a potential complex matter simple, Isac essentially coated his arrows in Bow Force, decided the shape and weight the Bow Force would take before he released the arrow. All of the random movements of his arrows from start to finish had never been a form of telekinesis or a special mind technique, but were rather all examples of Bow Force Manipulation!

    By tweaking and adjusting how Bow Force was applied to an arrow, you could cause delayed and seemingly random events to occur long after it had left the bow. The result was catching even someone like Leonel, who almost always had everything in his grasp, completely off guard.

    The most shocking part of it was that the more clever one was with their application, and the more decoys you used, the more complicated the calculations became and the more difficult it was for a person to see through the truth.

    Leonel was so used to being able to directly pinpoint the trajectory of an arrow or projectile because it always followed a simple parabolic shape. He only had to take into account gravity and the force behind it, adding in a sample of the sound it caused for extra measure, and he could tell almost everything about it from the location it was shot from to exactly where it would land in the blink of an eye.

    But, with thisбн It was like Leonel''s world had been turned completely upside down. Fluid Dynamics was among the hardest branches of physics even in the 25th Century. The variables only increased as you rose through the Dimensions. And, this wasn''t even the most complicated application of Isac''s bowmanship that Leonel could think of.

    Leonel was so immersed in his own world that it took a tap from his grandmother for him to realized that it was actually once again his turn.

    "Hm? Oh, right." Leonel smiled.

    The depth of complexity was so great that even after that session, Leonel felt that he had only touched the tip of the iceberg.

    The way Force interacted with regular Bow Force versus Natural Bow Force versus Enlightened Bow Force varied so wildly that Leonel had to prepare separate calculations for each. Then there was the matter of considering the atmosphere he was in, the kind of Force his enemy was proficient in, and even how fast or slow his opponent was breathing.

    If Leonel wanted to be as accurate as he normally was with normal arrows, he had to take even the tiniest detail into account.

    Leonel was so lost in his thoughts that he didn''t even realize that the crowd released a deafening cheer when he stepped onto the arena. They were so excited by the next match up that they let it all out.

    ''Right, I didn''t checkбн''

    Leonel rose his head to look at the billboard. But, his eyes caught sight of something that made him realize there was no point.

    Before him, a beauty holding a mask in one hand and a battle ax in the other stood. Aina met Leonel''s placid gaze with her own cool amber one, the delicate sculpting of her features revealed for all to see.

    No one knew why Aina had taken her mask off, but Leonel had a few guesses. Either way, she crushed the mask between the squeeze of her long and slender fingers, a bloodthirsty killing intent hanging around her.

    The shards of the mask falling to the ground seemed to be the signal for the battle''s start.

    Aina''s Force became like a towering pillar of crimson. The quantity and quality being so much that it felt like the entire arena would collapse. Even before she moved, the stage beneath their feet shattered like an egg, making it difficult to tell just where it began and just where it ended.

    Leonel found himself falling as the platform collapsed, his feet still beneath him as his gaze remained locked onto his opponent.

    BANG!

    Aina accelerated forth. Her speed was so blazing that it put Syllar to shame. The difference might as well have been night and day.

    Her long black hair fluttered to her back, her amber irises glowed with a fierce gold, the stride of her long legs and the tone of her powerful torso winding up as she raised her battle ax.

    The shimmering blade reflected the sun''s light as she chopped down toward Leonel''s head. In what felt like the blink of an eye, she had already appeared before him, her strength causing the arena to tremble and quake.

    BANG!

    She sliced down with all of her might.

    Orinik''s expression change. ''Protection!''

    The billboard in the skies hurriedly glowed, sending out a wave of Force that protected and reinforced the surroundings.

    A blade Force shot through the earth, rising like a wall of dividing light and continuing to the point it crashed against the spectator stands.

    Screams of horror and fear resounded as the golden barrier quaked, threatening to crack beneath the pressure and collapse entirely.

    The strength was absolutely unfathomable. If Orinik hadn''t reacted so quickly, it was impossible to tell just what would have happened to the arena.

    Numerous gazes landed on the collapsed stage, no one caring for even a moment about the other battles that had been forced to stop amidst all the commotion.

    But, what they saw when the smoke cleared was something they would have never expected to see.

    Their Goddess had her head buried into a man''s chest, uncaring for his bloody and sweaty mess of a ripped shirt. She wrapped her arms around him so tightly that it seemed as though she was scared he would disappear.

    A hushed silence fell over the arena.

 Chapter 1194 Thoughtful Words (1)

    Chapter 1194 Thoughtful Words (1)

    The battle between Leonel and Aina wasn''t even meant to occur so quickly. As two undefeated participants, their turn should have been delayed as much as possible. But, due to how poor Leonel had looked in his battle with Isac, and the fact Isac himself was also undefeated for the time being, despite winning, Leonel lost priority to the Arundo family Heir.

    The result of these series of events was this battle occurring a lot earlier than anyone could have expected. But, even then, no one could have expected a fight with such an explosive startбн could end like this?

    First some held the hope that maybe Aina was using some sort of bear hug attack. As for why she would do such a thing when she had an enormous battle ax at her disposal, who knew. But, when it came to matters of fandoms and unrequited love, people were willing to believe the most ridiculous of things.

    But, it soon became apparent that this wasn''t what was happening at all.

    No one knew what to do. The other battles had come to a grinding halt, the audience''s attention was entirely on the duo, and even Orinik had no idea what he supposed to do to.

    "Shit. And here I thought because that Viola family was wiped out she would be easy pickings." Ganor mumbled beneath his breath.

    Even when the Void Palace was taken into account, Ganor could only think of maybe two or three beauties on the level of Aina, and each of them was far beyond his reach. He was starting to regret having volunteered to come to this place. There was nothing but disappointment around every corner.

    If Aina was untalented, he might still be able to do something. But, from what it seemed from her previous battles, one of those Golden Tokens was almost guaranteed to be for her. If it wasn''t certain before, that attack just now practically set it in stone.

    "Wait, this is a huge scandal isn''t it?" Ganor suddenly began to laugh. "That Rychard guy said she was his fiancижe. Then that Myghell guy went to save her and there''s a bunch of rumors going around about that. But now she''s hugging a third guy on stage. Fuck, this is more entertaining than watching these weaklings battle."

    Ganor slapped his arm rest, finally sitting up for the first time. All he lacked was a bucket of popcorn.

    Orinik couldn''t help but roll his eyes. The mighty Void Palace''s Selection had turned into a soap opera and this guy was just eating it up. Where was the dignity and pride he should have had as a disciple of the strongest organization of the Human Domain?

    Orinik didn''t seem to notice that while he was shaking his head, his eyes, too, hadn''t left the scene before him.

    Orinik and Ganor weren''t the only ones with their own reactions. When it came to the geniuses of Earth, not to mention Savahn, Yuri and Miel, they were all stunned. Even Leonel''s grandmother wasn''t sure of how she should be reacting. She felt like she was in the middle of a teenage drama she was about 200 years too old for.

    ''Well, she''s very beautiful. But, what about her character? My grandson doesn''t seem to be very happy with herбн What do I do?''

    Roesia felt the need to remind her grandson that when a man draws a boundary, he should keep it, or else his woman would never respect him the way that she should. However, she felt that it wasn''t her place to overstep again. She still felt like she was walking on egg shells around her grandson, scared to push him away. It was the kind of thing that could only be solved with time and patience. No matter how much Leonel said it wasn''t a big matter, Roesia still felt the need to only slowly integrate herself.

    As for Leonel''s brothers, they were stuck between deciding whether they should be high fiving or preparing for the next World War. When it came to the women, their eyes glowed as though they were watching a great romance unfold before them, their hearts fluttering as they wondered when they too would meet the man of their dreams.

    Savahn and Yuri looked toward one another. They felt that Aina had way too many surprises in store for them.

    Neither of them had ever expected things to go down this route. They had spent the last couple days with Aina but she seemed to be no different from the Aina they had known long before her personality was taken away from her. It was difficult to tell what had changed or what was truly going on in her mind.

    In that time, they had all dodged the issue of Leonel, not wanting to hurt Aina. And, Aina herself never brought him up, so they had never gotten an accurate read on what her thoughts were.

    In fact, now that they thought about it, Aina should have figured out that Leonel was in her group a while ago. They had been preparing for their own battles so much that they hadn''t picked up on these tiny details, but she most definitely had.

    This should mean that this matter was likely planned by her. She had wanted to do this from the very beginning. But, what exactly would the result be?

    Miel himself watched on with a complicated expression. This was his daughter, his little girl. Every father would feel some hesitation when it came to trusting their children in choosing their partners for a lifetime. For Miel, it was especially difficult because he knew everything that Aina had gone through. After all, much of it was his fault to begin with.

    He knew that his daughter had had her first boyfriend while he was away, but this was the first time he had laid eyes on the young man while knowing that he was the boyfriend in question. He couldn''t help but stare at Leonel''s face for a very long time, his brows furrowing into a deep frown.

    Aina, though, didn''t seem to care about the eyes and ears and everyone else. In her world, there was no one else but her and the young man before her.

    She controlled her breathing, taking in his scent and trying not to allow the wave of familiarity and comfort to overwhelm her emotions. When she finally settled the violent trembling of her throat, she began to speak words she had thought about endlessly over the last several days.

    "бн I''m sorry."

 Chapter 1195 Thoughtful Words (2)

    Chapter 1195 Thoughtful Words (2)

    The voice was soft, but there were too many strong individuals in attendance for it not to be heart. But once again, it was as though Aina couldn''t be bothered to care. Usually, it was always Leonel putting up sound barriers making the two of them invisible. Aina didn''t know how to communicate silently nor did she care to.

    "I know the words don''t mean much, but I still wanted to say them. I know that I hurt you. I was so worried about protecting myself and putting up barriers so I wouldn''t have to suffer pain again that I put the only man I cared about in harm''s way.

    "There''s nothing that I can say to change what I''ve already done, but I still want to say these things. No matter how this ends, the one thing I don''t want you to think is that I don''t care for youбн In fact, I care for you so much that I often don''t know what to do with myself. It controls so much of my day, takes up so much of my mind, and yet I''ve never really told youбн"

    Aina squeezed Leonel hard, her eyes squeezing shut. p????-?(0??)?.???

    She could remember all the times that Leonel had shown her care and affection, how much effort he had put into chasing her for so long and how persistent he was in making sure that she was always happy. There was never anything that Leonel did that hurt her that was done with another choice at hand, and even the things that did leave her shambles were actions he took that were for her benefit. Ultimately, he had wanted to protect her. But, how much had she protected him?

    Aina could think of so many times Leonel''s care for her was clear and obvious, but when she placed the same scope on herselfбн Why was it that she couldn''t do the same?

    What did she give him? Her body? Was that all she could do to show her affection? What then was different from her compared to any other woman? p???? ?(O)???

    But when Aina recalled her memories, remembering the ups and downs of their relationship, she realized that it wasn''t that she hadn''t done anythingбн It was rather that she was so focused on barring herself from the world that the things she had done might as well have not been done at all.

    "I''m not very good at speaking about how I feelбн But Iбн I want to become better at it even if it''s embarrassingбн"

    Aina grit her teeth. These were things she never thought she would tell Leonel, things she thought she would take with her to the grave. However, faced with the idea of losing Leonel forever and realizing that maybe she might never have another chance like this, she had resolved herself to do it. And, there was no person better for her to lean on while she did so than the man she had before her now.

    The reason she had attacked so viciously at the beginning, the reason why she had made it look like she was going to strike all out, was because this was the only way she could make certain that Leonel wouldn''t dodge out of the way.

    It sounded ridiculous when you said it like that. After all, she was attacking him, why wouldn''t he move?

    But, Aina knew Leonel very well. She knew him so well that she was certain that he''d be able to read the trajectory of her attack even when no one else could.

    Aina understood where Leonel''s head space was at right now. He probably wanted nothing to do with her. If she tried to hug him normally, it would have never worked. She had to catch him off guardбн

    It was ironic. But, only with his support could she speak these words. Because without himбн She felt lost and alone.

    "бн Iбн I liked you from the first time we metбн You always had a bright smile and everyone seemed to gravitate toward youбн I couldn''t really understand becauseбн because your status was so much lower than theirs. Those noble kids liked to snub their nose at everything, but you seemed to always be able to get past those barriers.

    "When you confessed to me a few days later, I was immediately overwhelmed. Embarrassment wasn''t an emotion I think I had ever felt in life up until that point. But, for some reason, meeting gazes with you for the first time snapped something into place within me and it was as though I could finally feel within the normal range of what a person shouldбн"

    When Aina began, she seemed to still be hesitant and slow. But as she continued, her words flowed much smoother and faster. It became easier as she continued, as though it truly was just her and Leonel.

    "бн I really wanted to say yes, it was my first instinct. I didn''t think about anything else and it was at the tip of my tongue. But my body shut down and I forgot how to think. I was too embarrassed to even respond so I ran away instead. And after running away the first time, for some reason, it only became harder and harder to say the word I wanted to from the very beginningбн

    "I began to make excuses and focus more and more on the very goal I had had from the very beginning. Revenge for my mother was too important to me to consider other things, or at least that''s what I convinced myself of. And maybe it was one part true, but after seeing your talent, it became nothing more than an excuse I told myself to not be forced to confront itбн

    p???? ?O???.?O,? "Instead of facing my feelings, I hid from them and they began to pop up in the worst of ways. Sometimes it was benign, but other times it became very dangerous. I almost reached a point where I didn''t care about anything else, so long as I could satisfy myself in these small ways no one else would ever know aboutбн

    "Andбн It all started with my hair."

 Chapter 1196 Thoughtful Words (3)

    Chapter 1196 Thoughtful Words (3)

    "It started off fairly innocent. I liked to learn things about you and found methods of doing so. I couldn''t go to your games because they were often at night and there was a small period of time between classes and curfew I could use to train. But, I always watched the livestreams.

    "During one of your postgame interviews, the interviewer asked you whether you preferred girls with short or long hair. I remember not liking the question. Shouldn''t she have been asking you about football? And why was she so flirty? But I distinctly remember you saying long hair.

    "Back then, I remember being traumatized and I agonized over it for several days. A part of me thought you just answered randomly because the interviewer made you uncomfortable. But, another part of me couldn''t help but look in the mirror, hating my short hair.

    "I always found long hair to be annoying. It also got in the way, it took way too long to dry after a shower, and whenever I trained I had to make extra care not to let it get tangled or caught by an opponent. But, after that day, I couldn''t bring myself to cut it anymore."

    Aina thought too highly of Leonel''s opinion. Even if it was a joke, even if it was an off handed comment to get the interviewer off of his back, she still did it at a great inconvenience to herself. She had always been about optimizing her training, but for the first time in her life, she chose to do something decidedly against her philosophy, just for the small chance at making Leonel happy.

    She lost count of the number of times she had done exactly that.

    She stopped wearing tomboyish clothes and started wearing dresses to school. She began to worry about her appearance a lot, even changing the settings of the mask that hid her scars to a slightly more beautiful setting. She even remembered regretting choosing a setting that was so normal when she could have made herself the most beautiful girl in school with the change of a few settings.

    These were all small and petty things she did ''for herself'' that no one could ever prove otherwise. They were all small and under the table, and many of them happened over such a long course of time that Leonel would have never thought that he was the trigger for any of it.

    Many would have thought that Aina was simply growing up, sliding into her feminine charms more as she matured just like every other little girl did. How many young girls were boorish tomboys in their youth, only to become prim and proper young ladies when they grew? It wasn''t a rare thing at all.

    But, Aina was practically going against everything she was, just to fit into an archetype she wasn''t even sure that Leonel liked.

    She couldn''t talk to him outside a classroom setting without her brain turning into a bonfire, so all she could do was pick up hints and clues from his passerby conversations with his friends and the tidbits she grasped from interviews.

    She built an entire persona, a woman that wasn''t even truly herself, just to make Leonel happy. And the sad partбн?

    He had already liked her. He had already said as much. In fact, he told her almost everyday, without reserve and without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

    "бн I remember every time you confessed, I could recall them all. And each time, I respected you so much more, liked you so much more, because you could do exactly what I seemed to have no ability to doбн Express your feelings as openly and honestly as you want to."

    Aina poured out her soul. She didn''t hide even the most embarrassing things she had done, like the time she painted the nails on one hand blue and the other violet and tried to see which one Leonel noticed because she couldn''t figure out which was his favorite colorбн

    Or the time she did hanging drills at the end of her training, hoping she would lengthen her spine during the period she thought Leonel might like taller girlsбн

    Or that time she spent practically all the money she had earned during one of her summer internships on a jersey signed by Leonel that, to this day, sat in a corner of her spatial ringбн A jersey she never thought would ever see the light of day.

    She spilled practically everything a young and na?ve girl would do for the sake of her crush. Except the difference was that normally nobody else but her should have been aware of this obsession, but she revealed it all without holding back as though she was truly scared that Leonel wouldn''t understand just how much she cared.

    "бн I did all of these things but I could never take the final step. And I knew that I was running out of time. That day was coming and afterward, I didn''t know if I would ever see you againбн It was one of the greatest regrets of my life, not being able to drum up the courage to explain things to youбн"

    Aina wasn''t wrong to feel so guilty. In her worldview, Leonel was of common birth and his Gene Analysis exam was also unimpressive. By all rights, he shouldn''t have been a talent of any kind and he would likely be among the very first to die during the Metamorphosis.

    Aina''s own crippling anxiety led her to the point where she chose her own comfort over potentially saving the life of the young man she had pined over for four years already.

    It was then that she should have realized just how much of a problem her own emotions were becoming, it was then she should have realized that she was letting something other than her reason dictate her actionsбн

    But by then, it was already too late.

    "бн I was wracked with guilt and I couldn''t even look you in the eyeбн Things only became worse after the first Trial and my benign actions became decidedly less soбн"

 Chapter 1197 Thoughtful words (4)

    Chapter 1197 Thoughtful words (4)

    Back when the Metamorphosis first descended, Leonel remembered thinking that this was really the end and that this would really be how he died. He had already concluded that the Paradise Islands had fallen and his father was dead, and now he was certain that he would follow not long afterward.

    In those moments, he felt lost and alone. He remembered the only thing he had wanted in those final seconds he thought he had was for Aina to look at him, to just spare him one glance as that portal-like wormhole approached them.

    He remembered feeling as though his heart was being stabbed through because even then, even when there was nothing else to live for, the girl he had chased for four years didn''t even want to look at him. Even now, he could remember how each individual strand of her hair had fallen to the back of her head before he was sucked away and completely lost consciousness.

    However, what he hadn''t known was that Aina didn''t look him in the eye because she couldn''t. In those moments, she thought that Leonel was dead, that she would never see him again.

    It hurt for Aina to admit any of this, but she gritted her teeth and did so anyway. She felt that she had toбн

    "бн When I saw you came out alive, I was the happiest I had been in a long time. But, I felt that I didn''t deserve you, I had done such a horrible thing all because I couldn''t open my mouth to speak, so I did something I thought would make you hate meбн And I killed Conrad in the most gruesome way possible."

    Even now, Aina could remember Leonel''s smile fading from its usual bright ray of sunshine. That was the moment the thing she did ''for'' Leonel became twisted and dark, so much so that she had a hard time even looking at herself.

    "бн I realized soon after that what I did was wrong. You had been going through a tough time back then, adjusting to a new world. And, instead of supporting you like I should have, I gave you another dose of traumaбн"

    Aina didn''t realize how bad it was until Leonel went out to fight those A-grade Invalids all on his own. He was suicidal and it was her who had pushed him to that point.

    Of course, this wasn''t true. Leonel had also let himself be killed by that Mayan girl, his guilt having become far too much. But, this wasn''t something Aina learned until much later, so the guilt of pushing the man she cared for to such a point weighed on her even heavier.

    And now, she had almost caused Leonel''s death not just once, but twice.

    "бн Luckily, I was able to find you before things got any worse. But I still couldn''t open my mouth to say anything.

    "When those bandits came to take advantage of how tired you were and I saw how angry you got when they disrespected me, even to the point of not caring about the deaths and killing them directly, one part of me felt happier than she ever had, but another part only felt even more guilty.

    "Me, being the idiot that I am, instead of expressing that in words, punched you in the chest to wake you up from your anger. I was just so mad that you kept putting others before yourself... that you kept putting me, a woman who didn''t deserve your care or affection, before yourself..."

    Aina bit down on her lip hard, as she brought herself to parts of her planned words that were the hardest to say. Even compared to the others, she found that she was almost dying on the inside piece by piece as she said them, but she refused to repeat her past mistakes.

    Aina took a deep breath.

    "Your memory is very good, so I''m sure you remember the Joan of Arc Zone we entered. Back then, I didn''t know what to do and I felt like I was making mistake after mistake. Not even the small kinds of mistakes, the kinds of mistakes that you couldn''t'' take back and you would regret for a lifetimeбн

    "But to the me of back then, the appearance of that Zone was like a Heaven sent opportunity. Despite the fact I knew it was an eight person limit, I lied to you and said that it was twoбн"

    Leonel remembered this especially well. He remember Uncle Montez telling him that maybe the easiest thing for a scanning device to do was set the entry limit. It might make a mistake in deciding exactly what the quests and main mission were, but it would never make a mistake in something so fundamental and easy to measure.

    Leonel had already concluded back then that Aina lied to him, but he didn''t mind. The time they spent in the Zone had brought them closer together and he had already put his rose tinted glasses back on. He had also learned about her family back then, so he had assumed that she wanted to gather more treasures to get stronger, faster.

    But, he had never thought that the truth wasбн

    "бн I wanted to spend time with you. I didn''t know how to make it happen but this was the very first chance we seemed to have. I never seemed to have trouble talking with you in class about work related things, so I thought that if we had a task to finish together, it would be easier for me to finally speak with youбн

    "бн And I was right, we grew a lot closer, but I still felt a heavy amount of guilt.

    "This was something I ran from for a long time. Even when we fought against the Royal Blue Fort together and you teleported me away, the fear of being found out by you fueled my anxiety even more and it made me shut down the possibility of coming back.

    "I didn''t trust you with my burdens, I didn''t tell you the truth about a lot of things, I couldn''t even bring myself to explain how I almost died at the Puppet Master''s handsбн

    "But it was never your fault, it was always mine. I didn''t trust you because I couldn''t even trust myself. I made so many mistakes, hurt you in so many waysбн"

    Aina finally couldn''t hold back her tears, they began to drench Leonel''s chest like a flood.

    "бн I''m sorryбн I''m sorry Leonelбн Please let me make it up to you, I''ll spend the rest of my life doing so if that''s what it takesбн Iбн

    "I love you."

    Aina gripped the back of Leonel''s shirt hard, pushing out those final words with all the strength she could muster.

    She struggled to clear her gaze, looking up with what little stamina she had left. It was like explaining all of these things had left her beaten and battered, her heart itself being covered in bruises of blue, green, purple and the deepest of blacks.

    But, what she saw when her head looked up left her breathless, as though she had been knocked down once again, her barely paused tears coming back in a second torrentбн However, this stream seemed far from finishing.

    Those indifferent pale violet eyes looked down at her. They didn''t carry hatred or malice. It was almost as though they were gazing upon a stranger, a person of time''s long since passed, a woman it had no feelings for.

    And then, his lips moved.

    "So what?"

    [Author''s Note: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! I had to binge so much Andrew Tate to type out those last two words. I need a cleanse. I''m gonna go hit the gym hard then drown myself to sleep. Until tomorrow, lads... *cries* why Leonel... why]

 Chapter 1198 Fury

    Chapter 1198 Fury

    Aina felt a crushing feeling in her chest, her vision going dark for a moment. She wasn''t quite sure how to breathe or even think any longer.

    Her hands slipped from Leonel, her arms no longer seeming to have the strength to hold on. Her knees grew weak and an imbalance she would have easily been able to correct in her peak condition was her undoing. She fell to her butt, her vision blurred and her mind foggy.

    The wind seemed to be sucked out of the arena, a response no one could have expected falling to their ears. However, the silence that followed didn''t last very long at all.

    "I''LL KILL YOU!"

    The enraged roar shook the arena even more violently than anything Aina could have done. The golden barrier of Force directly shattered in one location, forming an enormous whole as a streak of crimson tore a path out from it, the furious howl of a father penetrating the skies.

    Leonel didn''t even have the time to turn his head in that direction. All he could do was stir his Lineage Factor, his Bronze Runes vibrating to life in full force and a halo wafting with violet fog appearing above his head.

    BANG!

    The fist threatened to collapse an entire side of Leonel''s face.

    The skin of Leonel''s cheek splintered, the bone beneath cracking and his eye on that side went completely blind. His body went limp for a moment, his brain rattling around his skull like an unleashed pin pong ball before he shot out from his position like a speeding bullet.

    The wind howled and whistled, much of what remained of Leonel''s shirt sheering apart beneath the pressure.

    Before Leonel even landed at his new ''location'', Miel violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. But, he completely ignored the feeling of his inner organs sheering to pieces as he prepared to launch an even more powerful attack. Much of his momentum and Force had been dissipated by the golden barrier, and his own injuries which had yet to heal definitely didn''t help. But, all he could see was red.

    If he didn''t kill this boy right here and now, he wouldn''t know what to do with himself.

    BANG!

    Leonel crashed into the golden barrier, his entire body suddenly becoming wracked by a wave of pain. Wave after wave surged through him as he felt his bones snap one after another. Even after using his Runes to disperse the impact and spread it throughout himself, the result was just more of his body being torn apart.

    His one good eye, however, continued to look forward, a frosty light hidden within them as they watched Miel preparing to jump forward one more time.

    The look within those pale violet depths could only be described as malevolent. A smoldering abyssal valley of darkness and destruction. Even as Leonel coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, it never wavered.

    Just as Miel was about to bound forward one more time, though, an almost shrieking shout called out, stopping him in his tracks.

    "STOP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

    Aina''s voice caught Miel completely off guard. The fury in his gaze hadn''t even waned in the slightest, even meeting Leonel''s cold gaze over a distance of several hundred meters. He wanted nothing more than to tear this boy limb from limb.

    "бн If you hurt him again, I''ll never forgive youбн" Aina spoke with what strength she had left. "бн Please take me away, I don''t want to be here anymoreбн"

    Leonel slid down from the golden barrier, a few cracks quickly mending in his wake. An entire side of his face had become a swollen monstrosity, but the other side maintained a cold indifference that continued to meet Miel''s gaze.

    Miel''s body shook with rage. But, when he felt his daughter weakly tugging at his robes. He couldn''t help but feel his own heart breaking. There was no rage worth leaving his daughter in this state.

    He turned his gaze from Leonel, sweeping his daughter into his arms. He sent a glance backward, the crimson in his eyes glowing and his flowing red hair seemingly having become a raging dragon of its own.

    The oppressive atmosphere in the air seemed to grow palpable. It only became more so after Miel reached out a hand, causing the Brazinger family''s Heirloom to snap into his palm. In those moments, it felt like the reappearance of a War Lord. There was no doubt that had Miel had this blade in his hand, he could have single handedly wiped the Viola family from existence.

    With a step, he vanished from his location, shooting through the rapidly closing gap in the barrier.

    Leonel could feel his face and body healing exceptionally slowly. There was no doubt in his mind that this was simply the difference between being attacked by a being in the same Dimension as you versus one in a higher Dimension. Despite the fact most of Miel''s strength had been dispersed by the barrier and the fact he was heavily injured, Leonel had still ended up like this.

    A chorus of boos began to rain down from above. If it wasn''t for the barriers, there would likely be a lot of things thrown in Leonel''s direction as well. But, his gaze continued looking ahead in the same direction, as though Miel was still standing in the same spot.

    The rage of the crowd only grew with each passing moment. They vented all their fury and frustration. When what Leonel did sunk in, they became almost feral.

    Leonel, though, couldn''t seem to hear any of it. He had an anger bubbling up within him, but he didn''t know where it was coming from. He thought that maybe it was because of Miel, but with his impeccable memory he knew that this anger had been bubbling within him even before Aina''s father''s outburst.

    No matter how hard he thought, putting every single one of his split minds to work, he couldn''t understand why, and it only made him angrier.

    "Fuck!"

    Leonel''s shout was sudden and completely unexpected, drowning out the crowd as though they weren''t even there. The barrier to his back shattered and soon after, he vanished, leaving the arena entirely.

 Chapter 1199 Do You?

    Chapter 1199 Do You?

    Leonel''s fists fell like a torrential storm. He stood within a cave carved by his own fists, his rage only seeming to become worse with each passing moment.

    Leonel couldn''t ever remember being this absolutely furious before. Every time he tried to consider why that was, he just couldn''t pinpoint it and it fueled his tirade even more.

    A violent crimson aura hung around him, suffocating his violet fog. The killing intent was so thick and viscous that even the Sixth Dimensional creatures in the surroundings didn''t dare to get close.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Blood flew from Leonel''s fists and his lips, his body having come nowhere close to healing from Miel''s strike. To make matters worse, the mountains of Planet Montex were known for their hardness, even to the point they could grow to a height of piercing into space without faltering.

    Yet, Leonel''s fists kept wailing, a harsh and grating whistle emitting from them every time he slammed forward.

    It was stupid. It was all so stupid.

    That was the perfect opportunity to use the spider construct on her father, yet he missed it. She was a warrior maybe even more powerful than himself, yet he had turned her away. Her words had been sincere and even if he didn''t care for them, shouldn''t he have at least Respected them?

    ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? ????????(?)???. ???

    He couldn''t think clearly. His mind was covered in a haze and he couldn''t line up his beliefs properly. He was absolutely furious, but he didn''t even have a target. He simply kept punching the walls of these mountains. His lungs were screaming, his limbs were on fire, and his bones couldn''t even properly heal under the strain he was putting them under.

    The cave only grew deeper and deeper. Leonel was absolutely relentless and he didn''t even seem to show any signs of slowing down.

    But while his mind was at one gear, his body was at a completely different one. No matter how much fuel his mind had, his body wasn''t in a state where it could keep up.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s mind tried to pull his body along, forcing it to break into Tier 4. But, that was when he rammed into a wall.

    His feet faltered, his fist missing the wall before him and his body falling to his knees.

    He tried to stand, but it all suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. Breathing felt like he was swallowing hot coals and his blood rushed through his body like molten metal. He coughed and wheezed, mouthfuls of blood and pieces of flesh coming from his lips.

    Leonel''s vision swam, but his mind was still in overdrive. After receiving so much rest over the past few days, it had far too much energy. Even if he wanted to pass out, he couldn''t do it, let alone the fact he wanted to continue furiously swinging his fists.

    It was right at that moment that he suddenly felt a palm touch his back. Even in the state his mind was in, he hadn''t been able to sense anything before it approached.

    His head snapped backward, but when he saw what was behind him, his mind went completely blank.

    It was a woman he had impossibly clear memories of. Those twinkling emerald eyes were all too familiar, filled with warmth and unconditional affection.

    The cave Leonel''s fists had excavated already traveled more than a hundred meters in, shrouding everything in complete darkness. And yet, her light smile radiated a light of its own.

    Alienor kneeled by her son''s side, her brows furrowed in worry. She had been fretting over every tiny detail about how she would face her son again, but in the end, her motherly instinct won out. Even if Leonel hated her, she couldn''t continue to watch out without doing anything.

    Seeing the violent aura around her son and the deep crimson taking over his irises, she couldn''t help but react this way.

    What she had never expected, though, was for that violent crimson to vanish almost the instant he laid eyes on her, his eyes even watering.

    "Mom?"

    All the reflexes in the world couldn''t have prepared Alienor. She found her son''s arms being tightly wound around her, causing her to enter a state of shock for a long while. But soon after, she was on cloud nine.

    Not only had her son recognized her instantly, he didn''t seem angry in the slightest. There wasn''t even a bit of hesitation in him at all.

    Alienor wrapped her arms around her son. Feeling the state of his body, she nearly couldn''t hold back her own tears.

    When it came to how Alienor and Velasco wanted to raise their son, they were practically at two opposite sides of the aisle. Velasco would let Leonel jump into a vat of boiling oil even if he knew it was a mistake. He thought that Leonel needed to grow on his own. Even when it came to the treasures he left behind for Leonel, all of them could only slowly unlock their potential under Leonel''s own efforts.

    Alienor, though, would lock Leonel away in a safe room with padded cushions for walls if she could have. The treasures she gave Leonel were instantly valuable and far beyond what even most large families would give their children.

    If they saw their son in such a state, Velasco would probably force Leonel to heal on his own. Alienor, though, couldn''t possibly wait for such a thing and instantly began to use her Snow Force on him.

    Miel''s influence vanished like a fragrance in the wind, Leonel''s body quickly returning to its peak state in just a few breaths of time.

    However, his grip on his mother only tightened.

    Alienor sighed, rubbing her son''s back. Though there was a silence between them, Alienor could feel the heaviness of Leonel''s spirit. Alienor might not have been there, but she had still watched her son grow up. She knew well that even when Leonel lost his temper, this wasn''t how he reacted.

    "Do you regret it?" Alienor finally asked.

 Chapter 1200 A Little Bit

    Chapter 1200 A Little Bit

    Leonel didn''t answer for a very long time. For a moment, Alienor began to worry about the same thing her own mother had. Had she been away from Leonel''s life for too long to be able to ask such a question? Should she have waited longer? But, the result wasn''t what she thought it would be.

    "бн I regret how I did it."

    Leonel''s voice was still somewhat hoarse. When he pulled back from his mother''s embrace and leaned back against the walls of the cave he had created, a flickering sort of indecision was still within his gaze. He still couldn''t understand.

    "How you did it?" Alienor probed.

    Despite her streak as a clean freak, something she seemed to have only passed onto her son in part, if it was for Leonel, she didn''t mind sitting on these dirty floors.

    "бн There was no need to be so cruel. I don''t know why I did that. The words came out before I could even control them.

    "I justбн I just don''t think I want to be with her anymore and didn''t want to give her an opportunity. But I should have figured out another wayбн"

    "You don''t?"

    ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? ????????(?)???. ???

    Alienor looked deeply at her son. Leonel''s rage seemed to be fueled by something other than what he said. But, she couldn''t tell exactly what that was. That said, his statement was as clear as day.

    "My mind is too clear and my path is too straight without her. I''ve made more progress in just a few days than I used to make in months. My head used to be filled with thoughts of her and even the lens I saw the world through was filtered through her first. But when I let go everything improved."

    "And that''s what you want? To follow your path over everything else?"

    "It''s not what I want. It''s what needs to happen." Leonel closed his eyes. "This world is filled with nothing but trash. Maybe I was angry because today I became one of them."

    Alienor''s expression softened even more considerably than it did before, her finger gliding over her son''s forehead and fixing the sweaty strands of his hair.

    "And what is your goal?"

    "To unite the Dimensional Verse." Leonel said softly.

    Alienor''s heart skipped a beat. Even with his eyes closed, Alienor could sense the determination of her son.

    "It''s quite stupid, isn''t it? That''s what she said, anyway." Leonel continued. "But maybe it is. I left the arena today even though I know how important getting into the Void Palace is, and I don''t even feel like appearing for the third day of the Selections, not that they would even allow me to make it pastбн"

    Leonel felt like an idiot. His mistakes compounded. Now he had let himself down and he couldn''t even enter the Void Palace anymore. Great on his part, really. Top tier.

    Alienor smiled and shook her head. Her son was clearly still unaware that the Tokens were all in her hands. She flipped over a palm and a gem of shimmering Amethyst appeared. It was carved into the shape of a coin the size of a palm. On its body, a dark and brooding palace could be seen.

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open. He could feel a strong might coming from the Token, a might that could only come from a higher Dimensional material. Just looking at it, it was at least on the same level as the Memory Ore Uncle Montez had given him, if not beyond.

    pan,da-n0vel,c,m "This isбн?"

    "This is the Amethyst Token. Mom can give it to you, but you have to promise not to tell your father. He''d throw a fit."

    Leonel was stunned for a moment before he began to laugh. His laugh was in one part ironic, another part because he truly found the situation to be funny, and a final part sad.

    This world was truly unfair. Who knew how many were risking their lives for a chance to grasp this Amethyst Token, yet his mother was handing it to him without him having proved anything.

    Did Leonel think he could get the Token on his own? Yes. But it didn''t make a difference to him at all. After all, even if he did earn it the normal way, he would have to rely on talent he was lucky to be born with to do so anyway.

    Of course, Alienor didn''t care about all of that. She wasn''t exactly sane when it came to matters related to her son. Maybe the only reason Miel still had a head on his shoulders was because Alienor''s heart softened for that little girl. But, even then, she didn''t reprimand her son.

    Luckily, it seemed that Leonel was aware of his own mistakes.

    Leonel took the Token, moving it between his fingers. It carried a great heft to it.

    "Can you give this to her?" Leonel asked.

    Alienor blinked. "бн Are you sure? Every representative is only given a single one. Even I can''t get you a second. The advantage of having one is very great. One of my regrets is that I wasn''t patient enough for my true talent to awaken and couldn''t get one myself."

    Leonel shook her head. "She deserves at least this much for an apology. Revenge for her mother is very important to her and her luck is less than that of mine. I have you and dad, but sheбн Well, anyway, a Gold Token is enough for me."

    Alienor smiled, a hint of sadness in her eyes. This wasn''t because Leonel had turned down her good will, but because she could hear the affection in her son''s voiceбн And it most definitely wasn''t aimed toward her.

    However, Alienor also understood from her own experience with relationships that no outside party could ever force anything to happen. She would have to wait for Leonel to figure it out himself, and she hoped that it wouldn''t be too late for him by then.

    ''I guessбн that little girl isn''t so bad. Maybe I can help her out a little bitбн''

    бн

    On another side of Planet Montex, Aina sat in silence, her tears having dried. She looked off into the distance blankly, not even budging when she noticed Savahn''s presence behind her.

 Chapter 1201 Couldnt Decide

    Chapter 1201 Couldn''t Decide

    Savahn sat to Aina''s side, silently slipping her hand into her friend''s. She didn''t say anything for a long time, just keeping Aina company.

    The small home they had rented had quite beautiful scenery around it. The air was fresh and the view from the mountain was gorgeous. Whether it was cloud, bird or sunset watching, it was perfect for them all.

    The two women sat on a terrace taking in these sights.

    Savahn had already made Miel promise to keep Yuri away. Maybe it was because it was the first time Savahn had shown the smallest hint of a temper, but Miel only looked at her deeply before agreeing.

    As far as Savahn was concerned, Yuri was the worst possible influence for Aina right now. In truth, Savahn wasn''t sure if she''d be a good influence either, because she was very, very angry with Leonel as well. But, she still felt that it was better than whatever Yuri would have done.

    Just the same way Miel had wanted to kill Leonel, Yuri definitely had wanted to do the same, it was just that she was a step slow and she couldn''t have possibly broken through the barrier without revealing her true strength, something her adoptive father always drilled into her not to do.

    "Thank you, Savahn." Aina said lightly.

    Savahn blinked. "For what?"

    "For always being there for me. I don''t know how I can repay you, but I definitely will. As much as I owed him, I owe you just the same. I''m sorry for waiting so long to tell you that."

    Savahn''s gaze misted over, her tears threatening to fall. But, she quickly wiped them away with her free forearm.

    "You are the closest thing I have to family left." Savahn said softly. "You don''t need to apologize to me, you''re my sister."

    The two women tightly held onto one another.

    "Are you doing okay?" Savahn broke the silence.

    Aina smiled a bittersweet smile. "I''ll be fine. I hurt him and he hurt me, now we''re even."

    Savahn frowned. She didn''t like hearing things put like that. A bit of the anger she had built up for Leonel almost spilled over but she managed to control herself. In the end, she sighed.

    "Even if you made a mistake, that doesn''t mean you have to become a punching bag."

    Aina''s expression softened, her smile becoming small.

    "I was thinking about how hard it was for him all these years. There''s only so much I can remember by thinking back, I don''t have his memory. The stuff I spoke about only scratched the surface. I don''t think I was worth all the effort he put in, but I still made him wade through hell and high water when I could have solved it all just by opening my mouth."

    Savahn''s gaze flickered, her expression changing from time to time before she finally asked the question.

    "You still want to be with him, right?"

    "I do."

    Savahn hadn''t expected Aina to answer so quickly.

    It was weird. Savahn had actually come with the intentions of talking Aina down. Though she was angry with Leonel, she still felt like the two were a match made in Heaven. She didn''t want to see them crumble because of a single heated exchange.

    But, at the same time, she didn''t want Aina to take this matter too casually either, which was why she had responded like she had. Aina had seen her faults and apologized for them, if Leonel wasn''t able to forgive and forget, then there was no point in them moving forward at all.

    If one partner held onto something and refused to let go, there was simply no hope for a relationship at all. She didn''t want to see Aina spend a lifetime making up for mistakes she had made as a na?ve teenage girl who didn''t know how to approach her first love.

    Now, though, it seemed like this second worry was going in full force.

    "Then what do you want to do about it....?" Savahn asked.

    "Iбн" Aina''s gaze turned misty. "бн I don''t knowбн I don''t know what to doбн"

    At that moment, a flash of light appeared before the two women. Both Savahn and Aina looked up somewhat stunned, finding it hard to believe what they were seeing before them.

    Savahn never thought she would see a woman more beautiful than Aina. Of course, this was less about their raw features, and more about a mature air and confidence that Aina just hadn''t quite yet grasped. But, it was a shocking realization nonetheless.

    As for Aina, she found herself suddenly feeling overwhelmingly self conscious. She didn''t know where to put her hands and her gaze flickered several times as though she couldn''t decide whether she should be looking down or meeting the gaze of the woman before her.

    Alienor smiled, her visage seeming no different from an angel''s to the two young girls. They suddenly felt as though they were looking upon an idol they could look up to for a lifetime.

    Alienor crossed her legs, sitting on the ground across from the two women. But, if you looked closely, she was actually hovering a half inch above it.

    "My son gets his airheaded side from his father." Alienor said with a light laugh. "He wanted to apologize but it seems he doesn''t realize that he should do these kind of things in person. I''m sorry to say that my son also wanted to make it clear that this is just an apology, butбн"

    Alienor''s words took Aina through a roller coaster of emotions. From figuring out that this was indeed Leonel''s mother, to hearing that she was here to apologizeбн To understanding that it was ''just'' an apologyбн Her mind felt like it was being punched from all sides.

    "бн Here."

    An Amethyst Token appeared in Alienor''s palm. She grabbed Aina''s hand and slipped it in, pressing down the latter''s fingers over the Token.

    Aina subconsciously squeezed it tight. By the time she realized what had happened, Alienor had already helped her deal with loose strands of her hair and even straightened out her clothing before vanishing into thin air, leaving her in a daze.

    In the skies above, Alienor watched on with a complicated expression. She remembered that just a day ago, she had really hated this little girl. But, Aina''s words today and her willingness to bare her heart for all to see had changed Alienor''s thoughts of her entirely.

    As many would say, winning over a mother-in-law was about as good as winning over a son.

    ''I''ve given you a key. You just have to figure out how to open the lock...'' She thought to herself.

    **

    On Planet Luxnix, a scene one would have never expected to see was taking place. If the Luxnix were aware of what was happening, it was hard to guess how many mouthfuls of blood they would cough up.

    While many of the Luxnix family''s upper echelon was away at the second day of the Selection, a boy stricken from their family records was standing in a vault that held their greatest treasures.

    Leonel couldn''t help but shake his head and laugh. He couldn''t decide whether his mother was a Saint or a common thug.

 Chapter 1202 A Chance

    Chapter 1202 A Chance

    Leonel had never seen such a vast store of wealth in his life. However, he didn''t begin rushing about, snatching everything he could catch a glimpse of. He had been serious when he spoke to Elody. As far as he was concerned, the Luxnix family was one of his starting assets. While it might seem great for him to plunder them now, the reality was that this would only harm him in the long run.

    Though no one had told him, he was certain that the other Heirs were far ahead of himself. And, even if the Luxnix family was willing to fully back him, that wouldn''t go a very long way in changing his current state either.

    While it was true that the Luxnix had been hiding their true abilities and that they were actually beyond the Montex and Viola, by how much was that the case? At best, Leonel could figure that they were at or a step below the weakest Seventh Dimensional families. Though that was a whole lot better than being just at the pinnacle of the Sixth, it still wasn''t nearly enough.

    One only need to look at the gap in Void Palace entries to see that Leonel was correct. The Luxnix only had a single entry above the Nominal disciple ranks in their history. Granted, this was because they made the generation of Leonel''s grandmother lay low, but even if they were taken into consideration, they would have at most had two more such entries, one for Roesia and the other for Snow Star Order.

    However, if the conversation between Orinik and Ganor was anything to go by, even the decent talents of the Morales could get a slot so long as the right person gave the okay. The gap was simply far too enormous.

    After reaching a state of calm with this train of thought in mind, Leonel began to look around once more.

    ''I only need a set of two things. I''m not sure if what I need for my second Divine Armor would be here, but if it is, that''s excellent. As for the second matterбн I will have 10 extra Essences worth of Fifth Dimensional Evolution Ore after I finish. But, I''ve yet to decide what to spend it onбн''

    During the last few days, the progress Leonel had made was enormous. He had already decided on the design and makeup of his second Divine Armor and he had truly gone all out.

    The truth was that thanks to Evolution Ore, Leonel could continue to use his current Divine Armor all the way up until the Quasi Sixth Dimension without it holding him back too much. While using it for so long would multiply his power like it did in the past, it at least wouldn''t'' be a hindrance.

    But, due to the wealth his mother had left for him, Leonel realized that he didn''t have to hope and pray to stumble upon the right Ores any longer. He could just outright buy them.

    That said, why buy them if they were already here? He was just hoping that the Luxnix would have what he needed.

    Leonel was very much looking forward to the synergistic effects of two Divine Armors. It had to be remembered that Leonel''s Divine Armors became a part of him, he couldn''t just casually discard them. That was why building up an affinity through their use was possible.

    His Spatial affinity had managed to keep up with him through the Fifth Dimension because he used Evolution Ores, but it had already greatly weakened on a Sixth Dimensional world. He wanted to see how it would evolve further with the stack of two Armors.

    Still, the result of that was fairly predictable. The idea of what to use his other Evolution Ores on thoughбн That was a different matter entirely.

    ''Should I use it on a transportation treasure? The Void Palace is probably in a Seventh Dimension environment, right? If I don''t have Sixth Dimensional transportation to use at the very elast, moving might be difficultбн I probably can''t bring out or use the Segmented Cube so casually anymore over thereбн

    ''I could make something for Little Blackstar instead. The little guy is my strongest partner and he was probably right to ask for me to make something for him. I''ve never forged for a beast before, but it shouldn''t'' be too much different even if the shape composition is a bit oddбн

    ''Or maybe something for Vice and Candleбн?''

    Leonel had stuck true to his word and allowed Vice and Candle to live their lives. Unsurprisingly, they had even more trouble ingratiating themselves than Elthor and they ultimately still ended up spending most of their time in the Segmented Cube.

    Candle had a great amount of social anxiety and Vice was still mirroring everything Candle did, taking her as a template to hide his real thoughts. Toward this, Leonel could only be helpless.

    He wasn''t a psychologist, so he had no idea how to take steps forward.

    ''The Void Palace definitely has Savants of its own, or maybe there''s even a whole department of them. It would be greatly helpful to Candle and Vice to take part like that. Butбн I also have a feeling that the Void Palace keeps a very tight leash on such powerful existencesбн Is it right to trust them?''

    Leonel was conflicted. On one hand he didn''t trust the Void Palace at all. If there was anything the Dimensional Verse had taught him, it was that strength talked. If the Void Palace wanted to use Savants, they had to make sure they didn''t grow too powerful, a lot like Leonel had tried to do.

    On the other hand, though, Leonel knew that he was ill equipped to even try.

    ''Maybe that''s just a chance I''ll have to take if I want them to live a normal lifeбн''

    Leonel''s thoughts and footsteps suddenly came to a grinding halt. After a moment, his gaze brightened and a grin spread across his lips.

    ''They really do have it here. Excellent. It seems the core of my second Divine Armor is decided.''

    [One more coming today.. dkm <3]

 Chapter 1203 Dark lce

    Chapter 1203 Dark lce

    The Ore Leonel laid his eyes on an Ore that seemed to flicker between a crystalline blue and a deep abyssal black depending on what angle you looked at it from. The container around it was made out of a very special Sixth Dimensional glass material, and yet even it still fogged and allowed crystalline sheets of ice to form on it from time to time. While this might not seem like a big deal on the surface, it very quickly became one when one realized that this Ore was only of the Fifth Dimension!

    This Ore was known as Dark Ice.

    The description of this Ore was quite eerie. It was known for its ability to freeze over even space itself, causing reality to solidify before cracking it apart like glass.

    Leonel had been reminded of this Ore while watching Karolus fight. Karolus'' space affinity ability was destructive, but it was a kind of beautiful demolition to watch in real time. When Leonel watched spiderwebs of space spread through Karolus'' attacks, even while he did something like walking through the air, her felt his Dreamscape tremble.

    When he connected that feeling to his memory of this Ore, something seemed to click into place.

    Leonel had already decided the path of his Divine Armors, and that was Spatial Affinity. The Space Element was far too versatile and useful to him. It was already too late to just pivot to another approach, just like how he couldn''t just change the formula of his Metal Body''s needs either. His path was set in stone.

    As such, Leonel could only build up from his current starting position. The problem wasбн he kind of regretted it.

    The Spatial Element had been greatly useful to Leonel. It was because of it that he was able to defeat the Puppet Master, someone far beyond him at the time, successfully. Since then, he had relied on it heavily, especially when he had to fight those stronger than himself.

    It was only recently, when Leonel began to battle Sixth Dimensional existences and entered a Sixth Dimensional world, that the Spatial Domain of his Divine Armor became useless.

    Butбн Observing Aina made Leonel realize that he was stretching himself too thin. He had too many strengths, he couldn''t possibly maximize them all, at least not within a short timeframe. He felt like what he should do is focus on his greatest strengthбкhis Innate Nodeбкand build everything around it.

    If Leonel could use his Innate Node freely and without consequences, he was certain that there might only be a handful of people capable of matching him at his Dimension level, and all of these people would either have to have outstanding abilities or control over an Innate Node on the same level as himself.

    Leonel had already maximized his Metal Body''s foundation to accelerate himself toward being able to use Scarlet Star Force freely. He used Star Core to build a sturdy base, and then he picked Ores that maximized his ability to withstand Forces of the Light and Fire Elements.

    Leonel felt that he should have done the exact same with his Divine Armor, but he had been too na?ve to think that he could have a little of everything, and it was causing his overall battle prowess to suffer.

    The bad news was that there was already no going back. Leonel couldn''t just undo what he had done without causing great harm to himself. Howeverбн What he could do was pivot and begin to slowly build a counter to his problems.

    The solution Leonel landed upon was Dark Ice.

    Rather than damaging his foundation to restart, Leonel instead chose to build upon it and synergize with it in a way that would be conducive to his goal. As such, he turned toward an Ore that could both build upon his Spatial Affinity, but simultaneously deviate toward something that could help manage his Innate Node.

    Leonel chose to approach his problem from two sides.

    On one hand, his Metal Body would lay a strong foundation, growing steadier toward a day where it could withstand his Scarlet Innate Node.

    On the other hand, his Divine Armor would begin to build a strong affinity toward the Ice and Water Elements, not to mention the opposing Darkness Elements, to balance out the damage inevitably left behind.

    Leonel''s ultimate goal was to build his final Divine Armor with the core of an Element that stood on the same level as his Scarlet Star Forceбн

    Void Star Force.

    Top ten in Star Forces. Top three in Darkness Forcesбн Top one in Water Forces.

    It would become the perfect counter to Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force and a Divine Armor constructed by it would complete the cycle Leonel had planned for him and maximize his strength to an extreme in the future.

    Of course, there were too many things Leonel had no idea how he would do. For example, was it even possible to make a Force the core of his Divine Armor instead of an Ore? Would he have to create a forging technique capable of infusing a Force into a metal and changing its properties? Truthfully, he could already posit a few potential theories on how he would do this. But, that still left the largest elephant in the room unquestionedбн

    How the hell would he find Void Star Force to begin with?

    It didn''t need to be explained just how rare Forces on the level of Void and Scarlet Star Force were. Leonel could spend a lifetime looking and still never find it.

    Still, Leonel chose to push this away into the future. If anything, this was the least ambitious of his goals. If he could unite the Dimensional Verse, why would he fear finding the source of a single Force?!

    Leonel reached out his hand and grasped the Ore.

    He didn''t mind anything about the future as he stepped into his Segmented Cube. All he could see was his Force Crafter''s Bench, his mind enraptured by the designs swirling about his Dream World.

    Thisбн This would be his greatest craft to this day.

    His fingers crackled and popped, his gaze turning a frightening cold. And then, he began.

    He had no idea that a certain Bronze Tablet in the Luxnix family''s territory was glowing a shade brighter than it normally did.

 Chapter 1204 Not Only...

    Chapter 1204 Not Only...

    Leonel''s fingers glided through the air in a rhythmic motion. As the connection between himself and Little Tolly increased, he was able to exert more and more control without the use of these techniques. However, no matter how strong their connection became, there would never be a method more precise, accurate and fast than this.

    Leonel''s fingers didn''t have the ability to break through the sound barrier of the Sixth Dimension, but this made his control even finer and more controlled. Without having to compensate for the changes caused by vast booms of pressure, Leonel found his skill to have reached another level entirely.

    Little Tolly split into dozens of parts, each of which seemed to take turns of their own in listening to Leonel''s commands. Ores of all shapes and sizes glided through the air, completely unobstructed by one another.

    Leonel''s Crafter''s Workbench vibrated to the rhythm of his movements. Above each semi spherical well, a new environment was formed. In one section, one might find temperatures as high as the surface of a star of the Third Dimension, in another, it might be barely enough to boil Third Dimensional waters.

    The rhythmic tapping of Leonel''s foot seemed to control hidden Force Arts within his workbench, his mind tweaking and managing everything to the most perfect degree.

    Leonel had done a lot of training with this workbench to make it through his dad''s program. But, this was the very first time he had felt the need to use it. It could only be said that he was truly going all out.

    **

    Hours ago, just after Leonel vanished in a rage, the arena fell into an odd sort of silence. Maybe the first to speak amongst it all was actually Ganor. But, due to certain matters, the only ones to actually hear him were the envoys of the Void Palace along with Orinik.

    "Holy shit. Did you just see what I just saw?" Ganor was absolutely speechless.

    Orinik slowly nodded, about to open his mouth when Ganor''s next words cut him off.

    "He actually turned down such a beauty, what the fuck?! Dameon, use that ability of yours and find out where she went. She''s vulnerable, this is the perfect time to pounce. I can''t miss this opportunity!"

    This time, Orinik couldn''t stand it anymore, directly kicking Ganor''s Throne. He seemed to use enough strength to shatter it completely, but under some odd sort of martial art, the throne instead vibrated wildly, sending tingling sensations up the elbow Ganor had been leaning on.

    "Orinik! Fuck!"

    Ganor grabbed onto his elbow, his teeth chattering. Even for a higher Dimensional being, the funny bone was still the funny bone.

    "Can you be serious for once? Didn''t you see his transformation?!"

    Ganor paused after hearing this, falling into silence. Then, after a moment, his eyes widened, his pupils constricting.

    He was in the Sixth Dimension. Compared to the memories of lower Dimensional beings, his was on another level, at least for things that occurred acutely. Thinking back to what he had seen, he realized that it did, indeed, warrant his shock.

    "The first three doors lay the foundation, they allow one to gain the most basic abilities of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    "The fourth door forms the crown upon the forehead, but it''s at most superficial and can''t be said to solidify until the Fifth Door. This boosts one''s Earth Variant Affinity to great heights and it''s the minimum requirement for practicing some of the more core techniques of their family.

    "The Sixth Door is where things truly begin to change because the Bronze Runes appear. The cover the skin in lines that travel either straight up and down, or straight left and right.

    "In a generation of the Morales, only 1000 would manage to open their Sixth Door in their first try.

    "Upon opening the Seventh Door, the Bronze Runes will etch onto the muscles and the inner organs. Only if one opens up to at least the Fifth Door would one have a chance of opening the Seventh Door on their subsequent attempts.

    "Upon opening the Eighth Door, the Bronze Runes will etch right into the bones. Its an excruciating process and among the reasons why so few manage to open the Ninth Door on their first attempt. However, even to make it this far, one needs to have opened at least the Sixth Door on their first attemptбн

    "And then there''s the Ninth Door. Upon opening this Doorбн"

    "The halo and the most coveted Innate ability of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, Gravity Domain." Ganor said slowly.

    "бн In order to have a chance at opening the Ninth, one would have to open to at least the Seventh Door on their first attempt. But, even those odds are slim. Only those who open to at least the Eighth on their first attempt might have a decent percentage chance."

    Orinik and Ganor let it sink in. They had come to a Sixth Dimensional Sector, only looking for a chance to escape the harsh environment of the Void Palace. That place couldn''t be considered a school for cheating the younger generation, it was more like a hellscape where only those who could survive would get respect and those who couldn''t would be treated like trash by the side of the road. To make matters worse, after entering the Void Palace, it was impossible to leave casually without certain privilegesбн

    And yet, to think that they would actually stumble upon such an opportunity instead.

    If Leonel was a random bastard of the Morales family who just so happened to open the Ninth Door not just once to enter the Fourth Dimensionбн But twice to enter the Fifth, his price would already be astronomical.

    However, they had all seen the violet aura that wafted out from Leonel''s halo. It made what should have been his Gravity Domain somewhat different from what it should be in practice. And, if Orinik recalled properly, there was even an odd hint of red in there that carried a violent sort of suppressive aura.

    Leonel was not only a talentбн

    But his Lineage Factor had mutated!

 Chapter 1205 Freed Minds

    Chapter 1205 Freed Minds

    Eventually, Orinik was forced out of his world of dreams and aspirations to realize that he should probably do something about the mess left behind.

    He didn''t feel very bad about not being able to stop Miel from taking action against Leonel. If anything, he was just a bit worried that he would lose control over the atmosphere. After all, this was the second time someone had interfered with, seemingly, no consequences whatsoever. But, it was already too late to worry about that, he could only press forward.

    Soon, the billboard was back up and the rounds proceeded as though nothing at all had happened.

    A masked man stepped onto the arena after Leonel and Aina left to fight his battle, going all out an eventually defeating his opponent before returning to his seating arrangements. He, like many others, were entirely focused on themselves and claiming a spot for the third day of the Selections.

    Shockingly enough, though, neither Leonel nor Aina returned. In fact, there were many others that simply didn''t show up to their battles, causing forfeits by default.

    Toward this matter, Orinik wasn''t very caring. Surviving a strike from a Sixth Dimensional existence while only being Tier 3 was more than enough to give Leonel a Nominal disciple spot and he could justify it with ease. So, he wasn''t worried about missing out on Leonel in the slightest.

    **

    Leonel didn''t care about what was happening in the arena. Truthfully, the only reason he would go now would be to support his friends and defeat Myghell.

    When it came to the latter, Leonel felt like their clash would happen without a shadow of a doubt very soon. Selection or not, it simply didn''t matter. After all, wasn''t Leonel quite literally in the Luxnix Estate currently? He had no need to go and meet Myghell, soon enough the latter would come to him.

    As for his friendsбн Well, Leonel was a bit ashamed to meet them currently. It was the first time he had felt such a feeling in his life.

    The matter with Aina didn''t matter so much, or more accurately, the fact that it was her wasn''t important, nor was their history. Leonel felt like he had let himself down with the way he reacted, and that was the foundation of it all.

    When had he ever lost his temper like that? When had he, even when simmering with rage, not reacted calculatively? Even when his best friend of over a decade was betraying his trust and almost costing him his life, wasn''t he still calm and cool headed?

    He had stepped completely outside of his character and he was disgusted with himself.

    What kind of leader could he be if he didn''t have perfect control of his emotions? There was simply no excuse. As a King, he couldn''t afford to be ''human'' and to have ''flaws''. He had to be perfect not for the sake of himself, but for the sake of those who trusted him.

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    The whistling, sharp winds of Leonel''s fingers became more defined and controlled, his mind becoming calmer and more focused and refined as he dialed in on his purpose.

    He had given Aina an apology, but he felt like he owed his brothers an apology as well. Who they followed was a reflection of themselves. If their King was such trash, what did that say about them? He refused to make this mistake again. No, he would never make this mistake again. That was something he swore to himself and on his heart.

    It was simply a shame that Leonel hadn''t seemed to learn just yet that there was no amount of level headedness that could eliminate something who held to your core.

    BANG! TSSSSSSS!

    бн

    Leonel opened his eyes slowly, a spark of a radiant blue reflecting deep within them.

    Something, at the right angle, his pale violet eyes would seem more silver than violet. Now, they seemed to have gained a tinge of a blue character to them, something flickering.

    The temperature of Leonel''s body cooled considerably and the color of the world seemed to change. No, it wasn''t that the color of the world had changed, it was almost like it had instead gained a small filter to it, allowing Leonel to see things he hadn''t quite been able to see before.

    ''бн Soбн This is was a Water Force affinity feels likeбн It''s soбн Different.''

    The Morales family''s Lineage Factor could only be said to be fantastical. To give one the ability to gain affinities simply by assimilating Ores and special metalsбн it was no wonder they stood atop the Seventh Dimension of the Human Domain.

    Leonel hadn''t felt like this when his Spatial Affinity gained a wild boost to it, but that was likely because Space Elemental Force didn''t really clash with anything he had known. On top of that, he was quite green to the Dimensional Verse when he made the change, so it wasn''t really upturning any of his world views.

    But, after seeing and truly feeling Water Force for the first time, Leonel couldn''t help but gasp in astonishment. It was completely antithetical to his exceptionally high Fire Elemental Affintiy and it was as though he was looking through the world in a completely new lens. The kind of inspiration it gave him leagues beyond anything he had ever experienced before.

    The feeling was so much more intimate than when Leonel used his Spear Domain Lineage Factor to feel the affinities of different spears. He had tested out all sorts of spears, he had even touched Water Domain spear before, but this was completely different.

    The difference was akin to a person telling you their life experiences and the hardships they had been through, versus you experiencing that life in their stead. It couldn''t even be compared.

    Leonel reached out a hand. A globule of Water Force quickly formed and soon a smooth sphere of blue waters appeared before him. It was so precisely controlled that it almost looked like a glass orb instead.

    His fingers snapped and the sphere of water suddenly froze over. Space crackled as lines of fine ice appeared in seemingly empty air.

    Just as Leonel was about to continue his tests, a frostiness coating the tips of his pale violet hair, his gaze narrowed.

    He had been so focused on his Craft that he hadn''t really been paying attention to anything else. He completely trusted that his mother would never let anything happen to him. But now that he had suddenly freed so many minds, he finally noticed itбн

    ''бн The Silver Tablet is trembling?''

 Chapter 1206 Until...

    Chapter 1206 Until...

    Leonel took a step and vanished from the Lab Setting, appearing within the treasure vault of the Luxnix with he Segmented Cube hovering above his palm.

    With the structure of the Luxnix estate, much of its important structures were hidden underground. This was only to be expected from a family that had been forced to lay low for three generations. After all, they couldn''t remain stagnant while they waited, so much of their moves either came in the form of top secret espionage-like missions, or were conducted in hidden spaces like this one.

    The treasure vault of the Luxnix was no different. It was like an enormous steel sphere buried deep within the ground. The curving silver walls made Leonel feel especially small as even with the ample lighting in the surroundings, he could still just barely make out its very highest point.

    All around, the very same orbs of golden light that floated about the Luxnix estate on the surface floated here as well, outlining what felt like an infinite number of shelves.

    Up above, many hollow cylindrical structures hung. At first glance, it looked like the hovered upon nothing, but Leonel was just barely able to make out that they were actually being held up by extraordinarily thin lines of Force.

    These hollow cylinders had no base or top, like a piece of rolled up paper. However, their insides were lines with more shelves that carried even more treasures. From his position on the ground, Leonel could easily look up and see into these cylindrical stores. With a glance, he could tell that the most valuable materials of the Luxnix were placed up there and out of reach, and though they seemed like a single leap away, Leonel was certain that the protections were not simple.

    When Leonel stepped out, his first instinct was that whatever was causing his Silver Tablet to react like this had to be in one of those structures up above. Originally, Leonel had completely ignored what was above for two reasons.

    Firstly, those were all most definitely Sixth Dimensional treasures. In fact, with the Luxnix family''s level and history, Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if they had managed to get their hands on a few Seventh Dimensional treasures here and there. Ultimately, though, Leonel both didn''t need such high level treasures to forge his Divine Armor, and even if he did, Little Tolly and he weren''t quite ready yet to forge something so intricate with Ores at that level.

    The second reason was so that he wouldn''t be tempted to take anything. He was already making the mature decision not to take anything he didn''t need, but there was no need to tempt himself any further.

    But nowбн

    Leonel shook his head. ''It''s not up there. That means it''s somewhere else?''

    Leonel took out the Silver Tablet. After connecting the dots and finding out about the Three Finger Cult, he had been far more cautious with how he used and exposed it. So, although it had a certain usefulness in battle, he didn''t use it.

    The Silver Tablet looked just the same as he remembered it. A solid rectangular block, perfectly polished, and there was still writing in a language on it Leonel couldn''t even begin to understand and even the dictionary was stumped by.

    What was truly odd was that Leonel had a feeling that this was less and language and more like a code, as though the Silver Tablet was being encrypted. As for why he felt that way, well it was for the same reason he could grasp the Silver Tablet''s abilities without trying to do so.

    The Tablet seemed to have formed some connection with him that gave him a vague inkling about its abilities. Outside of that, Leonel had also gotten a vague inkling about what its purpose was as well. But, rather than getting a tangible explanation, what he instead understood was that the day he could decipher the words on the tablet, would be the day he understood what its purpose was.

    When Leonel took the Tablet out, its glow grew a measure and the vague tugging became tangible.

    ''That way, huh? Alright.''

    Leonel flickered and disappeared, not wasting time. As for the matter of who remained in the Luxnix estate, he didn''t really care. His mother would probably be back soon and most were occupied with the Selection. As for those that remained, how could they ever expect someone like Leonel to be roaming about their most secretive regions?

    Leonel didn''t step out of the underground location. Instead, he followed a host of wandering tunnels.

    The craftsmanship of the Luxnix was actually quite good. Leonel walked through numerous tunnels and he even came across a few straggling members of the Luxnix who hadn''t gone to the Selection.

    However, maybe it was because of Leonel''s confidence and uncaring attitude, but none of the people he came across did more than give him a glance. In their eyes, since Leonel could be here, he was meant to be here. In addition, this was the location for the Luxnix''s hidden forces so by necessity, most here were unknown existences to the outside world.

    Plus, they could all sense dense Luxnix Blood from Leonel. It was easy to tell that he was one of their own.

    "Halt. Exchange the proper merits here before continuing forward."

    Leonel''s good luck didn''t last for very long, though. When he felt that he had come close, and could even feel what the Silver Tablet wanted him to feel on the other side, he found himself in a heavily guarded region.

    The location was a temple in an underground city. Beyond it, Leonel could sense a staircase that led up, probably to the surface. It was likely one of the many entrances to that location, and it was clearly not something just anyone, anywhere could see whenever they wanted.

    However, as quick as this change occurred, Leonel''s mind was even quicker.

    With a flip of his palm, the Snowy Star Pendant his grandfather had given him appeared in his hand.

    The reaction of the guards was almost immediate. Without hesitation, they all bowed.

    Leonel didn''t say a word as he strode forth, his mind completely focused. He climbed up the longest set of stairs he had ever had the pleasure of climbing in his life, a keen anticipation in his heart.

    A blinding golden light was waiting for him on the other side. It took just a moment for Leonel''s gaze to adjust and for the room of what could only be described as worship opened up before him.

    However, Leonel could only find himself focusing on just one thingбн

    A Bronze Tablet, eerily similar to his own. But, this one had words that rearranged in his mind and projected a tangible meaning to him. He could read the very same prophecy that the Luxnix had and feeling the same thing Myghell had. In fact, he could even feel his blood stirring, as though something deep within was trying to stir itself awake and shine through. For a moment, Leonel even felt that the Third Awakening of his Wisdom Branch was a single step away.

    He couldn''t help but stand in mute shockбн At least he did untilбн

    "бн I''ve been waitingбн For so longбн"

 Chapter 1207 What Value?

    Chapter 1207 What Value?

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened, but he couldn''t find who had spoken.

    The temple the Bronze Tablet was housed in was completely empty, but Leonel wasn''t very surprised by this. It was likely that it took an enormous amount of merits to step foot in here to begin with, so it was rare for anyone outside of the Star Order Elders to come here, and likely maybe Myghell since they care for him so much.

    However, judging by the shift in Leonel''s Lineage Factor just now, the reason one would exchange so much to meditate upon the Bronze Tablet was for the sake of helping their Awakenings along. For people on the level of the Star Order Elders, the likelihood of receiving more breakthroughs was minimal at best. The result of this was a treasure that was rarely put to use for anyone outside of the pride of the Luxnix family, Myghell himself.

    This was all to say that Leonel was alone. Or, rather, he should have been. So, where was this voice coming from?

    "You can stop looking around, young one. You likely wouldn''t be able to see me unless you had a special pair of eyes."

    Leonel took this advice almost instantly and activated the Second Awakening of his Wisdom Branch, taking the Snowy Star Owl''s eyes for himself. But, even then, he couldn''t see a single thing.

    The voice chuckled. "Unfortunately, our Snowy Star Owl''s gaze can''t be considered special enough. We are quite insignificant in the grander scheme."

    Hearing this, Leonel gave up and calmed himself. If he had been exposed by an elder of the Luxnix, he would just accept it. Regardless, now that he knew this tablet was here, he would definitely get his hands on it eventually.

    This was only the second Tablet he had confirmation of. As of now, the third Tablet, which he speculated was in the possession of Aina''s father, was just that: speculation. He had no way of knowing if his deduction was reality just yet.

    "There''s no need to be so on guard, my descendant. Didn''t I say that I''ve been waiting for you?" The voice chuckled once more.

    "бн Waiting for me? Why is that?" Leonel finally spoke, realizing that there was probably no harm in entertaining thisбн spirit? For a bit.

    "Because you''re the light that will bring us to glory."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. "Who are you, exactly?"

    "Me?" The voice chuckled. "Just a fallen elder."

    Leonel''s Dreamscape released several sparks, his gaze lighting up.

    "You''re Wise Star Order? The most recent Wise Star Order from three generations ago?"

    The voice fell into silence, clearly not having expected Leonel to make such an accurate guess so swiftly. But, very soon, he came to an understanding.

    "I see, so your ability is so helpful in this regard. This is a very good thing. Your natural talent already comes with so many strengths of its own. Your ability being more cognitive will give you good balance."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. It was rare for people to see through what his ability was. In fact, most assumed that one of his Lineage Factors was his true ability. But, that was a good thing for him. After all, one should keep their ability hidden for as long as they could do so.

    However, this man had to have earned the title of Wise Star Order for a reason, right? As for how this man had protected his consciousness for so longбн Leonel assumed it had to do with the tablet. After all, didn''t his current Silver Tablet have thousands of lives waiting for him to resurrect?

    Unfortunately, Leonel was wrong this time. But, it would likely take more information for him to understand this.

    Leonel took a deep breath. "My relationship with the Luxnix is quite complex right now, I don''t know how easy it will be to lead them to glory, as you say."

    "I''m more glad to hear that you aren''t adverse to it." Wise Star Order almost smiled through his words. "I was partially ready for you to demand our destruction."

    Leonel shook his head, confirming that Wise Star Order was indeed aware of what had happened to him.

    "Not everyone is at fault for this."

    "I''m relieved. I am trulyбн relieved." Wise Star Order''s voice carried a doting air to it. The more he observed Leonel, the more satisfied he seemed to become.

    Without even meditating upon the Tablet, Leonel had actually already completed so many Awakenings. How could he not feel gratified?

    "Ancestor Wise Star Order, I''m very curious about this Tablet, though. This is my very first time seeing it. Can you tell me about it?"

    "Of course, of course. This was always my intention.

    "This Bronze Tablet was found in a Zone by our Ancestor and can be considered to be the root of our family''s origins because it was from it that our Lineage Factor was birthed."

    Leonel''s brows rose. Did that mean his Silver Tablet also had a Lineage Factor hidden within it? But something about that deduction felt off. Leonel was uncomfortable because he had so little information. Him drawing conclusions now felt like throwing darts blindfolded.

    "Everything we take pride in as a Luxnix originated from this starting pointбн But, it is exactly just thatбн A starting point. I''m ashamed to say that in our millennia of progression, none of those who share our blood has ever been able to dig up the truth behind it all.

    "After my death, I made use of my ability to tether my soul to the Bronze Tablet so that I could continue to analyze and understand it. Before my time came, I had come to grasp a timeline for the words written upon the Tablet and understood that these matters would take place three generations later. It was only after my time, though, that I grasped some deep rooted truths.

    "Of these truths, I can only say that I''ve understood a small inklingбн

    "Have you ever wondered why the representation of our Lineage Factor is a Twelve Sided Star and not a feather or an Owl? What value does the Northern Star have for usбн?"

 Chapter 1208 Regression

    Chapter 1208 Regression

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, his ears subconsciously perking up. He would be lying if he said that he wasn''t interested in hearing the truth behind this matter. He too had considered it an oddity.

    In his own low level understanding, he found it weird that something like Snow Force came from a Northern Star. Snow Force was indeed a Star Force, but shouldn''t the type of star in question be called Snow Star?

    Leonel himself accepted that this was a crude line of reasoning that even a five year old could think of. It was ironically because of this that he didn''t pursue it too far. Who was he to say what the Star should or shouldn''t be called? For all he knew, all these names were chosen randomly. Snow Force didn''t even sound like it made any sense for a Star Elemental Force already, so why did anything else need to make sense?

    Just as Leonel was quite eager to hear the explanation, the laugh of Wise Star Order entered his ears again.

    "Truthfully, I don''t really know either."

    Leonel was speechless. Was this old man pulling a prank on him? He wasn''t even sure how to react to that.

    Seeing Leonel''s reaction, Wise Star Order only laughed harder. In fact, he laughed so hard that Leonel was a bit worried about his health. And then, he felt somewhat bad.

    This old man had probably been stuck here in silence for who knows how long. This was the first human interaction he had had in a very long time. It was no wonder he was acting like this.

    Leonel''s view of the world was still very much Earth centric. Though lifespans had about doubled to tripled thanks to Earth''s technology, the idea of being secluded for decades at a time was still foreign to Leonel. Even he could only stand to focus on a single problem for a few days at most, he had no idea how Wise Star Order had done it.

    "I''m just pulling your leg a bit, young one. I don''t have the full story, but I do know a bit. The fundamental truth is that the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor is just a starting point. Beyond the Twelve Awakenings, there''s something more."

    "Twelve Awakenings?" Leonel''s brow arched upward.

    "Yes." Wise Star Order confirmed. "There are Three Branches of the Snowy Star Order Lineage Factor. Each Branch has a total of Four Awakenings. Once you complete these Four Awakenings for all three Branches, your Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor can be said to be complete."

    "And thenбн?" Leonel pressed.

    "And then you will have a choice before you. You can either continue forward with a perfectly blossomed Lineage Factor. Or, you can regress."

    Leonel''s pupils flickered. "Regress?"

    "Yes. Regress. Beyond the Snowy Star Owl there isn''t an evolution. Rather, there is an opportunity for an exchange. You can give up everything the Snowy Star Owl has given you and trade it in for a higher class Bloodline. But, you will need to start from the very bottom once again."

    Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    The idea of starting from the very bottom in exchange for a higher class Lineage Factor didn''t sound terrible to him. He had awakened his Snowy Star Owl Lineage factor for the first time three or four years ago and yet he had already progressed so far without the help of the Bronze Tablet.

    Of course, Leonel had an idea as to why this was. His Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was heavily reliant on Snow Force affinity and everything was centered around it. However, because of his Innate Node, Leonel''s base Light Elemental affinity was already far beyond anything his density of Bloodline could compare to. As a result, by virtue of his Innate Node alone, he was guaranteed to have high class Luxnix Blood.

    Beyond this, Leonel felt that whatever he was exchanging his bloodline for was highly likely to be related to the Snowy Star Owl to begin with, so it was probable that his Innate Node would continue to give him a great advantage.

    The issue here, though, were the variables. What if this new bloodline wasn''t as compatible with him as the Snowy Star Owl? What if he was wrong about their relation and this new bloodline didn''t respond well to his Innate Node at all? He could think of too many things that could potentially go wrong.

    "That''s an interesting expression you have there. That other youth didn''t hesitate to purge his Luxnix Blood and he hasn''t even told anyone of the change. He''s only interested in climbing to a higher peak, what''s left behind doesn''t matter much."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed further. "I can''t say that I''m much different than he is. The issue is I just don''t know if it''s worth it. And judging by what you''re saying, there''ll probably be more than just this one chance to purge the gained Lineage Factor and take on a new one, right? So then you have to consider the variable that even if this coming Lineage Factor isn''t useful, there may very well be one in the future that is.

    "Plus, there''s the problem of techniques. I used to believe the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was weak and not very useful until my mother gave me your techniques. If I have to start from scratch to build techniques that are suitable instead of relying on several generations worth of trial and error, it might not even be worth having a stronger Lineage Factor if the end result is weaker overall to begin with."

    Leonel had learned this lesson the hard way. In fact, when he thought about it, even his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor only seemed far more powerful only because Metal Body and Divine Armor were such excellent synergistic techniques.

    Though he was confident in creating his own techniques if given enough time, how much time would that be? And how many times would he have to undergo the same thing? And, the greatest problem of all, while his strength was undergoing these peaks and valleys, how would the people who needed his support do in the meantime?

    "Your concerns are valid, but ultimately the decision is up to you. What I can tell you is that considering how far these prophecies say you must travel, a Lineage Factor of the Sixth Dimension will quickly become useless to youбн

    "Still, those are matters for the future. In the present, I can describe to you the Lineage Factors that come next. Wellбн At least the two that I know of."

 Chapter 1209 Those Words

    Chapter 1209 Those Words

    "The first Lineage Factor after the Snowy Star Owl is the White Stone Elephant, at least I believe this is the translation. It is possible that it could be the White Scaled Elephant.

    "Either way, it''s a powerful and robust beast. I''m sure you remember the vision you saw when your Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor first awakened. The sight of a majestic bird flying through the starry skies, crossing galaxies with a single flap of its wings and leaving roads of gold in its wakeбн

    "The White Stone Elephant is no less majestic. It doesn''t have the Snowy Star Owl''s speed, but for what it lacks in it, it''s capable of making up in spades with its looming presence.

    "Its body is covered from head to toe in a tough, white, leathery skin that almost appear to be scales at some angles. A singular gem takes the centerpiece of its forehead as home. Its ankles at surrounded by halos of gold and its tusks shimmer like gems."

    Wise Star Order seemed to have a way with words, or maybe Leonel''s imagination was just too vivid compared to the others thanks to his Dream World. But, regardless of what the truth was, Leonel could almost see the majestic beasts before him, the rings of gold following its slow and methodical steps.

    "The White Stone Elephant has three Branches. The Strength Branch. The Healing Branch. The Wisdom Branch. Once again, much like our Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, the Healing Branch is considered to be a secondary benefit. But, as you can see, secondary doesn''t necessarily mean weak."

    Leonel''s thoughts sped up, quickly incorporating the information he learned.

    In truth, the loss of the Speed Branch was quite devastating to him as it was perfect for countering the weakness of his Metal Body. Though it didn''t seem like it now, Leonel''s body was actually very heavy. It only became more so thanks to the fact Star Core Ore had become one of his fundamental building blocks.

    With his Light Elemental affinity, it was still possible for Leonel to supplement this loss with techniques. But, the innate speed boost his bloodline provided him couldn''t be easily replaced on a whim.

    That said, an improved Wisdom Branch might be worth the trade off. After all, while Leonel had said his greatest strength was his Innate Node, that was only because it was tangible and not auxiliary. When it came to his greatest strength that didn''t directly translate to combat power, that was, without a doubt, his mind and ability.

    But, this led to another problem. If he gave up his Snowy Star Owl Lineage factor, what would that mean for his mind? Would it regress as well?

    The answer was likely yesбн But was the trade off worth it?

    Leonel felt like a big problem had been laid at his lap. But, there was no easy answer or fix. Plusбн Wasn''t this a problem many people would like to have?

    "The following Lineage Factor is the Starry Tailed Fox.

    "Among the three Lineage Factors we know of, the originator of this one is definitely the most beautiful. A sleek and slender fox with radiant white fur that often appeared silver depending on the angle. Its eyes were like two orbs of endless gold without start, finish, or depths capable of being fathomed.

    "Its tails were both ethereal and real, both spiritual and corporeal. Its difficult to pin an exact number on them but at maturity, they were as vast as the starry skies and just as endless. They''re the kind of creatures that seem almost too beautiful to be of this worldбн

    "Truthfully, what I know about this beast is far less than what I know about the Snowy Star Owl and the White Stone Elephant. Just gazing upon it made me feel as though my head was being split in two so I am uncertain if I was able to see through to its true abilities, and everything is a bit foggy. I unfortunately don''t dare to try again, or what remains of me may very well be forcefully dispersed.

    "But, as far as I can tell, there is the Wisdom Branch which makes a reappearance, the Speed Branch, the Healing Branch and there''s a fourth Branch that might be called the Spirit Branch or the Star Branch or the Tail Branchбн I''m honestly not sure if any of this is correct.

    "The only thing I''m certain of is that the Wisdom and Healing Branch seem to be recurring. As for everything else, I have no way of confirming."

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. It seemed that this Starry Tailed Fox was more in line with what he needed. If for nothing else, he might have to suffer the regression of the White Stone Elephant just to ensure that he could gain access to the Starry Tailed Fox one day.

    In addition, from these conclusions, it seemed that these creatures all shared another similarity. They shared colors of white, silver and gold, while also placing great emphasis on their purity. The images that Wise Star Order described all fell in line with this.

    In that case, there was a high likelihood that they were also connected by a string of Light Elemental Force as well. Or, at the very least, Star Elemental Affinity. Regardless, Leonel had a leg up. After all, Scarlet Star Force was a top ten Star Force in existence as well.

    "Ancestor Wise Star Order, what Elemental Affinities do these creatures have? And what Dimension are they considered to be in?"

    "Ah, excellent question. Seems I''ve gone a bit senile and forgot something so important.

    "All of these creatures seem to have a Light and Star Elemental Affinity, that is the thread that connects them. The White Stone Elephant uses a Force known as Gem Force. The Starry Tailed Fox uses a Force known as Spirit or Ethereal Force, I''m not sure which is the name. It might be neither of those. I am certain that it is a Light-Star Elemental fusion Force, though.

    "As for their Dimensions, the White Stone Elephant is Seventh Dimensional, and the Starry Tailed Fox is to the Seventh Dimension what the Snowy Star Owl is to the Sixth Dimensionбн It is considered to be at the very pinnacle. It has almost no opponents at its level."

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. This alone was enough for him to take the risk. A Lineage Factor at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, the very same as the Morales family, would be endlessly beneficial to him.

    However, what Wise Star Order said next surprised Leonel even more.

    "бн It''s just a feeling this old man has, but I believe that the Starry Tailed Fox isn''t the lastбн It''s just that this Bronze Tablet doesn''t have anything beyond it to offer.

    "Also, I have to warn you. For every shade of blossoming light that the Starry Star Owl, White Stone Elephant and Starry Tailed Fox represent, I have also sensed a dark counterpart that can''t be reached with this Tablet eitherбн"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he heard this, his mind drifting to those words once againбн

    ''A union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star.''

 Chapter 1210 Reason?

    Chapter 1210 Reason?

    If Myghell could feel the uniqueness of the auras on the characters, Leonel could definitely do so as well. But, as many potential meanings as Myghell could think of, Leonel could think of a hundred times more. This wasn''t just because Leonel''s mind was faster than Myghell''s, but it was also because Leonel''s scope of knowledge was beyond Myghell''s in this regard as well.

    From Myghell''s perspective, he was likely completely unaware that other potential tablets existed.

    If you approached this from the perspective that this was the one and only Tablet there was, then how would you view things? You would probably believe that any and everything written on the Tablet could be accomplished by it and it alone, right?

    From Myghell''s perspective, he could probably sense the ''Shadows'' Wise Star Order mentioned as well. However, he probably believed that the reason he couldn''t see them clearly was because he was the ''Light''. As such, if he wanted to learn more about those ''Shadows'', he would need to find ''Darkness'' to meditate upon the tablet. Then, their ''Union'' would result in something more powerful than the individual sum of their parts.

    This was probably why Myghell felt it was more likely that this ''Union'' involved marriage or, at the very least, copulation. Though he could think of other possibilities, this was the one that made the most sense given the understanding he had and the scope of his knowledge.

    Truthfully, no one could blame him for reaching that conclusion.

    But, for Leonel, who had a Silver Tablet in his possession, and was even aware that there was potentially a second Bronze Tablet in the hands of Aina''s father, his perspective was different. If you add in Wise Star Order supplementing Leonel with his knowledge, then Leonel''s view was even broader than it was originally.

    ''With this like this, the hypothesis that has the highest odds at 68% is that there are two sets of Tablets. One set allows one to grasp the ''Darkness'' Lineage Factors and the other set allows one to grasp these ''Light'' Lineage Factors.

    ''In that case, the odds that it this refers to Aina, at least for now, is nearly zero. Aina gained a Darkness Affinity from her Abyssal Panther Bloodline. But, firstly, that''s only a Fifth Dimensional creature, not enough to be a Shadow to the Snowy Star Owl. And, secondly, I would assume that she would need to meditate upon the Twin Tablet to this one to gain whatever Lineage Factor is on the other side, something I don''t believe she has doneбн

    ''With Aina''s abilities to ingest Bloodlines, though, it''s not impossible that she could fit the description in the future. Unfortunately, I don''t know if I''ll be able to keep an eye on that anymore or notбн''

    Leonel shook his head. His hot head had gotten in the way. He really shouldn''t have snapped like that.

    ''Still, even if I think I''ve understood the mystery of this Tablet well enough, what about my Silver Tablet? And what about Aina''s father''s Bronze Tablet? What are these Tablets? Are they all just stores of power and Lineage Factors? But my Tablet doesn''t have a Lineage Factor hidden with it like this one doesбн

    ''Is it that I need to find the Bronze Tablet counterpart to my own Silver Tablet so that I can start at the beginning? After all, if there needs to be an exchange from start to end like it is here, then maybe the hidden Lineage Factor in mine won''t appear until I doбн

    ''Does that mean Aina''s father has a Lineage Factor bestowed by his own?''

    Leonel''s head spun with all sorts of thoughts but he couldn''t seem to come up with a conclusion. He only had two data points, and yet he was trying to extrapolate. It was a recipe for disaster.

    Leonel shook his head. Speculating on matters he had so little information about was nothing more than a waste of time. Instead, he preferred to ask Wise Star Order the question he had held back from asking until this moment.

    "Ancestor Wise Star Order, when you chose to tether your soul here, what purpose did you have for it? Was it really just to pass on this knowledge to me?"

    The question was an obvious one, at least to Leonel. He didn''t get lost in the fantastical nature of the world that was opening up wider and wider to him. Rather, he was able to see the obvious flaw sitting right before him.

    Earlier, Wise Star Order had implied that Myghell had already shed his Lineage Factor before. This meant that by now, Myghell, at the very least, had the White Stone Elephant bloodline at his beck and call.

    Logically, this meant even if he didn''t understand things to the detail that Wise Star Order described, he had still figured out enough to understand how to improve and upgrade himself. The rest of this were things that Leonel could have learned himself, especially since his perspective on these matters was even wider than Wise Star Order.

    Wise Star Order could only speculate that there were more Tablets elsewhere. But, he had no idea that there were Tablets completely unrelated to the one that right here. So long as Myghell gained the Starry Tailed Fox''s Lineage Factor, he too would be able to conclude that there was more still waiting for him elsewhere.

    This was all to sayбн Neither Leonel nor Myghell needed these matters explained to them. At best, Wise Star Order had secluded himself here, torturing himself for what was probably hundreds of years, and for what, exactlyбн?

    To make sure his juniors grasped knowledge they would have anyway a few years earlier?

    Maybe Leonel could be considered a genius to have grasped this so quickly, and maybe someone else would have skipped over this thought a bit too quickly, but as far as he was concerned, it didn''t take a genius to see that there was something wrong with this picture.

    So he needed to know. Were the intentions of Wise Star Order more secretive and sinister than it seemed? Or was there another reason?

 Chapter 1211 IтАЭ

    Chapter 1211 б░Iб▒

    A hushed silence fell over the temple, Wise Star Order seeming to not want to answer immediately.

    There was one very important thing that had been left out in all of this, something that had been nagging at Leonel even more so than the oddity of Wise Star Order''s actionsбн And that was the existence of the title Wise Star Order to begin with.

    What did Wise Star Order, Snow Star Order and Northern Star Order even mean? Since the Lineage Factor of the Luxnix had originated from this Tablet, then these titles should have come from it as well, correct? In that case, what did they mean?

    Another oddity even beyond this was the title Snow Star Order. From Wise Star Order''s deductions, it seemed that the Healing Branch and the Wisdom Branch were recurring themes. In addition, this all seemed to double back to the Twelve Pointed Star, or, in other words, the Northern Star.

    That begged the question, how was this related to Snow Star Order at all? It seemed odd. The only one of the three titles that seemed out of place.

    Of course, there was the possibility that it was a special title reserved for the Snowy Star Owl, but that just opened up more questions than answers, because in such a situation, this would mean that the oddities here were the title of Wise Star Order and Northern Star Order. But, logically, an anomaly of three things couldn''t be two separate parts of the wholeбн Right?

    Leonel''s mind was spinning in overdrive.

    From what he understood, the Northern Star Order title was very rare, so rare, in fact, that it had been many, many generations since it last appeared. The Wise Star Order title appeared three generations ago, but didn''t seem to receive the same rarity attached to it. What was odd was that according to Leonel''s grandmother, Wise Star Order and Snow Star Order appeared in history at about the same rate, while Northern Star Order almost never did.

    By now, the oddity was obvious.

    If Leonel was the creator of the Tabletбкan existence he had to assume was either alive or had at least once beenбкwhat would his purpose be? Likely, it would be to pass down their Lineage. In that case, how would the Titles be related to this? Well, in all likelihood, those who received these ''Titles'' would be the ones the creator placed the greatest hope in.

    The creator wouldn''t be able to pick and choose who ended up with their Tablet. However, if one was Intelligent enough to be capable of passing on their Lineage through a Tablet, wouldn''t they also be capable of maximizing their effort?

    If Leonel put himself in such a person shoes, what would he choose to do?

    Well, instead of throwing a fit and stressing over exactly who was lucky enough to find their Inheritance, I would instead tag them. I would give them just enough strength to build up an empire for themselves, and allow them to procreate and germinate through several generations.

    By then, an investment in what once was just one or a handful of people, would suddenly become an investment into millions, billions, even tens of billions.

    Then, at my leisure, I would go through these individuals one by one. Over hundreds of years, thousands, tens of thousands, and even more, the number of individuals I would be able to test and groom would be almost too much to count.

    Eventually, I would get lucky. I would find a candidate that matched my requirements and smile upon realizing that everything had finally worked out. Then, I would bestow such a person a Title that would raise them above the rest. Such a person would have the greatest chance of maximizing my Lineage and ensuring that what remains of me Blossoms forth, growing to the potential I always knew it had.

    Of course, these were just Leonel''s thoughts. It was a logical progression of things he felt had a better than 90% probability of being true, though he was certain that he was also missing large chunks here and there, not to mention several fine details.

    But, why was this all important? What weight did it carry?

    Well, just logically speaking, if such a person was indeed a genius and they chose to create multiple of these Titles, the names given wouldn''t be meaningless, right? In fact, such a person would likely place dividing tiers among these names where certain titles would be worth far more than others were.

    If Leonel was such a person, he would most definitely rank Snow Star Order at the very bottom. After all, its origin was the weakest of the Lineage Factors and it was tied to the weakest of the beasts. As for Wise Star Order and Northern Star Order, they would be far better. They encompassed a potential that touched upon all the beasts and were applicable to all of the Lineage Factors.

    Logically, thenбн Wouldn''t Wise Star Order be just as rare as Northern Star Order? At the very least, even if Wise Star Order was a step below Northern Star Order, it should still be more rare than Snow Star Orderбн Right?

    So the question was, why was it that Wise Star Order had appeared so frequently in the history of the Luxnix? Shouldn''t such a powerful Title be more scarce? As the creator of this Lineage Factor, wouldn''t I feel far more selective when handing out the most precious of my Titles?

    Of course, that was just an oddity. What if it was just a coincidence? It might be. After all, Leonel knew so little about these matters, definitely far less than his great Ancestor Wise Star Order. Unlessбн

    Well, unless it is that there was never more than a single Wise Star Order to begin with. Maybe, since the very beginning, such a prestigious Title had only appeared once and its importance was cleverly hidden over the years by the very same man.

    Leonel''s lips curled into a smile. "You can read my mind right, Ancestor? So I don''t really need to waste my time repeating all of this?"

    Leonel flipped his palm, a silver disk appearing in his hand.

    "Hey you useless hunk of metal, what''s Ancestor Wise Star Order''s Ability Index?"

    < *Ping* >

    < Replying to Seed >

    < Ability Index: Soul Manipulation; Tier 5: Immortality >

    Leonel chuckled dryly. "Son of a bitch."

 Chapter 1212 Soul

    Chapter 1212 Soul

    Leonel had already memorized the known Ability Indexes. So, he didn''t really need the dictionary to explain anything more to him.

    Seed. Root. Form. Manipulation. Immortality.

    Even if he hadn''t memorized these five titles, just by the fact that Wise Star Order was in Tier 5 to begin with was shocking enough. There was only one group of people who could enter the fifth tierбн

    Savants.

    Leonel had to say that the creator of these Tablets surely chose well. There probably was no better choice for a Title like Wise Star Order than a Savant with a soul ability.

    Leonel felt like this was a great opportunity, he really wanted to find out how Savants who hadn''t been locked up since their youth functioned. From what it seemed, Wise Star Order was kind and even somewhat pitiable.

    However, Leonel was well aware that those who fell on the spectrum Savants normally did were actually very good at falling in line and displaying an outward fa?ade to fool those around them. In fact, if you weren''t careful, you would very quickly find yourself being manipulated.

    Apparently, though, Leonel didn''t realize the irony in his own thoughts.

    Someone else would have already fallen into Wise Star Order''s rhythm. The moment Leonel felt pity for his Ancestor, it was pretty much over. Wise Star Order most definitely hadn''t wasted his years of Immortality. If Leonel also blindly trusted him, what chance did he stand?

    Leonel shook his head. "I wouldn''t be surprised if the instances of Northern Star Order appearing in history were fabricated as well. You really thought ahead, just in case a Northern Star Order really did appear one day, you would have a backlog of fake history to rely upon so no one shone light on you.

    "But the question still remains... why? With a Savant leading the charge you could have done all of this yourself. What are you here waiting for? It can''t be that you really want my body, right?"

    Leonel smiled, but for some reason, it didn''t seem to travel to his eyes. There was something decidedly cold about the current atmosphere.

    "I see." Wise Star Order finally spoke, the slight bubbliness of his words having faded. Stripped down of all its emotion, his voice wasn''t exactly cold, but it was just a step away from robotic, as though there wasn''t anything particularly human left of him. "So you''re a lot like me. It''s no wonder my usual act doesn''t work."

    Wise Star Order took a breath, but it seemed to be a habit rather than a necessity.

    "You are a bit too na?ve, young one. The Dimensional Verse is far more vast than you can imagine and a single wrong step could bring you ruin. Even being a Savant isn''t enough to guarantee anything. Just to get these fools to bide their time for three generations, I had to dedicate an entire lifetime to servitude. And, even then, I needed to kill a few idiots who wanted to ignore my ''prophecy''.

    "If it wasn''t for the fact that I do indeed need your body, I would prefer to have you as a subordinate. You and I can see the world similarly and I wouldn''t have to worry about you doing something foolish."

    Leonel chuckled. "You should pick someone else''s body. If you try to take mine, your Immortality ability won''t be worth much. I hope you choose smarter."

    Wise Star Order didn''t seem to hear Leonel''s words at all and instead sighed.

    "If only I wasn''t born human. What good is a Soul Manipulation ability if my soul is so weak? What good is being Immortal if my body still rots after a couple centuries?"

    "Oh? Are there races with more powerful souls?"

    "Of course there are. Do you think I''ve wasted my years of life? My knowledge of the Dimensional Verse is beyond anything you can imagine. I''ve even left the Human Domain and traveled to places even those uppity cowards of the Void Palace don''t dare to step foot in.

    "I''ve seen a Race of people who are born as nothing but Souls. Their childhood is made up of nothing more than constructing the bodies they need to live in. Their souls are so powerful that each is like their own blazing sun.

    "I''ve seen a Race of people whose infants could kill a Sixth Dimensional expert with a single stomp.

    "I''ve even seen a Race of people that can swallow planets and shit out moons. The humans race is so pathetically weak that I''m almost baffled they still dare to call themselves Emperors and Empresses in this Domain. They''re just lucky that this Domain doesn''t have an Eighth Dimensional region, or else what peaceful existence they do have would be torn to shreds in an instant.

    "But then again, pretty soon, this shitty Human Domain will have one, huh? By then, there''ll be no place to hide. I already don''t have anymore time to waste in this place. I need this family to grow stronger so I can take those final steps and your body is simply excellent.

    "Your mind is robust so I won''t have to shave off my own strength as much as I usually do, you have a high Class Innate Node usually only those Elemental Races can form, and it happens to be the perfect Innate Node to speed up my evolution through the five Light Star Beasts. When I have enough strength, I can finally go retrieve the next Tablet from those arrogant Elemental Races and touch upon the final stage of evolution.

    "Plus, you''re also a Morales. Not worth much in the grand scheme, but in terms of humans, there''s no better body to take."

    "Oh? You know about the Morales?"

    "Of course I do." Leonel could practically hear Wise Star Order''s sneer. "Even after I hid the secret of the Tablet away from your grandmother for so many years, that bitch was still progressing too fast. You came at the most convenient time for me to finally stall her growth.

    "I never understood why humans placed so much emphasis on their emotions. She could have long since rivaled the greatest experts of the Human Domain by now if she wasn''t so soft. However, it''s good for me this way. This family can only be led by me."

    Leonel suddenly laughed.

    "You know, I originally felt quite bad for you. But nowбн I think it would just be best if you died."

 Chapter 1213 Pretending?

    Chapter 1213 Pretending?

    Wise Star Order seemed to be stunned for a moment before he chuckled.

    "You''re still pretending? You''re not like everyone else."

    Leonel didn''t respond, his gaze having turned a frightening cold. But, toward this, Wise Star Order only released his first genuine chuckle. He was truly stunned that Leonel had gotten mad at him.

    If Leonel was mad because he caused him to be harmed as a child, that was fine. In fact, Wise Star Order could understand that, he would be mad having been outclassed and manipulated as well. As for the fact that Leonel had quite literally been a baby at the time, Wise Star Order didn''t seem to care.

    However, Leonel seemed to be enraged by the words Wise Star Order had said about his grandmother.

    "To be mad about such a ridiculous thing." Wise Star Order laughed once more. "I''ll never understand, I really won''t. Forget it, this is nothing more than a waste of my time."

    The Tablet glowed and a vague figure emerged from it. It was clear that the reason Leonel hadn''t been able to ''see'' Wise Star Order earlier was because he had been hiding away in the Tablet. If the Snowy Star Owl''s gaze could see through the Tablet so easily, it wouldn''t be a Sixth Dimensional creature, in fact, it would have to be maybe the most powerful existence in the Dimensional Verse.

    However, without the Tablet''s protection, Leonel could see Wise Star Order just fine. And, quite frankly, he looked like nothing one might expect.

    He was a man probably even more handsome than Elthor. He exuded a cold aura that could make women swoon and there was an arrogance in his gaze that looked down on the world.

    His hair was white and flowing but his gaze was a gentle gold. The individual fibers of his irises layered atop of one another, giving the illusion that one was looking into a nebula lost in the depths of space.

    Even Leonel had to admit that this was a beautiful man. Maybe a bit too beautiful. As a child of the Universe, blessed with the right to become a Savant, maybe this was how he should look, though.

    Wise Star Order took a step through the air, appearing before Leonel in the blink of an eye. The pressure he exuded was enormous. Just with his soul alone, Leonel could feel a depth he couldn''t even begin to fathom.

    There was no doubt that Wise Star Order in his current state was most definitely not in the Fifth Dimension. In fact, Leonel had a feeling that he wasn''t in the Sixth Dimension either. At a minimum, the soul before him was in the lofty Seventh Dimension, a height that the current Leonel couldn''t even grasp toward. The gap was simply enormous.

    When Wise Star Order said that his soul was fragile, that was only a matter of relativity. It didn''t matter how fragile a Seventh Dimensional soul was. To a Fifth Dimensional being, it might as well have been a God ascended beyond a God.

    And yet, Leonel matched his gaze, a depth of cold detachment within them that seemed unmoved and unbothered.

    Wise Star Order scanned Leonel from top to bottom. The difference between them was so large that he didn''t feel the need to rush. Plus, with how large the gap in their Dimensions was, Leonel was indeed correct, he could read Leonel''s mind.

    This didn''t have much to do with his ability, but was rather a matter of a gap in Dimensions. Reading Leonel was as easy as Leonel could read the pages of a book. This was what a true gap in Dimensions represented, a gap that even Leonel couldn''t close.

    "Are you confident because of your mother? Your father, maybe? I must say that your father is indeed a man I have to fear. Unfortunatelyбн He isn''t here and even he wasn''t able to see through the protections of the Tablet. As for your mother, she is powerful enough to eradicate the Luxnix single handedly right nowбн But she is still within the Sixth Dimension, what threat does she pose to me?"

    Wise Star Order said these words and scanned Leonel again. But, nothing about his expression changed except for his smile becoming colder.

    "I have over ten million minds, each thinking different thoughts. You only have one to sift through them all. Those are odds I quite like, how about you?" Leonel asked evenly.

    Wise Star Order''s gaze turned colder. "You overestimate yourself, young one."

    "If you are so confident, why are you talking so much? Come on and try your luck." Leonel''s gaze also became colder.

    The entire Sector was focused on a singular arena hundreds of thousands of miles away from this place. The Luxnix estate seemed to be quite calm at this moment as well. No one seemed to be aware that a cold war with a weight beyond anything anyone could imagine was occurring right this moment in an inconspicuous temple.

    And thenбн Wise Star Order smiled brightly, suddenly turning into a beam of light that entered Leonel.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, his mind steeling itself and activating. He didn''t trust his own reaction speed against a Seventh Dimensional existence. For all he knew, the gap could be so wide that his mind would wipe instantaneously. As such, he set one of his ''s to take out the Silver Tablet and activate its personality wiping function the instant Wise Star Order vanished into his body.

    It was a moment that occurred in less than a split second. The moment Leonel felt the cool sensation of the Silver Tablet entering his palms, he knew he had won. Without his personality, Wise Star Order''s consciousness would be gone, leaving his soul as nothing more than a ball of energy without form.

    However, when the tablet flashed and Wise Star Order''s soul was targeted, a sudden laughter resonated through Leonel''s body.

    "Young one, like I told you before, you truly overestimate yourself. Ten million minds? Did you think that this was a feat? Even with a single mind I can have ten million thoughts simultaneously and without effort. Scanning all of your thoughts and organizing which were decoys and which were reality was as easy as breathing. Do you think I was unaware of this trump card of yours?!"

    Leonel froze, feeling his body losing control of itself.

    Unfortunately, Leonel had made a great mistake.

    When Miel erased Aina''s personality, he had to wait until she was in a state of absolute vulnerability, her mind had to practically collapse first. Despite being her father and knowing that Aina would probably trust him to do it normally, he still had to take this approach.

    Whyбн?

    The answer was simple. The Tablet wasn''t omnipotent. It couldn''t just rush about erasing the minds of people as it pleased. It needed one''s guard lowered to the greatest possible degree.

    A Seventh Dimensional expert, two evolutions above Leonel, and completely on guardбн Was the exact opposite of the situation Leonel needed.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, its coldness fading and a sigh leaving his lips.

    It seems that his lack of information had finally caught up to him. There was only so much that could be done through deduction.

    His luck had run out.

 Chapter 1214 lnstead...

    Chapter 1214 lnstead...

    Leonel didn''t seem to be enraged. It was more so that he had already expected as much, it was an inevitable end. Everyday he seemed to be learning about fascinating and great things, but too often these were matters that others were fully aware of, or could have been explained to him long ago.

    The fact that Wise Star Order mentioned going to seek out a second Tablet after he had enough strength was enough to prove that he at least knew something about these matters, enough for him to be ready for everything Leonel was prepared to throw at him.

    Wise Star Order was correct, Leonel had overestimated himself. Ten million minds mind sound like a great feat and an enormous number, but one had to remember that the gap between Dimensions was akin to the difference between mortals and Gods. By the Fifth Dimension, millions probably shouldn''t even be considered a large denomination anymore.

    The fact that Wise Star Order could treat it like a joke didn''t really fill Leonel with humiliation. He just felt inadequate and foolish. Maybe he was an idiot for taking offense to Aina''s lack of belief in him. She probably knew far more about the Dimensional Verse than he did. In that case, her reaction to his dream wasn''t cruelty, it was just a dose of reality.

    The harshest realization of it all was that even if Leonel was correct and ten million minds was far too much for Wise Star Order to sift through, it wouldn''t matter. Even if he had caught Wise Star Order off guard, the Silver Tablet still wouldn''t have been able to wipe his personality.

    Leonel thought that he might be enraged when he faced death, or feel fear, in the very least. But, he didn''t react those ways at all. Rather, it was almost like because he could see the ''logic'' behind his death, he could accept it.

    He didn''t know how to feel about this. It was much less dramatic than the last time he almost died. Well, there were multiple of those times, but there were only two he could remember that truly felt so close.

    The second was of course this moment right now, and the first was the day he almost died at the hands of that Mayan girl. His guilt had reached such a peak at that time that he felt like he deserved to die. In a lot of ways, it was similar to this moment in that he saw the logic in it.

    Leonel was rational and logical to a fault, or at least that was the way he liked to see himself. Because of this, he could never understand why some thought themselves to be better than another. There was no objective metric by which you could judge the value of a human being, there were only various lenses you could see worth through.

    Leonel''s talent was seen as oh so valuable in the world he was currently inбн But it was exactly just thatбн Only valuable in the world he was currently in.

    What if the Dimensional Verse was absolutely peaceful and they entered a world where battle prowess and the ability to throw the strongest punch was meaningless? Would his perceived value still be the same?

    In Leonel''s mind, unless one could come up with an objective metric by which to value someone, all of this was just worthless.

    No matter what world you live in, one liter of water would remain one liter of water. One second of time would remain one second of time. The wavelength of blue would remain the wavelength of blue.

    Unless someone could give him the worth of a human with an objective, unadulterated and indelible number, you could never convince Leonel otherwiseбн

    Maybe somewhere deep inside, Leonel was fascinated with finding out what this objective metric was. His fascination with Crafts, his pursuit of unity and peace, maybe it was all because of this one purpose.

    But it didn''t seem to matter much now. He had finally slipped up.

    Leonel sighed. ''Old man, you really screwed me over this time.''

    Leonel''s mind flashed with images of his father before he stopped thinking all together. He didn''t feel like giving Wise Star Order the satisfaction. The only chance he had now was for his dad to realize that he was no longer Leonel. Maybe then he could get revenge from the afterlife.

    He wasn''t mad at his father for not teaching him about the Dimensional Verse. No matter how much his father knew, there was a limit to his knowledge as well. Eventually, Leonel would run into something his father hadn''t taught him, and then what?

    There was no way anyone could know everything about such a vast world. What would set people apart were those were either lucky enough to never have to face the unknown, or powerful enough that the unknown didn''t matter.

    Clearly, as lucky as Leonel was in life, he still wasn''t lucky enough. And, as powerful as he thought he had becomeбн

    He was still an ant.

    Leonel relaxed. But, what he hadn''t expected was for the moment he did, for a shocked scream to ring through his mind.

    Leonel didn''t seem to react to this like one should. He calmly turned his attention toward his Ethereal Glabella, the location Wise Star Order must have entered, and what he found made him raise an eyebrow.

    "Oh, I see."

    Leonel''s almost deadpan voice filled Wise Star Order with an almost endless amount of fury.

    "How is this here?! HOW?! I MADE SURE TO HAVE THEM TAKE YOUR INNATE NODE OUT OF YOU!"

    Wise Star Order felt himself crumbling away beneath the might of Leonel''s Seventh Star. It swirled about slowly, but menacingly, a harsh aura of Destruction wafting outward.

    The moment Leonel was born, Wise Star Order had decided on his vessel. He was absolutely perfect, but the Scarlet Star Innate Node was too dangerous, it was deadly to practically anyone who came in contact with it, let alone a fragile soul.

    So, Wise Star Order devised a plan to have it taken out of Leonel. His original intention was to let Leonel grow without it, take over Leonel''s body, and then snatch the Innate Node back from Myghell, thus completing his machinations. After all, there were certain troubles associated with transplanting high level Innate Nodes that would act as stumbling blocks for Myghell, slowing his progress enough for Wise Star Order to overtake him with ease even with Leonel as a starting point.

    However, even with all his vast stores of knowledge, he could have never expected that Leonel would regrow his Innate Node. How was that even possible?! He had travelled so much, seen so much, absorbed so much... But he had never heard of such a thing!

    Leonel watched as Wise Star Order struggled, his emotions hardly fluctuating. It was like it wasn''t his life being saved right this moment at all, almost as though he was watching a movie from a third perspective. He was stimply unmoved by it all.

    He didn''t feel any happiness or relief. Insteadбн

    "I guess I really am just lucky. You should have feared my father more."

 Chapter 1215 Meaningless?

    Chapter 1215 Meaningless?

    It was quite ironic. Just earlier today, Leonel''s grandmother was warning him about the dangers of Scarlet Star Force. Her exact words were that Scarlet Star Force was one of the only Forces she knew of that could cause harm to a higher Dimensional being while even at a lower Dimensional level. However, when faced with Wise Star Order, Leonel hadn''t even considered using it.

    Firstly, whatever damage a Force could land required it to actually land in the first place. Leonel had no confidence in landing an attack on a Seventh Dimensional being. Wise Star Order had already proven that his mind worked even faster than Leonel''s own. It was foolish to even consider such a thing.

    Secondly, Leonel had still underestimated his own Innate Node. Even though he remembered the words his grandmother had said, he didn''t think that this would apply across two Dimensional levels.

    Though Leonel had fought Sixth Dimensional experts in the past without the use of his Scarlet Star Force, there were multiple factors to take into account.

    For one, they were exceptionally weak amongst Sixth Dimensional beings. Compared to the Sixth Dimensional existences of the Luxnix family or Seventh Dimensional families, it could only be said that the mere fact they could share the same title was grace enough.

    The second important point was the environment. Because of the preparations Leonel had made, the core abilities a Sixth Dimensional existence should have weren''t accessible, thus weakening them further.

    Third, Leonel had a detailed breakdown of all of their abilities ahead of time thanks to the detailed report of the Radix. With the opportunity to set up a battle plan ahead of time, he was at too great of an advantage.

    And finally, Leonel''s body was built on the foundation of the Lineage Factor of a Pinnacle Seventh Dimensional family and he had brought it to just a single step away from the Sixth Dimension before the battle even began.

    Yet, even with all of these advantages, that battle had almost cost him his life.

    Knowing all of this, when faced with a Seventh Dimensional existence like Wise Star Order, even Leonel was a bit baffled by the result. This was especially so because Wise Star Order wasn''t a normal Seventh Dimensional existence.

    It had to be remembered that Savants could not access the strength everyone else could. This meant that they couldn''t progress through the Dimensions like everyone else could, nor could they comprehend Universal Forces. This was the exchange they made for the power they were granted.

    This meant that the Seventh Dimensional pressure Leonel was feeling from Wise Star Order wasn''t a result of his true Dimension level, but rather a reflection of how much he had honed his ability throughout the yearsбн

    Leonel had assumed that because Wise Star Order''s ability was tethered to his soul''s mobility and Immortality, that it would naturally translate into its durability. And that it did. The issue wasn''t durability, but rather durability in comparison to a corporeal bodyбн

    Why was it that a supposed Seventh Dimensional being was forced to bide his time and scheme as he had? Why did he go so far to cover up his ability as a Savant, even to the point of fabricating the birth of several Northern Star Orders in order to hide his trail, and even spending an entire lifetime as a good Samaritan all to ensure that the maximum number of individuals possible would believe his philosophy?

    Didn''t it all point toward him not being as powerful as he seemed?

    A Savant like Vice would always be able to protect himself because as he grew, his ability to lock space would continue along with him. What did he have to fear if everyone around him couldn''t move?

    A Savant like Candle would always be able to protect herself because as she grew, her ability to reflect attacks would grow along with her. What did she have to fear if every assault levied toward her was reflected back toward her enemy?

    A Savant like Monkey would always be able to protect himself as he grew, his ability to multiply his strength seemingly indefinitely would always grow along with him. What did he have to fear if there seemed to be no end to the strength of his fist and the number of copies of himself he could make?!

    All of the Savants that Leonel had met to this point had abilities that directly translated to strength or excellent defense, but what would you do when you were a Savant like Wise Star Order?

    You would, presumably, be born in a family that treasured power. But, you could display none of your own in your youth, all you had was your clever mind and a Title bestowed to you by a mysterious entity with a purpose you knew nothing of.

    In that sort of situation, what would you do? Wouldn''t you have to bide your time and scheme? Hopping from valuable body to valuable body, strengthening it to reach your goals and then abandoning it before it died of old age?

    Wouldn''t you be forced to do exactly what the current Wise Star Order had done?!

    But ultimately, your innate disposition would still be fragile and weak. As much as Wise Star Order had tempered his soul over the years, compared to a true Seventh Dimensional existence, it was lacking considerably. While his soul was leaps and bounds above what one could expect from even a Seventh Dimensional being''s soul, when compared to a Seventh Dimensional being''s bodyбн

    It was several steps below.

    The soul was ultimately a fragile construct, even when supplemented with such a powerful ability, this fact didn''t change. In fact, Wise Star Order''s soul was only about as durable as Leonel''s body would be once he brought his Metal Body to the Sixth Dimension.

    Wise Star Order had been a man who took every step meticulously, making sure to cover his bases, had actually fallen to a boy due to bad luck just when all his years of deligent planning were finally about to pay off...

    Wasn''t his life far too meaningless?

 Chapter 1216 Other Way Around

    Chapter 1216 Other Way Around

    There was one large matter that still left Leonel deep in thought, though.

    The Soul Manipulation ability was more than just about a soul being able to exist without its body for extended periods of time and giving the soul shape. It came with a great boost in intelligence similar to other mental type abilities, came with an enormous boost in soul durability, and, most importantlyбн came with extraordinarily sensitive senses.

    Honestly, when Leonel had read the description of the Soul Manipulation Ability Index, he had assumed that Tier 5 practically aligned with an indestructible soul. But hearing the screams of pain and agony of Wise Star Order, even to the point he couldn''t even maintain his form properly anymore, Leonel realized that at least that assumption had been wrong. Butбн

    What about the rest?

    With the sensitivity of a person with a Soul Manipulation ability, it should definitely be far beyond Leonel''s own. Was it not possible to sense?

    Leonel actually wasn''t sure. He had been walking around with a massive ticking time bomb in his right kidney, but no one had ever said anything about it. In fact, now that he thought about it, his grandmother, who also had senses far beyond himself, warned him to watch out for Myghell. From her words, it was clear that she was also unaware.

    When Leonel''s thoughts led him down this road, he realized there was another person whose ignorance was a bit baffling. Leonel wasn''t sure of the abilities of the World Spirit, at least not entirely, but he would think that his mother''s Internal Sight was probably pretty powerful as well. But, she hadn''t said anything about his regrown Innate Node either.

    Previously, Leonel hadn''t linked all of these things because he wasn''t aware that regrowing an Innate Node was so impossible. It was only after he heard Wise Star Order''s shock that he put two and two together, finally understanding why his grandmother was so worried.

    No one but he was aware that he had regrown his Node. Even those he fought at Valiant Heart Mountain, back during the last time he had been forced to use it, all died at his hands.

    ''I seeбн Is this a sort of protection? Or is it something else? Wise Star Order didn''t even notice that my Innate Node was back until he ran into my Seventh Star, he didn''t confirm until thenбн. Interestingбн''

    "AAHH! Young one! You win! You win! I yield!"

    Leonel who had tuned out Wise Star Order''s screams raised a brow. Honestly, Leonel wasn''t being neglectful. He was ignoring Wise Star Order because there wasn''t much he could do in this situation other than observe the status quo.

    While he could take control of his Seventh Star to absorb more Scarlet Star Force, he would just end up hurting himself. And, quite frankly, Wise Star Order''s wisdom was beyond his own, he clearly lived up to his name. This wasn''t a man Leonel could just outsmart because he wanted to.

    "Why couldn''t you sense my Innate Node?"

    Wise Star Order, who was experiencing the pain of a lifetime, was speechless. What the hell was this little brat asking him right now? But, he seemed to want to grasp onto the last strand of hope he had, so he answered. He and Leonel weren''t exactly normal people to begin with. Maybe there really was no better time than now for this.

    "бн I couldn''t sense your Innate Node even if I wanted to. Even now I can''t. The only explanation is that it''s grown to a point where it will return to nature soon."

    "Return to nature? My Innate Node will leave me?" Leonel blinked, not liking the sound of this.

    "No." Wise Star Order grit his teeth, doing his best not to call Leonel a fucking idiot. "Forces on the level of Scarlet Star Force are called True State Forces. There are only a few and each represents the greatest pinnacle of a particular Element. When it returns to nature, it means that it is in perfect union with its surroundings and is accepted by both your body and the universe."

    Wise Star Order felt like bashing his head against a wall. The Philosophy behind this was deep and complex, but it felt like thousands of drills were twisting into his body at once. How could he focus on this lesson and that at the same time?!

    "The appearance of an Innate Node comes with a Phenomena. The more powerful the Innate Node, the more powerful the Phenomena. Usually babies like you die, but your father was powerful enough to protect you, so you lucked out. This Phenomena represents the fury of the universe as you are stealing something from it, this punishment is even worse for Humans than certain other Races.

    "The pinnacle state an individual with an Innate Node can reach is a Return to Nature state. That''s a stage where your Innate Node is no longer a foreign object but rather becomes a true part of yourself. Similar to a Savant, the burden of usage drastically lowers when such a state is reached.

    "The beginning stages of this transition is denoted by a large influx and increased concentration of Natural Force Nodes and you will begin to hear your Force Node ''speak'' to you."

    Wise Star Order spoke these words as fact as he could, expelling them almost like hot air. If it wasn''t for Leonel''s thinking speed, he probably wouldn''t'' have picked up on all of it.

    Leonel''s gaze lit up. "Oh? That''s sounds great."

    Wise Star Order, probably pissed off by Leonel''s reactions, just sneered deeply, a cold laughter filling Leonel''s mind.

    "I don''t know what you did to be approaching such a state so early, but it''s not a good thing for you by any stretch of the imagination, especially not with the nature of Scarlet Star Force.

    "At your pace, within a hundred years your Innate Node will return to its natural state. Usually, only those old bastards of the Elemental Races who''ve seen tens of thousands of years of life would be able to reach that stage. Their minds are far stronger than yours and their paths have already been set in stone.

    "But you''re nothing more than a little brat with a ticking timebomb hovering somewhere within his body. If your Innate Node returns to nature without you fully comprehending and grasping it, it''ll be controlling you, not the other way around."

 Chapter 1217 Just Energy?

    Chapter 1217 Just Energy?

    "Controlling me? It''s just a source of energy." Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    The disdain in Wise Star Order''s short silence spoke volumes. However, Leonel waited patiently. After all, it wasn''t his soul suffering an infernal hell. Wise Star Order could be as disdainful as he wanted, he didn''t care.

    "It''s not just a source of energy, fool." Wise Star Order no longer held back. Since he had already acknowledged that Leonel was a lot like him, he also understood that there was no point in holding back. Whether or not he was nice with his words didn''t matter, Leonel had already decided whether he would care to listen to his proposal or not, everything else was meaningless.

    "In the lower Dimensions, energy might just be energy. But, the higher the Dimension, the more energy gains character of its own. Why do you think Universal Force relies on comprehension? Why do you think Artistic Conception can become so powerful? Why is the dividing line between mortality and the God Path the unshackling of the mind and the visualization of the Fifth Dimension?

    "Lower Dimensional worlds have no idea where consciousness comes from, they think that it just sprouts up from nowhere. Your Earth is a bit more interesting as it leaned very heavily into science, far better than those primitive Third Dimensional worlds that could barely boil water, but even they were lacking.

    "It''s not a secret where consciousness comes from, consciousness is birthed from energy.

    "The Forces of the Dimensional Verse all represent certain kernels of truth, certain philosophies, and embody certain values. When a living creature is born, they are the result of an amalgamation of these Forces. Life, at its root, is just a random assortment of these vast energies. Who you are as a person is randomly decided by how these energies come together.

    "Why is it that Savants have minds that work so much differently from normal individuals? It''s because they are so hyper talented in one area that we lose the well roundedness many others have. The result is a fixation on one path and an imbalance in personality that those who can''t see the world the way we do find odd and feel a need to fit into a box.

    "Every Force in existence as a disposition it slants to. The closer to a True State Force you become, the more the weeds are cut away and the more striking a singular powerful thought remains.

    "By now, I''m sure you know exactly what that singular thought for your Scarlet Star Force isбн"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Destruction.

    Leonel''s mind began to piece these things together.

    So it seemed that when he tried to force the formation of his Tenth Node, feeling that his body was missing something, he had accidentally caused the accelerated growth of his Innate Node. Right now, it was much larger and much more powerful than it should have been.

    Wise Star Order had said it would take a hundred years. Leonel didn''t know how true or false this was. But, what he did know was that in the grand scheme, a hundred years wasn''t a lot of time.

    A Sixth Dimensional existence could live for over 500 years without much issue. A Seventh Dimensional existence could experience over 1000 years and live into the several thousands. Leonel wasn''t sure about beyond that, but from what it sounded like from Wise Star Order''s words, Eighth Dimensional existences were indeed real, and they lived on the order of tens of thousands.

    These numbers didn''t become outrageously large to Leonel until the Seventh Dimension. There were people back on Earth who could live past 200 years old, so it wasn''t too much of a culture shock to him below that. It was just that this wasn''t the norm for the rest of the Dimensional Verse.

    This aside, saying Leonel had 100 years left was like putting a looming guillotine over his head. If his Scarlet Star Force had as much potential as he thought, maybe only the Pinnacle of the Eighth Dimension could compare.

    There was simply no way Leonel could comprehend anything to that depth in such a short timeбн Those long lifespans weren''t just for show, that was how much time it took even the most gifted to reach those levels!

    "I seeбн"

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. His feelings about his previous close shave with death practically rolled off his shoulders as though it had never happened. He had already accepted that his luck was a large part of the reason he could stand here today. He wouldn''t let his close call force him to waver. In fact, he felt that his mind was firmer and he already wasn''t far from Tier 5. He seemed to be blazing through the Fifth Dimension just as fast as he had the Third.

    "бн I will hear you out in thanks for this information, it''s greatly helpful to me. Why should I save you after you tried to kill me instead of waiting until you''re weak enough for the Silver Tablet to work on you?"

    Leonel wasn''t entirely sure how it worked, but what he was sure of was the fact that memory and personality were separate thanks to his experience with Aina. That meant that if he used the Silver Tablet, it shouldn''t affect Wise Star Order''s memories, theoretically.

    However, as for whether this would allow Leonel to absorb themбн Leonel had no idea. It was a nice thought, but he wasn''t sure if it was a thought he had had from watching too much anime with his dad or if it was feasible.

    He also wasn''t even sure where he would absorb it. He didn''t have a tangible soul with a form like Wise Star Order did. For all he knew, after his personality was erased, Wise Star Order''s soul would just slowly dissipate.

    It might be more feasible if Wise Star Order used Dream Force, which Leonel had an exceptionally high affinity in. But from what it seemed, Wise Star Order used regular Soul Force.

    There was also the problem of how strong Wise Star Order''s soul was. It was definitely far stronger than Leonel''s own. Would Leonel''s mind implode if he tried to absorb it?

    Leonel simply knew too little to act. There were far too many variables.

    Realizing this was his chance, Wise Star Order pounced on it.

    "I can guide you!"

 Chapter 1218 Second Generation Wastrel

    Chapter 1218 Second Generation Wastrel

    Leonel was tempted to probe Wise Star Order by just saying: ''Why would I accept that when I can just take your memories for myself?'' But, he decided against it for the moment. He had no confidence in bluffing Wise Star Order, at least not with something he was so ignorant of. Trying to do so would just put him on the losing end.

    "Why would I trust any advice you give me?"

    "I have a technique!" Wise Star Order replied just as quickly, clearly already prepared. "In my travels, I''ve come across a lot. In the Race I mentioned born as souls, they have many soul related techniques. They''re called the Spirituals.

    "The technique is the technique. It binds the two of our souls into one and ties our fates. So long as one of us dies, the other will as well. This will ensure that I can''t harm you!"

    When Leonel heard this, he sneered.

    "You expect me to believe that you''re willing to use this technique? This is essentially you giving up your Immortality. Do you take me for an idiot?"

    If it was anything else, Leonel might have been inclined to believe it initially, but this was too ridiculous. Without Leonel''s influence, Wise Star Order was an Immortal. If he tied his life and death to Leonel, he was losing an infinite amount of lifespan. Leonel would never believe something so ridiculous.

    Of course, the other path laid before Wise Star Order was to die right now. But, Leonel still felt that this Ancestor of his would choose hundreds of paths before he chose this one. Just looking at how scared he was to die even after living for so long spoke volumes.

    On top of that, the idea of tying his life to someone else disgusted Leonel. He wasn''t sure why, but it left him deeply uncomfortable, almost as though he was compromising his sense of self for a person who he didn''t even trust. He couldn''t explain it beyond this.

    Wise Star Order furiously shook his head. "There''s no such thing as true Immortality in this world. Just being in the presence of your Scarlet Star Force is shaving years off of me. At best, I would just live a hundred or so times the lifespan of a normal individual of the Eighth Dimension, I''ve already lived over 20% of my time through."

    Leonel''s expression didn''t change much to this response, he had somewhat expected it. True Immortality seemed a bit exaggerated. But even then, Wise Star Order was giving up hundreds of thousands of years. Leonel wouldn''t live nearly so long.

    Seeing that Leonel wasn''t biting even after this, Wise Star Order''s expression fluttered wildly, being antsy. Every moment he spent here, he lost decades off his life. Even for him, he would soon run out. The destructive capabilities of this Force were way too potent. He was right to take precautions against it while Leonel was a baby, but who knew that things would still turn out this way?!

    "Alright, sure." Leonel smiled. Unfortunately, before Wise Star Order could get excited, Leonel spoke again. "I will call my dad here and he will inspect your technique in my stead. If he says that there''s nothing wrong with it, we can go ahead with your idea."

    Wise Star Order''s expression changed wildly and he began to cough.

    "There''sбн There''s no need to do this, right?"

    "Why not? It''s just a small measure. He''s pretty fast, he will probably get here soon. It''s not too much of a problem. He''s a bit of a dick sometimes, but he''s a good father."

    Wise Star Order panicked. "He''ll definitely kill me. He won''t agree at all. Don''t you want to grow on your own outside of your father''s shadow?! They''ll always call you his son unless you can surpass him! Do you have any idea the kind of weight the name Velasco Morales holds?!"

    The agitation in Wise Star Order''s voice only seemed to grow.

    "No, no. I''m actually very okay with being a second generation wastrel, I''ve already accepted it. Today my arrogance almost got me killed, I have no intention of going through that again. I have no ambition any longer and I''ll just live out the rest of my life in peace, fine a beautiful wife, have a few kidsбн"

    "You damned brat! You''re messing with me while I''m dying?!"

    Leonel chuckled coldly. "It''s you who is playing with your own life. I have all the time in the world. Keep trying to play me for a fool and your sand will run out."

    Wise Star Order grit his teeth, his fury almost palpable. His soul wavered in and out of existence almost as though it might flicker out completely any moment now.

    "What do you want?!" Wise Star Order squeezed out.

    "It''s simple. I''m sure that among those techniques of yours, there''s an enslavement method. I don''t doubt it, after all, that''s the only reason you''d have so much confidence right now. You probably believe that you''ll be able to take control of me one way or another.

    "I want that method. You have hundreds of thousands of years left to live. As for me, even if I make it to the Eighth Dimension, I will still only have a small fraction of that. If I don''t, well, you''ll be set free even sooner than that.

    "That''s the price. Exchange my lifetime in your servitude and I will let you go. If notбн Wellбн rot in hell, Ancestor."

    Leonel''s ultimatum was straight to the point and held not a single thing back. He sat in leisure, waiting for Wise Star Order''s response. And, surprisingly, it came not to long later.

    "I agree."

    "Good. Smart men don''t waste time with meaningless things. Give me the formula for the technique, I will analyze it myself."

    "Youбн You won''t call that man here, right? I may have been trying to trick you before, but he really would kill me. Youбн"

    "My dad?" Leonel laughed. "Don''t worry, I have methods outside of him to deal with this."

    Leonel looked at the dictionary in his palm.

    Without a word, Wise Star Order began to use the last dregs of his energy to push the technique outward.

 Chapter 1219 Finished

    Chapter 1219 Finished

    Leonel took his time. He wasn''t trying to torture Wise Star Order, but it was rather that he wouldn''t play games with his own life.

    The technique that Wise Star Order passed on to him was unlike anything Leonel had ever seen before. It almost made all the Force Art languages that he had learned to this point seem like chicken scratch.

    ''Ancestor said that this technique came from the Spirituals Race, is the gap this large?''

    His gaze couldn''t help but narrow. The difference was akin to going from a coding language filled with redundancies to one that was elegant and streamlined. In fact, what was particularly beautiful about this Force Art language was that it didn''t seem constrained in the same way the others Leonel had come to know were.

    For example, the Morales family''s Force Art was best used for Crafting. The Luxnix family''s Force Art was best used to form beast constructs. However, the Force Art of the Spirituals seemed like it could do it all. It was so perfect that there wasn''t a single weakness.

    After a while, though, Leonel realized that it was just an illusion.

    It wasn''t that this Force Art language had no weaknesses, it was rather that the weaknesses weren''t visible from his perspective and weren''t nearly as glaring. It was likely that this Force Art worked perfectly for specific use cases related to the soul, but Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if the Spirituals had other languages to deal with other matters.

    Leonel couldn''t help but be intrigued. He suddenly wanted to know a lot more about this race and how they built their understanding of Force Arts to this level.

    Leonel had no intention of switching his Force Arts. Though this Force Art system seemed to have no weaknesses and it could perform all sorts of tasks, how well it could do them was a separate matter. It was this that made Leonel realize that the Spirituals must have other Force Arts.

    ''But to think that a Force Art not even created for those purposes could still fulfill themбн What about those designed for Crafting? How much better are they?''

    The only shame was that Leonel didn''t know enough about soul related matters to understand just how magical this Force Art language was. To have the ability to tether things as fragile as souls, while simultaneously not causing any harm to them was baffling. Just to understand how great of a feat this was, most humans couldn''t even grasp the concept of a soul, even Leonel didn''t know where his was or how to sense it.

    Yet, just by observing this technique, Leonel could feel an odd emotion welling up within him. It was similar to that feeling one got when they stared into the mirror for too long, that feeling that told you that maybe the you that you were looking at wasn''t actually you. The more you stared, the more foreign the you, you had always known seemed and the more difficult it became to reconcile with the fact that nothing had changed from the moment you started to this moment here.

    Something stirred within him.

    First it felt as though he was gazing upon the formation with his eyes. And then it felt like he was gazing upon it with his mind. And then it suddenly felt as though he was gazing upon it with something even deeper than his mind.

    Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella stirred, the rotation of his Seven Stars becoming faster and faster.

    ''Fuck!'' Wise Star Order felt like banging his head against a wall.

    This was his last chance. This stupid fool had actually lost himself in meditation.

    The Force Arts of the Spirituals were very unique and Leonel''s analysis of it could only, at best, be considered to be about 10 to 20% accurate with the rest of it being nonsense.

    The Spirituals had a very unique way of protecting their intellectual property and their discoveries. Most outside their race that gaze upon their Force Arts would feel as though their souls were being ripped out from their bodies. Eventually, exactly that would happen. Then, the use of the Force Art would change and one''s soul would become entrapped.

    Once this occurred, they would become nourishment for the Force Art and breathe life into it, causing a self destruction sequence of the intelligence to take place.

    But, why was Leonel''s soul actually so sturdy?!

    ''Son of a bitch, who the hell has Dream Force affinity this high?!''

    Wise Star Order suddenly realized that he really was out of luck this time, he didn''t have anymore tricks up his sleeve. In order to ensure that Leonel trusted him as much as possible, he had even been forced to give the real deal over.

    Leonel had managed to sense his soul before the Force Art could rip it out. And, with his Dream Force affinity, he could take control of it before anything bad happened.

    The Force Art of the Spirituals originally didn''t have any Force within it, it was just a drawing. Only by using the soul of the spectator as fuel could it then self destruct. Its main design was created to use a meditation trick to fool the ignorant into letting their souls free, but it didn''t actually have any strong suction force of its own.

    ''Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! I hate this kid!''

    Once Leonel grasped the technique properly, he was finished. He wouldn''t be able to hide anything from Leonel and even all his lies would be seen right through. He would be a true slave and there was nothing he could do about it. It was all too infuriating.

    A slow breath left Leonel''s lips. His mind felt so much clearer than it ever had before. Though his number of split minds hadn''t increased, his thinking speed felt like it had doubled, making the effectiveness of the split minds he already had increase by at least a fold.

    His gaze sharpened and his understanding of Dream Force seemed to have jumped forward another measure. Leonel suddenly had little doubt that his simulations would be even more accurate than they had been in the past.

    "Let''s begin, then."

 Chapter 1220 l Dont Like lt

    Chapter 1220 l Don''t Like lt

    Wise Star Order deflated. As expected, after sensing the fringes of his soul for the first time, Leonel grasped the technique not too long after, especially considering that it wasn''t much of a ''technique'', per se.

    <Soul Bound> was a contract. So long as you had the skill to draw the Force Art, there wasn''t much else to it. And, the fact that Wise Star Order was just a soul and didn''t have a body made it even easier, not to mention the fact he was already within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella. Drawing a Force Art within his own domain like that made things easy on him.

    Soon, Wise Star Order found himself bound, his mind and thoughts completely opened up to Leonel. The only saving grace about this matter was that he was finally not being continuously assaulted with pain because he could finally leave Leonel''s mind.

    Wise Star Order didn''t seem to be doing too good. Aside from the fact his expression was dark, he had suffered no small amount of injury and the result was him being nothing but misty fog from the waist down. Even some of his torso got the same treatment.

    He gazed toward Leonel deeply, but Leonel himself was still a bit enraptured by that mystical feeling this Force Art had given him. But, unfortunately, it didn''t feel nearly as good as the first time. It was like the trick no longer worked on him anymore.

    "бн Your Dream Force affinity isбн Abnormal." Wise Star Order said coldly.

    "What is abnormal about it? It''s just related to my ability." Leonel said casually.

    "No. It''s abnormal. Your affinity is what you would expect from a Savant, but you''re clearly not one. I would bet that you haven''t even truly stepped into Tier 4 of your ability, it makes little to no sense."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. He looked up to meet his Ancestor''s gaze. But then he soon realized that he didn''t need to observe him to know whether he was lying or not, their connection told him all he needed to know.

    It seemed he would have to flex this muscle a bit more because it required him getting a feel for his soul and sensing what it was telling him. It was almost like he had gained a new limb and he needed to learn how to use it.

    "I haven''t stepped into Tier 4 of my ability? I thought I had alreadyбн" Leonel was a bit off put by this as well.

    "The Tier of your ability can''t be decided by how it functions in a Fifth or Sixth Dimensional world, what are you thinking?"

    "Then is it decided by how it works in a Seventh Dimensional one?" Leonel asked.

    He hadn''t ever felt his ability dip down in strength when going between worlds, so he always just assumed it never would.

    "No, fool. Your father was born in a Seventh Dimensional world. Why would your ability take a dip down in one? The true strength of an ability is decided by how it performs on a Void Battlefield."

    "A Void Battlefield?"

    Wise Star Order sighed. It seems that this would be his life now. Guiding a literal toddler to learn about things almost anyone would already know about.

    "They''re the locations between Domains. The pressure they exude is unlike anything you''ve experienced. Even those born on Eighth Dimensional worlds cannot take them lightly. From what I can see, your ability would be at best at the lower reaches of Tier 3 on even the weakest Void Battlefield. In the worst case, it would fall near the higher reaches of Tier 2."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. That was an enormous change.

    The levels of Leonel''s ability were: Opening, Awakening, Visualization, Control and finally Manifestation. He could still stand it if his ability fell to Tier 3 because Visualization was what he probably used the most often.

    If he fell out of Tier 4, he would lose access to abilities like Dream Counter and Dream Sense, but it wouldn''t be the end of the world. Falling out of Tier 3, thoughбн That would be an enormous hit to his battle prowess.

    Visualization allowed Leonel to recreate objects and simulate reality in his mind. If he lost that, he would lose his Dreamscape, Dream Sculpt, Dream Cloneбн Practically all of his Ability''s best strength would vanish.

    All Tier 2, the Awakening level could give Leonel was an added sensory perception and his Dream Force affinity. But, because his Ability couldn''t project Dream Force like other Dream Force related Abilities could, this was all but useless.

    Leonel''s expression went through several changes. He had never expected something like this.

    "How do I strengthen my Ability?"

    Wise Star Order really didn''t want to answer, but it seemed he didn''t really have a choice.

    "Didn''t you just take the first step? Comprehend Dream Force more. That''s the root of everything you can do."

    "But you already said my Dream Force affinity is higher than it should be. Then why would my Ability level be so low on a Void Battlefield?"

    "Since when did affinity have anything to do with comprehension? In fact, the higher your affinity, the tougher it makes it in some respects. People like you just do without understanding, and it''s a detriment."

    Leonel almost couldn''t help but chuckle at this. The irony was palpable.

    He spent so long running away from doing things on instinct, and yet he had neglected what he relied on instinct the most to do. From the very beginning, everything related to his Ability came naturally to him, and things only got better after he swapped out Soul Force for Dream Force.

    Now that Leonel was aware, though, the change he had to make was simple.

    He just had one other pressing question, one that was burning at the back of his mind. He would never forgive himself for not getting an answer to it.

    "How the hell do I stop old bastards like you from reading my mind? I don''t like it."

    [AN: Last chapter for today... <3]

 Chapter 1221 A Show

    Chapter 1221 A Show

    Leonel and Wise Star Order fell into a full blown back and forth, much to the latter''s chagrin. However, there was no escaping it. If he wanted to make his life the smallest bit easier, he had no choice but to follow along with Leonel''s wishes.

    "бн The only way to protect your mind from higher Dimensional beings is by using a higher Dimensional treasure."

    "I don''t have a Seventh Dimensional treasure just lying around. If I did, would I have almost died to you? Give me a better answer than that."

    "There''s no ''better'' answer. There''s just the answer and nothing else. What do you take me for? I can''t just conjure things up out of thin air."

    "Can''t you just protect my mind for me?"

    "Are you an idiot? Seventh Dimensional existences can tell the difference. You want to expose the fact you have a Savant in your head? They''ll probably think that you''re being controlled by me and they''ll kill first and ask questions later."

    "What the hell is this? Didn''t you say my dad was OP? Wouldn''t these Seventh Dimensional old fogies think twice about doing that?"

    "OP? What is that supposed to mean."

    "It means overpowered."

    "Then say as much. Are you slow in the head? You can''t say words like you mean them and have to abbreviate things? I swear, every generation gets more foolish than the last. Species are supposed to evolve over time, not the opposite."

    "Stop changing the subject, old man. Can''t you just stick to the topic?"

    "It''s not my fault you don''t understand simple things. The more powerful your father is, the more trouble that brings you. You think people become strong without making enemies? Even if they don''t dare to oppose him openly, if they have good enough grounds to target you they wouldn''t hesitate to do so. Something like your mind being taken over by me is more than good enough grounds."

    Leonel shook his head. "Just tell me whether I can use my dad''s name to scare people or not."

    "What is wrong with you?" Wise Star Order was truly speechless.

    "You think I was joking about being a second generation wastrel? I''ve been using my dad''s status to break the law since I was in middle school, I have no intention of stopping now. That old man must have known, that''s why he hid all of this from me. I have too much catching up to do."

    Wise Star Order looked up toward the ceiling and sighed. Why hadn''t he realized just how shameless this little bastard was until right this moment? Who the hell said they had law breaking to catch up on? Where was this young man''s dignity and moral compass?

    If there was any guilt about trying to snatch Leonel''s body before, it had all vanished into thin air now. Wise Star Order had a feeling that following this boy around would be far more dangerous than all of his previous adventures combined.

    "If you want to get yourself killed, just be sure to release me before that happened. Your father might be able to run rampant in Void Palace as he pleases, but you definitely cannot.

    "Having backing only works if it''s actually there. And, from what I understand, the Void Palace Selections should still be ongoing right now, and yet you''re here. On top of that, there''s a Golden Token in your spatial ring already. That means that your mother just handed it to you without you earning it. If you think that that doesn''t come with consequences, you have another thing coming."

    Leonel chuckled. It really would be his luck to end up like this.

    In all the books and anime he had watched, those with backgrounds always had it easy. How is it that he would end up in trouble because he had one? Where was the justice here?

    That said, Leonel didn''t particularly care. Entering Void Palace was too important. While he hated relying on other people, his parents were an exception, he had been like that since he was young. He wouldn''t give most people the time of day, but his mother and his father were two he would accept the kindness of without batting an eyelashбн

    It was just that his father''s ''kindness'' had to be taken a bit more forcefully.

    "Never mind all of that. I bet the Luxnix have a treasure that fits the bill though, right? Maybe something in your secret stash? I doubt that you''ve traveled the world for so long and haven''t laid your hands on any treasures for yourself."

    Wise Star Order''s lip twitched as he stared daggers at Leonel. He really wanted to say no, but he could already feel Leonel''s soul probing him.

    Finally, he spoke through gritted teeth.

    "бн Yes, I have treasure stores of my own, but there''s only one deposit on this planet and the others aren''t easy to reach without adequate strength. Also, the one here might be easily accessible, but it''s nowhere near as valuable as the other ones."

    "What are you so nervous for? I''ll only steal from you when the time comes."

    Wise Star Order''s face stiffened. Was this supposed to be a consolation?

    "The question is whether or not this treasure store of yours has what I need or not? If it doesn''t, there wouldn''t really be much of a point in unearthing it now."

    Wise Star Order took a deep breath. "бн Yes, it should probably have something that''s appropriate for your needs. But, you really don''t need it. So long as you can comprehend more of your Innate Node, anyone who tries to get a read on you would see nothing but an endless blackhole."

    "Didn''t you say some nonsense about how there''s no better answer before? Now look at you."

    Leonel stood, shaking his head.

    "Where are you going?"

    "Obviously to your treasure store. How long would it take me to be able to grasp my Innate Node to such a degree?"

    "бн At least a few years."

    "Exactly, now let''s go."

    Wise Star Order almost felt tears falling from his eyes. Was he really going to spend a lifetime being bullied by a junior like this?

    However, Wise Star Order''s terrible mood didn''t last for long when his face suddenly brightened up.

    "Haha! You''ve been found out! Karma really does exist!"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, suddenly feeling several powerful auras converging toward the temple. But then, a lightbulb suddenly snapped to life within him and he grinned wildly.

    "What are you laughing for? Come here, Ancestor. Let''s put on a show."

    Wise Star Order''s face warped.

 Chapter 1222 Cleared Up

    Chapter 1222 Cleared Up

    When the Luxnix learned of what happened, they were quite baffled.

    About ten minutes after Leonel had passed through the guard and made his way to the temple, the guard in question realized that there was something wrong.

    The Star Pendant wasn''t something that could be given out casually, and all the times it had been given out had been well documented. There shouldn''t have been a situation where a Pendant holder was unknown to him as a guard. In fact, the last time the Pendant was given out was several decades ago due to matters surrounding that incidentбн

    Simply put, no one as young, green or weak as Leonel should have had the Pendant in their possession.

    Of course, a member of the older generation could have handed down their Pendant to a junior to make use of this opportunity and there was nothing necessarily wrong with this as it could be used as the receiver pleasedбн But something about this matter was still nagging at the guard.

    For the same logical reasoning as he had concluded previously, he should still know of Leonel. Any descendant prominent enough to be trusted by an elder level character to such a degree should have been wildly known. And, the only one with such cachet that he could think of was Myghellбн

    But Leonel was obviously not Myghell and Myghell had free reign to enter the temple whenever and for however long he pleased.

    It was already too late for the guard to go after Leonel to question him. He was under strict orders to never step foot in that temple. The secret within was something only the highest echelon of the family would be aware of, not even all of the Star Order Council were in the know.

    Without a choice, he could only report this matter up and hope that he was being too cautious, or if he was truly in the wrongбн That the punishment would be lenient.

    Due to these series of roundabout methods, Leonel ended up spending over a half hour with Wise Star Order, only to find himself surrounded the moment he wanted to step out.

    However, as shocked as the Luxnix had been that such a faux pas occurred, they were even more so when Leonel strolled out of the front entrance of the temple as though nothing at all had happened.

    The temple had two entrances. One from the underground city, and the second was the one Myghell had used the night he fought Aina. This entrance was located deep within the furthest reaches of the Luxnix estate and was the most well protected. All around, there were the homes of Star Order Elders. Even the Patriarch''s personal home could only sit at the outer reaches of this location.

    So, when several pinnacle Sixth Dimensional existences converged onto their most treasured place, ready to face whatever threat had finally unearthed their deepest secrets, even managing to steal a Star Pendant of their family to complete the final steps, the last thing they expected to see was a young man a fraction of their age walking out with his hands in his pockets.

    Even if there had been no one there at all, it would have been easier to accept than the result that lay before them now.

    The elders immediately frowned deeply. The reason was obvious. They could sense a dense Luxnix Blood coming from Leonel. With the sharp Internal Sight their Snow Force affinity gave them, this was far too easy to pick up on.

    This sort of density overshadowed even the Arm Heads of this generation. What was going on?

    Leonel smiled lightly and scanned the crowd. When he landed on a particular older woman, his brows raised.

    "It''s you?"

    Sparking Star Order''s gaze narrowed. Her mind was sharp even in her old age. Plus, the impression Leonel had left on her wasn''t too small as he was one of the only two to stand up to her aura. Back then, she hadn''t cared enough to properly scan Leonel, but realizing just how dense his blood was, she couldn''t help but be off put.

    "Sparking Star Order, you know this brat?"

    "бн He should be a member of the branch familiesбн" Sparking Star Order started slow before her eyes sharpened. "He was invited into the estate by Fluttering Star Order."

    The atmosphere of the Elders completely shifted when they heard this. Though Sparking Star Order didn''t elaborate, they all jumped to the conclusion together. Was Fluttering Star Order responsible for Leonel entering the Temple? How dare she?!

    Sometimes not saying too much was worth more than laying everything on the table. A conclusion reached personally would always be stronger than one fed to you line by line, especially when the person in question was as biased against Fluttering Star Order as she was.

    "Wrong."

    Leonel''s voice shook the elders awake, their auras locking onto him with a greater momentum this time. Obviously, they all believed that Leonel was lying to cover for his benefactor.

    "Do you take us for fools?" Sparking Star Order sneered.

    "You''re wrong." Leonel shook his head.

    "You''re saying that I''m lying? That Fluttering Star Order didn''t invite you here?"

    "That''s not what I meant," Leonel yawned. He was a bit tired after finishing his second Divine Armor, but he hadn''t gotten time to rest since then unfortunately. "I mean to say that I''m not a part of your branch family. I was never a part of your branch family."

    Sparking Star Order''s gaze narrowed, not really understanding what Leonel was getting at. Very few had connected Fluttering Star Order''s actions to the appearance of Leonel that day. And, only one Star Order Elder had appeared, so they weren''t all familiar with Leonel''s face either.

    But, very soon, all of this confusion would be cleared up.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened and his disposition shifted, a slight violet hue hanging around him. Something about him exuded a heaviness only matched by a lofty mountain range.

    "My name is Leonel Morales."

 Chapter 1223 How Dare You?!

    Chapter 1223 How Dare You?!

    The pupils of the elders constricted.

    "Ah, you all seem to remember now. Indeed, I was the little baby of back then, the small child you struck from your family records.

    "You know, I have to ask. When you all chose to do that, was that because you were all afraid history wouldn''t see you as villainous enough, or is there something I was missing?"

    Leonel''s eyes blinked as though he was truly waiting for an answer. However, there obviously wasn''t one coming. The elders continued to stare at him, not quite knowing exactly what words they should be speaking right this moment.

    "What are you all wasting time for, kill him." Sparking Star Order growled.

    Her cane tapped the ground, sparking flames jetting outward and threatening to swallow everything. The strength she exuded was a striking dichotomy compared to a small and frail body. It was a wonder thatn such a small old lady could say such harsh words and even exude such great strength.

    "Wait!" An Elder known as Layered Star Order stopped her.

    "What are you doing?"

    "You need to think about this. If we really kill him, we really will lose Northern Star Order for good. Plus, back then she was already able to kill Snow Star Order and wipe their entire family line out. Even if she hasn''t progressed, she isn''t someone we can take lightly and she''s already aware of all of our trump cards. You can''t just casually kill her grandson because you feel like it."

    Sparking Star Order frowned but her brows relaxed not soon afterward.

    "How many Northern Star Orders have there been in our history?" Sparking Star Order ask.

    Layered Star Order frowned, but still responded. "бн 13."

    "And how many talents on the level of Myghell has there been in that time?"

    Layered Star Order''s gaze narrowed. It had to be understood that Myghell''s talent was beyond just what was known. There had been a great fanfare around his birth before Leonel overshadowed it, and that was before he gained the root of Leonel''s talent.

    Toward this, though, Leonel''s cold aura couldn''t help but dispel as he chuckled.

    ''See what you did, Ancestor? They think the Northern Star Order title is worthless enough for them to just blatantly ignore because of you.''

    Wise Star Order rolled his eyes and ignored Leonel completely. He realized winning a war of words with this brat would cost more than he was willing to give.

    To the Star Order Elders, though, Leonel''s laughter carried a mocking mirth to it that those with skin much thinner than Sparking Star Order''s couldn''t quite handle.

    Myghell''s talent? Even if it was great before gaining Leonel''s Innate Node, was it really something to brag about now, especially in front of the person that made it possible?

    Of course, they had no idea that Leonel wasn''t laughing about that at all. As for the matters related to Myghell''s ''talent'', he didn''t really care, at least he had chosen not to care. If he did, any chance of reconciling with this family would be thrown out of the window. He chose to take satisfaction in forcing them to bow their heads instead.

    "Boy, some things in life just aren''t fair. Myghell almost died the last time the Innate Node was transplanted. If forced to go through it again, you both might really die this time. The risk isn''t worth it.

    "In addition, Myghell''s base talent cannot be transferred like yours can. The harsh truth is that the current Myghell is far beyond what you would be if you still had your Innate Node and is a far more worthy investment for the family.

    "If you want to keep your life, I would advise that you stop overestimating yourself."

    Layered Star Order seemed to be a more ''neutral'' order, but he felt that Sparking Star Order''s words made sense. What was done was done and couldn''t be undone. In addition, if things were placed in a vacuum, he wasn''t wrong either. Leonel with Scarlet Star Force wasn''t worth as much as Myghell with it. That was the reality.

    At the same time, Layered Star Order still lived in a fantasy land where all the greatest powers of the Luxnix could come together. If Northern Star Order and Leonel could just fall in line, not to mention Leonel''s mother on top of that, their charge into the Seventh Dimension wouldn''t'' be impeded.

    Unfortunately, their Planet Luxnix didn''t have Seventh Dimensional potential. They had already cleared all of their Zones and reached the peak of their powers. If they wanted to charge into the Seventh Dimension, they would have to launch an attack on a higher level world. They had to gather as much man power as they could to accomplish this feat.

    In response, though, Leonel only chuckled some more. This time, he really was laughing at the elders before him. However, before they could respond this time, he spoke.

    "You hear that, Ancestor? They don''t like your choice in Successor."

    Leonel seemed to speaking to thin air. But, at that moment, the foggy form of Wise Star Order formed before the elders could question it for too long. This time, however, Wise Star Order wasn''t his usual handsome self. Instead, he looked like an old man with a foot in the grave, exuding an ancient aura as he looked down upon his disappointing descendants.

    ''Huh? Does that mean Ancestor made himself look more handsome that he really was?''

    Wise Star Order, who could easily read Leonel''s thoughts, almost faltered in the sky. He was a lofty existence who had seen the corners of the universe, why would he need to make his soul look more handsome?! What good was a handsome soul without a body?!

    He really wanted to strangle this brat to death, but he managed to refrain.

    "Three generationsбн Three generations I asked you all to waitбн If I didn''t return, would you have burned my Luxnix family down to the groundбн?"

    The pressure of a Seventh Dimensional being pressed down from above, making the Star Order Elders shudder. Wise Star Order was just an empty display case, but he was a damn good one. Whether it was his aura or the prestige he had built up over generations, the elders no longer dared to take this matter lightly.

    "I did so much for the benefit of the family that you''ve even taken it for grantedбн I will tell you all the truth, in the history of the Luxnix, there has only been a single Northern Star Order and she was destined to be far more powerful than myself.

    "The remaining stories were all fabricated by me so that our enemies would underestimate the weight these titles held, allowing us to lay low. But, instead of cherishing this opportunity to grow as you should, you''ve begun to infight and are even whittling down the strength of my Luxnix familyбн

    "How dare you?"

    A strong gust of wind almost pressed the elders to the ground, the rage of Wise Star Order feeling so tangible that even Leonel almost thought it was real.

    ''бн It is real, you little bastard. I''ve never suffered such a loss in my life!''

 Chapter 1224 Again?

    Chapter 1224 Again?

    Sparking Star Order''s expression wavered, his irises trembling. She had never expected such a thing to happen. Of all the situations she could have thought of, this was by far the one most out of left field.

    The remaining elders were all stunned into silence. It was one thing if Wise Star Order was back, but it was another thing entirely for him to be exuding this kind of aura. There was only so much prestige could do for a person without the backing of strength, and there was no greater strength to the Luxnix than the Seventh Dimension.

    The truth was that the Luxnix had a few elders primed and ready at the pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension, prepared to breakthrough under the right circumstances. But, none of them had momentum even close to Sparking Star Order and the worst part was that one of them was Leonel''s own grandmother.

    Just when the elders were stuck, not knowing what to do, a violent, all encompassing aura suddenly descended from the skies.

    "Who dares touch my son?!"

    Despite the fact that nothing had happened to Leonel, Alienor was already enraged, seemingly sensing the volatile atmosphere and easily picking up on both Wise Star Order''s aura and what remained of Sparking Star Order''s flames.

    BANG!

    The valiant and overprotective mother crashed down from the skies above, not even caring to slow her descent. The elders found themselves sprawling backward. The only one who was completely unaffected was Leonel himself as even Wise Star Order found himself been thrown back like a broken ragdoll. It was clear that this wasn''t because Leonel was so strong, but rather because Alienor took special care not to harm him.

    ''Goddammitбн''

    Wise Star Order questioned his life choices once again as he was sent flying. What sins had he committed to deserve this? Wise Star Order had hardly finished this thought when he instantly thought of dozens, but in expected fashion he completely ignored these thoughts and kept feeling bad for himself.

    Alienor rushed to Leonel, scanning him up and down as though the slightest injury might set her off. Toward such a reaction, Leonel could only chuckle a bit bitterly.

    ''Where were you when my ex girlfriend''s dad nearly blasted my head apart like a watermelon?''

    Of course, Leonel would never actually say these words to his mother considering the concern in her eyes right now. She had only left him for a few hours, believing him to be completely safe since it was rare for individuals to enter the treasure vault and even if one did, Leonel''s presence likely wouldn''t be questioned. But who would have thought that Leonel would actually make it all the way here?

    After cupping Leonel''s cheeks for a third time, Alienor turned a venomous glare toward Wise Star Order who only just managed to readjust himself.

    "You finally decided to show yourself?"

    Wise Star Order cleared his throat, looking toward Alienor with an incredulous expression. What was this woman going on about?

    "Don''t try to play ignorant with me, what did you do to my son? I swear if you harmed one hair on his head I''ll make sure that you spend the rest of your life in a fiery pit of hell."

    Wise Star Order looked toward Leonel, but the latter had rolled his lips over one another, holding back his laugh with as much skill as he could muster.

    If Alienor found out how close Leonel had been to death to just now, Wise Star Order really might be finished. Objectively, the reality wasn''t all that funny, it almost cost Leonel his life. But, even the most terrible things could be amusing in retrospect.

    This scene was the equivalent of watching a little girl reprimand her grandfather, except ten times better. How could Leonel not sit back and watch?

    Plus, it was in Leonel''s best interest that his mother didn''t over worry about this matter. Wise Star Order was far more useful with him than he was dead. He had a feeling that his speed of improvement would shoot up like a rocket with this schemer by his side.

    "Iбн"

    "I what? You think we weren''t aware that someone was tampering with historical records? My view of the Dimensional Verse might still have been shallow at the time, but my husband''s scope is far larger. If talent on the level of my mother appeared all throughout Luxnix history, there would be no Viola or Montex, and the Luxnix would have entered the Seventh Dimension long ago.

    "And don''t give me bullshit about you doing it for the sake of the family. We''re all adults here. So I''ll ask you one more time. What did you do to my son?!"

    "Ahбн"

    Wise Star Order was speechless.

    Velasco indeed had a deep understanding of the Dimensional Verse and where talents could fall on a spectrum. After meeting his mother-in-law, he was skeptical that Northern Star Orders had appeared 13 times in their history, so he immediately felt that something was wrong.

    Unfortunately, Wise Star Order had been correct. Even Velasco had no ability to see through the Bronze Tablet, so he didn''t find Wise Star Order''s soul. That said, he still had his suspicions. Still, there was little more he could do than warn his wife and leave behind a failsafe measure.

    Alienor lost her patience, her emerald irises glowing like two green flames.

    Her palm flipped over, a necklace appearing in her hands. Its chain was squeezed between her palm, its pendant dangling in the air before giving off a radiant light.

    Wise Star Order released a screech. Almost instantly, his body warped, returning to his originally handsome form that left him writhing in pain.

    But, what was most shocking was that within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, a second screech resounded and was forcefully ejected from Leonel''s forehead.

    Leonel watched on, shaking his head. This sight left him without words.

    ''Son of a bitchбн the old bastard almost conned me againбн''

 Chapter 1225 Suddenly

    Chapter 1225 Suddenly

    How many layers of schemes was that by now? As cautious as Leonel tried to be, he still almost fell for this old man''s trap. After so many centuries, millennia even, of scheming, how could Wise Star Order be so simple?

    First he had tried to gain Leonel''s trust by playing the part of amiable elder. When that was seen through, he was prepared to take over Leonel''s body in a more forceful way. He then pretended to fall for Leonel''s trick when in reality he had read through his junior''s thoughts like a book, perfectly countering the ability of the Silver Tablet.

    After that, he ran into a roadblock with Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force, but rather than giving up there, he tried to trick Leonel into a pact that really would have given him full control over him. Then, when Leonel saw through that, he already had a secondary trap laid with and was waiting for Leonel''s soul to be sucked away.

    By then, Leonel was already four or five levels deep into Wise Star Order''s schemes and felt that he was fine now, especially since he could read his Ancestor''s mind now. It could be considered an equal exchangeбн. Or so he thought.

    Leonel had no idea that while he was distracted and meditating upon , getting lost in an all new world, Wise Star Order''s screams in his mind no longer had anything to do with his Scarlet Star Force, but were rather due to his Ancestor splitting his soul in two using a technique he had snatched from the Spirituals.

    Leonel executed with one of Wise Star Order''s soul, but his second half was completely unfettered. Not only did this allow Wise Star Order to bide his time and wait for an opportunity, due to the oddities of two souls and how they could interact with , Wise Star Order was still able to keep bits and pieces of information hidden away from Leonel.

    At the same time as all of this was going on, Wise Star Order could slowly build up immunity to Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force. With one half of his soul perfectly healthy and the other in perpetual pain, he could use the former half to continuously heal the latter half while using the latter half to deepen his comprehension.

    The core ability of Soul Manipulation was the power to allow the soul to adapt to any environment, even if that environment was an entirely new body, and Wise Star Order had been prepared to push this to the absolute limit. If he succeeded, not only would he be able to evolve the durability of his soul to an all new level, but when he was finish, he could still take hold of Leonel''s body and no one would be any wiser.

    By that time, he would have spent so long observing Leonel that he would know all of his habits, all of his quirks, all of his manuerisms. In addition, the incident with the Luxnix would be so far behind them that even if Velasco or Alienor suspected anything, it would be unlikely to come back to him.

    Leonel had never thought that when Wise Star Order shot out of his body with just half his body left that it was because he had split himself. He had assumed that it was because of damage caused by his Scarlet Star Force, but to think he had just been outclassed like that.

    It was an excellent plan. Leonel couldn''t say that he had been outsmarted as he would only consider this to be so if both parties had access to the same information, but he had definitely been outplayed.

    This Ancestor of his was truly an old bastard. But he was a very smart old bastard.

    Leonel wasn''t mad. If anything, he was just impressed, wholly so. The tenacity and grit of his Ancestor was commendable. Unfortunatelyбн

    "You should have feared my dad more."

    Leonel shamelessly said these words for the second time that day. But this time, Wise Star Order truly roared into the skies, more infuriated than he had ever been before.

    "Hey, mom."

    "Hm?" Alienor, who was still enjoying torturing Wise Star Order for daring to scheme against her son still dropped everything to give Leonel attention.

    "If I wear that necklace, he won''t be able to mess with my mind, right?"

    Alienor blinked. "That''s right. This was crafted by your father. He gave it to me when he visited Void Palace a few months ago."

    "In that case, don''t kill the old man. He''s very useful to me."

    Alienor''s brow furrowed. Though this necklace worked once, with the scheming nature of Wise Star Order, what guarantee was there that it would be enough next time? For all they knew, he was already scheming something else.

    "I know he''s dangerous, but that only makes it better. If I have such a looming guillotine over my head everyday, I''ll always be on my toes. If one day I never have to fear schemes from him anymore, then whose schemes would I have to fear?"

    Leonel''s gaze glowed as he met his mother''s eyes.

    Today could be considered his most humiliating display. Despite the fact his face didn''t show it and he seemed quite relaxed and indifferent, smiling even, there had been a fire lit within his belly.

    The Dimensional Verse seemed to want to remind him just how insignificant he was, just how worthless his accomplishments to this point had been. He had been slapped not just once today, but already too many times to count, each one more resounding than the last.

    He would never forget this day, he would brand it on his heart.

    Seeing the look in her son''s eye, Alienor couldn''t help but waver. She could normally bulldoze her husband into doing things her way 99% of the time. But, whenever he got that look in his eye, that unwavering gaze that met hers and felt as vast as the skies, she knew that no amount of lioness tactics would work.

    She took a deep breath and lowered her hand, lovingly helping her son to put the chain around his neck.

    "You must remember to be careful." She said softly.

    Leonel grinned. "I will."

    His gaze shifted past his mother, landing on the elders who were still struggling to stand, a deep fear etched into their eyes. None of them could seem to see the depth of Alienor''s strength, it was simply unfathomable.

    "Tell Myghell that I''ll be taking back my Innate Node on the Third Day of the Selections. I don''t particularly need itбн But I also don''t think I need much of a reason to take back what''s mine either."

    A deep battle intent raged within Leonel. Myghell was his better, huh? Such a thought suddenly pissed him off.

 Chapter 1226 From Black to Red

    Chapter 1226 From Black to Red

    There was nothing the Luxnix family could do about it. Alienor had displayed her strength in the most straight forward way possible, and yet she hadn''t spoken a single word. They all suddenly understood just what it meant to be a Sector Ranked disciple.

    Sparking Star Order looked on blankly, her face pale to an extreme. She felt quite hollow, almost as though the hit of her lack of descendants was landing for a second timeбн

    бн

    "Little Lion, you''re really making your mother worry, here."

    Alienor wrapped her arms around her son''s, her face matching her words quite perfectly. She still felt uncomfortable leaving things like this. When they returned to the Void Palace, although they would both be in the same place, it wouldn''t be a simple matter for her to see Leonel. Not only would she have many responsibilities to return to, but the work that would soon be dropped on Leonel''s plate wouldn''t be small either.

    Unfortunately, she wasn''t her husband. She couldn''t'' move about unhindered in the Void Palace, at least not yet.

    She was already worried enough about Leonel going over there, but if she had to worry about Wise Star Order as well, it was a bit much.

    "Momбн"

    Alienor''s ears perked up, expecting to at least hear words of reassurance. But, what she got instead wasбн

    "бн How''d you and dad meet? I need ammo on the old man."

    Alienor was so caught off guard that she sputtered with laughter, forgetting her worry for a moment. It seemed that her son had been poorly influenced by her husband. They were always saying the most ridiculous things with the worst timing.

    As for Leonel, he was very serious with his question. That old man had spent years making fun of him for how often he had failed to ask Aina out. Then, just recently in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World, Leonel thought he was finally going to get some fatherly advice from his dad, only to find himself on the end of another joke.

    That said, his dad had said one meaningful thing back then in the midst of laughing at his pain.

    ''You spent four years chasing after that little girl, she probably thinks you''ll always be there for her whenever it is she wants to come back.''

    That was about the only useful thing he said, and he was probably right. But, the old man talked a big game. Leonel wanted to know what sort of pathetic state he really had been.

    "The first time I met your father wasn''t in a setting you would think. He was one of my mentors when I first entered the Void Palace."

    "Ah, so the old man''s a groomer. This is good stuff mom, keep it coming."

    Leonel was already grinning ear to ear, this start couldn''t have been more perfect. He could already think of an endless amount of ammunition from this fact alone.

    Alienor laughed. Truthfully, it wasn''t like that.

    The Velasco of back then did indeed purposely flirt with every woman he came across, about as directly opposite to his own son as you could get, but it was the kind of overt flirting that never went anywhere. There were probably a few airheads who took him seriously and fell head over heels, but Alienor had pretty much ignored him.

    "Our relationship remained like that for years until I became a Galaxy Ranked disciple. Back then, your father was in charge of the trips we would take to the Void Battlefields. As Galaxy Ranked disciples, you were obligated to spend at least three months of the year on one.

    "Once again, I happened to be under the supervision of your father. I wasn''t quite powerful enough to go off on my own like the top geniuses of our Rank, unfortunately. Because Earth hadn''t underwent its Metamorphosis, I didn''t have access to my Ability, our Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor, and most of the strength of the World Spirit was still sealed.

    "But, those moments allowed me to get to know your father a little bit more. He had always been a lively man and he was able to protect me from a lot of abuses I would have had to suffer otherwise. I was lucky to have him as a protector."

    ''Dammit, mom. Don''t get lovey dovey on me, I need ammo.''

    Though he thought this, Leonel didn''t interrupt.

    "Still, your father and I could only be considered senior and junior at that point. He was too busy chasing skirts and falling asleep in brothels, there were at least two or three pregnancy scandals going on with him at any given timeбн"

    The more Alienor spoke on it, the more fiery her gaze became, almost as though she was thinking about ripping Velasco a new one when next she saw him.

    Leonel grinned. ''Excellent, excellentбн''

    "бн I could never see your father in that way because of his disposition back then. Trying to change a person is a waste of time, they will change when they feel like it and never a second before. Remember, Little Lion, when a person shows you who they are, always be sure to believe them."

    Alienor looked off into the distance, the peaceful ambience of the Luxnix estate particularly resonating with her right this moment.

    Leonel gazed down at her side profile, but didn''t respond directly to this. He just let it sit in his mind, rolling through his thoughts.

    "Everything changed that day, though. Your father was so furious that the Void Palace realized that the happy and laughing mentor could actually be a madman when he wanted to.

    "Back then, the Void Palace almost fell to its knees. It didn''t make much sense. He was a Domain Disciple, but there were countless elders and old Ancestors who had lived so much more lifeбн But it didn''t seem to matter to your fatherбн

    "That was the day your grandfather died and your father''s fury dyed the black of the Void Palace red."

 Chapter 1227 Brown Liquid

    Chapter 1227 Brown Liquid

    Leonel sat upon a mountain peak in silence, his conversation with his mother running through his mind.

    After that event, his father had become a lot more subdued and it seemed it was his mother who slowly helped him to return to a semblance of his former self. Once that fact settled in, the rest of their story practically wrote itself.

    The Void Palace experienced Val''s fury once, they had no intention of going through it again just to enforce a dated pregnancy rule. In the end, Leonel was born and his father became a much more reserved man.

    What Leonel cared the most about, though, wasn''t the fact his father was such a different man from himself, and it wasn''t even about all the ammo he had gotten himself, it was rather about the fact that his father had chosen to aim his blade toward the Void Palace in all his rage.

    Even without having been there, Leonel didn''t need to be a genius to understandбн

    The Void Palace had played a part in his grandfather''s death.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with rage, the dense rock he was sitting upon cracking beneath just the slightest intention. If that was true, he wouldn''t mind finishing what his father started.

    "Leo?"

    Leonel blinked several times as though he was scaring his fury away. When he turned back, he found Joel standing there and couldn''t help but sigh.

    Joel had initially thought that Leonel''s fury was aimed toward him, but it was clear that this wasn''t the case. He plopped down by Leonel''s side, handing him a bottle of brown liquid. Even if Leonel had been mad at him, there was no way he would just turn away and leave now. It was precisely the moments where Leonel was acting the most unlike himself that he needed his brothers by his side.

    Leonel looked at it and chuckled. "You know I don''t drink."

    Joel smiled. "I know, you''ve always been a pussy in that regard, sipping on your little girl drinks."

    "Hey, there''s nothing wrong with a little cosmopolitan in your life from time to time. It''s your loss, not mine."

    Leonel wasn''t very surprised that the usually reserved and silent Joel was so vulgar and outgoing in private like this. Joel only spoke like this when it was only the two of them. Whenever the others were there, he''d always take the role of second in command, his actions serving to amplify Leonel''s own.

    Leonel''s shadow was quite a large one to fill. Not everyone could pull off the kind, charismatic leader role that everyone would still follow to the depths of hell well. Most would end up being too nice and lose the edge a ruler should have. So, Joel didn''t try to tap dance it at all and only less loose in very rare occasions.

    Knowing this, Leonel couldn''t continue to refuse the bottle and took a swing. But, he almost immediately began coughing.

    "What the hell is this shit? Rubbing alcohol? Are you trying to poison me?"

    Joel burst into a fit of laughter. "It''s good stuff, right?

    Joel threw his head back, taking two deep gulps. Leonel didn''t know how he did it, he felt like his whole body was burning from just a single sip. He was really putting his Metal Body and Scarlet Star Force to shame today.

    He tried to keep up with Joel, but he found his vision swimming. The fogginess of his mind wasn''t something Leonel had experienced before, this was definitely some strong alcohol, definitely Fifth Dimensional. Who knew how Joel got his hands on it?

    The two ended up half passed out, staring up at the sky of dusk. The day had waned on them without them even noticing.

    "You know, manбн" Joel hiccupped. "бн You let things bottle up inside you too much. I''ve never seen you snap like thatбн"

    Leonel let out an odd cross of a laugh, cough and wheeze. It seemed like he might hack up a lung.

    "I knowбн It was embarrassing rightбн? I didn''t even know how to face you guysбн"

    "бн There youбн go againбн Why is thatбн your first reactionбн? Everyoneбн Everyone wanted to be there for you."

    "бн I did something бн stupid."

    "Everyone doesбн stupid things sometimesбн"

    "Not meбн Never meбн It doesn''t make sense бн None of it makes senseбн"

    Leonel didn''t even seem to be stringing together coherent thoughts anymore. If he ever remembered this night, he would definitely swear off alcohol. He liked to have full control of his faculties, and he most definitely did not at this moment.

    Luckily, this was one of the few times he would have such a luxury with his mother watching over him. This might be one of the last times for a long while that he could get to do this.

    "Not everythingбн has to make senseбн idiotбн"

    Leonel hiccupped in response. It was hard to tell whether he registered these words or not, but what he did know was that he was very tired. He still hadn''t rested since he finished his Divine Armor, and his head butting with Wise Star Order hadn''t helped in the slightest.

    "бн If Newton didn''t wantбн everything to make senseбн we wouldn''t have calculusбн" Leonel eventually said.

    "бн Do you thinkбн Newton was thinking about calculusбн When he was boning his wifeбн?"

    "бн He probably would бн have been better at itбн if he didбн"

    Joel rolled over, sputtering out a swig he had taken. He coughed out his laughter, half dying and half fighting for his next breath. In his drunken state, Leonel''s words were at least ten times funnier than it should have been and air seemed to be even harder to get.

    "бн Only youбн Only you would say thatбн"

    "бн Only I''mбн Always rightбн"

    "Wellбн Mr. Always бн Rightбн Newton didn''t actually have бн a wifeбн the manбн died a virginбн Is thatбн that the role modelбн. you want?"

    Leonel finally didn''t answer immediately. And when he did, he was half asleep.

    "бн Fuck."

 Chapter 1228 Violet and Red

    Chapter 1228 Violet and Red

    The days passed and the oddity of the second day''s of the Selections ended just as oddly with many having not a single clue how things could proceed like this with so many talents absent. However, Orinik and Ganor continued things as though nothing had happened. They simply didn''t care. If these people didn''t want to participate, it was their loss.

    This was the Void Palace they were talking about, the strongest organization of the Human Domain and the location where all of its talents converged. From the beginning, they weren''t worried about the talents of this Sector very much to begin with. In fact, now that Orinik thought about it, it was quite baffling that that woman would come to oversee things here. Usually, such a high ranked disciple would never come to such a weak Domain as it was unnecessary. At best, they would usually bring a higher ranked Galaxy Ranked disciple along, but that was all.

    Orinik didn''t think very much about this, though. Despite his usually meticulous and thoughtful disposition, in the years of time he had spent in the Void Palace, with so many young nobles with outstanding backgrounds and greater talent than himself around him, he had learned to not ask questions and mind his own business.

    In the end, when the third day arrives and many had questions about just what was happening, Orinik didn''t care enough to explain things. He simply focused on his task and prepared things as he should, taking with him a list of those he thought deserved to participate.

    However, he didn''t realize just how odd this coming day would be. And maybe odd wasn''t enough to describe it.

    бн

    Leonel woke up with a groan, feeling as though his head might implode. It wasn''t until after he used Dream Sense and dulled it considerably that he finally seemed capable of seeing straight once again. But, even then, that just gave him a clearer view of the sun shining down at him as though it was some sort of canon of light.

    ''бн No more alcoholбн Never againбн''

    Leonel had only just barely woken up when he heard a sputter of laughter. He still hadn''t gotten control of all of his faculties, so he assumed he had made a mistake, but when he tried to move, he heard it again.

    "Don''t wake up the love birds, how could you be so inconsiderate?"

    "He woke up on his own, just look at them. It''s like a match made in heaven."

    "I think I''m feeling a little bit jealous. Why hasn''t Cap ever cuddled with me like that?"

    "His arms wouldn''t be able to fit around your fat gut, aren''t you asking for too much?"

    Leonel blinked, not quite understanding what was happening. All he could feel was that burning light in his eye and his mind was working at least tens of times slower than it normally did.

    Soon, though, he managed to blink enough that he could get a semblance of a look around. His head tilted and he managed to catch a few silhouettes standing nearby.

    Suddenly, Leonel heard a light groan and felt a shifting in his arms. At that moment, he froze, thinking the worst. He had been so numb to everything that he hadn''t even noticed that there was something in his arms.

    When he looked down, his breath got caught in his throat.

    "I can''t! I can''t!"

    The wheezing laughter broke out like waters rushing through a crack in a dam. The silouhettes fell over in Leonel''s eyes, tripping and holding onto one another as they practically hacked up their lungs.

    "Someone tell me you got a picture."

    "I took at least a hundred, but I need more. That dazed look is too perfect, they really look like they''re in love."

    "Send it to me, I need it on a T-Shirt, I''m never going to forget this moment."

    "I knew Cap never drank because he''d be a terrible drunk, but I didn''t expect this out of Joel too. I''m wheezing, I can''t breathe."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. The ''thing'' in his arms was precisely Joel. The two were coiled on top of one another as though they couldn''t bear to let go. The greatest shame was that Joel was still asleep and Leonel couldn''t even extricate himself quickly.

    ''Dammit, weren''t you supposed to be the drinking veteran? How''d you let this happen?''

    "It''s too much! My stomach hurts, I think I''m gonna die laughing! I''ve never seen Cap''s face so red!"

    "Don''t worry, Leo. Violet and red is a pretty good combination, you look good."

    "I''m 100% supportive. Women are too complicated anyway, this is a marriage I can get behind."

    "I better be the best man. Let''s get purple and red suits to commemorate this day."

    "You? Best man? No one wants to hear whatever cringe speech you''d come up with, I definitely need that."

    "Fuck you, and you''re eloquent now?"

    "Guys, guys. There''s two of them. You can both be best men."

    Another chorus of laughter rang out.

    What was maybe the worst was that even the three Leonel trusted the most had let him down. Arnold, Drake and Allan had lost their way, corrupted by the machinations of Raj, Gil, Milan and Franco.

    Arnold''s face seemed just as stoic as ever, but the amusement in his gaze wasn''t something Leonel would miss. Drake had long since covered his mouth, trying to hide his smile. As for Allan, he kept adjusting his glasses as though that would hide the twitching of his lips.

    Leonel realized at this moment that he''d never be able to live this down.

    ''No more alcohol. Never again. I swear.''

    He searched for tears to shed but had none to give. The worst part was that according to his simulation, this was because the alcohol had completely dried him out.

    At that moment, Joel groaned and shifted in his sleep. But, he still hadn''t woken up so he just snuggled tighter into Leonel''s arms before smiling contentedly.

    "Pftбн. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 Chapter 1229 Laughter

    Chapter 1229 Laughter

    Leonel had no choice in the matter, he could only take evasive maneuversбн

    Escape.

    Laughter rang out toward his back but he scurried away on a beam of light.

    His useless accomplice, Joel, still clung onto him for dear life, so he had to do the only thing he could and get rid of dead weight. Joel finally woke up when he hit the ground, looking around in confusion to figure out what was going on, a chorus of laughter becoming his only backdrop.

    As for Leonel, he had already vanished into the distance and down the mountain.

    "Fuck you guys!"

    Those words echoed from Leonel, but that only made them all laugh harder.

    **

    A laughter rang out in the middle of nowhere. Leonel laughed harder than he had in a long time, his eyes finally finding the tears it needed.

    He wiped them away with a forearm, but the smile on his face didn''t seem to have any intention of fading.

    "Hey old bastard, you did that, huh? You''re already so ancient but like pulling these kind of pranks on kids, you''re one sick individual."

    Leonel held the necklace pendant around his neck up to his face.

    After that day, his mother ended up sealing both halves of Wise Star Order into this pendant. Of course, his mother didn''t allow their Ancestor to fuse back into one, forcing him to remained in a weaken state with both his halves unable to communicate with the other. And yet, both halves were also now subservient to Leonel.

    That said, Leonel had learned his lesson already. He would never be too comfortable around this old man, no matter how chains and weights were holding him down. For all he knew, this old man had yet another layer of plans.

    "I have no idea what you''re talking about. If you have certain proclivities, don''t blame it on me." Wise Star Order spoke indifferently.

    "Yea, yea, yea. I know it was you. You can''t do anything to me, but you can definitely do something to Joel since I never explicitly said anything other than not harming them. Either way, from now on, no more schemes against my friends."

    "I still have no idea what you''re talking about, young one."

    "Mhm. Anyway, point me toward that treasure trove. I need to drown out this headache with riches."

    The lip of Wise Star Order twitched. He knew that Leonel was doing this on purpose, but there was nothing he could do about it.

    бн

    The location of the treasure trove was indeed close, Wise Star Order hadn''t lied about that. But it was extremely well hidden, so much so that Leonel wasn''t surprised that it had never been found.

    As shameless as Wise Star Order was, he used his own burial ground, taking advantage of the esteem and respect the Luxnix had for him to protect his things. Luckily, Leonel now had just as much free reign in the Luxnix estate as Myghell did.

    Now that Leonel thought about it, the second day of the Selction had probably already ended and Myghell had likely returned, but the latter hadn''t tried to find him. But, as far as Leonel was concerned, it didn''t matter.

    There was only one place he could be come the third day.

    Leonel had his own war to fight, and that he did. Entering the treasure trove Wise Star Order was like entering a field of mines. Every corner had danger and Leonel felt a close shave with death at least three separate times, and at least eleven other times, he was almost severely injured and managed to escape by the skin of his teeth.

    Leonel knew how dangerous it would be and he had even purposely not used the link between himself and Wise Star Order, making it a true game of back and forth. The fact he was also hung over only made it all the more difficult, but the smile on Leonel''s face didn''t fade even once.

    ''This damned brat, he''s a masochist.''

    Wise Star Order could feel that Leonel was already getting used to his type of thought process. He wasn''t outsmarting Wise Star Order, rather he had done a psychological evaluation on his Ancestor just based on the small amount of time they had known each other. Leonel then used his conclusions about Wise Star Order''s disposition to guess what he would do next and how he would have acted.

    When Wise Star Order realized this, a cheeky smirk spread across his face.

    ''Little bastard, you want to get a read on me? I''ve spent thousands of years reforming and reshaping my character time and time again. If you think that this is enough to thwart me, you''ve got another thing coming.''

    Wise Star Order didn''t seem to realize that he had begun to have fun as well. It could only be said that the two men were weird individuals.

    One was smiling while his life was on the line and the other was grinning as he tried to take the former''s life. There was no way anyone could look at such a situation and conclude anything but the fact that they were a pair of madmen.

    бн

    On Planet Montex, a familiar young woman sat in the same spot she always had, looking off into the distance as though Leonel''s mother was still there. Those around her were a bit worried as she had yet to move since those matters of several days ago, but Savahn had also convinced them not to bother her.

    Things were better like this. After all, between being able to catch a glimpse of her through the terrace window and her locking herself up in her room, this was much better. At least this way, they could ensure that she didn''t do anything stupid.

    The days ticked by like this and on the night before the third selection, something seemed to click.

    Aina''s gaze regained its focus, the moons seeming just a bit brighter and a light smile spreading across her face.

    She rose to her feet, her hand still clutching onto the Amethyst Token. Her gaze seemed to radiate a meaningful ''thank you''. As to who it was for, it was, of course, Leonel''s mother.

    She entered the home on the mountain and vanished into the bathroom, leaving Miel, Savahn and Yuri a bit at a loss.

 Chapter 1230 Life Grade

    Chapter 1230 Life Grade

    Leonel took deep and steady breaths, his body beaten and bloodied but a white smile clear beneath it all. He stood at the center of Wise Star Order''s treasure trove, his wide grin shining as though it gave off its own light.

    "All that work and you''re actually so poor? You should have told me earlier." Leonel laughed.

    Wise Star Order''s expression darkened. Poor? Even the weakest things he cared enough to keep around were of the pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension, with the majority being within the Seventh. Though it was true that this wasn''t anywhere near his best treasure trove, it was more than enough to drown out someone so wet behind the ears.

    "What do you know about wealth? Even the Sixth Dimensional things here are very unique and can''t be easily found elsewhere. Even among lower Dimensional items, there will always be certain materials rarer than even their higher Dimensional counterparts."

    "What do I know about wealth? Well, do you have anything better than this?"

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing a shimmering bow with a string connecting its heads that shone like crystals woven into a fiber. The twin white maned lions on opposite ends of it seemed to roar to life, exuding a suffocating pressure that blanketed the surroundings.

    Wise Star Order''s next words seemed to become caught in his throat. It wasn''t that he had never seen a Seventh Dimensional treasure before, or that he hadn''t seen one at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimensionбн The issue wasбн Why the hell did this kid have one?!

    It was then that Wise Star Order suddenly realized that Leonel was right. There was nothing here that surpassed this bow in value. In fact, even in terms of rarity, this bowбн It was almost unmatched.

    Wise Star Order could immediately tell that it wasn''t a normal Tier 9 Gold treasure. But that only made things all the more baffling.

    "I bet that if I shot a couple arrows at you using this thing, you wouldn''t be able to take it lightly, huh?"

    Wise Star Order''s lip twitched, but he seemed to refuse to answer.

    Leonel laughed again, tallying up one point in his favor. Though he had relied on his mom to do so, he finally got one up on this annoying old man.

    "You ignorant little brat, you have no idea what you''re holding. That''s not a normal bow."

    Wise Star Order couldn''t seem to take it anymore and snapped. Regardless, Leonel would have found out anyway, it was inevitable.

    "What''s different about it?" Leonel asked.

    "Do you know what''s above the Gold Grade?"

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. Now that he thought about it, he didn''t know the answer to that question. But, at the same time, no one could really blame him for being ignorant about it either.

    To the Leonel of before, the Seventh Dimension was the highest Dimension there was, at least currently. Though he had heard that Earth had Eighth Dimensional potential, as far as he knew, that was a matter for the distant future since even the Morales, the pinnacle of this worldбкor so he thoughtбкwas only at the Seventh Dimension.

    Using this logic, he didn''t think that treasures above the Seventh Dimension existed. Or, even if they did, they were all natural occurrences and there was no one with the skill to forge them into Crafts. But, it seemed that this wasn''t entirely true.

    "What is it? Platinum?" Leonel joked.

    "I swear, I''m surrounded by idiots. Idiots everywhere." Wise Star Order shook his head. "No, above the Seventh Dimensional Gold Grade are Life Grade weapons."

    "They''re living weapons? They have souls?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched when he thought of this, remembering how against he was weapons having souls and ''listening'' to weapons. He found it to be asinine. If there really was such a thing, it would be more than a little embarrassing.

    But, as soon as Leonel had this thought, he refuted it. If such a thing existed, it would be at the Life Grade. The spears he was using were still Bronze and Silver, so how could they have this soul everyone was talking about? At least for now, he was still correct. Maybe if the Spear Domain Heirloom had Life Grade weapons down the line, he would reconsider his position. But, even then, he didn''t really like the idea of listening to a weapon.

    "No, they''re weapons, how could they have souls. Did you flood your head with water?"

    Leonel chuckled but didn''t respond.

    "A Life Grade weapon is the equivalent of an Innate Node returning to nature. A weapon is usually fused of many techniques, many ores and many precious resourcesбн When it enters the Life Grade, there is no longer a separation of the parts that made up the whole. Instead, it all becomes one entity sharing one breath.

    "When this happens, the weapon becomes like a natural treasure, no different from a precious metal you might unearth and it produces its own Natural Force Arts.

    "As a result of this, it becomes a new existence in the world. And, much like how special Forces have characteristics of their own, so too would this weapon gain its own.

    "Much like how your Scarlet Star Force embodies destruction and skews your personality, the weapon or treasure will gain its own personality as well, but not in the most obvious, nonsensical sense. But, rather in a purer, more subtle sense."

    Leonel''s gaze glowed. Wise Star Order only explained the raw definition to him, but when he thought about how this might translate to Crafting, Leonel felt his heart speed up.

    If he wanted to create a Life Grade weapon, what would be necessary? He would have to create a blueprint so perfect, choose materials so immaculate, and draw Force Arts filled with such unity that it would all blend together without the slightest imperfectionбн

    Only then would he be able to breathe life into it.

    Just the thought made Leonel''s blood rush, a certain enlightenment opening up to him. Unknowingly, his skill as a Crafter had just taken an enormous step forward just based off a few words.

    "Thenбн What makes this Tier 9 Gold Bow so unique?"

    Wise Star Order shook his head. "I don''t know who was dropped on their head as a baby and decided to give you this weapon, but if you grow in skill enough, this weapon just needs one more push to enter a perfect state of unity and enter the Life Grade. It''s only missing a skilled enough ownerбн"

    Leonel was shocked by these words before he grinned. It seemed his bow was in luck. There was no better master than him.

    What neither Wise Star Order nor Leonel knew was that the claiming of this Bow had caused an enormous storm to kick up in Void Palace. This was a bow that had remained untouched for millennia as the man who had Crafted it was very particular about their wishes for what was to be done with it. But, as the mother lioness does, Alienor didn''t follow any of those rules when she snatched it away...

    Who knew what would happen when others realized it was in Leonel''s hands?

 Chapter 1231 One Man

    Chapter 1231 One Man

    The third day of the Selection finally came and the ambience of the arena was still quite weird and only became more so after Leonel and the people of Earth came.

    It seemed the fan clubs were still greatly invested into what was happening because almost the instant Leonel showed his face, a parade of boos rang down from above. It was so deafening that the arena quaked beneath it.

    Leonel rubbed his nose when he saw that he was receiving such reception. There really wasn''t much he could do about it. His own fan club had gone up in smoke. Or, rather, they had practically been beaten into submission, then split between the fan clubs that remained. It was a hard world out there for standoms and their celebrity heroes.

    "Man, look at that, Cap. They hate you. Never thought I''d see the day." Raj laughed.

    Leonel looked over toward Raj and shook his head. True to his word, the man had really gotten a shirt printed out. Leonel didn''t even know how he had managed it, but Joel''s dark expression spoke volumes. The man was even more quiet than usual.

    "This actually isn''t the first time I''ve been boo''d like this."

    "Really?"

    "Really. I participated in a tournament for the Slayer Legion a few years ago and they hated my guts."

    Before Leonel could explain more, a strong aura descended from the skies. It was so unexpected that a hushed silence fell over the arena as the all watched a Goddess descend from above.

    Orinik and Ganor were in shock. They had just been about to start the proceedings but hadn''t expected this at all.

    They rushed to their feet along with the other envoys, appearing before the angelic woman with their gazes glued to their feet. None of them dared to observe this woman for too long, not to mention the fact that she herself was a demoness they couldn''t match up to a single finger of, she was also a Sector Ranked disciple and had a husband whose name sent shockwaves through the Human Domain.

    Simply putбн They liked their lives intactбн

    "The third day of the Selections will be directed by me. There will only be one battle between my son and an opponent."

    "Yes, yourбк!"

    Orinik was ready to agree but his words got stuck in his throat. Her son? Who was her son? Was it someone who hadn''t participated at all?

    Suddenly, Orinik''s eyes opened wide. It couldn''t'' be a coincidence. Her husband wasбн And Leonel hadбн

    ''Son of a bitch.''

    The moment Orinik had this thought, he almost fainted. He hoped to god that Alienor couldn''t read his mind or else he would be finished. He swore it was a reflexive statement, really.

    It was only after Orinik remembered that they were in the same Dimension that he calmed down, but even then a cold sweat had already almost drenched him out of his clothing.

    Alienor didn''t pay Orinik and the others any mind. She waved a hand and an unassuming Myghell suddenly found himself on the stage.

    The envoys quickly retreated, their gazes flickering.

    "Ohбн I guess that''s my cue."

    Leonel rose to his feet, strolling toward the center arena. His mother happened to be half way down his path and she couldn''t seem to control herself as she stopped him.

    She smoothed out his shirt despite knowing that it would likely be ruined quite quickly. Though she wanted to reprimand her son for wearing nothing but sweatpants and a shirt to battle without the slightest hint of an armor in sight, she shook her head and smiled instead, forcing the hearts of all those in attendance to skip a beat.

    She didn''t say any words like ''be careful'' or ''protect yourself''. It seemed that for this matter, she was quite confident in her son even if the entirety of the Luxnix estate was not.

    "Off you go."

    Just when Leonel was about to walk past his mother, he found another silhouette behind her. He realized right then that his mother was actually an accomplice, there was no way he wouldn''t have sensed such a thing otherwise, but it was already too late to do much of anything.

    Aina stood before him with an expression neither too cold nor too warm. It had been a very long time since Leonel had seen her wear a dress and even given the circumstances, he couldn''t help but feel that his breath had been taken away.

    The gown was a light blue and a white cloth wrapped tightly around her waist. Her slender shoulders glistened with a healthy tan and Leonel didn''t dare to let his gaze linger along her collarbone for too long out of fear for how much further down it might go. And yet, when he instead chose to look up and follow her slender, proud neck, he found the gorgeous painting that was her face.

    Those golden eyes didn''t waver when they met Leonel''s gaze even though his own couldn''t help but be flooded with guilt. They say the eyes were the window to the soul and for Leonel who was used to keeping his own placid, what once was a clear conscious seemed far more murky now.

    Aina didn''t say anything. Instead, she only flipped over a palm, a bright Amethyst token appearing.

    Leonel was taken aback. Did this mean she didn''t accept his apology? Was she still angry?

    He couldn''t blame her. Leonel didn''t care what sort of history they had, but he felt like his response to her outpouring was unacceptable. He even felt he let himself down far more than he had let her down. He had done something he was deeply disgusted with himself for.

    "You need this more than I do."

    The spring breeze of Aina''s voice traveled to Leonel''s ears, jolting his heart awake. When he saw the small smile that curled her delicate pink lips, his soul seemed to have left his body completely.

    "There''s only one man who should lead our Sector to the Void Palace. The best man."

    Leonel didn''t register when Aina hand grabbed his own and placed the Token within it. He didn''t register the reaction of everyone around him. He didn''t even register when it was that Aina had walked by him and entered the seating section of the geniuses of Earth.

    He stood there in a world of his own, the Token in his palm feeling heavier than anything he had ever held before.

    [Author''s Note below]

 Chapter 1232 Blinding Scarlet

    Chapter 1232 Blinding Scarlet

    Aina''s fragrance lingered in the air. Even when Leonel couldn''t seem to hear or see anything else, this scent alone was imprinted onto his mind and engraved into his very being.

    He remembered this scent well. A cross of apple and just the slightest hint of cinnamon. The only way to get the perfect profile of this smell was to use the Force Herbs he had planted so many of in the Segmented Cube. But, the Segmented Cube had obviously been with him this entire time, so the only way this would have worked was if she took it with her.

    Leonel hadn''t been to that garden since Aina left. For all he knew all those Force Herbs had died, or maybe there wasn''t any of them left at all.

    Scent was probably the sense most capable of triggering memories, and not only that, but it was intertwined with emotion so deeply that they couldn''t be divorced from one another. What Leonel did know was that this smell had most definitely not been on Aina that day, or else even with all the foolish rage in the world, he might not have been able to speak those words.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that Aina had only taken a single flower with her, feeling too guilty to justify any more. She had kept it with her all this time and managed to convince herself to finally use it over a year later for this very moment.

    Leonel''s gaze slowly regained its focus, looking down at the Amethyst Token in his hand. His heart didn''t feel the heaviness at all. In fact, even though his hand felt as though it might fall through the earth at any moment, his heart felt as light as a feather and his gaze was as calm as a lake''s surface.

    Aina handed him this Token, what did it mean? Leonel felt that it was quite clear.

    She spoke of leading the Sector but the momentum in her gaze was far deeper and vaster than that.

    She gave Leonel this Token, telling him that he needed it more than she did, because she knew of his goal. How could the future King of the Dimensional Verse be subservient to another? Even in his first step toward glory, he should always be at the front, his back in full view of everyone else.

    Leonel''s foot trembled slightly and he seemed to vanish. In an upswell of wind, he landed on the arena just as Aina made it to the seating arrangements of the people of Earth.

    She smiled gracefully, even bowing her head slightly. Too many were too speechless to say a thing, but Roesia didn''t seem to miss a beat.

    "Sweet child, come sit next to grandma."

    Roesia brought Aina to her side before she could protest, wrapping her arms around hers.

    бн

    Miel watched this scene with a dark expression, but there was already nothing else he could do about it. It seemed that his daughter had made her decision, and as furious as he was, he was helpless.

    Leonel seemed to sense a dense murderous intent that wasn''t coming from Myghell at all. His gaze shifted from the Amethyst Token, sifting through the crowd until it landed on a familiar man, the very man who had almost blown his head to bits with a single punch.

    His expression didn''t change much, nor was there any rage in it. He didn''t seem to be angry with Miel at all. In fact, maybe he was a bit thankful. Who know what else he might have said had he not been snapped out of that state.

    With a flip of his palm, the Amethyst Token vanished and a light breath left Leonel''s lips. Something about his disposition shifted and the stone beneath his bare feet creaked and whined almost as though his weight had increase tenfold.

    When he finally looked up to meet Myghell''s gaze, the latter was looking back, unmoved. Even after being forcefully teleported to the stage and even after learning of who Leonel''s mother was, the needle hadn''t budged for him.

    His expression was even more indifferent than Leonel''s own. In fact, there was no coldness either, just a blank wall anything could be painted on.

    Even after all this time, Leonel couldn''t quite get a read on Myghell, at least not as easily as he could seem to grasp others. He was a man of few words and he didn''t display any outward emotions. He was about as difficult to read as Leonel would say he was.

    However, Leonel felt he knew enough.

    This was a young man who sought nothing more than power. He was decisive and unfeeling. He did things at his greatest convenience and didn''t care about what harm he caused otherwise. He didn''t feel shame not because he couldn''t, but rather because he felt he had never done anything shameful. The words and opinions of others were meaningless to him, all that mattered was his ownбн

    Leonel knew quite a bit, enough that it was odd that he would say that he still didn''t quite have a read on Myghell. But, he had his own reasons for saying so.

    There was a silent lull that took place, a gentle gliding wind riding the silence at an unhurried pace.

    Orinik didn''t dare to start an event that Alienor had proposed so he sat in silence, feeling that if this was the case, the battle could be considered to have already started. As for the Amethyst Token in Leonel''s hand, he chose not to say a single word about it.

    Suddenly, the two vanished. The sound of stone meeting stone and metal crashing against metal resounded through the skies three times, three sonic booms and wild outflows of wind jetting forth in their wake.

    A moment later, Leonel and Myghell appeared where they had always been, the only difference being the turbulent wind around them.

    Myghell was entirely unmoved by an almost blinding streak of scarlet that fell from the corner of Leonel''s lips.

    "You are weak." Myghell said plainly.

 Chapter 1233 Lament and Overwhelm

    Chapter 1233 Lament and Overwhelm

    Leonel wiped at his blood with a thumb, rolling his shoulders back until he heard a satisfying crack. Beside himself, he released a yawn, stretching his neck from side to side.

    It seems he was still a bit tired from yesterday, but that couldn''t be helped. As for Myghell''s words, they were probably true. At least in that exchange, he really was the weaker of the two.

    The envoys of Void Palace couldn''t help but frown. The wielder of an Amethyst Token bleeding was something that had never happened since its inception. Or, more accurately, one had never bled during their Selection. The entire point of the Amethyst Token was to represent invincibility, and Leonel was decidedly not that.

    The rest had dismissed his battle with Isac, thinking that he was just fooling around. After all, Leonel was a spearman, not a bowman. This made perfect sense considering which family he came from as well. Butбн This was getting harder and harder to accept.

    It didn''t matter that Leonel was in Tier 4 while his opponent was a half-step from the Sixth Dimension. Invincibility was invincibility. You either were or you weren''t. There were no technicalities in real life.

    Leonel, though, didn''t seem to care about the opinions of others. He was just a bit intrigued that Myghell had actually spoken.

    "Oh? Is that a justification?" Leonel smiled.

    "Justification? Why would I need something like that?"

    "Oho." Leonel chuckled. "That''s not a bad response. Indeed, why would you? And here I thought you were caught up in a few words written long before you were born."

    "Whether those words have anything to do with me or not is meaningless. If they have nothing to do with me, I will force them to change their minds. If I have no fate with them regardless, then so what? Do I need the legacy of a fool who can''t see straight?"

    Leonel erupted into laughter when he heard these words. With each bellow, a stronger and denser violet fog seemed to waft out from him. Beneath its presence, the world itself seemed to slow.

    "I really want to see what expressions that indifferent face of yours can make in defeat."

    "I''ve never lost a battle in my life, and the first most definitely won''t be to you."

    The two shot forward in unison. This time, they took no care to hold back, the entire platform shattering.

    A surge of cracks raced toward each other from opposite sides of the stage, following the wake of the two young men as though they were speeding to catch up.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s forearm collided with Myghell''s own, the cracks finally catching up to them as they hung in the air for just a fraction of a moment.

    The ground beneath them sunk and collapsed, forming a pit gained depth before blasting outward and blowing even the surroundings stages to smithereens.

    With a single tap of her foot, Alienor surrounded the entire region in a familiar golden glow, saving the audience from another potential horror story.

    Leonel and Myghell didn''t miss a beat. Even as they fell from the skies, their knees and elbows clashed, each boom resonating like the collapse of a mountain. бв

    With every collision, Leonel felt his internal organs shake and quake. The gap in their strength was undeniable and the penetrative power of Myghell''s Force was deep and immeasurable. Not only was his strength beyond Leonel''s, but his application of it was in another world.

    However, the smile on Leonel''s face became a grin, and that grin quickly became a fiendish spread of pearly whites that seemed to radiate a light of its own. In that moment, Bronze Runes raced into existence around his skin, a crown marking his forehead and a halo hovering above his head.

    BANG!

    The next collision of their knees sounded like metal meeting metal, their elbows clashing soon after to sound like hammer meeting anvil.

    The two crashed onto the ground, Myghell''s body suddenly erupting with a mysterious golden-white Force that twinkled as though tiny crystals were falling within it. The moment Leonel landed collided with him again, it was as though he had gained ten layers of armor.

    Myghell was as unmovable as a mountain. His strikes were sharp and decisive, and though not as fast as one would expect from a Luxnix, it carried an overbearing quality to it that made one feel as though a giant was stomping down on you from above.

    This sort of momentum alone was enough to make most fall into despair. It filled you with the kind of emotion that made you feel small and insignificant, like a speck of dust among the stars or a drop of water amidst the ocean.

    However, something about it only made Leonel fight back harder. As though he couldn''t feel the pain of his limbs and fists crashing against an immovable wall, he collided with it again and again, his movements becoming faster and faster as he seemed to release everything he had.

    Myghell looked like a deity, his golden hair hanging in the air unaffected by its surroundings, his fists and kicks jetting out while his torso seemed unmoved and unhurried, even his gaze didn''t flicker as he met Leonel''s onslaught, almost as though he was watching a toddler put together their final tantrum.

    "Lament."

    The word came out of nowhere, and yet the strike that followed behind it was unlike any that came before. A mysterious energy layered Myghell''s fist, his strength crashing toward Leonel like a fall meteor.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, his own fist jetting outward, wrapped by Universal Force he had been holding back on all this time.

    BANG!

    Leonel felt his arm threaten to collapse, his feet leaving two trenches in his wake as he shot backward.

    "Overwhelm."

    Myghell didn''t move from his spot, he didn''t feel like he had to. One meter, tens of meters, it didn''t matter. When he spoke, the world listened.

    A second fist surged forward, the air snapping and cracking as sparks of fire formed beneath the sheer speed of the strike alone.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. This strike was at least ten times the strength of the last, he had no chance to block this with his fists.

 Chapter 1234 BANG!

    Chapter 1234 BANG!

    BANG!

    A pillar of smoke rose in the air, the ground combusting as though an explosive had been hidden within. But, just as quickly as Myghell''s strike landed, the mighty roar of a bear resounded.

    The smoke and dust plumes were forcefully disrupted, a concentrated beam of light jetting outward like a laser, relentlessly piercing through the skies as though it might split anything in its path in two.

    In that moment, a ten meter tall bear rose up on its hind legs. Beneath the dispersed smoke, its aura towered and its strength pulsed in all directions not much unlike its roar. Even the ground itself seem to want to submit.

    The bear was both illusory and not, its body covered from head to toe in resplendent golden fur and its eyes shimmering like stars that held the depth of the universe. However, while its body itself seemed ethereal and unreal, on top of it was an armor of dense grey, so heavy that what remained of the stone beneath the bear cracked and shattered further.

    Without hesitation, the bear charged after the beam of light, following after it with a tremendous momentum. Leonel trailed its back, much of his figure hidden behind the enormous beast construct but his gaze had become cold and focused, his fiendish grin giving way to a calculating light.

    Myghell, of course, recognized the bear construct. But, he had never seen it appear with armor. In just a moment, he could tell that Leonel had fused the Luxnix Force Art system with another. Even after realizing this though, he didn''t spare any thought toward being impressed nor did his expression fluctuate.

    His palm flipped over, a sword as light as a feather and as thin as a finger appearing in his hand.

    The moment it did, his whole demeanor seemed to change. His indifferent expression, unmoved by the world even if the moon fell from the skies, gained a bit of haughtiness between his brows. An arrogance that had been buried deep within his bones blossomed like a blooming flower, his first hint of an expression shining forth.

    The individuals of the Luxnix watched on with widened eyes. They hadn''t seen Myghell use his sword against a member of his generation since he was 10 years old. No, that wasn''t accurate. Those like Elody and Syllar were technically a part of Leonel''s mother''s generation. The truth was that Myghell had never used his sword against a member of his generation and he hadn''t used it against the generation plus one his senior since he was a child!

    Myghell''s sword pierced forward. It seemed to carry no momentum with it, no forcefulness or power. In fact, it could only be said to be beautiful and elegant, the kind of strike that looked pretty in a practice book and could be expounded upon in a painting, but lacked the foundation of comprehension and strength it should have hadбн

    Or so it seemed.

    The beam of light separated into two beneath Myghell''s sword as though it was nothing more than a dying flames final twinkle. It split past his shoulders, continuing toward the barriers in the distance where it seemed to have lost all of its momentum. And yetбн

    BANG!

    The barriers shuddered and threatened to collapse. The power behind it was so great that the arena itself shook and quaked, the rustling of the pillars that held it up making a few cowards feel as though they should prepare to run. However, for everyone else, they couldn''t seem to take their eyes off of what they were seeing for even a moment.

    The elegant stroke of Myghell''s sword didn''t lose momentum in the slightest. He only took a single step forward, and yet he seemed to appear dozens of meters away in the next instant.

    The final roar of the bear construct resounded and it even sounded somewhat sad, its body collapsing into two pieces before vanishing into sparkling motes of light.

    Leonel, who had been following very closely behind, narrowed his gaze. He had indeed fused the Luxnix Force Arts with another. He had used Fourth Dimensional Star Core, which he could produce with ease thanks to his Metal Body, and then strengthened it with Camelot''s magic system to form a new defensive Mage Art. And yet it was split in just a single strike.

    Even with the coldness of his gaze now, a flicker of rouge couldn''t help but manifest as his heart beat grew steadier and deeper. In that moment, his fiendish grin almost returned.

    In a blink, Myghell and Leonel appeared before one another. Just when it seemed that Leonel would suffer the same fate as the beam of light and the bear construct before him, his aura bloomed, the temperature plummeting as a spear of black ice appeared in his hands.

    Leonel didn''t hold back for even a moment, his Level 2 Spear Force bursting forth and a blinding golden spear splitting the crown on his forehead in two.

    Orinik''s expression changed wildly when he saw this. ''A seventh heir?!''

    The shock even overshadowed the fact Leonel had had Level 2 Spear Force from the very beginning.

    BANG!

    Spear and sword met. A wild crackling of ice and a plummeting temperature appearing to one side, and on the other a blazing golden-white light shimmering with falling gems.

    The two shot backward beneath their opponent''s strength, but just as quickly as their feet landed, they sprung forward with an even faster pace.

    Spear and sword left afterimages in the air, the collision of blades, light, ice and Force feeling like a firework ceremony of untouchable proportions.

    Myghell''s Level 2 Sword Force vibrated wildly. His speed touched another level as he swapped between techniques of the Luxnix as though he was doing nothing more than breathing. He didn''t even seem to have trouble interrupting his technique midway to switch to another, countering Leonel''s spear play at every corner.

    Leonel''s gaze almost seemed to rage with a ring of gold and crimson, the Spear Domain Lineage Factor''s mark on his forehead growing in brightness with each passing moment.

    Myghell retrieved his sword, the arrogance between his brows only growing.

    "Divide."

    His voice was layered and almost seemed like a fusion of a God and Devil, commanding the world to yield beneath its call.

    Leonel didn''t take a single step back, the raging violet aura around him growing in size to the point a miniature humanoid figure appeared before his head.

    "Dragon''s Might."

    BANG!

 Chapter 1235 Night

    Chapter 1235 Night

    SHIING! SHIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

    The sound of sharpening blades rang out in all directions. In that moment, a strong inner will pulsed, fusing into the surroundings and making the air feel several time heavier than it had in the past.

    Leonel''s spear pulled back and drew an arc upward through the air. It moved so quickly that a streak of blackish blue was all anyone could seem to see, the strength of his Level 2 Spear Force multiplying several times over in the blink of an eye.

    Myghell didn''t miss a beat, activating <Whet Star Droplets> in almost the same instant Leonel had. Despite the fragile look of his blade, it clashed with Leonel''s almost demonic spear without losing ground.

    Myghell found that the strength of his words had dampened the moment that small violet humanoid figure appeared. It was as though his will was clashing with Leonel''s, canceling each other out. This was the first time Myghell had ever experienced someone nullifying his words, and for yet another first time, his gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

    Suddenly, Myghell''s shifted, retrieving his sword and guarding it against his body as though to take on a fencing stance.

    His free hand pressed his fore and middle fingers together, the odd white-gold precipitating crystal Force around him concentrating toward the tips of those two digits.

    Instead of pursuing, Leonel''s Dream Force surged, the halo above his head pulsing as though it had a mind of its own.

    "<Valiant Seal>."

    "<Gem Conception>."

    A violent upswell of Force surged out in all directions, splitting the battlefield into two sides surrounded by a tornado of rotating winds.

    On one side, four silver pillars rose up from the earth, depictions of battles and grandeur etched onto their surfaces. Beneath its presence, it felt as though space itself had been frozen, as though it could be paused, undone, flattened and lengthened at the behest of Leonel.

    There was no doubt that after fusing with his Divine Armor, Leonel''s Space Affinity had taken another enormous leap forward. In fact, due to the Evolution Ore his mother had granted him, even Sixth Dimensional Space bent to his whims.

    On the other side, the sparkling droplets of crystal that had surrounded seemed to quickly gather, sticking to one another and quickly growing in size beneath the strength of a mysterious command.

    It was a sight that was objectively gorgeous, but it only became more when Myghell''s free hand trembled, a final twinkle of light breathing life into the gems that fell around him.

    In that moment, dozens of crystal wolves formed on the ground and dozens more crystal hawks took over the skies. It felt almost impossible to catch them with the naked eye unless the sun''s rays hit them just right, but when they did, a beautiful sight one could hardly match was seen.

    All this time, the crowd had been on the edge of their seats, not having been prepared for the kind of battle they would witness today. But, this scene made them all gasp in admiration in one moment, then feel their hearts seize in the next. Those that were sharper felt the danger force their small hairs to stand up. These beast constructs made Leonel''s previous formulations feel like nothing more than child''s play. Each and every single one of them had the strength of the Sixth Dimension.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed from within his <Valiant Seal>. It seems that his speculations were correct. The root or the power source that gave the Luxnix Force Art system its life-like characteristics wasn''t entirely related to the language itself, but also in the uniqueness of Snow Force. It was only when incorporating it that it could show its full strength, something that naturally happened since Snow Force had a positive impact on Soul Force and Internal Sight.

    The problem, then, became obvious. Myghell had stepped beyond Snow Force, but his Luxnix Force Arts likewise gained an enormous boost along with it. Leonel had been so worried about what a lack of techniques would look like if he abandoned the Snowy Star Owl that he hadn''t realized that it was all already right under his nose.

    The crystal beast constructs shot forward. Their speed was far beyond what Myghell could muster and they had already appeared before Leonel''s barrier in the blink of an eye.

    Myghell stood straight tall, his sword wielding had pressed to his chance as he entered a perfect stance. In that moment, his energy began to gather, his strength slowly accumulating.

    Even to this point, Myghell hadn''t suffered a single injury. His body seemed to still be warming up to the battle, almost as though it didn''t feel like it was necessary to snap itself fully away. Even the arrogance between Myghell''s brows was only very slowly becoming more prominent. It felt like his true face was only now beginning to be shown to the world and everything else was nothing more than an elaborate fa?ade.

    The howl of the wolves resounded as they pounced toward Leonel''s barrier.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. For the first time, cracks appeared and began to race about his <Valiant Seal> like spider webs. He had always known that there was a limit to just how much pressure his self-created Mage Art could take, but he was still astonished by this.

    This was just a few of Myghell''s beast constructs, what if he had attacked personally instead?

    Leonel didn''t linger on these thoughts for long, his Force surging as the cracks mended. In that moment, the barrier began to bulge, numerous bubbles appearing as he formed one <Crystal World> after another, each attached with its own law.

    They shot outward. Before the beast constructs could react, they found themselves being enveloped by the violet hued spears.

    Just like that, they lost their connection with Myghell, becoming nothing more than piles of useless gems.

    Leonel''s palm closed into a fist, crushing them to ash.

    ''The skiesбн''

    It felt as though everything had fallen into darkness. It was the kind of shift that made one feel as though a natural phenomenon was descending, the kind that commanded the attention of all. Leonel had just not been among them because the beast constructs was something he knew he had to deal with first, even knowing that Myghell was preparing something. But, when he saw itбн

    Leonel''s gaze pervaded with a piercing coldness. Up above, the high sun had completely vanished, replaced by a blanket of darkness.

    The first of the Universal Cycles was the Four Seasons Realm. This first stage embodied the call of the Seasons, leaving its four pillars up the interpretation of the masses.

    The second Universal Cycle was the Heavenly Body Realm. This second embodied the rotation of the celestial behemoths that called the skies home, it touched upon the artistic conception that gave them their beauty and unique character.

    The third Universal Cycleбн Was the Natural Light Realm. The birth of Dawn, the brightness of Day, the decline of Dusk, and the darkness of Night.

    It didn''t take Leonel long to realize that Myghell had grasped a Night comprehension for his Sword. Everything felt so all encompassing and grand, even to the point of blanketing the entire arena in black. Leonel hadn''t even grasped the Heavenly Body Realm yet, but he was facing someone who had grasped Night with his sword.

    Leonel had never understood why the Natural Light Realm existed beyond the Four Seasons and Heavenly Body Realm, it felt like it should have been the very first he came to understand. There were only more of these inconsistencies lingering beyond, and this was the honest reason why he had never been able to step beyond it.

    After the Natural Light Realm came the Cosmos Realm which was divided into comprehension of the Galaxy, Sector, Domain and Universe. This seemed like it somewhat made sense, at least in this case, the Cosmos was indeed beyond the Seasons and the Heavenly Bodiesбн

    But right after that came the pinnacle of Universal Forceбн The Constellation Realm?

    In this Realm, one would create four Constellation Pillars for yourself, each representing a different portion of your strengthбн That sounded all well and good, but how the hell was a Constellation beyond the Cosmos?

    For Leonel who liked to have a logical progress to everything, and a solid understanding of everything he grasped, it threw his mind for a loop, resulting in him stagnating in the Four Seasons Realm for so long.

    If he had a choice in the matter, it would be Natural Light Realm, then Four Seasons Realm, then Heavenly Body Realm, followed by the Constellation Realm and finally the Cosmos Realm. That all made so much more sense.

    So what the hell was this?

    Leonel shook his head. He seemed to have completely forgotten that he was in battle and currently facing an attack powered by the Artistic Conception of the Sixth Dimension.

    However, Myghell didn''t seem to have forgotten at all. Who knew how everyone would react if they knew what was going on in Leonel''s mind right this moment.

    The dichotomy of light and darkness seemed to play for Myghell exceptionally well, his own brightness only being accentuated.

    Leonel''s gaze somewhat regained their focus, his mind still feeling dissatisfied. Maybe he should grill the old bastard about it.

    "From Darkness comes Light. Shroud the World and multiply my might."

    Myghell raised his sword high in the skies, it trembling slightly beneath the accumulating Force.

    "<Life Rend>."

    A blinding light divided the night as Myghell''s sword fell.

    [AN: Sorry everyone, just one chapter today :( ]

 Chapter 1236 lmpossible

    Chapter 1236 lmpossible

    Leonel could feel the Artistic Conception behind Myghell''s strike just as clearly as he could see the scythe of Force blazing toward him. It was as though something about Myghell''s comprehension had a breath of life of its own, whispering into the ears of all who saw it. Of course, this wasn''t out of the kindness of its heart. Rather, it was due to an inborn arrogance, the kind that refused to allow itself to be unknown and ignored.

    The roar of Force was deafening and as everything else fell to darkness, it was the one and only source of light.

    Leonel''s lip couldn''t help but curl. Faced with such an unbridled haughtiness, the hidden foundation of his own persona that silently fueled his every action and thought seemed to have been stirred. For Myghell to make it seem like he was the only source of light in this world before himбн

    How arrogant could you get?

    ''Kinetic Domain.''

    Leonel''s hair whipped about wildly, its short strands moving about like they had minds of their own. The dense violet aura around him only grew denser, the subtle purple color of his barriers thickening to the point it was almost impossible to see anything other than the outline of Leonel''s figure through them.

    The Force in the surroundings seemed to have been quelled beneath Leonel''s forcefulness, but the gap was simply too large. Kinetic Domain was built on the foundation of a Quasi Silver Spear, making it a half step from the Sixth Dimension. However, the Universal Force Myghell was using was fueled by a Sixth Dimensional comprehension. The difference was enormous. Butбн

    Leonel was also ready for this.

    Myghell''s weakened by as much as 20%, this energy being snatched away by Leonel.

    With a single stomp forward, Leonel''s figure forced the arena to quake. The four pillars that surrounded him only glowed with a fiercer light, so brightly, in fact, that they seemed to blend into one, making it go almost completely unnoticed when two of them vanished from thin air.

    Leonel took another heavy stomp forward, his legs crossing the violet barrier before him but his figure so shrouded by light that it was only possible to notice with exceptional Internal Sight. But, even then, the trouble was that any attempt to do so felt like throwing a rock into an ocean.

    With Leonel''s greater comprehension of Internal Sight thanks to his study of the Luxnix''s manipulation techniques, he had a deeper appreciation for exactly what it wasбн Ultimately, Internal Sight was just an outward projection of Soul Force, and even more fundamentally, was just a blanket of energy. In that case, why wouldn''t his Kinetic Domain swallow it up as well?

    All anyone could see to focus on was the collision of two blinding lights. So, when they suddenly found Leonel appearing just a single meter away from Myghell''s figure, his spear raised high in the air and his Force having reached its peak, their eyes couldn''t help but widen.

    Myghell had only just unleashed a powerful strike it seemed to have taken a few seconds for him to cast, it was impossible to prepare a defense so quickly. Also, they couldn''t wrap their heads around just how Leonel had done it, teleporting past such an attack wasn''t child''s play. If that was possible, Space Force would be ranked even higher than it was and those that wielded it would be invincible.

    The more Force density an environment has, the more difficult it is to use Space Force. Even the likes of the Radix family, far inferior to Myghell and the Luxnix, were able to take advantage of this principle to make Leonel''s teleportation abilities useless.

    The higher the quality of the Force, the more difficult it became. In addition, the more volatile and unpredictable the Force, the greater the unpredictability of teleportation as well.

    This was all to say that when Myghell prepared an attack with Sixth Dimensional strength like he just had, teleporting even in the general vicinity should have been almost impossible, especially for a Fifth Dimensional existence like Leonel.

    But, the fact Leonel had not only done so, but he had even teleported directly through the line of attack, appearing right in front of Myghellбн

    It was a feat extraordinary to a degree that was almost impossible to describe.

    However, what happened next was somehow even more baffling.

    Myghell''s gaze narrowed, his free hand already gathering his odd white-gold gem-like Force again. But, he had only just began when his pupils constricted, the hairs on the back of his neck rising.

    Under the astonished eyes of the public, two blinding pillars rose to Myghell''s back, their violet barrier twinkling for just a moment. In that instant, Myghell''s attack collided with Leonel''s other barrier, the sound of space whining and groaning feeling like a fork scraping against the bottom of a pot.

    BANG!

    The barrier shattered. But, Myghell''s blade Force had also vanished into thin airбн For all but a single moment.

    A second BANG! resounded. This one, however, was right behind Myghell.

    To his front, Leonel''s spear descended, the coldness in the latter''s eyes carrying with it an intent that wouldn''t be denied, the kind of intent that seemed to match and then overshadow Myghell''s own as though it had had its dignity challenged.

    To his back, an attack of his own design assaulted him. It had dimmed considerably from the first time he had levied it, but that didn''t seem to matter given the situation. He had just deployed his Force, he couldn''t do so again so quickly and easily and any attack he did form would be far too flimsy.

    Leonel''s spear fell, fueled by a portion of Myghell''s own strength. His calculation was perfect and without flaw, even down to the landing location of Myghell''s own strike. He would end this right here.

    BANG! BANG!

    The cacophonic booms of the landed attack resonated throughout the arena, its entire foundation sinking down by what felt like an entire meter.

 Chapter 1237 Woken

    Chapter 1237 Woken

    The experts in the crowd found their hearts skipping a beat.

    Redirecting attacks using Space Force, teleporting them through space and changing their trajectory was so by far and away more difficult than simply teleporting through volatile Force that it could only be labeled as impossible. Being able to perfectly reflect attacks, even, was so difficult that it took one being a Savant like Candle to be able to do it!

    Leonel had redirected attacks before against the oceanic beasts of Earth. But, they had been so much weaker than him to begin with that the two feats couldn''t even be compared.

    If a Sixth Dimensional expert wanted to reflect the attack of a Fifth Dimensional one, it was a matter of a wave of a palm. They were essentially a God to a mortal to begin with. However, doing so with an attack at, or even worseбн Above your level like Leonel had was so unfathomable that if it wasn''t for the resonating booms, the entire arena would have fallen into complete silence.

    The expressions of those of the Luxnix were incredibly ugly.

    The truth was that after seeing Alienor''s strength, they realized just how ignorant they had been. They had all been aware that she was still within the Sixth Dimension, so they never thought too much of her strength.

    This wasn''t too surprising. Earth had only completed its Metamorphosis about five years ago so when Alienor blossomed to her true strength, the Luxnix had already concluded what they believed her limits were and had no idea just how vastly she had improved. They had no idea how large the gap between two individuals of the same Dimension could be.

    It only made matters worse that Wise Star Order, their most respected Ancestor, had chosen Leonel''s side to begin with and now even seemed to have been enslaved by Roesia''s branch of the family.

    The Starry Order Elders of the family already understood that they had lost this battle, but it was hard to just shift their mentalities after decades of placing their hope in just one young man. Many of them still hoped that Myghell would win, even if it wasn''t logical, they were human, after all.

    Seeing such a scene before them, it was difficult to accept.

    But maybe luckily for them, they weren''t the only ones with a frown on their faces at this momentбн Because oddly enough, Leonel himself was among them.

    Leonel held onto his spear firmly, it bowing beneath his strength. Compared to its usual Black Ice form, it was currently smoldering and filled with an unbridled heat that scorched even the air. But, it was also precisely because of this that the fog and plumes of smoke took so long to clear. And when it didбн Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow further.

    Just about ten meters away from Leonel, Myghell seemed to be in a sorry state. His untouched robes had been torn to shreds, leaving barely enough to cover his decency. Howeverбн That was all.

    Myghell''s skin shimmered like it was carved of crystal. There was a hint of blood at the corner of his lips and several cracks across his body, but he still rose slowly from the ground, a light cough leaving him.

    The haughtiness between his brows seemed to have undergone an evolution. It was so pronounced and clear that it almost felt like one was looking at a completely different person. From indifferent, standoffish and cold, Myghell was only a blinding chain of precious metals away from looking every bit the part of a lifelong gangster.

    Myghell ripped the top of his robes away from himself, spitting out the mouthful of blood that was accumulating on his tongue. The cracks that ran along his toned body slowly fused and vanished one by one, the thumping of his heart suddenly treating his body like an instrument to project outward.

    The beating resonated with the crystal that coated him, vibrating his body to a special frequency that pulled at the heart.

    Leonel could see at a glance that Myghell wasn''t just arrogant, he was also a bit of a madman who happened to also be extraordinarily hard working. Not everyone could just swallow metals and end up with a physique like Leonel''s, especially for Myghell who was born with the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor that wasn''t known for its robust body to begin with.

    Every line of muscle, every inch of definition, every outlined striation and pulsing vein, was the result of his own meticulous work. And it seemed that Leonel had finally knocked him awake.

    Myghell rose his palms to his hair, running his fingers through it and slicking it back. His actions were slow and didn''t seem very special, but the oppressive aura he was giving off only seemed to grow as the thumping of his heart grew louder and louder.

    By a certain point, it no longer sounded like the steady beat of an organ but had rather become a thrumming war drum, the gems that coated his body becoming thicker and thicker.

    Myghell threw a glance toward his thin sword. It had fallen a pace before him and was so deeply entrenched into the ground that only the hilt was visible.

    With a wave of his palm, the sword flew to Myghell''s hand. One would have thought that he had done so for the purpose of battle, but what he actually used it for was nothing short of jarring.

    Myghell gazed at the sword for a moment, raising it up to eye level as though he was trying to inspect every detailбн

    And then his mouth suddenly opened wide. His canines lengthened and a growl left his lip.

    CLANG! CLICK! CHSHHH!

    He bit down hard, the blade suddenly shattering into countless pieces he swallowed with a single inhale.

    The gems that coated Myghell''s body began to glow a healthy light, complex royal blue Runes beginning to swirl about within them, making him look more like an otherworldly treasure than a human.

    BANG! BANG!

    Within Myghell''s palms, to enormous great swords appeared. Each was over two meters long and two feet wide. Their weight falling to the ground alone left two enormous craters Myghell didn''t seem to care he had begun to sink into.

    A fiendish, devilish grin spread across his lips, his body seeming to grow a size.

    "I was already sick and tired of using that twig. Since you''ve woken me up, come and taste true strength."

    Myghell''s foot rose into the air, the momentum of the world following his step.

 Chapter 1238 Blazing Dawn. Dauntless Day

    Chapter 1238 Blazing Dawn. Dauntless Day

    Myghell was so fast that Leonel could only react on instinct, quickly crossing his spear over his chest.

    It was like those enormous great swords were no heavier than a single feather, or so it seemed with the ease Myghell swung them.

    The spear across Leonel''s chest immediately found itself bending in protest. Despite the fact Leonel had wanted to use it to protect himself, a strong, surging force bent it to the point it barreled into his sternum, causing his body to bow backward and fly out with a BANG!

    A projectile of blood flew from Leonel''s mouth, his entire rib cage threatening to shatter. If it wasn''t for his Bronze Runes dispersing the force throughout his body, maybe his lungs and heart would have been riddled with bone shards by now.

    Leonel could tell that Myghell had instead lost his speed and most importantly, his agility. However, when it came to a straight line bound and leap forward, strength alone could often overwhelm speed. And now that Myghell had taken the initiative, he proved this about as well as you possibly could.

    Myghell howled, his hair fluttering about wildly. He looked like a beast that had been released from its chains, his attack and pursuit relentless as though he couldn''t feel fatigue.

    Every time he landed the ground would collapse, every time he shot forward an abyss would be left in his wake, every time he attacked the air split and sparking flames followed his swing as the atmosphere cried for mercy.

    Leonel found his body being beaten and bruised. He managed to find a way to block every time, but he could never escape the pain that came with it. His wrists threatened to shatter, his shoulders were continuously almost ripped from their sockets, and his legs and torso were beginning to show signs of deep internal bleeding, splotches of a grotesque blackish violet spreading beneath their skin.

    "BLAZING DAWN. DAUNTLESS DAY."

    The gold of Myghell''s hair and eyes became like a blazing sun. Even his eyebrows followed suit, the endless flood of it making him look like a deity descended from the skies above. And yet, his coarse laughter and his fiendish grin warped that persona, giving him the image of endless bloodlust, the kind that could only be matched by a God of War.

    "HAAA-UUUUU!"

    Myghell''s howls caused the golden barriers that protected the audience to tremble and vibrate. The crowd could only imagine just how loud it was for Leonel who was trapped in there.

    Whether by coincidence or design, everyone seem to have landed on the same conclusionбн This arena had become a cage and Leonel happened to be stuck in there with a beast.

    The Luxnix had quite frankly never seen this side of Myghell. Not only had he abandoned the light flexible sword that was the symbol of their family, but he didn''t even seem to be using Snow Force any longer. They couldn''t help but feel that the Myghell that they had all come to know was a fa?ade from the very beginning, nothing more than an image he projected out to them.

    This was the true Myghell. And unrelenting, furious, battle maniac who wielded his swords like clubs and bellowed out war cries as though he wouldn''t be satisfied until the whole of the Dimensional Verse heard his name.

    BANG!

    Leonel against the golden barrier, another cough of blood leaving his lips.

    By now, his clothes were in tatters. Where his skin was exposed no longer shone as resplendently as they had before, even his Bronze Runes seemed to have dimmed considerably.

    Myghell''s relentless pursuit didn''t pause for even a moment. Blazing like a golden meteor, he shot into the air, falling down toward Leonel with both his great swords raised high above his head.

    His hair and eyebrows gave of wisps of white-gold fog. His eyes had begun to glow so bright that the whites had vanished, replaced by orbs of gold that pulsed with light.

    Leonel watched this seen, a light breath leaving his lips. Even that alone made him feel like his entire body was on fire.

    ''Alright, if a brawl is what you want, come and have a brawl.''

    Leonel eyes closed for a moment, making it truly seem as though he had given in. But when they opened, his eyes, too, had become nothing more than orbs of light. However, his own blazed like shimmering sapphires, his aura imploding in the form of a pillar that seemed to want to pierce the skies.

    "Star Fusion."

    Wild plumes of sky blue smoke shot out from Leonel, his body suddenly vanishing from its position and appearing above Myghell.

    His white shirt was ripped from himself, revealing a torso no less ripped and defined than Myghell''s own. His Bronze Runes were flooded with Vital Star Force, causing them to pulse with the very same blue light as his halo hung above his head.

    Myghell continued to fall, unable to change his direction. But, Leonel had already closed in, his feet slamming down on the top of the former''s back and driving him into the ground.

    BANG!

    Myghell twisted in the air, blocking Leonel''s foot with the flat of his blade and swinging forward with his other, his gaze lit with thoughts of splitting him in two. But, what he found instead was Leonel''s own blade.

    Spear and sword met in the skies, the reverberating impact sending Leonel spiraling so far into the air that he crashed into the barrier once again. At the same time, Myghell careened into the ground, falling into such a deep pit that it wasn''t immediately obvious what happened to him.

    Unfortunately, thoughбн This wasn''t the kind of battle that had lulls and pauses.

    Two almost mindless roars shook the stadium.

    In the ground below, Myghell''s aura alone shattered everything in its path, forcing the rocks to crumble and the surrounding walls to fall into the abyss. The elevation where the stages and platforms had been at fell by more than 50 meters, leaving a sinkhole that spread out for hundreds more.

    In the skies, Leonel''s bellow shattered the ceiling of the golden dome, shards of white-gold glass falling in all directions and precipitating in a beautiful rainfall.

    And then, a streak of blinding blue and another of blinding gold tore a path toward one another, meeting in the skies and causing a BOOM that deafened the ears of all those that heard it.

 Chapter 1239 Once More

    Chapter 1239 Once More

    Spear and great swords met in an endless torrent of attacks. Every collision caused shards of whistling wind to fly out in all directions. It was the kind of display of power that made one cringe and turn your head away, worried that their bodies wouldn''t be able to handle what came next and find itself bent awkwardly and out of shape.

    However, the wild grins on both of their faces seemed to paint a different picture entirely. They were completely relentless, even when they were pushed to the ground, they sprung back up like springs, already prepared for the next ten exchanges.

    BANG!

    The two were forcefully separated, finding themselves on opposite sides of the arena. Their breathing was even and deep, the thumping of their hearts and the rushing of their blood booming like drums and falling like waterfalls.

    Myghell exhaled a deep breath, a fog rising up from his swords as though they were being seared with heat.

    "Dying Embers of Dusk."

    The four cycles came together. Without even stepping into the Sixth Dimension, Myghell had actually comprehended the entirety of the Natural Light Realm.

    The glow in Leonel''s gaze intensified. The strength of one, two or three facets of a Universal Cycle was absolutely nothing compared to when they were deployed all at once. Only upon doing so would the true strength of Universal Force shine through.

    The Only Light of Night. Blazing Dawn. Dauntless Day. Dying Embers of Dusk.

    The cycle of Day, Night, Dawn and Dusk rotated about the skies, the center of the world being Myghell himself.

    Leonel exhaled his own breath. He hadn''t even bothered to bring out his Four Seasons comprehension. Because it was True State, it could probably match one stage above, but two was too large of a gap to bridge. If he brought it out now, he would only end up countered and put himself on the back foot.

    But, Leonel had more cards than he had shown.

    In the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone, Leonel had formed three forms of , not just one. The issue was that the amount of Vital Star Force he had was so small to begin with that executing just the first form only lasted a few minutes.

    Unfortunately, most of the accumulated Vital Star Force Leonel had left the trial world with had been taken away by the Segmented Cube. Of course, it was vital to saving his life and making sure no lingering injuries crippled his hands, so it was a worthy exchange.

    Due to this, though, it took Leonel weeks to even months to accumulate enough Vital Force just for a few minutes of usageбн At least, that was the case in a weak galaxy like the Milky Way. But, Leonel wasn''t there any longer, now was he?

    Leonel had already been on Planet Luxnix for more than a month. Not only was it a pinnacle Sixth Dimensional world, it was perfectly chosen by the Luxnix for its high Light and Star Elemental concentration.

    In that case, wasn''t it perfect?

    The first stage of Star Fusion was . The second stage, thoughбн

    Leonel''s lips spread into a wild grin, the red in his eyes pulsing as the blue about him became a blazing curtain of crimson.

    "<Star Fusion: Combustion>."

    A chorus of red raced across Leonel''s body as he howled into the skies. His own cry sounded for more maddened than anything Myghell had been able to form.

    His body seemed to spring to life, a pair of wings that stretched outward for ten meters each appearing to his back and his body being covered in delicate white gold scales, each etched with golden runes and shaped like small, miniature feathers.

    The billowing fog emitting from Leonel''s head seemed to make his hair turn scarlet and lengthen, snaking out in all directions like wild hydras surging out from murky waters.

    With a single flap of Leonel''s wings, the air around him shattered like glass, the ground splintering like an egg shell and the howling call of his roar being left behind by the sonic boom of his own speed.

    He appeared before Myghell in the blink of an eye, but the latter had already swung down one of his great swords, the power behind it carrying with it the strength of the Natural Light Realm.

    BANG!

    The two erupted into a flurry of exchanges.

    Leonel''s body seemed to be nearly invulnerable, even in the rare instances where he suffered an injury, it closed so fast that it felt as though it had never been there to begin with.

    Myghell''s skin shimmered like crystals, his impenetrable Gem Force and relentless attacks backing his domineering nature. He fought nothing like a Luxnix. There wasn''t the slightest bit about him that was elegant or refined, not the slightest hint of what it meant to embody purity was on his mind. All he cared about was being the best, his arrogance prepared to make even the darkness of night and the light of day revolve around him!

    The two clashed and separated, their collisions rebounding all across the arena in a way that was almost impossible to follow. The crowd found their head swiveling from side to side almost uncontrollably just so that they could try their best to keep up.

    Leonel retracted his spear before releasing an endless torrent of pierces. His speed was so blinding that it felt as though dozens of spears had appeared in his hand.

    Myghell swiped one of his great swords to the side, brutishly slapping Leonel''s spear to the side, and swinging down from above.

    Leonel took a fast and strong step forward, punching out toward Myghell''s chest.

    The sound of metal and crystal meeting resounded through the arena, by Myghell flexed his back and widened his stance, absorbing the blow completely as he continued to swing down from above.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered as he rotated to the side, barely stepping out of the downward swing and stamping down toward Myghell''s wrist.

    However, as though he hadn''t noticed, Myghells'' forearm simply flexed, the blue Runes swirling about his crystal skin jumping to life.

    In that moment, Leonel sudden felt as though his foot had slammed into a steel wall. To make matters worse, Myghell suddenly released his grip on his sword, his palm snaking upward at an odd angle and catching Leonel''s ankle.

    Leonel found himself being raised into the air, his gaze frighteningly cold.

    BANG!

    His body was pummeled into the ground, only to be raised again.

    Force surged about Leonel''s ankle, forcing Myghell to let go. Hooking the crook of his knee to Myghell''s arm, he used the momentum to swing himself to the latter''s back, choking around Myghell''s neck with one arm and raising his spear to behead him with the other.

    Myghell roared, his neck bulging and his back erupting as a strong surge of Force that sent Leonel flying backward.

    With another howl, Myghell beat his chest, sinking further and further into an undying madness. And then, his skin began to change once more. Slowly but surely, the crystal morphed into something more tangible and heavy, fusing with the new coming substance and making it far stronger than it had been just alone...

 Chapter 1240 Judgement

    Chapter 1240 Judgement

    The crystal that coated Myghell''s skin seemed to rapidly shrink, concentrating the pulsing Blue Runes that had run within them toward his forehead.

    His muscles bulged a fold in size, suddenly gaining a rough texture to them and eventually losing all of its color. Before the eyes of everyone, it became a thick, leathery coat, one that bulged with both power and a pure, unblemished white that gave off its own light.

    At the same time, Myghell''s hair and eyes lost their gold color as well, becoming bright shades of white. It almost became impossible to see his hair as anything other than strings of lights, it didn''t even look real any longer, having completely lost its physical form.

    The illusory form of a majestic elephant appeared to his back, a surging tide of Gem Force flooding the surroundings.

    Myghell didn''t even seem to try, but everything was suddenly coated in his aura. The ground and even the golden walls that surrounded them all began to grow crystal formations of their own, almost like rapidly spreading ice forming crystalline constructs.

    With a snap, Myghell''s great sword flew back into his hand. A single flex of his forearm caused the sturdy metal to whine, the imprint of his palm and fingers being etched onto its body. The level of strength it took to accomplish such a feet was simply beyond one''s wildest imagination, and yet he had done so on nothing more than a whim.

    Myghell''s head tilted to the skies, a roar escaping his lips. Explosive, concentric circles of collapsing and booming wind shot out along with his voice, shattering everything in its wake.

    In that moment, a surge of Force began to violently shoot toward Myghell, his chest and stomach expanding by a size as the gem on his forehead only grew all the brighter.

    Leonel flipped through the air, landing on his own two feet. His body was still covered by a blazing fog of red, a line of smoke rising from his body and becoming a thin line of energy in the air.

    From the moment Myghell ate his sword, Leonel had already understood what his ability was. Leonel had run into this ability before, but this was either a mutated form of it, or it was a unique ability that mimicked what the original ability could do.

    Of courseбн This ability was the Swallower Ability Index, the very same ability shared by Aphestus of Valiant Heart Mountain.

    Aphestus was able to gain the abilities of the beasts he ate, but this was a by product of the Steal Tier, or Tier 4, of the Swallower Ability Index. Of course, Aphestus could only do this for low level beasts, so there was a heavy cap on when his ability was Tier 4 and when it was not, but Myghell seemed to be very different.

    Leonel was absolutely certain that Aphestus could not eat a sword. The unspoken limitation of the Swallower Ability Index was that whatever was eaten had to be organic. But, clearly, not only was Myghell not bound by this, but he even seemed to be capable of swallowing the Force in the atmosphere, forcefully refueling himself and making it all his own.

    When faced with such a person, not only was their stamina practically endless, butбн their affinities suddenly became whatever they wanted it to be.

    If Aphestus ate a low level creature and it happened to have a sturdy bone structure, he would gain a portion of that. If it had a Fire Elemental Affinity, he would also gain a portion of thatбн So on, and so forth.

    But, what about Myghell? If he swallowed Force itself, what did that represent? What did it mean? What if he swallowed a Force Crystal? A Pure Force Crystal?

    With his ability, could he give himself whatever affinity he wanted so long as he ate enough? In fact, couldn''t Myghell hunt and kill humans as well, swallowing their Ethereal Glabellas to take from them what he pleased?

    This level of innate talentбн Was something even he had to respect.

    Leonel slowly walked toward Myghell. He could somewhat understand how the Starry Order Elders felt. Myghell might, quite frankly, be one of the only people in existence capable of adapting to an Innate Node that wasn''t his own. In fact, he was capable of adapting to almost anything, so long as he had time and the resources before him.

    Leonel''s spear swept out to his side, the casual action causing many of Myghell''s forming crystalline structures to shatter beneath the wind pressure alone.

    The sound of shattering glass and falling crystals resounded, the beauty of the resonance feeling nothing like the sight of the destruction.

    Myghell''s inhale ended, the devilish grin on his face having grown only wider as his gaze landed on Leonel.

    He seemed to have grown an extra foot tall. His body up to his neck was covered by thick, leathery skin and his eyes were nothing but glowing orbs of white, following the tone set by his hair.

    The twinkling Gem Force around him only grew further in density, the small shards suddenly growing to the size of fists hailing down from the skies above. The rough beating of them and Myghell''s heart seemingly fusing into one deathly rhythm.

    "Judgement."

    Myghell''s voice seemed to have dropped by an entire octave. Even before the attack came, Leonel''s pupils constricted, his body flipping backward and just barely dodging an enormous crystal pillar that had appeared from thin air.

    However, his feet had barely touched the ground again when his wings were forced to flap with all their strength, sending him beaming out of the way of another falling crystal pillar.

    Myghell''s uproarious laughter resounded as these thick, destructive pillars continued to manifest from thin air.

    "Judgement. Judgement! JUDGMENT!"

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    A relentless barrage fell. The momentum was so great that the wind pressure alone made Leonel feel as though his skin was being torn in two.

    The golden barrier could finally no longer withstand the pressure.

    Three crystal pillars fell all at once, cutting off Leonel''s path of retreat from all sides.

    When they hit the ground in unison, everything shattered, shards of gold flying wildly throughout the arena.

 Chapter 1241 Bestial Offensive

    Chapter 1241 Bestial Offensive

    Leonel''s expression flickered. Having these wings seemed cool, but it made the over kilometer long diameter of the arena seem far too small. To make matters worse, because Leonel had become used to them being nothing more than an illusion, having them become a sudden tangible part of him left him feeling awkward and uncoordinated.

    He realized then that he definitely should have spent the last few days going over the Luxnix family techniques that helped use these enormous pair of wings instead of getting lost in his game of chess with Wise Star Order. But, as they say, hindsight was 20/20.

    The coldness in Leonel''s gaze returned. He had lost himself in having fun in this battle and he hadn''t been his usual self. The battles he had fought in the Dimensional Verse until now all felt like a struggle of life and death so he never wasted time playing around. He would drown his opponent out in calculations and cut the simplest path to victory every time. Often, he didn''t even have emotions or straying thoughts of his own, he was like an efficient machine, executing its orders.

    At this point, feeling that he was very quickly running out of power ups to use, and simultaneously feeling that Myghell still had depths he had yet to expose, Leonel was tempted to revert to his usual battle style.

    It was quite ironic just how perfect a reflection of Leonel that Myghell was. Though the latter didn''t have the former''s calculative abilities, most of Myghell''s battles usually ended just as easily. With what Myghell had comprehended from Leonel''s Innate Node, he had even been able to one shot the Patriarch of the Viola family.

    Myghell hadn''t used any of these comprehensions against Leonel, much like Leonel hadn''t used his Ability Index much at all either. Of course, whether or not such comprehensions would be effective against Leonel was another matter entirely, but it was still the principle of the matter that truly counted.

    Myghell felt he didn''t need to use Leonel''s talent to defeat him. He could do it on his own. From the very beginning, he was better.

    The three pillars savagely fell, Leonel''s head tilting up and a smile spreading across his face. It wasn''t laced with madness nor was there a fiendish aura to it. All it carried was a childish excitement.

    Leonel remembered well the first time he had experienced such a feeling. He was within Camelot''s Zone facing an army of Demons. For the first time, the weight of killing others wasn''t at the forefront of his mind. After all, what he faced weren''t humans, they were cold hearted monsters ready and willing to tear him limb from limb.

    That was the moment that apprehension, anxiety and guilt gave way, becoming the emotions that he had always felt, that he had always wanted to feelбн

    A giddy excitement.

    It was clear that he had already made his decision.

    ''I''m not just a Knight. I can be considered a Mage too. It seems I won''t be able to find out the limits of Combustion todayбн !''

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Everything collapsed. The arena began to sink, the golden barriers shattered to pieces, harsh screams and cries of terror called out as many feared for their lives, feeling as though in the next moment, they would no longer be among the living.

    Alienor reacted just as quickly. She had originally used the same defensive mechanism Orinik had because she didn''t think that things would need to go so far. But, it seems she had underestimated these two boys a bit.

    It wasn''t that their raw strength was so great, but their wills seemed to take tangible form, strengthening their attacks. They had already gained characteristics of the Sixth Dimensional God Path before even stepping foot into it.

    Leonel with his King''s Mightбн And Myghell with the odd power behind his wordsбн

    Alienor lightly tapped her foot, an enormous barrier forming. However, while her son''s was a delicate violet color, her own was a vibrant green. In a moment, everything settled justбн Just for an instant, that is.

    BANG!

    The three crystal pillars shattered to ash. Just as the gem shards shot out in all directions, an enormous pillar of violet Force shot into the skies, outlining Leonel''s figure as several Force Arts began to be quickly drawn in the air.

    The pupils of those who understood constricted. Most Force Arts were completely invisible to the naked eye as they were drawn by the ever so illusive Soul Force. For Leonel''s own to take form and for them to even witness their drawing like thisбн

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    Arrows of earth, fire and light fell from the skies. But just as quickly as they formed, they evolved into spears and javelins, falling from the skies like a torrential rainfall.

    Myghell''s crystal constructs responded in kind, the skies becoming like the clash of fireworks, explosions of Force, rock and stone erupting and fluttering motes of light falling from their collisions.

    On the ground, the two tore a path toward one another, one bathed in white and the other in violet.

    BOOM!

    Leonel seemed completely invisible when strengthen by his King''s Might, and yet Myghell seemed just as much so. Every time Leonel dug deeper, he seemed to find a new ceiling, his strength climbing and growing. It was as though even when he said Leonel had awakened him, he was still in a deep sleep, slowly opening his eyes wider and wider with every collision.

    Myghell open his mouth wide, biting at Leonel''s spear, only to receive a swing of its butt to the side of the face.

    His head spun to the side, but he easily used that momentum to his advantage, allowing his torso and feet to spin into two great slashes with his great swords.

    Leonel also followed the momentum of his spear''s blunt attack, carrying it over to place it in position to block both swings.

    His feet sunk down into the ground, his body quaking beneath the impact, only for him to realize too late that Myghell had sent three attacks, not just two. A kick formed the third prong of the attack, colliding with Leonel''s lower torso.

    Myghell''s wild almost bestial offensive style forced Leonel to eat a loss soon after he had.

 Chapter 1242 Shiver

    Chapter 1242 Shiver

    Leonel skidded backward against the force of the kick, but the blow was forcefully dispersed to the ground beneath him. His control over the Earth Element had skyrocketed to an even higher level after entering . It felt as though the entire planet itself was backing his fight.

    His spear snaked forward, aiming for Myghell''s head, throat and heart in quick succession. Every time he pierced it was as though a raging flood dragon followed his movements, his spearmanship becoming so pure and unabashed that it breathed like it had life of its own.

    Myghell''s swordsmanship was several time more wild and lacked structure or foundation. Compared to the technique driven style he had had while using his thin sword, and his ability to shift through one technique after another, always countering Leonel perfectly, he might as well have been a cave man now.

    But, there was a special sort of air that was carried along by those simple strikes. They cut off all paths of retreat and thwarted deadly strikes with the greatest of ease, the explosive power that backed them feeling like they carried the weight of an entire world.

    Before anyone could realize just what had happened, over a day had already passed, each still being just as relentless as the other and it feeling as though they had an endless amount of trump cards and rebuttals to thrust at their opponent.

    However, it was slowly becoming clear that one had more to give than the other did.

    In , Leonel could apply this self-created Knight technique he had formulated to amplify his Mage Arts. In addition, the drain on the Vital Star Force supply he had was much lesser as well as half the burden was taken on by his mind.

    Unfortunately, having great stamina versus having the ability to endlessly replenish your own were two different matters. Leonel, of course, had the gold scaled koi fish, but he hadn''t used its ability even once. Though he could probably say that it was his beast companion and get away with it, he didn''t even think of doing so.

    He wanted to see to the depths of Myghell''s limits, to force him to give everything he had and still realize that there was a taller mountain beyond. But, it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

    The gap was large. Some would even say too large. Leonel had more than held his own, especially considering he was still holding back even at this moment. But, Tier 4 was Tier 4 while Myghell was a half-step to the Sixth Dimension.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade, he found himself to be amusing. He didn''t just want to win, he wanted to win his way.

    Leonel''s spear blade swept along the ground, a massive wave of molten earth following it to attack Myghell.

    A crystal whale construct formulated into the skies. It was over 50 meters long, carrying with it a weight that couldn''t even be fathomed.

    BOOM!

    It dropped like an anchor before Leonel''s attack, causing an explosion that took both at once. If it wasn''t for the barrier formed by Alienor, there was no doubt that the destruction would have only been all the more violent.

    Leonel let out a heavy breath, sparks of fire leaving his lips. Deep breaths expanded and contracted his chest, a few fractures that could be found littered throughout his body healing far more slowly than they had at the beginning of his battle despite the fact the Second Awakening of his Healing Branch was very much active.

    In his moment of reprieve, Myghell had already closed the distance.

    ''Damn.''

    Leonel''s mind reacted quicker than his body, an enormous shield of earth blocking the swing of Myghell''s blades.

    The twin great swords burst through, finding Leonel''s spear laying in wait. But, his defenses seemed weaker than usual.

    Leonel found himself flying through the air, shaking his head inwardly.

    He seemed to have been in a battle of equals with Myghell. But, whenever each brought out a new trump card, wasn''t it always him who was sent flying?

    This was exactly why he was so hesitant about bringing out all he had. If things were like this at this stage, shouldn''t he find an opportunity to win before Myghell went all out?

    Leonel laughed at himself.

    ''What a silly thought.''

    He hadn''t been using his mind much during this battle and he had actually let such a ridiculous conclusion to fester and grow to this point.

    Why was it that he had allowed Candle and Vice to roam free? Wasn''t that because he would have to defeat all the Savants of the Dimensional Verse one way or another? Why was it that he had kept his mind in reserve during this battle? Wasn''t it so that he could bask in the feeling of an enjoyable battle? So why was he suddenly doing something so contradictory to both?

    A subtle feeling just within Leonel''s grasp lingered before him. Sparks went off in his Dreamscape, a network he had begun to built to rectify Instinctual battling and Logical battling feeling just a step away. It was like having a word ready at the tip of your tongue, but easy ten times more infuriating.

    ''This feelingбн''

    Leonel closed his eyes, his breathing becoming steadier and steadier.

    Wasn''t he the one who had said it didn''t matter? If he wanted to claim that position at the top of the mountain for himself, why should he be constantly worried about the progress and strength of others? As long as he, himself, was strong enough. What did the rest of it matter for? What did the rest of it count forбн?

    Nothing. Nothing at all.

    The halo above Leonel''s head began to glow a devastating brightness in that moment. As he flew through the air, it expanded to almost a meter in diameter, shooting down to Leonel''s feet before slowly moving upward.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed and a cloud of dust shot in all direction. But in the next moment, a sight that none who had come this day would ever forget appeared.

    Leonel''s figure vanished from sight beneath the commotion, but space itself seemed to freeze over. Everything was suddenly encased in a cube of ice, space itself solidifying into a tangible plane. And thenбн

    CRACK!

    Everything splintered. As though space had become a sheet of glass, it shattered, and yet it all seemed to be held together by an invisible force.

    The plumes of dust slowly began to clear, revealing a tall silouhetteбн

    The temperature plummeted by several degrees, a cold shiver creeping up the spines of many.

 Chapter 1243 Style

    Chapter 1243 Style

    A harsh cold spread out in all directions, the air cracking at its seams as though dome of glass had just been shattered and was now barely holding itself together.

    Bright blues, deep purples and swirling blacks surged out in all directions, suddenly dispersing to reveal and armor the likes of which those here had simply never before laid their eyes upon.

    The Divine Armor was fitted with many plates, forming a complex and interlocking array of metals that made movement as smooth as fabric. It exuded a frosty aura, appearing as though a layer of beautiful blue, silver and black ore was coated with a thin and reflective layer of ice.

    It spread out upon Leonel''s wings without missing a single beat, flaps of metal sheets opening and closing as though it was breathing, releasing frosty steam that froze over space all the more.

    The helmet that covered Leonel''s head completely hid his gaze, but the shimmering golden spear upon his forehead and the bronze halo above his head told a story of their own.

    Orinik''s gaze narrowed. The Divine Armor technique was most definitely among the strongest of the Morales. But, not everyone could forge their own, let alone to do so at this level. In fact, of all his abilities, Leonel''s Crafting was maybe the most untouchable.

    Myghell found himself stuck within frozen space. As fragile and on the verge of collapse as the world around them now seemed, it was anything but. Just the tiniest movement made him feel as though all his strength was being snapped out, and the slower he moved, the more icicles formed along his skin, only slowing him even further.

    Leonel''s Dark Ice Divine Armor had stacked with the characteristics of his Warping Domain Divine Armor. The latter was a Fourth Dimensional Divine Armor Evolved to match a Fifth Dimensional one, while the former was the same for the Fifth and Sixth Dimensions. The result was a devastating ability even those well into the Sixth Dimension could not ignore.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, his Kinetic Spear vanishing to reveal his Water Domain spear. It looked almost like a trident, its body covered in blue, sapphire-like scales and its head having one very prominent spear blade and two much smaller ones jetting off to the side at an angle.

    Myghell roared even as Leonel shot into motion once again. The skies cracked, motes of sparkling space falling in all directions.

    While Leonel himself shot through these falling shards of space as though they were nothing, Myghell was forced to dodge them as they came. Those that managed to touch upon even his Force froze it in time, space and functionality, rendering it completely useless.

    In the a moment, it was like only half of Myghell''s strength could be deployed, the rest of it being swallowed up by Leonel''s Dark Ice Domain.

    "Strength."

    Myghell swung down, meeting Leonel''s spear. But, behind it, he found a relentless, overflowing pressure.

    It was as though he was facing an ocean''s tide. One wave came forth, only to recede and for a second to replace it, and then a third, then a fourth. By the sixth, Myghell''s own strength had been completely eroded away, his arm turning numb as he was forced to take a step back.

    Leonel''s spear spun in the palms, a barrage of pierces, sweeps and slices. He chained them all into a combination of lethal strikes.

    He could truly feel the essence of the Water Domain spear. Something within him had clicked.

    All this time, he took up a spear, was flashed with the images of its previous owner, and forcefully grasped its Domain. But, he had missed something very important.

    The Peak Spears that stood at the height of its grade never flashed him with any images of its previous owner. Only the sub spears that littered the base of its hill did so.

    Then there was the Domain. Was it really something he had comprehended? Not really. Didn''t his Divine Armors come with Domains themselves? He didn''t have to ''comprehend'' his Divine Armors, the ability just manifested due to its nature.

    That was when it all snapped into place. The Spear Domain would exist with or without him. Whoever picked up this spear would be able to use this Domain, there was nothing special about him in the slightest.

    All this time, he had thought that he was ignoring Instinct for the sake of gaining a deeper, personal understanding of his spear. He wanted to grasp it on his own, to not have his mind clouded by the comprehensions of others. But, in doing so, he had been diverted down the wrong path.

    When Leonel first claimed his Duality Spear, it fought against him. Anyone would logically conclude that this was because the spear had a soul, but Leonel had conveniently ignored this. It wasn''t because he couldn''t accept that there were certain things he simply didn''t understand yet, but it was rather because he didn''t want to lose himself down the rabbit hole such an acceptance would lead him down.

    While all of Leonel''s stubbornness was in one part due to his endless pursuit of logic and understanding, another large part was just his ego. It wasn''t just about pursuing logic, but it was also the satisfaction he felt knowing that he had ripped something apart to its bare bones and that it laid out before him, unable to hide any of its secrets from his eyes.

    Leonel felt his heart pump, his spear technique becoming faster and more subtle.

    He had never considered himself to be skilled in the spear. He forcefully integrated comprehensions he gained and sometimes relied on his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, but he had always been lacking in something fundamental.

    Even back when he fought the branch members of the Luxnix family, he still admitted that their raw skill with their weapons was still beyond him despite the fact he defeated them with ease.

    What was he missing? Why wasn''t he a true spear master? Why did wielding his bow and his spear feel so different? Why did one come so naturally while the other moved along so slowly and so awkwardlyбн?

    It was Style. Leonel had never breathed his own life in his spear.

    Wise Star Order had said it quite clearly. Only someone who had their heads flooded with water would think that weapons could have souls.

    Wasn''t it obvious why the Domain Spears didn''t have the memories of previous owners attached to them? It was because Leonel was meant to be the owner. His soul was meant to be their soul.

    BANG!

    A blinding golden light shot up into the skies.

 Chapter 1244 Nothing

    Chapter 1244 Nothing

    The golden spear hovering before Leonel''s forehead suddenly grew a size. A ring of light formed on either side of it, wrapping around Leonel''s helmet and forming a crown with a blinding golden spear as its centerpiece.

    It and Leonel''s bronze halo seemed to resonate, the two vibrating like twin pieces of precious metal.

    In that moment, Leonel felt as though his eyes had suddenly opened wide. His Level 2 Spear Force trembled. From a neutral white color, it blossomed forth, suddenly becoming sprinkled with fleck sof gold.

    Leonel''s gaze became hazy and unfocused, and yet his assault only grew more powerful. If before it had felt like Leonel''s spear was a raging flood dragon, at this moment, it truly became one.

    Water Force bent to Leonel''s will without the slightest inclination of resistance. With every pierce, it would fused with Leonel''s King''s Might and his Level 2 Spear Force, forming a roaring eastern dragon that made Myghell feel as though he was being pummeled by a mountain.

    Myghell sliced down with both his great swords, trying to behead the dragon roaring toward him. But, he suddenly found both his blades being rebounded away as though he had just collided with a blade and not two beast constructs.

    SHIING! SHIING!

    Leonel suddenly found that he could only use twice, but he didn''t even blink a single eye.

    His movements flowed seamlessly from one motion to the next. Whereas his spearmanship in the past had felt like a disjointed union of powerful individual moves, his calculative mind and skill seemed to have finally fused into one.

    Each attack became like a sacrificed chess piece that set up the next. Each significant strike was like a fork of pieces on the board, one of which Myghell would have no choice but to sacrifice to move forward. Each combination led to another, then another, an endless chain and torrent of barrages that had no sight in end.

    The beauty of roaring water dragons beneath shattered ice particles of space was too much to describe. It felt as though all those spectating had been transported to another world, only to experience the battle of a Deity of Ice and Water versus a Deity of Light and Darkness.

    Myghell recovered from Leonel''s sudden and enormous leap in strength as only a genius could. His fiendish grin only grew livelier.

    "COME ON!"

    Leonel''s spear howled, the ring on his finger flickering with an imperceptible glow.

    Every time it collided with Myghell, a shockwave would travel through the latter''s body, jetting out from his back in powerful concentric circles.

    At the same time, Myghell found his own strikes being severely weakened and sometimes entirely frozen by Leonel''s Domain, only leaving him susceptible to stronger attacks. Had it not been for his tough elephant skin and its superiority in Dimension, he would have long since been littered with holes. And yet, his laughter only became more resounding, his Force building up momentum as though it was endless.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s spear spun, wheels of water following its trajectory. Every time it did, he landed another strike, three falling in quick succession.

    Myghell''s inner organs finally couldn''t seem to take it anymore, his mouth overflowing with a combination of trickling and jetting blood. Three large dents appeared in his tough skin exterior, Leonel''s third blow nearly piercing all the way through and reaching bone.

    Beneath his mask, Leonel''s breath heaved, his face drenched in sweat. He was already nearing his limits before he put on his Divine Armor, but now he was only approaching them all the more. Even the ice cool nature of it couldn''t seem to stop his body from overheating.

    As for his Innate Nodeбн? He never thought of using it even once.

    The Luxnix seemed to believe that it would be in better hands if it was with Myghell. Leonel had no need to prove himself to them as he had the backing of both his mother and Wise Star Order, however, with this pride etched deep within his heart, that wasn''t nearly enough.

    That Innate Node was his own. Whether he cared to use it or not was none of the business of the Luxnix. But, right here and nowбн

    He would show them just how wrong they were.

    Leonel pulled back his spear once more, his Force surging throughout his body. He squeezed out the last bit of Vital Star Force he had, his gaze lighting up and blooding with such a fierce light that they almost shone through his visor.

    ''<Dragon''s Might>!''

    Leonel poured the last of his strength into his Dark Ice Domain, increasing its strength to the point Myghell was truly frozen in place, shards of what looked like broken glass surrounding his body and his swords to the point he was completely unable to move.

    The miniature humanoid fog of violet rose from Leonel''s head, sitting above his spear crown with a lofty air and presence.

    He wouldn''t allow anything in this world to block his path. Even if it was himself.

    The bellow that left Leonel''s lips must have been heard all across Planet Montex. The will blanketed everything it reached, suffocating the spectators until they seemed to have lost the ability to think any thoughtsбн Their gazes were all focused on the very same young man. That wasбн Until he seemed to vanish.

    The separation of Leonel and his spear seem to have gone up in smoke. Though logically they all felt that there must have been a human behind the supreme strike they were witnessing, their senses told them instead that there was nothing there at allбн

    All that remained was the strike in all its gorgeous beauty.

    A flood dragon of water, transparent and clear to the point the spear within could be seen. Its scales were outlined by a sharp Spear Force as the sound of a blade gliding along a whetstone resonated throughout the surroundings.

    And then, it collided with Myghell''s torso, landing right upon the very same shallow wound Leonel had caused previously. But at this moment, everything seemed to pause for just a second.

    Silence fell, space froze, and a hollow, soft wind glided by at a gentle pace. And thenбн

    Myghell''s touch outer skin was torn to shreds, the spear exiting through a bloodied hold much too large for its slim body.

 Chapter 1245 10%

    Chapter 1245 10%

    Leonel''s breath came out in heaving swallows. His arm hung out, parallel with his piercing spear, his body not even having the strength to hold his other arm up.

    Myghell should have been blown backward, but the Dark Ice Domain had forcefully kept him in place, forcing his body to take on the full brunt of the strike and tearing a hole the size of two fists all the way through his chest.

    A wheezing cough left Myghell''s lips, his body still being held up by shards of frozen space. Half of Leonel''s spear had gone through his body, coating its sapphire scales with in a dense mass of thick, flowing blood.

    Myghell''s fiendish grin slowly faded, his gaze meeting Leonel''s own.

    "Maybe one day we''ll have a real fight." Leonel said through his heavy breath.

    Myghell didn''t say anything in response, his eyes having lost their previous glow and expression going back to how it had always been. It seemed baffling that he had ever been that howling young man from before. But, even without more words than that, the two had come to quite a deep understanding of one another.

    Leonel very much meant the words he had spoken. This Myghell he had defeated was maybe, at best, 20% of what his true strength was. In fact, according to Leonel''s estimation, that was an overly positive view. This was probably closer to 10% of Myghell''s true strength, most likely less.

    On the surface, this seemed ridiculous. But, looking at things from Myghell''s perspective, they likely began to make sense.

    Myghell was an extraordinary talent, this was something that no one could deny. He was born only a few months ahead of Leonel, so their ages were quite negligible and in another life, they would probably have grown up to be as close as Leonel and James had once been.

    With the talent he was granted, Myghell had made it to the Quasi Sixth Dimension years ago. However, he didn''t have the background to allow him to enter the Void Palace outside of their Selections like those from more prominent families could have, so he could only stall in his own progress.

    That said, this didn''t mean that Myghell didn''t improve at all. In fact, he had improved almost daily, leaping forward by unfathomable lengthsбн It was just that it was all reliant on Leonel''s Innate Node.

    Myghell could gain affinity with practically anything just by eating enough of it, but why would he divert his attention when such a powerful Force was within his body? There was no doubt in Leonel''s mind that Myghell''s comprehension of Scarlet Star Force was several folds beyond him, they couldn''t even be compared.

    When things are looked at from this perspective, you could begin to understand the problem. Myghell''s entire battle style and form was predicated on Scarlet Star Force. Even without using the Force itself, just the comprehensions of Destruction he had gained and the numerous techniques he had formulated around it would speak for themselves.

    Much like how Leonel had recently decided to build the foundation of his strength with his Scarlet Star Innate Node as the foundation, so too had Myghell reached the same conclusion. Except, unlike Leonel, he had the constant guidance of experts so he had made this logical conclusion much earlier on and had stuck with it.

    The best analogy was that Leonel was battling a fish, and he had suddenly made that fish battle on land instead. The fact Myghell had pushed him to this extent while handicapped in this fashion spoke volumes not only about his talent, but also his deep seeded pride.

    Leonel doubted that Myghell had even known the Innate Node within him wasn''t his own until recently. Why would the Star Order Elders ever tell him such a thing? Even if they ultimately agreed with such a decision, there was no need to run their own names through the mud in the process.

    Of course, there were probably benefits Myghell had gotten from the Scarlet Star Innate Node that couldn''t be completely divorced from his current battle prowess. For example, he had likely only graduated from the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor so quickly because he could gain the affinity boost from Leonel''s Innate Node.

    However, Leonel had a feeling that this wouldn''t matter much. If he hadn''t had the Innate Node, with the backing of the Luxnix, he could have just been force fed all sorts of high level Light Elemental Crystals and Pure Crystals. By then, the result wouldn''t have been as exaggerated, but it would still be comparable. The largest difference would only become more obvious as he left the White Stone Elephant behind continued onward.

    Leonel was even more certain that without his Innate Node, Myghell would have been able to build his combat prowess with a different foundation, and though he would also be weaker than if he used Scarlet Force, he would still be able to beat the current Leonel.

    It was almost too obvious. The reason why Myghell''s sword swings had all been so simple and wild was purely because all the techniques he had were purposely not used by him.

    To put things in the most blunt way possible, even now, Leonel could not defeat a full powered Viola family Patriarch. Butбн Myghell had done so in a single strike.

    All of this said, this battle was designed to be unfair from the very beginning. Had Myghell hoped to rely on his Destructive capabilities, he might have lost even sooner.

    Leonel''s current Innate Node only hurt him because it had grown too far out of his control. However, the Innate Node Myghell currently had was at a level where Leonel could not only easily bear it, but he was basically immune to it.

    Still, Myghell had no idea that Leonel had regrown his Innate Node already and he was very much unaware of how Leonel would have countered him easily.

    No matter how you looked at it, Myghell was an unfortunate loser in this situation.

    Leonel took a deep breath and began to move, but Myghell had already done so.

    In a move that stunned those watching, he pierced a hand into his own right hip, ripping out something that shimmered with a blinding red-gold light.

    Thenбн He tossed it toward Leonel before the last of his strength wavered and he collapsed.

 Chapter 1246 So Wh...

    Chapter 1246 So Wh...

    Leonel caught the Innate Node in a hand. Seeing how small it was, he couldn''t help but sigh. All of this was caused by a small thing barely the size of a thumb nail.

    That was right, the Innate Node within Myghell looked like a piece of a gem one might not even notice by a roadside if it wasn''t for the blinding like it was giving off. It was completely unlike Leonel''s own which was so large it had taken over his entire kidney.

    At a glance, Leonel could tell that while Myghell had been able to adapt, he hadn''t been able to do so perfectly.

    For one, the Innate Node hadn''t grown along with him. Though Leonel wasn''t certain if it was meant to grow to the exaggerated size of his own, he was pretty sure that this was far too small.

    Secondly, the aura that this Innate Node was giving off was only at the Fourth Dimension. Myghell was already a step away from the Sixth, and yet the Innate Node he had taken from Leonel had only crossed a single Dimensional barrier in all these years.

    It was clear and obvious that the transplant wasn''t perfect and if it wasn''t for Myghell''s Ability, it likely wouldn''t have shown any progress at all. What was even more obvious was that the help Myghell had gained from this Innate Node to progress his Lineage Factor was far less than Leonel had originally assumed.

    Realizing these things, how could Leonel not feel that things were practically comical at this point. All this commotion for this.

    At the same time though, Leonel felt an apprehension creep up within his heart. His Innate Node was actually so powerful that proper comprehension of it had given Myghell so much strengthбн

    Leonel suddenly coughed, his Divine Armor faded away as he fell backward.

    ''бн I''m tired as hellбн''

    Leonel was asleep before he even hit the ground. He didn''t even register that having lost the support of his spear, Myghell had fallen at the same time.

    **

    Leonel''s eyes opened slowly, finding himself staring at a familiar ceiling. He had been stripped down to his boxers again, though, causing his lip to twitch.

    ''I really need to talk to mom about thisбн''

    Leonel was in the process of shaking his head when he smelt a familiar scent lingering in the air. That fragrance of apple was undeniable, and it definitely wasn''t coming from him. At the same time, he was definitely alone in this room right now, so that could only meanбн

    ''бн Dammit.''

    This time, nothing stopped Leonel from shaking his head.

    ''Hm?'' Leonel looked toward his hand to find that his Innate Node was actually still in his palm. Then again, there were probably very few people who could hold a Scarlet Star Force Innate Node and not be affected by it. Whoever took it out of him the first time definitely suffered greatly, it was a miracle that Myghell even survived.

    Leonel raised his hand up above his head, taking a good look at the Innate Node. It didn''t seem as bright as it had before and even looked to be quite docile. It hummed with a steady rhythm as though it was feeling content and happy. Leonel didn''t know if that was an illusion, or if it was real, but it was definitely the feeling he got.

    "Hey, old man. Is there any benefit to having two Innate Nodes?"

    "Do you take me for an encyclopedia?"

    Despite the discontent in Wise Star Order''s voice, he still didn''t take long to answer.

    "Yes. That''s exactly what I take you for."

    "I''m going to really enjoy killing you one day."

    "Just answer the question."

    "How the hell would I know? Regrowing an Innate Node is supposed to be impossible and being born with an Innate Node at all is an extraordinarily rare event. The only examples I know of individuals being born with two were cases where they were born with completely different Innate Nodes. I''ve never heard of the same person being born with two of the same."

    "Oh? So there are people who''ve been born with two?"

    "Yes, there are plenty of people born with far more talent than you, you arrogant little brat."

    "When did I ever say that I was the most talented person in the world? Sounds like you''re projecting, old man."

    Wise Star Order only snorted in response.

    "I''ve heard of a child born to the Spirituals born with Nine. A few of them were common, but three of them were True State Elements on the same level as yours."

    "Didn''t you say Spirituals were born without bodies? How could they have Innate Nodes? Doesn''t that mean they just built a body with nine because they felt like it?"

    "бн I''m living with an idiot. Do you know anything about the body building process of the Spirituals? So why are you drawing conclusions so easily? Plus, do you have any idea of how finnicky True State Elements are? You can''t just take one because you feel like it."

    Leonel chuckled. He often asked and made a lot of low level mistakes around Wise Star Order. These were deductions he could easily make himself, but the easiest way to get this old man to talk about what he knows was like this. He called Leonel arrogant, but which of them truly was more so?

    The old man probably wasn''t stupid enough to think that Leonel was so slow, but it could help in the long run regardless.

    "So you''re saying if this person had been born a regular human, they would have had nine Innate Nodes regardless? That''s crazy. Does that mean he had 18 Nodes formed in the Third Dimension?"

    "No, fool. It''s because they were born a Spiritual that they could have such talent in the Elements. A human would neverбн Wait, what kind of nonsense did you just say? 18 Nodes? Get me out of here, I can''t do this anymore. There''s only so far you should take this retardation act of yours."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "I actually wasn''t trying to be stupid there. I have 10 Nodes."

    "You have 10 Nodes, so whбн" Wise Star Order''s voice trailed off. "бн What did you just say?"

 Chapter 1247 Im Gonna Kill Him...

    Chapter 1247 I''m Gonna Kill Him...

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he had ever heard shock in Wise Star Order''s voice. Even when he had been taken off guard by the fact Leonel''s Innate Node had regrown itself, it had been marred by so much pain that it didn''t shine through the way that it should have. And, quite frankly, if Wise Star Order had to decide what he was more shocked by, it was definitely this realization.

    "What''s wrong with you?"

    "Whбн What''s wrong with me?"

    Wise Star Order didn''t even have a witty comeback ready this time. He was caught between wanting to strangle Leonel to death, bashing his head against a wall, and praying to a non-existent god to explain to him if he had already died and entered the Gates of Hell.

    Wise Star Order took deep breaths. His murderous thoughts would only end up harming himself. He had become used to controlling his impulses enough that he calmed eventually, shaking his head furiously.

    "Say what you said one more time."

    "I''m hungry." Leonel murmured.

    He sat up, ready to ignore Wise Star Order to go and deal with that. But, he suddenly found a familiar table once again spread with food. However, this time, he hadn''t been able to smell anything because it was all so perfectly packaged and ready.

    Leonel blinked and walked over, opening the first container. When the aroma hit him, he felt his legs go weak. This food, it was Heaven sent. He had never felt such a strong need to stuff his face until his body imploded.

    This time, he didn''t control his impulses, immediately diving in. Just the first bite made his blood lap around his body, surging around at ungodly speeds and making his heart sing.

    ''This is so goodбн''

    "You little bastard! Answer my question!"

    "You didn''t ask a question." Leonel spoke between muffled bites. "You stupidly asked me to repeat something you already heard the first time more than clearly enough. What''s wrong with you, old man? Have you gone senile already?"

    Wise Star Order''s deep breaths got louder. Leonel thought about making a lewd joke, but he eventually refrained. This old man really seemed like he might explode any time now.

    "Alright. Fine. Where are these supposed ''10 Nodes'' of yours."

    "The first is in my brainstem, two down my spine, one for each of my lungs, one in my stomach, one for the outflow of blood through my heart, and one for the inflow. Finally, there''s one in my left kidney, and my Scarlet Star Force Innate Node is in my right kidney."

    Wise Star Order fell into silence for a very long time almost as though he had to go and confirm this for himself. Unfortunately, his perception was limited while stuck within the necklace so he could only vaguely make out that Leonel was, indeed, telling the truth. But, that only floored him all the more.

    "бн Whyбн"

    Wise Star Order was a Savant so he had never had to form Nodes of his own. Or, more accurately, he couldn''t. This was the trade off that came with being granted among the most powerful talent potentials in all of the universe. But, that didn''t mean he didn''t have a strong fundamental understanding.

    Unlike other Savants, Wise Star Order could take over bodies. As such, he had certain methods to circumvent his limitations as a Savant. No body he had ever taken over had been in the Third Dimension, so he had never experienced it personally, but he knew exactly how important the foundation of Nodes in the Third Dimension could become in the future.

    "Why? Don''t you think that''s the perfect set up for Nodes? Basically my entire respiratory system is boost by Forceбн Unfortunately, after my Innate Node regrew, I abandoned much of my initial goals for my Nodes. Most of my strength comes from either my raw body strength or external Force now."

    "What?"

    "Yeah." Leonel said absentmindedly, still devouring container after container of food. "Because all of my Nodes are connected and work in a feedback loop of sorts I have to be careful because of my Scarlet Star Force Innate Node.

    "For example, when I take a breath, oxygen floods my lungs. That process is immediately amplified by my Nodes, and it facilitated the diffusion of oxygen into my blood stream. That blood will make it to my heart and be rushed out by yet another Node. Then there''s the matter of my kidneys and stomach. My blood is constantly being passively purified, but not as much as it technically couldбн

    "Together, the system is efficient. But, because of the bottleneck of the weakness of my body, I can''t make full use of it. If I let it all go and work like it was meant to, I feel like I would burn up from the inside out. If I wasn''t limited like this, I would have probably reached the peak of the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor a long time ago."

    "бн"

    Wise Star Order found himself taking long breaths again. If he still had a heart and lungs, it would probably be leaping out of his throat right this moment. He really couldn''t control himself any longer. If he heard one more nonsensical thing, he might completely explode.

    "бн Let me get this straight. You formed 10 Nodes capable of perfectly supplementing your body''s strength in every way. But, because you were afraid of a Node you were born with as a baby, you put it under lock and key and continued like nothing was wrong?"

    Leonel blinked, pondering for a moment as he swallowed a mouthful of rich soup. He wanted to describe it as liquid gold, but he was certain that gold wasn''t anywhere near as appetizing. For a moment, he almost forgot to answer the question.

    "бн Well, it''s not exactly like that. It wasn''t the Innate Node I was born with as a baby. It''s like a hundred times bigger than it was then and I hadn''t had it all my life. That thing''s dangerous."

    "бн I''m gonna kill him. I''m really gonna kill him."

 Chapter 1248 Regulator

    Chapter 1248 Regulator

    It took a long time for Wise Star Order to calm down. Or, more accurately, for him to stop writhing under the torture the necklace put him through to force him to calm down.

    Even after he was heaving for breath for a reason beyond his anger, it still didn''t seem to have faded.

    For as long as he could remember, Wise Star Order had always hated stupid people. This was why his ''last life'' was among the hardest to pull off, because he actually had to be nice to idiots. It was a torturous hell all to its own.

    After his centuries of sacrifice didn''t pan out like he wanted, he had reverted to his old self. No, he was even worse. If he hadn''t been restrained, he might have really killed Leonel even if it meant never getting the answers he wanted.

    "Do you have any idea how important your Nodes are to the foundation of your strength? How is it that you''ve even survived this long?!"

    "Well, I have a pretty special magic system backing me. Thanks to my Mage Core, using atmospheric Force is pretty easy. So, ignoring my Nodes has always been pretty easy."

    Leonel''s Mage Core had blossomed into an enormous tree by this point in his Ethereal Glabella. It was covered in the same five colored leaves that had made up the original, but now there was a sixth slowly germinating an rooting itself. It had a radiant blue color and was sometimes misty, sometimes icy, and other times as free flowing as water.

    From the very beginning, the Mage Core represented the true state of Camelot''s magic. With it, Leonel didn''t need a Spiritual Medium like a wand or a staff to use magic. As such, ignoring his own Nodes had been exceptionally easy.

    Wise Star Order paused. He had been in Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella before. Of course, he had been distracted by the Seven Stars, but there was no way he''d miss the Mage Core, especially after he had hidden the second half of his soul away.

    Leonel''s mother had a lot of new things he could learn about the Mage Core in the techniques she had left behind for him. But, he had yet to get to them just yet.

    "бн Do you have any idea what you''ve been doing to yourself?"

    Leonel laughed. "Why don''t you just explain instead of tiptoeing around everything so you can have more chances to call me an idiot?"

    "Ignoring your own Nodes is like trying to breathe with your lungs clipped. It''s like trying to speak without a tongue. It''s like trying to eat without your fucking stomach, how could you be so stupid?"

    Leonel shook his head. "You think I don''t realize this is a problem? But what do you want me to do about it? The Innate Node Myghell took out of him was the size of a thumb nail. Mine is the size of a fist. Do you not understand my dilemma here?"

    Wise Star Order was taken aback again. "Whatбн?"

    "It''s. The. Size. Of. A. Fist. It''s taken over my whole right kidney. If I don''t restrict my Nodes, all of my blood would flow through it. If that happens, I''ll literally burn from the inside out. You wouldn''t even have a chance at taking over my body anymore at that point."

    Wise Star Order was, once again, left entirely speechless.

    An Innate Node the Size of a Fist? That was completely unheard of.

    To put this matter into perspective, the fact Leonel had formed his regular Nodes out of 100 cells already placed him at the pinnacle of geniuses. What made Innate Nodes so special aside from the power of Force they held was the fact they were so large to begin with.

    A finger nail compared to the size of a 100 cell Node was astronomical! If you also consider the fact that a 10 cell Node was already considered to be quite large, then the fact that most could only form one cell Nodes, and you''d understand just how exaggerated this matter was!

    Wise Star Order couldn''t even begin to wrap his head around what the hell a Node the size of a fist represented. In fact, his head felt light and he didn''t even want to argue anymore.

    "бн Explain how you formed your 10 Nodes to me."

    Leonel just gave Wise Star Order a casual explanation. He had felt like the only way to reach 100% compatibility with his Nodes was to form 10. It was the only way to ensure that he got both his kidneys as that everything would be balanced.

    After listening, Wise Star Order fell into deep silence. Leonel could feel him calculating something, though he felt that his tools were more lacking than his were to do so? Was this how ''normal'' people thought? It seemedбн slow and inefficient.

    Though, that conclusion was only considering Wise Star Order''s raw soul strength. He still computed things faster than Leonel overall, he was just wasting his max potential. But, that could only be expected considering he didn''t have Leonel''s ability nor the higher level Dream Force.

    "I seeбн"

    By the time Wise Star Order had spoke, Leonel was already on his last container of food, the satisfaction he felt not wavering in the slightest.

    "It should be a series of compounding factors. Trying to form both Nodes at the same time. Your father''s concoctions. The fact that the locations you chose happened to mirror each other perfectly. The fact that one of those locations happened to be the exact location our Node had been birthed into in the first placeбн The fact you were actually stupid enough to tryбн

    "You really are a lucky bastard to be alive right now."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "There''s something you''re still not telling me."

    "It''s not that I''m not telling you, it''s that it''s far above your paygrade. Why do you think there''s a hard cap at Nine Nodes? What''s regulating the limits? What''s stopping people from forming 10, 11, 12, 50, even?

    "You basically stole energy from the Regulator of the Dimensional Verse and used it to do something that should have been impossible."

 Chapter 1249 Better Analogy

    Chapter 1249 Better Analogy

    Leonel placed down his final plate, his brows furrowing.

    "Regulator?"

    "You''re not a complete fool when you decide so. Think about it with that head of yours.

    "When a weapon reaches the Life Grade, it becomes a holistic whole, fusing to become something of complete oneness and becoming a unique existence. Across cultures, there are countless philosophies that follow that sort of mantra."

    Leonel nodded. He could already think of one, and that was just Earth. The concept of one giving birth to two, and two to three, and three to one. A cyclical beauty. It seemed that the Life Grade was very much like this philosophy.

    "Since you know, then the answer is both simple and complex. What is the bigger example of oneness than the entire Dimensional Verse itself?"

    Leonel froze.

    He didn''t know if he was imagining it, but he felt as though a strong breeze had brushed against the back of his neck, sending a tingling sensation down his back.

    Wise Star Order frowned. ''He understood?''

    The Luxnix Ancestor hadn''t expected this. Understanding this was both a blessing and a curse, and it was also the key to grasping the God Path far beyond the first step at the Sixth Dimension. But, the curse portion of this all weighed exceptionally heavy.

    It was all speculation and even Wise Star Order had only heard tidbits and rumors about itбн For once, he had harmed Leonel without even trying to do so. He had genuinely not expected Leonel to grasp anything from the words he had just spoken.

    The difference between ''understanding'' and truly understanding were two different concepts. It was like the difference between knowing that a car ran on gas and understanding how combustion engines worked. They couldn''t be compared.

    The fact that Leonel understood what he meant with just a single sentence spoke volumes about the kind of level his mind worked at.

    "бн Seems you screwed me this time, old bastard. You win another round."

    Wise Star Order''s lip twitched. ''He understood to that depth as well? I really didn''t even do it on purpose this time. How could I think a fool like you could have a little bit of intelligence?''

    What Leonel had understood was complex and multi layered, but he was fairly certain that his conclusion was correct.

    ''Everything is a matter of perspectiveбн'' He thought to himself. ''A weapon is considered to be on object, but how many metals is it forged of? And could it even be considered independent of its creators? And even if it entered the Life Grade, would it really, truly, be one existence? What about its atoms? What about the parts of its atoms? The parts of those parts?

    ''Everything can be broken down into something smaller, technically. But, that also means that the larger your scope and the broader your sight, the bigger your definition of oneness becomesбн

    ''A city, a country, a planet, a star, a solar system, a galaxyбн On a large enough scale, even a universe can be counted as One.

    ''In that case, if a universe is a perfectly closed system, wouldn''t it too be in the Life Grade? Maybe it would be at a level within the Life Grade we can''t fathom, but it would still be at that level regardless. In that caseбн Could it tooбн have its own ''personality''?''

    Leonel had concluded all of this in an instant and that comprehension made him feel like he had been marked somehowбн As though he was now being constantly monitoredбн

    It made his hairs stand on end.

    SWOOSH! BANG!

    Leonel''s body increased by a size before being squeezed back down, the definition of his muscles seeming to only grow.

    ''бн Tier 5бн''

    The Fifth Dimension should have been far slower than the Fourth, and in Leonel''s case, it technically was. After all, he had leapt through the Fourth Dimension in a single bound. But, that was only because he had practiced Metal Body first, something it had taken Leonel months to years of effort to reach any sort of accomplishment in.

    But, his pace through the Fifth Dimension felt blazing. He wasn''t even relying on like he could have. His mind was constantly evolving on its own without even much conscious effort. Leonel had a feeling that this had to be related to his King''s Might. Something about his will being tangible made breaking through these shackles feel exceptionally easy.

    "бн One way or another, you would have been marked by the Regulator. Your Scarlet Star Force Innate Node is basically a natural disaster waiting to happen. Just consider this an early initiation."

    "I feel like we''re missing the important topic at hand here."

    "There''s nothing more to say. Congratulations. You''ve learned about the glass ceiling. Feel free to feel despair, it''ll give me some sorely needed entertainment."

    "You''ve been stuck in a Bronze Tablet for years, I''m sure you can do with some boredom."

    "What do you know? The Luxnix family estate is always filled with drama. You''d be surprised how much fun you can have peeking into everyone''s private lives."

    "If you''re a pervert, just say so, old man."

    "I''m not going to let an impotent virgin like you ruin my fun, brat."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Virgin was fair enough, but when did he become impotent? He had a ceiling tile with a hole through it to prove his point.

    "You''re one to talk. You couldn''t even have sex with your own body even if you wanted to."

    "Take that back!"

    "Oh, did I strike a nerve? Oh my, I''m shivering in my boots."

    "I''m going to enjoy killing you."

    "Why, so you can have sex with my body? You really are a pervert."

    Wise Star Order seemed to realize at this point that he was close to losing the war. How had he let Leonel catch onto one of his weaknesses like this? He had slipped up.

    Without a choice, he forced himself to change the subject.

    "Just stop holding back your Nodes, brat. The entire point of a Nodes is to connect with your others. At this point, you''re like a constipated middle-aged woman on menopause. You need to release. And now that you''ve waited so long, it''s going to hurt like hell."

    "бн Couldn''t you have picked a better analogy?"

 Chapter 1250 Basin

    Chapter 1250 Basin

    "I need you to understand how horrible what you''ve done to your body is. Have you never held in a fart for too long? I don''t understand how you don''t feel uncomfortable all over. Plus, do you never sleep? How did you even manage to keep this up?"

    Leonel frowned. He had never felt uncomfortable. Plus, even if he did, what was a little discomfort compared to being fried to ash by his own Innate Node? A part of him still somewhat believed that Wise Star Order was trying to trick him again. But, he deduced that that was unlikely.

    Also, it wasn''t very difficult to manage this because he just set one of his minds to the task.

    "You''re pretty vulgar for an old man. Now that I think about it, I have two Savants under my wing. You can train them."

    Wise Star Order had been too surprised today so he had begun to think a measure before he spoke. Still, hearing that Leonel had two Savants with him made him speechless again. Since when did his kind start to grow on trees? But, worst yet, what made Leonel think he could train them? He had his ability and they had their own.

    Plus, wasn''t he afraid that he''d use the Savants to mess with him? The relationship between Master and Disciple was pretty special and Savants could either be much harder or much easier to manipulate than a normal human. He was playing a risky game here.

    "What makes you think I can train them?"

    "Even if you don''t have their abilities, I''m sure you have a deep understanding of what it means to grow powerful as a Savant. Plus, you''ve seen a lot."

    "What are their abilities?"

    "One has a spatial lock ability, the other has a defensive mirror ability. They both seem to be variations or mutations of known Ability Indexes, Vice with a Spatial Affinity Ability Index, and Candle with an Energy Shield Ability Index."

    "бн Lucky brats."

    Wise Star Order was jealous. If he had those abilities instead of his own, he would have been able to do great things.

    In the end, he shook his head. He wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that was true. If he had been born with another ability, not only would he have lost his long lifespan, but he might not have been able to keep his abilities a secret. By then, he would have become a weapon of war for the Luxnix like so many other Savants before him.

    "Alright, I''ll guide them. But don''t blame me when they become more loyal to me than you."

    Leonel chuckled. What choice did he have?

    He was completely unequipped to care for Savants and the actions of his grandfather, though a risk mitigation measure, had made them only more unpredictable.

    Wise Star Order definitely wasn''t normal, and he had his quirks. But, he still functioned within realms of reasons to certain predictable limits. He was on a spectrum, but it wasn''t to the point Leonel couldn''t understand him.

    Vice and Candle, however, were completely anti social and couldn''t properly interact with the world. They needed a mentor like Wise Star Order if they would be Leonel''s guards in the future.

    Plus, what other option was there? At least he had a modicum of control over Wise Star Order. If he handed them to some teacher with unknown motives at the Void Palace, who knew what could happen?

    Leonel stood, arranging the containers. After he was done, he thought for a moment before pulling out a large basin three quarters the height of a normal man. Then, he filled it up with Cleansing Waters.

    He thought that he should at least do this here and like this. If he was really going to die, then hopefully his mom and grandmother would be able to stabilize the situation. If he was within the Segmented Cube, who knew what might happen?

    "Thatбн Don''t tell meбн"

    "I''ve heard the spiel already. Just rip the band-aid off now. I use this water to flush my toilets. Good? Good. Now focus, I''m trying not to die here."

    Leonel threw his boxers to one side and hopped in, a cool and refreshing feeling hitting him from head to toe. Even after so long, Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters would never not feel soothing to an extreme.

    "бн I need a new word for you. Idiot and fool doesn''t seem to cut itбн You have this kind of treasure and you don''t even know how to use itбн How are you supposed to use Cleansing Water properly if you''ve sealed off your Nodes?! It''s through them you''re supposed to take in the greatest benefits. Why are you using it like normal water?!"

    Wise Star Order had reached the point of shedding tears. He truly couldn''t take it anymore.

    Leonel stopped listening to the old man. He had only brought out Cleansing Waters because they had an exceptionally high boiling point and its Specific Heat made regular water look like a highly conductive metal.

    ''No need to overthink itбн Justбн Just relax.''

    Leonel slowly released control over his Nodes, allowing Force to flow through them naturally. He began very slowly, only going bit by bit. Even if this was the natural state of things, after so long doing things the wrong way, he didn''t think that letting it go all at once would be a good thing.

    But thenбн The pain came.

    A heart tearing bloating began to push out from within him. Leonel grit his teeth, his skin beginning to glow a fierce red. But, just as that was happening, as though a sieve had been connected to the inside of his body, Leonel suddenly felt the Cleansing Waters around him drill into his pores and enter him.

    His mind was suddenly on full alert, but the feeling felt so good that his inhibitions seemed to all be released at once, an involuntary moan leaving his lips.

    Somehow, with timing blessed by the gods, the door to Leonel''s Penthouse Suite opened at that moment.

    Leonel''s and Aina''s eyes met across space, but the former''s face was still contorted with pleasure. With most of his body being submerged under water, making it difficult to see much of anything outside the strong outline of his collar bone and upper chest, the situation was simply impossible to explain.

    Aina blinked and smiled lightly. Without a word, she went to the table and scooped up all of the containers into her arms. Her steps were elegant and unhurried, a radiant beauty beyond words exuding from her. Just the delicate fragrance she released alone was more enticing that even she could imagine.

    Her appearance only made it harder for Leonel to control how the Cleansing Waters were making him feel. For a moment, something within his lower belly truly did light on fire, though it was hard to tell if it was lust or his Innate Node trying to burn a hole through him.

    To Leonel, this was even worse than getting caught snuggling with Joel. He couldn''t even find the words to speak.

    "I will bring you dinner later, you can focus on your relaxing."

    With a click, the door closed.

    ''бн''

 Chapter 1251 Missed Chance

    Chapter 1251 Missed Chance

    Wise Star Order was really his unlucky star. Leonel rarely experienced embarrassment in his life, and he definitely didn''t feel it to a deep degree even when he did. But, now, this was already twice in just a few days he had.

    There was no coincidence, he blamed the old bastard. Unfortunately, he didn''t get to linger on these thoughts for long because almost the exact instant Aina left once more, a loop of pain and relief seemed to take Leonel''s life over completely.

    In the Third Dimension one formed their Nodes, and the Fourth not only did you strengthen the body, but you also forged Nodal Pathways. After the initial Third Dimension, there were only the bare bone connections between your Nine Nodes, so it was up to the individual to complete what was essentially a new organ system.

    Leonel had, of course, done this long ago. He had spent many months in the Dimensional Cleanse trial world and had taken the time to finish there. But, those new pathways had never been used at all.

    The good news was that as Leonel''s body grew stronger, so did they. The bad news was that the sudden and novel feeling sent his body into a state of shock that was hard to recover from.

    When the pain reached its peak, the Cleansing Waters would see to take action and Leonel would find himself on cloud nine, only for the pain to cycle back again. It was almost like having a pulsing migraine that tricked you into believing that it was gone every few minutes, only for it to come back the moment you shifted your head the slightest bit.

    All this time, Wise Star Order had completely tuned Leonel out. Even now, he was in a state of shock.

    ''Stealing energy from the Regulatorбн They always theorized that this was the only way past the glass ceiling, but no one had ever succeeded. It really took a brat who didn''t know the word fear to do itбн How many geniuses are rolling in their graves right nowбн''

    Wise Star Order knew Leonel had done it completely by accidentбн Or had he?

    ''His fatherбн''

    Wise Star Order''s gaze narrowed. Was it really luck?

    He had never heard of someone being able to regrow an Innate Node. From the very beginning, an Innate Node wasn''t something normal people should have. This was why a birth was followed by a Phenomena. If Leonel''s father wasn''t as powerful as he was, Leonel would have been smited the moment he was born.

    Innate Nodes were already at the limit of the Regulator''s tolerance, and that was especially so for Scarlet Star Force in specific. So the question wasбн

    How the hell could you regrow such a thing?

    ''There''s one more variable in all of this that I didn''t consider. I dismissed it because he called it something as ridiculous as a ''vomit brew'', but what if the trigger for this wasn''t his stupidity, but rather his father''s genius?

    ''Regrowing an Innate Node should be impossible. But, if I had to speculate about one thing that would be capable of doing soбн It would be the energy of the Regulator.''

    Wise Star Order''s mind spun. He was a man who had seen so much of the world and yet he still had fear for Leonel''s father. After all the crap he had spoken about how weak the Human Domain was, he still felt this way. Leonel was simply unaware of the kind of man his father really was, and what it was that he represented.

    As the hours waned, Leonel''s labored breathing didn''t seem to slow.

    True to her word, Aina did return with dinner as dusk approached, but when she saw Leonel still unmoving, her brows furrowed lightly. By this point, the basin which had once been filled with clear water was now filled with a thick, violet liquid that gave off a foul smell that had ruined the ambience of the entire room.

    Aina was instantly able to tell that it was impurities and waste. But, that should have been completely black. This dark purple didn''t make sense.

    But then it hit her. ''Bloodбн''

    Leonel had actually bled to the point of turning the entire basin of water from a pitch black to a dark violet. She had no idea what he was doing, but a tinge of worry couldn''t help but flicker in her eyes.

    Aina used her Blood Force affinity to form Leonel''s blood into a vessel to shuttle the water and impurities out. It was only at that point that she noticed that Leonel had actually been using Cleansing Waters, something that only left her more baffled.

    Cleansing Waters were among the purist substances in all of existence. Even when her curse was acting up, it had evaporated in these waters as though it had never been there. Logically, with the self-cleaning ability of Cleansing Waters, something like what was happening now shouldn''t have been possible.

    Still, Aina didn''t stall. She found the Segmented Cube to the side and filled the basin with Cleansing Waters once more. After another look toward Leonel, she left silently. Maybe she didn''t even realize how unbothered and unfazed she had been by his naked body.

    What neither Aina nor Leonel knew at this point, was that Wise Star Order was truly speechless by this point. He could hardly wrap his head around just how lucky this body was.

    He should have known that stealing energy from the Regulator wasn''t so simple, it seemed that there had indeed been ill effects. However, because Leonel made the choice to seal his Nodes away, it had never taken deep root.

    That foul energy that was able to make even Cleansing Waters murky was known as Anarchic Force. Though it had a name that could be considered quite interesting, it was nothing but a death sentence.

    Anarchic Force didn''t follow the laws of the universe as it should. It was considered to be the throw away Force of the universe, the Force that had no use other than to take up space, stir chaos and act as a leech. In the simplest terms possible, it was unusable energy and it was a cancer.

    All Force tended toward Anarchic Force and there were even theories that once all Force had reached this state, the universe itself would die.

    For a Force user, having this stuff in your body was like a human suffering radiation poison.

    ''Dammit. I missed another chance to kill him.''

 Chapter 1252 Tier 9

    Chapter 1252 Tier 9

    It took Leonel several days before he could feel something outside a perpetual cycle of pain. Even the soothing effect of his Cleansing Water only made the torture worse because it continued to remind him of what it felt like to not experience heartrending pain day in and day out.

    When it finally came to a stop, Leonel''s body felt so weak that he directly fell asleep again, unable to move. He didn''t know that he had another close shave with death, nor did he know about Anarchic Force. All he knew was that he needed sleepбн And hopefully food when he woke up.

    бн

    Leonel didn''t feel particularly good when his eyes finally opened once more. It felt like a cross between him having slept for too long and yet somehow not enough. His head was foggy and his body felt as though it had been put through hours of torture. Thoughбн That was exactly what had happened.

    ''бн I feel like crap.''

    Leonel shook his head, his eyes taking much longer to adjust to the light than it should have.

    He realized he was naked, but he was far too lazy to do anything about it. Just moving his limbs around make him feel as though he had torn every muscle fiber in his body. For the first time in a while, he didn''t even feel immediately hungry either.

    After so long suppressing himself, this was an inevitable reality Leonel was forced to face. It was as though he had let a wound scab over, but had now picked it clean once again to allow it to heal properly.

    Despite this, though, Leonel felt an overwhelming power rushing through his veins. It took him a while to register it because of how crappy he felt. But, once he did, he suddenly couldn''t take his mind off of it, it had practically consumed him.

    ''This muchбн?''

    To Leonel''s surprise, the largest change wasn''t even to his Force and Force Nodes. Rather, it was to his Metal Body and Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    What Leonel hadn''t realized was that his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was like a separate organ system all to its own as well. The Runes that grew across his body could be considered to be manifestations of said organ system.

    However, this organ system was special in that it could be activated and deactivated. While in its deactivated state, it was much weaker and as such, Leonel''s body was far more susceptible to harm than it would be otherwise. This was why Leonel''s defenses were so much greater when his Bronze Runes were visible.

    What Leonel had never considered was the mechanism behind this.

    When one thought about it, didn''t Leonel''s defenses come from his Metal Body? Since that was a technique he trained in, why did it matter whether his Bronze Runes were activated or not?

    The answer to that question lied in the method by which the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor circumvented many of the weaknesses that usually came with defense Lineage Factors like heavy weight, slow speed, and low flexibility.

    The Bronze Runes were an amplification measure that relied on Force to synergize with Leonel''s Metal Body and bring out its true strength while not hampering him as much as other Lineage Factors would.

    To make something that was extraordinarily complex, simpleбн Leonel''s Bronze Runes needed his Nodal Organ System to display their full potential!

    Why was it that the Morales Clan elders had freaked out when Leonel tried to Awaken his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor before forming all nine of his Nodes? It was precisely because this foundation was extraordinarily important toward setting a wielder of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor up for success.

    Leonel raised his hand to his face.

    A slight discomfort and a bloated feeling coursed through him as he activated his Bronze Runes on it. And, after just a moment of observation, he sucked in a cold breath.

    ''My Metal Body now with my Bronze Runes deactivated is about as strong as it was before with Runes. And now, with my Bronze Runes activated in full force, my defenses are three to five times greater than they had been before.''

    If before Leonel could match up to lower tier and lower quality Fifth Dimension weapons in hardness with his Bronze Runes activated, now it wouldn''t be guaranteed that even a Quasi Sixth Dimensional blade could harm him.

    ''бн Wowбн''

    Leonel had always been underwhelmed by his Tier 9 Metal Body. He had used the Silver Tablet to accelerate his progress toward it, but he never felt the sort of invincibility it should have. People seemed to be able to harm him far too easily and the gap between him and Myghell still felt difficult to bridge.

    Leonel had dismissed this odd feeling of his because he was used to his Metal Body being weaker than normal. Back when he was in the Third Dimension, his Fourth Dimensional Metal Body was also lacking. So, he had just assumed that it was because his Dimension Tier was lagging behind it once again.

    He didn''t realize until now that he was shooting himself in the foot. The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor in conduction with the technique represented the strongest defensive Lineage Factor in the whole of the Human Domain. There was no other that came even close. The Morales were untouchable in this aspect.

    With a Tier 9 Metal Body and his Bronze Runes activated, considering the fact Leonel had opened all Nine Nested Doorways of the Fifth Dimension, harming him should have been as extraordinarily difficult task.

    To explain things as simply as possibleбн To the current Leonel, unless you could display Sixth Dimensional strength, you should forget about leaving even the slightest mark on his skin so long as his Bronze Runes were activated. It was as simple as that.

    Leonel tried to take a deep breath but his heart and lungs protested almost immediately. He settled for more shallow breathing, his eyes looking toward empty space.

    Somehow, this only felt like the tip of the iceberg. Just what else had he missed out on?

    [Just two today, everyone... *sprints away*]

 Chapter 1253 More

    Chapter 1253 More

    The next change Leonel felt was to his brain activity.

    Leonel''s intelligence was always a fairly unique thing and didn''t exactly work like everyone else''s did. According to Leonel''s father, Leonel''s ability had awoken long before everyone else of Earth. This was because Leonel had been born on Planet Luxnix and not Earth like his mother had been.

    For his own reasons, Velasco had sealed Leonel away, restricting him from accessing his ability too soon. This was exactly why the Force distribution during the Awakening had only left such a small sliver for Leonel. He didn''t need to be given his ability as he already had it.

    However, even sealed, Leonel''s intelligence had still been beyond most. Though, not as exaggerated as it was now.

    Leonel had been in Class A of Royal Blue Academy, a great feat. But, he had been third in his Class, behind Aina and Allan.

    There were maybe a few reasons for this, but the main reason was because of the Ascension Empire''s restrictions on books and knowledge. Leonel wasn''t allowed to return with his books home as he lived on a Paradise Island and as such, he didn''t get nearly as much time to study as others who lived on campus.

    But, even with this being true, the reality was that things just didn''t click as easily for Leonel then as they did now. He was always lacking in something and that was greatly related to his Ability.

    In the Dimensional Verse, there could be considered to be two roots of Intelligence. The first was the soul and the second was the brain. The two interacted with one another through the Ethereal Glabella which could also be considered to be part of the brain, as it was located in the prefrontal cortex of human anatomy.

    Due to his father, Leonel had lost his connection with his Ethereal Glabella. As such, he was left with just his brain, leaving him on the same playing field as everyone elseбн Or so it seemed.

    The main issue here is that Leonel''s brain was fundamentally different from the brains of everyone else on Earth. The Spear Domain Lineage Factor rearranged the neural connectivity in his cortex, giving him different anatomy than one would expect to find in a person of Earth.

    While most people of Earth had a prefrontal cortex designed purely for higher level functioning, thought and reasoning, Leonel''s own was wired бн for battle with a spear.

    The amount of energy allocated to this much more complex interconnectivity left little to the rest of Leonel''s mind. And, on top of that, his Lineage Factor hadn''t even awoken then so it was like a continuous siphon of energy toward a bottomless pit of uselessness. And, as though that wasn''t bad enough, he didn''t have his Ethereal Glabella which would have been the best power source for it allбн

    It quite literally made Leonel dumber.

    But why was it that this was all important now? After all, Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella was just fine and now that he could use Dream Force, the fuel his brain had was far beyond that of 99% of most peopleбн

    The important thing to consider here is that the brain and the soul had a dependency on one another. Neither was more important than the other. Andбн Leonel just so happened to have had a Force Node in his brain stem that had been muted all this time, only for it to suddenly be flooded with energy.

    It was at that moment that Leonel realized his groggy mind wasn''t only because of all the pain he had experienced, he quite literally had a concussion right now, and quite a severe one at that.

    Using his Brain Stem as a root, while within the Fourth Dimension, Leonel had taken advantage to route countless Nodal Pathways through his brain and now they were all swollen and made his head feel as though it might explode at any moment.

    And yetбн Leonel felt that his mind was on a completely different level than it had ever been.

    Without even checking, Leonel felt that his number of split minds had increased tenfoldбн From ten million, he could control over a hundred million now and he wasn''t even sure if that was the limit or an artificial cap he didn''t dare to blow by because this migraine was hunting after his life.

    The largest change other than this was in Leonel''s Control ability.

    It had to be remembered that Tier 4 of Leonel''s Ability Index was Control. This Tier represented a perfect control over one''s body, far greater than most could exhibit. This was the Tier Leonel''s Dream Sense technique came from, allowing him to dull his senses to mute pain or maximize his sleep by spreading it across numerous minds.

    Right this moment, Leonel felt that his Control Tier had taken an enormous step forward. Even with the foggy state of his mind, he felt he could accelerate and decelerate his heart on a whim, he could quicken his digestion by diverting energy toward it, he even felt that he could grasp signals his neurons were firing toward his mind before they even made it to his brain.

    It was as though his entire body had become a hive mind. And, if Leonel''s deductions were correct, once the swelling of his brain went down and he could finally think clearly again, he might even be able to reach down a cellular level.

    He didn''t think it would be easy and it would definitely require large amounts of focus and energy, but if he could pull that off, the possibilities were endless.

    He would be able to direct his passive healing factor toward specific regions to accelerate cell regrowth even faster. He might be able to take control of his stem cells to regrow limbs or circumvent injuries his healing factor alone wouldn''t be able to handle. He would be able to change the composition of his muscle so they could exhibit more power per fiber length than they could in the pastбн

    And, the largest elephant in the room, he might truly be able to reach a point where he could improve and modify his Lineage Factors.

    Of course, Leonel had learned how na?ve he was to even think of doing so in the past. But, this really did open up that door once again! The prowess of the Control Tier of his Ability Index was something he had clearly greatly underestimated until this point.

    None of this even touched the fact that Leonel felt as though his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was clearer to him now than it ever had been in the past. Even his breakthrough against Myghell didn''t make things feel this obvious and compatible with him.

    With Force coursing through his brain, his Spear Domain Lineage Factor mutations finally got the sort of support it was always meant to, making him feel as though he couldn''t bear to use any weapon outside of a spear, like it would be a waste of his ability to even spend time doing so...

    And yet, it still felt like there was more, as though he was still seeing just the tip of the iceberg.

 Chapter 1254 wouldnt l?

    Chapter 1254 wouldn''t l?

    With the distribution of his Nodes, Leonel realized that the Control he had over his body was amplified many times over.

    If he wanted to control his digestion, he had a Node there that could be used. If he wanted to control his heart, he had another two Nodes there. If he wanted to control his blood and purify it, he had his kidneys. Even if he wanted to breathe better and react faster, he had Nodes in his lungs and spine.

    It wasn''t until now Leonel truly grasped how good his decisions from back then were. At the very least, his Simulations had not failed him and had only proven to be more accurate, an outright miracle considering just how many things he had gotten wrong.

    The only shame here was that even Leonel''s passive healing factor was taking forever to bring him back up to speed and he didn''t even have the energy to move. He couldn''t even enjoy his improvements. It just felt like his body was collapsing.

    He knew he needed food, but he couldn''t even stand right now, let alone eat. Plus, he wasn''t sure if his stomach could even handle a high dose of food right now because it was among the places in his body that he had flooded with Nodal Pathways.

    Leonel had half a mind to use Dream Sense to induce a coma in himself until he could wake up, but his better judgment made him decide against it. Who knew if there other twists waiting for him?

    Though Wise Star Order hadn''t explained, Leonel could feel that there was something odd in his body. Part of the reason he had pushed himself so far was to ensure he had gotten it all out, but what had scared him was that even with his senses, he hadn''t been able to detect it.

    That mysterious black Forceбн It was as though it wasn''t there at all. Even when it was floating around Leonel like it had been, even when he could see it with his own eyes, it was as though it was nothing more than a figment of his imagination.

    "What was that thing?"

    Leonel''s voice came out hoarse. It had no umph to it at all, making it seem like it had been stripped of all of its base.

    "Anarchic Force."

    "бн"

    Leonel didn''t answer for a long while, almost as though he was searing the fear he had felt for that Force in his mind. It seemed capable of swallowing everything. If not for the Cleansing Waters neutralizing it somewhat, he didn''t know what he would have done.

    "бн I don''t know how my Scarlet Star Force can embody destruction if that thing exists."

    Wise Star Order shook his head. "It doesn''t destroy. It consumes and erases. At least when you''re destroyed, some semblance of what you once were remains. Broken pieces, ash, a mark in the landбн When Anarchic Force moves through, it leaves nothing but the void."

    "The Void Battlefields are filled with that stuff, aren''t they?"

    Wise Star Order was taken aback. "How''d you guess that?"

    Leonel wanted to shrug, but he didn''t have the strength to, nor did he want to experience the pain that came with it. His Dreamscape had drawn the conclusion for him.

    The speed his mind worked at now was leagues beyond where it had been in the past.

    "I felt like your choice of the word void wasn''t coincidence. Plus, if there was anything that could weaken my Ability with its presence alone, it feels like Anarchic Force is it.

    "Your Ability is probably something bestowed upon your by the Regulator, right? And I assumed that the only way for that Force to have gotten into my body without my knowledge was as some sort of retaliation by the Regulator. So, making the leap wasn''t too difficult."

    Wise Star Order shook his head. ''This brat got smarter. How annoying.''

    "You shouldn''t think of the Regulator as a person."

    "Why not?"

    Leonel didn''t refute his Ancestor. He realized after Wise Star Order said it he had subconsciously begun to think of the Regulator as a singular existence.

    "Because it''s the pinnacle of arrogance to do so."

    Leonel chuckled, but it quickly turned into a wheezing, coughing hybrid.

    "You laugh, but that''s only because you know it''s true. Personifying the will of the universe is just a coping mechanism, it makes you think that you can defeat it and overcome it, when in reality, it gave birth to all that is. The comprehensions you''ve grasped are all innately known by it, the Abilities you''re bestowed are created by it, the Force you use to strengthen yourself it are produced by itбн

    "Even if it was a person, it would be something beyond a God. The quicker you learn that, the greater chance you''ll have to live."

    A rare solemn tone came from Wise Star Order. He was usually deciding between losing his mind and picking which insult to throw at Leonel next, but this time, he was as serious as he could be.

    Leonel fell into a deep silence, his mind wondering from place to place but always seeming to return back to Wise Star Order''s words. The silence between the two lasted hours and maybe even Wise Star Order himself thought that Leonel had just accepted his words and left things alone.

    The light of day waned and Aina even came once again. Seeing the situation that Leonel was in, she seemed to be able to tell exactly what he needed at a glance and prepared it. There was a delicate sort of silence between the two as she fed Leonel spoonfuls of soup, not even giving him the chance to reject her kind intentions.

    Once she was finished, she smiled and left the room even as the lights of dusk finally faded to blackбн And it was only then that Leonel spoke words froze Wise Star Order completely.

    "If I unite the Dimensional Verse and make the power the Regulator bestows meaningless, wouldn''t I be the Regulator then?"

 Chapter 1255 So Theres...

    Chapter 1255 So There''s...

    Wise Star Order finally realized this kid was insane.

    This was why the distinguishment between whether Leonel ''understood'', or if he truly understood, was so important. Wise Star Order was certain that it was the latter, Leonel knew exactly what he was facing, and even took as much as half a day to think about it, and those were the first words he had said!

    He was a madman!

    ''It''s the Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, it has to be. Only someone born with that thing could be so clinically insane. I might not even get a chance to live out the rest of my life in peace, this kid is going to be the death of me.''

    бн

    Leonel fell asleep not long after he spoke those words, leaving Wise Star Order to wallow in his own sorrow.

    The days continued to pass and Leonel felt a bit better day by day. He had no idea that their return to Void Palace had been delayed because of him. Once again, his mother put her son first and ignored everything else.

    While this would be fine for the Selectionбн The return to Void Palace was a bit more complex. It was suffice to say that there''d be quite a few unsatisfied people when the time came. But, the current Leonel was still oblivious to the coming danger.

    Regardless, Alienor would never allow Leonel to go out and fight in such a state. Even if it took a year, they could wait until her son was ready.

    **

    "Alright, old bastard. Don''t you think it''s about time you told me what you''ve been hiding about the Bronze Tablet?"

    Wise Star Order snorted. "What makes you think I''ve hidden anything."

    "I''m sure you have. You had to play the part of helpless elder. It was a bad choice if you asked me, if you gave me knowledge beyond the scope of the Bronze Tablet, I would have been more inclined to believe you. But, then again, too much knowledge and I would have suspected you anyway."

    "It''s all because I didn''t think you''d be so stupid. If I knew you were so ignorant to the ways of the Dimensional Verse, you think I''d waste my time? I could have pulled a book of fantasy from my ass and fed it to you and you would have believed it."

    Leonel''s lip twitched, but he didn''t refute. Wise Star Order was probably right, at least in part.

    "Just start with the simple stuff, are there really only three beasts? Is there nothing after the Starry Tailed Fox? And tell me what you really know about its Lineage Factor and how it works."

    "So greedy. You haven''t even mastered one yet but you''re concerned about the others."

    Leonel shook his head. "In these last few days, even without going to the Bronze Tablet, I''ve felt all my bottlenecks loosen. If I wasn''t holding them back for fear for what they''d do to my body, I probably would have cleared all Third Awakenings for all three branches by now and maybe even touched upon the Fourth."

    With Leonel released his Nodes and Nodal Pathways, the purifying effect his Kidneys had on his blood had shot up astronomically. Because his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor was located in his blood, the synergy of the two events was ridiculously high. Leonel didn''t even feel he needed to take the Bronze Tablet with him.

    Wise Star Order could only roll his eyes. Where was his thank you? This brat had no respect.

    "The Bronze Tablet is more than just about increasing the pace of Awakening. Without it, you wouldn''t be able to feel the gateway to the next Lineage Factor even if you awakened it fully. In addition, most of the techniques of the Luxnix, including our Force Art System, are just derivative and fragmented understandings that come from the Bronze Tablet."

    Leonel''s eyes lit up. "So you mean I don''t have to form techniques from the ground up?"

    "No. So long as you have enough comprehension it shouldn''t be a problem."

    This was a huge sigh of relief for Leonel. This was one of the things he had felt the most worried about.

    "Then the Starry Tailed Fox?" Leonel asked.

    "I lied back then, the Starry Tailed Fox doesn''t have four branches. Rather, it has the standard three the Snowy Star Owl and the White Stone Elephant had. Instead, it''s just that its Wisdom Branch evolves into something more profound and becomes the Wisdom Spirit Branch. So, it has the Speed Branch, the Healing Branch, and finally the Wisdom Spirit Branch, each with four Awakenings of their own."

    "What''s so different about it?"

    "Why do you care so much now? You''re nowhere close to it."

    "I''m probably closer than you think. Just answer the question, old man."

    "бн From what I can tell, the Wisdom Spirit Branch is heavily related to the soul. You''ve seen what benefits sensing your soul for the first time gave you, it''ll be similar but likely manifold more potent."

    "бн I see." Leonel nodded. "Then there''s probably evolutions of Healing Branch waiting in the future, right? It''s the only one that appears just as frequently as the Wisdom Branch."

    "Even I don''t know the answer to that. I only have vague information about the next two."

    "Oh? What are they?"

    "The Twinkling Light Bear and the Golden Tiger."

    "The Bear sounds like another strength based creature, similar to the elephant."

    "Likely yes. If it alternates between speed and strength like this, there''s probably a reason. I just don''t know what it is."

    "бн Five feel incomplete." Leonel suddenly said.

    "The Silver Tablet I saw, though I could only meditate on it for a moment, definitely only had two creatures within it, there wasn''t another."

    "Is there aбн Golden Tablet?" Leonel asked.

    "I am uncertain. The only other Tablet I''ve ever seen was yours, but it seems to function very differently from the Lineage Factor tabletsбн

    "What I can say is that you are likely right, five is incomplete. If there are these creatures, and each has their own shadowбн Then I would have to guess that there are 12 total, one for each point of the Northern Starбн"

    "So there''s a sixth."

    "So there''s a sixth." Wise Star Order confirmed.

 Chapter 1256 Adorable

    Chapter 1256 Adorable

    Leonel wasn''t too surprised by this. Quite frankly, whether there were five or six hardly mattered to him. The only reason a sixth would be an intriguing prospect if its power was truly beyond that of the Golden Tiger.

    According to Wise Star Order, the Starry Tailed Fox was already considered to be at the pinnacle of Seventh Dimension, what about this Golden Tiger? And what about this mysterious seventh beast?

    Leonel was definitely intrigued.

    "What Dimensional level were they at?"

    "It''s a similar pattern. The Twinkling Light Bear was Eighth Dimensional. The Golden Tiger was most definitely pinnacle of the Eighth Dimension. As for the other details, I''m not sure."

    "You found this in the Domain of the Spirituals?"

    Wise Star Order laughed. "Brat, in other Domains, humans unlucky enough to be there are treated no differently from slaves. A lot of time, they quite literally are a Slave Class. You going over there is no different from giving your life away.

    "You wouldn''t even be able to step foot in the regions something so precious would be held, let alone making it to the point of laying your eyes on it."

    Leonel frowned. "Slaves?"

    "Oh? Are you mad? You should get over that hero''s complex really quick. That nonsense you said about uniting the Dimensional Verse is never going to happen. Your Domain is just lucky that it mostly produces Humans thanks to the Regulator you apparently want to replace. If not, humans wouldn''t even have a place in the universe."

    "I feel like you''re exaggerating. Anyone with half a brain knows how evolution works. For a race to survive so long into the lifespan of the universe, and even control a Domain all to itself, it can''t possibly be weak or else it would have been rooted out a long time ago. But you''re making it sound like humans have no redeeming qualities."

    "Humans do have redeeming qualities. Too many, in fact. But that''s the problem. There''s no universal path for Humans to take, so instead of putting all your efforts toward excavating one thought, you all diverge. There''s no greater example of this than the Lineage Factor.

    "How many Lineage Factors are in the Human Domain? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions is probably the more accurate denomination. Each of you is trying to figure out how a different path works, diverging along countless lines of evolutions, instead of streamlining it all into one large and cohesive effort.

    "When I say humans are untalented and are far behind everyone else, I don''t mean that there''s a literal objective metric by which you''re worthless. It''s the insatiable appetite of humans and their neutral foundations that ruin everything.

    "Humans can be great at everything, and that''s exactly why they''re great at nothing."

    Leonel frowned. He felt that Wise Star Order was speaking the truth and he could feel that it made perfect sense. But, even with his improved thinking speed and computational ability, he couldn''t even begin to guess at how to unravel that problem and solve it.

    "The Void Palace is maybe the only decent attempt humans have made to form a cohesive ideology. It helps geniuses worth investing in to focus in on the God Path. Though there are plenty of powerful individuals who''ve taken the conventional path, there''s a reason that the God Path is still conventionally known as the better of the two.

    "However, even that''s become a shit show. There''s only so many resources you''re all willing to pool into a neutral party that will take away from your own strength, so there''s limited spots. And because the spots are limited, only the extremely talented even have a chance to claim a spot for themselves.

    "Once they get into the place, they''ll be bombarded with politics and bullshit from all sides. Unless you''re both talented and come from a strong family, you''ll find yourself rattling within someone else''s cage soon enough.

    "If by some miracle they manage to make it through all of that and reach the highest echelons, they''ll become another useless old fogie sitting on their high horse thinking themselves to be invincible because they reached the peak of the Human Domain. Or, they''ll end up siphoning most of the resources they earned back to their families to fuel more diverging paths into the future.

    "Even if you sat humans down and tried to explain this, they wouldn''t listen. How would you even decide which Lineage Factors to abandon and which to focus on for the good of the whole human race? And, even if you could decide, would that family agree to share their Lineage Factor with everyone? Why should they share? If their Lineage Factor was the best, shouldn''t you all just submit?"

    Wise Star Order seemed to be very passionate about this matter, to the point it even brought a smile to Leonel''s face. Though the old man called his dream ridiculous, judging by how much effort he had put into making sure the Luxnix family would follow his lead into the future, it was likely that, at one point, he shared a dream not too dissimilar to his own.

    "It''s not the humans are so much more stupid or selfish than other races. Every race is selfish and is out for their own selves. The difference is that most of the races are only good at one or two things, so all of their Lineage Factors converged toward the same evolutionary peak. But this isn''t a luxury humans have.

    "But if you know your weakness, then you should try harder than others to fix it! FUCK! I hate stupid people."

    Wise Star Order ended up ranting to himself. He had riled himself up so completely that he completely forgot about Leonel entirely.

    "Once Earth enters the Eighth Dimension, it''s all over. All these years of wasting time and shilling for their own personal gain is going to end with the human race being completely wiped out and enslaved.

    "But all they''re worried about is conquering a piece of Earth for themselves. Useless piles of trash, I''d kill them all if I have the chance."

    Leonel erupted into a fit of laughter. He forgot about the pain in his body for a moment, laughing to his heart''s content.

    "What are you laughing about you damned brat!?"

    "When you''re not trying to kill me, you''re kind of adorable old man."

 Chapter 1257 Are You Sure?

    Chapter 1257 Are You Sure?

    The click of Leonel''s hotel room door sounded as it closed once more. Aina''s lingering fragrance still hung by his bedside.

    He had already lost count of the number of times she had fed him over these last few weeks. Though he was baffled that it was taking him this long to heal, he was even more baffled by her persistence. The two hadn''t even exchanged a single word in all this time, she didn''t try to speak with him about anything, and it felt as though she had said all the words she wanted to say that day.

    She wasn''t asking for anything, so Leonel didn''t even have something to reject. And, he was stuck in bed like this and hardly had the strength to lift a single finger, and clearly his mother and grandmother had some sort of tacit understanding to avoid this room at all costs. It should have been them nursing him back to health, but here he was in this awkward situation his advancement in brain power seemed to be no help solving.

    "Why haven''t you fucked her already? What a waste of heaven''s treasures."

    Leonel choked on air, some of his saliva going down the wrong pipe.

    This old man only ever spoke when he initiated conversation, this was the first time he had spoken of his own accord and it completely disrupted Leonel''s flow of thoughts, and he actually decided to say something like that.

    Leonel didn''t even participate in these sorts of conversations with his brothers. Though James had quite the vulgar mouth and never held back when explaining the dirty deeds he got up to, James and he had always had a tacit understanding that Aina was a taboo. Leonel had never tolerated anyone sexualizing the woman he had once loved more than he could describe in words.

    ''Onceбн''

    Leonel winced, his migraine coming back due to his sudden jolt and coughing spree.

    "бн Can''t you act your age for once? You''re just a soul, why do you even have a libido?"

    "What do you know, brat? The greatest intimacy you can have is with the soul. Sex with fleshly bodies pales in comparison to the sex I''ve had with some Spirituals beauties. Your scope is too limited."

    "As if they would have sex with human trash like you." Leonel chortled. "Wet dreams don''t count no matter how vivid they are, old man."

    "Die. All I''m saying is that you''re missing out. A Domain would probably only have a handful of seedlings like her. Every generation would be capped at three or four at best."

    "Oh? Is she that talented?"

    "What talent? I''m talking about beauty, dammit."

    Leonel was speechless. Was this really a man who had lived for thousands of years? Where was the maturity? Where was the level headedness?

    "I really don''t know what to sayбн"

    "Don''t say anything, just do. Actually, you don''t have to do anything, just lie there, she''ll probably be willing to do everything. I don''t know how an idiot like you could get so lucky, but I''m going to have an aneurysm if you let her walk in here without saying anything again. You don''t even have to marry her, just claim the land as yours. What''s wrong with you, are you even a man?"F

    Leonel felt a headache coming on. He made a mental note that if he ever was with a woman in the future, he would definitely throw this old man somewhere under lock and key. This old pervert would definitely watch if he had the chance.

    "I''m ignoring you."

    "What do you know? It makes sense for a man like your dad to gain your mother, but what are you exactly? You need to claim her while she hasn''t seen the rest of the world yet."

    Leonel coughed. "Why do you keep talking about my dad like you''re in love with him? There''s nothing good about that old prankster."

    If Leonel could see Wise Star Order''s face right now, it would be bright red. It seemed he had struck another nerve, but his head was throbbing too much to notice.

    "Stop changing the subject, I am being serious. How are you going to lay claim to the Dimensional Verse if you don''t have a woman of that caliber by your side?"

    Leonel really wanted to roll his eyes, but just opening their lids flooded him with too much sunlight. And, there wasn''t much of a point if they were closed to begin with.

    First this old man called his dream ridiculous, now he was talking about something completely unrelated to it.

    "You''re just saying stuff now. Go back to calling me an idiot."

    Wise Star Order shook his head. He had been mostly joking around in the beginning, but seeing that Leonel was really so ignorant about these matters, he became more serious.

    "It seems you''re still too immature, brat. You''re not bad at reading a person one on one, but you''re lacking the ability to see things on a grand scale."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. He had the whole of Valiant Heart Mountain dancing on his palm years ago. He was just fine at manipulating emotions on a large scale, their entire organization had almost collapsed because of him.

    "A beautiful woman, especially one on the level of a Generational Goddess, is more than what she appears on the surface. She''s a status symbol. When men see you with her, they respect you. When women see you with her, they want to be her.

    "There''s no Empire created in history that wasn''t built off the back of a Royal FAMILY. The people won''t have trust in the Empire unless it has a lineage and a future generation. You can''t build anything on that scale by yourself, you''d be na?ve to think that you could."

    Leonel blinked. The old man did have a point, but that was only something to worry about after the Empire was actually built. Plusбн

    "Are you sure about that? Whenever men see me with her, they actually want to kill me and take her for themselves."

 Chapter 1258 Click

    Chapter 1258 Click

    Leonel laughed to himself when he had this thought, it really wasn''t much of an exaggeration, actually. In fact, it was entirely true.

    He hadn''t spent long with this version of Aina by his side. Not long after he had cured her curse back to a level she could manage herself, they entered the Valiant Zone and found themselves separated. Then, after they got out, they were thrust into the situation with the other organizations and the rest went about as poorly as one could imagine.

    But, even in that short time, Leonel realized that Aina was always the center of attention when he was around without even trying.

    That was just the way the world worked, unfortunately. It was a sort of double edged sword for both men and women.

    On one side, there were men who, no matter how handsome they were, had to find their worth in either their personal strength or their wealth. In most cases, a woman wouldn''t choose a man purely based on looks in a world like the Dimensional Verse where your death could be lingering around the next corner.

    Leonel himself was fairly handsome. Maybe not as handsome as Wise Star Order or Elthor, but that was mostly because he dressed down a lot of the time, hadn''t had a haircut he didn''t slice with his own blade and years, and couldn''t be bothered to worry about useless stuff like looks.

    However, even then, he could be considered to be within the top percentile of men and practically no one gave a damn.

    On the other hand, there were women who no matter how talented and strong they were, were still measured by how much beauty they were born with.

    Leonel had seen this all too often with Aina before her curse had been cured. She was no less powerful than himself, and even more so during most points in their journey. In fact, before his fight with Myghell, Leonel was certain that he could defeat him, but he had no idea if he could do the same with Aina. Maybe only now that his Nodes were being used properly could he say that he had a good chance at beating her. And yetбн

    All anyone seemed to talk about was how ugly she had been or how beautiful she was now.

    When Leonel said he didn''t care about Aina''s beauty, he had meant it. That wasn''t to say that he wasn''t enthralled by it, he was a man, after all. It was just that beauty alone wasn''t able to move his needle one way or another.

    Maybe considering his logical brain, he should be going after the most beautiful woman possible to maximize the good genes his offspring could have. But, Leonel had always felt that a healthy family had to have foundations beyond this.

    Wise Star Order shook his head. "That''s because you lack status. You can''t have a symbol like that by your side and be a weakling."

    "Can you stop calling her a symbol already? She''s a human being."

    "Oh? Are you mad?" Wise Star Order laughed. "I thought you didn''t want her."

    "That doesn''t mean I have to allow her to be disrespected."

    "What a foolish little brat. I don''t know what I''m going to do with you."

    "How about you be useful and tell me why the Universal Cycles are ordered the way they are? It makes no sense."

    "бн What?"

    "What are you confused about? Don''t tell me you''ve never thought it was weird either. Wouldn''t it feel better if the order was Natural Light, Four Seasons, Heavenly Body, Constellation, and then finally the Cosmos Realm? Why is it Four Seasons, Heavenly Body, Natural Light, Cosmos, then Constellation? It feels like someone shuffled it into the order than made the least amount of sense."

    "бн"

    Wise Star Order didn''t know what to say for a long time. First this kid all but threw down a gauntlet to face the Regulator, now he was doubting a power system that had been the same since the beginning of time. Did he think that things could just be like this by accident?

    It was like Leonel went out of his way to make him think that he was crazy. Day after day of this stuff. He might as well go back to being tortured by Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force because the shaving down of his lifespan was about the same anyway.

    "бн The names of the Universal Cycles don''t just represent the complexity of the event itself, they represent the inherent importance of the events as well.

    "You seem to think that the Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn are lesser than Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. But, is that true?

    "Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn are constants, or relative constants. No matter what world you''re on, they will appear in some form. However, how many places can you think of where only a single Season is experienced? There are many places where a shift between Summer and Winter has no meaning whatsoever. Are the Four Season still beyond the cycle of Light then?"

    Leonel''s brow furrowed, not answering immediately.

    "бн But aren''t there places where there''s only Day as well? If I go to the north pole of Earth, the sun rarely sets. It can go months without experiencing ''night''. And then there''s Planet Luxnix. Isn''t it always day here too?"

    "This three planet rotation is an artificial construct, it isn''t part of nature''s will. It''s just a representation of three greedy families who didn''t want to allow any of the others to have a leg up."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. "You can move planets?!"

    "You''ve been to the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World and have seen the Dyson Sphere, but you''re surprised by this? I really don''t know what goes on in that head of yours."

    Leonel felt that Wise Star Order had a point. It seemed that he was still stuck in the mind frame of an Earthling. If even Earth could terraform their continents and move them about as they please, why wouldn''t far higher Dimensional Worlds have methods of moving entire planets?

    "But stillбн" Leonel mumbled. "бн The rest doesn''t click with meбн"

 Chapter 1259 Stories in the Skies

    Chapter 1259 Stories in the Skies

    "For example, even if I accept that you''re right about Night, Day, Dusk and Dawn, what about the others? Why would Natural Light be deemed as above Heavenly Bodies? And why would a Constellation be beyond a Cosmos?"

    "Are you doubting me? If I can give you an explanation for one of them, what makes you think I don''t have explanations for the others?

    "Much like the Four Seasons, Heavenly Bodies come in a lot of shapes and forms. There is nothing inherently special about them. Technically, the only difference between an asteroid, a moon, a planet and a star is in their mass, they all have the same beginnings, give or take a few differences.

    "The Heavenly Bodies you''re in awe of are an extraordinarily small portion of them. Most are useless hunks of rock with nothing special about them in the slightest. The fact their name is so grandiose and fantastical is almost a slap in the face of things that would truly be worthy of such names.

    "Even a step further, just how easy is it to bend so-called Heavenly Bodies to your own whim? Your people of Earth could already terraform your planet and your moon, you could already excavate asteroids and strip them of their resources. And, though you couldn''t form Dyson Spheres of your own yet, you''ve seen for yourself how possible such a thing is.

    "There''s nothing more special about it than Natural Light."

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. "But aren''t concepts of night and day, not to mention the seasons, anchored to the existence of heavenly bodies? Aren''t they contingent on their existence?"

    "That right there is your main problem. You''re conflating the Artistic Conception of something with its logical existence in the real world. That isn''t the purpose of Universal Cycle comprehension."

    "But aren''t you doing the same thing to prove me wrong?"

    "There''s a subtle difference between what you and I are doing. I''m trying to frame things in a way you can understand, but my foundation is still the Artistic Conception. Your foundation, however, is whatever scientific understanding you have of these things.

    "When I say the Four Seasons Realm is weak is because it''s so fleeting and can appear in a myriad of different ways depending, you see it from the frame of scienceбн The location of the planet, how far it is away from its star, its tilt, etcбн However, I''m speaking of its Artistic Conception.

    "Winter, to a myriad of people, represents different things. Many have never even seen snow before. Some have never seen anything but snow. Many more don''t understand the mild transition of Spring or the slow death of Fall either.

    "Because so many don''t understand, the Artistic Conception lacks umph and ubiquitousness. However, there isn''t a single person who doesn''t understand what night and day is. Do you see the difference?"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    So this concept of Artistic Conception was far broader than he originally understood. It wasn''t just about how he viewed things, but it was also important to grasp how others viewed it as well.

    What gave the Universal Cycles power was the universe itself. Leonel''s own perspective wasn''t the most important here even though he became the conduit by which it took root and flourished. He had to look at things from the perspective of the whole.

    Sparks flew within Leonel''s Dreamscape. A vague line connecting Dream Force, Artistic Conception, his own thoughts and that of those around him threatened to erupt.

    It felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, but he just didn''t have enough information to grasp it. A small part of Leonel told him that had it not been for the vast increase in his computational power, the spark wouldn''t have barely lit like this at all.

    ''This is actually so far beyond meбн? I need more, more informationбн''

    "Okay, I can see where you''re coming from. It also makes sense that the Cosmos is beyond Natural Light. But what is it about Constellations? How could they be beyond the Cosmos? You said yourself that that stars are only different from planets in their mass, so how is an array of stars any different?"

    Wise Star Order sighed.

    "I think I preferred the silence more than I thoughtбн I don''t know what''s so difficult to understand after I laid it all out."

    Leonel had already deduced the answer, but that wasn''t the point. He had deduced it but his spark didn''t light and finish its loop, so he still had no idea what his Dreamscape was trying to tell him. The connection was still vague and sparking, but he just didn''t have enough information. He was hoping that something Wise Star Order said could trigger the final jump.

    "Just explain it."

    Wise Star Order shook his head.

    "For as long as life has existed, people have looked up at the skies. It didn''t matter what stage of evolution they were at, reaching up was something everyone, regardless of race, gender or culture, strove after.

    "Whether it was the most primitive of races all the way up to the most advanced, they all looked up.

    "In the infancy of a world, they marked out their gods in the skies. They told tales about what they represented and drew their figures, bowing to them in worship.

    "As a world grew, those tales would grow and evolve, often becoming related to a person''s sense of self.

    "Regardless of the world, the prevalence of religion would fade and right there to replace it would be a Spirituality no Race could seem to escape. Everyone wants to believe in something, even if it sometimes doesn''t make sense to.

    "Whenever people reach their end of their ropes, the stories in the skies would be there.

    "A constellation is no longer about the stars that make them up, they represent something beyond that, the greatest of Universal Cycles, one that relied on a willingness to look up and go beyond."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed hard, but it had nothing to do with Wise Star Order''s wordsбн

    ''Those words were nice and poetic, old man. Unfortunately, they were absolutely useless.''

    Leonel sighed, watching his Dreamscape spark fade away.

 Chapter 1260 Free Fall

    Chapter 1260 Free Fall

    Weeks more went by before Leonel finally felt alright to swing himself out of bed. In retrospect, he probably should have had someone help him because he crashed onto the floor.

    Luckily, his migraine had receded and the pain in his body had become more of a dull soreness, or else he felt like he might have relapsed right then and there.

    At first, Leonel thought his muscles had atrophied. It was a pretty common symptom that happened to people that spent long amounts of time injured and bed ridden. However, he found that conclusion to be weird, the main reason being because he wasn''t a normal human. It had been about two months, yes, but this shouldn''t have been enough to ruin him like this. Unlessбн

    Leonel felt a small panic cause his heart to skip a beat. His Scarlet Star Force Innate Node was now connected to a circuit around his body. Even though he wasn''t actively using it, he wasn''t actively restricting it anymore either. Could it be that his muscles were being eaten away by its properties?

    That day, Leonel had a quarterlife crisis staring at the luxury carpets of his hotel room. Considering his thinking speed, those few seconds would have felt like months to anyone else. Luckily, though, he managed to get a grip on himself.

    There were positives to this that he could take away.

    For one, he didn''t feel any pain, which meant that even if his Scarlet Star Force was causing this, it was more than tolerable.

    Secondly, if his body was truly being eaten away at like this, if he fed it with enough nutrients and made up for its deficiencies, he might be able to grow some passive immunity. In that case, maybe the day he could use his own Innate Node freely would come.

    With these two pillars of support for his almost broken psyche, Leonel managed to pick himself up. But, that was when something he hadn''t expected to happen, happened.

    Leonel had fallen to a single knee, so when he went to stand up, he was obviously pushing off of just one leg. He tried to test to see just how bad his muscle weakness had gotten, so he was measuring how much strength he had to push when he suddenly found himself flying sideways.

    CRASH!

    The sprinkle of glass and the suddenness of open air hit Leonel before he was suddenly freefalling hundreds of meters.

    Many who had been outside the hotel at that moment looked up all at once to find a man falling through the skies in nothing more than his underwear. It definitely wasn''t the sort of thing you saw everyday.

    ''бн''

    Leonel was so stunned that he didn''t even react in time.

    BOOM!

    An enormous dust cloud launched itself into the air, the earth rumbling as though a stone of unfathomable weight had suddenly been dropped onto it.

    "Leo?!"

    "Cap?!"

    A rush of people converged toward the hole on all sides. But, when the dust cleared, they only found a human sized hole and a confused Leonel looking up into the skies as though he couldn''t understand what had just happened.

    ''бн Shouldn''t that have hurt?'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Leonel didn''t get to finished this thought before the earth suddenly began to raise him up. He didn''t need to guess to know that it was Raj who was acting.

    "Son of a bitch, Cap. Why are you so heavy?!"

    "Why are you asking about useless things?! He could be dead!"

    At that moment, a worried Aina came over as Milan''s voice cried out to reprimand. In her presence, the boys seemed to become very obedient for some reason. Or, more accurately, reserved, as though they were in the presence of someone they greatly respected.

    Leonel, despite his absentmindedness, immediately picked up on this. It was definitely something he found weird, his brothers had never reacted like this to Aina before. Though, now that he thought about it, they didn''t really have many opportunities to interact to begin with.

    Raj ended up pulling Leonel up all the way out of the five meter deep hole, complaining to himself as he seemed to no longer dare to speak out loud.

    When everyone got a good look at Leonel, they were rendered speechless. There wasn''t even a single scratch on him. In fact, for some reason, the dirt didn''t cling to his body at all. It was whisked away with the slightest of wind or fell of its own accord, leaving him completely spotless. It was as though Leonel''s skin wasn''t something they dared to blaspheme.

    "Uh, I''m fine. I don''t really know how this happened, honestly. One minute I was in the suite, and in the next I was falling through the skies."

    Leonel chuckled and tried to use the ground to pull himself up. But, at that moment, the location where his hand had been compressed, violent and raging cracks spreading out in all directions as the ground splintered as though an abyss had opened up beneath it.

    Leonel blinked. "бн It might be best if you guys didn''t touch me right nowбн"

    An awkward silence fell over the group as they nodded slowly, taking a step back. That was just a casual pat to the ground but Raj and the others had almost fallen flat on their faces. Only Aina seemed to have been able to keep her balance without trying very hard.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. He had thought his body had experienced atrophy, but this was clearly not the case. If this was atrophy, there wouldn''t be any diseases in this world remaining. He wasn''t even quite sure how to even go about doing normal things.

    This change was a bit too large, even his high class coordination abilities didn''t adjust immediately. It seems he would still need a few more days.

    "Hey, Capбн About the shirt and picturesбн You''re not mad, right?"

    Raj looked from the destroyed ground, to Leonel, and then back, laughing nervously.

 Chapter 1261 KingтАЭ

    Chapter 1261 б░Kingб▒

    "Are you all sure?"

    Leonel frowned as he gazed toward his brothers. With all they had been through in the Dimensional Verse, the term brother had really gone from something they called each other in jest to something they truly meant. So, Leonel couldn''t help but feel a bitter taste in his mouth after he heard their decision.

    "We''re still a bit lacking like this, Leo." Joel nodded seriously. "If we go to the Void Palace with you right now, we''ll end up holding you back. And, if you really let us go free, I''m certain that more than one of us would die and that''s not something I want to see, and I''m sure you don''t'' want to see it either."

    Leonel knew that Joel was right. In fact, Leonel would make certain that he never had to see it, and the result of that would be, unsurprisingly, them holding him back.

    Despite knowing this, Leonel didn''t like it. He had neglected these brothers of his for too long and he felt like he owed them far more than he had given them. They never asked for anything from him, but that didn''t mean that he didn''t want to give back.

    "There''s no need to make that face, Cap." Raj laughed. "We''ll still be mooching off of you. Grammy said she''d take care of us and those Luxnix old fogies don''t dare to fart too loud around us anymore."

    Leonel smiled and shook his head. Couldn''t this guy be serious for once?

    Still, Raj''s words did make him feel a lot better. The environment on Earth was still good, but the Milky Way was simply far too lacking. If these guys had spent the past year on Planet Luxnix instead, Leonel had no doubt that their real talents would have shone through fiercely.

    It seemed that he had overstepped by asking his mother to reserve spots for everyone. Alienor had, of course, been willing to do it since Leonel had asked. But who would have thought that everyone would already have their own plans.

    Of his brothers, only the silent Arnold would be coming with Leonel. The rest chose to stay here and would find a later opportunity to join. For now, they would solidify their foundations, learn more about their abilities, and slowly push themselves to the Quasi Sixth Dimension.

    "Plus, Leo, I''m sure there are a lot of things here that you''ll want us to handle, right?" Joel met Leonel''s gaze unwaveringly.

    Leonel slowly nodded. He still needed to care for the Oryx and the remnants of the Milky Way Guild. In addition, he had moving pieces that were still setting themselves up with the Umbra family, not to mention the secrets related to the Midas and Radix. This wasn''t something he had forgotten about, but while he was in the Void Palace, it would be difficult to police these matters.

    His own mother hadn''t even been allowed to leave on her own whims, but she was a Sector Ranked disciple. Logically, then, Leonel had no chance at moving freely after he entered their organization.

    Leonel had factored this into his plans already and the reason he was okay with it was because there would surely be an exception made for when the Morales family Heir Wars were set to begin. That would be his chance to leave and ensure that his pawns had all promoted as they should.

    But, leaving things so hands off for such a long period of time wasn''t smart. It was especially a problem since his cousins turned competitors would definitely have their own men and women on the outside making moves for them. If Leonel didn''t do the same, he would be handicapping himself.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    When he opened them once more, he had regained his focus.

    "Alright, I will leave these matters to you. I''ll find a method to establish communication with you all once I get to the Void Palace."

    "Right." Joel grinned a rare smile.

    Leonel had one major flaw that maybe even he wasn''t aware of: He was a control freak. If he could do something himself and not disrupt anyone else, he would rather do things that way.

    The day James betrayed them during the final game of the year, Leonel had realized what the problem was. Yet, instead of talking to anyone or even confronting James, he found a way to win the game by himself and preserve their friendship.

    When Leonel chose to show them his labs and the things he was working on like the tentacle womb and others, they had already felt closer to him than they ever had before. But now, that feeling was even more potent.

    **

    Leonel. Aina. Yuri. Savahn. Karolus. Noah. Arnold. Elthor.

    These eight would be the representatives of Earth that made their way to the Void Palace. This was maybe the first time in all of history that a Fifth Dimensional World had actually produced so many entries. In fact, it was rare for a Fifth Dimensional World to even stumble upon an entry to begin with, let alone have such a display.

    Of course, there were others that had made it as well.

    The Luxnix had the best showing, though this was unsurprising. After years of suppressing themselves, they had blossomed forth and gained many Nominal Ranked spots.

    Elaquin, Syllar and Elody all gained spots in addition to a few Ranked disciples within the top ten, making the total reach eight alone. Though Orinik felt that Leonel definitely didn''t deserve the Amethyst Token, he could agree that there was no nepotism at play here.

    Of course, the ninth of the Luxnix was Myghell himself who had, unsurprisingly, long since recovered.

    Among those unrelated to the Luxnix, though, there were only four.

    One was a familiar young lady Leonel recognized, Riah Sage. The second was Higlis, the now Heir to the Montex family who was now in a very awkward position. And, the final two were both masked and exceptionally silent, but no one bothered them.

    However, at that moment, Aina, who hadn''t spoken a word to Leonel in months, suddenly did so as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

    "King, I thought you should know about something that happened months agoбн"

    Leonel went from feeling like his bones were melting toward Aina calling him ''King'', before he was suddenly enveloped by a flashbang of fury everyone but Aina and Myghell were forced to retreat from.

    He stretched out a hand and one of the masked men shot out, their throat landing in his palm as though it had always been there.

 Chapter 1262 Buried Pride

    Chapter 1262 Buried Pride

    Leonel would say that it had been a very long time since he had been this angry, but that would only be partially true. He was more enraged now than he had been with himself just a few months ago, and that was because this anger had nothing to do with him, but rather a very clear reverse scale of his, his mother.

    Leonel hadn''t spent very long with his mother by his side but those memories of affection he had with her as a child had been practically seared into his mind. Knowing that it wasn''t her choice to leave his side only made these emotions easier to accept. The idea that someone would disrespect her left him infuriated to an extreme.

    The mask of the man that flew into Leonel''s palm shattered, revealing the pale features and deep violet eyes of Rychard. Of those here, maybe only a small percentage weren''t surprised by this turn of events. It was unknown how this young man had managed to survive the ordeal of the Viola family, but none of that mattered now.

    Aina had been a part of Rychard''s schemes for a long while. Leonel never hid anything from her, so she was well aware that the Luxnix family was related to him. The trouble was that she didn''t learn of what Rychard had done until much later.

    Gradeyr''s younger brother, Ossan, had been caught by the Luxnix for daring to help in spreading the rumors. Aina''s only task was to save him. But with her intelligence, it wasn''t hard to piece together how these things were related. The Luxnix wouldn''t just casually capture a member of the Viola family''s main bloodline lineage without proper cause, especially when they were trying to lie low to begin with.

    When she saw the two masked figures, she was immediately suspicious. She had spent a long time with the Viola family and was well aware of how cunning Rychard was. But, what was even more important was that Rychard didn''t gain this sort of character from himself. She simply didn''t believe that the Viola family would have no contingency plans given a situation where they faced eradication.

    Since she wasn''t sure, though, she only chose to tell Leonel a summary of those events and did nothing to point out the two masked young men. But, as she had expected, Leonel had known from the very beginning that these two masked young men were none other than Rychard and Gradeyr, it was just that he simply hadn''t cared.

    Leonel had been able to assign the energy signatures on the billboard to the contestants from the very beginning. He just hadn''t seen much of a reason to target Rychard. From his perspective, the two of them had only had a clash in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone, but there was no reason to hold a grudge, especially since he had won that exchange.

    But nowбн Things were different.

    "You''re responsible?"

    Leonel''s hand squeezed down on Rychard''s neck, any stronger and he might snap it in two. The latter tried to struggle and claw and Leonel''s hand, but it felt like his nails were scratching against a metal plate. Not only did he not succeed, but he even ended up peeling his own nails back, resulting in a bloody mess that left his fingers mangled.

    The region fell into complete silence.

    The envoys of the Void Palace had been preparing the teleportation portal and Leonel''s mother had been overseeing the progress. The region was the front gates of the Luxnix estate and there wasn''t much of a crowd to begin with aside from a few close friends and family members.

    Orinik couldn''t help but frown as the situation now was completely different than it had been in the past. Rychard could be considered an official disciple of the Void Palace, albeit nominal. He couldn''t just be casually killed because Leonel felt like it, even if Leonel had the Amethyst Token.

    Rychard''s face went completely blue. He couldn''t answer Leonel even if he wanted to. For some reason, he felt like there was Dimensional suppression between the two of them despite the fact they were both within the Fifth. In fact, his Tier was still higher than Leonel''s own. He couldn''t even begin to believe the feelings of fear he was experiencing, but the humiliation was worse.

    If he hadn''t guessed by now that the man Aina had always been comparing him to was Leonel, he wouldn''t have earned half the intelligence those around him believed him to have. To know that he had lost so handily to Leonel more times than he even knew was enough to infuriate him to an extreme. It only made it worse that the Goddess he had been chasing for so long was rejected by the very man before him. And yet, by some horrible twist of fate, was still by his side like an obedient little wife.

    It had taken all the self control in the world for him not to show his anger or leak any killing intent. He just wanted to put his head down and grasp this opportunity given to him by the Void Palace.

    Even though it as rare for Nominal disciples to become True Disciples, Rychard didn''t believe he would fail if he gave it everything he had.

    So, he buried his pride, his rage, his sadness to the deepest parts of his soulбн

    But then in the greatest of ironies, it was the very woman who he had been chasing for so long that outed him in the end. He was under no illusion that he could be saved. He now knew who Leonel''s mother was and it only made him feel even more foolish for what he had done.

    However, Rychard didn''t want to give up, not here, not now. He couldn''t.

    His eyes rolled to the back of his head, their whites flashing as blood seeped out from between his teeth. The harder he struggled, the quicker he seemed to approach the gates of death.

    "Please show mercy!"

    The voice came from none other than Gradeyr, the second masked man.

 Chapter 1263 Morales Family Troublemaker

    Chapter 1263 Morales Family Troublemaker

    When Leonel''s gaze shifted to him, Gradeyr felt as though his mind was collapsing. It was just a single look, an indifferent glance, and yet it gripped at his soul, almost tearing it away from his body. The pressure was palpable to a degree that it almost manifested like tendrils of dark crimson in the air.

    Leonel didn''t quite know who Gradeyr was, but Aina, who was still by his side, spoke a few simple words that made him understand what remained of the final pieces. It was then he understood that his mother''s reputation had become collateral damage for an Heir War maybe no different to what he might experience in a few years'' time.

    Though, Leonel would soon find out that the scale of the Morales family Heir Wars couldn''t be compared to these petty games in the slightest. It might very well reach the point of it embroiling the whole of the Human Doman. And, even if it didn''t, it would most definitely grasp attention at least that far and wide.

    In truth, despite coming to understand things, Leonel didn''t want to even give Rychard a chance to live. He had never been very good at controlling his anger when it came to matters like this, and this certainly wasn''t the first time he had flown into a rage for his mother''s sake.

    Alienor, though, being the madwoman that she was, simply sent a glance back as though she was witnessing the most adorable thing ever, even going to the point of dabbing at her eyes with a fresh handkerchief.

    Gradeyr could tell that Leonel had no intention of listening to him, so he stepped forward, removing his mask.

    "I know that what my cousin has done is irredeemable, but he is one of the final hopes my Viola family has. I''m willing to exchange for his life, all of the most important treasures of the Viola family rest with us. I have heard of your Morales family from the envoys and know that your Heir Wars are coming very soon. What we have could be invaluable to you.

    "I know that you could just kill us and take them, but if you did this you would find that they won''t work as they should and end up becoming a detriment rather than a help to you."

    Gradeyr spoke as fast as he could, hoping that Leonel would at least care enough to stay his hand for the moment.

    While Rychard had been hosting the envoys and basking in his new position, Gradeyr had taken a completely different approach.

    Rychard had said himself that he lost some of his sharpness after finally gaining the position he had fought for his whole life, it was to the point he had almost exposed himself to Patriarch Luxnix. However, Gradeyr, who had lost the very same position, was still looking forward and hoping to find a new way for himself to make an impact.

    So, when the envoys came to their family, while Rychard had schemed to find a way to get Aina into his bed, Gradeyr was asking questions that would prepare him for the future, and that was when he learned the weight the Morales family held.

    Originally, Gradeyr simply wanted to understand the political landscape of the Void Palace and come to an understanding of who held the largest centers of power. Never would he have expected that the boy who had been stricken from the Luxnix family records was actually related to one of these behemoths.

    In truth, Gradeyr didn''t actually know that Leonel was an Heir Candidate, he simply thought that even if he wasn''t, a vast amount of resources would be valuable nonetheless.

    If the Morales Heir Wars worked like most did, then this wasn''t just a jockeying of position for the Heirs themselves, but also for their subordinates. Everyone who had backed Gradeyr found their lives to become a hundred times harder all of a sudden while it was the opposite for everyone who had followed Rychard.

    Little did Gradeyr know that Leonel was indeed one of the Heirs.

    Contrary to Gradeyr''s expectations, though, Leonel didn''t even waver when he heard such enticement.

    "Why should I care?"

    Leonel''s hand squeezed down.

    Gradeyr gaze flickered but eventually fell to despair. In their final plan, the Star Order Council equivalent of the Viola family had designed two spatial rings, one for Rychard and the other for Gradeyr. Only by working together could they access 100% of the Viola family''s legacy. It was a measure to ensure that the two of them would work together.

    What the Viola needed right now was stability, not infighting. Heir Wars were a luxury of well established families, something that they were decidedly not any longer.

    Toward this seen, the gazes of Orinik and the other envoys only became more odd and reserved. There was only so far that this nepotism should go. Allowing Leonel to kill a disciple was definitely way too far. It was hard to accept, but they also didn''t dare to say anything either.

    But, who could have expected that it was while Rychard was on the brink of death that Alienor would suddenly appeared to press a hand down on Leonel''s forearm.

    "бн Mom?" Leonel frowned.

    He wasn''t quite familiar with the rules of the Void Palace just yet, so he was unaware that there was an issue. Though he probably should have guessed, he was too pissed to care enough to think about it.

    "It''s just a few words, what are you getting so angry about? Are you going to fight everyone that says something about me?"

    "Yes." Leonel replied without hesitation.

    Alienor was stunned for a moment before she let off a light, airy laughter. While Leonel only saw his mother, the envoys and the others had to pay very special attention not to stare for too long, lest they have even worse luck than Rychard.

    After she finished laughing, Alienor finally spoke once again.

    "He isn''t wrong, you may very well need what they have."

    "Butбн"

    Leonel''s frown deepened. What could the Viola family have that he could possibly need? The Luxnix treasure vaults should be far beyond them, and then there was still Wise Star Order''s treasure deposits as well. Plus, even if he didn''t have these things, he didn''t like the idea of trading for forgiveness he didn''t want to give.

    "Trust me."

    Alienor laughed and shook her head. It seemed the Void Palace would be gaining another Morales family troublemaker with the way things were trending now.

 Chapter 1264 Paifang

    Chapter 1264 Paifang

    The WHOOSH sound of a formed portal caught everyone''s attention. It swirled about with a radiant dark violet and looked like a rotating nebula.

    Alienor cast a glance and released her hold on Leonel''s forearm.

    "It seems it is time to go."

    Somewhat reluctantly, Leonel released his grip on Rychard''s throat. The latter fell to the ground heavily, coughing and wheezing. It took several moments for the color to return to his face and several more for his light headedness to vanish.

    Rychard grit his teeth hard but he restrained himself, relaxing his body in the next instant. If it wasn''t for the somewhat vacant look in his eyes, one would have never guessed that something had happened. Well, that and the fact there was already a clear bruise in the shape of a hand around his throat.

    He rose from the ground slowly, but steadily.

    "Follow me." Alienor said lightly.

    There was a certain heaviness in Alienor''s tone right this moment. It wasn''t because she feared for herself, but rather because she wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that her actions would have no effect on her son. In fact, she was certain that it would be the direct opposite.

    As a mother, she couldn''t help herself. Worrying was what she did. Even if her husband had been watching Leonel like a hawk right this moment, and even knowing the kind of strength he had, she would still be worrying.

    The Void Palace had its rules that protected disciples, but there were too many ways around them and they could only be enforced within its territory. Andбн Velasco had many enemies that had more than enough leeway to ignore these rules all on their own.

    Of course, whether they would dare to do so was a different matter entirely, but there were several more ways for them to make things difficult. They knew Val''s personality well enough to know that they would get away with it too.

    While Alienor looked like a reckless mother who had done as she pleased to save her son, the reality was that she had only gone so far because she needed to give her Little Lion every advantage he could get, because the truth wasбн

    He was already lagging far behind.

    The step through the portal was unlike anything Leonel had ever experienced before. It was far less subtle than his transportation to the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World and felt a lot like his body was being stretched into a thin string, as though all his nerve centers had been shut down and his limbs were being pulled into a tight tube.

    When his vision cleared and he could finally feel his feet beneath him once again, the world around him was even more of a shock than the initial feeling.

    Leonel had thought that he had seen a lot of the Dimensional Verse already. Or, more accurately, his talks with Wise Star Order over the past few months had made it feel like his horizons had been broadened beyond the scope of even his previous imagination. However, the scene he saw before him now still took his breath away.

    There was no world, no planet, no moonбн The Void Palace was just an enormous obsidian mountain range, floating in the depths of space and hanging upon a vast nothingness.

    The sheer size alone was impossible for a normal human to fathom. The distance from its base to its lowest peak was taller than the diameter of three planets stacked on top of one another, and its highest was more than five. As for its width, it was as much as ten planets wide.

    This alone was astonishing enough, enough that Leonel found it hard to wrap his brain around just how such a construct could even have been formed. But, that was when his breath was taken away by the Gates.

    The Paifang were even more glorious than the mountain range itself. Of course, this was partly due to the fact that the obsidian mountain that made up the Void Palace''s territory seemed to be covered by a thin veil of protection, stopping Leonel from observing it as deeply as he wanted.

    [Author''s Note: A Paifang is a Chinese style gate/archway]

    They towered for thousands kilometers, the center piece of each one of their archways containing what looked like a miniature blazing white star, providing the only sort of contrast to the endless blackness in the surroundings.

    While the mountain range seemed an almost infinite distance away, the Paifang were close, almost too close. They bore down with a haunting momentum that made the Valiant Heart Pillars Leonel had experienced before seem like nothing more than child''s play.

    It felt like these Gates were the linchpin that kept everything in place. They protected the Void Palace despite not having doorways and acted as passageways simultaneously.

    It was only then the shocking question hit Leonel like a ton of bricks.

    The mountain was over there, and the Gates were there, but they all hung in a vast and empty space. So, what the hell was he standing on?

    Leonel looked down, his pupils constricting when he realized that he wasn''t standing on anything at all. There was nothing between him and an endless abyss.

    Usually, this wouldn''t be a big deal. After all, in space like this, there shouldn''t have been a need to worry about gravity inevitably leading him to a crushing death. But, he could very clearly tell which way was up and which way was down in this place. Just what was going on?

    Before Leonel could think about it any further, the closest Paifang whirred to life, the shadow of several figures stepping outward. Leonel couldn''t seem to see through any one of them, but he could tell that each one was unfathomable.

    Orinik and the other envoys seemed to be snapped awake right that moment, hurriedly bowing in greeting. However, these figures didn''t spare them a single glance as a woman at the center of them all frowned deeply, her gaze having been locked onto Alienor the entire time.

    "What is the meaning of this, Alienor? Your Sector is several months late."

 Chapter 1265 Deft Fingers

    Chapter 1265 Deft Fingers

    There were three individuals who stepped out, all dressed in elaborate robes wrapped in violet, blacks and silvers. It seemed to paint the picture of swirling a nebula and was most definitely a beautiful contrast in colors and construction. It took no more than this for Leonel''s cool uniform senses to tingle once again.

    He had already forgotten the weight of the conversation, looking them up and down as though he could already envision himself wearing it.

    For someone who didn''t care about how he dressed much, Leonel was very much obsessed with how well the organizations he joined did in this fashion. But, maybe only he was aware of the reason why this was.

    "Late?" Alienor asked lightly.

    Her demeanor seemed to have completely shifted. There was nothing left of a loving mother and there was only a calm indifference left. The pressure she exuded multiplied several times over, causing the brows of the woman who had stepped forward to furrow.

    Of the three that had appeared, all of them were Sector Ranked disciples and were, as such, well acquainted with one another.

    The young woman who spoke was maybe the most powerful of the three and as such had spoken on their behalf. But, even though her words were laced with an impatience and hardly concealed anger, if it was contrasted with how furious she had been earlier, it would be obvious to anyone that she was being reserved right this moment and only became more so after Alienor had spoken.

    "The last group before yours arrived over a month and a half ago. What possible explanation could you have for delaying us all for so long?"

    Leonel had originally been paying attention to the subtleties of the conversation. He could see that power dynamic here and it was quite clear that his mother was a step above. It seemed that even though she couldn''t be as rampant as Velasco, she had her own small hegemon. However, Leonel''s attention was soon pulled away by something else.

    Orinik and the other envoys who had stepped forward to bow in respect were a bit off. It took Leonel a moment, but he realized that they were actually still trying to adjust to the long scale teleportation.

    When he noticed this, his attention shifted once again to those around him and he noticed that even Aina and Myghell still had a deep frown marring their foreheads, their eyes tightly closed and their bodies trembling somewhat. It looked as though they still felt like they were teleporting.

    Leonel would soon realize, though, that this conclusion of his was wrong.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    At that moment, Little Blackstar shot out from Leonel''s spatial ring, catching him off guard. Little Blackstar appeared and vanished whenever the little guy felt like it, but he rarely appeared in situations where Leonel wasn''t alone, at least not so suddenly.

    The little guy excitedly jumped around, appearing and vanishing as he pleased.

    When he flashed back to Leonel''s head or hair, he didn''t seem ready to rest and still continued to hop around.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel smiled. "Alright, alright. I get it, you''re excited."

    "Yip! Yip!"

    The expression of the woman darkened before it suddenly flashed with a hint of surprise. She realized that by Leonel''s style of dress that he wasn''t yet a disciple but he had recovered already? And that little creatureбн

    Adjusting to this place was more than just about the teleportation over. It would make sense for Little Blackstar to be fine as he hadn''t had to take the brunt of the travel over. Howeverбн Not only was this region a Seventh Dimensional World that sat at the very pinnacle, far beyond what most had ever experienced, there was also a dense concentration of Anarchic Force in the general surroundings that made it feel as though you were breathing in poison constantly.

    Of course, this ''dense'' concentration was only a few parts per billion. But, this concentration was already enough to make a person feel greatly uncomfortable. The fact Leonel had already adjusted made little sense.

    Void Palace was designed this way on purpose even though they had the technology to make the density of Anarchic Force negligible, it was best to get the disciples accustomed to this right nowбн This would only get worse on the Void Battlefieldбн

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    Alienor seemed not to have heard her son''s ''outburst'' at all. Instead, she replied just as evenly as she originally did.

    "What do their early arrivals have to do with me? There is no deadline and every Selection is left up to the discretion of the Overseer. Mine just happened to take longer."

    The woman snapped her attention back to Alienor when she heard this, her expression couldn''t help but twitch. What Alienor said was true, but this all had to be within reason. This was taking things to an extreme, especially since several exceptions had been made already.

    However, when the woman thought about how all the other youths had had months to adjust to this environment while Alienor''s group wouldn''t have this luxury, her mind shifted toward an internal sneer.

    "Your words are just as fault proof as they always are, Lady Alienor. But, I still must inform you that the higher ups aren''t satisfied with how this Selection has lagged behind the others in schedule. It''s been decided that your Sector will only be given three hours to adjust upon arrival. Following this grace period, the true Selection will start immediately.

    "I will be overseeing a large portion of these matters, so I will not allow any delay."

    Despite having expected such an outcome, Alienor still frowned deeply, much to the satisfaction of Ossenna. Three hours was definitely excessively short, she had hoped that they would receive at least a day. Clearly, those old fogies were throwing their weight around.

    At that moment, though, a flash of violet caught Alienor''s attention out of the corner of her eye. She looked over to find her son twirling the heavy Amethyst Token as though it weighed as light as a feather, dancing it between his fingers with a deft skill only possible by someone with an impossibly high Grade Designation.

    The Token flipped in the air and a satisfying slap was heard as Leonel caught it again.

    His gaze twinkled as his mind drifted to the moment Aina had handed it to him. Then, he smiled confidently.

    "Leave it to me, mom."

 Chapter 1266 Volatile

    Chapter 1266 Volatile

    Ossenna''s pupils constricted when she noticed the Amethyst Token. However, her shock in seeing it was far less than hearing what Leonel addressed Alienor as. There was no one who didn''t understand who that man''s wife was, and there was probably even less who didn''t understand that the two had a child between them.

    Though this might sound like an odd way to frame those matters, if one knew the kind of commotion that was caused around Leonel''s birth it would be much easier to explain.

    The Void Palace had many strict rules, among them there were regulations around pregnancy and conceiving children. As such, it was no surprise, then, that Leonel''s birth had quite a lot of controversy surrounding it.

    Though these rules sounded quite barbaric, from the perspective of the Void Palace, it made a lot of sense. They were raising up the protectors of the Domain and the responsibility placed on the shoulder of their disciples was completely unlike anything one would find from another organization. In such a strict environment, where there were hardly any barriers between men and women, one could imagine what these sort of stress filled conditions would lead to.

    At the end of the day, men and women were two sides of the same coin and complimented one another. Left to their own devices, it was inevitable that they would pair up, and if there were no sort of regulations around these matters, it could negatively affect and compromise the ability of the Void Palace to function as it was meant to.

    In almost any other situation, Alienor would have been executed and Velasco would follow not long after. However, in this oneбн Well, it could only be said that Leonel''s father was a bit of a madman.

    The Void Palace had already reached a point of not wanting to provoke Val too much after what had happened following Leonel''s grandfather''s death. However, they still had to make a showing for this matter. The rules were important and they couldn''t just allow anyone to break them as they pleased.

    Unfortunatelyбн Velasco hadn''t felt like tiptoeing around the matter and playing their games, leading to the second time Void Palace was almost flipped on its head.

    As such, when the three Sector Ranked disciples looked toward Leonel, what they saw was more than just a boy holding an Amethyst Token, they found instead a ticking timebomb in human form.

    Alienor sighed. Leonel could have easily kept these matters to himself for a longer period of time, it might have been more advisable to do so and it would have made certain things far easier. But, he had actually purposely chosen this route.

    ''Well, never mind. He''s so adorable when he calls me mom.''

    A smile bloomed on Alienor''s features. With a wave of her hand, the struggling youths were cradled by a gentle energy and risen into the air. They were so supremely focused on regaining control of their bodies that they didn''t even notice the change.

    "Well, you''ve heard my son. If you''re finished now, you can move out of the way."

    Alienor walked forward without another word, guiding the youths into the gate.

    Leonel, who followed after her, took another look around, a curious glint in his eye before his gaze fell on Ossenna. For some reason, he felt the need to memorize her face.

    Beneath Leonel''s scrutiny, Ossenna''s frown deepened, but the smile on his face couldn''t help but remind her of a certain man, a reality that only made her pretty features snarl a bit.

    Leonel didn''t miss this change at all and even felt somewhat inwardly amused. He had a few guesses as to why this woman would react this way to his face despite how polite he was being. Still, he didn''t lose his smile.

    "My name is Leonel Morales, nice to meet you, overseer. Thank you in advance for your future impartial judgment and I''m sorry about the long wait. I''ll do my best to make sure we fall more in line with the coming rules."

    Ossenna was stunned for a moment before she realized her reaction was a bit off. But, that only made her stern expression become somewhat of a blush.

    ''Dammit, this little brat is just like his playboy father!''

    Leonel nodded in respect to the two men by Ossenna''s side before continuing on after his mother. Though her face was looking away, the smile on Alienor''s face could hardly be contained.

    бн

    Deep within the Void Palace, the arrival of Leonel and his mother didn''t go unnoticed. With how important this location was, it was simply impossible that anything could slip their attention. From the moment the portal had been formed, they were already aware of who was coming, how many there would be, and how powerful they were.

    "It seems like that day has finally come."

    An aged voice spoke into the shadows.

    The room made the concentration of Anarchic Force in the surroundings of Void Palace look like child''s play. However, these were among the most valuable training rooms of the organization. When controlled in this fashion, the continuous suppression caused by Anarchic Force, followed by a period of relief, could cause great growth in a warrior''s strength.

    For older individuals reaching the end of their potential, these dangerous methods were more of the norm and it wasn''t a surprise for many of them to share rooms like this as they oversaw matters. In the end, they were the true backbone of the Human Domain and needed to push themselves as such.

    "I was told that the boy suffered a grievous wound after his birth, but it seems that he''s recovered just fine. Though, being only at Tier 5 of the Fifth Dimension at his age considering his backgroundбн Is definitely lacking."

    Another silence fell over the room before another spoke.

    "Send Cornelius to oversee these matters. This generation is a bit tooбн volatile."

    Hums of agreement resounded. But, under a layer of their ambience was a silent and tacit understanding.

    They were all aware what a volatile generation like this one represented.

 Chapter 1267 Very Much

    Chapter 1267 Very Much

    Orinik and the others kept their heads lowered the entire time, not wanting to get involved in these matters. They didn''t have a mother like Alienor to rely on, so staying low was the best option they had for now. What Orinik didn''t expect, though, was that he would be stopped.

    "Hold." Ossenna''s voice sounded not long after Alienor vanished. "The rest of you can go. You, stay."

    Orinik''s lowered gaze flashed for a moment as though he was calculating something. He could hear the shuffling feet around him as though the other Ranked disciples vanished one after another, leaving him behind. Though Ganor hesitated for a moment, he ultimately did as he was told and vanished as well.

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    One of the male Sector Ranked disciples who had followed after her looked toward her with a questioning gaze. There wasn''t exactly anything wrong with what Ossenna was doing, but it was definitely a gray zone, especially since he could guess the kind of questions she would ask.

    For the sake of maintaining their fa?ade of equality and fairness, the Void Palace took several measures, not the least of which were the rules surrounding the Selection process. Usually, Alienor wouldn''t'' even be allowed to be an Overseer as she would be biased toward her Sector, but even that potential trouble was mitigated by the True Selection set to take place in three hours.

    That said, in order to prevent the spread of rumors, fellow Overseers weren''t meant to question the methods of their colleagues either. If no one was asking questions, then there wouldn''t be scandals to be found.

    This was to say that Ossenna''s act in stopping Orinik was most definitely toeing a vague line that she may very well have already crossed. However, she didn''t mind her fellow Sector Ranked disciple in the slightest as she asked her question.

    "I don''t want to question Lady Alienor''s methods, I''m only very curious. They were several months late and they even handed out an Amethyst Token, how could I not be intrigued? This year, there was only one other Amethyst Token given."

    Orinik''s gaze flickered once more, but his head remained downward as he knew these words weren''t directed at him but were rather a method of Ossenna using semantics to absolve herself of responsibility.

    What was more shocking, though, was that there was only one other Amethyst Token given out. While it was true that they were exceptionally rare and only a handful would be given out every Selection Round, this was still a matter of relativity.

    Though Orinik had said in his speech that there were many years not a single Amethyst Token would be handed out, he had only exaggerated for impact. This was a usual approach the envoys took because the criteria for handing out an Amethyst Token were so vague that there would often be geniuses who thought they were greatly deserving who would cause a commotion over them.

    It would be fine if it was just the genius alone who acted, but if their family got involved as well, it could lead to a messy situation. So, it was best if they all believed it was far out of their reach, only when they came to the Void Palace would they understand the truth.

    Of course, this wasn''t to say that the Amethyst Token was some ubiquitous thing. There were tens of thousands of Sectors in the Human Domain and only a handful of Amethyst Tokens would be given out. But, if what Ossenna said was true, that meant that this year there would only be one who was truly deserving of itбн

    That was unheard of!

    Obviously, Orinik didn''t count Leonel among this number. In his view and any objective person''s view, it was a matter of clear nepotism. If not for this, he would have never laid a finger on such a reward.

    This only meant one of two thingsбн Either this generation was so devoid of talent that hardly anyone was worth it orбн This generation was so talented that no single person could seem to claim a Sector for themselves. And Orinik had a sneaking suspicion that it was the latter.

    It seemed that Leonel would have to suffer for his mother''s ''kindness''.

    A small smile curled his lips as he kept his head lowered.

    Orinik would be lying if he said he didn''t get a small bit of satisfaction from this. His life in the Void Palace was very hard and he had to scratch and claw for everything. And soon, Leonel would realize that there were some things that couldn''t just be handed to you on a silver platter no matter who your mommy or daddy was.

    "Explain the events of the Selection to us."

    Hearing these words finally aimed toward him, Orinik didn''t hesitate to explain everything he knew. He didn''t embellish anything as there was simply no need to. The truth spoke for itself.

    The amused expression in Ossenna''s eyes only grew with every passing moment. She had thought that there would be some things to nitpick at here and there, but she had never thought that Alienor would actually be so brazenly biased. She almost couldn''t refrain from laughing out loud.

    In addition, judging by the recounting, that man''s son was definitely far weaker than he was at that age. It seemed that she had overestimated him because of how easily had adapted to the Anarchic Force. But, guessing by the rest of the story, Ossenna wouldn''t'' even be surprised if Alienor had delayed things for so long to use some artificial method to prepare Leonel for this environment.

    Though Ossenna was incorrect about this, she still felt like this was the most logical guess, or why else would Alienor put such a brazen target on her son''s back.

    ''To need several months to adapt to this level of Anarchic Forceбн'' Ossenna shook her head. ''бн It seems that your otherwise pure genes have been tainted by the trash that is your mother. That man had so many women to choose from, and yet she chose a pathetic Galaxy Ranked disciple to ruin his lineage with.

    ''How strong would our children have been?! We could have built an Empire! But you actually chose that nameless bitch from a Sixth Dimensional family.''

    Ossenna''s irises turned a darker shade before she calmed, her expression still the picture of stillness.

    She would enjoy this very much.

 Chapter 1268 Black Wood

    Chapter 1268 Black Wood

    Ossenna didn''t interrupt Orinik at all, allowing him to speak until he finished the final word. By the end of it all, even the more neutral male Sector Ranked disciples had weird expressions on their faces. It was clear and obvious that Alienor had gone too far. Even though the requirements of the Amethyst Token were quite vague, they were obvious enough to draw a clear line far ahead of where Leonel stood.

    Once Orinik finished, Ossenna smiled.

    "Thank you for you explanation. This year, the True Selections will be a bit different as the number of talents has grown so exponentially. Doing things the normal way won''t work any longer as we wouldn''t want those who had proved themselves worthy to fall through the cracks.

    "in order to facilitate these new methods, as the Overseer I''ll be needing a few helpers to help inform the large amounts of youths under my charge and spread my orders."

    Orinik''s heart skipped a beat when he heard this. Another opportunity? One maybe even better than what he would have gained selling information about Leonel''s appearance?

    No, he could take advantage of both, there was not even a need to choose.

    This was obviously Ossenna''s subtle way of telling him to make sure as many people learned of these matters as possible. This was the kind of news that would spread eventually anyway, it wasn''t as though Alienor had taken any measures to silence them. But, it seemed that Ossenna wouldn''t be satisfied with just this alone.

    "Yes! It would be my honor!"

    Ossenna''s smile deepened.

    бн

    Having crossed the barrier, the pressure around Leonel seemed more palpable. He had never truly felt the changes when shifting between Dimensional worlds, and it still wasn''t very exaggerated this time, but he still felt as though the air around him had become a touch heavier.

    Whether it was breathing or moving, it felt like a thin film of plastic had coated Leonel''s body, making him slightly uncomfortable. But, this was all. In fact, the feeling only took a few moments to vanish as though he had torn the sheet of plastic from himself. Finally, he could look around his surroundings, but what he was saw was almost as unexpected as the shock of the Void Palace''s grandeur.

    Everything in this place seemed touched by darkness. The ground was coarse and littered with grey soil and black rock, the skies were perpetually overcast without the slightest hint of a sun''s rays, and the air seemed to alternate in densities of fog, sometimes one could see hundreds of meters ahead and at other times, it felt difficult even to see your own hand before your face.

    However, this wasn''t why Leonel was confused.

    Before him, there was a small village that seemed completely out of place. Most of the surroundings were made up of simple houses built of black wood. They were only about three meters wide and deep and barely about two meters tall, maybe a bit over. There was no great organization to them, though simple roads seemed to have been formed around them.

    Around these wooden cabins, or more toward the center of this odd village, there were larger structures. There was what seemed to be a smithy, an herb exchange, a healer''s office, and also a handful of food exchanges.

    With just a glance, Leonel could sense several powerful auras resting in this odd makeshift village. Though he looked toward his mother for an explanation, her gaze didn''t seem to give anything away.

    "I will have to leave you all here. From what I can tell, Little Lion, these True Selections will be different from the past so there isn''t much I can do to help youбн"

    Alienor was going to continue to speak, but her gaze suddenly narrowed, shifting up to the sky. But, all that was there was a vast foggy canopy, and even in the few areas you could see through to the sky, there were nothing but more grey clouds waiting. There wasn''t much a difference between them and fog to begin with.

    With a thought, Alienor gently placed the youths down and turned toward Leonel with a light smile on her face.

    "Don''t cause too much trouble, alright?"

    Leonel raised an eyebrow, looking down at his mother. After a moment, he too looked up into the skies. But, this time, he sent his Internal Sight in a straight beam.

    It was completely invisible to the naked eye and yet those with sensitive senses were immediately placed on alert, the attention of several shifting toward the entrance of the small village. Unfortunately, Leonel still found nothing.

    "Huh, I guess the difference really is big."

    Alienor was stunned for a moment before she shook her head. The son that she had watched grow up was always so obedient and perfect, how had things become like this?

    Of course, Alienor''s smile only became brighter. And soon, the ''flaws'' she saw in her son just this moment were painted over and assimilated into her memories of him being obedient and perfect, perpetuating the cycle all over again.

    "Be safe and protect the others."

    "It''s because of me that they''re at such a disadvantage," Leonel nodded. "I''ll make sure nothing happens to them."

    "Good."

    Alienor ruffled her son''s hair before vanishing before his eyes, leaving him staring at the expanse of the village.

    бн

    Up in the skies, a man with a face obscured by a mask stood, his robes fluttering and his eyes narrowed. While it was true that Leonel hadn''t been able to sense him, that beam of Internal Sight had gone right through his forehead. With how vast the skies were, and how thin Leonel had made the line, the odds of such a perfect strike was completely unfathomable. There was no coincidence, he had done it on purpose.

    "This brat is just as arrogant as his father, still unwilling to take a loss. These matters will be annoying to deal with."

    Cornelius mumbled to himself, his voice deep and grating.

 Chapter 1269 Aggros

    Chapter 1269 Aggros

    Leonel gazed up at the skies once more after his mother had left, but chose to leave those matters be. He really only used a small trick to pinpoint that mysterious person''s location. It was as easy as calculating the line of his mother''s sight and the distance at which her gaze focused, then reverse engineering it from his location. With his current mental capacity and the fact his mother wasn''t on guard against him, obviously, it was as easy as breathing.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel retracted his gaze and took Little Blackstar into his arms. With a sigh, he looked around.

    The youths of Earth, Planet Luxnix, Planet Montex and Planet Viola, not to mention Riah, were all now sitting in meditation. Some of them looked far more uncomfortable than the others, but at this pace, there was simply no way they would be prepared in just three hours.

    ''Old man, what do you think? Is there a way to speed up this process?''

    Leonel couldn''t very well continue to talk with the old man out loud so he had learned a method of doing so with his Internal Sight thanks to the Luxnix''s vast store of Manipulation type techniques. This made things far more convenient as well.

    ''Anarchic Force isn''t a joke, kid. There''s no ''speeding'' up the process. Doing so will just kill them. I have a feeling that the only reason you are fine is because you suffered for days pulling it out of your body, so you''ve already undergone a baptism of a far higher concentration.''

    ''Speaking of which, if it''s so volatile in such a low concentration, why did I never notice that so much was in my body?''

    ''The Anarchic Force came when you stole energy from the Regulator and that energy was immediately used to fuel your Innate Nodes ridiculous growth. It''s more likely than not that it was your Innate Node that stored it all, protecting you from it.

    ''When you reconnected your Nodal Pathways, it finally gained an outlet to expell it all.''

    Leonel nodded, these were his thoughts as well. He felt that he could sense his Innate Node with even more clarity than he had before now, so it was clear that something had been obstructing it.

    Leonel suddenly turned his head back, but the envoys he had been expecting to find weren''t there. Or, rather, there was only one of them: Orinik. He followed behind Ossenna, but even the other two Sector Ranked disciples were nowhere to be seen. The only explanation was that while they had all entered the same Paifang, that didn''t mean they would all end up at the same location. Clearly there were methods of controlling this that Leonel wasn''t aware of just yet.

    A lot of attention had already been aimed toward Leonel''s location due to his sudden use of Internal Sight, so when Ossenna, a Sector Ranked disciple, appeared, the attention toward this region only grew.

    Soon, a few figures stepped out from their black wood cabins, their gazes observing Leonel and the other newcomers. But, seeing their silent struggle against Anarchic Force, each one of them had a different reaction.

    Some were pensive, others sneered, and others remained indifferent. This last group was maybe the one Leonel paid the most attention to.

    Ossenna ignored these observers and trained her own indifferent gaze toward Leonel. Without Alienor being here, the pressure she gave off was far less restrained. Despite her being more than a full head shorter than Leonel, she might as well have been a towering mountain to him. The strength hidden within that petite body of hers was undeniable.

    At that moment, though, something Ossenna hadn''t been expecting occurred.

    A young lady that dwarfed her beauty in every way, shape and form appeared by Leonel''s side. Her face was pale to an extreme and her body was trembling from head to toe, but she still struggled to stand shoulder to shoulder with Leonel, bearing Ossenna''s pressure along with him.

    It felt that everyone''s attention was immediately diverted to this young woman. She looked like the perfect image of a gorgeous fairy, her black hair falling like a glistening waterfall and her golden irises flickering like two radiant starsбн in this bleak atmosphere, she looked to be the only light.

    While everyone else was enraptured, though, Leonel frowned.

    "You haven''t adjusted yet, go back and meditate."

    Aina didn''t take her gaze away from Ossenna immediately.

    "But, we don''t have time." Aina said lightly.

    "You''ll have all the time you need."

    Aina''s gaze finally shifted away from Ossenna to meet Leonel''s. Her lips gave way to a smile, her pale expression making her look like a frail flower one should protect with their entire being.

    "Yes, my King."

    Aina obediently turned back and returned to her meditation, her beautiful voice being carried by the wind and making the day seem just that much brighter. Toward her actions, though, despite his expression not showing it, Leonel could only smile bitterly on the inside.

    No matter what his mother didбн There would never be any greater aggros than a woman with beauty beyond words.

    Just the act of Aina stepping to Leonel''s side had already lit a fire in several eyes. However, her form of address to him was like a barrel of explosive oil poured over it all.

    Leonel''s gaze turned back to Ossenna, meeting hers. A flicker of red and violet danced in his eyes, his King''s Might swimming between tangible and intangible. The momentum Ossenna had built up seemed worthless.

    "бн"

    Ossenna''s gaze narrowed. But, once again, she inwardly found another opportunity. A Generational Goddess was more motivation for some than even an Amethyst Token.

    "I''ve come to tell you all that the True Selection will begin in three hours. The others have already been briefed on what to expect and how to prepare, but you late comers will have to rely on yourselves to figure out what is coming.

    "All I can tell you is that if you want a cabin and a place to rest, you''ll have to build it yourself. And, if you want to buy things from the smithy or rent the services of a Healer, you will only be able to do so with Void Points as outside currencies are useless here.

    "Good luck."

    Ossenna vanished, leaving Leonel as the only line of defense between over a dozen meditating and vulnerable youths, and a group of geniuses from across the Human Domain.

 Chapter 1270 Ignorant

    Chapter 1270 Ignorant

    Leonel turned his gaze away from the youths before him. He couldn''t just leave them here, but it seemed he would have to if he wanted to find out what was going on in this place. There was no way he could trust these people who had a vested interest in having as little competition as possible with the wellbeing of his people.

    "Blackstar, you stay here and protect them."

    "Yip! Yip!"

    "If anything goes wrong, you can just reach out to me. I will return immediately."

    "Yip!"

    Little Blackstar leapt out of Leonel''s arms and softly landed on Aina''s lap. The little guy scurried around in a state of half familiarity and half hesitation.

    Though Little Blackstar couldn''t speak like a human, his thoughts were no less complex and his connection with Leonel was very deep. Because of this, the little guy was aware of a great many things though its summation couldn''t be articulated.

    In the end, though, Little Blackstar''s tense body relaxed and his hesitation drifted away. Scurrying up Aina''s arm, he found a resting spot on her shoulder before giving Leonel a reassuring twitch of his long whiskers.

    Leonel immediately got the gist of Little Blackstar''s thoughts. They were something to the effect of ''I won''t let anyone touch a single hair on her head.''

    Toward such a thing, he could only speechlessly shake his head. He had said to protect everyone, how had this little runt interpreted things that way?

    ''Forget it, Little Blackstar wouldn''t sit idly by if any one of them was attacked.''

    Leonel tapped his foot on the ground, causing several beast constructs to slowly take form.

    ''Interesting. It feels a bit sluggish manipulating Force here. I''m still a bit too used to snatching energy from the atmosphere, though. It would have been much faster if I relied on my internal Force instead.''

    Habits built over several years took time to break and the few days Leonel had had weren''t enough. Luckily, with the Control Tier of his ability slowly coming under his wing more and more everyday, Leonel was better suited to breaking bad habits than almost anyone else in existence.

    The beast constructed Leonel formed were practically invisible to the naked eye and relied on a lot of the concepts he had used in forming the spider beast construct he had prepared for Aina''s father. But, now, they only had a small amount of spatial properties but were mostly designed to be Leonel''s eyes and ears.

    Once this was finished, Leonel turned toward the village once more, strolling forward. However, he had only made it to the line of the outer borders when he suddenly found that his road forward was block by a singular young man.

    Nothing in particular stood out about this person. He had normal black hair and he wasn''t too tall, being a head shorter than Leonel himself. He had a broad and stocky build and made his shoulders appear to be quite strong and his irises seemed a bit blacker than would be natural, but considering the low light of the surroundings, it could have just as easily been an illusion of the eye.

    Still, he stood before Leonel quite confidently, his expression not really giving much away.

    Leonel towered over him, his hands carelessly loose within his pockets. Despite the three hour time limit, he didn''t seem to be in a rush at all, standing in place and meeting the gaze of this young man without much difficulty.

    As silent as the space between the two of them was, the gravel and rocks that surrounded them shifted ever so slightly from time to time. Under such pressure, it was very much possible that the ground of a Fifth Dimensional world would have long been grinded into fine sand.

    Leonel shifted his gaze away from the young man, looking past him and seeing that many of the youths who had stepped out of their cabins had yet to return. Their purpose wasn''t entirely clear, but if there was a simple method to get rid of competition and variables, why wouldn''t they take it?

    They had all come with support systems of their own, but it was very obvious that Leonel was alone. Taking him out would only be a matter of a small effort. Once he was dealt with, dealing with the rest while they were so vulnerable would be as easy as breathing.

    Leonel fell into thought for a moment.

    On the one hand, he didn''t particularly want to start off his days in this place on the wrong foot. But, on the otherбн

    Orinik had already silently vanished into the village and though he hadn''t said anything to Leonel, there were too many oddities about his appearance here.

    ''Between our entering the gates and his appearance with that lady, there were three minutes that passed. It''s an odd time dilation if there was always a plan to be here. Even if it was a last minute addition, three minutes is a bit on the longer sideбн Though, not long enough that it''s too suspicious either.

    ''Plus, is being the nice guy here even possible. I already tried with that lady and yet the first thing she did when she faced me again was try to pressure me once more. There''s also that guy in the skies, but he''s probably only here to make sure that things actually follow the rules since mom didn''t tell me anything about him.

    ''In that caseбн''

    Leonel sighed. Bringing a hand out of his pockets, he ran his fingers through his hair.

    Of their three hour timer, half a minute had already passed and even more was only ticking by. He couldn''t very well have to fight everyone in this village, right? No, that wasn''t the proper way to think of things.

    He would just have to make sure that that thought never even crossed their minds.

    The pupils of the young man before Leonel''s suddenly constricted, but it was already too late. A claw-like hand had appeared hovering above his head, Leonel''s gaze down toward him now having become a frightening cold.

    "I''m a bit ignorant of the rules here. Can I kill this ant?"

    The words seemed spoken at nobody, and yet the figure in the sky knew quite well they were for him.

 Chapter 1271 Reason

    Chapter 1271 Reason

    The young man had no idea when Leonel''s hand had appeared above his head. And yet, despite the fact there was no actual physical touch between them, he could still feel an undeniable pressure squeezing down, making his eyes feel as though they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.

    The pressure was palpable, his knees shaking and bending, a cold sweat coating his back and forehead, and veins popping up across his body. He didn''t even dare to take a step forward or back, in fear that any such action might lead to his inevitable death.

    "Oh?" Leonel spoke again. "No response?"

    A smile crept across Leonel''s face, but the coldness that remained in his eyes made it feel like the call of a devil. The young man didn''t dare to shift his gaze away, and yet he was praying and hoping that he could look at something else, anything else.

    The impact on his psyche was even more damning than the impact on his body. He felt all the bits and pieces of his cobbled together confidence crumbling one after another.

    Leonel shrugged. "You saw it for yourself, right? The only rules our supposed Overseer let us know of is the fact that I have to build cabins for myself. But, she never said what would happen if I just killed one of you and took it for myself. If my hand slipped and I made a mistake, could it really be blamed on me?"

    Once again, Leonel''s words were met with nothing more than silence. However, his smile only became brighter, morphing into a toothy grin as flickers of crimson danced within his eyes.

    An oppressive fog of violet and red began to rise, his short hair dancing about ever so slightly in the upswing of Force.

    "It seems that no one cares if you die. Goodbye."

    Leonel''s forearm bulged, veins dancing with power manifesting as he clamped downward.

    The horrid screech of the boy came next. It was the kind of pained cry that sent shivers down one''s spine. In many ways, it only made it worse that he was facing away from the few spectators that remained. Their own imaginations filled in the blanks for what kind of horrible expressions he was making with his head under that kind of pressure.

    "That''s enough."

    The voice was calm and unhurried, and yet enveloped the whole of the surroundings.

    Leonel''s strength was snuffed out with a slight breeze, vanishing as though it had never been there. Even he couldn''t help but be surprised. To eliminate someone''s strength like that without hurting them in the slightest was definitely a shocking feat of skill. Leonel was very much impressed.

    The young man collapsed to the ground, holding onto his head as he bled from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He looked as though he had been tortured for a millennia and no longer had the strength to pull himself back together.

    However, Leonel wasn''t paying attention to him in the slightest. Instead, he had turned a gaze toward the sky. Though the man was still much too far away to be seen by the likes of them, Leonel could finally make out his presence.

    "The Void Palace has a strict mandate against killing. Its foundation is built upon creating the future leaders and protectors of the human race. You can push one another and battle for supremacy, but death will not be tolerated."

    The voice and the man''s presence vanished after this.

    In truth, Cornelius really thought about letting Leonel kill the young man. If that happened, even though they wouldn''t be able to punish Leonel the way they normally would due to the circumstances surrounding this matter, they could still expel him. That much would save them a great amount of headache in the future.

    But in the end, Cornelius chose against this line of action. Petty tricks like this only worked against those with backing they could ignore, and only further with those who actually cared about semantics and curving around the rules. That man, thoughбн

    Didn''t give a damn.

    Cornelius'' gaze shifted toward a certain direction, landing in an inconspicuous place. It was only for the briefest of moments but Ossenna felt as though her head had been dunked into a vat of dry ice. Her body tensed up, and even long after Cornelius had turned his gaze away, she still didn''t dare to make any sudden movements.

    ''That brat actually dared to use me in this way. Just give me one slip up, just a single one, and I''ll make sure to spank you well in your father''s stead.''

    Cornelius hadn''t had such an immature thought decades and didn''t even realize there was anything wrong with it until several days later. Unfortunately, over time, he would soon learn that this was just the kind of effect Leonel had on people.

    Leonel smiled brightly on the ground. This time, the coldness that had suffused it was nowhere to be seen. However, the fact there was a young man writhing in pain on the ground before him didn''t help his image very much at all.

    "Thank you for your guidance."

    Leonel respectfully thanked the invisible man above him and stepped over the young man who was still clinging to his head.

    ''That''s one minor problem dealt with, but I still didn''t end up getting an explanation for everything else. It seems I''ll still have to find out for myselfбн'' Leonel''s gaze quickly swept the village and he entered.

    He noticed a sign to the side that read: ''Village 0012''. It was likely, then, that this was just one of many. However, whether that meant that the True Selection would only encompass this one alone, or incorporate the others as well, was a relative unknown to him.

    ''I guess I should check the smithy first? I don''t think there''s much of a point in building cabins now at least from my current understanding. What good is a house you can only use for three hours? But, if there''s a reason I should, then that answer would be found thereбн

    ''It''s too odd that a culmination of geniuses from across the Human Domain, most of whom come from wealthy and well off families, would need the services of a smithy at allбн There''s got to be a reason for that.''

 Chapter 1272 Odd Behavior

    Chapter 1272 Odd Behavior

    When Leonel entered the village, he felt a shift in the Force. He could feel its density and its heaviness, but he could also feel the difficulty in grasping and forcing this Force to bend to your will. It was yet another great change from the region he had just been in.

    The realization made Leonel wonder a few things. Could it be that the Void Palace was split into tiers like this with ever progressing density of energy? If that was the case, how far did it go? It was very possible that Leonel hadn''t truly experienced the truth bulk of strength a world at the Pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension could exude.

    Many still silently observe Leonel as he walked through the village and the density of people only grew as he got closer to the village center. Leonel stuck out not only because of what he had done to the previous young man, but also because he was the only one who seemed to be walking alone.

    Likely as a sign of caution, most of the youths here moved in pairs at a minimum, but many more walked in groups of three or four, with four seeming to be the cap. There was a tense quiet that hung over the village and Leonel could imagine that it had been like this for a long while. None of these people would relax until they had confirmed their entry into the Void Palace.

    Little did they know, though, that the true nightmare only began once this threshold was crossed.

    Of course, Leonel was oblivious to all of this as well, but he could understand these people. 99% of them were Nominal disciples who had barely been able to scrape by and gain a position. There was only one Amethyst Token and three Golden Tokens to be given out, and even if you were the top four strongest in your Sector, you weren''t guaranteed any one of them if you didn''t meet a certain standard.

    Knowing this, it was no wonder so many of them were nervous and on guard.

    This year seemed to have far more participants than usual and that meant far more enemies. They all had to keep their heads on a swivel, especially when it came to new comers and unknown variables like Leonel and the others.

    Leonel, though, was observing them for a vastly different reason. He wanted to see which of them were actually threats and which weren''t. He also wanted to see which of them were just hiding themselves and playing the long con and which of them were truly wary of him.

    His interaction with the young man previously told him that just an outward showing of confidence wasn''t enough to show strength. But, that also meant that the vice versa was true as well.

    Tier level had suddenly become an absolutely useless metric for Leonel. Everyone here was either Tier 8 or Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension. This was the case across the board. However, the strength level and variations among those who shared these Tier levels was astronomical.

    At this point, Leonel almost felt that the lower Tier a person was in this place, the stronger they were overall, something that was completely counter intuitive anywhere else.

    But, this was the result you got when you gathered so many geniuses together. Leonel''s own mother was still in the Sixth Dimension, just like the Luxnix family elders were, but wasn''t the gap between them all still ridiculously enormous? And these were the very same Sixth Dimensional elders that had wiped the floor with the elders of the Viola family just days earlier.

    In the beginning of Leonel''s journey, he had had a nice and succinct power level calculator. But, he had been forced to abandon it long agoбн Now, though, he almost felt he would have to bring it back in some form or fashion or else he would really be going into all of these interactions blind.

    Leonel shook his head. He had already gone down that rabbit hole once before and it was nothing more than a headache. There were simply too many variables to account for, it was better to rely on an instinctual feeling, ironically enough.

    ''What do you think, old man? How do you tell how much power a person wields?''

    ''Isn''t that simple? Just look at their souls.''

    Leonel''s expression became weird. ''There''s a huge taboo around using Internal Sight to just probe people like that and mine is no longer strong enough to just get away with it. Aren''t you asking me to form enemies everywhere I went?''

    ''It''s not my fault you''re unskilled. I''ve already given you the answer you wanted, now leave me alone. I have to care for my real disciples.''

    Leonel shook his head before completely ignoring the old man''s request.

    ''Would that really work?''

    ''Obviously. People say eyes are the window to the soul, but the soul is literally the soul itself, it can''t get anymore important. Humans can''t even sense and manipulate their own, so they have no ability to hide its secrets from those more skilled than them outside of using special treasures.

    ''Observing a soul won''t give you a direct number you can translate to strength output, but reading the disposition of a soul will tell you a lot about a person. How much confidence they have, if it''s false bravado or real, how much work they put in to earn such a thing, so on and so forth.

    ''A soul can''t lie.''

    Leonel laughed inwardly. ''You could have fooled me.''

    Wise Star Order snorted and proceeded to ignore Leonel. The latter didn''t have time to mind this, though, as he had made it to the very doors of the Smithy he had been aiming for.

    Unsurprisingly, there were many who could be found here as well, but the atmosphere was even more tense.

    Despite there only being three hours until the trial began, many huddled near the counters of the Smithy or corners all to their own, silently clutching something within their palms they didn''t want to allow anyone else to see.

    The opening of the door caused several to shoot glances toward Leonel, their gazes becoming more serious when they realized they couldn''t recognize him at all.

 Chapter 1273 Decency

    Chapter 1273 Decency

    The more Leonel saw of this tense atmosphere, the more put off he was. He could even feel some of these reservations beginning to press upon himself as well. It was simply human nature to follow along with a crowd. But, the oddity of it all was that a genius didn''t usually fall into such things so easily.

    Leonel couldn''t help but wonder what could have happened to such a large group of geniuses for the blades to dull to this extent. What had he missed in these last few months?

    The Smithy had three main counters, none of which seemed to be markedly different from the others. Behind each of them, one stoic individual stood. All three were men and completely shirtless.

    Whenever someone came forward, an odd looking spatial ring would be handed over, the man would then disappear behind the curtains to their back, only to return several minutes later with the very same odd spatial ring.

    The ''client'' in this case, would hurriedly take the spatial ring away and rush out of the Smithy with their heads lowered.

    The truth was that the only reason Leonel was able to tell this was a Smithy as all was because he was quite sensitive to such things. Though the curtains were embedded with Force Arts that muffled sounds and blocked Force, Leonel could practically smell it in the air.

    But that once again left him baffled. Do they really need weapons to this extentбн? Unlessбн

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. With a thought, he flipped a palm and a weapon appeared within it. This wasn''t a weapon that came out of the Spear Domain. Rather, it was one of the prototypes he had formed to prepare for practicing with his Scarlet Star Force Arts.

    There wasn''t anything special about the material other than the fact it was Sixth Dimensional. It was only a material of this level that could withstand Destruction characteristics for a long enough period of time for Leonel to make use of it.

    For a long while, nothing happened. Several flickering gazes landed on Leonel right then, but each of them turned away just as quickly as though they were scared that others would get the wrong idea.

    Even after several minutes passed, nothing happened. But, Leonel''s expression only became more serious.

    He reached forward with his other hand. With a slight bend of his wristsбн

    SNAP!

    Just like that, a perfectly primed and ready Sixth Dimensional Metal snapped like a twig. Nothing seemed wrong with it initially, and yet it had already crumbled from the inside out.

    Those who had been silently observing Leonel snarled. It was obvious that he had figured it out without being told anything. Their efforts at keeping this matter a secret had clearly fallen through.

    Without hesitation, Leonel immediately transferred everything within his spatial ring into the Segmented Cube and then brought the cube itself out. He didn''t care about the gazes that fell onto it as he forced the Segmented Cube to change its form.

    The Segmented Cube was unable to become a spatial ring as it couldn''t shrink past a certain point, but Leonel still managed to get it to become a finger sleeve that wrapped around his forefinger in miniature jigsaw pieces.

    Leonel gazed upon his original spatial ring, but unsurprisingly, with a light squeeze of his hand, it crumbled to dust.

    ''It seems that Anarchic Force isn''t a jokeбн Will the necklace be fineбн?''

    Leonel turned his attention to the necklace that held Wise Star Order and then the necklace that held the golden scaled koi fish. After a few checks, he realized that they still managed to maintain their structural integrity, at least for now. He would have to pay attention to this.

    The chain that held the golden scaled koi fish up snapped under a pull from Leonel before crumbling to dust. However, the Ocean Drop Vial was perfectly fine. It seemed that only materials that had a certain standard would be able to survive in this environment. It was likely that even clothing wasn''t safe.

    Leonel cast another glance and realized that everyone was wearing the same uniform. He hadn''t thought about it much because this was an organization after all, of course they would have the same uniforms. But, if he allowed things to continue like this, he would end up naked very quickly.

    ''The Anarchic Force seems to work slower on normal fabrics because there''s no Force to feed off of. But, it''ll only be a matter of time before all our clothes crumble to ash.''

    Leonel thought back to all those men who were still eyeing everyone he had brought and suddenly understood that maybe their intentions were moreбн perverted than sinister.

    ''Seems I''ll either need to find a method to gain uniforms or at least build cabins so that everyone can maintain their dignity.''

    Leonel had a feeling that the Void Palace wouldn''t be giving out these uniforms free of charge.

    When one thought about it, what better way would their be to make such a large population of geniuses feel so timid and reservedбн?

    ''These sadistic bastardsбн''

    Leonel almost couldn''t refrain from laughing.

    They wanted to cut everyone down a peg so they stripped them of their clothing and made them fight for scraps. Leonel had been able to figure out the problem quickly, but what about the others?

    There had probably been a time here where everyone was forced to use rocks and planks of wood to cover their decency. How could you continue to be arrogant, prideful and haughty under such circumstances?

    It was even worse that Leonel and the others were only given three hours. At this pace, their clothes would be nothing more than ash by the time the True Selections started, and then what? They were meant to participate naked?

    Leonel''s amused gaze flickered with a cold light. He didn''t actually care about being naked or not, but for some reason, this still made him angry.

    At the village entrance, a certain little mink''s long whiskers twitched, taking an even more defensive stance around Aina as he freely interpreted Leonel''s thoughts.

 Chapter 1274 Black Wall

    Chapter 1274 Black Wall

    Leonel closed his eyes, taking a small breath. When he opened them once more, he had regained his focus.

    He was at least 90% certain now that one of the main tasks he had to accomplish in Village 0012 was to earn a uniform. But, he not only had to do this for himself, but also another more than dozen individuals. However, if there was one hidden pitfall, Leonel would be foolish to believe that there wouldn''t be another, especially after spending so much time with Wise Star Order.

    With a sharp eye, Leonel proceeded to visit every shop. Soon, he found out just how correct he was. There were pitfalls to be found in every one of them.

    The second and most obvious issue was water and food in general. The food stores were clearly the only way to guarantee healthy sources of nutrition. Much the same way geniuses brought resources to the smithy in exchange for what Leonel assumed was clothing or weapons, so too did they bring resources to the storefronts in exchange for what Leonel assumed was food and water.

    Then there were the herb shops. This store, in Leonel''s estimation, was probably a bit different. It wasn''t just about nutrition or clothing, it was about finding a path to strengthen yourself and slow the deterioration of your strength. Spending such a long time in this environment ate away at not only one''s psyche, but also, in a much more literal sense, one''s Force.

    The process was once more unchanged. A secret exchange between worker and disciple followed by a dash away by the latter.

    Finally, there was the final storefront, the healer. By the time Leonel got here, there was a familiar young man barely holding himself together as he dragged himself in. But, even outside of him, the line here was even longer than all the other lines combined.

    Leonel had gotten quite used to seeing gruesome injuries, but this was truly on another level entirely. Promising youths had entire arms and legs lost, some had their guts spilling out of their stomachs, and Leonel even saw one with a bite taken out of their skull, just barely sparing the tender flesh of their now exposed brain.

    When Leonel was finished, he realized a few things.

    First, there was nothing on the outside of these buildings that described what their function was. There were no signs, no exchange rates, no friendly smile waiting to explain, nothing.

    Leonel realized that the only reason he had been able to tell what purpose these buildings served was by observing, process of elimination and deduction. It was something that all humans could do, but something he most definitely did on a far higher level than most. Of course, it was also a great help that everyone else had already figured these things out in his stead. Even if he wasn''t even a tenth as intelligent, he would be able to guess.

    The second thing he realized was that all of these matters were practically the bare minimum an organization should provide. A treasury, health, food and healingбн If an organization couldn''t provide these things, then there was really no need for its existence. And yet, it was precisely these foundational things that the Void Palace forced them all to scratch and claw for.

    Leonel could easily imagine a scene where these geniuses came to this place, feeling high and mighty about their acceptance into the Human Domain''s greatest power, only to get slapped in the face repeatedly by a cruel reality.

    They didn''t end up being treated like kings and queens like they hoped. Instead, they were stripped of their clothing, forced to find that the treasures and resources they had brought with them to flaunt their wealth was useless, and then humiliated to the point they could only scurry around like rats and mice in the place they should have held their heads up the highest.

    Leonel could even imagine situations where food they had brought was poisoned by the Anarchic Force, their water becoming laced with impurities that forced them to rush to these healers, only for them to come to the understanding that nothing in this place was free.

    They had probably begged and pleaded, some of them had probably even thrown a fit and become enraged, only to realize that the ''store workers'' were behemoths with strength capable of crushing them all with nothing more than a single finger.

    A Dream Simulation of what must have happened formulated in Leonel''s mind, becoming clearer and clearer until it all snapped into place, filling him with understanding.

    ''So what do I do about itбн?'' Leonel''s mind flashed. He already deduced the answer.

    With a spin of his heel, his body flashed, appearing to the outskirts of the village on the direct opposing side of where he had entered. While the front of the village had nothing, the back was walled off by a wall of thick black logs connected as one.

    There were no doorways or gates, something that left Leonel confused for a moment, until he spotted a poor soul leaping over from the other side and falling nearly a hundred meters in a frantic getaway.

    Despite their best efforts, a tendril of what looked like a beast Leonel had simply never seen before lashed out, slapping against the leg of the falling victim before they could get all the way over.

    A cry of pain resounded as the individual found their leg bursting into a misty rain of crimson. Their body spiraled off to the side, causing their fall to accelerate at a downward angle.

    BANG!

    A hundred meter fall in a Seventh Dimensional world was no joke, especially for a Fifth Dimensional existence, no matter how much of a genius you were. Just from his vantage point, Leonel could tell that the young man had broken practically every bone in his body just now.

    ''I guess that answers where they''re all going to get hurt.''

    Leonel looked up. Just scaling this hundred-meter wall of logs was a feat. After all, they were planted vertically, not horizontally. To have to do so while being chased by something that could kill you with a single slapбн

    Well, Leonel had a feeling that there were a ton of corpses on the other side of this wall.

    ''бн No time to waste.''

    Leonel activated the Second Awakening of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor''s Speed Branch. A road of white-gold appeared beneath his feet.

    With a step, he shot into the skies with a deft control, his toes stamping down hard on the log wall and jetting himself upward.

    Soon, he vanished over its height.

 Chapter 1275 Wood

    Chapter 1275 Wood

    "He left? Already? Is he an idiot?"

    "They only have three hours left, what choice did he have?" A laughing voice responded.

    The location was Village 0012 within a cabin built much larger than most of the others around it. Though, the craftsmanship was shoddy. It was clear that the original cabin had been built much smaller before its owner grew more confident and began to put in additional add-ons.

    "There''s no use in rushing if you''re just going off to your death. At this point, we might as well not even waste our time. He''ll get himself killed. I don''t know how he accustomed himself to the Anarchic Force so quickly, but the concentration here and the concentration in the forest are on two completely different levels."

    Within the cabin, two young men sat. They seemed like oddly matched mirror images of one another. The look might have been absolutely perfect had it not been for the fact they wore the exact same uniform everyone else did.

    One had a head of white hair and black eyes while the other had a head of black hair and white eyes. The former had skin as dark as night while the latter had skin as bright as day. However, maybe the most interesting thing about them was that their features were identical down to the individual strands of hair on their head and up to the slight slant of their smiles.

    These two were from a very prominent family of the Seventh Dimension, the Libra family. If this family were to be put on a scale of one to ten, where one would be the weakest families of the Seventh Dimension and ten would be the strongest, they would likely fall between seven and eight. Simply put, having disciples enter the Void Palace wasn''t rare for them in the slightest, and this was especially so with a pair like these two.

    The white haired and dark skinned brother, Huon. The black haired and light skinned brother, Droet.

    The two had obviously planned to do something to Leonel if for nothing other than to whittle down the competition a bit more. However, it was also clear that they felt that Leonel was unworthy of the emphasis they were going to give him judging by his choices alone.

    The truth was that the only ones still scrambling around and trying to drudge up Void Points now were those who were at the bottom of the totem pole to begin with. Those who were confident in themselves were resting and waiting for the three hour limit to be completed.

    Knowing that, if Leonel wasn''t a threat, why would they waste their time risking their peak condition for the coming True Selection. It was best if they save their resources and strength.

    At that moment, though, an unexpected knock came from the door.

    The two brothers met each other''s gaze before putting up their guards. Just because they didn''t see Leonel as a threat, didn''t mean that there would be other threats to watch out for.

    When they finally did open the door, though, the person they found was Orinik. And, when they heard what he had to say, the sly and slanted smiles of the two brothers only deepened.

    **

    Leonel had already deduced what he had to do. As annoying as Ossenna was, she had still managed to leave him behind a clue: build your own cabin.

    The obvious question to ask to such a task was how? Obviously, this ''how'' didn''t refer to the logistics of the actual matter, but rather in the more auxiliary matters. For example, where would he build it? Was anywhere fine? And then, the most important of the auxiliary questionsбн Where would he find the wood to do so?

    Leonel didn''t know for certain, but he had an educated guess as to two places. The first was the most obvious, and that was beyond the wall of black logs. The second was more subtle but still required going beyond the walls regardless, and that was to exchange Void Points for the wood he needed.

    As Leonel fell from the top of the walls, he realized that his conjectures were correct. Or, at the very least, the first was.

    The first thing he saw was a vast cloud of fog. As far as the eye could see, this fog covered everything.

    The second thing Leonel saw were the tree tops and tree canopies that just barely managed to peek out above the dome of fog. The trees closer to the village were much smaller than the hundred meter tall longs used to construct the walls, but those further only became taller and taller to the point they rivaled mountains all to their own.

    These trees, though, were all made of greatly resistant materials and were likely the very wood that made up so many of the cabins.

    With a WHOOSH! Leonel shot through the dome of fog, leaving behind a small hole that was quickly enveloped from all sides. But, the moment he did so, his pupils constricted.

    Right then, Leonel''s clothing burst into a cloud of ash. The concentration of Anarchic Force was at least double here, and though that still left it in the parts per several billion range, it was more than enough to leave Leonel streaking naked in the nude.

    With a heavy stomp, Leonel landed on the ground below, his knees instantly suffering from a severe jolt. The ground gave him no leeway whatsoever, causing all the shock to transfer up his bones. If it wasn''t for the sturdiness of his body, he would have probably suffered a fracture or two.

    ''бн Have to adjust to this world. Should have used a movement technique to slow myself down.''

    Leonel made a mental note and calculated everything in his mind. After a moment, he felt he understood his limits, at least in this form.

    Leonel took a step forward after the jolt of shock waned and pressed a palm to the nearest tree. That creature that had attacked earlier was likely still close by, so he didn''t want to stay in a single spot for too long. But, he needed to understand this before he moved on.

    ''This tree isбн''

    Leonel understood at that point that he was definitely correct, there had to be another method to trade for this wood. Let alone the difficulty in cutting a tree like this down, just the idea of trying to hoist it over the hundred meter tall wall was a daunting task even for him.

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze suddenly narrowed.

    ''It''s coming, it''s already locked onto me?''

 Chapter 1276 Tendrils

    Chapter 1276 Tendrils

    Leonel gaze sharpened, his eyes quickly scanning the region.

    In this dense fog, his Internal Sight could only stretch out about five meters which was barely beyond his line of sight, which was about two meters in this environment. The trouble was that thought it was theoretically better than relying on his eyes, the impact on his stamina was to great.

    Under normal circumstances, he could continuously use his Internal Sight passively without much issue. But, in this world, not only had a Seventh Dimensional pressure restricted his range to an extreme, but the Anarchic Force also ate away at him rapidly.

    The only reason Leonel was able to sense the creature was because his instincts had called out to him. He could feel a slimy and slippery Internal Sight latching onto his body. In fact, he could even read some of the creature''s emotions.

    There was nothing but an endless thirst and hunger. It wanted nothing more than to eat and satiate itself. The feeling was so overwhelming that it leaked into its internal sight, even beginning to affect Leonel''s own psyche somewhat.

    In a moment of distraction, a wild tendril appeared to Leonel''s side, whipping down with a force that that dispersed the fog for several meters.

    Leonel regained his bearing, jumping back.

    The tendril slammed against the ground heavily. After seeing what had happened to that youth''s leg earlier, Leonel was certain that the ground would shatter and erupt out in all directions with countless spiderweb-like cracks, but the reality was very much different.

    The tendril was sent rebounding backward, a cry that sounded somewhat like a pained shout resonating through the forest.

    Leonel got another wakeup call about just how sturdy the world around him was. That same tendril had blasted a person''s leg into a bloody mist seconds ago, but it couldn''t even cause a crack in the ground. The disparity was glaring.

    Leonel didn''t get much of a chance to think about this, though, as the tendril suddenly gained several companions. One line of black became six, snaking toward Leonel with blinding speed that left after images in the air.

    The wind refused to give way, giving each tendril a chorus of wind pressure that assaulted Leonel long before the attack itself landed.

    ''Don''t have time to play around hereбн''

    With a tap of his foot, Leonel activated the Second Awakening of his Speed Branch once again, slipping by the first two tendrils and drawing closer toward the source.

    The tendrils reacted quickly, one portion sweeping for Leonel''s knees and the other for his neck.

    Leonel jumped into the air, his body flipping horizontally and slipping out the combined high and low attack. The instant he felt his feet hit earth once more, he exploded forward.

    In that moment, Leonel''s Force surged throughout his body, a faint red-gold pulsing beneath his bronzed skin. The feeling was so soothing and relaxing, but the resulting speed was only all the more exaggerated. As though Leonel''s Blood and Force had only just finally circulated properly for the first time, the wind before him burst, shattering as he leapt across the final distance.

    What Leonel saw when he closed in was quite surprising.

    It looked like nothing more than a normal wolf. It had gruff grey fur and a sharp snout, not to mention a pair of yellow eyes that reflected something half carnal and half intelligent. However, what felt like a normal beast very quickly became a horror story.

    With another look, Leonel spotted several pulsing veins of black hidden beneath the wolf''s tough exterior fur, something that only just barely caught his attention due to the light reflected in its yellow eyes.

    To make matters worse, its belly was the worst of it.

    The stomach of the wolf had burst open, revealing what looked like leaking intestines. Any yet, instead of that, what they were instead were the very origin of the tendrils that had been attacking Leonel. It was a sight grotesque beyond words and it almost made Leonel freeze completely.

    If it was an odd ability mutation, Leonel could barely accept it. But, something told Leonel that this mutation had almost nothing to do with such a thing at all. Whatever had happened to this wolf had likely occurred to the environment around it.

    The real question was how?

    Were all the beasts here like this? Was it because they had ingested something? Or was this simply what happened when you spent too long in this environment? Or was it a different unknown Leonel couldn''t even begin to speculate on?

    Despite all these thoughts running through Leonel''s brain, his steps only faltered for a moment before they accelerated once again. He entered the close range, the tendrils that surrounded him from all sides being rendered useless for the immediate while.

    The wolf was only a meter and a half tall and it seemed to have lost much of its agility thanks to its new status. Leonel took full advantage, his spear appearing in his hands and piercing forward. A flicker of gold touched its blade, his Spear Force having seemingly evolved once more.

    PCHU!

    The head of the wolf was precisely split in two. In fact, the Range of Leonel''s spear was so pure that the Force sliced through its entire body even after Leonel came to a grinding halt, bisecting the beast entirely.

    Leonel immediately checked his spear. If even his Spear Domain spears were affected, it would be a problem. The Spear Domain Heirloom could probably fix them before they crumbled to ash, but it would be troublesome in a long, drawn out battle to have to constantly switch between spears.

    Surprsingly, though, Leonel found that his Quasi Silver Spear was doing just fine, something that made him raise an eyebrow.

    Leonel was about to turn his back when his heart suddenly twitched.

    He shot backward explosively as the belly of the beast erupted, a violent surge of tendrils that looked like a wall of tentacles shooting toward him.

 Chapter 1277 Pieces

    Chapter 1277 Pieces

    Leonel''s expression turned cold. He thought of many possibilities, most of which centered around a parasitic organism of some sort. Regardless, he would probably have to narrow down exactly what was going on here later. But firstбн

    SHIING!

    Leonel''s spear shifted to one hand as he fell backward and activated . In the next moment, his arm''s speed flourished, leaving nothing but a blur in the air as it crisscrossed through the dispersing fog.

    Five lines were drawn in quick succession, forming the image of a star that shot forward.

    The wall of tendrils was minced to pieces, sliced apart until nothing but half dead wiggling worms of black danced about the forest floor.

    Leonel retreat slowed, his mind still on full alert. That technique was technically a sword technique and he could only execute it with the proper nimbleness if he used a single hand, but it had most definitely done the job. When he had the time, he had to see if the Bronze Tablet had spear techniques within it that he could use. But for now, this would have to do.

    After a few moments, Leonel felt confident in the fact there wasn''t a next attack coming. The increase to his Spear Force''s strength was far beyond his expectations, but this was definitely a good thing. It felt like his was infinitesimally close to Level Three despite only having recently grasped Level Two.

    Leonel leapt forward, dancing around to avoid touching the tendrils and landing by the corpse of the wolf. He inspected everything from head to toe, but the conclusions he came to were each more baffling than the last.

    Firstly, this wolf was only at the Tier 1 level of the Fifth Dimension. The fact it had such strength at such a low level made Leonel several points more serious. It had looked easy for him to defeat, and it was, but when framed to the power level of this wolf, Leonel could be said to have ''struggled''.

    Secondly, the tendrils didn''t really seem to be a parasite, it and the wolf were one entity. No matter how much Leonel looked, he couldn''t find a separation between the two. That last attack must have just been a final desperate attempt by the wolf to feed itself, but it only quickened its death.

    And that led to the third shocking realization. Even after bisecting the wolf in two, it had actually not died. In fact, if Leonel was correct, that last burst attack did more to push it toward death than his spear strike had.

    ''бн What a weird beast. Hey old man, you probably know something about this right?''

    ''Asking me? You know this is cheating, right?''

    ''Nonsense. This is called using the resources you have at hand. They didn''t come and take the Segmented Cube away from me even though it can survive in this environment, so clearly there are some not so fair rules at play here.''

    ''Whatever helps you sleep at night, criminal. These are Cursed Beasts, they''re very common in regions with dense Anarchic Force.''

    ''Why''s that? I thought Anarchic Force swallowed things. How could it lead to such mutations?''

    ''The main issue stems from how it reacts with materials and the environment. Within a certain threshold, Anarchic Force can be resisted, that''s why you''re not all dead just yet. However, at these concentrations, all sorts of imbalances of Force can be created.

    ''When you take a higher Dimensional herb with fantastical abilities, and you strip away just a portion of the Forces that allow it to create those magical effects, then those magical effects can mutate into something completely different. It can make a medicinal herb poisonous, it could make a strengthening herb give you an extra limb, it could even do the opposite sometimes and make a bad thing good.

    ''Beasts tend to strengthen themselves by feeding off nature so they''ll suffer from this far more than humans would. It takes expert Craftsmen to be able to use materials infected by Anarchic Force to produce wanted results.''

    Leonel nodded, thinking back to the storefronts of Village 0012. These matters were definitely related. Those weren''t just workers, they were skilled Crafters, all specialized in working around Anarchic Force.

    ''However, this isn''t the sole reason for these Mutations. The way beasts strengthen themselves is different from how humans do so. They rely much more on their instincts and the balance of Force in their environment is very important. In a lot of ways, they''re like the herbs they consume, relying on very precise measurements of Force that Anarchic Force can easily throw off.

    ''With enough time, most end up killing themselves. But, those that survive will be far deviated from the creatures they started off as andбн They''ll also tend to be far more powerful as well.''

    Leonel''s brows shot up. ''Little Blackstarбн!''

    ''You probably don''t have to worry about that Little Mink. I don''t know how you did it, but it''s been evolved with a large amount of Void Beast blood and has even experienced a perfect integration.

    ''There are only two beasts to have ever existed that could be considered to be immune to Anarchic Force. And one of them is the Void Beastбн''

    ''What''s the other?'' Leonel asked curiously.

    ''бн''

    Wise Star Order didn''t answer immediately, but ended up shaking his head.

    ''Aren''t you on a time crunch brat, why are you standing here asking about irrelevant things far above your paygrade?''

    Those words seemed to jolt Leonel awake. For once, the old man was right.

    He dashed forward, but came to a grinding halt again after hearing the old man speak once more.

    ''Are you an idiot? Why are you leaving the corpse behind? I''m fairly certain this is one of the many materials you can trade in.''

    ''You can trade that in?'' Leonel felt his stomach lurch.

    ''What other kind of food do you think you''re going to find here?''

    Leonel grit his teeth, realizing that the old man was probably right. He really wanted to go and find something more appetizing, but on such a time crunch, he couldn''t'' afford to be so picky.

    After a moment, he had taken the corpse into a snowglobe and moved deeper into the forest. Soon, though, he spotted something very familiar.

    On an oddly shaped plant just ahead, numerous oddly shaped ring objects hung upon it like ornaments.

    Leonel recognized them immediately. These oddly shaped rings were the very same weird spatial rings he had seen everyone using back at the village.

    For some reason, though, the air felt particularly dangerous in this region. The pull of Spatial Force was especially strong as though one wrong step could tear him to pieces.

 Chapter 1278 Warrior Second

    Chapter 1278 Warrior Second

    ''So this is where their spatial rings are coming from, how fascinating. I''ve never come across something like thisбн''

    To the people of Earth, taking inspiration from nature wasn''t something new. There were countless examples of engineers using evolutionary traits of animals and plants in their inventions. But, it seemed that things might not be so different in the wider Dimensional Verse.

    Leonel wasn''t sure what came first between this mysterious bush and spatial rings, but he wouldn''t be surprised if the latter required inspiration from the former. Forming a spatial ring was such a complex process and one of the rare crafts where affinity for the element was almost intrinsically important, so the deduction made sense.

    ''This bush is very dangerous, though. To warp space in a Seventh Dimensional world is no joking matter. It''s hard to tell if it''ll just shift me through some distance, or if it''ll tear my body apart. Even the former could be dangerous if it was pulling different parts of my body at different rates.''

    Leonel observed the bush for a moment before stepping forward. His hips swiveled to the side and his body pushed through as though he was pressed up against two walls. He pulled through, hopping onto one leg and ducking his head in the next moment.

    If others were observing him, he would look as though he was doing some sort of ridiculous ritualistic dance. However, those with a sharp eye for spatial fluctuations would see something very different, something much more akin to a young man walking a tight rope between life and death. And yet, Leonel didn''t seem to be flustered in the slightest.

    After observing the bush for some time, Leonel realized that there were no sudden changes related to this plant. Every influence on space was like a steady flow of water, and any obstructions and snap decisions could be observed.

    Soon, Leonel was within arm''s reach of the bush, but he didn''t hurry to pick at any of the odd spatial ring constructs. Instead, he continued to flicker around the bush, dodging the changes and fluctuations in space.

    ''If I''m correct, I could probably gain a nice amount of merit trading in all the spatial rings of this bush. But, judging by thisбн If I take one, the bush will retaliate.''

    All things considered, making it this close to the bush wasn''t much of an issue for Leonel. After all, his current spatial affinity stacked up well to most things within the Sixth Dimension thanks to the Evolution Ore he had fused his Divine Armor with.

    However, this bush was clearly far beyond his capabilities. Though Leonel hadn''t tested it, in this world, he could probably only teleport a meter or two at most, and he wouldn''t even be surprised if it was just half a meter. But, this bush had a passive area of effect of at least ten meters and this was obviously not its full effort.

    Any plant or living thing had an innate instinct to protect itself. Obviously, a bush wouldn''t have the intelligence of beasts or humans, and its thoughts and senses wouldn''t be as flexible, so it had still managed to allow Leonel to get this close. But, it would be a different matter entirely if Leonel actually plucked a part of it away.

    While Leonel was confident in taking one as most other people had, he would have to retreat immediately. If he got greedy and tried to take a second, he would be putting his own life at risk.

    However, Leonel had also deduced something else in the moments he observed the bush.

    Firstly, these spatial rings were an integral part of how business was done in the Void Palace. There wasn''t a single transaction he witnessed that didn''t involve at least one of them.

    Secondly, after testing it, Leonel realized that even Seventh Dimensional spatial rings stood no chance in this environment. From the treasure trove of Wise Star Order, there were three spatial devices of that caliber. He had tested his theory on the weakest of them with the smallest space and watched it almost crumble beneath his eyes.

    This meant that there was a good chance that unless you had a treasure on the level of the Segmented Cube, these spatial devices would be all you could use in this place.

    Thirdly, one could never have enough spatial devices. It was too easy to run out of space and if it wasn''t for the fact he had the Segmented Cube, Leonel would carry around at least four or five like everyone else did.

    And fourthly, and maybe one of the more important points, Leonel could tell that the spaces within most of these natural space rings were incredibly small.

    ''This branch is divided into three main categories, with each surpassing tier, the spatial fluctuations around them only grows. The weakest rings only have a one cubic meter space. The middle tier only have an eight cubic meter space. The largest only have a 27 cubic meter spaceбн''

    If experience hadn''t told Leonel that he should hide the Segmented Cube previously, this most definitely did. In a place where spatial devices were so greatly restricted, Leonel, who had almost unlimited space would be seen as a prime target.

    When Leonel thought of this, he chuckled. Why was he even wasting his time thinking about this? Keeping a low profile, was that even possible anymore? By the time he returned to Village 0012, he was certain that he would have already become public enemy number one.

    ''If I''m going to be a villain for now, I might as well profit.''

    Leonel''s gaze turned a frightening shade of cold, his palm flipping over to reveal his trident spear.

    In the moment, his muscles bulged and veins coursed all throughout his body. In the next instant, he became nothing more than a blur, moving about so quickly that booms of compressed air ricocheted into the surroundings.

    Every place he passed by, another sharp line would be cut into the ground before it quickly froze, a radiant foggy blue frost wafting from the ground.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and came to a grinding halt outside the range of the spatial bush.

    ''I guess in the Void Palace, I''ll be a warrior secondбн And a Force Crafter first.''

    Leonel grinned.

    BANG!

    Spatial rings began to rain from the skies, falling into a neat pile before Leonel.

 Chapter 1279 Weird Shift

    Chapter 1279 Weird Shift

    Leonel focused entirely on hunting the spatial bushes, or what he soon learned were called Spatial Bristle Bushes.

    Spatial Bristle Bushes were known for their thorn-like protrusions forming bony structures around its tender leaves and branches. These bony structures would form into tight circles enveloped by sharp spikes. When connected to the Spatial Bristle Bush, these spikes would be very sharp, slicing through flesh as though it was nothing more than butter. In addition, when the bush sensed danger, these invisible spikes would lengthen, skewering everything in its surroundings.

    Once the defenses of the Spatial Bristle Bush were activated, it would take several days to weeks for it to calm. In fact, as Leonel rushed around, many of the bushes he came across he had no choice but to leave be and abandon because they had already been harassed once, making it more difficult for him to do what he needed to do.

    However, this didn''t deter Leonel very much. These bushes weren''t very rare and due to his spatial affinity, he could sense them from further away than his Internal Sight and eyes could. Just rushing around for a few hours, Leonel found four bushes in a relaxed state. Though, he was obstructed by almost ten that were very much not relaxed.

    If others saw what Leonel was doing, they would be shocked. Most had to scratch and claw for just a single spatial device, but Leonel had almost 150 now, each of various degrees of rarity. However, to Leonel, his process was quite simple, especially with the increase to computational ability.

    The first thing he had done was form an Artistic Conception around the Spatial Bristle Bush using Camelot''s Magic System. This sort of formation was a step deeper than even a Dream Sculpt would be as it dove into the very foundation of the bush''s being.

    Once this construct was finished, Leonel had a practically infallible representation of how the bush would read and react in any sort of situation. With this in mind, he formed a perfect counter, relying on his Dark Ice Divine Armor to draw the Force Art around it.

    Leonel was very much used to using clashing concepts of space to get what he wanted. Back when he fought the Puppet Master, he had used the teleportation formations of White City and Kaefir City. By using the push and pull effect of both teleportation formations working against and with one another, he had been able to freeze the region between the two cities and even kept White City suspended in the air long enough for him to stroll out as he pleased.

    Leonel had accomplished that feat with less spatial affinity, less experience and far less intelligence and computational ability than he had now, not to mention all while fighting an existence that was far beyond himself in strengthбн

    So what could he accomplish now?

    The answer was quite simple: A lot more.

    Leonel used the strength of the Spatial Bristle Bush against itself. His own spatial affinity was far less than that of the bush so he couldn''t possibly expect to do anything outstanding. But, what he could do was slow it down just a little bit.

    In its lulled state, the bushes were in enough of a calm that Leonel''s petty tricks worked on it. Using a Force Art, he slowed the movement of space around the bush just to the point where it practically froze over, causing cracks of glass to appear in the air.

    The bush would immediately recognize this as a threat to its safety. But, due to the fact it was reacting on instinct and not intelligence, it wouldn''t realize that it was actually pushing and pulling against itself.

    This would set off an enormous chain reaction that would overextend the Spatial Bristle Bush, causing its more fragile leaves and branches to be torn apart by its own strength.

    In an irony of all ironies, the only part of it that would survive the destruction were the only parts of its designed to be its defenses in the first place: the spatial bristles.

    Without its core and essentially losing its life, the spatial bristles would become harmless, looking like bone shards fashioned into makeshift rings like some sort of arts and crafts project result.

    Along the way, Leonel ran into many more beasts. But, as he hadn''t traveled very far into the forest, they remained relatively weak and easy to handle. After just two hours, he returned to the wall of black logs, exhaling an even breath.

    ''320 spatial bristle rings. This should be enough to trade for what I need.''

    Leonel didn''t like the idea of relying on just a single plan, though. He had invested two hours into this and could have invested more, but putting your eggs in one basket was foolhardy no matter how certain he was. Plus, he was sure there would be more opportunities to exploit those bushes in the future.

    Leonel once again placed a palm on the trees that lined the outer reaches of the forest. The ones here were the shortest and weakest of them all. If one wanted to cut any of them down, this would definitely be the best choice.

    There were only two options Leonel thought he had here. One was to use something sharper than this tree could withstand. Two was to rely on his Scarlet Star Force.

    The issue was that he didn''t know if either was viable. First, he didn''t have a weapon sharp enough. Even if he took the risk to claim a Quasi Gold Peak Spear right now, it probably still wouldn''t be enough alone. And second, if he was only planning on using a passive comprehension of Destruction, it wouldn''t nearly be enough either, and he had no intention of injuring himself so severely by using it actively.

    ''It seems like the only option is a combination of bothбн There''s an hour left, let''s see how far these spatial bristle rings get me first.''

    Leonel''s figure flickered, a road of white gold appearing beneath his feet as he shot into the skies, running up the side of the black log.

    When he got to the other side, though, landing much more softly after learning his lesson, he immediately felt the weird shift in the atmosphere.

 Chapter 1280 Next ln Line

    Chapter 1280 Next ln Line

    Leonel could easily feel the gazes on him. There weren''t many who were still leaping the black log wall at this point and it could even be said that he was the only one. It was far too easy to spot him.

    The moment he landed on the ground, he could feel several Internal Sight''s surge toward him, causing his brow to raise. These people were quite brazen. He had gone out of his way not to antagonize anyone with his own Internal Sight, but it was clear they had no intention of showing him the same courtesy.

    "Piss off."

    BANG!

    A muffled and invisible surge whipped about the surroundings. Leonel manipulated his Internal Sight with the Artistic Conception of the imploded Spatial Bristle Bush and laced it with concepts of Destruction.

    The instant the wall of surging Internal Sights entered his range, they coiled back reflexively, a pained sort of retreat one would expect from touching a stove that was too hot ensuing.

    Leonel swept a gaze through the village, his eyes suffused with a hardly hidden coldness. The perpetrators were nowhere to be found, but this was to be expected. They probably thought they didn''t even have to step outside their cabins in order to probe him.

    Still, if it had been just a normal, casual prod, Leonel wouldn''t have cared so much. However, there was a very intentional sort of brazenness to it.

    Ever since Wise Star Order had mentioned how good the soul was at revealing things the eyes otherwise couldn''t, Leonel had been paying more attention to these things. It was also much easier for him to do so considering the fact that he had managed to sense and awaken his own soul in a sense thanks to the Spirituals.

    When he had fought with the Cursed wolf, he had been able to sense its overwhelming hunger. In fact, every Cursed Beast he had come across seemed to have a certain emotion amplified to an extreme degree as well. And now, when faced with all of those Internal Sights, he had grasped their emotions as well.

    Disdain. Disregard. Contempt. Indifference. There was even some righteous indignation and real anger mixed in.

    Leonel already had a few guesses as to why that was, but that didn''t mean he would just allow people to trample all over him because they felt like it. If he had allowed them to probe him, not only would he come off weak, but it would also reveal his gains from the last two hours. He had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

    He began to walk forward, his expression not giving anything away. With a thought, he reached out to Little Blackstar and saw that the situation over there was basically the same. But, it also seemed that their clothing wouldn''t hold out for much longer either.

    The current Leonel had used some of the tailoring skills he had learned form his father''s training program to weave together a beast skin skirt for himself. The beasts had survived just fine in this region, so their fur and coats were greatly resistant as well.

    He looked out of place walking through the village like this, as anyone who could kill and defeat the beasts out there had long since traded for their own uniforms, but he didn''t care.

    The first thing Leonel did was head to one of the storefronts. This place sold both beast meat and doubled as tailoring shop, likely because the materials that made up their uniforms came from the beast skins to begin with. It was also possible that they relied on some herbs as well, but Leonel didn''t really care about what the process was.

    He found himself a place in line and fell into silence. Several gazes shifted toward him, but as usual, the store was most silent aside from shuffling and the occasional whisper. Everyone in this village seemed to take their words as golden and even the exchanges happened in silence. It could only be said that the Void Palace did almost too good of a job in knocking these geniuses down a peg.

    Leonel remembered reading in a work of fiction that most armies worked this way, whittling down one''s sense of individuality and sense of self until all you dared to do was obediently follow orders. He had always thought that this was an exaggeration and that no good army could possibly be raised that way.

    In his mind, the foundation of an army was a good leader and cool uniforms. But, there was clearly no leader here and even the uniforms they as rookies were left with were nowhere near as amazing as the ones those Sector Ranked disciples had worn. Instead, everyone looked like they were walking around in shirt and pants little better than rags.

    If you removed context and told Leonel that this was a slave encampment, he would believe it.

    The line continued to move slowly. Despite Leonel believing that the crafters were actually working quite quickly, it still took a minute or two per person. By the time it was finally Leonel''s turn, a little over ten minutes had passed, leaving him with 50 until his deadline.

    Though everyone else hadn''t spoken, Leonel didn''t really have much of a choice but to speak. After all, he still didn''t know anything about the exchange rates or what he could even trade for here. That said, he was still fairly confident that he had enough to get what he needed, especially after seeing the poverty of everyone else.

    "Hello, I have some resources to exchange. Might I know of what the rates are?"

    Leonel smiled lightly, looking toward the young lady behind the counter. She looked like she was in her mid twenties and was only tall enough to come up to Leonel''s chest. Her hair was done up in a serious pony tail without a single strand out of place and she had piercing grey eyes that met Leonel''s own indifferently.

    Leonel''s smile couldn''t help but fade a bit when he realized the young woman didn''t answer him.

    She looked toward him for only a moment more before looking past him entirely, her gaze landing on the person to Leonel''s back.

    Obviously, she was asking for the next in line.

 Chapter 1281 Leash

    Chapter 1281 Leash

    Leonel''s gaze only narrowed for a moment, but the dangerous feeling that gripped his neck was near instantaneous. He hadn''t even moved or said anything, but it was as though the warning was already prepared. No, it was more like someone was hoping and praying that he would do something, as though this was exactly the sort of moment they were waiting for.

    Leonel was under no illusions that he could already defeat a Void Palace disciple, he wasn''t enough of a fool to have lost his head in such a way. At the same time, he also didn''t believe that this young woman didn''t have an answer for him. She wasn''t answering because she didn''t feel like it. Or, more accurately, she wasn''t answering because she didn''t want to.

    That same air of disdain and disregard was carried with that dangerous feeling around his neck. The gap between himself and this woman was large enough that Leonel knew he wouldn''t even last a few exchanges, but that only made the feeling all the more potent. These crafters hadn''t had much respect for the rookies in this village to begin with, this was probably just an easy way for them to accumulate Void Points. But, for whatever reason, they were especially disdainful of Leonel.

    Leonel himself, though, didn''t flinch or retreat. In fact, his smiled only completely faded away, a certain lofty indifference coloring his irises as he looked down toward the woman before him.

    He didn''t say a word, he only seemed to memorize this individual''s face before his gaze shifted toward the other two ''store clerks'', but neither of them even looked his way. It was as though these matters didn''t have the slightest thing to do with them.

    It all summed up to one thought: He had wasted 10 precious minutes.

    Leonel turned and left the store without a word. The next place he went to was the smithy. If he couldn''t secure uniforms, he had to, at the very least, try and secure weapons for everyone, that would be their true life''s blood in this place.

    Leonel had been out there already, even if you could do so, defeating those beasts with nothing more than your hands was too dangerous. The contamination of Anarchic Force would increase by several orders of magnitude and the result could be catastrophic.

    Leonel had made such a mistake before when a hint of a creature''s blood touched his skin and his situation could have turned for the worst if it wasn''t'' for the fact he had Cleansing Waters with him. In such an environment, without a weapon that could actually survive in this land, you would be finished.

    But, once again, he wasted 10 minutes.

    The gaze of one of the burly and shirtless ''store clerks'' met his own. However, instead of remaining silent like the young woman had, his mouth actually opened to speak.

    "Crawl out of my shop while you still have legs to do so."

    Leonel''s irises flickered with crimson, a sudden heat searing to life above his right hip. The temperature of the smithy rose just the slightest measure, but it was an uncomfortable sort of heat, the kind that only occurred when the air was particularly moist and every rising degree latched onto your skin and suffocated your sweat glands. In this sort of heat, even breathing felt uncomfortable and every inch of clothing felt unbearableбн

    Leonel was usually quite good at controlling his temper, at least when it was related to matters of himself. So long as such things didn''t include his family and friends, biding his time and striking back in the most lethal of ways only when the moment was right was his status quo.

    But, for some reason, he found it especially hard to do this now.

    He had no idea how he made it out of that shop without letting his rage burn. This might have sounded like a throwaway line or an exaggeration, but it was actually the raw truth. Leonel dulled his senses to an extreme using Dream Sense, smothering the rolling flames in his chest, turned on his heel, and walked out without a word.

    Others might have taken this sort of opportunity to sneer, but such individuals wouldn''t have noticed the vacant look in his eyes, almost as though he was no longer even in control of his own body.

    The next store Leonel visited sold food and water.

    Those in higher Dimensions could usually spend longer than those in lower Dimensions without food, and this was thanks to Force. It was the control over these mysterious energies they had that could make up for a whole host of things, including food and sleep.

    However, in an environment that fought back against you like this one, Force couldn''t'' be casually diverted to the upkeep of the body, it was too focused on keeping you alive under the assault of the poison in the air. Leonel had eaten not long ago and he could already feel that he would maybe last a day more before hunger set in once again.

    Unfortunately, it was yet another ten minutes wasted.

    As though a glutton for punishment, Leonel still chose to go to the final store. This wasn''t because he was a fool. Rather, he owed it to the others to at least check.

    This final storefront was for medicine and health care. This was the only place most who got infected and gained severe injuries could go, and it was also the only place that sold herbs and pills that could counter Anarchic Force.

    While being cut off from all the others could still leave one room for survival if they were resourceful and careful enough, not to mention willing to weather the humiliation of being without clothes, being cut off from this one was akin to sentencing a person to death.

    Being rejected from this place was akin to these people saying they wanted him dead.

    20 minutes he waited. 20 minutes he waited to confirm this truth.

    The line for this place was the longest of them all and for good reason at that. When Leonel made it to the front of the line, he found a woman with green hair and irises that fused into the whites of her eyes. It was clear that she was blind, or at least she appeared to be so. But, her demeanor was no less momentous than all the other disciples.

    "Leave."

    Those were the simple words she spoke without the slightest hint of change in her expression.

    By this point, Leonel was no longer using Dream Sense. The corners of his lips angled downward and his lips pursed as he nodded his head, his entire expression seemed to read: "Okay, no problem."

    Leonel turned around for the fourth time and stood in the middle of the village square. He closed his eyes and took a slight breath.

    10 minutes. That was all that was left of the hour he had had remaining when he returned.

    His hands slid into his pockets, his head tilting up to the skies as his eyes remained closed. He couldn''t seem to sense the glances of satisfaction that landed on him in the slightest.

    In the skies, Cornelius felt another headache coming on.

    ''You just took away everything a madman had to lose, what the hell are you going to use as his leash now?''

    [Author''s Note below]

 Chapter 1282 Masterful

    Chapter 1282 Masterful

    Leonel''s heart beat at a steady rhythm, his head tilted up to the skies. He seemed indifferent to it all for a moment, but it was only for a moment. In the next, a wide grin spread across his face.

    The feeling was all too familiar. Down a single score, with the entire field to go, the ball in his hands and everything dancing upon his palms, moving rhythmically under his control. He never loved playing football, but whenever those moments came, something within him would awaken. His mind would become sharper, his arm would become stronger, his gaze would become more piercing.

    But now, those stakes were even higher. What was the worst that could happen on a football field? At worst he would just lose the game and a blemish would be found on his perfect record. But, what would happen here?

    His dreams would be cut off. His friends would suffer tragic fates and likely die. He would be humiliated, shamed, buried beneath stares of disdain and reminders of his own incompetence.

    That sort of feeling made his blood rush. It made his mind elevate to another level.

    His body tensed, then relaxed. His fingers flexed and stretched. The howling of his heart left a reverberating, but subtle beating quake dancing through the air. And then, he vanished.

    When Leonel appeared again, he stood at the outskirts of the village, his eyes having snapped open to reveal two blinding orbs of violet, his hair standing on end and his aura blazing. His arms stretched out as though he was the conductor of an orchestra, Little Tolliver appearing even as the corpses of dozens of beasts appeared at his feet.

    Leonel''s gaze seemed to glaze over, his pupils flickering back and forth with an unfathomable speed, ricocheting back and forth within his eye sockets as though playing a game of pinball.

    Little Tolly wrapped around the corpse of a wolf, rising it up into the air. By that point, Leonel''s palm had already flipped over, a spear appearing in his hands and flickering with a radiant gold Spear Force.

    His hand became nothing more than a blur, sweeping forward with such force that it wasn''t even immediately obvious what sort of cut he had made. However, in the next instant, Little Tolly seemed to have already reacted, pincering itself into the cut Leonel had formed and squeezing itself beneath the layer that separated skin and flesh.

    In the blink of an eye, the beast was suddenly stripped of its furry coat.

    Blood rained through the air, but just as quickly as it appeared, globules of Cleansing Waters manifested beneath Leonel''s deft control. In one movement of his wrists, the pelt was washed of all blood and Anarchic Force, and in another movement, Little Tolly was surrounded and completely cleansed.

    The contaminated Cleansing Waters were jetted out into the distance, but Leonel had already moved on long before it could even hit the ground.

    He repeated this exact same process dozens of times, his fingers forming whipping sounds in the air as they struck downward at an inconceivable speed, leaving nothing but blurs and cracks of wind in their wake.

    By this point, many of the youths of the Three Pillar Sector had awoken from their meditation to see what was happening. Though they were still about a day away from adjusting to the climate completely, they at least looked far better than they had in the past. At the very least, they could split their attention now as their bodies continued to acclimate, but seeing what was before them, many were completely unsure of how to react.

    Oddly enough, the only one who kept her eyes closed the entire time was Aina. If it wasn''t for the light smile slowly spreading across her face, one would have thought that there may very well have been something wrong with her.

    But, just the same, Leonel reacted as though he hadn''t noticed any changes in his surroundings at all, the speed of his hands and fingers only becoming faster as his gaze blazed a brighter and brighter light.

    Held up by Little Tolly, dozens of pieces of fabrics hung in the air. Leonel''s mind flickered through the Dream Clone images of his companions, mapping out the most efficient method to use the pelts that hung before him, a process that took no more than just a single split second.

    "Huuuбн"

    Leonel''s spear left sizzling whistles throughout the air as it snaked forward. Everywhere it passed by, another piece of fur would be cut down to size. In a blink, his spear had vanished, replaced by the delicate coil of a Force Crafter''s Quill.

    Compared to his other equipment, this Quill had fallen the furthest behind. Its feather was a bit ruffled, the delicate outline of its black body and golden veins had dulled, and its tip had been ground down beneath continuous usage.

    And yet, when it hit Leonel''s hand, nesting into his fingers and gently waving beneath the wind, despite the fact it knew this would be the last time it could work together with Leonel like this, it seemed to sing, its body releasing a radiant glow as though a final outcry to the world.

    The torches of Leonel''s irises bloomed. He could feel that tug, a concept that had just barely alluded him before awakening right that moment.

    ''I will make sure the last Craft you leave to this world is masterful.''

    Leonel''s wrist left an elegant arc through the air, a line of gold following his every pen stroke as a dense fog of violet hung around him, growing in size with every passing moment until the point a miniature humanoid creation emerged from his forehead.

    With a final flicker, Leonel''s Crafter''s Quill crumbled to ash, dancing into the wind and vanishing into the hovering pieces of fabric.

    "Haaaбн"

    A steamy breath left Leonel''s lips, his heart pulsing with a steady rhythm.

    "."

    Little Tolliver''s body seemed to vanish, concentrating into a long and thin sowing needle.

    Leonel''s Force Erupted, forming a thin line of thread that sparkled in the dark atmosphere.

 Chapter 1283 These Materials

    Chapter 1283 These Materials

    It seemed impossible, and yet Leonel''s fingers only became faster and faster. The striking melody of his digits was so great that the air pressure rebounded against the tough ground, causing two hardy sounds to follow every single downstroke.

    Every movement he made was another unique and perfectly executed command to Little Tolly. Their synergy reached another level and the little Metal Spirit moved about so quickly that it seemed as though it didn''t have any limits.

    Little Tolly had felt the final moment of the Crafter''s Quill as well. Fueled by some unknown power and strength, the little guy went all out, its silvery body flickering with a subtle bluish hue that gave it all the more depth and character.

    The sewing needle Little Tolly had concentrated itself into and the thin line of Force String Leonel had formed fused into one, the latter becoming the tail of the former. With this connection secured, Little Tolly whizzed in and out of the fabric, sewing pieces together and formulating clothing of perfect proportions.

    Every time one finished, it would shoot out toward the person it was meant for, landing perfectly in their laps without the slightest issue.

    <Seamster Synergy> was a tailoring technique that stood above others. Using Little Tolly as a guide and his own Force String as the fuser, fabrics could be seamlessly combined as though they were always one. It completely eliminated weak points in a Craft and, if the Crafter was skilled enough, could even make it a strong point.

    The technique could be used on more than just fabrics as well. It could weld together metals and any inorganic materials Leonel might have to work with. Of course, it could only do this thanks to Little Tolly''s intrinsic propertied and would be much weaker in the hands of someone who didn''t have a Metal Spiritбн But this wasn''t exactly something Leonel had to worry about in the slightest.

    A rectangular strip of fabric bent around itself and formed the shape of a tube top. Little Tolly shot out from its bottom, winding up through it like a corkscrew and sewing both halves together.

    Blazing trails of blue were left in every which direction, numerous corkscrew-like formations being left hovering in the air long after Little Tolly had long since left.

    BANG!

    The final strip completed. Still in a state of hyperactivity, Leonel began to put his own on. Every piece that touched his body seemed to carry an enigmatic air to it, making his blood rush. He felt that without a doubt, this was his greatest Craft completed to this point despite the poor materials he had on hand.

    First came the bottoms. Leonel didn''t seem to care in the slightest as he took his original beast skirt off, slipping on a new pair. Then, he put on the ankle braces and the wrist braces, before finally slipping on a thin band that wrapped about his torso just below his chest.

    The fur was all was a deep grey to black and didn''t cover much skin at all. But, a pulsing sort of power seemed to rise when all the pieces were put together as one.

    And that was when it happened.

    A rushing Black Force surged out from the clothing. What sounded like the clink of armor resounded, alternating between a foggy blackness and the corporeal.

    Leonel''s hair and face were enveloped by this black fog, the former seeming to grow out like a dancing river. His hands grew a size, becoming demonic claws and his back suddenly began to grow out long tendrils of darkness, eerily similar to the preferred method of attack used by a particular Cursed Beast...

    Deep within the fog that now covered Leonel''s hair and face, two orbs of red now hovered, seeming to pierce through any and everything before it.

    Power rushed through Leonel''s as he raised his leg, stomping down hard.

    Slowly but surely, walls of earth began to rise, forming two protected sections.

    "Change here."

    Beneath the black fog, Leonel''s voice sounded several octaves too low as though he was truly reaching out from the depths of hell. But, just as he said this, the cloak vanished beneath his command, revealing the figure of a young man wrapped in beast cloth as though what happened previously had never happened.

    The youths looked from Leonel to the beast clothing in their hands. Did these really produce that? That strength, where had it come from? How had he done it? Was such a thing even possible?

    No, maybe that wasn''t what they should be focusing on at all. Let alone possible, how had it been done in such a short amount of timeбн?

    Four minutesбн He had used just Four Minutesбн

    Leonel slowly walked back into village 0012. Despite the short amount of time he had left, it didn''t seem like his steps were hurried in the slightest, almost as though he had all the time in the world remaining.

    The eyes that were on him now had changed drastically from just five minutes ago.

    Fear. Apprehension. Wariness.

    These emotions suffused the air, and Leonel''s indifference wasn''t doing anything to help it in the slightest.

    Little Tolly bobbed above Leonel''s shoulder, changing shape as it pleased and picking forms that only seemed more sinister with every passing moment. First the little one was a wolf, then a tiger, then a menacing grizzly bear, before finally becoming a silver dragon, coiling about Leonel''s body before resting its head on his shoulders.

    No one seemed to understand what Leonel wanted to do, but that only made them more apprehensive. With how cruel this place was, couldn''t he just snatch whatever he wanted from any one of them passing by? Even if the store clerks acted to stop him, there was only so far they would be allowed to take this. This was supposed to be a challenge for rookies, it wouldn''t be much of a challenge if upper year students could just act as they pleased.

    It was then that Leonel''s body vanished. But, what happened next was something that no one could have possibly guessed. Even Cornelius rose a palm to his forehead, closing his eyes and sighing.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed on top of the Smithy, his heavy weight causing the shoddy construction to wave back and forth.

    He rose an arm into the air that instantly became enveloped by black fog, forming an enormous demonic claw as Little Tolly snaked forward.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s claws shot and clamped down, pulling at the highest log that formed the Smithy''s roof and ripping it from its seams.

    He cast a gaze down, finding many pairs of eyes looking up from within the Smithy with incredulous expressions on their faces. None of them could believe what they were seeing with their own eyes, however, rubbing them didn''t seem to change what was taking place in the slightest.

    Leonel''s gaze met the very Craftsman who had told him to roll out, his gaze filled with a dense coldness as he hoisted the log onto his shoulder before reaching down again and ripping out another thick log from the ceiling of the Smithy.

    "These materials. I''ll be taking them."

    Anarchic Force rushed into the Smithy and down into the protective curtains, ruining the Crafts they had been working on.

 Chapter 1284 The Rules of the Void Palace

    Chapter 1284 The Rules of the Void Palace

    Gemmes was completely caught off guard. The Craft he was diligently working on practically crumbled within his hand.

    His expression suddenly changed. With quick movements, he retrieved his Fire Spirit, storing it away before it could suffer too much beneath the Anarchic Force.

    Spirits were fragile beings, especially ones of lower quality and beneath a certain standard. The curtains weren''t just important for protecting the privacy of the rookies they Crafted for, but it was also a protective shield against the Anarchic Force that managed to make it through when the doors of the Smithy opened. This way, they could keep their Spirits relatively safe.

    And yet, in a single action, Leonel had ruined all of that.

    He simply gave Gemmes a glance and jumped away, landing on another shop roof. With the same motion, he ripped out a ceiling log. The food stores beneath were immediately contaminated as Leonel balanced a third log on his shoulder, his indifferent glance sweeping downward without a care.

    His figure flickered and he appeared above another shop. This time, he landed on the tailor shop, a demonic hand ripping downward. Little Tolly acted quickly, rushing between the cracks that fused the logs together and shattering all the connections it could before Leonel ripped out the rest.

    By the end of it, Leonel had four logs, each of at least five meters in length and about a foot and a half to two feet wide. It was definitely much more than he needed, but he couldn''t be bothered to care.

    He landed heavily on the ground just as several of the store clerks stormed out. Even the green haired store clerk of the medicinal store Leonel had left alone for now rushed out, likely wanting to pre-emptively stop Leonel from doing something. But, to her surprise, Leonel was already walking away.

    Right then, though, Leonel''s steps came to a pause. He looked back to find a seething Gemmes and a few others. The young woman from the tailor shop who had been the first to ignore him, a girl who went by the name of Janyn, was also among them. Leonel''s actions had ruined several of the uniforms she had yet to properly seal and prime, how could she not be furious as well?

    They hadn''t come here for charity work, they came here to accumulate Void Points. Leonel''s actions had made that practically impossible. They would have to fix the roofs first, but that would take work. And, something told them it wouldn''t be so easy to get the logs back from Leonel, meaning they would actually have to go and procure their own, something that was extremely difficult to begin with.

    Leonel had been correct in his assumptions, you weren''t meant to cut down trees on your own, even upper Rank disciples found this to be extraordinarily difficult to do. Instead, you were meant to trade for the wood you needed with other resources. This wood would be far easier to work with than the raw wood one would find in the forest.

    Obviously, Leonel seemed to have guessed this and hadn''t hesitated to ruin them.

    "What?" Leonel swept his gaze over them all one by one. "You want to attack me? I''m right here. Do it."

    Leonel craned his neck back. Holding up four logs on one shoulder, Little Tolly glaring back menacingly on the other, and a deep, dense fog of black hanging around him, he truly looked like the bane of their existence.

    Gemmes'' forehead vein nearly popped out from the skin that kept it under wraps. Though Janyn seemed to look somewhat calmer, it was clear that she was having trouble controlling herself as well as they both met Leonel''s gaze.

    It was clear that Leonel knew quite well that there was nothing they could do. Refusing service was already at the very brink of the rules to begin with. Clerks like them were given this level of freedom so that the rookies couldn''t just act as they pleased.

    As Leonel had guessed earlier, the geniuses were far rowdier in the beginning than they were now. Everything looked peaceful, reserved and quiet, but that was only because enough had suffered at the hands of these clerks to know better than to try anything funny.

    Leonel hadn''t been the first to be blacklisted. He was just the first to be blacklisted from all of the shops. And, he was also the first that still dared to retaliate after suffering at their hands.

    It was clear and obvious to Leonel that this was all due to Orinik. As an upper Rank disciple himself, it was quite easy for Orinik to get those here to believe in his words, and it was even easier when he didn''t have to lie.

    Leonel knew that he had brought many of these things upon himself by accepting things he shouldn''t have, but even if he had to go back in time, he would do it again. When it came to striving after his goal, he wouldn''t allow anything to stand in his way, even if that thing was the dissatisfaction of others. He was confident in due to time that he would prove that regardless of whether he was worthy now, he would most definitely be in the future.

    Still, he made a mental note of Orinik, his gaze flickering with a cold light.

    Seeing that the clerks weren''t going to answer, Leonel turned and began to walk away. However, as he passed the green haired woman of the medicinal store, Rosomon...

    "Even though you''ve spared my shop, I have no intention of serving you in the future."

    Rosomon''s voice was just as calm and even as it always was. She felt it was obvious why Leonel had ''spared'' her. No one dared to slight a healer you might need in the future. However, she only sneered inwardly, doubling down on her stance. Everything about Leonel disgusted her.

    The response she received in return, thoughбн

    Leonel stopped level with her, looking down at Rosomon. The distance that separated their noses was maybe a foot or two, and yet despite their power imbalance, Leonel didn''t flinch in the slightest.

    "You''re overestimating yourself. The reason I didn''t target your shop was to give those who haven''t wronged me a lifeline to save themselves. However, I can say with great certainty that I will never need your services.

    "That saidбн"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with a depth of crimson light that shot out beams within the dull atmosphere of Village 0012.

    "бн I promise you that if one of my companions needs your help and you refuse them, the moment I''m strong enough...

    "Your head will be the first I take. The rules of the Void Palace will not stop me, that I swear."

    Leonel''s words seemed to carry an enigmatic momentum to them, like an oath that was recognized by a higher power. The wind rushed by, swirling along the ground and causing miniature bursts of small cyclones. The Anarchic Force in the surroundings seemed to dim just the slightest bit, making everyone feel as though it was easier to breathe, and yet simultaneously making them not dare to take a breath at the same time. The violet in Leonel''s hair and eyes flickered, the momentum of a King barreling forth.

    Rosomon''s pupils constricted, her body frozen in place.

 Chapter 1285 Beast Skin Armor

    Chapter 1285 Beast Skin Armor

    Leonel walked by Rosomon and left without another word. He didn''t even care to look back after he was finished saying what he wanted. However, the eyes of the Crafters turned clerks couldn''t help but all focus on Little Tolly.

    They had all been so lost in their rage that they hadn''t even noticed that Leonel actually had a Metal Spirit by his side and he was actually letting it wrap around his body and wiggle about without even the slightest hint of protection.

    That second shock wasn''t enough to override the first, though. Even in the Void Palace, a Metal Spirit was impossibly rare. There were thousands, tens of thousands of high level Crafters here. But, they could all count on their hands and toes how many of them had a Metal Spirit by their side, and every single one of those Individuals was from the Morales family.

    The Morales family was the only family capable of controlling such a dangerous Spirit. When left to its own devices, and allowed to grow on its own, a Metal Spirit was no less a threat to human life than some of the most fearsome beasts and rival Races in the whole of the Dimensional Verse and maybe only the Earth Variant affinity of the Morales met the requirements to tame such a beast.

    To see it being used so freely by a brat and without the slightest precautions, they felt a cold chill creep up their spines.

    The Crafter community of the Void Palace was an especially lofty place to be. It came with prestige and it was about the only way for you to gain Void Points without putting your life on the line constantly. Even this mission here was an extremely precious one, that was why they were so enraged that Leonel had ruined it.

    But, if it had to be said who held the greatest prestige among the Crafter factions of the Void Palace, setting aside the super families that backed the Crafter Guilds, it was most definitely the Morales, and especially the Morales who wielded Metal Spirits.

    They suddenly understood now why it was that Orinik had never explicitly stated Leonel''s last name. Although, it could only be blamed on them. They simply hadn''t cared. They were Crafters and were arrogant by trade. Just the fact Leonel''s mother was a Sector Ranked disciple wasn''t enough to sway them in the slightest, but thisбн

    This was very different.

    Rosomon eventually recovered from her shock, her gaze narrowing.

    ''The Morales family isn''t the only family here.''

    With that thought, she turned and returned to her store front.

    бн

    Leonel worked just as fast with the logs as he had worked with the fabric. In fact, his goal with the logs were much simpler than what he had done with the fabrics so he finished even faster, even after being delayed a moment.

    As expected, the prepared logs might have been softer than the trees outside the line of the village, but it also made it easier to cut and deal with. In addition, it managed to maintain some of its initial hardness as well, not losing out to many higher Tier Fifth Dimensional metals. This hardness coupled with Leonel''s Force Arts would allow his companions to have some of the best weapons amongst the rookies.

    Leonel finished just in time for the women to step out from their makeshift changing rooms, their elegant postures catching a lot of attention. If it wasn''t for them knowing, or maybe hoping better, they would have thought that Leonel was a pervert with the ways he had designed their uniforms. However, regardless, they had to admit that the way it shaped to their bodies was very flattering and nothing was too small nor too big. They could only not think about how Leonel knew all their measurements so well too much.

    In truth, Leonel had wanted to give everyone more clothing to work with, but he hadn''t killed many beasts. In addition, because he didn''t act with thought of preserving their pelts, much of the fur was rendered unusable by him. So, this was ultimately the only choice.

    As much attention as the women got when they stepped out, even with how pale and weak they seemed at this moment, it paled in comparison to what Aina received.

    The short beast skin barely reached the middle of her thighs. Her toned belly was revealed, her every breath causing the faint outline of a powerful core to flash in and out of existence. Her chest was covered by a beast skin band, covering just enough of the lower and upper halves of her ample breasts.

    As scandalous as the main attractions of the uniform were, though, the accessories were even more so.

    Leonel had used a fabric processing technique to form a pair of grey stockings for all of the women. The result somehow made Aina''s long, slender legs even more attractive than they were initially.

    But, what truly brought it all together was the beast skin choker that clung loosely to their necks, giving the design of the outfits an added touch of flare.

    Leonel truly hadn''t tried to make it all so scandalous. Without the choker, the armor lost its balance and was much weaker. It was the same reason he had a thin band running just beneath his chest. It wasn''t for aesthetic purposes. He had gone for functionality first, thoughбн He couldn''t bear for them to not also look cool at the same time.

    And cool they were.

    Leonel walked to Aina, handing her a replica battle ax that looked identical to her own except for the fact this was formed of greyish-black wood. But, surprisingly, she smiled lightly and shook her head, taking out her original battle ax.

    "It''s fine, mine can hold up. Sorry for the trouble."

    Leonel''s brow raised and he shook his head. "It wasn''t much trouble."

    It had only taken him a few seconds to form it, how could it be trouble?

    "Arnold, take this. Making your usual palm weapons is difficult with the material I have on hand right now. If they fail you, you can use this."

    "Mm." Arnold nodded.

    "Quickly, I''ll explain to you all the function of the beast skin armorбн"

    Aina stood silently by Leonel''s side as he explained things.

    Just as Leonel finished the final word, chimes rang and they all looked upward.

    It seemed the True Selection would finally begin now.

 Chapter 1286 Markers and Restrictions

    Chapter 1286 Markers and Restrictions

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    With a quick sweep, he took a mental note of the state of everyone. From what he could see, the closest to returning to their full strength were Myghell and Aina. But, even then, they were restricted to about 20-30% of what they could do. It would take them at least another day or two before they were back up to their peak condition.

    As for the others, they were in an even worst state, most of whom could barely even stand on their own two feet. The likes of Noah, Karolus, Elthor and, surprisingly, Savahn, had about 10-15% of their strength now.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he locked onto the pale faced Yuri. The latter hadn''t spoken to him or even looked at him since they ''reunited''. It wasn''t that big of a deal to Leonel as he was never truly close with Yuri to begin with, but it was clear and obvious that the latter wasn''t very happy with him at all.

    This wasn''t a very surprising turn of events. After all, even though he didn''t show his face as they left, Leonel had felt a very dense killing intent lock onto him when he was leaving through the portal toward the Void Palace. And, it was especially obvious when Aina called him ''King''. So, Leonel had already come to understand that the father-adoptive daughter pair hated his guts.

    That said, this wasn''t the reason Leonel had locked onto Yuri at all.

    ''100%.''

    Yuri was in perfect condition. In fact, after scanning everyone here, Leonel was absolutely certain that she was only faking her current state.

    Feeling Leonel''s gaze, Yuri finally looked up to meet it. The flash of coldness that followed it made Leonel feel as though thousands of needles were piercing into his mind. However, he looked back, unwavering.

    He didn''t know why it was that Yuri was hiding herself like this as he didn''t know the truth behind her origins. But, for the moment, he chose not to expose her. He gained no real benefit from it, and, in truth, things might actually be an advantage in this way.

    "Let''s go. Activate your armors partially, it will help."

    Leonel turned his attention toward the center of the village, expecting for there to be some sort of prepared explanation or orientation, but he realized almost immediately that he had forgotten where he was. This wasn''t some nice and cushy organization that coddled its disciples. From the moment they had stepped foot into this place, they had entered a death trap.

    The wall of black logs that formed a barrier of protection that separated Village 0012 from the forest beyond was standing tall and proud in one moment, but in the nextбн

    The faint sounds of something large falling immediately caught Leonel''s attention. But, even within the walls of the village, the range of his Internal Sight was at most double what it had been in the forest before. There was simply no way for him to locate something his eyes couldn''t lock onto. Very soon, though, he wouldn''t have to.

    It started as barely a flicker of light in the dense fog that formed the canopy of the skies. But, it very quickly became a blinding orb of fluorescence, shining as though a star was crashing down from above.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The meteors crashed down, sending a wall of pressurized air out in all directions.

    Leonel was almost thrown off of his feet. He crossed a forearm over his face, his feet trying to dig into the ground but finding that it was so hard that he couldn''t find a firm grip anywhere.

    Luckily, the pressure wall didn''t last very long, though the billowing clouds of dust that followed it didn''t have the decency of doing the same. However, it didn''t need to for Leonel to realized what had happened.

    The wall. It was gone.

    Faster than even the clouds of dust, the fog rolled in, overwhelming everything from all directions and causing the concentration of Anarchic Force to multiply several times over. As much as the others had been struggling before, very soon, they would find themselves meeting a wall of opposition they wouldn''t be able to walk out of.

    "Now!"

    Leonel''s command roared out again. The others had been too shocked to act on his first call, but hearing his urgency, their sluggish minds snapped awake for a moment.

    Using what little strength they could muster, they poured their Force into the beast skin armor Leonel had given them. They were all greatly apprehensive. After all, they barely had any strength remaining, so how could they easily accept using what little they had left in this fashion? However, there was something about the momentum of Leonel''s voice that made them trust him.

    The moment they acted, the pieces of their beast clothing seemed to vibrate to a unique cadence, a dense black fog connecting them all and enveloping their bodies. Some gained powerful horns, others gained large claws, some had longer legs than more while some gained longer arms, some even gained tendrils just like Leonel had. But, what wasn''t doubted was that each gained a large leap forward in strength.

    That, though, was just the tip of the iceberg. They felt the effect of the Anarchic Force lessen, allowing them to breathe easier and for their bodies to feel lighter. It also made the process of acclimation easier, although much slower.

    When the wall of fog finally made it to them, the horror they had braced for fell like a single drop of water amidst a vast ocean. They couldn''t help but look toward Leonel''s back with hardly concealed admiration and worship.

    What small reprieve they gained, expectedly, didn''t last for very long, though.

    Numerous pillars of light appeared in the distance. But, it only took a moment for them to begin to thin, separating out into fine, thin and breaking lines of gold before vanishing entirely.

    ''Markers maybe?''

    It was hard to gauge distance in all this fog, especially since they seemed to have purposely made every pillar the same thickness. Leonel only got a general direction out of them.

    "The True Selection Begins now. All restrictions have been destroyed and Cursed Beasts are quite drawn to loud noises. I would advise you all get moving as quickly as possible."

 Chapter 1287 Third

    Chapter 1287 Third

    Almost the instant the voice came to an end the howls of beasts shook the skies, penetrating the dense fog in a way that their eyesight couldn''t hope to.

    The voice itself was clearly from Ossenna, but it was impossible to pinpoint where exactly she was. It was like she was trying to remind them all that she was paying attention to what was happening even if they couldn''t set eyes on her.

    Leonel winced slightly, the loud howls threatening to burst his eardrums. The distance between them and the beasts shouldn''t have been very close. He had already entered the forest once and they were all quite dispersed and he hadn''t run into any packs, likely because the nature of Cursed Beasts didn''t really allow them to work together. But, for their roars to be so loud despite the distance, Leonel''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat when he thought about just how powerful they had to be.

    ''We need to move. Now.''

    Time was of the essence, this was the conclusion Leonel came to. The fact he could only make such a benign and unimpressive deduction spoke volumes all to its own.

    Leonel sent a gaze back, communicating with his eyes before shooting forward. He held back his speed to a level that most in their group could keep up with, not wanting to leave anyone behind. Though they now had the armor to sustain and help them, and they shouldn''t have any issues maintaining it at these low settings, they were still restricted somewhat in their strength.

    The likes of Aina and Myghell could use about 80% now, while the others were at about 60-70%.

    Leonel blazed a path into the village, his gaze narrowing when he witnessed the scene ahead.

    In the center of the village, several of the most severely injured youth lay writhing on the ground, the Anarchic Force eating away at their weak bodies and paralyzing them from the inside out. It was clearly already too late for them to receive treatment and one after another, they died.

    Even further ahead than that, a surging wall of disciples ran for their lives, understanding that they only had a short time to disperse into the forest before the wall that had protected them before became the bottleneck that assured their deaths.

    The issue with this, though, was that this small village already had several hundred geniuses who called this place home. Secondly, despite the large scale of the explosion, only about a 20-meter diameter of the black log wall had been destroyed. And, to make matters worse, the residual force and flames of the impact still lay in the pit that separated them from their escape, forming a barrier that no one dared to cross easily.

    This resulted in a surge of people rushing from the back and a wall of individuals who hesitated to take a step forward. Even on Third Dimensional Earth, moshpits were the kind of places innocent people went to die, let alone in a situation like this where people were on a high that surpassed seeing their favorite musician. They were all fighting for their lives.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted from the hole in the wall to the portions of the black log that still remained. It was obvious that many weren''t trying to leap over the normal way because of how difficult it was to climb a hundred meters straight up in a Seventh Dimensional world.

    ''Can they make it?''

    Leonel''s brow furrowed deeper. He could clear the hundred meters in just a few steps, but what about those following him? It was unlikely.

    Leonel''s mind worked in a blur, immediately coming up with a solution. His steps diverted, shooting off at an angle and away from the 20-meter gap in the wall.

    "Karolus, with me!"

    Karolus'' expression changed but he sped up until he was shoulder level with Leonel. His tall and lanky body was filled with strength and vitality, especially after gaining the support of Leonel''s armor. He was eager to make his mark.

    "Together!" Leonel said, reaching out a hand.

    In that moment, a crack appeared in space about a meter off the ground. When Karolus saw this, he immediately understood, his own hand reaching out a moment later. With a thought, his own spatial affinity latched onto the ledge Leonel had formed, widening and strengthening it.

    Soon, the ''crack'' in space had become like a splintered glass stair, stretching out for about two meters.

    Leonel accelerated forward, his gaze flickering as he leapt into the air. Even as he did so, his hand reached out again, forming a second crack three meters ahead and two meters higher off the ground than the first.

    Karolus followed suit, his brows marred by concentration.

    Leonel''s foot landed heavily on the first stair, propelling himself upward toward the second just as Karolus reinforced it.

    Their group caught on just a moment later, rushing up the spatial stairway in pairs as they rocketed upward. In just a few moments, they soared over the log wall beneath the astonished gazes of many of those who found themselves on the village side.

    "Slow your fall downward!" Leonel''s voice commanded again, a road of stars appearing beneath his feet as he zigzagged through the air, slowing his descent by several measures.

    Leonel''s mind continued to work, his breathing becoming more even and his thoughts becoming focused. He knew the ins and outs of the abilities of everyone who followed him now. After all, while they thought they were anonymous thanks to the billboard of numbers, Leonel had already attached them all to faces. Using everyone quickly and efficiently wouldn''t be a problem so long as they hadn''t held back too greatly.

    At that moment, though, Myghell landed heavily a large measure before Leonel had. Clearly, he hadn''t taken any measures to slow himself, nor had he felt the need to.

    He looked up, meeting Leonel''s gaze for a moment. Even without an exchange of words, Leonel already understood.

    Without a word, Myghell shot off into the distance, having no intention of waiting for the rest of them. Following Leonel? Was that a joke?

    A smile curled Leonel''s lip for a moment before a shocked cry resounded and a body flew out from the fog.

    Obviously, it wasn''t Myghell. But, rather, it was someone Leonel didn''t recognize at all.

    Leonel landed on the ground softly, his gaze sharp as it pierced toward the direction Myghell had vanished from.

    ''Wisdom Branch, Third Awakening.''

    Leonel''s pupils dilated to an extreme, the illusion of an owl''s eyes appearing to his back as his vision jumped through the dense fog to land on a group of disciples Myghell had just blasted through.

 Chapter 1288 Barricades

    Chapter 1288 Barricades

    Leonel had recently stepped into the Third Awakening of his Wisdom Branch. Unfortunately, it didn''t give him the boost to his mind that he had hoped for. But, what it did do was give him a sharper pair of eyes, eyes that could see much further within this fog than his Internal Sight could.

    From just a few meters, Leonel''s line of sight extended to about 50, allowing him to see what was going on.

    There had been many cabins much closer to the black log wall, and many of them were geniuses on a level beyond those still struggling to get past the wall of fire. So, they had been able to clear the walls alone without relying on the tricks that Leonel had. They were likely talents that had either earned Golden Tokens or had been very close to doing so.

    Some of these individuals had formed a barrier, blocking those who made it into the forest from continuing further in. This was a barricade that Myghell had come across, but he blasted through it as though it wasn''t there.

    ''I see. Thanks for the heads up.''

    By the time Leonel had observed the situation and understood what was going on, Myghell had already vanished into the distance. It seemed that those that formed the barricade hadn''t cared to chase after him either.

    Obviously, Myghell had thrown the body of this person back in Leonel''s direction as a warning, knowing the poor vision everyone had in this fog.

    In Leonel''s opinion, Myghell didn''t have to do that. One might say that the latter owed Leonel because of the beast skin armor, but Leonel didn''t feel that way. After all, it was his fault that everyone only had three hours to adapt, it was his responsibility to help them as a result, even if it was at a detriment to himself.

    Leonel didn''t have close ties with many of those he was leading right now, but he still did so because he felt responsible. The beast skin armor was what he owed Myghell. But, it seemed Myghell didn''t want to leave any question and chose the path toward the cleanest separation possible.

    Toward this, Leonel could only chuckle to himself before his gaze became serious once more. One after another, those of the Three Pillar Sector landed to his back, some more heavily than others. Luckily, the foggy armor was able to mostly protect those who couldn''t slow their falls by a large enough measure.

    ''Why would they block the road ahead? Shouldn''t they be focused on running now? The beasts will be here soonбн No, they''re already here.''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, roaming about the perimeter. There was no easy way to sneak more than two dozen people through without running into one of these barricades. And, as he had thought, the beasts were already here. There were small skirmishes breaking out everywhere, it was just that these beasts were still manageable for now, most being at Tier 1.

    ''This is a calculated risk by them. They know that the truly powerful beasts are still closing the distance. In that case, they must want to take advantage of the commotion to stock up on more resources. This is the best opportunity they have to rob people. There''s no easy way to deal with this, and with Myghell gone, our battle prowess has definitely taken a strong hit.''

    "Prepare for battle. There''s a blockade ahead." Leonel explained.

    After saying this, Leonel rushed forward again, his palm flipping over to reveal his spear. But, surprisingly, he had brought out his Quasi Bronze Wind Domain spear instead of one of his Quasi Silver ones.

    Leonel had been very fond of this spear back when he was still in the Third Dimension. It was four meters long from head to toe and had a ridiculous amount of flexibility, granted by its hollow core revealed thanks to the etchings that coated its body, allowing one to see all the way through it in some sections.

    Leonel hadn''t claimed a Quasi Silver spear like it just yet, so he had to settle for this one. But he felt it was perfect for this situation.

    With a shake of his wrists, the flexible spear vibrated wildly. In that moment, a surging of wind began to form a cyclone around its shaft, grasping onto the dense fog in the surroundings and bending it around Leonel''s spear blade.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. As he rushed forward, he suddenly pierced forward a half dozen times in quick succession. Every time he did, a dense, Spear Force laced, spiraling tendril of fog would whistle forward, casting a net of volatile strikes that shot toward a barricade.

    Aside from just the faintest of golden glows caused by Leonel''s Spear Force, the attacks blended into the fog almost as though they weren''t there at all. But, what was the most devastating about them was the fact that half way to their destination, the dense Anarchic Force within the fog began to swallow Leonel''s Spear Force, increasing the concentration of Anarchic Force into the form of a blade that shot through the skies.

    "Enemy attack!"

    By the time a member of the barricade with sharper senses realized what was happening, Leonel''s spear strikes had already arrived.

    Forced to hastily block, many brought their weapons up to their chests while others couldn''t bring their weapons out in time and were forced to block with their fists and arms.

    Unfortunately, no matter which category they fell into, the results were devastating.

    The dense Anarchic Force in Leonel''s strike swallowed up the Force they used to defend themselves, ripping through their defenses as though they weren''t there.

    Those that used weapons ended up relatively better off as these weapons had strong resistance to Anarchic Force to begin with, but those that didn''t have the chance found their bodies pierced through and a violent Anarchic Force eating them up from the inside out.

    Leonel burst through the clearing, Aina and Noah following to his left and right as they all brandished their weapons.

 Chapter 1289 Already?

    Chapter 1289 Already?

    Cornelius watched this skirmish with an odd flicker in his eyes.

    ''Alreadyбн?''

    Maybe only he knew what exactly he meant by this. Or, more accurately, those who understood the difficulty of fighting on a Void Battlefield would all come to a very quick comprehension of exactly what he was baffled by.

    бн

    Leonel''s spear techniques flowed with a sort of smoothness it had never had before. This was the first time he had seriously used his spear since his battle with Myghell, and he could almost feel his every action singing, as though every slight movement carried with it a breath of fresh air and a purpose filled with life and vitality.

    His four meter long spear left afterimages in the air, melding with the surrounding fog as though there was no separation between them at all.

    Those that had managed to survive Leonel''s sneak attack recovered quickly, brandishing their own weapons in retaliation. Leonel didn''t hesitate to take on three of them, his blood pumping as his violet hair whipped about beneath his own sheer speed.

    His foot planted hard against the ground, his body shooting forward.

    For a moment, it looked as though he would crash right into a tree ahead of him. His three enemies cleverly used the congestion of the forest to their advantage, trying to recover from the sudden attack in time. But, that was when Leonel''s spear showed its flexibility.

    As though it had a mind of its own, it snaked around the tree from the left, appearing before the throat of the middle youth who suddenly found themselves frozen in place.

    Leonel struck to kill, not showing even the slightest hint of mercy. Everything about his demeanor was oppressive and aggressive. He seemed to finally embody the true style of a spearman. His strikes were no longer bland. Though they still carried a calculative air, it also came with it a certain liveliness that couldn''t be denied, as though it was prepared to read and adapt to any situation in a split moment.

    "MOVE!"

    Leonel''s voice boomed.

    The two to the side of the young man Leonel targeted reached out with their weapons to protect the throat of their comrade. But, when their weapons struck the tip of Leonel''s spear, they suddenly felt as though an overwhelming mountain had crashed down upon them from above.

    A strong flash of gold whipped outward, sending the flat of their blades careening against the throat of the companion they sought to protect and resulting in all three of them flying backwards as though a triplet of broken kites.

    Leonel burst through the center of the barricade, his aura and movements becoming like a blinding torch for those to his back to follow.

    Aina and Noah followed through, the former brandishing an ax of red-gold and the latter wielding a gorgeous blue saber. It was clear that this saber was given to Noah by Alienor, or else it was doubtful that it would be able to survive in such an atmosphere.

    They were both just as ruthless as Leonel, Aina never having been a person who shied away from blood and gore and Noah being no less murderous.

    What was different from this case in comparison to all others, though, was that the enemies they faced weren''t canon fodder. In fact, they were unlike any enemy they had ever faced before. Even with the intent to kill, Leonel had actually failed to do so, and Aina and Noah were no different.

    This place was where all the top talent of the Human Domain accumulated. They might have had their heads forcefully lowered and all their pride and aspirations watered down in the last several months, but for those had survived to this point, their strength had bloomed to a level it hadn''t ever touched before.

    Leonel knew this well. This was why he hadn''t hesitated to use a sneak attack to get through, a sneak attack he knew they would have to take advantage of or else they would quickly find themselves on the losing side of this exchange.

    The only regret Leonel had was that he hadn''t managed to come across good enough materials to make a bow and he didn''t have access to a bow he could use right now that wouldn''t suffer under this Anarchic Force. He wasn''t using the Quasi Life Grade Bow for obvious reason.

    He knew that if he had had this bow, this battle would had ended even easier. In fact, in this fog, with his Third Awakening paired with his bowmanship, he would practically be untouchable.

    The person who suffered the most from this, though, was Isac. Leonel obvious hadn''t been able to make him a bow either, leaving him stuck with nothing more to use than his own hands and feet. Luckily, as a bowman, his movement techniques were still quite good as he had to maintain distance from enemies.

    Leonel felt quite bad about this as he thought that if it wasn''t for him, Isac would have probably been able to commission the creation of a bow from the smithy. Unfortunately, things didn''t end up working out in this way.

    Beyond this, Isac was most definitely reluctantly following Leonel. After all, Leonel had killed his cousin. The only reason he hadn''t left was because if he let a moment of pride and hatred ruin his selection here, he would be letting both Ysac and his family down. He owed it to them to do his best to survive until the day he could get revengeбн

    Things weren''t actually this simple, though.

    Leonel would soon come to learn that these matters weren''t as much his fault as he thought. Bowman had a very special status in the Void Palace, a status that even often faintly surpassed that of Craftsmen. It was also why the bow in Leonel''s possession was so specialбн But this was a matter Leonel would likely find out sooner rather than later.

    The group finally burst through the barricade, vanishing into the thick fog on the other side.

    [More coming 10/05/22]

 Chapter 1290 Spatial Bristle Bush Cores

    Chapter 1290 Spatial Bristle Bush Cores

    "They passed already? What the hell were you all doing?"

    "Fuck you, where were you?"

    "I went to double check something. I had to after what I noticed, just in case he had left behind any of the Spatial Bristle Bush Cores."

    "And?"

    "Nothing. He took it all."

    "Tsk. You should have already known that after the first time you checked."

    "Never mind that, it looks like he was already prepared for a barricade. We can''t waste time here for too long. A beast tide has already formed and we need to make it through before the real big shots get here. This is nothing like previous years, it''s like they really want as much of us to die as possible. Even the storefronts already vanished by the time I got back."

    Leonel had noticed this as well. Not long after the voice announced the start of the True Selection, the storefronts and their clerks had all vanished, likely to take part in the Selection at a new location. But, this also left those who needed things stranded while also making all the homes they had built useless.

    The ones talking right now were, of course, the Libra brothers, Huon and Droet.

    After Leonel returned with an hour left, Huon had chosen to go out to check a few things. Since Leonel had managed to return unscathed, it was more likely than not that he had had some gains and their initial estimation of him was wrong. He was definitely a threat to them monopolizing the rewards available to Village 0012. And, they knew quite well that if they couldn''t monopolize these rewards for themselves, they would end up at a disadvantage when facing other villages.

    While a lot seemed to have changed about this Selection, the fundamental tenants of previous years were still here. They were still on their own, very little would be explained to them, and their main goals were to gather as much resources as possible while making it to the various checkpoints for any semblance of rest to be gained.

    Ultimately, they would have to make it up the mountain. It was just that simple. The trouble was that a ''mountain'' of the Void Palace, even the smallest, were easily taller than entire planets.

    This aside, the twins chose to take a cautious approach. After their own deductions and Orinik''s ''informative'' talk with them, they had gotten complacent. But, Leonel''s return snapped them awake. They would only have one chance at this, they couldn''t afford to waste it. And what Huon found on the outside proved him right.

    The destruction left by the Spatial Bristle Bushes wasn''t something Leonel could easily cover up even if he wanted to. Seventh Dimensional worlds were incredibly sturdy, so any damage to the surroundings at all were quite rare especially in a region limited to Fifth Dimensional existences. So, when Huon found several deep pits of violent spatial qi, each at a location of Spatial Bristle he was familiar with, his pupils couldn''t help but constrict.

    Harvesting the spatial rings the two brothers had done every few days. But, even after more than two months, they had only managed to gather less than ten between the both of them. Yet, somehow, if Huon was correct, Leonel actually had hundreds in his possession. The kind of buying power such a thing represented was enough to make him salivate.

    The two brothers had been certain that the encirclement would be enough to slow them down. And, because they didn''t want to alert Leonel, they had chosen to remain in the shadows and wait for an opportunity. But, it was clear that they had gravely failed in doing so.

    "What exactly happened? What''s his strength? What weapon does he use? What''s the damage?"

    "It seems to have been a surprise attack. He uses a spear and it''s definitely not one constructed by the smithy, which means he has a weapon that can survive in this atmosphere without special refinement methods. Or, it was already specially refined for him. In addition, that beauty and one other also seems to have weapons like that."

    "Three of them?" Huon frowned deeply.

    There was no such thing as ''fairness'' in the Void Palace. The things that others had that you didn''t, you would have to rely on yourself to get. But, so many individuals with weapons capable of surviving Anarchic Force was unheard of.

    The two brothers fell into this category of people, of course. However, they had thought that they would be the only two of this village to have this luck. But, it seemed that they were wrong.

    "The damage is pretty bad. Three succumbed to their injuries and died, all of whom seem to have been hit by an odd elevated concentration of Anarchic Force. It''s hard to tell if it was intentional or if they were just unlucky."

    "Do you think we could get them for murdering fellow disciples?"

    "You know if it was against the rules they would have already stepped in. The True Selection is much less policed in this fashion. If it''s like other years, there''s free rule outside the safe zones and rules are only enforced within them."

    Huon nodded, having already known this.

    "бн The beast tide is already here. They still don''t know we''re targeting them. It''ll be easier to get through this wave of beasts if we combine efforts in the vanguard. However, I''m not giving up those spatial rings. Even setting aside the Bush Cores, that many spatial rings is enough for us to practically buy our way to the peak!"

    "We have Orinik to thank. If not for him talking to the seniors, he would have already exchanged them. But, we can''t relax. There''s far more to trade for at higher level safe zones."

    The two brothers looked toward one another and nodded in unison, shooting off toward the sounds of howling beasts.

    бн

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. His dilated pupils saw an endless wall of beasts rushing toward them. Just in a 50 meter radius from him, the numbers were already in the hundreds.

    His mind went into overdrive. How could he get out of this without casualties?

 Chapter 1291 Useful

    Chapter 1291 Useful

    The first issue was line of sight. Even being able to see 50 meters ahead felt a lot more like half of that. The trees were very dense and maneuvering about was a problem, making a straight line of sight impossible to maintain for too long.

    With such a short line of sight, and lacking the flexibility provided by Internal Sight, Leonel couldn''t even tell how far they had to go, or if there was even an end to all of this to begin with.

    The second problem was the strength of the beasts. Leonel had fought many Tier 1 Cursed Beasts already, and their strength was nothing to turn your nose up at. In fact, it was directly the opposite. Facing one was a challenge enough already for most, let alone facing a hoard like this. Of those in his group, Leonel was certain that a majority would only be able to handle, at most, a single Cursed Beast at a time.

    And that led to his third problem, there were simply too many of them for him to defend and protect by himself. It would be fine initially as all the Cursed Beasts were currently in front of them, but Leonel wouldn''t be able to kill them all. As they got further and further into the beast tide, they would begin to receive attacks from the sides and eventually the back as well. At that pointбн

    "I will take your right." Aina suddenly spoke.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. That was rightбн He wasn''t exactly alone.

    "I will take the left." Noah followed up.

    "I want the front!" Elthor chimed in, eager to lead the vanguard. But, he found an arm wrapped around his, pulling him backward.

    "We''ll take up the rear." Karolus corrected. "So long as you move forward fast enough, we won''t be swarmed too badly."

    Karolus flashed a smile, but it almost seemed quite fanatical as he looked toward Leonel. Everyone had already gotten used to this, though. After Karolus exposed himself as a fanboy of the Royal Blue Football Team, he had gotten worse and worse at hiding his love for Leonel.

    Toward this though, Leonel grinned. It seemed he had been a bit too focused on making it up to everyone. Then again, though, he was always like this. If there was something he could take control of himself, he rarely relied on others to do it.

    With a flip of his palm, Leonel''s Wind Domain Spear vanished. He once again lamented the loss of his Duality Spear, it would have been far too useful in this situation. But, he had to make do with what he had.

    ''Kinetic Spear.''

    A spear of what looked like black ice appeared in Leonel''s hands, a dense black fog erupting around him as he took a heavy step forward.

    "Everyone else, gather in the center. Keep your head on a swivel and support where you can."

    As Leonel was speaking, his head was enveloped by the fog and his voice fell several octaves, the reverberating baritone thrumming the trees vibrating to the stampeding beasts to life.

    Little Blackstar hopped into the air, dancing about on invisible steps before shooting forward.

    "Keep up! Blackstar and I will carve the path out!"

    BANG!

    Leonel shot after Little Blackstar, his body forming an arrow of Force as he crashed into the frontline of berserk Cursed Beasts.

    As though a wedge, Leonel''s volatile use of Force caused a three meter diameter to split wide open amidst the surging tide, the sturdiness of his back suddenly becoming the marker for all those behind him.

    "Tch." Elthor shook his head. "Should have been meбн"

    Karolus laughed. "We''d better hurry up or else we''d really be left behind."

    бн

    With every movement of his spear, another Cursed Beast fell. Leonel had learned from his mistakes previously. Cutting down these beasts wasn''t enough, he had to shatter the source of their strength as well.

    Due to the mutation the Cursed Beasts had undergone, their Ethereal Glabellas, or rather, their Beast Crystals, vanished, fusing into their bodies and becoming various physical mutations. If you wanted to ensure that one was dead, you would have to target this location and tear it apart as it acted as a second brain of sorts. This was why the wolf was able to attack Leonel even after he bisected it.

    Obviously, Leonel wouldn''t make the same mistake twice. Each one of his strikes was lethal to an extreme. Sometimes he would seem to shatter a beast whole, at other times he would only cut off a small piece of their heads, but regardless of what he did, they would always never rise again.

    Little Blackstar didn''t even seem to treat this like a real battlefield and the little guy acted as though he was on some sort of elaborate, hyper realistic playground.

    The little mink hopped through the air, vanishing on a whim and appearing as he pleased. Every time he did so, another head would be ripped from a body. Somehow, even though the little mink wasn''t as meticulous as Leonel in attacking the second brain, whomever he attacked would still never rise againбн

    Shadows of all sorts danced and bobbed in the air, but Little Blackstar simply swallowed them all, happily chewing along as though enjoying a great delicacy.

    Leonel left Little Blackstar to his own devices, and yet the two in combination were still like a buzzsaw, twisting through the tide of beasts.

    However, even after an hour, there was no end in sight. The looming threat of the more powerful beasts hung over their heads like a guillotine, but even before they arrived, Leonel could already feel that the resistance of the beasts ahead was growing.

    He had to keep up the same forward pace, or else they''d be completely swallowed up, but the number of Tier 2 beasts they were coming across had already increased exponentially. Leonel had even locked gazes with a Tier 3 just 20 meters ahead.

    Leonel still felt like he could go on for a long while, but the same couldn''t be said for those behind him.

    With a thought, a necklace appeared around Leonel''s neck, this time tied by beast skin.

    It seemed there would be nothing easy about this. It was time for his second beast companion to be useful.

 Chapter 1292 zero

    Chapter 1292 zero

    Leonel actually wasn''t sure if the golden scaled koi fish would be able to do this. While it had shown a great amount of talent in siphoning and parsing Force, not only was this world far stronger than any it had experienced before, but it was also filled with a Force that Leonel wasn''t sure the koi fish would be able to deal with.

    It was because of these reasons that Leonel had hesitated to take this risk before, but now he felt like he had little choice. While he, himself, was doing fine and could continue without pause for at least a few more days, those that followed him weren''t doing nearly as well.

    They had already used the last sliver of their Force to power the beast skin armor. And, while the function of the fog armor allowed them to slowly replenish themselves over time, the issue was that the process was slow, especially when they had to immediately use whatever headway they made to fight the beasts that were surrounding them from all sides.

    Once again, this was ultimately Leonel''s fault for not allowing them all enough time to acclimate. While the likes of Aina seemed to be taking this as a great training opportunity, relying on her overwhelming bodily strength to support herself, the others weren''t so masochistic, nor did their bodily compositions allow them to be.

    ''Alright you mass murdering little fish, it''s time to be useful.''

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    Worse come to worst, the koi fish was swimming around in a lake''s worth of Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters. Even if it didn''t have the skill necessary to peace apart the Force properly just yet, its life shouldn''t be on the line immediately.

    Leonel didn''t need anything crazy, he just wanted to shift the concentration of Anarchic Force in the general surroundings just enough that the burden on the others was lessened to the point that they could recover.

    The golden scaled koi fish, still very much afraid of Leonel, didn''t dare to delay, quickly doing as it was told. Unfortunately, things weren''t as rosy as Leonel hoped them to be.

    The moment the fish began to act, Leonel could feel that Anarchic Force was being pulled along. Though Leonel used his connection with the koi fish to try and command it to separate it out, he soon realized that this was beyond the little fish''s abilities.

    ''Dammit.''

    Leonel''s jaw clenched, his spear jetting outward and leaving streaks of gold in the air as he pressed forward, shredding apart every beast that got within even a two meter radius of him. Without a choice, he was forced to make the koi fish stop.

    If he had allowed it to continue, let alone increasing the concentration of usable Force, Leonel would end up doing the exact opposite. In the end, he would be killing his team faster.

    ''If only I could use a Domainбн''

    If Leonel could blanket the surroundings, it wouldn''t be a problem, he would be able to cover for everyone at the same time. His Chain Domain would be absolutely perfect in this situation.

    The issue was that even if Leonel brought out all the stops, even fusing his King''s Might into his Domain to expand its size, it would still barely stretch out a few inches from him. Let alone covering for more than two dozen people, he wouldn''t even be able to cover for himself. In this world, the range of his Domains was simply far too small.

    There were only a few ways to change this. The first was to break into the Sixth Dimension. The second was to raise his mind to the Sixth Dimension and thus increase the pressure his King''s Might could exude. The third was to comprehend the Heavenly Body Realm to Completion, the Universal Force it would provide would make his Domains more than large enough. The fourth option was to enter Spear Domain and pull out a Quasi Gold Spear, not to mention hope that it would acknowledge him and help him to use its Domain instantly.

    Leonel thought of many solutions, but each one was more impossible to use than the last.

    ''Then that only leaves one choiceбн''

    It was a nice sentiment to want to pool the efforts of everyone together, but it was simply not possible. There always comes a time when others reached their limits and Leonel would just have to put in more effort to cover for them.

    The crimson orbs that hovered within the dark fog that was Leonel''s helmet vibrated. In that moment, a miniature humanoid figure of violet appeared above it, its purple hues fusing into Leonel''s dark armor and giving it an added sinister air.

    The moment Leonel fused the influence of his King''s Might with his Internal Sight, its range amplified. From just a handful of meters, Leonel could finally see the surrounding 20 with extraordinary clarity.

    Tendrils of darkness erupted from Leonel''s back even as Little Tolly appeared once more. In its draconic form, Little Tolly snaked toward the corpses that littered the surroundings of Leonel''s feet, shredding them apart and leaving nothing more than the bones behind.

    Leonel shifted his spear into one hand, using his left to strike at the air with his fingers. The precision with which Tolliver was being controlled skyrocketed, the little Metal Spirit''s actions becoming more refined and deft.

    Soon, the sturdy bones of the fallen beasts were refined into sharp daggers without a hint of specialness to them. They seemed unassuming and weakбн Until, that is, Little Tolly threw them into the air, allowing the tendrils that had erupted from Leonel''s back to snatch them.

    Level Two Bow Force bloomed, coating the blades of these daggers with a subtle hint of lethality that chilled the bones.

    Leonel''s left hand danced through the air, his right controlling the killing spree of his spear, eruptions of golden Level Two Spear Force slicing apart everything in its path, and finallyбн

    The whipping sounds of dark tendrils snapping through the wind followed by harsh whistling filled the battlefield.

    With a single flick, dozens of bone daggers jetted outward in all directions, each one reaping the life of a Cursed Beast.

    A heated breath left Leonel''s lips as the pressure on everyone around him dropped to nearly zero.

 Chapter 1293 Headache

    Chapter 1293 Headache

    Leonel''s killing speed skyrocketed. He controlled everything within a 20 meter radius. Every dagger his tendrils threw reaped another life and every swing of his blade bisected another body. His mind was in overdrive and his killing was so efficient that those nearer the back suddenly found that they had nothing to contribute. Even Noah and Aina who had taken on the brunt of the pressure with Leonel found themselves withstanding less than 20% of the initial hardship.

    Leonel seemed to be both in tune with the world and completely ignorant of it at the same time. His ears heard nothing but soft whistles, his eyes fogged, blurring much of his vision, his sense of touch dulled as the hairs of his skin stood on end. And yet, he seemed so much sharper at the same time.

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    Every dagger twisted through the air as though it had a mind of its own, wrapping round trees, ducking beneath paws, twisting past attacks. Without fail, each and every time Leonel struck out, another Cursed Beast would fall. And, somehow at the very same time, Leonel only became more and more efficient.

    The daggers took less winding turns in the air, the reactions of the beasts seemed to become slower as he began to target their blind spots, and from time to time, a single dagger would take out two beasts at once instead of just one.

    At first, the group was huddle into a five meter diameter at best. But, as Leonel''s mind sunk further and further, the breathing room increased again and again. Soon, there was easily a five meter separation between their line of defense and the next onslaught of beastsбн And then it became 10бн Then 15бн

    At that moment, Leonel jolted, a sense of warning coming to his mind. It was an instinctual sort of feeling, the kind a General would get when the tides of battle were about to flip.

    Leonel wasn''t too surprised by this. From time to time, whenever he had to use Bow Force on a large scale, he would subconsciously slip into the Style of that Fire Elemental woman he had seen in the Valiant City on Terrain. Her command of the battlefield was unlike anything he had seen even to this point, so he dabbled and tweaked this Style to his liking depending on the situation.

    But now this Style was screaming at him that he was going too far.

    Leonel''s mind lit like a spark.

    At this moment, they were a drop in the ocean. But, if he expanded their range of influence too much, their drop would become a wave and eventually the ocean itself would bite back. If more and more of the beast tide focused on them, they would be in trouble.

    The second issue wasбн

    Leonel''s dagger whipped out. But, before it could make it to its destination 20 meters away, it lost all its momentum, the Anarchic Force sapping away everything it had.

    There was a reason that Leonel had swapped his Wind Domain spear out. Using blade-like Anarchic Force was effective on humans, but to Cursed Beasts, it was like a midday snack, it wouldn''t hurt them at all.

    If the distance his bone daggers had to travel was long enough, the result would be just like this. It would be stripped of its Bow Force and not only would Leonel''s control waver, but the resulting impact, even if by some miracle it landed, wouldn''t even be a fraction the result he would hope for.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, taking deep breath. The heat coming off of him was palpable and it only seemed to make the fog denser.

    Sometimes being too efficient and powerful was a problem. He needed to find a balance. Only like that could he not only maximize his rest time, but also ensure that they didn''t draw too much attention.

    It didn''t take long for the beast tide to quickly fill in the gap. After ensuring that they hadn''t pulled too much aggros, Leonel sighed in relief and focused his attention on the Tier 3 beast that had swallowed up the distance between them.

    бн

    ''Natural Bow Forceбн? No, normal Natural Bow Force couldn''t possibly travel as much as 20 meters in this density of Anarchic Force, and definitely not with that level of control and deftness. What is this child hiding?''

    This was the true secret of Bow Force and the Void Palace. Long ranged attackers were so rare that the status of bowman who would be effective in this environment were countless levels above others even of similar skill level in other areas. This was a simple application of supply and demand.

    A bowman that could be effective at 20 meters was already enough for the Void Palace to go all out in protecting. Even if Leonel had no background whatsoever, Cornelius would likely swoop down from the skies right this moment and take him out of this trial. Unfortunately, out of consideration for some other thingsбн he definitely couldn''t do this.

    ''A Morales family youth with Natural Bow Force at such a young ageбн How will the Tarius family react to thisбн? Not only that, but he''s already awakened the Morales family''s Elevated Spear Forceбн Why did they throw this problem on my lapбн''

    Cornelius had sighed more times today than he had in the last several decades.

    The upper echelon of the Void Palace was split. However, regardless of which side they were on, they were in unanimous agreement that they didn''t want another Velasco appearance. That man had a unique method of pissing off everyone, and yet somehow still managing to be so beloved.

    The result of this was an odd push and pull effect where they wanted to take a hands off approach with Leonel, but also didn''t want him to run rampant to the point where that death star could appear here again.

    In order to do that, they needed to make sure that Leonel stayed within the confines of the rules and that he integrated as normally as possible, this was minimize the risk. The odds that Velasco''s son would be as much of a blazing sun as his father was low, despite what Ossenna had to say about genetics.

    Unfortunately, the more Cornelius observed Leonel, the more confused he got.

    He couldn''t tell if Leonel was a once in a several generation genius like his father, or if he was an ordinary talent riding the coattails of his family''s resources. Even now, he had still not yet made a decision, but regardless, this matter was trending poorly for the Void Palace.

    бн

    Leonel''s gaze brightened.

    ''There''s an odd sparsity of beasts ahead and the flow seems to have been diverted. There''s definitely a change up ahead within the next half kilometer.''

    Leonel had made certain to follow a path that led toward one of those golden pillars he had seen at the start of the trial, but he had no way of telling just how far away they were. He now had a feeling that he was approaching them.

    What he hadn''t realized yet, though, was that he had a few tails that were outside the range of his amplified Internal Sight.

 Chapter 1294 Not Good Enough

    Chapter 1294 Not Good Enough

    Leonel internally felt relieved. The drain to his normal stamina was minimal, but using his King''s Might like that left him feeling like his mind was being squeezed dry. It wasn''t a joke to use his Dream Force and will to forcefully expand the influence of his Internal Sight and he wasn''t sure how much longer he could keep it up without it affecting the rest of his performance.

    Not long after experiencing this feeling, though, Leonel steeled himself. The truth was that he had no idea what was up ahead. Breathing sighs of relief now would make him sloppy. He had to prepare for every possibility.

    ''бн That''s not like me.''

    Leonel frowned, his mind suddenly going on high alert. He never relaxed before getting to his goal like that, but he had almost done so just now.

    The moment Leonel''s mind sharpened, he honed in on his surroundings, soon finding that the violet of his King''s Might had flecks of an abnormal pink within them. Without the slightest hesitation, his will clamped down, roaring out like a dragon and shattering the odd pink discolorations.

    ''Someone targeted me? What about?!''

    Leonel''s Internal Sight reached out to everyone in his group. They all had light smiles on their faces and their bodies were relaxed. There was nothing odd about this on the surface. After all, after Leonel took the brunt of the burden away from them, they had been able to replenish their Force at a faster rate and their previous helplessness was all but washed away.

    However, there were too many oddities. For one, Elthor would definitely not be smiling right now. In fact, he should be pissed. Knowing him, he would want to fight, not rely on Leonel. But, he would also understand that he didn''t have the strength to insist on this, so he would be infuriated with himself.

    Then there was Arnold and Noah. These two were as stoic as they came, Leonel had yet to see something so benign leave them in a state of perpetual happiness like this.

    Beyond this there was the likes of Rychard who was forced to be in a group with Leonel to begin with. He knew that if he tried to leave on his own, not only would it be a question of whether he even had the strength to survive, but it would also be a question of if it would be Leonel or the surrounding danger that would kill him first. He didn''t dare to leave because he knew that Leonel would target him in the future even if he somehow survived, by then, he wouldn''t even be able to take a single step forward in this place.

    Even one of these individuals lightly smiling like this would have been an oddity, but the idea of all of them doing so was simply ridiculous on its face.

    ''Again?''

    Leonel''s brow furrowed deeply when his senses focused on Yuri. She was smiling just like everyone else, but Leonel could tell that it was fake. It didn''t travel up to her eyes, which continuously darted back and forth as though looking for something.

    What was most shocking was that Yuri''s pupils, by Leonel''s estimation, were focusing on regions dozens of meters away despite the dense fog. So, it was either she had an ability like Leonel''s Snowy Star Owl eyes, orбн

    ''Her Internal Sight can lock onto regions that far away? But then why would she bother moving her eyes at all, wouldn''t that just be giving her away? Unless she wanted to give herself awayбн''

    By now, Yuri would have already noticed Leonel''s scrutiny, but she didn''t even look toward him even after several seconds.

    Leonel shook his head. ''Don''t you think there should be some exceptions even when you don''t want to talk to someone? This is a life and death situation, it isn''t time to be tsundere.''

    "HA!"

    Leonel suddenly let out a low shout that almost sounded like an acute clap of thunder. Lacing his King''s Might with his shout, Leonel''s voice jarred the minds of everyone around him awake.

    "Huh?"

    A small sweep of confusion breezed through the group. But, no one seemed to understand what had happened. It was like they had just woken up from a dream but their memory of it had already been shattered.

    "Yuri, what''s the range of your Internal Sight?"

    Yuri, who had lagged behind in her little act a bit, was stunned by Leonel''s sudden question. After she composed herself, she, quite frankly, didn''t want to answer. But, it wasn''t long before both Savahn and Aina''s gazes landed on her, causing her to bite her lip in unwillingness.

    "бн 100 meters."

    Leonel didn''t seem surprised by this answer at all despite the fact many others looked toward her as though they were gazing upon some kind of monster.

    In truth, Leonel was pissed despite the fact it didn''t show on his face. He was draining himself, drastically cutting down the chances of him succeeding in what would be the later Amethyst level trials, so that he could protect her and the others, when things would have been so much easier if she just explained this long ago.

    Leonel didn''t hang onto this anger for long, though. There was no point. Not only would it not be helpful, even if it would be, it was still ultimately his fault that they were in this situation.

    "Have you mastered a sensory sharing technique?"

    Yuri frowned deeply. The answer was yes, but that didn''t mean she wanted to use it, especially since she was certain that Leonel would be asking her to share with him.

    There were many Internal Sight manipulation techniques, and among them, such sharing was a part. Among all those here, and maybe even among all those of their generation in the Human Domain, there was unlikely to be anyone who could match her in Internal Sight in Yuri''s opinion.

    "I can just tell you. There are two groups of people following us. 57 meters that way and 63 meters that way."

    "Not good enough." Leonel left no room for debate. "Fuse your Internal Sight with mine."

    [Important author''s note below]

 Chapter 1295 Not a Doormat

    Chapter 1295 Not a Doormat

    Almost the instant Leonel said these words, Yuri flushed completely red. Her expression flickered from embarrassment to rage to shyness and back to fury. Just her emotion alone made the small humanoid figure on Leonel''s forehead waver and almost collapse entirely. The pressure on Leonel''s mind became so great that his Internal Sight range fell to a quarter, only barely able to sustain five meters.

    Leonel''s expression darkened. Yuri hadn''t said a word yet, but he already didn''t like where things were going. Just because he had remained silent about it until now didn''t mean that he hadn''t had a temper about it. If Yuri insisted on putting her own petty rage ahead of what was for the best of the group, he would have to take a stronger approach.

    However, before Leonel could say anything, though, Aina spoke out.

    "Yuri can fuse with me. I will relay it to you."

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. Was all this roundabout nonsense necessary? Even a split second lag could be the difference between life and death.

    Infighting was inadvisable at this point, but this situation was sensitive. There was no doubt that whoever had targeted them had a larger Internal Sight Range. Just to follow them alone took a certain amount of sensory abilities, let alone actually targeting them through the fog.

    When facing such people, such roundabout methods wouldn''t just theoretically cause harm, they would most definitely be a detriment to the overall group.

    "Aina!"

    What surprised Leonel even more, though, was that even after such a concession was being made for her, Yuri still lashed out. Leonel was already unsatisfied with the concession in the first place, but she was actually still unwilling to take this route?!

    Savahn''s brows furrowed. This matter was becoming very troublesome, very quickly. Aina had chosen to move on from those things, but whether it was Yuri or Miel, both of them were still riding a high of fury, Miel even had to force himself to choose against personally seeing them off for fear of what he might do to Leonel. In truth, the fact that Yuri had remained this silent all this time at all was a miracle in and of itself.

    Unfortunately, it seemed that the peace would comeбн

    "That''s enough."

    Aina''s battle ax smashed into the ground, sending a wave of Force outward that knocked the beasts back several meters. Her head turned back, a fiery golden gaze landing on Yuri, shocking the latter awake from her own fury.

    Yuri was shocked into silence. Aina had never shown her such an expression before. It only made it worse that she was actually showing her such a face for him of all people. It made her feel all sorts of emotions she couldn''t even properly qualify.

    Aina had drawn a line in the sand quite clearly.

    If Yuri felt that she was in the wrong, she could still accept this. But, knowing what she knew, and knowing that Aina understood her thoughts, and still seeing her react this wayбн She had chosen Leonel over her and didn''t even seem hesitant to do so.

    Yuri''s eyes watered slightly but she blinked it away.

    "Yesбн"

    Yuri''s Internal Sight flourished, blanketing the surroundings. With a thought, a thin string connected to Aina who had already turned her attention back to the beasts. There was only so much attention they could spare to other things in this sort of situation.

    The moment Aina felt the connection, she didn''t hesitate to replicate it, taking in the sensory input, making it her own, and then forming a connection with Leonel.

    Leonel didn''t resist when he felt something press up against his mind and he accepted it without reserve. But, the instant he felt the connection solidify, he froze.

    It was like he could see everything in crystal clear detail. The surroundings were so sharp and vivid that Leonel had a hard time believing that there was fog hanging in the air at all. It was as though he had gone from 480p to 8k resolution with a single flip of a switch.

    While this alone was enough to shock Leonel to no end, what he was really shocked about had little to nothing to do with how clear this image was. Rather, he was focused on something entirely different, something so real and intimate he almost blushed in the middle of a battlefield.

    All of Aina''s thoughts were laid bare before him. As though this much wasn''t bad enough, he felt a feeling that he had never experienced before. It was as though he was caressing the naked body of a woman, but he was feeling it so much more intimately than just skin deep, it was as though it was his heart itself stroking the delicate softness of her skin, of her curves, of her ample breasts and plump bottom.

    ''Shit.''

    BANG!

    Leonel palmed himself on the forehead, hard. It sounded as though stone was crashing against stone, but he didn''t hold back in the slightest, even leaving himself somewhat dizzy and flustered. Still, he didn''t regret his actions in the slightest. In fact, he almost wanted to hit himself harder.

    Finally, Leonel felt his mind clear, allowing him to take a deep breath.

    He fully understood why it was that Yuri had been so against this. Just that subtle touch had felt more intimate than even what Leonel would imagine sex to feel like. He didn''t even know what he would do if he was flooded with that kind of sensory overload if the target was Yuri.

    Wait, it wasn''t okay either way.

    Leonel moved to cut the connection off entirely, but he felt a sturdy rebuff before he even could.

    Aina met his gaze. There was a dangerous light hidden within, almost like a wronged wife daring her husband to take things a step further so she could pull out her rolling pin. She had already humiliated Yuri for his sake, if he dared to make her actions meaningless she really would be pissed this time.

    It was then that everyone suddenly became aware that Aina was still Aina. She had made a choice to stay by Leonel''s side because she wanted to, but she wasn''t a doormat. Her blade edge was very much still there.

    Leonel slowly retracted his intent, his face still somewhat flushed.

    ''Dammit!''

    His gaze turned in a certain direction, murderous intent flickering. He suddenly very much needed something to vent on.

 Chapter 1296 Top Tier

    Chapter 1296 Top Tier

    "Blackstar, this frontline is yours."

    Leonel''s sudden voice reached out to the little mink who was barely visible up ahead. Despite his playful attitude, Little Blackstar immediately heeded Leonel''s call, flashing back through space and appearing half a meter above Leonel''s head in the blink of an eye.

    At that moment, a dense fog began to exude from the little guy, causing his body''s size to appear to increase several fold. Before many could grasp what was happening, Little Blackstar had suddenly become an enormous black bear.

    ? No, it wasn''t that the little mink had morphed. In fact, one could still see the vague image of a little mink floating within the head of the foggy construct of the three meter tall black bear. It rather seemed that Blackstar''s Dark Elemental Force had formed an encasement for his small body, one that felt no less real than if the actual creature was standing before them right this moment.

    Absorbing the Mimicry Bat''s blood had already evolved Blackstar down the path of being able to steal abilities, awakening that facet of his Shadow Sovereign Ability Index. After absorbing the Void Beast''s blood, though, not only had many more facets of Blackstar''s abilities been unleashed, but the ones that had already existed had also evolved.

    Leonel was only familiar with some of them as the mischievous little mink never took anything very seriously. However, of the ones he was aware of, he knew that Blackstar could now house several abilities at once, and he could steal more than abilities nowбн

    The black bear construct roared, slamming down its paws and causing a wave of darkness to turn many of the charging beasts to ash.

    Without looking back, Leonel''s figure flickered and vanished, followed quickly by Aina. The two targeted the closest group first, Leonel''s mind having locked onto a particular young woman with a head of pink hair and bright blue eyes. She was quite the beauty in her own right, although falling several steps short of Aina. Still, her body radiated as though carved out of a gem. It gave her a charisma that went past just her raw looks alone.

    Using Aina as a bridge to Yuri''s senses, Leonel could immediately tell that she was the culprit.

    Leonel didn''t bother to hide his actions. He could feel that they had been being observed all this time. The moment they cut toward the group, they had already been discovered.

    The swath of beasts in their path were cut down by Leonel one after another, his left hand still striking down at the air as he commanded Little Tolly to form dagger after dagger. By the time they had cut the distance by half, leaving just over 25 meters to cover, dozens of daggers had already been controlled to Leonel''s back, each gleaming with a menacing light.

    Despite knowing he was well out of range, Leonel still sent over a dozen daggers whizzing forward, their bodies leaving streaking lines of silver that vanished into the fog.

    In that moment, the pink haired woman''s eyes lit up. "Enemy attack."

    She spoke these words almost too calmly as though she didn''t need to explain anything more. But, astonishingly, those around her reacted as though they could read her mind as well, brandishing their weapons in Leonel''s direction and parrying the strikes away with a calm efficiency.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    He didn''t quite understand what had just happened. Had they connected their Internal Sights as well? But after learning what that meant and represented, Leonel had a hard time believing that a girl, or anyone for that matter, would so easily agree to do such a thing with a large group of people.

    Leonel felt that he was missing something. But, he had almost forgotten that he had a cheat.

    ''Old man, be useful.''

    ''Cheating again? This isn''t very Kingly of you.''

    ''I''m too ignorant of things that seem to be common knowledge for other people. If anything, I''m just trying to level the playing field. If I really wanted to cheat, I''d be using your senses and not Yuri''s. Hurry up.''

    ''Whatever helps you sleep at night, if I really sent out my Internal Sight, you''d end up being sniped and killed in just a few seconds. In my prime, I could hide from them, but you''ve trapped me in this ring after keeping me split in half, what do you want me to do about that exactly?''

    ''Less complaining, more explanations.''

    ''That girl is a member of the Gemin family. They''re basically the only ones of the Human Domain who understand anything about the soul at all. You can relay words and images through thought far faster than through words. She can do that without issue.''

    ''Hold on, then why is this matter such a big deal? Why didn''t Yuri just do that in the first place?!''

    ''You''re such an idiot. You didn''t ask her to do that, your specific words were to Fuse your Internal Sights. That''s a completely different ask.''

    Leonel would be lying if he said he wasn''t feeling a bit embarrassed hearing such an explanation.

    ''Why didn''t you say anything, then?!''

    ''Why would I say something? It was peak entertainment, I couldn''t stop laughing. You essentially went up to a girl and asked her to strip naked in front of you, top tier comedy, really. A true modern day Casanova.''

    Leonel''s jaw set. For once, he didn''t rebuttal. But, his gaze still flashed with a dangerous light. He didn''t like having his mind played with. Even though he had seen through it almost immediately, he wouldn''t stand for it.

    Leonel''s King''s Might bloomed, the humanoid figure on his forehead becoming more prominent as it sent a wave of pressure forward. His thoughts were simple. First divide, then conquer. What better way to do that than to disrupt the abilities of this young woman of the Gemin family?

    "Stay close to me." Leonel spoke to Aina. "I''ll end this as quickly as possible."

    The tendrils that trailed to Leonel''s back flared like a peacocks tail. Then, once again, they all whipped forward simultaneously.

 Chapter 1297 Fleeced

    Chapter 1297 Fleeced

    Keiza immediately saw through the trajectories of Leonel''s throws, but when she tried to communicate it, her pupils constricted. She picked up a lag in her actions and understood that she wouldn''t be able to relay the information in time.

    "Enemy attack! Prepare yourselves!"

    Those around Keiza understood that something had gone wrong, but they weren''t too shocked by it. They were all geniuses in their own right and they had enough experience to understand that Keiza''s abilities weren''t infallible. They were still ready to react.

    However, when Leonel''s strikes came into view, they were caught completely off guard nonetheless.

    Leonel had purposely sent his first volley from outside a range he was comfortable with. As a result, it had lulled them all into a false sense of security, believing that Leonel''s strikes were normal and easy to handle. But, this volley was completely unlike the last.

    They moved through the air as though they had minds of their own. Sometimes daggers would diverge, and at other times they were suddenly clang off of each other, shooting off in directions completely opposing to the trajectories they had originally been following.

    Toward this sight, even Keiza pupils constricted. They had been following Leonel''s trail for a very long time now, so, Keiza had, of course, been focused on comprehending his abilities. It was only after grasping all of this that she took the risk to try to subtly influence Leonel''s mind.

    This was why Keiza hadn''t panicked after Leonel shattered her control. No genius of the Golden Token level would be so easily swayed by her suggestion, especially not in this environment. This was why she had gathered up all the information she needed first.

    The trouble was that after her long observation, she had concluded that the limit of Leonel''s range was about five meters. This was surprising, but still made logical sense to her. After all, maybe the only person unaware of how important long ranged attacks were in the Void Palace was Leonel himself.

    However, what Keiza hadn''t grasped was the fact that Leonel had been purposely reining in his range all this time so as not to draw too much attention to himself. Keiza had made a small concession for this possibility, but the idea that Leonel''s range was as much as 20 meters didn''t even cross her mind. Whyбн?

    Because it should have been impossible!

    By the time Keiza awakened from her shock, the bodies of many of her comrades had been pierced completely through. Even those that managed to deflect and protect themselves ended up in sorry positions, allowing the hoard of beasts around them to lash out and take advantage. Another three of her comrades were severely injured in this way even before she reacted.

    Keiza''s blue gaze became steely. Leonel had purposely not targeted her because he knew he would need at least a bow or a true throwing weapon to make a difference. However, this lack of danger had made her even a step later to react than she normally would have been.

    Keiza had already had an elevated opinion of Leonel. But, at that moment, it raised another several levels.

    Her arms flared outward, seven feather shaped weapons appearing to hover around her head, shoulders and arms as though they had minds of their own.

    The moment Leonel burst through the final line of fog and appeared before her eyes, she reacted, four of them flying forth with blinding speed and three remaining back to defend. Her hair seemed to gain an extra glow to it, her skin shimmering like gems.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, his left palm finding its way back to its shaft and clamping downward.

    DING! DING! DING! DING!

    The rotation struck away all four feather blades, but their pursuit was relentless, stifling Leonel''s forward momentum in just a single volley.

    At the same time, those that had survive Leonel''s initial onslaught rebuffed a tide of beasts before beginning to attack Leonel and Aina from the side.

    "Don''t encircle him. Remain where you are and attack from there." Keiza coldly commanded.

    There was a biting sharpness to her current self that hadn''t been there before, but no one dared to ignore her words.

    Leonel himself already felt that he had underestimated the effort he would need in this exchange. His forward momentum had already stopped and to his back, there were more beasts. Aina had already turned back to deflect their attacks along with the support of his tendrils, but if things continued like this, they would end up just helping Keiza and the others to clear the beasts until they reached the safe zone.

    Leonel had to admit that Keiza was very clever. Her choice not to encircle them was perfect, forcing Leonel and Aina to take a brunt of the pressure off of them all while facing their attacks.

    Leonel had chosen to strike first, not wanting to be taken advantage of. But, he realized they would lose more than they gained by making this a long, drawn out battle.

    At the same time, the second group that had been following them seemed to be making a move, picking up speed as they cut a path toward Leonel''s people and making the situation far more complicated. This group happened to be one containing the two Libra family brothersбн

    "It seems you''ve made a mistake in targeting the wrong group."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. "You made it so that I would attack you and not them."

    Keiza smiled sweetly. "Handsome and smart. You could say that they paid for my services to бн push you in the wrong direction."

    "How much did they pay you?"

    "Oh my, are you asking me to sell myself again? That would make me feel so cheap."

    Aina suddenly found herself becoming very irritated. If it wasn''t for these damned restrictions she was under thanks to this Anarchic Force, she would have already sliced this succubus in half.

    "How much?" Leonel pressed again, his voice cold.

    He was clearly being targeted and that made things troublesome. If he was alone, this matter would be simple to handle, but he had people to protect and he was running out of time. The worst part was that he didn''t know what the exchange rates were just yet, so it was very likely that he could get fleeced.

    Wise Star Order''s laughter echoed in his head. The old man was enjoying this too much.

 Chapter 1298 surge

    Chapter 1298 surge

    Keiza placed a hand to her chest, pouting slightly at Leonel''s rudeness. If one didn''t know better, you would have truly thought that she had been wronged by Leonel.

    "бн It''s not impossible for you to buy me off. But, the hit to my reputation will be a very heavy burden to take on."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. Why was this woman constantly lacing her words in double entendres? It might have worked had Leonel been susceptible to her coercion, but obviously he wasn''t. The only explanation, then, was that she was wasting time. She had no intention of allowing Leonel to ''buy her''.

    The moment Leonel reached this conclusion, his mind''s focus shifted, locking onto the group led by the Libra brothers. His mind spun, sifting through one plan after another.

    The distances were too short, but the beast tide gave them a buffer. The main issue was that this beast tide was getting thinner as they approached the safe zone, which was exactly why their enemies had waited until right this moment to target them in earnest.

    In a moment, Leonel had made a decision.

    "HA!"

    A roar left his lips, a surge of Universal Force erupting from him.

    In that instant, Keiza went through three rapid changes of expression. The first was shock that Leonel hadn''t bothered to continue negotiating with her an instantly entered a higher battle state. The second was disdain after realizing Leonel''s Universal Force was only at the Four Seasons Realm. And, the third and final reaction was once again shock after she suddenly grasped that this wasn''t normal comprehension, this was True State Universal Force!

    She had forgotten one very important thing. In a density of Anarchic Force like this, regular Universal Force below a certain level couldn''t be called down upon. Only those who had master True State Universal Force could manifest this strength at any level!

    ''Summerбн Radiant Core!''

    Leonel abandoned spring, winter and fall, putting everything he had into his Artistic Conception of summer. A flurry of Radiant Cores began to appear, dozens of them hovering before the daggers held up by Leonel''s tendrils.

    In that moment, it was as though the ends of Leonel''s tendrils had become volatile drill bits, spinning wildly with violent circulations of Bow Force. The strong rotational, electromagnetic and gravitational abilities of Leonel''s Radiant Core bloomed.

    Keiza''s mind trembled, a towering sense of danger overwhelming her. Leonel''s Four Seasons Realm comprehension was too low level to provide any large boost to his Force, and especially not his Bow Force, any longer. However, it didn''t need to.

    In this environment, Universal Force had a countering force to Anarchic Force. In fact, it could be said that Universal and Anarchic Force were two sides of the same coin, one representing the light and the other touching upon darkness.

    As a result of this, the impact Anarchic Force had on Leonel''s attacks fell by a large measure. To anyone else, this might be a negligible matter. Howeverбн To a bowman like Leonel, it essentially meant that he had suddenly become the Apex Predator of this battlefield.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, realizing the change immediately. As expected, his Dream Simulation had been correct.

    His dozens of tendrils flexed.

    Keiza wasn''t a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. The moment she realized the situation had turned unfavorable, she shot backward, her body lifting up into the air and over the beasts as she kept her eyes trained on Leonel.

    However, from the very beginning, she had never been Leonel''s target.

    In a single smooth motion, Leonel''s tendrils rocketed forward before rebounding in the opposite direction, spinning about themselves and sending out dozens of red-gold, spinning drills of Bow Force rocketing toward the Libra group.

    Keiza''s expression changed.

    That was ridiculous. The distance between the two groups following Leonel and the others had been just over a hundred meters initially, just within the abilities of their communication devices. The distance had been cut to about 60-70 meters as they made their way toward Little Blackstar and the others, but sending an attack out from that distance should have been impossible in this environment!

    Under any other circumstances, Keiza would be correct. Her deductions were perfect, her mind was quick and her calculations were accurate. Unfortunatelyбн Her opponent was Leonel Morales.

    бн

    Huon and Droet blazed a path toward Leonel''s group, feeling that they were on a time crunch. They had been able to lay back and relax most of this time because they had forced those around them to do the brunt of the work and, also, following behind Leonel had been like following a safe zone. The beasts behind their group had been much sparser and, though not to an exaggerated extent, most beasts tended to aim for Leonel as most of their comrades fell in that direction.

    This had allowed the brothers to maintain themselves at near peak condition, just enough for them to go all out now. In just a few more seconds, they would make it.

    However, what neither of them could have expected was for the foggy skies to sudden light up as though several red suns were boring down on them, each splicing through the air as though they had minds of their own and falling down from above with lethal intentions.

    The eyes of the brothers widened.

    "Enemy attack!"

    The assumption that both Huon and Droet made was that they had accidentally offended a powerful beast. One that could attack them from outside their range of site had to be at least Tier 7, if not higher. In fact, they even believed that this might have been the final hurdle they had to cross to be allowed into the safe zone.

    However, caught off guard, and being attacked from a direction completely opposing to the destination they were facingбн The results were devastating.

    Screams of horror and cacophonic booms resounded. Leonel''s timing was all too perfect and the Libra group found themselves in shambles. The two brothers could only brandish their rope darts with dark expressions, turning to face the direction of their attackers.

 Chapter 1299 Sparks

    Chapter 1299 Sparks

    Leonel didn''t look in the direction he sent his volley of attacks, his focus still concentrated on Keiza. Despite what seemed like disregard, he found this woman to be very dangerous and he didn''t like the idea of turning his back on her.

    ''She''s flying but she hasn''t flown very highбн There''s probably a good reason for that.''

    Leonel made a mental note of this. He, too, could fly. But, he hadn''t done so because he needed to escort everyone else. Obviously, though, from what it seemed here, there had to be some hidden danger in taking that route. Leonel didn''t believe that there weren''t Cursed Flying beasts, they were just lucky that there was a thick canopy of trees here, or else maybe they would have to deal with attacks from the sky as well.

    Leonel suddenly felt his connection with Aina waver, causing his expression to shift.

    ''I didn''t account for that. There must be a great strain on her mind right now to not only assimilate Yuri''s senses but then also pass them off to me. I can''t press this situation anymore.''

    Aina hadn''t said a word from start to finish. In fact, even now, she still protected Leonel''s back, swinging her ax and ensuring that no Cursed Beasts could attack from the back.

    Seeing such a scene, Leonel didn''t hesitate any longer. Not sparing Keiza another glance, he turned and retreated, wrapping an arm around Aina''s waist as his Universal Force flourished. Almost the instant he did, Aina weakly wobbled, but his grip was firm.

    Keiza found herself caught off guard again before clicking her tongue.

    "Asking me such intimate questions and then running off with another girl. How rude."

    Keiza giggled to herself, seemingly not realizing that her team members were still on their backfoot in this situation due to having placed too much attention on Leonel and not enough on the beasts surrounding them.

    Leonel pretended as though he hadn''t heard a thing, heavy droplets of molten gold becoming his footrests as he shot through the skies, relying on his Artistic Conception of Spring.

    In a few massive leaps, Leonel landed beside the still rampaging Blackstar. By this point, the safe zone could be seen with the naked eye. A thin gold barrier surrounded yet another village. Cursed Beasts rushed around it, not daring to step foot within.

    Leonel gave Aina another glance, but he chose to hold onto her in the end. Her brows were marred with sweat and breathing was heavy and labored. She had clearly pushed herself very hard. Since the safe zone wasn''t far away, he didn''t think it was right to leave her be like this. He could only ignore all the knowing stares and winks he was getting right this moment.

    Soon, the group had made a final push and crossed the safe zone barrier.

    Leonel looked back and met Yuri''s gaze. The latter was silent and didn''t have much of an expression right now at all. In fact, she seemed to be quite a muted version of her current self.

    "I''m sorry. I was ignorant and made an inappropriate ask of you."

    Yuri took a while to realize that Leonel was actually speaking to her. But, even after she did realize this, she didn''t know how to respond. The result was her mouth hanging open for a moment, but not the slightest inkling of sound coming out.

    He apologized to her?

    In truth, Yuri had already guessed that Leonel had misspoken. But, she had a lot of anger for him and couldn''t stand to explain herself.

    Leonel understood where Yuri came from with a lot of the ways she acted and he didn''t blame her. If Aina''s best friend didn''t always have her back even when the world was against her, then who would? If even the far more reasonable Savahn didn''t like his actions very much, Leonel wasn''t arrogant enough to still believe he was perfect.

    That said, the only reason Leonel hadn''t tried to see things from Yuri''s perspective earlier was because she hadn''t explicitly told them that their minds were being targeted or that they were being followed despite the fact she should have known.

    Unfortunately, what Leonel was unaware of was the fact that Yuri hadn''t known. She had a habit ingrained into her by Miel to always hold back her true strength. In reality, even the 100 meter estimate she had given Leonel was a lie, that was just a fraction of her true range even in this environment. It wasn''t until she realized they were being targeted that she let loose a little bit.

    In addition, the reason why she used such a roundabout way to inform Leonel was also because of her habit of hiding herself. Not everything she did was from a malicious or petty view. It was just that Leonel didn''t know about her past and why it had to be hiddenбн

    But that was also precisely why what Aina had done hurt so much more than anything else. Anyone else could be ignorant, but Aina knew all of those thingsбн And still chose Leonel''s side. It was like she had drawn a hard line in the sand. It was either Yuri accept that she would always have feelings for Leonel, or they wouldn''t be sisters anymore.

    These were the emotions that Yuri was trying to process when Leonel so suddenly did something she hadn''t expected.

    Unable to come up with a proper response, Yuri crossed her arms and looked away.

    "бн You''re too nice for your own good. And, somehow also not nice enough when you should be." Yuri mumbled beneath her breath.

    These words were only meant for her to hear, but she had clearly underestimated Leonel a bit too much. Even hearing this, though, Leonel could only chuckle.

    Seeing that this matter was resolved, at least for now, Leonel began to look around. He needed to find a place to allow Aina to rest and he also wasn''t sure how long it would before this safe zone was no longer a safe zone much like the previous Village 0012.

    Before he could find an answer to this, though, another group charged in from a separate entrance.

    Beaten and bloodied, the Libra brothers and what remained of their cohort collapsed. The Libra brothers themselves seemed to be fairly unscathed, but their expressions were very much dark.

    By their sides, a smiling Keiza stood, unblemished and beaming like a small star.

    Sparks almost instantly flew through the air.

 Chapter 1300 Pass? Or Not...

    Chapter 1300 Pass? Or Not...

    Leonel met their gazes, his own narrowing. The sight of the Libra brothers wasn''t something that he was expecting, it was the first time he was seeing such odd humans. The natural blue hair of the Adurna family was already a great shock to him, but the white as clouds and dark as night skin of the twins was yet another culture shock for Leonel. The both of them seemed as though they had been painted into reality rather than being naturally occurring.

    Still, Leonel only lingered on this thought for a moment. What was more intriguing was the odd way Force moved about the two of them. There was a clear push and pull effect between the two brothers as though they were pulling in Force together and separating it into parts in a game of tug of war. In the end, there would be a light pop and the ''rope'' would cleanly separate, leaving each brother with their own clean half of the Force.

    It was a perfect sort of a balance. Droet''s Force was a bit lighter and brighter while Huon''s Force was a bit darker and heavier.

    Leonel looked away. He couldn''t waste any more time on these people, there was a time crunch.

    He took a step forward but Aina was a bit slow. Seeing that her legs felt weak, Leonel put away his spear and swept her legs into his arms as well, not really thinking twice about it.

    Huon and Droet frowned at this scene. If Aina was a normal beauty, they wouldn''t have even thought twice about what they were seeing. What kind of beauty hadn''t they experienced with their noble standing? Unfortunately, Aina wasn''t very normal at all.

    These petty feelings only made the anger they felt toward their failed ambush worse. But, within the safe zones, the rules of the Void Palace were put back into place. It was already too late for them to do much of anything.

    Surprisingly, though, Leonel didn''t get the chance to explore very long before a flash of light appeared before them.

    Soon, it faded, revealing the figure of Ossenna within.

    The safe zone was quite small, only being about 30 or so meters in diameter. So, despite the fact Ossenna stood at the center, she was still viewable to them all through the gaps left between the storefronts that called the core of the village home.

    "Congratulations on making it this far, you can now be considered Nominal Disciples of the Void Palace."

    Leonel''s expression flickered, but then he settled down in understanding.

    They had been fighting without pause or rest for more than a day. If it wasn''t for him and Little Blackstar taking up the vanguard, and then him proceeding to take the brunt of the pressure away from everyone else, it was likely that no one would have passed from the Three Pillar Sector.

    Of course, that was also because Leonel''s coma hadn''t allowed them the time they needed to acclimate. There was no doubt that they would have performed far better if given the same time to adjust as everyone else.

    If Leonel had to be objective, probably about half of those here would have managed to pass. If they were able to all work together like they did under him and not allow their clashing origins and backgrounds to interfere, then at least 60-70% would have passed. The quality of their Sector was definitely decent even if it didn''t seem like it.

    That said, it was still lagging behind others. If not for Leonel''s interference, 100% of both Keiza and the Libra brothers'' groups would have passed. And, that was taking into consideration the fact all three hardly raised a finger at all.

    "Those without Tokens will be staying here. You will have one year from this point to make it to the next safe zone, or else your Nominal Disciple Rank will be revoked. Those with Gold Tokens, you may remain in this safe zone for three hours before you must leave and head to the next checkpoint.

    "From now on, this will be a contest of not just checkpoints, but also speed. Safe zones will only allow a certain number of Tokens to pass through. Some will only accept one while some will accept up to three. You will be able to tell by the zone''s size.

    "Good luck."

    After saying these words, Ossenna vanished once more, leaving Leonel surprised once more. It seems that he had been too na?ve. How could the Void Palace make things so easy, even if it was for Nominal Disciples?

    From what it sounded like, making it up the mountain was a rite of passage for all students. Even if you were a Nominal Disciple, you would have to do it, it was just that you were given a little more time to do so while those who carried the burden of higher level Tokens were under a stricter time crunch.

    It was likely that if you wanted to graduate from your status as a Nominal Disciple, you would have to make it all the way up the mountain to the final checkpoint within the allotted time given to you.

    ''Another three hours, huhбн''

    The three Golden Token holders of the Three Pillar Sector were Myghell, Aina and Noah. And, of course, there was Leonel who had the Amethyst Token and was obviously involved with all of this as well.

    Myghell had already gone ahead. Leonel wasn''t sure if he had already stopped by the safe zone and chose to leave already, or if it was the case that he had went in another direction and ended up at a completely different safe zone. Either way, he wasn''t here.

    Ultimately, Leonel decided that this was a net positive. Now everyone had a year to adjust and with the storefronts here, they could exchange for everything they needed.

    Since there wasn''t anything necessarily tying down this safe zone to Village 0012, they shouldn''t experience the same problems.

    ''Three hours, need to be more efficient this time.''

    "I''ll be back in a few minutes."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He realized that there was one elephant in the room he hadn''t considered just yet, and trying to ignore it could lead to a lot of problems.

    Carrying Aina, he quickly made his way to the storefronts.

 Chapter 1301 Void Points and Void Merits

    Chapter 1301 Void Points and Void Merits

    The issue was obvious. This space was simply too small and, by the last words she spoke, Ossenna had implicitly stated an even greater problem: there was no population limit.

    Why would Ossenna mention a cap on future safe zones but say nothing about this one?

    If Leonel was correct, not only were there not enough safe zones for most, even the ones that existed were so small in area that very few could hope to call this place home. Ultimately, most would be squeezed out and forced to their deaths. The idea of a congratulatory message was nothing more than a method of lulling them into a false sense of security.

    One might say that the Void Palace rules would protect those within this space, and such a person would be right. But, for how long would that last?

    During this year, those here would have to grow strong enough to make it to the next checkpoint which was also an unknown distance away. By the time Leonel had gotten here, Tier 3 beasts were already becoming far more frequent, so who knew what Tier you''d have to be able to face just to make it?

    Even if you gave up and wanted to idle for the rest of this year, realizing you were in over your head and felt that expulsion was the best path for you, you would still need to exchange for food and water, something you would need as frequently if not more so than a Third Dimensional existence due to the constrain of fighting off Anarchic Force.

    To exchange for this, you would have no choice but to exit the safe zone, and then what? By then, it would be a free for all.

    The worst part was that even if by some miracle just the right number of people filled in this space and no one deemed it necessary to take the risk of targeting fellow disciples to survive, there were still a limited number of resources to go around.

    Take the Spatial Bristle Bush. It could only be harvested once every several days before it could be taken from again. And, that was just one example. Leonel was absolutely certain that the other resources worked the exact same way.

    After this beast tide calmed, there would only be so many beasts in the region before you had to travel further out, only so many herbs to harvest, only so many precious gems and metals to mine or even find, for that matter.

    Then one needed to consider that there would be many ambitious individuals. Considering what Leonel had come to understand, the standard of this year''s entries were much higher than previous. There would be many unsatisfied with staying as Nominal Disciples and would do everything they could to reach higher and higher levels. For such people, even if everyone could coexist, they wouldn''t care. They would demolish everything that stood in their way.

    This all led to one conclusion: there would be a blood bath here, maybe one no less lethal and heart wrenching than what was waiting for Leonel during the rest of this Selection. He couldn''t leave his people here, especially while still in such a vulnerable state.

    He had to set them up for success.

    Leonel entered a storefront he hadn''t seen in Village 0012. He expected that he would find a very different experience here than he had over there, and he was found to be correct almost immediately.

    This storefront didn''t have a person in it at all. In fact, though it was shabby in construction and the floors creaked, all while a musty smell hung in the air, making it feel just as ancient as it was, Leonel could feel a strong and sturdy current of Force running through this place. He had no doubt that the central hub and power center of this safe zone was this place. If this location was compromised, then the whole safe zone would cease to be. But, Leonel had a feeling that even if he went all out, he wouldn''t be able to leave even a single dent in this so-called ''shabby'' cabin.

    Leonel stepped toward an empty counter. The moment he did, his mind seemed to have warped and his vision blurred before refocusing in a land of white and panels.

    Before Leonel could do anything, the panels rearranged themselves, many of the items that had been there vanishing. Leonel had a feeling that this was related to his current status. This panel would likely only show him things that Nominal Disciples could exchange for.

    Leonel didn''t actually plan on exchanging for anything, though. What he wanted to understand was how much wealth he had now and what it was worth. Only one he had this information could he decide what steps to take moving forward. Of course, that also required understanding what his point total could trade for as well.

    ''1 Void Point is worth 1000 kilograms of Sixth Dimensional Urbe Ore? That''s more than I expected, so Void Points are definitely very valuableбн''

    Leonel had a large amount of Sixth Dimensional Urbe Ore left to him by his mother. Billions of kilograms, in fact, not to mention millions of kilograms of Seventh Dimensional Urbe Ore. Unfortunately, while you could trade Void Points for Urbe Ore, you couldn''t do the vice versa.

    ''Void Merits?'' Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    It seemed that Void Points were only one part of the currency system of this place, Void Merits was another. And, unlike Void Points, there didn''t seem to be a one to one exchange rate provided for Void Merits, this immediately told Leonel that they could be considered to be invaluable.

    Leonel shook his head and refocused. If Void Merits were so valuable, he definitely wouldn''t use it on a list restricted to Nominal Disciples. Plus, he hadn''t earned even one just yet.

    Finally, Leonel found what he was looking for.

    ''So it''s like thatбн a one cubic meter spatial bristle ring is worth 10 Void Points, the next highest tier is worth 100, the next following is worth 500. 500 Void Points for such a small ringбн But then the core of the Spatial Bristle Bush is actually worth 2500 Void Pointsбн

    ''That would mean that all together I have 52 000 Void Points. The real question is, thenбн What can that exchange for?''

 Chapter 1302 Choice

    Chapter 1302 Choice

    Leonel''s pupils flickered back and forth quickly, scanning through the long list of items within just a few minutes. The fact it had taken so long, though, was a testament to just how many times there were available for exchange. Under this kind of time crunch, it was impossible that most would be able to go through the entire list to find out what they might need.

    Once he was done Leonel took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his mind quickly arranging the new information he now had access to.

    The amount of things was a bit overwhelming, even for him. There were all sorts of items from techniques, to Styles, to weapons and armor, there were special herbs, odd concoctions, it was even possible to exchange time with instructors or seniors to learn new skills first hand.

    Some of the most valuable things on the list were related to the God Path and understanding it. There were also options to be transported to meditation halls. Though, Leonel assumed that once your time was up, you''d be forcefully transported right back to this safe zone.

    Realizing just how much choice he had before him, Leonel first decided what was most important to deal with.

    ''The first and most important thing is to acclimate everyone to Anarchic Force as quickly as possible. Though the beast skin armor protects them and helps facilitate the acclimation, it also makes the process a lot slower. If they dispel the armor now, it would still take most of them about as much as another three days to a week to fully adjust. That''s way too much time, they''ll be driven out by thenбн

    ''There are probably two solutions to this. One is to allow them to naturally adjust themselves. Rather than trying to speed up the process, I''ll just buy them enough food and water so that they can survive the period without being in danger.

    ''The second option is to buy up these herbs and potions that can speed up the process and compress it into a short time.

    ''The first wastes a lot of time and they''ll end up being behind everyone else by several days. The second, though, is very expensive. If I took that route, I would blast through at least 30 to 40 thousand Void Points worth.''

    This wasn''t very surprising to Leonel. A medicine that could speed up how fast one could acclimate to Anarchic Force was practically a miracle drug or vaccine. These supplements were mostly used by higher level seniors who had to quickly adjust themselves to certain sections of the Void Battlefields and could be considered to be life saving measures for already well established geniuses.

    In fact, it could be said that the 40 000 point price tag was actually quite cheap, and that was only because the Anarchic Force in this region compared to others was pitiful. As such, Leonel only needed to buy up the weakest of these drugs for about two dozen people, and yet it was still so expensive in the end.

    Taking this route would leave Leonel with practically nothing. He wouldn''t be able to help as much as he wanted.

    ''I could trade the beast carcasses I have as well. They''re not as valuable as the spatial bristle rings, but I do have a lot more of themбн''

    "No. We''ll do things this way."

    Leonel shook his head, his gaze flashing as he came to a decision. After a few more seconds, Leonel quickly exchanged for everything he needed and walked out, only to find a line waiting outside.

    ''Seems I was quicker, that''s good.''

    Leonel felt that he was lucky to have entered first. Considering how long those lists were, who knew how much time another person would have wasted?

    He stepped by everyone, ignoring the looks they gave toward Aina who was seemingly taking a nap in his arms, and returned to the Three Pillar group.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar hopped onto Leonel''s head, his two little paws holding onto two spatial bristle rings that Leonel had purposely left behind. With a flick, one landed with Arnold and Elthor while the other was given to Savahn and Yuri.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed for a moment, cutting off all noise from exiting their general area.

    "Yuri, I hope you can help make sure that no one is eaves dropping on us. I have a few important things to say."

    Yuri looked toward the peaceful Aina before nodding lightly. This was all Leonel needed before he began.

    "Thanks." Leonel turned his attention to everyone. "I hope that even after I am gone, you all will stick together. I''ve given those two rings to people you all can trust. As much as I want to give one to each of you, if I had done that, I wouldn''t have been able to trade for everything you all would need."

    When Leonel said this, there was a slight breath of relief released by those that remained. It had felt like Leonel was abandoning them all already, but now they could be a bit more reassured. At the same time, Leonel could protect those he trusted by leaving this power in their hands, that way, those that he didn''t know a lot about couldn''t take advantage of the situation.

    "First things first, I''ve left enough safe food and water within those rings to last you all a week. During this week, I want you to slowly and naturally become accustomed to Anarchic Force on your own. This will not only save you from any lingering side effects in the future, but it will also equip you to better deal with higher concentrations in later regions.

    "I have already bought enough homes for all of you as well."

    With a flick of his wrist, some vouchers that Leonel had purchased appeared. Soon, a row of wooden homes appeared along the outskirts of the safe zone. They seemed tightknit and safe. For the next week, as long as they remained inside, no one would be able to touch them.

    The good news also was that these homes were very cheap, a fraction of the cost of even the lowest tier spatial bristle ring. All of them together didn''t even add up to half that cost either. It was clear the Void Palace didn''t think very highly of these cabins.

    "Now I''ll explain what to do following this weekбн"

 Chapter 1303 Are You?

    Chapter 1303 Are You?

    The beauty of Leonel''s choice was that up until this point, he had spent practically nothing. All the cabins weren''t even worth 5 Void Points while all the food and water were picked up by him. The water, of course, came from his Cleansing Water stores. He had downgraded it back to the Fourth Dimension as he didn''t want its specialness to become common knowledge, but that would be more than enough. As for the food, it was Cursed Beast meat cleansed by Sixth Dimensional Cleansing Waters. It might become boring to eat after a week, but at least they wouldn''t starve.

    This was the main reason why Leonel chose this route. Like this, he would be able to use all more than 50 000 Void Points he had remaining toward improving the odds of them all surviving.

    The beast armor he had left them, so long as they acclimated to Anarchic Force, would provide them a huge boost to their strength. The moment the power of the armor could be diverted from protecting them to just attacking and defending, there would be a qualitative change in them all.

    By Leonel''s estimations, this boost in strength in conjunction with their own raw power would raise them to a level where they would have been able to easily clear their way to this safe zone from Village 0012. This would put them at or above the level of many of the Nominal Disciples that remained. However, this wouldn''t be enough.

    That was where the real training would come in.

    Leonel poured everything else into resources. For those he could tailor the experience of, he did so, picking out a perfect complimentary technique for them. For those he couldn''t, he focused on buying things that could accelerate their growth, whether that was in Force or bodily strength.

    When Leonel was finished, everyone understood what they had to focus on for at least the next months. If they took advantage of this, not only would the gap between them and everyone else close, but they would even gain a leg up.

    They all gazed toward Leonel. They didn''t know how much he had to sacrifice to allow them this chance, but they knew it couldn''t have been cheap. How could they not feel grateful?

    "Well, it''s time for us to go." Leonel smiled lightly. "I hope the next time I see you all, you''ll not only still have your lives, but you''ll be much stronger as well."

    Leonel took his responsibility to these people very seriously. It wasn''t just about his guilt or his morality. Everyone here represented his foundation. They were the backbone of what he was building and they were all he had.

    Years from now, he would have to face off against six of his distant cousins, each of whom were likely monsters in their own right, and each of whom had roots deeply entrenched into the Void Palace long ago. He was already several steps behind. So, every one he took forward had to be meticulous, purposeful and perfect. He couldn''t afford to leave any stone unturned and he couldn''t allow himself to waste any more time.

    "Noah."

    Leonel called out. Though there was a three hour limit, he wouldn''t be wasting any of that time here. Ossenna had made it clear how much of a time crunch they were on, if he really spent three hours here, he would be an idiot.

    "Leonel, I thinkбк"

    Leonel smiled. "You want to go your own way too, right?"

    "Yes." Noah nodded seriously.

    If he kept following behind Leonel, he wouldn''t never be able to improve like he wanted. Plusбн He was a Fawkes. Behind his stoic face and expressionless gaze, there was his own Emperor''s Might lurking. Just like Leonel, whenever he got serious, an oppressive pressure would stifle the air, and that wasn''t a coincidence by any stretch.

    He had Royal Blood flowing through his veins.

    "Here." Little Blackstar tossed over a vial of greyish liquid after feeling Leonel''s intent. "This will help you adjust to Anarchic Force fully within a few hours, by then you''ll be able to show your true strength. Keep in mind, though, that there will be side effects. Soбн"

    Little Blackstar moved again, passing off another vial to Noah.

    "бн After you adjust to Anarchic Force fully, drink this and it will get rid of the impurities for you."

    Noah held onto the two vials tightly, not sure of what to say for a long while. However, Leonel only grinned.

    "Don''t get sentimental on me now, we''re family, aren''t we?"

    "Yes." Noah nodded.

    Noah had never really had brothers. There were too many people trying to use him everyday. The only person he trusted within his generation was Jessica. But, ultimately, their relationship was between man and woman, it wasn''t the same, especially not when they had unresolved emotions for one another.

    This justбн felt different.

    "No more time to waste. I''ll go that direction."

    Noah nodded. "I''ll go in that one, then."

    With a smile, Leonel''s figure flickered and vanished, hitting his top speed in the blink of an eye.

    бн

    Leonel adjusted Aina into a position on his back, using some more beast fur he had gained to tie her down firmly. Somehow, this situation felt oddly familiar, but his thoughts didn''t linger on this as he secured her.

    Once he was finished, Leonel took a breath of fresh air, or, a breath of air about as fresh as you could get in a place like this one. He finally felt like he could go all out.

    A road of stars appeared beneath his feet as he shuttled over the now slowly waning beast tide. Despite the fact they were slowing, though, Leonel didn''t place his guard down. It wasn''t a coincidence that the beast tide was finally showing signs of weakening just as the first wave of people reached the first safe zones. Clearly, the beast tide was a challenge for the first part of the True Selection. That meant there would likely be a new challenge coming up very soonбн

    Leonel leapt up, landing on the branch of a tree. With a flicker of his finger, a strand of Bow Force split a beast that leapt up with him in two.

    "Are you all going to continue following me for an entire day like you did the first time again? Or can we skip that nonsense?"

 Chapter 1304 Your Method

    Chapter 1304 Your Method

    After learning the usefulness of Universal Force in this region, Leonel was much more acutely aware of his surroundings. Just by infusing his Universal Force with his Internal Sight, his range had increased tenfold. If that was stacked with his King''s Might, his understanding of the region around him might not have been as bright and crisp as Yuri''s, but it was most definitely functional.

    Simply put, his sensory abilities of just a few hours ago couldn''t compare to his abilities now in the slightest. Seeing within a hundred meter range was no problem at all, and if it wasn''t for him minding the stamina drain, he could push further beyond that.

    Standing on the bouncing branch, one hand on the tree''s trunk and the other holding his spear, Leonel looked down.

    In a few moments, Droet, Huon and Keiza caught up, appearing up in their own trees. Whether by coincidence or not, each of them blocked a path of retreat. It could be said that if they were coming for peace, they weren''t doing a very good job. But, Leonel wasn''t so na?ve to hope for such a thing.

    Keiza raised a brow. Her gaze fell on Aina whose cheek rested on Leonel''s shoulder. It was clear that Aina wasn''t wasting the slightest effort to pay attention to her surroundings, she left it all up to Leonel. Even her battle ax had been taken away by him and stored away without her even flinching in her sleep.

    Keiza couldn''t help but playfully pout. "Why can''t one of you two carry me around like that. My legs are tired after walking so far."

    The two brothers looked toward Keiza. It was as though they were trying to check if she was serious or not first before they decided how they would react.

    "Useless." Keiza shook her head, feeling greatly unsatisfied. If they were confident, why would they have to check on her meaning first?

    The brothers, though, felt quite aggrieved. Keiza had been teasing them like this since they were children. One would think they would have seen through her by now, but the women of the Gemin family were innately difficult to deal with. Even together, the two didn''t dare to underestimate her.

    Much like the two brothers were the first instance in a very long time of their family''s Lineage Factor brought to perfection, so was Keiza with hers. So long as that woman was still smiling, things were fine. But, the moment that playfulness vanishedбн

    The Libra and Gemin family actually had a very close relationship with one another. If not for this, the twins would have never so easily asked for the support of someone else.

    Keiza had actually come from a completely different village but had still managed to locate the brothers. It was clear that they had every intention on relying upon one another for the coming trials.

    "Are you done yet?"

    Though Leonel said this, his eyes weren''t actually focused on the three surrounding him at all. In fact, he was sweeping the surroundings, trying to find out when the other foot was going to drop.

    It was very possible that there''d be a three hour buffer before the next wave of trials. Maybe that was the true reason for the time limit? In that case, he should probably focus on traveling as far up the mountain as he could during this grace period.

    "There''s no need to be so hostile." Keiza said with a smile. "Shouldn''t we all be working together? Coming from the same direction like this, it must be fate, don''t you think?"

    Leonel''s instinct was to say that he had no interest in working with these people, but he paused for a moment, looking Keiza in the eye.

    He needed to widen his network and becoming friends with a network of geniuses was a good start. The issue was that if Wise Star Order could so easily pick out the Gemin and Libra families like he had before, then that meant that these three were from very prominent families. The likelihood, then, that they had a relationship of some sort with the Morales was very high.

    This meant one of two things. Either they had already fallen in line with one of Leonel''s competitors, or, if they hadn''t, it was very likely that such families didn''t get involved with the Heir Wars at all.

    It had to be remembered that the only power Leonel knew of that had supported a Morales Heir in the Heir Wars was the small Valiant Heart Mountain. For all he knew, then, other Seventh Dimensional families didn''t even raise a finger for unknown political reasons.

    ''She should know I''m a member of the Morales family, though. After following me for so long, she definitely saw me use Tolliver. She had likely relayed this to the other two as well. So what exactly is going on here?''

    "I''ll make this as straight forward for you as possible. If you dodge the question again, I will attack. If you try to dance around the topic, I will attack. If you try to play it off as a joke again, I will attack. I don''t have the time to waste here.

    "What do you want, exactly?"

    Keiza blinked. Her instinct really was to flirt again, but the cold indifference in Leonel''s gaze made her words freeze over as well. She could tell that if she really tried it, Leonel wouldn''t hesitate to attack just like he said. Plusбн

    That little mink on his headбн She had almost missed it entirely, something that never happened with her level of senses.

    "There''s no need to waste anymore time, Keiza. Doing things your way isn''t working." Huon spoke evenly. "Your method of clearing Spatial Bristle Bushes, we want it. In addition, I know for a fact you have at least a few hundred spatial bristle rings. But, you only gave away two. The rest of them, we want them as well.

    "If you make this easy, we can go in opposite directions from here on. If you don''t, we''ll not only continue to waste your time, but we''ll make certain that after we leave, your forward progress won''t be nearly as smooth."

    Huon hadn''t even finished half his words yet when Leonel had already vanished, his spear appearing above Keiza''s head.

    However, his blade went right through her.

    It was an illusion.

 Chapter 1305 Probe?

    Chapter 1305 Probe?

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he landed on the branch Keiza had been on. He looked from left to right, but the two brothers had also vanished.

    ''A probe? This woman likes to play too many games.''

    Leonel shot forward, ignoring everything else. He didn''t even bother to try and find where their real bodies were, he didn''t care. All he cared about was making it to the next checkpoint.

    бн

    "Why did you make us do that? Fuck! Now he probably think''s we''re afraid of him." Droet almost threw a fit, but this was as much as he dared to do around Keiza without going overboard.

    The truth was that the strength of the two brothers, even individually, was no weaker than that of Keiza. The trouble lay in the fact that she simply wasn''t the kind of enemy you wanted to make. Even if you could overpower her, the way you might lose could be very different from what you could expect. In fact, years could have passed, you could have long since forgotten how it was you had offended her in the first place, and it was exactly then she would choose to strikeбн when you least expected.

    The two brothers had seen her do this all too often and they had no intention of becoming her next victim. With her abilitiesбн She was too good at torturing people.

    "Fighting here wouldn''t be a very good idea. We should be using this grace period to travel up the mountain as fast as we can. Plus, I have a feeling that his methods aren''t ones we can easily replicate. His skill as a Force Crafter is very high and I can see a strong Spatial Affinity on him, things none of us have. It''s very likely that he relied on these gifts to deal with those bushes."

    "That doesn''t mean we couldn''t have robbed him."

    "If we were going to rob him, why do it now? Why not wait until he''s accumulated more wealth? Plus, robbing him at all might not be a good idea. I get a very dangerous feeling from him, and his little girlfriend isn''t a pushover either. Her mental coercion isn''t weaker than mine despite not having a technique to funnel its usage."

    The two brothers looked toward one another. There was nothing ''little'' about her. But, they had no intention of correcting Keiza for fear of their lives and their family jewels.

    "If there are so many roadblocks, we might as well just pick a different direction. Why are you so insistent?"

    ''Because he''s a Morales, of course.''

    Despite saying this in her mind, for whatever reason, Keiza didn''t say this aloud to the two boys. There wasn''t really a point in keeping it a secret either considering, by the end of this True Selection, there wouldn''t be a single soul who was unaware, butбн She still wanted to keep it to herself at least for the moment.

    ''Mother is such a smart woman but she was actually so infatuated with a playboy. Even father''s death didn''t fill her with as much emotion as the information that that man son was coming. Of courseбн that''s probably because father''s death was because of her.''

    Keiza giggled to herself, not seeming like a woman with such a complex family life at all. It was clear that she didn''t respect her father in the slightest. His life and his death wasn''t enough to move the needle for her one way or the other.

    ''Unfortunately, I can''t observe that man personally. But, you, as his son, actually has such an obedient little beauty by your side. Maybe, you''ve picked up something from being borne of that man. I really want to see what it is about your bloodline that makes women swoon.''

    A cold light danced within Keiza''s gaze. She hadn''t even realized it, but her smile had disappeared. бн

    Leonel had no idea that his father''s past escapades had already given him two major problems to deal with. First Ossenna, now this Keiza. Trouble was that at least Ossenna was limited in what she could do. Helping Orinik spread rumors about him was about all that she could accomplish. But, Keiza was definitely a far more direct and immediate threatбн especially given her charm.

    Without her, the twins would have already given up this pursuit. But, due to her, they had chosen to linger in the shadowsбн

    The worst part was that if Keiza could find the Libra brothers from a completely different village, she could most definitely find Leonel.

    Leonel, however, wasn''t thinking about any of this. As expected, the route forward was extraordinarily easy. He poured everything he had into his speed, running across the treetops and across the ground depending on the situation.

    Whenever he spotted a Spatial Bristle Bush, he would immediately take advantage. His efficiency was even greater than it had been in the past, but because he was moving forward rather than checking locations with wide enough clearings to accommodate one, his harvest was much less. By the end of the three hours mark, he had recouped about half of the Void Points he had spent. If he was allowed to keep going, he would definitely be able to make it all back and more, but Leonel had a feeling that things wouldn''t be so simpleбн

    And he was proven correct almost immediately.

    Without fail, the instant Leonel realized the three hour mark was up, a pillar of blinding light fell from the skies.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, his body trying to think of a method to go around it. But, he realized that all he had time to do was come to a grinding halt.

    Leonel just barely managed to stop, his nose halting a half foot before the barrier. Quite quickly, though, much like previously, it began to shrink. Soon, all that was left was a swirling portal barely taller than Leonel.

    ''A Sub-Dimensional Zone?''

    Nothing here was a coincidence. This entire space was locked. Clearly, Leonel was being told that his only option was to step into it.

    Without a choice, Leonel leapt in with Aina on his back. It seemed he would have to quickly clear this Zone.

    Even as his vision blurred, Leonel had already flipped his palm to reveal the silver disk shaped dictionary. It was still the best Zone Analysis treasure he had and he trusted his father wouldn''t let him down.

    However, almost instantly, Leonel panicked and put the dictionary away.

    ''Dammit, old man! You couldn''t make the dictionary resistant to Anarchic Force?! And isn''t this a Zone, why is there still Anarchic Force here at all?!''

    Leonel''s frown set in deeply. How was he supposed to analyze the missions of this Sub-Dimensional Zone properly without a Zone Analysis treasure?

 Chapter 1306 Nothing

    Chapter 1306 Nothing

    The moment Leonel landed, his brows furrowed in confusion. This was mostly because not a single thing seemed different. The greyish black, coarse ground was the same. The thick black trees were the same. The dense fog and the grey skies were all the same.

    Leonel had expected to be transported into an all new world, but it seemed that that wouldn''t be the case?

    ''Noбн That''s the wrong way of thinking about things. Every Zone is technically just a projection of the history of the land it was born in. If this is the history of the Void Palace, it just means that this region hasn''t changed at all in a very long timeбн''

    Leonel felt that this made sense, but there was still something that just felt wrong. With how long the Void Palace had existed for, how could its Sub-Dimensional Zones had not all been cleared already? And, if they took the route of Valiant Heart Mountain and used special means to keep this Zone open, then the time that had passed should have long since mutated this world beyond recognition. Or, at the very least, it shouldn''t have been soбн identical.

    Leonel then thought of the possibility that the devices the Void Palace would have access to would be beyond that of Valiant Heart Mountain. Maybe it was the case, then, that their ability to maintain a Zone within a normal range was superior. But, Leonel didn''t linger on this idea for too long because the Valiant Pillars, in the first place, were a treasure gifted to Valiant Heart Mountain to begin with. It would be foolish for Leonel to draw conclusions about its quality just because of who now owned it.

    With a thought, Leonel''s Internal Sight stretched outward. However, even in looking, he couldn''t find any oddities.

    ''The Segmented Cube can''t hide the existence of people from a Zone, so I''ve essentially entered with six people. I have a feeling that that could be a problemбн''

    The Zone had made no attempt at limiting the number of individuals who had entered. Up until now, actually, the Void Palace had made no effort to stop teamwork either. But, Leonel didn''t believe that this would continue forever. Or, more accurately, there would probably come harsher and harsher penalties for choosing to take this approach.

    ''Staying still won''t get me anywhere.''

    With this thought, Leonel shot forward once again, his mind scanning through everywhere he passed. But, he had hardly taken a third step when he suddenly felt a cold shiver rip its way up his spine.

    Without the slightest hesitation, Leonel dove to the side, slamming the ground with a palm and flipping himself upward until he could land on his feet again.

    SHUUU! PENG!

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. What looked like a silver needle with a length of two feet and a thinness of barely a centimeter impaled a tree, having just barely missed the side of Leonel''s ear.

    Leonel slowed his breathing, his heart beating slow and steady. But, the shockwaves in his mind continued to roll like waves. That attackбн it had managed to pierce the tree?!

    Even now, Leonel wasn''t certain if he could leave even a scratch on one of these trees without bringing his Quasi Life Grade bow out. But, even if he did, he had no certainty of accomplishing what this needle had. Of course, it had a certain advantage because of how thin it was, but it was also because of this that it was so shocking. Such a fragile piece of metal had actually managed to ram into something so hard without crumpling.

    Leonel''s Internal Sight stretched out once again, but he found absolutely nothing. However, now that he knew that there was something there, he realized there were only two explanations instantaneously.

    The first was that this person had targeted him from outside the range of a hundred meters. The second was that this person could hide from his Internal Sight.

    Regardless of what the answer was, thoughбн He was still Leonel.

    Even as he was still dodging, Leonel had already calculated the direction the needle had come from. His free hand, grabbed at the air, forming a Radiant Core and allowing a dreadful amount of Bow Force to rotate about it like a drill.

    Falling through the air, he spun, whipping his arm backward.

    Leonel had no way of telling exactly how far away this individual targeting him was. However, there was one thing about this environment that was in his favor: the trees.

    Even with the power of the needle, it had only managed to pierce into the tree by about three inches. And, Leonel hadn''t picked up the sound of it going through any trees before it. That meant that wherever this person was, they needed a clear line of sight between themselves and Leonel. In addition, because Leonel hadn''t sensed the use of Bow Force, nor had the needle seemed to deviate, it was most likely that it had followed a perfectly straight path.

    Taking all of this into account, and adding onto it some other small tidbits of sensory information, Leonel had made a decision. This person wasn''t further than a hundred meters away, they were just capable of hiding from his Internal Sight.

    ''87% likelihood that they stand right thereбн''

    BANG! BANG!

    ''Two sounds?''

    Leonel landed nimbly on the ground, sliding his feet quickly and ducking behind a tree trunk.

    If it had just landed on ground, there wouldn''t have been two sounds. It was more likely than not that this individual had been forced to attack twice to dispel Leonel''s attack. But, if that was the caseбн

    ''It means they can''t casually use the strength they had to impale the treeбн''

    Leonel''s figure flickered, rocketing toward the direction of the noise. The closer he was, the more control of the situation he would have. At least he would be able to lay eyes on who he was fighting. Since this individual knew he could find them once, they''d be more cautious the next time.

    However, that was when something unexpected happened. Wise Star Order actually spoke unprompted.

    "Ah, the young truly fear nothing."

 Chapter 1307 Rapax

    Chapter 1307 Rapax

    Leonel''s expression changed when he heard this. He knew that the old man was definitely talking about him, or else why would he bother to say something?

    Leonel was also well aware that the old man only spoke without prompt when he was either passionate about something, or he would lose out from Leonel doing something stupid. Clearly, this was the latter.

    If Leonel fell here, they would be stuck in a Sub-Dimensional Zone. Even if Wise Star Order could then clear it himself, he would end up stuck in a place like the Void Palace, all while severely weakened. In such a case, there would only be to possibilities. He would either die a horrible death, or he would become a pawn.

    Obviously, he couldn''t let Leonel just go giving up his life.

    Leonel was able to grasp this in just a split moment, but he still didn''t understand why. Was this person really so dangerous?

    Despite not knowing the answer, Leonel''s steps didn''t falter. In fact, his forward speed became even faster. Without the slightest hesitation, he went all out. His Bronze Runes blossomed into existence, the crown of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor protruding from his head once more even as the Halo of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor enveloped his body.

    The crackles of ice danced through the air like shimmering mist as Leonel burst through the final clearing. The gorgeous silver and sky blue armor coated him from head to toe even as his wings spread out from his body.

    Running away would have been a foolish option. He still believed that an enemy that could hide from his Internal Sight was too dangerous to keep at a distance, especially when it had such powerful long ranged abilities.

    In that case, the only option was to not take this meeting lightly. He would give it everything he had.

    Leonel''s beast skin armor was the last to erupt. The dancing dichotomy of bright silvers and blues to deep and dark blacks creating a gorgeous cinematic image. But, what Leonel saw on the other side of the clearing was anything but.

    It wasn''t a person targeting him at all. Ratherбн it was an alien almost insect-like creature.

    It stood on digitigrade legs with claws so long they could have each been their own individual curved blades. Its head was an oblong shape, warped like a pill with its mouth protruding forward and the back of its skull doing the same in the reverse direction. Its head, though, was encased by a silver metallic shell, hiding its eyes away and only revealing a mouth that split open both vertically and horizontally to reveal glistening canines.

    The metallic frame of the shell that covered the top half of its pill shaped head traveled down its back, quickly losing its whole look and twisting into the shape of what looked like a real spine that eventually curved into a scorpion-like tail.

    The entire monstrosity stood at over three meters tall despite its hunched posture. Leonel could feel so much hidden power within his body that the numbers for what its top speed must be flew past his eyes, becoming bigger and bigger with every new parameters taken into account.

    ''What the hell, is this alien from Alien vs. Predator real?''

    In this sort of life and death situation, Leonel truly did have such an immature thought. The reality, though, was that aside from the general shape of their bodies, this thing and alien were nothing alike. Even just by danger level aloneбн This monstrosity was on a whole different level.

    Leonel hadn''t even landed on the ground yet when a whipping tail suddenly attacked his head.

    With a thought, Leonel immediately activated his Dark Ice Domain. While his spear Domains were still too lacking, his Dark Ice Domain was still at a Sixth Dimensional standard. Though it wasn''t as powerful as it was on Planet Luxnix, Leonel could just barely over a five meter radius. That was just enough to slow the tail about to rip his head off for him to dodge backward, his expression becoming serious.

    This thing was strong. Very strong. Far stronger than even the version of Myghell Leonel had fought just a few months ago.

    ''What the hell is this thing, old man.''

    ''Thing? That''s a living, breathing being. You sound like a racist bigot.''

    Of all the answers he was ready for, this was the only one that could have caught him completely off guard. If Leonel wasn''t so good at splitting his minds, he might have been nailed to death by that damned tail.

    ''Can you be serious, please?''

    ''I am being serious. This is a Rapax. They''re a race of people just like you humans and they happen to share a border with your Human Domain.''

    Leonel''s expression flickered, his spear swinging up to clash against a strong kick by the Rapax. However, the end result was him being sent flying backward, his feet eventually gliding against the ground hard.

    ''What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses?''

    ''They have extraordinarily powerful bodies. Even that needle that it used to attack you didn''t utilize any Force at all, at least not in a conventional sort of way. They''ve also evolved to be completely invulnerable to mental attacks, it''s a speciality of their natural metallic carapaces. It''s also because of that that your Internal Sigh couldn''t spot it, it gives them a huge advantage in this dense fog.''

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The Rapax displayed a dexterity Leonel thought he would never find in a sequence of kicks. Each felt like a heavy mountain pressing down on him. If not for his own sturdy defenses and powerful body, Leonel would have found him being self being battered and broken already.

    ''It''s odd, though. Usually, the Void Palace wouldn''t throw something like this at the new recruits so quicklyбн Must be because you entered with too many people.''

    Wise Star Order chuckled even as Leonel continued to grunt.

 Chapter 1308 Runeless

    Chapter 1308 Runeless

    Leonel immediately found himself to be at a great disadvantage.

    The Rapax was stronger, faster, and its defenses felt impenetrable. Its naturally formed armor was already stronger than and more resistant to blades than most weapons Leonel had come across to this point. But, this was only a small part of the issue.

    In Leonel''s battle with Myghell, he had purposely chosen not to use his Ability Index. He had wanted to have a fun and blood boiling battle, and, quite frankly, he didn''t believe he would have struggled very much at all if he used his calculative abilities to force the latter into a corner.

    However, because his Internal Sight was useless against the Rapax, it made Leonel feel that even if he wanted to use his Ability Index, he couldn''t. Whenever he tried to lock onto the Rapax, it was as though he had locked onto thin air. He couldn''t read and calculate its movements, he couldn''t sense its flow of Force, he couldn''t even tell what emotions it was feeling right now or if Rapax even experienced the same range of emotions humans did.

    Without the ability to do this, Leonel could only calculate his own movements. But, because he could only use his eyes to monitor the Rapax, not to mention the fact he wasn''t familiar with its anatomy at all to begin with, the result was just him repeatedly retreating.

    It also didn''t help that this was the first kicking expert Leonel had ever fought before, he didn''t even have a human frame of reference, let alone one for a Rapax.

    Leonel couldn''t even tell what Tier this Rapax was at. For all he knew, this creature was still in the Third Dimension, giving him all the trouble he could possibly ask for.

    Luckily, the trees around him were like absolute defenses. Or so Leonel thought untilбн

    Leonel continued to shoot backward, mapping out a path to his back. His steps were nimble and his gaze was cold.

    He ducked behind another tree, and that was exactly when it happened.

    Losing its patience, the Rapax kicked out anyway. As though a knife through butter, its curves claws split the side of a black tree into four, shooting for Leonel''s head and appearing before him in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. He had been leaning his head to one side of the tree to begin with because he had to keep an eye on the Rapax at all times. If he failed to do so, there was no telling if it would find a way to vanish outside the line of his sight. Unfortunately, that caution allowed just enough of his head to be exposed to the side. The Rapax shouldn''t have had the angle to harm him.. but who would have thought that it would go through the tree itself?!

    Leonel released a low shout, his Dark Ice Domain multiplying in strength as he fell back. The slow in the Rapax''s speed was just enough for him to slip out of the way. However, the Rapax was relentless.

    It quickly stamped its originally kicking foot onto the ground, using the momentum to spin and lift its other leg into the air. It was baffling that a creature that had just displayed such poor posture could actually raise its legs up in a perfect split, prepared to ax kick Leonel''s body into a bloody pulp.

    Leonel''s expression flickered. Aina was on his back and she would take a devastating blow even if he blocked this. But, with the speed and relentless pursuit of the Rapax, he wasn''t even sure if there was another path to take.

    ''No, I can''t let myself be pinned down,'' Leonel thought as he fell backward, his gaze locked onto the falling ax kick. ''The moment I do and this thing attacks with its tail again, it''s over.''

    This was Leonel''s first encounter with a non-human raceбкwell, if he ignored the Oryx, beasts and Yuri. But, regardless, this was his first true battle with one. And, the difference was almost despairing.

    This Rapax hadn''t used any special techniques, it hadn''t used its Ability Index or a Lineage Factor, it didn''t even seem to be trying very hard. On top of that, Leonel was certain that as cruel as the Void Palace was, it wouldn''t present an enemy that couldn''t be defeated. Even if this enemy had appeared because Leonel had entered as a group of six, that would mean that the Void Palace was saying that six human geniuses was only worth one Rapax.

    ''Tell me the truth, old man. What Tier is this Rapax in?''

    Despite the desperate situation, Leonel suddenly became frighteningly calm, his gaze placid as he watched the descending foot even as he, himself, fell backward.

    ''You see those spurs on its metallic tail?''

    ''Mm.''

    ''Upon entering the Fourth Dimension a Rapax will finally grow its tail. Upon entering the Fifth, its tail with gain a blade. For every Tier upward it goes within the Fifth Dimension, it will gain a pair of metallic spurs.''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. The Rapax had four spursбн It was in Tier 3 of the Fifth Dimension.

    ''I should also probably mention that this Rapax is Runeless. So, it''s at most a mass produced foot soldier. This Rapax is the lowest common denominator of their race. You see how far the gap is yet?''

    Leonel didn''t say anything to this, his gaze only growing indifferent to the point its coldness returned. It was right then that a frightening crimson erupted from within his irises.

    A fiendish grin spread across Leonel''s face.

    ''A King losing to a foot soldier, huh?''

    The tendrils of darkness to Leonel''s back shot out grabbing onto two trees and pulling hard. Leonel''s falling figure was whipped back like a rock out of a slingshot, his gaze only growing more fiendish.

    "Let''s do this, Alien."

    The foggy darkness around Leonel grew several fold. In one instant, the forest seemed silent. In the next, an eruption of dark tendrils splintered off in all directions, connecting all the trees in the surroundings in a complex web of black strings.

 Chapter 1309 Revolve Around Me

    Chapter 1309 Revolve Around Me

    Seemingly feeling Leonel''s battle intent, the Rapax howled, billowing steam jetting out from its pores and causing its silver natural armor to tinge with red.

    With a step, it immediately tore through the tendrils that Leonel had blanketed the forest in. But, just as quickly as it did so, more swarmed to replace them.

    Leonel reached to his back. Tapping Aina with the finger glove form of the Segmented Cube, he sent her inside. He wasn''t sure if he could trust himself to not harm her with what he was about to do.

    His hair billowed in the wind, his body crouching atop a branch as the Rapax barreled toward him. The Spear Domain crown glowed a brighter and brighter shade of gold above his forehead, pulsing strands of bronze, violet and crimson jetting out from his body.

    Leonel''s body erupted with flames, his body becoming enveloped by a smoldering heat that clashed and fought against the oppressive cold of his Dark Ice Armor.

    Releasing a steamy breath, his irises were almost completely taken over by a red-gold.

    ''Destruction.''

    Leonel vanished. Almost the instant he did, the branch he had just been standing up crumbled to nothing more than ash.

    When he appeared again, his spear was nowhere to be seen, but his fist was not to be denied, flashing before the chest of the Rapax like a falling meteor.

    "SKREEE!"

    CLANG!

    The Rapax''s tail lashed out, slapping Leonel''s fist away with its blade. However, in a clash of metal on metal, they both rebounded against one another.

    The Rapax''s tail whipped backward to prepare for another strike even as it raised its leg to kick out at the retreating Leonel. However, it found its progress hindered by numerous tendrils of darkness. At the same time, Leonel had already smashed a foot into the ground, stopping his backward progress and shooting forward like a blazing star.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Having lost its balance due to the entanglement of its tail, the Rapax could only use its arms and one knee to block Leonel''s torrent of punches. However, there was something different about these compared to Leonel''s previous strikesбн

    They hurt.

    The Rapax was pushed backward, but it found its retreat slowed by Leonel''s Dark Ice Domain.

    With quick strikes, Leonel tapped at the air three times. Violent slashing arcs of fire infused Spear Force jetted outward, aiming perfectly for the joints of the Rapax which remained unprotected by its natural armor.

    Leonel''s fighting style remained fluid, filled with pace and a relentless pursuit. It was clear that the improvements he had gained to his spearmanship had followed his overall Style, giving his every action an air of purpose, calculation and wisdom.

    "SKKREEEE!"

    The Rapax shrieked, greenish blue blood flying as its tough skin was cut into.

    However, Leonel was completely unsatisfied with this result. His Spear Force layered with Radiant Force on top of his comprehensions of Destruction had only caused so little damage? He wanted more. He needed to see more blood.

    The joints of Leonel''s Dark Ice Armor erupted with billowing flames. If it wasn''t for the fact his head was covered by a helmet and a visor, it would have been possible to see that it wasn''t just it that had been bathed in fire. Leonel''s eyebrows, his hair, even the corner of his mouth shot out with flickering silver-red flames, looking every bit the part of a demon risen from hell.

    In that moment, even the tendrils of darkness suddenly gained a wild fire rushing through them, the shards of broken space that hung in the air reflecting gorgeous violet lights.

    Everywhere the Rapax tried to step and move, it found itself swarmed by corrosive flames from all sides. As its injuries grew, the effect of the heat on it only grew, its shrieking only becoming more and more prominent.

    Leonel was relentless.

    He took a heavy step forward, blocking a strong leg kick of the Radax with two forearms. He planted a foot hard and sent his other sweeping at the side of the Rapax''s planted knee.

    BANG!

    Almost instantly, the Rapax buckled. It reached out with its tail to pierce the ground for balance, but it was once again thwarted by the endless tendrils of darkness laced about the trees around him.

    Leonel took another heavy step forward, taking advantage o the Rapax''s lost momentum to send out a strong punch to its chest.

    BANG!

    The Rapax fell back slamming heavily to the ground and falling through a swath of flame laced dark tendrils. It suddenly found its body completely encased from all sides. It had been able to snap one, two and even ten tendrils easily. But, what about hundreds? What about thousands?

    "SKREEEE!!!"

    Even fallen, the Rapax''s lethal claws whipped out at Leonel, its long legs still seeking out the kill. However, without proper leverage, the strength behind it was at best a tenth of its peak.

    With a savage Spear Force laced swipe downward, Leonel clashed with the upward swinging claw, smashing them right back into the ground and leaping atop the tied down Rapax.

    Leonel''s gaze blazed, his palm rising into the air.

    An enormous Radiant Core formed. But, this time, it was laced with a destructive will.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s armor expanded by a size before shrinking, numerous tiny cracks spreading across its surface before rapidly healing. An implosion of Universal Force and a sudden change to his body fueled it all, a spontaneous rise in energy almost spinning out of his control.

    In that moment, Leonel only had one thoughtбн That everything should revolve around himбн His blade, his enemy''s life and death, the worldбн Everything was in the palm of his hand. Let alone a mere foot soldier, even the King of Rapax wouldn''t stop his momentum forward.

    He was a Star.

    The feeling of the Heavenly Body Realm''s comprehension enveloped Leonel from all sides, fueling a spinning drill of Spear Force.

    "Die."

    SHUUUU! TSSSSS! BOOM!

    Leonel raised his head up to the skies, releasing a roar that traveled dozens of miles.

 Chapter 1310 Fusion

    Chapter 1310 Fusion

    ''Look at this brat, roaring at the top of his lungs as though he''s actually accomplished something. Even I feel embarrassed.''

    Wise Star Order clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

    Leonel exhaled a long, billowing breath, pretending as though he hadn''t heard a single thing the old man said. Maybe it was a bit silly that he had reacted like this after defeating a being two Tiers below him, but he was excited nonetheless.

    With a thought, Leonel quickly placed the Rapax corpse within a snow globe and let the flames, his Runes and his armor slowly retreating into his body.

    Leonel''s mind was already swimming with thoughts of how to use the Rapax''s corpse. But, the truth was that he had only placed it within the snowglobe just now so that the Zone couldn''t recognize that he had won just yet. Though he was on a time crunch, Leonel still wanted a moment to take a breather.

    The Segmented Cube shot off of Leonel''s finger and expanded. Then, he disappeared within it.

    бн

    In the skies, Cornelius gazed upon the images flashing before him, unsure of what to say or think for a long while.

    His shock wasn''t exactly related to the defeat of the Rapax. If there weren''t at least some humans who could defeat Rapax on their own, what hope or chance would the Human Domain have had in lasting so long? The main issue was that upon a first encounter, things shouldn''t have gone so easily.

    ''Could it be that Velasco prepared him for this as well?''

    Cornelius had no idea what sort of parenting practices Val used. He had already been shocked enough that Spear Domain and the Segmented Cube were actually in Leonel''s hands. Anyone seeing such a thing would think that Leonel had been pampered and handed everything on a silver platter. At that point, the idea that Leonel had had targeted training to prepare for this day wasn''t so farfetched.

    But this was exactly where the cognitive dissonance came in. If Leonel was supposedly prepared ahead of time for all of this, what was with the first half of the fight? Why did he seem like a deer in headlights? Was that just an act?

    Cornelius didn''t believe that a boy could fool his eyes so well, especially not one who seemingly had as hot a temper as Leonel. And, that also led to another. That roar of pure emotion, linked with that final breakthrough, it made Cornelius feeling that it was impossible for Leonel to have experience in this matter.

    Putting all of this together, Cornelius felt that if he had to answer with his life on the lineбн He would choose to say that this was the very first time Leonel had ever come across a Rapax.

    бн

    Leonel knew that there was a likelihood that he was being watched, so he chose to enter the Segmented Cube. Though he wasn''t absolutely certain, he felt there was a good chance that whatever monitoring the Void Palace had left behind wouldn''t be able to penetrate across this barrier.

    ''The Rapax make such good soldiers, if the tentacle womb could replicate themбн''

    Leonel''s expression flickered, but Wise Star Order''s words danced at the back of his mind, making him feel somewhat conflicted. Ultimately, the Rapax, although they looked different from humans, were a group of people too. Mass producing them feltбн wrong, even if it wasn''t possibleбкsomething Leonel wasn''t absolutely sure of just yet.

    However, if Leonel thought about it, wasn''t it the same for beasts? They might have been unintelligent in the Third Dimension, but could the same be said now? He could feel the complexity of Blackstar''s thoughts everyday, he had seen the kind of devious and well laid out plans the golden scaled koi fish had made, how could he still, with a straight face, say that beasts were different?

    And yet, wasn''t he trying to mass produce them either way?

    ''It might not be necessary to worry about such a moral dilemmaбн''

    After the tentacle womb had absorbed Monkey''s ability, it had undergone a qualitative change. In fact, it was so extensive and wide ranging that Leonel had actually left the dictionary to analyze it over several months. Though there was a small pause in that when he took it out to analyze to the Sub-Dimensional Zone, it should be about finished by now.

    In that time, Leonel had grasped tidbits of its abilities here and there. From what he had learned, it was very possible that he wouldn''t have to worry about it at all.

    The fundamental change that Leonel was the most excited for was the fact that the tentacle womb would no longer need multiple samples of the same DNA to replicate it properly!

    It had to be remembered that when two Ability Indexes fused, the result wasn''t additive and it wasn''t necessarily exponential either. Rather, an average of the two abilities would be added then divided in two. The result would then be a perfect reflection of both original Abilities. This was why Leonel couldn''t just randomly absorb any strong Ability he came across even if he now had the Silver Tablet.

    Though Leonel thought that the fusion of Monkey''s Doubling Ability and the tentacle wombs Duplication Ability would work well together, he wouldn''t have definitive proof of this until he saw the results. And, at least for this first portionбн

    He wasn''t disappointed.

    In the past, the tentacle womb had to have many samples. The more powerful the creature, the more samples of it were needed. But, the fallacy in this was clear. How could it be so easy to find so many powerful creatures? And, even if you did, how could they all possibly share the same Ability?

    Due to this, Leonel felt investing in the tentacle womb would be a poor use of resources. He could create Crafts that were far more useful. But nowбн

    After gaining a portion of Monkey''s Doubling Ability, the tentacle womb only needed a single complete sample. Then, it could replicate it as many times as it needed to meet its goals!

 Chapter 1311 Multipliers

    Chapter 1311 Multipliers

    Leonel silently listened to the detailed analysis of the dictionary. When it was done, he nodded and organized his thoughts. It wasn''t perfect, but he hadn''t expected it to be. He was lucky enough to have a combination of treasures that could allow it to work, but he wouldn''t believe himself to be infallible. With how large the Dimensional Verse was, if it was so easy to make it to the top, then Leonel would already no have a chance at becoming King, someone else would already have a combination of treasures far better than himself, not to mention an elite head start.

    ''The replication requires energy, a lot of it. The only reason Monkey felt so undefeatable was because all his strength was provided by the Dimensional Verse since he was a Savant. However, the tentacle womb has lost the Savant nature it had after the fusion. So, all the energy now needs to be provided by meбн''

    This was the most troubling part. The amount of energy required was astronomical.

    It was somewhat better since Leonel had the koi fish and the Silver Tablet, not to mention the Segmented Cube. But, even then, it was heart rending. Leonel hadn''t even spent any money yet, but he already felt poor.

    Depending on what the tentacle womb was replicating, it would require a different collection of Force sources. However, after calculating it all, the amounts were fairly consistent.

    The replication of a Third Dimensional existence would take a single Third Dimension Pure Force Crystal. The Replication of a Fourth Dimensional existence would take ten, a Fifth a hundred, a Sixth would require a thousand and a Seventh was currently impossible.

    In addition to this, there was a multiplier effect added on top of this. A Tier 1 Ability was a x1 multiplier, a Tier 2 Ability was x2, a Tier 3 was a x5, a Tier 4 was a x10, and a Tier 5 was a x100, not to mention requiring an equivalent amount of Breaking Force Pure Crystals.

    If that was the only multiplier, things might still be fine. But, of course, it wasn''t.

    Then came the scale for Lineage Factors. Fourth Dimensional Lineage Factor came with a base multiplier of x2, Fifth Dimensional Lineage Factors were x5, Sixth Dimensional were x10, and Seventh Dimensional Lineage Factors couldn''t be replicated.

    Then there were Innate Nodes. This made things even more complicated. There were two categories to consider. One was the rarity of the Force and the second was its Inherent ranking.

    Within the first category of rarity, there were four tiers. Bottom tier Forces like normal Elements of wind, fire and like without special add ons or abilities. Middle tier Forces that could be considered a step beyond like Light Elemental and Dark Elemental Forces. There were then High tier Forces like Space Elemental and Dream Force. And, finally, there were the Pinnacle Forces. These included fusion Forces like Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force and it also touched upon Forces that existed on Planes of their own like Anarchic Force, Universal Force and Breaking Force.

    To form an Innate Node of the bottom tier, it would require x10 multiplier, middle would require x100, and high tie would require x1000. As for Pinnacle Tier, it was currently impossible.

    These multipliers only became worse when the individual ranking of the Innate Node was taken into consideration.

    This was already an overwhelming amount of information to take in. But, there was a reason the dictionary had taken so long to analyze everythingбн Because there was even more, and these might even be more important than the previously mentioned parameters.

    These parameters were related to the sentience and overall constitution of the replicated creature. It didn''t matter how much talent you stuffed into a clone if they had the intelligence of a toddler, and it definitely didn''t matter if the materials they were constructed of were simply too fragile.

    Toward this end, the tentacle womb had the ability to assign a level of intelligence. This ranged from Empty Vessel, to Low IQ, Middle IQ, High IQ, and Fully Sentient.

    An Empty Vessel would only be useful for the likes of Wise Star Order and Heira who could ditch their bodies and pick up a new one at their leisure. Such a creation would be absolutely useless to Leonel who needed an army of actual soldiers.

    Unsurprisingly, the multiplier for this was just x1.

    The Low IQ variant was a measure better, but not by much. It only had the ability to sustain itself and work on instinct. It could feel hunger and its body knew how to pump its blood and move its heart. But this was all.

    This came with a multiplier of x2.

    The Middle IQ variant was basically the minimum requirement for a decent soldier. Though they couldn''t have complex thoughts of their own, they could follow orders. They could attack when they were told and retreat when they were told.

    This came with a multiplier of x5.

    The High IQ variant, though, was likely the lowest Leonel felt was actually possible. Their thoughts weren''t overly complex, but they could also follow orders. In addition, they could begin to display some battle prowess of their own and could display skill in the usage of their bodies. Most importantly, though, variants of this level gained the ability to learn and retain information.

    This came with a x10 multiplier.

    The final level spoke for itself, but it was unfortunately impossible for the tentacle womb to do this. Or, depending on the way you looked at itбн It might be for the best.

    Finally, there was the constitution of the construct. Clones tended to have far shorter life spans and far less durability than real living beings, just healing from a middle tier injury could shave years off their already short lives. However, the tentacle womb could actually combat this!

    At the first tier, a clone would have a lifespan of six months, at the second, it would be one year, then two, then five, then ten at the highest. In addition, those with the highest constitution could be ''recycled'' and produce a new unit at less than a fraction of the original cost.

    Unsurprisingly, these also came with ridiculous multipliers. The first level was x1, then x2, then x10, then x100 and, finally, x1000.

    With all of this laid out, if Leonel wanted to replicate just one of these Rapax foot soldiers it would takeбн

    ''It would cost 1 000 000 Fifth Dimensional Pure Force Crystals, and that''s assuming it had a Tier 1 Ability Index, no Lineage Factor and no Innate Nodeбн''

    Leonel exhaled a breath.

 Chapter 1312 Deity

    Chapter 1312 Deity

    Leonel had tried forming a Pure Force Crystal for several months previously, but he had failed to form even a single one. Not a single one.

    How was he supposed to gather a million under these conditions? He wouldn''t even know where to begin. Luckily, he didn''t have to worry about this alone for long.

    "Hey old man, come to Lab 001 for a second."

    Leonel didn''t speak loudly, but he controlled everything with the Segmented Cube. With a thought, his voice would be projected anywhere he wanted it.

    Wise Star Order had been within he Segmented Cube the whole time, having fun with his new favorite toys, or, rather, disciples. This was good though, as it seemed that Candle and Vice were actually doing much better.

    Not long after Leonel called out, all three came into the lab to find the enormous tentacle womb looming within a glass case. Candle and Vice weren''t allowed into the Lab Setting usually, so this was only the second time they were seeing the tentacle womb after they first fought it.

    Candle almost immediately hid behind Wise Star Order, shrinking herself down to the point it seemed she might want to vanish completely. Though, this was much better than her panic-producing hundreds of impenetrable barriers.

    Despite Candle''s reaction, the current tentacle womb actually looked much better than it did in the past and even seemed to be tending toward a more aesthetically pleasing variance.

    Its bottom half was still as grotesque as ever, a vine network of slimy, greyish, purplish, blackish tentacles, protecting the exit of its womb. However, its upper half had become a budding flower with more layers and petals than most could care to count and sharing the very same color scheme.

    The mind of the tentacle womb was hidden within and there was actually the face of a beautiful woman that took up the center of the bud. The face was an inhuman sort of beautiful, the kind that felt computer generated. Due to this, despite the fact it was objectively more beautiful than any face Leonel had ever seen, including his mother and Aina''s, it still didn''t truly feel like it wasбн

    It also obviously didn''t help that the face appeared in such an odd location.

    That said, Leonel could imagine that as the tentacle womb finished its evolution, it would grow into its own and likely finish what was likely just the beginning stages of its maturation.

    "What did you call me here for?"

    "I have questions, of course. What are your thoughts on Pure Force Crystals?"

    "Rare in the Human Domain." Wise Star Order replied.

    "In the Human Domain? Why specifically in the Human Domain?"

    "Pure Force Crystals are the representation of purity. They follow just one path and are dead set on it. In the Human Domain, there are too many disciples, not enough unified thought, too much free thinking. It''s not an environment conducive to the appearance of Pure Force Crystals."

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. The way Wise Star Order talked about things seemed simple, but they were laced with profound meanings far beyond his comprehension. He spoke of the creation of an inanimate object as though it hinged on what the animate did.

    In the past, Leonel might have already dismissed this as absolutely ridiculous. But, he had learned enough from Wise Star Order by now to understand how it all came together.

    The introduction of the Life Grade to him opened up a whole knew door. And, when he felt the last dying wish of his Crafter''s Quill, he realized just how tangible that reality was. At that pointбн These matters didn''t feel so ridiculous to him at all and he had even accepted them wholeheartedly.

    "Then let me guess, the Spirituals have the highest concentration of Pure Force Crystals there is?"

    "I guess the answer to that is both yes and no."

    "How so?"

    "Well, specific tribes of Spirituals would have very specific stores of Pure Force Crystals, namely Elemental ones. But, they might not necessarily have others. Those will be left mostly to other Races."

    "What about the Rapax?"

    "They''re a good example. Their natural armor makes the density of defense specific Pure Force Crystals especially high. In addition, they have a large variety of Pure Force Crystals that directly benefit the body."

    "I seeбн So if I need a million Fifth Dimensional Force Crystals, what do I do?"

    Leonel sighed. He wanted to say that he could rely on the koi fish, but how would he do that? It had very clearly shown him its limits just a day ago when it failed to separate Anarchic Force from regular Force. Obviously, it had its limits, and they were quite severe.

    "Do you think I''m a God?"

    Wise Star Order looked at Leonel as though he was looking at an idiot. He couldn''t understand how someone could be so smart and yet simultaneously stupid.

    "Alright, I''ll take a different approach thenбн"

    Leonel began to explain to Wise Star Order all the cards he had in his hands, from the tentacle womb to the koi fish, not to mention their deficiencies. With those things laid out, he waited in hopes of hearing a different answer.

    "бн Of course the fish wasn''t able to separate out Force here. It''s a Fifth Dimensional existence and you haven''t spent any time nurturing it at all. This is a Seventh Dimensional world. If it was already powerful enough to do as it pleased here, you think you would have been able to subdue it so easily.

    "A koi fish with those characteristics would be like a worshipped Deity in the Spirituals Domain. Creatures with this ability are very rare and have elevated intelligence. How an idiot like you managed to catch one is beyond me.

    "Also, the difficulty of forming Pure Force Crystals is all relative. If you''re in a Fifth Dimensional world, especially in a region as weak as the Milky Way, of course you wouldn''t form even one in several months. But, if you''re in a Seventh Dimensional world, a single Fifth Dimensional Pure Force Crystal isn''t nearly as valuableбн"

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

 Chapter 1313 Command

    Chapter 1313 Command

    Wise Star Order sighed. This rat truly had way too much luck. How it is that things ended up this way was beyond him.

    But, when he thought about how this koi fish had appeared on Earth, he felt like it was no wonder.

    "I guess it makes sense for this little one to appear on Earth. Your world probably hasn''t chosen one yet. There''s probably a large concentration of highly talented beasts vying for it, then."

    "Hm?" Leonel''s head snapped back, his Dreamscape suddenly sparking wildly.

    A conversation he had with Uncle Montez resurfaced to his mind instantly.

    Montez smiled mysteriously. "Every world has its own Champions. The Champion of the humans is the wielder of the World Spirit. But, when it comes to newly evolved worlds like yours, beasts are at a great disadvantageбн Did you think that the universe just favored humanoid creatures? Of course beasts have their own opportunities.

    "Whether or not you can find out more will depend on yourself and this little one."

    "Someone once told me that a world has both human and beast Champions and that the human Champion is the wielder of the World Spirit. What does the beast Champion get, then?"

    "Oh? You do know about this?"

    "Is it not common knowledge?"

    Leonel was already so used to being in the dark about things that this was his instinct. But, from Wise Star Order''s reaction, this seemed to be unlikely.

    "Noбн You seem to not have a grasp on even the simplest things, but then somehow understand things that almost no one does." Wise Star Order shook his head. "Not every world has a beast ''Champion'', and not every world can have one to begin with. The requirements of a beast are, unfortunately, far more stringent. And, usually, it''s quite difficult for a human as well, at least to fuse the World Spirit into one, but the difference is that the beast equivalent might never appear at all while the World Spirit is guaranteed to appear."

    "Why is that?"

    "Well, there''s a balance that has to be struck. There is no ''Beast Domain'' in the Dimensional Verse like there is a Human Domain. Beasts appear everywhere and are technically widely accepted. At the very least, beasts aren''t discriminated against. Any conflict between a species and beast is usually quite pure and free of bigotry and a sense of superiority. Usually, it''s just a fight for resources and/or land.

    "Due to this and other inherent advantages beasts had, it''s infinitely more difficult for them to claim territory for themselves. They don''t need the protection of the Regulator like humanoids do. They can exist everywhere.

    "However, beasts have no less intelligence than humanoids do. Or, more accurately, a certain subset of them do. While it''s technically fair for things to be like this, the Regulator still allows freedom of choice, even to beasts. So, those that want more for themselves can take the route usually left to humans.

    "It''s nothing newбн It''s simply the birth of a second World Spirit known as the World Beast. I''m not too clear on the abilities considering how rare World Beasts are, but I don''t doubt that they share much of the same abilities the World Spirit does."

    "I seeбн"

    Leonel''s gaze shifted up to the little mink curled up atop his head. He hadn''t thought of asking for Blackstar''s help even once during his battle with the Rapax and the little guy seemed to have the ability to sense when he wanted to do things alone.

    However, at that moment, Leonel couldn''t help but remember the tentacle wombs initial evaluation of the koi fish versus Little Blackstar. It deduced that the former was worth way moreбн Until, that is, Little Blackstar perfectly assimilated with his Void Beast blood.

    This made Leonel wonder, though, if Little Blackstar in his base form was actually believed to be so much weaker than the koi fish, what other beasts were lurking in the dark on Earth waiting to become the World Beast?

    Was the koi fish really the pinnacle? Or were there other monsters lying in wait? And if he managed to raise up Little Blackstar to become the King of them all, would they obediently fall in line?

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    "So what you mean to say is that under normal Seventh Dimensional conditions, the koi fish would actually be able to produce Fifth Dimensional Pure Force Crystals very quickly?"

    "Yes."

    "But I can''t leave the Void Palace, even my mom couldn''t for decades. There''s Anarchic Force everywhere hereбн"

    Leonel wasn''t really speaking to Wise Star Order anymore when he said this. Rather, he was speaking to himself, trying to find a solution. It was likely that the next time he got to leave the Void Palace, he would be headed to the Morales family Heir Wars. That meant there was no longer any other chances to take a different direction. Would he just have to abandon the tentacle womb for now and focus on other things? It was looking like itбн

    "Haven''t you noticed yet?"

    Leonel''s pupils suddenly constricted. That was right, how could he have not noticed.

    "бн There''s no Anarchic Force in here."

    It wasn''t that Leonel wasn''t sensitive to such things, it was rather that the Force he could use here was just as thin as the Force he could use outside, so he hadn''t noticed originally.

    Leonel was used to the Segmented Cube multiplying the Force concentration several times over in here, so when it hadn''t, he had assumed that it was because of the Anarchic Force. But, it seemed that he was both correct and incorrect.

    With a thought, Leonel could tell that the Segmented Cube was actually siphoning away the Seventh Dimensional Force to fuel its evolution. And, because the Anarchic Force was so thick, it couldn''t complete this function and increase the Force concentration at the same time. It also didn''t help that the region within the Segmented Cube was so much larger than it had been in the past.

    ''I seeбн''

    "Divert Force from evolution and focus on maintaining high concentrations in Lab Setting." Leonel commanded.

    Almost immediately, the atmosphere began to shift. A strong gush of Force flooded the region to the point Leonel suddenly felt extremely light on his feet.

    What he didn''t know was that though the Segmented Cube had listened to his command, a certain little girl spirit frowned in her sleep, her little fists waving about in a tantrum.

 Chapter 1314 What is it Worth?

    Chapter 1314 What is it Worth?

    With the change to the Segmented Cube, Leonel felt as though he could finally breathe. It was as though he had been taken half breaths all this time, slowly suffocating, and he only now became aware of just how much oxygen he had been missing out on.

    He didn''t realize how much he had missed high densities of Force until now. But, more shockingly, he hadn''t realized just how good just breathing in a density of Seventh Dimensional Force felt.

    With a thought, Leonel''s mind reached out to the golden scaled koi fish and had it begin to work. Still scared from its previous failure, the little one was a bit hesitant at first, but quickly acclimated once realizing that the air had been thoroughly cleansed.

    Leonel watched this scene intently, not taking his eyes away. The True Selection had suddenly taken a backseat for a moment. And to Leonel''s shock, just moments later....

    The golden scaled koi fish opened its little mouth, its fins still gliding through the water like thin strips of white silk. A strong surge of Force formed, radiating outward with a purity hardly seen. The entire lab was covered in a pure white fog that almost made Leonel moan. And then, it happenedбн

    The Segmented Cube whirred to life under Leonel''s command. The white fog concentrated, and almost instantly began churning out Pure Force Crystals. In just a moment, a pile of ten had formed and it showed no signs of stopping.

    There was no cohesive whole it at all. Leonel could see Crystals of all sorts of Elements within. He knew that depending on the subject he wanted to clone, he would need to make the golden scaled koi fish focus on very specific types of Force which would likely slow its progress greatly. But, this did nothing to dampen his mood at all.

    Just two seconds to form ten Fifth Dimensional Pure Force Crystals! Two seconds! At that sort of pace, it would only take just two to three days to form the million needed to clone one low level Rapax!

    After a surge of excitement, Leonel forced himself to calm down. Things were finally slowly coming together, but he still couldn''t get ahead of himself. There were many things that needed to be worked out. In addition, he still wasn''t sure if making a bunch of clones was the best use of his resources right this moment.

    While it sounded like a great idea, clones were a hassle. Setting aside the moral dilemma, they had short lifespans and would require constant command to show their true potential. In addition, it had to be understood that the Pure Force Crystals needed to create them was just an initial investment.

    Every clone formed would manifest at Tier 1 of the Dimension they were born into. If Leonel wanted to grow their strength, he would have to feed them more Force Crystals. In addition, even the highest constitution the tentacle womb was capable of reproducing right now couldn''t break through Dimensions, meaning they would never be able to reach a new levelбн At least not at the tentacle wombs current level.

    There were all sorts of other small problems that Leonel couldn''t even bothered to deal with right now.

    "It would be better if I invested everything into evolving the tentacle womb and koi fish now, leaving cloning until later. I have a feeling that Fifth Dimensional Clones wouldn''t be helpful to me in the slightest, and I wouldn''t be able to form Sixth Dimensional Force Crystals until the koi fish entered the Sixth Dimension, likewise for the tentacle womb. It can''t form Sixth Dimensional beings until it too enters the Sixth Dimensionбн"

    Leonel was under no illusions that Fifth Dimensional backers would be enough to win him the Heir Wars. Not only would he need strength well into the Sixth Dimension, so too would his subordinates. If he got greedy now and lost his patience chasing numbers, he would be handicapping himself.

    Luckily, Leonel had only wanted a proof of concept for now. Andбн He had a much better idea for what he should be focused on right this moment.

    With a thought, the Silver Tablet appeared once more.

    Within this thing, many outstanding talents were slumbering. Not to mention Leonel''s Generals and especially Goggles, Leonel often found himself thinking back to the Speedster and his former fiancижe. Leonel had already decided.

    On the outside, his brothers would build up their strength and charge their way into the Void Palace. And, on the inside, the core of his faction would begin with himself, Noah, Aina, the others and the geniuses slumbering within this Silver Tablet.

    It was about time that Leonel unleash Little Blackstar. He had been sitting on the little guy''s Ability Steal powers for long enough. First, it was because he didn''t want his closest friends to lose their personalities. But now that he had the Silver Tablet, that was no longer a worry.

    Within the walls of the Void Palace, with so many geniuses around and so many chances to kill them, what better place could there be to steal abilities?

    "Goggles, I''ll awaken you first."

    With a thought, Leonel had the golden scaled koi fish focus on gathering Pure Neutral Force. Suddenly, the large and daunting amount of Force he needed to gather to resurrect his brothers felt so small and insignificant nowбн

    Feeling this change, Leonel couldn''t help but sigh.

    What was life, exactly? If you could just stuff someone''s soul into a tablet and resurrect them on a whim when you had enough energy, what was life worth? Was he wrong for believing it had any intrinsic value at all?

    And what about Camelot''s existence? Did mere words on a page really give life to living, breathing peopleбн With thoughts, emotions, and aspirations of their ownбн?

    Leonel remembered how lost he had felt when he realized what secrets the Silver Tablet was hiding. They were emotions that he had yet to resolve even nowбн But the question itself was too profound. It made Leonel feel as though there were a large pair of hands hanging over him above, pulling not just him, but everyone along at its leisureбн

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, his gaze flickering with resolution.

 Chapter 1315 Holding Himself Back

    Chapter 1315 Holding Himself Back

    Leonel appeared outside the Sub-Dimensional Zone with a Rapax beneath his feet and Aina tied to his back once more. The latter still seemed to be in an endlessly peaceful sleep and Leonel almost felt back for taking her away from the comfortable bed she had been lying upon before. But, he had no choice.

    Though the Segmented Cube was very comfortable, it wasn''t conducive to Aina''s growth any longer. Because the Segmented Cube filtered Anarchic Force away, if he left her in there, she wouldn''t be able to acclimate and that would only weaken her into the future.

    ''I wonder, though. If the Segmented Cube can filter Anarchic Force, I bet it can selectively raise its concentration as well. I''ve heard that this is good for your training long term, I''ll have to try it out laterбн''

    Leonel had no idea just yet that with this thought, he had gained access to something Void Palace disciples paid exorbitant fees for, for free.

    With a thought, Leonel put the Rapax''s corpse away. He had to take it out to ensure that the Zone recognized his victory. But, with Cursed Beasts still lingering around, he couldn''t just leave it lying around.

    Leonel swept his senses around before shooting forward once again, streaking up the mountain at the greatest speed he could muster without destroying his stamina.

    Inwardly, he was intrigued. Blinded by his previous greed, he had forgotten that it should have been impossible to take things out of a Sub-Dimensional Zone until it reached the standard of the Gold Grade. Only Gold Grade Sub-Dimensional Zones and above could produce treasures that one could take out and use for themselves in the real world.

    Though a Rapax wasn''t exactly a treasure to most, its corpse was definitely one to Leonel and it should have disappeared along with the Zone. But, it didn''t.

    ''Interesting. Could it be that they used the shell of a Gold Grade Zone to form their challenges? What an embarrassment of richesбн They wouldn''t even know that a Rapax''s corpse would be useful to me. Though, I guess you could probably trade it in just like you could Cursed Beast corpses.''

    Leonel was 100% correct. The Void Palace had, indeed, used previously Gold Grade Zones as a shell. But, no one had ever seen through such a thing so easily.

    The journey forward wasn''t met by any opposition. In fact, it felt almost too easy. Outside of the occasional beast that crossed his path, there was nothing else. Of course, these beasts were nothing compared to the Rapax and Leonel almost felt too na?ve for having thought them to be strong. His horizon felt far wider now than they had been before.

    ''бн It''ll be a bit of a challenge.'' Leonel thought to himself as he sliced apart another beast, leaping onto a branch and skipping toward the canopy of another tree. ''бн I''m not sure how the Void Palace will react to new people suddenly showing up within their borders.

    ''They''re likely already aware that I have extra people with me just by virtue of the Zone''s reaction, butбн''

    This was the only real worry on Leonel''s mind now. It was one thing if he could just keep his people hidden within the Segmented Cube. With the size of the Segmented Cube, the amount of things he could accomplish was endless. He could train them, acclimate them to Anarchic Force, and he could even allow them to benefit from the Void Palace''s resources.

    But now, he had been exposed, there was simply no way for him to avoid the detection of a Zone. He wondered if he could get away with bending the rules again. He was probably already public enemy number one with the interference of Orinik and Ossenna by now, why not become a little more hated?

    Leonel chuckled to himself. Regardless, he would take things as they came. It was already too late to worry much about it all now.

    Slashing out again, Leonel''s spear suddenly met some unexpected resistance. But, he simply calmly retreated, stepped out of the way of a downward swinging claw, and attacked the exact same spot once more.

    This time, his spear went clean through.

    Before the beast could even collapse, he had already stepped by it and stored its corpse away.

    That was another problem. Leonel''s spears were beginning to become a choking point for him. He would have been able to defeat the Rapax much easier if his spear could withstand his Destruction Artistic Conception, but it couldn''t.

    Leonel believed that there were two reasons for this and he would only need to fix one to experience a large leap in strength. But, he would need to ideally fix both if he wanted to reach his goals.

    The first was that his spears were too weak. Quasi Silver Spears were at the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension, but Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force was relentless. Unless he could find another way to protect them, he would have to upgrade as soon as possible.

    The second was that his control over his conceptualization of Destruction was far too weak and ill controlled as well.

    While it was true that Myghell had relied on true Silver Grade weapons to withstand his Scarlet Star Force, how could normal Silver Grade weapons compare to a Domain Spear of an Heirloom like Leonel''s? Fundamentally, Myghell''s comprehension had been beyond Leonel''s and as such, he could get away with it.

    ''In that case, I need to stop wasting time holding back my Destruction conceptualization as though it was just a trump card. It shouldn''t be a trump card, it should be a core part of my battle style. Treating it like a final ''gotcha'' moment would just impede my progressбн''

    Leonel felt enlightened. The moment he had unleashed his Destruction, he had broken past a barrier he hadn''t even been trying to cross. Why should he keep holding himself back like this? He was only harming himself.

    "Blackstar, I''ll have to hand Aina over to you."

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar was suddenly enveloped by a dense black fog, becoming an enormous wolf with twin tails. He gently rest Aina within them and the master-beast pair shot off together.

    A faint red glow hung around Leonel, a dangerous light exuding from him. Just this choice alone had made him a far fiercer opponentбн One most would definitely not choose to cross of their own volition.

    Ironically, though, it wouldn''t be long before the pair were forced to stop once again.

    Before Leonel, a vast lake covered in a dense layer of fog lay. He stood upon a rocky ledge without room to go left or right, he couldn''t even find a path to go around it all.

    At that moment, though, his gaze narrowed. There were other rocky ledges around this enormous foggy lake, and some of them had people waiting on them as wellбн

    Right then, Leonel was suddenly enveloped by a light. It was this that made him realize why it was he could see these people from so far away. They too were enveloped by a light.

    The difference was, though, that while their lights were goldбн his was a violet-gold.

    All their attention was focused on Leonel in an instant. They all became aware that an Amethyst Token had appeared.

    [Just two today T.T]

 Chapter 1316 Golden Sector

    Chapter 1316 Golden Sector

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He had a feeling that this was where the true challenges would begin. Everything up until this point was nothing more than a weeding out of sorts, a filter. It seemed that things would only get interesting now.

    A faint sort of excitement bubbled up within Leonel''s heart, a searing heat pulsing above his right hip. This sort of stage, it was the kind he really wanted to be on. He faintly hoped thatбн These people would not disappoint him.

    бн

    Cornelius could see the shift in Leonel''s demeanor, and right then, it felt like something that had been confusing him finally snapped into place.

    Observing Leonel felt like one of the most confusing things he ever had to do. Sometimes the young man was hot, sometimes cold. Sometimes he was murderous and sometimes he was forgiving. Sometimes he was arrogant and at other times he was humble. Sometimes he met the day with a smile and at other times he met it with coldnessбн

    As confusing as his personality was, his battle prowess was even more so. Cornelius couldn''t even decide whether he was a talent or an average genius, something that was baffling considering the fact the young man had just single handedly defeated a Rapax soldier. But, that only emphasized just how hard it was to get a read on Leonelбн

    ''Sometimes his true self slumbersбн and sometimes it peeks an eye open, groggily observing the world around him as though to check if those before him were worthyбн''

    As for when Leonel would truly wake up? Cornelius had no way of knowing, or else maybe he wouldn''t be so confused.

    The main issue, though, was that this was exactly like a certain man. He met the day with a bright smile on his face, joking around and chasing skirts without a care. You would never be able to tell that there was a slumbering monster within him, ready to pounce and destroy everything at the slightest poke.

    That slumbering beast, too, only partially awoke from time to time. Butбн That day that it had fully awakened, that day when it rose up and unfurled its body, roaring into the skiesбн

    The Void Palace''s very foundation had shaken.

    бн

    "What the hell is this?"

    The voice wasn''t overly loud, but it was laced with an unconcealed fury. Its owner stared daggers toward Leonel as though with just this alone, he could see the latter sliced and diced into minced meat.

    The young man looked like the picture of a roaring lion. He had a head of hair, side burns and beard that all came together to form the image of a vibrant mane. His two eyes were a piercing bright brown and his teeth lengthened to the point two prominent canines jetted out whenever he opened his mouth.

    A sparkling white-gold halberd stretched across his back and his armor alternated in heavy white plates and dense brownish-golden fur. Despite the fact he was in his early 20''s, no one would have hesitated to believe that he was already well into his 30''s, not because he looked so old, but because his facial hair simply didn''t seem fit for someone so young.

    Those around this young man almost instantly smiled bitterly. They had known that these days of leisure wouldn''t last for so long.

    Over the last few days, they could just sit back and do nothing. This overly prideful young master of theirs always insisted on doing everything himself and he continuously plowed forward, blocking and destroying everything in their path.

    Usually, this sort of personality would have gotten them into a ridiculous amount of trouble. But, with the current state of things and the set up of this particular trial, it was nothing but good. In the outside world, however, just these last few days alone their young master would have at least killed three prominent figures, ruined the future of at least one noble lady, and would have dove into at least one life or death situation that would have ended with at least three of them losing their lives, only to be replaced by a new wave of youthful retainers.

    Then, they would be forced to spend the next coming days cleaning up the mess while their young master rested, only for them to do it all over again the next week. But, this time, the list of those who hated their young master would have increased by that exact number.

    It could be said that this young man was even better at stirring up trouble than Leonel. His was Conon Lio, the leading youth of the Golden Sector''s Lio family.

    Much like Conon''s attendants had expected such behavior, they also knew why their young master was reacting like this as well. The Golden Sector was unlike most due to its special structure. In conjunction with its complex history, no single family had been able to dominate it. However, unlike the Three Pillar Sector, the three families that locked heads in the Golden Sector were far higher on the totem pole. In fact, if that very same one to ten scale used to understand the Libra family was used, then these three families would actually faintly surpass them, sitting at solids eights and nines!

    Due to this, despite his achievements, Conon hadn''t been able to monopolize the Amethyst Token like a talent like him would have in practically any other year. Instead, he had been locked into a stalemate with the young heir of the Tarius family, Armand, and the young miss of the Pyius family, Simona. Unluckily, all three families had birthed outstanding talents in this generation.

    As though that wasn''t bad enough, Conon, Armand and Simona might have been the tip of the iceberg, but they had several cousins, brothers and sisters who could only be considered a step below. In fact, in a weaker generational pool, it would have been possible for one or two of them to have gained an Amethyst Token. And, one of these individuals was Conon''s elder brother who stoically stood to his side right this moment, Gunter Lio.

    And yet, now all of these geniuses were seeing a right they were snubbed from due to unfortunate luck, sitting in the palm of a nameless young man they had never seen or heard of before.

    Noбн they had heard of him, just a few days ago. But, what they had heard only fueled their rage all the more.

 Chapter 1317 A Choice

    Chapter 1317 A Choice

    Leonel could feel the animosity, it was almost palpable. The hairs on his skin stood on end and his blood vessels dilated. The pumping of his heart grew slower and more forceful, a subtle crimson energy racing throughout his body.

    In the blink of an eye, his body had been covered in a thin veil of sweat. However, it wasn''t the kind of sweat one would gain out of fatigue or fear. It was the kind of sweat that would cover a boxer on their way to the ring, having just completed a small round of cardio to warm their bodies up. It was the kind of sweat that would soak a runner in the middle of a run when they finally set their pace and hit their perfect stride. It was the kind of sweat that didn''t allow the body to rise past a certain level of heat, settling in at the perfect degree for prime functioning.

    When Leonel''s body entered such a state, he felt more alive than he ever had before. His Nodes worked as one, circulating his blood throughout his body and leaving him a state where he was absolutely prepared for everything. One could have easily mistaken him for a predator on the prowl, his expression seeming decidedly less human in those moments.

    BANG!

    At that moment, a geyser shot into the air. The temperature skyrocketed and vision from all angles was completely blurred.

    Leonel was forced to retract his Internal Sight at that moment. He felt like a scolding heat was ready to fry his mind if he remained any more stubborn. It was a shocking sort of feeling for someone like Leonel who hadn''t felt true heat in years.

    Thanks to his Fire Elemental affinity, what was usually overly hot for others was a breezy spring day to Leonel. For his Internal Sight to be fried like thisбн It was definitely a unique experience. But, considering his body was still just fine, it was clear that his mind had a weakness that the rest of him didn''t share.

    Leonel slotted in this realization to the back of his mind and kept it for future deductions. For now, though, his mind focused entirely on what was before him and he remained supremely focused, ready for anything.

    However, what happened next felt somewhat anti-climactic.

    The geyser fell and the heavy mist it had come with faded. But, there was hardly any other change but a platform that had appeared one meter ahead of Leonel''s cliff ledge. This platform of rock hung upon absolutely nothing and it seemed that everyone had gotten one. Each group gained exactly one of these.

    Leonel didn''t think very much about it at all. With a single stomp, he leaped onto the platform, Little Blackstar following behind him just as quickly.

    Almost the instant he landed, though, he vanished, disappearing as though he had never been there.

    The minutes ticked by and soon, with a VWOOSH, Leonel and Blackstar appeared once more. Nothing seemed to have changed at all. Aina was still resting on Blackstar''s tails, Little Blackstar was still floating within the forehead of his construct and Leonel still stood, unmoved.

    However, if one looked very closely, it was possible to see that a subtle hint of blood drizzled down the pointer and middle finger of Leonel''s right hand, dripping down to the ground in slow, steady droplets. And, at the same time, the fire in his gaze had only grown more savage and unfettered.

    He stared intently ahead, waiting for the next. And, he wasn''t disappointed in the slightest.

    BANG!

    Another geyser appeared. Leonel seemed to have forgotten about all the eyes on him, intent to focus on what was before him, his mind thirsting for battle as the sheen of sweat that covered him began to emit just the slightest hints of a steamy fog.

    This time, three platforms appeared. One ahead, one to the left and another to the right. The ones to the left and right were about two meters away from Leonel''s current platform while the one ahead was just a single meter away once again.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he noticed this change. Despite the fact it was subtle and almost meaningless, it made his mind whir into action. In truth, in this state, he wanted to do nothing more than turn his brain off and fight to his heart''s content, but to him, this was too obvious of a detail to miss out on.

    The rules of this game were still obscure but the general gist was obvious enough to Leonel: Use the Platforms, defeat their bosses, and reach a certain destination.

    If the main goal was to reach a destination, then a movement of two meters obviously seemed betterбн Or did it?

    To Leonel, the destination could be deduced through simple logic. Varying groups of geniuses surrounded the outline of this lake. That meant it would make little sense for the destination to be any opposing bank or cliff edge. By process of elimination, the destination was most likely the center of the lake itself, something that was easily over a kilometer away.

    At a pace of one meter per bout, it would obviously take 1000 battles for Leonel to reach the center. However, to his left and right, there was a movement of two meters. The bad news, though, was that unlike the center platform, these ones deviated from the path toward the center. So, although they allowed him to leap a larger distance, they still ultimately left him further away.

    That saidбн Leonel had to believe that there was a reason why these left and right platforms would exist.

    If the Void Palace wanted a simple race to the center, they could have done so. In fact, Leonel wasn''t the only one who had jumped at the platform the moment it appeared and he also now wasn''t the only one to have already come out.

    Now, they were all faced with the same dilemma. Would they take the straight forward path? Or would they risk it all for the unknown.

    Leonel''s grin widened.

    With a stomp of his foot, he launched himself onto the right platform, his intent blazing as he and Blackstar vanished once more.

    When they reappeared, they found themselves in another foggy world filled with white borders.

    Ahead lay another Rapax soldier.

    [I''m sorry everyone, I woke up with a headache today and it threw my whole day off. More action tomorrow :)]

 Chapter 1318 Good

    Chapter 1318 Good

    Leonel shot forward, his Divine Armor appearing on his body.

    His palm flipped over, forming a claw with his fingers curled toward the sky. As though a wild beast, he sliced upward, the rupturing glass of space following his every movement. But, what was even more dangerous were the tendrils of destruction that filled in the cracks, layering Leonel''s strike with a violent abandon that shook the core.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s claw and the Rapax''s ax kick met, but it was the latter the found itself sprawling backward.

    ''That''s the first effect. Destruction cripples Force not much unlike Anarchic Force, burning it to ashes.''

    Leonel''s steps shifted, his claw morphing as he pressed his fore and middle finger together into a short spear. He pierced forward as the Rapax stumbled back, its leg now thrown high into the sky.

    After two battles with the Rapax, Leonel had already learned of their weaknesses. The race as a whole had poor posture. At first, it looked like a coincidence, but after three encounters, it most definitely wasn''t. For an entire race to share the same habit, there was clearly a reason for this.

    When the Rapax hunched over, their spines coiled, the plates that covered their torsos were as tight and compact as possible, making the more fragile joints almost impossible to target. At best, one would be able to attack non-lethal areas like the arms and legs.

    However, when forced to open up, the joints went from non-existent and snapped closed to open by a sliver.

    In truth, this couldn''t be said to be a ''weakness'' at all. Even when standing to their full height, the gaps in the Rapax''s plate armor was at most counted in millimeters. In addition, the skin of the Rapax was especially tough, albeit not nearly as tough as their steely carapace. Still, it could be said that the defenses of their exposed flesh was only two or three ticks below Leonel''s own when he activated his Bronze Runes. That alone was enough to make them impervious to lower Tier Bronze weapons.

    Still, this slight and almost negligible flaw was more than enough for Leonel.

    PCHU!

    ''No, I''m wrong. That''s too simple and doesn''t give Destruction enough credit. It''s not burning things to ash, it''s erasing it from existence. This is the reason why the Rapax, despite not emitting Force and keeping it circulating within its body, can still have its strength weakened by me.''

    Leonel had yet to meet a Rapax that used an external source of Force. And, yet, his Destruction characteristic still had the effect of greatly weakening its attack. On the surface, this didn''t make much sense unless he was underestimating the effect of his Scarlet Star Force from the very beginning.

    Leonel''s Spear Force pierced through the more fragile skin of the Rapax, slicingthrough its body and incinerating its inner organs to ash.

    ''More, this isn''t enough.''

    The moment Leonel appeared outside once again, he had already leapt forward. This time, there was only a single platform to choose from, once again about two meters ahead of him. When he landed, he found himself in a new world once more, facing yet another Rapax.

    Leonel wasn''t a fool. He had realized many things by now.

    The rules and regulations of this True Selection seemed almost too loose. They didn''t limit who could group with who, they didn''t make any effort to separate allies and even threw them all in the same village without a care, and they made no attempt to regulate what might be seen as unfairness.

    Butбн Was this entirely true?

    Leonel felt differently. In fact, he believed that the Void Palace had a perfect pulse on everything that was happening.

    All things considered, the appearance of the Sub-Dimensional Zone seemed completely random, especially if there was a trial like this one waiting not long after. That was unless one considered the one thing a Zone could do perfectly that anything else might slip up with: And that was counting them number of individuals in a party.

    Leonel''s Segmented Cube could hide people from far too many methods of detection. And, Leonel wasn''t the only one with a treasure that could accomplish such a feat, especially with so many young geniuses with astonishing backgrounds around.

    So, the Void Palace borrowed the power of the Regulator to shore up potential loop holes. Using the Zone, they saw threw any hidden trump cards a youth might have. Then, after doing this, they threw these simulations at the group one after another.

    Leonel could feel that these weren''t real Rapax he was facing. The only real Rapax was the one whose corpse now hung in his Segmented Cube. Theseбн Were nothing more than practice dummies set with he assumption that Leonel''s group had the support of six individuals total.

    But, Leonel wouldn''t have it any other way. There was no better method the squeezing out every ounce of potential he had.

    Leonel flickered and vanished, his body appearing atop the Rapax. With a strong punch downward, its head completely caved in. What once was an armor Leonel couldn''t leave even the slightest scratch on lost all of its structural integrity beneath a single vicious blow, crushing the skull of the Rapax and shattering its brain.

    When Leonel appeared above the foggy lake once more, his gaze flickered, the vague image of a hidden rune dancing within his irises. He felt that he was faintly approaching his first watershed. His Innate Node thrummed with life, his body feeling as though it was alive.

    Leonel had come to realize that so long as he didn''t actively call upon Scarlet Star Force and simply allowed his body to naturally regulate how much he could withstand, what could have been a lethal dose to anyone else became like a steroid pumping through his veins.

    ''This feelingбн Is good.''

    Leonel leapt forward, vanishing once more. The ire of his peers didn''t make him waver in the slightest. In fact, he very much hoped that he would run into one of them very soon. He wanted to see what the geniuses of the Human Domain had to offer.

 Chapter 1319 Roundhouse

    Chapter 1319 Roundhouse

    Leonel''s hair fluttered, his body surrounded by powerful Artistic Conceptions. His Star conception looked almost no different from his previous Summer conception. However, the difference in its power was akin to night and day.

    Leonel had already set the path for his Heavenly Body Realm comprehension after stepping foot into the core of the Milky Way Guild''s Disaster World. His Summer construct was formed as the foundation of his Star construct. His Fall construct was the foundation of his Moon construct. His Winter construct became the foundation of his Planet construct. And, finally, his Spring construct became the foundation of his Meteor construct.

    The Summer construct spoke for itself. Radiant Core was a dense mass of Radiant Force, a high radioactive-like Fire Elemental Force. It had strong gravitational and magnetic properties, making it both good for defense, and great for increasing Leonel''s offensive output as well. Leonel often liked to use it as a core of his Blade Forces to form volatile drills.

    Leonel''s Fall construct was only used on occasion, but it was exceptionally powerful, it was dubbed ''A Slow Death'', by him. When he released its Artistic Conception, autumn leaves would fall from the skies in gorgeous colors ranging from bright orange to somber reds and browns. It had the effect of sucking away life force, matching with Leonel''s Winter construction, Withering Snowfall.

    Withering Snowfall was a lot like A Slow Death but rather than targeting the life force of people, it targeted their attacks. When in effect, it felt like the Force in the area had dried up as ash fell from the skies like snowfall.

    If an autumn leaf of A Slow Death touched you, you would feel sluggish and slow. If an ashfall of Withering Snowfall touched your technique, its strength would plummetбн

    Leonel didn''t change the names of A Slow Death and Withering Snowfall, and now, they worked together better than they ever had before.

    Leonel''s Planet Construct became a ball of gorgeous white. Around it, Moons of red, orange and brown rotated, their very presence making one feel as though they had aged a decade. The cycles of the Moon made one feel as though time was passing at varying rates, distorting one''s image of reality as though their mind had been cast into an odd illusion. At the same time, the pull of the Planet could cause Force to bend beneath its will, pushing and pulling, multiplying or eradicatingбн

    Together, they were a perfect team, tugging on both reality and imaginaryбн Having evolved, A Slow Death now placed far more emphasis on ''Slow'', a lulling of the mind, a false sense of security, a pulling of wool over the eyesбн Likewise, Withering Snowfall placed far more emphasis on Withering nowбн

    Finally, there was Golden Drops, the conception of Spring and now Leonel''s Meteor construct. It was the most simple and straightforward. As Spring, it released small droplets of golden rain, each as heavy as an anvil. And now, it released enormous rocks of golden fire, each as heavy as a small mountain!

    Subconsciously, Leonel''s conceptions of Destruction seeped into his Heavenly Body Realm. It was impossible to avoid. His mind was wrapped into all things Scarlet Star Force, he hardly realized just how many stages he was blazing through without a care.

    He just wanted more. He couldn''t seem to be satisfied, and he didn''t seem to understand fatigue. He kept pushing and pushing, relentlessly.

    He didn''t even realize that his Moon conception was becoming the most warped, evolving to something that stepped beyond what should have been possible for the Heavenly Body Realm.

    It took Leonel four battles to grasp his Meteor construct, eight more to grasp his Planet construct, and easily more than a dozen to grasp his Moon construct.

    By the time he fused them all together, reaching the pinnacle and touching upon a state even among other True State comprehenders, he had already fought over 40 battles.

    Leonel improved by leaps and bounds with each. Even though the Rapax he faced were supposed to be getting stronger, he seemed to improve even faster than they did. With every strike, his prowess increased by small percentage points. He became more acclimated to his own body, he learned more about his Destruction conceptions, and he began to truly take advantage of his sharpened minds and the awakening of his Soul.

    For the first time, Leonel was given challenge after challenge worthy of his talent level. Rather than being stuck in an organization filled with those who couldn''t hope to match up to him, he was finally in a world where he couldn''t just casually take step after step, and the resultбн

    Leonel''s potential was dragged up piece after piece, bit after bit. It started like a trickle but it eventually became an overwhelming tide, a tsunami that washed all those away.

    Even still at Tier 5, he faced a Tier 8 Rapax dauntlessly. He grabbed onto its throat, ripping its neck from its shoulder and feeling its final squeals vibrate his palms.

    When Leonel appeared again, there was no longer anywhere else to go.

    BANG!

    This time, it wasn''t a geyser. A platform crashed against his, fusing into a makeshift arena with lethal edges and a diameter of just over 20 meters.

    Up ahead, a group of geniuses shrouded in veils of gold met Leonel. There were just three of them, but each one carried their own air of haughtiness and pride. When they saw the violet gold sheen around Leonel, their gazes narrowed.

    "That''s him. The pathetic bastard who had his mommy get his Token for hiбк"

    Leonel''s mind was still in battle mode. He hadn''t even considered the idea that these people would want to exchange words. And, even if they did, what did it have to do with him?

    His body seemed soaked in a bloody aura, a dense crimson fog fusing with his violet King''s Might.

    BANG!

    His fist crushed the ribcage of the man who had spoken. The sound of shattering bone and an upheaval of blood and vomit resounded as he was sent flying backward.

    His two teammates snapped out of their shock, they both reacted at the same time, rushing backward to save their group member before he fell off the edge and toward his death. But, Leonel had followed closely behind.

    In a blink, his foot had appeared by the side of a young maiden''s face in a perfect roundhouse kick. After fighting so many Rapax, his mind had been infused with all sorts of perfect kicking forms and his body had adapted just as easily.

    BANG!

    His foot hooked across and downward, slamming her cheeks into the rugged stone platform and deforming her lovely features from two sides at once. If he had used any more strength, her entire head would have burst like a watermelon.

    The third and final teammate just barely managed to catch the first Leonel had sent flying before he was sent over into the lake below. However, when he looked back, all he could do was look on in shock.

    Howбн How was the gap so large?

    A steamy breath left Leonel''s lips, the veins beneath his skin pulsing with a subtle red-gold color.

 Chapter 1320 ls That All?

    Chapter 1320 ls That All?

    The third teammate''s gaze turned steely. Regardless of the situation, he was still a genius in his own right and the weight of a Golden Token wielder this year was far heavier than it had been in previous years. As far as he was concerned, they had underestimated Leonel, but they wouldn''t continue to do so.

    Setting his teammate down, he immediately flipped his palms to reveal a twin pair of short sabers. With a step, his figure flickered and vanished, appearing before Leonel with a wind.

    It only took a glance for Leonel to pick out several things. A strong Wind and Dark Elemental affinity, Level Two Saber Force, Tier 9 strength, and what seemed to be either a Lineage Factor or Ability Index capable of making his presence fade. That matched with a top level Fifth Dimensional movement technique and it felt like he had truly disappeared.

    Just this alone made the difference between these enemies and the ones Leonel had previously faced all too obvious. Just a random young man actually had so much Talent. Leonel would often not run into an individual with even one of these talents, let alone all of them.

    The young man was right to be confident in himself. His blades flickered through the fog, jetting toward Leonel''s throat like twin pincers, ready to sever his head from his shoulders.

    BANG!

    The young man suddenly found himself in a daze, his brain rattling in his skull and his jaw feeling like it might shatter as a strong upward pressure shot into it from below. It took him several moments for him to realize that Leonel''s heel was blasting his head upward, his sabers just inches from the latter''s neck and yet feeling like a world away.

    The young man couldn''t wrap his head around how Leonel had grasped such impeccable timing. No, how had Leonel even been so fast? How had he been so confident?

    Leonel''s legs formed a perfect split in the air, his heel driving up through the young man''s jaw with such fierceness that the latter''s feet lifted off the ground, sending him spiraling into the foggy skies like a rocket.

    The young man tried to reach out with the last reserves of his strength to close the final distance. But, his efforts only made Leonel''s gaze flicker.

    CRACK!

    The final bits of structural integrity the young man''s jawline had left crumbled. A muffled cry tried to leave his lips but ended up dwarfed by a mouthful of shattered teeth and jaw bone shards.

    SHUUU!

    He spiraled into the air as Leonel slowly lowered his leg, the dense crimson around him and the subtle red-gold of his veins becoming more prominent.

    With a dull thump, the young man fell back down to the ground, his body having shut down completely. And, maybe for him this was for the best. The pain of having half your face shattered was most definitely not something anyone would want to be conscious for.

    Leonel released a breath, his chest moving at an even rhythm. He didn''t even seem to have exerted himself, his breathing remaining unhurried and unbothered.

    ''Is this all?... How boring.''

    Leonel was disappointed. Maybe it was his mistake for still unleash everything, he hadn''t even held back his Ability Index.

    In truth, as fast as Leonel was progressing, he still needed to find time to comprehend his Ability Index as well. Wise Star Order had told him that this was the only way to stop the restrictive ability Anarchic Force had on his Dream Force. But, at the same time, using his Ability Index made battles too easy.

    Leonel had progressed so fast that what had started as a challenge had become the same mundane nonsense he was used to. Was this really the pinnacle of the Human Domain? There had to be more, there had to be something waitingбн

    The glowing cloaks of the three down and out geniuses rumbled before separating from their bodies. Soon, they became floating orbs in the air.

    ''Oh? You can take them? Okay.''

    Leonel reached out, causing the three orbs to come toward him. Then, his flicked he wrist toward Aina and let her absorb all three.

    An audible crack resounded as the Golden Tokens of the three youths shattered. However, Aina''s color still seemed to be gold without the slightest change.

    ''I see, so this is a choice. Those that go straight ahead have the best chance at dodging a forceful confrontation between geniuses. However, those that go right or left will eventually find themselves in a fight. You can either go straight and choose to keep the Token you have or deviate and seek out something better.

    ''I already have an Amethyst Token so I don''t particularly need this. However, if I can raise Aina to an Amethyst as well, it''ll be a great advantage for the future. Plusбн This is still a good opportunity to hone my combat prowessбн''

    From Leonel''s understanding, only those who wielded Golden Tokens could immediately become Quadrant Ranked disciples upon entering the Void Palace. Those without Golden Tokens would have to slowly prove themselves to rise above the Nominal disciple rank. However, what no one had explained just yet was what the Amethyst Token could do.

    If Leonel was correct, the Amethyst Token just might represent a straight path toward the Galaxy Rank. Or, at the very least, you would get the chance to try. With this attempt, not only would a whole host of new resources be opened up, but it would also save Leonel many years as well.

    If he could bring Aina along with him and they could work together, the benefits would be exponentially greater. That way the two of them could forge a path for everyone else to follow behind.

    Having come to this conclusion, Leonel''s gaze sharpened.

    BANG!

    A geyser erupted once again. But what was interesting was the fact that the path ahead didn''t gain an explosion. In fact, the path the three youths had come from was still open.

    ''Interestingбн The easy path, or?''

    Leonel''s feet were already moving as he jumped toward the mist left behind by the geyser.

 Chapter 1321 Right Hand

    Chapter 1321 Right Hand

    Cornelius watched Leonel, his expression warping from time to time.

    ''30%... He''s gotten 30% stronger in a few hoursбн 40бн 50... 80бн''

    Cornelius felt as though his head was spinning. A part of him wanted to believe that this wasn''t improvement speed but rather just Leonel showing more of the strength he already had. But, he felt like he knew better than to try and conclude such a thing.

    What was the most baffling was that he felt a change in Leonel after that fightбн

    ''Those threeбн That young man is from the Sith family, the leading head of Shield Cross Star''s Stealth Unit. He isn''t the best among their current generation, but he''s still within the top five, he''s even awakened the Sith Lineage Factor to such a level already. Butбн''

    Cornelius could feel it. Leonel got bored, and the instant he did, the rapid improvement that he was experiencing plummeted. It was as though Leonel could use his own mood to influence how fast his own progress could be. Cornelius had never heard of something like this before.

    ''Does he not have goals and aspirations? Does he not have something to strive for outside of what''s right in front of him?''

    If Leonel could hear Cornelius'' thoughts he would be baffled. Reason being, he definitely had a goal to strive after. He wouldn''t be able to understand how or why Cornelius would come to such a conclusion. However, for any neutral outside observer, Cornelius'' conclusion wasn''t only sound, it was reasonable and felt like the truth.

    A person who had bought into their purpose, who truly strove after it with all they had, wouldn''t be like Leonel. Why would something like boredom slow him down? Monotony was something anyone who wanted to succeed would have to learn to accept.

    Did that mean that Leonel didn''t believe in his goalбн? Not necessarily.

    If Cornelius knew of what Leonel wanted to accomplish, rather than feeling that it was all ridiculous, he might look toward Leonel more like he was looking at a monster rather than just a child he was looking after.

    There were only two real explanations for this.

    It was either Leonel didn''t take his goal to conquer the Dimensional Verse as seriously as he claimed to. Orбн

    Leonel was so confident in his inevitable success that he felt no pressure whatsoeverбн

    бн

    Leonel knew that he was likely being observed, but he had already thrown such thoughts to the back of his mind, already focusing on his new goal.

    Now that he knew platforms didn''t disappear and that paths formed by others could be used, he realized that this was a great opportunity. The more time passed, the more complicated the structure would become and the more chances there would be.

    There was a good chance that the more empty paths there were the more geniuses would begin to travel along them. If Leonel ignored the easy paths to take, then others could take them. Eventually , the opponents Leonel needed would end up coming to him rather than him having to go and find them.

    Leonel could tell that this trial was built to allow this to happen. The more platforms were cleared, the more interconnectivity there would be, and the more likely it would be for two groups to run into each other. From the beginning, this was the design. Leonel was just making a decision that would allow this to happen faster. Rather than following paths that had already been cleared, he would forge new ones.

    As Leonel barreled forth, the day waned and Aina finally showed signs of waking up. When she finally did so, she realized that she lay on something as soft as clouds. It took her a moment before she registered the fact that it was a special ability of Blackstar''s.

    She sat up slightly, Blackstar''s twin tails allowing her all the room she needed to maneuver.

    Feeling the change, Little Blackstar, who hovered in the forehead of his foggy construct, looked back.

    "Yip! Yip!" He excitedly greeted Aina, causing her to reveal a beautiful smile.

    Aina''s gaze shifted toward Leonel''s back. She knew that he was probably aware that she was awake already, but he was too focused on ripping apart the Rapax before him to pay attention to any of that. The defined muscles of his back, shoulders and lats rippled with veins and striations as he destroyed yet another foe.

    Aina took a deep breath, looking down at her hands. She felt much better. In fact, she felt better than she had in a long time.

    The Anarchic Force wasn''t that much of an issue to her. After decades of dealing with a curse day in and day out, this felt like a light punishment. She had just needed to replenish her mind after draining it so completely. Even with how powerful her own mind was, Yuri was simply on a different level.

    Aina stretched, her curves displaying an enticing sight as she pulled her torso taut. Her figure was enticing to an extreme, her skin giving off a healthy color.

    She ran her hands through her hair, a light smile tugging at her pink lips.

    With a light push, she flipped through the air, landing like a feather on her feet. In a blink, she had appeared by Leonel''s side, a delicate fragrance of apple and cinnamon following her every movement.

    Leonel''s fist shot through the throat of the last Rapax, exhaling a light breath. He looked to the side as they vanished, appearing above the lake once more.

    His gaze met Aina''s and he smiled lightly, his palm flipping over to hand her a familiar battle ax.

    Aina accepted it gracefully, resting the enormous two meter long polearm on her shoulder as though it weighed nothing at all.

    Without a word exchanged, the two leapt to the next platform, Little Blackstar following closely behind.

    Aina had come at the perfect time. The number of Rapax they needed to face increased from just one to two, and it would very likely increase from now on.

    Leonel let Aina take more of the lead, allowing her to get accustomed to fighting this new enemy. Subconsciously, Leonel knew that his biggest reliance in the journey ahead would be this woman by his side now. She was the only one among his current group with talent comparable to his, and he knew that this would be what it took to reach his goals.

    How could his right hand woman not be able to cut down Rapax just as easily as he could?

 Chapter 1322 Perfect Timing

    Chapter 1322 Perfect Timing

    Aina adjusted quickly. Her battle sense had always been beyond Leonel''s. What Leonel had to deduce and calculate, she did as naturally as breathing, her instincts and reflexes existing on a plane all to her own.

    Facing the oppressive leg kicks of the Rapax, her movements were as calming as a spring''s wind and as lithe as a ball of cotton.

    Leonel observed without a word, his mind entering a different sort of state. Now that he was out of his raging battle mode, he began to think about things in a new light. It was quite interesting, of all the battle styles the Rapax could have with its powerful body, their race seemed to have chosen to become a group of kicking experts.

    One would never expect such a thing from their poor overall posture. But, at the same time, Leonel had to admit that it suited them quite well.

    The claws on their feet had a lethality that spoke for themselves, their tails gave them an extra foundation to balance upon, giving them freedom of movement two-legged humans couldn''t hope to match, they had an extra joint in their legs giving them added leverage for power and, as though all of these things weren''t enough, their legs themselves were exceptionally long, taking up as much as three quarters of their body.

    When things were broken down this way, it felt like it would be more of a shame than anything else if the Rapax chose any other martial art form.

    Still, what fascinated Leonel wasn''t the choice, but rather everything that facilitated its success. The Rapax could display strength far beyond their Tier all because of this choice of theirs. Leonel could imagine that their people had probably evolved a whole culture around their legs. Every technique, every Lineage Factor, and maybe even their Ability Indexes to a certain extent, were all streamlined to maximize this ability.

    Ability Indexes were meant to be random and had nothing to do with genes and DNA. However, they had to come from somewhere.

    If Leonel was correct, then much like everything else, Ability Indexes were gifted and birthed from Force. And, just like Wise Star Order had said, the Human Domain was the only Domain where the Force was so widely variable and random. In that case, if the Rapax''s Force distribution was so much more compact and streamlined, then wouldn''t that also mean that the kind of Ability Indexes that could be bestowed upon their people also existed within a narrow margin?

    When things were looked at from this perspective, it all fell into place. Leonel hadn''t noticed any obvious usage of an Ability by the Rapax in the battles he had fought. But, then again, he had only fought one real Rapax while these Aina was facing now were nothing more than simulations. However, he had a feeling that even if they were real, the talents of the Rapax would all be so united in one pursuit that it wouldn''t be easy even for him to tease apart their intricacies.

    ''So this is why the gap exists between humans and other racesбн We''re so good at so many things that we''ve branched our evolutionary paths into more roads than could possibly be accounted for. If things are looked at in this way, even though my world views make the likes of the Brazinger family to be disgustingбн Maybe they have their reasons as well.''

    Having such a thought made Leonel feel slimy, but it was the objective truth. The obsession of the Brazinger family over the purity of their bloodlines, even to the point of cursing a little girl to a lifetime of pain and suffering all as a warning, could be said to make sense if things were looked at through this light.

    When Leonel thought about it, everything about Aina''s talents were perfect. Her Ability Index, her Lineage Factor, her Style, her Force affinitiesбн They all combined into a single monstrous monolith.

    Now that he thought about it, the one other Brazinger family member that he had had in depth contact with was also like this. Simeon''s Gene Manipulation Ability Index was a lot like Aina''s Ability if you thought about it. If anything, Simeon''s Gene Manipulation Ability was just a more involved and controlled version of Aina''s Ability when extrapolated to an extremeбн

    Something that would make perfect sense since Aina was a half-blood while Simeon was, presumably, full blooded.

    When Leonel reached this point in his thoughts, he felt his heart skip a beat. These were all things he had already known for a very long time, but when they were put together and described like this, it all made almost too much sense. But, at the same time, it was a reminder of his weakness.

    Leonel''s talents worked together well enough, but it couldn''t be said that they synergized and exponentially improved one another. However, if he truly wanted to reach the pinnacle of his strength, he would have to find a way.

    Leonel''s gaze became serious. ''When I return to Earth, I won''t let Simeon go again. His Gene Manipulation Ability isn''t even documented in any Ability Index I''ve ever read. In fact, I haven''t ever seen Aina''s Ability documented either. But, it also happens to be the perfect last piece to what the tentacle womb is missingбн''

    Leonel''s mine whirred.

    He had created his Dream Path ability to help his brothers maximize their training regimens, taking inspiration from Aina''s Ability. It seemed that he would need to adjust it. Not only would he need to focus on maximizing their training, but he would also need to fuse all their talents toward a single path and battle style, only like this would they become the absolute strongest versions of themselves.

    ''But firstбн I need to figure out how to do this for myself. I''ve already decided that my foundation will be my Scarlet Star Force and my comprehension of it is progressing smoothlyбн I need more data to complete the Dream Simulations for my future path, thoughбн''

    Leonel suddenly looked up as they vanished from the foggy world. ''Perfect timing.''

    Up ahead, a group led by a young woman with a poisonous sort of air appeared to their left.

 Chapter 1323 Good Thing...

    Chapter 1323 Good Thing...

    Leonel knew that he was getting ahead of himself. He couldn''t complete this new streamlined battle Style with the limited knowledge he had now. Only after seeing all the resources the Void Palace had on hand could he make an informed decision. But, in the mean while, gathering data and ensuring Aina gained an Amethyst Token was his top priority.

    When the group across from them realized that they were facing Leonel, their gazes narrowed. But, it wasn''t just this, they could tell that Aina''s cloak of gold was also a brighter and more vibrant sheen than usual as well. It was clear that this group had defeated others before reaching this point.

    There was no doubt that information about Leonel had already been spread. In fact, it could be said that it was because of Leonel that the battle to the center of the lake had become as violent as it had.

    The idea of fighting through many Golden Token wielders, a large segment of whom would have been Amethyst Token wielders any other year, was like asking for death. Most would have chosen to cut their losses and focus on reaching the main objective rather than chasing after side quests.

    However, Leonel had become a juicy piece of meat dangling over all of their noses. Rather than defeating a whole host of Golden Token wielders, all you would have to do is defeat a single fake Amethyst Token holder and you would be promoted in a single bound.

    That sort of enticement and luck of the draw lottery was on a completely different level. And, as a result, there were many more participants.

    All of this saidбн There were many groups who would have chosen to participate regardless, groups that had full and unbridled confidence in themselvesбн And this group, from a very familiar Golden Sector, was one of them.

    The young mistress of the Pyius family, Simona, almost seemed to glide as she walked, her dainty feet only barely peeking out beneath her long, dark purple gown from time to time. It truly seemed as though she was walking on air rather than solid ground, her gait too smooth for words.

    Her hips swayed like a hypnotic pendulum, her skin so pale that one might feel as though you just might be able to see right through it. However, she contrasted her near transparent skin with bold dark purple lipstick and long, curved nails, decorated with gems and a base coat of the very same color.

    Her hair was once again a dark shade of purple, the only slightly lighter sheen to be found were in her pair of irises, steady with an undying cold light.

    Despite the darkness she exuded, she was truly a beauty beyond words, a gorgeous woman with a delicate nose and gently sloping chin that lost out to Aina in no way.

    Her slender waist swayed just once more before she came to a stop, her subordinates following suit without a word as well.

    At that moment, a slender little pinkish purple fox with the stature of a puppy peeked out from Simona''s leg, its large black eyes blinking curiously as it observed Little Blackstar.

    Leonel took all of this in without a word. The pressure he felt from this woman was no joke. Compared to the three he had defeated previously, she was on a completely different level. The dangerous light in her cold eyes spoke for itself even while not saying a thing.

    Leonel had known that he might run into such a character taking the approach he had. But, he had left it up to fate. It seemed that his luck wasn''t very good. And yetбн

    Some of that bubbling excitement seemed to want to resurface.

    Unfortunately, as soon as that excitement came back, he felt a heated gaze boring two holes into his cheek. Eventually, he sighed.

    "Fine, fine, fine. She''s yours. I''ll handle the rest of them."

    Leonel had almost forgotten that Aina was even more of a battle maniac than maybe even he was.

    Toward his words, she smiled sweetly, her visage seeming to disperse the fog like a ray of sun.

    "You have to take care of your image," Aina said lightly. "What would it look like if a King was always fighting women?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Fighting women? What was wrong with that? There was probably a young woman, right about now, whose face was still half buried in dirt and stone who was lamenting the fact Aina didn''t wake up earlier.

    Aina giggled seeing Leonel''s reaction. She knew well that he never cared about such things. On Earth, he gave women their due as the fairer sex. However, after the Metamorphosis, there was nothing ''fairer'' about women. With how Leonel broke everything down logically, he saw no reason to not treat women as his equals any longer.

    But, this was exactly why she was here. There were some things that couldn''t always be dictated by logic. Aina had already decided to do something about Leonel''s choice of wardrobe when next she got the chance. He was too handsome to be wasting it all on sweatpants.

    Aina took a step forward, her smiling expression vanishing. Her battle ax rested on her shoulder, her long, jet black hair dancing about in the wind. She looked particularly wild, the short beast skin skirt and choker she wore playing on the fantasies of all who saw her. But, after seeing how she interacted with Leonel, they were under no illusions about where her allegiances lay.

    Simona''s cold gaze didn''t waver. Instead, she only shifted it from Aina to Leonel.

    "I don''t fight the weak. Just hand over your Tokens and scram. I have no interest in wasting time on unworthy scum."

    Her voice came out the same biting cold her image shared, her indifference washing over Aina.

    However, Leonel only grinned.

    "Good thing she''s not weak. Unfortunately for you, she''s especially not weak when she''s angry. Good luck."

    Aina''s entire demeanor shifted, a dense fog of red erupting around her as her Ax Force pierced into the skies.

    [Important Announcement Below!! :)]

 Chapter 1324 Useless

    Chapter 1324 Useless

    Simona''s pupils constricted. The instant Aina moved, it was as though the weight of an expert bore down from all sides. Her powerful thighs grew a size, her toned torso flexed, her slender arms pulsed with a power their slight frame had no business havingбн Every movement was efficient to an extreme and refined to the final detail.

    She was a work of art.

    Simona''s expression calmed, her arms leaving their relaxed position and her hands raising. The long, painted nails that graced them curled like claws, shimmering with delicately designed gems.

    Her arm swept at the air even as Aina''s ax swung downward.

    BANG!

    Claw and blade met. On one side, a dark violet gown danced wildly in the wind and on the other, a long cascading river of jet black hair flowed as though a single cohesive whole.

    Sparks flew between them, neither woman taking even a single step backward.

    Simona''s arm trembled, her gaze narrowing further. In that instant, what looked like a stalemate collapsed.

    BANG!

    The ground beneath her feet shattered, her dress threatening to fly from her body out from below as though a strong air current had assaulted her ankles.

    Aina''s strength with had been equal to Simona''s suddenly erupted past her, forcing Simona to quickly retreat lest she be forced into the ground.

    As Simona fell backward, her delicate and seemingly dainty feet left deep craters in the ground, the little puppy that had been dancing around her ankles quickly dodging out of the way to avoid being crushed into minced meat.

    Simona''s gaze flickered as Leonel''s lip twitched. Well, he had given Simona a warning. It wasn''t his fault that she hadn''t listened. But, then again, by the time he had given said warning, it was probably already too late for his advice to be heeded.

    There was no doubt in Leonel''s mind that Aina had done it on purpose. Her control over her body was so finely tuned that she had put out only just enough strength to negate Simona''s own counter in that instant. Then, when Simona was feeling confident that their strengths were about equal after a single probe, Aina erupted with more strength in a position that wasn''t conducive to gathering momentum in the first place.

    The difference was clear. Simona had come into the exchange with intent to probe. Aina had entered the exchange with intent to humiliate. And, the only way you could get away with such a thing is if you had the confidenceбн and the arrogance to do so.

    Simona''s gaze turned a shade colder, her final stomp stopping what was left her momentum just before reaching the edge of the platform.

    Simona wasn''t very put off by this result. Physical strength was clearly Aina''s strong suit but it wasn''t even something Simona would list in her top three best qualities. However, it was clear that Aina was aware of this as well, or else she wouldn''t have taken such an approach.

    Aina could have forced her back immediately, but she hadn''t chosen to do this. Instead, she had thrown down an obvious gauntlet. She didn''t just plan to win this battle, she planned to cruise to its ends. She didn''t just plan on winning, she planned on doing so handily.

    The cold light in Simona''s gaze grew, a fog of dark violet Force beginning to spread around her.

    The expressions of her subordinates changed, their hearts skipping a beat. They could tell that their young miss was enraged. Despite the fact her expression didn''t seem to have changed in the slightest, the blood thirst in her air now was heavier than the air itself.

    "I would put the poison away, if I were you." Aina said lightly. "Unless you''re seeking to be humiliated again, that is."

    Simona didn''t say a single word. Her right palm flipped over to reveal a snaking black with dense scale-like patterns that made it seem as though it had been carved out of the hide of a dragon. Her left palm flipped over to reveal a slender silver blade that seem a bit too long to be considered a knife or dagger, but still a hint too short to be considered a sword or short sword.

    This odd dual wielding style was a specialty of the Pyius family. A tail-like whip and a stinger-like sword. Together they formed a lethal combination of long and short range.

    The moment they appeared, two strong Level Two Blade-like Forces manifested. With a single step, Simona''s gown tore a gash from its hem to her hip, revealing a gorgeous sight of supple calf and thigh. A garter pressed against her pale flesh, lined with slender silver needles that emitted an air of lethality.

    As Simona raised her leg to take a second step, both women vanished.

    A whip lashed out through the air, only to be deflected by a punch.

    A short sword split the wind in two, only to have its Blade Force shattered by an ax.

    A flurry of exchanges erupted, the glow in Aina''s golden irises becoming more prominent and the coldness in Simona''s own becoming deeper.

    The more blows they exchanged, the denser the dark violet fog seemed to become. The rolling waves plucked on the strings of the wind, gliding along with them and resonating as one.

    The moment this dark violet fog entered Leonel''s range, he could feel his Destruction characteristic eating at it alive. But, he could also sense the dark violet fog trying to fight back to no avail.

    BANG! BANG! BANG

    "I''ve told you. It''s useless."

    Aina''s figure flickered. Her ample chest grew a size and her cherry lips parted.

    Under the astonished gazes of all those watching their battle, she took in a strong breath, suddenly causing all the Force in the surroundings to be pulled into her body.

    Leonel''s brows shot up but his shock was nothing compared to Simona''s. The latter quickly blocked her chest but found herself stumbling backward hard, her small feet once against leaving dense trenches in the ground.

    Simona''s gaze flickered, her palm flipping over to put her sword away just in time for her to reach for her thighs and throw out three needles at once.

 Chapter 1325 Disparity

    Chapter 1325 Disparity

    The needles whistled through the air with a strength that could match the Rapax. The strong currents of wind it should have produced were split in two beneath their fine construction. Beneath the low light, they almost seemed to fuse into the fog, their bodies carrying with them a hint of devastating pressure. Even without this odd poisonous Force, these needles were lethal. But, with them, it was enough to make far greater men feel inferior.

    Aina took a strong step forward, her hair fluttering. She released a hand from her battle ax and her palm swiped through the air with an elegant flare. Her every action was filled with confidence. In that moment, it felt like even though Simona and Aina could be considered comparable in beauty, when it came to innate disposition, the latter was in a class all to her own.

    As though the needles were nothing special at all, Aina caught the first between her fore and middle finger, the second between her middle and ring finger, and the last between her ring and pinkie finger. Her arm swept through the air in a clear arc, not pausing for even a moment. The only sign of her action was a dull slapping sound as each one was trapped between her slender digits.

    Without missing a beat, Aina continued to move forward, her momentum not having stalled even a single measure. She didn''t even seem to notice the dense purple Force around her fingers at all, as though it could do nothing more than tickle her.

    Simona''s eyes widened. She hadn''t planned for her needles to harm or injure Aina, but she had banked on them stalling her opponent for just a moment. Catching them out of the air like that was completely beyond her expectations. It required a level of skill, speed and coordination that she could hardly wrap her head around, especially when the Force she had coated it in was taken into consideration. Just a single mistake would have ended in Aian being skewered.

    Unfortunately for her, Simona hardly got the change to finish this thought before Aina''s hand whipped forward once more. This time, the needles were sent flying again, but they felt almost twice as fast. Just a flick of Aina''s wrist carried more strength than most could even begin to fathom behind it.

    Simona, who was still off balance, quickly brandished her short, silver sword, realizing that there was no other choice to make.

    DING! DING! DING!

    Simona''s wrist went numb, her shoulder quaking as she was forced several steps back once again. But, by then, even as she teetered on the edge of the platform, Aina had already appeared before her, her battle ax swinging downward once again.

    Aina''s battle style was ruthless and to the point. She wasted no movements and seemed to make moves on instinct that cornered her enemy step by step. From the psychological assault that started the battle to the oppressive physical might that seemed to be about to end it, she had been absolutely perfect and without blemish. It almost made Simona look as though she was truly not worth much of anything despite the fact she was a true genius.

    "Young miss!"

    The other younger generation members of the Pyius family couldn''t remain standing no more. They had felt Simona''s rage and knew better than to interfere. But, now that things reached this point, even if their young miss became enraged, they couldn''t just allow her to die.

    No one knew what was hidden within the foggy lake below, but considering the circumstances, it didn''t take a genius to understand that it wasn''t good.

    However, wasn''t Leonel still here?

    Leonel had been observing everything intently from the very beginning. Despite being impressed with the battle, he wouldn''t lag behind in intervening when the matter became like this.

    His figure flickered, his body appearing amidst the encirclement of Pyius family members. There were exactly four of them, each carrying a demeanor similar to Simona''s. It was as though this entire family was suffused with an air of hardly disguised coldness.

    Their gazes only became colder when they saw Leonel. However, the latter only smiled, facing their attacks with a calmness.

    ''They''re strongбн'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Leonel pressed two palms outward, slapping the forearm of a fist aimed for his head. Taking advantage of the shift in momentum, he threw a solid punch at their lats. He could feel a satisfying deformation of flesh and bone when his fist connected, but it only last a moment before this individual was blown away.

    At that same moment, Aina''s blade descended upon Simona.

    BANG!

    Simona found herself thrust into the ground, the back of her head and even her back itself crushed into the stone beneath them. The only thing between herself and being sliced into was her blocking short sword, her entire body being pressed into the ground.

    A deep humiliation flickered within Simona''s gaze. She could feel that the gap between her and Aina shouldn''t feel this large, and yet, here they were.

    The sound of muffled groans resounded as Simona''s people were further blasted away, their bodies unable to keep up with Leonel''s strikes and counters. It felt as though he was twice as fast, twice as strong and twice as capable as any one of them.

    "Your Golden Token." Aina said lightly.

    Simona''s blade trembled against Aina''s ax while the latter''s blade might as well have been as steady as a mountain. The disparity in raw strength couldn''t have been more obvious. If Aina wanted to press down and kill her, she could do so only by adding a little bit more strength, just as she had done before.

    Simona''s cold gaze flickered. But, without a word, she brought out her Token.

    Under a mysterious law, it cracked, its color flowing into Aina.

    Leonel smiled, standing over the four defeated subordinates. This had gone even smoother than expected.

    But, Leonel maybe should have known that things couldn''t possibly stay so easy for him.

 Chapter 1326 ...

    Chapter 1326 ...

    It could be said that the Pyius family was simply unlucky to have run into Leonel and Aina of all people. If there were any two that could be considered perfect counters to their strongest points, it was most definitely this pair.

    The Pyius family used a special Force known as Pyius Force which was known for its poisonous and corrosive attributes. Any member of this family would have spent most of their time learning how to master and control this Force due to the danger that it presented not to just to everyone around them, but namely even they themselves.

    As a result of this, the younger the Pyius family member was, the more likely it was that the main tenet of their battle prowess would be their usage of Pyius Force.

    Under normal circumstances, this was still enough for them to display strength beyond the imaginations of most. Pyius Force was capable of many things. It could corrode Force, its thickness could push Force it couldn''t corrode away, forming a Domain where the only Force that could exist in a region was itself, it could infect a target, weakening their senses and slowing their reflexesбн The list felt endless and even this much was just the tip of the iceberg. If a wielder of this Force wanted, they could even attack one''s Internal Sight, corroding the mind and soul after a certain point!

    With the support of such a powerful Force, the strength of its wielder would be undeniable. However, without it, Simona had lost as much as 90% of her true combat prowess.

    Unfortunately for her, Leonel''s passive Destruction Cloak, a name he had decided to give his current state, destroyed practically everything in its path. Scarlet Star Force was an innately higher form of Force than Pyius Force and, as a result, had no a single problem suppressing it.

    On the other end, Aina was immune to poisons thanks to her ability. Her self-healing was on a level far beyond the Healing Factor given to Leonel by his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. In her current state, even if Aina wanted to regrow an arm, she could do so. This was how far her Ability Index had progressed.

    Aina retracted her ax even as another geyser rose into the air. Four more streams of gold entered her body and the resplendent light that coated her rose to an all new level. It seemed like it was right on the verge of evolving to a new tier. Maybe only one or two more Golden Tokens would be necessary for Aina to earn an Amethyst Token, then.

    Leonel smiled. "Alright, let''s go."

    He leapt toward a new platform, Aina following close behind. A dull silence was left in their wake.

    Simona didn''t move for a long while. She knew why it was she had lost, but that didn''t mean she accepted it. She wasn''t the type of person to make excuses. There were many races on the Void Battlefield that had methods of immunizing themselves against her poison. It was her job to surpass these limitations and rise above it.

    Her guardians had long since told her that she had reached the threshold of mastery in Pyius Force to move on to improving her battle prowess in other ways. However, Simona had been stubborn. She didn''t just want to meet a minimum threshold, she wanted to be like her Ancestors and bestow the family with an evolution, a step beyond what they had now.

    Due to this, despite the fact she could have begun to train up herself in other ways, she remained entirely focused on Pyius Force.

    Of course, when she met those that couldn''t counter her, she was unstoppable, being a genius no weaker than any of the top echelon of this generation. However, when she ran into someone like Ainaбн she felt like nothing more than canon fodder.

    Simona slowly rose to her feet, not bothering to wipe the blood that trickled down her lovely violet painted lips. The dot of crimson was especially striking upon her pale features and her expression gave way to no emotion.

    She strolled forward, whip in one hand, sword in the other. A murderous aura surrounded her.

    She was going Golden Token hunting. One day, she would pay back this defeat.

    бн

    "Huh?"

    "It''s a good chance." Was Aina''s only response.

    Leonel was speechless. They had only just left their battle with Simona when Aina said that this was a good opportunity for Leonel to recruit her. Leonel almost felt like he someone was pulling a prank on him and he''d unearth some hidden cameras in a few seconds. But, when Aina confirmed that she was serious, he really had no idea what to say.

    "Why do you think I fought her instead of letting you do it?"

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Wasn''t that because she was a woman? She had said so herself.

    "The fact she was a woman is part of the reason, yes. But, I could also tell that she used poisons. It was obvious from the very beginning that we''d be able to defeat her easily, I have a certain sensitivity to that sort of stuff."

    "And because she''s easy to defeatбн?"

    "Because she''d be easy to defeat despite being such a great talent, in the event that she did lose, the resentment she held would be toward whoever defeated her, meaning me.

    "She''ll train, improve herself, and likely challenge me again. But, she will still lose. When this happens continuously, and yet she realizes that I follow you, she''ll birth an innate respect for you that exists outside of whatever resentment she has for me. In fact, after losing to me continuously, she might even try to find a different method of defeating me that just might include being more useful to you than I can be."

    Leonel''s expression flickered. When''d this woman become so scheming? It didn''t really seem like her at all. But, soon, Leonel would come to understand where this came from.

    "She seems like a person far too prideful to take that sort of path, though."

    "You don''t understand." Aina shook her head. "The pride of a man is different from the pride of a woman. They don''t manifest in the same ways.

    "Plus, there are certain things that only I can do for you. Recruiting talented women is one of those things. Your status is special. If you go around recruiting women as the future Heir of the Morales family, people will misunderstand. That''s why these sort of tactics are better."

    "бн"

    Why did it sound like she was just keeping tabs on the women around him?

    Leonel was about to respond when he frowned. ''Already?''

    He could see it up ahead. The center of the lake was already in view and many groups had already surrounded it.

 Chapter 1327 lnteresting

    Chapter 1327 lnteresting

    Several platforms hovered in a circle around the center of the lake. It was clear by the lack of variety in the paths taken to get here that many had still made the opposite choice to Leonel, instead choosing to forge their way to the center as quickly as possible.

    Leonel immediately felt that this was a great opportunity. Those with the least stone pathways were likely among those who believed in their abilities the least and were, as such, easier targets. Aina was only a step or two away from wielding an Amethyst Token.

    However, Leonel suddenly thought of another possibility that made him frown.

    ''I went out of my way to always choose the more difficult path, and yet we somehow only ran into two groups with just enough Golden Tokens to place Aina on the brink of earning the next grade? Was that by coincidence? Or by design?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. With how important the Amethyst Token was to the Void Palace, would they really allow one to so easily upgrade to it? What if these pathways had purposely led Leonel and Aina here after it deduced that they were close to a breakthrough?

    ''That lends itself to more questions than answers, though. There has to be a path toward reaching the Amethyst stage. But, why would it be here? The Void Palace must know that it might be even easier to gain what Tokens we''re missing here compared to elsewhereбн Unless?''

    Leonel suddenly realized something quite obvious. There was no easy path to reach anyone here. Though they were all concentrated into a circle, the space between each platform was enormous. The circumference covered at least a few kilometers, but there were only a few dozen platforms and groups. There was no simple way to challenge them unless Leonel just flew over. But, something told Leonel that there was a reason they were so spaced out. If he tried to close the distance, he would definitely end up blocked.

    ''So we aren''t given an opportunity to reach the Amethyst rank and we can''t challenge people anymore. What exactly is the point of this, then?''

    At that moment, another platform appeared within the circle, and soon another.

    Leonel''s gaze locked onto a golden pair of irises, his eyes not shifting away. The appearance of Conon seemed to make the atmosphere several times heavier.

    Before this trial began, Leonel had noticed this young man before. But, after the geysers started erupting and platforms started appearing, the phenomena cause the fogginess of the lake to increase manifold. The result was a clear line of sight vanishing for them all until they reached this proximity.

    Seeing the young man again, and at a much closer distance, Leonel could feel the hairs on his skin tingling, his body threatening to re-enter that state once again. It was the same feeling he had gotten from Simona, except multiplied several times over. Much of Simona''s lethality was concentrated in her Pyius Force, something that didn''t give Leonel any pressure at allбн His feeling when meeting her was more like an acknowledgement of her strength rather than an acknowledgement of the threat she might pose.

    But, this young manбн He was different.

    Leonel could feel something not too dissimilar from his King''s Might coming from Conon. Not just that, but he felt something quite similar to Aina''s Berserk God Lineage Factor as well.

    He and those that followed him had wild, unrestrained auras. But, they also had a lofty, imperial sort of arrogance as well. Just being in their presence felt stifling.

    At that moment, Leonel smiled, an action that made Conon, who only wanted for murder, feel taken aback. He couldn''t wrap his head around why this bastard was smiling at him.

    "Is that son of a bitch taunting me?"

    Unfortunately, Conon wouldn''t get his answer, at least not immediately. After smiling, Leonel looked away and sat down cross-legged, taking a deep breath. Little Blackstar vanquished his wolf construct and hopped into Aina''s arms as she took a seat as well. It was clear that whatever it was that was about to happen here, it wouldn''t be occurring right this moment.

    Leonel took a deep breath, his breathing even and his mind focused. He had felt like he was on the precipice of a breakthrough not long ago. But, after his blood thirstiness for battle vanished, it had slipped away as well.

    Leonel always had at least a few of his minds reading and recording what was happening to his body at any moment. Whether it was his mindset, the changes to his biochemistry, and most definitely something as important as a failed breakthrough, he kept tags on them all.

    Whenever he settled down, he could review these moments with absolute clarity. This was the power of the Tier 4 Control stage of Leonel''s Ability Index. When he reached a certain level of mastery, he would even be able to ''replay'' the state his body had been in during a failed breakthrough and make some minor tweaks to ensure that he succeeded this time.

    ''Interesting, so that''s what happenedбн''

    From what Leonel could see, an odd and special sort of Rune had tried to form but failed to in the end because it lacked appropriate stimulus. This Rune seemed to have wanted to take root in Leonel''s Force Nodal and their Pathways, fusing together with his internal Force and influencing his every attack.

    ''It needs me in a state where I''m wanting for blood and battle. This makes sense considering what Wise Star Order told me about the disposition of Scarlet Star Force. These Runes are probably the key to fully comprehending my Innate Node and likely represent fundamental portions of the Natural Force Nodes hidden within itбн''

    These Natural Force Nodes had been able to protect Leonel from such a large concentration of Anarchic Force, they weren''t a joke by any stretch of the imagination.

    Leonel''s eyes opened, his gaze sweeping over his potential opponents. They would be the whetstone he needed to cross this final barrier.

    At that moment, another platform appeared and Leonel''s smile became wider. It seemed Conon wasn''t the only one who could make his heart race.

    A hulking man standing at 2.5 meters tall appeared, his legs dangling from the edge of his platform and a twin pair of enormous battle axes pierced into its sides.

    [Important announcement below. More chapters coming]

 Chapter 1328 One Task

    Chapter 1328 One Task

    The broad chest of the young man was completely exposed, rippling with strength and muscles that could have fit right in with the sheer cliff. His bottom half was covered in tight black legging that sunk into every crevice, peak and valley of his monstrous quads and the only other accessory on his body was a fur covered belt that seemed to double as a spatial device.

    Unfortunately, this fashion choice but this overly large young man placed the outline of a set of family jewels and their crowning achievement on far too great a display. But, it was either this young man hadn''t noticed the provocativeness of his style of dress, or he simply didn''t care.

    This young man was none other than the third individual Conon Lio had mentioned during his tirade, Armand of the Tarius family.

    He, indeed, didn''t care about this appearance, nor was he trying to be provocative. Much like Leonel, he was only concerned with being as comfortable as possible. If it was up to him, he would be completely naked as he walked about and interacted with the world. But, his father had berated him one too many times about such a thing, some nonsense about how they were already seen as brutish enough without him confirming stereotypes, so he could only compromise in this way.

    Of course, the Patriarch of the Tarius family was still infuriated by his son''s choices. But, at this point, it was already much too late to do anything about his disposition. What was done was done. At least his future daughter in law would see what she was working with before she married into their family.

    Clearly, the father was just as brazen and brutish as the son or else he would have never had such a thought to begin with.

    Armand''s feet swung back and forth on the edge of platform, stretching and yawning from time to time. He seemed a bit disappointed with the view, but there wasn''t much even he could do about the fog.

    "Hm?"

    Armand looked up and matched Leonel''s gaze almost the instant the latter locked eyes with him. His head titled to the side, his muscles involuntarily rippling of their own accord. He didn''t even notice Leonel''s violet-gold cloak until several moments had passed.

    "Oh?"

    Everything about Armand just a moment before, if one disregarded his size, was entirely innocent. He swung his feet, he calmly observed his surroundings, and he looked like a bit of an air head one might want to protect. However, the moment he laid eyes on Leonel, his demeanor seemed to shift entirely.

    His gaze didn''t become cold nor did he release some fiendish or violent aura. Rather, his irises gained a glossy sort of look to them as his tilted head slowly straightened. His heartbeat slowed to a crawl, his skin slightly tensed and reddened, and everything around him seemed to grind to a halt as though Force itself was too scared to move.

    Leonel''s own gaze narrowed. This lookбн It reminded him of something.

    His mind was sent into a dry prairie land with tall grasslands of brown and yellow. In the distance, a lion slowly stalked its prey, its reflective irises peeking through the strands of grass and fusing with the land.

    There was no rage in its eyes, no anticipation, no killing intent. Its emotions were impossible to read, but even as your own legs quaked, even as your knees weakened and cold sweat poured down your back, it simply continued to slowly stalk forward, its four limbs gently gliding from one to another, its path connected to you by an invisible tether.

    You probably knew that you should run, but you knew that you would be too slow. You thought that maybe you should fight, but you knew that you would be too weak. You might scramble and hope to distract it or give it a meal that was more enticing, but you could see that it only had eyes for your warm flesh.

    That glassy look in Armand''s eyes was no different. His twin axes, each with blades half the size of his enormous body, released a slight aura, a blackish sort of Force that made the temperature plummet.

    Leonel could feel his blood run cold. It wasn''t completely out of his control. The weakness of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor seemed to manifest in full force now, meeting a creature that stood so far above itself.

    In that moment, Leonel''s quiet observation warped, his brows furrowing and a deep pit of disgust deepening within his belly. He hadn''t been in a rush to meditate upon the Bronze Tablet to improve his Lineage Factor before, mostly because he simply hadn''t had the time yet. By the time he had recovered enough to train, they had already delayed the Void Palace enough and had to leave. But, this feeling almost made him want to vomit.

    Right then, a burning sensation raced through Leonel''s veins. A strong Force threatened to incinerate his blood to ash.

    Aina frowned, looking toward Leonel. She could tell that something was off but she wasn''t a mind reader. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what the problem was.

    Leonel closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He forcefully suppressed the feeling. He would just end up harming himself if he acted on impulse. But, he had already decided, he would definitely purge himself of this Lineage Factor.

    That saidбн He would first use this so-called ''weak'' Lineage Factor to put Armand in his place. He had been thoroughly provoked.

    Armand had no way of reading Leonel''s thoughts. All he felt was a weak creature cowering away. He lost any interest he had had. At this point, he felt the only thing interesting about Leonel was his Amethyst Token. He would definitely be leaving here with it in his hands.

    At that moment, the platforms rumbled, beams of light suddenly jetting out and connecting them all. In those final moments, what was presumably the last platform had appeared to trigger all of this, and it was unsurprisingly Simona who had managed to make it back.

    "You only have one task, survive and make it back to safety."

    The rumbling voice of a woman cast over them all. And then, they all disappeared.

    This year would, indeed, be different. Up until now, nothing too out of the norm had occurred. But nowбн the true dark nature of what it meant to be a protector of humanity would show.

 Chapter 1329 Foul Odor

    Chapter 1329 Foul Odor

    Alarms went off in Leonel''s mind. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached outward and grabbed onto Little Blackstar tight. At the same time, he used his other arm to wrap around Aina''s waist.

    A strong King''s Might erupted from him like a pillar piercing through the skies. He held back nothing as he enveloped all three of them just before his vision went completely black.

    бн

    Leonel''s head swam, however he only allowed it to do so for a brief moment before he activated Dream Sense.

    ''What?''

    Leonel''s heart froze, his blood running cold. He tried to use Dream Sense again, but it failed once more just like it had the first time. The realization made him remember a particular conversation he had had with Wise Star Order and his brows immediately furrowed.

    Taking a deep breath, Leonel dug deep. He had managed to make a faint connection with his soul and it could be considered to be partially awakened. However, he couldn''t use his own nearly as freely as Wise Star Order could and he even somewhat avoided using anything other than its passive strengthening upon being accessed. Now, though, Leonel felt that waking up his mind was far more important than anything else.

    Leonel''s soul became like an anchor, stabilizing his mind and his senses. Everything slowly snapped back into place.

    First, his proprioception came back and he could feel his limbs in space once again. He could tell that his grip on Aina and Blackstar were still there even though he couldn''t feel them.

    Then came his sense of smell, but he almost immediately recoiled. The air smelt like hot sulfur and rotten boiled eggs. He almost immediately began to hack and wheeze, or, at the very least, he thought he did. It was still hard to sense much of anything. He could just barely make out the shaking of his head.

    Finally, his sense of touch came back and he could confirm that he did, indeed, still have Blackstar and Aina by his side. Both were absolutely still and unmoving.

    Once these senses settled in, Leonel''s eyesight finally came back. But, what he saw made him narrow his eyes once again. Unfortunately, this was less due to the shocking realization about where he was and had much more to do with the fact it was as hard to keep his eyes open as it was to breathe through his nose.

    As bad as the smell was, his eyes felt as though someone had been continuously cutting onions in the surroundings. The irritation was so bad that Leonel was legitimately worried he might lose his eyesight if he kept them open too wide.

    Leonel, Aina and Little Blackstar were actually at the bottom of a tall pit. Up above, there was a hole to the sky and the air current of this pit all seemed to be converging toward this location to be filtered upward.

    Looking around, Leonel realized that this wasn''t actually a pit but was actually a lot like a hive with deeply interconnected tunnels all with exits a lot like this one. The hole to the sky didn''t seem to have any simple way to be used and even the closest edge of the hole was 300 meters above his head. Leonel couldn''t even dream of jumping that distance especially sinceбн

    ''The gravity hereбн Is so heavyбн''

    Even compared to the Void Palace which was difficult to deal with in and of itself, this place was at least double that. But, Leonel quickly shook his head. There was no guarantee that this wasn''t the Void Palace.

    ''But my Abilityбн''

    Leonel shook his head. There was no point in speculating until he found out more information. The goal here was clear. To survive and reach a certain destination. To do such a thing, he couldn''t speculate, he needed facts. Allowing a bias to color his deductions would just make finding the truth slower.

    Leonel released Aina, observing her intently. He didn''t need to worry too greatly, though, in just a few seconds, she seemed to have regained her bearings as well. The first things she did, not much unlike Leonel, was look around, covering her nose with her hands.

    "This is a nest." She suddenly said. "This smellбн Though it''s disgusting, it''s coming from something that''s highly nutritious, albeit disgusting to eat."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. With Aina''s ability, she had a keen sense for nutrition. Not only was she able to naturally tell how best to train her body, but she also knew exactly how to concoct the sort of nutrients she needed to supplement her body as well. This was what made her natural talent as a Force Pill Crafter so high and why she had been so greatly valued by Valiant Heart Mountain.

    The fact that her ability could be used like this was still a bit of a surprise to Leonel. Maybe this mutation of hers as a half blood wasn''t as inferior as Leonel had previously concluded.

    Leonel couldn''t take out the dictionary in this place. The Anarchic Force in this region even higher than it had been beyond the walls of Village 0012, it was to the point that even Leonel''s ability was no longer at Tier 4 in this place.

    "Do you know what it''s a nest of?" Leonel asked.

    "бн No, I''m not sure. I only vaguely have the instinct that it''s an egg."

    Leonel nodded. There didn''t seem to be any immediate danger in the surroundings. However, Leonel knew this couldn''t possibly last long. He had felt the teleportation try and separate himself and Aina. If not for his quick action, they would have been thrown apart. That told Leonel that there was no more hand holding and teaming up designed for this trial. They had truly thrown them off the deep end.

    But, likewise, because they had chosen to do this, it was likely that the elders were aware that the danger wouldn''t be immediate eitherбн

    "Wise Star Order, what do you know about this place?"

    ''It is indeed a nestбн If I were you, I would probably start running. There''s no way they haven''t already sensed such a mass teleportation. And, the ones assigned to guard nests like these are nothing like those middling soldiers you''ve been fighting until this point.''

    Almost as though to confirm Wise Star Order''s words, a wild scream resonated through the hive, following the air currents of rushing foul smells and making Leonel feel almost as though his eardrums might burst. The howl was like a furious battlecry and a sonorous warning, echoing all before the earth began to quake.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted, his jaw steeling and his lips being drawn into a thin line. The Void Palace sure seemed to like to play games. They had actually been teleported into a Rapax Nest.

    "Oh, I forgot to mention one other thing. The Rapax like to build their nests in harsh environments so that only the strong amongst their young survive. You''ve probably guessed it already, butбн

    "This is a Void Battlefield. Trying to leave here and return to a Void Palace stronghold won''t be easy for a fairly simple reason. The Rapax are probably the least of your concerns in a place like this."

 Chapter 1330 Senate

    Chapter 1330 Senate

    "We need to move."

    Aina nodded toward Leonel''s words and they both shot in the opposite direction of the roar. Neither of them were fools. The pressure of that roar alone cleared the Fifth Dimension. That told them one very obvious thing, this wasn''t a perfectly curated trial with their limits in mind. This was a real life and death crisis.

    What Aina, Leonel and the other youths didn''t know was that this sudden change had led to a furious uproar in the Void Palace.

    **

    BANG!

    "WHO SANCTIONED THIS?!"

    The roar shook the mountain range, birds flew out in fear and a small avalanche of small rocks and dust tumbled downward. For such a scene to occur within a world at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, it could only be said that this person was not only furious, but they also wielded power beyond the imagination of most.

    The location wasn''t as one might expect and was rather within a governmental body of the Void Palace a step below the elder legion that sent Cornelius on his mission to monitor Leonel. The structure of the Void Palace was impossibly complex, filled with numerous factions, each with their own grudges and histories that could stretch back hundreds to even thousands of yearsбн It could even be said that the Void Palace itself was like its own separate ecosystem and world, diverging from reality.

    The Void Legion Elders could be considered to be the pinnacle of the powers of the Void Palace. They were the backbone and their moniker was a reminder that their duty wasn''t just to oversee, but was also to act as the strongest line of defense.

    Beneath the Void Legion Elders there was the Void Council. This was the current location and was located on the second tallest peak of the Void Palace. The Void Council, also called the Senate, was made up of Void Senators from across disciplines and factions. The major decisions and rules that all those who came here abided by were drafted and put into law by the Void Council and their Void Senators.

    Unsurprisingly, with this sort of set up, the details of the True Selection were also drafted up by the Void Council, or so it should have been. But, it was either this infuriated Void Senator was ignorant to a decision made without him, orбн One of the factions had gone rogue.

    The one who had spoken was a middle-aged man with strength already into the Seventh Dimension. Without at least such level of strength, he would have never been capable of causing such a commotion. But, it was also this strength that made it so impressive that the Senate managed to keep its structural integrity, only swaying side to side slightly.

    This man was Uramus and was the current Party Leader of the Stalwart Polearm Party. He was a well respected man, as he had to be to earn such a position. And, right this moment, he was absolutely furious.

    What was shocking, though, was that other than his Party Members, there didn''t seem to be anyone else as infuriated as he was. Seeing such a scene, Uramus chest heaved, his almost crimson gaze sweeping through the enormous Senate hall as though searching for his prey.

    He tried to meet the gazes of several other Party Leaders, but all he received in return was a shift of gaze and a glimpse into a guilty conscience.

    At that moment, a chuckle echoed through the Void Council, a man a head taller and a large measure skinnier than Uramus walking in as though he was gliding on clouds.

    "Rosen, this was your doing?!"

    Uramus'' voice boomed. Despite the seemingly embarrassing situation he had been in just moments before, he didn''t seem to notice in the slightest. The veins across his forehead threatened to pop.

    Rosen was yet another Party Leader, however, his was known as the Unfettered Blade Party. It could be said that of all the parties here, the history between these two was not only the deepest, it also held some of the deepest grudges.

    "You shouldn''t be frowning all the time like this, Uramus. It''s not good for your skin. You already look much older than you should, don''t tell me you want to look even worse?"

    "I''m not here for your petty games, Rosen. Who decided to send a batch of fresh meat to the Void Battlefield? Are you insane? They''ve barely adapted to the lowest level Anarchic Force of the mountain base, now you want them to adjust to an environment that''s tenfold worse? This isn''t training, it''s sending them to their deaths! If I didn''t know better, I would think that you had long since left the side of the Human Domain! This is our most promising generation in countless Selections, yet you want to ruin them like this?!"

    Rosen''s eyes narrowed, his playful demeanor becoming dark and as sharp as a blade.

    "I would advise you choose your words more carefully, Uramus. There are certain things you can''t get away with saying even if you are a brute."

    "Bite me, you piece of shit. If it wasn''t for the rules restricting me within the Senate, I would have already blasted your head into chunks of watermelon. Why don''t you step outside and see how I''ll deal with you?"

    "Haбн" Rosen chuckled coldly. "бн It seems that you''re only so brazen because you haven''t realized your predicament just yet. An air headed fool like you really would take too long to notice the crux of the issue here.

    "Under your shared Majority, you''ve led the Senate into the trash heap and it''s about time that stop."

    Uramus'' expression changed, suddenly realizing something.

    "You dare?!"

    Rosen sneered. "You''ve been voted out. Pack your things and scram. The Stalwart Polearm Party has been demoted back to a Faction. Take those trash you call subordinates with you."

    Uramus froze, feeling as though he had been struck by lightning. What the hell was going on?!

    [Announcement below]

 Chapter 1331 Xavnik

    Chapter 1331 Xavnik

    Uramus stood outside the tall bronzed doors of the Senate in a daze, not quite knowing what had just happened. He didn''t even know how to wrap his mind around this. The Stalwart Polearm Party had been a Party for over 800 years. They had been a Majority or Shared Majority within the Senate for over 300. And yet, they had been demoted back down to a Factionбн Just like that?

    Uramus suddenly couldn''t feel rage anymore. What he felt wasn''t helplessness either. Rather, he felt guilt, guilty that a legacy that had lasted so long actually suffered such humiliation at his hands.

    It had to be understood that Factions were a very important part of the Void Palace. The Void Palace wasn''t just for training youths, it was forging the future leaders of the Human Domain. As such, Factions here represented something very different than it otherwise would.

    There were several levels to Factions. Rookie Factions, Bronze Factions, Silver Factions, Gold Factions, Legacy Factions, and finally, Parties.

    From Rookie to Gold was fairly straightforward, they separated power based on the strength of their leadership, their accomplishments, their number of members, their average strength, so on and so forth.

    A Legacy Faction was a bit different. It wouldn''t necessarily be stronger than a Gold Faction, however, it had been passed on and survived more than a single generation. This would happen when the Leader of a Faction promoted to greater ranks, left to enter a Party, or was granted a Title by a Party.

    This wouldn''t be considered a betrayal. In fact, a Legacy Faction would gain great prestige if their Leader was recruited by a Party. There were only 999 Senate Seats and a limited number of Parties could claim them depending on their feats of strength. A Faction promoting to a Party was extraordinarily rare, so rare, in fact, that it might only occur once every few hundred years. As such, the most talented of Faction leaders would choose to take this route.

    Finally, there was the level of Parties. Parties were those who held the truest power within the Void Palace to the point where they could assert control over the rules that governed everyone.

    Parties were split into Minority Parties, Majority Parties and Shared Majority Parties. There were also special Ranks among these Parties, for example, the Party Whip who was tasked with maintaining order, organizing votes, and other things of the like.

    Minority Parties were unironically the majority of Parties. They could control anywhere from one seat to a few. Majority Parties were Parties that controlled at least 500 seats, giving them defacto majority on all decisions regardless of how everyone else voted.

    Shared Majorities were a bit trickier. They could refer to a single Party which controlled less than 500 seats and as such might be overruled by the combined effort of all other Parties. Or, in this case, it could refer to two or more clashing behemoths.

    The Unfettered Blade Party and Stalwart Polearm Party both controlled over 500 seats between them. As such, if the two Parties agreed on anything, there was nothing the other Parties could do. Butбн That was exactly the reason for the latter''s downfall.

    There were too many Parties looking for a method to finally breathe and break through. The fall of a giant would result in an uprise in competition. They had been stifled for too long.

    Even now, Uramus had no idea how such a thing had happened. The rulebook of Void Senators was far too long and he couldn''t'' be bothered to read all of it. He had thought that because they controlled 244 Seats, no one could even dream of ousting them all at once like this. And yetбн

    How could he not feel incompetent? His number one enemy had demoted them all the way from a Shared Majority Party down to a Legacy Faction and he didn''t even know how they had done it.

    Uramus listlessly stared up into the sky.

    **

    Hours later, Rosen sat in his office. The Void Council Hall wasn''t just made up of its gathering location, but also doubled as the main base of most Parties. As the current sole Shared Majority Leader, he was feeling very content. However, his expression was quite calm.

    And then, the door opened.

    Rosen''s gaze narrowed, but didn''t rise, nor did he seem too surprised. The young man that walked in did so leisurely, his expression not wavering in the face of Rosen''s aura in the slightest despite clearly being several levels weaker.

    The young man was handsome, his overly chiseled jaw being a hallmark of his looks. His skin was bronzed, as was his hair, a pair of hazel eyes acting as the centerpiece of it all.

    He was tall, standing at least seven feet and his back was as straight as a javelin. Every one of his steps was measured and his every movement wasted not the slightest hint of energy. In one glance, you might believe this young man to be a scholar, but in the next you might believe him to be a general. It was impossible to pinpoint accurately.

    "It seems that you''ve taken my advice. Congratulations, Shared Majority Leader Rosen."

    The young man smiled, taking a seat across from Rosen. Whether it was by his actions or by his words, even in the face of this lofty Seventh Dimensional existence, he seemed to innately feel as though they were already equalsбн

    Noбн Maybe that was just him giving Rosen some face. If the young man had his way, he might look down on the entire world. Despite only being within the Sixth Dimension, he had forced his seniors to dance on the palm of his hands. And, even facing them now, he had no desire, nor the need, to be humble.

    Rosen stared at this young man deeply, not answering immediately. It was difficult to tell what it was he was thinking until he actually spokeбн

    "It seems the Morales family has an excellent pool of candidates this time around, isn''t that right, Young Heir Xavnik?"

 Chapter 1332 More Questions

    Chapter 1332 More Questions

    Xavnik chuckled. "Why do you make it sound like I''m the only one that benefits from this arrangement? It can''t be you''ve already forgotten how much you''ve earned just from this alone?"

    Rosen sat back in his chair, still staring as though he had already forgotten how to speak. He wasn''t normally a man of such few words, but facing this boy, he seemed to have become a mute.

    "Since things are like this, it might be best if we lay out all the cards. We''ve been speaking through coded phrases and tacit head nods for too long. Don''t take this as my insulting your intelligence, I simply want the line to be drawn as cleanly as possible.

    "You gained the right to change the rules of the True Selection as you deem fit, the greatest control over the Senate''s actions for at least the next few decades, and you''ve alsoбн given your rising star an advantage over the competition."

    When Xavnik said these last words, Rosen''s pupils constricted. Though his heart remained steady and his expression remained indifferent, even for a person like him, there were certain ingrained reflexes that couldn''t be easily circumvented.

    It seemed that he had still underestimated this brat a bit too much. He had thought that Xavnik would try to humor him a bit, but who would have thought that he had something like this up his sleeves?

    "There''s no need to be so surprised, senior. It was a bit obvious, don''t you think? Why would the mighty Unfettered Blade Party risk falling from the good graces of the Void Elder Legion and offending so many powerful families and Organizations just for the sake of sending a batch of youthful geniuses to their deaths?

    "A lesser person might really believe that Senior was a traitor of the human race, wanting to cripple this generation. But, you know something that most don''t, right?"

    Xavnik smiled. "I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what reason you could possibly have. I decided to think outside of the box. Rather than assuming the obvious and believing you to be a traitor, I made the assumption that this benefitted you in ways that were rooted outside of just a weakening of the human race.

    "At the same time, I realized that this might have been a death sentence for most other years, but considering the talent of this generation, it was more likely that such a challenge would result in casualties no greater than any other year so it would balance itself outбн

    "And that was when I stumbled onto a clue. I heard your family has a young one that calls himself the Sword Deity?"

    Xavnik smiled meaningfully, looking toward Rosen who had already regained his composure. From the first sentence Xavnik had spoken, he had already expected much of the rest of this.

    "It''s quite interesting. Being a Void Palace disciple gives you access to a whole other world, but the restrictions are heavy. You can''t even set foot onto a Void Battlefield until after having accumulated enough merits and if you fail to gain access to one fast enough, you get punished with demotion nonetheless. It''s an odd push and pull where on one hand, it looks like everyone is coddling you too much and on the other, they want to thrust you off to your death.

    "I''ve heard, though, that the situation of your Suaird family is a bit precarious. The Tribulation of Sword Domain is coming u very quickly but the inheritor of this generation hasn''t grown up yet. In a situation like yours, I would be stressed out as well. Unfortunately, your Sword Deity isn''t much of one just yet.

    "Unlucky, if you ask me. But, you''re trying your best. The Void Battlefield is the most unique opportunity there is for your Sword Deity as it represents more than just a death trap. However, you simultaneously also needed a reason to use the Void Palace''s resources for your own personal gain without breaking any rules.

    "We all know that the Void Battlefield is a land of death to some, but to a select fewбн It can be a land of opportunityбн

    "You know, as a Morales, I never really liked swordsman, you''re all quite annoying to me. However, for the sake of my goals, it seems I have no choice but to help out the enemy.

    "The only unfortunate thing is that while I understand this much, I still don''t know how much you could possibly gain from this. I wonder what target your Sword Deity has that''s so important that he must risk his life in this way and can''t wait just a few years to be let onto the Battlefield naturally."

    Xavnik scanned Rosen''s expression but could only sigh when he didn''t receive the answer he was looking for at a glance. It seemed that his deductions would come to an end here, but he didn''t seem to be too disappointed. In fact, his smiling expression was still very much there.

    Suddenly, Rosen smiled.

    "Do you believe that you''re the only one with deductive abilities? I personally found it very interesting when I heard that there were only two Amethyst Tokens given out this year. That''s quite a low number, don''t you think?"

    Xavnik chuckled. "It is quite a low number. So, imagine how surprised I was when I found out my littlest cousin is among them?"

    Rosen''s smile faded, his eyes narrowing. Xavnik was too calm. If his goal was truly to kill Leonel, he should be sweating buckets. Such a large movement wouldn''t fool that man.

    "Oh? You thought I wanted to kill Littlest Nova? What kind of big brother would I be if I planned all of this out to do that? My goals are much higher than that. I wasn''t even aware that Littlest Nova would be joining with this batch until just a few hours ago. By then, all of this had already been set into motion.

    Xavnik sighed. "It can only be said that Littlest Nova is unlucky. Or, maybe he''s quite lucky. I guess it would depend on the outcome, don''t you think?"

    Rosen''s gaze narrowed firmer.

    Xavnik stood. "Well, this is unfortunate. I wanted to have this meeting so that we could clear the air. But, it seems that we''ll be ending this meeting with more questions than answers"

    Xavnik smiled lightly and walked toward the door. "Have a nice day, senior."

    With a light click, the door closed.

    What was the purpose of the Sword Deity on the Void Battlefield? What was so important that Rosen would risk public ire to allow him this chance? Xavnik had no idea.

    But, on the other handбн

    What was Xavnik''s goal? Why would he, as a polearm wielder himself, cripple the strongest Party capable of backing him? бн Rosen had no idea.

 Chapter 1333 One Rule

    Chapter 1333 One Rule

    Xavnik walked out of the Senate with a light smile on his face, his expression carefree. He walked by the straggling members of the Stalwart Polearm Party without a word, none of them being aware that the young man who had put them in such a state was right before them.

    He strolled down the pathways, his demeanor remaining the same. However, when he reached a patch of forest, his steps suddenly paused.

    "It was you, wasn''t it?"

    The voice came from a shadow hidden behind a tree. Despite the fact Xavnik was at most a meter away, it was still difficult to see this person as though they had perfectly fused into the shadows. Still, Xavnik didn''t seem to have a very hard time telling who it was.

    Smiling lightly, Xavnik shook his head. "I''m not sure what you mean."

    The voice remained silent for a long while, but Xavnik didn''t move either. It was as though the both of them had entered a state of tacit silence, each probing the other as though to check to see which of them was bluffing more than the other.

    "I have to say, it''s quite an excellent move. First Nova was just on the verge of becoming a core member of the Stalwart Polearm Party, and now he''s effectively wasted more than a decade of effort. Fourth Nova also just managed to gain their favor and promote his Faction to a Legacy Faction as well. If this was you, you''ve quite effectively crippled two of them."

    Xavnik chuckled. "Even if it was me, your conclusion would be too exaggerated, don''t you think? Crippling First Nova with just a single move? Is that even possible? Your attempts at probing me are just as terrible as they always are, Second Nova. We both know First Nova well enough to understand that this isn''t a setback, it''s an opportunity on a silver platter. So, why would I ever do that?"

    "Indeedбн"

    Despite not being able to see Second Nova''s face, the narrowing of his gaze was practically palpable.

    The crippling of the Stalwart Polearm Party might sound like a terrible plight for First Nova, but that was only if their Eldest Nova was incompetent. The only one to truly suffer from this was Fourth Nova, but he was actually foolish enough to follow in the same path as First Nova as though there would be scraps to pick up and make use of. He had no one to blame but himself.

    With the regression of a Party back to a Legacy Faction, especially a Party with such deep roots and foundations, there would be a chance to capitalize. The heads of former management would likely roll and that would allow new voices to bloom where they would otherwise not have a single chance.

    So, Xavnik was perfectly correct, First Nova would actually greatly benefit from this, and that was exactly why though it seemed Second Nova was sure that Xavnik had acted, there was actually no way to tellбн because the motive was simply too murky. Even he couldn''t tell exactly what Xavnik''s purpose would be if he had done thisбн

    And that made it all the more serious.

    The struggle between Swordmen and Spearmen was a tale as old as time itself. The push and pull of both factions had gone back and forth for too long. Even though most of the Morales brothers hadn''t chosen to join the Stalwart Polearm Party because First Nova had already staked his claim upon it, that didn''t mean that they didn''t benefit from the Stalwart Polearm Party in other ways.

    Polearm wielders fell under the former Party''s umbrella of protection. With their fall, the changes would start subtly, but they could very well eventually snowball.

    It would start with less materials capable of manufacturing polearms being procured, then it would lead to less spears overall being forged, then it would lead to less investment in the discipline overall, less techniques created, less training rooms maintained, and eventually, you would look up one day and there would be less polearm geniuses overall.

    These would all be small, almost insignificant changes in the short term, but in the long term, and on a large scale, it would soon become an avalanche.

    This would just be the tip of the iceberg. Second Nova wouldn''t be surprised to see more sword fanatics in positions of power very soon, making life a living hell for those at the very bottom.

    This was the second reason why Second Nova just couldn''t reconcile this matter. The grudge between the Morales family and the Suaird family, the Kings of the Spear and the Kings of the Sword, was just as deep as the grudge between the Morales family and the Force Crafter''s Guild.

    There were no small number of Morales family members who were active members of the Stalwart Polearm Party, and it was likewise for the Suaird family and the Unfettered Blade Party. Crippling the former would be like Xavnik shooting himself in the foot. None of it made sense.

    "It''s been a nice talk, Auran." Xavnik smiled lightly. "You should really get rid of that habit of sneaking up on people, I''m used to it already, but what will Littlest Nova think?"

    Auran fell into silence for a moment before he responded.

    "бн You weren''t targeting our littlest brother, were you?"

    His voice seemed to carry a hint of cold to it that hadn''t been there before. Though Seventh Nova was the least threatening of them all due to his late start, he was also the greatest variable purely due to who his father was. With a wild card in play, maybe someone smart would prefer to take him out before he could grow.

    Xavnik, though, let out an exasperated sigh. Why did everyone think he was a murderer? Actually, he was a murdererбн Just not one that would target his own family, and definitely not one that would target someone who was effectively his baby brother.

    "You think my information network is better than yours? You tell me when you found out he would be here and if you''d have enough time to plan this in that span."

    These words were simple and Xavnik had already begun to walk past the tree as he spoke them. But, they also seemed to relax Auran a great deal.

    It seemed that Auran would allow Xavnik to simply disappear. But, in the end, he still got in another word.

    "Third Nova, you''re walking a thin line here. There''s only ever been one rule for the Heir Wars. Don''t choose power over family."

    Xavnik chuckled. "I''ll keep that in mind, Second Nova."

 Chapter 1334 Fast

    Chapter 1334 Fast

    BANG!

    A violent mouthful of blood shot out from Leonel''s lips, his eyeballs threatening to pop out of their sockets even as all the air that had once been in his lungs was forcefully ripped out as though by the hands of a menacing god.

    The impact he felt against the opposing wall was just as devastating. If it wasn''t for the improvement to his Metal Body, he would have experienced what it felt like to have all the bones in his body crushed at once.

    "Leonel!"

    Aina''s part enraged, part worried cry resonated through the cave walls, both her and Little Blackstar leaping to action.

    ''Son of a bitchбн'' Leonel coughed and wheezed, trying to quickly regain his bearings.

    The group of three had just began to run, realizing the kind of trouble they were in. If they allowed themselves to be pinned down by the Rapax, their deaths would be practically inevitable. Their goal, first and foremost, was definitely to get out of the range of the location they had teleported into as quickly as possible. That way, even if the Rapax knew there were invaders, they would have a harder time finding them.

    Who could have expected, though, for them to hardly have traveled 50 meters before running into their first altercation? If not for Leonel''s sturdy body, he would have already ended up blasted into bits and pieces of flesh and blood.

    Leonel only had himself to blame. He took the lead and rushed forward, protecting Aina and Little Blackstar to his back. But, so confident in his Internal Sight and sense of danger, he rounded a corner, only to find a vicious straight leg kick waiting for his sternum.

    Leonel had obviously not accounted for the most pressing thing. Or, rather, it was difficult to do soбн Internal Sight was useless against Rapax!

    Because his sense of hearing had been impaired by the previous screech and because of the all encompassing, grotesque scent that filled the hive nest, Leonel had no way of hearing it coming nor smelling the distinct scent of the Rapax, landing him in such a situation.

    He could feel his ribcage bow and flex, almost snapping at its hinges entirely. He had never been more happy that his Metal Body had undergone such drastic improvements until now.

    The instant Leonel crashed against an opposing wall, he activated his Bronze Runes in full force, dispersing the strength of the impact across his entire body before he fell to the ground, his head spinning.

    ''I have to adjust. Locking onto Rapax is impossible, at least not until I can figure out a way to circumvent their natural protections. However, it''s impossible that Rapax wouldn''t affect their environment. Start Dream Simulation.''

    Leonel''s mind began to work at top speeds. Although he no longer had access to Tier 4 abilities, Dream Simulation didn''t have such high requirements. The fact that it was one of the first abilities Leonel had created for himself spoke for itself.

    Quickly, Leonel went through his memory bank of battles with Rapax. He organized their movement patterns, their gait, their general impact on the environment around them.

    In the blink of an eye, he had finished and created a new pseudo Dream Counter ability. He couldn''t use the real Dream Counter as it was a Tier 4 ability he had created capable of triggering a reaction in his body without his explicit input. But, he could use the principle of assigning a mind to a task just the same now. It was just that he would have to constantly divert overt attention to it.

    Leonel adjusted the way he used Internal Sigh from a general sweep of the surroundings to a focused and dialed in intention toward certain parameters. His thought process was simple. The Rapax could hide themselves from Internal Sight, but they couldn''t hide themselves from the environment.

    If this was a grassy land, the process would be simple: just look for imprints in the grass. Unfortunately, there was nothing but dry stone everywhere. However, this wouldn''t impede Leonel in the slightest.

    ''Their tails swish at a certain cadence, look for regular patterns in the wind. Wind is too unpredictable to have such measurable and constant repetitionбн Their bodies are heavy, though slight and almost impossible to detect, as they move, so will the ground tremorбн It''s difficult to detect their distinct smell in such an environment, but it''s still possible to if I''m looking for distinct signatures with my Internal Sightбн''

    Leonel went out to list at least a hundred other parameters, tweaking them to the point they fit in perfectly with the environment they were in and all completed before he fell to a knee sinking down from the wall he had been smashed against.

    ''I''ll call you Dream Detect.''

    Leonel''s head snapped upward, his gaze having regained its sharpness. He completed all of his calculations in a near instant, in time to see that there was just a single Rapax before them. This Rapax, though, was of Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension and its kick was no joke at all.

    "Kill it before it can call for reinforcements."

    Leonel said quickly.

    Aina didn''t say a word herself. She spun on her heels, her ax glowing with lethality.

    The Rapax, whose leg had just descended from its assault on Leonel, reacted quicky. Closing in the distance, it rose a knee to the skies, aiming to deflect and quickly counter. It was a combination that Leonel had seen many times. The Rapax loved to use their knees for defense as it could be retracted much faster than a kick.

    However, it was then that Leonel, who the Rapax likely thought would be out for a moment sprung to action, his speed blazing as a trail of Star Force followed his path.

    The Rapax reacted almost instantly. Canceling its thoughts at countering, it fell back. Unfortunately, it hadn''t seen that there was a third member of their party until it was far too late.

    Little Blackstar appeared to the Rapax''s back, his little claws glowing with a dangerous light. With striking precision, Leonel''s punch and Blackstar''s claw landed at the same time, forcing the Rapax to take the full brunt of both.

    Little Blackstar''s claw ripped right through tender flesh, severing the Rapax''s head from its body.

    "I don''t think this was a coincidence." Leonel spoke before the corpse even fell. "We need to move, fast. Or else we''ll be surrounded."

 Chapter 1335 Fertilizer

    Chapter 1335 Fertilizer

    With a thought, Leonel sent the Rapax corpse into the Segmented Cube. The one advantage they would have in all of this would be the size of their spatial treasures. The space Leonel had access to was practically unlimited. Like this, they would leave the least amount of traces behind that could be used to quickly find them and this would also help Leonel bolster the resources he could use with the tentacle womb.

    However, none of this was the reason Leonel''s brows were so furrowed.

    "I have a feeling that the reason they separated us during the teleportation was less about the Void Palace being sadistic and more about them giving us a lifeline."

    When Aina heard this, she too frowned. She didn''t need Leonel to explain anything else. They had been found far too quickly. Leonel had learned to minimize his mistakes in battle to a great degree as he gained more experience, something like being caught off guard like that was rare for him at this stage. And yet, it had happened, all because Leonel had missed this very key detail.

    If Leonel was correct, teleporting them all individually kept the fluctuations to an absolute minimum. This way, the likelihood they would be spotted and found would be drastically lessened. Ironically, if separation had been part of the test itself, the Void Palace would have probably put more effort into making sure Leonel couldn''t ignore the rules. But, because it was only for safety measures, ignoring it hadn''t been nearly as difficult.

    After reaching this point in his thought process, Leonel really had no idea whether he should be cursing himself or the Void Palace. In fact, why not do both? He had really stepped in shit this time.

    ''Still, regardless of how dangerous this is, there''s still a chance to benefit. If this is a nest, then that means that there''s probably a spot here where a ton of high level Rapax are born. It would probably be a death sentence to fight a fully matured high-class Rapax, or, rather, a Runed Rapax, like Wise Star Order calls them. But, what about a baby that hadn''t quite been born yetбн? The DNA is the sameбн''

    Leonel slotted this thought into the back of his mind. His first intention had to be to escape this place or to find a viable exit. This could only take second place.

    The nest regions would definitely be the most highly guarded, trying to steal something from there, especially one of their more talented seedlings, would be like throwing himself into a pit of fire. Survival came first and foremost, benefits came as a very far off secondary option.

    As they ran, Leonel''s gaze flickered, taking in everything. He memorized the routes they were taking but he was also paying close attention to the enormous holes above their head.

    Every so often, they would run beneath a large opening to the outside world reaching at least 300 meters above their heads. Jumping that distance was out of the question. However, it might still be possible for Leonel to use his wings to fly that distance, the trouble was that Leonel didn''t believe doing such a thing would be smart.

    From Leonel and Aina''s perspective, these holes represented an opportunity to escape. But, if you look at it from the perspective of a Rapax, each one of these holes was a security concern. And, with such a security concern, there would obviously be guardians overseeing it.

    Simply put, it was definitely more dangerous on the surface than it was within the nest. If they wanted to make use of these holes to escape, they had to find a point near the edge, furthest from the store of what Leonel assumed must be eggs. Only in that way would he be able to take such a risk. In that case, even if there were guards above, there would be fewer than one might expect nearer the center of the territory.

    Aina seemed to understand this as well and didn''t question Leonel''s choice. Instead, they all followed the wind, moving with it toward a hopeful exit.

    ''The flow of the wind seemed to be ventilating this smell, this should be why the flow is greatest beneath the holes. If we follow the wind until it weakens considerably, we should, then, be nearer the outskirts of the hive and be in a safer position to move up to the surfaceбн''

    Leonel felt that his deduction was correct, but he still reached out to Wise Star Order. In the end, the old man confirmed his thoughts.

    ''бн The smell isn''t from what you think it''s from. The Rapax had a very different culture from humans and don''t like wastage. After a warrior dies, rather than being buried, they become fertilizer for the next generation. The more talented the lineage of the batch, the stronger dead warriors become the fertilizer for their growth.

    ''In their incubation stage, the eggs absorb nutrients from this fertilizer. Unfortunately, what''s left behind after the eggs are done is highly toxic. I don''t need to tell you that corpses are hotbeds for illness and disease. So, nests of Rapax have to be very well ventilated.''

    Leonel frowned. ''That''s true even for higher Dimensional corpses as well?''

    ''Of course. Don''t you still need to sleep, shit and shower? Do you think that stops? At best, you''ll just need to do less of it. You don''t transcend mortality, that''s fantasy nonsense. Seventh Dimensional corpses just take a bit longer to rot. And, with the methods of the Rapax, they can speed up the process to help their young along.

    ''If anything, the toxins and diseases that can latch onto higher Dimensional corpses are even worse. I would be very careful of Corpse Poison if I were you. I know a fool like you probably wants to go and take advantage of this situation, but not to mention the fact those guarding the Main Lineage nests are far stronger than you can imagine, it even requires their level of strength to stand in those areas without dying to a single whiff of the air.''

    Leonel''s blood ran cold when he heard this.

    The trio rounded yet another corner, heading further and further toward their destination. However, Leonel felt like his hair was still standing on end. That original screech that sent them running still replayed in his mindбн it had most definitely not come from the Rapax they killed.

    ''Huh?''

    Leonel came to a grinding halt, his gaze sharpening toward a particular region.

    At that moment, a familiar little violet puppy quivered.

 Chapter 1336 This Way

    Chapter 1336 This Way

    Leonel''s expression flickered. He recognized the little puppy almost instantly, it was the very same little beast that had been following behind Simona. Clearly, the little one had gotten separated from its owner during the forced teleportation.

    ''Why is it quivering, though? A beast that could follow her around shouldn''t be so cowardly.''

    Leonel frowned, making the decision to turn away. Even if this beast was cowardly, there was no way that it was weak. And, at this level, beasts should definitely have intelligence no weaker than an average human, some even surpassing this level. He couldn''t just randomly pick up a puppy for no reason.

    Shockingly, though, Leonel didn''t get a chance to walk away before Aina appeared before the little one, bending over to pick it up.

    The little puppy dodged backward, its speed confirming Leonel''s thoughts. Just the fact this little beast could survive so well within this thick Anarchic Force spoke for itself. There was no way that it was weak.

    ''Don''t tell me thatбн'' Leonel felt a headache coming along.

    His father often said things about women that would end up with him sleeping on the couch if his mother was around. Among those things was his disdain with their fascination with cute things. Now that Leonel thought about it, everything his dad said about female nature was probably another trick he used to lure another into his bed.

    Leonel usually rolled his eyes when his dad said such things. But, if Aina was really doing this for the sake of cuteness, it seemed he would have to give his old man a point in his favor. This definitely wasn''t the time to be soft hearted.

    Leonel still remembered that the first time he met Little Blackstar he tried to kill him. Luckily, the little one was practically invulnerable to attack. Though, Leonel recalled feeling exasperated at the time. Now, this situation felt eerily similar.

    "It''s okay, little guy. Just come with me." Aina smiled a beautiful smile, her golden irises twinkling.

    The little purple puppy hesitated. But, under Aina''s coaxing, and likely a bit of her mental coercion, the little one was forced into her arms.

    Leonel''s Internal Sight continuously swept through the surroundings as far as it could go. His range was even less here than it was in the forest previously. If not for his breakthrough in the Heavenly Body Realm, he might have trouble stretching it past just his skin.

    Aina rose from the ground with the puppy in her arms. Right then, she suddenly tossed it through the air at Leonel.

    "Put it in a snowglobe."

    Though Leonel was caught off guard, his reaction speed was very fast. Before the little puppy could react, it was trapped in a frozen time loop, unable to do much of anything except enter a deep sleep.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "What?" Aina asked. "Did you think I stopped because it was adorable? With this, she''ll owe you a favor."

    Leonel speechlessly watched as Aina turned and broke out into a sprint once again. As he followed, he couldn''t help but wonder if he was having a bad influence on her, or if she was always this savage. Something was telling him that it was the latter.

    A third party observer would definitely look at Leonel like he was an idiot. It wasn''t the countless people she had decapitated with her ax that made her savage, but rather tricking a puppy into a benign cage that was? It was either he was blind or a love struck fool.

    Leonel''s lip couldn''t help but curl upward. It was hard to tell if he even realized it was happening.

    Right then, the pair came to a grinding halt.

    A fork lay ahead, making it difficult to tell which direction to go. It wasn''t the first time they had come across a fork. However, before, the direction of the wind had made it easy to decide which way to go. This time, though, both paths seemed identical wind wise and they didn''t have enough information about where they were in the hive to make a decision based on the direction either.

    Leonel stopped by Aina''s side, his brow furrowed. He took deep, steady breaths, ignoring the foul smell in the air.

    "Is it possible based on smell?" Leonel asked.

    Aina had said that she was very sensitive to these things so maybe she had a general idea of where the nutritious nutrients she had sent before were. Even if it wouldn''t be a 100% guarantee, they would just have to pick the direction opposite of it and hope that the pathway didn''t curl or turn oddly.

    Unfortunately, Aina shook her head.

    "The strong winds override the natural movement of the scent a lot, there''s no difference between following the wind and following the smellбн"

    Leonel nodded. He had expected as much. So, it was a 50/50 chance, huh? Leonel very much doubted that both paths would lead to an exit. Or, even if they did both do so, he was certain that one would be safer than the other.

    "Let''s do it based on this, thenбн These nests probably need a large supply of water. Since we''re guessing anyway, let''s do it based on which direction has the weakest Water Force concentration."

    Aina''s brows suddenly shot up. "That''s not a bad idea. But, instead of doing it with Water Force, let me do it with Life Force."

    Leonel nodded. This was indeed the better idea. He had almost forgotten that one of Aina''s main affinities was Life Force. It was already high before she removed her curse, he could only imagine what level it had risen to now.

    "This way."

    Leonel didn''t refute Aina. Logically, the location with the highest Life Force would be the direction of the core of the nest. Not only would it have the strongest warriors guarding it, but it would also had the Rapax eggs.

    Every time the pair came across a fork, they would take the same approach. However, the uneasiness in Leonel''s heart grew every time they did. Their frequency only seemed to increase.

 Chapter 1337 This King

    Chapter 1337 This King

    ''What''s going on here, old man?''

    ''I''ve never been stupid enough to enter a Rapax Nest, how the hell would I know?''

    Leonel''s heart felt uneasy, it was like his heartbeat had gone hollow, ringing in his ears and sending an odd wave of something slightly less than pain through his chest. It wasn''t quite piercing enough to harm him, but it was too great to ignore at the same time.

    The more uneasy Leonel became, the colder his gaze got. Eventually, they began to flicker with a smoldering flame, the temperature around him even rising for a moment.

    Aina shifted her eyes from the path ahead to land on Leonel''s side profile. But, not long after she did so, she found herself looking into his eyes.

    "If it comes down to it and I try to bring you into the Segmented Cube, don''t resist." Leonel spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of cold.

    Aina stared at Leonel deeply for a long while. It didn''t seem like she would respond at all after a while. But, when she finally did, her choice of words were like a baffling sledgehammer to Leonel''s chest.

    "I am stronger than you."

    Leonel, who hadn''t looked away from Aina, continued to do so. Despite the fact the words should have been shocking, he didn''t seem to react like it was at all. His pace didn''t falter, his expression didn''t change, and his heart seemed to have regained its calm bearing.

    "Don''t think that I''m just saying that to say that." Aina continued. "I''m not making it up, nor am I only stronger than you by a small measure."

    Aina didn''t need to make it up. When her and Leonel''s Internal Sights fused, she realized that her ability could be extended to others through this incredibly intimate action. Though not as detailed as when she used it on only herself, she could tell Leonel''s deficiencies and had a vague idea of the path he could take to improve himself as well. Of course, she would never give this information to Leonel because of how vague it was, it could very well be skewed. But, it was still enough for her to tell the gap between them.

    Leonel hadn''t been joking when he said that Aina would be a greater challenge for him that Myghell would be. In fact, Leonel hadn''t yet caught up to where Myghell would be at 100% since he had yet to catch up to Aina.

    "I already know this." Leonel responded, his voice not wavering.

    Aina''s brows furrowed.

    "However, if I fought ten people just as strong as you, I would still win ten out of ten times."

    Leonel''s violet hair danced in the wind, a stronger tinge of purple suddenly suffusing within them.

    At that moment, Aina''s furrowed brows slowly relaxed, her limbs becoming looser and her stride becoming wider. Her hair fluttered as well, a deep coercion reflecting all impurities from her body.

    Leonel looked ahead as well, exhaling a heated breath, his body seeming to glow.

    "I really hate you." Aina suddenly said.

    "Then why do you follow me?" Leonel asked without missing a beat.

    "Because I also love you." Aina replied, her tone even.

    A silence fell between the two. The sounds of theirs steps were so light that nothing of their passage was left behind. As for Little Blackstar, he was even less of a problem, gliding through the air as though it was solid ground and vanishing into the void without the slightest issue like a fish on water.

    "I love you, too."

    Aina''s eyes widened, her head suddenly snapping in Leonel''s direction. But, before she could react, she found a hand having appeared on her shoulder.

    "Leonбк!"

    Aina vanished into the Segmented Cube just as Leonel rounded a final corner.

    Aina stood in a daze within the expanse of the Segmented Cube for just a moment before her fury bubbled over. A violet rouge fog erupted around her, her hair grew to the length of a river and her gaze became like a piercing dragon''s.

    She roared, her rage so palpable that the garden around her was vanquished into an ashy pit under nothing other than the oppression and density of her Force alone.

    The worst part about it all was that she couldn''t tell whether she was more enraged by the fact Leonel had done this to her again, or if it was because she had no idea whether Leonel had meant those words he had just said or had just used them as a method to distract her into not resistingбн

    Aina''s head rose into the skies, roaring at what felt like nothing. She broke through another Tier, entering Tier 6, and yet she didn''t seem to notice in the slightest.

    бн

    Leonel stood on the other side of the corner, his breathing steady and his gaze cold. What he saw across from him, though, was enough to make almost anyone else''s heart freeze over.

    The Runed Rapax stood as though it had been waiting all along. Though its demeanor was different from a human''s, Leonel could still feel the air of nonchalance around it.

    Even after noticing Leonel, it hardly reacted, it stood in place, its body as unwavering as a mountain.

    Its body was an entire meter taller than the Rapax Leonel was used to, standing at four meters even with its overly slouched back. The very same silver plates danced across its body. However, there was a very distinct difference, here. All across its plated armor, dense, swirling tattoos of black could be found, giving it both a profound air of majesty and a secondary air of oppression and warlike violence.

    Leonel''s veins pumped with a reddish gold, his skin beginning to glow as Bronze Runes awakened all across his body. With every exhale, another heated fog would manifest until his body was coated from head to toe in a gorgeous silver and sky-blue armor.

    Leonel could very clearly see the spurs that had begun to grow on its pill-shaped head. They were subtle and not too large, but they were enough to tell Leonel what he needed to know.

    Spurs on the tail denoted the Fifth Dimension. Spurs on the head thoughбн Denoted the Sixth.

    Leonel''s Force erupted.

    "Come on, you alien piece of shit. This King has a beauty to protect."

 Chapter 1338 Blindspot

    Chapter 1338 Blindspot

    Leonel''s body erupted with a swirl of fog. A dense blackness, an oppressive violet, and a deep crimson. Without the slightest hesitation, he activated <Star Fusion: Combustion>.

    BANG!

    The air around Leonel exploded, the oxygen around his feet releasing crackling booms of violent chain reactions as the flames within him ignited.

    If <Star Fusion: Infusion> filled Leonel''s body up to the brim with Vital Force, accelerating his healing factor and pushing his body to the brink, <Star Fusion: Combustion> pushed him past those limits. From the very beginning, Combustion was meant to take advantage of Leonel''s Nodal Pathway, igniting his blood and surrounding his heart in a wreath of flames.

    In this stateбн His body was at its very strongest.

    ''Give me everything you have.''

    Two orbs of crimson hovered in place of Leonel''s eyes, the viciousness of his demeanor finally making the Runed Rapax somewhat more alert.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar body seemed to double in size, his fur standing on end and his long whiskers jetting outward like finely pointed needles.

    However, under Leonel''s orders, Little Blackstar didn''t move at all. Hovering in the air, a strong surge of might came out from the little guy, suddenly causing the Force in the surroundings to begin to increase in density and the Anarchic Force to concentrate.

    Leonel had only given Blackstar a single command: make them choke on Anarchic Force.

    BANG!

    Leonel sent out four punches in quick succession, his forward momentum and the twist of his hips fusing as one to bear down upon the Runed Rapax. For this creature, who was very much used to its overbearing pressure severely weakening opponents it felt was far weaker than itself, this was something completely unexpected, resulting in Leonel''s fists actually landing.

    The harsh sounds of metal banging against metal resonated through the air, ripples of concentrated wind and sparks of volatile flames flying off in every which direction.

    The Runed Rapax found itself sliding back against the stone ground, its large, curled claws scraping against the ground and leaving behind shallow imprints.

    A short silence followed. The Runed Rapax''s head seemed to tilt downward, its gaze, or what Leonel thought was its gaze, looking down at the region where the latter''s fists had landed. It seemed surprised that such an ant would actually dare to attack it. Or, maybe it was surprised that it had actually been pushed back.

    The Runed Rapax looked back up. The silver shell that covered its head didn''t seem to have any slits for eyes, making it difficult to tell if it was really ''looking'' at all. But, the feeling, at least to Leonel, felt the exact same.

    BANG!

    Maybe the Runed Rapax had thought its nonchalant reaction would effect Leonel, or maybe it thought that the intimidation of its growing and more serious aura would at least cause him to pause. Whatever the reason, the Runed Rapax stood unmoving as Leonel launched yet another series of attacks, seemingly just as baffled as the first time.

    Leonel didn''t even seem to register the failure of his first volley of attacks. In fact, he only grew more furious, the relentless pursuit of a stronger and stronger attack barreling down upon the Runed Rapax.

    "SSKREEEEEE!"

    The movement of the Runed Rapax was so sudden and fast that Leonel only had to the time to cross his arms above his head. Even replaying his perfect memory, Leonel couldn''t find the image of the Rapax having raised its leg, and yet by the time he registered it, a vicious ax kick had nearly crumbled him to his knees from above.

    In inaction, the Runed Rapax had been as steady as a mountain. However, the moment it moved, it was like a relentless, explosive avalanche, the monstrosity of its attack power feeling like enormous implosions going off within Leonel''s body. Even with his Bronze Runes fully activated, just this one attack alone made Leonel feel as though his body was collapsing.

    Still, even in such a situation, the fierce glow in Leonel''s gaze didn''t falter. In fact, despite their crimson hue, they seemed decidedly cold. Thoughts of everything else vanished, his entire mind focusing on the creature before him. Even without the ability to lock onto it with his Internal Sight, Leonel dissected everything he could, an eerie calm cooling his head.

    ''Blindspot.''

    That was Leonel''s ultimate conclusion. This Rapax was using a special Style that took advantage of its innate ability to avoid detection of Internal Sight. Like this, it was able to levy attacks using speed and timing to make it seem as though it had practically teleported into place. This was exactly why despite standing right before it, Leonel had somehow missed a leg raising into the air.

    It took Leonel just a single exchange to comprehend this and he adjusted accordingly.

    BANG!

    Under the relentless pressure, Leonel''s knees crashed in the ground, his forearms threatening to shatter entirely. However, almost the instant the Runed Rapax rose its leg, so too did Leonel rebound from the ground. It looked as though he had used the hard stone as a trampoline, fighting back against the strike of the Runed Rapax just enough to have such an effect.

    The Runed Rapax had already prepared a second attack, but Leonel leapt over it, his knees tucking and his arms spreading out as though to balance himself in the air.

    If the Runed Rapax could display human emotions, its eyes would have most definitely widened even as its brows shot up. It had executed its technique perfectly, how had this human, clearly in such a bad situation, dodged?

    Leonel landed on the ground as light as a feather, his body exploding forth as he landed a vicious kick on the side of the Runed Rapax''s knee joint.

    He drilled everything he had into it, his Vital Force, Destruction capabilities and Universal Force all coming together to form a torrent of wind that even manifested from the other side of the Runed Rapax''s tough shell as well.

 Chapter 1339 Vessel

    Chapter 1339 Vessel

    Leonel didn''t wait for the result of his attack. He instantly erupted with he full force of the Heavenly Body Realm, rotating to the back of the Runed Rapax in one fluid motion.

    As expected, Leonel''s attack wasn''t nearly strong enough to snap the Runed Rapax''s knee. But, it was just enough for it to lose its balance while it had a leg in the air. And, just as predicted, its tail quickly flickered, stabbing into the ground with a dull thump to keep it upright.

    Even for a Sixth Dimensional Runed Rapax, stabbing through a ground of a Seventh Dimensional world like this, especially one continuous tempered by the erosion of Anarchic Force, was a difficult task. The result what its scorpion-like tail catching a small bit of earth before slipping, only to quickly stab down again to achieve true balance.

    But, by the time it had done this, Leonel was already to its back, his fists glowing like two radiant suns as a moon and planet appeared to his back. The moment they did, Leonel''s Dark Ice Domain erupted, making the Runed Rapax feel as though its body was stuck in limbo.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, his mind entirely focused on the tender flesh of the Runed Rapax. His Star Constructs shrunk down violently beneath his command, their strength concentrating into fine points as Level Two golden Spear Force manifest under Leonel''s will.

    BANG! BANG!

    "SSKKKREEEE!"

    Leonel drew blood. The spurt of bluish liquid reflecting in his irises as two holes appeared on either side of the Runed Rapax''s spine. However, despite the minor victory, Leonel''s expression didn''t shift even the slightest bit. With smooth steps, he glided backward, dodging the whipping tail of the Runed Rapax.

    With a thought, Leonel''s Meteor Construct manifested. Following the momentum of the furiously whipping tail, the beam of metallic gold enveloped the scorpion-like spikes and increased its weight several fold, causing the Runed Rapax to misjudge and overcorrect, veering its tail off course and out of its control for a few precious fragments of a second.

    Leonel''s Moon Construct flashed, the Runed Rapax''s conceptualization of time dilating. In those moments, the Runed Rapax felt as though it had suddenly entered a Dream, no matter how fast it ran, it wasn''t fast enough. But, in this case, no matter how much strength it put into swinging its tail back after missing, it didn''t seem like enough.

    The gorgeous white planet to Leonel''s back layered this effect. While the Moon attacked the Runed Rapax''s mind, the Planet Construct attacked its physical body, fusing with the effecting of the Meteor Construct and pressing down with an oppressive gravity.

    The fluidity of Leonel''s actions were seamless. One action rolled into the next, his mind working at warp speeds and his calculations becoming more and more precise with each passing second.

    The Runed Rapax found itself swinging from being off balance on one side to suddenly overcompensating and being caught completely off balance toward another.

    It was right then that Leonel''s second prepared attack flourished. His Spear Domain crown glowed, shimmering with a blinding golden light that washed the dark tunnels in a Kingly Might. His Vital Force brought his body to the very brink, the flames surrounding his heart forcing it to heat up and pound relentlessly. And finally, his Forces fused into one, pilling on top of one another relentlessly.

    Leonel had learned a lot about his Spear Domain Lineage Factor after his recent breakthrough. While it seemed like the only change was that his Spear Force had gone from a more normal and bland white color to a piercing gold, this was far from the case.

    Leonel had come to understand that while his Spear Force could be powerful on its own, it could also act as a vessel and conduit for his other strengths. Why was it that every Spear Domain Spear felt so unique? Each had its own unique Element or ability to it. Such a thing felt odd. Should they be more focused on the purity of the Spear itself as a weapon? Why was it that some focused on Water, others on Fire, yet others on Lightning or Light?

    The answer to that was simple. From the very beginning, the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was capable of absorbing all things, becoming the foundation of a warrior''s Style no matter what kind of Ability or other affinities they might have.

    So, when Leonel fused his Light Elemental, Fire Elemental and Star Elemental Forces into his Spear Force, it was as though a dry land had suddenly been blessed with a flood of water. It greedily swallowed it all, its insatiable greed fueling its rise in power.

    ''That''s it.''

    A CRACK! suddenly resonated in Leonel''s mind, his irises flickering to life as a red-gold Rune formed within their midst. As though being infused with a raging new power, Leonel''s Spear Force gained a tinge of crimson, forming into a drill under the strength of his Star Constructs and aiming for the back of the Runed Rapax once again.

    BANG!

    The resultбн Was far outside of expectations.

    Leonel found himself being slapped flying, his ribs breaking in several places and a projectile of blood leaving his lips and marring the inside of his helmet. Leonel could only use the tendrils of darkness from his beast armor to break his impact against the wall, but even that hardly made it better.

    With a grunt, Leonel slid down an opposing wall, the menacing roar of a Runed Rapax bearing down on him.

    The Runed Rapax''s mouth had split over, revealing a long row of sharp, saliva dripping teeth and a tongue longer and more rugged than any Leonel had ever seen before. In the blink of an eye, it had already appeared above Leonel, its menacing mouth dripping.

    Leonel coughed again, his gaze looking up as he slumped to the ground. It seemed that in the end, he wasn''t able to predict the next attack like he had the first. Leonel had maximized his chances by minimizing the amount of times the Runed Rapax could attack, but he couldn''t seal the deal.

    However, even now, Leonel''s gaze was unmoved.

    "Haven''t noticed something wrong with your body yet?" Leonel asked coldly.

    The Runed Rapax froze.

    [Fallen Apostle ebook should be live in 4ish hours (I think, or whenever the 24th is for you). If not, it will be some time tomorrow. Big thanks to you guys for always supporting me <3 >> https://linktr.ee/Awespec (10/23/22)]

 Chapter 1340 No Use

    Chapter 1340 No Use

    The concentration of Anarchic Force in the region had reached a point the Runed Rapax had never experienced before. In its rage, and also thanks to Leonel''s Moon Construct dilating its senses, it hadn''t noticed until it was far too late. And, to make matters worse, albeit just to small wounds, the open gashes on its back seemed to become a prime spot for the most vicious Force in the universe to assault.

    Leonel had thought a lot about the Rapax in recent days. Among what fascinated him the most, aside from their ability to escape detection of Internal Sight, was their odd use of Force.

    This race of being didn''t use Force like humans did. Or, rather, they might have only done so in part. They didn''t pull on atmospheric Force and seemed to rely entirely on what their bodies could produce. It could be said that they were completely antithetical to much of the battle style Leonel had forged in recent years.

    Because of his apprehension toward his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, Leonel rarely if ever used his internal Force, relying entirely on outside measures. However, what was truly interesting was that after beginning to use his Nodal Pathways and Force Nodes as he should, Leonel was still very much certain that his efforts were different from the Rapax.

    It was something deeper than just using internal Force, something more profound. Even when Leonel used his internal Force, it didn''t seem as fused and one with him as what the Rapax could accomplish. It was clear that the Rapax were fusing with their Force on a much deeper level, a level Leonel couldn''t fathom. And, that was when it clicked.

    How was it that Leonel''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor worked? Well, his Bronze Runes became the conduit by which he could absorb the Essence of Ores and foundationally change his body. It etched onto his bones, his inner organs, and even his blood vessels.

    When thinking to this point, was it truly a coincidence that the most powerful of the Rapax were known as Runed Rapax?

    The mechanism was likely not the same, obviously. But, Leonel felt that it was highly likely to be similar. And, just like Leonel had Runes within his body that others could see with the naked eye, so too would the Rapax.

    With that thought in mind, Leonel realized that this should have been the source of the Rapax''s strength. They absorbed Force during their practice and infused it into the Runes. Upon doing so, they could assimilate with this Force, fuse with it, and make it their own, thereby strengthening their bodies manifold over.

    So, why was this so important now? It was because all the precious source of Force that the Runed Rapax pulled upon was within its body, and it was precisely these sort of dense regions of Force that Anarchic Force liked to latch onto and swallow the most.

    Leonel believed that if he could just make the Rapax suffer a wound, a deep enough gash that its blood flowed and the Anarchic Force could get a taste of, the creature would suddenly find itself in a predicament that it would be hard pressed to crawl out of.

    "SKRREEEEE!"

    Leonel slowly stood from the ground, a hand across his chest and ribs as the Rapax struggled and screeched. The size difference between the two was enormous and the strength gap was even more exaggerated. And yet, it was Leonel who stood, a cold expression on his face and his aura bearing down as though this was just the obvious outcome.

    "There''s no use in screaming." Leonel said lightly. "I''ve learned in recent times that the higher up in Dimensions you go, the more reliant you are on the push and pull forces of Force itself. It''s quite fascinating, really. Even a shout won''t travel as far in a higher Dimensional world as it would in a lower one, let alone when the Anarchic Force is so great. Why do you think I dared to battle you instead of just running?"

    Leonel had no idea if the Runed Rapax could understand him, but he didn''t seem to care, his cold eyes calculating everything as the Rapax soon found it difficult to even stand.

    The Anarchic Force concentration had been multiplied to the point there was practically no other Force to pull upon in this region. Maybe the only two existences that could survive beneath such a concentration was a little beast with Void Beast blood and a man who had spent the last several months torturing himself on an even greater quantity.

    When Leonel seemed to have seen all he needed to see, he turned his head toward Little Blackstar.

    "Yip!"

    The little mink dove down. Unable to even resist at this point, the Runed Rapax could only put up a futile attempt at resistance before Blackstar exited out the back of its skull having entered through its mouth.

    Before the Runed Rapax could die, though, Leonel sent it into a snowglobe. He had no way of knowing if the Rapax sent out signals after their death or if there was a method of keeping track of them. Though he was quite confident in the concentration of Anarchic Force stopping pretty much everything, given the fact the Rapax had become used to this environment over such a long period of time, there was no way of telling whether they had more sophisticated methods of dealing with this and Leonel didn''t feel like finding out.

    Coughing heavily, Leonel looked down at his chest. That one kick had almost broken all of his ribs. In fact, he was lucky that each had only broken in one spot. If not for his sturdy body, the result would have likely been countless little shards of bones piercing through his lungs and heart.

    ''My healing factor is so slow in this worldбн''

    Leonel debated whether or not he should use his <Instant Recovery>. But, after a moment, he decided against it. He could still hang on.

    Picking a direction, he sprinted out of the dense concentration of Anarchic Force. Then, taking a deep breath and bracing for the worst, he brought Aina out once again.

    BANG!

 Chapter 1341 BANG!

    Chapter 1341 BANG!

    Leonel coughed up another large mouthful of blood.

    ''Son of a bitchбн''

    He had gotten far too used to seeing this ceiling today. But, he hadn''t expected to see it after saving a beauty. This wasn''t how the script was supposed to go, who wrote this bullshit?

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t over. Leonel had hoped that a single strike would be enough to vent her rage, but he had hardly rebounded off of an opposing wall when he found another fist nearing his face.

    Leonel reacted as quickly as he could, crossing his arms over his head. But, to his astonishment, it had been nothing more than a feint. What looked like a dainty hand, completely dwarfed by the size of Leonel''s own, smashed a fist into his chest, sending Leonel into the wall again.

    The pain wrecked Leonel''s body, his partially healed ribs cracking cleanly once again with an audible snap. With how powerful Leonel''s body was, every injury he suffered was like metal being snapped in two, even his muscles themselves were like intertwining steel cords, layered atop of one another with a strength that spoke for itself.

    The second wave of pain seemed to snap Leonel awake, the helplessness in his gaze vanishing and leaving behind a hidden sharpness.

    Leonel immediately entered a defensive position, tucking his elbows to the side of his body and raising his fists to opposing sides of his face. Like this, he could finally see the rampaging Aina before him. If it wasn''t for the ridiculous situation he was in, he might have spared a thought for how much of a War Goddess she seemed to be right this moment.

    Her tight beast skin clothing clung to her curves, her muscles pulsing with a vibrant power. She released a barrage of kicks and fists, entering a furious berserk state as though she wanted nothing more than to see Leonel beaten into minced meat.

    Leonel couldn''t seem to find a gap to counter attack. Aina''s assault was seamless and even though she rarely used her fists and legs like this, her battle sense didn''t seem to take even the slightest hint. In fact, after just a handful of exchange, a glow took hold of Aina''s body and Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    Fist Force.

    Suddenly, Aina''s attacks became sharper.

    Leonel realized he couldn''t stay on his backfoot like this or else all he would be was a glorified punching bag. Even his metallic body was starting to feel as though it was being kneaded into a soft dough beneath this woman''s relentless barrage.

    He took a strong step forward, taking advantage of his powerful defenses and swinging a punch out that ignored everything. He just needed to break Aina''s rhythm, just enough that he could find a chance to counter. However, he had only just opened up his defenses when Aina''s figure seemed to flicker, her fist connecting with his chin as though there was a magnet connecting the two.

    Leonel felt his head spin, his hook losing momentum. Without Dream Sense, he couldn''t shake his mind awake fast enough and he quickly suffered a shin to his hip mere instants later.

    ''Dammit.''

    Aina''s violent barrage seemed to leave craters in Leonel''s body. He bounced around like a pinball. Every time it seemed like he would escape, he''d find another fist or foot in his path, throwing him back from whence he came.

    "THAT''S ENOUGH!"

    Leonel''s roar was like a clap of thunder, however it didn''t waver Aina''s assault in the slightest. It rolled off her shoulders as though it was never there but by then, Leonel''s gaze had already become a frightening cold. The Aina reflected in his gaze became nothing more than a slab of meat, a simulation hovering within his Dream World.

    Going from the difficulty in calculating a Rapax''s next move to the ease of calculating a human''s seemed to fuel Leonel with a sharper mind. It was like he had just spent years in a low oxygen environment, only to suddenly have all the air he could breathe at once. His body thrummed like it had been hit with a spike of dopamine, his movements suddenly becoming so sharp and calculated that Aina was forced to take her first step backward.

    Fists and knees clashed as though cinderblocks. It didn''t sound like the resonating echoes of flesh and bone. Rather, the two were like machines of war, commanding their mechs to leave devastation in their wakes.

    What Leonel lacked in battle prowess, his mind made up for in spades. What Aina lacked in calculative ability, her innate senses and reflexes covered for several times over.

    The two were like a whirlwind, twin cyclones rampaging about and only seeming to grow more and more violent with each passing moment. Their eyes locked across the short distance that separated them, their irises flickering with an undisguised coldness.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Elbows, knees, feet, even a headbutt or two when they seemed to have completely run out of methods to attack. They were absolutely relentless, seemingly holding nothing back.

    Little Blackstar hopped in the air from side to side, completely agitated. It was like the poor little guy was watching his parents fight and didn''t even know how to go about stopping it. The little mink could only let out exasperated ''yips'' from time to time, making it seem like he was trying to get to them to stop but to no avail at all.

    It was as though the two had completely forgotten that they were in enemy territory. In fact, with the way things looked now, maybe it was lucky the Rapax didn''t come across them in such a state or else the first to be ripped apart would definitely be them.

    BANG!

    Their fists collided through the air, both being forced to skid back. Their arms hung in the air, their eyes still glaring at one another.

    Hot air billowed out of both of their mouths, their lungs and limbs screaming. However, they didn''t speak a single word.

 Chapter 1342 Familiar Words

    Chapter 1342 Familiar Words

    Little Blackstar was caught between relief and panic. Even though the constant barrage had finally come to a stop, the little guy was emotionally intelligent enough to know that things wouldn''t just end with that. Maybe the two had only stopped at this point because past this was most definitely a state of no return. Their stamina already seemed to have taken a large hit, if they went any further, they really wouldn''t be able to deal with any danger that came.

    "I should have done this years ago." Aina spoke coldly. "You must think I''m really afraid of you. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and clearly it''s because I''ve been too easy on you."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. This woman seemed to have entered a demonic mode.

    "I promise you this. Every time you do this to me, I will beat you until you''re completely unrecognizable. Last time I just ran away and apparently that made you think me to be soft. It won''t happen again."

    Leonel suddenly got the impulse to touch his face, only to realize that his raised arm looked as though he had stuff several balloons beneath his skin. His expression flickered and by the time he actually touched his face, he realized that it was completely swollen as well.

    It was then that Aina''s words about beating him until he was unrecognizable seemed to ring in his ears again. She wasn''t just saying that, she had been serious. Her control of her strength was so great that her every punch, kick, knee and elbow managed to generate the greatest damage to his flesh, resulting in these exaggerated bruises all across his body.

    Leonel had been so certain that his aches and pains were from his battle with the Runed Rapax that he didn''t even notice that he was being turned into a charity case.

    ''бн''

    Leonel was speechless.

    ''Every time you do this to me, I will beat you until you''re completely unrecognizable.''

    He could see by the fire lit in her eyes that she really meant it. It didn''t matter if they were in the middle of a Rapax Nest, if they were deep within enemy territory, maybe even if they were in the middle of fighting a war, she would truly drop everything to beat him up. What kind of nonsense was this?

    The worst part was that even though it felt like a joke, Leonel could feel how livid Aina was. The fact she had only gone so far was actually an outward showing of restraint for her. If she really unleashed everything, it wouldn''t be her fists cutting into his body, but rather a bloody ax.

    Aina was right. Last time he did this to her, she had just left everything and disappeared. This time, however, it seemed she had taken a different approach. But, this sort of approach wasn''t something that Leonel cared for at all, especially not when he had just cracked his ribcage open to ensure they could both get to safety.

    Rather than being thankful for that or showing any appreciation, he was actually greeted with more pain.

    Fine. He had already been prepared for the backlash his actions would come with. But, wasn''t this too far? If she wasn''tбн

    Leonel''s brow furrowed when his thoughts reached this point. He never usually cared if an enemy was female or not. Had anyone else done this to him, he would have definitely did far more in revenge. He didn''t like this weight hanging around his every action when it came to this woman. It was like he couldn''t be his true self.

    Leonel lowered his fist, his expression only becoming colder. And yet, Aina stood right across from him, her expression not softening in the slightest at all. Her demeanor seemed to scream that no matter what Leonel said, she would meet him from lower ground, even if that lower ground required a fist.

    "If you can''t understand why I do things the way I do, what''s the point? My mom said something very important to me a few months ago. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Trying to change a person will never work. You''re doing nothing but wasting your time. Every time this situation happens, I will take the same course of action. No amount of tantrums you throw will change that.

    "And, if there ever comes a day where this tantrum of yours really compromises our ability to survive, while you''ve made a promise yourself, I can promise that in such a situation, I''ll disregard any mental blocks I have toward harming you entirely.

    "Trust me. If there''s one thing I''m good at, it''s getting rid of mental blocks. I hope you''ll show some propriety and not allow things to get that far."

    Aina stared at Leonel deeply, her own oppressive aura still rising. Even the earth seemed to rumble beneath her.

    "I can promise you if that day really does come, I won''t hold back either. If you think you''re the only one holding back, you have another thing coming. My ax won''t show mercy."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed, his frown deepening. After a moment, though, his expression completely relaxed, a detached sort of appearance being all that was left.

    "If that''s how things are, then it''s better for us to go our separate ways. I can''t have a liability who can''t understand how I see things by my side. You''ll be nothing more than a ticking timebomb."

    Aina sneered. "Understand how you view things? What about how I view things?"

    "The only thing that matters is my final decision. If you can''t trust me to make it, then you might as well go call someone else King!"

    Leonel''s voice boomed, a wild violet aura raging around him. The oppression of his mind''s coercion seemed to stream forward like a raging tide, a tsunami that only seemed to grow taller with every passing moment.

    However, Aina''s rage somehow still seemed more palpable. Her hair fluttered wildly, her canines seeming to grow a measure as her irises sparkled like drops of ambrosia.

    "A King also knows when to listen! You keep talking about trust this and trust that, but all you really want are blind followers that will both do everything you ask them to do on a whim, and yet also allow you to take control of everything at the same time!

    "You keep asking me to have trust in you, but where''s your trust in me! What''s the point of building a Kingdom if all you want to do is fight on your own?! Do I look like a fragile flower to you?!

    "You''re a hypocrite! A fucking Sociopathic Hypocrite!"

    Leonel froze.

 Chapter 1343 Northern Magnet

    Chapter 1343 Northern Magnet

    A hollow sound rang in Leonel''s ears, almost as though an enormous explosion had gone off in his surroundings and now only an eerie sharpness of what remained of his hearing was left. Even with all the sensory perception and infallible memory in the world, in just those few seconds, it was as though his mind was blank. He couldn''t see or hear anything, nor could he remember what kind of thoughts he was having.

    Leonel never hid anything from Aina. There were secrets he probably should have kept from everyone around him that would have probably made it easier to protect their safety that he had still chosen to tell to her. And, there were secrets that weren''t so important, but were far more personal, that he had still decided to tell her as well.

    But, there were two things Leonel had never told Aina. Whether consciously or subconsciously, he never even began to express them. It was hard to tell if he had done it on purpose or if it was a sheer coincidence that he never got around to doing so. Butбн one was hard pressed to believe that two such important things just happened to be matters that Leonel didn''t get around to telling someone he usually told everthing aboutбн

    The first was Leonel''s true status as a Dark Prisoner. He never explained anything about his evaluation as a child, how this had estranged him from the Fawkes family when he might otherwise have grown up with a fine relationship with the royal family, or how Lionel had taken his placeбн

    The second thoughбн Was related to the specifics of that night after Aina was forcefully teleported to Terrainбн And how that nightбн The words Aina had just spoken were the exact words James had said to him that dayбн

    These were two memories that Leonel had long since buried deep within him, and with his control over his mind, he never thought about them. Unlike a normal individual who might stumble onto such thoughts from time to time and suddenly find themselves flashing back to that day, Leonel was completely different. It could be said that since those events happenedбн This was maybe only the first or second time he had thought of them.

    In that moment, he couldn''t seem to escape it. Without access to Tier 4 of his Ability Index, he couldn''t control the facets and knobs of his mind as easily as he could before, resulting in a relentless flood that bombarded his thoughts and threatened to turn his brain to mush.

    He could suddenly remember everything about that day. The devastation of the artillery shells that had fallen around them, the screams of women and children who were caught in the crossfire, and even the light reflected in James'' eyes when he said those words, his father''s gun still held to his temple.

    "Are. You. Sure. That. You. Want. Me. To. Kill. Him."

    Leonel could remember looking deeply at James, still very much wanting his deductions to be wrong. Maybe it was a coincidence that the man holding a gun to James'' head was so tall. Maybe the resemblance they shared was overblown by him. Maybe he had overestimated the strength of James'' A-grade Energy Shield Ability and underestimated the power of a bullet.

    Maybe, just maybe, his best friend of over a decade wasn''t trying to drag him toward his death. Just maybeбн Just maybe he was wrong, for once.

    However, his mind was too sharp. He could see that change in James'' expression immediately, he could feel his best friend''s heart skip a beat even under the influence of all the noise. At that moment, he knewбн He knew that the friend he had come to know was gone.

    "I''m disappointedбн I reallyбн took you as my closest friend."

    Leonel had meant those words more than anything. James was his closest friend, his best friend, his brother. Their personalities were hardly anything alike, but they were inseparable. It was the kind of relationship that Leonel couldn''t explain even if he tried.

    If he was honest with himself, maybe James had just as much to do with his moral code than any of his father''s teachings had. Being drilled again with the importance of Respect and Persistence was nice, but there were so many ways to interpret those two words. Who deserved respect? What kind of goals were worth being persistent in the face of? The answers to these questions was probably more important than the mantra themselves.

    If Leonel''s father had been his compass, James had been the magnetic pole that wrenched him northward. This wasn''t because James was so morally superior. In fact, James was an asshole, not much unlike how Leonel''s father had been in his youth.

    He used women like rags, he didn''t care enough to pay much attention in school, he put no effort into anything because his family was rich and famous, and he hadn''t hesitated to attempt to betray the hopes of dreams of a team filled with his brothers for his own selfish goals.

    There was nothing about James that screamed moral direction. But, that was ironically the very reason why he was so profoundly important to Leonel.

    Despite his flaws, despite how seemingly worthless he was, despite how by every observable metric that decided human value according to society labeling him a net negativeбн

    Leonel had always loved him. James had always been his brother. The first person he told about Aina, the only person who knew how much he hated playing quarterback, the only person who knew what was hidden behind his perpetual charismatic smile.

    To most others, James was worthless scum. And yet to Leonel, he was invaluable in a way that was just impossible to explain. And if even someone like James could hold such supreme value to himбн Then who was he to cast judgment upon the worth of anyone else?

    Butбн

    "Bullshit!" James suddenly roared. "You pretend to care about so many things, you pretend to be kind hearted, but all you really care about are things ending up exactly like you want them! You don''t like killing only because you don''t want to deal with the guilt! You don''t like playing football only because you didn''t get to choose it! You only want to do things your way and nothing else matters!"

 Chapter 1344 A Betrayal Long Ago

    Chapter 1344 A Betrayal Long Ago

    Remembering back now, Leonel could understand why James had reacted that way. When he spoke his truth, saying that James was his closest friend, remembering the details of how it had happened now hit him like a ton of bricks.

    His voice had been so coldбн So detachedбн So emotionlessбн It was as though he had said it all perfunctorily, as though he was shaking his head toward a child that had disappointed him rather than been heartbroken at the betrayal of a friend.

    By that point, he had already disassociated, ripping that part of himself out and ignoring it like he always had. Even when he knew that James had betrayed them during the biggest game of the year, Leonel hadn''t said a word, just silently finding a method to win anywayбн Just like he always did.

    He didn''t approach James, he didn''t ask him what was wrong, he just did things as he pleased, finding a solution that could ''please'' everyone. James got to appease whoever had commanded him to lose by making it obvious he had done his best, and Leonel got what he wanted: another victory.

    When the two met in the locker room, Leonel could remember how livid James had been.

    "бн You knew you get the unnecessary roughness call, right?"

    "I know you too well. You don''t like to lose, but you''re too soft-hearted to call me out on my bullshit too. So you''d find a way to protect our friendship and ignore it, all while winning the big game anyway. Am I right?"

    "If you knew I needed your help, why couldn''t you lose this one time?! This is just a game, isn''t it?! You''ve already won it three times, did you really need to win a fourth?! You don''t even want to be a quarterback!"

    The words still rung in Leonel''s head, even down to James eventually apologizing. At least then Leonel had still been able to lace his words with some sort of emotion, some sort of understanding and sympathy. But, afterwardбн he seemed to have completely lost that ability.

    While he stood there months later, Aina gone from his side, his body beaten and tired, an entire Fortress of enemies eagerly waiting to take his headбн Leonel hadn''t truly felt the weight of the events.

    He had been confused by James'' words. He even remembered thinking them to be a jumbled mess of nonsense. He had even somewhat arrogantly thought that this was just another case of James not being quite eloquent enough to say what he needed to say, another example of his imperfect best friend displaying his lack of value to the world.

    But could Leonel still love him now? Even after such a betrayal? Was that even possible?

    "You''re a fucking sociopathic hypocrite!"

    The world seemed to go white for Leonel. Leonel remembered that he said many more words after that, words that had even left James as white as a sheet and as silent as a mouse. But, in his ears now, those words seemed to ring hollow.

    Leaving James speechless wasn''t a feat. Hadn''t he arrogantly proclaimed that his so-called best friend wasn''t very good with words to begin with?

    It was ironic. He loved James like a brother, and James could be said to be the very reason he didn''t become the sort of person who could treat human lives like weeds. And yetбн in order to come to that conclusion to begin withбн hadn''t he needed to assign some value to James? Didn''t he need to mark him down as someone worthy or unworthy? Make a list of his deficiencies before deciding whether or not he was still worth loving or not? Whether he was still worthy of being his friend?

    When you thought about what that truly meant, it was sickбн As though Leonel thought of James like a little pet project of his, a poor little boy who no one else wanted but that was okay because Leonel would take him under his wings anyway.

    Maybe James, in all his simplicity, could actually feel Leonel''s true intent. While everyone else only saw Leonel for what he showed to the world, James saw Leonel for what he wasбн In all his flaws, some far more tragic than others.

    It couldn''t be said that James was a good person. It was the direct opposite, in fact. He had put his own selfish desires above even the safety of Leonel''s life. Maybe he had told himself that he would be able to use his influence over his father to ensure that Leonel would live even after being caught. But, that would have been nothing more than a coping mechanism for his own cowardice in being unable to stand up to his own father.

    However, this had only made it easier for Leonel to ignore his own flaws.

    James was the only person who knew him so intimately, the only person who understood how his brain worked and how he saw the world. Even if James couldn''t put it into words, how would he have felt knowing that he was just another calculation to Leonel? An odd quirk in an otherwise logical world that Leonel was so fascinated by that he just had to keep him by his side?

    Maybe James wouldn''t have been able to express exactly that in words, but he would have felt itбн That sort of lingering inferiorityбн The kind that cast the mind into a perpetual, endless darknessбн The very same kind of darkness he couldn''t escape from in his own family and fatherбн

    It probably would have felt to James that the friend he thought would always have his back had betrayed him long agoбн That what they had built their friendship upon was nothing but a bed of lies that Leonel had concoctedбн

    Everything seemed to hit Leonel all at once. Like a rushing tsunami, it crashed into him, burying him deep.

    He suddenly found that he couldn''t breathe, his face turning blue and his body suddenly not functioning properly anymore. Everything wanted to shut down around him.

 Chapter 1345 Semantics

    Chapter 1345 Semantics

    How long had it been since he had access to Tier 4 of his Ability Index?

    Leonel only had a very vague understanding of Abilities when he began his journey. However, by the time he had been able to comprehend, he had already entered Tier 4. It could be said that from the very beginning, he had always been in such a state.

    What did that mean? It meant that since the very moment Leonel had awakened his Ability, he had gained with it a perfect sort of control over his body that extended to his mind. This sounded like a great thing, but when he was completely ignorant to what he was doing, he was essentially digging himself into a larger and larger hole every time.

    Whenever Leonel believed that he was able to easily cut off his emotions because that was just the kind of person he was, naively believing that this would have no impact on him since he could so naturally do it, the reality of it all was that this was just an example of his Ability at work.

    It had to be understood that Leonel wasn''t like the people of Earth. He had been born with his Ability Index and he didn''t have to wait for the Metamorphosis. The only reason it didn''t manifest in full force until after the Metamorphosis was because of actions his father had taken.

    Now, however, Leonel''s Ability Index had suddenly been suppressed back down to Tier 3 for the first time and Leonel had no method of dealing with it.

    Aina, though, had no idea what she had just triggered within Leonel. Though it felt like a long time and that going through such a long list of memories had taken forever, the reality was that even after dropping down to Tier 3, his thinking speed was well beyond the imagination of most. It was to the point where Aina was still in the middle of speaking even after his body seemed to have hit a wall.

    "бн I don''t know why it''s so difficult for you to understand! I know I was wrong in the past to make you want to stay away from danger, but can''t we at least compromise?! Is it so impossible to meet in the middle for you?! Why can''t we just fight together?!

    "That''s not even the point. I wouldn''t even mind if you had a plan that I couldn''t be a part of, a plan that you know I''d be detrimental to. But would it be impossible for you to communicate that?! Why are you so stubborn?!

    "Do you really see everything you go off and do on your own as heroic and protective?! I don''t see it that way at all! It''s demeaning! It''s like you can''t be bothered to trust no one other than yourself because no one could possibly touch your lofty existence!"

    Aina''s chest heaved, her gaze a furious shade of gold. But, it was right then that Leonel''s figure stumbled, his hand involuntarily reaching for his chest and his face becoming a ghastly shade of blue.

    In order to maximize his efficiency, after learning the full extent of what being in Tier 4 meant, Leonel began to push himself past normal limits. Normally, even something most allowed their bodies to regulate like the cadence of their heart or the flow of their digestion was entirely controlled by Leonel. This allowed him to put his energy toward the best things imaginable.

    After his Ability Index fell down to Tier 3, these functions obviously shut off and were handed back to Leonel''s body to regulate. The change was seamless as everyone''s body was designed to handle this matter regardless.

    However, Aina''s words seemed to have shocked Leonel and his mind was now in a state of fighting against itself.

    He wanted to wrest the control he had lost back to make these feelings go away, but the trouble was that he was no longer in Tier 4.

    If a normal person wanted to accomplish the impossible, they would just be finished. They would try to tap into abilities they didn''t have and they would fail, end of story. But, the trouble was that Leonel had a Lineage Factor that quite literally gave his will strengthбн King''s Might.

    Now, Leonel''s mind was in a furious state, wanting his ability to evolve and transcend its limits, but the Anarchic Force in the surroundings was simply too potent to allow such a thing.

    This sort of tug of war caused Leonel''s body to completely shut down. His blood stopped flowing, his heart stopped beating, even his brain itself seemed to want to close up shop.

    "Leonel? Leonel!"

    Aina''s expression warped wildly as she dove forward, catching Leonel''s head just before it smashed against an opposing stone wall. But, she was immediately shaken when she felt just how cold his skin was.

    If there was one thing that Leonel was perpetually, it was hot. His Fire affinity was so high that this was undeniably the case, there was simply no escaping it.

    Leonel''s body went rigid before everything suddenly loosened. His skin and face went completely blue, his lips following soon even as the whites of his eyes bulged with red blood vessels behind their lids.

    "Leonel!"

    To Aina''s horror, Leonel''s heart actually wasn''t beating at all. She immediately used everything she had learned as a Five Star Medical Professional of Earth, laying him down and beginning CPR, but it felt that no matter what she did, it wouldn''t matter.

    Aina''s face was filled with panic. She could have never drawn the conclusion that her words had caused this, so she immediately thought that it was because she had fought Leonel. The Runed Rapax must have left behind more severe wounds than she thought and her subsequent fight with Leonel must have triggered them.

    The guilt was enough to overshadow her world entirely, tears beginning to stream down her face completely outside of her control.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    An anxious Little Blackstar dove down from the air, pulling at Leonel''s hair in hopes of waking him up before furiously licking at his cheek.

    Right then, something within Leonel snapped, his body convulsing.

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly shot open, a blinding light beaming out from them as a Force Art more complex than words could describe began to revolve within them.

    бн

    In an unknown corner of the Dimensional Verse, a handsome middle-aged man yawned, shifting his glasses upward as he scratched his ass.

    At that moment, he looked upward, his mouth still open in mid-yawn form before he shook his head.

    "Aiya, that brat of mine is always ruining my plans. What is that, twice now? Why can''t you just follow the normal schedule I so painstakingly drew out. You''re going to make this old man seem incompetent.

    "Ah, whatever. I have an excuse to see my beautiful wife again so soon. Hopefully she doesn''t make a fuss about it being an avatar again, I''m trying to save the world here, it can''t be that such small semantics is going to make a hero like me go without sex, right?"

    Velasco tossed an odd ball of Force casually, and yet it shot off into the distance, disappearing over the horizon near instantly.

 Chapter 1346 Worse Than Changing Diapers

    Chapter 1346 Worse Than Changing Diapers

    "Leonel! LEONEL!"

    Aina had done everything she could, even pressing down so forcefully that the ribs Leonel hadn''t broken yet snapped cleanly. But, she was well aware that when a medical professional had to choose between a few broken ribs and restarting a heart, there was almost no decision to be made. Bones could heal, but a dead heart would never come back.

    The sudden flash of Leonel''s eyes gave Aina hope, but the sudden and dense cloud of Auspicious Air that began to grow in the surroundings almost made her suffocate. This was the first time she was experiencing Auspicious Air personally, but she somewhat knew what it was. The trouble was that she didn''t understand why it was suddenly coming out of Leonel''s body in droves like this.

    бн

    At that moment, a certain beam of light ripped through the cosmos, appearing on the outskirts of the Void Battlefield and diving through its barriers. In a blink, it had appeared above a familiar hive and in another, it had already flashed into the Segmented Cube without even Aina''s knowledge.

    The ball of Force appeared in Leonel''s room, a region he had begun to use to keep things meticulously organized. It could be said that his room had become his functional spatial ring. As usual, it was spotless and clean, not that Leonel used it very often to begin with.

    Tucked into a corner, a familiar silver disk sat. Without much hesitation, the Force buzzed and entered the dictionary, causing the mechanisms within to snap into a different configuration, its gears dancing and complex Runes beginning to form along its surface.

    In the next moment, the disk began to hover, leaving the shelf in was tucked upon as a looming shadow began to envelop it. In the blink of an eye, that shadow took form, becoming the outline and eventual real body of a man Leonel was all too familiar with.

    Velasco held the dictionary in his hands, flipping it in the air and letting it land onto his palms as he strolled out of the room.

    "A Rapax Nest? It seems someone is getting greedy."

    The moment Val stepped outside of Leonel''s room, he raised an eyebrow, looking off in a certain direction. But, in the end, he completely ignored it. With a step, he vanished, appearing in the dense black fog of Anarchic Force alongside Aina and his brat of a son.

    Truthfully, it almost instantly became an awkward situation for Val. Aina was a mess, her tears coming out in a torrent. She alternated between using what felt like almost way too much force compressing Leonel''s chest and kissing him with her, wellбн very snotty face.

    Val couldn''t help but feel like he had walked into a melodramatic scene. But, when he looked at Aina again, he clicked his tongue.

    "Not bad, at least this useless brat of mine gained at least a small bit of my skill."

    Despite the fact Anarchic Force was an excellent sound insulator, Val was simply too close and his presence even as an avatarбн Well, it could be said that he had certain piercing qualities that made this concentration of Anarchic Force not too big of a deal.

    "WHO?!"

    Aina spun around, her ax leading her turn. Despite the state she had been in, she hadn''t forgotten the kind of dangerous region they were in. From the very beginning, her senses had been primed.

    "Oh my, is this how you greet your in-laws? Well, I can''t say you''re very different from my wifeбн"

    Val flicked a finger upward just before Aina''s ax could bury itself into his shoulder.

    DING!

    The ax arched through the air and over his head, swinging in a long semi circle before just barely gliding over Leonel''s nose and crashing into the ground.

    Aina''s face turned completely pale for two reasons. The first was because she had no method of fighting back at all. And, the second was because she had almost taken Leonel''s head off, just an extra centimeter downward and he would have been left with only a part of his nose. The worst part was that after being placed on its trajectory, Aina seemed to have completely lost the ability to alter its path.

    She ended up spinning completely around, her ax just barely slicing into the ground enough to stop. But, the issue was that she knew that she didn''t have nearly enough strength to cut into this stone.

    The strength difference was so enormous that she couldn''t even fathom it. Even with her ability, she couldn''t begin to make a plan on how she would get so strong. The peak was simply too tall.

    Aina was so dazed and worried that she didn''t even register the words Val had spoken until several moments later. By the time she had, she had thought of all sorts of methods she could use to run away with Leonel. When it clicked, though, she froze.

    "бн What?"

    Aina, whose hands had already found their grips latched onto Leonel''s clothing, ready to leave her ax behind to rip him away, suddenly couldn''t move.

    Val had already appeared on the other side of Leonel. He ignored Aina, shaking his head.

    Though he seemed unperturbed, this really was already the second time one of his plans didn''t go as expected. Well, maybe it was to be expected considering what his actual goal was. Maybe even for him everything going too smoothly was too much to expect.

    "бн Troublesome kidбн This is worse than changing diapersбн"

    Val pressed a finger to Leonel''s forehead. Almost the instant he did, half of the density of Auspicious Air vanished.

    "Sealing it too much will probably have a contrary effectбн I guess I should let it free itself a bitбн"

    The momentum of Val''s press lessened somewhat but the Auspicious Air continued to recede.

    "It''s not time yet, brat. Try to do things on a schedule for once."

    The complex Force Arts rotating within Leonel''s eyes slowed, many portions of them vanishing until a far less complex Force Art remained. However, even that eventually vanished, its presence remaining barely a lingering thought.

 Chapter 1347 At Best

    Chapter 1347 At Best

    Slowly, the odd aura around Leonel seemed to recede. Eventually, even the natural color of his skin returned. It was obvious at a glance that this wasn''t because his issues had been resolved, but rather because, for some odd reason, his Ability Index had returned to Tier 4, allowing him control over his body again.

    Val stood up and stretched. With a flick of his finger, he sent the dictionary back into the Segmented Cube and yawned.

    "Welp, I''m going to go and see my wife now. Ba-bye."

    Val began to stroll away without a care in the world. But, such casual actions left Aina baffled. That was it? He was just going to leave just like that?

    "W-wait!"

    "Hm?"

    Val turned back, looking down curiously.

    "Leonelбн What''s wrong with him?"

    Val blinked, looking toward his son. "His mind is imbalanced. It''s not entirely his fault, it could be said to be mostly mine. But, due to certain reasons, things need to stay this way for now or else the consequences will be even worse."

    Aina''s expression sank. "Thenбн Nothing''s changed?"

    From what Val said, it sounded like it was Aina''s words and not her actions that had caused this. This didn''t change the guilt she felt much at all. If it wasn''t for Val''s appearance, Leonel would have very likely died here and she was having a hard time reconciling with that fact.

    But, if nothing had changed and Leonel had only gone back to his baseline, that made things even worse. That meant that he had suffered like that for nothing. Even though Val''s previous words seemed to imply that he would grow stronger, that wasn''t something Aina cared about. She was more worried about Leonel''s mind and his psyche from here on. What would she do?

    "Mmбн" Val hummed. "бн That would depend. Anyway, try not to die."

    Val tried to leave again but he was once again stopped by words Aina spoke. Given his usual temperament, he would have likely dashed away and pretended not to hear anything. But, given Aina''s unique status, he guessed that he should probably be a bit more patient. He had heard his son talk about this girl for years and this was the first time he was meeting her.

    "Whyбн If you''re so powerfulбн Why put him through thisбн"

    "бн"

    Val scratched his chin, pursing his lips a bit. Truthfully, he wasn''t very much of a fan of explaining himself. He was usually right anyway, what was the point in getting the opinions of other people? Well, there was one woman who always forced him to explain himself anyway, would he really get a daughter-in-law like that too? How much had he sinned in a previous life to deserve this?

    "The world isn''t as simple as you think it is, little girl. My real body isn''t so free to do as it pleases. Though, I wasted 17 years raising this brat who keeps giving me more trouble every other day it seems.

    "You know, that''s not how the script is supposed to go. I was supposed to be the father that vanished after his birth but a certain annoying family actually deemed toбн Forget it, there''s no point in talking about all this.

    "All you need to know is that these matters aren''t so simple and if I don''t do certain things, you two wouldn''t get the chance to be two snotty nosed brats making out in a Rapax Nest."

    Aina''s face turned a furious shade of red. Making out? She had been clearly performing CPR, how had it been twisted under the words of this man like this?

    Thinking back to all the things Leonel had told her about his father, Aina realized that he hadn''t exaggerated at all. This man really didn''t act his age, and apparently, he also didn''t act in line with the power he had.

    Still, seeing that he was being so vague and not answering much of anything, Aina also understood that there wasn''t much of a point in pressing. If Val had wanted to explain, he would have.

    Seeing Aina lower her head and fall into silence, Val sighed. He had grown soft it seemed, feeling bad about such meaningless things. This was what happened when you had a wife and kids, your edge vanished. Eventually, this would come back to bite him.

    "Alright, alright."

    Val waved his hand and a strong suction force formed.

    The Segmented Cube, still in its finger-wrap form, flew into his hands.

    "I know you''re awake, stop throwing a temper tantrum."

    "Leave me alone. You son and father pair are just the same."

    "Me? The same as this brat? Can''t you see how much more handsome and suave I am? If he gained 10% of my skill it would be his blessing."

    Aina''s lip twitched.

    "Bah! Leave me alone! I need to rest!"

    "Yes, yes. You can rest, just give me a run down of what''s been happening. Skip anything too unseemly, I don''t want images of my son''s poor performance in bed running through my mind. I have enough bullshit to deal with."

    Aina suddenly wanted to find a hole to bury herself in. Couldn''t this man be more subtle?! Where was the sense of propriety!?

    Her face became like a shimmering lantern of red. She fixed her gaze to the floor, biting her lip.

    Val''s gaze went blank for a moment as a subtle pulse of energy wafted out from the Segmented Cube. But, just as quickly he snapped back to reality.

    "I see. Alright, easy fix then. Anastasia, siphon away some of my strength. Make a barrier of aboutбн Level 2 strength around Lab 1."

    "Fine."

    Val flicked a finger and the Segmented Cube zipped back onto Leonel''s finger. Finally, he looked at Aina.

    "You want to fix him, right? Simple. When he wakes up, tell him that he can forget about his little King roleplaying game until he can break that barrier. Oh, and tell him that I have enough power in a single cell to shatter that barrier ten times over."

    Val waved a hand and strode away, his laughter causing the Rapax Nest to quake.

    "A King? What a joke! Your old man''s still alive. At best, you can be a little Prince."

 Chapter 1348 Just Like...

    Chapter 1348 Just Like...

    Leonel shot up, his forehead almost banging against Aina''s. But, in a final moment, he managed to come to a grinding halt, suddenly finding that the control he had over his body had reached a truly exaggerated degree.

    For a moment, their noses were barely a millimeter apart, their gazes locking. Even with the terrible scent hanging in the air, Leonel almost became too keenly aware of Aina''s own delicate fragrance by contrast. He had no idea how she managed to not latch onto the stink the rest of this place had, but maybe he should never challenge a woman''s ability to remain clean.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, his mind suddenly running through everything it had been through in just the last several minutes. His brows furrowed. He had more control over himself now, but he didn''t quite know how he should be reacting. His instinct was just to shut it all down again.

    Seeing Leonel''s expression growing colder, Aina suddenly spoke.

    "Your father saidбн!"

    Aina repeated everything Val had said verbatim, not holding back. She thought about taking the edge off of the words, but in the end, she decided against it. She thought that with the relationship Leonel had with his father, maybe the rawest form of what he had said was exactly what Leonel needed to hear.

    Leonel was astonished, not knowing what to say for a long time.

    "бн My dad was here?"

    Leonel blinked as Aina nodded. He sent his mind into the Segmented Cube and he did indeed find that Lab 1 was surrounded from all sides by a barrier. Even without trying, he knew that he didn''t have a single chance at even cracking it, a calculation that he was surprised his mind could even accomplish, let alone complete so quickly.

    Leonel seemed to get the message loud and clear. This was how large the gap between him and the peak of the Dimensional Verse was. No, this couldn''t even be considered the peak of the Verse at all. At best, it could be considered the pinnacle of the middle tiers.

    In truth, Leonel didn''t need to hear this at all. Just the information that his dad had been here was enough to paint the picture. To be able to so casually enter a Rapax Nest then leave as he pleased without a wordбн Well, it all spoke for itself.

    Leonel suddenly smiled, his gaze lighting up.

    Aina was completely caught off guard by this. She couldn''t truly understand. The words Leonel''s father had spoken might seem benign from a certain perspective, but from anotherбн They were the kind of words Leonel would hate to hear the most.

    She had come to learn of what her mistakes were in the past. She didn''t give Leonel the support he needed even though he had always been there for her. This was why she had resolved that no matter what happened between now and the future, she would always be here.

    Her fighting it out with Leonel didn''t mean she had already given up on this. It was just her way of showing that she had no intention of giving up on him. Maybe it wasn''t the perfect method, but they were ultimately still young and she had spent most of her life without a normal range of emotionбн it had been the only way she could think of to force Leonel to see her perspective.

    Ironically, though, it had ended up being her words that triggered all of this, but that only made it all the more baffling.

    Everything about Val''s words had been a culmination of everything Leonel hated. His father''s words had doubted him, belittled him, and even put him in his place without care or reserve for his face. So, why was it that Leonel was grinning and laughing?

    Aina hadn''t been nearly as harsh when she said similar things, she had only warned Leonel that the Dimensional Verse wasn''t the kind of place that could be underestimatedбн She didn''t want him to put his life on the line just for the sake of saving people he didn''t even knowбн She wanted him to stay by her side, safe.

    It was then that it seemed to click for Aina.

    The love that Leonel had for his father made what he might feel for her feel small and meaningless. There was maybe no one in his life and Leonel respected and adored more than his father. She had thought that because of how Leonel had practically worshipped the ground she walked on, that she could speak more freely than 99% of people in his life while in his presenceбн

    In a certain respect, she wasn''t wrong. But, it was always a matter of relativity. The things that Val could say to Leonel weren''t the sort of things that she could get away with saying.

    At that moment, Aina came to understand. Leonel had put a lot of effort into winning her heart, years, even. By this point, she would be lying if she said that she cared for anyone more than she cared for him. In fact, Leonel and her father held equal weight in her heart.

    Maybe that was because her relationship with her father wasn''t nearly as good as the one Leonel shared with his own, butбн There was a certain level of love that blood ties could form that other forms of love otherwise couldn''tбн And yet, Leonel had managed to reach that level for her, while sheбн

    She had yet to reach that level for him.

    The truth was very simple. Despite his smile and charisma, Leonel was arrogant to his very bones. He had a relentless drive to win, he felt his opinion was more likely than not the right way to go, and he felt that questioning and doubting him were things most people simply didn''t have the right to doбн

    Even Aina, herself.

    However, his father was very different. If there was one man that was his better, that had the right to question him, to doubt him, that might very well have an opinion that was superior to his ownбн

    It was Velasco Morales.

    A challenge from anyone else made Leonel turn his nose up. A challenge from his father, though, stoked the flames in his heart and made his gaze light up with ruthless ambition. Much like the day Leonel began to learn to Craft, this time was not much different.

    ''Just a Prince? Okay, for now I''ll just be a Prince until I can kick your ass, old man.''

    Leonel''s skin reddened, his veins pulsing with a dense reddish gold. A singular Rune floated within each one of his irises, his blood rushing throughout his body.

    In that moment, he became keenly aware of just how close Aina''s nose was to his own. His fiery gaze met hers, his elevated heartbeat seeming to resonate between them.

    Aina''s skin flushed red, looking away and pulling back slightly. Something about Leonel''s eyes made her feel like a deer in headlights.

    But, it was precisely because she did this that she didn''t react in time to a pair of lips pressing onto her own. Somehow, it felt just like the first time.

 Chapter 1349 Explain in Words

    Chapter 1349 Explain in Words

    An explosion went off in Aina''s mind. Of all the things she thought would happen today, this was the very last. For a moment, she couldn''t sense anything else but the sensation on her lips. Her heart fluttered, her blood ran hot, and her lower belly pulsed with an odd feeling she would have trouble putting into words.

    Her weight subconsciously fell onto Leonel, her palm pressing to his chest and her lips weighing heavier on his as though to fuse with him. With how Leonel had sat up and how she kneeled on both legs, the shift in balance wasn''t a lot, but it was usually more than enough to force someone else to waver. And yet, Leonel''s body was like a sturdy wall, not shifting in the slightest even as Aina leaned into him.

    Little Blackstar, who had fallen into complete silence the moment Velasco had appeared, tilted his little head to the side. Even with all the emotional intelligence in the world, the little mink was ultimately still a child and this situation was confusing nonetheless.

    They had gone from Leonel playing the part of valiant hero, to Aina unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks at his expense, to Leonel nearly dying, then to Aina meeting a man she was incredibly nervous around, then to Leonel being insulted maybe worse than he ever had in his entire life, all to end inбн

    A kiss?

    When Aina''s foggy mind cleared and the reality of it all snapped into place, she pulled back quickly, her palm leaving Leonel''s chest and becoming a fist that pressed into her own. She breathed heavily and erratically, her mind all over the place and her body flushed red.

    Aina didn''t seem to want to look Leonel in the eye. There was something about this that felt wrong. She was one part happy, another part apprehensive, and a large part confused about how she should be feeling.

    It felt good. It felt really good. Even if she had never experienced it with someone else, something in her intuition told her that Leonel was the only one who could possibly make her body feel like this with what amounted to a simple peck on the lip.

    He hadn''t touched her body, he hadn''t used his tongue, he hadn''t even used any great pressure or coercion. In fact, it was she who had found herself leaning heavily into him as though wanting for more. And yet, she felt like she had flown to another world for a moment.

    "бн Why did you do that?" Aina asked softly.

    The happiness came too quickly. In one moment, she was made keenly aware that she lacked true stature in Leonel''s heart, and in the nextбн He was making her feel as though she was riding on a cloud. She felt that in one part she should be angry, and she even somewhat felt used, but she still couldn''t bring herself to feel that way.

    "Because I really wanted to." Leonel said as though it was just a matter of fact. And, maybe it was to him, but that didn''t answer any of Aina''s question.

    "бн That''s not an answer."

    "Isn''t it?" Leonel smiled.

    Aina''s heart began to beat wildly again. Leonel''s words were definitely not always like this. At the very least, he couldn''t always make her hang onto his every word like this. The Leonel she remembered was charming, but he also had a streak of boyish innocence and naivete to him. This Leonel felt more forceful and determined.

    Was this the change brought about by his goal? If Aina was honest, she hadn''t spent enough time with Leonel post his decision to pick up on this change. It might have also been because she had spent most of that time trying to get him to change his mind about said goal.

    However, there was no denying that this Leonel held an even more lethal attraction to her, one that was far more difficult to ignore. It awoke a bit of her masochistic tendencies, something the previous Leonel had entirely failed to pick up on, but this Leonel would likely be far more in tune to.

    Aina was both frightened and excited by this prospect. But, after a moment, she took a deep breath and calmed. After a second deep breath, she had returned to her baseline, her flushed skin receding and her gaze finally meeting Leonel''s.

    "Explain it to me, in real words." Aina said gently.

    Leonel blinked and thought for a moment.

    "You''re a distraction. I can''t focus on the task at hand or make harsh and necessary decisions when you''re around. In the time we weren''t together, my progress was far faster than anything I''ve ever experienced.

    "However, it''s become more difficult to ignore you than I thought. My mind ends up wasting it potential power output by diverting some of its attention to suppressing and locking away emotions I would otherwise feel.

    "But, I''ve gotten way too ahead of myself. My dad is right, if he''s alive, at best I can be a prince. There are certain burdens I shouldn''t be taking on right now, burdens that would ultimately have the opposing effect to what I want. Instead of helping me in the future, it will instead slow my progress now.

    "Since that''s the case, there are certain things that aren''t worth it. Treating you like a subordinate instead of my Queen, for example, is one. It''s objectively a foolish waste of time that would, theoretically, help me to stay focused and keep an eye on the future. But, in the short term, it strains our relationship unnecessarily, while in the long term, no human has an infinite amount of patience.

    "Even if you are determined to stay by my side now, it''s impossible to tell if you''ll still feel that way in 10 years, or 20 years, or more time than even that. And, if I keep you by my side during all that time, while insisting to not cross certain barriers, it only makes the day you eventually snap and give up all the more devastating because you would have been such an important and ingrained foundational pillar of all I had built until that point.

    "Given thatбк"

    "Just shut up and kiss me again."

    Aina''s lips stifled what would have been the rest of Leonel''s explanation.

 Chapter 1350 Weird Mind

    Chapter 1350 Weird Mind

    Aina had realized something very important. The weight of Velasco''s words, to Leonel, weighed more than anything else. If Aina had known what Velasco had said to Leonel months ago, she would have realized even more so how true those words were.

    ''Listen kid, I always told you women were complicated. You spent four years chasing after that little girl, she probably thinks you''ll always be there for her whenever it is she wants to come backбн''

    They were a sprawl of words randomly thrown into what was assuredly another prank, but Leonel seemed to have latched onto them. It made it far easier for him to draw a line in the sand and maybe was part of the reason he had been so callous to Aina''s words that day.

    It could be said that if there was anything Aina was certain of now, it was that Leonel wouldn''t always be waiting for her. He hadn''t come to stop her wedding, he hadn''t been the catalyst who saved her, he hadn''t even checked up on her afterward, and it all culminated in maybe the greatest heartbreak she had ever experienced in her lifetime.

    However, Aina was very determined about one thing. She didn''t know how long it would take, she didn''t know what she would have to do, but she would definitely one day be able to say words to Leonel that weighed just as heavily as his father''s did.

    To her, this wasn''t a matter of competition, but rather a reminder that she still had efforts to be made.

    The reality was that she didn''t like Leonel bluntly breaking down their relationship into gains and losses, benefits and pitfalls. She hated it so much that while Leonel had been following her request to explain it in clear words, she had to fight back the will to punch him in the faceбн again.

    This was the reason why she had stopped him despite him doing exactly what she had asked for.

    However, she understood that this was truly how Leonel saw things even if she couldn''t quite understand. Maybe his method of courting her in the past, his perpetual smile, his following her every step and action, had never really been himбн That Leonel was always the version of himself he had thought she would want.

    It was the very same na?ve stage every young man went through, chasing after the woman of their dreams. They made the very false assumption that the best course of action to take was to simply comply with all of her wishes, she would definitely like you thenбн Unfortunately, this couldn''t have been further from the truth.

    Of course, Leonel hadn''t taken such action to an exaggerated degree. But, he had most definitely let Aina mold many of his thoughts and tendencies, even to the point it only took him a few days by her side to ignore how much he hated the way she viewed killing.

    As Leonel grew, though, his own thoughts and opinions solidified and the way he viewed the world had subtly changed. He was still the same Leonel, but he was far more assertive. It was hard to say that he had truly matured, but he was definitely more of an adult.

    Aina thus understood that much of Leonel''s infatuation had only been surface level and she could only be said to have a place in his heartбн but she didn''t own it.

    Everyone had a small bit of selfishness in their heart. Aina simply wanted Leonel to love her as much as she loved himбн Nothing more, nothing less.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar happily chirped, but also seemed to remind the two that they were still deep within enemy territory.

    Aina had already found herself straddling Leonel when Blackstar''s call made her blush. The little mink was right, they were technically in a very dangerous situation right now. She had been a small measure away from asking Leonel if he had a condom again. But, with her better judgment, she decided that she definitely didn''t want to have her first time in this place.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel''s head turned in a certain direction. It took several moments, so long, in fact, that Aina thought that he was mistaken. But, after about half a minute, her gaze, too, sharpened.

    "It''s fine." Leonel said. "They''re humans."

    As soon as Leonel said these words, a group of three rushed out of the dense black fog.

    They all looked to be in terrible shape, not a single one being without a devastating injury of some sort. In fact, it could be said that they would have already died if not for a certain event causing the Rapax they had been fighting to rush off.

    There didn''t seem to be a decisive leader amongst the three while one was a woman and the other two were men. Leonel couldn''t recognize them, so it was likely that their foggy lake hadn''t been the only one. But, he had to think, just how big was the Rapax Nest for them to send them all in here? With all the Sectors there were, and there being at least three Golden Tokens to each, there had to be many that qualified for this trialбн

    When they three spotted Leonel and Aina, though, their lips couldn''t help but twitch.

    Leonel''s back was reclined against a wall as he sat on the ground. Aina, though, had straddled his waist, placing both palms on his chest. Even though they both had serious expressions on now, there was no doubt about what they must have been doing before, especially since Aina''s short beast skin skirt threatened to roll up her thigh and past her bottom.

    The two young men couldn''t help but gulp, causing Leonel to raise an eyebrow.

    Seeing this, Aina almost couldn''t help but giggle. Like the flip of a switch, Leonel had gone from not caring to if she got married to someone else to suddenly being prickled by looks that ultimately couldn''t see anything anyway.

    She was suddenly fascinated by how Leonel''s mind worked.

 Chapter 1351 Be Good.

    Chapter 1351 Be Good.

    Leonel and Aina rose from the ground. Surprisingly, the both of them didn''t seem to care much about the precarious situation they had been in. Aina simply picked up her enormous ax as though nothing had happened.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar dove into Aina''s chest, causing her to smile. It seemed that little guy was even more excited than she was. But, of course he was, he had finally gotten his favorite bed back.

    The three youths frowned. They were suddenly acutely aware that Leonel and Aina weren''t injured in the slightest. Leonel''s bruises and lumps had already healed along with his cracked ribs. Aside from a small bit of dried blood that touched his body here and there, there was nothing else. As for Aina, she was even less injured, having been stowed away for their only major fight, a bone she had yet to finish picking with Leonel.

    Leonel looked over the three youths. In truth, he had no intention of taking on burdens and it would be more difficult to avoid detection if he took three people with him. But, he also wouldn''t feel right if he simply allowed three people he could have helped die.

    "We''re close to the exit." Leonel said with a smile, and that was all he said.

    He had realized already that the method he and Aina had been taking was correct. They Runed Rapax hadn''t been luring them incorrectly, but it was rather a problem of the fact a Rapax would obviously be more familiar with their Nest than Leonel could possibly be. So, when the Runed Rapax realized what they must want to do, cutting them off before they could reach their goal was child''s play.

    Luckily, this meant that they were still near the entrance, or rather exit, nonetheless. However, whether it was safe passage to take or not was a different matter entirely.

    Leonel turned and began to walk away with Aina by his side.

    The trio looked at one another, frowning. They weren''t sure if Leonel''s words were true, they had only come to this place because they were running away, they hadn''t been paying attention to where they were going.

    The lack of injuries on the pair and their nonchalance seemed to scream that they were powerful. Butбн Was it really possible to leave this Nest without so much as an injury? They were all absolute geniuses in their own right, they didn''t believe that the gap between them and someone else could possibly be so wide. So, could it just be that they had gotten lucky and didn''t come across any enemies?

    "Forget it, it doesn''t matter. We have no idea where we''re going anyway and would have to just randomly pick a direction. We might as well see if they''re right about the exit." One of them spoke.

    Leonel didn''t look back when he felt them being followed. He had already done his part. Whether they chose to follow him or not had nothing to do with him any longer at that point.

    As Leonel had expected, after splitting down just one more tunnel, the wind shifted and the air became slightly cleaner. After traveling several hundred more meters, Leonel came to the edge of a corner and came to a grinding halt.

    Aina stopped right behind him and Little Blackstar grew quiet. Following their lead, the three also came to a pause.

    Leonel closed his eyes, his brows furrowing.

    There was nothing there. No guards, no sentries, nothing. He couldn''t sense any Force Arts, no traps, and even the flow of Force didn''t have anything wrong with it. There wasn''t even something as simple as a door, it was just opened wide to the expanse of what Leonel assumed was the Void Battlefield.

    ''No, there''s something odd there.''

    Leonel''s brows shot up and he suddenly understood.

    This path sloped upward, going from deep underground to above it and forming the hole of an exit/entrance. However, on the opposite sideбн

    There was actually another entrance.

    It wasn''t just that, there were entrances surrounding this one entirely. And, beyond that, there were enormous domes riddled with holes that Leonel was fairly certain were likely the very same holes they had been looking up through earlier. There was definitely a 300 meter drop on the other side of them.

    ''Shit.''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    This wasn''t just a Rapax Nest. It was a field of Rapax Nests. If they wanted to get out of here, they would need to somehow navigate through them all until they could find a nest on the edge to escape.

    Leonel was suddenly annoyed by his dad. The old man couldn''t have said a single word about this? He could have at least pointed out a direction.

    But, as things stood now, Leonel was truly uncertain of which way to go. Even though he had noticed that his senses had actually greatly improved, it still wasn''t enough to cover an entire network of Nests, especially when just one was so large already.

    On top of that, for the same reasons as before, traveling above ground definitely wasn''t an option, at least not long term. It was fine if this exit didn''t have guards because each Nest essentially fed into one another. However, Leonel was still certain that there were many keeping an eye on the above ground holes or else the Rapax would be far too easy to infiltrate.

    ''We have to take a risk. We can''t just blindly choose a direction and hope for the best. I need to fly high enough into the sky to see which way is the shortest to safety. So long as I can lock onto that direction, even while stuck beneath the ground, I''ll be able to stay true to it. But, I need the direction firstбн''

    Leonel took a deep breath, his gaze steeling. Then, he took a long stride forward.

    But, just before he could do as he planned, he suddenly felt a strong force grab onto his wrist and yank him backward.

    "Uhбн"

    Leonel looked back to find a glaring Aina.

    "No you don''t. You''re going to be a good boyfriend and tell me exactly what you''re planning. Then we''ll see if I should get involved or not."

    Leonel''s lip twitched.

    The three youths to their backs looked toward one another, not sure of how to react.

 Chapter 1352 Trust

    Chapter 1352 Trust

    Leonel sighed.

    "Alright. The exit is around the corner but there''s nothing guarding it."

    "And?" Aina asked.

    She was smart enough to know that this was definitely not a good thing. Different species aside, the Rapax were clearly intelligent. They wouldn''t make such a rudimentary mistake.

    "There''s nothing guarding it because they don''t need to guard it, at least not this exit in particular. We''re currently surrounded by three other identical entrances that lead to other hives identical to this one. In fact, we''re in a field of nests right now and my Internal Sight doesn''t spread far enough to tell if we''re nearer the middle, an edge, or what direction we should go in."

    The expressions of the three youths sunk when they heard this. They had thought that they were close to at least leaping over this first hurdle, but there was actually so much more to go? Who had set up this Selection? Did they want them all to die?!

    "So you want to fly up and check which direction to go." Aina finished.

    "There''s no real other choice."

    "Of course there''s another choice. You could make an image probe to check for you. If that doesn''t work, there''s Blackstar. His stealth is much higher than any of our own. He could probably do it without risking being found out at all."

    "An image probe would require materials and a Force Art that wouldn''t be eroded by Anarchic Force, neither of which I have on hands right now. As for Blackstar, that is a more legitimate possibility, but I don''t like it."

    "So it comes down to you being stubborn again."

    "It isn''t stubbornness, just efficiency. There''s no amount of stealth that will help Little Blackstar hide himself in the air."

    "It''s just relativity. Blackstar is far smaller than any one of us and also has the best evasive maneuvers. At the same time, the Rapax likely know that there''s a bunch of humans running around in their territory by now, they might not be ready to spot a little mink. And, on top of that, can''t Little Blackstar change form as well? If it comes down to it, it might be worth exploring the possibility of using that to our advantage."

    "I just think it''s still better if I go."

    "You aren''t explaining."

    "It''s hard to explain."

    "It isn''t. I know why you want to go. For one, you don''t want to put Blackstar in danger. And, secondly, you trust in your ability to react to unforeseen circumstances far more than anyone else, you''re just reluctant to say so because it proves my point."

    Leonel opened his mouth to respond but suddenly found that he had nothing to say.

    Little Blackstar''s head bobbed back and forth between them as the two ''argued'', if it could even be called that. He seemed very curious about how this would end and even seemed amused about how Aina had cornered Leonel.

    Whenever Leonel made an assessment, there were two things he always took into consideration. The first was what the situation was at face value, and the second was what the situation had a chance of mutating and warping into.

    The first was straight forward enough, however the more likely the second was to cause his analysis to veer off path, the more likely it was that he would rather take on the burden himself.

    In Leonel''s opinion, there was simply no one who could adapt to a change faster than he could. In fact, one of the only people to ever impress him with their adaptation abilityбкEmna Beiceran from Crimson Hallбкwas a woman he almost immediately invited to become one of his generals. To this day, she had still been the only person he had ever tried to recruit like that. Sometimes he still lamented that he didn''t manage to win her over.

    These were the two forces tugging at Leonel''s mind. And, the truth was that even if Emna was here, he would still trust himself hundreds of times more. That was just how he was.

    He liked to cut out variables as much as possible, even way back to the final game he and James had played togetherбн

    Thinking to this point, Leonel closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them again, he rubbed his thumb on Blackstar''s small little head.

    "Ready, little guy?"

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Blackstar excitedly bounded into the air, flipping and vanishing into the fog before appearing around the corner.

    Aina smiled, but inwardly her heart was beating wildly. She felt that this was the right decision, but if things went poorly, it would become even more difficult for Leonel to make this choice again in the future.

    In a lot of ways, Leonel was right. He was able to adapt faster and better than most. The reason he was so confident that he could defeat people as strong as Aina despite being weaker was because raw strength wasn''t his greatest asset, his mind was.

    Leonel had had no business defeating Sixth Dimensional experts as a mere Tier 1 existence, and yet he had done so. That kind of confidence, that kind of bone deep and unflappable poise in the face of terrible odds was all too rare.

    However, Aina also knew that if Leonel didn''t learn how to trust that others could accomplish good as well, even if they weren''t as great as him, his dreams wouldn''t be able to progress very far. There was only so much a single person could accomplish.

    Aina looked toward Leonel''s side profile, but he was already extremely focused. His gaze had frosted over, his expression had become unreadable, and an oppressive aura began to weigh down on the surroundings, suddenly making it difficult for the three youths behind them to breathe.

    Little Blackstar shot out of the exit like a beam of black light then performed a sharp 90 degree turn upward, flying into the skies.

    Leonel could feel his partner''s excitement through their connection.

 Chapter 1353 Shadow World

    Chapter 1353 Shadow World

    Little Blackstar''s speed was extraordinary. With the inherent darkness of the Void Battlefield and the black fog that hung over everything, Aina had indeed been correct about the little mink''s stealth ability.

    However, there was another reason that Leonel had chosen to go with Aina''s suggestions, and that was because of the problem of visibility.

    While it seemed like a good idea to get higher ground and see further, there was one important matter that had to be considered, and that was the fog. Even back on Void Palace grounds, Leonel could hardly see a few meters ahead of himself, and this was fairly similar for everyone else as well. Leonel wasn''t convinced that the Void Battlefield would be much better. In fact, it was likely that it would be even worse.

    Leonel had planned to circumvent this potential issue using an Internal Sight manipulation technique. By changing the form of his Internal Sight, he could gain more range in a straight line simply by rearranging how he allocated its volume. With the sudden increase to his mind''s strength, Leonel had been confident that he could do this.

    Of course, this came with a great risk. Internal Sight was just another form of manipulating Force and it could be sensed by those sensitive to it, especially those of higher Dimensions. It was possible that Rapax would be less sharp about such things considering their immunity, but it was also just as likely that they''d be hyper sensitive as seen by the first Rapax Leonel had fought after coming to this Nest. That particular Rapax, due to Leonel''s loose use of his Internal Sight, had already sensed him before he even rounded the corner.

    It was because of this that Leonel wasn''t confident in avoiding detection using the fog, which was why he wanted to be the one to personally take on the burden.

    This aside, Little Blackstar didn''t have such an ability. He hadn''t learned the technique Leonel had nor did he have great use of Internal Sight. It was odd, but Leonel couldn''t remember Little Blackstar ever using Internal Sight at all.

    However, what Little Blackstar could do was something else.

    The little mink was a Shadow Sovereign and had access to the Shadow World. The Shadow World was considered to be a mirror of their current world, one where Shadows reigned supreme.

    Whenever it was that Little Blackstar became immune to outside attacks, it was because the little one had shifted his physical state into his Shadow World. And, whenever Little Blackstar ''teleported'', what was actually happening was him shifting to his Shadow World then popping back out.

    It had taken Leonel a very long time to construct the ins and outs of this ability because Little Blackstar couldn''t communicate via conventional means, but he believed that he had some understanding of it now.

    Without getting overly lost in the details, Leonel had commanded Little Blackstar to shoot into the air as high as he could. Once he was in position, he would shift into his Shadow World.

    While within his Shadow World, Little Blackstar was essentially on a very short timer. Although being within the Shadow World gave Little Blackstar a great amount of control, it was also a great burden on the little guy. This was why Little Blackstar never blinked away for too long.

    The little mink had three states. One where he was fully within the Real World. A second where his image was in the Real World and his physical form was in the Shadow World. And the third was one where his entire being was in the Shadow World.

    Staying in the first and second state were relatively easier. However, to take full advantage of the Shadow World, Little Blackstar needed to enter the third state.

    The Shadow World was shared by Shadow Sovereigns. As they moved about in the Real World, so too would they shift within the Shadow World. Whenever a Shadow Sovereign entered battle, that location of the Shadow World they were in, the mirror image of their location in the Real World, would effectively become their Domain.

    Within this Domain, the Shadow Sovereign would gain control over all sorts of abilities. But, what Little Blackstar used the most often was folding space. This was why the little mink could move so fast. By shifting into the Shadow World, Blackstar could fold reality to his whims and teleport. This even allowed him to do what Aina couldn''t and leave and enter the Segmented Cube at will.

    However, this wasn''t what Leonel wanted Little Blackstar to do this time.

    By having control over a Domain you would, by proxy, know every single little detail about that Domain. Knowing this, Leonel''s goal was obvious.

    He wanted Little Blackstar to enter the Shadow World and push the bounds of his Domain as far as possible. In doing so, the Little Mink would gain a perfect understanding of everything within his Domain in the blink of an eye, albeit for just a very small moment.

    This leads to an obvious question: why risk Little Blackstar like this, then? Couldn''t this same thing be accomplished within the tunnels?

    And the unfortunate truth was no. Little Blackstar had a hard enough time expanding his Domain in the Shadow World already without having to worry about thick barriers of wall infused and tempered with Anarchic Force over countless generations. Simply put, Blackstar''s attempts would end up being stalled before he even got the chance.

    Leonel didn''t want Little Blackstar to waste time trying to map out the tunnels. Instead, he wanted a perfect aerial view of the network of hives. After that, everything else could be left up to him.

    Little Blackstar reached his apex height, his little body suddenly vanishing into a blackness.

    Almost instantaneously, several powerful auras swept over, sensing something amiss. However, they just barely missed Little Blackstar entirely, ending up snagging their senses at empty air.

    Within the Shadow World, a perfect replica of their world reflected in Little Blackstar''s eyes, but the range was too small to see everything. However, the good news was that in his Domain, even the fog couldn''t obstruct Little Blackstar''s vision any longer.

    The little guy had never tried to push the barriers before, but this time, he would go all out.

    Little Blackstar''s long whiskers twitched, his hair standing on end and his body seeming to expand by twice its original size.

    BANG!

    Little Blackstar''s Domain grew explosively.

    "Yip!"

    A violent shudder suddenly shook the little mink''s body, a ripple of pain coursing through his mind.

    бн

    Within the tunnels, Leonel''s frosty gaze dropped several more levels of temperature.

    ''There''s a second Shadow Sovereign in this place.''

 Chapter 1354 Smoldering

    Chapter 1354 Smoldering

    Leonel wasn''t infuriated because there was a second Shadow Sovereign. From the very beginning, he had been aware that there was more than one. In fact, he knew a second one in Mordred.

    When he first learned about Shadow Sovereigns from Uncle Montez, he had introduced it in a way that Leonel knew from then that there would always be more than one.

    Without a doubt, the true reason Leonel was pissed was because Little Blackstar had been hurt. It wasn''t a devastating injury, but it was definitely one the little mink would need some time to recover from.

    Leonel had always treated Little Blackstar like a little brother, a child that was still growing up. This was why he rarely if ever used Little Blackstar in battle even if the little one was a powerful warrior. Leonel had no doubt that compared to these geniuses of the Void Palace, Little Blackstar was no worse. However, he was still reluctant to truly let him loose.

    And now, his little brother had been harmed. How could he not be infuriated?

    The Shadow World was shared by Shadow Sovereigns. Under most situations, this wasn''t a problem as they were rare beings to begin with. However, in the case that two Shadow Sovereigns did meet on the same battlefield, Leonel hadn''t known exactly what would happenбн until now.

    The clash of Domains had caused a strong backlash and harmed Little Blackstar. In fact, Leonel could feel the malicious intent that converged on the tail end of the interaction.

    Little Blackstar had tried to envelop the network of hives with his Domain from above. But, this being the first time the little one had tried to do such a thing, he hadn''t been prepared for the possibility of running into another Domain.

    "Yip!"

    Little Blackstar fell from the skies.

    Leonel had already moved, rounding the corner and catching Little Blackstar from the air. His expression was as dark as could be.

    Little Blackstar''s small eyes were tightly closed, a hint of blood trickling from his nose. He trembled as though he had just been plunged into freezing waters.

    Leonel cradled the little mink in his arms, his Snow Force reaching out and caressing him from head to toe. It was only after this that Blackstar showed the slightest hints of relief, however the smoldering fury in Leonel''s gaze only seemed to grow hotter.

    In those moments, had Little Blackstar not retreated beneath his command fast enough, the result could have been devastating. A Shadow World was tied to something intrinsic within a Shadow Sovereign, and the loss of it was equivalent to the loss of a life. He had been that close to losing his partner of so many years.

    "бн Leonel?"

    Aina''s voice came from his side.

    To her, this was the worst case scenario. Even though she knew that this was the best course of action to take and that her logic had been sound, it was simply human nature to feel terrible. If she hadn''t said anything, this wouldn''t have happened. But, then again, the person to suffer would have likely been Leonel instead.

    "It''s not your fault." Leonel said softly. "It''s mine. I''ve sheltered him too much. He has no idea how to deal with situations where the enemy isn''t a ridiculous amount weaker than him."

    Aina''s gaze flickered. Leonel''s words were sound, but they had a biting cold to them that he couldn''t seem to retrieve just yet. Despite the fact they were standing out in the open of the Void Battlefield, he made no movement to retrieve as though he was begging someone to come.

    "бн No, I''m sorry. I should have taken that into account as well." Aina shook her head.

    Leonel didn''t reply, but he truthfully didn''t blame Aina. Judging a decision by only its result and nothing else was foolish and it wasn''t the kind of logic Leonel would prescribe to. However, that wouldn''t stop him from feeling like this.

    He stroked Little Blackstar''s head, hoping to soothe the little mink just the slightest bit more.

    "What happened?" Aina asked.

    "Blackstar''s Shadow Domain clashed with another Shadow Sovereign''s Domain. He wasn''t ready for the backlash and now he''s hurt."

    The three youths, hearing the term Shadow Sovereign, froze. That little beastбн was a Shadow Sovereign?! The mixture of jealousy, apprehension and darker thoughts was almost immediate. However, the heavy atmosphere around Leonel seemed to snap them out of such thoughts.

    They weren''t fools. That sort of oppression wasn''t normal and should even come from a rare type of ability. The number of families they could think of that had such abilities was all too small, and each one of them was from astounding families.

    They had great backgrounds themselves, as did pretty much everyone in the Void Palace. But, there were still levels and degrees of separation to be found everywhere.

    "Then it''s a failure?" Aina asked.

    "Noбн It wasn''t a failure." Leonel explained. "The Domain of the second Shadow Sovereign was just a small point toward the center of the hive. For whatever reason, they had shrunk down their Domain to an incredibly small degree, at least in comparison to what their true abilities should be. It''s likely that there are other reasons for this.

    "Regardless, Little Blackstar managed to find us several points toward a true exit."

    Leonel explained all of this calmly and evenly, his voice not wavering in the slightest. Everything about his demeanor was steady. However, Aina could almost feel his fury.

    Although it had just been for a few split seconds, Leonel had already memorized the images Blackstar had shared to him perfectly without missing even a single detail. He knew the location of a true exit, what could be found there, and he also knew the exact locations of every entrance in a section of the network.

    "That Shadow Sovereign likely knows we''re here thenбн" Aina concluded.

    "Yes. They will know that we''re located somewhere within the range of Little Blackstar''s Domain. Butбн

    "I truly hope they come."

    Leonel''s hair danced lightly in the air, a smoldering crimson flickering in his irises.

 Chapter 1355 Come Again?

    Chapter 1355 Come Again?

    Aina didn''t say anything toward Leonel''s words. But, seeing the state Little Blackstar was in, her expression, too, turned cold. She had been too wrapped up in her initial guilt to feel the same rage Leonel did. But, after that faded, it wasn''t a surprise that she didn''t feel too differently.

    However, for the three listening to this conversation, they felt like they were listening to an insane pair of people.

    You wanted to meet a Shadow Sovereign? Excuse me?

    Just judging by the state Little Blackstar was in, this Shadow Sovereign was most likely at least within the Sixth Dimension, if not higher. The fact they had deployed their Shadow Domain here also likely meant that they were a Rapax!

    It had to be understood that Rapax with non-physical type Ability Indexes were extraordinarily rare. Often, they were taken to be cripples by their race. However, there were a small percentage of this already rare contingent that were seen as even more valuable than those with the most powerful physical type Ability Indexes.

    In this case, a Shadow Sovereign would most definitely be among this number. This meant that this Rapax wasn''t just a Runed Rapax, it was definitely an elite amongst Runed Rapax and would be treated as such.

    But, this was just the tip of the iceberg. That was because there was a hidden struggle between Shadow Sovereigns that only involved them. Each Shadow Sovereign was a unique sort of existence, but it was also very difficult for them to improve as a result.

    However, swallowing another Shadow Sovereign''s Domain was an easy shortcut to this sort of improvement. It wasn''t a matter of if this Shadow Sovereign was coming, it was a matter of when. With Little Blackstar in such a vulnerable position, he was practically easy food.

    The fact that Little Blackstar was a beast only made it all the more enticing because his Beast Crystal could be taken and swallowed as well, allowing the Rapax to benefit twice over.

    They should be running for their lives, not standing menacingly out in the open as though they couldn''t wait for confrontation. That was suicide!

    The middle young man finally couldn''t seem to take it anymore and stepped forward.

    "Listen, I know exactly how my words are going to come off as, but I don''t care. Our lives are on the line here. It''s fine if you want to stay and get revenge for your beast companion, but we can''t risk our lives along with you. If you could tell us which direction is closest to the exit, I would greatly appreciate it."

    The young man was known as Ogier. He tried to choose an approach that was respectful, but also forceful in what he was asking. He didn''t want this to devolve into a battle, but if it had to, he was ready nonetheless. He had no will to risk his life for the sake of a little beast he had just met.

    At the same time, he knew that he had no right to ask for information this very same little beast had risked its life to get. However, without this information, he didn''t believe he could survive. Toward such ends, he could only choose the path of the hypocrite. No one would care about this in ten years when he was alive and these two were dead.

    However, what Ogier hadn''t expected wasбн

    "That direction. You can go now."

    Leonel pointed straight between two of the entrances and toward an expanse of fog. He didn''t particularly care whether these people stayed with them or not. And, the truth was that he hadn''t wanted to take them along to begin with. The only reason he had was because of his conscience. However, since they wanted to go, he wouldn''t stop them.

    Ogier froze. He opened his mouth to say thank you, but then he suddenly thought of a large problemбн

    What if he was lying?

    His heart began to beat out of his chest. Technically, they were all still in competition, right? What if Leonel wanted a convenient method of dealing with them?

    Ogier didn''t know what to say or do for a very long time. He couldn''t even think of a way to ensure that this was the truth.

    "Are you lying to us?"

    The only young woman of the three stepped forward, her brows knit into a frown.

    "Roxaneбк"

    "We need to ask. If he''s sending us off to our deaths out of spite, then wouldn''t we be dying for nothing? It''s true that he doesn''t owe us anything, but that wouldn''t give him the right to screw us over, right?"

    The last of the three stepped forward realizing that there was only one side of this issue that he could stand upon. If he didn''t side with Roxane and Ogier, he would have no way of confirming his own safety as well.

    Leonel met the momentum of the three across from him with a deadpan expression. Quite frankly, he wasn''t in the mood, not at all. This was the absolute worst time for anyone to antagonize him. He was very close to attacking and leaving them here to rot in their own foolishness.

    Even though he could understand where they were coming from, he simply didn''t have the patience for it. The fact they had run into him in the first place was already a blessing for them, but it seemed that they hadn''t realized this. Even their previous battle had only ended because his father had scared the Rapax they were fighting away.

    "How exactly do you expect us to prove this to you?"

    Surprisingly, it was Aina who spoke instead, her expression frosting over as her battle ax vibrated.

    "There''s a simple solution. You seem to care about your beast partner and it''s in far too injured a state to help you in battle regardless. Give it to us and we''ll follow your directions. That way we''ll be rest assured in the fact you aren''t lying to us."

    Roxane had hardly finished her words when she felt her knees go weak.

    "Come again?" Aina asked coldly.

 Chapter 1356 Bully

    Chapter 1356 Bully

    It was oh so very convenient. The logic was sound and there was nothing wrong with it in a perfectly neutral sort of sense. Taking Little Blackstar with them would definitely guarantee that it would be in Leonel''s best interest not to lie to them, after all, he cared about his beast companion surviving, right? It was clever.

    However, it was from that point that everything else collapsed.

    Leonel owed these people nothing. Why would he leave his little brother with three individuals he had just as little trust in as they did him? On top of that, just because he hadn''t said anything about it, didn''t mean that Leonel didn''t notice their shift in demeanor when learning that Blackstar was a Shadow Sovereign.

    Just how convenient was this? They got to force Leonel to hand over someone dear to him, and in their minds, he would likely die seeking revenge and then they would get a convenient and very valuable beast to use or sell in the future.

    Was there anything in the world that could be so good?

    If it wasn''t for Aina stepping forward first, Leonel would have likely already lashed out, his smoldering fury bubbling over to deal with these three before he met the thing that had put his little brother in such a state.

    "I''ll give you all three seconds to get the fuck out of my sight, or I''ll make it so that you can''t even if you want to."

    Aina''s aura pressed down on them from above and it suddenly became obvious why she was the only one who seemed completely unmoved by Leonel''s own every time.

    "Youбн" Roxane brows jumped, but the fiery glow of Aina''s golden eyes seemed to suppress her impulse to react before it could even manifest.

    A menacing darkness loomed over head and Aina''s canines grew as delicate black patterns ran over her skin. The oppression seemed to triple in an instant, only growing with every passing moment that went by.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted from the three before them to the intricate tattoos forming on Aina''s toned back. They followed her curves and gave her a bestial sort of aura that was highly enticing.

    ''Abyssal Pantherбн''

    Leonel had almost forgotten that Aina had gained this treasure from Terrain and most importantly, had forgotten exactly what that meant and represented.

    It wasn''t entirely Leonel''s faultбн he hadn''t been there when Aina first unchained herself from her curse and City Lord White had called her aбн Blood Sovereign.

    Leonel was still ignorant to this, or even what such a title even meant. But, what he did know were two things. First, Aina could do what other humans could not in absorbing beast blood and taking their strengths as her own. This meant she could essentially create any Lineage Factor she wanted so long as she had the blood to do it. And second, her existence was a lethal attraction to Invalids, and especially Variant Invalids.

    In her rage, Aina''s blood had begun to boil and her Abyssal Panther blood resurfaced, giving her a carnivorous edge.

    The first second felt like an eternity, but the second second whizzed by so fast that it felt like they had been thrust into a pot of boiling oil. Their feet lit and their hearts threatened to jump out of their throats. Without a word, they dashed away, feeling the oppression about to suffocate them from all sides.

    The three clenched their fists as they picked a tunnel to rush into, unsurprisingly in the direction of Leonel''s finger.

    ''If I wasn''t so injuredбн'' Roxane''s nails dug into her palms, soothing herself with these thoughts of revenge and excuses.

    Ultimately, they were geniuses in their own right, how could they feel good about any of this? Now they could only hope that Leonel truly hadn''t lied.

    бн

    "бн You didn''t run into any Invalids while you were away?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    Aina''s back was still faced toward him and he couldn''t seem to take his eyes off of her slowly receding tattoos.

    Aina turned back and smiled like a blossoming flower. It was just a simple question, but its meaning meant the world to her. Leonel was actually asking about her wellbeing. She didn''t think she would miss something so simple, so profoundly.

    "A small bit. I entered a Sub-Dimensional Zone of the Silver Empire a few months ago and ran into some trouble thereбн But I came out fine."

    Leonel''s brows shot up when he heard the words Silver Empire. It was an interesting coincidence.

    After a moment, Leonel nodded. Aina''s words seemed to remind him of something else. As much as he wanted to control everything, there had been certain points where his people had been just fine on their own. His brothers had survived years in the Dimensional Verse without him, Aina had been through countless life and death experiences when he was nowhere to be found, even the likes of Savahn had been all on her own for a very long time.

    It was easy for him to only see things he had been through and filter everything through that lens, but there were people around him that had arguably been through worse. Every time he tried to shoehorn them into needing his protection, he was actually belittling them.

    "Have you thought about finding more powerful blood to ingest?"

    "I''m holding back on doing that for nowбн I''m very close to grasping a new, evolved Force. Once I do, I''ll burn away what remains of my curse and breakthrough."

    "Oh? You''re still holding back, huh?" Leonel chuckled.

    Aina grinned. "It''s okay, you''re still handsome when your face is swollen. I don''t mind protecting you for a few more decades."

    "Decades?" Leonel scoffed. "Like I said, I can beat you right now."

    "Maybe you can, but would you?" Aina blinked innocently, stretching her arms down toward her back and clasping her palms to rest on her ass. She leaned forward slightly and almost instantly, her chest seemed to double in size, her eyes glittering as she observed Leonel.

    Leonel opened his mouth to respond but suddenly found that his throat had dried out.

    Damned hormones, they had failed him again.

    Leonel shook his head and looked away. "Come on Little Blackstar, let''s go kill some Rapax. She really thinks she can bully us into submission."

    Aina''s smile brightened as Leonel turned and walked away. She hadn''t been this happy in a very long time.

    She sent a glance toward where the three youths had disappeared before entering a different entrance with Leonel.

    бн

    Not long after they had left.

    BANG!

    A Rapax fell heavily from above, its silver body rippling with power and strength. Its head turned from side to side, eyeing three entrances before it made a choice and dove into one.

 Chapter 1357 Easy to Trust

    Chapter 1357 Easy to Trust

    Aina thought about going to kill those three, it would make her feel more at ease. Plus, there was also the chance that she would be able to take the final step toward earning an Amethyst Token if she did. But, she decided against it.

    For one, she didn''t want to waste her and Leonel''s time. Plus, though she knew Leonel likely wouldn''t stop her, he wouldn''t be ecstatic about it either. He was always soft when it came to that kind of thing and Aina wasn''t fooled by his newfound bravado. Under the surface, he was still very much the same Leonel. If anything, he was only being more open with his true self around her. The core parts of his character had always remained unchanged.

    "There''s no need to be so eager. Karma has its way of working things out."

    Aina shook her head. "You? Believing in Karma? You could come up with a better lie, you know. You just don''t want me to kill them."

    Leonel smiled, lightly stroking Little Blackstar''s head. The little one was doing a bit better now, but Leonel could still feel him wince from time to time. He was too sensitive to Little Blackstar''s usual state to miss when he had shifted so far from baseline. Others might have a hard time reading a beast''s emotions, but that wasn''t the case for Leonel, especially when it came to a beast he was so intimately familiar with.

    A small distraction was exactly the kind of thing Leonel needed right now. Usually, such a thing would be almost impossible to find in a place like this, but he happened to have Aina by his side. As much as she had missed his care, Leonel had almost forgotten how much he liked to justбн talk with her.

    Leonel didn''t get to do much talking these days. His most recent intimate conversations were with a thousand year old ghost, and the other was in a drunken state he would rather forgetбн If Raj ever let him, that is.

    In a lot of ways, during their time together, Aina had become his best friend. This was maybe the greatest aspect of their relationship he had been ignoring the fact he missed.

    Though they had been cordial over the last few days, and even somewhat close, there had always been a barrier there that neither had crossed, Aina out of respect and Leonel out ofбн stubbornness?

    But, this was why the words of his father were so profound to Leonel.

    He remembered that day he was in the Mayan Tomb, a naked girl kneeling over him and threatening to choke what remained of his life out of his body. Back then, he had realized it was his 18th birthday and he sighed in reliefбн He had sighed in relief because if he died after his 18th birthday, it would no longer be his father''s burden, his dad wouldn''t have to feel guilt, he would have done his duty in getting Leonel to adulthood.

    It had been so long since then but the sentiment still hung over Leonel''s headбн But his father''s words seemed to snap him away.

    There wasn''t some demarcating line where a father stopped being a father and a son stopped being a son. Leonel''s logical brain had tried to make it like that, but it simply wasn''t how life worked. To his dad, he was probably the very same baby boy he had been more than two decades ago.

    His father''s words had sounded sharp and grating, but to Leonel, they were like a passбн His father reminding him that it was alright for him to take his time to grow, that he didn''t have to be perfect immediately, that he still had his old man protecting him to his front.

    When it came to his father, it was very easy for Leonel to trust.

    "Maybe not Karma in the normal sense, but the old ghost has told me a lot of interesting things about Force and how it breathes life into everything around it. It made me think, if Force is the underlying foundation to all that there is, and every action causes a disruption in it, then there might very well be some supernatural balance that keeps everything in check.

    "Who knows, maybe Karma is real, then."

    Aina blinked. "Old ghost?"

    "Ahбн" Leonel laughed, he had forgotten that there were now things in his life Aina was completely ignorant to. He was so used to telling her everything and her knowing everything he meant that he hadn''t considered an opposing world view.

    When Aina was caught up with Wise Star Order and everything related to him, her brows shot up.

    Unsurprisingly, she didn''t like the idea of Leonel being in a constant death match with an old man so much more seasoned and experienced than him. But, it seemed that there would be no convincing Leonel otherwise so she could only take a step back in this regard.

    Aina fell into her thoughts, her mind suddenly feeling as though it was blooming toward something new. The words Leonel had used to explain how Wise Star Order viewed the Dimensional Verse weren''t things that she had ever heard before. Noбн It was more accurate to say that she had known of them, but she had never heard them stated so clearly and firmly.

    It made her wonderбн Was this how her intuition worked? Did the Force speak to her like it had a life of their own? Is that what was always whispering to her whenever she made a decision about her training? Whenever she chose ingredients for a meal or a pill concoction?

    Aina''s breathing grew deep and unhurried, her gaze glazing over for several moments.

    Seeing this, Leonel smiled but didn''t say anything. It seemed that she was having another breakthrough.

    Right then, Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened. He gently placed Little Blackstar on Aina''s shoulder before his figure vanished.

    In the very next instant, he had appeared dozens of meters away, soaring through the air above the head of a Runed Rapax.

    His eyes glowed with a hidden crimson light, a murderous intent erupting from him.

 Chapter 1358 Couldnt

    Chapter 1358 Couldn''t

    BANG!

    Leonel''s fist flew forward like a falling meteor, shattering the metallic carapace of Runed Rapax before him.

    From start to finish, it had been an absolute slaughter. What had started off as a Rapax stalking their position had immediately turned into an all out assault.

    In one moment, Leonel had been by Aina''s side, in the next he was above a Rapax''s head, his fist falling as though an ice infused rock through the atmosphere.

    His gaze flashed with a hidden Rune, his body covered in a destructive crimson coating that seemed to burn everything in its path. In a single strike, a Tier 9 Fifth Dimension Runed Rapax had fallen without even a method to fight back.

    As cautious as Leonel had been last time, he didn''t even bother to store this Rapax away before it died. His foot stamped down on its neck, shattering its spine and severing his head from its shoulders. Then, he ripped out what remained of its spine, taking with it its tail.

    He snapped it all together, squeezing tight until the joints crumpled together into a long makeshift polearm with a scorpion-like blade on one end. It alone was easily over three meters long but Leonel didn''t seem to care at all.

    Ignoring the dismembered corpse, he took his new ''spear'' and turned back to find Aina waiting with Little Blackstar in her arms.

    "Don''t look at me like that, there was really nothing I could say this time." Leonel said.

    It was true, the Rapax had just fallen from the skies and it tried to stalk them, maybe because it had more questions than answers about certain things. It wasn''t exactly the situation for Leonel to explain things before he acted.

    "No, you definitely could have, but that''s not what I''m looking at you for. You got stronger again."

    "Oh, that. I was teetering on a breakthrough before I fought the Sixth Dimensional Runed Rapax and I broke through just before I beat it. It''s pretty useful."

    Aina''s irises twinkled. Her senses weren''t as sharp as Leonel''s, but her battle sense and intuition was on a different level entirely. She could tell that Leonel''s force output, as in the strength in his arms and legs, hadn''t changed at all. And yet, somehow, his damage potential had skyrocketed enough to make a Runed Rapax look like playdough. The difference was enormous.

    Of course, the only Runed Rapax Leonel had fought until now was a Sixth Dimensional one so he didn''t have an appropriate gauge for how powerful they were in the Fifth Dimension. But, they still knew enough to know that they should be more powerful than that.

    This ''breakthrough'' Leonel was speaking of was the formation of his Scarlet Star Rune. He had been on the verge of forming it before and just barely managed to against the Sixth Dimensional Runed Rapax. Unfortunately, against it, it hadn''t been enough. But, against its lower Dimensional counterpart, it was a different matter entirely.

    In its presence, things tended to become far more fragile than they really were and even without any additional force output, it was as though the world scaled down in its sturdiness to benefit Leonel. Plus, it felt more pointed and controlled.

    Leonel was a bit confident now that he could use a spear without destroying it, but he still chose this route instead so that he could fine tune some things. This spear would do him well enough for now. Plus, he felt that he was close to Tier 6 after forming his Rune and he didn''t want to have to lose another spear under the whims of a sudden breakthrough as his Eighth Star formed.

    Aina, though, didn''t take her off of Leonel.

    "I know I looked very valiant just now, but I have a head between these broad shoulders." Leonel feigned hurt. "You can''t just look at me like a slab of meat."

    Aina was caught off guard for a moment before she sputtered. She knew this was Leonel''s way of getting her back for just moments before. Maybe only these two could so casually banter this deep into enemy territory as though there wasn''t a hunter coming at them right this moment.

    "That''s not it. It''s just that your dad seemed to have done something to you. You don''t feel any different? Nothing''s changed?"

    Leonel paused for a moment, not answering immediately.

    The two broke out into a run once again, heading down the winding tunnels. Leonel''s sense of direction was immaculate and despite the number of twists and turns they took, he was always able to point out the very same direction he had pointed out to the three youths that had followed them.

    He only had two goals in mind. The first was to avoid the center of these nests. There was no doubt that they were the most protected regions and they would also have the most powerful warriors. The center was where the eggs should converge and be located, so it made sense they would be the most heavily guarded.

    With this goal in mind, he had to ensure that the paths he took brought him closer to the direction he wanted to go while not locking them into an obvious death sentence.

    The second goal, obviously, was to continue to head in the direction of the nearest exit.

    "I''m not sure. It both feels like I''ve changed and that I haven''t. My mind is clearer and more relaxed, my number of split minds increased another tenfold from ten million, and I''ve suddenly thought of countless other ways to use my Ability Index.

    "But, I also don''t feel different. It just feels natural."

    Leonel knew that there was something off. His Ability had gone from being suppressed back down to Tier 3 to suddenly being stronger within Tier 4 than he had ever been in a benign environment. He had no doubt that if he returned to a lesser world now, he would experience another huge burst to his Ability that was still being hampered here.

    It was just thatбн he couldn''t understand why.

    [Fallen Apostle''s reception has been amazing!! Thank you all for the support!!]

 Chapter 1359 Square One

    Chapter 1359 Square One

    Leonel had been aware that his father had been tinkering with his body for a long while. Maybe it took a personality like Leonel''s to not be bothered by it in the slightest.

    The first oddity was obviously the vomit smoothies he had been forced to drink for as long as he could remember. His father had been so insistent that despite hating it with all his being, Leonel still never missed a single day.

    In the end, it seemed to have been worth it. Originally, Leonel had thought that it was designed to strengthen his body. Right after the Metamorphosis, his body seemed to undergo odd burst periods where his speed and strength would increase faster than they should for a person without using a special training technique or method. But, after reawakening his Innate Node, Leonel became almost 100% certain that the smoothies were actually for the purpose of providing enough strength to allow him to accomplish such a feat, something he hadn''t quite understood was an enormous deal until meeting Wise Star Order.

    However, now, Leonel was suddenly not so sure anymore.

    For one, the entire reason he had had such an enormous store of Anarchic Force within his body to begin with was because, according to Wise Star Order, he had stolen energy from the Regulator. If the energy he needed to reform his Innate Node came from the Regulator, then what role did the smoothies play?

    Was he overthinking things? Had he been mistaken? Or was it that both had played a role?

    Leonel suddenly felt that he understood far too little about his dad. The man was messing with his son''s body as though he had access to the knobs that defined everything that was him.

    ''That old man probably knows how to create Lineage Factors, I don''t doubt it at all.'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Leonel shook his head, his mind somehow both absent and running a million miles an hour at the same time.

    His father seemed to be dealing with a burden he wasn''t telling anyone about. Leonel wanted to help, but there was really only so much he could do, not while he was still so weak. This was another large part of the reason he had made the decision to set aside the King nonsense for now to focus on blooming his own strength.

    As for how he would do that, he would just continue almost the path he was already on, focusing on comprehending his Innate Node. He hadn''t forgotten that that ticking time bomb was still looming over his head. At the same time, he also had to gain a firmer comprehension of his Ability Index as well, though that no longer seemed to be as important now that he could access Tier 4 on the Void Battlefieldбн

    Wise Star Order had said that Leonel''s Dream Force affinity was far too high for the level of mastery he had over his Ability Index, but he still had no real idea how to use it. This situation seemed to answer the question of ''how'' quite well. His father had sealed a portion of his Ability, or at least what seemed like his Ability.

    As for what extent, by Leonel''s estimation, it should probably be a level infinitesimally close to the Savant realm. If he was truly a Savant, he shouldn''t be able to utilize Force or comprehend the Universal Cycles, so this was the best explanation he could come up with.

    Of course, Leonel had thought of the wild possibility that his father had actually suppressed his Ability from the Savant levels down to normal ranges precisely so that he could do what Savants normally could not. But, after some more thought, Leonel felt that this was likely not the case.

    While it wasn''t the first time his father had accomplished something impossible, this felt like far more of a special case.

    During the months Leonel was bedridden and couldn''t move, he had had a great number of talks with Wise Star Order and in that time, he had come to understand Savants a bit more. The main reason Leonel thought it was impossible was because suppressing the Ability of Savants wasn''t a rare ability. No, it was rare, it was instead more accurate to say that all those of a certain level of power could do so.

    This ''power'' referred not to individual power, but rather the power of a family or Organization. The suppression and control of Savants was an entire sort of industry in and of itself, and it wasn''t as difficult as it might seem, or else Savants would rule everything.

    In fact, the favored method of Organizations and families that had savants was precisely to suppress them from Tier 5 down to a lesser Tier 4 or Tier 3. In extreme cases, it was even possible to suppress a Savant down to the point they had no Ability to access whatsoever, exactly like Earth had done with its Savants.

    The methods ranged from as simple as Earth''s which only required isolating the Savants from Force, to far more sophisticated methods wherein Savants might even end up permanently crippled without special intervention.

    This was all to say that even in such situations where Savants were suppressed to lesser Tiers, they were still unable to do as Leonel could do and begin to increase their strength as a normal person would. The moment you were born a Savant, you were forever cut off from such things.

    And, that didn''t even consider the biggest elephant in the room.

    If Leonel was born a Savant, he would have never been gifted an Innate Node by the Regulator to begin with. Savants couldn''t have or form Nodes, so they likewise couldn''t have Innate Nodes. In addition, if a Savant were to be given control over Scarlet Star Force, they would be similar to Elthor and his Chaotic Particle affinity. They wouldn''t be given an Innate Node to begin with.

    This evidence left Leonel at a bit of a loss for how to comprehend his father''s actions. It truly felt too disjointed and none of it made sense. So, he was right back to square oneбн Not understanding a thing.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1360 Profound Analysis

    1360 Profound Analysis

    It wasn''t all bad, though, this gave Leonel a chance to breathe a sigh of relief. Without having to worry about the weakness of his Ability Index for a while, he could focus on his Scarlet Star Innate Node like he had wanted to.

    The formation of a single Rune seemed to remind Leonel of just how far away he was from comprehending it entirely. This singular Rune was just a small branch of a small corner of a small segment of a small piece of the overall Natural Force Art that called his Innate Node home. Having comprehending a single one, his Force seemed to flow smoother and his Destructive capability had skyrocketed. But, other than this, it was just a reminder that he was weak.

    "If I had to improve, what would you say I have to do?" Leonel suddenly asked Aina.

    The two had been running for quite a while, but the tunnels were far too expansive. They hadn''t even run into another Rapax in over an hour.

    Leonel''s sense of direction had remained true and they were getting closer to their destination. Right now, Leonel could imagine them curling around the center of this particular Nest, avoiding its core regions while slingshotting closer to the exit.

    This method would take longer, but it was also safer. And, with the boost to his Internal Sight, Leonel could ensure that it stayed that way. As much as he wanted revenge for Little Blackstar, there were only so many Shadow Sovereigns the Rapax could have. Not to mention the fact they were a rare breed to begin with, the Rapax rarely awakened such Abilities as well. To Leonel, this meant that he would be able to find this individual again in due time so long as they didn''t die.

    "You''re asking me?" Aina raised an eyebrow. "I don''t know if I''m the best to ask. The path I take is different from yours."

    Aina and Leonel never really interfered in each other''s training, they just left each other to their own devices. So, Aina was a bit caught off guard by this question as well.

    "I want to know your opinion. When our minds connected, you felt it too, right?"

    Aina blushed slightly. That experience was a bitбн Well, she had definitely been impulsive. But, whether it was true or not, she still felt that allowing Leonel into her mind like that had made it far easier for him to make the decision he had just moments ago.

    She wasn''t wrong in thinking this either. Though Leonel had tried to ignore it, Aina''s emotions had hit him like a ton of bricks. But, as he had said, he was very good at closing himself off from such emotions.

    Aina had mostly been able to ignore that moment because she fell into a deep sleep right afterward. But, now that Leonel had brought it up, all those memories kept rushing back. It was just a shame that Leonel''s mind was far too complex for her to truly understand in that short span of time. Unlike Wise Star Order, she couldn''t shift through millions of minds in the blink of an eye.

    "I did butбн It was too vague. It was hard to get a read on you because you have too many split minds. And, at the same time, my Ability weakened a lot when applied to another person."

    "That''s fine, just tell me your perspective."

    "Iбн Well, I don''t really need to tell you what my Ability thought, I can just tell you what I think from observing you.

    "When you said you could beat someone as powerful as me ten out of ten times, I don''t think you were lying, but I think that''s actually part of the problem. Well, it isn''t objectively a problem, but it''s rather a problem relatively speaking considering the path you seem to be taking."

    "Mm?"

    Leonel was intrigued. He was interested in what Aina wanted to say.

    "Right now, you are focusing on your Innate Node, and rightfully so. Most probably should do that, especially if you''re on a ticking time clock like your Ancestor said. But, given your battle style, it might make more sense to focus more on your Ability instead.

    "Your raw battle strength isn''t your greatest strength, your mind is. Battle Sense is something that''s difficult to quantify and it''s especially so for you. Within a certain reasonable range, even without time to prepare, I would think that there are a rare few people you can''t defeat. If you had time to prepare, I think that even outside a reasonable range, you could still find a path to victory.

    "But that''s exactly the problem. Honing your strength requires repeatedly nailing down your strengths, then doubling and tripling down, it''s all about reproducing results and making sure that your battles are almost formulaic in their outcome. In my opinion, the strongest warriors are those that can force any enemy to fight on their chosen battlefield. Then, upon making said enemy meet you on your terms, you can reproduce the same victory again and again.

    "You, though, are the exact opposite. Because your mind is your greatest asset, the more variables there are, the more randomness and variety, the higher your chances. But, because of that, you can''t reproduce your results. Every victory looks different, and you don''t mind meeting an enemy on their battlefield.

    "This can look like a good thing, but what it also means is that a large majority of the training you do ends up being wasted. For every 100% increase to your overall strength, the strongest person you can defeat increases by a marginal amount until you trigger a watershed. Sometimes the return is even worse.

    "One day you might double your speed, but you''re just as content to not move a single step in a battle so long as you think this is the best approach to victory. At the same time, you might break through in your bowmanship, but you won''t even bother to use it if you can think of a better method.

    "Because you approach battle like this, focusing on anything other than your mind seems like a waste of effort. Or, at the very least, it should be your main focus."

    Leonel fell into silence. He knew that Aina would have something profound to say. But, thisбн Was still beyond his expectations.

    What should he do?

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1361 Archetypes

    1361 Archetypes

    Aina couldn''t have been more right. In fact, she was so right that Leonel almost regretted not having asked this question earlier. All of his tendencies, she had gotten down to an exact science.

    Leonel rarely, if ever, went all out in battle. Sometimes it wasn''t even as Aina said and that he just felt there was a more efficient way to win, sometimes it was just because he liked having trump cards in his back pocket to prepare a perfect counter attack given the situation.

    The style of battle Leonel liked to use was one that withheld as many cards as possible until it was the most advantageous moment to use them. There was even a very long time in his life where he didn''t even use his Speed Branch of his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor because it was so much more beneficial to have his enemies believe him to be a slow, bumbling, spearman.

    And this was just one example, Leonel could think of countless others Aina hadn''t mentioned, like his Wisdom Branch, his Gravity Domain, sometimes he even neglected to use his Radiant Force despite the fact Fire Elemental Force was quite literally one of his most powerful weapons.

    Then there was the most glaring one: His Bow Force.

    It was fine if Leonel saved his Bow Force as a trump card back when he could only use it two or three times in battle before collapsing. But now that he had a Quasi Life Grade bow, he quite literally didn''t have this problem at all, it had been entirely negated.

    Yet, Leonel was content to keep this card in back pocket, waiting for the moment he had to use it.

    But, all of this was fine until Leonel considered the words Aina hadn''t spokenбн

    A true warrior brought out their greatest strength and forced their enemies to meet them on their terms. They didn''t care about the retaliation of their enemy because they were already confident that their greatest strength would trump everything. Compared to this ideal, Leonel was sorely lacking. In fact, his battle style could even be said to be directly opposing to valiant.

    In some way, he had been aware of this. That was why during his battle with Myghell, he had chosen not to use his Ability Index at all. Leonel was far too confident in his ability to win with his mind. Even the likes of Myghell would only be a matter of an added bit of effort.

    If Leonel was honest, though, let alone a valiant warrior, his method of battle definitely didn''t feel like the way of a King either, and that was just the honest truth.

    Leonel fell into his thoughts, not quite sure of what direction to go in.

    He didn''t want to become a brute who only thought of honor in battle. That wasn''t him, even though he liked to dabble in it from time to time. He would never act that way during a battle that really meant something. At best, he had seen Myghell as a bit of funбн

    But, he felt that Aina''s words had great merit as well. What use was his training if he threw it all out the window the instant he entered a battle? It was no wonder why he could never settle on a Style, he was constantly going his own way and making up his own path.

    ''Styleбн''

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly flashed.

    ''Create new Ability sub-category. Call it Dream Class. Set parameters. Archer. Spearman. Fighter. Mage. Set sub-parameters.

    ''Sniper Archer. Explosive Archer.

    ''Strong Spearman. Flexible Spearman.

    ''Mixed Fighter. Speed Fighter.

    ''Fire Mage. Defensive Mage. Combat Mage.''

    Leonel''s mind went into overdrive, formulating a new ability, splitting it into four sub categories and then further into nine sub, sub categories.

    Dream Class was an application of Leonel''s Tier 4 Control. Leonel saw this situation just like he had his spear dilemma. He could never decide whether to focus on instinct or calculation, until the day it all snapped into place and he felt he could subtly grasp the intricacies of both.

    This would be no different.

    Leonel had four main archetypes. Archer, spearman, fighter and mage. Depending on the situation, he tended to rely on one or the other, sometimes mixing and matching.

    This time, however, he would do so far more deliberately. By shifting these four Archetypes into a Tier 4 Ability, he was essentially honing all the skill his body had in a certain path and fine tuning it to maximize his strength in this category.

    For example, if Leonel ran into an opponent he thought would best be dealt with as an Archer, the first thing he would ask himself is if he should be a Sniper Archer or Explosive Archer. The Sniper Archer archetype focused on long ranged, unmoving assault. It was a relentless pinning of an enemy from a distance. Explosive Archer involved movement. The power output was less than that of the Sniper Archer, but its flexibility benefited from it.

    Once Leonel made the decision of which to go with, he would activate Dream Class. Once Dream Class was in effect, everything about Leonel''s very being would shift to optimize this archetype.

    If he chose Explosive Archer, he would hone in on Light Elemental Force, movement technique conducive to evasion and firing at the same time would be prioritized, and he would focus on rapid fire rather than powerful shots.

    If he chose Sniper Archer, his Element of choice would lean more toward Fire. He would root himself in place, focusing on heaviness and power. Every strike would be aimed toward maximizing strength and quality of shot.

    ''Organize all techniques and abilities, categorize into archetypes, deduce strengthбн''

    Leonel began to organize everything he knew one by one. Some abilities fit into multiple archetypes, but he didn''t mind, duplicating them as he saw fit. Soon, he had finished tabulating the result and had come to a conclusion.

    ''Sniper Archer иC 0.58

    ''Explosive Archer иC 0.31

    ''Strong Spearman иC 0.13

    ''Flexible Spearman иC 0.11

    ''Mixed Fighter иC 0.07

    ''Speed Fighter иC 0.07

    ''Fire Mage иC 0.18

    ''Defensive Mage иC 0.11

    ''Combat Mage иC 0.10.''

    Leonel realized that of all the archetypes he could fit into, only Sniper Archer was even close to meeting his maximum output while relying on his Ability Index. All of the rest were severely lacking.

 Chapter 1362 Efficiency

    1362 Efficiency

    Though Leonel had subconsciously always known, seeing the numbers laid out before him now wasбн depressing. It only put into perspective just how right Aina was.

    The numbers were fairly straightforward. 1.00 was a theoretical maximum that Leonel could reach. This maximum was decided by the maximum strength Leonel could match by using his mind, this theoretical limit thus became his ceiling.

    It was difficult for Leonel to put a real Tier or Dimension on this max strength of his because the numbers were all so variable. No two Tier 9''s were the same and depending on talent, Ability Index, Lineage Factors, and a host of other variables, the strength of two individuals could be wildly different. This was why Leonel could use tricks and his mind to defeat Sixth Dimensional existences of lesser Galaxies, while here, it hadn''t been rare for him to run into Fifth Dimensional existence he had to put in quite some effort to defeat.

    Even now, Leonel didn''t believe that he had met the theoretically strongest existence within the Fifth Dimension yet. That Tier 9 Runed Rapax he had just defeated was only of a particular grade and according to Wise Star Order, there were definitely far more powerful Runed Rapax.

    This was all to say that assigning a value of 1.00 to his adjusted strength output was the best that Leonel could do. This was the value that took in a combination of everything he could do, his mind, his thinking speed, his quick reaction times and deduction abilities, and put them together to formulate a certain ceiling of strength.

    When things were looked at this way, the numbers became far more depressing. Sniper Archer was the best, but even that could only bring out 58% of Leonel''s true strength. A step down from that was Explosive Archer, but it plummeted 27 points down to 31%. The rest were even worse, Leonel almost couldn''t help but chuckle.

    ''It''s not accurate to say that this is 58% of my true strength, but it''s more like a measurement of efficiency. The closer I am to 100%, the more exponential the increase in my output, with a massive watershed occurring probably at least once per 20 points. That means I''m a lot further away than just 42% awayбн And that''s just with one.''

    Sniper Archer being the strongest wasn''t a surprise to Leonel. Bar none, Leonel''s strongest strength currently was his Bow Force. So long as he could be rooted to a singular spot and shoot to his heart''s content, his power output would be devastating. However, the rest was far worse.

    Fire Mage was a bit of a surprise at 0.18, but this was likely due to Leonel comprehending the first Rune of his Scarlet Star Force. Just that comprehension alone had closed the gap between his Bow Force and his lesser Dimensional Fire Force by a great measure.

    ''Hm, what ifбн Calculateбн Scarlet Mage.

    ''Scarlet Mage иC 3.19.''

    Seeing this number, Leonel sighed. It seems that even his mind couldn''t make up the gap of his inability to use Scarlet Star Force freely. 319% was a value that he found difficult to compute, especially since the scale he was using was exponential. If he ignored everything and was content to end his life here and now, it might not be impossible for him to kill even a Quasi Seventh Dimensional existence.

    After finishing these calculations, Leonel explained them all to Aina. After she looked at him a bit weirdly for a moment, she opened her mouth to speak, only to be stopped by Leonel''s chuckle.

    "What is it?"

    "Do youбн always break down your abilities with such raw numbers?"

    "I used to do it a lot more frequently, but the system was flawed when I used it on others because there were too many variables to account for. It''s 100% accurate when I use it on myself, though. It''s just that there''s no real point in doing so."

    "Wellбн Honestly, I''m not sure how these numbers would translate in the future. If you increased the efficiency of each individual Class, what would happen to your overall strength? How would you calculate it if the goalposts kept moving?"

    "Instead of moving the goal posts, I could just put a stake down as a checkpoint. That way, there will be a version 1 of 1.00 and a version 2."

    "Sure, you could do that, but then what would be the point? If your individual Classes would also be behind whatever version 2, 3 or 4 there was, then it just goes back to the idea that you should be focused on your mind anyway."

    "Maybeбн Unless I have a different sort of end goal."

    Aina''s brow raised, waiting for Leonel to continue.

    "Technically, given a number of factors, I could probably make a lot more than just nine Classes. If I mix and match, I could make Classes like Spearman Mage or Fire Archer, or any other number of things. The reason why I chose these exact nine, though, was because they are the most foundational. Everything else grows outward from them.

    "However, it''s because it''s all so disjointed that I''m probably having such issues to begin with, right? But, if I can increase the efficiency of each one, then my ability to tell exactly what should be used in battle skyrockets as well.

    "I tend to use as little as possible in battle, in one part to keep trump cards, but another reason is because it''s easier to perform high level calculations when the variables are minimized. Oddly enough, the reason why Sniper Archer is probably highest isn''t only due to my Bow Force, but it''s also by far the simplest of all the Classes.

    "If I can raise the efficiency of each class to 60, 70, maybe even 90%, or a theoretical 100% in the future, then how well I can shift from one style in battle to another also increases. Then, the day that I can use them all seamlessly and form a unique Style of my own will be in reach."

    Leonel smiled. This was what he wanted. A fusion of instinctual combat given by individual Classes and his mind''s calculative abilities. The results would definitely be beyond imagination.

    "Hm? We''re out of this hive."

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1363 Escape or Gamble?

    1363 Escape or Gamble?

    Leonel came to a pause, his gaze sharpening. His makeshift spear was gripped in his hands and his senses were primed.

    Their journey through this hive had been too smooth. Remembering back to the map Little Blackstar had gotten them, there was only one more hive to go through before they could escape this part of the Void Battlefield. But, it was all too convenient.

    Little Blackstar had managed to move fast enough to avoid the initial lock of senses that could have gone poorly for them. However, he had still ended up being detected by the Shadow Sovereign Rapax. Knowing this, the fact that they had only been hounded by a single Tier 9 Runed Rapax was too odd.

    Then there was something else to consider. From Little Blackstar''s memory, the Shadow Domain of the Shadow Sovereign Rapax had been far smaller than it should have been while deployed. In fact, it was only two or three meters in diameter, a size when compared to the scope of this network of Nests was like a needle drifting through the ocean. If it wasn''t because Little Blackstar was trying to blanket everything, it would have never been a problem.

    One might not understand why this was so odd. Given the fact that maintaining a Shadow Domain was so taxing on the user, wouldn''t it make sense to keep it as small as possible to begin with? Since the Shadow Domain followed its deployer as its epicenter, it was much more convenient to maintain a small Shadow Domain, especially for a hand to hand combat race like the Rapax. So long as they were fighting an enemy, three meters was more than enough to keep their target within frame.

    Leonel had, of course, thought of this as well. But, he still felt that something was off.

    For one, a Shadow Domain wasn''t under constant deployment. It required active thought and action to use. That meant, if one was focused on maintaining your stamina, you wouldn''t deploy it at all.

    Secondly, if under normal conditions you wouldn''t deploy a Shadow Domain, that would mean that there were very few instances where you would. One such instance was for the purpose of what Little Blackstar had tried to do by helping Leonel and Aina. However, another one should be battle.

    The issue wasбн Neither of these reasons made sense. Why would a Rapax be fighting in their own Nest?

    Of course, this was an odd thing to say considering they had been invaded by the likes of Leonel and the others, but the problem here was that a Rapax of such status wouldn''t personally help deal with what amounted to small fry in their eyes.

    ''Something about this just feelsбн off. This sort of trial is too dangerous to begin with. Thrusting us all into enemy territory like this without an easy way to come back just makes no sense. This feels like a stealth mission, but Void Palace isn''t a place that grooms assassins. There might be one or two Factions within that cater to that demographic, but definitely not enough to throw an entire generation under the bus like this.

    ''I would understand if we were just thrown onto the Battlefield itself and it was just a matter of survival. But a Rapax Nest? That''s more than a little excessive.

    ''Plus, from mom''s story about her relationship with dad, she wasn''t even allowed to step onto the Void Battlefield until she became a Galaxy Ranked disciple. And even then, she had dad as a supervisor to protect her.

    ''Did things really change this much? Is there new management? Is it possible that I''m being targeted? Or is it because this generation is more talented than others?

    ''But if it''s because we''re more talented, even if you upped the difficulty by a margin, was it necessary to react to this good news by throwing us into a fiery pit of hell?''

    Leonel didn''t even know what to think. Still, everything seemed to point toward this matter being a special event of sorts. If he was correct, then the odd coincidence of the Rapax he had met until this point being so manageable might not be such a coincidence at all.

    Leonel explained his thoughts to Aina.

    "бн So you think that the Rapax are occupied by something, which would explain the oddity of the Shadow Domain that hurt Blackstar?"

    "I think so. It would both explain why this Shadow Sovereign hasn''t come after us yet and why we''ve only run into manageable enemies. In fact, the only Sixth Dimensional Rapax we ran into was due to the fact I forced us to teleport together. If we had teleported individually like was intended, I have a feeling that we wouldn''t have had to deal with even that."

    "If it really is a special event like you said, then there''s two possibilities. The first is that we''re supposed to take advantage of this lull in security to escape as fast as possible. Orбн"

    "Or we''re supposed to go to the center of the Nest to begin with," Leonel finished.

    In truth, Leonel should have thought of this long ago, however, his life experiences had skewed his bias too far.

    Someone who innately trusted organizations might have already thought that there was no way the Void Palace would send their students to their death. As such, they would conclude that this couldn''t possibly be an impossible task and that there was either a hidden challenge here or the Void Palace had made it easier to escape.

    Leonel, however, who always seemed to have terrible luck with organizations, only really trusted himself. As such, he had little to no expectations of others helping him to remain safe at all. As such, in an irony of all ironies, Leonel, who had one of the sharpest minds of this generation, was actually one of the last to figure out something so simple.

    "What do you want to do?" Leonel asked. "Escape or gamble?"

    Aina smiled. "Let''s have fun."

    бн

    As expected, Leonel was correct. The greatest geniuses of this generation, a group that would have been Amethyst in almost any over Selection year, had already begun to converge upon the central Nest.

 Chapter 1364 Stumbled

    After stabilizing Little Blackstar and placing him within the Segmented Cube, Aina and Leonel broke out into a dead sprint. No longer worried about being found out and being more confident in the sort of trial they were currently taking part in, they took smaller measures toward protecting themselves in such a fashion.

    However, even as they ran, Leonel didn''t forget to check all his bases. This sort of thingбн It was still leaving an odd taste in his mouth.

    This matter seemed to require precise timing, but it had to be remembered that Leonel''s actions had stalled the True Selection for several months. Of course, it was possible that this event could take place over a long period of time, which was why the elders of the Void Palace would feel confident in allowing this to happen in the first place, but there was no way for Leonel to tell immediately.

    Luckily, he had a trusty encyclopaedia of sorts.

    ''Old man, what do you think about this?''

    Leonel reached out to Wise Star Order. But, surprisingly, he didn''t get an answer. He tried again, but was once more met with more silence. After a while, Leonel chuckled.

    ''You don''t need to be scared old man, my dad isn''t here anymore. You can stop hidingбн Not that it would do you much good to begin with.''

    A light coughed resounded in Leonel''s ears. It seemed filled with a hint of embarrassment and another part righteous indignation as though he was offended by the accusation. Unfortunately, there was no hiding it.

    When Velasco had appeared, Wise Star Order thought his life was forfeit. Though Leonel had vouched for this odd relationship of theirs, when a father wanted to act, what could a son do? This was especially so with Velasco considering anything Wise Star Order did in front of that man felt all too easy for the former to see right through.

    Luckily, he had left without doing much more than glancing in his general direction. However, Wise Star Order was still suffering from cold sweats.

    ''Just tell me, is there any ritual the Rapax might undergo, maybe something that is predictable, that would also last for a very long time? It should also be something that others might be able to benefit from, because I don''t'' see why the Void Palace would allow this unless there were benefits to be gottenбн

    ''Oh, and these benefits probably shouldn''t be enough to move Seventh Dimensional existences. Or, at the very least, they should be useless to Seventh Dimensional existences, or else it wouldn''t make sense for them to leave this opportunity to us rather than taking advantage themselves.''

    Leonel gave Wise Star Order a list of requirements, hoping the old man would be able to think of something. He would assume that a race like the Rapax might have many rituals and customs that could fall into such a category, but hopefully only a few that might be related to a Nest while also fitting these requirements.

    However, the answer he received from Wise Star Order was outside of his expectations.

    ''Noбн There shouldn''t be any ritual of the like. The Rapax aren''t a race that participates in such things. They have a very strict hierarchy, they live for war, and duty is at the forefront of their minds. They''re very big on cycles of life and giving, not to mention oneness of mind and purpose, it wouldn''t be like them to divert their attention toward any sort of ceremony.''

    Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    If there was no ritual, then what could possibly be happening?

    ''Then what about something that would require a large amount of precise control? There''s a Shadow Sovereign Rapax here whose Shadow Domain was shrunk to a suspiciously small area. The only reason I can think of that such a thing would be necessary is if they needed extremely fine control over a given area, but that much is far too broadбн''

    A Shadow Domain allowed a Shadow Sovereign to bend reality to their whims within certain limits, of course depending on Dimensional level. The larger the Domain, the more stamina it took. So, Leonel assumed that if the Shadow Domain had been shrunk, and it was unlike the Shadow Sovereign was in a heated battle, then it must be trying to control something or the environment around something.

    ''The Rapax birthed a Shadow Sovereign?!''

    The shout reverberated through Leonel''s mind, almost causing his feet to stumble.

    Aina quickly reached out a hand, stabilizing his shoulder with a worried expression on her face. Her first instinct was to think that what had happened before still had lingering effects on Leonel.

    ''What the hell old man?!''

    In his shock, Wise Star Order had done the equivalent of violently shaking Leonel''s soul. That felt no different from poking and prodding at an open wound. This wasn''t because Leonel''s soul was injured, but rather because it was like tender flesh in its current state, it was incredibly sensitive to outside pressures.

    ''Shut up, brat, you have no idea what this means!''

    ''Obviously not! That''s why I''m asking you!''

    ''I told you before that the Rapax don''t really have any culture or rituals, this much is true. But, they do have certain legends that they abide by. The birth of a Shadow Sovereign is akin to the birth of a King for the Rapax. A Runed Rapax with the abilities of a Shadow Sovereign is like a real Dragon. Upon reaching maturity, such an existence would be practically untouchable.''

    ''Why do you keep saying birth?''

    ''Because it hasn''t been born yet, idiot! It''s definitely still within its egg!''

    ''How the hell do you know that?''

    ''Common sense! You keep thinking that the Domain is too small when in reality it never shrunk to begin with, that''s just its original size.''

    ''That''s impossible. Little Blackstar wouldn''t lose to a newborn.''

    ''It''s not just a newborn, fool. Like I told you before, the Rapax have a tradition of using fertilizer for their newborn. But, when a talent on this level is in the process of being nurtured, they go several steps further. Even living Rapax pour all of their strength into it. This baby, under the Rapax''s care and nurturing, would be born at Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension instantly.''

    ''Waitбн'' Leonel suddenly thought of a possibility.

    ''That''s right. All the Rapax here, especially those of the highest levels, are currently severely weakened because they''ve given everything to this newborn. That''s likely why the Void Palace saw fit to send you all in.''

    ''But that isn''t enough of a reason for you to have screamed in my ears like that.''

    ''Of course it is! Rapax are the only humanoid species born from eggs! In that state, they''re not only very vulnerable, but they''re basically just like enormous Beast Crystals! Except unlike Beast Crystals, swallowing the Essence of a Rapax Egg that has been prepared in this fashion comes with its own supporting vitality!

    ''What I''m trying to say is that regardless of your Ability Index, if you swallow the Essence of a Rapax Egg that''s had so much vitality and Life Force poured into it, you gain its Ability without any side effects or impact to your own Ability Index!''

    Leonel almost stumbled and fell again. This time, it had nothing to do with Wise Star Order yelling in his ear.

 Chapter 1365 There was a Reason

    1365 There was a Reason

    Leonel was stunned, not knowing how to take this news. Even the Silver Tablet couldn''t do this.

    When the Silver Tablet erased the personality of a previously held Ability, it could be absorbed. But, one still had to be very careful about doing so. This was because when absorbed, both Abilities would combine and an average of the two would be taken. This meant that if you absorbed an Ability completely incompatible with yourself, you would essentially be crippling both Abilities, and by proxy, yourself.

    However, according to Wise Star Order, absorbing the Essence of this egg would be like gaining a second Ability without the side effects. The weird thing about this though wasбн

    Why was it that the elders of Void Palace didn''t want this? Why would anyone be opposed to something that essentially broke the fundamental rules of the Dimensional Verse?

    ''Why?'' Leonel asked. ''Are they really so kind hearted to leave this to us?''

    ''Kind hearted?'' Wise Star Order snorted. ''The Rapax aren''t fools, do you think they would leave themselves in such a vulnerable position just because? This entire hive is blocked off from existences above the Sixth Dimension. In fact, it''s not just this, but even higher level Sixth Dimensional existences have been completely blocked off. You lot are about the only ones that can enter in the first place.

    ''Secondly, did you not hear what I said about vitality? It''s the copious amounts of vitality within the Rapax egg that tricks the Regulator into believing there are two people, not one. This, as a result, allows the birth of two Ability Indexes within the same person.

    ''However, this vitality must be above or, at the very least, near your own. Like I said, the baby Rapax will be born at Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension using this ritual, that means you can''t be much stronger than this or else your vitality will be too great.

    ''If your vitality is too high, the Regulator won''t sense two lives, it will only sense yours. Once that happens, your two Abilities will fuse instead of remaining separate. That means that it''s impossible for anyone that''s too high Tiered to absorb this egg at all.''

    When it all settled in, Leonel let out a breath. So things were like thisбн The elders of the Void Palace couldn''t absorb this boon even if they wanted to.

    "Ainaбн"

    Leonel quickly explained everything Wise Star Order had explained to him. After taking it all in, she seemed to sigh a breath.

    "So that''s where that feeling was coming fromбн"

    When they had first landed here, Aina had said that there was something incredibly nutritious nearby. She had assumed, along with Leonel, that this came from the eggs and the ''fertilizer'' used to upkeep them. And, she was most definitely correct. It was just that she couldn''t have imagined that things would actually be like this. This was more than just a little nutritious, it was absolutely game changing.

    There were very few things in the Dimensional Verse that could break the balance of rules set.

    At the same time, though, this was odd. The Shadow Sovereign ability seemed perfect for Aina. But, if it was really so perfect, her Ability Index would have violently tugged her in that direction. Much like how she always knew the best meals to prepare for herself and the best training methods to use, she would also know when a great opportunity for improvement was nearby.

    If things had worked out as they should have, she would have figured out the use of this egg long before Leonel did and given him this information. Knowing this, Leonel would have drawn the appropriate conclusions long ago.

    "This is perfect for you." Leonel said. "Your battle style would fit seamlessly with this, I would think. It would also greatly boost your Darkness affinity."

    "No, I think it''ll be best if you absorb it." Aina suddenly said.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel rose an eyebrow. It wasn''t that Shadow Sovereign wouldn''t be useful to him. Given his mind, technically speaking, any additional strength he gained made it less likely for anyone to defeat him. The more tools he had at his disposal, the more options he had to react in battle.

    However, Leonel wasn''t too eager for this at the same time. And, there was no point for Little Blackstar to absorb the same Ability Index again. That left Aina as the best candidate.

    "My bodyбн doesn''t seem to want it." Aina said after a while. "I''m not sure why, but the more I think about it, the stronger my revulsion toward it grows. This is the first time I''ve felt this way. Usually I feel either nothing or positive emotions. I''ve never felt a negative emotion before. I feel that it would cripple me."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. He couldn''t quite understand why Aina would feel this way, he didn''t have a proper understanding. But, regardless, he trusted her judgment for herself. It hadn''t failed her before and he didn''t see why it would start now.

    "Plus, you spoke about your armor and your goals for it, right? A high darkness affinity is something you''ll need if you want to find a way to counter your Scarlet Star Force with Void Star Force."

    Leonel fell into silence. Aina wasn''t wrong, it was just that he had another solid method of raising his Darkness Elemental Affinity to great heights. But, now that she mentioned it, this methodбн This method just might be the easiest.

    Leonel didn''t know much about these Sovereigns, but he thought that it was about time he learned more.

    "Alright." He nodded. "Rapax."

    Aina''s thigh suddenly grew a size as she stamped a foot down hard. She blasted by Leonel, her battle ax shimmering.

    By the time Leonel rounded the corner, the Rapax in question had been split into two. However, it was what lay beyond that truly caught Leonel''s attention.

    The good news? They had made it to the core of the network of Nests like they wanted to.

    The bad news? Wellбн There was a reason they had run into so few Rapax during their time here.

 Chapter 1366 Muted

    1366 Muted

    Leonel took a breath, his grip on his spear tightening slightly.

    They were everywhere. Or, at the very least, it truly felt like it.

    The center of the Nest was an enormous, perforated, ball of rock. Pathways of all shapes and sizes, winding in all sorts of different directions, jetted out from the perforations.

    This perforated ball of rock hovered above what looked like a green sea. This oddly discolored sea gave off a strong, pungent smell that seared one''s nose hairs and tingled the skin. It looked like a vat of acid and Leonel wasn''t convinced that if he took a dip, that it would react any differently from one either.

    The number of Rapax that moved through this construction weren''t small. But, there was something odd about their movements. Despite the fact Aina had just killed one of their own and they were in fairly clear view of them, none seemed to react.

    That was when something that should have been obvious all this time clicked for Leonel.

    ''The Rapax are blind.''

    Leonel had never noticed any eyes on the Rapax. In fact, their pill shaped heads were covered by their metallic carapaces so he had just assumed that their eyes were underneath and they had a method of seeing through the metal casing. However, now Leonel realized that that assumption had been stupid to make. He was still trying to see everything the Rapax did through a human lens when they were decidedly not human at all.

    The Rapax must have used a different method to track their prey, and since they had no reason to lock onto this particular location, they wouldn''t react immediately.

    However, Leonel was no fool. He didn''t believe that the Rapax would be so inept. There was a large distance between the location he stood upon now and the perforated spherical rock that hung ahead. There was no pathway that connected it to where Leonel and Aina stood. If Leonel had to describe it, it was like they were standing in a window, looking through it. If they wanted in, they would have to find a doorway instead.

    Leonel had a feeling, though, that if they truly did find a doorway, the reception wouldn''t be nearly this benign. In fact, they would likely find themselves swarmed.

    Leonel fell into silence alongside Aina. The pair slowly backed away and retreated to the corner they had just wrapped around. Only then did they sigh a breath of relief and calmly access the situation again.

    They currently stood within a hallway, but there was a dead end on one side. It made Leonel a bit skeptical about how the Rapax had engineered this place. It seemed that this ''window'' was actually a designed lookout. But, it was obviously not a lookout for enemies, but rather a lookout for observing the work of the other Rapax.

    If Leonel was correct, this confirmed one matter: the Rapax did have methods of seeing things at long distances. And, secondly, it likely wouldn''t be long before the Rapax they had killed was noticed to be gone.

    Leonel wasn''t very worried about the second possibility mostly because at most it would just expose that there were enemies here, something the Rapax were already aware of. It was also possible that it could reveal their location, but Leonel was confident that they would have made a move by then.

    "So it''s an observation station?" Aina concluded the same thing Leonel had.

    "I think so."

    "Then we''ll need to find another entrance. But, even if we do, it''ll be very difficult to handle."

    "I can reverse engineer a path to a suitable entrance. I''ve already memorized the layout of that spherical hive hovering in the center of that acid lake. The issue isn''t that, it''s justбн What would we find on the inside?

    "If the inside is another maze, we can work with it. If it isn''t, then we''ll end up surrounded from all sides without a simple way to retreat."

    "Did you notice, by the way?" Aina suddenly asked.

    "Hm?"

    "The Anarchic Force. It''s still strong, but there''s something oddly mutated about it, as though it feel more malleable and less aggressive. It''s like a beast that''s been tranquilized."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. When Aina spoke those words, he too realized it. After a moment of thought, he felt like he had come to a conclusion, but he still reached out to Wise Star Order.

    ''бн Anarchic Force is the antithesis of life. It''s one thing for the Rapax to force their young to be born in such an environment, but it would be another thing entirely if they just allowed the Anarchic Force to kill them. The girl is sharper than you.

    ''The heavy Life Force in the air, caused by the fertilizer, has a sort of muting effect on Anarchic Force. This isn''t because Anarchic Force is being suppressed, but it''s rather because the Anarchic Force would rather target this pure and high level Life Force than target weak and unsavory babies.

    ''That vat of green is where it all is. The toxicity is concentrated in the top layer because that''s where all the Life Force and Anarchic Force are fusing. The result of their combat is something high poisonous to life.''

    Leonel nodded. He wasn''t shocked Aina noticed before he did, her Life Force affinity was off the charts, it was only right.

    But, this changed a few things about how Leonel could approach this.

    Firstly, muted Anarchic Force meant that he could use more Mage tactics and that his Bow Force''s range would be much longer.

    But, most importantlyбн He just might be able to draw a teleportation Force Art that could get them out of here so long as the Anarchic Force continued to be so docile. The formation wouldn''t be enough to take them far. But, at the very least, it would be able to get them out of the center of this Nest and toward an exit.

    There was no doubt that once they stole the egg, the Rapax would be livid. By then, their main focus should be on running for their lives.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, the sudden series of sounds making him peek his head around the corner once more.

    There, on one of the winding paths, a group of youths charged, battling the Rapax that stood in their way.

 Chapter 1367 Wild Abandon

    1367 Wild Abandon

    The moment that group acted, it was as though a chain reaction had been set off. Several roars resounded and several more groups charged out, each claiming a path for themselves and cutting toward the perforated Nest.

    Leonel chuckled. It seemed that his worries about being found out were unfounded. The cascading effect of the movement of one suddenly unleashed a barrage of assaults from all sides.

    "Shall we?" Leonel asked.

    "But we haven''t found a doorway yet."

    Leonel grinned. "You didn''t know? Your boyfriend can fly, I''m basically Superman."

    Aina hardly got to respond before she found herself squealing. Leonel swept her into his arms and rounded the corner once more.

    He crouched into a powerful squat, his thighs bulging and calves compressing until they were as hard as steel. In that moment, his aura flourished, a blinding golden light enveloping his body as he was covered in head to toe by tiny white-gold scales.

    BANG!

    Leonel unfurled himself all at once, slicing through the air like a speeding bullet. Almost instantly, he appeared above the green lake, a singular dot in the skies amidst a commotion. But, even then, he somehow managed to be the center of attention.

    Steam rolling into battle, a beauty cradled in his arms, and wings spreading to his back. In this bleak world, he was like the only ray of radiant sun, the majestic sight of his very being attracting attention from all sides.

    Leonel soared, feeling his Snowy Star Owl blood rolling through his veins. He could feel it pressing against its very limits, the breakthrough in comprehension he had made in his Scarlet Star Force stimulating it all to the absolute extreme.

    Leonel let the feeling roll through him. He didn''t move, he simply let the air whip against his skin, his eyes closed and his expression peaceful. His skin began to radiate a delicate golden color that quickly became fiercer and fiercer. In those moments, everything around Leonel was so pure that even the foul stench of the Rapax Nest couldn''t approach him, the refreshing scent of a dawning day, delicate dew drops and life wafting around him.

    There didn''t need to be a check, nor a guess. Leonel''s mind bloomed like a flower, stepping past the barriers of the Fifth Dimension and sweeping into the Sixth.

    At that moment, Leonel''s Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor had reached the pinnacle of perfection, unsealing all three Branches to the Fourth Awakening.

    BOOM!

    Leonel flapped his wings a single time, his already fast speed suddenly doubling, a violent clap of wind shredding the air to his back as he cut through it all even faster.

    BANG!

    Leonel swung his feet forward, their soles smashing into the head of a Rapax and crushing their silver skull. He landed heavily on a winding platform, already having covered more than half the distance.

    The Rapax crumpled beneath his feet, a heavy domain pressing down and shredding it to pieces.

    Aina jumped from Leonel''s arms, her battle ax in tow. A single sweep seemed to sever the world itself, the Rapax in her path finding themselves experiencing just the same fate.

    "SKKKREEEEE!"

    Leonel''s mind felt as though it had been injected directly with adrenaline. Everything was so clear, not just through his Internal Sight, but through his eyes especially. He could see further, even the slightest bits of detail were laid bare before him.

    In that moment, things that Leonel would usually rely on his Internal Sight to pick up on suddenly didn''t need it at all. And, just like that, the advantage the Rapax had had over him vanished in a puff of smoke.

    Leonel took a step forward, his figure crossing tens of meters in a single bound. When he appeared again, he had seemingly already chosen the perfect position to dodge a coming kick, his makeshift spear stabbing outward and ripping through a gap that felt infinitesimally small in its plate armor.

    Right then, the Rapax crumbled, but so too did Leonel''s makeshift spear, combusting to ash in his palm. Leonel immediately knew why that was. It seems he had gotten the Spear Domain to acknowledge him enough to hold a spear without destroying it, but he still hadn''t gained enough acknowledgement to be able to make it acknowledge one of his creations just yet.

    However, this wasn''t enough to make Leonel slow in the slightest. If he couldn''t use a spear, then he would just use his fists.

    ''Dream Class. Speed Fighter.''

    Leonel''s steps shifted, his body flickering and his speed reaching nigh untouchable levels. He left afterimages in his wake. Whenever he appeared, another fist would jet outward, blasting a hole through yet another Rapax.

    His eyes darted back and forth. It felt like there was nothing he couldn''t see, nothing he couldn''t observe.

    The twitch of their muscles, the shift in their weight, even the slight change caused by a rush of their blood was all picked up by him.

    Numbers seemed to float in his vision. Speed, weight, power, distance, it all branched off one after another. It was as though Leonel''s Dream World had manifested into reality, layering atop what was with an objective measure of what is.

    It would be a very long time until Leonel realized that this was the first instance of his Dream Force working as it should, his consciousness projecting into the world and effecting it. This is what it truly meant to have high Dream Force affinity.

    A wild grin spread across Leonel''s face. Every swing of his fist and every slice of Aina''s ax only made him smile all the more wildly. This feelingбн it was exhilarating!

    Leonel shifted around another Rapax, sidestepping the tail of another as his hand reached out, snatching the curved blade with his bare palm and squeezing down.

    CHII!

    The metallic tail crumbled, wild Bronze Runes racing beneath Leonel''s scales.

    Leonel gave a strong pull, causing the Rapax to suddenly find itself flying in his direction, only to be met by a fist that crushed its head.

    He stepped over the corpse, his body swaying to one side to dodge a kick. His wing slapped outward, causing the balance of the Rapax to falter and spin.

    "HA!"

    Leonel took a strong step forward with one leg and sent the other shooting straight up. His heel connected with the chin of the Rapax with such force that its head was ripped from its body.

    Leonel''s roar bellowed through the Rapax Nest, his blood flowing with wild abandon.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1368 0.15

    1368 0.15

    Leonel left a blazing trail in his wake. Sometimes, it would feel as though he was attacking three different places at once, his speed so fast that it was almost impossible to keep up with.

    The First Awakening of the Speed Branch merely allowed Leonel to access Light Elemental Force in a fashion that could boost his fast twitch capabilities, not much unlike an Elemental Speedster, but on a much smaller and more controlled level.

    The Second Awakening gave Leonel access to the Star Road. It was the road of stars that appeared beneath his feet. Stepping onto the road made Leonel feel lighter and also seemed to weaken several forms of friction, making gliding through the air feel all too easy.

    The Third Awakening was primed for Awakening with the appearance of Leonel''s illusory wings and came into true being once Leonel''s wings gained physical form, spreading out from his body both powerfully and majestically.

    The Fourth Awakening, however, was the most profound of them all. Leonel felt Light Force fuse with his very bones and flesh, suddenly making him feel as light as a feather. The difference was so drastic that had it not been for the increase to his Wisdom Branch simultaneously, Leonel might have had to artificially slow himself just so that his mind could keep up.

    Now, Leonel suddenly had a body as sturdy as any Tier 9 forged weapon, and yet instead of being weighed down, he was as light and free as a breeze of air. Golden Runes shaped into delicate feather patterns danced between the Bronze Runes that were deeply carved onto his bones, making him feel as though he was gliding through the air as opposed to running on ground.

    In that moment, Leonel could feel the exhilaration of a speedster, a hearty laughter almost leaving his lips.

    The Morales family Lineage Factor was always known to be the cream of the crop because it circumvented the usual pitfalls and weaknesses of defensive Abilities in ways most others could not. Despite having skin as tough as metal, Leonel hardly lost any flexibility or speed. However, when a Lineage Factor that was already so amazing to begin with was suddenly stacked with another that not only erased its minor weaknesses, but even turned them into strengthбн

    Well. The results spoke for themselves.

    Leonel vanished, suddenly appearing above a Rapax that had just swung down a kick at full force. His toes lightly tapped the Rapax knee, causing a strong surge of Golden Spear Force infused with Snow Force and Destruction to slice downward.

    The Rapax immediately found its leg severed at the thigh, its weight falling forward as it lost its balance. It had already been leaning forward to begin with after its attack missed, but now it seemed that it wouldn''t be able to do anything at all as it fell toward Leonel.

    Leonel used the light touch of the tap of his foot to skip upward, his body spinning and a vicious kick landing on the side of the Rapax''s pill shaped head.

    The sound of metal crashing against metal resounded for just a moment before one side crumpled and collapsed. The Rapax''s head was ripped from its shoulders, its head being sent spiraling into the green lake below.

    Leonel landed on the ground for just a moment before he vanished once more, a spiraling circle of wind being left in his wake. Everywhere he passed, arcs of light would follow his swinging kicks and fists. The outline of a beautiful dance was marked, a gorgeous white gold painting the otherwise grotesque atmosphere.

    ''0.15.''

    Leonel could feel the shift in his Speed Fighter Class. The Fourth Awakening had caused his original 1.00 rating of himself going all out to increase, resetting the entire scale. However, even on this new scale, speed had become a relatively greater strength, causing his weakest Class which had sat at 0.07 just a moment ago, to more than double in efficiency.

    ''There are diminishing returns to such speeds. It was no wonder that even with such an enormous speed boost after reaching the Fourth Awakening that the Snow Star Owl would still only be a Sixth Dimensional beast.

    ''More speed equals more power, but that''s only if weight remains constant. This Lineage Factor gives me what feels like even more than a ridiculous tenfold increase in speed, but it does so by lowering my weight and by extension my momentum.

    ''If not for the fact I can rely on my Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, I would have to be very careful with how I used this speed as well or I would end up hurting myself.''

    This made perfect sense. This Lineage Factor was rooted in the blood of a bird. Birds were known for their hollow and fragile bone structures. This should have been something that Leonel had expected.

    However, he wasn''t disappointed. Right now, this boost was exactly what he needed. He was already confident before that no one would be able to stop him from getting this egg as he always had confidence in himself. But this only made him more assured.

    Leonel quickly cleared the Rapax. Because he and Aina had landed in the middle of the platform and had not started at the beginning like everyone else, they were far ahead. But, that came with its own problems as well. If they weren''t fast enough, they would end up pincered from not one, but two sides. By then, what advantage they had gained wouldn''t be worth it.

    However, Leonel had his own plans for this.

    Aina raced after Leonel, managing to keep up because of how often Leonel had to stop to battle. Any stragglers he missed were unceremoniously cut apart by her.

    The moment Leonel reached near the end of the platform, he released a low shout, his feet stamping down hard.

    A flickering golden Rune lit in Leonel''s irises, a searing heat dancing above his right hip.

    "Destroy!"

    A raging crimson aura erupted from Leonel.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1369 Easier, Not Harder

    ?1369 Easier, Not Harder

    Leonel''s Spear Force came out marked in crimson. As though his blade had been marred by dripping blood, it left streaks of rouge in the air, drawing hard lines into the pathway just as Aina rushed over.

    "Jump." Leonel called out.

    Aina complied, leaping into the air. She looked down wondering why it was Leonel had asked such a thing, only to find that the last point her foot had touched had already begun to crumble.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, his foot stomping down hard. He tugged at his Variant Earth Affinity, hard. He knew well that manipulating Earth in a Seventh Dimensional Plane like this one was impossible, it was far too hard. Maybe only when he formed his Sixth Dimensional Metal Body would he have a slight chance at effecting this environment to any large degree capable of helping in battle.

    But, right now, Leonel didn''t need a large change, he just needed a small nudge, just enough to get a chain reaction going. And that, he most definitely did.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The pathway crumbled. In one moment, there was just a small section of cracks. In the next, there was an entire network of crumbling rocks, falling down in a rain that pelted the surface of the green lake below.

    Aina landed lightly to Leonel''s side, her expression flickering. Even the most benign earth in a Seventh Dimensional world was probably stronger than even the most refined material of the Fifth and even much of the Sixth Dimension. What Leonel had just done was no small feat.

    She looked to Leonel''s side profile, only to find him breathing quite hard.

    "Are you okay?"

    Leonel turned back, facing the entrance to the perforated entrance.

    "I''m fine, just took a lot more out of me than I thought it would."

    Leonel took a deep breath, suddenly causing a large surge of Force to rush toward him. With a thought, he flipped a palm to reveal a Pure Force Crystal, feeling that it wasn''t enough. This was among the batch that the golden scaled koi fish had helped create. Even now, the little guy was still at work, which was excellent for Leonel because this was without a doubt one of the best ways to replenish oneself.

    Aina''s lip twitched. "Youбн"

    Leonel grinned. "I''m superman and I''m filthy rich, aren''t you very lucky?"

    Aina was speechless for a moment before she rolled her eyes. Wasn''t he getting a little bit too cocky?

    "Let''s go."

    There was already another surge of Rapax coming through, but now the two didn''t have to worry about any coming from behind them, at least not for now. Up ahead, there was an entrance to the true center of the Nest lay.

    ''That really did take a lot, the cost might not be worth it outside of very specific circumstances.''

    Just now, Leonel had drawn the single Rune he had comprehended. However, what he hadn''t expected was the heftiness of the backlash resulting from drawing it without Scarlet Star Force. Well, maybe backlash wasn''t the appropriate way to describe it, but the cost was definitely great.

    The Rune seemed to dislike being drawn with other Forces, even the somewhat compatible Radiant Force Leonel had ended up having to infuse his Spear Force with.

    Leonel could tell that if he had used Scarlet Star Force instead, he would have needed not even a fraction of the Force he ended up using. But, because he didn''t want to harm his body when they were in the beginning stages of such a dangerous mission, he had chosen this route instead.

    Luckily, everything worked out. But, he would need to keep this in mind for the future. Drawing the Rune was the most effective way to stoke Destruction, but the cost wasn''t worth it if it wasn''t done with Scarlet Star Force to begin with.

    But, that gave Leonel another scary realization. This meant that what he understood about his Scarlet Star Force was just the tip of the iceberg, there was actually room for it to get stronger.

    ''Idiot. Don''t you have a second Innate Node perfect for this?''

    Leonel''s expression flickered as he fought through the last line of Rapax.

    ''You mean?''

    ''Comprehending a Rune is supposed to make things easier, not harder on you, or else what would be the point in comprehending it at all? If things just got worse, then you might as well give up and wait for death.''

    ''So it''s not enough to use my Innate Node as is?''

    ''No. One Rune is far from enough to use the one inside you, but it is enough to use the smaller one with minimal effort.''

    ''Do I need to implant it into myself?''

    ''If that''s what you needed to do, I would have already told you to do it. You can''t. The moment that Innate Node enters your body, it''ll be triggered into undergoing the same growth as the one you have right now. It was only growing so slowly in that other brat because it wasn''t his Innate Node to begin with.''

    ''Then how do I use it?''

    ''This isn''t rocket science brat, just grab a hold of it and take control of it.''

    Leonel''s gaze glowed. His second Innate Node was only in the Fourth Dimension. However, it was precisely because of this that he could somewhat use it.

    He had been putting off finding a Spiritual Medium compatible with his comprehension of Camelot''s Magic System. In fact, he had concluded that the best Medium was his very own body. However, what was more compatible with his own body than his very own Innate Node?!

    Leonel''s split several minds to think about this matter as he and Aina burst through the final line, opening themselves up the true center of the Nest, becoming the very first ones to step foot inside.

    What lay before them was another elaborate network of mazes but this time, extrapolated into three dimensions.

    The obvious choice was to try to race to the center of this spherical mage, but Leonel''s gaze sharpened, his Dreamscape letting off an arc of lightning.

    ''Wise Star Order said that the green lake''s true purpose is the accumulation of Life Force. The only reason for the toxicity is its interaction with Anarchic Force. If not for this, it would practically be a wellspringбн That means that the destination isn''t the center of this mazeбн It''s the bottom.''

    Leonel''s gaze shifted downward.

    He could use his mind to map out this region and eventually find a path. Orбн

    "Let''s blast right through."

    Leonel''s demeanor shifted, his heart rushing. Excitement bubbled up within him.

 Chapter ?1370 Baffling

    ?1370 Baffling

    "Blast through?" Aina''s expression changed. She looked at Leonel as though he was a madman.

    She could tell that Leonel meant that he wanted to speed things up and rush through the maze by breaking through the walls. But, if that was so easy, everyone would be doing it. They just witnessed together how hard it was for Leonel to deal with that platform, and that had been a thin walkway to begin with. What kind of effort would it take to blast through reinforced walls?

    The Rapax obviously hadn''t built their Nests like mazes for fun, there was a purpose behind it. It made it far easier to defend and gave them an added buff toward enemies. The fact it had taken so much effort to get here in the first place was a testament to that.

    However, toward Aina''s words, Leonel only grinned.

    "Cut them down for me. I need a bit."

    Aina met Leonel''s gaze for a moment before she nodded. She would just have to wait to reprimand him for not explaining another time. This situation was even worse than before with Rapax still streaming in. So, she had to prioritize their safety first.

    The moment Aina stepped in front of him, Leonel took a breath and settled his mind. This region seemed flooded with nothing more than Fifth Dimensional solider Rapax. He hadn''t even seen a Runed Rapax yet, which was part of the reason their fight until now was so easy.

    Thanks to this, he didn''t have to worry about Aina''s safety at all. He could focus his everything on this.

    With a flip of his palm, a fingernail sized gemstone appeared in his hand. It seemed almost inconspicuous, but the moment it touched Leonel''s palm, it was as though it had been lit on fire. Even when Leonel squeezed his hand shut, radiant light spilled out through the cracks, causing rays of red-gold to splinter off in all directions. But, he remained silent, his mind soothed and calm.

    The feeling was a bit exhilarating and Leonel even felt a hint of excitement bubbling up, but he forcefully repressed it. For at least the first time, he needed it to be absolutely perfect. That way, he could replicate it through his absolute control and achieve the same result again and again.

    The Camelot Magic System had always required a Spiritual Medium. This was why they used wands and staffs. Some of Modred''s most powerful spells could only be cast with the help of her wand.

    Usually, these Spiritual Mediums were carved out of what the people of Camelot called Spiritual Trees. But, in Leonel''s understanding, these so-called Spiritual Trees had just been Quasi Fourth Dimensional trees capable of withstanding the amplification of Force.

    Through his study of the Natural Force Art left behind by Merlin, Leonel was able to learn that the best Spiritual Medium of a mage was actually their own body and this was where magehood and knighthood intersected. This realization was what led to the birth of Leonel''s Mage Core.

    Ironically, if one looked into Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella now, his Mage Core had sprung up and looked a lot like one would expect a Spiritual Tree to look. In that way, everything seemed to have come back around full circle.

    The petals of Leonel''s Mage Core each represented a separate Element. One for Fire, another for Space, and more for Light, Variant Earth, and now there was even one for Water. As Leonel improved, these petals grew more detailed and his Mage Core grew, allowing Leonel to pull more and more atmospheric Force toward himself.

    Like this, he became his own Spiritual Medium, allowing him to cast large scale spells with great effort on his part as he could rely on Force outside of his body.

    But, if one thought about itбн Didn''t the petals of a Mage Core sound and feel a lot like an Innate Node. In fact, the more Leonel thought about it, the more he loved the comparison. In fact, an Innate Node was just an even more intimate part of Leonel than even his Mage Core could be.

    This Innate Node in his palm right nowбн It was his, it was the very same Innate Node he had been born with as a child, the very one his mother suffered to birth with him, the very one that called down the Phenomena upon his birth. The intimacy he had with it, even after so long had passed, transcended almost anything else he had ever experienced in life.

    SHUUUUUUU!

    A strange vacuum seemed to form around Leonel. In that moment, his eyes snapped open, a wild red-gold light shimmering within his irises even as a similarly colored fog began to waft from his body.

    ''Junior Scarlet Mage.''

    Leonel exhaled a breath, the temperature around him skyrocketing more and more with every passing second. And yet, he had never felt better in his entire life.

    His scales lit on fire, his wings following suit soon after. He was bathed in a red gold flame, a moan almost escaping his lips as the intoxicating feeling spread throughout his body.

    And thenбн he tapped his foot to the ground.

    A rushing line of flames spread out from his, quickly drawing a majestic magic circle that surrounded him in the blink of an eye. Each line of fire seemed to race against one another, quickly completing their patterns one at a time.

    "Aina. Follow me."

    Aina''s ax swung down once more as Leonel stretched a hand out. In quick succession, several fire balls formed and shot past her, the heat making even her tough skin tingle.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Aina''s eyes widened as she watched the tunnel collapse. When she looked back, she found a hole where Leonel had been, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest.

    Aina quickly pursued, the sound of rumbling explosion resounding beneath her. No matter how fast she fell down each hole, she couldn''t seem to catch up, causing the astonishment on her face to only grow.

    She knew that these walls were actually fragile compared to normal Seventh Dimensional rock. After all, this Nest had to be built by hand, so it couldn''t be too difficult. As such, they were the equivalent of dried mud in the Third Dimension, within the Seventh Dimension.

    Still, despite knowing all of this, Aina couldn''t help but be baffled. Her axбн It could barely leave a small nick on these ''mud walls''.

    Suddenly, a rush of light flooded Aina''s vision and she realized the BOOMING sounds had calmed to a halt. When her vision cleared, she found Leonel standing before her and a vast underwater cavern before them.

    Streams of vibrant green waters snaked all around and several waterfalls pooled in from the sides. Toward the center, a delicate stack of heavily Runed eggs the size of a human lay, each booming with a clear heartbeat that rocked the soft bed of soaked soil they sat upon.

    In the very center, there was one egg that was not only by far the largest, it was the only one half submerged in a pond of green liquid. While the Runes of the eggs around it varied from Black to Bronze, to Silver and even Gold, its Runes was a bright green color, radiating its own light.

    However, this wasn''t the most shocking part of the cavern. There was already a battle raging on and it seemed to have been going on for a while. A liter of Rapax corpses lay, and at a single glance, it was easy to tell that each of them had been at the Seventh Dimension with only a rare few having been at the Sixth. It was a deduction enough to leave one frozen in shock.

    Still battling several more Rapax, a singular young man with simple black hair stood with nothing more than a sword in hand.

    When Leonel laid eyes on the young man, though, his expression went as cold as ice despite the star-like temperatures he was radiating.

    The Sword Deity.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1371 Deliberate Steps

    ?1371 Deliberate Steps

    Aina frowned. Looking toward Leonel''s back, she could feel that something was off. However, she didn''t know about what had happened between Leonel and Amery as she had already left before them. There didn''t seem to be anything too drastically different about Leonel''s expression, but she could just sense the shift. It wasn''t really something she had ever felt from him before, at least not in such an obvious and large quantity.

    Her gaze turned back to Amery, her brows furrowing deeper. Someone had gotten here before them and by the looks of it, they had already been here for a long while, even to the point of fighting all of these Rapax alone.

    The Seventh Dimensional Rapax that had fallen had clearly been severely weakened. However, even with that being the case, their strength was still beyond what normal Sixth Dimensional existences could match. And yet, somehow, this singular young man had taken them all on without the slightest hint of help from others.

    ''Sixth Dimension? He''s in the Sixth Dimension? Butбн''

    Aina had assumed that this young man was part of the True Selection, and likely even the one other Amethyst Token wielder everyone was talking about. But, everyone in their generation should still be within the Fifth Dimension, no? Void Palace didn''t allow anyone who had crossed that barrier in because they only raised students who had taken the God Path.

    Unlessбн Unless this young man managed to step onto the God Path without the help of the Void Palace?

    Aina wasn''t sure what such a thing would entail, but her intuition told her that such a feat wasn''t normal by any stretch of the imagination, even if you had a powerful family backing you.

    "You know him?" Aina asked Leonel, treading lightly.

    Leonel didn''t answer immediately, his breathing calmed and his heart returned to its steady beat.

    "Let''s just say I have a few things to pay him back for." He said evenly.

    From start to finish, Amery didn''t look back. There was simply no way that someone who was battling such a large number of Rapax could possibly have such dull senses, so the only explanation was that he had sensed them and he simply didn''t care to divert his attention.

    Without a word, Leonel plopped down and crossed his legs, closing his eyes. Aina, who obviously witnessed this, had an odd change in expression. She could immediately sense that Leonel''s consciousness wasn''t in the present any longer, as though it had been sucked up elsewhere. He must want her to look over him, but this situation was a bitбн

    Unbeknownst to Aina who was perfectly correct in her statement, not only had Leonel''s consciousness vanished, but it had entered the Spear Domain world, his piercing eyes gazing over the horizon.

    When Amery defeated and quite frankly humiliated him what felt like a lifetime ago now, Leonel hadn''t actually been angry. Or, more accurately, he hadn''t reacted like he might have otherwise.

    Granted, part of the reason for this was because he was more focused on saving his own life than anything else. Being enraged at that time would have only brought him closer to his death, not further away.

    Still, even if Leonel hadn''t been so close to death''s door that day, his rage still wouldn''t have shown on his face. He just wasn''t that kind of person. He might choose to entertain an outward display of rage when it was related to someone close and dear to him. But, when it came to his own ego, he preferred a much more quiet, brewing storm.

    Leonel''s father had taught him a lot of things in his life. The ones of main importance were Respect and Persistence. He carried it wherever he went and one of the rare times he could find his father being serious about anything was when he spoke of them.

    However, there were many other lessons that Leonel had learned without being explicitly told. His father''s casual demeanor, hiding a lurking, slumbering beast within, was one of those things. A large part of the reason Leonel preferred to handle things himself was because he had observed these matters.

    A betrayal of his friend? He took it with a placid expression. A betrayal of his lover? He simply cut ties and let the relationship rot. A betrayal of his strength? He let it sit and fester, a small, disguised reminder at the back of his head, waiting to be awakened and remembered.

    Leonel took a step forward.

    The darkness of the Spear Domain hadn''t changed. A countless, endless chain of mountains, a dark and black sky, even the cracks of thunder and lightning didn''t shed much color at all.

    Leonel walked down a winding path, regions that used to pressure him greatly rolling off his shoulders as though they weren''t there at all.

    It had been a while since Leonel tried to claim a spear. He had stopped at the Quasi Silver Spear Peaks because it simply wasn''t smart to go on.

    Surviving in Spear Domain required a powerful Spear Force, but Leonel had always gotten away with far more because he had a powerful mind to offset his weaknesses. However, now, not only did he have a powerful mind that had recently entered the ranks of the Sixth Dimension, but his Spear Force had evolved to a level it had never touched beforeбн

    A strong barrier of separation lay between the Quasi Silver Ranks. As though wading through air as thick as crass black oil, Leonel was forced to push through, his light steps becoming heavier and even his skin beginning to weigh him down.

    However, he pushed through. A shroud of golden Spear Force surrounded him and pierced forward, shredding the curtain that lay ahead and allowing him to step through.

    The moment he did, the overwhelming pressure collapsed in from all sides. Leonel''s bones creaked and sweat fell from his brows, but he continued to walk forward, one deliberate step after another.

 Chapter 1372 Spear Domain

    1372 Spear Domain

    The spear graveyard in the Black Grade region of the Spear Domain had truly felt as such. However, as Leonel walked forward and crossed from the Bronze Grade region into the Silver Grade region, he felt as though he was entering a whole new world.

    The number of spears littered in the surroundings were just as numerous and, quite frankly, actually seemed to be far larger in number. The Bronze Grade region had already been twice as large as the Black Grade region, and despite just stepping foot in the Silver Grade region, Leonel could feel that the scale was even larger, at least ten times that of the Bronze Region.

    One would think that the more powerful the spears became, the less of them there would be. But, the Spear Domain seemed to throw this logic out of the window, and Leonel felt that maybe, just for this case alone, it made sense.

    Leonel didn''t know anything about the origins of the Spear Domain ring, but what he did know was that every spear here had been acknowledged by it. The Spear Domain wouldn''t allow unworthy spears to enter its ranks.

    Just by this logic alone, it would make sense that those with access to higher quality spears would be the largest pool of powerhouses whose tales could be found inscribed here.

    It made Leonel think, though. What was he missing out on?

    If his logic was sound, then that would mean that the spears in the Black and Bronze Regions were far more impressive for having made it so far. To take less and make more of what they had, the spearmen and women of those regions had to climb a far taller mountain.

    The thought made Leonel wonder if he was missing out on the best experiences the Spear Domain had to offer. Ever since he claimed his first Spear Peak, he had been treating the spears at the bottom of the hills as mere stepping stones. He only observed them for long enough to grasp their essence and bolster his understanding of the Domain that ruled over them all.

    Leonel took another heavy step forward, his chest heaving.

    In the future, he would definitely have to observe the Spear Domain for longer and see if there was anything he had skipped over and missed. He would also definitely have to ask Wise Star Order about what he might or might not know about it. But for nowбн

    He needed a Quasi Gold Spear.

    Leonel didn''t just want to beat Amery, he wanted to defeat him with a spear. Whether that was realistic or not, he didn''t know. And, for now, he didn''t care.

    Back then Amery had tried to take his Spear Domain ring away. There was no doubt in Leonel''s mind that Amery was well aware of what family he came from and what the origins of it were, but he simply did not care.

    It was obvious that Amery both didn''t fear the Morales family, and actually just might be enemies with them.

    Such a victory, Leonel didn''t just want to claim for himself, but also the Morales family. Of course, this wasn''t because Leonel had suddenly become a loyal to the core Morales family member. It was rather because, as far as he was concerned, this family would be his to control in the future. If he didn''t put his best foot forward nowбн When would he?

    "Haбн"

    Leonel pulled himself up the hill. By now, in the outside world, his body was completely drenched in sweat. A worried Aina watched on, but there was nothing that she could do. She had to protect Leonel from the front. She hadn''t forgotten that they were in the middle of a battlefield right this moment. If it wasn''t for Amery, they would have already been swarmed. But, it was clear from Leonel''s reaction that Amery was most definitely not an ally.

    The time continued to tick by an eventually an entire half hour had passed. The sweat drenching Leonel''s body had only gotten worse. If Aina didn''t know better, she would have thought that Leonel was being boiled alive, but what could possibly force someone with maybe the greatest Fire Elemental Affinity in the Human Domain to sweat like this?

    Aina could only be baffled. Leonel''s Force didn''t seem to be circulating and his strength seemed stagnate as his stamina plummeted. None of it made sense.

    Aina''s head suddenly snapped up, her gaze narrowing. She had expected this to happen, but when it finally did, she still couldn''t'' help but put her guard up.

    Several groups of youths poured in, having been delayed by going to the wrong location. When they saw the situation, many didn''t quite know or understand how to react. And, the few that recognized Amery, gave themselves a long pause, apprehension growing in their hearts.

    Conon of the Lio family, Simona of the Pyius family and the large Armand of the Tarius family were all present. However, they only represented the geniuses of just their foggy lake. Aina could tell instantly, just from her instinct alone, that there were at least six or more others that carried that same level of danger in the way they carried themselves.

    Leonel and Aina didn''t go unnoticed, and it made those that recognized them frown. They could accept Amery getting here before them, but Leonel and Aina were a different matter entirely.

    Among this number included a familiar group of three. Or, rather twoбн It seemed that the third of their trio hadn''t made it.

    The atmosphere immediately became odd. In the center, there was a singular young man fighting dozens of elite Rapax on his own. The effort on his part wasn''t small, but it was clear that he was reserving himself, waiting for something.

    Around this battle, several groups formed, among which was Leonel and Aina. Many of them eyed the egg, unwilling to take their eyes off of it. Not everyone understood exactly what was at stake here. In fact, the majority were ignorant. However, it didn''t take a genius to understand what the most valuable thing here was.

    Aina''s grip tightened around her ax, her eyes remaining focused as she protected Leonel to her back.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1373 Ill Explain

    ?1373 I''ll Explain

    The hilt of Aina''s battle ax slammed against the ground with a dull thud, a light breath leaving her lips. Her posture straightened and her eyes partially closed. Her aura seemed to steam and bubble, the dangerous air coming off of her multiplying several times every second even as the subtle patterns of a black panther crawled up her skin, highlighted by a faint crimson glow.

    Her hair was gently lifted into the wind before settling down, its length so long that it almost graced the ground with its presence. Though she didn''t move or say a single word, her entire demeanor screamed danger. If anyone took even a single step toward Leonel, she would lash out.

    The gazes of several of the geniuses narrowed. Everyone had the feeling that this situation was only growing more complicated with each passing moment and it was difficult for them to tell exactly where their place should be.

    It was difficult enough for the absolute geniuses who would have been Amethyst Token wielders in other years to decide how to act, but the stragglers that were Golden Token wielders at best were even more lost, suddenly feeling that it was a mistake to come so far.

    At that moment, completely out of everyone''s expectations, Leonel''s eyes suddenly shot open.

    A ring of light violently expanded outward, causing a wind to kick up and a wall of pressure to push outward. Some of the weaker individuals found themselves almost lifted up from their feet, their bodies being sent stumbling backward.

    "Haбн"

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, his body slowly rising. He reached out with a hand, sweat dancing down the contours of his shredded physique. As his Metal Body progressed, it only seemed to make every fiber more defined, every peak larger and every valley deeper, only for it all to be tightly compressed into a lean, thrumming engine.

    A spear seemed to manifest from motes of light in the air at the behest of his fingers. The lights grew more numerous before concentrating into a solid weight that fell with the heft of a mountain into Leonel''s grip.

    For a moment, there was nothing more than a blinding rod of light, too bright to see any of its individual features. However, when its coat of light began to flake off, dancing in the air like twinkling stars, what was left was a spear too stunning to even be properly described in words.

    Its length was about two and a half meters from tip to tip, its minor details more beautiful and gorgeous than the last. Its shaft took up most of its weight, designed with white hexagonal plates of metal. In between the gaps of these white hexagonal plates, radiant golden lights were hidden within, giving off an air of unmatched purity.

    The spear''s blade was a mixture of lethality and astounding design. It had the shape of a harpoon, one side of its blade edge being as flat and smooth as a sword''s edge and the other forming three menacing curves that looked like a shark''s teeth.

    The blade was almost two feet long alone and was a blinding golden color. Sometimes it would appear to be as solid as a finely worked piece of metal, and at other times it would appear as intangible as light itself, dancing between the two dichotomies with a deft ease.

    Leonel''s grip tightened, his arm flexing as he casually swept his spear to the side in an elegant arc.

    BANG!

    The ground was sliced in two and immediately lifted beneath the wind pressure alone, a slab of rock rising up and crash into an opposing wall.

    The spear made the Seventh Dimensional terrain look like nothing more than playdough, its prowess shining through with a healthy arrogance.

    Leonel''s free palm still held onto his original Innate Node. Without much of a thought, he slid it into his mouth, allowing it to rest beneath his tongue. The familiar heat coursed through his body, making him feel free and alive.

    His glance swept over Aina. She seemed primed and ready, but he simply smiled. Taking a step forward, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his embrace.

    Aina, caught off guard by the sudden showing of affection, faltered slightly. Something about Leonel''s sweat after so long consuming Cleansing Waters everyday was particularly refreshing and almost oppressively masculine. It was the kind of smell that left her eyes a bit hazy without her knowledge.

    "You like when I explain what I want to do, right?"

    Aina looked up and toward Leonel''s side profile, her gaze suddenly blinking expectedly.

    "Then I''ll tell you." Leonel''s grin only widened with every passing second.

    He swept his gaze over the growing number of groups before his gaze landed on Amery.

    "You see that guy over there," he pointed with his spear, "before we leave this Nest today, I''m going to kick his ass. But you see, it''s kind of unfair, and I''m not a fan of giving my enemies excuses. So, first, I drained most of my stamina claiming this Quasi Gold Spear."

    Leonel''s gaze shifted from Amery''s back, rolling through the crowd of people once more, his voice being the only sound amidst the battle cries and clashes of the Rapax and Amery.

    "But, I don''t think that''s enough, honestly. I''ve also heard that there are a lot of people who think my Amethyst Token shouldn''t be in my hands."

    Leonel released his grip on Aina, taking slow steps forward. His palm flipped over, an Amethyst Token appearing within.

    With a flick of his thumb, the Token barreled forth before being firmly stuck in the ceiling above Leonel''s head, unmoving.

    "So, I thought that I would deal with that first."

    At that moment, Leonel''s eyes locked onto Armand. The image of the latter''s disdain due to his bloodline''s reaction was still seared into his memory. Since that moment, he had had every intention of defeating this person using the Luxnix family''s Lineage Factor.

    "You. I don''t really care if you all come together or one by one. Either way, you''ll fall beneath my blade first."

 Chapter 1374 Monster in Beast Skin

    1374 Monster in Beast Skin

    A stunned sort of silence gripped the young geniuses, their eyes suddenly all focusing on the Amethyst Token vibrating in the ceiling. They had never thought that such a thing would happen, let alone in this sort of situation.

    [Author''s Note: Big booboo on my part. I keep saying Armand is part of the Tarius family but he''s actually part of the Taur family. This is an important distinction you guys will learn about in the future. Sorry for the continuity error]

    Armand''s eyes narrowed, his bare torso rippling with strength. Leonel was only just over two meters tall, but he stood at two and half meters, making the difference between them more than just a single head. With the two enormous axes by his side, one to each palm, he looked to be a giant.

    WHOOSH!

    In that moment, a figure suddenly flickered and vanished, their speed so blindingly fast that it was almost impossible to track with the naked eye. Their body seemed to lengthen into a thin string, their body breaking the laws of physics and reaching warp speeds. Even if one tried to blink during their movement, completing the action wouldn''t have been possible.

    The knife appeared before Leonel''s neck almost the instant after the figure moved.

    The blade shot through the air, its speed whipping by Leonel.

    When it finally came to a halt the figure that had wielded it had already passed Leonel, also coming to a stop. The sight of a young man drenched in black and red came into view. His body was lanky to an extreme but filled with a lean sort of explosive power. They weren''t too tall, but they weren''t too short either. Everything about them seemed to scream power.

    Howeverбн

    "You''re slow."

    Leonel''s words drifted into his ears. The young man''s gaze shifted from empty space to his blade, only to realize that there wasn''t the slightest hint of blood on it. When he looked back toward Leonel, he found that the latter had moved just half a foot to the right at a completely unknown time to him, just enough to dodge the blade by what would have been nothing more than a hair''s breadth.

    At that moment, a strong stomp shook the earth and caused the connecting rivers and waterfalls of green to ripple outward.

    Armand took another heavy stomp forward, causing a second quake to ripple outward. By the time he primed himself for a third, he was already in a charge, his tall, lumbering figure building up a deathly sort of momentum.

    "I advise you stay out of my way, Rowan Cancer. This bug to squash is mine and mine alone."

    Rowan stood in silence. He didn''t seem to react to anything, whether it was shame for having launched a sneak attack, nor his miss. It was as though none of it had to do with him. But, he continued to stare at the blade without a single word.

    "To insult the Taur family, will be the last thing you ever do."

    Leonel didn''t respond. It seemed that this man took pointing a spear toward him as an insult. But, that was fine by him. Today, he had a few points to prove.

    On the outskirts of the battlefield, within a group, a young man chuckled.

    "All this fighting when there are two beauty amongst beauties here. I really don''t know which one to choose. Choices, choices."

    The gaze of the young flickered back and forth between Aina and Simona, truly unable to decide which one to linger upon more. He had a feeling that this sort of matter would be dragged on for a very long time. And, judging by the situation, everyone was waiting for an opportunity to snag the biggest prize.

    Once Amery was tired out and had gracefully defeated all of the Rapax for them, there would be a chance to snag the highest prize amidst all the chaos. As far as he was concerned, fighting now would be nothing more than a stroke of the ego. It would waste his time, his stamina, and ruin whatever timing he had. Chasing beauties, howeverбн That was a very different matter.

    He, Jon Virg, could always make time to chase women. His mouth would never run out stamina, whether it was for talking or other thingsбк.

    BANG!

    Jon looked back from getting his fill, only for his pupils to constrict.

    A very familiar figure slid along the ground, their heavy body grinding to a halt at his feet.

    Armand''s hands trembled, flames licking at his arms that threatened to burn them to ash.

    Jon looked up from Armand to lock gazes with Leonel. Even without the latter saying a word, the warning seemed to be clear: ''watch where you''re looking''. Even while in the midst of battle, it seemed Leonel was well aware of his surroundings. Maybe far too aware.

    Armand slowly stood from the ground, his pupils constricting as he looked at the state of his forearms. For now, these injuries were only superficial and at most skin deep, something that wasn''t a problem for a warrior on his level. However, there was something about these flames that instilled a deep fear within him. If it wasn''t for his own Force eventually countering it, he felt that he could have already been burnt to ash.

    "бн Scarlet Star Forceбн"

    The words Armand spoke seemed to cause the atmosphere to freeze once more. Even Amery, who had yet to turn back to face even a single one of them, had a slight pause in his movements. The weight of such a Force was not small by any stretch of the imagination.

    In one moment, Leonel had gone from someone they were all certain had relied on his connections and nepotism to gain an Amethyst Token, to a monster in beast skin.

    The fiery light danced along Leonel''s skin, making him look like a Roman God bathed in Ambrosia. A steam wafted from his spear, the temperature around him skyrocketing.

    "Is that it?" He asked lightly. "If this is all my generation has to offer, don''t you think it would just be better if you all follow me instead?"

    Leonel grinned.

 Chapter ?1375 Shadows on the Other Side

    ?1375 Shadows on the Other Side

    Leonel with an ability to use his Scarlet Star Force, even at just the Fourth Dimensional level, was like giving wings to a tiger. Facing nothing more than a group of Fifth Dimensional existences only a Tier or two higher than him, it made the prowess of the number one flame in all of existence shine through all the more.

    Leonel''s words seemed to stoke a flame in the youths.

    "So that''s what this is about? I heard that the Littlest Nova is late to the party, but I didn''t expect you to be this desperate. Do you even understand the dynamics between our families to be asking such a question?"

    The one who spoke was surprising Conon of the Lio family. Despite his usual personality, he had become frighteningly reserved after seeing Amery present. He might have been the first to act had this situation not been so odd to begin with. The Rapax were so focused on trying to take down Amery that they hadn''t even splintered off a single one of them to try and wipe out what remained of their threats.

    Conon''s words, despite his brutish nature, actually sounded quite smart. And, despite seeing Armand, a man he could at best match evenly in battle, thrown back like a ragdoll, he hadn''t reacted to this very much either.

    "You can claim an upper hand for now. True State Force isn''t something that can be countered easily. But, we''ll all soon be in the Sixth Dimension, the level where true dividing lines and separations will happen.

    "You''re quite confident in your Innate Node, but do you know why Innate Nodes are rare amongst humans to begin with? Most people born with them end up dying before reaching their primes because they''ll be consumed by them. Innate Nodes are the path of the Spirituals. They''re the only race capable of coexisting with such a burden.

    "But for you, not only will our God Paths be able to counter your Scarlet Star Force in the future, but you might very well die in a few decades anyway.

    "So don''t you think you''re too arrogant?"

    Leonel tilted his head to the side, observing Conon from head to toe. He found it somewhat amusing that the man wearing radiant white gold plated armor was the one calling him out for being too arrogant. It was even funnier because he could feel something quite similar to his King''s Might coming off of Conon, making him quite sensitive to just how prideful this young man was.

    That said, Conon was right about one thing he said. Leonel didn''t know the dynamics between the families. For all he knew, asking this of these youths was asking them to betray some ties they had already formed or in the worst of cases, betray their family themselves. Howeverбн That wasn''t what Leonel had meant.

    "I think you''ve misunderstood me. When I said to follow me, I meant in my shadow. I''ve heard a lot of complaining about my Token, but now that I''m here, no one seems to want to prove or falsify anything. I''m just disappointed.

    "As for what you have to say about my Innate Nodeбн" Leonel''s smile faded. "бн Don''t assign limits you to do to yourself to me."

    Conon''s gaze narrowed, his expression turning dangerous. No one dared to speak to him like this, no one. But, the oppressive might coming off of Leonel seemed no leser than that of his own. Noбн It even felt like it faintly surpassed it.

    Conon''s brow couldn''t help but furrow. Was there a Lineage Factor that could match his family''s in such a field? Why had he never heard of it, then?

    Aina, though, found a very different problem with this situation.

    ''Leonelбн Isn''t usually like this. Something feels off.''

    She found it hard to describe. It wasn''t that Leonel wasn''t being himself, but it was rather that he wasбн being too much of himself? He might normally think these things in his mind, but it was rare for him to verbalize them.

    Everything from how he started this matter to how he ended it felt weird. First he wrapped his arm around her waist, then grandly told everyone his plan, and even after all of that, he didn''t seem to actually be taking tangible steps toward that goal. Everything had seemed overly showy and arrogant, even down to showing her off and claiming her grandly. But there was ultimately no substance to it all. Leonel wasn''t like that.

    Sure, he had knocked Armand down with a single blow and asserted his dominance. But, the Leonel she knew was less of a talker and much more a doer. He preferred to show his arrogance through actions rather than words. If he could do something quicker by punching, he wouldn''t bother wagging his tongue. And, when it came to matters related to her, he was especially sensitive.

    Aina had definitely noticed Jon''s looks. She hadn''t done anything because she felt that this was Leonel''s stage. Under normal circumstances, he would have already lashed out. And yetбн

    It was odd. On one hand, Aina thought that Leonel was being far more aggressive than he usually was. But, on another, he wasn''t being aggressive enough. To an outsider, it sounded like she was asking for the impossible. However to Aina, without intimately she understood Leonel, she knew something was off.

    There were only two possibilities. Either this was his Scarlet Star Force already making subtle changes to his personality, orбн

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. ''I knew it.''

    The actions of Amery were odd enough. However, the actions of the Runed Rapax elites bordered on absolutely ridiculous. If anything, the Rapax felt like a race of incompetent, bumbling buffoons with how they had handled everything up until this point. They had practically allowed a group of children to run rampant in their territory with barely any repercussions at all.

    This egg represented the pinnacle of their race, the future leading expert of their people and an investment they had poured practically everything into. Would this really be all the showing they had for such an important thing?

    On the other hand, Amery''s lack of a response to everything could be taken as a sign of his arrogance, but his pace was still too leisurely and his demeanor far too casual for what he was trying to accomplish.

    There was only one explanation for everything. It wasn''t just Amery that was waiting for somethingбн The Rapax were waiting for something too.

    On one side there was the Rapax. On another there was the Void Palace. And now, there was a third party.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    An entire segment of the underwater cavern collapsed, causing a wall of green water to rush in.

    It was then they appeared, sinister devils shrouded in darkness. The moment Leonel laid eyes on them, a deep revulsion from the depths of his soul took hold of him, a revulsion he could immediately tell was rooted in his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.

    He thought back to Wise Star Orders words. There were six Lineage Factors in the lightsбн And there were six in the darkбн

    ''бн They''re the shadows on the other sideбн''

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1376 Shadow

    ?1376 Shadow

    Leonel immediately shot backward, landing by Aina''s side. He crossed the face of Rowan without even glancing his way, his eyes still locked onto the surging waters and flickering shadows.

    These newcomers seemed to move slowly, but their speed was exceptionally fast. They almost instantly split into two groups, one converging onto the Rapax and the egg, while the others fanned out, clearly wanting to deal with the youths of the Void Palace.

    Almost the instant they did, Leonel felt an odd shift in the atmosphere. Several heads turned in his direction, their faces obscured by the shadows to the point even their body shapes were hard to make out. Whether they were male or female, fit or slim, even their heights seemed to wildly fluctuate, making Leonel''s calculations reboot every other second.

    A chilling wind nipped at Leonel''s neck, but his gaze only became colder. What was immediately obvious was that these individuals couldn''t break the rules of the Rapax either. They were all most definitely either within the Fifth Dimension or the low Sixth Dimensional Tiers.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. He couldn''t afford to use this as an experiment any longer. This wasn''t the time to train. It was a time to focus on survival.

    "Aina."

    "Yes."

    "Go all out."

    BANG!

    Both of their auras skyrocketed, intertwining in a blazing pillar. One side of blinding white gold and red. Another side of dense black and crimson.

    A shadow appeared before them both, only to be met with two blades simultaneously.

    BOOM!

    "Mature Snowy Star Owl? What an unexpected find. Be a good little boy and tell me where you got your Lineage Factor."

    The shadow''s dense fog seemed to morph, becoming two glistening bat wings that reflected hues of silver from time to time as though it had trapped the rays of the moon.

    Leonel''s lips upturned, forming a sneer. "I''m pretty interested in where yours came from too."

    The shadow seemed stunned for a moment, its wings slightly trembling as one half blocked Leonel''s spear and the other handled Aina''s battle ax. Even facing the two of them, its feet dug into the ground, its powerful legs pushing back without losing out in the slightest. However, it soon burst into a fit of laughter that grated on the ears, making Leonel feel as though a fork was scraping against his eardrum.

    "You want to know where mine comes from? I have not met a boy so arrogant and ignorant in my life! Do you believe that even if you did know, that you could do something about it?!"

    The wings of the shadow flexed. An uncontrollable strength pulsed down Leonel''s arms. He immediately found his balance shifting, his attempts at forcing down and fighting back against the feeling failing. Without suspense, both he and Aina were forced back, their bodies sliding against the ground.

    Leonel''s blood rumbled, immediately allowing his wings to unfurl from his back once more. He realized in that moment that there was no sense in holding back against these people.

    Scales of white gold erupted across his skin, hiding the dense Bronze Runes that formed beneath them.

    In that moment, his speed skyrocketed, the golden blade of his spear shimmering with an added flare as he struck outward over a dozen times in quick succession.

    Aina''s pupils elongated and sharpened, her canines growing and the black fog that came off of herself becoming all the more prominent.

    The pair shot forward in unison, their blades practically intertwining and leaving wild streaks of shimmering, sharp Force in the air.

    Leonel''s figure flickered, his Spear Crown erupting. Radiant light followed his every movement.

    Aina''s strides were long, her attacks wild. Each movement carried with it an explosive power.

    The dichotomy of fast and swift versus powerful and purposeful almost instantly overwhelmed the shadow. Leonel was able to calculate Aina''s next move even before she did it and Aina was able to instinctually react to every action Leonel took. Despite it having been over a year since the two fought with one another, it felt as though they had never missed a single day.

    Leonel''s spear flickered, appearing before the shadow''s throat, only to instantly find a wing in its path. However, as though he had expected exactly this much, he had already moved, his figure vanishing and appearing to its back. His spear snaked forward as though its trajectory had never changed, piercing toward the back of the shadow''s skull.

    Aina appeared to its front, her stance firm and her battle ax swinging in an upward arc. The momentum of her string was so fierce that its polearm warped and bent, the crashing sounds of wind pushing against its blade making one feel as though their eardrums might burst.

    The snarky voice of the shadow had long since faded. It was impossible to tell what sort of state it was in or if it had even bled once since this battle began. However, its lack of a word seemed to speak volumes all to itself.

    The shadow dodged Leonel''s spear by tilting its head to the side, but almost immediately crashed against Aina''s ax as a result of its efforts.

    It stumbled backward in time to find that Leonel had already retracted his spear, his heel slamming into the back of the shadow''s knee as it retreated.

    The shadow''s heart skipped a beat. With how ethereal its form was currently, it couldn''t understand how Leonel had managed to pinpoint its joint so precisely. But, by the time it had finished this thought, it was already too late.

    Aina''s ax descended from the skies, carrying with it the momentum of the original upward swing and slamming downward with a piercing wind pressure that made the shadow feel as though it was about to be split in half without even feeling the touch of the cool blades'' edge.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened, a dense fire lighting within. He had been careful to not use his Scarlet Star Force to not harm Aina, but now was the perfect time.

    Flames erupted on the tip of his blade, fusing with his Spear Force in the blink of an eye.

    CRACK!

    Leonel''s expression flickered when he heard this, but his strike remained true, timing it all perfectly. Their teamwork was simply too seamless.

    However, at that moment, his eyes widened.

    "Retreat."

 Chapter 1377 Tell Me

    1377 Tell Me

    Aina didn''t need a second warning. Her gaze flickered, her muscles reacting on instinct. Her mind flashed back to the flick of Leonel''s father''s finger. A single action changed the trajectory of an attack that had her everything behind it with what was seemingly minimal effort. The key wasn''t to try to reverse everything at once, but rather to apply pressure in a new, easier direction.

    Well, maybe this was how Leonel would have broken things down. But to Aina, she only needed to see it once and it was already seamlessly incorporated into her battle style. She didn''t need to think, she only needed to react.

    Her ax''s arc shifted only the slightest bit, missing its intended target and swinging down and back. In one smooth motion, all of her forward momentum was suddenly pushed in a new direction, sending her body retreating even faster than it had been coming forward.

    Aina''s pupils constricted as a palm enveloped by shadows and darkness just barely missed her chest. If she was just a moment slower, the result would have been devastating.

    At that moment, a strong wall of wind slammed against Aina''s body. But, this wind wasn''t from the palm, but was rather from a flap of Leonel''s wings that had just reached her. Her backward momentum shot up, causing the palm that had still been pursuing her to fall out of range, coming to a halt.

    Aina immediately recovered, shifting the momentum of her battle ax once again and crossing it before her chest. Her grasp on impetus and motion seemed to have touched an otherworldly level, seamlessly loosening all of the pressure she felt from sudden changes in movement.

    Still, her heartbeat couldn''t help but slow to a crawl, each individual pump becoming more and more powerful. Right then, that attack had come out of nowhere. She would have been a step late in reacting if not for Leonel, something that was shocking to her.

    It was clear that this individual had tried to get rid of her first and quickly. While Aina was sure that she would have managed to come out without dying, there was no doubt that she would have been injured, maybe even heavily.

    Just like that, Leonel and Aina found themselves separated by a few dozen meters, there now being two shadows in between them instead of one, the second seemingly having appeared from thin air. However, Leonel knew better.

    They hadn''t appeared out of nowhere, they had folded space. It was yet another Shadow Sovereign, a third one had appeared.

    "They''re a Shadow Sovereign. Be careful." Leonel said, pushing his senses to the absolute maximum. He almost hadn''t noticed the change. Luckily, ever since he ran into the Umbra family, Leonel had a habit of not only scanning regions, but also checking for shifts in Force concentration, a task he assigned to one of his many split minds.

    The Umbra family had a strong concealment ability that was difficult to detect. The only method was by checking for the shift in Dark Elemental Force Concentration. Just then, Leonel had sensed a random and sharp spike which made him realize that there was something wrong. He chose to retreat first and not get greedy.

    "How do you detect them?" Aina asked.

    ''Feel for Dark Elemental Force.'' Leonel responded, using his Internal Sight this time. Though he wasn''t sure if there was a way for Shadow Sovereigns to hide their tracks, but he would rather not let an enemy know that they had to do so. This way, they''d still have a leg up.

    With just a short exchange, Aina understood. Her Dark Elemental Affinity was high to begin with, this wouldn''t be a problem. She wouldn''t need Leonel''s sharp senses to sense it. After being told once, that was all she needed.

    The second shadow slowly retracted their palm. It was impossible to see their face, but Leonel still felt uneasy to the point he felt that it was too optimistic to believe that it currently had a surprised expression. This second shadowбн Was far more of a problem.

    In the short lull, Leonel quickly scanned the battlefield. He realized that the number of shadows wasn''t enough to overwhelm them, but they were extraordinarily powerful. If not for Leonel and Aina working together to defeat the first shadow, it would have taken either one of them far more effort. Their battle prowess fighting together was greater than the sun of their individual strengths, something Aina would most definitely remind Leonel of at a future date.

    Even while being outnumbered, the momentum of the battlefield had taken a large swing. In fact, many youths from the Void Palace had already fallen, never to rise again. Their numbers had already been cut by a fifth, and it was only getting worse with each passing second.

    To make matters worse, the flood of water the shadows had allowed in was slowly overwhelming the land. Leonel could already feel the moisture at his feet and maybe soon they''d all be wading in it.

    Things were fine for now because this water was filled with Life Force and could actually be greatly beneficial if they saved and stored it away. However, what about when the Anarchic Force poisoned layer began to flood inward as well? That level of toxicity wasn''t anything they could combat alone, even Leonel wasn''t sure if he would be alright.

    "Get up."

    The second shadow spoke to the first, a harsh disdain in their voice. The first shadow was the only one to have come so close to losing their life so quickly.

    Despite its usual snarkiness, the first shadow didn''t say a word as it complied.

    "This kidбн"

    "I''m aware. Go support the others. All the information he has will soon be mine. We don''t have a lot of time before the Rapax try to close the cage of this trap they think they''ve sprung on us."

    "Yes."

    The first shadow flickered and vanished, its wings only needing to flap once to take it across the battlefield and toward its target.

    The palms of the remaining shadow flipped over, revealing two slender shadowy swords.

    It turned toward Leonel, its head seeming to tilt.

    "Why don''t you tell me where the Lineage Tablet is?"

 Chapter 1378 Counter

    1378 Counter

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Of all the things he could have expected to happen, this was the last. He didn''t think that just existing would end with such people on his tail. He couldn''t help but wonder how it was the Luxnix had remained safe for so long. From what Leonel could tell, these shadows definitely came from an organization far more powerful than what the Luxnix could hope to match.

    Leonel exhaled a light breath. The obvious conclusion was that this was thanks to Wise Star Order. The old man had remained silent even up until this point despite the fact Leonel was quite certain he was paying attention to the current situation.

    It suddenly felt obvious to Leonel that the old man had more reasons for forcing the Luxnix to lay low for three generations than he was letting on. However, Leonel had absolutely no intention of selling out a family he planned on taking over personally very soon. And, even if he hadn''t had such intentions, exposing them would put his mother, grandmother and cousin in harms way.

    If they wanted such information from him, they would have to try harder than this.

    Leonel''s body relaxed. The toned outline of his scale covered body seemed to lengthen somewhat, his tense muscles loosening.

    Almost the moment he did, spiraling flames seemed to erupt around him as though this was simply his most natural state.

    "I''ve never fought a Shadow Sovereign before, how about you enlighten me?"

    The shadow didn''t respond. Instead, it flickered and vanished. This time, however, this wasn''t an illusion of speed. Leonel could almost impose the image of Little Blackstar onto this person. Whether it was vanishing in a puff of black smoke, walking through the air or the heavy domain that almost instantly sunk around Leonel, it was all the same.

    Blood shot up from Leonel''s chest, a line being drawn from the middle of his torso up and out his collarbone. The strike was fierce and swift, leaving him almost no room to maneuver. Howeverбн It was also shallow.

    The shadow seemed taken off guard that Leonel hadn''t even tried to dodge, but was even more shocked by the fact that their blade hadn''t sliced him in two. Unfortunately, as shocked as it might have been about these two things, the spear running through its chest was without a doubt the highest priority.

    BANG!

    A surging tide of Scarlet Star Force tore a path out of the shadow''s body.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. But, almost in directly opposing fashion, a sneer spread across his face. He had spent everyday of the last several years of his life with a Shadow Sovereign by his side. Not just this, but his mind was connected with one.

    Seeing this sneer, the shadow, who had just been preparing to attack again even with a spear running through its chest immediately chose to retreat instead. However, under what was the astonished gazes of many spectators, Leonel rushed forward to match its backward momentum.

    The shadow darted from the left and right, shooting in the skies and even rushing back down to the ground. But, as though he could read the future, Leonel matched it beat for beat, his spear still running through its chest.

    As expected, the shadow had gone incorporeal, much like Little Blackstar could. While Leonel''s spear had, indeed, run through its chest, it had hit nothing but empty air. However, this was exactly what Leonel had been expecting.

    Caught off guard and unable to react, the Shadow Sovereign reacted on instinct, dodging Leonel''s strike using its greatest evasive ability, and it was exactly this that had caused it to fall into Leonel''s trap.

    While in this state, the Shadow Sovereign had no ability to attack. It if wanted to counter Leonel, it would have to become corporeal, but doing such a thing would be like driving a spear through its own chest.

    Leonel remembered very clearly that Little Blackstar had once saved his life by bringing him into this incorporeal state. The little guy had been so tired after doing this that he couldn''t even bring himself into the incorporeal state for a long while.

    This told Leonel one thing. There was most definitely a limit to how long the shadow could keep this up. Maybe it was a few minutes, maybe it was a few hours, but there was definitely a limit. And, if Leonel was correct, it was definitely on the lower end or else it wouldn''t be moving so erratically.

    The first shadow that Leonel and Aina had fought together saw this scene and had no idea how to react. The sight would have almost been comedic if it wasn''t so blatantly obvious that they were suddenly toeing the line of life and death.

    "Shit." The first shadow immediately turned back, only to find Aina in its path. "Get out of my way!"

    Aina didn''t say a single word, swinging her ax down.

    Leonel''s gaze continued to flicker and calculate. He could already think of several methods the Shadow Sovereign could use to get out of this fate. It simply had to go somewhere Leonel could not. But, for every second it didn''t take one of these options, the more certain Leonel became of a few things.

    First, the Shadow Sovereign was already running out of time. And, second, it seemed this incorporeal state didn''t allow absolute freedom.

    At that moment, the shadow suddenly came to a grinding halt, but Leonel was prepared, stopping just as quickly. However, what he wasn''t prepared for was the Shadow Sovereign to suddenly hack up a mouthful of blood.

    In one moment, Leonel felt like he was piercing through air and in the next, the weight of flesh pressing around his blade was all too obvious.

    This should have been a good thing, he should have just found the limits of the Shadow Sovereign. But, Leonel''s instincts told him different. The Shadow Sovereign had chosen to do this on purpose.

    On cue, twins swords crossed around Leonel''s neck. It seemed the Shadow Sovereign had chosen to use the same trick as Leonel. Exchanging injury for devastation.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1379 Yin-Yang

    ?1379 Yin-Yang

    At that moment, hanging on the verge of life and death, a twin pair of swords ready to sever his head from his neck, Leonel was calmer than he had ever been. In fact, he was frighteningly so, to the point one would have thought that he was watching a movie play out before him rather than experiencing this himself. But, the difference was that even while watching a movie, an observer would have shown more of an expression than he did.

    In that instant, his irises flashed with a pair of golden-red Runes, his hidden Bronze Runes suddenly becoming lit ablaze as a crimson light raced across them and up his neck.

    CLANG!

    This time, Leonel was certain. Even without being able to see its face, he knew for a fact that its expression had been warped in shock.

    The twin pair of swords clanged against Leonel''s neck as though they were meeting two sides of a steel wall. All of the Force that had once coated them crumbled, being destroyed by an odd forcefield that filled one with an impending sense of danger.

    Who said Destruction could only be used for offense?

    Leonel''s spear ripped upward, slicing through the shadows body. He showed not even the slightest hint of mercy, his gaze remaining cold from start to finish.

    Just as he finally managed to slice its skull in two, the Spear Force he had been forcefully holding together shattered into motes of light. But, the resulting explosion also took with it the head of the shadow, causing its skull to also explode.

    Leonel looked toward this scene and shook his head. He had heard the crack before, but it was truly unfortunate. His Spear Force was the most powerful when his Scarlet Star Force was infused into it, but it couldn''t retain its structure. It had only lasted a few minutes before shattering, a time that would have been even shorter had Leonel actually been clashing with it instead of just leaving it in what was ultimately thin air considering the shadow had spent most of its time incorporeal.

    Still, this result was satisfactory. He had managed to overwhelm the shadow with his mind and take it out with minimal effort. This was definitely a good thing because this shadow seemed to be a top three threat amongst them all. Taking it out now removed a huge burden from his shoulders.

    ''My Spear Force seems to still be lacking. I don''t think it''s a problem of its level.. If it can''t handle Fourth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force now as a Fifth Dimensional Blade Force, then it''ll never be able to handle it in the future. It needs to evolve beyond its current means without reaching the Sixth Dimensionбн''

    This thought made Leonel wonder if he had progressed his Bow Force too fast. Was there anything he had missed in that time?

    Leonel retracted his spear, spinning on his heels and rushing toward Aina. She had been blocking the first shadow for him all this time and though she was doing fine, it would be best if they could team up and take out yet another shadow.

    From what Leonel could tell, he was the only one to have killed a shadow at all. If things continued like this, it would become troublesome.

    Conon, his cousin Gunter and Simona, along with their subordinates, had already formed one resistance group. Armand and Jon had formed another. Finally, Rosen and a few others formed the last.

    A balance seem to have been struck, but it had once again entered a lull that made Leonel uncomfortable, especially after so many gazes locked onto him. The moment the Shadow Sovereign had fallen, piercing auras threatened to rip Leonel to shreds.

    BOOM!

    Leonel stomped a foot down, hard, his head suddenly snapping backward.

    What remained of the Shadow Sovereign shadow had shattered like dry ice falling to the ground. Tendrils of darkness spread out wildly, scratching and clawing at the earth and lapping up the slowly moistening ground.

    Leonel''s expression became a fusion of slight shock and confusion. Was there possibly an Ability of the Dimensional Verse capable of bringing someone back from the dead? Or was it really possible that his attack just now hadn''t killed this person?

    Leonel might have been able to accept something like that if he had just used normal Spear Force, but he had used his Scarlet Star Force as well, and it had even exploded, taking the shadow''s head with it. How was any of this possible?

    The tendrils of shadow suddenly shot together, forming a large ball of black that burst in the next instant, revealing a figure Leonel understood even less.

    It had short legs and arms and seemed to be covered by incorporeal fur. It had a round, sturdy belly and it stood at over three meters tall. Its two eyes were surrounded by an abyss of black along with its ears, but much of the rest of it out of its limbs shimmered with a sparking white.

    ''бн A panda?''

    It felt like more than a panda. If there was ever an Emperor of Pandas recognized by all, this would be it. This creature felt almost too majestic, to the point that Leonel almost mistook it for being real for just a moment.

    He could tell that this was just an illusory panda, it didn''t have a tangible form. In fact, it was a lot like his beast constructs when he used the Luxnix family Force Arts.

    ''The Luxnix Force Arts and much of their techniques should come from the Bronze Tablet, are these things related?'' Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    The shimmering white fur of the panda glowed brighter and brighter, the moistness of the ground suddenly vanishing as it was all swallowed. It was clear that the Shadow Sovereign was using this to heal itself. But, that wasn''t the problem.

    Leonel had already accounted for this possibility, but the injuries he had left behind should have been far too devastating to even think of doing something like this.

    "Yin-Yang Domain."

    The oppression of the Shadow Domain around Leonel suddenly increased by tenfold.

 Chapter ?1380 Realization

    1380 Realization

    Leonel''s expression changed. It wasn''t because of the pressure, but rather because he felt as though his control over the Light Element had practically just vanished. To make matters worse, that extended to his Scarlet Star Force as well, leaving him baffled.

    The majestic panda swung a paw. It was a simple action, with hardly any effort put behind it, and yet it almost instantly felt as though the entire world was falling onto him from above.

    ''Shit.''

    Leonel dove out of the way, his wings flapping once when he was already out of the way.

    BOOM!

    The entire cavern quaked, the location where Leonel had just been standing suddenly gaining a paw print that was easily a meter deep.

    Leonel''s expression flickered. That level of strength was ridiculous. Slicing the earth apart or destroying it was one matter, but compressing so much when it was already so sturdy? That was absolutely ridiculous. Had that attack landed on him, unless he used his Destruction to flood his Runes again, he didn''t think a single bone would survive being shattered.

    ''Old man, don''t you think you''ve been quiet enough? I know you know something. Is this shadow just unkillable? Should I run?''

    Leonel had never seen an Ability allow someone to survive having their head explode. He had no way of telling how many more times the shadow panda could repeat that sort of action. The situation was already precarious and he was pushing it by remaining here instead of finding a way to run. If things fell any further out of their favor, Leonel wouldn''t care about what benefits they could get here any longer. He would take Aina and run.

    ''It''s an Aurora Black Panda.''

    Leonel''s figure flickered. He tried to approach the panda but it felt as though the laws of nature itself were stopping him. Every step closer he took to the shadow panda, it was like his weight would double, his feet becoming filled with lead and his blood running cold. To make matters worse, his control over Force would also be slowly ripped away.

    ''What does that mean?''

    ''The Aurora Black Panda is the third in the Shadow Line of evolution. It''s the equivalent in strength of the Starry Tailed Fox in our Lineage.''

    ''So it''s a Lineage Factor at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimensionбн''

    ''Yes.''

    Leonel diverted his attention back to Aina to make sure she was fairing alright, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that she was actually winning. The longer she battled, the more of an advantage she seemed to gain.

    Seeing this, Leonel turned his attention away from her entirely. He couldn''t afford to keep diverting his brain power, he really did just need to trust her.

    ''But it shouldn''t be so strong, why is it so strong?''

    Leonel''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was also considered to be at that level, if not beyond when the fifth door was taken into account, but he couldn''t bring out nearly this much power. Of course, that was because most of its strength should be gatekept behind the doors he had yet to open. But, still, this Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor should be similar. The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had doorways and the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor should have Awakenings. This was the tradeoff.

    ''It''s not powerful, you''re just weak.''

    If it wasn''t for the situation, Leonel would have truly rolled his eyes. Couldn''t this old man go a single day without spewing this nonsense?

    The shadows seemed to still be waiting for something. The trump card of the Rapax had yet to be sprung. And, Leonel didn''t believe for a second that Amery didn''t have the ability to at least ''kill'' a shadow just as quickly as he had, and yet despite paying keen attention all this time, he had yet to see anything of the sort.

    Leonel realized that he was running out of time to decide whether or not he should run, yet this old man was insistent on playing games.

    ''I''m not saying this just to say this, it''s the truth. I have limited knowledge about the Shadow Lineage Factors as I didn''t spend much time studying them for various reasons. But, I know enough to be considered to have surface information.

    ''The Aurora Black Panda''s Awakening levels are the Healing Branch, the Strength Branch and the Wisdom Branch. Its Healing Branch works differently from the Light Lineage Factors as it functions similar to life steal. Its strength speaks for itself, you''ve already seen it. As for the Wisdom Branch, it also manifests differently. Well, at least differently from your Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor.

    ''The Wisdom Branch of this third level manifests a Domain and unfortunately for you, the Yin-Yang Domain is like steroids to a Shadow Sovereign, and that''s especially so to you considering the Light Element is one of your strongest assets.''

    ''Just explain, I''m running out of time.''

    ''The Yin-Yang Domain grants control over the balance of two elements and is especially strong when these two elements are on entirely opposing sides. The rise of one leads to the fall of the other. In addition, as the latter falls, it becomes fuel for the former.

    ''This Domain is basically sucking away all of your Light Elemental Force and converting it to Dark Elemental Force. This not only makes you weaker, it makes all aspects of the Shadow Sovereign''s abilities stronger.''

    Leonel''s jaw set. Maybe he really should run, then. He doubted that the Shadow Sovereign would be set on following him, at least for now. Considering he had exposed himself to be a Void Palace disciple and a Morales family Heir, they knew they could find him again, so they didn''t need to take him away now for the sake of the Tablet.

    ''Dammit. That''s a pretty useful Domain and it''s Seventh Dimensional too so I don''t have anything that can easily counter itбн''

    Leonel looked at his spear. It had a Domain he was looking forward to using, but it was only at the Pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension. It could be possible to counter this Shadow Sovereign with it since he doubted the Shadow Sovereign had perfected the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor it wielded yet. Butбн

    The situation was becoming too volatile.

    BOOM!

    The panda swiped again, it''s figure vanishing and reappearing to Leonel''s back. Its paw descended like a mighty avalanche, the weight of a mountain crashing down toward Leonel''s head.

    ''Fuck, if only I had a Domain like this.''

    ''You will. What do you expect? The Shadow Tail Lineage Factor, the equivalent of your Snowy Star Lineage Factor to them, doesn''t have a Domain either. Who asked you to spend so much time at the lowest levels because you didn''t like the next level?''

    Leonel froze, his steps coming to a grinding halt. ''бн What did you just say?''

    ''What are you doing, brat?! RUN!''

    The paw descended from above, ready to squash Leonel into minced meat.

    ''бн Did you just say Shadow Tail?''

    Shadow Tail. The Umbra family''s Lineage Factor. The very family that had run away from the Three Finger Cult.

    The Shadow Tail Lineage Factor was the first in line of the Shadow Lineage Factors?

    The paw continued to swing down, the wind pressure alone making Leonel''s knees creak. And yet, he remained unmoving, as straight as a javelin.

    His father''s rage and sadness flickered through his memories. He had never seen his dad make such an expression, one of such hurt and furyбн

    This was the Cult that had killed his grandfather.

    Leonel saw red.

    "I''ll kill you all."

    BOOM!

 Chapter ?1381 worst Mistake

    ?1381 worst Mistake

    The father Leonel knew was always smiling, always joking, always pointing fun at something. He was a man who didn''t take anything seriously, and yet he was the best father Leonel could have ever asked for. There was no one in this world that Leonel respected more, no one he loved more.

    His father''s happiness was his happiness. His father''s sadness was his sadness. His father''s fury was his fury.

    "LEONEL!"

    Many seemed to witness Leonel being crushed beneath a palm that dwarfed the size of his. But, in the very moment that such a thing appeared to happen, a towering pillar of crimson shot into the skies, shredding apart the hand that had come above it.

    Tier 6.

    Everything in the surroundings was shredded apart. A violent surge of Scarlet Star Force shot in from all sides, taking apart the Yin-Yang Domain as though it was never there to begin with. The most violent and destructive Force in all of existence made its presence known that day and in that moment, furiously tearing apart everything in its path.

    The shadow panda was sent flying, a pit of magma and molten earth being left in its original location.

    With slow and deliberate steps, Leonel walked out of the pit, billowing smoke and harsh heat wafting into the surroundings.

    The spear in his hand was cracked to the point it seemed it might collapse at any moment. Any shred of clothing he had once had had vanished as well. However, at that moment, the halo above his head expanded, scanning down the length of his powerfully chiseled body and rising back up to reveal a glorious armor of bright sky blues and reflective silvers.

    Space began to rapidly heat and then cool, the rapid changes causing the cracking glass effect of the Domain around Leonel to become more and more obvious with each passing second. However, it felt like to the man himself, none of it matter at all.

    BANG!

    Leonel shot forward, cascading colors of violet, crimson, bronze and gold circling around him without pause or end. When he reappeared, he was already swinging his spear down from the skies, its momentum making whatever power the shadow panda had had behind its strike seem like nothing more than child''s play.

    "You''re the Desctructбк!"

    The Shadow Sovereign spoke again for the first time in several exchanges, but it was already too late to finish its words.

    Its body was in shambles. Having been in range of Leonel''s Eighth Star formation, an entire side of its body had collapsed and the paw it had used to swipe down toward Leonel had been shredded to pieces, revealing the true shadow instead.

    Leonel''s cracked spent splintered through what remained of the outer shell like a hot knife through butter, his momentum so fierce that the ground beneath them earned a nice gash all to itself.

    The shadow just barely managed to dodge out the way, losing just a bit more of his shadow panda construct in the process, but Leonel was absolutely relentless. His spear became like a raging flood dragon, every pierce causing spiraling winds to tear vicious holes through the body of the shadow panda.

    After three there was nothing but a single leg, part of a torso and its head remaining. After three more, the head was shredded to pieces and there was nothing more than an oversized leg. In a final volley of three, the shadow coughed up a violent mouthful of blood, their body being sent reeling backward.

    With a flicker, the shadow vanished into the Shadow World. But, the moment it appeared once more, Leonel had removed a hand from his spear, reaching it out in a clawing motion and causing the surroundings of the shadow to crack like glass, freezing it in space.

    The expression of the shadow changed below its cloak, but the constriction only seemed to double down.

    Leonel''s Dream Force flourished, his hand still being held up. In that moment, the raging fires around him concentrated into thin lines, rapidly racing across the air as each formed the singular gear of an increasingly complex Force Art.

    The Shadow Sovereign was about to learn what true destruction was. Lingering in the air, right this very moment, was a thick assortment of Scarlet Star Force no one but Leonel could even dream of controlling.

    There were only two options. The first was to allow it to dissipate over time, making the region safer for everyone. The second, though, was to use itбн To destroy everything.

    The cry of a bird rose through the skies, the complex lines of Force Arts suddenly fusing into a rising Phoenix which rose to its tallest height in one flap and shot down in a beam of laser-like crimson light with another.

    The expressions of all the shadows warped, but it was already too late to do anything. The attack was too powerful, Leonel''s fury was too strong, and even if they somehow managed to cross a distance that was much too far, the result would only be their own inevitable destruction.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s gaze hid coldly behind the visor of his armor. The billowing wind around him and the harsh spike in temperature didn''t seem to harm him in the slightest.

    For the first time, the Rapax who had focused their attention elsewhere finally focused on the singular young man standing among smoking shards of ice, falling down around him like twinkling stars reflecting harsh ruby colors.

    Leonel''s figure flickered once more, his speed even more unconscious and untouchable than the past. When he reappeared, the ragged body of the shadow was being gripped by its throat, lifted into the air as the last of its life was slowly being squeezed out, 40% of its body having been charred to black.

    The flames of the phoenix construct rose again, releasing a cry in the skies and reforming to Leonel''s back.

    "Three Finger Cultбн"

    The astmosphere shifted as soon as Leonel uttered these words, every one of the shadows sending a piercing gaze toward him.

    "Put her down."

    A baritone voice that made Leonel''s heart and lungs tremble within his ribcage called out. However, Leonel continued speaking as though he hadn''t heard a thing.

    "бн Your worst mistake was appearing before me today."

    Leonel''s hand squeezed down, an eruption of Scarlet Star Force following his actions and charring everything in its path to ash.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1382 Crown and Halo

    ?1382 Crown and Halo

    The corpse vanished as Leonel released his grip. His head slowly tilted upward, his irises having turned entirely crimson. It seemed as though they had gained unfathomable depths, impossible to gauge, impossible even to look straight into.

    With a single flap of his wings, the ground beneath him cracked and trembled. When his figure became slightly more substantial than a blur, he had appeared amidst Aina''s battle with the first shadow seamlessly, crossing through the parade of blades and sharp wings as though they weren''t a danger in the slightest.

    His spear descended down from the skies, the cracking of its body seeming to be slowly healing with each passing moment, erupting fiery licks of golden-red flames jetting out from its imperfections.

    "No!"

    The raspy voice for the first shadow called out, but there was no longer a chance. The Scarlet Star Force swirling about Leonel now was firmly within the Fifth Dimension. To these people here, he was a god and a deity, untouchable and unblemished.

    BANG!

    The blade severed the shadow in two, incinerating them to ash before even hitting the ground.

    At that moment, a third shadow appeared before Leonel, just a step too late. Leonel was almost certain that this was the very same man with the low, baritone voice that had called out for him to stop initially. Unfortunately for him, he had been far too slow.

    A surging palm aimed directly for Leonel''s chest, fast and swift. The air collapsed around it, stacking and fusing. There was no room to move or dodge. The instant Leonel landed on the ground, it had arrived and a clap of the sound barrier shattering matched the timing absolutely perfectly.

    BOOM!

    The hand doubled in size the instant it collided with Leonel, becoming no different from the shadow panda of before. The difference was that this time, rather than being a Shadow Sovereign, this individual seemed to have a vibration type ability. The power behind this blow alone should have been enough to even tear a Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional existence to shreds in a single strikeбн

    And it landed right on Leonel.

    Vicious winds kicked up, a violent cyclone of wild gusts and gales wreaking havoc toward everything in its path.

    Aina, who had now ended up to Leonel''s back, braced herself for impact, her eyes widening in shock and worry. She didn''t understand why Leonel was suddenly so infuriated, but that didn''t mean that she wanted to see him hurt.

    However, what was supposed to comeбн never did.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted down to the palm resting on his chest. This time, two flickering golden Runes danced within his crimson irises, sometimes apart, sometimes fusing. Their fluidity was something that one could get lost in for hours on end, only to realize that you were still in the middle of a battle.

    Leonel''s free hand reached out and clamped down on the wrist of the male shadow. The coldness of his eyes, hidden behind the visor of his Divine Armor, almost permeated through, making one feel that their souls had suddenly been thrown into the abyss of hell''s coolest waters, freezing to death in what was nothing more than a single instant.

    "AGH!"

    A pained roar left the shadow as it pulled away. But, under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the arm that Leonel still held on to crumbled to ash. If the shadow hadn''t forcefully ripped itself away, maybe its entire body would have suffered the same fate.

    It was then that the flickering and dancing Golden Runes in Leonel''s irises increased from two each to three, making the intensity of the flames around him increase once again.

    "Die."

    Leonel swung his spear from its downward sloped position, leaving a gorgeous arc of crimson and gold that sliced the shadow in two. There was no suspense, only a final roar of struggle before he suddenly found himself eviscerated.

    At that moment, the glowing phoenix finally caught up to Leonel once again, spiraling into the air and releasing a sonorous call into the skies.

    Its beak opened wide, its wings spreading and its chest expanding. With a single bellow, a piercing laser of crimson left its lips, cutting across the battlefield and piercing through two more shadows.

    They stood not a single chance, finding themselves burnt to ash even before they could even call out for help. The fiery pits left in the beam''s wake were quickly dodged by those that remained, the heat alone became enough to char their skins and dry their throats.

    The phoenix shrunk in size by a small measure, but Leonel didn''t seem to care in the slightest. With another command, the majestic bird''s chest expanded once more, another beam of light cutting across the battlefield and this time taking out another three shadows.

    Leonel was absolutely relentless. By the time the first beam had landed, he had already crossed through half the battlefield. By the time the second landed, he had reached his destination.

    His King''s Might pressured their minds. His Scarlet Star Force pressured their bodies. And his relentless want for violence and blood shook their hearts.

    It was an absolute slaughter. Leonel didn''t seem to see any Rapax or humans. Every time he laid eyes on a shadow it didn''t matter who they were fighting, how many were fighting them, if they were winning their battles or if they were losing.

    It was simply one savage execution after the next, and none of it seemed to be enough.

    Even crossing Amery''s face, he didn''t spare the latter a single glance.

    Piercing his spear into the ground, he caused a volcanic eruption to splinter even the moistening earth. The shadow who was arguably the most powerful of them all, fighting amidst Amery and the Rapax suddenly found that it had nothing steady to stand upon.

    Leonel didn''t even bother to retract his spear from the ground, his hands coming together like a twin pair of claws, clamping down toward either side of the shadow''s head.

    It roared in protest, but the space around its skull suddenly cracked like ice-blue glass, freezing it in place to the point it couldn''t move in the slightest.

    Leonel drove his knee upward, an enraged roar leaving his throat as he slammed his kneecap into the shadow''s head.

    And explosion of ice, space and fire spiraled out in all directions as a headless corpse fell to the ground.

    Leonel stood in the middle of the battlefield, no one within a ten meter radius of him except for a litter of corpses.

    The Crown of a King graced his forehead. The Halo of a God graced his presence.

 Chapter ?1383 Good Luck

    ?1383 Good Luck

    In the skies above the Rapax Nest, far above where their protections lay, a raging battle was ongoing. On one side there were the elites amongst the Rapax, and on the other there were the shadows of the Three Finger Cult.

    If anyone saw this level of battle, they would realize that it as this that would decide the fates of all those below and not whatever petty squabbles the youths had gotten into. If Leonel saw it, he would come to understand that this was what was truly going on and why it seemed the Rapax had such lackluster preparation.

    However, upon realizing this, he would also gain himself another question. Where did Amery fit in all of this? The only explanation, then, was that Amery had a method of leaving this place outside of conventional means.

    On another hand, though, this also meant that the youths who had chosen to run away instead were suddenly in a precarious position. Leaving was impossible for them. There was danger on the inside, and there was most definitely danger on the outside.

    A group of youths who had had every intention of rushing away and finding a path back to Human Domain territory within the Void Battlefield were stuck. They had made it to the outskirts of the Nest, only to find that there was nowhere to go.

    A few brave souls had tried to cross the barrier, as there didn''t seem to be anything stopping them, but the result was devastating. The Rapax and the shadows didn''t even pay attention to these youths, and they were even thousands of kilometers up into the sky, and yet the reverberations of their battle alone was enough to blast everyone who tried to escape into minced meat.

    The youth found themselves at a loss, not knowing what to do. Running was suicide. Staying was also suicide. What kind of Selection was this supposed to be?!

    Among these youths were, surprisingly, Myghell and Noah. They observed the situation with placid expressions, feeling neither fear nor apprehension. However, even if they had no outward showing of emotion, they still weren''t taking this matter lightly. The both of them wanted to find a path to survival, and they also both seemed to realize that just staying here wouldn''t do them any good either.

    Everyone was working under the assumption that the Void Palace wouldn''t give them an impossible Selection to complete, so there had to be a wayбн Being completely ignorant to the true innerworkings of this matter. It would be difficult for any of them to survive this at all if things continued like this.

    But, maybe the God of Fortune had truly smiled down upon this generation. Not only had this God given this generation more talent than maybe every other before it, but it just so happened to hand them a savior this time as well.

    бн

    "Aiyaбн"

    Velasco scratched his head, feeling annoyed. He really was this close to being in the embrace of his wife. He already knew that Alienor wouldn''t allow him any intimacy with a clone, that was nothing more than a pipe dream. But, he could have at least gotten himself some cuddles and softness.

    Unfortunately, these damned kids were so annoying. In truth, he didn''t give a single care if all of these children died. The unfortunate part of it all was that his little nephew was part of them. He quite liked his little nephew and couldn''t just leave him like this.

    If Leonel could hear his father''s thoughts, he would be speechless. Where was this care and affection for his own son? Why did it sound like he cared about Noah far more than he did Leonel? By all rights, Leonel was technically in an even more dangerous situation because he wasn''t even close to leaving. Leonel would definitely have to give his old man a piece of his mind.

    "It really is you."

    Velasco continued to scratch his head for a moment before switching over to picking at his ears. It was as though he hadn''t heard the voice that had so suddenly appeared to his back at all. And yet, this individual didn''t do a single thing either.

    If one knew who this person was, they would have been shocked to an absolute extreme. This sort of apprehension wasn''t the sort of trait one would ever expect them to exhibit.

    There were many ranks amongst the Three Finger Cult. However, one of the highest was the title of Scholar. No one knew exactly how large or widespread the Three Finger Cult was, but what a select few did know was that there were only five confirmed Scholars.

    Every time they appeared, it would without a doubt be during a very important mission. And, without a doubt, this mission would succeed.

    "Ah, I understand. This is just an Avatar of yours, it''s no wonder you haven''t done anything, there shouldn''t be much of anything you can do."

    The Scholar seemed to visibly relax when he came to this conclusion before his gaze swept over the location Velasco had been observing.

    "If you would like, I won''t stop you from taking away those children. Consider it a favor. Their lives and deaths aren''t worth much to me anyway."

    Velasco finally seemed satisfied with how clean his ear was, pulling out his pinky and blowing on it.

    "A Shadow Sovereign shouldn''t be enough for the Three Finger Cult to make this move."

    "Oh? You''re interested in our goals? You''re correct, we do indeed have quite the large assortment of Shadow Sovereigns. 1614 from my recollection. 1615 truly isn''t enough for me to make a move.

    "When it comes to Blood Sovereigns, thoughбн"

    The Scholar didn''t say anything more, chuckling lightly.

    "Interesting."

    Velasco yawned. He took a step forward and vanished, appearing before the barrier of youths. When Noah saw him, his brows couldn''t help but shoot up.

    "Come on kiddos, I''m here to escort you away. Girls, please keep your panties to yourselves, I''m a married man. As for you lads, I don''t swing that way, sorry to disappoint."

    Velasco waved a hand and the barrier retracted. He turned, beginning to bring everyone along with him.

    In the skies, the Scholar sneered. His face, obscured by shadows, twisted, jagged teeth dripping with blood and flesh barely being hidden beneath the dense black.

    His palm suddenly waved, his cock almost standing at attention when he thought of the feeling of euphoria he would experience not only killing so many people, but especially Velasco himself, even if it was nothing more than an Avatar.

    However, before he could swing down, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, his entire body freezing over as though it had been dunked into a vat of ice water.

    At some unknown time, Velasco had appeared in front of him, just barely off the side. He placed a palm on his shoulder, leaning forward until his mouth was barely a half foot away from the Scholar''s ear.

    "Just as stupid as always. You Three Finger Cult members are all the same. I didn''t make a move before only because I can''t be bothered to deal with small fry, but it seems that you didn''t take the new lease on life I gave you seriously."

    In that instant, the shoulder Velasco touched crumbled along with an entire half of the Scholar''s body. In the blink of an eye, there was nothing just but half a hip, torso and head. The Scholar stood shivering in the skies, Velasco''s breath still feeling searing hot on its ear.

    "If you manage to survive this, you should learn to count again, by the way. You only have 1613 now.

    "I would also warn you, my son''s temper seems worse than mine and my father''s. Even if you sent that Variant Invalid, things probably won''t work out so well for you, especially if he finds out you''re targeting his little girlfriend."

    "Good luck, though."

    Velasco turned and vanished once more, the kids below being nonethewiser.

    "Aiya, maybe I raised that brat wrong. He was supposed to be the calm and cool headed one. Ah, forget it, if worse comes to worst, I''ll just have to have my beautiful Alienor pop out another one for me."

    As for Leonel''s safety, Velasco truly didn''t care. As far as he was concerned, any son of his wouldn''t have any trouble with even ten times the odds stacked against them.

 Chapter ?1384 SKREEEE!

    ?1384 SKREEEE!

    Leonel took deep breaths, but he didn''t seem to be very tired. It was as though the billowing steam coming off of him painted the illusion that he was heaving much harder than he actually was.

    Fear and apprehension colored the faces of those in the surroundings, they were suddenly almost too obviously aware that there was no one here capable of withstanding those flames. The prowess of Scarlet Star Force was obvious for all to see, blatantly within their faces. Even the likes of Conon, who had been certain that it would all be meaningless the moment he stepped onto the God Path, couldn''t help but hold his breath slightly.

    In one moment, there had been a raging battle going on, and yet in the next, it had all been ended by a singular young man who entered a fit of rage. It was difficult even to fuse the images of the smiling young man from before with the one before them now.

    Despite the arrogant words he had spoken previously, the joking tone within them and the smile on his face made it difficult to hate Leonel. However, right now, with his face hidden behind a visor and his body wreathed in flames and shards of sparkling iceбн it felt difficult to humanize him.

    He was a monster, an insurmountable mountain. He was exactly as powerful as he needed to be in a given situation, and if you thought him to be weak wellбн Maybe you should look in the mirror and see if you were worthy of him putting in any effort.

    At that moment, the ceiling cracked and splintered, a shimmering Amethyst Token falling from above. Leonel only reached out a palm and it seemed to fall into it as though he had commanded it to do so.

    He turned back and grabbed his spear, ripping it out from the ground and ignoring the spurt of molten rock that threatened to cover him from head to toe. His body seemed to still be fuming, almost like it was enraged that there weren''t any other enemies left to battle.

    Just thinking this was absolutely ridiculous, especially since there were still a large contingent of Rapax still remaining.

    As though to confirm exactly this, when Leonel turned back, he found an enormous Runed Rapax looming over him. Its silvery armor was etched in Gold Runes and even with its poor, curved posture, it towered over Leonel by at least two meters.

    Leonel looked up, his body uncaring and unmoved as he stared into what he thought would have to be the Rapax''s eyes.

    The low, almost growl-like breathing of the Rapax echoed through the cavern, the surging tides of water only barely managing to remain relevant in low hums beneath its baritone.

    The chest of the Gold Runed Rapax rumbled, its plated carapace expanding and contracting along with its breath.

    Its mouth opened up to reveal two rows of long, transparent teeth, each with its own floating Golden Runes within. These Runes happened to match the exact kind that could be found on the claws of its feet, the precise sign of a Seventh Dimensional Rapax.

    Its long tongue dripped with saliva, sliding out of its mouth. Leonel could see the individual imperfections and roughness along it, almost making the blackish-red tongue look a lot more like a piece of sand paper than flesh.

    Hints of saliva dripped downward and toward Leonel. But, before they could even reach within a meter of him, it was all incinerated to ash.

    If Leonel cared to ask Wise Star Order about this right this moment, he would understand that this was a Rapax''s method of showing excitement and eagerness. There was a reason that this was the very first time Leonel was seeing any one of their mouths.

    The Rapax were warriors, bred for this purpose since their youth. From the moment they were sentient of anything, they had already begun to fight for their lives, and even after reaching adulthood, they continued to do so. Whether male, female, young or old. A Rapax would die on the battlefield and they lived for that sort of thrill.

    Leonel was too enraged to see it at first, thinking this to just be another challenge, another head he had to slice off. However, the longer it went on, the more Leonel''s gaze seemed to waver.

    He could feel it. The thoughts of this Rapax. Noбн It''s last thoughts.

    Leonel hadn''t considered something very important. These Rapax were so weak now despite having been Seventh Dimensional in their primes because they had poured all of their Life Force into this eggбн But what now? Would they just recover given enough time?

    Leonel now understood he had been too na?ve. When Wise Star Order said that the Rapax went even further when such a talent was born, even using living Rapax, he never said they would get to live. These Rapax Leonel was seeing now were already on their last legs, just a few hours away from breathing their last.

    He could feel the wall of emotions coming from this Rapax now.

    Excitement, eagernessбн Regret. Regret that it didn''t get to watch Leonel grow. Regret that it couldn''t wait to fight Leonel when he had reached his full potential. Regret that this would be the last chance he would get to face such a warrior.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, his cold gaze softening and his heart skipping a beat. He looked past the Rapax, his eyes landing on the egg.

    The emotions were different butбн But they still felt so realбн not quite human, but who said that only the human experience mattered?

    He had been so caught up in the Rapax being the ''others''бн He had even taken Wise Star Order''s word at face value, believing this egg to be not much different from a Beast Crystal you could absorb. Butбн

    ''That''s not an eggбн That''s a babyбн A baby that''s carrying the hopes and aspirations of its parents and seniors on its shouldersбн''

    Leonel''s shoulders relaxed, his gaze locking onto the Rapax again.

    "You want to fight?"

    "SKREEEE!"

    "Let''s fight, then. I''ll give you the send off you wantбк!"

    BOOM!

    The ceiling above suddenly came crashing down. Before Leonel could react, a figure fell from the skies, landing on the Gold Runed Rapax before him and squashing it to meat paste.

    Leonel stood, frozen.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1385 My Queen!

    ?1385 My Queen!

    The figure was enormous, just as big as the previously standing Gold Runed Rapax had been, and yet somehow far heavier.

    Standing at four meters tall and with a body covered in hair and beast skin, he looked like a goliath straight from biblical tales. His waist was as wide as a barrel, his arms as thick as legs and his legs as thick as pythons.

    He was covered in hair from head to toe, down to his legs and arms, and most definitely his chest and torso. His hair was a wild mane of white and his beard followed suit. But, what was the most shocking was the fact his eyes were nothing but orbs of whiteбн

    Immediately, everyone understood.

    Variant Invalid.

    The Variant Invalid took a breath and it suddenly felt as though all the air in the surroundings had surged toward it. Some of the weaker youths were forced to grab a hold of something before they were inadvertently sent flying toward what was clearly an enemy.

    The Variant Invalid exhaled and patted its torso. However, the sound was a lot more like metal crashing against metal than flesh meeting flesh.

    "This air smells like shit. How do you Rapax live here, have a little sense of pride. Ah, fuck it."

    The Variant Invalid took another large sniff and its head finally locked in a particular direction before a wide, white smile plastered itself across its face. At that moment, the Variant Invalids white hair and beard looked almost ethereal. If one wanted to depict a perfect representation of Zeus, maybe there would be no one better than it.

    "Excellent. EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!!"

    The booming voice of the Variant Invalid caused the cavern to rumble.

    "My Queen! My Blood Sovereign! I have finally found you!"

    The uproarious laughter of the Variant Invalid rocked the cavern, its gaze of wild lust locked onto Aina and refusing to move to another place.

    In that moment, Aina seemed to be plunged back into a well of memories she wanted nothing more than to forget. That familiar feeling of weakness and helplessness, when her life hung in the balance and yet she could do nothing to take control of itбн It all came back.

    However, this Aina was no longer the Aina of back then. That crippling feeling of fear and apprehension suddenly became nothing more than an unfettered rage.

    Almost the instant the Variant Invalid had laid eyes on her, her hair began to billow in the winds, her canines growing another length as even the dark, black tattoos that covered her body gained themselves a tinge of crimson.

    Her battle ax trembled, a crimson light wafting from it. She and it wanted nothing more than to hack this bastard before them to shreds.

    At that moment, hearing the words the Variant Invalid spoke, Leonel''s gaze slowly looked up from the Gold Runed Rapax. All that had been left of it was its head, its tongue still hanging out as though to freeze its feelings of excitement in its final moments, only for it to be robbed away.

    "You may call me the Steel Beast Master! Come, tell me, my Queen. What is your name?! Our offspring will be legendary!"

    BOOM!

    The laughing of the Variant Invalid suddenly came to a grinding halt, its body shooting out like a speeding bullet. One would have thought that it weighed no more than a feather would instead of being heavy enough to crush a Rapax to death given its outgoing speed. And yet, reality was right before them all now.

    Leonel hadn''t moved a single inch, but his Scarlet Star Phoenix most definitely had, sending another barreling beam of Scarlet Star Force right into the chest of the so-called Steel Beast Master.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The Steel Beast Master crashed into the walls, surging out into the tide of green liquids once again.

    Leonel stared into the distance, his gaze lowering down to the Rapax once more. The green waters around it lapped at its body, beginning to dissolve it already. Soon, the Rapax would become much like its Ancestors before it, completing the cycle and becoming the nurturing liquid of future generations.

    Leonel watched this scene silently, not saying a word and not moving in the slightest.

    The human experience wasn''t all he wanted to capture. He had Oryx beneath his wings now and how easy would it have been for him to dehumanize them? There were countless lived experiences in a place as large as the universe, who was he to decide which ones mattered more than the other.

    ''I''ll make sure no one touches your junior.''

    BANG!

    In that moment, another hole in the wall shattered and a familiar enormous figure landed heavily on the ground. Its chest was charred and the white hairs in the area were entirely singed. In some areas, wounds as deep as bone lay. But, just as quickly as they had appeared, layers of skin and cracked bone fell to be replaced by a healthier, stouter flesh.

    Leonel''s head raised again. In the blink of an eye, the Steel Beast Master had closed the distance, standing over the dissolved corpse of the Gold Runed Rapax and towering over Leonel.

    "You haveбк!"

    BANG!

    The Variant Invalid was sent flying once more. However, this time, before it could crash through the walls, Leonel''s figure had flickered and vanished, appearing above its head.

    SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

    Leonel reinforced his Spear Force, controlling his phoenix to flood into his spear and fuse it until it glowed a fierce red gold color that radiated enough heat to burn a person to ash.

    He swung down, his momentum not falling even the slightest bit.

    The expression of the Steel Beast Master warped. One of its behemoth sized legs kicked at the air, causing a strong wind pressure to knock it to the side. However, it was still too slow.

    PCHU!

    All the defenses in the world couldn''t save its arm.

    The limb flew and spiral through the air, a spurt of blood following its trajectory as the Steel Beast Master crashed heavily to the ground.

    Leonel landed as light as a feather, his soft steps ringing out as his Crown and Halo continued to glow.

 Chapter 1386 Let lt

    1386 Let lt

    Many couldn''t believe what they were seeing.

    A Variant Invalid was considered to be the pinnacle of their Dimension, especially when one was at the Quasi Sixth Dimension like this one. Scarlet Star Force should have only been enough to place them on even ground, not enough for Leonel to overwhelm one to this extent.

    However, he made it look like it was easy, as though there wasn''t anything special at all about what he was doing.

    Leonel''s mind was simply too focused, too cool, too calculated. Nothing escaped his vision, even the slightest twitch was accounted by him and countered in the most efficient way possible.

    At the same time, Leonel''s Spear Domain Lineage Factor seemed to fuse with his Dream Control Ability Index. Now that his mind had entered the Sixth Dimension, the fuel given to his spear was on a completely different level. Every instinct, every possibility, every potential counter was refined to the absolute extreme.

    Leonel knew quite well that he was running out of Fifth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force. Once it was gone, it was gone. He didn''t know how the creator of had done it, but it didn''t matter right now. All he knew was that this Variant Invalid would fall beneath his blade.

    The Steel Beast Master slammed a palm to the ground, shooting up. Its expression was like that of a roaring lion, furious and warped, the lines of his flexing features making him look more alien than anything human.

    It looked at its stump, the wound having already been cauterized by the residual heat of Leonel''s swing. The constant burning made it impossible for its healing factor to kick in, leaving it effectively armless until it could break free from this situation.

    But, was that ever something that Leonel would allow?

    Even if he wasn''t absolutely furious about the last moments of the Gold Runed Rapax, where did this bastard get off thinking that he could do as he pleased with his woman? Shouting and bloviating about their future children and who and who wasn''t now ''his Queen'', not bothering to even look down to notice that there was a furious man right beneath him.

    Leonel''s spear swung out again, taking with it another arm.

    The Variant Invalid''s expression was filled with shock. It had most definitely dodged, how had it still ended up losing yet another arm? And if Leonel could so precisely see through its movements, why hadn''t it just taken its head yet?

    It was then that it suddenly sunk in for the Steel Beast Master.

    A low chuckle left its mouth, shining through is sharp teeth. It had spent its whole life as the predator, from the time it was an Invalid, swallowing its own kin, to the point it evolved beyond that and became a Variant Invalid, before eventually being recruited by the Three Finger Cult.

    In truth, it was only chosen for this mission because it was the only one that could pass through the Rapax''s barrier. Once it brought Aina back, it wouldn''t even be in line to use her, let alone claiming her as Queen. This was meant to be its chance.

    Another swipe of a spear took out the Variant Invalids legs and forced it to its knees.

    Leonel stepped forward, but he suddenly found that a fuming beauty had appeared to his side.

    "Let it heal." Aina said slowly.

    Leonel cast a gaze to the side for a moment and retracted his spear and even his armor. He took a step to the side and found a stone to sit on, removing a beast cloth from the Segmented Cube to cover a small bit of his decency.

    A dull bang sounded as Aina lowered her ax hilt to the ground, her hair fluttering wildly. Despite being forced to its knees, the Steel Beast Master was still more than a head taller than Aina. And yet, her aura seemed to stifle it entirely.

    For a moment, the Steel Beast Master was stunned that this was happening, but a low rumbling chuckle eventually left it.

    In that moment, its arms stumps imploded as a jet of blood flying outward. But, with it, it took much of Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force.

    Before the eyes of everyone, its arms regrew and its legs healed. When it rose up, its furious mane was back and the furious glint in its eyes was undeniable.

    Aina swung her ax the moment it stood to its full height. However, the Steel Beast Master didn''t even move, its torso flexing and its gaze looking down toward Aina without a hint of lost confidence.

    CLANG! BOOM!

    The ground beneath their feet shattered like cobwebs, but the Variant Invalid didn''t move a single inch, its flexed torso meeting Aina''s battle ax as though its blade was a blunt butter knife.

    "The worst mistake you could have made was not killing me when you had the chance. I''ll be sure to savor each and every one of your deaths, except for you, of course. You''ll be the witness to it all."

    Aina didn''t say a single word, at least not immediately. Her hair fluttered, her feet pressed into the splintered ground, her arms flexed and her thighs bulged.

    "Die."

    The Steel Beast Master''s expression changed. A sudden overwhelming pressure pressed forward, knocing it off its feet. In the next instant, it found itself speed away once again, its body leaving harsh licks of flame in its wake as the atmosphere whined and groaned.

    BANG!

    The ground beneath Aina''s feet sunk by another measure as the Steel Beast Master skid along the ground. It quickly flipped to its feet, his expression filled with shock as it looked down.

    There was a shallow wound across its torso, barely deeper than a paper cut and only about a foot in length. Compared to the rest of its body, it was impossibly small. However, it was just enough to drip with bloodбн

    At that moment, a strong suction force pulled at it. Though it quickly cut off the feeling, by the time it looked up, a globule of blood as large as its head had already appeared above Aina''s palm.

    The blood thrummed with vitality, shimmering with blinding lights.

    Aina''s palm drew an arc across the air, causing the globule of blood to spread into the form of a bladeбн An ax blade.

    Her battle ax stretched outward, allowing the blood to coat it.

    The effects of this blood would be far more powerful if she ingested it, however she didn''t want anything to do with this Variant Invalid. She didn''t want its apology, she didn''t want its remorse, and she most definitely didn''t want its strength.

    She only wanted its death.

    Aina swung her battle ax as the Steel Beast Master''s expression widened. It suddenly realized that it was frozen in place and there was absolutely nothing it could do to survive.

    It had been humiliated not just once, but twice in this day alone. This was how it would die.

    The Variant Invalids corpse fell into two pieces, bursting into motes of light that flew toward both Leonel and Aina''s bodies. However, Aina rejected it entirely, giving it all to the former.

    "I would advise that you not take another step toward that egg." Leonel said lightly, not even looking in Amery''s direction.

 Chapter 1387 At Once

    1387 At Once

    Leonel''s words seemed to light a fuse under an atmosphere that just barely seemed to be calming. Many more had survived than one would have thought, much due to Leonel''s previous actions. However, in that moment, everyone seemed to remember the original reason why they had all suddenly ended up in this place.

    Amery seemed to not have heard Leonel at all, his expression just the same as always. And, oddly enough, despite him continuing to walk and even close in on the egg, Leonel still hadn''t looked in his direction.

    The youths no longer had much of a choice. There were two Amethyst Tokens handed out this year and it felt that neither was undeserving. The tension alone seemed to prove this.

    In any other situation, those who knew well of Amery''s strength would have called Leonel foolish. In fact, even at this point, the bias toward him was still very much real. The difference was that it was far less vocal than it had been in the past.

    Amery stepped through the maze of eggs, ignoring them all. By this point, the Rapax that remained had grown too weak to do much of anything. The sudden appearance of the shadows had taken out a lot of their remaining strength and the reinforcements they had been waiting on still hadn''t appeared. It was unlikely at this point that they would ever appear now.

    The strongest of them was the only one that had still had the strength to move around. However, he had found himself crushed by the Variant Invalid even before he could go out in his final blaze of glory.

    Leonel watched silently as the Rapax gathered up the last of their strength, pushing themselves up from the ground and steadily walking toward Amery.

    Leonel didn''t do anything as Amery brandished his sword, cutting them down one after another. No matter how many Rapax fell, another would appear in their place. Even in their final moments, as they breathed their last and fell to the ground, they took special attention not to harm the eggs around them.

    Leonel would almost see through their thoughts entirely. They felt that even if the worst case happened, and their future King was taken away and killed, at least what remained of the younger generation would be able to hold them up.

    Amery didn''t spare these eggs a glance. However, Leonel could tell that he didn''t take any special care to hold himself back from harming them either. If it wasn''t for the Rapax using their bodies, at least a dozen eggs would have already been sliced completely through, their lives becoming forfeit before they could even begin to live it.

    Leonel suddenly sensed a shadow looming overhead, a pair of hands clasping his cheeks and jaw and lifting his head up. He hadn''t even noticed, but sitting on this damned rock, his posture had been as terrible as a Rapax''s, slouched and curved, his gaze transfixed to the ground. With his back to everything that was happening, it was his Internal Sight that aided him in spectating everything.

    Aina felt her heart sink when she saw Leonel''s expression.

    His eyes were sunken and dark as though he hadn''t slept in years, his face was covered in sweat that drenched her palms, and his skin felt as scolding as the surface of the sun.

    He was tired.

    And how couldn''t he be? Rage could only take you so far. Using a Sixth Dimensional mind was taxing, wielding and restraining atmospheric Scarlet Star Force was taxing, claiming a Quasi Gold Spear was taxing. He hadn''t even managed to have a break all this time. Ever since he had stepped foot into Void Palace territory, it was a constant battle, a constant war.

    The reason he hadn''t moved to stop Amery yet was because he was using the distance the latter had yet to cover as a small buffer to catch his breath.

    And yet, Leonel grinned.

    "What? Am I that handsome? You look stunned."

    Aina was stunned for a moment, not even knowing how to react. She suddenly felt that maybe Leonel and his father weren''t so different after all.

    "бн It''s fine, you know. You don''t have to save everyone. If you have been a little less stubborn, they all could have taken a lot of burden away from you."

    Aina wasn''t wrong. Whether it was the shadows, the Rapax, and especially the Variant Invalid, if Leonel had been just a little less hot tempered, it would have been everyone''s burden to deal with. Things had started off with Amery being the only ''tired'' one, to suddenly him having had the time to recover while it was now Leonel who was coughing up a lung.

    Leonel chuckled. It was never about them or saving people. He just wanted to chop off a few heads. He just hadn''t accounted for the fact that he would actually want to save a baby Rapax now. Before, he had already decided to trade off giving up on the egg in exchange for teaching the Three Finger Cult a lesson.

    Well, now that he thought about it, that decision was pretty reckless too. The Three Finger Cult wasn''t going anywhere, but a Shadow Sovereign ability in his hands would be an extraordinary boon to his future. By then, it would only be a matter of time before he slaughtered them.

    But sometimesбн Leonel somewhat liked doing the thing that wasn''t the most logical. It made him feel more human.

    Feeling the warmth of Aina''s small hands on his face, he smiled. A beauty being worried about his health was pretty nice, what more could a man ask for?

    Leonel reached out, grabbing his spear and slowly rising until he towered over Aina.

    At that moment, Amery had reached the egg, the last Rapax having fallen to his feet. He calmly took out an embroidered box as though there was no one else around him.

    "I expect a reward for gallantly saving the world." Leonel said with a grin, still not looking toward the swordsman.

    Aina rolled her eyes. "If we worked together, dealing with him would be easy."

    "Sure. But I have a few debts to settle first."

    Amery lightly closed the lid of the box, the egg having vanished.

    And at that instant, both he and Leonel moved at once.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1388 Clear Line

    ?1388 Clear Line

    CLANG!

    Spear and sword met, an overwhelming strength traveling up Leonel''s arms and making his teeth chatter.

    Leonel found an uncontrollable Force sending him back, his feet gliding along the moist ground as waters continued to flood inward. At this point, it felt that it would only be a matter of time before they were forced to use Force to glide atop the green water.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted to Amery''s blade, his lip curling when he realized it was the very same wooden sword from the day, he hadn''t even bothered to take out anything better, nor did he feel like he had to.

    There was something very special about Amery''s Sword Force. It was powerful and seemed to be even more useful than a blade itself. It almost felt like blasphemy to use anything other than a wooden sword because that was the only thing that could bring out its true strength.

    Leonel knew that this was just an illusion. Or, rather, he deduced that it was, an instinctual sharpness of his eye and experience coming to the conclusion. He could see through and understand much more of Amery''s Force now, and he knew well that it wasn''t because of his Spear Forceбн

    Leonel''s aura surged, a crown appearing upon his forehead as a shimmering golden spear took up its center.

    Amery seemed to respond in kind, a bright golden sword forming upon his.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The flurry of exchanges was heated, but there was no doubt who had the upper hand.

    In swiftness, Amery was faster. In power, Amery was stronger. In skill, Amery was more deft and dexterous, his sword responding to every situation with the relaxation of a leaf blowing in the wind.

    The battle seemed to carry him from stance to stance, nothing seeming to be too difficult for him to respond to.

    Cuts began to appear along Leonel''s body, Amery''s blade treating his metallic skin like thin sheets of paper. Only the most minor of shifts and dodges managed to keep Leonel away from fatal blows, but it felt as though a trap was closing the distance around him.

    ''I seeбн'' Leonel''s expression remained cold and indifferent, the smile he had had for Aina not seeming to be present in the slightest. ''бн So that''s the difference between them. That''s what my Spear Force is lackingбн That''s also what my Bow Force is lackingбн It seems that there''s a shortcut that fixes all of this.''

    BANG!

    Leonel''s aura flourished. No matter how tired he was, there would always be one thing that remained unblemished and untainted, untouched by the weaknesses of the world.

    His will.

    A dense purple fog rose up, the shimmering halo above Leonel''s head vibrating as he stretched out his spear, the glow suddenly infusing into it.

    Why did Leonel feel such reverence for Amery''s swords? Why did Amery dare to call himself the Sword Deity? It was because his sword embodied those very characteristics.

    Wise Star Order had already told Leonel that at the highest levels, Force could curate a personality of its own. And, in that case, wouldn''t that mean that the highest levels of comprehended Blade Forces would also have to reach such a level? To step into a Realm that would be worthy of the Life Grade?

    Amery had to spend his whole life honing his blade, refining his Force, and tempering his skill in order to birth a Sword Force that had its own dignity and pride, one that not only embodied strength, but also a loftiness that few could match.

    However, Leonel didn''t have as many years as Amery didбн Nor did he need to.

    Leonel''s King''s Might flooded his Spear Force, causing its bright golden hue to suddenly gain a violet tint. The royal violet gold color it now wafted seemed to elevate it to an all new level.

    BANG!

    The crown upon Leonel''s forehead grew a size. The singular golden spear tripled, forming two smaller units to its side, the now semi-circular crown glowing with a tinge of purple now as well.

    "I would advise that you stop hold back." Leonel said coldly, his spear swinging again.

    CLANG!

    For the first time, Leonel''s spear met Amery''s blade and neither took a single step back. The viciousness of their clash was somehow completely understated, not even the slightest wind splintering outward for just a moment. And thenбн The cascade of booming cacophonies rampaged about, their figures becoming blurs as they weaved in and out of their clashes, the cavern slowly filling up with water as it trembled.

    BOOM!

    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, his breath heavy.

    Amery landed lightly a distance away. He rose up his sword in a fencing stance, gazing upon his wooden blade with a curious eye.

    "Alright," he said lightly.

    His sword swished downward. In a single motion, it seemed to have flickered and vanished. When Amery''s hand rose up once more, a completely different sword had taken its place, reflecting delicate blue lights as rays shone right through it.

    SHIIING!

    A sword howl rose into the skies.

    "I''ll show you a small bit of my powerбн So that you stop wasting my time. I''ve already said that your spear is weak and you don''t deserve the ring on your finger. I have someone much better for it in mind.

    "I don''t fight you because I respect you. I fight you because the things you have would be better served elsewhere.

    "I am called the Sword Deity, Amery. Be thankful that you''ll fall beneath my blade."

    A rising tempest pierced through the skies.

    Sword gashes suddenly appeared all around Amery without even his effort. It was as though he was pulling Sword Force from the surroundings, something that should have been completely impossible.

    And then, it happened.

    The sound of a shattering barrier resounded and the howl of Level 3 Sword Force roared through the battlefield.

    Amery flicked his wrist just a single time, causing a wall of white-gold Sword Force to shoot forward like a raging tsunami.

    Leonel hurriedly crossed his spear across his chest, but even after bracing himself, he found his feet leaving the ground, his ribcage rattling until it shattered.

    However, even with the pain wracking his body, he couldn''t take his eyes off of the nick that had appeared in his spear.

    It started as a small scratch, but the Sword Force made it deeper and deeper. And soonбн

    Leonel''s eyes widened, his Quasi Gold Spear splitting in two, a line of Sword Force gaining a clear path to his chest.

 Chapter ?1389 White Lions

    ?1389 White Lions

    PCHU!

    Leonel flew out, a large mouthful of blood flying from his mouth. But soon, the fountain became so large that no one could be sure whether it came from his lip or his torso.

    BANG!

    Leonel crashed heavily against the ground, his mind going somewhat blank for a moment.

    A Blade Force capable of slicing apart a weapon a step away from the Seventh Dimension. Even Leonel Scarlet Star Force hadn''t been able to destroy his current spear, it had weathered his breakthrough into Tier 6 with only some superficial cracks, and that was in the presence of the strongest Fire Force in all of existence.

    It was difficult even to wrap his head around what level of refinement a Blade Force needed to reach to be able to display such power.

    But even then, Leonel''s mind seemed all too blank to even begin to parse apart something so complex. Compared to Amery, Leonel had only just entered the world of Dimensions.

    He hated losing. In fact, that wasn''t a strong phrase. He abhorred it to the very depths of his being. Losing wasn''t something he ever really experienced before, but it seemed to be happening a lot in this place.

    He never really needed to put in any effort to win. And, quite frankly, the state of the Milky Way Galaxy hadn''t done much of anything to change that mindset in him. Those people were weak too. There was nothing that could push him, nothing that could really excite him.

    It was no wonder he had so arrogantly proclaimed that he would become King of it all. It took his father appearing once again to remind him that there was a taller mountain out there. It was just that easy to get Leonel to change his mind state.

    A single word from his father and everything seemed to relax. He allowed himself to open up again, but he had also become that same relaxed kid with hardly a weight on his shoulders. Noбн it wasn''t that the weight wasn''t there, it was just that he had seemingly transferred it to his father, letting him carry it for a while so that he could relax.

    But, even with that being the caseбн He really hated to lose.

    He really, really, really hated it.

    It was funny for a person like him to have such a disposition. He had coasted through much of life. He coasted through school. He coasted through football. When he entered the Dimensional Verse, he didn''t do much else other than follow Aina, so he coasted again. Then he got it in his head that he would become a King, but had he really put all the effort into that he could?

    He had definitely tricked himself into thinking he did. He had even abandoned the only woman he had ever really cared for because he was so convinced that he was trying his hardest and his best.

    But was he?

    Noбн Not reallyбн

    Everything was just too boring. Maybe the only excitement he got from the goal of becoming a King was all the naysayers he got because of it. Maybe that was why he had pushed Aina away to begin with, it was much more interesting when it was someone he cared about that doubted himбн

    But then she stopped doubting him entirely. And then she became a thorn at his side, constantly reminding him of that very same boredom, again and againбн

    Until his father appeared.

    Like an angel swooping in from the skies, the old man centered him. His father was always the only one that could put him in his place, the only one that could make him feel inferiorбн The only one that could remind him that he couldn''t always have things the way he wanted to have them.

    Leonel knew exactly what his problem was. It wasn''t a goal, it wasn''t a lack of aspiration, it was a lack of disciplineбн a lack of maturity, a childish lashing out by a brat annoyed his dad wasn''t always by his side anymore.

    And suddenly, it made all the sense in the world that his dad had chosen the methods he had, to leave him in this world without backing, without support.

    But... even that wasn''t true. How many people could have something like the Spear Domain? How many could have the Segmented Cube?

    ''бн <Instant Recovery>.''

    A bathing of golden light felt from the skies, white-gold illusory feathers falling onto Leonel''s body as he rose.

    "Alright, fine. I guess I can''t have everything exactly like I want them."

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, revealing the raging aura of a bow. The roar of twin white lions shook the cavern, an aura the likes of which none here had ever personally experienced before swallowing them whole.

    Amery, who had already turned away suddenly looked back, only to find Leonel having already pulled the string of his bow tight.

    Level 3 Bow Force flourished, its howls swallowing everything in its path.

    "For today, I''ll just defeat you with my bow. As for my spear, if you manage to survive this, that is, you can taste it another time."

    Amery''s expression changed wildly as Leonel''s fingers released.

    CLANG!

    The first arrow had already appeared before him in the blink of an eye. Amery quickly flipped a palm, retrieving his crystalline blue sword and parrying it away. But, his hand ended up shooting off and into the air, his grip on his sword almost faltering entirely.

    Leonel took another step forward and released another arrow.

    CLANG!

    Amery''s expression turned a fiery shade of furious red, his other palm having flipped over to reveal a second sword, this one a crystalline red.

    CLANG!

    Leonel fired again and Amery was nearly lifted from his feet, his heels digging into the ground. The latter released a low roar, his Force flourishing and the whites of his eyes vanishing into an abyss of blackness.

    But, as though he hadn''t seen anything at all, Leonel just fired again.

    CLANG!

    Amery''s blue sword was knocked away again.

    CLANG!

    Amery''s red sword was knocked away once more.

    CLANG!

    Amery''s robes were torn to pieces, revealing a hidden armor within.

    CLANG!

    Leonel''s arrow landed in the same exact spot once more, knocking Amery off his feet and sending him crashing into an opposing wall.

    A barrage of arrows seemed to fall from the skies. There was no technique, no deviations, it wasn''t even a question where Leonel was aiming. The distance was simply too close, and having entered the range of a sniper, there was no getting out of it.

    Arrogant.

    It was even more arrogant than using a wooden sword. He could have aimed for Amery''s head. He could have aimed for the joints in his armor. He could have aimed for his wrists and severed his ability to ever hold a sword at all. And yet, he did none of that.

    It was as though each arrow was another punch, another furious hit, another close combat barrage.

    CLANG!

    Leonel''s arrow landed in the same spot for the third time, causing Amery''s inner armor to crack into countless pieces and fall into useless shards.

    PCHU!

    Another arrow soared, but instead of taking Amery''s heart, it took his finger, mangling his hand into the same unrecognizable mess the latter had left Leonel''s in all those months ago.

    Amery fell to a knee. Even with his hand in such a state, he never released the grip on his sword, he only watched in silence as his spatial ring landed in Leonel''s hand, the box that had stored the egg now no longer being in his possession.

    Amery didn''t say a word as he rolled his finger over his Sword Domain Heirloom. His figure flickered, vanishing into thin air.

    Leonel stood tall, his bow still roaring as twin white lions raced around him.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter ?1390 Boredom

    ?1390 Boredom

    Leonel''s gaze remained impassive, shifting down to the bow in his hand before he shook his head. He didn''t really feel any sense of accomplishment. He had wanted to defeat Amery with his spear, but that had ended up with his own being cut in half. Not to mention his spear, even his body had almost suffered such a fate. If not for his spear taking much of the edge off, he would have been in two halves right now.

    Of course, Leonel had progressed a lot. The first time he had fought Amery, the latter had his ability locked and he had dealt with several rounds of Vital Star Force weighing him down. At the same time, Leonel was not only not weighed down by the Star Force, it even made him several times stronger.

    Even under those conditions, he had lost handily.

    In this situation, though Leonel didn''t quite know it, bowman had a decided advantage in Anarchic Force laced environments. It was for that reason that Cornelius was so shocked by Leonel''s Bow Force earlier. Being able to use long ranged attacks in a place where gathering atmospheric Force was almost impossible gave one a huge leg up.

    In fact, it was only because the Rapax Nest was relatively lighter on Anarchic Force in the first place that Amery''s Sword Force was able to travel so far. But, even then, it weakened too much before it could slice Leonel in half.

    None of this even mentioned the fact that Leonel had no ability to use his Enlightened Bow Force so many times in a row without the support of this Quasi Life Grade Bow. Even if he hadn''t been teaching Amery a lesson and he went directly for the kill, Leonel believed that he would have still needed at least five arrows to claim Amery''s life.

    Under normal conditions, Leonel could shoot two, and if he realized pushed himself into a comatose state, three. After his mind broke into the Sixth Dimension, he could barely shoot four now. Unfortunately, since his body had yet to catch up, his breakthrough into the Sixth Dimension didn''t give as large a boost as it might otherwise.

    Regardless, it would leave him one short of victory.

    Plus, none of this even mentioned what advantages just shooting with this bow alone gave. It was subtle, but Leonel felt that it had had a suppressive effect on Amery''s Sword Force, likely something related to abilities of the bow he had no right to use just yet.

    All of this made Leonel incredibly unsatisfied with this victory. If he had wanted to win like this, he could have done it ages ago. This True Selection would have been a joke if he used his bow from the beginning.

    Leonel suddenly felt a dull thud thump against his chest. Looking down, he found Aina standing before him, a slightly annoyed look on her face.

    "Less than four years," she suddenly said.

    "Huh?"

    "The Metamorphosis happened less than four years ago and he''s been training since he was a toddler. If he saw your face right now, he''d probably die of rage."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow before he eventually shook his head and chuckled.

    He never cared to compare himself to others. When he told Conon to stop placing his limitations onto himself, he had meant it. He didn''t care how many more years of experience, backing and knowledge Amery had than him, he still felt like he should be able to win his own way.

    "You''re also lazy."

    Leonel blinked, snapping out of his own thoughts to look at Aina again.

    "Don''t look at me like that, I''m right. You can easily lose yourself in your work, giving the illusion that you''re hard working, but you only like to focus on things that are interesting to you, or things that give you the thrill of deduction, like finding out something new.

    "But, how often have you stripped things down to their bare bones and just swung a wooden spear ten thousand times in the same stance for days on end?"

    Leonel opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly found that he had no answer. Was he really lazy?

    Now that he thought about it, the only reason he was so fascinated with Force Crafting, at least in the beginning, was because his dad had challenged him. And now, just like Aina said, he loved it because every Craft was like a new challenge, a new puzzle to solve, a new world to jump into.

    She was rightбн he had never really gotten to the nuts and bolts of thingsбн

    Aina sighed seeing Leonel''s expression.

    She remembered that at first, she didn''t want Leonel to follow her because she cared about him and thought that his talent might not be great enough to stay by her side, not until she got her revenge, anyway. But, almost instantly, he had flipped that thought of hers on its head. He seemed to improve all the time with hardly any effort at all.

    It was hard to tell someone like that they should be better and do better, especially when it worked so well.

    Leonel had an embarrassment of riches, but eventually the well spring would come to an end. Eventually, a Quasi Life Grade bow wouldn''t be enough. Eventually, he wouldn''t be able to travel any further in Spear Domain. Eventually, he would have to travel to places he couldn''t survive in with the Segmented Cube.

    And then what? Would he hope another rage fueled tantrum would push him over the edge and give him the strength he needed?

    "If you want to be a King, you should learn how to deal with boredom. Or else, when that peace you want finally comes, what are you going to do with yourself?"

    Aina looked at Leonel seriously when she spoke these words. It was just a few short and simple sentences, and yet it hit Leonel like a truck.

    She was right, when all the excitement was gone, what would he do?

 Chapter 1391 Really?

    1391 Really?

    Leonel fell into silence, his palm flipping to return the bow to the Segmented Cube. He didn''t quite have an answer, he never really thought about it.

    Even when he was with Aina, he never really thought about what their future together would look like. He didn''t think about marriage, he didn''t think about kids or grandkids, he never really imagined them growing old together either.

    It was odd that he never did. A man like him who was logical to a fault should have been thinking about those things. And, at the very least, he should have talked to Aina about it at some point. But, he never brought it up.

    "Do you want kids?"

    Aina, who had been staring intently at Leonel, was suddenly caught completely off guard by the question. She was baffled in one moment before she went entirely red.

    "What are you talking about all of a sudden?!"

    Seeing her reaction, Leonel laughed, all his worries seeming to float away. She could be quite bold sometimes, but she could also be adorably embarrassed just as easily. The ebbs and the flows of this were quite peaceful and relaxing. Maybe there was nothing wrong with some forms of boredom.

    "No, really," Leonel said after he finally stopped laughing. "Do you?"

    Aina''s eyes darted around. She couldn''t believe Leonel had really chosen this kind of situation to ask this question. But, seeing that the answer was important to him, she bit her lip and nodded.

    "How many?" Leonel pressed.

    Aina was exasperated. What was wrong with this man all of a sudden?!

    "бн Tenбн"

    "Huh?" Leonel leaned in.

    Even with his hearing, Aina had spoken so softly that he couldn''t hear exactly what she was saying. Was this really something to be so embarrassed about? As confusing as he was, this woman was even more confusing. She didn''t even blink an eye when they got caught making out in the middle of a Rapax Nest, now she wanted to be all flustered?

    "At least ten, alright?!" Aina snapped, her voice practically blowing Leonel''s hair back.

    "At least ten?" Leonel''s brows rose. "Does that mean you want more than that?"

    "Yes." Aina placed her hands on her hips. "Is there a problem? I''m doing most of the work anyway."

    Leonel blinked. It seemed that this was more important to Aina than he knew, to think that he hadn''t even thought to ask before. She even seemed a bit defensive about it, as though she was afraid that Leonel would say no.

    Even without going down that path, Leonel could tell that saying no would really hurt Aina, maybe even more so than those cruel words he had spoken that day on Planet Montex. He could even feel the anxiety within her as she waited for him to respond.

    Leonel felt that he should have been able to guess this long ago.

    It was one thing for Aina to get super defensive and anxious over her experience with the Puppet Master back when her psyche still wasn''t completely whole. But, for that to bleed over into her rage for the Steel Beast Master as well long after her mind had been repaired was a different matter entirely.

    What did both Variant Invalids have in common? Well, both them wanted to use her as some sort of sow to pump out babies for them.

    Maybe, the reason Aina was so enraged went beyond them just crossing boundaries any woman would have up, but rather because they were also perverting something she held close to her heart and cherished.

    Leonel smiled. "What are you so worried about? Like you said, you''re doing most of the work anyway. How about we start now?"

    Leonel''s smile spread into a wild grin.

    One baby, ten babies, twenty? He didn''t really care one way or another.

    Aina sighed a breath of relief before she rolled her eyes. "I''m ignoring you."

    She turned away and began to walk to who knows where.

    "How can you ignore me? If we don''t start now, how are we supposed to get to 20? Think of the gestation period!"

    Aina''s lips arched in a smile Leonel couldn''t see as she continued to walk away. The relief in her eyes almost seemed palpable.

    "Be serious, we need to find a way out of here," Aina stopped by where the green Runed egg had been, waiting for Leonel to put it down so that they could go. She knew Leonel well enough to know that he no longer had any intention of taking the egg with him.

    "I can think of a few ways," Leonel spoke as he took out the box once again. "No need to take it too seriously. Getting out of here probably isn''t all that difficult anymore. Just look at all the energy around us."

    "Really?" Aina raised an eyebrow.

    "Really."

    Aina was a bit skeptical, but she didn''t think he would joke about something like this.

    "Look at you, doubting me. How could you doubt your future baby daddy?"

    "Ew, don''t say it like that. I physically cringe."

    "What, baby daddy? That struck a nerve? I''m going to slot that in with things you get wrong like putting cereal in first."

    "You''re a terrorist to society," Aina snapped back.

    "This terrorist would like to book a baby making appointment. Really, if we don''t start now, it''ll be too late."

    "I suddenly regret telling you this."

    "It''s real, though! I hear having babies is harder at higher Dimensions. The earlier we start, the better."

    "Maybe for other women, but not for me. I can have a baby whenever I want."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. He was going to ask Aina what she meant by that, but his senses caused him to turn his head instead, only to lock eyes with a young man. The two had apparently completely forgotten that there were others around them.

    "That bow."

    Leonel didn''t need to hear the rest for his gaze to narrow.

 Chapter 1392 YouтАЩre Not...

    The young man wasn''t a person that Leonel had interacted with before. He had an unassuming build, but his gaze was extraordinarily sharp, sharper than any Leonel had ever seen before.

    Among the youths here, he was one of the very few who didn''t have a single scratch on him despite the sheer violence and carnage of the previous battle. There was no doubt that this person was highly skilled, extraordinarily so.

    From what Leonel could tell, this young man was also a person of very few words. The stronger his King''s Might and Dream Force became, not to mention his soul, the better he was at reading people. For this young man to come out and say something, it was definitely something that was very important, at least to him.

    "That bow," the young man repeated, seemingly not perturbed by Leonel''s silence, "how is it in your possession?"

    Leonel observed this young man for a while longer. The silence didn''t seem to make either man very awkward at all. Leonel continued to stare and the young man continued to remain silent, waiting for the response he wanted.

    "My mother gave it to me," Leonel finally said.

    The shock of Leonel''s victory against Amery was still hanging thickly in the air. Many didn''t quite know what to do moving forward, their minds stuck in limbo.

    On one hand, the prize they had all rushed forward for was now already in Leonel''s hands, and he had also more than proved his strength. On the other, there wasn''t an easy way to leave this place and many still didn''t know how to wrap their heads around exactly what had just happened before them.

    For those who knew Amery, they understood him to be a real Deity within their generation. If they wanted a chance to catch up to him, they needed to step into the Sixth Dimension because it was the only way to bridge the advantage given by the Sword Domain Heirloom.

    Simply put, Amery gained a head start on his God Path, touching upon it much earlier than one should thanks to the insights granted by the Sword Domain.

    There was no use in getting jealous over it. After all, to be able to earn that Sword Domain Heirloom in that family of monsters to begin with was a feat all to itself.

    However, to see that legend in their eyes fall, and so easily at that. They found it difficult to wrap their heads around.

    But this young man seemed to have shocked them awake. That was rightбн The bowбн That bow was at least of the Quasi Life Grade! In fact, it felt stronger than even others of that caliber they had seen. The fact that Leonel even had it in his possession was shocking enough, but the fact he could actually wield itбн

    The young man''s gaze narrowed when he heard Leonel''s answer.

    "That bowбн shouldn''t be in the hands of a Morales family member. In fact, it shouldn''t be in the hands of anyone not of our families. But, somehow, it has acknowledged youбн Thisбн does not make sense."

    The young man knew how finicky this bow was. Most couldn''t even lift it up, let alone pull its bowstring. It was like the bow had made the conscious decision to lower itself to Leonel''s level, just so that it could help him. It didn''t make any sense at all.

    In fact, it would cause a major uproar if these matters were known about to the Void Palace. Noбн It would cause a major uproar when these matters were found outбн

    "So, what do you want me to do about this, exactly?" Leonel asked.

    He wanted to understand what this young man''s goal was exactly.

    "My name is Nazag Tarius. I tell you this so you know I am not a coward, but also for you to understand that I''m also far more reasonable than most. If a member of my alliance were to see you with this bow, their first assumption won''t be that you claimed it for yourself, their first assumption would be your father has something to do with it.

    "You aren''t the first genius bowman in the Void Palace''s history, and you aren''t the only one of this generation either."

    Nazag''s aura flourished, the piercing howl of Enlightened Bow Force roaring through the surroundings.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he didn''t say a word, waiting for Nazag to finish.

    "If I find out that your father has tampered with the White Lion Bow and suppressed its will just so that you can use it to bully those of your own generation, not only I, but the whole of the Constellation Bow Alliance will declare war on the Morales family."

    **

    "WIFE! YOUR HUBBY HAS RETURNED!"

    Velasco''s voice boomed across the Void Palace, causing its mountains to quake and the youths to his back to cover their ears.

    Somewhere deep within the Void Palace, there was one gorgeous woman who rolled her eyes, but outside of her, there were several others that began to scramble. The arrival of Velasco Morales wasn''t something any of them took lightly.

    "You kiddos stay here, I have something to take care of."

    Velasco flashed a smiled and his figure vanished, leaving the youths who were still in a daze from their near death experience alone.

    When he appeared once more, he was already on the highest peak, his hands in his pockets and his feet suspended in the air. One would have thought that he was the perfect picture of Leonel if not for the fact that unlike his son, Velasco was enamored with dressing as immaculately as possible. Everything on him was prim, proper and trimmed, down to even his individual hair strands.

    "Rosen, why don''t you come out here for a chat?"

    By this point, the Head of the Unfettered Blade Party had already stepped out. His head tilted up into the skies, his jaw steeled.

    "Velasco, don''t do anyбк!"

    Val pointed a finger down and as though commanded by a Diety, Rosen''s right arm began to crumble to ash, vanishing into the wind piece by piece.

    Just like that, before the eyes of everyone, a mighty swordsman was crippled.

    "You family should think a bit more before they act this time. Luckily for you, this failure and your arm are enough to calm me for now."

    Velasco looked away from Rosen whose forehead was pulsing with veins and face was dripping with sweat.

    "Aiya, I''ve used too much power with this avatar, it''s already about to fade away. WIFE, WAIT FOR ME, I''M COMING!"

    With a step, he vanished.

 Chapter 1393 DonтАЩt Worry

    The weight of Nazag''s words were exceptionally heavy, so heavy, in fact, that those who truly understood what the ramifications of such a thing would be were left frozen in silence.

    A war between the Morales and Constellation Bow Alliance wouldn''t just throw the Human Domain into turmoil, it would be a near extinction level event.

    With two powerhouses on that level fighting it out, the idea of protecting the rest of the human race would become nothing more than a joke. By before the dust even settled, maybe half the Human Domain would be embroiled in this war while the other half would simply be too weak to have participated in the first place.

    The fact that Nazag could spear these words, though, meant a few things.

    Firstly, there was no doubt that his standing was high, exceptionally so. Even if it was just a guess on his part based on the importance of the bow to the Alliance, there were certain things that people without a certain amount of power wouldn''t dare to say.

    If Nazag held no power, it would be like a homeless man of Ancient America declaring that they would lay siege to Ancient Russia. It might be true depending on the context, but what place did a homeless man have to speak of such things? If anyone was going to make the decision, it would be the President or someone of high military rank.

    And that led to the second thing. This bowбн Was far more important than Leonel knew. It could be said that his mother had dropped a hot potato in his lap.

    Truthfully, though, Alienor hadn''t been expecting Leonel to gain acknowledgment of the bow. She had only heard from her father that her Little Lion was a bowman so she snatched the best bow she could find, expecting Leonel to grow into it eventually. She could have never expected that there wouldn''t even be a barrier of entry.

    Like this, Nazag''s assumption was quite cogent from his perspective. Leonel, indeed, wasn''t the only genius to have ever existed and while his Scarlet Star Force was impressive, none of that was related to bowmanship.

    None of these people here had any way of knowing how early on Leonel had grasped Bow Force, and they were even more in the dark about the fact Leonel would have grasped Enlightened Bow Force even faster if he had been aware that there were higher levels to strive for.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel originally refused to ask the dictionary about progressing his spearmanship because he wanted to organically progress and improve, he didn''t want his decisions to be jaded or influenced by those that came before him.

    Ultimately, this method had worked out excellently for Leonel as he finally managed to find a method to fuse his intuition with his analytical ability in combat. But, the downside was that he was left in the dark about many things until it was later than one might expect.

    In the end, Leonel had actually ended up only learning of Natural Spear Force and Enlightened Bow Force after entering the Fifth Dimension, the latter coming later than the former because it was the catalyst that made Leonel realize there was something beyond.

    With things laid out like this, it was hard to see exactly how Leonel separated himself from other geniuses. Or, more accurately, exactly how he was supposedly a better fit for the White Lion Bow than anyone else that had tried to gain its favor.

    In Nazag''s mind, with the information he had on hand, the most likely series of events was that Leonel''s father, known for his extraordinary abilities as a Force Crafter, tampered with the bow to allow Leonel to use it.

    To those of Nazag''s ilk, this was worse than a slap in the face. If Velasco had done such a thing, he might as well have pulled his pants down and pissed into their mouths. It was that foul of a mark on their history.

    Now, Leonel had suddenly ended up in the middle of not just one, but two sweeping storms. On one side there was the Constellation Bow Alliance and on the other, there was the Suaird family. In the middle, there was the Morales family and much of its current problems seemed to be Leonel''s fault.

    It was then, amidst all the tension, that Leonel suddenly chuckled.

    His head turned back and looked toward Aina.

    "It seems I''m being underestimated again."

    Aina shook her head. "Blame yourself, who asked you to try and act cool?"

    "About that baby making appointmentбн"

    "Can you be serious?!"

    Leonel laughed, his hand reaching for the box and opening the lid. With a thought, he reached in and pulled out the egg, placing it back down where it had been and giving it a small pat.

    Just sitting there, the little guy was even taller than him. Leonel believed he even felt a little kick just now, causing his lips to curl into a smile.

    "Stay in this egg for a little while longer, your race is much cuter like this."

    Leonel suddenly felt a hit to his waist.

    "How could you say that to a baby!"

    "Did you want to serve this baby up on a platter a few hours ago?"

    "So did you!"

    Leonel cleared his throat. "Don''t worry, even if our baby is ugly, I''ll still love them just the same."

    Watching the two banter as though there was no one around at all, many weren''t very certain of how they should be feeling. Did he just ignore the threat? What was happening here, exactly?

    "You all," Leonel looked up, having had his fill of teasing Aina, "I''ll be leaving this egg here, but that also isn''t license to take it. I''m going to begin drawing a teleportation formation out of here now. If you''d like to live, then you should probably forget your greed."

    Leonel spoke these words and then began to do as he said, his mind already becoming focused enough to forget everything else.

 Chapter 1394 Grinded To Dust

    Leonel ignored everything else around him, the pressure suddenly becoming stifling for reasons most couldn''t understand.

    In recent times, Leonel had mostly learned how to control the leaking of his aura when he focused thanks to fully awakening his King''s Might Lineage Factor, but he couldn''t be bothered to do so this time. The level of focus he needed was much deeper now than maybe it had ever been.

    Trying to draw a teleportation array fit for a Seventh Dimensional world was already beyond much of what Leonel should have been able to do. To try and draw one while also surrounded by dense Anarchic Force was another massive hassle.

    To make matters worse, even though they were technically surrounded by a large amount of energy currently, energy that could most definitely be used to fuel such a thing, this energy was in the form of Life Force and not Spatial Force, making the task even more difficult.

    This meant that Leonel not only needed a focused form of mass teleportation, he also needed it to be able to convert Force toward another use case.

    In the Dimensional Verse, using one form of energy as another was nigh impossible. Like Wise Star Order had said, these Forces, especially at these high levels, practically had personalities of their own. To try and fit them into a box they weren''t meant to fit in was basically impossible.

    However, there was good news too.

    For one, this was Life Force, not something unruly like Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force. In addition, it was designed to be absorbed by babies.

    Granted, the Rapax weren''t exactly coddling of their young, not in the normal sense, anyway. But, a baby was a baby, was a baby, simply put. Compared to other Seventh Dimensional Forces Leonel could try to take control of, this would be the simplest.

    And that led to the second advantage Leonel had, <Dimensional Cleanse>''s Visualization.

    It had to be remembered that the Fifth Dimension was all about unchaining the mind and removing mental limits on the body to unleash its true and full potential. In order to do this, techniques used Visualizations and certain Artistic Conceptions as exercises of the mind, helping those that used it to strengthen and fortify their minds, thus facilitating its unshackling.

    Despite this being the case, Leonel had hardly relied on <Dimensional Cleanse> at all during his breakthroughs. This was because he had another method of releasing the shackles of his mind, and that was his True State Innate Node.

    Visualizing and comprehending his Scarlet Star Force was not only just as good, but in Leonel''s use case, it was even better than relying on any other technique. This was because his Innate Node was perfectly tailored to him, more perfectly tailored than any other technique could possibly be.

    However, despite this being the case, this didn''t mean that Leonel had ever stopped comprehending the third stage of <Dimensional Cleanse> because only by comprehending it fully like he had done with the second stage could he pass it on to those around him.

    It was a difficult and long drawn out process. Even with his computing powers, closing in those final gaps for Leonel was almost too difficult. But, he luckily had three breakthroughs.

    The first was his Ability Index suddenly gaining a huge boost thanks to something his father had apparently done. The second was his Luxnix family Lineage Factor reaching perfection and allowing his mind to enter the Sixth Dimension. And, the final breakthrough was him entering Tier 6.

    Leonel had still yet to fully comprehend this third stage, but he had gained a small inkling that had inspired him.

    How was it that the formation of his Stars could cause so much atmospheric Scarlet Star Force to surge toward him?

    It could be said that if not for this benefit, this battle would have been far harder on Leonel. Of course, it only lasted a small time and eventually ran out, but if Leonel could trigger this more often without having to form a star, wouldn''t he essentially gain the ability to use his Scarlet Star Force without any of the drawbacks?

    Leonel was certain that if he hadn''t run out of Scarlet Star Force, his spear would have been enough to beat Amery. Of course, that would have not been much different from using his Bow anyway, but the point still stood.

    This aside, Leonel''s thoughts were simple. He couldn''t catalyze such a large surge of Force without much input like <Dimensional Cleanse> seemed to be able to do. But, what he could do was use a large amount of Force as a Catalyst to bring in the Force he wanted.

    Just like that, he could exchange all this Seventh Dimensional Life Force around them for Seventh Dimensional Spatial Force! Then, he could reverse engineer the teleportation path they took to get here to send them all back in the proper direction.

    Easy? Easy.

    Leonel''s body flickered around the cavern, the Force Art beneath him growing more and more complex as he wielded the half that remained of his spear.

    It took several hours and he even had to pause several times, but he was soon close to finishing.

    Unfortunately, it was exactly at that time that the cavern rumbled.

    Leonel''s gaze shot up, his jaw steeling.

    "Aina."

    Aina appeared to his side without hesitation.

    Leonel swept a gaze around. "If you all want to live, I would advise that you hurry up. If you don''t, feel free to stay here and die."

    The sudden rumbling seemed to cause the prideful geniuses to forget themselves for a moment. One tried to take advantage of the commotion to swipe the egg, but they ended up with an arrow between the eye before Leonel could even do anything.

    Nazag lowered his bow in silence, not bothering to look in Leonel''s direction.

    As for Leonel, he didn''t have time to guess at or understand Nazag''s motives. Maybe it was just his way of saying he didn''t owe Leonel any favors anymore, regardless, he didn''t care.

    Leonel finished the final stroke as the youths of the Void Palace surged in.

    A wild green glow overwhelmed everything, blinding most.

    Leonel squinted, his brows furrowed tightly. He had created this array on the fly using a Force Art system he wasn''t even used to. He hadn''t been able to optimize things the way he would like. It was still possible for them to be stopped.

    If that happened, things would get more than just a little troublesome.

    70%... 80%... 90%...

    At that moment, the ceiling was crashed through once again, a horde of Rapax appearing.

    The lights had grown so bright that Leonel could hardly see what was happening beyond the bounds of the formation anymore. But, he could just barely make out a Runed Rapax cocking their arm back.

    ''Shit.''

    Leonel''s jaw steeled. Anything thrown by a Seventh Dimensional existence was bound to be endlessly powerful. If it landed on the formation lines, or had enough Force to disrupt the natural flow, they were screwed.

    The latter was far less likely since the vastness and quantity of Force Leonel had used was too much. But, as for the formerбн

    97%... 98%... 99%...

    A beam of light that looked like black lightning shot through the skies. It was so dense in its blackness that all the light around it seemed to vanish.

    The beam swerved, shooting up until it was right above Leonel''s head and then barrelling downward with an impossible to track speed.

    100%

    BOOM!

    A roar of pain resounded.

    "Leonel?!"

    Aina, despite her head and vision swimming, rushed to Leonel''s side.

    At that moment, Leonel was pinned to the ground, an odd rod lying horizontally across his palm and shattering the grey land around him.

    Leonel''s entire body was driven into the ground. His shoulder was dislocated, his knee was shattered, and every bone in his hand had been grinded to dust.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1395 Lt Felt Like...

    ''Son of a bitch!''

    Leonel had never experienced so much pain in his life. He had had almost all the bones in his body broken before, suffered Runes being etched directly onto his bone, he had even almost been cut in half just hours ago.

    But somehow this was worse than all of it.

    The group had managed to complete the teleportation thanks to the fact that this black rod hadn''t fallen onto the ground until just a split moment after they teleported. As a result of this, the rod managed to enter the range of the teleportation and was taken along, thus ending in the current situation.

    Beads of sweat fell from Leonel''s brow.

    ''Come on, come on, come onбн''

    Leonel could vaguely feel that Aina was trying to help him, but this rod was way too heavy, it was denser than anything Leonel had ever felt before. Despite being only a small bit longer than a usual polearm, its weight was unfathomable, it was to the point Leonel was more so shocked that his hand hadn''t been directly severed instead.

    For the first time, he lamented his sturdy skin. That result would have most definitely hurt less than this.

    The only way out of this situation was to send this rod into a snowglobe. But the problem was that in order to accomplish this, he had to envelop it with his Internal Sight.

    However, not only was this rod seemingly resisting his Internal Sight, it was hard to focus at all with this much pain racking his body.

    ''Fuck!''

    "LISTEN TO ME!" Leonel roared at the rod.

    But it didn''t seem to matter.

    Leonel thought of just pulling his hand away, allowing his fingers to be severed. But, he knew that he couldn''t allow such a thing to happen. Although it would make the pain go away, he wasn''t sure how recovery would work after that.

    The pain here was clearly originating from how much superior this rod was in comparison to him. An injury from a higher Dimensional being, existence or object tended to scale accordingly. Leonel couldn''t even focus enough to see what level this rod was at, but he knew that it was at least well into the Gold Grade.

    The only thing keeping him sane was the thought that whichever bastard Rapax threw this thing at him after he helped saved their little baby king was probably lamenting their poor choice. If he ever met that guy, he would definitely use this same rod to bash its head in.

    ''Come on!''

    Leonel failed to envelop the rod again.

    ''I''ve tried one too many times, I need to try something else.''

    If he was in the right headspace, Leonel would have given up on this endeavor after the first failure. The definition of insanity was repeating the same action over and over, knowing it would fail.

    Leonel had realized that he would never be able to envelop this rod with his current level of Internal Sight. He didn''t know why, and he had never run into such a problem before, but there was no denying it. He needed a different approach.

    His opposite palm flipped over to reveal the White Lion Bow once again. His thought process was simple. He hoped that it would be able to suppress the rod enough to allow him to do what he needed to do.

    It was a wild thought, quite frankly. He had never thought of doing such a thing before, but he assumed that if weapons could eventually grow to have personalities of their own, then this wasn''t too far fetched. This was especially so since he could subconsciously feel that this rod was fighting back against him.

    It was similar to his Duality Spear when he first claimed it. It hadn''t wanted to listen to anything he wanted to say and refused to allow him to use its Domain as well. It was clear that some weapons had their own sort of pulls and preferences, even if it wasn''t as exaggerated as having a real soul.

    However, what happened when Leonel brought the bow shocked him.

    The good news was that whichever Rapax threw this weapon was definitely kicking themselves, absolutely furious that they had lost such a weapon. In addition to that, it seemed that Leonel was right, weapons could suppress one another after reaching a certain level.

    The bad newsбн? Well, it wasn''t the bow doing the suppressing.

    ''What the hell?!''

    Leonel really didn''t know what to do at this point. Would he really have to sever his hands? This wouldбн it would be a huge issue.

    He would have to restart his Designation from scratch, and that was only if he was lucky enough to regrow them or reattach them. He was beginning to feel that he was getting a raw deal.

    What kind of idiot just throws a Life Grade weapon like that?! A Seventh Dimensional being''s ability to calculate should be beyond even Leonel''s. It should have known it wouldn''t make it. Or, at the very least, it shouldn''t have made its rod divert at the last minute like it had just for the sake of targeting him. Now he was in this mess.

    ''бкGoddammit you annoying brat, listen!''

    Leonel, who had practically cut off everything around him to deal with this situation, finally heard Wise Star Order''s voice ringing in his head. Well, it was actually ringing in his soul. The old bastard had really gone the extra mile.

    ''What?!''

    ''It''s not a spear you idiot, a spear you can touch without it disintegrating beneath the presence of the Spear Domain! Put it in the damn ring!''

    ''бн What?''

    Leonel looked again. He was absolutely certain it was a rod or a staff. It was a dense black, perfectly smooth, not the slightest blemish, all while warping the space around it just the smallest bit.

    There was no blade to be seen anywhere.

    However, now that Wise Star Order said itбн It really, really, reallyбн. Felt like a spear.

    Leonel didn''t hesitate, acting immediately.

    ,m The relief was almost instantaneous. He fell over, gasping for breath.

    Unfortunately, the reprieve didn''t last for long. The commotion around him, the very same he had ignored until now, wasn''t small in the slightest.

 Chapter 1396 Lnjured Patient

    Leonel lay on the ground, the pain coming in waves, but still much less than before.

    His hand was practically just a mangled ball of flesh, his shoulder still hadn''t been pushed back into his socket, and after the initial pain subsided, he finally noticed that he had shattered his kneecap when he was driven into the ground.

    Luckily, it was only one shattered knee. But, that just left an entire side of his body practically useless.

    And yet, right this moment, there seemed to be a battle?

    Leonel''s gaze squinted as he finally took in the surroundings.

    The landscape was just as bland as everywhere else, albeit rockier than usual. The region looked like it was covered in sand dunes, but these dunes were just small hills of hard rock.

    When Leonel''s Internal Sight cleared, finally recovering from the beating the supposed rod-spear had given him, he frowned.

    He had thought that they had somehow stumbled into enemy territory, but there weren''t any enemies around at all. In fact, the ones fighting were Aina and the other geniusesбн amongst themselves.

    Leonel frowned, trying to stand, but he felt over before he could.

    He actually felt so weak. To make matters worse, every time he moved, the rattling bone left in his hand and leg sent more sharp spikes of pain through him.

    Still, this was good news for Leonel. If his bone had truly been grounded to powder, he might as well just chop it off now and find a different method to regrow it. But, if they were in shards like this, he had a chance of making a full recovery. Of course, it would require a lot more pain, but it would be a worthwhile exchange.

    PENG!

    Right then, a dagger landed right beside Leonel, missing him by a hair''s breadth.

    His brows furrowed. Just then, someone had aimed at him, but Aina''s ax had deflected it from its path. Were they aiming after him?

    Leonel''s expression darkened.

    This region should be in or very near human territory, that much Leonel was certain of. They were maybe a journey of a few hours away from the Void Palace at worst. This much was confirmed by the fact everyone''s golden glows seemed to be back. Likewise, his purple glow was very much back as well.

    ''Seems I chose a terrible time to get injured. What happened here old man?''

    ''You collapsed, your little girlfriend ran to your side, but some saw this as a potential chance. Most have already left, using their Tokens to orient themselves toward the Void Palace. But, those that have stayed probably want your head.''

    ''How fantastic,'' Leonel replied dryly.

    Ungrateful didn''t even begin to describe it.

    His gaze scanned those that remained. There were five of them, all of which Aina was fighting alone. Leonel could tell that she was absolutely furious.

    "Don''t worry about me."

    Leonel''s voice called out.

    Aina''s ear twitched, but that seemed to be all she needed to hear. Her aura flourished and her hair whipped back.

    Leonel watched silently and without much of a word. The individual of greatest note here was Rowan Cancer, the very same young man that had sneak attacked Leonel when he first put up his Amethyst Token for competition. It seemed that he was very much eager to lay his hands on one for whatever reason.

    Aina''s ax took one of their arms.

    A limb flew through the air, taking a spurt of blood with it.

    Aina reached a hand out, and almost immediately, a harsh scream followed.

    "NOбк!"

    The young man was sucked dry, becoming a mummified corpse before the horrified gazes of his allies.

    Rowan dashed forward, using the opening this created to attack Aina from the back.

    Aina''s palm flared outward, the large orb of blood she had just procured becoming as this as a sheet of paper and wrapping around to her back. Its speed was sublime, surpassing anything human legs at this level could possibly match.

    CLANG!

    Rowan was sent reeling backward and was soon faced with a wall of crimson spikes chasing after him as Aina actually chose to take a strong step forward, severing the heads of two more youths and adding to her bloody concoction.

    Seeing that the situation was bad, Rowan''s gaze flickered as he continued to retreat, looking toward Leonel. But, all he found in return was a gaze that was somehow both cold and dull. Despite the fact Leonel was just sitting there, clearly heavily injured, Rowan felt a cold chill crawl up his spine.

    There was a large problem as well. Even if he killed Leonel, he would have to face Aina''s wrath, and he wasn''t willing to get entangled into such a battle right now.

    Thinking to this point, he turned on his heels and sprinted away, his straight-line speed making him look like a black line racing across the rocky dunes.

    Leonel didn''t do anything as Rowan ran away, not that he could do much of anything. He was entirely focused on at least trying to get his right leg working. Unfortunately, he had already used his <Instantaneous Recovery>, and even though he could now use it once a day, it hadn''t been 24 hours yet.

    Plus, while it would work on his knee and shoulder, he was certain that it wouldn''t work on his hand. After all, the Snowy Star Owl was a Sixth Dimensional creature while that rod was of the Life Grade. They weren''t comparable at all.

    Aina slaughtered the final two, her expression still fuming. While it softened a bit when she returned to Leonel''s side, it was clear she was pissed.

    Not only had Leonel been attacked after saving all of them, no one had even bothered to help out of gratitude. It was as though they were doing them a favor by not getting involved.

    Leonel chuckled as he hopped up to one foot, unceremoniously leaning all of his weight on Aina and draping his uninjured arm over her shoulder.

    "You''re adorable when you''re angry."

    "Don''t make me kick you away."

    "Ow! Ow!"

    Aina''s head snapped toward Leonel, but when she realized he was pulling her leg, she pinched his hip, hard.

    "Hey! I''m an injured patient here!"

    "Then act like one!"

    Aina supported Leonel''s weight without the slightest issue and the two began to walk back toward the Human Domain, their banter becoming probably the only laughter in the whole of the Void Battlefield.

 Chapter 1397 Very,Very Scared

    The trek back was long but not particularly arduous. If it wasn''t for the dense Anarchic Force in the air, it would have been quite a simple hike. With Aina''s strength, even if Leonel was a hundred times heavier, it would have hardly made a difference. If it wasn''t for the difference in their sizes, she could have just lifted him up and over her shoulder.

    With Leonel''s teasing, she was almost tempted to do it anyway. But, she eventually decided that she would give him some leeway.

    Leonel, though, was greatly fascinated with Aina''s Blood Force. Even now, he couldn''t really understand how it worked. It seemed to both be a really sharp weapon and simultaneously a powerful shield as well. And, that was only when Aina didn''t consume it.

    Leonel knew that Aina could benefit greatly from blood. He still remembered her absorbing his own blood through her fingers. The result of that was her curse being burnt away and her true appearance being locked into frame.

    Still, it seemed odd. What was it about Blood that could make it such a powerful tool?

    The answer seemed obvious enough. Blood carried much of what we were. But, that was mostly the answer of someone obsessed with talks of bloodlines and lineages. The reality was that every piece of a human''s body, so long as it contained a cell, carried just as much information about their genes and DNA as their blood did.

    Maybe the only reason blood became such a forefront of such talks was because it was among the easiest and less disgusting things to sample. You could just as easily get a full picture of someone''s genes from their spit.

    This was how things were if you looked at them logically, anyway. But this left Leonel all the more fascinated.

    Aina''s control over Blood went beyond just manipulating it. She could absorb and assimilate it. In fact, if she absorbed enough of Leonel''s blood, he wouldn''t be surprised if she birthed a Scarlet Star Force affinity no worse than his own, much the same way she had taken all the strengths of the Abyss Panther of Terrain for herself as well.

    "бн Maybe those things are true for Earth and the Third Dimension, but Blood represents much more in the Dimensional Verse. The simplest way I can describe it is that it''s the conduit that Life Force resides in."

    "Life Force? So your Blood Force is that powerful because of Life Force? Then why the hassle, then? Why not just use Life Force directly? That way you don''t need to cut your enemies to make use of their blood."

    Aina shook her head. "It doesn''t work like that. Life Force is like gasoline or electricity while blood is the engine that runs on it.

    "Alone, gas and electricity, or most forms of that type of energy, are useless. It''s only when they''re applied across certain modes that they gain power.

    "Blood is like a vehicle I''m driving and Life Force is the fuel. There''s no better fuel than Life Force and there''s no better vehicle for it than Blood.

    "If I use Life Force alone, I can only really apply it to my body and it becomes difficult to apply it to others. That''s because unlike other Forces which have universal signatures to them, the Life Force of everyone differs from one to another. Hopping between them is inadvisable and only someone skilled enough to make Life Force neutral could use it to heal someone other than themselves.

    "It''s similar to blood types in that way."

    Leonel was suddenly enlightened.

    If what Aina was saying was true, it was no wonder she was so powerful. Her Life Force affinity was exceptionally high. This would make her greatly in tune with her particular Life Signature, which would in turn lead to many of the abilities she seemed to have.

    At the same time, because her Life Force was so powerful, it made her Blood Force just as powerful. The end result would obviously be physical strength.

    It all seemed to tie together quite nicely and Leonel came to very solid understanding.

    "So when you take the blood of an enemy, you''re essentially taking their Life Force with it. Then you use their own Force to fuel the strength of your blood manipulation."

    Aina nodded. "It''s also a bit more complicated than that as well. Life Force is tied to your vitality and how long you can live as well. Because of that, when within the body, the responsibility of Blood Force is to regulate how much is used over time.

    "That means that at any given time, the active Life Force within your blood is only a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of your total Life Force.

    "When I rip someone''s blood out of them, that regulation falls under my control. I essentially gain access to the total sum of a person''s entire life''s worth in an instant and can use it as quickly or slowly as I please.

    "The more powerful the person, the more difficult it is to take their blood. But, likewise, the results are also far better.

    "The power I can output with blood by my side is exponential. Theoretically, I don''t really have a limit. It''s just that I don''t use it very often in battle because it feels like a cheat. I prefer to hone my foundational skills, knowing full well that when I want to, the power I can output easily tenfold or even many more times that stronger."

    Leonel chuckled. "Should I be scared of you?"

    Aina nodded eagerly. "Very. Very scared."

    Leonel laughed. He knew that his assessment of Aina wasn''t off and this explained a lot. Her base strength was one thing, but her power when multiplied by her Blood Force and Life Force affinities were on a completely different level.

    "So how does this relate to you saying you could have a baby whenever you want?" Leonel suddenly asked.

 Chapter 1398 Heartless

    Aina blushed slightly and looked away. Why was this man always asking her about embarrassing things?

    Leonel smirked. "What? Is this related to your periodбк?"

    Leonel''s words were cut off by an elbow to the gut. Damn, this woman was too strong for her own good, but maybe he deserved that a little bit.

    He didn''t really think it was an embarrassing thing to talk about, honestly. All women had to deal with it, even those of higher Dimensions. He just never really looked into it.

    Though, now that he thought about it, he was quite clueless about Aina''s cycle, something that didn''t make much sense considering how long they had spent together. It had never really been a problem and he didn''t notice any trends.

    In addition, he never really picked up on her discomfort or mood swings either, though the latter could be explained away by the fact Aina had practically been in a perpetual state of mood swings back then. But, that wouldn''t begin to explain the former.

    "бн I don''t have to worry about my period, especially recently, it''s entirely in my control. I can decide when an egg is released and when it isn''t, it''s not a problem.

    "Usually, higher Dimensional beings have trouble having children because their life expectancies increase, slowing down all of their biological functions. Whereas for someone in the Third Dimension, an egg would be released once every month, the higher you go up in Dimension, the more erratic and dilated the timing becomes.

    "Beyond there, there are extra added barriers to life clashing high level Forces that make it difficult for some batches of sperm to fuse with an egg even if the egg really is there. In those cases, it becomes a matter of frequency and determination. But, in most cases, it''s just a waiting game."

    "Clashing high level Forces?" Leonel asked.

    "Yes. An egg and a sperm each have half their owner''s DNA, but the resulting combination is completely random. The higher you are in Dimension, the more Force plays a role in this. Certain affinities, Lineage Factors, and even Ability Indexes can cause clashes. In fact, at those high levels, every variable matters.

    "For example, the female or male''s diet that month. At high levels, food also contains large influxes of Force that can fundamentally change the chemical and hormone balance of the body and thus potentially ruin proper fertilization.

    "It can become really complex, very quickly, even down to the environment. So, rather than becoming easier as you grow more powerful, it actually becomes a lot more difficult."

    Aina seemed like she could continue for days talking about this topic. She was obviously not only well versed, but she had dedicated a lot of time to understanding. It only reminded Leonel all the more how important it was to her.

    ''???s ??????? ?s ?????? ?? N ovelBi(n)'',

    At the same time, it also reminded Leonel that Aina was labeled a Five Star Health Professional for a reason.

    It made him think. The Gene Analysis Exam of Earth was actually so accurate. What mechanisms were it built on? Was it really possible to guess what someone would be good at from their genes alone? If the answer was yes, it felt almostбн existential in the level of problems it could present.

    "So you''re able to control all of those factors," Leonel guessed.

    "Yes. I can feel what food would be beneficial to me, I can choose which egg is released and when, I can fuel it in the most optimal wayбн"

    "Hold on a minute." Leonel''s gaze narrowed. "Doesn''t that mean that a condom was completely unnecessary?"

    Aina blinked, staring off into the distance before turning her head to look up into the skies.

    "Well, would you look at that?" She said cheerfully. "What nice weather we''re having todayбкAh!"

    Aina suddenly felt a greedy hand squeeze at her chest. Leonel had his arm draped over her shoulder for support, but now it seemed he wanted a little bit more.

    Aina jumped up and scurried away, letting Leonel fall.

    However, to her shock, he appeared by her side again.

    "Your legs! They''re already healed!"

    Aina was part relieved, part betrayed, and another part amused.

    Leonel grinned. "You''re not getting away that easily. You heartless vixen, I want my emotions back!"

    "What emotions?!"

    ? "Heartache. Despair. And the king of them all, blue balls."

    ''Follow current novels ON N (ovelB in.)'',

    Aina sputtered with laughter, her body suddenly becoming enveloped by a crimson aura. By now, Leonel knew that this meant that Aina was pouring more of her Life Force into her Blood, increasing her physical attributes. She could basically exchange her life for a buff whenever she wanted.

    Of course, Leonel wasn''t worried about her shaving years off like this because firstly, it wouldn''t be so exaggerated, maybe days at best. And, because Aina''s Life Force affinity was so high, her lifespan was beyond what Leonel could imagine. On top of that, she could steal Life Force from others whenever she wanted.

    At that moment, she smiled sweetly, looking every bit as lovely as usual.

    But, for some reason, Leonel could almost see the devil horns and tail coming out of her.

    "Your legs might be healed, but running with that arm would be quite the hassle, don''t you think? Catch me if you can."

    Aina bolted into the distance, leaving a line of red and black in her wake.

    Leonel was left speechless. Where was the justice? What about his emotions? His blue balls?

    Leonel looked at his right hand, realizing her probably couldn''t even enjoy sex with his arm like this. What a waste.

    With a thought, Leonel brought out some metals from the Segmented cube then formed them around his hand, locking everything in place so that the hurt to him was minimized to the extreme.

    Then, with a grin, his body lit up with a white-gold glow. He didn''t max out his Speed Branch for no reason.

    He shot off, leaving a blazing trail of gold in his wake. Illusory wings appeared to his back, making it feel as though he had been shot out of a canon.

    The air imploded as he closed the distance by half in the blink of an eye.

    Unfortunately, Leonel''s fun didn''t last. Over the horizon, the tall gates of the Human Domain loomed. It seemed he would have to put his fun aside for now.

    Another win for the heartless vixen.

    [Just two chapters today, back with 3 tomorrow]

 Chapter 1399 Relax

    [I lied, here''s number 3]

    As Leonel caught up with Aina, he slowed, eventually coming to a halt by her side. He smiled a bit, seeing that her cloak of gold had indeed become violet.

    Leonel knew that she was already close, so defeating those last four individuals should have put her way over the edge. If she took out her Golden Token now, it would most definitely be Amethyst.

    Leonel looked down at his metal encased arm. He didn''t know what else this journey would have in store for him, but this would definitely be a problem. He could only sigh toward his bad luck. He had never really consciously trained his left hand and his right always took the lead.

    ''No, I should be able to if Iбн Alright, I''ll name this Dream Mirror.''

    Leonel closed his eyes for a moment, a focused aura concentrating around him. It took a few minutes, and he even had to come to a stop, but when he opened his eyes again, the feeling of his left arm was completely different. It was almost as though he was looking through a mirror world.

    The control Leonel had over his body had definitely increased. Just now, he rewired his proprioception and reworked how he received signals from his nerves. He didn''t physically change anything about his body, he only put the signals he received through a filter he built in his Dream World.

    Dream Mirror allowed him to now use his left hand as though it was his right. It felt as though nothing had changed at all.

    ''Good.'' Leonel nodded to himself.

    "Ready?" Aina asked. She didn''t bother to ask Leonel what he had just done, she assumed that if it was important, he''d say. If wasn''t so much, it was fine.

    Seeing her trusting expression, Leonel sighed inwardly. He knew he would have to tell her what he had tried to do with her father soon. He didn''t feel right keeping it to himself.

    "Aina."

    "Hm?"

    Leonel met Aina''s gaze. The two ignored everything around them, even the slowly opening gates up ahead. Leonel bluntly explained everything, not leaving out any details. From start to finish, Aina didn''t say a word. Even after he was done, she remained silent.

    Leonel didn''t press her and simply waited.

    ''??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? NovelB(i)n. ???'',

    "You wanted the tablet?"

    "Yes."

    "And you were willing to steal it?"

    "Yes."

    "But you rejected me?"

    Leonel blinked, a bit confused.

    Aina suddenly smiled. It was the kind of smile that froze Leonel in place, one he couldn''t even properly react to. She was simply too beautiful. Even wearing beast skin clothing, something that should have made her primal and quite rough, she had an air of softness and a rare gentleness that left him in awe.

    "You''re quite the idiot, don''t you think?"

    "Huhбн?" Leonel responded absentmindedly, unable to take his eyes off of her face.

    "If you want to steal something from a woman''s father, you just have to get her to steal it for you. What are you going to do without me? You can''t even do the simplest of things without my guidance."

    Leonel was speechless. What was this woman saying?

    "Come on, we still have work to do. Don''t worry your handsome little head, I''ll take the vanguard."

    Leonel found himself being pulled away by a strength he probably couldn''t resist even if he wanted to. His brain was still trying to compute what he had just heard, but it felt as though the program kept returning errors.

    And then his eyes happened to land on Aina''s swaying hips and the dimples on her back. Had those Venus Dimples always been there? Maybe he had felt them with his hands before, but he had never actually seen them. It felt like two enchanting pair of eyes were looking back at him, swaying with the rhythm of her hips and ass.

    ''Damnбн''

    "Tokens!"

    '''',

    Leonel was snapped out of his day dream by the shout of guards. When he looked up, though, he found that their appearances were far more reserved than one might have expected. It was clear that their apprehension was rooted in the violet glow that surrounded both Leonel and Aina.

    Doing as they were told, the couple presented their Tokens, and as expected, Aina''s own had mutated. There was just a tinge of gold that separated it from Leonel''s own. This was likely just confirmation that Aina had battled her way to earning her own.

    The apprehension was still quite muted, though. The youths could probably hardly be considered youths any longer and they had seen their fair share of battle. Plus, reaching this step, Leonel and Aina could only be considered Quadrant Ranked disciples while all of the students here were Galaxy Ranked at worst. Their status could not be compared.

    However, whether that would last, was a different matter entirely.

    There was something that Leonel had forgotten in his thought of the True Selection being overбн This was merely the Gold Token Ranked Selection. As for the Amethyst Token Rankedбн

    ''There''s some god up there that hates me.''

    Leonel looked toward Aina, suddenly understanding what she meant by ''take the vanguard''. She literally meant that she would carry him the rest of the way.

    The duo had hardly stepped foot into the walled off fort when a familiar woman appeared before them both.

    The Human Domain Fort was unlike anything Leonel had ever seen before. The height of the walls were measured in kilometers, there thickness measured in hundreds of meters. They seemed to be all metal-worked into a single sheet and he couldn''t find a single seem anywhere. Maybe if it wasn''t for the gloomy atmosphere, they would be shining like stainless steel.

    The inner-workings of the fort were a bit confusing. They seemed almost too simple compared to the walls. There were nothing but endless beast skin military tents, with even the tallest only being barely three meters. There wasn''t a hint of luxury in sight.

    The woman that appeared before both Leonel and Aina was, of course, Ossenna. Her expression was impossible to read, even for Leonel himself. However, he had already been carefully observing this woman since she had a spat with his mother.

    "You have three days. Failure in that time frame demotes your Token and your only chance to become Galaxy Ranked Disciples in a single bound."

    She snapped her fingers and a formless pressure took hold of Leonel and Aina.

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself in a world he couldn''t make heads or tails of. What he could tell, though, was that aside from Aina, there was a third person by his side.

    Amery.

    Leonel sighed. The Void Palace was truly not a place that allowed you to relax.

 Chapter 1400 Which One?

    Leonel expressionlessly met Amery''s gaze before his own shifted toward the latter''s hand.

    Amery obviously hadn''t had a chance to properly heal himself. His right hand was now useless to him and wrapped up in several bandages. The two of them were ironically the same in this facet.

    Amery didn''t seem to react very much to the appearance of Leonel and Aina. It was clear that he had been expecting as much. The light in his eyes didn''t seem to have faded at all despite his loss, being just as starry as they always were. Maybe the only difference between now and then was the fact he actually looked at Leonel this time.

    Both men looked away at the same time, observing their surroundings.

    Aina, who had been observing this scene, shook her head.

    ''Menбн''

    If you want to kill each other, just do it. There obviously wasn''t a chance to do so now, so in that case, what was the point of the dick measuring contest continuing?

    Her lips curled into a smile despite her thoughts. Seeing Leonel act like this was adorable to her. Sometimes he seemed less than human, but it was things like this that grounded him a bit.

    She didn''t know which was the real Leonel, and it somewhat worried her that he was only able to be this ''human'' at all because of the restraints his father had placed on him. However, what she did know was that no matter what the answer was, she wouldn''t be changing her mind about whether or not to stay by his side or not. That much was already decided.

    Despite spending some time observing the world, Leonel couldn''t'' pick out anything. There was nothing but an endless blackness in every direction.

    The only good news was that at least Ossenna wasn''t just messing with him again. Since Amery was here as well, it meant that he didn''t get a chance to rest either. Though, there was a gap of few hours, that much could only be blamed on Leonel himself.

    "Welcome to Void Tower."

    The voice boomed, enveloping everything.

    Leonel''s brows shot up. Would they actually get an explanation of what was going on this time? This was great.

    ''This must be what victims of Stockholm Syndrome feel like.'' Leonel shook his head, how ridiculous was it that he was getting excited for the bare minimum?

    "As wielders of the Amethyst Token, you will be allowed one free entry into the Tower, do not squander it."

    ''???? ????s? ???????s ?? No(v) e lBin ????.'',

    The voice vanished.

    Leonel was speechless. Was this supposed to be an explanation?

    Before he could think any more, a strong pressure enveloped him. Leonel realized at that point that letting Aina carry him was out of the question. It seemed that this would be a solo venture once again. Looking down at his right hand, he could only sigh.

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself in a room filled with weapons.

    "You have 10 minutes to pick your weapon of choice."

    Leonel looked down at himself, realizing that all of his accessories and spatial rings had vanished. He was stark naked, being stripped down entirely. Soon, though, his naked body was covered in a skin tight black onesie that felt like a second skin.

    ''My metal arm is going to crumble without my conscious protecting it.''

    Leonel frowned, realizing instantly that this wasn''t his real body. But, to make things worse, the Void Palace wasn''t nice enough to give him back use of his right arm.

    ''What the hell is the point of a virtual simulation if you''re handicapping me anyway.''

    Though Leonel was complaining, he understood why. This was an extension of the True Selection, of course they wouldn''t be nice enough to let him heal. They wouldn''t make things so convenient.

    The good news, though, was that this skin tight suit was able to adjust based on Leonel''s thoughts. He solidified the fabric around his hand and then caused extensions to grow so that his arm could sit in an arm-sling.

    He rotated his right shoulder and nodded once it was secure. Now, his right arm was practically fused with his body, it wasn''t going anywhere.

    ''What weapon do I pickбн''

    Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    He couldn''t use a bow with one arm. And, while he could get away with using a spear with one arm, it wasn''t ideal.

    Now wasn''t the time to suddenly start experimenting with new weapons.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. Since he was only getting one shot at this, there was only one right answer.

    '''',

    ''I guess the quarterback of the Royal Blues is going to make an appearance today. Time to bring the show to the wider Dimensional Verse.''

    Leonel began to load himself up, his thoughts flickering and new weapon racks appearing again and again as though he was flipping through pages. No one had ever said he could only pick one weapon, right?

    бн

    Leonel had no idea that currently, outside the Void Tower, a large commotion was brewing.

    Every year at this time, the spectacle was just the same. Seniors would gather to watch their Amethyst Token wielding juniors either fall flat on their faces, or soar beyond their previous records.

    This year, the number was fewer than they were used to, being just three. But the spectacle was just the same.

    A large crowd accumulated at the bottom of the tall black tower, many of which were representatives from Factions of various ranks.

    The atmosphere this time, though, was a bit odd. That was because just hours ago, Velasco Morales had made an appearance, crippling the Shared Majority Leader of the Void Senate. And now, rumors said his son was about to undertake his first Void Tower challenge.

    Velasco had long since vanished, but the commotion he stirred lit a blaze of fire beneath the Void Palace, causing even those that wouldn''t normally come to such an event surge over.

    The crowd this year was easily ten times larger than it had been in any other True Selection era.

    And it was right then that three screens flickered to life.

    Almost instantly, a large wave of whistles rang out.

    "Who''s that beauty?"

    "We have another one for the list?"

    "Shut up and focus, which one is Velasco''s son? None of them have the Morales family''s bronze hair and I don''t see anyone wielding a spearбн"

    It was obvious in the end that only Leonel could have been the one they were looking for. But, seeing his choice in weapon or ratherбн weaponsбн

    Their faces couldn''t help but turn odd.

    In the crowd, though, six particular young men watched silently, waiting to see what their baby brother could do.

    [More coming]

 Chapter 1401 Tortoise?

    Leonel looked like an artillery unit, if artillery units came with one arm and humanoid forms, that is.

    His entire body was strapped in countless daggers and needles. Just a cursory glance put the numbers well into the hundreds. They wrapped around his torso, his groin, his thighs, his calves, his ankles, even his neck! The only part of him that wasn''t swamped was his left arm.

    As though this wasn''t enough, ten enormous javelin containers crashed into the ground, each easily over three meters tall and the javelins within them being even taller.

    This was enough to make the crowd raise an eyebrow, but it was like Leonel wasn''t satisfied with making a fool of himself only this much.

    On the ground around him, several round shields lay.

    "Is the Littlest Nova of the Morales family a tortoise or something?"

    The individual who spoke was a prominent member of the sword factions, clearly uncaring about offending the Morales family. Plus, with Velasco gone, what did he have to fear?

    A sputtering of laughter followed his comments. No matter how you looked at it, Leonel feared for his life so much that he had drowned himself in weapons he wouldn''t even be able to use to their fullest potential.

    Cross referencing his current appearance with all of the most successful individuals of the past, then seeing how each of Aina and Amery only had a single weapon each, it only made him look all the more pathetic.

    Amery wielded a single wooden sword, just like he always did.

    Ain wielded a single battle ax with a polearm taller than even her own body.

    None of them even bothered to wear any armor. But then there was Leonel who would have probably drowned his face in weapons if he got the chance to do so.

    "You''ve missed the big picture, Olfin."

    "Oh? Enlighten me."

    "Just look at him. He''s so flustered he can''t even tell the difference between a spear and javelin. Tell me, you think he thinks the more spears he has, the better he''ll perform?"

    The laughter of the sword faction bordered on exaggerated. It was as though they were venting all the stifling frustration Velasco had left them with. In just these few hours alone, the head butting between the sword and spear factions was quickly reaching a fever pitch and it only seemed to be getting worse.

    Unfortunately, the spear faction couldn''t even say anything in rebuttal. They had no idea what Leonel was doing. What did a Morales need so many daggers and needles for?! And could he really not tell the difference between a javelin and a spear?!

    ''

    Javelins were lighter, had smaller heads, and were designed to balance in the air. A true spearman should be able to tell the difference with a single touch!

    "Ha! I think you''ve overestimated his intelligence, Sarod. If he thinks so many shields will help him, he''s already a lost cause. Look at him, he hasn''t even opened his eyes yet and the simulation is already about to begin."

    The laughter continued to ring, but in the skies, Cornelius stood with his arms crossed. His mind flashed with images he had seen just hours ago.

    Still, even he was a bit confused. What was Leonel trying to do here?

    бн

    Leonel''s eyes remained closed, his mind entering a state of focus.

    Within this Dream World, a perfect replica of his current state reflected in his mind. Then, one by one, the daggers, needles and knives dotting his body lifted up.

    Numbers began to fly about within Leonel''s Dream World, building a new Dreamscape in the blink of an eye.

    Weight, balance, effective range, hardness, sharpness, even how well they accepted the flow of Force, everything was labeled and organized.

    When Leonel''s eyes opened, a deep sharpness split the space before them in two. At the very same instant, whether by coincidence or not, the growing peanut gallery surrounding the tower fell into silence.

    The world of deep fog around Leonel rumbled.

    Leonel didn''t care if his right arm was useless. Today, he''d be sure to ploy through.

    Leonel stepped on the shield before him. It was the only one that didn''t have a round form.

    It was a tower shield probably designed for someone much taller than him. It was a meter and a half wide and three meters tall. It had an intricate design and Force Art on its face, but it was ultimately just a Fourth Dimensional product, as were all of Leonel''s other shields as well.

    But that was exactly why he chose them. These shields weren''t designed for protecting him.

    The moment Leonel''s second foot stepped onto the shield, it rose high into the air, soaring three meters up in the blink of an eye.

    At the same time, the round shields scattered around him shot forward, scooping up the ten javelin containers and raising them into the air as well.

    Leonel looked forward, feeling the rumbling of the first floor continue. And then, they appeared.

    '''',

    They were hulking beasts, monstrosities that seemed to lumber and yet had speed that could rarely be matched within the Fifth Dimension.

    Chasm Flame Lions. They had manes of flickering black flames and claws that shimmered with silvery, starry lights. Even the smallest among them was three meters tall on all fours, the larger ones measuring in at five.

    бн

    "He got a beast horde on the first floor? Unlucky," Cornelius mumbled.

    The theme on the first floor was locked in from floors one to nine, with a ''Boss'' waiting on the tenth. Beast hordes were often the most taxing to deal with and often became a huge stamina drain.

    The events of the Void Tower were random to stifle preparation. However, as a result, it was impossible to make everything perfectly fair.

    p "Let''s seeбк" Cornelius'' words caught in his throat.

    бн

    Leonel didn''t wait, his palm swiping at lightning speed and snatching three needles from his hip.

    He stepped hard on the tower shield, a loud boom resounding as his left arms cocked back and his torso twisted explosively.

    BANG!

    The needles whistled through the air, a shockingly bright Bow Force following enveloping them.

    The first three Chasm Flame Lions found their foreheads pierced through.

    One could follow with their line of sight the trail of the three needles. Everywhere they passed by within the body of the lions, a violent bulge would take place until all three exited with just as much fierceness.

    BANG!

    The three lions imploded into a rain of blood and gore.

    Leonel''s fingers beckoned, causing the three needles to zip back even as he cocked his arm back once again.

    A slaughter had begun.

 Chapter 1402 All Time

    Leonel''s sharp eyes seemed to pierce through everything. Every time he threw, three would die, his Bow Force leaving blazing trailed through the black and foggy skies.

    He soared through the skies, his javelin containers following in his wake.

    The Chasm Fire Lions opened their mouths, sending beams of black fire shooting for Leonel. However, as though he couldn''t see them at all.

    His right foot stepped forward, his left arm shooting forward once again.

    The needles whizzed by, bypassing the arc of flames that seemed to appear before Leonel in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel didn''t elevate too high off the ground. The moment he tried to, he felt a strong pressure. It was clear that the Void Trials wouldn''t allow him to just easily cheat his way to victory by plucking them off from above.

    In real life, just flying into the skies wouldn''t be convenient. The air often had even more savage and primal enemies waiting.

    Due to this, it wasn''t difficult in the slightest for him to be attacked. In fact, since he could only fly three meters up, his javelin containers seeming to be an exception as they could go much higher, it was still quite easy for even physical attacks to be launched at him.

    BANG!

    The beams of fire seemed to completely envelop Leonel.

    But, when the air cleared, the fire had suddenly shot into a single palm, forming a concentrated ball of fire in Leonel''s hand.

    To try and play around with fire before him? It seemed that these lions overestimated themselves a bit too much.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that his actions had shocked those on the outside. No matter how high your affinity, you shouldn''t be able to so easily snatch Force in the control of another being. And yet, Leonel had done it as though it was as simple as breathing.

    This was a hidden power of the Mage Core that Leonel hadn''t realized was so abnormal. But very soon, the entire world would know that those with Fire Affinity should steer clear of the Morales family''s Littlest Nova.

    His palm flared, the ball of fire splintering into a dozen controlled and concentrated javelins. Leonel''s Spear Force and Bow Force surged.

    With a wave of his hands, the javelins shot forward, all 12 piercing into the body of the largest Chasm Fire Lion.

    A roar of pain and horror resounded as the lion was suddenly enveloped by its own fire, its body incinerating from the inside out.

    In its final moments, it thrashed about, slapping some of the smaller lions to death.

    ''New novel chapters are published on Novel-Bin'',

    Leonel didn''t even pay attention to the death of the lion. He was systematic and cold. He attacked once. His confidence was such that he didn''t need to double check.

    He crashed into the first line of charging beast, tilting the tower shield he was riding upward and slamming down hard.

    BANG!

    The head of the lion imploded, but Leonel had already brought out a dagger from his thigh, whipping it to the side.

    A lion whose mouth had opened wide to bite Leonel''s head off found its throat greeted by a flying dagger laced with Bow Force.

    The daggers shot through the back of its skull as though it was butter, spiraling through the air and curving through the head of a second lion.

    At some unknown time, a needle had appeared between Leonel''s teeth. His chest expanded, his eyes flashing as a belly full of air jetted out. A line of crimson flames and Bow Force followed, tearing a line through the lions that had tried to bear down on him from the front.

    Three lions found themselves imploding one after another, their flesh as fragile as wet paper.

    Leonel palm opened, his thrown dagger snapping back into place, only for another flick of his wrist to send it flying through another skull.

    Leonel''s wrist throws weren''t as powerful as his full body throw, but what was undeniable was the fact they still had their own powerful strength, and how could they not? A spearman without powerful wrists was a weak spearman.

    Barely several minutes had passed, but Leonel wiped the entirety of the first floor, standing unmoving.

    бн

    <Beast Horde Cleared иC 00:02:31>

    <New First Attempt Record Set>

    There were several leaderboards that lined the outside of the Void Palace.

    New records were divided into whether it was a first or later attempt. In addition, because of the randomness of the Void Tower, they were also divided into floor types.

    There were clear records for single floors and tiers. Tiers referred to groups of ten floors, where Leonel was currently within the first.

    The Beast Horde Leaderboard shifted. It was a list dominated by those who controlled large area of effect attacks and archers for obvious reasons. And yet, there was no clear on a first attempt faster than Leonel''s own.

    <1. Leonel Morales иC 00:02:31>

    ''Visit (Mybo x novel. com) to read, pls!'',

    <2. Sewell Tarius иC 00:02:58>

    <3. Alphon Pyius иC 00:03:03>

    <4. Milazor Ram иC 00:03:09>

    However, this leaderboard only contained those who were currently disciples of the Void Palace. There was always a duplicate leaderboard for all-time measurements. However, it was very rare for this leaderboard to move. And, even if there were movements, it would be deep into the hundreds upon a leaderboard that only displayed a thousand to begin with.

    Today, though, that changed.

    <1. Reginalde Taurius иC 00:01:42>

    <2. Nozig Suaird иC 00:01:48>

    <3. Asce Morales иC 00:01:49>

    бн

    <58. Leonel Morales иC 00:02:31>

    Top 100. No one here could remember the last time there had been a change that high. The surroundings had fallen silent for quite a while now, but it seemed even more all encompassing than before.

    However, this shock only lasted for a moment before it was overwhelmed by another.

    The leaderboards moved again, but this time, it wasn''t for the sake of Leonel.

    And then, it shifted again, once againбн not for the sake of Leonel.

    Under the shocked gazes of those watching, the leader board for Forest Goblins and Stone Maze began to shift as well. Both Amery and Aina had set their own records.

    However Aina''s, being the only one of them without a single injury, set an eye popping number none were quite ready for.

    Forest Goblins иC First Attempt иC All Time

    <1. Treanna Viror 00:04:29>

    <2. Aina Brazinger 00:04:32>

 Chapter 1403 Efficiency

    The shock was palpable. The Forest Goblin floor was exceptionally difficult not only because of the strength of the enemies, but more importantly due to their stealth. Just finding the targets took time, let alone dealing with their assault once they were done.

    No one was sure how Aina did it. She seemed to just stumble onto her targets one after another, and even when most would have thought that the floor was cleared, she continued to attack and took out several more before finally putting down her ax.

    In the end, she was only three seconds away from surpassing the previously long held record, and that was set by a person from a family so in tune with nature and greenery that the plants practically spoke to her. The idea that Aina would come even close to such a feat was baffling to the point of being difficult to accept.

    However, it felt like today would be a day the world lost its logic.

    Stone Maze иC First Attempt иC All Time

    <1. Berouge Gemin 00:07:21>

    бн

    <67. Amery Suaird 00:07:52>

    Three youths, three new records, all set back to back to back. It was more than just a little difficult to accept, it bordered on ridiculous.

    When they had said that there was something special about this generation, the truth was that only the older generations had taken it seriously. The youths, however, snorted at the prospect. They had been on the frontlines, slaving for the Void Palace everyday, why would they suddenly move to the side obediently so that these youths could take their spot?

    In truth, most of them had just directly ignored the rumors. They felt that once their juniors stepped foot in this place, they would quickly learn their place and realize whatever genius they had on the outside wasn''t worth much here.

    However, now, they fell into silence. There were no longer any jeers, no longer any talks of beauty leaderboards, there was only a quiet brewing.

    ''This chapter is updated by N(o)V(e)lB(i)n.'',

    It seems that they would have to put some more effort into showing these juniors exactly where their place was in the hierarchy. What was a military without strict rules? What was a military without strict hierarchy? The sooner these juniors learned exactly how well they placed, the better.

    Of course, while there were many with these thoughts, there were also a few Faction Leaders who licked at their lips, already communicating with their networks to see how many resources they could move around to pull these geniuses into their fold.

    However, in that timeбн

    <Second Floor Cleared иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:02:19>

    <Third Floor Cleared иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:02:11>

    When people were shocked awake by their thoughts, they were suddenly stunned to find that Leonel was actually getting faster rather than slowing down. They had been shocked by the appearance of Aina and then subsequently Amery, they hadn''t even noticed that in the time it had taken them to clear the first floor, Leonel had already long since moved on and stepped onto the fourth.

    Each floor should have been getting more difficult. No one could wrap their heads around why Leonel was only getting faster. Was it because he hadn''t been trying earlier? Was he not aware that there were records on the line?

    These leaderboards weren''t just for show. Those that could enter the top three would gain equivalent resources for as long as they maintained it. These rewards were even more plentiful when it was the all-time leaderboard. For Leonel to be taking it easy wasn''t ''cool'', it was foolish.

    What these people didn''t know, though, was that Leonel really was unaware of the leaderboard. But, even so, he wasn''t taking it ''easy''.

    ''He''sбн becoming more efficient.'' Cornelius thought to himself.

    This thought was the very same thought every individual in the crowd who had a calculative ability or mind concluded. And, the more they observed, the more lost they seemed to become in Leonel''s art.

    Leonel never used more effort than the last time. Yet his needles became faster, the arcs of his daggers became sharper, and when he finally brought out a javelinбн

    бн

    '',

    Leonel''s chest expanded, his gaze lighting with a fiery light. His hips locked into place, his thighs bulging and his torso tightening to the point his body became a wall of steel.

    His left arm cocked back, his wrist stabilized, his forearm flexing and his shoulder coming to a grinding halt as he reach back as far as his flexibility would allow.

    He locked eyes on a towering red-scaled python slithering up 20 meters into the sky not even counting its coiled and stabilizing base.

    And then the world seemed to split.

    FUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

    BANG!

    The javelin shot out from Leonel''s grip like an iron ball out of a cannon. The air imploded and violent concentric circles of wind quickly formed, only to be left behind in an instantaneous blink.

    BANG!

    The scales of the python split before the javelin even landed. And, by the time it did, a hole with a three-meter diameter was blasted through its skull.

    <Fourth Floor Clear иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:01:59>

    Leonel broke the two minute mark, and yet he was completely oblivious. He had already moved up from 58th to 1st on two all time leaderboards, but his eyes seemed to still be calculating, spinning at speed most couldn''t understand.

    He wanted more efficiency, greater efficiency, and it wasn''t without reason. These beasts had only ever been at the Fifth Dimension and Leonel simply didn''t believe that things would continue like this. The Void Palace was far too sadistic to allow anyone to reach the Galaxy Rank while just displaying Fifth Dimensional strength. If he couldn''t become efficient, he would quickly find himself ruined.

    Just as advertised, the moment the horde of the Fifth Floor appeared, Leonel''s gaze narrowed, his vision coming into very sharp focus.

    It was another group of reptilian serpents, but they all had back like wings and spewed acid from their mouths.

    However, this wasn''t too much to accept. What was difficult, though, was that they were all outrageously fast and each and every one had entered the Sixth Dimension.

 Chapter 1404 All Out

    Leonel exhaled a breath. He tested the range of his elevation height again, just to see if he was locked into he same rules and quickly found out that the answer was yes.

    That much was still fine. The point of the shield he was riding on wasn''t to escape, the only purpose it served was to allow Leonel to maneuver and throw at the same time. It was easier to do it like this than it would be with his wings because it could counterbalance his downward force with upward thrust.

    ''The air pressure shifted, the atmosphere is different, the Anarchic Force concentration has raisedбн''

    Leonel''s mind began to calculate once more, adjusting his effective range, his throwing speed, and the output of Force that would minimize his stamina drain while maximizing lethality.

    It was all completed in the blink of an eye. Leonel zipped forward in the next, his left hand reaching for his body once against and pulling out six long needles, nestling two a piece to three gaps between his fingers.

    His gaze turned cold and the world seemed to be covered in numbers.

    His arm whipped forward, releasing all six needles at once. But through the air, it truly looked as though there were only three. They flew so close together and so perfectly that they might as well have been flying as one. However, in a blink, one had surpassed the other, zooming forward with a burst of acceleration the other simply didn''t have.

    Even with this change, it looked just the same. Three streaks through the skies, each just as blinding and powerful as the other.

    They arcs through the air as one, curving through the air until they hit their targeted three different flying serpents, each right beneath the jaw.

    PENG! PENG! PENG!

    The needles collided with their targets and then sprung away as though meeting steel walls. Leonel''s Bow Force might as well have been a splash of water to them. However, just as quickly as this occurred.

    PCHU! PCHU! PCHU!

    '''',

    The second line of three needles landed in the exact same spot, skewering the flying serpents.

    However, Leonel only shook his head. With his sharp eyes, he could see that the needles had only penetrated a part of the way through, taking advantage of what had been a micro tear. But, the flying serpents were only knocked back for a moment and hardly felt the attack, let alone dying from it.

    The was part of the reason despite his skill in throwing, Leonel always gravitated back toward a bow. The effort to power output of a bow was simply on an entirely different level. He had gone all out with that throw just now, but had barely pierced skin.

    To make matters worse, in order to maximize his control of these shields and these throwing objects, he had chosen the former to be at the Fourth Dimension and the latter to be at the Fifth. Leonel obviously didn''t have telekinetic abilities, he was using his Earth Variant Affinity to control these metals to do his bidding.

    If he could only throw weapons, but not retrieve them, he would very quickly run out. And, holding all of these weapons wasn''t nearly as good as having a single spatial treasure that only held arrows like he had seen this damned tower provide.

    So, because his weapons were only at the Fifth Dimension, they had an even harder time piercing skin.

    Of course, the Void Tower didn''t allow you to just choose weapons of whatever Dimension you wanted. But, here, the Sixth Dimension was considered ''standard''. Leonel had to purposely demote himself to maximize his chances.

    The Rapax had really done a good job of screwing him this time around. Leonel could only sigh.

    ''бн There''s only one wayбн I guess I have to stop worrying about stamina and resource consumption...''

    Leonel swerved out of the way of a projectile of acid, his gaze glowing. Runes began to appear within his irises one after another. First one, then two, then four, then eight.

    The space around him trembled.

    Leonel''s fingers flicked backward, causing the three needles that had been knocked off course to rush back to his hands. He snagged them out of the air and threw them back with even more force than before.

    This time, however, they left a trail of crimson in their wake, a burning inferno threatening to melt everything in its path erupting.

    ''?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? Novel(B) in.??? ?? ?x???????? ??s??? ?????? s????.'',

    The three needles landed exactly where they had originally, driving into the butt of their stuck counterparts.

    There was nothing the flying serpents could do to dodge this.

    "SKKREEEE!"

    BANG!

    An enormous hole was ripped through their throats and out the back of their skulls.

    Leonel exhaled a light breath, steam pushing out through his teeth and lips, red flickering within his irises. He had already pushed himself to the limit once today and managed to use <Instantaneous Recovery> to get back on his feet. But, since then, he had fought a battle with Amery, then used several hours to draw an array back to the Human Domain.

    With the current state of his mind, sustaining eight Destruction Runes was a tall order. And, it only made it worse that once he used it, the object he had used it on would be finished and vanish for good.

    Leonel had a few hundred throwing knives and objects, but facing beast hordes, he didn''t know if it would last even three more floors, and he still wasn''t sure exactly how far he had yet to travel.

    But facing this opportunity, there was only one real path to take. He had to go all out.

    Leonel''s chest heaved, the daggers he plucked away from his hip already glowing a fiendish shade of red before he even finished imbuing them with his mark.

    ''You annoying spitting snakes put me in this situation, come die then.''

    Leonel unleashed a barrage of relentless assaults, razing everything to the ground. There was nothing elegant and beautiful about his efficiency any longer. He saw a target, and he destroyed it from the inside out. Nothing more, nothing less.

    <Fifth Floor Cleared иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:02:17>

    <Sixth Floor Cleared иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:01:51>

    <Seventh Floor Cleared иC New Record иC Leonel Morales 00:01:48>

 Chapter 1405 Ninth Floor

    <Eighth Floor Cleared иC Leonel Morale 00:08:47>

    Leonel breathed heavily.

    His body was still fine, not having suffered any wounds just yet. But, anyone who had been watching him battle previously would notice quite a striking difference: you could actually see the skin tight black fabric that wrapped around him, making his arm sling and useless right arm all the more obvious.

    Leonel had been right. By the end of the seventh floor, he had run out of flying daggers and needles, making his life a living hell on the eighth. It had taken him almost ten minutes to clear the whole of the eighth floor, and the ninth floor started off even worse.

    The beasts from the fifth floor to this point had all been in Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension, however they had all been relatively weak and easier to handle. If Leonel had to describe it, it wasn''t quite like what fighting Sixth Dimensional experts from the Milky Way would feel like, but it was only barely a step above.

    The difficulty of these towers obviously wasn''t in quality, at least not for this version. It was more so in quantityбн Until the ninth floor, that is.

    Leonel was suddenly faced with a horde of blue furred, four armed apes. Runes flickered about their bodies, giving Leonel a sort of stifling feeling, as though no matter how hard he attacked them, he would never be able to break through their defenses.

    Leonel didn''t quite understand where these Runes were coming from, if they were similar to his own Destruction Runes, or something entirely different. But, once he stepped into the God Path, he would understand what these Runes represented and exactly why it was Conon had said stepping into the Sixth Dimension would help them all to close the gap between themselves and Leonel''s Innate Node.

    These were indeed Runes similar to Leonel''s Destruction Runes, and they were, indeed, primed toward defense. And yesбн That did mean that Leonel''s task had suddenly become another living nightmare.

    ''бн Shit.''

    бн

    It was suffice to say that Leonel''s record breaking streak had come to an end, they could all see it. But, they could also see the reasons why this was. No one knew the details of this year''s True Selection, but it had caused a major commotion that resulted in even Void Senate members clashing heads.

    Just looking at Leonel and Amery, it was clear that the both of them had taken this the hardest.

    ''The latest_epi_sodes are on_the Nov elB i n website.'',

    But, by contrast, Aina only seemed to shine brighter. Leonel had done the bulk of the work when it came to battling in the Rapax Nest, much to her dissatisfaction, so this was clearly one reason. But, the truth was that even if this wasn''t the caseбн

    Simply put, Aina''s stamina was quite literally endless. And, even if she somehow ran into a wall, she could just snatch stamina from others.

    When you could tap into your Life Force and the Life Force of others whenever you pleased, ''physical limitations'' wasn''t something you would ever face, at least not when you were in your right mind.

    The ''Berserk'' state that Aina''s previously faulty Berserk God Lineage Factor sent her into was almost always the reason she spiraled out of control and over extended herself. Now that she was healed, that was nothing more than a problem of the past. If she needed to battle for months or even years without restбн she could do so.

    бн

    Leonel was forced into a corner, unable to dodge as a fist half the size of his body crashed right into his chest.

    Luckily, he managed to activate his Bronze Runes first, mitigating much of the damage. But, this was just yet another stamina drain that he now had to sustain.

    Blood flew from his lips, his ribs threatening to crack as he was sent barrelling away. Maybe the worst part of the situation was that the only reason his ribs had managed to survive was because his right arm was slung across his body, forcing it to take the brunt of the hit.

    The pain was like a fire lighting in his flesh and Leonel''s mind threatened to go blank for a moment. If not for a timely use of Dream Sense, it might have really happened.

    He crashed against the ground, managing to use the momentum to spring up and flip to his feet, his heel still grinding into the ground as he slid backward.

    There was only one enormous ape left. He was certain that he had already shot well over the ten minute mark, but he wasn''t even aware of a leaderboard to begin with, so these matters were the furthest thing from his mind.

    ''I guessбн That''s the only wayбн''

    Leonel took deep breaths, wiping the blood from his mouth before his aura surged one more time.

    The images of an enormous red-gold star appeared above his head. He pointed two fingers toward the sky, wild Spear Force forming and concentrating before shooting upward.

    '''',

    The blue ape had entered a mad charge, barreling toward Leonel on all fours as it lumbered over.

    In that moment, the concentrated Spear Force began to swirl about the three-meter tall star, quickly forming the tip of a drill that spun faster and faster and faster.

    Leonel breathed heavily, pushing his Universal Force to its limits as the ape entered a ten meter range.

    His fingers descended from the sky, pointing right at the charging ape.

    "Die."

    The star shot forward, the golden drill before it acting as a vanguard as it tore through space, appearing before the charging ape in the blink of an eye.

    The ape rose to its hind legs, its chest expanding and the Runes upon it glowing with a fierce light. It roared out, smashing two fists toward the rotating drill.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Sparks flew, a stalemate suddenly ensuing for just a momentбн Until Leonel''s Spear Force finally won out. Laced by his King''s Might, it tore into the Runes of the ape, shredding them to pieces and eventually its entire body.

    <Ninth Floor Cleared иC Leonel Morales 00:17:39>

    Leonel collapsed to a single knee, his chest heaving, but the environment around him had already begun to shift.

    The world of black vanished, replaced by a resplendent white.

    A young man stood in the distance beneath a small tree, his delicate hand reaching up to lightly touch a golden apple. He seemed too handsome for words, as though he shouldn''t belong in this world at allбн

    бн

    ''This kid really has terrible luckбн How long has it been since one of the Spirituals Race has appeared in the Void Towerбн?'' Cornelius thought to himself.

    [Important Announcement Below!!!]

 Chapter 1406 Adawarth

    Leonel took deep breaths, observing the scene before him. He couldn''t quite understand what was happening. Since nothing had been explained before, he had headed into this completely blind. He had no way of telling what he should be doing, if this was an enemy, if it was a break room, or if he should be worried or not.

    He had no way of communicating with Wise Star Order, even his Innate Node which had been beneath his tongue couldn''t be felt by him any longer, let alone any of his other treasures. If it wasn''t for this, Leonel wouldn''t have had nearly as many problems using his Destruction Runes.

    ''I guess since this is the tenth floor it was due for a bit of a change. They must treat this a lot like a video game with a ''Boss'' every tenth floor. But why is this environment so different, and why hasn''t this man attacked me yet?''

    Despite his thoughts, Leonel took every second he had to regain his breath. He couldn''t do much about the drained state of his mind, but he could at least try to let his healing factor kick in a bit to help with his physical fatigue.

    At the same time, he circulated his Force through his Nodes, allowing them to do the work they were meant to and quickly flood his body with oxygen.

    Leonel looked around. ''No needles, no daggers, I used up the last of my javelins on those apes. It seems that all I''ve got now is myselfбн''

    Leonel stood. He didn''t understand what was going on but what he did know was that if this was an enemy, their patience wouldn''t be nothing more than a detriment to him. He didn''t believe that in such a trial, an enemy would be so nonchalant without cause or reason. This individual was definitely benefiting from his inaction somehow, or at the very least, this was the highest likelihood of what was otherwise a toss up.

    Leonel liked to live his life based on probability, so knowing such a thing, he couldn''t remain inactive.

    The moment he stood to his feet, though, the young man seemed to ''finally'' notice Leonel''s presence.

    ''???s ??????? ?s ?????? ?? N ovelBi(n)'',

    The moment their eyes met, Leonel took an explosive step backward, his pupils constricting and his heart nearly leaping out of his chest. Any fatigue he had had seemed to be forgotten, allowing adrenaline to rush forward in its place.

    ''This is bad.''

    Leonel didn''t like his reaction just now at all. Adrenaline sounded nice, but the crash that came on the other side was very much real. It would have been better if he out put what remaining stamina he had left in a steady stream rather than releasing it all in a sudden outburst.

    However, Leonel couldn''t help it. Right then, his hairs had stood on end and his mind rang with blaring warning signs. He had quite literally felt as though his very soul was about to be pulled out of his body.

    The feeling was similar to when Wise Star Order had tricked him into reading the protected technique of the Spirituals except a hundred times more potent. It was almost like a harpoon had latched onto him.

    бн

    Leonel had not a single clue just the kind of commotion his actions just now had caused. Let alone others, Cornelius finally stood stunned, unable to speak a single word.

    One of the most cursed objects of the Void Palace was the Void Tower. This was because so much of one''s progress during a single run could be decided by good or bad luck, and definitely more especially the latter.

    There were a few things, though, that went beyond just ''bad luck''. These chance events of the Void Tower were known by the students as ''drawing dead''. It didn''t matter what happened, how prepared you were, how good your run up until that point had beenбн So long as one of these events occurred, your run would be over.

    One of these so-called ''drawing dead'' events was the appearance of a Spiritual as a Boss.

    ''.'',

    The only way to combat a Spiritual in real life was to have a soul protecting treasure on hand. The Human Domain never did battle with the Spirituals without outfitting an entire army with them, and missions were never completed in Spiritual territory on the Void Battlefield without them either.

    However, as one might have already guessed, it was impossible to bring treasures into the Void Tower and the only weapons available in the armory you got to choose from were very simple weapons without any special effects whatsoever.

    So, what would you do in the face of a Spiritual without a soul protection treasure? Well, what else could you do but wait to die? There was nothing else you could do.

    Some of the spear Factions had already begun to feel sorry for Leonel. After all, even though he didn''t know it, they knew well that so long as he cleared this tenth floor on his first run, he would become among the few in Void Palace history to ever be directly admitted as a Galaxy Ranked disciple.

    However, running into a Spiritual after having the bad luck of being given beast hordes to begin withбн It could only be said that luck was truly not on Leonel''s side.

    According to the usual pattern, so long as you remained unmoving, the Spiritual would be too enamored by its precious tree to even bother with you. But, the moment you did, it would look at you and your mind would go blank.

    Game over.

    And yet, somehow, Leonel had risen up, moved, made eye contact, and still managed to explosively retreat, all without losingбн? How was that possible?!

    Within the crowd, a particular young man stood in silence. His hair was bronzed, his eyes deep and somber. His stature was large and his shoulders were broad. His presence was sharp as a spear and as sturdy as a mountain. Even now, there was no shortage of looks of admiration and respect being aimed in his way.

    He was none other than the First Nova, Adawarth Morales.

    He smiled to himself seeing this scene. Then, he turned on his heels and walked into the distance.

 Chapter 1407 Drawing Dead?

    At that moment, Aina exited the tower, followed a few moments later by Amery.

    Aina had climbed to the 12th floor before running into some bad luck of her own. Well, she had technically run into said bad luck on the 11th floor where she was faced with a skeleton graveyard.

    Without any Blood Force to take advantage of, strength at Tier 2 of the Sixth Dimension, stacked with God Path comprehension, was beyond what she could contend with.

    In order to cross the 11th floor, she essentially drained herself of all her Life Force, knowing that it was a simulation. But, facing even more undead on the 12th floor, there was really nothing that she could do to contend, leading to her loss.

    As for Amery, he climbed to the 10th, clearing it before he directly stopped. It was clear he knew things that Leonel and Aina didn''t, so he hadn''t even tried to go beyond.

    Stepping out, he rose his head to the leaderboards, giving them a once over.

    When he saw that Leonel was still inside, and facing a Spiritual at that, his gaze narrowed, an expression that only became darker when he realized that Leonel actually hadn''t died.

    Aina''s attention had been on Leonel from the very beginning. When she realized the race Leonel was up against, her brows, too, shot up.

    "Beauty! Beauty! How about you join my Morning Dew Faction! We''ll give you a 100 Void Point daily spending quota and this big brother here will be your personal bodyguard!"

    "Fuck off, 100 Void Points? Are you trying to entice a beauty? Or call up a common street whore? Piss off! Beauty! My Twin Rope Faction will give you a 10 000 Void Point monthly spending limit!"

    '''',

    The shouts instantly drowned out all the quiet, flooding the area with the bustling sounds of bids as though Aina was merchandise to be bought. No one bothered to try to entice Amery, knowing full well exactly who he''d join, there was simply no point. However, Aina was a different matter entirely and her performance had been simply outstanding.

    "Shut up, all of you!"

    An overwhelming pressure crushed the growing noise, the delicate voice that called out still somehow seeming like a clap of thunder.

    Most almost immediately shut their mouths, moving out of the way as a beauty sauntered over.

    They all recognized this woman quite well. There was no man of the Void Palace that wouldn''t. Number three on the Queen Beauty rankings, Vega Quarius.

    However, this identity of hers was most definitely the weakest, because she also happened to be the Faction Leader of the Limpid Touch Factionбн Not just any Faction, but a Gold Grade Faction!

    The Limpid Touch Faction was most definitely a front runner to soon become a Legacy Faction as it was well known that Vega would soon meet the requirements to become the part of a Party. As such, the current Limpid Touch Faction was in a sort of contentious time as Vega waited to choose her successor and the soon to be second Leader of the Limpid Touch Faction.

    The trouble was that while the Faction was filled with talents, none were so greatly superior over the other that there would be no pushback toward her choice. Knowing all of this, Vega''s purpose here was all too obvious.

    Although Aina had only just appeared, the talent she displayed was unlike anything they had seen in a very long time. That along with the fact she was a beauty that lost out to Vega in no way, made Aina quite literally the perfect candidate.

    Vega would have to slow her plans down a bit and push some things back so that she could groom Aina, but it would most definitely be worth it. It was like this present had fallen right into her lap.

    The prestige of a Legacy Faction was something she had wanted for a very long time. Only by making the Limpid Touch Faction a Legacy Faction could it gain the foundation and strength to become a Party. Once that happened, she could return as its leader, making her a Party Head with some real weight and authority.

    ''New novel chapters are published on Novel-Bin'',

    Such a thing, though, couldn''t be accomplished with just a single astounding talent. There were many talents in her Faction, but the number on Vega''s level was zero. If Aina was added, that number would tick up to one.

    One pillar was shaky, but two pillars were a different matter entirely.

    "Little sis, my name is Vega. If you join my Limpid Touch Faction, I''m willing to give you a million Void Point and ten Void Merit allowance a month. We''ll also give you a free pass to any of our stores and libraries. Alsoбк"

    Vega''s offers had already caused the crowd to suck in a cold breath. Many who had made offers previously could only blush in embarrassment, falling into hushed silence and scurrying into the crowd to escape from the jeers.

    However, Vega still came to a pause, realizing that Aina wasn''t actually paying attention to her at all.

    Vega''s cherry lips closed, her expression not faltering at all.

    She was truly worthy of her title of Queen Beauty. Her blue dress, embroidered by gorgeous green and gold patterns, clung to her every curve. Her hair was a radiant and almost fairy tale like blue, her eyes shimmering a deep and vast emerald.

    Even being ignored, her expression was calm and her small hands clasped to her front, following Aina''s gaze to the screen above.

    "Ahбн" Aina looked back, seemingly feeling that someone was talking to her. "бн I''m sorry, a moment please."

    Then, she turned back to the screen, focusing her entire attention on it.

    Vega had only rushed here after receiving a report from her subordinates and had only paid attention to Aina''s screen from the very beginning. Her Faction only had women in it to begin with, and she also didn''t have time to spend on juniors. If not for the insistence of some of her Faction, she wouldn''t have come at all, and she was glad she had.

    But, now finally paying attention to Leonel''s screen, her gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

    Drawing dead?

 Chapter 1408 Lake Prison

    Leonel stood easily 50 meters away from the Spiritual, his brows locked into a deep frown.

    ''Is this man a Spiritual, then? Or is he a human with an ability to target souls? I don''t think I''ve ever heard of the latter, but I''ve never seen Aina''s Ability Index in a compendium either. It''s possible that this is a uniquely evolved ability, I have seen those before and they can''t be documented.''

    Though Leonel thought this, he was more inclined to believe that this man before him was a Spiritual. He looked simply tooбн Perfect. It reminded Leonel a lot of Wise Star Order''s appearance.

    Souls tended to be extremely pure and more beautiful than the bodies they came from, according to Wise Star Order, anyway. This was because souls could be idealized thanks to their more intangible forms. In addition, a body had to undergo certain abuses a soul never would.

    For example, nutrition, injury, environment, all of these things could negatively affect the perfection of a body. The soul, though, was protected by its shell of flesh and thus avoided this.

    Of course, if this man was a Spiritual, what Leonel was seeing right now wasn''t a soul, but rather the body it had created for itself, a body which, likewise, wasn''t subject to the same harsh realities of a human''s body.

    Like Wise Star Order had said, Spirituals formed their own bodies after their births. Being able to mold themselves in their own image like this would obviously give birth to the same sort of overdone perfection.

    ''Well, I guess my Aina is an exception.''

    If others knew that Leonel had wasted a thought for such a clarification, who knew how they would react.

    Now that Leonel had calmed, though, he noticed several things. Well, several things outside the fact he was even more tired now than before.

    The first was that this Spiritual wasn''t in the Sixth Dimension at all, they were in the Fifth. Leonel had a feeling that if his soul was still in the Fifth as well, that attack just now would have most definitely killed him. The gap in skill was almost too much even for the Dimensional gap to overcome.

    The second was that this man seemed to now be frowning a bit, almost as though he was surprised that Leonel was still standing.

    ''???s ??????? ?s ?????? ?? N ovelBi(n)'',

    The third was the tree and especially the golden apple. Leonel hadn''t really thought about it before, but why was it here? Was there something important about it?

    It was then that he felt a subtle sort of connection between the man and it. But, almost as soon as he did, it was as though his Internal Sight had rammed into a steel wall, being rebuffed and knocked flying. Leonel almost subconsciously fell backward, only to realize it was only his mind that had been sent soaring.

    ''Thisбн''

    Leonel retrieved his Internal Sight, reining it in and sending it forward again, only for the result to be just the same. And then he tried again, then again.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, stepping forward, slowly. He closed the distance between himself and the young man. The rebuffing became more and more powerful, but every time it happened, Leonel seemed to get better at handling it.

    ''Do it againбн'' Leonel thought silently to himself.

    What he spoke about wasn''t the Internal Sight sparring at all. He meant something entirely different.

    Leonel eventually stepped to the very spot he had been in before when he explosively retreated and that was when he felt it. No, this time, with his Internal Sight deployed, he could almost see it.

    It speared through the air, appearing before his forehead in the blink of an eye. It was so fast that it was almost impossible to dodge.

    Almost.

    Leonel''s head tilted to the side, but he was still a step too late. The harpoon threaded into the side of his forehead, snagging at a piece of his soul and trying to rip it out.

    For just a moment, Leonel didn''t fight back against the sensation, feeling it pulling at him. The feeling was much less life threatening than it had been before, but he could feel that if he allowed it to happen, his mind would be irreparably harmed.

    This wasn''t the kind of injury you could heal. Leonel was certain <Instantaneous Recovery> wouldn''t have even the slightest effect. However, this was just a simulation, Leonel felt that if there was any place he could toe the line like this, it was in this place.

    '''',

    Just when Leonel felt like his soul was truly about to be ripped out, his will flourished, his Dream Force pulling back and his Stars began to rotate faster.

    The weak hold the harpoon had had on him weakened even further, snapping and releasing Leonel.

    However, at that moment, Leonel''s partially awakened soul seemed to have perked up more.

    "Again." Leonel said, taking another step forward.

    The Spiritual didn''t need Leonel''s input, he had already attacked again the moment Leonel moved.

    Leonel''s head shifted again, but this time, he purposely let himself get nicked.

    Leonel repeated the process again and again. Slowly, from somewhere deep within the recesses of Leonel''s body, his soul was slowly being dragged out from its slumber.

    With each attempt, Leonel''s Dream Force seemed to become thicker, his affinity deepening and his Ability Index trembling, creeping forward at a slow, but steady pace.

    In an odd, unknown world, a version of Leonel stood. Its arms dangled forward limply, its legs pinned down to the ground and its head drooping, its expression impossible to spot.

    All around itбн A dense lake of crimson lay, its hands and feet bound within.

    Black chains wrapped around it entirely, shackling its neck, its torso and its hips. However, the greatest anchor seemed to be the lake of red itselfбн What very much seemed to be a pool of blood.

    Every time the harpoon nicked Leonel, it would stir, its head raising slightly. By the time Leonel had closed the distance to the Spiritual to just ten meters, its head had risen just high enough to see a pair of eyes just barely cracking open.

    A chain snapped, the blood lake suddenly beginning to boil.

 Chapter 1409 Flood

    [Sorry to everyone who saw the earlier two day hiatus message... I guess I lied]

    Leonel''s body convulsed, the white of his eyes being taken over by a deep red.

    Despite this, he felt oddly in control of his body, so much so that it was almost as though adrenaline had been injected right into his heart. Even still, he couldn''t feel the needle.

    Something snapped and his Dream Force rolled out in waves, the strength of his Internal Sight increasing tenfold and his Ability Index taking another enormous leap forward.

    The world slowed and the complex Runes of his Scarlet Star Force almost feltбн Simple. His Internal Sight only swept over it just a single time, but his number of comprehended Runes increased from eight to nine in the blink of an eye.

    At that moment, the red-gold Runes snapped together as though pulled by a rubber band, forming a larger Rune that danced within Leonel''s irises as though it had a mind of its own.

    Leonel didn''t even need to check. In that moment, he was absolutely certain that he had perfectly grasped Third Dimensional Scarlet Star Force. So long as he wanted to do so, using his Mage Core, he could rip it out of the atmosphere just like his Stars had done.

    Of course, this didn''t mean that these Runes were Third Dimensional. Even for Scarlet Star Force, using the Third Dimension to harm the Sixth Dimension was impossible. If this had been the case, then the use of his Runes against the Rapax would have only been a lesson in futility.

    Rather, it was more accurate to say that grasping these Destruction Runes gave Leonel all the knowledge he needed to understand the foundation of his Scarlet Star Force and thus use its Third Dimensional form without harming himself or using an Innate Node as a medium.

    However, this wasn''t what Leonel was focused on at all.

    ''?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? Novel(B) in.??? ?? ?x???????? ??s??? ?????? s????.'',

    His mind seemed to be boiling, spilling over with strength that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was almost too much, as though he was suddenly being overwhelmed with strength that he had no method of controlling.

    It spilled over, rushing out of his body and into the surroundings.

    The sudden change made Leonel''s expression change. He had never been able to force his Dream Force out of his body before, it had never allowed him to do so. Everything he did with Dream Force was constrained within his body. Even when he drew Mage Arts using Dream Force, the process was internal, and yet had an effect on the outside world, similar to how Internal Sight functioned.

    There was a reason Internal Sight had its name. Although it could be used to observe the outside world, its roots were internal, and its external influence was a sort of forcefield of sorts and not truly tangible, at least not in the most obvious of ways.

    ''What the hell?''

    Leonel was so focused on himself that he didn''t even notice the Spiritual sent forward another harpoon. But, before it could even get close, it became stuck in a swamp of Dream Force, before being crushed and twisted as though it had suddenly run into a heavy gravitational environment it didn''t have the structural integrity to survive.

    The Spiritual''s brows furrowed, its gaze flickering with a hint of fear and apprehension. It wanted to retreat, feeling that Leonel was a danger, but every time it thought of doing so, it looked toward its tree and then back at Leonel, before turning back to the tree.

    The truth was that Spirituals paid a price for their oneness with nature. Well, from a human perspective, it was a price. To a Spiritual, at least the one in question, it was a beautiful thing. To wider Spiritual society, thoughбн It was a curse and a mental illness.

    Just as easily as a Spiritual could fall in love with another member of their species, it was just as likely for them to fall in love with a beast or a, in this case, a tree. Things wouldn''t be so bad if the target of their affection could move, but in this case it couldn''t, wellбн The Spiritual might refuse to move from a singular location all their lives.

    In practice, this was actually quite rare. Most Spirituals would never end up feeling this sort of connection, and still some others, even upon feeling it, would choose to sever it entirely to maintain their freedom.

    However, the trouble was that in taking the latter approach, said Spiritual would lose much of their oneness with nature and thus their affinity upon making such a choice.

    ''

    Likely in order to make this boss fight more ''fair'', the spawned Spiritual was anchored to a tree it was in love with. It was almost like an easter egg, an opportunity for easy victory.

    So long as the tree was destroyed, the Spiritual would fall into despair and likely kill themselves, thus resulting in victory.

    Unfortunately, things almost never worked out in this way. A soul attack was far faster than any physical attack, the only reason Leonel could even begin to dodge was because he sensed it coming before it was levied.

    It was impossible to destroy the tree before the Spiritual killed you.

    But, in this caseбн

    Leonel''s Dream Force continued to roll out of him, refusing to listen to any of his commands.

    The Spiritual stood before his tree to protect it, unwilling for any harm to come to it. But, Leonel''s Dream Force continued, coming out in wave after wave.

    When the Dream Force made contact with the Spiritual, nothing seemed to happen at all. But, the Spiritual''s eyes still widened.

    Leonel''s Dream Force was like a thick oil, latching onto his skin and blocking all of his pores. Even when the Spiritual tried to project his soul out again to attack Leonel and stop this madness, he found that his soul rebounded against its skin, being locked into his body.

    Leonel continued to stand in silence, his mind still clear as he focused on trying to take control of himself again.

    He couldn''t decide whether what was happening was a good or bad thing. What was happening to him, exactly?

 Chapter 1410 So What?

    It was odd.

    Dream Force was meant to be one of the most dangerous Forces in all of existence. As the arbiter of consciousness, having it in too large a supply was always a bad thing as those who didn''t have high affinity for it would find the line between fiction and reality blurred, a lot like what a schizophrenic would experience.

    Dream Force carried with it the power of perception and fundamentally, perception was often reality.

    If someone had a dream about being invincible, they would wake up and this feeling would be gone. In addition, they would then be able to pick out all the oddities in the dream that should have made it obvious to them that it was one.

    However, if the Dream Force was cranked up, suddenly the line wouldn''t be so obvious. The dream would become too real, too tangible. Then, you''d suddenly have a person jumping out of a building as a mere mortal in the real world because they got it in their heads that they were invincible.

    The effects went beyond dreams as well. Just things as simple as thoughts, inclinations, biases, etc, could easily become too real to ignore. Suddenly, an opinion would become objective fact, a day dream would be reality, a hope would become certainty.

    Believe it or not, these would be the most benign effects of excessive Dream Force.

    Beyond this, one might sink into a forever coma, believing their dreams to be the new reality. And, in the worst of cases, one''s mind could collapse, forgetting how to function correctly and thus leading to the most direct cause of death.

    Playing with consciousness was dangerous. Almost like playing with layers of irony, eventually if you went deep enough, you would lose the ability to tell where the joke started and where it ended.

    However, somehow, despite all these dangersбн

    The Spiritual was fine?

    '''',

    It was like Leonel''s Dream Force was in a benign state. Despite being able to come out of his body now, he still wasn''t able to use it to attack people or harm them.

    Leonel had known that his ability limited him in this way for a long time. In fact, even Lionel, who had reached Tier 5 and could project his Dream Force outward, couldn''t use it to harm others directly either. He could only mold his Dream Force to shape reality and use said changes to attack his enemies.

    However, Leonel couldn''t do that. Not to mention the fact he was fairly certain he hadn''t been born a Savant due to the existence of his Lineage Factors and his Innate Node, right this moment, he still couldn''t even begin to control this Dream Force.

    How was he supposed to manipulate reality if he couldn''t even stop it from flowing outward?

    ''I need to change my approach, do something different.''

    Leonel began to make a scan of his body, going through every vital sign and checking for any stages. But, before he could even get halfway through the analysis, he froze.

    Whenever Leonel wanted to do in depth analysis, he would always enter his Dream World. Everything flowed faster there and he was in control of every single variable. His models were vivid, his mind seemed to work at twice the pace, and it was easy to visualize everything.

    But, never. Never. NEVERбн Had his thoughts appeared in the real world like this.

    Leonel stood, stunned, a perfect replica of himself standing right in front of him. It was illusory and its skin was quite blue, but Leonel could see it, not with his mind''s eye, but with his real eyes. His Dream Cloneбн it was standing right in front of him.

    ''бн What the hell?!''

    Leonel lost focus, causing the Dream Clone to waver and almost completely collapse.

    ''No, no!''

    '''',

    Leonel settled his mind, and the Dream Clone stabilized again. It felt as though he was looking right at a hologram, as real and tangible as such a thing could get.

    He stretched out a hand, but his hand passed right through it, just like it would in his Dream World.

    Leonel was baffled. His expression kept changing, trying to understand what this sort of change meant.

    Had his Ability Index evolved? Could he make illusions now? Warp reality?

    No, that didn''t seem to be the case. Even when he tried to make himself more tangible than just a blue hologram, it didn''t go very far. Even a toddler wouldn''t be fooled by this image.

    In addition, if he couldn''t even make an illusion, warping reality was an even further away pipe dream. This was very clearly something else entirely.

    If he had to describe it, it was like his Dream World had suddenly manifested into reality. He could do everything he had been able to do in there, or here now. Butбн

    So what?

    Leonel couldn''t think of what use such an ability could have. If he really applied it, he could probably become one of the greatest teachers or professors to ever exist, and he would be pretty good at relaying his thoughts precisely and with ease. But, all of this felt a bit hollow.

    Maybe there was something more? Something greater on the other side? If only he could just retract his Dream Force, so long as he could do that, he could try to get the Spiritual to work with him again, pulling out more of his soul.

    Leonel was certain that the result of this change was related to the changes to his soul, so he just had to try to replicate it to the best of his abilities.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was that he had been frozen in place ever since those chains snapped. Everything that he had imagined himself and his environment doing, from the movement of the Spiritual, to the flood of his Dream Force, to the appearance of his Dream Clone, and even down to the movement of his hand through its hologramбн

    Had never happened at all.

 Chapter 1411 Perfectly

    Despite the fact he had concluded that the ability was useless, Leonel was still fascinated by the feeling. There was something especially immersive about having all of his ideas and thoughts floating around him, it made it all more real, more tangible.

    Although Leonel had always been able to sink into his Dream World whenever he wanted, the disconnect between it and reality was such that he was always keenly aware of his real body''s place in the world. Because of that, he could never fully enjoy himself.

    As such, he had always kept his Dream World to the bare minimum. White walls, pale and transparent Dream Clones, even his Dreamscape was nothing more than a skeleton of ideas, like jotted down notes only he could understand.

    When things were like this, though, Leonel felt more license to have fun.

    The world became overlapped with the vastness of space. His Dreamscape became like constellations in the skies, its ideas connecting to form fantastical images and gorgeous picturesque scenes of legends gone by. His thoughts became organized into planets and their ecosystems, the trees carrying his thoughts, the waters carrying his streams of consciousness, the clouds becoming as fleeting and numerous as his daydreams.

    Leonel smiled. He didn''t know why he hadn''t done this before. Like this, everything seemed so much more beautiful. It connected in a way that surpassed what it had been capable of before, making his cold calculation feel a lot less like work and more like the masterful strokes of an artisan.

    Leonel became so lost in it all that his concept of time warped.

    It was only when he finally snapped out of it that his expression changed.

    How long had it been since he paid attention to what the Spiritual had been doing?

    Just because the Spiritual had powerful soul attacks, that didn''t mean it was all they were capable of. They could just as easily attack with their bodies, or even make use of another one of their powerful abilities: elemental manipulation.

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, trying to find the Spiritual.

    Wait, weren''t his eyes already open? Hadn''t he been observing his Dream World being projected onto the real world? Isn''t that why he was so confident in losing focus a bit to begin with? After all, if his soul was useless, the Spiritual couldn''t do much that Leonel wouldn''t be able to react to. After all, the both of them were in the Fifth Dimension. If the former had to attack physically, Leonel was sure that he could at least do something about it.

    But if his eyes had always been open, why did he suddenly open them? Wait, if he had opened his eyes, then why was he still seeing the same thing?

    Leonel''s gaze turned cold.

    He should have known this would happen. His Dream Force couldn''t affect others, but it could definitely affect him, that was the main purpose of his Ability Index to begin with and precisely why Tier 4 was called Control.

    The fact that he couldn''t control the outflow of his Dream Force should have already told him that it had surpassed the barriers that his affinity could control. However, he had actually been slow in realizing such a simple fact.

    The situation wasn''t entirely bad, though. When others were lost in Dream Force, the most dangerous part was that they would become unaware. The fact that he knew that something was wrong already proved that he was beyond most people. The trouble wasбн Even knowing he was trapped, he still couldn''t separate Dreams from Reality. He couldn''t even tell whether his eyes were open or not.

    There''s something else here, something that he needed to deal with before he could find his way out.

    бн

    The situation outside seemed to only be getting odder. Leonel hadn''t moved in several minutes but the trouble wasбн neither did the Spiritual.

    And it was then that it happened.

    <Tenth Floor Cleared иC First Clear Event иC Leonel Morales 00:06:19>

    This sent waves through the crowd, but the picture above was still frozen in place. Could it be that there had been a glitch in the Void Tower system and Leonel was actually just fine?

    Aina sighed a breath of relief. She had been worried that the run in with the Spiritual had affected Leonel''s real body.

    Her worries weren''t unfounded. The reason why the Spiritual was in the Fifth Dimension despite the fact that Leonel had already stepped into Sixth Dimensional floors was because the elders of the Void Palace were worried that the shock would be too much otherwise.

    So long as it was just a simple image glitch, she could accept this. Now, she just had to wait patiently for Leonel to come out.

    However, what happened next was somehow even more astonishing than a first clear event.

    <Eleventh Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:02:21>

    Heavy Gravity иC First Attempt иC All Time

    <1. Leonel Morales 00:02:21>

    Nove l B(in).C OM

    <2. Samael Morales 00:03:39>

    Hadn''t Leonel just been tired? He had already been on his last legs, on the verge of collapsing. How did he clear the eleventh floor? And setting a record that beat the previous by more than a minute?!

    <Twelfth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:02:32>

    <Thirteenth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:02:49>

    <Fourteenth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:03:02>

    The crowd didn''t know what to say. Cornelius didn''t know what to say. It felt like they were the one stuck in a dream, unable to extricate themselves.

    <Twenty-Third Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:07:11>

    бн

    <Thirty-Seventh Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:04:55>

    бн

    <Fifty-Second Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 01:03:42>

    бн

    Floor Fiftyбн Floor Fiftyбн Floor Fifty was where the Seventh Dimension beganбн

    бн

    <Sixty-Third Floor Cleared иC Leonel Morales 03:28:31>

    бн

    <Seventy-Fourth Floor Cleared иC Leonel Morales 22:44:52>

    бн

    The doors of the tower opened on the dawn of the third day.

    A young man stumbled forward, but he lacked the strength to do much of anything.

    He tripped, his body falling forward. However, before he could hit the ground, a rush of fragrant wind assaulted him and swept him into a soft embrace.

    The young man didn''t say a word, collapsing, his light snores ringing out just moments later.

    Aina held onto Leonel, her brows furrowed.

    Tears of blood ran down his face and caked his scalp, giving his hair a dark, redder hue than it usually did.

    His fingers dripped with blood. Slung over her shoulders, she could still hear the pitter patter as they hit the hard ground.

    His chest was practically a gaping cavity, his ribs torn open and his beating heart thrumming for the world to hear as pulsing Golden Runes laced around it.

    None of this made any sense. The Void Tower was a simulation and nothing more, your real body never entered. How could it leave Leonel''s body in such a state? What had happened to him?!

    However, maybe the most shocking part was that his right arm was out of its slingбн Somehow perfectly healed.

 Chapter 1412 L...

    Aina brought out her ax, allowing it to hover in the air so that she could lay Leonel across its large blades. Although she could carry Leonel herself, because he was so much larger than her she was worried about injuring him further than he already was by forcing him into an awkward position. As things stood, this was the best option.

    Aina turned back, somewhat frantically, feeling that Leonel''s breath was far too weak and it seemed to only be getting weaker. She didn''t understand how things had ended up like this, but it simply didn''t matter until Leonel was at least stabilized first.

    "Do youбкdo you know where I can get him help?"

    Vega had ended up staying here the entire time. But, the more she saw how attached to Leonel Aina already was, the more she felt that her dreams of claiming Aina for herself were slipping away further... At least not by any ethical means.

    "Treatment isn''t free." Vega replied.

    She wasn''t wrong. Nothing in the Void Palace was free. There was a reason why the envoys sent to oversee the Selection on Planet Luxnix had been so eager. That time they spent, despite it technically being for work, was basically a vacation for them.

    The Void Palace was practically hell on earth for its students. There was nothing that didn''t cost, and no small number of promising young talents had fallen because they couldn''t afford medical treatment.

    Of course, the most talented of these promising youths usually had other backers to rely on. But, for Aina and Leonel who had only just arrived, despite their talent, this spelt trouble. If an organization wanted to take advantage of their current weakness at this moment, it would almost be too easy.

    Luckily, there was a silver lining, and that would be competition. With their talent, it was likely that many would want them. Although no one understood what had happened to Leonel, they had at least watched his performance on the first nine floors and that much was enough.

    The trouble wasбн How many dared to compete with a Gold Grade Faction? And not just any Gold Grade Faction at that, but one on the verge of becoming a Legacy Faction?

    Aina''s brows furrowed, clearly understanding this.

    "Aren''t there rewards for breaking records?" She asked through gritted teeth.

    Vega''s gaze shifted upward, looking at the long line of leaderboards that surrounded the tower. By now, Leonel''s name appeared much too many times for comfort. The crowd had considerably thinned in recent days, but the intrigue around what was happening hadn''t lessened in the slightest.

    "Whether or not these records will hold up is one matter. However, even if the Senate decides to keep things as is, leaderboard rewards are calculated by the month, and we happen to be right in the middle of one with the next turn being a little more than two weeks away."

    Vega looked back.

    "Why would they do that?"

    "You might be ignorant to what the 74th floor means, but others are not. I, myself, have only managed to climb to the 48th floor. Of course, that''s also because I have not entered the tower in years as I''ve been focused on other things, but I can still guarantee that the me of back then shouldn''t need to lift a finger to defeat someone within the Fifth Dimension.

    "As for those who have climbed to the 74th floorбн They''re all in the Senate, Seventh Dimensional powerhouses who dictate how things run here. Do you think they''ll believe that someone of the Fifth Dimension was able to accomplish this?

    "And on top of that, he''s heavily injured, something that shouldn''t be possible in the tower. It''s obvious that something has gone wrong.

    "If you''re lucky, he''ll be allowed a redo. However, considering what his father just did to the Majority Leaderбн I wouldn''t bank on it."

    Aina''s brows furrowed. "His father?"

    Obviously, she had no idea what had happened. But, this matter had been the talk of the Void Palace until Leonel''s matter seemed to have taken over. Unfortunately, it was exactly because of this that there was even less of a chance Leonel could get away with it. The Void Senate was definitely in the know and the Unfettered Blade Party held all the power right now.

    It was already a dark enough time for spearman in the Void Palace. As for Leonelбн Well, it didn''t take a genius to understand that it might very well be worse.

    Vega didn''t explain, instead choosing to talk about something else entirely.

    "I won''t take advantage of you, but I also won''t help you for free. I have no obligation to. It''s simple really, all you have to do is join my Faction. The benefits I listed before will be the same and I can also guarantee that once I enter the Void Senate, you will take my place and control the Faction."

    N0 v el Next. CoM

    Aina''s brows furrowed deeper. She didn''t want to leave Leonel''s side, she hadn''t gotten to spend nearly enough time with him and they had already been apart for over a year. She had been a part of the Void Palace long enough to know even if they were in the same organization, they might be worlds apart.

    The rules were strict and the room to maneuver was minimal. If she joined a Faction, especially an ambitious one like this one, they would probably run her ragged for the sake of the group. That didn''t even mention the trouble that would come with joining such a hotpot. There would definitely be waves of internal struggle.

    But, she had already left Leonel alone for too long. His injuries were far too severe and if he could have healed them, he would have already done so. This wouldn''t work at all. She had toбн

    "Iбн"

    Aina bit her lip, ready to accept. But, before she could, a voice came over.

    "What''s this? Trying to exploit my sister-in-law in her most vulnerable state? You''re quite shameless, Third Queen Beauty."

    A chuckle came from the distance as a bronze-haired young man appeared. He was quite sloppily dressed, but the brightness of his eyes was undeniable, it gave him a sort of charisma most lacked.

    He was the Fourth Nova, Sceio.

 Chapter 1413 Lnterest

    Sceio was the very same Nova Auran and Xavnik had spoken about during their earlier conversations. He had gotten into the Stalwart Polearm Party a step later than First Nova, leaving him fighting for its scraps. But, despite his supposedly desperate situation, one definitely couldn''t tell by his demeanor that anything was wrong.

    His robes were in disorder, his hair was messy, but he still looked well rested and sharp. If anything, he was just too lazy to groom himself any better than he already had.

    Vega''s eyes narrowed, looking back toward Sceio with a sharp look.

    "Ai, don''t look at me like that, I scare easily."

    "Are you interfering with my business? Have you forgotten the lesson I taught you last time?"

    Vega''s gaze turned dangerous, her hair rippling about. She had already wasted several days here and she was close to getting what she wanted. But now it felt like someone was snatching food she was just about to bite down on away.

    Sceio sighed and shook his head.

    "These are simply the lumps a romantic like me must take in pursuing love. I dared to bare my heart and I suffered for it. As a man, I can only respect your decision and move on, but why must you dig up my scars like so?"

    Vega lost her patience, suddenly striking out with a palm. Sceio didn''t have a chance at all to dodge, facing the full brunt of it crashing into his chest.

    CLANG!

    "Oofбн" Sceio stumbled several steps backward, coughing.

    Bronze Runes flickered across his body. It was clear that while he had been slow to react in action, his Runes still activated on instinct.

    Sceio beat a fist against his chest, wheezing a bit.

    "Good hit. Definitely solid. Eight out of ten."

    He raised up a thumb, giving Vega a sign for a job well done.

    It wasn''t very surprising that Vega was actually much stronger than Sceio. The trouble was that Sceio was a bitбн shameless.

    Sceio took Velasco as his idol, and his romantic life reflected that. He had already snagged several women from Vega''s faction, and yet still somehow had the audacity to chase after Vega herself. It could be said that his face was quite thick.

    Normally, Vega wouldn''t care about this. Her Faction might have been female only, but she didn''t monitor their relationships so long as it didn''t interfere with their duties. The trouble wasбн this time it did. In fact, it could be said that about 20% of the strain of her faction currently was caused by this man here.

    Sceio had managed to woo two of her seven Valkyries. And they also happened to be two of the three or four most likely to succeed her. When they found out that they had both been with the same man, they became like oil and waterбн. If they were both somehow on fire.

    Vega had managed to suppress much of these issues, and Aina felt like the perfect remedy to deal with this matter once and for all, but then this bastard actually dared to appear before her again.

    Sceio coughed again, finally straightening up.

    "Still, even if you''re mad Third Queen Beauty, I still have my duties as a big brother to fulfill."

    Vega''s expression twisted with disgust. Knowing Sceio, it would be a miracle if Leonel was left with his underpants after all of this was through.

    Still, she turned on her heels and began to walk away without so much as a goodbye to anyone present.

    She had wasted enough time here and the one rule that everyone had to follow in the Void Palace was no killing. Even if she beat Sceio to a pulp, it wouldn''t help her mood out. In fact, he would only take greater pleasure in ruining her plans.

    Sceio grinned wildly, his eyes practically glued to Vega''s swaying bottom as she glided into the distance.

    "Damn, that woman''s really like water, even her palm felt good. I really need to have me a tasteбн"

    Aina''s brows furrowed listening to Sceio''s vulgarity. She suddenly wasn''t very certain if this was a good turn of events or not.

    Sceio turned back, his eyes lighting up when he saw Aina''s face. He had already known that this sister-in-law of his was beautiful, but to think she really lost out to the likes of Vega in no way. Tsk, Littlest Nova sure was lucky to have snagged something like this before stepping foot into the Void Palace. Where was the justice?

    This gaze, though, only made Aina''s frown deepen. If not for the fact Sceio had already become her last hope, she would have long since turned and left.

    Sceio chuckled. "No need to act like this. I''m greedy and lustful, but I never touch the women of my brothers. However, I will take their money.

    "I''ll pay for Littlest Nova''s treatment. But the interestбн Well, let''s just say that the interest won''t be small."

    Sceio grinned, his smile both devilishly handsome and demonic.

    **

    Many dispersed and left the traffic around the Void Tower about normal for what it usually would be. However, the mystery around what exactly had happened felt heavier and deeper than many knew or were even willing to think about. Most assumed that the Void Senate would soon find out what happened and report these matters. But, the oddity was thatбн

    The Void Tower was still open, functioning as though nothing at all had happened.

    Still, despite this, what was maybe even more shocking was that the Void Elders themselves were also baffled by exactly what had occurred as wellбн

    They stood in the air, unbeknownst to anyone, cloaked in black.

    "You all sense it, right?"

    "Yesбн This Dream Forceбн"

    "It leaked out from the inside."

    Nove l B(in).C OM

    "You mean?"

    "For several days, we didn''t dare to approach this place, we could only let things play out as they would. But, it seems that this Dream Force didn''t have any malicious intent."

    "Maybeбн But it also distorted reality to the point none of us know what happened inside."

    The cloaked figures fell into silence, their gazes turning toward Cornelius who was still frozen in the air, unmoving.

    "Cornelius might have an inkling of what happened as he was in range."

    "Yes, but he''s currently stuck in a dream loop. It will take him several months to pull himself outбн Time might also not be the only price he pays."

    "This isn''t a normal application of Dream Force, it feels almost like a soul attack, like those under its influence were pulled in rather than the world around them distorting like usual..."

    Another silence fell.

    "What did Velasco do to this child?" Someone finally asked.

    "бн"

    "бн I don''t know if even the likes of Velasco can do this. But what I do know is that this child is even more trouble than his father. So, those of you who''ve been colluding to stab the human race in its back, I hope you glide on the tips of your toes a bit lighter.

    Nove l B(in).C OM

    "Velasco''s line seems intent on revenge."

    No one spoke a word as they gazed back and forth between one another. They had known that there were traitors among them for a very long time, but it was impossible to weed out exactly who it was.

    In recent decades, after Velasco had come into his own strength, the movements had only become more subtle and harder to detect. But, this Leonel Morales seemed to be another wild variable thrown into the fuel.

 Chapter 1414 Twice

    Leonel shot up, his body covered in cold sweats as he breathed heavily.

    When a normal person hyperventilated, maybe the worst thing that would happen was light head and some noise. However, when someone like Leonel did so, it was like the entire room had become infused with a raging tornado.

    Winds whipped into the surroundings, crashing against the walls and sending whatever was light enough to not remain anchored down spiraling into the surroundings.

    It took Leonel several moments before he realized he was no longer stuck, but the fear made his heart thrum. He couldn''t be sure, was this really the real world?

    Leonel looked down, finding Aina sleeping soundly on his lap. Even through all the commotion, she remained in a deep sleep.

    She sat in a chair by Leonel''s side, leaning forward to rest her cheek on him. There was definitely more than enough room in bed for her to sleep by his side, but she must have been worried about him not healing properly.

    Seeing her sleeping so peacefully helped Leonel''s heartrate to calm considerably. Bit by bit, his heavy breathing slowed and returned to a normal cadence.

    N0 v el Next. CoM

    ''What happened to me?''

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. He subconsciously checked over his body, but what he found was even more difficult to accept than anything he had put the crowd observing him through. It was so baffling that he almost couldn''t accept it.

    Had he been in a coma for years? It was the only way he could explain what he was seeing.

    No, that didn''t make sense. With years, considering Aina''s talent, she would have most definitely progressed into the Sixth Dimension. There was no way she would still be at the Fifth.

    Leonel had no one he could ask except Wise Star Order. He almost felt stupid doing so, knowing full well that the old man shouldn''t have been able to see what was going on in the tower. But, something compelled him to do so anyway, feeling that he had nowhere else to turn to.

    ''Old man? What the hell happened to me?''

    Leonel''s question was met by a long silence.

    At first, he thought the old man was taking his time to respond, something that happened sometimes. But, as the seconds ticked by, Leonel felt that there was something wrong. Where were the snide remarks? The sarcastic comebacks? The rain of insults?

    Leonel sent his mind into the Segmented Cube and what he saw left him frozen.

    There was nothing. An empty, vast, nothingness.

    No, this wasn''t entirely true. In the place of what should have been Leonel''s greatest reliances, there was an odd swirling portal and fragments of space. The only time he had ever seen something like this was when he entered Sub-Dimensional Zones, but there was very clearly no Zone magically hiding within his Segmented Cube.

    Realizing what this could mean, Leonel''s expression went ashen.

    He rarely reacted like this to any change. In fact, he could ever remember reacting like this to anything. However, if he was correct, this sort of event warranted exactly this kind of shock and horror.

    The Segmented Cube was ultimately a powerful spatial tool. If the inside of it looks like this, then the only explanation wasбн

    That the inner space of the Segmented Cube collapsed, taking with it everything that had been within.

    The Bronze and Silver Tablet, the Cleansing Waters, the tentacle womb, Wise Star Order, the two Savants, andбн Little Blackstar.

    Leonel''s heart seized, his jaw clenching tight. He didn''t want to believe it, but he didn''t have any other explanation. The resources, he could accept the loss of. He had no idea what happened, but things were ultimately things. He could even accept the loss of Wise Star Order, though the old man had been useful, Leonel had already lost count of the number of times he had tried to kill him. Even the tentacle womb and the golden scaled koi fish, he could get over it.

    Howeverбн Little Blackstar, Candle and Viceбн That he could not accept.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with red, his teeth clenching so hard the blood dripped down from their crevices.

    What happened? What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!

    Leonel balled his fists, trying to calm himself down, but he found it hard to do so.

    There had to be a way, a way to reverse this, a way to turn it back around. The Segmented Cube was the Heirloom of the Morales family, how could it possibly collapse so easily? How could something like this happen?!

    ''No, there has to be a way. I don''t believe it.''

    Leonel wouldn''t accept that this could just happen. Little Blackstar had been injured, but Leonel had always been keeping up with him. Thanks to Leonel killing the Shadow Sovereign, the little guy had been able to absorb another''s Shadow World into himself, strengthening him and helping him to heal faster.

    By the time Leonel had entered the Void Tower, Little Blackstar had already recovered to easily 90% and was prepared to surpass his former self.

    This was all to say that given his abilities, the one most likely to survive the collapse of a spatial device was most definitely the little mink. It was impossible for Little Blackstar to just sit there and wait for death. Even if the little guy couldn''t save everything, he could most definitely save himself.

    ''Wait, connection?''

    Leonel placed a hand to his chest.

    If Little Blackstar had died, their connection would have definitely been severed. Even though Leonel couldn''t feel Little Blackstar right now, he knew that their connection was still intact.

    This thought helped Leonel to relax slightly, but it still wasn''t enough for him to settle down all his worries.

    ''There has to be a way, but I won''t find it by panicking. I need to find out what happened in these last few days, and to do that, I''ll need to first understand the changes to my bodyбн Maybe then I can get an inkling as to why the change was so drasticбн''

    The change wasn''t just a little drastic, actually. The main reason Leonel had been shocked was because the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor wasn''t within him any longer.

    It had evolved.

    Twice.

 Chapter 1415 Awakenings

    Somehow, without his control or consent, Leonel''s Snowy Star Owl Lineage factor had become the Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor. Not only that, but it had completed all of its Awakening completely. Just the base strength Leonel''s body right now was beyond anything he had ever felt before. It was as thought his body had been injected with steroids.

    The Starry Tailed Fox had three Branches as well. The Speed Branch, the Healing Branch, and the Wisdom Spirit Branch.

    Wise Star Order had never been able to explain to Leonel exactly what Wisdom Spirit Branch meant, but experiencing it now, Leonel felt like he was almost walking on clouds.

    To the Snowy Star Owl, the Wisdom Branch was simple. It only represented the mind and its Dimension, in addition to the senses. Each Awakening either increased the strength of the mind or the eyes. In combination, they became the greatest embodiment of the Snowy Star Owl''s sensory capabilities.

    The Wisdom Spirit Branch, though, went beyond just senses. Or, at least it went beyond senses in just its normal and rawest form. It also happened to extend to senses of the Spirit, or in other wordsбн The very same sort of oneness with their surroundings that Spirituals felt!

    If Leonel was any other person rising to the Fourth Awakening of the Wisdom Spirit Branch, his Light and Star Elemental affinity would skyrocket to realms beyond words, he would gain the ability to control atmospheric Light and Star Elemental Forces as though he was breathing, and he would also find that increasing his strength through the use of Light and Star Elemental Forces had become vastly easier.

    These benefits didn''t bother to mention other miscellaneous matters such as better control over the Light and Star Elements as well, along with many other related matters.

    Unfortunatelyбн A Seventh Dimensional Lineage Factor, even one that sat at the pinnacle of the world, wasn''t enough to grant Leonel any of these benefits because, quite frankly, he already had them. The Starry Tailed Fox wasn''t strong enough to outclass an Innate Node like Leonel''s, especially not when it was so outrageously large to begin with.

    However, this didn''t mean that Leonel had gained nothing from the four Awakenings.

    Firstly, his mind had climbed to the pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension. It would have entered the Seventh, however his body''s limitations had stopped it from growing any further. Even with all of said limitations, Leonel''s split minds could only be counted on orders of hundreds of millions now.

    Secondly, and maybe Leonel''s favorite benefit, Leonel could use Light and Star Elemental Force to replenish his tired mind. He didn''t have to sleep if he didn''t want to, but this wouldn''t be what Leonel used it for. Instead, he was more interested in the fact that the state of fatigue his mind had reached before would be much harder for him to hit now, even if he was using his Destruction Runes.

    The third benefit was related to the Third and Fourth Awakenings of the Wisdom Branch.

    The first two Awakenings elevated Leonel''s mind to what should have been the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension and gave him the gaze of the Starry Tailed Fox. The latter worked similarly to the Snowy Star Owl''s eyes, but was much more potent and even carried with it a dazing sort of effect that was similar to how Leonel''s King''s Might worked.

    The Third and Fourth Awakenings, though, were related to the namesake of the Starry Tailed Foxбн Their tails.

    Upon entering a battle state, long, large and illusory white tails would appear to Leonel''s back. Each tail was like a powerful blackhole, pulling in the exact sort of Force it wanted and forming a Domain with it.

    The Starry Tailed Fox had three tails. The Tail of Light, the Tail of Stars, and the tail of Spirit. With them, Leonel could form a Starry Light Domain, a Starry Star Domain and a Starry Spirit Domain.

    From what Leonel could tell, the Starry Light Domain was both defensive and evasive, working in tandem with the Speed Branch.

    The Starry Star Domain was defensive and worked well to control a battlefield, especially if there were many enemies.

    The Starry Spirit Domain was a sensory Domain that elevated beyond Internal Sight. In addition, it also worked similarly to a Spiritual Medium, forming the illusory tail as its core. There were many things Leonel could think of using it for if he combined its effects with his Mage Core.

    The Healing Branch raised what Leonel had experienced with the Snowy Star Owl to a completely different level.

    The First Awakening granted his Instantaneous Recovery once again, but the potency was beyond imagining. Leonel had a feeling that this had to be what had healed his right hand even though he couldn''t remember using it.

    The Second Awakening granted him his passive Healing Factor, something that when stacked with a fully awakened Wisdom Spirit Branch would hardly allow him to get nicked without instantly healingбн Though, this reality only made the fact that he had been so heavily injured to begin with even more baffling.

    The Third Awakening granted him access to the Starry Tailed Fox''s bestial transformation. Though he had never seen it, he could probably guess what it would look like.

    N0 v el Next. CoM

    Finally, the Fourth Awakening amplified everything to its extreme, allowing him the ability to, once again, use Instantaneous Recovery once a day.

    As for the final Speed Branch, Leonel had grown numb enough to not continuously feel shock, but he could already feel that his speed was mind numbing.

    The final Awakening of the Speed Branch when fused with the Starry Light Domain practically gave Leonel instantaneous teleportation abilities. Matched with his mind, so long as his stamina kept up, Leonel truly couldn''t see how anyone below the Sixth Dimension could last a few rounds against himбн Well, maybe aside from this masochist girlfriend of his.

    After going through all of this, Leonel managed to calm his heart a bit. But, as fast as his mind was now, it was only a matter of time before he stumbled into a new problemбн

    One Heirloom seemed to be completely ruinedбн So what about this otherбн?

    Leonel slowly turned his attention to the Spear Domain ring, his heart trying to beat out of his chest.

    He had hardly sent his mind toward it when his pupils constricted.

 Chapter 1416 Spatial Destruction

    The Spear Domain ring looked as though a hurricane had rampaged through it.

    Spear Peaks had been flattened, spears that managed to survive the carnage had been ripped out of the ground and wildly strewn about, and it might have been a figment of Leonel''s imagination, but it also felt like the rumbling storm above was also far more violent than it ever had been before as though the entire Domain had been provoked.

    Arcs of thick black lightning continuously rained down the tallest peak in the distance. The scene half left Leonel in a trance where he couldn''t take his eyes off of the magnificence, and another half of him felt as though the lightning was crashing into his mind, threatening to tear him apart piece by piece.

    This scene made Leonel realize that what happened to his Segmented Cube couldn''t have possibly been a coincidence. Whatever happened while he was out happened to both.

    But, this realization made something else settle in for Leonel, his mind sparking and his thinking speed heading into overdrive.

    ''This opens up a separate sort of possibility for what might have happened to the Segmented Cube.

    ''Originally, if I had to guess what happened to it, I would have assumed that it was related to however I ended up injured. The Void Tower was supposed to be a virtual trial. However, if the change to my mind somehow allowed my Dream Force to mess with that process, then the lines between virtual and reality could have blurred.

    ''If I was forming a virtual reality simulation in the Dimensional Verse, I wouldn''t use technology. The obvious choice would be Dream Force. If manipulated properly, you could make things as realistic as you wanted them, and rely on the processing strength inherent to the human mind to deal with it all.

    ''But let''s say that barrier is breached. If you''re toying with that line, then injuries would theoretically be the obvious result of crossing a safety line that shouldn''t be crossedбн That doesn''t exactly explain how what should be illusions could injure me, but the answer to that isn''t exactly important right this moment.

    ''What is important is that if that line was crossed, what else would distort? I would assume that fundamental laws related to gravity, electromagnetism, and especially space would be the first to distort. And, in the case something like that happened, wouldn''t the Segmented Cube obviously collapse no matter how high grade of a treasure it was?''

    Even as his mind worked at warp speed, Leonel did the only thing he could to check this: the spatial bristle rings.

    Most of the spatial bristle rings Leonel had had been traded in for points. But, he had kept just one on his person in case of future issues.

    But, when Leonel looked at the finger he had kept it on, as expectedбн It was no longer there.

    Leonel could imagine that if the space of a spatial bristle ring collapsed on his finger, it would have most definitely taken his finger and most of his hand with it. But, here was his hand, perfectly fine.

    ''This isn''t the first time I''ve dealt with warping spatial rings either. Whenever you take a lower level Dimensional ring into a higher one, the space within shrinks. When you take it back to a lower level Dimension, the space within increases once again.

    ''The spatial rings are always responding to their environments. The theory is sound. But that is just the first step, the next logical step is how?

    ''I didn''t think about this earlier because I let my emotions get the best of me, but any collapsing space is not some quiet event. The casing around it would definitely suffer as well. But, why is it that the Segmented Cube is still perfectly shaved into a jig-saw-like finger glove?

    ''The only explanation is that someone or something stabilized it and protected it.''

    There was only one thing that Leonel could think of that could possibly do this. The image of an illusory little girl came to mind.

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    If the Segmented Cube had an AI of sorts protecting it, what would that AI decide to do in the case that Leonel''s actions placed it and everything it protected in danger? The obvious course of action would be evasive maneuvers.

    Now, the question was, how could he get it to come back?

    ''One problem at a time.'' Leonel''s gaze narrowed, turning his attention back to the Spear Domain Ring.

    It was clear that whatever hardship the Segmented Cube had been forced into, so too had the Spear Domain gone through. But, rather than the Spear Domain folding or running, it fought back and eventually managed to stabilize its space.

    The result of that, though, was a far more volatile and dangerous world, not to mention the destruction of many spears.

    The good news was that many of these spears would be able to heal themselves in time. However, the bad news was far heavier.

    For one, the difficulty of crossing through the Spear Domain had increased far more than a thousandfold.

    Leonel had been standing within the Black Grade region of the ring just now, and yet he still felt like his mind was about to collapse. Usually, he appeared in the last place he had left, but seemingly sensing his weakness and protecting him, the Spear Domain had shuffled him all the way back.

    Secondly, due to this change, Leonel lost access to even the Quasi Bronze Spears he had been fond of. This wasn''t because they were being repaired as some had still managed to survive. It was because he quite literally could not reach them.

    Leonel had gone from being able to enter the Silver Grade region, to not even being able to freely walk throughout the Black Grade region. Let alone calling out his Quasi Gold spear, he would be hard pressed to claim a Black Grade spear from the ones around him.

    It felt like he was right back to square one, standing at the same place he had been when he hadn''t even completed his Nodes yet.

 Chapter 1417 Mage Core Tree

    Toward this, Leonel could only sigh. He had just been feeling like he was making great progress with the Spear Domain. He had finally gained a small bit of its acknowledgement, his Spear Force was rapidly evolving everyday, and he had finally claimed a Quasi Gold spear, only to be shuffled right back to step one.

    Leonel couldn''t help but feel that there was a small sense of irony to this. The moment Leonel thought that he should maybe stop emphasizing Peak Spears so much and focus a little bit more on the spears beneath them, he was thrust into a situation where if that would seem like a privilege.

    Truthfully, Leonel would feel pretty depressed about this setback if he had truly gotten nothing in return for it. But, the change to his Lineage Factor was just one of the changes that had occurred in Leonel''s body during these last few days.

    If Little Blackstar was truly safe and just shuttled off to some pocket of space by the spirit of the Segmented Cube, then this sort of trade off wasn''t bad. In fact, Leonel could be said to be benefiting.

    The second most obvious change to Leonel was the evolution of his Mage Core. Although he couldn''t understand what had happened, it almost felt as though an answer to everything he needed was already engraved onto his heart.

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    The Mage Core had become a looming canopy within Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella. If one was looking from afar, it looked a lot more like an entire forest than a singular tree. Leonel almost couldn''t believe it when he saw it again for the first time.

    The Mage Core had lost its petals and flower-like characteristics. Instead, it had become an enormous tree with countless millions of leaves and branches. However, what was truly special was the fact that these leaves were multi-colored, each representing a different element and each engraved with a Rune.

    These Runes looked completely different from the ones Leonel had seen on the blue apes he fought on floor nine, but the feeling they gave off was practically identical. It was an esoteric sort of feeling, as though they were elevated in being and worth, touching upon something Leonel couldn''t quite understand fundamentally, but could somehow still grasp.

    It was almost as though Leonel was reading a book and had stumbled upon a word he couldn''t understand. However, thanks to the words and context around it, his guess was accurate as the definition itself.

    If he focused, he could understand what the individual Runes meant, but if he wanted a holistic understanding of them all and how they fed into one another and played off of one another, he would need maybe months, probably years.

    You would think it would be easier than that with all his split minds. But, Leonel found that if he tried to split himself to understand things, the clear definition he had in his head would blur. He didn''t have a clear reasoning for why this would be unless, but he had a guessбн

    ''If whatever was controlling things while my mind was stuck in my Dream World comprehended all of these Runes at once, then that would mean that the bits and pieces of understanding are all spread out and won''t be focused unless I train all of my minds on a singular Runeбн''

    Leonel frowned slightly. He couldn''t ever remember his split minds working like this. Aside from Dream Counter, where he would always assign one mind to a task, the rest had always been fluid and interchangeable.

    But, this felt as though his split minds had all been tagged and assigned to a separate control center.

    ''Wow, it''s no wonderбн''

    Leonel couldn''t deny it. While this made things more difficult on him comprehending the changes to his Mage Core, it made his thinking speed and efficiency far higher than it ever had been.

    Before, he had still been stuck in his ways, still trying to use his split minds the same way as always. But, when he fell in line with the changes, it was as though some had pressed down on an accelerator, hard.

    His thoughts became like bolts of lightning, almost completing before he had even decided to use them. His intention was almost lagging behind his actual thoughts!

    Leonel was almost lost in the world of his own mind again. But this time, it was completely intentional.

    With the way his mind worked before, when he needed to deduce something, he would work linearly. When one line of thought failed, he would abandon it and then proceed onto the next thought. However, with how it worked now, he could simultaneously think through every possibility and even have them ranked by probability and likelihood before his former self could even switch to a new line of thought.

    Leonel realized that if he had used this method to think back when he first met Wise Star Order, it would have been impossible for the old man to read his intentions by shifting through ten million minds because every mind would have already had the same intention! It was just that that intention would have been broken up into little tidbits and divided ten million times, making it almost impossible for anyone other than Leonel to piece them together and understand them.

    The irony of this was that it was using Leonel''s several hundred million split minds as though they were all one mindбн And somehow that still made it all more efficient!

    Leonel took a deep breath.

    ''Even if I can''t understand my Mage Core entirely though, the result isбн Almost too obvious.''

    Leonel reached out a hand and Force surged toward him as though it had a mind of its own.

    He could always do this. Howeverбн He had never been able to replicate this feat in a world of dense Anarchic Force. Most of Leonel''s ability to use atmospheric Force was locked away in this place. Even the golden scaled koi fish could only pull in Force fused with Anarchic Force.

    But right now, so long as it was an Element found on his Mage Core, Leonel could force it toward himself, ignoring all the Anarchic Force around him.

    Suddenly, the air sparked and a ball of red-gold flames formed and began to rotate upon Leonel''s palm.

    Scarlet Star Force.

    Not just any Scarlet Forceбн

    But Fifth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force.

 Chapter 1418 Of All People?

    Leonel didn''t know what to think for a long time.

    This Force, this very same Force that had been the bane of his existence ever since he had awakened it, was now sitting obediently in his palm.

    Leonel knew it was lacking in many ways. This Force on his palm now compared to the Force he could emit from his Innate Node in the same way Force Crystals differed from Pure Force Crystals. The gap was enormous.

    However, it was still with this very same Force that Leonel had wiped out a troop of Three Finger Cult members, and then proceeded to toy with a Variant Invalid as though each was no more than an ant. And nowбн he could suddenly use as much of this Force as he wanted.

    To say that this change was huge was an understatement.

    Leonel quickly snuffed out the flame, realizing that Aina was beginning to sweat beneath the heat. If not for her, he might not have realized something was wrong until the walls began to melt. If this wasn''t a Seventh Dimensional world, the air would have already heated enough to combust everything around it into a hail of flames.

    The Force on Leonel''s palm shifted. He went through Water Force, Spatial Force, Light Force, Star Force, he even managed to gather enough Earth Force that he could influence the ground beneath him a bit.

    Though none of these were as exaggerated as the formation of a ball of Scarlet Star Force, Leonel could still tell that the strength behind each Force was far more than it had been in the past, and the only possible explanation was the Runes that made up the leaves of his Mage Core.

    Leonel summarized the next few changes to his body quickly.

    His Fourth Dimensional Innate Node, the very one he had taken back from Myghell, had found a home in his left kidney.

    An odd sort of Dream Force barrier wrapped tightly around it. Leonel hadn''t noticed it at first due to its small size, but after a diligent scan, he couldn''t possibly miss it.

    Leonel felt that he could puncture this Dream Force barrier whenever he wanted as his Dream Force affinity seemed to have finally returned to him, but he didn''t do it. This Dream Force barrier seemed to make the Innate Node ignorant to the fact it had returned to his body. This allowed him to benefit from having true Scarlet Star Force circulate throughout his body without the drawbacks.

    When Leonel was ready for it to evolve, he felt that he could just remove a layer of the barrier, allowing it to grow in size.

    Like this, Leonel could get the benefit of the accelerated growth of one Innate Node and the steady growth of another. He had a feeling that this would greatly help his comprehension as he watched the Destruction Runes grow naturally.

    The next change he noticed was in the number of Destruction Runes he had comprehended. But, since these were fused with his Mage Core, he left alone.

    The final change, however, was one that left Leonel speechless once again, something that had happened far too often today.

    Leonel waved a hand.

    The world around him seemed to distort, delicate sparkling lines of blue coming together until they formed a perfect cube.

    Everything about the hologram was exact. There was a 0% margin of error, completely unrealistic even to the standards of the higher Dimensions. Without fail, every side was exactly four inches long, not a measure more, not a measure less.

    However, the most shocking thing was that this image had been projected from Leonel''s mind.

    The first thing Leonel did when he noticed this was panic again. Had he been flung back into a dream world without his knowledge?

    But after a moment, he calmed again. No, this wasn''t a dream world, this was definitely the real world. There was no doubt about it. Butбн

    He had gained the ability to project his Dream Force.

    ''No, it isn''t like that. Within the confines of my Starry Spirit Domain, I can project Dream Force. However, outside of it, I cannot. Even within the range of my Internal Sight is impossible, it only seems to be something I can accomplish within this Domainбн''

    Without his tail active, Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain was barely a foot out from his skin. With it active, it had a radius of about five meters.

    Whatever change this sensory Domain had allowed, it became like an extension of Leonel''s Dream World. Leonel had known there would be a lot to explore when it came to this new Domain of his, but he hadn''t expected to stumble upon the first discovery like this.

    Leonel had dismissed this ability when he was stuck in his Dream World, thinking that it would only make him a good teacher and communicator.

    But, now feeling it in the real world, he realized just how game changing this ability would be. He almost wanted to stand up right this moment and begin Crafting, but that was when it hit him like a ton of bricks.

    ''бн I lost Little Tolly tooбн''

    Leonel''s fists clenched. He had to find a way to reverse this as soon as possible, he knew there had to be a way.

    "LeбкLeonel!"

    Leonel was suddenly tackled down by a soft body.

    Before he could understand what was happening, two small palms clasped his cheeks, pressing them together as though to check he was truly alive.

    Leonel''s lips pursed out of his control, his eyes blinking as he looked up toward Aina who already sat over him.

    Seeing the worry in Aina''s eyes, Leonel''s heart softened a bit. But, when she tried to kiss him, he dodged and hoisted her over his shoulder.

    "No time for horniness today ma''am, we have work to do. I have to find out how to save an adorable little mink and an equally as adorable silver blob."

    Aina was so stunned that she didn''t even react to Leonel conveniently squeezing one of herбн large cheeks as she was halved over his shoulder.

    Did this man just accuse her of being horny? This man of all people?

 Chapter 1419 Void Contract

    "Soft." Leonel nodded to himself.

    Aina seemed to snap awake at these words, slapping Leonel''s hand away from her ass and pushing herself up and off his shoulder.

    She harrumphed, pulling her skirt down to hide anything indecent and smoothing out the wrinkles. Once she was finished, she gave Leonel a nice, long glare. But in return, she received a chuckle.

    "What''s with that look? Weren''t you just happy to see me?"

    "Not anymore."

    "Oh. If I give you a kiss, will it make you feel better?"

    "No one wants your kiss," Aina spoke, waving a hand and walking out in front, ignoring Leonel.

    Leonel laughed, swiftly catching up and taking Aina''s hand. Though she put up some mock resistance, she eventually stopped. It was all too easy to tell the difference. With her strength, shaking off his hand if she really wanted to wouldn''t be difficult at all.

    "Where is this place?"

    Leonel couldn''t help but notice that this place was particularlyбн white. It was completely unlike the dark regions he had gotten used to in the last several days. Well, aside from the tenth floor of the Void Tower, that is.

    This place, though, was obviously not in the Void Tower and it had a distinct medicinal scent in the air.

    "It''s a hospital, obviously. Who asked you to come out of the tower with a hole in your chest? What the hell happened to you?"

    Aina frowned, her slightly annoyed tone shifting to concern as she looked toward Leonel. The more she thought about it, the less it made sense to her as well. It was supposed to be a simulation. During her own death, she had become an old woman after expending all of her Life Force and her bones practically crumbled under the weight of her flesh.

    It was quite gruesome, but she eventually woke up just fine as though nothing had happened. If even a death like that couldn''t harm her, then what could have possibly harmed Leonel?

    "I''m not sureбн A hospital? It wasn''t free, right? How did you pay for it? Did you get leaderboard rewards already?"

    "About that, your cousinбн"

    "My cousin?"

    Novel Top1.OR G

    Leonel''s brows shot up. The only cousin he knew of was Noah, but he had a feeling that Aina wasn''t talking about him. Noah should be just as unable to pay for his treatment as Aina was. It wouldn''t make sense for Aina to be referring to him.

    "Yesбн His name was Sceio, he said he was the Fourth Nova."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. The Fourth Nova.

    Though there were over a billion recognized to be among the Morales family''s Nova Generation, the only ones who gained numbers and titles like this were the seven who had awakened both Lineage Factors.

    "What did he ask for in return?"

    Leonel still had the Segmented Cube and the Spear Domain with him, so it was obvious that his cousin hadn''t asked for them. Though, even if he had, Leonel doubted the Spear Domain would leave him. As for the Segmented Cube, it seemed to have a spirit of its own. However, in its current state, it was just an empty shell anyone could take for themselves.

    Regardless, Fourth Nova hadn''t taken it either.

    "He said that you owe him one favor and he wants 10% interest compounded daily. He made me sign a Void Contract, which is apparently a legal document overseen by the Void Senate. Any disputes are handled through the Senate or its branches."

    Leonel felt uneasy hearing these words. The interest alone was ridiculous, but the favor soundedбн

    Leonel didn''t believe that Aina would ever make him return a favor that was too ridiculous, so there were definitely stipulations. But, as for what they were, he didn''t know.

    "Can I see the contract?"

    Aina handed over what looked like a pendant without its necklace to him after hesitating a moment and his Starry Spirit Domain acted all on its own. Its information was displayed before him and he read through it all in the blink of an eye. But, by the time he had finished, his expression was as dark as the Void Palace''s usual environment.

    He realized now why Aina had seemingly hesitated, even if just for a moment.

    The collateral for this contract was essentially Aina''s life. Even though the Void Palace didn''t allow death, slavery was another matter entirely. If Leonel couldn''t fulfill the contract within a month''s time, Aina would be forced to work under Sceio.

    Leonel''s mother had already been here for over 20 years, and she still couldn''t leave the Void Palace freely. This meant that even if this contract was only observed within these walls, something that was unlikely to be true to begin with, that Aina would be stuck fulfilling this contract for at least that long.

    And, considering the fact the Void Palace, and by proxy the Void Senate, were the most powerful existences in the Human Domain, even leaving this place didn''t mean that you could ignore a contract witnessed by them.

    This much alone was more than enough to piss Leonel off. Aina was unaware, so he didn''t blame her. But, so long as he held on for just one more day, he could have completely healed himself after his <Instantaneous Recovery> recharged.

    In fact, so long as Leonel had been given a space without Anarchic Force to contend with, his Healing Factor would have been more than enough to allow him to recover to his full strength.

    Beyond this the description left for the favor left Leonel unsettled. The restrictions placed on it were heavy. Aina had insisted that such a favor couldn''t go against Leonel''s moral code, but as a rebuttal Fourth Nova seemed to slip in that said ''moral code'' had to be provable by Leonel''s actions.

    That line alone was something Leonel knew Aina wouldn''t accept unless she felt pushed into a corner. It practically undid all of the restrictions so long as the clause was used cleverly.

    Leonel didn''t think his mood could get any worse, but when he saw the bill, his temper threatened to flare up again, and only grew worse when he recognized the green hair of the woman across from him.

 Chapter 1420 A Month

    Aina''s frown was even deeper than Leonel''s, her palm pressed down harm on the counter, applying enough pressure to make the marbling tremble. And yet, her voice was as calm and cold as ice.

    "Goldenglow Root. White Azolla Oak. Silkworm Grass. These are all Fifth Dimensional Herbs priced at barely a few dozen kilograms of Urbe Ore.

    "Itchweed. Crimson Hair Skunk Root. Queen Spruce Bushel. Poison Thistle Plum. These aren''t even medicines, they''re quite literally poison. I wouldn''t have allowed you within a mile of him if you had entered with these things.

    "Do you take us for idiots?"

    The green-haired woman continued to look toward them, not looking away in the slightest. There wasn''t a hint of embarrassment on her face.

    "The price is as stated. 1 029 293 Void Points and 2 Void Merits."

    Aina''s irises flashed with a golden glow, the marbled counter cracking.

    The green-haired woman looked down at the result, her eyes narrowing. It took far more than just a bit of strength to cause such a thing to happen, especially when there was no wind up.

    "The price is now double," The green-haired woman reached forward with lightning speed to take back the invoice, catching Aina off guard.

    But, before she could succeed, she found her wrist lightly gripped. The strength wasn''t too strong and it could even be said that the hold on her hand was more comfortable than not. And yet, she couldn''t seem to budge even a single inch.

    "Her name was Rosomon, I believe. Is that right?" Leonel said lightly.

    His anger seemed to have vanished into the wind.

    Rosomon was the very same woman who had manned the medical center at Village 0012. Truthfully, Leonel hadn''t done much of anything to her. In addition, after displaying the strength he had during the True Selection, and subsequently within the Void Tower, even if what he did past floor nine was ignored, he had already proven himself to be more than worth of the Amethyst Token.

    N0 v el Next. CoM

    In doing that, the reason Rosomon should have had for being disgusted with him should have likewise vanished. But, it seems that Rosomon was the type of person who didn''t like to take losses.

    Leonel had left her medicinal center alone because he didn''t want to be the reason other people didn''t get treatment, but she had taken his actions to be out of fear of her. So, he had blatantly stated that if she ever became the reason one of his friends or brothers couldn''t get treatment, he wouldn''t care about the Void Palace''s rules and would directly kill her.

    Clearly, she had taken these words very personally, even to the point of trying to retaliate in this way.

    With the way the Void Palace worked, everything run on the power of its students. There was a reason why Vega could offer Aina free discounts from stores, and that was because they were controlled by her faction to begin with. Every establishment was either owned by a Faction or an individual student!

    This was for an obvious reason, they were raising the future leaders of the Human Domain and as such, treated them with the proper freedomбкwithin certain parameters, of course.

    So long as they remained within the Void Palace, didn''t have children, and didn''t kill, they could practically do as they pleased, all the way up until even running the daily functions of the Void Palace through the Void Senate.

    These rules weren''t too oppressive at all.

    They had to stay in the Void Palace so that they could constantly be under a state of duress and training. If they could leave as they pleased, who would choose to remain here? By then, the effectiveness would plummet.

    As for children, they couldn''t have little brats running around the Void Palace, right? And killing was an even more obvious measure that protected everyone from being pushed too far.

    However, it was also because of this approach that this was happening at all.

    Inwardly, Leonel smiled. He didn''t believe that only this family controlled all of the hospitals and medical centers of the Void Palace, there were definitely others.

    Signs pointed toward the fact that Sceio had brought Aina and him here on purpose, knowing the prices would be inflated. As for how he knew that Leonel had a grudge with Rosomon, that was something that Leonel would have to find out on his own.

    Still, it was clear that this Fourth Cousin of his was schemer. It was just unfortunate that he had already touched past Leonel''s bottom line because as of this momentбн he was playing with Aina''s life.

    However, Leonel managed to keep his calm, sliding the invoice off of the table and taking it into his hands.

    He didn''t care for the green-haired woman''s answer to his question, he already knew the truth.

    "This is the invoice, huh? I''ll be taking my copy. Be sure to charge that to that cousin of mine."

    Leonel handed the invoice to Aina. Since he didn''t have a spatial ring anymore, he''d have to rely on this girlfriend of his.

    As they walked out, his mind was spinning.

    There were too many loopholes in the contract. Just with a glance, he could see dozens. If Sceio was determined to take advantage of them, he could do so. In fact, he could just hide for the next coming month and show up 31 days later claiming that Leonel never paid him, using that as an excuse to sweep Aina away.

    With this contract, Sceio could even go as far as to force Aina to fight in the Heir Wars for him. While killing amongst Heirs was prohibited, killing the helpers of Heirs was a different matter entirely. If not for this, why would Valiant Heart Mountain have been so scared to pariticipate.

    Or, there was the possibility that if his mind was more sinisterбн

    Leonel shut his mind down from continuing down that path as quickly as he thought it, but with his current thinking speed, he had already plunged down a seemingly endless rabbit hole.

    The more he considered it, the more enraged he would become.

    There was only one option. He had to find a way to void this contract. And, for that, he needed to read the rules. To make matters more difficult, he needed a method that didn''t rely on the Void Senate and he only had a month to both find it and put it into action.

 Chapter 1421 A Month

    Aina''s frown was even deeper than Leonel''s, her palm pressed down harm on the counter, applying enough pressure to make the marbling tremble. And yet, her voice was as calm and cold as ice.

    "Goldenglow Root. White Azolla Oak. Silkworm Grass. These are all Fifth Dimensional Herbs priced at barely a few dozen kilograms of Urbe Ore.

    "Itchweed. Crimson Hair Skunk Root. Queen Spruce Bushel. Poison Thistle Plum. These aren''t even medicines, they''re quite literally poison. I wouldn''t have allowed you within a mile of him if you had entered with these things.

    "Do you take us for idiots?"

    The green-haired woman continued to look toward them, not looking away in the slightest. There wasn''t a hint of embarrassment on her face.

    "The price is as stated. 1 029 293 Void Points and 2 Void Merits."

    Aina''s irises flashed with a golden glow, the marbled counter cracking.

    The green-haired woman looked down at the result, her eyes narrowing. It took far more than just a bit of strength to cause such a thing to happen, especially when there was no wind up.

    "The price is now double," The green-haired woman reached forward with lightning speed to take back the invoice, catching Aina off guard.

    But, before she could succeed, she found her wrist lightly gripped. The strength wasn''t too strong and it could even be said that the hold on her hand was more comfortable than not. And yet, she couldn''t seem to budge even a single inch.

    "Her name was Rosomon, I believe. Is that right?" Leonel said lightly.

    ,m His anger seemed to have vanished into the wind.

    Rosomon was the very same woman who had manned the medical center at Village 0012. Truthfully, Leonel hadn''t done much of anything to her. In addition, after displaying the strength he had during the True Selection, and subsequently within the Void Tower, even if what he did past floor nine was ignored, he had already proven himself to be more than worth of the Amethyst Token.

    In doing that, the reason Rosomon should have had for being disgusted with him should have likewise vanished. But, it seems that Rosomon was the type of person who didn''t like to take losses.

    Leonel had left her medicinal center alone because he didn''t want to be the reason other people didn''t get treatment, but she had taken his actions to be out of fear of her. So, he had blatantly stated that if she ever became the reason one of his friends or brothers couldn''t get treatment, he wouldn''t care about the Void Palace''s rules and would directly kill her.

    Clearly, she had taken these words very personally, even to the point of trying to retaliate in this way.

    With the way the Void Palace worked, everything run on the power of its students. There was a reason why Vega could offer Aina free discounts from stores, and that was because they were controlled by her faction to begin with. Every establishment was either owned by a Faction or an individual student!

    This was for an obvious reason, they were raising the future leaders of the Human Domain and as such, treated them with the proper freedomбкwithin certain parameters, of course.

    So long as they remained within the Void Palace, didn''t have children, and didn''t kill, they could practically do as they pleased, all the way up until even running the daily functions of the Void Palace through the Void Senate.

    These rules weren''t too oppressive at all.

    They had to stay in the Void Palace so that they could constantly be under a state of duress and training. If they could leave as they pleased, who would choose to remain here? By then, the effectiveness would plummet.

    As for children, they couldn''t have little brats running around the Void Palace, right? And killing was an even more obvious measure that protected everyone from being pushed too far.

    However, it was also because of this approach that this was happening at all.

    Inwardly, Leonel smiled. He didn''t believe that only this family controlled all of the hospitals and medical centers of the Void Palace, there were definitely others.

    Signs pointed toward the fact that Sceio had brought Aina and him here on purpose, knowing the prices would be inflated. As for how he knew that Leonel had a grudge with Rosomon, that was something that Leonel would have to find out on his own.

    Still, it was clear that this Fourth Cousin of his was schemer. It was just unfortunate that he had already touched past Leonel''s bottom line because as of this momentбн he was playing with Aina''s life.

    However, Leonel managed to keep his calm, sliding the invoice off of the table and taking it into his hands.

    He didn''t care for the green-haired woman''s answer to his question, he already knew the truth.

    "This is the invoice, huh? I''ll be taking my copy. Be sure to charge that to that cousin of mine."

    Leonel handed the invoice to Aina. Since he didn''t have a spatial ring anymore, he''d have to rely on this girlfriend of his.

    As they walked out, his mind was spinning.

    There were too many loopholes in the contract. Just with a glance, he could see dozens. If Sceio was determined to take advantage of them, he could do so. In fact, he could just hide for the next coming month and show up 31 days later claiming that Leonel never paid him, using that as an excuse to sweep Aina away.

    With this contract, Sceio could even go as far as to force Aina to fight in the Heir Wars for him. While killing amongst Heirs was prohibited, killing the helpers of Heirs was a different matter entirely. If not for this, why would Valiant Heart Mountain have been so scared to pariticipate.

    Or, there was the possibility that if his mind was more sinisterбн

    Leonel shut his mind down from continuing down that path as quickly as he thought it, but with his current thinking speed, he had already plunged down a seemingly endless rabbit hole.

    The more he considered it, the more enraged he would become.

    There was only one option. He had to find a way to void this contract. And, for that, he needed to read the rules. To make matters more difficult, he needed a method that didn''t rely on the Void Senate and he only had a month to both find it and put it into action.

 Chapter 1422 Wide Grin

    Originally, Leonel wanted to avoid the Void Senate because he had a feeling that it was likely that Sceio would have someone to rely on that could make things difficult for him. However, when he caught up to speed with everything that had happened, he was even more assured in the fact he couldn''t rely on them.

    The fall of the Stalwart Polearm Party, the rise of the sword factions as a result, and his dadбн Well, being his dad.

    Leonel rubbed his forehead. "This old man is always giving me problems. Can''t go one day without ruining things."

    If Velasco could hear Leonel now, maybe he would have to smack some sense into his son. It was clearly the other way around, why did this brat suddenly sound so exasperated?

    Aina, who had been in a bad mood, couldn''t help but giggle.

    Much of this information she had just filled Leonel in on were things she had fished out of Vega. The knowledge of a Gold Faction Head was quite invaluable, so though Aina never had any intention of joining Vega''s Faction, she still gained herself a large well of information just by listening and asking questions.

    She had to find a way to distract herself from the frozen screen that loomed above her head, after all. There was only so much worrying she could do if she didn''t even understand exactly what was happening.

    It was a good thing that Aina had done this as well, because everything in the Void Palace cost some sort of price. Everything.

    Living accommodations, food, water, even information, all had a price tag. There were several information networks in the Void Palace controlled by various families. Just basic information would cost you hundreds of Void Points, let alone something as sensitive as the overturning of a Shared Majority in the Senate.

    This saved Leonel a lot of time, though, because now he didn''t have to walk around aimlessly.

    The Void Palace, on a normal day, wasn''t too much unlike a college campus, if you could get over the heavy perpetual fog and the lack of sun at all times. However, it also felt veryбн unorganized.

    There were buildings of all sorts of shapes and sizes, serving all sorts of different functions strewn around without any sort of real city planning of any sort.

    Restaurants were right by clothing shops which were right by residences which were also right by medicinal halls and librariesбн There was even what looked like a small farm randomly irrigated between what was a butcher shop and a clothing shop that displayed animal furs. There was no order at all.

    Alongside these odd choices in building and in land use, there were what looked like kiosks every block or so. Aina told Leonel that those were locations to exchange Void Points for things from a virtual library of sorts. But, the situation was more complicated than that.

    Apparently, according to Aina, there were ''Zones''. The level of the Void Point Kiosk would be decided by the level of the Zone. This meant at lower level Zones, you could only trade for things of a certain level, barred off from higher levels.

    These Zones were mostly divided into the level of students that could enter them, and there were further special Zones controlled by Factions as well.

    Regardless, outside of the lower class Zones which could be entered for free, higher class Zones with better accommodations, and assumingly better city planning than this, all cost Void Points to enter as well.

    "This Zone, what is it?"

    "Wellбн" Aina bit her lip, looking away. "It''s the lowest class Quadrant Zone there is."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Quadrant? Oh, did I not climb high enough to make it to Galaxy? That''s unfortunateбн"

    Leonel didn''t really know what happened after he got trapped, so he just assumed what must have happened. He thought that Aina''s reaction was to spare him from the embarrassment.

    In truth, he didn''t like the fact he had failed, but the experience with Amery had already forced him to humble himself a bit. He still didn''t like the fact he had to use his bow that day.

    "No, wellбн"

    Aina took a breath and just explained what happened.

    Leonel''s brows jumped when he heard he had climbed to the 74th floor. How was such a thing even possible? There should be something wrong with the tower, right? Maybe his Dream Force had affected its output.

    This was the best explanation Leonel could think of. There was no way he could output Seventh Dimensional power. If he could, he might as well forget all of this and start conquering the Human Domain right away.

    "бн Ah, so it''s like thatбн"

    Leonel sighed.

    Someone had come to bring Aina her verification as a Galaxy Ranked Disciple while he was in a coma. But, when Aina asked about Leonel, the person only shook their head, not having an answer.

    It was likely that the higher ups were still deliberating on what exactly had happened. So, as of now, let alone a Galaxy Rank, Leonel didn''t technically have any Rank right now.

    Leonel couldn''t blame them. Even he didn''t believe he had climbed to the 74th floor, so why would others?

    Leonel suddenly came to a grinding halt, his eyes flashing. And then, he grinned like a madman.

    Aina, who had continued to walk ahead, paused when she realized Leonel''s arm was tugging at her hand.

    "Leonel? Are you alright?"

    Seeing Leonel grin when she knew that he would usually be sad in this sort of situation made Aina a bit worried. Was his head alright?

    "If I''m right, I just found our loophole." Leonel''s grin widened.

    Even if this didn''t get Leonel out of the Void Contract, he was certain that there was some rule or loophole he could take advantage of in his current Rankless state, he just had to find what that rule was.

    And, if he was even luckier, this much would be enough to void Fourth Nova''s Void Contract with Aina.

    "Aina, bring me somewhere where we can read all of the Void Palace''s rules in excruciating detail. I''m sure there has to be a place like that."

    Aina blinked and then nodded slowly, thinking of a place.

 Chapter 1423 527

    The best location that Aina could think of that would meet Leonel''s requirements was a branch of the Void Senate.

    ? The Senate''s main duties were related to setting laws that governed everything from the lowest to the highest levels of the Void Palace. But, there were also many smaller tasks, at least relatively speaking, that they also had to deal with.

    These branches were in place to deal with these smaller functions.

    For one, the Senate branches were where missions could be taken up and rewards for said missions could be accepted. It would also be the place where Leonel and Aina would have to go in order to receive their monthly stipend for remaining on the leaderboards, so long as they could maintain their top three positions, that is.

    The second function of the branches was as a sort of asylum. A lot like the embassies found within a country, a branch functioned as the one location in the whole of the Void Palace where fights and battles were not allowed.

    Most likely wouldn''t use the branch for this purpose, but it was still a rule that everyone was aware of because the penalty for breaking it was especially harsh. Simply put, the dignity of the Senate could not be infringed upon for any reason.

    The third function of the branch was as a sort of disciplinary squad. There were very few rules on the Void Palace other than the main three always mentioned, but there still had to be a semblance of order.

    Those who took up positions in the Senate branches were tasked with making sure any commotion remained to a level that was manageable.

    This didn''t sound like a big deal on the surface, but when things like Faction wars reached a fever pitch, only the Senate could be relied upon to settle tensions and make sure no one crossed any lines that couldn''t be come back from.

    Likewise, the branches were here to ensure that no one died. No, more accurately, they were here to ensure that no one was killed or murdered. And, in the case that someone was, they would be swiftly brought in and put on trial for what would likely be an inevitable execution.

    Death in the Void Palace was more common than the no killing rule seemed to imply. Most would die on the Void Battlefield. However, among those that wouldn''t, there were any number of ways.

    Poison, succumbing to injuries, being ravaged by Cursed Beasts that roamed these landsбн There were even cases of people starving to death.

    In an Anarchic Force rich environment, even higher Dimensional beings were in a constant state of fight or flight, their Force always working. As such, their hunger and thirst were no different from mortals.

    If they went a few weeks without food, or even a week without water, they would already find themselves toeing the line of life or death, just like any other Third Dimensional existence.

    This was a problem that Leonel had in the back of his mind already. He hadn''t been worrying about it at all because he would always have water with the Segmented Cube and cleaning Cursed Beast meat to consume wasn''t an issue so long as he had Cleansing Waters.

    But now, this was a problem he would have to contend with and deal with as soon as possible. But firstбн

    Leonel and Aina walked into the Senate branch. Much like the hospital, it was completely out of place.

    While it wasn''t a large building, it was still prim and proper. The grass out front was a lush and almost obsidian black, the foundation and walls had been laid of evenly cut brick, and the inside smelled of fresh pine and a hint of citric.

    There was only a single person as the counter, but there only really needed to be one.

    "State your purpose," the young man almost commanded.

    Leonel gazed toward this person, feeling that they were quite powerful. Even the weakest member of the Senate was in the latter third of the Sixth Dimension and this young man was definitely no different. He probably made more Void Merits just sitting here than Leonel would gain risking his life for months.

    Probably.

    As for whether or not that was true, Leonel actually had no idea and he didn''t like wasting time speculating on things he had no real tangible information about.

    "I would like a complete record of the Void Palace''s rules."

    The young man, who was mostly disinterested, narrowed his eyes when he heard this.

    "Are you trying to fuck with me? I don''t have the patience, kid. I''ll give you one more chance, but that''s only because I''m in a good mood."

    Leonel refrained from laughing. If this was him in a good mood, he''d hate to see the opposite.

    Toward these words, Leonel only smiled.

    "Senior, I recently got swept up into some Void Contract troubles and I want to see if there''s any method of getting out. I don''t want to leave any stone unturned, so I''d like to go through all of the rules to see if there''s anything I can do."

    Hearing such an explanation, the young man''s stance softened somewhat, but he still shook his head.

    "The ignorant truly are fearless. Fine, fine. You live and you learn. Good luck, kid."

    Clank.

    The young man brought out a pendant that looked quite similar to the one that had held the original contract. But, the jewel on it was a different color. Aina''s had been a really pale silver, but this seemed much brighter. It was a detail Leonel noted.

    "Thanбк"

    Clank.

    The young man brought out another pendant. Then another. Then another. Then another.

    By the time he was finished, the whole counter was covered in what Leonel counted to be 527 such pendants.

    "The Void Palace was founded over 500 thousand years ago. Each pendant represents a thousand years of laws and amendments. Have fun."

 Chapter 1424 ...Maybe?

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Even for him, this was a lot. He could tell with a glance that the brightness of the gem on the pendant was likely a function of how much information was within.

    ''The contract between Aina and Sceio had been about a thousand words. If it was multiplied by the difference in brightness, then that would mean that there would be about 100 billion words since it functions on a logarithmic scale.

    ''If it was multiplied by a further 500, it wouldn''t take me that long at all. In fact, I would probably finish each one in a few minutes, especially since I don''t have to read with my eyes.

    ''But, that wouldn''t be too hard for any Fifth Dimensional existence to do. A hundred billion words is only a Petabyte of information. I highly down what looks to be a Sixth Dimension device would max out at that quantity. For this Senior to be acting like this, it has to be even worse than my estimates.''

    Leonel took a breath and picked up one of the pendants, restraining his Starry Spirit Domain so that it didn''t act on its own again.

    "I would be careful if I were you. The Memory Pendants work by projecting all of the information into your mind at once using a small bit of Dream Force. Even Seventh Dimensional existences don''t bother memorizing all of these rules, it''s easier to just look up exactly what they want when the issue comes up."

    "Dream Force?" Leonel blinked.

    The young man smiled. "Even if you have some Dream Force affinity, I wouldn''t advise it. I already assumed you had some sensory type ability since you dared to ask for this. Only sensory maniacs like you guys would ask for something so ridiculous. But, a small amount of Dream Force affinity isn''t going to help you with that amount of information.

    "Unless you''re a Savant or at least in the Seventh Dimension, I wouldn''t advise it."

    Hearing these words, Aina began to get a bit worried as well.

    "How about we find another way? Or, maybe you could try to narrow down the search a bit?" She probed.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, looking at the pendant.

    "What''s the worst that can happen if I use the Memory Pendant, senior?"

    "Well, it isn''t life threatening. But, you''d be forced to stand there until your mind processes all of it. Since you''re in the Fifth Dimension and have some Dream Force affinity, I''d say it would probably take you anywhere from a week to a month depending on a few factors. So, you can imagine how long it would take to go through all of themбн

    "Plus, that would only really work if you really needed to find very specific information. It sounds like you want to memorize all of it by your tone. That mountain is even taller. Even though the Dream Force will help you memorize a bit easier than you otherwise would, it''s not to the point that you''d become an overnight genius.

    "You''ll easily become overwhelmed and by the third pendant, you''ll already start forgetting things. By the seventh pendant, you likely wouldn''t even remember anything from the first.

    "Andбн That doesn''t mention the fact that my shift ends pretty soon. I might be willing to let you stand there, but I can''t promise that my colleagues will too. Some of them are pricks and entering a state like that is dangerous if there''s no one around to protect you."

    "I seeбн" Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    He had already decided to gamble. He had forgotten about the new way in which his brain worked. If he really went at this, he believed he could do it.

    Leonel''s Internal Sight surged. As though expecting this, the young man shook his head. He already knew this would happen, that''s why he had said the ignorant were fearless.

    Never mind, it didn''t matter. He would be harmed a bit and when he came out, he would have learned a lesson.

    The young man moved to put the other pendants away. He had only brought them all out for dramatic effect to begin with, but it had fallen on blind eyes since neither Leonel nor Aina seemed to understand what kind of heft these pendants had behind them.

    But, before the young man could finish packing away even a single pendant, a sharp intake of breath caught his attention.

    He looked up curiously, but his expression changed when he saw that Leonel''s gaze had regained its clarity.

    "How long has it been?" Leonel asked Aina.

    Leonel had already expected that he would find a different person at the counter, so he didn''t even look in that direction. The largest reason he had dared to do this was because he trusted that if he was wrong in his evaluation, Aina would protect him.

    But, instead of getting an answer, all he got was a beauty looking back at him with a blank expression.

    The young man abruptly rose from his seat, not understanding what he was seeing.

    If he could wave a hand and say Leonel just faked it, everything would be fine. But the problem was that he most definitely couldn''t do that. His own senses were too sharp. He had felt Leonel''s Internal Sight sink into that pendant. There was no way to fake that. The moment Internal Sight touched that pendant, the process would start and there was no easy way to extricate yourself without completely reading through its contents.

    There was simply no way to fake this.

    "Aina?"

    "It''sбн It''s been a few seconds, maybe?" Aina''s voice tinged with uncertainty.

    Leonel blinked for a moment before he grinned ear to ear. This was excellent.

    Without hesitation, he took up a second pendant, then a third, then a fourth. He blazed through them one after another, not stopping for a single moment.

    Then, just 10 or so minutes later, he had gone through them all, each word, letter and punctuation mark perfectly memorized.

 Chapter 1425 Green

    Leonel exhaled, his mind rolling. He slid through the half a million years'' worth of laws and regulations as though he was flipping through the pages of a book, his mind assimilating it all with an ease that astonished even himself.

    Most of it was completely useless, nonsensical laws that no longer meant anything in the current day and age. But others were far more interesting.

    Leonel organized it all, crossing out what was useless and also throwing out rules made redundant or toothless by later amendments. And, eventually, he came to exactly what he wanted.

    Leonel grinned, this was exactly what he needed. The Void Contract was one matter, however how he could take advantage of his limbo-like status was a different matter entirely. Since the Void Senate would likely try to play games with him, let them. He would enjoy his short period of free reign while they twittled their thumbs.

    As for the matter of the Void Contract, it was surprisingly easy.

    The rule was under a set of amendments put into place about 400 thousand years ago when the Void Palace''s Anarchic Force concentration had weakened enough to allow lower level Dimensional beings in, the free for all rules began to weigh too heavily.

    As of right now, the only rule seemed to be no killing. But, what would one do if a higher Dimensional being insisted on crippling you? There was really nothing much you could do at all.

    That was, until these amendments were put into place.

    There were many provisions put in place, but the only one Leonel really cared about right now was a clause related to Void Contracts.

    According to the stipulations, so long as a contract involved a deal including a lower Ranked disciple, said disciple could use 3 Void Merits to remove themselves from responsibility.

    One would think that Leonel was out of luck. He couldn''t simultaneously try to use his limbo-like status and hope to get treatment as a lower Ranked disciple at the same time, that wouldn''t make sense or be possible.

    However, it had to be remembered that the contract wasn''t signed between Leonel and Sceio. It was signed between Aina and Sceio! Leonel had been in a coma at the time, meaning he couldn''t consent to a contract even if he wanted to.

    Luckily, Sceio should be a Sector Ranked disciple, just like Leonel''s mother, while Aina was a Galaxy Ranked disciple.

    In addition, even if Sceio wasn''t a Sector Ranked disciple, there were divisions among Ranks that could be used as well. There were nine divisions within each level, which was why climbing Ranks was so difficult. So long as Sceio wasn''t a Level 1 Galaxy Ranked disciple, Aina would still be able to break free.

    Now, the only question was one of getting Void Merits. If Leonel was lucky, he might be able to kill two birds with one stone and take advantage of his limbo status at the same time.

    However, Leonel had also deduced days ago that Void Merits were far more valuable that Void Points. It likely wouldn''t be easy to get them even if he went all out in the next month. And, according to the rules, while Void Points were transferable by anyone, only Factions, Parties and the Void Palace itself could hand out Void Merits.

    This meant that if Leonel wanted to get Aina the merits she needed, they would either need to do a mission that paid them both equally, and was thus work a total of six Void Meritsбкa mission that would without a doubt be incredibly dangerousбкor, Aina would need to somehow earn them on her own.

    But, it was exactly then that a spark went off in Leonel''s head.

    ''That''s it! For every top three spot you have on the leaderboards, you gain an equivalent number of Void Merits.''

    "Aina, how many leaderboards are you on right now?"

    The young man''s lip twitched when he heard this question. What the hell was going on here? First this kid flashed through the pendants like they were nothing, and now he was treating leaderboards as though they were nothing?

    If he didn''t know better, the young man would have checked these pendants personally to make sure they weren''t broken, but even if he wouldn''t get stuck here for a month like Leonel should have, it would have still been a day. He didn''t feel like doing that.

    Plusбн All 527 couldn''t possibly be brokenбн right?

    "Umбн I believe that I''m on 20."

    The young man sputtered and coughed.

    "Ten? Ten leaderboards?"

    Aina and Leonel looked toward the young man as though he was the weird one. Eventually, they looked back toward one another as though he wasn''t there.

    "I assume that''s ten current leaderboards and ten all time ones, right?"

    Aina nodded.

    "And what placement do you have on them? Only the top three matters."

    "I''m second of three of the current leaderboards and first on the rest of them. Same for the all-time leaderboards."

    Leonel grinned. "Sounds like my girlfriend is pretty amazing."

    "Just a little bit." Aina smiled, her amber eyes glistening.

    "The current leaderboards give 3 Void Merits for first place and minus one downward. The all-time leaderboards are more complicated. They give out a pool of 30 for top 10 and it ticks down by one for top 11-20 and so on. Either way, only top 10 matters for you. Depending on how many active members of the top 10 there are currently in the Void Palace, you''ll split those 30 merit points with them.

    ,m "So you have 27 Void Merits from current leaderboards plus 300 Void Merits divided by however many people you''re sharing them with. Do you know?"

    Leonel thought the answer might be zero, initially, but after hearing her previous explanation, he knew that wouldn''t be true

    "There''s one. Her name is Treanna Viror."

    Leonel nodded. "In that case, you get 66% of the amount you''re in first place for and 33% of the ones you''re not.

    "So 27 plus 150, so 177 Void Merits in the end. It looks like you''ll have more than enough."

    бн

    While Leonel and Aina were happy about this change, there was a young woman whose monthly Void Merit quota had taken an enormous plummet thanks to this changeбн

    And her hair also happened to be green.

 Chapter 1426 What Can Stop Us?

    Leonel and Aina left the Senate Branch after completing a few other things. But, Leonel still seemed lost in thought as though he was still trying to work something out.

    "What''s wrong?" Aina asked.

    ,m From what Leonel had said earlier, it sounded as if all their troubles were dealt with.

    "Did my cousin say anything else to you? Anything that might sound suspicious? Anything that stood out?"

    Aina fell deep into her thoughts but after a moment, she shook her head. She couldn''t think of anything like that. Back then, she had been very focused on the contract and negotiations, so she had practically memorized every little thing Sceio said. But, even then, she couldn''t come up with anything like what Leonel had asked for.

    "Is there a problem?"

    "I''m not sure." Leonel said honestly. "It just feels too easy. On the one hand, the Void Merit rule should be rarely used. Void Merits alone are difficult to gather in the first place. Although you''ll have almost 200 at the end of this month, there are very few people who could boast such a thing. The number of individuals on the leaderboards to begin with are barely a fraction of the number of students in the Void Palace, and that doesn''t even consider the fact that only the top three get to enjoy Void Merits in return in the first place.

    "Then there''s the fact that anyone who could earn Void Merits through any method to begin with wouldn''t normally be people that would need to get out of a contract. They would be geniuses that would be easily taken in by a Faction or Party without issue. Something like selling themselves in exchange for help would never happen.

    "So, that would make the use of this rule even rarer."

    "Then that should be a good thing. Why are you worried?"

    "Like I said, it just feels too easy. If my cousin is intelligent, he''ll look at things from all angles. He should know both how valuable Void Merits are and the fact that you''ll earn a lot in just a couple more weeks.

    "If I was himбн"

    Leonel''s gaze went into a daze for a moment as he activated an ability he had only just created. He called it Dream Perspective.

    With Dream Perspective, he could ''forget'' the things he knew and only ''remember'' the things his target would. This way, he wouldn''t have his thoughts colored by bias and matters he already understood.

    One of the most difficult things for people to do was look at matters from the perspective of someone else. However, with Tier 4, Control, Leonel could create a Dream Clone in his Dream World that had the exact knowledge of whoever he chose. Then, he could simulate how they would think about a situation.

    The more understanding he had of a person, the more accurate it would be. He could adjust his intelligence and deductive ability, as well as factor in personality and tendencies as well. But, since Leonel knew so little about his cousin, he could only draw conclusions with about 20-30% certainty, using an ''average'' Sixth Dimensional existence as his Dream Clone.

    "бн I would be cautious. With the importance of Void Merits, why give a chance for this variable to pop up and bite me in the ass at all?

    "There are too many ways to circumvent that problem. The easiest way to do things would be to shrink the deadline. Rather than a month, I would give you two weeks. Two weeks is still semi-reasonable, especially since neither of us would be aware that the clinic would mark up the price so much just because of a grudge they had with me.

    "Now that I think about it, a month is overly nice."

    "It''s possible that he''s greedy," Aina supplemented, "though he didn''t say anything that could give away his real goal, he did say: "I never touch the women of my brothers. However, I will take their money." to me."

    Leonel''s brows raised as he fell into thought again.

    "There are too many possibilities."

    The problem wasn''t that Leonel couldn''t think of what Sceio might do. The real issue was that he could think of too many. And, without knowing exactly what Sceio knew, it was impossible to pinpoint which path he could take.

    For example, it would be all too easy to close the loophole he and Aina planned on using. Sceio would only have to be demoted back down to Aina''s level, then she wouldn''t be able to use Void Merits to escape the chains of the contract.

    Of course, whether Sceio would go so far, Leonel didn''t know. But, if it was Leonel, if he could force a talent like Aina to work for him, that would be worth exchanging whatever effort it took for him to raise his level. Aina was someone who had entered 20 leaderboards in her first attempt, where else would you find a talent like that?

    In fact, now that Leonel knew the rule book inside and out, he could even think of some methods where demoting your rank would be a benefit rather than a detriment!

    "Since there are too many possibilities, disregard them all." Aina suddenly said.

    "Hm?"

    Aina blinked and looked up at Leonel with a smile.

    "I told you before that your battle style isn''t like mine. You like withholding your trump cards and only using them when you can get maximum benefit. But, I just give everything I have right from the very beginning.

    "So what if you know what''s coming? You can''t stop it anyway."

    Leonel''s gaze glowed, his heartbeat speeding up.

    That was right. Instead of trying to think of a counter for everything Sceio might do, he just needed to find a method he couldn''t block no matter what.

    It''s no wonder his Spear Force was so lacking. He had the disposition of an archer, not a spearman.

    "Thought of something?" Aina''s smile widened.

    "Maybe. But it will be difficult." Leonel responded.

    "What could possibly stop us if we do it together?" Aina asked.

    Hearing such words, what else could Leonel do other than grin?

 Chapter 1427 Sly Brat

    [Previous chapter has already been updated. It''s been brought to my attention that for those that can''t see the update, you can go to >> Profile >> Setting >> Clear Cache. Then the chapter will refresh. Thanks to Horst for enlightening me to this method]

    Leonel and Aina returned to the Senate Branch, finding that the young man had yet to leave.

    "You two again? I already warned you, you know. You can''t return missions you''ve already taken. You''re going to have to bite the bullet. If you fail to complete a mission, you not only fall in debt for ten times what the reward would be, but you also get assigned manual labor. The time scope of the manual labor is fairly harsh, though it can sometimes be lenient. It all depends since you''ll be on duty until the mission you failed is completed."

    Leonel''s expression flickered. He could think of a ton of ways to abuse rules like that, especially if he was the head of a powerful Faction. But, he also didn''t plan on failing any missions, so he ignored those thoughts for now.

    These days, his mind worked faster than he even wanted to, so he winded down paths others wouldn''t even consider before said individual could even begin deducing much of anything.

    "We know, we just thought we''d pick out another mission to save on some time so that we can complete them all at once."

    The young man, who Leonel knew by name now as Dmitry, raised an eyebrow. But, he didn''t question it.

    After Leonel and Aina had left, he looked into them to see what he had missed and he learned that these two were two of this year''s only three Amethyst Token wielders. Aina''s performance was shocking enough, but Leonel''s was especiallyбн well, eye catching.

    Though many felt that Leonel''s performance was definitely fake, some more analytical individuals felt that there was more to this than met the eye.

    The reason was quite simple: the Void Senate and the Void Elders never attempted to close down the Void Tower.

    If there was something wrong with the Void Tower, wouldn''t they at least close it down for a while to see what could have gone wrong? And yet right before Leonel''s run and right after, everything was business as usual. It made one wonderбн Did he really climb to the 74th floor?

    No matter how Dmitry scanned Leonel, he could find nothing special about him. He couldn''t fathom how a Fifth Dimensional kid could climb to even the 20''s, let alone the 70''s. It just didn''t make any sense.

    Of course, this was one of the other odd changes Leonel had undergone. The more time he spent in this "new" body of his, the more subtle changes he noticed. For example, his aura and his temperament seemed to have been greatly refined, not even the tiniest bit of his aura leaked anymore.

    In the past, when he focused, he used to leak out King''s Might, causing everyone around him to feel strained and heavy. But now, he focused and nothing at all happened.

    He hadn''t noticed earlier because Aina had always been unbothered by his King''s Might. But, with Dmitry here, he should have sensed or felt something. But, Leonel could tell that he hadn''t.

    "We will take the goblin Sub-Dimensional Zone Void Mission."

    Dmitry was speechless as he had flashbacks to just before Leonel and Aina had left the first time.

    They had already had this talk once before, but Dmitry never thought that these two would come back only to ignore everything he had said the first time. He almost felt like banging his head against the wall, had he been talking to air?

    Void Missions could appear at all ranks from Quadrant to Domain. They were essentially missions that hadn''t been completed within a ten year span.

    Usual missions were ranked 1 to 9. Level 1 Galaxy missions were designed for Level 1 Galaxy Ranked disciples, so on and so forth.

    A One Star Void Mission was one that hadn''t been completed in ten years of activity. A Two Star Void Mission hadn''t been completed in a hundred years. A Three Star Void Mission hadn''t been completed in a thousand. And a Death Void Mission was anything beyond that.

    The goblin mission wasn''t yet a Death Void Mission, but it wasn''t far from that. And, even before it became a One Star Void Mission, it had been a Level 3 Galaxy Ranked Mission. That level was already suicide for the likes of Leonel and Aina, leaderboard prodigies or not.

    For reference, a Level 1 Galaxy Ranked Mission was already designed for Sixth Dimensional existences. In fact, the only current Fifth Dimensional existence that could be considered Galaxy Ranked was Aina herself, with Leonel being unranked.

    "бн Didn''t we already agree thatбн"

    "We changed our minds." Leonel smiled.

    "And you''re aware thatбн"

    "We know." Leonel smiled brighter.

    "Fine, fine."

    Dmitry tossed over the mission plate and shook his head, watching the two of them leave once again. If they couldn''t complete both missions they had taken within a week, they would be off to do labor.

    "Wait."

    Dmitry shot up from his chair, finding the specific pendant he was looking for, he poured his Internal Sight into it. When he read what was on the other end, he laughed and shook his head.

    "Haбн what a loopholeбн"

    Leonel had been certain to claim the mission himself, Aina never even touched the mission plate. The trouble was that as an unranked disciple, there was nothing for the mission to be registered to.

    The penalties for completing a mission weren''t universal, they were decided by the rank of the disciple and the rank of the mission in question.

    If a Galaxy Ranked disciple wanted to claim a Sector Ranked mission, they would not only need to pass the test, but if they failed, the punishment was actually doubled.

    In fact, not only were the punishments tied to your rank as a disciple, but even the location of our menial labor would be tied to it as well! After all, if they sent Galaxy Ranked and Sector Ranked disciples to the same place, all of the former would likely die.

    This meant one thing: as an unranked disciple, Leonel couldn''t be punished even if he failed a mission.

    "A sly brat indeedбн Well, good luck. Most who take on Void Missions don''t even get to return to be punished in the first placeбн"

 Chapter 1428 Goblin Race

    Leonel and Aina quickly made it to the location of their first mission. They chose to get the easier one out of the way first just so that they could get used to what was happening. Then they would tackle the Void Mission.

    Missions were separated into a few categories, but the main ones were land missions, Zone missions, and Void Battlefield missions, and finally, outside missions.

    Land missions were missions that took place on Void Palace land itself. These could range from anything like Dmitry''s job to clearing Cursed Beasts.

    Void Battlefield missions spoke for themselves while outside missions were like what Leonel''s mother had undertaken to oversee the Selection.

    Finally, Zone missions happened to be the category both of their couple''s chosen missions fell under. These were Sub-Dimensional Zones that were opened in Void Palace territory and those that fell under this umbrella tended to be the most complex to deal with.

    Of course, all of the Sub-Dimensional Zones of the Void Palace had long since been cleared, they no longer needed to worry about their lands being swallowed or dissolved by history. However, there were many Unique Zones that the Void Palace kept open with methods similar to what Valiant Heart Mountain had done. The only difference was that the Void Palace did it on a much larger scale.

    It had to be remembered that Unique Zones were defined as Zone that had been influenced by outside factors. This could range from anything like outsiders entering when they shouldn''t, outsiders influencing the timeline of events, and even up to keeping Zones that should have been closed long ago, open.

    Unique Zones that fell into the third category were used for their continual supplementation of resources. However, the issue was that the longer these Unique Zones remained open, the more twisted their inner worlds became and the more difficult they were to deal with.

    In order to keep the Zones within manageable levels, missions were released to the disciples. So long as these missions were completed within a timely fashion, everything would be fine and the Void Palace would be able to continuously mine resources.

    However, in case of failureбн

    Well, there was a reason why Void Missions were so dangerous.

    Due to their inherent qualities, Zone missions tended to become Void Missions far more often than missions of other categories. And, likewise, they also tended to be the ones that most often became Death Void Missions as well.

    Knowing this, it was no wonder that Dmitry had had just a fierce reaction.

    Still, Leonel and Aina had made the decision and it was already much too late to back out now.

    "Helloбн" Leonel gave a small greeting to the senior manning the Zone and handed over their mission plate.

    With a nod, the senior slotted in the Force Crystals necessary and opened the pathway.

    "You have a week before the Zone closes. Be sure to complete the mission before then."

    Leonel nodded and took Aina''s hand as he jumped in, the portal swirling close after them.

    The senior manning the post couldn''t help but blink and shake his head, trying to rid himself of the daze he fell into after noticing Aina.

    бн

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself in the depths of a familiar forest. The soil was still a greyish-black, the surroundings were still layered in a dense fog, and the Anarchic Force was still thick. The only difference was that the trees were all burnt to the ground, leaving a thick heat and smell of ash and soot in the air.

    Up ahead, there was a looming castle built right in the face of a wall. Several sentries marched along and patrolled the area. Considering the situation, it wouldn''t be long before he and Aina were found out. However, Leonel wasn''t worried. This mission was the easier of the two and was only a Level 1 Galaxy Ranked mission.

    The good news about this was that thanks to the mission details, Leonel didn''t need the dictionary to find out what they had to do to clear the Zone. In fact, they even got a history of the situation.

    Many of these Zones were back before the Humans conquered this region.

    The Void Palace was located on the frontier of the Human Domain. So, as one might imagine, it wasn''t always in human hands. In order to claim it and push back the line of defense to the Void Battlefield, many other races had to be cleared away first.

    This mission targeted one of these former races and also happened to be related to the goblin race he and Aina would be facing in the Three Star Void Mission he had chosen.

    The so-called ''goblin'' race was just a nickname given to humans and it was honestly quite derogatory, though Leonel wasn''t aware of this. The true name of the race was the Dwarven Race.

    However, the Dwarven Race was unlike what Leonel was used to, they simply referred to small humanoids. Their females were known as Pixies and their males were known as Sparrows.

    They had skin ranging from dull grey to dark green, transparent wings that seemed too frail to carry their weight, and they ranged from three to five feet tall upon reaching maturity. They were well known for their speed, cunning, and their ability to build into natural barriers and constructs.

    This race was especially troublesome to deal with, especially when they had time to prepare. This was why the timeline of this mission was a week instead of just a day despite the fact the goal was very straightforward: kill.

    Leonel exhaled a breath as a blaring horn sounded. It seemed that he and Aina had been found.

    He subconsciously flipped over a palm, but he shook his head in the end.

    His bows were in the Segmented Cube before the incident and his spears were all locked away thanks to the volatile atmosphere in the Spear Domain ring.

    Readjusting himself, Leonel flipped a palm again, a familiar spear landing in his hand. This spear was the very same stinger-like spear he had gained after becoming a woman during his Spear Domain trial. He couldn''t help but laugh when he remembered the ridiculousness of the situation.

    Since then, he had experienced becoming a woman more times than he could count, but now was the time to linger on that.

    It was time to see how this "new" body of his performed.

    He turned to Aina and grinned before they both bolted forward.

 Chapter 1429 Feel Lt

    Leonel shot forward and his head almost snapped back as though someone had just pressed on the gas. His speed was so fast that he almost didn''t believe that it was being generated from his own legs.

    What was the most shocking about it was the fact that his weight hadn''t been lowered in the slightest, unlike what had happened when his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor''s Speed Branch reached its peak. Somehow, he managed to hit this pace with his weight being just as great as it had been before.

    He appeared before the castle walls almost too quickly.

    Realizing that he would crash if he didn''t adjust, Leonel focused, his thighs bulging as he leapt into the air.

    "Wahбн"

    Leonel let out a gasp. Before he realized what was happening, he was already 50 meters in the air, his eyes opened wide.

    Jumping 50 meters into the air wasn''t a big deal if he was in a Fifth Dimensional world. He might even be able to replicate the feat if he put his all into it in a Sixth Dimensional world.

    But, just now, he thought he had already adjusted himself to his new strength so he used even less than he thought he should. And yet, the result was still like this.

    Leonel suddenly understood. The speed of the Starry Tailed Fox was amazing, but somehow it was still secondary compared to its leaping, directional change, and agility abilities.

    He laughed in the skies, making it to almost 60 meters before he began to fall downward.

    Aina clicked her tongue, still quite far behind Leonel. She had adjusted her speed based on what output she was used to Leonel producing. This was clearly also outside her expectations.

    She smiled lightly after a moment, her body becoming enveloped in a fog of crimson as she exploded forth, her palm flipping over to reveal her ax.

    In the skies, Leonel''s gaze flashed, his vision suddenly able to see through everything. His Internal Sight enveloped the entire mountain castle as several arrows shot toward him.

    Leonel brandished his spear, its feather fluttering in the wind as he pierced forward.

    Protected by his Spear Force, he met the tip of each and every arrow, his speed leaving afterimages in the air as he thought back to the style of the primitive woman.

    It had been so long since he sunk into her thoughts, and yet he was back there again as though the first time he touched the spear was just yesterday.

    He seemed to be able to grasp many subtleties he had completely missed back when he was just in the Third Dimension. Noбн he hadn''t just missed them, it was like he wasn''t looking for them at all.

    The truth was that even now, he wasn''t looking for them. It was just that his senses were so far superior to what they had been back then that he almost had no choice but to notice.

    The subtle but powerful twist of her hips, the way her feet grinded into the ground as though to gain the support of the earth with her every strike, the almost insignificant flex and turn of her wrist just before her strike landed.

    For a moment, Leonel was in a daze.

    The process felt eerily similar to him. How different was brandishing a spear compared to throwing a football? Or, more pertinently, a javelin?

    The mechanisms were slightly different, but the methods and foundation of drawing up and producing power were nearly identical.

    He could draw on the same concepts, that natural motion that came as easy as breathing to him. He never had to think when he drew his bow or when he cocked his arm back to release the draconic power in his arm, but that was also because he had drilled the latter so many times that it came so naturally. When had he ever put so much effort into the spear?

    And what about the former? With a bow, much of the mechanics were taken out of his hands, but now that he thought about it, there were many small tweaks he could make to his bowmanship that could take him to a different level entirely.

    The bow was only more forgiving because he could make up all his mechanical flaws with his calculative abilities.

    Who cared if his arm wasn''t straight, if his back wasn''t tight, if his shoulders weren''t steady, if he could always just adjust the angle or his Bow Force so that his aim was true every time?

    Leonel went through all these thoughts in just the split moment it took for him to fall onto the castle walls. In just those small split seconds, his entire demeanor had shifted and changed, his approach changing entirely.

    He had the perfect ability to perfect his mechanics to an absolute extreme, and yet he had never used it.

    He would change that. Starting right now.

    Leonel stomped down hard, his hair fluttering and his aura becoming restrained.

    He pierced forward, his Spear Force jetting forward and leaving a hole in the heads of two Sparrows and a Pixie.

    Their small frames and ridiculous speed and agility was exactly the kind of challenge he needed right now. Leonel restrained his aura even further, not relying on any Force other than his Spear Force and lowering his speed even further.

    These were just Fifth Dimensional enemies for now. He wouldn''t be satisfied until his skill alone could overwhelm them.

    "Come!"

    His base was steady, his wrists flexed and his back tall.

    He walked forward like a mountain, his every pierce becoming more refined, the wind around him shifting as a slight Auspicious Air began to form as he became more focused.

    By the tenth pierce, Leonel had reflected the skill of the primitive woman perfectly. Every twitch of the muscle, every subtle movement, even the angle she grinded her feet into the ground at.

    But he wasn''t satisfied. There was more here. He could feel it.

 Chapter 1430 Whistle

    Leonel''s spear flew like a jet stream, leaving blurs in the air as he pierced through head after head. His lethality only increased, and yet his speed seemed to only become slower.

    It wasn''t a surprise that Leonel had only taken ten pierces to reach the level of the primitive woman. After all, his Ability Index was perfect for this and this was ultimately just a Black Grade weapon. But, he still basked in the feeling.

    He could sense it, there was a level beyond. There was a level that represented why this woman''s spear would be in the Spear Domain. This wasn''t enough to gain the acknowledgment of the spear, there was something he was still missing.

    Three Sparrows shot toward Leonel, each of them just four feet tall. But, because they were all flying low to the ground, their heights were no less than that of Leonel.

    Two wielded short swords and the last was an archer who lagged behind. These three were most definitely more powerful than the ones Leonel had been fighting until this point, each of them in the latter third of the Fifth Dimension, beyond even Leonel''s Tier 6 level.

    However, Leonel didn''t flinch, his pale violet irises twinkling with a hidden light as the Auspicious Air around him thickened.

    .net

    His spear shot outward, releasing six streaks in quick succession. The wooden polearm bent and wove through the air like an elegant thread, matching the trajectory Leonel could see being projected onto the real world in real time.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The two swordsmen defended for their lives, their wings flapping hard as they were pushed back.

    An arrow flew between their head, aiming for Leonel''s head before he could follow up. But, with just as much ease, Leonel tilted to the side, his spear tilting upward from a low trajectory, piercing toward the chin of one of the Sparrows.

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly widened, his blood rushing through his veins.

    That was it, that felt so good.

    He was washed with a feeling of euphoria even before his stinger blade shot through the lower jaw of the Sparrow, exiting out the back of his skull.

    It was almost like Leonel had felt the success before it landed, like it was a perfect move the skies had blessed him with. It was a sort of emotion Leonel had never experienced before and it left him on cloud nine.

    He pulled his spear back, his attacks suddenly becoming less predictable and more erratic. His rhythm shifted and moved like an elegant dance to music that jumped and warped. Sometimes it was fierce, at other times calm, and at yet other times it was ignited with a fiery passion that almost made Leonel loins burn with the same heat.

    He could remember the seduction of the primitive woman, how scantily clad she was, how much grace and beauty she carried through with her every movement.

    Her pores oozed with charm, her steps fusing with her moving and leaving her enemies in a trance.

    It was suddenly so obvious to Leonel. How was it that the primitive woman could make a spear that could do nothing but pierce so powerful?

    It sounded quite ridiculous. Without any sort of variation, how could it be difficult to contend with her?

    But now, it was before Leonel as bright as day. There were many ways to vary one''s attacks without using a different attack at all. You could change your cadence, your rhythm, you could even shift how much power you used, pushing and pulling at the instincts of an enemy until you lured them to a cliff and blew them a soft kiss as they fell off.

    Leonel''s expression turned weird, breaking out of his trance.

    He shot a hand away from his spear, snatching at the air and grabbing an arrow out of the wind before it could pierce his brows.

    He laughed to himself, his laugh becoming louder and louder until the castle itself began to rock as the Earth Force that made up its foundation threatened to quake to the point the entire structure would come crumbling down.

    Leonel had immersed himself in the thoughts of the primitive woman to the point that he truly almost blew out a kiss mid battle.

    Suddenly, Aina let out a whistle to his back.

    "Why did you stop, I was enjoying the show!"

    Leonel looked back to find Aina''s face red from laughter as severed corpses fell around her. She was wheezing to the point Leonel thought snot might fly from her nose at any moment now, yet she still somehow managed to remain gorgeous.

    "Show me more of what those swaying hips can do!"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. It seemed that he had immersed himself more than he thought. But soon, a sly grin spread across his face.

    "If you want to see what my hips can do, you only needed to ask."

    "Sure, sure." Aina laughed. "Do you want me to be top or bottom?"

    "Funny. We''ll see if you''re still laughing in the end or if you''ll be looking at me with those puppy dog eyes again."

    Aina coughed through her laughter before jumping over the side of the castle wall.

    "You''ll never get to see either of them if you can''t keep up!" She shouted out as she fell.

    Leonel flicked his wrist, sending the arrow he had caught through the brows of the Pixie that had shot it at him before rushing after Aina.

    A smile was plastered all over his face, this was far more fun than he had had in a while.

    Since Aina had already seen him in such an embarrassing state, he might as well also show her the flexibility technique he learned from Valiant Heart Mountain. Even though he hadn''t used it in a while, he thought it would be a useful way to get that smug smile on her face to turn into a lustful scream.

    Leonel''s body flashed, a streak of gold being left in his wake, his spear''s light severing everything in its path.

 Chapter 1431 Familiar Senior

    [I uploaded this chapter hours ago but for some reason it didn''t register... I guess I misclicked? Either that or wn glitched. Anyhoo, here you go]

    Leonel and Aina stood back to back in an elaborate throne room.

    Making it here wouldn''t have been too difficult, if the construction of the castle hadn''t been so conniving and vindictive.

    Describing the layout of an in animate object like this might feel like a bridge too far, but if Leonel had the dictionary or Wise Star Order to explain it to him, he would understand that the Dwarven Race had always been like this. Even if it wasn''t for all the sinister traps and lurking dangers, the design of the castle alone would have been enough to drive the two of them crazy.

    The reality of the matter was that from the very beginning, the castle was designed for people half their size. Aina was just a bit over six feet tall herself, while Leonel was over two meters tall. The number of times they found themselves ducking or getting stuck in cramped locations was too much to count.

    Luckily, the throne room was a vast and wide hall. Unluckily, there were a swarm of protective knights and soldiers that would rather die than see Leonel and Aina kill their king and queen. That led to the current situation where the both of them were surrounded by swarms in the hundreds. Let alone to their fronts, backs and sides, they were even assaulted from above.

    In truth, this mission was designed for a team of eight to take it on at the first or second Tier of the Sixth Dimension. It was already quite ridiculous that the two of them had chosen to take it on. But, that didn''t stop the both of them from grinning ear to ear all the while

    As the saying went, the couple that slays together, stays together.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina walked out of the portal side by side, a healthy sheen of sweat coating their bodies.

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    The senior manning the gate once again found himself stunned. But this time it wasn''t due to Aina''s beauty, but rather the time.

    The mission was meant to take a week for Sixth Dimensional existence. Though the senior was aware that Leonel and Aina were in the Fifth Dimension, it wasn''t too rare for more talented Quadrant Ranked disciples to take on lower class Galaxy Ranked missions. While it was true that most of them died as well, it wasn''t this senior''s job to try and save them, he didn''t get paid nearly enough to deal with uppity geniuses who thought too much of themselves.

    Sometimes, though these geniuses would manage to survive, if only barely, and he would give a slight nod of approval. However, even among that number, he would very rarely see them try again without an ample grace period.

    Something like this, though, where a pair went into an eight person mission and came out completely unscathed outside of some heavy breathingбн It was unheard of.

    Leonel smiled, reaching out a hand to get their mission plate back.

    "Ahбн Rightбн Yes."

    The senior handed over the plate which had subtly changed in color. Such a thing would only happen after the mission was, indeed, completed. So now he was absolutely certain that there wasn''t a mistake.

    He could only watch silently as the two walked away, his heart beating slightly faster than usual.

    The Void Palace was already a location where geniuses all came together from across the Human Domain. Even the youth at the lowest rung of his place was an overlord back at his home.

    To see two individuals who could even stand at the very top hereбн

    The senior glanced at his checkbook and made note of their names. In the future, this tidbit of information just might make him quite a bit of money in any one of their gambling dens.

    бн

    Leonel checked their gains and nodded to himself. That mission was among the harder one in the first Galaxy Rank, so their returns weren''t bad. The two of them had made 70 000 Void Points. While that was only a few dozen percentage points better more than what Leonel had made with the spatial bristle rings, it was still a great sum.

    Leonel didn''t expect to make a great amount, he just wanted enough so that he and Aina could finally switch out of their beast skin clothing.

    As great as his crafting was, because he had yet to learn how to counter Anarchic Force, there was only so long his Force Arts could last before degrading. Right now, the only reason their clothing hadn''t fallen apart was because they made it was Cursed Beast fur to begin with.

    That aside, as great as it was staring at Aina''s long legs and toned belly all day, he was starting to get tired of running into people whose eyeballs threatened to pop out of their skulls.

    Soon, Leonel and Aina had swapped into the Galaxy Ranked uniforms of the Void Palace. The layered robes and deep violet-black colors made Leonel feel quite good. In addition, they were only a thousand Void Points each since it was a mass produced product. Plus, higher level disciples rarely wore the uniform to begin with unless on official business representing the Void Palace, so there was no point in marking up prices.

    ''I can also exchange for robes of any rank I want because of my limbo stateбн'' Leonel smiled to himself, tucking it into the back of his mind.

    Following this, Leonel and Aina used the rest of their points to exchange for healing items. Both had insane healing factors, but they still chose to err on the side of caution. Leonel also insisted on buying Aina some flexible armor as well as her defenses were weaker than his own.

    With that completed along with a small rest, the two of them nodded toward one another and stepped toward a desolate region almost devoid of students.

    Up ahead, a singular senior stood, but this senior happened to be one that Leonel was almost too familiar with.

    His gaze narrowed, a slight killing intent manifesting around him in a subtle sheen of red.

    Aina blinked, taking note of the change. That was definitely not something Leonel had ever done before.

    When she saw who was ahead, though, she came to an understanding.

    It was none other than the envoy of the Void Palace, Orinik.

 Chapter 1432 Lucky Star

    Leonel had known for a very long time that Orinik was the one that had spread information about how he had gotten his Amethyst Token.

    In reality, Leonel didn''t care much about this alone. After all, Orinik was telling the truth, he didn''t spin a lie. Leonel had, indeed, used his connections to gain his Token.

    However, the matters of back then were quite a bit more complex than others knew. While Myghell hadn''t used the Innate Node during their battle, Leonel hadn''t used his Ability Index. When Leonel''s Ability Index was active, he could even defeat Sixth Dimensional existences while at Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension.

    Of course, those Sixth Dimensional existences couldn''t possibly match up to the Sixth Dimensional existence of the Void Palace. But, Myghell hadn''t been in the Sixth Dimension back then either.

    On top of that, if Myghell had insisted on using his Innate Node, he would have lost even faster. Even back then, Leonel was already completely immune to the Fourth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force Myghell had access to. And, he was completely immune to Destruction Runes in general.

    This was all to say that if Leonel hadn''t wanted to fight a thrilling battle, he could have made it very boring and left without suffering the injuries Orinik seemed to look down on him for suffering.

    While Leonel could admit that he would have still been lacking compared to the other true geniuses of the Void Palace back then, he had also never denied that. His problem with Orinik was the fact that his actions put Leonel''s life and death in the line of fire, something he was well aware of.

    Leonel''s life and death was one matter, but he also had the weight of the others on his shoulders during the first part of the True Selection.

    If Leonel really hadn''t had the strength of an Amethyst Token wielder back then, then not only would he have died, but their entire Sector would have been wiped out, all because of this man before him.

    Leonel''s steps didn''t falter as he stepped forward. Orinik''s gaze narrowed as well, but neither said a single word, at least not for the moment.

    When Leonel stepped before Orinik, he handed over his mission plate, causing Orinik''s expression to change.

    Orinik had originally thought that Leonel had come here for revenge. It made sense, this place was quite secluded and disciples almost never came here. His job was more of a formality, another easy job he managed to land thanks to his connections.

    Everyone knew that this mission was practically suicide and higher level disciples weren''t allowed to go backward and complete Void Missions after promoting past their rank. The only exception to this rule was if a Void Mission had grown to the point that access to the resource would be lost without action. But, in those cases, the rewards usually tied to Void Missions were discontinued.

    However, Leonel needed this mission. Aina was right, rather than leaving things in the hands of others, they should go all out and leave no doubt.

    Complete Void Missions came with a special reward where one could request a rule break from the Senate. With the exception of a pardon for killing, you could pardon anything else. The only catch was that the person in need of a pardon had to clear a Void Mission of their rank and a pardon couldn''t be used on behalf of another person.

    Depending on the Star Level of the Void Mission, you received a certain level of pardon. To void a contract, you needed a Three Star Void Mission, so this was the only choice.

    Obviously, Leonel wanted to help Aina clear this Void Mission so that they wouldn''t have to fall into whatever scheme Sceio might or might not have concocted.

    After a few moments, Orinik, who had been ready to teach Leonel and Aina that there was still a large gap between levels of Galaxy Ranked disciples, relaxed. So long as the two of them got themselves killed, he wouldn''t even need to bother looking over his shoulder anymore.

    His lip curled. He didn''t even ask any questions, nor did he try to talk them out of it like someone else might.

    Plus, even if he did, they were pretty much finished anyway. You couldn''t retract a mission without having a One Star Pardon. And, if you failed a mission, you would end up doing manual labor until it was cleared.

    Considering this mission hadn''t been cleared in over a thousand years, they would be mining until they were old and grey. Orinik almost couldn''t believe his luck. His problems were wrapping themselves in a neat little bow. It was beautiful.

    The portal whirred to life for the first time in a long time. Orinik''s hands were practically a blur as he worked, as though he was scared that Leonel would change his mind.

    Leonel watched this coldly, not saying a single word and his expression not giving anything away as he thought of how he would deal with Orinik in the future.

    After a careless glance, he took Aina''s hand and disappeared into the portal.

    When it closed, Orinik almost couldn''t hold himself back from laughing. It was only after he managed to rein in his mad cackle that his mind began to spin.

    He had made it to his current level by biding his time, backstabbing when he should and retreating when he should. He had made quite a pretty penny selling out information about Leonel and making him public enemy number one during his True Selection.

    Even if it wasn''t Leonel, someone entering a Three Star Void Mission was already a money making machine. The fact that it was the son of Velasco and the rising star Aina Brazinger who had entered made Orinik feel like he could practically print his own money.

    ''I can take advantage of this.''

    This was the second reason he had pulled strings to net himself this job outside of its ease. There was money to be made.

    There should be a week until the portal told him they had failed. In that time, he had more than enough leeway to start a betting ring. With Aina''s and the Morales'' names, the number of people who would join wasn''t small at all. In fact, there might even be some Sector Ranked disciples that joined.

    Orinik almost rubbed his hands together. Leonel was his lucky star. He just had to milk this star before it inevitably died.

 Chapter 1433 Familiar Scene

    Leonel and Aina had no idea that they were being used by Orinik once again. And, even if they did know, they wouldn''t have the luxury of thinking too much about it because almost the instant they stepped through the portal, they found themselves being thrown into a bed of hot oil.

    Their first mission had placed them right in enemy territory, something that wasn''t so bad considering the enemies they faced were still weak and manageable. However, when this Void Mission chose to do the very same thing, it was much less of a funny matter.

    Almost the instant Leonel and Aina appeared, they were surrounded by five Sixth Dimensional members of the Dwarven Race, their strength layering down with an oppressive might.

    Just as Wise Star Order had said, most races outside of humans had maximized their evolution down one path and as such, they tended to share the same Ability Indexes, Lineages Factors and overall strengths.

    The Rapax were often born with explosive power and flexibility, the Ability Indexes falling in line to maximize their strengths. Pixies and Sparrows, however, had extremely sharp eyes, high dexterity, agility and speed.

    The first two helped greatly with their Crafting and their traps. The latter two were exceptionally difficult to handle in battle.

    They tended to be excellent swordsmen and archers, not to mention assassins.

    The main reason that Leonel had chosen this Three Star Void Mission in particular was so that they could use their first mission to get used to the battle style of the Pixies and Sparrows. But, the leap in skill in danger was so large that he felt he was na?ve to have thought it would be very helpful.

    PS: If you guys donбпt read this on NovelB(i)N(.)cOm and read somewhere else, Ain will HWUNT u and KWILL you!

    "We''ll retreat first," Leonel called out to Aina. "Only step where I step, then we''ll cut a path outward."

    Leonel''s palm flipped over to reveal his stinger spear, his gaze flashing with a blaze of glory as he unleashed a barrage of piercing strikes.

    Almost instantly, the two archers of the ground reacted, each brandishing two arrows wrapped in vines. They communicated with their eyes seamlessly, releasing their bowstrings in a breath.

    Leonel''s eyes glowed with he saw this scene. Despite the danger, he felt that these two had truly become one with their bows. When they inhaled, they bowstrings were pulled tight, when they exhaled, their attacks were released, following the trajectory of their gazes as though being controlled by nothing more than their wills.

    ''Beautifulбн''

    Leonel''s Spear Force shattered apart beneath the twisted Level Two Bow Force. They tore apart the impurities and faults in his blade Force as though it was nothing more than dried weed.

    Leonel took note of their target, taking a strong step forward and allowing light to envelop him. Right now wasn''t the time for training, he had to go all out or else he and Aina would be buried here.

    Right this moment, they were stuck in a familiar forest with yet another castle built into the face of a mountain to their backs. It was clear that this was a staple of the Dwarven Race. But, this one was far more elaborate than the last and the powerhouses protecting this one were on a completely different level.

    ? This wasn''t something that Leonel and Aina could just barge their way through. They needed to plan, scope out the situation, get a lay of the land, and approach with purpose.

    Leonel''s pupils dilated, his pale violet irises waking up. They shimmering like two purple torches in the darkness as Leonel''s canines grew.

    BANG!

    Leonel exploded forward, his speed completely unlike what it had been before. The two archers didn''t even get the chance to pull their bowstrings again before their throats were pierced through.

    Leonel blazed a trail by them, Aina enveloping herself in a cloak of red as she shot ahead as well, the heads of three swordsmen flying.

    Leonel didn''t even look back as five orbs of Scarlet Star Force forms and enveloped their bodies and blood before they could even touch the ground. He knew that this wasn''t a video game. He had to make sure that he and Aina left no traces behind to give their enemies the least amount of time to prepare.

    Their ashes scattered into the wind as the two disappeared over the horizon.

    Mere seconds later, another squad of Pixies and Sparrows appeared, only to furrow their brows when they found nothing at all. They could have sworn that there was a commotion here, but now there was absolutely nothing. What was going on, exactly?

    It would be several hours before they realized that an entire scouting unit had vanished. But, by then, Leonel and Aina would be long gone.

    бн

    Leonel exhaled a breath, landing on a thin branch. Not long afterward, Aina landed on a tree across from him, putting her ax away to stop it from snapping in two. At the moment, her brows were a bit furrowed. She realized that this would be difficult.

    If they didn''t have a time limit, they could just take their time. But, they only had a week or this would be considered a failure.

    The good news was that in a controlled Zone like this one, failing just meant they would be ejected. The bad news was that failure also meant manual labor, not to mention a heavy monetary penalty.

    Leonel suddenly laughed. "Worried about failing?"

    "A bit."

    "Don''t worry about itбн"

    Aina''s brows rose as she listened to Leonel''s explanation. Eventually, she started laughing too, her body becoming far more relaxed.

    She believed in them as a pair, but something about the looming potential punishment still made her feel suffocated. Now knowing it didn''t matter if they failed, she was far more relaxed and composed.

    She still had the weight of her mother''s revenge on her shoulders and she also cared about Leonel achieving his goals as well. Something like being stuck doing menial labor for hundreds of years wasn''t something she could accept, she would rather fall out with the Void Palace and kill herself a path out.

    "So what do we do first?"

    "First, I''ll do some scouting. Stay here, I''ll be back within an hour. After that, it''ll be the same as usual."

    The couple grinned at each other, seemingly liking the scent of blood a bit too much.

 Chapter 1434 To Improvise

    Leonel flashed through the trees. He kept his Light Force restrained as much as possible. The atmosphere was a huge help to him, there was no reason for him to ruin it for himself.

    In the past, he had hated the atmosphere of the Void Palace. But right now, the perpetual darkness, the heavy fog, and the restrained Internal Sight was a huge benefit to his stealth right this moment.

    Instead of projecting it, Leonel allowed this new Light Force to circulate through his Nodes. It felt weird no longer having Snow Force within him. But, the unique Light Force of the Starry Tailed Fox was so far beyond it that he was sure he would get used to it very quickly.

    Not only did this Light Force boost his speed for more than Snow Force ever did, its passive healing was unlike anything Leonel had ever experienced before, and it was also certain that its potency in battle was on a completely different level as well.

    Leonel could see images of a majestic illusory fox with three long spiritual tails, sweeping out a claw that collapsed solar systems. The blades of light traveled through even space itself, tearing apart everything in its path.

    This unique Light Force practically spoke its name into his mindбн Ethereal Star Force.

    In that moment, Leonel understood just what kind of weight this Force held. His Starry Spirit Domain, powered by Ethereal Star Force, made him immune to Internal Sight on his level. That meant that only someone with Seventh Dimensional Internal Sight, or Sixth Dimensional Internal Sight stronger than his own, could detect him.

    Grasping this truth, Leonel became more confident in his scouting mission. Though this ability wasn''t as strong as the Rapax''s immunity, it wasn''t far. So long as he stayed out of sight, he would be fine.

    He understood now that Ethereal Star Force wasn''t just a Light and Star Force mixture. It was also a Space Force mixture. It was just unfortunate that his Dimension was too weak to make use of its spatial properties just yet, but this much was enough for now.

    Soon, the castle appeared before Leonel. As expected, he appeared as its further right edge where the scouting units were the thinnest.

    He closed his eyes and unfurled his Internal Sight. Another benefit of the Wisdom Spirit Branch was that his Internal Sight had also become far more difficult to detect as well, so he didn''t hold back in the slightest.

    If he really ran into someone with stronger Internal Sight than his own, he would simply directly give up. Such an existence wasn''t something that he and Aina would be able to beat. He would then use his loophole to avoid punishment.

    The senses of the Dwarven Race seemed to be very good, something Leonel had experienced during both missions already. So, it wasn''t absolutely impossible for him to run into such an individual.

    Luckily, even after sweeping through the whole castle, Leonel didn''t find such a person. However, his expression didn''t relax in the slightest.

    ''This castle is far more elaborate. Even with my Internal Sight improving to hundreds of meters under the influence of Anarchic Force, I still can''t see the whole layout. It''s also far deeper underground than the last one was as well, and the trapsбкthe ones I can detect, anywayбкare also far more elaborateбн I''ll need to move toбн three more locations to get the full scope.''

    Leonel finished his calculations quickly, deducing how many more spots he needed to visit to get the full layout. Then, he moved.

    In order to complete this mission, they need to crush the power structure of this base. That meant they needed to kill all eight generals, all four Dukes, and both the King and Queen.

    Obviously, though, the situation was more complex than that since each of them was heavily protected.

    From what Leonel saw, they wouldn''t need to enter the castle to deal with the eight generals. But, the four Dukes and the King and Queen were all located within the castle.

    The upper half of the castle was split into the north, south, east and west directions. These were controlled by the Dukes.

    The underground layout was far more elaborate and far more protected. That region was the location of the King and Queen.

    In Dwarven culture, darkness and being closer to the earth was seen as noble, something that was ironic considering they tended to fly in the air in battle. Either way, knowing this, it made sense why the King and Queen would be so far underground.

    ''It might be smarter to tackle the King and Queen first. Once they''re dead, the Dukes will begin fighting over power, simultaneously splitting the generals as well.''

    This was the conclusion Leonel came to after finishing his scouting. From a cursory glance, the North, South, East and West Duke had a bit of a rivalry going on. If he poked at this, he could benefit them.

    From the very beginning, Leonel''s approach was far different from others. Most took out the generals first, then the Dukes, before targeting the monarchy if they even got that far to begin with. But, Leonel hadn''t even considered doing this for more than a moment. Like a madman, he chose to complete the hardest task first.

    When he returned to Aina and explained his plans, she agreed immediately. When it came to such plans, she would always leave it up to Leonel. Her only issues arose when he didn''t explain himself. But with things like this, she was fully onboard.

    "Alright, give me some time. If we''re going to do this, I can''t go in without a bow."

    "You should just steal one," Aina suggested.

    "They''re too small," Leonel shook his head, "After using a longbow, I can''t imagine going back."

    The White Lion bow was three meters tall, even his Bronze Grade black bow was that tall. But, the bows of the Dwarven Race were half that size often. He would have to carve his own.

    But, how would he Craft without Little Tolly?

    Leonel didn''t regret using their Void Points on Aina''s armor instead of a bow for him. Now, though, he needed to find a solution.

    He exhaled a breath. It seemed he would have to improvise.

    бн

    As Leonel and Aina were preparing for their raid, a small commotion had already begun to buzz in the Void Palace''s Galaxy Region as Orinik''s advertising began to spread like wildfire.

 Chapter 1435 Anonymous

    "What did you say?"

    Vega furrowed her brows.

    The current situation was completely unlike what one would expect from such a powerful disciple. Vega wasn''t in the middle of some hard training, nor was she practically a technique or cultivating her strength. Instead, she stood behind an enormous desk.

    Despite the fact she was standing on her feet, the number of documents she was rifling through was still enough to obscure her face. The subordinate that was reporting to her right now had to talk through a wall of this stacked paper or else they would never be able to get access to their Faction leader.

    In truth, the documents here were worse than they usually were. But, because Vega had wasted so much time with Aina, they had built up. Now she was paying for it. Such a thing only made her more infuriated with Sceio for butting into her matters. But, that little weasel had vanished and she couldn''t find him.

    "бн We''ve been keeping an eye on young Aina''s movements. She spent most of her time in the hospital, but a few hours ago she entered a Senate Branch and accepted a mission. But, she returned not long later and accepted another one.

    "We weren''t able to learn what these missions were, but she completed the first one smoothly. It was a mission that should have taken a week, but she completed it in just about 6 or so hours."

    "What level?"

    "Level 1 Galaбк"

    "Not a big deal, move on."

    Vega didn''t look up as she continued to rifle through the documents before her. Others might have used pendants to accomplish this task, but she didn''t like the vulnerable state it put her in.

    The Void Palace was dangerous, especially for Faction Leaders and even more especially for beautiful women. She always had to be in top condition to handle every and anything. So, she was the type to refuse to leave herself vulnerable, even to the point of doing things like this.

    "The main issue, Faction Head, is that she''s now entered a Three Star Void Mission."

    Vega''s hands froze. "What?"

    "She''s entered a Three Star Void Mission and a Galaxy Ranked disciple has begun to take bets on her odds of coming out."

    The reporter seemed to completely ignore Leonel''s presence. But, this wasn''t due to any disdain on her part, it was rather because she understood the personality of Vega well and didn''t want to step on her toes.

    After what happened with Sceio, Vega was especially sensitive to women she had taken a fancy to being lovestruck fools at the beck and call of men. Of course, ''fancy'' in this context was for their power. As much as she seemed to dislike men, Vega was, in fact, straight.

    In truth, it wasn''t even that Vega disliked men. She just found things easier to deal with if she lorded over just a single gender.

    But, everyone had emotions, so she had been soft when it came to managing relationships. Unfortunately, it was coming back to bite her now. So, she was wondering if she should change her approach.

    The trouble with doing that was that she also understood how the hearts of people worked. If these were the rules from the very beginning it would be fine. But, taking away a right after having already given it was a recipe for disaster.

    If things were handled incorrectly, the Faction she had labored decades over would collapse.

    Hearing what Aina had done for just her second mission, though, Vega''s expression couldn''t help but darken.

    She had, obviously, not given up on Aina yet. But, she needed a method to bring Aina in. If Aina died, though, it would obviously all be for naught.

    Vega''s expression flickered. ''Maybe this is an opportunity?''

    "Move some funds around in the third vault. Bet 10бн No, that''s too much for a bet that''ll be mostly Galaxy Ranked disciples. In that case, use vault five. Bet a million Void Points on their failure."

    "But Faction Head, she''s withбн"

    "You mean Leonel Morales? His climbing of the tower was weird, but I have a feeling that it was more related to Dream Force than anything else. I sensed the concentration being exceptionally high."

    If Leonel knew that Vega had drawn a conclusion similar to the Void Elders, it was difficult to tell how he would react.

    Vega''s thoughts were clearly far more vague and even quite off base, but the fact she realized that she had been affected by Dream Force at all spoke volumes.

    "I''m aware of these things already. But, the only Three Star Void Mission they could enter should be the goblin castle mission. I have some inside information on that mission, they''ll definitely fail."

    "But if she diesбн"

    "There''s about a 20% chance she comes out alive. In that case, she''ll need my help to get out of manual labor and the penalty. By then, she won''t be able to escape my grasp even if she wants to."

    Vega''s grasp of the rules was deep, but it was clearly not as deep as Leonel''s.

    "Even if she dies, we''ll make back my investment in wasting so many days on her and we''ll move forward with the original timeline of things."

    "Yes, Faction Head."

    "Oh, and keep my bet anonymous."

    Vega''s irises flashed as her hands began to move again. She would cover all her bases. In the slim likelihood they really succeeded, she wouldn''t offend Aina any more than she already had.

    **

    "Interesting. So the little girl who cut my Void Merit pool down by so much is seeking her death? I''ve heard some inside information on that Zone. They planned to send some Sector disciples in to deal with it within the century, it''s already that close to beyond what Galaxy Ranked disciples could handle.

    "At the very least, if she dies like this, I''ll regain my spot on the current leaderboards."

    Treanna shook her head, seemingly not satisfied with this.

    "Bet the last year''s supply of Void Merits on their failure."

    Treanna clearly didn''t care as much about remaining low profile like Vega did. In fact, when she learned that Leonel was also with Aina, she doubled her bid again.

 Chapter 1436 A Game Changer

    Leonel and Aina had no idea what was going on nor did they know that their choice had stirred up such a commotion.

    Leonel jumped from tree to tree, knocking on their wood as he tried to find exactly the kind he was looking for.

    There was something odd about trees that survived the density of Anarchic Force, they all looked the same. Leonel assumed they had undergone a convergent evolutionary path, following the same methods to combat their environment. That said, their interiors were very different.

    There were two ways to tell. The first was by observing the shape of their leaves and the second was Leonel''s method.

    Leonel didn''t know much about plants, herbs and the like. But, he could recognize his material needs when he found them. By knocking on the wood, he could make out practically all of its uses and whether it was suitable for certain Crafts or not.

    The foundational knowledge his father had left him with was more than enough to extrapolate to a whole range of situations. And, his wood carving lessons came with an added help benefit right now.

    Leonel was looking for a wood which was rigid enough to maintain its form while also being flexible enough to take his strength without snapping.

    Leonel came to a grinding halt, the branch beneath him swaying.

    He jumped, landing on the very same branch again and forcing it to bend.

    Leonel bent it so far that he slipped back down to the ground. But, the branch itself snapped back up, whipping back and forth with so much forward that a whistling sound lashed out through the wind.

    ''Perfect.''

    Leonel pressed his fore and middle finger together, a long strand of Spear Force manifesting and beginning to slowly tremble.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he watched this. He didn''t normally use Spear Force like this. It lacked the flexibility of form Bow Force did. But, that was also exactly why he did this. He knew that there was something about Spear Force that he was missing and he wanted to understand it better. With it in the range of his Starry Spirit Domain like this, he could feel it much more clearly than he ever had before.

    The comprehension he had used to build this Level Two Spear Force felt so empty. ''Range'' was the word he had used, but it felt so odd to think like that when the Spear could never match something like the bow in range.

    Still, Leonel felt that his comprehension was correct. It was just.. incomplete. There was something beyond range.

    Leonel''s finger trembled, causing motes of Scarlet Star Force to fuse with his trembling Spear Force and turning its golden hues into a deathly golden crimson.

    He swiped across with a deft speed, slicing the top half of the tree off and then repeating it with the bottom. In the end, a thick log about three and a half meters tall stood, stripped of its bark to reveal a silvery sort of wood.

    ''This wood should be powerful enough without Force Arts, I wouldn''t have a Force Quill to draw them anyway. In that caseбн''

    Leonel smiled, an excited gleam lighting in his eyes as his design for his bow began to manifest in the real world.

    A pale blue construct took form, completely transparent.

    However, that was when things began to change.

    A perfect replica of the wood Leonel was working with appeared in his mind. He reconstructed it down to a chemical level, understanding its in and outs as though it was the back of his own hand.

    Then, the pale blue construct began to change. It slowly became real in form, losing its pale blue color and becoming almost solid.

    ''Let''s try aбн Sixth Dimensional cursed beast tendon.''

    With a thought, a bowstring appeared on it.

    Leonel''s finger grasped the string, pulling it back. With another thought, an Arrow also appeared, nocked perfectly.

    Leonel''s back strained, his muscles tensed.

    ''Interesting, I can only pull it out to about 70% even without additional Force Arts. Let''s see how it reacts to Destruction Runes.''

    Leonel tried out many things. When he finished his tests, he grinned. Testing things with his real body felt so different.

    The construct of his mind obviously wasn''t tangible. The reason Leonel could ''feel'' the bowstring and ''feel'' strain was because he was using his Tier 4 Control to simulate it all. By fusing all of this information together, he could gain a perfect replica of how a Craft would act and react in the real world and control the reactions of his body so that it reacted as though his illusions were tangible.

    In fact, with this new ability, Leonel could even form a sparring partner that could make him feel as though he was really being punched and harmed.

    Now that he thought about it, it was like he could take the simulation ability of the Void Tower with him everywhere!

    This would change Leonel''s Crafting ability forever. He already felt he made a breakthrough after his quill self-destructed, but this was another massive leap forward. When he finally got Little Tolly back, his skill would be on a whole other level.

    Leonel snapped his fingers, causing the bowstring and arrow to disappear.

    With very deft control, he covered his bow construct in Ethereal Star Force. Once he was finished, he slid the construct into the center of the log of wood.

    ? Leonel hopped down from the log, placing his hand on its body.

    His hair fluttered. Closing his eyes, a smile curling his lips. He should be able to do this in one go.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed open, an avalanche of Destruction Runes forming in irises.

    BANG!

    The log exploded into a rain of ash.

    With a swift hand, Leonel snatched forward, snagging the surviving bow out of the air.

    His grin widened. It was perfect down to the smallest deviation, its silvery glow dancing in his hand.

    Leonel dispelled the Ethereal Star Force that had protected it, feeling the nice heft on his palm.

    This was a game changer.

    ''Time to slaughter some goblins.''

 Chapter 1437 The Heart

    When night fell in the Void Palace, it just made the blacks blacker. It was already difficult to see ahead of you in the day, but the darkness of night made it impossible to even see your hand before your face.

    This wasn''t normally a problem during the modern day because the Void Elders had set up formations that allowed a perpetual dull light. Though it didn''t help with the fog, it made the transition from night to day almost impossible to track.

    However, in a Zone like this one, back before the humans had reclaimed their territory, there was no such luxury. But, that also left things in the perfect state for Leonel and Aina. It made them even more difficult to detect in the darkness.

    Aina was surprisingly quite able to navigate in the darkness, but Leonel didn''t ask about it. He assumed that it was related to her Life Force affinity. Unlike other Forces, almost everything had Life Force. And, the things that didn''t really stand out by virtue of that fact alone. Using this sort of perspective, it wasn''t hard to imagine how someone with Life Force could parse apart their surroundings without their eyes.

    No longer worried about Aina, Leonel shot forward at a faster speed, weaving through the trees. Aina followed to his back, their steps in perfect sync.

    Leonel knew that they still had to be careful even in this environment. Because of their culture, the Dwarven Race was very well adapted to seeing in dim and no light situations. While Leonel couldn''t even see his hand without activating his Lineage Factor''s eyes, they could probably see just fine, albeit worse than they would otherwise be able to do in the day.

    But, he had already taken this into consideration the moment he saw that the castle''s lighting situation wasбн less than optimal.

    Soon, he and Aina made it to the last line of trees.

    Without a spatial ring to use, Leonel could only strap his bow to his back along with his arrows. He didn''t make much of the latter, though. With so many Dwarven bowmen around, he would have more of his fair share of arrows to steal.

    With a thought, Leonel and Aina''s Internal Sights linked as one. This time, the two of them were ready for the level of intimacy required and didn''t flinch as they had before. They had nothing to hide from one another, so the process was even smoother.

    Their tandem was already seamless in the past. But now, they didn''t need to waste energy calculating and using their instincts to understand the other''s actions.

    The moment the connection was established, they bolted forward, practically cutting a line through the earth with their speed.

    Leonel had timed it perfectly, picking a blind spot and appearing at the base of the castle in the blink of an eye.

    After a moment of lamenting the fact he couldn''t use his Earth Force to dig through the ground here before leaping up and over the wall.

    Leonel and Aina didn''t spend even more than a fraction of a second atop the wall before falling down lightly on the other side.

    Shrouded in darkness, they bolted forward, slipping not the gate furthest to the right.

    Much like medieval castles, the castles of the Dwarven Race were far more city than home. Beyond the walls Leonel and Aina had just fallen from, there were five gates or doorways. These five gates were actually the starting point of grand tunnels dug into the face of the mountain.

    After slipping through them Leonel and Aina were greeted by an enormous tunnel followed by yet another wall. This wall was the start of an underground city. However, they ignored it entirely, slipping around to the back of the tunnel and slipping into one of the many mining tunnels that dotted the landscape around them.

    The Dwarven Race liked to use the terrain when they were building their settlements but a robust landscape for their safety was only one consideration. The second was resources.

    Precious metals and anything that could help their Crafts was exactly what the Dwarven Race wanted. Any Pixie or Sparrow that wasn''t a combat specialist or a Crafter, was likely a miner. But, this didn''t come with the same negative connotations it did in the human race. In fact, they took great pride in their strengths.

    Usually, these mining tunnels wouldn''t lead to much of anywhere. But, during his scouting, Leonel found that some of these passageways doubled as escape routes and bunkers. Many of them led to dead ends where stockpiles of food and water would be kept, but if you chose correctlyбн

    ''Trap ahead.''

    Leonel spoke to Aina before accelerating once again.

    The two of them reached one of the so-called dead ends but Leonel had already slammed a palm forward.

    His momentum was swift and fiery, but just before he hit the wall, his hand slipped right through.

    ''What a clever mechanism,'' Leonel thought as he slipped right through.

    The wall was designed to pick up on intention, but the way it did so was quite ingenious.

    It calculated your speed and acceleration along with your distance from the wall. The moment you crossed a threshold the trap deemed impossible to stop from, it would deactivate. If your speed was beneath a certain threshold, it would feel like hitting a wall. However, if you had crossed a certain speed and hesitated at the end, the trap would put an arrow right between your brows.

    Leonel had to admit that there was a lot to learn from the Dwarven Race. Although their Force Arts were crude, even cruder than what Leonel had seen from the Human Race, their applications of them were intelligent, crafty and quite economical.

    They did a lot with a little and their minds worked in wondrous ways.

    The moment Leonel and Aina passed through this trap, Leonel was certain that there wouldn''t be any Pixies or Sparrows ahead. This was a tunnel reserved for emergency situations and could only be used by the nobles, their families, and their royal guards.

    However, on the other side, there''d be a battle that was unavoidable and would place them right at the heart of Dwarven territory.

 Chapter 1438 Abnormality

    There was nothing to hesitate about. Leonel and Aina had already secured their escape route by choosing this path.

    The moment they approached the exit, Aina gathered up another burst of acceleration, blazing a trail right by Leonel.

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smile. With a single movement of both arms, he brandished his bow and nocked an arrow.

    The smooth feeling of beast fur tickled his palm as he wrapped around its center tightly, the beast tendon bow string wafting a deathly black fog.

    Leonel''s smile vanished in the blink of an eye, his gaze becoming cold and calculating.

    His vision went blank for a moment. But, when it cleared once more, he found himself deep with what looked like catacombs.

    The pillars that surrounded the region were carved directly out of the ground, connecting with the ceiling. It made it feel like the entire place was carved out in one piece, creating a beautiful, albeit somber, sort of ambience.

    This was a location of reflection and silence for the older members of the Pixie and Sparrow Race. But, due to the fact this was a Unique Zone held open for so long, much of the logical progression of things had become twisted and tainted. So, not only were there no children to be found around, there weren''t any members of the older generation either.

    Regardless, Leonel wasn''t aware of these things. His main focus was Aina up ahead who had already crossed the halfway mark.

    With a single powerful leap, Leonel shot into the air and crossed a distance of over 20 meters. He pulled his bowstring back, his gaze calm and unhurried.

    He seemed to sink into a rhythm, one not much different from the Sixth Dimensional Pixie they had faced when they first landed on this world. His bow became an extension of himself, time itself almost seeming to slow.

    Then, he released with an exhale.

    ''Not good enough.''

    Though he thought these words, his arrow flew true, piercing through the head of the right Sparrow just as Aina''s ax sliced the left Sparrow in half.

    Leonel landed on the ground, a blinding trail of gold appearing to his back as he finally unleashed his Ethereal Star Force. As though a bird being released from his cage, he felt free. If not for the stuffy air so far beneath ground, it would almost feel like he was galloping through the skies.

    He caught up with Aina in a blink as the two let their presences be known.

    This location was within the most sacred region of the King and Queen''s stronghold. It was located right to the back of the throne room and it was adjacent to the King and Queen''s chamber.

    If the King and Queen were in the throne room, it would just be a straight shot to their heads. However, if the King and Queen were in their chambers, they would have to follow a U-like path. If the King and Queen were in neither, they would have to continue past the throne room in a straight line toward the dining, dance hall, and other like regions.

    Leonel, though, was already well aware that the King and Queen were in the throne room. Despite it being the dead of night, higher Dimensional beings didn''t function like normal humans did. In addition, Third Dimensional Pixies and Sparrows were nocturnal to begin with.

    So, the moment Aina burst into the throne room, crashing through their doors, all the nobles of the Dwarven Race were alerted immediately.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, taking everything in with no more than a single glance.

    The thrones seating the King and Queen were to the far wall, a distance of at least 100 to 150 meters separating them from him and Aina.

    Large swaths of nobles lined the sides in their seats, similar to what one might expect from a senate or congress. Before them, royal guards took the stairs and the railways to maintain order, with the most powerful of them standing near and around the king and queen.

    Leonel took a breath, his gaze becoming colder on his exhale.

    This was the trouble of this Zone. Due to an oddity, the King and Queen, along with the nobles, were in a perpetual meeting. In real life, this wouldn''t make any sense. But matters like this could easily happen as the Unique Zone became more twisted.

    The only nobles not present here were the Dukes.

    One would think that if you killed the Dukes, then the nobles would be forced to make a move. But, if you did that, what would actually happen is that the Duke''s noble guards would also join the meeting, making the task even harder.

    Leonel wasn''t aware of this prior, but he made a simple observation.

    He noticed that the throne room was packed to the brim, and yet the Dukes weren''t present. How could the King and Queen hold a meeting like this without their highest nobles being here?

    That was when Leonel realized that there was something wrong with this Zone. If he wanted to defeat it, he would have to take an unconventional approach. And the result of that was taking on this suicide mission right here and right now.

    The strongest people here were the King and Queen, both of whom were at Tier 4 of the Sixth Dimensional. The royal guards were all Tier 3. The noble Pixies and Sparrows were all either Tier 1 or 2.

    There total over 300 noble Pixies and Sparrows, 36 royal guards, and two Monarchs.

    It was no wonder this was practically a death trap.

    Leonel, though, wondered how far he could push this oddity in the Zone. The mission only stated that they had to collapse the structure of power. Kill the King, Queen, Dukes and Generals.

    So, if they killed the King and Queen before escaping, would the nobles and royal guards still be stuck here?

    A boundless pressure wafted from him, his canines growing and the illusion of three tails that towered dozens of meters appearing to his back.

    "Let''s do this."

    Aina responded with a roar, her foot stomping down hard as a pillar of crimson shot through the ceiling.

 Chapter 1439 Change

    Leonel''s eyes sharpened, his pale violet hair becoming a bright white before lengthening to the point it waved out to his back like a river of light.

    His side burns grew with the same blinding white, his canines continuing to grow to the point that they were almost double the length of any of his other teeth.

    His pale violet eyes flashed with a white-gold light, his dilated pupils growing even larger. His field of view became monstrous.

    A normal human, even at higher Dimensions, would only have a focused view of about five degrees and a sharp view about 30 degrees. But, Leonel''s had grown to 90 degrees! At the same time, his peripheral vision had increased from just about 200 degrees to just over 330, with only the remaining 30 degrees centralized to the back of his head.

    Nothing could escape Leonel''s vision. It was as though the entire world had opened up to him.

    Aina charged forward and he wasn''t far behind. He only had ten arrows with him, but they were more than enough to start this off with a bang.

    He nocked two arrows as Aina charged forward, his eyes glowing with such a radiant light that his dilated pupils could no longer be seen. It was almost as though his eyes had been replaced by two dancing white gold flames that licked against his eyelashes and brows.

    In that moment, Leonel released his arrows.

    They twirled through the air as though they had minds of their own, whizzing by Aina''s ears and appearing before the throats of two royal guards that had already stood in her way to stop her.

    The expressions of the two Sparrow guards changed, brandishing their short spears to block. However, this decision was the worst one to make.

    The moment they moved to block, Aina''s foot smashed against the ground. What had already seemed to be her greatest speed doubled, the air around her front collapsing like a clap of thunder as she appeared before the two guards.

    A towering Blade Force surged.

    Leonel thought it felt like a sword at first, and then it felt like a spear, and then a rod, before it finally settled into the form of an ax, shattering past a barrier and sparkling with the grace of a Level Three Blade Force.

    Sixth Dimensional Battle Ax Force.

    Two heads soared into the air, spurts of blood following their arc through the air.

    Leonel''s arrows had long since ricocheted off of their short spears. His pupils flickered within the dense gold they hid behind, reading trajectories as a cascade of numbers flooded his senses.

    Even as his eyes bounced back and forth, and Aina charged forward, his free hand had already reached for his arrow, pulling out three and sliding each one between his fingers.

    He watched as his first two shot arrows spun wildly in the air, having been knocked off to the side.

    From all sides, noble guards surged toward Aina, while only a few along with some more fearless nobles charged for Leonel. But, he didn''t seem to see them at all. His eyes focused on the spinning arrows through the air. They rotated with speed that could put anyone in the Fifth Dimension to shame, and yet to Leonelбн

    They flowed oh so slowly.

    Leonel nocked three arrows, their tips blazing with Level Two Bow Force as he exhaled, a golden breath leaving his lips as though the skies themselves were sighing as the elegance of his shot.

    The three arrows shot through the air, curving past the heads of several guards and appeared before their targets in the blink of an eye.

    The leftmost arrow caught up with Leonel''s spinning arrow. In Leonel''s eyes, the event couldn''t have been slower. Both arrows rushed by one another, completely perpendicular. However, just as the blazing arrow passed by the spinning arrow not by more than a hair''s breadth, a portion of Leonel''s Bow Force influenced it.

    As though being given new life, the spinning arrow shook in the air, its spinning momentum along its length becoming concentrated into a spiral along its width.

    The arrow became like a drill bit. Catching a royal guard off guard, it shot through the Pixie''s head, sending her flying to the side only for her corpse to be pinned to an opposite wall.

    The scene replayed itself on the right side. But, this time, both arrows applied pressure on the rotating arrow, causing it to pass through the heads of not just one royal guard, but two.

    Leonel''s three shot arrows continued blazing a trail forward, their trajectories suddenly shifting drastically to aim for the head of the King as though this was the main goal all along.

    The sudden change caught the royal guard off guard, but they were still ready. They dove before the two thrones, brandishing their weapons and their Force as they rose into the air, their wings flapping and rising them into the air.

    Unfortunately, but now, Aina had gained the blood of not just one, but five separate royal guards. The crimson blood, tinged with a hint of violet, danced behind her.

    Her steps came to a heavy stop, the soles of her shoes gliding along the polished marble floor of the Throne Room as she pulled her ax back, her back flexing and her polearm bending beneath the might of her gathering momentum.

    The five globules of blood gathered, coating her blade and blazing with life. Fueled with the vitality of five Sixth Dimensional powerhouses, the power was unprecedented. Even further fueled by her Sixth Dimensional Battle Ax Force, and it was like her attack was given the wings of an angel as it shot forward.

    The scythe of crimson shot forward like a wave, cutting down everything in its path and even bisecting some nobles scrambling to the side.

    The solemn expression of the royal guards couldn''t change anything. Their weapons were torn in two, their bodies being sent flying backward.

    However, it was right at that moment that the King and Queen stomped their feet, countless patterns along the wall and ground springing to life.

 Chapter 1440 Five Meters

    A transparent and golden barrier shot up, connecting the floor and ceiling along with protecting the King and Queen behind a seemingly unbreakable shield.

    The roar of a dragon sounded as an eastern version of the beast swirling about the barrier, tangling itself with other magnificent creatures of legends. Just with a glance, Leonel could see phoenixes, winged tigers, behemoths, centaurs, western dragons, unicorns, mermaidsбн

    The number felt endless and they all roared in unison.

    Even as the corpses of the royal guards splashed against the barrier, their blood incinerated to ash and wafted into the air.

    BANG!

    Aina''s blood scythe crashed into the barrier, but it barely rippled. It only took a single glance to tell how powerful this barrier was. Let alone killing the King and Queen in their state, it would take a powerful individual of the Quasi Seventh Dimension to even think of shaking it.

    The Dwarven Race weren''t known for their combat prowess, but it was clear that this barrier was set up with the most powerful races of the Dimensional Verse in mind. It would definitely take a genius of the Sector Rank to shatter the barrier.

    This was how the Dwarven Race closed the gap with other races. They focused on speed and evasion. Their senses were better than most and their bowmanship was especially profound. But, their greatest reliance were their traps.

    This trap, though, was far more profound than anything Leonel had seen them use up to this point. If their previous Force Arts could be considered crude, this was on a level all to its own.

    It was either the Dwarven Race had invited another race to draw it for them, something that was highly unlikely. Or, much like their usual scheming demeanors, they had lulled Leonel into a false sense of security with their ''crude'' Force Arts, only to show their true strength when it really mattered.

    This Force Art formation was hidden beneath Seventh Dimensional materials. It was no wonder he hadn''t detected it before.

    Leonel''s pupils flickered. ''How clever.''

    He and Aina were separated by over a hundred meters now and a swarm of royal guards were charging after the both of them, separating them further. On top of that, he had a feeling that the barrier wasn''t finished just yet.

    Just as Leonel thought this, statues that lined the top of the throne room began to shake themselves awake. The spirits of the beasts stuck in the barrier swam out, diving through the marbled ground, up the walls, and fusing into the statues before roaring to life.

    The mythical beasts were instantly completely indistinguishable from the real thing, their stone bodies nowhere to be seen, replaced by scales, fur and rough skin that gave off a brimming vitality.

    The beasts roared, their heads cocking back and before snapping forward to release beams of light that shot for Leonel and Aina.

    Leonel''s figure flashed, appearing before the royal guards that were trying to close in on him in an instant. His plan was obvious. These beams wouldn''t dare to continue hitting him if they were just harming their own kind.

    But, to Leonel''s shock, the beams cut right through the bodies of the Pixies and Sparrows, not harming a hair on their heads before appearing before his chest in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel''s eyes bulged, sending this information to Aina instantly before a roar left his lips.

    He spun to the spin, narrowly avoiding the beam. But, a trail of scorched skin was left on his chest as a line was ripped through his Void Palace uniform.

    Leonel''s gaze became cold, his skin blazing to life with Bronze Runes that peeked through the hole in his robes. The wound on his chest healed quickly, but it was still far slower than he had expected for his current Healing Factor.

    BANG!

    The doors to the throne room slammed close as the previously cowering nobles began to swarm Leonel and Aina.

    It was only then Leonel realized that even their previous fear and cowardice was all an act. They wanted to trap Leonel and Aina, to push them to the point they would have difficulty escaping any longer. Suddenly, the enemies the couple had to face increased by a hundredfold.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed, his steps light and quick as he weaved through several attacks, beams of light continuously attacking him from above.

    Sliding his bow onto his back again, Leonel''s palm flipped over to reveal his spear.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    He was forced several steps back, the room he had to maneuver becoming smaller and smaller.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. He needed to find the flaw of this formation but all of this commotion was making it difficult. His Internal Sight was being interfered with, and he was certain that it was another trick of the Dwarven Race.

    His Starry Spirit Domain was just fine, but even with his tails deployed, its maximum range was only five meters. If he wanted to scan this entire room, he would need to do it piece by piece. But, with its sizeбн

    Leonel''s gaze became frighteningly cold.

    **

    In the Void Palace, a day had already passed and the bets were only growing. Orinik couldn''t help but grin ear to ear. He didn''t even need to bet, he just needed to take a small percentage and he would be drowning in more Void Points than he would know how to spend.

    Originally, he had thought that he would only have lower level Galaxy Ranked disciples participating, but after news of Treanna''s wild bid was spreadбкstrategically by him, of courseбкthe heat for these events ramped up far more than even tenfold could account for.

    By this point, some Factions had even begun sending their scouts to linger around the Zone, making a once dead region far livelier than it had been in a very long time.

    бн

    In another part of the Void Palace, Amery opened and closed his hand, checking how well it had healed.

    At that moment, a servant knocked and entered, relaying information about the commotion to the Sword Deity.

 Chapter 1441 A Feeling

    "Oh, it seems that your rival is acting just as wildly as usual."

    An old man chuckled after hearing the news. He leaned back in his chair, taking a swig of alcohol and seemingly uncaring about Amery''s feelings on the topic. He was quite sloppy for a man of his stature, but he didn''t seem to care about that either.

    "Rival?" Amery said lightly.

    The old man''s gaze flashed with a hint of coldness that was completely different from his usual demeanor.

    "What did I say about excuses?"

    The coldness in the man''s words seemed to cause the temperature to drop by several degree. However, Amery was unmoved. He continued to squeeze and open his hand, wanting to make sure that everything was perfect. He didn''t plan on picking up a sword with this hand again until it was absolutely health. To a swordsman, the hands were far too important. He would rather only use a single hand until these lingering issues were gone than to risk aggravating it again.

    Hands were among one of the most difficult non-lethal injuries to heal. There were so many bones, so many fragile ligaments, and so many potential variables. Amery refused to take any risks with his future.

    He was the man who would stand atop the Human Race and repel their enemies with a single sword. He wouldn''t do anything that compromised that.

    "When did I make any excuses?" Amery replied. "I only questioned your choice of words. I don''t see him as a rival. That is all."

    The old man leaned back into his chair, the coldness dissipating as he took another swig.

    After Amery finished saying this, he rose up.

    "I will be back for more treatment tomorrow. My hand is still not ready."

    With that, he turned and left.

    "What an annoying brat." The old man chuckled.

    In truth, he knew the truth. Right now, most of Amery''s Sword Force was directed toward suppressing the tribulation of Sword Domain. It wasn''t even a tenth as powerful as it was usually.

    In addition, during his battle with Leonel, he had refrained from using his Lineage Factor as it sometimes impacted his psyche. If he lost control of himself in battle and used more of his Sword Force than he should and the tribulation was released, it would be too late for regret.

    Amery felt no need to fear Leonel at his full strength even if the latter had that bow. But, he knew that if Leonel hadn''t had that bow, the victor of their battle would have been him.

    Knowing this, how could Amery see Leonel as a rival? At most, he was just annoyed he lost to someone he saw as inferior to himself and that was a loss he would remember. He would use it to fuel him so that he could make sure that such a thing never happened to him again.

    As for challenging Leonel again to clear himself of humiliation, he didn''t care to do it. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing more than a waste of his time.

    "You know that he never even wanted the Shadow Sovereign Ability Index to begin with."

    A second voice, this one clearly feminine, rang through the room.

    "He''s stubborn. Controlling that Lineage Factor would be difficult without the Shadow Sovereign Ability Index, but he thinks that his sword is all he needs. If he had listened to me to begin with and spent more time learning to control it instead of swinging that sword of his all the time, this wouldn''t have been that large of an issue."

    "You talk about his stubbornness like you''re not worse. You dare to get mad at my grandson when you, too, lost to Ishmael Morales. Now you''re trying to project a rivalry of two generations ago onto my baby boy. You''d better stop before I teach you a lesson, old man."

    The old man snorted but didn''t say anything in response.

    "Also, you better heal my grandson well until he''s satisfied. If not for you old fogies, he wouldn''t have gone to the Rapax Nest to begin with and he wouldn''t have suffered that injury. Let him do things the way he wants to."

    **

    Leonel''s breathing was even. He found that his stamina was on a completely different level now. But, that didn''t stop his body from being drenched in blood that was both his and not his own.

    Though his wounds had healed, he could feel his Healing Factor getting slower and slower. However, his eyes still maintained the same coldness, his body zipping around as it basked in a special sort of feeling.

    Leonel was encircled from all sides. He couldn''t even see a clear line to Aina. In fact, their Internal Sight connection had been severed by whatever interference the Dwarven Race had concocted. However, he could just barely see her through the flashes of crimson she unleashed.

    There was no escaping this place, that much Leonel could tell. The door to the throne room was only marginally weaker in defense than the barrier protecting the King and Queen. If they could destroy it, they already wouldn''t be very far from destroying the mythical beast barrier anyway.

    ''It''s close.''

    Leonel focused his Starry Spirit Domain on his spear. Every time he pierced outward, he changed something a small bit.

    The two meter radius around him became like a no man''s land. He didn''t kill with a single strike, but he could force them away, keeping his distance.

    At the same time, he could limit the number of enemies he had to face at once.

    Every time the beam would fire, though, his no man''s land would shrink, causing a suffocating sort of pressure to press down on him again before he fought it off once again, pushing the Pixies and Sparrows back.

    An arrow whizzed through the encirclement and appeared before Leonel''s brows.

    He tilted his head to the side, spinning back with a swift speed and catching the tip of the arrow with his spear blade.

    The arrow glided along the movement of Leonel''s spear, drawing an elegant curve in the arc.

    Leonel acted with the grace of a dancer but the imposing air of general.

    His spear whipped back, taking the arrow with it and causing it to streak outward even faster than it had come.

    At that moment, the fierce glowing light of Leonel''s spear seemed to have become a towering, unmatched gold as the spear crown on his forehead grew another size.

 Chapter 1442 Controlled Range [Bonus Chapter]

    [Bonus chapter for 750 golden tickets. Next goal at 1500 golden tickets]

    "Controlled Range."

    The crown upon Leonel''s forehead expanded to double its size. The halo above his head flourished, radiating a might that wafted a violet fog.

    The moment Leonel spoke these words, the skull of the Sparrow archer was split in two, the power of the arrow feeling even greater than when Leonel used his Level Two Bow Force.

    The enlightenment washed over Leonel. His King''s Might flooded his Spear Force. If before it could only hold one part, now it could hold a hundred parts. Even without breaking into the Sixth Dimension, Leonel''s Spear Force had increased its power by an exponential amount.

    He stomped his feet. Spear Force radiated out in all directions piercing through the encirclement.

    Illusory violet gold spears pierced through several heads at once, only dissipating after killing at least three.

    ''Five meters is my absolute death zone. This is my controlled range. Death to those who enter it.''

    The white gold flame of Leonel''s eyes were tinged with purple, his flowing white hair gaining the same majesty. It was time to kill his way out of here.

    Leonel''s spear became like a winding flood dragon. Every time it pierced forward, his Spear Force would roar, unleashing a might that surged forward.

    At that moment, the Destruction Runes Leonel had built his King''s Might upon made their will known. No longer being suppressed by Leonel, it left everything in its wake in a bed of ash.

    Leonel''s left kidney flourished. His sealed Fourth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force Innate Node came to life, flooding his body with a heat that made his Bronze Runes glow a fiery red.

    His clothes burst apart, being incinerated to ash.

    The flames around him rose like a tower, and he unleashed a roar into the skies. The feeling of finally being able to use his Innate Node felt like a sweeping euphoria pumping through his veins. As though a beast had been unleashed, Leonel wiped out everything within five meters of him, his absolute death zone becoming the reflection of a hellscape.

    Leonel no longer worried about his spears being destroyed. With the improvement to his Spear Force, Fourth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force under his control wouldn''t even leave a dent on them.

    He stomped his foot hard, barreling forward like a meteor.

    In the distance, Aina''s lip curled. She had believed Leonel would find a solution long ago, so she remained patient. It seemed it was finally time for them to go all out.

    Her aura flourished, dense tattoos of black covering her neck and body. At that moment, the corpses that littered her surroundings convulsed.

    The Sparrows and Pixies'' expression warped in horror. They thought that Aina hadn''t used this ability again because she had reached her limit. Little did they know that this was far from the case. How could she reach her limit when this action in and of itself fueled her?

    Leonel shot around the throne room like a barreling canon ball. Every he landed, a five meter radius would be opened, a violent torrent of fire and Spear Force tearing through flesh and burning it to ash.

    ''That''s it.''

    Leonel''s figure flickered, his river-like hair and large, looming tails streaking to his back like an ethereal dream.

    He appeared above a location, cocking his spear back.

    A dragon''s roar seemed to leave his spear once again as he pierced down, the white-gold violet flame blazing in place of his eyes dancing with Destruction Runes.

    The Sparrows and Pixies worked together to block it, but it was already too late. Leonel''s spear crashed into the marbled ground.

    His Spear Force shattered against it, his flames dancing across the surface like shards of broken glass.

    The marbled floors hardly suffered any damage whatsoever. However, Leonel vanished as though it didn''t matter to him, appearing above another location and repeating, and then doing it once again.

    He flashed through the air with a speed even the Sparrows and Pixies couldn''t match. He seemed to step on the air itself, his movements leaving small circles of wind across the throne room.

    ''Final one.''

    A low shout left Leonel''s lips as he pierced down.

    A formation that could keep him trapped? Maybe if it was Seventh Dimension it would have had a chance. In fact, as long as it kept its tail tucked between its legs and remained hidden behind the Seventh Dimensional materials that protected it, it could have survived a bit longer.

    However, the moment it had reared its head, it was destined to fall.

    There was no Force Art that could trap him for long.

    BOOM!

    All at once, the statues of majestic beasts across the throne room crumbled.

    **

    The bustle around the Three Star goblin Zone was only increasing.

    As the bet became more widespread, information about this Zone began to circulate and the origin of its difficulty became known.

    Originally, this was meant to be a simple Zone to clear. The target was the goblin race, but they weren''t even a high level bloodline of the goblin race, they were just the green and grey skins. Compared to other high level goblins, these were lacking. They didn''t have the strongest Lineage Factors nor did they have access to the best Ability Indexes, so they couldn''t even lean into the greatest strengths of their race as much as they should.

    However, because of an odd mutation to the Zone, causing all the nobles aside from the Dukes to be perpetually gathered in the throne room, a simple mission had become nigh impossible.

    Those that managed to come out even spoke about a barrier that erupted in the throne room. They were forced to decide whether to use the last dregs of their strength to break the door or attack the King and Queen.

    Without much of a choice, most could only decide to go for the door.

    With such a challenge, it was hotly contested whether or not Leonel and Aina would be able to live, let alone clear it.

    But, just when the discussions were growing feverish, on the fourth day, three days before the deadline, the portal opened.

 Chapter 1443 Small Pixie Shield

    "бн Um?"

    Leonel, who was stark naked from head to toe aside from a small Pixie shield blocking his most private area, was speechless. Wasn''t this region barren of people? When the hell did they get such a large audience?

    Luckily, you could take objects out of a Unique Zone like this one, or else he wouldn''t have anything to work with but his hands.

    The original plan was for Aina to go and get him another set of robes since nothing the Dwarven Race had would fit him. But, it seemed that that plan had flown out of the window.

    Aina, who was by his side, was stunned as well. But, when she looked at Leonel, she couldn''t help but roll her lips over, trying to hold back her laughter.

    "What are you laughing about?" Leonel raised a brow. "It''s you who''s taking a loss here."

    Leonel''s figure, under the influence of Metal Body, put fitness models to shame. He made more vascularity than he knew what to do with and even his smallest oblique muscles were defined and bulging. He had lean muscle mass coming out of places others didn''t even know existed, and he wasn''t easily embarrassed to begin with.

    So, as far as he was concerned, it really was Aina who was taking a loss here.

    Aina, who seemed to suddenly realize this as well, stopped laughing, sending a glare into the crowd. Seeing the blushing faces of some of the women in the ground, she turned her glare from them back to Leonel who was caught between laughter and trying to maintain a serious expression.

    How was it his fault? Plus, weren''t you laughing first?

    BANG!

    Aina''s battle ax swung outward, slicing into the ground just a half centimeter from Leonel''s toes.

    Leonel''s lip twitched. The enormous double ax blocked everything all the way up to his neck. He could barely peek over.

    This method worked too. Butбн ''Did you need to swing so close to my feet like that? I need those to walk and stuffбн''

    Aina''s actions seemed to cause the deathly silent atmosphere to boil over. In one moment, there was a harsh silence, and in the next moment, there was an uproar.

    The only way the portal would open three days early was if they had passed. When everyone realized this, those that had bet on their survival cheered while those who had bet on their failure clicked their tongues, turning around and leaving so that they wouldn''t have to deal with the celebration that had little to do with them.

    Leonel, who had been trying to appease Aina, raised an eyebrow again, looking outward. There was something odd about this.

    He immediately saw the crowd split into two groups. No, there was a third group, individuals who rushed off not to avoid the celebration, but rather seemed to be in a hurry. Likely a hurry toбн

    ''Report something?''

    Leonel took all of this in.

    ''It seems that someone spread the news of our bet. It''s unlikely to be Dmitry, and the only other person who knew was Orinik, so it must have been him. Considering the crowd''s reaction, they seem to have been just as invested in this as we were. The only way for such a thing to happen is ifбн''

    Leonel only believed that there were two possible explanations.

    The first was related to a rivalry between Sword and Spear. There were many Factions in the Void Palace, but none were more contentious than these two groups. It went beyond Factions and Parties and acted as two clashing ideologies. It was possible that Leonel''s entry had caused such a spat.

    The second explanation was that someone had formed a betting ring around their performance.

    Leonel''s gaze scanned the crowd again. He felt that there was a better than 80% chance that it was that latter with much of the remaining 20% taken up by the first possibility.

    ''Orinik isn''t here. But, he will be here soon.''

    "Let''s wait here." Leonel suddenly said when Aina was about to go and get him clothes. "Very soon, there''ll be someone who obediently goes to get what I need."

    Aina raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding. But, as far as Leonel was concerned, why have Aina go run this errand when someone else would?

    Leonel stood in patient silence. Eventually, as expected, Orinik came over not long afterward. He had still been focused on spreading the news and getting more to bet, he hadn''t expected that Leonel and Aina would survive to begin with, so he knew he had to work harder during the earlier days, or else as time waned, people would be less and less likely to bet.

    His eyes flashed when he saw Leonel and Aina standing practically unscathed. Though Leonel had been covered in blood, his flames had long since burnt that away. As for Aina, her self healing abilities were beyond what most could hope to compare to and she could control blood freely. Why would she allow it to be wasted by drying on her clothes?

    However, Orinik soon calmed. No matter what, he had made a fortune. With it, he would be able to increase the distance between himself and Leonel wider than it already was. He had no need to worry about Leonel at all.

    It was a bit unfortunate he couldn''t make more money, but his Void Point totals were already plateauing. Now, he just had to pay everyone what he owed him, take his cut, and be on his way.

    Turning his head away from Leonel and Aina as though they were there at all, he gave everyone a bright smile.

    "Please form a line, everyone! Present your betting tokens! I have your winnings here!"

    The crowd did as they were told even as the envoys returned.

    From start to finish, Leonel didn''t say a word, just continuing to stand there. His cold eyes receded, a light smile plastered on his face.

    It took several hours but the crowd only seemed to be growing. It was only after the last voucher was processed and Orinik was brimming with happiness that Leonel cleared his throat.

    "Are you perhaps forgetting something?"

 Chapter 1444 Did You?

    Orinik, who had planned on slipping away to go and tally his winning frowned. Eventually, he calmed. He really wanted to see what Leonel would dare to do. He had a lot of ammo on Leonel. Hardly anyone believed that he had really climbed to the 74th floor, and even if it wasn''t true, he could easily weave a tale that said that Leonel had only relied on Aina to pass. On top of that, there were plenty of Sword Faction geniuses waiting for a chance to get revenge for what Velasko had done.

    On top of that, with his information network, Orinik heard that Leonel also had a grudge with the Viror family genius due to what he had done to one of her younger sisters, not to mention the fact that Aina had knocked her off of the ranking.

    As if that wasn''t ammo enough, Orinik also heard of Leonel''s clash with the archer genius of the Tarius family. News of his claiming the White Lion Bow was spreading slowly among relevant factions, but it was definitely a ticking time bomb waiting to burst.

    None of that even mentioned the fact that Aina had rejected the third ranked Queen Beauty and that Vega was waiting for an opportunity to capitalize.

    Rather than ammo, it was more accurate to say that Orinik had an entire artillery unit to take advantage of. He could hit Leonel''s reputation, his livelihood, and even his life itself if he so chose, he just had to choose which button to press.

    He had always been a cautious person. Even though he knew it was almost impossible for Leonel and Aina to survive, he had still covered all his bases. He had already been paying attention to Leonel because he knew that he had offended him, but he had dialed up all his effort a hundredfold.

    If Leonel hadn''t held a grudge before, Orinik knew he would be able to avoid it this time. And, judging by Leonel''s earlier killing intent, it was clear they were already long past the point of no return.

    So, when he faced Leonel this time, his sneer only deepened with each passing second. He knew that there was no point in trying to mend fences. In that case, he didn''t have to lower his face at all. With this push, in a year or two, he might be able to become a Sector Ranked disciple. Even with their talent, Leonel and Aina were at least a decade if not further away from such a goal.

    If they thought he was easy to deal with just because they cleared a Three Star Void Mission, they would find themselves sorely mistaken very soon.

    "What did I forget, exactly?"

    The crowd looked on with curiosity, sensing the tense atmosphere.

    Many of them understood. Orinik had made quite the sum being the arbiter of this bet. They were already a bit dissatisfied by this, but it must be dialed up a hundredfold for Leonel and Aina whose life and death was treated like a game to bet on in the first place.

    Even if they were unsatisfied, they could only accept that Orinik was luckier than they were. After all, he was the one who found out that this was happening before the rest of them did.

    However, it seemed that Leonel was unwilling to swallow this loss. Either way, there was another show to watch, so why not bask in it?

    "Quite a lot, actually. Are you aware that bets need an overseer and a guarantor?"

    Leonel knew that there was no way that Orinik could cover the insurance for all these bets by himself. And, none of these students would be stupid enough to just hand over their hard earned Void Points without a guarantee that they would have their winnings paid out. That was the simple truth.

    Orinik, hearing this question, only sneered deeper.

    "Is that your question?"

    "It''s the first." Leonel responded, unhurried.

    "You''re na?ve and overestimating yourself. I''ve already verified this bet through the Gold Standard Faction. In addition, according to the rules, guarantors are only needed depending on the betting line and the betting pool available.

    "Because of the bets taken, both sides were covered and could account for one another. A guarantor wasn''t needed."

    Because of Orinik''s style of advertising, the odds were split quite evenly. In fact, he placed the odds that Leonel and Aina would die and survive at equal. No matter which side won, the payouts would be manageable.

    Although skewing heavily to one side would have netted him far more if he won, he was, by nature, a cautious person. And, in the end, he benefited from it.

    "Ah, so you''re aware of this as well. That''s good. That means I have less to explain. So you should be aware of the restrictions on betting and rank, correct?"

    "Of course I am." Orinik laughed. "Unfortunately for you, such restrictions don''t exist because we are the same Rank."

    "Are we?" Leonel asked lightly. "According to the rules, when holding a betting event, bids by those of a higher rank on a bet subject to the actions of a disciple of lower rank are heavily taxed. This tax isn''t applied on the winnings themselves, but rather the betting odds. So, if a Sector Ranked disciple joined this bet where winning would give them a 1:10 outcome, for example, they would only receive half of that, giving them a 1:5 outcome instead. If you''re two ranks above, the penalty is even harsher. You would only get 1:2 odds from an originally 1:10 payout.

    "These taxes are in place so that higher ranked disciples are less likely to join and influence the matters of lesser ranks."

    The more Leonel spoke, the more Orinik''s brows furrowed. This was because Leonel''s familiarity with the rules was far beyond his expectations.

    He knew all of these things already, so why was he reciting these things back to him?

    "It also happens to be, according to the rules, that when bets involve those outside of the Void Palace, or, according to the specific language in the codified law, Unranked individuals, the Faction that set up the bet is meant to pay a 50% tax on all earnings.

    "In addition to this, it requires written consent of the unranked party.

    "This rule, of course, is in place to ensure that Void Palace geniuses don''t use the Human Domain like it''s a board game to be toyed with as they please. After all, there are real lives on the line out there.

    "So tell me, Orinik. Did you observe these practices?"

 Chapter 1445 Easy?

    [There''s an odd situation going on in the comment section of last that claims that I passed off a normal chapter as a bonus chapter yesterday. I''m not sure where this narrative came from, or if it''s a joke that''s going over my head, but to clarify, I uploaded 4 chapters yesterday, one more than the promised three, that much should be obvious. I''ll post screenshots of the discord bot activity with time stamps as proof in the comment section of this chapter]

    ---

    Orinik''s forehead beaded with sweat.

    The more Leonel talked about the rules, the more he felt like he had forgotten something. But, no matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t come up with a reason why Leonel would sound so confident.

    A part of him wanted to believe that Leonel was just a fool, but as he recited the laws basically word for word, the sinking feeling in Orinik''s gut only grew heavier and heavier.

    "Aina."

    "Hm?"

    Leonel grinned. "What rank am I?"

    Aina blinked, seemingly thinking. But, she eventually shook her head.

    "I don''t know, the Void Senate hasn''t given you a rank yet."

    The moment Aina said these words, Orinik''s dark skin flushed, his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head. It felt like his heart was about to fly out of his throat.

    This wasn''t a small problem in the slightest. Not only had he broken the law, it was a law with the harshest of punishments. Killing was prohibited in the Void Palace, but another enormous taboo was negatively influencing the Human Domain.

    They were chosen to be the protectors of mankind. They couldn''t be protectors if they were exploiting the people they had to protect. Even the lightest punishment for such a thing would be dozens of years of hard labor. On the other end, there was direct execution!

    If Leonel reported this, he was finished.

    But, that was only the first issue. Orinik still had to deal with the Gold Standard Faction. Orinik suddenly realized that no matter what he did, he would be suffering this time around.

    Through his blurred vision, Orinik could see the crowd looking around in confusion. It made him realize that Leonel had spoken these words for only him to hear.

    But of course he would. How could Leonel allow someone else to take advantage of this juicy piece of meat he had caught? How ridiculous.

    However, when everyone saw Orinik''s reaction, their expressions changed. None of them were fools, they realized that Leonel had caught onto the latter''s weakness even if they wouldn''t be privy to what it was.

    "Whatбн What do you want." Orinik spoke through gritted teeth.

    Leonel smiled lightly. "I''m glad you''ve come around. This makes things easy. I''ll sign a contract to keep mum about these matters, and you just have to do a few things for me.

    "Firstly, I''m in need of some clothes, there''s an uncomfortable draft around here."

    Aina bit her lip, trying to refrain from laughing. Did this man even feel the cold to begin with? He had a raging furnace inside his body. By the time he sensed a wind, it would have been charred to a smoldering heat.

    Orinik''s lip trembled, his fists clenching tight. But, after a moment, he began drawing up a contract, placing down Leonel''s demands.

    "бн I''ll need the token you received to the Void Library as a reward for your work done as an envoy and I''ll also need 70% of the profit you made on this bet."

    When Leonel finished, Orinik was nothing more than a deflated man. However, his expression had regained its calm, his hands becoming steadier and steadier the more he wrote. In the end, he didn''t hesitate to hand over everything Leonel asked for.

    After reading through the contract, Leonel nodded and signed it, accepting all of his rewards.

    He left Orinik with just enough to pay the Gold Standard Faction the 30% cut he owed them while stripping him of practically everything else. Leonel would have taken more, but he felt that he already had enough enemies, there was no need to be on the bad side of a Silver Grade Faction when he had already gained so much.

    Soon, Orinik returned with the clothing he owed Leonel and disappeared, not saying another word from start to finish.

    "He''s a problem." Aina said after Leonel finished dressing himself.

    She didn''t like the fact Orinik had regained his calm so easily. Or, at the very least, she didn''t like that it looked like he had.

    Leonel smiled, but it was decidedly colder than it had been previously.

    "I hope he continues to be a problem. If not, then what excuse would I have to humiliate him some more?"

    The crowd watched Leonel and Aina stroll off as though nothing special had happened. The speculation about how Leonel had done it ran rampant, but no one had a solid clue about exactly what had happened, they could only make their own guesses.

    Leonel knew what the most likely rumor would be, so he knew it would be troublesome. But, he chose to ignore it for now. Orinik had given him what he needed most.

    A Token to the Void Library was difficult to get and cost a pretty sum of Void Points and Merits just for a small time. However, now Leonel had one in his hand at no cost to himself.

    The Void Palace wasn''t fond of hand holding so there was no easy way to learn anything. Everything cost.

    However, this time, Leonel wasn''t going to learn about the Sixth Dimension''s God Path like most thought he might. Instead, he was going to see what he could find out about the Segmented Cube and how to get it back. If he had the time remaining, he would also see what he could find out about the Spear Domain ring and learn what was going on with it.

    "I think only one of us can enter. This token gives me one day, so I''ll be back after that."

    Aina nodded. "Alright. I''m going to see what I can find out about getting us a place to stay. It shouldn''t be difficult with how many points we have."

    After saying this, the couple parted and Leonel soon found himself at the bottom of a winding set of black stairs built right into the side of a mountain he couldn''t see the peak of. In fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn''t see the end of the stairs either even when his head angled all the way up.

    Leonel sighed.

    ''Why can''t anything be easy in this place?''

 Chapter 1446 Void Library Staircase

    Leonel took a breath, stepping on the first stair.

    Whether by coincidence or design, a rush of wind blew his hair back, the pressure causing his clothing to flutter.

    When Leonel took his second step, this happened again, causing his eyes to narrow. This wasn''t a coincidence. The wind just now was exactly 0.1% stronger than the first one. And, when he took his third step, it increased by exactly the same margin.

    Leonel''s head tilted up. It seemed that the token just gave you a chance and didn''t even guarantee entry. He could feel a formless pressure that wouldn''t even allow him to start climbing if he didn''t have the token in the first place.

    Still, Leonel felt that it somewhat made sense that things were like this.

    Usually, the Void Library was sealed off. The only way to gain access to the texts, techniques, books and tomes within was to exchange for a copy at any one of the Senate Branches. However, when taking that route, you were limited by both your rank and price.

    However, if you gained a token to enter, you could read texts of any level, at no price at all, for a 24 hour period. The price of this token was definitely worth its weight in gold.

    That said, to most, it was a scam. You couldn''t even digest what you read in 24 hours. And, getting the books themselves was a whole other ordeal, not to mention the fact the time spent climbing the stairs was part of your 24 hours chance.

    Leonel took a deeper breath, his gaze flashing as a radiant Spear Crown appeared around his forehead. A low cyclone of wind suddenly formed at a five meter radius away from him, kicking up air and dust as though a helicopter was landing.

    No one steps foot in his Spear Domain without his permission.

    Leonel''s body flooded with Ethereal Star Force, his foot pressing down on the fourth step hard before he shot forward like a bullet.

    He crossed ten stairs at a time, blazing a trail of white gold as he soared, his steps only becoming faster and faster.

    Three illusory tails appeared to his back, shining a blinding light in the darkness. He was the torch in an endless light, his steps only becoming faster as the pressure increased.

    The resounding sound of a shattering barrier resounded as Leonel crossed the halfway point. His gaze shone with Spear Force, a forceful intent thrumming within his limbs.

    "Break!"

    Within his Spear Domain, several lines of violet-gold Spear Force formed, converging onto a single point before Leonel as though he himself had become a spear.

    Break! Break! Break!

    Leonel shot by some who still remained struggling on the staircase, his eyes focused on the peak. He didn''t seem to care how far away it was or how long it would take. All he could think was that he refused to slow his effort until he touched the last staircase.

    Little Blackstar was like a little brother to him at this point. Little Tolly was his lifelong partner, a partner he would never abandon. The Void Library represented the chance he needed, he didn''t have time to waste on this staircase.

    Leonel''s intent burned like an eternal fire, his violet-gold Spear Force gaining heated edges of blazing crimson as his eyes danced with Destruction Runes.

    The sound of shattering barriers shifted, a quaking boom resounding every time Leonel crossed a hundred steps.

    From a wind that blew his hair back, Leonel began to face winds as heavy as mountains and as lethal as falling boulders. But, he shot through it all, sparkling shards of space and winds falling around him.

    Leonel roared, his Ethereal Star Force pacing through space and shattering the barriers from the inside out. It felt like he couldn''t be stopped, he wouldn''t be stopped.

    Leonel''s foot heavily stomped against a stair, his body retracting like a compressed spring and his thighs bulging to twice their usual size. His Achilles tendon vibrated like steel cord, the power charged within it enough to make the ground tremble.

    Then, he released everything he had, an explosive boom ringing out as he shot through the sound barrier.

    A clap of thunder burst the eardrums of all those that heard it, the fog in the surroundings dispersing for several hundred meters.

    Leonel''s body appeared high above the staircase, the enormous size of the Void Library appearing before his eyes while the gazes of those below fell onto him.

    BANG!

    Leonel fell heavily to the ground, his body releasing a billow steam. His reddened Bronze Runes receded, a long breath being released from his lips that sparked the air with red-gold fire.

    Leonel slicked his sweaty hair back, looking up at the building before him and ignoring the narrowed gazes that had focused on him. The disciples that frequented this place were most definitely Domain Ranked disciples, they had probably never seen a Fifth Dimensional existence step foot here.

    Of course, the difficulty of scaling the steps was adjusted by a person''s level. The fact that Leonel was only in the Fifth Dimension actually helped him greatly.

    But, others couldn''t help but be shocked nonetheless. The reason for this was because it usually required stepping into the God Path to climb to the top of the stairs, that was because one needed the aid of God Runes to make it here.

    To make it here in the Fifth Dimension was quite shocking. But, if they knew that Leonel had an Innate Node, it would be easier to accept, reason being an Innate Node was like a cheat to gaining God Runes long before the Sixth Dimension. And, it was precisely because of this reason that Conon dared to say the rest of them would catch up to Leonel once they broke into the Sixth Dimension.

    That saidбн Leonel had no intention of caring for Conon''s words.

    ''It took me almost two hours to climb to this place, I have a bit over 22 hours left, I can''t waste anymore time.''

    Leonel flashed forward, ignoring the Domain Ranked disciples.

 Chapter 1447 Fine.

    Leonel hardly took any time to bask in the majesty of the Void Library''s glory, he meant it when he said that he didn''t have time to waste. While the Domain Ranked disciples could casually sit, eat and chat, taking a break as they pleased, he didn''t have such a luxury. In about a day, the token that was on him would crumble and he would be ejected.

    Watching Leonel charge in, the Domain Ranked disciples raised an eyebrow before smiling and shaking their heads.

    They had seen such a scene many times before. It was unfortunate that those that came here for the first time were a bit ignorant to how things worked, and as such, they would end up suffering a bit. Things didn''t work as one might expect, or else they, as Domain Ranked disciples, wouldn''t need to take breaks like this.

    They were still a bit curious about Leonel, though. They were sharp enough to sense the Scarlet Star Force he had just used, and they could tell his Spear Force wasn''t normal, it even seemed close to perfection.

    бн

    The moment Leonel charged into the Void Library, he quickly learned why the Domain Ranked disciples had amused expressions. He had expected to find stacked bookcases that rose into the skies with row after row of books in an endless sea of paper and knowledge. Or, at the very least, if he was wrong about that, then there would be row upon rows of pendants.

    But, he couldn''t have been more incorrect in his assessment.

    The moment Leonel crossed the barrier of the entrance, he fell forward, losing his balance. This was something that shocked him to no end. With his coordination, even if he hadn''t calculated that stat for himself in years, there was no way he would casually lose his balance without reason or cause.

    He felt forward. But, instead of his head hitting the ground, his arm flailed, the gravity around him vanishing. It felt like he was falling through space, but there was no harsh wind to be found.

    Leonel flailed his arms one more time because he suddenly realized he wasn''t falling at all. Rather, he was floating in space.

    The moment he realized this, he instantly found his center, straightening himself and looking around.

    He found that there was no one around him at all. In fact, it felt like he was truly in the depths of space, there were even motes of light floating around that felt like distant stars.

    Leonel blinked in confusion, not sure what was going on. For a moment, his heart skipped several beasts as this reminded him of the changes to his Dream World. Could it be that he was trapped in a dream again? What was going on?

    ''No, I''m not in a dream, I would be able to tell. This is the library, then? How does this work? How do I find books?''

    Leonel tried to move, but he soon found that if he did, he would end up flailing again. Moving was absolutely impossible. In fact, he had a feeling that even if he had his wings back from his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, he would still be incapable of moving through this space.

    ''So I''m meant to stay in place, then? How do Iбн''

    Leonel subconsciously reached out with his Internal Sight, only for the distant motes of light to suddenly shoot right up to his face. The world around him warped as though he had entered some sort of light speed hyperdrive, streaking and flashing lights surrounding him.

    Leonel froze up, stopping everything immediately. He felt a little disoriented and he even felt that his stamina had taken a small hit.

    ''Soбн This is how it works.''

    You weren''t supposed to move physically, you were supposed to use your Internal Sight to navigate around this region. If Leonel was correct, these motes of light were probably also the representations of the information he needed.

    Leonel reached out and touched one and the result was exactly like what he had felt when he touched the pendant in the Senate Branch. The information flooded his mind and he was soon pulled into a world of glaive techniques.

    Leonel eventually pulled back, shaking his head.

    This information wasn''t useful to him at all. There had to be a way to organize all of this, they couldn''t possibly expect him to just randomly go through all these lights one by one, right?

    The moment Leonel thought the word ''organize'', though, there was another chunk taken out of his stamina and the motes of light around him began to shift around, separating into what Leonel subconsciously knew were techniques, historical recountings, and the last was related to medicine.

    When Leonel saw this, he was left speechless.

    ''You''ve got to be kidding meбн''

    Whoever designed the function of the Void Library was a sick bastard, that was Leonel''s conclusion and refused to move off of it.

    After several wasted minutes, Leonel came to understand that the Void Library was a lot like the Void Tower. It was a world filled to the brim with hidden information. While the Void Library had information like techniques and historical facts, the Void Tower formed its information into enemies for the Void Palace''s disciple to fight and kill.

    When someone entered the Void Library, they were really entering their own personal library. They gained access to a whole host of information, but it was completely unorganized and left in a garbled mess. It reminded Leonel of the internet, except now, instead of relying on a computer or search engine to organize things for you, you had to use your own Internal Sight and stamina.

    If Leonel wanted to find something, he needed to exchange his own mind''s computing power to file and organize things, and only then could he benefit from the Void Library.

    Leonel grit his teeth.

    This amount of information made the half a million years'' worth of laws look like child''s play. The Void Palace didn''t just have the laws of the Void Palace, but a vast endless sea of information on top of that. Those laws couldn''t even make up a percent of a percent of the information here.

    ''Fine, if you want to play, let''s play.''

    Leonel''s gaze blazed.

 Chapter 1448 Motes Of Light

    Leonel took several deep breaths. His body was aching from the climb, but without the slightest hesitation, he activated <Instant Recovery>.

    He gained a usage a day regardless. By the time he got out of here, there would only be two more hours until he could use it again. He would be foolish to not use it to bring himself to tip top condition.

    The fatigue that filled his limbs vanished and his mind felt refreshed. Right then, he deployed his Internal Sight in full force.

    He came up with the most efficient system almost instantly. He would use his Internal Sight''s maximum range to navigate and when the motes of light entered the range of his Starry Spirit Domain, only then would he organize them.

    Leonel posited that because he could deploy his Dream Force within the range of his Starry Spirit Domain, his Dream Force affinity was also maximized in that range. Additionally, if he was correct, the Void Library should work on principles of Dream Force just like the Void Tower had. In that case, the stamina he would need to compute and organize these motes of line would be minimized to an extreme.

    Leonel couldn''t have been more correct. The moment the motes of light touched his Starry Spirit Domain, he didn''t even need to send his mind into them to understand what their function was. Very quickly, a network of interconnected motes of light began to form around him, growing into a larger and larger web.

    As his web grew, Leonel realized that organizing like motes of light became easier. The more movement techniques he collected, for example, the easier it was to identify other movement techniques. Eventually, when Leonel reached a certain point of saturation, even his Internal Sight could organize movement techniques without passing them through his Starry Spirit Domain first. When he reached the next threshold, his eyes alone were enough.

    Soon, the motes of light that Leonel could hardly tell the difference between began to shine with varying degrees of light and color. Just by looking at them, Leonel could tell what categories they fell into and slot them in without much issue.

    Even though things were going very smoothly, when Leonel reached the next threshold, he could only sigh.

    Now, he could not only see the category the motes of light fell into, but he could also see their grades, Dimension level, and eventually their length. Due to this, Leonel realized that the motes of light he was organizing right now weren''t even Fifth Dimensional, they were all Fourth Dimensional. They were all the lowest grades of information the Void Palace had to offer, yet there was so much of it.

    Leonel grit his teeth.

    A part of him wanted to blaze through and ignore it all, but he was certain that he needed to lay this foundation. No matter how long it took, he needed to organize all of this Fourth Dimensional information. Once he did, seeing through the higher Dimensional information would become far easier.

    In fact, Leonel went even further than that.

    He didn''t just organize the Fourth Dimensional Information, but he continued onward to split his mind in two, organizing himself into two supercomputers. One focused on deciphering information and the other half began to consume the information.

    After just a few, Leonel realized that he was right. Actually digesting the information felt like he was training his mind like an artificial intelligence. It made seeing through the next motes of lights even easier.

    If Leonel knew exactly what he was looking for, he would focus on absorbing only that information. Unfortunately, he didn''t know what categories the information he needed to save the Segmented Cube fell under.

    It could be in a spatial technique, but it could also be in a historical recounting, or it could be in a Crafting technique, he had no idea. He had to cover all of his bases for just the smallest sliver of a chance to find the information he needed, so absorbed it all.

    He left no Fourth Dimensional mote of light unturned, swallowing it all like a glutton.

    бн

    At that moment, outside the Void Library, an odd scene was taking place.

    The Domain Ranked disciples, most of whom couldn''t even be bothered with Leonel previously, raised a brow as they all looked toward the same location.

    The reason was quite simple. Leonel had been in there for three hours already. Most, on their first attempt, could only last a few minutes before being overwhelmed. Only the absolute strongest could spend hours at a time without an issue.

    Beyond this, Domain Ranked disciples understood many things lower ranked disciples could not. There was a reason the Void Palace had so many locations like the Void Tower and the Void Library. The appearance of someone who could perform so well in them wasn''t a small deal in the slightest.

    бн

    Beads of sweat fell down Leonel''s brow as he pushed himself harder and harder. He didn''t leave a single stone of the Fourth Dimension unturned, his pressure reaching a relentless level.

    If his Sixth Dimensional mind wasn''t restricted by his current Fifth Dimensional level, he wouldn''t be nearly so pressed right now. However, regardless of how he felt, he pushed forward, pressing onward to the fourth hour, and then the fifth.

    It had taken Leonel no more than a few seconds to go through over 500 000 years of laws previously, and yet he had taken five hours just to clear the Void Library of all of its Fourth Dimensional information. The reality was enough to even shock him. The sheer amount of information was astounding.

    But, Leonel couldn''t bask in this feeling at all. Heaving deep breaths, he looked at the sky.

    Now, the motes of light were no longer bland blobs of white. Some shined red, others blue, some in between, others green and yellowбн The selection felt endless.

    However, in Leonel''s eyes, he could see faint lines connecting them to his fluttering network of Fourth Dimensional information.

    Leonel didn''t realize it, but he had finally closed up all his foundational misunderstandings about the Dimensional Verse. He was finally no longer a novice.

    Right now, though, he needed more.

    ''I''ll start with the most obvious. You.''

    Leonel grasped outward, his Internal Sight sending him shooting forward as he appeared before a Sixth Dimension mote of light, a bit of information usually restricted to disciples above the Third Galaxy Rank.

    He couldn''t see the names of Sixth Dimensional motes of light without allowing them into his Starry Spirit Domain unlike with Fifth Dimensional ones. This told Leonel that his current network was enough to elucidate up to the Sixth Dimension, but he would likely have to go through everything of the Fifth Dimension for information of the Seventh Dimension to begin to clarify themselves by a small measure.

    This wasn''t unexpected. Mere Fourth Dimensional information couldn''t possibly open him up to everything here, but it was definitely an excellent starting point.

    However, he hoped that he would be able to find the information he needed within the Fifth or Sixth Dimensional layers.

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    Leonel sunk his mind into the mote of light.

 Chapter 1449 Maze-Lotus

    Leonel found his mind enveloped, his pupils flickering and bouncing aimlessly as he seemed to be ''reading'' through something despite the fact there was nothing but a mote of light before him. It took much more time to go through this information. It was dense and its explanations were far deeper than just words of written law.

    The principles felt more profound than anything Leonel had ever read before.

    This knowledge in particular didn''t fall under the category of technique or historical recounting, rather, it felt more like a PhD thesis. There were a ton of references and much of it was actually theory. But, as Leonel''s mind sunk further and further into it, his comprehension seemed to open up.

    Without even trying, the references noted in the research paper shot over from a distance, adding themselves to Leonel''s network of their own volition.

    Some were actually Seventh Dimensional, but the vast majority were Fifth Dimensional.

    ''So focusing on research papers is actually another shortcut. This is good to know.''

    Leonel hadn''t realized this before for quite a simple reason. There simply were no research papers of the Fourth Dimension. All the information of the Fourth Dimension were either cold hard facts or techniques. After all, everything in the Fourth Dimension had practically already been excavated and comprehended to the fullest extent.

    They were no longer ''theories'', they were just objective realities.

    It took Leonel a few minutes, but he finally went through it all. Pulling his mind back, he exhaled a long breath.

    ''Interesting.''

    The research paper wasn''t anything groundbreaking. Like most PhD''s, it was just a tweak and critique of a smaller theory that already existed. In fact, it was one of many that worked on expounding the same theory, which made it far more reliable as it wasn''t some out there shot in the dark.

    According to the paper, manipulating space in Anarchic Force was difficult for reasons outside of their expectations. Anarchic Force didn''t destroy things, it devoured things, turning them into nothing as though they never existed in the first place.

    But, what did that mean for space?

    It had to be remembered that those with high attainments in Spatial Force were seen to be great threats to the point where most strongholds had counters for them despite their rarity. Leonel had experienced this personally during his battle for Earth and its subsidiary planets.

    Space was ubiquitous, but it was also the only type of Force that was easier to use the less of it there was.

    The more Spatial Force there was in the region, the more solid the space was, and thus the more difficult it was to use Spatial Force for maneuvering.

    The research paper claimed, then, that one shouldn''t be fighting against Anarchic Force when manipulating Spatial Force in this sort of environment. Rather, one should make use of Anarchic Force to help.

    Of course, one couldn''t just take control of Anarchic Force. Leonel wasn''t sure that there was anyone that could control Anarchic Force, it did as it pleased and there was no existence with an ''affinity'' for it. Even Void Beasts could only be considered immune, but that didn''t give them the right to control Anarchic Force. Only the Regulator could do that.

    However, you could take advantage of the characteristics of Anarchic Force to make it work for you.

    Anarchic Force flowed toward regions of high Force concentrations, its instinct was to devour. If you made use of this to force Anarchic Force to target and create a flaw in space, then teleporting would actually become easy.

    There were obviously many problems with this theory.

    For example, the Anarchic Force you used wouldn''t just vanish after it was done with its task, it would obviously see be there. Even in the best case, you would have to keep the teleportation short to cut off the hounding of Anarchic Force toward yourself. In the worst case, you would die mid teleportation, devoured by the battle between space and Anarchic Force.

    The research paper posited several solutions to this which included several Force manipulation and pattern techniques.

    In one example, they suggested forming your Force into a maze-like lotus formation. According to their research, Anarchic Force took the longest to get to the center of such a formation of Force as it had to devour the outer structural integrity first.

    This design allowed the inner workings to remain unharmed and structurally sound during the teleportation.

    According to this, this method was safe for movements within ten meters, any further and the structure would crumble before you could make it out.

    Of course, the idea of forming a complex maze-lotus monstrosity in the middle of battle all for the sake of teleporting just ten meters was ridiculous.

    Even back in his Camelot days, it only took Leonel about two or three seconds to cast even the most complicated of techniques. If he used this method, it would take even his current self upwards of five seconds to finish.

    ''Unlessбн?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Because he could now project his Dream World into the real world so long as it was within his Starry Spirit Domain, his control within that region was unprecedented. It was like his control of his own body had extended out from him.

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    While it would theoretically take time to form his maze-lotus with his Spatial Force or his Ethereal Star Force which had spatial attributes, he could form it in less than a single blink of an eye with his Dream Force.

    If he projected that maze-lotus into the real world, and then set a command within his body to constrain his Spatial Force to that area and that area aloneбн

    ''It would take me about half a second with that approach. That''s still quite a long time in battles at this level, but it''ll also be troublesome if my enemies can just see what I''m preparing in advanceбн''

    Leonel''s gaze glowed.

    Who said his enemies had to see what he was preparing? It was his Dream World, he could make it invisible if he wanted to.

 Chapter 1450 Collapsing Mind

    Leonel continued blazing through research papers, realizing that he had gotten side tracked. That paper had been helpful, but unfortunately, it didn''t give him anything he needed on fixing the Segmented Cube.

    Leonel chose to focus his efforts a bit more. He could search for Segmented Cube relating things specifically, but he felt that there would be low odds of finding anything useful through this route.

    There were a few reasons for this.

    First, the Segmented Cube was the Heirloom of the Morales family. He highly doubted that they would allow information about it to be so easily accessible.

    From what Leonel had seen of the Void Palace, though this was supposed to be the frontier of humanity, the influence individual families had was very heavy. If not for this, there would be a "sword" and "spear" division, nor would that bowman genius have threatened him with their alliance despite the fact that there was a very clear no killing policy here.

    It was likely that the Void Palace was probably being pulled in all sorts of directions by the undercurrents of the families supposedly ''beneath'' them.

    The second reason Leonel didn''t bother to take this route was also because of this. As the Heirloom of the Morales family, the Segmented Cube had probably spent most of its life highly protected. The odds that something like this had happened before was slim to none, and even if it had, the Morales family would have definitely no disseminated information about it.

    Of course, Leonel had thought of the possibility that the Segmented Cube had a history before the Morales family. However, he deduced that focusing on this category in specific was a better use of his time. Only if it failed would he take that approach. "That category", being spatial devices and Crafting.

    Leonel read through every Crafting light he could get his hands on that even remotely mentioned spatial devices, trying to see what he could learn.

    However, even after going through everything in the Fifth Dimension, he found himself exhausted, beading with sweat, having a drained mind, and still being no closer to finding an answer. The only good thing was that he had learned a lot about Crafting under the influence of Anarchic Force. But, that wasn''t what he needed right now.

    Leonel sent his mind toward his token, realizing now that he had already gone through 20 hours of allotted time. He could hardly see the number straight, he felt like he might collapse at any time.

    ''This approach is wrongбн''

    Leonel''s brows furrowed.

    After reading all of those papers, he understood something. For spatial treasures at the Fifth Dimensional level or could be classified within Fifth Dimensional information, they would never survive the collapse of their space to begin with.

    Something like what happened with Leonel''s Segmented Cube, where the exterior remained and Leonel was even capable of sending his mind inside to see what happened, would never happen to such low level treasures. The information he needed would never have been found at such a low level to begin with.

    Leonel hesitated. Should he read about the history of the Segmented Cube if he could find it?

    ''No. It''s not that this approach is wrong, it''s rather that I haven''t gone deep enough. This time hasn''t been wasted, it might be just enough for me to be able to seeбн''

    Leonel''s mind flashed with the last dregs of its strength, zooming toward Seventh Dimensional information. His thoughts were simple. With how things were like right now, he had just gone through countless research papers that touched on Crafting Spatial Force treasures. With that being the case, then it was likely that other related topics would also be far easier for him to pick out at a distance.

    As expected, without Leonel even doing anything, all research papers, techniques, and even history recounting related to spatial treasures and their Crafting entered his network without him even lifting a finger.

    Very soon, a large swarm of Sixth Dimensional motes of light joined Leonel''s network, fusing with the web of his personal library and growing its size. It wasn''t until Leonel entered the range of the Seventh Dimension that the process slowed.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. The pressure here was almost impossible to manage but he grit his teeth, holding on.

    He didn''t even know if he had the mental strength left to even take on a Seventh Dimensional light. But, he had no choice. He just had to pick right.

    ''That one, that''s going to be the one.''

    Leonel took a breath, focusing his eyes on one of the only three he could see the names of.

    <The Shelf-Life of a Spatial Treasure>.

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    Leonel felt that it might have what he needed. It sounded ridiculous. The title was more of something he would find in the Fourth Dimension, not the Seventh. Plus, the Segmented Cube hadn''t reached the end of its lifetime. But, Leonel had his own reasons for making this choice.

    ''Come.''

    Leonel grasped the mote of light and it felt as though a bang had gone off in his mind. If not for the sturdy Seventh Dimensional walls of his psycheбн

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat in fear. Just now, his mind could have collapsed. He realized that he had been far too reckless. It was a good thing his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor''s Wisdom Branch had been fully Awakened, or else he would have been seriously injured, and that was only if he managed to avoid being killed.

    Despite its simple name, this information was without a doubt Seventh Dimensional. The vast stores of information were beyond anything Leonel had ever seen before. He had yet to get far enough in his father''s training to receive information of his caliber. In fact, Leonel realized that if it wasn''t for his recent breakthroughs in comprehension, he wouldn''t be able to make heads or tails of this research paper.

    His mind split like a bolt of lightning was trying to bisect it. However, he held on.

    Just as Leonel reached the final pages of the research paper, his token began to count down.

    He pushed himself to go faster, a projectile of blood leaving his lips.

    When Leonel awoke, he was at the bottom of the Void Library''s staircase.

 Chapter 1451 Billions

    [We''re about 200 from the goal, it''ll be a few hours, probably. So, the bonus chapter won''t come out until tomorrow (or the day after if I run out of time)]

    Leonel coughed, another mouthful of blood coming out. But, his gaze glowed with a feverish sort of light.

    The bad news was that he hadn''t had time to find out anything about the Spear Domain. Unlike the Segmented Cube, the Spear Domain Heirloom had a counterpart like the Sword Domain. In fact, the Suaird family seemed to have an identical Lineage Factor to the Morales family as well.

    Due to this, Leonel felt that it was more likely for information about the Spear Domain to be available as it seemed that it wasn''t a unique treasure. In fact, it was very likely that there might be others of its kind. For all Leonel knew, there was a Bow Domain and a Battle Ax Domain out there somewhere.

    All of this made him conclude that the Void Library would likely have information about it.

    The good news, though, was that he believed he had found information on what he needed to restore the Segmented Cube.

    <The Shelf-Life of a Spatial Treasure> had exactly what Leonel needed, though it wasn''t exactly the same, as he had expected, it was close enough.

    When the ''shelf life'' of a spatial treasure ran out, it was rarely because of space itself. There were two possibilities. One was that the Force Arts had degraded and the second was that the material had degraded.

    Leonel had been forced to read it all, but the most important information he gained was actually from the second where the researcher posited a method to extend the life of a spatial device, there was even a note that specified that such a method would only be worthwhile if the Force Arts that formed the spatial device were especially precious, like ones that took rare ingredients to form.

    Leonel had never needed precious materials to draw his Force Arts before, he only needed his Force Quill and nothing else. However, at the highest levels, this wasn''t always possible, especially since as Force Arts got more and more complex, some even needing weeks, months, to even years to finish drawing. A single person couldn''t possibly have enough Force or stamina to finish such an endeavor. And, even if they had the stamina, the quality of their Force most definitely wouldn''t be enough unless they had special Innate Nodes, Familiars, or Ability Indexes, or affinities that could help them cover for what would otherwise be a weakness.

    When Leonel read to this point, he understood where the researcher was coming from. He had thought that the Force Art used to draw the runes of a spatial treasure couldn''t possibly surpass the material used to hold the space. But, he was using his limited views to comprehend something profound.

    When it came to Life Grade spatial devices in specific, they were capable of housing life. The complexity of drawing the Force Art to support such a thing practically required recreating an entire world from scratch. This was exactly why most spatial devices couldn''t house life.

    In that case, the materials needed to house the world weren''t nearly as valuable as the Force Arts needed to create the world themselves.

    In such a situation, when the material reached the end of their shelf-life, anyone would feel heart ache, unlessбн You were able to preserve it.

    The process was complex and unfortunately even more expensive than it was complex. But, simulating it roughly in his Dream World, Leonel felt that it had about a 80-90% chance of succeeding. All of the fundamental principles that made up the theory were sound.

    Unfortunately, the process wouldn''t be exactly the same. But, by virtue of that, Leonel actually believed that it might be a bit simpler. The material forming the Segmented Cube was far from being worn out, making the situation Leonel was dealing with far more stable.

    Leonel sighed. ''How much will this cost me? And do I even have the skill for this? My hands will need to reach a Sixth Dimensional Designation at the bare minimum. And, I''ll need a Gold Grade Force Quill for sure.''

    Just those two goals would take tens of millions of Void Points. And, considering their level, it would probably require quite a sum of Void Merits as well.

    The worst part was that this didn''t even include the material he would need for the process either. It could easily end up costing him billions. That was a sum of wealth that even Sector Ranked disciples wouldn''t easily have, at least not without taking into consideration the assets of an entire Faction, likely of at least the Silver Grade.

    Leonel exhaled another breath, spitting out the remaining blood that lingered in his mouth before weakly standing.

    His first priority was to take a step firmly into the realms of a Silver Grade Crafter, bring his hands up to standard, and buy himself a Seventh Dimensional Force Quill, only then could he turn his attention to the materials he would need.

    Then, he would have to pray that it was all worth it.

    Leonel''s leg wobbled beneath him. He really needed some rest, some real sleep would be helpful.

    Luckily, Aina had said she would find them a home, so he just had to go and find her.

    Leonel took out another pendant and began to use it to head in the direction of Aina.

    The annoyance of Anarchic Force was especially bad when you were in a less than optimal state. Leonel, who could usually ignore it with ease, found himself struggling.

    He realized now why it was that so many disciples died on their own. The Void Palace was a place where you weren''t allowed to be weak, even for a single moment. If you were and didn''t have the backing or Void Points to make up the difference, you would be ruined.

    This frontier of humankind would run you into the ground if you weren''t careful enough.

    Suddenly, the sound of battle caught Leonel''s attention and his gaze, which had been focused on the ground, looked up.

    He frowned. Cross referencing with the pendant, Aina was in that direction.

    Leonel tucked the pendant away and shot forward with what stamina he had left. But, what he found left him completely infuriated.

    Aina stood with her back straight and her ax brandished. To her back, what looked like a small home was burned to the ground, still smoldering with flames.

    Before her, three stood, two women and a man. The woman in the center brandished a whip as the two to her side seemed to be controlling a plant-like domain of vines and thorns. Every one of them was well into the Sixth Dimension, and two of them had striking green hair.

    Aina''s clothes were charred in many places. But, where they weren''t, whip-like marks were left.

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    It was immediately obvious to Leonel that she had been within the home when it burned down.

    There was another crack of the whip. Aina dodged, but just a margin too slow, another cut being left in her robes and a bloody mark streaking around her shoulder.

    Leonel could tell that Aina''s right leg was injured and she was waiting for it to heal. At the same time, she needed to wait for an opportunity to use her Blood Force, it was clear that these people had caught her off guard.

    However, whatever logic and deductions Leonel was making was thrown far to the back of his mind and happened subconsciously. Right now, he was furious.

 Chapter 1452 Smoldering Heat

    Leonel''s mind spun with the events, his senses stepping into hyperdrive.

    Aina had likely been within the house when she was suddenly attacked. Caught off guard, the home had collapsed onto her.

    For someone like Aina, a normal home collapsing wouldn''t even be able to leave a dent on her. However, one that could stand in this dense Anarchic Force was a different matter entirely. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that if she was caught beneath the wrong avalanche, not to mention a severe injury, she could end up crippled, and there was even a small possibility of her being crushed to death.

    Aina managed to pull herself out, but by that point, the fire had latched itself to her and burned large segments of her robes. On top of that, her leg was broken.

    Before her healing factor could even deal with these things, she was surrounded by three Galaxy Ranked disciples, two of which seemed to very obviously be from the Viror family.

    And now, the Viror family member brandished a whip, treating Aina like some sort of dog she was punishing.

    "I''ve already said it once and I don''t like to repeat myself. Sign this contract and we will let you go, it''s quite simple. If you want to see how far we can take your humiliation, feel free to keep testing my patience. There are countless things I can do without killing you. In fact, if you let me go through the list one by one, you just might kill yourself before I''m through."

    A cold light flashed in the young woman''s gaze. However, seeing the cold glare Aina was giving her, her own flashed with rage.

    "Haha, Emonie, you''re a woman. Aren''t you aware of how to piss off another woman best?" The only one without green hair, a young man by the name of Eliot, grinned.

    "Just spit it out."

    The young man laughed harder. "Just look at her, even in such a state, she''s actually such a beauty, and so much of her clothes have been burnt away already. Half the work is already done."

    Emonie''s brows furrowed. But, seeing the cold light in Aina''s gaze and her lack of a reaction. She could easily tell that Eliot''s "suggestion" wasn''t just in the interest of their mission. However, she also couldn''t deny that for a prideful person like Aina, it was the perfect tactic.

    The next time her whip cracked, it left a large gash across Aina''s toned torso. The large cut ripped a streak across her robes, almost splitting them entirely in two width wise.

    "Don''t test my patience any more or else you''ll suffer. I''m sure you heard him, I don''t mind stripping your naked and tying you up to allow everyone to admireбк"

    The words had hardly begun when a furious roar drowned them out. Aina''s gaze flashed, her gaze snapping toward Leonel. The three youths couldn''t help but turn to look as well, their expressions changing.

    However, under the astonished view of everyone, a resounding crack echoed.

    Leonel, who had just begun a billowing pillar of towering fury suddenly frozen, his crimson eyes twinkling before they began to dim.

    Out of his control, Leonel felt his consciousness fading. Then, he fell forward, crashing into the dried and cracked grey and black grounds.

    Heбн fell unconscious?

    The odd change to the situation left everyone, including Aina stunned.

    **

    Leonel felt his mind spinning, the embrace of sleep clawing its fingers into him. He couldn''t think or feel anything. He drifted off into a land of dreams.

    Leonel couldn''t remember the last time he dreamed, the kind of dream that made little to no sense and yet felt so all encompassing and real at the same time, the kind of dream where you couldn''t run or jump or even speak as well as you wanted to.

    It wasn''t until a long while later that Leonel''s mind suddenly snapped awake and he remembered what he had been doing.

    He went from enjoying comfort to absolutely furious in the blink of an eye, his eyes snapping open and his body rising up with fury practically manifesting around him.

    But, when Leonel awoke, he found himself high in a tree. His sudden movement almost caused him to lose his balance and fall from a height that must have been at least 200 meters.

    Before he could, though, two strong hands caught him, keeping him stable.

    The tree branch swayed, but it remained firm. The hands only released Leonel after they were sure that he had regained his bearings.

    When Leonel looked up, he realized that he had been sleeping on Aina''s bosom. He wasn''t sure how long it had been, but she smiled back at him with a beautiful smile. Her robes were beaten and torn, not to mention burnt and ravaged in many areas, but her face radiated a healthy, happy light.

    Leonel blinked. She was truly gorgeous.

    But, remembering his fury, his brows couldn''t help but furrow.

    "What happened?"

    Leonel listened to Aina''s words. But, his fury didn''t vanish. However, this time, he wasn''t furious toward someone else, but rather himself.

    Leonel really had lost consciousness back then. His mind had already been at its limit, but then he not only used it to analyze and simulate the past with far too much detail, his fury had also forced his King''s Might to flood forth.

    All of these things were heavy loads on a mind that was already on its last legs. He couldn''t just expect to magically poof more stamina into his body just because he was enraged.

    He was an idiot. This was the Void Palace, this place was no different from being stuck in a perpetual war zone. He couldn''t afford to show weakness, ever. Even if he had to sacrifice for it, he had to always maintain at least some strength at all times if he didn''t have his <Instant Recovery> easily accessible to himself.

    Leonel''s jaw clenched. As furious as he was with himself, this was already the third time now that the Viror family had tested his bottom line. If he didn''t thoroughly cripple their place in the Void Palace, he wouldn''t be able to rest this smoldering heat in his chest.

 Chapter 1453 He Would Start...

    Leonel''s roar had ended up distracting the three Galaxy Ranked disciples. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Aina launched one of the most powerful attacks she could, catching them off guard.

    Her attack didn''t manage to have a large effect. After all, these were veterans of the Sixth Dimension and high class Galaxy Ranked disciples. But, she did manage to injure them just enough to take advantage of their Blood Force.

    With that, she was able to accelerate the healing of her leg and once it was good enough to run on, she used what remained of the Life Force to accelerate her speed.

    She picked up Leonel''s unconscious body and shot into the distance, entering the outskirts of the residential zones.

    It had been three days since then. Aina had been using her Life Force affinity to avoid them all this time. Though she didn''t fear them, she didn''t want to fight with Leonel unconscious. She was actually worried about him, but all her expertise told her that he was just in a deep sleep.

    Luckily, she had been able to stop moving Leonel around recently as it seemed that they had stopped following her. It was either they were called away, had another obligation, or they had gotten tired of looking.

    It was also possible that they had expended too much energy. Sleep was much more important in the Void Palace than it was anywhere else. Sixth Dimensional existences could probably stay awake for months to years at a time without on lower Dimensional worlds. But here, not only was it the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, but it was also a place rife with Anarchic Force.

    Though it didn''t seem like it, every waking moment was spent combating Anarchic Force. This made not only sleep, but food especially important as well.

    Leonel had been planning on sleeping and eating three days ago, but now he had been asleep for that long instead and it was likely that Aina hadn''t gotten a wink of sleep in that time either.

    "I''m sorry, I won''t forget this." Leonel said.

    Aina smiled. "It''s about time I carry you sometimes too, right? It almost always feels like the other way around."

    Leonel shook his head. Though she said this, it wasn''t true. Most of the time, the two of them were side by side.

    "Seriously."

    Aina emphasized this word, pulling Leonel''s face back to force him to look at her.

    One of the moments she felt the safest she ever had in her life was in the middle of a warzone. She could still remember the rage Leonel felt facing off against the Puppet Master, fighting someone so much more powerful than himself just because they dared to harm her.

    This was what Aina had missed the most about Leonel, and it was why her not coming to save her in her greatest time of need was exactly what snapped her personality back into her body.

    It wasn''t that Aina wanted or needed Leonel to constantly save her, it was just the thought that he would wade through hell and high water for her sake. No matter what odds faced them, so long as said odds stood in her way, he would be the first to pierce forward.

    Aina''s heart was still riddled with guilt. She loved this side of Leonel when it worked for her, but when he brandished his spear to save others, she had selfishly tried to hold him back.

    She hoped that she would have more opportunities to protect Leonel like this. He was the man she was determined to remain by the side of no matter what happened in the future.

    Leonel gripped Aina''s wrist, nodding.

    But, on the inside, he had already sworn that he wouldn''t allow this to happen again.

    Maybe this was just the difference between men and women. Leonel would never feel at ease being protected by Aina. He felt an endless desire to stand before her, to bear everything. It was a foolish masculine pride, but it was a pride he was proud of regardless.

    "Come on, you can sleep on my back. I know you''re tired."

    "Okay." Aina said softly, letting Leonel pick her up.

    Soon, she was strapped comfortably to Leonel''s back, her cheek pressing down on his shoulder as she almost immediately drifted off. She didn''t feel a single ounce of reluctance trusting Leonel.

    Leonel leapt down from the tree, a starry road manifesting beneath his feet that allowed him to flutter downward. However, the cold look in his eye was nowhere near as elegant or beautiful.

    A thin sheen of Ethereal Star Force coated Aina''s body. Like this, she couldn''t even feel or hear the harsh winds. He finished this just as he hit the ground.

    The moment his feet touched earth, he shot forward in a blazing light.

    His mind was back in top condition, running smoother than it ever had. His thoughts ran on overdrive and several ideas popped into his head as though they had presented themselves for his viewing pleasure. Many of these ideas were already things that chief strategists would be proud of, but Leonel threw them out one by one without the slightest care, only keeping the ones that were relatively decent by his standards.

    By the time he could see the residential area of the Void Palace again, he had come to a conclusion in his thoughts.

    Up ahead, he noticedбн

    ''Oneбн Twoбн Fourбн Seven total.''

    Almost the instant he appeared, seven seemingly unrelated individuals had odd changes to their expressions before carefully turning and beginning to walk away. There didn''t seem to be anything wrong with their actions at all, but Leonel suddenly accelerated.

    Appearing before the first in the blink of an eye, his fist shot outward.

    He didn''t ask questions, he didn''t double check his conjecture, he didn''t even ask them for information.

    ? His father''s name made even the Void Elders quake in fear, but he wasn''t his father. It seemed he would have to teach these people one by one that he could be more fearsome than even his old man.

    And he would start with these Galaxy Ranked disciples.

    The sound of shattering bone echoed.

 Chapter 1454 Winding Shadow

    Leonel''s actions were vicious and without regard.

    The first student shot out like a speed bullet, their chest caving inward and pieces of flesh and organ flying out of their mouths as they spit up blood.

    Leonel''s body flickered, his speed touching realms these lower level Sixth Dimensional existences couldn''t even fathom, his fists radiating with Bronze Runes as he pummeled them down one by one.

    Those who happened to be lingering in the surroundings watching on with flickering gazes. Leonel didn''t speak, he didn''t give them a chance to explain, he didn''t even seem to be looking them in the eye. He didn''t even show any mercy for any of the women within the group.

    His palm grasped the face of a young man, slamming the back of his head into the touch ground. The latter''s arms seized, reaching up into the air as he seemed to go into some sort of epileptic shock. But, Leonel had already moved on

    Appearing before a young woman, his heel had already slammed into her temple before she registered his existence.

    Her head rebounded off the ground, only to be forced to come to a halt as the sole of Leonel''s foot stomped downward, deforming her cheek and shattering her jaw.

    She reached up a hand, trying to grasp at Leonel''s leg to pull him off of her. But, he simply grasped her wrist, his gaze flashing with a blinding light as he pulled.

    A heart rending shriek shook those watching to the core as Leonel ripped her arm from its socket, a bloodied mess pooling into the surroundings.

    Leonel let the arm drop, his cold, indifferent expression fading into the distance as he walked away from the scene, not sparing anyone else a glance.

    He hadn''t done this to stop information from spreading to begin with. He had only done it for two reasons. First as a warning, and second to vent.

    Soon, he appeared before a Senate Branch. Entering, he finally turned in the Three Star Void Mission and received his rewards.

    The mission initially had an award of 118 000. After becoming a One Star Mission it doubled, it doubled again after becoming Two Star, and it doubled once more after becoming Three Star. That gave Leonel 944 000 Void Points.

    In addition, because it was a Three Star Mission, that also gave them three Void Merits to work with.

    Taking advantage of their pardon, Leonel gave the contract over to the administrator overseeing the branch and had her void it. After that process was through, Leonel turned and left.

    If these Void Points were combined with what Leonel had taken from Orinik, he actually had nearly 5 million Void Points.

    Toward such a thing, Leonel could only inwardly shake his head. He and Aina had put their life on the line for less than a million, but Orinik had made more than four times that exploiting their hard work. It was no wonder he had been feeling so smug.

    There was still a bit more than a week and a half until Aina could turn cash in her Void Merits, and it was quite obvious from what those lackies of Treanna Viror had said that this was what the latter was targeting.

    Aina had told Leonel that the contract was actually meant to trade her Void Merits in exchange for ''protection services''.

    Obviously, if Aina was handing all her Void Merits to Treanna, she would never be able to use the Void Merit method to get out of the contract in the first place. It was an obvious trick, but it was also clear that Treanna thought so little of the matter that she hadn''t even bothered to hide her attempt to clearly extort Aina through threats that weren''t even veiled.

    Right this moment, Leonel needed information.

    He had a whole database of laws in his mind, but he didn''t know anything about Treanna or what he assumed to be her Faction. He didn''t know if the Viror family even had a Faction, honestly.

    For example, the Morales family didn''t seem to lock themselves into one Faction. From what he could tell, the Morales family never bothered to start its own Faction like the Suaird family had. It seemed that the Stalwart Polearm Party was under the control of someone else.

    Regardless, none of that mattered. There were several information networks that Leonel could take advantage of. But, the best one was probably related to an organization Leonel had no love lost for: Shield Cross Stars.

    The Sith family, the head of Shield Cross Stars'' Stealth Unit. They were the best bet.

    Leonel had learned about most of these things through Fourth Dimensional tier information. Things like simple history and general information like this were easily accessible to him now, so he didn''t have to wander around so blind.

    The Sith family didn''t have just one Faction as there was great competition between its younger generation as well. In fact, it had a Party and a few seats in the Void Senate as well.

    However, Leonel probably couldn''t even afford to have a Party act on his behalf right now. Instead, he targeted a Gold Grade Faction headed by a Sith family member. They called themselves the Winding Shadow Faction.

    There were Silver and even Bronze Grade Factions to choose from, but Leonel felt that there was a good chance that any Faction Treanna was a part of was at least Bronze Grade, likely Silver. She was an expert on the leaderboards, after all, so she couldn''t be underestimated.

    Leonel didn''t want to take the chance of the Faction he requested help from giving him false or partial information just so that they could benefit on the backend. A higher level Faction was less likely to do this.

    Of course, Leonel knew that it was unlikely for even a Bronze Faction to betray him. After all, an information center that couldn''t be trusted wasn''t very far from collapsing. But, he still chose to go this route.

    In the end, half of his five million Void Points went up in smoke. But, in return, he got information about the entire Viror family from top to bottom.

 Chapter 1455 [Bonus Chapter]

    [Bonus chapter for 1500 golden tickets. Next bonus chapter at 2250 golden tickets]

    "Oh? That happened?"

    A light chuckle came from a training room shrouded in darkness.

    The spear stretched his back, basking in its cascade of crackles until he sighed in relief.

    This person was quite the existence. A person near the pinnacle of the Sector Ranked disciples and also an individual in competition to form the next Legacy Faction, Ronan Sith.

    When he heard about Leonel''s request, he didn''t really care much. He might have to care about the higher ranked members of the Viror family, but Treanna was still a relative newbie, only heading a Bronze Faction on the verge of becoming a Silver Faction.

    Though, this was a bit misleading as the resources at Treanna''s finger tips could make even the best Silver Factions tremble. The reason was because she controlled the most lucrative field in the Void Palace: Medicine.

    If you were a Nominal, Quadrant or even a Galaxy Ranked disciple, it was almost 100% guaranteed that you would need her services. Her family supported her and handed this lower level business off to her, and she suffocated the market competition to the point others didn''t dare to raise their heads.

    Even if many were unsatisfied, there was little to nothing they could do. If they wanted to survive and have their injuries cured in a timely fashion, they could only suck it up.

    Treanna knew this well and took great advantage of it, upping prices, demanding exorbitant fees, and using this control over the market to begin influencing others of her level.

    The only reason she was still heading a Bronze Ranked Faction, the Green Touch Faction, was because they lacked the combat related merits to reach higher levels, but they had already ticked all of the other boxes. It was only a matter of time.

    In fact, if Ronan remembered correctly, they should be able to accomplish it in a month or two.

    This was probably why Treanna was so infuriated with Aina. With her Void Merits taking a hit, it would take more effort and time to accomplish something that was once inevitable.

    Thinking to this point, his lip curled. How interesting, it seemed they would have a nice show to watch.

    He had originally asked to be informed about any Leonel related information because he was very interested in Velasco and Leonel happened to be at the center of a lot of conflict right now, more than maybe any other single person.

    Setting aside the Treanna and White Lion Bow problem, the largest conflict currently ongoing in the Void Palace was between the sword and spear factions. This conflict was pretty much perpetual, but the expulsion of the Stalwart Polearm Party and their demotion back to Legacy Faction was like oil to the fire.

    There was a lot of hot blood to go around and for someone like Ronan, this was the most interesting show to watch.

    ''It''s not fun when things are too one sided. I''m glad this Leonel has the stones and wealth to try and level the playing field. But, Treanna won''t be an easy opponent to deal with.''

    "Let my younger cousins in on this. There''s likely going to be a ton of people wanting information on this struggle, so let them benefit. Others can''t afford our prices anyway."

    "Yes, Faction Head!"

    **

    It took Leonel only a few seconds to go through all of the information.

    So, it seemed that the Viror family didn''t have anyone on the Void Senate, this was good news. Leonel would have still dealt with Treanna, not to mention those three who had attacked Aina, without the slightest hesitation anyway. But, this just meant that things would be less troublesome.

    ''This situation is still complex, though. If this information is correct, then the stake the Viror family has in Treanna isn''t small. It''s very likely that they''re propping her up and accelerating her growth so that one day she can get them the seat they''re missing.''

    If Ronan could read Leonel''s thoughts, he would be shocked to see that Leonel had already drawn such a conclusion.

    The information they gave out was bare bones. It didn''t have any theories or deductions on it, just raw numbers and facts. For Leonel to reach this conclusion, and so quickly at that, without having understood the family dynamics prior to this, was shocking beyond belief.

    ''Whatever I do, then, I have to account for their reaction. The strongest Faction of the Viror family is Gold Ranked. They aren''t combat specialists, but their Lineage Factor is exceptional at area control. And, considering Treanna is ranked on the leaderboard, there''s little doubt that believing they can''t be lethal will cause me to suffer.''

    Leonel soon returned to where the home Aina had gotten for them burnt down.

    Unfortunately, this wasn''t against the rules. Though Leonel had methods of using his unranked status to make them suffer, he wasn''t satisfied with this alone. It would at most be a small papercut to a behemoth like that.

    The flames had long since gone out and there was nothing remaining but charred fragments of wood. He stared at it for a while before turning away.

    He didn''t plan on lifting a single finger to clean it up, he would make Treanna get on her knees and clean up the pieces one by one. Then, she would buy them another home with a bright smile on her bruised face.

    If she didn''t, Leonel wouldn''t mind tying her up in the nude for everyone to ''admire her figure''.

    With a flicker, Leonel vanished, his speed nothing more than a line of white gold to most until he appeared within Spear Faction territory.

    Right now, he had time to kill until Aina woke up. The next step of his plan relied on her. Not her power, but rather her ability.

    The smart thing to do would probably be to get a head start on raising his finger Designation. But, he really wanted to use a spear right now.

    What happened when he tried to enter a training room, though, left him baffled.

    "Uncle Montez?"

    "Kid, you''ve been here for so long already and this is the first time you''ve tried to train your spear? Do you think I just have time to waste here waiting for you?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. How was he supposed to know he was here and waiting for him?

 Chapter 1456 Really?

    "What''s with that face, do you need a beating, brat?"

    Leonel''s expression became weirder. Uncle Montez had always been a nice guy, why did he sound so much like Wise Star Order all of a sudden?

    Granted, Leonel hadn''t seen him for a few years since he hadn''t cleared an Earth Zone in a while. But, that wasn''t enough for a man well into his middle ages to have such a sudden and drastic change in personality, right?

    The commotion Montez caused wasn''t small, and it also didn''t help that he was still wearing that dazzling golden armor he usually did.

    The spear faction community was a neighborhood of sorts, but there were no residences. Everything in the region was tailored toward the spear and its training. In comparison to the other regions of the Void Palace Leonel had been in, this region was tidy and well kept, and it even seemed that the perpetual darkness was lifted here.

    There was definitely a formation of sorts protecting this region.

    That said, not just anyone could enter. Not only did Leonel have to display his Spear Force, he had to pay a fee of Void Points AND Void Merits. After paying a Void Merit and a 100 000 Void Points, he gained the right to stay here for a single day.

    It was only after entering, though, that Leonel understood why things were like this. If he could stay here indefinitely, he wouldn''t even bother to go and find a residence for himself. This place was much too luxurious.

    Even if it hadn''t looked so nice, just the fact the Anarchic Force in this region seemed to be dimmed by at least tenfold was worth it. It would be far easier to recover and train in this place.

    But, it was also because of all of these reasons that Montez''s reaction was far too over the top. He should know that Leonel had just made it here, how much quicker was he supposed to gather 100 000 Void Points and a Void Merit, exactly?

    Leonel looked around to find that a lot of people were looking over.

    Some looked toward Montez with reverence, others looked amused, but before Leonel could reconcile what was happening, the shout of a woman echoed through the skies.

    "MONTEZ, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT STEPPING FOOT HERE?!"

    "Shit. Get to running, kid."

    Montez''s figure flickered and vanished. But, Leonel wasn''t nearly as vast and couldn''t do anything before a woman fell from the skies like a meteor.

    BANG!

    Montez had already vanished but Leonel found himself unable to move.

    The woman had a valiant head of bronzed hair, her skin reflecting a healthy sheen of brown and olive. However, the oddest thing was that she looked to have covered her exposed skin in oil, making several young men in the surroundings gulp.

    Didn''t she know what kind of enticement this brought?!

    The woman wore a short, pleated skirt, made of plates of armor. It barely covered a third of the way down her thighs, and when she swayed, the leather-like bottoms she wore were revealed, clinging tightly around the curve of her groin.

    On top, her chest was bandaged and pressed down firmly. She wasn''t well endowed in that area, but the bulges still left quite little to the imagination.

    Other than this, she wore no other clothing aside from wrist guards and a ribbon to tie her hair up.

    In her right hand, she held a spear even taller than herself, which was saying something considering she was almost eye level with Leonel despite her gender.

    Of course, you would manage to notice all things if your eyes hadn''t gotten stuck roaming along her chiseled abs. She managed to make Leonel wonder if he was even considered to be fit, but he then concluded that the oil was definitely a great help to her.

    The woman snarled, realizing that Montez had escaped before her gaze shifted and landed on Leonel. She looked him up and down, her gaze still as fierce. But, seemingly noticing that Aina was sleeping on his back, her expression suddenly softened.

    "Forget it. Go off, he probably has something he wants to share with you."

    The woman shook her head, turning to leave.

    "Um, missбк!"

    Leonel called out, a hint of confusion still in his eyes.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel smiled. "I''m a bit confused, can you tell me about Uncle Montez?"

    "Oh? You call him uncle? He''s probably happy about that."

    Leonel blinked. He had only started calling Montez uncle because he felt it was more ingratiating, it had also helped him gain some extra benefits from him. Plus, he liked Montez and it could be said a lot of his current accomplishments were thanks to Montez, whether it was <Dimensional Cleanse> or Little Tolly, not to mention Little Blackstar''s copy bloodline.

    But, this woman''s words seemed to imply something else?

    Seeing Leonel''s confusion, the woman shook her head, disdain flashing in her eye.

    "Others might choose to keep their nose out of this, but I don''t particularly care. I hate seeing things that annoy me."

    Leonel''s lip twitched, but he didn''t say anything. This woman was quite fierce.

    "Just an annoying pair of brats. That Velasco fool also ran away before I could shove my spear up his ass. And now that Montez bastard is breaking the rules by coming here when he was very clearly kicked out of the Void Palace, he''s not even meant to be here.

    "A pair of idiot brothers, each more annoying than the last. How they managed to remain practically the same person when they''ve refused to talk to one another for almost decades now is beyond me."

    Leonel''s brows shot up, his heart skipping a beat.

    The woman sniffed the air.

    "I can smell the same annoying air on you, you''re definitely going to cause trouble just like them. I''m watching you, brat. I have enough spears for all of you."

    After saying this, the woman turned and walked away, leaving Leonel in a daze.

    Montez was really his uncle?

 Chapter 1457 Art

    Leonel walked toward the direction Montez had gone, his gaze still flickering.

    If what the woman implied was true, then his dad and Montez seemed to be at odds. In that case, depending on the reason, maybe the reason Montez was acting weird was because his dad had probably done something to make the situation worse recently.

    Leonel wouldn''t be surprised. He heard his dad was the reason the tensions between the spear and sword factions had taken such a huge turn recently, accelerating a lot of the issues the two groups had already been having.

    "Kid, you''re quite slow."

    "You''re really my uncle?"

    Leonel ignored Montez''s words and got right to the point.

    Montez tilted his head to the side. "You''re quite slow, kid. You think I just allow any random riffraff to call me uncle? You have no idea the kind of weight words hold, especially when you''ve reached my level. You can''t just casually allow ties to form between people."

    Leonel blinked. Why was he always getting reprimanded by old people, couldn''t any of them be normal?

    He really didn''t know why he hadn''t seen it before, honestly. If Montez had acted like this before, he would have been the spitting image of Velasco. Both of them were insufferable, but in a special sort of ''I''m only doing this for your own good'', kind of way.

    "Alright, now follow me."

    Montez ignored Leonel''s weird expression and turned away as though this wasn''t world shattering news, also something that was identical to his father. Only Velasco would be so casual with such a large piece of information as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

    "You two really are brothers," Leonel laughed.

    Montez''s head snapped back, a glare in his eyes.

    "Ooo, scary." Leonel rolled his eyes.

    He had spent every day of almost 18 years with his father, he had already built up enough immunity to this stuff and he had his own bag of tricks to deal with it.

    He didn''t seem to realize, though, that he had also slipped back into his role as a child, his heart feeling light. He couldn''t even remember the last time he had rolled his eyes, it just wasn''t something he did. But, it just felt quite easy to be childish around his dad, and it somehow also felt natural to be like this around Montez as well.

    Montez''s glare suddenly became a smile, a devious sort of grin.

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. He also knew that look. He was just a toddler the first time he saw it, back when that old man put the first cup of that vomit brew right in front of him. Now, this face was practically an exact copy of what Leonel remembered.

    ''Oh boyбн''

    Montez turned back and soon led Leonel into a tower-like building. After passing through the reception, they entered what felt like an elevator and eventually came to a room.

    Large tiles of about a meter by a meter lined the floors, walls and ceiling. They were all matte black and were somewhat soft and warm to the touch.

    At the center of the room, there was a kneeling table with some objects on it.

    Montez strolled forward and Leonel followed, the door closing after them. Turning back, Leonel couldn''t even see the entrance any longer.

    There didn''t seem to be any light in this place, but somehow there was still just enough to see around.

    Seeing Montez kneel at the table, Leonel carefully untied Aina from his back and kneeled as well. He thought of finding a place for her to sleep more comfortably. But, she ended up rolling in her sleep and claiming his left thigh as her pillow.

    Montez didn''t say anything about this, just looking at the items on the table.

    "That annoying chauvinist probably didn''t leave you anything about the spear, right?"

    Leonel thought for a moment before shaking his head. His dad really hadn''t left him anything obvious, but wasn''t the Spear Domain ring still on his finger?

    "He left the Spear Domain with me. It''s helped me with my spear training a lot."

    Leonel wasn''t wrong. The Spear Domain was probably the best trainer of the spear in all of existence, filled with tens of thousands of teachers.

    Montez''s eyes flashed with an enraged light for a moment, but it quickly faded.

    "I don''t mean that, I mean something like he likely did with your Crafting training. That chauvinist is arrogant, he thinks he''s above even the Spear Domain. If he really cared, he would have left you personalized training."

    Leonel nodded, Montez was probably right. His dad really was like that.

    But, then again, that old man had said he''d teach him a lesson if he dared awaken his Spear Domain Lineage Factor first. So, he must really not like the spear for some reason.

    "You''re right, he left me a Crafting training program, but nothing about the spear."

    Montez shook his head, clearly expecting this.

    "It''s no wonder you haven''t grasped Sixth Dimensional Spear Force yet. If you can''t grasp it before entering the Sixth Dimension, I''ll take it upon myself to kick you out of our family line."

    Leonel was speechless. He really didn''t know what to do about this uncle-father pair of his.

    "Now focus, what do you see here?"

    Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    Before was what looked like a xylophone mallet, a paint brush, and an elaborately designed fountain pen and its ink.

    "A mallet, a paint brush and a fountain pen and an ink well."

    "Good, you''re going to learn how to play music, write poetry and paint from me until I''m satisfied."

    Leonel was left stunned.

    "Excuse me?"

    "Did I not speak clearly enough?"

    Leonel didn''t know what to say. He had never done any of that stuff, not to mention the fact he didn''t think that he would be very good at it. With his logical personality, how was he supposed to make art?

    Wait, that wasn''t even the point. What was the use of this? What did this have to do with the spear?

    ''Distraction. Right, I need a distraction to escape from this place.''

    "Um, Uncle Montez, who was that beautiful lady? I think she likes you, maybe you should pursue her. In my experience, women don''t get so riled up about men they don''t care about."

    Montez raised a brow. "Of course she likes me, she''s my wife."

    Leonel was thoroughly defeated. Who runs away from their wife like that?

 Chapter 1458 Failed Distraction

    Leonel cleared his throat, trying to gloss over the awkward gaffe.

    "It''s nice that you''re not a bachelor, having someone by your side in your old age is good."

    "Are you calling me old, brat?"

    Leonel smiled. "I heard for auntie that you''re not supposed to be in the Void Palace at all, how''d you pull it off?"

    Montez seemed gratified for a moment that Leonel was calling his wife auntie. But, hearing his question, he snorted.

    "Morales men do as they please, as if they can stop me from visiting my wife and nephew if I want."

    "Your wife doesn''t seem to want you to visit, though."

    Montez seemed to blush for a moment, but he quickly recovered.

    "What do you know?! That woman told me not to appear before her again until I decided to put a baby inside her, she''s crazy!"

    Leonel sputtered, rolling his lips over each other to stop himself from laughing any harder. He realized that finding his uncle''s weakness was the same as finding his father''s weakness. Velasco was lucky that Leonel hadn''t known his mother for most of his life, but now that he did, he wouldn''t let that old man off next time he saw him.

    "Then just put a baby in her, don''t tell me you''re impotent, unc?"

    Montez''s expression darkened. "Who''s impotent?! My vitality could run circles around yours, you''re lucky I''m a married man or else I''d take you to the closest brothel and bury you!"

    Leonel laughed so hard his vision blurred. The role models in his family seemed to really be top notch. It was no wonder their wives had such a tight leash on him. Luckily, he was a much better man and hadn''t stumbled into these degenerate ways.

    Montez shook his head.

    "You did a good job distracting me, but you''re not getting out of this one."

    Montez snapped his fingers and Leonel''s teleportation attempt shattered, leaving his face sunken.

    "How''d you find out?" Leonel practically pouted.

    "You think that you hide anything from me within my absolute domain? You''d better forget about running away. You''re going to sit here until I''m satisfied, and you''re going to continue coming here as well, or else I won''t mind spanking you in front of your little girlfriend."

    Leonel sighed and shook his head. "What is the point of all of this? If you''re really capable, go and take your rage out on my that old man, why are you torturing me?"

    SNAP!

    Leonel winced, rubbing his forehead.

    Montez had moved faster than he could track, flicking his forehead so hard he was almost certain that a lump would form if not for his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor.

    "Oh? That''s not a bad bloodline, surprising for that trash family. I bet it still hurts, though. There''s more where that came from too if you keep wagging your tongue."

    Leonel rubbed his forehead, realizing that he wasn''t going to get out of this.

    How annoying. He didn''t have a single artistic bone in his body, how was he supposed to do this, exactly? And how was this going to be helpful?

    Painting and calligraphy wouldn''t be hard. Leonel was fairly certain that he could copy perfectly. However, he had a feeling that his uncle wanted him to do much more than just copy.

    "You''ve almost reached full mastery of yourбк."

    "Wait! I don''t want to hear about future and current Spear Forces, I want to comprehend them all on my own."

    Hearing this, Montez''s expression flickered, his brow furrowing before loosening. Then, he laughed, his booming voice almost shattering the protective sheen around Aina and nearly making Leonel''s ears bleed.

    "Fine. You''ve almost reached full mastery of your Fifth Dimensional Spear Force, how would you describe it?"

    "Controlled range."

    Montez blinked. "I''ve never heard it summed up in two words before, but this is probably the most correct explanation I''ve ever heard at the same time.

    "The spear is not just about being able to kill enemies from a larger range. It is the King of the Battlefield, a General''s weapon, because it represents not elegance, not fancy tricks, not flare, but rather a dominion.

    "Within the range of a spear, nothing should be able to enter without dying, and nothing should be able to get close without your permission.

    "That "controlled range", is your Spear Domain. But, I can see at a glance that your control is lacking. You have no discipline and no method of honing it."

    Leonel shook his head. Him? Lacking control? That was probably the one thing he had in spades, he didn''t understand or agree with this conclusion at all.

    Someone else might eat up the words someone so much stronger than they were saying, but Leonel was known for his stubbornness and he didn''t like accepting things he couldn''t under the purpose of. He had even spent so long in the Four Seasons Realm all because he couldn''t understand why the Heavenly Body Realm had to come next, and only barely accepted it and broke through after Wise Star Order explained it to him.

    Quite simply put, he would need more than this.

    Plus, didn''t his uncle just say the spear didn''t have any elegance, fancy tricks or flare? What was poetry, music and painting if not exactly those three things? He was already contradicting himself.

    Montez sighed.

    "A man needs to have a hard exterior, but his heart must be boundless. The spear is just the same. It is the weapon of a man willing to place everything on his shoulders, but the root of that is just as important as its outcome, the method by which you go about it is maybe even more important.

    "Simplicity itself isn''t beautiful. It''s simplicity that has roots in complexity that is beautiful.

    "If I describe my emotions to you, I can easily say: I am angry. That is simple, that will get the point across, but it lacks any sort of beauty. However, if I sayбн"

    Montez''s palm flipped over, revealing a calligraphy pen.

    He unfurled a sheet of paper, his demeanor shifting and a mark of dignity appearing between his brows.

    His wrist flexed, his pen racing across the paper.

    "Thunder claps to the beating of my heart. The world remains ignorant to my thoughts."

    Leonel squinted, the forceful strokes making his eyes sting.

    "Two simple phrases, barely five times the number of words, but the depth is infinitely greater.

    "At the same timeбн"

    Montez''s arm shot forward, his pen stopping a mere tenth of a centimeter from Leonel''s brows.

    Leonel''s hair blew back, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead and dripping onto the tip of the pen.

    "бнThe strength beyond the strike gains the same profoundness."

 Chapter 1459 DONG!

    In a few moments, Leonel could think of quite a few interpretations of his uncle''s words, the most important and profound of which was the dichotomy between the presence of a clap of thunder, compared to the irony of the world''s ignorance.

    The clap of thunder was supposedly the subjects beating heart, and everyone could so clearly hear it, and yet they had no idea just what that represented.

    Whatever hidden rage and fury that caused the skies to quake was still bottled away, hidden in the tip of the very pen before him.

    It was a powerful imagery, and it made Leonel somewhat understand what his uncle was trying to say. The spear was a steady and controlled weapon, but that didn''t mean that the intent behind it had to be. In fact, if the intent behind it was too shallow, then it also made the spear weak.

    It was just like what his uncle had said about being a man. It was good if a man was willing to take on burdens and weigh down his shoulders. But, if he didn''t have a good reason for doing so, if his resolve was weak and lacking, then his back would easily break.

    Montez wanted Leonel''s spear to be steady, swallowing up all its elegance and flare, and exploding it forth in a single strike.

    "The calligraphy pen teaches the weight of words, but not just that. It teaches you how to embody the meaning and feel of those words into strokes. They''re not just words, they are strikes of your spear."

    Montez unfurled another sheet of paper.

    "They can be FORCEFUL. They can be SUBTLE. They can be SWIFT. They can be GENTLE."

    With every emphasized word, he wrote another, his strokes changing like the wind. Leonel''s eyes glazed over, he could almost see the pen as a spear and the stance of his uncle, his style morphing on a whim and without the slightest pause.

    The variations made what Leonel had learned from the primitive woman seem like a joke. He couldn''t change like this, he lacked the proper sort of intent.

    "These four words are the ones you will start with. Until you can replicate the intent to my liking, I won''t let you continue to do other things, at least not related to this."

    "What happened to poetry?" Leonel asked.

    "Poetry? You can''t even understand the intent behind single words, how can you string them together?"

    "Wordsбн?"

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. He suddenly thought back to his battle with Myghell. That cousin of his had the habit of speaking out single words before he attacked. Could it beбн?

    After hesitating, Leonel decided to ask. He had originally thought that that was Myghell''s Ability Index or something related to it, but then Myghell exposed his devour type Ability Index, so Leonel never got the answer he wanted. And, after that, so many things happened that he had forgotten to ask.

    "бн Ah, I see. This Myghell is interesting."

    Montez scratched his chin, smiling. He suddenly wanted to learn a bit more about this Myghell.

    "The truth of the matter is that this method of training the spear was self-created by your grandfather. I refined it somewhat after I matured and your father always ignored it, insisting on doing things his own way. He doesn''t even use his spear 90% of the time."

    Montez shook his head, stopping himself from going on another rant about Velasco.

    "However, just because it is created by our family line, doesn''t mean that others might not have thought of similar methods. This Myghell is quite the genius.

    "You, though, my little nephew, seem to be a bit dumb."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. Was that necessary?

    It wasn''t that he was stupid, but his mentality wasn''t right to think of such a method on his own.

    ''Maybe I am a bit slow,'' Leonel laughed at himself. ''With how important Artistic Conception is to strength in this world, I should have guessed that there was such a method. But, if it was me, I wouldn''t choose poetry, painting or music. I would choose to use Force Arts.''

    In Leonel''s opinion, the beauty of a Force Art was far beyond poetry, painting or music. But, the difficulty in creating an Artistic Conception through Force Arts was several times more difficult.

    Force Arts were the foundation of life and being. If Leonel wanted to give it life, it would quite literally be like creating life.

    Leonel picked up the calligraphy pen, ready to start. But, his uncle''s palm stopped him.

    "Hold on, now. If I don''t give you other tasks, you''ll probably end up slamming your head against a wall trying to get this right. The only way for you to stay sane is by switching between tasks.

    "Creativity isn''t like any other training you''ve ever done, the drain is far heavier than a monotonous task. It''s even more important, then, that you know how to switch when you''ve reached your limit.

    "The next thing I will show you is the power of rhythm and music."

    Montez''s palm flipped over to reveal another mallet. But, this one had a golden ball on the end of it that radiated with mysterious ruins.

    Montez clasped his palms together, his demeanor shifting once again.

    At that moment, a flood of Earth Force surged.

    Montez opened up his clasped palms, radiant Earth Force taking root in the air and suddenly forming illusory keys. They shimmering with a resplendent silvery bronze.

    With a slight movement, Montez''s arm rose, his wrist flicking and striking down.

    DONG!

    Leonel''s eyes widened. Montez''s Force hadn''t even formed physical metal, but it struck the Force as though he had. He never thought that something like that was even possible.

    However, Leonel soon lost himself entirely. The first strike seemed to be nothing more than a test, it echoed through the room and fused with the walls, making Leonel feel as though his whole rib cage was vibrating.

    But, the following strikes were much more peaceful.

    Leonel found himself breathing to the rhythm of the music. And then, he felt like he couldn''t even hear the music at all, but rather than he had been transported to an entirely new world, one where a man stood alone in the face of an army with nothing more than a single spear to his side.

    His hair fluttered, his eyes losing focus.

 Chapter 1460 Trash

    The music became something beyond just its notes and its resonance. It painted the atmosphere itself, deciding the rhythm of Leonel''s heart and plucking the strings of his emotion. It was almost like nothing else mattered but the sounds he was hearing, even what was truly before his eyes no longer mattered.

    When the music stopped, Leonel sat in silence for a long while, unmoving. His blood boiled, rushing through his veins like flood dragons. The beating of his heart thrummed like the roar of beasts.

    It took him several moments to calm and realize that the music he had just heard sounded nothing like a xylophone. It felt like an entire orchestra was roaring at him.

    Strings, brass, wind and wood instruments. It was far fuller than a single instrument could possibly hope to replicate. He couldn''t understand how such a thing had been replicated.

    When he snapped out of his daze, his brows furrowed as he tried to understand.

    "Are you confused?"

    "Yes," Leonel replied without hesitation.

    In return, he gained a mallet to the forehead. Only when he started rubbing his forehead again, did Montez begin to explain.

    "When you create your own instrument, you can make it sound like whatever you want it to sound like. If I want it to sound like a xylophone, I simply strike."

    DONG!

    Montez struck simply, allowing the metal on mallet sound to resound.

    "If I want it to sound like a piano, I just have to change its form."

    The thick bar of illusory silver bronze Earth Force thinned out, becoming as thin as a string.

    When Montez struck down, it sounded no different from the hammer of a piano landing, almost as though Montez had pressed a key rather than striking with a mallet.

    "If I want it to sound like a flute, I simply don''t strike at all."

    The string changed form again, becoming thicker. But this time, when Montez swung down, his mallet hit nothing but air.

    The rush of wind resonated with the hovering illusory Earth Force, causing it to vibrate and release a soothing whistle.

    "The malleability of Force is only as limited as your imagination. If I want you to hear a hundred different instruments with nothing more than a single strike, it wouldn''t be difficult for me."

    "Then I''m guessing the mallet isn''t necessary either?"

    "No, it isn''t necessary. Much like your pen, it is nothing more than a guide. When you are in your strongest battle form, bringing out a pen or a mallet isn''t possible. Though, I guess if you want to play around a bit, it wouldn''t be impossible to deal with enemies like this.

    "That said, you''d have to have strong enough attainments, or else you would just end up embarrassing yourself."

    Montez chuckled to himself as though he could already imagine Leonel failing. The sight of his nephew trying to strike the air with a mallet, only to be cut in half by a sword, seemed quite amusing to him.

    Toward this, Leonel could only shake his head. His uncle really was too much like his dad. If he wanted love, it seemed he could only rely on his mother and grandmother.

    Montez''s palm flipped over, his mallet vanished, and a paint brush appeared after he finished laughing. Somehow, the air he gave off now was far more profound and far heavier than when he had picked up the pen and mallet.

    "The pen and the words of your heart guide the stroke of your spear. Your mallet and the music of your heart guides the core principle of your Absolute Domain. However, it is the brush and dreams of your heart that guides the power of your spear."

    As Montez spoke, he dipped the brush, his gaze becoming sharper and sharper as he lowered it to the unfurled canvas.

    "A single stroke sets a line. A dozen strokes sets a foundation. A hundred strokes sets a tone. A thousand strokes decides the atmosphere."

    One stroke shone. A dozen strokes caused the sounds of sharpening blades to resonate through the room. A hundred strokes forced these blades to take form, circulating around Montez. A thousand strokes made the blades sing, the canvas shimmering with a blinding gold as a spear mark appeared before Montez''s head.

    When the canvas finally stopped shimmering and Leonel could stop squinting, he looked down to find a far simpler image that he would have expected to find.

    It was just a single spear. In fact, it wasn''t even a whole spear, the polearm was incomplete and the blade was only about a fifth to a fourth complete judging by these dimensions. However, when he looked toward his uncle, the latter was drenched in sweat.

    With a flick of his wrist, Montez caused a blade of ink to split the canvas in half, not leaving a single mark on the table beneath it.

    "Trashбн" he mumbled beneath his breath, shaking his head.

    The canvas suddenly corroded as though it was metal before crumbling to dust. A rush of wind blew it away as though it was never there a moment later.

    "Don''t even think about drawing a spear, it''s beyond you. Start with simple sceneries. I''m too tired to draw an example for you, but I''m sure you''ll figure it out. Also, you''re only allowed to use black and white. Give your work color through the atmosphere it gives off. Color will only distract and fool you."

    Clearly done with this, Montez stood, preparing to walk out.

    His palm flipped over and a pile of paper and canvases appeared. Once he was done, he strolled out without another word.

    Leonel didn''t say anything as Montez left, he could tell that his uncle wasn''t in the mood so he just remained silent. He didn''t like talking much when he was upset either, which was usually why he didn''t say anything to his enemies in battle, he just directly killed them. Things were easier like that.

    Leonel looked back toward the table before him and sighed. Seems he would have to find that artistic bone he was lacking.

 Chapter 1461 Forceful

    Leonel was tempted to start with the most complicated, but in the end, he chose to pick up the calligraphy pen. It had an odd extra joint to it that made the nib off angle to the rest of the pen. If Leonel recalled correctly, they called this an oblique calligraphy pen. It was supposed to make it easier to match the aesthetic necessary for calligraphy.

    FORCEFUL. SUBTLE. SWIFT. GENTLE.

    The words flashed in Leonel''s mind.

    Since he already decided to start with the easiest of the three, he also chose the easiest approach and just copied everything his uncle had done.

    However, Leonel was only a single stroke in before he realized that he already lacked the same flair.

    ''Huhбн Interestingбн''

    Everything was the exact same, Leonel was certain of it. Everything from the angle of his arm and wrist, even down to the speed at every point of attack. It was all exactly the same.

    Leonel smiled, this confirmed one thing. This was definitely not a useless exercise, there was something else that he was missing, likely a comprehension of sorts.

    This was a good thing, because it was clear that the old man planned on locking him in here until he made some progress. If he was stuck here doing something useless, Leonel would rather ram his head against a wall.

    The fury he felt before getting here had somewhat faded after meeting his Uncle Montez again. But, if he couldn''t make any progress, he knew it would come back. By then, he would probably be far more serious about finding a way out of here.

    ''Alright, then. Since this is a worthwhile endeavor, what am I missing?''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. His uncle had been outside the range of his Starry Spirit Domain, so unfortunately Leonel couldn''t rely on that. Truthfully, that was an oversight on his part. But, if he was honest, he would have probably hurt himself had he tried to take that approach, if not in calligraphy or music, his uncle''s attempt at painting a spear would have definitely destroyed his mind.

    ''Then is this a different sort of application of King''s Might?''

    Leonel had been practicing the <Dragon''s Might> technique his mother had left behind for a while. But, its effectiveness had somewhat diminished, mostly because he didn''t put as much effort into it as he should have.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel''s original plan to give his King''s Might form was to use his Innate Node as a foundation, and that succeeded. But, since then, he had yet to upgrade it. This was mostly due to the fact that Leonel had too many different things to improve in, he was constantly being pulled in all sorts of directions and it was hard to remember them all, let alone improve in them all.

    Back when Leonel first manifested his King''s Mind in the form of a miniature humanoid, he hadn''t even comprehended a single Destruction Rune yet. But now he had comprehended 729 Destruction Runes thanks to whatever had happened when he was stuck in his Dream World.

    From what he understood, there were nine basic runes, these formed the foundation of the Third Dimension.

    To form complete Fourth Dimensional comprehension, you had to fuse nine basic runes nine times, forming nine large runes. This meant that to master the Fourth Dimension, you needed to comprehend 81 Destruction Runes.

    Finally, you had to repeat the process all over again for the Fifth Dimension, this time forming nine large runes and fusing them together nine times, for a total of 729 runes.

    So, if Leonel wanted to master the Sixth Dimension and pull Sixth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force from the atmosphere with no impact to his body, he would need to comprehend 6561 runes, and so on.

    One might wonder since Leonel had mastered 729 runes, why it was that he still couldn''t use his larger Innate Node.

    The main issue stepped from the fact it had grown far too large. While it was, indeed, in the Fifth Dimension, it had a complete set of Runes, sitting at almost five million total runes combined into one behemoth.

    This meant that while Leonel''s Innate Node was in the Fifth Dimension, it had access to the full Rune set of a Ninth Dimensional Innate Node, making it far more powerful than a usual Fifth Dimensional Innate Node. This was the price Leonel paid for having an Innate Node that had outgrown him.

    That said, because his second Innate Node had been placed in his left kidney, he now had an Innate Node that had outgrown him, and another than had actually lagged behind him. It would only take a small effort to unseal this second Innate Node to the Fifth Dimension, the only reason Leonel hadn''t was because he had yet to be in a situation where he needed andбн

    Well, would you casually mess with a seal that just magically appeared in your body without a good reason?

    Leonel still had too many questions about what was going on. And, as he tended to do, he dragged his feet when he couldn''t immediately understand something, situations that were, truthfully, quite rare for him.

    ''Let me hold off on upgrading my <Dragon''s Might> for now. I have a feeling that if I do, it would actually interfere with my ability to do this instead of helpingбн''

    If Leonel''s King''s Might skewed in one direction too much, wouldn''t it make it difficult for him to grasp the artistic conception of other words?

    ''In that caseбн what did I feel when Uncle Montez''s pen connected to paperбн? FORCEFULбн''

    Leonel hand hovered, his pupils flickering, his gaze sometimes dull and, at other times, lively.

    ''Free, powerful, unworriedбн No, not unworried, more like understanding the gravity and still not caring, it''s a more subtle feeling than that.''

    Leonel''s body wafted with his King''s Might as his demeanor shifted and changed. He only vaguely realized that his Tier 4 Control Ability Index had even given unprecedented power even over his own demeanor. However, when he grasped this, the shift was almost immediate.

    Leonel no longer focused on just what his uncle had done, but rather layered in his own comprehensions of forcefulness.

    An entire hour passed before Leonel pressed the pen to the paper. But, when he did, the lightest touch shattered the table, a ray of Spear Force piercing through the ground and threatening to split the tower in two.

 Chapter 1462 Ashen

    Leonel blinked, his brows furrowing.

    He hadn''t put any power behind that. In fact, he had lifted his arm quite gently. However, the power behind it was completely unlike anything he had experienced before. That was easily two times more powerful than his most powerful spear strike, of course assuming that he didn''t use any supplemental Forces and solely relied on his Spear Force.

    Despite this, Leonel wasn''t happy with this.

    He suddenly realized the real reason his uncle was constraining him to paper and canvas like this. Even when his uncle played music, the blades of Spear Force had all been restrained and didn''t even wake up Aina. And yet, he had hardly touched the paper, but he had already split the table in two and made the tower tremble. If it wasn''t for the sturdy walls of this odd training room. He probably would have pierced through it as well.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    He had forgotten something important. It wasn''t just about embodying the word or the line of poetry, it was about concentrating that embodiment into the tip of a spear.

    It was about controlling it.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. How would he do that?

    Embodying forcefulness was easy, he could even use his Ability Index in tandem with his King''s Might to change the foundation of his demeanor. He only listed everything he felt embodied forcefulness, a list of phrases, words, and even paragraphs, and then he tailored his King''s Might to step into that sort of momentum.

    However, if he added the word control to that list, it would basically negate all of the other words he had put in, making the list he had created absolutely useless. What was the point of the list to begin with if he added such a contradictory word to it?

    How could you be forceful and controlled at the same time?

    Leonel fell into thought, his mind running in overdrive. Everything he thought of seemed to contradict itself in one way or another.

    ''Maybe it''s about concentrating it?''

    Leonel shook his head. He thought that maybe the answer was to narrow the scope of the forcefulness. But, not only would that also be contradictory, it would probably only make the effect more exaggerated. If he had concentrated on forcefulness any more, he might have really cut through this room.

    ''Waitбн''

    Leonel''s pupils constricted, his heart skipping a beat.

    His uncle had said: "the pen and the words of your heart guide the stroke of your spear."

    When you were talking about the heart, the stroke of a spear or even a piece of poetry, the cadence and feel didn''t remain the same throughout the entire time.

    Leonel''s mind focused on one of the first things he had placed on the list: "unworriedбн No, not unworried, more like understanding the gravity and still not caring, it''s a more subtle feeling than that."

    Leonel read that line in his mind again and again.

    Understanding and still not caring. That was the key. It wasn''t about being forceful all the time. Control didn''t mean the same thing in every context.

    In the case of forcefulness, a controlled forcefulness wasn''t about being restrained in your forcefulness. Rather, it was about understanding and picking the right time to be forceful. Or, it was about grasping the full scope of the situation and directing your forcefulness toward what needed it.

    When Leonel thought to this point, his gaze began to glow again.

    That was the essence. Control manifested itself in different ways depending on what your goal was, the scope of the word was far beyond his initial bias.

    Leonel sat frozen, his pen hovering above the shattered table. Ink drizzled down, paper was flung in all directions, but he remained unmoving.

    This time, when his pen finally struck downward, it was as though he was writing on the air itself.

    His arm shifted and his wrist glided. Each forceful stroke was like a piercing spear toward the eyes of all those who saw it. If there was someone here to witness this moment now, while to Leonel, he could see it clearly, to them, the light would feel just as blinding as Montez''s attempt at painting a spear.

    When Leonel''s hand came to a stop, the ink hovered in the air, the SHIIIING sound of dancing blades resounding through the air.

    After a moment, the ink fell. But, when it touched the broken table, it tore through, leaving an imprint and searing into the wood as though Leonel had left a brand.

    It was very clearly a success, but Leonel''s frown hadn''t disappeared. It was completely unknown why, by all rights, he had performed excellently.

    At that moment, the door to the training room opened and Montez peeked his head in. The building had suddenly threatened to implode and he came to check what the hell had happened. Compared to the other training rooms, this was fairly low class. And, because he hadn''t paid for Leonel to be here, the protective formations also weren''t activated.

    Of course, he hadn''t told Leonel any of this, thinking it would be funny when Leonel got kicked out. But, he ended up coming back before that.

    When he saw the word etched into the table, his brows shot up. But, whatever surprise he had felt was quickly concealed as Leonel turned toward him.

    Leonel''s expression was a bit embarrassed, but Montez didn''t hold back in the slightest.

    "Your handwriting is shit. Are you planning on creating squiggly spear arts?"

    Leonel''s lip twitched, but there was nothing he could say in response. If he tried to control a spear like this, his attack would be full of holes, not to mention weak.

    Montez shut the door after tossing another table into the room. On the outside, though, his gaze was flickering.

    Three hours, it had been three hours. That he was certain of.

    ''It seems he has a Lineage Factor that helps him concentrate his will. His path into the Sixth Dimension will be a lot easier, thenбн That Fawkes familyбн There''s too many secrets surrounding that grandfather of his.''

    Montez walked away slowly, his mind elsewhere.

    бн

    Inside the room, Leonel had no idea what his uncle was thinking. Instead, he realized he needed to find a way to improve his actual calligraphy.

    Leonel''s handwriting wasn''t actually bad. In fact, after gaining his control Ability Index, it could be said to be near immaculate even though he practically never used it.

    ? The issue was that his minds were occupied by maintaining the proper frame for forcefulness, so he had to rely on himself for the art of his calligraphy.

    This meant that Leonel couldn''t use his Ability Index as a cheat anymore, he had to actually get good at this.

    That left Leonel''s heart trembling. Did that mean he actually had to learn how to paint too?

    Leonel didn''t fear practically anything, but his face was ashen at this thought.

 Chapter 1463 The Stroke Of A Pen

    The only way forward was practice. At least for most people.

    But, Leonel had another potential option: optimization.

    Right now, the definitions and parameters he had set for forcefulness were so deep and extensive that he had no mind left to worry about anything else. He realized now that even if he had just enough mental strength left to guide his hands as well, it still wouldn''t be good enough.

    If his mind was entirely occupied with this move, how would he plan his next move? How could he react if someone sneak attacked him? How would he react if his opponent countered him?

    If he got tunnel vision on a single attack, he would end up shooting himself in the foot.

    Luckily, if the problem was optimization, Leonel had many methods to deal with it.

    The first thing Leonel did was arrange the words into a Dreamscape of its own. With the parameters organized, he began to find connections and groups, organizing them further and simplifying.

    The original layout was in a list. In order to match them perfectly, Leonel went through all of them one by one. But, when organized into a Dreamscape, it became a network, and as a network, each word, phrase, sentence and paragraph had more than just a single connection.

    Using these multi-layered connections sounded like it would make things more complex, but in reality, it checked for an eliminated redundancies.

    If one phrase implied another word, then the word could be glossed over and skipped. Likewise, if a sentence implied a phrase, then it could likewise be ignored.

    The vice versa was also possible. If Leonel had a word like ''strong'', he didn''t need to write a phrase describing a lack of weakness.

    After Leonel was finished, he found that the efficiency had increased by a factor. But, this wasn''t enough. Though it still left him with half his processing power, this wasn''t good enough in his estimation. He shouldn''t need to use this much of his mind for a task like this.

    Plus, if he needed this much for just a single word, what about the others? Who knew if they were more complicated? Or, what if he began to string words together? Even if every word only took half, if he added a second, then he would suddenly find himself right back at square one.

    When Leonel reached this conclusion, he confirmed that this still wasn''t good enough.

    It was then it suddenly clicked. Didn''t he already create the perfect ability for this?!

    Dream Class.

    Dream Class was already the perfect program for this. It was like packaging all of this into a single existence. Swapping them, fusing them, and editing them was as easy as a thought for him.

    The moment Leonel thought this, he created a new Dream Class and he called it Forceful.

    He was so confident that he didn''t even test it out. He immediately moved onto Swift, and then to Subtle and then to Gentle.

    Each time, he went through the same process. He built a list, organized it into Dreamscape, optimized it, then compiled it all into Dream Class, creating four total new classes. Forceful, Swiftness, Subtly and Gentleness.

    It took a day and a half for Leonel to finish, Subtle surprisingly taking him the longest as it felt the most enigmatic and out of his reach. But, he finally managed to form a list he was happy with.

    Shockingly enough, his mind wasn''t even strong enough to write Subtle after its optimization. Without Dream Class, he wouldn''t be capable of writing it at all.

    The moment Leonel finished, though, it was like his entire demeanor had undergone a change.

    His pen danced across the air, changing its form at his whims. He shifted between Classes with such speed that it didn''t seem like he was ''switching'' at all. That ultimate state of being able to shift and change as he pleased was reached by him.

    Originally, Dream Class wouldn''t be able to work so freely without fully understanding all of the Classes. But, that was exactly what Leonel had done by compiling the list for individual words.

    Ironically, though, Leonel''s other Dream Classes actually plummeted as his battle prowess increased, his Spearman Classes fell.

    Leonel understood why this was, though.

    Strong Spearman, for example, had been 0.13 before. After he was stuck in a dream, it fell to 0.06. And, after this process, it fell further to 0.04.

    However, Leonel couldn''t have been more excited about this. This was because his strength had increased far more than he thought it had initially.

    How had Strong Spearman gotten weaker? The simple answer was that Forcefulness wasn''t enough to encompass the word Strong. In addition, he had also comprehended three other words that had increased his strength holistically, which had also caused Strong Spearman to fall.

    When Leonel had this thought, though, his appetite became insatiable. Didn''t this mean that he could replay this process for all his Dream Classes and perfect them?

    The moment Leonel had the thought, he completely lost himself. What he didn''t realize as a dense Auspicious Air began to waft out from him was that he would suddenly enter such a state for an entire year.

    When Aina awoke two days later and found that Leonel didn''t even notice her presence, lost in his own world, she only blinked and smiled, not disturbing him. She chose to remain by his side, silently watching him.

    On the seventh day, she seemed to grasp what Leonel was doing, and she chose to follow him. But, her approach was entirely different.

    Every time she wanted to comprehend something new, she simply picked up a new weapon, much the same way she always had.

    If she wanted to learn swiftness, she picked up a flexible sword. If she wanted to learn forcefulness, she picked up a hammer. If she wanted to learn subtly, she picked up more niche weapons like threads. If she wanted to learn gentleness, she went the route of defensive weapons and even learned to use silk fabrics in combat.

    Much like Montez had said, Leonel was a bit slow. Absolute geniuses had already found their own methods of doing such things.

    When Leonel awoke though, the power he held within a stroke of his pen was unlike anything one could possibly imagine.

 Chapter 1464 Not Bad

    Leonel suddenly ruffled his own hair, his dazed eyes regaining focus. But, the moment he did, fatigue overtook him and he collapsed into a deep sleep, not waking until two months later.

    Like that, 12 total months passed.

    Leonel blinked awake, his head snapping up. Surprisingly, though, his first instinct wasn''t to leave, but rather to reach for the mallet that sat on the table. He had grasped calligraphy now and could even paint stories with nothing more than his words, but it was still lacking.

    Sniper Archer иC 0.79; Explosive Archer иC 0.78; Strong Spearman иC 0.70; Flexible Spearman иC 0.73; Mixed Fighter иC 0.71; Speed Fighter иC 0.77; Fire Mage иC 0.79; Defensive Mage иC 0.73; Combat Mage иC 0.72.

    The closer the number got to 1.00, the more exponentially difficult it became. The fact that there was such a large improvement just went to show how shocking Leonel''s improvement had been. But, Leonel realized at the end of the tenth month that he had already pushed poetry as far as it could take him. He then understood why his grandfather had added in music and painting as well.

    Leonel had a feeling that only by also bringing those two to the same level as his calligraphy and poetry could he possibly reach the ever elusive 1.00. But, somewhere deep inside, he felt that even that wouldn''t be enough. He would need to take that final step beyond to cross that threshold.

    However, just as Leonel grasped the mallet, he froze.

    How long had it been?

    His eyes blinked, his internal clock catching up and his eyes widening when he realized what happened.

    After a moment of shock, he jumped to his feet, his heart sparking with flames. He had actually left that woman off for so long?!

    In his agitation, Leonel suddenly heard a giggle. His head turned to find Aina and that alone seemed to make his flames douse themselves in cold water, only for the heat to return from a completely different place.

    However, Leonel didn''t even get the chance to think whether he should act on it or not when the door to the training room opened.

    Montez looked Leonel up and down as though he wasn''t surprised that the latter had awoken. But then his lip curled up into a sneer.

    "Still with the Fifth Dimensional Spear Forбк"

    Leonel''s fingers suddenly pierced forward, a blinding golden light threatening to split Montez''s forehead in two.

    The Spear Force tore through the Anarchic Force that flooded in through the open door as though it wasn''t there at all, shattering its very being as though it stood above it.

    Montez''s armor flashed, a barrier appearing that blocked Leonel''s Spear Force.

    BANG! BANG!

    Montez raised an eyebrow, his figure not even shifting, let alone taking a step back. In reality, he could have dodged, but he chose to let it hit him to see how strong it was to the deepest level possible. Leonel''s Spear Force was so constrained and tidy that even Montez couldn''t see through all its secrets at a glance, forcing him to take this approach.

    "Huh, not bad. I guess you''re quite ambitious to not break through yet."

    Montez was very good at keeping a straight face while his heart was busy rolling in waves. He had never felt such a powerful Fifth Dimensional Spear Force before. The only Spear Forces he had ever felt were anywhere near comparable were Spear Forces which had already surpassed the Fifth Dimension, but were constrained by their users to a lower level on purpose.

    When Montez thought to this point, he realized the only Fifth Dimensional Forces he had felt were comparable were from elders of the Morales family who had already long since grasped Seventh Dimensional Spear Force.

    What was most shocking was that Montez was sure that this Spear Force only embodied the word Swift. What if Leonel had used Forceful instead?

    Leonel clicked his tongue, shaking his head when he looked at his uncle''s armor. Now that he thought about it, this golden armor was probably his uncle''s Divine Armor.

    "Uncle Montez, is there a reason you always have your Divine Armor activated?"

    "Why do I always have it activated?" Montez raised a brow.

    Rather than answering, he simply allowed it to vanish. The moment he did, it was as though rain had begun to fall.

    A splash of water landed in a pool at Montez''s feet and Leonel realized that his uncle was drenched from head to toe in sweat. With the disappearance of the armor, Leonel could even hear the wild beating of his uncle''s heart. It was so loud and forceful that Leonel took a step back beside him, not out of fear, but because the sound wave alone was too strong for him to handle.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, but he didn''t know what to say.

    Just as quickly as the armor vanished, it reappeared and Montez continued to act as though nothing had happened.

    "You''re not the only one who knows how to work hard, kid. In fact, from what I''ve seen, it feels like you haven''t worked nearly hard enough. There are people out there who are far more talented than you and they also put in more work than you do. You''ll need to shape up if you want to leave a mark on this world."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He didn''t say anything for a long while, calming himself.

    He found it very easy to lose himself in something he was fascinated by or interested in, but as he had realized about him beforeбн He found too many things uninteresting.

    However, at least when it came to this path, he had found a bud of something interesting within it. Leonel felt that if he followed this path to the end, let alone his Spear and Bow Force, even his Crafting would become unmatched.

    "Uncle Montez, I''ve been meaning to ask you. I can probably walk deep into it again now that I''ve improved so much, but there''s a bit of a problem with it and I''m not sure what''s wrongбн"

    Leonel explained matters to Montez and earned quite the frown from the latter.

    "Something has agitated the Spear Domain. Usually it waits until its owner has mastered every Third, Fourth and Fifth Dimensional weapon before levying the first of three tribulations. But, for some reason, your tribulation is already on its way."

 Chapter 1465 A Years Worth

    "Tribulation?"

    "Yes, to the Spear Domain, the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dimensions are only primers, only when you enter the Sixth will it begin to display its true prowess and also reveal another stage of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor, a stage rarely available and only attainable to those who either have the ring itself, or are close in line to someone awakened it before their birth, their meaning the next in line, of course."

    Leonel frowned. This was the first time he was hearing of this. His old man was really too useless, what if he just stumbled into this later and had no idea what was happening?

    "Technically, this is a good thing. The earlier you face the tribulation, the better the effects and benefits. The optimal time is when your Spear Force is Fifth Dimensional as it gives you both the best chance to pass, and the right mixture of being a step ahead.

    "The problem is that it should be impossible to reach that level before the Sixth Dimension. Usually, the true depths of the secrets the first spears have can''t be seen without a certain depth of vision, even your current Spear Force is far from it.

    "But, it''s also because of that that it would be difficult for you to pass, you could very well die unless you really do master all the spears first."

    "бн" Leonel shook his head. "Fantastic, something else that wants to kill me. I''m a bit tired of guillotines hanging over my head."

    Montez raised an eyebrow, but didn''t ask. One would think he would be worried about Leonel, but it seemed he picked this uncaring attitude for the young men in his family just the same way his older brother had.

    There were too many problems facing Leonel right now. Even though he said that he could walk further in Spear Domain now, with how strong he remembered the pressure to be, he could at best claim some Quasi Bronze Spear Peaks, and just maybe some lower level Bronze Spears if he really pushed himself.

    However, he was still far from being able to reclaim the Quasi Silver and Quasi Gold spears he had managed to reach previously.

    "How long until the tribulation comes for me?"

    Montez looked down. "I don''t know, you can feel it better than I can. It''ll probably be about another year. You can suppress it with your Spear Force if you''re not ready, but you''ll need at least Sixth Dimensional Spear Force to do that, which would defeat the purpose. Also, you''ll be severely weakened during that period if that''s the route you take."

    "What kind of tribulation is this?"

    "One that tests your Spear, of course. According to the family records, it''s similar to a Zone, a Mythological Zone, to be precise. The difference is that you enter at the Third Dimension. If your attainments in the spear are too weak, you won''t even last a few minutes."

    "A Mythological Zone?"

    Leonel''s brows jumped. He had only been in one Mythological Zone before, but it had benefitted him so greatly that it was still a heavy part of his current battle strength. In fact, during the time he had been suppressing his Innate Node, without it, he wouldn''t have even been a fraction as powerful as he was.

    And now, with his Ethereal Glabella filled with an enormous Mage Core, his strength had bloomed to a completely new level, all thanks to Camelot''s magic system.

    A Mythological Zone connected to the Spear Domainбн just what kind of treasures did it have?

    "You shouldn''t look so excited, kid. There are 89 people who''ve taken the Spear Domain Tribulation in our family, only 2l have passed. Of those 21, 17 only achieved the lowest grade."

    "Lowest grade?" Leonel frowned. "Since when did you get graded for Zones?"

    "Every Zone has a number of tasks to complete, meeting the bare minimum constitutes achieving the lowest grade."

    Leonel''s eyes lit up with understanding. That was right, every Zone had quests. If you failed to meet the bare requirement, you would be stuck in the Zone until the day you died. However, it was possible to leave the Zone without completing all of the quests.

    Leonel had done that with the Camelot Zone, but he managed to complete the last quest outside of the Zone. But, something told him that he wouldn''t get a chance to do that with the Spear Domain.

    "That Myths are tied to the Spear Domain? What Mythological Zone is it?"

    Leonel felt that he should begin preparing now. He needed to have as much information as possible.

    "Do I look like an encyclopedia to you, brat?"

    "Can''t you be useful for once?"

    "For once? Who do you have to thank for all of this?"

    "Grandpa." Leonel said shamelessly.

    Montez opened his mouth to refute, but he suddenly found that he didn''t have a rebuttal for that, causing his expression to darken.

    "All I know is that the Spear Domain and Sword Domain are part of the same legend. The human race has these two, but unfortunately, the others are in the hands of others. Well, it isn''t exactly unfortunate. There''s only one race other than ours that has more than one Weapon Domain.

    "Either way, it''s a legend that encompasses the whole of the Dimensional Verse. I don''t have the details you want because I didn''t delve deep into it to begin with, I never owned Spear Domain, so why would I waste my time?

    "Go use the Void Library."

    Montez spun on his heels, ready to leave.

    "Oh, I almost forgot." Montez looked back. "You owe Ness a year''s worth of rent. That''s 100 000 Void Points and a Void Point a day."

    After saying this, Montez vanished.

    Leonel remained silent for a long while until he suddenly realized that ''Ness'' was actually his aunt. His mouth opened and closed several times, but he really didn''t know what to say.

    It was true, though, it was only because the Anarchic Force in this region was so long and almost non-existent that he was able to stay up for 10 months straight to begin with. If not for this, it would have taken him at least double the time.

    But the idea of paying 36 500 000 Void Points and 365 Void Merits hurt to the depths of soul.

    Leonel lamented how fast his mind worked.

    Why did no one in his family go easy on him?

 Chapter 1466 Quartet

    Leonel didn''t dwell on it for too long, though. He would pay it back eventually. Plus, he was lucky that Aina wasn''t added to the price, or else it would have been even worse.

    "Ohбн"

    Leonel tried to call out to his uncle again, but the old man had already vanished. He wanted to ask if his status as a disciple was still in limbo, it couldn''t be that they would still need more time than this, right?

    If his status was no longer in limbo, he would probably have to adjust his plans. But, it was about time he dealt with the Viror family. Unfortunately, he would probably need to get his report on them updated since he had already been gone for an entire year.

    Leonel turned his head toward Aina, his eyes glowing as he looked her up and down.

    "What''re you looking at?"

    Leonel tiled his head to the side. "You didn''t break into the Sixth Dimension?"

    Aina shook her head. "How was I supposed to do that? We still haven''t learned anything about the God Path, and someone here decided to stare into blank space for an entire year."

    Leonel scratched the back of his head awkwardly, it seemed that he really had gone overboard this time. His sense of time was only getting more and more skewed. Back when he was in the Third Dimension, the most he could focus for was a few hours, just like most humans. The idea that he could do the same thing for almost a year straight without breaks was crazy to him that had been born and raised on Earth.

    "Do you want to breakthrough before this?"

    Aina waved her ax lightly, causing a wall of wind to nearly blow Leonel back.

    "Not sure how necessary that is," Aina said with a smile.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, both he and Aina pressing two fingers together at the same time.

    A line of white and a line of gold cut through the air, colliding in the air exactly halfway between the two of them.

    BANG!

    For a moment, they froze, until they both began to crack. With a burst, they shattered apart.

    Leonel grinned. "I win."

    Aina pouted slightly. "Clearly cheating."

    "What can I say, I''m a wealthy young master. You''re lucky to marry me."

    "Marry you? I don''t remember agreeing to such a thing."

    Leonel flashed and appeared before Aina, his grin still as bright.

    "You didn''t? You really know how to hurt a man''s heart."

    "What would you know about that?"

    "A lot. Didn''t you see Rychard''s face? That poor sap was half broken. I didn''t even do anything to him, and even had the grace to allow him the chance to marry you, but he still came back glaring at me like I had done something to him. What''s that if not a heartbroken man?"

    "You''re really cheeky, actually bringing something like that up." Aina''s eyes flashed with a dangerous light, her smile being tinged with a hint of murderous intent.

    Her hand reached forward, clawing down into Leonel''s ropes and wrapping around his cloth belt.

    A cold sweat fell down Leonel''s back. The combination of powerful woman, murderous gaze, and a hand so close to his most vulnerable point was not a good one by any stretch. He really might have been a bit too cheeky with his words just now.

    In truth, his Spear Force had a small edge over Aina''s on blade Force likely because of the Spear Domain ring. There was an odd shift that had happened when a blade Force went from white to gold, it was only now, though, that Leonel understood just how tangible that difference was, and it only seemed accessible through the use of this Heirloom.

    Leonel cleared his throat, laughing uneasily. "You know what they say, the best way to ease over trauma is to joke about it."

    "Oh? Why don''t you joke about my trauma a little bit more, I think I''m almost over it. Real close."

    Leonel coughed. "Is it a bit hot in here? Wow, I think we should get out of here."

    "No, no. This heat is quite good. Weren''t you the fire boy?"

    Leonel made a mental note to no longer offend this demoness. Her knuckles pressed against his lower belly with a bit too much force. This woman wasn''t to be trifled with.

    Seeing Leonel still coughing and not daring to meet her gaze, Aina smiled and released her grip, painting the faint nail marks left on Leonel''s chest.

    "You''re lucky you''re handsome, I''m more forgiving of a pretty face."

    Aina fixed Leonel''s clothes and cupped his cheeks, squeezing them. Then, she went to the tip of her toes and gave him a peck before pulling him away.

    "Let''s go, husband candidate. We have a lot to do."

    Leonel only seemed to blink awake now. "Candidate?!"

    Aina''s steps paused, turning around with an innocent blink in her eyes.

    "Is there a problem?"

    Leonel stood straight and saluted like a good soldier.

    "None at all, ma''am!"

    "Good, good. Off we go!"

    бн

    Montez laughed so hard he felt like he might cough up a lung. He had come back because he had sensed a weird aura in the Spear Domain ring and he felt that he finally recognized it at the end, only to see such a scene.

    That girl would really become the scariest of the quartet. That quartet obviously being his mother, his wife, his sister-in-law and now Aina.

    He immediately forgot his purpose, laughing so hard he didn''t pay a lick of attention to his surroundings. And, it was precisely then that a strong pinch caught his ear.

    "Huh?"

    Montez''s gaze focused only to find a familiar oil covered woman standing before him.

    He tried to run, but it was already too late.

    "I''ve waited long enough, Montez. Don''t make me divorce you!"

    "Wait, wait! I still have to tell Leonel something!"

    "If you weren''t so enamored with your dramatic exits, you could have done that long ago. Now, it''s my time."

    "But it''s important!"

    "All the more reason you should have remembered before."

    Like this, Montez was dragged away.

 Chapter 1467 Every Time.

    Leonel didn''t know what his uncle had to tell him, but if he was aware of what it was about, he would likely conclude that it was about that odd rod the Rapax had thrown at him. Leonel had also sensed the oddity of its aura, and if it wasn''t because the oddity of the Spear Domain had occurred after it appeared, it would have assumed that it was because of it that the tribulation was brought so far forward.

    The Spear Domain was properly organized. There were Spear Peaks and then there were the Spears that couldn''t claim Peaks for themselves. This divided the Spear Domain into a noble class of spear and a not so noble class.

    Of course, to other spears, this "not so noble class", was still leads beyond anything they could match up to. But, this was still the case within the realms of the Spear Domain.

    So, what would happen if another spear that insisted on claiming a Spear Peak appeared?

    Well, it was either the Spear Domain would form a new Peak for it, something that Leonel didn''t believe would happen. Or, it would have to knock another Spear off of its pedestal.

    The truth was that Leonel had never seen a Quasi level spear below the peak. So, that meant that it was either they lost a tier during the battle orбн when a Peak Spear lost its Peak, it would be destroyed.

    Either way, these matters had little to do with Leonel right now because the spear was far beyond his reach. Right now, he could barely claim a Quasi Bronze Spear. And, even if that wasn''t the case, wellбн His hand could attest to the fact he had no business using that spear.

    Leonel did sometimes wonder if the Rapax race wasn''t trying to harm him, but was rather trying to reward him. But, truthfully, he wasn''t entirely sure. He could only lament that they had refused to just use their words, not that he would understand their language anyway.

    бн

    "Are you going to tell me what you had planned?"

    "Oh, right, we should probably talk about that." Leonel''s eyes roamed a bit.

    They had just rushed out of the Spear Faction Region, but Leonel''s attention had been caught up by something else. Namely, the heavy atmosphere. It was definitely a far cry from what he had experienced the first time he stepped foot into this place. It lacked the same life and flair.

    "The original plan wasбн"

    Leonel explained his method quite simply.

    The uses of his Starry Spirit Domain were far greater than just what it seemed on the surface. So long as he kept finding methods to apply it, it would begin to evolve in its use and usefulness. Right now, he felt like he had quite a genius idea.

    Aina was already an expert Force Pill Crafter. But, when it came to her skill, she used it mostly for herself and Leonel. Just thinking about it, Leonel realized he quite missed Aina''s cooking and he was starving. Still, he pushed that feeling down and pushed forward.

    The plan was quite simple. When it came to guessing what other people would benefit best from, Aina could only get a faint idea, and she had to spend a very, very long time with that person. That was why she was so good at cooking for Leonel. Though, she never bothered to cook for anyone else regardless.

    Just like she had said, she could only gain a faint inkling about Leonel, that was why her analysis of Leonel''s strengths and weaknesses were so vague.

    The trouble was that this problem even persisted after Aina fused her Internal Sight with Leonel''s own. The only change was that that vague picture became a hint clearer, but that was nowhere near enough. It wasn''t anything like Aina''s ability to tell exactly how she should improve.

    Butбн What if Aina fused with Leonel''s Starry Star Domain instead?

    That process would be entirely different, it would be like AIna was gaining access to Leonel''s computational abilities and as though she was ushered into his Dream World.

    The trouble with this, though, was that when Aina had fused with Yuri for only a few minutes, her mental strength had been exhausted. Leonel wasn''t sure if his mental strength had caught up or surpassed Yuri''s yet as he didn''t have a frame of reference, but what he did know was that it was unlikely for Aina to be able to handle his mind with ease.

    That was why he had formulated another ability which he called Dream Exchange. It would allow Aina to partake in the abilities of his mind. As she did so, he would handle the computation and ease the load off her mind.

    "So you want me to use my Ability to help cure people?"

    "Not just to help cure, but to also help them break through their bottlenecks. We''re not only going to suffocate their market, but we''re going to do it cheaper and faster."

    "With just the two of us?" Aina raised a brow.

    "If I deploy my Starry Spirit Domain to its full range, we can easily fit a dozen people into it if not more. Going through a lot of people will be easy. We just need a few policies to make things easier on us. Regardless, after people see the results, they won''t care about anything else.

    "But first, we need a plot of land near a Senate Branch. Before that, though, I need to make another visit to the Sith family."

    Leonel''s expression turned cold and his fingers suddenly struck out. Before the individual watched them from a distance could react, Leonel''s Spear Force rotated and then exploded, shredding their arm to pieces and alarming all those around.

    Even after a year, this person still had people monitoring for the two of them. But this was good, Leonel was glad that she was so persistent, that made him want to deal with her even more.

    His stance was still the same, every time such an individual appeared before him, he would crush them even if that meant crippling them.

 Chapter 1468 Forgotten

    [Official artwork for Leonel''s Dark Ice Armor is now live on my instagram >> @awespec_ :) ]

    It wasn''t long before Leonel had left the Sith family Faction, another million Void Points poorer. He was certain it shouldn''t have cost this much, but there was nothing else he could do if he wanted solid information.

    As for what had changed, it seemed that Treanna''s Faction had finally been promoted to Silver Grade, and as such, its wealth and power had substantially increased, as had its territory and influence. This made Leonel''s brow furrow a bit, but that was all.

    Silver Grade Factions had more leeway and could also have their own territory. These territories were the very same neighborhoods Leonel had mentioned before.

    In the Void Palace, outside of a few places, the regions were all controlled by students. Everything from city planning to even some laws were set and decided by the Faction of a given area.

    Of course, there were also some neutral areas where lower class students who couldn''t afford to live in these higher class areas could use. In fact, these neutral areas were precisely where Aina had chosen to buy their home before it was burned down.

    Living in a Faction''s territory didn''t necessarily mean that you were part of a Faction, but in partaking in their benefits, you did have to pay taxes and, of course, rent. Many higher class territories even required entry fees. As for why you would pay just for a temporary stay, though the effects weren''t as exaggerated as with the Spear Faction, there were many benefits.

    For example, there were certain specialties you would only find in certain areas. Just one potential thing were restaurants run by high level Force Pill Crafters. Factions of high levels would either recruit or rent such experts to run popular food stops in their territories. If you wanted to partake in such luxuries, you would have to pay just for the chance to enter.

    Of course, Leonel wasn''t interested in this as there was no better cook than the woman by his side. But, that didn''t mean there was nothing that could tempt him at all.

    Some special training regions, some exclusive areas of the Void Palace, and even some of the prime living locations were mostly cornered off by high level Factions.

    As nice as he thought Aina''s choice in home was, he had no intention of letting her live in a shabby place. Leonel didn''t usually care about such things, but their earlier spat seemed to have reminded him that he hadn''t really done much of anything to make up for his earlier follies. If Aina was trying, then he should at least try in his own way.

    To Aina, the way he flipped a switch and suddenly wanted her again was probably odd. Likewise, Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if, in the back of her head, she was worried about the day that switch would flip off again.

    Leonel knew just how his mind worked quite well. He had never stopped ''wanting'' Aina. He had just shifted his priorities and sacrificed her.

    His father''s words, though, shifted those priorities again. He was probably the only person who could do such a thing outside of Leonel himself.

    The question was, could those priorities shift again?

    When Leonel thought about it, he realized that the only reason they had shifted in the first place was because he felt that Aina had betrayed him, not in the harshest sense, but enough that he found it unacceptable.

    By the time he learned of why and the weight she had carried everyday, it was already too late to turn back. There were sometimes where the timing of things were just wrong and Leonel felt that his focus was better spent on other things.

    However, the contradiction was something his mind wouldn''t allow him to sit with. He ended up doing things that were completely outside his character, and even acting in a fashion that he regretted.

    It was as though even his Tier 4 Ability Index couldn''t control what he felt for Aina.

    There were many times where Leonel didn''t understand something and he allowed it to stop his footsteps and fester in his mind. But, this was something he didn''t understand that he fully embracedбн

    The one thing he never really cared about finding the logic behind.

    Aina had just spent the last year by his side in silence, supporting him. But, in the back of her mind, there were clearly still some fresh wounds that couldn''t even be considered to have scabbed over. As funny as it was to joke about baby making appointments, Leonel wouldn''t even feel right taking that step yet.

    Knowing himself, he would probably accept it with open arms anyway, but that didn''t mean that it wouldn''t be wrong.

    He had probably ended up gaining all of his father''s and uncle''s promiscuity, but he had somehow aimed it all toward one woman. Why it was things were like this, he didn''t know. All he knew was that he had never been interested in any other woman. He didn''t even feel sexually aroused by other women.

    At this point, Leonel couldn''t even call himself straight. He was more like an Aina-sexual. He was practically asexual in almost 100% of contexts outside of when he was with her.

    Leonel looked away from the pendant in his hand toward Aina and smiled.

    "Stop smiling at me like that, I''m still mad at you and I want to stay mad for a little longer."

    Leonel burst into a fit of laughter when he saw Aina''s pouting expression. He suddenly felt that he never wanted to leave this woman''s side.

    "Locations by Senate Branches tend to be safer and more convenient areas, so they''re also very expensive. We''ll need at least 10 000 000 Void Points and I think probably several dozen Void Merits to buy one even in a neutral zone."

    "Then more Star missions it is." Aina replied simply.

    Leonel grinned, that was right.

    But first, it seemed they had some unwanted guests.

    Since Leonel couldn''t kill, his victim had, of course, been allowed to escape, and that brought trouble to their door. But, this was exactly the kind of trouble he wanted.

    From what he had heard in passing, during his and AIna''s absence, their generation had begun making waves of their own. In addition, Amery seemed to have stepped out from his tribulation successfully.

    It seemed that they had forgotten that there were two other Amethyst Token wielders of this generation. If they hadn''t forgotten, why hadn''t Treanna''s Faction gotten the message, yet?

    He wasn''t someone they could mess with as they pleased.

 Chapter 1469 Unexpected Outcome

    Leonel and Aina slowly walked away without a care, their backs being littered with the half crippled bodies of several of their supposed seniors. Judging by their faces, one would have never thought that they had just done such a thing.

    On the ground, the higher level Galaxy Ranked disciples trembled, their blood leaking outward and fear etched onto their faces.

    The original student tasked with monitoring Leonel and Aina''s movement in and out of the Spear Faction was not a normal individual. At the very least, he wasn''t someone that Leonel and Aina should have been able to deal with so easily, having been in Tier 3 of the Sixth Dimension and well established among Treanna''s subordinates.

    Though he also reported that he hadn''t had a chance to use his God Runes, it still wasn''t enough for those that had come now to underestimate Leonel and Aina.

    But, to their shock, beneath Leonel''s gaze, they couldn''t even summon their God Runes to begin with, feeling that it had been oppressed by something. By the time their vision had cleared, their bodies were shaking with an unimaginable amount of pain.

    Monsters.

    That was the only conclusion they had come to. They had forgotten just what kind of monsters Amethyst Token wielders could be. The large majority of them had only entered as Nominal Disciples, barely able to climb to this rank after decades of effort and more blood, sweat and tears than they dared to even think about.

    But these two youths, who hadn''t even stepped into the Sixth Dimension yet toyed with their lives as though they were nothing.

    None of them were under any illusions. If it wasn''t for the rules of the Void Palace, their lives would have ended right here.

    They barely crawled up to their feet, looking toward their crippled arms with ugly expressions. It then dawned on them exactly why it was that Leonel kept crippling their arms but leaving their legs just fine.

    He didn''t care if they went off to tell Treanna what had happened. In fact, he welcomed it with wide open arms.

    He left them with their legs so that they could run off and tell their master exactly what was coming. A year had already been too long, and Leonel didn''t particularly care if Treanna''s Faction had managed to become Silver Grade or not.

    He would crush them just the same.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina entered a Senate Branch only for the two to be pleasantly surprised to find that it was Dmitry on the other end. Dmitry himself, though, couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow when he saw the two.

    Leonel and AIna had made such a commotion a year ago, all to just vanish later on.

    There had been a big commotion 12 months ago. News had spread that Treanna had targeted Aina and how the two were forced to run. But then Leonel came back and crippled not just one of Treanna''s people, but seven in a row, severing all of their arms.

    This was a clear slap to both the faces of Treanna and her Viror family, and there was an uproar caused while many looked for the two, there had even been a bounty up for a while until information returned that Leonel had entered the Spear Faction Territory.

    It was quite odd for a newbie to suddenly enter the Spear Faction Territory like this, after all, it was expensive. However, those that remembered that Leonel had just cleared a Three Star Mission found it to be more acceptable.

    After calculating how much Leonel should have made, plus adding what they thought he could have made from extorting Orinik, most those that Leonel would still only be able to stay for one day on the low end since he should only have enough Void Merits for that long. After all, he should have had to pay for both himself and Aina.

    In their estimation, the only way Leonel could stay longer was if he managed to break some Spear Faction records. But, reasonably, even if he did, considering his current level of strength, he would at most be able to extend his stay a week or two.

    No one was even sure how strong Leonel''s Spear was except for the geniuses who had gone into the core of the Rapax Nest with him. But, many of them were oddly quiet about what had happened that day and not many even understood how Leonel had come back injured in the first place.

    However, no one could have expected that not only would Leonel vanish for an entire year, rumors about him taking advantage of his family''s connections again began to stir up once more. And, unfortunately, it was once again the truth.

    The pressure the Spear Faction was facing from the Sword Faction was already great after the fall of the Stalwart Polearm Faction. After a year, that pressure was even greater, and Leonel''s actions didn''t help at all.

    No normal spearman dared to call out Leonel to his face because they all feared his aunt, but back then, Leonel had still felt the heavy atmosphere that hung around.

    Many thought that Leonel was ignoring all of the pressure and wouldn''t come out until he broke into the Sixth Dimension, many of the geniuses of his generation were also preparing for their breakthrough into the God Path as well.

    It made sense, Treanna was a terrible enemy to have, anyone would want to be prepared.

    But, it was also clear that no one without background would have been able to deal with this matter as easily as Leonel had, leading to more dissatisfaction and an even heavier weight being pressed upon the Spear Faction.

    Now they had not only lost their strongest Party, their prestige was circling the drain.

    Dmitry didn''t hold back in explaining these things to Leonel, causing him to fall into silence.

    Leonel hadn''t thought that his casual choice to focus on calligraphy would have such an outcome.

    [Author''s Note: Sorry guys, spent a bit too long writing Fallen Apostle''s second volume this morning and it threw my schedule off. I thought I could finish off the volume entirely (which is why I put in a bit of extra time), but that''ll have to wait for tomorrow. The good news is that I should finish vol 2 tomorrow. The bad news is that DD''s chapters are late, lmao. More DD chapters on the way! Join the discord community to get these updates ahead of time. Link in author''s note.]

 Chapter 1470 Constellations

    "I see." Leonel nodded.

    The Spear Faction seemed to be more important than he thought. Usually, talks of prestige and public perception wouldn''t bother him that much, but the more he learned about the Dimensional Verse, the more he had come to understand that many things weren''t as simple as black and white.

    For example, the so-called Constellation Alliance Nazag had mentioned had rolled off of Leonel''s shoulders before, he hadn''t really cared. But then when he was reading in the Void Library, something suddenly clicked for him.

    The Lio family, the Pyius family, the Tarius family, the Gemin family, the Lira family, the Taur family, the Cornus family, the Cancer family, the Ram family, the Virgo family, the Quarius family, and the Pisc family.

    Of those families, Leonel had had run-ins with all of them during the True Selection, some in passing, and some in much more fierce confrontations. He hadn''t known their names before, but when he did come to know them, the answer was so glaring that he couldn''t ignore it.

    Weren''t their names too similar to Earth''s 12 most important constellations? Whether by legend of infamy, who of Earth didn''t know those 12 names? They might have been a bit different, but three was already a coincidence, so what exactly did a dozen make?

    One might ask why this was even important and what it had to do with Leonel''s thoughts of public perception.

    Well, the answer was quite simple for a person whose mind worked like Leonel''s.

    How did Earth so suddenly stumble into such names for their constellations? Anyone who had ever seen the actual alignment of stars could very easily tell that said constellations looked very little like their namesakes. Whoever named them most definitely had an overactive imagination and would probably see entire storylines while cloud watching.

    If the star patterns were hardly recognizable from their constellation patterns, then how exactly had Earth stumbled onto the exact right names?

    It wasn''t just the name that was similar, but even the meaning behind them seemed perfect.

    Take Vega Quarius for example, the very same woman who tried to recruit Aina into her Faction. Was her hair not blue? Was that a coincidence? It seemed like a ridiculous one.

    Even further, many had seen Vega fight before, she was without question someone with a strong water affinity.

    And what about Nazag Tarius? Could it be any more on the nose that his family was part of the Constellation Bow Alliance and that he was a genius archer?

    And then there was the overly arrogant Conon Lio who had a head and face of golden hair that quite frankly looked more like the mane of a lion than anything a human should have.

    [AN: I have no idea which bastard wrote this, but we Leos are not arrogant, we''re just very handsome and everyone hates us for it]

    All of these things couldn''t possibly be coincidences. So, what had happened? Had these families sent representatives of Earth to spread word of their family names?

    That didn''t make much sense to Leonel. At the very least, if they had taken such an approach, the names wouldn''t have been "kind of similar", they would have been exact. In addition, what would be the point of that?

    But then Leonel felt that he was still thinking too rigidly. What if there was actually a benefit to spreading your fame like this? If Artistic Conception could wield such power, who was to say that there weren''t other things that Leonel had been unaware of that could potentially hold such strength?

    Then Leonel remembered that in his second ever Zone, he became enemies with Shield Cross Stars because they had interfered with Joan. And then they actually appeared again in Camelot''s Zone.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    By this point in his analysis, Leonel had to take a step back and shake his head. The actions of Shield Cross Stars had been very conservative and very covert, it couldn''t be compared to something so obvious. And, clearly, changing up the names a bit wasn''t exactly stealthy.

    Though it wasn''t obvious, there seemed to be a bit of a taboo in talking about Earth.

    No one here ever mentioned Earth, no one in the Luxnix family had mentioned it, and everyone seemed to approach Earth in a hands off fashion. Leonel didn''t believe that these families would be so brazen.

    There was a piece of the puzzle Leonel thought he was missing. But, that was when he thought about things in the reverse fashion.

    What if it wasn''t that the families wanted to spread their influence to strengthen themselves, but rather that they were powerful already and as a result, the influence of their constellations influenced Earth unknowingly?!

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more he felt it made sense.

    When he fused an Artistic Conception into his spear, even if someone couldn''t quite understand the foundation and root of it, he could still convey a feeling. And, what was the Constellation Realm if not the ultimate Artistic Conception?!

    It was the highest Realm you could touch and the strongest Universal Cycle you could comprehend. It made sense that if it took its place in the night sky, that people would be able to vaguely understand the meaning it was trying to convey. And, if it was strong enough, maybe even hear a little bit of its name.

    Of course, there were many other things Leonel was confused about. For example, weren''t he constellations in the Milky Way? But they weren''t even in the same Galaxy anymore.

    However, toward these questions, he could only ignore them as this was probably related to higher level secrets he wasn''t aware of.

    The original point of this line of thought stood strong, though. Things like reputation, while feeling intangible, could actually have real world impact even on a Third Dimensional world countless light years away.

    In that case, what effect did they have on higher Dimensions that were far closer?

    The Spear Faction''s blade seemed to be dulling continuously and their enemies were taking advantage of it as they pleased.

    Leonel never cared much for the spear as a weapon. He chose it originally by coincidence, and then he stuck with it because he had a Lineage Factor to pair with it.

    But, if there was one thing he did care about, it was losing. He really hated to lose.

    "Thank you for the information, Dmitry. Can you show me what Void Star Missions are available, please?"

 Chapter 1471 Three People

    Dmitry''s lip twitched when he heard Leonel say this. But, since the two had been able to complete a seemingly impossible mission just a year ago, who knew what they could accomplish now? Even though they hadn''t broken into the Sixth Dimension, Dmitry highly doubted that they had made no improvement whatsoever.

    "Is this all of them?" Leonel asked.

    Before Leonel sat about a dozen and a half plaques. They were, of course, all Galaxy Ranked Void Missions.

    Though it made sense that Void Missions would be rare, Leonel was still a bit disappointed. If he and Aina had to clear regular missions to deal with their debt to his aunt, not to mention handle everything else they needed to, it would take at least ten times the time.

    As much as Leonel wanted to overestimate himself and go for Sector Ranked disciples, something he could probably accomplish if his Unranked Disciple status was still intact, he wasn''t a fool.

    According to his mother''s story, she had become a Sector Ranked disciple not that long ago. With his impeccable memory, Leonel could still judge the pressure his mother would give him now and she was at a level he couldn''t even see the peak of yet, let alone climbing to such a height.

    There was definitely a dividing line between Galaxy and Sector that Leonel didn''t quite understand yet, and it was definitely something deeper than just Tier as Leonel was pretty sure his mother was still in the Sixth Dimension as well.

    This was all to say that Leonel was stuck with what he had.

    "Well, these are all the Zones that are on Palace Grounds. If you wanted to try Void Star Missions off Palace Grounds, the selection is much larger. The trouble is that there''s a huge dividing line between what we call Restrained Void Missions and Wild Card Void Missions.

    "As you might expect, it''s easier to keep tabs on the difficulty and variables of a Void Star Mission here than it would be elsewhere. We don''t have an endless amount of resources to just monitor everything, especially since some of these locations are on the Void Battlefield, making the variables even more volatile."

    Dmitry emphasized volatile.

    The rules of the Void Palace couldn''t be upheld on the Void Battlefield, so it was a no man''s land of sorts.

    In addition, it had to be remembered that you couldn''t enter the Void Battlefield until you had a certain number of merits. Usually, that was about the equivalent of a Grade 7 Galaxy Ranked disciple. So, this matter had nothing to do with Leonel and Aina to begin with.

    That said, the Void Battlefield was one matter, but other off Palace Grounds missions were a different matter altogether.

    The clause that Leonel had used to corner Orinik existed for a reason. It was possible for Void Palace disciples to interact with the outside world on a mission by mission basis.

    Leonel''s mother had tried to take advantage of this to see her family many times, but as one might expect, with the power of the Void Palace, how could they have missions to complete in such a weak galaxy?

    Leonel was, of course, aware of all of these things after reading through the rules.

    The guidelines one had to follow for off ground missions were quite stringent and there were even methods of monitoring your progress and location. But, as Dmitry had said, the variables were also much more wildly varied, especially for Void Star Missions.

    The only grace given was that off ground missions tended to reward far more. Depending on the situation, anywhere from two to ten times more than on ground missions of similar perceived difficulty.

    "I can show you those missions, if you''d like."

    Despite his expression, Dmitry was just happy that Leonel wasn''t asking for any Death Void Missions.

    "No, I think this is fine. If we complete all of these, we should make about 60 to 70 million Void Points and 33 Void Merits. That''s good enough. We''ll take them all."

    Dmitry''s lip twitched, but he couldn''t say that he hadn''t expected this.

    The number of Void Star Missions was low, after all, this place was a gathering of geniuses. There were many who just waited for Void Mission to hit Three Star before even caring to go after them.

    Still, something like claiming 20 Void Missions as once was definitely a first.

    Wellбн Dmitry didn''t dare to even say that. He was sure there were madmen of the past somewhere in the history books.

    "Oh, right. Dmitry, can you check my disciple status for me."

    Dmitry rolled his eyes. He knew that Leonel purposely waited until after accepting the missions to ask this just in case.

    "Here."

    Leonel''s hand reacted quickly and snatched the badge out of the air. When he saw what it was, his expression flickered.

    "Level 9 Quadrant Ranked?"

    "You should thank your cousin for that. They originally wanted to give you a Level 1 Quadrant Ranked status. This was a compromise. But, remember if you fail these missions, the penalty is harsher because you''re rising above your level."

    Leonel frowned for a moment before grinning. "But the rewards are also better, right?"

    Promoting from Quadrant to Galaxy was a bit of a hassle and would require Leonel to do some annoying things. But, that was at least better than rising from Level 1 Quadrant Ranked all the way to Level 1 Galaxy Ranked.

    Dmitry laughed. "That''s also right."

    "Which cousin helped me?"

    "First Nova." Dmitry replied.

    Leonel nodded and remembered this. He would have to thank him when he got the chance.

    "I wouldn''t be too happy, too quickly. It''s partly because of this that the pressure on the Spear Faction has been so heavy. They gave you the benefit of the doubt, but you spent a year "hiding"."

    At that moment, Dmitry froze.

    The dense killing intent suddenly coming from Leonel made even his spine freeze.

    Just now, Leonel had sensed a very familiar aura outside the Senate Branch as people began to gather around for a show, the three people he wanted didn''t just want to crippleбкhe wanted to kill.

 Chapter 1472 Only Used To Talk

    "Thank you for your help, Dmitry."

    There didn''t seem to be anything wrong with Leonel''s words and his tone even seemed to be somewhat warm, the coldness in his gaze didn''t recede even the smallest bit. Dmitry could only nod in silence, watching as Leonel scooped up the missions and walked out, Aina following to his side.

    бн

    Outside the Senate Branch, a group was accumulating. Though, most were simply spectators who had gotten lucky enough to get swept up in the festivities. Now that they were here, why would they leave?

    The moment Treanna''s people started gathering, those around understood exactly what was going on. It must have been that Leonel and Aina had finally been found.

    In the Void Palace, being in the know was a matter of life and death. If you casually strolled into a high level Faction War, no one would lament your crippling or your death. Keeping your head on a swivel was a must. And, of course, the person who had reported their appearance also helped spread this news for those that weren''t in the know.

    Said individual, who went by the name Narat, was feeling quite happy with himself. He was quite a high level Galaxy Ranked disciple, having already reached the middle tiers and become a Level 4 Galaxy Ranked disciple. He didn''t fear newbies who had only been here a year to begin with, even if they were Amethyst Token disciples. There was a certain order to things.

    When Narat saw that Leonel and Aina had entered the Senate Branch just as he was leaving, he couldn''t believe his luck, so he made the report, collected his rewards, and came back to view the show.

    This time, Treanna had once again sent some big guns. Emonie and Eliot, the two that had cornered Aina previously, had returned, Eliot still carrying his very same smug smile. The third of them had remained silent during the entirety of the first clash between them, and her name was Jova.

    Jova remained silent as usual, allowing Emonie to take the lead while Eliot''s big mouth seemed to be perfectly designed to help things spread even further and faster than they had already been.

    "Hey, what do you think? It can''t be that they''ll hole themselves up in there for another year, right?" Eliot laughed.

    Everyone knew that the Senate Branch was a no fighting zone. Even they, who had come with a whole entourage prepared to take Leonel and Aina down, didn''t dare to cross this line.

    "There are rules against that." Emonie replied coldly. "The Senate Branch isn''t a safe haven, it''s a place for inquiries. The Senate Branch member has a right to kick them out if they feel that these lines are being crossed."

    Eliot chuckled. "How convenient to have a bookworm like you to inform me of such things. Now it seems I can finally fulfill my wish, it''s almost a shame that I have to share the view of such a body with everyone else, it''s been on my mind for an entire year."

    Eliot howled as though he really was a dog, his antics receiving him glares from half his audience and laughs from the other half. As for the gender split, it was all too obvious.

    There were many rules in the Void Palace, something like sexual assault was as prohibited as killing was. This was why Eliot was quite careful to draw a line with his words as he had heard that Leonel was quite adept at cornering people with his words.

    But his implied meaning was no less obvious. If it wasn''t for the Void Palace''s umbrella, his obscene nature made it quite obvious what he would choose to do.

    As for angering Leonel and Aina? Who cared?

    In fact, that was precisely what he wanted. He couldn''t have them running away again. This time, he would make sure to follow through on his promise.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    Before, Aina could have gotten out of this ordeal just by signing the contract. But now, her little boyfriend had crippled so many of their Faction''s people. As a result, both of them would be thoroughly humiliated.

    At that moment, the doors to the Senate Branch opened, a rush of cold wind suddenly rushing into the surroundings. In one instant, the atmosphere had been quite lively, and in the next, it became like a cold winter night.

    Leonel''s steps were quite light and one could almost not notice Aina lagging a half step behind at all.

    A circle of wind rushed around him, kicking up a low strip of dust in a perfect pattern. It wasn''t too fast, not too slow. It only felt controlled and unhurried.

    His steps couldn''t have been lighter or more silent, but it somehow still felt like pounding stones, rolling and skipping down a mountain pass and forcing the earth to tremble.

    Leonel swept a casual glance through the spectator, his eyes feeling like blades of eyes searing into their skin only to land on a particular individual.

    Leonel recognized this man quite well, his memory was too good. This was the very same young man that had brushed past them as he and Aina entered the Senate Branch. Back then, Leonel had already picked up on the skip of his heart and the rush of breath of Narat had undergone.

    However, Leonel wasn''t one to skip to assumptions without all the evidence. There were any number of reasons he could have been surprised, and even if it was purely for recognizing him and Aina, this didn''t mean that he would definitely report them to Treanna.

    Clearly, though, he had made the wrong choice.

    It seemed that he hadn''t been ruthless enough. Hadn''t his actions made it clear that there was only one outcome for those who stood on Treanna''s side? Maybe an arm wasn''t enough.

    Leonel vanished. Before anyone registered where he had appeared, he was already standing before Narat, his hand clamped over the latter''s jaw and squeezing his mouth open.

    However, by the time people saw this, a tongue was already rotating in the skies, having been cut out of Narat''s mouth.

    Since his tongue was only used to talk, he definitely didn''t need it anymore.

    [More chapters on the way]

 Chapter 1473 A Casual Exchange

    Several pupils constricted, a chilly wind sliding up their backs as Narat''s howl pierced through the atmosphere.

    Since he didn''t learn from his predecessors, he could suffer double their fate.

    Leonel''s Spear Force spiraled like a drill, shredding Narat''s arms to pieces.

    And since Leonel didn''t need him to go off and report anything, he didn''t need his legs anymore either.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    The shrieks of pain and horror curdled blood, spikes of horror piercing into the hearts of all those that saw this scene. No one doubted the message that Leonel was trying to send.

    Despite the fact Narat had kept his life, it was a fate worse than death. He was a mere Level 4 Galaxy Ranked disciple. Though he had some talent, it wasn''t enough for a top level Faction to invest into him. So, who could possibly cure such injuries for him?

    He might have a chance if he begged his family members for help, but that would just ensure that any ambition he had ever had in his lifetime was finished. And that was only if Leonel''s Spear Force was normal. As for if even millions of Void Points could heal such injuries from Leonel''s current Spear Force, it was hard to tell.

    At that moment, a whip suddenly cracked through the air. It was vicious and fast, faster than any movement that the human body could ever make. It was this sort of speed that made the whip such a dangerous weapon even in Third Dimensional worlds, let alone here.

    Emonie didn''t hold back in the slightest, aiming right for the back of Leonel''s head as though she was intent on piercing right through it. She had already decided that if she didn''t fight with intent to kill Leonel first and worry about everything else later, then they would most definitely be at a severe disadvantage.

    The likes of Narat couldn''t compare to the entourage that Treanna had sent.

    To those that didn''t understand how God Runes worked, divisions between Galaxy Ranked disciples, even of the same level, were usually decided by three factors. The first was what Token they had been given when they entered the Palace, what rank of Nominal disciple they had started out as, and how long it had taken them to climb up to the ranks of Galaxy Ranked Disciple.

    While for a place like the Three Pillar Galaxy becoming a Nominal Disciple was a life sentence they would never crawl out from, for higher level galaxies, there were only so many Golden Token and Amethyst Tokens to hand out. Even astounding talents that would have trampled through other galaxies had no choice but to start at the bottom.

    Most of these talented disciples started near the top rank of Nominal discples.

    Unlike with the other disciple ranks, which were divided into nine, Nominal disciple ranks were different. There was only one holistic group, and everyone was arranged into a leaderboard. If you wanted to be promoted to Quadrant Ranked, you had to enter the top three of your sector of villages and then pass a mission, only then could you succeed.

    Those that entered the rank of Galaxy within 30 years were considered to be average, this was the category someone like Narat fell into. It had taken even decades more than that to climb to Level 4 Galaxy Ranked.

    Within 20 years and you were considered to be above average and a decent talent. Within 10 years and you could be considered to be in the 90th percentile of Void Palace geniuses. Within five years and you were in the 97th percentile. Within a year and you were in the 99th percentile.

    The Void Palace easily had millions of disciples, so this was still quite a number of individuals. There was a reason why Leonel''s village was titled 0012. All four digits were easily used for the newbie villages. Still, it was a prestigious right nonetheless.

    Whether it was Emonie or Eliot, both took less than 10 years to reach the Galaxy Rank, and now they were both Level 4 Galaxy Ranked disciples and Tier 4 Sixth Dimensional experts. Their strength was not small in the slightest.

    That was exactly why it was shocking that Emonie''s whip didn''t even manage to make it close to Leonel''s head. The instant it crossed the odd circle of wind rushing around Leonel''s feet, a line of golden Spear Force manifested, splitting the whip in two and racing down its body.

    Emonie''s eyes widened. This was a Silver Grade weapon, how could it be split so easily?!

    But that was the least of her worries. In the blink of an eye, the Spear Force appeared between her brows and her body froze, death flashing in his pupils.

    Soбн So fast.

    A roar left Eliot''s lips, his body lighting up with radiant blue runes as he smashed a fist forward.

    BANG!

    Eliot took three heavy steps backward, each one causing the earth to quake, a deep imprint of at least half an inch following this one.

    He looked at his fist solemnly, a line of blood having broken his skin. It was only as deep as a paper cut, and the blood was pooling very slowly, but for Leonel to break his defenses with his God Runes activated was a result he could have never expected.

    At that moment, Leonel let Narat slowly fall to the ground, turning back. Something about his gaze made the hair on the bodies of both stand on end, their breathing becoming hollow.

    "Hurry up and stop holding back, Emonie!"

    Emonie didn''t need Eliot to tell her, a flourishing light had already erupted from her, her green hair fluttering as blinding emerald runes began to appear around her.

    A domain of vines manifested first as energy particles, then illusory constructs, before taking true form, all before surging toward Leonel.

    The spectators couldn''t believe what they were seeing. A Fifth Dimensional student had forced two geniuses to activate their God Runes after just a casual exchange?

 Chapter 1474 First Time In A Long While

    No one would casually bring out their God Runes. In fact, many would bring out their Ability Indexes long before they chose to do this. A God Rune was the core of someone''s being and comprehending it required pouring all of your comprehensions into one. In a way, it was a mirror into your inner being as well as one''s strongest trump card.

    However, any disciple of the Void Palace, especially those that could be considered geniuses even among this gathering of geniuses like Emonie and Eliot, were decisive. They realized they were in danger in a single instant.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    For the first time in a long while, the Chain Spear made its appearance. Its sleek black body wrapped in chains vibrated like a flood dragon in its cage.

    The moment it appeared, its blade trembled. One could almost hear it roaring into the skies, its excitement palpable.

    All those with spears in the surroundings found their weapons becoming agitated, some even finding it difficult to contain themselves and even cracking in the process.

    As for those that wielded swords, their weapons seemed to shrink beneath the pressure, hiding deeper into their sheaths and cowering into the corner of the spatial rings they resided in.

    Emonie''s vines surged for Leonel, but the moment they crossed the circle of wind, they were diced into pieces. It was as though dozens of blades had run through them in all sorts of directions, their bits and pieces falling to the ground without the slightest hint of life.

    Eliot shot forward, his speed fast to many, but incomparably slow to Leonel.

    Leonel''s gaze drifted to Eliot''s blue God Runes. They reminded him a lot of the gorillas he had fought in the Void Tower, quite an apropos comparison for a man like this.

    Swift.

    Leonel spear pierced forward, a spiral of energy wrapping around the tip of its blade. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight, the shimmering gold imprinting itself on the heart of all those that saw it as though it was the masterstroke of art.

    Eliot didn''t even register that Leonel''s spear had appeared before him until it was too late, one of his God Runes shattering on impact as he was sent flying.

    He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his rib cage threatening to cave in entirely.

    Leonel''s spear only trembled slightly, his base remaining solid and unmoved. His power was perfectly transferred to Eliot. It was as though it would be blasphemous to his technique for any backlash to harm him.

    Forceful.

    Leonel''s next step felt oddly heavy, his hair fluttering in the wind. It had gotten a hint longer in the year without maintenance, dancing into the air like shimmering filaments of pale violet.

    BANG!

    The air collapsed.

    This pierce wasn''t anywhere near as fast as the first, and yet it was as though the culmination of the world had been forced into the blade.

    The Chain Spear vibrated with happiness, its body growing by another foot and its weight doubling. It wasn''t much since the spear had only been 50 pounds to begin with, but when matched with Forceful, Emonie''s face could only drain of all of its blood.

    A bloody hole tore through Emonie''s stomach, the God Runes around it shattering. Hers weren''t designed for defense to begin with, but rather area control. Faced with Leonel''s strength, how could she last even a single exchange without Eliot''s support.

    Leonel caught her by her hair before she could fall to her knees, the pain of her roots holding up her body weight paling in comparison to the hold in her gut.

    She couldn''t believe what was happening. Even if her runes weren''t meant for defense, a God Rune shouldn''t be so easily shattered.

    While it wouldn''t be a problem for her to reform them with some meditation, that wasn''t the problem. In the middle of battle, doing such a thing would be difficult. It was almost like Leonel was weakening her in real time and humiliating her for extra measure.

    The wound through her stomach was lethal to most, but with her high vitality and the leaning of her God Runes, she would be just fine even for several days. However, it was this kind of horror that truly shook her to her core.

    It was like Leonel had already seen through her with a single glance, enough to know this and act accordingly. What kind of monster had they provoked

    However, when she heard Leonel''s next words, she trembled and nearly pissed herself.

    "You wanted to strip my Aina naked, right? Why don''t you give everyone here a show, then?"

    Leonel didn''t plan on letting Emonie and Eliot off. He would thoroughly humiliate the both of them.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    His spear rose into the air. However, before it could descend, a soft but forceful voice sounded.

    "That''s enough."

    Jova stepped forward. Her expression seemed placid and her eyes were unmoved.

    Just the same, though, Leone''s spear didn''t pause in the slightest, its tip catching the collar of Emonie''s dress and slicing downward.

    CLANG!

    At that moment, a whip shot forward, forcing Leonel''s spear back.

    "I said, that''s enough."

    Leonel looked up, his cold gaze landing on Jova who calmly held a whip in her hand. It looked as though it had never been unfurled in the first place.

    But, in that instant, Leonel''s Absolute Domain surged, blades whirling in the air and shredding Emonie''s dress and undergarments to pieces, even to the point of leaving faint marks across her fair skin.

    It was clear that Leonel had enough control to not let these faint marks appear, but he had done so anyway.

    The only slight saving grace for Emonie was that the hole in her gut had led to a flood of blood that obscured some of what was below. But, that didn''t leave much to the imagination at all.

    Emonie shrieked, trying to cover her body, but not to mention the fact her limbs felt too weak to do so, even if she could move freely, there was simply too much to cover.

    Leonel''s Chain Domain roared to life, wrapping around Emonie''s wrists and ankles before lifting her into the skies.

    "Today, I won''t be letting any one of you off."

    The ice cold of Leonel''s voice made Jova''s placid gaze tremble with fury. But, Leonel had already shot forward.

 Chapter 1475 [Bonus ]

    [Bonus chapter for 2250 powerstones. Next at 3000, unless the double golden ticket event kicks in before then, in which case... 3750. I think it starts soon but I can''t remember]

    Leonel''s spear drew lines across the skies from three different directions. Each one was swifter than the last, and yet they each seemed to have their own flare as though Leonel was in a different mood when drawing the stroke of each one.

    Jova''s expression became serious, her rage being doused by a bucket of cold water. She suddenly realized that Leonel hadn''t displayed even a fraction of his skill, he only showed as much as he thought he needed to show.

    Today, he would make a display for the spearmen and swordsmen of the Void Palace to see. He needed nothing but his spear to suppress all directions!

    Jova''s wrist flicked, her whip sweeping across. But, the moment they connected, she was forced one step back, then another, and then another.

    Those who knew of Jova couldn''t help but widen their eyes. Emonie and Eliot had both taken about eight years to climb. However, Jova was on an entirely different level, taking just six years, being an entirely 25% faster than them.

    When this number was translated to strength, though, it wasn''t a mere 25% increase even though that would be an astonishing amount nonetheless. It wouldn''t even be an exaggeration to say that she was twice as powerful.

    And it showed quite clearly. She had yet to activate her God Runes, and yet she had only taken three steps back to a strike that had left Eliot entirely incapacitated.

    Jova''s aura flared, her green hair fluttering. Her whip roared to life, the mandible of a viper opening wide as it snapped toward Leonel.

    However, in response, Leonel only took another step forward, his blade piercing forward again.

    Swift.

    This again?! Jova was infuriated that Leonel was actually taking her so casually. But, just as she finished the thought, her construct crumbled, the snake splitting in two beneath Leonel''s might and curving around Jova''s whip.

    The spiraling golden Spear Force appeared before her in the blink of an eye, the flexibility of Leonel''s Spear Force leaving her in shock, but its range shocked her even more.

    Jova lightly stepped onto the ground, her dress fluttering as she dodged to the side. But, Leonel had already struck forward again.

    Gentle.

    Leonel''s spear quivered in the air, his movements feeling slow and ethereal. Despite his rage, his spear obediently calmed itself, a beam of golden Spear Force slicing forward with a momentum that made little sense.

    It felt fast, but controlled, lethal, but hidden, strong, butбн gentle.

    Leonel''s interpretation of Gentle had evolved to the point that it became a profound technique all to its own. To do something gently didn''t mean that one couldn''t be fast, lethal and strong, it just meant that one had to be fast, lethal and strong in a tactful manner, bringing one''s speed under control, reining in one''s lethality, hiding one''s force.

    ? Jova found that her mind was being overloaded. Every time she felt that she knew exactly how to counter, she would realize that it wasn''t adequate. By the time she realized that this technique was too profound for her to counter with her level of skill, it had already appeared before her.

    Without a choice, Jova roared, her God Runes blazing to life and strengthening her body.

    A wall of vines appeared before her and she used the opportunity to dodge to the side.

    When she reappeared on the other side, her whip struck outward again and again, an emerald mark shimmering upon her forehead.

    It only took people a glance to recognize the Lineage Factor of the Viror family. In such a state, not only was her body flooded with strength and her Healing Factor was accelerated to an extreme, but the most powerful ability of the Viror family Lineage Factor was control over the Life Force of plants.

    Not only could Jova form plant-life from thin air so long as the proper Force existed, but she could control these powerful plants to do her bidding. And, any Viror family member worth their salt would nurture powerful seedlings to bring with them to battle.

    As Jova''s whip cracked out, her free hand opened a palm sending half a dozen seedlings into the air.

    In one moment, they were nothing more than seeds the fraction the size of a fingernail. But, in the next, they exploded in size, becoming pinkish gold lilies as large as three meters across each!

    Their stems and vines looked as though they had been coated in green dragon scales and their petals shimmered with a heavy light that pierced through the fog of the Void Palace.

    The Evergreen Dragon Scaled Lily!

    In the human world, plants had two method of protecting themselves: toxins and physical defenses. In the Dimensional Verse, this wasn''t much different. But, the results were far moreбн exaggerated.

    The Evergreen Dragon Scaled Lily was known for its tough scales. As a pinnacle Sixth Dimension Herb, its vines were no weaker than any Sixth Dimensional weapon. But, its most lethal attributeбн

    The six three-meter tall lilies rotated in the skies. Suddenly, the roar of a wild beast shook the surroundings, pillars of Force bearing down upon Leonel.

    The expressions of those in the surroundings changed. There was no doubt that this was overkill, Jova had actually used six such precious seeds at once. Who knew how long it had taken her to evolve them to this level?!

    Everyone could tell that she had poured all the Life Force of the lilies into this one attack. What if she killed Leonel?! How would she take responsibility?!

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    However, to everyone''s shock, a frosty aura suddenly spread through the surroundings, the region freezing to ice and causing Jova''s summoned vines to shatter like glass in an instant.

    Leonel slowly walked out from the region, untouched and dawned in a radiant armor.

    "You''re angry? I''ll show you what real rage is."

    Leonel took another step forward.

    For a long time, Leonel didn''t believe that he had a single artistic bone in his body. But, there was something he had neglected. When it came to charisma, there were very few people who could match up to him. When it came to words, there were very few people who could galvanize a crowd like he could, very few who could stir hearts like he could, very few who could instill fear like he could.

    "Fury."

    Leonel''s Spear Force seemed to become a raging flame, and yet Leonel hadn''t used his fire affinity at all.

    His blade pierced forward, painting the world in red.

 Chapter 1476 Castration

    None here had ever seen Spear Force react like that. All blade Forces they had ever seen were flat and sharp, but this one seemed to have blazed to life as though it had become a golden flame all on its own.

    The moment it left Leonel''s spear, it was like the entire world had been swallowed up, many spectators feeling their eyes redden, their hearts becoming agitated as though they were the ones experiencing Leonel''s fury, as though his fury was their own.

    Jova found herself flying back like a broken kite, her God Runes shattering one after another until her body was swallowed up whole.

    The Spear Force was precisely like the embodiment of fury. It was uncontrolled, wild, filled with malice, and uncaring about anything.

    Leonel lowered his spear, his blade radiating with a harsh red as though it had just been laid on a bed of coals. It continued to tremble and roar, its agitation piercing the veil of the Void Palace.

    Leonel walked forward without the slightest bead of sweat on his forehead, unmoved and unhurried. He didn''t even turn to check on Jova''s situation, he simply stepped toward Eliot who lay unconscious, his God Runes having long since disappeared.

    However, Eliot wouldn''t get to stay unconscious for long, a scream leaving his lips as the butt of Leonel''s spear pressed into his crotch. The screech shook the very souls of those who heard it, the men who had been laughing away with Eliot earlier paling.

    Eliot couldn''t have been more awake now, looking down in horror, he watched as Leonel continued to slowly grind his spear.

    His voice came out in high-pitched whimpers, but he didn''t dare to move. Even his slightest trembles made waves of pain shoot through him. He could tell that Leonel hadn''t crushed his family jewels just yet, but that didn''t make the pain any less horrific.

    "Noбн Noбн"

    Eliot couldn''t even think straight, too worried about the result. But, if he could, he would remember that much like sexual assault was banned, castration was also a huge no in the Void Palace.

    There were too many geniuses from powerful families here. If someone went around ending all of their family lines, couldn''t they cripple a family entirely? How could something like that be allowed? So, much like killing and rape, castration was its own enormous taboo, and the punishment was just as swift.

    Death sentence.

    The Void Palace couldn''t allow any room to maneuver. The moment such a problem started, an all out war would break out. You could cripple someone, and humiliate them, but you couldn''t cut off their family line.

    However.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    The butt of Leonel''s spear continued to drive downward slowly. The crunch of flesh and the howls of Eliot became the stuff of nightmares.

    Leonel''s expression didn''t change from start to finish, his control impeccable. He didn''t drive too fast or too slow. By the time he was half way through, Eliot was already foaming at the mouth, the pain so great that his blood vessels of his popped as they rolled back, tears of crimson flooding out and pooling onto the ground.

    Their fear of Leonel seemed to become ingrained. As Eliot convulsed on the ground, no one dared to say a single word.

    Soon, a dull thump rang in everyone''s ears. At that moment, even without checking, they knew that Leonel''s spear butt had driven down to the solid ground. And yet, he continued for several more minutes before retracting his spear.

    Leonel broke three pieces off a nearby wooden roof, ensuring not to ruin its structural integrity, before staking them into the ground.

    He shredded the clothing of Jova and Eliot to pieces before hanging them up by their hands to the tops of the poles of wood. Then, just as calmly, he aimed his spear at the ground, beginning to draw an array around them.

    After several minutes, he stopped and turned toward Aina.

    In that moment, it was like he had become a completely different person. His Divine Armor faded, his smile brightening up the surroundings.

    "Ready?"

    Aina smiled and took Leonel''s hands, the crowd splitting to allow the two of them to leave.

    No one dared to say anything for a long while, a full sort of silence pressing down upon all their heads. But, when the first person realized what had happened, a second person followed soon, and then a third.

    The weak of them looked toward Narat''s state, suddenly not daring to go and report this matter. But, there were others here. Plus, this time, this wasn''t a report to Treanna, but rather to the Senate itself. Someone had broken one of the iron-clad rules!

    The news took much longer to spread than it should have due to the sheer impact of Leonel''s actions. How long had it been since someone had broken those rules? Waitбн It hadn''t been that long ago, had it? Maybe 20 or 30 years agoбн And his name also happened to be Morales.

    бн

    Leonel didn''t seem to care about these matters. He knew the rules better than anyone, he didn''t need them explained to him.

    He made it to the location of his target Zone along with Aina. The region was just as deserted as the first one had been. But, Leonel had a feeling that there would be another commotion by the time they came out.

    Leonel handed over the mission plaque and slipped in with Aina, leaving the overseeing disciple speechless. This mission, he was pretty certain that it was meant for 16 people to complete together. Plusбн Wasn''t it a Level 6 Galaxy Ranked mission, why was a Level 9 Quadrant Ranked disciple taking it on?

    The youth didn''t get much of a chance to think about this because just moments later, a powerful aura shot down from the skies, so overwhelming that the youth almost fell to his knees, his expression warping.

    He might not be a great disciple as he was taking on such easy missions, but it also wasn''t easy to claim such missions either. You needed connections, and to form connections, you needed ability. If these missions could be so casually taken, wouldn''t everyone want such an easy way of earning Void Points?

    This was all to say that this individual was stronger than even Jova, but right now, he wanted to do nothing more than kneel.

    BANG!

 Chapter 1477 White Robes

    "Hm. Seems I was late."

    The voice was cold and biting, but the overseer didn''t dare to say a word. He simply stood in silence, his limbs trembling out of both fear and the sudden drop in temperature.

    бн

    Within the Zone, as the couple battled through an army that should have put the on their backfoot, Aina couldn''t help but turn toward Leonel, her eyebrow raised.

    "Did you think this through?"

    Leonel grinned. "Think what through."

    "You know what I''m talking about."

    "Aina, is it really time to talk about making babies now? I''m a bit embarrassed."

    Aina rolled her eyes. Leonel could experience a lot of emotions, at least in theory, but she didn''t think embarrassment was one of them. He was already as shameless as you could get.

    "We should have just run, why did you insist on entering the Zone? Don''t you think you''re a bit hard headed? You can''t use your tongue to get out of everything, you know."

    "My tongue? It seems it''s been so long since you''ve seen what it can do that you''ve forgotten my prowess!"

    Leonel''s voice boomed like he was a valiant king of the middle ages, even his speech patterns changing. Toward such a thing, Aina could only be speechless. How did he manage to make everything so perverted? Was he really so pent up?

    "You know that''s not what I meant, be serious."

    "I''m serious too!"

    "Seriously."

    "Seriously."

    Aina suddenly felt like throwing her ax at Leonel''s head. If they weren''t in the middle of a battlefield, she really would have done it too.

    "You''d better explain right now, or else I won''t talk to you anymore!"

    Leonel laughed. "Alright, alrightбн"

    бн

    The commotion Leonel might have been expecting outside the Zone portal wasn''t much of a commotion at all. In fact, it was deathly silent, silent to the point that even the beating of hearts and the shallowness of their breathing could be heard.

    In the center of it all, a young man adorned in white robes stood silently, his eyes closed and his body unmoving. It looked like even if the world itself collapsed, he wouldn''t budge even a single inch.

    A layer of frost slowly coated the surroundings about him, but this didn''t seem to be done intentionally. It was like his presence itself was ice cold and thus affected the environment. He didn''t have to try to cause such an effect at all. The moment anything stepped into his domain, it would freeze.

    The overseeing Galaxy Ranked disciple stood shivering, his brows and hair having already been covered. However, he didn''t dare to move. It was his job to overlook this portal. Though under usual circumstances, he would get some leeway... he didn''t dare to take such liberties now, not with this young man here.

    He recognized that white robes, that emblem with a sword standing tall amidst broken chains on his tall collarsбн.

    The Unfettered Blade Party, the current Majority of the Senate.

    He didn''t know why he was here, but it simply didn''t matter.

    бн

    Across the Void Palace, news spread like wildfire. The reappearance of Leonel after a year was like a flashbang going off in all their minds.

    Many made their way to the spot of the crime, only to find two beauties hanging completely naked with a young man in the middle of them. The latter''s bloodied crotch was something none could ignore, it stood out like a sore thumb, making a chilling wind nip at their necks.

    Members of Treanna''s Faction came not long after. Seeing such a scene, they were shocked, then embarrassed, and then infuriated. Leonel crippling their members was already enough to make them rage, but this? This was far too much!

    Any Faction worth its salt would have very tight bonds with one another, and this was, even more, the case for Factions built around singular families like Treanna''s own. Eliot was the only one among the three not part of the Viror family, and both were women.

    Leonel actually dared to strip Viror family women naked for all to see like this?!

    Absolutely infuriated, many rushed forward to cut them down, trying to make the spectators scram. But, the Void Palace had too many geniuses, a single Faction, especially a mere Silver Faction, couldn''t possibly hope to control the masses.

    Still, many had to give Treanna some face. After all, she controlled the medical centers for the Galaxy Rank and below. Doctors were at the top of the list of people most didn''t dare to offend.

    However, who would have guessed that when they rushed forward, they would be rebuffed?

    It wasn''t that they hadn''t seen the formation Leonel had drawn, it was just that who here believed that something Leonel had drawn casually and on a whim could possibly stop such high level Sixth Dimensional experts?

    Every time they charged forward, they would fly back out with the same force. And, every time they struck forward with an attack, they would panic upon realizing there was no barrier at all. If they sent forward a full powered strike, they would just be killing Eliot, Emonie and Jova.

    Even after several dozen minutes, no one could seem to find a method of deal with it. They could only try to encircle and build a barrier, but Leonel had hung them up too high for this to be done quickly.

    "Sister!"

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    A screech cut through the atmosphere, a young woman charging forward.

    If Leonel had been there, he would have recognized this woman quite well. It was the same woman that had run the medicine shop of Village 0012, Rosomon.

    She charged through, managing to grab Jova just before Leonel''s barrier sent her flying back with twice the speed.

    BANG!

    Rosomon crashed heavily into the ground, but she had already taken out several robes to cover her sister''s body, her gaze as red as could be.

    бн

    At that moment, a mere six hours after entering the Zone, the portal warped and Leonel and Aina walked out hand in hand.

    "Hm?" Leonel blinked, feeling the chilling wind around.

    It was precisely then that the white robe wearing young man''s eyes snapped open.

    The sound of unsheathing swords rang through the skies, the crackle of ice dancing along the lines of space.

    "Leonel Morales, having broken one of the Taboos of the Void Palace, I sentence you to death."

 Chapter 1478 Micarth

    The atmosphere froze, and those who had managed to come over in time to watch found their chests constricted.

    However, at that moment, Leonel blinked, his head turning toward Aina.

    "I feel like I just got transported into some low budget martial arts movie, is it just me?"

    Aina, whose expression had turned somewhat serious, couldn''t help but falter. Her soft lips rolled over themselves as she tried to hold back her laughter.

    Leonel was a fan of cool uniforms, but this was too much. In fact, it bordered on tacky and even crossed over the line somewhat.

    Half closed eyes, arrogant expression, cold aura, and those pure white robes? Leonel almost wanted to gag. Cool uniforms were fine, but how could you go out in public like this?

    "I''m pretty sure this is how everyone from the Unfettered Blade Party dresses," Aina said lightly, trying to stay serious.

    "All of them? Did no one tell them that they look ridiculous?"

    Aina couldn''t seem to take it anymore, an adorable snort leaving her nose completely out of her control. She couldn''t maintain her serious expression anymore even if she wanted to. In the end, she doubled over in laughter, hitting Leonel''s arm.

    Those that were spectating couldn''t help but put on weird expressions before their eyes landed on the white robed youth. No one had ever really spoken about it before, but these robes really were a bit too tacky. Unlike the official Void Palace robes with had a bit of modern flare to them, the Unfettered Blade Party official uniform hadn''t changed in generations.

    It looked like it was centuries too old.

    That much would have still been fine if it wasn''t for the arrogant and high nosed attitudes of the young man and women that wore it. It really looked like all of them were trying to become the main characters of their own stories.

    When no one really thought about it, it was still acceptable. But, after Leonel mentioned it with such flare and genuineness, it felt like the Unfettered Blade Party had suddenly become a bunch of children playing superhero in their parents'' living rooms.

    "If I ever design a uniform that bad, please let me know in advance. I wouldn''t be able to look myself in the mirror if I found out too late."

    Leonel''s fascination with cool uniforms of course meant that he had every intention of designing his own in the future. How could he not make sure that his armies were in good form?

    "Alright, alrightбкthat''s enough!" Aina wheezed, pushing Leonel away.

    Aina knew well that Leonel had done this on purpose. With how well Leonel understood people, if what he wanted to do was de-escalate the situation, he would have taken a much different approach. Clearly, though, he was provoking this young man and he didn''t seem to care that he was slapping the faces of the Unfettered Blade Party at the same time.

    The young man stood unmoved, but it was clear by the sound of swords in the air that his mood had shifted. From a cold indifference, there was an added forcefulness to his aura.

    p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

    He didn''t speak a word, he didn''t waste time on pleasantries, he didn''t even seem to take a breath or a gather step.

    In one moment, he was a sheathed sword and in the next, he had unleashed it, a blinding light tearing through the spear and appearing before Leonel in the blink of an eye. It was clear that he had every intention to kill. There was no need to say anything.

    However, just when the blinding light was about to enter a five-meter radius of Leonel, something astonishing happened.

    CLANG! BANG!

    Leonel didn''t even bother to take a single step, nor did he flinch in the face of the Sword Force, he didn''t even seem to make an effort. Much like the young man, his hands didn''t move and his expressions were unmoved.

    But, what was shocking was the fact that Leonel''s Fifth Dimensional Spear Force countered what was clearly Sixth Dimensional Sword Force without much difficulty at all.

    Leonel watched indifferently as the Spear and Sword Force wrapped around one another before spiraling out of control and shattering into motes of white and gold light.

    "If the goal is to kill me, they probably should have sent someone stronger. Your blade isn''t cold enough and your sword isn''t sharp enough."

    Something about Leonel''s words was decidedly sharp. The words echoed through their ears, stirring something deep within them, even without understanding how they subconsciously felt that he was speaking the truth.

    Whether by coincidence or something else, the youth''s Sword Force seemed to dim and weaken, even the sounds of sharpening blades dulling by a measure and slowing down in frequency.

    The eyes of the young man seemed to finally ''see'' Leonel for the first time. Someone in the Fifth Dimensional had blocked an attack from him? Was something like this even possible? He couldn''t even fathom how such a thing was possible.

    Even if the strike was casual, even if he didn''t draw his blade or activate his God Runes, this was ridiculous.

    "I see." The youth said lightly. "I guess it makes sense, anyone who could make it here wouldn''t just simply allow themselves to be killed. But, that much is fine, killing you and taking revenge for my uncle''s arm will be worth it.

    "The arm of a Suiard in exchange for the head of a Morales. This is a worthy start until the day I take the head of Velasko myself.

    "My name is Micrath. I leave this name not for you, but so that others will understand in the future that the Suiard name is not one you can casually disregard as you please, no matter who you are."

    The words were sharp, venomous, and clearly filled with disregard.

    Leonel, however, who had just been planning on casually playing around for a while and forcing this person into a trap before revealing his true intentions, suddenly paused.

    The amusement in his eyes faded, his expression not quite becoming cold, but something beyond that instead. It was difficult to explain, but it was the kind of expression one would know when one saw itбн The kind of a mortal looking down on an ant, an Emperor looking down on a subject, a God looking down on a servant.

    Take the head of his father? Was he even able to take his own head?

    Leonel didn''t say a word, he only took a step and vanished from sight. When he reappeared again, the clanging of chains sung through the darkness.

 Chapter 1479 Justice

    When Leonel finally slowed enough to be tracked by the naked eye, he was wreathed in a radiant blue. However, that only lasted for the smallest instant of time before all anyone could see was a blinding gold.

    Micrath''s pupils constricted, the tip of Leonel''s spear appearing larger and larger in his eyes. He couldn''t help but notice that Leonel had crossed his domain without the slightest hindrance, entirely unmoved by his aura of cold.

    Reacting quickly, Micarth formed a seal with his left hand, causing a shield of ice to appear before him in less than a fraction of a moment. However, as soon as it appeared, it was pierced through, the residual Spear Force sending Micarth flying into the distance.

    Everywhere his body passed space sparkled and the fog froze into icicles, even the wind itself seemed to condense, only to be smashed through by his momentum in the next instant.

    Leonel''s feet lightly touched down, his Divine Armor shimmering.

    That hand sign Micarth had made in the final moment was pretty interesting and Leonel only needed a glance to know what it was. While hiding some Ability Indexes was worthwhile, there were others that were such a core part of your battle style that it would instead be foolish to do this.

    Leonel was one such example. "Hiding" his Ability Index would be a rather stupid choice. He only did so when he wanted a change of pace, and that had only happened once. Usually, his Ability Index was always churning in the background, the only difference was how much he was using it.

    Clearly, the same was true of Micarth.

    Unsurprisingly, Micarth''s ability was more auxiliary. Such abilities were the best to make large parts of your battle style rather than hiding. His Ability Index fell into an energy manipulation type category, and was more precisely known as the Nodal Control Ability Index.

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    At its lowest Tier, this Ability Index allowed one to form larger Force Nodes than most, and their Force Node Pathways were also large in comparison.

    At its Tier 4, however, one could freely control and shift and change the location of their Force Nodes as they please without any damage or harm to themselves.

    This sounded like an unnecessary ability. After all, everyone would always have one Node configuration that suited them the very best and that would be decided at quite an early age. However, there was a path and type of Force Art technique that Leonel had learned about in the Void Library that made such an ability not only worthwhile but also extremely powerful.

    To make a long story short, Micarth could designate a new position for his Force Nodes with a different hand sign. Leonel couldn''t be surprised if he had hundreds, if not thousands of hand signs.

    The moment he activated this hand sign, his Nodes, and their pathways would change position, forming a Force Art and deploying the technique instantaneously.

    Not only would the technique be deployed with extreme speed, but because Micarth''s body itself was resonating with it, it was also far more powerful than most techniques as well!

    Micarth didn''t need to waste time learning and memorizing Force Arts, nor did he need to waste time on learning precise Force control and flow. All he needed to do was pick a technique he liked, go into meditation for a few hours, picks a hand sign for it, tie this hand sign to a new Node configuration, and then he would be able to deploy it in battle as he pleased!

    This ability, if used by someone clever and with the necessary resources was truly frightening.

    Micarth had hardly been ready for Leonel''s speed and had still been looking down on the latter, and yet he actually still managed to react with such a powerful defense!

    While Leonel was feeling a bit impressed by Micarth, those who were watching on were actually feeling the exact opposite.

    Micarth was a member of the Unfettered Blade Party! He was an existence no more than a decade or two away from becoming a Sector Ranked disciple! And yet someone in the Fifth Dimension had sent him flying with a single spear! This was ridiculous!

    If the Unfettered Blade Party hadn''t been confident in Micarth, they would have never sent him. This wasn''t a scene anyone had expected to see.

    At that moment, Micarth crashed against the ground, but he roared in the next instant, his body shooting into the skies.

    He formed another hand seal, causing several swords of ice to form around him. They wrapped themselves in Sword Force, shooting forward like blazing meteors as Micarth fell from the skies.

    However, Leonel''s domain seemed even stronger now that he held a spear in his hands. A winding tornado of Spear Force manifested, shredding them to pieces.

    Leonel''s took a step forward, the seams of his Divine Armor radiating with a blinding golden light as three illusory tails stretched out for dozens of meters.

    Starry Light Domain.

    When Leonel took another step, he vanished once more. Micarth though that he had already adjusted to Leonel''s speed after the first time, but his eyes could only widen when he realized that he had lost track of Leonel once again.

    Yet another spear appeared between his brows. Yet another ice shield formed. And Micarth was once again sent flying back like a speeding bullet.

    BANG!

    Micarth had been thoroughly humiliated, his words of grandeur seemed to come off as quite hollow, just like his white robes.

    Another roar sounded and a frigid pillar of ice soared into the skies.

    Micarth''s God Runes blazed to life, his palm flipping over to reveal his icy blue sword. He had had enough.

    But, right thenбн

    "That''s enough."

    Cornelius appeared between the two young men as though he had always been there, causing Micarth to feel as though his towering aura had fallen like a drop in the ocean.

    Cornelius'' gaze turned toward Leonel, but to his surprise, the latter had already removed his armor.

    After hearing what had happened, Cornelius knew he had to come. No one knew what happened to Leonel in the Void Tower, but there was potentially the chance that no one other than the Void Elders could hope to deal with Leonel if whatever happened before occurred again.

    But, what he didn''t expect was for Leonel to be soбн cooperative?

    Leonel''s next words truly left him speechless, though.

    "Elder, I''m just a small time Quadrant Ranked disciple, yet I was attacked by a Galaxy Ranked Party member who had every intention to kill me. He even said that he would get revenge for my father''s actions by taking my head and even threatened to take my father''s head in the future.

    "That''s a violation of a Tier 3 rule, and two Taboo rules, not to mention several other violations that would be too long to list. I''ll have to ask you to please uphold justice."

    Cornelius'' lip twitched. He had just gotten himself out of Leonel''s dream loop, did this kid want to throw him into another one? Weren''t you the one who broke a Taboo Law first?

    Cornelius could only blame himself, he must be a glutton for punishment.

 Chapter 1480 Oh, Right

    Many were astonished. The only thing that seemed to make sense was that Leonel either hadn''t realized the gravity of what he had done, or he really thought that he could use his backing to dodge this punishment as well.

    The rumors about how Leonel had gained the Amethyst Token had been circulating for a long while, but after he defeated Amery, much of that talk had tied down. The only ones who held onto this narrative were those who knew that Amery had been suppressed during that period, but it wasn''t as though the Suiard family would go around exposing the secrets of their family Heirloom so casually. In addition, Amery had also been uncaring about making excuses, so outside of a core few who knew the truth, this talk had been put to rest long ago.

    This went to show just what kind of monster Amery was, and what kind of weight his name held. Defeating him was enough to give Leonel the cache he needed to no longer have to deal with such annoying chatter. But, unfortunately, that wasn''t where his issues stopped.

    News of the White Lion Bow was still at the forefront of the Bow Faction''s mind, it was just that Leonel had made so few appearances in the last year that no one could pin him down. And, obviously, charging into the Spear Faction was a huge no-no.

    Then there was the odd matter with the Void Tower. The Void Elders obviously didn''t spread the news of what had actually happened because the matter was so sensitive, and as such left the decision up to the Void Senate''s whims. This was, of course, also a method of protecting Leonel.

    If others knew that it was truly Leonel''s own ability that allowed him to climb so high and there was nothing wrong with the Void Tower, the level of commotion it caused would not be small. Let alone the Human Domain, the spies of other Race Domains would raise an eyebrow.

    Though most weren''t in the know, how could the Void Elders not be aware that the other races had started paying more and more attention to their human race recently? The closer Earth got to maturity, the closer the Dimensional Verse seemed to grow toward all-out war.

    However, it was precisely because of this that more dissatisfaction was caused. The rule was that only by clearing the tenth floor on the first try could you become a Galaxy Ranked disciple. If you failed, then you should start at Level 1 Quadrant Ranked just like every other Golden Token holder.

    Yet, because of First Nova, Leonel was actually able to become a Level 9 Quadrant Ranked disciple from the very beginning, treatment that no one else got.

    As though this wasn''t bad enough, there was still the matter of staying in the Spear Faction for free, and now he had castrated people before demanding justice forбн himself?

    Even neutral parties would be dissatisfied watching these matters unfold one after another. The Void Palace was supposed to be the pinnacle of the Human Domain, there wasn''t supposed to be anyone with a strong enough background to make it sway to and froe. And yet, that was exactly what Leonel seemed to be doing on a daily basis.

    There was little Leonel could do about such impressions. Sometimes, the first impression was the most important one. There was a reason he was so infuriated with Orinik for spreading such information, even if it was technically true.

    He had ruined Leonel''s reputation just so that he could line his pockets.

    Leonel could only continue to prove people wrong. One might be fooled by Leonel''s usual personality, thinking of him to be an individual who lived to please others. However, the reality was that just because Leonel could be charismatic given the situation, didn''t mean that he was obsessed with having people like him. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

    Oftentimes, he couldn''t be bothered. That was why he always had such a hard time in the Dimensional Verse. Once things started off on the wrong foot, he couldn''t be bothered to fix them.

    Back in Royal Blue Academy, when those rich and noble youths of his school looked down on his Paradise Island origins, he didn''t mind them either. It was because he spent four years with them that things eventually changed.

    With his other organizations, Leonel didn''t spend more than a couple of months here and there. But, with Camelot, didn''t things turn around? With the Slayer Legion, wasn''t he on good terms with them now? Even with Valiant Heart Mountain, had he not helped them to save the majority of their students?

    Leonel''s life seemed to always be like this.

    For some reason, at that moment, Leonel''s thoughts flashed back to Anya''s face. He didn''t know why it had suddenly done this. His current thoughts didn''t seem to have anything to do with her at all. And yet, the sparks of his Dreamscape seemed to be working as hard as they could to no avail.

    Despite how long these matters had taken to describe, it was still nothing more than a blink of an eye to Leonel. However, when he was caught off guard by Anya''s face, his pause became more obvious to the people around him.

    Seeing that Leonel wasn''t explaining himself, Cornelius frowned. Could it really be that he was just saying nonsense and hoping that Cornelius would help him to smooth things over?

    Cornelius felt a headache coming along. If they really killed Leonel, what if that man went on another rampage? Last time he hadn''t even had evidence that they were part of his father''s death, yet he had wreaked so much chaos. This time, there would be no doubt that Leonel was, in fact, killed at their hands.

    What should he do?

    Cornelius'' hesitation seemed to be sensed by the surrounding students, causing their hearts to go cold. Could it be that even breaking a Taboo Law wasn''t enough for the Void Elders to deal with Leonel? Where were the rules?! What if one of them was next?!

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    At that moment, Leonel shook his head, understanding that he couldn''t make the final connections now no matter how hard he tried.

    "Oh, rightбк!"

    Leonel almost forgot that he was meant to start an explanation now.

 Chapter 1481 Scolded

    "бкRight, as I was saying, fighting between disciples is usually not policed and competition is encouraged, but such a thing is also only allowed within certain limitations. If a Domain Ranked senior came down to thrust their sword at me, how would I even manage to survive?

    "Thus, fights between disciples with large Rank divisions between them must be sanctioned or occur during certain exceptions.

    "For example, if I enter a Faction''s territory, they can deal with me with students and the entire full Rank above me without breaking the rules. Or, if I attack a higher Rank disciple first, then it doesn''t matter what Rank they are.

    "However, in this situation, that did not happen. I''m only in the Level 9 Quadrant Rank, but this Micrath individual attacked me. Not only did he attack me, but he attacked to kill.

    "This is a violation of a Taboo Law. The exact Law states that Killing or Killing Intent toward a fellow disciple is prohibited. It''s usually impossible to prove Killing Intent so it''s rarely enforced, but he spoke quite clearly that he had intentions to kill me, I''m sure many heard it.

    "But, this was just one of the Taboo Laws that he broke. Another is that a disciple of the Void Palace is the arbiter of peace for the Human Domain, they must not lay hands on or have the intent to harm the commoners.

    "I might be ignorant of many things, but I know my father well enough to know that it''s an impossibility that his name wouldn''t be on at least one leaderboard. And yet, I don''t see his name. The only explanation is that his name has been wiped from the record, meaning that he isn''t a person of the Void Palace and should be able to receive its protection.

    "And yet, this Micarth individual said that he would take his head in the future? Is that not intent to harm the commoners?

    "I could list many other violations he''s crossed, especially since he''s on duty as the representative of a Majority Leader.

    "Since it doesn''t look like you believe me, I can still list at least one. When he came here, he said "I sentence you to death". Even if I committed the crime of breaking a Taboo Law, that would still be grounds for punishment.

    "Vigilante justice is not allowed and represents the breaking of another rule. If anyone could dole out punishment, then what would we need the Void Senate for?

    "If that''s not enough, I can list another one tooбк"

    "That''s enough!" Cornelius finally couldn''t take it anymore.

    The moment Leonel started talking about Velasco and even called him a commoner, he almost couldn''t stop himself from laughing anymore. There had to be a limit to shamelessness. That rule was in place to protect the weak, not to protect the man whom even the Void Elders were apprehensive of!

    Aina bit her lips hard trying to hold back her laughter. Much of the crowd, even those dissatisfied with Leonel, couldn''t help but look away, trying to hide the amusement in their eyes. Even Cornelius himself was forced to stop Leonel before he got any closer to losing his composure.

    The only person who seemed truly infuriated was Micarth himself. Why was he being treated like some sort of jumping clown? He had been able to remain calm previously because he could already see the sign of Leonel''s death. But, after being blown back twice and then forced to stop just before he could unleash his full strength, he felt stifled beyond compare.

    Now he was forced to just stand here and listen to Leonel''s nonsense. It was absolutely infuriating.

    "Leonel, this is a serious matter. Since you''re so familiar with the laws, you should also know that what you''ve done is intolerable. This cannot be allowed."

    "I broke a Taboo Law?" Leonel blinked, feigning confusion. "I''ve read the laws of the Void Palace front to back, but even if I hadn''t, there are only a few Taboo Laws and everyone knows them. I wouldn''t be stupid enough to accidentally break one."

    Cornelius'' brow furrowed. This was much less funny, Leonel wasn''t taking this matter seriously at all.

    Setting aside the fact no one would believe a Fifth Dimensional existence had read all of their laws front to back, just the fact Leonel dared to say this made Cornelius'' favorable impression plummet. Did Leonel think that he would just help him sweep this matter under the rug?

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    Even if Cornelius knew that killing Leonel would cause trouble, he was a man who followed the letter of the law to the end. Even if he had to allow the Void Palace to sacrifice him to sate Velasco''s rage, he would do it. But, he wouldn''t let Leonel prance atop his head like this.

    "Leonelбк!"

    Cornelius'' voice was much more forceful, the momentum of a Seventh Dimensional existence blooming forth in waves. Many couldn''t help but take a step back.

    Leonel frowned, his joking attitude vanishing.

    "This is so annoying," Leonel said, cutting Cornelius off. "No one bothers to do their research anymore. Someone said I castrated a person now it''s suddenly fact? Did either of you two who came to mete out punishment even go and check?

    "The Taboo states that the crime of castration is punishable by death, but I didn''t castrate him. I crushed his penis and one of his balls, the other one is just fine. He can have children in the future. I have things to do, go and double check what the truth is before wasting my time.

    "And I also hope this supposed Suiard family member is also punished to the standards of the law."

    Leonel took Aina''s hand and walked away, heading right toward his next mission sight.

    Cornelius'' lip twitched. He was trying to help Leonel previously, how had he suddenly ended up being scolded?

    Only crushed one penis and one ball? Was he supposed to go and verify that now?

    Cornelius'' expression changed suddenly thinking of something. He stepped through the air, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

    Micarth was left behind, seething.

 Chapter 1482 Foul Play

    "Why''d you choose that approach? He was trying to help, you know. He didn''t deserve that," Aina said disapprovingly.

    Hearing this, Leonel nodded.

    "You''re not wrong, but I wanted to get out of there fast. He needs to get over there quite quickly if he wants to stop what''s likely to happen and this was the fastest way. If I had said it more nicely, we''d still be there exchanging words."

    Aina raised an eyebrow, Leonel wasn''t wrong. But, what required such speed?

    She shook her head for a moment before she suddenly thought of something. Her gaze sparked with fury.

    "You think?"

    "it''s possible. I didn''t really think about it before, but after seeing Micarth, I wouldn''t put it past them."

    "You''re not worried?"

    Leonel'' grinned. "Not really. The formation I drew around them isn''t all that easy to deal with. They''d be able to take down the two women so long as their strength is great enough. But, it''ll take more than strength to take down that bastard."

    Leonel had hung up Eliot in the middle of the two women for a reason. In fact, Eliot''s stake was dug into the ground right at the very center of the formation.

    Leonel was a man who had been able to teleport out dozens of geniuses from the depths of a Rapax Nest. Even though he hadn''t picked up a Force Crafting Quill in over a year now, his skill had still been increasing by leaps and bounds, whether it was his subtle breakthroughs in comprehension, his understanding of calligraphy and poetry, or his stint in the Void Library.

    The number of research papers Leonel had read on Crafting and spatial rings especially was astronomical. There was likely no other disciple beneath the Domain rank that understood better how to manipulate space through Force Arts than he did right now.

    If they thought pulling the wool over his eyes and taking advantage of him was so easy, they''d be sorely mistaken.

    **

    As Leonel and Aina entered their second Zone together, Leonel''s assumptions were coming true in real-time. The infuriated members of Treanna Faction had already managed to bring Jova and Emonie down, but now matter how hard they tried to get to Eliot, they found themselves being thrown back.

    Treanna herself seemed to refuse to make an appearance, but many members of her Faction were trying to save face by taking him down. However, there were several in the group that had darker than usual faces.

    "At this rate, we''re not going to be able to fulfill Faction Leader''s command."

    "This is ridiculous, I don''t believe that we can''t deal with this. Did the Earth Force specialist come over yet? We need to crack the ground and then we can get to him."

    "We already tried that but he wasn''t strong enough. You know breaking the ground in this place is tough. The only Earth Affinity specialists with any kind of strength in this place before reaching the upper tiers of the Sixth Dimensional are the Moralesбн The others all stink."

    "So then we just have to invite one of them over! We have plenty in the Faction!"

    "You know that the moment we became Silver we''ve been on a race to Gold, Faction Leader isn''t willing to be patient anymore, we spent too long as Bronze Ranked building up our foundation, it''s time to explode in growth."

    "They''re all doing missions? Not even one remained?"

    "It can''t be helped, battle merits are our greatest weak point ever since Faction Leader lost most of the Void Merits she gained from the leaderboards, that''s why this is so important."

    "Fuck, I''m going to try again!"

    A young charged forward, his feet stomping hard just outside of the lines Leonel had drawn before launching himself forward.

    His speed wasn''t slow in the slightest, and his strength was great. Many who saw this could only nod to themselves. The Galaxy Ranked disciples of Treanna''s Green Thread Faction were not weak at all, it was just that Leonel seemed to make them look like that.

    Usually by now, the crowd would have long since dispersed, and that it had. Unfortunately for their Silver Grade Faction, Leonel had tied them up right in the middle of the main road leading to a Senate Branch. There was no escaping it.

    The young man shot up like a speed bullet, but he immediately realized that he wasn''t going to make it.

    It was at that moment that a sinister light flashed in his eyes.

    A whip appeared in his palm and it cracked with lightning before he flicked his wrist. To an outsider, it looked like he was trying to cut Eliot down by the stake, but he knew his true motive.

    Just when the whip was about to reach the stake, a strong spatial fluctuation sent the young man reeling backward. But, how many times had the young man experienced this? He was already prepared.

    At that exact moment, he "lost" control of his whip and it just barely changed trajectory, aiming for Eliot''s crotch.

    The region was nothing but a bloodied mess. By now, the crimson had faded and hardened, becoming lumps of black and dangling flesh no one could make out from the other. It was only the Green Thread Faction members that had noticed that Eliot actually had one testicle left.

    When this was relayed to Treanna, she gave a very simple command.

    Crush it.

    Her goal was clear. She wouldn''t give Leonel any room to maneuver and wanted to force him into a dead end. What would happen if Leonel''s claims were investigated, only for everyone to learn that he had actually "lied" and Eliot really was castrated?

    The strike of the young man was vicious and his acting was perfect. On top of that, everyone already believed that Eliot had been castrated, so who would think of foul play?

    There wasn''t a single person in the Void Palace that wasn''t a genius among geniuses. Even this seemingly random young man had so skillfully timed and controlled his whip like this, already calculating that his strike would be perfect.

 Chapter 1483 The Right Way? [Bonus ]

    Just as the whip was about to connect, a wild distortion formed.

    Before the young man could react, the tip of his whip, which had just been moments away from crushing what was left of Eliot''s manhood, suddenly appeared before his face.

    BANG!

    The young man''s face distorted, his jaw shattered and his tongue nearly being cut in two.

    He skid along the ground, his body shooting off into the distance.

    Before he even landed, the humiliation had welled up in his heart. He had actually been slapped by his own weapon, in the history of the Void Palace, this was maybe the first time such a thing had happened.

    He crashed into the ground, holding his jaw as his body was shaken by pain. If it wasn''t for his relative immunity to lightning, the effects would have been even more drastic than it was here and now. He might have even lost his life.

    At that moment, another member of the Faction came rushing over, clutching a spatial ring in their hands. Seeing such a scene, they didn''t even hesitate. They shot forward, ignoring the fallen youth and appearing at the edge of Leonel''s formation.

    The spatial ring they were clutching flashed, revealing the form of a chain that snaked outward for hundreds of meters. Everywhere it passed, everything would be crushed to pieces.

    The youth grabbed onto the end of the chain with two hands, beads of sweat falling down their brows as they pulled hard.

    The chain whipped and writhed, eventually closing in around Leonel''s formation like a winding tornado. Except this tornado was formed of chains and not wind.

    The sound of shattering glass and earth resounded, the formation Leonel had drawn into the ground splintering and splitting as cracks spread along its form.

    The chain squeezed forward, wrapping around the base of Eliot''s stake and crushing it to pieces.

    Eliot fell, his body still limp. He had long since forced himself into a state of unconsciousness. The only good thing about Leonel''s formation was that it decreased the concentration of Anarchic Force a small measure, making it just a bit more bearable, just enough for him to close his eyes.

    But, with a sudden jolt, he was awoken and a familiar pain shot through his body. He cried out as he crashed to the ground.

    The youth that had saved him wrestled with the chain whip before remembering that the spatial ring was specially designed for just this moment. After pouring their Force into the ring, the chain whip let out a roar before it was unceremoniously pulled back, saving Eliot from the fate of being crushed.

    The members of the Green Thread Faction rushed forward, however those with a moreбн purposeful light in their eyes were faster, their command Treanna had given them ringing in their ears. Their only thoughts were of finding a chance to do things covertly. This was an even better opportunity than the lightning whip youth had managed to get.

    With things like this, there wouldn''t even be a question. How could anyone this Eliot''s own faction would castrate him?

    Unfortunatelyбн It wasn''t meant to be.

    At that moment, a powerful aura descended from the skies. In a single step, Cornelius had crossed the large distance, appearing above Eliot.

    A gentle wind pushed everyone out of the way as he appeared before Eliot''s writhing body.

    He placed a palm upon the latter''s head, causing the latter to fall into another deep sleep before checking his body.

    ''He really did only castrate a single testicleбн''

    Cornelius looked around. When his gaze met that of the youth, they looked away with guilty-ridden expressions. As a man who had experienced too much, Cornelius realized that he had really made it just in time. Unfortunately, there was no proof of any wrongdoing so he could only let things slide.

    Cornelius shook his head. ''Just like his father, he refuses to explain anything even when people are helping him. This brat really will be my undoing.''

    Cornelius didn''t really have a choice. He had been tasked by the Void Elders to make sure that Leonel didn''t cause too much upheaval, and he understood Velasco''s temper quite well.

    If Leonel really did something wrong, Velasco likely wouldn''t protect him. While part of the reason Cornelius was willing to mete out punishment to Leonel was because of his own sense of justice, another reason was that he knew that no one would blame him, including Velasco himself.

    Others might think that Velasco was like a looming threat constantly protecting Leonel''s back, but Cornelius knew that Velasco was a man who didn''t even lift a finger to bring his own brother out of a pit of despair, let alone his own son. That was just the kind of man he was.

    As long as things were done in an upright matter, he wouldn''t even frown. However, if he sniffed even the slightest hint of subterfugeбн

    Well, Rosen, who had lost his arm, was a prime example of the consequences.

    "This is good, the child hasn''t been castrated, take him to be treated."

    With Cornelius having said this, the youths knew that their plans would no longer work. Nodding respectfully, they picked Eliot up and rushed away.

    Cornelius sighed. ''Sometimes I wonder if this is the right way to raise the youths. By the time they''re old enough to make real decisions, these sorts of grudges won''t be able to be erased.''

    Cornelius shook his head. Clasping his hands behind his back, he vanished once more. With all the storms brewing around Leonel now, he should take some time to himself now, because he probably wouldn''t get any more for a while into the future.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina blazed through the Zones one after another and soon news of their exploits began to spread. Matched with Leonel''s battle with Jova and Micarth, this seemed to propel them into a different sort of spotlight entirely.

    Soon, the pair only had their hardest mission remaining and a new fire had been lit beneath the Void Palace Galaxy Ranked disciples.

    A calculative light flashed in Leonel''s eyes as he thought of how he would best take advantage of this situation.

 Chapter 1484 Wade Through A Dream [Bonus]

    Leonel exhaled a long breath, ruffling his hair. But, it didn''t carry its familiar volume and softness. Rather, it was heavy and wet, soaked through with his sweat. Even for him and Aina, taking on so many missions at once was definitely quite a challenge, especially since they had a time period to complete them all.

    Of course, they could have done it leisurely, but what would have been the point of that? Not only would they not gain the benefits of training without pushing themselves, but they''d also probably have to deal with more of Treanna''s nonsense during their break periods.

    The final two missions were the most challenging of the bunch. They had originally been Level 5 and 6 Galaxy Ranked missions respectively before they became Void Missions, and now they were both Three Star. One was related to goblins again while the second was related to Rapax.

    Leonel realized that most Galaxy Ranked missions seemed to be related to goblins and this probably wasn''t a coincidence. The Dwarven Race probably had the greatest variety in strength and, likewise, had the largest concentration of weaker groups and organizations to take advantage of.

    One shouldn''t be fooled by the fact that Leonel and the others were sent into a Rapax Nest, if not for the severe weakening of the race, not to mention the interference of the Three Finger Cult, even the Suiard family would have never taken such a risk. And yet, even then, they had to break the rules to do so.

    The Dwarven Race was probably the only one with similar average strength to humans. However, they were still above humans in the pecking order purely because they had an Eighth Dimensional world and humans did not.

    One might wonder, then, why other races weren''t planning to target the Dwarven Race like they would the Human Domain, and the answer to that was they had. In fact, they did so all the time. It was just that the Dwarven Race was exceptionally good at defense.

    When it came to guerilla tactics, extending battles and schemes, the Dwarven Race was unmatched. Battling on their home field was like asking for death.

    When Leonel and Aina began tackling higher level missions, they would no doubt include other high level races. Just the fact that Spirituals had a ''drawing dead'' level in the Void Tower already spoke volumes.

    Stepping over a final corpse, Leonel pushed through the vault of Dwarven Race.

    A year ago, Leonel and Aina had exited their first Void Mission on the fourth day, but why was that? They had already finished scouting after the first day and should have wrapped up the mission during the second, so why did they take an extra two days to leave?

    The reason was simple: because you could take things out of a Unique Zone.

    The small shield that covered his privates wasn''t the only thing Leonel had gotten out of that Zone. In fact, he had spent the next two days trying to decode some of the Dwarven Race''s Force Arts to see what he could glean from them.

    Unfortunately, the answer was not much.

    While you could take things out of this kind of Unique Zone, things could also easily become distorted. Information was among the worst things to pull out of a Zone like this as it could easily lead you astray.

    However, Leonel was a hyper-analytical person. Finding faults and flaws was what he was best at, these distortions didn''t bother him at all.

    Still, he hadn''t been able to get much out of the first Zone. If anything, the only benefit was that he got to spend more time teasing Aina, but there was nothing else aside from a small tidbit here and there. There was definitely nothing that could help him draw anything near as powerful as the formation that had kept him and Aina trapped.

    Leonel, though, didn''t choose to give up.

    ? Every time they finished a Dwarven Race mission, he would take a look around to see if there was anything he could find, slowly cobbling together bits and pieces of a new language.

    He was sure that others had tried to do this before, he had even seen research papers in the Void Library about it. But, there was nothing conclusive or holistic enough. Much like the Spirituals could protect their intellectual secrets, so too could the goblins. In fact, they were even better at it.

    While Spirituals were powerful purely because they were talented as a race overall, the goblins were different. They couldn''t afford for their secrets to come out as it would have a huge impact on their whole race and even lead to their extinction.

    Everything they left behind was designed to destroy itself, and anything that was left was designed to mislead.

    Knowing this, it was unsurprising that even after going through over a dozen goblin Void Missions, Leonel still didn''t find much of anything.

    ''Nothing again, huhбн They''re quite good at thisбн''

    Leonel smiled, looking into the vault to find nothing but nonsense. What was left behind might as well have been a picture of the goblins mooning him, they were quite a funny and snarky race of people. Leonel couldn''t help but laugh.

    "If you really want to study this stuff, you''ll probably have to go to their territory," Aina walked to his side, scanning the vault.

    "Maybe if it was someone else, but your hubby is a special case."

    Aina rolled her eyes and ignored Leonel, just waiting for him to show off like he usually did.

    "I realized something in the Void Tower while we were climbing. Don''t you feel that it was a lot like a Zone?"

    Aina blinked before her brows furrowed.

    "It''s too different. Our bodies don''t go in, butбн" Aina''s irises flashed. "бн It did feel a lot like a Zone now that you say it."

    Leonel nodded. The feeling was vague because he hadn''t been awake, but his Dream Force affinity was simply too high not to pick up on the similarities.

    "It''s just a theory for now, but I wonder if Zones are projections of Dream Force. Just think about Mythological Zones for a second. How is it that Fairy Tales can become real? And why is it only that the most popular Fairy Tales manifest despite the fact that there are so many variations of them?

    "What if it''s a collective projection of a collective Dream Force of everyone who''s ever read or told the story? After reaching a certain concentration, the Zone is formed. After all, isn''t Dream Force just consciousness?"

    Aina''s eyes glowed with a fiercer and fiercer light. Something about Leonel''s words made her heart skip several beats, as though they were stumbling onto something they had no business touching at their current level.

    Aina had no idea just how true this was, and the kind of heft Leonel''s statement carried with it.

    "So what does this have to do with this Zone?"

    "Well, history is not too different from fairy tales, are they? The only difference is that there were a large number of individuals who witnessed the event as it was, so it''s more difficult to distort. Projections onto the past from the future won''t be able to change what the reality was, so as such, there are very few changes.

    "But, what about a Unique Zone like this? It''s kept open for decades, centuries even, its resources continually plucked. As time passes, the original solid Dream Force becomes influenced by our future projections of what the truth was. As a result, they distort and all sorts of oddities can appear.

    "Then, the facts become so skewed and ridiculous that it feels like we''re in a dream, almost.

    "Butбн what if you have a high enough Dream Force affinity to wade through this dream?"

 Chapter 1485 An Ldea

    If the Dominion Disciples who had taken an interest in Leonel''s stint at the Void Library could hear his words now, they would have been astonished. They were already aware why the Void Library and Void Tower placed so much emphasis on Dream Force, but they had already been in the Void Palace for decades, many over a centuryбн

    How long had it taken them to piece information even close to this together, let alone finally be told by others and let into the fold?

    And yet, Leonel had been here for barely over a year, most of which was spent locked in a room ruminating over poetry, and yet he had already begun to draw such conclusions? In fact, it was correct to say that Leonel had figured this out almost the exact moment he woke up from his small coma.

    "Youбн Want to use Dream Force to peer into the Dwarven Race''s secrets?"

    Aina frowned, she wasn''t a big fan of this. She already knew by now that Leonel had gotten stuck in a dream before. Though she didn''t understand everything, she had her own deductions.

    Back then, Leonel had been stuck in a battle with the Spiritual, and he was trying to use the opportunity to strengthen his soul. But, the reality was that Leonel''s soul hadn''t even gone into the Void Tower, so how could this happen?

    Aina believed that Leonel was more aware than most others would be that he was in a virtual world. While others might be consciously aware that they were in the Void Tower with their minds and not their bodies, they still wouldn''t feel any different.

    Leonel, however, should have been keenly aware of this difference, almost like a lucid dreamer. No, even deeper than a lucid dream, more like that odd state of wakefulness and sleep where you could still slip back into a dream whenever you wanted.

    Aina believed that because Leonel was so aware, he had ended up playing with fire. Fiddling around the connection had caused a catalyzation of Dream Force which even Leonel couldn''t handle.

    Such a catalyzation would have led to an overload of sorts. On one hand, it would easily explain how Leonel had managed to make it to Seventh Dimensional floors. After all, with the Dream Force being distorted, anything could happen. This would also explain why the Void Tower was perfectly fine and no one else was implicated.

    On the other hand, it could also explain Leonel''s injuries. With the line of reality and dream blurred, Leonel likely accidentally caused these injuries to him.

    Aina knew that she didn''t have the whole story, because none of this could explain the massive changes to Leonel''s Mage Core, or his sudden evolution into a Starry Tailed Fox, but she believed that this would describe at least 70-80% of what happened. As for the remaining 20%, maybe they would never know.

    It was precisely because of this, though, that Aina was worried. If Leonel started playing around with Dream Force again, what would happen this time?

    Before, it had been the Void Tower controlling the flow of Dream Force and Leonel was overwhelmed. How could he match up to Dream Force controlled by an entire Zone, then?! One was only capable of projecting a fake world, while the other was as real as it could get. You could even take things out of here!

    Of course, this was only the case if Leonel''s deductions were correct. If Zones had nothing to do with Dream Force at all, then there would be nothing to worry about. Leonel would just fail again and they could be on their merry ways. But if he was correctбн

    "Yeah, don''t you think it could work? Just imagine it. If my Dream Force affinity is high enough, then I could dig up any secret I want from a Zone!

    "There''s already a precedent for this as well, no? Remember the Silver Empire? And how do Empires like them have to distort their Zones so that their enemies can''t use them to dig up information about their secrets?

    "Theoretically, if I can hone a technique capable of seeing through Dream Force distortions, then even such powerful families and Empires couldn''t hide anything from me so long as I can enter one of their Zones.

    "It''s beyond that too. At a certain point, I''d never need to worry about failing a Zone again. Even if I can''t take control of the Dream Force outside of my body, just being able to see through it would make a lot of Zones easy to clear."

    "Leonel, stop," Aina said seriously.

    "Hm?" Leonel blinked, realizing that Aina was upset. "What''s wrong?"

    "You just got lost in your Dream just a year ago, and that was just to the Void Tower. It''s way too dangerous for you to be playing around with this stuff. What if, this time, you don''t wake up?"

    Aina''s voice was quite stern, but it still carried its usual enchanting air. It was just that, this time, this air was tinged with the hint of a sob as though she was trying not to choke up.

    Leonel sighed before frowning a bit. It was hard to explain, but he felt very confident in doing this. He had already used the previous Zones they had entered as a measuring stick in order to check a few of his hypotheses.

    This was why explaining things was such a headache, now, he had worried her for no reason. Wouldn''t it have been easier for him to just take on all the burden and show her the good results?

    Leonel scratched his head, the familiar sheen of sweat moistening his palms.

    Leonel was correct. It wasn''t the Void Tower at all that had pulled him into such a state, it was something different. He and maybe the Void Elders were the only ones who knew this. But, it was difficult to explain in words, and it was another thing entirely if Aina would believe him.

    The exasperated side of Leonel just wanted to do it anyway, but he shook his head. If he kept doing this, then the rift between them would never fully close.

    Then, his eyes lit up with an idea.

    Without allowing Aina to protest, he took hold of her small hand.

 Chapter 1486 Rewind

    It was only a matter of a thought. Leonel had originally designed this ability so that Aina would be able to use his Ability Index as a proxy to increase the range of her own Ability Index outside of her body. But, who said that powerful abilities couldn''t be used to flirt?

    The moment Leonel held Aina''s hand, he connected his Starry Spirit Domain with hers, the feeling making her gasp out in shock.

    Back when Aina had connected with Yuri, the feeling was overwhelming and she instantly felt that her mind was tired. But, with Leonel taking on all the computing ability, it felt like she had gained Leonel''s thinking speed, and she was quite speechless about what to say.

    Was this how fast Leonel talked all the time? No wonder he couldn''t stand to explain things to people, by the time you understood his thought, he would have had a thousand more.

    "See? I''m confident."

    Aina blinked, feeling that Leonel really wasn''t lying to her. But, she still felt a bit stubborn about it. If it wasn''t the Void Tower, then what could have possibly caused it?

    "Just keep holding my hand," she said defiantly. "If you fall into a dream, we''re falling into a dream together. That way, I can at least kick your ass until we starve to death or accidentally jump off the nearest building."

    Leonel laughed and obliged. It was fine by him, as far as he was concerned, he had gained big here. What was there to hate about holding a maiden''s hand?

    Soon, though, Leonel had already turned his attention back to the vault, three illusory tails blooming to his back as he forced his Starry Spirit Domain to expand. With a range of five meters, he could only touch upon a fraction of the space around him, but he already had areas that he wanted to focus on.

    Leonel closed his eyes. He didn''t need his eyes to see everything around him as clear as day. In fact, everything within his Starry Spirit Domain was even clearer than when he used his eyes alone, nothing could compare.

    Every small little detail was reflected back to him, every nook and cranny being scanned and stored into his Dream World.

    He focused more and more. What he had now was too surface level, too shallow. He needed to get deeper, into the very essence of the location itself, reaching beyond just the images, and into what constructed them.

    Everything was formed of Force at some level, especially at the highest Dimensions. Only the Third Dimension could get away with the simplicity of physics and chemistry to explain everything. Upon touching the Quasi Fourth Dimension, everything changed.

    Leonel could feel the variant Earth Forces that made up the ground and walls, he could sense the Wind Force circulating through the are, the Wood Force sustain the vitality ofбн the chairs?

    There were all sorts of oddities like this every, and he picked up on them all. However, Leonel realized instantly that if he was in the outside world, such a thing would have been impossible for him. He might have been able to sense the variant Earth Forces, but Wind and Wood Force? He didn''t have the affinity necessary!

    That was when it clicked for Leonel, his lips curling into a smile.

    The reason he could sense these Forces here was that it wasn''t these Forces at all. Rather, it was Dream Force masquerading itself!

    It was no wonder Leonel could sense it all so clearly. This wasn''t the true embodiment of these Forces at all, rather it was just how most people would view them.

    ''No, it isn''t that simple. If it weren''t a true embodiment, then everyone who entered a Zone, so long as they had at least one decent affinity, they would feel that something was off. Unlessбн''

    Since Dream Force was a representation of consciousness, could it be that everyone who entered a Zone was just fooled? Even if they had a high affinity, they would be tricked into thinking this Dream Force was the true form of their favorite Force.

    ''If things are like that, thenбн''

    Leonel''s mind sunk deeper. He had spent time looking for Dream Force, but his approach had been wrong from the very beginning. Everything he was Dream Force!

    In that case, what he should be doing wasn''t looking for Dream Force. Instead, he should be already be parsing apart what he was seeing. He would just treat everything like it was Dream Force.

    The first thing Leonel tried to do was manipulate the Dream Force around him, but as he had already expected, it was impossible. His Ability Index wasn''t designed to work like that and he seemed to be shackled from doing so.

    He could project his Dream Force out and into his Starry Spirit Domain, but he couldn''t take control of the Dream Force that was already here.

    However, Leonel wasn''t worried about this. If he could actually do such a thing, he could probably cause the entire Zone to collapse. That was something that he wasn''t sure if he would be able to control properly. But, this was within what he could do.

    Instead of taking control of the Dream Force, he used his affinity with it to peer into its secrets.

    Leonel was able to perfectly reconstruct every scene within a five meter radius of him. After reconstructing it, he was able to insert a 100% clone into his Dream Simulation. And thenбн

    He could rewind the clock.

    The higher the Dimension, the more difficult it was for Leonel to use his Dream Simulation ability. Usually, he had millions of constraints he had to deal with and the things he could simulate were pretty much within his body and his body alone.

    ? This made sense. If Leonel wanted to simulate something, he needed a perfect understanding of something. The less comprehension he had, the worse the simulation.

    But now that everything around him was constructed of Dream Forceбн How could he possibly have a limited understanding of it?

    A wild grin spread across Leonel''s face as a Force Art that had long since been destroyed began to reform in his mind.

 Chapter 1487 Dream Rewind

    The closer Leonel got to the finished product, the paler he seemed to become. But, even then, his gaze glowed brighter and brighter.

    It was working, it was truly working. Leonel''s breathing was heavy, but his vision suddenly started to go black.

    бн

    "бкLeonel! LEONEL!"

    Leonel shot up, a spurt of blood coming from his nose and dripping down his lips. He quickly wiped it away, his head behind swallowed up by a mind splitting headache.

    It took Leonel several moments for his eyes to focus, but when they finally did, he expression twisted into a frown.

    He had failed.

    "Are you okay?"

    Aina looked Leonel up and down, only sighing in relief when he seemed to be intact. But then, she too, began to frown.

    "I told you it was dangerous!"

    Leonel shook his head. "I was never in danger of falling into a Dream, the problem is something else. I just tried to reconstruct a Force Art that was beyond me. If it wasn''t Seventh Dimensional, then it was definitely near the peak of the Sixth Dimension. It''s beyond me to reconstruct something like that, not until I step into Sixth Dimension."

    In truth, Leonel had been close. But, in this case, close wasn''t close enough. With the way this ability of his worked, or rather, Dream Rewind, if he reached a barrier he couldn''t cross, then nothing he could do now would allow him to cross it.

    He had been too ambitious and picked inappropriately. It was already difficult to keep Starry Spirit Domain fully active. To layer Dream Rewind on top of that was like asking for pain. He could only admit that he had done this to himself.

    Eventually, Leonel chuckled. "Don''t be like that, you know it wasn''t that dangerous. It''s just a bloody nose and a light headache, it''ll be gone in half an hour or so. Instead, we should focus on finding things that we can take advantage of. I bit off more than I can chew, but there definitely are things here that we can benefit from.

    "Think about it. The Dwarven Race, despite being physically weaker than maybe even humans, have been able to defend themselves for so long. They definitely have a lot of things that we can learn from."

    After reading all those Fourth Dimensional books of the Void Library, Leonel''s foundational knowledge didn''t lack to most anyone. Not only was he now aware of more intricate details, he was also now aware that the term ''goblin race'' was derogatory, so he took heed to not use it.

    If there was anything his stint in the Rapax Nest had taught him, it was that even if other races thought differently from humans and had their own cultures, they were still living beings with the same amount of sentience as humans.

    There was, of course, the question of beasts. But Leonel didn''t feel that he was ready to go vegan just yet.

    Aina shook her head. This man was pale faced and looked like he had a foot in the grave, but he was still talking about such nonsense. If she had a mirror right now, she''d definitely stick it in his face and tell him to take a nice long look.

    "Don''t give me that face, let me lie here for a little longer."

    Leonel rested his head on Aina''s lap again, dozing off. Toward this, she could only helplessly remain silent.

    бн

    An hour later, Leonel awoke, feeling energized.

    "Again!"

    This time, since Aina understood the process, he didn''t have to take her hand. Part of the reason he failed was that he had to process her thoughts as well. And, because she had access to his ability, she had been thinking no slower than him.

    However, despite this, Leonel didn''t try the same Force Art again, he knew it was beyond him. Aina or not, he would have still failed.

    Instead, he targeted something simpler. Using his Dream Simulation, he separated out powerful Force Arts from the weaker ones. If he was correct, there was a chance that he could go back and try the complicated one later.

    Ultimately, the reason it was so difficult to complete the high level Force Art was that he had no experience with Dwarven Race Force Arts. He started from zero, trying to build the very top of a skyscraper.

    However, if he started with weaker Force Arts first, there should be some portions he would be able to fill in without relying on Dream Rewind, thus taking the brunt of the pressure off of the ability itself and making the process easier.

    "Here, found something."

    Leonel found the scraps of what was once a tome. The elaborate cover was still intact, but when you opened it, there was nothing more than a pile of ashes. Clearly, the pages had combusted and destroyed themselves.

    ''The Dwarven Race is truly ruthless with their stuff. So much destruction, and not a single one is identical. But, that much is fineбн This is the perfect target. I''ll start with just the first page or two. As it builds up, it''ll naturally become easier to complete the latter portions.''

    Leonel took a breath, focusing his mind.

    Then, he began once more. This time, he was determined to succeed.

    Dream Rewind.

    Leonel had four more days left in this Zone. Even if he had to take a few hours'' break between each use of Dream Rewind, he would still be able to gain a lot.

    The truth was that Leonel wasn''t doing this to gain strength. He hadn''t even touched a single percent of the knowledge the Void Palace had to offer him just yet, he hadn''t even learned about the God Path! It didn''t make much sense, then, for him to be so obsessed with the knowledge wells of other races when he hadn''t even fully understood humankind.

    However, the Dwarven Race had fascinated him. And, if there was anything Leonel was good at, it was obsessing over things that fascinated him.

    What he didn''t know was that this fascination on his part would earn him a clue toward stepping beyond poetry and grasping the faint truths of music, a secret that the Dwarven Race had done too well in hiding.

 Chapter 1488 Hum

    After several minutes, the first page successfully formed, then the second, and finally the third. With each formation, Leonel''s face grew paler, but he still managed to hold on.

    When the 17th page was formed, Leonel''s vision finally swam again, turning to blackness.

    Leonel fell into another deep sleep, waiting up a couple of hours later to a familiar soft lap. Aina glared down at him, but he only grinned.

    That was only 17 pages out of about half a thousand. However, the more pages he cleared, the faster he should be able to go through them. The time they had remaining should be just enough.

    Leonel hurriedly stood up again, taking Aina''s hand and bringing her to the side of the tome. With a movement, he flipped open the cover, opening up to the first page.

    In truth, he didn''t have to do this. Because he had already reconstructed it, the pages were seared into his mind. He wanted Aina to stop pouting, so he brought her over to show just how worth it the pain was. So long as they got something out of it, wasn''t it worth it?

    "Look at this, this seems to be a floor plan for the castle. They probably had to keep records so certain officials could know where all the traps were and how best to take advantage of them.

    "It''s a double edged sword in that way. They have a lot of tricks up their sleeves, but if their own aren''t prepared to deal with and handle all of them, then it''s all meaningless. If they end up harming themselves, then it would be counter productive."

    The first five or so pages were all floorplans marked with various labels. Each of these labels denoted a different trap and a trap category. But, this wasn''t the best part of the tome at all.

    When Leonel flipped to the sixth page, his eyes lit up, and he squeezed Aina''s hand. He looked like a kid on Christmas day, finally receiving the present he had been asking for months.

    As expected, the floorplan wasn''t enough. Not only did this tome note where the traps were, but they also noted what type of trap it was and how to maintain it. In addition, there were even logs for the frequency of maintenance needed and the last time such maintenance occurred!

    "This is the first type of trap, it''s under the false wall label and is like that trap we ran into a year ago. It was really cleverly set up and could catch a person off guard. So this is the Force Art behind itбн"

    ? Leonel''s eyes glowed.

    Force Arts were a mysterious thing. Just being able to see through one and understand its function, didn''t mean you could understand how it was built and what foundation it relied upon.

    One might wonder how Leonel was able to see through the truths of a formation he couldn''t personally construct, but those that thought this way had a misunderstanding about Force Arts.

    You could consider Force Arts like code and their function to be the program or software that was being executed. There were hundreds of programming languages, many of which could perform the exact same task and result in the same product.

    For a Force Art language he didn''t recognize, Leonel was able to "surf" the constructed website or delve into the "programmed" game, but he couldn''t see the source code or even begin to decipher it. At best, he would be able to tell what sort of general steps he might have to take with his own coding language to reproduce the same effects.

    However, much like with coding languages, Force Art languages weren''t all created equal. Just because a language could do something, didn''t mean it should. Some were far more of a hassle to use for certain tasks than others would, and this was yet another example.

    The Luxnix Force Art language was very good at giving life to Force Arts. In fact, this wasn''t just for the Snowy Star Owl. Leonel had learned long ago that this Force Art language originated from the Bronze Tablet, and it had many more secrets he had yet to uncover.

    Likewise, the Dwarven Race Force Art language was exceptionally good at the formation of traps, deception, and defending.

    Leonel could, somewhat, understand the underlying secrets of the Luxnix Force Art language. However, the Dwarven Force Art language was entirely foreign to him. So, when he finally laid eyes on it, he couldn''t help but lose himself in a trance.

    Seeing Leonel like this, despite her earlier dissatisfaction, Aina couldn''t help but smile. She especially liked when Leonel became like this. Despite her having "wasted" a year in that training room with him, she didn''t feel like it was a waste at all. Watching Leonel''s work was a guilty pleasure of hers.

    "Thisбн"

    As Leonel flipped through the pages, his heart beat wildly, and his shock only increased.

    Leonel had seen the Force Arts of the Spirituals Race. Well, he had seen bits and pieces of it. Still, he was absolutely certain that there was no Force Art that could surpass it, at least at the time. Their Force Art system was simply too perfect, too without flaw. Despite Leonel being certain that it had only been optimized for strengthening the soul, it could accomplish so much more. He could fathom what the language the Spirituals used for Crafting would look like, and he had even been eager to see it.

    But, when Leonel laid eyes on the intricacies of the Dwarven Race''s Force Arts, he froze in place.

    At first, he was just excited. But, as more time passed, the light in his eyes faded, and his mind became more and more focused. Eventually, a dense Auspicious Air began to waft from his body, building up like a cloud of dark gold.

    Leonel''s finger rose up, and he drew a line across the air, a thin wire of Force following his movements.

    When he stopped, a hum resonated through the silent vault.

 Chapter 1489 All At Once

    Leonel had learned a lot from his time in the Void Library. Among the Fourth Dimensional information he had learned about, he had read a lot about the culture of the Dwarven Race.

    He had learned about their love of darkness and the underground, he had learned about their mating rituals and practices, their love of nature, and he had also learned about their love of music. It was said that the Dwarven Race built their homes into mountains not just for darkness and safety, but also because it gave them the greatest control over the architecture.

    The Dwarven Race didn''t build their homesбн they sculpted them.

    By taking this approach, they were able to form a sort of resonance with the earth. The sounds traveled perfectly, better than even the greatest concert halls of Earth.

    Although Leonel had never heard it, he learned that the Dwarven Race were known for their beautiful voices and that they were even able to use their wings to tune to their pitch and warp their sound.

    Oddly enough, they didn''t have to make or design any instruments of their own, insisting on using nature and their bodies as their two only mediums.

    Leonel hadn''t thought much about this when he read it, he had only been focused on consuming as much information as he could so that he could find the information he needed to save the Segmented Cube from a lifetime of being a paperweight. But, when he had begun reading through the tome this time around, his Dreamscape sparked.

    Usually, when Leonel''s Dreamscapeleapedt into action, it would connect him to some big discovery. But, this time, it just kept reminding him about these seemingly useless facts again and again. And thatбн was when Leonel finally noticed.

    "Aina, hum this for me."

    Aina blinked. She wasn''t a very artistic person either, in that way, she and Leonel were a perfect match. In fact, she was actually even less artistic than Leonel since at least this boyfriend of hers was quite good at talking, she wasn''t even able to do that.

    Aina was quite aware that in their clashes of wit, Leonel often let her win. If not for this, she would probably never come out on top in a war of words with this man. This was only further confirmed after she learned how fast Leonel''s mind worked.

    By the time she finished a single retort, Leonel would have probably thought of a hundred more.

    Seeing Aina hesitating, the coldness and focus in Leonel''s gaze receded as he looked over and smiled.

    "What, nervous?"

    Seeing that Leonel was still in the mood to tease her, Aina rolled her eyes.

    "I''ve never sung before, I don''t even know if I could do it. Myбн"

    Aina bit her lip.

    She didn''t have memories of it, but her father told her that her mother was quite fond of singing. This wasn''t something that she had thought about in a very long time, a long lost memory that had only just dusted itself off. It left her heart feeling somewhat heavy.

    However, when she felt the warmth of Leonel''s hands, she felt more assured.

    She leaned to the side, resting her cheek on his shoulder for a moment as they stood.

    "I, for one, think it would be a shame if that beautiful voice of yours never sang."

    Aina smiled. "Oh please, you''ve never asked me for this before. Clearly, you just want to use me for your little experiment."

    Her heart already felt much lighter like this, she no longer minded as much.

    Leonel meant his words, though. Ever since her curse had been lifted, the beauty and charm of Aina''s voice had really come through.

    Back then, when she hadn''t been able to control her innate coercion, she make people hold onto her every word. But, in recent times, that coercion had been reined in, and she never saw Aina use it again. Now that the topic had come up, he somewhat wondered about it.

    "Okay, I just need to match the tone, right? I''ll try."

    Though Aina said this, she didn''t think it would be too hard. Both she and Leonel had great control over their bodies, something like outputting an even tone and note shouldn''t be difficult.

    "Let your coercion free too," Leonel suddenly said.

    Aina blinked when she heard this, her soft lips already partially parted. After a brief hesitation, she chose to do as Leonel asked, the caution in her gaze replaced by the reassurance of the man by her side.

    Leonel drew another line through the air, and a hum echoed.

    But not long later, he felt as though his bones had gone soft, the delicate drifting sound of Aina''s voice matching the pitch perfectly. Even long after the hum had vanished, Aina''s voice continued to carry over.

    Leonel hadn''t said how long she needed to go for, but as a Fifth Dimensional existence, Aina could go quite some time with a sustained breath. It was only after nearly half a minute sounded that Leonel snapped out of it, his heart still trembling.

    At that moment, he could decideбн Was his girlfriend a human, a vampire, or a Siren?

    Leonel quickly shook his head and focused.

    With the projection of his Dream World, he gained many abilities. He had always had a near perfect memory, even to the point he could arrange it all into Dreamscapes. However, now with the projection of his Dream World into the outside world, he could take the things in his mind and present them to others.

    This meant that if Leonel wanted, he could also release his memories for all to see, like a perfect replay of things he had experienced.

    Leonel took the memory of Aina''s singing and stored it before drawing another line and having her sing it at well.

    Time ticked by, and the pair went through hundreds of lines, Aina''s voice not faltering once. If the popstars of Earth''s Third Dimension knew they could have such an ability, they just might kill for it.

    Then, the final line was drawn, and Leonel finally let Aina have a rest.

    In one swift motion, Leonel drew all of the lines once more, but this time, there wasn''t a single hum.

    Untilбн

    He released his memories of Aina''s singing all at once.

 Chapter 1490 Copy

    The symphony of Aina''s voices layered atop of one another, the resonance shaking one deep down to the very soul.

    The first thing Leonel realized was that he hadn''t been able to capture Aina''s coercion perfectly and that some tweaks would be necessary. The memories were clearly only infused with his memory of the sound, but not what happened to the rest of his body.

    But, even with just that alone, the result was astonishing.

    The simple Force Art Leonel had drawn in the air, too small to make an impact, and much too lacking in energy to change this even if it was much larger, suddenly began to shine brightly.

    The Force Art was nothing more than a palm size at first, but it explosively increased in diameter. Doubling in size, and then doubling again in quick succession. Before it could grow any further or become any brighter, Leonel was forced to cut off the replay of Aina''s voice, his heart doing flips.

    Just now, without nothing more than a few hums, a Force he had spent no more than a drop of energy on became so powerfulбн

    Even if there was nothing else to gain here, this sort of discovery was too insane. If Leonel had the ability to reproduce this with every Force Art he ever crafted, would he even ever need to worry about running out of stamina again? He would practically be able to battle forever so long as he didn''t fall asleep on the battlefield or die of hunger first.

    This was crazy!

    Leonel''s mind practically short circuited. He couldn''t understand how it worked. How could voice alone cause such a change? And this was with him messing up Aina''s coercion, what if he was able to layer it together?

    "Ainaбн"

    "Hm?"

    "If we created an attack together that worked on this concept, we could probably kill a Quasi Seventh Dimensional expert without much difficulty."

    Aina fell into silence, not responding. She felt that this was quite fantastical, too, and she didn''t quite understand what was going on.

    How could sounds produce such an effect?

    Leonel was baffled into silence until he slowly began to understand.

    It was all about resonance.

    Why was Leonel able to teleport out of that Rapax Nest? It definitely wasn''t based on his own strength, he was forced to use the Life Force of the green waters around them to have the impact he wanted. If he relied on his own Force, they would have never gotten out of there.

    The Dwarven Race seemed to use a similar concept, but it was on a completely different level.

    Leonel was only able to draw in so much Life Force because there was already such a large concentration of it on the ground. On top of that, it was created from the corpses of Seventh Dimensional Rapax, so they were even more powerful.

    However, the Force Art language of the Dwarven Race acted very differently.

    Each line drawn had its own intricate resonance. Alone, they were nothing special. However, when they were brought together as one, they formed a special resonance with the surroundings that seemed to perfectly match the runes of the Force Art itself.

    When this perfect balance was struck, the Force Art became able to pull in more power from the surroundings, no longer needing to rely on its Crafter.

    Usually, this effect wasn''t too exaggerated. However, if you added in Aina''s voice, the resonance seemed to be shocked with stimulants, suddenly forcing it to explosively increase in both size and strength!

    "бн It''s no wonder this Force Art system is so good for traps and defense. The best trap is one that perfectly blends into the environment, and the best defense is one that''s not only persistent but also self-healing and self-reliant.

    "With this sort of resonance, the traps are able to more seamlessly blend into the environment. If it''s tuned and designed for a specific location, a lot like the Dream Force around here, it can even mimic other Forces and remain inconspicuous. I have a feeling the reason I didn''t notice the Force Art trap in the throne room at that time is about more than just the fact they were drawn on Seventh Dimensional materials. Even if it was drawn on Sixth or even Fifth Dimensional materials, I would have had a hard time finding it.

    "It''s just that the Dwarven Race is very clever. They lured us into a false sense of security, making it seem that their traps could be detected with a bit of extra focus before they sprung the real trap on us.

    "We''re very lucky. I have a feeling that these Zones do the Dwarven Race a huge disservice. Because of the Dream Force distortions, their traps are easier to detect because the resonance isn''t as perfectly tunedбн"

    Leonel mumbled his thoughts out loud, but he soon found that speaking was far too slow, and he fell into silence again.

    At that moment, Leonel had a maddening realization.

    If he were to compare the Spiritual to the Dwarven Race, the former of which was both endlessly beautiful and elegant, not to mention seen as the pinnacle of Soul and Force Arts in the Dimensional Verseбн.

    He actually believed that the Dwarven Race surpassed the Spirituals by no small measure.

    Leonel realized that he had stumbled into a treasure. However, as much as he thought this, he also realized just how difficult it would be to replicate the feat of the Dwarven Race.

    They lived and breathed nature, they were all too familiar with using the environment and their bodies as instruments. Their innate comprehension of such things surpassed Leonel by leaps and bounds.

    Simply put, if Leonel had to create his own Dwarven Force Artбн There was no way he could Right now, the only thing he could do was a copy.

    For someone like Leonel, the idea of this left him feeling uncomfortable. The idea of something he didn''t quite understand was itching at him. But, he knew that this was the path he had always wanted.

    Using Force Arts as the vessel of artistryбн Leonel had thought that he would always start with calligraphy first, but he never thought that he would run into the answer for music long before that.

    If he wanted to find that ever elusive fourth step, he needed to be able to first replicate the feat of his uncle and grandfather with his Force Arts, only then could he take the next step.

    Leonel grit his teeth, putting his pride down.

    Since he didn''t understand for now, fine. He would copy. He would copy as much as he could find until the inspiration hit him like a bolt of lightning.

 Chapter 1491 Too Confident?

    So, that was what Leonel did. Not standing on ceremony, he pilfered everything he could find, hoping that he would make some sort of breakthrough. But, for the first time, it actually came quite slow to him.

    He didn''t understand much about music theory. What made notes sound good together, what was harmony, he didn''t even know what a scale was.

    Music wasn''t really a path followed in the Dimensional Verse, maybe because it was too complex, or maybe because many didn''t really see a point. There seemed to be a Force for everything, but there was no such thing as "Music Force", the same way there was no such thing as "Art Force" or "Painting Force".

    ? Instead, such existences were amalgamations of other Force applied in seemingly useless ways.

    Music Force was just a different application of vibrational Forces that sounded good to the ear, but there was no set ''Music Force''. Rather, there was no such thing at all. It was a seemingly silly application of something that was otherwise greatly useful.

    The Dwarven Race, however, was able to break through this uselessness and find something far deeper hidden within, and this was what greatly fascinated Leonel. At the same time, it taught him a valuable lesson.

    Leonel didn''t like wasting time on things that didn''t seem to make logical sense to him. If it couldn''t be explained, then it was a mostly useless endeavor. This sort of philosophy governed most of the things he did, even down to his own moral doctrines and how he valued life itself.

    However, if Leonel were to make a guess at how exactly the Dwarven Race had stumbled onto such a wonderful Force Art language, he would have to admit that there was no way they had seen the truth from the very beginning.

    In all likelihood, the Dwarven people only sang because they liked it, they formed their homes with acoustics in mind because they loved it, they had researched music to its very end, despite its "uselessness", purely because they had a passion for it.

    Then, like on a day many years ago, one of their greatest geniuses or maybe even a collection of them, finally made the breakthrough that allowed the race to place their stamp on the Dimensional Verse and protect themselves.

    Who knew how many generations it had taken? If Leonel had been among their people, he would have probably been among the first to say just how much of a waste of time it was.

    But could he say this now? Of course not!

    Leonel wondered just how many things could be like this? But he also wondered just how many useless things would never shine in this way in the end?

    ''Was it that they wouldn''t shineбн? Or was it that there was never someone great enough born with enough accumulation and investment to their back, to force it toбн?''

    Leonel wasn''t sure what the answer was. Were all things inherently useful or useless? Or could everything be made useful so long as the greatest extremes were taken? He truly didn''t know. He could only find himself suddenly staring ahead at a blank road.

    Even when his uncle sat him down to pass down something his grandfather had likely spent a lifetime perfecting, his first thought was to run away.

    "Aina, do I not take things seriously enough?" Leonel asked.

    Aina blinked, not answering immediately.

    Leonel was, indeed, sometimes too free of a spirit. The only time he really got serious about anything was when he was mad or enraged by something, and these days, the only thing that could push him over the edge like that were things related to Aina.

    Even when his father was threatened by Micaarth, Leonel was necessarily enraged. His gaze went cold, but at best, he just focused a bit more. Leonel''s belief in his own father was simply far too high and far too great. Someone like Micarth taking his father''s life was far too much of a joke, he didn''t even care enough to muster the energy to get mad.

    Of course, if Micarth had been a member of the Three Finger Cult, it would be a different matter entirely. Leonel had never seen his dad be anything other than a sarcastic prankster all his life. The old man seemed to only have a single constant mood. Butбн

    Leonel would never forget the look in his father''s eyes when he said those three words. The rage, the fury, the willingness to watch the world burn.

    This was precisely why Leonel lost control of his temper when he learned that the Three Finger Cult was present, to the point that he didn''t rest until he had killed them all.

    But, what about when Leonel wasn''t enraged? Or, what about when the lives of those he cared about weren''t on the line?

    "It''s not that you don''t take things seriously enough, it''s that there''s nothing you take seriously at all. With that head of yours, you think that there doesn''t exist a situation you can''t think your way out of, and maybe that''s true. To have that sort of ingrained confidence isn''t something most others could hope to have, it''s just that you have too much of it, and the only person who can seem to put a lid on that confidence of yours is your dad."

    Aina hadn''t understood this initially, as she too was confused about why it was that it only took a word from Leonel''s father for him to suddenly do a 180 and even kiss her.

    However, after connecting to Leonel''s mind again and again, and seeing how he thought, it finally clicked for her.

    "In truth, I feel that the reason you were so easily able to abandon me is that you never doubted your ability to win me back when you were ready. Maybe you never thought about it in so many wordsбк"

    Aina''s gaze shifted toward Leonel, a half threatening light within them. If Leonel had so explicitly thought such a thing, she would definitely teach him a lessonбн even if it might have been true.

    "бкbut it''s not normal for someone to so release their hold on their emotions so easily unless there was such a reason."

    Too confident? What was he supposed to do about that, exactly?

 Chapter 1492 Arrogance

    He was so confident in himself that he even thought he could toy with Aina''s emotions as he pleased and still get her back? Did he really think like that?

    Leonel frowned, finding the words hard to accept. But, he didn''t immediately reject them either. Whether they were true or not, just the fact that Aina felt that way meant that it was important for him to take her seriously. He would either have to address such a thing head on, or he would have to convince her that this wasn''t true.

    The trouble was that if even he wasn''t sure, then how could he go about convincing her? Plus, it wasn''t like he could just lie to her, he didn''t want to break her trust any more than he already had. There was also the fact that they often connected their minds as well.

    Leonel just fell into silence. Was he such a person? Did he carry such a dangerous mentality?

    If Leonel was honest with himself, the answer to that question was most definitely yes. As for proof of that, didn''t he just need to look at his own moral compass?

    Why was it that he was such a "moral" individual? Many would think it was because he had a soft heart, or he was inherently virtuous, or he just believed in the sanctity of human life and life itself. These would be the reasons most would give to such a thing.

    But, Leonel was a different sort of beast altogether.

    Soft heart? He was had never had one. Virtuous? He couldn''t be considered that either? The sanctity of human life? What kind of nonsense was that?

    Leonel had always had the very same reason. Because he couldn''t logically deduce an objective metric for the worth of a life, he decided that everyone, regardless of status, was equal. It was as simple as that.

    He wasn''t a saint, he wasn''t virtuous, he didn''t have a soft heartбн In fact, it could be said that he was quite cold.

    When he first entered the Mayan Tomb, and he made it all the way to the end, all to finally kill the Priest and nearly lose his life to that teenage girl who was about to be sacrificedбн one might think that he truly was soft hearted, and maybe in practice he was, but foundationally? He didn''t think so.

    To that teenage girl, Leonel had just killed the Priest who was about to give her people, and most importantly, her family, peace and prosperity. She was already ready to give her life for this cause, but Leonel had swooped in with his own ideologies and imposed them onto her.

    In fact, it was worse than that. Leonel ruined their ritual because he simply didn''t have a choice. If he wanted to go home, he had to kill the Priest. It was inherently a selfish desire that had brought him to that point, and he felt guilt about it.

    Why should he get to go home, and yet this young girl''s life would forever be ruined? Who knew what kind of punishment she and her family would face after the death of the Priest? Leonel might have made a terrible situation several times worse.

    Guilt.

    That was right, he had felt guilt. But, wasn''t that an emotion? Wasn''t he logical to a fault?

    He was. The difference was that while others felt emotion based on ingrained biases, Leonel''s moral code was decided by his own deductions and the two words his father had instilled in him from his youth.

    Respect and Persistent.

    This was why Leonel was so fascinated by his emotions for Aina. They didn''t make much sense, they bloomed from nowhere, and she seemed to have latched onto him in a way no one else could.

    In fact, the first time Leonel felt that he had acted irrationally was also due to Aina, speaking those disrespectful words in the presence of so many people and violating one of his own core doctrines: Respect.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed deeper.

    He didn''t quite understand what to do.

    Leonel hadn''t spent a lot of time with his mother, but she had said something quite profound during one of their conversations. It was quite simple: when someone shows you who they are, believe them. People don''t change unless they want to. Even though she loved his father, she never entertained him, not until he showed his own willingness to change.

    Leonel had always naively believed, though, that he was quite good at adapting to the situation. So long as he had enough information to logically change his position, he didn''t mind changing. He even thought that he had done this many times already.

    But was that even true?

    It took Anya saying something for him to realize that he was ruining a lot of his relationships with organizations on his own. And, even when she pointed it out to him, did he suddenly turn a new leafбн? Not really. He was still the same person.

    And now, it took Aina saying something about this for him to realize where the core of the issue lay.

    Was he too confident? No, it shouldn''t be called confidence, he was arrogant. He had an overinflated ego, and he wasn''t even sure if he had the ability to rein in it.

    What worried him the most was that what if there really did come a day when he couldn''t just think his way out of something? It would be too late to do anything by then.

    However, this was most definitely a humbling experience. A race even weaker than the humans had managed to become so powerful by following a path Leonel would have sworn up and down was just useless.

    This was just his first stint into the wider Dimensional Verse. Who knew how many things there were out there that he couldn''t possibly wrap his head around? Maybe there were things even more fantastical than this that he had never laid his eyes on.

    Still, just like Alienor had said, a person changing wasn''t a simple matter at all. In fact, if Leonel began to uncover the truths behind these things he couldn''t understand, wouldn''t his confidence only grow?

 Chapter 1493 Not The Best?

    Aina chuckled. "If you weren''t over-confident, then you wouldn''t be you."

    Leonel was speechless. "Was I always like this?"

    "Do you think it''s normal for someone to confess to a person over 500 times?" Aina blinked innocently as though she wasn''t poking at a sore spot.

    Leonel coughed, not knowing what to say. Did that even take confidence? He never really thought much about it, he just wanted to hear a real answer from her. If she had given him a sign that she didn''t want it, then he wouldn''t have even done it twice, let alone over 500 times.

    Seeing Leonel''s reaction, Aina rolled her eyes.

    "Most people struggle to do it even once. And, if they get rejected, they might not try again in their lifetime, let alone being persistent for so long."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Why do you sound so familiar with how this works?"

    Aina smiled, flipping her hair. "Do you think you''re the only one to have ever confessed to me? I''m quite popular, you know."

    Leonel choked on air, his head spinning toward Aina to the point he almost forgot that he was still working on a Dream Rewind right this moment.

    Aina''s eyelashes fluttered innocently as though she hadn''t said anything at all.

    Leonel was a man who had shattered the glasses of the Grand Prime Minister''s son just because he had looked at Aina for a second too long. It was safe to say that under normal circumstances, he was quite the jealous man.

    However, Aina continued to smile as though she hadn''t said anything. Wasn''t this what he got for being so confident as to think she would always be obediently waiting for him? Even if it was true, he wasn''t allowed to think about it!

    She had her own pettinessбкno, image, to uphold.

    "Who?" Leonel asked.

    "What, are you going to go beat them up?"

    "Yes."

    Leonel nodded vigorously, causing Aina to burst into a fit of laughter. She doubled over, holding her stomach. If it wasn''t for the binding around her chest, who knew what sort of undulations such heart laughter would have caused?

    Eventually, Leonel managed to finish under Aina''s teasing, the very first Force Art he had failed to complete finally forming under his gaze.

    Seeing it now, his eyes couldn''t help but glow. He had actually managed to finish it without passing out. Though, he felt that this was actually in part due to his mind becoming more robust.

    "This is the formation that trapped us before?" Aina asked.

    "It''s similar, very similar. I have to believe that the Dwarven Race probably spread this out to all their core strongholds. This one is a bit stronger. So long as we set it up, we won''t have to ever worry about our home being burned down again."

    As Leonel said this, his gaze flashed with a cold light. It was clear that he hadn''t forgotten about this in the slightest. He would definitely make Treanna cough up his payback by a hundredfold.

    "The only trouble with this is that it needs precious metals to resonate with in order to display its greatest strength. In addition, we''ll need to sculpt the beasts with precious metals as well. Their strength will also be decided by how much we invest."

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. The more precious the metal, the more difficult it was to sculpt. The foundational piece was simple enough, it could just be a slab or metal with the Force Art carved into it. But, the beast sculptors were more complicated.

    The Force Art itself already had certain precise parameters that needed to be met so that the resonance would work properly. If even a single thing was off, the strength wouldn''t be properly displayed.

    That was just the first issue, the main problem was something else. Leonel already knew that this wouldn''t be anywhere near the best the Dwarven Race had to offer, but seeing it now, he realized just how true this was.

    The original formation had been drawn onto Seventh Dimensional materials, this was the initial reason Leonel had thought of for explaining why he couldn''t sense them before finding out the truth. However, the fact didn''t change at all.

    What was the issue? This formation resonated with Seventh Dimensional materials, yet it only displayed Sixth Dimensional strength. This was more than just a little disappointing, and though Leonel had expected it, he still couldn''t help but sigh.

    For a formation that required Seventh Dimensional materials to only display such strength, wasn''t it too pitiful? It was clear that Dwarven Race had done this on purpose.

    Leonel couldn''t have been more correct.

    It had to be remembered that the Dwarven Race was in the same position as the Humans previously. Everyone eyed their territory due to their weakness, and they were forced into a defensive position. In such a situation, how could they have sent a powerful offensive into the Human Domain?

    These Zones represented points in the past where the Dwarven Race sent forward a vanguard of some of their weakest, just to probe the situation. They didn''t send their most powerful, nor did they send their best resources. This was another reason why their Zones were concentrated in the lower ranks of the Void Palace.

    ''This is still salvageable. If I get strong Sixth Dimensional materials, match the resonance perfectly, and then stack it with Aina''s voice, I should be able to squeeze out more strength than they did.''

    Leonel nodded to himself. He would have to study these thoroughly. Since this would probably be the best he could find in these Zones, he had no choice but to go all out with what he had. He didn''t believe that he would be able to find the secret hidden within these.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina finally made their way out of the Zone on the final day. Surprisingly, there was no one waiting for them outside, something they had gotten used to. It seemed that the Green Thread Faction was still licking its wounds.

    They made it to the closest Senate Branch and exchanged all their missions at once. It was time for their real counterattack to begin.

 Chapter 1494 Didnt Mean... [Bonus ]

    [Bonus chapter for 3750 golden tickets, next at 5250]

    "You want to buy a property next to a Senate Branch?"

    Dmitry looked at Leonel and Aina again. Was it possible for these two to do something a bit more normal? Even in the weakest areas frequented only by Quadrant Ranked disciples cost tens of millions. And, most of them were controlled by Level 7 Galaxy Ranked disciples at the worst.

    The location was simply too valuable. Even if there were only low ranked disciples around, the amount you would make would accumulate pretty quickly so long as your service was decent. Even for a top tier Galaxy Ranked disciple, just the sheer volume would be able to total into a nice sum by the end of the month.

    Usually, after buying such a location, you''d be able to make your money back in about half a year to a year, and that was just the average. If you became popular, you''d be far faster. So, one can imagine the kind of money large Factions with entire territories to themselves were raking in.

    "I believe that we should be able to challenge a landowner for their spot, correct?" Leonel asked to confirm, ignoring Dmitry''s shock.

    In truth, he, of course, already knew the answer to this question. It was just that he would need to get the right to challenge permit from Dmitry as well.

    Luckily, the permit was much less expensive, just a single Merit and 100 000 points. It was just a high enough bar that most wouldn''t dare to casually use it. After all, you couldn''t just allow one to randomly challenge as they pleased. If such a thing was fine, then wouldn''t a store owner never get any rest?

    This price, though, was only for someone challenging a store owner above their rank. The price increased exponentially the higher rank you were in comparison to your target. In this way, the Void Palace maintained some of its fairness as well.

    "Alright, alright. I''m already tired of questioning the two of you anyway. Just do what you want, so long as you don''t break the rules."

    Dmitry began preparing the permit before he suddenly thought of something.

    "Shouldn''t you apply for Galaxy Rank now?"

    The requirements for reaching Galaxy Rank from Level 9 Quadrant Rank were pretty straightforward, Leonel had already covered most of it. He had already gathered more than enough Combat Merits, the part most people found the hardest. Now, he just needed to complete the two other requirements.

    The first was to accumulate what was called Civilian Merits and the second was to break into the Sixth Dimension using the God Path.

    Civilian Merits were Merits gained through non-combat means. They could refer to contributing to research, joining a secondary profession Faction, and completing a certain list of tasks, or it could be something as simple as starting a storefront and accumulating points through it.

    So long as you could gain one Void Merit through any of these processes, you could be considered to have reached the mark.

    The Combat Merits were harder as you needed to accumulate 10 million Void Points, 10 Void Merits, and you also needed to complete at least one Galaxy Ranked mission as well.

    As for the second requirement, it didn''t need an explanation.

    "I''m not quite ready yet." Leonel grinned.

    Why should he be in a rush? There were benefits to being low ranked as well, even if they weren''t as excellent as being unranked. Plus, he hadn''t quite met all the requirements yet.

    He was still in Tier 6 of the Fifth Dimension, and he was still a bit away from earning a Civilian Merit.

    That said, Leonel wasn''t very worried about his Tier. With the increase to his comprehension of his Scarlet Star Force, he could break through to the Quasi Sixth Dimension and form his final Star whenever he wanted, just like how he had relied on its previously.

    The only reason he hadn''t was because, first, he had been focused on other things, and secondly, he had still yet to fully grasp the Visualization of <Dimensional Cleanse>. All this time, he had been relying on his Innate Node to break the shackles of his mind and not <Dimensional Cleanse> as he was meant to.

    If he didn''t comprehend it first, it would be more difficult to do so later and he wouldn''t be able to pass down the pieces of <Dimensional Cleanse> to his friends and brothers like he wanted to.

    With Leonel''s current strength of mind, though, he didn''t believe that this would be any sort of big trouble to him at all.

    Following that, he would still have to learn about the God Path as well. All in all, Leonel wasn''t in a rush. He couldn''t leave the Void Palace anyway, and there was nothing pressing for his time outside of the coming Heir Wars. He could afford to lay his foundation more stably.

    Dmitry shook his head and handed the permit over.

    "Try not to destroy too much. And this time, please don''t hang naked bodies outside of my Branch again. At the very least, not half castrated bodies."

    p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

    Leonel laughed, but Dmitry couldn''t help but notice that he didn''t make any promises.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina left the Senate Branch and made a straight line toward their next destination. It was clear that they already had in mind exactly what they wanted, there wasn''t any slight hesitation in their steps.

    Soon, they stopped in front of a building. This plot of land would cost 40 million, at least double the price of the cheapest near-Senate locations. However, Leonel still chose it not because of its nicer locale, but rather because of who owned it.

    Without a word, Leonel pressed his fore and middle finger together, his fingers piercing forward in a swift slash.

    Those that had smelt trouble had already backed away, beginning to spectate from a safe distance.

    However, even they were shocked when they saw the Green Thread banner and signboard being split in two.

    The sign rattle to the ground beneath the deafening silence.

    Just because they were licking their wounds, didn''t mean that Leonel had to let them.

 Chapter 1495 Are You The Only One?

    "That''s it?" Aina asked. "Just the sign?"

    Leonel chuckled. "There''s a perfectly good building right here. If we destroy it, wouldn''t we have to build a new one? We''ll just have to thank Treanna in advance."

    Aina shook her head. Sometimes she couldn''t decide whether Leonel was charismatic, or the exact opposite. What kind of charismatic person was so good at pissing people off? She didn''t even have any good emotions toward Treanna, but she suddenly felt bad for her.

    By this point, Leonel had crippled so many of Treanna''s people that Aina wouldn''t be surprised if most were too afraid to even help the Green Thread Faction any longer. Then, he stripped three of her more powerful Faction guardians naked and posted them up for everyone to see. And now, as though all of that wasn''t enough, Leonel actually wanted to just snatch away one of their buildings?

    Although Aina had only been in one of Treanna''s "hospitals", it was enough to know that their Faction had spent quite a lot on aesthetics, and was especially particular about using materials that could keep Anarchic Force out.

    There was no doubt that the building itself was worth just as much as the ground it was built on, if not more. Aina had thought that Leonel would destroy it entirely, but who knew that he would actually be shameless enough to speak of just keeping it?

    "I didn''t know you could be so shameless."

    "I''m still holding back," Leonel said proudly, as though he had been complimented. "If I were to really go all out, we''d be on baby three by now."

    Aina didn''t know what to say. How''d he manage to make this about baby making again? Did he not have anything else on his mind? They were about to enter a battle!

    As though Aina''s thoughts were some kind of cue, the doors of the treatment center burst open, three individuals charging out at once. It was clear that the commotion of their sign being split in two and falling to the ground wasn''t small, even alerting so many.

    When they saw that it was Leonel and Aina across from them, their expressions changed. By now, who of the Green Thread Faction wouldn''t have heard of these two?

    Leonel didn''t wait, holding up the permit he had just purchased.

    "I''ll be challenging your storefront today."

    His words were simple and didn''t carry the same smiling expression he had had for Aina at all. However, they alone were enough for the accumulating crowd to react as though a bucket of water had been thrown into hot oil.

    The expression of the green haired young man leading the group changed before becoming nasty.

    Why was it that lots of land near Senate Branches were so valuable? One of the reasons was the safety inherent to the region. Fighting within a Senate Branch was prohibited, and most subconsciously stretched out that range to the general vicinity of the Branch as well.

    However, Leonel was clearly not a person with such qualms.

    It was clear Leonel believed that their Faction was one he could just casually bully whenever he wanted. Many had already acknowledged his strength, and it was fair enough that it could be said that their Faction had started things, but did he think that he could be so casual with challenging them?

    Leonel had spent a year in seclusion, and he had only just entered the Void Palace, so how could he know about the trials and tribulations their Faction had already undergone? The Viror family was nowhere near as strong as the Morales family, to begin with, nor could it compare to the Constellation families, or those other noble families that ran big shot organizations like Shield Cross Stars or the Force Crafter''s Guild.

    And yet, despite not having such a background, they had managed to carve out a monopoly for themselves on the backs of not just their hard work, but the talent of their future Matriarch, Treanna.

    As badly as Leonel and Aina thought they had been bullied by their Faction, when they had just started off, they had faced far worse. So, from their point of view, Leonel and Aina were overestimating themselves!

    At least back then, Treanna still had the backing of her Faction. But right here, there were only these two. Did they think that they were enough?!

    The young man stormed forward, a heavy black chain appearing in his hands.

    Without waiting for another word, he flicked his wrists, causing it surge forward like a tide.

    The shadows of the chains seemed to block all lanes of retreat. The attack was swift, and powerful, but flexible and subtle at the same time. Leonel had rarely fought chain and whip experts in the past, but there was no doubt that this young man was the most skilled he had ever seen.

    His hand shook, and one of his fingers flexed as Spear Force accumulated. He was just about to pierce forward when Aina grabbed his wrist.

    "I let you have all the fun last time because you were angry, but this time it''s my fault. Do you think you''re the only one with a temper?"

    Aina glared at Leonel before ignoring him entirely and sending out a punch.

    In that moment, what sounded like a clap of thunder shattered the snaking shadows, revealing the image of the main whip, only for it to collide with Aina''s fist.

    Compared to the heft of the chain, Aina''s slender arm and small fist really looked too frail. And yet, it was exactly this frail punch that stopped the chain in its place, sending a surge of energy through its body and causing the wrist of the young man controlling it to break.

    A shriek of horror sounded, but Aina had already vanished from her spot, her foot lightly tapping the ground as a rush of crimson fog enveloped her.

    Leonel seemed to realize at that moment that Aina hadn''t just improved a little bit, she was now in the Quasi Sixth Dimension, and her strength showed it.

 Chapter 1496 Pile

    The three that had come fell one after another, unable to last even a few exchanges with Aina. They writhed on the ground, their bodies aching with pain.

    Back then, Aina had only allowed Leonel to fight on her behalf because she quite liked the feeling of him protecting her. So long as it wasn''t a life or death situation, he didn''t mind being a docile partner to his right. However, as much as she liked that, she also liked fighting, and she could sense a powerful opponent inside.

    If she didn''t claim this battle for herself and let Leonel attack first, she wouldn''t even get the chance to regret it later. When Leonel started fighting, he forgot about everything else. Sometimes he looked like even more of a battle maniac than she was.

    The three youths that had fallen to the ground, were unable to get up. Aina''s fighting style didn''t seem as wild or murderous as Leonel''s, but only they knew well that Aina was maybe even more vicious. Leonel might rip out an arm, but Aina''s offensive seemed to make sure that they''d have broken bones and leaking inner organs in the worst of places. They couldn''t even breathe without feeling as though shards of glass were lodged in their lungs.

    At that moment, the very figure Aina had been waiting for walked out.

    The young lady was wrapped in what looked like green leather armor that clung tightly to her curves. Vines, flowers, and even the occasional patch of bark decorated her armor, making it difficult to tell if it was real leather at all, or if it was just a special sort of plant.

    Leonel knew who this young woman was quite immediately. Of course, this wasn''t by her name or her feats, but rather the role she played.

    The thoughts of the three youths that had charged out initially were not wrong. The Green Thread Faction had, indeed, gone through a lot to reach its current level. As such, they had many policies in place to protect themselves, policies that Leonel was mostly familiar with due to his buying of information.

    Every one of Treanna''s properties was protected by a powerhouse. These powerhouses were the core of the Viror family''s strength in this generation. Treanna might have been the best, but she had others of her age chase after her footsteps, some more powerful than others.

    One of these so-called powerhouses was Rosomon, whom Leonel had had a run-in with. This lady here was clearly another one.

    She was only in Tier 3 of the Sixth Dimension, but despite this, her presence made Emonie, Eliot, and Jova, who had all been in Tier 4, seem like small tides on a slow day. It was clear that in the Void Palace, Tier was the very last measurement you should use to gauge someone''s strength. Underestimating someone because their Tier was low could very well cause you to suffer greatly.

    There was no doubt that this woman was either very close or already within the 97th percentile, having taken around five years or less to rise from Nominal Disciple, to Galaxy Ranked disciple.

    Seeing the state of her three family members, the young woman frowned before her gaze locked onto Aina.

    The two women moved at once.

    The young woman in green leather and bits and pieces of nature flipped a palm to reveal an emerald green whip. At the same time, Aina''s spatial ring tremble, revealing a long, snaking silk scarf that curled above her arms, following them up her shoulder and around the back of her neck.

    Aina looked like she had just worn a shawl, but it was clear at a glance that it didn''t touch her.

    Whip and cloth shot out, however, when they met, instead of hearing the sounds of a cracking whip, there was only a gentle and reserved thud.

    The two women floated about with an eye-aching speed, their two styles seemingly completely different.

    The young woman''s whip was fast, harsh and straight to the point. But, Aina''s silk cloth seemed to flow softly and slowly, redirecting all the strength it faced without the slightest hurry. This seemed to paint the illusion that Aina was having a simple time, but Leonel''s gaze remained narrowed.

    Their fighting styles were different, but they were still about equal. Of course, the young woman had yet to use her God Runes, and as for Aina, since when was this her usual style? She was trying to learn something completely separate from her usual and she was clearly using this young woman as a whetstone.

    "Alright, you two just keep fighting then. I''ll be inside."

    Leonel casually waved a hand and walked through the battlefield. As for worrying about Aina? He didn''t feel like he needed to. If the young woman didn''t have an upper hand now, she would never get one.

    The young woman tried to stop Leonel but quickly found that she couldn''t escape Aina even if she tried. It was only then that she, who had thought that she was still holding back and could still easily manage the situation, suddenly realized that this was very, very, very far from the truth.

    Like this, an odd scene played out.

    Aina and the young woman were locked in a clash, but every so often, another body would fly out from the store.

    If this person was lucky, they would be flung out of a door. If they were unlucky, they''d be flung out a window.

    The pile of Green Thread Faction members continued to grow.

    Without a choice, the young woman could only roar, releasing her God Runes and hoping to end her battle with Aina quickly, but who could have thought that Aina''s body would suddenly bloom, delicate black tattoos stretching across her skin and forcing the young woman into yet another deadlock.

    Noбн It wasn''t a deadlock. The injuries seemed to accumulate rapidly on the young woman''s body.

    Her anxiousness played against her strengths. She didn''t even realize that the moment Aina had drawn first blood, the battle was already over.

    But, this was something she would learn very soon as Aina extracted what benefits she could from her and added her to the pile.

 Chapter 1497 Very Soon

    Leonel patted his hands and opened the double glass doors to the treatment center from the inside, grinning at Aina. Right this moment, she had a slight sheen of sweat on her body, but it only seemed to make her more attractive.

    Aina hadn''t worn makeup ever since the Metamorphosis descended, but she only seemed to get more perfect as the days went on. Even in this state, she looked too good.

    If it wasn''t for Leonel''s status, who knew how much trouble her beauty would have brought them? Fighting Leonel was one thing, but stealing his woman was a completely different matter. Things related to marriage and future betrothals were all mostly decided by families. Considering who Leonel''s parents were, even if he didn''t become the Heir Apparent of the Morales family, there were very few who would dare to interfere in this.

    Even when it came to Eliot speaking of stripping Aina naked, this was more of a scare tactic than anything else. Doing something like humiliating Leonel''s future wife was in line with castrating an individual, it was truly that important.

    For the same reason castration was taboo, crossing the line in this fashion wasn''t something many would do. Only those who didn''t care to give face to the Morales family would ever dare to do anything to Aina. Or, more accurately, dare to take things too far with Aina.

    It could be said that Leonel had most definitely benefited from his status again. Or else a woman like Aina, who was definitely soon to enter the Queen Beauty Rankings, wasn''t one most would idly sit by and watch a rookie like Leonel woo her without challenge.

    Leonel beamed a smile at Aina and stepped aside to let her in.

    "Welcome to your Palace, my Queen. It''s a bit shabby, but make do with it for now. I''ll find you a better one very soon."

    Aina laughed and shook her head, but the Green Thread Faction members, still trying to pick themselves up outside nearly vomited up more mouthfuls of blood, this time from rage rather than their injuries.

    Shabby? Not even counting the wealth of Force Herbs and other medicines they stored inside for the treatment of their patients, just the materials, architecture, and building itself cost almost 50 million Void Points.

    This wasn''t an amount most Galaxy Ranked disciples could even make without several decades of effort. But, even daring to spend it all in one sitting was another matter altogether. Too few would even dare to stomach such a thing.

    However, the couple didn''t even seem to hear their grievances as they closed the doors, and entering the spacious lobby.

    "So what do we do now?" Aina asked. She had left all the planning to Leonel, and this man really couldn''t be bothered to explain things ahead of time. By now, she had just learned to compromise and take certain things as they came.

    "Well, first, there are still patients here. We''ll need to treat them first. They''ll be our vanguard as well as our advertisement."

    Aina rose an eyebrow before nodding in understanding.

    "We''ll have trouble beyond that, though," she responded. "Even if word of mouth spreads that our service is good, not many would dare to come here, to begin with. I''m almost certain that their Faction will take a page out of your book."

    Aina gave Leonel a look, but he only laughed at this. Of course, Leonel had thought of this as well.

    What was the strongest weapon of a large Faction? It was obviously intimidation.

    One might be scared of Leonel, but he was still a single person, there were only so many places he could be at once. But, the Green Thread Faction practically controlled all the medicine at the Nominal, Quadrant and Galaxy Ranked, having done away with all their competition.

    Even if others feared Leonel, he couldn''t possibly deal with everyone who needed treatment from Treanna''s medical centers, right?

    Plus, Leonel didn''t have the heart to do such a thing anyway. One reason he didn''t destroy this building was that it was more useful intact, but the other reason was that he didn''t want to harm the people who weren''t related to this matter at all.

    "There are a few ways I''ve thought to handle this. But the first and most important right now is anonymity.

    "I chose a location nearby a Senate Branch not because of safety, it wouldn''t be safe here anyway after we offended them, and not for traffic either, after all by the time we''re done, people will be flocking.

    "I chose it because there''ll be plausible deniability. Once I''m done, it''ll be impossible to tell if someone came here to visit the Senate Branch, or if they came to be treated. By the end, the flow in will be so great that it''ll no longer matter.

    "So lets deal with these patients first, then we can go to the next step where you''ll have to take center stage... There also happens to be someone here who should be somewhat useful to us."

    Aina raised a brow but didn''t say much.

    бн

    The process was quick. The number of patients numbered in the high dozens, but the combination of Leonel''s and Aina''s abilities, not to mention the latter''s expertise, and it felt like they were blessed by some sort of god.

    Under usual circumstances, patients would probably be reluctant to be treated by someone they didn''t know, but disciples of the Void Palace didn''t usually have such luxury. And, because the commotion didn''t reach them, many had no idea that the two weren''t even part of the Green Thread Faction until they were discharged.

    What astonished those outside was that many who had entered half dead began to come out mere minutes later in the best condition of their lives, only to be shocked to learn from the growing crowd that it wasn''t the Green Thread Faction that had treated them at all!

    бн

    "Alright, I''ll focus on building the formation to protect this place."

    Aina nodded. "Then I''ll go to the Force Pill Faction."

    "Knock their socks off," Leonel said with a laugh.

    "Who says that anymore? You''re getting old."

    Leonel could only watch Aina''s hips sway off into the distance.

    In the end, he smiled and focused on his task. Very soon, his girlfriend would be sending the Void Palace into another shock, so how could he fall far behind?

 Chapter 1498 Worse Than Hell

    As Leonel worked, news began to quickly spread back to the Green Thread Faction and beyond. It was quite rare for challenges like this to happen between Factions, let alone for two individuals without a Faction at all to suddenly rush up to challenge a Faction on their own like this. It only made it a hotter topic when it was considered that the Green Thread Faction had just been promoted to the Silver Grade.

    Leonel, though, had focused so much on the task at hand that nothing else seemed to matter to him at all. However, what no one could have expected that on this day, the situation would completely change.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Even if he didn''t want to, at this point, Leonel had no choice but to snap awake, the sudden backlash of the incomplete Force Art nearly throwing him into the air.

    Leonel coughed violently, his expression warping.

    The ground shook and quaked, the earth that looked so sturdy and impenetrable before splitting in several regions.

    ''What the hell?''

    Leonel grabbed out toward something to stabilize himself, his gaze turning cold as he ran through possibilities. His head turned up, looking in the direction that Aina had left, but he suddenly realized that it had already been half a day since then. He had been so focused that he didn''t notice the time passing.

    This much wasn''t unexpected, Leonel was already prepared for her to be gone for a while. According to their original plan, Aina would get certified by the Force Pill Faction. Leonel had faith that Aina would perform astoundingly. Once she did, her name would spread for a reason other than her combat prowess, and then their next steps would flow much more smoothly.

    According to Leonel''s estimations, it would probably take Aina about this long to succeed. But, before she could return, something seemed to have happened to the Violet Palace?

    Before Leonel could think any further, the coldness in his eyes vanished, and a portal the size of which he couldn''t even fathom appeared.

    The Void Palace itself was already larger than any construct Leonel had ever seen. Its mountains and moons loomed in the vastness of space, stretching out for dozens of planets'' widths and heights. Yet, this portal appeared to dwarf it in size.

    No matter where you were, whether at the bottom of the mountain or the top, and whether you were still in the Fifth Dimension or the well into the Seventh, there was not a single soul present that didn''t feel as though their souls were being sucked out of their bodies.

    ''Is thatбн A Zoneбн?''

    Leonel couldn''t breathe.

    It didn''t make any sense. The Zones of the Void Palace should have long since been cleared. The only ones that remained open for missions were Unique Zones kept open so that their resources could be benefited from. It didn''t make any sense for a new Zone to suddenly appear like this one.

    And why was it so large!?

    Leonel could barely tilt his head into the skies to find a flood of powerful auras rushing into the skies, each one of them wearing a serious expression. It was hard to tell if they understood what was going on, or if they were just as confused as everyone else was.

    But, at that moment, nothing seemed to matter at all. Unable to do anything to stop it, the Void Palace and all of its students, teachers and volunteers were swallowed whole.

    бн

    In a distant location, Velasco''s head snapped upward, his expression changing. If Leonel had been here to see his father, his own heart would have skipped several beats. This was something that he had never seen before.

    Soon, Velasco''s shocked expression turned from surprise to unbridled fury, his glasses cracking and shattering beneath the pressure.

    Bits and shards threatened to blind him, and yet he didn''t even blink a single time. A Craft that had been formed of Seventh Dimensional materials shattered and attack the most vulnerable location on his body, and yet they rebounded off of his irises as though meeting a steel wall. From beginning to end, the usual prankster of a father didn''t even flinch.

    Velasco''s fury shattered the bounds of reality, the planet he was standing above going from hole to pierced through in the blink of an eye. It was as though a massive rod had run from its north pole to the south pole, its core being obliterated.

    Just like that, an Eighth Dimensional planet was torn to shreds, its implosion cascading into the surroundings like a supernova''s eruption.

    Velasco didn''t say anything for a long while, simply staring into the distance. However, his expression became calmer and calmer until the point it seemed as though nothing had happened at allбн

    Until he erupted into boisterous laughter. The sonic waves that billowed out from his lungs formed concentric circles in the depths of space, the waves cracking and shattering space.

    It seemed no different from a normal laugh on the surface. In fact, it even sounded jovial. But, anyone who knew Velasco was quite aware that he was absolutely enraged. Thoroughly enraged.

    The last people who had heard this laughter were those of the Void Palace almost 30 years ago, and now it had appeared once more.

    Why was he here in the first place? Why was he trudging and slaughtering his way through a different Domain instead of staying by his wife''s side and wasting the hours away teasing that useless son of his? It was precisely so that he could make sure that this exact thing didn''t happen.

    And yet, they had actually dared to test his bottom line like this. It seemed that since he had disappeared for so many years so that he could raise his son, they had forgotten just who Velasco Morales was.

    He would make them pay dearly. And if a single hair was harmed on his wife''s head, he would show them something worse than hell.

    As for his son? Well, he could always make another one.

 Chapter 1499 Vicious

    Leonel snapped awake, his body shooting upward as his nerves were primed to an extreme. His mind ran on overdrive, scanning everything around him. But, he ultimately found nothing.

    He was in the depths of a forest, but it was oddly green. He hadn''t seen such greenery in over year since he had been stuck in the Void Palace. But, this didn''t put him at ease at all.

    Hadn''t the whole Void Palace been swallowed? So how was it that he was no longer where he had been previously? How long had he been out of it? Did someone bring him here? No, that didn''t make sense. Why would someone just plop him in the middle of a forest and then run away? He could sense anything in his near vicinity.

    Leonel took a breath and calmed himself. Then, he leaped into the tree by his side before plummeting back down once again.

    His eyes widened.

    This world? Just where was he?

    He had gotten used to the pinnacle Seventh Dimensional atmosphere of the Void Palace, and he had jumped accordingly. But, he actually hadn''t jumped as high as he thought he should have?

    It couldn''t be. Was this an Eighth Dimensional world?!

    That didn''t make sense either. The combination of dense Anarchic Force and its pinnacle Seventh Dimensional atmosphere should have made the Void Palace no less difficult to navigate than any Eighth Dimensional world. In fact, there were definitely Eighth Dimensional worlds that couldn''t compare to the Void Palace in this regard.

    However, the suppression Leonel felt on his body and his Ability Index was just as great if not greater.

    Leonel didn''t even want to think about what this meant. Just what the hell kind of Zone was this?

    That was when something in Leonel''s mind suddenly clicked, a spark of lightning going off in his Dreamscape. When the realization sunk in, he felt his heart tremble. He only had one thoughtбн

    Was this the end of the Human Race?

    Leonel took a breath and his expression went entirely cold. The pressure he suddenly felt was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

    With all this talk of Zones, Unique Zones, controlling them, and manipulating them, Leonel had a thought that he never put into action. What if you used Zones as weapons of mass destruction? What if you suddenly trapped all the greatest geniuses of a race in a single Zone?

    As for the entry limit? Who cared? In fact, wouldn''t it be better to go over that count?

    Leonel had experienced it before personally. Back when he entered the Camelot Zone, the members of the Slayer Legion and the Adurna family had "died" after being turned into walking-dead puppets.

    However, after Leonel released them, the Zone once again registered them as living beings. And, because Leonel had taken Little Blackstar out of the snowglobe for the first time back then, the Zone had registered one additional person.

    The penalty for one additional person hadn''t been too harsh. But, their time limit had still been restricted.

    But, what if you went over two people? Ten? A hundred? Several thousand? Millions?

    There were easily millions of youths in the Void Palace, and that was just the young. What about the older individuals? What if this Zone also counted the Cursed Beasts in the mountains just like they had counted Little Blackstar back then?

    By then, the penalty would be so harsh that they might all be finished. Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if they had already surpassed the time limit. But, he couldn''t even check because he no longer had the dictionary by his side.

    It was a masterstroke, indeed. Whoever did this needed the ability to take control of a Zone, change its location, and Leonel was certain that they would also have to be able to manipulate the size of the Zone as well. After all, if the Zone was too small, how would it swallow them all up like this?

    Leonel''s expression only became colder the longer he thought.

    This wasn''t just vicious, it was as good as committing genocide on an impossibly large scale. Everyone who had been sucked into this Zone would never be able to return.

    Leonel took a breath and his heart finally slowed to a crawl. He couldn''t help but internally sneer, his mind reaching an unprecedented level of focus.

    He definitely couldn''t say that he was bored any longer. It seemed I was time for him to find out if this was the challenge he would be unable to overcome, or if even this wasn''t enough.

    At that moment, the rustling of leaves entered Leonel''s ears. He didn''t seem surprised by this at all. The moment he had failed to jump into the tree, he had already felt that something like this would happen. The commotion he had caused was not small.

    Right then, a group of a half dozen appeared. But, when Leonel saw their appearances, his eyes couldn''t help but narrow. It wasn''t that he recognized them, or that he was surprised that he didn''t recognize them. Rather, it was that he was just not expecting such a thing.

    The group that surrounded him wore clothing right out of the stone ages. The women wore beasts skins to cover their chests and bottoms, while the men just wore the latter. All of them wielded wooden spears and stared toward Leonel was a menacing light in their eyes.

    Without hesitation, they all pierced forward at once, but Leonel didn''t even more.

    Just when it seemed that they would all skewer him through, the points of their spears shattered into a rain of ash, leaving them watching in shock as their weapons crumbled to the ground.

    Despite the fact that their weapons seemed simple, any weapon carved from a world of this caliber would be strong. They were used to hunting beasts tens of times Leonel''s side without fear, but they suddenly felt their hearts constrict.

    They roared out, barking in a language Leonel couldn''t even begin to understand. But, even as two of them seemed intent on continuing, another feel to their knees, followed by a second, and then a third.

 Chapter 1500 Strong

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened, striking out with two palms, one right before him and the other to his left.

    While some have fallen to their knees, another contingent had chosen to attack directly instead. It was clear that these individuals weren''t of one mind, and he still couldn''t understand what language they were speaking. All he knew was that they seemed to be thoroughly enraged by his mere existence.

    A jolt of pain shot through Leonel''s arms, causing his pupils to constrict.

    These people, he was sure that they weren''t at his level. How were they so strong?

    Leonel''s hips pivoted, his approach changing in the blink of an eye. From a direct approach, his movements became like flowing water, diverting the strength of the two that had attacked him off to his sides.

    BEst

    His weight shifted, his elbow driving down toward the head of one as they lost their balance and stumbled forward.

    A sickening crack resounded, but the jolt that traveled up Leonel''s arm caused his body to shiver, resulting in him almost missing the timing to attack the second individual.

    He instigated Dream Sense into action, splitting the sensation the millions of ways and dulling to the point his body''s initial reaction whittled down to nearly nothing.

    Taking advantage of his recovery and his shift of momentum to a single leg, he lifted his other foot, ramming his shin into the nose of the second stumbling warrior.

    A spurt of blood followed another sickening crack. Just as quickly, they both crumpled to the ground, causing those that had chosen to kneel to cower even more.

    To them, Leonel''s movements were beyond their understanding, but only Leonel himself knew just how much pressure he had been under just now. The strength of these people was no less than his own, it was just that his own technique was far more refined than their own and his ability to adapt and react was far beyond even their imaginations.

    All things being equal, Leonel would have lost if the two of them ganged up on him. And, even if he could fight them one on one, he would very quickly find himself in an all out brawl. It would have been difficult to tell just who would win or lose.

    Luckily, just then, Leonel had shifted from his more direct style and implemented concepts of Gentle into his movements. If not, he had been very close to suffering just now. Even if his bones didn''t fracture, his shoulders might have dislocated.

    It was hard for Leonel to accept this because he didn''t feel the pressure of the Sixth Dimension from these people. But, from what he knew of the Dimensional Verse, unless you were an astounding genius of the other Races, there was no way someone in the Fifth Dimension could have put him in such a state.

    Of those he had met, maybe only Amery, Aina and Myghell could match Leonel while still being in the Fifth Dimension. And that was just raw strength. Truthfully, Leonel didn''t think he could possibly lose to some at the same strength. Part of the reason was likely because of the arrogance Aina had spoken about him having, but another part was justified.

    When Leonel had said he could beat Aina ten out of ten times and then gotten beaten up by her moments later, his thoughts had never really changed. If it came down to a matter of life and death where he could go all out, and he actually had intentions of winning, he felt that someone would have to be in the Seventh Dimension, at least, to make him truly despair.

    Leonel''s greatest trump card, his mind, was something that most simply couldn''t counter.

    Still, while he had easily defeated these few individuals, their strength astonished him.

    They were probably in the Fifth Dimension? But they actually had such strength?

    ''No, I can''t tell what Dimension they are at allбн. I have no ideaбн''

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. He had never had an issue with telling someone''s Dimension so long as they were close to his own or beneath him. Even for those far above, it wasn''t too difficult to guess by process of elimination. But thisбн

    ''And this languageбн Aren''t they human, why can''t I understand it?''

    This was another thing that baffled Leonel. By now, he didn''t even need to use language translation treasures anymore because picking up a new language for him had become far easier, especially since the highest echelons of the Human Domain all pretty much spoke the same language.

    Even when the language was a little different from what he was used to, his mind had become fast enough to pick up on the quirks quickly and adjust, he had done something similar on Planet Luxnix.

    However, this language was so far and away different that he hadn''t grasped it even after hearing the speak it for so long.

    Leonel''s frown deepened. Without the Segmented Cube''s inner space to rely on, he didn''t have a convenient device to take out right now.

    ''I need to retreat. These people are already so powerful and nothing about them screams leadership, or else they wouldn''t have been so divided in how to react to me. I''ll need to find time to scout them and comprehend their language first, then we can consider a next step.''

    With Leonel''s thinking speed, the two he had defeated had hard fallen to the ground by the time he came to a decision.

    A strong Light Force swirled around him and his three illusory tails appeared once more. With a step, he leapt into the trees he could reach before, vanishing into their folds.

    He didn''t miss the gasp and shock of these people when they saw his use of Force. But, he could only note this and disappear.

    He wrapped himself in a thin layer of Ethereal Star Force and hid in the trees, observing the group and planning on following them.

    Not long later, he was proven to be correct as a burly man who seemed very much like their leader appeared.

 Chapter 1501 This Time

    The group quickly began to explain what had happened to their leader as Leonel watched. He passively absorbed what they were saying, filling in context clues and trying to piece together their language. For Leonel, this wasn''t very difficult. It would take others a year or two of observing a language to reach a passable level, but Leonel would only take a few hours at worst so long as these people spoke enough.

    However, while he listened, his gaze couldn''t help but focus on the burly man. The pressure he gave off was far beyond that of the others. Leonel felt that he was right to leave when he had. This manбн Leonel really wasn''t sure if he could defeat him.

    What was once again the most astonishing about this was the fact that Leonel couldn''t tell the burly man''s Dimension either. But now, he began to understand why it was. The more he observed, the more possibilities he thought of until he eventually landed on one.

    BEst

    Back when Leonel was in the Third Dimension, he had broken through with his body and his mind first. In the former case, he entered the Fourth Dimension first, and in the later, it was even more exaggerated as he entered the Fifth Dimension long before stepping foot outside of the Third Dimension.

    Now, he was in a similar situation, with his mind actually being in the Seventh Dimension currently!

    However, regardless of the situation, everyone had always seen him as a Third Dimensional existence back then, and right now, everyone only saw him as a Fifth Dimensional existence.

    Why was that?

    ? Leonel had never really thought about it before, but now it seemed too obvious. Your Dimension seemed to be decided by the Force level you could wield and control with your Nodes.

    It probably wasn''t so simple, but in all the Fourth Dimensional books Leonel had read in the Void Library, this seemed to be the most appropriate conclusion.

    In that case, wasn''t the reason Leonel couldn''t tell the Dimension of these people because they couldn''t use Force as he could? If they could, why would they be so shocked by his use of Force just now?

    At that moment, the head of the burly man suddenly snapped in Leonel''s direction. The sudden change was enough to make anyone''s heart leap out of their chest.

    But, who was Leonel? He was a man whose mind worked at a speed that could put even a computer to shame. Let alone catching him off guard with the turn of a head, Leonel had already seen through the burly man''s movements long before he made them and stood absolutely still, not moving an inch.

    Leonel wasn''t a short distance away. With the sensory boost his Starry Tailed Fox gave him, he was able to listen in and observe this group from just over half a kilometer away. Even if he could see the burly man''s face as bright as day, didn''t mean the latter could do the same.

    Though it was surprising that the man was so sensitive, that was all.

    As expected, after furrowing his brows, the burly man turned back, continuing to listen to the reports. However, Leonel didn''t relax.

    Such a powerful person definitely trusted in their instincts to a great degree. Even if he didn''t find evidence of Leonel, he would proceed with caution as though there really was someone there. Plus, considering his people were likely currently informing him about Leonel''s appearance right this moment, he had even more reason to be cautious.

    Minutes later, the burly man waved a hand and the explanations stopped. Well, by that point, it had fallen into a near all out brawl between the two sides as those that had kneeled versus those that had fought clashed.

    By this point, Leonel understood some of their speech.

    Those that kneeled kept using a word that sounded like "ladle" to refer to him while the people that had fought kept using a word that sounded like "sako". It was clear that one had a positive connotation while the other had a negative one.

    Leonel just couldn''t quite understand if the latter group''s animosity was rooted in something much deeper, or if they were just made he had so easily defeated them.

    Soon, the group began to make their way to their destination. It wasn''t long before Leonel learned that the reason they had separated in the first place was that their leader was scouting out the situation ahead and laying out their plan of approach.

    What Leonel didn''t expect, though, was to follow this group for three days as they found and hunted down a single beast the size of a small van.

    By that point, his throat was parched, and he had to use Dream Sense to stop his stomach from rumbling. Despite there not being any Anarchic Force in the air, this world made Leonel feel like he was once again a Third Dimensional being. The only good news was that the group stopped to rest so that Leonel could sleep and that by this point, he had already grasped their language entirely.

    It took longer than expected because they rarely spoke during their hunt, focusing on remaining quiet and stealthy. But, Leonel''s patience had finally paid off.

    "We''ll return home now," the burly man said, looking off into the distance again.

    Leonel had made it a point not to antagonize the man during these days, keeping his eyes off of him. The man only seemed to have a sixth sense for Leonel''s gaze, but not his presence. This meant that so long as Leonel didn''t look at him directly for too long, he would slowly relax.

    It took another day before the group of seven finally returned to their home, and by this point, Leonel felt like a walking skeleton. The good news was that he had managed to take advantage of some rivers they had passed by to deal with his thirst. He was able to take advantage of the Water Force concentration to deal with it. But, food remained elusive.

    Every time they came across an animal, it would either run away or their hunting group would add it to their haul.

    Finally, Leonel could confirm their location before going off and dealing with his needs.

    The moment Leonel spotted the small village, he was ready to turn back and leave. But, what he didn''t expect was for an older gentleman to walk out to greet the group.

    Before Leonel could turn away and leave, yet another head snapped in his direction. It was the older man. Andбн Leonel was certain that unlike the failure of the burly man, he had been spotted this time.

 Chapter 1502 No Way

    Leonel dove out of the way, a hair-raising feeling of danger drilling into his mind as the primitive man''s instincts roared at him for the first time in a long while.

    Without hesitation, Leonel rolled out of the tree, his palm flipping over to reveal his self-made bow. Even as he fell from the tree, his gaze grew cold. He pulled the bowstring taut, his vision finding the one line of sight through the thickness of the trees.

    At that moment, the location he had just been sitting in suddenly imploded. It looked as though someone had planted a bomb into the core of the tree, only to trigger it right this instant. However, Leonel knew better. This was definitely related to the attention of the old man.

    Leonel took a breath, releasing his arrow and a breath all at once.

    Swift.

    The arrow shot through the air as though on rocket fuel. The sound of whistling wind didn''t even reach Leonel''s ears until lit had already appeared before the old man''s brows. No one even registered the beautiful curve the attack took through the trees. In fact, Leonel, who had begun falling from the tree, had still not even hit the ground yet.

    If one thought that the only weapon Force that Leonel had strengthened during the last year was his Spear Force, you would be sorely mistaken. Even if the application wasn''t the same, with Leonel''s feel for the bow, his ability to translate his findings felt almost as natural as breathing. His talent in the bow seemed to be on a level all to its own.

    The old man was caught off guard. However, his vision alone seemed to carry some explosive strength all to itself.

    The moment he locked onto the arrow, even if it was in the final moment, it too, imploded. However, the arrow had gotten so close to him that the explosion obstructed his vision, allowing Leonel to vanish from his sight.

    One would have thought that Leonel would take the opportunity to run, but almost as soon as he took the advantage, Leonel pressed.

    Dream Class. Sniper Archer.

    Leonel fired three more arrows before he even touched the ground, his Bow Force blazing with life and vitality. Each seemed to carry with it its own flare, reaching a level of freedom and unrestrained power that even Leonel''s spear seemed to lack.

    But, it was only right that things were like this. Leonel''s Bow Force was being forcefully restrained to the Fifth Dimension from the Sixth, while his Spear Force had yet to take that step.

    To an outside observer, though, this would still be a shock. One was supported by Spear Domain while the other was not. This should have closed the gap. And yet, Leonel''s Bow Force seemed to have still left his Spear Force in the dust.

    The three arrows appeared within the ground in the blink of an eye, all three fluttering like soaring birds and curving toward the burly man.

    Leonel landed on the ground, his gaze sharp as he brandished another arrow.

    These three days he hadn''t just been casually wasting time. Whenever he found a suitable branch, he would snap it off and form another arrow. In this time, he had already formed hundreds for a situation just like this one.

    The burly man, whose first instinct was to protect the old man even though the latter didn''t need it, couldn''t believe that he was actually the target.

    He reacted quickly, brandishing his spear toward the first coming arrow, feeling that the two trailing behind it were less of a threat. But, to his horror, the moment he pierced out with a strike he had practiced no less than 10 000 times, heбн

    Actually missed.

    The arrow fluttered, slowing down a measure.

    In the grand scheme, it was akin to a car racing down the highway easing up from 100 kilometers an hour to 95, but in a battle this high level, such a sudden and abrupt change was enough to change everything.

    THWACK!

    The arrow pierced into the burly man''s collarbone, throwing off his ability to be able to deal with the remaining two arrows.

    One pierced into his knee, ruining his mobility. The other tore into the soft side of his elbow, removing his ability to brandish his spear with both hands.

    Leonel, though, was still shocked by the outcome. Those arrows should have gone through the burly man''s body entirely. And yet, it had sounded like he just stuck them into a solid tree. Just how strong was this person''s body?!

    Even Leonel, who had the Morales family''s Metal Body technique, wasn''t so sturdy, at least not without releasing both his Divine Armor and Bronze Runes, and even then he wouldn''t be able to match up.

    BEst

    Unfortunately, Leonel didn''t get to linger on the thought for long, because he knew the vision of the old man would clear right this moment.

    He was already prepared, releasing the string of his arrow again. But, just as he was about to, his fingers paused.

    He could see it quite clearly. The old man was incredibly pale-faced, hints of blood falling down his cheeks like streaking tears. Leonel knew right then that even if the old man wanted to act again, he wouldn''t be able to.

    Still, he kept his senses primed, walking forward slowly. He had taken advantage of the situation to deal with the burly man, so this was a chance he shouldn''t give him. He wasn''t sure if this small village had anyone else so powerful, but his deductions told him that the answer to that question was no.

    If there were, it was unlikely for someone with the status the old man seemed to have to come out to greet them personally. If Leonel was correct, then all of this village''s strongest existences were right here.

    At that moment, the small group watched in horror as Leonel slowly walked out of the forest''s edge, his bow still raised.

    If he was so effective from 500 meters away, none of them dared to imagine just what kind of monster he would be at this close a range. There was no way any of them could deal with such a thing.

 Chapter 1503 Oddity

    The old man breathed heavily, a concentrated look in his eyes. He seemed to be trying very hard to recover so that he could attack again. But, something about the coldness in Leonel''s eyes seemed to tell him that he would be prepared for this. In fact, he seemed to feel that Leonel was untouchable.

    The burly man roared. Limping on one leg, he dove at Leonel, brandishing his spear with one arm. But, just as he was about to skewer Leonel through, his spear burst into a rain of ash.

    Losing his spear and without hitting the target he thought he would, the burly man fell forward, hitting the ground cheek first and skidding to a stop at Leonel''s feet.

    When the old man saw this, his eyes opened as wide as saucers. Under the astonished gazes of the hunter squadron and the few who had come out of the village after hearing the commotion, the old man fell to his knees.

    "Esteemed nobleman, esteemed nobleman! Please forgive my ignorance!"

    He kowtowed as hard as he could, his forehead smashing into the ground repeatedly. Despite the fact that this location was mostly soft soil, the old man was so vehement that his forehead eventually split into a bloody wound.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Was this reaction because of his Spear Domain? Or was it something else?

    If Leonel didn''t know better, he would think that he had somehow stumbled into the tribulation of his Spear Domain Heirloom. He had found it very weird these past few days that he hadn''t run into anyone from the Void Palace.

    Usually, when one entered a Sub Dimensional Zone, you were all taken to the very same place. When Leonel and Aina entered the Paris Zone, they appeared in a village together. When Leonel entered the Camelot Zone with the Slayer Legion, the only reason he had been able to go off on his own was that he entered first and then used his self-created Craft to hide underground when the others appeared.

    Regardless of the situation, everyone who entered together always appeared together. It simply didn''t make any sense that Leonel was on his own like this. So, he had assumed that something else went wrong.

    Maybe his Spear Domain Heirloom was triggered again, moving his tribulation up even further. It felt possible since everyone he ran into seemed to use a spear as well.

    But, Leonel wasn''t willing to conclude this. For one, the spear was an innately common weapon to begin with, especially in a more primitive setting like this one. People liked to call the sword the first weapon, but the truth was that the first weapon, if not the rock, was most definitely the spear.

    Plus, there was also the matter of the sheer number of individuals that had entered. Leonel couldn''t ignore the fact that the basic functions of this Zone had been ruined by the oddity of their appearance within it.

    "Stop," Leonel said coolly, speaking their language as though he had always been able to do this.

    It was only when Leonel said this that the old man paused. But, even then, the latter didn''t raise his head, not daring to look up for fear of what might happen next.

    "What is your name?" Leonel asked.

    "My name is Farlee, nobleman."

    Leonel narrowed his eyes. He just wanted to test the bottom line of these people and also ensure that he had grasped their language as well as he thought he had.

    "Where is this place, Farlee? I''ve lost my way. Where is the fastest route back?"

    Leonel wasn''t specific with his words on purpose. Any ignorance on his part, if shown in too great a quantity, might result in this situation going south. Before then, Leonel had to make sure he secured as much information as possible.

    It made sense for a so-called "nobleman" like him to not know this place. It was a small village, nearby a stream of water, in the middle of a forest. It was doubtful that a person of high standing would know this place like the back of their hand.

    "Sir, Slale City is two days'' journey southeast of here. Trith City is a day and a half''s journey northwest of here. And Cing City is three days'' journey west of here."

    Farlee did his best to recall everything and gave all the information he knew of, not holding back. Since Leonel wasn''t specific, he just told him everything, hoping one of these cities was Leonel''s own. He couldn''t help but hold his breath when he saw Leonel''s lack of a response.

    Inwardly, Leonel was frowning. This wasn''t because of the information, he had no reason not to trust it. Rather, it was that this little village seemed too weird.

    Southeast, northwest, and even west itself. This village was entirely surrounded by cities, so why did these people choose to stay here it was a bit odd. It wasn''t like traveling was the issue, these weren''t particularly long journeys in the grand scheme of things. Also, danger shouldn''t have been a problem either.

    After following the hunter squad around, it was easy for Leonel to make these sort of deductions. The population of beasts wasn''t ridiculously high. In fact, their village didn''t even have heavy defenses, there wasn''t even a wall around them.

    ? So it was relatively safe, the distance wasn''t too far, there were several cities to choose from, and yet they all chose to remain here?

    It wasn''t that Leonel didn''t believe that some would prefer to live in a more rural area, but when he thought about the split sort of reaction he receivedбн one seething with hatred and the other worshipful as though he was a deity descended from the skies, his brows couldn''t help but furrow.

    Leonel shook his head.

    "Give me some spices and I''ll be on my way."

    Farlee kowtowed again and did as Leonel asked, almost handing over way too much.

    After casually helping the burly man heal, Leonel turned toward the direction of Trith City, the closest of the three, and vanished.

 Chapter 1504 What Kind Of City Is This?

    Leonel grilled meat in one hand and seasoned it with the other. His Radiant Force and Scarlet Star Force might have been powerful Fire Forces, but they were no good at cooking. One was radioactive and the other was intent on destroying everything in its path. So, for something like this, Leonel could only use regular Fire Force.

    But, it was more difficult than he thought it would be. Leonel had never really struggled with pulling atmospheric Force toward himself until he stepped foot into the Void Palace. By then, the Anarchic Force was so dense that using atmospheric Force was mostly a pipe dream. This was a large part of why Leonel had still rarely used his Scarlet Star Force even after awakening the ability to pull it toward him on a whim.

    Leonel had thought that he wouldn''t need to worry about it anymore while he was in this place since there was no Anarchic Force. But, just like with all the other oddities, he still struggled.

    Back when he was practically dying of thirst, he had to approach a river to find dense enough Water Force to satiate himself. Usually, he would be able to call upon Water Force whenever he wanted now, thanks to his Divine Armor. But if he did that here, he would be lucky to form a single drop.

    This matter stretched to other things as well. For example, Leonel concluded that the reason his arrows hadn''t been devastating was that he had shot from too far away.

    Previously, shooting from 500 meters away, so long as Anarchic Force wasn''t present, was as easy as breathing. But, in this place, his Bow Force actually weakened so much over this distance. Now, his previous 500 meter range was about equivalent to his current 100 to 75 meter range. He would definitely have to adjust.

    Unfortunately, the problems just kept coming. After a day and a half, Leonel had still not spotted the city.

    His first thought was that the old man had lied to him, but Leonel frowned at such a possibility. He was very good at reading people. Even though he couldn''t be considered to be a lie detector, he still didn''t believe that Farlee would have even dared to lie to him in the first place.

    ''Is it possibleбн?''

    A thought flashed in Leonel''s eyes. He didn''t consider for a moment that he had deviated from the right path, his sense of direction was too solid. He did consider the possibility that the old man''s sense of direction wouldn''t be as strong as his own. Plus, if the city was just a little bit off the cardinal direction the old man had stated, Leonel could end up way off.

    Stillбн Leonel thought that it was likely the hidden third open. And, over three more days after the initial day and a half estimate, he finally saw it looming ahead.

    As expected, the estimates for speed the old man had given were based on what he thought of Leonel, a realization that made the latter especially serious.

    Obviously, Leonel hadn''t gone all out during the past several days and even took a lot of time to check around for clues and signs of human life, just in case he had veered off course. However, for Farlee to underestimate his speed by three timesбн

    Just how strong were these noblemen? And what would Leonel do now that he was here?

    Up ahead, an enormous city loomed. It was like a steel behemoth, its walls flashing with silvery lights and only the tallest buildings within being barely visible from Leonel''s vantage point.

    However, very quickly, Leonel realized that the city was much further away than he thought it was. It was just that the city was so large that it had taken a moment for his perception to adjust. When he calculated how large it must be, his brows couldn''t help but shoot up.

    Leonel entered stealth mode, becoming even more focused than he had been before. If Farlee could see through him before, it was clear that his previous attempts hadn''t been nearly good enough. Of course, Leonel had gotten complacent after three days as well, not to mention the fact that he had been hungry.

    But now, he was in top shape.

    Leonel didn''t understand enough about this situation to enter the city so freely. He had to observe a bit first.

    As Leonel got closer, he realized he was still several dozen kilometers away. This wouldn''t normally be an issue with his speed, but the main problem was that the number of beasts seemed to increase rather than lessen. At the same time, the Force in the air seemed to also thicken.

    When Leonel finally managed to enter a kilometer range, his eyes couldn''t help but widen.

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    The entire cityбн no, it was only accurate to say that the portions of the city that Leonel could see were surrounded by an abyss!

    Chains connected the open city gates. Just from Leonel''s point of view, there were three. Each chain link was tens of meters across and their thickness didn''t need to be mentioned.

    Those that wanted to enter the city crossed these "paths", risking what seemed like life and limb just for a chance. And, from what it seemed, there were even some that were turned away at the entrance and forced to go back!

    Leonel watched as several fell to their deaths. Some had even been close but were assaulted by an unlucky rush of powerful wind.

    ''Whatбн kind of city is this?''

    Leonel was at a loss. Was it worth risking life and death to enter?

    There were some that didn''t seem to need to risk as much to enter. These individuals procured the help of large snake beasts that coiled their bodies around the chains to slither forward, swaying along with the chains. From what Leonel had seen, not a single ground escorted by one of these snakes had died.

    However, it seemed to be very expensive to gain such a service. In addition, it was mostly a route taken by individuals who seemed to be merchants? Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if they gained a large discount for their efforts.

    Just as Leonel was thinking about whether or not the risk would be worth it, he froze.

    Right then, a merchant carriage rolled to the edge of the abyss. Unlike the other carriages, this one pulled along a cage on wheels.

    What made Leonel freeze was that within these cages, beaten and ragged, were Noah and Myghell.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with rage.

 Chapter 1505 Who Could?

    This scene confirmed to Leonel that he definitely wasn''t in the Spear Domain''s Zone. However, aside from that small bit of assurance, there was nothing else to be happy about. He couldn''t say that he cared very much for Myghell, but he didn''t hate him either, the two just had their own separate perspectives on certain matters. Leonel wouldn''t just watch as Myghell was taken into what clearly seemed to be slavery without doing anything.

    And, even if Leonel had no intention of saving Myghell and he turned a blind eye to it all, he couldn''t possibly leave his cousin alone like this, right?

    Leonel took a breath and calmed himself.

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    His gaze shifted toward the bridge and then the city. What little information he had told him that his best chance at saving these two was to act right this moment. With such a large city, with such a menacing atmosphere, Leonel was certain that whoever was in charge was a monster in their own right.

    Leonel hadn''t even been confident in taking down the warrior of a little village without using some tricks. And, if not for his sharp senses and quick reaction time, he would have lost his life to the old man. Yet, it was all too obvious to him that they feared these so-called "noblemen" down to the deepest depths of their bones.

    Even without seeing the strongest of this world, Leonel knew from this alone that they weren''t to be trifled with. And, since these slave traffickers were acting in broad daylight, it was clearly within the rules of the city for them to act as such. This meant that Leonel wouldn''t have morality on his side either.

    Plus, even if Leonel didn''t have any of these reference points, just the fact that whoever had targeted the Void Palace dared to swallow up their Seventh Dimensional powerhouses into this place as well meant that, in all likelihood, there were individuals here more than capable of dealing with such existences.

    There was always a possibility that this wasn''t the case, but if the Seventh Dimensional existences of the Void Palace could truly move freely, they would have long since made a huge commotion to gather up all the students to think of a plan.

    The fact they hadn''t spoke volumes.

    Leonel''s jaw clenched, his gaze flickering back and forth between several crucial points.

    ''I''m 100% confident in crossing the chain bridge, but fighting on it would be impossible. There''s a 50/50 shot that I fall if I start a battle there, so it''ll have to be before they begin crossing. But, if I attack before thenбн No, this is really the only choice.''

    Leonel took a breath, his gaze turning frighteningly cold. His mind was only filled with one thought. If Noah and Myghell could be taken in like this, what about everyone else? How many had been taken into slavery like this?

    Andбн What about Aina?

    ''Just die.''

    Leonel was decisive. The moment he made his choice, he rose to his feet high in the trees and fired. Before anyone could realize what was happening, three heads were skewered through.

    Leonel had learned his lesson from the last time. 500 meters was much too far away, but this time, he was only 100 meters away. At this distance, his lethality was on a whole other level.

    CLANG!

    Leonel''s gaze flickered when his arrow failed to shatter the lock of the cage, but his hands didn''t falter. He had already accounted for such a possibility. He didn''t believe that his cousin or Myghell had been stagnant during the year it had been since he saw them. The fact they were captured spoke not only to the strength of their captors, but also their means.

    In the brief instant of Leonel''s failed assault, the attention of several turned toward his location. If there was one weakness of being a sniper, it was that every shot would expose more information about your whereabouts.

    In this environment, Leonel couldn''t curve his shots very much without using Sixth Dimensional Force. So, after four, many had already triangulated his position.

    A powerful aura came crashing down on Leonel from above, but the latter''s sharp gaze didn''t waver.

    He knew where these powerful auras were coming from. One was from the man he assumed was an overseer of the city. He was the one who had spoken with the carriage leader and brokered a deal between them and the city.

    The second was the carriage leader himself.

    The former wore what looked like a military uniform made of soft fabrics and covered in pockets and simple lines. But, the latter was dressed like a wealthy businessman. If not for Leonel''s sharp eyes, he would have never known that he was a powerful existence, to begin with.

    It was clear in an instant, the pressure these two gave off made the burly man of the village look like a joke. However, the fury in Leonel''s eyes only grew.

    He could see it in their eyes. They were actually angry with him for trying to free slaves? He would have respected them more if they took this matter in stride, accepting that this was a normal part of the business they partook in.

    But, from their gazes, it was clear that they felt like they had an ingrained right to do as they pleased.

    Such people, quite frankly, disgusted Leonel.

    At that moment, the seal in Leonel''s left kidney shattered, breaking through several layers all at once. From the size of half a fingernail, it grew to about half the size of a large grape, flooding Leonel''s body with Scarlet Star Force and turning his pale violet eyes into a liquid red-gold.

    The fifth arrow was already prepared as Leonel''s eyes flickered with dancing Destruction Runes, each more elaborate than the last.

    Since he had trouble pulling from the atmosphere in this place, he would just pull from his own Innate Node. Who could stop him?

    Leonel''s fingers released his bowstring, a streak of crimson cutting through the air in its wake.

 Chapter 1506 Shocking Ability

    The eyes of the businessman and overseer widened, a spike of danger twisting into their hearts as they felt their lives flash before their eyes. They thought that they had already understood the strength of the attacker, but for this mysterious person''s strength to suddenly skyrocket to this levelбн

    BANG!

    The lock of the cage shattered. Flames raced across the bars like a disease or a curse, flashing with complex runes as they ruined the structural integrity of the metal.

    In one moment, the cage felt like it was impregnable. In the next, it crumbled to ash, whistling in the wind as though it was nothing more than the fluttering leaves of a dying tree.

    When the businessman and overseer realized that they weren''t the target of the arrow, they inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but their expressions became ugly not long later.

    However, in response, Leonel shot three more arrows, each twisting toward a vital point of their bodies. While none of these arrows were powerful by Scarlet Star Force, they application of Forceful to their bodies made them carry the strength of a shotgun.

    The wind clapped like thunder under the speeding arrows, the release of Leonel''s bowstring sounding no different from an iron ball tearing a path out of a canon.

    Myghell''s expression flickered. How could he not be familiar with Scarlet Star Force? With the rarity of the Force, and the fact the person wielding it was trying to save them, he would be a fool to not think of Leonel.

    Truthfully, Myghell had a lot of reasons to hate Leonel. After all, because of Leonel, his years of effort and accumulated strength at the Quasi Sixth Dimension was all ruined. Without Leonel''s Innate Node, he had to find a completely different path to enter the Sixth Dimensional God Path, and as such, he was actually growing weaker by the day instead of stronger.

    However, Myghell never really took this personally, he just took it as him being unlucky. Whether he won the fight against Leonel or not, he would have still given Leonel his Innate Node back. The main reason he hadn''t earlier was that it would have left him too injured to fight in the first place.

    Seeing Leonel now, though, left him with a whole host of complicated feelings. Still, these complicated feelings didn''t slow his movements in the slightest.

    Myghell and Noah sprung action at once. Though their hands and feet were both bound, the two were experts in their own right.

    The chains that bound their ankles were two feet apart and were linked to the chains that bound their wrists. Still, they were able to begin running with a crouch and short steps.

    The two of them weren''t the only ones in the carriage. In fact, there were others of the Void Palace inside as well. However, it was only the two of them who recognized Leonel without laying eyes on him and as such shot in his direction without hesitation.

    Seeing their reaction, many subconsciously followed while other broke off in different directions, hoping to take advantage of the situation. With most focused on a single path, there might be less people who chased after them.

    Leonel continued to cover their retreat, his arrows peppering the guards, businessman and overseer to the point they couldn''t even begin to run after the escapees.

    Each one of Leonel''s arrows was menacing and placed in an awkward position. He aimed for their eyes, their knees, their feet, even their crotches. He held nothing back, assaulting them with numbers.

    "Fuck! He can''t use it anymore, charge forward!"

    The overseer''s skin suddenly flashed with a metallic light. His hands snapped outward as though he was throwing daggers, but he had nothing in his palms at all.

    To Leonel''s shock, though, layers of the overseer''s skin peeled off, attaching to the thick trees in the surroundings.

    Soon, the overseer shot forward, bouncing between the trees at a speed that was almost impossible to track. Between bounces, he would throw out more silver disks, attaching them to more and more trees.

    He flew forward like a speeding bullet, his body becoming a large streak of silver. It took no more than a single breath for him to cut the distance between himself and the nearest escapee to less than five meters.

    Leonel was stunned by what he was seeing. He could tag this ability to a specific Ability Index and it even seemed like a combination of many of them, including Allan''s magnet Ability Index. Howeverбн that was all.

    The overseer might be far faster than Leonel now, but his movement had also become far more predictable. Facing an enemy like Leonel, he had basically just sealed his fate.

    Leonel didn''t even take a breath of time to calculate, his fingers having already released.

    The overseer suddenly panicked. He release that with the way Leonel''s arrow had curved, he was adding to its force with his own momentum. Even if Leonel didn''t use Scarlet Star Force againбк!

    THWACK!

    The overseer was pierced through the forehead, the head of Leonel''s arrow tearing into his skull just as the body of the arrow exploded into countless pieces.

    With a heavy thump, the overseer crashed into the tree he was magnetically attached to. There was such speed and force behind it that the tree cracked, beginning to slowly fall forward.

    Leonel frowned slightly. This was a bit of a problem.

    He took a breath, Sixth Dimensional Force spinning around his arrow as he released it.

    It tore through skies so quickly that there was absolute silence even after it crashed into its target.

    p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

    BANG!

    The arrow curled around, smashing into the side of the tree. An explosion sounded, a huge chunk of the bark and trunk imploded until it looked as though a giant had taken a giant bite out of it.

    The falling tree deviated, stopping its forward momentum and beginning to fall back and to the side.

    The pursuing guards, businessmen and lagging overseers suddenly found the behemoth-like shadow of a tree quickly falling toward them, their faces contorting in shock.

 Chapter 1507 Not Enough Information

    Heavy breathing filled the depths of the forest as a group of escapees gathered around one another and leaned on the thickness of the trees around them.

    At that moment, Leonel appeared at the treetops, his face still obscured by a blinding golden light. Seeing such a thing, Myghell and Noah frowned for a moment, but after realizing the potential issues, their brows relaxed.

    As the saying went, when smart people met together, there wasn''t a need for so many words. The three of them very quickly came to a tacit understanding.

    "Where are you all from?"

    Leonel spoke in the language of the village people. Very quickly, he could see who among them grew confused and who among them responded with acknowledgment. It was just that easy for Leonel to tell who came from the Void Palace and who didn''t. Aside from Myghell and Noah, there seemed to be three others.

    Still, this wasn''t 100% factual. For all Leonel knew, there were different dialects. But, from what he had observed around the city, at least in this region, everyone should speak the same language.

    Leonel received many answers to his questions, much of which he couldn''t really understand. They spoke of landmarks and locations he had never heard of, but they did so with confidence so it was obvious that these were likely common places everyone knew about.

    After hearing their words, Leonel went through everyone one by one and began to destroy their shackles. It was more delicate work than breaking the cage had been, harder too, but since Leonel could use his hands, it wasn''t that big of a problem.

    ''Their gazes toward me turn a lot more worshipful the more I use my abilities. It seems like I was right about some stuffбн''

    Leonel could have shot more than one arrow of Scarlet Star Force, however, he had purposely chosen not to, his mind thinking of the old man that had tired out after using his ability just twice.

    Although there wasn''t much information, nor enough data points, if Leonel was correct, as he usually was, this world likely separated itself into people with powerful abilities and those without. And, it was likely that the marker for "powerful" abilities was whether it could manifest itself in some sort of outward projection of Force or not.

    In addition, though this was a greater stretch and a conclusion that Leonel was more doubtful of, there seemed to be more restrictions on abilities in this place as well.

    These restrictions likely weren''t a product of their birth, but rather the world itself. This place was more stifling than even a pinnacle Seventh Dimensional world flooded with Anarchic Force. In such an environment, the suppression of Ability Indexes was also exceptional.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    If it wasn''t for Leonel''s ability strengthening in the Rapax Nest, even his own Ability Index would have fallen to Tier 3 or even worse in this place, let alone the average person.

    As such, in a place like this one, those that could display powerful abilities were even rarer than they were back in Leonel''s Dimensional Verse. And, as a result of this, there was an even clearer dividing line between the talented and untalented, even to the point there was slavery here.

    Still, this left more questions than answers.

    Where was this place? What point in history did it represent? The Human Domain didn''t have such a powerful world anywhere.

    Could it be a snippet of the future? Was this a Variant Zone?

    It was possible. A Variant Zone appeared when a world was at a crossroads and it was a chance to turn things around for the better.

    But, a Variant Zone was also known for its low difficulty. What about this place was easy, exactly?! And where were the rewards?!

    Plus, a Variant Zone wouldn''t be styled after a real world, at least not usually. It would be more like a challenge or a game, left behind by future generations who didn''t like how things had turned out. This was why the only Variant Zone Leonel had ever heard of was found on Terrain and entered by Aina.

    That wasn''t to say that a Variant Zone couldn''t be like this, but it wasn''t the most efficient use of resources for a world likely on its last legs, to begin with.

    Then the only logical conclusion seemed to be that this was a Zone not from the Human Domain, but another Domain entirely.

    But in that case, why was it that everyone here was human? Even the powerhouses who ran the city seemed to also be human.

    From what Leonel had learned from Wise Star Order, it wasn''t that humans didn''t exist in other Domains, it was rather that they were instead treated like second class citizens. However, clearly, there were humans in power in this place. Unless there was another tier of overseers that Leonel hadn''t seen and humans were actually selling their own to their other-race overlords, this conclusion seemed unlikely as well.

    Then what was the truth?

    Quite franklyбн Leonel had no idea.

    After freeing them all, Leonel was profusely thanked and he didn''t stop any of them from leaving. However, he did take the opportunity to secretly tag some of them, tracking their location for a while both so that he could place a mental mark on the locations they spoke about andбн for a more unfortunate reason.

    Once they were all gone, Leonel was left with just the Void Palace members, but he still wasn''t quite sure if he should reveal his face just yet. If this was truly a hopeless situation, that would mean that this would essentially be their world now until they died. In that case, he couldn''t trust anyone even if they were formerly from the Void Palace.

    Once despair sunk in, who knew what people would do?

    "You five don''t seem to be able to understand me?"

    Leonel trusted in the genius of the Void Palace disciples. After so many days, he didn''t believe that they wouldn''t have picked up at least some of the language even if they lacked his processing speed.

    After several attempts, though, Noah eventually said something that left Leonel in silence.

    "Bodyбн Weakбн Noбн Force."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. What was going on?

 Chapter 1508 Touching?

    Was Noah trying to say that he couldn''t use Force?

    Honestly, while the group was running, Leonel had noted that they hadn''t used Force. Although Myghell had lost the Speed Branch after stepping past the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor, Noah definitely still had it. It didn''t make sense that he wouldn''t try to multiply his speed as he ran.

    Leonel had thought that it was related to the chains wrapped around their bodies. After all, Earth had had Force blocking methods, so even though Leonel hadn''t run into such a thing at higher Dimensions, that didn''t mean that they didn''t exist, maybe he had just been lucky to not stumble into such a thing.

    However, while Leonel had been destroying their bindings, other than the strength and power of the ores used to forge them, he didn''t sense anything else about the chains.

    If they had been designed to block Force, they would have resisted his Scarlet Star Force a lot more and a lot better as well.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed behind the mask of bright light that covered his face. He turned his attention toward the others and their reactions seemed to be similar. Even Myghell, who should have been close to if not the most talented among them, reacted in the same way. But, he should have known.

    ''Myghell and Noah should be equally as talented, actually. In fact, I wouldn''t be surprised if Noah surpassed Myghell in the future with the setbacks the latter has faced. But for them both to be in this situationбн''

    Leonel felt like a headache was coming along. He thought he had finally gained some help and support, but instead, the people here were actually so weak. This was more than a little troublesome.

    He couldn''t understand what was happening no matter how he racked his brain. This world was, indeed, stronger than the Void Palace grounds, but it wasn''t exaggerated to the point that such geniuses couldn''t even bring out at least a portion of their strength.

    Leonel needed more information, he had to enter the city.

    Leonel stood before he hesitated slightly. Leaving everyone here without his protection would make things a bit troublesome. They had been caught once already, what if they were caught again? Clearly, they didn''t have the strength to protect themselves.

    No, that wasn''t exactly true. Although they couldn''t use Force, their bodies were still quite powerful, and that was especially so for Myghell who had the White Stone Elephant Lineage Factor.

    Leonel shook his head. He obviously couldn''t bring them into the city with him, they wouldn''t even be able to cross the bridge in their current state.

    Gritting his teeth, Leonel made a decision.

    "You all will have to protect yourselves. Stick together, there is power in numbers. Head inбн"

    Leonel explained how to get to the village. Although he wasn''t completely certain, he believed that the villagers would take them in. He hadn''t spent much time there, but what he did know was that the village was in need of helping hands. If they had more hunters, their lives would be easier. Plus, Leonel would also have a method of finding them faster.

    After he was finished, he gave a small signal to Myghell and Noah, both of whom understood. They were grown men, after all. Even if Leonel wanted to coddle them, they wouldn''t allow it to happen. Their pride ran deep. They had been caught once but they wouldn''t allow it to happen again.

    Plus, they realized the gravity of the situation. Leonel was like a light at the end of the tunnel, but if there were really so few of them who could use their Force, what chance did they stand of getting out alive?

    This might be a world, but it wasn''t their world. And, even if they forced themselves to feel comfortable here, what of the human race? What would they do without them?

    Weren''t they meant to be the protectors of the Human Domain? The frontline warriors? How could they not do everything in their power to return?

    And, even if they could forget their duty and stay here indefinitely, they were geniuses! They were used to wielding power and authority! How could they settle for being the bottom rung of society?!

    Leonel turned and left, the group watching as his back disappeared with clenched fists.

    Noah rose to his feet, his Emperor''s Might flickering in his eyes with a dense green. In the past, it had been able to blanket his surroundings in an oppressive pressure. But now, it was like a caged dragon, continuously ramming against its cage to no avail.

    "Let''s go, everyone."

    бн

    ? Leonel appeared by the edge of the abyss once again. The commotion had yet to die down and there were several more overseers in the region. Some had surrounded their dead companion''s body, others were still discussing how to capture Leonel and his friends, while there was another group that Leonel was sure had likely already set off on a hunt.

    Still, despite this, Leonel acted as though nothing special was going on, strolling forward until he was eventually stopped.

    "Halt!"

    Leonel, who had spent hours observing the city, was already long since prepared.

    His hand flashed with Bronze Runes and he smacked the hand of the overseer away. His actions were so abrupt and powerful that a resounding clap sounded through the atmosphere followed by the crack of bone.

    "Who the hell do you think you''re touching?"

    The overseer who had tried to stop Leonel had been reaching a hand for Leonel''s chest and definitely hadn''t expected such a thing to happen at all, however, he only paused for a moment before he grabbed his hand in agony, falling to the ground as he sucked in a cold breath.

    With the influx of overseers in the region, not all of them were as powerful as the one Leonel had killed. Realizing this, Leonel had purposely aimed for one he was certain he could handle, teaching him a swift and savage lesson.

    Without another word, he walked toward the chains and hopped on.

 Chapter 1509 Shameless

    The overseers looked over to see their companion on the floor, but none of them moved to do anything. In fact, some of them shook their head and sneered.

    Rookies.

    As an overseer, you had a great deal of authority, but you required the strength to enact it first. If you targeted the wrong personбн Well, this would be your outcome.

    Leonel had observed enough to see the subtle sort of balance that was played out here. This world was far more unregulated than the ones he was used to. Just judging by the fact that people died here every day trying to cross the chain bridges spoke volumes.

    This place was one where power spoke above all else. In that way, it wasn''t too unlike the Void Palace. But, Leonel highly doubted there were rules against killing here.

    One might wonder, then, why it was that Leonel was chased like he was? That was even simpler. Where power ruled and money talked, there were obviously some people''s bottom lines that shouldn''t be touched. The fact slavery was allowed here meant that there was someone higher up that benefited from them.

    The overseers watched in silence as Leonel crossed the bridge. Since this young man they had never seen before dared to be so arrogant, he should have the strength to cross the bridge as well.

    Honestly, even they as overseers would choose to ride the snakes across unless it was an urgent matter. It wasn''t that they didn''t have the strength to cross, it was rather that no one would want to place their lives at risk for no reason.

    The rookie overseer who was still seething on the ground couldn''t help but look toward Leonel''s back with red eyes, hoping that he would fall over to his death. But, he didn''t dare to voice this out loud.

    The chains swayed beneath Leonel''s feet and his eyes narrowed. His control over his body was immaculate, but even he felt shaky in this place. There was definitely something deeper to these chains, something that went beyond what the naked eye could see.

    Leonel tapped his foot and shot forward as though he was racing across a track. His actions left the overseers frozen. There were very few who dared to use that kind of speed on the chains, they were few and far between. However, something told Leonel that this kind of speed was the only way to ensure his survival.

    The odd rushes of wind, the rhythmic swaying of the chains, there was something oddly hypnotic about them. Leonel subconsciously wanted to find out more, but it was precisely because of this that he blazed for. He had a feeling that if he focused so much on it, he truly would fall.

    In just a few minutes, Leonel had made it to the other side. But, the fact it took him so long at such a speed was enough to show just the kind of behemoth-like city he was dealing with.

    When Leonel entered the gates, he found a world of metal. The homes, the shops, the skyline, all of it was encased in some sort of silvery metal, some sections far more rusted than others. The combination made some of the city look like a futuristic utopia and other parts look like the dilapidated ghettos of a dystopian hellscape.

    The push and pull somehow reminded him of the swinging chains to his back. Why did it feel like everything about this place was playing on his mind somehow?

    Leonel walked forward, trying to get a lay of the city. He had come here for information, but he didn''t even know where he should be going, or even what he was looking for information about, truthfully.

    The answers he needed felt too broad. Understanding would require a comprehensive understanding of a world he had only just stepped foot into.

    ''Maybe there''s an easier way? A library? An information center? What should I do about currency? It would feel suspicious if I just entered the city only to leave because I didn''t have a place to sleep. After observing the city for a while, there seem to be a lot of people who enter, but those that left were far fewer and didn''t seem to be the same individuals either.''

    Leonel shook his head. ''I should have extorted that overseer for some cash.''

    It didn''t take long for Leonel to learn about the currency system. He just needed to casually observe some shops for a bit.

    The currency system this city used was coin-based. Oddly enough, though, these coins seemed to flicker with their own light as though there was a universe of stars hidden within them. Leonel was entirely certain, he would have to personally inspect them to see what was so special.

    Luckily, there were many who entered the city like Leonel who were looking for jobs and money. It didn''t take long before Leonel found a "Job Center" with a long line up outside.

    Unfortunately, while Leonel could speak the language, he couldn''t read it, so it had taken him longer to find this place than he cared to admit. But, after reading so many signs and posters, and cross referencing with the services they gave, he was slowly building a database of their alphabet as well.

    "What job would you like?"

    An uninterested voice came from the counter. The middle-aged woman behind it had already sunk into the monotony of her life and job, so she wasn''t very eager to show any enthusiasm.

    Leonel was a bit embarrassed because he could read the postings very well. So, instead of taking such a route, he decided to be a bit shameless.

    "Good afternoon, gorgeous. How about you help me out a bit? I need a job that is easy and high paying, do you have one?"

    Leonel leaned forward, whispering so that only the woman behind the rusted metal counter could hear him.

    The woman was quite used to such asks, so she looked up, still uninterested. Until, that is, she met Leonel''s eyes. Something about their pale violet drew her in.

    What beautiful eyes.

 Chapter 1510 Bunny

    Leonel smiled as he strolled away from the counter, his mission successful. However, he soon cleared his throat and put on a semi-serious expression. He would have to take this to his grave, he definitely couldn''t let Aina know he was selling himself like that. He couldn''t appear to be so cheap, his body was sacred.

    Leonel looked down at the permit in his hands, oriented himself, and began to walk forward.

    Truthfully, he was a bit worried about what he had gotten himself into. A job that was both easy and high paying didn''t come so freely, as ironic as it might sound. And, remembering that knowing, coy smile the middle-aged woman had given him, Leonel could only shake his head.

    But, this was the best option he had. He could take a laborer''s job, but if his head was stuck in a mine or an oil rig all day, how would he find the information he needed?

    No matter what world you were in, information was the resource of the strong and powerful. In that case, Leonel could only aim for the very top.

    When Leonel reached his destination and saw that it was actually a high class restaurant, he grinned. It seemed he had hit the jackpot.

    Not wanting to cause trouble, Leonel wrapped around back. Nothing would be worse than ruining such a good thing.

    It only took a glance to see the kind of people they let into this place. If Leonel tried to enter with his current clothing, he would get chased out with a broom.

    After reaching the back stealthily, Leonel knocked on the door a few times and waited.

    About a half minute later, the head of a man wearing what looked like a chef''s cap poked out, a large cloud of steam following him. The man''s face was so rosy that one would have thought that he was doing something very different from cooking.

    "Who''re you?"

    The man''s voice came out in a loud shout. It was either he was too used to his bustling work environment, or there was something wrong with his ears. Still, Leonel didn''t say much and just handed over the permit.

    "Ah, a new brat? Good, good. And you''re actually sensible enough to come around back instead of scaring away all my customers, not bad. If you can survive a few hours, I might call you back tomorrow."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. What was that supposed to mean? Wasn''t this supposed to be an easy job?

    "Come to think of it, there''s actually a group of ladies that just came in. Good timing."

    Leonel found himself being pulled in by his collar like some sort of ragdoll. This man had more strength than it seemed. Why he would become a cook with this level of strength was beyond Leonel entirely.

    "Carra, get the new brat into an outfit and show him the ropes!"

    When Carra rounded a corner, Leonel choked on his own spit. He didn''t like where this was going one bit, not the slightest bit. This wasn''t an easy job at all. In fact, if he wasn''t careful, he would leave here only after losing a layer of skin.

    Carra was dressed like a bunny rabbit, her legs covered in fishnet stockings. Leonel was in an all new world, but he was sure that this was a universal language all men could understand.

    She was tall, or maybe it was just the six inch high heels she wore. Either way, her legs were definitely long, slender, and toned. The black leotard she wore gripped tightly to her ground and around her waist, wrapping around her back to split what must have been two fleshly mounds into four. It wasn''t shy about tightening around her in the slightest, and that pattern continued with her chest as well.

    Carra was definitely a world class beauty, but her outfit only mage it all the more exaggerated. And, like a finishing touch, her fake bunny ears actually moved along with her eyebrows as though they were real!

    Carra must have thought that Leonel was ogling her by this point, but the truth was that Leonel never really reacted to women outside of Aina, even if they were objectively just as beautiful. Though, in this case, Carra was actually a tick below.

    What Leonel was really reacting to was the realization of what he had gotten himself into.

    He wanted to shed tears, but it was already too late. That middle-aged woman had really taken nice care of him.

    "Alright, come, come. My customers are waiting I only have a few minutes."

    Carra pulled Leonel along toward the back of the kitchen and dragged him into the workers'' change room and office.

    Without a care for Leonel''s gaze, she turned her back to him and pulled down her leotard to her belly button, revealing a beautiful back view. Then, she reached into her locker. With one hand, she pulled off a pair of nipple pasties, and with the other, she replace them with a new, less sweaty pair, before pulling her leotard back up.

    She took no more than a few seconds to finish. Once she was done, she went to the only desk in the room and pulled open a drawer, taking out a new uniform.

    "This is the uniform for the male workers. Most of them can''t hack it, and those that can are usually chased away by the customers. Those women have pretty high standards, but judging by your looks, you should pass with flying colors. The only question is how entertaining you can be.

    "Female customers are more difficult to please than male customers are, so you''ll need to work harder. Think of a routine, or find something interesting to chat about.

    "Remember the rules, though. They''re a bit different for male hosts. Touching can only be initiated by the customer. All forms of sex are not allowed within the walls of the restaurant. And, above all else, the customer''s pleasure comes first."

    Leonel caught the uniform Carra through over and watched her sway out.

    He stood in silence for a long time, not knowing what to think.

    "Fuck."

 Chapter 1511 [Bonus ]

    [Bonus chapter for 5250 golden tickets, next at 6750. Fallen Apostle Vol 2 Pre-Order is live! Information in author''s note below :) ]

    Leonel sighed.

    All things considered, this sort of place really was the best to use to gather information. A gathering of noble and rich people, all a little too drunk to always act in their best judgment, this was the perfect place.

    ''Forgive me Aina, this is for the greater good, I swear.''

    Leonel stripped and began to put on his uniform. When he saw what it was, he sighed a breath of relief. At least it wasn''t too outrageous. He had been expecting the worstбкskin-tight speedos, oil, and maybe a pair of bunny ears for himself, the works. Luckily, it wasn''t that exaggerated.

    The pants were a pair of dress pants. Though they were a bit tight, it wasn''t too bad. Leonel was just surprised that they actually had a set tall enough for him.

    The shoes matched the pants quite well. Leonel slipped them on and then clipped on the suspenders to the pants. As for the shirtбн

    ''I knew it was too good to be true.''

    Leonel looked up toward the ceiling. There was no shirt.

    Leonel weakly put on the bowtie, his eyes threatening to flood with tears. Then, without a choice, he stepped outside.

    The steam of the kitchen assaulted him once again, only making matters worse. With this moisture clinging to him now, he might as well have lathered himself in oil too.

    "Oh, who woulda thought. You actually had quite the frame under there, huh?"

    The chef, who Leonel had realized by now people called Chef Lucca, laughed when he saw Leonel''s appearance, nodding to himself. While he spoke, several of the female cooks couldn''t help but look over as well, twice, even.

    Leonel''s Metal Body definitely did him several servers. Whether it was vascularity or muscle definition, he didn''t lack any of it. Plus, he also wasn''t overly large and could even be considered to be quite slender. He truly did have a lethal attraction to a certain demographic, and it only made it better than his face was quite handsome as well.

    Just when Leonel was going to respond, another bunny lady poked her head in.

    "Chef Lucca, VIP 3 is still clamoring. You said the newbie would be ready soon?"

    Chef Lucca slapped Leonel on the back, nearly sending him sprawling forward.

    "Yup, the kid''s right here. Don''t eat him up before he gets up there, he''s for the customers."

    The new bunny girl''s eyes lit up when she saw Leonel, eyeing him up and down. Her hand even had the audacity to reach for his crotch as though she wanted to check the goods, but was quickly caught by Leonel''s hand.

    She giggled as though it wasn''t a big deal. "Feisty. If you let me touch I would have given you a taste, too bad. Alright, come, they''re waiting."

    Leonel could only speechlessly follow. He had been about to get angry at the bunny girl, but she moved on so quickly that he couldn''t even ramp up a response. It was either she really didn''t take it to heart, or she was also too good with certain kinds of social interactions.

    When Leonel stepped out of the kitchen, he was hit with a wall of sensory information. The first floor was quite bustling. Waiters dressed in skimpy clothing glided in and out of the kitchen, customers shouting out their orders or demands, and in the background, an odd music that seemed a cross between rock, jazz and hip-hop played.

    There weren''t very many women on the first floor at all. In fact, the only women were the waiters and all the customers seemed to be men. However, as Leonel traveled up the stairs, he could see more female customers, usually hidden behind doors.

    It seemed that even in this world, women were more secretive about this kind of stuff. Though, Leonel was a bit baffled that this was a co-ed sort of place. Usually, such gentlemen and women''s clubs were for one gender or the other.

    "Here''s VIP room three. Go get ''em tiger."

    Leonel was unceremoniously kicked into the room. He even felt that it was a bit of payback for snubbing her earlier, something that was confirmed when he heard her voice from the other side.

    "If you survive this, handsome, I just might forgive you. My name is Amerie, by the way!"

    Amerie''s giggles faded as Leonel turned his attention to the room before him, the sliding door closing to his back.

    Leonel had expected a similar sort of reaction to what he had received outside. He assumed that women who came here were quite eager and forward. Plus, Amerie had even described them as "clamoring". But, when he actually saw the state of the room and its guests, he didn''t even know what to say.

    There were four pairs of cold eyes staring back at him, each colder and more frigid than the last. Of course, each of them was also paired with the face of a beauty. Or, maybe that was more surprising than expected.

    There were five total people, the fifth of them seeming to be the most amused of them all. Leonel didn''t need anyone to tell him that this mischievous young woman had probably been the one to insist on his appearance. From what it seemed, the others didn''t even welcome him here, and that just made the clothing he was wearing seem even more inappropriate.

    Leonel wasn''t a person who got embarrassed easily, but that was more a product of the way he lived life. He did and acted as he pleased, following his own mind and heart, so of course there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

    But thisбн he hadn''t planned or decided on any of this.

    To make matters worse, of the five women, only two were the young age of the mischievous woman. Of the other three, one looked to be over 50 years old, while the other two seemed to be in their late 30''s to 40''s.

    Of course, this wasn''t their real age and they were likely much older. But, as a person of Earth, Leonel had gotten used to judging people like this.

    At that moment, a flicker of killing intent flashed within the eyes of one of the two middle aged women and Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    It seemed he had really gotten stuck in something ridiculous this time.

 Chapter 1512 Off Guard

    It didn''t take a genius to understand what the problem was. Reputation was a woman''s currency in worlds like this. Or, more accurately, this sort of reputation in specific.

    The young woman might have thought that this was a funny joke to play on her elders, but clearly she hadn''t thought of the fact that doing such a thing put Leonel in danger.

    These women were all of high status and the pressure they gave Leonel was not small. They made the burly man and even Chef Lucca look like jokes. Leonel had no doubt that if they wanted to kill him, or at least someone in the Fifth Dimension like himself, it would be a simple matter.

    These women had likely not even known what kind of establishment this was before they came, only deciding to dine here at the poking and prodding of the woman. And now Leonel was stuck in the middle of this mess.

    In their eyes, the easiest thing to do would just be to kill Leonel and be done with it. As for the young woman, at worst she would get a light reprimand. The fact that she had dared to do this in the first place reeked of coddling. This young woman had definitely been doted on and spoiled all her life.

    But, at the end of the day, Leonel wasn''t a normal person. The hint of killing intent he had sensed was all it took to flush the embarrassment out of his system, his own gaze even flashing with its own coldness for a moment as he stood straight.

    However, as quickly as the coldness had appeared, catching the oldest woman of them off guard, it vanished.

    This older woman was the only one to have shown killing intent, but that didn''t mean the others wouldn''t have caught on quickly. It was just that this woman was the most experienced of them and understood the magnitude of the situation very quickly, so much so that she was ready to act almost instantly. Clearly, given her strength, Leonel''s own thinking speed might actually be inferior to hers.

    That said, that didn''t mean that Leonel''s reaction would be slow.

    Just when the coldness in his eyes vanished, he revealed a bright smile. Taking a step toward the table, he did something that left the women speechless.

    Leonel picked up a large pitcher of water, raised it high, and poured it.

    This much would have been fine if his aim was a cup, but to the horror of the women, he poured the water toward the head of the mischievous young woman who had caused all of this to begin with.

    The young woman squealed, expecting a splash of water to drench her through. The other women were so caught off guard by the happenings that they, too, didn''t know how to react. Was this young man crazy? Did they scare him so much that he lost his wits?

    Despite having the strength to dodge the water quite easily, as Leonel had deduced, this young woman had been coddled all her life. If even her seniors couldn''t react to such a ridiculous situation, how could she?

    She ducked and covered her head with her hands, her speed actually fast enough for Leonel to raise an internal eyebrow.

    Other than this, though, Leonel was quite calm. In fact, he was sighing a breath of relief. So long as they didn''t act now, they wouldn''t act later, at least not until much later, that is.

    Luckily, they hadn''t thought of the possibility that he could be trying to start a wet t-shirt contest. If they did, then he really would be finished. But, to these prim and proper older women, when would they have ever stumbled into such a thing? They would probably only realize the problem after the young woman was drenched.

    That saidбн Leonel never had any intention of actually doing that.

    Just when the water was about to hit the young woman''s hand-covered head, Leonel''s free hand rose and sparkled with a delicate blueish-black energy.

    Like that, the flowing water became a sled of ice, the ice cubes that had once been in the pitcher following the winding trail of Leonel''s fingers.

    The ice cubes became like sleds flowing down a mountain of snow, curving and often nearly falling time and time again as though they were in a real race.

    The ice track wound around Leonel and the young woman''s bodies, filling the room with a refreshing cool air that it had lacked before.

    Then at the end of it all, the ice cubes fell from the end of the track and it seemed as though Leonel had finally made a mistake. But, to the astonished gazes of the women, one by one, the ice cubes neatly stacked themselves into a tall tower, wavering only slightly, but ultimately remaining steady.

    "Wah!" The young woman had long since risen her head, watching this scene with a hint of unconcealed delight in her eyes. She had never seen anyone with such masterful control of Force before.

    At that moment, Leonel clapped his hands and the slide of ice shattered into twinkling crystals that he quickly caused to gather up above his hand.

    With a pitcher in one hand and a twinkling ball of ice in the other, Leonel brought them together once more. Just like that, there was a plop of water and the ice had once again become a pitcher of liquids, the frosty Force having been pulled out entirely.

    Leonel flicked his wrist, allowing the frosty energy to shoot toward the ceiling as he used his now free hand to pick up another pitcher of water. Then, he began to pour them both over the tower of ice cubes without even the slightest hesitation.

    Right then, the ball of frosty energy he had thrown into the air fell back down, colliding with the two streams of water and the ice cube until they all formed a giant cube of ice about the size of a head.

    Leonel placed the two pitchers of water down and revealed a charming smile. He tapped his foot on the ground, causing the table to quake and allowing a butter knife to fly up, spinning into his hand.

    Then the butter knife began to glow with a golden light that caught the older women off guard and left the young woman dazzled.

 Chapter 1513 Which Path?

    ?

    The young woman might not understand the magnitude of what they were seeing, but how could these older women now? In order to control the ice slide like Leonel had, he not only had to be able to control Force outside of himself. In this world, this was something so rare that they didn''t know how to put it into words.

    Leonel was oblivious to this, only doing what he needed to do to survive. But, he had already shocked the oldest women of them to such an extent that not only had her killing intent vanished, she looked toward Leonel with quite some interest.

    Of course, this interest had nothing to do with Leonel''s looks, she was long past that age. And, even if she wasn''t, she was trained enough not to show it on her face. No, this interest was something entirely different, and it only grew further when the butter knife began to glow.

    The older woman sat up, perched toward the edge of her seat. And then, Leonel''s hands began to move.

    It felt like watching poetry in motion. Though, it mostly lacked substance. Leonel didn''t have the skill to add Artistic Conception into something so complex, but what he did have was his Dream World projection.

    When it came to copying, Leonel was even better than a computer.

    A camera would be limited by its lens and the number of pixels it could capture, how could it compare to the human eye? And, beyond that, how could the human eye possibly compare to Internal Sight? And, even a step beyond that, how could Internal Sight compare to Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain?!

    In just a few elegant strokes, the cube had already become a head. In a few more, it gained delicate feminine features. And, in just a few more, it was so obvious what the results would be that the young woman began clapping her hands excitedly, the pinkish hue of her irises dancing with life and vitality.

    Just a few minutes later, Leonel scooped up an empty plate and slid the head onto it, the gorgeous portrayal of a beautiful young lady being left behind.

    "I hope you''ve enjoyed, I don''t wish to intrude on your meal any longer so I will be leaving now. Take this as a parting gift."

    Leonel bowed and stepped back, his hand already on the handle. He had no intention of pushing his luck any further, these women were far too dangerous.

    He was relieved that he had managed to get so far and thanked himself for his quick thinking. But, considering his style of dress, things could quickly get ambiguous if he stayed any longer. Plus, these women probably wanted him to leave sooner rather than later in order to avoid misunderstandings. He could be considered to have done his job.

    The young woman pouted, but she didn''t say much. It seemed that she also knew that she had pushed this prank of hers a little too far this time, and since Leonel had already done his job and given her such a nice show, she might as well let him go.

    However, what Leonel didn''t expect was for him to be stopped.

    "Hold on a moment, lad."

    The old woman had quite a soothing voice, though hints of age and hoarseness could be heard within. Just looking at her, it wasn''t difficult to accept that she had once been an astounding beauty in her youth, and she retained much of that even now though she looked to be in her 50''s.

    "Yes, ma''am?" Leonel asked politely.

    "Have a seat. This old woman would like to ask you some questions."

    Leonel coughed lightly. Had he heard correctly? Him? Have a seat? What was going on here, exactly? He didn''t sense any killing intent, but quite frankly, he would prefer if he could just leave now. He wouldn''t be able to relax around these people and his senses were constantly primed.

    Still, without much of a choice, Leonel could only pull up a chair and sit, lamenting for the hundredth time about his lack of a shirt. But, by this point, the old woman didn''t seem to care. The others, though, also seemed to be curious about what was happening.

    "What is your name?"

    "Leonel Morales."

    "Oh? You have a last name?"

    Leonel inwardly swore, did this world have such customs?

    In some cultures he had studied, a last name was mostly something the nobility had. Usually, the commoners would only have their first name and nothing else. In such a society, last names were either bestowed by royalty or passed down through the lineage.

    This was why, often, being stricken from a family record had such a heavy negative connotation. It was akin to stripping your name from you.

    Of course, Leonel had always had the Morales name, so he didn''t care much for the Luxnix name. But, the picture was clear enough.

    Leonel''s mind jumped into overdrive, trying to figure a way out of this situation. But, he knew that this old woman''s thinking speed might very well be beyond his own, so he could wait too long or his lie would seem obvious.

    Luckily, the old woman had likely already gauged his strength and would give a small grace to him for his assumed weakness.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel made a decision and his gaze flashed with a cold light the old woman easily caught. From what he had observed in this world, there was a lot of butting heads and strife. He also felt that the secret to the abyss was deeper than he knew. In that caseбн

    "Yes."

    That was Leonel''s response, simple and to the point. And yet, it seemed to be exactly what the old woman wanted to see and hear.

    She nodded in understanding, her gaze seeming to soften somewhat. However, this reaction only made her next words all the more hypocritical.

    "I see. Then what I''m asking of you now might be difficult for you to accept, but in your current situation, it''s the only out I will allow you.

    "Join my Oliidark family or die. Which path do you choose?"

 Chapter 1514 We Leave

    Leonel''s expression grew frigid, and this time, he didn''t bother to conceal it.

    Before, it had been an act. He wanted the old woman to believe that he was indeed from a family with a last name, but also imply that this family had been destroyed.

    Leonel had made a bet that in a world like this one, such a thing wasn''t rare at all. In fact, he wouldn''t'' be surprised if in every city like this one, there was a constant overturning of the big shots. Just from walking the streets, he had sensed the division of power and the tension, and just by the fact this old woman''s first instinct was to kill him rather than shoo him away, spoke volumes.

    This old woman was a veteran of this world, she had definitely seen a lot. Just reading her disposition and inclinations told Leonel all he needed to know.

    So, he assumed the identity of the final heir to a destroyed family. But, that was exactly why this old woman''s ask of him was so disrespectful.

    Her words were very precise. She asked him to join her family and even named them for extra emphasis. She didn''t ask him to work for her family, she didn''t ask him to become a retainer or one of their guards, she asked him to join.

    She was asking the last member of a dead family to discard their duty and their name to become her little pet project.

    Put as bluntly as possible, she wanted Leonel to discard the Morales name and become an Oliidark. This was something far worse than a slap to the face, she might as well have dug up his ancestors'' graves and given each one of them one too.

    Despite seeing Leonel''s expression, the old woman seemed unhurried and unbothered, even taking a sip of the tea she had before her until she realized that Leonel''s little performance had actually taken the heat off quite a bit.

    Unfortunately, this small victory wasn''t enough to do much for Leonel.

    This world didn''t mean much to him, it was just a Zone he would be doing everything in his power to get out of. However, the character he was playing had no choice but to react like this.

    Wellбн if Leonel were to say that it was all an act, that would be an outright lie. His name was given to him by his father, the man he respected most. And, even if he hadn''t cared about his name that much, he didn''t take too kindly to others disrespecting him.

    The young woman seemed stunned by the change in the situation, and even more stunned by Leonel''s demeanor. She couldn''t remember anyone ever daring to look at the old woman like that, ever. People were usually as quiet as mice around her, which was precisely why she thought that this prank would be so funny.

    "Hey! Don''t look at my grandma like that! What''s so wrong with joining my family?!"

    Leonel completely ignored the young woman. He had already forgiven her once for ignorance, but now he was getting annoyed. She looked to be in her 20''s, he really couldn''t understand how she had made it so far while being such an air-headed brat.

    Seeing Leonel ignore her, the young woman almost flared up again, but she was doused by a gaze from her grandmother.

    Mistress Oliidark put her tea cup down, her movements unhurried. She couldn''t enjoy lukewarm tea, plus, she didn''t really care about giving Leonel time to think. They had already been in this establishment for far too long and they had indulged her granddaughter''s prank enough as well.

    She calmly rose to her feet.

    "You will come with us. If you perform well, you will receive more chances. I can see that you''ve yet to be promoted to the Sixth Star, likely because your records of how to do so were lost along with your family. If not for this, I doubt a talent of your caliber would still be in the Fifth Star after all this time.

    "Do your duty and you''ll earn a path even to the Charmed Path. If you exceed my expectations, I might even give you a chance to court and marry my granddaughter."

    Leonel furrowed his brow. Sixth Star? What the hell was that?

    The young woman blinked before she suddenly registered her grandmother''s words. In that instant, she flushed completely red.

    "Grandma!"

    Mistress Oliidark chuckled and walked over to ruffle her granddaughter''s hair.

    "We leave. Now."

    The other women stood quickly, following the old woman''s lead. In the end, it seemed that there was no intention of giving Leonel a chance.

    **

    The process of leaving the restaurant wasn''t very difficult at all. Leonel was a new recruit to begin with and Chef Lucca seemed too scared even to raise his head too high.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was that soon after they left, a squad dressed in deep blacks appeared, slaughtering everyone. Whether it was Chef Lucca, Carra or the mischievous Amerie, all of them were now nothing more than corpses drowning in crimson alongside the customers they had been serving that day.

    бн

    Oblivious to this, Leonel could only make his way to the Ollidark estate, a large land near the very center of the city. No, it could be said that it was the center of the city, the very beacon of the land itself.

    Leonel was, of course, finally given a shirt. And, this shirt also happened to make his dress pants and shoes quite well, turning him from half a male stripper to a respectable young man in a single bound.

    The young woman, whose name Leonel knew to be Athrae by now, seemed to become far more reserved now. However, Leonel wasn''t in the mood to be bothered with her at all because his situation only seemed to become worse.

    Upon entering the estate, he was ushered toward what they called their Crafting Hall where he was unceremoniously tattooed with an odd mark on his shoulder blade. He grit his teeth as the energies that formed it drilled down through his skin and onto his bone and seemed to drain his Force.

    Leonel''s senses were far too sharp. After seeing the tattoo just once, he knew it was designed to track him.

    They really wanted to keep him in his place.

    Without even time to rest and recover, he was called to Mistress Oliidark once more. It seemed that she already had something for him to do.

 Chapter 1515 Guarantees

    [Check out my new novel, Spirit Beast Enlightenment! 20 chapters out already! I don''t plan on contracting it to wn either, so there''s a potential to read to the end for free and another option to pay offsite for advanced chapters whenever you want!]

    Leonel entered what he assumed was Mistress Oliidark''s office. However, despite seeing the older woman there, he didn''t say a word, simply standing silently.

    He met her gaze and he even seemed to be quite relaxed. The coldness in his eyes had been replaced by a dull indifference, but his mind was constantly working at faster and faster speeds. He took in everything, sorted them, and then filed them away for a later date.

    Mistress Oliidark seemed to realize that Leonel had no intention of respectfully greeting her like most would, but the result only made her chuckle.

    "The more stubborn you are, the more difficult this will be for you. It''s really that simple, a smart boy like you should be able to understand this."

    Leonel didn''t respond at all, his eyes meeting Mistress Oliidark''s without a word.

    He wasn''t a fool. In fact, if he fell in line so easily, rather than appreciating it, Mistress Oliidark would keep him even further away. Someone that couldn''t control their own emotions was far less of a threat than someone who could change their face on a dime.

    Any talent of Leonel''s caliber would have their own pride. If he could so easily ignore it the moment a juicy piece of meat was dangled before his face, then he wouldn''t be worth much to begin with.

    Mistress Oliidark wanted him to both abandon his family name. And, to add insult to injury, she even said that the ultimate reward would be marrying her daughter.

    Setting aside the fact that Leonel had Aina and that that braindead girl would drive him to an early death, what kind of man would want to marry into his wife''s family? To become a live-in son-in-law? And that was supposed to be the ultimate reward?

    Plus, even if Leonel was so shallow as to go after Athrae for nothing more than her beauty, could she even compare to Aina? She was still several points below his girlfriend, so Mistress Oliidark was far too arrogant to believe that her granddaughter was really so enticing.

    At that moment, Mistress Oliidark pulled out a document that seemed to be made of thick hide and unfurled it. On it, there were many words, a lot of which Leonel had already begun to understand now. He had about a 40% grasp of reading this language. He would probably need an extra two or three days to grasp it fully.

    That time frame could be made faster if he gained access to a library or a dense amount of text. But, he somehow doubted that he would get such an opportunity any time soon.

    "Sign it."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    Signing something he couldn''t fully understand? Absolutely not.

    There didn''t seem to be any binding Force Arts on it, but Leonel still knew too little about this world to make a perfect judgment just yet. He felt that he was sensitive enough to pick up on such things, but he also had no idea what sort of abilities someone as powerful as this old woman might have. Plus, he didn''t know what her Ability Index was either, and the abilities of this world seemed far different from the ones he had gotten used to, so he was currently in no man''s land.

    For all he knew, she could bind him for life with this signature.

    However, after thinking to this point, Leonel calmed. If that was what this signature was for, then what would have been the point of the tattoo on his back? It made little sense to do both if one was so binding.

    Secondly, this might be an opportunity.

    Leonel remained unmoving, he didn''t even glance at the outstretched pen.

    As time passed in silence, Mistress Oliidark''s light smile became colder and colder. This Leonel was truly testing her patience.

    "It seems that if I don''t teach you a lesson, you''ll believe that you''re truly unbendable, hm?"

    The pen flew forward with a flick of Mistress Oliidark''s fingers, a pressure exuding from it that made it impossible for Leonel to move. However, even with this being the case, Leonel never had the intention of moving in the first place.

    He stared at the flying pen. The moment it entered the current six inch range of his Starry Spirit Domain, he had already pinpointed exactly where it would land and exactly how much damage it could do.

    Without even hesitating, he used Dream Sense, cutting off the nerves in the area from sending any signals to his mind.

    The pen seemed to be aimed right for his throat, but it veered away at the last moment, piercing right through his collarbone and splitting the bone in two.

    Mistress Oliidark had expected Leonel to show a hint of when the pen aimed for his throat, and then fall in pain once his bone broke. However, he didn''t even flinch. His gaze never left her eyes, staring her down as though he wanted to see if she would actually dare.

    The pen snapped back, ripping out of Leonel''s collarbone and back into Mistress Oliidark''s hand. Blood dripped from the end, a pitter-patter sound echoing through the room as it fell onto the parchment paper.

    "If you want me to sign anything," Leonel started coldy, "then there had better be guarantees. I''m not going to sign away my name and my dignity just so that you can string me along for a few decades until I''ve run out of use to you. If that''s your plan you might as well try and kill me now."

    "Try?" Mistress Oliidark''s cold smile turned into a deeper sneer. "Do you think you can even breathe if I don''t allow you to?"

    The files in the room rustled, a pressure the likes of which caused the room to shake. The force threatened to bring Leonel to his knees, but his gaze only continued to flicker with a hidden violet.

    "Yes, you can try."

    Leonel''s voice didn''t waver, his coldness matching Mistress Oliidark beat for beat.

 Chapter 1516 Light And Dark Branch

    [Check out my new novel, Spirit Beast Enlightenment! 20 chapters out already! I don''t plan on contracting it to wn either, so there''s a potential to read to the end for free and another option to pay offsite for advanced chapters whenever you want!]

    Some time later, Mistress Oliidark sat in her room alone, calmly stacking papers.

    At that moment, a seemingly insignificant shadow in the corner moved and morphed into a person.

    "Is it done?" Mistress Oliidark asked.

    "You shouldn''t have allowed his leash to be so long, you will regret it," the figure cloaked in black spoke.

    "Too long? Maybe it isn''t long enough. He isn''t useful to me as he is now. He won''t even defeat even the weakest of all the live-in son-in-laws I''ve collected, let alone becoming the strongest of them. If I don''t allow him some free reign, I might as well just kill him now like he said."

    "Then let me kill him, you''ve given him too much. His benefits are even better than an elder''s. Free access to all of our techniques and cultivation methods was a bridge much too far."

    Mistress Oliidark chuckled. "If you were in the Fifth Star right now and I stripped you of all the knowledge you had ever learned past that point, and then I gave you access to all the knowledge I have now, how long would it take you to be able to threaten me?"

    The figure fell into silence.

    "My level isn''t one you can reach even if you have all the resources in the world, at least not with 100% certainty. At best, you would have a slightly better chance than most. And, even if the certainty was 100%, how long would it take you? Five decades? A century?

    "Even for my husband, it took at least this long, let alone for a brat who''s already passed his prime age for reaching the Sixth Star."

    "Then you want him to be your spearhead?"

    "I want those who''ve forgotten the name Oliidark only because my husband and my son-in-law have been gone for a decade to remember it. Aside from Sebastian and Slaton, the others I''ve brought into the family are far too lacking, and even those two aren''t good enough.

    "This family needs a man."

    "You believe that he is a better option than those two?"

    The figure seemed somewhat surprised. It was rare for a person like them to show any sort of emotion at all, so just this little bit might as well have bene the equivalent of an avalanche to anyone else.

    "Maybe, I''m still unsure. If what he''s shown is all he has, then no. But if the answer is no, then giving him such a long leash is even less of a worry. But if I''m correct, and the answer is instead yes, then it''s because he has something much deeper within him that I''m quite interested in."

    "If this is your plan, then I assume you plan to use the Ancestor''s Altar when the time comes. Are you sure you want to subject Athrae to a life of marriage with a puppet?"

    Mistress Oliidark shook her head.

    "That little girl has grown up too spoiled because she has no real talent of her own. Her only use is the Oliidark blood that runs through her veins. With a talented husband, she might be able to produce an heir worthy of our family name. To do so is her duty.

    "This life that she gets to live is built off the backs of the talents of the previous generations. She will also have to sacrifice something if she wants to be so carefree."

    The figure nodded. In fact, it didn''t seem to actually care about Athrae at all, it just wanted to hear exactly this response.

    The Oliidark family was split into the Light Branch and the Dark Branch. The Light Branch was currently headed by Mistress Oliidark while the Dark Branch was headed by the figure.

    They were both of the same family that had split many generations ago. In order to survive for as long as they had, a family needed a group of individuals with just as much vested interest in their success, who also happened to be willing to do the dirty work, and that was where the Dark Branch came into play.

    The truth was that the only ones who even knew of the existence of the Dark Branch were very select members of the Light Branch. This secret was one that was passed down in silence from generation to generation.

    Before, the figure had questions about whether their Mistress would be strong-hearted enough to do what needed to be done. If the answer was no, then as they had done before, the Dark Branch would have to remove her and allow a branch family to come into their own.

    But the figure was very satisfied with the Mistress'' response. This was the character an Oliidark should have.

    It was fine if the Light Branch had weakened somewhat. It couldn''t be helped, the summons of those people could not be ignored and it wasn''t yet confirmed whether or not the former Patriarch and their family son-in-law had died yet. There was still a good chance they hadn''t.

    Physical weakness was allowed. However, a weakness of the heart should be rooted out as quickly as possible.

    In fact, it was also because of this that the figure didn''t oppose the long leash Leonel was given either. To be dauntless in front of death was exactly the kind of character an Oliidark son-in-law should have.

    "That said, I haven''t let him off too easily." Mistress Oliidark finished arranging her papers and stood. "If he wants to take advantage of that long leash of his, he''ll have to earn it. I''ve used a squad to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn''t get any funny ideas, but I''m sure he''s smart enough to know that since I''ve released him so easily, I can reel him back in whenever I want."

    бн

    As Mistress Oliidark had said, Leonel was already sent out of the estate on a mission. And, he could obviously guess that he would be monitored if he was being let go so easily.

    What wasn''t easy was what he was tasked to do.

    He stood at the edge of a deep abyss, shaking his head. His collarbone had yet to heal but he was being sent on a death mission. How fun.

 Chapter 1517 Abyss

    Leonel took a seat at the edge as though he couldn''t sense anything around him.

    As expected, the abyss had wrapped all the way around the city. As for why, Leonel felt that he had a small understanding now after listening to Mistress Oliidark.

    This city was placed here to protect what Leonel assumed was the world at large. As for what it was protecting the world from, it was down there, in the abyss.

    Leonel assumed that all of the cities were probably like this, protecting some sort of abyss from something. This sort of environment would also explain why everyone was always so high strung and focused on power. They were, quite literally, on a battlefield.

    Mistress Oliidark''s exact words just a few minutes ago were.

    "My Trith City has been protected by my Oliidark family for centuries. If you want guanrantees, fine, I''ll give them to you. But, you won''t receive them for nothing. Since you want to make this an equal exchange, we can do so.

    "Everything you do will be done based on merits. You will be constantly monitored and your performance will dictate how much you receive.

    "However, if you want to unlock these options, you''ll have to bring me back the head of a Six Star Demon. If you can''t do that, you''re not worth investing in."

    From these words, Leonel had made his deductions, and now he was sitting at the edge of the abyss. There were several people around him giving him odd looks, but they didn''t say anything more and went about their business.

    This section of the city not only had chains running across, but they also had chains dangling down. Clearly, these chains were meant to be used to descend to whatever world was below.

    Leonel watched a group climb back up, beaten and haggard. One of them had lost an arm, and yet he was helping another who had lost a leg to walk.

    Yet, they were all grinning ear to ear, carrying bags of a bloody something. It was clear that whatever they had killed down there made the journey worth it for them.

    However, there were quite a number of teams that didn''t have expressions that were nearly as happy. It was either they had lost someone precious to them, or their harvest wasn''t as great.

    Just by observing this alone, Leonel was sure that there were huge numbers of groups that never returned at all. It was cruel.

    Leonel had thought that the Void Palace was already a cruel enough place, but at least that establishment was a gathering of geniuses, the best humanity had to offer. But from what it seemed here, no one had such a chance. The entire world was the frontline when the enemies were right beneath your feet.

    It was a sobering thought, and it almost helped Leonel to understand Mistress Oliidark''s forcefulness. With such pressure constantly weighing down on you, how could you always worry about doing what was morally upright? Leonel himself had been grappling with this problem ever since he stepped foot into the Dimensional Verse, and yet his problems weren''t nearly as severe as this.

    Or so it seemed.

    Leonel touched his collarbone, it was still very tender. His passive healing factor had done quite some work, but it wasn''t enough.

    Of course, he could use <Instant Recovery>, but he didn''t want the Oliidark family to know he had a trump card. If he could help it, he would only use what he had already shown them, his Water Force affinity and his Spear Force.

    He knew that he was likely being followed or monitored, he just didn''t know how. So, he had to be cautious.

    Plus, he was about to enter a battlefield, who knew if he would need to use <Instant Recovery> within the next 24 hours? It would be foolish to waste it now.

    With his touch, Leonel winced a bit, but eventually shook his head. Freezing his collarbone now would actually make him heal more slowly. So, since he was about 20% healed, he might as well go now.

    Luckily, his collarbone was cracked to one side, so it was still manageable to use one arm even though it stung a bit.

    After making his decision, Leonel hopped down, his feet gliding along the chains. With every tap, he would slow down tremendously. But, the light around him only seemed to dim faster and faster. It was at a rate that didn''t make very much sense, but the Dark Force in the surroundings only multiplied.

    That odd feeling Leonel had experienced before came back, trying to lull his mind into an odd trance-like state. But, in return, he only went faster and faster, focusing his mind more.

    Leonel had no idea how long he had fallen for, he was so focused on not losing his mind that his sense of time distorted. There was an odd coercive Force in this place that was placing pressure even on his mind. Toward this, his frown could only deepen.

    ''Is thisбн Anarchic Forceбн? Why does it feel so much more powerfulбн?''

    Leonel exhaled a breath, his brow furrowing. The Anarchic Force he knew could eat away at his Force, but it mostly left his mind alone. This Force seemed to be able to do both, attacking his body and mind simultaneously.

    Just when Leonel was wondering if he should climb back up to regroup, the Stars in his Ethereal Glabella rotated, cleansing away the force that attacked his mind and catching Leonel off guard.

    ''It had such an ability?''

    Leonel was a bit stunned. If this was really Anarchic Force, nothing should be able to just wipe it away like that. What was happening?

    Leonel''s feet suddenly hit solid ground. Caught off guard, his knees bent somewhat awkwardly, but he managed to catch himself.

    Leonel frowned. Looking around, it felt like everything was dark, his eyes could hardly see anything. He couldn''t even see the chain that had been by the side of his own as he descended.

    After walking forward, Leonel''s expression changed. The chain actually wasn''t there at all. It was like the two chains had transported people to completely different regions despite being right next to one another.

    Just when Leonel was going to mark the location of his own chain so he didn''t lose track of it, the growl of a beast licked at his shoulder and neck.

 Chapter 1518 Demon World

    Leonel''s expression went cold, his body flickering. Even without relying on his Ethereal Star Force, the speed he could tap into with his body alone was far beyond what most could match.

    A spike of pain came from his collarbone, but with his Dream Sense, he would never allow it to impact his movement.

    At that moment, a sharp wind whistled by his neck and shoulder. The danger made Leonel''s hair stand on end, but he still didn''t see the result. However, just because he couldn''t see it, doesn''t mean he couldn''t hear it.

    A whip-like mark cut across the ground, the grating sound of stone splitting entering Leonel''s ears.

    Leonel tapped his foot on the ground, his speed accelerating once more as his palm flipped over to reveal his Chain Domain Spear.

    In that moment, an Absolute Domain formed around him. His Spear Force acted like it had a mind of its own, springing to light like a flashbang of gold.

    A cycle of Spear Force spiraled to life, rotating with a vicious momentum ready to shred everything in its path to pieces.

    At the same instant, Leonel secretly tapped into his Wisdom Spirit Branch, allowing his eyes to be replaced by that of the Starry Tailed Fox.

    His pupils dilated, a slightly brighter sheen taking hold of his irises. Though it was weaker than when he allowed himself to fully enter his fox form, it was far sharper than his normal vision. What he saw, though, made his eyes narrow once more.

    His Spear Force formed a wall of rotating golden energies. Beyond it, a grotesque humanoid-beast-like creature fought against it, its flesh somehow strong enough to withstand it.

    It looked like a werewolf, but not. It stood on digitigrade hind legs, but its hands, or rather paws, had sharp claws that were each like scythes. Not a single one of them was shorter than two to three feet.

    It had a long snout like a wolf, but it also had a mane like a lion. Well, if a lion replaced all its hair with a dense black fire instead, that is.

    Its crimson gaze stared at Leonel through the rotating cyclone of Spear Force, its scythe-like claws trying to rip a path through.

    Leonel''s expression turned cold.

    "Piss off."

    Forceful.

    Leonel''s spear pierced forward, his blade unceremoniously tearing a hole through the werewolf''s fire-mane and leaving its neck in pieces.

    The werewolf demon beast''s crimson eyes widened, before it fell to the side. It didn''t think that Leonel would actually be so powerful. However, what made Leonel''s heart grow cold was the fact he didn''t see any fear of death in the creature''s eyes. There was only surprise at Leonel''s strength and nothing more, it was as though it never really cared about its life in the first place.

    The shadows watching Leonel''s progress also paused in surprise. Even for someone in the Sixth Star, taking out a Five Star Demon in a single strike was not a simple feat. Demons were far more exaggerated creatures than beasts, they tended to be much more powerful than their base realms would dictate.

    Leonel''s head snapped in their direction, his cold gaze squinting somewhat.

    The shadows didn''t move an inch. They had slipped up once, but they were extremely professional, it was just that Leonel''s feat was far too surprising. This was definitely something they would have to report later.

    In their estimation, so long as they didn''t move, Leonel would eventually believe that he had made a mistake and turn away. And, sure enough, Leonel turned away again after frowning slightly. Still, they couldn''t help but be inwardly shocked again. Such a small slip up wasn''t something that a Five Star should have been able to see through either.

    What they missed, though, was Leonel''s sneer after he turned away.

    He had been making it a point not to show too much of his strength. But, this was still within the realms of acceptability. He would be fine so long as he only continued to lean on his Water Force and Spear Force.

    However, he had purposely made that strike as dazzling as possible for two reasons. First, he wanted to learn of the standards of this world, and he also wanted to expose those following him. Now that he knew where they were, they could forget about continuing to hide from him.

    So long as he knew exactly where they were, he would be able to protect his life better without being too restricted. He could take advantage of their perspective to hide more of his strength, while simultaneously not being worried about displaying a bit more of it.

    Leonel shot forward. In such a dark area, he had definitely released far too bright of a light. He was practically yelling and screaming to every threat that he was right here.

    He made sure to note where the chain was. While he trusted his sense of direction, the fact the adjacent chain had disappeared told him that there was more to this world than he thought.

    Surprisingly, though, the darkness didn''t remain for long. Leonel went from being shrouded in a perpetual black to entering a work of red-black a moment later.

    Up ahead, there was a land of mountains and hills. The earth was a dark red and the skies were a black-violet. The clouds had a weird bluish hue to them that made it feel like the fog of a hallucinogenic drug.

    Leonel''s head snapped back and he found a curtain of blackness. The abrupt change was jarring and didn''t make much sense, but Leonel deduced that this was likely something that kept the city and the above world protected.

    He was correct. Only humans and Demons beneath the Sixth Star could pass through this seemingly flimsy curtain of black. But, this also meant that Leonel was in the true world of Demons now.

    Leonel''s steps pushed forward, entering a forest of dead and black trees, looking for his target.

    However, his goal was deeper than just this.

 Chapter 1519 Six Star Demon

    [Happy New Year Everyone! Hope your 2023 is a million times better than your 2022! I will be taking a one day break tomorrow and will be back the following day with more chapters!]

    Leonel stepped over another corpse, his gaze incomparably focused. There was a large population of Five Star Demons in this region, he seemed to run into another one every few dozen meters.

    Every time he took one down, he tried to see if there was anything special about them, or maybe something that connected them, but the answer seemed to be no. What he didn''t know was that the shadows that were following him all had weird expressions.

    They had never seen someone so casually ignore Demon corpses like that. Did he not know the value of them? Or did he really not care?

    Five Star Demon corpses were very useful even into the Sixth Star, only Seven Star individuals wouldn''t bother to give them a second glance. Well, either that, or the true geniuses of the Sixth Star.

    Of course, they had no idea that Leonel truly didn''t know.

    Leonel knew that he was being watched, so he was trying to find a method of stealthily finding out what he needed. If he couldn''t, that much would be fine too. After he gained access to the Oliidark family''s library, he would find out one way or another. It wasn''t that difficult for him to kill these demons to begin with.

    It was at times like this that the range of his Starry Spirit Domain being so short was truly a problem. If he just had a meter or two, then he could envelop the demon corpse entirely. Then, he could enter it perfectly into his Dream Simulation then use a Dream Clone to check several methods of making use of these corpses. So long as the process wasn''t too involved or require anything too complicated, it would only take him a few seconds to figure out why these Demons were so valuable.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t do this, and there wasn''t anything that seemed to tie these demons together. They all were of varying sizes and strengths, they used different methods to attack. They didn''t even look the same. After the first werewolf demon, the ran into a spider demon, a snake demon, and he had even run into a weird looking whale demon that quite legitimately looked like a whale with two powerful legs.

    How could he find any patterns like this?

    Leonel''s steps paused, his heartbeat becoming more solid and sustained.

    Up ahead, there were two Demons. No, more accurately, there was one Demon and the other was nothing more than a ravaged corpse.

    Leonel had never laid his eyes on something so eerie in his life.

    It was a beautiful creature. Or, rather, it should have been. It was a unicorn with a beautiful white mane and silver hooves. From the back, it looked like it had come right out of a fairy tale.

    However, when Leonel got closer, he noticed that it was nothing short of a nightmare.

    Its neck and part of its torso was split in two. Grotesque vines wiggled out from the oval-shaped bloody hole, dripping with a sticky, viscous and clear liquid.

    The mouth of the unicorn demon was filled with three rows of sharp teeth. Every time it bent down, it ripped out another chunk of the demon beneath it, chewing with a sickening look of satisfaction in its eyes.

    It seemed that Leonel had found his first Six Star Demon.

    The shadows watched this scene with their own gazes focused. Would he run?

    That was their first thought. Leonel didn''t understand anything about demons, but they knew "beautiful" demons like this were among the most dangerous. The less demon-like they were, the more powerful they were. As for why this was, no one was entirely sure. Or, at least those of their level had no idea.

    Even if this was just a Tier 1 Six Star Demon, it was more dangerous than even most mid-level demons. In their opinion, Leonel''s luck was terrible. Even if he chose to run, it was probably already too late. Even though the demon didn''t seem to have noticed Leonel yet, it had likely already sensed him long ago.

    However, much to their shockбн

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel didn''t bother to even try and hide his presence, a dense frosty aura radiating from him.

    With every step he took, another patch of ice appeared on the ground. It looked like he was paving a road of glowing blue, a color that made his pale violet hair and eyes look all the more pleasing to the eye.

    "You''re pretty powerful, huh?" Leonel spoke to seemingly no one but himself, his smile cold. It wasn''t a guarantee that the demon could even understand what he was saying as it finally looked up from its meal, curious about why this small human wasn''t running. "How about you play with me a bit, then?"

    Leonel stretched out his spear with a hand, the point beginning to glow with a furious golden light.

    The unicorn demon bared its teeth, all three rows glistening with blood, saliva and chunks of flesh.

    Leonel didn''t seem to care about its answer. With another step, he vanished. But, the reaction of the unicorn demon wasn''t slow in the slightest, the tentacles wiggling in the gaping hole shooting forward to intercept him.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel''s spear pierced outward with an unconscious speed, leaving after images in the air. It almost looked like he too had dozens of tentacles attacking at once.

    To his astonishment, the tentacles of the unicorn were both flexible and as sturdy as blades. Every collision felt heavy and nothing like flesh at all.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    Swift.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    A curtain of gold seemed to cascade from Leonel, his speed reaching the point that the unicorn demon suddenly found all of its tentacles slapped into various directions. Before it could react, Leonel had appeared before it, his spear aiming right for its brows.

    At that moment, the unicorn demon released a low growl, its singular horn and its silver hooves beginning to glow a beautiful bright crystalline color.

    Its head lowered, its horn intercepting Leonel''s blade.

    BANG!

    A strong force ripped Leonel from his feet, sending him flying backward like a speed bullet.

    At the same time, the wave of tentacles recovered, chasing after him with an aura of bloodlust multiplying around them.

 Chapter 1520 Composition

    Leonel felt his arm threaten to fracture. As he flew back through the air, his eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    What a powerful creature.

    That was the first time Leonel''s Swift spear had actually been repelled. In fact, Leonel felt that if he had used Forceful instead, he would have fractured his own arm on impact. Without his Bronze Runes activated, his body lost quite a bit of its durability.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem panicked in the slightest.

    His feet hit the ground, his cold and indifferent gaze locking onto the surging tentacles. It seemed that this unicorn demon was getting quite confident, it even wanted to end this battle early so that it could return to its meal. It probably even had thought of adding Leonel to that count.

    Leonel''s lips curled into a sneer. He didn''t like feeling like things weren''t fully in his control, and if there was anything the last few days had been, it was out of his control. His mood wasn''t the best right now.

    He was being followed by scuttling rats. The fate of his mother and his girlfriend were unknown. And now, he had no idea when he would be able to pull himself out from beneath the thumb of Mistress Oliidark.

    This unicorn demon had picked the wrong time to come across. He no longer cared about the tender feeling in his collarbone.

    Leonel didn''t move an inch, watching as though tentacles continued to fly toward him. But just as they entered a five meter range, his Absolute Domain activated once again, but this time, it was like a raging tornado of golden flames, shredding everything in its path apart.

    Fury.

    Applying concepts of Fury to his Spear Force made it break apart like a volatile flame, even taking on slight characteristics of Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force. There was no one in this world who could possibly understand the core meaning of fire better than Leonel could.

    He embraced it all, taking a step forward and disgusting globules of violet and black flesh and blood fell around him.

    Leonel brandished his spear, just the slightest violet glow appearing. His hair whipped about in the surging energy, his pale violet eyes and hair jumping to life.

    "Slumbering in silence. Erupting at will."

    It was a simple string of six words, their meaning deep and unfathomable.

    In speaking them, Leonel''s voice seemed to layer as though two entities were speaking at once, his cadence falling by several octaves with each syllable he spoke.

    If one thought that Leonel took 10 months to learn just three words, they would be sorely mistaken. Leonel hadn''t been satisfied to rest until he had fully comprehended the strength of calligraphy and poetry.

    Now fueled by his projected Artistic Conception, the substance of his words held the weight of the world, unbridled and unfettered, unbothered and unhurried, untouchable and unquenchable.

    The strike seemed to tear the world in two, even the high dark clouds above stirring.

    The earth quaked and the black trees in the surroundings were ripped from the ground, their roots taking with them large swaths of earth as they were blown away.

    Leonel''s spear quivered in excitement. As though a roaring flood dragon ready to break out of its cocoon, its tip vibrated with its own and its body radiated a shimmering dark light.

    In one moment, Leonel was dozens of meters from the unicorn demon. In the next, he appeared to its back, his hair slowly fluttering down from its raised state.

    The furious light in his eyes persisted for a while longer, the elegant line he had drawn across the air still shaking the hearts of all those who had seen it.

    It was fear. That single strike elicited a fear that they hadn''t felt in a long while, a fear that they thought they had weeded out the moment they had stepped into the position in the Dark Branch. However, this child''s strike had brought it back. At that moment, they realized that they had never gotten fear of that part of themselves, they had just managed to bury it deep.

    Right then, the neck of the unicorn demon imploded, its head flying into the air and its body collapsing to the ground. Like this, a powerful demon collapsed to the ground, felled in a single strike.

    Leonel looked back. He didn''t seem surprised by the result. His Spear Force was far stronger after a year than most knew. Maybe only he, himself, was aware of just how far he had gone.

    By this point, he could compose at will and execute it on a whim. So long as the word was in his base of prepared vocabulary, he could use it as pleased and then break it down and reconstruct it into a new phrase, sentence or composition.

    To others, it would look as though Leonel had access to an endless supply of spear techniques, each more vibrant and powerful than the last, and most definitely more difficult to handle. The subtle conception was beyond what most could handle on a whim.

    At this point, Leonel didn''t even feel any desire to learn any spear or bow techniques, he could make his own, forming them and stacking them into powerful combinations of words his enemies could only hope to match.

    Leonel put his spear away, picking up the unicorn demon''s head up by its silver horn. However, at the moment he touched it, his expression flickered.

    This feeling, it was like he was touching an ore. With his Earth Variant Affinity, he was very certain of this, he couldn''t possibly be mistaken.

    It was quite interesting. This meant that the bones of this unicorn demon could form metals of its own, something similar to the Morales family''s Lineage Factor, Metal Synergy.

    Leonel didn''t recognize this metal, so it was probably a composite of several the unicorn demon had absorbed. Since this was a Zone, the metals should be the very same as what he had already long since memorized, so he was at least 90% sure of this. It would be 100%... but this Zone was simply too odd.

    At that moment, another oddity occurred: Leonel felt his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor stir.

 Chapter 1521 A Moment

    Leonel''s brows jumped.

    He had experienced this feeling before, it happened when his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor of the past entered the vicinity of the Bronze Tablet.

    Of course, the Bronze Tablet was stuck wherever the Segmented Cube''s inner space was, along with the Silver Tablet, so they couldn''t have caused this. Plus, this was obviously the head of a demon and not a Tablet.

    So why would his Lineage Factor stir?

    From Leonel''s limited understanding, this stirring represented a potential for evolution. Could it be that the Morales family signature Lineage Factor also had room to evolve?

    Leonel shook his head, unable to confirm this. He didn''t know how a demon head would help with such a thing. It might be related to the value of these demon corpses, but he was unsure.

    Leonel didn''t want to rashly do anything, not without first understanding the situation. His Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor had an obvious progression path, but if it really was the case that this demon head carried such a secret, it wasn''t something that Leonel would casually do.

    His Metal Body was one of his greatest assets, what if this mutation or evolution hindered him from using it? What about his Divine Armor, another hugely important part of his battle prowess?

    Plus, his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had technically already mutated once before. Not only was there a subtle connection between it and his King''s Might Lineage Factor, but there was also the red energy it gave off to consider as well.

    From what Leonel understood, this mutation was likely caused due to the fact he had almost failed his first awakening phase. This was mostly his fault, since he had attempted to do it before he had even formed all of his Nodes, something that was ridiculous.

    This was to say that he had already deviated once and was lucky enough that things still stayed relatively on track. If he allowed it to mutate again, it was impossible to say if he''d get lucky again.

    Even if the result was a more powerful Lineage Factor, its overall effectiveness might be far inferior due to a lack of compatible techniques.

    This was a problem that Leonel was currently facing, actually. He hadn''t had the time to analyze the Bronze Tablet, so he hadn''t been able to unearth the pairing techniques for his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor.

    The good news was that this Lineage Factor was so far and beyond the Snowy Star Owl that it was still worth it. But there was no telling whether it would be the same with his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Leonel finished his thoughts in just a few seconds. With one hand, he hoisted the unicorn demon''s corpse over his shoulder, letting its hooves drag along the ground.

    бн

    Several eyes couldn''t help but be drawn to Leonel. He hopped to the top of the abyss, his feet gliding up the side as though it was solid ground. Now that he could confidently rely on his Stars to repel the Anarchic Force, he was no longer worried about the attack on his mind and didn''t take the chains seriously any longer.

    However, just because he didn''t, didn''t mean others also wouldn''t.

    The contrast between Leonel and the others was far too great. When they saw that he had actually slayed a unicorn demon, many forgot to breathe, the suffocating aura of even the dead creature being too much for them to handle.

    The aura shrouded Leonel as well, making many miss the fact that he was actually in the Fifth Star. If they were able to focus enough to see through this, it was unknown just how much larger the uproar was.

    They all had their ingrained biases. Most people knew that the Sixth Star was the minimum requirement you should meet to even dare to venture into the Demon World. No one even considered the fact that Leonel wouldn''t ignore this rule. In fact, many believed that he might even be a legendary Seven Star.

    Leonel didn''t care about the stares, his steps steady as he walked right through the city and toward the Oliidark family''s estate. No one even dared to stop him despite the fact that this was proper protocol.

    The gates of the Oliidark family estate were always open. Why close them when no one would dare to casually stroll in to begin with? Maybe that was why Leonel''s appearance was all the more shocking on that day.

    Several of the guards, servants and members of the family were stunned into silence.

    With how large the compound was, Leonel had to follow a long path with grassy pastures, noble statues and several ponds and fountains to his left and right. Yet, he didn''t seem to care about the beauty of it at all as the ghastly blood of the demon over his shoulder continued to drip.

    At that moment, Athrae walked out of the large doors of the main house with a wide smile on her face. To her side, a young man wearing a smile also walked.

    He was quite handsome, his black hair tinged with what seemed like a hint of blue much darker than the radiant blue of his irises. He had a subtle cadence to his footsteps that made it quite clear that he was an expert in his own right, or in anyone''s right, for that matter.

    When Athrae looked up to see Leonel and the demon on his back, she released a high pitched screech, immediately jumping to hide behind the young man. She grabbed at his arm, quivering and not daring to look forward again.

    She had never seen such a sight in her life and had been sheltered since her birth. How could she stand the sight of such a ghastly corpse?

    Leonel, though, who never had a favorable impression of this young woman to begin with, simply dropped the corpse and head and the foot of the stairs, climbing up and passing by the young man and Athrae without a word. He didn''t even seem to notice their presence.

    Just as he was about to walk in, though, the young man suddenly called out.

    "A moment, if you please," he said lightly.

 Chapter 1522 L See...

    The young man sounded polite enough, so Leonel turned back. Although he didn''t have a great relationship with the Oliidark family, that didn''t mean that he had to be hostile to everyone in it. Anya''s words still seemed to play at the back of his mind from time to time.

    The young man smiled when he got Leonel''s attention.

    "This is a bit inappropriate, don''t you think?" He continued, his head pointing toward the demon corpse.

    It was indeed inappropriate no matter how you looked at it. To leave a corpse in front of the Oliidark''s family estateбн were you trying to wish ill upon the family? In fact, it wasn''t even at the front of the estate, but the door to the main home. It was even more exaggerated.

    "I think it would be more appropriate for you to clean this up. I can also see that you''ve caused quite a mess on your way here. The workers have their hands full everyday as this is quite a large estate to care for, we shouldn''t casually give them more work like this.

    "Also, I hope that you would also apologize to Miss Athrae. Your actions startled her greбк"

    Leonel turned back and opened the door, disappearing into the home.

    The young man fell into silence. He didn''t seem too shocked and he didn''t even look angry. He seemed quite difficult to read.

    Even after the door closed, he didn''t say much, looking back toward the unicorn demon corpse.

    Still, although he didn''t say much, didn''t mean that Athrae wouldn''t.

    She stomped her feet angrily, her cheeks practically puffing as though she was a toddler. She didn''t look like much of a young lady at all. Or, maybe she looked exactly like one depending on how you viewed such noble young women.

    "He''s always so rude!"

    The young man looked back to Athrae. He already had some guesses of his own, but Athrae''s words seemed to expose some more stuff. He was actually a bit curious about a person who was clearly here in the same capacity as himself, but dared to be so rude to Athrae.

    "Do you know him?"

    "Of course I know him! He''s just a bunnyбк!"

    Athrae was about to expose Leonel as a male escort, but she suddenly remembered her grandmother''s stern reprimand from earlier. Her grandmother rarely got so cold with her, but whenever she did, it was very important.

    "Bunny?" The young man raised his eyebrows.

    "Forget it, he was just a servant yet he''s so arrogant. Grandma invited him into the family, but he actually dared to glare at grandma!"

    The young man''s heart skipped a beat. What had Athrae just said?

    He tended to believe what the young mistress was saying, but in that case, why was Leonel still alive? For the first time, he became serious.

    "He''s so full of himself! He thinks he''s so great just because he looks a little good! Of course, he doesn''t look as good as you, Slaton. He just has an overinflated ego."

    Slaton smiled lightly at this, but didn''t say much. Objectively, there was no gap between his looks and Leonel''s, they were both quite handsome. Clearly, Athrae just didn''t like Leonel, and it seemed more due to the fact that he had been rude to her rather than because Leonel had been rude to her grandmother.

    ''Interestingбн''

    "Anyway, let''s go! You promised to take me out of the estate today! I didn''t get to have all my fun last time!"

    **

    "What did you say?"

    Mistress Oliidark''s uninterested expression changed. She looked up toward the shadow making the report. In the end, the shadow could only reiterate what happened.

    "A single spear strike for a Five Star Demon. That much is shocking, but still acceptable within the realms. A single spear strike for a Tier 1 Six Star Middle Demon while in the Fifth Starбн"

    Mistress Oliidark didn''t know how to accept this information. She asked question after question, but in the end, the only response the shadow seemed to have for her is that it looked like a profound spear technique.

    A profound spear technique could bridge the gap between the Fifth and Sixth Star? Mistress Oliidark didn''t know how to take this.

    "Did you find information on this Morales family?"

    From the moment she learned of this family name, she had sent the Dark Branch on a task. But when it came to destroyed families, she had to be exceptionally cautious. The web of ties and interests associated with such a fall could become very complex, very quickly. And now, judging from this technique, it might be even more complicated than she had originally thought.

    The more powerful this Morales family, the more trouble there could be lurking in the shadows. If it was bad enough, Mistress Oliidark would even have to cut her losses and kill Leonel directly.

    If Leonel brought their family more trouble than help, then there was no use in keeping him around. Raising up the only remaining Heir of a destroyed family, especially if that family was powerful, was like raising a ticking time bomb.

    "We have been cautious, making sure that no one can follow our traces, so progress is slow. We haven''t found anything yet. It likely will be several months before we find anything."

    "I seeбн In all likelihood, since the brat dared to appear here and even speak out his family name, it''s either he''s arrogant and overestimates himself, or that there are no enemies that can threaten him here.

    "Forget it for now, let him reap his rewards and keep him happy. The more he works, the better. Before he knows it, he''ll be helping our Oliidark family far more than he''s taking from us."

    The shadow nodded and turned to leave.

    Left to her own devices, Mistress Oliidark''s gaze narrowed, her mind still on the profound spear technique. If it was good enough, she would also force Leonel to hand it over.

    Since they were sheltering him, the price he paid couldn''t be allowed to be too small.

 Chapter 1523 Dream Unify

    [Sorry for the super late chaps everyone, I didn''t like how chapter 2 and 3 came out originally, so I re wrote them since they were important. Anyhoo, onward!]

    Leonel entered the library of the Oliidark family without even checking in with Mistress Oliidark. He didn''t feel the need to show such courtesy. He had done his job, now it was time to reap the rewards they would very soon regret giving him.

    If they thought that restricting his reading time would really work, they were sorely mistaken.

    Very few had ever outright guessed what Leonel''s ability was. And, as his Lineage Factors grew more powerful, it got even more difficult to tell. Those of the Dimensional Verse had an easier time because they knew which families he was born from and could, as such, deduce which of his strengths came from them. But those in this Zone clearly had no idea, or so Leonel hoped.

    This world was too unlike the one he was used to. Since this was a Zone, it was definitely a point in history at some time or another. So, the idea that a Morales family could exist here wasn''t impossible. But Leonel just wasn''t sureбн

    The main reason for his confusion was precisely their naming convention for the Dimensions.

    A name might sound insignificant, but after what Leonel learned about constellations, he started to pay more attention to them. Also, even if he didn''t care to do this, the change was far too jarring.

    Leonel was no longer the ignorant pup he had been in the beginning. After reading so many books from the Void Library, his knowledge foundation was far too solid. This was why he knew that in the history of the Human Domain, no one had ever called the Dimensions "Stars".

    This was a jarring realization alone, one that Leonel was firmly grappling with. It was something he obviously had to accept, but it was also just as hard to do so. The implications weren''t something that he even knew how to wrap his head around.

    There was, of course, the possibility that this wasn''t the Human Domain at all. He had only seen a small segment of this world, after all. What if there were other races acting as overlord?

    p1ease visit n0ve1b(in).ne)t

    The issue wasбн he had never heard of "demons" either. Such creatures, especially since they seemed so tied to the Anarchic Force of this world, should have definitely been detailed in the Void Library. After all, it had detailed every other race.

    Plus, there was the fact that this Anarchic Force was far more powerful than what Leonel was used to, even being capable of attacking the mind. How could there be Anarchic Force more powerful than what you could find on a Void Battlefield? It didn''t make sense.

    There was an obvious answer to all of this: this was a Mythological Zone.

    It was the only answer that made sense to Leonel and he gave it a better than 97% probability to be the case. This had to be a Mythological Zone based on a myth of the Human Domain, one that Leonel wasn''t familiar with.

    It''s not like the Void Library would house fairy tales in it, so it was very much possible that Leonel wouldn''t be aware of it. Since Leonel was born and raised on Earth, there were many obvious things to others that probably wouldn''t be so obvious to him.

    Leonel shook his head, regardless of what this place was, he needed more information. And, he would have to source that information from this place.

    The Ollidark library was quite bright. It had a dome of glass as though it was a greenhouse rather than a library and it had countless shelves, even the shortest of which were twice Leonel''s height.

    These short shelves were located on the far walls, though. The main shelves were grandly used as centerpieces, towering upwards of 20 or so meters and have dozens of ladders between them to accommodate those that might want to reach books near the top.

    The library was separated into general knowledge sections and technique sections, the latter second giving off a much more profound pressure in Leonel''s direction.

    Leonel was given exactly one hour for his efforts. Though no one had stopped his march here, he was absolutely certain that they were monitoring this. They wouldn''t let him take any more, lest they believe him to be getting too full of himself.

    Such a large store of knowledge couldn''t possibly be consumed in just an hour. They expected Leonel to have to work harder and harder for his time and his benefits. Practically the only thing they would give him for free was food, water and a place to stay, with no guarantee for any of them to be worth much of anything.

    Well, a normal person, anyway.

    This wasn''t the Void Library that forced Leonel to construct and organize his own network. This was a library, already properly organized, and written not even on pendants, but on sheets of paper.

    It was almost too easy.

    Leonel walked to the first shelf and ran his fingers along the books, looking at the spine of each one as though he was looking for something in particular.

    ? An hour later, he had touched every book in the library and he walked out just as the final second ticked down. There might as well have not been anyone else around him as he didn''t spare any of them a single glance. In fact, there were even times he walked up to individuals already reading a book just to check the cover without a word.

    He didn''t know why this world that seemed so much more powerful was using such primitive methods, but he also didn''t care. Even if they had used pendants, it would have been just as easy.

    Leonel didn''t give anyone the opportunity to reprimand or find fault with him. He simply left, turning through several corridors and hallways until he found his supposed room once again.

    The door clicked closed behind him and fell to the floor, snoring away without a care.

    As he slept, his mind quickly organized itself, his mind of fluttering books moving about as though they had minds of their own.

    Dream Unify.

 Chapter 1524 Faded

    The ease was too great. Leonel had a half foot radius around his body in which his Starry Spirit Domain could function without activating his bloodline. All he needed to do was touch something, and so long as it was compact enough, it would functionally, for all intents and purposes, be within his Dream World. And once that happened, everything was fair game.

    Leonel no longer had to consciously use Dream Sculpt to transfer something into his Dream World now. This saved him time, effort and stamina. On top of this, he was also able to copy things that would have usually been far beyond his means in the past as well.

    All that was left now was to organize them, and that was where Dream Unify came into being.

    Sleeping was the ultimate organization effort. Leonel realized that rather than wasting time doing it all himself, he could allow the natural functions of his body to take hold of its own processes. With the middleman cut out, not only would he be able to rest, but the process would also be far faster.

    Like this, the first Dream ability where Leonel would truly be asleep was born. And just like that, his mind began to whir at seemingly inhuman speeds, rapidly categorizing everything into memories as though he had personally read it all.

    When it was done, Leonel opened his eyes.

    He entered the shower, washed him of the demon blood that had covered him, and then sat cross legged on his bed. His expression was frighteningly cold, the picture of concentration, even the temperature of the room seemed to plummet. But, that all vanished when he closed his eyes.

    The knowledge assimilated into Leonel and he exhaled a long breath.

    The first thing he looked toward was the information about demons.

    According to this, demons came in different ranks. The one he had just fought was known as a Middle Demon. Lower, Middle and Higher Demons were all collectively known as Low Class Demons.

    Beyond Low Class Demon were, unsurprisingly, Middle Class Demons. They were separated into Uncommon Demon, Rare Demons and Elite Demons. These Demons usually had real names and species to go with them and were less reliant on sudden mutation. They also tended to be more "beautiful".

    One would think that this was all, but beyond this there were still High Class Demons, Humanoid Demons, Fiend Demons and Chaos Demons. Each of which had divisions of their own, enough for 18 sub-classes, with each one having a large gap between them.

    Leonel found this especially hard to wrap his head around. If a Low Class Demon was actually so powerful, then what about a Middle Class Demon? What about a Humanoid Demon? A Chaos Demon?

    Leonel might have defeated the unicorn demon in just a single strike, but he had used at least 30% of his strength. While this might shock the Oliidark family, to him this meant that he was far too lacking.

    There were definitely people in this world capable of fighting these demons, or else the human race would have already long since been overrun!

    Just by Leonel''s initial calculations, if he needed 30% of his strength already, that meant that at best, right now he could fight a Tier 1 Sixth Star Uncommon Demon. He didn''t have a chance against a Rare Demon, let alone a High Class Demon or beyond. And that was if he could go all out.

    Of course, Leonel was still in the Fifth Dimension. Or, rather, the Fifth Star. But he felt that even if he had a perfect breakthrough, the best he''d be able to do was face the best of the High Class Demons. At the same levelбн He really didn''t think he''d be a match for a Humanoid Demon of the lowest level, and there were still eight more sub-classes to go!

    Just what was this world?!

    This wasn''t a matter of raw strength, this was a matter of talent. Pure talent.

    The reason Leonel couldn''t fight these demons wasn''t because they were more powerful, it was because they were far more talented than him. And, by proxy, this meant that there were also humans here far more talented than him.

    Leonel suddenly felt a tingling sensation. Even though his eyes were still closed, his lips couldn''t help but spread into a grin. It was a wild, unrestrained grin that only seemed to grow wilder by the second.

    How interesting.

    When Wise Star Order told him that there were plenty of people out there that were more talented than him, he had believed it. But when he entered the Void Palace, he was fairly disappointed. His excitement came, but then it fizzled out just as quickly. Things just became uninteresting to him. If it wasn''t for the Green Thread Faction antagonizing him, he probably wouldn''t have bothered with much other than preparing himself for the Heir War.

    After all, Leonel had yet to revive his friends and he still had a lot of work to do toward building a Faction in the future. He didn''t have time to play petty games. Though, defeating the Green Thread Faction would have actually netted him quite a bit and thus made it worth it.

    Still, Leonel had resigned himself to that boredom.

    Of course, Leonel had also yet to meet the true geniuses of the Void Palace. He hadn''t met the previous Amethyst Token wielders, nor had he fought Amery at his full strength, and he also hadn''t faced off against the members of his generation after they broke through to the Sixth Dimension.

    But he still could only deal with what was right in front of him. And nothing that had been in front of him excited him aside from his grandfather''s way of the spear. Ironically, though, his mastering a portion of that only made things more boring.

    Now, though, Leonel couldn''t help but realize that if he hadn''t mastered calligraphy, what would have become of him? Let alone a Middle Class Demon? Would he have even been capable of defeating a Low Class Demon?

    The appearance of this Zone had been so abrupt and sudden, there was no time to prepare. He was simply thrust into this situation without cause or warning. What if his uncle had let him run away that day? Or what if this Zone appeared a year earlier?

    Leonel''s grin faded. The problem with his mindset seemed to become more glaring to him every day.

 Chapter 1525 One Month.

    Leonel knew that it wasn''t his ice control that had gotten Mistress Oliidark''s attention. It might have caused her to perk up a bit, but it wasn''t until he displayed his Spear Force that she decided against killing him and took him in.

    For all Leonel knew, if he hadn''t learned this way of the spear, he would have been killed on the spot, never to see the next day.

    It was quite a sobering thought.

    no(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    A part of Leonel still believed that he would have found a way to escape. But as a person who claimed to be so rational, these thoughts of his were wholly irrational. He didn''t even realize that he had had such inner thoughts until Aina pointed them out to him, but now it felt so obvious.

    It was no wonder his dad laughed at him when he talked about being a King.

    A King, of course, needed confidence. But didn''t that confidence need to be built on something?

    Leonel thought that he was. After all, his mind was his most powerful asset. He believed that he could think and smart his way out of any situation even if he lacked the raw strength. Even his Dream Class Ratings were based on this.

    But wasn''t that all theoretical?

    Leonel opened his eyes and looked out of the window. There was no sky, no clouds, hardly any sunlightбн It was just a wall, a wall to what was probably another big house or mansion in the estate, an estate that was essentially nothing more than a cage to him.

    Leonel suddenly remembered that day on the battlefield.

    Heavy rain fell from the skies. One by one, friends that he had held so dear for two years fell, their blood mixing into the mud and returning to the earth. Every death was like an added weight on his shoulder, a deeper sort of promise that he swore to keep.

    But what if that was the real world?

    There would be no reviving them. It would be too late to regret his weakness.

    Right now he was stuck in this world, stuck in this cageбн His mother was out there. The woman he loved was out there. His brothers were out there. And he was here because he was too weak to leave to go to find them.

    They said that the human mind was good at forgetting and glossing over tragedy. It was also pretty good at forgetting that one day we''d all die, something that quite a scary proposition, entering an unknown abyss on the other side, and yet people still managed to live day to day with a smile on their faces.

    Leonel thought that he was different. He believed himself to be some logically superior being. Even his moral compass was kept dear to him as though he was blessing the world with his kindness. He couldn''t find a reason to place the worth of his life above another, so he might as well consider himself their equals.

    It made him sound like a prick when you put it like that. And maybe he was one.

    Clearly he wasn''t much different from anyone else.

    That traumatic day he experienced in the Valiant Heart Zone, that day when all his thinking, all his planning, all his logic, all his intelligence, all his smarts was worth not a damn thingбн

    He seemed to have just casually forgotten it.

    And why? All because he could just revive them with a Tablet?

    It was quite funny when he thought about it. He couldn''t find a reason to place one life above another, but didn''t this Tablet that could revive the dead do so easily? Wasn''t there a different energy requirement for reviving each person? If there was no intrinsic worth, then wouldn''t they all be worth the same price?

    Why did he still care then? His life was worth more than theirs and these High Class Demons were worth more than him. What was the point, anymore?

    This Tablet could obviously accomplish something he could not, so clearly it knew better than him about the secrets of life. Wasn''t that the logical conclusion? With his intelligence, shouldn''t he have thought of that problem long ago?

    So why had he rejected it?

    Leonel turned his head away from the window and closed his eyes once more. He took deep and steady breaths.

    He never really hesitated to give worth to people.

    Most would hesitate to say which parent or child they loved more, and yet Leonel felt pretty clearly that he favored his dad.

    Most would never sit idly by as the woman they loved was married off to another man, and yet he had, and he was even smiling in his own little world all the while.

    Most wouldn''t try to logically understand things that were clearly beyond their means, and yet he tried to do so all the time.

    It was like he was also trying to fit puzzle pieces into places he knew they didn''t fit, stubbornly and arrogantly jamming them in again and again, yet still being unsatisfied with the result.

    What did all of this mean? What was the answer? Where had he gone wrong? Or was he even wrong at all?

    Leonelбн didn''t have an answer.

    It was all too complicated, even for him. He didn''t even know where to start.

    He suddenly felt the strong urge to see his father again, to see his mother, his uncle, his Aina. He felt lost, his previous feelings of eagerness vanishing.

    Those words James spoke to him all those years ago, the same words Aina repeated without ever having heard them before. How right were they?

    "Am I wrong?"

    Leonel''s soft whisper was like an eerie whistle in the wind, following the current and bouncing off the walls.

    There was no response. However, something still seemed to echo in Leonel''s ears.

    ''A King? What a joke! Your old man''s still alive. At best, you can be a little Prince.''

    The words echoed again and again like a flickering candlelight in Leonel''s mind.

    SNAP!

    The sound shook the estate, the skies above rumbling with thunder.

    But Leonel didn''t even notice. It was as though everyone in the world was shaken but him. He only felt that his thoughts ran faster and his Ability Index seemed to have improved again, but he felt that that was only because he had just stepped into Tier 7.

    He didn''t have an answer, but he still had a path.

    No one would stop him from getting out of here.

    One month. In one month no one here would be able to stop him.

 Chapter 1526 Stars

    Leonel entered a state of unprecedented focus, his mind reaching a state of tranquility as he began to focus on what would most help to achieve his goal: the magic system of this world.

    The books were far more complex than Leonel had originally given them credit for. While they didn''t store their information in pendants, the pages of their books held a special magical ability to hide and store more information than their dimensions would seem to allow. For the more complex books, it wasn''t surprising to get several normal books'' worth of information on just a single page or two.

    Regardless, the introduction of this world''s magic system was fairly simple, or overly complex depending on how you looked at it.

    If Leonel had to describe it in just a few words: it was as though all of the most important branches of power systems in the Dimensional Verse had been combined into a singular discipline. Quite frankly, if it wasn''t because Leonel was so focused, he just might gasp in amazement.

    The magic or power system of this world was predicated on Stars. And, these Stars were designed with the Constellation Realm of the Universal Cycles in mind.

    From birth, the people of this world were innately born from anywhere from zero to three Stars. In truth, these weren''t true Stars but could be considered a precursor.

    These "Stars" would be very small and immature. Depending on several factors, these "Stars" would also dictate everything about your talent. Those who could not use the Force of this world were usually born with zero "Stars".

    When Leonel thought to this point, he obviously couldn''t help but turn his mind toward [Dimensional Cleanse]. Could this be the reason he could use his Force here while the others could not?

    Leonel had no real way of knowing if this was true or not, but what he did know was that the formation of Stars in this world beyond birth required much more effort than what he had put in. if it was really because of [Dimensional Cleanse], it just didn''t seem to make sense.

    If the Stars of [Dimensional Cleanse] and the Stars of this world were equivalent in function and nature, then shouldn''t he be a powerhouse? He already had Eight Stars, how could the likes of Mistress Oliidark possibly match him?

    In addition, the formation of Stars in this world was reliant on a complex step by step process. By the nature of things in this place, you could only form one Star for every 9 Tiers you climbed. Well, for every set of Tiers, that is. In this world, it actually depended.

    In this world, you have the right to practice in Force only if you were born with at least one Star. Only then would you have the chance to form a second and third and truly begin on your journey. And, it was only upon forming your third Star that you could begin to try and enter this world''s Fourth Dimensional equivalent.

    This meant one very obvious thing: the hunters that Leonel had met when he first entered this world weren''t even Fourth Dimensional existences. He couldn''t fathom the fact that this was true, so he hadn''t even been able to see through this.

    From this point, once your Third Star was formed, you could begin to grow and nurture your "Stars" via the formation of your Force Nodes. In this way, this process worked exactly like it had when Leonel was in the Third Dimension. In fact, the Fourth Dimension and Fifth Dimension worked exactly the same ways as well!

    In the Third Star, one would form their Nodes. With every Node formation, the more compatible the location was with you, the higher resonance it would have with your "Stars", and the more growth it would have.

    The size of your Node and the location were the greatest factors, just like in the Dimensional Verse. So long as your Node was large and compatible, your "Stars" would resonate and grow. The formation of each Node would start a new resonance and growth period. Once this period ended, you could then form your next Node.

    Just like in the Dimensional Verse as well, many couldn''t form all nine of their Nodes and wouldn''t gain the benefit of Nine Resonances. As such, the "Stars" would remain in a more infant-like state for longer before reaching maturity and beginning to display their true strength.

    This process would repeat in the Fourth Dimension, but with the addition of a Fourth Star. This time, as you formed your Nodal Pathways, your Stars would resonate and grow.

    And then again in the Fifth Dimension, or rather the Fifth Star. Every time you unshackled your mind to a new Tier, your Stars would resonate, and they would grow in strength.

    Finally, you would be standing before the Sixth Dimension, and here was where everything would change and the fascinating aspects of this power system would begin to manifest itself.

    In this world, the Four Seasons Realm did not exist. In addition, the Heavenly Body, Natural Light, Cosmos, and Constellation Realms took on a new form entirely. Leonel couldn''t begin to understand why this was, but what he did know was that the people of this world built everything on the backs of their stars.

    As one might have guessed by this point, the Constellation of the Constellation Realm, the ultimate level sought after by all, would be formed by the Stars within your body itself!

    The power of such a thing was unimaginable. It was no longer an illusion, but rather a tangible representation of might stored within the walls of your body. The difference was akin to night and day.

    But this wasn''t just the case for the Constellation Realm, this would continue to be true for each and every Realm.

    There was no God Path or Convention Path in this world, or rather, they didn''t appear in the same form. Rather, the two seemed to combine into a new discipline that revolved around Stars.

 Chapter 1527 Final Hurdle

    How was it that the magic system accomplished this? It was actually quite simple.

    Once a Star reached maturity, it could begin to be projected outward in a show of strength and power. The existence of a Star was like having a nuclear plant at the core of your body. The amount of energy it could pull in and suck toward itself from the outside world was immense, and its ability to do so would only grow as you nurtured it past maturity into an untouched, elite state.

    Before a Star ever became part of your Constellation, you could, just like in the God Path, use it as a medium to manifest God Runes. In this world, however, these were called Star Runes.

    This was the extent to which Leonel understood the God Path of the Dimensional Verse, for he couldn''t draw any more comparisons than that. But it was still enough for him to paint a picture and understand what was going on.

    Upon entering the Sixth Star in this world, you could finally begin to comprehend the Heavenly Body Realm. Upon doing so and forming your own path, you are thus able to manifest your Stars.

    Of course, the number of Stars you could manifest was based on a number of factors. Whether they were mature or not was one matter, but another was the limit of your talent and comprehension. Some could only sustain one Star while others could sustain all of theirs.

    ? Those that could do the latter were definitely the pinnacle of talents in this world.

    In truth, it was quite average to only be capable of manifesting one Star. In fact, this was downplaying it. If you could manifest one Star at the Sixth Dimension, you were considered a genius. If you only unlocked and gained the ability to manifest one more for every "Dimension" you climbed, you would be able to maintain your stamp as a genius.

    Those that could manifest two were shocking, while those that could manifest three or more were mostly unheard of.

    These numbers would all tick up by one for every step forward in strength a person took and for every Realm they crossed.

    In this world, the Natural Light Realm was also different. It represented a state your Stars could enter where the skies would darken and the only light that remained was them. It would feel as though night had been cast upon the land before it was blessed with the day once more.

    This was the representation of the monstrosity of power a Seventh Star held. It was as though they could dictate the laws themselves.

    Upon reaching the Cosmos Realm, the phenomena would become even more exaggerated. One''s Star would break apart and form many small motes of light, dotting the skies across and blanketing a battlefield. It was a sight that one would need to see to believe.

    The process of entering the Constellation Realm was a reformation of your stars into Nine Cores. These Nine Cores and their orbiters would take form to become your constellation.

    These so-called "orbiters" were pieces of your Stars that you failed to bring back together. The closer to the number nine your constellation was, the more powerful it was!

    бн

    These were all things far beyond Leonel and he had no business thinking about them, but he was in a bind.

    He thought that by reading through the materials of the Oliidark''s, he would be able to find the method to break into the God Path. After all, if this was a Zone, the system should be similar enough. In fact, since it was a Mythological Zone, it should be even better. This would mean that Leonel would have an even better magic system to take advantage of!

    But the main issue here was thatбн Well, there were several.

    For one, he already had eight Stars, how exactly was he going to form his "sixth" exactly, didn''t he already pass that by?

    Also, if it was the case that [Dimensional Cleanse] wasn''t related to this world at all and he was being ridiculous, wasn''t that even worse? That meant he had no Stars at all and the minimum requirement for beginning in any method was to have at least one.

    Stars were able to harness and quickly gather energy, but if you had no Stars, then there was nothing to gather energy for you.

    All of the methods that Leonel had memorized from the Oliidark family followed this line of logic as well. And, their methods of breaking into the Sixth Star required him to resonate his Five Stars to catalyze the birth of a new one.

    No matter how you looked at it, there was nothing but a blocked road ahead.

    However, at the moment, Leonel was unprecedentedly calm. He already knew what he would have to do. If he had to choose between this and the lives of the people he cared about, the answer was too obvious, he didn''t even need to think about it.

    If [Dimensional Cleanse] was really the reason he could use Force in this world, then that meant that his mother and Aina were especially helpless, not to mention his friends and brothers. Without his help, they would be helpless.

    He needed the strength to leave this place and the Fifth Dimension wouldn''t give it to him. He needed to break into the Sixth.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t have the method to enter the God Path, so there was only one choice. He would enter the Sixth Dimension through the Conventional Path.

    Once Leonel made his decision, he did not hesitate. For the first time in a long time, he brought forward the Natural Force Art of the [Dimensional Cleanse]. Until now, he had been relying on his Innate Node to break the shackles of his mind and had never needed to use it, but it was about time he brought it forward.

    Before losing to Amery, Leonel passed three rounds of the trials, so in his mind currently, he had the Fifth Dimensional Layer and the Sixth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse]. He would use the former to reach the peak of the "Fifth Star" as quickly as possible, and then use the latter to break through the final hurdle.

 Chapter 1528 Neither

    The Visualization of the Fifth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] used to overwhelm Leonel, but now it didn''t feel like so any longer. He felt that it would only take him about a single week to not only grasp it, but to fully comprehend this layer like he had done with the Fourth Dimensional layer. In this way, he would be able to pass it along to others.

    Leonel took this ability to pass on [Dimensional Cleanse] more importantly than ever now that he felt it might be related to his current freedom in this world.

    After a glance at it, Leonel hesitated. This wasn''t because he felt that he had chosen wrong, but rather because he wasn''t sure what would happen if he suddenly began to practice now.

    What Leonel didn''t know is that the commotion caused earlier by the sudden SNAP! had whisked away all the experts of the Oliidark family. It wasn''t just them, but a high level meeting the likes of which hadn''t occurred in tens of thousands of years was called.

    The last time such a meeting was called, it was due to the descent of a Chaos Demon. This was how rare such an event was and for those people to send down such an order.

    All those of the Seventh Star and above were forced to acknowledge the call. The only ones that remained to monitor the home were the Sixth Stars of the Oliidark family.

    Unbeknownst to him, Leonel had given himself his own lucky chance. But had he been aware, he might have had far too many questions to ever think of focusing.

    In the end, Leonel shook his head. It didn''t make sense for him to bother trying to hide his activities. This was his bed, he had to lie in it. He didn''t believe his skill was high enough to draw a Force Art capable of concealing what he was doing.

    Well, he might have had the skill, but he was lacking in the necessary power.

    ''Let them watch, then. Don''t choke.''

    A cold light flickered in Leonel''s gaze and he focused once more. The complex, spherical gear system of the Natural Force Art Visualization reflected in his mind and even appeared in his irises. It felt like it could calculate all the variables of the world with a single input, a machine of strokes, gears, and pipes so enormous that there was nothing it couldn''t accomplish.

    However, this complex machine became like nothing more than a pile of individual parts to Leonel. Without even meditating upon it a single time, it was as though he could dissect it and put it all back together.

    Leonel''s millions of minds took each one of these pieces as their own and then began to comprehend them simultaneously.

    WENG!

    At that moment, Leonel re-established himself in Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension, grasping the essence of the Visualization to that level in just a few minutes, not even a set of ten of which had passed.

    Leonel''s Stars reacted fiercely, their rotation speed increasing by several folds and their sizes increasing explosively. Leonel was caught so off guard that he could only watch in silence as large amounts of Force surged toward him like a tide.

    The Silver Stars, now constructed of Dream Force, were like a dried ocean bed finally receiving a heavy rain. They glowed such a bright light that even though they were within Leonel''s own mind, he felt like he couldn''t even look at the properly.

    The Blue Stars, charged of raging Vital Star Force, became like greedy tornados, forcing large amounts of Vital Star Force, that should have been a rare energy, through the Nodal Pathways in Leonel''s body, through his spine, into the Node of his Brainstem, charging through his brain and into his Ethereal Glabella.

    And then there were the fierce Red-Gold Stars. Strands of Scarlet Star Force that Leonel had struggled to budge and move gathered in such thick quantities that they manifested in the air like threads of gorgeous silk.

    Despite following the same path the Dream Force and Vital Star Force had, Leonel didn''t feel any pain at all. In fact, it was as though he had been refreshed, his Innate Nodes even glowing with a fiercer light.

    Right then, it was as though the whole Oliidark Estate was quaking.

    Leonel continued to watch this scene, not quite understanding what was happening.

    According to what he knew, [Dimensional Cleanse] was a special take that could be practiced alongside other ones. However, there shouldn''t have been such a large difference here. At the very least, you shouldn''t benefit as though you were truly breaking into the same Realm twice. If things were like that, then everyone would insist on practicing [Dimensional Cleanse] no matter what.

    This was why Leonel had never really stressed about using the Visualization to break through. In fact, using his Innate Node to breakthrough was more beneficial for him in the long run and he could always use the Visualization later.

    Somehow, though, this singular breakthrough still felt like an enormous watershed.

    Leonel could only ignore it. He was still worried about being interrupted, so he wanted to gain as much as he could before others insisted on interfering.

    However what he hadn''t known was that the Force was so violent and dense that no one dared to get close. Or, more accurately, anyone who would have dared wasn''t present to begin with!

    In this world, atmospheric Force wasn''t just more difficult to control, but when it appeared in large concentrations, it was dangerous for those that followed the Star Path, especially if the Force followed a path that they did not.

    Leonel blazed through the Fifth Dimension once more. By the third day, he had already stepped into Tier 6, by the fourth, Tier 7. By the fifth, he broke through once again, finally entering Tier 8. And, exactly one week later, just like he planned, he sat at the border of Tier 9, ready to break the final veil and form his Ninth Star.

    However, at that moment, Leonel paused. There was a secret here he knew he hadn''t quite grasped, but there was also an opportunity.

    Leonel took a breath, a roar leaving his lips.

    At that moment, the sound of a final shattering barrier resounded and the Ninth Star began to form in Leonel''s mind.

    However, there wasn''t one Star Core, there were two.

    And neither of them were red-gold.

 Chapter 1529 Fusion

    If there was anything Leonel knew how to do, it was to take advantage of a situation. Whether it was in his daily life or even his battle style, everything was predicated on capitalizing on a moment of opportunity, a moment of weakness, or even a moment of enlightenment.

    Over the last week, Leonel felt like his mind was constantly getting refreshed and constantly strengthening. Not only had it allowed him to stay awake and not rest a single time, but it also made him sharper and faster, his mind growing even more powerful than it had been before.

    No, it was more like his mind was finally gaining the proper fuel, blessed with a  refreshing amount and quality of Force it had never experienced before.

    As the Dream Force surged in, Leonel felt that his base Starry Spirit Domain was slowly growing millimeter by millimeter.

    At the same time, as his Vital Star Force Stars rumbled with life, the feeling of vitality coursing through his veins was absolutely intoxicating. It was as though someone was pouring the purest ambrosia of the gods into his heart, allowing every pump to send it throughout his body.

    His lifespan was quickly expanding, but better yet, his Healing Factor seemed to have grown supercharged.

    As though this wasn''t enough, his [Star Fusion] self created technique, one he rarely used due to all its limitations, seemed to grow endlessly powerful. Leonel couldn''t even spare the mental power to think about the implications of such a change. The time it would take to recharge his [Star Fusion] technique might not even be a fraction of what it once was. In fact, it even seemed that he might not have to wait for it to recharge at all.

    Of all of these Stars, though, the most special was without a doubt Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force twin Stars.

    When they began absorbing the Scarlet Star Force toward them, filling themselves up like someone who had suffered through a famine, its changes were far more profound than Leonel''s other Stars.

    Not only did it feel as though its growth capacity was far beyond that of his other Stars, Leonel also watched in awe as it began to quickly form its own Runes. One after another, they manifested in the large mass of swirling, hot, red-gold gas.

    Leonel didn''t need to think much to be certain that these must be Star Runes as opposed to the God Runes of the Dimensional Verse. Unlike others who didn''t have Innate Node, Leonel''s Star Runes formed automatically based on his comprehended Innate Node. Not only that, but because they were the truest and most natural form of Destruction Runes, they were far beyond anything the comprehension a living creature could possibly form.

    How could a person match up to the genius of the evolution of the world at large? After countless trillions of years of trial and order, the perfect and final state of these Star Runes were finally created, and now they formed under the control of Leonel, radiating out with such violent energies that Leonel bed crumbled to ashes despite him not releasing them, his bedroom''s floors and walls beginning to grow with cracks.

    The entire process couldn''t have been more magical or any more mystical. Leonel had never felt the presence of his Innate Node, or rather Innate Nodes, so clearly. It was as though they were muffled and yelling for his attention previously, only for their roars to finally reach his ears now.

    At that moment, new Destruction Runes quickly formed in Leonel''s eyes. His eyelids glowed with a blinding red-gold light, barely holding them back.

    Leonel had already comprehended 729 Destruction Runes, but that couldn''t even be said to have been under his own effort. It had happened while he was unconscious. But this time, he couldn''t have been more conscious. In fact, he experienced every bit of this magical feeling.

    From 729, he crossed 1000, then 2000. With every set of 9 that formed, they would combine. With every set of 81 they would combine one more. With every set of 729, they would combine once again, dancing in Leonel''s irises and becoming more and more profound with every passing second.

    The estate quaked uncontrollably, the overload of Destruction Runes would have shattered the foundation of any other location in the city. But the Oliidark estate was the most fortified location there was outside of the city walls themselves.

    Leonel''s heart pumped with wild abandon. His Destruction Rune Formation caused such a commotion that it was hard to pay attention to just what was happening to the other parts of his body. But those changes were just as profound even though they had far more room to grow.

    As the Dream Force pumped throughout him, Leonel felt that his mind was growing stronger. It wasn''t just his Internal Sight and Starry Spirit Domain, it was something deeper, as though even his Lineage Factors themselves were being fueled and evolved.

    His Spear Domain Lineage Factor, predominantly located in his mind, seemed to expand and become more complex.

    His King''s Might flourished, the small violet humanoid figure that used to be its form growing larger and more detailed. It formed its own armor, holding a bow in one hand and a spear in the other. It stood valiantly in the recesses of Leonel''s mind, brimming with fighting will.

    His Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor''s Wisdom Branch flourished, the boundaries of his mind becoming sturdier and its expanse became wider.

    Somehow, these breakthroughs were pushing the boundaries of already defined limits to Lineage Factors that had always been with Leonel.

    But that was just what Dream Force had done. When the Vital Star Force got a hold of Leonel, the changes to his mind began to fuse with the now coming changes to his body.

    It was as though everything was coming together as one, leaving no stone unturned and forming a perfect and whole product.

    Leonel''s body was put under the constant pressure of evolution, his strengths fusing together into a whole that the former version of himself couldn''t hope to compare to.

 Chapter 1530 A Realization

    As the blue Force flooded Leonel''s veins, the development of his Spear Domain in his mind evolved. The neural connections between them and his body grew thicker and more numerous, muscle memory that Leonel had already formed becoming far more refined, perfect, and even more reflexive than before.

    At the same time, Leonel''s King''s Might surged into his body.

    A royal air bloomed from Leonel unconsciously, his bearing and presence alone exuding a pressure that blanketed the estate. It felt as though violet clouds were gathering above, a beautiful scenery that many only wanted to bow to appeared.

    The silhouette of a humanoid dawned in armor and holding a bow and spear appeared to Leonel''s back, only to fuse with his body.

    The intangible feeling suddenly became tangible, almost as though now every one of Leonel''s actions held within it an Artistic Intention.

    While this was happening, the Speed and Healing Branch of Leonel''s Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor thrummed with life and vitality.

    Even without moving a single inch, Leonel knew that his speed had increased by more than tenfold, his already ridiculous Healing Factor also increasing once more. Now whereas the limit was healing from Seventh Dimensional injuries, Leonel felt he could instantly heal from Eighth Dimensional injuries. On top of this, he also felt that he could use [Instant Recovery] not just once, but three times a day!

    Still, the largest changes were to the most directly body related Lineage Factor of them all, Leonel''s Metal Synergy Bloodline.

    His Bronze Runes reacted as though they had been stuffed with stimulants. Leonel''s cells became more compact and began to give off a blueish bronze hue of their own. His body had already been strong enough to match Tier 9 Bronze treasures or even Quasi Silver treasures, but the strength it was giving off now transcended that.

    Leonel felt that he had definitely crossed the Sixth Dimensional barrier despite his body still being within the Fifth.

    The changes came in waves and they seemed unending. And yet, rather than becoming more complex, it felt like they were all slowly coming together, revolving around the very same path from the very beginning, as though there was only ever one real path to follow in the first place.

    Every breakthrough in Tier was like another step in evolution. Rather than just the shackles of his mind being undone as was customary for the Fifth Dimension, it felt like his entire being was being unshackled.

    By the end of it, Leonel had such a clear vision of what he wanted that he didn''t even hesitate to forget everything he knew and form ten Stars instead of nine.

    Leonel realized that the only reason his seventh and eighth Stars were made of Scarlet Star Force was because he had made it so by using his Innate Nodes to break through as he had done. However, that didn''t mean that he was locked down toward a single path. In fact, if he formed his ninth and tenth Stars with Scarlet Star Force as well, it would almost be overkill.

    The way Leonel saw it, the set up of his Stars were perfect currently.

    n0(????(e)lbi????.n(et

    He had three of Dream Force. This would work to reinforce and power his Ability Index and his strongest weapon: his mind.

    He had three for Vital Star Force. He had known from the very beginning how important his body would be to him. This was why he had formed his Innate Nodes as he had, one in the brain stem, two down the spine, two in his heart, two in his lungs, two in his kidneys and one in his stomach. This configuration was perfect for fueling the strength of his body and revitalizing it.

    With three such Stars, this would be supplemented well.

    But why would he need four Scarlet Star Force Stars? He already had two Nodes and two Stars, four centers from which he could pull from. He definitely didn''t need six and it wouldn''t make him any more powerful. In fact, it might lead to a situation where he was being harmed by his own strength instead.

    So, instead, Leonel helped fuel the final thing he needed, the very thing he would need to balance his Scarlet Star Force.

    Leonel had been worrying about exactly how to form a source of this energy for a long while and he didn''t expect for it to fall in his lap like this. And now, he happened to have just enough Dark and Water Force affinity to trigger its appearance.

    In the Dimensional Verse, Leonel wouldn''t dare to do this. The quantity of Force was too small and too low quality. It was difficult for him to find Vital Star Force and Scarlet Star Force to use.

    However, what these last seven days had taught him was that this world was very different. It somehow had an abundance of this Force, so much that Leonel was in awe.

    So he was certain. He was certain that if he tried to form his final two Stars of Void Star Force, he might be able to succeed!

    Leonel didn''t rely on himself alone. Within the countless books of the Oliidark family, they had a description of True Star Forces and among them, Void Star Force was depicted. Within this depiction, a complex Star Rune was drawn. This Star Rune was precisely the most basic Rune of Void Star Force, the equivalent of the very first Destruction Rune Leonel had ever formed.

    Thanks to this book, Leonel realized something shocking.

    In his deconstruction of [Dimensional Cleanse], Leonel noticed that the individual pieces of the Visualization were actually all True State Forces! Somehow, the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse] had created a Natural Force Art capable of fusing together all of the basic True State Star Runes in existence!

    That was when Leonel understood. He understood why [Dimensional Cleanse] could be used with any other techniqueбн It was because it was compatible with every technique to begin with!

    If Leonel wanted to pull a certain energy toward him, all he needed to do was focus on the Rune and have the right affinity.

    With those two things put togetherбн He would form his ninth and tenth Stars!

 Chapter 1531 A Mistake?

    Leonel was in a state of unprecedented focus. There was no doubt that the Void Star Force came toward him at a much slower pace that the others had. His affinity with Water Force wasn''t high enough to control a True State Water Force as easily as he could Dream Force or Scarlet Star Force.

    In addition, when he had first formed his connection with Vital Star Force, he had been within a trial where it was quite literally the only Force around, making it far easier.

    Still, while the task was slow, it wasn''t impossible. It was only about 1% as fast as the formation of his other Stars, but this 1% shouldn''t be underestimated. In fact, this 1% was enough for the foundation of the estate to still continue to tremble.

    Leonel was able to make up with his own weaknesses with his comprehension of the Visualization that formed the core of the Fifth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse]. By this point, he had comprehended it to the point that he could also pass it down to others without restriction.

    With this comprehension, the Force Art had practically become his own, dancing and shifting to the whims of his palms as he pleased and bringing forth the Force he asked for obediently.

    If it wasn''t for the fact that Leonel was trying to form two Stars at once, this level of comprehension would have been enough to net him at least 10% of his maximum speed. But at this point, this no longer mattered, he had already chosen his path.

    Void Star Force radiated out in the surrounding, a dense and sticky darkness fighting for a balance with Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force.

    Leonel pressed the feeling down. It wasn''t time for them to fight yet. Right now, he needed balance.

    Two kernels formed in his Ethereal Glabella, his massive Mage Core twinkling as the leaves of Water Force reacted, beginning to slowly evolve beneath the stronger currents of Force.

    The moment the kernels formed, Leonel knew he had already succeeded. These were likely the infant stages of a Star, so as long as he fueled them more, they would grow to the same size as the others. And, if he wasn''t them to match his Scarlet Star Force Stars, he would need to comprehend their Void Runes.

    But for now, Leonel only focused on enlarging them, and that he did.

    With every revolution, his affinity grew and the speed increased.

    In two days, he had already caught up by half, in five, it was already at 90%. By the end of the second weekбн

    WENG!

    A ripple shot out from Leonel, a balance becoming forcefully struck between his Stars. One side of his body rolled with a dark blue, the other dancing with a red gold. Like fire and water, they twisted around and rejected one another, fighting for supremacy.

    At that moment, it was surprisingly Leonel''s Mage Core that took center stage, shining a bright light that forced the two to calm, settling down into a calm rhythm.

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, the almost 6000 Destruction Runes in his irises slowly fading, but not before they bore a hole in the wall opposite him, only to be stopped by a hidden protection.

    Leonel''s eyes didn''t seem to reflect happiness in the slightest. In fact, his thoughts had already turned toward the Sixth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    Half of his month-long deadline had already passed. He didn''t have time to waste.

    He could sense people rushing toward his room, having finally gotten a chance to burst through the barrier of Force, but he completely ignored them.

    In factбн

    Leonel''s eyes flashed, a strong Earth Force surging toward him. In just a few seconds, the room around him had become nothing more than a box of metal, fusing the doorway and windows.

    Leonel had gone from someone who could hardly move the Force in this world to suddenly being able to force such an exaggerated him.

    ''You all wait outside obediently while I break through.''

    Leonel closed his eyes once more. The difficult work had already been done. With the foundation laid, breaking into the Sixth Dimension was as easy as flipping over a palm.

    However, when Leonel finally took a look at the Sixth Dimensional layer, his brows jumped.

    He stayed silent for a long time before his lips suddenly curled into a smile.

    It seemed that he was correct. This [Dimensional Cleanse] techniqueбн maybe its author really was right to brag so much in their introduction.

    <Dimensional Cleanse Sixth Dimension иC Star Manifestation>

    **

    Click.

    Leonel walked out of his room, his expression calm and indifferent. However, the scenery he walked into was anything but.

    The guest house he had been staying in was razed to the ground. In fact, the door he had just shut close behind him slowly fell backward, collapsing with a loud thud.

    Before Leonel, several individuals stood, among which was Mistress Oliidark who''s eyes were narrowed.

    Right now, Leonel stood like a towering pillar. He wasn''t actually so tall and he hadn''t even grown a single inch, but something about his presence made him feel like a mountain that had just formed.

    His pale violet hair and eyes glowed with their own light as though coated with a fluorescent pain, his aura was intoxicating and it seemed to make his features an entire level more attractive, and on top of thatбн His powerбн

    ''Sixth Starбн'' Mistress Oliidark thought. ''бн All of this commotion was caused by his breakthrough?''

    She wasn''t here to personally witness it. In fact, she had only just come back. But this scene was enough for her to understand.

    According to reports, no one had been able to step foot within 50 meters of this place for the last two weeks.

    For some reason, Mistress Oliidark felt a slight warning in her heart. Had she made a mistake?

    Her fingers twitched, thinking of killing Leonel right here and now. But when she remembered the meeting she had just been to, she slowly pushed down her killing intent. She still needed him.

    "Bow when you see the mistress!"

    A booming voice cut through the silence, a wild pressure coming toward Leonel''s head.

 Chapter 1532 To The Field

    The voice had quite some power to it. It was as powerful as it was shocking. It was clear that his individual was just as interested in shocking Leonel as he was in displaying his might, looking to do something to break Leonel''s momentum.

    There were several individuals startled by the change, many of whom were much further in the Sixth Star than Leonel himself. However, what no one could have expected was for Leonel to not react in the slightest. It was as though he hadn''t heard the slightest thing. He might have even given a fly buzzing around him more attention than he gave this booming voice.

    Leonel''s mind had already been sharp before his breakthroughs, but now he was on a completely different level. Still, even if he hadn''t had these breakthroughs, the momentum someone needed to gather up to shout so loudly was too obvious.

    Leonel had already caught what would happen the moment this individual took a much deeper than usual breath. By the time they actually shouted, they might as well have been nothing more than a jumping clown.

    In the past, Leonel didn''t really care much about kneeling. He had grown up in an Empire that practically deified his grandfather and to him he never really attached any great importance to it. It was what everyone did and it didn''t have the same weight of stigma attached to it that some parts of history would lead one to believe.

    However, after his time in the Camelot Zone, he had grown a distaste for it. If the person you were kneeling to didn''t have any foul intentions, doing so might still be fine. However, if the  person you were kneeling for wanted to use it for no other purpose than stepping over your head, it was something that could easily infuriate Leonel.

    Let alone the fact he wouldn''t listen to a jumping clown like that one, even if no one had said anything he would never kneel to a person like Mistress Oliidark who clearly had no regard for him.

    This little outburst, though, did give Leonel a hint of information, though.

    He hadn''t spent very long in the Oliidark estate, but he had run into several young men who seemed intent on observing him, especially during his hour in the library. These were all young men, all around the same age, and all of which held a certain standard of talent.

    It wasn''t too difficult to guess what they were doing here. It was like Mistress Oliidark had built up her own little army of live-in son-in-laws for her granddaughter to pick and choose from. Such a thing was one part amusing and another part infuriating.

    The one who had spoken just now was the only one that Leonel had come across that had a presence similar to or more powerful than the young man that had been by Athrae''s side that day.

    He had already heard talks around of a Sebastian and Slaton many times already. So he assumed that this person was one of the two of them.

    Still, Leonel found it funny. These two were supposedly the strongest, and yet they were also the most happy to wag their tails and please. It made Leonel wonder if it was really their talent that made them the strongest, or if it was their boot licking that just gained them far more resources than everyone else.

    Of course, while he was insulting them, Leonel thought of another more sinister possibility, and that was that Mistress Oliidark had managed to tighten a much shorter leash on these two precisely because of their talent.

    If that was the case, he needed to be wary of such methods.

    "Do you all need something?" Leonel asked lightly.

    His voice was like a light breeze that whisked away the echoes of Sebastian''s voice. It was as though the shout itself never happened, but it was precisely this that made things so embarrassing for the latter.

    "Youбн"

    Sebastian''s mouth snapped close the moment Mistress Oliidark raised a hand.

    By this point, Leonel''s lack of respect was grating on her nerves. She might be able to find the amusement in it when it was just the two of them, but when everyone was scrutinizing her like this, it made it ten times more infuriating than it should have been.

    "You destroyed all of this?" Mistress Oliidark asked.

    "You never provided me with a proper training room, what else could I destroy if not this?"

    Rather than becoming more infuriated, Mistress Oliidark only became calmer.

    "The expenses for this guest house and the surrounding damage will come directly from your merits. Until you gather enough to pay it back, the house will not give you any resources."

    Mistress Oliidark expected Leonel to fly into a rage when he heard this, giving her an opportunity to suppress him further. But all she received in return was a curled lip.

    Merits? Resources? After he had been through their library once, he already had all the information he needed. In fact, it wasn''t just information about this that he had gathered.

    After the breakthrough in his mind, Leonel believed that he had thought of a viable method to shatter the barriers of this Zone and catalyze their return home.

    Of course, this would require resources that he apparently wouldn''t be receiving anymore until he met some arbitrary goal he had no doubt Mistress Oliidark would inflate, but it wouldn''t have been a good idea to gather said resources from this place to begin with. It would have been too suspicious.

    p1ease visi(t) n0ve1b(in).ne)t

    The simple fact was that he didn''t need anything this "house" could give him anymore that he wouldn''t be able to get himself when they inevitably forced him to go demon hunting again.

    In two more weeks, just like he said, he would leave this place.

    Leonel''s derisive smile and silence dug into Mistress Oliidark''s nerves. However, she could only stare at him deeply before she spoke her next words.

    "Everyone to the training field. Now."

 Chapter 1533 Statues

    It wasn''t long until everyone had followed Mistress Oliidark, and when they heard what was said, their expressions formed various shades of excitement and anticipation.

    According to Mistress Oliidark, she had just gone to a Gathering held by the Four Great Families. At this meeting, all Classified Families and Organizations were tasked with mandatory attendance to a second gathering, this one designed for what they called a "future investment".

    Leonel had all the books of the Oliidark family in his mind, so he knew about the Four Great Families. The issue was that he didn''t know anything else substantive about them. He read tales of their "feats" and "grandeur", and they were also apparently the final line of defense between the human world and the Chaos Demons, but that was all Leonel knew.

    He didn''t know the names of these Four Great Families, he didn''t even know where they were located.

    The same was the case for Mistress Oliidark as well. In truth, this "gathering" wasn''t designed for everyone across the human world. It only encompassed this region, a region they called a Bubble.

    As for why they called it a Bubble, it was because a Bubble wasn''t decided by scope, size or even arbitrary distinctions or war like most territories were. Rather, a Bubble was a point where the Spatial Spheres of this world and the demon world met.

    At every one of these points, a set of organizations and families were tasked with defending it in these positions that hung over abysses just like this city.

    Depending on the contact point to the demon world, you could run into stronger or weaker demons. Likewise, just like demons, these regions were classified as Low Class, Middle Class, High Class, Human Class, Fiend Class and Chaos Class, labeling a Bubble by its threat level.

    Though it was possible for a threat to appear that surpassed these threats, it wasn''t too common. If such a thing ever happened, help could be called.

    But it was much more likely for higher level Bubbles to request aid from lower level ones. This was what happened with Mistress Oliidark''s husband and son-in-law, which left her to command the house on her own.

    The Bubble that the Oliidark''s defended in part was a lower end Middle Class Bubble. A Middle Class Demon would appear here once every few years and it would require Mistress Oliidark to deal with. If her husband was here, it would be his task normally.

    Such battles were tough and arduous, not to mention life threatening. With what the Oliidark family had to go through, it was no wonder they were so obsessed with becoming more powerful through any means necessary.

    Still, it was a bit odd to Leonel that the Oliidark family had so much trouble with heirs.

    Their son-in-law was gone, but Leonel had never heard anything about Athrae''s mother. Then there was the useless Athrae herself. And in this generation they had to recruit dozens of boys who clearly weren''t of Oliidark blood to save them?

    Something was definitely fishy, something that obviously wasn''t described or detailed in their library. Leonel wasn''t surprised though, why would leave such a secret in such an easily accessible place? Leonel could only shake his head, there was no use speculating.

    The Four Great Families wanted to gather together the budding talents of each Class and give them an opportunity. What this opportunity was, no one quite knew. But what they did know was that the Oliidark family was given three quotas.

    Mistress Oliidark wasted no time giving the first two to Sebastian and Slaton. That left just a single spot left for those that remained, a spot that she expected them all to fight for.

    It was no wonder why they were all so excited. Beneath those two, the divisions of power beneath the Oliidark''s family''s potential son-in-laws were quite close. This meant that they all had an equal chance at claiming the final spot for themselves.

    ''Interestingбн'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Originally, he wanted to just bide his time for the next week then find time to escape once he had solidified his standing. But this seemed like an interesting opportunity and it might help him gather what he needed to help everyone escape this Zone faster.

    With that thought, Leonel had already decided that he would show however much strength he needed to claim this final spot for himself. Clearly, Mistress Oliidark already expected him to do so. If it wasn''t for his rudeness, she might have directly given it to him to begin with.

    "This battle will be a battle royale. Fights against demons will never be organized and when in their world you must always remain alert. Show me you awareness and resourcefulness.

    "Clear the grounds!" She bellowed.

    The elders, Mistress Oliidark, and the mischievous Athrae all moved back, giving the 20 or so young men who remained enough space to battle.

    Just as she was about to signal the start, Sebastian suddenly spoke again.

    "You had such a powerful breakthrough into the Sixth Star and you''re equally as arrogant. I hope that you don''t disappoint me."

    Sebastian''s words seemed like he was levying a challenge toward Leonel, but what he was really doing was reminding everyone of the forcefulness of Leonel''s breakthrough.

    At that moment, a realization came over the other young men. They had felt that their odds were relatively equal before, but remembering what had happened the last couple weeks, they felt that they had almost missed something huge.

    Their greatest threat might very well be this young man they knew so little about.

    On top of that, Mistreses Oliidark had actually tolerated his disrespect and didn''t say anything! With the Mistress'' temper, they would have been skinned alive for less.

    Suddenly, several intents locked onto Leonel.

    Mistress Oliidark didn''t say a word, but her gaze flickered with amusement. She still expected Leonel to win, but making him work harder wasn''t a bad result either. He just might restrain himself a bit.

    "Begin."

    Her voice descended as she signaled the start of the battle. However, what they didn''t notice until this moment was that Leonel''s hands were still lazily in his pockets, a light smile on his face.

    Even as a wave of young men suddenly surged toward him, he only light raised his foot and pressed it down.

    At that moment, a wave of blue energy rippled out like a tsunami.

    When it cleared, the only one who remained standing was Leonel.

    Well, there were others standing as wellбн

    About 20 ice statues worth.

 Chapter 1534 Bronze

    Leonel sat in silence, his legs crossed and his mind focused as though he relished in an awkward atmosphere.

    Currently, the group was on the back of an enormous flying bird, likely the largest creature that Leonel had ever seen with a wingspan of at least 50 meters. There were three boxes strapped to the back of this bird in a line down its spine and one of these boxes was shared by Leonel, Slaton and Sebastian.

    Of his interactions with these people, all of them had been hostile.

    First he had a clash with Slaton about the unicorn demon corpse. And then there was the clash with Sebastian twice regarding things that were quite frankly small matters in Leonel''s eyes.

    Slaton was an odd one. He continued to smile and hum as though nothing at all had happened. He had even pleasantly chatted with Leonel earlier as though he couldn''t remember a thing. Though, to his surprise, Leonel seemed able to smile and talk as though nothing at all had happened as well, something that was quite rare among youths his age that he had met.

    The one who was truly making the atmosphere "awkward" was Sebastian whose temper was nowhere near as amiable. He seemed to want to swallow Leonel alive, but unfortunately there wasn''t much he could do at all.

    If he kill Leonel, he wouldn''t just be fulfilling his wish, but he would be offending Mistress Oliidark. If the Oliidark family showed up without three seeds, what would the people say? The prestige of a family was far too important, it saved them from a lot of the infighting that might happen.

    Even if those that challenged you were ants and easily dealt with, if you constantly had to deal with such things again and again and again, then it would eventually wear down your resources as a family.

    As such, prestige and looking impregnable, at least from the outside, was very important. It saved the family experts, resources and time. This way, you could put everything toward the real threats.

    Sebastian was an obedient dog of the Oliidark''s, how could he not place their wellbeing first?

    Right this moment, though, Leonel didn''t care much about Sebastian''s state of might. He was more so thinking about the size of this bird. Just how could such a large creature exist?

    There were too many secrets about this world that he still didn''t understand. He had been in a Mythological Zone before, and though it took some liberties with the creation of its own version of the demon race, it was nothing like this.

    Of course, the Camelot Zone had been much lower class and level, but Leonel wasn''t sure if this was enough to explain things.

    He had met Sixth Dimensional creatures before, he had even fought them. They were still the size of normal animals, give or two a few meters. But dozens of meters like this? That was too exaggerated.

    "Leonel, if you don''t mind me asking, what''s your Force Star?" Slaton''s eyes shone as he looked toward Leonel. "Mine is related to Water Force as well so we''re somewhat destined in that regard. My Force Star is the Sacred Water Star."

    Force Star was the term people in this world used to refer to their affinities. Usually, if they had a strong affinity for an element, it would be born within their Stars at birth, thus the reason for the name.

    The Sacred Water Star, or rather Sacred Water Force, was a Water and Light Force fusion. It wasn''t a True State Force, but it couldn''t be considered bad as well.

    It was ranked about similarly to the Luxnix family''s Snow Force on the Light Force rankings, and on the Water Force rankings, it was ranked around the 60''s to 70''s. It was quite good, but nowhere near the best.

    Leonel smiled. If he were to tell the truth, he would say Void Star Force, but he obviously couldn''t do that. Of course, this wouldn''t exactly be the truth either since he had forced this Force Star into existence.

    Instead, Leonel replied: "Dark Ice."

    Slaton''s brows jumped, this wasn''t because Leonel''s Force Star was powerful, but rather because it was the direct opposite. Dark Ice Force combined Water Force and Dark Force, which was nice. But it was nowhere near top 100 in Dark Forces and it didn''t crack the top 100 in Water Force either.

    This made sense, of course. The Dark Ice Ore that Leonel used to form the foundation for this was a Fifth Dimensional Ore, it was only made somewhat more powerful by Leonel fusing it with Evolution Ores.

    Since it could naturally exist in a Fifth Dimensional State, its power was definitely lacking.

    This was why Slaton was so shocked. How could such a low level Force possibly create such a strong effect? Slaton couldn''t help but inwardly narrow his eyes. Was Leonel lying to him? Or was he telling the truth and had other secrets?

    Sebastian snorted at that moment, clearly taking the opportunity to look down on Leonel. Even if he had thought of what Slaton had, so what? It made him feel better to do things like this.

    What these two didn''t know was that any Force in a large enough quantity and concentration could have miraculous effects. Under the boost given to his Water Force affinity by his two newly formed Stars, the amount of Dark Ice Force Leonel could use was astronomical. Weak or not, when it was concentrated to a point, even a powerful enemy would suffer.

    At that moment, the three felt the bird descending with great speed. Just minutes later, it touched the ground, jolting the box carriage they sat in.

    By a tacit agreement, the three stood all at once, stepping out to be hit with a wall of noise. All sorts of creatures and people could be found around, each seemingly from another Middle Class power and many with strengths that made even Sebastian''s brow furrow.

    Up ahead, there was a city with enormous bronze walls that towered hundreds of meters into the sky. It almost felt as though a giant had dropped a brass ring into an ant colony, and now they were all forced to look up at it in awe.

    There was no doubt that this was their destination, the location even a bird with a 50 meter wingspan hadn''t dared fly into.

 Chapter 1535 Fardan

    Leonel''s eyes sparkled. The last time he had felt this level of awe was when he faced the gates of the Void Palace. Though, he could only remember feeling it four times in his lifetime.

    The first time was when he faced the walls of Valiant City. The second time was when he saw the Capital of Earth. The third time was when he laid eyes on the Vital Star of the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial. And the final was, of course, when he saw the Void Palace.

    Leonel had seen a lot by now and it took greater and greater feats to shock him, but this definitely met the necessary criteria.

    "Maltalia? Hoho, I didn''t expect that your Oliidark family would actually show its face."

    A chuckling hoarse feminine voice caught Leonel''s attention, but he didn''t bother to look over. It was clear that this person had ill-will for the Oliidark family, or maybe there was a rivalry of sorts, but Leonel didn''t care about the face or prestige of the Oliidark family, and he certainly wouldn''t be stepping in to help them protect it.

    Regardless of Leonel''s reaction, though, an older woman sauntered over, wearing a dress that was maybe much tooбн modern for her age. It clung to her chest, hips and waist, leading down to a slit that revealed her right leg and the tall heels she was wearing.

    Though, despite the fact her style of dress didn''t quite match her age, one had to admit that she was still quite the beauty all things considered. Despite the clearly venomous words she was speaking, her smile was still elegant and refined as three youths followed to her back.

    While Leonel didn''t pay much attention to the interaction, he did take a look at where they had come from. However when he didn''t find anything of interest outside of another oversized beast, he turned back. If it wasn''t for the fact he needed to be registered with the Oliidark family, he would have long since left.

    Mistress Oliidark, or rather, Maltalia, turned an indifferent gaze over. However, her granddaughter was just as disappointing as usual. Unable to hide her emotions, Athrae couldn''t help but snarl when she saw who was coming over, her every reaction being written on her sleeve.

    The truth was that the departure of her grandfather and father was related to these people. While fighting against the demons was a burden everyone shared, it was just the nature of humans to look out for their own interests first.

    They had their own families to protect, their own lands, their own resources. They wouldn''t easily leave their territory unless they were forced to.

    Such a thing was usually decided on a rotation or by a lottery where the winner was actually the loser. In addition to this, there were, of course, some placements that were better than others.

    Years ago, it was under the machination of this Fardan family that the two pillars of the Oliidark family were shipped away to a High Class Bubble that was being overrun. Since then, they hadn''t been heard from. The interference between clashing points in space and Bubbles made it difficult to communicate over long distances, especially when it was a separation between a large divide like Middle and High Class.

    The only family that didn''t seem to have any limits on their communication at all were the Four Great Families.

    Qivyre Fardan chuckled when she saw Athrae''s reaction, a girl to her back looking toward the useless heiress with a look of clear derision. Words probably couldn''t explain how much she looked down upon this flower in a vase.

    "We don''t welcome you here, you may leave."

    Mistress Oliidark had, at first, planned to display nonchalance and indifference, but her granddaughter''s reaction made keeping that fa?ade difficult. As such, she could only calmly say these words. However, it was as though Mistress Fardan hadn''t heard them at all.

    "Maltalia, I see you''ve come within quite a few weeks. I assume that your precious granddaughter is participating?"

    Athrae''s expression wavered with some apprehension. Not only did she know that the answer was no, but she actually showed a hint of fear at the prospect. It was hard to imagine that there could be a woman more useless.

    "Who is participating for my Oliidark family has nothing to do with you."

    Mistress Oliidark was beginning to lose her patience, but Mistress Fardan only continued to laugh lightly.

    "So these boys? I remember that your family''s men didn''t have strong seeds so they could only birth weak women, so these must be the new recruits you''ve scrounged up? A few more impotent orphans to birth more weak women for your family? How long do you think that cycle can continue?"

    Mistress Oliidark''s expression darkened.

    Sebastian looked as though his head was about to fly from his shoulders when he heard this, but Slaton continued to smile without a word. He didn''t seem to be capable of reacting with anything else.

    At that moment, Leonel yawned.

    "Are we going to stand here all day? This conversation is boring."

    For maybe the first time, Mistress Oliidark felt grateful for words Leonel had spoken.

    "Boring, indeed," she said lightly. "You three enter the city now, the hopes of the Oliidark family will be on your shoulders."

    Qivyre seemed to finally shift from her baseline, her gaze shifting toward Leonel. But he never looked at her from start to finish.

    The young heiress of the Fardan family, Valra, narrowed her eyes when she looked at Leonel, but by that point, he and the others were already moving toward the city. At the same time, Mistress Oliidark, her granddaughter and the elders had already eagerly returned to the large bird, prepared to leave for a new destination.

    "Valra."

    "Yes, grandmother!"

    "Kill the three of them when there''s an opportunity. You two, support her."

    "Yes, Mistress!"

    Qivyre''s eyes narrowed. There was something odd about that boy. It was best to kill him while he was still in the beginning stages of the Sixth Star. As for the other two, the hate between the Fardan and Oliidarks was already irreconcilable. It was best to cripple their next generation entirely.

 Chapter 1536 Shock And Silence

    The inside of the city was unlike what Leonel had expected. Or, it was more accurate to say that this so-called gathering was completely unlike what he expected.

    He could sense several Force Arts in the surroundings designed purely for monitoring. This meant that they were being watched from all sides. Leonel concluded that since Mistress Oliidark and the others hadn''t followed them into the city, they were using this method instead to check for progress.

    Leonel had expected a tournament of some sort, but what he got instead was probably akin to hell on earth.

    When they entered the city, they found themselves enveloped by a bubble of energy. All around them was what looked like a normal city with stores, residences and even sky rises. However, the issue was that all of these things were surrounded by demons.

    Every group that entered the city was given a protective bubble of energy and could only watch in horror as large numbers of demons tried to scratch and claw at them, only to fail. It suddenly became very obvious that this protective bubble and the tall city walls didn''t exist to protect those from the outside from coming in. Rather, it was the exact opposite. They were designed to keep these demons in.

    In fact, when Leonel turned back, he couldn''t even see the city walls any longer. Just like when he had entered the demon world, it was as though he had entered an all new space completely separate from the outside world.

    At that moment, an automated message played in Leonel''s mind explaining the proceedings. Then, with an unceremonious POP! his energy bubble vanished and he was dropped into a sea of demons.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow as several demons swept at him. They were clearly only Low Class Demons and didn''t pose much of a threat to him, but there were several others around Leonel who were instantly overwhelmed, being unceremoniously shredded to pieces.

    Leonel dodged out of the way of a claw and stepped forward at the same time. His arm shot forward parallel to the arm of a wolf man demon and his fingers tapped its forehead.

    In one moment, the wolf man was just fine, but in the next, its head was shredded to pieces. It was as though Leonel didn''t need to try to kill Low Class demons in the slightest.

    The strongest demon Leonel had faced until this point was the unicorn demon and it was a middle Low Class Demon. Back then, he had been forced to use 30% of strength. And, against the lower Low Class Demons, he probably had to use 10%.

    Now, against the lower Low Class Demon, he didn''t even have to bring out his spear, let alone use so much strength.

    According to the voice that Leonel had just heard, the city was actually divided into Bubble Classes. Because they were Middle Class participants, they were directly transported to the Middle Class region.

    This city was filled with nothing but participants and demons were their currency. Only by killing demons could they buy safety, rest, food and resources. In addition, if they performed extremely well, rather than just making enough to survive until the time period, they could exchange exactly this "currency" they had made for special prizes that would bolster their strength.

    The names of the participants would be ranked on a leaderboard and the cities with the best performing triplet teams would gain prizes directly from the Four Great Families. These were the rewards the cities and the families that controlled them were most looking forward to.

    These prizes would include relief from the Great Families, immunity from lottery draws to be drafted to needed areas, and a larger quota of resources for the next coming years.

    It was the first time that the Four Great Families were doing such a thing, but even if it was the first time, it made those hopefuls no less wanting.

    It was no wonder Mistress Oliidark was willing to swallow her grievances and put forward the best candidates. If she could bring her husband and son-in-law back home, then suffering a small bit of disrespect from Leonel wasn''t a big deal at all.

    Leonel''s eyes glowed. As expected, this was a great opportunity.

    The prizes the cities would get weren''t intriguing to him. After all, they were designed to only be useful to large powers to begin with.

    The prizes that he could earn himself by using and spending his Demon Points was a different matter entirely.

    Leonel completely ignored Slaton and Sebastian, not even trying to team up with them like the other groups had. He had no interest in such things, they would only drag him down. In addition, there was very clearly a hidden rule here that most would be eyeing.

    Killing demons would get your Demon Pointsбн But so would killing those with the Demon Points to begin with.

    Leonel had no way of knowing what Mistress Oliidark had secretly whispered into their ears, but he had no plans to give his back to these people to protect. Leonel didn''t believe for an instant that Mistress Oliidark had left him in the dark about the rules by accident.

    Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain flourished to life, shredding apart every demon that stepped without five meters of him. His pace of killing was mind numbing. In just a few seconds, he had already left those that had spawned with him in the dust.

    There was something else about these rules that greatly intrigued Leonel as his ranking quickly shot up.

    It emphasized that he had been spawned into the Middle Class region. Did that mean that there was a chance to exchange his Demon Points to enter a higher region? And if there was, he had a feeling that there would be even better prizes to exchange for thereбн

    бн

    In a location high in the sky, floating in a cloud above, a gathering of elders, family heads and organization heads came together. Several leaderboards could be seen and various groups found their own and intently focused on it.

    BEst

    On the side, several screens of live action played, but they mostly focused on high rankers or interesting life and death situations.

    When the new arrivals came, without pause, they all moved forward to greet the same man sitting high on a throne.

    He had a head of vibrant blue hair and just as blue eyes, his aura wafting outward in suffocating waves. Everything about his air screams majestic and mighty, not to mention impregnable.

    Mistress Oliidark bowed lowly and paid her respects. After a few seconds she raised her head and turned away. The man never acknowledged any of them, but this was already to be expected.

    What wasn''t expected, though, was that if Leonel was here he would have been shocked and silent. His mind would spin, unable to quite compute what he was seeing.

    Whether it was the hair, the eyes, even down the exact aura, this man was a perfect replica. It was impossible for it to be a coincidence. But the question wasбн

    What was a member of the Adurna family of Earth doing in a Mythological Zone like this?

 Chapter 1537 Next Victim

    There were over 30 000 participants in the Middle Class Sector from over 10 000 cities, families and organizations. Maybe it was because the Great Families didn''t care for the lower classes all that much or maybe they just couldn''t be bothered to care about perfect fairness, but Leonel and the others had only entered after already about 80% of the coming participants had done so.

    Even so, in just a few seconds, Leonel leapt through thousands of ranks from lower than 32 000, all the way up to 19 000. He wasn''t the first to have such an enormous leap among the Middle Classes, but this was still large enough of a leap to cause one of the many monitors to suddenly focus on him.

    Mistress Oliidark and the others who were paying a great amount of attention to the Middle Class immediately spotted this. But when they saw that Leonel was alone unlike most of the others, their expressions immediately became ugly.

    This was the Middle Class Sector, even though the front was loaded with Lower Class Demons, it wouldn''t remain like this for long. Very quickly, Leonel would run into middle Lower Class Demons and higher. Eventually, true Middle Class Demons would appear and a single group wouldn''t be enough.

    Mistress Oliidark''s face went completely dark.

    She knew why Leonel had done this. He didn''t trust Sebastian or Slaton. It wasn''t that she hadn''t thought of this possibility, but she thought that in choosing between a potential risk to his life and a certain death, Leonel would choose the former. Anyone would choose the former.

    It seemed, though, that she had underestimated Leonel''s stubbornness.

    Things would still be fine if only Leonel died, but now that he was gone it left the other two vulnerable. It was very likely that because of one Leonel, her whole Oliidark family would be ruined.

    бн

    Back in the Sector, Sebastian and Slaton were already gritting their teeth, even the usually calm and smiling Slaton had a gaze that dimmed a considerable amount. They had tried to call out to Leonel, but it was as though he hadn''t heard a single word they said.

    The unfortunate truth was that Leonel was right to directly ignore them. Mistress Oliidark had already informed them that once the events died down and they secured a safe house, that they were to find a chance to directly kill Leonel and take his point. In fact, Slaton had put in a little extra effort to get closer to Leonel as well during the ride here.

    However, neither expected that Leonel would disregard his own safety to spite them. It was like Leonel was dragging them toward death. If he was going to die, then they could all die together.

    Sebastian and Slaton both turned serious as they felt a subtle trio of gazes land on them. They didn''t need to look over to know that it was the Fardan family participants.

    The two were still talents in their own rights and they immediately understood the situation they were in. They didn''t even dare to allow the Fardans to realize they had noticed their intent, feigning ignorance. It was best to remain as far away from open hostility until they could settle down.

    Their gazes flashed with a cold light as they looked off toward where Leonel had disappeared before buckling down and fending off the wave of demons. They weren''t as foolish as Leonel, they knew how important it was to conserve their strength.

    бн

    Leonel shot through the demons, his Spear Force shredding everything in its path. He could already guess what all of them were thinking, but he didn''t mind it. In fact, he found it a bit amusing.

    Stamina? With how well his Vital Stars and Dream Force Stars worked now, he would probably grow bored of even a life and death struggle before his stamina gave way.

    Plus, even if that wasn''t the case, he was hardly using any of his strength right now, which also meant that Mistress Oliidark''s worries about Middle Class demons would also fall on deaf ears.

    Leonel''s goal wasn''t even this place. If the Middle Class Sector didn''t have what he needed, he would kill enough demons to exchange a pass to enter the High Class Sector. If that wasn''t enough, he would enter the Human Class Sector.

    As far as he was concerned, there was nothing here that could threaten him. At the same time, this place was also the opportunity he needed to finish the final stretch of the two weeks that remained of his plans ahead of schedule, so he didn''t even care much about revealing a bit more of his strength either.

    Regardless, after he left this place, he wouldn''t be returning to the Oliidark family.

    ''1 point per five lower Low Class demons, 1 per two middle Low Class demons and 1 per higher Low Class demon. The numbers could get annoying, it would be better to target Middle Class Demons.''

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    There was a huge jump for Middle Class Demons, 10 Demon Points for lower, 100 for middle, and 1000 for higher. That was where the big money was and it was also probably why Leonel''s jump in rankings was so slow after he crossed below the 20 000 mark.

    "Ah, that''s where you''ve been hiding."

    A smile spread across Leonel''s face as he spotted his first Middle Class Demon.

    Those that had been watching in a cloud above the city wore weird expressions. Many who had a relationship with the Oliidark family had already made the connection since the name Leonel Oliidark was on display for all to see.

    Those who had good relationships with the family looked toward the Mistress with pitying expressions, but many more laughed and sneered. Didn''t it show a lack of foresight to allow such a youth to participate in such an important event?

    But it wasn''t long before those smiles froze.

    Leonel shot toward the low Middle Class Demon like a bulldozer. He didn''t even levy an attack, just letting his Absolute Spear Domain rip it apart.

    Flesh worth its weight in gold fell to the ground in a rain but Leonel didn''t seem to care about it in the slightest.

    He shot forward, looking for his next victim as though nothing had happened.

 Chapter 1538 Sky Rises

    Mistress Oliidark stood frozen.

    After a long while, she released a self deprecating laugh. She realized right then that one way or another, the Oliidark family was finished. She had underestimated Leonel.

    With this level of talent, how could the Morales family not have been at least a High Class family? In that case, so long as Leonel rose high enough, he would catch the attention of the enemies that had destroyed it. Once they saw the name Oliidark, even if they didn''t act now, in the future her family would find itself facing an unknown behemoth.

    Even if by some miracle Leonel passed under the radar, over-performing to this extent would net him too much power. With Leonel''s personality, he would hesitate to betray them and come back in the future for revenge.

    And, to make matters even worse, even if Leonel was still overestimating himself and he ended up dying, Sebastian and Slaton weren''t far from following in his footsteps.

    One way or another, no matter how she flipped and analyzed it, they were finished.

    бн

    Leonel zipped around, finding every Middle Class demon he could and shredding them to pieces.

    His ranking continued to shoot up by large strides, from 19 000 to 15 000, and then from 15 000 to 12 000. It had only been several minutes since he entered, but he had already accumulated over 300 Demon Points.

    ''This city is so large, it feels like a world of its own. Before I make any other moves, I should check these shops to see what''s going on.''

    Leonel chose a random shop, blasted the demons around away and tried to enter.

    Immediately, he was greeted with a message. It told him the level of the shop, the entry fee, and how long he could stay inside.

    This was the lowest level shop, but it still cost 3 Demon Points just to enter. You would have to kill 15 low Lower Class Demons just for the right to enter a low level shop for 15 minutes. It could be said that this was definitely a hell on earth.

    If Leonel had entered this place before entering the Sixth Dimension, he would definitely be struggling with these requirements. It required so much just to enter, so how much would the things inside cost?

    The first shop Leonel entered was actually an exchange. It could convert demon corpses into Force Pills that could have a myriad of effects. Some gave temporary boosts in strength, some healed injuries, and some could have small but permanent effects on your power.

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    This was just the lowest level shop, so it could only do this for Low Class demons.

    Leonel exited the shop after he was done and continued on his killing spree until he found another to enter, checking them all one by one.

    As he entered these shops, Leonel''s rank didn''t fall. If one had to choose between spending their points or hoarding them, there wouldn''t be much of a benefit to families. Instead, spent points and hoarded points split into two categories. At the end of the event, hoarded points would be increased by 50% while spent points would be worth the same. That was the only incentive to hoard your points.

    That said, most would choose to spend when they had a chance in the beginning to strengthen themselves as much as possible, and then during the final days go all out to gather as many hoarded points as possible.

    After an analysis, Leonel split the shop into several categories.

    The first shop was a conversion type shop, essentially helping one to gain even more benefits from their demon hunting. The second shop type was the weapon shop, the third was the technique shop, the fourth was resource shops and the final was the healing shop.

    These were all the lowest class, though. As Leonel moved up, he finally crossed a threshold. Not only were there more Middle Class demons, but this was the point where residence, or safe houses, appeared.

    The lowest level of safe house only allowed you to enter and rest for a certain period of time. The higher the class, the more benefits and amenities there were. Many provided food, at a higher level they doubled as healing shops, and at the highest, they even came with large concentrations of Force that allowed you to increase your strength.

    This final level, though, was only left to the sky rises in the distance, which would be considered Leonel''s main goal.

    The resource shops that Leonel had seen until now didn''t have anything that moved them. They had low class herbs and ores, but nothing on the list of things Leonel needed.

    The last chance Leonel had were the sky rises. If they didn''t have it, he would definitely need to buckle down and gather the 100 000 Demon Points he would need to enter the High Class.

    By the time Leonel made it, he had already entered the top 1000, forcing the Middle Class leaders into a state of numbness as they stared ahead. However, the higher he climbed, the more despair Mistress Oliidark felt.

    She sank into her seat, her face a ghastly sheen of white and her wrinkled hands trembling.

    A lack of stamina? Even after an hour Leonel hadn''t sweat even a single bead.

    Worry about Middle Class demons? Shouldn''t they be worried about him?

    Everything from earlier seemed so laughable.

    бн

    Leonel shot into the first sky rise, paying the 1000 Demon Point fee and gaining a day-long entry. He looked around, finding several gazes suddenly landing on him. The elite of the Middle Class cities were surprised by a new entry, especially since they didn''t recognize who he was.

    But Leonel didn''t care for them even a bit. He was on a time crunch. This event wouldn''t last forever, so he had to do his best with the time he had.

    Without hesitation, he entered the first shop, his gaze sharpening as he scanned the items one by one.

 Chapter 1539 Top Prize

    The items here were most definitely better than what he could find outside and the refinement shops could refine even High Class demons, not that you''d find any here. But the breathing room still allowed for the Force Pills you received in return to be of higher quality and greater yield.

    Leonel was absolutely certain that this was at least a Gold Grade Zone, or else there wouldn''t be so many powerful individuals here. So, he was also certain that he could take things out as well even if it wasn''t a Unique Zoneбкnot that he was quite certain of this either. As such, Leonel wasn''t just on the look out for the materials he needed, but he was also looking for things that might be of interest to him.

    In a Mythological Zone like this one, not only were there bound to be a new magic system, but there would also be new technologies the real world wouldn''t have. For example, Camelot had used crystal balls to store and exchange information. Although the Void Palace had something similar with their pendants, it still wasn''t exactly the same.

    ? Plus, it also had to be considered that Camelot''s Zone was very low level compared to the Void Palace. The fact they could form even a similar technology was highly impressive. And, it confirmed that a high level Zone like this one would most definitely have something even more impressive, Leonel just needed to find it.

    Leonel chose to ignore the refinement shops for now as demons of this level weren''t very useful to him. He had already simulated it, and his body was much too powerful to benefit even from these higher yield Force Pills. It would likely require one refined from the body of a Human Class Demon before there was any substantial change.

    Techniques also weren''t very interesting to Leonel. With his grandfather''s methods, he didn''t feel the need to focus on them, he could create his own with combinations of words. In addition, one day he''d be able to reclaim the Segmented Cube, so the techniques hidden within the Bronze Tablet would supplement his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor. This was all on top of the fact the Morales family had a copious amount of techniques perfect for their Lineage Factor, not to mention Leonel''s self created [Star Fusion.

    And of course, Leonel had learned his lesson. He no longer felt like it was right to bother with other Force Accumulation Techniques when [Dimensional Cleanse] had so many secrets that he had yet to tap into.

    So, Leonel focused mainly on resources. He was also in great need of a top class bow and arrows.

    Nothing on the first floor met his standards, so he immediately went up, paying the fees without batting an eye. If there was anything that he couldn''t afford, he would simply go back and earn the Demon Points he needed to exchange for it.

    The geniuses on the first floor couldn''t help but look toward one another. Even they felt the pinch shooting up like floors like that, that was why they had stayed on the first floor to rest. But Leonel had just entered and didn''t even hesitate.

    "Check the rankings. Are there any names you don''t recognize?"

    p1ease visi(t) nove1B(in).ne)t

    "There, at 671st. Ollidark? That family that can''t produce any heirs? That should be him but it''s not adding up. They shouldn''t have anyone that powerful."

    "671st is still manageable, it''s not enough to be worried about gaining the Top Prize. But judging by how he''s spending his points right now, he doesn''t seem to care very much at all. He''s likely very confident that he can climb much higher."

    "He came alone and he''s completely uninjured, he''s definitely a threat."

    The gazes of the geniuses grew serious.

    The Top Prize was something most of them were gunning for even though they were aware that it was unlikely for them to get it. The idea of one more competitor left them uneasy, especially since the context clues seemed to tell them that Leonel was formidable.

    Unlike the other prizes, landing the Top Prize would be a qualitative change for most here. In fact, it would be enough to go from a Middle Class genius to a High Class and maybe even Human Class depending on how compatible they were with it.

    The unfortunate part was that the Top Prize wasn''t guaranteed to be handed out. Even first place on the rankings wasn''t guaranteed to get it.

    In order to land the prize, what you needed wasn''t points, you needed a certain percentage of kills.

    Eventually, the demons would stop spawning once all participants were present and all of the Low Class demons had been cleared, a number would appear. For their Middle Class region, the only way to land the prize was to be personally responsible for the death of 10% of the demons! 10%!

    There were easily hundreds of thousands of demons in this city with them. The idea of killing such a number of Middle Class demons on your own was absolutely ridiculous!

    Many could only curse the Great Families in their hearts, but they still kept their thoughts to themselves. Who dared to speak ill of the Great Families in their world? Doing so was tantamount to suicide. The shield that protected them from Chaos Demons wasn''t to be blasphemed.

    Leonel didn''t have any idea about what the youths were talking about. Because Mistress Oliidark had kept him in the dark about a lot of things, he only really understood the basic rules that the automated voice had spoken into his mind.

    However he still quickly jumped from shop to shop until he found a decent enough bow that he exchanged 10 000 Demon Points for. This so-called "decent" bow was actually exceptionally powerful. It was just that after using the White Lion Bow, Leonel''s standards had shot up tremendously. Still, it was a great Silver Grade bow that came with the function of self created arrows with power based on how much Bow Force you poured into it.

    Under the confused gazes of the Oliidark family who thought him to be a spearman, he strapped it to his back and ascended to the penthouse floor of the sky rise. But what he found there left him absolutely frozen in shock.

    A Bronze Tablet, shimmering behind a protective formation, hovered in the airбн The words on its surface all too familiar to Leonel.

 Chapter 1540 Uncertainty

    ''A Union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve-Pointed Star.''

    There was only one place that Leonel had seen these words before: the Luxnix family''s Bronze Tablet. The very same Bronze Tablet that was responsible for the Luxnix family''s Lineage Factor, that was responsible for Leonel''s current Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor.

    However, this one was different. Completely different.

    It looked exactly the same. Had exactly the same words. Radiated the same colors. And yet Leonel had a nagging feeling in his heart that it wasn''t the same at all, that it couldn''t have been more different, that it was even directly opposite and opposing him.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled, his expression returning to its baseline focused state. He knew in his heart that he had already decided to go all out for this Tablet, even if it required delaying his movement toward the High Class. It was simply too important.

    If Leonel was correct about this feeling, this Tablet was the other half. It didn''t provide the side of Light, but ratherбн the side of Darkness. Leonel had no idea why it would be here or how this world was related to the Tablets, but the more he learned and found out, the more confused he became. Even his mind couldn''t wrap around exactly what was happening.

    Leonel chose the only method he could and finally read the introduction. But to his disappointment, it didn''t give him what he needed.

    However, after getting over his disappointment, Leonel''s eyes glowed.

    According to the introduction, what you saw here would be whatever you "needed the most". Apparently, what everyone saw here would be different to guarantee the quality and value of the top prize.

    The trouble was that after reading into the fine print, the prize wasn''t guaranteed to be useful to you either. If you say, already had the Lineage Factor, the limitations of a Middle Class Top Prize wouldn''t allow you to gain the Silver Tablet you needed to continue. This meant that the best you could hope for here was a Bronze Tablet.

    But it was also curious for another reason. This didn''t guarantee that Leonel would be able to use the Tablet either.

    From his conversations with Wise Star Order, Leonel had learned that just having the tablet wasn''t enough to gain the Lineage Factor within it. You had to have a certain level of affinity for it to begin with, only then would you be able to resonate with the tablet and gain what was within it.

    This was why you couldn''t just immediately leap to the greatest Lineage Factor within the Tablet, and it was also the reason why the likes of Myghell gained so much more than most others from meditating upon the Tablet as well. Resonance mattered.

    Leonel was a bit unfortunate in this respect.

    This system seemed to register that this Tablet would resonate well with him, but that was only because it happened to be a pair with its Light Force counterpart. And, since Leonel had already reached the peak of the Lineage Factors the Light Star Bronze Tablet could give him, the system wouldn''t give him that Bronze Tablet either.

    Leonel could make up for his lack of affinity with his Divine Armor, but he had already switched his aim once already, if he switched it again it would make his foundation shaky. And right now, Dark Force was only a secondary affinity he gained from his armor, making it even weaker.

    Leonel didn''t believe he had the resonance necessary to make this tablet react to him at all. But it didn''t matter, he definitely needed it.

    The Tablets were something that Leonel was endlessly fascinated by. He knew that there was a secret behind them that he''d only be able to reveal if he collected as many as possible.

    These Tablets could allow breakthrough, grant Lineage Factors, give Ability Indexes, and even resurrect the dead! If Leonel didn''t get to the bottom of this, he could forget about ever reaching the pinnacle of the Dimensional Verse. In fact, he had a feeling that the secret behind this was the very key to doing so.

    ''10%, huhбн I didn''t plan on going so hard in the Middle Class Sector, but it seems I''ll need to unleash a bit of carnage.''

    Leonel left the top floor and paid for residence. There was no point in going out right now. Very soon, the Low Class demons would all be killed and the final phase would begin. When that happened, he would have to act as fast as possible, finishing it all in a single sweep.

    Leonel found a bed and collapsed into it. He wasn''t very tired as he had hardly done much, but he closed his eyes anyway, allowing the dense Force to seep into his pores.

    What he didn''t know was that at that moment, he finally caught the attention of the Adurna family man sitting on the throne. The man had not shown any reaction whatsoever from start to finish, even while he watched the geniuses of the Fiend Class display power the likes of which would wipe out many of the city leaders here.

    However, when he saw the tablet that appeared for Leonel, his pupils constricted into pinholes.

    The man stood abruptly, vanishing with a speed none present could track.

    бн

    "Who allowed those the Twelve-Pointed Star Tablets into the selection process?"

    "Oh? You realized?"

    "How could I not realize? Someone has summoned them!"

    The voice on the other end suddenly perked up.

    "Really?"

    "Are you taking this as a joke?!"

    The voice paused for a moment before it spoke again.

    "This isn''t a decision that can be interfered with. Let alone the Twelve-Pointed Star, the Emperor''s Might Tablets have also been placed inside. The world has spent too long without these Star Forces and the Chaos Demons are growing more powerful. If they don''t appear again soon, the human race will be finished."

    "Do you take me for a fool?! Who do you think destroyed them in the first place?!"

    "Watch your tone. These aren''t things that should be said aloud, or even you will lose your head."

    The blue-haired man seemed to realize that he had said too much and he fell into silence, but his eyes still blazed with uncertainty.

 Chapter 1541 A Rain

    Seeing the silence of the blue-haired man, the voice grew gentler. It was clear that whoever this individual of the Adurna family was, his standing was not small, or else the voice wouldn''t even bother to show such courtesy.

    "This isn''t the only place we''ve allowed those Tablets to spread and we are currently heavily monitoring their activity. Some risks need to be taken. They were destroyed years ago because their threat was too enormous, but it''s precisely their strength that we need now."

    The blue-haired man opened his mouth to speak but he held back, shaking his head.

    It seemed that history had a tendency to repeat itself. Those families had been destroyed long ago, but it seemed that their families wanted to bring them back in a controlled fashion by spreading the Lineage Factors among the common folk.

    To the blue-haired man, even the geniuses of the Fiend Rank could only be considered as such. The chasm between them and the Great Families was simply far too large.

    However, if these common folk were given these Tablets, the change to their destiny would be far too great. Who was to say those families wouldn''t rise up again?

    Just thinking about it logically, it made no sense. If those who managed to get their hands on these Lineage Factors were restrained enough that they could be controlled and managed, how would they be able to help against Chaos Demons the Great Families couldn''t deal with?

    And, if they were unleashed enough to grow powerful enough to deal with matters the Great Families could not, then how would their four families keep control of them at all?

    No matter how you looked at it, it felt like they were dropping a stone on their own feet while seeing it through all the way and not even attempting to dodge. It was a recipe for disaster and the Four Great Families could be greatly shaken by this like they once had been in the past.

    "The higher ups aren''t fools, Avras. They know what they''re doing. The Dream Project will be the key to it all and the results are forthcoming. In as little as one to two hundred years, it will be completed and the result will be apparent for all to see."

    Avras'' brows jumped when he heard Dream Project. The words alone seemed to settle his nerves and his understanding grew by a large measure.

    As for what those two words represented, maybe only the highest echelon of this world knew.

    "You heard the snap that rang out that day just like I did, Avras. However, what you don''t know is that eighth barrier to the Chaos Bubble shattered along with it. We don''t have much time left, some chances have to be taken.

    "Now go and do your duty. Don''t allow anyone to see a crack in the shield of the Great Families."

    Avras shook from head to toe when he heard these words, but he clenched his jaw to stop himself, his gaze turning cold.

    Then, he turned and vanished, reappearing on his throne as though nothing had happened.

    бн

    Leonel had no idea what was happening and what the Tablets truly represented, but his eyes snapped open just the same. It seemed that it was time.

    He jumped up, his gaze already cold as he regained his absolute focus.

    He flashed out of his residence. This one trip had already cut down his Demon Points by more than half, but he didn''t seem to care. What he was about to do was going to give him more Demon Points than he could even spend in the Middle Class Zone.

    Leonel appeared on the first floor, several eyes focusing on him. However, he planned to ignore them all until his footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

    His gaze flashed, landing on a group of three young men in the corner. Their auras were so much more powerful than anyone else here that his gaze narrowed.

    Without even having to think, Leonel knew immediately what was happening. If even the likes of Sebastian and Slaton could have insider information, how could other, much higher class families, not?

    If Leonel ran one of these families and wanted to maximize his chances, he just might send some of his geniuses to forcefully snatch the quotas of some weaker families.

    It was clear that the Four Great Families were making some kind of push. For what, Leonel didn''t know. But it didn''t particularly matter to him, very soon, he would be leaving this place.

    Leonel suddenly grinned at the trio. The provocation in his expression was impossible to hide. He didn''t know why, but he suddenly couldn''t control the urge.

    His bow flew from his back and into his hand as though it had a mind of his own and he shot outside.

    The trio of young men''s eyes sharpened. They burst into action, shooting out in a whirl of Force. By the time they did so, their heads could only shoot up to find Leonel soaring through into the skies, his leaping strength beyond what they could fathom.

    A roar left Leonel''s lips, his Dream Force Stars whirling to life as his Internal Sight expanded so far that it nearly blanketed the entire city. At the same, his Bow Force spurred, blanketing the surroundings in a suffocating Sixth Dimensional aura. It suddenly felt to everyone in the city that no matter where they tried to hide, Leonel''s arrow would strike true.

    Leonel landed on the top of the highest sky rise, pulling his bowstring taut. The strength flooding through his body was unlike anything he had experienced before. This was the first time he would let loose a bit since he stepped foot into the Sixth Dimension. But the feeling of being able to use the full power of his Bow Force without restraint was what truly made him feel like he was walking on air.

    Those watching were soon to witness something they could never fathom.

    A violet tsunami of Enlightened Bow Force gathered, forming an arrow so resplendent that it shone like the sun and so powerful it forced the air to quake.

    Leonel''s stance suddenly shifted, pointing his bow straight up before releasing.

    Like a flashbang, the arrow reached its high point before exploding, a rain of thousands of arrows falling down like a rain.

    One by one, just as many Middle Class demons were pierced through.

 Chapter 1542 All

    Leonel''s Bow Force seemed to have a life of its own, treating the lives of Middle Class demons as though they were made up of nothing more than wet tissue paper.

    The feeling of finally being able to unleash his Bow Force without the support of external items made Leonel feel as though he was floating on a cloud. Every time he pulled his bowstring back, his grin grew wider and the light in his eyes only seemed to grow brighter.

    The eyes of the trio that had followed after him went wide and the elders that were watching fell into a deep silence. This was still just the Middle Class, but the power Leonel was displaying was clearly well beyond that.

    The challenge for the Top Prize wasn''t meant to be cleared so easily. In fact, there was no guarantee that it would be claimed at all. If there was no one worthy, then the prize would simply return to the Great Families. It was that simple.

    However, at the pace Leonel was going, it looked as though he might succeed in as little as ten minutes. And there was no one more clear about this than the youths below.

    The trio grit their teeth.

    "Stop him! We''ll have to kill him first, then secure the top prize."

    The moment one of them spoke what was already on their minds, they sprung into action, a flurry of lightning erupting around them.

    Leonel noticed their movement immediately, but he still launched two more shots into the air, slaughtering hundreds more.

    At that moment, the trio appeared around him in a triangular formation, arcs of lightning connecting them.

    They pressed their hands together, their eyes sparking with a golden light as they pushed out, three lightning lances forming around Leonel all at once.

    This formation was something that they had prepared to deal with large amounts of Middle Class demons all at once. In fact, using this lightning would expose their true identities as being descents of the High Class organization, the Lightning Lance Pavilion. However, it was clear that they didn''t care. An open secret was still a secret. Everything had already been perfectly calculated.

    However, just when they thought they could skewer Leonel from three sides, his Absolute Spear Domain appeared, shredding their lightning lances to pieces. It treated one of their most powerful attacks as though they were paper thin.

    Leonel''s hair danced in the air, a cool smile on his face. He didn''t even deem it necessary to use his Ability Index on these people. Right this moment, he just wanted a bit of fun.

    His bow flashed, seemingly appearing on his back as though it had a mind on his own.

    With his free hand, he pierced forward with two fingers toward one of them. The moment his second hand recovered from putting his bow away, it too pierced forward. But the speed was so fast that it felt as though they had both acted simultaneously.

    Swift.

    The golden lines of Spear Force appeared before two of the trio in the blink of an eye. Their eyes could only widen, their hearts leaping into their throats.

    "Lightning Armor!"

    The two roared out simultaneously, one blue armor and another colored more violet appearing.

    BANG! BANG!

    The two shot backward and off the roof of the sky rise, crashing into opposing buildings without the ability to stop themselves.

    Leonel''s body had already completed a half spin before he even saw his attacks land, gathering the momentum into a strong punch that caused the air to pop.

    The third member of the trio could only react in the very same way, his armor slightly tinged red. But he was sent flying backward just as easily. Leonel''s body was so powerful that just the wind pressure of his strike alone made him cough up a mouthful of blood, and the Force powering it nearly shattered his body apart.

    Leonel paused for a moment as the three shot through the city, their bodies wreaking havoc.

    Lightning Armor? The name wasn''t very unique and he had seen similar techniques before. But it felt so similar to his own Divine Armor. Of course, it didn''t use Earth Force. But everything from the Runes to the converging system to form an armor seemed all too similar. In fact, each of them even had a slightly different tinge or color, showing that they could follow their own paths just like he could.

    ''бн Interestingбн'' Leonel smiled.

    His bow appeared in his hand once again, his arrows becoming even faster. The terror he rained made it look like he was the demon rather than the other way around. He relished in it, a feeling unleashing in his heart that tinged his irises red.

    His white Bow Force seemed to become tinged by the crimson energy as well, becoming more forceful and more powerful.

    Every time one landed, it would be as though a landmine had imploded within their. Head would be shredded apart like watermelon, chests would be split open, and entire limbs and shoulders would vanish into a swirl of crimson, never to reform themselves again.

    The trios looked up, shattered glass, metal, brick and stone laying around them.

    Their gazes flashed with rage. A mere Middle Class genius had done this to them? The humiliation was more than they could stomach.

    However, they had been given a mission by their organization. The most powerful three of them had, of course, been sent to the High Class Sector. The three of them could be considered to be fourth through sixth in ranking. But even with that being the case, they were supposed to have this victory guaranteed. They couldn''t allow this to happen.

    "ALL OF YOU!" one of them roared. "Attack together now or else we''ll personally kill you all!"

    The roar shook the spectators awake, even those that were still struggling to make it toward the center of the city.

    When the Fardans, along with Sebastian and Slaton, saw who the target was, their eyes flashed and they shot forward along with everyone else.

 Chapter 1543 Lrreconcilable

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he drew his bowstring back again. He didn''t feel threatened. He could take these people out with just a bit more effort than he took out the Middle Class demons. The problem was that he knew he was being monitored and if he slaughtered all the geniuses of these organizations and families, leaving this place would be difficult.

    Leonel had already learned enough about these sorts of words to know that fairness and logic was only a thing you could demand when you had powerful enough backing.

    Back in the Milky Way, no one knew what kind of backing he had, so he faced trouble everywhere he went. The Luxnix family had underestimated the kind of power his father held, so he had suffered at their hands as a baby. It wasn''t until he reached the Void Palace where everyone knew who he was that he received the treatment someone of his stature should.

    Now he was in a completely different world, one that had never heard of the Morales name and seemed even more powerful than the world he knew even if they somehow had. These individuals weren''t people he could afford to lightly offend without worrying about the consequences.

    ''бн Consider yourselves lucky,'' Leonel thought to himself.

    His back tightened again, his bowstring being pulled taut only to release another flurry of arrows.

    Leonel knew that it wasn''t just about the Top Prize. Most of these people knew that they couldn''t get it.

    The first issue was fear of the Lightning Lance Pavilion trio. These people were even more familiar with this world than Leonel was, so they likely knew that there were such people hidden in the shadows, breaking the rules.

    The second was Leonel''s point. Getting 10% was one matter, but the point total that would entail was beyond their wildest imaginations. In just a few moments, Leonel had already shot up to first place and the gap he was putting between himself and everyone else only seemed to be increasing by leaps and bounds.

    A tide of geniuses surged toward Leonel along with demons. Demons, especially in the Middle Class, already had intelligence of their own. They could tell who the biggest threat was here and they didn''t even bother to attack anyone else as they shot for Leonel.

    At that moment, the trio finally rose to their feet, roaring.

    Three total Stars appeared. The geniuses of the Middle Class couldn''t help but gawk when they saw this.

    Star Manifestation! These three could actually manifest their Stars into the real world!

    Much like their armors, one was sparking with red lightning, another with blue and the last with violet. They all had their own Force Stars, and with their appearances, their strength shot to another level, large waves of Force surging toward them.

    They shot forward, coming for Leonel with their minds on a singular focus: to kill.

    Leonel made it easy on them, not moving a single inch as they approached. He continued to kill demons in large hoards, his Bow Force seemingly endless and relentless as the crimson in his irises smoldered with a hidden heat.

    Leonel held his bow in one hand, his right palm flipping over to reveal a black spear wreathed in chains.

    His gaze flashed, his foot took a strong step forward as he pierced outward.

    The sound and tearing paper sounds as the wind split apart, a dazzling golden light streaking across the skies and appeared before the young man with a violet Star hovering to his back.

    The young man was ready, a large amount of violet lightning forming around his fist until he had suddenly forward an enormous violet lance which had dancing runes on its surface.

    The collision was enormous. However, while his momentum stopped, he wasn''t sent flying backward again, his feet leaving heavy cracks in the concrete as he stomped backward to stop himself.

    Leonel pierced out twice more, his spear, his powerful actions which easily swept across hundreds of meters seeming to be as casual as breathing.

    Right at the moment, like the breath of a reaper, a shadow appeared to his back. The silhouette was lithe and slender, not to mention explosive and powerful. It was no doubt a woman, and a well trained assassin at that.

    However, Leonel only sidestepped once, his spear vanishing from his hand as his claw shot out. Leonel hardly completed his turn when he felt soft flesh collide solidly with his palm, the bobbing of a throat and strained breathing traveling up his arm.

    When he finally looked, he found that his hand was clamped around the throat of a young woman he recognized, the young heiress of the Fardan family. But when he looked at her, he didn''t seem to feel like she was anything special at all. This young woman was most definitely not used to being stared at in such an indifferent way, but it made her body tense up, all her skills and training vanishing.

    It felt to her that Leonel wasn''t even worried about what she could or might do. All of her efforts were worthless, and would also be worthless. Even if she suddenly grew ten times more powerful, it would still be worthless.

    Leonel squeezed lightly. But what was light to him made Valra feel as though her spine was about to snap.

    "Why even bother to do something so useless?"

    Leonel tossed her off the side of the building, her body colliding with the two remaining hidden members of the Fardan family and causing all three to cough up several mouthfuls of blood.

    "And you two especiallyбн I won''t kill the others, but you might as well die."

    Leonel pulled the string of his bow once more, yet it split in two.

    Sebastian and Slaton who were on the verge of joining in on the next attack froze a moment. In one instant, they seemed fine. But in the next, their skulls imploded into a bloody rain.

    Leonel didn''t seem to think much of this at all. He wouldn''t bother with the others since there was no use in offending their backers. But he and the Oliidark family were already irreconcilable.

 Chapter 1544 Wild Card

    What remained of the battle could only be described as a farce.

    Every time the trio built up momentum, they were stopped by a single spear strike. By the third time this happened, they found themselves surrounded by demons and making their way forward only became more and more challenging.

    While demons were smart enough to know who the real threat was, they were also a selfish race ruled by their greed. They could see how powerful Leonel was and there was an easier target right here, why not take advantage? Plus, if they could swallow powerful targets like the trio, they would find themselves with greater power to use to then deal with Leonel.

    As for those that weren''t the trio, many had given up after the death of Sebastian and Slaton. The others that seemed to realize that Leonel didn''t dare to kill them all, though, kept trying, only to find themselves even more unceremoniously dealt with than the trio.

    Soon, they realized that they were accumulating too many injuries, so much so that they were beginning to fall into the danger of dying not to Leonel, but the demons themselves.

    The elders in the clouds above watched in silence as Leonel crossed the 10% mark, something that had practically been inevitable from the very beginning.

    "What a good little seedling you have, Miss of the Oliidark family."

    The terse voice came from an old man with a large nose. His eyes sparked with lightning from time to time, and he was without a doubt the Head of the Lightning Lance Pavilion, Head Obarin.

    By now, everyone knew it was his disciples that had gone inside. But he still couldn''t admit that or else he would be forced to pay a steep prize. Still, he could use this method to display his dissatisfaction to the greatest extent possible.

    Mistress Oliidark shuddered when she heard this. Things might still be fine if she could rely on Leonel to become a pillar of her family, but not many had realized that the two Leonel had killed were from her very own family. And, even if they had, they wouldn''t think much of it. This was because others were well aware that there was competition in the Oliidark to become the son-in-law of the next generation. As such, they would just think that Leonel had acted in order to clear the path for himself in the future and get rid of trouble from the roots.

    Due to this, many believed that Leonel was acting under the orders of Mistress Oliidark and was her greatest trump card. Who cared about the loss of two middling talents when you had one that could crush even High Class talents?

    "бн Thank you for your kind words, Pavilion Head Obarin."

    Head Obarin snorted, an action that was quite forceful considering the size of his nostrils, and turned away without another word. There wasn''t much else that he could do about this matter even if he was dissatisfied.

    This was definitely a great loss for his Pavilion. But there was still a chance at the High Class top prize. They had to get at least one.

    A new era was coming, and if they couldn''t put a foot in the door, they would regret it for generations to come. This was an opportunity they had to grasp.

    Mistress Oliidark secretly clenched her fists. There was only one way out of this. But she had to take it, even if it required burning away generations of their accrued resources. A loss like this wasn''t one they could handle.

    Sebastian and Slaton were two geniuses that she was greatly satisfied with, but Leonel made them look like trash by the roadside.

    "Empabo."

    "Yes, ma''am!"

    The words exchanged were heard by no one. But when they were finished, Empabo''s expression flickered before he slowly and respectfully left the cloud. He wasn''t a member of the Adurna family, he could rudely display his strength here as he pleased.

    бн

    Leonel stood on the very top floor once again, his point total having climbed into the millions. However, the good thing about the Top Prize was that he didn''t need to spend any of them.

    With a single reach forward with his hands, Leonel grabbed onto the Bronze Tablet, his body trembling. For some reason, it felt good in his hands.

    Leonel hesitated for a moment but eventually shook his head. He couldn''t waste anymore time. The final phase of the other Sectors had likely already started or were close to. If he lagged behind any more, he would lose his chance.

    Although Leonel''s top priority was gathering the resources he needed to succeed in his plan, if he could also lay his hands on the Silver Tablet, why wouldn''t he?

    Leonel put the Bronze Tablet away to the astonishment of those watching and his body vanished in a flicker. With a greater speed than he had displayed until now, those stuck in the Middle Class could only watch as he made it to the gates of the Sector and exchanged 100 000 Demon Points for entry into the High Class.

    Could heбн be planning what they all thought?

    Everyone shared the same idea. Usually, the Top Prize would be every one of Leonel''s caliber''s target. Once you got it, everything else paled in comparison. But the fact Leonel was continuingбн Didn''t that mean?

    The elders and youths sucked in a cold breath while the expression of the Pavilion Head darkened.

    бн

    "The final phase is about to begin, rest up. We will move out soon."

    A youth with a dashing head of white hair spoke. His presence alone seemed to give off a radiant Light Force energy that made others want to worship him.

    This was the Head Disciple of the Human Class Sacred Light Palace.

    That was right. A Human Class power had not sent their fourth to sixth best here. Ratherбн They had sent the very best they had.

    However, at that moment, something that would astonish them all would happen.

    "Stophiar! Look at the ranking!"

    Stophiar frowned, wondering what all the commotion was about. But the moment he listened, his pupils constricted.

    Rank 17 иC Leonel Oliidark иC 3 028 719 Demon Points

    That name had definitely not been there before. Could it beбн

    "Someone upgraded from the middle class with so many pointsбн He would be ranked 11th with an extra 100 000 Demon Points, just outside the top 10бн"

    It seemed that another wild card had appeared.

    бн

    Leonel himself was in a state of shock as he looked at the leaderboard, suddenly becoming familiar with the reason why he was only "another" wild card.

    Rank 1 иC Aina Brazinger иC 11 273 729 Demon Points

 Chapter 1545 Portals

    Leonel was only stunned for a moment before a huge grin spread across his face.

    It was unlikely that Aina would know it was him. After all, his last name had been changed and Leonel wasn''t exactly an obscure name. However, even given that this city was easily ten times as large as the already large one he had just been in, Leonel would definitely find her soon.

    He didn''t quite understand why it was that Aina could use her Force while everyone else couldn''t, but he felt like the secret behind this was another clue to understand the secrets of this odd Zone.

    Of course, it was also possible that his Aina was just that amazing, but that was his rosy glasses talking. There was definitely something deeper here.

    Leonel suddenly felt a lot lighter on his feet. Now that he was certain that Aina was okay, he only had to confirm his mother''s safety and his mind would truly be free.

    Leonel was relatively more confident in his mother, though. Even if this world took away his mother''s ability to use Force, with her being so close to the Seventh Dimension, her body should be more than strong enough to handle herself in the wilderness.

    From what Leonel understood after meeting Myghell and Noah, though their Force was locked away, the additional strength their bodies had gained while upgrading through the dimensions was not small at all. They were still able to use their bodies to hold their own and fight against the weaker enemies who couldn''t find their place in the cities.

    Due to this, Leonel had been relatively less worried about his mother than Aina who had yet to step into the Sixth Dimension. But given her current display of strength, Leonel was certain that she had taken that step just like he had.

    With a smile on his face, Leonel shot forward. He didn''t care about anything else. First he would reunite with Aina. Together, they were far stronger. If they put their heads together, his plan, which would have been a bit difficult to accomplish at first, would almost become a breeze.

    In addition, he would be able to hide more of his strength if he was by Aina''s side as well. After this event concluded, he would need to leave to find a secluded place to execute his plan. The more of his strength he showed before that, the more detrimental to their escape it would be.

    Mistress Oliidark might not be the strongest Seventh Star there was, but she was still a Seventh Star. Leonel had to be very careful about how he handled her and he still hadn''t forgotten the brand on his shoulder blade.

    Very soon, he would burn it to ash, but he couldn''t do so just yet.

    The reason for this was simple. Leonel would be na?ve to think that things would just end after he swept through these Class Sectors. Even if he spared their geniuses, there would be many organizations who still thought that it was only natural as though he owed them something.

    It could be said that Leonel had spared their lives not because he thought it would definitely protect him, but rather to mitigate risk. Humans were complex creatures and there were bound to be some with consciences. It didn''t make sense for him to accidentally offend such individuals and give them a reason to stab them in the back.

    As for those that were more shameless, Mistress Oliidark would be his perfect cover. So long as it wasn''t clear and obvious he had fallen out with Mistress Oliidark, the morally superior side would be with the Oliidark family.

    Leonel wasn''t a fool. He felt that Mistress Oliidark likely had a trump card or two that she hadn''t used, or else she wouldn''t dare send him into such a world of opportunity.

    While clinging to that trump card, she would fight tooth and nail to keep Leonel to her side, which would definitely benefit Leonel.

    With her thinking that she could still control him, things would become much simpler to handle and even the so-called Great Families might step in to protect the order.

    Just the fact that these organizations that were breaking rules didn''t dare to do so openly told Leonel all he needed to know about the kind of lines that were being toed. The Great Families might allow some underhanded methods, but they wouldn''t allow outright cheating.

    This was the sort of mentality that bred the kind of dog eat dog world this was, but right now, that fine line was exactly what Leonel needed and was looking for.

    Leonel dodged out of the way of a black steed. With a single sidestep, his hand clamped down like a claw, a surge of Spear Force shredding its head into pieces.

    He was starting to get annoyed by these demons. If they weren''t here, he would find Aina a lot quicker.

    ''This city is too large to just roam around aimlessly. I guess the best choice is just to charge toward the center.''

    At that moment, Leonel''s points began to take large leaps of hundreds of points at a time. The High Class Sector geniuses didn''t have so many more points than him because they were that much more powerful, but rather because the High Class demons in this place that they had the option to kill were worth far more Demon Points.

    Although Leonel also had to put in more effort and couldn''t use his Absolute Spear Domain to shred them apart anymoreбкat least not in his base formбкthe reward was also several times better anyway.

    Leonel swiftly crossed the 100 000 Demon Points that he had lost to make it here in the first place, every kill netting him at least 100 to 500 points. He was absolutely relentless, working even harder than he had for the Bronze Tablet.

    At that moment, though, several portals opened up along the roofs of the shops he was running by.

 Chapter 1546 Bold

    Leonel frowned. Portals? Was that an ability of theirs? A Lineage Factor, maybe? Or was it something that you could buy in the shops? If it was the last of them, Leonel was in great need. If he could get his hands on one, he would need to wade through all this nonsense and could just get to the center of the city immediately. He already had enough Demon Points to make do regardless.

    At that moment, two women stepped out from the portal, each more gorgeous than the last. The first wore a pink diamond bikini armor that made one wonder why she had bothered to make it into armor at all, while the second wore elegant sky blue robes that looked like they were made for a mage. The hems of the blue robes were embroidered in a beautiful blue color and the young woman even held a staff that curved on one end to hold a hovering crystal ball as though to complete the look.

    They both looked like they had leapt right out of the pages of a fantasy book and made Leonel finally decide that he had to be in a Mythological Zone now. No way people wore this kind of stuff unironically in broad daylight without their destination being Comicon.

    Others saw two beauties that would make their eye sockets fall out, especially with the skin the first was showing. But Leonel saw two poorly dressed beauties that almost made him sputter with laughter.

    So many years into the Dimensional Verse and he still hadn''t gotten used to this stuff.

    Leonel finally couldn''t hold it back and sputtered a bit. It threw off his timing as a demon covered in iron scales punched at him, but he still managed to sidestep it, his fit stealthily glowing with Bronze Runes as he punched it right in the gut.

    A blast of wind exited the iron scaled demons back and everything paused for just a moment before an enormous hole was blown through its body. Leonel treated a High Class demon with maybe the greatest defenses here as though it was nothing more than a toy plushie.

    The eyes of the two women narrowed. They didn''t know why Leonel was suddenly laughing, and even if they were ten times more intelligent and put their heads together to theorize, they would still never guess.

    A young, hot blooded male, laughing at them for their appearance? It wouldn''t even compute. Not to mention the fact that they were very used to getting compliments on their appearance and had grown up in this world unlike Leonel.

    However, when they saw Leonel strike down an iron scaled demon with a single punch, their hearts couldn''t help but be stirred. It seemed that they were right to come and look for this Leonel Oliidark. Only by killing him now could they feel at ease.

    "Hey, you two, those portals, how do you make them?"

    "Sure, handsome. Why don''t you come up here and I''ll show you?"

    The young woman wearing the pink diamond bikini smiled sweetly, although the spear she held in her hand still glistened menacingly with a rose-bronze sheen.

    "I have a girlfriend. But I''m willing to do an exchange for your information."

    With Aina I the same city, Leonel didn''t even dare to flirt for some benefits like he had in the Oliidark''s city. Instead, he got straight to the point.

    "Girlfriend? How could she be more beautiful than me?"

    The young woman bat her eyelashes. She rested the butt of her spear on the ground of the roof, leaning her head to the side and squeezing it between her bosom. With just a small push, even though the armor itself wasn''t so flexible, the flesh beneath it bulged and threatened to overflow. It was such a natural action and yet it was endlessly tempting.

    And yet, rather than receiving the dazed response she thought she would, Leonel''s gaze suddenly turned icy cold.

    "Watch what you say."

    The young woman was stunned speechless, not even knowing how to respond to that.

    At that moment, the "mage" spoke out.

    "Silyn, we don''t have time for this, the final phase will start soon. Attack."

    The moment she spoke, she had already raised her staff into the air. Large amounts of Water Force began to accumulate in the surroundings, quickly forming into half a dozen javelins that sparkled beneath the sunlight.

    "You''re such a bother, Uvile. Sometimes you have to let a girl play with her food. But you''re right, this stinky man is annoying. It''s better if he''s six feet deep."

    Leonel''s cold expression only grew colder. These two women were powerful, definitely more powerful than the High Class should be. It was likely that this was yet another cheating organization that wanted a leg up.

    Unfortunately for them, not only was he not in the mood to waste time, they had chosen the absolute worst enemy.

    бн

    While Leonel had suddenly been cornered, what he didn''t know was that there was a commotion that had gripped the elder''s circle that went beyond himself. In fact, Avras, the Adurna family representation, hadn''t been reacting much to Leonel himself because he had found something far more shocking.

    He stared at the name Aina Brazinger, his eyes narrowed into slits.

    He could tell at a glance that just by observing Aina, she was a half-breed. But who had given birth to a half-breed so bold? Not only did she dare to use the name of a Great Family without reservation, she even dared to appear here?

    Was she trying to prove herself? She was indeed quite powerful, but compared to the true geniuses of even the Fiend Class, she was lacking, let alone their Chaos Class. This poor child would get a rude awakening.

    Even so, Avras couldn''t help but chuckle. Everyone knew that the Adurna family was like fire and water with the Brazinger family. Maybe it was because one was blue and the other was red, but they always but heads.

    To Avras, such a scandal was top tier entertainment.

    When he saw the organization that dared to bring Aina forward and allow her to carry on with such a name, he became even more amused.

    Very true indeed. Only that woman would dare to be so bold.

    Avras showed a different expression for the second time that day and actually chuckled.

 Chapter 1547 Frozen

    Uvile and Silyn shot backward, a hint of blood dripping down the corner of their lips.

    Silyn looked at her hand, a pained expression flickering in her gaze as the last bits of ash danced into the wind, her treasure weapon no more.

    Uvile wore an ugly expression as she looked toward the cracked crystal ball in her "mage" staff. Thinking about all the resources she poured into it, she couldn''t believe what was happening.

    From the very beginning, they were suppressed by Leonel not because they were weak, but because he was the perfect counter to them both. Silyn couldn''t even manifest her Spear Force around Leonel and her precious spear shattered. As for Uvile, she found the control of her Water Force ripped away from her, stripping her of the ability to finish forming her techniques. When she tried to fight back with her staff, the crystal actually shattered under the strain.

    "Youбн How can you be a Spear Sovereignбн This doesn''t make any senseбн"

    Silyn''s chest heaved, her hands trembling. When it finally settled in, she didn''t even know what to think. A Spear Sovereign? That was absolutely impossible, not from someone who had to climb up from the Middle Class and into the higher Class like this. It didn''t make any sense.

    Leonel didn''t even look at the two women, instead focusing on his hand where he overturned a bracelet that doubled as a spatial treasure. In the center of the bracelet there was a ring, and this was, of course, yet another spatial treasure.

    "You''ll never get into ourбн"

    Click.

    The sound of two spatial treasures unlocking resounded and a large number of items began to fly out one after another. The two women panicked, but it was already too late. Large numbers of bras, panties, and laced undergarments were placed on display for all to see.

    The very few who were still around this region and had been drawn to the sounds of battle looked on wide-eyed, their eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

    At that moment, the seemingly calm and level headed Uvile shrieked at the top of her lungs.

    "I''ll kill you!"

    Uvile''s crystal ball shattered completely, a large wave of Force forming as her aura rose to another level. She looked like she had lost her mind, her fury and humiliation reaching the ultimate apex.

    But as far as Leonel was concerned, hadn''t their goal been to kill him? This much was small compared to what they would have done if he was too weak.

    Leonel didn''t even blink at the killing intent. Finding the item he needed, he crushed it. A portal appeared not even a moment later and he unceremoniously stepped through it, seemingly not needing anyone to teach him how to use it.

    He didn''t even bother with Uvile and Silyn''s other miscellaneous items, even leaving the two spatial devices behind. He already had what he wanted and he had reconfirmed that his knowledge of spatial treasures translated well to this world as well.

    "Uvile, calm down!"

    Silyn, who saw that Uvile really wanted to go on a rampage, calmed her down quickly.

    "We have to return as quickly as possible, the final phase is about to start. Don''t waste your energy on this, we were unlucky this time, he perfectly countered us. But we can still compete in killing demons!"

    бн

    In the clouds above, a middle aged woman sat in silence, her hands crossed upon her lap. She was the picture of refined elegance, none could pick out a single flaw in her.

    Unfortunately, because of this, she had never found a man worthy as well. If one couldn''t be as flawless as herself, then why should she give herself to him? Wouldn''t she be taking a loss?

    This sort of lofty pride and arrogance exuded out from her very bones. She was none other than the Pavilion Head of the Endless Twilight Pavilion, a woman who was a legend and maybe the only person here who didn''t give Avras much face outside of a light nod.

    Of course, this was because her Pavilion wasn''t just any Pavilionбн It was a Fiend Class Pavilion!

    When she saw Silyn and Uvile lose in such resounding fashion, she didn''t seem to have much of a reaction. However, when her elegant, swan-like neck turned toward another screen to see a young woman in silent meditation, her expressionless features couldn''t help but curl into a smile.

    ''Untalented? You fools are just unable to bring out my precious little girl''s full potential.''

    [Author''s note: To be clear, this is not Aina''s mother]

    бн

    When Leonel appeared, he found himself at the center of the city and nodded happily. But the first sound of discussion made him raise an eyebrow.

    "Didn''t you hear? They''re from the Endless Twilight Pavilion, there''s not even a point. Even if they''re the weaker members of the Pavilion, there''s still the Sacred Light Pavilion to worry about. It''s better that we just kill demons and not participate in this. It''s over our paygrade."

    "If you''re scared, just say so."

    "Scared? Haven''t you heard the rules of that Pavilion? No men! Their students aren''t even allowed to have relationships! What do you think will happen to you if you approach one while their Pavilion Head is watching from above?!"

    Leonel ignored the rest of the conversation, it didn''t have anything to do with him. He didn''t even know what the names Sacred Light and Endless Twilight even meant. Though from the context clues, it seemed that Endless Twilight was stronger than Sacred Light.

    Leonel entered the first building and a wide smile spread across his face the moment he did.

    There she was, in silent meditation, looking as gorgeous as ever.

    She wore an elven style light full body armor that covered her all the way down the length of her arms and legs. It was a bright white, alternating in plate armor and tough leathers that gave it an elegance that only accentuated everything about her.

    Leonel''s legs carried himself forward on their own. Even though he was walking, his pace was impossibly swift.

    However, when others saw what he was doing, they were speechless.

    Was he trying to die?

    Before anyone could even say anything, though, Leonel had already appeared before her, a warm smile on his face as he looked down at her sitting posture.

    Without even opening her eyes, Aina thrust a palm out. It was so fast and swift that the beginning of the motion alone sounded like a clap of thunder.

    But to her surpriseбн her wrist was caught.

    Aina''s eyes snapped open, ready to reach for her ax, but when her gaze focused, her eyes trembled.

    Whether it was the youths around, Uvile and Silyn who had just managed to teleport back, or the Pavilion Head Ophelia who was watching from above, all of them froze at once.

    Without the slightest hesitation, Aina jumped up and placed her palms on either side of Leonel''s face, smothering him with a kiss she didn''t allow him to run away from.

    All time seemed to come to a grinding halt, a single tear falling out of the corner of Aina''s eye. Words could not express how much she missed him.

 Chapter 1548 Youth

    Aina seemed infatuated with the taste of Leonel''s lips, forgetting about everything around her. It had only been weeks since the two last saw each other, but it felt like a lifetime. She had already sworn once that she would never leave Leonel''s side, but circumstances had forcefully ripped them apart this time and there was nothing they could do about it.

    It wasn''t until she thought about slipping her tongue into his mouth did she realize that she was going overboard and suddenly remembered that they were likely being watched by thousands of people.

    She pulled back someone shyly, but there was a strong arm around her waist she couldn''t help but be shocked by. Her base physical strength when she didn''t rely on Blood Force had always been beyond Leonel''s. But just now, not only had he blocked her palm easily, but she even felt like she wouldn''t be able to push her way out of his embrace unless he let her or she used much more effort than she was willing to.

    It seemed that Leonel had undergone astonishing changes, maybe more than even herself.

    "What, are you suddenly shy now? I''ve already been sexually assaulted, someone needs to take responsibility."

    Aina rolled her eyes, suddenly forgetting about her embarrassment entirely. When she was speaking with Leonel, the eyes and opinions of everyone else didn''t seem to matter in the slightest.

    "What is that? Were you suffering a loss?"

    "Of course not, I just think I feel like I''m getting addicted. How about another taste?"

    Leonel''s attempt, though, was stopped with a small palm across his lips and chin.

    "Another taste? Okay, Leonel Oliidark," the emphasis of the last name made Leonel shudder, suddenly feeling a bad premonition coming along, "why don''t you tell me how it is that you''ve suddenly changed your last name? It can''t be that you married into another family while I was absent, right? Why don''t you tell me about your lovely wife?"

    Leonel coughed. Why was this woman so sharp? He definitely hadn''t married into the Oliidark family, but it was pretty close to that.

    "Listen, listenбн An old hag forced my hand! My chastity is still well protected, safe and sound for my lovely future wife."

    "Who wants your chastity and who''s your future wife exactly? You haven''t even ticked off half the things on my list!"

    The two seemed to have forgotten entirely about the world around them. Even while it looked like they were having a couple''s spat, the fact Aina still had two palms on Leonel''s chest, and Leonel himself hadn''t let go of her waist, didn''t make it seem very convincing at all.

    Anyone with half a brain could see that they were clearly flirting. Aina''s "anger" and Leonel''s "fear" didn''t even manage to reach their eyes which were filled with nothing more than love and affection.

    Those that didn''t know Leonel and Aina could only stand in stunned jealousy of the former. Aina had only been here for maybe a day, but her feats had rocked their understanding of what it meant to be a genius while somehow also managing to be the one of the most gorgeous women they had ever laid their eyes on.

    Until now, she might as well have been a block of ice. But she had gone from that, to head over heels in love in the blink of an eye. It was as though she wasn''t the same person at all, her golden eyes drowning in affection.

    Those that did know Aina, though, like Uvile and Silyn, had no words.

    Aina was someone who had gotten personal tutelage from their Pavilion Head. She was someone who might have been sent to the Human Class Sector if it wasn''t both because of her low level and the Pavilion Head hoping to guarantee a victory across three Sectors at once.

    In the time they had known her, she was polite and friendly, and they had thought her to be quite a nice and gentle person. But when they came across men, for some reason or another, she seemed to go the extra mile to draw a cold line. They had speculated that she had some trauma related to this matter in the past, but they hadn''t known her well enough to ask.

    And yet, she had suddenly flipped a switch, not for just any man, but the very same man who had just defeated them. They didn''t even know how to feel or react to such a situation.

    But the moment they got over this, they felt greatly worried for Aina.

    Aina was the first woman to fall in love from the Endless Twilight Pavilion, and she definitely wouldn''t be the last. But every single one of them had or would have the same outcome.

    The oath sworn to enter the Pavilion couldn''t be broken easily, and it was especially difficult when you have the eye of the Pavilion Head. Women who betrayed the Heads trust in that fashion had the absolute worst outcomes, regardless of how great their talent had been.

    Their Pavilion Head was an elegant and refined woman, almost to an extreme. But behind her calm demeanor was a ruthless attitude, one that even many of the Great Families had no choice but to take seriously.

    бн

    In the clouds above, the expression of Pavilion Head Ophelia was just the same. She didn''t seem to have shifted from her baseline at all, and yet somehow the air seemed several levels more frigid, so much so that several seats in the near vicinity of her shattered, sending elders well into the Seventh and even Eighth Stars sprawling to the ground as though they were toddlers rather than experts.

    At that moment, though, Avras appeared by Ophelia''s side and took a polite seat.

    "Hello, Senior. This junior has had great respect for you for a very long time now. I hope to get some advice from you aboutбн"

    Avras could only choose this method to force Ophelia to stay put. If this woman went on a rampage now, not only would the event be ruined, but they would lose a youth who was both a Spear Sovereign and gained a Twelve-Pointed Star Tablet.

 Chapter 1549 Silver

    The clouds above had suddenly become a very quiet place. The only one speaking was Avras who had suddenly become like a little boy trying to seek encouragement from his mother. But not a single person dared to snicker or laugh.

    Mistress Oliidark and the others of the Oliidark family didn''t know how to take this situation on properly. If they tried to protect Leonel now, wouldn''t that make them an enemy of a Fiend power? They couldn''t even handle a High Class organization, how could they possibly face off against a behemoth even the Great Families respected?

    Athrae, though, as air headed as ever, had been sobbing about the death of Sebastian and Slaton. But when she saw such a pretty woman in Leonel''s arms, she seemed to forget about it all, her eyes looking forward in shock.

    For some reason, even though she had spent so much time saying the most disparaging things about Leonel, she felt a wave of jealousy. It was as though Leonel was her toy to throw away and pick up as she pleased, but now someone had actually dared to take it away from her without her consent.

    "Grandma, this isn''t fair. Can youбк!"

    Mistress Oliidark slapped her hand over her granddaughter''s lips. It was so forceful that it might as well have been a real slap.

    Athrae was stunned into silence. The slight stinging on her face and lips almost made her tear up again, if she wasn''t so surprised that she couldn''t even think of a next move to make in the first place.

    Mistress Oliidark knew her granddaughter too well. If she said some nonsense now, even their attempts to salvage the situation might not be worth much of anything.

    бн

    Back in the High Class Sector, Leonel and Aina were still chatting without a care in the world when the youths of the Sacred Light Pavilion came down.

    When Stophiar saw the scene below, he didn''t even know how to react. One of the many men that Aina had suddenly grown very cold toward was none other than himself.

    One would think that Stophiar would know enough not to go after a young woman of the Endless Twilight Pavilion. However, the Sacred Light Pavilion had quite a special position amongst the Human Class powers, and as their head disciple, Stophiar was in a unique position to maximize those benefits.

    There was a pipeline from the Sacred Light Pavilion, to the Fiend Class, and then the Laevis of the Great Families.

    Rules were only things meant to be followed by the weak, and as scary as Pavilion Head Ophelia seemed, there was still a gap between her and the foundation of the Great Families. As any hot blooded male, Stophiar believed that so long as he proved his worth, the Laevis family would deal with Ophelia for him until he became powerful enough to deal with her himself.

    Of course, these were all na?ve ravings. He was comparable to some Fiend Class talents, but he wasn''t enough to make the likes of the Laevis family do anything for him, let alone offend such a powerhouse.

    But the fuel of testosterone and foolishness was strong when a beauty entered the picture.

    However, even though his face twisted, Leonel and Aina didn''t even look in his direction.

    "Forget about me," Leonel tried to dodge the scrutiny he was under, "didn''t you just try to attack me? Why don''t we talk about that. You can''t even recognize your own husband?"

    "You smell diffбкwhat''s that supposed to mean? I don''t remember having a husband."

    "I smell different?"

    "Yes, you do."

    Leonel frowned, his head turning, suddenly feeling annoyed by a particular gaze.

    Those that had been watching were used to a calm and collected Leonel. He might be somewhat cold, but his actions were always restrained. However, at the moment, he was like a completely different person.

    "Can you piss off?"

    Stophiar''s face froze. He had been staring unrestrainedly, but that was because he was used to doing as he pleased and he was more surprised by this outcome than anything else.

    Women of Aina''s caliber were like precious gems to most families. Unlike some women who might be promised away before they were even born, talents on this level were carefully nurtured and well protected until maturity, only then might they get married, and that was only if they weren''t in an organization like the Eternal Twilight Pavilion.

    The odds that Aina would have a man should be practically 0, and yet now that very man was telling him to piss off without the slightest fear for his background.

    "Forget him, come, come," Aina spoke, suddenly remembering something. She grabbed Leonel''s hand and dragged Leonel away.

    Uvile and Silyn only now broke out of their shocked states and tried to call after Aina, but Aina only waved and ignored them. It was as though she had completely forgotten about everything now that Leonel was here.

    бн

    Not long later, Leonel and Aina had made it to the top floor. Much like the Middle Class, a Tablet hovered, but this time, Leonel saw a silver one.

    He thought that he might get the next portion of the dark half of his Lineage Factor, but he was wrong. Instead, what he saw was something that made his heart skip a beat.

    ''A Union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Starбн''

    The worlds seemed far bolder now, but Leonel''s Lineage Factor trembled in his veins, salivating as though it hadn''t eaten in weeks.

    This Silver Tablet wasn''t the dark half, it was the light half. It contained the next step beyond his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor. And, Leonel knew exactly what was within it.

    The Twinkling Light Bear Lineage Factor and the Golden Tiger Lineage Factor, both Eighth Dimensional Lineage Factors that carried a weight and power that was near unfathomable.

    However, Leonel quickly restrained himself. Since Aina had brought him here, didn''t it mean that she saw something important to her? Leonel didn''t mind giving up the opportunity and helping Aina exchange for what she needed instead if it was important.

    "What do you see?" Leonel asked.

 Chapter 1550 Perfect Trust

    "Oh, right," Aina, who had felt a faint excitement, controlled herself, remembering that Leonel couldn''t see the same things she saw. In fact, due to the fact that two people were standing here currently, the projection to the elders above wasn''t clear either.

    Leonel had no idea how this simple coincidence had saved him an endless pile of trouble. If the others realized that this light phase Silver Tablet appeared for him, the conclusion would be obvious: he already had the bronze portion. But that should be absolutely impossible.

    Such a thing would expose Leonel in more ways than one, and would make an already bad situation absolutely irredeemable.

    "It''s a technique Golden Tablet, and it''s related to Blood Sovereignty."

    Leonel''s brows shot up when he heard Gold. He had assumed that the tablet that appeared was capped by the Sector it appeared in, but this didn''t seem to be the case. So long as you met the requirements, you would receive it.

    But, obviously, those in lower Class Sectors often wouldn''t have the talent to earn a higher level one. Leonel assumed that if he had appeared in this Sector first, the first tablet he saw would still be Bronze.

    Leonel listened patiently as Aina explained.

    According to her, the tablet was filled with blood manipulation techniques, among other things.

    Usually, Aina''s use of her Blood Force was quite crude. She didn''t have other methods of using it outside of cutting people open, sucking it out, then using it as either blades or energy. Even the Void Palace didn''t seem to have much that could help her, Blood Force was simply far too rare and most couldn''t use it to the level Aina could.

    In fact, most of the techniques only taught methods to do what Aina already did but with much weaker efficiency.

    This tablet took things to a whole other level. Not to mention teaching her methods to maximize what she could already do, it even taught things like manipulating living creatures, extracting bloodlines personally, and even had methods of healing people back from the brink of death to full health in a single bound.

    After hearing all of these things, Leonel had only reaffirmed his decision. When he learned that it was a Gold Tablet, he already knew that he would fight for Aina to have it. But since it had so many tangible benefits, he was even more certain in his choice.

    Suddenly he looked up. "It seems the final phase is about to start. Okay, let''s get you this tablet."

    Aina smiled brightly. The reason she wanted the tablet the most was because of the healing methods within. If she could share her healing factor with Leonel, she would have far less to worry about when it came to his safety.

    But at that moment, she suddenly remembered that Leonel saw something differently from her.

    "Is what you saw more important? I can give it up ifбк?"

    "No, it isn''t a big deal, definitely not worth as much as yours, anyway."

    Leonel pulled Aina along and they rushed out, only to find that Silyn and Uvile were both waiting anxiously as everything else had already rushed out.

    "Oh right, I have to do something real quick."

    Just before they could say anything, Leonel vanished. But this only made them relax further.

    "Aina, this isn''t good. Pavilion Head won''t be happy!" Uvile tried to advise.

    Aina frowned. "So what?"

    The two were stunned silent. It was a good thing the monitors had long since turned to focus on the battle royale outside, or else maybe even Avras wouldn''t have been able to hold the elegant Pavilion Head back anymore.

    Uvile and Silyn looked toward one another, realizing that it was definitely a lost cause. There wouldn''t be anything they could say to change this. The only chance they had to appease Ophelia''s anger was to bring the tablet back.

    "We have to hurry," Silyn pressured. "We will support you and siphon all the kills to you as well. We''ve already received orders from Pavilion Heaбк."

    Aina shook her head. "It''s fine, me and Leonel will be enough."

    The two women were once again speechless.

    Leonel might be powerful, but he was still only one person. In addition, he had been the perfect counter to them only when they were conserving their energy for the main event. If they went all out now, they were still certain that they could win.

    However, Aina completely disregarded two known commodities in a pair of disciples of a Fiend Class power all for the sake of her boyfriend.

    "Aina, listen. Leonel might be a Spear Sovereign, but for whatever reason, his Spear Force isn''t as strong as ones should be. He''s still lacking. Why don''t you at least rely on all three of us?" Silyn tried to compromise.

    Aina''s neutral impression suddenly became angry.

    "Lacking? There is absolutely nothing lacking about him."

    Aina''s tone made their hearts quake. They suddenly felt their blood rolling out of their control and fear gripped their throats. They didn''t understand how such benign words could piss Aina off to this extent.

    At that moment, a gust of wind flashed and Leonel appeared. In his hand, there was a three meter tall bow that wafted a dense black fog. The fog was so thick that it made it look as though the bow itself didn''t have a tangible form at all.

    "Ready?"

    Aina''s anger suddenly vanished with the wind.

    "Ready."

    With that, the two shot outside.

    Uvile and Silyn looked toward one another, helpless expressions on their faces. Their teachers had warned them that even powerful women could become stupid when in love, but they didn''t think that included women as powerful as Aina too.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina didn''t have a mind to care for the opinions of others. Though they shot outside together, they separated in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel''s speed was so fast that he ran up the side of a building without the slightest effort. At the same time, Aina dove headlong into a swarm of demons.

    Even as Aina''s ax appeared in her hands for the first time and she raised it high about her head, Leonel had already pulled his bowstring tight, his eyes becoming lit with a deathly focus.

    Then, he began to fire. His hands were like a blur, and yet his bow was absolutely steady, only shifting slightly from side to side, resulting in minor changes that catalyzed huge ones.

    As Aina''s ax descended, the whipping wind of dozens of arrows shot by her with barely a centimeter of separation from her flesh.

    The timing was so perfect that when Aina''s ax connected, the demons were already half dead.

    Leonel''s control was immaculate, leaving every single kill to Aina herself.

    Those watching had never seen the killing of High Class demons made so easy. Even the best geniuses in this Sector took three to four attacks, but Aina''s ax under the lead of Leonel''s bow became like a reaper''s scythe, reaping the lives of dozens with a single swing.

    A hushed silence fell.

    This display spoke for itself, there was simply nothing left to say.

    This was something beyond perfect coordination. It was also perfect trust.

 Chapter 1551 Seamless Teamwork

    The coordination between Leonel and Aina couldn''t have been more perfect. In fact, it was so seamless that it was almost impossible to watch. Anyone who wasn''t familiar with the two of them would think that any time now, Leonel''s hand would slip or his calculations would be just a small measure off and he would end up causing irreparable harm to Aina who wasn''t guarded against him in the slightest.

    For the likes of Uvile, Silyn, and especially their Pavilion Head, this kind of sight was especially difficult to stomach. The idea of trusting a man so deeply was such a foreign concept to them that they short-circuited for a moment, trying to find a different explanation for what they were seeing. But no matter how many times they blinked, the images never stopped coming.

    As time passed and awe set in, those who had thought Leonel to be a master of the spear didn''t even know what to think any more. Spear? Wasn''t this youth clearly a pinnacle expert with the bow? Why did he even waste his time picking up the spear in the first place?

    His anticipation, the control of Bow Force, his effortless calculations, it made the elders who also used a bow freeze in their seats. Were they even as good as a youth who had yet to mature?

    Even though they were used to fighting at speeds far beyond that of Leonel and Aina, even they wouldn''t be so confident as to shoot their arrows so close to her body.

    It was almost as though every frame of Aina''s speed movements, if frozen, would look as though had been stuck onto a canvas and had her silhouette outlined by hundreds of arrows.

    If she took a step forward, in the instant she widened her stances, dozens of arrows would curve between her legs and skewer the targets before her.

    If raised her arms, dozens more arrows would sweep underneath, barely missing her toned arms and ample chest.

    If she leaned her head back to dodge the blow of a demon that had overestimated itself, arrows would whiz by her slender exposed neck as though they could see glimpses of the future.

    All of these elders were experts. Even with Leonel firing at hundreds of arrows a minute, they could track every single one. Most of the time, these arrows would already be halfway there by the time Aina decided on her next move.

    Just how many battles had they fought together to reach this point? No, that wasn''t even the most important question, how could one person trust another person to this level?

    It might not be impossible to find several people with the skill to do this, but was it even possible to find a partner who would allow you to do so? Would said partner even be able to display their full strength without feeling hesitant and suffocated thinking that you were just one slip of the finger away from ending their life entirely?

    By that point, the partner would end up holding back their true strength, looking out for the moment you screwed up so that they could safely extricate themselves. But Aina didn''t look like she spared a single thought toward Leonel''s actions at all. It was as though she didn''t even consider the possibility of him messing up.

    No matter how skilled you were, it was impossible for you to never make even a single mistake, right? Wasn''t this girl a little bit too foolish? Wouldn''t it be a shame if a genius died in this way?

    Ophelia gripped her armrests, ready to go down right this moment. But as the arrow count increased from hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands, to even hundreds of thousands, the shock only grew deeper.

    Leonel didn''t show any signs of slowing down. In fact, he was getting faster. It was almost like he hadn''t been fully used to his weapon or his Bow Force.

    The first was fine since they had all seen him buy the bow just now. In fact, that only made things more shocking because he hadn''t even sent out a practice shot before he started firing toward Aina, something that only made their hearts shudder all the more.

    But the second? How could such a skilled archer not understand their Bow Force fully?

    What they didn''t know was that Leonel''s Bow Force progressed with such speed that for most of the time he had had it, it had surpassed his Dimension level. Just using it had placed a great strain on his mind. It could be said that while he was familiar with True Bow Force, when it came to Enlightened Bow Force, he was nothing more than a novice.

    And now that he finally had its full strength at the tip of his fingers, he was relentless. Marksmanship had always given him a feeling nothing else could match, and now that he could allow it to breathe in all its glory, it was as though one shackle around his body after another was shattering to pieces.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed, dancing between a pale violet to a bright one as though it couldn''t make up its mind.

    THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

    The sound of the heavy thud of arrows colliding with the bodies of powerful demons echoed out every second. None seemed to cause a large amount of damage, but without fail, every time an arrow-ridden demon met Aina''s blade, they would fall with a single sweep.

    It was as though Leonel''s arrows sapped them of all their strength, forcing them into a position where they could do nothing.

    Aina''s point total kept jumping.

    From around 11 million, to 12, to 13, in a blink, it felt like it doubled, crossing into the 20 million threshold.

    With every kill she made, a large amount of blood was surge around her, increasing her area of attack and placing more pressure on Leonel''s arrows to dodge her attacks and support her.

    And yet, he did so as easily as breathing as though it was never a challenge to begin with.

    The trio of the Sacred Light Pavilion finally seemed to notice what was happening.

 Chapter 1552 Stophiar

    Stophiar and the others had already deployed their own formation and were killing off a large number of demons. They were confident that they''d be able to out-speed anyone, so their main goal was to travel to a location in the city where they wouldn''t be interfered with.

    They formed a huge formation of light. All they needed to do was pump their Light Force into it and it would burn most low High Class demons to ash. As for the middle and high ones that entered, they would find themselves greatly weakened and they would be directly killed by Stophiar.

    They couldn''t move very fast due to the formation, but they didn''t need to with so many demons swarming them in the first place. Stophiar himself had already jumped from around nine million to over 12 million in just a small while.

    He felt that no one else could match this pace and that their stamina was performing well, so they wouldn''t have to worry about lasting until the end. Once all of this was finished, only then would he think about dealing with Leonel. There were more important things than his own ego right now.

    However, he would have never expected that when he looked at the point totals rather than finding that he had closed the gap and surpassed Aina, to find that he had actually been thrown so much further behind.

    At first Stophiar thought it was a fluke. If the Endless Twilight Pavilion just happened to have a large one time use item they used right at the beginning to expand the gap, then that was still acceptable. He was confident in his ability to catch up.

    But just after a few more seconds, he realized that he couldn''t have been more wrong. The increase was steady, predictable, and coming in a strong, unrelenting stream. Although there were some small jumps, they happened again and again, making it clear that this was definitely not a one time use item.

    Stophiar realized immediately that this wasn''t working. If they didn''t first obstruct the Endless Twilight Pavilion and only worry about meeting the 10% mark later, they would definitely suffer.

    "Dammit!"

    Stophiar''s hair flared out, several rays of light coming out from him as he crushed the demons in the surroundings.

    "Return, now!"

    Stophiar suddenly regretted having gone so far out to hide their methods from others. By the time they made it, Aina and the Endless Twilight Pavilion would probably have already crossed the 2 or 3% mark. The gap would only widen from there.

    "Shitбн"

    Stophiar frowned and made a tough decision.

    "Manifest!"

    His roar thundered, his Star slowly manifesting itself. He only brought out one, but the difference was that minor Runes could be seen dancing within.

    Stophiar stomped his feet. His two juniors looked toward one another, but their trust in Stophiar was deep. Without hesitation they followed suit and followed in hot pursuit.

    They were supposed to save their Stars for the final stretch, but if this were already like this, there wasn''t any time to mind anything else. They had seen the leaderboard too and they knew why their senior had acted like this. They could only go all out to make it back. There was no point in conserving their strength because if they had energy left in the end they couldn''t use, then it truly wouldn''t be worth it.

    It took several minuts for them to return, and by then, Aina was already approaching 30 million. What they saw, though, shook them.

    Blood whirled about Aina like a bloody rose. It was somehow both beautiful and fearsome, the rose becoming an inescapable grinder.

    However, while the rose alone was definitely powerful enough to make them shudder, it should have been an attack that could easily be grinded down. With his insights, Stophiar could tell that while it was beautiful, it had no structure or core principle. This meant that there was no technique powering it and was rather no less complex than a simple, ordinary punch.

    And yet, this simple Blood Force attack was tearing through High Class demons as though they were nothingбн and that was when they saw the arrows.

    Stophiar''s eyes widened. He hadn''t thought of Leonel the whole way here, simply assuming that everything was related to the Endless Twilight.

    After shock, Stophiar''s expression darkened and his gaze sharpened. The moment Leonel fell, Aina''s killing speed would plummet.

    His trajectory changed. With a strong step, he became like a speed bullet.

    Uvile and Silyn hesitated. They should probably step in now. But Aina had said that they didn''t need any help. While she had been protecting Leonel, it had still left them with quite some dissatisfaction.

    Plus, wouldn''t the Pavilion Head kill them in a fit of rage if they stopped what could be Leonel''s death? They valued their own lives far more than that and they knew how irrational the Pavilion Head could be when she was enraged.

    Aina frowned, thinking of retreating to get closer to Leonel and intercept them. But she only received a shake of the head and the rain of Leonel''s arrows only seemed to become greater.

    Leonel''s eyes were still focused on Aina as though he hadn''t sensed Stophiar''s charge at all.

    But he knew everything he needed to.

    Stophiar was definitely exceptionally powerful. It seemed that he was already in Tier 7 of the Sixth Dimension and would more than crush the usual Sector Ranked disciples of the Void Palace. He definitely deserved his place as the head disciple of a Human Class power.

    Stophiar seemed to know this about himself as well as he confidently charged forward.

    He closed the distance, leaping when he was just ten meters from the base of the sky rise Leonel stood upon.

    He shot up like a streaking star, dancing lights of white gold following his wake.

    Unfortunatelyбн

    He actually dared to use Light Force in Leonel''s presence.

    Stophiar''s head appeared, shooting past the ledge of the building and ready to shred Leonel to pieces.

    But at that moment, Leonel''s hand had appeared above his Star. For some reason, an overwhelming amount of fear gripped him in that instant.

    "Didn''t I tell you to piss off?"

    Leonel''s hand squeezed.

    Under the astonished gazes of those watching, the Star of a Human Class genius shattered like glass and his aura plummeted out of the Sixth Star.

 Chapter 1553 Hurry

    Leonel retracted his palm and sent a strong kick at Stophiar''s chest.

    The sound of bone cracking and shattering resounded like a crack of thunder before the air blasted apart in violent concentric circles. In one moment, foot and chest were connected, and in the next, Stophiar had already crashed through an adjacent building.

    Leonel didn''t even focus on the result. From the beginning, his priority had been Aina. He didn''t seem to feel like what he had done was special at all.

    However, all the elders who had been paying attention to that screen rose to their feet, their eyes wide with shock and their hearts threatening to beat out of their chests.

    Shattering an enemy''s Star wasn''t impossible, but it required one of two things. The first was to have overwhelming power over them. Sometimes, even an entire Dimension of separation wasn''t enough, especially if the target was a talent that had formed a Star Runes.

    At best, if you were much stronger, you could crack it and force the target to retract it. But, even a cracked Star, while it couldn''t be manifested for fear of worsening the damage, could still function normally in the body as it absorbed Force to heal itself.

    Usually, one would have to have almost two Dimensions of separation to do this with the ease Leonel had. However, it was very clear and obvious that Leonel was not in the Eighth Star. If he was, they would have definitely sensed it. Plus, the city wouldn''t allow anyone about the Sixth in.

    So that left only one explanation.

    The second possibility was that someone had to both have exceptionally high affinity aligned with the target Star andбн They had to have exceptional Star Force affinity!

    There were very rarely people born with two separate affinities like this, but most often, these affinities were born into one and fused into a single state. Any Force with such a high fusion of Star Force into it, enough to give their owner such a high affinity with Star Force, was calledбн

    A True State Star Force!

    The odds that Leonel had a True State Star Force were greater than 70%. And, even if he didn''t, he had already displayed such a high Water Force, Bow Force, and Spear Force. But now he had such high Light Force and the incredibly rare Star Force affinity?!

    Even if it wasn''t a True State Star Force, his individual affinities were so far beyond a Human Class genius that he could crush them with a single palm and a single kickбн

    Just where did this child come from?!

    Of course, Leonel had a True State Star Force, the only difference was that he called it a True State Force.

    Top 10 in Star Forces. Top 3 in Light Forces. Top 1 in Fire Forces.

    Not only did he have it, but if he displayed the number of Star Runes he had also formed for it, he could raze this entire to the ground.

    After truly comprehending [Dimensional Cleanse], Leonel found that his Mage Core''s ability to control atmospheric Force, especially ones he had affinity for, had increased hundreds of folds. If he wanted, he could have simply sapped Stophiar of all his Light Force just not and rendered his attack useless. But he didn''t like the look of the latter''s face.

    With Stophiar down, especially the way he had gone down, his two juniors didn''t dare to step forward and could only rush to save their senior.

    No matter what, they refused to join in losing their Stars. If their Star was shattered, it would take months to even years to reform. Then they would have to re-do the Sixth Dimension all over again.

    It was safe to say that at least for now, Stophiar''s time as a genius was finished.

    With no other obstacles, Leonel and Aina tore through the city of demons without the slightest rest. Not even half an hour later, it clicked and they crossed the 10% mark.

    Aina returned to Leonel''s side with a sweet smile. She wasn''t very surprised by the result, but it filled her with satisfaction knowing that others had been proven wrong about her man.

    "There was something different about your Bow Force."

    "Hmбн"

    Aina stayed still and let Leonel dab away the slight sheen of sweat on her face, her smile only growing brighter.

    "бн It does feel different. I feel like I could make it enter the Seventh Dimension whenever I want. But after experiencing that once, I don''t really want to do it again."

    "Oh," Aina nodded as though this was only a matter of course.

    The duo were speaking in a language no one could understand. If it wasn''t for this, who knew how others would react?

    "Okay," Leonel stepped back after he was satisfied, "quickly go trade for it. We still have to go to Human Class. It will be dangerous if there are many as powerful as the annoying guy."

    Aina nodded and flashed toward the top of the sky rise. As for Leonel, he used some of his points to exchange for quite a few items. But ultimately, he was still missing three things he needed.

    The good news was these were quite high class items, so it was likely that the High Class Sector simply wouldn''t have them but others world.

    Just buying what he needed, Leonel had gone from over three million Demon Points to just over a million, the rest entering his "spent" category.

    The observers had no idea what he was doing, but they simply concluded that he wanted these items for his own personal use. But a lot of them seemed to be spatial items, did Leonel also have a spatial affinity?

    They shuddered at the thought.

    Aina came back out quickly, her aura having already changed considerably. It seemed that Golden Tablets were actually special and fused with you, allowing her to learn many of its lower level techniques without even trying.

    Leonel nodded. "When we have time, I have another technique I want you to learn. I didn''t think it was important before butбн I''ll explain later. We should hurry."

    Aina didn''t even have a thought to spare for Uvile and Silyn as she and Leonel charged into the Human Class Sector.

 Chapter 1554 Human Class Sector

    "Do you really have a way out?" Aina asked.

    "Of course, aren''t I amazing?" Leonel grinned.

    The two shot through the portal, appearing in an all new city Sector that was clearly even larger than the High Class Sect. But what was special about this location was the fact that there didn''t seem to be any demons present to attack them automatically. In fact, even after a quick sweep with his senses, Leonel found that he couldn''t find any in a kilometer range either, at least not with a surface level sweep.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed at this prospect. This was the Human Class and it was considered a huge dividing line between the Low, Middle and High Classes. Demons of this caliber were truly dangerous.

    If Stophiar''s strength was anything to go by, this Sector would definitely not be easy to manage. The level of power Stophiar had was the equivalent of top level Sector Ranked disciples of the Void Palace, yet his elders had still sent him down to the High Class Sector.

    This meant one thing for sure: that they only felt that Stophiar could guarantee them a victory there. That meant that, without a doubt, there were people equally as if not more powerful than that here, and not all of them would have affinities that Leonel could easily just crush, so they had to be exceptionally cautious.

    It was very likely that many of these people would have power, maybe rivaling or even surpassing that of his mother, and to Leonel, he still couldn''t see the peak his mother stood at.

    The higher up in Dimensions you went, the larger the dividing lines between individual Tiers was. It would be difficult. Very difficult. The other Sectors had been almost too easy, but this time Leonel would have to prepare a bit.

    His greatest evolution wasn''t in the strength of his body, but rather the strength of his mind.

    Even if he couldn''t leave this place with a Gold Tablet of his own, he had no intention of leaving behind the Silver Tablet. He had to have at least that.

    "Are you sure?" Aina raised an eyebrow.

    "Are you doubting me?" Leonel''s serious expression vanished into a teasing one. "I''m hurt."

    Aina rolled her eyes. Was there even anyone in the world who trusted him more at this point?

    When it came to matters of strength, Aina didn''t even think twice. She didn''t even blink when he said he could promote his Bow Force whenever he wanted.

    But right now, they were stuck in a Zone. When she had met Leonel again, she had shed a tear because seeing him at least meant that if they were going to die here, they could do so together. She realized then that even if she could never get revenge for her mother, she would be able to calm her heart so long as Leonel was by her side.

    Ultimately, she had already resigned to a life of being stuck in this place. Though it was quite harsh and demons were a constant, looming threat, it wasn''t much different from their own world, the threats were just different.

    Plus, this place didn''t seem to have Invalids obsessed with stealing her away to force her to birth their children. So, in her books, this was an enormous plus. She couldn''t even put into words just how revolting and sick just the thought of it was to her.

    But now Leonel was saying that he could bring them out.

    It had to be known that in the history of the Dimensional Verse, no one had ever succeeded in such a thing. Powerful experts had been lost inside, never to return. Even the children of powerful experts had been stuck, but even their parents couldn''t get them out.

    It was impossible. Completely impossible.

    "You aren''t lying to me to make me feel better, right?"

    Aina didn''t look angry at the prospect. In fact, her eyes looked quite vulnerable right this moment. Regardless of the answer, she wouldn''t get angry.

    Leonel probably knew how important revenge was to her. Even if she could force her heart to settle down and forget, that didn''t mean that she would be truly at ease if she couldn''t make the Brazinger family pay.

    But she wanted him to know that it was alright. He didn''t have to go so far and push himself so much if it was truly impossible.

    Leonel''s smile faded and his expression turned serious. His hand reached forward and he smoothed out a piece of loose hair, his actions impossibly gentle for a man who had just crippled another with that very same palm just moments ago.

    "I can do the impossible."

    They were simple words and wildly boastful, but Aina still felt her heart bloom. For some reason, she was certain that he wasn''t lying.

    "Okay," Aina grabbed onto Leonel''s arm with a happy smile. "If you really succeed, I can clear my baby making time slots for you."

    Leonel''s serious and cool demeanor shattered as he choked on air. "Clear? Time slots? What''s that supposed to mean?"

    Aina looked away as though he hadn''t heard him at all.

    "Look, a demon!"

    Leonel''s head snapped in the direction Aina had pointed in, but there was nothing there. Realizing he had been duped, his head snapped back only to realize that Aina had vanished into a puff of crimson, her speed impossibly fast.

    Leonel was speechless. How had he fallen for the oldest trick in the book? Especially when his senses were the strongest ability he had?

    After recovering, Leonel laughed, a whirl of Light Force appearing around him as he shot forward. Compared to the speed he had displayed before, this was easily dozens of times faster.

    A streak of crimson and one of gold tore a path through the city, toeing a line between two accumulating armies.

    The Human Class Sector was, indeed, a lot different. The demons knew how to use their brains, how to strategize and bide their time.

    This was why, the moment Leonel and Aina appeared, they immediately became number one and two on the leaderboards.

    Once the battle truly began, it would be a bloodbath.

 Chapter 1555 Show Off

    Leonel and Aina made it all the way to the center of the city without the slightest obstruction. Leonel had been lamenting the fact that they wouldn''t have a teleportation method here, but surprisingly, although it was slower, it wasn''t a terrible experience either. With their speed, it took maybe an hour to reach the center of the city, but not much more than that.

    When they got there, though, there was, once again, nothing to see.

    By this point, Leonel had noticed the leaderboard and he realized even those with the highest point totals only have Demon Points totaling in the tens of thousands. According to what he knew, these totals were what one could expect for killing one or two Human Class demons.

    This meant that even the strongest here only had so few kills. No, it was more accurate to say that the luckiest here had so few, because Leonel highly doubted that such a list was representative of the strongest here.

    However, that left Leonel and Aina with a huge advantage. Aina alone had over 100 million points. And Leonel, though his points were already used, had over three million. Leonel''s points weren''t very important, but Aina should be able to exchange for what they needed.

    Like the proud gigolo he was, Leonel let Aina pay for everything and they became the first to step into the central sky rises and the only ones with access to their shops. Very quickly, they began looking for what Leonel needed.

    "This is a necessity, with this there should only be one thing left."

    Leonel held the Force Quill in his hand, but it felt impossibly heavy in his hand, almost like it was a spear or a greatsword instead of the quill it was meant to be.

    The tip was carved out of a bronze metal that almost made it look like the embroidered helmet of a sentinel. This tip led to a dense black that seemed smooth upon first look, but needled into Leonel''s metallic skin as though it was wet tissue paper.

    The moment Leonel touched it, his blood dripped down and pooled at the bronze tip, ready to drip at any moment. At the same time, the pure white feather that connected to the black stem began to glow a fierce rouge light.

    CLANG!

    Just like that, the rouge light snapped close like the pieces of an armor and shield, dancing with complex Runes.

    Without much of a thought, Leonel drew a pen stroke across the air, causing the rouge light to tremble and cause a surge of Force to multiply and fuse with Leonel''s own.

    This was exactly the effect Leonel needed. This Force Quill was a Quasi Life Grade Force Quill, a treasure on the same level as the White Lion Bow. What Leonel needed to do couldn''t be done with just his power alone, he needed to borrow power from the world around him.

    The good news was that mastering [Dimensional Cleanse] had actually made this Force Quill almost unnecessary. The even better news was that the combination of the two made his odds of success all the greater.

    There was no doubt that this Force Quill would be with him for a long while. If not for this Zone, who knew how long it would take him to get his hands on one of this caliber?

    "This Force Quill is a bit sinister, it skimming at your Life Force to work."

    Leonel nodded. "It''s also a bit unruly. It''s taking more than it needs, probably because it''s near the Life Grade so it thinks it''s too good for me. If it broke into the Life Grade right now, I probably wouldn''t even be able to pick it up."

    Leonel chuckled. A Force Quill not acknowledging him? He would like to see how long it would remain stubborn for. In no time at all, it would be obediently taking only as much Life Forc as it needed.

    As for right now, Leonel wasn''t even worried about it. With Vital Star Force fueling his body, Life Force wasn''t something he needed to worry about.

    Vital Star Force could be considered to be to Life Force what Soul Force was to Dream Force. Of course, Life Force was of a higher grade than Vital Star Force. This was because Life Force encompassed everything while Vital Star Force was only designed for the body.

    However, when it came to purely body related things like a body''s strength and longevity, Vital Star Force didn''t lose out to Life Force in any way. This was why Leonel''s raw physical strength had finally caught up to Aina''s.

    "So you said there''s one more thing we need?"

    "Yes, one more thing. I need a material strong enough to withstand the procedure. It needs to be both very sturdy and have a spatial affinity. The trouble is that materials like that are simply too rare. Ores with high Spatial Force tend to be more volatile and unstable. I need one that''s the exact opposite.

    "It doesn''t seem like the Human Class Sector has something strong enough."

    "Then we''ll need to go to the Fiend Class."

    Leonel nodded slowly. He didn''t say it, but he felt that without an opportunity to first complete the final leg of his plan, and with Aina not having time to meditate on her Gold Tablet, the Human Class was their limit. And, even then, they were greatly stretching themselves.

    If they wanted to exchange for something in the Fiend Class Sector, they would definitely need to earn all the points they could here.

    After just purchasing two things here, Aina''s more than 100 million Demon Points had almost been completely wiped out, she barely had 10 million left. It wouldn''t be enough to buy the material even if Leonel had found it here. This told Leonel that if they didn''t go into the Fiend Class with enough points, they would never be able to gather enough there.

    Getting 10% of the kills in this Sector would be hard enough, but now they couldn''t stop there. Leonel felt they would need to kill at least 20% to ensure that they would have enough to trade for what would likely be a Life Grade Ore.

    Leonel took a breath and closed his eyes.

    "We can''t do this like we did in the High Classбн"

    Leonel spun his new Force Quill through his fingers, his dexterity seemingly having increased to an impossible level.

    "бн So it seems I''m going to have to show off a bit."

    Blueprints danced through Leonel''s mind. He didn''t realize that the commotion he was about to cause would lead to a cascade of events he would have no power to stop.

 Chapter 1556 Subtle

    Leonel walked up to the side of a building and began inspecting it. Aina didn''t say anything as she followed along, simply allowing Leonel to focus. But as unexpressive as Leonel''s face was, his mind was like a raging storm.

    Due to what had happened at the Void Tower, Leonel''s Dream World looked a lot more like a universe of its own, his synapses becoming like the usually imaginary lines that connected the stars of a constellation.

    Planets moved, asteroids rushed about, and stars sparkled and faded. It was as though Leonel''s thoughts themselves could force world shattering changes, the changes the likes of which could cause upheaval on a cataclysmic scale.

    ''As expected, practically everything here is made up of Seventh Dimensional materials at worst. That''s both a good and a bad thingбн''

    Leonel''s thoughts danced about in his mind. The Dwarven Races Force Arts, the Morales family''s Force Arts, the Luxnix family''s Force Arts, and even snippets of the Spiritual Races Force Arts all danced about in Leonel''s mind, a raging tempest of thoughts forming up and then collapsing one after another.

    ''It''s possibleбн It''s possible if I copyбн Maybe with a few changes here and thereбн''

    Leonel''s mind was on a completely different level than it had been before, but when it came to the Force Arts of the Dwarven Race, copying with just a few liberties was still the best that he could do.

    However, he felt that he was getting closer and closer on that front, all he was lacking was time. But time was maybe what he lacked the most. He had given himself two more weeks to gain enough strength to leave the Oliidark family, but now it felt like that timeline was trying to swallow him whole.

    Despite the pressure, Leonel only seemed to grow calmer, his mind working faster and faster.

    At that moment, Leonel''s palm flipped over the Force Quill appeared, his pale violet eyes glowing with a blinding light as he began to draw across the side of a building. He seemed to forget about everything else, trusting Aina entirely to protect his back.

    бн

    The appearance of Leonel and Aina had definitely caught the attention of the Human Class geniuses who were still biding their time and waiting for the events to begin. But the ones caught the most off guard were the trio who recognized Aina''s name.

    Could it be that Aina had already claimed the Top Prize of the High Class? That much was great, but where were Uvile and Silyn, then? And also, why hadn''t there been any attempt to contact them? There were more than a few options on how to do so even if you were scared about the retaliation of the Human Class demons.

    The trio of young women looked toward one another. They realized that something here wasn''t quite right, especially since there was also this Leonidas character. But the benefit of an extra helper wouldn''t be small, so they had to try and find Aina.

    бн

    In the skies above, Ophelia continued to watch on with a cold gaze. When she saw Aina waste a 100 million Demon Points on Leonel, buying up everything he pointed out without the slightest hesitation, her smoldering fury only became deeper and deeper.

    She seemed to have completely forgotten that it was only because of Leonel that Aina had accumulated so many points so easily to begin with. She couldn''t seem to wrap her head around the idea of mutual aid, trust and respect.

    Her gaze focused on Aina, never leaving her once. She didn''t even seem to notice what it was that Leonel was doing at all. Or maybe it was just that she didn''t care.

    Avras, though, was watching on in confusion. That was clearly a Force Quill, but why wasn''t it a Force Art language that he didn''t recognize?

    Not recognizing it was still fine, but he should still be able to deduce its effects much like Leonel could with the Dwarven Race''s Force Arts. Howeverбн he actually couldn''t make heads or tails of it. It felt impossible that Leonel''s attainments in Force Arts could be deeper than his own. Could it be that he was just trying to show off for a girl and doing whatever nonsense came to mind?

    But that didn''t seem to make much sense either. Leonel clearly had enough skill that such tricks weren''t necessary. Plus, he already had the heart of the bastard child of the Brazinger''s, so was doing such a thing even worth it?

    ''бн Odd.''

    бн

    Leonel didn''t have time to pay attention to the thoughts of others. As he moved, he only seemed to become faster. It had been so long since he had Crafted anything that he forgot how much he loved it.

    To Leonel''s shock, though, as he continued to draw, a subtle sort of feeling began to dance on the edge of his quill''s tip. In fact, the unruly Quasi Life Grade Force Quill only seemed to become more and more obedient with each passing second.

    For a moment, the quill felt no different from a spear or his bow, his control over it was immaculate and the Artistic Conception that flooded forth from its body enveloped Leonel, causing him to sink even deeper into his thoughts.

    He had felt this feeling once before. When he forged the final creation of his last Force Quill, a Force Quill that had followed by his side for years, he could almost feel its mourning, its excitement, its final will.

    That feeling was oh so subtle before, but after grasping the first stage of his grandfather''s spear technique, it became sharper. Rather than a slight melody pulling at his will, it felt as though the DONG of a sonorous bell was ringing in his mind.

    Leonel seemed to vanish, fusing into the world itself. It suddenly wasn''t clear where his hand stopped and where his quill began.

    And then it clicked. He realized what was lacking from his Bow Force and from his Spear Force.

 Chapter 1557 Cat Fight

    Leonel moved faster and faster, gorgeous semi and quarter circular arcs beginning to layer atop of one another to become more and more complex. Even before it became functional, it was beautiful. And even before it was beautiful, it was perfect. Every line, every edge and every overlap was precise to the millimeter, not a single piece out of place.

    Leonel shattered a window and began to weave in and out of the building, his Force Arts swallowing more and more of it all without a care for what function it had produced before.

    "Aina."

    At that moment, Aina had been entirely focused on Leonel, her own eyes in somewhat of a trance. But she still knew that her role was to protect Leonel as best she could during this period. So, she had already noticed when others were approaching and she frowned when she heard them call her name.

    Aina turned to find three familiar faces, all of whom were from the Endless Twilight Pavilion.

    Compared to the other powers, the Endless Twilight Pavilion had been the most brazen. Some others might only participate in two separate Sectors if they had the means to do so secretly. The Endless Twilight Pavilion, though, sent in nine disciples to cover three different Sectors: the High Class Sector, the Human Class Sector and the Fiend Class Sector.

    In fact, if it wasn''t because she disdained to do so, Ophelia would have sent people into the Middle and Low Classes as well, all so that she could maximize her chances at laying claim to as many tablets as possible.

    The three women had auras far more dense and powerful than that of Uvile and Silyn. As three of the top six disciples of a Fiend Class power, this was all to be expected. As for ranked fourth through sixth of a Fiend Class power, they should be able to easily bury the likes of Stophiar.

    Aina felt quite a bit of pressure facing them, there was nothing much she could do about that. These three were already very close to entering the Seventh Dimension, if they didn''t make her feel so much pressure, their decades of practice would have all gone to waste.

    "Yes?"

    Aina''s reply left the three not quite knowing what to say.

    The one who had initially spoken was the fourth ranked and the leader amongst the three. She had a fiery head of red hair and bright violet eyes. However the aura she gave off was quite electric, the air sparking around her before fading back to normal.

    If her Lightning Force was compared to the trio of the Lightning Lance Pavilion, it could only be said to be akin to night and day. The gap was far too large, so much so that Lightning Force itself seemed to react to the fluctuations in her emotions.

    "Did Pavilion Head not make herself clear? In the case that any one of us finishes early and promotes to the next Sector, we''re to gather together as quickly as possible. I would be able to make concessions for you if you were delayed, but it doesn''t look like you were delayed at all. What do you think you''re doing?"

    Aina''s eyes narrowed. "I have something to do, I won''t be joining you."

    "Excuse me?"

    Sparks flew around Lovira, dancing between golden, red and violet. The sizzling of the air seemed to raise the temperature, an oppressive might descending.

    "I said that I won''t be joining you." Aina''s voice grew colder. "Good luck."

    "Are you betraying the Endless Twilight Pavilion? Are you breaking the trust of the sisterhood?"

    The one who spoke was the fifth ranked Marcy, while her temper was much gentler in comparison to Lovira''s hot bloodedness, she didn''t seem very happy with what was happening either. They were Aina''s seniors, just by virtue of that alone, they deserved her respect, this was how the world worked. To actually dare to try and blow them off, and for what, exactly?

    Their gazes shifted from Aina to a shadow that continuously appeared and vanished in the windows of the adjacent shop. They had no idea what he was doing, but when they laid eyes on the elaborate patterns surrounding the building, their hearts couldn''t help but tremble for some reason.

    "Betraying? I was taken into the Endless Twilight Pavilion to be a maidservant. If it wasn''t for my own personal talent, I would have already been flogged to death. Even after I survived that ordeal, I was forced to choose between dying and becoming a student of your Pavilion, what sisterhood, exactly?"

    The coercion in Aina''s voice only seemed to increase with every word she spoke.

    She was already tall for a woman to begin with, standing after over six feet. Her hair might not be the same crimson of the Brazinger''s, but her aura was no less potent if not more so. Facing the likes of Lovira, if it was in terms of raw power, she might lose, but if it was a battle of momentum and aura, she would lose to no one.

    Lovira felt her heart quake. Looking into Aina''s bright golden eyes, it felt as though she was staring into the soul of a War Goddess.

    "Your sisterhood is worth nothing to me, and certainly not as much as a single hair on his head. I advise that you leave us alone and preserve your strength for the coming final phase. If not, I''ll make certain that you suffer here even if I lose."

    Lovira''s gaze flickered. If anyone else so weak had said such nonsense to her, she might spit in their face long before she took it seriously. But a Blood Sovereignбн A Blood Sovereign was too unpredictable. It was precisely this Blood Sovereign ability that caught the eye of the forever unimpressed Ophelia.

    At that moment, the sound of clapping echoed.

    "Ohoho, front row seats to a cat fight, lucky us. Do you think we''ll get any nipple action this time?"

    A teasing voice came from the top of a sky rise. A foot appeared on the ledge before a handsome face peered over to catch a glimpse of what was happening below.

 Chapter 1558 Pathetic

    Lovira''s expression darkened as she looked up. She had hoped that this could be dealt with without involving others, but it was quite clear that their movements would be monitored by anyone with a vested interest in winning. And, just as obviously, anyone who dared to so blatantly provoke them like this was yet another power that wouldn''t lose out to the Endless Twilight Pavilion by much at all.

    The Star Force Pavilion.

    The Star Force Pavilion was famous for only accepting disciples with rare Star affinities. It could be said that outside powers that could be considered subsidiaries of the Great Families like the Sacred Light Pavilion Stophiar had been a part of, the Endless Twilight Pavilion, the Star Force Pavilion, and the Eternal Dream Pavilion were the very strongest.

    All three were Fiend Class powers only below that of the Great Families, but truthfully, it was a bit inaccurate to see them like this.

    There was only one Chaos Class Bubble in the Human World which was protected jointly by the Four Great Families. This Bubble often received the support of these powerful Fiend Class powers as well and often the greatest geniuses of these Fiend Class powers would play a large role in defending said Bubble.

    It could be said that the only reason these highest level Fiend Class powers weren''t considered Chaos Class powers was that there wasn''t enough opportunity to grow. At least that was what it seemed like on the surface, in reality, things were even more complicated than just this alone.

    Regardless, the Eternal Dream Pavilion was one that was quite mysterious and didn''t often take part in such affairs. They were the only power not to send a single individual here. That mostly left the Endless Twilight Pavilion and the Star Force Pavilion to butt heads and figure out how to divide these spoils alone, something that quite frankly left everyone else stuck.

    The one who had spoken just now was the fourth ranked disciple of the Star Force Pavilion, Tybth. He was the equivalent of Lovira in almost every way, so it wasn''t a surprise that he didn''t care about offending her with his words.

    "Lovira, don''t be like that, is there a need to glare? I''ve already told you that if you keep this up, you''ll end up with more wrinkles than you know what to do with soon enough. How about I give you a massage and help you to smoothen them out? I can help you smooth out a lot of things."

    Tybth grinned wildly, his eyes scanning Lovira up and down. Despite the fact he was standing on top of a building at least a few hundred meters tall, to him, she might as well have been right in front of him.

    Lovira''s jaw set, the lightning around her continuing to dance and spark. They almost looked like fine cracks in space, ready to implode at any moment.

    Suddenly, and completely without warning, Lovira''s arm shot forward, her hand forming into a crackling blade that pierced right for Aina''s heart.

    Aina, however, didn''t seem very surprised by this result at all. The more powerful her Life Force grew, the more sensitive she became to such things.

    BANG!

    The polearm of Aina''s battle ax appeared between herself and Lovira, its blade slamming heavily into the ground. The timing was perfect and Lovira''s middle finger slammed heavily into the ax.

    A crackle of lightning surged forward, but Aina had already retreated, her expression cold.

    Lovira''s beautiful countenance twisted, seemingly not expecting her surprise attack to fail, but she had already followed up with another strike, her palms raining down like a torrential rain.

    Aina''s eyes narrowed, her body seemingly moving on its own. None of her strikes were telegraphed and she moved as freely as a leaf in the wind. The gentleness she had learned from wielding a silk cloth as her main weapon for so long seemed to have long since been ingrained into her very being.

    SLAP!

    Lovira''s face swiveled to the side, hard. It looked for a moment as though her head might twist off her neck just from the force of the blow alone, one of her teeth even flying out from her mouth as her cheek quickly swelled only to just as quickly begin to heal.

    Aina took a back, grabbing her ax.

    "Your close combat skills are pathetic. If you want to teach me a lesson, I advise you to fight for real, or else I really won''t mind killing you right here and now."

    Aina''s voice didn''t seem to carry even the slightest emotion, but the bloodthirstiness wasn''t to be underestimated. She had never been like Leonel. She never hesitated to kill and she would never blink an eye toward slaughter. Leonel only seemed capable of flipping on that switch when those he cared about were harmed, but she didn''t even need this much. So long as someone stood in her way, she would rip out their intestines and strangle them with it if it was the only way to win.

    And all the while, she wouldn''t blink a single time.

    Tybth clapped and laughed from above. He even took a seat, his two juniors laughing and sitting by his side. It seemed that they were having the time of their lives.

    "бн You slapped me?"

    Lovira touched the cut on her lip that was already almost entirely closed, her expression as dark and murky as a swamp''s waters.

    Aina didn''t respond. In truth, she would have preferred a solid punch to deal some real damage, but the gap in Lovira''s defenses was too small and narrow. Since she didn''t expect to win this battle in one blow anyway, she chose to humiliate and enrage her enemy instead.

    When it came to close combat instincts, Aina didn''t feel like there was anyone in this world that was her match.

    Her grip on her ax''s polearm tightened somewhat and she raised it into the air, pointing it straight at Lovira.

    "Come."

 Chapter 1559 Shattered Window

    Lovira''s met Aina''s gaze, a smoldering fury within their depths.

    "You two, don''t you dare interfere. If you do, I''ll kill you personally."

    Marcy and Farra looked toward each other somewhat helplessly. On the one hand, they knew that they needed to deal with Aina. Not only were her actions a humiliation to their Pavilion, but she could also jeopardize their mission once the final phase truly began.

    However, on the other hand, it was too difficult to deal with Blood Sovereigns. Their healing factors were out of this world, their ability to scale their abilities beyond their limits was greater than in any other path, and when you paired that with a stubborn attitude like Aina, the results could be disastrous.

    Up above, the members of the Star Force Pavilion were already chuckling and laughing at them, but Lovira had already stepped beyond the threshold of no return. Her temper was too fiery. And it definitely didn''t help that she wielded not one, but two top ten Lightning Forces.

    Violet Bolt Force, known for its piercing power and Crimson Implosion Force, known for its explosive power. When the two were put togetherбн

    Lovira shot forward, her speed fast and her palms already rising into the air to reveal a greatsword with a blade that was two meters tall and two feet wide. It swirled with a violent tempest of red and violet lightning and it descended like a howling wind.

    Aina''s gaze flashed, her ax arching backward and then swinging upward. A moment before the collision, her wrist shifted ever so slightly, causing her ax''s blade to nick the side of Lovira''s greatsword and knocking it to the side.

    BANG!

    Lovira''s greatsword glanced by Aina''s shoulder, its spark of lightning tearing into the latter''s white leather and plate armor almost down to her shoulder''s tender flesh. Then with a harsh sound, it collided into the ground, as Aina''s Ax Force blazed to life.

    Enlightened Ax Force trembled, wavering between a golden and a white color before settling on the latter.

    By all rights, Aina had the advantage. With a single glancing blow, she closed the distance between herself and Lovira, the latter''s greatsword still stuck in the ground as Aina transferred the upward momentum of her battle ax one again into a downward momentum.

    Her ability to shift and use strength that she had already accumulated was immaculate. Every movement was seamless and not even a hint of energy was wasted. There was simply no one who understood her body better than herself.

    However, the gap between her and Lovira was too large. While it was clear to anyone that Aina''s skill was greater, Lovira could close the gap with sheer raw power.

    Lovira took a heavy step back, forcefully changing the momentum of her greatsword and pulling it out from the ground to block Aina''s blow.

    Aina''s wrists trembled, her ax threatening to fly from her hands but she had already prepared to use this new momentum to swing down again.

    Unfortunately, Lovira, after making Aina go numb once, forced her to do it again, and then again.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Collision after collision resounded and Lovira pushed Aina back a step with everyone. At first it was  even, but Aina''s losses became more and more pronounced with every exchange. And to make matters worse, the sparks of purple and red lightning were having residual area of effect impact.

    Aina''s white armor became charged in several places, and if it wasn''t for it, the results would have been far more difficult to handle.

    Lovira''s attacks became faster and faster as Aina''s counters had no choice but to become less skilled. The stronger Lovira''s attacks, the more difficult it was for Aina to prepare an adequate rebuttal, and the more pressure she had to face.

    Lovira''s expression only became more savage. As enraged as she was, she hadn''t lost her mind yet. This was as much power as she was willing to use because this wouldn''t impact her battle prowess later on. But it still infuriated her that Aina could last for so long.

    She sneered when she saw that the web of Aina fingers were accumulating more and more blood. So what if they continuously healed, she would still make this junior who didn''t know her place suffer.

    BANG!

    Aina skidded backward, her expression still placid.

    Lovira held out her greatsword, the tempest of lightning around it growing by another measure.

    With a heavy stomp forward, the ground quaked and a surging tide of red lightning split the ground.

    "HA!"

    Lovira released a low shout, her greatsword waving forward and causing a scythe of Lightning Force to shoot for Aina.

    Aina''s eyes narrowed. Rather than retreating, she took a heavy step forward as well, her ax swinging down with all her might as a crimson aura condensed around her.

    "HA!"

    Aina''s out shout came out like a sonorous bell, an odd resonant feeling gripping the hearts of those who heard it.

    At the instant before the two attacks met, the crimson aura around Aina seemed to respond to the shout, multiplying in force by tenfold just the instant before they met.

    BANG!

    Aina stumbled backward, her ax almost flying out from her hand, but her grip remained true. The ground cracked with each one of her heavy steps until she finally managed to stop on the third, a small exhale coming out from her pink lips.

    Lovira''s eyes widened.

    She survived that without being heavily injured? How is that even possible?

    It didn''t make any sense. That attack was already enough for even the likes of Tybth to take seriously, let alone a small time disciple like Aina.

    Just when Lovira was about to break her own rules and use more strength, she suddenly felt as though her soul had been plunged into the depths of hell.

    Her head snapped up, only to find a boy years her junior looking down at her from the ledge of a shattered window.

 Chapter 1560 Why Dont You...

    Leonel hopped down from the ledge, landing on the ground as though he was nothing more than a feather. It was especially odd since he hadn''t seemed to have done anything to slow his descent. In fact, it looked as though he had even sped up his fall.

    Leonel frowned when he saw Aina''s bloody hands. He could tell that the skin beneath was already healed, but it didn''t make him happy at all.

    He sighed. "Didn''t I tell you that you should always carry around a bunch of blood, it''s too useful to your combat abilities not to."

    Aina only smiled but didn''t respond. She didn''t carry around blood with her mostly because it felt like a cheat. Her Blood Force enhanced her abilities, but they weren''t her foundational abilities, at least that was the way she saw it.

    In her mind, her main focus should be increasing her raw ability. Then, of course, her Blood Force would be able to boost that when she needed it, thus making her stronger.

    All this time, Aina''s Blood Force had been like an enigmatic existence looming at the back of her mind. She never really understood it or what it meant to be a Blood Sovereign. In fact, she somewhat hated it and wanted to run from it due to the bad experiences it had caused her.

    The fusion with the Gold Tablet seemed to have subtly changed those thoughts within her, but she had only combined with it a few hours ago at most, how would that be enough time to change her entire mentality?

    Ultimately, she knew that Leonel was right and had always been right. If she had stored the large amount of demon blood she had gotten from the High Class Sector instead of just leaving it behind like she usually did, then she wouldn''t have suffered as much or maybe even not at all.

    When she faced increasingly powerful opponents, she couldn''t always hope to snatch their blood from them.

    Just then when she had slapped Lovira and managed to draw blood, she realized that she couldn''t even snatch away the latter''s Blood Force, leading to her being pushed to the edge and forced to use a technique she wasn''t even sure would work.

    Luckily it had, but she still felt that it was a close call. If not for this, she would have been heavily injured if not dead.

    "Are you the one who tricked my junior into doing your dirty work?"

    Lovira seemed to have finally recovered, but she found herself frozen again when Leonel looked at her. Once was already enough, but for it to happen twice now, she realized that this wasn''t a coincidence. Something about this man was even more dangerous than her, and that wasn''t a feeling that she was used to being born with her two Lightning Force affinities.

    "Who is that?" Leonel asked, ignoring her question.

    "A disciple of the Endless Twilight Pavilion?"

    "Endless Twilight Pavilion? What does she mean I tricked you?"

    "It''s a female only organization," Aina explained simply.

    "Oh. No wonder it''s called Endless Twilight, it''s probably run by an old lady who thinks her prime extends to infinity. It makes sense she''s raised such bitter disciples."

    Aina opened her mouth to respond but when what Leonel said hit her, she was frozen in silence for a moment before she snorted beside herself, her laughter echoing throughout the silent city.

    However, Aina was the only one who was laughing. Whether it was the three women, or Tybth and the other men above, none of them dared to. In fact, even if they found it amusing in their hearts, they wouldn''t dare to.

    Leonel had just said those words out loud for everyone to hear and there was an almost 100% certainty that the fiery tempered Pavilion Head Ophelia had heard them.

    Old lady? Past her prime? Bitter?

    "You dare say such words about Pavilion Head Ophelia?!"

    Leonel''s head turned back. "Since you dared to injure her, why don''t you just die?"

    Lovira, who hadn''t expected such a change, suddenly felt an overwhelming danger take hold of her.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    At that moment, the building that Leonel had just been in shrunk by three factors. No, it hadn''t shrunk. Rather, it had condensed, becoming a mass of Seventh Dimensional material that snaked into the skies and quickly formed the head of a horned dragon.

    ROAR!

    The devastating sound broke the sound barrier, shattering the windows of countless sky rises as a huge accumulation of Fire Force began to accumulate in the horned dragon''s mouth.

    ''Run.''

    This was the only thought in Lovira''s mind as she sprinted away, her eyes signaling the very same thing to her companions.

    "Dammit!"

    Lovira instantly realized that there wasn''t enough time. The other two disciples would have time, but she most definitely would not.

    The heat already began to scorch her skin, a raging tempering swirling about the mouth of the construct before it even breathed out.

    And when it finally didбн It was as though the world was dyed in red.

    Lovira unleashed her Stars all at once. Under the shocked eyes of the spectators, she was actually able to manifest four, but the despair on her face spoke volumes.

    A pillar of fire descended from above, enveloping her completely.

    The concrete melted to liquid, the foundation of several buildings to the side warping and collapsing.

    The fire slowly waned, but the heat only seemed to continue to rise. The only two who seemed completely unaffected were Leonel and Aina, the former because no flame could possibly hurt him, and the latter because she had his protection.

    "She survivedбн" Leonel mumbled to himself, watching as a half charred and completely naked Lovira coughed and stumbled, the molten pavement sticking to her and causing her to scream out in horror and pain.

    Unfortunately for her, though, there was no beauty to see in her naked form. There was nothing but a half bald head, boiling skin, and charred flesh.

    Leonel prompted the horned dragon construct to raise its head again to attack, but at that moment the ground rumbled.

    He looked off into the distance, his eyes narrowing. It seemed that the Human Class demons were finally launching their assault.

 Chapter 1561 Sheep

    Ophelia rose to her feet violently. Although her expression still didn''t have a single change, the same couldn''t be said for the aura around her. In fact, it seemed as though the entire cloud construct they stood upon might collapse at any moment.

    Avras was caught between shock, awe and helplessness. This boy''s mouth was truly something, but who could have possibly guessed that Leonel''s greatest talent wouldn''t be his spear, his bow, or even his True State Star Forceбн But rather his Force Crafting!

    None of them could understand how such a talent had appeared out of nowhere. It simply didn''t make sense for him to not at least be part of a Human Class power. Where the hell had he come from?!

    Ophelia turned to leave, her steps slow and deliberate.

    Avras'' expression changed and he quickly vanished to block Ophelia''s path. With his stature, he was naturally far taller and larger than the delicately framed Pavilion Head, however none of that seemed to matter at all as he continued to try to be as respectful as possible.

    "Pavilion Head, please show some patience. I really cannot allow you to interfere. The child has a foul mouth that spews nothing but lies, how could the gorgeous Ophelia''s prime not be endless? However, while he has a foul mouth, he hasn''t broken any rules. How can the Great Families continue to hold our heads high if we cannot protect the youths who are deserving of it?

    "Please show some restraint."

    Avras'' words were as subservient as he could allow himself to be while still drawing a fierce line. He truly couldn''t allow Ophelia to go and do as she pleased, or else the event would truly be worried.

    Ophelia seemed to look right through Avras for a moment before she finally met his gaze.

    Avras shuddered but still remained as strong as he could. No one dared to talk about the history of Ophelia, but he knew it quite well. This woman really did dare to do anything. The fact she was looking at him like this right now likely meant that she would back down, but that didn''t mean that she would forget.

    бн

    Lovira''s two companions rushed forward to pick her up, Leonel''s glance making them shudder. Truthfully, he had only waited so that he could kill all three of them at once. Clearly, they believed that such an attack could only be launched by him once, or at least with poor frequency. But, they were very much wrong.

    However, before Leonel could command his draconic construct to attack again, Aina grabbed his arm.

    "It''s not worth it. Pavilion Head Ophelia is too powerful, I can''t see her limits."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Hearing this, he realized that he might have to change his plans. It might be best to never step foot outside of this city at all, but would that be possible?

    Leonel calculated some things. Truthfully, he really did need two more weeks, only with those two more weeks would he be able to accomplish what he had previously failed toбн Unless?

    It was possible that he might find something to speed the process up in the Fiend Class Sector. It seemed that everything would come down to this.

    "Alright, let''s finish up here quickly."

    Leonel wrapped an arm around Aina''s waist and took a strong step. A small tornado of wind was left in his wake as he leapt to the top of the horned dragon formed of stone in a single bound. In one moment, he was on the ground, and in the next, he towered over even some of the sky rises.

    Leonel sent a glance toward Tybth and the others of the Star Force Pavilion, but they seemed to have begun to show quite a bit of restraint now.

    The head of the horned dragon swiveled just a small measure, but the three immediately explosively retreated, their gazes narrowed. That attack just now was way too powerful, so much so that it bordered on the explosive power of a Seventh Dimensional Fire Force.

    They had no idea how Leonel had done it, but what they were certain of was that they wanted no part of it. Without the help of Seventh Dimensional materials and maybe even years of rest, there was no way Lovira would be able to display her usual strength.

    Leonel took control of the horned dragon, urging it forward toward the emerging line of Human Class Demons.

    They truly lived up to their name, all of them walking on two legs and being humanoid in form. But, however, this was where their similarities ended.

    It was rare for any of them to have normal flesh colored skin. Many were covered in scales, some had skin ranging from green to violet, some had bones that grew right out of their skin, and some others seemed to have fused their bodies with armors.

    No matter which it was, though, all of them exuded towering auras, just the strength of their normal steps causing the ground to whine and crack. However, Leonel simply stood tall, looking down upon them with the same unmoved expression.

    If he had to face them with his bow and spear, it would indeed be a tall task. However, he suddenly felt very confident that he could wipe them all out with minimal effort on his part. Who asked this city to be so rich in Seventh Dimensional materials? They were practically begging him to make it his playground.

    The horned dragon opened its mouth, a large accumulation of Fire Force quickly formed.

    It released a mighty roar just as the expressions of the demons changed. But it was already too late. After all this preparation, they had charged forward with the confidence to wipe out these human youths who treated them like hunting targets.

    They were completely enveloped by the flames, cries of terror and pain rang out, sounds that one would have never thought a demon could possibly make.

    Leonel, though, made them seem like nothing more than sheep to the slaughter.

 Chapter 1562 Mantra

    Aina watched with raised brows. Even she hadn''t expected something like this. It had been a very long time since Leonel Crafted anything. Usually for most, their skills would be dull. But it was as though the time off had only made Leonel more powerful in this aspect.

    Truthfully, Leonel had already had an enormous breakthrough that day he forged armor out of Cursed Beast skins back during the Void Palace True Selection. However, without his quill, and because he lost Little Tolly soon after, he had never had the time to consolidate that breakthrough.

    Someone else might have allowed that feeling to fade, but for Leonel who had an entire Dream World in his mind, he didn''t have to physically practice to improve. In fact, the months of pondering and patience actually allowed him to accumulate more experiences and build atop of that breakthrough he had made.

    This horned dragon, formed of stone, was an accumulation of all of that, coming together to form a power far beyond Leonel''s own and superseding the limits of the younger generation''s existence in this place.

    The form of the dragon came from the Luxnix family Force Art, its foundation came from the Dwarven Race''s protective Force Art formation, its ability to accumulate and expel powerful flames came from [Dimensional Cleanse] and very specific Runes of his Scarlet Star Force Stars, and finally, the Force Art that catalyzed its change in form from a building into a creature was that Morales family''s Force Art!

    Leonel''s accumulation of knowledge came together and his use of Force Arts evolved from strict and stringent copying, to something that contained its own life and vitality. He no longer felt restrained by singular Force Art languages and could seamlessly switch between them all, even fusing them into one to form a new language that even the likes of Avras wasn''t able to recognize.

    When he was drawing this Force Art, it felt to him as though his quill had come to life. It became less unruly and it almost fused into his arm as though it couldn''t get close enough to him. Leonel could even faintly feel it trying to break free of its Gold Grade shackles to truly become a Life Grade treasure.

    It could never have expected that the puny Sixth Dimensional existence that had claimed it could possibly give it such a surprise.

    ''It''s still copying, thoughбн'' Leonel thought to himself lightly.

    Without the foundation of the Dwarven Race''s protective formation, Leonel knew that he wouldn''t have been able to succeed.

    While it all sounded impressive, the truth was that Leonel''s actual input was minimal. All he really did was give the formation a new form. It was almost like he had stitched together pieces and limbs from different corpses and called it life.

    One only need to look at the materials to understand. He had used so many Seventh Dimensional materials, an entire building''s worth, and yet the strength output was still Sixth Dimensional.

    Of course, a part of the problem was the fact that these Seventh Dimensional materials weren''t perfectly curated toward this sort of result. After all, they were just designed for use as the parts of a building.

    However, Leonel still wasn''t satisfied even as his points jumped up by millions with every attack.

    His head suddenly turned in a certain direction and the paw of the horned dragon rose up, slapping the javelin out of the air.

    BANG!

    A huge shock wave wiped out another troop of demons.

    "Kill," Leonel said lightly.

    The horned dragon pursed its lip and spit outward.

    A bullet of fire squeezed into a thin line rocketed through the air, collapsing the sound barrier and superheating the air.

    It tore through the core of a building without a single sound, leaving a hole so small it was almost impossible to see. But then..

    BOOM!

    The beam collided with the ground, a dome of fire imploding and rising into the air.

    The horned dragon raised its head, ignoring all the attack that collided with its neck, the ringing sound of metal rebounding off of metal dancing through the air.

    The dragon sunk down into the ground as the fire ball above it suddenly doubled in size. And then it sunk down once again as the fire ball doubled in size once more.

    The mass of the fire ball grew so large and so dense that it seemed to have formed a warped gravitational pull of its own, complex Runes beginning to form at the mouth of the horned dragon.

    The Human Class demons no longer hesitated, turning tail to run. They seemed to realize at that moment that the worst thing they could have done was gather up in such a large group. It was as though they had all prepared themselves on a platter for Leonel, begging him to kill them.

    Unfortunately, it was too late.

    бн

    The city stood razed to the groundбн Or maybe it was more accurate to say that it was flattened. It seemed as though only one building had survived at all and Leonel''s points stood out at over 300 billion. Such an exaggerated total was one the other youths of the Human Class Sector could only look at in silence.

    How had they been this unlucky?

    What they didn''t know was that they weren''t the only ones to suffer. In fact, they probably wouldn''t be the last either. Leonel had already gone through the Middle Class, the High Class and now the Human Class.

    There was still one more waiting for him.

    But first he wanted to see if he could find what he was looking for. Originally, he had ignored all the technique shops because he knew they wouldn''t have what he needed. Now that he had so many points, though, it would be a shame if he didn''t at least check.

    There was no telling what kind of variables might be waiting in the Fiend Class Sector.

    Very soon, Leonel was happy he did.

    ''It really is hereбн''

    He flipped the book in his hands.

    [Dream Force Mantra].

 Chapter 1563 Three Hours

    Leonel knew what he was missing, and that was Dream Runes.

    The reason he had been able to make the horned dragon so powerful was precisely because he had so many formed Runes for his Scarlet Star Force Stars. Leonel knew that if he wanted the strength and stamina necessary to succeed in his plan, he would need more Dream Force than he currently had, and much more powerful Dream Force at that.

    Under normal circumstances there was nothing that he could do about this. After all, though his mind was technically in the Seventh Dimension thanks to his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor, it was shackled by his mind to too great of an extent.

    If he wanted to mitigate this weakness, he could rely on his body. It was too weak of a vessel.

    The first possibility was to bring his Metal Body to the Sixth Dimension as well, that would likely help strengthen his mind once more. But Leonel knew that this increase wouldn''t'' be as exaggerated as his initial breakthrough. Whether it was body or mind, neither was as important as a fundamental change to your Nodes.

    Now, however, there was another path for him to take, and that was to comprehend Dream Runes.

    Leonel felt that his Dream affinity was so high that so long as he meditated in silence for two weeks, he would be able to reach his goals, but he simply didn''t have that kind of time left. Aina''s words had been a great warning to him.

    If any other Sixth Dimensional existence said they couldn''t sense the limits of an old monster like Ophelia, it only made sense. But when someone with such high Life Force affinity said it, it was a different matter entirely.

    There likely weren''t any tricks Leonel could pull off to deal with Ophelia, that meant that the only option to not step foot out of this city at all. But in order to do that, he needed a short cut to comprehend his Dream Runes, and he had just found it.

    Under the astonished gazes of those watching, right in the middle of the shop, Leonel sat cross legged.

    Aina didn''t say a word and simply watched over him as the book began to rise and flip before him.

    Leonel sunk into a state of meditation almost instantly. Right then, three silvery Star projected out from his body, growing so large and all encompassing that the building began to sway.

    Avras, who was still whispering calming words to Ophelia in hopes that she would remain calm, almost shot out of his seat again.

    When he saw the Dream Force Stars, he almost choked on air. From the beginning until now, Leonel had never manifested even a single one of his Stars, but suddenly seeing it before them all now, Avras felt like he couldn''t breathe properly.

    And right then, for the very first time, Ophelia''s expression also changed, her eyes widening and her heart skipping a beat.

    бн

    Leonel had no idea the kind of commotion he had just caused, but he was already in a state of incomparable focus. He muttered the mantra of the booklet, his comprehension of [Dimensional Cleanse] making it far easier for him to grasp.

    The book used a concept that he was already familiar with: Auspicious Air. This Auspicious Air, in particular, seemed capable of calling forth an especially focused mind toward Dream Force in particular. It made the vague outline of Runes you could sense when you absorbed Force feel all the more real and tangible.

    In just a few seconds, all three of Leonel''s Stars had formed their base Star Runes. And, as though a snowball gathering momentum down a hill, they began to accumulate faster and faster.

    With every stroke, Leonel''s mind became clearer, his mind faster, and his thoughts sharper. His consciousness became stronger and the vague awakening of his soul that he had experienced so long ago now only became more prominent.

    Leonel quickly formed nine base Runes and they fused into one. Without even a breath to pause, another set of nine formed creating two Great Runes, then three, then four. When nine were formed, the Great Runes fused once again.

    The sharper Leonel''s mind became, the quicker his lips moved and the faster the Great Runes accumulated.

    Aina''s expression flickered. Although she couldn''t quite understand what was happening, her heart raced completely out of control.

    There was a feeling weighing down on her, a feeling of such overwhelming familiarity that her eyes began to water beside themselves. She couldn''t seem to control it at all, and the tears only came faster. However, she also didn''t want to blink, as though if she did, she would suddenly miss everything.

    And it was exactly then that it happened once more.

    SNAP!

    The sound echoed throughout the world, even more forceful than the last. Many felt their eardrums pop, their ears beginning to leak blood and, in the worst cases, flesh.

    Avras and Ophelia''s expression changed once again, but this time it had very little to do with Leonel, or so they thought.

    Their heads snapped in a certain direction and without hesitation, they both shot forward, Ophelia''s speed so fast that she left a blazing trail to her back, leaving Avras in her dust.

    However, despite this, Avras didn''t even have the time to smile bitterly, he could only urge himself forward even faster.

    Not long after the two vanished, the Pavilion Head of the Star Force Pavilion and others in the know also shot out, leaving streaking meteors in the skies. It was as though what was happening in the city no longer mattered at all.

    Leonel''s brows remained relaxed, one Rune after another forming in quick succession. He didn''t feel a bottleneck come any time.

    Over a thousand Runes had already formed and the number only kept growing, shooting over the 6000 Rune mark and surpassing his Scarlet Star Force and becoming the first to form nine Grand Runes.

    However, even then, it didn''t slow. In fact, it didn''t slow until Leonel had formed 59 049 Runes, fusing them into nine Exalted Runes. Only then did he finally run into a bottleneck he couldn''t push past.

    But those who understood Runes and how they function understood just what this meant.

    Nine Exalted Runes. This was the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension.

    Leonel''s eyes opened and he snatched the booklet out of the air.

    "How long has it been?" Leonel asked, feeling that his sense of time had distorted.

    "Three hours," Aina replied.

    "Alright, let''s go claim the Top Prize and go to the Fiend Class Sector. Thenбн We can get out of here."

 Chapter 1564 Missing?

    "What do you see?"

    Leonel looked over toward Aina, a bit curious. She had already received a Gold Tablet, so Leonel wanted to know what else this system would deem appropriate for her.

    "I see another Gold Tablet, but I don''t think I really need this one."

    Leonel blinked. "Are you just saying that? Or do you really not need it?"

    Leonel looked at her skeptically. Just from the small bit he understood about these weird Tablets, they were all incredibly valuable in one way or another. He felt that she was just saying so to make sure that he didn''t sacrifice another opportunity to her.

    "No, really," Aina laughed. "It''s about Force Pill Crafting and methods on how to do so, but I don''t really need those kinds of constraints. I trained under a master in Valiant Heart Mountain, but I didn''t like the experience very much. In fact, I felt it restricted what I could do the moment I got bogged down by convention and rules. I feel freer to do as I please when I don''t have to worry about restraints like that at all."

    Leonel nodded, believing what Aina was saying. She had, indeed, not tried to find another master since leaving Valiant Heart Mountain. In fact, if not for his plans to deal with the Green Thread Faction, she wouldn''t have even bothered to go and register with their Force Pill Faction.

    Aina''s Ability Index had always been enigmatic to Leonel. It didn''t appear in any of the records of the Dimensional Verse, so he assumed it had to be a Unique Ability Index that hadn''t appeared before.

    What was truly odd about it was that it was hard to tell where her Ability Index ended and where her Blood Sovereign abilities began, or if they were one in the same or separate. It also made it especially difficult because her Brazinger family Lineage Factor also seemed to fuse so well with it as well.

    Leonel had realized long ago that this was actually why Aina was so powerful. Not only were her individual abilities powerful on their own, but their synergy was on a completely different level. Unlike Leonel who had many powerful abilities that weren''t very related to one another at all, even if you told Leonel that Aina actually had just a single ability that manifested in different ways, he just might believe it.

    The way Leonel saw it, Aina''s Ability Index was her subconscious understanding of her body that could translate to a conscious control of it. This allowed her to understand exactly how to train, and it was also rooted in a sensitivity to Life Force.

    Her Blood Sovereignty gave her control over Blood Force which was the perfect conduit for Life Force which was often inaccessible to most. In addition, it multiplied Life Force affinity in addition to allowing the sensitive control she had over her own Life Force to extend to her mind and its coercive effects at the same time.

    The cherry on top was her Brazinger family Lineage Factor, Berserk God, which was once again rooted in an instinctual control of the body. This came with great bodily strength, Battle Sense, Rebirth and an innate affinity for all weapons.

    When these things came together, it was easy to mistake the effect of one for the other. But it was also precisely because of this that their combined effects were so great.

    Leonel also had the feeling that Aina had just scratched the surface of her potential. Her most powerful ability was probably her Blood Sovereignty just judging by how much people seemed to want to get at her for it. But it was also the ability she avoided using the most likely because of those very same reasons.

    Now, however, she had all the reason in the world to dive head first into this new world. And, she had even less to worry about with Leonel by her side.

    "Really, go ahead!" Aina pushed Leonel forward.

    "Okay, okay! I believe you."

    Leonel laughed and snatched the Silver Tablet that was ahead, claiming the Top Prize for himself.

    He felt an exceptionally strong urge overwhelm him the moment he touched it, it was even stronger than when he picked up the Bronze Tablet. His Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor seemed to want to evolve.

    However, Leonel was very reluctant. The Starry Spirit Domain was far too useful to him, and the next Lineage Factor was the Twinkling Light Bear, which was a lot like the White Stone Elephant in that it focused greatly on strength rather than the mind and speed.

    Of course, it had a Wisdom Branch as well, but unless Leonel took time to meditate on the Tablet, he couldn''t guarantee what the effects of this new Lineage Factor would be.

    Although an Eighth Dimensional Lineage Factor sounded far better than a Seventh Dimensional one, if it didn''t fit well with his battle style, it could instead be a detriment.

    The Starry Tailed Fox could have actually been a regression for him since he didn''t have the matching techniques. But, because it synergized so well with his Ability Index, the benefits had far outweighed the drawbacks.

    However, there was no telling if the Twinkling Light Bear would give him the same benefits.

    Leonel carefully put the Silver Tablet away. As far as he saw it, if he was going to take the chance to take on a new Lineage Factor, he would choose the dark attributes first, at least they shouldn''t interfere with his current abilities.

    At the same time, though, something was nagging at the back of Leonel''s mind.

    All of these Tablets carried techniques and were a lot like his Luxnix family''s Bronze Tablet. But, why was it that they didn''t even seem to be in the same realm as the Silver Tablet he received from the Valiant Heart Zone?

    The gap felt impossibly large.

    One could break through bottlenecks, break the fundamental laws of physics that governed the world, and even resurrect the deadбн

    And the others seemed capable ofбн Passing down techniques? Even if the techniques and Lineage Factors were powerful, it felt far too lacking in comparison.

    What was he missing here?

 Chapter 1565 Toppled

    Leonel shook his head.

    The real reason he asked Aina what she saw was to see if there would be anything like that Silver Tablet of his, but it seemed that the answer was no.

    Because Aina''s father''s Bronze Tablet seemed to share similar abilities, he had been tricked into thinking that they were far more common than he originally assumed. But what if that wasn''t the case? What if it was just a coincidence that he just so happened to run into another such Tablet?

    Regardless, there was no point in dwelling on it any longer. He would only have one more opportunity to check the Top Prizes, and he didn''t even have any intention of fighting for it. The Fiend Class was simply beyond him right now.

    Not only was the talent far greater, their Realms and Tiers were too far beyond him.

    As powerful as Leonel''s Dream Force had become, his Ability Index still didn''t allow it to project outside of his body. So, he was unable to use it to affect others. Even if they entered the range of his Starry Spirit Domain, at most he''d just be able to show them what was in his Dream World.

    These were the restraints of his Ability Index and he would simply need to learn to accept them.

    However, that wasn''t to say that the results were lackluster. In fact, Leonel''s Tier 4 Control Ability Index had become so powerful now that he could hardly believe it. He even had a certain hypothesis, which, if found to be correct, could change everything for him.

    But for now, there were other things to deal with first.

    "Okay, let''s go. One more stop."

    Aina accepted Leonel''s hand and nodded as well.

    Before the pair left, Leonel made sure to trade for a Vital Star Force Mantra. His weakest affinity was in it, so without such a Mantra, he didn''t know how long it would take him to truly master Vital Star Force.

    As for a Scarlet Star Force Mantra, he didn''t need one. Why would he? He already had the complete Rune in his right kidney. Compared to a Mantra, this was even more valuable. With the current strength of his mind, it was only a matter of time before he also brought his Scarlet Star Force to the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension as well.

    Of course, there was another problemбн And that was that this place didn''t even have a Scarlet Star Force Mantra even if he did want to trade for it.

    What was truly lamentable was that there wasn''t a Void Star Force Mantra either. It seemed that his hypothesis would have to work out if he wanted anything more than the bareboned ability of those two Stars currently in his Ethereal Glabella.

    The good news was that Leonel was able to trade for a Blood Force and Life Force Mantra for Aina. Each cost billions, but it was a worthwhile investment. He would definitely have Aina start mastering [Dimensional Cleanse] as quickly as possible, so she would soon need them.

    This did make Leonel wonder, though. Dream Force and Life Force were at least as valuable as Void Star Force and Scarlet Star Force, so why were the former two present, but the latter two weren''t?

    There was probably something else about this that Leonel didn''t quite understand. But he hoped that there would be a Void Star Force to trade for in the coming Sector.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina entered the Fiend Class Sector not long afterward, but they were surprised to find that there wasn''t a city here at all where they thought they would find one. Instead, it was like they were transported right into the demon world.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. "Shitбн"

    It wasn''t "like" they were transported, they really had been. It seemed that the battlefield for the Fiend Class Sector was the real demon world. But that was a huge problem.

    "What''s wrong?" Aina asked, worried.

    "If we''re here, it makes my plan more difficult. The spatial barriers around here would make the calculations much more difficult to pin down, and it makes it worse that there''s this evolved Anarchic Force in the air. The materials I''ve already gathered only have a 20% chance of working in this place. We would need to return to the human world to give ourselves the best chance."

    Hearing this, Aina''s brows also furrowed.

    There were too many enemies outside. Even setting aside Ophelia and whatever organizations that might be pissed by their monopolization of three different Top Prizes, Leonel still hadn''t forgotten about the Oliidark family.

    His original plan for revenge was to just let them deal with the fallout of this matter. But now, it seemed that he would have to face them head on. It was already too late to adjust his original plan.

    To make matters worse, because they were currently in this place, there was no huge amount of high Dimensional materials for Leonel to use to form another construct.

    Leonel had already abandoned the previous one because he knew it wasn''t powerful enough to move the needle in the Fiend Class Sector, it would just drag them down and make them a huge target. But now, he almost regretted that decision. Some protection would be better than none.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled, his heartbeat slowing to a crawl and his mind cooling down. The issue with thinking so fast was that you also thought of all of the potential problems all at once as well. It was helpful sometimes, but it was often easy to over analyze as well.

    Were they in danger of death? Yes.

    Was it likely, though? Not with him here.

    Leonel''s expression went cold. All at once, both he and Aina manifested their weapons, turning in the same direction at once.

    The ground rumbled and the trees toppled over, a lumbering four meter tall figure walking forward slowly. Everything in its path was flattened, crushed like weeds.

 Chapter 1566 Fiend Class Demon

    The creature was humanoid, but it was very clearly not human.

    It was covered in black fur and scales, alternating like some sort of elaborate armor, though it was very clearly a part of the creature''s body. Its arms were so long that even though it walked completely upright without the slightest slouching of its back, it could easily grab its own thick shins. In fact, its hands were three times the size they should have been, capable of wrapping around its own thighs as though they were instead its wrists.

    Its feet were just as overly large, the claws on it and its hands glistening with a dripping neon green liquid that made the ground sizzle with every drop.

    Its head had four black horns coursing with green veins that carried down to its oddly human-looking face. If, that is, you ignored its large tusks that seemed to grow like a fifth and sixth horn.

    This was no doubt a Fiend Class demon. Just the power of its body alone made the air tremble and quake, thick trees Leonel and Aina would have trouble cutting down with their weapon falling over just from a casual touch of its hip or knee.

    Leonel''s expression steeled. He sent a gaze toward Aina and she nodded lightly.

    A low shout came from Leonel''s lips, his body exploding forth with a vibrant white-gold light. Three tails appeared to his back and his hair became like a flowing river of white. His pupils dilated and his three Starry Domains manifested all at once.

    At the same time, Aina slapped a gourd that hung to her hip. She had learned her lesson and Leonel hadn''t let her leave the Human Class Sector without oceans worth of Human Class demon blood.

    In an instant, their domains seemed to meld into one, their minds connecting via Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain.

    Then, without waiting for the Fiend Class demon to approach any closer, they shot forward as one, Leonel''s skin beginning to glow with vibrant Bronze Runes that erupted into a fiery blue glow.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel pierced forward with all his might, Aina swinging down her ax as an eruption of Blood Force poured forward.

    The Fiend Class demon seemed to suddenly "awaken", its green gaze meeting theirs.

    A shudder couldn''t help but run up their spines. There was a complete lack of humanity within those eyes. Leonel had a feeling that if he managed to burn it alive like those Human Class demons, it wouldn''t even make a single sound. It would just continue staring at him as its last bits of life slowly waned.

    BANG! BANG!

    The Fiend Class demon''s palms swept upward as though it was flipping a table. Just its sudden explosive action made the wind collapse like a clap of thunder, the air pressure alone making Leonel and Aina feel as though all their forward momentum was about to be halted.

    An irresistible force slapped at their weapons, their arms trembling and threatening to shatter into pieces as they were forced stumbling backward.

    The Fiend Class demon tilted its head. It still seemed half asleep, as though its mind was running as fast as it could trying to understand how it had suddenly ended up in the middle of a battle.

    "Support me." Leonel said, his arm still trembling.

    His gaze turned frightening cold, a purple aura wafting out from it. It swept out in all directions, gaining a tinge of crimson as it crushed the fear he had been feeling.

    An overwhelming confidence stifled the aura of the Fiend Class demon''s presence. Leonel held his spear forward, a radiant blue Star appearing to his back.

    [Star Fusion].

    The wild white-gold and radiant blue flame-like Force fused into one, forming a tempest of wild winds around Leonel.

    "A laugh that resounds in the face of death. A smile that shines in the face of despair. A blade that strikes through the greatest defense."

    Leonel''s Spear Force released a howl, wrapping around his spear so densely that it almost took the form of a vibrant violet-gold lance.

    At the same moment, Aina''s Blood Force surged, enveloping Leonel and his blade, dancing with one another and intertwining in a delicate balance.

    Leonel''s Star Fusion erupted, a blaze of crimson coating it and tainting it into an almost fiery red.

    [Star Fusion: Combustion].

    Leonel roared, his eyes flashing as an avalanche of Destruction Runes as he pierced forward.

    The land beneath his spear split in two, the skies above it trembling.

    To his back, Aina''s lips parted, her chest standing proudly as she released a sonorous call.

    The resonant cry seemed to infuse itself into Leonel''s Domains, increasing their strength twofold and then threefold, and then fourfold.

    At that moment, the Fiend Class demon suddenly awakened from its "slumber", but Leonel''s spear was already right before it.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s eyes widened as his spear was stopped. The tip sparked against the chest of the Fiend Class demon as though metal was meeting metal. At the same time, the two large hands of the demon clasped down around his spear shaft, trying to stop it in its tracks.

    Leonel''s eyes widened with a flashed, a roar leaving his lips.

    His Dream World completely enveloped the Fiend Class demon, his mind creating a perfect replica and seeing through its weaknesses in an instant.

    His stance shifted slightly and the Fiend Class demon seemed to stumble.

    The sparks that flew turned to a churning tornado of blood as Leonel took another strong step forward.

    "HA!"

    Leonel''s muscles bulged and crimson that had fused with his Bronze Runes grew into an even greater fiery red.

    His spear tore through the chest of the Fiend Class demon, twisting and ripping its flesh like a vicious blender.

    BANG!

    A beam of energy shot through its body, exiting out the back and continuing into the distance. All the land that was around it was torn to shreds as though a meteor had landed upon it and skidded along the ground.

    Leonel exhaled a heavy breath, his chest heaving as the Fiend Class demon fell over slowly, a hole the size of three heads sitting right in the middle of its torso.

    ''... This is a Lower Fiend Class demonбн? A Lower Fiend Class demon at Tier 1 of the Sixth Starбн?''

    Leonel could hardly believe it.

 Chapter 1567 Demon Force Pills

    Leonel took another breath and his body calmed entirely. His vitality and recovery ability with Vital Star Force was on a completely different level. However, his frown had hardly weakened.

    The jump up to Human Class was already quite deep. The only reason it had felt easy was because he had been able to rely on a near Seventh Dimensional construct. But the jump to Fiend Class was even steeper.

    This was the first time he was meeting someone, or rather, something that was at the exact same level as him and yet if not for his tag team with Aina, who knew what kind of state he would have been in if he had been fighting alone.

    Just when, he probably used at least 50 to 60% of what he was capable of. In reality, the only trump cards he hadn''t used were his Ability Index and his Scarlet Star Force. Although he had other things he hadn''t brought out, he felt like only those two would have made an exceptional difference. And even then, he still had to use his Ability Index a bit in the end.

    ''This isn''t going to work, not like this.''

    There was definitely a location around here somewhere where Leonel and Aina would be able to trade in their points for items. However, they would have to travel through this world to find it first, and that would mean placing themselves in a great amount of danger.

    However, it had to be done, there was already no going back.

    Leonel closed his eyes and took another breath, his mind calming.

    "Can you refine it?" Leonel opened his eyes and turned to Aina.

    "It shouldn''t be an issue. Though, I haven''t done it beforeбн"

    Aina hadn''t spent her time reading books like Leonel had. For one, it was more difficult for her to pick up the language in the first place, so she had spent most of her time as a maid as a mute. Only after she grasped the language did she begin to talk again.

    But she still hadn''t quite learned how to read. She was only able to understand what the Tablets had in store for her thanks to a subtle sort of feeling they had given her.

    So, it was safe to say that Leonel actually knew a lot more about this world than she did. In fact, she was quite shocked by Leonel''s ability to Manifest Stars like the people of this Sub-Dimensional Zone. But it hadn''t been an appropriate time to ask.

    Over a year ago, she had entered the Silver Empire''s Sub-Dimensional Zone, and that event had taught her that the people of a Zone could be greatly hostile when they found out that you weren''t of their kind.

    It made sense with the likes of the Silver Empire since they had purposely distorted their Zones to protect their secrets, and since it was hard to tell exactly what kind of Zone they were in right now, it was best to keep that sort of stuff under wraps.

    So although she had felt surprise, she didn''t show it outwardly and she refrained from talking to Leonel too much about these things just in case power individuals were listening in and could grasp their own language just as quickly as Leonel had grasped theirs.

    Leonel deduced much of this, so he wasn''t too confused by Aina''s actions. Instead, he just explained.

    "Demons are a danger in this world, but they''re also a great resource as well. You remember how Beast Crystals can be used to evolve your Ability Index if you''re compatible with it?"

    Aina nodded.

    This had once been a very big deal on Earth, but she and Leonel never really got to participate. This was because their abilities were either too rare or too powerful to gain much help from absorbing Beast Crystals. However, in the infancy of the Metamorphosis, many of Earth fought over such things. In fact, they were likely still fighting over it.

    Leonel and Aina simply hadn''t found beasts useful enough to them.

    Earth was the only place they had been to with talented enough beasts to catch their eye, but then the problem became the rarity of their abilities. And now, they had very quickly outgrown Earth and its beasts, so they were of little help to them.

    That said, Leonel had helped his brothers to absorb a few Beast Crystals of their own after the war against the oceanic creatures. For example, Gil. Gil was originally a Lightning affinity Speedster. However, Leonel helped him absorb that odd crimson lightning Beast Crystal, and with the help of the Silver Tablet, he maximized the evolution.

    Now, Gil was not only a Speedster, but he also had far stronger offensive outputs than he did in the past.

    "Demons can be of great help with this as well, but they''re even more all encompassing. They can help to improve Ability Indexes, Lineage Factors and can even be used to just solidify your foundations and strengthen your constitution.

    "According to what I read, because they''re born and raised in this Anarchic Force, their flesh has been tempered by the rule breaking abilities of Anarchic Force and they can bypass some of the restrictions of the Regulator.

    "Humans can gain some of these benefits by refining demons, and depending on the mode of refinement, you can benefit in different ways.

    "However, taking this path is also highly dangerous unless you can guarantee the expulsion of the Anarchic Force. Usually, Demon Force Pills will always have a small amount of Anarchic Force with them that act as a toxin. If you consume too many in a short period of time, it can lead to backlash.

    "In some cases you will enter a period of sickness, in some other cases you''ll end up partially or permanently crippled, and in the worst cases you can die or become demonized. In fact, the reason the Human Class is called the Human Class is precisely because of this. Many of them are or are descendants of demonized humansбн"

 Chapter 1568 Impressed

    "I seeбн" Aina said lightly.

    Her brows became extremely focused. It seemed that this matter would be more dangerous than she thought, but she was still quite confident.

    "I should be able to minimize the Anarchic Force to the smallest extent. With my current abilities, I think we''ll be able to eat around 10 of these before we start experiencing some of the adverse effects. If we have your Cleansing Waters, so long as we meditate within it for about an hour, we should be able to eat 10 more without issues."

    Leonel sighed. Cleansing Waters? He didn''t have access to that right now, and in this situation, there wasn''t much he could do about it.

    "How great do you think the improvement will be with 10?"

    "Iбн" Aina''s frown deepened. "бн It will probably depend. This Fiend Class demon, for example, has an exceptionally strong body but really no other attributes. It''s probably one of the best options for those foundation improving pills you were talking about. But if the next one we run into isn''t like this and doesn''t have great affinity with us, if I have to filter everything else out, it will greatly weaken the pill as well."

    Leonel nodded.

    Despite not knowing anything about refining demons before this, once Leonel had given the framework, her Ability Index already kicked into high gear. With these parameters, she was easily able to see through the uses of this demon and the types of refinement she could force it to undergo.

    "It also might be a bit dangerous. If I refine this Fiend Class demon into a single pill, it might very well cause us more damage in the beginning than we can handle. If I refine it into two, it''ll be difficult and we''ll probably be bloated for a bit, but it should still be manageable, albeit painful.

    "However, I think it will improve our base strength by at least 10% if split in two. If formed into a single Force Pill, the improvement would probably be closer to 25% for one of us."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. Such a large improvement? If his body''s strength increased by that much, then didn''t that mean that the limits of his Metal Body would also increase. If that happened, then didn''t that also mean that he would be able to absorb even more Metal Essence per a given level?

    That would essentially increase the strength of his Metal Body without mutating it at all. If he could increase the Metal Essence he could absorb, his foundation would undergo a qualitative change. At the same time, he would also be able to gain a greater affinity per absorption as well, helping him with his Vital Star Force.

    Leonel paused when he realized something. 10% times two or 25%?

    "Why the increase?"

    "There''ll be some yield lost if I split it into two pills, it messes with the efficiency. If I try to push it, the Anarchic Force will be in too high concentration and the rewards won''t be worth it. So it''s better to give up a greater percentage in exchange for better purity."

    Leonel nodded. "Okay, I''ll protect you, then."

    "It probably won''t take longбн" Aina said lightly. "бн At least not with my methodбн"

    Aina reached out a hand and all the blood within the demon''s body was suddenly rushed upward. With its consciousness already faded to black, there was nothing to fight back against her. It was as easy as breathing to do this.

    Very quickly, the blood formed a sphere half the size of Aina''s body.

    Her eyes became unprecedently focused and her irises flashed with a blinding golden color. For a moment, it felt as though an Empress had descended, the laws of the world bending to her whims.

    The Blood Force rushed back down and enveloped the dried carcass of the Fiend Class demon. In the blink of an eye, the sickening sound of crushed bone rang out and the humanoid form of the demon was compressed into a small ball half the original size of the ball of blood.

    Aina closed her eyes. Her cherry lips separated as she exhaled.

    A crimson glow wrapped around her body and her throat moved slightly, a low hum coming from her lips.

    Leonel''s brows shot upward. He had been mostly paying attention to the surroundings, but when he heard Aina begin to hum, he felt his heart shudder.

    Her looked toward his girlfriend''s side profile, not knowing what to think for a long time. As he was in a daze, the ball of blood continued to condense, the resonance of her hum seeming to coax it gently into a smaller and smaller form.

    When it halved in size once more, it began to glow a radiant energy and there were even some Runes that began to appear. It only too Leonel a single look to realize that these Runes were actually the ones that had given the demon strength throughout its life.

    According to what he had read, only the best Force Pill Crafters were able to recover these Runes after the death of a demon, and usually it took several days of patient refining to reach this point. But how long had it been exactly?

    A few minutes? Maybe three or four at maximum?

    Leonel was someone that was very hard to impress. The only person who had thoroughly gained his acknowledgement in his life was his father. He found it hard to place anyone else on the same pedestal, even if it was himself.

    He couldn''t remember having ever been awed like this by anyone else.

    However, Aina had somehow taken a concept of resonance and music, one that he hadn''t even fully grasped yet, and incorporated it into a medium it seemed to have no business being a part of. It was as though she was always able to seamlessly apply anything she learned in countless facets of her life.

    And as shocked Leonel was, those who still remained in the clouds above were even more so. Their minds went completely blank.

 Chapter 1569 Final Hurdle

    Leonel had already realized that music and its resonance abilities were far more fundamental to life and all there was than it had initially seemed to him. But watching Aina apply it to so many things only enlightened him further.

    Still, he really wanted to understandбн What was so special about music?

    Leonel wasn''t sure. The best he could think was that only in the presence of things could music exist. It was a vibrational energy that couldn''t exist within the vacuum of space. In fact, in Leonel''s many battles in space, unless he dispersed his Force to allow music to have a medium by which to travel through, there wouldn''t be a single sound at all.

    And maybe that was precisely what was so beautiful about it.

    Still, it was easy to say that, but Leonel didn''t feel like he truly understood. Wasn''t light even more omnipresent than even music? Let alone a medium, light wasn''t restricted by anything aside from the darkness of a black hole. It could easily travel through the darkness of space without an issue and it was also the fastest substance in all of existence.

    While music might be a sign that there was something there, light was a sign that there was something out there.

    It was only the difference of a single word, but the difference was as vast as a chasm. As amazing as resonant sound was, shouldn''t resonant light be even more unfathomable?

    Was that why the artistry of painting was the final step in his grandfather''s spearmanship? Or was he overthinking it?

    Was the final step really about light resonance? Or was it more akin to the lines of poetry which were meant to allude to a certain Artistic Conception?

    ''Noбн it''s life. It all goes back to that. In the end, that''s what the value of Artistic Conception is. It''s not in the art, but in the real world aspects that it calls upon.''

    Leonel had already figured this out the moment he picked up his Quasi Life Grade Force Quill, but watching Aina had made him second guess himself for a moment. However, after a moment, he realized that there was nothing contradictory about his thoughts at all.

    His poetry gave his spear a conception and his calligraphy brought it to life.

    His music would resonate with a conception and his stroke would bring it to life.

    His brush brought light to a conception and his spear would breathe life into it.

    That give and take, that sort of balance, that was the true hidden strength behind Spear Forceбн No, behind any Weapon Force. No... maybe behind any Force at all...

    What Leonel was missing wasn''t this comprehension. Thanks to his Force Quill and his Force Art mastery, he had been able to grasp this and understand the underlying belly of his grandfather''s wishes. What was missing was how he could take this and transform it into a Sovereign Spear and a Sovereign Bow.

    The moment Leonel had heard Silyn''s words just hours ago, Leonel realized that in his world, there existed people who went by Spear and Bow Sovereigns. It also seemed that this title of Sovereign described many important things like Aina''s Bow Sovereignty or Little Blackstar''s Shadow Sovereignty.

    What both Aina and Blackstar shared, that Leonel seemed to lack, was an absolute dominion over their Force. Whether it was Blood Force for Aina or Dark Force for Blackstar, their abilities could almost be classified as omniscient in just this particular path.

    Leonel had a hypothesis that this was the true end goal of his Spear Domain ring: to bring his Spear Force to the level of true Spear Sovereigns. It was trying to birth such a talent within him.

    And if he was correct about it, then this also meant that the secret to what he was missing was found in its very nameбн Spear Domain.

    When Leonel took another large step forward in his Spear Force, what had happened? He had finally managed to form his Absolute Spear Domain, a domain that appeared to protect him even without his conscious effort. In fact, it was as effortless as AIna''s control of Blood or Blackstar''s control over the Shadows.

    However, Silyn had been right. There was still something missing from itбн And that was once again found in another name.

    Sovereignty.

    When Leonel first grasped True State Universal Force, allowing him to apply Universal Force to whatever it was he chose instead of having to comprehend each piece individually, a large qualitative change had taken place within him.

    That day, his life had been on the line as he faced Lionel, his supposed Dark Prisoner copy. Thanks to this sudden breakthrough, he managed to survive and he comprehended the truest form of Universal Force. It was this comprehension that also allowed him to have the combat prowess he did now.

    And what was it that he had come to understand that day? It was simple. That the True path of Universal Force, the True path of Domains, was that of a King.

    He had understood this so long ago, years ago, in fact. So what was it that was holding him back? Why was it that he couldn''t seem to take this final step?

    With his current speed of thought, Leonel thought through countless possibilities but he eventually landed on a single one.

    93% likelihood иC Mutation of King''s Might.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    Why was it that it had been so easy for him to grasp his grandfather''s teachings?

    In just 10 months, he had reached complete mastery in poetry and calligraphy. He was only restricted by his Dimension. If not for this, he could say grandiose words like: "This strike will split the world in two." But if he tried to do that, his body would combust before he could even pierce with his spear.

    A part of the reason was his Ability Index, specifically Dream Class. But truthfully, that was only maybe 20% of the reason. The remaining 80% was actually his King''s Might Lineage Factor.

    King''s Might allowed Leonel to take his will and project it out into the world, giving it tangible form. This made his Artistic Conceptions far more powerful and it made it very easy for him to visualize them. The threshold he needed to meet was far below the threshold others would need to meet as a result.

    However, Leonel''s King''s Might was a mutation of his mother''s Emperor Might, it wasn''t exactly the same.

    In addition, Leonel had fused his King''s Might projection with his comprehension of Destruction, further altering it from its original path.

    And now, Leonel seemed to realize that it was precisely this that had led him astray.

    His King''s Might was no longer pure. It might even be more accurate to call it Destruction''s Might. It was also no wonder why all his poetry and calligraphy just seemed to be more and more powerful attacks, there was a lack of fluidity and variety among them.

    How could he have variety when the projection of his will only wanted to destroy?

    It might be fine if in the future Leonel chose to make his King''s Might focus on Destruction, but he had skipped too many stepsбн

    He had still yet to grasp exactly what it meant to be a Sovereign, so how could he now pick and choose what to be a Sovereign of?

    Leonel''s heartbeat slowed to a crawl as he understood what he had to do.

    Somehow, he needed to find a way to reset his King''s Might. Only then could he leap across this final hurdle.

 Chapter 1570 Gulp

    Aina exhaled a breath and two Force Pills landed in her palms. Just looking from a distance, Leonel could see her veins pulsing and her muscles straining. It made him wonder just how heavy those Force Pills had to be to make the likes of Aina struggle to hold them up.

    She turned, handing one over to Leonel who immediately got his wish.

    His feet sunk into the ground and his back threatened to curl over. He was instantly forced to flex every muscle of his body, and only then was he able to hold it up.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, a somewhat incredulous look in his eye. He hadn''t quite felt just how heavy the Fiend Class demon had been when he was fighting it, but now that he thought about it, for it to have withstood the first attack like that and force him to pour so much more into it, it could only mean that it had quite some heft to it in addition to its strength.

    Leonel was quite used to having a heavy body. Although the Morales family Lineage Factor was the best defensive Lineage Factor the Human Domain had to offer precisely because it mitigated many of the drawbacks defensive Lineage Factors usually had, it still wasn''t'' absolutely perfect.

    However, because Leonel had the Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor, he could rely on its Speed Branch to completely eliminate those effects while also benefiting from a powerful body.

    Still, this Fiend Class demon put him to shame. The difference was so large that it was hard to fathom.

    "We should probably only refine these one at a time. You go first, I''ll stand guard," Leonel said.

    Aina nodded. "It won''t take me a long time, just a few seconds. Since the foundation is built on Blood Force, It''s not difficult for me to assimilate at all."

    After she said this, Aina''s strength surged as she pushed the pill into her mouth without even the slightest bit of preparation.

    BANG!

    The ground beneath her feet warped, the heavy sound of the pill colliding with her stomach causing both her and Leonel to wince. Just the act of eating this pill was actually so dangerous, to try and accommodate such weight with your fragile inner organs took a level of unfathomable strength. One couldn''t even think about eating such a pill unless you already had a certain amount of strength.

    Luckily, Aina was able to slow the descent of the pill by controlling it as she would Blood Force.

    Aina''s appetite was probably even larger than Leonel''s own. With how much control she had over her body, even speeding up her digestion wasn''t the slightest issue.

    In the blink of an eye, the pill was already half its original size and the bloody path of Aina''s veins began to project onto her skin. Her face, hands, neck, and every other portion of her body that Leonel could see with his eyes were covered in these pulsing veins.

    However, unlike how it had been when Aina''s curse was still active, these veins were actually carrying a large amount of vitality all throughout her body.

    Because Aina was within the range of Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain currently, he had a perfect read on absolutely everything going on inside of her right now. It could be said that she was, for all intents and purposes, completely naked in Leonel''s eyes right now. He could see everything.

    Although the two hadn''t been intimate in that way for years now, a small barrier still separating them, Aina didn''t seem to mind in the slightest. Her guard against Leonel was the lowest it could possibly be. If not for Leonel''s own thoughts, these matters wouldn''t even be necessary to consider.

    That said, Leonel''s mind wasn''t on such things right now. He was paying keen attention to what was happening inside of Aina''s body so that he could understand how best to absorb his own Force Pill as well. After all, he didn''t have Aina''s instincts in this regard.

    ? At the same time, he wanted to get a tangible feel for exactly what changes were occurring.

    Aina''s veins were pulsing and the rampant vitality was quickly shredding and reforming every piece of her body that it could get its hands on.

    Her muscles became more prominent, but they were just as quickly tightly reined in and tenderized. While their density increased, their size seemed to remain just the same.

    At the same time, large amounts of energy were quickly running out of places to go so they attacked Aina''s fat stores. Her breasts and her bottom exploded in size first, and then came her thighs and her belly, before finally her face as well.

    But just like her muscles before them, Aina just as quickly reined in this wild energy, forcing it out and compressing it.

    Her organs began to glow with a lustrous light and her body shrank back down to its original size. However, the glistening light of her skin told a completely different tale.

    Aina''s body underwent this very same cycle again and again, dozens of times in less than half a minute. It was as though she was a bodybuilder undergoing a continuous bulking and cutting phase, but Leonel could tell that what was actually happening was far more profound.

    In the final phase, even Aina''s teeth and nails fell out, only to grow back brighter and more beautiful.

    And then, her eyes snapped open.

    She exhaled a dark, foggy breath, the ground beneath her feet having long since spread out into countless spiderweb-like cracks.

    She looked toward Leonel and smiled, a strong confidence pumping through her.

    Leonel smiled back. "I guess it''s my turn."

    Leonel didn''t dare to do things like Aina had so he first sat down and took a deep breath. Then, he activated his Bronze Runes and even fused it with his Vital Star Force.

    Only after he was finished did his determination steel.

    With a single gulp, he swallowed the pill down.

    BOOM!

 Chapter 1571 The Way

    The moment Leonel swallowed, he began to circulate his Force through his Nodes in full force. This was precisely why he had chosen the particular locations he had for his Force Nodes, only with this configuration could he maximize his body''s ability to absorb energy.

    The pill hit his stomach like a boulder hitting the ocean. He hadn''t eaten anything substantial in weeks, but it still felt as though he was immediately fullбн too full.

    His body tried to fight back, wanting him to throw it all back up. But even beneath his closed eyelids, his irises flashed with a wild light.

    Right now, if he circulated his Scarlet Star Force, this would all end in an instant. But if he did that, he would be destroying the medicinal essence of the pill. What he needed now wasn''t destruction, he needed assimilation.

    Leonel took control of his Vital Star Force and forced his three blue Stars to revolve. He flooded his body, and especially his blood, with this energy. And then, he locked away his two Innate Nodes and allowed Vital Star Force to take over.

    The wellspring of Vital Star Force clashed with the vitality of the pill. Leonel forced them to fuse into one, something that happened seamlessly since they were greatly compatible. And then, he began to use them to rush through his body.

    He forced his Bronze Runes to widen and his muscles to accommodate more strength.

    He could feel his Bronze Runes quickly expanding. Before, when they appeared on his skin, they did so in lines about half the width of his finger and went either straight up and down, or straight left and right. But now, they had increased at least 10% in size, something that felt marginal, but when before Leonel felt that he had reached the limits of his Fifth Dimensional Metal Body, he suddenly felt now that he had more room to grow.

    In fact, Leonel''s Metal Body fell somewhat in Tier, from a perfect Tier 9, it fell by a half and almost slipped back down to Tier 8. And yet, rather than feeling as though he had grown weaker, Leonel actually felt like it was the direct opposite. In fact, he felt even stronger now than he did before!

    The gates of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor rattled, a radiant halo appearing atop his head and a crown shining brightly across his forehead.

    The lingering crimson aura he had gained when he almost deviated also reacted quite oddly.

    A small strand of Anarchic Force appeared in Leoenl''s body. It was inescapable, just as Aina had said. As great of a Force Pill Crafter as she was, it was simply impossible to create a 100% pure pill, at least not as she was. Maybe only if she was refining a Fifth Dimensional demon could she do so.

    However, in a corner of his body that even Leonel''s Tier 4 Control Ability Index couldn''t see, this crimson strand swallowed up the lingering Anarchic Force, even growing subtly in size before calming once again.

    Leonel''s pale violet eyes radiated with a bright crimson light once again before it calmed.

    Right then, Leonel''s eyes snapped open, his body feeling as though he had steel cords running through it. The power rolling through him was so oppressive that he was surprised that it was himself for a moment.

    This increase was more than Aina said it would be. She said 10%, but from what Leonel could tell, he had improved by at least 15%. It was a seemingly small difference, but in the grand scheme, such a difference was enormous. The pill was 50% more effective that Aina thought it would be and he couldn''t quite understand why that was.

    Aina tilted her head, seemingly realizing that this was the case as well. However, she only had confusion in her eyes. She didn''t seem to understand the reason either.

    Leonel rose to his feet and punched outward. The wind whistled and air collapsed. He had put everything into that strike and he felt that it wasn''t bad. It was at least as powerful as when he used Swift to amplify his Spear Force. Well, if he was comparing it to before he ate the pill, that is.

    This meant that if he used Swift now, the results should be even more exaggerated.

    "How long did I take?" Leonel asked.

    "About 15 minutes," Aina replied. She was actually surprised that Leonel was so fast, but she had come to understand that Vital Star Force was very useful in this situation, albeit not as useful as her Blood Force.

    Leonel nodded. "There''s no use in lingering on something we can''t understand. We don''t have a chance at the Top Prize here, so our main goal should just be to make it to an exchange and trade for what we need. If we can become stronger while doing so, that would be for the best."

    Aina nodded in agreement.

    This had just been a lower Fiend Class demon. If they wanted a chance at the Top Prize, they would have to be able to defeat pinnacle Fiend Class demons, and that just felt too far away.

    It was especially bad since this demon was just at Tier 1 as well. Even with their rapid improvement, the gap was simply too large.

    Part of growing was also about understanding your limits and when to stop. This was just a Zone, not their world, and they had just started their journey in comparison to the geniuses who were likely fighting here.

    Luckily, they had accumulated more than enough Demon Points in the Human Class Sector. Leonel had thought that something like this might happen, so he went out of his way to kill far more than just 10% to ensure that they didn''t meet any pitfalls.

    It seemed that his caution had paid off.

    "I''ll lead the way," Leonel said. "We''ll avoid all the demons we can''t defeat and only target the ones we can. Even if we won''t benefit from absorbing all of them, if we find one compatible with our friends, we should take it down anyway."

    Leonel hadn''t forgotten that the Morales Heir Wars were coming up. His own power was progressing well, but he still had to care about his brothers, especially the ones that had yet to enter the Void Palace.

 Chapter 1572 Risk It?

    Leonel and Aina moved with great speed. They had been unlucky to meet a Fiend Class demon so early on to begin with, but with Leonel''s Internal Sight and Starry Spirit Domain, if they didn''t want to meet one, they didn''t have to.

    By now, Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain no longer stretched just a mere six inches from himself. After his breakthrough into the Sixth Dimension, it had increased to over a hundred meters. However, after his Dream Force reached the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, it went from a hundred meters to over 10 kilometers.

    This wasn''t just because of Leonel''s improvement. It was related to [Dimensional Cleanse], the assimilation of his strengths into one, and especially related to the Star Runes of his red-gold Stars. Because of his Destruction Runes, Leonel''s innate comprehension of Light Force was on a completely different level than it had once been, resulting in his grasp of his Starry Tailed Fox''s Lineage Factor to likewise increase by leaps and bounds.

    The improvement to his Dream Force was like a cherry on an already tall sundae. The foundation of Leonel''s Ability Index and his mind was his Dream Force. With it having improved so much, the effective influence of his consciousness was almost impossible to calculate for most.

    As a result, Leonel could not expand the effects of his Dream World to within 10 kilometers of himself. This meant that anything within this range of him could be perfectly and immediately analyzed, not to mention Dream Sculpted.

    And this was just the range without him revealing his three tails. If he did so, the effective range was even wider than just this much.

    However, 10 kilometers was already more than enough for Leonel. To grasp so much of the world at once was almost too overwhelming, even for him. It was as though the bounds of his mind had increased from just his own skull to such a large radius. Nothing could hide from him.

    Likewise, none of the demons could hide either.

    After the first encounter, Leonel took the next completely seriously, remaining very cautious.

    As expected, demons like the one they had met were actually quite rare. Following a pure strength path and not deviating toward any others wasn''t the usual, at least not for these high level Fiend Class demons. Usually, this was something only lower class demons would do as their talent was limited.

    Fiend Class demons, however, could follow paths even more complex than humans!

    Wise Star Order had once said that the reason that the human race was so weak was because they followed too many paths. But ironically enough, the demons did the same and it didn''t seem to hinder their strengths in the slightest.

    In addition, unlike with lower class demons, Leonel couldn''t seem to find two Fiend Class demons that were exactly the same.

    While Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain only stretched out for 10 kilometers, his Internal Sight covered thousands with ease. With this he could see quite a number of Fiend Class demons, easily tens of thousands of them. This was more than enough for him to conclude this.

    Some of these Fiend Class demons actually sensed him and tried to use his Internal Sight to track his location, but with his current capabilities, Leonel wasn''t too worried.

    Within the range of his Starry Spirit Domain, he could use concepts he had learned from Earth to scramble and bounce his "signal". As a result, the demons had no idea where within what was effectively a 20 kilometer diameter Leonel actually was.

    Truth be told, 20 kilometers was quite a small distance for such creatures to cover. It was short even for Leonel and Aina, let alone these high class demons. However, by the time they began checking where all these signals came from, Leonel and Aina would have long since moved on.

    In addition, after knowing that he had been sensed, Leonel obviously wouldn''t continue to give them opportunities to sense him.

    He might not be able to project anything real into the world, but creating a fake Dream Clone to act as the core of his Internal Sight was almost too easy.

    Due to this, what should have been an incomparably dangerous region became a leisurely stroll for Leonel and Aina.

    When they met a target they could defeat, they immediately went all out and killed it.

    If it was compatible with them, they would refine it. If not, they would store it away.

    In just a few hours, Leonel and Aina had killed dozens of lower Fiend Class demons. However, between the two of them, they had only absorbed three, including the very first one they had come across.

    Unfortunately, these three weren''t as good as the first one either. Aina had to purge much of their Runes to leave behind only the strength related ones as their path was actually mixed.

    The truth was that most demons had strength as a base of their path. However, it was usually so "tainted" by other things that refining them wasn''t worth it. It was much better to simply store these demons away for those who had greater compatibility with them to absorb.

    For example, among the dozens of demons that Leonel had stored away, there was a lightning Fiend Class demon that would be perfect for Gil and a blade demon that would be perfect for Joel. There was even an earth Fiend Class demon that Leonel could have taken for himself, but he chose to save it for Raj instead.

    Leonel and Aina didn''t go out of their way to collect more than one demon for their friends. The both of them were already at the very edge of what was possible for a Void Palace talent, and yet just one of these pills had bettered their foundation by more than 10%. If their friends swallowed just one, the effects would be even more exaggerated and more than enough to bring them to a whole new level.

    As for the ones that Leonel and Aina absorbed, they aimed for demons who had at least 50% of their path built on purely strength. According to Aina, these were the best for solidifying their foundation and growing stronger.

    By the third day, Leonel and Aina had finally managed to find another Fiend Class demon as good as the first one, but this was a middle Fiend Class demon. And, to make matters worse, it was in Tier 3, not Tier 1.

    Leonel looked toward Aina. Their minds were connected so she already knew exactly what he was seeing.

    If they put their lives on the line, they just might be able to eek out a victory. By now, Leonel''s foundation had improved by as much as 40% and his Bronze Runes were as thick as thumbs now. They even seemed to faintly show signs of overlapping.

    As for Aina, her improvements were likewise great.

    In addition to this, if they swallowed a middle Fiend Class demon, especially one so perfect for one''s foundation, their increase in strength should be at least 50% even if they split it between them.

    The question wasбн Do they take the risk or not?

 Chapter 1573 Middle Fiend Class

    Leonel and Aina shot forward in unison, weaving in and out of each other with a focused look in their eyes. They hadn''t even exchanged a single word before they moved, a tacit understanding resonating between the both of them.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed, three illusory fox tails as long as hundreds of meters appearing to his back even as his hair grew out wildly.

    In one moment, there was nothing but clear and uninterrupted skies. But in the next instant, Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain was blanketed in a dense fog.

    10 kilometers in every direction, including into the sky, there appeared a fog so dense that it became impossible even to see your hand before your face. However, there was something odd about this fog. It carried with it none of the heaviness or moisture true fog should have. In fact, even when one swiped a hand at it, there was no movement at all.

    It was immediately clear that this was nothing more than a projected image. Leonel might not be able to create reality through his Dream Force. But within his Dream World, he could make any image he wanted appear.

    With this fog here, one could forget about seeing with their eyes.

    However, by the same token, because Leonel couldn''t affect true change in the real world, he had no ability to obstruct Internal Sight through his Dream World. And, through his interaction with these demons, he realized that unlike the Rapax, their Internal Sights were just as strong if not stronger than most humans he had come across.

    That said, how could Leonel not be ready for this possibility?

    His Starry Star Domain appeared next, covering the same region and area.

    What the Starry Tailed Fox was strongest in wasn''t its speed or even its mind. Rather, it was strongest in control.

    The instant Leonel''s Starry Star Domain appeared, countless twinkling stars appeared in the surroundings, each of them rotating with a beautiful silvery-gold light.

    While the Snowy Star Owl''s foundation was built upon Snow Force, a pure Light and Star Force, the Starry Tailed Fox built its own upon Ethereal Star Force, a Light and Star Force which also contained a strong and hidden Spatial Force affinity.

    The moment these twinkling stars appeared in the surroundings, a forcefield of volatile space manifested. If not for the fact it was his domain to control, Leonel''s Internal Sight would find itself being bounced around like a pinball.

    Distances that should have been right next to each other would feel as though they were several kilometers apart, while locations that should have been kilometers apart would feel as though they were right next to one another.

    It was as though someone had taken space, fragmented it into pieces, and then shuffled them about like a misfitted jigsaw puzzle.

    The instant Leonel finished deploying this much, his final domain, the Starry Light Domain also appeared and he vanished from Aina''s side.

    He appeared high in the skies, a star beneath his feet and his foggy black bow having already been drawn into a full moon position.

    He already knew. Every second Aina spent in close combat against that demon was another moment she might die. His mind was filled with just a single thought, a single unrelenting mantra.

    Kill. Kill. Kill.

    Leonel''s arrows released like a roaring dragon, a savage light glowing in his eyes. Destruction Runes danced in his eyes, the very air itself collapsing around him. He had never been so singularly focused in his life.

    By the time Aina appeared before the creature, Leonel''s arrows had already drowned it as though the skies had been blotted out by falling meteors.

    Claps of thunder rang out, a volatile clash erupting.

    Regardless of what happened or what commotion was raised, Leonel always had an absolutely perfect picture of the middle Fiend Class demon in his mind. A creature that was easily six meters tall and looked like a large ape wreathed in black flames instead of black fur.

    It looked around in confusion when its sight was cut off and even more confusion when it realized that its Internal Sight was also rendered entirely useless. In fact, trying to use its Internal Sight made it dizzy, its mind becoming disoriented for a moment.

    Right then, Leonel''s arrows collided with it, the pummeling strength forcing its knees to almost bend to the ground.

    The earth beneath its feet shattered. Caught off guard, its body almost fell entirely forward.

    However, Leonel, from his place high above, could tell that, let alone injured, his arrows hadn''t even broken the skin of this demon ape, they had only made it stumble.

    In that instant, Aina appeared, a rose of blood around her. She launched attacks from all sides, unleashing everything she had.

    Her Ax Force bloomed, bathed blood, she had forward with all her might.

    Her battle ax glowed, its polearm bending beneath the pressure and aiming for the chin of the stumbling demon ape.

    BANG!

    The demon ape''s head shot backward like a slingshot, and yet its body was so heavy that it only took a single step back.

    It moved its jaw from side to side, seemingly still a bit shocked that it was being attacked. One would have thought that Aina had attacked it with a blunt baseball bat instead of the sharp blade she truly had used. It didn''t even seem like its mouth was bleeding.

    The demon ape stabilized itself, a growl escaping its lips.

    The force of the growl alone made Aina stumble backward, her heart shuddering.

    In that moment, Leonel completely abandoned his bow. It simply wasn''t strong enough to make use of his new strength.

    His body exploded forth and something happened that would have shocked the elders silent if they could actually see through the fogбн

    10 Stars bloomed to Leonel''s back, his Divine Armor forming about his body as his halo bounced to his feet and then back up.

    He roared, descending from the skies with an unbridled ferocity, his Scarlet Star Force Stars rotating with a wild speed.

    And then, a radiant spear appeared in his palm.

 Chapter 1574 One Word

    BANG!

    A familiar golden spear, marked with hexagonal scales and a harpoon-like blade appeared, its tip ripping through the air from above and right onto the demon ape''s skull.

    This time, the demon ape had no ability to maintain its balance. Its face was crushed into the ground, a violent upswell of land rippling out in all directions as Leonel''s body blazed with flames.

    The black flames the demon ape''s body was covered in were unceremoniously swallowed, its mouth unleashing a howl of pain and horror.

    It swiped upward, catching Leonel in the arm and bending his body into a sickening shape.

    BANG!

    Half of Leonel''s armor shattered, his ribcage collapsing and his arm becoming nothing more than sludge. The bones within were completely unrecognizable, a mess of flesh, bone and gore.

    He shot back like a speeding bullet, rocketing through the air as though sent out of a compressed canon. The harsh winds only seemed to make his injuries worse, threatening to shatter what remained of his armor and body.

    Aina flashed forward as Leonel was knocked backward, one hand fanning outward and the other swinging her ax with all her might down the demon ape''s head.

    She had realized why it was that Leonel had said that this was a pure strength demon despite the fact it was wreathed in flames. These weren''t normal flames. Rather, they were the manifestation of this ape''s Life Force. It was so strong that it manifested into a tangible form that could be seen with the eyes, even hiding the demon''s ape fur.

    The moment she saw it in action, her body, too, lit up with raging flames, the blood around her combusting with vitality that quickly coated her skin.

    ? Her spread hand gripped at the air, ripping up at the wound Leonel had made on the back of the demon ape''s thick skull. A strong Life Force fought back against her, making it feel like an impossible tug of war to win, but it was at that moment that she unleashed a roar, the vibrant crimson flames dancing across her body and coalescing into wings on her back.

    Her battle ax grew a size, her jet-black hair growing into a shimmering black waterfall and a solid crimson armor manifested upon her.

    The Gold Tablet within her Ethereal Glabella resonated with a pulsing radiance and together, they managed to pull out a single drop of blood from the demon ape''s body.

    That single drop of black-red blood rushed toward Aina, crashing into her forehead and causing her body to erupt with black flames. Her vitality skyrocketed and her body followed suit.

    She swung down, hard, aiming for the very same wound Leonel had originally formed.

    At that same moment, the demon ape was trying to rise to its feet, its power gathering in its arms and legs as it shot up.

    Momentum clashed against momentum.

    There was simply no way that a single drop of this blood could compare with the entire six meter tall body''s worth that the demon ape had, Aina knew this. So, she didn''t reserve any of it, burning it all into a single, wild and unrestrained attack.

    BANG!

    Aina''s ax cut into the demon ape''s skull by an entire half inch, the roar of pain unleashed by the ape was enough to make the earth rock and quake.

    The ape''s head was crushed into the ground once again, Aina pressing with all the strength she could muster just to drive her ax down just another quarter inch. And yet, she knew well that she still hadn''t managed to make it to the demon ape''s brain.

    BANG!

    A slight whimper left Aina''s lips. The slap of the ape was simply too fast and too abrupt. Although it couldn''t see or use its Internal Sight properly, the moment Leonel and Aina attacked, it could use its instincts to lash out at their location. By then, its speed was too fast and they were simply too close to avoid it.

    Aina''s crimson armor shattered completely, her body distorting almost entirely into a bloody mess. While her physical strength was on par and often even greater than Leonel''s own, when it came to physical defenses she couldn''t hold a candle to Leonel. If not for the manifestation of this crimson armor, and its strengthening until the demon ape''s own blood, she very well might have been blasted into a curtain of mist with just that single slap.

    That said, while her body hadn''t been completely vanquished, an entire half of it had been.

    Her arm and her leg completely disappeared as though by some sort of sick magic trick, the bloody mist that should have been left of them being dispersed under the wind pressure of the attack.

    Her body shot out even faster than Leonel''s had, the demon ape clearly having been truly enraged this time.

    Leonel''s eyes went red in the distance. Half his armor was gone and one of his arms couldn''t even function properly. He saw exactly what had happened to Aina, but with his senses locked onto the demon ape, he could also see that the wound they had tried so hard to make in its head was already rapidly closing.

    Leonel unleashed an enraged howl, his hair, eyes and tails turning almost entirely crimson. A fiendish aura wafted out from him as his flames erupted.

    At that moment, his right kidney seemed to have been unleashed from its shackles, a burning sensation rushing through his body.

    Leonel''s Starry Light Domain activated, his body turning into nothing more than a beam of light as he flashed from several kilometers away to above the shrinking wound in a mere instant.

    Right this moment, Leonel simply didn''t feel like speaking out a poem of words. He felt that sometimes, the number of words didn''t matter. Sometimes, in the right moment, with the right mindset, just a single word was enough.

    He lifted up his one good arm, half his body bloodied gore and the other half a cobbled mess of fractured plate armor.

    "Die."

    At that instant, Leonel''s Spear Force was no longer golden. Instead, it was a deathly crimson that bathed the world in red.

 Chapter 1575 Red

    The entirety of Leonel''s Dream World reacted to his rage. It was as though an apocalypse had descended, every living being within the range of his Starry Spirit Domain feeling a fear that reached down to the depths of their hearts.

    Leonel''s King''s Might spirit appeared before his forehead, hovering in front of the crown shaped Bronze Runes that had been forever etched onto him.

    His spear blazed with life and rage, the violet spirit before his forehead basking in Destruction Runes that caused the space around it to tremble.

    For the very first time, Leonel unleashed the full force of his Scarlet Star Force. It was an unreserved, crimson tide that bathed the world in fire and brimstone. It seemed as though everything that stood in its path would perish, even if that thing was the spear it used as a medium or Leonel himself.

    However, this time, Leonel wasn''t the same weak boy he had been for so many years. He might not have grasped all of the Runes he needed to, but he had already fully grasped the Fifth Dimension and was making headway through the Sixth. In addition, Vital Star Force was pumping throughout his veins while the presence of Void Star Force tempered the backlash.

    In that moment, Leonel didn''t care about anything other than the quickly closing wound on the back of the demon ape''s head. And not for a single instant did he think of failure.

    Die.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear shot through the back of the demon ape''s skull, ripping right through its brain and exiting out of its face.

    The ground beneath him suffered a pillar of rising flames. Like a meteor falling from on high, even the sturdy earth of this world was warped and crushed.

    The demon ape''s body convulsed. In its final moments, maybe even up until the final seconds, it couldn''t believe that it had died at the hands of two such weak creatures. The battle had only lasted for barely a few seconds, and it didn''t even get to make a proper exchange, but it could already feel that its brain had turned to mush.

    ? Its hand, which reached up at an awkward angle to try and slap Leonel away again, lost much of its momentum. Though it still managed to hit Leonel and even fracture more of his bones, it had simply lost too much strength to levy as much damage as it had the first time.

    Leonel didn''t even pull his spear out of the demon ape''s head. The moment he felt it break through, he hardly put any more strength into driving down any further. With his Dream World constricting the region, he could tell exactly when the demon ape had reached the point of no return and had no chances remaining.

    So, the moment that point was reached, he abandoned everything and shot to Aina''s side. With his Starry Light Domain, it only took him a single step to reach her, and what he saw left his face warped.

    Aina truly was in a terrible situation. It looked as though a sword had started at her collarbone and then cut straight down. If not for her otherworldly vitality and her control over her own Life Force, it was likely that such an injury could have outright put her at the doors of no return.

    Leonel kneeled to Aina''s side, his jaw clenched. Her face was entirely pale and her breathing was shallow. But at this point, she only had one lung left and a great portion of her heart had been damaged. Every breath just caused a larger and larger pool of blood to converge around her.

    Her healing factor couldn''t keep up at all. If left like this, she would most definitely die.

    Aina''s eyes fluttered and her lips parted slightly, but Leonel had already put his hand over her mouth before this silly woman did something as stupid as speak.

    [Instant Recovery].

    Leonel spoke these words in his mind and a strong current flooded his body, every one of his own cells lighting up like a Christmas tree.

    Then, without the slightest hesitation, he cut a long wound along his remaining good arm. A large amount of his blood began to drip outward even as his Vital Stars began to rotate.

    During this process, Leonel''s dense crimson blood shimmered with radiant gold and blue lights. It almost looked as though an elixir of a God was being pulled out from his body and into Aina''s.

    He allowed it all to pour into Aina''s mouth. Although his own recovery became much slower, Aina''s became much faster as a result. First her bleeding came to a stop and then her flesh began to slowly grow back.

    As she grew better, Leonel increased the amount of his blood he let her swallow, allowing her to accommodate more and more.

    In just a few seconds, Aina''s pale complexion became much redder and her arm and leg began to grow back. First came their bones, then their flesh, nerves and veins, before finally, supple and fair skin came back with the same ruddiness of her face.

    Aina felt like an intoxicating brew was slipping down her throat. To this day, although she wasn''t quite sure why, there was no blood that she had ever felt or tasted that was nearly as good as Leonel''s. It was just unfortunate that before this, she had only experienced the tiniest bit.

    But this time, more and more of the intoxicating liquid filled up her belly, rushing through her veins and causing her to moan with pleasure.

    The heart rending pain she had been experiencing had long since vanished, there was only a wild pleasure coming from the depths of her soul.

    At that moment, Aina felt that her body''s strength was increasing by leaps and bounds, even the Fiend Class Force Pills she had swallowed up until now weren''t nearly as effective.

    When the stream of blood finally stopped, her lips had turned an intoxicating shade of bright red and the eyes she looked at Leonel with were full of allure.

    Caught off guard and feeling quite weak himself after having given away so much of his blood, Leonel couldn''t even react when Aina shot up and pressed her lips to his own.

 Chapter 1576 Everything

    Leonel had been distracted by more than just his own weakness. After having been slapped nearly to death by the demon ape, Aina''s white flexible armor had shattered as well. In fact, there was even less of it left than there was of her.

    It was impossible for Leonel to focus on such a thing while the love of his life was at death''s door. But after she was clear and her life was no longer in danger, if it wasn''t for the weakness his body was experiencing and that he practically had no blood left to spare, he just might have experienced the feeling of his nose becoming a crimson geyser.

    It was one thing to experience Aina''s nakedness when their minds fused into one, but it was something else entirely when he could see it with his own eyes, and something even more difficult to ignore when she suddenly pressed up against him like thisбн especially since he had already retracted his own armor and there was nothing left on his torso but his own skin.

    Leonel was suddenly very thankful that there was such a dense fog around, because this scene was simply too enticing for others to see. In fact, with his temper, if anyone else did see it, he just might try to gouge their eyes out.

    Too beautiful. Too soft.

    The lines of her body were so powerful, and yet so feminine and gentle. Every fiber was filled with strength, but it had just the same amount of suppleness.

    Even before she pounced on Leonel, her chest rippled with her every light breath and gentle gulp. It was an absolutely gorgeous and hypnotic sight, only made better by the fact it was half obscured by what remained of her armor.

    One breast was more than half covered by soft leathers and strong silver metals, but the other was revealed to the air. Both were much larger than even what Leonel''s hands could handle, and both managed to enter a state of perfection whether covered or free.

    However, what was maybe even more enticing was Aina''s exposed hip. What remained of her armor just barely managed to cover the delicate region between her thighs, but an entire side of her wide hips and slender waist was exposed to the winds, even down to the gorgeous slope of her ass and her long, slender legsбн

    When she jumped into Leonel''s arms, his now healed hand couldn''t help but subconsciously stretch forward and knead this soft supple skin, even shamelessly caressing the curve of her bottom and allowing his fingers to sink into the seemingly endless mound of flesh.

    This feeling was no less intoxicating than the feeling of her exposed chest pressing against his own. The beating of her heart transmitted right into his soul even as her tongue wrapped around his.

    Aina completely allowed her body to fall into Leonel''s embrace, hooking an arm around his neck and sinking her other hand into his hair.

    She didn''t seem to care about anything else. She only wanted to experience more of Leonel''s warmth, more of his touch.

    When she felt Leonel poking between her legs, his mass and girth so heavy and forceful that it pushed through both their layers of robes and armor, her breathing only quickened.

    She really wanted it, so much so that she couldn''t even quite express it into words.

    She placed both her hands on Leonel''s collarbone and pushed hard, pressing his back into the ground.

    Leonel''s brows shot up, his lips still somewhat moist from her kiss. He had actually wanted more, only to find that the sensation was suddenly ripped away.

    However, any complaints he had were washed away the instant he saw her enticing silhouette straddling him.

    Her skin was completely flushed red, her rippling breasts bouncing ever so slightly with her every breath. The two seemed to have completely forgotten that they were in the demon world, their minds focused entirely on nothing other than their own lust.

    Aina''s seemingly soft and gentle hands ripped open the lower half of Leonel''s robes, leaving him completely speechless. Wasn''t she a little too eager? She could have just taken them off the normal way. What was he supposed to wear now?

    Leonel didn''t even get to finish these thoughts before his eyes widened and his legs trembled.

    Aina''s gaze, misty and somewhat unfocused, met Leonel''s. Her soft palms wrapped around his shaft, delicately stroking as though she was afraid to hurt him.

    She slipped backward and bent over, the softness of her breast enveloping Leonel. The feeling was so overwhelming that Leonel forgot how to think and even how to breathe. There was just a sudden eruption of pent up emotions stirring deep within him, his heart trembling uncontrollably.

    And then, he felt her lips touch the tip of his cock. It was just the second time he had experienced such a thing, the memory of the first was still all too clear in his mind. But this felt even better, countless times more fiery, as though the very heat of Aina''s loins were transferring to him.

    Aina''s gaze became mistier, her breathing became labored and her heated breath only made Leonel twitch more fiercely.

    Leonel had just undergone an Instant Recovery. The scent he was giving off was so pure and strong that it was almost like a drug filling up Aina''s lungs. She wanted more of it, so much so that her lips seemed to part on their own, swallowing the tip of his shaft into the warm moistness of her mouth.

    Leonel''s jaw clenched, his breathing becoming deeper as his chest continually expanded.

    Aina''s actions were slightly awkward, but Leonel''s sensitivity was sky high and her movements were so gentle that none of it seemed to matter. The delicate touch of her hands and her tongue left Leonel completely at her mercy, those soft sounds being the only thing that could be heard for hundreds of meters.

    However, just when Leonel''s cock convulsed, about to be brought over the edge of no return, Aina came to a sudden stop.

    Leonel could even see straight, so he only felt a shadow come over him and felt his lips embraced by another pair.

    Aina savored Leonel''s taste, her own hips involuntarily grinding at a steady rhythm.

    She laughed lightly, her voice sounding sultry and soothing.

    "All that talk about baby making appointmentsбн you don''t want to finish inside the wrong place, do you?"

    She whispered into Leonel''s ears like a temptress, enticing him with the call of a siren.

    Leonel released a low growl, this vixen was getting a little bit too full of herself.

    His powerful arms wrapped around her waist and flipped her beneath him.

    A slight squeal of delight left Aina''s lips, her eyes looking into Leonel''s own with an undisguised desire and anticipation. She was willing to give Leonel her everything, and there wasn''t the slightest reluctance in her heart.

    Her legs wrapped around Leonel, her palms pressed against his cheeks.

    However, in that instant, a spark of rage lit Leonel''s eyes, his head snapping upward and looking in a particular direction.

    At this moment, his desire to kill was maybe even greater than it had been just a few minutes ago, his patience having been whittled down to nothing.

 Chapter 1577 Amusing

    Leonel was absolutely furious.

    The interruption was one matter, that he didn''t mind too much. Aina was his woman, and he was her man. These things would happen naturally one way or another. He might have been hesitant, but he wouldn''t deny Aina''s eagerness regardless of how he felt. All of his hesitation was related to her feelings to begin with, whether or not he lost his virginity wasn''t something he placed very much weight in.

    What truly made him furious was that the kill Aina had nearly lost her life for them to secure was currently very close to being taken away.

    This individual''s spatial affinity was simply on a level Leonel had never before seen, so high level that even his Starry Star Domain was completely useless in stopping them.

    While Leonel had mostly used his Starry Star Domain to twist and manipulate the Internal Sight of the demon ape so that it couldn''t lock onto them and actively attack, it still had a great effect on the surrounding space itself. At the very least, one should feel quite a bit of disorientation when trying to use Spatial Force in this region.

    This individual, though, didn''t have the slightest difficulty in doing so. It  was very clear and obvious that their Spatial affinity was far beyond Leonel''s own.

    At the end of the day, the Starry Tailed Fox was still just a pinnacle Seventh Dimensional Lineage Factor. As such, its Ethereal Star Force was restrained in the same way, not to mention the fact that space was just a minor aspect of this Force which was predominantly a Star and Light Force.

    It might have been enough to roam free and unrestrained in the Human Domain, but for some reason, this Zone was amped up to an extreme.

    Leonel and Aina, who could be considered to be the greatest talents the Human Domain could produce, aside from maybe Leonel''s parents themselves, couldn''t even defeat a middle Fiend Class demon without pulling out everything they had.

    And yet, in this world, there was a group of geniuses getting ready right this moment to try and kill 10% of a huge population of them just to lay their hands on the top prize. The gap was simply enormous and unfathomable.

    It was even more difficult to accept that this wasn''t even considered the pinnacle of talent in this world. Beyond it, there were still individuals capable of giving good fights and even killing demons who could sway a Fiend Class demon to death with a single thought.

    When things were put into this perspective, it wasn''t surprising at all that Leonel''s control over space wasn''t enough to deal with this person.

    If Leonel was correct, this individual should have been waiting outside his barrier, likely following the battle through the use of their spatial affinity. Leonel had learned a lot about Spatial Force and its uses when studying those research papers about the formation of spatial rings, so he knew that this was very much possible.

    With this method, a person wouldn''t be able to "see" anything, but they should be able to make out what was happening for the most part.

    When they felt that the timing was appropriate, they then swooped in and flashed into Leonel''s Domain in a single bound.

    That saidбн

    Leonel''s gaze turned frighteningly cold. He might be inferior to these people in many aspects, but when it came to his mind and his Dream Force, he had yet to meet someone that was on his level without also being several Dimensional Tiers above him.

    Before, Leonel had only layered the stars of the Starry Star Domain to interfere with the Internal Sight of the demon ape. It was designed to confuse and disorient, not to hinder movement.

    At the same time, there was no use in trying to brute force with a person this skilled in Spatial Force, he would lose 10 out of 10 times. Leonel didn''t need to think to know that this was definitely true.

    While his Starry Star Domain didn''t hinder movement, it should have made it difficult for the individual to lock onto a location to teleport to, and yet they had done so anyway. That was all Leonel needed to know.

    With the current configuration, he couldn''t stop this person, and he couldn''t use brute Spatial Force to stop them either because he would end up crushed.

    But what he lacked in strength, his mind would always be able to make up.

    Leonel''s eyes only turned colder.

    He raised a free hand and a surge of Spatial Force manifested. Across the several kilometers distance that separated him and the demon ape corpse, several silvery-gold starlights appeared around its body.

    бн

    In the distance, a young man with sparkling silver eyes stood over the corpse of the demon ape, having just appeared.

    ''Middle Fiend Class? Unfortunateбн But it''s a pure strength type, that''s very rare already. Perfect, makes it worth it.''

    He looked off into the distance where Leonel and Aina probably were.

    ''Those two should probably be dead or close to it. Doesn''t matter much anyway. Overestimating yourselves and ending up in such a state in the demon world is practically suicide. They should be the two that suddenly appeared on the leaderboard all of a sudden.''

    The eyes of the young man glowed. This was definitely worth the trip. A pure strength demon and over 100 billion points waiting for him on a silver platter, what a stroke of fortune.

    Just then, silvery-gold lights appeared around the demon ape corpse that made the young man raise an eyebrow before he chuckled.

    "Oh? So you''re still alive enough to be thinking about holding onto this corpse? How amusingбн Using Spatial Force in front of me should be a sin."

    The young man reached out, planning to counter and twist Leonel''s teleportation apart. But almost instantly, his expression changed.

    The demon corpse before him vanished into thin air, leaving him stunned into silence.

 Chapter 1578 Lotus Structure

    Aina, who was still pinned beneath Leonel, didn''t even register what was happening just yet when a six meter tall demon corpse suddenly appeared right beside them.

    She was startled for a moment until she sensed Leonel''s gaze and came to understand that something must have happened. No matter how distracted Leonel was, he would never miss something happening within his Dream World. Because he had to keep the heavy fog up so that no one could spy on their intimate moment, he of course had to keep his Starry Spirit Domain up as well.

    ? As such, the moment something teleported into the region, he had sensed it.

    This individual had been able to use their spatial affinity to hide from Leonel''s Internal Sight, but nothing could hide within Leonel''s Dream World. So when he crossed into a 10 kilometer range of Leonel, he had been directly exposed.

    However, even with this being the case, there was nothing that Leonel could do against this individual''s high spatial affinity. It seemed that they would lose the demon ape corpse that they had worked so hard to get.

    That said, Leonel''s strongest talent was any of his Lineage Factorsбн By far his strongest talent was his Ability Index and the power of his mind.

    He knew that he couldn''t defeat this individual in spatial affinity, so he decided to make the latter''s spatial affinity work for him.

    The lotus structure Leonel had learned about in that one research paper immediately came to mind. It took control of Spatial Force and fused into the intricate structure of a multi-layered lotus.

    The point of this structure was to survive the onslaught of Anarchic Force and allow long ranged teleportation, something that was usually absolutely impossible within such a dense region of Anarchic Force.

    The lotus structure would protect the core which held the most valuable information, and with the use of a very specific design, the outer layers would have to crumble piece by piece first before the middle could be affected. But by then, the teleportation would have long since come to an end and the lotus structure would no longer be needed.

    Of course, this was just a theory posited by a student of the Void Palace, but Leonel had already put it to the test multiple times in his Dream World and knew that it had a solid basis for application. It was just that he didn''t particularly need it, so he had never actively used it.

    The problem with the lotus structure method was that it took at least 10 times more Force than the usual to complete the same action. For someone like Leonel, who had a Lineage Factor perfectly tailored for speed, and a Divine Armor perfect for restricting the speed of opponents, he had no need to waste stamina on such a thing.

    In addition, because he had the Starry Light Domain, he could practically mimic King Arthur''s ability to turn into pure Light Force, making his speed reach an ungodly level when this Domain was activated.

    That saidбн There was another method by which the lotus structure could be made useful. What if instead of using it to block Anarchic Force, it was instead used to guide Forces?

    What was special about the lotus structure was that it forced certain parts of itself to crumble before other parts. On the surface, this was only useful to avoid certain outcomes, but wasn''t it just as useful at forcing certain outcomes as well?

    With slight tweaks to the structure, and with a clever mind for application, Leonel could force an enemy''s Force to react almost exactly how he wanted it to, so long as it wasn''t using a structure more complex than his own lotus.

    The young man had been far too overconfident, though he somewhat had reason to be. He had already seen through Leonel''s level of spatial affinity and in fact, looked down upon it. He didn''t need to use a complex technique to counter Leonel, so he had just casually sent his Spatial Force forward to shatter Leonel''s teleportation attempt.

    However, what he hadn''t expected was for his Spatial Force to feel like it had entered a maze. Before he could react, his Spatial Force was twisted and reversed, eventually becoming the fuel for Leonel''s own teleportation.

    With his level of skill, and the level of Spatial Force he had access to, it was simply impossible for Leonel to teleport something across several kilometers even with his Domains deployed. In addition, his Starry Light Domain could only be used to improve his own evasion, it couldn''t be used on an object.

    This young man, however, had access to an extremely high level Spatial Force, it was without a doubt at least top 10 if not top five. With his Spatial Force as fuel, the task was almost easy.

    Then, in the blink of an eye, the lotus vanished and the young man lost the ability to track the teleportation.

    He could only stand in silence, quite stunned about what had just happened. Even now, he couldn''t understand. And how could he? Only someone with a mind as fast and powerful as Leonel''s own could calculate the perfect lotus structure in a fraction of a second and deploy it even faster.

    Like Leonel had said, he might lose in raw powerбн But when it came to intelligence, he wouldn''t lose to anyone.

    бн

    By this point, Aina was frowning and was very much not happy. She wanted to spend some time with Leonel, but they were actually interrupted.

    To Aina, it didn''t really matter where she lost her virginity. Just the fact that it was to Leonel was enough, which was why she hadn''t even hesitated despite the fact they were in the demon world.

    But now that they had been interrupted, she was furious.

    She pushed herself up, a glass bottle that appeared in her palm shattering to release large amounts of crimson blood that quickly formed into a dense armor around her.

    "I''m going to kill him."

    Her voice sounded powerful and layered, almost as though two of her were speaking at once.

    Leonel''s brows only had time to jump once before Aina vanished from his side.

 Chapter 1579 Unfair

    Leonel was stunned speechless.

    It was a bit amusing that Aina was so enraged, firstly, and even quite adorable. But it only took a moment for that feeling to be flooded away by dread, and then, subsequently, confusion.

    Aina wasn''t an idiot. Plus, with the connection they had between one another thanks to their minds being linked, she should be able to tell exactly what Leonel''s analysis of this individual was. And yet, instead of taking a step back and retreating like Leonel had initially planned, she actually charged forward?

    There was only one reason Aina would do this: she was confident. But they had just risked their life against a middle Fiend Class demon, how had she suddenly become confident to deal with such a person?

    It was only then that Leonel turned his attention from the individual in the distance to his girlfriend. He had been so distracted by everything else, and so very much used to their minds being linked, that he didn''t really pay much attention to exactly what was happening and what had happened to her body.

    When Leonel finally did, he was silent for a very long time.

    How was this fair, exactly? She drank his blood. His blood. Blood that was his. Blood that ran through his veinsбн And somehow used it to become so much more powerful than him?

    Where was the logic? The justice? Who should he even go to complain to about this?

    By the time Leonel realized that he should probably rush over, a violent clash began playing out in his head.

    бн

    Aina appeared before the young man in the distance, her eyes blazing and her ax swinging down with a mighty momentum.

    "Huh?"

    The young man, who was still in a daze, was stunned once again. He could recognize this spatial fluctuation, it was definitely that woman from before. But why was she suddenly so fast and strong?

    When one used spatial affinity in place of Internal Sight, the picture wasn''t clear, even figures were just foggy waves in space. You weren''t observing objects themselves, but rather the effect said objects had on the space around them. As such, it was impossible to get a crystal clear image no matter what you did.

    But, that said, different Forces had different interactions with space, and there were also variations based on technique and strength.

    Aina''s strength had suddenly shot upward, making it almost impossible for the young man to recognize her. But the interaction between Blood Force and space, not to mention that particular battle ax and space, was too unique for him to not understand he was running into the same person.

    He quickly struck out with a palm toward Aina''s ax. Though he rushed the attack and couldn''t use his Internal Sight within Leonel''s Domain, nor could he see, he was more than capable of using the spatial ripples to lock onto her and counter her with a powerful strike. After all, he was a true Fiend Class genius even if he wasn''t even close to being the best among them.

    BANG!

    A violent force charged up the young man''s arm, forcing him to disperse it through the use of spatial waves and take several heavy steps backward.

    ''What the hell?!''

    A second bloodied ax surged, the rushed defenses of the young man becoming more and more difficult to put up as Aina only seemed to become faster and faster.

    The young man was pissed, and even wanted to find a chance to counter. But it was then he suddenly remembered what had happened earlier with his Spatial Forceбн Could it be that he had been tricked and lured into a trap? Could it be that they were never so weak to begin with?

    He still couldn''t understand exactly how Leonel had outplayed him. From what he understood, the only possibility was that Leonel''s Spatial Force affinity was far beyond his own. But if that was the case, then why was it that it had seemed so weak beforeбн?

    A trap. That seemed to be the only explanation.

    Escape, he had to escape. They underestimated him too much if they really thought that they could stop him.

    The young man roared, a wild spatial fluctuation spreading out in all directions and shattering Leonel''s Starry Star Domain like glass.

    Aina was second flying backward, her armor cracking in several places.

    She stomped the ground hard, ready to wade through the fluctuation and attack again. But by the time she stabilized herself, the young man had vanished, having used quite a profound escaping technique that sent him several hundred kilometers away.

    Aina frowned, clearly feeling unsatisfied.

    She looked to her side, only to find that Leonel had suddenly appeared there and was looking right at her. If it was possible, his eyes might very well have turned into floating question marks.

    "I would say that my seed is just that powerful, but oneбн I don''t want to sound too much like that old man of mine, and twoбн you didn''t even actually drink it."

    Leonel had a look of puzzlement and even a slight shade of disappointment on his face, but when Aina heard his words, he earned a solid elbow to the side that made him cough several times.

    "Unfairбн" Leonel wheezed out between coughs. "бн Truly unfair."

    Aina''s displeasure turned into a beaming smile.

    Leonel''s blood really did make her feel like she was walking on clouds, but it felt much more profound than just that.

    The first time she had Leonel''s blood, it completely destroyed the curse that she had lived with for almost two decades. If not for her preserving a bit of it to train, it would have been eradicated that very day.

    And this second time she did, it was as though every strand of impurity within her had been burned to ash. Every single slight flaw was fused and patched up, and all of her accumulations were consolidated into one.

    However, Aina instinctually felt that this was just the tip of the iceberg. This time, she had consumed enough of Leonel''s blood to gain his Lineage Factors. Or rather, at least bits and pieces of them.

    She gained almost none of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, but this was to be expected. After all, the moment she was drinking his blood, he had activated [Instant Recovery]. What she had gained was actually a portion of his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor!

    But that wasn''t enough to completely explain it. No, it could explain it, it was just that it was just a single piece of the puzzle.

    Something within Aina''s heart stirred and she felt like she had grasped something.

    "You said before that you gained the dark half of your Lineage Factor from the Middle Class Sector, right? Bring it out."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow, but he still flipped over a palm.

 Chapter 1580 High Affinity?

    Leonel made a move to hand the tablet over to Aina, but she actually shook her head.

    "Learn it."

    Leonel''s brows shot up. Learn it? What was she talking about?

    Was this the time to even consider something like this? And even if it was possible now that Aina''s strength had taken such a large leap forward and they could afford to take such a risk, there was still the issue of his affinity.

    Leonel had planned to try to complete as many Runes of his Void Star Force as he could before he even made the attempt so that he could lower the difficulty and minimize the number of variables.

    If he casually tried to learn these new Lineage Factors, there were too many potential issues that could arise. For example, he wasn''t even sure if the two Lineage Factors would clash or not. The only way he could be certain that no issues would arise, or at the very least that he could deal with them if they did, was by raising his Dark Force affinity as high as possible.

    So long as his Dark Force affinity was high, it would be easier to read and react to the exact changes his body was undergoing. If worse came to worst, he would be able to use his Tier 4 Control Ability Index to suppress or even outright cage this new Lineage Factor, something that would be far more difficult if he didn''t have a high natural affinity to it.

    Aina, though, only tilted her head in confusion when she saw Leonel hesitate.

    "What are you hesitating for? I''ll protect you."

    Leonel explained his thought process, but Aina''s expression only became weirder.

    "Your Dark Force affinity is low? I don''t think that''s true."

    Leonel blinked. What was Aina talking about? Even Valiant Heart Mountain had been able to tell that Leonel''s Dark Force affinity was low.

    Back then, the overseers of the affinity test for Valiant Heart Mountain hadn''t spoken Leonel''s affinities out loud because they were scared of exposing his identity, but Leonel, himself, knew his own affinities well enough. In addition, though he hadn''t seen his affinities written out that day, he was sure that Dark Force wasn''t on there.

    Leonel was correct, but this wasn''t surprising. His memory was impeccable and understanding of his own body was extraordinarily deep.

    "No, I''m certain. Your Dark Force affinity is very, very high."

    Leonel didn''t even know what to say. If it was anything else speaking these words, he would have directly ignored them. He was too confident in his own deduction abilities to listen to the deductions of someone else not named Velasco Morales. He didn''t even normally like to explain himself, so he very clearly didn''t care for the input of others.

    But Aina was different. Even if he didn''t agree with what she was saying, Leonel also didn''t believe that she was a fool. In fact, in many aspects, she was sharper than even him due to her instinctive way of doing things. There were many things it was quite safe to rely on her for.

    "I sensed it myself, I just had a lot of your blood. Not only did it make my Abyssal Panther bloodline grow stronger, it raised my own Dark Force affinity by several levels. But even then, I''m pretty sure that it''s still far weaker than yours."

    Leonel blinked. He trusted Aina and he had never seen a single instance where her objective instincts were wrong. If they could be used to concoct complex Force Pills, analyzing something as simple as what level an affinity was at was even easier.

    ''Did my Dark Force affinity increase because I formed two Void Star Force Stars? It''s possible that the synergy between that and my Divine Armor had a stacked effect, butбн''

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. He really didn''t feel like this was correct at all, there was definitely something wrong here.

    Leonel took a breath and shook his head.

    "Alright, let''s say that you''re correct. Why do you want me to start training in this right now? What''s the connection?"

    "Ah, right. That''s because the reason my strength experienced such an explosive return isn''t just because I drank your blood, it''s more so about the synergy.

    "I can feel the faint Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor within me right now resonating with my Abyssal Panther bloodline. Instead of antagonizing each other, they seem to be almost fusing and strengthening as one.

    "If I''m correct, this Lineage Factor has a Light Star Force and Dark Star Force side for a reason. They were likely always meant to be put together, so much so that even when the Light Star Force meets a normal Dark Force Lineage Factor like my own, it still experiences the same large boost."

    Leonel''s eyes widened, Aina''s words only now truly getting to him.

    The Abyssal Panther bloodline could be considered half a Lineage Factor that Aina had gained thanks to a Zone of Terrain. It was only a Fifth Dimensional creature, so the strength she got out of it by this point was quite minuscule. In fact, Leonel was always telling her that she was wasting away her ability to absorb bloodlines by limiting herself like this.

    Truthfully, if Aina took her Blood Sovereign abilities more seriously instead of always running away from them, she''d be hundreds of times stronger than she was right now.

    The fact that synergy with a mere Abyssal Panther bloodline and part of his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor had actually allowed Aina''s power to increase so explosivelyбн

    Leonel wasn''t even quite sure what to say.

    He stared at the bronze tablet for a very long time. It seemed that this really was the best choice to make.

    With the pace the event was moving at in this Sector, it seemed that it would take much longer to complete than the others had. If he didn''t take advantage of this, he would be wasting a potential chance.

    Leonel looked at the tablet and exhaled a breath.

    "Alrightбн I''m not sure how long this will take, but I''ll try. If I feel like I''m getting stonewalled, then I''ll just stop. Don''t let me meditate for too long."

    Leonel sat down and enveloped the tablet with his Starry Spirit Domain.

 Chapter 1581 Grand Display

    Leonel closed his eyes.

    With his Dream World now capable of projecting outside, focusing on any one thing was all too easy. This had already been proven when he went through so many years of Void Palace history in just a few seconds. Now, it once again came in handy.

    However, what Leonel didn''t expect was for him to suddenly and so forcefully be sucked in. In fact, meditating on the Dark Star Force tablet was far easier than it ever had been with the Light Star Force tablet.

    Of course, the reason for this was because he hadn''t awakened his Starry Tailed Fox''s Starry Spirit Domain back then. But that didn''t make the feeling any less magical.

    If before Leonel could vaguely touch upon the exterior mysteries and slowly meditate on them, right this moment, he felt like he had been sucked into a vast and endless world, one no less complex than the one he was used to. And yet, all he could see in this world were three large and looming figures.

    The first was mysterious and ethereal. It didn''t seem to have a true form and its body was a vague, uncondensed fog. However, the one portion of it that was the most prominent and powerful was its protruding tail.

    This tail seemed capable of crushing mountains, of splitting oceans, and shattering the skies. A single sweep encompassed the whole world.

    The second had wings that seemed capable of enveloping an entire planet. When it rose its head and roared into the skies, stars exploded and worlds were destroyed. Its body radiated a dark silver that sometimes shone as bright as a sun but what often as black as an endless light.

    The third was a grand creature of white and black. Its palms carried a strength that could choose to hold up a world or crush it. Its body was sturdy and impregnable, carrying with it a rumbling power and a towering defense.

    Leonel knew the names of these creatures, but he didn''t quite know how to react to them being portrayed in such a grand light.

    The Shadow Tail. The Dusky Steel Bat. The Aurora Black Panda.

    These were names that he had heard from Wise Star Order and they were the counterparts to the Snowy Star Owl, the White Stone Elephant and the Starry Tailed Fox. This meant that the first was Sixth Dimensional, and the two latter ones were Seventh Dimensional with the Aurora Black Panda being at the very pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension.

    Knowing this, it was obviously impossible for these creatures to have such strength.

    Splitting the skies? Destroying worlds? Shattering stars? Even Eighth Dimensional creatures shouldn''t have such strength unless they returned to a Fourth or Fifth Dimensional world.

    If the worlds these creatures were in were indeed so weak, it would explain things. But why had they displayed themselves in such weak worlds, what was the point? And even then, how would that explain their size? The Dusky Steel Bat was quite literally able to envelop a planet with its wings! There shouldn''t be a single creature with that size!

    Leonel''s heart shuddered, suddenly remembering something. His Dreamscape tried hard to spark, connecting two events that were seemingly entirely unrelated. But now matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t for the life of him figure out what should bridge them.

    All Leonel could think of was the size of beast he had ridden to come here in the first placeбн And think back to the first day he awakened his Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factorбн

    Back then, how majestic had the Snowy Star Owl seemed to him? With a single flap of its wings, it crossed an entire galaxy in a blink, arriving before Leonel with those caring, wise eyes just as he awakened the first of his Branches.

    It wasn''t until later that he learned that the Snowy Star Owl was actually so "weak"бн But was it truly weak? Wasn''t it just as grand as these displays here?

    He hadn''t been conscious of the awakening of his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor, but he wouldn''t be surprised if it was just as grand as well.

    There was clearly a secret here that he didn''t understand.

    Leonel didn''t discount the possibility that this was just yet another creator of a technique blowing their own trumpetбн But hadn''t he spent years underestimating [Dimensional Cleanse] before he realized that maybe its creator had actually been a bit too modest? What if this was yet another case of the same matter?

    ''I feel likeбн I can chooseбн''

    Leonel''s expression flickered.

    With these three enormous beasts staring down at him as he stood in the depths of a void, he should have felt fear, fear that came from the depths of his heart. But he didn''t feel that at allбн In fact, all he felt was familiarity, understanding, and a calmness that reached to the depths of his soul.

    ''Then it''ll be you.''

    Leonel reached out toward the Aurora Black Panda. It was the one he understood the abilities of the most perfectly and also one he felt was very much complimentary to his current Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor.

    Like Wise Star Order had said it too had a Healing Branch, a Strength Branch and a Wisdom Branch, similar to the White Stone Elephant. However, it manifested in completely different ways.

    The Strength Branch spoke for itself, although instead of manifesting into physical changes, it instead formed a curtain of Force around Leonel that displayed strength beyond relying just on Leonel''s body.

    The Healing Branch acted as a life steal, taking and snatching from others to fuel it even further.

    And finally, the Wisdom Branch instead manifested as a Domain, the Yin-Yang Domain specifically, which acted as a balancer in the middle of battle. It could take the strength of an opposing Force and turn it into your own, working especially well against diametrically opposed Forcesбн

    However, this was just Leonel''s understanding of prior to the synergy Aina spoke ofбн As for what it would be nowбн He would have to find out.

 Chapter 1582 Bloody Mist

    The Aurora Black Panda released a bellow, smashing its paws against its chest as though it wanted to let the world know that it was, indeed, the strongest.

    Leonel instantly felt a wild energy entering his body. It was unbridled and unruly, surging toward his deepest foundations and shredding them apart to reform them.

    The pain took deep roots within Leonel. He hadn''t been conscious before, but this must have been something he went through previously. If it wasn''t for his experience with his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, such pain would have been enough to make him lose the will to go on entirely.

    Leonel immediately used Dream Sense, splitting his sensory perception and easing the load on his nerves. However, this feeling of relief only lasted for an instant before it came back even stronger than before.

    In the real world, Leonel involuntarily released a roar, his body cracking apart like he was carved of fragile glass.

    Aina''s expression changed. She wanted to do something, but she held back. There was already nothing more that she could do. If she interfered now, she might actually make things worse instead of better, especially sinceбн

    The dense fog in the surroundings wavered and her connection with Leonel severed. He couldn''t seem to maintain it anymore.

    Aina frowned. With a thought, another bottle of blood shattered and formed a down that enveloped Leonel. Others didn''t need to see what was happening here.

    After she was finished, she became several times more vigilant, even forming the dome of blood into a ball that directly picked Leonel up so that she could be ready to move at any time. She might have become much stronger, but it still wasn''t anywhere near enough to be casual in this place.

    She might be able to battle a Middle Fiend Class demon to a standstill if it was at her Tier, but high Fiend Class demons were beyond her, let alone a middle Fiend Class demon which was well beyond her in Tier. Right now, her top priority was Leonel''s safety.

    All sounds were immediately cut off, but Aina could still feel the fluctuations of Leonel''s Life Force. They seemed to rise and fall rapidly and without a clear pattern, making it more and more difficult to tell exactly what was happening and only making her more worried.

    She hadn''t expected this to happen to Leonel. In fact, because the synergy had been so great, she had assumed that the fusion process would be very simple.

    But Aina hadn''t known about one very important thingбн

    Right this moment, Leonel''s body had become a warring battlefield, a clash of titans butting heads and cashing against one another again and again.

    However, the clash wasn''t between Leonel''s Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor and the incoming Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor. Instead, it seemed to be against something entirely different, something intangible and almost unknowable.

    A hidden crimson energy within Leonel''s body lashed out, seemingly unsatisfied with something. The arrogance it exuded was almost palpable, whipping at and crushing bits and pieces of the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor as though it was disgusting by its presence.

    It hammered away without a care for Leonel''s wellbeing, pushing again and again and splintering it into bits and pieces.

    These bits and pieces scrambled to survive, pushing out against Leonel''s body and causing his skin to splinter and break, a rain of blood flooding out from his body.

    However, it was then that something quite magical happened.

    The Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor began to find shelter in the depths of Leonel''s Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor. The further it was broken down, the more the two ingratiated into one another. Although they were still separate, their union was far more cohesive and the large leaps Leonel''s strength was taking only grew larger.

    The crimson energy still looked down disdainfully, but when it wanted to lash out more, it found that there was nothing remaining to lash out against. And, for some reason or another, it didn''t seem to have the same control over Leonel''s Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor.

    At that moment, Leonel''s aura erupted in a valiant pillar of dark gold, shattering even Aina''s blood sphere.

    The image of a panda enveloped Leonel, but it looked completely different from what it should have been.

    Its white fur was almost blinding, to the point where it was almost impossible to look at directly. At the same time, its once black fur had become a radiant dark gold that wafted a dark aura.

    However, this was the most minor of the changes.

    The panda had gained a third eye, one that was placed right upon its forehead. Very quickly, though, it became clear that this was just the first of seven total it would gain.

    Somehow, the panda now had three heads, each one with three eyes of its own. At the same time, it had gained two more pairs of arms, giving it a total of six limbs not including its feet.

    Its aura was incomparably majestic, its large belly and radiant dark gold body making it look like a buddha incarnate.

    Just its presence alone made the space around it tremble. Those that laid eyes on it would feel the desire to prostrate themselves and commit themselves to a life of servitude.

    Leonel, who was hovering within its illusory chest, still didn''t seem to have realized what was going on around him, his eyes still closed.

    However, what was astounding was that his Bronze Runes, which had been slowly thickening, now radiated a color far more dark gold than it was bronze. At the same time, his pale violet hair danced with a subtle light of its own, the crown on his forehead and the halo above his head trembling with a powerful majesty.

    When Leonel''s eyes opened, a beam of light split the space before him, a strong ripple of Spatial Force incomparably more powerful than his previous Force ripping it to shreds.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted, only to find that Aina was battling to keep him protected. She was holding her own, but when the sphere of blood had shattered, she had lost her mobility.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. Another middle Fiend Class demon?

    "Die."

    The dark gold panda raised one of its size palms, slamming down with a mighty aura.

    BANG!

    The wind pressure of the strike alone, long before the palm hit the ground, shattered the Fiend Class demon into a bloody mist.

 Chapter 1583 Grin

    Aina''s brows shot up.

    For a moment, she thought that another enemy had come. But it wasn''t long before she realized that it wasn''t a stranger at all, but rather Leonel.

    She couldn''t help but stare for a while. Although she knew that whatever changes Leonel underwent would be explosive since her own was already so great, but even this was outside her expectation. This change was more than just explosive, it was even a bit difficult to accept.

    The dark gold panda Leonel sat within was at least 10 meters tall, dwarfing even many of the demons they had come across. But what was truly fearsome was the amount of condensed power it exuded.

    That palm just now wasn''t a physical attack, it was a compression of Force, extremely dense Force. If Aina was correct, that Force should be Aurora Star Force, a fusion of Earth, Star and Dark Force only second to Chaotic Particle Force.

    Though, this alone wasn''t enough to paint the picture because Forces that fused the three were too rare, one would be hard pressed to name five of them, so the fact that this was second didn''t mean much. However, its power alone spoke for itself.

    Aurora Star Force was unlike most Earth Forces because it was especially powerful in control and applications of gravity. In this way, it was a lot more like a Spatial Force than it was an Earth Force. The difference, however, lay in the fact that rather than twisting space to achieve its results directly, it, instead, concentrated a large amount of weight into a small point.

    These principles were the core behind what generated the Yin-Yang Domain of the Aurora Black Bear as well as the gravity of Aurora Star Force was the core of what powered the balancing abilities of the Yin-Yang Domain.

    In truth, Aurora Star Force was no more powerful than Ethereal Star Force was. One was a mixture of Earth, Star and Darkness while the other was a mixture of Space, Star and Light. They were both top 100 in their respective Light and Dark categories, making them very powerful considering the rarity of Light and Dark Force. However, for some reason, Leonel''s Aurora Star Force seemed much stronger now than his Ethereal Star Force had ever been.

    That said, Leonel was thinking about any of this right now. In fact, his mind wasn''t even very focused on the attack he had just levied either. At this moment, he was simply basking in a magical sort of feeling, and his mind was being commanded by a single thought.

    With the Yin-Yang Domain as a foundationбн Was it even possible for anyone in the Sixth Dimension to defeat his current self?

    The last time Leonel had gained an ability this useful it had come in the form of a Spear Domain. His Duality Spear had allowed him to use his mind and calculative abilities to close the gap between himself, who had been at Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension back then, and an entire group of Sixth Dimensional existences.

    Unfortunately, because of the formation of his Seventh Star upon entering the Tier 3, his Duality Spear was destroyed and wasn''t able to be repaired by the Spear Domain Heirloom.

    The Duality Spear was simply the perfect match for his Ability Index. Alone, Leonel''s Ability Index was simply too weak in direct combat. But when it was paired with external abilities that could amplify it and allow it to shine, it was akin to slapping wings on his back and allowing him to soar through the skies.

    It felt to Leonel that the Yin-Yang Domain was another such opportunity. In fact, it was far more powerful than Duality Domain ever had been.

    Leonel had self-created only one technique in his lifetime, but it was so powerful that even to this day, it was one of his strongest trump cards, so much so that he rarely brought it out. Of course, this was in part due to the fact that he hadn''t gotten a chance to experience the techniques of the Void Palace yet because he had spent so much time running around.

    But today, he would create a second.

    ''You''ll no longer be called Yin-Yang Domain. I''ll call you Lotus Domain from now on.''

    The ferocious expressions of the three headed panda construct suddenly became docile and serene.

    Six hands rose into the air, each palming orbs of sparkling dark gold energy. But very quickly, this energy began to rotate and change shape, eventually becoming dark gold lotuses with hundreds to thousands of petals each.

    These lotuses were soft and gentle, formed by Aurora Star Force and dazzling beneath the dim lights of the demon world.

    Aside from being beautiful, these six lotuses didn''t seem to have any other abilities. Still, for some reason, Leonel looked very much satisfied as he forced them to vanish. Calm returned to him and the 10 meter tall construct vanished with an exhale of his breath.

    He smiled toward Aina, very much glad that he had listened to her. If not, then who knew how long it would have taken him to make this leap?

    This demon world was such a grand treasure trove, wouldn''t it be too unfortunate if he could take advantage of it because he was too weak?

    Leonel still wasn''t confident in claiming the Top Prize of this Sector, but at this point, that wasn''t his main goal. What he wanted to do was to collect as many demon corpses as he could before this event came to an end. Then once they left this place, the foundation he would have to build up the foundations of his allies and prepare for the Heir Wars would maybe be beyond even that of his elder cousins.

    Also, with such a large selection of demons here, he didn''t believe that he wouldn''t be able to collect enough samples for when he finally reconnected with the Segmented Cube and gained access to the Tentacle Womb once again.

    While he might not have strength to dominate the Fiend Class Sector, he most definitely had the strength and intelligence combination he needed to scrounge up more resources than he knew what to do with.

    He couldn''t help but sweep Aina into his arms, a bright grin on his face.

 Chapter 1584 Ninth Day

    "So you''ve learned our lesson now?"

    Aina smugly met Leonel''s gaze after the two finally decided to come up for air.

    "My lesson?"

    Leonel could immediately guess at what Aina was talking about, but for the sake of his pride, he feigned ignorance, preparing the best line he could to shift the topic to the weather. Unfortunately, Aina caught on long before he could say anything.

    "No, no, no. I want to hear it. Say it loud and clear: My name is Leonel Morales, and my girlfriend''s ideas are better than my own."

    Leonel coughed. This was clearly a case of giving an inch and taking a mile. She truly was ruthless, but on the flip side, she had a point.

    Ultimately, Leonel had blind spots, blind spots Aina was often able to cover. It wasn''t wrong of her to ask him to run more things by her.

    At the same time, this was a bit of a special case since it literally required her to swallow dozens of liters of his blood, a loss he wouldn''t have even been able to sustain if not for [Instant Recovery] being active.

    Regardless, though, at least in this case. She was definitely correct.

    "Alright, alright, you win. I concede defeat."

    Aina blinked, perking her ears up. "About?"

    "Being the most handsome man in the world," Leonel sighed. "It''s a heavy burden to carry."

    Aina laughed, shaking her head. Clearly, this was the greatest concession she was going to get out of this blockhead. But she would take this small victory.

    "Let''s go. We probably have a few weeks to maybe a couple months to gather up as many demons as we can, not to mention make it to the exchange so that we can get the final ingredient. We can''t waste even the smallest bit of time."

    "Mm," Aina nodded.

    Now that Leonel had so much strength, their best bet was to maximize it. Since Leonel had a method to leave this Zone, they should be thinking ahead to the future.

    If the Void Palace could monopolize this Zone, it would be a huge game changer. The demon race of this world was simply far too valuable in how great of an effect their corpses could have on human development.

    Even with his explosive increase in power, Leonel still gained enormously from Force Pill Aina crafted from the Tier 3 strength based middle Fiend Class demon. This was because the strength of the Aurora Black Panda didn''t come from its body, but rather a specific application of its Force.

    What Leonel had come to realize that the dividing line between the Light Star Force and the Dark Star Force sides of his Lineage Factor was in the fact that the former focused internally while the latter was far more external.

    The Speed Branch of the Snowy Star Owl, for example, lowered Leonel''s weight to make him faster. The Wisdom Branch of the Starry Tailed Fox expanded Leonel''s mind and Ethereal Glabella. The Strength Branch of the White Stone Elephant ballooned Myghell''s muscles and strength.

    However, with the Dark Star Forces, it was the opposite. The Wisdom Branch manifested externally as a Domain. The Healing Branch functions like a life steel Ability Index. The Strength Branch actually formed a beast construct that Leonel could take control of to power his attacks.

    They were like two sides of the same coins. They often had similar end goals, but they reached them using different methods, and this made their synergy all the greater.

    This was all to say that while Leonel had experienced an explosive growth in his strength, the fundamental changes to his foundation were actually quite small. In fact, because of the sudden growth in his potential, the holes in his foundation actually became much larger. As such, he needed more demon corpses to make up for what he was lacking.

    Surprisingly, this allowed Leonel to refine Aina''s pills even faster. And since the both of them were much stronger and could target more powerful demons, there were more to pick from which resulted in them finding more and more than were beneficial for them!

    In just a single week, Leonel and Aina easily reached a point where they were two or even three times stronger than they had been when they first stepped foot into the Fiend Class Sector. On top of that, their store of demons only seemed to pile up higher and higher.

    Just a single one of these demons would be enough to change the fate of an ordinary talent into a genius worthy of entering the Void Palace, and that was just the lower Fiend Class ones. Leonel and Aina didn''t even bother to absorb any at that level anymore, focusing entirely on the middle Fiend Class.

    Their strength improved by leaps and bounds and their battles only became easier.

    On the ninth day, Leonel came to a pause.

    "I found one. It''s already headed in this direction, higher Fiend Class demons are really something elseбн"

    Leonel informed Aina immediately. Although he could use the Starry Star Domain to confuse the demon like he usually did and avoid it, he felt that he and Aina were ready to face a higher Fiend Class demon head on this time.

    ''Tier 2 higher Fiend Class demon. It should be a good battle, but our lives won''t be in danger. It''ll be good to see where my limits lay now.''

    "I''ll take the vanguard now, you support me from the back."

    As Leonel spoke, a three-headed, six-armed, dark gold panda construct enveloped him, rising to its feet with a booming momentum.

    A higher Fiend Class strength-based demon shot through the thick fog, appearing just meters away.

    Leonel took a breath. His Yin-Yang Domain was useless against a pure strength-based demon and it had become his greatest reliance recently. However, he was still confident.

    His panda construct roared, its six palms jetting out like streaking bullets to meet the higher Fiend Class demon head on.

 Chapter 1585 Invincible

    The demon was enormous, standing just as tall as Leonel''s panda construct. Its eyes were nothing more than two orbs of pulsing black flames and its body was covered from head to toe in thick, shiny, black scales.

    It had a tail half the height of its already ridiculously tall body, but other than this, it was perfectly humanoid, even down to its human-like face despite it being covered in those radiant black scales.

    When its palms met Leonel''s, they were evenly matched for just a moment before Leonel''s third, fourth, fifth and sixth arms collided against its solid check, sending it spiraling backward.

    Deep indents appeared on its torso, Leonel''s Aurora Star Force leaving devastating impacts in its wake. The collision was so powerful that the demon almost fell down, its balance having nearly been taken away from it.

    This was a shocking matter for high level warriors, especially a strength based one like the demon. Their coordination, their dexterity and their balance was what most of their strength relied upon. Such a mistake wasn''t something that would happen, and yet it just had.

    Despite this, Leonel wasn''t satisfied. This construct was powerful, but the reason he had yet to simply shift to purely targeting higher Fiend Class demons was because it was also greatly restrictive.

    He wasn''t used to having six arms, and he hadn''t grasped enough of the mysteries of this Lineage Factor to even understand what he was supposed to do with three heads. He didn''t even need the extra vision when his Starry Spirit Domain was already so powerful in this aspect.

    Maybe the most obvious issue was its size. All of his spears had suddenly become useless, and so did his bow.

    What made it all worth the exchange was his Lotus Domain, but that was most effective against those that relied on an external use of Force. As such, it was useless against a demon like this one who relied on nothing other than its pure physical strength.

    Despite his frowning, Leonel continued to unleash a relentless barrage. To his back, Aina waited patiently for an opening, ready to strike at any moment.

    ''This is the problem with getting new and shiny abilities. They''re so much more powerful, but because I don''t have the accompanying techniques and can only rely on myself, I also regress in a lot of waysбн''

    This was what Leonel feared when he upgraded his Lineage Factors, this would almost always be a problem. He was just lucky to have spontaneously had the accumulated knowledge to form his Lotus Domain, but now that it was useless, his power took a dip.

    ''No, I''m likely missing something. I didn''t just gain the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor, but I felt it fuse with my Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor. In fact, the reason this construct has three heads and three pairs of arms in the first place is because the Starry Tailed Fox''s strength is linked to its three tailsбн''

    Leonel hadn''t had a difficult fight in the last nine days, but as he fought this higher Fiend Class demon, trying to search for a path toward victory, his mind began to deduce and piece certain things together.

    If they were fused, did that mean that there were changes to his Starry Domains? He hadn''t sensed any, but maybe that was because he hadn''t looked hard enoughбн

    Leonel used his middle pair of arms to lock the demon''s own arms in place, his lower pair of arms two make a strong sweep at the back of its knee caps, and his upper pair arms to wrap strongly around its back.

    He roared, ripping the demon off of its feet and arching his back.

    BANG!

    The higher Fiend Class demon''s neck snapped with an audible and sickening crack, its tough scales unable to save it from such a fate.

    However, when Leonel released and rolled over, the demon unleashed a roar of its own, standing up even with its head bent at an awkward angle.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. The vitality of demons were exceptional, and only became more trouble against strength based demons. In fact, compared to the lower class demons, they only became more and more fearsome with every step forward.

    Leonel had been able to kill a lower Fiend Class demon with a hole in the chest, but they had to split the skulls of middle Fiend Class demons to kill them, and this higher Fiend Class demon was just fine even after its spine was broken.

    It would clearly be far more involved to kill this one, and Leonel couldn''t imagine how much it would take to kill a Chaos Class demon.

    It seemed that he would need to bring out his Starlet Star Force, only high quality Force of higher Dimensions could stop this sort of quick healing.

    The higher Fiend Class demon snapped its neck back into place, its tail suddenly lashing out like a vicious whip. Its speed was impossibly fast, too fast for Leonel to react to normally.

    Leonel subconsciously tried to use his Starry Light Domain to escape. He had already had the idea of testing out the new secrets of his Domains at the forefront of his mind, so he chose to try this out first.

    A light enveloped his enormous panda construct, shifting him back just ten meters in less than a fraction of a second.

    The tail whipped by, leaving a streak of trembling space in its wake as though any more energy would rip through the fabric of reality.

    ''That feelingбн''

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    Yes, that tail strike was powerful and would have probably shattered his panda construct, but that wasn''t what had shocked him.

    In that moment, he faintly felt his Ethereal Star Force and Aurora Star Force fusing into one before seamlessly separating.

    It made sense. His dark gold panda construct was formed of Aurora Star Force, and his Starry Light Domain used Ethereal Star Force. If he wanted to move one through the latter, they would need to fuse for a time.

    ''Thisбн''

    Leonel''s eyes glowed like two blazing torches.

    He flipped over a palm, a spear covered in white-gold hexagonal scales appearing in his hand.

    At the same time, his Starry Light Domain bloomed to life, fusing with his Yin-Yang Domain and surging with Aurora Star Force.

    Leonel''s panda construct reached out a palm, dark gold and white gold energy forming a spiraling cyclone around it before an illusory and vibrant reconstruction of his spear appeared. This one, however, rather than being two and a half meters tall, was just over 12 meters tall.

    Leonel laughed, his spear swinging out casually.

    A wild wind shot out in all directions, forming a tsunami of Force that sent the higher Fiend Class demon stumbling backward.

    Leonel''s eyes glowed with confidence.

    His Lineage Factor was called the Spear Domain Lineage Factor for a reason. The core of his spear essence wasn''t in the spear itself, but rather in the Domain it represented, that was where all of its strength came from.

    If Leonel''s Starry Light Domain could fuse with his Yin-Yang Domain, then why couldn''t the latter also fuse with his Starry Spirit Domain?

    The Starry Spirit Domain was ultimately a representation of Leonel''s Dream World, and Leonel''s Dream World was a projection of his abilities. He could use his Dream World as a medium to project the core essence of the spear in his hand to his Yin-Yang Domain by fusing them into one, then he could use Aurora Star Force to give it life.

    The Yin-Yang Domain was, in the first place, designed to take a Force of one kind and turn into a Force of the exact opposite kind.

    So what if you took Dream Force and forced it to become its direct oppositeбн?

    Wouldn''t you go from something that was purely a construct of your mindбн

    To something that was tangible and real?

    Leonel struck forward with a mighty momentum, his laughter ringing throughout the demon world and echoed long after his spear ran through the high Fiend Class demons hearts.

    He felt invincible.

 Chapter 1586 Hardly

    An unruly amount of power trembled in Leonel''s palm, almost to the point that it intoxicated him. He could already see several flaws with this ability, but none of it seemed to matter right this moment. Right here and now, he felt more powerful than he had ever been before.

    Leonel took deep breaths, quickly calming himself and allowing his thoughts to flow smoothly. When his heartbeat had returned to a manageable rhythm, he looked down at the spear his dark gold panda construct was wielding.

    It looked absolutely identical to the spear that he was wielding in its true hand, with only the caveat that it was somewhat illusory. It looked no different from a projection of Leonel''s Dream World, and yet it was able to interact with the world and display might no less than that of his spear. In fact, it was even faintly beyond because it was built with the core essence of the Spear Domain in mind.

    After Leonel broke through the Sixth Dimension and raised his Dream Force to the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, the rising difficulty he had faced traveling through the Spear Domain World barely had an impact on him any longer. In fact, while before it had been difficult for him to reach this Quasi Gold spear, right now, he could pick from a selection of tens of thousands of them with absolute ease. It was no further than a thought away for him.

    That said, he had yet to truly master this spear because he hadn''t had the time to digest the teaching of the spears that surrounded its Spear Peak. As such, Leonel had yet to get a grasp for its Domain and how it would be used. In fact, he didn''t even know the name of the spear yet.

    And yet, despite all of this, using his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, linking it with his Dream World by proxy of his Starry Spirit Domain, and then using the fusion of his Light Star and Dark Star Lineage Factors to combine his Starry Spirit Domain with his Yin-Yang Domain, he was able to unearth the true essence of the spear in his hand and manifest it!

    This created a spear construct with a deadly amount of power, tapping into a level of strength Leonel shouldn''t have been able to use just yet because he had yet to truly master this spear!

    When Leonel found the time to truly master this spear and bring out even more of its strength, the construct would only become more powerful!

    The shocking thing about all of this was that because Leonel couldn''t quickly and fully comprehend the spear in his hand unlike he could most everything else that entered his Starry Spirit Domain. This meant that Leonel didn''t have a completed Dream Sculpt for the spear, and as such, didn''t have a perfect representation for it.

    The meaning here was the only reason why this spear was illusory and not solild should be because Leonel couldn''t manifest its true form. Since the Dream Force version was incomplete, the opposing Force used to construct it, a Force Leonel wasn''t even sure had a name, would likewise be incomplete.

    That meantбн

    Leonel''s palm flipped over, his foggy black bow appearing in his free hand. In just a few seconds, a complete construction of the Silver Grade bow was completed in his mind and a perfect Dream Sculpt appeared in his Dream World.

    A rush of Aurora Force flooded forth and space quaked and struggled.

    BANG!

    A rush of violent Force charged through, manifesting a bow that stood 15 meters tall from tip to curved tip.

    The dark gold panda construct trembled, hoisting the bow up. Leonel used two hands to hold onto his spear and four to hold up and draw his bow.

    Wild winds fluctuated in the surroundings, a violent tempest of Force surging forth.

    ''Because the bow is so much bigger, the Force Arts used to forge it are also much larger and much more robust. So, the amount of Force it can gather in forming an arrow is on an exponentially larger scale. If I fully draw this bowбн''

    Leonel wanted to test it, but he forced himself to stop.

    The only reason he had started this was to test something. There was no way that such an ability didn''t come without a price, and there definitely was one. But after paying keen attention to his body, Leonel found that he was in a unique position to deal with the drawbacks.

    First, there was the creation of the construct. When Leonel''s Dream Force was converted to what he could only call Construct Force for now, it used Aurora Force to power the Yin-Yang Domain, but the formation of the actual Construct was a lot like the Dream Force used in the construction of Zones.

    The difference here was that while that Dream Force was just an illusion, Construct Force demanded something real.

    The good news was that because of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, Leonel was in an extremely unique position to very easily supply the Yin-Yang Domain with exactly what he needed.

    It had to be remembered that thanks to his Metal Body, Leonel could manifest the Ores he had absorbed into his foundation in real life. That was because he had reference points to draw perfect reconstructions of them.

    But now that his Dream World could manifest materials into reality, the burden shifted from his Metal Body to his Dream Sculpts! This meant that anything Leonel could perfectly reconstruct, so long as it was related to a Force he had great control over, he would likewise be able to manifest it.

    And since he had such a high affinity for Variant Earth Force, there were very few treasures, weapons and armors that he wouldn''t be able to perfectly reconstruct!

    However, there were drawbacks as well. This bow in particular only had a metal body, but its bowstring was actually formed of a beast''s tendons, maybe even a demon''s tendons.

    As such, when Leonel manifested it into reality, not only was at least 10% of his stamina used up despite it being a Sixth Dimensional Construct, but the bowstring was still somewhat illusory, a lot like his spear.

    It could be used, but it would contain its true power. Still, the explosive increase in strength was so much thanks to its upgrade in size that this loss hardly mattered!

 Chapter 1587 Absolutely Not

    This tradeoff was so miniscule that Leonel didn''t waste a single drop of sweat fretting over it. He knew that there would be this kind of drawback the moment he attempted to use this ability.

    The Yin-Yang Domain was so effective against him when he fought that Three Finger Cult woman precisely because he used Light Force and they used Dark Force. The conversion was especially easy because it transferred precisely over to a Force they had great control over.

    Although they could still use the Domain against him if he used a different sort of Force, the burden would have been greater.

    This was ultimately why the Aurora Black Panda was still a top Seventh Dimensional beast and not some mythical Ninth Dimensional monster.

    Even with this being the case, as unwilling as Leonel was to improve his Lineage Factors before, right now, he was even more unwilling. Giving up his Starry Spirit Domain was already a huge barrier for him to cross, but now that he could fuse it with his Yin-Yang Domain and use it like thisбн

    Would he be a fool to try and chase after greater power right now?

    He already knew the next two Lineage Factors for both halves.

    On the Light Star half, there was still the Twinkling Light Bear and the Golden Tiger.

    On the Dark Star half, there was the Crimson Clawed Ape and the Death Pulse Deer.

    According to Wise Star Order, there was also a sixth for each to complete the 12 sidesбн But he had no idea what they were. What he did know, though, was that he simply had no intention of even considering "upgrading" to these unless they could prove themselves to be more useful than this combination.

    If before Leonel didn''t think anyone of the Human Domain''s Sixth Dimension could defeat his current self. Right nowбн He might even be willing to try battling someone in the Seventh Dimension to truly see where his limits lied!

    Of course, this was just for the Human Domain, in this weird Zone, he didn''t dare to get too cocky. The power levels of those in this Zone clearly far outstripped anything Leonel had become used to in the human Domain, which was why he still made a conscious effort to hide his abilities.

    Leonel took a breath and finally fully settled down.

    The palms of his dark gold panda construct squeezed and his bow and spear vanished.

    ''Oh?''

    Leonel''s eyes lit up. He just realized that using his Dream Force Stars, he could actually reverse the transformation and reabsorb some of the Force he had used. Although he could only seem to regain about 70%, this was another great discovery.

    ? Leonel turned toward Aina and grinned. "Impressive, right?"

    Aina was speechless for a moment, truly speechless.

    "Did youбн break into Tier 5?"

    Aina wasn''t wrong for being so shocked. It should have been impossible for anyone to enter the Savant level, it was a barrier that couldn''t be crossed no matter what. However, she had just witnessed Leonel form something with his Dream Force, did she not? There was simply no faking this!

    Leonel laughed. "No, I didn''t. But I found a method to effectively do just that. Unfortunately, unlike Savants who don''t have to waste any stamina whatsoever, I have to use up a lot so I can''t just casually do it.

    "That saidбн"

    Leonel flipped over a palm and a dancing Force Art appeared. It took no more than the blink of an eye, impossibly quick, so quick that Aina couldn''t even track it being drawn.

    But that was precisely the point. Leonel hadn''t "drawn" it. He had had this Force Art in his Dream Sculpts for a very long time.

    Although he rarely used it anymore, with the speed of his mind, it would be foolish if he didn''t split at least some of his attention toward comprehending more of Camelot''s Magic System. From time to time, he would grasp something new and he would store it into his Dream World.

    Camelot''s Magic System was too useful to him. After all, it should be remembered that one of his most powerful trump cards, [Star Fusion], was a result of comprehending the Knighthood aspects of Camelot''s Magic System.

    This Force Art, however, was related to the Path of a Mage.

    "бн You see this? I can make them appear within my Starry Spirit Domain whenever I want. The trouble is that in the past, even if I used them as a template, it would still take time to cast in battle. Unless I was using Dream Class and tempering myself as a mage, it''s often just easier to use my spear or my bow. The tradeoff isn''t worth it.

    "But nowбн"

    Leonel snapped his fingers and the Force Art in his palm vanished. However, the moment it did, dozens of identical illusory Force Arts appeared all around, each just as perfect as the last without even the slightest variation.

    And then, Leonel''s Yin-Yang Domain appeared and everything changed.

    In one instant, the Force Arts were illusory, but in the next, they were converted to Construct Force and gained life.

    They blazed with a fiery Fire Force, becoming dozens of roaring flood dragons that spiraled about Leonel''s body.

    Right now, Leonel could accomplish something even beyond instant casting. The moment the thought formed in his head, the spell could be formed. Not only that, but the spell could dance between reality and illusion as Leonel pleased, catching enemies off guard, slipping through defenses, and erupting with force at the most unexpected times.

    When Leonel said that he almost felt invincible, he was exaggerating in the slightest. With the way he battled, and with this number of trump cards on hand, he was hard pressed to believe that anyone near his strength level had even the smallest chance at defeating him.

    Maybe they might exist in this Zone, and maybe even in the other Domains of the Dimensional Verseбн But in the Human Domain? Absolutely not.

 Chapter 1588 So Far And Distant

    In the blink of an eye, Leonel had suddenly left Aina far behind. However, she had a bright smile on her face and didn''t seem fazed by it in the slightest.

    She was quite happy and content if Leonel was stronger than her, not because she wanted to be protected, but because it would be easier for him to protect himself. That way, she would have less to worry about when it came to him.

    At the same time, though, it lit a fire within her. Knowing Leonel, if she fell too far behind, he would use it as an excuse to keep her out of the loop, that was something that she couldn''t allow. But this was a good opportunity too.

    "Since you''re so big and powerful now, I can officially be the passenger princess I was always meant to be. Let me ride on your shoulders, I want to meditate on the Blood Sovereign Tablet."

    Leonel laughed. Aina wanted to be a passenger princess? As if he would ever believe something like that. It was more likely that the final thing she said was what she truly wanted to do. Now that she didn''t need to worry about Leonel anymore, she could take some time to grow stronger.

    As of right now, it wasn''t a top priority to refine the demon corpses instantly. Aside from pausing to refine the Force Pills she and Leonel would consume immediately, she wouldn''t need to pause her meditation at all.

    "You don''t have to ride on my shoulder, you can ride inside with me. I have absolute control over the gravity inside the panda construct. I can probably extend that outside too, but the tradeoff in stamina drain usually isn''t worth it."

    Aina''s eyes lit up. That was even better.

    She dispersed her blood armor, only to suddenly remember that she was half naked. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for one man''s eyes in particular, it was already too late.

    Leonel blinked, his eyes roaming.

    "My eyes are up here," Aina said with a cough.

    "бн I know where they areбн" Leonel mumbled, somewhat out of it.

    Aina giggled before covering her chest with her arms. "How about you make me something to wear with that new ability of yours?"

    "Ah, rightбн" Leonel shook his head, his eyes becoming clearer. "I don''t think I can do that. Another difference between the Tier 5 Ability Index and what I can do is that my constructs are not permanent, they only last for as long as I sustain my Yin-Yang Domain.

    "But, I think I have a work-aroundбн Probably, it''s a bit of a work in progress but I think it should probably be possible if I manage to do a few things."

    Aina nodded, understanding. There had to be some drawbacks, copying the abilities of a Savant couldn''t come without certain costs.

    It was unfortunate that Little Tolly wasn''t here, because then Leonel could just make new clothes for Aina. Neither of them seemed to have come with an extra pair. In fact, right now, he still had a huge hold in his pants from where she had ripped it. But luckily, it was quite easy to hide since they were so baggy to begin with. Just a few binding lines of thin metal were enough.

    But Leonel couldn''t just allow Aina to walk around like this, he definitely wasn''t willing.

    ''Hmбн Easy enough.''

    Leonel reached a hand forward and placed a palm on Aina''s breast, not the one that was exposed to the air, but rather the one still hidden behind her leather and plate armor.

    As the foundation of his Metal Body was improved and strengthened, he also felt that his control over the Earth Force had increased as well, especially toward Variant Earth Force and metals.

    Although his ability to mold them to his will wasn''t as great as when he had Little Tolly by his side, it stll wasn''t too bad.

    The plate armor that had covered Aina''s chest thinned and began to spread, stretching across her body and forming a band around her chest.

    Leonel continued to manipulate the bits and pieces of metal that were left just like this, and when he ran out, he even manifested some Fifth Dimension Star Core to fill in the gaps.

    The end result was a half fabric, half metal bodysuit that covered and suited her quite well.

    Aina smiled. "Perfect."

    Leonel nodded, sweeping her up into his arms and forming the panda construct once again.

    Aina sank into his lap and had already shut her eyes. Leonel was already more comfortable than any seat she had ever sat upon, and her trust in him didn''t need to be explained, so she almost instantly sunk into a state of meditation.

    With a wave of his hand, caused the Force Pill Aina had concocted to shoot upward and into his panda construct''s palm. This should be what remained of the high Fiend Class demon''s corpse. Aina must have refined it while he was testing out his new abilities one by one.

    As usual, it was extremely heavy, but it might as well have been as light as a feather in the hands of Leonel''s construct.

    ''She left it for meбн''

    Leonel smiled lightly, looking down at Aina who had already taken his chest as a pillow and his thighs as arm rests. In fact, before she closed her eyes, she even made him wrap an arm around her like a true passenger princess.

    Leonel felt a calmness in his heart right now. Those days of him willingly giving her up felt so far and distant. And for a moment, he felt a sinking feeling that he would never be able to do that again. He didn''t even know how he had managed the first time.

    The more powerful he became, the stronger the pull became, the more impossible it was for him to escape it. He justбн couldn''t leave her side.

    Somehow, though, this so-called "sinking" feeling only made her heart lighter and the path ahead all the brighter.

    Leonel lightly touched against the barrier of the Natural Light Realm, although for now, it was too vague for him to even sense.

    This was the Natural Light Realm of the Dimensional Verseбн But rather, the Natural Light Realm of this Zoneбн

    Leonel wrapped his arm slightly tighter around Aina''s waist, as though to reassure her that he was here, and that he would never leave again.

    With the other hand, he swallowed the high Fiend Class pill, allowing it to crash into his stomach like a mountain colliding with a tranquil lake.

    A rush of strength poured into his body, his Bronze Runes lighting up once against and quickly beginning to grow in size once more.

    When the process was finished, Leonel''s Bronze Runes had grown so thick that they no longer looked like Runes. In fact, because they were so thick, it felt like Leonel''s skin had become the Runes instead.

    ''Just a tiny sliver away, but it feels like such an enormous canyon to leap over. Even a high Fiend Class Tier 2 demon wasn''t enoughбн''

    Leonel relaxed as he felt his Metal Body plummet down once again to Tier 4. It had fallen from the pinnacle of the Fifth Dimension down five entire Tiers, and yet it wasn''t satisfied yet.

    Leonel smiled. ''Let''s go on a bit of a rampage, then.''

    The panda construct charged, but not a single sound made it in as Aina seemed to continue to sleep in absolute tranquility.

    By this point, though, Leonel''s point totals had begun jumping with enough regularity that others had taken notice.

 Chapter 1589 Gremlin

    Nothing could escape Leonel. Now that his mind had the support of real strength, his speed of killing demons was on a completely different level. While most had to wait patiently or attract demons over to them, Leonel could blanket dozens of kilometers with his Internal Sight and 10 with his Dream World, there was simply nothing that could hide from him.

    Every time he found a proper target, he was a single Starry Light Domain use away from appearing right before them, and since he chose his targets so perfectly, most didn''t last more than just a few exchanges.

    To the current Leonel, lower Fiend Class demons up to Tier 7 were no problem at all. The same was the case for Tier 4 middle Fiend Class demons and Tier 1 higher Fiend Class demons.

    Of course, these were pure strength-based demons he was referring to. For demons that relied heavily on the elements, he could push his easy victories much further. In addition, if he was willing to enter a long, protracted battle, he could go a Tier or two upward without quite putting his life on the line.

    The more he battled, the more fluid his battle style became and the more powerful his control over his Domains began. Switching between them, overlapping them and fusing them became as easy as breathing.

    His Lotus Domain, an evolved self created method he had formed to use his Yin-Yang Domain, only seemed to become more and more powerful. Even when he faced creatures he couldn''t easily convert because he lacked the opposing affinity, he still managed to learn and quickly grasp new methods.

    бн

    Two of Leonel''s dark gold panda construct''s arms wielded a spear with fierce precision. In his four remaining arms, he held up four sparkling lotuses, each rotating with a mysterious sort of delicate energy. They looked gentle, ethereal and beautiful, as though they had no place on such a bloody battlefield.

    Cyclones and wild bursts of lightning rushed toward Leonel from all sides. However, every time one shot forward, Leonel''s spear would meet it, severing it in two with a savage sharpness.

    Amidst the storm, Leonel''s panda construct was solid and sturdy. Sparks of lightning claws at the ground around him like the strikes of a venomous devil, and yet none of them touched even the hem of his clothing.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with a cold light. In that moment, the lotuses he held up began to shift and change, becoming more complex.

    Leonel''s panda construct took a step forward, striking out hard with one of his lotus wielding palms.

    At that moment, a cyclone of lightning and a fragile lotus met. And yet, what actually happened was completely out of the expectations of anyone who might have been observing.

    As though sucked in by a blackhole, the lightning swirled into the body of the lotus.

    Just when the demon Leonel couldn''t even see with his own eyes wanted to follow up with a second attack, Leonel''s second lotus wielding palm shot forward, sucking up the attack just as easily as the first.

    The twin pair of lotuses vibrated with a wild energy, fluctuating from their dark bronze-ambrosia-like color to something far more cloudy and thunderous.

    At the same time, the two remaining unused lotuses were brought together as the panda construct''s fifth and sixth hands clasped together lightly.

    The moment they did, the lotuses fused and bloomed. With a quick, yet gentle momentum, a large lotus appeared around Leonel, rotating slowly as it sapped up every instance of Lightning Force in the region. The demon suddenly found itself completely unable even to gather Force from the surroundings.

    One of the Forces that Leonel had trouble breaking down with his Lotus Domain was precisely Lightning Force. He had no innate affinity for it, or its opposite, so every time he faced such a demon, he had to calculate it all from scratch. This was practically the only thing that could slow his Lotus Domain down.

    He could use his Yin-Yang Domain to forcefully refine the Lightning Force anyway, as that was what it was designed to do. However, if Leonel applied his comprehensions of the lotus he had gained from that research paper, he found that he could use a fraction of the stamina necessary to receive results that were far better and many times more potent.

    The Yin-Yang Domain was supposed to be a last resort trump card that sapped up a ton of energy. But Leonel had managed to turn it into a casual technique that was of no burden to himself whatsoever. In fact, it was such a non-burden that once it was deployed perfectly, Leonel could toy with an enemy elemental demon as though it was nothing more than a child.

    The moment his calculations were finished, all of the demon''s useful Force was sapped away, revealing its true form.

    It had a cloud covering its lower body and its upper half was covered in stone and metal. It looked like a little grey skinned gremlin, but its power output was so great that it was easily classified as a Tier 5 middle Fiend Class demon.

    The gremlin demon screeched, sweeping forward its bony and much-too-long fingers across the air to form more curtains of lightning.

    But as quickly as the new lightning streaks formed, Leonel''s lotuses rotated and sucked it all away.

    ''This isбн'' Leonel''s brows rose.

    To Leonel''s surprise, the direct opposite of Lightning Force was an odd vibrational force. Just its presence alone made the air quake, and if he used it to attackбн

    Leonel struck forward with one of the two palm lotuses he hadn''t deployed into a larger form.

    The gremlin demon screeched once more, swinging out to counter, but it only found its lightning sapped away.

    When the vibrational Force struck its chest, it was as though its entire body had begun to quake.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted, pulling back the vibrational energy quickly just before the demon burst into a rain of blood. But by that point, its internal organs had already been turned to mush.

    Its eyes glazed over and it collapsed to the ground slowly.

 Chapter 1590 Change Of Tactics

    Leonel exhaled a breath and stored the demon corpse away. By this point, he easily had a few hundred, and his point total only increased by leaps and bounds.

    In the Fiend Class Sector, a single lower class demon gave 100 000 Demon Points, middle class was upward of several million, and high class was in the tens of millions easily, with some of the stronger and rarer ones being upward of hundreds of millions.

    By this point, unless he found a rare and especially useful demon, Leonel mostly killed and stored middle and higher Fiend Class demons. So, his point total increased by leaps and bounds. Although it was still marginal compared to his original point totals, he had still increased his total points by at least 20 or so percent, a jump that was definitely noticeable.

    However, even after several days, Leonel still hadn''t found an exchange point. He was beginning to wonder if he was searching incorrectly, if there was a trick he was aware of, or maybe, the worst case scenario, there were no exchange points here at all.

    It was possible that the treasures of the Fiend Class Sector were valuable enough that one would have to exchange with the Great Families personally. That would make things much more difficult to handle.

    ''I think it''s time to change approaches. I''ve already gathered more than enough demon corpses to bring out the full potential and then some of the individuals who will be the core members of my army. Although it would always be better to have more, I need to change gears now or else I might end up running out of time. If that happens, it''ll be too late to regretбн

    ''In that caseбн I should start targeting people instead of demons.''

    If he was lacking in information, he would just have to find what he was lacking in, and the best bet were the geniuses here. The trouble was that Leonel had always taken a wide path around them all.

    In these last several days, he had run into more than just a few, but even if they saw his dome of fog, they wouldn''t dare to casually enter it. And, even those bold enough to do so simply wouldn''t be able to catch Leonel if he wanted to run.

    He detected them long before they detected him and his escape abilities at this point were quite potent. Avoiding these geniuses and not getting involved with them just seemed like the best choice to make.

    These individuals here were decided to be strong enough to have a chance at clearing out 10% of the demons in this demon Bubble. Such monsters weren''t individuals that Leonel should dare to take casually. But it seemed that he would have to seek them out this time.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. If he had to choose, he would choose the one of them he was already familiar with.

    Leonel closed his eyes. He unleashed the full strength of his Starry Spirit Domain which had only grown more powerful after the fusion with his Aurora Black Panda. But even before that, he hadn''t unleashed its full strength. There was simply no need. It wasted too much stamina and the range he had now was more than enough.

    However, now that he was actively looking for someoneбн

    Leonel didn''t allow his fog domain to increase in size, there was no point and it would only alert others. But his Starry Spirit Domain increased explosively in size.

    10 kilometersбн 20 kilometersбн 50 kilometersбн 100 kilometersбн 110 kilometersбн

    ''There.''

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, his Starry Spirit Domain rubber banding back to its original size.

    He shot forward, his construct leaving streaks of dark gold in his wake.

    The Aurora Black Panda wasn''t meant to have such speed as it didn''t have a Speed Branch. But after fusing with the Starry Tailed Fox, its speed was even faster than the Leonel''s original Starry Tailed Fox Lineage had been alone.

    It was agile and speedy, its nine total eyes shining with a fierce light as it tore a path through the wind.

    With his Aurora Star Force, Leonel could even decrease his and the weight of the construct to virtually nothing, making his speed even faster.

    He was nothing more than a blur, crossing kilometers at a time in just a few seconds.

    With a flash, four of his palms slammed together, causing the vibrational Force that had infused into his rotating lotuses to disperse to his back, spurring on his speed even faster.

    At the same time, the configuration of the lotuses began to shift and change, warping to a new maze of layered leaves that the spatial affinity youth from before would very quickly recognize.

    All this time, Leonel had shrunk his fog barrier to just the immediate few meter distance around him. But the instant he was within range of his target, it exploded forth one again, completely enveloping him.

    "Huh?!"

    The young man was caught completely off guard. Seeing the familiar fog, his eyes widened.

    He subconsciously spread his Internal Sight outward, only to realize that it was just as useless as it had been before.

    He instantly changed tactics, spreading out his Spatial Force instead, his gaze turning serious. However, an instant later, his expression warped to an ugly sight to behold.

    Before, he had been able to circumvent Leonel''s domain by using his Spatial Force as a sensory organ instead of his Internal Sight. But now, he found that even his Spatial Force was being interrupted?! Could it be that he was correct all along? Was Leonel just feigning weakness?

    What the young man couldn''t see was that the world around him was completely covered in floating lotuses. Every time he sent his Force outward, it would immediately be swallowed up by these rotating lotuses and turn into an enigmatic Force that seemed to push and pull on time itself.

    The lotuses had a similar but far more potent ability in comparison to Leonel''s Heavenly Body Realm comprehension, warping one''s perception of time. However, Leonel had restrained the effect, not allowing the young man to sense it just yet.

    The young man unleashed a wave of spatial Force, forming a concentrated barrier around himself as his foot began to pivot so that he could look for where his enemy might be coming from.

 Chapter 1591 Monster

    In that instant, a palm suddenly appeared above the young man''s head, causing his expression to change.

    He could no longer use his spatial Force in long range, but he had concentrated it to the point where even Leonel''s lotuses took a long time to cut into it. As such, within a five meter radius of him, he could sense everything clearly. In addition, because of the special abilities of space, he could sense ripples of space up to 15 meters away.

    Whereas the sight range of Internal Sight ended abruptly, all space was connected to more space. Any changes to the mesh would inevitably have extended travel.

    However, while this was the case, the face of the young man was still ugly because he could feel his stamina being quickly drained as Leonel forced him to replenish his dome of spatial Force again and again.

    The young man released a growl, his palm shooting up to meet Leonel''s.

    A wild ripple of space and pure power met.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s palm was forced back up but the knees of the young man bent so fiercely that he almost fell to the ground.

    The latter grit his teeth, hard. He flipped over two palms, a twin pair of silver sickles appearing in his hands for just a moment before he threw them out with all the strength he could muster. Before they even landed, he flipped his hands over one again, forming another pair, one of which he threw in the air above his head only to replace it with another flip of his palm.

    Five silver sickles manifested in quick succession, one of which hovered high in the air and two of which were quickly spinning toward Leonel''s chest.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. This was another issue with his Lotus Domain, it was useless against physical objects. That said, while these were physical objects, it was powered by something quite obvious.

    The twin giant lotuses surrounding Leonel panda construct spun, ripping the Spatial Force from the twin pair of sickles, stripping them of all their profundity before snatching them out of the air with two hands.

    At the same time, two of his arms wielded his spear, piercing straight for the young man''s forehead. If such a blow landed, let alone being pierced through, the young man would find his head shattered into a rain of blood and gore.

    The young man crossed his arms about his chest, the third sickle above his head swinging down as though it had a mind of its own carrying with it a fierce momentum.

    The three sickles blocked with a single mind, their three blades intersecting. But even before they struck, the eyes of the young man widened. He suddenly couldn''t sense his other two sickles anymore. What the hell happened?!

    There was no way for him to see beyond this fog and his Internal Sight was entirely useless. He felt as though he was trying to swim forward in a raging, relentless storm.

    BANG!

    Spear and sickles met, the resonating boom sending violent ripples of space in all directions.

    The eyes of the young man glowed with a cold light. These brats really thought that he was a pushover.

    After he had run away the first time, he realized that he had been overly cautious. That woman he had battled had been blown away too easily by his spatial barrier. And, as he meditated on the lotus that tricked him that day, he realized that it was just a clever trick to redirect his Spatial Force. While it was quite profound, it wasn''t impossible to circumvent.

    If it wasn''t for this fog barrier that messed with his senses, how could he be toyed with like this?! He was a Fiend Class genius! While he had no chance at the Top Prize, he had pride of his own! How could he lose to two who had just been promoted from the Human Class?!

    Fury lit his gaze, a silvery light exploding forth from his eyes. With their blades connected like this, he knew exactly where Leonel was. He would make them pay for daring to underestimate him.

    The silvery light grew, becoming a vaporous sort of energy that almost looked like dancing solar flares.

    "Die."

    Just as the young man spoke that word, his eyes widened.

    At that moment, a twin pair of sickles he couldn''t have been more familiar with had come back toward him. They arched so beautifully in the air that, for a moment, he was mesmerized.

    Too few people knew that even in comparison to bowmanship, Leonel was on a completely different level when it came to using throwing weapons. As much control as he had over his bow, when the medium of the bow was removed and all that was left was the weapon and himselfбн

    He was a God.

    The young man simply couldn''t react at all, the odd Time Force distorted his reality entirely, cutting through his Spatial Barrier as though it was never there at all. And maybe that was because to that pair of sickles, the Spatial Barrier hadn''t been erected yetбн

    The pair of sickles ripped into either side of the young man''s collarbone, rotating through his lungs and out his shoulder blades.

    The young man coughed up a mouthful of blood, his control over his Force waning as he shot backward.

    BANG!

    He collided with a tree just as the blades exited his shoulder blades, and just like that, his blades hooked into the tree''s black bark, leaving him hanging as his blood slowly dripped down.

    The young man coughed and wheezed, his blood slowly leaking down from his body. However, his mind remained clear enough for a deep fear to shake his heart.

    Time Forceбн That was definitely Time Forceбн What kind of monster had he offended?!

    The fog around the panda construct and the spatial affinity youth dispersed, revealing a looming 10 meter tall form to the latter.

    Leonel sat with Aina in his arms, a light smile on his face. He seemed to be in a good mood as though he hadn''t just fought a vicious battle. Just one mistake back there and he could have very well been the one nailed to a tree.

    Luckily he had already analyzed this young man''s ability previously and the latter was very unlucky that Leonel''s spatial affinity was quite good as well, allowing him to more easily restrain the youth all while using less stamina to sustain his Yin-Yang Domain.

    "Just answer my questions honestly and I''ll have no reason to kill you."

 Chapter 1592 Effort

    The young man grit his teeth, but now that he was pinned down and Leonel''s lotuses were spinning around him, there was little he could do. The trees of the demon world were far too sturdy and his weapons were far too elite to be so easily dealt with.

    Now that he was pinned up like this, there was simply nothing he could do but be obedient.

    "First question, why are you alone?"

    This wasn''t what was at the forefront of Leonel''s mind, but he wanted to soften this young man up a bit and also get a baseline for him. With the young man in his Dream World, every single detail of his being was imprinted into Leonel''s mind. If he wanted to lie after Leonel had grasped a feeling for when he was telling the truth, it would be almost impossible.

    The young man looked toward Leonel with disdain. He realized that Leonel must have thought that teaming up happened here just like everywhere else.

    "This is the Fiend Class Sector, not some kiddie pool," the young man replied with a sneer.

    Leonel sighed and shook his head.

    BANG!

    A palm of the panda construct slammed into the tree, shocking the young man and causing it to sway about wildly.

    The young man grit his teeth, the pain of his body swaying on blades more than just a few words could describe. Unfortunately, he had the sturdy body and bones of a Sixth Dimensional existence and he could only experience his body being slowly cut into with every sway.

    "I need answers, not cheeky replies. Get to the point and stick to it. While you''re at it, put away that condescending look and smirk. In case you didn''t notice, your life and death is in my hands."

    The young man''s jaw steeled. If looks could kill, maybe a laser would have already pierced right through Leonel''s forehead already. But he remained unmoved, his gaze growing frighteningly cold as an aura of majesty exuded from him.

    "бн There are no groupings in the Fiend Class Sector," the young man spoke through gritted teeth, "the demon world bubble is too large. It''s easier to split up, and that''s part of the challenge anyway."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Easier to split up? Too large? This made sense, this place was indeed far too large.

    "Since this is a real world, how exactly do you plan on counting the 10% mark? Were all of these demons already tagged?"

    The young man''s brows furrowed. This Leonel Oliidark really didn''t understand a single thing at all, did he? But this made sense, the young man had never even heard of an Oliidark family, so it had to be a small place that gained some good luck and produced a genius like this.

    Maybe he could take advantage of this?

    "10%? What do you mean?"

    Leonel shook his head.

    BANG!

    Another palm slammed into the tree. This one was even harder than the last, causing the young man to seesaw on the two sickles as though he was trying to cut himself into three pieces.

    Best

    He roared out in pain, his body trembling. But while Leonel had made a move to stop the sway before, he allowed the swaying to naturally end this time.

    "Don''t waste my time," Leonel said coldly. "Now, I''ll ask you again, how exactly do you plan on counting the 10% mark?"

    Leonel could already see the marker''s for "recognition" in the young man''s eyes the moment he mentioned 10%, but now he was pretending like he didn''t know? It was a stupid lie, but it was also a good one for Leonel to call him out on.

    The earlier he caught the young man in a lie and the earlier he made him realize that he couldn''t be lied to, the less likely he would be to lie in the future. If Leonel''s question continuously became more complex, even with his abilities, if the young man became smart and started to tell half truths, it would become difficult to differentiate them.

    With things being like this, it would be less likely to be a problem.

    Like this, Leonel began to squeeze out all the information he needed. Ten minutes later, he nodded and turned to leave, leaving the young man pinned to the tree. As far as Leonel was concerned, he could figure out a way down himself.

    бн

    ''Things are more complicated than I thought, but also simpler depending on how you look at things.''

    Things worked a lot differently in the Fiend Class Sector and it turned out that he and Aina were left in the dark all the while. However, it was a good thing that they had been because without their current strength, knowing would have been absolutely useless.

    The reason Leonel hadn''t found an exchange all this time was because in this Sector, even earning a chance to exchange required a hard battle. He had to find a certain or certain demons with gems hidden within their bodies. These gems could be shattered for a direct teleportation into a new space where he could then exchange for what he needed.

    The value of the gem and the quality of store you were teleported to was dependent, unsurprisingly, on the strength of the demon.

    If Leonel wanted a path to the highest echelon exchange there was, he either needed to defeat one Tier 9 higher Fiend Class demon with a gem, ten Tier 9 middle Fiend Class demons with a gem, or a hundred Tier 9 lower Fiend Class demons with a gem.

    With the latter two options, the gems would have to be combined into one using a special method which would still require higher Fiend Class demon bloodбн

    In other words: battle and more battling.

    Without the strength to defeat a higher Fiend Class demon, you could forget about getting a chance to enter the best exchanges. This rule was likely put in place for the likes of Leonel who gathered so many points in the Human Class Sector and hoped to use them here.

    In the past, this would have been a huge hurdle to jump for Leonel. But nowбн it would just require a bit more effort.

    Before, he had just been looking for demons compatible with himself, Aina and his friends. But now that he knew he had to look for gems, his entire outlook shifted.

 Chapter 1593 The Best Trap

    Leonel began to quickly make good on what he had missed out on.

    The gems were most likely to be found in demons with spatial affinities. This made them very difficult to catch and lock down, and since they were quite rare, just finding them was a great hassle.

    Leonel had no reason to hunt down such demons previously because he didn''t know anyone with such a higher spatial affinity that would also be in need of such demon carcasses aside from maybe that genius of Earth, Karolus.

    He had been potentially thinking of nailing down some with spatial affinities later on if he had the time remaining, but it hadn''t been an absolute top priority until this moment. Now, he would go all out against them. As for their escaping abilities, he wasn''t worried.

    Leonel began to quickly cut down one after another, quickly racking them up.

    Defeating a Tier 9 higher Fiend Class demon was simply impossible, a Tier 9 middle Fiend Class one was still too difficult. However, a hundred Tier 9 lower Fiend Class demons was something that he could just barely handle.

    The first two or three were actually exceptionally difficult. At Tier 9, the gap was so large that even Leonel had trouble making it up. He had to use a series of tricks and ambushes to get his way.

    Best

    However, as he grew accustomed to the kind of spatial affinities these demons had, he began to see patterns and it made deploying his Lotus Domains even faster.

    As Leonel added more and more Spatial Forces to his repertoire of lotuses, it became easier to dissect and calculate new lotus formations for Spatial Forces that he didn''t recognize. At the same time, he became even more adept at using the Time Forces that they generated on the other end.

    There came a point where Leonel grew confident that so long as his enemy used Spatial Forces, he could one shot them.

    Of course, the caveat was that they had to use Force at a level at this Lotus Domains could counter. Unfortunately, for now, the control higher Fiend Class demons had over their Forces, especially at the highest Tiers, already crossed into Realms where it was near impossible for Leonel to wrest control in.

    However, Leonel had no intention of targeting such demons. He would find exactly what he needed here.

    бн

    Leonel''s illusory spear cut out once again, splitting the head of a black horned demon in two.

    It had been three days since he tortured the young man, or rather Falen of the Defensive Ward Pavilion, and he finally claimed his last gem. Leonel now had exactly what he needed save for one item: the blood of a higher Fiend Class spatial affinity demon.

    The good news was that this one didn''t need to be Tier 9, it could be any Tier. So Leonel was hoping to find one that was either Tier 1 or Tier 2 to handle. He felt that he was beginning to run out of time as the competition on the leaderboards had only become fiercer.

    The secret of the gems wasn''t the only thing Leonel had learned about in these three days. According to his new understanding, the Top Prize of this Sector wasn''t based on the 10% rule. Rather, it was a bit special.

    According to Falen, one first had to enter the top 10 in points. Once 10 trillion points had been accumulated across all participants, the top 10 would be locked in and the final phase would begin.

    Within this final phase, everyone of the top 10 would be granted a chace. This chance would be used to teleport them to a new region where a final demon would be waiting. This would trigger a one on one battle where the first of the 10 to win would be granted victory.

    Then, once this battle was concluded, one could then use the exchange method to teleport to the highest level exchange and claim your Top Prize.

    Due to these rules, most with a chance had likely already killed a Tier 9 higher Fiend Class demon to claim the gem they needed and would be immediately ready to do teleport should they be the first to claim victory.

    However, that also left a slight problem for Leonel to face as wellбн

    Most had ignored his existence earlier because they all rightfully assumed that he had come from the Human Class Sector. As such, they assumed that he would fall quickly from the top 10 spot he had claimed, and this much had been true at the beginning.

    Leonel quickly fell and was about to fall out of the top 10 entirely when his points suddenly began to jump upward. From falling out of the top 10, he began to maintain his ranking. Although he didn''t move up, his descent downward started to slow enough that those on the fringe began to panic and look for him.

    The ranking wasn''t necessarily entirely about strength. There were many near the bottom that would have a great chance at winning the one on one battle first.

    Take Leonel, for example. A huge reason for his killing speed was his Internal Sight and Dream World, and his ability to quickly locate perfect targets for himself. Not everyone had such an ability!

    In the minds of many on the fringes, hovering between 15th and 11th place, they had already realized that their only chance at claiming a top 10 spot was to take Leonel down.

    At the same time, those hovering around Leonel''s rank knew what those below were thinking. As such, many of them wanted to deal with Leonel themselves as a strictly defensive tactic.

    Like this, every individual from 15th to 7th place had their antennas up in search of Leonel, tracking a moving dome of fog and attempting to corner him inch by inch.

    Unfortunately, Leonel''s escape abilities were too great and he often found them long before they even spotted him.

    Leonel''s luck, thoughбн was bound to run out.

    Some understood that it was best to work smarter, not harder.

    Rank 13 иC Thaela Urizana иC Endless Twilight Pavilion.

    Thaela had realized something very interesting. While noting the point jumps in Leonel''s score, she realized that he was suddenly entirely focused on killing lower Fiend Class demons. Realizing this, she made a guess at to Leonel''s goal and realized that once he hit 100, he would be looking out for a higher Fiend Class spatial affinity demon that would be easy to deal with.

    She knew just how rare such creatures were and she happened to have the perfect ability to lie in weight.

    This wasn''t a camouflage ability, but rather a cloning ability.

    With time running out, she was confident that Leonel would come even if he knew it was a trap.

    She was very clever. Just by observing Leonel''s point total, she was able to tell that Leonel had no intention of joining the final battle. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to, but rather that he didn''t even have the strength to.

    And she was very much correct. Leonel had no intention of chasing after the Top Prize in this Sector, he simply wasn''t strong enough. He couldn''t even defeat a Tier 4 higher Fiend Class demon, but this final demon was most definitely not just Tier 9, but a Tier 9 higher Fiend Class demon that was an elite amongst them all. In fact, there was even a small chance that it might be a Chaos Demon.

    This was why Leonel was in such a rush. There was no way he could allow himself to be teleported to the final battle, but he also couldn''t give up his points because he needed them to trade for the final item that would get them home.

    This left him with only one choice: he had to leave the demon world, and there was only one path to doing so that solved everythingбн

    And that path needed a higher Fiend Class demon''s blood.

    Thaela didn''t have to try very hard. While Leonel had been fighting these last three days, she had found and marked several such demons, leaving eight clones hidden nearby their locations.

    When she spotted Leonel''s fog domain quickly approaching one of them, her lips spread in a beautiful smile and all of her clones suddenly vanished in an instant, fusing into her main body.

    Her prey was here.

    бн

    Within the fog domain, Leonel''s eyes were narrowed and his jaw was clamped shut.

    The best trap was one an enemy knew was there and still had to run into. He was very used to using his intelligence against others, but it seemed it was his turn to take a taste of his own medicine.

 Chapter 1594 Amusing

    Leonel''s frown settled down, his features smoothing out and his countenance becoming frighteningly cold. He didn''t know who this woman was, but he was absolutely certain that she was extraordinarily powerful. In addition, he could deduce exactly why she was waiting here, so she was also very much confident in the gap between their strength.

    With just a single glance, Leonel could tell that this young woman was in Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension. Not only that, but she was also comparable to a high Fiend Class demon or else she wouldn''t even dare to come here to fight Leonel for a chance to fight an elite demon to begin with.

    In all likelihood, then, this young woman was not only comparable to a high Fiend Class demon, but she also should be comparable to an elite one even among them.

    Leonel immediately noticed her fusing back with her clones. Her doing such a thing, especially so prematurely, seemed to open up a gap for Leonel to escape. After all, now that her clones had vanished from the sides of the other demons, so long as Leonel ran, he should be able to escape her.

    The main issue with that, though, was that Leonel didn''t believe that someone intelligent enough to force him of all people to walk into such a trap could possibly make such a rookie mistake. In fact, he calculated that there was a better than 80% probability that should he try to run now, he would end up in an even worse situation.

    Although he couldn''t be certain, this young woman likely had other contingency plans ready to deal with him, and it made him feel somewhat wary that he couldn''t immediately sense.

    In that case, there was only one option to takeбн do the very thing she least expected him to do.

    Best

    BANG!

    The ground beneath Leonel''s panda construct shattered and he rippled through space like a beam of light. In a mere instant he appeared at the edge of his fog domain, and then everything shifted and changed.

    Leonel went from being the center of his fog domain, to being at the edge, and then instantly becoming the center once more. Just like that, the barrier which had been a distance away from Thaela appeared right at the edge of his nose, causing her brows to shoot up. The sudden change was so fast and quick that her heart couldn''t help but skip a beat, only to quickly calm a moment later.

    She hadn''t expected Leonel''s Fog Domain to move so suddenly and quickly, it was hard to fathom. Domains like this one should take time to shift and they definitely shouldn''t just flash forward by 10 kilometers in the blink of an eye.

    But what Thaela didn''t know was that this wasn''t the work of just one domain, but two of them.

    And, what she also didn''t know is that while her heart relaxed just the smallest bit when she realized the domain had stopped right in front of her, a bow had already appeared in the hands of Leonel''s panda construct and in less than half a breath, it had already formed an arrow and said formed arrow had been released.

    It shot through Leonel''s domain with an impossibly great speed.

    At such a level, it should have made a whistling noise in the air or released cacophonic booms of shattering sound barriers, and yet it was deathly silent, too silent.

    Leonel''s Starry Light Domain had formed a tunnel of light for it to shuttle through, following its arc with absolute perfection as though Leonel had already predicted the exact trajectory of the arrowбн because that was precisely what he had done.

    ''Danger!''

    The brows of Thaela shot up. It wasn''t an especially strong scent of danger, but something told her that she might fall into an ever-growing precarious state if she took one wrong step.

    The higher one''s Dimension, the more in tune with this instinctive feeling one became, and this was especially true for those that had formed Star Runes and God Runes.

    Intuition was something even the primitive man of Leonel''s Spear Domain Heirloom had been able to grasp and pass along to Leonel. But this was an especially special case and just went to show how amazing the spear masters of the ring were even at the lowest levels.

    But at these Tiers and Realms, intuition became an instinctual part of everyone''s fighting style and it would often dictate exactly how they planned to react.

    Feeling such a thing, Thaela immediately reacted, her palms flaring outward and ripples of space flowing like a current around her.

    BANG!

    At that exact moment, Leoenl''s fog domain flashed forward once more, suddenly cutting off Thaela''s vision the instant she was feeling comfortable once again.

    Although Thaela thought that this might happen, the timing was an issue. The instant Leonel''s arrow was about to peek outside of the fog domain that was barely a centimeter from Thaela''s nose, her vision and Internal Sight vanished.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Thaela immediately chose to retreat, but Leonel''s arrow slaughtered the layers of her Spatial Force, rushing for her nose.

    The feeling of danger became absolutely overwhelming, and yet it was precisely at that moment that Leonel flashed once more, appearing to Thaela''s back with a piercing spear.

    An arrow from the front and a spear from the back. Thaela was completely pincered and had nowhere to go.

    However, it was precisely at that moment that her serious expression became a cold smile. A mere Tier 1 Sixth Star wanted to fight her? How amusing.

    Her hands shifted through the air and several new Runes formed. In an instant, the situation changed.

    Leonel''s arrow, which had been coming toward her skull, multiplied into three and suddenly vanished, appearing to her back and intercepting the tip of Leonel''s spear.

    Leonel''s attack met Leonel''s attack, the sudden stunning reality forcing him to take a single strong step back.

    The ripples of space around Thaela became ten times stronger than they were previously to the point where she levitated into the air, gracefully dancing out of the way of the reverberating impact of Leonel''s collision as a bottom of red liquid manifested in her palm.

 Chapter 1595 Oblige

    Thaela smiled a sweet smile as silence fell over the area, playing with the bottle in her hand.

    "This is the blood you wanted, right? No need to answer, I already know that that''s the case. But if you think this pitiful amount of strength is going to be enough, I would suggest that you obediently hand over your head to me. If you do so, I can take care of your Oliidark family while you''re gone. If not, and you force me to fight this battle to the end and waste my time, then not only will I not lift a finger to help your Oliidark family, I''ll also kill them to the last man, woman and child.

    "Make your choice quickly, my time is limited."

    Thaela obviously didn''t want to fight this battle, if she could voluntarily get Leonel to give up his life, that was for the best.

    Unfortunately, there was no simple way to exchange points in the Fiend Class Sector. Due to the top 10 rules, and in order to mitigate the use of teamwork, an exchange of points wasn''t possible. That was why although there were two members of the Endless Twilight Pavilion in the top ten, Thaela still had to fight for her spot on her own instead of borrowing from two who should have been her teammates.

    Due to this, the only way to take points from someone else was to kill them. This was also why Leonel hadn''t gained Falen''s Demon Points either.

    If Thaela wanted Leonel''s points, the only method was to kill him. But this fog domain and Leonel''s abilities were far too troublesome, and if there was no chance at all, Leoenl could very well just run away despite the contingency plans she had made.

    As such, she chose to immediately set down her requirements. If she threatened Leonel later, when she had less control over the situation, she would come off as the weaker party. If she did so immediately, though, especially after so easily dealing with his attack, even if he didn''t immediately accept, a shadow would be cast over his heart and he would definitely hesitate.

    What Thaela didn''t know, though, was that the moment Leonel heard these words, the frostiness of his gaze went from purely due to him focusing on calculation, to him being infuritated.

    What a vile woman.

    Leonel didn''t care about the Oliidark family or if they were wiped out. In fact, he assumed that once he vanished from thin air, they would suffer such a fate just for being associated with him. However, it was the principle of the matter that left him enraged.

    Best

    The only reason Leonel didn''t care about the fate of the Oliidark family was because they had harmed a great deal of individuals. In fact, if he was correct, that restaurant he had worked in when he first reached their city had likely been wiped out to the final person.

    However, these weren''t matters that Thaela was aware of. Leonel could tell by the look in her eyes and the curl of her lips that she wasn''t bluffing in the slightest. She had every intention of doing what she said, and for what, exactlyбн?

    Resources? Treasures? Glory?

    If she knew who his true family was, wouldn''t she target them? If she could find where his mother was, where his brothers and cousin were, where the people he cared about were hidden, would she even hesitate?

    Leonel''s gaze sparkled with a crimson light, dense golden Runes dancing within his irises.

    He had already figured out what Force she was using, but it wasn''t an easy one to handle at all despite the fact he had become very used to making Spatial Forces his own. In fact, from what Leonel could see, her cloning abilities and spatial affinity were actually linked as one, likely to form an odd Ability Index or Lineage Factor.

    The Force it was based on was called Emulation Spatial Force. It was an exceptionally rare spatial Force ranked in the top five of Spatial Forces and it was an even rarer fusion of Dream Force and Spatial Force.

    Among Dream Forces, it was actually quite weak, but among Spatial Forces, it had the greatest dexterity, flexibility and manipulability.

    Essentially, using a combination of Spatial Force and Dream Force, Thaela was able to recreate all sorts of illusions that could interact with the world. The Spatial Force aspect applied real, tangible changes to the world, while the Dream Force aspect formed illusions that hid the involvement of Spatial Force.

    This only confirmed Leonel''s speculations. Thaela didn''t need to fuse with her clones, they weren''t technically real clones to begin with. But because they could move through space, she could put down a clone an impossibly far distance away because even in comparison to light, Spatial Force moved faster!

    It was no wonder that Thaela was intelligent enough to force even Leonel into a trap. Those with Dream Force affinity all tended to be extremely intelligent in comparison to their peers.

    And, due to the fact Thaela wasn''t layering Dream Force atop of Spatial Force, and her Emulation Spatial Force was a perfect fusion of the two, despite Leonel''s exceptionally high Dream Force affinity, he couldn''t instantly form a counter to it.

    In addition, since Thaela''s "illusions" were actually real and capable of interacting with the world, being able to see through them was useless. After all, they weren''t fake, they could truly hurt him.

    The most fearsome part of this Emulation Spatial Force was the last ability Thaela had displayed just now.

    In a mere instant, she had gone from "damsel", to copying his arrow with her Emulation Spatial Force and pasting it twice more, forcing Leonel to face not just one of his own attacks, but three of them.

    Despite having come to understand this, Leonel''s expression only became colder and colder.

    He didn''t care how powerful Thaela was.  It was fine that she had been clever enough to get him here. This was a competition after all, he couldn''t be mad that she was trying her best for herself.

    But now, she had taken it a step too far.

    Two of Leonel''s arms held up a bow, and of the remaining four, two held his spear and the other two hovered in the air, palms openбн as though waiting for something to land in them.

    At the same time, a large twin pair of lotuses appeared hovering to his back, tilting forward from its base and forming an enormous disk behind Leonel.

    And then, three vibrant blue Stars appeared, pulsing with a blinding light.

    He didn''t want to do this because it was too dangerous. But this caution was unwarranted.

    He was a man with two Destruction Rune laden Innate Nodes in his bodyбн A man who had spent years suppressing Anarchic Force within his bodyбн

    If there was anyone who could control the opposite of Vital Star Force, it was him.

    Since Thaela liked to play with life and death so much, he would oblige.

    The vibrant blue energy began to crawl forward, entering the rotating formation of lotuses and beginning to seep into the ground with a deathly dark blue aura.

 Chapter 1596 Silver Waves

    The two remaining free hands of Leonel''s panda clapped together, releasing a sonic boom as fearsome as a clap of thunder. The rushing black fog gathered together as Leonel''s bow string was drawn back.

    The signal of danger roared in Thaela''s mind, several times more powerful than it had been before. It was so violent that her brows shot up, her eyes widened and goosebumps racing across her skin.

    Thaela didn''t hesitate, releasing a roar that manifested a Star to her back. It sparkled with silvery lights and just the faintest hint of blue. It would only take a single glance for others to see that this was a manifestation of her Emulation Spatial Force.

    The space around her rippled so violently that it formed visible waves of silver and black in the air. In one moment, she had gone from a sneering mastermind to what looked like a goddess standing amidst tall silver waves.

    Her star shimmered behind her like a radiant moon. Her hands pressed together, a strong fighting intent blazing from her.

    The moment Leonel released his arrow, she sensed it. But what shook her heart was that the ripples in space were less ripplesбн and more a violent destruction of the integrity of space itself.

    Thaela''s mind spun at incredible speeds, quickly forcing her shock down.

    Logically, the only existences capable of destroying space like this were the monsters of at least the Seventh Star. They could forcefully impose their will on the world, even increasing their speed by bending the laws of physics to their wills.

    At the Eighth Star level, such an existence would be able to cause true destruction, their strength reaching beyond the bounds of reason. Once this realm was touched upon in earnest, rules like the impossibility of destroying energy were thrown out of the window.

    However, there were methods of accomplishing this long before reaching these levels if certain parameters were met or if certain Forces were under your control.

    As someone adept at illusions, there was hardly a single Force that Thaela didn''t at least have some familiarity with. So, the moment she sensed such destruction, she thought of three Forces immediately.

    Scarlet Star Force, Death Force and Fallen Star Force.

    Of these three, there wasn''t a single one that she hoped to run into. They were all incredibly fearsome and every single one of them had the strength to pose a real risk to her.

    By the time Thaela finished these thoughts, the air had already entered her rippling waves. The closer it got, the more she was certain. This was most definitely Fallen Star Force.

    Best

    Thaela''s expression became more dignified. While all three would be able to threaten her, Fallen Star Force was especially heavy. It was like an anchor sinking into darkness that wanted to take everything with it.

    While Scarlet Star Force crumbled something from the inside out, Fallen Star Force seemed to use a violent gravitational energy to shred everything in its path to pieces. Both were lethal for different reasons, but if there was one that was especially dangerous when formed into a speeding arrow like this oneбн It was without a doubt this dense black Force hiding within a silvery light.

    All of Thaela''s spatial Force bent around the path of the arrow, weighing it down and shredding it into piece, appearing before her in a flash.

    Thaela''s expression was ice cold by this point. Her spatial barrier might have been ripped apart, but it had bought her enough time to think and calmly analyze the situation.

    It was obvious that she wouldn''t be able to get Leonel to simply hand over his head. In that case, she would need to take it herself!

    One of her hands formed several changing seals and her other hand flipped over to reveal a translucent whip that looked like it was carved of glass, and yet it seemed to have even more flexibility than a normal whip.

    Her whip-wielding hand flexed, her wrist forming a spiral pattern. At the same time, within her body, her Nodes and nodal pathways shifted.

    Her whip shot forward, forming a tornado around the incoming arrow and a rush of powerful Water Force followed suit.

    ''So she has that Ability?''

    Leonel had seen this Ability Index once before from an envoy of the Void Senate. With those hand seals, she was able to instantly shift the position of her Nodes and just as instantly cast a technique without circulating her Force.

    ''This means that her Emulation Spatial Force is more likely to be related to a Lineage Factor. In that case, I have to be more careful because a Lineage Factor is rarely just an affinity and an affinity alone, there are other factors attached to it.''

    Thaela used the easiest tactic, overwhelming the Fallen Star Force until it had run out of energy. She refused to fight it head on and she also refused to allow Leonel to just sit back and shoot arrows toward her freely.

    Her spatial ripples reformed and became even more powerful as a second Star appeared to her back. If before she could cover 10 or so meters within Leonel''s Starry Star Domain, it had now ballooned to 30 meters.

    She enveloped Leonel''s construct in those ripples and her pupils constricted when she saw the presence of three Stars.

    A Tier 1 could already manifest three Stars?!

    Thaela''s expression only became colder. The longer she allowed this fight to drag out, the more variables would appear. She was already running out of time, this was simply unacceptable.

    Her whip shot forward like a venomous viper. At that moment, it became difficult to differentiate its strikes and her Emulation Spatial Force. The translucent properties of the whip fused into the silvery waves as though it was right at home.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel took several heavy steps backward as his bow was drawn once more.

    The whistle of an arrow caused Thaela''s ears to twitch.

 Chapter 1597 Shattered

    Thaela split into six clones, her body shifting and avoiding the arrow.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s spear shot forward again and again, each attached with a word or phrase. His mind quickly analyzed the strikes of Thaela, saw through the smallest of flaws, and used his comprehension to choose the best combination to deflect it away.

    But the strength gap was far too great, especially now that he was facing six clones all at once. Thaela seemed to want to end this all as quickly as possible.

    Leonel released another arrow, but his pupils constricted when Thaela''s real body instantly shifted with one of her clones, avoiding his attack and only suffering the blow with a fake.

    The combination of illusion and space was too useful. When their battle first began, Thaela had called over her other clones from dozens of kilometers away and they instantly returned to her. Now, she was using this same ability as an evasion technique. Leonel had simply never seen such high level applications of Force.

    At the same time as Leonel was in awe, Thaela was steeped in derision and disdain.

    ''To have such a powerful Force and only be capable of using it to attackбн he really does come from a backwater family I''ve never heard of. Such a high level Force and he doesn''t even know how to use it properly. Pathetic.''

    Thaela''s whip became faster as a fourth Star manifested to her back. She pressed harder and harder, feeling that time was running out.

    At first, she wanted to be more cautious, and she still was, but she also knew that there was a point where the effort wasn''t worth the return. If it wasn''t for these weird domains Leonel kept pulling out, she would have defeated him in a few exchanges.

    He was unable to threaten her, so she would press harder.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Three of Thaela''s Stars were of Emulation Spatial Force, but the fourth was also silver one. The moment these appeared, her Water Force changed, losing its delicate blue color and becoming almost like streams of mercury.

    The streams of liquid metal fused into Thaela''s rippling spatial waves, making them heavier and denser. At the same time, her whip became even more difficult to strike and its attacks became more and more lethal.

    Thaela''s clones all unfurled a hand, twisting their wrists about. At that instant, the whips they wielded that were only formed of Emulation Spatial Force fused with this mercury-like Water Force, making their attacks also several times more forceful.

    Leonel''s expression flickered, but the moment he suffered the first attack, his spear construct cracked. He was immediately forced to repair it, but the second attack also forced it to crack.

    His panda construct shuddered, his steps backward becoming more frequent and harder to stop. His stamina drained faster and faster. With every attempt to maintain his construct, the amount of Force within him was being taken away at a quicker rate.

    Leonel''s cold gaze was frightening, but it couldn''t change anything.

    If he was fighting with his real body, he would have already been beaten into a half dead state.

    He knew that he couldn''t allow his construct to collapse. Without it, setting aside himself, it would put Aina in a direct line of fire. And knowing the kind of venom that was within Thaela''s heart, he couldn''t even hope that she would be spared.

    If it wasn''t for the fact his construct enveloped himself and Aina, making it impossible for Thaela to tell that there was someone with him, he was certain that she would try to take advantage.

    No matter how infuriated Leonel was by this disciple of the Endless Twilight Pavilion, there was little he could do about the power she wielded. She was stronger, faster and more adept in practically all facets in comparison to him.

    On top of that, her abilities perfectly fused into one, and while her thinking speed and intelligence wasn''t quite on Leonel''s level, it wasn''t far enough away that he could toy with her like he usually did against those with far higher "stats" than himself.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    One of the arms of Leonel''s panda construct shattered into a rain of Aurora Star Force. It tried to quickly reform under his control, but the gap was taken advantage of by Thaela. She was attacking from six different directions at once, how could she not?

    Leonel immediately pierced out his spear with his real body. If the whip continued like this, it would most definitely shatter the chest of his panda construct and run right through his body. But, first, it would pierce through Aina who sat on his lap.

    Leonel''s eyes were practically entirely crimson by this point, but it didn''t change his base strength.

    His panda construct''s chest shattered just as he expected. He couldn''t even use his Starry Light Domain because Thaela''s dense Water Force and Spatial Force had completely surrounded him, and his Starry Star Domain''s spatial affinities were trash in comparison to Thaela''s spatial affinity.

    His spear could only meet her whip directly, his Bronze Runes lighting up to their maximum potential. And yetбн

    His arm shattered.

    This seemed like an odd thing to say about a human''s arm and not a construct, but that was just the best way to describe it.

    Leonel''s arm''s surface cracked like glass, his entire arm erupting in a shower of blood. It was impossible to even tell what kind of mangled state it was in beneath the rain of crimson.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, taking Aina in an arm as both he and his construct were sent flying.

    He sent out another arrow just to buy himself some time, but Thaela completely ignored it, shifting with one of her clones once again and directly sacrificing it as she unleashed a barrage directly upon Leonel.

    Leonel roared, using [Instant Recovery] immediately and piercing forward with all his might.

    Five whips collided with him at once.

    If before his arm shattered, it immediately became a bloody mist this time, the haziness and fog of crimson that hung in the air obstructing even Leonel''s vision.

    Thaela brandished her whips once again, a tide of Spatial Force and dense Water Force rushing forward with an endless momentum.

 Chapter 1598 Helpless

    In the blink of an eye, a complex Force Art in the form of a shield appeared before Leonel. His Force surged and it just as quickly took form.

    To his back, two dark blue Stars appeared, their presence causing the space in the surroundings to tremble.

    The Force of these Void Star Force Stars fueled the Force Art Leonel had manifested from within his Dream World, giving it a strength that was several tens of times more powerful than if he used a normal Water Force.

    BOOM!

    The shockwave sent Leonel flying back even faster than he had originally, but his eyes burned like two bright lights.

    The moment his Void Star Force Stars had appeared, the heaviness of Thaela''s mercury-like Water Force didn''t seem so heavy anymore and even the spatial Force spread out into the surroundings began to twist and deform out of her control.

    Leonel didn''t know much about Void Star Force at all, he only knew that it represented the pinnacle of Water Force just like Scarlet Star Force represented the pinnacle of Fire Force. However, the moment it appeared, he felt more in tune with it now than he ever had before.

    Leonel wasn''t sure why this was, but if he had to guess, it was likely because of this new feeling his unearthed Dark Force affinity was giving him. Void Star Force was considered to be top three in Dark Forces, so there was potential there for this to be of help to Leonel.

    Leonel''s position quickly shifted in the air. His right arm was gone and his inner organs were very much injured. He had been forced to use his [Instant Recovery] already just so that he could have enough strength to block, and he wouldn''t have another such opportunity any time soon.

    Howeverбн

    Leonel threw out a demon corpse and a palm of his panda construct shattered it apart. A raging blood and fuel flew toward him and into his body, gaining two paths to choose from. Leonel, without hesitation, chose one and swallowed it whole.

    ''[Instant Recovery].''

    Leonel''s body flashed and his arm grew back out.

    All of this happened in an instant, even as his body was still flying backward. In fact, even his spear, which had been thrust back with him, was still there for him to snatch out and grab.

    Leonel''s Bronze Runes erupted to life once again as a large number of illusory Force Arts formed in the skies.

    Biding his time wasn''t working, plotting and scheming wasn''t working, he couldn''t even find a single opening.

    Aina was right, about his approach in battle, that is. He only incrementally showed his strength in battle because it was of benefit to him. Catching enemies off guard and slaughtering them before they could display their full strength had been the method to his victories for a very long time now. But this Thaelaбн No, it felt like this entire Zone in specific made this incredibly difficult.

    These geniuses were on an entirely different level and the methods with which they used their Force was so multi-variable and multi-layered that for Leonel, who didn''t have nearly the same amount of flexibility, it was impossible to use his normal methods.

    The only way he would have the slightest inkling of a chase was to put everything on the table and use his abilities as freely as he could. Only that way might he stand a small chance.

    To Leonel''s back, seven Stars erupted with life. Three were a radiant sky blue, two were a murky dark blue, and the final two were a shining beacon of crimson-gold light.

    Among them, the two red-gold ones stood out the most, the presence of their Star Runes alone applying even more pressure on Thaela''s rippling silver waves. From being able to control a 100 meter radius with ease after her third Emulation Spatial Force Star''s appearance, it was forced back down to 10 meters in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel immediately gained some room to breathe, but he didn''t relax for long.

    Three arrows of red-gold formed on his bow at once, shooting like streaking meteors toward Thaela.

    Thaela''s eyes widened to the point it seemed like they would pop out of their sockets.

    She was absolutely certain, she couldn''t have been more certain. Just then, in the final moment before her silver waves were forcefully restricted, she had definitely seen itбн

    Seven Stars?!

    A Sixth Star expert should only have Six at most! How did Leonel have seven?! It didn''t make any sense!

    Best

    When Thaela sensed the coming arrows, her expression only became more unsightly.

    First Fallen Star Force and now Scarlet Star Force? Not only that, but Scarlet Star Force that was clearly powered by Star Runes?! Her defenses couldn''t deal with this, it was foolish to even try to defend.

    Thaela swapped with another one of her clones, not understanding what was happening. How could one person control so many powerful Forces?! She had never even met someone with Scarlet Star Force Stars before, such a thing was practically legend!

    The human race couldn''t possibly form them, only the Spirituals might have one or two appear in a generation, and very rarely, there might be a demon. But such a demon would most definitely be a Chaos Demon and wouldn''t appear here!

    For Leonel to both have such Stars and even have formed their Star Runes, especially the latter pointбн There was only one explanation: He had an Innate Node!

    Thaela''s expression danced between coldness and greed. She knew exactly how powerful Innate Nodes were, intimately. But such an Innate Node was not like othersбн

    ''Dammitбн''

    Thaela found an entire sky of flood dragons rushing toward her, each fueled by Scarlet Star Force.

    She was absolutely infuriated. This idiot had no idea how to properly apply his Force and all he knew how to do was ram it ahead into bigger, stronger attacks.

    "Idiot. Idiot! IDIOT!"

    Thaela wasn''t mad that Leonel wasn''t strong enough, she was enraged that he was just strong enough to delay her.

    A fool like this couldn''t possibly defeat her, the gap between them was too large. But when this talent was combined with the annoyance of this fog domain and the fact that Leonel could move about more freely with his Starry Light Domain now that the effectiveness of her own Stars had been limitedбн

    What was supposed to be a quick battle became long and protracted.

    Thaela didn''t even suffer a single injury, resolving every one of Leonel''s attacks and evading the ones that she could not. She was too smart, too well-versed in battle, and her library of techniques and methods of applying Force were far too vast.

    She could use just a single Force like Emulation Star Force to evade, to defend, and to attack. And not only that, but she could do so in a myriad of different ways.

    She could evade by swapping with her clone or folding space. She could defend with those silvery waves or forming meat shields out of her clones and even had a special domain capable of mitigating Force. As for her methods of attack, they were too numerous to even name.

    However, in the face of her skill, Leonel just threw an avalanche of everything he had.

    Magic spells covered the skies, he wielded two bows in four hands, shooting as fast as he could, and his spear became nothing more than a defensive tool.

    He was pressing just as hard as Thaela. He couldn''t afford to lose here, and he definitely couldn''t go to fight that demon. He wouldn''t be able to leave that one on one hell until the demon was killed, but at least here, there was still a small chance that he could escape.

    But the harder he pressed, the more strength Thaela seemed to show and his Force only seemed to dwindle faster.

    A helpless flicker of light appeared within Leonel''s eyes.

    He looked down at Aina who was in deep meditation and realized that he couldn''t just leave her here like this.

    He turned and began to run.

    Thaela gritted her teeth. "Don''t think you can run from me!"

    In a single blink, Leonel made it to the edge of his Light Domain and he used his Earth Force to bury her underground. Then, in another blink, he appeared before Thaela once again sent out another powerful strike.

    BOOM!

    The two separated, four of Leonel''s panda construct''s arms shattering to pieces once again.

    Thaela released an infuriated screech, feeling that things were slipping out of her hands. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

    The 100 trillion Demon Point mark clicked into place and an energy that Leonel couldn''t resist enveloped him.

    Thaela could only watch as Leonel vanished, her glare absolutely murderous.

    The fog domain around her finally vanished and she began looking around with veins popping in her eyes.

    Even if Leonel died, she wouldn''t let his soul rest in peace.

    "Where did he hide that little bitch?"

    She ground her teeth.

    She had already calculated that Leonel''s flash teleportation range was only 10 kilometers, so there was a radius around here where Aina was.

    After she shattered Leonel''s panda construct, her Spatial Force had caught on to the fact that there was a second person, but she seemed to be in a deep state of meditation that was difficult to come out of.

    Since she couldn''t kill Leonel, she would go after his little lover.

    Fury rushed through her veins. She had actually failed to kill a Tier 1 instantly, she was absolutely livid and needed something to vent her answer on. Not only would she kill his little lover, but she would make sure it was a terrible death.

    A 10 kilometer radius? That was nothing.

    бн

    Leonel appeared in a world of darkness, his face pale and his breathing haggard. He clutched his spear in his hand, looking ahead in absolute silence.

    A heavy weight surrounded his body, threatening to Force him to his knees.

 Chapter 1599 Caged

    Leonel breathed heavily, his body feeling quite dry and his head threatening to burst.

    He wasn''t very worried about Aina. He had only used his Starry Light Domain in a 10 kilometers range in order to set up a trap for Thaela, but he didn''t get an opportunity to use it. Much like he could extend his Starry Spirit Domain beyond 10 kilometers when he had been searching for the young man he interrogated, he could do the same with his Starry Light Domain.

    Thaela would likely think that Aina was buried somewhere in a 10 kilometer range, when in reality, she was over 50 kilometers away.

    In addition, he had left their collection of demons with her, so if it came to it, she would have more than enough Blood Force at her fingertips to use in protecting herself. This way, Leonel''s mind could be as relaxed and stress free as possible.

    Of course, flashing so far away was also the reason that Leonel was in such a poor state aside from the fact he had just fought a long and difficult battle. But there was no way he could allow Aina to be in danger of being found by that murderous woman while she was still in a critical state of meditation.

    The only reason she could enter such a state to begin with was because she had an implicit trust in Leonel. How could he do anything to let her down?

    Unfortunately, such a decision left him even more drained than he was previously, and now facing a battle he felt that he had no chance of winning.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, standing to his full height and stretching out his back. Pushing against the heavy gravity of this space made his muscles whine and his bones crack, but he still pushed through until he was at his full height.

    ''The gap is actually so largeбн If the gap between the Fiend Class and the Chaos Class is as exaggerated as the books in that library explained, then it likely means that I might not even be able to defeat a Chaos Class existence at Tier 1, or even Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension, for that matterбн''

    This was a huge problem, an enormous one. But Leonel wasn''t sure how to easily fix it.

    To have the first ranked Fire Force Innate Node should have placed him quite high on the talent totem pole, and that he was. The issue was that he couldn''t use his Forces as flexibly as Thaela could.

    This was something that went beyond just techniques. Leonel was certain that while he was fighting Thaela, she had only used a technique a single time, and that was when he first shot a Fallen Star Force arrow. After that, she hadn''t even used her Ability Index again.

    From beginning to end, aside from that one exception, she relied on nothing outside of her comprehension of Force application.

    Leonel closed his eyes.

    Best

    He could feel it coming. Whatever demon they had prepared was probably looming over him right this moment, it was making it difficult even to breathe. But with every second he gained, his Stars continued to rotate within his Ethereal Glabella and his Force tried to recover as fast as it could.

    Leonel felt goosebumps racing across his skin and chilly air licking at his collarbone and neck. The temperatures seemed to be slowly falling step by step. At first it was subtle, but it soon reached a level that couldn''t be ignored. The chill threatened to form crystals upon his body, slowly building layers onto his bronzed skin.

    However, Leonel''s eyes remained closed, his body growing more and more relaxed, his nerves unwinding and his muscles becoming looser.

    Although he understood Aina''s feelings, he was always the most comfortable like this. He was willing to sacrifice, to always stand before her no matter what danger lay ahead. If it wasn''t because of the circumstances, he wouldn''t have left her alone at all.

    Leonel took another breath and slowly exhaled, the frigid air making his teeth ache, however the calmness of his expression only grew deeper.

    A dense Auspicious Air began to exude from him, his focus reaching another height.

    This world was nothing more than a 100 by 100 meter plot of plain land hanging in the depths of a foggy darkness. There was nothing here but him and an enemy. There was no space to run, nowhere to escape to. Unless he could win this battle, he would be finished.

    However, if he died, Aina would be left by herself to face the ire of the Endless Twilight Pavilion. If he died, she would never be able to get revenge for her own mother. If he died, no one would be able to return to the Human Domain from this Zone. Not his brothers, not Aina, not his mother.

    Victory was the only option.

    He hadn''t separated from Aina because he had given up. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

    He had a time limit against Thaela, but there was no such time limit against this creature. He would scratch and claw if he had to. Eventually, he would rip its final breath from its body with his own hands if he had to.

    Leonel''s eyes opened, a serene coldness within them.

    Before him, no more than three inches away, a pair of reptilian eyes stared back. They were an ice cold blue color and looked as though they had been carved out of sapphires. Their pupil slits were an abyssal black that seemed to swallow everything into an icy void.

    The demon had the body of a muscular human man but the head of a cobra, its neck flaring in and out with its every breath.

    It stood a full head taller than Leonel, its entire body covered in gorgeous sky blue scales. Just its breath alone caused crystals to form in the air, its mighty, ancient presence weighing down the atmosphere as though its appearance alone was enough to multiply gravity several times over.

    This was a true Fiend Class demon, its strength alone capable of toppling worlds.

    BANG!

    Leonel couldn''t even see how the demon moved. In the blink of an eye, he found himself crashing against the barrier keeping him caged in this space.

 Chapter 1600 How?!

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, the action causing his cracked ribs to crackle like firecrackers, loosely rattling in his body.

    It was only now that Leonel understood he had been attacked by the blue cobra man''s tail. It turned out its body wasn''t entirely human after all.

    Leonel slid down the barrier, his coughing growing hoarser.

    Within such an enclosure, the advantages of being an archer weren''t even that great. At any moment, he could at best be 100 meters away from this monster, a distance that was negligible to a demon with this level of strength.

    It was clear at a glance that this demon was a dual strength and water-based one, giving it outstanding physical prowess and a supporting Force that was able to form ice even upon Leonel''s own powerful body.

    Leonel''s feet hit the ground and he tried to push himself up.

    He wiped his lips, his gaze looking up to find that the cobra demon hadn''t taken a single step forward. It kept staring at Leonel, a peculiar light dancing in its eyes.

    The personality of this demon was quite odd. Or, rather, it was the fact that this demon seemed to have a personality at all.

    The fact it took so long to attack Leonel in the first place was odd, but now it looked as though it was playing with its food. However, after seeing how weak Leonel was, the look in its eyes seemed to say that it had already grown bored.

    Its tail swished lightly. It was a casual action that hardly brought any sort of attention, and yet it formed an enormous five meter long scythe that appeared before Leonel in an instant.

    ''So fastбн''

    Leonel couldn''t understand how Water Force could be so fast, it wasn''t known for such a thing, and this didn''t seem to be a special sort of Water Force that had such properties either. If anything, the only property this Water Force had was an ice cold.

    Leonel''s spear appeared in his hands and his struck out.

    "Let the air burn!"

    A blazing trail of fire followed his sweeping spear. Despite the short phrase, it represented something he embodied all too well. When it came to fire control of fire, there was no one that was his match.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear nearly fell out of his hands, his body being blasted against the barrier once more. His shattered ribs rattled and his jaw clenched, the pain making his eyes go red.

    Leonel thought he stopped the attack, but it remained persistent, wrapping around his body like a death grip.

    Leonel quickly summoned his Divine Armor, hoping to mitigate the cold. But the seeping ice lodged into its jointed, slowing his movements to the point he felt he might truly be frozen solid at any moment.

    Without a choice, Leonel dispersed his Divine Armor. Somehow this Water Force was even more poisonous than it was fast. The moment it sensed the Water Force of his Divine Armor, it latched on and began to eat at it. If Leonel had been a second slower, he would have lost all ability to move.

    In that moment, it had even felt like his Divine Armor wasn''t even his own any longer.

    Leonel''s expression flickered.

    He just couldn''t understand.

    In just a few seconds, this demon had used his Force like a domain, and then it had displayed speed it shouldn''t have, followed by leaching abilities that it should have.

    Although it took a small moment, Leonel had already recognized the Water Force. It was barely ranked top 30 amongst Water Forces and it was known as Misty Frost Force. It was known for two things: its ability to quickly take the form of a vapor and its dense cold.

    However, it shouldn''t have such a range of abilities.

    This was already the second time in just as many battles that he had run into such a thing. And now that he thought about it, others of this Zone had displayed such wide ranging applications for seemingly narrowly applicable Forces as well, it was just that they had been too weak for Leonel to care or even take notice.

    Before Leonel could think any further, the cobra demon took just a single step forward and somehow crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel''s eyes widened, his arms shooting upward and using his spear''s body to block the coming tail.

    He barely made it in time, but his block integrity was far too weak, causing his own spear to smash against the side of his body and send him flying outward once again.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s brows shot up. This didn''t make any sense. Even his internal Sight couldn''t seem to keep up, but his mind was the strongest thing he had.

    Now that he thought about it, even Thaela''s thinking speed seemed faster than his own. He had ignored it previously because he felt that this was what she gained as someone who could control Dream Force. But now this demon seemed to also be able to outpace his thoughts

    ''What''s going on?''

    BANG!

    Best

    Leonel collided with another barrier, his body immediately flopping to the ground. This time when he coughed, shards of bone and pieces of flesh followed suit. His blood was so dense and dark that it almost looked black. The kind of pain his body was experiencing was enough to make him want to pass out, anything to avoid the pain.

    However, he couldn''t. If he did, it would really be over.

    Leonel grit his teeth.

    His mind couldn''t focus, and any calculations he made seemed to become wildly inaccurate. He had already experienced this with Thaela, but now it felt even more potent. There was no doubt that this demon was several times more powerful than her.

    Leonel''s eyes widened, his pupils constricting into pinholes.

    A spark ripped through his Dreamscape and he immediately understood.

    ''Time Forceбн That was much too similar to Time Forceбн But this demon doesn''t control Time Force at all! How is this possible?!''

 Chapter 1601 Bite

    Displaying the abilities of a domain, displaying speed it shouldn''t have, poisonous abilities it shouldn''t have, outpacing his mind at the same Dimension, and now even displaying the effects of a completely different Force entirely?

    Leonel dove out of the wave, but he was still too slow. While he managed to avoid the cobra demon''s punch, it was as though it had managed to predict exactly where he was going.

    It was a stupid choice, maybe the most idiotic choice Leonel had ever made.

    He had been thrust against one wall and then slapped to the side until he hit another one. With the cobra demon now coming straight at him, there was only one way to dodge, and that was to his right.

    To his left there was a barrier, coming straight at him was the cobra demon, and the only open space was right there. But if he could realize this, how could the cobra demon not?

    The demon''s tail whipped across Leonel''s face.

    At that moment, Leonel smelled the scent of death closer than he ever had before. There was no instant recovery to rely upon, there was no chance at clearing this Zone, and there was no escape.

    His head snapped back and his spine cracked. His skull fractured, his brain rattling about and tearing under strong G-forces that it wasn''t equipped to handle even in the Sixth Dimension. His jaw, nose, and teeth all cracked at once, leaving his face in an unrecognizable, bloody mess.

    Leonel entered a dazed-like state and the fraction of a moment this took seemed to be stretched into infinity. He could practically feel his body shutting down, the reserves of his Life Force speeding out of his pores and back into the universe that had gifted it all to him.

    The pain came all at once and so forcefully that he actually didn''t feel a thing. It was hard to tell if it was because his spine had entered an unrepairable state or if this was just the numbing that came with such a lingering scent of death.

    In those moments, Leonel''s thinking speed which had felt like it was running through sludge all this time finally picked back up. But that only made him more aware of his impending demise.

    ''Shit, shit, shitбн''

    He couldn''t understand how he made such a stupid mistake in battle. But it was even worse that he couldn''t even think of an alternative. Meeting the cobra demon head on was impossible, the gap between them was far too large. Every time it attacked him, its strength seemed to increase. But Leonel knew that the truth was that the cobra demon hadn''t attacked all out from the very beginning. It was just toying with him.

    And nowбн It was bored. It simply didn''t feel the need to hold back anymore.

    Leonel was furious. Furious with Thaela, furious with the bastards that had forced the Void Palace into such a situation, furious with himself.

    The one time he didn''t overestimate himself, the one time he wanted to obediently accept a loss, take what he could get and go home, the one time he pressed his own desires down and didn''t pursue the position of number one, he had actually ended up in such a state.

    He didn''t want to fight this battle, he never wanted to fight this battle. He wanted to protect the life of his mother, of Aina, of his brothers, and he had felt that the only way to do that was to lay down his pride and focus on maximizing his chances at survival.

    But even when he did this, he had somehow ended up like this.

    BANG!

    Time seemed to finally catch up with Leonel''s speed of thought and his body was slapped back to the corner he had tried to roll out from. His head rebounded against the barrier and his fractured skull directly shattered on impact.

    Leonel slid down the barrier, his eyes half open to reveal nothing but their whites. His limbs went limp and his body ceased movement.

    His face was nothing more than a rain of mangled flesh and blood, his limbs were twisted into odd angles and he seemed to have not the slightest sign of life left.

    Best

    Like a candle that had been snuffed out beneath a harsh, cold and suffocating wind, he sat dully, his head hanging, his legs spread and his arms limp.

    The frosty cold of the cobra demon latched onto his skin and blood. With nothing to fight back against it, he quickly gained patches of frost here and there, some on his face, some on his limbs, others on his torso, but each of them spreading like a blooming flower.

    The cobra demon gripped Leonel''s neck and pulled him upward. An odd crunching sound followed as the shifting of Leonel weight forced his cracked spine to crack once again.

    The tongue of the cobra demon slithered out, a hint of surprise coloring its snake-like face. It wasn''t very interested in Leonel''s corpse, at least not originally. But when the scent of Leonel''s blood permeated the air, it made it feel quite intoxicated.

    Saliva dripped down from the cobra demon''s teeth. What a boon. It hadn''t expected such a weakling to have such tasty blood. Maybe if he might gain a small change at evolving to become a Chaos Demonбн

    The cobra demon''s mouth opened wide, its excitement palpable. Its saliva overflowed, but when it hit the ground, it froze into a puddle of ice. And then, the demon chomped down.

    A sickening crunch resounded.

    The cobra demon took a bite right out of Leonel''s skull, swallowing half of it in a single gulp.

    It chewed slowly, its body trembling with delight as it savored every bite and swallowed.

    Once it did, completely beside itself, it roared with excitement, feeling as though every cell in its body had completely come alive.

    Its eyes turned red with excitement. When it lowered its head to take another bite, its saliva falling even faster, its gaze flashed.

    There, where Leonel''s frontal cortex should be, a glimmer of a gem lay.

    Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella.

 Chapter 1602 Overlord

    It was large, abnormally large. Of course, despite this, it was still barely about the thickness of two thumbs, but such a thing was already beyond what could be said for most humans.

    Ethereal Glabellas didn''t grow in size. Even when Leonel was facing off against enormous oceanic creatures, he had a hard time pinpointing exactly where theirs were, and that was despite the fact that the Beast Crystals of beasts were innately several times larger than the Ethereal Glabellas of humans.

    Leonel''s, though, was so large and bright that even in the mess of his sliced skull, it stood out. In fact, it seemed a bit different as well.

    Incredibly thin crimson threads spread out from it. They were hardly perceptible at all. If not for the cobra demon''s sharp eyes, it wouldn''t have spotted them at all. But they were just a slight shade redder than even Leonel''s own blood.

    The thin crimson threads didn''t spread very far, and couldn''t even be considered a single centimeter long each. They seemed to both fuse with Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella and act as a separate existence all together.

    But from time to time, they would shift and form into shapes and curves that were simply impossible to understand. In that state, they looked less like threads and more like delicate and thin carvings.

    The cobra demon was enraptured.

    Much like humankinds love of refining demons, demons also loved to eat and refine humans. But the truest delicacy was most definitely the Ethereal Glabella.

    Only Chaos Demons could form them, as such lower level demons were only good for their flesh. But absorbing powerful Ethereal Glabellas, especially for Fiend Class demons so close to the Chaos realms, was especially good.

    The cobra demon definitely felt like it had hit the jackpot.

    Originally, it thought its path of evolution was over after these humans caught it and forced it to be a ring leader for these pathetic little juniors. But with such an opportunity before it, how could it not be ecstatic? If before it wasn''t certain, it was sure now that so long as it swallowed and completely refined Leonel, it would finally take that step it had been dreaming of for so long.

    Its manipulation of Force had already reached the greatest extent it could. If it wanted to, before it had been captured by these humans that is, it could have broken into the Seventh Star whenever it wanted. But it was unwilling to.

    The Sixth Star was considered to be the true start of a practitioner''s journey, it was the dividing line between those who could truly become powerful and those that would forever wallow in mediocrity.

    If it entered the Seventh Star without changing its Class, the difficulty of doing so in the future would be exponentially more difficult.

    It had originally regretted its unwillingness. If it had broken through earlier, it would have been too powerful for the humans to use for this test so it would have avoided such a fate. And now, it couldn''t break through even if it wanted to.

    But to think that it would gain such a boon!

    If it broke into the Chaos Class, the seal placed on it would become useless. It could break into the Seventh Star in one go and shatter this cage. Once it entered the pinnacle of demon society, it would even have a chance to seek revenge for this day.

    The cobra demon trembled, reaching forward in an attempt to carefully pluck out Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella.

    It was best to refine the entire body first. Once that was complete, he would be perfectly primed to refine this gem.

    But what the cobra demon couldn''t have expected was that when it tried to pluck out Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, something that should have been easy, its claws were rebuffed.

    It pinched two sharp nails together, trying once again, but it was only rebuffed again.

    If it had a human face, it might have an incredulous sort of expression right this moment.

    Was it the crimson threads?

    Leonel was definitely dead. His heart had stopped, his skin had already begun to lose its warmth, and his entire body held not the slightest ounce of tension. It was definitely impossible for him to be doing this, so the only explanation was that these crimson threads and the odd Runes they formed were doing something.

    The cobra demon was a genius that had pushed the use of its Force to the absolute limit. In fact, it had started off as a Human Class demon that diligently worked its way up to its current Realm, a feat that took tens of thousands of years.

    When it came to pure talent, it wasn''t nearly the best, as its innate affinity was for a mere Water Force barely in the top 30. However, when it came to its application and its use, it was on a completely different level.

    So when it saw itself being rebuffed for the second time, it took a moment to sense exactly what was happening and came to a conclusion.

    This was a sealing type Force, an extraordinarily strong one.

    However, this seal was latched onto this body. So long as this body didn''t exist anymore, the seal would also fall. It was no doubt a very heavy Blood Force seal, one more powerful than any it had ever seen before.

    It was clear that the parents of the cub should be very powerful. They would definitely be enraged about his death.

    The cobra demon knew it would have to escape as quickly as possible, then.

    Realizing what had to be done, the demon began chomping away at Leonel''s body. Every sickening crunch represented another piece that vanished.

    One arm, both arms. One leg, both legs.

    The demon didn''t dare to eat around Leonel''s skull anymore, not until it refined enough of Leonel''s body that the seal would lack the Blood Force necessary to lash out.

    To the demon''s astonishment, it actually found not one, but two Innate Nodes in Leonel''s body, one of which was a legendary Ninth Star Innate Node, and the other of which was a Fifth Star Innate Node.

    This alone was shocking enough, but the Force that was inside shook it to its core.

    Best

    Howбн How could it have such great luck?!

    The demon held both Innate Nodes in its hands. When it completely refined Leonel and evolved, it would have the perfect foundation to take these Innate Nodes as its own!

    While Myghell wasn''t able to perfectly assimilate with it due to the Luxnix family''s crude methods, it would be able to use Leonel as a catalyst for its perfect fusion with these two Innate Nodes.

    Like this, it wouldn''t just become a normal Chaos Demonбн in the futureбн It would become an Overlord!

 Chapter 1603 To Ash

    The cobra demon''s neck flared open and closed, its excitement clear in its crystalline blue eyes.

    Although Fire Force was maybe the Force that it was the least compatible with, this should ironically help with its breakthrough.

    The penultimate realm one could reach in their Force, a step that the cobra had yet to reach itself, was to birth one''s opposite upon reaching an extreme, while the ultimate realm was to revert back once more.

    These were concepts that Leonel had no idea about, and they were things that the demon had only learned itself after countless thousands of years.

    The demon felt that it was still several steps away from this penultimate level, but if it could suddenly grasp the exact opposite of its own Force to such a high level and even be able to meditate on these complete Star Runes, it would finally make a breakthrough.

    With such a breakthrough, even if it didn''t become a Chaos Class demon and even if it stayed in the Sixth Star, it would still become several folds more powerful, maybe even dozens of folds!

    The demon clutched the two Innate Nodes, looking toward what remained of Leonel''s corpse with a hint of fondness that seemed completely out of place. One would have thought that it was looking at its own child rather than a meal that was half completed.

    When it made it settle its emotions and regained its calm, it continued to eat. Up Leonel''s torso, savoring the tenderness of his lungs and sweetness of his heart.

    The demon had never had a human that tasted so good. Most of its life, it could only cannibalize its own kind. But demon flesh was very hard to eat, which was why humans refined it. Too much was lost in the process.

    But human bodies, even ones as tough as Leonel''s, were so soft and tender by comparison, and that was especially since a corpse couldn''t possibly activate Bronze Runes. They were an exceptional delicacy and one that demonkind couldn''t get enough of.

    When the demon had finished eating through Leonel''s neck, jaw and much of his face, leaving nothing much more than what remained of his brain, it couldn''t help but sigh. It wanted to eat more, to savor more. Unfortunately, there was only one Leonel here.

    Best

    No, that wasn''t true. Once it refined this and became a Chaos Demon, it would be powerful enough to target those truly monstrous humans and strengthen itself.

    And since it would have been an evolved Chaos Demon, it wouldn''t be stuck behind the seal either, so there would be little to nothing the humans could do about it. It would be too powerful!

    In truth, the only Chaos Demons running around this world now were the very few that had escaped the fate of being sealed, and the ones like this Fiend Class demon that evolved on their own after the event of all those years ago.

    Of courseбн The humans had no idea about thisбн

    While they were fighting full blown wars against the Demon Bubbles, the Great Families, the supposed defenders of humanity, were hardly fighting any battles at all.

    It was all a great joke. They consolidated their power based on what they had supposedly done and were currently doing for humans, when the reality was that they did nothing at all but live lives of luxury.

    Of course, this wasn''t entirely the case. There were still some Chaos Demons they had to keep in check, and they dealt with most demons like it ahead of time before they could evolve. It definitely wasn''t a coincidence that it of all demons had been captured like this, it was a method of getting rid of future problems.

    But for the most part, the Great Families rested on their laurels. And now that they finally faced a problem they felt they might not easily be able to deal with, rather than doing their job as the protectors of humanity, the job they were paid so handsomely for whether via tributes, respect, or power, they instead chose to hold such an event instead.

    They planned to wrangle together some useful talents they could use as cannon fodder so that they''d once again be able to survive while putting in a minimum amount of effort.

    Humans were truly pathetic.

    The cobra demon sneered.

    Clearly it had a great amount of intelligence to piece all of this together. But how much of it was true and how much of it was just its distaste and bias against those that had hunted it down for its whole life, that much was unknownбн

    The cobra demon carefully ate around what was left of Leonel''s brain. Piece by piece, it swallowed them down.

    Just as it had expected, the movements of the small crimson threads became slow and they even became dimmer. By the time there was nothing at all left of Leonel but his Ethereal Glabella, the crimson threads had no movement left whatsoever, falling into a dormant state and even losing their crimson color, becoming a lifeless black.

    The demon caressed the small Ethereal Glabella. As it sat in meditation, its stomach churned and its body quickly refined Leonel piece by piece.

    A relentless wave of power flooded through it again and again in tall tsunamis. Its cells and its blue scales shone with a vibrant color.

    And then, for the first time in over ten thousand years, its scales actually began to shed.

    Every shed cycle the cobra demon went through, the strength of its body would actually more than double. It couldn''t believe that such a weak human had given it such an evolution before it even entered the Chaos Demon realms!

    The more perfect its Fiend Class body, the stronger its Chaos Class body would be! This couldn''t have come at a better time.

    The cobra''s tongue flickered in and out, its sapphire eyes glowing like two blazing torches. And then, it swallowed Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella, entering an absolutely focused state.

    Its body couldn''t be more primed and ready right at this moment.

    BOOM!

    The aura of the demon began to skyrocket, its power advancing by leaps and bounds as it rushed toward the Chaos Demon realms.

    Its body bulged and shrank in a continuous cycle, its muscle fibers doubling and its organs shining with a resplendent light.

    What the demon didn''t know, though, was that its actions of pushing Leonel through the gates of death and finally and truly awakened the latter''s soul, a state that only the Spirituals could experienceбн a race of people that built their own bodies.

    Within the demon''s stomach, Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella flashed.

    [Life Steal]. [Instant Recovery].

    The demon, who had been sitting on the edge of ecstasy, suddenly froze.

    A strong pulling force latched onto its circulatory system, ripping at its blood and swallowing it by the tens of liters.

    The demon''s recovery abilities made up this blood in an instant, but the suction only increased.

    At first it thought that this was part of its evolution, but it was then that it realized that it could no longer feel its connection with Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella. In fact, the two Innate Nodes that it had set aside to fuse with later, suddenly shot into the air, rushing toward it and stabbing two holes in its stomach.

    The demon roared with fury, realizing that there was definitely a problem.

    It had always been quick on its feet and extremely intelligent. If not for this, it would have never made it so far and been so persistent.

    Without hesitation, it pierced a claw into its belly, ripping its stomach sack out and throwing it a long distance from itself.

    The demon''s scales became somewhat pale and its aura plummeted, but even still, it only fell from the Quasi Seventh Star to Tier 3 of the Sixth Star. However, it wasn''t paying attention to this at all, its blue eyes having become red with fury as it watched a blob of flesh quickly reform amidst a pillar of gold light, even its stomach sack was absorbed and used to reform the naked body of a familiar young man.

    Leonel fell about a foot from the air, his face pale and his limbs still trembling.

    He had felt every second of himself being eaten alive. It was a feeling that made his body vibrate from head to toe.

    He gripped his fists, his lips far more blue than red and his hair far more white than violet. Even his Dimension had dropped from the Sixth back down to the Fifth.

    He raised his head, meeting the gaze of the cobra demon. At that moment, the cobra demon, who was furious in its own right, trembled.

    The fury in Leonel''s eyes drowned out its own. Fueled by humiliation, Leonel''s rage seemed to want to burn the world to ash.

 Chapter 1604 Spiritual

    Leonel''s body felt like it was breaking apart. It felt like he was a normal mortal man once again and that he hadn''t eaten or had anything to drink in weeks. Not only was his skin pale, his heartbeat was incredibly fast as it tried to move around the limited blood in his body, and his skin practically stuck to his bone.

    He had gone from someone who had more defined muscles and vascularity in a lean frame than most body builders had in their behemoth-like bodies, to a walking, breathing skeleton. Though, even breathing hurt, so the latter might not even be true for very much longer.

    The furious light in his eyes was almost like the smoldering flames of an undead, his sunken features making him look like he was a step away from death.

    The state of the cobra demon couldn''t be considered to be much better. Leonel had left it in a terrible state. Even after taking so much of its blood, he had barely had enough to reform his body. It was clear that the gap in talent between Leonel and the Fiend Class demon was actually enormous, if not for this how could the latter drop down six Tiers, and yet Leonel could still hardly stand? In fact, he hadn''t even been able to maintain his Sixth Dimensional status.

    The cobra demon should have been able to heal an injury as simple as a lost stomach almost instantly. And yet it still stood hunched over in the distance, its eyes and tongue flickering as it kept its gaze locked onto Leonel.

    It was clear that it could seem to heal. However, lingering energies from its near breakthrough into the Chaos Demon Realms was still there. It just needed time to recover and there was about a 10% chance it could still manage to make that final breakthrough.

    However when facing the smoldering fury in Leonel''s eyes, its senses were primed to an extreme, its scales rippling as they moved up and down. It couldn''t even think about a breakthrough right now.

    Best

    It had never seen someone capable of regenerating to such an extent. Even demons, who were especially known for their recovery abilities couldn''t do such a thing.

    Could it be that this boy had that soul separation ability it had heard about?

    But no, that still shouldn''t be possible. Those with that ability needed to take over other bodies, they didn''t even have Ethereal Glabellas as their souls were vessels capable of replacing the function of one. As such, their very essence could be moved from place to place.

    It was possible to create a body for oneself if you had such an ability, but as a human, your ability to do so would be very much lacking in comparison to Spirituals.

    This was because a Spiritual could take raw materials and use their powerful souls to mold it into their image. However, one with this ability wouldn''t necessarily have a soul powerful enough to do this. In addition, even if they did, they would lack the refinement techniques of the Spirituals.

    As such, you would only be able to use crude clone creation methods like Heira. But such clones would only last a few years at best before you would have to create a new one.

    Could it be that this boy was a Spiritual? One that had used the raw materials of its very own body in order to reform his?

    When the cobra demon thought to this point, its body shuddered and its level of seriousness raised by several levels.

    It wasn''t a fool. Leonel didn''t have the aura or smell of a Spiritual. However, when it thought about the fact that Leonel had two Innate Nodes of the number one Fire Force in all of existence, it overrode all of its other thoughts.

    Theoretically, if a Spiritual wanted to, they could construct a body with a human aura. In fact, now that the cobra demon thought about this, wasn''t this a human-lead trial for youths? Could it be that this genius of the Spirituals had masked his real identity in order to sneak in and partake in the secrets of the demons?

    The Spirituals should be far more powerful than humans, though.. Was it even necessary to do such a thing for someone of Leonel''s caliber?

    However, the cobra demon didn''t bother to think so far. Every race had its own internal conflict. For a Spiritual like this boy to have such poor Force control and comprehension, it definitely meant that he had been ostracized by his people. A genius of this level should be able to wipe it out with a single wave of a palm, but clearly this boy could not.

    Plus, if it treated Leonel like a Spiritual genius, it wouldn''t lose out. In fact, its caution would only help it.

    Until now, it had only been toying with the boy, not bringing out even a small fraction of its strength. But now, it would go all out.

    The temperature plummeted and then plummeted once again.

    The pit in the demon''s torso became a block of ice, freezing over all the leaking blood and stopping it in its tracks.

    The cobra demon reached out into seemingly empty space. But at that moment, fine lines of cracks in space appeared and its hand vanished, leaving only its forearm in sight.

    With it pulled back, a menacing weapon slowly manifest inch by inch. It carried with it the wild fluctuations of space.

    A scythe that looked as though it had been carved of black ice made its presence known. Everywhere it swept by, space froze over and cracked. It curved with a murderous aura, blue frost wafting from its body.

    The cobra demon rose to its full height, roaring into the skies above.

    BANG!

    It shot forward like a streak of blue light.

    Leonel was the only thing it could see. This boy was the gate between it and freedom, between it and true power.

    Spiritual or not, it would make sure that this boy felt its pride as a demon.

 Chapter 1605 Demon Blood

    The cobra demon appeared before Leonel in the blink of an eye. The smoldering fire within the latter''s eyes as sharp as blades.

    Leonel took a step to the side, dodging out of the way of the blade.

    He felt like he could finally see again. The slush his mind had been wading through was nowhere in sight. Noбн It was still there, it was just far less capable of affecting him any longer. He could finally think like himself, finally calculate like himself, finally make the world dance in the palm of his hand like himself.

    A spear appeared in his hand as the scythe sliced down a mere inch from his nose.

    He didn''t have the strength to manifest his panda construct. His body was too weak to summon his Bronze Runes. He couldn''t summon his Stars, the pressure he had put on his mind previously to save Aina was far too much, and it only became worse after his soul separated from his body and lost its support.

    The only things that hadn''t abandoned him was his Ability Index, his Innate Nodes, and this spear in his hand.

    His gaze blazed.

    This was more than enough.

    Scarlet Star Force flooded Leonel''s body from his left kidney. At this moment, he was thankful that he hadn''t shattered the seals upon it to the Sixth Dimensional level. With the current state of his body, there was no way that it could handle Sixth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force.

    Flames blazed to life around him. He had never been more focused.

    His spear pierced outward, taking claim of the absolute perfect timing.

    The gaze of the cobra demon flickered. It was surprised by Leonel''s sudden increase in reflexes, what happened?

    However, it didn''t care. It had already approached with the utmost caution. As for these Scarlet Star Force flames? How could they possibly hurt it with such a crude, rudimentary usage?

    The scythe of the cobra demon flipped in its palms, changing the direction of its blade and slicing toward Leonel''s back despite the fact that the demon stood before him.

    The hook of the blade was fully prepared to cut Leonel at the waist, but the latter didn''t even seem to notice in the slightest.

    Destruction Runes flashed in Leonel''s smoldering pupils, the blade of his own blade shifting and perfectly colliding with the polearm of the scythe.

    It looked like a completely useless action, but the small force was enough to carry a bit of extra momentum over to the scythe blade.

    The demon''s original strike had been a downward swing, so now it was actually pulling its scythe upward to deal Leonel a blow. Leonel''s sudden and unpredictable actions cause the demon to overshoot, the hook of its scythe just barely grazing the tips of his hair.

    The demon faltered in its step backward, not having received the resistance it had expected from slicing through Leonel''s waist.

    Due to its caution, it had actually expected Leonel to be able to block this attack, somehow, some way, but what it hadn''t expected was for Destruction Runes to flash in Leonel''s eyes for a mere parrying maneuver.

    Leonel was already moving forward.

    His spear spun in his hand, a wheel of flames forming as he used a technique he hadn''t in a very long time: [Infernal Cyclone]. All he could do now was use these simple techniques he had gained from Valiant Heart Mountain, but in his eyes, they would be more than enough.

    He regretted it. He regretted ignoring his heart and not shooting for first place, for scrounging for what he could instead of ripping away what he wanted.

    A wheel of fire shot forward. Powered by Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force, it tore the ground apart, rushing forward like the wheels of a blazing racecar as it closed the small distance between Leonel and the stumbling cobra demon in an instant.

    Leonel''s spear spun once again, forming another wheel and closing the distance.

    Due to its miscalculation, the cobra demon''s scythe wasn''t in place to block or counter. It could only remove a hand from its polearm and slammed out with a claw.

    ''[Meteoric Impact].''

    Leonel didn''t miss a single beat. Even as the wheels of fire shattered into a rain, he took a strong step forward and he pierced through the fires with a deathly momentum.

    His spear appeared before the cobra demon, but shocking enough, it wasn''t toward any one of its vital points like the demon had expected, but rather right into the block of ice that had blocked up its stomach.

    The cobra demon was smart enough to consider that Leonel might use the first attacks as a cover, Leonel had already done it once, it was very possible that he''d do it again. But it thought that Leonel would attack one of its vital points, not a block of ice.

    Although it was an injury, it wasn''t life threatening. As a Fiend Class demon, even if it didn''t heal it, it would easily survive for decades without its stomach. It just didn''t make sense for Leonel to attack such a thing.

    The tip of Leonel''s spear barely pierced the ice, however this was where the effects of [Meteoric Impact] activated.

    BANG!

    An implosion of fire blasted from the inside out.

    The cobra demon''s eyes widened, coughing up a mouthful of blood as it was blasted backward.

    Leonel''s battle intent blazed as a tempest of flames rose up around him.

    "[Harmonic Spear]."

    His voice was frighteningly cold.

    Best

    At that moment, hundreds of flame clones, each wielding a fiery spear, appeared in the skies.

    The plummeting temperature began to skyrocket. Even if Leonel couldn''t win by quality, he would win by quantity. He still couldn''t understand how this cobra demon was so powerful, even using spatial abilities when it clearly didn''t have such an affinity, but none of that mattered.

    All he wanted right now was for his blade to taste blood. Demon blood.

    His clones all pierced out at once.

 Chapter 1606 Chaos Demon

    The cobra demon''s body rebounded against the barrier even as Leonel''s clones all pierced forward at once.

    It coughed violently again and again.

    Leonel''s spear was hardly strong enough to pierce its block of ice, which went to show just how sturdy it was. However, this was precisely its downfall. Leonel had used its own Force against it, using it as materials for his makeshift grenade.

    Right now, shards of the cobra demon''s own ice had torn into its lungs, its intestines, and most unfortunatelyбн its heart. With how slow its regenerative abilities were now, such a thing was a death sentence unless it could find something to nourish itself.

    But would Leonel allow it such an opportunity?

    It felt that the moment Leonel had reformed his body, it had entered quicksand it couldn''t find its way out of. It found that its suppression of Leonel, at least toward the latter''s mind, was of no use at all. And now that Leonel''s mind was unleashed in full force, it couldn''t keep up with his deductions, and it couldn''t read Leonel''s intentions any longer.

    The cobra demon faced this rain of fire with a look of unwillingness in its eyes.

    How far had it climbed to reach this point? Now it was just a single step from its goal, a single step away from becoming the Chaos Class monster it had always wanted to be, but now it was going to be snatched from it at the finish line?

    No. No! NO!

    The neck of the cobra demon flared, its mouth opening wide. It pushed itself up, a wild mist of frost billowing around it.

    DIE! DIE! DIE!

    Leonel''s clones shattered one after another, the dissipation of one leading to a large impact on the cobra demon''s wild flurry of Force.

    However, Leonel''s expression only remained as cold as ever. When it came to stamina, none could match up to an Innate Node holder, never mind the state the demon was in. This demon was only hastening its death.

    Leonel''s spear spun, releasing [Infernal Clone] after [Infernal Cyclone].

    Bright red-gold wheels shot through the dull ground, grinding the cobra demon down step by step.

    Best

    His spear pierced outward. If he could also use [Vanishing Blade], he could have already ended this battle. But it was impossible for him to manipulate space in his current state, especially not with the crude methods of a technique of Valiant Heart Mountain.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    ROAR!

    The cobra demon ignored everything, not even protecting itself as it started a mad charge toward Leonel.

    Although it had seemed that it could casually deal with Scarlet Star Force, that was all. The cobra demon controlled a mere top 30 Water Force at the Sixth Dimension while Leonel controlled the number one Fire Force at the Fifth Dimension. The former was able to use its expert control and understanding of its Force to make the latter seem useless, but as it ran out of stamina, it became harder and harder.

    So it ignored everything, conserving what was left of its stamina to charge through Leonel''s wall of fire.

    By the time it came out of the other side, it was nothing but a blazing humanoid, its scales, body and flesh quickly charring under in the inferno.

    It swiped at Leonel with its scythe. However, Leonel only flicked out with his spear.

    CRACK!

    In its madness, the cobra demon had forgotten what its scythe was formed out of. Now that it had abandoned all forms of protection, how could the scythe continue to maintain its structural integrity?

    The shards of ice sparkled as they fell through the air. Time seemed slow, the rain of ice twinkling beneath the raging red-gold flames as Leonel''s spear continued its forward sweep, piercing right through the demon''s heart.

    With its scales quickly being destroyed, how could its defenses still be the same?

    The cobra demon fell to its knees before Leonel, blazing in a pillar of fire.

    Its head raised, laughing into the skies. All that effort, tens of thousands of years, countless battles, all to fall here.

    However, at the very least, this vile human wouldn''t gain its body. It would rather burn to ash right here in a final blaze of glory!

    Just as it was about to fall, though, Leonel reached through the flames and grabbed its neck, squeezing down hard.

    He looked down at the cobra demon, meeting its gaze through the raging fires.

    "Did I say that you could die as you pleased? Your corpse is too valuable. Don''t you like to eat people? I''ll make sure to savor you well."

    The flames that the cobra demon found to be impossible to deal with any longer suddenly vanished into wisps of smoke as though they had never been there, leaving behind a half dead, charred demon.

    As the final embers of its life flickered out, the cobra demon couldn''t pull its gaze away from Leonel''s.

    Justбн which of them was the demon, exactly?

    Standing there, as sickly as could be, with barely the strength to even stand, Leonel still somehow felt like a monster it shouldn''t have dared to stand against.

    бн

    At that moment, outside the battlegrounds of top 10 versus demon, the sound of shrieking resounded through the demon world.

    By this point, nine of the top ten had already exited, leaving Leonel as the only one left. Two of these top three had joined up with Thaela as they were members of the Endless Twilight Pavilion.

    However, right this moment, all three were in a bloody mess. Their clothes were shredded to pieces, their tender bodies an unrecognizable, bloodied mess, and all of their lofty arrogance had shrunk to nearly nothing.

    "DEMON!" THAELA SHRIEKED. "YOU''RE NOT A BLOOD SOVEREIGN, YOU''RE A DEMON! DEMON! DEMON!"

    She seemed to have completely lost her mind, unable to even speak in coherent sentences.

    Before her, a beauty of unspeakable proportions stood.

    The white of this beauties eyes had turned completely black, her irises looking like a pool of blood.

    On her back, at the level of her hips, a pair of black wings grew out where her venus dimples would have been.

    Above her head, there was a jet black halo, and out from her tail bone, there was an incredibly thin and sharp tail that grew out like a menacing whip. A twin pair of horns curved out from her forehead, sparking with black lightning from time to time.

    Her body was wrapped in floating black feathers that circulated around her, making it difficult to tell if she was wearing clothes at all. The hints of skin such an appearance revealed was enough to intoxicate all those who saw her, including even women.

    "It was youбн You drove him to such a stateбн You deserveбн a life worse than deathбн"

    A woman by Thaela''s side crushed a talisman. This was already her 10th time doing so, but she kept trying again and again.

    "Master! MASTER! CHAOS DEMONS HAVE INFILTRATED THE FIEND CLASS SECTбк!"

    Just then, the tail of the Chaos Demon whipped outward and a pink tongue flashed into the air, spinning about before plopping to the ground.

    This Chaos Demon swept a sorrowful gaze forward that quickly became frighteningly cold as though she was thinking of other methods to torture these three.

    This Chaos Demon was none other than Aina Brazinger.

 Chapter 1607 Ls Lt You?

    Leonel fell out of the air, landing on the ground with a stumble.

    His lungs felt like they were filled with sand at this point. If it wasn''t because he had a decent amount of strength in his healthy form, he wouldn''t have nearly enough energy left in this state to drag around a Fiend Class demon.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s gaze turned in a certain direction. Over there, a huge pillar of baleful lights swirling in crimson and black swirling like a cyclone. The aura was more powerful than anything he had experienced before in this demon world, so much so that even in this state, he could feel it.

    It had to be understood that right now, Leonel''s couldn''t even use his Internal Sight properly, at least not to his normal exaggerated ranges. When he fought the cobra demon he had focused all the Dream Force stamina he had left in his Ability Index so that he would be able to calculate a path to victory, and that he did.

    But right now, since he didn''t need to fuel his Ability Index to its very peak, he was able to use his Internal Sight to a small extent. But even then, it was just barely in a 100 meter radius.

    If others heard Leonel calling 100 meters a small radius for his Internal Sight, they would be greatly shocked. But truthfully, wasn''t a 100 meters small compared to the over 100 kilometers Leonel was usually capable of? Even his Starry Spirit Domain had had a range a hundred times that, and it was on a level all to its own.

    That pillar was at least 20 kilometers away from Leonel, though, and yet he could still sense it so clearly. He hadn''t even initially been facing that way and could have easily missed it considering his languid state, but it was as though it demanded his attention.

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. This aura wasn''t one he recognized, but the coercion laced through it was something he had only ever felt from Aina.

    When Aina first rid herself of her curse, she had gained a coercion ability that she found difficult to control. Just by existing, her charm could practically enslave the minds of others. When she spoke, her words carried a beauty all to their own. The mental pressure she placed on most was simply on another level, even Leonel was somewhat affected.

    Of course, this was also because Leonel had very deep feelings for Aina to begin with. Normally, such coercion wouldn''t work on him at all.

    Leonel didn''t know exactly what happened between his and Aina''s separation, and their meeting once more. But by then, she had gained perfect control over her coercion and it never leaked again. In fact, she didn''t even use it in battle.

    The last time she used it at all was under Leonel''s request to sing a note to test something, resulting in them creating a powerful combination attack, and attack, without which, they wouldn''t have been able to kill the first lower Fiend Class demon they met in this world. It was thanks to defeating this demon that they gained a small foothold in this world to begin with.

    However, even after this, Aina seemed quite reluctant to use it. That said, Leonel never blamed her because he understood her feelings quite intimately.

    That experience Aina had on Terrain was a heavy scar on her heart. She almost lost her life to the Puppet Master, and that was one thing that she could accept, but what the Puppet Master had wanted to do to her made her freeze up.

    The one dream Aina had outside of revenge for her mother was to have a large family, for her to bask in warmth she had never gotten a chance to experience as a child and live a happy life.

    Although Aina had originally wanted to keep a distance from Leonel when the Metamorphosis descended, this wasn''t because she hadn''t had such hopes buried within her heart, but rather because she wanted to protect Leonelбн a sentiment that waned somewhat the more of his talent he displayed, but never quite fully vanished.

    It could be said that of all of Aina''s hopes, this was the one that ranked second of them all, but it was also the one that acted as the guiding light of her heart. While revenge might have been number one, there was only so much of such darkness a person could take.

    Why else would Aina want to have so many children? She really hadn''t been joking that day, as many children as Leonel was willing to give her, was as many as she would birth. She wanted a family so large that she would never have to experience coldness again.

    And yet, that bright, beautiful hope within her heart, within her soul, was taken, twisted, darkened and perverted by the Puppet Master.

    Back then, it had really seemed like there would be nothing she could do, her body was out of her control and she could only sit, shivering. However, due to a stroke of luck, she had been able to use the effect of her curse to escape.

    But then the bastard appeared again on Earth all while she was in one of her happiest moments with Leonel.

    The Puppet Master once again snatched control of her body away.

    Back then, Leonel hadn''t understood Aina''s thoughts and emotions so deeply, but he had understood enough to be infuriated. He didn''t need to know the details, the fact that someone had made his Aina feel such a way was enough for him to sentence them to death. Soбн

    He dropped a city from the skies.

    Leonel had done everything he could, but since that day, Aina had been very hesitant to use her abilities as a Blood Sovereign, only feeling comfortable enough to when matters were related to Leonel. She had always hated them because of that lack of control she had experienced that day.

    ''бн Is it youбн?''

    Despite only just thinking this, Leonel was already running in that direction. His lungs threatened to stop expanding no matter how hard he breathed, but he just kept running. No matter how weak he was now, 20 kilometers was still a small distance to himбн

    And yet it took almost half an hour before he laid eyes on her.

    The moment he did, his body gave way.

 Chapter 1608 Someone

    Leonel''s consciousness came in and out of focus, he was truly drained. Even his usually endless Dream Force was tapped out. The process of fully separating his soul from his body was definitely incredibly taxing and it felt even much like something that shouldn''t have happened at all. However, when that was stacked atop of what he had experienced before, it really pushed him over the edge.

    He had only managed to run so far out of sheer will and he wasn''t even 100% certain if what he expected to find on the other side would be that.

    However, before he could hit the ground, he found himself enveloped by a soft embrace.

    The moment Leonel appeared, Aina had sensed it immediately and rushed over. She seemed to blink away from her location, nothing but a tornado of black feathers being left as a marker for her former appearance. When she appeared once more, she had already caught Leonel.

    Those black feathers that had wrapped around her, dancing about in a pattern around her, was a defense the three women had become intimately familiar with. It was as though they couldn''t pass through it no matter how hard they tried.

    However, at that moment, they didn''t harm Leonel in the slightest, allowing his head to pass through as though they weren''t there at all.

    Aina''s expression flickered. Leonel looked so sickly and weak.

    The first emotion she felt with excitement, but then when she said his state she felt worry, and very soon that became an unbridled rage.

    "DIE!"

    In her fury, her tail whipped out and shot through the skulls of the three women in one sweeping motion that was no less sharp than a flexible sword.

    As though a disk had run through their foreheads, their expressions froze in horror before their bodies plopped to the ground with a dull, wet sound.

    Aina held Leonel in her arms and shivered when she realized that he had actually fallen to the Fifth Dimension. Just what had happened to him?

    Her gaze landed on the demon he had been dragging behind him. Was it because of this demon?

    Her demonic eyes flickered with rage.

    She couldn''t refine this demon to help Leonel. In his current state, there was no way that he could handle a Force Pill on this level.

    One had to remember just the kind of violent upheaval Leonel''s body underwent whenever he swallowed these pills. Even in his peak state, it was like he swallowed a mountain and his digestive system was placed under a great amount of stress. Most importantly, it was mostly because of his Tier 4 Control Ability Index that he was able to lower much of the risk.

    However, if he swallowed even a lower Fiend Class Force Pill in this state, he would end up ripping a hole through his body. It definitely wasn''t an easy feat to improve your foundation, it needed one to have decent enough talent to begin with and a tremendous amount of focus.

    Leonel needed something more delicate to absorb.

    Aina''s brows furrowed, but this didn''t last too long. She placed a hand on Leonel''s chest and a strong Life Force began to pulse. She reached out another hand toward the demon''s corpse and it was quickly sucked dry before it began to be quickly refined.

    Aina''s expression flickered. This demon looked like any other higher Fiend Class demon, but there was something different about its insides. It was actually on the verge of becoming a Chaos Class demon and it had even started the process, but for some reason it had halted.

    After thinking to this point, Aina thrust away all other distracting thoughts.

    By now, her skill in manipulating Blood Force had skyrocketed. Since Leonel could absorb it on his own, she would just have to break it down into bite sized pieces he could absorb. It was as simple as that. Even the Aurora Black Panther''s Life Steal abilities were nothing compared to her.

    Leonel quickly began to regain some color.

    His skin gained some luster, no longer sticking to his bone. His white hair and eyes began to slowly regain their pale violet hues and the faint light they usually emitted. And, his muscles returned inch by inch as though vegetation that had finally been watered.

    Leonel''s consciousness, which had been fading in and out, regained some of its focus, his heart skipping a beat.

    Though it seemed like he had only lost consciousness just now, it was far worse than that. If not for someone''s action, he would have died.

    His body was running on empty and it could be said that the only thing still running was his soul, but once he ran out of Dream Force, wouldn''t it also be running on empty? If his body and soul hit a wall, what was there left if not death?

    Both needed to be functioning properly for Leonel to hold onto his life.

    Normal humans of the Human Domain had their souls and bodies fused into one, so once the body died, the soul would die as well. Likewise, if one met a Spiritual capable of targeting one''s soul, death would also be the only path forward.

    However, the separation of Leonel''s soul and body meant that he had some leeway. His body could be pushed to the brink of death and he would be able to bring it back with his soul. At the same time, his soul could be brought to the brink of death and he could use his body to bring it back.

    The only caveat was that his Ethereal Glabella had to remain intact. It was the link that chained the both. Without it, there was only death waiting for him.

    ''Waitбн someone?''

    Leonel started and his head shot up to final a demonic pair of eyes looking back at him. Its whites were completely black and the irises were entirely crimson.

    Aina, who hadn''t been ready for Leonel to suddenly wake up, panicked, trying to hide her face.

 Chapter 1609 Became...

    Leonel blinked. He looked Aina up and down, his gaze not giving much of his thoughts away.

    Horns? Black halo? Wings at waist level? A tail? Black feather tornado in place of clothes? Big, really big, soft breastsбн Wait, those had already been there before.

    Leonel''s gaze sparkled.

    "First a vampire girlfriend, now a succubus girlfriend? Raj would be jealous enough to jump off the nearest cliff."

    Leonel laughed so hard that his voice boomed across the skies, much of his power seemingly having returned to his body. He almost immediately began to play with Aina''s wings and tail, just to make sure they were real and that he wasn''t dreaming.

    How had he hit such a jackpot?

    As for Aina''s embarrassment, he couldn''t even be bothered with it. Funny enough, the first time Leonel learned that Aina could absorb the blood of others, she had reacted like this as well, scared of how he would take it. Clearly, she hadn''t learned her lesson.

    Leonel had two loves in life. Cool uniforms and monster girls. He could already envision Raj''s furious howl at the unfairness of it all.

    Aina squirmed, moving her hands from her face. Her winds and tail were exceptionally powerful in battle, but when Leonel touched them like that it made her feel odd sorts of stimulation she had never experienced before.

    Quickly, she retracted it all, running away from Leonel''s touch. At that moment, the black feathers rotating around her and hiding much of her decency shrank and latched onto her skin, becoming a gorgeous black full body armor that glided down the grace of her curves. If one looked closely, it almost looked as though she had forged this full body flexible armor out of the scales of a mighty black dragon.

    Seeing Aina''s tail, wings and horn all disappear at once, Leonel practically pouted.

    "There should be laws against this kind of thing," he mumbled.

    Aina was truly speechless when she heard this, but she couldn''t help but break out into a smile. As expected, the one who always made her feel the most comfortable in her skin was Leonel.

    Whether her face was scared, whether she could drink blood, whether she quite literally became a demon, he didn''t even seem to care, nor did he ask how any of it had happened. He just continued to have that same childish grin on his face.

    If not for the crossroads they had reached those years ago, just how deep would their relationship be right now? She simply couldn''t see herself with any other man.

    "Stop playing around, I haven''t finished healing you yet."

    Aina had barely managed to awaken Leonel. Even now, he was still quite sickly and had only regained enough energy to be somewhat lively, but not enough to return to his peak.

    "Yes, ma''am," Leonel obediently placed his head on Aina''s lap as though this was some sort of punishment.

    Aina began the procedure once more, slowly nurturing Leonel step by step.

    "Aren''t you going to ask?" Aina asked after a while.

    "Ask about what?" Leonel blinked.

    Aina rolled her eyes. Sometimes this man was truly too dense.

    "Oh? You mean about the succubus mommyбкI mean demon morphing thing?"

    Leonel coughed. It just slipped out, truly. They weren''t even his words, nor did he have such a fetish. It was just something that Raj had repeated so many times he had subconsciously blurted them out. He was in a delirious half-dead state, he deserved this kind of free pass.

    Aina burst into another fit laughter. "I didn''t know you had such hidden fetishes. I was actually planning to learn the whip as my next weapon, are you interested?"

    Leonel was speechless for a moment before we recovered.

    "I think between the both of us, we know who the real masochist is."

    Aina suddenly blushed profusely. She had never told Leonel that, did he just figure it out on his own?

    Of course, in the past, Leonel''s mind hadn''t been sharp enough to pick up on it. But with his impeccable memory and his strengthened mind, he could easily see through things he hadn''t been able to see through before. In this arena, he was undefeated.

    However, what Aina didn''t realise was that when Leonel said masochist, he was actually referring to Aina''s training methods. But when she suddenly blushed like that, a spark went off in his Dreamscape that he couldn''t ignore.

    "Huh?" Leonel''s brows shot up.

    ? Leonel was about to say something, but he found a firm hand had been placed over his mouth and a murderous glint in Aina''s eye as she looked down at him.

    In the end, Leonel could only cough lightly and pretend as though he hadn''t seen a single thing. But inwardly, he was grinning like a madman.

    "It''s the Silver Empire."

    "Hm?"

    Leonel looked up to meet Aina''s again. She had gone back to focusing on helping him heal, but she still began to talk.

    "When I was with my dad, I entered a Zone with the youths of the Three Pillar Sector. That was a remnant Zone of the dead Silver Empire. It was incredibly dangerous and very distorted, and we almost died. However, inside, I was able to receive a legacy that I didn''t really fully understand.

    "When I was meditating on the Blood Sovereign Gold Tablet, though, I finally made a breakthrough and I understood something. The things that had confused me about the original legacy finally made sense and it all clicked.

    "When I took the legacy out to confirm, I realized that I was underground and you weren''t there anymore. But when I broke out from the earth to try and find you, the legacy began to frenziedly absorb the Anarchic Force in this demon world and it resonated with something within me.

    "I hadn''t expected it to happen, because according to the legacy, it was exceptionally tyrannical and should have been difficult to grasp even with my comprehension. But something triggered that made it all happen automatically.

    "Before I could understand what happened, my body had completely changed and the first genius I ran into here ran away screamingбн

    "That I''d become a Chaos Demon."

    Leonel fell into silenceбн The Silver Empire?

 Chapter 1610 Silver Empire

    Leonel kept hearing the name of this empire come up again and again. But oddly enough, the Void Palace hadn''t had much information on it. One would think that one of the most powerful Empires of the Human Domain would be well documented. After all, wasn''t the point of the Void Palace to act as an alliance of humans?

    But if what Aina was saying was true, maybe it was the case that the Silver Empire was destroyed because of their connection to demons? This wasn''t impossible considering the situation in this Zone and how the two races seemed to be like fire and water. This would also explain why Leonel didn''t understand anything about this Zone despite the fact he believed it might be Mythological.

    If the history of the Silver Empire was mostly erased outside of some vague information passed by word of mouth from time to time, then it was highly likely that any fairy tale this world was based on could have been erased as well, if for nothing other than to hide the connection.

    But there was a very glaring issue with all of thisбн

    If the Silver Empire could form Chaos Demons, Leonel didn''t believe for a single second that the powers of the Human Domain could ever destroy them.

    Just from these last few weeks of interacting with Fiend Class Demons, Leonel realized just how large the gap was. If Leonel had to rank himself, he was probably somewhere between a Middle and Higher Fiend Class demon in talent and strength, and he could use his mind and tricks to bridge the gap.

    Simply put, if the Silver Empire had been formed of a bunch of Leonel''s, how could the Human Domain have possibly destroyed them?

    Of course, Leonel thought of the possibility that they had actually been destroyed by another race, but he threw that idea out immediately.

    If another race infiltrated the Human Domain deeply enough to destroy the Silver Empire, why would the Human Domain even still exist at all? And even if Leonel was willing to accept that their only target was the Silver Empire and they left everyone else alone, that wouldn''t explain why much of the Silver Empire''s history had been wiped.

    The only thing that made sense was that the humans themselves wiped out the Silver Empireбн But even that was lacking because the strength Leonel had seen humans display until now shouldn''t be enoughбн

    In that case, it was likely a complex cobweb of internal strife and external pressure that led to their collapse. Things were rarely, if ever, just one dimensional in their complexity, especially when the topic was real world politics, powers and organizations.

    There was also one more possibility that Leonel hadn''t fully considered as well.

    ''Let''s say that the Silver Empire really was able to access the strength of demons in all their glory and they also had little to no internal strifeбкor at the very least, not enough to cause them to collapse. How, then, would they have fallen to humans?

    ''It''s very much possible that the core difference here isn''t in being a demon, but ratherбн Force manipulation.''

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, a possibility coming to him.

    Why was it that he struggled so much against the cobra demon? Of course that demon was very physically strong, but what really set it apart was its magnificent use of Force. It took a fairly ordinary Force and turned it into an insurmountable mountain Leonel couldn''t even climb.

    Thankfully, dying had been the catalyst for Leonel''s soul to separate from his body, resulting in his mind gaining a boost that made him immune to the demon''s suppression of it. But that was ultimately the largest issue by far.

    From what Leonel had seen, though, the Human Domain didn''t have such Force manipulation abilities at all. Could it be, then, that the demons of the Silver Empire hadn''t been as towering and undeafeatable as the demons in this Zone?

    If that was the case, things would make a little bit more sense and the humans might have been able to destroy the Silver Empire given enough willingness to sacrifice.

    There was a very easy method of telling, though. Leonel didn''t really have to guess.

    "How powerful are you now?" Leonel asked.

    Considering Aina had killed those three, including Thaela who Leonel couldn''t do anything against, her strength should be very great.

    "Don''t overestimate me too much," Aina laughed lightly. "I might have killed those three, but the truth is that there was a huge battle royale that broke out before you returned."

    "Oh?"

    "Yes. A lot of the top 10 came out in quick succession, the gap between them was very small. So, obviously, those that lost out wanted to fight for the chance they lost out on.

    "There was a huge battle in the center of the world and they all ended up heavily injured. Half of those injuries on them weren''t even caused by me to begin with.

    "They caught sight of me afterward when the fighting was finished. They thought the gap was large enough that they didn''t have to worry about their injruies, but luckily they were wrong.

    "Right now, I probably just caught up to you again. I didn''t have enough time to meditate on the Gold Tablet any more, but there should be a lot of room to improve. I''ve noticed that this world has a very unique method of using Force that I still can''t quite understand, do you?"

    Leonel fell into silence hearing this question.

    First, Aina''s words confirmed that she, and likely the Silver Empire, were unable to pull out the greatest strength of their demon bodies. That leaves a path for the humans to kill them.

    But secondly, it seemed that she had noticed what he had as well.

    "I''ve been thinking about that too, and I think I probably have an answer, but its really complicated. I''m not quite sure how to take the first step. But if I were to explain it as simply as possibleбн Why are Weapon Forces the only ones that can evolve? It''s likely that all Forces have an evolution path."

 Chapter 1611 Force Manipulation

    Aina''s eyes lit up, but she didn''t interrupt Leonel.

    "But I also don''t think it''s that simple. There''s a fundamental difference between Weapon Forces and other Forces, and that''s that Weapon Forces all start from the foundational Dimension."

    Aina frowned. Didn''t all Forces do that? Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force was the perfect example. If not, he wouldn''t have to undo the seals step by step. If it was someone else, Aina would have probably interrupted, but Leonel wasn''t someone who would make such a rudimentary mistake, so she just continued to listen.

    "When you look at other Forces, it feels like that happens as well, but it feels likeбн a rubber band," Leonel chose this example after a while. "The stronger the Force, the tighter and thicker the rubber. It''s harder to stretch, but it''s also more resilient at greatest length, it also stores up more energy per length stretched.

    "If you take a normal Fire Force and you compare it to Scarlet Star Force, the latter is the far thicker and more powerful rubber band, even right from the start. If you stretch it a single inch, and let''s say that inch represents the Third Dimension, if I release it, which rubber band will fly further and have greater impact is obvious.

    "But the starting point, from the very beginning, is different.

    "For some Forces, if you stretch it past a certain point, rather than producing more powerful effects, the rubber band will snap. There are just certain levels of power it won''t be able to reach no matter what. That''s the most ultimate truth.

    "Take my Dark Ice Force, for example. It''s a Fifth Dimensional Forceбн"

    Aina''s brows jumped up when she heard that. She hadn''t even thought about it before, but the moment Leonel mentioned Dark Ice Force, things suddenly started falling into place.

    That was right. Some Forces were considered to be of certain Dimensions. And yet, higher Dimensional individuals used them all the timeбн What did that mean?

    "бн As a Fifth Dimensional Force, that should be its maximum output. I can''t really apply more strength to it. Howeverбн I fused my Dark Ice Divine Armor with an Evolution Ore, allowing it to display power comparable to the Sixth Dimension.

    "Ironically, because of that, it''s taken me longer than usual to realize the problem. My Dark Ice Force is quasi Sixth Dimensional thanks to Evolution Ore, my Ethereal Star Force is Seventh Dimensional, my Scarlet Star Force is Ninth Dimensionalбн I haven''t reached the end of any one of those rubber bands yet, not even close for some, so I''ve never noticed the drop off in power before, or even had to find a way to strengthen the rubber bandsбн

    "Weapon Forces are different, though. You notice the end of the rubber band almost immediately. You''re forced to find a path ahead for it, because if you don''t, it quickly becomes useless. Level by level, you''re forced to push forward.

    "I''ve honestly wondered why it is that everyone in the Human Domain uses a Weapon Force of some kind. Not everyone is destined to use a weapon, there have to be other paths. But the moment I step into this Zone with such high level attainments in Force manipulation, I ran into the first and only "mage" I''ve ever run into outside of the Camelot Zone."

    Of course, this mage Leonel was referring to was Aina''s senior and a member of the Endless Twlight Pavilion.

    "But I think I understand now. In our world, weapons are the only way to push past this bottleneck for people who aren''t born with obscenely powerful affinities. Most won''t have an Innate Node like mine, or even an affinity a step or two below.

    "Even the very best Lineage Factors of the Human Domain are only Seventh Dimensional. My Metal Synergy Lineage Factor has an Eighth Dimensional door, but when I asked the dictionary about it, it triggered a video from my dad and this is apparently a secret I have to keep no matter what.

    "If you''re in a world where the Seventh Dimension is almost a cap, then even in the Void Palace, the top level geniuses usually, at best, control Sixth Dimensional Forces.

    "When you combine that with the fact that humans haven''t consolidated their talents and focused on one or two Lineage Factors across the board, it makes us even weaker.

    "I don''t think it''s a coincidence that the strongest families in the Human Domain are the Morales and Suiard families who both have powerful Weapon Force Lineage Factors. That''s where their advantage lies from the very beginning.

    "Even the Archer''s Alliance would be right there if not for what happened with the White Lion Bow.

    "It''s not because Weapon Forces are more powerful, it''s because Weapon Forces are the only ones with an easy and logical progression toward the next step. In addition, there''s a large number of masters one can pull inspiration from as well, whereas for other Forces, it''s not so streamlined at all.

    "This should also be another reason why humans are so weak compared to the other racesбн

    "And if I''m correct, this is indeed a Mythological Zone, but rather than displaying the use of a normal Magic System, this one is a layer deeper than normal, displaying, instead, a universal method of manipulating and using Forces of all kinds.

    "I don''t think the two of us are any less talented than Chaos Demons. What we lack are two things: Foundation and Force Manipulation. The first can be fixed by absorbing refined demons. The latter, though, is more complicated.

    "If this is a ubiquitous method of this Zone, I should have already run into methods in the previous exchange stores I visited, but I didn''t. I also didn''t find anything in the Oliidark family''s libraries either.

    "It''s likely that just like what I faced in the Camelot Zone, there''s only one method to get the true Magic System of this Zone. But since we''ve already failed this Zone, that opportunity is gone. So there''s only one option leftбн"

    Aina looked down at Leonel who was still on her lap. "We have to figure it out ourselves."

    Leonel nodded.

    He wasn''t feeling too terrible about this, wasn''t this what he was already doing with his Spear Force? He had seen enough examples by now to start figuring this out slowly.

    Leonel rose to his feet, feeling like he was brimming with power.

    "Let''s go to the highest level store before they boot us out of this world. Then we can leave this Zone for good."

    "Wait," Aina said for a moment before going to Thaela''s corpse.

    Without flinching, Aina shot a hand through Thaela''s chest and pulled out a bloody lump before handing it to Leonel.

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

    In his hand, an Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node sat.

 Chapter 1612 Absolute Necessity

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat when he saw what it was, but he also smiled bitterly inwardly. He hadn''t even caught the faintest inkling that Thaela had an Innate Node. This meant that against him, she couldn''t even be bothered to use it. It seemed that even though it seemed as though she had been going all out, her pride since caused her to hold back somewhat

    Yet, it was this very same Thaela that was only ranked 13th and even ended up losing when she ganged up on the others with her two seniors. It was quite difficult to accept, even if this was a Zone based on a fairy tale like Leonel speculated.

    In the end Leonel sighed.

    "Fusing with Innate Nodes is too much of a crapshoot. Even after decades, Myghell couldn''t even use a fraction of mine properly. I doubt this Innate Node will be very helpful to me," Leonel said lightly.

    "Still, it suits you far better than it does me. Anyone who tries to fuse with a Dream Force Innate Node like that one without the affinity would be asking to suffer."

    Leonel nodded lightly. That much was true. The only reason Myghell had even been able to make some use of his Innate Node was because he had high Light and Star Force affinity to begin with and he had the help of the Bronze Tablet to further help him and improve said Light affinity.

    In addition, Myghell''s Ability Index allowed him to devour and improve his affinities. So with innate Light and Star Force affinity, he just needed to focus on improving his Fire Force affinity. By then, it wasn''t impossible for him to make good use of Leonel''s Innate Node.

    In fact, now that Leonel thought about it, Myghell''s use of his Scarlet Star Force was actually still far beyond his own.

    According to what he knew, Myghell had spent a very long time at the peak of the Fifth Dimension. Since he had no other methods to improve, he focused everything on improving his Lineage Factor and studying "his" Innate Node.

    The result of that was quite magical. Even in the Fifth Dimension, he was able to kill the Patriarch of the Viola who had been nearing the peak of the Sixth Dimension with a single strike. This was something even the current Leonel wasn''t entirely certain he could accomplish.

    Back then, Myghell hadn''t even circulated Scarlet Star Force, he simply sent out a sword strike. In fact, it wasn''t even in his strongest state. Back then, he had used his flexible sword, but his strongest weapon was a heavy sword. In addition, he hadn''t revealed his White Stone Elephant Lineage Factor either. And yet, he was able to display so much strength.

    It was clear that Myghell''s years of meditation on Leonel''s Innate Node had yielded some excellent benefits. If not for Leonel taking his Innate Node and severing his path forward, it was hard to tell just how powerful Myghell would be now.

    Leonel sighed. He actually felt quite bad about that looking back.

    Back then, he was still furious about a number of things, so although he did see Myghell''s perspective, he still didn''t care to cater to it too much. It could be said that his mind was still in quite some disarray.

    ''I wasбн No, I still am too immature.''

    Leonel looked up into the skies, clutching the Innate Node.

    "Leonel? Are you okay?"

    Aina seemed to notice that something was off.

    Leonel looked toward Aina, his eyes softening and a sudden overwhelming feeling overcoming him. He reached out and grabbed her waist, pressing his lips to hers.

    ? Aina was taken aback, but still melted into Leonel''s embrace.

    Maybe only the two of them could be so carefree amidst a liter of corpses, flesh and blood around them.

    When Leonel pulled back, Aina seemed to be out of breath, her gaze misty as she looked up at him. Her heart bloomed with happiness, feeling as though she was walking on air.

    "Let''s leave this place," Leonel said lightly.

    Aina nodded. But quite frankly, it seemed that she would have nodded just the same even if Leonel''s words had asked her to walk into the fiery pits of hell with him. Although they didn''t exchange such words, it was clear that both of them had the resolve to follow the other to the ends of the earth.

    Leonel waved a hand and claimed Thaela''s spatial ring, finding a vial of blood within it. After a small procedure, he finally finished what he needed to and a portal appeared, transporting both himself and Aina away with a single step. Since the process was so elaborate to begin with, they didn''t need to exchange any points at all.

    When their eyes cleared, the two found themselves in a room of white marble. White marble floors, ceiling, walls, and counters.

    There didn''t seem to be anything in this space, but it only took a single sweep for Leonel to find several complex and hidden Force Arts. It seemed that this place worked similarly to how the odd space he had first met Uncle Montez in. If he wanted something, he would have to ask for it.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, this made things more complicated. It would be easy to miss out on things like this, that would be unfortunate.

    He had already birthed a certain phobia of missing out on things ever since he stepped into the Dimensional Verse. However, with this thought in mind Leonel''s gaze only sharpened. With his mind working even faster, he wanted to see if there was really anything he would miss out on.

    He had enough points to rank in the top ten, and Aina had just killed three top 13 individuals. Between the two of them, they had more points than even first place by quite a large margin. There shouldn''t be anything they wouldn''t be able to exchange for.

    ''First, let''s start with the absolute necessity. After that, we''ll go through all the things we need one by one, and if we run out of Demon Points, we''ll order them priority and only buy the top of the list first.''

    Leonel nodded to himself and spoke. "Show me all of your Seventh Star Spatial Force Ores with extremely stable chemical structures and sturdiness."

 Chapter 1613 First On The List

    Leonel smiled when he saw the selections. The prices were better than he thought. Even the most expensive was a shade under a billion or so. Since his and Aina''s wealth amounted to nearly two trillion, this could be considered chump change.

    ''Excellent.''

    Leonel didn''t need to pick the most powerful here, he just needed the one most compatible with his current materials. After picking out an Ore that went by the name of Starlight Spatial Ward, a Domain Type Ore which was known for its defensive spatial abilities, Leonel nodded to himself.

    With this secured, their escape from this Zone was guaranteed. It would all depend on him, but he didn''t even consider for a single moment that he would fail. His calculations should be correct.

    "Aina."

    "Hm?"

    "Because we have to ask for the things we want to appear, it''ll be easy to miss out on things if we aren''t careful. And we also have a limited number of funds. Though the ore was inexpensive comparatively speaking, I doubt that things will remain like this. So let''s test things one by one and make a list. Once we run out of ideas, we can order things based on priority and buy the things we really need first."

    "Okay, I agree." Aina nodded.

    "What do you need?"

    Aina''s gaze flickered. "I have my hands full with the Blood Sovereign Tablet. The methods and techniques within it are almost too numerous and I need to start from the very basics and work my way up. I have a feeling that the secrets of Force manipulation you were talking about would be revealed step by step so long as I''m patient too, so I''m not very interested in techniques, or at least not supplemental techniques or ones that provide auxiliary boosts to power.

    "If I were to choose techniques, they would be for my battle ax. Everything else is covered in the Blood Sovereign Tablet.

    "Also my body has a ridiculous amount of potential right now after it underwent that evolution, I even feel that my Abyssal Panther bloodline was purged. I can''t sense it anymore, so I don''t feel like I need Fiend Class Force Pills eitherбн"

    "What about your mental coercion?" Leonel asked.

    "Thatбн" Aina hesitated. "бн I believe the Blood Sovereign Tablet talks about it as well. In fact, half of the Tablet is related to that."

    "I seeбн" Leonel nodded.

    It really did seem that Aina had all of her bases covered. And although she mentioned battle ax techniques, she didn''t seem very interested in them either. Aina didn''t seem to like to be restrained by techniques and her fighting style was incredibly free flowing.

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. It seemed that it would be difficult to find things that it would make sense to give Aina.

    In the past, he wanted her to take more advantage of her bloodline absorption abilities, but now that she had gained the body of a Chaos Demon, even that was no longer necessary.

    "An Innate Node, maybe?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    Aina raised an eyebrow. "Is that even possible?"

    Leonel laughed. "Why not try? Show us your Innate Nodes."

    Leonel didn''t actually expect much, but his breathing hitched in the next second. Just what kind of Zone was this?!

    Before him, an array of Innate Nodes appeared. While none of them were on the level of his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, there was no doubt that each one would cause a war in the Human Domain. Innate Nodes were so incredibly rare, how could they just casually appear here in such numbers?

    Soon, Leonel calmed.

    Things still weren''t so exaggerated. There were a little under two dozen of them, and even the best of them was only of Sixth Dimensional Forces. Still, Leonel couldn''t help but be shocked, especially since they were only about 10 billion Demon Points each.

    None of these were worth trading for Aina and none were worthy of her level of talent, but this sudden change really shifted Leonel''s perspective. This worldбн it could accomplish things he could even properly fathom. If it could manifest so many Innate Nodes for him to choose from, then just what kind of things could he exchange for here?!

    This would absolutely change everything.

    It suddenly struck Leonel. If there were so many Innate Nodes here, then maybeбн?

    "Show me your Innate Node incorporation methods."

    Leonel waited, staring daggers at the counters of marble, and just as expected, the lights began to flash one by one.

    "They really do existбн" Leonel whispered, turning his gaze to Aina.

    The two looked toward one another and smiled. It seemed that there were truly higher level methods of fusing with Innate Nodes that existed. This meant that Thaela''s Innate Node wouldn''t have to go to waste. In addition, if Leonel ran into any enemies with Innate Nodes in the future, he would be able to pass them along to his brothers and friends.

    The prices of these methods made Leonel''s heart ache somewhat, though. While he didn''t have to pick the most expensive of the others, when it came to techniques, the more expensive, the higher quality it was.

    In this case, the most expensive one here was just over 100 billion. That was already a 20th of Leonel and Aina''s wealth if they traded for it.

    Leonel shook his head and added it to a mental list. In all likelihood, he would definitely have to buy such a thing. Thaela''s Innate Node was truly too compatible with him, but if he casually fused with it like Myghell had with his own, then it would end up becoming a hindrance instead of a help.

    It had to be remembered that while Myghell had been a step away from the Sixth Dimension for so long, the Innate Node within him was still Fourth Dimensional. This showed the problem with a poor fusion method.

    "Alright, this can definitely be added to this list. What else?" Leonel''s gaze turned serious.

    "Why don''t you look for things that can help your Tentacle Womb and the golden-scaled koi fish to evolve? They''re still too limited by their current strength."

    Hearing Aina''s words, Leonel''s gaze lit up.

 Chapter 1614 Gap

    Indeed. The abilities of the Tentacle Womb and the Golden Scaled Koi Fish were astounding, but the limitations were too great. In order to garner real benefits from them, it would take decades, maybe even centuries of effort.

    If Leonel had the behemoth of the Morales family behind him, it would be easy to invest that kind of time. But if he wanted such a thing, he would first need to earn it, which would ironically require the help of the Tentacle Womb and Golden Scaled Koi Fish to begin with.

    While Leonel was quite confident in his own power, the talent of the Morales family Heirs wasn''t to be looked down upon.

    Leonel felt that he should probably be able to contend with Sector Ranked disciples now, but not all Sector Ranked disciples were created equal, especially not Sector Ranked disciples that were from the Morales family of all families.

    There was a reason the Morales family was considered to be maybe the strongest family of the Human Domain. To share both their Lineage Factors in one body was a testament to the fact you wielded great talent, and yet that was just the prerequisite to fight for the right to be an Heir.

    In truth, had Leonel not improved his own strength so much, the gap might have been too large to even think of crossing. Now that he had, though, he finally stood a great chance.

    Even so, this was just the perspective of individual power. When it came to factions and backing, Leonel was even further behind than that.

    The majority of Leonel''s brothers hadn''t even been able to enter the Void Palace, his maternal family was a mere Sixth Dimensional family, and the faction that he was still trying to build up with the Oryx and the Umbra family was still in an extremely fledgling state.

    The Oryx hadn''t even really chosen to follow him yet and he could only be considered to have the backing of one of their princes. And the Umbra family was far weaker than even the Luxnix, at least on the surface.

    It had to be remembered that the Umbra family was one that had broken away from the Three Finger Cult and they had the first stage of the Dark half of Leonel''s Lineage Factor, the Shadow Tail Lineage Factor.

    The power they had should mostly be hidden since they had managed to run from the Three Finger Cult, but this also meant that making use of them was a double edged sword.

    To make matters worse, Leonel knew too little about how his cousins were fairing. What was the depth of their strength? What trump cards did they hold? He didn''t even really understand them.

    All he knew was that his first cousin, First Nova, had done him a favor by influencing the Void Senate. This meant that he had connections far loftier than Leonel could imagine.

    Then there was Fourth Nova who had tied Aina to that contract. It seemed that Leonel had easily foiled him, but despite the fact Fourth Nova had had a year to make another move and did nothing, it made Leonel wonder if his true goal was really to poach away Aina at all.

    Leonel was right to worry about such things. There was still Second Nova who had a ridiculously wide reconnaissance network that had managed to find out that Third Nova was scheming against the Unfettered Blade Party to deal with the Stalwart Polearm Partyбн And yet Leonel hadn''t even detected Second Nova even once, nor did any of them know what Third Nova had been planning that day when he forced Leonel''s batch into the Rapax Nest.

    Each one seemed more mysterious than the last and even if Leonel felt confident in at least defeating some of them in one on one combat, what good was that in an Heir War that tested one in all aspects? Not to mention the fact that even he wouldn''t say that he could defeat them all.

    Then there was still Fifth and Sixth Nova on top of that!

    The Void Palace had very few records on the Morales family''s Heir Wars, at least not in any real detail. However, the things they had described made it clear that the name War was not chosen lightly. When the Morales Heir Wars began, it would sweep up the whole Human Domain.

    Just take the Valiant Heart Mountain organization as an example. An organization so far away, and so many galaxies separated from the Morales family, had actually participated as well.

    When things were looked at like this, Leonel was so far behind that it was hard to put in just a few words.

    So when he heard what Aina said, he nodded immediately.

    "Show me what you have to improve beasts."

    Leonel already had the Silver Tablet, so he had a shortcut to evolving the two of them. But he didn''t allow this to cloud his judgment. He wanted to first understand what methods this world had so that he didn''t bias the suggestions too much.

    But in choosing to do things this way, Leonel quickly realized that he had actually made his ask far too broad. There were too many things and most of them didn''t even have what he needed.

    Taking his time, Leonel asked question after question, narrowing down the lists before him and making adjustments based on what appeared. Eventually, he came to a few solutions.

    The first was that refined demons were a viable option here. Much like refined demon Force Pills helped him and Aina, they would also be able to help here as well.

    The second option was the Beast Crystals of like beasts. This was an excellent option as well, especially when paired with the Silver Tablet.

    Usually, absorbing Beast Crystals only came with a percentage chance of receiving the effects you wanted, but the Silver Tablet made it guaranteed. This was how Leonel was able to give Gil his crimson lightning.

    The third option was fascinating as well, and it was the most complex. However, if it worked, its benefits would be the greatestбн And that was to allow the Tentacle Womb and Golden Scaled Koi Fish to form Star Runes.

 Chapter 1615 Formation

    The Force Manipulation abilities of this world had been at the forefront of Leonel''s mind for a long while already, and he knew that if he wanted to reach the level of power he sought after, he would definitely have to grasp such abilities.

    Somehow, the further depth of comprehension one gained in this world, they seemed to be capable of displaying abilities further outside the realms their Forces were usually constrained to.

    Leonel had a certain hypothesis, and he felt that it might be correct. Maybe the reason why it was possible to cross Dimensional barriers to do battle at all was because his world hadn''t grasped these abilities as they should.

    From the very beginning, Leonel had understood that Dimensions weren''t simple power levels. They were a qualitative change of being. A Fourth Dimensional existence should be able to crush a Third Dimensional existence no matter how talented the latter was. That was what science said.

    However, the likes of Leonel and Aina always seemed capable of breaking these rules.

    Leonel didn''t really understand why this was until something clicked.

    Why was it that even when his mind was in the Seventh Dimension, everyone saw him as a Sixth Dimensional existence? What about in the past when both his mind and body had entered the Fourth Dimension, and yet everyone still thought he was in the Third Dimension? Why was it that only when his internal Force entered a new Dimension, would he be seen as being at that level?

    When you asked this question, then you thought about Leonel''s hypothesis, and then you connected that with the Force Manipulation abilities of this Zone, things began to slowly sink into place one by oneбн

    Force was the most important factor in one''s strength, and the degree to which you could use it was what truly dictated what state of Dimension you had reached.

    Regardless of how strong Leonel''s mind or his body, all of the Force he used was still firmly in the Sixth Dimension.

    [Author''s Note: I think I forgot to write that Leonel recovered to the Sixth Dimension after absorbing the cobra demon, so just assume that happened. Forgive me]

    But when Leonel fought Thaela and his mind worked slower than it should, or when he fought the cobra demon and his Scarlet Star Force felt even weaker than normal Third Dimensional fires, why was thatбн?

    Well, if you thought about it, was that what true suppression between the Dimensions should feel like? Wasn''t that the despairing gap that should have always been there, and yet never had been?

    If it wasn''t for the fact that Leonel was in the same Dimension as Thaela and the cobra demon, that despairing gap would have been even wider!

    It was only thanks to the fact that Leonel''s soul separated from his body and thus the suppression the cobra demon could levy toward him that he was able to surpass such shackles. If he hadn''t, he would have diedбн Wellбн he had died, actually.

    Upon realizing this, how could Leonel''s thoughts not be constantly ruled by Force Manipulation and how to make use of it? And with Leonel''s speed of thought, how could he not come up with countless potential hypotheses related to it?

    One of these hypotheses that he liked the most was that the secret to this Force Manipulation was tied to what this world valued the most: Star Runes.

    Leonel felt that his use and comprehension of Star Runes until this point was quite artificial and it hadn''t provided him as much of a boost to his prowess as he thought it should.

    He had formed up to perfect Seventh Dimensional Star Runes on his Dream Force Stars, and yet his mind had still been suppressed by the likes of Thaela and the cobra demon who had far weaker minds than his own.

    This made sense. Did he also have "Star Runes" in his Innate Node? In fact, he had Ninth Dimensional Star Runes in one of them, but could he use them? Not at all.

    At best, Leonel could use his Star Runes to call down Scarlet Star Force and Dream Force of equivalent Dimension, something that his Stars were already capable of doing. Clearly, he was missing something extremely important.

    As such, he felt that there was a 91% probability that Star Runes held the secret that he was looking for.

    "This confirms something I was thinking about," Leonel suddenly said.

    "Hm? What''s that?"

    Leonel quickly explained his thoughts before continuing.

    "The Mantras should be a shortcut to understanding these secrets. Even though we can''t get the full reward of this Zone any longer, I think that if we stack up on these Mantras, it''ll only be a matter of time before we grasp the truth."

    Even with Leonel''s Dream Force Talent, he still needed the Dream Force Mantra to form his Star Runes so quickly. If these Mantras were able to focus the mind and aid in meditation to such an extent, it was likely that they were the key to connecting with Star Runes on a deeper, more meaningful level as well.

    Leonel already had the Dream Force Mantra, and it only cost a few million Demon Points. Stacking up on a ton of mantras shouldn''t be too expensive and should be quite easy. He could even get one of every kind so that when he passed down [Dimensional Cleanse] to everyone, they would be able to grasp these subtleties as well.

    It was just unfortunate that not everyone would be able to form nine Stars like he had, but he just had to take things one step at a time.

    "Is it possible to teach to beasts, though?" Aina asked.

    She hadn''t forgotten that this was the main reason Leonel had gone down this rabbit hole.

    "Yes," Leonel nodded, "this Force Art right here, the Dream Star Gathering Beast Formation, should do the trick. It costs just under 100 billion Demon Points as well, but it allows me to set up a formation that places both myself and a target beast into a dream-like state. Through that state, I can pass on the Mantra or even cultivate it for them."

 Chapter 1616 Sovereign

    "A hundred billion? That''s quite steep. Can''t you do the same thing with your connection with them?" Aina asked.

    Every beast and master had a connection between them, this formation just seemed like an unnecessary step. In addition, they already likely had to allocate a 100 billion to the Innate Node fusion method, so they had to be cautious with what they spent the rest of their Demon Points on.

    "There''s a connection between beast and master, yes, but it''s quite vague. For example, I can''t understand exactly what Little Blackstar is saying, I can only try to decipher it based on the emotions he''s sending my way. Sending something as complicated as a Mantra would be impossible.

    "At the same time, the comprehension abilities of beasts are often based on their innate instincts. If I wanted them to learn a human created technique like this one, it would be impossible. The only other way would be to have them naturally comprehend Star Runes on their own, but how could that be possible?"

    Aina nodded slowly. "Then what about the Star Runes themselves? How will they use Star Runes without Stars? Will you teach them [Dimensional Cleanse] with this formation as well?"

    "No, I''m going to use a different method. According to this, it''s possible to inscribe it directly onto their Beast Crystals, I just need to guide the process. Doing so will cause a qualitative change in their combat strength."

    "Mm," Aina nodded again. She didn''t really doubt Leonel, she just couldn''t help but smile when he explained things.

    The path beasts took was inherently different from that of humans. For example, beasts were much more reliant on their Ability Indexes.

    "Since we''re on the topic of beasts, I should probably also try to find something that will help Little Blackstar. He absorbed a Shadow Sovereign, so his Ability Index is much more powerful now that it was in the past, and before that he also absorbed Void Beast blood. The little guy is already very powerful because of that so there''s really not much to do outside of helping him inscribe some Darkness Star Runes on his Beast Crystal."

    "Maybe ask about Shadow Sovereigns specifically," Aina said.

    Leonel nodded. That made sense. In fact, not that he thought about it, it would be good if they found out more about Sovereigns in general.

    After asking and sifting through the items that appeared, Leonel was surprised to find that the root of Sovereignty was actually in a Domain.

    The Shadow World of the Shadow Sovereigns, the Spear Domains of Spear Sovereigns, and Blood Domain of Blood Sovereigns. Being a Sovereign meant having such an innate Domain of your own, one that you could pull strength from whenever you wanted.

    Outside of this, though, the similarities between Sovereigns mostly came to a stop and each had their own methods of improving and their own uniqueness.

    For example, Shadow Sovereign could absorb other Shadow Sovereigns. Blood Sovereigns could absorb blood to change their very constitution. Spear Sovereigns made all spears useless before them except in the face of another Spear Sovereign. The abilities were wide ranging and they manifested in different ways. The only thing linking them was dominion over a certain domain.

    Leonel didn''t end up finding anything Blackstar absolutely had to have, but he learned a lot more about this enigmatic Sovereign title he kept hearing so much about before moving on.

    "Waitбн" Leonel''s gaze flashed. "Show me materials related to making Sovereigns."

    It was a shot in the dark, but Leonel felt that it was possible.

    If he was correct, the Spear Domain ring''s real purpose was to create Spear Sovereigns, that was why that woman had mistaken him to be one. In addition, the abilities of a Shadow Sovereign seemed to be something you could pass along since they could be absorbed between them. Maybe if there was a catalyst, you could take the ability for yourself.

    Surprisingly, the shop really did have items of what Leonel needed.

    The first thing Leonel saw was a book called [Path of the Spear]. There were all sorts of books here named just like this but for different weapons as well. They were too expensive, just tens of millions of Demon Points.

    Leonel concluded from this that these books weren''t rare, but considering the fact there weren''t Spear Sovereigns running around everywhere, it obviously wasn''t a simple task even if you had one. Just from their introduction, Leonel felt that they were far inferior to his Spear Domain Heirloom in this respect.

    However, he still added them to the list because this systematic method of progression might contain secrets he could use to comprehend how to improve his other Forces as well. In addition, they would help his brothers.

    Of course, he was also very interested in how to organically become a Bow Sovereign as well. If there was anyone who could do it, he felt like he should probably be at the top of the list.

    After another scan, Leonel realized that there was nothing here about becoming a Blood Sovereign. It seemed that it was likely impossible to do so without being born one, or at the very least, they didn''t have such methods here or they weren''t willing to sell them.

    It also seemed, unfortunately, that this was also the case for Shadow Sovereignty. From the looks of it, only weapon Sovereigns could be "created", but even then, you needed great talent and affinity for the weapon to begin with.

    Still, Leonel was satisfied with adding those books to the list. He had a feeling that their comprehensive explanation of the path of weapons would be far better than anything he could find elsewhere.

    ''Like this, about 201 billion points are allocated for what''s already on the list, so that''s 10% of our budget gone alreadyбн''

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. There was nothing he could do about how quickly the funds were disappearing, he could only press forward and take what he could get.

    "Show me everything you have related to Scarlet Star Force," Leonel said.

    The Human Class Sector hadn''t had anything like this, but maybe the Fiend Class Sector would. If not, he would also check everything they had related to Emulation Spatial Force.

    Since he was already starting way behind in the Force Manipulation game, he had to try to learn as much as he could.

    When the counter flashed and the items began to appear, Leonel''s brows rose slowly.

 Chapter 1617 First Step

    Destruction Sovereign.

    It wasn''t the largest item that appeared, but it was definitely the one that grasped Leonel''s attention the very quickest. It was just a book, and it didn''t even seem to be a technique. All it told was a story and nothing else. In fact, the cost wasn''t even 1000 Demon Points. Still, it grabbed his attention and didn''t let go.

    Leonel bought it immediately, not minding the miniscule number of points. He just had to know exactly what it was.

    The price was miniscule, and the reading material was even smaller. With Leonel''s thinking speed, even though his Dream Force hadn''t quite recovered, his pace of reading was simply too quick. In no more than just a few minutes, he had scoured through it all and his expression quickly became solemn.

    According to the book, there were two paths for those born with Scarlet Star Force. The first was to master it, and the second was to lose all rationale of who and what you were, becoming a harbinger of destruction.

    The title of Destruction Sovereign and Scarlet Star Innate Node holder were one in the same, they were two fates tied into one.

    If Leonel had heard the words Anya spoke about him that day, he would have also come to understand exactly why she had chosen to say such a thing. It was only now that Leonel understood that the 100-year deadline Wise Star Order had given him was no small joke. It wasn''t just his life that was on the line, it may very well be the lives of everyone.

    What Leonel also couldn''t help but wonder was exactly who knew about this and how many did. Because, if they knew that such a thing would happenбн would powers take precautions around him? Would they even try to deal with him before that happened?

    Leonel even had a feeling that the only reason he hadn''t been taken control of like a Savant and placed under lock and key was only because of who his father was. Anyone else would have been forced to suffer such a fate.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    "Leonel?"

    Leonel looked over toward Aina, his gaze flickering. But in the end, he handed her the book and her expression, too, became solemn. Luckily, Aina didn''t know about Leonel''s 100-year deadline, or else she might have reacted much more violently than she did now.

    In the end, Leonel could only chuckle. Everyone else got such useful Sovereign abilities, why was his so annoying?

    But it couldn''t be helped. Just like Wise Star Order had said, when a Force reached a certain level, it would gain certain dispositions. At such high Dimensions, these dispositions would be no less intrinsic than the very chemical structure of an object. This, in and of itself, was the secret behind the Life Grade, and it was also what gave True State Forces such power.

    It wasn''t just about the energy behind the attack, but also the Artistic Conception of it. It was just as, if not more important.

    Who knows, maybe the reason Aina wanted to have so many babies was only partly due to her past and was also just as related to her title of Blood Sovereign. Someone else in Aina''s shoes could have very easily decided to never have children so that their kids wouldn''t have to experience what they had. It was a conclusion that was just as valid and there was seemingly no real reason to choose one over the other, at least on the surface.

    Likewise, maybe the reason Little Blackstar was so mischievous was because of his role as a Shadow Sovereign. And maybe the reason Amery was so arrogant was because he was so close to becoming a Sword Sovereign.

    Of course, things were likely not so simple. An entire personality wouldn''t be dictated by a Force of a specific kind, but it could definitely influence you, much like any other environmental factor could.

    However, what would happen if you lost control of your True State Force? Would it even be just a "single environmental factor" any longer?

    No, it would likely take you over completely, consume you, until all that was left was what it wanted you to be. And in the case of Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force, it was all too obvious what it wanted to do.

    Destroy.

    Despite the weight of these words, Leonel felt that he had been enlightened about something. He didn''t fear his Innate Node at all, and he was quite confident in succeeding in fully comprehending it within 100 years.

    However, this book shed light on exactly what it is he had within his body. There was a reason he had always called his Runes Destruction Runes and not Scarlet Star Runes, that was always the root of it all, something that he knew subconsciously, but never truly put into practice.

    The flames were just a conduit, a guiding light.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel felt like he touched upon a unique sort of realm.

    ''This feels like it should be the first step, the first step toward truly understanding your Force. What intent does it embody? If you can fully understand this, then your control over your Force should take a step forward, but it''s also not so simple.

    ''Simply by virtue of having a high affinity for a Force, you should already subconsciously understand what its true essence or intent is. If you didn''t, then you wouldn''t have an affinity for it in the first place.

    ''This means that it''s more than just about understanding it subconsciously. Something about bringing the subconscious into the conscious causes a change. It might just be a simple change at first, but as you move forward into the future, it will snowballбн And thenбн''

    Leonel flipped a palm over, causing a seemingly delicate flame to appear. But he already knew that this flame alone was easily twice as powerful as any he had ever manifested by pulling from atmospheric Force.

    He had found the first step in improving his Force Manipulation.

 Chapter 1618 Mantras

    Leonel nodded to himself and spent some time explaining his thoughts to Aina. When she understood this, she, too, frowned.

    This would be especially difficult for Aina. That''s because Aina was inherently an instinct-first kind of fighter. Too much of her strength was reliant on the subconscious. Bringing these things to a state of conscious thought would be many times more difficult for her.

    "It''s still not set in stone," Leonel said. "I know too little about this and there may very well be a different process depending on the Force in question or even the person themselves."

    "Mmбн" Aina nodded, falling into her own thoughts.

    As she did so, Leonel looked toward the other items related to his Scarlet Star Force. Unsurprisingly, a large majority of them were designed to defend against it. There was even a technique that boasted to have such strong defense that even Scarlet Star Force wouldn''t be able to make a path through it.

    Leonel''s eyes landed on a tattered sword. It had lost its tip and it was cracked in several places, and yet it had a price tag of over ten billion.

    Leonel wasn''t a swordsman, so the weapon itself was meaningless to him. And, even if it had been a spear, his Spear Domain ring would have shattered it. He might have only had some interest if it was a bow or arrowбн At least initially.

    But Leonel still gave it a second look for one simple reason: why would a broken sword appear here? He got his answer the moment he read the description.

    According to what was here, this sword used to have a core formed by a small vein of Scarlet Star Force. Apparently, this vein shattered and ruined the integrity of the sword, making it incredibly weak. Now, it was barely as strong as a Silver Grade weapon.

    The description was benign, but when Leonel read this, his brows shot up.

    This description seemed to imply that the sword was just fine despite having such a vein within it, and Leonel found that very difficult to accept.

    When Leonel tried forging with Destruction Runes, the weapon in question didn''t even last a few seconds before disintegrating. But this sword had survived with a Scarlet Star vein inside of it?

    A Force Vein in this context was essentially a piece of Force Crystal. This meant that this sword had been able to conjure Scarlet Star Force and avoid damaging itself in the process. In its prime, it had been a Life Grade item. But now, it had been destroyed.

    ''бн Interestingбн''

    Leonel added the sword to the list. He had a feeling that if he studied it, and Dream Sculpted it, he would be able to get a peak at exactly how the sword managed to retain its integrity. In addition to that, he might also fight out some secrets that would help him deepen his understanding of his Scarlet Star Force and help him to further progress.

    Leonel swept his gaze over the items once more just to check if he would find anything interesting and his eyes landed on a tattered beast cloth that made his eyes pop out of their sockets. This wasn''t because of what was written on it, but rather the price tag.

    It was double the price of anything he had added to the list until now and sat at 200 billion. That would eat away another 10% of the funds the two of them had.

    ''So it''s a Mantra fragmentбн I seeбн''

    Leonel didn''t expect the Mantra fragment for Scarlet Star Force to be so absolutely ridiculous. It was just a small piece of it and it only had the complete method for the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dimensions, a level Leonel was already at, yet it cost so much. Wouldn''t he go bankrupt if it was the full thing?

    Leonel shook his head and began to go through his Forces one by one and added the partial Mantra to the very bottom of the list. It would be the easiest to ignore by far.

    Once he was done, he moved on to his other Forces.

    He looked through the items for Dream Force, Emulation Spatial Force, Vital Star Force, Void Star Force, Aurora Star Force and Ethereal Star Force.

    He found another fragment for Void Star Force which also cost 200 billion, but this time Leonel knew he couldn''t afford to miss out on it. He had his Innate Node for Scarlet Star Force, and although the Mantras might hold the secret to Force Manipulation, there were simply too many other useful things here.

    His Void Star Force, though, didn''t have an Innate Node he could rely upon. So although this was just the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dimensional layers, it was far too useful to ignore.

    He added it to nearer the top of the list, but he was also prepared to give it up if it really came to it.

    As for the other Forces, they were far cheaper, relatively anyway.

    Leonel wasn''t sure why, but Dream Force items were exceptionally cheap. It didn''t make much sense since Dream Force was an exceptionally high level Force, no less than a True State Force. But for whatever reason, there were a large amount of items and they were also inexpensive.

    The only unfortunate part was that most of them required one to be able to manifest Dream Force outside of their bodies, something Leonel could not do before.

    The good news was that Leonel should finally be able to do so at least through his new Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node.

    In the end, though, most of the techniques here could have their function replaced by Leonel''s ability to project his Dream World.

    With Emulation Spatial Force and his Dream World, he would finally be able to give his projections a real form. And, with his high Dream Force affinity, he should be able to use it to a better degree than Thaelaбн should he catch up with her Force Manipulation abilities, that is.

 Chapter 1619 Rebuild

    As for the remaining Forces, Leonel found the Mantras for them all and added them to the list. By the time he was done, another 500 billion Demon Points had been potentially allocated for a total of 700 billion.

    Of this 500 billion, 200 billion was for the Void Star Force Mantra Fragment, but surprisingly, another 200 billion was allocated toward Vital Star Force.

    The Mantra for Vital Star Force cost 100 billion. Luckily, it was completed. But Leonel also allocated another 100 billion to a technique that caught his attention. The technique was called [Vital Forge]. It used Vital Star Force and recreated effects similar to what Leonel had experienced in the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world.

    It created an exceptionally heavy atmosphere and it took advantage of the great density of Vital Star Force to push other Forces away.

    This technique could be used one of two ways.

    The first was the most obvious, and that was as a domain of sorts. Much like the [Dimensional Cleanse] world, it was a great suppressive tactic.

    The second, though, was the real reason Leonel chose it, and that was because it could be used as a training method.

    What drew Leonel to it wasn''t the fact that he could use it on himself, but rather that he could use it on others to slowly push out more of their potential. If this was used in conjunction with refined demons, the benefits would be even more outstanding.

    In addition, demons were a limited commodity. Although Leonel and Aina had killed hundreds, they would eventually run out. Using this method, though, there would be a method of continuously improving his friends and subordinates.

    In fact, there was even a method within this technique to set up a formation so that Leonel wouldn''t have to act personally.

    As for the remaining 100 billion, it was used on the other Forces, including rudimentary Mantra that touched upon the simplest of the elements. Everything from Fire all the way to Space. These Mantras were the simplest and most wide ranging.

    Leonel had added these to the list for two reasons. Firstly, he would have all his bases covered when it came to the Mantras his people would need. And, secondly, there was a small chance he might be able to find a method to combine the effects to gain what he needed.

    For example, if he took the Fire Mantra, Light Mantra and Star Mantra, and managed to fuse them, could he get something close to what he needed for his Scarlet Star Force?

    It wasn''t likely since there was more than one Fire-Light-Star Force in existence just like there was an Aurora Star Force to the existing Chaotic Particle Force, both of which were Earth-Dark-Star Forces. But, Leonel thought that it was worth a try.

    Within this price, Leonel had also gotten a Mantra for Aina. With the Blood Sovereign Tablet, Aina didn''t need Life Force, Blood Force, or what she called Coercion Force Mantras. But her new Chaos Body had come with the use of a top five Lightning Force known as Blaze Lightning Force.

    The Blaze Lightning Force Mantra took up at least 20% of the price all on its own.

    ''700 billion used up, potentiallyбн This leaves about 1.3 trillion remaining.''

    The points were disappearing quite quickly, but Leonel could only sigh.

    Until now, he had only added auxiliary items and there was nothing that directly increased his strength or survivability, at least not without time.

    The good news was that such things should probably be cheaper. It only made sense that techniques, formation methods and mantras would be more expensive than usual treasures.

    ''Alright, it seems like with all that out of the way, I can focus on more tangible resources now. That choice I made should pay off nowбн''

    The choice Leonel was referring to was something that happened while he was being eaten alive. While the experience was absolutely horrible, it also provided him with an opportunity.

    The first opportunity was watching his body be reconstructed once again from the ground up. He had memorized that process in its entirety, down to the smallest detail, so his comprehension of his body, his Lineage Factors, and how they interacted was on a whole other level.

    The second opportunity was related to his Divine Armors.

    Usually, Leonel''s Divine Armors would regenerate along with himself. But this time, he chose to purposely shatter the kernels they represented. Not only did he shatter them, but he also undid the work he had gone through with his Metal Body as well.

    Right now, Leonel''s body had lost much of its metallic properties and he could be considered to just be a normal Sixth Dimensional existence without an added boost to bodily strength.

    Being eaten alive was horrible, but it allowed Leonel to hit the reset and undo many of the mistakes he had in the past.

    The first thing he wanted to do was rebuild his affinities. He had originally built his Metal Body to resist his Scarlet Star Force. This was a poor choice on his part and clashed with his Divine Armors.

    The best function of Metal Body and Divine Armor was in building affinities, and they worked the best together. But Leonel already had a high fire and light affinity, but he wasted his Metal Body in consuming more to increase it even further.

    He had taken the wrong approach to begin with.

    And second, he wanted to rebuild his Divine Armors.

    Originally, his first Divine Armor was heavily reliant on spatial affinities, and his second was more of a Water Force and Spatial Force fusion. They didn''t stack well together and that was a problem.

    In addition, if Leonel fused with Thaela''s Innate Node perfectly, then he wouldn''t need his Divine Armors to provide him Spatial Force affinity any longer since he would now have dominion over a top five Spatial Force.

    So, Leonel had already decided what he would do.

    He would rebuild his Metal Body based on Water Force and Vital Star Force.

    He would then rebuild his Divine Armors with his current level of skill around these two Forces as well.

    The multiplicative stacking effect would be able to bring out the true power of his Metal Synergy Bloodline, and he had a whole shop worth of stuff to scoop up.

    It would never be easier for Leonel to gather up the materials he needed than right now.

 Chapter 1620 500 Billion

    Leonel didn''t want to have to get eaten again to gain another opportunity like this one. If it wasn''t for his mental fortitude and his powerful mind, he may very well have lost his sanity entirely. So, no matter  what, he had to get things right this time.

    He chose Water Force and Vital Star Force after much deliberation, but he felt like it was the right choice to make.

    The choice of Water was the most obvious. It was the one affinity that he really needed that he didn''t have.

    During the reconstruction of his body, he realized that Aina had been very correct. He had a very strong Dark Force affinity, one that he didn''t quite understand even now. In fact, it wasn''t just Dark Force, it was something else that he couldn''t seem to grasp fully.

    He didn''t know why this was, but he had a feeling that it was related to his father''s appearance that day in the Rapax Next. He would have to wait until that old man appeared again to ask, or he would have to see if the dictionary had an answer for him. Who knew, maybe his father had left him behind another one of those messages?

    This aside, of the three Forces that made up Void Star Force, the one that Leonel didn''t have was Water Force. He needed to focus more on increasing its strength and only then would he be able to build up to creating the Void Star Force armor he wanted to.

    In addition to this, aside from Earth Force, Water Force was maybe the greatest at defense. In fact, the two Forces were usually neck in neck, having an equivalent number of Forces between the two of them that had excellent defensive prowess.

    If Leonel restructured his body with an Earth Force and Water Force fusion, its defenses would be even more exaggerated than it had been in the past. Not only would he be able to resist blows, but even for the ones he couldn''t just outright tank, he would be able to disperse them and weaken their impact. He could maximize these effects as well by choosing Water Force Ores that were especially known for such abilities too.

    When it came to Vital Star Force, while Leonel''s general Star Force affinity was exceptionally high thanks to his Scarlet Star Force, he didn''t have a specific affinity for Vital Star Force itself. Due to this, while his ability to use Vital Star Force was far above his ability to use Void Star Force, it wasn''t as high as it could be.

    If put into perspective, Leonel''s Fire Force affinity was at an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. His Light Force affinity was at a 10 on that same scale and his Star Force affinity was between an 8 and 9. However, his affinity for Vital Star Force specifically was at around a 6 to a 7.

    This was actually quite excellent and far more than the vast majority of people. But Leonel felt that he would greatly benefit by raising that number to a 9 and maybe even potentially a 10 in the future.

    The reason that Leonel was lacking in Vital Star Force affinity was because it was one part Life Force and one part Star Force, and he very much lacked in Life Force. So, in reality, it was much more accurate to say that Leonel would be building up his Metal Body with Life Force related Ores instead to slowly boost his affinity.

    As he did so, his [Star Fusion] self-created technique would gain far more strength, and rather than just boosting his body, it would even gain the ability to directly boost the strength of his Divine Armor as well.

    Evolution Ore, when fused into Leonel''s Divine Armor, gave it an ability to transcend its level, but it was still only in a quasi state. After all, it couldn''t truly give a Fifth Dimensional ore the strength of a Sixth Dimensional one.

    However, if the effects of the Evolution Ore were stacked with Leonel''s [Star Fusion] ability, the results would be truly transcendent. At that point, so long as Leonel summoned his armor and activated [Star Fusion], it would truly be like his Metal Body had crossed a Dimensional barrier to the next level.

    When this was combined with Leonel''s breakthrough in Force Crafting, the Morales family''s Divine Armor technique would truly begin to display might it never had before.

    The Ores Leonel needed for his Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dimensional Metal Body and Divine Armor were all dirt cheap in comparison to the things he had been buying previously. In fact, he even managed to find a large supply of Evolution Ore here for just as cheap.

    Thanks to his mother, Leonel already had a set of Sixth Dimension Evolution Ore, so he didn''t need to trade for them. This was a good thing because past this point, things really began to get expensive.

    It had to be remembered that Sixth Dimension Evolution Ore could allow a Sixth Dimensional Ore to display Seventh Dimensional properties, so it was already valued at a Seventh Dimensional level. This was why it was so shocking that Leonel''s mother had managed to get him a full batches worth.

    This meant that Seventh Dimensional Evolution Ore was valued at an Eighth Dimensional level. Leonel found a batch here to trade for to help future proof himself, but the cost was steep at 500 billion Demon Points.

    This just went to show just how rare Evolution Ores were. Many of the other things on Leonel''s list had Ninth Dimensional secrets within them, but they still weren''t expensive. The Mantras, for example, all had enough chants and Force Arts within to produce Ninth Dimensional Star Runes, and yet they were only a fraction of the price.

    Though, to be fair, just a fragment of the Scarlet Star Force Mantra was 200 billion.

    Leonel grit his teeth and added the Seventh Dimensional Evolution Ore nearer to the bottom of the list. Everything else he needed, even the Seventh Dimensional Ores he had chosen for his Seventh Dimensional Divine Armor in the future didn''t even amount to 10 billion, but the Evolution Ores alone were actually so expensive.

 Chapter 1621 Heart Link

    Ultimately, the Seventh Dimension was still too far away for Leonel. If he could afford it in the end, he would buy it. But he wouldn''t tank his chances at everything else just to secure something he wouldn''t be able to use for years.

    He was still very happy that he had gathered up so many materials. He wouldn''t need to worry about anything. When he got the time and Little Tolly back, he would be able to calmly Craft. By then, his strength should increase by leaps and bounds.

    When Leonel got to this point, he was tempted to see what he could get in this world about Force Crafting, but then an idea flashed in his mind.

    "Show me what you have related to army and empire building."

    Aina nodded by Leonel''s side, she agreed with this too. Although she no longer called Leonel "My King" as her point had long since already been made, that didn''t mean that she had changed her mind. She wanted to see him rise to the top as well, and right now, she was well aware of just how far behind his cousins he was.

    In addition, Aina felt that it would be na?ve to believe that only she and Leonel would manage to gain something from this place. If Leonel''s cousins were great geniuses like everyone seemed to say they were, then in all likelihood, they would manage to find a way to benefit as well.

    If Leonel didn''t take this opportunity, he might not receive another one that was as good.

    ''As expectedбн'' Leonel mumbled to himself as he scanned through the items.

    The vast majority here were formation type items as this would be the foundation of most powerful empires. If you didn''t have a strong large scale Force Art, capable of pulling from the atmosphere and protecting your territory, it would be all too easy for others to infiltrate and cripple your foundation.

    What Leonel hadn''t expected, though, was for there to be Force Arts for armies as well. He had only casually thrown the additional like in as he also wanted something that bolstered his subordinate''s battle prowess, but this was greatly unexpected.

    ''So this is possible tooбн? It must work on concepts of resonance a lot like grandpa''s music phase of spear mastery. I keep running into this concept again and again, to think that it could be applied like thisбн''

    These army formations went by many names, but the most commonly used was the term Heart Link.

    Heart Link Force Arts could exist as separate entities, but they could still be considered like parts of a single whole. As such, they had two stages, the normal stage and the linked stage.

    Leonel obviously couldn''t see the full network of Force Arts since he would have to outright buy them for that, but with his knowledge of Force Arts, he could make guesses by using the descriptions and the sneak previews.

    Heart Link Force Arts essentially fused the power of multiple practitioners into a single focal point, forming a large and powerful army formation capable of destroying everything in its path.

    However, they weren''t cheap. Even the most inexpensive one here was just 10 billion. The most expensive one, though, was over 10 trillion Demon Points, crushing Leonel''s budget by five times.

    When Leonel saw this, he was, quite frankly, speechless. He and Aina had the most points of anyone when their wealth was combined, but they still couldn''t afford something in this shop.

    Maybe the most shocking part was that this 10 trillion Demon Point Heart Link Formation was only designed for up to 100 Seventh Dimensional existences to use at once. This meant that despite its price tag, it couldn''t even be used by those with Eighth Dimensional strength or above because the system would be overloaded.

    In comparison, the cheapest one could be used by up to 100 000 Fifth Dimensional existences at once. It was clear and obvious that size truly didn''t matter in this case. For there to be such an enormous price difference, there had to be a reason.

    When reading the description, though, the answer was obvious.

    The 10 trillion Demon Point formation only needed 100 Tier 1 Seventh Dimensional existences to wield the power of a Tier 1 Eighth Dimensional existence. And, if you managed to gather 100 Tier 9 Seventh Dimensional existences, then you would have the power of a Tier 9 Eighth Dimensional existence.

    The cheapest formation was similar, but it required 100 000 individuals to jump up an entire Dimension.

    Of course, it was easier to find 100 000 Fifth Dimensional existences than it was to find 100 000 Seventh Dimensional existences. But odds were, if you had such a number of Fifth Dimensional existences willing to listen to your commands, then you also weren''t lacking in Sixth Dimensional existences either and this Heart Link Force Art would be more like a cherry on the top for you.

    This also didn''t mention the weakness of the cheapest formation either, and that was that twofold. Firstly, it wasn''t plug and play and required comprehension on the part of the soldiers. And secondly, all 100 000 had to have the same affinity.

    These affinities didn''t have to be exactly the same, but they had to share the same base element. Meaning, you had to have 100 000 existences with Fire Force affinity, for example.

    The most expensive formation didn''t have these drawbacks. So long as you built the army''s armors to the proper specifications and the users had the appropriate strength, that was all the requirements you needed to meet.

    Of course, the worst part about both of these Heart Link Force Arts was that having the Force Art was just the beginning. These Force Arts would obviously need to be drawn on something, and that something would be armors.

    In order to withstand the power of such a resonance, these armors wouldn''t be cheap either. So, even if Leonel had 10 trillion Demon Points to spend, he would need another 10 trillion or so to build the 100 armors he would need.

    Plus, that didn''t address the biggest elephant in the room: he himself wasn''t in the Seventh Dimension, where would he get 100 such existences from, exactly? If he had such powerful subordinates, would he even need to worry about this Heir War to begin with?

 Chapter 1622 Only Two Grades

    "That''s unfortunateбн" Aina said lightly.

    However, when she looked toward Leonel, all she saw was a wild grin.

    "It''s not unfortunate at all. In fact, I''m at least 80% certain that I can create my own. I understand the principle behind it already, and I think I have the skill to surpass this by a large margin."

    Aina blinked, her gaze sparkling. She didn''t doubt Leonel, he wasn''t one to speak without cause. In fact, he usually preferred to not speak at all. It could be said that if it wasn''t for their relationship, he would have just kept this to himself, quietly calculating until he figured it all out.

    "I have a feeling that these aren''t the best formations this world has to offer. With their comprehension of Force Manipulation, they should have Force Crafting leagues beyond what I can do currently.

    "Look at this one here," Leonel pointed to the most expensive one. "It looks grand and imposing, but the truth is though they require Seventh Dimensional existences, the actual design for the base armor the army would use is just for a set of 100 Silver Grade armors. Although they use higher class materials to make up for it, such a shoddy design couldn''t possibly step into the Gold Grade, let alone the Life Grade."

    The Black Grade was the Fourth Dimensional equivalent, and likewise, the Silver Grade was Sixth Dimensional, the Gold Grade Seventh, and the Life Grade Eighth.

    This formation required Seventh Dimensional existences, and even the armors used Seventh Dimensional materials, and even some Eighth, but Leonel still evaluated the overall product as Silver Grade.

    "It''s clear that whoever created this Heart Link Force Art is an expert in formations, but when it comes to Force Crafting, they''re very lacking. So, to make up for their weaknesses, they could only throw money at the problem, using very expensive materials to make up for lack of skill and foreplanning."

    Aina''s gaze flickered.

    Right now, Leonel was casually commenting on Silver Grade and above Grade armors, but wasn''t he too in the Sixth Dimension? What stage had his Force Crafting reached, exactly?

    "Did youбн become a Gold Grade Force Crafter?" Aina asked.

    "Gold grade?" Leonel paused for a moment before smiling mysteriously. "бн Strictly speaking, I can create Life Grade items now."

    Aina''s brows jumped, her heart beating erratically.

    Life Grade? Wasn''t that Eighth Dimensional? How was that even possible?

    Leonel laughed. "You probably think that I mean I can create Eighth Dimensional items, right? No, I can''t do that. But my creations could display prowess far above the level of the materials I used to create them, that much is certain.

    "I just view things differently now. Black Grade, Bronze Grade, Silver Grade, Gold Grade, Life Grade? I don''t think that there are so many categories of weapons and treasures as I see it. To me, there''s only what is Life Grade and what isn''t."

    Leonel''s eyes sparkled like the radiant beams of the sun. If it wasn''t for the fact the demon world had no materials to use, would he even have been put in such a sorry situation?

    Absolutely not.

    "You meanбн" Aina whispered softly.

    "I mean that what separates Life Grade and Gold Grade is an item that is so perfect it transcends the individual materials used to create it to form a new whole. This item forms a "spirit" a lot like True State Forces have "personalities" of their own because it becomes a supremely unique existence of its own, a new Lifeбн if you will.

    "I just mean that regardless of the Dimension, I''m certain that I can create Crafts that can reach that state."

    Leonel shifted his gaze from Aina and looked back toward the most expensive Heart Link formation.

    "According to this, the armors that are needed are Quasi Life Grade. But I''m pretty certain you could throw any Eighth Dimensional material into a Crafting process and then call it Quasi Life Grade because by virtue of its existence alone, the weapon would be supremely powerful.

    "But as I see it, it''s just all fake nonsense. This can''t be considered Quasi Life Grade, at best, it''s Silver Grade.

    "Right now, the only thing holding me back from Crafting high level Silver Grade Crafts and beyond is my own weakness. My Force isn''t powerful enough, my Finger Designation is still too low, and Little Tolly is still an infant.

    "In the future, though, I don''t think I''ll experience any bottlenecks in Force Crafting until I reach the True Life Grade and the Eighth Dimension."

    "I seeбн" Aina nodded.

    If things were as Leonel said, then it really wouldn''t be difficult for him at all to create his own formation. Now that he knew it existed, he could form his own.

    Although he couldn''t be able to make one capable of using Seventh Dimensional existences due to his own weaknesses, he would definitely be able to make one that utilized Sixth Dimensional existences to battle Seventh Dimensional ones given some time.

    In fact, Leonel was even thinking of forming a two-person Heart Link Force Art that could only be used by himself and Aina. Or maybe a two-person one that could resonate between himself and Little Blackstar.

    And the best part about all of this wasбн He would finally get to create his own cool uniforms.

    ''A two person one could either be much less complicated or much more depending on how you look at it. It''s obviously much easier to produce great strength with more people as opposed to less. But a two-person formation obviously has less variables as well.

    ''But this should work out nicely. With things like this, Aina won''t have to sing in battle for us to resonate anymore. And, given our talent, our bodies can also take much more pressure than most army soldiers would be able to. This could definitely work wellбн''

    Leonel nodded to himself and just let a section of his split minds handle the computations.

    There was nothing else of interest among the items and he didn''t need any empire formations just yet as he didn''t even have a base of operations. In addition, since he would form his own Heart Link formation, he didn''t care to add any of these to the list, so he simply moved on.

    Now, he had less than 800 billion Demon points remaining and he had to make the most of it.

    "Hmбн Show me items related to Metal Spirits."

 Chapter 1623 Maturity

    Little Tolly was Leonel''s greatest reliance. In fact, even in comparison to Little Blackstar, the little one was Leonel''s greatest partner. If Leonel prepared things for Blackstar, he couldn''t possibly forget about Tolliver.

    Leonel hadn''t really done anything special for Tolliver in his lifetime. Outside of feeding the little one as many ores as it could manage, there was really nothing else to do.

    At the same time, though, Leonel had to be careful about this. This was because he had never forgotten his father''s first lesson about the hazards of Metal Spirits and how overeating could cause them to go berserk. Due to this, Leonel was very careful with how he fed Little Tolly and the little one''s progress was quite slow, although consistent, as a result.

    As of now, Little Tolly should still be in the Fifth Dimension, and the little guy wasn''t close to the Sixth. This could be considered to be another limitation to Leonel''s Force Crafting.

    As a Metal Spirit, working with and manipulating Sixth Dimensional Ores even while in the Fifth Dimension wasn''t impossible. But it took effort, and it also required a lot of stamina on Leonel''s part as well.

    Only when Little Tolly entered the Sixth Dimension would things become much easier.

    When the items appeared, Leonel quickly scanned them all one by one, his expression flickering with surprise from time to time.

    The first category of items were about guiding Little Tolly into maturity.

    Leonel had learned long ago that Spirit Familiars were genderless. Usually, they would choose as they pleased once they reached this point of maturity. Leonel hadn''t really thought much about it before, but he never really considered exactly what "maturity" meant.

    According to these, maturity to Metal Spirits was like a hack to progressing through the Life Grade.

    The current Little Tolly could only bend and manipulate metals as Leonel directed, liquefying them and controlling them at will. However, a mature Tolliver would be on a completely different level. In fact, a mature Metal Spirit could even give birth to Ores that didn''t exist by taking and fusing together the Essence of existing Ores.

    Essentially, if there wasn''t an Ore in existence that perfectly fit Leonel''s needs, Tolly would be capable of forging them at Leonel''s behest.

    This wasn''t all, it was even possible for Little Tolly to "perfect" Ores. For example, Dark Ice Ore was a Fifth Dimensional Ore, it wasn''t "perfect" enough to be a Sixth Dimensional Ore.

    With proper preparations Little Tolly would be able to improve these weaknesses and allow it to evolve to a whole new level. Essentially, when paired with an Evolution Ore, Little Tolly could take the Quasi effect granted by the Evolution Ore and turn it into a true and permanent effect.

    This could be considered an extension of its fusion abilities.

    As for why this was a hack to progressing through the Life Grade, wasn''t the Life Grade exactly this? Wasn''t it the creation of a treasure so perfect that it could be seen as a new entity all to itself?

    Essentially what this meant is that a mature Metal Spirit would make forging Life Grade weapons thousands of folds easier.

    Even for Leonel, if he wanted to forge a Life Grade item, he would need to spend a lot of energy blueprinting and even tweaking Force Arts so that everything would fit together perfectly. However, with Little Tolly maturing, he would need to fit himself into rigid boxes already outlined by what Ores could naturally exist.

    Theoretically, he could create an Ore that was perfect in all aspects, dealing with all potential weaknesses in one fell swoop.

    What was interesting, though, was that not all mature Metal Spirits were created equal. If Leonel''s deductions were correct, the sooner after the Fifth Dimension a Metal Spirit matured, the more potential it would have into the future. In this way, it was a lot like the God Path for humans.

    Beyond this, there were actually several paths a Metal Spirit could take when stepping into maturity as well.

    The first was the mimicry path, a lot like Little Blackstar''s path. Because Ores of all types existed, and a Metal Spirit could eat them all, they could start taking on these characteristics as well. In fact, this was the most common path for Metal Spirits.

    Leonel was surprised when he read this. This was almost identical to his Metal Body''s properties, no? It felt like it was likely that these techniques were actually birthed from observing Metal Spirits!

    The second path was the fusion path. This path leaned into a Metal Spirits ability to combine and create new life through Ores. In fact, a Metal Spirit that took this path would even gain powerful healing abilities that it could share with its owner.

    This was a much rarer path and it allowed a Metal Spirit exceedingly powerful abilities in creating new alloys and ores, much more so than most Metal Spirits. While some less mature Metal Spirits would be limited to combining two Ores at most, a Metal Spirit on this path would be able to fuse three, four or even five instantly upon maturing.

    The third path was the universal path. This Metal Spirit was able to tap into Universal Force to help their partner during the forging practice.

    Those with this Metal Spirit had seemingly endless stamina and could forge hundreds of weapons at once without the slightest issue.

    The fourth and final path was the pure path. This Metal Spirit was a jack of all trades but a master of none. However, depending on the resources it was fed, it would likewise be able to improve in all areas.

    This path was by far the most expensive and the most involved. And, the requirements were exceedingly difficult to meet.

    In order to take this path, one had to allow one''s Metal Spirit to step into the Sixth Dimension while under a Force Eruption. Such a requirement truly left Leonel speechless.

    Of course, the worst part was that this was just the introduction. If he wanted the complete methodбн He needed to pay 500 billion Demon Pointsбн

 Chapter 1624 Most Popular

    Leonel could only grit his teeth and add the method to the list, leaving him with only 300 billion Demon Points. Of which, he used an extra 100 billion to allocate the materials he would need to help the process along, ultimately leaving him with 200 billion Demon Points he had yet to use.

    Suddenly, Leonel felt very poor.

    In truth, there was a chance that Little Tolly could mature naturally along the fourth path. In fact, all four of these evolution paths were available to all Metal Spirits. However, there was a reason that some were rarer than others. In order of rarity, the first was the most common, with the fourth path being the rarest to see.

    Metal Spirits were rare already, but those that could naturally enter the fourth path were less than one in ten thousand, with the vast majority entering the first, about 10% entering the second, and about 1% entering the third.

    Leonel simply couldn''t leave his fate up to a 0.01% chance, so he had to take matters in his own hand.

    The trouble was that it cost 600 billion Demon Pointsбн He didn''t even know where he would find a Force Eruption.

    He had only experienced one in his lifetime, and that was back on Earth. However, obviously, he couldn''t use a mere Fourth Dimensional Force Eruption. It had to at least be a Sixth Dimensional Force Eruption which was only likely to happen when a world was evolving from the Fifth Dimension to the Sixth.

    Earth was obviously a great candidate for this as it would be entering the Sixth Dimension soon. But he would still have to rely on a bit of luck as he wouldn''t exactly be able to predict where they would appear.

    Leonel shook his head, there was no use in harping on these matters. He had 200 billion left and he had to see if he maximized it or if he would have to start shedding some things from his list.

    "I think we should think about protective treasures. All of this will be useless if we can''t protect our lives," Aina suddenly said. "And after that, we can take a look at the most sought after items here or maybe even the most expensive ones to see if there''s anything that we absolutely have to have."

    Leonel nodded. He agreed with this.

    After filtering for protective treasures, he nodded. They were expensive, but they weren''t ridiculously so. Even a one time protective item capable of blocking up to a Tier 1 Eighth Dimensional strike was only about 100 billion.

    This made sense. After all, everything that Leonel was trading for could be considered foundations treasures and techniques for families and organizations, while such an item was just a protective treasure. Techniques and similar things would always be far more expensive.

    If he got one for himself and Aina, that would make up for the remaining 200 billion they had left. But that wasn''t strictly necessary. This was because the protective treasure formed by forming a protective sphere that couldn''t crack until it was overloaded. Taking Aina with him, or vice versa, would essentially make sure the both were protected.

    However, Leonel still put both on the list just in case of potential variables. If it came down to it, he would give up one and only buy one that he gave to Aina.

    Leonel was of half a mind not to tempt himself any further, but he knew that if he didn''t this there wouldn''t have been a point to the list in the first place. He might as well have just bought everything outright.

    "Show me the most popular items exchanged for by the Fiend Class geniuses."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, focusing on the items that appeared. Since he had asked for something so narrow, it wasn''t too surprising that only two items appeared.

    The first was a crystal ball. It looked completely inconspicuous and Leonel wouldn''t have given it a second look if he saw it on a counter in a store. But when he read the description his brows couldn''t help but jump

    Focus Crystal иC 10 billion.

    The price was cheap, or at least relatively so. This made sense since it was the most popular item. If only the top 10 could trade for it, it wouldn''t be much of a popular item at all.

    According to the description, the Focus Crystal was a rare item used to refine Force. One poured their Force into it and it would come out purer. When used over a long period of time, this would purify the Force within your body, bringing it closer to the kind of Force one would only gain from Pure Force Crystals.

    This was extremely similar to the ability of the golden scaled koi fish. The difference, though, lied in the fact that this crystal catalyzed changes within your body while the koi fish only did so with external Force and within its own body.

    If one used a Focus Crystal daily, it would slowly improve one''s affinity for one''s element and it would even help one to increase one''s understanding of one''s Force. If used in conjunction with a Mantra, the results would be even better.

    The only limitation of the Focus Crystal, and maybe the reason for its low price, was that it could only ever be used for one type of Force. Once it was used, it wouldn''t be able to purify any other kind of Force, even if they shared the same element.

    Leonel exhaled when he saw this. This was an item he definitely had to have. And he needed multiple of them for sure. And Aina would need at least one for her Blaze Thunder Force even if she didn''t need it for her Blood Force and Life Force.

    Even if he ignored his Lineage Factors, he would still need three for himself plus one for Aina, which would make 40 billion Demon Points.

    Leonel shook his head and turned toward the second popular item before smiling bitterly.

 Chapter 1625 Most Expensive

    The second item was a seemingly ordinary black rock.

    Perfection Stone иC 100 billion.

    This rock''s ability was very simple. It scanned a person and morphed into a clone. However, this clone would detect your weaknesses and fix them. The issue was that the rock wouldn''t be able to communicate exactly what these issues were.

    According to the description, it was a rock forged in a very famous Dream Force dense region. It was able to project the consciousness of the universe by simulating what it could have done with a talent of your caliber if you appeared in a Zone.

    It would simulate your life based on your age and then form a clone that could be considered the perfected version of yourself.

    The only way to slowly tease apart the details was to fight this rock again and again, not to mention getting beat up again and again. How could you defeat the perfect version of yourself?

    It was only after reading these things that Leonel finally understood why it was that all the Dream Force related items in this place were so cheap. In fact, if not for this, let alone 100 billion, this Perfection Stone might not be able to be bought with even 100 trillion.

    The description stated that this rock was a treasure of the Eternal Dream Pavilion. If Leonel was correct, this Eternal Dream Pavilion had subsidized many of the Dream Force items in this place.

    According to his understanding, talents with exceptionally high Dream Force affinity were too rare, but this was precisely what the Pavilion demanded of their students.

    Although they hadn''t sent their students, they were still in the business of fostering Dream Force talents in hopes that more would appear. It was also potentially the case that in exchange for not participating, they had given these tributes over.

    These were just Leonel''s guesses, and he might be missing a few details, but he felt that this was very close to being true.

    The good news about this Perfection Stone was that it could be used for as many people as you wanted. It was no wonder it was such a popular item.

    Leonel realized that he had to have it. The abilities of the people of this world''s ability to simulate was definitely far above his own. This would be an invaluable item and it would help him too greatly in the future.

    He didn''t believe that it was truly perfect, but he would definitely use it as a guiding light.

    If Zones could produce such perfect Magic Systems that humans couldn''t even dream of thinking up on their own, why wouldn''t the Perfection Stone be capable of refining his future path and allowing him to observe it?

    Now the trouble was that he was missing 30-40 billion Demon Points to buy this even if he gave up one of the protective treasures.

    Leonel exhaled and made a decision. He moved some of the things from Little Tolly''s evolution down, then he would be able to afford it.

    Ultimately, the things he needed to facilitate Little Tolly''s evolution, which amounted to an extra 100 billion, were things that he could find outside of this Zone. But this stone was something he definitely could not.

    Plus, it would still take him some time to find a Force Eruption. So, he had time to gather the materials as well.

    Leonel exhaled. "Show us the top ten most expensive items you have here."

    Leonel still decided to go through with it. Who knew, maybe he would find something worth giving up everything forбн If he could afford it, that is.

    What Leonel and Aina actually saw, though, was enough to leave them stunned.

    Every single one of the ten items was a tablet. Most were gold, but there were two that were silver and two that were bronze. These were precisely the Twelve Pointed Star Lineage Factor tablets, both the Dark Star half and the Light Star half.

    Leonel''s eyes widened when, for the first time, his gaze landed on the Gold Tablets for this Lineage Factor. But almost the moment he did, he heard two roars resound in his mind.

    His eyes, nose and ears burst into a rain of blood. He could see or hear anything, his body falling back, unconscious.

    "Leonel!"

    Aina''s expression changed and quickly caught Leonel before his head hit the ground. She hesitated, wanting to look at the tablets as well, but she refrained, realizing that she might end up in the same state of Leonel. At that point, which one of them would be conscious to protect the other?

    "Iбн"

    Leonel mumbled, snapping out of his unconsciousness before he faded back into again. Every time his brain turned back on, he remembered those images and his body shut down again.

    Even without ever having laid eyes on those two beasts before, he knew exactly what their names were as though they had etched into his mindбн almost like it was disrespectful for him to not know of them when he laid eyes on themбн

    The pinnacle of the Light Star half of the Lineage Factorбн The Infinity Beast.

    The pinnacle of the Dark Star half of the Lineage Factorбн The Void Beast.

    The Void Beast. The Void Beast was the peak of the dark half of his Lineage Factor. In addition, there was actually a beast he had never heard of that was its exact opposite and equal.

    However, Leonel''s memory was too perfect. Before he focused on those two Tablets, he was certain that he had seen the names and descriptions of all the other Tablets as well.

    For one, their prices were egregious, so much so that it felt almost like a slap to the face. They had so many zeroes behind them that even Leonel didn''t know what number that was supposed to represent. All he knew was that it was too much larger than just a trillion.

    But the second shocked him maybe even more than finding out what the pinnacle beasts of his Lineage Factor were.

    Emperor''s Mightбн It was a Tablet here. It sat with its own radiant gold light, exuding an air of unbridled arrogance and majesty.

    Just what did it mean for it to be hereбн? Just what kind of Zone was thisбн? And why did it mention the Brazinger family in its descriptionбн?

    What the hell did the greatest powers of Earth have to do with a Fairy Tale based Mythological Zone?!

 Chapter 1626 Fingertips

    Leonel coughed before his expression turned solemn. There were too many things about this Zone that confused him, too many questions he wanted to ask that no one would give him an answer to.

    Could it be that this wasn''t a Mythological Zone and it was instead a Variant Zone?

    It had to be remembered that Variant Zones signified the end of a world. They appeared when a territory was at a crossroads and they would either face annihilation or deviate toward the correct path and prosper far more than they ever had before.

    What was most important to note about Variant Zones though, in this case at least, wasn''t the opportunity they presented, but rather the fact thatбн

    Variant Zones were a peek into the future.

    If this was the case, then maybe this all made sense. The evolution in Force Manipulation, the prominence of the families of Earth, the unique changes to the techniques and paths those of this world tookбн

    Could it be that this world was actually Earth all along?

    But then where did these demons come from? Was it the influence of the Silver Empire? Did the Silver Empire make a comeback and cause all of this to occur, forcing the people of Earth to share the only Eighth Dimensional world of the Human Domain with them?

    This was also a possibilityбн

    He had heard of the people here mentioning Spirituals, so all of this was potentially true. The only thing that didn''t quite add up was that this world was far too large to be the original Earth, but then again, just how large was the Void Palace? Clearly there were methods of making higher Dimensional worlds break the laws of physics he was used to from the Third Dimension.

    Anything was possible with the use of Forceбн

    But still, even if Leonel''s deductions were all correct, there were still more questions than there were answers.

    Such a Variant Zoneбн how could anyone bear to give it up? Did whoever attacked the Void Palace have to use such a precious Zone for a task like this?

    It also had to be remembered that Variant Zones were known for their ease relative to other Zones of the same level. Their entire purpose was to give those of their past a chance to transcend the difficulties that would block them from getting to the best possible future.

    This meant that this Zone was invaluable if it was a Variant Zone originally.

    If not for the fact the likes of Leonel and the others failed immediately upon entering, the harshness they faced wouldn''t have been nearly as difficult to transcend. In fact, maybe the methods of Force Manipulation and the like would have been handed to them on a silver platter rather than him having to go through all of this trouble.

    Were the people who used this Zone to target the Void Palace fools? Even if there was a 100% guarantee of dealing with the Void Palace completely, who cared? So what if the Void Palace was gone, weren''t there still other races? Other powerhouses? Plus, there were still the most powerful families of the Human Domain that remained untouched.

    On top of that, there was one person that Leonel was absolutely certain was doing just fine: his father.

    To deal with the human race, some fool actually chose to target the Void Palace first and not his father? Leonel couldn''t help but think their brains were waterloggedбн

    There were only two explanations that could possibly make sense to explain all of this.

    The first was that these people had no ability to gauge the value of this Zone and what was inside of it. If they could, Leonel didn''t believe they would use it so foolishly.

    The second was that Leonel was completely incorrect about all of this and this place wasn''t a Variant Zone at all.

    The first made no sense. How could a power capable of targeting the Void Palace not do something as simple as scan a Zone? Even if Leonel gave them the benefit of the doubt, the two things that were absolutely easy to do regardless of the level of a Zone was to tell the quota limit, as in how many people could enter, and to tell what type of Zone it was.

    The moment a Zone actually manifested on the readings as a Variant Zone, even if it was a Ninth Dimensional Zoneбкno, ESPECIALLY if it was a Ninth Dimensional Zoneбкno one would use it for such a foolish thing.

    There was, of course, one other possibility that Leonel was somewhat ignoring.

    In order to use this Zone to target the Void Palace, whoever sent it had to expand the size of the Zone a tremendous amount.

    There was a chance that only a Zone of a certain caliber could withstand this process, as such whoever did this had no choice.

    But even if that was the case, Leonel didn''t believe that they''d be so stupid. If Leonel was in their shoes, and he had such a method, but it could only work on an incredibly valuable Zoneбн he would directly scrap such a method and throw it in the trash. In fact, he might "accidentally" allow his enemies to learn of it and hope they''d be stupid enough to do such a thing should they run into such a valuable Zone. At least that way, they would waste it instead of growing more powerful behind his back.

    All of this logic applied as well if this was really a Mythological Zone. It had to be remembered that Mythological Zones were the most likely to become Unique Zones purely because of their value.

    When things were framed like this, it didn''t make any sense whatsoever for this place to be a Zone unless the enemies of the Void Palace were complete idiots.

    Just when Leonel had this thought, he shot up from Aina''s embrace, his heart trembling.

    What if he was wrong about all of this? What if the enemies of the Void Palace knew very well of the value of this Zone but didn''t careбн

    And what if they didn''t care because they already had such methods at their fingertipsбн?

 Chapter 1627 Between The World And You

    The current Leonel looked quite frightening.

    Blood fell from his eyes, ears and nose and his heart beat so wildly that it only made the blood pour down faster. If Aina didn''t know better, she would have thought that Leonel would bleed out right here and now.

    "Leonel? Leonel!"

    Aina directly shook Leonel, her features marred with worry.

    Leonel blinked, shaking his head and wiping the blood on his cheeks away. Eventually, a sigh came out from his lips.

    "What is it? Are you okay?"

    "It''sбн I don''t know, I just thought of a frightening possibility."

    "What?"

    "It''s just that what''s the best way to manipulate a Zone?"

    Aina blinked. "You mean?"

    "If someone used a method like the Valiant Pillars and you took control of a Zone, you could enter it as you pleased and farm whatever you needed from it. You can technically do this with any Zone, it''s just that it''s only beneficial, usually, to do it with Zones that contain a great amount of resources that can quickly recover in a small period of time.

    "This world here is so large and vast. Even if we spent a hundred years, I doubt we could learn everything that needs to be learned. But what if others had that time and then some?

    "I''m saying that if this Zone was originally a Mythological Zone or even a Variant Zone, and then it was taken control of by a special power, then this special power took their time to squeeze out every pinch of benefit they could get from this placeбн

    "What if after they were done this Zone also conveniently happened to be just strong enough to expand to hundreds of thousands of miles in diameter and swallow up one of your enemies with hardly any effort on your part?"

    When Leonel said these things, Aina''s heart trembled as well, coming to an understanding.

    There was a potential chance that all of Leonel''s previous conjectures weren''t wrongбн but could rather only be correct if they were combined into one?

    Whether this was a Variant or Mythological Zone didn''t matter, they were just minor details. However, if it was only a Zone of this caliber that could be used to swallow up the hole of the Void Palace, and one had already gotten everything you needed out of it, the question wasбн

    Would it be worth it, then?

    The answer was, without a doubt, yes.

    And if yes was truly the answer, then the enemy that the Void Palace faced wasn''t just a small measure more fearsome, they were leaps and bounds beyond anything the Human Domain could hope to fight against.

    Thaela was a decent talent and her potential was high, especially considering her Innate Node. But she still wasn''t considered to be anywhere near the best.

    Her three senior sisters teamed up and all of them together still couldn''t be a match for whoever took first place in this Fiend Class Sector.

    And then it had to be remembered that this was still just the Fiend Class Sector, there were still numerous levels of the Chaos Class geniuses to contend with after this!

    If this power could freely enter and exit this Zone as they pleased, slowly teasing out its secrets and squeezing it dry of everything it had, before then no longer caring about it enough to the point that it used it in such a fashionбн

    Just what kind of strength did this power have now?

    Fearsome. Too fearsome.

    Leonel suddenly hesitated. How would this power react if he managed to reverse the situation and allowed everyone out?

    According to his calculations, once he succeeded, it wouldn''t just be he and Aina who could leave this place. With the collapse of the barrier to this Zone, all "outsiders" would be teleported away all at once, including everyone of the Void Palace who had been forcefully taken into this place.

    But now Leonel wondered if he should still do this.

    There was no doubt that if he delayed, many more of the Void Palace would die. In fact, many had likely died already. This place was a cruel world and he had learned of it first hand. He already knew that once he stepped out of this event, even if Mistress Oliidark left him be, the Matriarch of the Endless Twilight Pavilion would not.

    The uncouth words he had spoken about her were one matter and that could probably still be overlooked depending on a few factors. But, Aina had killed three of her top disciples and had even taken the form of a Chaos Demon.

    Without Leonel here to block her from view, the elders above have definitely already seen this. If not for the fact they were in the demon world and not in the city any longer, they would have likely already swooped down to execute Aina.

    When Leonel thought to this point, he had an ugly expression.

    Was this really the only choice?

    The smart thing to do would be to sacrifice Aina. For the good of the human race and their survival, Leonel should allow everyone to stay in this world for as long as possible. Many would die, but those that survived would come out with the prowess capable of battling those that had imprisoned them in the first place.

    Leonel couldn''t see another way. If these people realized that those of the Void Palace had returned and they really had such strength, they would just directly act to wipe out the Void Palace personally.

    He and Aina couldn''t stay here forever. Eventually the event would come to an end and they would be forcefully teleported out. By then, the two of them would be faced with a sweeping host of powerful Seventh Dimensional and maybe even Eighth Dimensional individuals.

    Even if they gave him a path to survive thanks to his talent, Leonel wasn''t na?ve enough to believe that they''d allow Aina to go freelyбн And he simply didn''t have the strength to protect her.

    He couldn''t even defeat a genius within his Dimension, how would he climb above it to face those monsters.

    Leonel looked toward Aina.

    She had an intelligent glint in her eyes as she calmly looked back. She understood these things the moment Leonel spoke. Although she couldn''t think as fast as Leonel, her intelligence had never been lacking.

    Aina smiled. "Don''t look at me like that, I was ranked ahead of you in Class A, remember? Who asked you to not take your studies seriously?"

    Leonel was stunned for a moment before he laughed.

    He reached a hand forward, caressing Aina''s cheek and pressing his forehead to hers.

    "Ainaбн"

    Aina trembled involuntarily, biting her lip out of habit. No matter how many times Leonel told her not to do that, she never could stop.

    "бн Between the world and you, I choose you."

 Chapter 1628 An Obvious Answer

    "Leonel, youбн"

    Aina didn''t know what to say.

    The transition into Chaos Demon wasn''t something she could control. The moment she reached a certain stage of comprehension in her Blood Sovereinty and took out the heirloom of the Silver Empire, everything happened so fast she couldn''t'' stop it even if she wanted to. It also didn''t help that she didn''t even know what kind of changes were occurring to begin with.

    Then, when it came to killing those three women, she was blinded by rage because the life and death of Leonel was unknown. And just by virtue of the state Leonel had returned in, their deaths were more than warranted.

    Still, even before then, it was already past the point of no return.

    She had thought that everything would be fine since Leonel had a method to leave this place and he wouldn''t lie to her about such a thing.

    But now that she knew about this, she felt as though there was a lump in her throat that she couldn''t quite deal with. She didn''t want such a choice to be contingent on her. Just how many of the Human Domain would die because Leonel said such a thing?

    Leonel smiled, looking into Aina''s eyes despite the closeness of their faces.

    Despite that smile and the twinkle in his eye, Aina knew the kind of weight Leonel felt on his shoulders making this decision, she knew how he felt about taking the lives of others and the kind of responsibility he felt toward protecting as many people as he could.

    He tried not to see any life as more valuable than another because even with his analytical mind, he couldn''t find a logical progression toward the worth of a human life.

    But now, this very same Leonel was deciding that the life of one Aina was worth more than the life of countless others.

    Wasn''t he just a hypocrite?

    Yes. Yes he was. And quite frankly, right this moment, he didn''t care.

    If it was his life, he wouldn''t hesitate to put it on the line 100 out of 100 times. But when it came to the life of Aina, he would deign to play with it even once no matter how many opportunities he was given. Nothing would move him from this position.

    "Didn''t I say it already, I can do this impossible. Without me, everyone would be stuck here regardless. Since I''m the only one who can bring everyone out, this can be considered a small price for thanks. There''s a limit to my selflessness and this is it."

    Leonel pulled his head back, standing to his feet. Right now, he almost felt angry, almost as though a voice in his head was telling him that he was being selfish. It made a fury boil in his heart.

    He didn''t know where these feelings for Aina came from, but he knew that they were here and they weren''t going anywhere. Aina would forever be his bottomline, his reverse scale. If it meant protecting her, if he was honest with himself, he didn''t give a damn how many people died.

    You were angry about that? Alright, then. Find a method to leave this place yourself.

    An arrogance far colder than usual exuded from Leonel, his irises dancing with a crimson hue.

    "Let''s go. Let''s leave this place. We''ll return to the Human Domain as soon as I finish this."

    Leonel exchanged for everything on his list, save a few things for Little Tolly, before storing them all away. Then he began to bring out the items he had collected through the Sectors one by one before pulling out his Quasi Life Grade Force Quill.

    He planned to finish all of these preparations in one go. Once he stepped out, it would only take a moment to fuse everything together and end it all.

    Leonel wasn''t in the mood to continue "shopping". He had everything he needed and he would make certain that whoever put them in here and made him make such a choice suffered.

    Although Leonel wasn''t absolutely certain who it was, he was over 90% sure that it was the Three Finger Cult. Only they could have such means. And, if it truly was them, then there was definitely someone within the Void Palace that worked together with them to execute such a large scale plan.

    Leonel could bring everyone out, and in the future, he would make certain that they ever gave him such a chance.

    As Leonel worked, his expression only became colder and colder, even the air became frigid despite the fact he hadn''t released any Water Force.

    Leonel had thought for a long time about exactly how to exit this Zone. In fact, he had spent months on the problem.

    Ultimately, the answer lay in the full name of a Zoneбн It was a Sub-Dimensional. Meaning, it was a pocket of space separate from reality that, under normal circumstances, couldn''t be breached.

    In the past, Sub-Dimensional Zone had been described to Leonel as points in history that met the present, almost like time loops that formed small pockets of space that shared a similar history, but also a somewhat separate timeline. This was why when you failed a Zone, you would live out your life until you died rather than the Zone just directly collapsing.

    While to you it would seem as though a lifetime had passed upon failure, to those of the outside world, the Zone would open up immediately, sending the next group that entered to the beginning of the time loop.

    This concept became even clearer in Leonel''s mind after he learned that the opposite of Spatial Force was Time Force. The two were opposite sides of the same coin, both together, and yet very much separate.

    Then, how exactly could you exit a Zone after all having missed the "get off point". Well, the answer was found in the same way such Zones were formed in the first placeбн

    A point where history met the presentбн Or in other words, on the other side of the coin, a point where one space met another.

    Simply put, if Leonel wanted to exit, he needed to find a way to bring them back to the reset point. He couldn''t do this with Time Force, but he could do it with Spatial Force.

    Essentially, he had to find a way to force this Zone to touch the Human Domain once again. Once these two worlds connected, it would be like the Zone opened up again, but this time in reverse, thus allowing everyone to exit. At least, this was the simplified version of his thoughts.

    This, though, still left the matter of how. How would he force such a connection to occur again?

    Leonel needed a catalyst, a bridge of sorts that could force these worlds to interact once again, and he had the perfect solution to this.

    What Leonel needed was a third world, a world that could force these two together once more, a world that had a strong connection to the Human Domain, but was also sturdy enough to survive a trip through space.

    And to that, Leonel had the perfect answer. In fact, this world had already survived such a trip before. In fact, it had survived such a trip many times before. It even had certain abilities capable of hiding the presence of people from the eyes of a Zone.

    By now, the answer was obviousбн

    The Segmented Cube.

 Chapter 1629 Pissed

    Aina had never seen Leonel so focused.

    A dense amount of Auspicious Air flooded his surroundings. It felt that if she wanted to, she would easily be able to enter an extremely deep state of meditation, one even deeper than the one that had allowed her to form her Chaos Demon body.

    Aina couldn''t help but wonder why it was that Leonel didn''t use it more often. Whether it was his state of focus or his strength, she felt like it was on a completely different level when he entered this state. Was he just not aware? Or was it about his disposition? Could he not enter it freely?

    She could tell that Leonel seemed to be pissed off about something, but it was odd because he didn''t seem to be angry with her. If anything, she felt like they were even closer now, closer than they ever had been.

    What woman wouldn''t swoon when their man said words like Leonel just had? Leonl always seemed to have a way to make her heart flutter, but this just felt especially potent even in comparison to his usual way with words.

    But his disposition shifted again on a dime. She just felt like the more she understood Leonel, the less she actually understood.

    From what she did know, though, there were probably only two possibilities. Either Leonel was pissed off that he was too weak and had to make such a decision in the first place, or he was enraged at the thought that people were threatening her life to begin with.

    Knowing this unreasonable man, it was probably a combination of both. Only someone with his level of arrogance would be truly pissed off about such things.

    The first was a culmination of frustration.

    Leonel was usually lazy, that much was true. He didn''t put in as much effort as he should and he was easily bored by things. But at the same time, he was also someone who could easily pour in a ton of time so long as there was a goal ahead.

    If he had just been lazy recently and that was the root of his weakness, fine, he would be able to accept it. But the reality was that before being forced into this situation, he had spent every waking moment of the previous year honing his strength.

    He hadn''t taken a single step out of that training room, and the moment he did take a step out, the Void Palace was suddenly thrust into an existential crisis.

    He, despite his usual disposition, had put in ten months of effort. He had put in so much effort that he even fell asleep for an additional two months. And yet, even that still wasn''t enough to match up to the geniuses of this Zone.

    First he found himself captured by the Olidiark family, then he was surrounded by enemies in this event City, and when he finally found a soothing happiness again with Aina by his side, he was nearly crushed in a battle with Thaela before he was, quite literally, eaten alive by a demon.

    Now he faced the cherry on top and he could already see the coming struggle ahead. Even if he completed this perfectly in time for them to be teleported out, they''d likely face stiff problems as he completed the final step. Just thinking about it pissed him off.

    He was probably more than strong enough to shatter the barrier his father left behind in the Segmented Cube, but he still felt like he somehow hadn''t improved at all.

    It was frustrating. It felt as though he was running in place while the peak ahead only got further away and taller.

    Maybe only Leonel would be truly frustrated by such a thing.

    A year? What was a year of effort compared to the amount of time these geniuses had put into their crafts? What about compared to the old monsters that were waiting to target his life? What good was a year in the face of dozens? What about hundreds?

    But then again, did Leonel even have such an option? How long ago had the Metamorphosis of Earth descended? He hadn''t grown up in this world, he was just thrust into it without aim or purpose.

    Although he felt like he had his own purpose now, he couldn''t seem to ever focus on it like he wanted to. it was almost like his mind wasn''t fully in his own control.

    Leonel''s wrist flicked and the final Force Art was completed.

    He took off the finger guard that had been with him all this time and slotted it into the center of it all. This guard was none other than the home of the Segmented Cube. Very soon, it would be complete again.

    Leonel looked up, the intent in his eyes blazing.

    The world wasn''t fair, it wasn''t designed to be. No one would care how long he had been in the Dimensional Verse for, no one would care that he had spent most of his childhood recovering for a grievous injury or that he hadn''t gotten the chance to grow step by step with his greatest talent, his Innate Node, and had to instead watch as it became a ticking time bomb in his body.

    Since no one would care, he wouldn''t care either.

    Leonel swept his completed Craft into his spatial ring and stood to wrap an arm around Aina''s waist.

    He didn''t look toward her. Instead, his gaze practically bore a hole into the Emperor''s Might Tablet.

    He felt a formless pressure boring down on him, pressing down against his soul.

    What Leonel had learned when his body separated from his soul was that while the root of most of his Lineage Factors were in his body, his King''s Might Lineage Factor actually called his soul home. In addition, when his body separated from his soul, the influence his Innate Node had on his King''s Might Lineage Factor was also stripped away, allowing it to regain its former clarity.

    Staring at it, Leonel felt a sudden compulsion.

    "Come here."

    His voice was cold, cold to the point that Aina felt a tingle up her spine, her cheeks flushing red.

    An oppressive King''s Might surged into the surroundings, suffocating the surroundings in a dense purple fog that permeated even the protective formations.

    Leonel stretched out a hand and the bindings around the Golden Tablet shattered and it surged into his palm.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The world in the surroundings suddenly began to collapse. The other tablets vanished even as the Emperor''s Might Tablet became illusory and shot into Leonel''s body.

    Leonel''s vision swam, and when he appeared once more, he was already standing outside of the city gates.

    At that moment, the skies above collapsed, a large surge of powerful elders of the Seventh Dimension rushing downward.

    Leonel didn''t even look upward. His hand waved and a thick platform descended.

    BOOM!

    The earth quaked and a strong surge of Spatial Force surged through the air. Many of the youths near Leonel and Aina were forced into a quick retreat.

    The platform embedded and hooked itself into the earth, becoming so solid that even Leonel, its creator, wouldn''t be able to move it even if he wanted to.

 Chapter 1630 Superimposed

    The solid slab of silver metals that was at least 10 by 10 meters. Its edges were filled with complex runes that could make one''s mind spin just looking at them, and its center was filled with a circular formation that seemed to rotate with life of its own.

    "Halt! Hand the demon over!"

    The elders above released mighty auras, soaring down upon their treasures.

    When Leonel heard this, his gaze flashed with rage, but he still didn''t look upward. If he had the strength, he would have directly killed the person who said such a thing.

    However, even though he didn''t look upward, his aura continued to grow like a towering tempest. Billowing violet fog and a wild crimson spread out further and further.

    From the perspective of the elders of this world, they had to capture Aina, and even if they couldn''t capture her, they had to at least kill her.

    A demon that could camouflage themselves as a human was a crisis level threat to them all. They had to know how it worked, and more importantly, how to counter it.

    The one good thing about demons was that they were easily spotted. But if one could hide so perfectly and even infiltrate their society to this extent, wouldn''t it only be a matter of time before they were all finished.

    They couldn''t allow Aina to escape no matter what.

    Violent surges of aura descended from the skies. If it wasn''t for the fact they were caught off guard by the change, they would have already surrounded the city. But something Leonel did seemed to have triggered the teleportation ahead of time, causing them to still be in the skies observing the situation until right this moment.

    "LEONEL!"

    The roar of Mistress Oliidark was among the loudest, and there was no doubt that this was on purpose.

    She should have been happy that Leonel had gathered so many points for her Oliidark family, but truthfully, it was the direct opposite. She had to make it clear that she was going all out to kill Leonel and Aina or else her family would be implicated.

    Who could have thought that the brat she had easily taken control of just might cause the downfall of her family so easily? She couldn''t allow this to happen no matter what.

    RIPPLE!

    At that moment, a strong surge of Force expanded outward in all directions.

    BANG!

    Several attacks from above suddenly found themselves blocked by a powerful barrier.

    This barrier wasn''t actually part of the original design, but was rather just a subsidiary product of the function of the design.

    There needed to be an incredibly stable spatial link formed between this world and the next, so Leonel had modified the original design to need a powerful ore with precisely these characteristics as the foundation.

    Leonel had done a lot of research about spatial rings and Spatial Force in general in order to create this method to retrieve the Segmented Cube. Now all of that research became the backbone for his method of returning home.

    He gave the Segmented Cube a landing mark, and that would be its original vessel to begin with. Now that the space was stabilized, Seventh Dimensional individuals could forget about shaking it easily.

    Leonel had actually been prepared for Eighth Dimensional experts to make a move, but there were none, surprisingly. What he didn''t know was that they all had been pulled away by that sudden SNAP! But regardless, the fact that none were here, or disdained to act in Leonel''s estimation, they could forget about stopping him.

    The space only grew more and more stable with each passing moment. Even for Leonel and Aina who were in the center of it all, it was difficult even to move properly, let alone for these elders to shatter the barrier.

    Leonel slowly inclined his head almost as though he wanted to imprint the faces of all those above him. He even took an exceptionally long look at Mistress Oliidark.

    He would never meet these people again, and he knew that, but for some reason he still did this. Maybe it was less about getting revenge later, and more of a reminder of what forced him into this situation in the first place.

    At that moment, the skies above split and a surging beam of light descended.

    BANG!

    It collided with the spatial barrier and right then, it was as though the earth had been connected to the skies.

    The blue skies and clouds vanished, replaced by a vastness of darkness and sparkling stars. For a moment, some believed that someone had activated their Natural Light Domain, but that was far from the case.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. This was part of his calculations, so he wasn''t surprised about the pillar of Spatial Force. Howeverбн That shouldn''t be what the skies looked like. It felt likeбн

    ? Leonel didn''t get a chance to finish his thoughts when an amoeba-like bundle of energy suddenly shuttled through the pillar of Spatial Force.

    His eyes lit up. He knew exactly what that was, it was most definitely the world of the Segmented Cube.

    Seeing this, nothing else mattered. He knew that it had worked.

    BANG!

    The bundle of energy collided with the fingerguard and Leonel immediately stretched out a hand, causing it to shoot back toward him.

    The platform rumbled, a residual bit of energy that had coated the Segmented Cube''s world fusing with it.

    The energy ran through the circular formation like it was rushing through a race track before it began to cause the Runes near the edges to light up as well.

    At that moment, the entire world began to tremble. No matter where they were, the youths and elders of the Void Palace looked up.

    Some were hidden within organizations, others were running through the demon worlds, others were stuck in jail cells, and yet some others were being humiliated as slavesбн

    However, not a single one of them didn''t feel the tug.

    A sudden pulling sensation pulled them through as the two worlds superimposed.

    When the world finally calmed once more, every one of them had vanished.

 Chapter 1631 Shitty Old Man

    Leonel snapped awake to the sound of whistling wind, and not long after, to the feeling of his lips trying to touch his forehead.

    His eyes opened wide.

    ''Damnбн''

    Were his calculations off? He had definitely set it so that he would land on his feet, so how had things happened like this? Why was he falling through the skies? Wasn''t this a bit too clichиж?

    Leonel''s brows furrowed. There were too many things that were odd about this, but Leonel didn''t have the luxury of thinking about it.

    He looked to his side to find that Aina had awoken as well. At the very least, they had managed to stay side by side, likely due to the fact he had been holding onto her.

    Leonel took hold of Aina, ready to do something to catch her. But at that moment, the feeling of strong armor in his palm suddenly became delicate and soft skin. His expression changed a bit, but he looked to the side to find that Aina had already entered her Chaos Demon form.

    Her armor separated from her body, becoming a dancing tornado of gorgeous black feathers and her wings appeared once more.

    In an instant, their positions flipped and Aina caught Leonel, cradling him like a princess.

    Leonel found himself without the words to speak. He was certain that this mischievous little vixen had done this on purpose.

    Almost as though to confirm this, Aina couldn''t even hit the ground before she started laughing. The sonorous sounds of her laughter spread over the surroundings, she couldn''t help herself.

    Aina landed on the ground, still holding Leonel up with a wide smile on her face. She leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek, her grin enormous.

    Leonel eventually laughed as well, even forgetting to check their surroundings.

    "You''re not going to get down, princess?" Aina asked.

    "Why would I? I think this is actually pretty comfortable. Carry me around some more."

    BANG!

    Leonel fell to the ground and could only look up with a wronged expression. There was really no justice in this world.

    Leonel stood, patting his butt and looking around.

    "This should be the Void Battlefield? How far out are we?"

    The Void Battlefield was a large place and the only region Leonel was familiar with was the Rapax region, and even that was just to a limited extent. Unfortunately, there was far more than just the Rapax here. From Leonel''s understanding, pretty much every race of the Dimensional Verse had a land they controlled here. After all, this region could be considered the dividing lines between their territories, so how could they not protect what was effectively the frontline?

    There was another reason for this as well, of course, and that was that the Human Domain would soon produce an Eighth Dimensional world. Once this happened, the layer of protection they had due to their relative weakness would be gone and the ultimate result would likely be war.

    "Forget it, we can deal with this later. How about we go visit Blackstar? Maybe that annoying old man will have a way to tell exactly where we''ve gone and how to get back."

    Leonel somewhat sighed a breath of relief when he thought this. Wise Star Order was definitely an annoying old man, but so long as he was being annoying, this also meant that he was giving him knowledge that he didn''t have.

    Aina nodded in agreement, somewhat missing the little mink as well.

    Leonel opened his palm and the Segmented Cube, for the first time in over a year, finally changed its form once again and took the shape of a cube formed of jigsaws. With a smile, he grabbed Aina''s hand and entered. But what he saw when he went inside left him somewhat floored.

    The Segmented Cube had been vast before, but now it was on a completely different level.

    Leonel landed in a vast forest with trees as tall as several hundred meters and so thick it would take dozens of men to wrap around it from tip to tip.

    ''What the hellбн This placeбн It should be the garden of my residence, at least that''s where I wanted to teleport to. How had things happened like this?''

    "WHO?!"

    A booming voice descended from the skies and a familiar spirit appeared about Leonel and Aina. The old man had once again entered that ridiculously handsome form of his. He looked more like he should be walking runways and starring in movies than yelling so imposingly.

    "Brat?"

    Wise Star Order seemed just as taken aback to see Leonel as Leonel was to see the Segmented Cube.

    Leonel blinked, his head tilting to the side. Something about Wise Star Order seemed off. With how vast this world was, the only one who should have been able to teleport around so fast was Leonel himself who was the owner of the cube to begin with. But somehow, Wise Star Order had just appeared here.

    Leonel''s eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    At the same time, Wise Star Order''s surprise turned into a malevolent grin. He finally had this brat right where he wanted him.

    Leonel reacted faster than Wise Star Order, using the pendant that his mother had given him to control the old bastard. But to Leonel''s shock, Wise Star Order seemed completely unaffected.

    "Haha, you little shit! I''ve been waiting for this day for too long!"

    Leonel and Aina''s expressions both became dark at the exact same time. This old man had always been looking for opportunities to kill Leonel, but to think that he still wouldn''t have given up after all this time.

    Wise Star Order''s presence soared, but Leonel only grinned as the old man''s spirit shot toward his head.

    BANG!

    Wise Star Order was sent spiraling away. When he stabilized himself, he could only look toward Leonel with an incredulous expression.

    "You shitty old man, my Dream Force comprehension has already reached the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, and so have the barriers of my mind. Plus, my soul control is at a completely different level now. You can forget about it."

    Wise Star Order was speechless, not knowing what to say.

    Leonel shook his head. "I leave you for a year and you already don''t know how to act. Have some priopriety as an elder."

    Wise Star Order''s expression furrowed.

    "A year? It''s been decades."

 Chapter 1632 The End Of A Phenomena?

    Leonel''s expression changed when he heard this. His mind spun into overdrive, trying to think of the possibilities for why this could be.

    His calculations seemed to have been off from the beginning since he was falling through the sky and even ended up lost somewhere inside the Void Battlefield. Could it be that this was the reason he was off?

    As specified previously, Zones were technically points in time connecting with one another. Could it be that Leonel just connected with the wrong point? Considering the vastness of time itself, the fact that he had landed within a couple decades was already praiseworthy. It was so close that it couldn''t even be considered a margin of error. After all, what was a couple decades in the face of trillions upon trillions of years?

    However, Leonel didn''t feel like he was wrong. He had been so careful, so precise, it was simply impossible for such a thing to have happened. His confidence in himself was absolute. But everything seemed to point to the fact that he had, indeed, made a mistake somewhere.

    Leonel''s brows furrowed further.

    By now, one might wonder why it is that Leonel didn''t consider time dilation. After all, it was only a minority of Zones that were one to one with real time and Zone time. The vast majority had some sort of time dilation built in, even capable of halting the aging of the individuals who entered.

    But, while Leonel had heard of many Zones that sped up time in comparison to the outside world, he had never heard of any that did the reverse. In fact, they didn''t exist. This was something that Leonel could say confidently now that he had read all of the basic knowledge in the Void Library.

    Time dilation in the reverse was impossible, so the only explanation was that Leonel''s calculations had been off.

    ''I made a mistake?'' Leonel''s frown deepened to the point even his skin tone seemed to darken.

    "Old man, have you ever heard of a Zone time dilated in the reverse?"

    Wise Star Order blinked but eventually shook his head. Such a thing didn''t exist.

    Leonel shook his head as well. It seemed like things were truly impossible. There really was only one explanation, then.

    "Forget it, what happened to my Segmented Cube? And why is it that you seemed so confident previously?"

    Wise Star Order was about to answer, but at that moment, the shimmering appearance of an adorable little girl with a floating cloud for legs appeared.

    "It''s about time that you returned."

    Despite the commanding tone, one would only feel an overwhelming need to pinch this little girl''s cheeks.

    "Youбн I''ve seen you before. You were there after I left the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world."

    The little girl rolled her eyes. "Don''t remind me. Back then, I could have directly entered the Seventh Dimension but I actually had to waste precious energy healing you instead. Can''t you be a little less useless?

    "Never mind, never mind. Since you''ve brought me back to the Eighth Dimension now, I guess I shouldn''t be too hard on you. Good boy."

    The little girl floated over and patted Leonel on the head.

    Leonel blinked. The Segmented Cube had entered Phase Six? When? Had it been over the decades he had been gone? How, though? The Segmented Cube needed a ridiculous amount of energy to evolve. Even spending so long in a dense mass of what must have been Ninth Dimensional Vital Star Force wasn''t enough for it to evolve to this level, but suddenly two decades was enough for it to reach this level?

    Something wasn''t adding up. Noбн A lot of things weren''t adding up.

    "Don''t think too hard. Your calculations weren''t off, there are just certain things you''re too weak about. Knowing would, quite literally, harm you. I don''t mean in a figurative sense, I mean, as I said, literally."

    Leonel didn''t know what to say to this.

    "Iбн I''m going to go and see Little Blackstar and Little Tolly."

    Leonel sighed. He had left them alone for too long.

    **

    "The phenomena is finished and spatial fluctuations have come to an end. They should have all returned now."

    An unknown voice spoke from the shadows.

    "So my words were correct?"

    "Even if they were correct, we couldn''t act on them until now anyway. I don''t know how that brat did it, but he''s even more troublesome than his father."

    "Dealing with him will be as easy as flipping over a palm. His father has been on a rampage for the last two decades. His wife didn''t appear until 11 years ago, and his son hasn''t appeared until now. I told you that we should have acted when he was in the Void Palace."

    "It wasn''t worth the risk. There was a chance he could have stopped it."

    "And what did that get you? The plan failed anyway because of his brat."

    "The plan might have failed, but it wasn''t for nothing. It''s given us extra years to prepare. Now, we''re already close."

    "How do you want to deal with this matter, then?"

    "Using the Void Palace is too easy, we have too many methods. Just randomly choose one to get him kicked out of the Void Palace. By then, we can send any random agent and kill him off directly."

    "Are we really ready to antagonize that man directly?"

    "We killed his father already, and what did he do? Pout a bit? He thought we killed his wife and son, and what did he do? Just pout some more? So what if we actually kill them this time? This is the luxury time has brought us.

    "Although it''s not advisable to fight him directly for now, we also have no need to fear him in the slightest. If he wanted to waste his time beating his head against a steel drum, let him. I really want to see what the piece of trash can do.

    "He can just watch obediently as we kill off his family members one by one. Once a hard headed fool, always a hard headed fool."

    "Alright then, I have a method. It won''t be too difficult at all."

    "Get it done, but be patient about it. No need to activate any pieces, use the most natural and inconspicuous method."

    "No issues on this side."

 Chapter 1633 Yip!

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Leonel felt as though a boulder had slammed into his chest. He had barely stepped into the region when a familiar blur of black assaulted him.

    He fell to the ground, his face suffered an attack from a wet mass of pink. However, what should have been a soft tongue made Leonel feel as though layers of his face were coming off piece by piece.

    Leonel laughed. Little Blackstar had never licked him like this before. It seemed he had left the little guy alone for too long, only to come back and find that the little mink had become a dog instead.

    Leonel peeled Blackstar away from himself, holding the little mink up. He couldn''t help but be surprised by what he saw.

    Little Blackstar had moved so fast previously that he hadn''t gotten a good look, but the little mink had gone from fun sized to massive. The Blackstar Leonel knew was barely over a foot long, but this Blackstar was easily three feet long and three times as thick as well. Though the not as little guy could still easily rest on his shoulders as usual, he was much larger than before.

    Leonel could even see a hint of maturity behind the little one''s eyes, something that made him sigh. Little Blackstar was just a baby when Leonel met him, but now he was grown.

    Actually, if Leonel thought about it, Little Blackstar was only about as old now as he himself was.

    Of course, it didn''t make much sense to look at things like that. After all, the lifespan of Third Dimensional minks versus Third Dimensional humans was easily a ten times difference.

    But luckily, Little Blackstar was now well into the Sixth Dimension. In fact, it probably wouldn''t be all that long before the little one entered the Seventh. Lifespan at this level wasn''t really much of a worry. In fact, for beasts, they tended to outlive humans because their bodies carried much more strength and vitality.

    Leonel grinned.

    He was honestly a bit worried. After 20 years, who knew what could have happened. Luckily, Blackstar still treated him just the same.

    Suddenly, Little Blackstar vanished from Leonel''s hands. Before Leonel could be confused, he heard some laughter coming from his back and realized that Blackstar had actually abandoned him in search of brighter, greener, and definitely much softer pastures.

    Leonel rose to his feet with a smile to see Blackstar snuggling with Aina.

    In truth, the relationship between the two had been quite estranged. During the matters of a year ago, Blackstar had obviously stayed with Leonel. It seemed, though, that the senses of his partner were quite sharp since he flipped a switch so easily.

    "You didn''t bully Blackstar, did you?" Leonel looked toward Wise Star Order.

    Currently, the group was still within the large forest. It was so vast that Leonel still couldn''t quite wrap his head around what he was seeing. But while it was vast, it was also quite empty. The Segmented Cube might have nearly become a sustainable world of its own, but it didn''t have the ecosystem to match it.

    Even the trees and vegetation were very simple. They couldn''t be considered to be high class Force Herbs and were, at best, just some plants with longer lifespans and stronger bodies than normal.

    "Bully? You should thank me. Whether it''s the little mink, or those other two kiddos, I definitely treated them well."

    Leonel suddenly frowned. This was actually something that he was worried about. Wise Star Order couldn''t harm him now, but that didn''t mean Candle and Vice couldn''t. Those two Savants have been given two decades to growбн Just how powerful had they grown?

    Seeing Leonel''s expression, Wise Star Order sneered as though he couldn''t wait for something. But, the little girl, or rather, Anastasia, as she wanted Leonel to remember, didn''t let him have his fun for long.

    "Don''t worry about this one, he''s just blowing his own trumpet. He only helped because there was nothing better to do in this place. For someone who''s lived so long, he completely lacks patience. All he''s good at are little tricks, but he''s too stupid to make them any good."

    Leonel rolled his lips over themselves when he heard this. It took everything he had not to burst out in laughter, but the amusement in his eyes was all too clear to Wise Star Order.

    "To think that the mighty Wise Star Order would have such a day too."

    Wise Star Order glared at Leonel. "Just because she looks like a little girl doesn''t mean she is one. She''s an old monбк"

    Wise Star Order quickly cleared his throat, feeling a glare that could ruin him.

    The truth was that during the event that caused the Segmented Cube to dislodge from its original coordinates and separate from its vessel, Wise Star Order had almost died. As for the reasons why, they had little to do with the Segmented Cube itself and everything to do with that event.

    His life was going to be snuffed out, but Anastasia felt that he was more useful alive and actually tethered his existence to the Segmented Cube. That action actually led to the pendant that Leonel had becoming useless and that was the reason why Leonel couldn''t make any use of it.

    Unfortunately, this also meant that Anastasia had absolute control over him and his life and death was at the whims of this little girl.

    Knowing this, it was no wonder he was so obedient. But his hatred of Leonel had increased manifold. It was just too bad that he couldn''t do anything about it.

    For some reason, though, neither Anastasia nor Wise Star Order seemed to have any intention of telling Leonel about these matters. So, when askedбн

    "What exactly happened that caused the Segmented Cube to separate from its vessel? I only woke up from a coma one day and you were all gone."

    "Don''t ask for the answers to questions you can''t know the answers to."

    The harsh reality is that telling Leonel the truth wouldn''t be too much of an issueбн if he was a normal person. However, Leonel was simply too intelligent, even the most benign of clues might lead to a disaster. Anastasia wouldn''t allow this to happen.

 Chapter 1634 Candle And Vice

    "I placed your Metal Spirit into Suspended Animation. 20 years of separation between yourself and your mink is one matter, but if you allowed the same to happen with your Metal Spirit, it would grow apart from you.

    "Before maturity, Spirits are too malleable and susceptible to their environment. If you only spent a fraction of their life with them, they would easily forget you, which makes sense since they live far longer than humans, some even believe that Spirits have no finite lifespans at all.

    "The little one will be in the first lab."

    Anastasia changed the subject before Leonel could ask any questions quite clearly. It was obvious that she had no intention of allowing him to know the truth.

    The good news, though, was that Leonel was ecstatic to hear this news, he had actually been worrying about it. If Little Tolly also entered the Sixth Dimension while he was gone, it would already be too late to do anything and he would have wasted billions of Demon Points on nothing.

    Someone else might have thought of abandoning Little Tolly at that point and simply picking up a new Metal Spirit, but by this point, Tolliver was Leonel''s partner. How could he abandon him just because? He wouldn''t have the heart to do it.

    бн

    It wasn''t long before Leonel felt that familiar feeling of Little Tolly rushing through his fingers. He couldn''t help but have a wide grin on his face. It seemed that Suspended Animation state hadn''t affected the little one at all and it was just as enthusiastic. To it, it had been even less than a year since it had seen Leonel, but it was still far too long.

    Anastasia had obviously sensed this and made this decision herself. Toward this, Leonel could only be endlessly grateful.

    With a smile, Leonel turned to face Candle and Vice. The two of them didn''t look to have aged a day, but this was to be expected. Although Savants could rise through the Dimensions via normal means, so long as their control over their Ability Index reached certain levels, they would have no problems living long lives.

    What did surprise Leonel, though, was that the usual shadow that loomed over them seemed to have dissipated somewhat.

    Candle''s finicky and jittery demeanor was no longer as prominent and Vice seemed to have stopped copying everything Candle did to hide his true intentions. Most curiously, though, or maybe it was only to be expected since only the two of them were here, they seemed very close to one another. Facing Leonel now, they clearly found comfort in each other''s presence.

    Leonel was happy that this happened, in fact he had hoped that something like this would happen although he had done nothing to try and force it. He wanted the two of them to slowly pull away from the shadow their life in Dark Cloud Prison had placed them under.

    Even if they didn''t quite trust Leonel as he had simply vanished for two decades, it would still be easier to communicate with and understand them the more humanity they had.

    "First I want to apologize to you two. I had every intention of giving you both as much freedom as possible, but an event caused me to lose access to the Segmented Cube. To me, it''s only been about a year and some change, but to you, it''s already been two decades. There''s already nothing I can do to fix that.

    "However, I still that you two canбк"

    "It''s okay," Vice suddenly spoke.

    Leonel raised an internal eyebrow but he didn''t do much else other than smile when he heard this. In the past, Vice would be too busy imitating Candle to dare to interrupt Leonel when he was speaking because Candle would be too reserved to ever think of doing so.

    "You don''t need to treat them with kid gloves," Wise Star Order said with a snort. "My two little disciples are stronger than you can even imagine."

    "In that case, I''ll ask you two something else then. What do you want to do in life?" Leonel kept looking toward them, not sparing Wise Star Order a glance.

    The couple looked toward one another before grabbing a hold of one another''s hands.

    "We want to help master rebuild the Luxnix family," Vice spoke for them both.

    Leonel blinked before chuckling inwardly. He knew that Wise Star Order would do his own bit of brainwashing, but it seemed that his claws were sunk deep into this pair.

    Leonel didn''t dare to refute it either. After all, if his first interaction with Candle and Vice was to question their motives or if they were smart enough to make their own decisions, then it would completely ruin any good will he had in their hearts if there was any.

    To them, Wise Star Order was likely like a father by now, while he was just a person who had threatened them with death and then leveraged that into controlling their abilities. The gap was far too large.

    However, what happened next surprised him. It was actually Candle that spoke this time.

    "We understand that Sir Leonel is also the hope of the Luxnix family, so we will do our best to assist you.

    "Also, Vice and I want to thank Sir Leonel for not killing us for our abilities. We know that you could have any time you wanted, but you chose to spare us. Thank you very much."

    Candle spoke very softly, but her words were firm and carried much more confidence than Leonel expected. It seemed that she had truly come out of her shell as well. He had simply missed too much.

    Leonel sent a gaze toward Wise Star Order. He hadn''t expected the old man to tell them about this.

    Of course, Leonel could have told them himself. But something like that was hard to bring up naturally without making it sound like a threat. If they didn''t learn about it naturally, it was best they didn''t learn about it at all.

    Wise Star Order snorted. "Don''t look at me like that, this one made me tell them."

    Candle giggled hearing her master''s complaints. The mood and atmosphere felt quite homey all of a sudden.

 Chapter 1635 Target

    After these matters were settled and his heart was settled, Leonel couldn''t help but think about the situation of the Dimensional Verse, and specifically, the Human Domain. If he had been gone for 20 years, too many things could have happened.

    Setting aside miscellaneous matters, he was most worried about Earth and his brothers. How had they been? And Earth, what Dimension had it entered by now? Did it survive well without him there to battle on the frontlines? What other powers were eyeing it? And if his brothers and friends were fighting those wars, had they survived? How were they faring?

    Leonel was itching to do something, but he forced himself to calm down.

    20 years had passed already, a few seconds and even a few months wouldn''t make a large difference. What had already happened had already happened and there was no changing it, and if they had managed to survive for 20 years, he was sure that they could manage to survive for a bit longer.

    Currently, he was in a severely weakened state.

    Never mind the fact that his Dream Force and mind hadn''t quite fully recovered just yet, there was still the matter of his King''s Might being reset and the fact that his Metal Body had been undone and no longer had Divine Armors to support it.

    Much of Leonel''s strength had been stripped down and it would be foolish of him to start rushing around without being able to consolidate what he had first. He had to take his time and first reach a bottleneck in his progression before he went out.

    He realized that every time he jumped into any sort of trouble, he never had any time to rest. There was no doubt that the Human Domain was in a large amount of turmoil right now with everything that had happened, so he couldn''t afford to be casual with his life.

    "Anastasia, I plan to do a few things before leaving. Can you monitor the situation outside? I don''t want the Segmented Cube to end up damaged because the wrong person ran into it."

    Anastasia nodded. "Oh, so you know how to be patient? It seems that someone finally taught you a lesson."

    Leonel coughed lightly. It seemed that he had traded one Wise Star Order for a sharp tongued, albeit supremely adorable, Anastasia. Wise Star Order finally learned how to be obedient, but at what cost?

    "There''s no need for you to worry. In Phase Six, the Segmented Cube''s ability to shrink is even greater. No one would notice us under normal circumstances.

    "It''s good that you''re deciding to take things slowly. There''s nothing someone as pitifully weak as you can do anyway. Plus, you''re the last to arrive anyway."

    Leonel frowned. "Last to arrive?"

    Anastasia''s words seemed to imply that he and Aina were the last to find a method to return, but that didn''t make any sense. Maybe it was because he was arrogant, but he was certain that even if everyone in the Void Palace was given a Segmented Cube to use as a catalyst to return home, he could probably count on his fingers how many would be able to think of the method.

    Could it be that there was another way to return?

    "When you triggered the return sequence, you became the focal point of the return as you were the origin of everything. The point you stood upon was the very to make the connection, but it was also the last to disconnect."

    A sudden realization overtook Leonel.

    So he was the one that allowed others to return, but because he and Aina had been at the focal point, they were the last to return.

    When you were working with such long spans of time, what was ultimately a few microseconds worth of difference between when they left and when everyone else left, became dilated to decades worth on the side.

    "How unluckyбн"

    This wasn''t part of Leonel''s calculations either. Even if he knew it would happen, he would still need to act. But it was still a bit unfortunate.

    "Still, this is good. If the elders of the Void Palace returned well in advance, then it likely means that the turmoil in the Human Domain isn''t so bad. They would have come back to stabilize the situation in time."

    Leonel felt that this was actually good news.

    "You can look at it like that, orбн" Anastasia sneered. "бн you can realize that this puts a huge target on your back."

    ? Leonel froze.

    He didn''t need Anastasia to explain this to him at all, the moment she spoke the words, he hit him like a ton of bricks.

    Leonel couldn''t see the core of the situation because he had been stuck in the thick of it, but from an outsider''s perspective, especially given the sheer amount of time that had passed, it would have been easy to understand what was happening even if they didn''t understand the methods Leonel had used.

    Ultimately, it would be very simple to conclude that whoever returned last once the phenomenon concluded should also be the person that had caused it all in the first place.

    Things would be fine under normal circumstances. After all, just statistically speaking, there would be others who came out in close proximity to Leonel. In addition, he and Aina had appeared in a completely barren location where none were here to observe their appearance.

    However, there were two methods of tracking Leonelбн

    The first was his name in the Morales family Holy Land. It was less likely for there to be traitors in the Morales family, so this probably was as much of a worry. But, this was where the second method came into playбн

    The second was, of course, Leonel''s badge as a Void Palace disciple. The moment he and Aina came back, others would know.

    Leonel didn''t know much about the Void Palace in question, but what he did know was that his father had gone on a rampage in their territory and this was even part of the reason he was a target of dissatisfaction for some Factions.

    Obviously Leonel, given how much he respected his father, would never say that he was in the wrong, which very likely meant that the Void Palace had deserved it. In which caseбн

    The Void Palace had traitors amongst them, and those traitors would definitely know that he was the last to return.

    Leonel''s gaze became frighteningly cold. It seemed that he would be targeted very soon.

 Chapter 1636 Cleanse (1)

    Leonel was already determined to prepare himself a bit first before he left, but now this was just affirmed all the more. It would be borderline idiotic for him to return now. He had to take advantage of the time where no one knew where exactly he was.

    While most would know that he had returned, this didn''t mean that they could pinpoint his location. For now, he would just have to stay here until he was ready.

    "I''ll be busy for a while, maybe a few months, potentially less," Leonel spoke, turning to Aina.

    Currently, Aina held the big Little Blackstar in her arms. She didn''t seem too surprised by Leonel''s words. Considering his previous agitation, she had guessed that something like this was going to happen.

    "Okay, I will wait," she said with a smile.

    Leonel nodded and left this place.

    бн

    The current Segmented Cube was enormous. According to Anastasia, it had a size about a quarter that of a normal sized planet. Considering the "population" was not even ten, it was no wonder that it felt enormous.

    Right this moment, the Segmented Cube was like having a miniature Earth in his pocket. In fact, the only reason it hadn''t begun producing treasures at the level of Earth was because Leonel hadn''t been here. As such, Anastasia kept things as neutral as possible.

    Hearing such a thing, Leonel was actually quite surprised. Anastasia acted like someone who wanted to be in control of every tiny little detail, but it was clear that she actually wanted to defer to Leonel. Whether that was because she respected his father, or if she simply wanted to grant him this respect, or if it was something else entirely, Leonel didn''t know.

    But what Leonel did know was that after accumulating so much Force and even evolving so many times in his absence, the Segmented Cube was very much ready to explode forth with its potential. So long as Leonel gave the command, he might have even more natural resources at his fingertips than Earth could provide.

    At the same time, though, he was quite baffled. Just what kind of treasure was the Segmented Cube?

    ? In the beginning, Leonel was too ignorant to the ways of the Dimensional Verse to understand just how valuable this treasure was. Let alone the Segmented Cube, everyone awed him, so it was hard to see through to the specialness of this device that followed him everywhere.

    But now that his scope had been broadened, he understood that there might not even be a second treasure like this in all of existence.

    The Segmented Cube was basically an entire world capable of following him around on his finger. It could produce Cleansing Waters, something capable of countering even Anarchic Force. It concentrated Force to such a great degree that practicing here was easily ten times more effective than anywhere else. And even one of its first awakened abilities was as logic defying as suspending a living, breathing entity in time.

    There was simply nothing else like it. And it was shocking to an extreme.

    It made Leonel wonder just what its origins were, how had it ended up in the hands of the Morales family, and why was it only in the Third Dimension when Leonel met it since even he could take it to the Sixth Dimension with relative ease?

    Leonel could only put these matters to the back of his mind. Right now wasn''t the time to be dealing with the growth of the Segmented Cube and its evolution path. Rather, he had to be in tune with himself and how he would take steps forward to succeed.

    The first thing Leonel did was sink into a river of Cleansing Waters. He didn''t even want to think about where this river led to and just how much Cleansing Waters there were in this place. It just felt ridiculous. He couldn''t understand how such a valuable item could be created in such large numbers.

    Still, whatever thought he had vanished the moment the water touched his skin. Despite the fact it was just gently washing over him, he felt the need to release a moan, his body feeling far more comfortable than it ever had before.

    His pores opened up, streams of a warm energy entering his body and gently caressing him.

    To Leonel''s shock, he felt his Lineage Factors react, radiating a pure aura that only seemed to become more and more perfect. He didn''t know what was happening and he almost forced the process to stop entirely, but that was when Anastasia''s voice rang out.

    "Don''t fight it, are you trying to waste a good thing?"

    Anastasia shook her head.

    The strength of Cleansing Waters was entirely dependent on its Dimension, as were the number of its abilities that could be unlocked. But, the root of the abilities of Cleansing Waters was in purification. Namely, it could bring something to its most perfect state.

    This ability wasn''t exactly healing. Rather, it was entirely related to balancing energies.

    If one was poisoned, it could recognize that and expel the foreign material. If one formed Force Crystals of a certain caliber, Cleansing Waters could turn them into Pure Force Crystals. And so long as the Cleansing Waters were at a higher or similar level in comparison to your Lineage Factors, it could even cleanse them and allow them to reach their own optimal states of perfection.

    This final ability was something that only appeared once Cleansing Waters entered the Eighth Dimension, and it was something that Leonel was experiencing right this moment.

    After consuming so many Force Pills, Leonel''s foundation had become incredibly sturdy and there was even more potential within himself now in comparison to the past. He had initially entered the Cleansing Waters because as Aina had said, these pills had impurities that needed to be dealt with.

    What he didn''t expect was that he wouldn''t find these impurities, but would rather find something far beyond them in use to him.

 Chapter 1637 Cleanse (2)

    Compared to the process of eating Force Pills, Leonel felt like he was walking on clouds.

    After consuming the cobra demon, Leonel''s Bronze Runes had all fused into one. If he activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor right this moment, he would become a man of bronze from the neck down, his halo would be far more resplendent, and the crown usually tattooed to his forehead would separate, fusing with the Spear Crown of his Spear Domain Lineage factor and exuding a far mightier aura.

    Under the effects of the Cleansing Waters, it felt like a final push thrummed through Leonel''s blood.

    The bronze sheen that covered his body from the next down slowly separated from him, peeling off from his skin and becoming a light that covered him instead. His halo grew in size, shimmering with an even more fierce bronze glow, and at the same time, the sound of sharpening metal resonated through the air.

    What happened outside of Leonel''s body was mirrored inside. His individual organs, which would also usually be covered in Bronze Runes, radiated a similar glow as well, as though they were enveloped by a light of ambrosia.

    There were actually no changes to Leonel''s Starry Tailed Fox and Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factors for unknown reasons. But, there were changes to his soul.

    It became more resplendent and whole, growing in strength and becoming more and more independent of Leonel''s body.

    At the same time, the cleansed King''s Might that had always laid its roots within the depths of Leonel''s soul also began to flourish, slowly becoming more powerful as time continued onward.

    Although Leonel had separated his soul from his body, it could survive indefinitely on its own like a Spirituals could or someone with Wise Star Order''s Ability Index. At best, he could last a few hours. It couldn''t be helped, he didn''t have the practice methods of the Spirituals.

    But Leonel quickly found that as his King''s Might grew stronger, so did his soul, and the vice versa was also just as true. It was hard to tell which was the root and which was the sprout, but what Leonel didn''t know was that his King''s Might was only becoming purer and the Emperor''s Might tablet that had managed to break free and follow him reacted very well to this change.

    When Leonel finally awoke, he could feel every cell inside his body tingling. Even his Spear Domain Lineage Factor had become purer, although the changes were nowhere near as exaggerated as what happened with his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. This seemed to tell him that the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was much closer to perfection to begin with.

    Leonel looked down at his body and his skin seemed to glow. His muscles were much softer and far less chiseled in comparison to the past, but this only made sense since he had completely reset his Metal Body.

    Even with this being the case, though, Leonel still felt that this basic, untrained Metal Body was more than a hundred times more powerful than it had been back when he was in the Sixth Dimension. The gap was simply enormous and it would only stack further as he re-cultivated it back to its peak.

    Leonel exhaled a breath and stepped out of the river.

    The feeling of grass beneath his feet made him smile. He had never known that having his own personal forest could feel so good.

    When he returned to the Void Palace, he and Aina wouldn''t have to bother with finding a place to live again. What place could possibly be better than this?

    Leonel smiled to himself and flipped over a palm to reveal Thaela''s Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node. It was fairly large, at least compared to Leonel''s Innate Node back when he snatched it back from Myghell, but it was still only about two thumb tips large.

    Leonel pulled out the Innate Node fusion method he had gotten from the exchange first and prepared to read it. He felt that this Innate Node would be a perfect candidate to replace the node in his brain stem with, so he had to be very careful and thoroughly understand the technique first.

    "Hm? An Innate Node?"

    Anastasia appeared over Leonel''s shoulder, seemingly not caring that he was naked in the slightest. In fact, she had been watching the whole time. She didn''t pay much attention to it in the first place, humans, whether clothed or not, were all the same to her.

    "Are you sure you want to absorb that, it will cause more problems than not," Anastasia said.

    "I received a method of fusion from the Zone we just exited," Leonel explained. "I think it was a Mythological Zone, it had all sorts of methods that I''ve never even heard of before, including a method to fuse with Innate Nodes that aren''t your own."

    Anastasia''s gaze flickered. "Oh? Is that soбн? In that case, put it in the river."

    "Huh?"

    "Put it in the river."

    "Innate Nodes can be cleansed too?"

    "Innate Nodes are the purest state a Force can reach, more than comparable to Pure Force Crystals, but there are different calibers among them as well.

    "Emulation Spatial Force is definitely a top five Spatial Force, so it''s powerful and has Ninth Dimensional potential, but this Innate Node has a problem. It even feels as though it''s been moved around a lot and never got the chance to properly grow, so it''s missing a lot of the strength it should have for a Sixth Dimensional Innate Node of its caliber."

    While Anastasia didn''t know about the method of Innate Node fusion that Leonel mentioned, when it came to Forces, her comprehension of them, and how they functioned, practically no one was he equal. And this was to be expectedбн After all, all things considered, wasn''t she essentially the World Spirit of the Segmented Cube? Who could understand more of the nature of things if not her?

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    That was right. Thaela had the Ability Index that granted one the ability to move their Nodes and Nodal Pathways instantly within their bodies. This allowed such a person to cast techniques instantly without circulating their Innate Nodes firstбн

    To think that this ability would actually have a crippling effect on an individual with an Innate Node. But compared to this, it was shockingly impressive that Anastasia could see through this flaw in just a single glance. After all, she had never met Thaela before!

    "Okay, I will do as you say, then."

    Leonel allowed the Innate Node to drop into the river. He wasn''t scared about losing it at all, everything in this world was under his control. It would only take a thought for him to make it appear in his palm once again.

    Anastasia nodded. "It won''t take long. Just focus on learning the fusion technique."

    "Mm," Leonel assented.

 Chapter 1638 Understanding

    The fusion technique was definitely the best that the Zone had and Leonel had spent enough Demon Points to make certain that this would be the case. However, even it required at least a basic affinity already existing for the fusion to be perfect.

    Luckily, Leonel''s Dream Force affinity was as high as could be and he had more than enough Spatial Force affinity thanks to his Ethereal Star Force. This met the basic requirements necessary for the fusion process.

    Once the fusion was completed and perfect, nothing else would matter. After all, by then, the base of Leonel''s Spatial Force affinity would thus become his new Innate Node. Whether or not he kept his Ethereal Star Force would become irrelevant by that point.

    In addition, due to the fact his innate Dream Force affinity was so high, the Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node would be even more powerful in his hands.

    Unluckily, this technique was quite painful and was quite masochistic. It made Leonel wonder if he should still risk placing it within his brain stem. But then he remembered that his soul had separated from his body. Even if he couldn''t endure the pain or made a mistake that could end his life, he was just one [Instant Recovery] away from perfection.

    Once Leonel was confident and Anastasia gave the go ahead, he retrieved the Innate Node from the river.

    In these last few hours, it had grown more resplendent. Its Runes were far more visible than the past, shimmering with a silvery-gold light, and it had grown an additional thumb tip in size, now being about an inch thick and an inch and a half long.

    Right now, it looked far more like a gem than it ever had before and it gave off a feeling of absolute majesty. It even felt more weighty in his palm.

    Leonel brought out a stainless steel bowl from the lab and plopped the Innate Node inside. Then, under Anastasia''s flickering gaze, he cut open his arm and began allowing it to pour inside.

    Leonel actually failed to cut his arm open the first time, having used too little effort. It seemed that he had underestimated his body despite the fact his Metal Body could currently be considered to be Third Dimensional.

    With a second effort, he used his spear and opened up an enormous gash. With every flex of his arm, another huge wave of blood was pushed out, but even after several liters had come out, he didn''t seem satisfied.

    Luckily, the recovery abilities of his body were astounding. He was more than capable of continuing on for a while.

    After the first ten liters were drawn, Leonel stopped.

    He placed uninjured arm over the bowl, and his eyes flashed. Within his Dream World, the manifestation of a complex Force Art was created and Leonel flooded it with both Dream Force and Spatial Force.

    The complex Force Art split into two layers, one rotating clockwise and the other counter. As they did so, the blood in the bowl began to shrink at a visible speed, becoming lesser and lesser until all that was left was a familiar Innate Node which flashed with a crimson light before going back to normal.

    As though he wouldn''t stop until he dropped dead, Leonel repeated this baptizing by blood ritual dozens more times. He wasn''t meant to stop until he felt a resonance with the Innate Node, a certain connection with it that transcended just a physical connection.

    This took more attempts than Leonel thought. He had originally assumed that three would be enough, but even after 20 attempts and a face as pale as clouds, he still didn''t get the result that he wanted.

    He could feel the connection after the third attempt, but something just felt like it was missing, and he kept chasing after it.

    Anastasia couldn''t help but shake her head. This father-son pair were really a duo of demons. Both forgot about everything else when they suddenly set their mind to something. A Morales was a purpose was a fearsome thing indeed.

    After almost 40 attempts, it finally clicked for Leonel.

    ''That''s what I was missingбн How do I fix thisбн?''

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly lit up.

    At first he thought that maybe there was no such thing as a perfect fusion method, but then it hit him.

    Spirituals were a race born as souls, they built their bodies later. So why was it that Wise Star Order said there was a genius among them with nine Innate Nodes? Was it possible that this genius snatched it from others? Or was it that the capacity to form Innate Nodes was soul deep to begin with?

    This fusion technique seemed perfect to people who hadn''t sensed their souls yet, which made sense since the region of the Zone Leonel had entered had been ruled by humans just like himself. However, for those that had sensed their souls like Leonel, it would always feel as though something was missing.

    Leonel had already given this Innate Node more than enough of his blood. To this technique''s specification, he had already completed the first step perfectly and was ready to continue. However, Leonel knew that it was missing something.

    ''I got it.''

    Leonel''s aura changed and a rippling violet fog formed around him.

    With a surging momentum, he formed the duo of spinning Force Arts again. But this time, when he flooded the bowl with his blood, he infused it with a large amount of Soul Force, Dream Force, and King''s Might.

    It took several attempts, but Leonel was patient to an extreme. He didn''t allow anything to distract him and he almost became sagely in that way.

    Finally on the 121st attempt, Leonel felt a ringing sound through his soul.

    Leonel''s comprehension of Spatial Force was probably the deepest out of all of his Forces. To regain the Segmented Cube, he had put a lot of effort into research and meditation on it. However, in the past, his affinity for the Force could only be considered to be average in part thanks to his first Divine Armor which used a Spatial Force Ore as its core.

    But now, Leonel suddenly felt like the Spatial Force of the world was whispering into his ears, wanting to tell him all of its secrets.

    Somehow, the feeling was even more overwhelming than what he felt from Fire Force, a Force he was entirely unmatched in.

    That was when it sank in for Leonel and it felt ironic to him that it had taken so long for it to click, especially considering his usual disposition.

    He was a person who didn''t like to rely on instinct, so why had he been relying on it all this time? When had he ever put in the effort to truly understand his Dream Force? What about Fire Force? Or his Scarlet Star Force? Didn''t he just always rely on his innate talent for it?

    And now, suddenly, Spatial Force had shot by them all in the blink of an eye, becoming his strongest Force. And yet, he hadn''t even fused with the Innate Node yet, he had only formed a connection with it.

    ''I was rightбн'' Leonel thought to himself. ''бн If I manage to grasp grandpa''s music and painting skills, I can step past it and use the method that I wanted to all along, Force Arts.

    ''Wasn''t it Force Arts and the study of them that allowed me to understand Spatial Force so intimately? So why shouldn''t I do the same with the others? This will be my path to grasping the pinnacle of Force Manipulation.''

    Leonel''s eyes glowed and then he did something that nearly made Anastasia scream out.

    Commanding Little Tolly to turn into a thin and sharp thread, he took control of his Metal Spirit to pierce it into the back of his skull.

    There wasn''t even a drop of blood that leaked out, but Anastasia was caught between wanting to roar out in horror and curse Leonel into an early grave.

 Chapter 1639 Fine Now

    If Leonel hadn''t managed to separate his soul from his body, he would have never taken this approach. The first part of fusion technique wasn''t even the most masochistic part about it. What was truly the most sadistic part of this technique''s creator''s intentions was what came next.

    After the connection was formed with the Innate Node, it was necessary to graft the Innate Node into your body. But in order to succeed, it required a special process which was akin to branding your own body. But this branding would have to be from the inside and rather than using fire, it required blades.

    Only by purposely scarring oneself would the fusion be perfect.

    Essentially, Leonel had to cut into his own brain stem. The pattern of these cuts had to match with two Force Arts he used to refine his blood with. The more sensitive the region, the more difficult it would be to succeed, but this was the price to pay for success.

    This was why, under normal conditions, Leonel would never dare to do this. At worst, he would just choose a less optimal region for this Innate Node or he might even choose not to use it at all. But now, he didn''t hesitate.

    Leonel not only didn''t hesitate, but he also executed it all in one go.

    He chose a needling technique to form the Force Art. In order to complete it, Little Tolly formed thousands of small needles at once, each of which was lined up perfectly to complete the Force Art.

    Leonel''s body shuddered but he maintained his sanity. He used Dream Sense to spread the pain out as much as possible, but even so, he still felt like he was on the verge of dying, his body refusing to listen to him.

    The brainstem was far too important to the function of the body. Even when Leonel had initially formed his Node within it, he had to rewire the cell connections first before he could make space.

    This time, however, he simply directly damaged it, and lethally so, it was no wonder his body was shutting down.

    That said, he had already expected this much to happen and he was ready. Rather than using his nerves to control his body, he let his soul take over.

    With a movement, he picked up the glowing Innate Node and pressed it to the flowing back at the back of his head.

    His body trembled. In the end, he was forced to use Little Tolly to continue to apply pressure.

    The difference between this method and others was that other processes required cutting open wounds and hoping the Innate Node fused with you. However, with this method, although Leonel cut into his body, it wasn''t to allow the Innate Node space to enter. Instead, this process would only succeed when the Innate Node sank into his skin, becoming a legitimate part of his body.

    Through this method, the Innate Node would become like something your body constructed. And, much like Leonel''s other Innate Nodes, if he was ever to be eaten again, it would automatically become a central part of his Innate Recovery.

    Leonel collapsed, his body convulsing. The damage to his nerves made it impossible for him to control his body properly and the pain was horrible.

    However, Leonel had already experienced being eaten alive. Every excruciating bite and chew was ingrained into his very memory. He would never forget those moments.

    Compared to that, what was this or any other pain worth, for that matter?

    The hours ticked by and the Innate Node slowly fused into Leonel''s skin. After an entire day, it finally vanished beneath his skin and began to jockey for its final position.

    Anastasia had been shaking her head the entire time. She wanted to scream and berate, but she was somewhat afraid of interrupting the response. What would she do if this fool really died?

    Luckily, about half way through the second day, Leonel''s body twitched and he began to slowly recover control of his body. Step by step, his nerves reconnected and the wound to the back of his head also began to slowly close.

    Leonel opened his eyes, his breathing heavy and his face pale. It seemed that he was a glutton for punishment. Years ago, he would have never dreamed of doing something like this to himself. He still remembered how he almost gave up when opening just the first tier of his Metal Synergy bloodline, but now he was puncturing holes into his brain as though it was normal.

    He shook his head, laughing to himself.

    "Well I''m glad that you can laugh, but that was not funny at all. Are you incapable of giving a warning? You and your father are just the same, refusing to explain everything, always doing crazy things, never putting anyone in your eyes.

    "Did you know that if this goddess were to reveal her true strength to the outside world that tycoons of even the Ninth Dimension would fight tooth and nail for me? But you can''t even bother to give a word of explanation.

    "If I had my way, I''dбк"

    Anastasia released the rant that she had been holding in for hours already, the moment she noticed that Leonel would probably be just fine. She was very clearly much infuriated. She would have directly beat Leonel up if she could.

    Leonel laughed. "It''s fine now, isn''t it? I had to do things like this. If I thought about it too much, I might have chickened out."

    "бкDon''t interrupt me, boy! I''m not finished with you yet! And what were you even thinking of forming your first Node in your brain stem to begin with, did you have a death wish back then too? I don''t think I''ve even ever met anyone outside of you and your father that would do such a thing.

    "Foolish, foolish, foolish! Each one is more annoying than the last, simply ridiculous!"

    Leonel smiled but allowed Anastasia to continue throwing her temper tantrum. As for himself, he had already focused on these changes.

 Chapter 1640 Theoretically

    Leonel turned his Internal Sight into his body, observing the changes to his brain.

    This was the first time he had felt the ability to project Dream Force out of his body. Even though his Starry Spirit Domain existed, it was ultimately still using something internal as a medium and it wasn''t quite the same.

    Leonel reached out a hand and tried to use it, and it almost felt magical.

    He formed a clone of himself almost immediately and it really felt like he was looking right into a mirror.

    If Thaela had still been alive to see such a thing, she would have likely been shocked into silence. She had already lost count of how much effort it took her to make a realistic clone of herself, but it seemed to be all too easy for Leonel.

    The root of Emulation Spatial Force was in using Spatial Force to effect the environment and Dream Force to mask the Spatial Force. Essentially, the main characteristic was Spatial Force and its manipulation and control. Dream Force was only considered to be a proxy.

    In fact, even now, Leonel felt that there was a certain limiter on him. He had much more Dream Force to use than this, but there was a bottleneck of sorts stopping him from pouring out all of the Dream Force he could.

    ''I seeбн My output of Dream Force would always be limited by how much Spatial Force I can output since the two come in a package. My amount of Dream Force is great, but my amount of Spatial Force is lesser in comparison.

    ''However, if Iбн''

    Leonel allowed his Emulation Spatial Force to surge out of his new Innate Node. It flooded his body, filling his other Nodes and Nodal Pathways.

    Suddenly, since he wasn''t pulling Emulation Spatial Force from the environment, the amount of Spatial Force Leonel had skyrocketed.

    A second clone formed, then four, then eight. Eventually, there were hundreds, standing all around and exuding an aura almost identical to Leonel, and with a slight tweak, they were identical.

    Hundreds of naked Leonel''s standing in the midst of a forest was quite the sight to see. Anastasia could easily see through them, but that was due to her sensitivity in Force to begin with.

    Leonel and his clones all reached out at once, causing a spear to appear in their hands.

    This spear didn''t feel entirely perfect at first, but as Leonel played around and tweaked it, it too became more perfect.

    The most shocking part of all of this was that Leonel wasn''t using his Starry Spirit Domain. It was safe to say that if he did use it, all of this would only become more perfect.

    ''I wonder if I canбн''

    Leonel tried shifting positions with one of his clones like Thaela had. This was an incredibly useful ability and it would make him almost invincible in battle. He didn''t believe that anyone would be able to touch the hem of his clothing if he could accomplish this.

    Not only was he able to create far more clones at once in comparison to Thaela, but his Dream Force affinity was so far above most individuals that it would be hard to find someone who could see through his clones like he had Thaela''s in the first place.

    Leonel shifted but his target clone vanished. In addition, his hundreds of other clones wavered, making it quite obvious which one was real and where the fakes were.

    Even worse, Leoenl felt that he could only target clones a meter or two from him at best. This much wasn''t too bad and could still be considered to be useful, but the fact his other clones almost vanished when he did so made it practically useless.

    Leonel frowned and tried again, and then again. He even tried lowering the number of clones, wondering if he actually hadn''t seen Thaela''s limit, but it was rather her choice to maintain mobility. However, even that didn''t work.

    Leonel''s frown deepened. ''бн Could it be?''

    "What are you doing? Emulation Spatial Force can''t be used like that, or at the very least, it''s not as good as other Spatial Forces in doing so. Just the same way not all Water Forces can freeze things, not all Spatial Forces are designed for movement.

    "Emulation Spatial Force is a Spatial Force that is good at solidifying and giving birth to form and function. When matched with Dream Force, it can basically become anything. Everything, no matter what it is, has some effect on the space in its surroundings, and Emulation Spatial Force uses this to create a replica. At its highest forms, it can even be indistinguishable for the original. Even if one has a high enough Dream Force affinity to tell the difference, it won''t really matter because there''ll be functionally no difference at all.

    "If you wanted to teleport on a whim, this isn''t the Force Innate Node you should have chosen."

    Although Leonel already understood all of this, he didn''t interrupt Anastasia. Instead, he waited until she was done and explained his reasoning.

    When Anastasia heard of Thaela and how she used the Innate Node, her own expression flickered, her gaze dancing with a peculiar light.

    "бн Theoretically, it''s possible. But this person has a far higher understanding and control of their Force than you do."

    Leonel started. "Do you know about Force Manipulation, Anastasia?"

    "Force Manipulation?" Anastasia raised an eyebrow. But when she listened to Leonel''s words, her confusion vanished as she became more and more solemn.

    "I see, so that''s what it isбн I didn''t expect that there would be such a systematic method. From what you say, it sounds like this world has a method of drilling this comprehension into its youths and they can take this into adulthood.

    "I''ve sensed the existence of such a thing before, but I''ve never consciously thought about it. It''s that damned brat Velasco again, he never explains anything, he better not let me get my hands on him!"

 Chapter 1641 Anastasias Understanding

    Leonel blinked and waited for Anastasia to finish another tirade before he could finally start asking the questions he wanted. Luckily, Anastasia was very forthcoming.

    "If I research it properly, I''m sure I can come up with some methods, but it will take time, and it''s honestly probably best if you think of it yourself. From my understanding, Force should be seen as a living, breathing entity even if it isn''t one. How one chooses to manipulate it, even if the path ends up being the same, should be individual.

    "For example, think of walking, or running, or throwing, these are things everyone can do and everyone does, but do two people ever do them exactly the same? Even if there are some mechanics that are more efficient than others, even for those that have reached the pinnacle, they wouldn''t do it exactly the same, and there would even be some that shatter the mold.

    "Force should be the same. Ultimately, the most powerful Force is the one that comes from you or works well with you. If you take guidance from others on how to tap into this, it''ll never truly be your own.

    "That said, I think that I can give you some guidance.

    "From what I understand, Force can be divided into certain grades from their inception and it''s difficult for these Forces to break out from their mold, but it isn''t easy. Just like the example of running before, even someone who isn''t gifted in running can still squeeze out more of their potential given time and effort."

    Leonel nodded slowly. This was like the rubber band example again, it seemed that Anastasia agreed with this sentiment.

    "However, I would say that Forces have far greater potential for increased strength. Whereas an untalented runner could never outclass a world class long distance runner or sprinter no matter how hard they trained, a Force can because they ultimately have the same root."

    Leonel''s brows jumped. Now this was new. He had never heard of Forces having the same root before, but this did make sense. Ultimately, wasn''t it all just energy?

    Even though the scope of a Third Dimensional world was limited, there were many teachings of Earth that Leonel still held onto even now, and this was one of them.

    Energy could be transferred and changed, but it couldn''t be destroyed. This should be true of Force as well.

    There was a reason there were Force Crystals and Pure Force Crystals. The natural state of Force was to be together.

    And then there was Neutral Force which was inherently an amalgamation of all Force.

    Everything had the same root.

    "If I''m correct, when Forces break past certain limits, this should be the Force Manipulation you''re talking about. And upon breaking those limits, Forces begin to display strengths that they didn''t originally have, even capable of crushing Forces above them in strength.

    "Theoretically, this kind of Force, or a Force that has broken its limits, should be the true root of the separation of Dimensions. When a Force that has broken through more limits meets one that hasn''t broken through any, or even one that has fewer limits broken, it can directly suppress it.

    "This will manifest as a higher Dimensional being meeting a lower Dimensional one and crushing them."

    Leonel nodded slowly. He had experienced this personally. Whether it was his speed of thought, his Dream Force, or his Scarlet Star Force, all things that he had supreme confidence in, they had all been crushed in the face of Thaela and the cobra demon.

    The cobra demon was an especially good example because their Water Force was relatively weak in its most basic form. And yet, it had easily been able to block and crush Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force with relative ease.

    If not for it making the mistake of eating Leonel, or if it had a method of sensing and attacking Leonel''s soul directly, Leonel would have most definitely lost that battle.

    But luckily, the awakening of his soul allowed him to break free of the suppression his mind had been under and his Dream Force finally began to work normally once again.

    But even then, Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force had been useless against the cobra demon until Leonel took advantage of an opening to deal it an even more severe injury.

    The gap between a Force that had broken its limits and one that hadn''t was simply far too large.

    Leonel fell into his own thoughts for a moment before he nodded.

    "Alright. Anastasia, can you still start working on the generic method. I have tons of Force Mantras here," Leonel waved a hand and caused the dozens of Basic Force Mantras he had taken to appear, "and I think that they could be of some help to you.

    "I''ll forge my own path, but it will still be good to have a generic method that others can use, it''ll help my faction to grow stronger. Also, if the feeling isn''t obvious, I''d also like to know when I have a breakthrough so I know if I''m headed in the right direction or not."

    Anastasia''s eyes lit up when she saw the booklets and quickly caused them to shoot up from the ground and hover around her. She didn''t even bother to respond to Leonel, she was already entirely focused on what was before her, even oo''ing and ah''ing from time to time.

    Leonel chuckled and didn''t mind it. Soon, he had re-entered a state of absolute focus.

    ''My Spatial Force comprehension is well beyond that of my others, but I haven''t taken the time to understand Emulation Spatial Force in specific. The kind of understanding I have about Spatial Force right now is heavily biased toward movement type Spatial Forces with a hint about storage type which might potentially be applicable.

    ''Anastasia is right. Emulation Spatial Force is more about stacking space, giving it form, using it to attack and to defend, movement is at the bottom of its list of capabilities. And, if I want to use it like Thaela did, I''ll have to invest time into researching Spatial Force in this sort of lane.

    ''But for now, there are more important things. Once I finish reconstructing my Metal Body and my Divine Armors, we will walk down that road."

    Leonel smiled.

    "It''s been too long since we''ve Crafted together, hm buddy?"

    *Bloop*

    Little Tolly rushed around Leonel''s fingers and armors like a flashy silver snake. The little guy''s excitement was at an all time high.

 Chapter 1642 Settled

    Leonel restarted from the very beginning, using Urbe Ore to build up his foundation just like he had from the very beginning. However, the Urbe Ore he used this time couldn''t be compared to the last in the slightest, and that was because he tempered this Urbe Ore with Cleansing Waters first.

    Much like with Force Crystals, the Essence of Urbe Ore, or Ores in general for that matter, could be segregated into pure and impure. Leonel hadn''t been aware of this the first time he began his journey in cultivating Metal Body, but after seeing the effects the Cleansing Waters had on his new Innate Node, he easily extrapolated these matters toward other potential applications.

    He found that after using Cleansing Waters, the amount of Essence one needed for an Ore to be considered "whole" dropped by as much as half. This meant that an Ore tempered by Cleansing Waters could produce the same effects with less volume used.

    ? This was a huge discovery. If Leonel had known this ahead of time, of the billions he had spent purely on resources in the exchange, he could have put much of it toward other resources.

    It was already too late to change this, but all was not hopeless. After all, if Leonel looked at things from a glass half full perspective, then this meant that about half the resources he had were suddenly freed up. He could still use these to exchange for more wealth, or better yet, put them toward more Crafts.

    Now that Leonel had returned to the Human Domain, he was extremely wealthy. It had to be remembered that his mother had left billions worth of Urbe Ore for him. His wealth was comparable to most Seventh Dimensional individuals, and even dwarfed a good majority of them if he really thought about it.

    But when building a faction, one couldn''t have too much money. There was simply no such thing.

    As Leonel absorbed the cleansed Urbe Ore, his body was filled with a unique feeling. It felt almost as though energies were softly massaging every inch of him, gently caressing the contours of his figure. It was an elevating sort of experience.

    The energies flowed smoother and Leonel''s pores seemed to sing.

    He already would face no bottlenecks up to the Sixth Dimension, but he suddenly realized that he would hardly face them in general if he always used cleansed Ores like this.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel''s body reached absolute perfection in the Third Dimension.

    Despite the fact he had used Pure Urbe Ore, Leonel actually absorbed much more now than he had in the past. In fact, the gap wasn''t just a few kilograms. The amount he needed was truly astronomical.

    In the past, due to his Metal Body barely breaking into the Fourth Dimension, Leonel had been able to battle well above his Dimension. Of course, his enemies back then had also been mediocre talents, but the sentiment was still true.

    Now, his current Metal Body''s foundation was even more exaggerated and there was a difference of at least a hundred times. With such a gap, even if he was facing the premiere talents of the Human Domain back then, his battle prowess would be just as impressive.

    Leonel smoothly entered the Fourth Dimension, the smooth edges of his body becoming rougher and more defined. However, even with this being the case, he maintained his flexibility and he didn''t feel that his body had gotten heavier.

    Metal Synergy was considered to be the best defensive Lineage of the Human Domain being it lacked the usual weaknesses. That said, it was more accurate to say that these weaknesses were instead less prevalent rather than being eliminated entirely.

    Leonel had still experienced his body becoming exceptionally heavy in the past and he had to practice flexibility techniques to ensure that he didn''t become too stiff in his movements.

    But now, these problems seem like a thing of the past. The pliability of his body didn''t change in the slightest. In fact, because he had just reconstructed his body after being eaten alive, he had the range of movements and flexibility of a newborn, there was no tension in his body whatsoever.

    As for his weight, he felt like his Gravity Domain had become so much more refined. Rather than applying it to his surroundings, he could apply it to individual portions of his body, making his punches as heavy as a moon if he so wished it.

    The Gravity Domain of his Lineage Factor was one that Leonel used rarely, honestly because he had too many abilities to choose from. It wasn''t often powerful enough that the use was worthwhile, especially since Leonel spent so much of his time fighting individuals so much more powerful than himself.

    Now, however, he felt that it had the potential to become far more of a staple to his battle prowess. His control had reached the point where he could even apply it individually, making his spear as heavy as a mountain or his arrows more piercing than an enemy could contend with.

    After Leonel was finished calmly analyzing the changes to himself, he waved a hand and caused the next stage of tempered ores to rise out from the river.

    The Ores formed into two even piles and would be the foundation of his Fourth Dimensional Metal Body. As expected, they fell into two piles, one for Water Force and the other for Life Force.

    There were two kinds of Water Force Ores that Leonel had chosen. One emphasized the defenses of Water Force and the other emphasized the heaviness of Water Force.

    Void Star Force was a Water Force known for its defenses, but the method by which it did so was also important.

    There was a reason it was named Void Star Force, and that was because when manifested, the Force was akin to a blackhole. Not only did it have a huge amount of density, nothing could make it past it, swallowing everything in its vicinity whole.

    Thus, Leonel wanted high affinities for Water Forces with high absorption capabilities and density, thus he settled on these two categories.

 Chapter 1643 More Than Enough

    Leonel took a similar approach for Vital Star Force.

    Vital Star Force could be considered to be a type of Life Force, but it was also very strict and defined in its usage. It focused mainly on vitality. In this way, it was very similar to Blood Force, but it had its differences as well.

    For example, Vital Star Force was also very heavy as it was primarily a Star Force as opposed to a Life Force. These sort of subtle differences seemed unimportant, but it was exactly what separated those who could fully grasp their Forces between those who were both lost and weak.

    Leonel felt that if he had to grasp Vital Star Force in the future, it would be incredibly important for him to understand these small differences.

    In his current understanding, Blood Force was a vessel for another power source while Vital Star Force was the power source. The latter was like a nuclear reactor, bursting with potential and producing a constant, large stream of power, while the former, Blood Force, was a gentle stream and focused on longevity.

    Leonel understood that this understanding was incredibly limited and could only be considered to be rudimentary, but it was more than enough to lay a foundation for where he would go in the future.

    As such, he likewise chose two categories of Life Force. One focused on burst energy, giving one a second wind one the brink of death. The other a constant power source, pumping one full of energy over a long and continuous time.

    For Leonel''s Water Forces, he chose Mud Ore  to stand in as his heavy Water Force and Wave Ore to be his defensive Water Force.

    Mud Ore didn''t sound very appetizing, but Leonel didn''t care about this, he only chose it for its abilities.

    Mud Ore was known to be sticky, persistent and resilient. It was actually a rare Domain Type Ore which could cause changes even to the environment itself.

    Wave Ore was one known to be the core of many top tier Black Grade Water Force defensive treasures. It was able to face an attack and erode it in continuous waves. Although it wasn''t initially powerful, it was likewise persistent. By the time it reached the person the attack had targeted, the attack might not even have 10% of its original strength.

    Once again, this was also a Domain Type Ore.

    As for his Life Forces, Leonel chose two Vein Type Ores.

    The first embodied bursting Life Force. This Ore was known as Second Wind Ore. It was usually designed to be the vein pattern of a pendant type treasure.

    According to usual Crafting practices, this Ore would be surrounded by another Ore of a specific Element. Once the pendant was activated, the treasure would shatter and immediately convert the whole of the element that surrounded it into power for the user. This was essentially like storing a second body of Force within yourself.

    However, Leonel obviously wouldn''t be able to use this ability when he absorbed the Ore. What he wanted was the underlying mechanism of this ability.

    In order to work, this Ore had to be able to quickly turn any kind of Force into usable energy for a battle without a long process of adaptation. What this essentially meant was that it was a catalyst, a catalyst that was compatible when any body that it was attached to.

    This ability was the purest kind of Life Force there was.

    The words Anastasia had spoken had truly resonated with Leonel. She had equated comprehending a Force to being like running. The way Leonel interpreted that was to mean that the action of using Force was no different from any physical action you might take.

    Leonel had always seen Force to be a separate part of himself, something that he pulled from the environment to use temporality.

    But Second Wind Ore was able to use its Life Force characteristics to take any Force and make it a part of you immediately.

    What did this mean? It meant that it could very well be that the foundation of Life Force itself was this ability to make Force a part of a person. And maybe, Life Force, since it represented Life itself, was precisely the Force that connected humans like Leonel to all other Forces as well.

    When Leonel looked at things like this, he felt like he grasped exactly what the core of Vital Star Force was.

    Maybe, Vital Star Force was just able to take the most vibrant energy source there was in the whole of existence, the Star, and catalyze it into power usable directly by the body.

    When Leonel grasped this, there were already changes to his Stars. In fact, right this moment, his three Vital Stars formed their complete Third and Fourth Dimensional Star Runes in one go.

    Leonel smiled, feeling that he was on the right track.

    So, rightfully, his second Life Force Ore was one that didn''t convert energies, but rather provided a large amount of energy. This Ore was known as Longevity Jade Ore.

    Longevity Jade Ore was considered to be both a Vein Type and Domain Type Ore. In addition, it was a lot like Urbe Ore in that there were multiple stages of this Ore all the way up the Dimensions. Leonel planned to fill himself to the brim with this Ore at every single stage.

    He would follow this formula for every step of the way. Longevity Jade Ore would stay the very same and the others would change, but the balance he would have would be unmatched.

    The end result would be a body that was both almost impossible to injure, and one in which, even if it were to be injured, had a healing factor that would reach an incomprehensible level.

    Leonel quickly made his way through the Fourth Dimension, his body radiating a delicate glow with every step forward he took.

    He also required much more than he had in the past to reach saturation at these stages as well, but he had long since been prepared for this, trading for more than enough.

 Chapter 1644 Condense

    Leonel absorbed a final bit of Mercury Ore, heavy waves of silvery light wafting off from him. His presence alone seemed to make the surrounding air heavier.

    He opened his eyes, exhaling a breath.

    He had just reached the very limits of his Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional Metal Body. Of course, in doing so he had opened the next set of Gates in his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor and had, as such, stepped into the Sixth Dimension with his body, allowing his strength to undergo a qualitative change.

    Leonel didn''t bask in his own glory for much longer. Although he felt that he was particularly powerful left, he was still focused on other things.

    With his Metal Body complete, he now needed to create three sets of Divine Armors. The first two would replace the two that he had lost, and the final one would become his Sixth Dimensional Armor.

    Leonel had already decided to sink his Metal Body and Divine Armor. This would bring out the most of his strength, and this also meant that he had to lean upon the same path he had chosen to take, which meant Water Force and Life Force.

    Leonel believed that his path of Water Force was just fine. In fact, he even planned on using the exact same Ores he had used to form his Metal Body on it. However, he wanted to do something different with his Life Force.

    Ultimately, his Divine Armor was meant to be a tool of battle. Leonel didn''t want it to be too focused on support and not have enough attacking prowess. So Leonel wanted an armor that could maximize defenses, yes, but he wanted the Life Force aspects to boost his strength rather than just his vitality.

    Luckily, he had the perfect framework to make this work, and that was to rely on Star Fusion.

    He wanted his armor to be able to accumulate and use a huge burst of energy all at once, qualitatively boosting all of his other abilities at once. This meant that he needed a Life Force not just capable of allowing its user to make use of and connect to other Forces, but a Life Force also capable of reversing this connection and allowing such Forces to flourish by virtue of its connection to it.

    Vital Star Force was one of the best examples of this, but Vital Star Force was a fusion of Forces that worked on just one kind of Force: Star Force. In addition, Vital Star Force was far too high level of a Force to be found and used in Divine Armors at lower Dimensions.

    Although Leonel''s Metal Body was now in the Sixth Dimension, his Divine Armor technique worked exactly the same as his Metal Body technique. Although they could synergize, one had to build it from the ground up.

    That said, Leonel already had a solution for this.

    For the Fourth Dimension, he picked an Ore called Surging Tide Ore. For the Fifth Dimension, he picked an Ore called Instant Resonance Ore. And for the Sixth Dimension, he chose an Ore known as Central Pillar Ore.

    All of these Ores had different names, but they all had one main ability, and that was to bolster other Forces, albeit to varying degrees. In addition, they all used Life Force as a basis, working beautifully with other Ore.

    Each and every one of them was a Foundational Type Ore just like Urbe Ore and they functioned as such.

    In the past, Leonel could only pick one central ore to build his Divine Armors around. However, now, his scope was on a completely different level.

    He planned to forge all of his armors to the Life Grade. When they were complete, they would be considered to be one whole. As such, the Evolution Ore would thus be effective on the entire armor instead of just a portion of it.

    This meant that Leonel''s Fourth Dimensional Divine Armor wouldn''t just be quasi Fifth Dimensional, it would truly be Fifth Dimensional. And this likewise meant that his Sixth Dimensional Divine Armor would be truly Seventh Dimensional!

    Leonel got to work immediately, delicately refining each one of his blueprints. Before he even began on the first one, he formed all three blueprints first.

    Leonel''s aspirations were actually beyond just forming Life Grade Divine Armors. He wanted his armors to resonate with each other, borrowing strength from each predecessor.

    Leonel had realized that after he formed his second Divine Armor, because they didn''t follow the exact same path, their resonance wasn''t perfect and they couldn''t borrow strength from one another. The result of this was his first Divine Armor becoming almost meaningless.

    After making a mistake once, Leonel definitely wouldn''t make it again. If he did this properly, all three Divine Armors would practically become like one entity, exuding far greater strength.

    When Leonel was finished with the blueprints, he got to work immediately.

    Maybe in the history of the Human Domain, there had never been a mere Fourth Dimensional, or Black Grade treasure, constructed with so many parts.

    Leonel remembered that his first Divine Armor was barely a few dozen parts, but now this one was easily into the hundreds and it would only grow more complex. However, his state of focus was so deep that he didn''t even seem to notice.

    His movements only became faster and faster with every passing moment, a dense Auspicious Air hanging over him.

    His Force Quill danced in one hand, his other hand dancing with an impossible speed in the air.

    He formed each individual part with conviction. If there was even the slightest mistake, he threw it away and restarted. In the end, he even finally deployed his Starry Spirit Domain, blanketing the region with his Dream World.

    His connection with Little Tolly grew even stronger, and his pace touched upon a greater level.

    A smile graced his features. It had been too long since he felt this feeling. Crafting truly made him feel at home. Nothing would escape his control.

    "Condense."

 Chapter 1645"Mastered"?

    Leonel punched out, his action being followed by a sharp whistling sound. He could feel the wind stacking up against knuckles, his punching speed too fast for the particles to get out of the way any faster. If he pushed just a measure faster, he was certain that he''d be able to shatter the sound barrier, a feat that would be shocking considering the fact that this was an Eighth Dimensional world.

    With a thought, a clone of Leonel appeared, however the original Leonel didn''t use it immediately. Instead, he continued filling it to the brim with solid Spatial Force, making it harder and more robust.

    Then, without moving an inch, Leonel allowed the clone punch him with all the force it could muster.

    BANG!

    The sound reached Leonel long after the punch landed on his chest. Vicious winds kicked up and his hair was sent flying backward with such force that it even looked as though it wanted to rip away from his scalp.

    As usual, Leonel''s hair grew a great deal after practicing his Metal Body, but even so, he had long since cut it down to size once more. Even still, the effects were so exaggerated.

    However, Leonel didn''t move a single inch.

    His skin seemed to ripple with a formless energy and with a BANG!, the clone he had taken so long to form shattered into pieces before his eyes, unable to withstand the strike at all.

    Leonel nodded lightly to himself.

    When he took so much time and effort to build a clone, its strength wasn''t something that could be casually dealt with. In fact, it was probably much stronger than his previous self. And yet, it couldn''t even withstand hitting Leonel with a full powered blow.

    The current Leonel''s defenses could not only be defensive, but they had a certain offensive quality to them as well, taking Candle''s ability as inspiration.

    Candle had the ability to form mirrors that could both reflect and multiply attacks she faced. She was a terrible headache to face and Leonel had only defeated her originally by outsmarting her. Considering how many decades of training she had under Anastasia and Wise Star Order, it was doubtful that he would be able to replicate this feat without quite some effort on his part.

    Of course, Leonel''s abilities weren''t so exaggerated. He could only reflect a portion of an enemy''s strike relying solely on the abilities of his body, but this was where the beauty of his Tier 4 Control Ability Index came into play.

    Using the flexibility of his newly constructed body and his absolute control over every aspect himself, even does to the individual cells.

    Using this control, Leonel could take advantage of his Metal Body''s innately water-like characteristics to redirect the flow of energy that collided with him and use it to empower him. In homage to Candle, he called this ability Dream Mirror.

    Essentially, Dream Mirror used his Bronze Runes, or what might more accurately be called his Bronze Aura, to redirect the force he experienced. Like this, he was able to replicate Candle''s ability within range of his Bronze Aura almost perfectly.

    Unfortunately, the key word was "almost".

    While Candle could accomplish this feat with almost any Force or attack, Leonel could only do so with physical attacks. In addition, said physical attacks had to be blunt as his effectiveness against piercing attacks lessened drastically.

    Of course, there was good news as well. With Leonel''s current bodily defenses, even attacks that could technically be classified as piercing would still be ultimately blunt in his eyes. If one didn''t have the strength to pierce through his defenses, there was really no difference between a sword blade and a punch, they were all the same.

    In addition, although he could redirect and multiply the strength of Forces like he could physical attacks, he could still convert whatever impact they had against him into a physical output so long as they also couldn''t break his defenses.

    After reaching this state, Leonel returned to his calm.

    By now, his naked body exuded a perpetual bronzed glow. It made others feel as though he was wreathed in a halo constantly, like he was separate from the normal world of humans.

    When matched with his vascular physique and his hair which also seemed to exude its own pale violet light, he looked to be far more like a Spiritual than a human.

    Leonel flipped his palm over and a familiar gorgeous spear appeared. It had a bright golden, harpoon-like single sided blade, and a radiant white body covered in hexagonal scales. No matter how one looked at it, it looked far more like a work of art than a weapon of war.

    The faint sound of dancing and sharpening blades resounded around Leonel as closed his eyes, focusing on the movements of his spear.

    Due to his time in the Zone, Leonel had had an opportunity to learn a lot more about Resonance and its potential applications. As that experience accumulated, there was a subtle feeling tugging him toward a certain direction.

    Listening to and feeling the resonance of Spear Force had become a method to increasing his strength by leaps and bounds.

    Even though Leonel hadn''t stepped into the Sixth Dimension with his Spear Force, after mastering poetry and calligraphy, his Spear Force had strength by huge leaps. So, wouldn''t the same happen if he applied music and painting as well?

    Howeverбн Had he truly "mastered" it? He felt like could always create more powerful lines, more powerful words to give wings to the feelings in his heart.

    It didn''t even feel like these words had to be particularly tyrannical, or that they had to continuously one up each other. That feeling in his chest, those emotions he wanted to embodyбн They all felt like they were the most important.

    What was that image his uncle had been trying to draw before he ran out of energy and stopped in dissatisfaction? Wasn''t it just a simple spear? There was nothing grandiose or oppressive about itбн The difference was in what his uncle wanted that spear to embodyбн That was where the strength lay.

 Chapter 1646 Weightless

    By this point, Leonel''s Life Force affinity had reached an unprecedented level, at least in comparison to his former self. This allowed him to see through things he hadn''t been able to in the past, and he had even come to understand just where Aina''s "instincts" came from.

    Life Force was the core of it all, the root from which the connection to all things was formed.

    Leonel wasn''t the kind of person who liked to rely on instincts. He wanted to truly understand something before he could apply it. This was the way he liked to work and it was also part of the reason that he was so powerful now.

    While one might say that he could be more powerful if he simply entirely relied on his talent, was this really the case?

    If not for his analytical breakdown of calligraphy and poetry, would he have mastered it in as little as a year? If not for his structural understanding of Bow Force and its applications, would it naturally progress so far? If not for his analytical mind, would he be half the Force Crafter he was today?

    One might say that it was precisely because of his talent that he was able to progress so far and so quickly in things like Bow Force, but was that true? He didn''t have a Bow Force Lineage Factor, but he definitely did have a Spear Force Lineage Factor, so why was the latter lagging behind the former?

    The Bow just worked better with Leonel''s personality and way of viewing things. Certain weapons had their own methods of interacting with the world, some of which Leonel understood, and some he didn''t.

    The bow, the sniper rifle, or throwing weapons, were all weapons of skill, patience and calculation.

    The spear, however, wasn''t necessarily like this. In fact, the spear was probably the most primitive weapon in all of existence. From its inception, it was barbaric and unrestrained. This simply wasn''t a weapon that fit well with Leonel''s personality.

    As Leonel continued to move in silence, his heart calm and his thoughts flowing like the waters of a gentle stream, he thought back to Old Man Hutch.

    Hutch had always wanted Leonel to listen to his weapon, to feel its presence, to let it talk to himбн

    Leonel had always found these things to be worthless. No matter how obstinate the old man was, he couldn''t be bothered. He didn''t like doing things he couldn''t understand. In fact, that stubbornness even led him to not even asking the dictionary about Spear Force, he didn''t want anything to influence his path forward.

    It wasn''t actually quite accurate to say that Leonel didn''t like the idea itself, what he didn''t like was the lack of logic behind it.

    If there was logic behind the training method that required him to run around a city naked, Leonel might think about doing it. It wasn''t the actual process that was the problem, it was the lack of reason behind it.

    These were weapons. They didn''t have hearts and souls, nor did they have consciousnesses of their own. Talking aobut "listening" to them was asinine.

    However, this felt different.

    What Leonel was "listening" to right now wasn''t the weapon, he was "listening" to its resonance with his Life Force. How it interacted, how they fused, how they repelled one another.

    The so-called "life" of a weapon didn''t come from the weapon itself, it always came from the wielder. This was why Leonel could say a word like "Die" and yet have it wield so much more power than a poetry verse a hundred times more complicated.

    This was the true root of calligraphy and poetry, and for that matter, it was the true root of music and painting as well.

    Leonel''s spear swished through the air.

    Golden streams of Spear Force flourished, the delicate sounds of chimes ringing. However, astonishingly enough, if one closed their eyes and Internal Sight off to Leonel''s existence, this delicate music would vanish.

    The instant one focused on Leonel once more, though, the music would return, its gentle cadence soothing the heart and soul.

    The melody changed and it became voluminous and oppressive. Just observing one would feel as though they had been trapped in a maelstrom, every pierce, every sweep and every chop feeling like another piece of their life had been severed away.

    But then everything changed once more.

    Leonel''s Absolute Domain faded, the swishing sounds of sharpening blades fading into the background and a gorgeous scene was painted by them instead, delicate flecks of golden Spear Force dancing through the air, adding to the beauty with every stroke.

    Leonel switched between countless stances. Each and every one painted a new picture and exuded a different kind of aura.

    Towering mountain made his spear towering and heavy. Streams of rivers made his spear swift and winding. Starry skies made his spear vast and endless, its blade capable of reaching any point with just a single pierce.

    But even these images began to slowly fade.

    As time passed, the melodies became quiet, lacking even the whistling of the wind.

    Soon after it, the vast images created by strokes of golden Spear Force also vanished, shrinking further and further until there was nothing left but the slightest radiance of a white-gold spear.

    Everything became deathly silent but Leonel''s movements had never stopped and his eyes had never opened.

    After a certain point, he couldn''t even feel the grass beneath his feet or the wind against his body. He felt as though he was gliding through a voice, the only feeling he could experience being the weight of the spear in his hand, he couldn''t even feel the special characteristics of the spear in question.

    It was as though everything had faded but the embodiment of a spearбн Not the spear or a particular spear, but just a spear, an amorphous construct without form or presence.

    And eventually, even the weight of that spear vanished.

    In the real world, the white-gold spear in Leonel''s hand seamlessly vanished to be replaced by a jet black rod, radiating a dense black fog.

    And then, Leonel pierced forward.

 Chapter 1647 Understanding Himself

    Leonel woke up with Aina on his chest.

    After finishing his training, he didn''t hurry to do things with the Tentacle Womb or other faction building things because after a while, he suddenly felt the need to just spend time with Aina.

    When his Spear Force perfected its fusion with the final stage of his grandfather''s path of the spear, Leonel mind entered an odd state of relaxation where he suddenly understood that understanding himself was even more important than understanding individual Forces.

    Anastasia''s words, when taken to the logical extreme, precisely meant these things.

    Ultimately, just like with his Spear Force, the "life" of his Forces didn''t come from them, but rather himself. While they all had their own preferences and leanings, they were ultimately in his control.

    Running was always designed to be faster than running. By the same token, throwing was always designed to move things from your hand into a further distance. The same assignments could be made for walking, swimming, talkingбн

    Any one of these activities were things everyone and almost everything did naturally. They all also had the same exact purposes, regardless of who was executing them. However, did any two individuals do them the exact same way?

    Leonel had come to understand that he should treat Force in this way as well.

    When he used Force, he actively did something that was the equivalent of running, or walking, or swimming, or even talking. However, he had always treated it as an external thing, not putting enough time and attention into them, much the same way that anyone could run, walk, swim or talk, but not everyone could do these things as effectively as another.

    And the root to reaching prominence in these facets was to first understand oneself.

    When it came to walking, you learned through trial and error as a child. When it came to running, you did the same thing. For swimming, it was the same once again, and it was even the same for talking.

    All of these things were forgotten by most as they happened so early on in life, but Leonel could remember those memories clearly. He could remember every failed attempt and reattempt. He could remember how he had to learn to shift his balance to adjust to his own body, not the other way around.

    Likewise, if he wanted to understand these Forces, he would have to learn about himself as he learned about these Forces.

    When he came to that conclusion, Leonel chose to relax.

    He awoke Aina from her meditation and brought her to leisurely stroll around the Segmented Cube. Aina was confused at first and didn''t quite understand what the point of this was, but she realized it was rare for her to spend this kind of leisurely time with Leonel, at least not without someone or something wanting them to die.

    As time passed, she completely forgot that she didn''t understand what was going on and why Leonel did this and simply smiled, enjoying her time with him.

    The relationship between Leonel and Aina had always been one of fiery passion and emotion. They danced between life and death, and even when they weren''t, they were completely immersed in their training.

    There was nothing to see in the Segmented Cube aside from the beautiful ambience of nature, and yet it was so novel to them to casually view such sights that it was endlessly fascinating.

    The two talked endlessly, saying and talking about anything for days that quickly turned into over a week. And when they ran out of things to talk about, they simply felt silent. They didn''t feel the need to fill the quiet air, the soft sounds of their breathing was enough.

    This was the closest moment to normal the two had received since the Metamorphosis descended. It was hard to fathom but since that last day of high school, the two of them had never had even a single moment of rest.

    It was always battle after battle, war after war, death threat after death threat.

    Very soon, they would likely have to return to such a life, but at least for now, they felt at peace.

    Leonel reached down from Aina''s waist and pinched her ass, causing her to stir awake.

    She slapped Leonel''s hand away and adjusted herself on his chest before falling asleep again.

    Leonel laughed to himself. Alright, one more day wasn''t too bad.

    Although the two of them hadn''t crossed that final step yet, he had definitely made this little vixen pay for her earlier arrogance.

    Leonel wasn''t very disappointed about this fact. Every time he and Aina seemed about to cross that line, it was always due to a state of fiery passion. The first time it was because Aina didn''t want to lose Leonel, the second time the two of them were made at one another''s approach to dealing with danger, and the third and most recent time, Aina had had a large amount of Leonel''s blood in her system.

    After these days of calm and leisure, while that passion wasn''t as fiery, it burned a lot more like an eternal fire, one that would last a lifetime.

    When that flame did finally boil over, he was sure that it would be worth the wait.

    **

    After one more day, as promised, Leonel and Aina finally left the Segmented Cube, crossing over the Void Battlefield as they made their way toward the Void Palace.

    With the speed of the Segmented Cube, they crossed over large distances without much issue, shuttling through vast amounts of Anarchic Force as though it wasn''t there at all.

    Half a month later, they made it to large gates once again, facing a vast mountain range that was several planets'' widths wide.

    However, the state of the Void Palace wasn''t like what Leonel remembered at all. Matched with its imposingness, a bloody scent hung in the air. In fact, what once were majestic gates that no one had to care about guarding because the prestige of the Void Palace was impregnable now had permanently stationed troops.

    As a result, the arrival of Leonel and AIna didn''t go unnoticed.

 Chapter 1648 Shocking News

    Leonel stepped out from the Segmented Cube holding Aina''s hand. He allowed it to shrink, becoming a finger band once again as he stared forward.

    At that time, a large number of auras pressed down, causing him to frown.

    This place actually couldn''t truly be considered the Void Palace. In reality, it was one of the cities that formed the last line of defense on the Void Battlefield.

    Leonel and Aina had been to this city before. It was the very same city they had come to after leaving the Rapax Nest. Right this moment, it was even larger and more imposing than before, even having troops stationed on the outside and along the walls.

    Leonel couldn''t imagine why you would need a vanguard stationed outside of the city when the defenses were so great to begin with. But since he knew so little about the situation after being gone for so long, he didn''t question it too much. Instead, he waited for the small squadron that was approaching to finish their approach.

    However, by this point, Leonel had already recognized the individual leading this small squad. He was Rowan Cancer, the very same young man who had tried to take advantage of Leonel''s injury after he led them all out of the Rapax Nest in order to target Aina for her Token.

    Back then, Aina had ended up killing a large number of Rowan''s followers, but Rowan himself had managed to escape. It had been a long time since then, just over a year to Leonel and likely much longer than that to Rowan.

    Now, the rookie from back then who had entered along with Leonel was already strong enough to lead a squad here. So in all likelihood, Rowan neared the top tiers of Galaxy Ranked disciples already, or might even be a Sector Ranked disciple by now. It would mostly depend on what sort of talent he was.

    Rowan, of course, recognized Leonel and Aina as well although his gaze was just as placid and emotionless as usual. However, that didn''t change the fact he had some waves rising and falling in his heart.

    Leonel and Aina had just come back and clearly didn''t understand the usual protocols. And, just about a month ago, the spatial phenomena that had had the Human Domain in its grips also came to an end. These two things were highly unlikely to be a coincidence.

    Although there were others who came very recently as well, given the odds, Leonel was definitely the top three most likely to have been the reason they could return.

    Of course, this was only to the general public. To the elders paying attention to these matters, they had already confirmed it with 100% accuracy.

    While Rowan was considered to be the most likely to inherit the Cancer family in the future, he didn''t have that sort of cache just yet, and as such, he could only make his own guesses. But the fact that this guess of his was so accurate already spoke volumes.

    "Please display your disciple badges."

    Despite recognizing Leonel and Aina, Rowan still asked this. In fact, he also pretended as though the trio of them had no prior history and that he hadn''t tried to kill Leonel not just once, but twice.

    Leonel calmly looked toward Rowan and flipped his palm over to reveal his badge. However, to his surprise, rather than just casually looking over it, both his and Aina''s badges underwent several layers of inspection before they were finally allowed to take them back.

    Although his first reaction was to believe that Rowan was purposely making things difficult for him, Leonel didn''t act on this, mostly because it made little sense. Delaying them by an extra few minutes for the sake of something so petty made little sense. In addition, these guards seemed to have specially created devices purely for the sake of inspecting his badge, something that made little sense unless there was a good reason.

    "You two can enter the city now."

    Leonel put his badge away and scanned the squad again.

    "Is there a case of people impersonating Void Palace disciples?" Leonel asked.

    Rowan''s eyes flashed before he nodded slowly.

    "Yes. The Cloud Race has encroached onto our territory in recent decades and has become more brazen. In addition, areas we used to hold firm control over have weakened drastically. Now that Earth has entered the Seventh Dimension faster than was expected, our enemies have re upped their efforts and are pressing us.

    "It''s also the case that during the spatial phenomena that just ended, the region was incredibly unstable, making it difficult for us to safely maintain a defensive line, but simultaneously very easy for enemies to cross large distances into our territory via teleportation.

    "So this is the situation now."

    Leonel''s brows jumped in surprise, but the squadron which followed Rowan was equally as shocked.

    Rowan was a man of very few words and they had never heard him speak so much all at one time like this. But he had done so for this individual? Who was this, exactly?

    The number of people that could recognize Leonel by his face were simply too few in number. He had only spent a short time in the Void Palace and hadn''t interacted with enough people to truly build fame.

    While the event of him clearing dozens of floors in his first attempt at the Void Tower was circulated, that was also more than two decades ago and the amount of things that happened since then were too many.

    Seeing this now, though, Rowan''s squadron seemed to understand that Leonel must have been a prominent figure before the cataclysm.

    Leonel, though, was shocked by something else entirely.

    It seemed that in his absence, Earth had become a name even the geniuses of the Void Palace was very familiar with. Not only that, but in just a short 20 or so years, it had actually become a Seventh Dimensional world already and a vicious storm was brewing around this matter.

 Chapter 1649 Asks

    Leonel calmed himself and nodded.

    "Is there anywhere I''m supposed to go after this?" Leonel asked.

    "Yes. All those who have just returned from the Zone must report to the Void Senate. As for the details, they''ll inform you about them."

    Leonel nodded and took Aina''s hand again as they entered the city to use a teleportation platform to the core of the Void Palace. As for his thoughts, they were much less calm than the rhythmic cadence of his heart.

    The Cloud Race.

    He knew about them as well. They were a Race of people adept at mimicry. They could freely change their forms and embody whatever their eyes could see.

    When Leonel first learned about this race from the Void Library, he was quite confused. After all, Wise Star Order had told him that humans were the weakest of the races because they couldn''t focus their attention down one path. Then how, exactly, was the Cloud Race so powerful? Shouldn''t they be even weaker than humans following this logic?

    Well, the truth was, the Cloud Race was near the bottom of the barrel along with humans and the Dwarven Race, but they were still considered to be stronger than the both. This was because the mimicry of the Cloud Race was all focused on one thing: countering.

    The Cloud Race were experts in defense and using your weaknesses against you. This style of battle made them exceptionally powerful, and while they couldn''t be considered to be at the pinnacle of the most powerful races, they were still well known to be superior to the humans.

    Ironically, though, it was precisely because of this that the humans fared so well against the Cloud Race. Because humans weren''t as homogenous as the other races, countering them took time and effort, and true human geniuses might be able to defeat Cloud Race geniuses before said genius could get a grasp on their abilities.

    Still, the fact that the Void Palace had suddenly become so cautious against the Cloud Race must mean that by the time Leonel was gone, they must have made great headway into grasping the secrets of the Human Domain.

    If the Cloud Race wanted to wage war against the humans, they didn''t need to understand all of them, they just needed to understand the weaknesses of the greatest powerful among them.

    The Morales family, the Suiard family, the Constellation Alliances, Shield Cross Stars, the Crafting Guilds, the Constellation familiesбн

    So long as these few powers were grasped, who cared about the weaker humans? They weren''t good enough to match up again even normal Cloud Race members to begin with. The less complex the talent, the easier it was to counter on a whim.

    бн

    It wasn''t long before Leonel stood at the base of a mountain, looking up. He knew that the Void Senate was up there, but this was actually the first time he had been to his place.

    At the bottom, there were people present to escort them up and they were soon brought to an office.

    When Leonel and Aina entered, they found a black haired man sitting across from them behind a desk. He didn''t look up even after the door closed, but this aura did seem to grow heavier.

    Just from a glance, Leonel could see that this man was missing an arm, one of his robe sleeves behind decidedly looser than the other.

    By the time an entire minute passed, Leonel''s eyes had narrowed into slits.

    While Rowan wouldn''t know that he was the reason everyone could return, how could someone who could sit at the top of the Void Senate not understand? And even if they assumed that it was Aina and not him, wasn''t Aina right by his side anyway?

    And yet, this man hadn''t said a single word since they entered.

    Looking back at the man''s missing arm, Leonel''s furrowed brows loosened and his expression became calm. There was a better than 70% likelihood that this was the man his father took the arm of, and likely also the catalyst for what put the sword and spear factions at each other''s throat.

    Leonel didn''t know what was going on with that situation now, or if the two factions had set aside their differences to face a greater threat, but judging by Rosen''s reaction, that much was unlikely.

    Rosen seemed to sense that Leonel''s demeanor had entirely relaxed and he suddenly looked up, his gaze piercing. It truly felt as though a pair of swords were hidden within the depths of his gave.

    An invisible aura shot forward, as sharp as a blade, but when it entered an unknown radius of Leonel, it dissipated into the wind, leaving Rosen with narrowed eyes. Leonel didn''t even seem to have moved a single inch or down anything. But in reality, neither did he.

    "The procedure is simple," Rosen said emotionlessly. "Here are the documents. Write down everything you''ve experienced in the Zone, catalogue all of the events by day for all exactly 63 days that were inside. Do not miss a single day.

    "Also, document all treasures that you''ve received from the Zone. The Void Palace will not take any of them, but will inspect them, categorize them, and then return them to you in a timely fashion. This is only for the benefit of knowledge and the progress of humanity into the future, we will not steal from our students.

    "If you''ve understood, take these documents and leave."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    As expected, it was highly unlikely that he would be the only one to benefit from the Zone.

    Still, there was one question that left him baffled until this point. He had forgotten about it because he had met Aina and she seemed to be just fine. Butбн Why was it that his cousin and the others couldn''t use Force or their Ability Indexes while he could?

    Could it be that there were others who were able to use their Force like he and Aina, and as such had managed to gain treasures of their own?

    Leonel reached a hand forward and took the documents for both himself and Aina, ready to leave.

    "There''s also one more matter," Rosen said lightly as Leonel was about to depart. "For you, especially, the Void Palace would like to thoroughly understand the method you used to break the cardinal rule of Zones. Please don''t miss out on any details."

    Leonel remained silent and didn''t respond, but his thoughts were already racing.

    How should he handle this matter, exactly?

    There was absolutely nothing wrong with either Rosen''s words or the Void Palaces asks of him. But his instincts were pulling him in a different sort of direction.

 Chapter 1650 Second Method, Same Problem

    Leonel sat in a hall of the Void Senate in silence. Aina sat by his side, looking at the documents as well. Though, when she sensed Leonel''s odd mood, she looked over as well.

    Leonel''s gaze was a bit unfocused, but his pupils continued to flicker as though he was calculating something.

    The decision wasn''t a simple one. Logically, there shouldn''t be a problem with helping the Void Palace, but there were too many potential issues with doing so, especially since there were still signs of traitors in their midst.

    The only people he could trust aside from himself were Aina and his parents.

    The ask of the Void Palace was very reasonable. Wanting to document the treasures of that Zone made perfect sense, and they would also return it. In addition, wanting to know how Leonel had escaped also made sense. Who knew how useful such information could be in the future? If they could patent an ability to escape Zones, there would be many Zones that they didn''t dare to easily enter previously that they could finally start exploring with full effort.

    For example, now that Earth had entered the Seventh Dimension, for the first time, the Human Domain had to contend with Eighth Dimensional Zones. But the number of characters who wielded such a level of power were far too few, and they were so important to the backbone of the Human Domain that they couldn''t possibly enter to risk their lives so easily.

    The resulted in a situation where there were many Zones with potentially excellent resources inside that no one dared to make use of.

    But if these Zones were allowed to linger for too long, then the territory of Earth would end up swallowed and destroyed. If that happened, what was the worth of everything else?

    Earth had suddenly become integral to the prosperity of the Dimensional Verse, and it was very likely that everyone had been waiting precisely for Leonel to return so that they could understand how he did it.

    Leonel obviously understood all of this, but what would happen when he revealed that this was only possible because of the unique characteristics of the Segmented Cube? Unless someone could create a treasure of equivalent stature, it would be a fool''s dream to attempt an escape from a Zone.

    In order to force the bubbles of the Human Domain and a Zone to connect, and thus expel all outsiders from within the latter, it required the travel of a spatial item between the two. Said spatial item had to have enough structural integrity to survive the journey as well, or else it would all be useless.

    Essentially, you needed a treasure on a level close to the Ninth Dimension, or at least at the very cutting edge of the Eighth.

    In this regard, the Segmented Cube was practically one of a kind.

    In the past, Leonel had simply assumed that every family in the Human Domain would have a treasure of this caliber. But the more he learned, the more he came to understand just how ridiculous such a thought was. In fact, he was certain that the existence of the Segmented Cube had a grand backstory Anastasia would probably refuse to tell him aboutбн

    And in such a case, where there only existed one solution, just what would happen?

    He had just learned that the Cloud Race was making efforts to infiltrate the Human Domain and impersonate their kind. And he had already deduced that there were likely traitors at the highest echelon of the Void Palace, or else certain things just could not have happened that way.

    If these individuals suddenly learned that there was only one item in the Human Domain capable of breaking the rules of the Zone, and said item was in the hands of a Morales family memberбн

    What kind of situation would that put the Morales family in?

    However, if Leonel lied about how he had done it, the moment they attempted to use his method and realized that it didn''t work, not only would the Human Domain lose whoever had entered the Zone, he would also gain the ire of the Human Domain and things would end up terribly regardless.

    ''If I had known Earth was already in the Seventh Dimension, I wouldn''t have returned so easilyбн''

    Leonel closed his eyes and sighed.

    Leonel suddenly felt a soft hand slip into his and he smiled lightly without opening his eyes.

    He had already known that there would be trouble like this when they returned, the only surprise was that it had actually come so quickly. But since he had already chosen Aina over the world, was there even a need to regret it?

    Leonel''s heart shuddered and his thoughts flashed.

    When his eyes snapped open, they had a blazing light within them, but they quickly dimmed.

    ''Even if I''ve thought of another method to escape Zones, it still doesn''t change the facts of the matterбн''

    Leonel flipped a palm over and whispered, "[Valiant Seal]бн"

    A miniature trio of revolving pillars forms.

    This was another one of Leonel''s self-created techiques. He had formed it using the Valiant Pillars of Valiant Heart Mountain and Camelot''s magic system as a foundation. That treasure was designed to take control of Zones.

    Theoretically, Leonel believed that if the power to control Zones was harnessed and then forced into vessels like the Segmented Cube, then it should be possible to use them like the Segmented Cube''s world to escape Zones.

    If Leonel refined this method over a few weeks, he could easily hand this method over to the Void Palace and solve the potential issue of having the Morales family become everyone''s target.

    But if he did so, this method would fall into the hands of the Human Domain''s enemies as well.

    ''The problem is still the sameбн'' Leonel thought to himself, squeezing Aina''s hand lightly.

    To think that he would be clever enough to think of such things, only to be faced with the dilemma of whether to share them or not.

    As Leonel was lost in thought, the clicking of heels echoed through the Void Senate''s halls. When he looked up, he found a woman with vibrant green hair walking. He didn''t think too much of it, until, that is, the woman''s eyes emitted a coldness upon meeting his gaze.

 Chapter 1651 Treanna

    Leonel met her gaze, his expression calm.

    Judging by this person''s expression, she was definitely one of the Viror family. But considering the fact she was casually strolling through the Void Palace Senate, the number of people she could be was drastically lowered. The odds that this person was precisely the Treanna Viror that had been harassing Leonel and Aina with her Green Thread Faction.

    ''This woman sure knows how to hold a grudge. It''s only been a year for me, but statistically speaking, it''s been at least 10 years for her depending on when she was expelled from the Zone. The fact that she still has the mind to look at me so coldly is asinine.''

    Leonel hadn''t forgotten the things this woman had done. He hadn''t even gone to find her yet, but she seemed to have stumbled into him first.

    There were simply certain things that Leonel found to be unacceptable. He had already chosen Aina over the world once. Did this woman believe that she would get off scot-free after ordering her men to not only attack his Aina, but to even do something as demeaning as stripping her down and hanging her up for everyone to see?

    Despite the calmness in Leonel''s eyes, there was a hidden oppressive aura within that hung in the air.

    He didn''t care how long he had been gone for, Treanna could count herself lucky that this was the Void Senate and not just any place where Leonel could act as he pleased.

    He looked away, ignoring her.

    He crushed the [Valiant Seal] he formed in his palm and flipped his hand over. With a rush, a surge of Dream Force came out of his hand and caused the "documents" to light up.

    The so-called documents were just a few pendants. One was used to record their experiences and the other was used to note down their treasures. Both would be handed in along with the treasures that they received from the Zone.

    Others would probably take a few hours, maybe even longer, to finish. But Leonel was someone who had managed to read the entire history of law of the Void Palace in just a few seconds. Now that he had returned even stronger, noting down what occurred in just a two month period, even if it was incredibly detailed, took almost no effort whatsoever.

    In fact, while he finished, he also noted to Aina what she should disclose and what she shouldn''t. His decision had been made.

    Once he was finished, he stood, having taken no more than a few seconds total to finish everything.

    The moment he stood, he found Treanna just a meter from him, her gaze sparking.

    Leonel had had many thoughts on how this interaction would go, but what he didn''t expect was what actually happened. Without a word, or even an attempt to communicate, Treanna''s palm suddenly shot forward.

    What was shocking, though, was the fact that this palm wasn''t aimed for Leonel, but rather Aina who still had her mind within the pendants, marking down everything Leonel had asked of her.

    The truth was that making up stories that could fool the Void Palace elders was incredibly difficult. They would be able to pick out the deficiencies in your claims far too quickly. Their minds at that level worked no slower than Leonel''s own a few paces back.

    So, when Leonel had told Aina what to write, he went into great detail. After all, he was very familiar with what she had experienced and could adjust it as such.

    Due to this, Aina hadn''t even noticed Treanna''s appearance at all because she couldn''t split her mind to the same degree Leonel could.

    Right then, Leonel''s calm expression became frighteningly cold.

    With a single step, he blocked the path to Aina and struck out, the speed of his fist being incredibly swift.

    BANG!

    Palm and fist met, sharp winds whistling into the surroundings.

    Leonel''s body glowed with a Bronze Aura, dispersing Treanna''s strength and adding an extra boost to his own.

    Treanna took three heavy steps backward, her gaze flickering with surprise. Even though physical prowess wasn''t her strongest suit, she was still a Tier 6 expert of the Sixth Dimension. She shouldn''t need to use her strongest abilities to deal with the likes of Leonel, especially since she had attacked first.

    However, what Treanna didn''t consider was the fact that Leonel could be just as unruly and unreasonable as her.

    Someone else might ask her why she had attacked or give her time to recover, but Leonel simply didn''t care. He took another strong step forward, the rhythm of his movements causing the ground to vibrate.

    BANG!

    A cone of wind followed his punch, colliding with Treanna''s face without a care for her beauty.

    She flew backward and crashed into the wall of the Void Senate hall, the commotion spreading far and wide.

    Leonel walked forward as Treanna''s vision spun. He picked her up by her neck, and only then did he speak for the first time.

    "What did you mean by doing this?"

    His voice was doused in a chilly wind, his hand clawing around her neck with a menacing grip.

    "Halt!"

    At that moment, a surge of aura rushed toward the location, many of whom were completely surprised. No one dared to cause a commotion in the Void Senate, its dignity simply couldn''t be encroached upon. And yet today, it had actually happened.

    When they converged, they were shocked to find that the person dangling with her feet in the air was actually Treanna.

    Treanna was almost too famous in the Void Palace. Despite being from a relatively average family when the wider Void Palace was taken into account, she managed to form a monopoly over the medicinal Factions that only increased after the cataclysm. Just a year ago, she finally managed to reach the heights many could only dream of and she entered a Party of the Senate with thoughts of returning to her Faction in the future and raising it to the status of a Party as well.

    But who would have known that this famous individual would be humiliated like this in the Void Senate?

    It was then that someone from Treanna''s Party arrived, and this person had a bow strapped to their backs.

 Chapter 1652 Lll-Concealed

    Leonel didn''t look at anyone else, an ill intent blazing in his eyes as he looked toward Treanna.

    By this point, Treanna had recovered, only to realize that her neck was already under the control of a junior. First she felt shocked, then humiliated, before a towering fury erupted forth from her in a torrent.

    She didn''t seem to care that Leonel had control of her neck. As though she would rather die than not dare to struggle, her Force rose like a tempest, a violent pressure blasting against Leonel''s body.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The sounds of Treanna''s Force rebounding against Leonel''s body sounded no different from metal clashing with metal and he was even forced to slide back a measure. At the same time, the grip he had had on Treanna''s throat was forced open, causing his eyes to narrow.

    Leonel had never seen anyone expelling Force from their neck like that. Could it be a method that had already existed in the Human Domain? Or was it something that she had picked up from the Zone?

    Treanna released a shrill shriek, her rage forming several green vines of Force that lashed out toward Leonel like a whip. By the time they crossed the small distance between the two, they had gone from barely formed, to a shimmering emerald. It looked as though flexible gems were lashing out toward him, each of them carrying a lethal intent.

    Leonel''s gaze was frighteningly cold.

    He didn''t have any intention to kill. If he had, how could Treanna have escaped from his grip so quickly? If you gained control of an opponent''s neck in real combat, the battle was over. But Treanna had clearly taken advantage of his state of mind to escape.

    It only took Leonel an instant to see through this, his intent only growing colder.

    Just when it seemed that Treanna''s vines would shred him to pieces, his Absolute Spear Domain suddenly manifested, a golden vortex of sharp blades rotating around him and ripping Treanna''s attack to shreds.

    Leonel pressed two fingers together and pierced them forward.

    In that instant, it felt like everything in the world had come to a chilling pause. The silence was deafening.

    From a large commotion that had caught the attention of most in the building, it felt like they had suddenly entered the vacuum of space. There were no sounds of sharpening blades, no trembling walls and floors, not even the whistling wind of Leonel slicing the air in two could be heard.

    Treanna''s eyes only had time to widen before her chest was pierced through.

    There wasn''t a single drop of blood for several moments as she fell backward, her eyes wide. It was only after she fell to the floor that her body jolted and a pool of blood quickly formed, drenching her green dress in a tide of crimson.

    "YOUиC!"

    From their shocked state, the first individual rose up roaring. This man was none other than the very man who had come from Treanna''s Party, a man with a bow strapped to his back.

    It wasn''t at all convenient to use a bow in an enclosed space like this, but the young man was so confident in his abilities and control that he didn''t even hesitate to pull out his own. All he could see was red, believing that Leonel had just killed Treanna.

    From the roar to the release of the bowstring, there wasn''t even a span of half a second. There was no doubt that the drawing skills of the young man were exceptional, and it only became more clear after his Sixth Dimensional Bow Force shot a streaking light through the Void Senate hallway aimed right for Leonel''s head.

    Leonel frowned, his cold gaze shifting in the direction of the young man. He had already locked eyes on him before his bow even left his back and watched the entire process of loading and firing. The young man might have thought that his speed was fast, but could it be faster than Leonel''s senses?

    The arrow appeared between Leonel''s brows in an instant. It almost looked as though it had teleported there from the bow it had just been released from, prepared to take Leonel''s life.

    However, Leonel didn''t even move.

    CLANG!

    The arrow rebounded upward, rapidly spinning through the air as its Bow Force tried to continue forward without it. But the moment the Bow Force tried to harm Leonel, it was as though it had vanished into the wind.

    With the very same two fingers he had used to pierce toward Treanna, Leonel drew an arc through the air, snatching the spinning arrow out of its motion with even quicker movements. Then, in one swift motion, his back flexed and he took a small step forward.

    BANG!

    The arrow rocketed out from his throw like a ball out of a canon, moving with so much speed that it didn''t even arc through the air. Rather, it drew a line through the hallways, appearing before the young man in an instant.

    The arrow shot through the raised bow which was prepared to shoot a second arrow, snapped the bow string in two, before burying itself into the chest of the young man.

    The Party member coughed out a mouthful of blood in astonishment, still not quite believing what he had just seen. Had his arrow really been so casually dealt with? How was that even possible?

    Right that moment, the door to Rosen''s office opened and he stepped out with a stern expression, his armless sleeve whipping in the wind beneath his aura.

    Feeling the presence of a Seventh Dimensional expert, no one dared to move even a single inch as Rosen scanned the surroundings. To think that someone would actually dare to make such commotion right outside of his office, weren''t these people a bit too brazen?

    When Rosen saw not just one, but two students with bloody wounds through their chests, his expression became even colder.

    His gaze snapped toward Leonel, an ill concealed distaste flashing in his eyes.

 Chapter 1653 Neither

    "This is the Void Senate."

    The words were unhurried and didn''t seem to have any extra emphasis, but the moment that they were spoken, it was as though a heavy mountain had fallen onto the shoulders of the spectators. Among them, there was no doubt that Leonel experienced the greatest pressure there was.

    "You two, one year in the Void Mines. As for you, ten."

    The two Rosen mentioned were without a doubt Treanna and the youth with an arrow in his chest. That meant that the last was most definitely Leonel.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. He knew the rule book of the Void Palace front to back, so he was also well aware that this punishment was actually in line with proper practices. Rosen hadn''t taken a single step out of line.

    Still, wanting him to spend ten years mining for a conflict started by someone else was impossible. If Rosen thought Leonel would really do that, he had another thing coming.

    Sensing Leonel''s gaze, Rosen met it. Seemingly wanting to see if he would dare to refute, in fact his placid gaze almost seemed to beg for it.

    In the past, he had been much more brazen, even arrogantly kicking out the Stalwart Polearm Party from their position as joint majority. However, ever since that even with Leonel''s father, he had hidden much of his sharpness, stoking a flame deep within his heart to push onward.

    In these 20 years, 14 of which he had been back for, he had progressed by leaps and beyond, already surpassing his former rival, Uramus of the Stalwart Polearm Party by a large margin.

    Still, even with this being the case, he still hadn''t revealed that hidden sharpness.

    Uramus was nothing but a defeated opponent, he didn''t deserve his effort. The only man that was in his eyes now was Velasco Morales. Every day, he persevered through training most couldn''t imagine just for the faintest chance that he could return the favor for this lost arm of his.

    In truth, he didn''t even put Leonel in his eyes, and why would he. There was a far deeper pride ingrained within him. It had to be remembered that Rosen didn''t send the youths to the Rapax Nest to target Leonel in the first place. His only intention was to help Amery get a leg up for his Sword Domain Tribulation.

    As for the youths that had targeted Leonel, they were exactly that, youths. He simply didn''t care to.

    But, if Leonel was going to blatantly spit in the face of the rules of the Void Palace and get in his way, thinking himself to be as great an obstacle as his father, Rosen wouldn''t mind showing him the disparity between the two of them.

    And yet, Leonel only smiled lightly. With a flip of his palm, he brought out his two pendants and directly shattered them.

    Rosen''s pupils constricted. Leonel''s movements weren''t exactly fast, but it was still impossible for him to react. At the same time, although the pendants didn''t look special, they were still incredibly sturdy materials. Breaking them at Leonel''s level shouldn''t have been such a casual action. In fact, it should have taken quite a bit of strain.

    "What do you mean by this?" Rosen asked just as unhurriedly.

    Leonel blinked, almost as though he was confused by the question.

    "Mean by what?"

    Rosen''s gaze narrowed. This Leonel, when it came to pissing people off, there was no doubt that he was no less proficient than that father of his. It was almost a crime that such a charismatic smile could be coming from such a bastard.

    "It seems that you want to test my patience."

    Leonel thought for a moment before nodding. "Ten years is indeed a long time. I guess that even for someone as old as you, it can be considered a while as well."

    Rosen felt his heart twitch. It had been a long time since he had felt something like this. After losing his arm, nothing seemed capable of fazing him and the state of his heart was as clear and still as water. But he suddenly felt the need to punch a hole through Leonel''s face.

    Leonel''s expression didn''t show much of a change, but he was coldly smiling on the inside.

    What a ridiculous rule. Just because he had injured someone who attacked first he had to waste 10 years of his life while they only had to exchange a year? Even if that was indeed what the rule book states, he didn''t care.

    These people liked to claim that he only had this level of attainment in the Void Palace because his mother had handed it to him, right? They had even stripped him of his rightfully earned Galaxy Rank because they couldn''t fathom how far he had climbed up the Void Tower. And now they wanted him to mine ore for them for ten years?

    Sure, that was fine. In that case, Leonel wanted to see if they''d be willing to wait ten years for his method of returning from a failed Zone too.

    Since they wanted to play a patience game, they could play together. In fact, he would show people what true unfairness looked like. Did he break the rules? Yes he did. What were you going to do about it?

    The reality of this was that Leonel could choose to just leave the Void Palace as well. After all, the Void Palace wouldn''t detain people against their will, at least not for something so inconsequential. It was more accurate to look at it like Leonel exchanging 10 years for a chance to remain in the Void Palace after his punishment years were through.

    But if they really chose to follow through with such a punishment, Leonel would just directly leave. And if he was no longer a disciple of a Void Palace, then that would also mean that they didn''t have a right to ask him about his treasures, nor did they have a right to ask him for a method of escaping failed Zones.

    When that crossroads was reached, the Void Palace would have quite a decision to make.

    Deal with Leonel and get the information they wanted, and face his old man''s revenge on the back end. Or simply let Leonel go.

    Neither of these things were what they wanted to do.

 Chapter 1654 Proven Right

    Leonel knew that he would likely be the subject of a plot very soon. In fact, he didn''t know if this was a scheme or not, although he felt that the potential that it was was just about 10%, likely less.

    Rosen carried too important a position in the Suiard family, and though the Morales and Suiards were always at each other''s throats, Leonel didn''t believe that they were incompetent enough to have a traitor at such a high ranking, nor did he believe that the Suiard family itself was a traitor to the Human Domain.

    In all likelihood, this was really just a coincidence. But that didn''t mean that the scheme wasn''t coming.

    In order to deal with that inevitable end, Leonel had to position himself properly while also squeezing out as many benefits as he could from the Void Palace in the meantime. Even though this would piss a lot of people off, and there might even be some people on the side of humanity who thought his actions to be too selfish and abhorrent, all he cared about was the end result.

    For now, they would treat him as public enemy number one, but when the time came that he wiped the Three Finger Cult from existence, they would come to understand the actions he would take this time around.

    Rosen slowly nodded to Leonel''s words as though he was confirming what he was hearing for himself, and ensuring that this was, indeed, reality.

    This was likely the first time in the history of the Void Palace that a student of the Sixth Dimension dared to act in this way. Although Leonel hadn''t said it in so many words, this was no doubt a threat. This singular young man suddenly held what was likely the fate of humanity by the balls and he had such a sickening smile on his face.

    Anyone seeing such a scene would have a hard time telling just who was the hero and who was the villain.

    It felt like the moment Leonel had chosen Aina over humanity, he stopped caring about those details as they simply didn''t matter to him. He had already resigned himself to the fact that many people would die due to his decisions, but he still felt that this was the only path forward.

    In his time in the Dimensional Verse, he had taken the life of almost 1000 people. In fact, he knew the exact number 932. This was a number that accounted for the Human Domain and Zones.

    If he accounted for the number of lives that he had "taken" via second hand means, meaning through his commands, or his schemes, the number was easily tenfold that. If he chose not to be hypocrite and accounted for the number of demons and beasts he had killed as well, the number was at least twofold of that.

    He had come a long way from the teenage boy who almost allowed his life to be taken by a young woman because he couldn''t bear the sins on his shoulders any longer. A very long way.

    The clarity he felt now was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Those few days of quiet harmony he had spent with Aina had taught him a lot and it made him understand a large measure more about himself, and namely, the weight he had accepted on his shoulders.

    That day in the Rapax Nest, he had allowed his father to take that burden away from him for a time. But nowбн It was about time he took that burden back.

    Standing there, facing a Seventh Dimensional expert who wanted nothing more than to take his life, Leonel stood tall and proud, his gaze unwavering and his smile calm.

    Those watching such a scene suddenly felt like they were watching a stand off of two equals. Noбн it even faintly felt like Leonel was on a level all to his own. Even in the face of someone more than just a single large Dimension ahead of him, he could still maintain such an air.

    Rosen finished nodding his head, giving Leonel a deep look.

    "I will relay your words properly."

    Leonel chuckled. Relay his words? What words had he spoken, exactly?

    At that moment, Aina awoke from her focused state and looked around with a hint of confusion. Seeing the bleeding Treanna to Leonel''s back and the young man with an arrow in her chest, her lips couldn''t help but twitch. She had been lost in her own world for all of a few minutes and yet this trouble magnet had gone and done it again.

    "Don''t look at me like that, this time it''s your fault."

    Aina rolled her eyes, but didn''t bother to refute Leonel''s words.

    After handing her pendants over to Rosen respectfully, Aina allowed Leonel to take her hand and they both strolled out from the Void Senate.

    Those watching couldn''t help but feel waves rolling in their hearts. For some reason, they felt that there would be a big upheaval in the Void Palace very soon.

    "I will let this matter go once. All future conflicts must occur outside of Void Senate grounds, including all branches. This is a rule that has been written and stone and cannot be violated. If there is a second time, I will triple the punishment."

    Rosen left these words behind as he turned and left, his gaze a frightening and chilly cold.

    бн

    ? Not long after Leonel, Aina and Rosen left, the members of Treanna''s Party came rushing over. Some spectators remained in this area precisely to see this matter through as Treanna''s Party was not simple at all. In fact, it was among the so-called "Silent Majority", a group of up and coming newly established Parties that were beginning their attempt to become the replacement for the Stalwart Polearm Party. In fact, even the Stalwart Polearm Party themselves had been promoted once again and become part of this Silent Majority.

    Everyone had said that Leonel''s generation was the most talented the Human Domain had ever seen, and time proved them right. The vast majority of the heads of this Silent Majority were precisely the very youths that Leonel had entered the Rapax Nest with.

    And, as though that wasn''t enough, one of the executive positions of Treanna''s Party was led by a young man who Leonel was very familiar withбн A young man who had even threatened not just Leonel, but the whole Morales family in the past.

    He was none other than the only other young man to master Sixth Dimensional Bow Force in the Fifth Dimension alongside Leonel, a genius of the Constellation Bow Alliance, Nazag Tarius.

 Chapter 1655 Prestige Of The Void Elders

    Rosen was a man of his word. After he left the Void Senate, he entered Void Peak to seek an audience.

    Even for the current Rosen, including all of his improvements, he couldn''t casually come to this place without reason. And, even in the case he did have a reason, he still had to be respectful and patient. These individuals, the Void Elders, represented the very pinnacle of the human race. Together, the power they held was enough to be the face of the humans, and it surpassed any individual family.

    If this wasn''t the case, how could they dare to claim to raise the future generation of leaders?

    The Void Elders were formed of a group of men and women with no affiliations to the large families or organizations. They were existences who, over the course of history, could have built up their own families and powers, but instead chose to forsake this path and become the beacon of humanity instead.

    As a result of this, the Void Elders had no ties to the major families.

    There was an obvious reason why this was a good thing. After all, this would ensure that the Void Elders didn''t have any special ties to the students and didn''t try to steer the Void Palace toward any particular direction. In fact, they were incentivized to ensure that the Void Palace remained power because only when the Void Palace was powerful would they have the backing they had forsaken after taking up their posts.

    The sacrifice of the Void Elders didn''t end here.

    These characters weren''t allowed to have relationships and they also weren''t allowed to have children. Their entire lives were dedicated to the Void Palace.

    Any new Void Elder was raised up directly from the Void Palace itself. They made their vows early and they were monitored and nurtured to replace the previous batch as they grew old and passed on.

    Such individuals couldn''t be affiliated with any power families or organizations before entering the Palace, and they were also the only ones who would receive the personal nurturing of the Void Elders. In fact, they couldn''t even join Factions or Parties in their youths as this could be considered another form of forming relationships and potential biases in the future.

    Leonel himself had met one such person beforeбн This individual was none other than Cornelius.

    Knowing all of this, it was no wonder why everyone was so respectful of the Void Elders. This respect was deeper than just their power, but it was also a function of their sacrifice.

    If these individuals wanted, they could have formed powerful families of their own, adding to the chaos of the Human Domain. Instead, they chose peace and unity, laying down their pride and becoming just one piece of a greater whole.

    The prestige of the Void Elders in the hearts of the masses was not small, and it was also due to this that Leonel''s father wasn''t very well liked as the only person who didn''t give the Void Elders their due respect. But today, it seemed that another of the Morales family line would be smacking the faces of these exceptional characters as well.

    бн

    Before Rosen stood three elders. Without fail, all three of them looked to be exceptionally frail, as though they might use the last of their Life Force at any moment. And yet, Rosen didn''t dare to be the slightest bit disrespectful. Such individuals, the fact they seemed so ordinary was precisely what made them so fearsome. Their level of control was on a level all to their own.

    Two of these elders were older women, with one of them being a man. Of them, only one of the women didn''t use a cane, and all of them wore black robes embroidered in gold.

    They gazed toward Rosen with murky eyes that carried a hint of anticipation. It was rare for these elders to be so curious and eager about something, and it was even rarer for three of them to appear for just a mere Rosen''s request. Obviously, this was a special occasion to them.

    How could it not be? The spatial storm phenomena had just come to an end a few months ago and they had already received a report that Leonel was back.

    They were all certain that Leonel was the one who allowed all of them to return because his life signature was the absolute last to come back by a small fraction of a second, just after Aina''s. This meant that he was the true core of everything that had happened.

    Only a select few individuals knew of this, but they had all been waiting for Leonel to come back a long while now, all for over a month to pass since then. They had been worried that something went wrong, but luckily everything was just fine. Now they could finally get the answers they were hoping for.

    "Void Elder Wimarc, Void Elder Galienne, Void Elder Lizbeth," Rosen bowed respectfully.

    Much like Cornelius, even Void Elders were all called by their first names, their last names having been discarded.

    Wimarc, the only male of them, waved a hand and smiled.

    "No need for such formalities, just pass the pendants to us. We''ve been truly eager these last few days. It''s rare for us older timers to have something to be excited about."

    "About thisбн"

    Rosen started slowly and explained the events from start to finish. He didn''t embellish anything because he simply didn''t have to. All that was necessary was to describe things exactly as they had occurred.

    As Rosen continued along with his story, the smile on Wimarc''s expression slowly faded. Although none of the three showed any fury or rage, their placid indifference placed a heavy weight on Rosen who wasn''t even the subject of their potential anger.

    Rosen summarized the events quickly.

    "бн I did not dare to make a decision personally, so I came here to speak to esteemed Void Elders."

    The three Void Elders fell into silence, not answering immediately.

 Chapter 1656 Aged Hands

    Rosen lowered his head and waited patiently for a reply. He didn''t dare to rush these figures who stood at the same and sometimes even far greater heights than the elders of his own family. This was especially so since elders of the Void Palace tended to live far longer than normal humans for reasons that were unknown to the wider population. This allowed them far more time to accumulate and their strength couldn''t be underestimated.

    Having heard Rosen''s story, the Void Elders understood what had happened. They were even able to deduce some of what had likely started this. But, likewise, they were also able to guess at some of Leonel''s thoughts due to him brazenly taking such actions.

    The conclusion was quite obvious to them and they felt that Leonel was still a little too tender. It was clear that Leonel didn''t truly want to hand over this method and the matters with Treanna and her Party had just given him an excuse.

    "It''s a bit amusing," Galienna, the only one of them to not use a cane, spoke. "It seems that he''s learned a bit too much from his father."

    Compared to the other elders, although she looked just as old, she also seemed to have a perpetual deep frown tattooed onto her brows. The way she clasped her hand behind her back and stood as straight as a spear despite her age spoke volumes.

    She looked as though she could step onto a field right this moment and become a drill sergeant.

    The other Void Elders didn''t respond to this immediately. It seemed that they were still thinking of ways to deal with this situation properly. They were the Void Palace, not some hell house. They couldn''t just capture students and torture information out of them, what would that make them look like?

    This didn''t even consider the fact of if they dared to. The Void Palace could be considered to be a tier above all other human powers, but it would still be foolish of them to target a member of a prominent family, especially when it was a family of madmen like the Morales.

    Montez had been banished from the Void Palace long ago, but didn''t he still come and go as he pleased? And that was doubly so for Velasco who had even taken the arm of the young man right before them right now.

    "Mm. His edge needs to be dulled," Void Elder Lizbeth spoke lightly.

    "Let things take their course, then," Wimarc finished.

    The three spoke as though they could read each other''s thoughts. There was a smooth flowing progression from one to the next, and their words only became more enigmatic as they passed along as though they were playing some kind of higher dimensional game of telephone.

    "You can go back, child of the Suiard family. No need to do anything special," Wimarc said.

    Rosen''s gaze flashed, but by the time he looked up, the three elders had already vanished, leaving a shiver in his heart.

    Rosen was too intelligent to not understand where this was going. "Learned too much from his father", "edge needs to be dulled", "let things take their course"бн?

    Leonel was the very last to return while most had returned years ago. Although there were a few that had returned within the last year, it could be said that the bulk of individuals had returned over a decade ago.

    This made sense. After all, the further away one was from Leonel when the phenomena began, the quicker they were to return. Leonel hadn''t met anyone else that was of the Void Palace during the demon hunting event, so the likelihood that anyone was close enough to him to only return recently was very small.

    Whether it was Leonel or Aina, both of them had come from the most talented generation. In the future, there was no doubt that they''d eventually catch up to those lofty figures who had already surpassed their seniors. However, they would still need the same amount of time that these "lofty figures" had needed as well.

    But Leonel was unlucky.

    He had done a great service to the Void Palace by helping everyone to return and allowing the Human Domain to have a chance at survival. But in doing so, he had caused him to lag behind by as much as two decades in comparison to his peers.

    Among these peers, there were a great number who were still dissatisfied with the result of the Rapax Nest trials and how Leonel had stopped them all from benefitting. There were the Archer Factions who were furious about the loss of their White Lion bow. There were the Sword Factions who were infuriated by the actions of his father back then. And there were even Leonel''s own cousins who wanted nothing more than for him to be suppressed as the previously postponed Morales Heir Wars were quickly approaching.

    They as Void Elders had no need to stoop to the point of dealing with a child. Very soon, he would find himself stifled to the point that he may very well beg to enter the mines and obediently dig for a decade. By that point, the information they wanted would be neatly arranged for them on a silver platter.

    When Rosen came to understand their intentions, his heart couldn''t help but tremble. The understanding toward even the present situation of the Void Palace that the Void Elders had was beyond expectations. Even sitting here on their thrones, the entirety of the Human Domain was still in the palm of their aged hands.

    Rosen exhaled a breath, but it came out uneven and shuddering. He couldn''t help but look inwardly and ask himself how many things he had done in the "dark" that were also so clear to them.

    He rose to his full height and walked out slowly, throwing these matters to the back of his mind.

    He had a feeling that in these few months, there would be quite some upheaval in the Void Palace, but it wouldn''t have anything to do with him.

 Chapter 1657 Changes

    Leonel stepped down from Void Senate Peak with a smile on his face. He didn''t really know what actions the Void Palace would take, at least not for certain, but he also didn''t care very much. What he was more focused on right this moment was, as he said, squeezing out all the potential the Void Palace had to offer him.

    "What do you want to do?" Aina asked.

    "Well, the Void Palace is good for training and for gathering up resources. I have a lot of resources at my fingertips now, but they''re mostly in one box. I still need a lot of other things.

    "Right now, we have the demon corpses, we have the Dream Star Gathering Beast Formation, the Focus Crystals and the Perfection Stone.

    "Of those, the Perfection Stone and Focus Crystals are very important for our training, but we only have enough of those for the two of us. I can''t build up our faction like that, especially since I have to catch up on a lot of lost time.

    "Beyond that, most of my wealth is in Ores, even most of the wealth my mother left for me is in Urbe Ore. While it''s useful, they''re ironically in a state that''s too liquid."

    There were two major problems that those running an organization faced, and both were opposite sides of the same coin.

    The one that was most obvious was having too little money, but on the other hand, having too much money was also another problem. If you let money sit without doing anything, it was as good as not having it at all. The best organization heads were able to maximize the resources they had on hand and would usually spend almost as soon as they received.

    Only by money constantly exchanging hands in a cycle could an organization maximize growth properly.

    Of course, Leonel didn''t believe he had reached such a state. In fact, I have too little money. But even though his fortune was small, he still hadn''t made the best use of it just yet.

    "Still, that''s a problem for another time. Right now, since my focus is to squeeze the Void Palace for all it''s worth, then the main task isn''t to make my funds less liquid, but actually to increase that. At the same time, we also need to maximize our strengths and knowledge.

    "First, I need to return to the Void Library. But in order to do that, I''ll need a lot of Void Points and Void Merits. So the first thing we need to do is do some missions to exchange for an entry token."

    Aina nodded and smiled. "Okay."

    Last time Leonel entered the Void Library, his mind had already been at the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension, but he could hardly make use of it.

    Firstly, he had still been in the Fifth Dimension so his mind was shackled by chains that had greatly loosened now. In addition, he had yet to form the Star Runes that he had now.

    Leonel believed that his performance would be much better now in comparison to the past. In fact, he was hoping that he could assimilate all the information in the Void Library.

    By Leonel''s calculations, he was actually still far from being able to accomplish this. However, he had a feeling that pushing himself in the Void Library would help him gain more inklings into how to properly manipulate his Dream Force. If he could find those inklings, then his odds of success would be far greater.

    If he assimilated the entire Void Libraryбн Well, as they say, knowledge was power.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina wasted no time and immediately went to a Senate Branch. Just like the past, they were all dotted all across the Void Palace. However, when Leonel and Aina attempted to trade for missions, they were stunned by the result.

    "Sorry, there are no Void Star Missions, or any missions for that matter, that meet up to your requirements."

    Leonel blinked when he heard this, not quite understanding. No Void Star Missions? How was that even possible?

    Seemingly seeing Leonel''s confusion, the Senate Branch overseer assumed that Leonel and Aina were two recently promoted Nominal Disciples who were just trying to look at Void Star Missions for fun. It would make sense why they were in the dark about these matters if this was the case.

    Often, it took the most ordinary of Nominal Disciples decades to climb up from their ranks and reach the main Void Palace. So, even though it had been years since everyone had all returned, they wouldn''t quite understand the situation.

    It could be said that this overseer had a relatively good temperament. If anyone else had made such an assumption, they would have already tried to chase Leonel and Aina away.

    "In recent years, all of the Void Star Missions have been cleared by the Constellation Stars. About a decade or so ago, they all started a competition between themselves and the result was all of the Void Star Missions, and even the Void Death Missions, all being cleared. Even the higher level Sector Ranked missions weren''t safe."

    The overseer sighed, shaking his head. Most of his generation felt the exact same way. That generation was simply too outstanding, and the geniuses of Earth that followed after them were just as outstanding as well.

    The Void Star and Void Death Missions had withstood the test of time for so long, and yet in just a couple decades, they had all vanished, forcing the Void Palace to not only adjust their difficulty ratings, but to also add special rewards for high difficulty missions.

    "Unfortunately, due to the change in the rules, pretty much all high difficulty missions are monopolized by the Constellation Stars and their Factions and Parties. They have a direct line to the Void Senate, so the missions are snatched up before they can even appear here."

    The overseer shook his head.

    "Anyway, I''m sorry I can satisfy your curiosity. There are still many normal missions to pick from here. They''ll allow anything they aren''t interested in to slip through the cracks."

    The overseer smiled and began pulling out missions he felt were on Leonel and Aina''s level. But before he could continue, Leonel reached out a hand to stop them.

    "They monopolize missions? And what if I want one of those monopolized missions?"

    The overseer blinked.

    "Wellбн That would be a bit troublesome. Although it''s not explicitly stated in the rules, due to the ambiguousness of the change, claiming missions has become a free for all and there are certain unspoken rules now.

    "There are many more so-called "high difficulty" missions now because of Earth and its Zones appearing all over the Human Domain. There are even signs that Earth''s world will swallow up almost half of the Human Domain with its next evolution. There''s also a lot of covert activity in the shadows by the Cloud Race and other enemies of humanity to contend with.

    "But despite the sheer number of high difficulty missions there are, the demand for them is even greater. So now, there are battles to decide who can claim them, but even entering to witness these battles is a very exclusive right, let alone participating in them.

    "Are you interested in viewing these battles for missions? I''d have to advise you against itбн The tickets are too expensive, and just buying them in the first place requires a certain degree of prestige."

    Leonel frowned.

    To think that there would be so many changes.

    [Important Announcement below!]

 Chapter 1658 Reset

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. It seemed that things would be more annoying now. He didn''t think that after consuming hundreds of thousands of years of passed down laws, that just 20 or so years would be enough to change so much.

    But if what this overseer was saying was correct, these laws didn''t even appear alongside the other ones. Due to the suddenness of the change, it had become a loose, law of the jungle type situation. Leonel didn''t believe that if he checked the laws now that there would be something that allowed the monopolization of missions, so it could only be said that this was being tacitly allowed for the moment due to extenuating circumstances.

    After a moment of thought, Leonel turned to Aina.

    "Check to see how many Void Merits you have."

    Aina nodded and brought out her own disciple badge, but when she did so, the overseer was startled.

    Void Merits? Did these two confuse Void Merits with Void Points?

    Due to the changes, Void Merits had become even more of a rarity than they had in the past. With the most difficult missions being monopolized by a very small minority, the chances regular students had at earning Void Merits had dwindled significantly.

    The result of this was an already rare currency, becoming even rarer. If you weren''t the pinnacle of your Rank, the chances of you having Void Merits was almost nil.

    However, the overseer remained quiet and still checked, only to be shocked into silence.

    "2124 Void Merits."

    The overseer looked toward Leonel and Aina again, suddenly understanding that he had made a mistake, a very big mistake.

    It had to be understood that even one Void Merit was extraordinarily difficult to procure. To have 100 would mean that you were in the percent of the 1%, if not even greater. He didn''t even know how to categorize someone who had over a thousand.

    However, what confused him even more was that when he said this number, Leonel and Aina didn''t look happy at all. In fact, when they looked toward each other, there was an unconcealed dissatisfaction. It was clear that they had thought of the same thing at the same time.

    2124 Void Merits? According to Leonel''s calculations, Aina should have over 50 000 Void Merits by now.

    He had already done the calculations before. She received 27 Void Merits for her place on the current leaderboards and 150 for her place on the all time leaderboards. At 177 Void Merits a piece, multiplied over the 23 years they had been gone, plus the one year Leonel spent training his spear, that should accumulate to over 50 000.

    This math was so easy for Leonel that he didn''t even need a single second to finish them. The moment that he heard the number started with a two, he had realized that there was an issue.

    2124 Void Merits was exactly the amount of Void Merits that Aina would have for one year. But they had been gone for over two decades and the Void Palace should have been reestablished long ago.

    With this being the case, how could Aina have so few Void Merits?

    "You twoбн" The overseer shuddered, it clicked for him in an instant. "You two just returned?"

    It finally made sense. The only way one could accumulate so many Void Merits was through the use of the leaderboards. At the same time, this would explain their dissatisfaction. They were definitely expecting to see more than they got.

    "Yes, we did just return. Can you explain to us why my girlfriend''s merits aren''t adding up?"

    It wasn''t just the number that was lacking. If the Void Palace chose not to count the two or so decades, the number Aina had was actually too high. After all, Leonel and she had used some of it before the cataclysm.

    But this number was exactly enough for one year, and then it stopped. Why was that?

    "I seeбн When the first batch returned from the Zone, not everything snapped back into place immediately and a lot of this was unorganized. It wasn''t until a good portion of the Void Elders returned that we finally gained a semblance of order.

    "Due to this, a lot of things had to be shuffled around and reset. For those on the leaderboard, all Void Merits were wiped and everyone received exactly one year worth of what they should have, before you had to work for everything all over again.

    "This was also necessary because things like the Void Tower and the previous Gold and Amethyst Tokens rules didn''t work particularly well for the Cataclysm Generation."

    "The Cataclysm Generation?" Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "Yes, that generation is the last to enter the Void Palace right before the cataclysm struck, so that''s the name they go by.

    "As the story goes, there was a Leonel Morales who ruined a lot of things. Word said that he received an Amethyst Token without properly earning it, and then he entered the Void Tower and reached a floor level that didn''t make any sense.

    "In addition, that generation had a lot of talents that would have been Amethyst Token wielders in almost any other generation. So because of the pressure the Human Domain was under, the Void Senate thought it best to provide these geniuses a fast track. Thus, a compromise was struck.

    "On the one side, those that came before gained a year worth of resources they earned all at once, while on the other side, all those of the Cataclysm Generation that proved themselves worthy through a the Cataclysm Event were allowed to become Galaxy Ranked disciples directly by undergoing the Void Tower trials.

    "Due to that, the leaderboards were cleansed and everything was reset once again, and that''s why we have the situation we do now."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with a cold light. "The Void Senate, huhбн?"

    Leonel''s placid expression gave way to an icy smile. So the Void Tower was reset? How interesting.

 Chapter 1659 Border Patrol

    Leonel and Aina left the Senate Branch, their destination all too obvious: the Void Tower.

    However, as though they were being led by the nose, they found yet another roadblock ahead. Leonel was already having a hard time not being visibly annoyed.

    The surroundings of the Void Tower made Leonel feel as though he was asking for amnesty. It was impossible to tell that this was a core region of the Void Palace that was once frequently visited by students because it practically had a border patrol now.

    Judging by everything else that had happened until this point, Leonel didn''t even need to make too many guesses as to what was happening. Just like all the missions before them, Leonel assumed that the spots of entry into the Void Tower were being monopolized by the so-called Cataclysm Generation.

    In the past, people would only rarely enter the Void Tower. This was firstly because exiting meant that you had experienced something akin to death, it would feel just as real and the real thing. And secondly, there was no point in continuously entering the tower due to the fact one would usually only do so when they had a great improvement in their strength.

    Of course, none of this even talked about the fact that only the first entry into the tower was considered to be free, while every subsequent entry cost both Void Points and Void Merits. After all, the Void Tower was considered to be a cultivation resource.

    But now with so many geniuses appearing that were outside the bounds of the Void Palace''s normal understanding, they entered far more frequently and demanded much more space. It also seemed like there was an entry capacity limit of three for the Void Tower as well, something that Leonel hadn''t been aware of until he casually listened in on a few conversations.

    "I managed to get a slot for seven months from now. That''s not bad. If I had tried five years ago, the waiting time would have been even worse. It looks like they''re slowing down."

    "Slowing down? More like they''re getting bored of the Void Tower. They used to go at it almost everyday, multiple times a day before. Now it''s only rarely."

    "I don''t know if "bored" is correct. The deaths on the higher floors are so much more gruesome. It''s probably better for their health if they experience them less."

    "Now you''re just assigning your own fears to them. The truth is probably that they''ve reached a bottleneck. If they want to progress any further, they''ll have to enter the Seventh Dimension first. I think that if we want to use some of the best resources of the Void Palace, this window while they''re stuck at the peak of the Sixth Dimension is the best chance we''ll get. I''m going to go and register for Sword Faction placements too right after this, I think I''ll get a good date."

    Hearing these conversations, Leonel was truly speechless.

    In reality, the Void Palace had always been a somewhat lawless zone where students were allowed to butt heads and fight over resources, but this was even more exaggerated than what he remembered. They weren''t just fighting over resources here, it had reached a point where they very obviously monopolized them.

    At the same time, the so-called geniuses of the Void Palace who were once prideful and used to peacocking, just seemed to accept it all so easily.

    If Leonel had been there when the Void Elders spoke of dulling his blade, he would have understood that this was why they were so confident it would happen. This was already his third or fourth attempt at just doing something, anything in this place, and yet he kept running into roadblock after roadblock.

    Every time this happened, Leonel''s good mood after having spent the last several days in leisure with Aina became darker and darker.

    Leonel couldn''t help but remember the first thing that happened when he stepped foot into the Void Palace. This place, designed for the future leaders of humanity, created to curate the geniuses of the future, acted to crush their spirits before it did anything else.

    Leonel still remembered it. Back then, despite knowing that Anarchic Force corroded clothing, the overseers told them nothing and simply allowed it to happen. They wanted to strip them all naked as though in this place, they had to beg even for clothing.

    Now, it seemed that sort of emasculation, that sort of infantilization, was pushed to the point where everyone here just thought it to be normal.

    Crush the "normal" geniuses, force them to lower their heads, only allowing the truly outstanding ones to stand out.

    No, it was even worse than that, because even if you were an outstanding genius, while you were growing, you would still need to lower your heads to those that were much older than yourself.

    Leonel felt like he was watching a microcosm of everything he absolutely abhorred about society playing out for him in real time, and by the time he made it to the first "checkpoint" for entry into the Void Tower, his expression was as dark as thunder clouds.

    High above in the air, Cornelius had been following Leonel for a long while. The moment news of him being back was disseminated, he was once again given this task.

    Seeing the dark look in Leonel''s eyes, he sighed and rubbed his forehead.

    "Here we go againбн" he mumbled.

    бн

    "Would you like to register for a future spot of entry into the Void Tower? Or would you like to pay for a spectating ticket? The prices for tickets based on those participating is on the left, the price for spots depending on how long you''re willing to wait is on the right.

    "Currently, there are no normal tickets left for today''s spectators as they''ve all been bought up. The only spots left are for VIP spectators. However, the price is expensive as the lineup today is quite good."

    At the "checkpoint", a young man spoke with a bored voice without even looking up. It seemed that he had repeated these words again and again until he was simply tired of it all.

    But what he didn''t expect was for a shadow to pass by him without a word.

 Chapter 1660 Dare?

    Adelan was startled.

    He had indeed become a bit bored of this job because it was nothing but repeating the same things over and over again, while watching money he had no fate with being exchanged.

    However, as a member of one of the Cataclysm Factions, he had great pride in his heart to be able to step foot in this place at all.

    He hadn''t been in the Void Palace previously, and actually came after the Cataclysm Generation. As such, this Void Palace was the only one he knew, and he most definitely didn''t recognize Leonel and Aina.

    All he knew was that while this wasn''t the first time someone had tried to disrupt the status quo, they all had the very same ending.

    "Stop!"

    Adelan shot to his feet, the intent in his eyes blazing. Although he could call the guards over, with how boring this job was, how could he not want to take action personally? Plus, relying on guards wasn''t necessary in the slightest. Weren''t they all geniuses here?

    In addition, while the Cataclysm Generation was the most famous, the generations that came after were very well known for their talent as well, especially as the influence of Earth spread further and further, and more geniuses began to be born beneath the halo a world with a high degree of potential.

    Adelan himself was from quite a famous generation, one that entered two years after the Void Palace was officially re-established. As such, he was well into the Sixth Dimension and the strength he had at his fingertips was not small in the slightest. It was just that he wasn''t a very prominent figure of his own generation, or else how could he be manning a kiosk?

    His fist whistled over not even an instant after his words fell, but his roar alone had caught the attention of countless individuals. Although this wasn''t exactly a quiet space, the roar of a Sixth Dimensional genius couldn''t be underestimated.

    The coldness in Leonel''s eyes only flickered with more intensity.

    It seemed that it was true that no one remembered him, but then again, could he blame him? Even back then, how famous had he been? He was still considered to be a small time disciple, a very long way from the Sector Rank and even longer from the Domain Rank, it couldn''t be said that his name was enough to call forth winds and bring forth thunder.

    But this time, he would make sure that it did.

    Leonel''s head turned back and he raised a single palm. He didn''t push out, nor did he apply any strength forward, he simply raised it, almost as though he was helping Adelan to spar and not seeking to harm him at all.

    Adelan''s fist plowed forward with even more force when he saw this, but when the collision occurredбн

    BANG!

    Adelan froze before a miserable shriek echoed through the air.

    In that moment, it felt as though every bone in his arm had suddenly crumbled to dust. He fell back, frothing at the mouth and collapsing under the shocking pain.

    Countless gazes turned over and shock colored their faces.

    That kiosk worker, wasn''t he a member of the Lion Pride Faction? Who dared to hurt him like this? No, more importantly, who could harm a member of the Lion Pride Faction so easily? Even their desk workers were experts among experts.

    While the crowd was thinking this, Leonel simply looked down at Adelan''s convulsing body.

    ''He''s barely at the standard of a Middle Class demon. Even if he released his God Runes, he''d be comparable to a Higher Class demon at best. Is this what all these people yielded to?''

    Leonel turned away and didn''t give Adelan another glance.

    With the shrill screech of Adelan still echoing in the air, the so-called guards were all alerted. Today was the turn of the Lion Pride Faction to take guarding duties over, and as such, they were all part of this very same Faction.

    "What is going on over here?!"

    The voice rang out like a thunderous boom, but before he could even get an answer, Leonel pierced out with two fingers.

    It was as though Leonel couldn''t be bothered to deal with any more nonsense. Every time he tapped at the air, blood would fly and cries would follow.

    His pace forward didn''t pause even the slightest, but he wasn''t fast either. It was like he was taking his time to ensure that this was imprinted onto the memories of all those who saw it.

    Members of the Lion Pride Faction fell one after another. Some lost arms, some lost legs, some were punctured right through their chests, and there were even some who suffered wounds to their necks that left them in a frozen state of panic, feeling as though their lives had just flashed before their eyes.

    Regardless of which category they fell under, none dared to take another step, and yet the commotion only grew larger and larger to the point that even those surrounding the Void Tower in the depths were alerted by it.

    Leonel approached the second "checkpoint". It was clear that these Factions and Parties had set up multiple such points to ensure that no one could sneak in. To enter, one would be verified, and then verified again, for a total of three checkpoints before entering the core region.

    Leonel''s slow steps toward this second checkpoint placed a formless weight on those forming a barrier around it, a suffocating pressure threatening to squeeze all of the life out of them.

    A hidden purple fog danced within Leonel''s eyes. And if one looked even deeper, it was possible to see it rotating about and caressing the body of a golden Tablet.

    The presence of this purple fog seemed to project out the emotions in Leonel''s chest. The skies became even darker and gloomier than usual, the ground became more black than grey, and the air became heavy, even a single breath needing all of one''s strength as though a mountain was weight down upon their chests.

    BANG!

    Right then, a young man with wild golden hair that almost looked like the mane of a lion bounded over with a single leap.

    Leonel had met people of this family before. Conon and Gunter were both the geniuses of the Lio family who participated in the selection with him, and he had exchanged some particularly foul words with Conon, while Gunter was more of a quiet individual.

    This young man here was neither of those two, but he exuded the wild aura of someone in Tier 4 of the Sixth Dimension. And yet, the pressure he gave off was far beyond that of the likes of Treanna who had been surpassed by the generations that came after her.

    "Who are you? There are still people who dare do such things after so long?"

    The young man''s voice rumbled like thunder.

    When others saw him, their blood seized. It seemed that it wasn''t a lie that special characters would be participating today, or else someone like him wouldn''t appear here.

    He was of the same generation as Adelan, but the difference between them was akin to night and day. In fact, he had already entered Tier 7 once before, before he learned a special technique that allowed him to compress his God Foundation and purify it.

    He was none other than Derrion Lio, one of the few geniuses that could contend with the Cataclysm Generation.

 Chapter 1661 Lions Roar

    Derrion had the robust and stout figure all the men of the Lio family seemed to share. His aura was brazen and his presence arrogant. However, between Conon and Gunter, he seemed to be far more like the latter in that his disposition was quite untalkative and uncaring. If it wasn''t for the given situation and the fact he truly did not recognize Leonel, he wouldn''t have even bothered to say so much.

    But as things stood now, Leonel wasn''t in a very talkative mood. He continued to walk forward, his left in hand Aina''s right, and his own right hand still raised into the air.

    With a gentle tap, the wind rippled once again, a spiral of golden Spear Force manifesting like swirling rays of light that formed a vacuum in the air before speeding forward like a bullet out of a gun.

    Derrion''s eyes narrowed.

    When in the presence of a dense Anarchic Force, attacking from a distance was incredibly difficult. This was why archers were among the absolutely strongest experts the Void Palace had on hand purely due to their being better equipped than others to deal with these challenges.

    To attack from a distance using not Bow Force, but Spear Force, was an absolutely rare concept.

    Although the distance that separated the two of them was no more than eight to ten meters, it was still enough of a gap to be insurmountable to most. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Void Palace''s disciples would have to close this distance in hopes of entering a bout of close combat. So just from Leonel''s actions alone, Derrion had already concluded that he wasn''t normal.

    It also had to be taken into consideration that distance was a relative matter. The higher you were in Dimensions, the more even seemingly large distances were completely irrelevant.

    In a pinnacle Seventh Dimensional world like this one, eight to ten meters to a Fifth Dimensional existence was a large one. But to a Sixth Dimensional existence, it was already worth no more than a single step. If not for Anarchic Force, it would be a pitiful gap.

    But this truth only made Derrion''s eyes narrow further.

    At that moment, a golden ray enveloped Derrion''s body and he shot out a powerful punch, his thoughts not impeding the speed of his movements in the slightest.

    His gaze flashed with a ruthless light, the speed of his fist suddenly accelerating while it was already deployed.

    BANG!

    Fist and Spear Force met, the sound of the collision causing the ground to rumble.

    DONG! DONG! DONG!

    Derrion''s expression warped as he was forced to take three heavy steps backward. The echoing of his footsteps filled in the harsh silence that suffused the air, the spectators watching with their hearts trembling.

    Leonel had attacked with his Spear Force at a distance and Derrion had waited until it was in range to use his Fist Force in the most optimal range for himself. The former had weakened itself and hadn''t even made use of a weapon, all while facing the latter which was in its strongest stateбн And yet this was still the ultimate result?! How was that possible?!

    Leonel''s footsteps never paused, the distance between them being increased to 15 due to Derrion''s retreat, only to be cut down to 10 again by Leonel''s slow and deliberate approach.

    Derrion met Leonel''s gaze, but all he saw was an indifferent coldness, a depth of unfathomable air that made it feel more like he was facing a towering behemoth as opposed to a young male human.

    His heartbeat slowed and his blood ran cold for a moment before a rush of golden Force rushed through his veins, causing his skin to redden and his body temperature to skyrocket.

    Derrion released a roar, veins popping across his forehead and his body growing a size as his muscles bulged. At the same time, his wild golden hair fluttered wildly, truly becoming like the man of a lion.

    CLANG! CHINK! PSSS!

    The sound of armor snapping into place resounded as Derrion''s God Runes and golden Force fused into one, manifesting into a radiant defense that seemed one part beast fur and another part refined white-gold metal. However, regardless of which part of it was in question, all of them had God Runes floating about them, exuding a tremendous aura.

    Leonel continued to walk forward, his palm flipping over to reveal a spear that was an even more radiant white-gold. Just the harpoon-like blade alone shimmered as bright as stars, radiating out with a light so blinding that it seemed to split the natural gloominess of the Void Palace in two.

    Derrion slammed his gauntlet covered fists together, a rippling Force of gold spreading out into the surroundings with a mighty and unrestrained air.

    He stomped the ground, hard. His hair rose into the skies and the roar of a beast left his lips. With a twist of his torso and hips, he unleashed one of his absolute strongest fists.

    In the surroundings, the weak fainted one after another, unable to withstand the roar. It felt as though consciousnesses had been gripped by the jaws of a lion and crushed with a single bite, their gazes falling into darkness.

    Those that were further away were lucky enough to rush back to avoid the brunt of the effects, but even then, they felt their knees go weak. They knew all too well that this was one of the most basic abilities of the Lio family''s famous Lion Pride Lineage Factor.

    However, at that moment, Leonel only casually pierced out with his spear.

    It looked as though he had done nothing more than tap at the air. Despite the fact he was using a spear now, the feeling was just as casual, just as unbothered, just as unhurried.

    And yetбн The entire world seemed to fall into silence beneath the presence of that spear strike.

    The wind grinded to a halt. The churning black clouds above stopped moving. Derrion''s roar was silenced.

    There was only a single ray of gold that appeared before the Lio family youth''s chest in a single blink, piercing past his fist and through him as though he was nothing more than the very air that had come to a stop.

 Chapter 1662 Timeless Relics Of The Past

    Derrion froze, his fist still hanging out in a punching position, but its momentum having already been stripped away.

    He looked down at his chest, his body quivering once before he fell to his knees.

    He coughed, blood flowing from his mouth like a waterfall as his radiant armor dimmed and lost its corporeal air. And then, it vanished entirely, his consciousness wavering under the intense pain.

    Shockingly enough, though, this pain didn''t come from his wound. Leonel''s Spear Force was so concentrated, so fastбн so Swift, that it made it feel as though he was poked through by a needle. He probably wouldn''t even notice the problem until several more seconds passed by.

    No, what was truly the intense pain was that he had lost in a single strike to someone who was three Tiers beneath him in strength. This wasn''t something he could even fathom.

    He had always thought that the only reason the Cataclysm Generation could suppress him was because they were older and of higher Tiers than him. He thought that there was no one who could match him at the same level, even them.

    But today, that dream came crashing down, harshly.

    The worst part was that Leonel''s steps still hadn''t paused. He took Aina''s hand, not sparing Derrion another glance as he crossed the second checkpoint, his spear having already disappeared as though he had regretted taking it out in the first place.

    Derrion could be considered a decent talent. However, he was still someone that Leonel felt that he could have defeated back when he was in Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension so long as he went all out and used his Scarlet Star Force. At best, he was firmly within the standard of Higher Class Demon and wasn''t nearly enough for the current Leonel to take with any sort of seriousness.

    The more he saw of these "geniuses" that could suppress the rest of the Void Palace, the more Leonel realized just how large the gap between the Human Domain and that Zone was.

    Leonel and Aina approached the third checkpoint, but by this point, no one dared to casually block their way, even the so-called guards didn''t make a move, their eyes still locked onto the sorry state of Derrion. If Derrion couldn''t last even a single move, what good were their numbers, exactly? They would just find themselves crushed.

    If someone was going to stop Leonel, it would have to be those VIP guests that had already entered the core region, or maybe even one of the participants for today''s events. If they got injured, who was going to help them? Their Faction would help a bit, but it would still mostly rely on themselves.

    The most dangerous state any disciple could be in when within these mountains was injured. The Void Palace was a dog eat dog world, how could they put themselves at risk in a battle they knew for certain that they would lose.

    It was then that Leonel crossed the third checkpoint and the individuals of the core region who had heard the commotion finally came to make their presences known. It had been too long since anyone had dared to stir up a commotion in a region controlled by the Cataclysm Generation. Never had they expected that today of all days, something like this would actually occur.

    However, when they laid eyes on who it was, most tilted their heads in confusion.

    Who the hell was this? Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension? Was this a newly admitted disciple?

    That wasn''t impossible. The most recent recruitment selection wasn''t too long ago and those freshmen should have just been allowed in. it wouldn''t be unreasonable for one of them to have broken through into the Sixth Dimension in that time. Some of the older participants of the Selection often spent years suppressing themselves in wait for the God Path breakthrough method.

    They looked toward one another to see if there was any among them who had a definitive answer, but all they saw was mutual confusion. It seemed that none of them were aware.

    The crowd, though, was well aware of the faces of these individuals.

    Chrisdal Tarius of the Tarius family. He was in Tier 5 and he was an extremely talented individual of the Bow Constellation Alliance. If Nazag was considered to be in a tier all to his own in terms of archery talent, then Chrisdal shared the tier right below along with a few others.

    Quonor Pyius of the Pyius family. She was in Tier 6, and if Simona was considered to be in a tier all to her own, Quonor could also be considered to be a tier right below.

    Wymlan Taurus of the Taurus family. He was by far the tallest of them all and standing at a height that approached two and a half meters tall. His arms and legs were impossibly thick and he had an odd pair of shin guards that were actually a pair of radiant brass battle axes.

    бн

    No matter who you looked at in this group, each one was more powerful and prestigious than the last, and though they weren''t a part of the Cataclysm Generation, they weren''t too far away. Although none of the generations following the Cataclysm Generation could match up to them, it was well known that the generations that came after were far more powerful on average than the usual batches of students the Void Palace received.

    This was in part due to Earth''s rise, but it was also said that the Human Domain sensed the danger it was in and was reacting appropriatelyбн Maybe very soon, there would be a generation which even the Cataclysm Generation couldn''t hold a candle to.

    Among these individuals, though, there was one who didn''t come after the Cataclysm Generation, but instead came before.

    Even though everyone was excited by what was fresh and new, this was only in regard to the holistic picture. There were still timeless experts of generations gone by that stood at the same peak at the Cataclysm Generation, and this individual was the only one among the entire group that recognized Leonel.

    He stood tall, his arms crossed about his chest, watching as Leonel approached with a cold indifference in his eye.

    This individual was none other than Valor Morales, Sixth Nova.

    "So you''ve returned," he said coldly.

 Chapter 1663 "Small" Families

    Leonel looked toward Valor, his expression still placid.

    He was the only one of the Morales family not recognizable at a single glance, but the others were all too easy to get a look at. The bronzed hair, tanned skin, pale green eyesбн It was all the exact same. It didn''t seem to matter who their Morales parent chose to tie the knot with, the Morales genes always seemed to win out.

    Leonel had been the same in the past until certain mutations in his Lineage Factors caused changes to occur, but this wasn''t too difficult to accept. After all, considering Earth''s talent, the Lineage Factors birthed from there were most definitely not normal. Maybe it would take such a thing to finally make the Morales genes take a step back.

    The crowd was shocked when they heard Valor speak.

    They all knew of this young man and his stature was no less than that of the Cataclysm Generation. In fact, there was no doubt that the Six Potential Heirs of the Morales family were all Kings amongst men. It was just that being the young, Valor was the last to have yet to step into the Seventh Dimension, but even so, he was only a step away.

    While the Void Palace counted generations by the year, the Morales family counted generation by grandfather, father and son pairings, with decades being in between. Anyone of their billions of descendants that could earn the right to fight for the position of Heir was an absolute monster, and they had proven this with time.

    Leonel had already been far behind them when he finally made it to the Void Palace in the first place, but he was placed even further behind after losing 20 years. Valor was probably the only one among them that he still stood a good chance against in a one on one battle.

    However, even with this being the case, Leonel met his cousin''s gaze without much fluctuation.

    "The Heir Wars were postponed for your sake. The family was quite confident that you would return."

    Leonel''s expression flickered, a bit of his indifference receding. He could tell after these short few sentences that the coldness Valor was exuding had little to do with him, this was just his cousin''s personality. Since he was willing to talk, there really wasn''t a problem with doing so.

    The Morales Heir Wars had been postponed due to the events of the Cataclysm. Usually, they would ensure that the Heirs Wars would occur while all of the Heirs were still in the Sixth Dimension, but this time, it had been impossible to allow this.

    "The current plan is to wait until we all enter the Seventh Dimension, or else it won''t be very fair. So we will all be waiting for you."

    Leonel paused before nodding lightly. He hadn''t expected this, he had entered into this matter assuming that it would all be unfair, and he was prepared for that outcome. But it seemed that the Morales family had no intention of allowing things to be so skewed.

    "Mm," Valor nodded back. "You want to enter the Void Tower?"

    "Yes, that was my intention." Leonel responded.

    "Okay, then enter. No one will block you."

    The expressions of the others had been a mix between shock and interest while they were listening to the two speak. But when they heard Valor''s final words, their expressions changed.

    "Valor, you can''t just do what you want. The spots today are already claimed, what exactly do you mean by this?"Wymlan spoke immediately.

    With Wymlan''s size, despite the fact he only felt that he was talking with a normal amount of sternness, his voice came out in a thunderous boom that caused vibrations in the air.

    Valor turned an indifferent glance toward Wymlan but didn''t say a single word.

    Rules? Spots? Did he ever have to pay attention to such stupid things? He had strolled in here just like Leonel had because he happened to have some time on his hands today, the only difference was that no one had dared to stop him because they all recognized his face.

    It was unfortunate for Leonel that he had just returned, or else most would probably give him the same amount of face. Unfortunately, even if people recognized him now, it was unlikely that they''d do so. He hadn''t built up enough of a legend before the Cataclysm, and now he had lost 20 years compared to the others.

    Seeing that he was so blatantly ignored, Wymlan''s temper flared, his battle ax shin guard shining with a radiant light as they seemed to want to unsheathe themselves.

    However, the moment they did, a raging tempest of Spear Force surged around Valor. Even with his arms crossed about his chest, it seemed that he could pierce Wymlan through with a single look. Right then, it felt like the very light of Wymlan''s battle axes dimmed considerably.

    Wymlan''s expression along with the others turned incomparably ugly. Valor was in Tier 9 while the strongest of them was still in Tier 7. But even if they had been at the same level, they wouldn''t have dared to casually take Valor on.

    At that moment, Quonor, one of the few women among them, spoke. Her approach was much different than the brutish Wymlan.

    "I see. So in that case, this must be Seventh Nova and your younger cousin, hm? I''ve heard that he''s very famous, but little of it actually has anything to do with him.

    "The first thing you think of when you think Seventh Nova is his father and the latter''s tyrannical ways, even chopping off the arm of a Senate Party Leader, how valiant.

    "The second thing you think of is his mother, a Goddess for sure, but also a woman who let her son earn an Amethyst Token through some backdoor methods.

    "The third thing you think of is his uncle, a war god amongst men, and aunt, yet another goddess, who both also happened to let him use the Spear Faction''s facilities for absolutely free for an entire year.

    "And now it seems that he wants to rely on another family member again?

    "You can do as you please, Valor. We all know that we aren''t strong enough to stop you. But your Morales family seems to be getting more and more tyrannical every day, flouting the laws of the Void Palace and acting as you please. Now, you know very well who''s quartered the Void Tower for use today, but you''re still choosing to do this.

    "It seems that the Morales family cares very little for the opinions of us "small" families, hm?"

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    He could care less about Quonor''s words. He was a person who could easily get infuriated for the sake of those he cared about, but when someone was being debasing toward himself, he didn''t even find it difficult to remain completely indifferent or even entirely ignore it.

    The trouble was that Quonor''s words seemed to be hinting at something far deeper than just a bit of nepotism, and the frightening chill in Valor''s eyes, even more frigid than normal, spoke volumes toward that effect.

 Chapter 1664 Buried History

    The coldness in Valor''s eyes reached a tipping point, the aura he was exuding made Quonor''s confident smile waver as a flicker of fear danced within the depths of her eyes. However, just when it seemed that he was about to do something, Leonel smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

    "Thanks for your help, Valor. I''ll take you up on that offer. Me and Aina would like to enter."

    Valor looked away from Quonor and met Leonel''s gaze before nodding lightly.

    Without another word, Leonel walked into and through the group of young geniuses, his expression not very hurried at all.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, starting a massacre here wouldn''t extend his time in the Void Palace. In fact, it would most definitely shorten it. The larger the commotion he caused, the more rushed his time in this place would be. But he still needed time to squeeze all the benefits he could out of the Void Palace.

    Although the Zone seemed to have much stronger methods, Leonel didn''t forego what the Void Palace had to offer either. There were still large riches of information to be had in this place and secrets that he would only be able to understand through it.

    If he had been able to unearth all of the secrets of the Zone in one go, he might care about the Void Palace''s things any longer. But he had spent too little time in there. As such, he was still in a situation where he knew too little about the wider secrets of the Dimensional Verse.

    In that case, he would make sure to rob the Void Palace of everything it had before he leisurely left with a smile on his face.

    The youths watched as Leonel crossed their faces without a care, he hadn''t even seemed to take Quonor''s words to heart. In fact, he completely disregarded them. That said, just because he did, didn''t mean that Aina would as well. After all, didn''t she have her own temper?

    Still holding onto Leonel''s hand, she turned back with a dark glow in her eyes.

    "Your elder brothers, sisters and cousins already lost to him once over 20 years ago. I''m afraid that two decades still wasn''t enough to catch up. Maybe you should ask them what exactly happened in the Rapax Nest. But then again, saving you all wasn''t exactly a one time occurrence, now was it?"

    A coercion laced mental attack seemed to be hidden within her voice, thrumming against the mind of the youths that were present. Quonor in particular felt her heart jolt, finding, to her horror, that her nose and ears were all bleeding.

    Aina''s words resonated like bells in their skulls, the blood running in reverse and their hearts beating hard to catch up. It felt as though if they were the slightest bit careless, their chests would implode, forming blood flowers that marked the place of their deaths.

    Information about exactly what had happened in the Rapax Nest had been overshadowed by the actions of Leonel''s father that day and the position the Cataclysm Generation had taken afterward. Having been stimulated by Leonel and Amery, they went into seclusion, wishing to make a perfect breakthrough into the God Path as quickly as possible.

    Back then, Conon had claimed that breaking into the God Path would close the gap between themselves and Leonel''s Innate Node, and it seemed that many of them had agreed with this sentiment. Being spurred on by the fire of competition, they all went into hiding soon after.

    It was because of this that even after a year in the Void Palace, Leonel hadn''t heard anything about the members of his generation, and that included even Amery who had placed all of his focus toward the Sword Domain''s Tribulation.

    At the same time, the Sword Faction of the Void Palace didn''t want to reveal the details of what caused all of this to happen, or else the Suaird family might have to face the ire of many families for putting their children at risk all for the sake of allowing Amery a chance to gain a second Ability Index.

    And, of course, the second mastermind of the matter, Third Nova Xavnik, obviously didn''t want to make his involvement clear either or else the truth about him betraying the Spear Faction to help the Sword Faction toward his own ends would have also been exposed.

    Then, this ultimately came to a head when the Cataclysm descended and such small details simply didn''t seem to matter at all.

    Due to this, the one of the Cataclysm Generation whose name should have held the most weight, Leonel Morales, was overshadowed. It also didn''t help that speculations of nepotism were rampant.

    However, right this moment, Aina''s words seemed to have jolted them all awake. She had, of course, been there. Could it be that their understanding of the situation was flawed?

    By the time they recovered themselves, Leonel and Aina had already appeared before the disciple manning the Void Tower and handed over their badges.

    "This will be our first entry," Leonel said lightly.

    With all of their records wiped clean, this would, indeed, be their first entry. Since the Void Palace wanted to play, he would happily play along with them.

    The disciple hesitated, but sensing the gaze of Valor, he could only shiver and accept the badges, inputting them into the system and allowing Leonel and Aina to enter.

    Not even a half minute after Leonel and Aina had entered, a commotion arose in the Void Tower region once again.

    "Simona, there''s still time to back down. I''m not a fan of crushing women outside the bedroom. Of course, if you want a taste of me, I can lay my pride down and give you a night."

    The laughter rang out like thunder, booming to the point even the ground quaked.

    However, the ice beauty who seemed to be the target of it all didn''t respond in the slightest. She walked slowly and in an unhurried fashion, and yet her steps carried her forward dozens of meters at a time.

    She had a beauty beyond words and an elegance surpassing reason, just the small showing of soft flesh that flashed out of the slit in her dress was enough to make many swoon.

    BANG!

    At that moment, a heavy figure fell from the skies.

    Simona Pyius and Conon Lio had arrived. But, they weren''t alone.

 Chapter 1665 Humiliation

    The third individual was a hulking man, standing at three meters tall and dwarfing even Wymlan. He was the genius of the Taur family, Armand Taur.

    Just like this, three geniuses of the Cataclysm Generation had appeared one another, each exuding an aura that seemed to make the skies tremble and the earth crack. However, they were surprised to find that the organized region they had become used to was not only in disarray, but Conon even found that several members of the Lion Pride Faction were actually bleeding out on the ground.

    At that moment, Conon''s good mood vanished into thin air.

    "WHO DARES?!"

    His words came out in a lion-like roar, wisps of golden Force shooting out from his lips like a sonic attack. But it didn''t even seem like he had done this consciously, it was more like his power had become a part of the very fabric of his being.

    Conon''s gaze almost turned bloodshot, his eyes sweeping over the surroundings until he locked onto Valor and the others who had been approaching the tower to watch. At that moment, Conon''s gaze locked onto Valor, the aggression in his expression increasing manifold.

    In his mind, Valor was the only one with the balls to do such a thing, and he was probably the only one with the power to dare to do so as well.

    "You did this?!" Conon growled.

    The truth was that Conon''s speculations weren''t exactly poor. After all, Valor had indeed entered without paying what others did. If someone had been foolish enough to stop him, then this was a very possible outcome. The difference was, though, that no one would dare to act against Valor.

    However, Conon hadn''t been here to see this, so there was nothing particularly wrong about his assumption. And, Valor, who was a man of few words to begin with, couldn''t even care to explain himself. Even if he did have the mind to explain, he still wouldn''t for the mere fact that it would seem as though he was trying to avoid Conon''s fury.

    He, Valor Morales, did not fear the likes of Conon Lio. If the latter wanted to act, he was free to do so.

    At the same time, Wymlan, Quonor, and the others were already dissatisfied with Valor for obstructing and oppressing them earlier, so why would they be in a hurry to help him clear his name?

    Conon''s steps slowed as he walked forward, but the heaviness behind them only grew with every oppressive push of his gait.

    The surroundings quaked and even the Anarchic Force in the air seemed to be showing signs of swaying out of the way as Conon''s fury rose like a tempest.

    It had been very long since anyone dared to provoke him like this. Did his Lion''s Pride Faction look like something just anyone could trample upon as they pleased?

    However, just as Conon was about to take action, Simona released a light hum.

    "Hm?"

    Her delicate brows rose as she looked up. Right then, two large projections manifested themselves, one showing the form of Leonel outfitted in a familiar skintight black suit, and another showing Aina wearing the very same thing.

    "Him?"

    Conon''s voice was tinged with surprise. Leonel hadn''t returned even after so long so many who knew of his existence thought he had died. Of course, nothing would be confirmed until the spatial storm phenomena came to an end, but to think that he would truly be among the last batch.

    Many thought that Conon would be enraged that someone had actually dared to take his spot, but in reality, after being surprised, Conon suddenly began to laugh again, his voice booming across the horizon.

    This was perfect, simply too perfect.

    Back when the influx of geniuses forced the Void Tower to change its rules and reshuffle things around to better optimize their growth, everyone of the Cataclysm Generation had entered one after another. But this wasn''t the most important point.

    What made Conon laugh like he was laughing now was that they had also all entered at Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension.

    If Leonel had just returned like Conon believed he did, this would mean that it had been only a year since he had met Conon, at least from Leonel''s perspective. In such a case, Leonel would also, at most, be in Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension.

    This would be an absolutely perfect one to one comparison.

    Conon himself, on that day, had managed to climb to the 42nd floor in one go, a feat that was enough to shock the whole of the Void Palace. For context, the strength of the Seventh Dimension began at the 50th floor, making his accomplishment at the mere first Tier absolutely ridiculous.

    Of course, Conon hadn''t performed the best, but he also claimed that it was because he was unlucky in the floors he was given, something he stood by even to this day.

    Regardless, if Leonel couldn''t at least make it that high then he was nothing but trash. In that situation, he would no longer have to hold back. Once Leonel came out, he wouldn''t have to worry about whining about him having a 20 year advantage because he would have already proven himself to be superior to Leonel.

    Conon remembered what happened that day in the Rapax Nest all too well, not to mention those arrogant words that Leonel had spoken. Back then, Conon had claimed that humans couldn''t coexist with powerful Innate Nodes and that Leonel would eventually be swallowed up by his own talent in the future. However, in response, he only received Leonel''s sneers and derision. In his entire life, Conon had never experienced such humiliation, especially not for an individual of his own generations.

    бн "бн Don''t assign limits you do to yourself to meбн" бн

    Those words and Leonel''s brazen smirk were branded into his mind.

    When he came out, Conon would be sure to grind all of his bones to dust.

 Chapter 1666 Four Categories

    Leonel had no idea what was going on outside, nor did he particularly care. If he had known about Conon''s thoughts, he would have done nothing more than laugh.

    Back then, he was aware of Conon''s true thoughts. If Conon had been the one born with a Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, he would have had all the confidence in himself in the world. In such a situation, he wouldn''t be talking about "humans" and "Spirituals" and their gaps. It was only because he felt that Leonel was unworthy that he had said such things.

    However, didn''t Leonel have just as much confidence in himself? Conon could just sit tightly and watch.

    Leonel sent a gaze toward the weapon racks that manifested around him. He remembered what happened the last time he was here. His arm was broken so he had no choice but to rely on throwing weapons and shields.

    For the first time, though, he was completely healthy and he choseбн nothing.

    Under the astonished gazes of the spectators, Leonel didn''t choose any weapon whatsoever and directly allowed the sequence to begin. His vision spun and when he appeared once more, he realized that he had stepped into what could only be called the land of the dead.

    Leonel recognized this place almost immediately. It was because of this region that Aina hadn''t been able to continue past the 12th floor during her original run. Because these enemies had no Blood Force to use, she ended up dying in the end. Now it seemed that it would be Leonel''s first batch of nine floors.

    The ground splintered and bony hands reached up. However, Leonel only sent a casual glance through the surroundings.

    People had forgotten his name. It was probably time that they remember.

    He lightly raised a foot and stamped downward. In that moment, a surge of radiant Earth Force compressed the ground, forcing it into submission.

    бн

    <First Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:03>

    <Second Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:03>

    <Third Floor Clear иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:03>

    бн

    <Ninth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:03>

    бн

    Silence fell over the spectators on the outside of the Void Tower. Usually, the surroundings would be filled with lively discussion no different from a sporting event on Earth. After all, all of these people had paid good money to witness the events of this day, but they hadn''t thought that they would see such a thing.

    Usually, when records were set, they would only appear on the "First Time" rankings. It had to be remembered that there were two batches of rankings, each with two categories of their own.

    There were current rankings and all-time rankings. In addition, both of these categories were separated into first entries and cumulative rankings.

    Normally, the cumulative rankings were hardly ever touchedбн This was because those monstrous Domain Ranked disciples with Seventh Dimensional strength also entered the tower and their speed would be far beyond what those of the Sixth Dimension could compare to. As a result, most only hoped to earn a name on the first entry rankings.

    Who would have thought, though, that in one sweep, not even taking half a minute, Leonel would lay claim to nine of these rankings all at once?

    The ignorant might say that he had gotten floors that he could easily counter. But how often did such a thing happen? Why didn''t'' others also capitalize like he had?

    In addition, controlling Earth Force in higher Dimensional worlds was among the hardest things to do. And yet Leonel had just casually stomped a foot and compressed the earth in a radius of almost a hundred meters to the point of being able to crush Sixth Dimensional skeletons known for their hardness to deathбн

    Just what kind of feat was this?!

    The three of the Cataclysm Generation fell into silence, their casual expression becoming solemn.

    бн

    Leonel''s vision swam as he entered the tenth floor. He remembered this floor all too well. The last time he came to this floor, he lost consciousness, and when he woke up, the Spear Domain Heirloom was in disarray and the Segmented Cube was gone.

    But at the same time, his Mage Core had undergone earth shattering changes and his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor had reached completion. Even now he didn''t quite know whether to see it as a blessing or a curse.

    Regardless of which it was, though, this particular boss floor wasn''t the same as what Leonel had experienced in the past. At the very least, it wasn''t a member of the Spirituals Race, but was instead a member of the Rapax.

    ''Oh? So is this how it works? You face a member of the powerful races every ten floors? That could be interesting.''

    Leonel smiled lightly and threw out a fist.

    It seemed all too casual, and yet all the sounds of the world seemed to be sucked away, leaving behind nothing more than the image of a flying fist.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s fist stopped in the air, a full 20 meters away from the Rapax, and yet it sounded as though it had collided with it perfectly. The air had compressed before his fist to the extent that when it came to a stop, it felt like he had collided against solid steel.

    In the distance, the Rapax exploded on impact, a shower of greenish-violet blood drizzling down in a fine, misty rain as Leonel stepped into the 11th floor.

    бн

    <Eleventh Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:02>

    This time, Leonel didn''t beat the all-time record, but the impact of his win was still no less horrifying.

    Everyone knew that the Morales family didn''t specialize in fist techniques and neither did Leonel, that much they knew. This meant that Leonel had only casually decided to use a fist this time, and yet the result was the death of a Rapax at his level from over 20 meters away.

    Just what was going on here, exactly?

    бн

    Leonel stepped in the Eleventh Floor to find a familiar challenge. It was the Heavy Gravity floors. Ironically, this had also been his Eleventh Floor challenge back then, but he hadn''t been conscious to experience it.

    This time, however, he would be.

    His lips curled into a smile.

 Chapter 1667 Churn

    The Heavy Gravity floors were one of the few that didn''t actually require any battle.

    The first layer of difficulty was, obviously, the heavy gravity. The second layer of difficulty was in the so-called "pillars of gravity". These pillars of gravity were regions of this seemingly blank and wide space where the gravity would suddenly multiply by thousands of times and crush you to death in an instant.

    In order to pass these floors, one had to cross this spacious room without dying, and of course, while withstanding the generally higher gravity as well.

    It was safe to say, then, that this was another exceptionally lucky draw for Leonel. Even if he had been in the Fifth Dimension again, he could have crossed this room easily.

    He rose his foot and his figure flickered, taking an approach most saw as suicide on the Heavy Gravity floors. And yet, he did it without even thinking twice.

    Gravity? Why would a member of the Morales family have to fear it?

    бн

    <Eleventh Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:11>

    <Twelfth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:13>

    <Thirteenth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:14>

    бн

    <Nineteenth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:21>

    бн

    Leonel appeared on the 20th floor, his mood still quite casual. From what he could tell, in ten floor increments, the Void Tower seemed to jump through two Tiers of strength at a time. The boss of the 10th floor had been a Tier 2 existence, so it was likely that the boss of the 20th floor would be at Tier 4, which meant that the boss of the 50th floor would be Quasi Seventh Dimensional.

    However, this standard was set to the average student of the Void Tower. While average to the Void Tower was considered to be genius level to the greater Human Domain, to the likes of Leonel and the Cataclysm Generation, it was child''s play and actually quite weak.

    Of course, things actually weren''t quite so simple since the non-boss floors had many enemies of that level to face, while the boss floors themselves faced them off against more concentrated talent. But this was the general gift nonetheless.

    This was why, even standing on the 20th floor, Leonel didn''t even feel a need to take out a spear.

    Watching as a Pixie of the Dwarven Race flapped her wings and quickly rose into the air, Leonel only pressed out two fingers, causing a flash of golden Spear Force to rush out so quickly that it was almost impossible to track with the naked eye.

    Before the Pixie could even get into place to draw her bow, she froze, her eyes going blank as she fell from the skies, dead.

    бн

    <Twentieth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:00:02>

    The silence was exceptionally heavy. It seemed that whether it was Leonel or Aina, both of them had no intention of allowing these matters to settle down quietly. Although Leoenl had failed to break into the all-time rankings again after the first nine floors, he didn''t waste any time crushing the first time rankings one after another. The worst part was that he didn''t even seem to be putting in his full effort.

    Even after crossing the 30th floor and beginning to face enemies at Tier 7 and even Tier 8, they didn''t seem to be putting in much effort at all. They crushed them one after another, their times still being absolutely ridiculous.

    By the time Leonel and Aina entered the 40th floor, any smiling and jeering that had been present had become a solemn silence.

    Back then when the Cataclysm Generation had first entered, the fact that Tier 1 existences could battle against Tier 7 and above existences was hard for most to fathom, but they had slowly come to accept it over time. This was just the new standard for absolute genius.

    Seeing a new pair of individuals accomplish the same thing, but seemingly with even greater ease, was absolutely shocking and they weren''t sure how to wrap their heads around it.

    The likes of Wymlan and Quoron had on exceptionally ugly expressions. Although they could climb to these floors as well, and even make it look quite easy too, they were in Tier 6 already. When they were in Tier 1, they couldn''t have hoped to be so casual.

    By the time one entered the Sixth Dimension, taking even one step forward was incredibly difficult. This was why even after 20 years of being gone, a minority had crossed into the Seventh Dimension.

    In reality, for the vast majority of those in the Human Domain, entering the Sixth Dimension was nothing more than a dream. As for the geniuses who could make it to the Void Palace, entering the Seventh Dimension was just as much of a dream to them.

    Every step was arduous and difficult. But likewise, the benefits for taking such steps was also outstanding and one gained large amounts of power for each step you took.

    Crossing levels to do battle in the Sixth Dimension should be extraordinarily difficultбн So why did they make it look so easy?!

    Leonel''s and Aina''s names flooded the rankings. By the 40th floor, each of them had secured 120 Void Merits a month at a minimum, and that was just considering the current rankings and not the all time rankings. If the latter was included, the totals would be even more exaggerated. And yet, they showed no signs of stopping.

    бн

    Leonel entered the 41st floor, a familiar charismatic smile on his face.

    ''It seems that I should get a little bit more serious.''

    He reached out a hand causing a surge of Emulation Spatial Force to manifest. Soon, it solidified, forming a jet black spear.

    A pulse of light radiated from Leonel''s forehead and a golden crown formed and wrapped around his head, its centerpiece being a radiant golden spear.

    Leonel stood in a world of a vast ocean. As far as even his own eyes could see, there was nothing but crystal blue waters.

    Until, that is, the skies began to rumble and the water began to churn.

 Chapter 1668 The Gap

    This was the first time that Leonel was in a world like this one. It felt ominous and could easily make a person feel small. The vastness of an ocean wasn''t something that could be easily fathomed. Even as a person now of the Sixth Dimension, it still filled Leonel with thoughts of inferiority in a way that even the vastness of space couldn''t.

    However, Leonel still faced it all with a smile, the tip of his spear trembling slightly.

    Right then, suddenly and without any sort of precursor, Leonel stepped forward and pierced. His movements were fluid and without hitching, everything about his form touching onto a pinnacle of perfection that most couldn''t fathom.

    With every step he took, the waters rippled. And with every pierce, they split apart.

    Waves rose and the blue waters rushed upward like a pair of tsunamis, seemingly looking to swallow Leonel whole but being completely unable to crash down around him as his movements only became more and more fierce.

    One step, two, three.

    The creatures lurking in the vast blue ocean couldn''t even complete their attacks or surface. The moment they touched the dome of Leonel''s senses, he would pierce outward, his motions unhurried and unbothered.

    His Spear Force seemed to reap God Runes. Mighty constructs that could instill fear in others didn''t seem capable of even causing Leonel''s expression to change. Whether it was soft and weak flesh or sturdy and hard scaled, his spear pierced through them all just as easily, a radiant golden light flourishing around him as though he was insistent on becoming the new center of the world.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, a mighty scythe of gold splitting the ocean in two.

    The water rushed away, only to reveal an enormous leviathan-like creature which didn''t even get the chance to roar out in pain before it was split into two, its eyes turning vacant even as the ocean''s walls crashed down around it once again.

    Leonel looked down beneath his feet without much of a change to his expression. Then, he took a step forward, vanishing into the next floor.

    Leonel could feel the difficulty increasing. It was as though the closer he got to the Seventh Dimension, the further along an exponential curve that he traveled. The burden placed on him wasn''t very great at all, after all, he still hadn''t used much more than a fraction of his strength or trump cards. But he could feel that the gap between the floors was steadily growing larger and larger.

    When Leonel crushed Conon''s record, surpassed the 42nd floor, cruising through the 43rd and rushing up the 47th, he finally felt that he was reaching a point where more and more of his strength was being forcefully squeezed out and less of his casual strikes were effective. At the very least, he could no longer just tap the air with a pair of fingers and expect that to claim victory.

    Everyone watching had expected something like this to happen. The gap between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions was simply too enormous. Even the likes of the Cataclysm Generation, despite having reached the peak of the Sixth Dimension, wouldn''t dare to say that they could face off against even the weakest individual of the Seventh Dimension and that was fundamentally becauseбн

    Such a saying was an oxymoron.

    There were no weak individuals who could enter the Seventh Dimension. They didn''t exist. And this was especially so for those who took the God Path.

    Due to the specific characteristics of the God Path, improving in it was far more difficult than the Conventional Path. Someone on the Conventional Path, so long as they had a bit of talent, could force their way into the Seventh Dimension through the use of time, effort and resources, a lot of resources.

    However, someone in the God Path could not do this. No amount of resources could allow you to progress in the God Path. The only method of advancing was through comprehension, only then could you accumulate the Force necessary for your breakthrough.

    The leap necessary to cross from the Sixth Dimension to the Seventh was absolutely enormous.

    Theoretically, even if one had entered the Sixth Dimension with the God Path, you could continue through from Tier 1 to Tier 9 mostly using methods of the Conventional Path. But, upon reaching the pinnacle, unless your understanding of your God Path reached a certain level, it would be a foolish dream to think of entering the Seventh.

    If the Sixth Dimension was where the beginning of the God Path lay, the Seventh was where it blossomed and grew, and without proper fertilization and enough soul, this blooming would fail ten out ten times. This was the simple truth.

    As a result of this, there were enormous gaps between Sixth Dimensional individuals. This was why members of the Cataclysm Generation could fight Tier 7 individuals right out the gate, and also why Leonel and Aina could do so as well. This was a difference in quality in the paths they had taken.

    Now, Leonel was experiencing this first hand, because in the Quasi Seventh Dimension was the first Quasi Realm where there was a magnitude of difference in the title it held. To be a Quasi Seventh Dimensional existence was akin to be like a Demi God among the mortals of the Sixth Dimension.

    So when Leonel crossed from the 47th floor into the 48th and felt the pressure radiating from the waters below, his own expression couldn''t help but turn cold, his casual smile giving way to something serious for the first time.

    Leonel stretched his spear out and squeezed his palm, causing it to shatter into motes of light that quickly reformed into the body of a bow.

    His hair fluttered wildly as a cyclone of water formed beneath his feet.

    He drew his bow, his back stretched tight and his aura calm.

    "Divide."

    SHUUU

    Leonel released, the water beneath him splitting before even coming into contact with his Bow Force. On the other end, a whale the size of a small island had its head shredded into pieces, but Leonel had already drawn his bow once again, ready to fire.

    Now things were getting fun.

    [Important Announcement Below]

 Chapter 1669 Not Again

    Leonel''s battle intent blazed. Everything within the surrounding several kilometer range seemed to be in the palm of his hands. Even the water was completely incapable of impeding his forward progress.

    It was an all out slaughter. The moment Leonel grew the least bit serious, nothing seemed capable of withstanding even a single strike.

    He stood tall and straight, the speed of his aiming and drawing reaching an unconscious level. Those that were watching had already felt that his spearmanship was near untouchable compared to his peers, but it was only now that they came to understand that compared to his archery, all other things fell by the wayside.

    It was like Leonel''s spear was nothing more than scrap paper he used to test out and refine the ideas he had for his bow. All of his abilities seemed to be amplified by a factor of tenfold at a minimum in the presence of his bow. If it wasn''t for the fact his Emulation Bow Force wasn''t quite as good at emulating bowstrings, his lethality would be on a completely different level.

    Even with this being the case, with every pluck of his bowstring, Leonel found another flaw and tweaked it. What those on the outside couldn''t see was that only a small part of his attention was placed on aiming and firing, with a much larger portion being focused on refining his control over his Emulation Spatial Force.

    Leonel knew that he was still greatly lacking in comparison to Thaela despite his far superior Dream Force affinity.

    He was able to mask a lot of his deficiencies because the illusion abilities of his Emulation Spatial Force were so powerful thanks to this affinity of his. However, when it came to manipulating the underlying Spatial Force, he still needed a lot of work.

    When creating something like a spear which was in line with the inherent rigidity of Emulation Spatial Force, it was relatively easier. But it was difficult to emulate the tension and flexibility of a bowstring, he even struggled quite a bit with the bow''s body as well.

    While others saw a bow that looked perfect in form, only Leonel who was actually using the bow knew that it was actually handicapping his abilities. He would face the same problems if he needed to form a more flexible spear as well.

    It was possible to circumvent this entirely by using his Aurora Domain, but he felt no need to go so far just for a mere Void Tower.

    While Leonel planned on absolutely crushing the records of those in his generation, he had no plans of going so far as to expose the true depths of his strength. He had also told Aina to hold back as well.

    There were definitely individuals watching them from the dark right this moment, but they would never be able to guess at the true depth of strength they possessed, and they would be even more hard pressed to guess at what kind of strength he and Aina could display when they fought together.

    That said, Leonel really wanted to experience just what kind of power someone of the Seventh Dimension. Or, more accurately, he wanted to know what someone who had entered the Seventh Dimension with the God Path could do.

    BANG!

    The ocean churned and roared. For a moment, it looked as though the entirety of its volume was rushing into the air.

    Leonel stood indifferently amidst it all, a heavy rain falling from above. But at a glance, it was hard to differentiate the drops of blue from the drops of violet, making it impossible to tell the difference between the ocean''s waters and the rain of oceanic beast blood.

    Leonel took a step forward, leaving the depths of the 49th floor and entering the 50th.

    <Forty-Ninth Floor Cleared иC New Record Set иC Leonel Morales 00:17:23>

    бн

    The outside of the Void Tower was still shrouded by a deathly silence.

    Valor watched with the same cold expression. It was difficult to tell exactly what was going on in his mind. However, when it came to Conon, his heart was always worn on his sleeve. The latter''s expression was so dark and gloomy that even his golden aura seemed to dim into a dark gold.

    There was simply no excuse. The Oceanic Warbeast floors were among the most dangerous for those without Water Force affinity. In fact, although it wasn''t classified as one of the "drawing dead" floors, it was very close to that for many.

    And yet, Leonel had made it look easy. Even if he had a Water Force affinity, he clearly didn''t rely on it, never mind the fact that most assumed that his greatest reliance was his Earth Force due to his identity as a Morales. For those of the Morales, this was the absolute worst floor to be given.

    Butбн he had actually set a new record.

    Quoron''s own expression was quite ugly. If making it to the 40th floor meant that Leonel had earned the right to stand on the same level as them, entering the 50th meant that he had left the likes of her and the others far behind. If it was added that he was only at Tier 1, then only the likes of the Cataclysm Generation and the few monsters like Valor even had the right to meet his gaze.

    However, when Quoron saw what opponent Leonel received on the 50th floor, her heart trembled before a bit of the solemness in her heart faded. If it wasn''t for the fact that she didn''t want to come off as narrow minded and worried for her image, she would have started laughing uproariously.

    That said, Cornelius who was hidden high in the skies reacted much differently.

    "Oh no, please not again."

    He hesitated, wondering if he should forcibly put a stop to things.

    бн

    Leonel appeared in a familiar world of white, facing off against a young man who was too handsome for words. It was as though a Goddess had personally refined each and every one of features. But he only seemed to have eyes for the tree by his side and the singular golden apple that hung from it.

    After a brief moment of surprise, Leonel suddenly grinned wildly.

 Chapter 1670 Clash

    A Spiritual.

    For the first time since Leonel and Aina had cleared their first floors, a commotion broke out beneath the Void Tower. However, this commotion was more lament than anything else. They wanted to see how far Leonel could go, but they didn''t want to see him draw dead so early on. Though, this couldn''t be considered "early on" any longer.

    A few had heard of what happened last time Leonel had entered the Void Tower, but they were in the minority. A large portion didn''t even know the name Leonel Morales outside of the weight the Morales name held until this moment.

    However, as impressed as they were by Leonel''s performance, the legend of the Spirituals was simply too deeply ingrained.

    They were a race of people that stood at the pinnacle of the Dimensional Verse. If it wasn''t for the fact they didn''t seem as eager as the other races were to claim a piece of the Human Domain for themselves, they might have long since fallen.

    When it came to races that could hold a candle to the Spirituals, only the mysterious ones like the Void Beasts could hope to. But when it came to numbers, many of these races couldn''t hope to match up.

    They had not only the talent, but the numbers. It made them probably the greatest threat in the whole of the Dimensional Verse. Although no one dared to claim this to be absolutely certain and infallible since the universe was simply too large, no one would argue too fiercely against it either.

    In the face of the Spirituals, the human race was so frail that they couldn''t battle unless they brought soul protective treasures with them. If you lacked one, it was an automatic loss.

    Many wondered why it was that the Void Palace insisted on allowing the Spirituals to take part in the Void Tower since they couldn''t bring any treasures in with them, but after so long, it had simply become an accepted reality.

    Now, it was simply known as drawing deadбн They could only wait for Leonel to be expelled.

    But it was then that Leonel''s wild grin was projected to them, causing their hearts to jolt.

    That wild grinбн The older generation was all too familiar with itбн It was the grin of those madmen of the Morales family.

    бн

    Leonel squeezed his fist, causing the bow construct in his hand to shatter in motes of Emulation Spatial Force.

    "Come."

    Leonel''s voice pervaded the world. In this battle, he didn''t want to use his bow or his spear. He wanted to battle this Spiritual on its battlefield.

    At that moment, Leonel''s words caught the Spiritual''s attention, causing it to look from its golden apple toward him.

    бн

    "It''s overбн"

    Many mumbled these words to themselves. Many had entered that boss room before and it always ended the same way. So long as you remained silent and unmoving, the Spiritual wouldn''t care about you. But the moment you made noise or even sneezed, it would look at you and then things would come to an end just that fast.

    Howeverбн

    бн

    BANG!

    A spatial barrier rippled before Leonel''s head, shattering the soul attack the Spiritual had sent toward him. But, likewise, his spatial barrier shattered as well.

    However, Leonel''s grin only became wider. As expected, he could rely on Emulation Spatial Force to block soul attacks because it was fused with Dream Force. As such, it could interact with things on a soul level.

    The Spiritual Race man tilted his head to the side, seemingly surprised. Last time Leonel had been here, it had reacted the same way when he dodged its attack. But this time, Leonel had taken it head on.

    He didn''t need to rely on this Spiritual to attack his soul this time. Right now, he just wanted to crush it.

    The Spirituals were powerful, right? Well he wanted to see it for himself.

    Leonel raised his arms, his Starry Spirit Domain flourishing as countless Force Arts formed in the air. In their midst, the snaking form of a flood dragon took shape, roaring with a menacing light in its eyes.

    In just a moment, Leonel had not only completed dozens of Camelot Mage Arts, but also an enormous beast construct, all of which used his Scarlet Star Force.

    "Show me what you have. If you don''t, I''ll burn your tree to ash."

    Hearing these words, the Spiritual''s expression suddenly warped, becoming malevolent. In an instant, it had gone from a docile angelic young man to furious war god.

    His body grew by a size, a towering tempest of green Force surrounding his body until it covered his white robes in a radiant wooden armor. In a blink, he went from just about three inches shy of six feet to over seven feet.

    The Spiritual rose his own arms, the skies being filled with green-gold arrows of Force. It was clear that while Leoenl had to rely on his Dream World to accomplish such a feat, the Spiritual relied on nothing more than his own affinity for the elements.

    Leonel was a bit startled by the change, but then he laughed. This was precisely what he wanted.

    In a moment, an eruption of Force filled the air. Two young men stood over a hundred meters apart, and yet they seemed to control the entirety of the area that separated them.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Fire and wood clashed, and yet Leonel seemed to have no ability to burn the young man''s attempts at countering him to ash. He should have had a suppressive ability just due to his elemental advantage, or so he thought, but things simply didn''t work out that way.

    And yet, Leonel''s eyes only glowed fiercer and fiercer, his Mage Arts becoming swifter.

    With a point of his fingers, several spatial arrows hid under the blasts of his flames, converging toward the Spiritual from all sides.

    бн

    Another silence fell over the surroundings of the Void Tower. Watching the fireworks of Force, they found it hard to believe that just two people could even output so much Force, were they even human?

    Well, one of them definitely wasn''t. As for the other oneбн They weren''t entirely sure anymore.

    бн

    Leonel flipped his palms to the skies, causing two balls of fire to appear. In a second, they pulsed to over a foot wide. In another second, they pulsed to over a meter wide.

    However, with a slight fluctuation and a flicker of his irises, they vanished into thin air.

    He really wanted to see how far this Spiritual could go while wasting half of its power protecting its precious tree. If it didn''t go all out, he didn''t mind crushing it to dust in the name of all the human youths it had unceremoniously slaughtered until this point.

 Chapter 1671 Wager

    The gaze of the Spiritual race youth flashed, a shuddering sense of danger overwhelming him. It felt like a cataclysm was descending, but he couldn''t see where it was coming from.

    However, when Leonel''s two enormous balls of fire entered a certain range of him, the fluctuations of Force made the Spiritual''s brows twitch.

    He released a roar, his hands pressing out as the green-gold Force around him changed toward a much more resplendent gold.

    Vines of gold manifested from the countless arrows in the sky like fine filaments. They quickly wrapped around the floating arrows like a skeletal armor before shooting forward.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The Emulation Spatial Force Leonel had used to hide his twin pair of fireballs trembled like rippling waters. Although they didn''t entirely collapse, the wild ripples made it look like reality itself was distorting, making their forms all too obvious to the naked eye. Even the likes of Leonel couldn''t account for the speedy changes fast enough to continue to hide them beneath the illusion.

    But they had already approached close enough. Leonel hadn''t tried very hard to hide their approach in the place.

    Leonel''s fingers moved and the shell of Emulation Spatial Force collapsed and the fireballs within exploded, a huge torrent of flames surging forward, enveloping the Spiritual youth from all sides.

    The heat was blistering. The air crackled and popped, the last dregs of moisture seemingly being suffocated toward a bitter end.

    The Spiritual Race youth clapped his hands, the vibrant golden threads taking form again and forming an enormous cocoon. Flickers of fury danced in his gaze as he enveloped both himself and his precious tree, treating Leonel like the worst enemy of his life.

    With a stomp of his feet, green Force manifested out from the ground and shredded the picturesque white scene to pieces. In one moment, it was a land of white, and in the next, it became like a forest of death, vines that wanted nothing more than to squeeze the life out of Leonel converging from all sides.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    He had realized by now that the Spiritual youth''s Force was actually a combination of Wood Force and Metal Force. The former carried characteristics of life and water, while the latter also carried characteristics of life, but its secondary characteristic was quite defensive and powerful.

    It wasn''t accurate to call it Wood Force. Wood Force was similar to "Ice Force" in that it didn''t truly exist, it was rather a fusion of Earth Force, Life Force and Water Force. But that was what made the young man''s Force so shocking.

    If Leonel counted correctly, this singular Force was a fusion of at least five or six Forces, making its characteristics incredibly difficult to pin down, and this was even more so for its weaknesses. At the same time, the Spiritual Race youth seemed to be capable of amplifying and retracting these characteristics one by one, at his own wishes.

    When he faced Leonel Fire Force, he amplified the Water Force characteristics of his "Wood Force".

    When he wanted more offensive power he leaned into the more offensive nature of his Force''s Metal characteristics.

    When he wanted to defend, he would tap into the defensive characteristics of his Force.

    He switched between them so unimaginably smoothly that there wasn''t the slightest hint of delay between them and Leonel couldn''t even seem to find an opening.

    Leonel was completely fascinated. Was this a version of Force Manipulation? Was it, precisely, Force Manipulation? Or could it be considered to be one of the many steps along the journey of improving one''s Force Manipulation?

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The battle raged on.

    Half an hour. One hour. Two.

    By this point, the number of individuals who had heard of what was going on were too numerous. Many rushed over to see exactly what was happening, only to be shocked by the fact that the rumors truly weren''t exaggerated. There really was a human among them who was fighting a Spiritual in head to head combat!

    At that moment, Aina calmly exited the Void Tower. She looked up toward the image everyone was so enraptured by with a light smile on her face. Maybe only she could tell that Leonel wasn''t really trying to win this battle. His Mage Arts were probably by far his weakest aspect right now, and the Scarlet Star Force he was using was still Fifth Dimensional.

    But seeing how shocked and awed everyone was, a hint of pride flickered with the depths of her golden irises before she blushed toward her own reaction. She had almost forgotten that she was in public for a moment.

    Aina turned her head away and her brows rose when her gaze landed on Simona. She remembered this beauty quite well. The two of them had fought during the Selection and she had lost to Aina by a few moves.

    Right now, Aina could see the battle intent radiating from Simona''s eyes and she matched it with a smile of her own. She had just remembered that Leonel was quite behind in terms of recruiting right now and she had promised to bring Simona over to their side.

    "Do you want to fight?" Aina asked with a sweet smile that seemed to pull the attention of everyone even given the current circumstances.

    Simona''s gaze flickered, her radiant purple irises growing a shade brighter under Aina''s clear provocation.

    "We can fight, I don''t mind. But isn''t it only fun to fight if there are stakes?"

    Simona''s brows furrowed.

    By this point, even more attention was taken away from Leonel. Was the last member of the Cataclysm Generation to return about to challenge the current seats already?

    "What do you want?"

    "It''s nothing too important," Aina said with a smile. "If you lose, you just have to help Leonel with the Heir Wars. How about it?"

    Simona''s eyes jumped.

    A member of the Constellation families aiding a Morales in their Heir Wars? Especially one of her standing? Such a thing would be quite unprecedented and there was even a tacit taboo against itбн

 Chapter 1672 Remembered

    BANG!

    Aina flipped a palm and brought out her battle ax, allowing it to crash heavily to the ground. She stood valiantly behind it, her long, cascading black hair dancing in the wind.

    They had just witnessed her clear the 50th floor. She should have been mentally fatigued even if she wasn''t physically so. And yet, she seemed all too eager to battle once more. No, battle might very well not be the right word, she looked like she was eager to crush everything in her path.

    Many watching couldn''t help but feel their hearts flutter. Aina was truly too beautiful, the kind of beauty that could only be matched by the likes of Simona and the other beauties on the Queen Rankings. If it wasn''t for the fact that Aina had vanished for over two decades, there was no doubt in their minds that she would have been one of the top Queens if not the top Queen by now.

    Several gulps rang out in the crowd, their hearts beating wildly.

    Aina''s beauty wasn''t a complete unknown, some had heard of her in the past. But whatever lust they had had could only be controlled due to Leonel''s background. The fact that Aina and him were so close likely meant that she was an already acknowledged daughter-in-law of the Morales family.

    Due to this halo, there were certain things that males most definitely could not do and only women could get away with. For example, Treanna''s cruelty.

    There were certain tacit understandings that had been accepted through the ages. Bottom lines like death, castration and rape were not allowed. Things that could harm the prestige or foundation of powerful families of the Human Domain were not allowed.

    So for a beauty like Aina, they could only watch from afar, their hearts thrumming from within their chests.

    Simona''s frown deepened. She did want to fight Aina, and her impression of Leonel wasn''t bad since he had indeed saved her back then, but this Aina clearly didn''t understand the underlying rules the nobles of the Human Domain played by.

    "бн I cannot accept this kind of bet," Simona finally responded, her voice tinged with the usual hints of ice.

    "Oh? Is that so? Unfortunate."

    Aina seemed to be bored after hearing this response. With a flip of her palm, her battle ax vanished and she turned her attention back to Leonel.

    By this point, both Leonel and the Spiritual Race youth were covered in wounds. Leonel''s defenses were weak to precisely what the Spiritual Race youth was the most powerful in: Force, so it was no wonder he was in such a sorry state.

    The ground beneat Leonel was suddenly split open and a vicious vine tunnel upward, piercing through his bottom jaw and up and out of his skull.

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze flickered. In a real battle, he could use the moment his enemy thought he had died to launch a vicious counter attack. He could then use [Instant Recovery]. But at the moment, he had no choice but to allow himself to fade away.

    ''Fair play, I lose this time,'' Leonel shook his head inwardly.

    Leonel could only sigh. Even while wasting half of his strength protecting his precious tree, Leonel had still lost. Of course, it could be said that Leonel had held back at least half if not more of his strength as well by only competing in Force Manipulation, but Leonel was still disappointed.

    However, it wasn''t all bad. From beginning to end, Leonel had focused the entirety of his Ability Index on analyzing and teasing apart the intricacies of how the Spiritual used his Force. Once he consolidated his findings after another trip to the Void Library, his strength should take another massive leap forward.

    бн

    Leonel''s head cleared and he stepped out from the Void Tower, only to find hundreds of gazes locked onto him.

    Leonel had never been a shy person so he only smiled lightly, his cheery grin making those in the surroundings feel like a spring breeze had just passed by.

    "You lost."

    Aina''s voice snapped Leonel out of his glorious moment, causing him to cough.

    "That Spiritual was a tough nut," Leonel said in his defense.

    "I climbed higher than you," Aina said with a beaming smile.

    "Is this your way of telling me you''re stronger?"

    Aina nodded seriously.

    "Okay," Leonel laughed. "You can be stronger, but I''ll still beat you ten times out of ten."

    "Shameless boasting." Aina rolled her eyes.

    "It''s shameless to speak the truth now? How lamentable."

    Aina shook her head and laughed. She could tell that Leonel had been serious the first time he said it, and he was also serious this time. But she was still serious in her own response too. She didn''t think she would lose.

    "Oh? Look at that defiant look in your eyes. It seems that I didn''t teach you enough of a lesson last time."

    Leonel''s grin turned lewd, causing Aina''s face to suddenly blush red.

    "What are you saying?!" she whispered harshly. "Be louder, why don''t you?!"

    "Louder? IS THIS LOUбк!"

    Leonel received an elbow to the gut, sapping his body of all its air, before he could make it half-way through his shout. He could only cough through the pain while keeling over.

    Those watching this scene suddenly felt the need to punch something. It''s fine to flirt, we get it, you''re in, but do you have to do it here?

    "Anyone have a Lightning Force Crystal? I suddenly want to take a bath."

    Leonel and Aina laughed between the two of them as though no one was there. They didn''t seem to sense the gazes of battle intent in the slightest.

    "бн It''s unfortunate, she said she couldn''t accept the bet. We''ll have to find others," Aina said.

    "Oh? Her? I suddenly remembered something."

    Leonel flipped his palm over, causing a snowglobe to appear. Within it, a little purple puppy floated.

    When Simona saw this scene, her body shivered uncontrollably from head to toe, her eyes reddening.

 Chapter 1673 Two Options

    This purple puppy was none other than Simona''s companion from all those years ago. All this time, Leonel had kept it in a snowglobe because he hadn''t had a chance to give it back to her.

    Back then, Leonel and Aina had found it in the Rapax Nest, but not wanting to deal with a beast they weren''t familiar with in battle, chose to put it away instead. By the time they met Simona again, they were already in the core region of the Rapax Nest and things were too hectic for Leonel to care about such things, especially considering the appearance of the Three Finger Cult had left him completely infuriated.

    Then, when they exited the Rapax Nest, Leonel was heavily injured and once again had other things to worry about.

    Not long after returning, not only had Simona and the others of the Cataclysm Generation disappeared, but Leonel was then thrust into the Void Tower where the shocking event that sealed his Segmented Cube away and brought forward the date of his Spear Domain Tribulation would occur.

    With all of those things happening, Leonel couldn''t possibly think to care about a little puppy he had no relation with. But when he saw the tears in Simona''s eyes, he felt quite bad. If he had tried a bit harder, it wouldn''t have been a problem to get the little one back to her, but the honest truth was that he hadn''t tried very hard at all.

    To him, it was a meaningless thing, but to Simona, she thought that she had lost her best friend for over 20 years. Her relationship with the little purple puppy was no less than Leonel''s own relationship with Little Blackstar.

    Leonel walked forward with Aina and released the little puppy from the snowglobe.

    The little guy looked around in confusion, but when it saw Simona, it yipped with happiness, diving into her arms completely oblivious to how long had passed.

    Simona, the ice beauty that everyone had come to know, couldn''t help it anymore and broke down in tears.

    "Uhбн"

    Leonel scratched the back of his head. The emotions themselves didn''t make him feel uncomfortable, it was more so that he felt bad that he was probably the reason they came out in a torrent like this. She might have not reacted like this had he found a way to get her companion back right after the Rapax Nest.

    "Thank youбн Thank youбн"

    Simona spoke between sobs.

    Seeing her being so grateful for something like this, Leonel didn''t know what to say. If anything, it only made him feel more guilty.

    "Ah, it''s no big deal. I just happened across the little guy in the Rapax Nest but things were too hectic to find time to return her home. Sorry about that."

    Simona tried to speak but ended up just shaking her head again and again. Leonel obviously wouldn''t know how important this little purple puppy was to her.

    Only she knew how slow her progress was in recent years without this little one by her side. The Pyius family was very powerful in their own right, but Simona had another lineage that relied heavily on beast companions. All this time, she had only been able to tap into a portion of her potential because she had lost her life partner.

    She had been infuriated for a long time before that fury became helplessness. She knew that the little one was still alive due to their connection, but she had never been able to sense exactly where it was, making her feel that all of it was an illusion.

    Everything was fine now, everything was more than fine.

    "Iбн"

    Simona bit her lip heavily. She wanted to repay Leonel for this debt, but she hadn''t said those words casually. She truly couldn''t act personally. If the Constellation families acted personally, it would no longer be a matter of the younger generations, but instead feel much more like a Domain War of the Human Domain.

    There was a reason why the likes of Valiant Heart Mountain could participate in the past, although they were among the very weakest.

    Leonel waved a hand. "There''s really no need to care about it so much, it took no effort on my part and I even delayed it for so long."

    Simona shook her head, only vey slowly regaining her bearings.

    She took a breath and exhaled.

    "I cannot participate, and my Pyius family cannot, but my paternal family can. I will gather their support for you."

    Leonel blinked, but didn''t think too much of it initially. He didn''t know much about Simona''s much more famous maternal family, let alone her clearly less famous paternal family. So it was hard for him to gauge what this meant.

    But at the same time, he didn''t have much support to begin with. His greatest reliance was probably the Oryx and the Umbra family. He probably couldn''t even rely on Earth too much anymore because from what he had heard, it had become a behemoth in his absence.

    If the Constellation families couldn''t participate because of how strong they were, this would be doubly true of Earth especially considering the somewhat politically charged state it was in. After all, Earth was the central reason why the other Domains were turning their eyes toward the Human Domain.

    Knowing this, Leonel would take whatever help he could get so long as this help was willing to listen to him and be of use to him. What good was help that was arrogant and uppity? They would be a net negative to his situation instead of a help.

    However, although Leonel''s and Aina''s expressions were a bit blank before they smiled, Valor''s gaze along with many others flashed with a fierce light.

    If one had to rank which families would have the largest impact on the Heir Wars, there would be many that could be placed within a tier of their own in terms of usefulness. These were families a step beneath the likes of the Constellation Alliances, the Morales and Suiard, but had strength of their own that could still be considered strong, or they had special abilities and resources that were of great help. These could be special abilities like weapon forging, Force Pill concocting orбн

    Beast taming.

    This was truly a nice pie that had fallen into Leonel''s lap from above.

    That family was quite known for their stubbornness and they liked to stay out of worldly affairs, preferring to worship their God and be one with nature. But if it was Simona speaking on behalf of them, Valor already knew that things might very well change this time around.

    Leonel smiled. "Then I will have to thank you in advance. I''m sure everyone knows that I''m quite far behind so I need all the help that I can get."

    Leonel''s laughter made many smile beside themselves. When he wasn''t slaughtering people with the point of a finger, he truly did seem to be quite amiable and approachable.

    Leonel wanted to say more before he killed the time between now and when his earned Void Merits were paid out, but before he could, a looming shadow appeared over him.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, his amiable smile vanishing as he looked forward.

    With how tall he was, Leonel rarely did anything but look down, but this person was able to meet his gaze on a level playing field.

    Conon Lio.

    "I can admit that your performance was outstanding, but regardless of how you looked, a Tier 1 is still a Tier 1. I won''t challenge in my capacity as an individual as I would gain no satisfaction from winning such a battle, I will wait for you to enter Tier 9 first.

    "However, in my capacity as a Faction Leader, with how many of my men you''ve left beaten, bloodied and crippled today, I have no intention of letting you off.

    "So I''ll give you two options. The first is to apologize to each one of my men personally. So long as you do this, I will leave you be until you can grow to my height.

    "If you do not want to do this, there is still a second option. Break one of your bones for each one of my men that you''ve hurt today. Do that, and I will also let you go.

    "Make your choice."

    At that moment, the blood of the Lion Pride Faction youths boiled looking toward the back of their leader. They gripped their fists hard, their eyes reddening and a dense golden Force wafting from them all.

    Together, the pressure they gave off seemed to make the air tenfold heavier.

    Leonel met the gaze of Conon.

    "I''ll return your two options with two as well. Piss off or taste my spear, which will it be?"

 Chapter 1674 Hushed Silence

    A hushed silence overcame the surroundings after Leonel''s words fell. But very quickly, the skies seemed to rumble as Conon''s expression turned malevolent.

    Leonel''s hair blew backward under Conon''s aura, his shirt and sweats being pulled against his body as though they might fly into the distance at any moment. However, all such momentum did was reveal just how defined the lines of Leonel''s physique were and emphasize just how indifferent he was in the face of such strength.

    "There''s no need to say anything," Leonel suddenly spoke. However, it was clear that the target of his words wasn''t Conon. Instead, they were for Simona and Valor. "Since he wants to dig his own grave, let him dig it."

    Leonel hadn''t vented all of his frustration just yet, he didn''t want to let anyone interfere. When it came to dealing with the likes of Conon, he really wanted to see if he deserved the amount of arrogance he was exuding right this moment.

    In the Human Domain, Leonel didn''t fear anyone beneath the Seventh Dimension.

    BANG!

    The ground between the two of them cracked and shattered, and yet when it seemed that the earth beneath Leonel''s feet would throw him off balance, it was as though the cobweb-like patterns had run into a wall.

    The ground around Leonel lifted off from the ground but couldn''t approach him in the slightest.

    Conon''s gaze flashed with a murderous glint. As for Leonel, a cold smile flickered in his own.

    For an instant nothing happened. But in the next moment, they moved at the same time, Conon''s fist splitting the air and Leonel''s palm flipping to reveal a piercing spear.

    The clash sent sparks of Force flying in all directions, a tempest of wind forcing the weak to fly hundreds of meters backward.

    Anarchic Force rolled and the dark clouds above trembled. The roar of a majestic lion rippled through the surroundings from one side, but on the other, there was nothing but absolute silence.

    Aina, who had been right by Leonel''s side, narrowed her eyes, a killing intent dancing in the depths of her irises. But realizing that she probably shouldn''t interfere, she took a light step backward, crossing dozens of meters at once and crossing her arms about her chest.

    BANG!

    The ground beneath Leonel''s feet finally shattered as a Bronze Aura erupted around his body, dispersing all of Conon''s power away from himself.

    At that moment, Conon took a single heavy step backward while Leonel didn''t move at all.

    It was nothing more than a single exchange, but the result left those watching in shock. It felt like a calm lake had suddenly suffered the barrage of an avalanche of stones, furious currents of water spreading out in all directions and even drowning the shores.

    Conon had actually lost the exchange by a small measure!

    The difference was too striking. Conon was adorned in valiant beast cloth formed by the furs of some of the strongest beasts to exist in the Human Domain. He looked ready for battle, the picture of manliness and the ideal archetype of a general of war.

    However, on the other side, there was Leonel. He hadn''t even bothered to put on the uniform of the Void Palace because his original uniform had long since been destroyed. He wore the most common clothing of Third Dimensional Earth, a simple pair of grey sweatpants and a plain white shirt.

    Although the two of them were exactly the same height, both standing at over two meters tall, just due to the difference in their presentation, most subconsciously believed that Conon was far larger and far more powerful.

    The result was the illusion of David meeting the Goliath, but this David seemed to have no need for skill or tactics, he could meet Goliath head on without taking even a single step back.

    SHIING! SHIING! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain whirred to life, a tornado of golden Spear Force revolving around him. At that moment, he went from a casual young man who looked as though he had just rolled off his couch to a valiant warrior.

    His hair lifted into the air, its pale violet color shimmering with a delicate white-gold light.

    Conon looked down at his feet, seemingly not believing that he had been forced to take a step back. By the time he looked back up, his golden eyes blazed with an undisguised fury.

    He slammed his fists together, his rage rising like a tsunami.

    The roar of a lion echoed once more, but Conon''s lips were sealed tight. The manifestation of his God Runes alone seemed to be more than enough to cause this phenomenon to appear.

    His hair grew, his beard increasing in volume. His pupils dilated and his body grew an entire foot.

    Claws extended from his fingers and his arms and thighs grew another size. Even with his lips sealed close, a pair of fangs slowly manifested, cutting down the length of his skin and taking droplets of blood with it.

    He stood to the tips of his toes, the flat of his feet extending in size as his calves pulsed with power. Just standing there, he released an undisguised bestial aura.

    Conon, a man who was known for his talkativeness, suddenly became deathly quiet untilбн. Until he growled.

    BANG!

    Conon appeared before Leonel in the blink of an eye but the latter had already raised his spear.

    The exchange was short and lasted no more than a split moment before they vanished and clashed once again. The two were so fast that it wasn''t until their fourth clash that the sounds began to reverberate and the violent ripples of wind reached the others.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s spear drew lines that split the skies.

    Conon''s fists caused everything in its path to disintegrate into dust. It even looked as though Anarchic Force dodged out of his way, forming a path for the sole purpose of allowing him to collide with Leonel.

    Shockwaves spread out in all directions. The wind rolled like waves and the clash caused the vicinity to tremble.

    They seemed evenly matched.

    Howeverбн

    BANG!

    Conon suffered a foot to the chest, his body flying out like a meteor from the air and crashing into the ground below, digging out a trench that extended for dozens of meters.

 Chapter 1675 Stubborn

    Leonel fell heavily from the ground. Although it sometimes looked as though the two were flying, the reality was that their leg strength was just so strong that they could clash as much in mid-air as they did on the ground.

    Landing with a bang, Leonel casually swept his spear out. He didn''t even look like he had shed even a single bead of sweat, his clothing just as immaculate as it had been before and his cold smile in his eyes not fading in the slightest.

    "If this is all you have, why did you bother to stand before me? Did you think that 20 years was really enough for the likes of you to catch up to me?"

    Leonel''s words caused the hearts of those in the surroundings to tremble. He was eight Tiers beneath Conon. He had lost 20 years of effort due to the time dilation. Conon had all the advantages on his side. And yet, none of it seemed to matter in the slightest.

    In the distance, Conon slowly rose to his feet. Despite the solid nature of Leonel''s kick, he didn''t seem injured in the slightest, and that was because he wasn''t. Leonel''s kick had done nothing more than humiliate him, and yet it stung more than even if a hole had been ripped through his chest.

    Standing to his full height, Conon''s eyes locked onto Leonel who was slowly walking toward him.

    "Alright. If that''s what you want, let''s do it."

    The sound of clanging armor resounded and golden Force solidified all around Conon. Piece by piece, they connected to one another, forming a radiant armor that alternated between bestial furs and metal.

    Conon''s arms flared outward as his gaze became even more dull.

    At that moment, the hairs on the back of Leonel''s neck rose to attention. It didn''t feel like he was being looked at by a human any longer. It was as though the Conon he knew had vanished, only to be replaced by an apex predator.

    Conon vanished, appearing before Leonel with a fist that could collapse mountains. The golden Force around his knuckles took the shape of a roaring lion, the imprint shattering the ground it glided above as it appeared before Leonel''s face.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, raising his spear.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s arms jolted before he dispersed the force behind the blow, and yet he was still forced to take three steps backward.

    Conon''s leg rose into the air, lashing out like a whip.

    Leonel blocked once more, but Conon''s next attack already appeared like a relentless avalanche. Fist, legs, elbows, knees, he flowed from one style to the next seamlessly. He didn''t seem like he cared about what parts of his body he used, even once using his forehead to meet the tip of Leonel''s spear without the slightest fluctuation in his eyes.

    Leonel found that predicting his next movement was almost impossible precisely because there was nothing to predict.

    ''This Styleбн''

    Leonel retreated again and again, his expression cold. The defense of his spear was airtight. His previous lack of skill was nowhere to be seen. He looked like a refined expert, even facing an enemy with a relentless, tireless assault, he didn''t seem to be suffering too quickly.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands.

    Swift.

    In that moment, the skies seemed to be filled with the shadows of Leonel''s spear, his movements so fast that it was almost impossible to track with the naked eye. He seemed to embody more than just the word, the world resonated, fusing with his movements to bolster his speed further, a melody that caused the heart to race replaying in the ears of all those that laid eyes on him.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s movements became even faster, sometimes switching out Swift for Forceful, and sometimes Forceful for Subtle.

    The elegance of his spear technique touched upon a new level, one that made Valor and the other spearman in the crowd watch on with heavy breaths. They could feel their spears trembling within their rings, wanting to make their ways out if for nothing other than to experience the beauty for themselves.

    Two clashing shadows of gold danced around the Void Palace, each entering a state of absolute oneness with their martial arts, however even with this being so, there was no doubt to those that could see what was happening clearly that Leonel was in a tier all to his own.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s spear pierced forward, his wrist flexing with such force that the tip of his golden spear trembled fiercely, causing one attack to suddenly become three.

    Conon''s fist had already flown forward and it was much too late for it to change trajectories, so instead, he fluidly flowed from a fist attack into an elbow strike, using the larger area of his forearm to block Leonel''s maneuver.

    However, in response to that, Leonel flowed into a new stance as well, his pierce becoming a sweep upward that perfectly chained into the butt of his spear colliding against Conon''s liver.

    Conon''s valiant armor trembled, a violent surge of force travelling through. An odd resonating feeling caused his entire body to tremble, his stoic expression giving way to a warped visage. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, half of his body trembling.

    Conon swiped out a claw at Leonel''s head with one hand, using the other to protect his side from a second attack. However, Leonel had simply used the momentum of his first strike to spin his spear in the counter direction, swatting Conon''s claw toward the sky and striking out with a palm toward his chest.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s palm caused Conon to throw up another mouthful of blood as he flew backward. Once again, he had lost.

    Conon roared into the skies, the fury and unwillingness in his tone clear for all to hear.

    At that moment, a wild surge of Universal Force descended from the skies, causing Leonel''s eyes to narrow.

    ''Natural Light Realmбн'' Leonel analyzed.

    He shook his head. How stubborn. Would he prefer to be beaten an inch within his life?

    Leonel fell to the ground, holding out his spear toward Conon as his aura rose. He exhaled, a white gold Force surging around him.

    His hair became a spirit-like white, three enormous illusory tails spreading out to his back as his sideburns grew.

    Leonel took a step forward and vanished, his speed more than ten times faster than before.

    BANG!

    Conon rebounded against the ground like a bouncing ball.

 Chapter 1676 Where To?

    Leonel was so fast that he pinged Conon around like a ping pong ball, his speed crossing realms of reason. He appeared anywhere within his Starry Light Domain he pleased in less than the blink of an eye.

    Every time he appeared in the path of Conon''s trajectory, he would send another solid spear strike forward. If not for the robustness of Conon''s armor and radiant Force, he would have found himself full of holes.

    However, even though this hadn''t happened, cracks began to appear all across his body. Conon found his head rattling around in his skull so much that he couldn''t even gather up his Universal Force properly. Before Leonel''s speed, he was absolutely helpless.

    A hushed silence fell over the surroundings.

    This was a member of the Cataclysm Generation, a man that they could only look up to, and yet he was being treated like a toy. Leonel didn''t even seem to have been putting in that much effort. Every time Conon brought out more strength, he would counter it with even more.

    It was clear to many that Leonel didn''t want to give Conon the time to gather up Universal Force, but who cared? If you couldn''t use your strength in battle, that was your fault. It wasn''t the job of your enemy to allow you the time you would need.

    As for Leonel, he didn''t fear Conon''s Natural Light Realm, he just felt that it would be too inconvenient to face right at this moment. Even if the Natural Light Realm of this world couldn''t compare to the Zone, it was still considered to be a Seventh Dimensional boost to one''s strength here.

    It had to be remembered that Universal Force was what could help one to bridge the gap between Dimensions, and this was especially true the higher in the Dimensions you went. Leonel didn''t want to expose the cards he would have to if Conon was allowed to bring out such an ability, so he simply reacted quicker than Conon could.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed heavily on the ground, his foot pressed firmly against Conon''s chest.

    With a burst, the latter''s valiant armor finally reached the end of its resistance, combusting into a rain of motes of light.

    Leonel looked down, pointing his spear to Conon''s head with a single arm. His white hair faded back to its usual pale violet and his tails retracted.

    "Leader!"

    "Release him!"

    A surge of experts of the Lion''s Pride Faction tried to rush forward. They had wanted to interfere previously, but they simply couldn''t. The level of the battle had been too far beyond them. If they tried to rashly interfere, they would have only made things worse. But now that things had reached this point, how could they continue to remain indifferent?

    The eyes of Simona and Armand flickered as they looked toward Leonel. They still found it hard to believe that what they were seeing was real.

    Armand, especially, had once thought less of Leonel because his Lineage Factor suppressed Leonel''s own. Back then, Leonel wasn''t ready for the phenomena, causing him to be shocked and taking a small loss in their exchange of gazes. But Armand was shocked by Leonel''s performance in the Rapax Nest, and was further shocked by what he was seeing now.

    Although only Conon had spoken back then, they had all agreed with him. The large gap between them and Leonel came down to his Scarlet Star Force, a gap that they would be able to close in the future. In fact, the fact that Leonel started with this leg up would only harm him in the future due to the weakness of humans when it came to the manipulation of high level Forces.

    However, never did he think that Leonel would be able to defeat them with a 20 year disadvantage without using anything other than Spear Force. Even toward the end, he didn''t use Scarlet Star Force, but rather used Ethereal Star Force to boost his speed.

    He clearly hadn''t gone all out at all.

    What these geniuses of the Cataclysm Generation didn''t know was that the Leonel they met was almost entirely ignorant of the ways of the Dimensional Verse. His spear technique was weak, his usage of his Lineage Factors was poor, his paths were unrefined and divergingбн Ultimately, he couldn''t match up to these geniuses who had been nurtured by their families since the moment they were born.

    However, now, things had changed a great deal. He had learned far more about himself and having taken a glimpse at what the true pinnacle was, he found these "geniuses" to be playing no more than a child''s game.

    Conon? The Mighty member of the Cataclysm Generation? He wasn''t even at the standard of a Lower Fiend Class Demon without using Universal Force.

    Leonel raised his head, looking toward the charging youths.

    At that moment, a swirl of black appeared by Leonel''s head, an adorable mink appearing with sparkling black eyes.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar vanished.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Numerous geniuses went flying one after another, unable to withstand even a single hit. They ended up in a more miserable state than even the one Leonel had put them in.

    Beneath his feet, Conon coughed, bits of flesh and blood coming out from his mouth.

    Leonel looked down indifferently.

    "If this wasn''t the Void Palace, you would be a single stroke away from death. You should learn to rein in your arrogance. Of course, do as I say, not as I do."

    Leonel laughed, removing his foot from Conon''s chest, flipping his palm and allowing his spear to vanish. With a step, he appeared by Aina''s side with a beaming smile as though he hadn''t just been in a battle that shook the Void Palace.

    Little Black appeared on Leonel''s shoulder, his long whiskers tickling against Leonel''s cheek.

    "Alright, this place is a bit boring, don''t you think? Let''s go elsewhere to kill some time."

    Aina raised an eyebrow. "Where?"

    "Well, I originally wanted to go to the Senate to claim the missions they''ve been monopolizing, but there''s really no point in doing that now that the Void Tower will cover it. I''ve been curious about the Archery Faction, I think that I''ll swing by and give them a visit."

    Up above, Cornelius'' lips twitched.

    The Void Elders were so wiseбн but it seemed they had made a mistake this time.

    [Important annoucement below]

 Chapter 1677 Two Methods

    Leonel did really want to enter the Archery Faction to see what they had to offer. Mostly, he wanted to see what the highest echelon of bowmen in the Human Domain could do.

    Although it was a bit embarrassing now that he thought about it, Leonel''s greatest reference for top tier archery until now was from the "genius" of a family small even in comparison to the Luxnix. It was he who taught Leonel that Bow Force could be used cleverly to change the direction of an arrow mid-flight.

    Outside of this, Leonel had been on his own. This just went to show the sheer amount of talent Leonel had in the bow. Even seemingly without much effort, Leonel had been able to form Enlightened Bow Force. In fact, now, after applying his grandfather''s path of the spear to his bow as well, the current level of his Bow Force was on a level most couldn''t fathom.

    At this point, it was hard to tell if Ryu would gain anything from the Archery Faction, but he still wanted to see for himself.

    Still, there was a big hurdle he faced. He had been able to enter the Spear Faction for just a one time payment. Apparently this had spread since he was still in debt. However, he obviously wouldn''t be able to do the same thing with the Archery Faction.

    In the end, he had to do something that most would rather die than do: exchange Void Merits for Void Points.

    Although such an exchange existed, hardly anyone ever used it due to how difficult it was to gather Void Merits. However, Leonel couldn''t be bothered to care very much, and though he was using Aina''s Void Merits to accomplish it, she didn''t seem to care very much either.

    Unlike others, the two felt that they had almost too many Void Merits. It would be hard to spend them all if they didn''t use them like this.

    Once they had waded through the weird looks of the Senate Branch overseer, they began to make the journey toward the Archery Faction.

    This region of the Void Palace wasn''t one that Leonel had been in before. It made him realize just how much of this place he hadn''t had the opportunity to see. Being the size of several planets put together, there was no doubting the vastness of the Void Palace.

    As Leonel and Aina moved at a leisurely pace, news of what happened just hours ago spread with the swiftness of the wind, but even so, it could only move about so quickly, especially after it was quickly monopolized by the information Factions of the Void Palace.

    Once these powerful Factions in the dark got their hands on such a thing, it was immediately placed at the top of their priority list and classified as top shelf information. This state wouldn''t last long, but they didn''t need it to. They only needed to suppress it for a few days and rake in the profits. Once the time period passed, it would no longer be as valuable.

    This led to a weird situation where the information spread swiftly for the first few minutes, but was quickly stifled soon after.

    It seemed quite clear that the job of gathering information was only part of the duties of this information network. Just as important was the job of controlling the flow of information as well. Unless they could maximize their own benefits, what good was it to them if everyone else was well informed?

    As for their targets with this information? Of course they only wanted the patronage of the most prominent figures of the Void Palace as only they would be able to afford the exhorbitant prices.

    The untouchable ranks of the Sector Ranked Disciples, the rest of the Cataclysm Generation, the Morales family Heirs, and, of courseбн the two lofty existences that seemed to stand alone within the Cataclysm Generationбн

    The Sword Deity, Amery Suiard.

    The Bow Deity, Nazag Tarius.

    бн

    Leonel and Aina finally made it to the Archery Faction. As expected, this region was no less beautiful than the Spear Faction had been. In fact, the Archery Faction seemed to be even better than Leonel remembered the Spear Faction to be.

    There was a formation in the surroundings that staved off Anarchic Force, there was an artificial sun in the sky and radiant rainbow colored clouds. The surroundings were exceptionally peaceful and even the air tasted sweet to breathe in.

    Leonel and AIna didn''t gather much attention upon entering as there were many individuals going about their business. The price for just one day of entry was incredibly steep, almost no one had the time to waste the precious hours on people watching, and those that could afford to do such a thing wouldn''t be interested in two Tier 1 youths like Leonel and Aina.

    With a quick scan, Leonel saw many familiar buildings. There were training facilities, challenge facilities, resting rooms, and, what he was most interested in, technique centers.

    Leonel had been planning on just making a beeline for these technique centers, however his attention was caught by something else before he could.

    He came to a pause, causing Aina to look toward his side profile with a questioning glint in her eye.

    ''So you can do that tooбн''

    Leonel''s gaze locked onto a building in the distance. It was in the shape of a pagoda, and just looking at it from the outside, it was difficult to tell how many floors it had. At one glance, it looked like it had seven, but when Leonel blinked it became eight, then nine. It seemed to fluctuate from having as little as three floors to as many as twelve without rhyme or reason.

    Leonel had seen a building like this in the Spear Faction as well and he understood what it was.

    There were two methods of learning techniques in a Weapon Faction. The first was the conventional way. Go to the technique centers, find a description you liked, and exchange for it with money and points.

    The second method, however, didn''t require the use of the money. But it was likewise far more troublesome to deal with.

    Leonel took Aina''s hand and walked forward, an amused glint dancing in his eyes.

 Chapter 1678 Truly Unmatched

    Leonel appeared beneath the pagoda to find quite a group. In a space where no one wanted to waste even a single moment, it seemed to be completely the opposite in this region. Not only were they lingering, no one seemed to be in a rush to do anything.

    Seeing such a scene, Leonel had a feeling that he would see a repeat of what happened around the Void Tower again, but this time, it was even sadder than before.

    It could be said that the group around the Void Tower were mostly the lowest rung of the Void Tower. But anyone who could scrounge up the Void Points and Merits needed to enter this region was most definitely above average. And yet, here they were, idly wasting their time.

    Leonel shook his head and stepped forward.

    "You can wait here, I''m not sure how long it''ll take, but it probably won''t be too long."

    Aina smiled and nodded. She didn''t mind waiting. Although she wasn''t a bowwoman, this was one weapon that she wasn''t familiar with that she had some curiosity toward. Her instincts told her that it wasn''t quite yet time to try out the bow, but there was no harm in taking a peek at something here.

    Many looked toward Leonel and Aina at this time, mostly because it was quite rare to see a woman like AIna. However, after Leonel began to walk forward, their reasons drastically changed.

    "Stop."

    A commanding voice called out, but Leonel''s attention was entirely focused on the pagoda ahead, a light smile on his face as he looked almost straight up. He was really curious about the illusion of this pagoda and what secrets were inside. His trigger finger was itching.

    "I said stop!"

    The voice of a woman boomed, but Leonel had already made it to the entrance. Due to the fact that no one had dared approach the pagoda, Leonel faced no obstruction to this point. But when the woman saw that Leonel truly had no intention of stopping, her palm shook to reveal a crystalline bow, a pinch of fury furrowing her brows.

    She pulled her bow string and released a streak aiming right for the back of Leonel''s knee. Such an injury would leave him crippled for at least a few months without extraordinarily expensive treatment methods or rare healing Lineage Factors.

    However, just when the arrow was about to cripple Leonel''s mobility, the Bow Force around it vanished when it entered a certain radius.

    CLANG!

    The arrow hit against the back of Leonel''s knee, rebounding into the hair without even the slightest result to show for it.

    Leonel''s steps paused and he looked back, his gaze locking onto the woman who had pulled the bowstring. Considering they were all in a fairly confined area, the young woman was no more than 30 or so meters away from Leonel. At this distance, even Leonel himself would have trouble dodging the arrow of an expert archer in his base form.

    Of course, he could have dodged by calculating the trajectory of the arrow before she released it. By then, it would be a different matter entirely. However, he didn''t do so as he didn''t feel that there was a need to.

    The young woman was shocked.

    All archers had sharp eyes, it was one of the main prerequisites to reach their level. They all saw what happened almost too clearly, from the dispersal of the Bow Force to the fact that Leonel didn''t even make a move to attempt to block. His innate defenses were more than enough to deal with the remaining momentum of the arrow.

    The young woman''s heart couldn''t help but beat wildly. Was that the Force Negation Ability Index?

    Usually, there weren''t dividing ranks of Ability Indexes outside of the Tiers within them. By and large, two abilities at Tier 3 would both have about the same amount of usefulness.

    However, there were still some Ability Indexes that were far more sought after than others. While many might abandon their Ability Indexes in favor of their Legacy Factors or other innate abilities, there were some Ability Indexes which would be honed no matter how high your birth was.

    Force Negation was definitely one of these abilities. Fighting such a person made it feel like you were doing so with one hand tied behind your back.

    Still, after her initial shock, the young woman''s expression became dark.

    "The Bow Pagoda is not an option to outsiders right now. The Bow Deity Party is currently inside, wait until they are finished."

    Leonel looked the young woman up and down before turning around and entering the so-called Bow Pagoda.

    His actions left everyone absolutely stunned. Did he not know what the Bow Deity Party was and what power they held?

    "Wait, it''s actually himбн"

    The heart of the young man by the young woman pulsated.

    The young woman frowned, looking over toward him.

    "You know him?" She asked.

    "Iбн No, I don''t know him, but I saw him in the Void Senate just yesterday. He was the one who heavily injured Treanna and Joey before somehow escaping punishment from Majority Leader Suaird."

    The young woman, a member of the Tarius family who went by Lyrra, felt her heart skip a beat when she heard this. Treanna? Joey? Regardless of which of them it was, both were strong enough to crush her with a single finger, but he had heavily injured them both?

    News of what had happened in the Void Senate also flowed out in a very slow and controlled fashion, but the members of the Bow Deity Party were hyper aware of what had happened since it involved a member of their own faction.

    Now this person had actually come to their Archery Faction so boldly and openly?

    A flash of rage flashed within the young woman''s eyes.

    "Report this. We need to report this now."

    Aina was easily able to hear all of these conversations, inwardly shaking her head. Leonel was truly very good at getting into trouble. In this aspect, he was truly unmatched.

 Chapter 1679 Bow Pagoda

    Leonel''s vision spun. When it cleared once again, he felt as though he was standing in the depths of space. There was a sea of vast stars as far as his eyes could see and beneath his feet, there was nothing but a small black platform.

    However, Leonel wasn''t alone. By his side, there were three others, all three of whom were young men and surprised to see him.

    Soon, though, their surprise turned into a frown. They didn''t recognize Leonel, so they also couldn''t understand how this person could possibly be bold enough to ignore the restrictions of the Bow Deity Party. They hadn''t even bothered to leave anyone stationed outside because this had already become the norm for long enough.

    "Who are you?"

    One of them asked this with a deep frown. It was impossible to directly attack anyone while in the Bow Pagoda, so words was all they could use until the event began.

    Leonel swept gaze over these people and smiled.

    "Leonel Morales."

    The brows of the three young men jumped. Morales? That was a last name anyone who was anyone in the Human Domain would know.

    However, soon, they calmed. The Morales family had many members in the Void Palace, the number was great. After all, it wasn''t just the Seven Novas who carried the Morales name here. Not all Morales could instill fear in others like the Seven Novas could, or, ratherбн The Six Novas as very few knew of Leonel.

    That said, most Morales were under the protection of one of the Six Novas, so the three of them didn''t dare to be too hostile with Leonel. Even so, that didn''t mean that they would be welcoming.

    "Morales? A spearman wants to dip his toes into something that has little to do with him?" The young man, who went by Craes, snorted. He knew that it was already too late to kick Leonel out, so he was unhappy.

    "Don''t be upset, Craes. The Bow Pagoda is usually worth a few days of torture, at least like this we''ll have some entertainment."

    The three young men laughed, but Leonel''s smile didn''t fade.

    With a stretch and yawn, Leonel loosened up his limbs before waving at the air and forming a bow out of Emulation Spatial Force.

    Seeing this, the eyes of three flickered, but they still shook their heads in the end as they pulled out their own bows. Although the Force Leonel had just used was one they had never personally seen before, what good was it if his skill wasn''t good.

    "Keep talking about entertainment, Kysen and I''ll crush you even worse than last time."

    The third boy, Mallael, sneered. "You two talk too much for second and third place."

    "You get one first place and suddenly you''re talking so big," Craes sneered back.

    "One?" Mallael laughed, holding his bow up. "Your face is pretty thick. If my calculations are correct, this will be my 14th first place in a row."

    The faces of Craes and Kysen darkened as they brandished their own bows.

    Leonel suddenly chuckled, causing the three to look over. But by this point, he had already stopped paying attention to them.

    At that moment, the surrounding space began to warp. As though they had entered hyperdrive, the stars whipped by at blazing speeds.

    TWANG! TWANG!

    Leonel lightly tested his bowstring, not paying attention to the changes.

    The Bow Pagoda didn''t have a fixed challenge much like the Void Tower. However, in comparison to the Void Tower, it was even more complex because it was prepared to provide a test to just one person or multiple people at once.

    That said, it was consensus that there were more variations to be had when the pagoda tested more people at once, and as such, the rewards were potentially more lucrative as a result.

    Whether or not this was actually true was unknown, but due to the sheer length of time the trial lasted, it was more fun to enter with others than to not to, so it was potentially an excuse others came up with to avoid the loneliness of training alone.

    The speeding stars came to a halt and the skies trembled. When their vision adjusted, they found themselves standing upon what looked like highway lanes formed by starlight. They stood about 50 meters apart and targets in the distance moved from left to right.

    The closest target was 500 meters away. The second was one kilometer away. The third, fourth and so on continued in one kilometer increments until 10 kilometers was reached, whereupon the next was 20 kilometers away.

    The speed of the targets were consistent and not very fast, moving at maybe five kilometers an arrow. All things considered this wasn''t a very elaborate test, it hardly needed to be explained. Whoever pierced through the furthest target would win.

    As for the more complex rules, there were some. First, one had to start with the closer targets before progressing. You would only have three chances to miss before you would drop out of the race. Finally, you could skip targets, however should you miss, the three chances would vanish all at once and you would be eliminated.

    The three young men, Malael, Craes and Kysen all aimed at once, their arrows whizzing through the air and shattering the 500 meters target all at once.

    They reset themselves in the blink of an eye, pulling their bowstrings once again and shattering the kilometer target.

    At close distances, they could simply brute force it. Their arrows flew so fast that the movement of the target was almost irrelevant. The faster they were, the easier this trial would be.

    By the time they prepared to shoot down their third target, Leoenl had yet to prepare to shoot at his first. The difference seemed obvious to them.

    However, Leonel was actually just paying attention to their movements. After all, he had come here to learn first and foremost. But seeing their brute force method, he quickly became bored.

    He raised his bow, his back tightening and his chest expanding.

    TWANG!

    Leonel''s arrow shot over the 500 meter target, high and far to the right causing the three to be shocked for a moment before their laughter rang out.

    Unfortunately for them, the shattering of a target much further ahead jarred them awake.

    Their heads turned, their pupils constricting as the five-kilometer target shattered into motes of light.

    Leonel pulled his bowstring again, releasing a moment later.

    BANG!

    The ten-kilometer target shattered.

 Chapter 1680 Be Obedient

    Leonel''s gaze was frighteningly sharp, a suffocating coldness rolling off of his body in waves.

    After he crossed the 10 kilometer mark, the difficulty shot up with every increment coming in sets of 10 kilometers.

    The truth was that when one was on a planet, assuming a flat surface, 10 kilometers was already far enough for a target to disappear over the curvature of a normally sized planet. As such, even if you could aim further, it was useless unless you had methods to stand in the air.

    Obviously, this trial wasn''t set on a planet''s surface and neither did the Void Palace have the curvature of a planet either. However, even so, the Void Palace had other limitations such as Anarchic Force that didn''t allow targeting from so far away.

    This was all to say that even the expert archers of the Void Palace didn''t have practice aiming at targets that were so far away, even if it was a still target, let alone a target that was moving at five kilometers an hour.

    Seeing Leonel skip right to five kilometers, and then immediately to 10 kilometers, left Mallael, Cras and Kysen absolutely tongue tied. Usually in this trial, making it to the five kilometer mark was already an excellent result, but he actually directly skipped over it.

    Andбн it didn''t even look like he was finished.

    Leonel adjusted the arc of his bow, moving from a straight line and raising it into the air. With a TWANG, he released another arrow, allowing it to beautifully arc through the air.

    BANG!

    The 20-kilometer target shattered.

    Leonel''s gaze blazed. At that moment, the bowstring of his bow construct became thicker as he pulled it back once again and raised his bow even higher.

    A gorgeous arc flew through the air once again, shattering the 30 kilometer target.

    Without fail, Leonel''s arrow passed through the center of the target. At such a distance, the three archers by his side couldn''t even see the targets clearly, but the sound was undeniable and the motes of light were blinding.

    Leonel strengthened his bowstring again, his forearm and back rippling as he pulled back and struck again, and then again.

    The 50-kilometer target shattered.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. There was no 60-kilometer target. Up ahead, an extra 50 kilometers further, a 100 kilometer target lay. Even with Leonel''s vision amplified by his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor he still couldn''t see it clearly.

    At that moment, Leonel''s irises glowed with a blinding white-gold light. He could use his Internal Sight to cover the distance, but he didn''t feel that it was necessary.

    His pupils dilated, a hint of a bestial aura rippling off of his body in a concentrated steam. His vision was instantly magnified, the blurry target in the distance suddenly felt as though it was right in front of him.

    Leonel squeezed his bow construct, crushing it into motes of light.

    With a flip of his palm, a shimmering bow appeared in his hands, causing the eyes of the three youths to open wide.

    "White Lion Bow! It''s you!"

    Leonel didn''t seem to hear them at all, his expression calm as he drew, inhaled, released, and exhaled. His movements were smooth and seemed to fuse into nature itself, the painting of a beautiful scenery causing the thoughts of the three young men to come to a grinding halt albeit for just a moment.

    BANG!

    In the distance, a radiant pillar of light shot into the skies causing the trials to ripple wildly in all directions.

    Leonel lowered his bow and cast a glance at it for a moment. He hadn''t used the White Lion Bow in a very long time, but it felt heavier now than it had in the past, which was odd. The bow should have gotten much lighter, not heavier.

    ''Interesting. You don''t like the path I''ve taken?'' Leonel chuckled. ''How stubborn.''

    The White Lion Bow had acknowledged him the moment he touched it all those years ago, and now it seemed to be dissatisfied. But since it wasn''t a true Life Grade Bow and was only Quasi Life Grade, it couldn''t make any sweeping changes after already accepting him once. If it was truly a Life Grade weapon, its dissatisfaction would probably mean that Leonel wouldn''t be able to use it at all.

    Leonel found the phenomenon to be interesting. After all, compared to his past self, his skill was on a completely different level. Although he didn''t form Seventh Dimensional Bow Force, he could whenever he wanted. The only reason he didn''t was because he felt that his Bow Force had far more potential to unleash at its current stage.

    To think the White Lion Bow wouldn''t be happy with him.

    Leonel chuckled. "Are you mad that I used a system designed for the spear with you? It''s the same difference, don''t you think? Is there a need for this tantrum?"

    The bow vibrated, seemingly understanding what Leonel was saying.

    "Be obedient," Leonel said lightly, his smile fading. "This is just the beginning regardless. If you can''t keep up, I''ll leave you behind. By then, you won''t have the luxury of showing your dissatisfaction at all."

    The bow vibrated again, clearly unhappy. But in the end, it still obediently became lighter in the end.

    With a flip of his palm, the White Lion Bow vanished.

    This wasn''t the first time Leonel had felt the dissatisfaction of his Weapon Forces. Back then, when he first formed Enlightened Bow Force, his Spear Domain Lineage Factor had tried to stop it from happening before it failed. However, with the two clashing like this, it was inevitable the head butting would end in them being weaker than they could be.

    If one reason Leonel hadn''t truly stepped onto Sovereignty with either one was because of the oddity of his King''s Might Lineage Factor, then another reason was this.

    However, Leonel had no intention of giving up either one. So if they couldn''t learn to be obedient the nice way, he would force them.

    At that moment, the pillar of light in the distance descended before Leonel, forming the image of a complex network of Force Arts.

 Chapter 1681 Curiosity

    "Youбн"

    Hearing Leonel speak to the White Lion Bow in such a way, an undisguised fury lit in the eyes of the three young men.

    Discarding the White Lion Bow? Forcing it to be obedient? What kind of ridiculously arrogant words were these? No, it was even worse than that, it was blasphemy of the highest order and it only seemed to confirm the speculation about the dubious methods by which Leonel gained control over the White Lion Bow.

    Unfortunately for them, Leonel was still not listening to them, his mind entirely focused on the Force Art before him.

    At that moment, the Force Art surged forward, fusing with Leonel''s eyes before he could properly react to what was going on.

    A rush of information flooded Leonel''s mind, but more importantly, he felt a rush of energy flood into his eyes, winding in a feedback loop between them and his brain again and again. Every time the energy revolved, Leonel felt that his vision became clearer. In just a few seconds, his vision was as strong as when he used the Starry Tailed Fox''s eyes despite the fact he hadn''t activated it.

    Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow. Was this a reward of the Bow Pagoda? Wasn''t it supposed to give out techniques?

    But just as Leonel thought this, the rush of information in his mind consolidated and formed a nameless technique. It worked by forming a Force Art in the irises with the use of Bow Force. This Force Art would thus gather all the Force in the surroundings and funnel it toward your eyes, making it possible to see further.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. All things considered, to most people, this technique was hyper useful. In fact, even to him, it could be considered so. Although his Internal Sight would probably still be more useful, this technique had its own applications.

    However, all things considered, he wasn''t too overly excited about it, it was just alright.

    Still, while his own reaction was benign, the reaction of the three youths was vastly different from just this. In fact, they felt like their worlds were being flipped upside down.

    Leonel might be ignorant about what was happening here, but how could they be?

    All of the pagodas of the Void Palace had a single line connecting them: the Domain Ring Heirlooms. There was one pagoda in the Archery Faction, one in the Spear Faction and one in the Sword Faction. These were the three pagodasбн At least they were the three that remained.

    It was said that many years ago, before even the establishment of the Void Palace, the ultimate reward of these Pagodas were, precisely, the Domain Rings. Thanks to these pagodas, the Spear Domain, Sword Domain and Bow Domain Rings were all claimed by the human race.

    Unfortunately, also during an event many years ago, the Tarius family lost their Bow Domain ring, severing the inheritance of the pagoda. This meant that while one could climb the pagodas and receive its rewards, its ultimate reward would forever elude you.

    This was the harsh reality. Without the Bow Domain Ring, it was simply impossible to gather the full inheritance.

    However, even with this being the case, the pieces of the inheritance were still greatly sought after. Only one person could ultimately have the Bow Domain Ring, after all. So for everyone else, cobbling together these pieces of the inheritance was the greatest boon that they could hope for.

    The troublesome part was that gaining these pieces was far too difficult, difficult to the point that it was impossible for those that didn''t awaken the Bow Domain Lineage Factor. But due to the loss of the Bow Domain Ring, the number of individuals who awakened this Lineage Factor in each subsequent generation was continuously lessening.

    And yet, today, someone who had the Spear Domain Lineage Factor had actually succeeded? How was that possible?!

    The worst part was that Leonel didn''t even seem to be showing any happiness at all, he looked completely unimpressed. If it wasn''t for the fact they couldn''t attack him personally, they would have stormed forward to strangle him to death with their own hands.

    Before they could say anything further, Leonel''s platform surged forward, vanishing into the second floor.

    The three grit their teeth, turning their attention toward their own trials. They had to hurry up and catch up. If they didn''t, who would stop him?

    A helpless light flashed in their irises. Even if they caught up, how would they stop him exactly? This felt like all those years ago when that woman charged into the Archery Faction and took the White Lion Bow away under everyone''s eyes.

    There were rules they all had to follow. Gatekeeping things like this was impossible. Even if the Morales family and the Suiard family allowed their pagodas to stay here, so what could they say if Leonel gained all the pieces of the inheritance?

    If they complained, wouldn''t people say that they only left the pagodas here as long as no one actually used them for their intended purpose? By then, what would be the point in leaving these pagodas here at all?

    Leonel couldn''t be bothered with the thoughts of the three as he was entirely focused on the trials. Although he was uninterested in what was the first reward, he wanted to see if there was anything better waiting for him ahead.

    To do this, he realized that he would have to reach the highest standards for each of these tests, but he wasn''t very worried about doing this. Compared to all of his other abilities, what he was maybe the most confident in was his throwing ability. If there was a second, it was his archery.

    If there was a standard to be reached here, he would definitely reach it. It was that simple to him.

    He completed the second trial even faster than he had in the first, watching as the second pillar of light descended before him with a hint of curiosity.

 Chapter 1682 Sixth

    The Force Art actually rushed toward Leonel''s eyes again. He could feel as the Force ran from his eyes to his brain and back again. The process was the exact same as last time, but the results were different.

    The first time, Leonel felt that his vision became far sharper than it had in the past, and this time, this was somewhat what happened as well. But this wasn''t all that happened. It felt as though he could suddenly see on a different wavelength.

    Not only could he see the visual light spectrum, but he could now also see in the infrared light spectrum. This was a step more useful to Leonel than just sharper vision would be, and there were even applications of it that would be far more useful than just Internal Sight would be.

    Still, it wasn''t enough to be groundbreaking. However, the step up from the last reward made Leonel perk up. He really wanted to see just how far this would go.

    When he passed the third trial, he gained not just infrared vision, but something similar to x-ray vision. From what Leonel understood about light waves, x-ray vision, at least taken in the most literal sense, wouldn''t work properly.

    X-ray waves were too rare in the world to be used like other waves of light could. This would mean that someone with x-ray vision would have to be both an x-ray wave emitter and receptor. Even if a higher Dimensional individual wouldn''t have to worry about the side effect of cancer, acting as both an emitter and receptor would make the ability useless.

    In practice, this would mean that Leonel would have to emit waves first and then rush to the other side of his enemy to see what came out of the other side. Even though he could theoretically do this if he relied on his Starry Light Domain, it was simply too ridiculous to use in battle, especially since the best application of this vision would be to spot things he didn''t know were there in the first place.

    How would he run to the other side of something he wasn''t aware of the existence of?

    This was why Leonel was sure this so-called x-ray vision worked based on different principles. If he was correct, it likely relied on detecting and using higher forms of Light Force.

    Regardless of what principles it worked on, it was yet another step up. All three of the abilities worked together well, but what somewhat irked Leonel was that they didn''t seem to be willing to fuse into a true whole. He felt that if this happened, there would be a qualitative change.

    Unfortunately, what Leonel was hoping for wouldn''t happen precisely because of the fact the Bow Domain Ring no longer existed in the Human Domain. Without it, how could these abilities fuse into the true Bow Domain Lineage Factor?

    Still, Leonel continued. Although he couldn''t fuse these techniques, he could still somewhat force them to work in tandem using his control over his body. Together, they were far more useful to Leonel and it was enough to bring a smile to his face.

    When Leonel stepped into the fourth trial, he found that the difficulty increased somewhat and the frame of time he could use his bow construct for was drastically lowered, but he still managed to achieve the highest honors with relative ease.

    When he received the reward, Leonel found that the world around him changed. Just looking around, he could see Force flowing through the air.

    It felt quite surreal. Usually, Force could only be seen in high concentrations. This was because Neutral Force, the most ubiquitous kind of Force and it was colorless and transparent. It was only when someone with an affinity called forward a particular kind of Force and increased its concentration, or more often, expelled it from their bodies, would Force be visible to the naked eye.

    But right now, Leonel was certain that this was what he was seeing.

    He didn''t see it in colorбн But it was almost as though he could feel it.

    It was difficult to explain. The Neutral Force was still colorless, and yet Leonel still felt like he could "see" it.

    Leonel rushed forward to the fifth trial, finally feeling somewhat agitated.

    When he passed it, his sense of Neutral Force became fiercer. When he looked down at his arm, he could see the flow of Force flowing through him. It was like his x-ray vision had suddenly progressed to the point where he could observe the flow of Force within the bodies of others.

    Leonel''s heart skipped a bit. If the first trial''s rewards were easily shrugged off by him, this was an absolute game changer. If this ability was paired with his Ability Index, his predictive abilities would reach a completely different level.

    So long as he saw an individual circulate a technique once, he would know exactly when they would use it again. In fact, just with a glance, so long as someone used a technique that he was familiar with, he would be able to copy it.

    Others who might have gained this ability would have no chance at doing this. The network of Nodal Pathways and Nodes in bodies of everyone was different, it was a complex net that was impossible to tease apart at a glance, and it only became more complex as one rose through the Tiers.

    However, with his mind, would this be a problem for Leonel?

    Leonel rushed into the sixth trial and finally began feeling some pressure. Targets rotated all around him with no sense of reason or thought, it was the picture of chaos. Even after several minutes, Leonel couldn''t find any patterns.

    Without a choice, Leonel could only use a brute force method, shooting his arrows so fast that the erratic movements of the targets didn''t have a chance to dodge out of his way. For the first time, Leonel didn''t manage to hit the targets exactly in their center, but he had adjusted for enough error that it didn''t matter.

    A slight sweat fell from Leonel''s brows as he faced the pillar of light once again. An even more complex Force Art took shape.

 Chapter 1683 Predict

    The Force Art surged into Leonel''s eyes once again, a familiar loop quickly taking form. By this point, the similarities to the Spear Domain Lineage Factor were all too obvious. But the difference here was that while the changes to his brain for the spear were related to his body, reflexes and muscles, for the bow, they were entirely reliant on his eyes.

    When Leonel looked around this time, however, he couldn''t help but be shocked. It suddenly felt as though a two-dimensional world had become three-dimensional. It was such a shocking change that Leonel had to close his eyes, only to open them up again slowly and see an even more exaggerated result.

    It was obvious that the world was three-dimensional, this was something that everyone accepted from the time they were young. However, just because the world was three-dimensional didn''t mean that the eyes saw it this way.

    What was three-dimensional to the eye of an individual was just a feedback loop of lighting and shadows, when in reality, all one could ultimately see was a single flat surface.

    It couldn''t be helped, vision was simply always limited in this way. A person could only face a single direction at a time and even if you had the full scan of an object in your memories, you couldn''t stitch them together to form a new and more substantial representation.

    However, these eyes were different. Leonel could tell that it was no longer a trick of his mind convincing him that the world was three-dimensional. For the first time, he truly felt that the world had depth, not just due to shadows and lighting, but in a more substantial reality.

    When Leonel looked at his hand, it was as though the photons that bounced around it curved in a way that he could see the front, back and sides of it all at once. His mind would then process this image like a three-dimensional graphic designing software and create a perfect replica that would then become the "image" he saw in his mind.

    It wasn''t just his hand that was like this either. Whether it was the platform he stood on, the bow in his hand, or the targets in the distance, all of them were like rendered images in Leonel''s brain.

    It was a fascinating overload of information. It felt like his eyes were taking snapshots at every conceivable angle and then stitching them all together into a single global image. It was likeбн his eyes had become Internal Sight.

    Leonel knew that this was an ability that Internal Sight had long ago, but somehow, this felt so much different.

    In reality, if things were taken at face value, Internal Sight was even better. This was because while Internal Sight was called as such, it could translate the other senses to the mind of the user as well. Whether it was smell or touch or hearing, Leonel could use them all though his Internal Sight. However, these eyes only worked with sight and sight alone.

    That said, not all sight was created equal. This was proven just by the fact that Leonel''s Starry Spirit Domain was so much more powerful than his Internal Sight despite having a smaller range. Some things could just "see" better than others.

    And these eyes were definitely beyond his Internal Sight in pure sight alone. However, it was beneath his Starry Spirit Domain in the same respect.

    Even so, Leonel wasn''t disappointed by this for two reasons.

    Firstly, with the advancement in his sight, these eyes could see further than his Starry Spirit Domain could. In addition, the stamina drain that it had was far lesser as well. It took a lot out of Leonel to use the full scale of his Starry Spirit Domain, which was why he often only used a small portion of it. But these eyes seemed to work almost no differently from his own eyes.

    The only pain of these eyes was that they didn''t stack well with the previous abilities he had gained. If he wanted to use them one at a time, there was no issue. But if he wanted to forcefully use them together, then the stamina consumption would increase.

    Leonel was even more certain that these abilities were meant to be fused into one. In fact, he was sure that if they did fuse, the stamina consumption might even be less than it currently was when he used just a single ability.

    That aside, the second reason he wasn''t disappointed was because he had a feeling that this was just the beginning. The next ability, the seventh, would be a qualitative change. That, he was absolutely certain of.

    When Leonel entered the seventh trial, however, he could only frown. He stood in silence for a long time before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths.

    This trial was even more complicated than the last.

    In the previous trial, the targets were erratic and impossible to predict the movement of. They didn''t have the mannerisms of humans so Leonel couldn''t use his predictive abilities to guess where they would go, and because they had no mass, there was no inertia or momentum for them to care about.

    With these factors compounded, Leonel could only use a brute force method, tiring himself out by putting his 100% into every single release of his bowstring.

    One could imagine how difficult the trial had been if Leonel, even with his current strength, was tired out in doing so.

    But this trial here, if the last one was difficult, was absolutely impossible.

    Not only did it have the exact same structure, but it added a layer of complexity: changing colors.

    ? Leonel''s task was to take out the red orbs. If he accidentally hit the green ones, he would lose one of his three lives. If he accidentally hit a blue orb, he would lose immediately.

    The difficulty here was that the color of the orbs was not fixed, they could randomly change their colors at any time seemingly without rhyme or reason. It was even more difficult to predict than their flight paths.

 Chapter 1684 Flow

    Leonel really didn''t know what to do about this.

    If he ignored his already drained stamina and tried to brute force it once again, he would have to rely entirely on luck, and not just any normal amount of luck, but an obscene amount.

    If there was a fifty-fifty chance, Leonel might be willing to try it even though it would be a bit foolish. But after just a glance, even though he couldn''t calculate the exact number, he knew the odds were lower than one in a thousand. In fact, just saying one in a thousand was probably underestimating the difficulty of this trial far too much.

    Until this point, the trials hadn''t been too complex, but they would slowly add wrinkles step by step to make it more difficult. Up until now, the first few wrinkles had already been putting pressure on him, but his skill as a bowman had allowed him to make it through.

    By the time he got to the sixth trial, however, his skill alone already wasn''t enough and he wasn''t even certain of how many trials there were left.

    From Leonel''s calculations, he would have to be at least Tier 4 to brute force this trial, and there was also no guarantee that these trials didn''t increase in difficulty with his own prowess. In fact, he had a feeling that the only reason he could brute force a complicated trial like the sixth at all was because he was so much more powerful in comparison to his peers of the same level.

    But now it was impossible. The only chance, then, was to find a different method.

    These trials wouldn''t be designed with a chance at victory. This meant that there was a certain skill necessary to reach this point.

    In truth, if Leonel wanted just the normal rewards associated with these trials, he wouldn''t be so tired right now. But there was only one goal he had in mind at this point: gain the greatest reward available.

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly snapped open. "That''s it."

    Leonel exhaled, the simulation his mind had been going through coming to an end.

    The best predictor of future success was past success. After several moments of having no breakthroughs in finding a path out of this trial, Leonel instead decided to replay the other trials in his mind with a specific focus on the sixth. What he found made his eyes light up.

    When he looked at things in the sixth trial through normal eyes, there really was no pattern of flight. However, when Leonel filtered it through the reward of the sixth trial, everything changed.

    In a two-dimensional perspective, there really was nothing to be seen. But from a three-dimensional perspective, everything changed.

    The flight paths were very cleverly designed to hide this from Leonel, especially since his Internal Sight was sealed away after the third trial was completed.

    When Leonel realized this he replayed the fifth trials and backward in his head, applying the new abilities he gained from them and he realized the truth. It seemed that the easiest method to make it through these trials was to somehow gain an inkling into what the ultimate reward for the trial would be. Only in that way could you find a path out.

    But this was easier said than done, even for Leonel. Still, he had one method in his back pocket. He would use all of the rewards he had gotten until now at once.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. Deep within their pale violet hues, a glass-like Force took shape, making one feel as though they were looking into a mirror when they faced him.

    Leonel layered all of the rewards on top of one another.

    Sharpened vision. Infrared vision. X-ray vision. Force vision. Force Flow vision. Three-dimensional vision.

    Leonel''s gaze watched it all, layering the feedback atop of one another and forcing himself to take in every detail. Others might find themselves overloaded quickly, but this was what Leonel felt he was best at.

    His pupils danced back and forth, taking in every target one after another, looking for something, anything.

    He observed the targets from all angles, from above, from below, from the sides. Red veins pulsed within the whites of his eyes and his focus was unprecedented and unmatched. He didn''t seem to notice the throbbing at all.

    Slowly, the movements of the circular orbs of lights and their flickering colors became rainbow colored lines in Leonel''s vision. He layered their paths on top of one another, building a maze of networks in his head that became more and more complicated with every passing moment.

    And then, it all seemed to slow.

    Something in Leonel''s mind seemed to snap and he raised his bow.

    His movements were quick and sharp, but also fast and steady. Every time he realized another arrow, it was as though he was simply releasing a breath, his chest moving up and down in a steady rhythm.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    бн

    On the outside, a shocking change was taking place. The pagoda that always seemed to fluctuate between three and twelve floors had been frozen.

    The three youths, Mallael, Cras and Kysen had all been kicked out after the fourth trial, but currently, the pagoda was showing seven. Previously, he had steadily risen from four to its current stage now, leaving the Archery Faction in silenceбн because they all knew exactly what this meant.

    Those of the Bow Deity Party looked on with ugly expressions. They had already heard the news from the three youths who had exited so they knew exactly who was inside, but they could do nothing about it.

    However, when the pagoda switched from seven floors to eight, a tsunami rushed through the Archery Faction.

    бн

    Leonel exhaled a breath, his gaze sharp. Slowly, the changes due to absorbing the Force Art made themselves known. At first, he was still calm, but after a while, even his eyes could only widen.

    For a very long while, even with his intelligence, he couldn''t quite explain just what he was seeing. And in the end, he felt that only one word was appropriateбн

    Flow.

 Chapter 1685 Different

    Leonel felt like he currently saw the world like a row of dominoes. He could spot a change in one location and watch the chain of results that would end in a completely random location, one that could be hundreds of meters away from the original location, or even end in the same exact spot it started.

    The feeling was novel. It almost felt as though he was reading a book filled with tropes, so much so that each ending was so obvious that he could predict it so long as he read a page or two.

    The entire world had suddenly become like the pages of a book, a feeling that ironically took the third-dimensional vision he had just gained and concentrated it back into the two-dimensional. But this time, rather than flattening the image, it just made his sight transcend to a different level entirely, a level that made reading the chains of cause and effect feel no different from reading the lines of a novel.

    Everything stacked together into one, layers of images being stitched together into a beautiful tapestry that read no different from a timeline of events. Every time Leonel reached the end of this timeline, his heart would hitch as though what would happen next was lingering on the tip of his tongue, as though he was just a measure away from peering into the secrets of a timeline that was beyond what he had and was experiencingбн transcending into a timeline that he had yet to experience.

    Leonel stood in silence for a long time. It was obvious to him at this point where this was going. In fact, if this was the core of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, it was no wonder that his talent with the bow was so high.

    When it came to reading events and predicting the most likely outcomes, there were very few in existence that could match him in this regard at the same strength level. There might be some old monsters out there with a Dimensional Tier far beyond his own that had far greater control over such things, but Leonel was quite certain with all things being equal, there were probably very few people that could match him in this regard.

    If the evolution path of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor was like this, then a lot of things made more sense. When it was fused with Leonel''s Ability Index, it made it feel like he was reading the mind of the universe, watching its pages slowly turn.

    Leonel had a feeling that if his sight could encompass the whole of the universe, there would be nothing that he couldn''t see through. But this was just a fleeting thought. Even someone of the Ninth Dimension wouldn''t be able to do such a thing. The expanse of the universe was far too large. Even covering just a single solar system all at once was probably impossible, let alone a galaxy, and most definitely not a Sector, Domain or entire universe.

    Still, this made Leonel wonder. Just how many people had made it this far? How many of them had the eyes he had right this moment? Or, more importantly, how many had awakened the Bow Domain Lineage Factor from birth?

    Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but flicker.

    This Lineage Factor in the hand of a true talent would be extremely fearsome. It taught him one very important thingбн There were still things in the Dimensional Verse that he shouldn''t dare to underestimate.

    It would be foolish of him to believe that he was the only one to have ever benefited from this pagoda. There were definitely others, and there might be many of them.

    He had come here blindly, but there were those who might have already benefited from understanding inklings about it ahead of time. There might even be some techniques that can replicate a portion of the abilities of his partial Bow Domain Lineage Factor.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel smiled and relaxed.

    He was a victim of something very human just now: anxiousness and greed. He worried about others benefiting from something he would have liked to monopolize, but what good was that selfishness right now?

    For Leonel, this feeling was a bit new as well. He could feel himself changing ever since he made that choice to take Aina over the world.

    It wasn''t just that, but it was a subtle difference that also resulted from the Emperor''s Might Tablet. That said, between the two, it was obvious that the former was more important while the latter was merely supplemental. In fact, Leonel had a feeling that had he not made that choice, he wouldn''t have been able to command the tablet to come to himбн

    Whether these changes were good or not, he didn''t know. But what he did know was that he would make this choice again no matter what happened from here on.

    Almost nothing was worth Aina in his eyes.

    ''Now that I know your secrets, do you think you can stop my steps?''

    A grin spread across Leonel''s face. He hadn''t let the weight of the world stop him once before, so how could a measly tower others had already climbed stop him?

    He stepped into the eighth floor, raising his bow, his eyes flashing with a glass-like light.

    From the eighth floor to the twelfth, he didn''t pause a single moment, his bowstring constantly vibrating.

    The twang of his bowstring and the resonating cry of his bow echoed again and again, stacking atop of one another without pause or rest.

    The youths on the outside could only watch as the Bow Pagoda slowly grew from the eighth floor, to the ninthбн and then the tenthбн and then the eleventhбн

    The pagoda trembled wildly, a resplendent pulsing light shooting up into the skies.

    This was a scene that happened all too rarely, a scene that hadn''t been seen in just over a decade, a scene that happened a rare few times every century.

    But this time, it was very differentбн This time, it wasn''t a member of the Bow Constellation Alliance, but ratherбн a member of the Morales family.

 Chapter 1686 Rippling Image

    Leonel closed his eyes, basking in the familiar feedback loop from his brain to his eyes and back again.

    The Eighth Floor had given him slowed vision. It was almost as though the frames by which he saw the world in were multiplied several times over and filtered through his brain one by one at such a fast pace that it gave the illusion that everything was actually slowing in his eyes.

    The Ninth Floor gave him what he could only describe as space eyes. Rather than seeing things move in space, he could see space itself. The world became like multiple planes of space stacked on top of one another and he could follow the ripples within it. It felt like he was watching the cause and effect of the foundation of physics itself.

    When observing the spatial planes, even the tiniest of movements couldn''t escape him. Let alone watching muscle fibers, he could see the impact of what someone had done and the effect that would have one what they would do. He could see a person''s strength simply by the virtue of the impact they had on the world around them and he could even experience the kinds of Force this person could put into action.

    The Tenth Floor flattened everything, concentrating it all into a single plane. If the Sixth Floor allowed him to see in three-dimensions, the Tenth simplified it all, concentrating it into not two-dimensions, but just a single dimension.

    This simplification allowed Leonel to process greatly complex images in a single glance. If he was mortal, optical illusions and tricks of the mind would have become useless against him. However, with his current strength, this meant that he could see through real illusions with a single glance. Nothing designed to trick his eyes could possibly work.

    But this wasn''t all. When the Spatial Eyes of the Ninth Floor and the Single Line Eyes of the Tenth were combined, Leonel could shrink space with his eyes.

    What did this mean? It essentially meant that rather than being limited to seeing in a linear fashion, with the starting point being his eyes and the end point being a certain location in the distance, he could shrink space with his vision and choose a starting point that was much further ahead.

    For example, the current limit of Leonel''s vision was about 100 kilometers of crystal clear image. This was thanks to the First Floor''s rewards and it was already excellent. But if he wanted to see something 101 kilometers away, it would be far too blurry to make out.

    However, if he shrunk space with his vision, he could make the starting point 100 kilometers away from himself and see up to 200 kilometers away!

    Of course, the weakness of this ability was that everything from 0 to 100 kilometers would become a blur as a tradeoff. But this ability could be greatly useful depending on the circumstances.

    The Eleventh Floor, though, made these rewards seem minimal and fleetingбн

    Time Eyes.

    The reward of the fourth floor allowed Leonel to see things not only in the three-dimensions clearly, but also gain insight into the fourth-dimension.

    According to Earth''s theory of relativity, there were four dimensions that dictated all things, three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. The faster one moved in relation to light through the three dimensions of space, the slower you would move through the fourth dimension of time in the eyes of others.

    The Eleventh Floor''s time eyes culminated all of the previous floor''s eyes into one, allowing Leonel to use his vision to play with the laws of relativity and make the sights he was seeing relatively slower to himself.

    What did this mean? Simply put, when his time eyes were activated, the movement of others would become far slower, increasing his ability to see through their methods, actions and react to them far faster.

    Eventually, this all led to the Twelfth Floorбн

    Among all of the given abilities aside from the first floor''s, this was probably the simplest. Simply put, it allowed Leonel to emit Force from his vision.

    By this point, after everything the other floors had given, one might feel that this reward was far too lackluster to represent the pinnacle of this Lineage Factor. However, Leonel did not believe this at all. In fact, he felt that this reward was truly worthy of being the final reward.

    If he was correct about how he could apply this, let alone his archery, all of his abilities would take a qualitative leap forward given time. The only unfortunate part was that he couldn''t fuse these abilities into one and had to waste a lot of effort and stamina stacking them all at once to make them as effective as they could be.

    The process finally came to a stop and Leonel exhaled, slowly opening his eyes.

    ''That should be itбн'' Leonel thought to himself, ready to leave.

    However, before he could do so, he froze.

    Before him, a rippling image began to form. As the image sharpened, so did his own pupils. When Leonel understood what he was seeing, his heart skipped a beat.

    In the rippling image, a young man sat in silent meditation. He looked like a statue carved out of the finest gems, so beautiful that he didn''t seem like a living being. Every part of him was perfect. Not a single strand of hair was out of place, there wasn''t a single blemish to be found on his skin, not a single wrinkle to be found in his clothing.

    Seemingly sensing that he was being observed, the young man slowly opened his eyes, looking forward toward what seemed like empty space until he locked eyes with Leonel.

    Leonel didn''t need to think to know what had happened. This young man''s vision had crossed countless light years, using the tenth floor''s space shrinking ability to land directly on him.

    Despite this, Leonel calmly looked through the ripples, knowing that he couldn''t accomplish what the young man had. However, this time, he wasn''t focused on the young man''s looks. Instead, he was looking at the ring on his finger.

    Even without ever having seen this ring before, he could still recognize it at a glance.

    The Bow Domain Ring was with a genius of the Spirituals.

 Chapter 1687 Sunken Eyes

    Leonel met the Spiritual''s gaze silently for a long while.

    The distance was simply too far away, he couldn''t tell anything about the latter''s strength or power, but his intuition told him everything he needed to know. This young Spiritual was powerful, probably far more powerful than anything the current Leonel could properly fathom.

    Leonel sent another gaze toward the ring on the Spiritual''s finger before waving a hand, allowing the image to vanish. At the same time, he felt the gaze of the Spiritual also vanish.

    Before this, Leonel wasn''t very obsessed with the Bow Domain Ring. The greatest use the Spear Domain Ring had to him was providing weapons and teaching him the way of the spear. But currently, he felt that his own bow was already good enough and would be for a long while. As for teaching him the way of the bow, he was too confident in his own abilities to care much about it. After all, he could form Seventh Dimensional Bow Force whenever he wanted.

    But this experience piqued his curiosity. He was very much interested in getting his hands on that ring now. Unfortunately, it seemed that it would take quite some time and effort to reach that point. There wasn''t much he could do about it.

    For now, though, he was content. The pieces of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor were very useful to him, it almost made him consider the Spear Domain Lineage Factor to be quite useless. Truthfully though, the Bow Domain Lineage Factor just matched better with him.

    The Spear Domain Lineage Factor did help Leonel a bit. It gave him a stronger and more robust body. It also allowed his Spear Force to be a measure stronger than if he didn''t have it. After all, there was a reason his Spear Force was gold instead of the normal colorless to white Spear Force others had.

    However, compared to the synergy he had with the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, it was akin to night and day.

    In the hands of someone else, the Bow Domain Lineage Factor would be quite lackluster. Ultimately, it just helped you see further, see more, and witness fast events at a slower rate. If you lacked the ability to process these things and react fast enough, what use was it? In fact, to most people, the Bow Domain Lineage Factor was just a somewhat weaker and more limited form of Internal Sight.

    Only when it was in the hands of someone like Leonel or an extremely talented archer would it display its true strength.

    Still, Leonel slotted this matter in the back of his mind. He wanted to see if there was anything he had missed with his Spear Domain Lineage Factor.

    If Leonel was correct, while the Bow Domain Lineage Factor relied on the eyes to display its strength, the true strength of Spear Domain Lineage Factor was found in two wordsбн

    Controlled Range.

    It was only upon understanding these two words so long ago that Leonel''s Spear Force was able to break through its shackles, and it was also because of these two words that his Absolute Spear Domain formed as a layer of protection for him in battle.

    The key to the bow was in its effective range, but the key to the spear was in dominating a sphere of influence on a battlefield.

    ''Interestingбн Maybe if I enter the Spear Pagoda it''ll be more obvious. The Bow Domain Lineage Factor is so clear to me now precisely because I understand the bits and pieces that form its foundation, but I was immediately given the Spear Domain Lineage Factorбн I''ll consider it.''

    Leonel stepped outside of the Bow Pagoda, feeling the brightness of the artificial sun on his skin. Standing there, the glassy look hidden deep within his irises sparkled like a white crystal, radiating a rainbow of colors.

    With a thought, Leonel''s vision adjusted and his focus returned, finding an enormous crowd of individuals standing before him. Among them, there was a familiar trio in Mallael, Craes and Kysen.

    Those around them had respectful expressions. Clearly, they were among the few who were just beneath those right under the Cataclysm Generation. This was apparently enough for them to garner a ton of respect although they could hardly make it to the fourth floor.

    Of course, this wasn''t necessarily true. Because of Leonel, the target of the Bow Pagoda changed and the difficulty increased to coincide with the minimum requirements for distribution of the Lineage Factor. As such, they suffered defeat far earlier than they usually did.

    Unfortunately, that truth did nothing to help them feel better.

    Leonel directly ignored them and scanned the crowd until he found Aina who was seemingly enjoying the show. He could only shake his head, he definitely had to teach this beauty a lesson later. Where was her sense of protection for her future husband?

    Leonel''s took a step and flickered and vanished, catching the crowd off guard. They had originally wanted to see how he dared to walk out of here, but when they caught sight of him again, he had already flashed by them all, appearing by Aina''s side.

    "Come on, there''s nothing fun here anymore."

    Aina smiled and shook her head. How was leaving here going to be so easy?

    At that moment, a looming aura appeared to Leonel''s back. He was a very skinny man, but he was still over a head taller than even Leonel.

    Across his chest there was a bow that was maybe the longest Leonel had ever seen, standing at least three and a half meters from tip to tip across its curve.

    The young man was pale but there was a deep darkness around his eye sockets, almost to the point it looked as though he had drawn around his eyes with a dark black marker.

    These sunken eyes of his, though, were incredibly sharp, sharp to the point that most shuddered just looking into them.

    This young man was one they all knew quite well, Erlan Tarius, the younger brother of Nazag.

 Chapter 1688 Return It

    Leonel turned around and looked up to find Erlan looking down at him. The height difference was striking despite the fact the latter looked as though he just might be blown over by a strong gust of wind any time now.

    "Need something?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    "The White Lion Bow, return it."

    Erlan''s voice was quite soft, and despite the words he spoke, he even sounded quite shy. He sounded decades younger than he really was, almost like a prepubescent boy. But by a different token, his voice wasn''t particularly high pitched either. It was just a very odd feeling to give off for someone who was so tall.

    Leonel''s smile, though, didn''t fade when he heard this.

    "Even if I placed the bow right here, would you even be able to pick it up? Don''t you think it would be embarrassing if I planted the bow right in the middle of your Archery Faction and see how long it stayed in place?"

    Hearing Leonel''s words, fury danced in the eyes of the spectators. Leonel was smiling, but whether it was his words or the intentions behind them, both were incredibly vicious.

    If Leonel left the White Lion Bow here as he was asked and none were able to gain its acknowledgment, how embarrassing would that be for their Faction as a whole? They had already been lagging behind the Spear and Sword Factions for centuries and were only just starting to slowly catch up thanks to the existence of Nazag and the other Tarius family geniuses. But if this happened now, how hard of a blow would it be?

    "This isn''t something you need to worry about," Erlan responded. "Return the bow."

    Leonel continued to smile as he opened his mouth.

    "Piss off."

    The spectators shuddered. It was hard to believe that someone could say such a thing with a smile on their face, he didn''t even seem to be particularly angry and he also didn''t seem to take Erlan very seriously at all despite the latter''s Tier 8 strength.

    At that moment, Erlan''s expression darkened, though it was difficult to tell considering how black the bags under his eyes already were.

    "Are you sure that''s your answer?"

    "Are you sure that it was smart to get this close to a spearman when your main weapon is that bow?" Leonel replied with the very same smile.

    Erlan''s pupils constricted but Leonel''s fingers had already pierced outward. He could do nothing as watched those fingers touch chest, a violent pressure swirling around them.

    BANG!

    A hole was ripped through Erlan''s chest, through his ribs, ravaging his lungs and shattering his shoulder blade on the way out. The residual pressure was so strong that he shot backward even faster than he had come, sheering past the crowd and landing against the Bow Pagoda in the distance with a blood curdling crack.

    The Bow Pagoda didn''t so much as tremble, leaving Erlan''s body to take the full brunt of the blow.

    "20 years ago, one of you threatened me with declaring war on the Morales family if they found out that I claimed the White Lion Bow through inscrutable methods. But 20 years later, after you were unable to prove this, you just settled for asking for it back just because? Aren''t you embarrassed?

    "I don''t actually know much about the White Lion Bow or its history. What I do know is that it''s a present from someone I care quite a bit about and that''s reason enough for me to not return it to you.

    "What I can say, though, is that even if I didn''t have this reason, I still wouldn''t return it."

    Leonel flipped over his palm to reveal a gorgeous bow dancing with white-gold lights that bathed the surroundings in both a holy and oppressive aura.

    "You want a bow this beautiful to rot for all eternity in a glass case? How ridiculous."

    Aina watched Leonel''s back and couldn''t help but smile.

    Usually, Leonel would care to speak so many words. The root of it was that he had always disdained to explain himself, and talking too much to enemies was just an extension of that. Even when someone infuriated him, he would just prefer to pummel them into the ground.

    Now, though, he seemed to be quite talkative and she found it funny, mostly because when he spoke, he was really too good at pissing people off. How difficult was it to win an argument against someone who thought hundreds of times faster than you?

    At that moment, though, a suffocating aura flashed over from the distance. In fact, there wasn''t just one, there were two of them, each with presences that far surpassed the Sixth Dimension.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he looked up, quickly finding two characters landing atop a building adjacent to the public square.

    This wasn''t too surprising. If Leonel''s uncle and aunt oversaw the Spear Faction, then how could the Archery Faction not also have its own Seventh Dimensional powerhouses? The real question, though, was what were they doing here? Did they want to interfere as well?

    "Fighting in the Archery Faction is prohibited. All violators will be expelled and suspended from entry for 10 years. Please leave."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow, watching the two for a moment before smiling and nodding. Without another word, he took Aina''s hand and turned to leave. He had already gotten everything he needed out of the Archery Faction anyway. Although it was a bit unfortunate that he didn''t get to learn any specific techniques, any techniques here could also be found in the Void Library with some added effort.

    The Bow Deity Faction could only grit their teeth as they watched Leonel leave. They wanted to wipe the smirk off his face with every fiber of their being, but taking Erlan as an example, it didn''t seem that this would be a possibility for them.

    Their fury bubbled up inside them, causing the atmosphere to be greatly stifling, but in the end, no one did a single thing. It felt that the only hope was to wait for the decision of their leader, Nazag.

 Chapter 1689 Hair

    The two Seventh Dimensional overseers stood with their hands clasped behind their backs as Leonel left, but hidden flicker danced within their eyes as they did so. It was clear that they weren''t happy with this result either, but there was little to nothing that they could do about it. Attacking with their strength was another taboo of the Void Palace, they simply couldn''t do it.

    The both of them were also members of the Bow Constellation Alliance. One of them went by Abelion and the other went by Sankas. Although neither of them was a member of the Tarius family, they still held quite a bit of strength in their own right.

    Years ago, they could only watch the White Lion Bow be taken away by that woman. And now, her son had come by, seemingly to rub it in their faces. Suspending him for 10 years was about all that they could do, but Leonel didn''t seem to care about it at all.

    "Should we have really let him go like that?" Abelion asked.

    "And what were our other choices, exactly?"

    "This is already the second time you''ve given me that answer and it''s just as frustrating as the first time."

    "It is what it is. When someone climbs to the 12th floor, they''re allowed to try their chances at claiming the White Lion Bow. Before, his mother had done it for him, and we could have used that as a pretext to take it away from himбн if not for the fact that he seemed to be capable of using the bow just fine.

    "Some thought that it was because his father used some nefarious means, but we have no way of proving that, or at the very least, there''s no obvious method of doing so. And now that he''s legitimately climbed to the 12th floor on his own, there''s even less that we can do about it."

    The two fell into silence, their teeth silently clenched as their expressions remained unmoved.

    "The White Lion Bow is the last beacon we have of the Alliance''s former glory. Allowing it to fall into the hands of an outsider like this is a disgrace."

    These were the last words the two said on the topic, there was simply nothing else to be said.

    The White Lion Bow''s history wasn''t as complex as some thought. In fact, it was so simple that it could be summarized in a single lineбн

    It was the only bow the Alliance had from the Bow Domain Ring and the only one among them that they managed to keep.

    This bow was the last weapon used by the last human owner of the Bow Domain Ring, but since then, it has been unusable by those who came next, unwilling to acknowledge anyone. It represented a historic slight, a stain on their lineage, and a slap to their faces. At the same time, it was a reminder that they still had a mission to avenge this disgrace.

    And yet, now, this symbol of their pride was taken away by not just anyone, but a member of the Morales family. To say that this was a humiliation was an understatement.

    бн

    "You''re getting addicted to causing trouble," Aina teased.

    Leonel laughed. This time, it really wasn''t his fault. All he did was climb the tower, then some panda-eyed bastard asked him to return something his mother gave to him as a present. What was he supposed to do exactly? Give it back obediently?

    He knew that there was probably some special significance to this bow in his hand, but that wasn''t enough for him to change his mind about it. Plus, the so-called "nefarious" means they kept accusing him of using was all nonsense.

    They all assumed that his father had done something considering his skill in Crafting, forcing the bow to submit to him. If this happened, it would be an even worse humiliation than an outsider claiming the bow and it wasn''t something that they could accept, even to the point of being willing to declare war.

    However, there was no evidence of such a thing happening. In fact, Leonel himself knew that his father had never even seen him use the bow before. And by now, if the bow had been tampered with, although Leonel could say that he had caught up to his father in Crafting, he could at least say with confidence that he would know if a bow he was using had been tampered with.

    "I''m not going around looking for trouble, but I think I''ve stopped caring even if it comes for me."

    "Then what now?"

    "Of course we should go see auntie. I was accused of using facilities for free, wouldn''t it be an injustice if I didn''t take more advantage of this good deal?"

    Aina shook her head and rolled her eyes. This man was really becoming a villain.

    Leonel laughed and scooped up Aina''s small waist, vanishing in a flicker. With his speed, it was barely a few minutes before he made it to the Spear Faction''s territory.

    The Spear Faction had been in a poor situation when Leonel was last here, but from what he could see now, they had already recovered and then some. But this made sense. While the Spear Faction had lost the Stalwart Polearm Party after it was demoted to a Faction, it still had his six cousins.

    Plus, this information of Leonel''s was quite outdated. The Stalwart Polearm Party had already been recovered under the hands of First Nova. The Spear Faction was already flourishing with a great air.

    Just as Leonel was about to step into the faction, though, a booming crashing sound came from right before him.

    BANG!

    A familiar woman that looked as though she had just stepped out of a vat of oil landed heavily before Leonel. She was none other than Ness, Montez''s wife and Leonel''s aunt.

    Leonel smiled and went to greet her, but in return, he gained finger pinch to the earlobe.

    "36 500 000 Void Points! 365 Void Merits! Where''s my payment?!"

    Leonel blinked, feeling a pain spike through his ear and body. Where was the hello? How''ve you been? How about an "oh, you managed to survive, that''s great! I was worried about you!". Where was the justice?

    "About thatбкUncle Montez!" Leonel''s eyes lit up. "Help me!"

    Ness'' head snapped in the direction Leonel had looked in.

    "Whereбк!"

    Leonel slipped away, activating his Starry Light Domain, grabbing Aina, and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

    Ness was caught off guard before she grinned wildly.

    "You think you''ve grown a pair of balls, huh? Is your sack hairy enough to run from your aunt now?!"

    Leonel nearly snapped out of his light state when he heard this, coughing hard. Why were her words so vulgar?"

    "You think I can''t catch you?!"

    Ness, though, was caught off guard again, suddenly realizing that Leonel wasn''t running away from the Spear Faction, but was rather running into it. Before she could react, he had appeared by the Spear Pagoda and dove inside, leaving Aina outside.

    By the time Ness pivoted and caught up, she only found Aina standing with a sheepish smile, coughing lightly. Inwardly, though, Aina was cursing Leonel. This was definitely payback for her laughing at his misfortune before.

 Chapter 1690 First Floor?

    Leonel laughed to himself from within the pagoda, a bright smile on his face. He wasn''t too worried about Aina, since Ness was his aunt, the likelihood that she would truly do something to her was very low, not to mention the binding rules of the Void Palace even if she wasn''t. As for his reputation, he simply couldn''t be bothered to care. Since he was a rich silkpants, he would be a rich silkpants.

    There would eventually come a day where no one could be bothered to care about what happened here because his achievements would be far beyond their imagination.

    After he finished chuckling, Leonel looked around with a curious eye.

    This time, he had entered the pagoda alone, skipping over a few people who had been about to enter. Though he felt a bit bad about that, it couldn''t be helped. If he didn''t rush in, then he would be caught. Plus, if the Bow Pagoda was anything to go by, they could enter along with him even if he went in first.

    The surroundings, however, were different from the Bow Pagoda. Rather than standing on a platform in the depths of space, Leonel stood on a large plain that looked like an endless dirt path. The land was dry and smooth, filled with a greyish brown color.

    What was interesting, though, was that up above, there was once again an endless depth of space. It made it feel like the expanse of existence was peering down upon him, waiting to watch his performance.

    Leonel blinked, looking around for a moment until he suddenly felt the ground began to rumble.

    With a thought, Leonel''s Chain Spear appeared in his hand. However, rather than rattling like it usually did, it was surprisingly calm, eerily so, in fact. But even so, the rumbling of the ground only increased as he gripped his spear.

    Leonel looked down at his spear, finding it to be decidedly lifeless. It was completely unlike what he had experienced from its presence before. Even back when he had yet to learn about the Life Grade, he still felt more personality from his spear than he did now.

    ''Is this on purpose? It sucked all the spirituality out of my spear.''

    Ignoring the rumbling ground for a moment, Leonel flipped his palm and went through a series of spears, only to find that the feeling was exactly the same.

    Soon, he realized that the problem extended further than just his spears as well, even his Spear Force seemed more tame and languid as though it was struggling against falling into a deep sleep. This astonished Leonel all the more.

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly sharpened. He had wanted to experiment more, but at that moment, over the dusty horizon, the source of the rumbling ground was quickly coming into view.

    Horse hooves slammed against the ground, chariots rocked and swayed, their wheels spinning so fast that it seemed as though they might fall off at any time, and a valiant general stood atop a moving tower in the center of it all at the very peak.

    Despite a distance of easily three kilometers separating them even now, Leonel felt as though the general was looking right into his soul. Let alone three kilometers, it felt more like they were standing nose to nose, their eyes mere inches apart.

    A dust cloud rose into the air, a stifling, blood thirsty aura blanketing the skies to the point the depths of space and stars above almost turned a crimson red.

    Leonel stood in silence, his narrowed eyes relaxing and his expression becoming a dull cold. He could feel that everything was sealed away. The only strength remaining in his body was his Spear Force, but even that seemed to be quite weak. And now, he was facing an army made up entirely of Tier 1 existences.

    Was this really just the first floor trial? Or was it that things worked differently here? How was he supposed to defeat ten thousand experts without his full range of abilities? Especially since they were a well trained army?

    Leonel''s heart thumped in his chest, pushing against his ribcage and sending surges of blood through his limbs. Even before the army entered a kilometer range of him, his skin was flushed with a warm color, his gaze flickering with a deep battle intent.

    Whatever this trial was, it was designed to bring out the full potential of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. In that case, he might as well go all out and see what he could learn relying solely on it. As for whether this was just the first floor or not, it seemed that only time would tell him that.

    With a step Leonel began to walk forward slowly, his hair fluttering in the wind and his posture straight and unbothered. It didn''t seem as though he sensed the danger coming toward him at all as he kept his head high.

    A light smile spread across his lips as the ground continued to rumble.

    500 metersбн 400 metersбн 300 metersбн 200 metersбн 100 metersбн 50 metersбн

    Leonel took a breath, the scent of blood and carnage filling the air. For a moment, he had a fleeting thoughtбн could he die in these trials? This felt like his real body, after all.

    However, thinking to this point, he just grinned. For him to die, wouldn''t they have to take him down first?

    His blood rushed straight to his head and a crimson glow lit his eyes. Seemingly taken by the bloodthirstiness of the battlefield, his heart threatened to beat right out of his chest.

    And then, he took a strong step forward.

    BANG!

    A cyclone of Spear Force erupted around Leonel, crashing into the first line of the vanguard and shredding them into pieces.

    His palm opened and he reclaimed his chain spear, thrusting it forward with an undeniable momentum and skewering the chest of a stampeding horse before pulling upward and splitting its neck and head in two.

    He closed his eyes, basking in the slaughter.

    ''Show me what you can doбн''

 Chapter 1691 Freedom

    Leonel easily immersed himself in the carnage. He didn''t care for time or stamina, he simply pressed forward. Every time his spear shot out, another would die.

    However, after several hours, he realized that what he was doing was inappropriate. This trial was one that he was flying by, true enough, but he wasn''t getting what he needed to get out of it, and that was because of the one thing this trial couldn''t seal: his Ability Index.

    This was the problem that Leonel had always had. He could never fully rely on his Spear Domain Lineage Factor because his brain was too active and his Ability Index played too large of a role in his combat prowess. In fact, this was the reason the Bow Domain Lineage Factor seemed so much more powerful to him: it synergized with his Ability Index while the Spear Domain Lineage Factor did not. Or, more accurately, Leonel didn''t know how to allow it to synergize properly because he knew too little about the Lineage Factor, which was why he came here in the first place.

    Here, he found himself calculating exactly where to attack, who to attack first, and how to attack to ensure that he could deal with all of the enemies in his range the most effectively. While he was under a great disadvantage battling so many enemies at once, they were at a disadvantage because only so many of them could attack him at once given his size in proportion to their army. Taking advantage of that, with his Ability Index, it was far easier than it would be for most to deal with this situation.

    But this was likewise holding him back.

    Leonel inwardly shook his head. He had made a small breakthrough in this regard when he was battling Myghell for the first time.

    What had he decided on back then?

    Whenever he battled, he always brought out his trump cards one by one, building up to revealing his true strength so that he had more cards in his hands to catch his enemy off guard with. But when he took this approach, it also stifled his own potential. That approach to battling lacked confidence, it assumed inferiority, and it necessitated trickery over strength.

    It was one thing to battle with logic instead of instinct, but the way that he did it was a problem.

    Even after that breakthrough, Leonel still sunk back into his usual habits. After all, changing who a person was, even for him, was too difficult. He wasn''t as much of a machine as he thought he was, he too had his own tendencies, likes and loves.

    What was the key to fusing his logic and instinct? It was freedom, true freedom.

    What held him back all this time was his restraint. His logic often became a burden rather than a help to him.

    When he first stepped into the Dimensional Verse, he found it difficult to kill because he could logically deduce the value of a life.

    When he lost Aina it was his logic that cut her off for good and almost ended in him losing her forever.

    When he battled, it was his logic that held back his truest potential, only eking out bits and pieces of his strength at a time so that he''d always have something in reserve to pull out and catch an enemy off guard with.

    But what he hadn''t noticed was that this sort of mentality had seeped into the way he did everything.

    He still hadn''t fully reconnected with Aina. He subconsciously limited his own improvement because he never really pushed himself to the fullest extent to begin with. He even restricted his advancements and because of the so-called boredom this brought about.

    Leonel didn''t believe that his logic was truly a net negative, but it most definitely wasn''t a net positive, forcing him to stay stagnant and unmoving. It was like an underlying anchor pulling him down.

    Sometimes there just wasn''t a need to care so much. It was fine to be logical, but if it was also stunting your progress, how logical would that be? Sometimes it was better to be free, to be unrestrained, to let loose a bit.

    Leonel''s spear whistled through the air, his strikes becoming less structured, and his stamina draining much faster, all while the smile on his face seemed much broader.

    He wanted to find it. He had already touched the surface, but he needed to dig deeper, to find where that balance was. Between his instinct and his logic, where was the dividing line that would allow them to both shine the most optimally?

    In his fight with Myghell, just touching the surface of this had allowed Leonel''s Spear Force to undergo a qualitative change, giving him a crown and a bright gold Spear Force.

    His spear was relentless as his breathing became heavier and his sweat fell like a torrential rain.

    Those watching might think that he was insane. His fighting style until now had been so reserved, so perfect, so unblemished, but in the blink of an eye he had become so wild and unrestrained.

    He immediately suffered for it.

    His body, which hadn''t suffered even a single wound, began to split and bleed. Although his killing speed had skyrocketed, so had his stamina consumption. On top of that, the mistakes he made forced him into more and more dangerous situations he had no choice but to brute force his way out of.

    And yet, his grin only seemed to get wilder.

    Leonel could still remember the first time he stepped onto a battlefield without the guilt of human lives looming over his headбн it was that day in the Camelot Zone, faced with an army of demons he didn''t care to treat like he had humansбн

    For the first time, he was free, so light, so happy. His blood had boiled, his eyes had lit up, and his Force flowed more smoothly than it ever had before.

    And now, he could feel as though chains hidden deep within his body were loosening one after the other, the whispers of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor becoming like roars in his skull.

 Chapter 1692 Four Pillars

    Leonel''s spear danced in the wind, free and light. It didn''t seem to have a shape or form, moving as it pleased and reacting even faster. Its tip was like a shadow, vanishing beneath the sunlight and reappearing in the least obvious of places. Its shaft was like a flood dragon, roaring through the air and dancing beneath the clouds.

    His skill in the spear was just the same as it had been before he entered the pagoda. The strength of his grandfather''s comprehension was not small, and by grasping it, Leonel had already entered the elite ranks of spearman.

    However, what wasn''t the same was how his Absolute Spear Domain flowed around him.

    It blanketed the surroundings, moving like a living, breathing entity as it followed the cadence of his spear.

    By this point, Leonel had gained an entirely new understanding of the Absolute Spear Domain and how it connected with his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. As this connection deepened, he also came to understand that the reason he hadn''t been able to parse apart its true strengths was far more complex than he had originally thought.

    It wasn''t just his method of battle that was holding him back, nor was it just his Ability Index. In addition to these two things, another large factor that held him back was actually a magic system that he had come to love a great deal: Camelot''s Magic System.

    A lot of the mechanisms of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor overlapped with Camelot''s Magic System, namely the latter''s ability to control atmospheric Force and make use of it.

    The root of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was in Controlled Range. Everything within Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain could be considered to be an extension of his body, from sensory organs down to even Force itself.

    Within the barriers of the Absolute Spear Domain, the flow of Force was absolutely clear and it could be taken to give strength to the spear wielder. This helped bolster the strength of the spear: range and leverage.

    However, Leonel''s Mage Core gave him a very similar feeling, albeit slightly different. Due to his Mage Core being far more powerful due to the neglect of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, in addition to the other mentioned factors, the feeling was far too subtle even for him to pick up on.

    So was that all? Case closed?

    Not exactly, because much like the Bow Domain Lineage Factor had building blocks that seemed useless to the current Leonel at the moment, so too did the Spear Domain Lineage Factor. However, now that Leonel knew where the foundation lay and what it might build up to, seeing through the true strength of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was much easier, so that was exactly what he did.

    After he found the first thread, he began to pull, losing himself in an endless, bloody battle that stretched on from hours to days. He was seemingly relentless in his pursuit of the end of this thread, and that was when the first bits and pieces began to make themselves known.

    Leonel learned that the so-called foundation of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, which he had thought was the physical characteristics that allowed him to use the spear, was actually not the foundation at all. In fact, if he was correct, if he ever gained the full Bow Domain Lineage Factor, he would experience similar physical changes that would instead help him to use the Bow.

    This wrong conclusion had caused him to make the incorrect assumption, shielding him from the true abilities of the Lineage Factor.

    ? If there was a "first reward" for him to gain in this Pagoda, a reward he could have been given if not for the fact he already had the Lineage Factor to begin with, it would be ''Spear Aura''.

    This Spear Aura would allow Leonel to use his Spear like he did Internal Sight, blanketing a very small area which allowed his spear to be omnipresent.

    When this was accepted, just how similar was this to the Bow Domain Lineage Factor? Both improved the senses. One made his vision far sharper and the other also gave him a replacement for Internal Sight.

    Likewise, what was the final reward for the Bow Domain Lineage Factor? Wasn''t it the ability to emit Force at a location you gazed upon?

    Just like this, the final reward of this pagoda would likely be Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain which allowed him to directly manifest Force outside of his body.

    From this perspective, the two Lineage Factors were like mirrors of one another, working similarly.

    The question, then, was what were the steps in between? Between Spear Aura and the final Absolute Spear Domain, what were the building blocks that gave the Lineage Factor strength?

    And that was something that Leonel was able to finally grasp after five days of continuous fighting.

    To pressure. To redirect. To take. To attack. These were the four summarizing pillars of the Spear Domain Lineage Lineage Factor.

    To pressure.

    Within the Absolute Spear Domain, all other Forces were suffocated and stifled, falling under the rulership of Spear Force.

    To redirect.

    Within the Absolute Spear Domain, all Force that managed to remain were restricted in their control. First Forces lost their edge and docile Forces didn''t dare to move at all.

    To take.

    Within the Absolute Spear Domain, Forces could be co-opted and stripped away, melding into the rotating Spear Force to strengthen it or be used for a counterattack. Essentially, all Forces could be stripped down and turned into Spear Force.

    To attack.

    Within the Absolute Spear Domain, the spear could appear anywhere. Much like the eyes of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor could shrink space and manipulate the fringes of time, so too can a spear tip within the Absolute Spear Domain.

    Regardless of the situation, regardless of Leonel''s position, regardless of the attack''s position, so long as all related subjects were within the Absolute Spear Domain, the spear would find them.

    Leonel''s aura suddenly flourished, his demeanor shifting and his dead spear trembling to life.

    A roar shot through the skies, the rattling of the Spear Domain Ring becoming omnipresent as Leonel suddenly pierced forward.

    However, right at that moment, the general of the army appeared to his back having finally found an opportunity to attack.

    PCHU!

    The general froze, his spear risen high into the air.

    Leonel didn''t even look back, slowly retracting his spear as a bloody hole appeared between the general''s brows.

    The wildness in Leonel''s eyes faded, his breaths coming in deep, soothing heaves.

    From start to finish, he never turned to face the general.

 Chapter 1693 Theory

    Leonel exhaled, stepping out of the Spear Pagoda. He looked back to find a familiar pillar of light reaching into the skies, but he wasn''t surprised by this. He had realized a short way through the "first" floor that there was only one floor to be seen at all. His progress would be dependent on how many of the army that he had killed, but it turned out that he had killed them all.

    This was already enough for people to look at him as though he was some kind of monster, but what they didn''t know was that he had come here right from the Bow Pagoda without rest. The fact he still performed so well right afterward was shocking.

    It just went to show just what kind of changes Leonel''s body had undergone. Previously, his stamina would have long since been tapped out, especially with how wildly he had begun to battle near the end.

    However, with how much vitality he had squeezed into his body during the reformation of his Metal Body, his stamina couldn''t compare to the past. Even if he wanted to enter another two or three pagodas, he would still be able to perform optimally without drop off, and that didn''t consider the fact that he still had [Instant Recovery] that he had yet to use.

    The Spear Faction was already in an uproar due to the shocking changes of the Spear Pagoda, but when Leonel walked out, the shock was even more heavy.

    Leonel, though, was looking for something entirely different. He wanted to make sure that he didn''t run into his aunt again.

    Truthfully, after clearing the Spear Pagoda, he could enter the Spear Faction for free from now on. But he didn''t expect to be able to law-speak his way out of punishment. When one''s elders wanted to be unreasonable, you could only acquiesce.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel locked eyes with his aunt, prepared to run. But surprisingly enough, she didn''t seem very eager to run after him. She simply stood there, legs spread and arms crossed, watching with a smile.

    The trial of the Spear Pagoda had been cleared six times in this generation already by those of the Morales family. However, they had all done it after entering Tier 7. Leonel was the only one to face against it at Tier 1 and actually clear it in one go.

    Now, he was the seventh to clear it and the lights were actually extremely resplendent.

    The truth was that so long as you were in the Sixth Dimension, all of the warriors of the army you faced would be in Tier 1. Fighting 10 000 enemies of your level was a ridiculous ask for anyone, and as such, it wasn''t expected.

    But Leonel had actually entered at Tier 1 and faced that many enemies all on his own. It was truly shocking. There simply wasn''t a precedent for such a thing.

    Leonel didn''t look like he had changed much at all, which meant that he had entered and exited at pretty much the same strength level. That, in itself, was already shocking enough. Ness couldn''t help but wonder just what Leonel had experienced in the Zone.

    By this point, many stories had been traded and circulated about what many experienced in the Zone. Some gained opportunities, but there were many more who lived lives of suffering, this was especially so since everyone reported being unable to use Force or their Ability Indexes.

    Due to this limitation, many were forced to rely on their physical bodies alone. This was enough for them to survive in the wilderness as the geniuses of the Human Domain, but if they came across high class civilizations, they were pretty much all unilaterally thrown into slavery.

    For most, their journey came to an end just like this. They spent their days in humiliation, hoping and praying for a chance to escape.

    There were some who were able to turn this around. Using their status as servants and following after the rich and powerful, they picked up on bits and pieces of knowledge that could change their fates. They found new methods of applying their strength, new methods of Force usage, or enlightening Styles and the like.

    There were all sorts of stories. Some found valuable ruins, some located precious treasures, and some grasped valuable truths that would help them for decades into the future.

    Of courseбн There were also many who simply died, never to return again, pushed to the limit in what was ultimately a cruel world.

    There was something special that many noticed, though. Those who had World Spirits were unlike the others and had been able to use their Force just fine. This was a truth that was found after plotting the patterns of everything that had happened.

    As the gathering hub of talents of the Human Domain, the Void Palace had a large population of youths who were likewise World Spirit wielders. But such youths tended to be from weaker families as those from much more powerful families wouldn''t have such a chance. After all, in such well established families, the World Spirits were in the hands of the experts.

    But this led to an interesting change.

    Alongside the Cataclysm Generation, there was an inferior, but still powerful group of youths who had managed to rely on their World Spirits to gain far more from the Zone than most others had. However, interestingly enough, these youths had only just begun to appear more recently and they were, as such, lagging behind the members of the Cataclysm Generation who had returned much earlier.

    Due to this, it was very possible that these youths might even surpass the Cataclysm Generation given time.

    As this pattern began to unfurl itself, interesting theories began to crop up one after another.

    What did this all mean?

    Well, the later one returned, the closer they had been to Leonel in the Zone when he activated the return sequence. In that case, could it be that many of those youths who had gained great opportunities had all experienced the very same thing?

    Essentially, as Ness looked toward Leonel, the more she felt that there might be some truth to this theory. Could it be that all of these youths had experienced the same thing?

    In that caseбн didn''t that mean that there was a change coming very soon?

 Chapter 1694 Villain

    Leonel relaxed a bit seeing that his aunt wasn''t ready and waiting to devour him. But he shivered when he felt another gaze boring into him.

    Leonel coughed lightly, turning toward Aina slowly before forcing a smile. But then, as though a light bulb was going off in his head, his expression changed into a shocked one.

    "Ah! What a beauty! Ma''am, can you please tell me your name? I''ll remember it for a lifetime and cherish your sweet voice for eternity!"

    Aina was stunned for a moment before she rolled her eyes and began to walk away.

    Leonel ran after her, peppering her with all the corny lines he could think of.

    Try as she might, Aina found it too difficult to hold back her laugh under Leonel''s relentless barrage. Although she covered her mouth when it slipped out, it was already too late.

    Leonel grinned, sweeping her waist into his arm and ignoring her faux attempt at fighting back. As he saw it, this was a victory. He didn''t seem to care about the gazes he was getting either.

    "What do you want to do now?" Aina asked.

    Hearing such a question, Leonel bent down and whispered into her ear. She thought it was serious so she listened attentively at first, but the longer he went, the more red she seemed to become. However, even after she had become a ripe tomato, Leonel didn''t seem to have any intention of finishing his list.

    "Alright! Okay!"

    Aina pushed him away with two hands, blushing profusely. She couldn''t even repeat the things he had said, they were way too embarrassing.

    Leonel laughed. "There''s nothing to do until we get the rest of our Void Merits come the end of the month and there''s nothing of interest here to me outside of the Void Library. So unless you want to do something, we can just relax."

    "Nothing to do, hm?"

    Leonel shivered when he heard this voice, turning back to see his aunt. He could only smile sheepishly, trying to remain ingratiating. This woman was truly nothing short of a t-rex in female form. If she wanted to, she could probably run in a straight line through the Void Palace and never turn or climb up, nothing, whether building or natural landscape would be able to stop her forward charge.

    Toward such a woman that even his uncle feared, Leonel had to walk on eggshells.

    "In that case, you can start paying back what you owe the Spear Faction."

    Leonel opened his mouth to respond, but he was immediately cut off.

    "Don''t start the nonsense with me. Although you can enter for free now, that doesn''t change what you owed before. If you want to pay it back, you have to do some work or else how will I maintain order around her?"

    Leonel could only pout inwardly. He had really wanted to do all those dirty things he whispered into Aina''s ear, he had truly been a virgin for too long. But who knew that the moment that he had decided to go full speed ahead he would be stopped like this? This was one of the greatest injustices in the world.

    "Good, much better than that disobedient father of yours. Now, if you want to pay off your debtбн"

    Leonel blinked. At first, he was curious about the relationship between his father and aunt. Although he couldn''t tell by her looks, it felt like his aunt was far older than his father, which also meant that she was far older than his uncle as well. Who would have thought that his uncle would have been a cougar kind of man.

    However, as Leonel''s thoughts were drifting aimlessly, what his aunt wanted to do drifted into his ears and caused his eyes to twitch.

    "бн Come again?" Leonel asked.

    "Off you go. Don''t think of returning until you''ve done your task properly."

    Leonel was shooed away and Aina was actually forced to stay back. Leonel asked why, but he immediately regretted doing so.

    "You two little cubs want to baby-make before me? Absolutely not."

    Leonel could only cough while Aina glared at him through her blush. Clearly, she was blaming him for this. They both had methods of communicating in secret, but he had insisted on whispering into her ear for added effect. With the hearing of a Seventh Dimensional existence, what good was whispering? They had been completely exposed.

    Leonel turned and vanished with a strong step. It was best he get out of here as fast as possible so he wouldn''t have to find out whether Aina''s glare or his embarrassment would kill him first.

    As he moved through the Void Palace, he thought about what his aunt wanted him to do and shook his head. He really was a good person, not causing trouble and keeping his head down, but circumstances kept forcing his hand. This time, it truly wasn''t his fault.

    Well, this could be considered to be their fault as well. After all, if they hadn''t antagonized the Spear Faction so much of these last few years and caused his aunt to be so unhappy, this wouldn''t be happening either. So now, Leonel just had to uphold justice. There wasn''t anything else for him to do.

    Leonel sighed and shook his head. He really was a good guy, truly.

    To most people Leonel passed by he was nothing more than a blur, his speed reaching a level impossible to track for many Sixth Dimensional students, especially not those that could only be considered to be Galaxy Rank. Maybe only Sector Ranked disciples could hope to stand a chance.

    With another tap, Leonel appeared atop a large pillar, his actions immediately causing an uproar.

    "Hey!"

    "Get down from there! Who do you think you are!?"

    Leonel sighed again. Welp, here we go.

    Despite his expression, Leonel was giggling like a little girl in his heart. Sometimes, being a villain was fun. Why hadn''t he tried this out before?

    "Sword Faction trash!" Leonel''s voice boomed, echoing again and again over the large mountains of the Void Palace. "I''ve come to challenge you all!"

 Chapter 1695 Stalwart

    Leonel''s booming words traveled far and wide, so much so that many Factions outside of the Sword Faction heard his call. In fact, even the Spear Faction which he had just left heard him.

    Challenges between Factions wasn''t unheard of, but doing it like this most definitely was. Even when the Sword Faction had gone to antagonize the Spear Faction, they didn''t do it so openly and boldly. While they had appeared outside of the Spear Faction, they didn''t levy a formal challenge, all they did was wait and the sparks of battle happened naturally.

    Of course, doing even that was highly arrogant and it caused the fury of the Spear Faction. But back then, the Sword Faction had gained the upper hand especially with the fall of the Stalwart Polearm Party. The gap wasn''t enormous, but between such strong existences, just small differences were able to tip the balance.

    Now that the Sword Faction controlled the Senate, the treatment sword wielders received was just a margin better. This only became more exaggerated after the new tacit rule changes and the battle for missions became a more corrupt process.

    After the return of the Morales family Heirs, the situation had stabilized, but with the Stalwart Polearm Party still having been downgraded to a Faction and not having had the chance to return to their former glory, while the suppression had weakened, it hadn''t outright vanished just yet.

    Under this situation, there was only so much that the Morales family Heirs could do, especially when the Suiard family Heirs were just as powerful. The only difference between the Morales family and Suiard family was that they had chosen their Heir early on with Amery and as such they didn''t have a title like the "Seven Novas".

    After the Suiard family Heirs and the Morales family Heirs began entering the Seventh Dimension one after another, they became restricted by the rules of the Void Palace and were limited in their ability to interfere in such things.

    This ultimately left Valor as the only remaining member who could hold the line. But he was just one person and very soon, he too would enter the Seventh Dimension, leaving no one behind who could stop the rise of the Sword Faction.

    In such a situation, unless First Nove quickly helped the Stalwart Polearm Party return to the status of a Party instead of the Legacy Faction they currently were, things would only get worse and worse.

    But, not to mention the fact that returning to the status of a Party was very difficult, even if they did, unless they could also return to being a Majority leader, it would all be useless.

    In truth, First Nova could have long since brought the Stalwart Polearm Faction back to the status of a Party. But he had been forced to hold back for this reason. Unless they could sweep the Senate and reclaim a Majority, or at least a Shared Majority, they would only be shooting themselves in the foot due to certain complex rules.

    Ultimately, this led to the situation as it was here. The Spear Faction was still being oppressed and the Sword Faction was quickly becoming stronger and stronger. Now, the only path Ness saw was to send in her nephew to wreak some havocбн

    And that he would.

    Leonel grinned, grabbing at the air and forming a spear out of Emulation Spatial Force.

    With a pierce of his spear, a blinding Spear Force shot forward, splitting the ground and the gates to the Sword Faction in two.

    The light didn''t stop, suddenly rising into the air and splitting even the Sword Faction''s logo and sign in two.

    Only after it did that did the spear light vanish into thin air, blinking out of existence and leaving nothing but a hushed silence.

    The members of the Sword Faction couldn''t believe what they were seeing, so much so that their previous rage vanished into nothingness for a long while. But when it returned, it did so with a vengeance, roars of rage filling the surroundings.

    Leonel tapped a foot and vanished from the pillar he stood upon, landing on the ground with light steps.

    A small gust of wind kicked up the dust on the well paved road as the cries of several sword hums rose into the skies.

    In their fury, the Sword Faction members forgot the normal rules of engagement. Rather than sending someone at Tier 1 just like Leonel, they didn''t even bother with such things, charging forward all at once as though they would well and truly kill him.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade, the tip of his spear dipping down slightly as he held it forward. Compared to the army he had just battled, these Sword Faction members seemedбн too small.

    He pierced out once, but his blade seemed to appear in dozens of locations all at once.

    Blood flew, limbs danced in the skies and cries of agony replaced the ones of fury.

    Leonel casually took a step forward. Every one of his thrusts severed the battle capability of half a dozen people on the low end and upward of two dozen on the high. He was like a menacing beast, lashing out his tail whip wherever he went and taking no prisoners.

    "Back up! He''s from the Morales family! That''s the Absolute Spear Domain! Only those who have grasped at least part of the Absolute Sword Domain should go forward!"

    The roar of fury came from the back. It was only now that they realized that Leonel was actually a member of the Morales family. Usually, they could tell with a single glance, but other than his tanned and bronzed skin, Leonel truly looked nothing like a Morales.

    The quality of opponents Leonel faced suddenly changed. Swirls of Sword and Spear Force shot into the air. There was no doubt that those who could touch onto the secrets of these Domains were extraordinary. But, without the full Lineage Factor, how could they stand up to him with this alone?

    Leonel continued to walk forward, entering the Sword Faction with the same light smile on his face. The roars of rage seemed to be like a tonic for his soul.

    He pierced forward again, causing three arms to spin into the air.

    In the distance, several powerful auras converged, their bodies looking like swords streaking across the skies.

 Chapter 1696 Blazing Devil

    Leonel''s spear snaked through the skies, continuing to thrust forward as though he hadn''t sensed the coming auras at all. The smile on his face was still there, beaming like a secondary ray of light. It was in stark contrast to the blood and cries that flew around him. From any perspective, he truly looked like a demon incarnate.

    "Stop!"

    The eyes of many of the Sword Faction that had dulled with despair suddenly lit up. Of the three approaching auras, two of them were very familiar and were members of the Suiard family. As for the last, although he wasn''t a member of the Suiard family, with how popular the sword was as a weapon, how could it be that only the Suiard family would produce astounding talents?

    Regardless of which of the three it was, they had already surpassed Tier 6 of the Sixth Dimension. Both Suiard family members had a firm grasp of the Sword Domain Lineage Factor, while the third of them had completed 70% of the Sword Pagoda.

    All three of them, while not being members of the Cataclysm Generation, were individuals who had entered with the next generation, placing them with the likes of the youths Leonel had met at the Void Tower.

    And yet, even with all of this being the case, Leonel didn''t seem to react to their call at all, his expression casual and unhurried.

    The three were immediately infuriated. None of them believed that Leonel hadn''t heard them which meant that he had purposely ignored them without a care.

    They had more reasons than just this to be infuriated as well. After all, the three of them had just been preparing to enter the Sword Pagoda just a moment ago, only to be interrupted by Leonel''s arrogant roar.

    When they entered in range of the battle and saw their fellow swordsmen and women being practically crippled one after another, their gazes went red, especially when they noticed that Leonel was actually using the Absolute Spear Domain.

    To think that a member of the Morales family would actually come here so arrogantly!

    The two Suiard family youths flashed forward without hesitation, flipping their palms over to expose radiant swords.

    The trio appeared just ten meters from Leonel in the blink of an eye, all three of them launching all out strikes from the very beginning without showing the slightest hint of mercy. They didn''t even consider the rules of the Void Palace. If Leonel was truly crippled, or worse yet, died, that would be trouble they would deal with after the fact.

    However, just when their Sword Force was prepared to tear Leonel to pieces, his Absolute Spear Domain trembled, pulsing once and shattering the sword lights into what looked like flecks of broken glass.

    With a step, Leonel''s figure vanished and he appeared before the three, his spear striking out just once and yet all of suddenly felt as though their lives were in danger. Their pupils constricted and the hairs on the back of their necks stood at attention as their hearts palpitated.

    Without hesitation, they all raised their swords to block.

    A strong force pushed against the three of them, causing them all to take heavy steps backward.

    A grave expression spread across their faces as they looked toward Leonel with a hardly concealed wariness. The strength behind that blow was far too monstrous and it was clear that his control over the Absolute Spear Domain was at a ridiculous level. But worst of all, his personal strength was still more than enough to overwhelm them even after splitting it into three.

    The Absolute Spear Domain was, indeed, able to attack multiple people at once, but the drawback was also dividing your attack strength by that many times as well. If this was taken to its logical conclusionбн This person was more than three times more powerful than each one of them!

    Their heads shook furiously, unable to believe such a thing. Battle intent raged in their eyes and they stomped the ground hard to stop their backward momentum. Brandishing their swords, they charged forward once again, their Sword Force radiating outward.

    The two Suiard family members both activated their Absolute Sword Domains, but neither was satisfied with just this alone, a tinge of red lighting their eyes.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    This aura, he recognized it. Back when he had defeated Amery relying on the White Lion Bow, his gaze and aura had both turned quite dark. With Leonel''s sharp senses, he could tell that Amery was being forced to hold something back.

    Of course, he still didn''t know that Amery had been preparing for his Sword Domain Tribulation back then and in order to suppress it in wait for an optimal time, he chose to seal away much of his strength to keep the ring from erupting ahead of time.

    That said, as threatening as Amery was back then when he almost lost control, these three were like pitiful toddlers in comparison. Leonel only felt that it felt somewhat familiar.

    ''In that case, this should be the Lineage Factor of the Suiard family. They should be the only other family outside of the Morales who have two Lineage Factors to their bloodline. Butбн everyone in the Morales family who can awaken both is an Heir candidate. Could it be that these two are also Heir candidates?''

    What Leonel didn''t know was that the Suiard family Lineage Factor worked differently. Much like most Lineage Factors, their main Lineage Factor, or the equivalent of the Morales family''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, could be awakened in degrees.

    The difference was that in the Suiard family, the degree to which it was awakened was decided at birth and couldn''t be steadily awakened like Leonel''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    As a result, everyone in the Suiard family had awakened this Lineage Factor to a certain degreeбн

    The Blazing Devil Lineage Factor.

    The two Suiard family members howled into the air, a wild and savage aura coming off from them that turned their Sword Force a tinge of crimson.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    ''Okay, show me what you''ve got.''

 Chapter 1697 Thanks

    The two shot forward. As for the third non-Suiard family member, he seemed to know his limits and stayed behind, at least that''s what it seemed like at first. But what happened afterward seemed to change that narrative entirely.

    The third swordsman tossed his sword into the air. One after another, swords began to appear in the air, a surging aura coating around them as they zipped about in a controlled formation.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed with a hidden light. It looked like a telekinesis Ability Index, but not at the same time. It was just slightly different.

    This third individual was from the Sina famiy. They were a family of swordsmen as well, but they were a tier below the likes of the Morales and Suiard family and could be considered to be on par with the weaker Constellation families.

    Their Lineage Factor was unique in that they likewise as a sword related Lineage Factor, but theirs was a unique Sword Force and Soul Force fusion that allowed them to manipulate swords in particular.

    This Lineage Factor allowed them to form formations of swords and made them quite good at battling large numbers of opponents or restraining opponents with area control.

    When you fused the Kinetic Sword Lineage Factor with the Sword Domain Lineage Factor, you gained a powerful stacking effect that probably made this third swordsmen the strongest of the trio.

    Leonel''s brows couldn''t help but raise with a hint of surprise as he tapped the ground with his foot, retreated for a moment and parried the two Suiard family members with a single thrust.

    Leonel found his wrist vibrating slightly at the impact.

    ''Oh?''

    The strikes were far more powerful than he had anticipated. Another drawback of splitting his attack was the effect of doubling the rebound. After all, he was facing two strikes at once and not just a single one. He wasn''t sure what kind of changes these Lineage Factors caused, but after just a single exchange, he realized that it boosted not only their speed a great deal, but their strength more than doubled in a single instant as well.

    As Leonel was thinking, the formation of swords had already surrounded him and he couldn''t help but probe it with his Internal Sight. He found it fascinating because there seemed to be a unique cadence to the way the swords moved as though they were in resonance with one another.

    It was definitely beyond just controlling each sword to move individually. It seemed to Leonel that there was a unique tether between them. The movement of one followed the movement of them all like the ring of a chime.

    Leonel saw through this in a single glance because it reminded him of something even more profoundбн Force Arts.

    ''So this is possible as well.''

    Leonel''s first instinct was to try and replicate it. Even fighting such a battle, being hounded from the front by two seemingly rabid Suiard family members, and from the sides and back by this formation, he still had more than enough mental capacity to spread around.

    He parried and defended, gliding backward with every collision, but to the ignorant, it only looked like he was being forward to retreat again and again, causing the members of the Sword Faction to cheer their seniors on.

    Within Leonel''s Dream World, he formed several spears and controlled them.

    With his Variant Earth Force affinity, taking control of metal objects was easy. So, theoretically, wasn''t it also possibly for him to replicate the feat of the Sina family member?

    Unfortunately, he quickly found that this was impossible, and why wouldn''t it be? The uniqueness of the method lied in the combination use of Soul Force.

    The assimilation abilities of the Spear Domain Lineage Factor could potentially do this. After all, it was designed to absorb Forces and assimilate them. This was something that Leonel ahd learned long before he even stepped into the Spear Pagoda, it was just that he had always assumed that it could only be done with his own Force.

    But doing things this way also felt off.

    That was when Leonel realized the problem. It wasn''t just that Soul Force was needed, but the method by which it was used as well. Essentially, he needed the unique Force Art methods of the Sina family, a language that he had never learned before.

    ''Fascinatingбн''

    Leonel''s vision cleared somewhat in the real world. When he looked around, he was about to be forced out of the Sword Faction again, but the smile on his face only grew brighter.

    All this time, he had known exactly how to improve his grandfather''s way of the spear.

    The first step was resonating with calligraphy and words, the second was resonating with music and sound, and the last was resonating with painting and visualization.

    If he wanted to take it beyond this, Leonel had always believed that the answer lay with Force Arts but he didn''t know how he would do it. He had yet to walk forward because he lacked a method.

    Who would have thought that he would find this method on his first day on the job as a villain. It seemed that crime really did pay.

    The Sina family had suddenly opened a door for him. The key that he needed was right before him. Now that he knew such a method existed, it was only a matter of time before he built his own.

    Leonel''s bright smile caught the three off guard, but they didn''t waver in the slightest. Despite this, they couldn''t help but be shocked by the words he spoke next.

    "Thanks." Leonel grinned.

    At that moment, a Bronze Aura radiated out from Leonel, a halo taking shape above his head.

    He pierced forward, his spear seemingly splitting into two and colliding against the swords of the two Suiard family members.

    They tried to fight back, but Leonel, who they had been beating back before, suddenly became like an endless abyss. No matter how much strength they put in, it seemed to sink into an unknown depth, never to return again.

    They held on for just a moment before they were sent flying backward.

 Chapter 1698 Storms

    The smiles on the faces of the Sword Faction members froze as Leonel took another casual step forward.

    With a wave of his hand, several bubbles appeared in the air, encasing the swords flying about the surroundings and locking them in space.

    This was precisely what Emulation Spatial Force was best at. He might be limited in his ability to use it to move since his comprehension of it was too low, but when it came to stacking and locking space, it truly earned its right as a top five Spatial Force in all of existence.

    With another step, Ethereal Star Force wrapped around Leonel''s body, his speed skyrocketing as he appeared before the Sina family member.

    His spear pierced forward. Its tip was so small, and yet the momentum behind it felt like a raging tsunami. Just looking at it, the heart of the Sina family member rose and fell in waves, his head snapping from left to right only to find the two Suiard family members flying by his sides, unable to stop themselves.

    He roared, taking out another sword and swinging out with all the might that he could muster. But before he could even finish his strike, the aura of Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain shredded his accumulating Force to pieces, assimilating his Sword Force and making the rushing tsunami grow all the taller.

    The Sina family member was sent flying into the distance before Leonel''s spear even landed, his bones being crushed beneath the pressure as though he was facing a Demon General.

    He crashed along the ground, the whites of his eyes rolling forward as he began to foam at the mouth. It was hard to tell if he would ever have the capacity to battle again.

    Leonel''s spear aura continued to wash forward, wreaking havoc everywhere it went and shredding the attempts to block it into pieces.

    It crushed everything in its path, catching up to the flying Suiard family members and ravaging the both.

    Leonel came to a stop, clicking his tongue slightly as he retracted the rest of his strike. It seemed that he had gotten a bit overly excited and used a bit too much strength. With the current state of his Sword Force, whenever he unleashed too much of it, he wouldn''t even have to strike down most people. Most so-called geniuses would just directly crumble.

    Leonel had a feeling that this was a result of high level Force Manipulation, a direct suppression that truly represented a gap between Dimensions.

    In the most literal sense, a person who was a Dimension above you should be infinitely more powerful. No matter how powerful he was in the Sixth Dimension, he should never be able to face someone in the Seventh Dimension.

    However, in practice, at least until now, he had never experienced such a gapбн Not until, at least, he had entered that Zone.

    But in that Zone, the true gap lay not in Dimensions, but in degree of Force Manipulation. The blue cobra demon had been able to toy with him like a ragdoll precisely because of this gap.

    While Leonel had yet to figure out how to progress his other Forces reliably, his grandfather had already done the work for him when it came to the spear, so it wasn''t a surprise that his current Spear Force was so absolutely suffocating.

    If it wasn''t for the fact he had gotten a bit excited knowing how to progress his Spear Force from now on, he wouldn''t have displayed so much of it. If he was too unrestrained, he might truly accidentally kill someone.

    Leonel looked around and chuckled slightly.

    Even those that hadn''t been wrapped up in his spear aura and escaped injuries had mostly fainted. Those that managed to retain their consciousness had all fallen to the ground. If one came to look now without knowing what had happened, they would have never guessed that this was actually the famous Sword Faction.

    Leonel looked around as though trying to see if there was anyone else, but after a while, no one stepped forward so he could only shrug. It seemed that the truly powerful members of the Sword Faction were busy today, lucky him, that meant that his job would end early. Now he could rush back to his Aina.

    Whistling a small tune, Leonel crushed his Emulation Spatial Force spear and began to casually walk away.

    He paused for a moment when he remembered that he had kept the Sina family member''s swords locked in place. With a thought, he released them and caught one in his hands before nodding to himself.

    There wasn''t anything special about the swords aside from being a bit lighter than normal, even though their construction was fairly ordinary. It was truly the Force and the secrets behind their manipulation that made them so powerful.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s eyes sharpened, zooming into a section of the blade just before the hilt. There was a mark there so faint that if not for his gaining the pieces of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, he would have never seen it.

    Right there, there were the faint etchings of what looked like delicate calligraphy.

    Leonel tossed the sword away and grasped at another one, then another. Each time he finished, he nodded to himself.

    All of the swords had this brand. One could have easily mistaken it for the signature of a Craftsmen, if it wasn''t for the fact that they were all just the slightest bit different.

    ''If I incorporate this into that... Yes, the results would be excellent...''

    Leonel slotted this into the back of his mind before tossing the swords aside and walking awake. In his wake, the groans of swordsmen and women echoed through the Faction.

    In the distance, the Seventh Dimensional overseers of the Sword Faction could only clench their fists, unable to do anything.

    As for Cornelius, who was still following in the skies, he had already rubbed a few layers of skin from his forehead. This child would truly be the end of him.

    He had just returned, why was he already in the center of so many storms?! This would definitely not end so simply.

 Chapter 1699 Waves

    [AN: sorry everyone, have a splitting headache right now so I only managed to squeeze out two chapters]

    It felt like every time Leonel did something new, the information brokers of the Void Palace would try their best to keep a rein on the information. After all, this was how they made money, how could they not do such a thing>

    However, it was slowly becoming impossible to continue to do this. From the Void Tower, to the Bow Pagoda, then to the Spear Pagoda, and then to the Sword Faction. Every step Leonel took through the Void Palace only caused more and more waves.

    Soon, the number of individuals who had heard of things that happened began to overlap and quickly news began to disseminate.

    First it was the results of Leonel''s climb up the Void Tower. This was one of the most difficult things to hide because of the news names of the ranking list, and it was especially difficult because the names used were simply too shocking.

    The name Morales was one that echoed loudly through the Human Domain. In fact, as one of the strongest forces of the humans, it was likewise a name many of the other races were well aware of as well.

    The moment the name ''Leonel Morales'' was seen on the leaderboards, the forgotten Seventh Nova anchored his place in the minds of many who had long since forgotten him.

    However, this was just the very beginning. In fact, it could be said that Leonel''s name wasn''t actually the most shocking one to be seen on that list because in the near quarter century he and Aina had disappeared for, the names of the prominent families of Earth had likewise come into the public consciousness.

    The name Brazinger carried with it an all new connotation, a sort of weight that could very well increase to the point it stood next to the greatest families of the Human Domain, or at the very least, that was the way those of the Human Domain saw it.

    Not many knew that Leonel was of Earth and that he shared a lineage with its current Emperor. But now that everyone knew that his woman was actually a member of this new and shocking family, it caused an uproar in its own right.

    Those that had been fighting against Leonel that day were so distracted by him and his results that they hadn''t even registered the fact that Aina was, in fact, a Brazinger.

    Due to this, the wave of shock toward Leonel lessened for a bit in some regards and increased in others. A lot of things suddenly made sense.

    Aina was an exceptional talent, one that would most definitely have long since claimed a spot on the Queen Beauty Rankings already had she not disappeared for so long. But she had also seemingly come out of nowhere.

    The Void Palace was a place where everyone could come so long as certain standards were met, so Aina''s background had never been important. After all, let alone Aina, the Void Palace had even admitted some non-humans in the past and present, although they were in a very small minority.

    Now, though, it all seemed to make sense. Could it be that the Morales family had had a stake in Earth long ago?

    This seemed like a very simple question, but the weight behind its answer couldn''t be underestimated.

    Earth had been a taboo for a very long time because it could very well be the center of another all out war within the Human Domain, something that couldn''t be allowed to happen with danger lurking over the horizon. If, though, the Morales family had made such a bet in the past, this could spark another conflict.

    It had to be remembered that even with the Camelot Zone being tampered with in the past, it was done extremely covertly. In fact, just for that matter, in order to silence Leonel, the latter had almost suffered the punishment of death. If it hadn''t been for his grandfather taking action back then and crushing the opposition, Leonel would likely be dead already.

    This matter was clearly not a simple one at all and it was news that was capable of causing a tsunami of waves through the Void Palace.

    ? But before that wave could even settle, the matters began to pile up one after another.

    First it was the battle with Conon. With news of the Void Tower spreading, how could news of this not spread as well? The idea that the invincible armor of the Cataclysm Generation was coming crashing down was enough to leave many in stunned shock until a simple fact was rememberedбн

    Wasn''t Leonel, too, a member of the Cataclysm Generation? In fact, not only was he a member, he was one of the only three to gain Amethyst Token rights when the Selection had come to an end, and of the other twoбн One was the Sword Deity and the other was actually his girlfriend.

    News that the battle between Leonel and Conon was not only won by the former, but easily at that, was a shocking revelation that most still weren''t willing to accept despite this truth.

    However, even this dust wouldn''t settle before news of a man clearing the 12th floor of the Bow Pagoda was spread, and it only made it more polarizing that this man was banned from entering the Archery Faction for the next ten years right after for nearly crippling a member of the Tarius family.

    All of this came to a head when it was learned that this was once again a feat of Leonel, shocking to an extreme and enough to leave people in complete and utter silence.

    Unfortunately, the news that day was truly relentless.

    Right after, news of the Spear Faction''s Spear Pagoda being cleared to perfection spread like wildfire, but it didn''t even have time to calm before the so-called "Massacre of the Sword Faction" fell.

    An unsettling sort of silence fell over the Void Palace, but the man in question was taking a nice nap. Since he was unable to find Aina, he couldn''t be bothered to do much other than wait for his Void Points and make a final trip to the Void Library, everything else was meaningless to him.

    As for the reactions of the Void Palace, though it would probably mean something later, he still couldn''t be bothered to give it much thought.

 Chapter 1700 Center Of The Storm

    Leonel got up with a yawn. With a quick flicker of his eyes, he could tell exactly how long had passed and felt that it was about time he made his way to the Void Library.

    With a thought, he appeared outside of the Segmented Cube and took a step, quickly heading in that direction. Not too long later, he was standing before a familiar flight of steps, one that it had taken him a great deal of effort to climb when last he was here.

    Leonel smiled lightly, thinking about that moment. Because he only had 24 hours back then, he was in a great rush, so he had gone right from the stairs to the library, even wasting an Instant Recovery so that he would be in the best shape possible so that he could minimize the time he wasted.

    Now, however, Leonel didn''t think that so much was necessary. These stairs that had been daunting before felt so very normal to him now.

    With a step, he vanished, leaping hundreds of stairs at once as he blazed a path upward, leaving many who were still climbing in his dust. Even as he moved, his speed only seemed to become faster and faster. By the time he looked up, he could already see the shadow of the library, the smile on his face widening.

    Leonel stomped his foot hard when he next contacted the ground, propelling himself upward with a wind tearing momentum.

    BANG!

    He landed heavily at the top of the stairs, several glances landing on him all at once.

    Leonel knew that many of these people were Domain Ranked disciples, a silent herd of individuals he could only see in very rare places like this one. They were truly mysterious.

    The last time he was here, even he couldn''t quite feel their true strength. But now he was absolutely certain that they had enough power to crush him with a finger.

    That said, that could only be expected. It was impossible to be a Domain Ranked disciple without first being a Seventh Dimensional existence, but even then, that wasn''t enough. It also required a certain amount of talent as well, much like the other ranks.

    Of course, just stepping into the Seventh Dimension alone was a testament to one''s talent.

    The Sixth Dimension could be considered to be a huge watershed, even more so if you were following the God Path. If one had enough time, they could brute force their way into the Fifth Dimension, but entering the Sixth required a certain level of personal achievement, something that placed you far above the masses.

    The Seventh Dimension was an even more exaggerated version of this, leaving it as a watershed reserved for only the cream of the crop of an already small population.

    But these Domain Ranked disciples were even a step above that. It was no wonder it was so difficult for the past Leonel to see through them.

    Still, Leonel just smiled lightly and stepped toward the library''s doors before he entered a familiar world of darkness. All around him, the bits and pieces of the network that he had already formulated lay untouched.

    Leonel took a breath and he sunk into a state of meditation, spreading his Starry Spirit Domain outward.

    Over these last few days of sleep, he had allowed his mind to adjust to its most ultimate state, but he had also considered other things quite thoroughly.

    There seemed to be a very special connection between the best resources of the Void Palace. Whether it was the Pagodas, the Void Tower, or the Void Library, all of them had a very thin thread connecting them allбн

    Dream Force.

    It wasn''t too obvious at first, but Leonel felt that there had to be a reason for all of this, and he felt that it was even more obvious when it was considered that the only place he ever saw Domain Ranked disciples was in this very place.

    If the Domain Ranked disciples knew of Leonel''s thoughts, they would be quite shocked. This was because the reason for these matters was only made known to them after they reached their current disciple rank. Before that, they were in the dark like everyone else.

    Leonel also hadn''t forgotten his shocking realization about Zones and how their very being seemed to be formed of Dream Force as well, to the point where he was even able to use his affinity to find secrets within it.

    However, all of these bits and pieces of information led him nowhere. He didn''t have an answer for it all and he could only sit in idle curiosityбн

    Unless, that is, he could find a potential answer here.

    Leonel knew that he was running out of time in the Void Palace. Those lurking enemies of his in the darkness might have let him stay for a bit longer if he was weaker or more low profile, but they would soon realize that the more time he was given, the more difficult it would be for them to do what they wanted to do.

    In that case, this meant that Leonel would only have one go at this, one final stretch within the Void Library, one final chance to learn everything it had to offer.

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, his Force rushing out like a tsunami. One after another, floating motes of light rushed toward him in batches of dozens at a time. Unlike the previous time where he biased it with Spatial Force research, this time, he didn''t discriminate against anything.

    Today, no matter how many times he had to use Instant Recovery, he would do it. He really wanted to see who would give in firstбн

    Himself? Or the Void Library?

    бн

    As Leonel''s battle was beginning, the machinations that he was certain would unfold had indeed begun to. But the location where they began would be a surprise even to him, albeit quite a small one. That was because the center of the coming storm would begin in a place he was quite familiar with: the very same information network he had paid twice for information on Treanna Viror.

    This was none other than the Winding Shadow Faction, now known as the Winding Shadow Legacy Faction, run by none other than Ronan Sith.

 Chapter 1701 Sure Fire

    Motes of light quickly revolved around Leonel, their speed increasing with every passing instant. He seemed to have already lost himself in the movements, completely uncaring of the kind of stamina he was blowing through every moment.

    There had probably been very few in the history of the Void Palace who had completely assimilated all of the knowledge that was here, and probably none who would do so in a mere two visits like Leonel, and the difficulty easily spoke to that.

    However, even so, the experience was incredibly rewarding.

    After Leonel had assimilated all of the Fourth Dimensional information in the Void Library, he had finally gone from an ignorant boy to someone who could be considered to have trul firmly stepped into the Dimensional Verse. Although there were still some simple matters that he didn''t quite grasp, they were so insignificant that they didn''t mean much on a large scale.

    Now, however, Leonel was quickly not only becoming well informed, but he was even becoming more informed than most. It was like the difference between an individual finishing grade school and someone who had worked their way up to a doctorate, but the main distinction here was that rather than having this doctorate in just one field, Leone was quickly gaining them in everything.

    Studies and research papers on Spatial Force were just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it could be said that they were among the rarest research conducted purely because of how rare Spatial Force was. There were more research papers on niche Elemental Forces than there was for Spatial Force on the whole.

    When entire elemental chains were taken into consideration, the difference was even more jarring, but the findings were equally as fascinating although it was impossible that they would all be as useful as the Lotus research paper Leonel had read before that allowed him to form his Lotus Domain. However, there were still quite a few that were interesting.

    For example, when it came to Fire Force, there were quite a few papers on chain reactions and using them to make your Fire Force not only more powerful and sustained, but also more erratic and unpredictable.

    There were numerous applications just for this one path of study, everything from long ranged attacks to sudden burst movements to even increasing the power of a strike in random intervals to catch an enemy off guard.

    But that was just Fire Force and it was just a single potential path of growth.

    On the other side, there was Water Force. One of its interesting paths was actually very much related to resonance and its usage.

    There was a research paper that focused on using Water Force like a wine glass and any attack like a sound wave. Once this was achieved, you could either choose to continue to trap the attack, then truly go the full extent and allow your Water Force to "shatter", repelling the strength and even using it against an enemy.

    The number of paths was too numerous to count, and the number of research papers was even greater.

    It made a reality set in for Leonel. Weren''t all these things just different forms of Force Manipulation? Then what was truly the difference here?

    Was it that the people of the Zone started honing in on these matters much earlier? Was it that this path was simply incorrect? Or was it something that he was missing?

    Leonel couldn''t help but wonder about these things, comparing and contrasting the research papers here to what he had seen in the Zone. After doing this, it wasn''t long before he came to a fundamental difference.

    Although these research papers were great and could even increase the strength of a Force while it was in use, it was ultimately not fundamentally changing anything, the foundation of the Force was still the very same foundation.

    If Leonel had to make a comparison, it was akin to a person who was weak of body being incredibly skilled in martial arts. Yet, they would be able to display great strength, but how much of it would be maximized if they were also malnourished or half dead?

    However, Leonel still felt that this comparison wasn''t quite perfect.

    The people of the Zone didn''t use all of these weird Force application methods. For example, that youth with a high spatial affinity Leonel had met before Thaela was completely caught off guard by the use of his lotus.

    It felt like there were two completely different paths, one of which was clearly more powerful than the other, at least on the surface.

    ''Is it that it''s more powerful? Or is that this method of Force Manipulation is still in its fledgling state. Just look at how many research papers there are here, and how many of them test the very same thing just in slightly different ways.

    ''The history of the Void Palace is about half a million years from my understanding, but just from a casual look through the Oliidark family''s library I was able to see that the history of that Zone is easily a hundred times that, and that''s just from the perspective of one of its weaker families, who knows how much those much stronger families and organizations can see back?

    ''If you look at things like this, the Human Domain just hasn''t had enough time to truly flesh out this method of Force Manipulation. Butбн''

    Leonel was a bit hesitant to just accept this with open arms, the reason was that it was too difficult to tell what the end of the road had for this path.

    While it could potentially match the road the Zone had taken in the future, there was no guarantee.

    However, on the other hand, it wasn''t as though Leonel had a sure fire method waiting for him on the other side either. Even if he started down this more "vetted" path, there was nothing to assure him that he was even taking the right steps.

 Chapter 1702 Omann

    Leonel didn''t force himself to make a decision, still focused on assimilating more. However, part of his mind still wanted to feel like he was headed in the right direction, so he allotted some of his thoughts to organize this information slowly.

    Ultimately, the main difference between the two paths was that one was focused on physical manifestations of change while the other was more focused on ethereal manifestations.

    ''Waitбн''

    Leonel had quite a real world example of this, did he not? His grandfather''s step by step progression from calligraphy to painting, which category did it fall into? Was a physical? Or ethereal?

    There was no fundamental change to the way Leonel utilized his Spear Force. It was fundamentally a change that occurred on the ethereal level, changing the Artistic Conception that breathed power into his spear.

    That was that, case closedбн Right?

    But when looked at from a different angle, it was also a physical change. After all, Leonel was consciously manipulating his Spear Force with the use of his Dream Class technique to form a different demeanor by which he could project a powerful Artistic Conception.

    Due to this, he had found it difficult even to properly use his Spear Domain Lineage Factor as it required a more ethereal comprehension. On its face, this was clearly a contradiction. But maybe that was because his way of framing it was wrong from the very beginning.

    Although the manifestation was ethereal, didn''t it have a physical presence? Weren''t the changes that happened "ethereally" used to catalyze real world changes?

    So no, the difference here couldn''t possibly be a matter of physical and ethereal, it was deeper than that.

    Leonel felt that he was on the cusp of understanding something, but it was too profound for him to quite grasp. Even as he tore through the research papers, he still couldn''t quite find his answer. For the first time, he felt that his intelligence actually wasn''t high enough and it was quite frustrating.

    In truth, Leonel was being too hard on himself. Enlightenment wasn''t meant to come in endless waves, and even when they did, there would be peaks and valleys. These were things meant to be researched over the course of a lifetime, not just grasped in a single day.

    But Leonel just kept pushing.

    He didn''t want to understand it all at once, what he wanted was a spark, a single ignition that would light the small fire he would protect until it became a raging inferno. So, he turned to an ability he had relied on for years: his Dreamscape.

    Leonel created his Dreamscape, ironically, within a library as well, although it was very different from this one. That library had been Camelot''s library.

    The purpose of the ability was to act as a sort of network of miniature brains in Leonel''s mind. In everyday life, no matter what he came across, or how small the detail, he would subconsciously arrange it into one of his Dreamscapes by category.

    By now, Leonel had millions of tiny Dreamscape in his Dream World, each one with a different network of information and many of them with overlapping redundancies, but that was the point.

    Oftentimes, brains got distracted, they forgot important details, or took into consideration useless details. Even for someone as smart as Leonel, he was fallible and could make mistakes. But that was where his Dreamscape came in.

    Each one was like a uniquely designed software for a very specific task, and as such, whenever a link was made in one of them, a spark would light and Leonel would immediately be alerted.

    This time, as he built a new Dreamscape, Leonel stripped down all the useless jargon and only built it up with what he needed the absolute mostбн

    There were scenes of Thaela''s Force Manipulation, of the cobra demon''s, even of Mistress Oliidark''s. On top of that, he added bits and pieces of the most interesting research papers he had read, some of which he planned to incorporate himself and others of which he only wanted to use for reference as he felt he had better ideas on how to apply them elsewhere.

    The hours passed and Leonel''s speed of assimilating his network only seemed to increase.

    What he didn''t know was that after the first 24 hours passed, there was a sudden change.

    Outside of the Void Library there was an inconspicuous board that was easy to miss, it too was filed with names. However, this board was easily ignored because there were hardly ever changes to it, nor was there any movement.

    This board was a leaderboard, but it was maybe the most unique leaderboard of Void Tower because no one quite understood what it was for. All anyone knew was that there was a name match with a number. The higher the number, the higher the name.

    First Place иC Cynthia Omann иC 83.29

    This first place name had remained undisturbed for decades. In fact, this individual was no longer even a Domain Ranked disciple of the Void Palace. No, instead, they were the members of the only other family that could hope to stand against the Morales and the Suiard family without the backing of an alliance.

    Howeverбн despite this being so, this family was still the head of maybe the strongest alliance there was in the Human Domain.

    The Omann family. Or, as most would recognize them asбн

    The Head of the Force Crafting Guild Alliance.

    As for the number 83.29, it wasn''t a normal number at all. Rather, it was actually a percentage. As for what it represented, it was the percentage of the Void Library integrated into her networkбн

    Of course, this Cynthia Omann had another famous title, and that was as the woman who should have been the wife to Velasco Morales, or as many called herбн

    The Scorned Queen Beauty.

    There were just 100 names on this unchangeable list, but at that moment, there was a change at the 100th spot.

    Hundredth Place иC Leonel Morales иC 21.38

 Chapter 1703 100%

    The sudden change to the list, despite the fact it was rarely paid attention on the whole, was enough for all of the Domain Ranked disciples to look at once. In that instant, the Void Library went from a quiet ambience to suddenly being forced to withstand a rushing wind.

    Their gazes sharpened, focusing on the name. When they saw the name Morales, their brows couldn''t help but shoot up.

    There were four other Morales family members on the list, but this wasn''t too surprising. The Morales family was the only Crafting power capable of competing against the Force Crafting Guild in terms of quality of materials output, although they had no way of keeping up with quantity.

    With the design of the Void Library, those with greater mental properties would perform better. As such, it wasn''t too surprising that the Morales family would have such a showing.

    However, what shocked them was that they didn''t recognize this Leonel Morales'' name.

    If the disciples below were detached from Leonel''s legend, at least in the beginning, then the Domain Ranked disciples were even more so. They were disconnected from the world and only really paid attention to their improvement.

    If there was anyone or any group that they did know about, it was most definitely the Seventh Dimensional individuals of the Void Palace as they were the only ones with a chance to one day become Domain Ranked disciples.

    But what was shocking was that they didn''t know this young man, so logically this could only mean thatбн

    Leonel wasn''t in the Seventh Dimension.

    Such a realization made their hearts skip a beat. This had to be a rare genius, but to think that this would actually happen twice. That was because right now the second ranked individual on the list was another great anomaly

    Second Place иC Yuri Brazinger иC 81.87

    Not only were the two top places women, but both happened to be two women who hated Leonel''s guts. The first wasn''t his fault as that could only be blamed on his father''s crimes. But as the saying wentбн Like father, like son.

    Leonel had crimes of his own, cries that Yuri was very much aware of.

    When Yuri appeared on the scene to enter the Void Library, it was said that she managed to reach such a level of completion after just a single visit. But after this first visit, she turned around and left, never to return again.

    Others might be unaware of why this was, but the Domain Ranked disciples weren''t so ignorant.

    It was said that this Yuri wasn''t human, as such it was tacitly agreed that she wouldn''t assimilate the knowledge of the Void Library fully and it had just been a simple exercise on her part.

    As for what the details of this were, it was completely unknown. But what was clear was that there was actually a second individual who would cause the list to change in such a short period of time. Was it that youth who had just come up before? But that was impossible, he was just in Tier 1, was such a thing even possible?

    Wait, how long had even passed since then? Even if he was a hundred times more powerful, had enough time passed?

    As they were lost in thought, the numbers by Leonel''s name only continued to shoot upward. While it was only a hundredth of a percent every few seconds to minutes, a slow speed for practically anything else, for the Void Library he might as well have been moving at light speed.

    The Domain Ranked disciples watched in a stunned silence as Leonel crossed the 22% mark and increased toward 23% and surpassed 24%.

    It took hours just to complete this, and yet the gazes of the Domain Ranked disciples never moved away as though they would never tire of watching this.

    The concept of time, or more accurately, how experts experienced time once they reached a certain stage was astronomically different from others. During their practice, they gained patience that most couldn''t fathom. To them, this was nothing. Even if it took days, they would be willing and ableбн And that it did.

    Their hearts shuddered with every step forward Leonel took. At some point, they began to look between the doors of the Void Library back to the leaderboard, seemingly waiting for Leonel to finally come stumbling out. Even for them, it took a great deal of effort just to last a few hours, so why did this Sixth Dimensional junior not seem to have such limitations?

    From a Hundredth Place to Ninetieth. From Ninetieth to Eightieth. From Eightieth to Seventieth.

    Every step forward was egregiously slow, but they were steady and unmoved by the monotony.

    Within the Void Library, Leonel had no idea what was happening outside, but what he did know was that he was inching closer with every moment. As his horizons broadened, how he saw things also began to evolve.

    However, there was a very important key missing here.

    No matter how difficult it was to assimilate the information of the Void Library, when you were given practically infinite time like the Domain Ranked disciples, why was it that even the best had only reached 83%? Could it be that those that had reached 100% left the list? Or was there something else at play here?

    Unfortunately, Leonel hadn''t paid much attention to the leaderboard in the first place, or else he would have long since noticed Yuri''s name. As such, he wasn''t in a state of mind where he even cared about such things. He was entirely focused on reaching his goals.

    So when he finally did it, surpassing first place and rocketing upward to completion, he didn''t give it a second thought until, red-eyed, he stepped out of the Void Library to find several eyes locked onto him.

    Leonel stood in silence, the fatigue making his brain foggy.

    He looked around with a raised brow, but no one seemed to have an answer for him. It wasn''t long, though, before he spotted the leaderboard and his brows raised.

 Chapter 1704 Familiar

    Leonel exhaled a breath before stretching his neck.

    Of course, he had no idea who Cynthia Omann was, but he most definitely recognized Yuri''s name. It seemed that girl was doing just fine. That was good since Aina would be sad if she had died in the Zone.

    Leonel wondered if Yuri was still here or if she had returned to Earth. Of course, he also had no idea that the Brazinger name also held much more weight now than it had before as well. If he had known, he would also know that returning probably wouldn''t be very safe for Yuri.

    Leonel yawned.

    He had a bit of that good feeling of euphoria one had after a workout, but he also wanted to collapse into a heap after devouring a ton of food as well. It was about time he found Aina, whose cooking would be better to enjoy now than his girlfriend''s?

    Leonel stretched and took a step toward the stairs to return. He expected someone to stop him because that was just the kind of luck he had. But surprisingly, no one did. Everything felt quite eerily silent and no one said a word as Leonel vanished down the steps. That saidбн that didn''t stop their brows from being touched with a hint of solemnity.

    бн

    Leonel made it down to the bottom of the stairs quite quickly. His eyes were somewhat droopy and he yawned from time to time, but ultimately, his state was still far better now than it had been in the past where he could barely move.

    A while later, he returned to the Spear Faction and nothing much seemed to have changed. He had half expected for a war to have broken out by now, but once again, his expectations were dashed. It was, once again, oddly peaceful.

    Leonel was very used to this. In reality, it was just about an hour of peace but it felt off as though he didn''t deserve this much.

    He couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. He really never got much time to rest. The last time he did was thanks to his mother twisting the rules of the Void Palace for his sake, but that almost resulted in a disaster because they were dumped right into the Selection right after.

    Leonel sighed. Was his mother alright? He hoped so. He wondered if she knew that he was back or not.

    He would have gone to see her, but he simply didn''t know where to go and look for her. By now, she was probably also a Domain Ranked disciple, so it was even more difficult now than it had been in the past. Or, as the Princess of Earth, she had probably returned to help hold down the line.

    Leonel wasn''t too obsessed with seeing his mother. With his personality, so long as he knew his loved ones cared for him, that was enough, he didn''t feel the need to see them all the time, nor did he need their constant affirmation. If he did, he would have hated his father''s guts a long time ago, but instead, he was the man he respected most.

    Leonel walked into the Spear Faction and spread out his Internal Sight in all directions. By this point, there were very few who could sense his Internal Sight if he didn''t want them to, and if covertness was really what he wanted, he would just use a dialed down version of his Starry Spirit Domain.

    With a smile, Leonel headed in a certain direction.

    бн

    On the roof of a certain building, Aina and Ness were both having tea. It seemed that by now, the two were quite chummy. Though, what machinations were hidden behind those smiles was hard to see through. On the surface, they were just two beauties chatting. But deep within, it was probably more accurate to call them a pair of demonesses.

    When Leonel appeared, the idle chit chat and laughter vanished into the air and they looked toward him together, their eyes filled with a peculiar light that made him feel uneasy.

    Aina had vanished for a few days and he still had no idea where she had gone. Now, though, she seemed almost too in sync with Ness as though the pair were two peas in a pod.

    If he wasn''t so scared, he might find it amusing. After all, Aina had gotten so close with her aunt-in-law before she did so with her mother-in-law.

    Leonel cleared his throat to say something as the silence got heavier, but before he could, Ness spoke first.

    "Did you do the task I told you to?"

    Leonel blinked. "I did, I already attacked the Sword Faction."

    Ness raised an eyebrow as though she didn''t believe him.

    "Are you lying to me?"

    Leonel frowned. Why would he lie about something like that? But the fact Ness was asking seemed to imply something else.

    "If you really attacked, then why are they so silent? Those arrogant swordsmen wouldn''t take something like that lying down so easily."

    BOOM!

    As though Ness'' words were some sort of jinx, the ground suddenly quaked, the building the stood upon swaying wildly from side to side.

    Glass windows shattered into pieces that rained down like fine crystals like the earth cracked and splintered, spreading out in cobweb like patterns in every direction.

    "Huh?" Leonel''s head turned in a certain direction.

    He had felt that Ness jinxed them for a moment, but that didn''t feel like the something on the scale of what the Sword Faction could accomplish, at least not members of the Sword Faction that would be at the Sixth Dimension, but Seventh Dimensional individuals wouldn''t interfere in matters like this.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted as he looked off into the distance, but when he saw what it was, his eyes couldn''t help but widen.

    As though they had just stepped out of some sort of warp drive, six planet-sized ships appeared around the Void Palace, each one with a design that was eerily familiar to Leonel. Soon after, an eerily familiar decree also fell.

    "Under the Decree of Shield Cross Star, Leonidas Morales is to be classified as a Tier 2 Fugitive, found guilty for the crime of colluding with a Variant Invalid.

    "The fugitive has two hours to hand himself in or his charges will be increased to Tier 1.

    "The bounty is set to 10 000 kilograms of Seventh Dimensional Urbe."

 Chapter 1705 Madmen

    The last time this happened, Leonel looked up into the skies with quite a helpless expression on his face. He had just battled the Puppet Master until he had not an ounce of strength left in his body, all to find out that friends he had made had lost their lives one after another in the face of Terrain''s invasion.

    He had been exhausted, both physical and mentally.

    As a young man who had entered the Dimensional Verse at a mere 17 years of age, passing his 18th birthday in a Mayan Tomb of all things, he hadn''t gotten a chance to breathe not a single time. It just felt relentless, as though the world itself wouldn''t calm until it reaped his life away.

    However, when he looked up into the skies this time, after his gaze settled and he understood what was happening, he actually chuckled. He found it all to be amusing, as though they had all set the table for an excellent comedy show designed just for him.

    He was no longer than 18 year old youth. His 24th birthday had passed not long ago and the strength he held in the palm of his hands was nothing like it had been in the past. He stood taller, his shoulders were broader, his stance more solid. He knew what he wanted in life and things that used to make him wince in pain and shiver in terror no longer even made him blink.

    There was a point in his life where the greatest pain to him was simply opening up the first doors of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, but just a few weeks ago he had suffered a fate of being eaten alive and actually managed to maintain his sanity.

    There was a point where he was ignorant of the ways of the Dimensional Verse, shocked and awed by the littlest of things, but now he held maybe more knowledge in his mind than even the Void Elders themselves.

    There was a point in his life where Shield Cross Stars was able to brand him as though he were a slave or cattle for them to mark, a point in his life where he could do nothing but sit in silent frustration, unable to do a single thing in response. But nowбн

    He laughed. He laughed so hard that tears almost fell from his eyes, so hard that stomach cramped and his face went red.

    In a world that had fallen into silence after a booming command spread across the vastness of space, Leonel was seemingly the only one making any noise at all.

    Ness shifted her gaze away from the six planetary warships and looked toward the laughing figure of Leonel. She was speechless for a moment before she shook her head.

    "Madmen, the whole lot of them," she muttered.

    At that moment, she seemed to forget that she too was a Morales. Not just one that had married into the family, but one who had been born a Morales and married a Morales.

    But even so, it was a common sentiment among the women of the family, an innocent sort of hypocrisy and a casual forgetfulness that while the men of the Morales family might all be mad, they also happened to be very obedient at home.

    Leonel wiped his tears and turned a gaze toward Aina. "It seems that we have to leave a bit earlier than expected. The question is, do you want to do so quietly? Or wreak some havoc?"

    A grin spread across Leonel''s face.

    The last time Shield Cross Stars had chased him down, he used a javelin to destroy their warships.

    Of course, that was a mere branch of Shield Cross Stars as they had one in every galaxy across the Human Domain. Compared to that branch, the officers that had come this time were on a completely different level. If they weren''t, how would they dare to come to the Void Palace with such a bold display? Surrounding Void Palace with warships? Were you trying to slap the faces of the protectors of mankind?

    However, if there was any organization that could do so, it was Shield Cross Stars.

    The Void Palace was the protectors of humanity against the other races.

    Shield Cross Stars was the protector of humanity against themselves.

    They were two sides of the same coin, connected in many ways, and disconnected in many more.

    Becoming a Tier 3 Fugitive in the eyes of Shield Cross Stars was enough to guarantee a life without peace. This level was a point where it ceased to be a matter of branches, and reached a level where the whole of Shield Cross Stars would be focused on your capture.

    Yet, Leonel wasn''t just Tier 3, he was actually classified as Tier 2 with a clear route to Tier 1. There was no doubting the seriousness of this matter.

    Hearing Leonel''s question, it was Aina''s turn to be speechless. Wasn''t leaving silently the obvious answer? This boyfriend of hers was getting more and more fond of causing trouble.

    But she couldn''t help but feel a hint of excitement seeing the look in her eyes, the result of contradictory feelings pulling her in separate directions.

    On one hand, she wanted Leonel to be safe and stop taking risks. But on the other handбн She couldn''t help but be supremely attracted to the Leonel she was seeing now.

    At that moment, before Aina could answer, a familiar figure appeared in the skies, a deep frown on his face. This man was none other than Cornelius who had been assigned to follow and monitor Leonel. Right now, his usually helpless expression was taken over by a hardly concealed fury.

    "Shield Cross Stars, what is the meaning of this? What do you mean by surrounding my Void Palace? Have you forgotten all sense of propriety? Don''t overstep your bounds!"

    Cornelius didn''t seem to be trying to speak very loudly, but his volume was no less oppressive and mighty than the voice of Shield Cross Stars who had spoken previously.

 Chapter 1706 Mistaken

    Cornelius'' words echoed with a boom, stifling the echo of the previous man who had spoken. The fury in his tone was subtle, but still clear, the rumbling of his voice causing the six warships to quake.

    In response, the warship facing Cornelius had some movement and a figure slowly made their way out. He wore the iconic uniform of Shield Cross Stars, split robes and metallic leg sleeves. It made him look like an off duty knight of the templar, the metal shimmering with a resplendent glow that seemed to warp the air with its heft.

    Cornelius'' eyes narrowed when he saw this individual. He had already expected that whoever Shield Cross Stars would send for such a mission would not be normal, but seeing it for himself helped it truly sink in.

    Much like their Fugitive Tiers, Shield Cross Stars also had Officer Tiers. Anyone above Tier 4 was already in the Seventh Dimension, but this individual was already in Tier 2.

    Of course, on the surface and without further investigation, it made sense that anyone that came after a Tier 2 Fugitive would likewise be a Tier 2 Officer. But when it was considered that Leonel was a junior who had only just stepped into Sixth Dimension, this was absolutely ridiculous, especially since this was no normal Tier 2 Officer.

    Within Tiers of Officer, there were what Shield Cross Stars upper management called "Promotion Paths". These Promotion Paths were further divided into Shield Ranks and Star Ranks, which were then even further divided into three levels each.

    Essentially, Shield Ranks were the foot soldiers, they were the bulk of the force and they were the units that did everything from manning the ships to doing maintenance on them.

    Star Ranks were the commanding officers. These were individuals who gave and related orders, as well as those who had the strongest combat prowess of the organization.

    The so-called Promotion Path was decided by one''s potential and talent. There were vast differences between those of the same Dimension and even of the same Tier, as such every member of Shield Cross Stars was evaluated strictly and then slotted into their appropriate roles.

    The Tier 2 Shield Rank Officers tended to be individuals of the very pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension. The Tier 2 Star Rank Officers, however, were all in the Seventh Dimension without the slightest doubt. In fact, so were Tier 3 Star Rank Officers! Only Tier 1 Shield Rank Officers could finally be of the Seventh Dimension, so one could imagine the kind of monsters made up Tier 1 Star Rank Officers.

    Knowing this, the fact a Tier 2 Star Rank Officer had appeared here for the sake of capturing and bringing Leonel to justiceбн Well to say it was overkill was an understatement. In fact, it smelt of bullshit.

    "Level 3 Tier 2 Star Rank Officer DiVincenzo," he stated his name and rank immediately. "I''ve come for the fugitive, I hope that you will not make things difficult for me."

    Cornelius'' expression darkened. "I''ve asked once and I will ask once more. Do not make me repeat myself for a third time. What. Is. The. Meaning. Of. This."

    It almost felt that Shield Cross Stars was using this as an opportunity to knock the Void Palace down a peg and Leonel was just a convenient excuse. But it was clear that there was something deeper than this.

    If Leonel was truly some sort of fugitive, there were a million other ways to deal with this situation. Announcing it to the world and coming forward so boldly was among the very stupidest. No, it might be the stupidest.

    Doing things like this ensured that there would be witnesses, and with witnesses, that man would catch wind of this. Cornelius understood Velasco well. If Leonel died in the hands of another Sixth Dimensional existence, or, for example, died in a trial that many of his other cohorts had survived like the Rapax Nest, he wouldn''t care.

    However, if he died in the hands of some old monster, or in the midst of a power struggle designed purely to spit in the face of Velasco''s legend, then there would be hell to pay.

    The Void Palace was still reeling from the last time Velasco attacked them in a fury. Compared to the Void Palace, Shield Cross Stars was even more vulnerable because their power was separated across so many locations and branches.

    Did they have a death wish?

    None of this even considered the stance of the Morales family as a whole on the topic!

    "As I''ve said, we have only come for the fugitive, there is no other meaning."

    "You''ve come for a Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional junior with six Tier 2 Officer fleets?" Cornelius sneered. "Do you take me for a child?"

    "It is inadvisable to underestimate youth. We have intelligence that he could be a danger to his surroundings. With the future of the Human Domain being held here, taking risks would be unacceptable so we came out with the full measure of strength possible to be allocated to a Tier 2 Fugitive.

    "Please understand. It should be known that the background of this youth is quite impressive and he has quite a number of treasures on him. We cannot take the chance of allowing him to escape and wreak more havoc in the future."

    DiVincenzo waved a hand and a rippled spread across the six warships.

    BOOM!

    Violent beams of lights connected the warships one after another, and under the astonished gazes of the spectators, the entire Void Palace was suddenly locked down in space, disallowing any covert methods of escape.

    Cornelius was very close to losing control of his temper entirely.

    "Do you think that you can just take a disciple of the Void Palace because you say so? Where is your proof? Where is your evidence? Is this how Shield Cross Stars works?"

    DiVincenzo shook his head.

    "I''m afraid you are mistaken, esteemed sir. Leonel Morales is no longer a member of Void Palace. He did not use the God Path to enter the Sixth Dimension."

 Chapter 1707 Did I Do Good?

    Cornelius froze. His head almost subtly turned in one direction, but he caught himself before he did so. He knew exactly where Leonel was because he had been following him, but that didn''t mean that Shield Cross Stars did. As shocking as their strength was, no one beneath the Eighth Dimension could just casually cover several planetary widths of space to find a single person. If they could, they wouldn''t have to lock down the space.

    He wanted to refute what DiVincenzo said, but the latter seemed so certain and he had no idea.

    When Leonel fought, whether it was against Conon or the Sword Faction, he hadn''t released his God Runes even once. Unless Cornelius personally scanned Leonel with his Internal Sight, something he wouldn''t do for the latter''s privacy, it was impossible to tell. Plus, what he didn''t know was that even if he was willing to do such a thing, whether or not he could actually get past Leonel''s mental defenses was a different matter entirely.

    He had originally thought that Leonel was just so powerful that he didn''t need to use his God Runes, but then he suddenly remembered that in his battle up the Void Tower, Leonel hadn''t used his God Runes either, even up until the point of his death.

    A part of Cornelius wanted to believe that this was because Leonel expected something like this to happen, and as such, held back a good portion of his strength. But was that possible? Even though he was completely caught off guard by all of this, was Leonel''s foresight really so much better than his own?

    According to the rules of the Void Palace, anyone who failed to enter the Sixth Dimension with the God Path would be expelled, effective immediately. If what this Tier 2 Officer was saying was true, then Leonel truly didn''t have the protective badge of the Void Palace any longer.

    "There''s no need to doubt this matter, esteemed sir. The timeline is clear for you to check yourself. According to our information, Leonel Morales suffered the descent of the Cataclysm at Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension. When he returned, he was in Tier 1, but he had never checked the technique stores of the Void Palace, so it''s clear he took the easiest method."

    "That proves nothing, you know his background as well as I doбк."

    "True enough, he could have gained a method from the Morales family. Unfortunately, this isn''t the case. The Void Tower formed a perfect replica of him when he entered and it didn''t sense the aura of the God Path. Shield Cross Stars wouldn''t act without proper assurances."

    Cornelius stopped talking, his expression turning placid. It was clear and obvious what this person was doing. He could have stated this as his first reason and left the matter at that, but he didn''t, instead allowing Cornelius to speak more before shutting him down.

    Not only was this a humiliation, but it seemed to speak on the incompetence of the Void Palace. Leonel had entered the Void Tower days ago, and yet they were still unaware until now.

    Regardless, hopefully by now Leonel had used this opportunity to make some headway in running. This matter was still fishy to him and he simply didn''t believe that that man''s son would do such a thing. Before that happened, Velasco himself would probably kill Leonel first.

    However, what happened next left Cornelius not knowing how to react at all.

    "Hello, I''m the fugitive you''re looking for."

    Leonel''s voice didn''t seem to have much effort behind it either, and yet, his projection didn''t lose out to the two Seventh Dimensional monsters in the skies at all. And how could it? With his current comprehension of resonance, this was all too easy for him.

    He sat on a building''s roof, his feet dangling a smile hanging from his lips.

    DiVincenzo''s gaze sharpened as he looked toward Leonel, but despite the gaze of a Seventh Dimensional expert being capable of shooting across such a large distance, Leonel didn''t feel much pressure at all. This Tier 2 Officer would have to be hundreds of times closer before Leonel would feel anything. In fact, considering how far apart they were, unless this person had the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, in his eyes, Leonel was probably as small as a speck of dust right now if he could see Leonel clearly at all.

    That said, Leonel could see his face almost too clearly, and it was likely that DiVincenzo was well aware of this feeling, or else his face wouldn''t have been so stiff for a moment.

    "Since you are willing to hand yourself in, then this matter will be easily resolбк."

    "Hand myself in? Why would I do something like that?" Leonel chuckled.

    DiVincenzo''s gaze narrowed. For some reason, he felt more pressure talking to this boy than he did Cornelius, but this wasn''t because their strengths were equal, far from it. It was because eof something more etherealбн

    Potential.

    "This isn''t a matter you can decide," Cornelius replied calmly.

    "Oh? Is that so?"

    Leonel blinked innocently.

    With a flip of his palm a familiar silver disk dictionary appeared.

    "Old man, your son''s being bullied, don''t you think that you should do something about this?"

    DiVincenzo suddenly froze, his body subconsciously trembling as he moved, prepared to retreat.

    Leonel, who had on a very wronged expression just a moment ago, suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. Seeing DiVincenzo react as though he had just eaten a pile of shit had him rolling.

    "Sorry, sorry. I''m just messing around, my old man has better things to do than be here. But it''s funny, you''re so scared yet you still dare to do this."

    DiVincenzo''s expression darkened for the first time, the hints of red being overwhelmed by a malevolent blackness.

    "Who?"

    Just when DiVincenzo was about to attack in a state of half fury, he froze again.

    This time, it was Leonel''s turn to be stunned.

    At that moment, a hologram of his father appeared. Clearly, he hadn''t expected this to actually happen.

    "Ah, you actually remembered I exist?" Leonel asked speechlessly.

    Velasco cleaned out his ear with a pinky.

    "Be more respectful, brat. Your mom is on my ass. If not for this, do you think I''d bother with yoбк?"

    "Excuse me? Do I have to tell you how to take care of your own son?"

    At that moment, a familiar voice called out from a seemingly nearby distance, at least relative to wherever his father was.

    Leonel smiled beside himself, but then he froze.

    "Wait, so this thing really can connect a call. Those weren''t prank voicemails at all, were they?!"

    Velasco, who had just been caught, had nowhere to vent his hatred but toward an easy target.

    "All those above the Sixth Dimension, scram. If you can still take the losses of losing at the hands of my seed, then you can continue to attack once that''s fulfilled."

    After saying these words, Velasco seemed to ignore everything else as his hologram turned toward a certain direction.

    "Wife, I did good rightбк?"

    His voice cut out before the rest was said, which was probably good for the sake of Leonel''s mental health.

    In the skies, though, the calm DiVincenzo seemed to have crimson serpents crawling beneath the skin of his forehead.

 Chapter 1708 Boulder

    Leonel chuckled, but just when he was about to put the dictionary array, it flashed again and a familiar woman appeared. She had a warm smile on her face and her eyes lit up as though Leonel was her whole world.

    Velasco might shrug it off, but she had been worried about Leonel''s life and death for over a decade already. It was only now that she knew that he was safe and sound that she could finally exhale a breath.

    She reached out a hand but could only sigh when she remembered that the face before her was just a projection. Life was truly unfair, she never got the chance to watch her son grow. Although not a day passed where she didn''t check in on him, doing so from so many galaxies away was simply not the same.

    "Mom will come see you when she gets a chance, okay, Little Lion?"

    Leonel smiled lightly and nodded.

    Alienor wiped away tears that threatened to form and nodded herself. Then, she looked toward the battleships in the distance, her beautiful gaze flickering with fury.

    "From now on, Shield Cross Stars will not be allowed to step a single foot into Earth''s territory. You have one day to scram. If I see even a single branch remaining, I will kill without mercy!"

    The words were like a boulder falling into a calm lake. The fury behind them was one thing, but the implications behind the words themselves were completely different.

    DiVincenzo''s expression couldn''t help but change wildly for the second time that day. He was truly speechless, not knowing what to say. By the time he gathered himself, his expression could only be described as ugly. He had already known that this mission would be difficult which was why he was so forceful to begin with. He had no choice but to use such a stance hoping to force what was brittle to break. But he hadn''t expected things to turn out this way.

    "What right do you have to say such a thing?! Is the Morales family truly trying to monopolize Earth?!"

    This was the only thing that DiVincenzo could say and the only rebuttal he had, but what he heard next left him truly without words.

    "What right?" Alienor sneered. "There''s no one in existence with more rights than I have, and if there was, it would only be because I handed the decision down to my Little Lion. I am Alienor Morales and the World Spirit of Earth has chosen me.

    "I won''t repeat myself again, the time is already ticking. You have 23 hours and 58 minutes left."

    DiVincenzo froze. Let alone him, several others did as well. Very simply put, this was not widely known information. In fact, let alone not widely known, even those who should have been in the know were completely ignorant of the fact.

    To the people of the Void Palace and even the Void Elders, Alienor was the offspring of the Luxnix family. But this made sense, how could anyone expect for Earth to have already produced a Seventh Dimensional expert?!

    According to the time, Earth had undergone its Metamorphosis just barely 30 or so years ago, but Alienor had been in the Dimensional Verse for far longer than that, and for her to be so, that meant that her father or her mother, one of which was definitely from Earth, had to have entered the Dimensional Verse long before even that.

    But how was that possible? How could a Third Dimensional world possibly enter the Dimensional Verse under their own prowess? No, worse yet, how could they do so under the constant monitoring of the powers of the Human Domain?!

    Alienor turned away from the fleet and smiled toward Leonel again. In an instant, she had gone from an enraged lioness to a doting mother.

    "Mother will see you soon, be safe!"

    Alienor waved maybe a bit too hard before the image flickered and vanished, leaving the disk resting in silence on Leonel''s palm.

    Leonel remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. This matter seemed to be becoming more and more complicated.

    He didn''t know that this was a secret, honestly. He had always acted under the assumption that it wasn''t. But the implication that it was a secret was quite heavy and this felt like a gloves off sort of moment that he happened to be in the center of.

    The silence of the atmosphere seemed to realize this as well, and clearly even Shield Cross Stars, with their wealth of information networks, was completely ignorant to this matter until Alienor laid it all out on the table so clearly.

    Leonel stood up, stretching his back out and yawning.

    He looked to his side, finding that Aina was still there, but he wasn''t very surprised by this. Of course she was. If he tried to send her away, she might send him away with a kick first.

    Craning his neck a bit, he saw his aunt. She seemed to want to fight too, but he shook his head. If she fought, wouldn''t those Seventh Dimensional existences have an excuse to attack. Well, it wasn''t that Leonel trusted them not to attack anyway, his old man was way too casual about all of this. But if they did, he would probably just have to find a method of dealing with it.

    Right then, an inconspicuous member of the crowd caught Leonel''s. He could be described as the stereotypical tall, dark and handsome archetype that females swooned for. He had high cheekbones, a chiseled jaw, and eyes and hair as black as night.

    Leonel had never personally seen this man before, but he could recognize the emblem on the latter''s chest. That was the same emblem of the Winding Shadow Legacy Faction, run by none other than Ronan Sith and the very same Faction that Leonel had gotten information about Treanna from.

    Meeting this man''s gaze, Leonel''s own narrowed. Everyone else just seemed here ready to spectate, but why did it seem like this young man in particular came ready for battle?

 Chapter 1709 Alright

    "Oh?"

    Leonel''s expression went from serious to a light smile.

    Not only was this Ronan character prepared, he was also very close to Leonel''s real location. He was barely half a kilometer away. At that distance, even if he didn''t have the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, it would have been too easy to spot him.

    Even if he was beaten to death Leonel wouldn''t believe that this was a coincidence. There were only two possibilities and only one of them truly made sense considering this man''s last name was Sith. The current Leonel was well aware that the Sith represented the assassination units of Shield Cross Stars.

    This was no coincidence. Even if Leonel hadn''t exposed his location, it was likely that Ronan had been monitoring him all the while. The moment he tried to hide, the latter would have taken action.

    Ronan was already in the Seventh Dimension, a worthy power level for a man who ruled over one of the most important Factions of the Void Palace. However, Leonel still looked at him as though he was staring at prey.

    In the skies above, DiVincenzo slowly regained his composure. Although things had already gotten out of hand, there was already no turning back. They had come here with the intent to sacrifice for the sake of maintaining order. Shield Cross Stars wouldn''t bow in the face of power and prestige, or else how would they continue to be the protectors of the Human Domain?

    "I will give you one more chance to hand yourself in. If you do not comply, not only will you become a Tier 1 Fugitive, but your sentencing will be far harsher."

    Leonel suddenly yawned beside himself, he was truly a bit tired. It took quite a lot out of him to fully assimilate the Void Tower and he hadn''t had time to rest then. However, it could be said that his timing was quite horrible. He was maybe one of the only few men in existence who still had time to be tired in the face of such a fleet of planetary warships.

    After a moment, Leonel looked away from Ronan and his gaze pierced the veil and landed on Cornelius.

    "Hey old man, there''s still a chance here. If the Void Palace does what it''s supposed to do and protects its disciples from nonsense, I won''t mind being a bit more obedient. But if you don''t, wellбн Beneath the Seventh Dimension, I doubt there''s anyone here who can survive my blade, and I most certainly won''t be showing any mercy.

    "So what will it be?"

    Cornelius'' expression twitched. This brat, couldn''t he lay down his pride for a second and say it nicely? Does he know that these old fogies care about their faces the most?

    Almost as soon as he finished this thought, Cornelius felt three auras appear in the skies. Had Leonel been there when Rosen reported his matters to the Void Elders, he would have recognized them as Void Elder Wimarc, Void Elder Galienne and Void Elder Lizbeth.

    Gallienne, the female drill sergeant lookalike among them peered down from the skies with hints of fury in her gaze. However, when Leonel''s eyes panned over, he didn''t seem to notice her anger at all as though he was still waiting for an answer and expected it out of one of these three since Cornelius couldn''t speak.

    This was truly the last chance that Leonel was giving.

    No matter how powerful Shield Cross Stars was, could they compare to the geniuses of the Void Palace? Only their Star Rank Path officers would, but even if there were others in hiding while only DiVincenzo stepped out, they would be in the Sixth Dimension and only equivalent to Void Palace geniuses.

    If that was the case, what did Leonel have to fear from them, exactly? They''d have to bring out the heavy machinery to deal with them, but by that point, they would also risk killing the disciple of the Void Palace.

    This was all to say that if there was anyone with a chance of threatening him, it would come from the disciples of the Void Palace themselves, and if they came for him in an attempt to help Shield Cross Stars bring him in, wellбн

    Like he had said, his blade wouldn''t show mercy. This could be considered the only chance at mercy he would give.

    Void Elder Lizbeth wanted to speak, but before she could, she could only smile bitterly as Galienne finally snapped. The latter had been waiting for Leonel to speak first, but who would have thought that Leonel wouldn''t be in a hurry at all?

    "You are just like your father. Unruly, completely ignorant of propriety and the greater good. Why should the Void Palace protect a disciple like you, one that is so selfish and conceited. I do not know whether Shield Cross Stars speaks the truth or not, but what I do know is that an organization that has given their all to protecting the peace of the Human Domain would not speak without reason, and I have also seen your character first hand.

    "What about you deserves the benefit of my doubt?"

    Leonel suddenly yawned again, this one lasting so long that his eyes watered.

    Reaching a hand upward, he wiped his eyes and blinked, trying to stave off his fatigue.

    As real and unabashed as his actions were, they only made Galienne more infuriated. Each maybe of this family was worse than the last. The father had been unruly and even attacked and killed. The uncle entered and exited as he pleased although he had long since been expelled and banished. And now the son and nephew was doing as he pleased as well.

    But the difference between them was that the father and uncle had the capital to be so arrogant. What did this pup have, exactly?!

    "Alright," Leonel said, lightly stretching.

    At that moment, his body began to slowly emit a white-gold light that only became more blinding with every passing second.

    "I hope you don''t regret it."

    [Instant Recovery].

 Chapter 1710 No Explanation

    Galienne was so infuriated by Leonel''s words that she laughed.

    To everyone else, the Void Elders were a mighty and worshipped existence. They had never seen one disrespected, or seen anyone dare to disrespect them. It left them in a silence.

    But even as Galienne''s laughter echoed, Leonel and Aina suddenly moved at once, crossing a 500 meter distance in just a few breaths and appearing before the Winding Shadow Legacy Faction.

    Ronan''s gaze flickered, clearly not having expected this. It wasn''t like Leonel and Aina were moving faster than he could react to, after all, he was in the Seventh Dimension. He felt like it would only take the matter of a wave of the hand to deal with this, but just when he wanted to, he hesitated.

    The legend of Velasco was deeply ingrained and he knew if that man was truly infuriated, his Sith family wouldn''t be able to protect him at all. But what was this Leonel doing coming toward him like this?

    Suddenly, both Leonel and Aina gripped at the air, manifesting their weapons from their own respective spatial devices. In that instant, a blood thirsty aura descended from the skies, murderous intentions lighting their eyes.

    "Youбн"

    Ronan froze. He was, indeed, the reason much of this had happened. He had been paying keen attention to Leonel for a long time, ever since he had come to his Faction. In doing so, he found out that Leonel actually had a charge that had never been followed through on.

    The details of that case were vague and odd, nothing about it seemed to add up. It only said that Leonel was in cahoots with a Variant Invalid who had set its roots on a weak Fourth Dimensional world called Terrain.

    There wasn''t much information about this, but what was interesting was that it was said that this so-called Puppet Master had led an attack on Earth more than 25 years ago.

    This was especially interesting to Shield Cross Stars because they had a vested interest in keeping Earth safe and free of outside influences for as long as possible. So, the idea that Leonel was connected to a Variant Invalid who seemed to have tried to carve out a piece of Earth was especially important, it was enough to feel like a smoking gun.

    Shield Cross Stars had been very strict with protecting the rise of Earth because of its importance to the Human Domain. Since the Void Palace''s blades were pointed outward and their shields pointed inward, it was their duty.

    So when evidence that an Heir of the Morales family had potentially tried to step over this taboo, it was a huge deal and Ronan immediately brought this matter to his Sith family which then pushed it on upward to the wider big brass of Shield Cross Stars.

    This was all to say that from the perspective of Shield Cross Stars, this wasn''t just about Leonel, it was also about the Morales stepping over a line that they shouldn''t have.

    As such, just to ensure that they had jurisdiction to act, they raised his Fugitive Tier to 2.

    But now that it was exposed that Leonel''s mother was actually the World Spirit holder of Earth, this conspiracy seemed to have gained several layers. Although this put into question Leonel''s guilt, what it essentially confirmed was that the Morales really had ignored this taboo and done as they pleased.

    It could be said from a certain perspective that under everyone''s nosesбн Earth had become the territory of the Morales.

    And this was a huge deal. Enormous. It essentially spit in the face of Shield Cross Stars and then grinded it in with the sole of a shoe.

    Now, even though Leonel was likely to be innocent and there was a deeper matter to this story, they still had to capture him for the sake of demanding an answer from the Morales.

    While there were other Morales members here, Shield Cross Stars was weighed down by bureaucracy. Since they only had a case against Leonel, only he could be used. As such, they were riding a tiger they simply couldn''t step down from.

    Ronan''s body shuddered. He realized that Leonel and Aina''s targets wasn''t even himself, but rather his fellow Sith family members behind him.

    "Stop!"

    Just as Ronan was about to act, a suffocating aura descended upon him. In the distance, a beauty who looked as though her body was covered from head to toe in oil stood on a building. But just her gaze alone was enough to make Ronan feel as though his body had been plunged into a vat of ice.

    Ronan''s eyes turned red, but he couldn''t do anything.

    That moment seemed to slow toward infinity. Leonel met his gaze, the cold indifference within them causing Ronan to shudder for a completely different reason. For a second he truly regretted making an enemy out of this boy.

    Leonel didn''t call him out, he didn''t speak words of rage or demand an explanation. The moment he deduced the impetus of everything happening here, he attacked without mercy.

    He was the same caliber of madman as his father.

    He didn''t care to explain himself. He didn''t care to listen to an explanation. He had been crossed and that was all he needed to know.

    Leonel''s spear and Aina''s ax swung out together, the momentum of their strikes causing the eyes of the Winding Shadow Faction members to widen.

    They hurried to defend themselves, but many were caught off guard, believing that their leader would have easily been able to stop these two. By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

    Blood sprayed beneath the shocked gaze of the spectators.

    It had only been two seconds since Leonel told the Void Elder that he hoped she didn''t regret it. To many in the distance, his words hadn''t even fully sunk in yet but blood had already been shed.

    Galienne''s eyes widened. "BOY!"

    The fury behind her booming voice caused the Void Palace to quake.

 Chapter 1711 Decision

    Leonel slammed the butt of his spear in the ground, causing the earth to crack splinter as wild waves of Earth Force spread out in all directions.

    After slaughtering dozens with just a single swing of his blade, he didn''t seem to be in a rush to run. In fact, he stood calmly, just a few meters away from Ronan as though he had just killed over 50% of his Faction in just a single movement.

    Aina came to a stop by his side, and it was only now that others seemed to realize that without having even been implicated in this matter herself, she had ensured that she would be with a single action. It was clear that between the Void Palace and Leonel, she had chosen the latter without a second thought.

    The elders in the sky were absolutely furious, but Leonel only raised his head into the skies, a familiar light smile on his face. He looked unbothered and unhurried.

    There was only one way out of this place and that was to cross outside the boundaries of space the six planetary warships had put up. Leonel had several ideas on how he might do this, but none of them could be implemented casually, and they most definitely couldn''t be rushed.

    In such a situation, Leonel didn''t need to be in a hurry to do anything immediately, so his first thought was to establish dominance.

    No matter how strong he was, he didn''t feel like dealing with an avalanche of disciples coming at him from all directions, so he wanted to prove a few things, firstly that he had the balls to kill, and secondly that he had the power to do so. Too few knew the name Leonel Morales, so they would just have to find out today.

    In the skies, Cornelius closed his eyes and sighed. The moment Leonel took action, there was truly no taking a step back.

    Unfortunately for him, as far as Leonel was concerned, the moment Void Elder Galienne had spoken those words, putting her own pride at the forefront instead of the greater good, it was already too late to take a step back.

    Galienne''s roar of fury still echoed overhead as Leonel met her gaze. He seemed to be goading her to attack, he wanted to see exactly what the weight of his father''s words were.

    He wasn''t exactly being careless with his life. With how things were now, Galienne and the others were much too far away to attack him. Leonel could see them as though they were right before his face, but even Seventh Dimensional experts couldn''t attack across thousands of kilometers in an environment that was completely free of Anarchic Force, let alone here where the densest concentration of it existed.

    By Leonel''s calculations, it would take several minutes before Galienne could close the distance and enter range to attack him. While others thought that Leonel was in mortal danger already, in truth, the greatest danger to him now was Ronan who was already being bound by his aunt.

    As such, in a situation like this one, poking and testing the limits of the Void Elders and the other Seventh Dimensional experts was exactly what he needed. Whether they dared to attack or not would decide how he moved forward.

    In her rage, Galienne took a step forward, already prepared to blaze a trail toward Leonel and teach this bow a lesson. But at that moment, the old man beside her grabbed her shoulder.

    Galienne''s head snapped toward Wimarc in a rage, but the latter still just shook his head.

    "There are only two choices," he said in a voice that could only be heard by them. "It''s either you forget this matter and let it go, leaving it to Shield Cross Stars to handle, or you have the disciples attack, there is no in between. We cannot afford to give that madman a reason to rampage again."

    "Youбн"

    Galienne was so infuriated that her face turned into a ripe tomato. Her wrinkles shook as though suffering the effects of an earthquake and her seemingly frail limbs caused space itself to tremble.

    "There are other ways to deal with him. No matter how talented he is, he is still just in Tier 1. If you really cannot handle it, just set it as a goal for the Factions and reward them, they''ve been fighting wars longer than he''s even been alive. Of course, do make sure that the other Morales Heirs know that if they interfere, they too will be kicked out of the Void Palace.

    "Or, we can simply allow Shield Cross Stars to act as they please."

    Wimarc was well aware of Galienne''s fiery personality. If he simply told her what to do, it would never work. She was fiercely loyal to the Void Palace and had no patience for those who shirked responsibility, especially after she had already sacrificed the whole of her life to this cause.

    But if he gave her a choice like this, then things would work out much better.

    Galienne seemed to struggle for a moment before she took a breath and released it.

    When Wimarc saw this, he already knew what the decision would be. If it was anything else, then Galienne wouldn''t be Galienne.

    "Disciples of Void Palace!" Her voice boomed.

    The words echoed and many clenched their fists.

    No one spoke, from the lowest Nominal Disciple to the highest Domain Disciple, this was the respect that Void Elders were afforded, the respect earned through a lifetime of sacrifice, the respect given for a group of individuals who lived for the greater good first and their own desires second.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. He could feel the prestige bearing down on him, weighing upon his shoulders and seemingly wanting to press him into the ground. Despite the distance between them, it was almost suffocating, more oppressive than any aura he had ever felt before.

    "Hear me well. None of you are to interfere. The Void Palace no longer has two such disciples and this matter will be handled by Shield Cross Stars. Those who disobey will likewise be expelled."

 Chapter 1712 Win

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with surprise before he actually smiled and chuckled. Without much fanfare, he looked toward Aina.

    "Let''s go."

    Leonel tapped a foot and he and Aina shot forward, their speed blazing a trail through Void Palace.

    In the skies, a far distance away, DiVincenzo''s expression warped. He too hadn''t expected the Void Palace to choose to take such a stance. Initially, he had been planning on forcing their hand, butбн

    His gaze flickered, landing on the running Leonel.

    ''It''s him. He did it on purpose.''

    Leonel seemed to have been playing the role of wastrel from the very beginning, and he had subtly pushed the Void Elders of the Void Palace into a corner where there was only so much that they could do. The moment he chose to slaughter those disciples without mercy, everything had already been set in stone. It was either they attack all out or retreat, there was no in between. However, should they choose to attackбн The consequences would be unimaginable.

    By making his stance so clear and showing his lack of hesitation, not to mention his personal strength, Leonel had forced Galienne to have no choice but to make this decision.

    At that moment, DiVincenzo''s jaw steeled, suddenly feeling that he wasn''t facing a child at all, but before he could even decide how to handle this situation, he sensed several gazes land on him, making him feel as though his heart would stop beating any moment now.

    "You may not attack freely. Do not put our disciples in danger, or you''ll have to deal with me first."

    Cornelius spoke calmly and evenly, his words clearly speaking for the elders as well. Since they had made such a decision, they wouldn''t allow outside influences to harm the children. If they wanted to deal with Leonel, they would have to wait until he was out of range of the possibility of harming any other disciple.

    DiVincenzo''s gaze slowly moved from Cornelius to the others before he realized that there was truly no changing their minds.

    When he looked back down to meet Leonel''s gaze again, he saw that very same slick smile that caused an eruption of fury to dance within his veins, but there was already nothing more that he could do.

    "Squadrons, deploy!" DiVincenzo''s voice moved. "Target is moving toward the northern gate of the Void Palace, cut off all paths of retreat!"

    At that moment, the silent planetary vessels finally showed some signs of life, numerous hatchets and lights opening as a flood of powerful individuals surged out. Despite the fact they looked like a swarm of locusts, they moved seamlessly, not a single person getting in the way of another.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted as he calmly observed this matter. If there was anything that would endanger him at this point, it would be if the Shield Cross Stars had similar methods of borrowing power from one another, methods that he had personally seen in the Zone previously.

    Judging by how these groups were moving in trios, and trios were moving in larger sets of 30, Leonel could see through this in an instant. While others saw a swarm, he saw the inner workings of a Force Art.

    "Aina."

    "Mm."

    "Faster."

    ? Leonel was enveloped by a blinding sheen of white gold, three tails appearing to his back. At the same time, an equally blinding crimson light erupted from Aina, filling the air with the smell of bloody roses.

    The two shot into the forest, their speed putting even some Seventh Dimensional experts to shame. The moment they hit this gear, DiVincenzo who was monitoring their position from the skies all this time felt his heart lurch into his throat.

    In what felt like the blink of an eye, they covered hundreds of kilometers, leaving the sights of the disciples and entering the dense forest of the Void Palace.

    Aina smiled. "I bet I can kill more than you."

    Leonel started and nearly lost his footing on a branch he leapt off from. He was still focusing on his strategy and didn''t expect to suddenly hear this.

    He turned toward her after a moment and grinned. "As if."

    Instead of replying directly, Aina smiled sweetly.

    "Try to keep up."

    At that moment, Aina became a blur. In just that split second, even Leonel''s eyes couldn''t keep up, fragment of Bow Domain Lineage Factor or not.

    She became like a wisp of blood, her body moving so fast that it tore through the veil of space and appeared over a hundred kilometers ahead of Leonel in an instant.

    Leonel was rendered speechless again. Was that the Blood Sovereign Tablet at work? What the hell did that kind of speed have to do with Blood Force?

    Leonel shook his head and recovered. Clearly, he couldn''t let this little vixen have her way.

    His Starry Light Domain bloomed, rising up and shooting past 10 kilometers. In an instant, he blinked forward over ten times, covering the same distance Aina had. At that point, let alone putting some Seventh Dimensional experts to shame, there were probably very few Tier 1 Seventh Dimensional experts that could match them in this regard.

    Leonel''s body flickered in a streak of light, appearing 10 kilometers in the sky. He felt his wind rushing across his skin, his hair dancing like a river of white to his back as a distinctly bestial grin spread across his face.

    He raised his spear but it suddenly vanished into the form of a bow.

    The White Lion Bow seemed to unleash a roar as Leonel nocked an arrow.

    Just as he was about to release, a scythe of bloody red tore through the air, tearing through the frontline of descending warriors.

    Leonel''s grin turned into a lip twitch as he watched his original target be severed into two.

    Before anyone could react, a tide of blood rose into the air, the corpses of several valiant warriors turning into rotating lotuses that shredded trees, stone and flesh apart alike.

    "Shit."

    Leonel put his bow away, flashing forward and appearing on the ground before flashing forward again.

    He had to hurry up or she really would win.

 Chapter 1713 Full Deployment

    DiVincenzo''s eyes widened. He had been so focused on Leonel and his danger that he hadn''t paid much attention to this girl. Quite frankly, he wasn''t even entirely sure of who she was. But the instant she burst forward with that speed, he was forced to pay attention even if he didn''t want to. And the moment she started killing, let alone him, everyone''s eyes were on her.

    Aina walked through the forest, her ax swinging in wide arcs from side to side. But the most shocking part was that he was easily dozens of kilometers from her nearest target. Somehow, she had some sort of symbiotic, quantum relationship with the Blood Force in the distance. The instance she swung, Ax Force that should have been on her blade appeared kilometers ahead, fusing with the Blood Force and shredding everything in its path to pieces.

    At the same time, blood roses formed in the air one after another, growing larger and larger with every dead target it assimilated.

    Let alone DiVincenzo, even Leonel was shocked. Even he couldn''t attack across such a long distance. Despite the fact he was well ahead of Aina now, he had still been forward to bring out his bow, only to realize that she still managed to somehow attack first.

    Obviously, the warriors of Shield Cross Stars were taken aback as well. They had been bracing themselves, prepared to deploy their battle tactics, only to realize that the threat they thought was still making their way over here was actually already here.

    A coercive pressure weighed down on the surroundings, the extremely heavy weight of a powerful might spreading out in all directions.

    Leonel recognized almost instantly that this mind was Aina''s. Her coercive pressure had actually progressed to this point.

    ''So that''s howбн She must have her own version of a Dream World or Starry Spirit Domain, but instead this one controls Blood Forceбн''

    Leonel''s foot pressed into the ground hard, causing cracks to spread out in all directions as he shot forward like a canon. This was excellent. He thought he would have to worry about Aina being on the frontlines which was also why he planned to use his bow to support her, but if things were like this then he could truly go all out.

    As he blazed a trail forward, he could feel the heaviness of space around him. Using his Emulation Spatial Force had become easily three to five times more difficult and teleporting was an impossibility with the lock in space.

    But none of that would matter once they left this encirclement.

    "Activate! Activate it now! There''s no time, pairs of threes!"

    The words were incoherent, not making much sense to those not of Shield Cross Stars. But it was still enough for Leonel''s eyes to narrow.

    ''Now, huh?''

    Leonel burst out of a clearing, finding the surroundings to be quite familiar. This could be one of the villages, Village 0218 to be exact. However, these villages were only used during disciple recruitment so they were completely empty now and provided quite a large bit of flat land for battle.

    Leonel leapt up, clearing the 10 meter wall that had taken him some effort a year ago in a single bound.

    When he stepped over the other side, he found blood and carnage, a large number of bloody roses hanging in the skies. Behind these roses, the warriors of Shield Cross Stars took up their formations, radiant lights forming around them.

    For each pair of three, a shield that seemed formed of starlight took shape. They emitted glittering silvers and radiant translucent blues. If it wasn''t for the situation, Leonel might feel that they were quite beautiful.

    This time, when Aina''s blood roses rotated forward, they bent and shattered against the shields, breaking into sprinkling petals of crimson that splashed onto the ground like a puddle of red rain.

    Leonel''s spear appeared in his palm, his gaze turning sharp.

    He pierced forward, his spear streaking through the distance between himself and them in the blink of an eye.

    CLANG!

    The trio Leonel targeted was sent stumbling back, but their shield didn''t have the slightest crack on it.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. The technique was stronger than he thought, and if he let them gather any more together, it would be even more troublesome.

    If Leonel was correct, these trios could be fused in groups of ten to create an even stronger shield.

    Compared to the techniques he had seen in the Zone, this was actually much simpler. Because it focused entirely on defense, it could be used with less people and still have powerful outputs. When it was powered by three Tier 9 Sixth Dimensional existences like this, the defensive power wasn''t small in the slightest.

    The tip of Leonel''s spear trembled, a delicate golden light forming around it as the world went silent.

    Absolute Spear Domain.

    Leonel''s spear pierced forward once more like a streak of light across the skies.

    Before the stumbling trio could react, their shield shattered into motes of light, the head of their captain bursting like a watermelon.

    Leonel appeared in their midst, his spear becoming like the scythe of a reaper. Everywhere he passed, another head would fall. His blade was relentless, and the rotating tornado of his Absolute Spear Domain was even more unforgiving.

    Over the horizon, Aina caught up, realizing that her long distance attacks weren''t working anymore. Reaching out a delicate hand, she clutched it.

    The blood roses fused into one, forming a thorny pasture that surged forward.

    The two cut through the protectors of humanity''s peace as though they were nothing more than barbarians. This was the kind of scene that would be imprinted into the minds of all those that saw it.

    In the skies, DiVincenzo realized the mistake he had made. Sending in squadrons to deal with these duo was simply sending them to their deaths, but having already made such a mistake, it was already impossible to reverse.

    He grit his teeth, hard, his gaze flickering with ill intent.

    "Full deployment! War Sequence Tier 1!"

    The six planetary warships quaked. Many of the warriors were surprised, but that didn''t stop them from reacting.

    Full deployment? That meant that even the ship''s engineers and drivers were to enter the charge. However, that was less important than the fact it demanded the elite troops make their appearance.

    In comparison to this, though, War Sequence Tier 1 was a far bigger deal. It meant that they were meant to treat this assault as though they were reinforcing a Tier 1 fleetбн

    In simple terms, it meant that they were meant to go all out as though facing an enemy far above their paygrade.

 Chapter 1714 One Sentence

    Within the planetary warships, the warriors of Shield Cross Stars moved about like the ants of a colony, the speed and organization reaching an immaculate realm.

    At that moment, within the personal cabins of some of the most elite troops there were, several meditating powerhouses slowly opened their eyes, their auras flashing with a robust heaviness before retracting into gentle streams of cool wind.

    One after another, they stood.

    Each one of these individuals was completely in the nude, soaking in a dense jelly-like substance. They stepped out with a movement and immediately became dry beneath an odd, inexplicable process.

    They dressed themselves systematically. The rhythm was so smooth and without hitches that it would be clear to anyone watching that they had done this thousands of times. Although their rituals were all different, each one had one that they had drilled into their minds over decades.

    However, no matter how different their processes were, in exactly three seconds, they all had finished dressing themselves and stepped out.

    The moment they did, the hustle and bustle of the planetary warships seemed to slow and quiet, the echoes of their footsteps setting a new rhythm that they all fell into.

    They stretched out their hands.

    As obedient as servants, several groups rushed forward and handed them halberds twice the height of their bodies.

    They stretched out their forearms.

    In just as quick movements, several more groups rushed forward and handed them shields that weighed as heavy as mountains.

    The moment they were equipped with weapons and shields, their steps only became heavier, the rumbling momentum causing even the warship itself to quake and shake.

    The more these echoes resonated, the more controlled the others seemed to become. With every passing second, the cohesion of the group grew further. Even as they increased their pace of movement, the smoothness remained the same and, in fact, greatened. As though they were perfectly choreographed traffic, no one interrupted the path of another person, even to the point their shoulders didn''t brush.

    These entities stepped out, reaching the bow of their ships as crowds of warriors, previously seemingly moving in an unorganized swarm, formed neat and even lines to their back. For each one of these six planetary warships, there were 12 such existences, each one wielding the very same halberd and shield.

    The uniformity was immaculate.

    Their faces seemed hardly recognizable to the public, but to the terrorist organizations of the Dimensional Verse, they were all too well known.

    Captain Zylgella.

    This name meant nothing to the vast majority, however to the people of the colloquially known Zealot Sector, his name rang fear in all of their hearts.

    The so-called Zealot Sector was a region of the Human Domain where there was an increased activity in Gods and Faiths due to certain unique opportunities presented. Unfortunately, that also made it a hotbed of religious extremists and cults which took advantage of the poor and needy, feeding them into systems that created sex trafficking rings and began cycles of hatred.

    This region was Captain Zylgella''s stomping ground. Over the years of his dominance, he came to be known as the Guillotine Apostate. The number of shrines and places of worship he had felled beneath his blade and soaked beneath rivers of blood were too numerous to count.

    Captain Urrith.

    This name meant nothing to the vast majority, however to the people of the Skyward Sector, her name shook their souls and sunk claws into their hearts.

    The Skyward Sector was one of the few barbarian Sectors of the Human Domain. There were only two methods of gaining such a title, both of which usually came hand in hand. The first was that there was not a prominent human family or organization in majority control of the land, and the second was that it had a population of non-human exceeding 20%.

    The Oryx were not the only non-human race in the Human Domain, there were batches of others in minority positions that had learned to co-exist with humans, one of which being the Skyward Race.

    Still, in such regions, the locations tended to be particularly lawless. Since these regions could not be controlled by humans, it was obvious that the humans there tended to be quite weak and the other races there tended to be quite strong.

    Due to other powers being more focused on their own regions and maintaining control, Shield Cross Stars could only do its best to maintain order.

    When Captain Urrith gained jurisdiction over the Skyward Sector, though, what once was a lawless region quickly became great obedient. Even now, the odd winged race followed to her back, having wings that alternated in leather skin and feathers, while having faces with prominent noses seemingly built with aerodynamics in mind.

    Alone, she had subdued an entire Sector.

    Captain Wimword.

    This name meant nothing to the vast majority. Even to the people of the Necro Sector he oversaw, this name was completely unknown to them. However, the name that they did know was that of the Shield Reaper.

    The Necro Sector was the deadest Sector in the Human Domain. It had an abnormally large concentration of dark and corrosion Forces, making it impossible for most to live there normally. Those that did were often sickly, malnourished and frail of body. This made them easy for beasts to prey upon and it was considered to be a region where beasts reigned supreme.

    That was, until Captain Wimword set his flag and marched.

    These were just three, just three of the 72 that had appeared, each one with a more vicious title and history than the last, and each fully prepared to lay down their lives in the name of the human race.

    A silence fell over the battlefield as though all of the noise had been sucked out of the air. These 12 stood at the bows of their ships. Although less than a second had passed since they had appeared, somehow it felt like an eternity.

    And then, they jumped.

    Leonel felt his spine tingle.

    He tapped his foot on the ground, retreating slightly and retracting his spear. Aina seemed to notice his change immediately and reacted in kind. Her hair fluttered in the air as she stepped onto a rotating blood rose, with a raise of her hands, the others followed along with her.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The land trembled as a tsunami of earth rose into the air and spread out in all directions.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as his head raised.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The earth collapsed, causing the ground to shake so fiercely that it almost threatened to throw him off balance.

    Dust was thrown into the, threatening to make visibility an impossibility. The Void Palace was already known for its dense fog, so this only made the situation several times more difficult to handle. However, before it could truly get out of hand, all of the dust was suddenly pressed into the ground as though a hand had descended from the skies above.

    When Leonel''s vision finally cleared, he found that both he and Aina were surrounded by towering shields the size of buildings. There were exactly 72 of them, each of them shimmering with a resplendent starlight.

    They alternated between silver and royal blue depending on the angle, their translucent nature being just transparent enough to show the powerful armies that stood behind them.

    Then, the sound of footsteps began to resonate. Each and every one of them walked at the exact same pace, raising the exact same leg and walking forward in unison. The resonance made it sound as though a single giant was moving through forward, each one aimed right for Leonel''s heart.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    As they moved, the encirclement closed in, closing all paths of retreat.

    Leonel slowly relaxed, exhaling a long breath. It seemed that he probably couldn''t play around anymore.

    His head angled upward again, looking toward the six planetary warships with narrowed eyes.

    In the distance, DiVincenzo and the Void Elders stood high in the skies, watching this scene. None of them easily revealed their inner thoughts with their expressions. However, it was clear that they all felt that this matter was over, subconsciously relaxing.

    DiVincenzo didn''t slowly increase the pressure. The moment he saw that things weren''t going well, he dialed up the heat to the greatest output he had, unwilling to take any more chances. However, never in his wildest dreams did he think that things might very well come crumbling down with a single sentence from Leonel.

    Leonel, who was just about to get serious, paused for a moment, his brow raising.

    His gaze shifted and he slowly landed on three people.

    "You. You. And You."

    With the training these warriors had, they simply continued to walk forward as though nothing at all had happened. However, Leonel didn''t seem too shocked by this at all.

    The ones he had pointed to hard reacted at all, until, that is, he pointed to the last one.

    One wasn''t an issue. Two was a coincidence. But threeбн three was a pattern, a pattern that shattered the status quo with another few words.

    "Neither of the three of you are human. Cloud Race, I presume?"

    Leonel clearly wasn''t asking a question. In fact, he was making a very clear accusation. While he could break out of this encirclement using effort, it would take a lot out of him and he would most definitely end up injured. Plus, outside of himself, Aina would likely suffer as well.

    If there was a chance to use his head and intelligence instead, why wouldn''t he?

    As for the three he had pointed to, they were none other than Zylgella, Urrith and Wimword.

    [Important Announcement below]

 Chapter 1715 One For One

    Let alone everyone else, even Aina''s expression flickered when Leonel said this.

    After a brief moment of surprise, DiVincenzo immediately believed that Leonel was speaking nonsense, and if he did so, there was even less to say about the marching warriors of Shield Cross Stars. With their training, it took more than just a few words for their focus to waver.

    But who was Leonel? Was he a fool who couldn''t understand something so simple?

    The moment he finished speaking, his body flickered and vanished. When he appeared once again, not only was he right before Captain Wimword''s troops, his body was enveloped by a radiant Bronze Aura that shone brighter than even gold.

    With the way his hair danced and his spear struck forward, he looked like the descendent of a Greek God, everything from his demeanor to his aura releasing a stifling, undying pressure.

    The sound in the world vanished and a vast painting seemed to unfurl to Leonel''s back. Seas of blood, rains of bone, lands of flesh appeared. Anyone laying eyes on it felt their hearts tremble. In that moment, it felt as though the light smile that always hung from Leonel''s lips was no more than a mask, a mask hiding behind it the black heart of a demon.

    Leonel''s spear became like a river of blood, the mere tremble of its tip causing tsunami-like waves to spread out to the left and right.

    All the while, his gaze was locked onto Wimword''s. There didn''t seem to be any emotion behind it. There was no coldness, no happiness, no anger, no fury, there was nothing but a vast, unfathomable depth, one that seemed to peer even into the souls of those who looked into it.

    Wimword shuddered, his expressionless visage finally trembling somewhat. The cadence of the march shifted only the slightest bit, but that was enough for the radiant shield to dim just the slightest bit.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear collided with the shield.

    He felt as though he had met a steel wall with the fist of a mortal. His forearms and wrists trembled, threatening to snap on impact. However, at that moment, the radiant Bronze Aura trembled, spreading out the reverberating impact toward the ground beneath his feet and the air around him.

    Small pockets of explosions surged in the surrounding area, a small measure of it reupping and fusing with Leonel''s strike, increasing his strike by small margins at a time.

    CRACK!

    The eyes of DiVincenzo and the Shield Cross Stars warriors sharpened. A crack in their shield?! That was impossible! Considering the standard of officers used to form it, this should have been an impossible task for anyone beneath the Seventh Dimension! How could a Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional brat possibly accomplish this?!

    Captain Wimword''s irises flickered with a malevolent light. He waved a hand, sending out several military grade hand signs known by only the members of his troops. However, Leonel didn''t need to understand to know that it must be an attack sequence. If all these people could do was defend, they would be too useless.

    The power of this formation was something Leonel had already seen through, and it was something he could have seen through even if he hadn''t personally read some anecdotes about it in the Void Library.

    This defense was an exceptionally rare formation allowing perfect defense from one side and perfect transparency from the other. This meant that while under the protection of this formation, the warriors of Shield Cross Stars could still attack freely so long as it was done in a coordinated fashion that didn''t disrupt the cadence that allowed them to use this formation in the first place.

    Unfortunatelyбн

    A blur of red appeared to Leonel''s side.

    Even as she swung his ax, her beauty was truly unmatched. The powerful, streamlined outline of her body exploded forth with a hidden power that didn''t seem possible.

    The wind stacked up on the edge of her blade, following up on Leonel''s strike in one smooth motion.

    Leonel hadn''t even fully retracted his spear when she acted. The timing couldn''t have been more perfect.

    BANG!

    Aina''s battle ax''s blade landed right where Leonel''s spear point had just retracted from.

    Like sparkling motes of light in the form of twinkling shards of glass, the radiant royal blue and silver illusory shield shattered.

    A long distance away, DiVincenzo froze, but it was already too late.

    Leonel only took a single step back to deal with the recoil before he shot through the opening the two had created as the officers of Wimword''s troop coughed up blood beneath the backlash of their collapsed formation.

    Aina took a step back as well, just a measure after Leonel, before quickly following up. The two were like a pair tied together by a tight string, following one after another completely in sync.

    Leonel appeared before Wimword who took up the vanguard of the formation, his face wearing a malevolent grin.

    His spear spun in his hands before it thrust forward, leaving several shadows in the air.

    Wimword''s expression changed. He immediately changed his hand signals and retreated, two of his vice captains following him as they settled into a formation of three as their troops followed suit.

    Pockets of squads of three separated, but some were still too slow. They had just withstood the backlash of their formation collapsing, so how could they all reform another one so fast?

    While it looked like Leonel was aiming for Wimword, the tips of his spear vanished and appeared in the surroundings.

    Under the astonished gazes of many, his spear''s range felt almost endless. No one within 10 meters was able to escape the wrath of his blade as he attacked as he pleased. If you were too close, your life would be reaped from yourself. It was as simple as that.

    PCHU! PCHU! PCHU!

    Swift.

    Truly Swift.

    The spear shadows practically blotted out the skies as the might of the Morales shone forth.

    Madmen. Generals of the battlefield. Reapers even amidst the carnage. Their spears blanketed the clouds and layered the earth. Absolute Spear Domain.

    Half a dozen squads lost one or two members instantly, some of them even losing all three. Without their organized squadrons, they were no longer able to form their smaller shield formations, and better yet, those that were further away didn''t have time to reinforce Wimword and his vice captains.

    Aina shot by Leonel, causing Blood Force to rise into the air as she ripped the Life Force out of the falling corpses.

    Leonel smiled. "Just me and you."

    Leonel''s gaze locked onto Wimword, the tip of his spear trembling and a rising tornado of golden Spear Force dancing around him as his three glorious white illusory tails rose into the skies behind him.

    Wimword''s heart skipped a beat, but he immediately forced himself to calm down.

    Even if Aina held back the other members of his troops from interfering, Leonel was still speaking nonsense. What about the other 71 troops? She couldn''t possibly stop them all as well, right? In just a few more breaths, they would be completely surrounded and they most definitely wouldn''t get a chance to shatter another shield.

    Considering the strength they had shown now, this was already their limit. Leonel definitely couldn''t take him down in just a few seconds.

    Star Fusion.

    An eruption of starry blue Force rushed into being around Leonel, making him look like the incarnation of a deity.

    His pores opened, a dense blue fog akin to a radiant nebula spreading out around him.

    Combustion.

    BANG!

    In an instant it all turned a furious shade of red.

    Leonel took a step forward, the ground beneath him shattering into an avalanche of rock and stone.

    In that moment, he remembered when he first came to the Void Palace. Cutting down a single tree was impossible, he couldn''t even leave a scratch on the ground, even using his Internal Sight beyond a few meters was impossible.

    But now, on his way out, he could do as he pleased. This landscape, if he wanted it to change, it had no right to tell him no!

    BANG!

    Wimword''s formation shield shattered beneath Leonel''s aura alone, a single rogue strand of Spear Force no thicker than a hair whipping against it and collapsing its entire structure.

    It was only now that those watching realized that Leonel had yet to put in his full effort. While others had reached their upper limits, he was still scratching the surface of his potential.

    Leonel took another step forward, casually flicking his wrist.

    BANG!

    The ground his spear swept by rose into the air, forming a hill of earth so large that an entire half of the troops found themselves facing the descent of a mighty mountain crashing toward their heads.

    Just as Leonel took a third step, he disappeared in a flicker of crimson. When he appeared again, his spear was at Wimword''s throat, a moment away from piercing right through.

    Wimword''s body trembled, veins popping out across his forehead until he suddenly roared.

    Just when it seemed like Wimword would be skewered through, Leonel''s spear passed through nothing but air.

    However, just the residual aura of Leonel''s strike alone caused Wimword''s two vice captains to burst into clouds of blood.

    Leonel slowly retracted his spear. Despite missing, there was a grin on his face as Wimword slowly appeared again about five meters from him.

    The entire battlefield froze and even in the far off distance, DiVincenzo and the Void Elders also froze until a furious expression appeared on Galienne''s wrinkled face.

    "CLOUD RACE SCUM!"

    There was only one race in existence capable of using such a formless movement technique. "Wimword" had exposed himself, and by proxy, he had exposed Zylgella and Urrith.

    If Leonel was one for one, he was almost assuredly three for three as well.

 Chapter 1716 Empty

    Galienne''s furious roar thundered across the skies. Never in her wildest imagination did she think that Leonel''s words would actually not be nonsense, but now that she was aware, what she had to do was even less of an uncertainty.

    The role of Void Palace was of one track and of one mind: protect the Human Domain from other races. It was that simple, and it was a mission that hadn''t changed for countless years.

    Wimword''s expression changed.

    At first, he wanted to see if he could do something to change his current situation, or at least take control of it, but he quickly realized that all of his ideas were ridiculous.

    Take Leonel as hostage? What good would that do when the entire purpose of their trip here was to detain him to begin with? Plus, it was likely that a part of the reason Galienne''s reaction was so explosive was because she had finally found a target to vent on.

    After just a second, Wimword realized that he had no other options outside of running. He sent a furious gaze toward Leonel. Even now, he had no idea how he had been exposed. If it was so easy to see through the disguise of the Cloud Race then they wouldn''t be the Cloud Race. Someone like Leonel was, without exaggeration, an existential risk to their very being.

    The only race of people that the Cloud Race didn''t dare to play around with were the Spirituals precisely because they could so easily see through them. Wimword had no idea how a human race brat could do the same thing.

    Seeing Wimword''s fury, Leonel smiled and waved.

    "You should probably start running now, maybe you can make it out. Good luck."

    Seeing Leonel''s smile, Wimword''s body trembled with fury. In a spike of rage, the aura of a Seventh Dimensional expert rippled out in all directions, emitting from his body in waves. However, rather than being shocked or scared like Wimword thought Leonel would be, Leonel''s smile still hadn''t faded.

    What a joke. If Leonel could see through Wimword''s Cloud Race disguise, why wouldn''t he be able to tell that the latter was actually in the Seventh Dimension.

    But now Wimword had to make a choice, he could either test his luck and try to kill Leonel, or he could run. If Leonel managed to survive his first strike, he wouldn''t have time to send a second before avoiding detection would be impossible.

    The Void Elders were still far enough away that he and the others could escape, and it would take far more than just a few exchanges to bridge the gap, but the main issue was a matter of whether they would be able to track them or not.

    If Wimword left right this moment, his trail would disappear by the time they caught up. But if he delayedбн there was no telling.

    It was clear by Leonel''s smile that he seemed to understand this quite well.

    Wimword grit his teeth for a moment before all of his fury vanished into a puff of air. In an instant, he had regained all of his calm and there was no longer the slightest ripple in his eyes. Without hesitating anymore, he turned and vanished, plumes of cloudy fog and energy following his path.

    The corner of Leonel''s lip curled as he watched Wimword run.

    At the same moment, Zylgella and Urrith no longer hesitated as well, breaking free from their formations and rushing away. What Leonel found interesting, though, was that they were all alone. He couldn''t help but wonder what the plan was, exactly.

    Did the Cloud Race plan to overturn Shield Cross Stars with just three individuals? That didn''t seem likely. It was either that these were rogue members, orбн

    Leonel''s expression flickered for a moment as chaos ensued. With the collapse of just three formations, logically, there should have been more than enough organization remaining to deal with the situation, but the Cloud Race had quite some spectacular methods of their own.

    As they escaped, a dense foggy grey energy rose into the air, obscuring vision and making even Leonel feel as though his mind was being attacked.

    One after another, the formations wavered and collapsed, the glorious shields cracking and shattering right after them.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    With a step, he appeared by Aina''s side. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he took another step and crossed large distances at a time.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    ''Perfect.'' Leonel thought with a grin.

    He didn''t need to see to know what happened. Just now, Wimword had definitely reached the spatial lock barrier and used some method to destroy it. In an instant, Leonel felt his Emulation Spatial Force loosen up and he felt freer to move.

    In reality, Leonel had many other plans for this day. If he had the skill to draw spatial arrays capable of helping him escape a Zone, something that was supposedly impossible up until the moment he did it, this spatial barrier had no method of stopping him either so long as he had some time.

    He had originally wanted to deal Shield Cross Stars a blow for being so annoying, which was why he had taken this approach. But the idea that they had three spies in their ranks that caused their collapse while they were supposedly chasing after a Fugitive was far more cathartic than anything else he had had planned. In fact, he found it absolutely hilarious.

    That said, that didn''t mean that he would just leave things as is.

    Taking advantage of the fog, Leonel deployed his Starry Spirit Domain and added some fog of his own. Overlaying it with Emulation Spatial Force, he created an illusion of his surroundings that had everything but an image of himself and Aina, effectively allowing them to disappear into thin air.

    Leonel was sure that there were many still trying to pay close attention to his actions, but no amount of scrutiny would stop him.

    In just a few minutes, unbeknownst to anyone, Leonel stepped onto an empty planetary warship with Aina by his side.

 Chapter 1717 Or Me?

    With a thought, Leonel split into several clones. From start to finish, his Dream World was entirely locked onto the vessel, splitting it into components and rebuilding it in his mind. If one looked into his mind right this moment, it would be possible to see tens of thousands of gears, pipes, wires, engine pieces, gas exhaustsбн the number of things was endless and even when it seemed like they couldn''t be cut down any further, he would still split them into more.

    In just a few minutes, Leonel understood the flying vessel better than even the engineers who worked on it everyday. If he had to, let alone fly it, he could build it from scratch with nothing but raw materials.

    Of course, Leonel had the Segmented Cube if he really wanted to escape as stealthily as possible, but where was the fun in that?

    Off to the side, Aina could only shake her head and smile. With the Segmented Cube''s abilities, they would probably already be a solar system away by now, but this man insisted on never suffering a loss.

    As far as Leonel saw it, pointing out some traitors in Shield Cross Stars midst might embarrass them, but it was ultimately a net positive for them. As things went, he had just done them a favor, and it wasn''t the first favor he had done for the human race either.

    Considering such a thing, he might as well take some payment for his efforts. They didn''t think that they could just use him for free, right?

    If DiVincenzo knew what Leonel was thinking, he just might die of blood loss just from coughing up so much in rage.

    This wasn''t just any normal planetary warship. Leonel hadn''t just targeted any one of them, he had targeted the flagship. In the entirety of Shield Cross Stars, there was only one model superior to this one and it was reserved for Tier 1 Star Rank Officers. Considering the status of such officers, those warships rarely saw the light of day.

    Even if Leonel had targeted one of the five lesser ships that had come it would have been an unacceptable loss. After all, this was the entirety of DiVincenzo''s fleet!

    To estimate the cost of one of these planetary warships, talking of Urbe Ores wasn''t even appropriate. Instead, one had to speak in terms of revenue of not planetsбн or quadrantsбн or galaxiesбн but Sectors!

    In order to build one such warship, it took gathering the entire profits of one Sector for a century, or the profits of 100 Sectors for one year each. These wouldn''t be normal Sectors either, but rather Seventh Dimensional Sectors!

    In the entirety of the Human Domain, there were only a few hundred such Sectors to begin with. This meant that even if the resources of the whole Human Domain were pooled together without the slightest reservation, only about four or five of these ships could be made per year! And that was only if no one cared about spending funds on anything else!

    To say that stealing this ship was a bit of an overkill was understatement, and Leonel most definitely couldn''t claim to be ignorant about it either considering his status as a Craftsman. He simply didn''t care. They would just have to obediently swallow this loss.

    Leonel grinned. "Nice."

    His greatest worry had just vanished into thin air.

    This ship didn''t need to be powered, it was self-sustaining. How lovely, it was like they had put it on a platter just for him.

    At that moment, all of Leonel''s clones were in place and the ship rumbled just a single time, shocking the whole of the Void Palace.

    DiVincenzo, who had been in mad pursuit of the Cloud Race trio, felt his heart skip a beat. It wasn''t that he hadn''t wanted to use the ships to rush after them, but the problem was that manning such a large warship required hundreds of crewmen and engineers, but he had deployed them all to chase after Leonel! It would take too much time for them to get back and start everything up.

    Never had he thought that someone would actually take this opportunity to steal their Tier 2 Star Warship.

    If anyone had told him that this would happen before, he would have laughed in their face. How could two people steal a planetary warship? He would have thought that one would have to be woefully ignorant to even think such a thing was possible.

    But it was actually happening right before his eyes.

    "I''ll be taking this as repayment, no need to thank me!"

    Leonel''s voice echoed through the void, but he had already stopped paying attention to the situation around him, turning toward Aina with a smile.

    Aina raised an eyebrow, pretending not to understand the look in Leonel''s eye. But before she could react, she was squealing as he swept her into his arms, her battle ax forgotten at the bow of the ship.

    Leonel carried Aina into the ship, his lips sealing over her own as he walked about with his eyes closed. He cradled her thighs to either side of his hips with his forearms, his two palms firmly planted on her ass.

    The two of them seemed to completely forget the rumbling of the ship, lost in their own world.

    They left a trail of clothing in their wake, a piece of fabric falling away with every step that Leonel took.

    Leonel kicked open a door, slamming it shut behind him with a heel. His movements didn''t have even the slightest hitch in them as he pressed Aina down onto a bed, her heavy breathing matching to the rhythm of their hearts.

    Aina looked into Leonel''s eyes, their golden hues slightly misty, slightly red, and mostly loving.

    "What are you focused on more right now? Flying the ship? Or me?"

    The almost succubus-like coercion and temptation in Aina''s voice made Leonel as hard as a rock, but he also found the question somewhat amusing. Did the answer matter much? Well, maybe it didn''t matter much to him, but she liked to know the answer.

    Aina felt herself moisten as Leonel pressed against her. She could feel her delicate pink folds spreading apart and her entrance slowly opening.

    She looked into Leonel''s eyes, unable to look away, and he was unable to do the same.

    "When we crash, just know I''m going to blame it on you," Leonel laughed.

    Aina laughed as well, her eyes filled with a hint of happy tears.

    She felt nothing but bliss as they fused into one, her moan stifled by the kiss of the man she loved.

 Chapter 1718 Pop

    As good as his body felt, Leonel felt as though his mind had entered a state of absolute peace. It was beyond just the feelings, but rather the tacit acceptance that had brought him to this moment.

    He had been by Aina''s side for so long and he had already lost count of the number of opportunities they had had. However, because he was in his own head about so many things, it was always easy to find an excuse, and to also find contentment in what he had without trying to seek more.

    After he had made his decision that day, he no longer had any inhibitions. He had already known that when next the two of them had this chance, neither of them would be willing to miss it again.

    It wasn''t a moment of ravenous passion, nor was it emblazoned with emotions like it had almost been so many times before. Rather, it was calm and intimate. They listened to the sound of each other''s breathing, they enjoyed the warmth of each other''s embrace, and they were both very much present.

    It could only be really explained in one word: comfortable.

    There wasn''t any pressure on their shoulders, any obligation to act, any fear dictating their actions, or any ulterior motives tainting their thoughts. It couldn''t have been any purer.

    They smiled, they kissed, they even laughed, neither feeling any tension or oppression. Both just seemed to understand how beautiful the moment was.

    It wasn''t perfect. They didn''t have fireworks in their air, they were currently on the run as fugitives and there were probably no small number of individuals who wanted them dead, and yet it all didn''t seem to matter in the slightest.

    бн

    In his state of bliss, Leonel suddenly felt his knees go weak.

    At first, he thought the worst. In reality, by this point, it had only been a few minutes. Within his abilities, he knew exactly how long. 183 seconds, not a second more, not a second less. Three minutes and three seconds.

    If he collapsed now, he wouldn''t ever hear the end of it. Considering his dense vitality, he would be up and at it immediately, but he knew what kind of woman he was dealing with. She wouldn''t actually take it to heart, but that didn''t mean that she wouldn''t be sure to make fun of him to the ends of the earth.

    Leonel found it all to be ridiculous. Sure, it felt like his cock was in a vice grip of warm and moist clouds as though he was being caressed by the hands of an angel, but he also had a Tier 4 Control Ability Index that gave him perfect control over his body. So long as he wanted to, he should have been able to go on for months if that was what he wanted.

    But what the fuck was this?

    This scare had only lasted for a fraction of a fraction of a second before Leonel realized that this wasn''t actually what was happening and that he wasn''t a quick shot. But it was already enough for him to be covered in a cold sweat.

    "Leonel?"

    It was only a small moment, but considering how close they were, how could Aina miss any changes to Leonel? Those gorgeous cherry lips of hers were already curled into a smile as she whispered a hot breath into his ear, the vice grip her moist walls pulsating around him.

    Leonel knew that she was doing it on purpose. He and Aina had a tacit sort of agreement. They were still stuck in the beauty of the moment, but very soon, it would likely devolve into an all out war of conquest for bragging rights.

    Aina lightly bit at Leonel''s earlobe, running her hands up and down his defined back as she locked her legs around him. Her voice seemed tinged with "concern", but in reality she was coercing him like the little vixen she was.

    ''Dammitбн''

    Leonel couldn''t even counter because of the weakness in his legs, his arms were the only things stopping him from flopping on top of her like a dead fish, and Aina seemed to have noticed this.

    Leonel didn''t even know how to explain that what she thought was happening wasn''t actually what was happening. It felt like that time she walked in on him moaning all over again, he would never live this down.

    Another squeeze came and Leonel sucked in a cold breath. He couldn''t quite focus on exactly what was happening with her, tempting him at every opportunity. He had already locked away most of his mind to man to planetary warship, so he didn''t have much focus left to give given the situation, which only made him even slower in understanding what was happening.

    Aina''s hips wiggled, pulling back and sinking herself into the bed before rebounding upward. She didn''t seem to want to let Leonel off at all as she used her own methods to force them into another rhythmic trance.

    Her light moans tickled at Leonel''s ears as an odd feeling spread through his body. Leonel couldn''t describe it as anything other than weakness. He lost control of himself piece by piece as though he was being forcefully separated from something, or maybe it was the exact opposite.

    From his feet, up his legs, through his knees, then his back, and eventually even his hands. By that point, the only things propping him up collapsed.

    Aina laughed lightly, still a bit oblivious to what was happening.

    Red in the face, her overwhelming strength easily flipped Leonel beneath her. Her thighs trembled as she rose in a squat, a feeling of euphoria coursing through both of their bodies as she slowly moved up and down.

    At the same moment, the feeling rose to Leonel''s head and he felt a pop.

    Right then, the sound of a chain snapping resonated through the universe and Leonel entirely lost control of his body.

    Aina trembled, feeling a strong pulse within her. She leaned forward, pressing her cheek to Leonel''s broad chest with a light smile on her face and a sheen of sweat on her brows.

 Chapter 1719 Justice?

    When Leonel came to and his vision cleared, he found himself looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It took him a while to realize that the ceiling he was looking toward was the ceiling of the master room of the planetary warship. He wasn''t familiar with it because he never really cared to look at its details when he walked in and laid Aina on the bed.

    To begin with, no one ever used this room. Although it was created for DiVincenzo, Seventh Dimensional existences didn''t sleep very often, and this planetary warship wasn''t used often enough for this room to be necessary considering how expensive it was. As such, it could be said that Leonel and Aina were the very first to use this room.

    After realizing where he was, it all came back to Leonel and his lip twitched several times. He still had no idea what had happened just now, but what he did know was that only four minutes and 37 seconds had passed from start to finish.

    It was all over, he would never be able to show his face to the world again. Where was the justice? Maybe if he ran now he wouldn''t have to face the music.

    However, at that moment, Aina, who was laying on his chest, pushed herself up with a smile. She looked happier than Leonel had ever seen her. Half of that was probably because of how satisfied she felt, but there was a hidden amusement in her eyes that Leonel would never miss.

    Leonel coughed lightly. "Something weird happened, I don''t really know how to explain itбн"

    "Mhm, mhm." Aina nodded twice.

    With her movement, Leonel''s eyes couldn''t help but shift to her bouncing breasts. Considering her position, they practically dangled before his mouth, asking him to try and catch one of those delicate pink nipples with his tongue.

    Aina blinked innocently, seemingly not noticing Leonel''s distraction. Her palms were still pressed onto his broad chest, but her wrists slightly turned, pulling her elbows in and pushing her own chest up. A stray bead of sweat fell down her neck line and disappeared between that grand ravine, leaving Leonel''s Adam''s apple pulsating.

    "If you look too hard, something weird might happen again."

    Leonel was so distracted that it took him a moment to pick up the teasing words. His cock was already at attention. Given his vitality, he hadn''t been joking about how quick he would be to recover. And considering her had seemingly fallen asleep for a small amount of time, he had had more than ample. By now, he was already pressing up between Aina cheeks, splitting them apart as she continued to sit on him, oblivious to what was coming.

    "What was that?"

    Leonel looked up from Aina''s breasts, his hands finding their way to her hips.

    Aina tilted her head in amusement. She thought that Leonel was still trying to regain some face so she traced a finger down his chest, her smile blooming.

    "Nothing, I''m just a bit worried about you," she said lightly.

    Leonel suddenly grinned. "What are you worried about?"

    Aina, seemingly finally realizing that something was odd, looked into Leonel''s eyes again. Leonel didn''t look like someone who had just been defeated.

    However, Aina wasn''t one to back down either.

    "There''s no need to be embarrassed, you''re just young. So long as we practice more, I''m sure you''ll get better. We have all the time in the world."

    Aina smiled brightly, rising up into a full seated position and raising her hands to her hair. She allowed Leonel''s eyes to scan her body as she smoothed out her long, black strands, her every breath causing her breasts to ripple and her toned torso to flex just the slightest bit.

    A small and well trimmed bush just barely obstructed Leonel''s vision of what was below, but he could still very clearly feel its moistness and slight stickiness as she shifted from side to side imperceptibly.

    Despite her words, Aina didn''t see Leonel falter. In fact, his smile became even brighter.

    SLAP!

    The sound echoed through the mostly quiet room and Aina''s body shuddered beside itself. She could feel the faint stinging pain on her ass cheek, her legs squeezing together slightly but finding Leonel''s body in the way.

    Aina released a slight haggard breath and her gaze went misty. Before she could even understand what had just happened, she went from her position in dominance to being pinned beneath Leonel once again. But this time, her face was pressed against the soft sheets of the bed, her ass arched upward in full view.

    A tingle coursed up Aina''s spine, her body twitching as she felt Leonel lightly press against her entrance.

    "You said we need practice, right?"

    Even though she could no longer see Leonel''s face, Aina could imagine the grin on his face.

    Her mind went blank. She could just barely feel the two strong hands gripping her waist, even if she wanted to run now, she most definitely couldn''t.

    A dripping moistness fell from between her legs, sliding down her delicate pink folds and rounding around a sensitive little pink button before falling toward the sheets.

    Everything about that moment was hyper real to her, even the slightest goosebump that raised across her skin making her shudder.

    She gasped when she felt Leonel enter her.

    It was deep, almost too deep, almost like he was trying to press against her heart from the back.

    Leonel pressed a hand down and onto the small of Aina''s back, his strokes deep and slow. Each was perfectly measured and timed down to a fraction of a second. He was an absolute machine, only getting a small tick faster every few seconds.

    Aina felt herself slowly losing consciousness, not quite sure which way was up and which way was down, but every time she was just about to be pushed over the edge, another slap would come, shuddering her awake and causing her feet to wiggle up and down uncontrollably.

    She tried to squirm away and escape, but every time Leonel only pressed down harder, pinning her into the bed.

    Leonel grinned a devilish grin. "Don''t run now, we''re just getting started."

    Leonel pulled back until the length of his cock almost fell out entirely, pulsing at the entrance for just a moment before sliding all the way back in.

    Aina finally couldn''t control herself. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her body convulsed wildly and she bit into the cushioned sheets beneath her.

    However, as though he didn''t sense a single thing, Leonel simply kept going.

    Pride? Competition? Victory? Defeat?

    She forgot it all. Just a few minutes in, she was moaning so loudly and without restraint that her coercion spread across the depths of space.

    An hour in her voice became too hoarse to make any noise and all that came out were whimpers.

    Three hours in she laid on the bed limply, the only thing making it clear that she was still alive being the haggard breathing and slight twitches from time to time.

    From start to finish, Leonel''s devilish grin never faded. What could he say? He hated to lose, even when it came to bedroom activities.

 Chapter 1720 Thoughts

    Leonel finally let Aina go when she really couldn''t handle anymore.

    In truth, given the strength of her body, it was really hard to hit that limit, even going for days wouldn''t be a problem. But this wasn''t an issue of her strength, but rather one of her mind and nerves. There was only so much she could take before she was really overloaded and pleasure became pain, and unfortunately for her, Leonel was an expert at reading and reacting to such a thing.

    Leonel smiled with a more than content smile on his face, a feeling of euphoria spreading out across his body as he delved into the deepest parts of Aina''s body, releasing what he had been building up for several hours already.

    It was the greatest feeling in the world, too great to be described in just a few words, so he didn''t even bother to try.

    He collapsed onto the bed, beads of sweat falling down his brow. He was ready to pull out and take a nice rest, but Aina''s hand gripped his wrist which rested on her hip. Toward this, he could only chuckle inwardly, of all the things this woman found the strength left to do it was actually this, it was more than a little amusing.

    Leonel wrapped his arms around her waist and obliged, falling into a deep sleep.

    бн

    Leonel awoke to the shuddering of the world around him. For a moment, he was groggy and confused until he snapped awake.

    ''Shit.''

    Before, Leonel had been joking about crashing the ship, but to think he would actually mess up so royally.

    Leonel shot up.

    The situation wasn''t bad, he had just accidentally navigated the warship into an asteroid belt. As things went, it could be far worse. But then again, it could also be far better.

    Running through the protocols, Leonel sent out his clones once again and activated a series of commands. Soon, the ship was enveloped by a forcefield of repellant Force and the shaking came to a stop.

    ''What shit tier luck,'' Leonel grumbled internally, ''99.99% of space is empty and I just had to be the lucky guy that ran into an asteroid belt.''

    Luckily, the ship was just fine. The rocks of this asteroid belt couldn''t possibly hope to harm a ship of this caliber, it was more likely that the asteroid belt would be ground to dust before a scratch was left on this vessel. But Leonel wanted to be more cautious. After all, he definitely couldn''t afford to build this ship currently and he only had one of them.

    Of course, there would come a time where this ship was useless to him, but that would be a problem for the future.

    The so-called ''self sustaining'' nature of the ship was due to its self-contained nuclear fusion reactor. Given the core''s quality, it could withstand a decade of heavy usage without running out of energy, and the best part was that there wouldn''t be any significant changes until it ran to the very end of its lifespan.

    That said, heavy usage implied war torn times and the Human Domain hadn''t seen such a thing in a very, very long time. Under normal, more benign use cases, even lasting a century wouldn''t be a problem.

    This was only the third time this ship was ever used as there was rarely a need for it, as such its core was very fresh and new. Leonel didn''t mind using it up a bit to make sure that nothing untoward happened to the ship as a whole.

    Leonel exhaled and wiped a bit of sweat off his brow. This could have definitely been worse, he could have been woken up to their crashing through a planet.

    This warship wasn''t called a planetary warship without reason. It was bigger than most moons and could definitely run through some planets. The real trouble was what kind of damage would result in doing such a thing.

    Leonel was unwilling to find out just yet and he was lucky that he didn''t have to.

    With everything handled, Leonel went back to the master room to find that Aina was still sleeping. This silly girl had actually slept through a near death catastrophe, he could only speechlessly commend her.

    Leonel sat on the bed and found his eyes drooping again. This time, he learned his lesson and put the warship in idle. He couldn''t put his shiny new toy in harm''s way again.

    He crawled into bed and shared the covers with Aina, his consciousness fading again. He didn''t know why, but he just felt more tired than usual.

    As he went to sleep, he had vague thoughts about what he should do next and how to prepare. Gathering talents from the Void Palace was obviously impossible now so the only thing he could do was rely on more unproven talents.

    That said, he was quite lucky in this regard. Others would be screwed, but would he? Earth''s territory would produce the greatest talents of the Human Domain given enough time, this was the power of a place with Eighth Dimensional potential.

    It seemed that he would definitely have to return to Earth first and reunite with his brothers. Then he could consider matters about the Oryx and the Umbra family. According to Valor, the Morales family had chosen to postpone the Heir War until they all entered the Seventh Dimension, so he could have quite some time.

    Leonel could feel that progress had slowed to a crawl after entering the Sixth Dimension. He was probably still a month or two away from entering Tier 2. At that pace, it would take him two years just to make it to Tier 9.

    The odds of that were slim, though. In all likelihood, it would take longer and longer the further he progressed. The fact he felt Tier 2 was just two months away in the first place was more a testament to his talent than anything else.

    Leonel drifted off to sleep once again, unable to finish his thoughts.

 Chapter 1721 Mattered Less

    Leonel woke up again much later, his mind still in a bit of a fog. He chose to keep his eyes closed, lying there and letting a steady sort of peace overcome him.

    Within the depths of his mind, the Emperor''s Might tablet floated about. Ever since Leonel had gotten it, he hadn''t gotten much out of it. This wasn''t necessarily for lack of trying, but the tablet simply didn''t respond much to him.

    Part of this was probably because he wasn''t entirely compatible with him. His own King''s Might was a mutated version of the Emperor''s Might of this tablet so it wasn''t entirely certain that he could make use of it to begin with.

    It had to be remembered that the Bronze Tablet had been with the Luxnix family for centuries but their main Lineage Factor was still the Snowy Star Owl. Just having a tablet wasn''t enough to demand its secrets from it. It required compatibility and talent, two things of which Leonel was entirely sure he had for the Emperor''s Might Tablet.

    Leonel couldn''t help but think of the conflict between himself and his grandfather. The root cause of it was a difference in how they saw the world. Back then, Leonel was quite certain that there would come a time where he and his grandfather would be on such polar opposite sides that battle would be the only way to settle things.

    Leonel wasn''t sure how that moment would come about, or even when it would, he just felt that it was nigh inevitable.

    In recent times, though, the way he looked at the world had also begun to shift and so had his mentality. He still felt far more like a King than he did an Emperor, but it was nowhere near as firm as it had been in the past. In fact, now that he thought about it, what situation had he been in when he forced the Emperor''s Might tablet to come to him in the first place?

    Back then, he had been infuriated, furious that the world was forcing him to make such a choice. But in the end, he had still made it without hesitation.

    He chose Aina over the world.

    That was the mental state he had been in when he forced the tablet to come to him, and following that, there had been a slight shift in the way that he viewed things, even becoming more unrestrained and unfettered in his actions.

    The way Leonel had seen things, a King was a man of the people. He curated the loyalty of his closest noblemen, he ate with his generals and shed blood with them on the battlefield, he could see things from both his perspective and that of others, formulating a world for everyone under his strength.

    An Emperor howeverбн he was lofty, untouchable. He schemed and pulled at the puppet strings of his ministers and noble court, seeking balance not through understanding but through power. He sat on a throne and looked down on the people, there were simply too many of them for him to care about their individual plights, all that matters was that he would maintain his strength.

    There was an air of selflessness to being a King that an Emperor didn''t haveбн that they almost couldn''t have.

    But then the question was that if by virtue of the job at hand an Emperor couldn''t be a King, then how exactly would it be possible for Leonel to be a King if his goal was to subdue the whole of the Dimensional Verse?

    Wouldn''t the vastness of an Emperor''s territory then become his problem? How could he be a King if the territory he governed was so abnormally large? How could he still be selfless?

    Emperors struggled to maintain their humanity even when their subjects were all human. The Dimensional Verse had the Human Race, the Rapax Race, the Spirituals Race, the Cloud Race, the Dwarven Raceбн The list felt almost endless and each of them had their own cultures, their own perspectives and philosophiesбн

    Was his dream even possible to achieve while maintaining the air of a King?

    In truth, subconsciously, Leonel already felt that he had lost such a right. How could he continue to claim to be selfless, to be a man of the people, when he had chosen his woman over trillions of lives? Did he even still have the heart to be a King? Or, more importantly, would a King always have to sacrifice his Queen for victory?

    ''If that was true, I don''t want to be a King.''

    It was a simple decision, but it was one that Leonel was unwavering on. No matter what the situation, no matter the circumstances, he would never choose to sacrifice Aina.

    Simply put, in the face of Aina, he didn''t give a damn about the world.

    There were very few things that Leonel was so certain of, but it was only upon realizing this so firmly that he chose to truly open his heart to Aina again. All of the other things they had gone through didn''t seem to matter anymore.

    There was a time that he had almost given her up for the sake of this dream. But there was also ironically a point in his life that nothing mattered to him outside of her happiness.

    It was funny, he had once again become that very same lovesick boy who confessed his feelings over 500 times. But somehow, it felt different than it had before. Less superficial, more weighty, greater in substance.

    Sometimes how you acted or what you knew mattered less than how you had come to know them. The difference between Leonel of back and the Leonel of now was that the Leonel of then didn''t have any goals or aspirationsбн but the Leonel of now was willing to give those goals and aspirations up without a second thought.

    If you compared the two, which love was worth more?

 Chapter 1722 Be Obedient

    Leonel continued to smile, his body feeling quite relaxed despite the slight fogginess of his mind.

    Maybe in the past he would have felt pressed for an answer, but right this moment, he simply didn''t care that much. The answer was meaningless to him for now, but as for the Emperor''s Might Tabletбн he felt that it was about time it be obedient.

    Leonel''s Dream Force descended upon the tablet from all sides, suffocating it within its presence.

    The Northern Star Bronze Tablet had required Leonel to have a dense Light and Star Force affinity before it could show him its secrets. As for the Emperor''s Might Tablet, Leonel was almost certain that it was entirely reliant on his mental abilities.

    Ultimately, the Emperor Might Lineage Factor was one of the minds. It used the presence of an Emperor to strengthen and impose changes onto the real world. It was essentially like a coercion ability, but far more tangible.

    Before he purged his King''s Might Lineage Factor, or at least the humanoid form he had allowed it to take, Leonel''s King''s Might was also capable of imposing changes onto the world. In fact, right now, the greatest application of his King''s Might was actually his spear.

    Whenever he spoke a word, or resonated with the sound of the world, or painted an image with his spear stroke, these were all facets of imposing his mind onto the world. This was actually why he was able to grasp his grandfather''s teachings so quickly, he had a shortcut to doing so others didn''t have. All of these things were just different applications of his King''s Might.

    Leonel had the idea brewing in his mind for a long time, but if his King''s Might was able to work so well with his Spear Force, then there was nothing stopping it from working with his other Forces as well. Like that, he should be able to use his King''s Might Lineage Factor to increase his Force Manipulation.

    Of course, this would be the more subtle of the two Force Manipulation types. But it was also the one guaranteed to have a powerful outcome from what he had seen in the Zone.

    The trouble was that his grandfather''s method worked well for Weapon''s Forces, but it didn''t translate so well to other Forces.

    Leonel wasn''t actually sure why this was, though he did have a guess.

    His grandfather''s methods required forming the Force into what you willed it to be. The words of poetry and calligraphy were constructed by you, the melody of a musical tune was composed by you, the lines of a beautiful painting were formulated by youбн None of these things were inherently unique to the Force itself.

    Compared to other Forces, weapon Force were more malleable and fit to the whims of their user. Although there were certain parameters they fell into, they generally had looser restrictions, whereas other Forces were quite focused in their efforts.

    A Fire Force would never be able to freeze something. Likewise, a Water Force would never burn something. Or at least, that was what Leonel believed in his own limited comprehension of matters.

    Regardless, this was why Leonel was so invested in taking the next step in applying the beauty of Force Arts to his spearmanship, because this would thus allow him to apply said comprehension to other Forces and slowly raise his Force Manipulation capabilities.

    Luckily, he had found a clue in how to do this during his battle with the Sword Faction. But it would still take time for him to make it a reality as he would have to start from nothing and build it all up himself.

    So, right nowбн

    ''Show me your secrets. You have no right to hide from me.''

    He had let the tablet sit too idly for too long, even letting it get cocky. Since it was residing in his mind, it would have to pay some rent.

    BANG!

    Leonel felt as though an explosion of gold had gone off in his mind, but other than shuddering once, he remained unmoved.

    Quite frankly, the Emperor''s Might Tablet had been tricked. It thought that it had met a pure blooded descendant back then so it had rushed toward Leonel with happiness, hoping that its glory would blind the world once again.

    However, when it entered Leonel, not only did it find out that Leonel was just a mixed breed, it also found out that his Lineage Factor had mutated from the perfect path.

    The tablet had wanted to leave after realizing this, but this mixed pup''s mind was actually more powerful than it had originally given him credit for. Even it had to admit that Leonel was very suited to the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor, if only he was willing to give up this mutated abomination that was his King''s Might.

    But Leonel was just as stubborn as one might expect from an Emperor''s Might wielder. He wanted all the secrets of the tablet without giving up anything.

    Of course, Leonel knew that much like the Luxnix family''s tablet could bestow Lineage Factors unto him, the Emperor''s Might tablet could also bestow the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor unto him as well, purging him of the mutations he had.

    However, Leoenl was unwilling to do this not because he was attached to King''s Might, but because he knew that the mutation to what was originally his Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor had happened because of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Due to this, his King''s Might Lineage Factor and Metal Synergy Lineage Factor were somewhat linked now. If he purged one, it might cause undo and unforeseeable changes to the other.

    The more synergized his Lineage Factors, the better. Leonel already had too many abilities, he didn''t want them to be any more difficult to fuse into a single power source than they had to be. So this unruly tablet would have to be obedient.

    If it could show him a path better than the one he was on now, he would accept its changes. But until it could do that, it could forget about making him change his mind.

    Leonel''s incarnation within his Dream World reached forward, a wild grin on its face.

    He grabbed the tablet, finally seeing through to its first layer.

 Chapter 1723 Fear

    Leonel''s mind went blank for a moment and when he came to, he was standing within a world of green and blue. He stood on a platform at the start of a long road of them. Although he wasn''t sure if it meant anything, the one he stood upon was particularly green, as though it had been carved out of precious jade.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel looked around.

    There was nothing to his back or sides but an endless miasma of greenish blue energies. Other than that, there was only the path ahead and nothing else.

    Leonel couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow. Now that he thought about it, he hadn''t exactly asked Aina what her experience with the Blood Sovereign Tablet was, but honestly he didn''t think that he had to. After all, Blood Sovereignty wasn''t exactly a Lineage Factor, as far as he was aware. So, his personal experience with the Northern Star Tablets would be far more useful in this regard, or so he thought.

    But in his experience with those tablets, he had neverбн

    Wait, that wasn''t true. When he formed his Aurora Panda Lineage Factor, he had entered a world and even experienced the forms of all three behemoth-like creatures. In fact, he had even been able to interact with them and pick from them.

    And if he took another step back, he hadn''t been conscious when he formed his Starry Tailed Fox Lineage Factor, he had just woken up one day with it, an oddity that he still didn''t have any answers for either.

    If things were looked at like this, was it really so odd for a tablet to have a hidden space? In fact, if he really thought about it, even one of his greatest treasures, the Silver Tablet he had gotten from Valiant Heart Mountain, had an inner space.

    That inner space wasn''t exactly like this one, but it contained a large number of floating souls from that Zone, souls that he could reawaken so long as he invested enough energy into them.

    That aside, it effectively had a hidden world of its own as well. So, maybe it would be weirder if the Emperor''s Might Tablet didn''t have such a thing.

    ''Interestingбн''

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Even with all of these things being true, there was something different about this place. All signs pointed to it wanting him to walk forward, so since he didn''t have anything better to do at the moment, he did exactly that.

    Leonel''s foot rose and he tried to reach the next platform, but he suddenly felt very small. Before he even got half way, he frowned and retracted his foot.

    He feltбн inadequate?

    It was an odd feeling to pinpoint, maybe because he was so unfamiliar with it. For some reason, as he was taking that step forward, he was suddenly bombarded with thoughts that he wasn''t worthy of doing so. By the time he got halfway, the illusion of his thoughts became reality and the next platform actually seemed to get further away from him instead of closer.

    Leonel was aware enough to feel that it was likely a trick of his mind, but even if he was aware, it still felt all too real. In fact, he felt that if he tried to force it and press forward anyway, he would misjudge where to place his foot, causing him to fall to his death.

    Although Leonel knew that this must just be a projection of his mind because his Dream Force affinity was high enough to differentiate, that didn''t mean that he wouldn''t be harmed by such a thing. It was very likely that a "death" here would cause harm to his soul.

    Considering the fact the human race had very little research on the soul and anything there was could only be considered to be in its infantile stages, there was simply no way that Leonel would be able to find a method to heal an injury to his soul in the Human Domain.

    Unfortunately, Leonel wasn''t very certain if his healing capabilities could extend to his soul or not, and he wasn''t willing to risk it.

    He could feel the symbiotic sort of harmony that currently kept his body and soul in balance. In fact, he could see aspects of the world he never had before thanks to the separation of his body and soul. It was because of this that he could see through the disguises of the Cloud Race so easily. He was able to look past the forms of their bodies and look into something they had no ability to change: their souls.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    What a stubborn tablet, it wanted to put him through the wringer.

    Leonel felt that the tablet was more sentient than any other treasure he had ever met, or it might have been more accurate to say close to sentient. If he had to guess, this treasure was likely something a step beyond Life Grade, or even if it shared the same category, it was near its extremities. It could actually throw a tantrum when it wanted to.

    Leonel smiled lightly, his foot beginning to rise up again.

    ''Silly tablet, it''s going to take more than illusion to scare me. If there''s an illusion in this world that can fool more Dream Force affinity, I''ll give it to you."

    Leonel leapt forward, the fear overwhelming his mind again, however he had already calculated the exact distance.

    BANG!

    He landed firmly on the next platform, his body swaying somewhat and his face feeling somewhat pale. During the final moments before he landed there, it all hit him at once, he even felt like he was freefalling into an abyss. Even after his feet landed, he thought it was just an illusion of the mind and that he had miscalculated.

    This was indeed quite a scary first step, it felt completely overwhelming.

    Leonel looked up and saw the staircases extending to infinity. His eyes couldn''t help but narrow as he took deep heaving breaths.

 Chapter 1724 Let This Be...

    Fear wasn''t something that Leonel could ever remember feeling, or at the very least, any memories of when he was were completely unimportant because he had likely been too young for it to matter. Even when the Metamorphosis descended onto Earth and he was thrust into life and death situations almost immediately, he had never really wavered in such a way.

    He could remember his first entry into the Mayan Tomb quite clearly, and although he had felt apprehension, fear wasn''t really at the forefront of his thoughts. In fact, the boldest emotion he remembered feeling from that time was guilt due to the lives he had taken.

    Even back then, he was calm and cool under pressure, able to use his smarts to get him out of situations he otherwise had no business getting out of. By the end of those few days, he had become a war machine, killing with every step and using those olden guns as though they were pistols.

    Looking back now, Leonel was much calmer about the matter and didn''t feel the same fluctuations, but he could still remember it all clearly.

    Just days after that he entered wore torn France and battled alongside some of the bravest men in history without feeling inadequate, and not much longer after that he battled against an entire Fort on his own with nothing more than a cold expression.

    In fact, now that Leonel thought about it, the greatest instance of fear he had experienced ever since entering the Dimensional Verse wasn''t related to himself at all, but was rather Aina''s. He could still remember how she shivered in the face of the Puppet Master when she lost control of her body.

    But now, Leonel was feeling so much fear that his breathing hurried, his skin turned a pasty white color, and he was completely drenched in sweat.

    ? Every step forward made him feel as though he was suffering the worst kind of torture. In reality, the only thing keeping him going was his own stubbornness.

    After a while, his smile faded and he became quite a bit angry. There was no doubt that this tablet was tweaking and pulling at the strings of his mind as he pleased.

    Every time he completed a calculation for a leap, he was absolutely certain of how far he had to jump, he would even see it through the whole way, however even so the fear would come in stronger and stronger waves. The only way for this to be happening is for this to go beyond just illusions, the Emperor''s Might tablet was directly influencing his soul.

    What pissed Leonel off was that he didn''t seem to have a way to stop it.

    In this world, he was nothing more than a mortal. He could only jump and leap just the same way anyone else of the Third Dimension would need to. He had no access to his Forces and all he could do was rely on his Ability Index and innate calculative abilities.

    BANG!

    Leonel nearly stumbled and fell, heaving in deep gasps. His jaw was steeled and his gaze was a blazing red.

    He was convinced. This fear wasn''t his own, it was just a fear that this tablet was forcing him to feel, but it was all too real, all too tangible, all too indistinguishable from what true fear should feel like.

    Gritting his teeth, Leonel jumped again.

    The rush of fear came, even though his momentum was perfect, even though his arc in the air didn''t falter, even though the platform appeared right beneath his feet as it always did and he landed firmly.

    Leonel looked back and saw all the platforms he had come from. He felt like he was really nearing some sort of psychological limit, but he had only climbed up nine stairs, while up ahead, there looked to be an infinite more to go.

    ''Damned tablet.''

    Leonel grit his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.

    He bent his knees once more, jumping forward.

    The rush came again, the onslaught of irrational fear. He imagined that this would be what people who feared heights would feel like if they stood on a glass floor at the top of a sky scraper. It was completely irrational, you knew that the glass floor could hold up a hundred times your weight easily, and yet that fear would still come in waves.

    Every time he leapt up, that fear would come again even stronger than the last time. It was relentless.

    If Leonel felt that he had one weakness, it was probably his will power. Will power was something that you honed through hardship, you couldn''t just be born with it.

    With how easy Leonel''s life had been, with how much talent he had, with how much confidence he had in himself, how could his will power be great? Often times, he relied on emotion to give himself the illusion of will power, but he never really proved himself in this regard.

    He could still remember that day, back when he was still in the Third Dimension and trying to awaken his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor for the first time.

    Compared to the pain that he had experienced since then, in battles with his life on the line, in practicing heart rending methods, in being eaten alive, that pain was child''s play.

    And yet, back then, it had hurt him so much that he almost gave up entirely, he had been just a small moment from doing so.

    Despite the fact that he had gone through much worse since then, Leonel couldn''t say that his will power was suddenly amazing, he would be lying to himself.

    Today, he felt that this was only being affirmed. He had only moved up ten stairs of what must have been tens of thousands, and yet his mind already wanted to give way.

    Leonel grit his teeth, his gaze blazing.

    He was unwilling.

    Since he hadn''t experienced hardship before, let this be his hardship.

 Chapter 1725 Pride

    Images of his uncle flashed in Leonel''s mind.

    He had never seen his father struggle before. That man seemed to do everything with an incomparable ease, as though everything was in the palm of his hands.

    His uncle, however, had struggled twice before him. The first time when he tried to complete the painting of a spear and failed, and the second time was when he revealed to Leonel that beneath his golden armor, he was entirely drenched in sweat.

    Back then, Leonel could see the straining of his muscles, the every twitch of their individual fibers. He had felt that his uncle was at his very limits, and yet he put his golden armor back on as though nothing at all had happened.

    Leonel didn''t know what was drying his uncle forward. Maybe it was revenge for Leonel''s grandfather and his father, or maybe it was something that Leonel had no idea about. However whatever it was, Leonel knew that his uncle was working far harder everyday than he ever had before.

    Leonel only seemed to want to work hard when something caught his interest, but was that really being hard working? Anyone could focus on something that fascinated them, maybe he was only slightly special because of how long he could focus on it, but this didn''t make him better than someone else, he was just lucky enough to have a mind capable of focusing like this.

    But once again, that wasn''t will powerбн

    Leonel jumped forward again, his breathing haggard. He felt like he had just run a marathon, his heart threatening to leap out from his throat and his muscles pumped with so much adrenaline and lactic acid that they might just give out any time now.

    He was a person who was easily bored, nothing truly moved him. When you broke down everything into its logical components, maybe that was just the inevitable extreme you would reach, or maybe that was the end you come to when you had too much talent at your fingertipsбн or maybe it was a combination of both.

    Leonel knew these things about himself, but changing them wasn''t exactly a matter of just thinking it, which was an ironic thing for him of all people to say considering the sheer control he had over his body.

    But much like his love of Aina, this part of his personality was so deeply ingrained that it felt difficult to weed out.

    Sometimes he felt like a lofty existence overlooking the entire universe, so lofty in fact that nothing was worth his attention, nothing was worth his interest.

    However, sometimes he would also feel a sort of unique agitation, an agitation that was usually linked to Aina in some shape or form, or his father in other ways. Only the two of them seemed capable of pulling in directions he never thought he would go.

    It was odd, because there were definitely other people that he loved.

    He loved his mother, he loved his brothers, even his grandmother had a piece of his heart. But for whatever reason, they weren''t as solidly ingrained. Leonel actually wasn''t sure if that was how everyone felt or if he was just uniquely psychotic.

    Regardless of what the answer was, he knew that he needed to change long ago, but shrugging off those feelings were impossible, and they only became more troublesome to get rid of whenever he did something else astounding.

    He had brought humanity''s future out of a Zone when everyone else thought that such a thing was impossible.

    He toyed with the records of Void Palace like it wasn''t a place the greatest geniuses of humanity gathered.

    He might have been defeated at the hands of the Fiend Class geniuses of that Zone, but weren''t they also several Tiers above him? Now that he knew that Force Manipulation existed, what would stop him from crushing them beneath his feet in a few years?

    The worst part about these thoughts was that he wasn''t wrong, they were perfectly correct and he was also right to be prideful about them, but even soбн

    Leonel growled and jumped again, landing heavily before slipping and falling to one knee.

    At this point, the only thing keeping him going was pride. He didn''t want to give up after traveling up such a pathetic distance. He felt more furious every time he even thought of giving up. What was wrong with him? Was he really so pathetic? Where had his backbone gone?

    It felt like all of his weaknesses were laid bare.

    By the time he made it to the 20th step, he could only gasp and heave on all fours.

    Prideбн It was his greatest downfall.

    He had originally come to the Void Palace with such excitement, but the moment he felt disappointed by the geniuses he came across, he became bored once again, unwilling even to put in his full effort.

    Leonel clenched his jaw, pushing himself up.

    He grabbed the edge of the platform with a hand and pushed off both feet, propelling himself forward.

    BANG!

    He barely caught the edge of the next ledge. The distance and height difference between the platforms was being wider and taller.

    He squeezed his lats, pulling himself up slowly and rolling onto the 37th step.

    His chest billowed into waves, the strength of his breathing almost causing cyclones in the air.

    "Prideбн" he gasped.

    He pushed himself up to his feet, stumbling again before sliding into a running start. Since normal jumping wouldn''t work anymore, he would run.

    "AH!"

    Leonel unleashed a roar as he jumped, landing on the 38th step with a heavy roll.

    Since his will power was pitiful, he would accept that, embrace it even.

    He didn''t need will power because he was so talented, he didn''t need power because he was arrogant, because he was prideful.

    He wouldn''t let this damned tablet slow his steps.

    Those with will power could endure.

    Those with pride could conquer.

    These steps would just be another conquest.

    Leonel landed heavily on the 50th step before pushing himself up to his feet, his gaze shimmering with a blinding, almost feral, light.

    "I chose my woman over the world. If even the weight of the world could not make me bow, what right do you have to do so?"

    Leonel broke out into a sprint, his toes catching the side of the platform as he launched himself forward, barely catching the edge of the 51st step with his forearm.

 Chapter 1726 Upheaval

    Aina snapped awake after a long and deep sleep.

    Honestly, she would have woken up much later, but for some reason, the room she shared with Leonel had gotten so hot that even she was sweating. The moment even she felt uncomfortable, it was bound to be guaranteed that something had gone wrong.

    When she woke up, she lifted off the covers to find that it had practically become a sauna beneath the cheats. Leonel lay by her side, pale and covered from head to toe in sweat. From time to time, he would tremble and his heart rate would accelerate, only for it to calm for just a few seconds before it happened again.

    By now, if it wasn''t for the fact that she and Leonel had become Sixth Dimensional existences and had been cleansed more times than they could count by the Cleansing Waters, the stench in the room would have probably already become unbearable.

    Aina frowned, a deep line of worry marring the delicate lines of her forehead. She had just been in one of the most blissful sleeps of her life, all to suddenly be thrust into this situation.

    She tried to reach forward and wake Leonel, but he caught her wrist somewhat tightly for a moment before letting go. Although he didn''t say anything, Aina could tell that he wanted to be left alone. Whatever he was going through, he could clearly come out of it whenever he wanted and simply chose not to. Considering his Dream Force affinity, he was probably one of the very few in existence who could simultaneously be stuck in an illusion, and yet also be hyper aware of what was happening in the real world.

    Aina sighed. She had just been asleep for a small while yet he had gone to get himself into trouble again. This man really wouldn''t let her know peace.

    Despite this, Aina smiled. After a while, she found a towel and moistened it with cool water before gently dabbing at his forehead. She didn''t know what he was going through right now, but this was the only thing she could do for him.

    **

    While Leonel was embroiled in a battle of will power and pride, the Human Domain was slowly being embroiled in its own sort of war, one that had been brewing for the better part of the last over 20 years. However, with the appearance of the Cloud Race thanks to Leonel, it seemed to have supercharged something that was already a volatile powder keg.

    DiVincenzo and the Void Elders went off in hot pursuit of the three Cloud Race members, catching two of them, "Captain Zylgella" and "Captain Urriith". As powerful as those three Cloud Race members were, while it was still possible for them to escape the likes of DiVincenzo, the Void Elders were simply on an entirely different level.

    It could only be said that the Cloud Race members were truly unlucky. The Void Elders would never participate in something so small usually. It was only because they happened to be present and nearby that they acted this time around, leading to such a result.

    It was because of this, though, that it was a mystery to how the likes of "Captain Wimword" could escape them.  However, this embarrassment for Shield Cross Stars didn''t end here, and it could be said that this was a greater humiliation than anything Leonel could have personally done to them.

    After the capture of Zylgella and Urrith, they were handed off to the members of Shield Cross Stars to interrogate. Although dealing with outsider threats was usually the jurisdiction of the Void Palace, due to the oddity of the situation and the fact it was in regard to the inner workings of the Human Domain''s police force, it was left to DiVincenzo to interrogate the prisoners and escort them back. After all, any other potential spies and traitors had to be weeded out as quickly as possible.

    But who could have expected that on the way back to the main headquarters of Shield Cross Stars that "Captain Wimword" would actually appear again, this time with back up!

    Without his flagship, the formation of DiVincenzo''s fleet lacked a core and struggled in its usual coordination. Due to this weakness, the sudden ambush of "Wimword" and his fellow Cloud Race people was too difficult to counter especially after Shield Cross Stars was caught completely off guard.

    DiVincenzo fought tooth and nail, but ultimately, the methods of the Cloud Race were too numerous and those that they dared to send into the Human Domain were only the absolute elites among elites.

    Although the casualties on the side of the humans wasn''t particularly high and could even be said to be very good given the circumstances, they weren''t able to retain the two prisoners and they were swiftly taken away.

    This news rang across the Human Domain, and the rapid in-succession follies of Shield Cross Stars raised several eyebrows.

    The loss of a Tier 2 Star Ship, the failure to capture of a 20-some-year-old junior, the infiltration of the Cloud Race into their ranks, and then the subsequent loss of the prisoners.

    All of this was only made worse that "Captain Wimword", the only one among the three to escape in the first place, had been under the pursuit of DiVincenzo to begin with. If he had been pursued by a Void Elder, even if he grew extra legs, escape would have been impossible.

    The level of incompetence was so high that not only was DiVincenzo was not only demoted, he was detained and court-martialed under suspicion of being a member of the Cloud Race himself.

    Leonel would probably find this fact to be hilarious, but in truth, from the perspective of the human race, this was an important precaution to take.  There seemed to be too many coincidences for all of this to have happened.

    Unwilling to admit potential personal fault, Shield Cross Stars chose to use DiVincenzo as a scapegoat and claim him to be a member of the Cloud Race from the very beginning!

    The entire Human Domain was in an uproar. Just how far did this conspiracy go? How far had the Cloud Race infiltrated into their ranks?

 Chapter 1727 Ridiculous

    BANG!

    Two palms hit a desk so hard that a trembling impact surged throughout the city. The fury behind it was clear and even that floor to ceiling windows behind the individual shattered to pieces, sprinkling down to the streets behind him. However, by some miracle, the desk itself was perfectly intact, outside of some light trembling, it maintained its frame, even the floor beneath it not experiencing even the slightest tremor.

    The two individuals standing before the infuriated man didn''t so much as flinch. It was clear that they were very much used to this scene, and maybe that was why such an investment had been made into this furious man''s desk to begin with.

    This furious man, though, wasn''t a simple individual at all. In fact, he was one of the very few above Tier 1 Star Officers of Shield Cross Stars, one of only eight.

    To put this matter into perspective, the title of Tier 1 Star Rank was so rare that despite the fact they were always looking for more officers, they could simply not find anyone both worthy and willing to dedicate their lives to being a policeman.

    As for those above Tier 1 Star Officer, they were veterans no lesser in stature than Void Elders. They were known as the Cross Elders and their position was designed to have nine members taking up the rank at any given time. But much like the ranks of Tier 1 Star Officer, there simply weren''t enough worthy individuals. As such, a position designed for nine could only have eight.

    This man was none other than Cross Elder Avan, a man both known for his valiant service to the human race and just as well known for his fiery temper.

    The two individuals across from Cross Elder Avan were two Tier 1 Star Rank Officers. However, other than not showing fear in the face of his outburst, the two didn''t dare to show the slightest disrespect. Although there seemed to be just a single rank between themselves and Cross Elder, the gap might as well have been insurmountable.

    The difference was akin to a member of the Void Senate of the Void Palace, or even a Domain Rank disciple, and a Void Elder. It simply wasn''t meant to be compared.

    "Incompetent. Incompetent! INCOMPETENT!"

    Cross Elder Avan spoke so furiously that the words were almost entirely incoherent. The louder he got, the less sense he seemed to make so they could only assume he was repeating the same word over and over again.

    The two Star Rank Officers before him, one man and one woman, could only continue to clasp their hands behind their backs, standing tall.

    "I want them found, now! Vishna, Cordan, get it done, I don''t care how you do it, I just want results."

    Vishna, the brown-skinned beauty between the two, and Cordan, a bulky man with a round but steel-like gut, looked toward one another. Even without saying a word, they knew well what "I don''t care how you do it" meant in this context.

    On the one hand, it meant exactly what it stated. But on the other hand, it was also a scapegoat flag. Sure, they could do whatever they wanted, but if they were caught, then they''d become the next DiVincenzo.

    "Sirбн What do we do about Earth?" Vishna finally asked after a moment of listening to Avan''s heated breathing.

    Upon hearing "Earth" Avan''s forehead gained a new vein moonlighting as a slithering crimson python. It really looked as though his head might burst like a watermelon any moment now.

    Avan had, of course, heard the news that Alienor Morales was actually the Princess of the Ascension Empire. However, this shocking news had been overwhelmed by tall the matters that came afterward. He had only just now remembered that he had even more to be infuriated about.

    The 24-hour period that Alienor had given was quickly approaching and no orders had been sent just yet. Between the Cloud Race matter and the escape of their prisoners to this moment right here, everything had happened so quickly that it was difficult to deal with.

    Earth was a troublesome matter to begin with because the Shield Cross Stars branches in its vicinity were weak. This was because the Milky Way Galaxy was fairly classified as a more primitive galaxy in comparison to the others. They had by far the most number of Third and Fourth Dimensional worlds in the whole of the Human Domain.

    However, since then, Earth had expanded far outside the range of their original galaxy and had even quickly swallowed up several Sectors. This led to an odd situation where the core of Earth''s territory had the weakest Shield Cross Stars influence while the outer reaches of its territory had the strongest.

    Even Shield Cross Stars hadn''t expected Earth to progress so rapidly. Usually it took thousands upon tens of thousands of years just to improve through a single Dimension even if you had far greater potential. However, Earth had somehow made it from the Third Dimension to the Seventh in less than half a century.

    This threw many of the original plans Shield Cross Stars had had out of the window and it left them in an awkward position. Now, they were suddenly being kicked out of the territory before they could even establish themselves.

    "Ridiculous. Ridiculous! RIDICULOUS!"

    Spittle flew from Cross Elder Avan''s mouth and some even somehow ended up on his balding, wrinkled head. However, so much heat was coming off of him that it evaporated into nothingness in just a few moments.

    After a moment, Cross Elder Avan calmed and sat down in what remained of his chair, the wind from the shattered windows fluttering what remained of his hair.

    Then, he sneered.

    "The Morales want to play games, huh? We''ll see how long that lasts. As for the Ascension Empire, they want to be free of us? Sure, fine, let them be free, I can''t wait to see how long it''ll take for them to come crawling back.

    "Order your subordinates to keep an eye out for that brat, the fugitives of the human race can''t run around just because of who their mommy and daddy are.

    "Forget the other matters, go do as you''re told." Avan waved a hand and time seemed to reverse as the shattered window shards flew back into place and melted back into place.

 Chapter 1728 Rupture

    Leonel gasped for breath, something he had suddenly become very used to doing. He didn''t think that he would enter such a state for a long while thanks to how much vitality he had pumped into himself using his Metal Body, but here he was, suffering.

    After a while, Leonel stopped being pissed off and even became a bit languid. Emotion could only really get you so far, eventually you would tire of it. Being enraged all the time was exhausting, people weren''t designed to be that way.

    The lows only hurt because they were the lows, not the baseline. And highs were only so satisfying because they were such a change from the norm, not a constant.

    By the same token, drudging up will power just because you were angry wasn''t good enough. Even the most vindictive person couldn''t be angry forever, there would always be a time where it faded into the background and you were forced to feel different emotions.

    But that was also precisely why Leonel never wanted to rely on emotion.

    Leonel rose up again.

    By now the gap between the stairs was far too large to rely on nothing other than his physical prowess, it simply wasn''t enough. But Leonel had already realized that this wasn''t a trial of his body, so obviously the solution to jumping across these enormous barriers was in his mind.

    He would either have to force these stairs to come closer or he would have to get more powerful and larger.

    Leonel roared, his height increasing by an entire foot.

    This was nothing more than a projection of himself, a representation of his body in the form of Dream Force. In that case, he would just make himself larger. But in doing soбн

    Leonel leapt forward again, his body practically undergoing a shuddering seizure as he leapt through the air.

    He landed and rolled across the platform, his body spasming.

    It was about what he expected. The larger he made his body here, the more Dream Force he would have to flood in, and the more Dream Force he flooded in, the deeper the hooks of this tablet would be able to sink into his real body, and the deeper those hooks entered, the more real and terrible the backlash would be.

    It was getting to the point where the fear was becoming crippling. In the beginning, he only had to shake his head to recover, but as he climbed, he was beginning to take several seconds, but the time he crossed the thousandth step, it took him several minutes.

    The real world effects were becoming more devastating as well.

    Having his body enter a constant state of fight or flight didn''t seem like a big deal at first, but it was frying his neurons and pushing his body to the limit.

    His heart rate was constantly above an allowable threshold even given his body, the less "immediately important" functions of his body like digestion and the like. More and more stores of energy were being flooded directly into his muscles and the amount of calories he was burning a second just maintaining the obscene heat he was giving off, not to mention his constantly shivering body, would very quickly put him at the brink of death.

    The truth was that time was dilated between the tablet and the real world. It was all too easy to fool the mind.

    Leonel felt that he had been climbing for months, years even, but his real body had only experienced a few hours.

    Even so, because his mind was going through so many terrible effects again and again, he was quickly losing muscle mass and the walls of his heart were growing thinner as his body started to eat itself to maintain.

    The brain simply had too much power of the body, even illusions when taken to an extreme could cause real and deadly consequences.

    However, disregarding this entirely, Leonel continued forward.

    Aina could only watch as Leonel''s skin became more sunken, his muscles deflating and his skin beginning to stick to his body. It wasn''t long before his breathing became nothing more than his ribcage moving up and down while his bronzed skin lost all color and became an unhealthy and pasty greenish grey color.

    Within the tablet world, Leonel could still not see the end of the staircase. When he looked back, he could no longer even see where he had started, and that was despite now being over 10 meters tall.

    He was relentless in his pursuit and his mind had stopped thinking. Everything outside of calculating how hard he needed to jump to reach the next platform was already thrown out of his mind.

    Again and again, he would jump, stumble, fall and roll, only to pick himself up several minutes later after he was finished foaming at the mouth to do it again.

    The worry on Aina''s face grew with every passing mind but she could only continue to dab at his forehead, her golden irises flickering with a somewhat fearful light. It really looked as though Leonel would push himself too far and die.

    Leonel, however, had no intention of stopping. He didn''t know it consciously, but he had already reached a state where he would rather die than give in. Maybe had he known this consciously, he would have snapped out of it and thought it to be ridiculous. This matter wasn''t worth dying over, he had too many things to do now.

    But in that moment, with his mind focused on one thing and one thing only, he was relentless in his pursuit.

    Leonel jumped again, his body reaching over a hundred meters as he landed on the ten thousandth step.

    Just like always, he slipped and fell, his body beginning to convulse once again.

    But this time was different. In the real world, the walls of his heart had become far too thin. This time when it tried to pump too fast beyond its limits, it ruptured and a spray of blood came from Leonel''s mouth.

    Aina went pale but she suddenly felt a hand on her wrist. Despite the state of his body, his hand seemed to have a great amount of strength.

    Within the platform world, Leonel slowly stood to his feet again, his projection rippling like an image cast on water.

    ''Again.''

    бн

    At that moment, while Leonel was pushing himself beyond normal bounds of reason, a fleet of ships had come to a stop near the borders of Earth''s territory. But for some odd reason, the flagship that they were waiting on to pass through this area was nowhere to be seen.

    Of course, this flagship they were waiting on was none other than the very one Leonel had stolen.

 Chapter 1729 Running Out

    BANG!

    ROAR!

    A hand clasped onto the side of a platform; Its fingernails bent and twisted; its tendons and ligaments rising like roaring veins that just might pop out at any moment;

    Leonel pushed with all his might, the fear coming in waves; He had already reached his limits, the size of his body having been pushed beyond even the realms of reason; He stood several kilometers tall and even this was only just barely enough to catch the ledge of the platform;

    Withstanding the barrage of thoughts of inadequacy, of giving up, of being unworthy, all while trying to climb to the very peak was difficult, too difficult even to put into words;

    Even though he could feel the ledge. even though he knew well that he was just a single great push away from climbing to its peak. it still felt like he was falling into an abyss. the clutches of devils and demons waiting for him below. fully prepared to swallow him up whole;

    His fingernails snapped and tore, rivers of blood flowing out;

    His pinky''s ligament gave out first. snapping like a steel cord and ripping his finger back at an awkward angle. The backlash was so great that it felt as though something had taken his finger and peeled it back to his wrist. wanting him to suffer the most unimaginable pain.

    Another snap rang out and this time it was his ring finger that was peeled back almost like the skin of an onion; The strength of his body was playing sticks against him; Each one of his muscle fibers was like tempered steel. intertwined into a cord that layered the muscles and organs of his body; But because of this. when they gave out. the effects were resounding and devastating;

    Every time one gave up, a bang would resound through his body as though a clap of thunder had resonated within his skeleton.

    Leonel''s head just barely managed to peek over the ledge;

    He slammed his down on it, using it as leverage in an attempt to pull himself over.

    His expression was ghastly, his face pulsing with veins and his teeth shattering one by one under the pressure like fragile porcelain dolls;

    He pushed with all his might;

    ROAR!

    The shot came out muddled and gargled; He didn''t have the strength to open his jaw with so much weight pressing up on it. however he managed to gain some momentum in an attempt to swing his foot up and onto the ledge;

    Just as his heel was about to snag a piece of the ledge, another snap rang out;

    Leonel''s body shuddered and his middle finger''s ligament snapped; By this point; he only had one arm left; While it seemed like only the ligaments of one hand were being snapped; that was because the tendons that connected his other arm had snapped during the last climb;

    Before this; Leonel could just use his Dream Force to repair the projection of this body; but by this point; things had been going on so long that he truly had nothing left; Even his overwhelming Dream Force stamina was running thin; This was the last body he had; he simply couldn''t repair it; and if he fell here; he would truly fall to his death;

    With the state of his body in the real world. it couldn''t handle true damage to his soul; In fact. the only thing keeping him from dying currently was the independence of his soul; He couldn''t fall here. he refused to fall here;

    Another one of Leonel''s teeth shattered beneath the pressure, cracks running through it like fissures in concrete beneath the wrath of an earthquake.

    He held on with his jaw on one side, and with his remaining forefinger on the other; These were the last two anchor points he had, the last barriers holding him up from a fall to an inevitable death;

    Leonel''s gaze was entirely crimson, there wasn''t a hint of the pale violet remaining. He gazed upward with the look of a madman.

    By this point, he had forgotten what he was fighting so hard against, he didn''t even know if he ever really had been fighting for something at all. All he knew was that he wanted to take another step forward, and then another.

    This matter had started off without much thought. He wasn''t in any rush to suddenly become many times stronger and he had already become content with the strength he had. It was the same cycle he always went through.

    For a moment he would feel a burst of motivation caused by an existential threat to his life or someone he loved, he would then raise his battle strength quickly in a short time, and then he would crush his adversaries only to come out the other end бн bored.

    But this time it was different. He had just claimed a resounding victory, and yet here he was, struggling on the border of life and death.

    Maybe at some point during this journey, he had felt a chance, even if it was a small one, to take a step in the right directionбн and to take that step before he faced something that even he couldn''t quickly think his way out ofбн

    Maybe that was why he was so unwilling to give up.

    Maybeбн

    Something was telling him that he was running out of time.

    ROAR!

    The whites of Leonel''s eyes turned entirely crimson, a blinding and bloody light illuminating them.

    SNAP!

    His forefinger gave way, but he quickly swung his arm up. This time when he roared, he had just barely been able to open his mouth, which pushed his body up just far enough for him to swing his shoulder over the ledge.

    Leonel''s mouth opened up for just a moment before his mouth came clamping down again.

    The sound of shattering teeth resounded, but Leonel had already used the leverage his shoulder gave him to swing his feet up. This time, he aimed even higher.

    Even as his teeth shattered, his heel hit the platform and he rolled his shoulder forward.

    With a final furious push, Leonel swung his head down with all his might, slamming his forehead against the top of the platform and using the violent momentum to push the rest of his body over the ledge.

 Chapter 1730 Next

    Leonel felt his head spinning; That final blow was so powerful that he had most definitely shattered his skull; Blood flew from his nose and ears; shared of his own bone sticking into the most important frontal networks of his brain;

    However, even while feeling so dizzy, he struggled to prop himself up, his mind repeating the very same action he had every other time as he rose through this world;

    The platform he had started on was barely enough for two of him to stand on, but this one was tens of kilometers wide and long;

    Even so, after making himself several kilometers tall, it would only take a few rolls for him to reach the end of it;

    Realizing that he didn''t have the strength to stand; Leonel could only do that; He didn''t want to stop his momentum; He felt like if he wavered even once; he paused even once; he would no longer have the strength or courage to continue; He had to keep going; The moment the fear response cleared; he had to keep moving; no matter what;

    He grit his teeth. ignoring the pain of rolling over his injured hands and arms as he made it to the edge of the platform; Just one more roll and he would fall off to his death; Only then did Leonel come to a stop. blinking several times and trying to see the distance between this platform and the next one so that he could judge exactly how much strength he had to gather to reach it;

    However; at first glance; Leonel didn''t see anything; His vision was quite blurry; so he blinked again; even weakly wiping at his eyes with his forearm before he could look again; But even then; he couldn''t see it;

    Leonel''s heart froze over; Could it be that the next platform was so far away that he couldn''t see it despite its surely overwhelming size? Just by a rudimentary calculation, it would take being a few thousand miles away at the very least; He was already several kilometers tall and the pain was unbearable;

    He had already pushed his Dream Force to the max and couldn''t get any larger. Even if he could get larger. could he really withstand what would happen to his body if the fear response suddenly became a thousand times more potent?

    Leonel jaw steeled, the shards of broken teeth in his mouth digging into his gums as he used the more acute pain to pain him up;

    He slowly rolled to his knees; standing up; It took him several minutes; but he finally managed to get to his feet and look right up into the vast and endless skies; He took a deep breath; glaring upward as though he was looking at his worst enemy;

    But at that moment. the platform began to shimmer and shine.

    Leonel. who was still thinking about how he would reach the next staircase. suddenly felt his body enveloped by a caressing sort of light; The injuries to his projection were quickly being healed; His tendons and ligaments snapped back into place. his grotesquely curled fingers were pulled back. and even his teeth and fractured jaw began to mend themselves;

    Leonel looked down with a hint of surprise, not understanding for a moment until it hit him.

    It wasn''t that the next platform was so far away. it was that he had already reached the last platform;

    He had already lost count of the number of platforms he had climbed, but he had stopped keeping track because doing so was only attacking his psyche; Having to worry about how far he had gone and trying to guess how far he had left to go would have only worn down his mind and made him more likely to give up; He had shunned all such thoughts, so much so that he hadn''t even considered the fact that he had truly reached the end;

    Leonel stood in silence for a moment, thinking back to everything he had gone through. He probably should have felt happy or relieved, but he didn''t feel that way at all. All that pain, all that horror, he just felt like if he juxtaposed it to his usual methods, the latter was far too inferior.

    If he was honest with himself, he had never worked so hard before. Compared to Aina, he was far inferior in this respect.

    Leonel took a breath.

    In the outside world, his body had truly become little different from a skeleton wearing a bit of skin. But for the first time in a long while, his condition didn''t deteriorate and even seemed to become a bit better. Although he didn''t suddenly recover immediately, he at least seemed to stabilize somewhat.

    Leonel didn''t even need to personally observe the current state of his body to know that Instant Recovery wouldn''t work on him. He had pushed himself so far that he would need true time and rest.

    Back when the cobra demon had eaten him alive, it was only by snatching strength from the demon that he had been able to recover. This proved that there was a certain point of no return even for Instant Recovery unless it gained outside support with the help of the Healing Branch of the Dark Force side of the Lineage Factor.

    Regardless, this wasn''t a problem that Leonel was too bothered by. Although his body was a bit weak, it wasn''t as though he was helpless. And right now, he was more concerned with what exactly reaching the final platform meant. It couldn''t be that it would just recover his Dream Force, right?

    In truth, even if this was the case, Leonel found himself not minding as much as he thought it was. This may be one of the few times where he felt he had gotten more out of the hardship than the reward waiting on the other end of it.

    However, it was a guarantee that things wouldn''t be so simple. It was potentially time to truly learn what the Emperor Might Lineage Factor could do.

    Leonel''s projection was enveloped by a light and brought to a new place.

    When he appeared, he stood in another world of green and blue. There were bubbles all around him, some of which were delicate and pale green color, and others of which were radiant and blinding royal blue colors.

 Chapter 1731 True Sovereign

    By this point; Leonel was certain that the greenish blue colors meant something that he wasn''t aware of; Although he had stopped paying attention to the platforms so that he didn''t psyche himself out; he still had noticed that the started from pale shades of green; become more vibrant jade colors; then transformed toward a bluish tinge; before stopping at an almost diamond-like blueish color that was maybe one of the most beautiful colors Leonel had ever seen;

    If he had been in the state of mind to care back then, the final several dozen kilometer long and wide platform he had just been on would have been acknowledged by him as one of the most beautiful polished gems he had ever seen;

    Now that Leonel thought about it, the Fawkes family''s Emperor''s Might manifested with a vibrant green color; This didn''t seem like a coincidence; Only his King''s Might manifested with a violet color, but that was only due to a mutation that came from his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor;

    Originally. Leonel''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor became tainted with a crimson Force when he almost deviated the first time he tried to awaken it; However. after he fought back and succeeded in awakening it. a violet color was born;

    This violet color wasn''t something that Leonel was keenly aware of the presence of until he formed King''s Might Lineage Factor in the Valiant Heart Zone. However, this violet color appeared even when he wasn''t consciously using King''s Might, like when he fully deployed his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Leonel shook his head and stopped minding these matters for now; The intertwining of his Lineage Factor made what was going on inside of his body greatly complicated; He wouldn''t be able to figure it all out even within a few years; His best chance was to personally go through the records of the Morales. but that would have to wait;

    Leonel reached forward and touched one of the smaller pale green bubbles; Since he wasn''t certain of what they were; although he did have a guess; it was better if he chose to be cautious first;

    The bubble popped and a surge of energy entered Leonel''s body; Not only did he suddenly feel like his soul had been greatly nourished; growing not just a few times stronger; but mysterious patterns and runes began to formulate in his mind;

    After a while, Leonel blinked and opened his eyes, his eyes shining;

    [Emperor''s Aura];

    As expected; it was a method of utilization designed precisely for the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor; But in addition to this; the process of assimilating these usage methods also seemed to strengthen his soul; branding it with odd runes that reminded Leonel a lot of God Runes orбн Star Runes;

    Leonel''s gaze twinkled with a peculiar light.

    Emperor''s Aura, from the description, was something he had always had; It made sense that this was the smallest and easiest bubble there was to assimilate here since he had been using it since long before he was even consciously aware of having this Lineage Factor;

    For as long as he could remember; every time Leonel got serious; a suffocating aura would pervade from him; He wasn''t actually aware of this; but others had always told him that this was the case; In fact; one of the reasons he always finished his tests so quickly back in Class A was to give everyone else a chance;

    However. this bubble had taught him how to consciously deploy it. and how to also be aware that he was doing it;

    Although it was the smallest bubble here. that didn''t mean that it was a weak ability. it was just that it was a fundamental ability. so fundamental that most would have access to it the moment they awakened this Lineage Factor; In fact. even Leonel''s cousin Noah had Emperor''s Aura;

    How powerful this ability would become, though, was dependent on several factors, factors that Leonel had a feeling were related to just how far you climbed.

    If this explanation was correct, even using Aura to suffocate people to the point they couldn''t use their Force was possible; It even explained that even if completely stopping people from using their Force was impossible, you could lower the strength of their Force;

    Essentially, if Leonel had had access to the full scope of Emperor''s Aura during his battle with the cobra demon or Thaela, he could use it to weaken their Force Manipulation and even potentially bring it down to a realm that he could more easily deal with.

    Leonel took a breath and moved forward. He suppressed his desire to start popping the biggest bubbles around here. Although he could since he had earned the right after climbing to the highest platform, he had a feeling that he might very well implode if he even tried.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that climbing to the highest platform had done more for him than just give him access, it was also the reason learning was so easy.

    Usually, one would have to master these runes personally before being able to properly use them, but all Leonel had to do was pop the bubble and it would integrate the full meaning of it for him!

    Leonel reached out toward the second smallest bubble, this was a slightly brighter shade of green than the last one.

    [Emperor''s Projection].

    This was a skill that gathered Emperor''s Aura and formed a projection. Through this projection, Emperor''s Aura could be applied to one''s Force. Through doing this and concentrating Emperor''s Aura, its effects would become more potent.

    This was another ability that Leonel knew about and he had even formed his Emperor''s Projection before through a skill he had learned from his mother. It seemed that his mother had meditated on the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor enough that she had formulated a path through these inheritances herself without having the tablet.

    Even so, seeing the full method here and having it directly imprinted onto his brain, Leonel realized that he had neglected this skill far too often, and he also realized that in the past when he integrated his Destruction Aura with it, the process hadn''t needed to be so permanent.

    The only reason he had thought it was permanent was because he had so little understanding of the skill. Now, however, its full breadth was imprinted directly into his psyche. He understood it better than anyone else in existence currently!

    ? Which also meantбн

    Leonel reached out a finger and formed a small blade of Spear Force. Soon, numerous runes began to appear on its golden surface before it gained a small tinge of violet giving it a truly royal air.

    Although Leonel had never seen it before, right this moment, he was absolutely certain.

    This was the true Sovereign Spear.

 Chapter 1732 Emperors Presence

    Leonel looked down at the radiant Spear Force for a long while before he crushed it in his palm. He was absolutely certain that this was the so-called true Sovereignty that those women of that Zone were speaking of. He could feel a qualitative change that relied on something beyond just the ring on his finger, but likewise, since it didn''t rely on his ring, it had its own strengths and weaknesses.

    For one, Leonel could apply it to his Bow Force and become a true Sovereign of the Bow as well. However, unlike his Spear Force which was immune to all other Spears and Spear Forces, his Bow Force would be limited to restricting Bow Forces weaker than his own. This, though, was only natural.

    Of course, Leonel had already reached this stage with his Bow Force even without his King''s Might Lineage Factor. The reason why during his battles in the Void Palace that Bow Force seemed to be easily absorbed by him was because he had crossed this threshold on his own.

    Now, thoughбн

    Leonel formed Bow Force, using [Emperor''s Presence] to infuse [Emperor''s Aura] into it. At that moment, his white Bow Force shimmered with a resplendent violet color even more obvious than what had been the case with his Spear Force.

    The change in its strength wasn''t small. Leonel could feel the minor fluctuations everywhere it passed, his level of control over it reaching an unprecedented level. This wasn''t exactly a matter of power, per se, but instead the dominion over which he could maintain perfect accuracy had increased by not just a single fold.

    Leonel crushed the Bow Force in his hand and formed a strand of fire. This Fire Force was one he hadn''t used in a very long time, Radiant Force. It had radioactive properties and it had once been a very core part of Leonel''s Heavenly Cycle comprehensions until they had evolved under the influence of the Zone.

    Leonel was very curious. There was nothing that said that weapon Forces were the only Forces he could use [Emperor''s Presence] on. Logically, he should be able to apply it to almost any Force.

    With a thought he fused his presence into it, causing the silvery-red flame to gain just the slightest hint of violet.

    Leonel immediately noticed that depending on what his target was, the vessel could accept more or less of his Emperor''s Aura. For example, his Bow Force absorbed by far the most, while his Spear Force absorbed comparatively less, and his Radiant Force absorbed even less than that.

    Among the three, Spear Force and Bow Force were still somewhat comparable, but Radiant Force might as well have been on its own scale in a negative direction.

    But at the same time, this didn''t necessarily mean that the results were lackluster. In fact, Leonel could feel that the changes to Radiant Force weren''t small. The main difference, in his estimation, was that Radiant Force wasn''t a good enough representation of Fire Force in general.

    Leonel flipped another palm over, this one contained Scarlet Star Force. The moment he started flooding his Emperor''s Aura into it, it was as though it was a vast and boundless ocean, taking in more than he could even give it. Compared to his Bow Force, it was even several steps beyond. In fact, beneath its presence, his Radiant Force was quickly snuffed out.

    That was when Leonel came to an understanding.

    Using his King''s Might Lineage Factor, he could gain a shortcut to becoming a Sovereign. However, he needed to use a Force as a proxy first. The quality of his Sovereignship would be dependent on the quality of this Force.

    Leonel''s Bow Force had experienced the very same baptizing his Spear Force had, however it was in the Sixth Dimension while his Spear Force was still in the Fifth. As such, his Bow Force was stronger in this regard than his Spear Force by not just a small margin.

    Radiant Force was a weaker Fire Force which was capped at the Sixth Dimension. As such, the pressure it could exert over other Fire Forces was minimal, while Scarlet Star Force was, of course, the strongest Fire Force in all of existence. Obviously, using the latter as a proxy to exert pressure onto other Fire Forces was far superior.

    Essentially, if Leonel used his Emperor''s Aura on his Radiant Force, many Fire Forces would become useless against him, but not all of them. If he did the same with his Scarlet Star Force, however, it would likely be impossible for others to even stir Fire Force in his presence.

    Aside from this, there was only really one other important thing of note, and that was that Leonel only seemed to be able to use his Emperor''s Aura on one type of Force at a given time.

    For example, he could use Emperor''s Presence on Radiant Force and Scarlet Star Force at the same time. But he could use it on Scarlet Star Force and Spear Force at the same time, nor could he use it on Spear Force and Bow Force at the same time.

    Leonel didn''t mind this limitation very much as its foundational abilities alone were very excellent. In addition, these should actually be the simplest abilities the tablet had in store for him. There were still dozens more bubbles floating in the air.

    After a moment, Leonel looked toward the bubbles again. He hadn''t reached his limit yet and there seemed to be no reason to stop, so why should he?

    If he had to master these techniques himself, he might consider stopping here. But considering they assimilated with his mind perfectly, wouldn''t he be too stupid to not take advantage? He had exchanged a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get here.

    He reached forward and touched another bubble, this one being third from last in terms of size and radiance.

    A familiar nourishing feeling took hold of his soul, cleansing him from head to toe and making him feel alive. It truly felt like he was floating on a cloud.

    [Emperor''s Gaze].

 Chapter 1733 What Right?

    [Emperor''s Gaze].

    This was a technique that built off the back of [Emperor''s Presence], fusing it instead into a person''s eyes. However, unlike the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, this technique wasn''t actually designed to see any further, though it could be used to see with more clarity.

    The most basic usage and implementation of this technique was to disperse illusions and to attack the psyche. These both relied on similar principles and managed to accomplish two different things relying on the same foundation.

    Ultimately, illusions were just tricks of the mind and [Emperor''s Gaze] could disrupt them. By the same token, it could piggyback off this ability to directly attack the mind of an enemy.

    When Leonel finished assimilating with the technique, his gaze couldn''t help but glow, his pale violet irises becoming a deeper hue of violet for a moment before reverting back to their original color.

    This technique, wasn''t it very similar to a technique of the Spirituals? In fact, wasn''t it precisely because of techniques like this that running into a Spiritual Boss in the Void Tower was no different from drawing dead?

    The human race only dared to battle against Spirituals when they had soul protection treasures on hand. Without them, meeting a Spiritual Race individual of the same and similar Dimensional strength was basically a guaranteed insta-kill.

    Humans had too little research done on the soul and hadn''t created any techniques for it themselves. As such, they were all too vulnerable in this respect and could do nothing against those who did have such techniques.

    Just by virtue of gaining [Emperor''s Gaze], Leonel had basically become as difficult to deal with as a Spiritual. The only ones who could combat against him were either individuals in the Seventh Dimension who also had Soul Force or Dream Force based Ability Indexes or Lineage Factors, or those who carried around soul protection treasures.

    However, in both instances, these demographics should be somewhat rare. At the very least, one would have to be from a prominent family of at least a Sixth Dimensional territory to carry around a soul protection treasure.

    The other ability of [Emperor''s Gaze], to dispel illusions, was also quite good. Leonel was already fairly immune to illusions, but that wasn''t the case for those around him. Now he had a tangible method of crushing any illusion he or his allies faced and this could be greatly helpful in the future.

    Leonel''s eyes cleared and runes danced and rotated in his irises before slowly fading. He didn''t feel like he was anywhere near his limits so he reached forward and tried the fourth.

    A refreshing feeling washed over him again and the runes of another technique imprinted itself onto his soul.

    [Emperor''s Seal].

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Even the name alone was domineering, however the description of the technique itself was even more soul shuddering.

    [Emperor''s Seal] was an application of [Emperor''s Aura] and [Emperor''s Presence], using the latter, it formulated the former into a grand seal that manifested into the air. This seal would be used to directly suppress, imprison and crush.

    Even if Leonel hadn''t had any spatial affinity, he could use [Emperor''s Seal] to lock down space similar to what the warships of Shield Cross Stars had done to the Void Palace. Like this, even if someone had a great spatial affinity, it would become useless.

    [Emperor''s Seal] was quite similar to a domain-like ability and it functioned on a more ethereal level than Leonel''s Gravity Domain. While one targeted the physical body, the other targeted Force and the soul. However, both of them were able to cause physical changes.

    Beneath [Emperor''s Seal], even though it ultimately was a suppression of the soul, the body would find it a very difficult move and Force would become extremely sluggish. In the worst case scenario, if the gap was large enough, one would find themselves grinded into meat paste.

    In fact, one of the actions of the [Emperor''s Seal] was known as "Rotation". With every rotation, the pressure would increase on the person beneath the seal''s might until they could no longer handle it and exploded.

    Leonel took another step forward and touched yet another bubble.

    [Emperor''s Edict].

    As these runes fused with Leonel, his aura became more refined and more dignified. The rotating runes within his irises only grew more complex with every assimilation.

    [Emperor''s Edict] was yet another technique that Leonel found very similar, and once again, he gained an entirely new view of it.

    This technique wasn''t very different from the one his mother created. It used [Emperor''s Seal] to form the boundaries of a world and then it disseminated an Emperor''s Edict. This Edict set a rule that had to be followed within the confines of the Emperor''s Seal''s world.

    If this sounded familiar, that was because it was. It was the very same concept as Leonel''s mother''s Crystal World technique, one that Leonel hadn''t used in a very long time because he simply didn''t have the time to assign to mastering it.

    This technique when fully mastered could be extraordinarily powerful. Leonel could set a rule that stated that all metal within his Seal World were brittle. In this situation, if a sword tried to attack him, he could shatter it with the flick of a single finger.

    If he was in a world of water and found himself disadvantaged by the terrain, he could set a rule that stated all water would vanish, and suddenly he would be fighting in the air.

    He could reverse gravity, he could zap away all oxygen, he could even turn all gas in the air into an extremely flammable substance and then light it all on fire with a single thought.

    When taken to its logical extreme, [Emperor''s Edict], or Leonel''s mother''s Crystal World technique were all mind numbingly powerful, and in the hands of someone like Leonel, the possibilities were simply endless. In the face of an Emperor, what right did anyone have to resist?

 Chapter 1734 Emperors Command

    Leonel exhaled a breath.

    Despite the nourishment, he could vaguely feel that he was reaching his limit. He didn''t actually believe that the problem was that his soul wasn''t strong enough, it was more so that his body wasn''t in the best condition right now.

    Although his soul had been replenished to its peak, a lot of its strength was being diverted to keep his body up and running. If he used up too much of his capacity, his body, which was already barely holding on by a single line, could very well reach past a point of no return.

    Leonel sighed. He really wanted to absorb more.

    After a moment, he utilized Instant Recovery in the outside world, allowing his body to recover somewhat. Although he was still as skinny as a beanpole, at the very least, his life was no longer in any real danger.

    Leonel scanned through the bubbles and locked eyes on the radiant blue ones. They were much larger and more vibrant than the green ones that he had been working with until now and his curiosity was really getting the better of him.

    If the bottom five methods of this Emperor''s Might Tablet were already so powerful, what exactly did these behemoths represent? What techniques were they hiding?

    Leonel let his curiosity get the best of him. Until his body truly recovered, this would be the last bubble he would clear for a while. In addition, if his choice was one of the much larger blue ones, then it was likely that even after his body recovered, he would have to wait until he progressed through a few tiers and strengthened his soul before he came back again.

    But Leonel felt that if the bottom five techniques were already so powerful, he felt that the top few would likely be life changing.

    Leonel took a breath and pushed the other bubbles out of the way with his thoughts, reaching forward toward one of the largest radiant blue bubbles.

    Up above the rest of them, there were three bubbles of the exact same size, all of them exuding a blinding royal blue light. Leonel had no way of choosing between them so he just picked one at random, reaching his hand forward and popping it.

    The strong surge of pressure made Leonel shudder. On the one hand, he felt as though his soul and body were being ripped apart, but on the other hand, he was being built back up just as fast. He could feel his capacity for Dream Force increasing by leaps and bounds, strong waves of Auspicious Air were exuding from him in tsunami-like currents, and his aura was becoming suffocating.

    Deep within his eyes, a blinding blue light shone, so bright in fact that the runes within it were nowhere to be seen. Only Leonel could feel these runes, each one of them countless times more complex than any he had ever seen.

    Just when Leonel felt that he had reached his limits, his three Dream Force Stars began to slowly rotate, their pinnacle Seventh Dimensional Star Runes shining and offsetting the pressure. It seemed that it was only because he had reached this state with his Dream Force that he was able to withstand the pressure.

    However, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

    As the technique and Leonel''s Star Runes formed a sort of feedback loop between one another, Leonel felt that his understanding of Dream Force and the soul was becoming clearer and more defined. In fact, he felt that the path ahead to taking the first step on his journey of Dream Force Manipulation was becoming just that small bit brighter.

    Several moments later, the process finally came to a stop and Leonel gasped for air. However, even after a long while, the blue radiance coming from his eyes was only slowly fading.

    Leonel stood in silence for a long time, not quite knowing how to take this technique or to accept what he was feeling. What was life exactly? Had he really been overthinking it all this time? Was it really that all life was equally valuable? Or was it more accurate to say thatбн

    All life was equally worthless.

    [Emperor''s Command: Arise].

    Using this technique, Leonel could target a recently deceased individual''s soul. He could give it shape and form, using it to fight on his behalf and as a proxy for his other techniques.

    However, this was only the simplest use of this technique. On the more complex side of things, he could assimilate the affinities of this individual through the use of [Emperor''s Presence]. Much like he did with his Forces when he formed Sovereignty, he could form a Sovereignty through this deceased individual''s soul.

    For example, if Leonel killed a master of the wind element and then took control of their soul before it dispersed, he could gain Sovereignty over the wind element through the use of this soul''s affinity. In fact, he would be able to command this soul to use the abilities they had in their lifetimes with even greater ease and power than the person themselves had when they were living, just by virtue of the fact he could give them Sovereignty.

    To say that this ability was overpowered was an understatement. In fact, Leonel felt that it was more than worthy of being one of the three absolute strongest abilities of the Emperor''s Might tablet, even if it was only for temporary usage.

    But it still left him feeling a bit conflicted.

    When Leonel first learned that he could revive the dead through the use of the Silver Tablet, he had his own small existential crisis back then. He felt that his world views were spinning in his head and he didn''t know how to reconcile it all.

    However, he had been able to eventually shrug it off because the power was in the hands of a treasure far beyond his imagination, maybe it was only right that it could do such a thing.

    ? But what could he say now that such a technique was at his fingertips? Now that he too could play with life and death with just a thought? How could he reconcile this matter?

    What left Leonel the most silent, though, was that there were still two other techniques of this caliber within the tablet. In fact, they were connected with this one, so much so that he already knew their names.

    [Emperor''s Command: Assimilate].

    [Emperor''s Command: Breathe].

    Leonel didn''t know the details of these techniques, but just by virtue of their names he had a few guessesбн And if he was correctбн

    Leonel closed his eyes, releasing a sigh.

    However, not long later, his eyes snapped open.

    ''Who?!''

    BANG!

    The flagship shuddered as something collided against it.

 Chapter 1735 Pirates

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open immediately.

    Aina sat on her knees nearby. She had already looked off into the distance, but it was difficult to see anything from this location. This room didn''t have any mirrors, and although there were monitors around to observe the situation outside, none of them had been turned on. Considering what the two had been doing in this room, they didn''t have time to care about such things.

    Leonel tried to sit up but an aching pain took hold of his body, threatening to make his consciousness fade. If it wasn''t for the fact he had used Instant Recovery once already, he might have directly passed out just now.

    Aina looked back and panicked slightly.

    "It''s fine, I can handle it."

    Leonel chuckled lightly and winced as he slowly pushed himself up.

    "You don''t even know what''s going on outside, how could you say that so confidently?"

    Seeing that Leonel was in the mood to joke around, Aina rolled her eyes. If this man didn''t look like he was at death''s door, she would really teach him a lesson.

    Leonel''s pale violet hair and irises had lost all of their color, both looking far more like a pale gray and lacking the vibrancy they had once had before. He was still naked, so it was all too easy to see his skin sticking loosely to his bone. His cheeks were sunken and the bags under his eyes were practically black. At a glance, he looked like a talking zombie with a small dash of handsomeness probably only Aina could see with her love-tinted glasses.

    That said, Leonel wasn''t wrong. To say that the warship with the size of a moon was actually a bit of an underestimation of its size. Without the monitors activated, Aina''s mind, even with its recent buffs, had no way of seeing far enough to check on what was going on outside.

    BANG!

    The warship shudders again as Leonel just barely managed to push himself up.

    "Even so, it''s too dangerous for you to go. Your Instant Recovery didn''t even work this time, at least absorb some of the demon corpses first."

    Leonel shook his head. "I''ll be fine. There''s no need to waste the demon corpses on this, we only have a limited number of them and they''re best used to help everyone else. Don''t worry too much, I might look like I have a foot in the grave, but right now, I''m actually more powerful than I''ve ever been before."

    Leonel stood to his feet, wobbling once before he regained his bearings. He slapped his thighs once and a pair of sweatpants covered him up. He couldn''t be bothered to dress the rest of himself.

    "I''ll go see who''s ruining our honeymoon."

    Aina blushed slightly when she heard this. This man had no tact.

    бн

    Outside the flagship, a fleet of spaceships surrounded the region, a number that could only be counted in the dozens and very close to bordering on the hundreds.

    These ships were only a fraction the size of the flagship behemoth, but they all had their cannons trained upon the same location, clearly planning to overwhelm quality with quantity and blast a hole through the hull of the warship.

    Not long after the second barrage rocked the flagship, Leonel and Aina appeared at the bow of the warship. Neither of them looked as though they were taking this matter seriously. Leonel wasn''t even wearing a shirt, while Aina looked as though the only thing she was wearing was a shirt, having stolen Leonel''s since he refused to give her time to prepare.

    Leonel had tried to tell her that he would handle things, but she refused given his state. In the end, she rushed after him like this, leaving him more than a little amused, and another much larger part aroused. Unfortunately, he didn''t have time to entertain the latter.

    Leonel narrowed his eyes and looked at these ships. He had yet to activate the forcefield of the flagship although doing so would have ended this farce. He was more interested in who exactly was attacking him.

    After a moment of observation, he was speechless.

    Were theseбн pirates?

    The ships looked as though they were cobbled together from scrap metal, barely weathering the astral winds of deep space.

    Although the flagship had been "surrounded", in reality the just over a hundred or so spaceships had only covered a small range or else concentrating their fire would have been obvious.

    What confused Leonel was what gave these people the balls to do this. Were they blind? Or were they led by an outright idiot?

    There was one thing Leonel''s intelligence couldn''t account for, and that was outright fools. How could you deduce what someone who had been dropped on their head as a baby would do?

    As Leonel was trying to understand what was happening, there was a subtle ripple that spread from a ship hidden in the center of the semi-circular formation.

    ''A signal.''

    Leonel understood immediately.

    The spaceships geared up once more, their cannons glowing with a radiant light as they aimed forward once again.

    ''Something is off.''

    A ripple spread from Leonel. All around the flagship, his clones appeared once again. In just a small instant, the force field activated.

    The beams of light converged, colliding against a recently formed barrier. However, this time, the flagship didn''t so much as quake. In fact, the force field didn''t even so much as ripple.

    As though it had met a perfectly reflective surface, the beams of light reflected back.

    Before the spaceships could even react, they were enveloped by a blinding light. By the time Leonel''s vision cleared, even his lip could only twitch.

    The entire fleet was eradicated in a single blow. No, not the entire fleet, there was just one straggling junkyard ship near the edge that just barely managed to stay outside of the range. But when Leonel''s gaze zoomed onto their location, he found that the pilot was practically shitting his pants.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He could smell the bullshit in the air, and it definitely wasn''t coming from that pilot.

    At that instant, almost on cue, space warped and shuddered.

    As though they had just stepped out of a hyperdrive state, six new ships appeared in an instant. This time, however, they truly did surround the flagship. With a length of several hundred kilometers each, they were just barely large enough to do so as well.

 Chapter 1736 Impervious Ruler

    Leonel stood in silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He wondered if these people would be stupid enough to attack as well. Although their ships were much larger, they were still nowhere near comparable to the flagship. In fact, Leonel felt that he could act personally and take down these ships in a few minutes.

    The metal they used was mostly formed of Fifth Dimensional ores and they only used Sixth Dimensional ores to reinforce it. This was probably the most common configuration of spaceship since even for Seventh Dimensional worlds, such a large amount of Sixth Dimensional ore was too expensive to be gathered casually.

    Only the most elite of Seventh Dimensional worlds would form warships so large with Sixth Dimensional materials, and only true powerhouse organizations like Shield Cross Stars would be able to form such a large flagship like this one with majority Seventh Dimensional materials.

    This was all to say that this fleet of six stood no chance. So Leonel really wanted to see what they were getting at here.

    ''It seems that they''re targeting this ship, even to the point of luring me to kill that previous "pirate" fleet. But if they''re targeting me, that has to mean that they know of me and my location enough to prepare this scheme, no matter how pathetic it is.

    ''But how could they know? No one should know where I am. If my location was leaked, these clowns wouldn''t be the first to make it, it would most definitely be Shield Cross Stars, or any number of my other enemiesбн''

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more foolish he thought these individuals were. If they knew who he was, they should know how valuable his head was, why would they come personally instead of just selling this information?

    ''Unlessбн''

    At that moment, in the central warship, a few figures stepped out to the bow. The edge of their ship was just about a kilometer from Leonel''s own. At this distance, the ships could very well fall into each other''s pull and crash, but their relative power structure stopped this from happening.

    There were exactly three figures, the middle of which was a gentleman wearing robes of white and purple. He seemed to be exceptionally refined, but anyone with any world experience could tell that he was putting up a false front. He deemed himself to be more important than he was.

    "My name is Richard, it''s a pleasure to meet you, Leonelбн Morales. Although it''s unfortunate that you''ve targeted my people like this, don''t you think that your actions are a bit overboard?"

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Those words made it quite clear that his location had been exposed. This truly made things more interesting.

    There definitely wasn''t a tracking device in the flagship. Well, there was one, but Leonel had dealt with it long ago, he wasn''t a fool.

    It was potentially possible that one could guess that he was headed to Earth and check the common routes that connected the two territories. Considering the specifics of space travel, if one wanted to get to a location without wasting literal centuries, there were only certain paths that you could take. These were so-called Star Lanes that allowed hyper speed travel without worrying about riddling yourself with holes.

    However, it also had to be remembered that Leonel had gottenбн distracted and allowed his flagship to drift quite far off course. There was simply no way to find him using these obvious methods.

    Seeing that Leonel remained silent, Richard felt that he was now a point up, his smug smile increasing as he let the silence hang. In his mind, he was making the mighty Leonel Morales squirm, waiting to find out what his purpose was.

    After he was satisfied, Richard revealed a pleasantly self-satisfied smile.

    "I''ve come here for one purpose today. This flagship, I''ll be confiscating it, it''s the least my people deserve for their grievances."

    Richard''s smile became brighter.

    Leonel didn''t respond, he was still lost in thought, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. He had an idea of what might be happening, but the complexity was taking a while even for him to untangle, and the only time that happened was when he was lacking information.

    After a while, Leonel looked up.

    Richard was looking at him with the same smile, believing that Leonel realized he was cornered. Since they could find him once, it was just a matter of a single call and half the Human Domain would be hunting him down.

    From time to time, Richard''s gaze would shift toward Aina. Although Leonel''s shirt was huge on Aina and covered more than enough, her current state was simply too enticing. It was simply a universal mating call to all men. But Richard, in trying to remain "professional", only took a glance from time to time.

    Although he was being subtle, how sharp were Leonel''s senses, exactly?

    "You knowбн"

    Richard''s smile began to grow brighter.

    "бн I really hate the name Richard."

    Richard''s smile froze.

    "Every one of you guys I''ve run into seems to be more of a dumbass than the last."

    Leonel took a step forward, stepping onto the air. His body looked as though it could be blown over with a single gust of wind, and yet a stifling pressure rose, causing the surrounding ships to begin to whine and creak.

    Richard''s expression changed as he took a step back, the two individuals who had followed him out stepping forward with menacing auras. Without fail, both of them were in the Seventh Dimension. However, Leonel continued to walk through the air as though he hadn''t noticed at all, a billowing violet fog wafting from his body.

    He raised palm and faced it downward, causing a small rotating circle of violet wind beginning to spin around him.

    Emperor''s Gaze.

    With a flash, Leonel''s irises blazed with a blinding light, enveloping the two Seventh Dimensional existences and Richard.

    Richard began to foam at the mouth and practically collapsed. The two Seventh Dimensional existences were only dazed for a moment and seemed prepared to break out of it in the next instant, but by then, the cyclone of violet expanding beneath Leonel''s palm had expanded across the kilometer distance in the blink of an eye, shooting beyond until it crossed even a hundred kilometer distance.

    Emperor''s Edict.

    "No Seventh Dimensional existences shall step into my domain."

    The dazed Seventh Dimensional existences felt a suffocating might envelop them. Before they could even react, they were expelled over a hundred kilometers away and were completely incapable of reacting.

    With a step, Leonel''s frail body landed on Richard''s ship. However, at that moment, he looked no different from an impervious ruler, one whose commands couldn''t be denied.

 Chapter 1737 Projectile

    Leonel reached out a palm and Richard flew into his palm.

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze glowed with a bright violet light, his grey hair even flickering with motes of purple light as well as it danced in the wind.

    "Who sent you?"

    Richard was completely out cold, the whites of his eyes rolled forward and his mouth frothed. However, the moment Leonel spoke, it was as though his mind had been struck with a bell and his mouth began to move on its own.

    "My father sent me."

    "Who is your father?" Leonel asked.

    "My father is Patriarch Graros Ernan, the ruler of the of the Chaotic Water Sector."

    Even in his state, there was a hint of pride in Richard''s tone as though he still had a right to brag. The trouble was that he clearly hadn''t noticed that this father of his had sent him on a death mission. Something told Leonel that it wasn''t just the pirate fleet that was bait, Richard was probably bait as well.

    But what was more curious was that Leonel had never heard of this Chaotic Water Sect.

    Considering they could send two Seventh Dimensional beings along with Richard, Leonel would guess that they were at least at that level. If he had to pinpoint an exact level, he would guess that they were closing in on the middle rank of Seventh Dimensional Sectors, but weren''t quite there yet.

    The reason was quite obvious. The two Seventh Dimensional existences they had sent had broken through using the Conventional Path and they probably weren''t among the truly powerful individuals, in fact they were far from it.

    In addition, Richard was the son of a ruler of a Sector, and yet he didn''t have a soul protection treasure on him. That was enough for Leonel to make some assumptions.

    Leonel went through his memories and finally found reference to the Chaotic Water Sector.

    ''Interestingбн''

    His assumption had been correct. This Sector was indeed a Seventh Dimensional Sector, but it was middling.

    Of course, to Leonel who was used to dealing with the Constellation families and was from the Morales family, his definition of middling was quite different from others. In truth, the Chaotic Water Sector was definitely a region of powerhouses and were about the same level of strength as Treanna''s Viror family.

    There wasn''t anything special about their location at first glance, but if Leonel''s deductions were correct, they were probably near the current borders of Earth.

    Last time Leonel had fought for Earth it had been against the Umbra family and those other Sixth Dimensional families, but by now, Earth''s had evolved twice and their territory was much larger. This meant that they were probably dealing with a lot of internal struggles right now as Leonel was sure that they had yet to assimilate so much territory, nor would the families and organizations that had once called those regions home obediently step aside.

    At the same time, they had new neighbors that watched what happened to the others and didn''t want to sit idly by as they too were swallowed up.

    The Chaotic Water Sector was making a pre-emptive move and they had even been so fast to move. It was clear they were waiting for an opportunity, but more importantly, they had a trump card capable of finding Leonel in the middle of nowhere.

    This was clearly a warning.

    There were only two ways that this could go.

    The first would be Leonel obediently bowing his head. This would allow the Ernan family to manipulate him from the shadows and he could even be used to bolster their position.

    The second possibility was that Leonel would lash out and the ultimate result would be the Ernan family using this as an excuse to attack with reason on their side.

    In normal times, such childish tricks wouldn''t work, but with his mother forcing Shield Cross Stars to retreat from their territory, the Chaotic Water Sector could be more brazen with their actions.

    Leonel''s lip curled.

    He tapped a foot and the metal beneath his bare feet rippled, curling up and forming a pole that he wrapped around Richard''s ankle and hung him upside down.

    "Stay here obediently," Leonel said casually even though Richard was far too out of it to understand what he was saying. In the end, the supposed prince could only nod obediently.

    At that moment, there was a burst of activity from behind the thick metal doors leading to the bow of the ship. The doors blasted open and a large number of soldiers holding what looked like assault rifles rushed forward.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Since when were guns a common weapon in the Dimensional Verse?

    "Fire!"

    Leonel was surprised again. These soldiers truly had no respect for their prince. Richard hung right behind him yet they were opening fire with naked abandon. It was as though they didn''t care about hitting Richard at all.

    Leonel''s palm rose again, still facing down.

    "Stop."

    With a whoosh, another circular formation of rotating violet fog spread outward, enveloping Leonel and the soldiers. The moment Leonel''s commanding voice spread out, the "bullets" came to a grinding halt in the air.

    Leonel swept a casual gaze over them, realizing that these weren''t normal metal casings at all but rather seemed to be concentrated bullets of Force.

    "Mm," Leonel nodded.

    He raised a finger and flicked it outward. "Reverse."

    The bullets that had stopped in their tracks suddenly shuttled back toward the guns they had just come out of.

    "Close."

    Leonel squeezed a hand and the barrels of the assault rifles crumpled like cheap paper.

    In their panic, some of the soldiers tried to fire again, but that only made the situation worse.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The guns exploded and backfired, causing catastrophic results.

    Leonel continued to walk forward as though the explosions didn''t bother him in the slightest.

    "Condense."

    The blast radius condensed into his palm until the point it was no more than a tenth the size of a fingernail.

    He reached a hand out to the side and aimed toward the warship floating several kilometers away to his right.

    "Accelerate."

    Leonel flicked his finger and the projectile zoomed forward with unprecedented speed. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the hull of the spaceship and a silence fellбн

    BOOM!

 Chapter 1738 Petty Tricks

    Even as the corpses fell in a pile of flesh and blood before Leonel, an entire warship collapsed to his right. All the while, the young man who caused it all only continued to leisurely stroll forward.

    Leonel reached out a hand and a gun that managed to survive flew into his hands from the arms of an injured soldier. He balanced it in his hands for a moment, scanning it with Dream Sculpt in the fraction of a breath.

    ''This isn''t made by Earth, it seems to be a copy. Is Earth using guns to fight and others chose to copy? Considering the fast reaction of this Graros individual, he seems to be quite the innovative and clever type. In that case, it''s not impossible.''

    Leonel walked forward, stepping over the piles of flesh and blood.

    He casually raised the gun, firing a few times.

    He seemed to be quite aimless in his aiming, shooting through doors, walls, ceilings and even floors. However, if one had x-ray vision, it would only take a moment to see tha he was actually piercing the forehead of an individual with each shot.

    The commotion of the blast caused a large number of soldiers to rush to the bow of the ship to see what was happening, but most died even as they made their way to the location, not even making it to the hallway to see the face of the man that was killing them.

    Just seconds later, Leonel walked out from the ship with a casual expression on his face.

    He looked up as two powerful auras surged toward him, but he looked back again as though thinking about something.

    He picked up the makeshift pole he was using to hold up Richard and tossed him across the kilometer space between the ship and flagship.

    Just as he finished, the two Seventh Dimensional existences came roaring back, both of them sporting ugly expressions. They could sense that one of their warships had been entirely slaughtered, while a second had not only been slaughtered, but it even exploded as well.

    They roared in fury, striking out with their palms at the same time.

    "Threeбн Twoбн"

    Leonel looked up again and stepped off of the warship, falling through the vastness of space.

    "One."

    BOOM!

    The expressions of the Seventh Dimensional existences changed.

    Flying was only something those with a certain control over God Runes could accomplish. In addition, such individuals tended to be very deep into the Seventh Dimension as well. It simply wasn''t possible for them who had broken through using the conventional page.

    Due to this, it had taken them a long amount of time to return because they had practically been swimming through the vastness of space. They hadn''t come prepared to do that and as such, could only wastefully use their Force like propulsion engines to make their way back here, a process that was obviously much slower than their usual speed.

    However, now that they had just made their way back, they found themselves caught up in a violent storm.

    Although this explosion couldn''t do much to them outside of leaving some minor flesh wounds, what it could do was send them flying into the distance again.

    Leonel used the explosion to flutter back to the flagship, landing on the bow lightly as he watched on in amusement.

    This Ernan family wanted to send him bait? Sure, he would eat as much bait as they could stomach to give up, he would eat until they were sick of it and had to expose the true existences behind this.

    Leonel didn''t believe for a single second that a family on the same level as the Viror family would dare to do all of this even if they seemingly had enough motive to do so. If Graros knew that Leonel had been hunted down, information that wasn''t very wide spread as of yet especially since disciples weren''t allowed to leave Void Palace, then he should also know who the princess of the Ascension Empire was, and likewise who her husband was.

    The fact he still dared to do all of this just for the pretext to attack Earth was fishy.

    BANG! BANG!

    At that moment, the palm strikes of the two Seventh Dimensional experts finally landed, but they were just as quickly snuffed out by the forcefield barrier.

    "Two down, four more to go."

    Leonel smiled, ready to lift off again and crush the four remaining warships.

    Aina, who still stood on the bow of the ship as well, her arms crossed about her chest, shook her head. This man was having a little bit too much fun without her.

    бн

    "Patriarch, there''s been news."

    In a simply dining room, far more simple than one would expect the ruler of a Sector to be found eating in, a middle aged man with streaks of white in his dark hair sat. He wore familiar white and purple robes and he ate with pristine etiquette.

    "There''s no need to report something so obvious. They used the flagship to destroy the fleet, correct? Send the envoys to the Ascension Empire and demand an explanation. Don''t come to me for something so trivial."

    "Umбн"

    Graros slowly looked up from his meal. "What is it?"

    "Gabien and Seith have sent a message..."

    Grasos frowned. That didn''t make any sense. If they used the flagship, Gabien and Seith, the two Seventh Dimensional existences he had sent with his useless son, should have long since been dead. Seventh Dimensional experts of the Conventional Path had no method to deal with a Tier 2 Star Rank Flagship.

    In truth, Seventh Dimensional experts could only be classified as "rare" if they were on the God Path. Conventional Path Seventh Dimensional experts could be found in large numbers in any empire, organization or family worth their salt.

    The Conventional Path was only a repeat of the first three Dimensions to begin with. As long as a territory was of a certain standard, it was only a matter of time and resources to raise someone to the Seventh Dimension.

    However, it was also because of this that they were ultimately less valuable and also far less powerful.

    Of course, this wasn''t to say that they were weak, or else Leonel wouldn''t have used such underhanded tricks to deal with them while also letting them leave alive. There was still a substantial and qualitative difference between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions no matter the path taken.

    This was to say that in Grasos'' estimation, Leonel wouldn''t dare to fight those two head on and would just rely on the flagship to sweep them.

    But if they lived, what did that meanбн? Did Gabien and Seith desert the army and flee ahead of time?

    Seeing Graros'' expression, the envoy didn''t dare to delay any further and explained everything without holding back.

    The more Graros listened, the more serious his expression seemed to become.

    In the end, he fell into a long silence. It seemed that he had underestimated this Leonel far too much, to think that he didn''t make use of the flagship. It could be said that Leonel only halfway fell into his trap, but this was still enoughбн

    All that mattered was that Leonel still wasn''t strong enough to face Seventh Dimensional existences, all he could use were petty tricks.

 Chapter 1739 Fists Of Love

    Leonel stood somewhat weakly before the upside Richard; The latter was still frothing at the mouth and obediently answering Leonel''s questions; but it was unfortunate that this fool had no useful information; It was more likely that one of the foot soldiers that had come with him would know more about the inner workings of the Chaotic Water Sector than this supposed prince would;

    After a while, Leonel shook his head and directly killed him, turning him to ashes; He didn''t have the patience to keep this person around, and he also felt that it was unfair if this incompetent prince got to survive after so many of his subjects died due to this very incompetence;

    "Are you finally done? Come and eat, then; You look like death," Aina said;

    Leonel wanted to resist after Aina grabbed his hand, but he found himself too weak to do anything; The world spun and he ended up on her back, speechless;

    "Can''t you carry me in a more comfortable position? I''m finding it hard to believe that you''re actually worried about me."

    Leonel dangled like a sack of potatoes; nursing grievances;

    "Oh? You know about comfortable positions too?" Aina replied with a more sinister edge to her voice;

    "Heheбн" Leonel laughed and then coughed; "What did you want me to do? You were gripping the sheets so hard that I couldn''t move you even if I wanted to;"

    "What did you say? Why don''t you speak a little louder?"

    Leonel coughed; feeling Aina''s shoulder digging into his gut; "What was that? The wind just now was really loud;"

    "Hmph."

    Aina''s face flushed red; She knew that her display was really embarrassing back then, but she couldn''t help it; Men had bodies that gave them a break once they hit one climax, but women''s bodies didn''t work exactly the same; Her body in particular had a really high rate of recovery even in comparison to other women and Leonel knew how to use his Dream World to take advantage of her;

    She couldn''t even remember what happened after a certain point, her mind had been entirely fried; The novel stimulation was too much;

    Just thinking about it; Aina''s face only became redder before she grit her teeth; If it wasn''t for the current state of Leonel''s body; she would definitely get her revenge immediately; As for any soreness; her body had recovered a long time ago;

    Leonel finally couldn''t hold it in and burst into a fit of laughter; he laughed so hard he could feel what remained of the fragile fibers of his muscles shredding into pieces; but even so; he couldn''t stop;

    бн

    Aina plopped Leonel down on a dining room chair and gave him a glare before scurrying off into the kitchen; Even now, this man refused to stop laughing; He was very lucky that he was so injured right;

    After a while; Leonel finally managed to stop wheezing;

    At the moment, the two of them had entered the Segmented Cube.

    With its current level; the Segmented Cube was still separated into Lab Setting and Abode Setting; However; the change was that the latter was now separated into an Estate Setting and a World Setting; The former carried the typical home; rooms and board that Leonel and Aina were used to; while the latter was as its name denoted; feeling a lot more like a small planet;

    The World Setting was primed to grow a large amount of resources. it only needed Leonel''s guidance. Although Leonel hadn''t experienced it. the Segmented Cube had experienced a very long period of time and. as such. had a ton of accumulated energy ready to be released.

    As for the Estate Setting. it was probably more luxurious than any home Leonel had ever seen. This was just one of the many kitchens. but it felt as high tech as the flagship that was waiting on them outside.

    Leonel smiled lightly as watched Aina bring out a large amount of ingredients. It was only ten minutes in before he began to smell an intoxicating fragrance.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    With a flash, Little Blackstar appeared in a swirling ball of darkness, landing on a chair by Leonel and hanging out his little pink tongue.

    It had been too long since the little guy tasted Aina''s cooking, so the moment he smelt something, he came immediately, unwilling to waste even a single moment.

    Leonel laughed and rubbed the little mink''s head before his head suddenly turned in a certain direction.

    "What are you two hiding for? You might as well come. I don''t mind sharing a bit of my wife''s cooking with you all."

    Leonel''s words had hardly come out when a ladle streaked over like an arrow and rebounded against his head.

    Vice and Candle, who had been peeking in from the outside, were stunned for a moment before looking toward one another. Candle covered her mouth, stifling a hint of a laugh. As for Vice, his face was just as much of a brick wall as it was always, but Leonel could see the twitch in his lip.

    Leonel rubbed forehead with one hand before beckoning with the other. His attempt to remain dignified and kingly completely fell through with the growing lump on his forehead.

    "Don''t mind her, her temper is fiery, but her cooking is excellent."

    Leonel ducked after finishing these words, just barely making it out of the way of another flying spoon.

    With a grin he pushed out two chairs for Vice and Candle even as Aina came out with the first dish.

    "I don''t see a wedding ring, who''s your wife?" Aina asked with a glare before putting down the food before Vice and Candle as though Leonel didn''t exist.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    "Yes, yes, Blackstar, I have some good food for you too," Aina smiled.

    "I just have to find your old man first," Leonel beamed.

    Hearing this, AIna looked away from Blackstar and gave Leonel a weird look. Last time he and her "old man" had met, Leonel cracked more than just a couple ribs.

    "What''s with that look? His love language is just his fists, it''ll be fine."

    Aina sputtered with laughter beside herself.

 Chapter 1740 Fury

    Earth seemed even more gorgeous from above than it ever had been before; Swirls of white clouds; rushes of blue oceans; endless expanses of greenery; it wasn''t as fanciful as some other planets; but it was perfect in its simplicityбн at least for the most part;

    There was one part of the blue-green planet that wasn''t different from the rest, and that was a singular tree so large that it was visible even from the depths of space, the very same Ascension Tree where the core of the Empire lay;

    Last time Leonel had seen it. it was barely the height of a tall skyscraper. but now it made mountains seem small and insignificant; If not for the terraforming technology of Earth. even the moon''s orbit would be interrupted by it;

    The appearance of the flagship within Earth''s territory was enough to cause a large stir; How could a ship the size of a moon not have such an impact? However. when the various checkpoints showed the somewhat frail Leonel standing at the bow and felt the familiar aura of the Fawkes family. there were very few that dared to stop him;

    Leonel should have been beaming on his return home, but the things that he had seen on his way here left his expression frighteningly cold, so cold that many who hadn''t dared to stop him didn''t do so directly out of fear; They only reported this to the higher ups;

    This led to an odd situation where some let Leonel go because they recognized him. but others simply hadn''t been able to build up the courage to do so.

    This was odd indeed; Although Leonel had recovered somewhat. he still looked frail and skinny; His current body''s strength was maybe 30% of what it should be at his peak; But even so. most couldn''t bear to look him in the eye;

    When Leonel crossed the final checkpoint and entered Earth''s solar system. he wasn''t only greeted by the sight of Earth. but he also found several vessels rising into the air.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed; Upon these vessels, there were a large number of red hair and red eyed individuals; It took only a single instant for Leonel to recognize them;

    "Halt!"

    Powerful auras descended from all sides;

    Leonel remained silent for a moment. his flagship continuing to move forward; With its forcefield. even Seventh Dimensional experts shouldn''t be able to do a single thing to him;

    Logically. even if Earth managed to give birth to such experts in his absence. they shouldn''t be a threat to him; However. Leonel simply had too many questions about the origins of the Brazinger family and those three other mysterious families. especially after seeing traces of them in the Zone;

    Due to this. Leonel didn''t dare to make assumptions about what strength they did or didn''t have;

    But regardless of that, the Brazinger family was Aina''s enemy, so they were his enemy; And yet, they wanted to try and flex their authority in his territory?

    The fury Leonel had been feeling up until this point bubbled past the point of no return and his chest expanded with a puff of air.

    "Scram!"

    Powerful waves of Force billowed out from Leonel''s roar. causing the several vessels before him to quake and rupture. a violent resonance forcing their structural integrities to collapse one after another;

    Leonel''s roar was so loud that the whole of Earth heard it. the clouds shuddering and many even dispersing;

    Without another word, Leonel continued to urge the flagship forward before placing it outside of Earth''s orbit;

    At this moment, everyone noticed the shadow of another moon-sized object in the skies, but they could only look up, their eyes widened in shock.

    Leonel flipped over a palm and casually took out a treasure he had created in the last few days; It was a surfboard constructed entirely of a pitch black ore and exuding a menacing sort of aura;

    He leapt forward, landing on It before zipping forward;

    "Yip!"

    Blackstar flashed and landed on Leonel''s shoulder as he zipped through the skies, crossing through the depths of space and entering Earth''s atmosphere like a speeding comet.

    It didn''t take Leonel long at all to appear in the Ascension Empire''s capital and fall heavily before the steps of the palace.

    Almost immediately, just like the last time he had come here, dozens of golden armored guards pointed their spears forward, their auras towering into the skies. However, compared to last time, there wasn''t a single individual here who wasn''t at least in the Sixth Dimension. In fact, those of the Sixth Dimension were also the ones with the sharpest auras. The others were all of the Seventh Dimension!

    It was clear to Leonel at first glance that the Sixth Dimensional experts had all entered into this Realm with the God Path, or at the very least, a Path that seemed equally as potent. As for the others, they had been raised to the Seventh Dimension through the use of a great amount of resources.

    Even so, when Leonel appeared, his own aura suffocated theirs. He wasn''t in the mood to deal with this right now.

    "Old man Fawkes! Get out here!"

    Leonel''s was far more concentrated than it was last time and didn''t spread throughout the entire planet. However, in its concentration it was far louder to those who did here, rattling their ear drums and threatening to shatter their hearts.

    The forcefulness nearly blew the doors of the palace off its hinges.

    BANG! BANG!

    The tall doors swung open, several protective formations shattering to pieces as their weaknesses were seen through by Leonel in a single glance.

    At that moment, the protectors of the palace didn''t say anything superfluous, attacking immediately.

    Leonel''s hand palm opened up, facing the ground. A swirl of violet took form and in an instant, he had vanished from his location, appearing deep within the palace in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel appeared before another heavy set of bronze doors and kicked outward.

    BANG!

    At that moment, a large chorus of voices came to a grinding halt.

    The Imperial Court of the Ascension Empire fell into an eerie silence.

 Chapter 1741 Set Up

    The appearance of Leonel caught the Imperial Court Minister completely off guard; The sounds in this place were entirely isolated for the sake of privacy and safety; so none of them had even heard Leonel''s earlier roars;

    "Who?!"

    The Ministers all looked toward Leonel at the exact same time; There were many old faces amongst the crowd, but still too few of them had seen Leonel personally; Well, more accurately, they had all seen Leonel personally, but the circumstances between then and now made it difficult to draw the connection;

    Back then, when Shield Cross Stars projected Leonel''s face all across, he was still a teen and he looked a lot different; His hair was bronze and his eyes were a pale green, plus he wasn''t so malnourished as he looked now;

    Only those intimately familiar with him would actually recognize him;

    Up ahead; on the throne reserved for the Emperor; old man Fawkes sat with an indifferent expression; Despite the surprise; he didn''t seem to react to Leonel''s appearance at all; He simply looked toward his grandson with a neutral expression;

    To his side, Leonel''s grandmother was actually present as well; Compared to her husband, she was much more pleasantly surprised; She didn''t seem to care that Leonel had appeared in a rage at all and only cared that he had appeared;

    The two of them actually looked a great deal younger; Last time Leonel had seen his grandfather; he looked well into his 50''s; albeit younger than he had originally been; As for his grandmother; she looked like she wasn''t long for the grave;

    However; after over two decades; the two looked like they had returned to their 30''s; it was quite baffling until; that is; Leonel realized that the two of them had entered the Seventh Dimension;

    There was a hint of haziness over his grandfather. though. almost as though this was just what he was willing to show; The real oddity was that this was the first time Leonel had ever gotten an inkling about what level his grandfather was at. he always seemed unfathomable. even slapping an entire warship out of the skies with a single palm back then;

    The ones who had roared surged toward Leonel while the guards behind him were quickly catching up; But then Leonel spoke as though he hadn''t sensed them at all;

    "Old man. what the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to run this empire into the ground?!"

    Hearing these words. Empress Fawkes blinked and realized that Leonel didn''t look very happy; Only then did she settle down her maternal instincts and exhale a breath; Even so. just because she had always felt guilty toward Leonel. she would stand on his side if there was an opportunity. but for now. she chose to remain silent and hear what her grandson had to say;

    Emperor Fawkes looked toward Leonel. meeting his gaze with his own shimmering irises; He could sense that the Emperor''s Might aura coming from Leonel now was far more prominent than it ever had been in the past. in fact it felt so potent that even given the frailty of his body. Leoenl still looked like a towering mountain;

    "Brat, you''ve disappeared for two decades and came back with the cheek to berate your grandfather?"

    Hearing these words, those that were ready to deal with Leonel froze; To the side, Leonel''s uncle coughed awkwardly, pushing up his glasses; He was really helpless to deal with the interactions between this pair of grandfather and grandson;

    "Don''t patronize me, old man; On just a single trip here, I ran into at least three separate gangs, and that was just near the outer regions;

    "By the time I entered the Sector, there was some bullshit Aehorn family and Thrusting Skies organization that blocked my path, asking me for toll fees;

    "When I entered the galaxy, a group of monks of the Evergreen Goddess and the Zoltene Faith tried to have me give "offerings" for their cause.

    "I finally got the quadrant, only for the Force Crafting Guild to try to confiscate my ship because I apparently must have stolen it from them.

    "Then when I finally made it to our solar system and I thought the bullshit was finished, the Brazinger family dared to stand in my path?

    "You tell me, are you running this Empire into the ground or not? Why is there not a single level or range within this territory that''s safe from bullshit? I bet if I walked around Earth for a little while someone would try to rob me at gunpoint. What have you been doing for the last 20 years? Sitting on your thumbs?!"

    The Ministers opened and closed their mouths for a long while, not knowing what to say. Many of them flushed with shame, but even more of them were surprised. They had never seen anyone speak to Emperor Fawkes in this way, not even his own son and grandson. Both Leonel''s uncle and Noah were entirely too respectful to even breathe too loudly in the face of Fawkes. And yet here was Leonel.

    Despite the words, Emperor Fawkes didn''t seem to react too violently.

    "Don''t we have you to thank for this?" Emperor Fawkes replied, his lips spreading into a smile that carried with it a hint of deviousness.

    Leonel''s gaze only flickered for a moment before his temper flared up again.

    "My fault?! If you lost control of the situation to this extent just because Shield Cross Stars has been away for a few days, you really were sitting on your ass for the last two decades. If you need a corrupt organization like that to maintain control, you''ve been wasting your time.

    "And even if it was "my fault", so what? Aren''t you supposed to be my grandfather? Where''s your heroic spirit? Shouldn''t you be protecting me from wind and rain? But you can''t even protect your own empire, at this point you might as well hand over the reins to me, what the hell have you been doing?!"

    As Leonel spoke, Emperor Fawkes'' smile only grew brighter and he even began to stroke his beard and nod his head.

    "Indeed, indeed." Emperor Fawkes nodded. "It''s settled then, Prince Leonel will become the head of Earth''s police force."

    With a flick of wrist, something soared through the air toward Leonel. The latter subconsciously caught it, only to look down and find a badge.

    Almost the instant Leonel touched it, the badge began to vibrate.

    "бн Trouble in the Three Pillar Sector, remnants of the Viola family areбн"

    "бн Alert from Thrusting Skies Sector, they are trying to expand againбн"

    "бн Requesting reinforcements! The Zoltene Faith is gathering offerings to build another shrineбн"

    Leonel''s lip twitched. He felt like he had been set up.

 Chapter 1742 Network

    Leonel shook his head speechlessly; He could tell that this old man was trying to take advantage of him again; but what else was new? First it was the war against Terrain; then it was the expansion war that took place after Earth entered the Fifth Dimension; and now this; It made him wonder how Earth ever managed to survive without him at all;

    He had only had the badge for a few seconds but he was already swamped with work; He hadn''t even properly recovered yet;

    Also, did they not see how sickly he looked? Where was the justice in all of this?

    In the end, though, Leonel still put the badge away and turned to leave;

    "Don''t blame me for my methods, then;" Leonel said on his way out;

    Emperor Fawkes chuckled in his heart. ''My only worry is that you won''t be wild enough.''

    Even though he thought this, he didn''t say it out loud;

    Empress Fawkes sighed; Although she was aware that her relationship with Leonel wasn''t very close; she still found it unfortunate; He had hardly looked at her despite the fact they hadn''t seen each other in over 20 years in her eyes;

    "Oh; right;" Leonel turned back; "Grandma; this man is very shameless; If you bullies you be sure to call me so I can teach him a lesson; He''s apparently got too much free time on his hands since he wants to run my Empire into the ground;"

    The Empress was shocked speechless for a moment before she sputtered with laughter, her gaze filled with a doting and loving expression;

    Even after just a few seconds; Leonel could tell that his grandparents'' relationship was a lot different than his own with Aina''s; or even that of his parents; Their past should also be quite complex considering how long they had spent separated; Simply put; his grandmother didn''t have very sturdy reins on this old man; so it was best that he tighten them for her;

    For the first time, Emperor Fawkes'' expression flickered with a peculiar light; It was fleeting and almost impossible to pick up on, but the moment Leonel saw it, he grinned wildly;

    It had been a long time; but he had finally found it; the old man''s weakness;

    Leonel turned back toward the palace''s exit; raising his head in laughter; He would have quite some fun pressing down on this weakness in the future;

    It was too hard to deal with someone who had no shame; There was really only one method: to be even more shameless;

    The ministers fell into silence; For some reason, after Leonel''s appearance, all of the tension had dissipated into thin air;

    Although the faces of the ministers were all new. they were all citizens of Earth.

    They were here when Leonel dropped a city on the capital and crushed the Demi God that had stripped them all of their Ability Indexes and left them helpless in the face of Terrain''s experts;

    They had all been here when three Sixth Dimensional galaxies attacked and Leonel fought six Sixth Dimensional experts alone while he had only been at the Fifth Dimension, crushing them one by one and then out-scheming them in the end.

    Even though 20 years had passed, and the legends had somewhat faded, if there was anyone who remembered it was them.

    Prince Leonel Morales had returned. and since he had. these matters could be considered to be settled.

    It was unknown just how much he had improved in his absence. but they suddenly felt a great amount of anticipation in finding out.

    Among the ministers, there was a gorgeous woman who sat in silence. This was none other than the former Secretary Marquisette Maia of the Royal Blue Province. However, now, not only was her status high enough to sit within the Imperial Court, her position didn''t seem to be normal even amongst the ministers as well.

    She watched Leonel''s back disappear into the distance, her thoughts unknown.

    бн

    Leonel rubbed Little Blackstar''s head, lost in thought for a moment. He wasn''t exactly sure of how to approach this just yet. He was just one person and the burden was heavy.

    The obvious choice was to build up a cohort of people that he could trust, preferably one large enough to take up the former role of Shield Cross Stars, but that would take too long. The people he could trust without a shadow of a doubt were far too few.

    This meant that Leonel''s best choice was a small, speedy and tactical unit that could quickly cover the territory of Earth.

    Unfortunately, even the flagship at its greatest speed would take several hours to cross the two furthest points in Earth''s territory. If Leonel wasn''t fast enough, it would be a problem.

    ''Then that means that the only way is to set up a teleportation network, one that allows me to get anywhere within a few minutes. I could probably finish something like that within a week given that I have enough resources.

    ''Resources should be fine, I''ll just steal from the old man. In these two decades, I''m sure that he''s accumulated a large amount of wealth, especially with the current range of Earth''s territory.

    ''In that case, the biggest problem with this approach will be that I won''t have enough people to protect these teleportation networks.''

    If others knew of Leonel''s thoughts, they would be shocked into silence. If creating a teleportation network was so easy, it wouldn''t only be the likes of the Void Palace that had such methods. In fact, even for the Void Palace, they didn''t set up networks, but rather relied on high class treasures they only handed to a select few individuals. This was how Leonel''s mother had opened that wormhole-like portal back to the Void Palace.

    Leonel wanted to do something like this, but his ambitions were further beyond because unlike others, he could see through the limitations of the Void Palace system and he wanted to fix them all.

    ''I need a map, a map of Earth''s territoryбн''

    Leonel mumbled to himself as he turned back, entering the Palace once again.

    The guards could only speechlessly watch him. Maybe only Leonel would so casually come in and out of the Ascension Empire''s Palace as though he owned the place.

 Chapter 1743 Idiot?

    ''What the fuck is thisбн?''

    Leonel stood in the Palace''s library; speechlessly going through star charts and not having any idea what to make of them; How could these even be called maps? They might as well have been scribbles;

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled; ''This is still alright, I''ll just have to merge the knowledge I got from the Void Library with this, it won''t be perfect butбн''

    Leonel shook his head and began to reconstruct the star charts in his Dream World; He was fast and the process only took a few seconds; Although his body looked frail currently, his soul was like a blazing star at its core; His mind was even faster than it had been before, so much so that it didn''t even make sense for him to count his number of split minds any longer, and his stamina felt endless;

    It was certain that this was a product of the cleansing brought through the Emperor''s Might Tablet, the largest changes occurring after he assimilated [Emperor''s Command: Arise];

    ''Definitely not perfect, I''d say that this is probably only about 60-70% accurateбн''

    Leonel''s brow furrowed.

    The Void Library definitely wasn''t the best place to get up to date maps; a much better place would probably be the Shield Cross Star''s main branch; Although the Void Palace did have some basic information on Sectors and Galaxies; they tended to be quite out of date; lagging years behind;

    By now. the problem was obvious; The information the Void Palace had was from back when Earth was still in the Third Dimension; Since then. Earth had Metamorphosized four times. and the surrounding territory had changed with it;

    Although the planets would mostly be in the same positions and such. it was hard to tell exactly which planets had shown the greatest potential and were as such targets of larger populations. as they wouldn''t necessarily be the planets that had started off as the most powerful.

    Back when Earth entered the Fifth Dimension. a whole host of new planets with great potential popped up; The ones with the greatest potential were classified as such and became priority locations to defend during the war;

    Since then, Earth had undergone two evolutions and while Earth itself still had by far the greatest potential, there were countless other locations that were of great importance and were likely being fought over constantly;

    Without knowing exactly where these conflicts were, it would make it more difficult for Leonel to decide how to set up the network and make things run more smoothly;

    After a moment of thought. Leonel''s gaze flashed and he thought of a solution;

    He flipped over his palm and his police badge appeared. flashing and vibrating all the while; With a thought. he sunk his mind into it and as expected. he found a log of all the calls that had been made since the creation of the badge;

    He quickly sorted the calls by frequency and then by location; Afterward. he drew circles in his created spots across locations that could be considered hotbeds and ones that were cooler in area; When he was done. he had a systematic representation of where teleportation spots were most needed;

    Now he just needed exact locations; He had to choose locations for these teleportation spots that would be hard to find, or else if others wanted to cause trouble and destroy them before he could make use of them, that would be too troublesome;

    Luckily, the number of abandoned planets and moons far outstripped the number that was in active use; It was all too easy for Leonel to find such locations and even set up measures to protect them;

    ''Mm; that should be enough; It''s been a while since I''ve gone all out in crafting; this should be fun;''

    In reality; it had only been a few weeks since Leonel constructed his new Divine Armors; It could only be said that he was quite addicted to Crafting if these were still his thoughts;

    After leaving the library, Leonel looted the vaults of the Ascension Empire, taking far more than he needed without batting an eye. Then, he found a random place and entered the Segmented Cube.

    "Is everything okay?"

    Leonel had only just entered when Aina''s voice drifted to his ears. She had, of course, been there as Leonel was slowly losing his temper. She too was enraged, after all, Earth was also her home, so she was worried about it.

    "It should be fine, but that old man suddenly gave us a ton of work the moment we got back."

    Aina raised an eyebrow. "Us?"

    Leonel turned toward Aina and grinned, scooping up her small waist in a single arm.

    "Of course, us. Haven''t you ever heard of "in sickness and in health"."

    Aina rolled her eyes, pushing Leonel away. "I still don''t see a wedding ring, you''ve gotten too comfortable taking advantage of me."

    Leonel blinked innocently. "Don''t you like it when I take advantage of you?"

    Aina''s head snapped up but by then, she only felt a light gust of wind as Leonel disappeared to the Lab Setting, the echo of his laughter leaving her quite helpless to do anything.

    бн

    Leonel worked fast, feeling the time crunch. Every time he sensed the badge buzz, he felt an added sense of urgency.

    He became mechanical in his movements, repeating the same actions again and again, but while his soul was exceptionally robust, the weakness of his body was lowering his Finger Designation and his limbs were having a hard time keeping up.

    He pressed through it, trying to push past the plateau. Although he doubted that there was anyone who was being brazen enough to start massacres, the situation would only deteriorate from here. If he couldn''t rein it in now, things would only become more troublesome in the future.

    Several hours in, Leonel was already exhausted and reaching his limits.

    "What are you doing?" Anastasia''s voice sounded.

    "Crafting," Leonel replied, too tired to be as annoyed as he should be by the stupid question.

    "Are you an idiot?" Anastasia answered.

 Chapter 1744 Short Fuse

    Leonel was indeed too tired to be annoyed initially; but when he heard Anastasia; he seemed to be slowly finding the energy; Didn''t this floating loli have anything better to do than berate him? He was trying to save lives here;

    "I''m busy," Leonel responded;

    "Busy being an idiot; You know you can use the Lab Setting to do all those repetitive tasks for you, this is the first time I''ve seen someone try to mass produce something personally when they had access to so many machines;"

    Leonel came to a stop and looked toward Anastasia; The latter only looked back at him with a face of disdain; If it wasn''t because she was so focused on deducing a path through Force Manipulation that the majority could use, she would have stopped Leonel ages ago;

    "You only need to Craft it once and that thing will do the rest."

    Anastasia pointed with her head toward a glass chamber that had numerous spider-like arms of metal within.

    Leonel blinked once before doing as Anastasia said, then he watched in absolute awe as the machine repeated his steps absolutely perfectly; At first he thought there would be a drop in quality; If there was one, it just wouldn''t be worth it; However, he soon found that he had been overthinking things;

    Everything he had done. the machine did. even down to his precise control of Force.

    Seeing this, Leonel exhaled a breath of relief, this was a game changer; He suddenly felt the need to look toward Anastasia;

    "What other things are in here that I don''t know about?" Leonel asked;

    Anastasia sneered; "Weren''t you busy "Crafting"?"

    Leonel coughed lightly; maybe he was just a bit too cranky; He couldn''t help it though; his body felt like it was a gust of wind from keeling over; Also; he felt like a guillotine was looming over his head and ready to fall any time now; he really didn''t want to waste even a second;

    Seemingly seeing Leonel''s plight. Anastasia rolled her eyes and began to point things out one by one.

    **

    Not even a few hours later, Leonel walked out of the Lab Setting with a spatial ring full of crafted items; With everything prepared even faster than he thought, his week-long prediction was cut down to just three days, something that made him grin despite his fatigue;

    "You should rest." Aina said. looking up from her meditation.

    Leonel paused; Aina wasn''t wrong; but he really didn''t have the time to; But he luckily had a solution to this; It seemed that he had underestimated the Segmented Cube a bit too much; or more accurately; its abilities were so broken that he found it hard to believe that they all came in one package; He couldn''t fathom the kind of existence that had created it;

    The suspended animation abilities of the Segmented Cube had evolved to not only stabilize energy and freeze time; but to increase its flow as well; It was an excellent method of healing up quickly;

    As long as Leonel went to sleep in one of the pods, he would gain himself several weeks of recovery time in just a few hours. But between that time, he would need to eat. So, he had come to his lovely wife again.

    Seeing Leonel''s smile. Aina raised an eyebrow.

    "I just need your help a little," Leonel smiled.

    After listening to Leonel''s explanation. Aina was speechless but still waved her hand and agreed. It wasn''t too big of a deal anyway. it was just a wasted day. Maybe only Leonel would be able to make her agree to such a thing.

    Leonel needed Aina to cook weeks'' worth of meals to help him speed up his recovery. He would lie in the suspended animation pods for 15 or so minutes at a time which would be worth about a day, he would then eat, and then return.

    Although Leonel could rely on the Force of the Segmented Cube instead, between that and Aina''s meals, the choice was obvious. The Force Pill quality of Aina''s meals were far superior to just pumping himself with Life Force.

    Not only would he recover faster, but he would come back even stronger than before after putting his body through such a thing.

    As Leonel prepared, the chaos in Earth''s territory only increased. But their day was comingбн

    **

    On day two, Leonel rose out of the suspended animation pod for the final time, his skin glistening and his hair having returned to its previous shimmering luster. His muscles danced like intertwining steel cords beneath his bronzed skin, pulsing with vitality.

    Across from him, Aina who was no small part fatigued stood with his final meal.

    Leonel felt a dull ache in his heart when he saw her like this. Normal cooking was one thing, Aina could do that for months at a time without sweating a single bead of sweat, but Force Pill Cooking was on a completely different level. Each meal required a large infusion of Force and Aina had been at it all day, it was no wonder she was so tired.

    "I''ll handle the rest," Leonel said, embracing Aina into a hug. "You can rest for the next few days, I''ll get everything set up."

    Aina nodded faintly, too tired to speak.

    бн

    Leonel soared out of the Palace, his black surfboard surging with untold speed as he rushed forward. His sweatpants fluttered in the air, his chiseled torso cutting against the wind as he shot out of the atmosphere.

    However, to his surprise, there were a large number of Brazinger family members waiting in the skies above, leaving one hint annoyed and another part speechless. It had been an entire day since he came here, could it be that they were waiting for him?

    After a while, Leonel realized that this wasn''t the case. The Brazinger family members seemed to beбн patrolling?

    At that moment, Leonel''s temper flared up again.

    He hadn''t seen a single Brazinger family member during his journey to Earth, but he suddenly saw so many of them here.

    There wasn''t a single person who would dare to attack Earth directly as it would cross the bottom line of the powerhouse families, alliances and organizations of the Human Domain. Simply put, there was nothing to defend here.

    All of the issues were cropping up in the grey areas, regions that had been swallowed up by Earth''s World Spirit''s range but had been regions owned by others before. This was the region others could take advantage of under the pretext that it wasn''t really Earth.

    Such regions would benefit from Earth''s soon-to-be Eighth Dimension status and produce resources as such, so they were a hotbed for crime and schemes.

    And yet, instead of going there to show off their might, they were actually dancing around like clowns here?!

    Leonel''s short was exceptionally short recently, and this seemed to want to push him over the edge.

    Just when Leonel was about to do something, his gaze turned toward the Moon. His fragmented Bow Domain Lineage Factor activated and he zoomed onto its surface, seeing through its details.

    The Moon was a flourishing environment of green and blue much like Earth, but when Leonel paid attention to what was actually happening on its surface, his heart threatened to erupt into a pool of lava.

    The Moon people, native to Earth, were nowhere to be seen. In fact, he saw nothing but members of those four families.

 Chapter 1745 Two Possibilities

    Leonel stood in the skies for a long while; seemingly not even noticing the number of Brazinger family members slowly encircling him; Let alone that; he didn''t seem to have taken care to mind the sheer number of them that had surrounded his flagship;

    By this point, they had given up on trying to make it on board and had settled for the next best thing: waiting for Leonel;

    As Leonel stood in the skies in silence, a ship just as silently approached, stopping just about a hundred or so meters from him; Given the unique rules of space travel and warfare, this distance was actually very close and was about as close as most dared to come without having to worry about other variables; At that distance, it might as well have been the equivalent of someone standing nose to nose with Leonel on the ground;

    Leonel had slowly calmed from his initial rage induced state; There were certain things that he had to be rational about;

    He didn''t actually believe that his grandfather was so useless; This old man was someone even his father spoke of with respect; Although this might be in part due to the influence of his mother; knowing his father''s personality; so long as Alienor wasn''t within earshot; if he couldn''t be bothered to care about Emperor Fawkes; he would say as much;

    In addition. even if he was wrong about all of this and his grandfather really was useless. just a few days ago his mother had threatened Shield Cross Stars into scramming out of their territory with just a single sentence; If the Brazinger family was as fragile as they seemed on the surface. they would have long since been weeded out. if not by his mother. then most definitely by his father;

    These were the thoughts that kept Leonel rational on the surface and helped him to have a modicum of patience. At the very least. his body wasn''t in as poor a state as it was previously. so his fuse was just a bit longer.

    However, that didn''t mean that he would explode any moment now;

    The spaceship came to a stop; With its size being just about five or six meters long. it wasn''t very large at all; It reminded him a lot of a small yacht. just barely having enough space for some minor luxuries;

    At that moment, a man stepped out and looked toward Leonel;

    "You are in the air space of the Brazinger family; Who you are doesn''t matter; Under the laws set by the Brazinger Clan. you will be detained and your assets will be seized;"

    The man clasped his hands behind his back, exuding a strong and mighty aura;

    For the first time; Leonel looked toward him; Indeed; there was something odd about the Brazinger family; The momentum of this man wasn''t any lesser than a disciple of the Void Palace; In fact; his aura was slightly more robust than even Conon of the Lio family; and that was despite seemingly being only at Tier 7;

    Of course. this mattered little to the present Leonel who had defeated Conon with hardly any effort; But it might matter for a future version of himself. especially considering the fact this man was tasked by the Brazinger family to basically be a glorified guard dog;

    Something wasn''t exactly adding up;

    Leonel wasn''t unfamiliar with the Brazinger family; In fact; he had a deep fued with one of their members; a spectacled young man by the name of Simeon;

    In truth, the two of them had met three times. One ended in a sort of pyrrhic victory for Leonel where he lost Aina for a span of several months, but boh the second and third time, Leonel had directly suppressed him both times.

    From Leonel''s understanding of the situation, Simeon had quite a high status amongst the Brazingers and his Ability Index was extremely powerful as well.

    Even beyond that, there was a time where Leonel had met three other young men of similar status to Simeon as well and he had still been able to suppress them all.

    These matters happened back when Leonel had little understanding of his own personal strength and how to properly implement them. Although he couldn''t be said to be perfect now, he was definitely far beyond anything he had been before.

    Even if his strength regressed back to the point it was back then, so long as he retained his current knowledge, to say that he would easily be at least ten times stronger was actually a gross underestimation.

    This was all to say thatбн Simeon hadn''t been impressive at all.

    Of course, his Ability Index had a great amount of potential, and Leonel had even had thoughts of stealing it using the Silver Tablet and Little Blackstar as it would be far better in his hands. But the ultimate truth was that Simeon wasn''t all that impressive.

    So the question was, how could someone so clearly unimpressive have such a high status in a family that seemed so mysterious and could apparently afford to use such a talent as a patrol officer?

    There were only two possibilities. The first was that Simeon''s status within the Brazinger family wasn''t anywhere near as high as Leonel had previously assumed. The second possibility was that for one reason or another, Simeon was unable to display his true abilities.

    The second possibility wasn''t impossible. It had to be remembered that Leonel''s mother was similar in a lot of ways.

    She had spent a very long time in the Sixth Dimension, more than someone of her talent should, and this was all because Earth''s evolutionary status had been a limiter for her. But the moment Earth broke free of the shackles of the Third Dimension, her potential exploded forth all at once and she became the legend she was today.

    So has something similar happened with the Brazinger family? But weren''t they from Earth as well, so why was the effect so lagging?

    As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, the man before him seemed to finally realize that he was being overlooked.

    However, rather than being enraged, he simply raised a hand and pointed it forward. He would just take Leonel down first.

 Chapter 1746 Debt

    "I''ll give you one chance; Leave now or I''ll kill every last one of you;"

    Leonel suddenly spoke for the first time and a sudden vacuum seemed to form beneath his presence; Every single Brazinger family member suddenly felt that they had been locked onto as Leonel slowly took out his bow;

    He didn''t seem to be in a hurry at all as he knocked a single arrow; closing his eyes as he hovered in the skies;

    The current state of Leonel''s archery was greater than it ever had been before, and it was more than just because of his fragmented Bow Domain Lineage Factor or even the improvements to his Bow Force; It was entirely due to the fact that he was one against using real arrows instead of Force forged arrows;

    In the past, Leonel couldn''t justify spending hours to even days Crafting arrows; At best, if he really cared, he might Craft one or two that could be used in a pinch as an ultimate sort of trump card, but otherwise, it was better to use bows that had an auxiliary effect of forming Bow Force arrows;

    This ultimately weakened his bowmanship somewhat; Many would assume that the bow was the more important part of an archer''s arsenal, but there were many schools of thought that treated the arrow as an asset that was just as important;

    Leonel was of the belief that this was nonsense; but that didn''t mean that he didn''t understand the kind of deterrence and boost powerful arrows could have; It wasn''t just a small boost either; His power as a bowman would easily double;

    It could only be said that the Brazinger family members who were still readying their charge had no idea what they were getting into; They didn''t heed Leonel''s words and they would suffer for it;

    The current Leonel didn''t have to painstakingly Craft every single arrow; He only had to forge a single one; and now; even while he wasn''t paying any attention to it; the Segmented Cube was mass producing arrows of top tier quality at a rate he simply couldn''t match;

    As Leonel raised his White Lion Bow; a resplendent white gold arrow trembled in his fingers; swirling with powerful strands of Sixth Dimensional Bow Force;

    At that moment; the head patrol officer who had come to deal with Leonel felt his heart skip a beat;

    Let alone taking Leonel''s words seriously; he hadn''t even hesitated to move forward with the charge; The backline of spaceships were gearing up their canons in case they were needed while the frontline spaceships all opened; a flood of patrol officers strapped with flying treasures soaring toward Leonel;

    However, the moment the head patrol officer met Leonel''s cold gaze, a deep sense of regret gripped his heart.

    TWANG!

    The arrow appeared before his forehead in the blink of an eye; accelerating not just once; but three times through the air; Every blast left devastating in its wake; sending shockwaves in all directions and even causing several patrol officers who got too close to its tail wind to explode into a rain of blood; gore and metallic pieces;

    PCHU!

    The head of the head patrol officer was pierced through by a hole so tiny and small that it wasn''t noticeable at first glance; In fact, for the long while of silence that followed it, it didn''t even bleed as though it wasn''t there at all;

    But thenбн

    BANG!

    The head patrol''s officer''s skull seemed to implode; In his final moments; his shock was etched onto his face; but he was entirely incapable of reacting; Just like that; a genius that could have made a name for himself in the Void Palace vanished from the world with a single arrow;

    By the time all of this had happened; though; Leonel had already nocked another arrow; then another;

    To say that it was a massacre was an understatement; Leonel didn''t even move a single step nor did he seem to strain or struggle; Every arrow he released; no matter how hard their targets tried to dodge; seemed to end up right at the center of all of their forehead;

    "Charge the canons! Prepare to fire!"

    The command structure of the Brazinger''s didn''t collapse and another stepped in right away, relaying orders and barking out with their Force to protect it.

    But as soon as they spoke, Leonel''s arrow split their head open as well.

    Leonel flipped his palm and a radiant crimson arrow appeared, etched with ancient and oppressive runes. Even before it was nocked, the temperature of the surroundings seemed to skyrocket, almost as though the sun had suddenly moved an entire half the solar system closer.

    "Die," he said lightly.

    Leonel nocked and released.

    The arrow appeared before a spaceship ready to fire in the blink of an eye. It tore through its hull as though it was made of aluminum and then exploded.

    The skies about Earth and the Moon turned blinded as a chain network of fireworks was set off one after another.

    Leonel didn''t show the slightest hint of mercy. In fact, he destroyed their spaceships so thoroughly that even the bits and pieces that survived would burn to ash long before it could fall through Earth''s atmosphere and hit the surface.

    Compared to the boy who struggled to kill a single young girl just six years ago, the current Leonel didn''t even feel his heart fluctuate. His singular warning was all he cared to give them. Since they didn''t listen once, he would send a very clear message.

    His grandfather had other worries that didn''t allow him to act, but he, Leonel Morales, didn''t have such scruples. He was already kicked out of the frontier of humanity, he was already a Tier Two Fugitive of the Human Domain, he was already out of patience.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The flames reflected in Leonel''s irises as he watched with a hint of coldness within his gaze.

    He didn''t know how the Brazinger family would react to this, but he hoped it would be foolish. That would give him more than enough reason to slaughter more of them. The debt of his mother-in-law had to be paid somehow.

 Chapter 1747 Cost

    Leonel urged his surfboard forward and entered the flagship before shooting off into the distance; He didn''t have time to wait for what might come of the aftermath; He would deal with that when he returned; But for now; he had to set up his teleportation network;

    бн

    It wasn''t long before Leonel arrived at the first location; It was a barren moon that orbited a planet that was just as barren; He entered the cave he had decided on, chiseling out a few concealment Force Arts that could bewilder the mind before following down a network of tunnels and finding a spacious enough location;

    He couldn''t pick a spot that was too secluded or cramped because the teleportation network would work best if it could teleport at least a few dozen people at a time; Obviously, this needed not just a robust capacity on the part of the teleportation formation itself, but also on the space the teleportation platform was within;

    The surroundings had to be large and sturdy enough to withstand the fluctuations of Force and, obviously, the appearance of so many people.

    Once Leonel found a suitable location, he took out a disk;

    After finding a method of escaping Zones, Leonel felt that the mode of deployment he had used back then could be applied to other things;

    Back then; he had used a formation plate of sorts etched with runes; Originally; the reason he did that was twofold; First it allowed him to create a solid foundation for the teleportation; something that was very much needed if he was going to connect the Zone and the Human Domain together; And secondly; it allowed it to be portable;

    This was very helpful because this meant that Leonel didn''t need to waste time finding the perfect area which contained the fluctuations and densities of Force he needed, he could just make the area his own.

    This concept worked exceptionally well with teleportation arrays like this one as it would allow Leonel to deploy a large network of them exceptionally quickly;

    This disk that Leonel had created was just one of several thousand that he and the Segmented Cube had formed; All he needed to do was set it down; anchor it; and then activate it; It would take more time to travel between locations than it would take to create and set up these array plates;

    The best part was that he could always expand the network in the future;

    Leonel quickly left and continued to the next destination; and then the next; With the flagship; his speed of movement around the Human Domain could be considered to be as fast as it got; If not for the sheer number of stops; Leonel could have finished this matter even quicker; but he was insistent on having a teleportation array network that would allow him to reach any location within a few minutes at the worst;

    бн

    Three days later, Leonel finally made it to the final location and tossed up the disk before exhaling a breath and releasing a large breath of Spatial Force; He raised up pillars of Emulation Spatial Force before he nodded and slowly walked out;

    Stepping onto his surfboard; he shot into the air and returned to his flagship;

    All that was left to do now was to assemble his team and there was only one group of men that he absolutely had to have by his side;

    Leonel grinned; He wondered how his brothers were doing;

    Quite frankly; he was worried for some of them; Arnold had probably ended up sucked into the Zone along with the rest and could only hope that he had survived; As for the others; they had been lucky enough to dodge that event;

    If Arnold had survived. then he was probably still in the Void Palace and there wasn''t much Leonel could do about that. The Void Palace was too large for Leonel to find a single person. so all he could do was make as much noise as he could. and even then. there was the possibility that Arnold had gone out on a mission. something that was very much possible.

    The rest of his brothers. though. should be on Earth or at least within Earth''s territory. He would return to Earth first and see if he could find their traces.

    Leonel could only shake his head. He really did need an information network. but unfortunately. he didn''t have one.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel looked off toward a certain direction with narrowed eyes. He currently stood at the bow of the flagship while his clones steered it toward his destinations. His main goal in doing this was to witness as much of the happenings of Earth''s territory personally as he could so as to broaden his own horizons.

    Leonel wasn''t particularly close to Earth currently, in fact he was quite far. The final destination for his teleportation network had been near the edges of Earth''s territory so it was only right.

    With a thought, Leonel''s gaze zoomed into the distance, skipping over thousands of kilometers at a time before he landed on what he was looking for.

    ''That womanбн Sheбн''

    In the distance, on an asteroid that seemed to have a floating convenience station on its back, a woman dressed in a tight fitting black suit prowled forward like a cat.

    If Leonel had been there when Heira had framed him and turned him into a fugitive of Shield Cross Stars, he would have recognized this floating convenience asteroid as a location one came to for more than just refueling one''s spaceships and stocking up on food and snacks.

    However, Leonel wasn''t paying attention to that right now, he was rather paying attention to the woman who was about to kill the convenience station attendee.

    In his life, Leonel had only personally invited two people to become one of his generals, both of whom happened to be women. Even now, he sometimes thought about them. Of course, not romantically, but rather in a faint understanding of how unfortunate it was that he didn''t manage to bring them to his side.

    One of them was Kira, but she could only reject him because she apparently had a connection with one of his other cousins.

    The second one was this woman right here, a woman he had met during his final days in Valiant Heart Mountain, Emna.

    The current Emna was still within the Fifth Dimension, but Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow watching her moving. He actually felt a hint of danger coming from her.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that a casual remark that he had made over 25 years ago now had led to the creation of one of the most fearsome intelligence networks of the Human Domain.

    And this casual remarkбн hadn''t been the one he made to Emna.

    бн

    As Leonel was about to receive a pleasant surprise, there was something far less amicable brewing on the opposite side of Earth''s territory.

    News of the Prince of the Ascension Empire slaughtering an entire patrol unit of Brazingers spread like wildfire.

    In their fury, the Brazingers descended upon Earth.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that this wouldn''t be the first time.

    And what the Brazingers wouldn''t want him to know was that the first descent had cost Leonel the lives of his brothers.

 Chapter 1748 No Wonder

    Leonel watched Emna move; At times she would seem like a prowling cat beast and at other times she would become a sliding shadow; All of her movements were absolutely seamless and flowed from one to the next without the slightest wasted energy;

    There was only a single person that Leonel had ever seen move like this; and that was the love of his life; Aina;

    Aina always fought without the slightest bit of wasted energy; This was different from the more restrained style that Leonel had, albeit subtly;

    Leonel didn''t seem to waste any energy on the surface only because he always chose the most efficient route to defeat all of his opponents, but efficiency and no wasted energy didn''t necessarily mean the same thing; While the latter always encompassed the former, the vice versa wasn''t necessarily true;

    Aina''s battle style was the exact opposite of Leonel''s, always suppressing her enemy with absolute strength and rarely ever holding anything back, however even so, she never wasted a single strand of energy all the while.

    This was to say that Aina''s method of using her body always managed to put 100% into her strike; her stride; and or her defense; Much the same way; Emna managed to achieve this as well; that sort of instinctual battle style that always made perfect use of one''s bodily strength;

    Just the fact that Leonel only knew one person like this. and that this person also happened to be the only individual Leonel had met that he felt truly matched him in talent. it was shocking enough to say the least;

    From Leonel''s understanding. Aina''s instinct in fighting came from her Brazinger family Lineage Factor. the Berserk God Lineage Factor; There was also a chance that it had undergone a slight mutation considering the fact that she was only half Brazinger as opposed to fully Brazinger. a fact of which was at the root of many of the issues she had faced in her life;

    However. Emna. or rather Emna Beiceran. didn''t have such a Lineage Factor as far as Leonel understood; In addition. he knew what her Ability Index was as well; She had the Blade Affinity Ability Index. and when he last met her. she was at the Body as a Blade Stage which allowed her to use Blade Forces from any location on her body;

    It was potentially possible that there wasn''t just a single bastard child of the Brazinger family; If Aina''s father could step out of the family, there was no saying that others couldn''t do it as well; Plus, the fact that she didn''t share the Brazinger family name was useless;

    Aina had always said that she would keep the Brazinger family name until the day they most wanted her to have it; Only then would she reject it; This obviously implied that Aina could change her name whenever she pleased. she just didn''t want to;

    Leonel understood her feelings well; Aina was rejected from the family as a child. her father was ostracized. she was burdened with a curse and her mother was executed; She wanted more than to just slaughter; She wanted them to lower their heads in shame. she wanted them to acknowledge that her mother wasn''t as useless as they said she was. she wanted them to feel endless regret in their final moments;

    This was all to say that just because Emna didn''t share the family name, didn''t mean that she wasn''t a Brazinger;

    As Leonel was lost in thought. Emna made it to the fat old man and attacked with a flash;

    Although Leonel could easily save the big bellied man, or even just alert him to what was happening, he didn''t do so.

    After separating his soul from his body, and especially after infusing the Runes of the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor''s core abilities, Leonel''s sensitivity toward things had become a lot sharper; Not only could he apply pressure that found its roots in his demeanor and temperament, he could use it to somewhat see through the demeanors and temperaments of others;

    Leonel hadn''t been able to do this in the past, at the very least he couldn''t do it with such absolute assurance, but ever since the Emperor''s Might tablet brought him along to perfectly grasp its secrets and integrate with his Runes as though he had comprehended them all personally, this passive ability of his became far more active while also becoming more enigmatic;

    This was to say that Leonel could feel that Emna wasn''t acting out of maliciousness. She had come here for a purpose and she even felt a faint hostility toward the man.

    At the same time, the big bellied man had a shroud of shrewdness and subterfuge around him. These weren''t things a person manning a normal gas station should have. It was clear that his identity wasn''t as simple as it seemed.

    While others observing this might feel as though Emna was trying to rob the place. Although the station looked shabby, given its location, there was probably a large deposit of funds on it since it wasn''t convenient to move them away given how out of the way this place was.

    However, Leonel saw an assassin about to execute an assignment, an assignment they felt was important for reasons beyond the monetary compensation they would receive.

    Suddenly, Emna pounced, her finger piercing forward and shuttling through the throat of the big bellied man.

    As expected, her Blade Affinity was far more potent than the past. In factбн

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. It was no wonder, no wonder he felt that she was so dangerous.

    The big bellied man grabbed at his throat, roaring in fury.

    ''Seventh Dimension!'' Leonel''s brows shot up. He had been so focused on Emna that he hadn''t properly seen through this big bellied man. No, it was more like this man seemed to have a method of concealment.

    Emna immediately retreated as the aura of the big bellied man descended.

    Without hesitation, Leonel urged the flagship forward, appearing within the asteroid belt in an instant.

 Chapter 1749 Big Bellied Man

    The vitality of a Seventh Dimensional existence was exceptional. even when the Seventh Dimensional existence in question had only taken the conventional path to get to their current level of strength. and sometimes especially so.

    Those that took the conventional path had to temper their bodies twice over and as such the powerful ones among them would sometimes have this advantage even over those who took the God Path; After all, it had to be remembered that not all those who took the Conventional Path were considered to be weak;

    Although Emna''s strike could be considered enough to kill almost anyone so long as they weren''t like Leonel and had their bodies and souls as two separate existences, the problem was how long it would take;

    A cornered beast was the most dangerous kind of animal, and a Seventh Dimensional existence that knew they were going to die was even worse than a cornered beast;

    Leonel moved fast, but it would still take him three seconds to get there, most of the time of which was spent descending from the flagship;

    Emna realized the problem and retreated immediately. lamenting slightly. but this was already the best that she could do; If she could have aimed for the head instead. she would have done so; But the issue was that the bones of a Seventh Dimensional existence were too incredible;

    Although it looked like she pierced casually through her target''s throat. she had actually slipped her Blade Force through the vulnerable disk of the big bellied man''s spinal cord. making the resistance minimal; And yet. even so. it took her concentrating a great deal of power in her finger tip just to ensure she pierced flesh;

    It could be said that she was a mad woman; A Fifth Dimensional existence assassinating a Seventh Dimensional existence may have never happened before in the history of the Dimensional Verse. and yet here she was about to succeed; But it also seemed that this success would also cost her life;

    Despite how fast Emna retreated, she could never be faster than a Seventh Dimensional existence.

    The big bellied man released an infuriated roar. billowing into the skies as though lamenting the fact his life would end like this; Just the wind pressure and sound of the roar alone was enough to burst Emna''s eardrums and make her feel as though her brain might turn to slush any moment;

    Her balance was thrown off and Blade Force didn''t seem to want to respond to her anymore; Her equilibrium was completely out of wake and the perfect efficiency of her movements were thrown out of the window;

    The big bellied man smashed a palm downward;

    To Emna, it looked no different from a descending mountain; Just the momentum alone made her knees buckle;

    "Move."

    The word suddenly echoed in Emna''s mind; It was soft and soothing, and somehow also somewhat familiar; But at the same time, they carried an odd sort of power that gave her clarity of mind;

    She regained control of her body just enough for her to leap out of the way;

    But even so; the power of the big bellied man''s swipe was too strong; Just the residual impact alone was enough to send her flying into the distance; coughing up several mouthfuls of blood as she felt her entire body nearly collapse;

    Her bones shattered. her inner organs were skewered through. and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. a shuddering seizure rippling through her body.

    She rebounded against the asteroid''s face hundreds of meters away;

    The big bellied man snapped his neck toward the direction she flew in; seemingly not feeling the pain of his neck being pierced through at all; He was riding an emotional high as the final seconds of his life ticked by;

    He bent his knees, leaping over with a fierce momentum.

    He crossed half the distance in just a single bound as though the convenience station didn''t have even artificial gravity. However. if he had been conscious of what just happened. despair would grip his heart. If it wasn''t for his vitality rapidly draining away. how could he only just so far? If he was in peak condition. even jumping double the distance to Emna in a single bound would have been easy.

    Still. in his current state. the big bellied man didn''t care. gathering up his strength and bounding forward again.

    He appeared in the skies above Emna, casting a shadow over her.

    Emna''s vision was blurry and she could barely see what was happening. She could vaguely feel that a shadow had appeared above her, but she could only hope that it was the shadow of the person that had just saved her. If it wasn''tбн she would truly be finished.

    Unfortunately for Emna, she wasn''t so lucky.

    Three seconds was just too small a time frame to a Seventh Dimensional expert. If they really wanted to, even attacking dozens of times within that span was as easy as breathing.

    Luckily, Leonel didn''t need to catch up entirely, he just had to enter rage to effect change.

    Leonel, who was speeding over with his jet black surfboard suddenly raised a hand. Bouncing in the skies like that and falling through the air put the big bellied man in a compromised position.

    Activating his Emulation Spatial Force, Leonel thrust at the back of the falling big bellied man, throwing him off course from his descent onto Emna.

    BANG!

    Leonel activated his Starry Light Domain and flickered forward three times, finally catching up and appearing above the big bellied man.

    A spear appeared in Leonel''s palm and he struck outward with an undeniable momentum.

    The big bellied man growled and looked upward to meet the strike, but Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    Emperor''s Gaze.

    To Leonel''s astonishment, however, the big bellied man reacted as though nothing had happened as he continued to punch upward.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. This man had a soul protection treasure, and a very good one at that.

    BANG!

 Chapter 1750 I Need Information

    Leonel''s arm went numb for a moment and he was pushed back into the skies somewhat; However; at the same time; the big bellied man nearly fell to his knees; his body growing far too weak to handle the impact;

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and he activated his Bronze Aura immediately; He hadn''t done so before because he was reliant on his Emperor''s Gaze to finish this in one move, but he made a mental note that he would have to be more careful in the future before he urged his surfboard forward again and struck out once more with a fiercer momentum;

    BANG!

    This time, the big bellied man''s retort was even weaker than before and he was forced to his knees, his body shuddering as crimson blood so thick it almost looked black fell from the hole in his neck;

    A ripple of force dissipated along Leonel''s Bronze Aura as he descended once more, swiftly cutting the big bellied man''s head from his neck;

    Leonel caught the head in his free palm, his gaze somewhat serious;

    To think that the difficulty in dealing with a man on his last legs would be so great; Of course. it was probably also true that this man was quite powerful amongst Conventional Path Seventh Dimensional existences. but even so. he was still losing a large amount of his strength for every breath he took. and yet he still managed to repel Leonel;

    ''These soul protection treasures are so well hidden and their auras are so restrained; I''ll need to find and analyze the one this man used so I can not only create some in the future. but so that I can also know ahead of time whether a target of mind has such protection or not; If I make that mistake in the future. it''ll be more than a little troublesome;''

    It wasn''t that Leonel was helpless against soul protection treasures. but if he wanted to bypass them it would also take more preparation; There were tiers within the abilities of Emperor''s Might. especially for an ability as fundamental as Emperor''s Gaze; It was just that the lowest level was the quickest to deploy in a pinch;

    Leonel hesitated for a moment before tossing the corpse and the head into a snowglobe and rushing toward Emna who was most definitely on her last legs;

    Emna couldn''t see straight and she had no idea that she had been saved; The gap between the Fifth and Seventh Dimension was simply far too vast; But she was lucky that she had Leonel by her side;

    Leonel pressed his hands together and a large amount of Vital Star Force and Life Force began to emit from him; Even if he didn''t do anything else; just being in the proximity of these Sixth Dimensional Forces would be able to bring Emna back from the brink of death; but even so; Leonel still began to draw a Force Art;

    This Force Art was based on the style of Camelot''s Magic System and it was quite crude since Leonel was formulating it on the spot; but to save a Fifth Dimensional existence; it was more than good enough;

    As Leonel''s spell descended; Emna; who was barely conscious; could feel her bones mending and her organs healing at a visible pace; In just a few seconds; her vision had cleared enough to see Leonel standing over; and in just a few more seconds; she felt better than she ever had in her entire life;

    It was almost like she had been reborn;

    Instinctually. Emna scurried to her feet; Realizing that she wasn''t dressed very appropriately as the strike had destroyed a lot of her clothing. she crossed an arm over her chest and looked toward Leonel; Although she was wary. she still wanted to say her thanks as it was obvious this person had saved her; But just as she was going to. she froze;

    "It''s you?!"

    Leonel smiled lightly; "It seems that you remember me. that''s good;"

    "How could I not, you''re the reasonбн"

    Emna trailed off, seemingly realizing that she was about to say something embarrassing.

    "Hm?" Leonel raised an eyebrow; "I''m the reason?"

    Emna fidgeted before gritting her teeth and speaking. "You''re the reason we''ve all been working so hard."

    Leonel blinked, feeling quite speechless. He had a small amount of charm, but it definitely wasn''t to the point that a woman he had only spoken to once would dedicate the next 20 years of her life to him just off the back of a single conversation, right?

    And also, who was this "we"?

    Seeing that Leonel was confused, Emna felt her heart sink slightly. Although she knew that it was a small chance, she had hoped that Leonel would remember them.

    There was a bit of strife in their organization and many of the malcontent came from the fact that many didn''t believe they should be working so hard for a man they hadn''t seen in decades, some even said he wouldn''t even appreciate their efforts and that they should just be working for themselves.

    Of course, although these hit a sore spot, Emna knew the words were bullshit. Those people just wanted to move the organization toward a more selfish place, forgetting the reason they were established in the first place.

    However, seeing Leonel''s reaction now, it was hard for her to not feel a small hint of resentment and even feel that maybe those people had some merit to their wordsбн

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    "Who is your leader?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    Emna sighed. Although she was disappointed, Leonel had still saved her life.

    "Is it Raylion and Aphestus?"

    Hearing this, Emna''s head snapped up to meet Leonel''s gaze, a hint of expectation within them.

    Seeing her face was all Leonel needed, it seemed that he had been correct.

    Back then, after Valiant Heart Mountain was attacked by the other organizations of their Quadrant, they had been forced to disband. In fact, the only reason their disciples survived and were able to escape was because Leonel came back and held the line for them as they did so. As such, the former top disciple of Valiant Heart Mountain, Raylion, wanted to do something to pay Leonel back. But in his pride, he wasn''t willing to join Leonel without anything to give.

    He wasn''t more powerful than Leonel, so he couldn''t protect the latter. He wasn''t richer that Leonel nor did he have a stronger background than Leonel, so he couldn''t support the latter. But he had still been determined to do something.

    Before they left, Leonel remembered saying some casual words that he hadn''t thought about even once since then.

    "I need informationбн"

    Leonel mumbled the same words that he had said back then.

    "бн And I need a lot of it."

    Raylion hadn''t stopped after hearing his words back then, but Leonel could still sense the blazing fire of his will.

    Leonel suddenly smiled. He couldn''t be blamed for not seeing through this immediately. From the beginning, Emna wasn''t even a member of Valiant Heart Mountain, she was from a rival organization. How could he draw the connection so easily?

    Emna''s eyes glistened like stars. Those words, they were the motto of their organization.

    "How interestingбн In that case, what was your mission here? Why did you kill this man?"

    Leonel asked a question that had him feeling curious. Even he couldn''t quite deduce what was happening here.

 Chapter 1751 Unprecedented

    "Ah. right!"

    Emna looked around but couldn''t find the body; After a while, she shook her head, it didn''t matter much; The root of the mission wasn''t the body at all, rather it was twofold; One aspect was for the sake of an offensive maneuver with defensive underpinnings; The second aspect was for the information that was likely here;

    "This place is a station of Shield Cross Stars;"

    This was a simple sentence. but the instant Leonel heard them. his expression turned serious; This wasn''t just because of the words themselves. but it was rather because Emna was so forthright with this information to begin with; He could imagine the amount of effort it would have taken to get this sort of information. and while it seemed that Emna had a good impression of him likely stemming from their first meeting and her interactions with Raylion and Aphestus. the fact she could give him such an important piece of information without blinking just went to show how high his place in her heart was;

    It was an odd feeling; Leonel had gotten very used to running into enemies wherever he went; There was even a point in time where he felt that maybe he had overestimated his charisma in the past; Why else could he not seem to make any friends in the Dimensional Verse?

    However; Leonel made a mistake a lot of successful people; or just people in general; really; He focused a lot on the bad and didn''t spend a lot of time looking toward his back-view; While there was a trail of devastation in his wake; there was also a lot of good that he had done;

    He hadn''t seen the light of hope in the eyes of Earth''s Ministers just a few days ago when he returned; He hadn''t seen the joy in the eyes of the citizens of the Ascension Empire when they had heard of his return; He hadn''t experienced the relief they felt when he massacred the Brazinger family members in the skies;

    And these were just the people of Earth;

    There were still the remaining members of Valiant Heart Mountain whose lives he had saved; and there was still Emna who had seen him single handedly take on the Milky Way Guild that day;

    There were still the Cataclysm Generation geniuses of the Void Palace who appreciated his helping them escape the Rapax Nest; There was still Simona who cried when he returned to her beast partner; And there would still come a day where the disciples of the Void Palace learned that it was under his actions that their lives had been saved;

    There would always be people who didn''t appreciate his efforts; but not every person could ignore their conscience so easily; There was bad in the world; but there was often good to be found as well; even if the latter was on a smaller scale;

    Emna had no idea that her simple words had made Leonel smile from the depths of his heart for the first time in a long while.

    Emna was so caught off guard by the genuine smile that she froze, forgetting the next words that she was going to speak; It took her a long time to recover, and by the time she realized that she had made such a mistake, she could only blush down to her chest;

    If the others of their organization could see Emna now; they would probably be stunned speechless; This cold beauty actually knew how to blush?

    Emna didn''t really know what was happening at the moment either; it was just that she felt this sort of overwhelming magnetism coming from Leonel; one that even she could resist; For a moment; she even thought that it would be worthwhile to die for this man;

    What was the most shocking; though; was that unlike other charm techniques; not only was Emna hyper aware of this feeling; she didn''t even feel any rejection toward it; Despite being aware that there had to be something odd going on; she still didn''t feel fear or disgust; It was an incredibly odd feeling;

    This was what the four Great Families feared the most. It wasn''t Emperor''s Aura. nor was it Emperor''s Gaze. nor was it any of the Emperor''s Commandments.

    It was Emperor''s Charm.

    Emperor''s Charm wasn''t a technique of Emperor''s Might. Rather. it was a passive skill that took root as the soul of the wielder of Emperor''s Might was continuously cleansed and refined beneath the Emperor Runes. The more clear and refined the soul became. the more influence the emotions of the Emperor would have on the world around them.

    When the Emperor smiled the stars would sing. When the Emperor was furious the skies would sunder.

    Just now, Leonel felt genuinely happy, a happiness that originated from the depths of his soul. Because of his genuineness, the clarity of his soul influenced Emna.

    If Emperor''s Charm was in the hands of a scheming individual who hid their thoughts or never allowed themselves to feel genuine emotion, it wasn''t too big of a deal. However, if it was in the hands of someone with true charisma, someone who truly cared for the lives of those around him to the point that he would find happiness in just a simple actionбн

    That would be the true Emperor''s Might, that was what the four Great Families feared the most.

    Most of the time, Leonel''s true thoughts hid behind a veil of logic and reasoning. But when they shone through, they shone fiercer than most.

    When he was enraged, nothing else mattered.

    When he was happy, he would smile, grin and joke.

    And often, because he only rarely allowed himself to feel such things, when they did occur, they were far more potent than the emotions of others.

    It could be said without a doubt that in the hands of Leonel, Emperor''s Charm would unleash an astonishing might. And, after he had already assimilated one of the three supreme skills of Emperor''s Might, the clarity of Leonel''s soul was unprecedented.

 Chapter 1752 So...

    Leonel seemed to realize what happened and retracted his aura; allowing Emna to finally breathe a sigh of relief; If that feeling was persistent; she had no idea how she would even speak with Leonel for an extended period of time; her heart might beat out of her chest before she could finish a single sentence;

    "Rightбн" Emna shook her head, not daring to look into Leonel''s eyes; "бн this station is under the jurisdiction of Shield Cross Stars; As an organization, they''re capable of gathering up a large amount of information and it''s difficult to pin them down on anything; Even after they retreated from Earth''s territory, their hooks are still deeply embedded;

    "The goal of this mission was to catch them off guard and maybe see if we can find any clues about finding other stations like this one; After our merger with the former Milky Way Guild. we gained a lot of the information they had on hand and benefited from it; Amongst that information were some of the stations they had been able to unearth over several centuries. but even so. there were only three;"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    For a long while; the Milky Way Guild had had a monopoly on Earth''s home galaxy; but due to this; it was also a convenient target for outside influences;

    Due to this. Heira''s father found himself constantly dealing with power struggles; However. it was also due to this that the former Guild Head had gained a great amount of opportunities as well;

    The last time Leonel had seen Guild Head Ovilteen. the latter had just broken into the Sixth Dimension and turned the tables on the Radix. Midas. Rain. Florer and Umbra families. But it seemed that his schemes ran deeper than even this considering he knew of a station that existed so far away from the Milky Way Galaxy.

    "I see, but isn''t Shield Cross Stars the police force of the Human Domain, why do you want to target their influence?"

    If the higher ups of Shield Cross Stars knew that Leonel had actually spoken such words. they might truly cough up blood in fury; Since when did Leonel have respect for Shield Cross Stars and its work? He actually had the cheek to say such a thing while one of their stolen ships loomed over his head;

    Emna seemed to know that Leonel just wanted to hear her answer; After all. they had already gotten news that Shield Cross Stars was being kicked out of Earth''s territory. so how could they be unaware of the events leading up to it? It could only be said that this organization a few words of Leonel''s had helped to form wasn''t nothing short of impressive;

    "They''ve been abusing their power for a long time. but it''s never been a systemic issue; It was mostly just a few corrupt officers here and there. taking advantage of their station; However. in just the last few days. things have gone from a few bad apples to becoming something far more sinister;"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    "According to our intel. of ten incidents creeping up in our territory. at least eight of them are as a direct result of SCS''s interference; Although none of it is obvious. their fingerprints are all over the place and we were able to find out using these three unearthed stations as observation points;

    "After we realized what was happening. there was some discussion about which steps to take next. but we were undecided on what to do; With only three observation points. there were too many other potential variables and even our "eight out of ten" assessment was just an extrapolation without solid evidence;

    "Soбн"

    Emna felt a bit embarrassed when she got to this point in the story; The reality was that she didn''t have authorization to come here; Although the idea of her coming had been floated, most had decided that it was far too dangerous;

    The most powerful individual of their organization was still Guild Head Ovilteen, but even after 20 years, he was still in the Sixth Dimension and there was simply no way for him to against a Seventh Dimensional existence head on;

    Emna, with her abilities, probably had the best chance; But, once again, it was far too dangerous; In fact, if not for Leonel''s sudden appearance, she would have already lost her life; Just the residual shockwave from a weakened Seventh Dimensional expert''s infuriated strike had left her in a half dead state and not far from the jaws of death;

    It was even more accurate to say that she really had died as she had suffered fatal damage. Just a few more seconds and she wouldn''t have been able to hold on any longer.

    This was all to say that Emna had actually acted on her own, not liking the stalemate they had reached. The internal strife and voices of dissension were getting louder everyday and the original members needed a way to solidify their prestige once again, and the best method to do so would be to prove that Emna could assassinate even a Seventh Dimensional existence.

    If she had succeeded, how many would still dare to talk so much?

    Even without Emna saying it out loud, just by her demeanor, Leonel could guess most of it.

    "Either way, now that we''ve succeeded, this is a good opportunity. We can scan the base and see if we can find any information that might help with finding out more news."

    Leonel nodded. He was on a time crunch right now as there were at least three separate incidents that needed to be shut down as soon as possible, but this matter was vey important as well. Without Shield Cross Star''s backing, there would be much fewer flare ups.

    "Let''s take a look, then."

    Leonel and Emna made their way and began to search the convenience station. However, even after several minutes and the use of his Starry Spirit Domain, Leonel couldn''t seem to find anything.

 Chapter 1753 Impressed

    Emna didn''t know that there was nothing to find yet; To her; it had only been a few minutes and she had no idea that Leonel was capable of enveloping the entire asteroid; even to the point of penetrating to its core; In fact; the fact Leonel had spent a few minutes on this task at all just went to show how thorough he had been; In reality; he already knew that there was nothing to find after a single instant;

    ''There has to be something hereбн''

    Leonel thought that it might be hidden on the corpse itself, but he had already scanned the corpse at all and there was nothing to be found, not even the slightest mark of Shield Cross Stars was present; There was simply nothing;

    ''Hmбн''

    Leonel felt that he had to think outside of the box; The instant he shifted his perspective, something suddenly clicked;

    With large strides; Leonel crossed the convenience station and entered its outhouse; It was just a small box barely two meters tall; Just to step into it; Leonel had to duck and the smell was absolutely horrid; There was nothing in this place aside from a hole in the ground and a single phone;

    Leonel snapped his fingers and with a whoosh; a blinding golden light cleansed everything and he picked up the phone that looked as though it had come right out of Earth''s 19th century;

    After a moment, Leonel''s expression flickered and he placed the phone back down.

    There were three mechanisms on the phone; each one more layered than the last and they were all exceptionally well hidden; The first allowed it to function as a normal communication device; the second was a diversion tactic that scattered the signal and made it difficult to trace; the third was the real communication network; connecting this phone to a very specific subset of other phones;

    Leonel''s hand formed a clawing motion and ripped the phone from the walls of the outhouse; He had to carefully analyze this himself; or he could hand it over the Segmented Cube to do; Regardless of the choice; it required the utmost amount of secrecy;

    Stepping out of the outhouse, Leonel looked into the distance to find that Emna was still looking; He observed her for a moment, shaking his head;

    She was truly an anomaly; She reminded Leonel a lot of a term that he hadn''t heard in a very long time: A Spark;

    A Spark was a genius who would become the starting flare to a powerful lineage; The accomplishments of their future influenced their abilities in the present, creating a feedback loop that made them even more powerful than should be possible;

    What was common within Sparks. though. was that they didn''t have the backing of powerful families or organizations.

    In the beginning of his journey; Leonel had been mistaken for a Spark many times before; But for obvious reasons; ever since he entered the Void Palace and became a second generation wastrel; no one had accused him of such a thing again;

    Emna; though; was different;

    Leonel had already realized why she felt so threatening; Her Blade Affinity Ability Index allowed her to use her body as a blade; and she had pushed this to the very pinnacle of the 4th Tier; but beyond that; she had gone from being able to turn her body into a blade to being able to turn her blades into her body;

    This seemed like a simple reversal. but the truth was that this was a huge change. In fact. it was enough to call this a mutation of the Ability Indexбн In fact. Leonel felt that Emna had already taken the step toward turning her Ability Index into an incredibly powerful Lineage Factor!

    The current Emna had control over Sixth Dimensional Blade Force, not Fifth; Setting aside just how rare it was to comprehend a weapon Force beyond your Dimension, if Leonel was correct, she was using this Blade Force to reconstruct her body;

    If the Morales family had a body of metal, Emna was creating a Lineage Factor that forged her body of Blade Force.

    Due to this, she was able to break free of the usual restrictions of her Dimensional tier, meaning that she had already stepped onto her own path. In fact, it was even more exaggerated than just this.

    Leonel had a feeling that the reason Emna hadn''t stepped into the Sixth Dimension wasn''t because she couldn''t, but rather because she was subconsciously aware that if she did so, she would lose this opportunity forever.

    If Emna managed to perfect her self-created Lineage Factor before entering the Sixth Dimension, she would create a Path separate from the God and Conventional Paths. And because this Path was created by her own hands, her strength would be almost unprecedented.

    If Emna''s path were to be boiled down into a few words, she wouldn''t have to worry about anything outside of improving her blade. As her blade improved, so would she.

    Once she perfected this Lineage Factor, her Dimensional level would be decided by her Blade Force level!

    It was no wonder Emna had such perfect and efficient control over her body. In her eyes, she wasn''t controlling her body at all, but rather her blades!

    From Leonel''s senses, he could see that Emna was already a step away from forming Seventh Dimensional Blade Force. This meant that it was very likely that on the day she succeeded, she would leap from the Fifth Dimension into the Seventh Dimension directly! And not only that, but she would also be among one of the most powerful Seventh Dimensional powerhouses in the whole of the Human Domain!

    ''This is the power of fusing your paths into one. Her Ability Index, her partially completed Lineage Factor, even her practice method itself, all have the exact same origin, and due to that, she''s extraordinarily powerful, even to the point of being able to assassinate a Seventh Dimensional powerhouse at the Fifth Dimensionбн''

    Leonel was rarely impressed. Too rarely.

    But at this moment, he was completely won over. It seemed that his judgment was quite good.

 Chapter 1754 Silence

    "I''ve got it." Leonel suddenly spoke.

    There was no point in watching Emna run around like a headless chicken; He didn''t believe that she would find much of anything else even if she dug to the center of the asteroid;

    Emna looked up with surprise; It had only been a few seconds, why did Leonel make it sound so final? Alsoбн why was he holding that contraptionбн?

    "This is a communication device; I haven''t analyzed it yet, but it should be embedded into a network of other similar communication devices; So long as we analyze it properly, it won''t be very difficult to find the locations of the other stations; I believe that this is all there is to find;"

    Emna''s brows raised. She could somewhat tell that although Leonel was being a bit reserved with his words, he was absolutely certain about his assessment.

    "You want to do the analysis personally?" Emna asked;

    Leonel nodded; "Deconstructing this will take someone at least nearing the extremities of the Silver Grade, and it would be even better if they had a working knowledge of the Gold Grade; The Force Arts used are highly complex and a single mistake could cause the entire network to collapse; I feel the most comfortable if I do it;"

    "Okay;" Emna agreed readily; but she was inwardly surprised; Leonel seemed to be implying that he was at such a standard; which was shocking for someone so young; Just making it into the Sixth Dimension shouldn''t guarantee being a Silver Grade Crafter;

    Regardless; their organization truly didn''t have anyone near that standard; They only had a few Silver Grade Crafters; but they were nowhere near the extremities of the Grade;

    "In that case will you return now?"

    "I can''t," Leonel shook his head; "There are about three big issues I have to deal with as quickly as possible before they spin out of control; I need to return to Earth to gather up my brothers first and deal with them as quickly as possible; I will come and touch base with you inбн"

    Leonel''s voice trailed off;

    His senses were far too sharp; The instant he mentioned his brothers; Emna''s gaze flickered with an unreadable light; almost as though she had thought of something; but couldn''t quite confirm it; However; after a few moments; her expression suddenly became a hint solemn; a hint regretful; and then a hintбн hesitant;

    Seeing that Leonel suddenly fall silent; Emna''s heart skipped a beat; There was nothing but silence; and in the depths of space; this shouldn''t be too shocking; But for some reason everything seemed to have come to a stop;

    Leonel didn''t ask any questions; but his expressionless gaze seemed to put all the ownness on her;

    "Iбн"

    Emna didn''t know where to start; For some reason; she felt herself shivering; This was already the second time she had lost her composure in front of Leonel; She; an assassin known for her nerves of steel; couldn''t even quite make herself look this man in the eye; His presence seemed sturdier than the earth and broader than the skies; It was absolutely suffocating;

    Emna exhaled a shaky breath.

    "During Earth''s Metamorphosis into the Sixth Dimensionбн Four families suddenly appeared outside of the usual noble families. They felt far stronger than the most powerful three of Earth. the Fawkes family. the Dove family and the Scarlet familyбн They were the Adurna family. the Crudus family. the Laevis family and the Brazinger familyбн

    "Earth fell into a situation of great internal strife which made it difficult to stop outside influences from also encroaching onto their territory and war broke out on Earth''s surface for the second time since Terrain''s assault.

    "Weбн I don''t knowбн The situation was too odd. It didn''t feel like those four families were trying very hard. They didn''t press where they had to and they gave up a lot of opportunities seemingly without cause or reason. but regardless. the end result was devastating and many lost their lives.

    "During that time, many of the young talents of Earth who had managed to make it into the Void Palace returned. Back then, the situation of the Void Palace hadn''t been stabilized as all of the Void Elders and Void Senators had yet to return, as such the rules were far easier to breakбн

    "When they returned, however, the nonchalance of the four families seemed to vanish as though this was exactly what they had been looking for.

    "In one fell swoop, they sent out their own geniuses and the geniuses of Earth that had rocked and shocked the Human Domain were devastated. They died in droves. Almost an entire generation of Earth''s greatest talents died one after another.

    "It was only after Princess Alienor returned from the Cataclysm that the tides managed to turn. But even so, it went from a slaughter fest to a stalemate, and once again, the four families went back to their oddly passive behavior until they suddenly sent out another wave.

    "Beneath this wave, even the likes of Princess Alienor found herself terribly suppressedбн Until she finally managed to break into the Seventh Dimension. Only then did the situation truly stabilize and the four families took a step back.

    "Even in doing so, however, they carved out large amounts of Earth''s territory for themselves, taking over several planets and even the Moon itself.

    "In that warбн In that war, several of your brothers died. Drakeбн Milanбн Gilбн Francoбн and Rajбн Theyбн They didn''t make it."

    Leonel didn''t say anything from start to finish. Even when Emna was done, he stood in silence, simply closing his eyes. He didn''t seem to breathe, as though he had become a standing corpse. His heart didn''t beat, the world seemed to lose the ability to interact with him as though he had stepped into a world completely separate from them.

    Without a word, Leonel turned and walked away. Emna opened her mouth to say something, but couldn''t bring herself to say anything in the end. She had been there when Leonel went against the Milky Way Guild all alone just to not risk implicating his brothers. She knew well how deep their relationship ran.

    Even though Leonel hadn''t said a single word, she knew he was furious. Endlessly furious.

 Chapter 1755 Fury

    Mighty auras surrounded Earth; The ocean tides rose like walls blocking out the skies; forests worth of trees swayed so violently that they threatened to be pulled up by the roots; and the earth shook and quaked; splintering; dividing and rippling like waves;

    A shadow seemed to envelop the planet; The sheer number of ships and vessels in the skies made it feel as though an eclipse had descended, stripping Earth of all of its light;

    When these members of the Brazinger family appeared, the protective units of Earth reacted immediately; Several canons pointed into the sky as the air protection units took action first; Not long later, a strong surge of pressure soared upward, countering the presence of the Brazinger family almost immediately;

    If Leonel had been here. he would have recognized these people as the members of the Slayer Legion; However. by now. they had already returned to their proper duty of being the shields of the royal family;

    At the helm, a middle-aged man with the aura of an old ruffian stood on the walls of a fort, a machete resting on his shoulder.

    This middle-aged man was none other than Old Hutch. the only pseudo master figure Leonel had ever had in his life;

    By now. Old Hutch didn''t seem so old anymore. and his aura was even sharper and more violent than it ever had been before;

    By his side. there was yet another old man that Leonel would have recognized. and that was his Coach Owen whose upper lip was still bristling with a grey mustache;

    The duo looked infuriated with the world. but right now. they had every right to be; The number of promising youths that Earth had lost at the hands of these four families was far too many; What these two older men had in common was their love of watching the youth rise up. and yet they had to watch helplessly as they outlived some young men and women they had viewed almost like their own sons and daughters;

    Old Hutch had lost count of the number of promising youths of the Slayer Legion that had fallen before him; He had promised himself that such a thing wouldn''t happen again after the war against Terrain, and yet it all didn''t matter in the slightest;

    He was used to having the strength to turn the tides on his own. but he was born long before the Metamorphosis; The amount of talent he had was limited in comparison to the up and coming youths because he had to work against the tides of age for every step forward he took;

    Time and time again, the moniker of Hacker Hutch became no different from an ironic jab to the heart for him; What Hacker Hutch? Unless it meant that he stood idly by as his children were hacked to pieces, then maybe only then could he oh so proudly accept the name;

    Coach Owen''s mustache whipped about in the wind. his gaze red with fury.

    Ever since Leonel had sent him back to Earth and saved him from the brink of death, he had been doing his best to raise up the contingent; He hadn''t forgotten the tough ask Leonel had made of him, he believed in that young man to the point he had put his heart and soul into the task;

    And yet he could only watch as his boys died one after another.

    He had been coaching Leonel and the others since they could barely hold a football in their hands; He had watched them grow into men who could carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, only for them to be slaughtered one after another;

    Even now. he could still remember the final grins on their faces as they breathed their last;

    He could see the young Drake; Even after a decade, they still called that poor brat a rookie even though he was maybe more mature than them all;

    All his life; Drake had had big shoes to fill; As Leonel''s backup and the man fated to succeed Leonel; that was a weight he had carried with him; And yet; instead of shirking from the responsibility; he accepted it in silence;

    His mark on the world seemed so small, and yet it was that small mark, that silence that made him so strong.

    He could see Milan''s face, that cheery young man who always swore to protect Leonel''s front. He was the wall, the first line of defense, a young man who would dig in his heels rather than bend his back.

    Arnold was a man who never showed any sort of emotion, never deviating from his baseline, but seeing his ball like a little boy when Milan breathed his life was a sound and sight that Coach Owen would never forget. Every time he recalled it, another piece of his heart would shatter.

    pж┴зсdж┴ зл?ж═и║|,зуи░зо He could see the face of Gil and Franco, that pair of perverts who always relentlessly butt heads. He remembered their final moments, standing side by side like brothers, neither of them wanting to retreat from the side of the other. Even amidst all their arguments, their bond was maybe among the very strongest in the end.

    He could see the face of Raj, that big lug who always had some witty to say. He was Leonel''s blindside protector, a forever-wall, an immovable force. Even in his final moments, he stood tall and sturdy, a silly but sad grin plastered on his face.

    He roared into the skies, lamenting only the fact that he didn''t get the chance to build his harem before he breathed his last.

    Every time Coach Owen thought of these memories, he wanted to roar into the skies, his fury rising like a tempest. However, when he saw what was in the skies, Coach Owen was so apoplectic with rage that his vision went entirely black, the city walls beneath his feet shattering.

    Amidst the Brazingers, a young man with a group of eight lenses hovering over a single eye stepped forward. His face didn''t seem to have any fury or rather on it. In fact, he seemed to be distracted by words and numbers flying across his lenses.

    He stood on a platform of pure black that seemed fused together with black-silver sand, absentmindedly doing something before he seemed to realize where he was.

    If Leonel was present, he would recognize this young man as Simeon, the very first true member of the Brazinger family he had ever met.

    However, if Leonel had been present, he wouldn''t have been looking at Simeon at all.

    Rather, he would have been looking at the two young men who hovered beneath him, seemingly holding up his platform.

    On one side, there was a large young man, standing at over seven feet tall and with a belly as round as a globe. His skin was a nice brown color, however his gaze seemed dull and lifeless.

    On the other side was an unassuming young man of slim stature and somewhat handsome features. He seemed reserved and he would be difficult to pick out in a crowd, but his gaze was likewise dull and lifeless.

    Anyone could see the large young man had been used to form that platform while the other young man was used to carry and control the platform. Together, they moved it smoothly and without issue, moving like a pair of obedient servants.

    These two young men were none other than Raj and Drake.

 Chapter 1756 Ball Of Fire

    After a long while; Simeon seemed to finally remember where he was and he snapped out of his thoughts; casually looking down toward the fort beneath him; Despite the fact fire power capable of blasting the moon to pieces was trained on him; his expression didn''t flicker even a single time;

    Simeon''s hands clapped close in the air as though he was closing an invisible book; Everything about his actions were casual and unhurried;

    "Where is your Emperor? Why has he not come out to see me yet?"

    Simeon''s words were soft but they spread with an insuppressible might; He didn''t seem to take Emperor Fawkes seriously at all, directly asking him to make his presence known;

    Fury surged in the hearts of the citizens of Earth; Emperor Fawkes was a God in all of their hearts; The prestige he had built up from the Third Dimensional realms into the Seventh Dimensional realms was incomparably solid; As much as the people also had Leonel in their hearts, erasing hundreds of years of near worship in just a handful of years was impossible;

    In addition; as far as everyone else saw it; Leonel''s accomplishments; and Noah''s for the matter; were only right; After all; how could Emperor Fawkes have inferior grandchildren? Every time they accomplished something mighty; it was actually only bolstering Emperor Fawkes in the eyes of the people;

    As a result. in return for his words. Simeon only received nothing but silence. however this sort of silence was harmonious in its symphony; Billions of gazes looked into the skies. their expressions just the same;

    Simeon suddenly sneered; "A collection of ants; Since your Emperor refuses to give me an explanation for the slaughter of my people, then that makes this matter even simpler; A debt of blood must be repaid with blood;

    "Wipe out half the population of Earth and imprison the other half; That should be about enough to weigh evenly;"

    The words of Simeon couldn''t have been more demeaning. Not mentioning the sheer number of Earthlings who had died during the first descent of the four families. how could a few dozen or even hundred lives compare to the billions on Earth currently?

    In the decades Leonel had been gone, the main priority of the Ascension Empire was to increase the population of Earth which had been whittled to strikingly few after the Metamorphosis; To increase from a population of just millions to billions in just a few decades sounded ridiculous, and truly it was;

    However; under a shocking change; the people of Terrain who should have taken five generations to become true citizens of Earth only took a single one under some mysterious power;

    Of course, this "mysterious power" was bestowed by Emperor Fawkes himself which was also a large part of the reason the citizens of Earth were so respectful of him;

    The people of Terrain thought that they would be forced to be enslaved for generations before they got a chance; Some of the more pessimistic among them thought that this was all a lie and they would never gain such a chance; But in a twist of fate; they could see with their own eyes as their children rose up to become paragons and young elites of the human race;

    Just like this, the vast majority of the former people of Terrain whole heartedly embraced Earth as their home;

    From the very beginning; it was not their choice to wage war against Earth; it had always been the choice of a few families and organizations; The rewards gained would have never been their own to begin with;

    But now, their thoughts had long since strayed from Terrain; That barren place wasn''t their home, this was their home;

    They too had fought in the war against the four families. They too had watched their youths die one after another. They too felt the stiling hatred as they stared up into the skies.

    So when Simenon''s voice descended. their fury rose up like a tempest. seemingly wanting to shred Simeon to pieces with nothing more than their eyes. But. even soбн

    With a casual glance. Simeon waved a hand toward the warriors to his back. Without fail. each of them exuded mighty and unprecedented auras. Their strengths caused even the air to quake. However. before they could take action. there was a sudden change atop the blooming Ascension Tree.

    A mighty golden light shot into the skies.

    Simeon''s sneer returned. "Now your Emperor wants to appear? It''s far too late for that. Maybe if the mighty Emperor Fawkes falls to his knees I might consider reducing the punishment by ten percent."

    The pillar of light shot into the skies, tearing through the clouds and appearing tall and proud.

    When the lights cleared, Simeon''s sneer paused. At that moment, it became clear that it wasn''t Emperor Fawkes at all, but rather a young man wielding a saber easily twice the length of his body. Despite not having a flying treasure, he stood in the skies as easily as though it was the earth.

    With just a single glance, every person of Earth recognized this young man.

    This was none other than their prince, Noah Fawkes.

    Noah stood in the air with a violent look in his eyes. He was a man that rarely showed any sort of emotion at all, but hearing the piercing words about the man he respected most, his grandfather, the murderous intent in Noah''s heart had reached its absolute peak.

    Even so, when he saw the state of Raj and Drake''s corpses, a fiendish green radiance burst from his body, causing the skies to dark and the clouds to accumulate.

    Simeon''s frozen sneer became an expressionless gaze soon after, his raised hand continuing to descend and point forward. A mere prince of this backwater place? Who the hell cared if he was infuriated?

    The warriors of the Brazinger family charged forward.

    What no one expected was that the moment war was about to descend, the situation would change entirely.

    All sound vanished and the world seemed to lose its color. All those who looked into the skies could see a blinding ray of white light thousands of kilometers across. It was brighter than even the sun itself, burning its image into the minds of all those who saw it.

    The moment the beam appeared, it collided with the moon and a void seemed to form.

    The entire Moon was swallowed whole in the blink of an eye.

    When the beam vanished, there was no lush greenery or gorgeous blue oceans any longer, there was only a land of black and ash, burnt to a crisp with a single strike.

    The Moon, its resources, its peopleбн Had all been eradicated in a breath.

    The temperature of Earth began to slowly rise as though a second sun had appeared in the skies, the wild flames pulsing at the hearts of all those who laid eyes on it.

    When the people of the Brazinger family turned back, they couldn''t help but freeze in absolute silence.

    In the skies, a shadow seemed to walk out from those flames, the darkness around him entirely conspicuous as a moon-sized ball of fire flickered to his back.

 Chapter 1757 Wreathed In Blood

    The figure was nothing more than a speck of dust in comparison to the size of the Moon. and yet as he walked forward. it felt as though the Moon had lit itself on fire to herald his appearance.

    The sound of billions of heartbeats beating in unison began to drum across the skies; The entire world seemed to resonate with the footsteps of this young man as he took one step after another;

    Despite his seemingly slow pace, he crossed countless kilometers with every stride, and by the time he had come close enough for his features to be differentiable from the blazing Moon to his back, the shock that took hold of those watching him was enough to stop their hearts entirely;

    Leonel slowly walked through the skies, his gaze frighteningly cold and his lips pinched into a line;

    Wisps of red fog came from his eyes, his breath and his hair, the menacing stench of blood rising into the skies;

    He looked as though he had just crawled out from his own coffin; A ghastly wound stretched from his left chest down to his right hip. showing off glistening bronze pieces of his ribcage and inner organs; His left arm hung from his shoulder socket by just a few tendons and ligaments; His clothing was nowhere to be seen and he walked completely in the nude. seemingly oblivious to this fact entirely;

    It truly seemed as though that he just might collapse at any momentбн

    So why were they feeling such fear?

    The ghastly black rod in Leonel''s right hand billowed with fiendish fog as dark as night; It suddenly trembled, forcing the amorphous fog to sharp and become a twin pair of menacing curved blades that found their home at the end of the rod;

    Leonel didn''t speak a single word; He didn''t roar in rage; He didn''t tremble in anger; He didn''t even seem to be able to "see" the people around him; His gaze was cold, but entirely unfocused as though he saw right through everything around him;

    And thenбн his foot raised and he took another step forward;

    BANG!

    Leonel dangling left shoulder merely glanced by the body of a Brazinger family member, and yet they erupted into a ball of flames before bursting into a shower of blood that was quickly incinerated to ash;

    This person didn''t even get the chance to scream or holler; they were simply eviscerated;

    At that exact instant; a spaceship that happened to be beneath Leonel''s feet was suddenly enveloped by an illusory box formed of Spatial Force; Before its pilot and crew could even try to maneuver out of it; the box collapsed to a tenth of its original size; squashing them into junk metal;

    Leonel exhaled just a single breath, seemingly finally breathing for the first time; But just that single breath caused sparks to light in the air;

    The heat was too much for those in the surrounding ten meters of him to handle and they caught on fire;

    Tragic screams finally broke the silence and many woke up to the fact that just a single step of Leonel''s seemed to be like the call of the grim reaper.

    RUMBLE!

    Leonel stepped into Earth''s atmosphere for the first time and the world changed;

    All around, the pristine white clouds rumbled, gathering together and forming enormous behemoth-like monstrosities that thundered with enough force to make the grounds quake and mountains collapse;

    When the Emperor was furious; the skies would sunder;

    At that moment; above Leonel''s head; the void trembled and an ancient scroll appeared; It radiated a blinding golden light; outshining even the Moon blazing to his back;

    The ancient scroll slowly unfurled, the blinding light it exuded only becoming ever more so.

    The moment it unfurled completely; surges of lightning coursed through the air; pulsing with golden; green and radiant royal blue arcs;

    Emperor''s Edict.

    The ancient characters of the golden edict rose like a tempest, enveloping the hundreds of kilometers.

    "All those of the Brazinger familyбн"

    This was the first time Leonel spoke since he appeared. The instant he did. he seemed to conjure the phantom of a malevolent ghost draped in the robes of withering black.

    "бн Die."

    The words fell and the world shuddered. The skies whined and gods lamented. The spirits of life shed tears and wraiths of death laughed uproariously.

    One after another. almost every single member of the Brazinger family within the range of Leonel''s edict suddenly trembled. their gazes turning blank as they fell one after another.

    Their ships began to fall from the skies and their flying treasures wheeled out of control.

    Horror was painted on the faces of the Brazinger family members outside of the barrier as it quickly approached them, seemingly wanting to envelop the entire world. The radiance of the golden edict pulsed and surged, being fueled by Leonel''s fury and surging through the skies.

    With just a single sentence, Leonel passed judgment.

    However, that was when something heart rending occurred.

    With a surge, Leonel''s inner organs suddenly exploded. In another breath, his right arm imploded and ended up in a similar state to his left. In yet another breath, his knee collapsed, suddenly twisting in the wrong direction and bending at an awkward angle.

    Despite this occurring, Leonel''s expression didn''t change a single time.

    Every time a Brazinger family member managed to resist his edict, another devastating wound would appear on Leonel''s body. However, in comparison to those that managed to survive, those that died were far greater in number.

    Leonel didn''t seem to care at all about the damage to himself. He just wanted them to die. He wanted them all to die.

    The edict above Leonel''s head fluttered and the words changed.

    The corpses falling from the sky suddenly burst into clouds of blood, surging toward Leonel in a torrential wave.

    A dark gold light wrapped around Leonel''s body and a six armed, three headed panda construct took form, roaring into the skies.

    At the same time, Leonel, who had seemingly been on the brink of death was suddenly healed, his wounds closing amidst a dark gold light in the blink of an eye.

    The panda construct raised up two arms and a familiar Metal Spirit took form.

    Little Tolly surged toward the squared spaceship Leonel had crushed and enveloped it.

    Every time the fingers of the panda construct tapped at the air, another change would take place and the skies would rumble all the more.

    In just a few breaths, Little Tolly separated into tens of thousands of pieces and the skies were enveloped by the light of countless javelins.

    The humans of Earth were entirely shaken. From the Moon being wiped out to the current state of hundreds of Brazingers falling every second, everything had happened too quickly. These vent to their rage had come too suddenly, but why was it that they couldn''t feel any sort of happiness?

    They could tell that Leonelбн truly had no intention of asking them for help. Not once did he look toward them and he even seemed to look through them all much the same way he looked through the Brazinger family members.

    He had come here for slaughter. In fact, he was already wreathed in blood.

 Chapter 1758 Carnage

    The remaining four arms of the panda construct raised into the air as a Crafting Quill appeared in Leonel''s left hand; His intent blazed into the skies; four replicas of his Crafting Quill appearing in each hand;

    Space warped and Force surged as Leonel wrote across the air; Ancient looking runes formed one after another, touching a speed that made those who understood what was happening feel as though they were dreaming;

    Every time Leonel finished another Force Art, it shot into the skies, filling his surroundings with magic circles of all sorts of colors;

    The javelins blotted out all the light in the skies, trembling as they passed through these ancient runes one after another; With every completion, their auras changed entirely, the strength they exuded causing countless hearts to skip a beat;

    Blazing flames. blinding golden lights. twisting vortexes of spaceбн

    Each and every javelin seemed to have an entirely different shape and form. aimed toward the survivors of the Brazinger family;

    All the while, Leonel''s footsteps hadn''t stopped; He continued to walk forward as though nothing could stop his forward momentum; Nothing would halt his massacre on this day;

    The quills in the panda construct''s four hands vanished as the javelins suddenly moved; In one moment. they were almost entirely still. but in the next instant. they flashed forward with such speed that their former location seemed to implode with blasts of concentrated air;

    Several roars filled the skies as the Brazinger family members seemed to finally snap out of their shock; They had been so caught off guard by the sudden changes that they couldn''t even breathe; Watching the Moon suddenly be enveloped by flames; its atmosphere burning to ash and the land being buried beneath furious crimson flickers had left them stunned;

    But the moment they realized what happened, it seemed to settle in all at onceбн

    They were all dead?

    The eyes of the Brazinger warriors turned entirely red. their Berserk God Lineage Factor surging out of control.

    Not all members of the Brazinger family had the purest form of the Berserk God Lineage Factor; Many were like Aina before she reined her curse into her control, easily capable of losing themselves in bloodlust and carnage;

    The instant they were triggered by their fury, their roars shook the skies, wild crimson auras surging from their bodies as they grabbed their weapons and charged forward all at once;

    But that was when Leonel''s javelins descended.

    A warrior at the front was sucked into a vortex of space; his body shredded to pieces in an instant; The moment the vortex stopped rotating; it spit out the bits and pieces of his flesh and bones; allowing it to rain down from the skies;

    To his side, a blazing javelin of fire tore through the chest of three Brazingers in a row; They ran forward two more steps each before they combusted into balls of fire, falling in a rain of ash;

    On the other side of the battlefield; a javelin rotating with a deep; dark blue collided with a burly man that stood well over two meters tall; He had his ax raised above his head; closing the distance on Leonel with speed his body shouldn''t have been able to carry;

    And yet. the instant he met the javelin. it felt as though he had been hit with a sledge hammer; It sounded as though a speeding truck had collided with a steel wall;

    The burly man exploded on contact. mashed bundles of flesh and blood falling from the skies; Only he knew that he had actually dodged. but it didn''t seem to matter; It was as though the entire area around the javelin had become a heavy mass. the air around it becoming part of its power;

    The massacre was on as large of a scale as his Emperor''s Edict, but the power of the men and women who fell were on a completely different level; This didn''t seem to matter to Leonel in the slightest as he cut them down like weeds;

    Weaker? Stronger? He would kill as many as there were.

    Leonel''s freed four arms flipped their palms even as Ryu''s Force Quill vanished to be replaced with the White Lion Bow.

    In that instant, four exact replicas appeared in his four palms, raising up four bows and aiming them all forward. Each one was over six meters from tip to tip, laying horizontally within Leonel''s hand.

    Four javelins descended from around Ryu, loaded into the bow and slowly pulled the strings back.

    The scent of death permeated the air. Somehow, the danger seemed to multiple ten times over, the power of Leonel''s archery causing the skies to tremble.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    They were all released at once, the air collapsing and the booming calls of thunder being drowned out.

    Everywhere the javelins passed, dozens died, the residual auras alone capable of ripping everything in their path to pieces.

    However, even after this, four more javelins floated over, nocking into Leonel''s four bows and pushing their strings back. Wild currents of Bow Force took shape, spiraling like drill cones.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel alone became like an artillery unit. With every step, dozens would die. Never once did he slow or pause, it was as though his feet were carrying him toward a certain location.

    He was no different from a god of carnage. Not the slightest fluctuation could be seen in his eyes, his indifference and coldness shining through like a chilly wind that licked across the back of their necks.

    "THAT''S ENOUGH!"

    Booming voices of fury layered atop of one another. Four young geniuses shot forward, two men and two women. Their gazes blazed with a trail of crimson, but their eyes had a clarity the others simply didn''t have. There was no doubt that they had full access to the Berserk God Lineage Factor, each and everyone one of the being at Tier 7 at the very least.

    They finally closed the distance on Leonel, attacking him from all sides, their power causing the skies to clap like thunder.

 Chapter 1759 Next

    Leonel didn''t even look directly at them; their speed had little effect on him; Just when it seemed that their attacks would envelop him entirelyбн until his four bows suddenly shifted;

    The four youths froze, suddenly finding the tips of four javelins pointed toward each one of their faces; There were no words exchanged, no roar of fury, not even a single glance;

    With a slight pull, the bowstrings shot out like iron balls from a canon, colliding with their heads before they could react and shattering them to pieces;

    The Brazinger family members didn''t even get a chance to sigh a breath of relief; Those four had been some of their best talents; If they were placed in the Void Palace. even the Cataclysm Generation wouldn''t be able to stand up to them. or at the very least. the vast majority of the Cataclysm Generation would be helpless;

    And yet. Leonel didn''t seem to take them seriously at all. his bow aiming and firing just once. shredding them all to pieces.

    At that moment. Simeon. who had turned to watch all of this with an indifferent expression. narrowed his gaze; In just the few moments since Leonel had appeared. over 10% of the people he had brought died. constituting thousands of lives. and even then. he didn''t seem nearly satisfied at all;

    What was even clearer was the fact that Leonel was walking forward in a line that couldn''t have been straighter, a line that aimed and directed right toward him;

    From the beginning. Leonel hadn''t said a word to Simeon; In fact. he hadn''t even looked toward him; He didn''t suddenly lose himself in a tempest of rage. nor did he demand a thing;

    If he wanted something. he would take it; For being a part of not only the death of his brothers. to also use them as puppets after their death. filled Leonel with more rage than he knew how to put in words;

    Within his body, his Scarlet Star Innate Nodes trembled with a red-gold light, causing the flickering flames that danced in the surroundings to dance with a menacing cadence;

    With every step forward Leonel took, he closed the distance between himself and Simeon; He had already been enraged past the point of no return before he even stepped foot back on Earth; But nowбн

    бн

    "What''s going on? What happened here?" Joel looked up into the skies. his gaze sharpening as he watched the dark clouds above rumble.

    Currently. three of Leonel''s brothers were side by side; They couldn''t see what was happening currently because the trio. Joel. Arnold and Allan. were training in the depths of the ocean; In fact. if their time during the last decade or so was accounted for. it could be said that over 90% of it was spent here;

    Even after so long, the oceans of Earth were still an incredibly dangerous place; They were simply far too large and the number of individuals with water-based abilities that could properly fight in this region, although not rare, were far too few;

    The advantage the beasts born and raised in this region had was unprecedented, and after the disappearance of the koi fish, many other king beasts had risen up to threaten the populations of Earth, things only becoming worse with every step of evolution;

    Beasts were different from other races in this way; Much of their talent was ingrained and their progression speed was decided both at birth and by their environments; As such, it could be said that the most talented population of living beings on Earth weren''t the humans themselves, but rather the oceanic beasts!

    This couldn''t be helped.

    While Earth''s humans were born with a great amount of talent, this talent mostly came from their Ability Indexes; They lacked the guidance of techniques to make perfect use of their strength, and as such were mostly self taught through battle or using the creations of others as reference;

    Much of these issues would be fixed if Earth had a few main Lineage Factors, but while Earth likely had the largest concentration of Sparks in the whole of the Human Domain, they still hadn''t had the time to grow to their full potential yet;

    Due to this, the ocean was the perfect training groundбн at least to them. Most wouldn''t dare to make use of it as they had, but the three of them wanted revenge more than anything else and they knew that they were far too weak in this state.

    They would claw back everything those four families had taken from them.

    "The commotion is large," Allan replied. "We should go and check it out."

    The three looked toward one another and nodded, not wasting anymore time as they shot toward that direction, the speed leaving trenches in the deep and dark waters.

    бн

    "You seem to be very angry," Simeon sneered, looking toward Leonel.

    It seemed obvious that there wouldn''t be anyone here capable of stopping Leonel from closing in the final distance. No matter what talents were thrown at him, Leonel slaughtered them all. He didn''t seem to know fatigue. He didn''t tire, he didn''t rest, he didn''t even seem to be breathing heavily.

    His Force was like an endless abyss.

    Simeon''s sneer darkened when he saw that Leonel had no intention of responding before his expression returned to normal, his sneer even deepening.

    "Fine. I''ll show you what true helplessness looks like. I''ll let you see that before me, you were never worth anything at all."

    BOOM!

    The platform beneath Simeon shuddered and the knees of Raj and Drake uncontrollably bent in the skies as Simeon''s aura could rise.

    Simeon''s crimson hair fluttered wildly, his red eyes piercing through the veil as Raj and Drake prostrated, holding up the platform on their hands and knees.

    The towering presence of a Seventh Dimensional expert tore a hole through the dark clouds.

    "You want to defeat me with just this level of strength? Even if you were in the Seventh Dimension I wouldn''t fear you, let alone now. You have no idea the kind of monster you''re poking at, do you think the blood running through your veins can match up to even a single percent of mine?!

    "The Brazinger family, the Adurna family, the Laevis family, the Crudus family! These are all unfathomable existences you cannot possibly begin to comprehend!"

    At that moment, Leonel finally seemed to look at Simeon. For the first time, he didn''t just look through him, he looked right into the very depths of his soul. It was such a shudderingly cold look that Simeon felt his soul freeze over entirely, his body stopping in place and his next words being caught in his throat.

    And then, Leonel''s lips slowly parted.

    "Adurnaбн Laevisбн Crudusбн I''ve already destroyed them all."

    Leonel''s head tilted slightly to the side in a fashion that felt decidedly demonic and devilish, wisps of crimson fog forming tails out of the corner of his eyes.

    His words seemed to come out in whispers that manifested like sharp hisses in one''s ear, almost to the point of metal scraping against metal.

    "The Brazingers will follow them now."

    Simeon''s pupils constricted.

 Chapter 1760 Entirely

    "Bullshit!"

    Simeon roared out; his voice coming out like a concentrated blast of air; He realized almost immediately that he had been agitated by just a few words; If Leonel was really lying; was there a need to react so violently?

    His expression turned ugly, the concentrated breath of air that came from his roar falling into complete silence when it reached Leonel; It was as though they were standing in two completely different worlds;

    Simeon had thought a lot about how this day would go. the day he finally met Leonel again; This was a man he had lost at the hands of terribly before. forced to run away with his tail between his legs; Because of Leonel. he had missed an opportunity to meditate at the center of a Force Eruption and that was something he would never forget; But even worse than that. the third time he met Leonel. when he and the other three young geniuses of the Adurna. Crudus and Laevis families were hunting the golden scaled koi fish. he was once again humiliated; And this time. Leonel didn''t even seem to use any effort to force them into a state of trepidation;

    While it was true that they hadn''t fought during that third interaction, the genius of the Adurna family paying Leonel back for saving his little sister and thus holding them back, Simeon could still remember that look of cold indifference in Leonel''s eyes as though he didn''t take him seriously at allбн

    The very same look Leonel was giving him now. even disregarding the gap in their Dimensions.

    Simeon had lost his composure the moment he decided to speak so much in the first place;

    He had been dreaming about the day Leonel saw him use his brothers as puppets. dreaming about the rage that would be in his eyes. dreaming about the helplessness in his expression; But now they were finally here. and he saw none of that;

    There was nothing but a fathomless depth.

    Simeon''s expression twisted. his fury boiling over as the whites of his eyes pulsed with crimson veins; However. after a moment. he exhaled a breath. suddenly regaining his calm;

    Fight this man personally? Was he even worthy? He would do what he had always done with the ants beneath his feet.

    Drown them;

    Simeon waved a hand and his eight lenses rotated until they came to a stop with a glowing lens taking the center position;

    A pulse of Spatial Force rippled before him, causing a rip in reality to form;

    Out from his rip. one after another. grotesque monstrosities stepped out. each exuding an aura that oppressed the world.

    The first was a werewolf covered in crimson fur and a flaming mane; It had claws that were over a meter long. dangling lower than even the soles of its feet; These claws seemed to be a solid silver metal at times. but at others. it would ripple and become plumes of fire. dancing between solid and translucent states;

    The second was a cobbled together mess of circuits. wires. tubes and flesh; Its head seemed to be its body and its arms came out from its ears and while its legs came out from its neck; Pulsing flesh that looked like brains were plastered all over it with seemingly no rhyme or reason;

    The third was seemingly a ball of water. but its insides squirmed about with intestines that looked like they had been ripped right out of a human and preserved within the water; And. while it looked no different from water. the smell it gave off was that of a strong sulfuric acid. burning the nose hairs of even those hundreds of miles away;

    The others were all just as terrible, making them all look like science fair projects that had gone terribly wrong.

    "Kill him;"

    A ball of acid surged forward, suddenly forming a tsunami-like wall, the intestines within it becoming exposed to the air and combusting everything they came into contact with; The air caught on fire with a green flame that exuded a smell that made one''s stomach turn;

    The crimson werewolf took a step and vanished, becoming a line of fire as it rotated to Leonel''s back. Its speed was impossible to track with the naked eye, its claws slicing through the air to bisect Leonel from the hip.

    The flesh mech soared high about Leonel''s head, crashing down toward his panda construct''s head even as its parts sparked and oozed oil and brain juice.

    All the while, Leonel didn''t move a single inch, his crimson gaze still peering into Simeon''s soul.

    Simeon''s soul continued to shudder. For some reason, his body felt cold and no matter how he circulated his Force, he couldn''t heat himself up.

    Just when Leonel was about to be forced to take out attacks from all sides, an inconspicuous violet fog took form, forming pockets above him, below him, to his left, right and to his front and back.

    The violet fog swirled and suddenly sent ripples in space.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Simeon''s face suddenly paled to a sheet of white.

    All around Leonel, valiant warriors stepped out, wafting a royal violet fog that made them look like shimmering nebulas. They looked both real and unreal, both corporeal and incorporeal. However, each one of them dawned an armor that made one''s heart palpitate.

    What shook Simeon to his core, though, wasn''t this. Rather, it was the shields of Force they used to block his puppets and the auras they exuded.

    Before each valiant warrior, there was a barrier of thin transparent blue energy. Every so often, a ripple would appear over it every so often, especially when it was disrupted. When this ripple spread, the small dragon-like scales this barrier was formed by became slightly more obvious before it settled down again.

    This energyбн No, this Lineage Factorбн This was the Lineage Factor of the Adurna family!

    But even worse than that was the auras all of these valiant warriors exuded.

    Without fail, each and every one of them was in the Seventh Dimension.

    The portals of violet fog continued to pulse, more and more experts standing out one after another. Before Simeon could even blink once, more than a hundred had appeared, each of them wearing mighty violet armor.

    BANG!

    With a slight grunt, the valiant warriors caused Simeon''s puppets to implode, their bodies being shredded to pieces one after another.

    All at once, these valiant souls turned their heads toward Simeon.

    At that moment, it all sank in.

    Leonel wasn''t lying at all.

    The Adurna familyбн He had already wiped them out.

    Not only had he wiped them out, he snatched their souls from the afterlife to do battle for him.

    He was a demon.

    Simeon looked toward Leonel''s tilted head and his heart stopped beating entirely.

 Chapter 1761 Rise

    Chapter 1761 Rise

    The six valiant warriors around Leonel shot forward; Leonel didn''t even seem to need to personally control them at all; as though his gaze being focused on Simeon alone was enough to communicate everything that needed to be;

    Simeon''s expression warped, his pale features twisting as his lenses quickly rotated; It was clear that he couldn''t be casual any longer; The Seventh Dimensional experts of the four families weren''t individuals he could look down on, and somehow, they didn''t seem to have lost any strength at all after falling into Leonel''s clutches;

    Simeon couldn''t wrap his head around how Leonel could possibly control Seventh Dimensional souls to begin with, let alone so many of them at the same time; He didn''t even seem to be struggling;

    It was one thing for Simeon because his puppets were genetically modified; He didn''t have to actively maintain control over them, they were bred into slaves with his own unique mark; They were reared to have a sort of symbiotic relationship with him that forced them to listen to him no matter what; Other than directing them, he didn''t need to waste any stamina in controlling them;

    But Simeon knew Leonel didn''t have his Ability Index; And even if Leonel did, it was clear that this method wasn''t the same as his own; So how was this happening?!

    One after another; strong summons stepped out and surrounded Simeon; The more that appeared; the less grotesque and more normal they became; But it was precisely this that made them so much more powerful than the others; It was clear that the closer to normal evolution Simeon''s puppets reached; the more power they were able to output;

    An all out war broke out in the skies; Simeon might have only recently entered the Seventh Dimension in the last few years, but his number of Seventh Dimensional puppets wasn''t small; In fact, they outnumbered Leonel''s own;

    Unfortunately for him. though. the quality of Leonel''s was far beyond his own. And to make matters worseбн

    Ten of Simeon''s puppets managed to surround one of Leonel''s valiant warriors, their fists and legs lashing out all at once and suffocating it to the point it could react;

    BANG!

    The soul construct shattered. unable to withstand the blow.

    But just when Simeon''s puppets were about to rush toward another section of the battlefield, under his astonished gaze, the valiant warrior''s illusory pieces fused back together once more, throwing out a sudden punch that cause the puppets off guard and killed three of them in a singles trike;

    Simeon''s expression was ashen;

    Leonel only continued to walk forward slowly; closing in the distance with every stride; He felt invincible; as though there was absolutely nothing that could happen that could stop his forward momentum;

    Suddenly; Simeon realized how useless it was to take Leonel''s brothers as puppets; He couldn''t use them as bait or hostages; and Leonel didn''t even seem to react to their existence at all; What good were corpses in threatening a man who was living and breathing?

    He could tell that Leonel was doing it on purpose.

    With Leonel''s speed, how could he have not closed the distance yet?

    With his strength. how could he not have attacked directly yet?

    With his means, why wasn''t he a head on a pike yet?

    Leonel wanted him to feel despair; he wanted him to feel helpless; he wanted him to feel small; He wanted him to feel as though there was nothing in the world that could save him; no man; no God; no existence;

    For a moment, it seemed that Leonel himself was the one with six arms and three heads, he was the demon striding through the skies, what surrounded him wasn''t just a construct at all, it was a projection of the darkness in his soul;

    Suddenly, several roars rocked the skies. Hundreds of men and women with streaming tears in their eyes burst through the dense and dark storm clouds.

    Lightning crackled around them, sometimes even lashing against their skin, but they didn''t seem to notice at all. Their faces were already covered in soot, their clothes partially or almost entirely burnt off.

    It was clear at a glance who these individuals were. They were the survivors of Leonel''s devastation of the Moon, and for them to have survived such a thing there was no doubt that each and every one of them was an expert of the Seventh Dimension.

    Seeing this, Simeon finally breathed, seeing a small light of hope. The Brazingers were all warriors, and they were all more powerful in a state of fury. Simeon simply didn''t believe they couldn''t turn this around.

    However, in his search for a light of hope, Simeon had forgotten something very important: Leonel had already done this three times before.

    How had Leonel, a man merely at Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension, been able to fight a battle against so many absolute geniuses of the Seventh Dimension?

    The answer was that he hadn''t.

    Leonel continued to walk forward, his stride never changing. He wanted Simeon to feel the greatest despair. What greater despair was there than feeling a final light of hope, only for it to be shattered to pieces before even gaining a chance to bloom?

    бн

    High in the skies, barely within Earth''s orbit, the rotating canons of a flagship the size of a moon finally cooled. Slowly, it turned from facing the Moon toward Earth, a shift occurring through its artillery units one by one.

    бн

    Back on the Earth, the furious roars of the Brazinger family Seventh Dimensional experts caused the forest to tremble, the ground to quake and the tides to rise.

    The Earthlings on the ground could only turn pale, their blood running cold.

    "Hand over your life!"

    A fiery haired woman with tears streaming down her face was the first to arrive. Her sister had just died in her arms, just a small Fifth Dimensional expert who couldn''t survive in the harshness of space. What chance had she stood with the atmosphere of the Moon being burnt to ash?

    The fiery haired woman''s strength was unprecedented. Everywhere she passed, whether it was Simeon''s puppets or Leonel''s valiant warriors, they burst into a rain of blood and motes of light, unable to stop her for even a single moment.

    She appeared above Leonel''s head, her fist tearing through the void as she punched downward. Just the momentum of her strike alone caused Leonel''s panda construct to ripple and almost collapse.

    "Return my sister to me!"

    Her shrill shrieks curdled one''s blood, her hair furiously whipping out in all directions.

    However, right then, a beam of light that split the world in two descended.

    Leonel didn''t even turn back to face her. Her last sight in this world was the indifferent casualness of his back view.

    BANG!

    She was incinerated to ashes.

    Simeon froze. Hope had only appeared for a fleeting moment before it vanished in a buff of smoke and a rain of ash.

    All he could see in this world was the look in Leonel''s eyes as his lips slowly separated.

    "Rise."

    Leonel''s soft words reverberated through the world, causing a vortex of power to form around the ashes of the fallen woman.

    Soon, a valiant woman donning violet illusory armor appeared, her crimson hair fluttering as she kneeled toward Leonel, her head lowered in absolute obedience.

    [More chapters later today]

 Chapter 1762 Demon

    The soul construct quickly stood to her feet; her illusory crimson hair fluttering as she stood valiantly in the skies; She didn''t seem to have a single hint of the grievances of the past; and her aura only seemed to grow;

    "Kill!" she roared;

    The world fell into silence as the woman turned around and charged toward her fellow family members; Her previously shrill shrieks were still echoing through the skies, but after a moment, they faded, replaced by passionate roars; She even seemed to smile, as though she couldn''t be happier to battle for her pride of her Emperor;

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    She directly killed three warriors of the Brazinger family; It was clear that in their final moments. they hesitated. not knowing whether or not to attack. and yet that small gap in time was enough in a battle of Seventh Dimensional powerhouses;

    She laughed into the skies. her heroism booming beneath the flashing lightning. She became an arc of crimson herself as she flashed about.

    Everywhere she passed, another would fall, the strength she was exuding being enough to fill the hearts of true experts with respect and awe; However, for some reasonбн

    It just felt sad;

    Down below. Coach Owen and Old Hutch had been watching from the very beginning; Even with the raging torrent of battle around them. their eyes had never once left Leonel; Their expressions weren''t as happy as one might expect. even though the fate of the battle already seemed sealed. there was a hint of sadness in their eyes as well;

    Kind hearted people didn''t last very long in a world like this; And as such, there were only two paths for them to take; It was either they would lose their lives in the hands of others, or they would no longer be kind hearted peopleбн there didn''t seem to be a third option;

    Neither of them wanted to see Leonel die. so that necessarily meant that they hoped a day like this one would come. but seeing it for themselvesбн It left a bitter taste;

    Most of it felt like it could be ignored; Out of sight. out of mind; If you didn''t think too much about what was happening. it was easy to make excuses for it or sweep it under the rug; But the appearance of this woman was too jarring;

    No matter what. that would a woman who had just lost her younger sister. a grieving sibling who wanted nothing more than revenge on Leonel; Sure. there might have been a past where she had contributed to the death of others. and likely even the direct death of Earthlings. but what about her sister?

    How many had Leonel killed in that single assault on the Moon? How many were innocent? How many were vulnerable? How many were old men and women with only a few years left to enjoy? How many were children just starting out their lives?

    And maybe you could say that this was just a sin they would have to bear; After all, weren''t the people of Earth victims as well? But which of them had stepped forward to condemn what had happened and what had been about to happen before Leonel appeared? Which of them had said a thing? Which of them had refused?

    But even so. this was something the Leonel they knew was completely incapable of doing; And yet. not only had he done it now. he had done it four times over without batting a single eye;

    The two had no idea; These two mentors of Leonel had no idea that he had already made a choice far worse than this one just months ago; He had already chosen Aina over the worldбн So what if he chose his brothers over a mere four families?

    At that moment, the woman''s soul construct shattered for what felt like the hundredth time; This time, however, she didn''t seem capable of reforming; A large chunk of her torso had vanished and her entire right arm was nowhere to be seen;

    Even so, she laughed into the skies before punching out with her remaining arm and shoving it through the chest of an enemy;

    Another warrior took advantage and swung a mighty great sword down, severing her left arm.

    She lashed out with a leg, colliding against a head with her shin and cracking their skull into countless shards that pierced their brain through.

    Her legs were swept out from under her, quickly shattering beneath the pressure, and yet she still lunged forward, baring her teeth and ripping out the throat of the warrior who did it.

    Even in her final moments, she was endlessly valiant and she gave everything she had for her Emperor, not feeling the solemness of the atmosphere in the slightest, in fact, she felt nothing but elation and happiness, her laughter ironically grating on the ears of all those who heard.

    BANG!

    The woman''s head shattered, her laughter finally fading, and yet somehow still echoing in all of their minds. The looks they gave toward the young man who had summoned her had changed from fury, to trepidation, to outright fear.

    And that was exactly when the young Leonel''s lips separated once again.

    "Rise."

    One after another, every Brazinger the woman had killed began to rise up in a fog of violet, their souls appearing donned in armor that shone brighter than even the son.

    Without hesitation, they all turned toward Leonel and slammed their fists against their chests, the reverberating impact booming even over the sound of the thunder. Then, they swiftly turned toward their own friends and family, releasing war cries that shook the skies as they charged.

    The hearts of the spectators went absolutely cold.

    They knew without a doubt that Leonel had done it on purpose. He could have beckoned them to revive even while the woman was fighting, but it was as though he wanted them all to personally witness her final moments, as though he wanted to force them to witness it all from start to finish.

    From her harrowing sorrow, to her valiant laugh and brave charge, he forced them to watch, all while he himself didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    "Demonбн Demonбн"

    Simeon stumbled backward, his will to fight having vanished into thin air.

    He tripped and fell, falling over the side of the platform that had once held him up.

    [Announcement below]

 Chapter 1763 Update

    Will quickly lay out what''s happening on my side so that you guys understand what''s going on. Doing my best to try to get chapters out. but promises are hard right about now

    The east of Canada and where I''m currently at (Ottawa), is suffering from some freezing rain weather currently; The weather has caused trees to collapse on electricity lines, taking out the power in large sections of the city and even the wifi and cellular connectivity in some parts;

    The power was out at my place so I went to a friend''s who had power, but his wifi and cell service was out; I had to park outside a pizza shop with wifi to get this out; Big L''s all around; I''ll do my best to get today''s chapters out (including replacing this one with a real chapter), but if things don''t go my way, that will potentially be impossible;

    Here''s to hoping that things get fixed soon; It might not be possible for me to post any updates in the near future if they don''t, so if you guys don''t see anything just assume I couldn''t make it work;

    Sorry about this guys, I''ll try to implement some sort of reward system again to make this up in the future if I can''t. <3

    --------- *Repeats to hit thousand word minimum*---------

    Will quickly lay out what''s happening on my side so that you guys understand what''s going on; Doing my best to try to get chapters out; but promises are hard right about now

    The east of Canada and where I''m currently at (Ottawa); is suffering from some freezing rain weather currently; The weather has caused trees to collapse on electricity lines; taking out the power in large sections of the city and even the wifi and cellular connectivity in some parts;

    The power was out at my place so I went to a friend''s who had power; but his wifi and cell service was out; I had to park outside a pizza shop with wifi to get this out; Big L''s all around; I''ll do my best to get today''s chapters out (including replacing this one with a real chapter); but if things don''t go my way; that will potentially be impossible;

    Here''s to hoping that things get fixed soon; It might not be possible for me to post any updates in the near future if they don''t; so if you guys don''t see anything just assume I couldn''t make it work;

    Sorry about this guys, I''ll try to implement some sort of reward system again to make this up in the future if I can''t; <3

    Will quickly lay out what''s happening on my side so that you guys understand what''s going on. Doing my best to try to get chapters out. but promises are hard right about now

    The east of Canada and where I''m currently at (Ottawa), is suffering from some freezing rain weather currently; The weather has caused trees to collapse on electricity lines, taking out the power in large sections of the city and even the wifi and cellular connectivity in some parts;

    The power was out at my place so I went to a friend''s who had power; but his wifi and cell service was out; I had to park outside a pizza shop with wifi to get this out; Big L''s all around; I''ll do my best to get today''s chapters out (including replacing this one with a real chapter); but if things don''t go my way; that will potentially be impossible;

    Here''s to hoping that things get fixed soon; It might not be possible for me to post any updates in the near future if they don''t; so if you guys don''t see anything just assume I couldn''t make it work;

    Sorry about this guys, I''ll try to implement some sort of reward system again to make this up in the future if I can''t. <3

    Will quickly lay out what''s happening on my side so that you guys understand what''s going on; Doing my best to try to get chapters out, but promises are hard right about now

    The east of Canada and where I''m currently at (Ottawa); is suffering from some freezing rain weather currently; The weather has caused trees to collapse on electricity lines; taking out the power in large sections of the city and even the wifi and cellular connectivity in some parts;

    The power was out at my place so I went to a friend''s who had power. but his wifi and cell service was out. I had to park outside a pizza shop with wifi to get this out. Big L''s all around. I''ll do my best to get today''s chapters out (including replacing this one with a real chapter). but if things don''t go my way. that will potentially be impossible.

    Here''s to hoping that things get fixed soon. It might not be possible for me to post any updates in the near future if they don''t, so if you guys don''t see anything just assume I couldn''t make it work.

    Sorry about this guys. I''ll try to implement some sort of reward system again to make this up in the future if I can''t. <3

    Will quickly lay out what''s happening on my side so that you guys understand what''s going on. Doing my best to try to get chapters out, but promises are hard right about now

    The east of Canada and where I''m currently at (Ottawa), is suffering from some freezing rain weather currently. The weather has caused trees to collapse on electricity lines, taking out the power in large sections of the city and even the wifi and cellular connectivity in some parts.

    The power was out at my place so I went to a friend''s who had power, but his wifi and cell service was out. I had to park outside a pizza shop with wifi to get this out. Big L''s all around. I''ll do my best to get today''s chapters out (including replacing this one with a real chapter), but if things don''t go my way, that will potentially be impossible.

    Here''s to hoping that things get fixed soon. It might not be possible for me to post any updates in the near future if they don''t, so if you guys don''t see anything just assume I couldn''t make it work.

    Sorry about this guys, I''ll try to implement some sort of reward system again to make this up in the future if I can''t. <3

 Chapter 1764 Imperatress

    [Previous chapter has been replaced with a real chapter; read it first; If you cannot see the update; go to profile>settings>clear cache; For those who don''t understand why a chapter had to be replaced; the announcement is below]

    "You are luckyбн" Leonel suddenly said as Simeon breathed his last few breaths; "бн If not for your own foolishness, I would have made you suffer a fate far worse than thisбн"

    Amidst his cackles and deliriousness, Simeon just barely managed to understand Leonel''s words and they left him both stunned and infuriated; Was Leonel trying to say that he had showed mercy? This was the funniest thing he had ever heard in this short life of his;

    However. before Simeon could think any further. the hand of Leonel''s panda construct squeezed down. shattering what remained of Simeon to pieces; From start to finish. Simeon never managed to threaten Leonel even a single time;

    "Rise." Leonel commanded;

    Simeon''s soul was snatched in its attempt to dissipate, forming his body one again as his eight lenses felt into his illusory hands.

    Simeon caught them and kneeled, bending his head from so far that his forehead nearly passed his knees.

    Leonel didn''t even look at Simeon. raising his head to look below; He stood in the skies. carnage and blood flowing in rivers behind him; He wasn''t the only one in the skies. his cousin Noah had approached and hadn''t left from the very beginning. and yet it still felt that things were like this;

    Leonel was both close and yet so far. so near and yet so unfathomably transcendent; It was hard to look at him like a hero. but it was also almost impossible not to; Even so. one could tell by his demeanor that he simply didn''t a damn anymore;

    Becoming a King? An Emperor? A light to the masses, a hero to the many? He couldn''t be bothered to care.

    Simeon''s soul construct rose to his feet and quickly helped raise Raj and Drake to the feet. placing them on the platform before putting it on his own back and respectfully waiting for Leonel;

    Leonel stepped forward without a word. vanishing in the blink of an eye; Simeon rushed after him. vanishing into the dark clouds above like an obedient servant;

    Not long later. the clouds slowly began to disperse and the wrath of the emperor vanished as well; Leonel''s descent had brought thunder and darkness; His departure gave way to rays of sunlight. and yet the ominous atmosphere still hung. omnipresent and resilient;

    Leonel''s brothers stood with their fists still clenched, their tears rolling down their cheeks; They already knew that the Leonel they knew was longer among them;

    **

    Leonel stepped onto his flagship with an indifferent expression; His heart didn''t have the slightest fluctuation and his breath remained steady; Even after wiping out four families. committing what could only be described as mass genocide. his steps didn''t feel any heavier. his shoulders didn''t feel any more burdensome;

    "Speak." Leonel said indifferently; There was only one person he could be talking to. and that was. of course. Simeon;

    The reason Leonel didn''t care about Simeon''s so-called information was because he could get it out of him whenever he wanted; With a soul in his possession, he was essentially under control of everything this person had ever known, and the most fearsome part was that they had no ability to resist; In this state, Leonel''s Emperor''s Charm was its absolute strongest and his charisma was on a completely different level;

    Not only were his soul constructs sentient, they were also endlessly loyal.

    He had heard of others who had necromancer-like abilities. But he didn''t have to deal with the restrictions many of them did. Outside of the initial investment of Dream Force and his will power, he didn''t need to invest anything else if he didn''t want to.

    He could take control of hundreds of Seventh Dimensional existences with ease before he felt any sort of burden, and that was because much of the strength needed came from the original soul owner to begin with. Leonel''s only job was to give the soul form and stop it from dissipating. In fact, he didn''t even need to invest stamina into control as that was all done passively by his Emperor''s Charm.

    On top of that, if he really wanted to control them, he could, using his intelligence to make efficient use of their power. But in most cases, it was better to simply allow them to fight with their usual battle style, something they were the most familiar with.

    Of course, there were problems as well, these weaknesses coming from the fact that Leonel didn''t have access to [Emperor''s Command: Breathe] and [Emperor''s Command: Assimilate].

    Currently, Leonel could only stop these souls from dissipating for a single day. After a 24 hour period, no matter what he did, even if he tried to use the Arise command again, it would be useless. This was why among the Seventh Dimensional soul constructs he came with, he only had Adurna family members as they were the last he destroyed before he came back to Earth.

    If Leonel''s assumption was correct, the Breathe command should be a method of tethering a soul to the real world on a more permanent basis. Without it, Leonel would always be limited in this way.

    In addition, as the soul constructs took damage, this 24 hour period was fed upon to reform it, thus cutting it down further. Depending on the damage, more time was lost.

    This was simply how things went. There was no technique or ability in existence without any drawbacks.

    "Yes, Your Imperial Highness! My inferior self wanted to use information about the Brazinger family and the other Great families as a bargaining chip!

    "The first thing my inferior self wanted to let Imperial Highness know was that among the number killed, Your Imperial Highness'' Empress'' worst enemy was not among them. The woman, Imperatress Anselma, is hidden within a special realm of the Brazinger family.

    "The second thing my inferior self wanted Imperial Highness to know is the existence of these special realms. The current showing of the Great Families is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.

    "This inferior servant''s status is lowly and does not know much else, but what this inferior servant does know is that there are certain rules and restrictions restraining the Great Families from acting as they please."

 Chapter 1765 Smoothly

    "Where are these hidden realms."

    "This servant does not know; Your Imperial Highness;"

    "Have you never been there?"

    "I have, Your Imperial Highness, and I can enter as I please, however this method relies on my fleshly body and I will not be recognized in this state;"

    "You can enter freely but you do not know where it is?"

    "Correct, Your Imperial Highness; So long as I or any member of the Great Families had been within Earth''s jurisdiction, we could enter;"

    "And why is it that you didn''t use this method to escape when you couldn''t escape from my hands?"

    "This lowly servant was unable to due to certain restrictions, Your Imperial Highness; The process requires time and can be easily interrupted by outside influences;"

    Leonel could only lay down the killing intent in his heart for now; If there was no method, then it seemed that his killing spree would have to pause hereбн for now;

    "If this lowly one might be presumptuous. Your Imperial Highness."

    "Speak;" Leonel said indifferently; somewhat knowing what Simeon wanted to say;

    "This lowly servant is lowly even among the Brazingersбн"

    Leonel nodded to himself, he had already guessed this; Back when he faced the patrol leader, he had deduced that Simeon was far too weak for the kind of status he seemed to have;

    "бн The reason this lowly servant was able to demand some prestige is because of who my father is; My father and siblings all command great strength within the Brazinger family; However; while my Ability Index is good; my body has always been weak and I was thus tasked with overseeing things on the outside and I was not privy to many secrets;

    "However; this lowly servant does know some things; For example; the main family seems to have specifically bred the Brazingers on the outside to perform certain tasks; If this lowly one''s understanding is correct; then Brazinger family members with a certain level of potency of Lineage Factor cannot exist the hidden realm;

    "A step further than that. if this lowly one is correct. then the potency is decided by the level of Earth; The stronger Earth''s territory becomes. the stronger members of the Brazinger family and other Great Families can make their presences known;

    "As for why this is, this lowly one does not know or understand; But what this servant can tell Your Imperial Highness is that the last time the Great Families sent out a large contingent was after Earth''s Sixth Dimensional evolutionбн They have yet to do so since Earth entered the Seventh Dimension because it was deemed unnecessary;

    "With Your Imperial Highnesses actions. howeverбн"

    Simeon''s soul construct froze, a wild ripple fluctuating through it and nearly causing it to collapse entirely, never to return;

    A malevolent aura rolled off of Leonel in waves;

    "Good;" He said in a soft voice that somehow caused the flagship to quake; "The more they send; the better; My blade hasn''t been satisfied yet;"

    Simeon shivered, but his gaze was filled with fanaticism; If it wasn''t because he knew well that his Imperial Highness was disgusted with him, he would have knelt down and kissed his feet;

    "Imperial Highness will be sure to crush them all!" Simeon roared out beside himself. supporting Leonel''s momentum. "The members of the Brazinger family are powerful. but they will be no match for Your Highness!"

    Leonel didn''t respond to Simeon, he felt no need to;

    If the Brazingers they had sent out for the Sixth Dimensional evolution of Earth were already so powerful. there was no need to talk about the kind of monsters they had in reserve. However Leonel wanted them to come. whether it was for Aina. or his brothersбн

    He hadn''t let enough blood rain yet.

    "Put them down," Leonel said coldly.

    Simeon hurried to follow Leonel''s orders, placing the platform above his head on the ground carefully.

    "Bring out the others."

    Simeon understood what Leonel meant without explanation, the benefit of a soul construct. Quickly, he brought Leonel''s other brothers. As expected, he had gotten them all. Milan, Franco and Gil came out and stood beside Raj and Drake, all of them having the very same dull gaze.

    This was exactly why Leonel had said that Simeon was lucky. If he hadn''t done this, Leonel would have showed him just how cruel he could be. As far as Leonel was concerned, being burned alive was a show of mercy on his part.

    Under normal circumstances, Leonel would be helpless to do anything. However, because the corpses of his four brothers had been preserved and manipulated by Simeon, small portions of their souls were still present and had yet to dissipate.

    As a resultбн

    Leonel flipped over a palm and the silver tablet appeared.

    With this, he could bring the five of them back. If their souls had dissipated, even the silver tablete would be able to do nothing. But by a twist of fate, all thanks to Simeon''s sadistic actions, his brothers had a chance.

    "Rise." Leonel commanded.

    **

    As Leonel yearned to bring his brothers back, news of his actions during the last few days finally began to circulate before they made it back to a particular man, Patriarch Graros, the leader of the Chaotic Water Sector.

    "He did what?"

    Graros sat up entirely, his pupils constricted into pinholes. It took him a long time to calm down, his heart still beating eratically even in the end. But, he still maintained his rationality, remembering the kind of backing and trump cards he had in his hands.

    "So he used the flagship to commit murder, correct? That''s exactly the smoking gun we need. To think that I didn''t need those schemes at all, he went and did it himself. Let Cross Elder Avan''s know that he can at personally. He doesn''t need to touch Leonel at all, just retrieve the flagship, everything will be simple after that."

    Leonel had scanned the flagship from head to toe, there simply weren''t any tracking devices, nor any methods of directly coming to him. But there was one failsafe that he couldn''t see through even if he knew it was there, one hidden within its nuclear fusion core. Just probing the general vicinity was too difficult and could damage his soul, let alone if he tried to reach its hidden depths where this mechanism was hidden.

    Shield Cross Stars was a protector of humanity, they couldn''t allow rogue Officers to do as they pleased. As such, whenever one of their warships was used to kill, there was a method of marking down exactly what happened and relaying it to the Shield Cross Stars upper management. This was meant to fight against corruption.

    In order to stop powerful officers who were often in control of such mechanisms from hiding their actions, the failsafe was tied to the power core itself. Every time an attack was powered, the core would register it. If a death was noted, it would be permanently recorded.

    The process of sending this information back to the Shield Cross Stars'' headquarters would reveal the position of the flagship, but most importantly, a Cross Elder would be able to act directly. This was exactly what Graros wanted.

    Once this was done, the next step of Graros'' plan would flow all too smoothly.

 Chapter 1766 Quake

    Leonel''s Dream Force surged; enveloping the puppet forms of his brothers; His face immediately went pale under the strain; Compared to resurrecting a soul that had just fallen and this; the difficulty was several orders of magnitude separated;

    In that instant, Leonel didn''t hesitate to purge the souls he still had under his control; They would only last for a few more hours regardless, between that and his brothers, the answer was all too obvious; The only one he kept in his possession was Simeon because he still hadn''t finished asking all the questions he needed to just yet;

    Slowly. Leonel extricated what remained of his brother''s soul. slowly nurturing them to the point they became whole once more; But. rather than taking the final step and giving them form. he brought the silver tablet forward;

    Leonel wasn''t actually sure if this would work; From what he originally knew about the silver; it was only designed to be used with the Zone in specific; He had tried to experiment with it before; but it had no reaction in the face of death;

    However. the Leonel of the past and the current Leonel were vastly different; Now. he could directly control soul; Theoretically. the reaction the silver tablet had now should be different from the past; If the souls were provided to it. instead of just a normal corpse. there was no reason why it would react differently;

    With Leonel''s current perspective; he knew that the constructs hidden within the silver tablet were actually just souls that the silver tablet was preserving; Somehow the silver tablet could replicate some of the abiltiies of the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor and seemingly with even far greater ease; It only made Leonel more curious as to the true origins of this tablet;

    Leonel''s pupils suddenly constricted;

    He sensed it right then; The silver tablet had reached some sort of peak capacity; If he wanted to use it on his brothers, he would need toбн

    Leonel hadn''t expected this; The souls of his brothers had actually all reached the Seventh Dimension already, and this very clearly placed a great amount of strain on the silver tablet; In fact, Leonel had a feeling that this was probably the limit of the silver tablet;

    But this only made sense; Aina''s father had a bronze tablet that seemingly had the exact same functions; There had to be something that separated them; and this seemed to be it; If Leonel was correct; the limit of the Silver Tablet was probably in preserving and resurrecting Seventh Dimensional souls;

    Leonel''s expression went cold; He knew his decision would kill the souls that remained in the silver tablet; but he didn''t hesitate to make the choice; With a thought; he allowed his brothers'' souls into the silver tablet; causing large swaths of the remaining souls within to disperse one after another;

    "Anastasia. convert the remaining resources into Pure Neutral Qi."

    The remaining resources Leonel was referring to were the raw ores and Force Crystals he had managed to save in constructing his Divine Armors by making use of the abilities of the Cleansing Waters; He ended up needing less than half of the resources he had traded for back then, and now they would come in handy in bringing his brothers back to him;

    The Segmented Cube was still a finger sleeve on Leonel''s hand. so it wasn''t difficult for Leonel to access it and communicate with Anastasia. In just a few moments. a concentrated stream of pure energy began to emit from his finger. pouring into the silver tablet.

    Leonel watched with a gaze as steely as cool metal, his heartbeat steady.

    If this worked. then everything would be fine. If it didn''t. he would show those so-called Great Families true pain. He didn''t care what their true origin was. he would bury them all.

    The silver tablet trembled and five beams of light shot out, motes of light rotating and quickly taking form. Only when Leonel saw this did he breathe a slight breath of relief, but even then, there was still a hint of trepidation within him.

    It was one thing to bring the likes of Elthor or his King Oryx father back to life, after all, Leonel didn''t have much interaction with them. However, he was far more worried about this. What if they were no longer the same? Was life and death really so easy to play around with? And what about the state of the souls, what if the issues they had were due to this forced method he was using?

    With Leonel''s speed of thought, he thought of dozens of potential issues per breath, and they only seemed to snowball into larger and larger problems until he stopped breathing entirely.

    One after another, the motes of lights solidified into five bodies that slowly opened their eyes one after another.

    The five looked around and met each other''s gazes first, seemingly in a daze.

    Raj blinked, locking eyes with Milan before he jumped so high his head nearly hit the ceiling, his rotund stomach rolling in waves.

    "FUCK! GHOST!"

    "Ghost?" Milan was confused for a second before he looked down at himself and then back up again. Suddenly, he felt enraged for no reason. "Who the hell''s the ghost?! You''re the ghost! Are you trying to curse me to death?!"

    Milan swiped at the air and jumping Raj suddenly found a bubble of Force surrounding him. The bubble of Force shook wildly, causing Raj to bounce around and end up too dizzy to see straight.

    "Let me out you ghost! Dammit!" Raj roared and a strong surge of Earth Force shot out in all directions.

    "Call me a ghost one more time, jigglytubby!"

    "Fuck, you''re here too rabbit ears?" Gil was so distracted by Raj and Milan that he only now noticed that Franco was right next to him. "Why are you naked? Even if you want to be a pervert, there should be a limit, right?"

    Franco was speechless before he suddenly mumbled to himself. "Did I end up in the same fiery pit as this idiot? No way, I had more karma than that. Where''s god, I have a few words for him. Which pair of eyes did he use to judge my life, what the fuck is this?"

    "Probably the same pair of eyes that saw you fuck Marcy''s sister while she was downstairs having an argument with her parents about you," Gil jabbed back.

    "He saw that and still put me here? That should have been in my highlight reel!"

    Drake was the most silent of them all, but when he looked around and his eyes landed on Leonel, they couldn''t help but open wide.

    "Captain!"

    The sudden yell snapped them all awake and their heads snapped toward Leonel all at once.

    Leonel was stunned for a moment as well before he suddenly burst into a laughter that rocked the entire flagship, he laughed so hard that tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Other than his brothers, who else would react like this after snubbing death?

    They didn''t even waste any time before they were suddenly at each other''s throats, they didn''t even notice his presence.

    Just when Leonel wanted to say something more, the entire flagship quaked, but this time, he was sure it had nothing to do with his laughter.

 Chapter 1767 Change

    Leonel and his brothers looked up all at once. their expressions turning cold all at once.

    Leonel was immediately infuriated; His brothers had just come back to him, and yet instead of having some time to catch up, some fool who didn''t know better was already threatening them; There didn''t seem to be even a single moment of rest for him;

    The six brothers'' gazes met and they all shot toward the outside of the flagship all at once, nothing really caring about their clothing; Even the most clothed among them, Leonel, was practically naked given the ragged state of his clothing; None of this, though, was able to slow their steps;

    When they made it outside. Leonel''s pupils constricted;

    The Force barrier protecting the flagship was already in a heavily damaged state; seemingly just an attack or two away from collapsing entirely; In the skies; an old man with a fluttering mustache; Just seeing him; Leonel felt his heart palpitate; This man was the strongest existence he had ever been so close to; The difference was so large that it felt as though an oppressive mountain was weighing down on his shoulders;

    However. even while Leonel was thinking this. the expression of Cross Elder Avan was incredibly ugly. It should have taken him only a single strike to pierce through the barrier. but he had already attacked twice and yet it was still up. what the hell was going on?

    Of course. in order to enter Earth''s territory. Avan had to suffer a suppression of his strength. after all. he wasn''t an Earthling. nor was he born in any of the territories it had recently swallowed up; However. Shield Cross Stars had failsafe measures to deal with situations like this;

    The badge on his hip currently was designed to directly shut down the flagship and strip its control away from Leonel; With this badge. it should have only taken him a single strike to pierce through its defenses and the attacks of the flagship would be useless against him. and yet things had clearly not worked out properly;

    Cross Elder Avan realized at that moment that if the badge didn''t work on the Force barrier, then didn''t that mean that it wouldn''t work in protecting him against the flagship''s attacks as well?

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. his fragmented Bow Domain Lineage Factor immediately activating as he locked eyes with the badge; He noticed its oddities almost immediately;

    Leonel had seen through a lot of the counter measures of Shield Cross Stars and he had undone them all, or so he thought; The fact a single Seventh Dimensional existence could crack the Force barrier like this must mean that his counter measures weren''t as perfect as he thought;

    ''The energy core!''

    Leonel immediately deduced the issue; He had turned the entire flagship on its head and he had a perfect replica of each one of its individual parts down to the small bolt; There was only one location where such a counter measure could possibly be hidden, the nuclear fusion core!

    Toward this, Leonel was helpless to do anything; Modifying that region was too dangerous;

    ''There a chance that this old man has more strength than what he''s showing as well. and if that''s trueбн''

    Leonel''s expression turned cold and he waved a hand; In that moment. the number of clones he had in the flagship more than tripled; In an instant. the canons aimed in the skies and pulsed. prepare to fire;

    "Fuck!"

    Cross Elder Avan''s eyes widened.

    When he heard that Leonel was able to precision aim the canons of the flagship to target individuals on a one person scale, he had found it ridiculous; The flagship was designed to aim at other warships, asteroids and planets, the margin for error was too large to think of aiming for a single person; Doing so was like trying to use a blow dart to kill a fly from a hundred kilometers away;

    Such a level of precision was simply impossible, especially not when the target could move.

    So why did Avan suddenly feel the scent of death?

    BOOM!

    The canons unleashed and Cross Elder Avan roared, slapping his palms together and allowing a tsunami of Force to envelop him from all sides.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. This was the same Ability Index that Milan had, the Energy Shield Ability Index. But at this level, it was a completely different monster.

    BOOM!

    The man was swallowed whole by the beams of blinding light as the starry skies illuminated.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. ''The power is only 10% of what it should be. As expected, the core of it all is in the nuclear fusion core, it''s been compromised. Somehow, the energy that comes from it is being mutated, disallowing it from harming those with that badge. If not for the modifications I made, it wouldn''t have even have 10% left.''

    As the beam cleared, Cross Elder Avan appeared, shielded behind a mighty Force barrier that almost looked corporeal. It floated with Runes dancing across its surface. It truly seemed as though it was alive.

    Cross Elder Avan''s fiery temper threatened to spill over, plumes of fire flickering within the depths of his eyes.

    His barrier quaked slightly, but there wasn''t a single crack on it. It was clear that he had weathered its strength without much issue. If not for him being caught off guard by the rumors being true, he wouldn''t have been flustered in the first place.

    However, in the time it took him to form his defenses, the cracked barriers of the flagship had recovered.

    Leonel stood with a cold expression, his mind churning. He didn''t actually believe that his father''s threat would give him some omnipresent and omnidirectional protection, however he was still somewhat shocked that someone would dare to attack him so openly like this, and especially while he was so close to Earth. In addition, this person seemed to be from Shield Cross Stars, how bold.

    ''Something''s changed, there must be something this person is relying on. If not, why not just use the Patriarch of the Chaotic Water Sector to find my location and use that badge to take me out much earlier, why wait until now? Unlessбн''

    "Who the hell are you?" Leonel asked coldly.

 Chapter 1768 Blame

    Cross Elder Avan''s expression wasn''t good being questioned by a junior so rudely; He didn''t expect to be placed in this situation to begin with; According to his original intentions; he would have already been on the flagship by now; teaching Leonel a lesson; He would have conveniently taken the opportunity to capture Leonel back; but nowбн

    "Your Imperial Highness, this man should be Cross Elder Avan of Shield Cross Stars; His status is very high; He is an Eighth Dimensional expert and he can almost make unilateral decisions in regards to the movements of Shield Cross Stars;"

    At that moment, Simeon''s soul construct suddenly spoke, causing Leonel''s gaze to narrow even further; As he had expected, Cross Elder Avan was a true powerhouse;

    The Human Domain didn''t have any Eighth Dimensional worlds; As such; any Eighth Dimensional experts usually had to use methods of restricting their own strength just to be able to stay in their homes; In addition; just crossing the barrier to the Eighth Dimension to begin with was a huge test in and of itself because it required leaving the Human Domain to succeed;

    The fact that Cross Elder Avan had succeeded not only gave him exceptionally high status among Shield Cross Stars; but also among humans in general; The human race truly didn''t have many experts of this caliber; the number was less than a hundred in comparison to their population of trillions upon trillions;

    Leonel didn''t bother to care about why Simeon knew of this for now, he would deal with one problem at a time. Dealing with such an expert would require his full attention.

    The first time Leonel met a Seventh Dimensional expert as a Fifth Dimensional expert himself was during his interaction with Wise Star Order; Back then; he had been entirely outclassed; Although Cross Elder Avan was restricted; there was no telling what kind of abilities he had; If not for the flagship; Leonel would have already been in his clutches;

    "Brat, I would advise you hand over the flagship and obediently hand yourself in;"

    "Cap; this old man''s more annoying than coach; Look at the mustache; is it a rite of passage for you legion of stick up the ass old men to all have rats on your lips?" Raj scoffed; "At least coach isn''t bald; no wonder this old man''s so jaded;"

    Raj had no idea what had happened; nor did he understand the context; but he didn''t care; Even in the worst case that Leonel was in the wrong; he would just turn a blind eye; The moment he saw that mustache; he was already having flashbacks to running sprints under the beaming sun and he lashed out;

    Leonel, who was trying to be serious, couldn''t help but smile;

    Cross Elder Avan''s expression turn malevolent; He couldn''t'' remember the last time someone had dared to talk to him like this;

    Just as he was about to say something. a swirling portal of green-gold appeared in the skies.

    Leonel''s eyes widened;

    At that moment, a middle-aged man wearing robes embroidered with coiling five-clawed dragons stepped out; His hands were clasped behind his back, his expression indifferent and unmoved as he appeared before Cross Elder Avan;

    Now that Leonel thought about it. this was the first time he had ever seen his grandfather upright. let alone moving. Every time they had met. he was either sitting in meditation or seated on a throne. and the differenceбн it was striking.

    Emperor Fawkes'' every movement seemed to cause the laws of the world to shimmer and bend, even the dragons on his imperial robes seeming far more alive.

    Without a word, Emperor Fawkes stood just a single meter from Cross Elder Avan. The difference in their height was striking with Avan being a full head shorter, although much stockier.

    Emperor Fawkes'' head suddenly turned and he looked toward Earth that loomed in the nearby distance. It seemed that he was checking if he wasn''t crazy. Indeed, his Imperial Palace was within sight, and yet this person had still come here, in his territory, to stir trouble.

    Emperor Fawkes'' head turned back toward Cross Elder Avan.

    "Leave." Emperor Fawkes said lightly.

    His robes fluttered as he looked down toward Avan, the lack of wind seemingly not mattering in the slightest.

    "Youбн" Avan''s eyes widened with fury.

    However, before he could speak, a blinding gold light appeared to Emperor Fawkes'' back as a scroll slowly unfurled.

    "I said, leave."

    The entirety of Earth''s territory trembled and Leonel''s eyes opened wide. In the blink of an eye, Cross Elder Avan''s vanished to places seemingly unknownбн And yet Leonel was absolutely certain that he was exported out of Earth''s territory entire with a single spoken word.

    His grandfather''s range of control was so large?!

    Emperor Fawkes casually turned back toward Leonel, his expression indifferent.

    "Don''t you have a job to do? Get to it."

    Emperor Fawkes didn''t seem to care to mention the massacre of the Brazingers that had occurred just moments ago. With a step, he vanished.

    Leonel fell into silence, his expression serious.

    So Shield Cross Stars could find him if he used the flagship to kill, but that didn''t change much. Somehow, the Chaotic Water Sector was able to do the same thing. The real problem was that they had methods of weakening his flagship''s power output and its defenses. If they really wanted to cause issues, just handing such methods to those causing trouble in Earth''s territory would make the situation far more dangerous.

    бн

    Cross Elder Avan''s flashed out of the void, his body sliding back in the depths of space until he came to a grinding halt. His clothing was disordered and his mustache bristled, a hint of shock in the depths of his eyes. He still couldn''t quite wrap his head around what had just happened.

    This was supposed to be easy, just what had happened?

    Fury built up within his chest with nowhere to be vented.

    "Goodбн Goodбн Goodбн Then don''t blame me, then."

 Chapter 1769 May

    Leonel stood in silence for a moment before he looked around with a smile; The weight in his chest seemed to have been lowered somewhat;

    He didn''t even care to consider what had happened in the last few days; he just felt content at the moment; His only regret was that his brothers had actually gone through so much growing without him; In this time; they had actually gone ahead and stepped into the Seventh Dimension well before him;

    This wasn''t too surprising, though; Given the talent of the people of Earth, not to mention the sheer number of resources Earth and its surrounding planets were spewing out constantly, it wasn''t too shocking that they could reach such a stage relying on the Conventional Path;

    Although it was slightly regretful that they hadn''t taken the God Path; Leonel could tell that they didn''t have much of a choice in the matter; When Leonel last met them; they were only at the lower Tiers of the Fifth Dimension; Between then and now; Earth had faced several existential crises; It wasn''t as though they could take their time to grow in such a situation; Emna was definitely far luckier in this regard;

    Even so; as Leonel had learned long ago; taking the Conventional Path didn''t guarantee one''s weakness; If they reforged their foundations with the help of the demon corpses as well; their chances at squeezing out their full potential would skyrocket;

    Plus. the root of talent that separated the people of Earth from others came not from their base Dimension. but rather their Ability Indexes. and from what Leonel could tell from their casual jokes from earlier. his brothers had refined their Ability Indexes to a shocking degree.

    Leonel''s expression flickered for a moment and he vanished for a moment; When he reappeared. there were three more young men standing with him. all three of whom carried confused expressions until their eyes suddenly widened;

    Joel. Arnold and Allan weren''t as wild with their reactions as the others would be. but even so. it took everything in them not to scream out "ghost!" as well.

    "Ah!" Raj charged over and swept the three into a bear hug before they could react;

    The three couldn''t even react. their minds still ringing; Was this an illusion? Had they slipped into such a thing? It wasn''t impossible. but hadn''t they been in human territory? Unless that was an illusion too?

    It wasn''t until they felt Raj''s members swinging against their legs that they snapped out of it;

    "Dammit, Raj! Put on some damn clothes!" Joel suddenly roared, pushing away and taking three hurried steps back.

    Raj burst into laughter. his stomach jiggling; His hips gyrated as he rushed after Joel. his entire body seemed to roll in a circular pattern. the sickening slapping noise of skin echoing through the flagship;

    "Don''t run Joel. you''re hurting my feelings. don''t you love me?"

    "Fuck!"

    Joel turned and booked it; Ever since he and Leonel got caught sleeping in each other''s arms and got themselves printed onto a t-shirt. he had been trying his best to avoid moments like this; All his usual composure flew out of the window; And yet. even as he ran. his eyes turned red as a wild grin spread across his face;

    **

    It took a while, but the brothers finally sat together once more, circling around a table with smiles on their faces;

    "Really though, cap, when''d you become a god? I''m kinda scared," Franco asked;

    "Ahбн" Leonel scratched his head; Honestly, he was only 20% sure that his method would work; The greatest limitation he had thought the silver tablet had was that its resurrection ability would only work on the Zone, but he had never thought that he would gain the ability to manipulate souls which allowed him to circumvent that method; The only limitation he had to contend with now was the Seventh Dimension;

    It was a bit unfortunate that so many lives were permanently lost to give his brothers a chance to live again, but Leonel knew he would make the same choice again even if it was presented to him once more. It was no longer that difficult of a choice to him.

    Leonel didn''t really know how to explain it, so he just laid out everything honestly.

    After his brothers heard the truth, they looked toward one another. Didn''t that mean that so long as they had enough energy to exchange and their souls didn''t disperse, they would be basically immortal until they died of natural causes?

    Of course, Leonel would have to stay alive since he was the only one who could manipulate souls, but this was definitely a game changer. And, they couldn''t enter the Eighth Dimension or else the silver tablet wouldn''t be able to withstand their resurrection process.

    But thisбн

    "It feels different from that as well," Drake suddenly said. He was the most conscientious of them all, so he noticed almost immediately. "After I entered the Seventh Dimension, I felt like my progress had slowed to a crawl, but now it feels like all sorts of bottlenecks were suddenly opened up."

    Leonel''s eyes flickered.

    This wasn''t too surprising. The other ability of the silver tablet was clearing bottlenecks and allowing faster progression. After it rebuilt their bodies, it seemed that it had given them a path forward to progress faster as well.

    They were all in Tier 1 of the Seventh Dimension, in fact even after many years, Joel, Arnold and Allan were only in Tier 2. But now, it seemed that there was another chance for them.

    "Unfortunately, we don''t have much time to tease out the details of right now. You guys must know that Earth is in a bit of trouble right now, some of which may or may not have been caused by me," Leonel rubbed his nose.

    The nine brothers looked toward one another before bursting into a fit of laughter. "May"? A lot of it was definitely caused by Leonel, but did it matter? They were in this together.

 Chapter 1770 Big News

    Earth''s territory; Etching Metal Organization;

    The situation in the Etching Metal Organization had been tense several days ago until the return of Emna; whereupon a shocking change took place; However; after this change settled down; the tension returned;

    This matter was inevitable; Emna, who had a high position in the hearts of the Etching Metal Organization, had placed her life on the line to give them a chance at the information they were seeking out, but even after returning in success, she had nothing to show for it;

    According to Emna. the impetus for the creation of their Organization. a certain Leonel Morales that most of them had never even met before. took the spoils of Emna''s successful assassination to analyze himself; It was then said that he was meant to return to them in a few days. but even after that time period had passed. he had still not returned;

    Days ago. after Emna''s return. many had already been dissatisfied with this; They didn''t even know this Leonel. what right did he have to take their spoils? And now that he truly hadn''t appeared after all this time. their dissatisfaction was only raised to an entirely new level; Could it be that he had simply lied and never planned to return at all;

    Everything came to a head and the commotion was raised to a large enough level that a meeting was forced to convene;

    At that moment. in an unknown location on an equally as unknown planet. this meeting had begun;

    The Etching Metal Organization had just one leader. Raylion; However. the power was dispersed across many heads. all of whom had their own thoughts; While there were some heads that Raylion could trust to be on his side like Aphestus. Emna. and the most powerful among them. Sael;

    When Leonel last met Sael. he had lamented that her mentality wasn''t strong enough to make use of her talent; Despite being more talented than even Raylion. during their time in Valiant Heart Mountain. she had been constantly suppressed by him. and after Valiant Heart Mountain fell. while Raylion was able to forge ahead. she found herself broken and weak;

    Since then. however. Sael had managed to pick herself up. becoming a backbone of the organization and a large reason why the original foundation of the Etching Metal organization hadn''t lost sight of their original purpose;

    Sael was precisely the very woman that had introduced Leonel and Aina to Valiant Heart Mountain in the first place; She had been born with a unique Ability Index that had never been encoded before that gave her body a great mutation that amplified her battle prowess; It also happened to give her quite some control over plants and vegetation;

    Raylion had started the Etching Metal Organization with Aphestus many years ago, but it wasn''t until quite some time after that that Sael managed to find her way back to them; And finally, many years after that, she and Raylion finally knocked down the last barriers separating the two and became husband and wife, solidifying their control over the organization;

    [Author''s Note: it''s been a while so I know the nuances of this relationship are probably hard to remember; If it matters to you to remember and not just have it retold to you, I would suggest reading the last few chapters before the fall of Valiant Heart Mountain again as these details will be more important than they seem (chap 915-19); Anyhoo, back to the story]

    Still, over the years, in order to expand the power of the Etching Metal Organization, Raylion had no choice but to recruit and delegate power;

    For an organization that lingered in the shadows and collected information while working in the morally grey hues of the world, being able to form numerous limbs that could work independently of one another while maintaining a certain level of strength and quality was greatly important;

    However, in order to accomplish this, one also had to accept working with a double edged sword;

    In releasing some of the absolute control he had, Raylion had to swallow a lot more pushback and dissenting opinions, especially in recent days. It was to the point where many were questioning the original reason the organization was formed in the first place!

    Due to this, the room was split down the middle in two; On one side, there was Raylion, Sael, Aphestus and Emna, but on the other, there were four other individuals;

    Crafter Bitner; This old man was the best Crafter among their numbers, being at the Silver Grade; He was very much responsible for outfitting a large number of their assassins, warriors and operatives with the tools and treasures they needed, especially at the highest levels;

    Treasurer Jemsy. He was a savant when it came to not only accounting, but also in money laundering and moving around dark money. Without him, their growth would have been bottlenecked over a decade ago. How could an organization grow without money? But this was an especially tall task to fulfill for an organization that functioned in the dark like theirs, especially when Raylion refused to take on casual assassination missions that would have been the most lucrative.

    Then there was Robin and Tiny, the former being a woman and the latter being a man that was, quite frankly, tiny. Robin was a tall and muscular woman whose neck was swallowed up by her traps, while Tiny was a man of not even five feet tall who had irises so large and black that the whites of his eyes almost vanished entirely.

    However, their combat prowess was exceptional and they were the pillars of strength of their organization outside of Raylion, Sael, Aphestus and Emna.

    At this moment, Crafter Bitner, Treasurer Jemsy, Robin and Tiny sat across from the four somewhat founding members of the organization, questioning the recent happenings quite fiercely.

    "бн This old narrative is getting tiring," Tiny spoke in a voice several octaves too deep given his size, "it has been over 20 years since the organization was founded and we''ve been waiting for this so-called Leonel to appear for all this time, and once he finally does, he screws us over? Is this what you''ve had us waiting all this time for?

    "You refuse to expand beyond Earth''s territory even though this is by far the most dangerous region to do business in the Human Domain currently. You refuse to accept assassination missions that aren''t hand picked and curated even though Jemsy is barely keeping us afloat money-wise. And now our apparent savior is some Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional brat?"

    Emna''s expression darkened. "Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension is too weak for you? Am I too weak for you too?"

    "We''ve already had this conversation, Emna. You dealt the man a fatal blow and he was already greatly weakened. He just swooped in after you had already done all the work and you went googly eyed, even giving him our spoils of war. Shouldn''t you be answering for that?!"

    "I put my life on the line to complete that mission, but you want me to give you an answer for it?!" Emna''s gaze danced with flickering blade lights.

    "Haha!" Tiny roared with laughter. "You might have completed the mission, but who gave you the information on where that convenience station was? Who got the information of what that man''s status was and what his goals were? How many of our brothers and sisters died before we could gather up that information?!

    "We''ve been in business for more than 20 years but we''ve only unearthed three of those locations, and yet you pissed it all away the moment you saw that incompetent fool! Now there''s only two left and they''ll probably be on guard, there''s no telling if the information would remain the same, and even if it did, there''s no telling if you''ll succeed this time!

    "If you can''t see the problem with that, you don''t deserve your position!"

    "YOU!" Emna''s hair stood on end, blade edges dancing within it. It seemed as though her individual strands had become Blade Force.

    Just as the atmosphere was about to boil over, there was a rushed knocking and an attendant stumbled in.

    "Big news! Big news! Our informants just reported that the Adurna, Brazinger, Laevis and Crudus families have all been destroyed!"

    Through their huffing and puffing, the attendant managed to breathe these words out.

    The eight heads were left stunned.

 Chapter 1771 Interesting Analysis

    A silence fell over the group as the report settled in.

    They were first and foremost an information network; it could be said that they were definitely among the very first to get this information; And yet; rather than information trickling in one at a time; they actually got it all at once; they didn''t even get any information about any armies setting in;

    "What the hell happened?!"

    Tiny stood to his feet, his shock making his heart palpitate; This was the kind of information they should have gotten even before it happened; How could a force hide from them for so long? It made their hearts run cold;

    Raylion. who had been completely silent all the while. suddenly narrowed his eyes; But at the moment. his gaze was actually focused on Tiny. not the messenger; It was hard to tell what was going on in his mind. his expression just as cold and indifferent as usual;

    At the same time. Aphestus. who had likewise been silent. slowly released his grip on the dagger by his side; Tiny seemed to have no idea just how close Aphestus was from exploding. it could even be said that the messenger stopped things from getting overblown;

    "Thereбн Thereбн" The attendant took heaving breaths. trying to calm themselves; In order to get this information here. they had really gone all out; "бн There was little information about the first three. but according to our informants near Earth. a Prince Leonel of the Ascension Empire appeared with a flagship of Shield Cross Stars and wiped them out single handedly;"

    At this point, even Raylion''s expression changed somewhat.

    Was this a coincidence? Prince Leonel?

    Suddenly, things slid into place one by one;

    The Leonel they knew was an Heir of the Morales family. but if he was also a Prince of the Ascension Empire. things would make much more sense; In fact. had they known this beforehand. a lot of the trouble their organization had gone through would have never festered to begin with;

    The Morales were simply too far away from their location. and because Raylion wanted to focus their attention on Earth''s Empire. the information they had on the outside was limited; As such. the prestige the Morales had in the hearts of their members was far too low for what they were;

    In comparison. the prestige of the four families and the Ascension Empire. in addition to certain other families and faiths. were much higher.

    They had known that Leonel was from Earth. but they hadn''t known what kind of status he had on Earth; If they were aware. maybe things would have never devolved to this state;

    "Prince Leonel?"

    Tiny and the other three who weren''t very familiar with Leonel to begin with didn''t immediately make the connection; The Human Domain was too vast, how could some people not share names? Plus, the Leonel Emna and the others were referring to had the Morales last name, not Fawkes which they associated with the Imperial Family;

    However, they froze when the attendant confirmed.

    "Yes, a Prince Leonel Morales; He is the son of Princess Alienor Morales; There is news from the wider Human Domain that the reason for the sudden activity of the underground networks of Shield Cross Stars is because Princess Alienor was infuriated by SCS labeling her son as a Tier 1 Fugitive!"

    Tiny forgot to breathe, his head slowly turning toward Emna and the others; Was this attendant trying to say that the Tier 1 Sixth Dimensional existence he had just been lambasting wiped out four families their organization had no method to take head on?

    Aphestus suddenly laughed; "That bastard is just as annoying as I remember; He pretends to be such a good person, and then he turns around and wipes out four families; It was his fault Valiant Heart Mountain fell so quickly too, but he just patted his ass and shrugged at that too;"

    Raylion''s gaze flickered as Sael''s own danced with a complicated expression. Aphestus wasn''t wrong. For a long time, Sael felt guilty because it was she who invited Leonel to Valiant Heart Mountain to begin with. If not for what happened back then, they could have survived a few more centuries at least, they could have even used Earth''s evolution as a method of turning their fate around, after all, they had been in Earth''s quadrant to begin with so they would have been the first to benefit.

    But in the end, things hadn''t worked out that way.

    Emna was the most shocked among them all because she knew exactly what had caused this, she could still remember Leonel''s rage when she informed him of what happened to his brothers, she even remembered hoping that he didn''t do anything stupid.

    To think that he would get his revenge in just a few days, so quickly that even they were late to reactбн

    It took a while, but Tiny, Robin, and the other two finally calmed, looking toward one another. Tiny eventually took a seat as well, his expression flickering intermittently. He couldn''t seem to decide what he should be thinking.

    Emna looked up, her own gaze cold.

    "Do you have anything else to say now, Tiny?"

    Tiny took a breath and exhaled, but before he could respond, it was actually Treasurer Jemsy who answered first.

    "Do you all think that this concludes things?" He suddenly said.

    Jemsy wasn''t one to speak often, his eyes were usually glazed behind he pair of glasses. It seemed as though he was always calculating something, as though the outside world was of no interest whatsoever. However, the moment he did speak, everyone looked toward him.

    "He is already a Tier 1 Fugitive, and now he''s used Shield Cross Stars weaponry to wipe out not just one, but four families of Earth. If his only identity was that of a Prince of the Ascension Empire, things would be fine. However, his last name is Morales, not Fawkes. I''m sure if you all take a moment to think about it, you''ll see what the problem is.

    "Suddenly, due to his actions, competition over Earth''s main resources have all been eradicated. It won''t just be Shield Cross Stars that''s unhappy about this."

    "Interesting analysis."

    The sudden voice came from nowhere. This time, it wasn''t just Tiny who stood to his feet, wary gazes looking toward the entrance.

 Chapter 1772 Two Choices

    Leonel and his brothers slowly walked into the meeting room; Leonel himself at the helm; They seemed to appear from nowhere; and they hadn''t even alerted anyone until they spoke; Toward this; even Emna was surprised; She had told Leonel how to find them; but she hadn''t expected him to enter the depths of their territory without anyone even noticing;

    The attendant was deathly pale; The moment Leonel stopped hiding his presence, the pressure was suffocating; Even Jemsy, who always maintained his calm, felt his throat constrict;

    Suddenly, the pressure vanished as Leonel grinned;

    "Long time no see." Leonel laughed as he looked toward Aphestus. Raylion and Sael.

    It couldn''t be said that he had a deep relationship with all three of them, but he had good impressions of Sael although she was a bit na?ve; At the same time, he quite respected Raylion; As for Aphestus, he respected him as well if for nothing other than his loyalty to Raylion;

    Suddenly. Leonel felt a vicious wind assault him; Even as it pierced toward his throat. an afterimage of Aphestus slowly dissipated into the wind. a malicious intent swallowing him up whole;

    SHIIING! SHIIING! CLANG! BOOM!

    Wild winds spread in all directions. strong Blade Forces lashing out against the walls of the meeting room and leaving deep grooves everywhere they passed.

    Leonel''s clothing fluttered, his fingers raised in a pinching motion; Between them, a blade was stopped mere inches from his neck, an amused light in his eye;

    Aphestus'' forearm bulged with wiggling veins that pulsed like flood dragons; His face went red beneath the strain. but he couldn''t move forward even a single inch;

    "What''s this. Aphestus? You aren''t happy to see me? How''s your diet been. why''re you so weak?"

    Aphestus'' lip twitched before he snorted and pulled back his blade. hiding his trembling wrist to his back; He was already in Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension. but his all out attack had actually been stopped by two fingers; While he hadn''t used his Ability Index. that was still at least 50% of his strength in that single assault; The fact Leonel had stopped it so casually went to show the sheer gap between them;

    "My diet?" Aphestus snorted; "I went easy on you, consider this a welcome gift;"

    Leonel laughed.

    He remembered Aphestus'' Ability Index quite well; He could gain the characteristics of what he ate. the trouble was that the more talent he wanted to extract. and the more talented his target. the more of it he needed;

    For someone like Aphestus. especially since he left the evolution of the tentacle womb up to Anastasia. he probably had the highest ceiling of anyone here outside of Emna who was only a measure away from forging her own path; All Leonel had to do was feed him a large number of demon corpses;

    "Hm?" Leonel looked toward Sael and blinked; "Maybe notбн"

    Leonel hadn''t expected that Emna wouldn''t be the only one who was a real Spark here, to think that Sael would be a real spark too; It was quite ironic, the original strongest amongst them, Raylion, actually seemed to have the least potential now; However, when Leonel looked into Raylion''s eyes, he could see the very same fire he had seen back then;

    ''He might not have gotten the same opportunities as the rest of them, but his heart is still firm. That is more than worthy of praise.''

    Leonel nodded toward Raylion lightly. For a man like this, he didn''t need to say anything more. Raylion didn''t need thanks, the only acknowledgement he needed were the fruits of his labor blooming, and Leonel would make certain that that happened.

    After Leonel greeted the four heads he was familiar with one by one, he finally turned his attention toward the remaining four. They were all looking toward him with gazes ranging from wary to somewhat curious.

    "I don''t have much time to stay here today because there are still three major incidents that I was delayed from handling, but I can say that this man here isn''t wrong, there will indeed be trouble for my actions, but the real question is how much it matters to you.

    "Before you, there are two options. One is obedience, the other is death. There is no third option. Which will you choose?"

    Leonel''s smile vanished, his oppressive aura returning. The four suddenly felt small. Their Force was sluggish and their breathing labored.

    Suddenly, they realized that Leonel wasn''t alone.

    The aura of eight Seventh Dimensional powerhouses flooded the room and their eyes opened wide. It was only at that moment that Emna realized that five men that should have been dead were standing before her safe and sound.

    Treasurer Jemsy took deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

    "You areбн very strong, but have you truly thought about this? This will no longer be a matter of just Shield Cross Stars, your actions are an opportunity for almost every family of the Human Domain to stick their noses into the matters of Earth."

    "I don''t need you to explain these things to me. If you can think of it, I thought of it a hundred times faster. You may be used to being the smartest person in the room, but I can tell you now that your greatest pride is useless before me.

    "I won''t repeat myself again. Make your choice," Leonel said coldly.

    "Hahaбн" Treasurer Jemsy chuckled. "бн Do I really have a choice at all? I don''t want to die."

    "Good," Leonel said indifferently.

    At that moment, a mighty golden light raised up behind him, a radiant scroll unfurling.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed with a fierce light and he pierced out his finger four times in a row.

    The four heads shuddered. Although they couldn''t see it, in each of their Ethereal Glabellas, they had all gained an Imperial Edict. So long as they dared to disobey it, they Ethereal Glabellas would self-destruct.

    This ability was a fusion of Emperor''s Gaze and Emperor''s Edict known as Emperor''s Mark. Leonel had deduced it on his own without the Emperor''s Might Tablet because his comprehension of its two halves were absolutely perfect, this would also make certain things far more convenient for him.

    "Now, like I said, I don''t have much time. The three most pressing issues are the Zoltene Faith, the Thrusting Skies Sector and the reemergence of the Viola Family, I need information about these three as things don''t seem so simple."

 Chapter 1773 Glorious Zoltene

    Not long later; Leonel left with his brothers; leaving a few words for the Etching Metal organization; He saw no reason not to trust Raylion and the others; While he placed his Emperor''s Mark on Jemsy and the other three heads; there was no way he would do the same to the four founding heads;

    "It seems we didn''t waste our time," Aphestus said after a long while; He had a wild grin on his face;

    He remembered the first time he met Leonel he could have beaten him any time he wanted; But just months later, he was already incapable of lasting a few blows, and now, decades later, to say that Leonel could defeat him with a single strike wasn''t giving Leonel enough credit;

    Raylion didn''t say anything to this. but he felt Sael''s small hand slip into his own;

    While Raylion didn''t show any sort of emotion. Sael understood him the best. There was no one here who wanted this result more than Raylion himself.

    Even as they all surpassed Raylion one after another, Sael knew that Raylion had never given up on becoming a powerful expert; Unfortunately, his talent was just lacking in comparison to the others; He had gone from the head disciple of Valiant Heart Mountain to ultimately being an administrative leader of the organization;

    Raylion knew that if he wanted to achieve his dreams; Leonel was his only hope; But his pride was far too deep; He refused to hold his hands out; hoping that Leonel would just do him a favor;

    He had no relationship with Leonel; and they had even once been enemies; And even if they had been friends; Raylion would never feel comfortable asking for something when he could give nothing in return;

    During these over 20 years he had put his blood; sweat and tears into this organization; doing everything he could so that he could look Leonel in the eyes and exchange not for his charity; but for what he deserved; He had spent every waking moment thinking and dreaming on this day;

    His effort would finally pay off.

    Raylion squeezed Sael''s hand lightly and his gaze turned toward Tiny;

    "Tiny," he said lightly.

    Tiny; whose expression was ugly after being essentially branded like cattle by Leonel; suddenly snapped awake; When he met Raylion''s gaze; for some reason; he felt his heart skip a beat; He had always subconsciously feared this man; but he never truly understood why;

    "What did they promise you. Tiny?"

    Tiny froze before quickly recovering; "What are you talking about, Raylion?"

    "The four families, what did they promise you?" Raylion replied just as calmly, his eyes even being half closed;

    Hearing this; Tiny turned entirely pale; He wanted to refuse it; but when he remembered the Emperor''s Mark hovering in his Ethereal Glabella; he knew that there was no longer any point; Raylion must have been sitting on this information for a long time waiting for the perfect opportunity; but since Leonel had appeared; he didn''t have to be subtle and sly with everything anymore; This was the difference between scheming and true strength;

    Tiny could do nothing in the face of Leonel''s overwhelming means;

    Tiny grit his teeth. "I will give you all the information and benefits I received."

    "Good," Raylion replied lightly. "You have three days. I assume with this that we will see a 150% boost in revenue and the effectiveness of our network. Since we won''t be shooting ourselves in the foot anymore, I expect us to be in peak form within the week in time for Leonel''s return."

    Raylion stood to his feet, holding onto Sael''s hand.

    "Our goal is beyond this. Very soon we will be on the world stage. As the founder of the Etching Metal Organization, I officially announce that our first growth phase has come to an end. Our goal of becoming the best information network of the Human Domain has been successful. Our next goal is as followsбн

    "To make Leonel Morales the official Heir of the Morales family."

    **

    The teleportation formation flashed and a group of nine appeared.

    Leonel looked around and sighed.

    "What''s wrong, cap?" Drake asked.

    Leonel rubbed his forehead. "I didn''t have time to make us any cool uniforms."

    Leonel''s eight brothers looked toward one another speechlessly for a moment before bursting into a fit of laughter.

    Raj wrapped his arm around Leonel''s shoulder and trudged forward with big strides.

    "Cap, if you can make me a uniform that makes the ladies realize that this is the true peak masculine form, I''ll get Milan to give you a foot rub."

    Raj''s big belly rolled with his laughter. As far as he was concerned, clothing designers were the real people screwing him over.

    The group walked out laughing, seemingly not realizing that they had a tall task ahead of them.

    They appeared on a barren moon to stare down at a planet, or at the very least, it was what should have been a planet, but was instead a temple the size of one. This place was none other than the headquarters of the Zoltene Faith.

    According to reports, this faith had recently been making an aggressive push in Earth''s territory, forcefully seizing offerings and spreading their shrines even in areas where there was no consent on the part of the inhabitants.

    Leonel could see the various clergymen of the Zoltene Faith walking around. They all wore robes that flickered with holographic images that changed depending on the angle you saw them at. There didn''t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the flickering colors, although there was probably some mysterious ranking system associated with it.

    Still, the most prominent part were the large glass orbs they wore like head ornaments. It seemed to be blown with different colored pieces of glass, flickering with a rainbow-like assortment of colors. More than their odd robes, this was the true marker of a worshipper of the Zoltene God.

    "Let''s go," Leonel said after observing for a while.

    With a leap, he shot forward on his black surfboard, streaking through the skies with his brothers to his back with their own flying treasures.

    "Halt!"

    "This is the territory of the Glorious Zoltene, halt!"

    "Stop!"

    The nine brothers didn''t seem to hear any of this in the slightest as they directly barged in, their speed even faster than usual.

 Chapter 1774 So Was Leonel

    Powerful warriors converged from all sides; however Leonel didn''t lift a single finger; It was Drake who suddenly flipped over his palms; causing two silver pistols to appear; Without waiting for any signal; he began to fire; With every pull of his trigger; another clergyman was shot out of the skies; Although he didn''t immediately kill any of them; they found themselves crippled at best; some of them even being shoved toward death''s door;

    The group crossed the barrier of the temple, entering the highest floor directly; There should have been Force Art protections, but Leonel and the other seemed to slip right through them as though they didn''t exist in the slightest;

    One after another. they landed on the marbled floors. kicking up their surfboards and following behind Leonel as he walked forward; Despite having never been here before. it felt as though Leonel knew it like the back of his hand. gliding forward toward the grand hall without a single pause in his steps;

    BANG!

    A sparkling black pillar appeared in Raj''s hand which he used to ram against the enormous double doors. slamming against it so hard that they flew off of their hinges. slamming into the sides of the hall with a bang so loud that it echoed through the entire temple.

    Raj hoisted his large pillar over his shoulder and led the charge into the grand hall;

    At that moment. there were tens of thousands of clergymen kneeling on prayer mats. bowing in worship to the stature of a several kilometers tall of a person Leonel could only conclude had to be Zoltene;

    Zoltene''s glass orbs looked a lot more like a radiant halo that instead of being parallel to the ground. was actually perpendicular with it. hovering behind his head; He had hands but on a single pair of arms. the other two pairs hovering in the air in mock prayer along with his only seemingly real pair of hands;

    At his forehead. there was a glass orb embedded that seemed to reflect the world of his Ethereal Glabella; Within it. a world of rainbow glass could be seen. exuding an air of peace and majesty; Despite his usual thoughts on such matters. Leonel had to admit that this Zoltene at least looked like a God. but those extra handsбн

    Leonel had read about such a race, they also had glass orbs in their forehead and extra hands that seemed completely separate from their bodies; They were known as a Nomad Race;

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed; Even the Void Palace didn''t have in depth information on faiths and their Gods. but these Gods had to come from somewhere. so there were a number of working hypotheses;

    Some assumed that these were heroes of the past. much like echoes through history making their mark on today; Some assumed that it was the direct opposite. and they were instead powerhouses of the past influencing the past and leaving their mark; And for some others. they assumed that they were present heroes spreading word of their prowess;

    These faiths were likely related to the God Path in some way or another. or at the very least. some divergent path of it; The reason the God Path was denoted as such was precisely because of the influence it could have on its environment when taken to an extreme. and these seemed to be related to what these religions could accomplish;

    At that moment, a clergyman stood from beneath the statue of Zoltene, and then another, and then another; They all had robes rippling with rainbow colors and glass orbs hovering above and behind their heads that were a size larger than everyone else;

    Their gazes locked onto Leonel and the others, their expressions flooded with fury;

    Leonel walked forward slowly, his gaze locked onto clergymen;

    "Who are you?!"

    The clergyman who spoke was the current head of the Zoltene Faith within Earth''s territory, a tall man who went by Impreza; This didn''t seem to be a name, but more so a title, likely one unique to their faith;

    "Do you not recognize the prince of the territory you''re terrorizing?" Leonel asked coolly; "I''ll give you two choices, Impreza; Take your faith, your clergymen, and what offerings you''ve managed to scrounge up, and scram out of my territory; Or, we can start a massacre; Which will it be?"

    The Impreza''s expression turned malevolent. However, when it settled in that Leonel was a prince of the Ascension Empire, he didn''t seem to want to lash out immediately, as though he was still looking for a method out of this.

    "Is this appropriate? You still haven''t stated what we''ve done wrong? Does the Prince of the Empire not welcome religions? Aren''t you afraid that the hearts of the people will grow cold?"

    "So you''re aware that this is an Empire too, right? Not a democracy. Do I need to explain to you why I do the things I do?"

    The recently calmed expression of the Impreza turned ugly. It was clear that Leonel had no intention of negotiating with them. They hadn''t expected to run into someone like this.

    While it was true that an Empire wasn''t a democracy, they still had to keep the people and their thoughts in mind. An Empire that did and acted as they pleased wouldn''t last very long. If you didn''t care for the thoughts of the people, you would be overthrown.

    This should have been an opportunity to expand recklessly. With Earth surrounded by problems from all sides, there was no way they should be able to react like this without worrying about the consequences.

    The Imperza suddenly calmed, staring toward Leonel deeply.

    "Fine, we will retreat. The Glorious Zoltene cannot withstand the loss of even one son or daughter. You will face retribution for your actions today," the Imperza pressed his hands together.

    Leonel smiled, however deep within, he knew what the true intentions of the Imperza was. They would retreat for now and wait for an opportunity to come back when the Ascension Empire would have no choice but to accept them.

    Indeed, this Imperza was quite intelligent.

    But so was Leonel.

 Chapter 1775 Power Of Information

    "Esteemed Imperza. is this really okay?"

    Not long after Leonel and the others had left, the clergymen of the Zoltene Faith couldn''t help but say something; While the lower ranking members didn''t dare to speak, those who had been beneath Zoltene''s statue alongside the Imperza couldn''t hold it in any longer;

    "We must have patience," the Imperza said lightly, his hands still pressed together; "The Faith of his Gloriousness will be spread regardless of its obstacles; We will make a comeback in due time, but for now, it is best to take a step back;

    "We can only say that we were unlucky. but this tribulation will be weathered by us; When we come out the other side. we will be stronger than ever;"

    Although the Imperza didn''t say it in so many; those that were intelligent understood; Soon; the Ascension Empire would be experiencing more pressure than they knew how to handle; When that time came and they chose to come back; they wouldn''t even have the time to deal with them; After they reaffirmed their position in Earth''s territory; there would be nothing the Ascension Empire could do; The seeds had already been sown;

    "Imperza! Imperza!"

    It had only been several minutes. but an attendant had already run into the prayer hall. rushing forward with information;

    "One must maintain a calm mind beneath the presence of His Gloriousness. mind yourself." the Imperza said lightly.

    "Yes, yesбн!" The young clergymen took deep breaths, but eventually wasn''t patient enough to wait until they had calmed down completely; "бн Shrine, the shrines; The branch shrinesбн destroyedбн"

    The Imperza''s pupils constricted. "How manyбк?"

    Before the Imperza could finish his question. another attendant rushed in with the same news. then another;

    The Imperza''s fists clenched beneath his robes; Many of those shrines were exceptionally well hidden; He had expected to lose some in the worst case scenario. but by the time the fifth attendant rushed in. he realized that they had all been destroyed with a speed that didn''t even feel like it made sense; It was as though Leonel could cover the whole Ascension Empire with a single hand;

    With their shrines destroyed. even if they came back. it would take decades to build their network back up again; If that was the case. their comeback would be almost meaningless; They would have little to no momentum. and by the time they gathered some up again. whatever troubles the Ascension Empire might be facing just might be over. and in the worst case. even if the Ascension Empire fell. Earth''s territory would be gobbled up by others and have nothing to do with them;

    At that point, even the Imperza couldn''t quite keep his calm.

    Years ago, the Evergreen Faith lost their main shrine under mysterious circumstances; Due to this, the Zoltene Faith was able to overtake them in a lot of ways; But now, the situation had been reversed once again and the Evergreen Faith once more had a chance at claiming a monopoly on Earth''s territory;

    Just as the Imperza was about to lose his cool entirely, the planet-sized temple suddenly trembled; Many were immediately thrown off their feet;

    The sound of battle reached their ears, and the Imperza''s ugly expression finally set in; No matter how cool-headed he normally was, it was impossible for him to maintain it; His immediate assumption was that Leonel had made them begin a retreat sequence so that they couldn''t react to the destruction of their shrines, then he doubled back to finish off the job for good;

    This was a devious plot, one that was impossible to execute unless one had the ability to travel across Earth''s territory in just a handful of seconds. Unlessбн Unless Leonel had already set up a team at each location, but if he had done that, then what would have been the point of allowing them to begin their escape sequence?

    The Imperza couldn''t quite understand what was happening until there was suddenly a burst at the doors of the prayer hall once again, doors that had only just been fixed.

    But to the Imperza''s shock, rather than it being Leonel''s team, it was a group he had never expected to see at all.

    They all wore brown robes and had golden lotuses etched onto the backs formed out of human hands. These weren''t Leonel''s men, nor were they people of Earthбн This was the Evergreen religion!

    The Head Clergyman of the Evergreen led the charge, her strides long and her brownish-gold hair fluttering beneath her speed.

    "Priestess Irotha, what is the meaning of this?!" The Imperza''s voice boomed.

    Priestess Irotha''s expression didn''t change, her gorgeous features radiating with a holy light. However, deep within her brown eyes there was a hint of disgust and disdain that came from the depths of her soul.

    "30 years ago, when you all destroyed the main shrine of our Evergreen Faith, did you think that such a day would come? This is nothing more than the cycle of karma," Priestess Irotha said lightly. "The Faith of Evergreen may not be the most powerful, but we are the most resilient. So long as there is but a single bud remaining within a ravaged land, we will grow once more. Her Everlasting is Immortal, and so shall we be."

    The Imperza''s expression changed once again.

    Destroyed their main shrine? They had never done such a thing!

    "Slander!" The Imperza''s fury threatened to bubble over, but he could already feel his power slipping away. With the destruction of so many Shrines, how could he match up to Priestess Irotha.

    Irotha sneered, clearly not believing the Imperza.

    She waved her hand. "Erase them."

    бн

    "You''re evil, cap. I like it."

    Raj rolled in laughter, slapping Leonel''s shoulder a few times.

    Leonel smiled. "We have Raylion and the others to thank. These things are almost too easy to handle so long as we have enough information in our hands. Let''s go and see what the Viola family is up to."

    In this regard, the Imperza was quite pitiful. It wasn''t the Zoltene Faith that had destroyed the main shrine of the Evergreen Faith, but rather the Three Finger Cult. But it was all too easy to frame them when it was the Zoltene Faith that had gained the most from their fall.

    Of course, this would put the Evergreen Faith in line to become a problem of its own, but Leonel would focus on one problem at a time. At the very least, after being destroyed once, the Evergreen Faith was far more reserved and cautious.

    Now, Leonel was entirely focused on the return of the Viola family.

    Years ago, Leonel''s mother had told him that Rychard had something in his possession that he would be very interested in, but so many things had happened that Leonel never got the chance to enquire about what exactly that meant.

    Now, it seems that his neglect had allowed a rebirth of a family that had already been dealt with. Of all the problems he had caused, this was probably the one that was the most directly his fault.

    But that was fine, he had destroyed them once, and he would do it again.

    Leonel alone was dangerous enough. Leonel with a vast net of information might not even need to raise a finger to destroy someone.

 Chapter 1776 Treated You Well

    Leonel and the others stood above a familiar location. The last time they had been here, they had come for the opportunity to enter the Void Palace. Back then, only a few of them had been able to enter, the rest of them being turned away.

    It could be said that this place was one of the turning points of Leonel''s life.

    This place was none other than the three central planets of the Three Pillar Sector, a location that had once been overtaken by the Luxnix family, stripping away control from the Viola family and Montex family.

    But now, this was a region solely under the control of the Viola family as the Luxnix family, or what remained of them, had moved to be closer to the core regions of Earth''s territory, regions where the resources were far more abundant. Ironically, this had allowed the Viola family to finally gain exactly what it had been that they were looking for throughout the effort of several generations.

    Technically, there was no reason for Leonel to have any hatred for the Viola family. In reality, they had never really done anything to him, and though Rychard had tried to make Aina his wife, back then he and Aina weren''t together.

    As things went, the Viola family was just unlucky. They had gotten the Luxnix who were on the upswing, resulting in them losing generations of hard work before they could get their own chance to rise up. But it seemed, now that they were able to even cause trouble, they had recovered quite well.

    Leonel had many thoughts about how this would be possible. A portion was the treasure his mother had tipped him off about back then, but he also had other thoughts swirling in his mind as well.

    At that moment, a ship suddenly broke through the atmosphere of Planet Viola. Much like the past, the airspace of the three planets was quite crowded with a ton of traffic coming in and out. Due to this, the appearance of Leonel and the others was quite inconspicuous despite the fact they stood on surfboards.

    Even so, this spaceship didn''t hesitate to make a straight line toward them, causing Leonel''s gaze to narrow. And then, a voice projected out toward them.

    "It is our honor to welcome Your Highness. If you could please follow me, I will bring you to Patriarch Viola. He is very eager to see you."

    Leonel didn''t say anything for a long while. He had just come, but apparently his presence had already been seen through.

    Well, this wasn''t necessarily impossible. It had already been several days since he dealt with the four families and long enough since he removed the Zoltene Faith from existence. It wasn''t impossible for this news to have made it to the Viola family. They knew best what they had been doing and it was likely that they were likewise prepared to take the approach the Zoltene Faith had.

    Toward this, Leonel could only inwardly chuckle. It seemed that everyone seemed to think that he was a pushover. His grandpa was really too casual with this sort of stuff, but that only made Leonel more curious about what the old man was hiding. Leonel didn''t get the vibe that his grandfather was a passive man, nor was he the kind of man to be indecisive in action. If he was, he wouldn''t have allowed over 99% of Earth''s population to be wiped out just to save them the trouble of dealing with Invalids.

    Thinking back, if Earth had formed billions of Invalids, something that was likely to happen considering the huge hurdle their talents had to face especially in comparison to other worlds, the sheer number of Variant Invalids that would have been formed by now would have overrun the Human Domain.

    Although he didn''t like the decision his grandfather had made back then, the current Leonel was more than capable of seeing the logic.

    Leonel faintly nodded eventually, sorting his thoughts.

    Gaining acknowledgment they were looking for, the attendant manning the spaceship breathed out in relief and turned the ship around to guide them back toward Planet Viola.

    The planet swirled with the very same violet and white colors it had the last time Leonel saw it, but the expanse of the Viola family estate was easily double the size it had been before, taking up the entirety of the planet. It could be seen at a glance that while there was a ton of traffic above the three planets, very few if any came toward this direction.

    бн

    It wasn''t long before Leonel and the others were standing in a grand throne room, the gazes several individuals looking down toward them from all sides. This space was no less grand than the imperial court of the Ascension Empire, making Leonel somewhat amused.

    While the gazes they were receiving couldn''t be considered outright hostile, they lacked any sort of respect one would expect from greeting a Prince and Empire you were supposedly subservient too.

    Another thing that Leonel noticed was that the ages of the individuals in this courtroom were particularly young, some were even younger than Leonel himself. While there were older individuals, they were most definitely in the minority, but in comparison to the youth, the gaze of these older individuals was even closer to hostile than the youths. иC

    At that moment, a set of doors behind the throne opened up and a young man wearing glistening violet and gold robes stepped out, his long black hair tied into a noble bun and violet eyes seemingly piercing through the veil.

    Leonel recognized this young man all too well, he was none other than Rychard Viola. However, his bearing was even sharper than it had been in the past, and the maturity between his brows was far more prominent.

    What was maybe the most shocking was that he seemed to be a middle aged man, something that was impossible even if he didn''t improve even a single step since Leonel last saw him. 20 yeaars wasn''t enough for a Fifth Dimensional expert to exhibit such signs of age.

    Leonel''s lip curled and he spoke even before Rychard got a chance to sit on his throne.

    "It seems your World Spirit has treated you well."

 Chapter 1777 Kill Them All

    Rychard only paused for a moment before he continued to sit down, turning his attention toward Leonel. From his vantage point, he looked down at the group without the slightest hint of discomfort on his face.

    The last time Leonel had seen Rychard, he was already well into his 70''s, but he still looked like a young man. Of course, the current Rychard didn''t look old, he looked to be in his late 20s to early 30s, still shy of middle aged, but given his previous Dimension, it should have taken at least another several decades before he reached this point. Leonel found this change to be very interesting.

    "Why have you come to my Viola family today?" Rychard asked faintly.

    "I think you know quite well." Leonel replied.

    "If I was aware, I would not play games with esteemed Imperial Prince. We are within your territory, after all."

    "Oh? In that case I came to kill you for those rumors you spread about my mother."

    The moment Leonel''s words echoed, the several ministers in the court all stood at once, their auras flaring. Despite the youth of the vast majority of them, even the weakest had powerful auras within the Sixth Dimension. In fact, the pressure they exuded wasn''t small, and there were even a number of them already in the Seventh Dimension.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed when he sensed this. Indeed, the Viola family of today wasn''t the Viola family of the past.

    This had to be as a result of the Viola family''s World Spirit.

    Originally, the World Spirit for this region had been separated into three pieces, one for the Viola family, one for the Luxnix family, and the last for the Montex. The Luxnix family should have taken the destruction of the Viola famiy to snatch their piece for themselves, but it seemed that this hadn''t happened.

    From what Leonel had learned, those who had World Spirits gained quite the advantage within the Zone, allowing them to display their strength while others didn''t gain this luxury. Whatever it was that Rychard had experienced, it was enough for him to turn his situation around.

    Despite Leonel''s blatant threat, Rychard raised a hand and forced his ministers to sit. It was clear that compared to Leonel, the place Rychard had in the hearts of these individuals was far higher. Earth''s influence was already waning here, and yet it was their Sector.

    It could be said that just from this display, Earth had quite a number of issues to deal with. If they didn''t even have strong control over their own Sector, then there was simply no chance for everything else.

    "You must be joking, Imperial Prince. I thought that this matter was handled long ago, was it not the Imperial Princess herself who pardoned me?" Rychard replied indifferently.

    "Pardoned? It was more so that she allowed you to live due to what usefulness you could have to me, but I haven''t seen your use yet? In fact, if not for me, would you even be here to sit on your lofty throne?"

    At that moment, Leonel''s smiling expression suddenly vanished and the ground beneath him trembled.

    "You take yourself too seriously, don''t you think?!"

    Leonel''s voice boomed, the ground suddenly quaking and shattering. The stairs that elevated Rychard''s throne suddenly crumbled, compressing into the ground.

    In the blink of an eye, Rychard had gone from sitting on a lofty throne to being seated within a pit that left him a full head shorter than Leonel. At this point, it was he who had no choice but to look up. No one could even react to the change at all, but by the time the rumbling completed and the Force dispersed, the deed was done.

    Rychard sat in the pit with a narrowed gaze. Leonel''s explosiveness had caught even him off guard. It was only now he realized just how unpredictable Leonel could be. He was entirely unreadable.

    Originally, he thought like the Impreza of the Zoltene Faith. His assumption was that Leonel had things to worry about and couldn''t be too out of hand with his reaction. But now, he suddenly wasn''t so sure anymore.

    Before Rychard held any power in his hand, he had always been cunning and scheming. His intelligence was exceptional, if not for this, he wouldn''t have been able to cause the resurrection of the Viola family so quickly. But there were some things that intelligence couldn''t overcome, this was something he had learned the hard way the first time, and he wouldn''t make the same mistake again.

    Rychard slowly rose to his feet, stepping out of the pit.

    He had always been shorter than Leonel, so even now, he was still about a head shorter. But even so, he felt far better and more unrestrained on his feet.

    "If Imperial Prince believes that I am the same man I was in the past, you would be sorely mistaken. My Viola family is guilty of nothing other than fighting for territory, the only difference is that we are better than others.

    "In the past, my Viola family was destroyed, this was because we were inferior to others, I have no complaints. But now that we have risen from the ashes, soaring into the skies like true phoenixes, we won''t allow others to press us down once again.

    "Our dignity will not be trampled upon."

    Rychard''s voice boomed and the blood of the Viola family members boiled. They stood to their feet once again, but this time, Rychard didn''t ask them to sit. It was clear that they were prepared to fight any moment now. If Leonel truly didn''t back down, they would even dare to kill an Imperial Prince of the Empire.

    Leonel''s serious expression suddenly gave way to a laugh.

    "I left for a couple decades and I returned to find that everyone has gotten so much more arrogant. Even enemies I''ve already trampled once before are scurrying up again. What do your words count for?

    "This isn''t Viola territory, this is the Ascension Empire. Fight for territory? What right do you have to do that? Even if I told you to give up this planet right now, you would have to obediently do so."

    Leonel''s pupils suddenly constricted. Before he could react, Rychard''s fist had already appeared before his eyes. It was simply too late to react.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s head exploded into a rain of blood, bone and gore, his final words still echoing.

    "Kill them all," Rychard said indifferently.

 Chapter 1778 Chess

    Deep within space, the flagship hung in silence. Leonel watched the scene of his death with a cold expression. Indeed, Rychard dared to attack, and indeed, his strength wasn''t a joke.

    Leonel had sent his clones constructed of Emulation Spatial Force in his stead, feeling that something like this would happen. In fact, he felt that this would have likely happened even if he had been more lenient with his words and actions. It was clear that Rychard was already prepared for the worst case scenario and his level of alertness was high.

    In the final moments before his clone''s death, the Spatial Force activated and replaced it with a real corpse. With the depth of his Dream Force, it was almost impossible to see through the differences, especially if Rychard was going to shatter his skull like that. As for Leonel''s brothers, Rychard was even less familiar with them.

    That said, Leonel didn''t particularly care if Rychard saw through the ruse since things were already past this point. The results would be the same so long as he dared to attack.

    But now, Leonel had to choose his next step carefully, and the best course of action would depend on what Rychard''s choice was.

    As Leonel saw it, there were two possibilities. Either Rychard was confident enough to double down and remain in Earth''s territory, or he already had an exit plan.

    "This little bitch," Raj''s expression twisted with rage. He was only just sane enough to not go running down there for revenge. Watching himself die, even if it was just a clone, triggered memories he didn''t like to remember.

    The same went for most of them. Though they didn''t express it like Raj had, they stared daggers at the floating monitor, wanting for murder. If not for Leonel''s orders, they might have already gone all out to attack.

    "We can''t take him casually," Leonel suddenly said. "He''s in the Seventh Dimension, and he''s most definitely not weak among them. If I''m correct, he would probably rank favorably against the Domain Ranked disciples of the Void Palace."

    Raj grit his teeth. "How''d he become so powerful?"

    "My best guess is that he gained greatly from the Zone, and it might also be related to that secret of the Viola family my mother mentioned. Unfortunately, there were too many things that happened one after another after we went to the Void Palace and I never had the time to investigate itбн"

    Leonel wasn''t wrong. By the time they got there, the trial began immediately. Rychard obviously hadn''t had the skill to make it far in the trial back then, so he ended up in the ranks of Nominal Disciples while Leonel had become a quasi Galaxy Ranked disciple for a wall. Then he lost the Segmented Cube and was basically kidnapped by his uncle, so there really was no time to worry about the likes of Rychard.

    "What''s the plan, cap?" Milan asked.

    "We''ll have to wait to see how he''ll reactбн The problem with the Thrusting Skies Sector might have to wait, I have a feeling that Rychard is a much bigger threat."

    So, the group waited. But after several moments, Leonel''s eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    The monitoring system of the flagship was excellent. When it was configured correctly, picking up sound and images across even light years was very much possible. However, depending on the defenses of your target, these images could be better or worse.

    Even after configuring, Leonel could only pick up images and not sound from Planet Viola, proving that their defenses were actually quite excellent considering how close to the planet the flagship was. However, this didn''t matter much. With his abilities, reading lips was all too easy, the sounds might as well have been blaring in his ears.

    But to Leonel''s shock, Rychard really had no intention of leaving. In fact, he was delegating normal tasks and sending his ministers off to maintain order. There was nothing out of the ordinary, as though he hadn''t just killed an Imperial Prince at all.

    Leonel leaned back in his chair and chuckled when Rychard even tasked someone with fixing up the throne room.

    Soon, they dispersed and Leonel''s configuration was no longer useful. It would take several hours more of effort to configure it to a new location, so there was nothing left to observe. This was the only real drawback of the monitoring system. Unless he had an exact location like a throne room that would obviously be used to welcome guests, it was quite useless.

    Leonel fell into his own thoughts.

    Although he had listed this as an option, he hadn''t actually expected it to happen.

    Leonel now had enough justification to turn his canons toward Planet Viola and eradicate them. But he did have his reservations about it. The Zoltene Faith wasn''t taken out by him, so it wouldn''t be a sin for him to bear. But this would be different, especially since he had just finished destroying those four families.

    Whether it was the Impreza or Rychard, they were both right that Leonel would have reservations, it was just that Leonel was good at finding ways to circumvent this. The unfortunate part was that while he could see the depths of the Zoltene Faith easily, he couldn''t seem to do the same with Rychard. This made things far more complicated.

    Leonel''s finger tapped his arm rest. In just a few seconds, he had already gone through several possibilities.

    ''Interestingбн In that case, we''ll have to suffocate them in other ways. It''s fine if other Sectors are in turmoil, but this Sector, Earth''s Sector, has to be entirely problem freeбн. Chaotic Water Sectorбн Thrust Skies Sectorбн Three Pillar Sectorбн''

    Leonel''s gaze began to glow, information flying by one after another.

    Leonel suddenly stood, a plan formulating in his mind.

    Battling personally really would be too troublesome, and that of course considered the fact he wasn''t certain if defeating Rychard in his current state was even possible.

    In that case, he would just have to play some chess.

 Chapter 1779 In The Clear

    1779 In the clear

    "You''re okay?" Leonel smiled, looking forward with a hint of gentleness in his eyes.

    Even in comparison to the usual, his gaze for Aina was even more caring.

    But it was difficult to tell if this was because they had finally taken that step in their relationship, or if it was because the loss of his brothers, albeit temporary, had made his grip on what was important to him all the firmer.

    Aina,who had just finished recovering from her fatigue and had come out to see what Leonel was up to, was dazed for a moment. She had come out with the intent that she would either find battle or Leonel hard at work, so her mentality was there.But she hadn''t expected to see such a pair of eyes the moment she stepped out.

    The huge pendulum swing between expectation and reality left her frozen, and not long afterward,left her blushing to say.

    She was almost immediately embarrassed by her own reaction. Leonel hadn''t really said anything be considered normal, but she couldn''t help it.

    That feedback loop only made her blush harder. Just when Aina was feeling her most embarrassed, the sound of hooting, hollering and whistling came from behind Leonel.

    She only realized then that the two of them weren''t alone and there were actually eight more people watching with rapt attention.

    In fact,Raj had even managed to find himself a bucket of popcorn as he eeked so far out to the side that he was nearly falling from chair.

    "Ah...You..." She suddenly wanted to lash out at Leonel, couldn''t he have warned her or something?

    The last time she had seen Leonel''s brothers, they weren''t exactly...on the best of terms.

    And now she had suddenly appeared again only to be embarrassed like this. Aina leaned forward and pressed her forehead into Leonel''s chest, seemingly trying to hide. Her embarrassment had suddenly gained a hint of anxiousness.

    To make matters worse, she felt like she was walking around with "I just had sex" on her forehead.

    Seeing Aina suddenly become so flustered, Leonel couldn''t help but burst into laughter.

    There were two sides to this girlfriend of his. There was the bold Aina and then there was this version. When he first met her, it was hard to tell which version he would get.

    But now it just felt amusing to bring it out himself, and it felt even better when she accidentally stumbled into it herself like now.

    Hearing Leonel''s laughter, Aina missed Yuri and Savahn. She had already been thinking about trying to find them again, but now she definitely needed back up or else these hooligans would hound her to death.

    "Yeah, I''m going to head to the Umbra family to see how they''re doing for now. You all focus on the smaller tasks around the Earth''s territory, make it known that we aren''t letting certain things slide anymore, build up a mystique."

    "Forget the older issues. The instant you get a new report, go there. I want to give off the feeling that we can appear anywhere instantly, I want people to hesitate before they even commit a crime. Here." Leonel flipped a palm and several masks appeared.

    However,these weren''t normal masks at all. They fit over their heads, front, back and sides, and obscured everything.

    They seemed to be made out of a mesh material and they had a fluorescent pair of eyes that appeared outside, hovering within the black mesh material.

    The result made it look as though they were nothing but eyes, they had no mouths, no ears... nothing but a piercingly sharp gaze reminiscent of a wild beast.

    "These masks, or helmets if that''s more accurate,will send you all information filtered through me first.

    I''ll assign a difficulty rating and an optimal approach to the situation. Depending, only one of you might need to act, or it could be three or you, or even all of you. So long as you follow the plan,

    everything should be fine."

    "Within a single month, the word should spread adequately. Leave the Thrusting Skies Sector and the Viola family to me. I made a mistake letting that Rychard live once, he won''t get the opportunity again."

    "Gotcha,cap." Drake, Allan, Arnold and Joel seemed to be the only ones paying attention, as for the other four, they were still enraptured by the mesh masks.

    Only after they ealized Leonel was finished speaking did they wave a hand toward him as though they got it. Leonel chuckled but didn''t mind too much.

    Then, he turned toward Aina. "Are you going to follow me, or?"

    "I want to find Savahn and Yuri," she replied. Leonel laughed.

    "Are you that scared of being bullied?" Aina glared at Leonel, but before she could respond, Joel suddenly spoke.

    "Yuri and Savahn probably aren''t within Earth''s territory right now. it was... a bit hard for us to see eye to eye after the war because they felt that it was smarter to return to the Void Palace, but we wanted to stay on Earth in case anything else happened." Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    Though Joel explained it quite simply, Leonel had a feeling that their disagreement was probably a bit more explosive than that.

    It was difficult to manage their relationship without the existence of Leonel and Aina, especially since to them, that relationship had long since been strained.

    It wasn''t until today that Leonel''s brothers learned that he and Aina were actually back together again.

    So, given the fact they were on two opposite sides of the spectrum in this regard, it wasn''t surprising that they found it difficult to reconcile.

    But to Leonel''s shock, the one with the weirdest expression when the two were mentioned was actually Raj.

    Leonel''s gaze landed on Raj as though he was trying to see through him. And Raj, almost immediately,felt as though he was in some sort of hot seat.

    "Hey! Hey! You can''t blame me, cap! You''re back together with Aina now, I''m in the clear!"

 Chapter 1780 Nothing

    1780 Nothing

    Leonel was speechless for a long while, his mouth hanging open. "No way..." he eventually managed to say.

    many words what happened, how high was Leonel''s EQ? How sharp were his senses? He could even see a reflection of Raj''s soul if he so wanted to, and he could tell just from that inkling that Raj wasn''t messing with him.

    It wasn''t just Leonel who was looking at Raj with weird expressions.

    Clearly, this wasn''t exactly public knowledge, the only one who didn''t seem surprised was Joel who was obviously aware of something previously, but this made sense. With Leonel not there, Joel was the de facto leader. In that sort of role, he would have to be aware of everything going on around him.

    Raj cleared his throat. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

    "Spill it, fatty," Milan glared from over the table.

    Raj sneered. "Just because you''re a 40 year old virgin doesn''t mean you can just lash out at me as you please. Some of us have sex lives."

    Milan''s mouth hung open. Virgin? He wasn''t a virgin. Raj had been the last virgin among them. Well, that didn''t include Leonel, of course.

    But given Leonel''s status in their hearts, none of them even really considered him to be a virgin, it is pretty clear to them that he could have lost it whenever he wanted to.

    In fact, even now, they weren''t questionning his virginity, they just had their assumptions based on a few context clues. Leonel wasn''t the type of person to go around talking about such a thing. The true virgin among them was Raj.

    This wasn''t even necessarily because he couldn''t find a girlfriend, but rather because he had a big mouth and a fiery temper, he had no idea how to filter his words or coax a woman. He just blurted out whatever he was thinking, and that wasn''t exactly conducive to keeping a woman happy.

    Every time Raj got into a relationship, it ended in a fiery burning inferno, usually with him ranting at the top of his lungs about how idiotic the fairer sex was.

    It wasn''t a coincidence that his words after Leonel and Aina''s break up were the most scathing. But the idea that Raj had not only lost his virginity finally, but even to one of either Savahn or Yuri, left them entirely without words, this was especially so because he had never filtered himself in front of them, even talking about his dream of having a harem.

    But then again, since they were willing to leave him for so long, maybe they had gotten sick of his rant.

    Seeing everyone''s speechlessness, Raj slammed his meaty palms onto the table. He could handle much of their scrutiny, but the way Allan was pushing up his glasses and even Arnold of all people was looking toward him with such interest was getting on his last nerve.

    Even the only person who could make him admit to such a thing, Leonel, was looking toward him as though his head was screwed on backward.

    "You bastards! Can''t you see this handsome specimen before you?! Do I look like someone who struggles with women?!" Raj''s voice boomed, causing a section of the flagship to quake. However, his reaction wasn''t met with the reception he wanted and he almost deflated.

    "Fuck! People can''t recognize a good thing even when it''s right in front of them!"

    "Alright, alright, tell us what happened already,stop throwing a temper tantrum you big lug," Franco laughed, his gaze particularly lustful.

    "Just tell us, who was it, was it Savahn or was it Yuri? Also,I need detai-"Franco found his voice caught in his throat.

    He coughed lightly as his head slowly turned toward Aina. She seemed to just be smiling a beautiful smile, but why was it that the air was suddenly so chilly.

    "Ahem," Franco cleared his throat again, "less details, less details, just tell us about your beautiful romance."

    "Forget you all," Raj snorted.

    "It was definitely Yuri," Leonel suddenly said, causing everyone to look toward him, "I just didn''t expect it. I underestimated you, big guy."

    Aina''s own expression flickered with surprise as well, but since Leonel dared to say it, she believed him. He wouldn''t be one to mess around like that.

    She suddenly wanted to see Yuri a lot more so that they could talk about this. She wanted details of her own, despite the fact she had given Franco such a friendly reminder. Interestingly enough, Raj deflated when Leonel finally said it, sinking into his chair with a sigh. He seemed to be regretting something, but it was already too late.

    "It ended poorly, I take it?" Milan asked.

    "Bah, forget her," Raj waved a hand, his expression quite unhappy.

    But considering Raj of all people barely said anything and didn''t even seem to be about to go on a rant, it seemed that this one was quite a deep one.

    But he eventually sat up. He had regrets when he died, maybe there was a chance now that he was living again.

    "Ah, forget it," Raj waved a hand in distaste, "I''m not chasing after that woman, she can kiss my ass."

    "What happened, exactly?" Milan pressed. "Don''t speak in code, or I''ll beat it out of you."

    Raj glared toward Milan. "It just didn''t end well, alright?"

    "It couldn''t have been that bad, you''re not even ranting about it and we had to squeeze this information out of you. I bet it was nothing," Milan replied.

    "Nothing?" Raj sneered. "The last words she said to me when she left was that she''d destroy her body and make herself a new one so that I couldn''t say I took her first time. Is that still nothing?" Milan''s lip twitched. That was indeed a bit... extreme...

    Leonel, though, had a different reaction to all of this.

    ''So that''s it... Yuri really is a Spiritual.''

 Chapter 1781 In Control

    1781 In Control

    Leonel and Aina looked toward another and Leonel eventually coughed. He walked over and patted Raj on the shoulder.

    "Hey, at least she said something. It could be worse, she could have just disappeared without saying anything at all."

    The moment Leonel said the words, he felt a hot gaze on the side of his face. However, he gathered up all the will power in the world and raised a thumbs-up.

    One could never say that he wouldn''t take one for his brothers.

    As expected, the moment Raj heard this, he burst into a fit of laughter. "Now, if you''ll excuse me," Leonel said before vanishing in a beam of light.

    "Wait right there!" Aina called out from behind. "Don''t say I never did anything for you, Raj!" Leonel''s voice echoed beneath the laughter of his brothers.

    **

    The Umbra family was quite an anomaly. Years ago, they had burst onto the scene, attacking Earth with a sweeping momentum, before they were suddenly repelled.

    Back then, many had made the assumption that they wouldn''t give up like this. After all, Earth had only been at the Fifth Dimension during their first attack, making it difficult for them to send their true fire power over. They could only rely on their young geniuses and older individuals who had no chance of breaking into the Sixth Dimension.

    Such a line up wasn''t very conducive to success. Due to the circumstances, they had only been able to send a single Sixth Dimensional existence in, their Patriarch Silam Umbra. But after his return, he made no movements to attempt a second attack, even after Earth became a Sixth Dimensional existence

    and swallowed up their territory. This was odd to many observing the situation.

    Although the Umbra family wasn''t exactly supremely powerful, they weren''t weak either. Back then, beneath the Luxnix, Montex and Viola families, they were probably near first place. In addition, having your territory swallowed by the influence of another World Spirit was nothing but bad, this was actually why Rychard was fighting so hard to maintain control over a certain radius. When one World Spirit overwhelms another, it''s only a matter of time before the weaker World Spirit loses all power.

    Once that happens,the generations birthed by the weaker World Spirit will cease to exist and the newborns will begin the cycle of becoming Earthlings.

    If this continued, in five generations, everything your ancestors had built up would vanish and your people would become the people of the stronger World Spirit.

    This wasn''t necessarily a bad thing if your lineage was weak. After all, wouldn''t you prefer to be a talent of Earth than a middling talent of a Sixth Dimensional world?

    But everyone had their own ambitions, and that was especially since there was another option, and that was to swallow up the stronger World Spirit yourself.

    If a weaker world overwhelmed an evolving world, it was possible to snatch the talent away and take it for yourself. In this way, not only would you be able to keep your lineage, you would also give it a great boost in strength.

    And yet, when Earth underwent a point of great vulnerability during its expansion into the Sixth Dimension, and was even compromised in a war against four now eradicated families, the Umbra family which had been in the best position to strike, controlling a galaxy right outside of the Milky Way, actually did nothing.

    No,it wasn''t accurate to say that they did nothing, and was far more accurate to say that they did nothing to Earth, because it was thanks to the Umbra family that many who wanted to take advantage of the situation found themselves absolutely stonewalled.

    The Umbra family,which was always known as one of decent strength, displayed a great amount of strength that felt well beyond its own and even played a key role alongside other mysterious figures in stopping others from taking advantage of Earth''s greatest period of weakness. What others didn''t know was that this was all because of a single young man, a young man who stood high in the skies and he looked down toward the shadowy planet.

    "You''re finally here." The voice appeared in a wisp of smoke as a figure suddenly manifested by Leonel''s side. This was none other than Radlis, a young man that Leonel had known since his days at Valiant Heart Mountain. It could be said that they were good friends for a while, though their relationship had ended up being a bit strained when Leonel learned that he was from the Umbra family and had only come to the Milky Way to prepare for an attack on Earth and of course, target the Silver Tablet.

    Leonel smiled, seemingly not surprised by Radlis'' sudden appearance at all. "Sorry it took so long, apparently I was stuck in a Zone for over 20 years." Radlis''s expression flickered. He had heard about the Zone as well. In fact, he knew a bit more about it than most considering his Umbra family''s former connections with the Three Finger Cult.

    He was shocked that Leonel had made it out at all. "Oh? So you do know a little something about that Zone. I was-"

    "... You might be disappointed with how much we know, but I guess you can say that we''re aware of a small bit. You can follow me, everyone has been waiting for a while."

    In truth, after knowing that Leonel would enter the Void Palace, they had already been ready to wait more than just a few decades.

    After all, one wasn''t supposed to be able to leave the Void Palace casually after entering it. The trade off in time should have been worth it, but it was just unfortunate that Leonel didn''t gain the boost in strength they were expecting from him in this time period.

    As a result, though they had been willing to wait, the situation was a bit more strained now than it would have been otherwise.

    Even so,what could they do? Just the fact Leonel knew of their connection to the Three Finger Cult meant that he had them by the balls. No matter how dissatisfied some of them might be, it was all useless.

    Leonel was in control. "Mm, let''s go," Leonel nodded.

 Chapter 1782 Simple Words

    1782 Simple Words

    Compared to the throne rooms and royal courts that Leonel had been in before, the gathering room of the Umbra family was very simple. Up ahead, their Patriarch, a man quite familiar to Leonel, Silam Umbra, sat. But unlike Leonel''s run in with the Viola family, Silam didn''t seem to be flaunting his authority.

    In fact, he was quite eye level with Leonel and greeted him with a nod.

    What was interesting to Leonel, though, was that Silam was still in the Sixth Dimension and he didn''t seem to have improved very much at all. But this shouldn''t have been surprising considering the fact that Silam should have already been near the peak of his potential when Leonel met him the first time.

    It wasn''t as though everyone would have vast improvements during his absence. However, this was still a curious matter.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel had drawn the connection between the Umbra family and the Three Finger Cult.

    Leonel had been able to draw the connection between the Shadow Tail Lineage Factor of the Umbra family and the higher grade Lineage Factors of the Umbra family.

    Even so, it felt odd that a family that was able to escape the Three Finger Cult would be so weak. It felt like it would make more sense that they were purposely putting up such a front to remain hidden, but Leonel actually felt that it was far more complicated than this.

    At the very least,if remaining covert was actually their main priority, they probably wouldn''t have attacked Earth back then.

    Unless they attacked precisely so that they wouldn''t stand out. If they hadn''t tried to take advantage of such a good opportunity, it would have made them look more odd than not.

    But now they''re probably being placed in a difficult situation because of me now that they chose to stand out and protect Earth back then.

    ''On top of that, in order for them to have succeeded back then, they definitely had to have more strength in reserve than what they''re displaying here. Interesting.''

    Leonel didn''t seem very uncomfortable with the silence in the room. Despite the several gazes trained on him, and the depth of darkness in the surrounding space, he seemed to be very comfortable in his own skin whereas others might have started squirming by now.

    "Can you old fogies stop staring so much? You''re making my skin crawl," Radlis mumbled.

    In the quiet of the room,his voice was all too conspicuous. It seemed that the years hadn''t taken the jokester out of Radlis, but even so, that only earned him more glares. They were trying to be serious here, but here was this boy ruining everything. Radlis scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh and grin.

    "Sorry,sorry, I only like it when beautiful women stare at me."

    "Oh? Am I not beautiful enough for you?"

    At that moment, a middle aged woman turned a sharp eye toward Radlis. She was actually his aunt, and though she looked a bit aged, she definitely still had the air of a mature and graceful woman to her.

    Even with the faint wrinkles on her face, most men would be forced to take a second or third look before her.

    This woman was known as Seltin, and it felt that the moment she spoke, the entire room seemed to shift toward her, even more so than Patriarch Silam himself.

    Radlis coughed. "How could that be true, aunty? I dream about you every day. I''ve lost count of the number of times I have lamented the fact we are related.

    Why are the heavens so cruel to me? I''m forever destined to not be with the world''s greatest beauty!"

    Radlis spoke as though he was pouring his heart out, but his antics caused the room which had been stifled with pressure to burst, becoming filled instead with stifled laughter.

    Even Leonel''s lip twitched. Now that he thought about it,the first time he met Radlis he was chasing skirts. It seemed that he wasn''t willing to let even his own aunt go.

    Toward this, observers could only be speechless. Seltin rolled her eyes. Obviously, she was likewise used to her nephew''s nonsense.

    Radlis was lucky that the situation wouldn''t allow it, or else she would have given him a nice spanking. After a moment, Seltin turned her gaze toward Silam for

    a second before looking toward Leonel.

    "You are a very intelligent boy since you could expose us when even the Three Finger Cult could not, so I''m sure you understand our qualms as well, right?

    We are running out of time and circumstances have, unfortunately, caused you to lose almost a quarter of a century. While we were, indeed, prepared to wait even twice as long as that, I''m sure you can understand the difference between then and now, right?"

    "It would not be smart on our part to continue investing in you the same way. However,there is also not much we can do if you choose to hold our past over our heads either, so we are at a bit of an impasse."

    Hearing these words,rather than being annoyed,Leonel was actually quite curious. Although the words seemed simple, they implied many things.

    The first was that the Umbra Three Finger Cult that was likely beyond just pure survival. The second was that they were prepared to execute this plan so long as Leonel would allow them an amicable separation. And the third was that they weren''t willing to have a falling out with Leonel if they didn''t have to.

    If they killed Leonel, it wouldn''t be long before the spotlight was on them again and that would make remaining hidden almost impossible.

    In addition, they would make themselves a great number of enemies, whether that was the Ascension Empire or the Morales family. They didn''t believe that others wouldn''t know that Leonel had come here today, so it was impossible for them to take this course of action casually.

 Chapter 1783 Im Not Here

    1783 I''m Not Here

    Leonel didn''t speak immediately. In truth, he had come here for two reasons. The first was to touch base and make sure that everything was running smoothly, while the second was to give the Umbra family the Bronze and Silver Tablets of the Dark half of their Lineage Factor.

    From what Leonel could see,the Umbra family was stuck with their Shadow Tail Lineage Factor much like the Luxnix family had been stuck with the Snowy Star Owl.

    But, compared to the original Luxnix family,the Umbra family had far more potential and talent, it was just hard for them to see the road forward.

    If they were able to upgrade their Lineage Factors, the help that they could provide to Leonel would be much better. The gap between the Lineage Factors was not small. If not for the perfect synergy between the two halves of the Lineage Factors, Leonel would have already abandoned his panda construct in favor of the stronger Lineage Factors of the Dark Force half.

    But now, Leonel realized that he would need to understand more about the Umbra family before he made this decision. In truth, the reason why he "trusted"

    them was obvious. This wasn''t because he liked Radlis, or he understood Silam''s character, it was rather because he had a firm hold of their greatest weakness.

    Someone who feared him and what he could do to them was much more trustworthy in almost all cases.

    Judging by the context clues of Seltin''s words, however, there was too much he didn''t understand the to hold firmly to this conviction. In fact, just the mere fact Seltin was speaking instead of Silam spoke volumes about how little he knew.

    "... I can tell you now that you''ve got it wrong," Leonel spoke slowly, "it isn''t me who should be convincing you of my use to you, but rather the vice versa."

    Seltin and the others frowned at these words.

    For a moment,they thought that Leonel might not have been as intelligent as they once thought. Could he not tell the underlying meaning of their words?

    Did he really think that this was all they had? Leonel shook his head.

    "The matter of the Three Finger Cult is trivial as of right now. Even if you all were suddenly exposed right this moment, I highly doubt that the Cult would have the bandwidth to deal with you right now. In fact, I''m pretty sure they have their hands full dealing with my old man''s temper."

    Leonel had already deduced that there was just one matter that could be keeping his father busy, and that had to be the Three Finger Cult. This was just an obvious conclusion to make. The Void Palace had been all but out of commission for at least 10 years before it finally clawed back enough high ranking members to reestablish themselves. But even then, their rules became more difficult to implement and even something as simple as their no leaving policy was broken again and again, casually.

    Even setting aside Leonel''s brothers, even the likes of Rychard had just directly left without a word. It was clear that the prestige of the Void Palace had taken a great hit. And yet, even with the Void Palace absent, what was the worst thing that had happened in these last 20 years?

    The invasion of the Cloud Race, maybe? Compared to what could have, or one could even argue should have happened, that was a mere joke.

    The only way that the Three Finger Cult could have been stalled for that period of time was if someone, or several someones with exceptional power, had stifled them at every turn. If Leonel knew of the disparaging words the Three Finger Cult had spoken about his old man, he would have laughed directly in their faces.

    To him, such words would have sounded no different from the triggered ravings of a group of losers. And, now that the Void Palace was back, the task ahead for the Three Finger Cult would only be made more difficult.

    As expected, when Leonel said these words, Seltin''s expression flickered. "I don''t need to threaten you, and I don''t have a habit of threatening those who are supposed to be my allies."

    "Is that why you destroyed those four families?" Seltin asked lightly.

    Leonel grinned. "Were they supposed to be my allies? As far as I know, in the midst of a crisis, instead of supporting the world they were born in, they attacked it and slaughtered countless young geniuses. Destroying them, as far as I''m concerned, was taking it easy on them."

    Seltin didn''t respond.Her words seemed to be implying something different, but at this moment, it didn''t seem to matter much.

    "So, I''ll say it again. It isn''t you all who needs convincing. I came here today with the intention of helping your family a great deal, but now I''m not so sure anymore."

    "Anyone could just say those words," an elder suddenly spoke from the side. BANG! A bronze tablet fell from Leonel''s ring onto the ground,causing cracks to spread in all directions.

    "Can they? Why am I not so certain of that?" Leonel asked without even looking in the direction of the elder who spoke. By this point, although Leonel''s gaze never left Seltin, even her own eyes were entirely focused on the bronze tablet at his feet.

    It radiated an aura that they were all too familiar with, an aura that made their hearts skip several beats. it very much at all, letting it rest at his feet without a single hint on his expression to its value.

    "Even if you all are a thousand times more powerful than what you''ve shown on the surface, I can promise that I can still leave this place entirely unscathed.

    "So, I won''t repeat myself again. This time, I''ll need proper explanations. I''m not here to beg you, I''m here to lead you. I''m not here to threaten you,

    I''m here to show you a light at the end of the tunnel. If you don''t want it, just say so and our relationship will be cut off here, just don''t think of coming back to me later. I already have a pet peeve against being tested."

 Chapter 1784 Beyond

    1784 Beyond

    Seltin''s gaze narrowed, but even after she looked back up to meet Leonel''s, he didn''t flinch a single time. In fact, it was she who felt her throat suddenly constrict as though just a thought of acting against Leonel would lead to her death. This was, of course, ridiculous, or at the very least, she thought that it should be. Even with the strength she only showed on the surface, it should be enough to deal with a Tier 1 Leonel. let alone her true strength...So why did she feel so uncomfortable?

    "... What do you want to know?" Seltin finally spoke.

    "The obvious," Leonel replied without missing a beat.

    "Why did you leave the Three Finger Cult? How did you leave them? Why are you all stuck at the Shadow

    Tail level of the Lineage Factors? What is the true depth of your strength... The obvious," Leonel repeated.

    Seltin''s jaw set and she leaned back into her chair. Radlis, who was still standing by Leonel''s side, coughed slightly, pulling at his color.

    "Is it just me or is it a bit hot in here?"

    This time, Radlis'' antics didn''t get any laughs. In fact, the atmosphere only became heavier until Seltin finally spoke.

    "Believe it or not, the Three Finger Cult wasn''t always like this. The original intention of the Three Finger Cult was to save humanity.

    I''m sure that those who remain still believe that that''s what they''re doing, but as far as we are concerned, they''ve strayed from that path long ago. The moment they began to target fellow humans for the supposed "greater good", they had already lost their way."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he didn''t interrupt. "The Three Finger Cult gained its name from its three founders. Oddly enough, only two of them were human,and the third... was a demon. The other two founders, one is likely one you have never heard of, a man who called himself King, and the second was a true Emperor...the first ruler of the Silver Empire,Emperor Silver the First.

    "One would think that it would be the demon who betrayed the other two, but the one who did was the second human, King. Without wasting time getting into the weeds,King turned the Human race against the Silver Empire, leading to their destruction. It was said that the reason for this was a love triangle between the three as it was probably more accurate to say that their third member wasn''t a demon,but rather....A demoness."

    "The details of that period are murky to many, but in the annals of history, it had always been written that the Silver Empire betrayed the human race, turning into unrecognizable demons. One could only guess that the demoness of the Three Finger Cult chose Emperor Silver and King was enraged by this."

    Leonel frowned.Something wasn''t adding up. "If the founders of the Three Finger Cult involved the founder of the Silver Empire,how is it that this grudge led to the destruction of the Empire?" It didn''t make any sense. No matter what, the Silver Empire was a powerful dynasty and it had many Emperors. By the time the Silver Empire fell, the founders of the Three Finger Cult should have long been dead. From what Leonel understood about lifespans, this shouldn''t be possible.

    Even Wise Star Order,who was supposedly Immortal, had a cap to his lifespan.

    "This is an answer I cannot give you. All I know is that these words are most definitely the truth, because even now, King is still alive." Leonel''s pupils constricted, his heart palpitating. If Seltin wasn''t lying, then this wasn''t just a small matter. What level of strength did someone who had lived for so long have?

    How did this make any sense at all? Seltin took a breath and exhaled. It was obvious that this was also something she thought about a lot.

    "Our Umbra family is made of individuals whose hearts turned cold due to this decision and the few members that remain of the Silver Empire. We hope to make it back one, but for now we live in the shadows. This is why we''ve taken on the name Umbra."

    Seltin shook her head. "We cannot tell you the true depth of our power as it does matter regardless.We will never show the world more than this level of strength, and even if you give us the Bronze Tablet to meditate upon and regain our Lineage Factor,we will never show it to the outside world either, not until we are ready to strike back against the Three Finger Cult.

    "Ultimately, the reason we only have the Shadow Tail Lineage Factor is because for us, it doesn''t manifest like a Lineage Factor at all. Instead, it manifests like an Ability Index, it is not inherited, it''s instead passed down to us. "

    "The original Three Finger Cult didn''t have strong familial ties so it was difficult to maintain the Lineage Factor across many generations, and even when it did appear, it was becoming so scarce that it was difficult to display good results."

    "In addition, since the Cult only had one tablet, it wasn''t feasible to allow everyone a chance to meditate on it, especially as the organization expanded."

    "So, as a result of this,the demoness created this method of Lineage Factor transfer. Only by contributing to the cause could we then gain an opportunity to meditate on the tablet and thus progress."

    "But, obviously, after our escape, we forever lost this chance and have been trying to find new methods of progression. I can only say that... this tablet is indeed very valuable to us. You are correct in your original assessment..." As Seltin''s words echoed, flashes of lightning were sparking through Leonel''s Dreamscape.

    He felt like he was making connections faster and faster between things that had previously seemed entirely disconnected, even some things related to his Grandpa Morales.

    But before he could even focus on those things,Leonel''s mind suddenly snapped toward the demoness. A demoness... capable of passing down Lineage Factors as though they were Ability Indexes...The Silver Tablet was also somewhat similar to this, was it not? Just who was this demoness? And why was it that she was the only one Setlin left unnamed?

    For some reason, Leonel had a feeling that this demoness was far more important than Emperor Silver or King. In fact, she may very well be the reason behind it all.

    But this only left more questions than answers. The Void Library had no explanations of a demon race, it seemed that the only instance occurred within the Human Domain itself, something that made absolutely no sense.

    Where was that demoness during the conflict? Why did Seltin gloss over her as though she wasn''t a big deal at all? And why was it that the more Leonel thought about this demoness, the vaguer his conclusions about her became, almost as though someone was trying to mess with his memory? The most fear inducing part was that Leonel could feel the movements in his Dream Force, almost as though a pair of slender hands was shifting his synapses and stopping them from firing properly.

    This person...their Dream Force affinity was leagues beyond his own.

 Chapter 1785 Not Bad

    1785 Not Bad

    Leonel frowned and shook his head. He couldn''t think straight until he, ironically, stopped thinking entirely. He could only barely manage to split up his deductions into several Dreamscapes, only when they were separate did the odd influence on his mind disappear.

    By the time he was finished, his heart was beating erratically. He couldn''t imagine the kind of power it would take to influence someone''s thoughts about you.

    This was beyond just power, it was quite literally the means of a God. Leonel was almost 100% certain that this person was aware every time their likeness was mentioned.

    Was this the true power of Dream Force? To not only be hyper aware of your own stream of consciousness,but that of everyone else''s as well?

    Years ago,Leonel had had a thought about this, but it was so far away from him that he couldn''t even fathom it. Even now, he was in a similar situation.

    Despite how far he had grown, he felt like he hadn''t even taken half a step toward such a goal. ''This person... this person is dangerous...'' Leonel''s jaw set.

    He realized almost immediately just how poor his mindset had been. This wasn''t someone that he could casually catch up to with a few years of effort, and it most definitely wasn''t someone he could out scheme.

    This was beyond Wise Star Order reading his mind, this person could sense his learning about them from an infinite distance away. To say that such an individual could crush him with a single finger was an exaggeration...of himself. This person wouldn''t even need to lift a finger. If Leonel was correct, if this person wanted to kill him, the moment they sensed him learning about them, they could directly snuff out his consciousness, and he wouldn''t even be able to do anything about it. This was why Leonel had no choice but to stop trying to deduce.

    If he kept thinking about this person, he might very well offend them. By then, he wouldn''t even know how he died, his life would just be forfeit.

    Unbeknownst to him, Leonel had broken out into a cold sweat, his face becoming somewhat pale. This was a feeling that he had never experienced before.

    What he didn''t even have the presence of mind to realize was that most people who spoke of this person wouldn''t even notice that they were being observed.

    It was precisely because Leonel''s Dream Force affinity was so high that he could feel this fear to begin with. As the saying went, ignorance was bliss.

    Seltin and the others had no idea why Leonel was reacting like this, but Leonel himself felt that he had just barely escaped with his life.

    The problem was that losing his life was just one potential aspect. Someone with such a great control over Dream Force could take over his mind, alter his thoughts,and twist his personality without him even realizing.

    Such a thing would be a far worse fate than death. Leonel took slow and deep breaths, doing his best to slow his heart rate. The glow in his eye slowly returned.

    It took him a while, but Leonel realized that even his overwhelming feeling of fear just now didn''t even come from himself, it was rather this person influencing him.

    For them to be able to force him to react like this after what he experienced with the Emperor''s Might Tablet, it was clear that they were an existence no less powerful.

    Leonel lightly flexed his fists,the aura around him shifting. At that moment,Leonel''s Dream Force broke through a barrier as he exhaled. His irises reflected a glassy color, almost as though one could spot a microcosm of the world within him. A silvery crystal-like energy rained down around Leonel and his three Stars rotated.

    BOOM! BOOM! In an instant, Leonel''s aura flourished, his strength soaring from Tier 1 of the Sixth Dimension to Tier 3.

    Wild fluctuations of Force wafted from his body like the echoes of a roar, causing cracks to race along the ground and forcing Radlis, who was the closest to him, into a retreat. Leonel''s hair danced and his clothing fluttered. The pale violet color in his eyes seemed to solidify for a moment before it receded once more.

    The expressions of Seltin and the others couldn''t help but widen. The moment Leonel made his first breakthrough, it was clear and obvious that he wasn''t on the Conventional Path. A breakthrough in the Conventional Path after the Fifth Dimension required a large amount of resources, but Leonel hadn''t absorbed anything, in fact his body seemed to spontaneously produce Force of its own. This meant that Leonel had to be on the God Path, but if he really was on the God Path, just what were they witnessing? Even a single breakthrough along the God Path was worthy of celebration.

    Even for the Cataclysm Generation,the greatest geniuses of the Human Domain, supposedly, a single breakthrough took over a year. Many of them had already been back for over a decade but very few had entered the Seventh Dimension. This made the issue obvious. Just a single breakthrough should be hard to come by, how the hell had Leonel undergone two right before their eyes? And the oddest part was that just a moment ago, he looked as though he had contracted some sort of sickness. The flourishing aura around Leonel slowly came to a pause and he exhaled a final breath and everything seemed to settle down properly.

    In an unknown location, a demoness sat on a throne of bones. Every part of her was endlessly alluring, and yet it also felt as though one couldn''t see any part of her clearly. She was somehow both the most perfect representation of woman, and yet somehow very forgettable. At that moment, this demoness chuckled, even her voice causing those that heard it to go entirely soft all over.

    "Not bad," she said lightly. "Much better than those other two."

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1786 Libli And Dynmo

    1786 Libli and Dynmo

    Leonel stretched slightly, his body popping and crackling. Just now, he had caught a glimpse of what the highest echelons of Dream Force Manipulation looked like, and it almost instantly enlightened him. However, even with this, he only felt that the gap between himself and this individual only widened further.

    Even so,the pressure of Leonel''s Dream Force had just become more suffocating.

    He could feel the limitations his body placed on his Seventh Dimensional Dream Force loosen by a great deal. It was clear that strengthening one''s Force Manipulation could break down Dimensional barriers prematurely. Breaking through via this method felt so much different than it had in the Fifth Dimension.

    Leonel felt as though he had become an elevated being, as though he was truly transcending through the Dimensions, like he was shedding his mortality.

    He tightened and loosened his fists, feeling the air around him trembling. This was just a Sixth Dimensional world and the power he felt over it was palpable.

    He felt like he could crush a mountain with a single stop and split the skies in two.This was true power. Even so, he didn''t feel the slightest hint of complacency.

    The looming shadow of that figure hung over his shoulder, reminding him just how weak he was. At the same time, that hidden danger he had been sensing all this time could come around any time now, he didn''t want to relax.

    Leonel stretched a hand forward and the Bronze Tablet shot up and into his hands. "Take it",Leonel threw the Bronze Tablet over to Seltin without much hesitation.

    Even she was slightly stunned. She blinked, touching the cool surface. Even now, she could feel her blood stirring within herself. She had already brought the Shadow Tail Lineage Factor to the peak of its potential long ago, she had been waiting for this day for too long.

    "Are you sure?"

    "There''s nothing to be hesitant about. For what they did to my grandfather,the Three Finger Cult will definitely fall in my lifetime with or without you all, that I can promise. But if you all are serious about following through on your Ancestor''s intentions, then I will invest now and reap the rewards later."

    Leonel waved a hand. "Soon, I''ll be launching a mission against the Thrusting Skies Sector, prepare an elite group of a hundred, whatever the best you can display for now is. I will be going to the Midas and Radix families now. Originally, I was going to have you participate in this as well, but now..."

    Leonel looked down and his hands,feeling the strength coursing through him. "... I don''t think it''s necessary anymore." Leonel turned to leave with a smile, waving a hand. If it was before and Leonel had spoken about taking out the Three Finger Cult without them, the members of the Umbra family might not have been able to take it seriously. However, it could be understated just how impossible it was to have such a breakthrough in the Sixth Dimension.

    To skip a level was practically unheard of. So when Leonel spoke...they subconsciously believed him.

    **

    He vexpected the Midas and Radix families to be even easier to deal with than the Umbra family had with the Umbra, he had no such thing with this two-pronged family, and yet he didn''t even have to shed a single hint of blood to find himself deep within their territory, face to face with their new Patriarch and Matriarch.

    Leonel knew the two of them quite well as he had fought the both of them before, Libli the petite young woman, and Dynmo, the 2.5 meter tall behemoth of a man.

    After over two decades,their marriage had long since occurred and they might very well have children between them now. However, quite frankly, the two of them looked horrible. From what Leonel could tell, they really seemed to be on their last legs. It only took a single sweep for Leonel to understand.

    "The Florer family?" Libli managed to keep her calm after Leonel said these words, but it was Dynmo,the simple one between the two,that wore his heart too clearly on his sleeve.

    He reacted almost immediately when Leonel spoke, making it all too obvious that this was the case.

    Toward her husband, Libli could only release an exasperated sigh.

    The last time Dynmo had seen Leonel, he had gotten his shoulder crushed and found himself tossed into a snowglobe. If not for Leonel choosing to release him back to his family, he wouldn''t even be here, and it could be said that it was because of this slight good will that Leonel''s journey here had been made so easy.

    Even so, Dynmo had a psychological weakness in the face of Leonel that was even worse compared to usual, so he found it very hard to hide anything,especially when Leonel was being so blunt and straight forward. "Prince Leonel, we hope that you can help us out a small measure. As you know, our Midas and Radix family, and their Florer family, have never seen eye to eye because we own two halves of the same inheritance."

    "Back during Earth''s rise into the Sixth Dimension,the Florer family made the mistake of attacking again, and they suffered a huge loss at the hands of the Umbra family and others, which saved us quite some trouble. But in recent years,they''ve been making a comeback and the pressure has returned tenfold, and things are only worse now given the retreat of Shield Cross Stars."

    "If things keep trending in this direction, our family will be finished. They''ve always been more powerful than us, and if not for the union of our two families, we would have been crushed."

    "I know that Imperial Prince needs help from others for the Morales family Heir Wars, but it''s impossible for you to gain the help of the truly powerful families due to the muddy politics. If you help our family to complete our inheritance by snatching away the Florer family''s secrets, I can guarantee that we will be of great help to you!" Libli exhaled a breath as though it had taken up all of her energy to get this out.

 Chapter 1787 Mistake

    1787 Mistake

    "Hm..." Leonel hummed, but didn''t answer immediately. Of course, he had come here wanting to deal with Midas and Radix families, SO to turn his attention toward the Florer family in exchange for their obedience wasn''t too much of a problem. But the confidence in Libli''s voice made him curious.

    He had really thought much about it before, but it seemed that this inheritance they were talking about might not be too simple. In fact, if he recalled correctly this inheritance should be related to the Silver Empire as well. Leonel remembered the first time he had heard about the Silver Empire.

    While it had been intriguing, it wasn''t enough for him to be in shock and awe. But suddenly, he seemed to hear their name echo wherever he went.

    Libli squirmed somewhat nervously. Although she had said about whether or not Leonel would really help them. Much like one tended to do in negotiations, she had exaggerated their position a bit. Whether or not they would be able to maximize the inheritance or not wasn''t something she was sure of.

    In fact, she wasn''t even certain what the Silver Empire inheritance would look like when it fused into one.

    "Explain your half of the inheritance to me."Leonel finally said. Libli exhaled. So long as Leonel was asking questions, there was a chance.

    "The inheritance is... a bit difficult to describe. But it boils down to my Radix family''s Radix Cube and Dynmo''s Midas family''s strong bodies."

    "The Midas family''s is much easier to explain. They are able to use large amounts of Fire Force materials to strengthen their bodies. It not only ups their fire affinity, but it also gives their body a durability and recoverability most do not have."

    "When you returned Dynmo to us, he was half dead with disastrous brain injuries, but he was able to survive thanks to this. He''s even able to heal his body just by taking in high quality Fire Force, though the limit is dependent on his own affinity,the strength of his talent and his overall strengthitself."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed when he heard this. Dynmo had, indeed, been half dead when Leonel returned him to his family. In fact, he remembered being shocked that he survived his blow at all. However, this wasn''t why Leonel was intrigued.He just felt that Libli''s words sounded...greatly familiar.

    "My Radix family''s Radix Cube is a lot more complicated. We are able to form a special Force within us that can be used to influence and change metals.

    Once this metal is changed through the use of our Bronze Force, it gains a symbiotic relationship with us and we are able to take it within our bodies.

    This allows us to create Crafts that can be controlled like limbs extending from our bodies."

    "We nurture our Radix Cubes through our lives and we grow along with them. As we get more powerful,so too do they."

    The more Libli talked, the more sparks flew within Leonel''s Dreamscape. But even so,he couldn''t understand why... Time and time again, the name Morales and Metal Synergy Lineage Factor came up.

    But... What did portions of an Inheritance from the Silver Empire have to do with the Morales family? Swallowing Fire Force to strengthen one''s body... That sounded eerily similar to Metal Body. Fusing with metals and controlling it like an extension of yourself...

    That sounded eerily similar to Divine Armor.

    These seemingly unrelated matters all of a sudden fell entirely too related when they were reframed.

    Leonel''s gaze turned sharp. What about the Florer family,then?

    **

    "We have to be more cautious, things aren''t looking good. News that the four families were destroyed has been circulating, although that might just be a rumor right now, we should at least confirm if it''s true before we take another step."

    A voice of reason echoed in a secret meeting room. This location was none other than an underground lair of the Florer family, but the people here were entirely split. The individual who spoke was an old woman who went by Elder Cherie. She looked especially kind, and though her face was filled with wrinkles, she had a rosiness that seemed very healthy. Out of her greying hair, branches of trees seemed to grow and blooming red cherries became like ornaments to her style.

    On her shoulder, a beautiful white dove sat, picking at the red cherries from time to time with a blooming happiness in its eyes. By the time it finished eating one, a second would appear in its place almost immediately. This woman exuded endless vitality and was one of the three strongest warriors of the Florer family.

    Even so, she seemed to be in the minority on this day. Elders Seaward and Rosellia were entirely opposed to her views. "I disagree," Elder Seaward, an old man who seemingly had seaweed in place of his hair spoke out, "if anything,those rumors should make us hurry all the more. That boy is the very one who killed little Belize back when he was just in the Fifth Dimension. Now that he''s returned, what chance do we stand if we do not finally complete our ancestors'' wishes and fuse the final inheritance together?" Elder Cherie shook her head.

    "You only need to take the Midas and Radix families as an example. Just because we have the be able to fuse it. If it was so easy, why haven''t their Midas and Radix families fused their quarter pieces together in all this time? Isn''t it precisely because we can make use of a full half while they can only separate it that we are so much more powerful than they are?"

    "Even after centuries of inter- marrying,they''ve only just finally produced a young genius that can use the two. By the time we succeed in producing a genius who can fuse all three pieces, our actions would have long since offended the Ascension Empire to the point where we would be eradicated.

    By then, our hard work would fall in the hands of others. "I believe that this is a foolish decision that will lead to the downfall of our family."

 Chapter 1788 Choice

    1788 Choice

    Rosellia and Seaward had difficulty rebutting Cherie''s words. This was something the two ahd, obviously, been quite aware of. But they were simply unwilling, and what made it all worse was that this had been caused by their greed. Had they not attacked Earth backthen, with how much the Ascension Empire had on their plate, how could they have time todeal with a scuffle between two Sixth Dimensional families?

    Had they not been on Earth''s radar, they could have used this moment to make a final push into Midas and Radix territory, swallowing them up and secretly taking advantage of commotion to retreat in secret to digest their gains.But now it was difficult even to make that argument. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

    They could either sit back and hope that Earth would forget their transgressions and not deal with them even after resolving their issues in the future, or they could rush forward with this and inevitably pop back up on their radar.

    Either way, their fates didn''t seem to be in their own hands. "Then we''ll just have to accept the offer," Rosellia eventually said coldly.

    When this was said,even Cherie hesitated, not saying anything immediately. Her kind features seemed marred by worry. If this sort of choice was made, there ruly was no going back.

    Those beople seemed to be very interested in their inheritance, but if their proposal was accepted, then they would have very little control of where things went from here. Ultimately, there were two predictable roads between themand one wild card. If they sat back and did nothing, they wouldeither eventually be destroyed in the future, or they would continue to wallow in mediocrity.If they attacked,they would offend the Ascension Empire and If they accepted this proposal...

    any of those things could also happen, but there was also a small chance that they could break out of their cocoon and bloom.It was clear what kind of philosophy the Florer family usually had. Since they had dared to attack Earth back then even while knowing the kind of sticky situation they might get themselves into.

    However, even so, they were used to doing risk assessments as well.

    Back then,Earth was still a fledgling world and they seemed vulnerable. But now, they had already grown into a behemoth incomparison to them.

    At the same time, if those people dared to do as they said, then it was likely that they were another behemoth, one that their family also couldn''t afford to offend.

    The question was,should they make a deal with the devil to escape a demon? Cherie couldn''t make this decision. Back then she hadn''t stopped the family from attacking Earth because she too understood the concept that if one wasn''t moving forward,they were moving backward.

    If everyone around you was improving while you, yourself, was stagnant, it really was no different from moving in the reverse direction.

    As a family that had survived many centuries to make it to this point, even conquering a galaxy to themselves, they couldn''t afford to take a step back, especially since so many were eyeing Earth''s territory right now. Worse come to worst, they would just allow their World Spirit to dissipate and become true citizens of Earth. But if they were ostracized and their territory was taken over first before they could do even that, then what chance did they stand?

    The three head elders looked toward one another and fell into silence. It seemed that they hadmade their choice. They didn''t need to say anything to understand one another''s conclusions.However,before they could take any further steps, a commotion broke out.

    As Leonel walked, he had to admit that the feeling of moist, softgrass beneath his bare feet feltalmost too good. The Florer family territory was indeed a beautiful one, exotic plants of all sorts bloomed in thesurroundings, filling the air withan earthy and delicate fragranc ethat soothed the soul, it even somewhat reminded Leonel of the scent of rain, but it was perpetual. He didn''t waste any time and had come directly to their main planet, he truly didn''t believe that anyone here could stop him. Even up until this point, he hadn''t felt it necessary to take his hands out of his pockets and he was enjoying the scenery more than anything. The shouts of warriors and alarms began to blare, ruining theambience somewhat. However,every time they exposed their position, another swirling mass of Emulation Spatial Force wouldshoot through the air, impaling them all. The Florer family members were simply too weak.

    Leonel was already able to kill one of their strongest warriors and geniuses back when he was in the Fifth Dimension. Now that he was in Tier 3 of the Sixth Dimension,what chance did they stand now?In what felt like just a few minutes, Leonel had already made it to the main gates of their estate.

    The entirety of Planet Florer was covered in foliage and plant-life, even the water sources were covered in plants of all kinds, making it look like a planet of green from above.

    Their main estate was really no different at all, it was hard to tell if it was a real fortress at allbecause even its sturdy constructions were covered inplant life.

    BOOM!A rush of Spatial Force came out from Leonel like the swing of a hammer. In just a single strike, the tall gates deformed, a dent that was over 20 meters across and over five meters deep appearing right at its very center. Leonel raised an eyebrow. ''

    It survived that?... It''s actuallyrepairing itself too...Leonel was a bit reluctant to use Fire Force in such a beautiful place, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t if it came to it. For now, though... It didn''t feel necessary. Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    BOOM!The gates flung open with such force that they were ripped off their hinges.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1789 Too Late

    1789 Too Late

    The gates flew up like artillery shells, falling in the distance with a deafening boom. At thatmoment, all the Florer family members that had been scrambling behind the gatesfroze, looking toward Leonel at the same time. They knew well how good their defenses were. It should have taken an entire troop of powerful warriors to even damage it. How could just a single person not only burst through it.

    But even do so with such force that the gates flew from their hinges like that? Fear took deep root within them even as Cherie, Seaward and Rosellia all charged out from the depths of their family estate, their eyes widening when they landed on Leonel. Although they hadn''t personally been there to see this young man back then, how could they not learn of the truth from others by this point? Leonel had been able to kill Belize at the Fifth Dimension, but now... now he was already in the Sixth Dimension.

    Just what kind of monster had he become?The three head elders smiled bitterly in their hearts. They never thought that they wouldn''t even get the chance to make the hard choice. Just when they thought they had time, their worst fears became a reality almost instantly. Even if they laid down their lives to battle Leonel right this moment, would it even change anything? The strongest among them,Cherie,was only at Tier 6 of the Sixth Dimension, the other two were still at Tier 5.

    Thev didn''t feel like they stood a single chance.Leonel continued to walk forward. His steps were absolutely silent, but for some reason they felt as loud and powerful gongs in their heads. Cherie sighed. "Is it necessary to take things this far, Imperial Prince? Our family offended yours once in the past, but we haven''t crossed any lines since then. Doesn''t Earth need more allies now?"

    Leonel gazed toward Cherie. His eyes couldn''t help but narrow. When he looked toward this woman, he couldn''t muster up any emotions outside of goodwill, she looked too kind, too fragile, too warm. But that was exactly why Leonel immediately put his guardup, there was absolutely no reason why he, who had such good control over himself, should be unable to make logical deductions about a person''s character. At the very least, he should be able to make assessments deeper than what hecould see at a skin deep level.

    Leonel''s eyes shifted toward the white dove on her shoulder, his expression becoming expressionless once more."Have you been?" Leonel asked lightly.

    "Nine days ago at Planet Vultrix. 17 days ago at the EU Moon System. 22 days ago Pro-Lax Moon System. 27 days ago at the Raytrize Asteroid System. These are just incidents within the last month where your family has launched an assault against others within Ascension Empire territory."

    The expressions of the three elders changed. Although they hadn''t been personally a part of those operations, they knew of them. Each one of them had targeted the Midas and Radix families, dealing them huge losses. They had had many more planned, but the news of the destruction of the four families had stopped them in their tracks. Never had they thought that the Ascension Empire had paid so much attention to them. Could it be that they never stood a chance right from the very beginning?

    What these three didn''t know was that the Ascension Empire had, indeed, not had any time to worry about them. Instead, this was just information gathered by the networks of the Etching Metal Organization, an organization the vast majority had no idea existed, and for those that might have an inkling, it was only that...suspicions . Let alone the Florer family,Leonel had detailed analysis of the micro and macro movements of every family and organization within Earth''s territories.

    Cherie didn''t know how to respond to Leonel''s words. If before they had plausible deniability, the specifics of Leonel''s words made it obvious that their denial would mean nothing, and even further...that he likely had proof. The head elders smiled bitterly and the atmosphere fell into solemnity.

    At that moment, a laughter echoed through the quiet.Leonel slowly turned his head toward a building covered in foliage in the distance. He had noticed this young man long ago, but he had simply made the assumption that he was just another member of the Florer family. He wasn''t actively scanning everyone, after all, he couldn''t be expected to recognize all of their faces as he had never been here before.However, the moment he paid attention to this young man, Leonel realized that his soul was different compared to everyone else here.

    He knew immediately that he wasn''t related to the Florer family.

    When Leonel realized this, he became more serious about scanning the air, his powerful Internal Sight surging through the region."Two... Five...Six of them including him. Alright."

    The young man was caught off guard by the fact that Leonel immediately turned his attention calmness about him. But, what shocked him even more was what came after

    this.

    "I haven''t killed any members of the Three Finger Cult in a long while. Why don''t you stop laughing and draw your blade. If you don''t, I won''t give you another chance to." The expression of the young man and the other five changed almost immediately. They never thought that Leonel would be able to actually name their organization so casually. How could he even tell? For the current Leonel,such a feat was all too easy. Scanning aperson''s soul told you a lot more about them than just generally

    scanning their bodies.

    With just alook,Leonel could feel thefamiliar aura of a Lineage Factor that he, himself, had, and thes epeople obviously weren''t from his Morales, Luxnix or Fawkes families. In that case, there was only one explanation. Leonel finally took his hands out of his pockets and flipped a palm to reveal the radiant White Lion bow.

    "Too late. Don''t say I didn''t give you a chance."

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1790 Twin

    1790 Twin

    BANG! The head of the young man snapped backward, a bloody hole appearing on his forehead. He seemed to enter a slight lull for a moment before his head exploded, a rain of blood and gore spreading in all directions.

    Leonel didn''t show the slightest hint of mercy. The Three Finger Cult was an existence that was akin to the oil to his water. As many as he met was exactly as many as he would kill. For making his father show him such an expression, they deserved nothing short of death.

    Cherie and the others shivered. They had no idea that young man was still here. He was the one who had come to them with the earlier proposition. But they had never thought that rather than leaving, these individuals would have still been here monitoring their movements. Even though they had eventually decided to side with these individuals, didn''t this mean that they had never really had a choice to begin with?

    And yet, this person they had feared had been shredded to pieces by just a single attack of Leonel''s. Leonel''s fingers flickered and more arrows appeared from the Segmented Cube. He nocked three at once, pulling back in one fluid motion as his hair fluttered in the air. He locked onto several targets at once, in his eyes, they might as well have been standing nose to nose. In such a situation, how could they avoid him?

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    Leonel released his bowstring, the roar of a white lion echoing with a sonorous resonance. At that moment, the other five who had all been hiding in the general vicinity, seemingly with the intention of blending into the family, all erupted with their greatest strengths at the same time.

    Three punched out at the same time, shattering Leonel''s arrows. Even so, two of them grimaced in pain as the bones in their hands fractured, and the last of them was even more unlucky, losing their entire fist to just a single arrow. All three stumbled back, their steps causing the ground to crack and shatter.

    Leonel had already pulled out three more arrows before the first ones landed, pulling back with a movement just as fluid and releasing. The world seemed to be devoid of all noise, the whistling of Leonel''s arrows fading as they became

    faster and faster. The remaining two hidden experts shot into the air, radiant silver-black wings extending from their backs.

    Leonel recognized it immediately as the Dusky Steel Bat Lineage Factor. The last time Leonel faced the Three Finger Cult,they had even sent someonewith the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor, the fact that this seemed to be the best this squadron could muster, it was obvious that they had sent a far weaker lineup this time around.

    Even so, thev were actually arrogant enough to provoke Leonel despite knowing his identity. It could only be said that they had over estimated themselves. Leonel''s three arrows spiraled around one another, appearing before one of the flying experts as though he had already guessed exactly what would happen.

    PENG! PENG! PENG!

    The expert quickly protected himself with his steel wings. The Dusky Steel Bat was well known for both its speed and the defense

    of its wings. Even so, Leonel''s attack left three heavy dents in the enemy''s wings, sending him flying into the distance. Before he could even react, a fourth arrow appeared before his forehead, shattering his skull to pieces. The last look in his eyes was nothing more than sheer moments, he couldn''t believe he had died so easily.

    What he didn''t know was that Leonel was impressed that any one of them had survived more than just a single arrow from him. The fact they could just went to show the sheer amount of talent was raising. Anyone who could survive more than a single strike from him while being in the Sixth Dimension had a right to be proud of themselves.

    These were Leonel''s thoughts.

    TWANG!

    Leonel''s arrow suddenly exploded with speed in the air, catching the second Dusky Steel Bat Lineage Factor wielder off guard. Seeing how their companion died, she had thought that she would at least be able to block the first strike. But the sudden acceleration of Leonel''s arrow caught her completely off guard.

    His head snapped back with a bloody hole. There was simply no chance as her head exploded before her body even hit the ground. Leonel had already nocked four more arrows. If one was following his pupils, before his enemies even faced a fatal strike, he had already looked away from them. The confidence in his archery was untouchable. With a bow in hand, he was invincible.

    Leonel released his arrows, but this time, his gaze narrowed. Even when it was just a mere three meters from his target, his expression didn''t become any better. To anyone else, there was absolutely nothing there, but Leonel didn''t seem happy at all. As expected, when the arrows entered a two-meter, a figure appeared from seemingly nowhere, a delicate hand waving through the air. As though this beauty was plucking grapes froma vine, she snatched Leonel''s arrows out of the air, caressing them in her fingers and cradling them to a stop.

    "They are no longer of any use, we will leave now," she said lightly.

    "I''ve gotten what we need."

    Her voice was beautiful beyond compare. As her white robes fluttered along with her veil, she looked like an absolute goddess, and her voice only made one want to protect her future. Battling her would be the furthest thing from anyone''s mind. And yet, this wasn''t something that Leonel was thinking about.

    Rather, despite the obstruction of the veil and the fact his visual senses wanted to tell him that he had never met this person before, his far sharper senses were telling him a different story.

    "Anya?" Leonel mumbled.

    "No, you aren''t her. A twin sister?" Leonel seemed to speak only for himself, but the ears of those here were too powerful given their Dimensional levels.

 Chapter 1791 Death

    1791 Death

    The woman seemed to look toward Leonel for the first time, but it was for no other reason than the mention of Anya. She didn''t seem to see Leonel at all, in fact it looked as though she was looking through him, a feeling that many of Leonel''s enemies had experienced at his hands.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem to care very much. True confidence and arrogance stemmed from thinking little of what others thought of you. those who would be enraged by such a thing clearly had something to overcompensate for. As far as Leonel saw it, this was only confirmation of his thoughts.

    Leonel''s gaze shifted toward the ring on the woman''s finger, his gaze flashing. His Bow Domain Lineage Factor activated and his vision seemed to implode with Spatial Force. This was the truest extent of the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, the capability to activate Force from your sight.

    Since Leonel couldn''t make use of the full Lineage Factor since he lacked the complete form, he could still accomplish this much. His vision pierced through the veil and entered the spatial device on the young woman''s finger. In an instant, he saw everything within her private ring, ranging from her undergarments all the way to what he was truly looking for.

    An inconspicuous object was neatly tucked away in the corner. Although he had never seen it before, Leonel was absolutely certain that this was where the half of Silver Empire''s inheritance was. Before he had gotten to it, this woman had made it there first.

    At first, the young woman was confused about what she was seeing. But after a moment, she seemed to have deduced what had happened. In one moment, she was stunned, and in the next, her placid glaze was marred by fury. She seemed to forget that there were people she was here to take away. Her aura alone caused the three that had managed to survive to erupt into a cloud of crimson.

    Leonel didn''t react much to this at all. He assumed that she was angry because he had seen her personal property, but he simply didn''t care. In fact, the more time she spent angry instead of using whatever method she had prepared to escape, the better. He obviously couldn''t let her leave with the inheritance.

    As for seeing her undergarments, if he really wanted to, he could see her naked right this moment. Most could use their own personal strength to cancel out the Bow Domain Lineage Factor, but Leonel had a very unique set of abilities that made it very difficult to do so unless you had a large power advantage over him.

    If this woman was truly Anya''s twin sister, there was no doubt that she was a top class beauty, one rarely seen, no less than Aina. But he simply didn''t care. No beauty outside of Aina herself had ever moved him, and he doubted that would ever change. This woman could be stripped naked before him and he simply wouldn''t care.

    "You have a death wish," she said coldly.

    Leonel didn''t respond, his bow disappearing in place of a white-gold spear. His Absolute Spear Domain flourished, an illusory cyclone of gold dancing around him. The aura was so oppressive that the members of the Florer family were forced into a retreat, buildings in the surrounding area threatening to collapse.

    The young woman, Harmony, took a step forward. But just as she did so, she looked up and her face seemed to scowl beneath her veil.

    Clearly, someone was communicating with her. She looked back toward Leonel and sparks seemed to fly in her beautiful eyes, her ample chest heaving. She seemed to be memorizing Leonel''s face for the future, her murderous intent towering like a malevolent tornado. After a moment, she exhaled a breath and flipped her palm over to reveal a plaque which she immediately poured her Force into.

    Strong spatial fluctuations emitted in all directions until she was enveloped with a swirling portal. She vanished. However, from start to finish, Leonel hadn''t moved. A moment later, Harmony took astep out and her pupils constricted when she realized that she was actually standing in the same exact spot. Her head turned back to find that Leonel was looking toward her indifferently.

    "[Valiant Seal]," Leonel said lightly.

    At that moment, in the surroundings, four pillars rose out of the ground, causing the earth to crackle and quake. The pillars pulled themselves out of the ground, radiating with beautiful bronze and silver lights bloomed along his body. Harmony realized at that moment that the space was entirely sealed, and not by some treasure, but rather by Leonel himself. Her gaze couldn''t help but narrow. This was no normal feat, not at all.

    Leonel began to walk forward Finger Cult members appear before me is the number that will die. You overestimate yourself a bit too much." Harmony regained her composure. If Leonel could see into her spatial ring, he could obviously see what trump cards she had in hand and would obviously be aware of what methods of escape she could use. From that moment, he had already prepared a counter for it.

    Leonel wasn''t just talented, he was scheming and highly intelligent. Even so...

    "I think the one overestimating themselves is you. Keeping me here is the worst mistake you could have made. You had a path choosing death." Harmony''s white dress fluttered, a silvery-black energy wafting outin all directions from her, the aura of a Tier 4 expert coming out from her in waves. Leonel immediately recognized this energy as the very same energy which had dissolved all the strength from his arrows.

    Feeling it now, he was even more certain of what it was...Death Force. A pair of white horns grew from Harmony''s delicate forehead, her pupils growing to the point they almost swallowed up her irises entirely, forcing them to become rings of gold. Her white hair fluttered, being contrasted with the silvery-black energy. Leonel was sure now. This was the Death Pulse Deer Lineage Factor, the fifth Lineage Factor, a pinnacle Eighth Dimensional Lineage Factor.

    Harmony reached out with a hand and a scythe formed of white bone and creamy pearl manifested, the pole arm and menacingly curved blade connected by a glistening red ruby twice the size of an adult''s head. The polearm alone was at least three meters and the curve of the white blade was at least two meters.

    SHIIING! SHIING! SHIING!

    "You want to kill death?" Harmony laughed, her gorgeous voice still causing those who heard it to go soft. "Fool! I''m going to enjoy skinning that handsome face off of your skull." Harmony''s scythe danced and spun in her hands before she suddenly attacked.

 Chapter 1792 Seance

    1792 Seance

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, his spear piercing forward.CLANG!The ground imploded, the buildings in the surroundings cracking apart. In that moment, it looked as though a perfect sphere had expanded in the center of the battlefield before vanishing,leaving nothing but a vast nothingness in its wake.

    The two separated and instantly shot forward once again, their weapons crossing back and forth, dancing between glancing blows and all out attacks that sent them both flying dozens of meters backward.In just a few exchanges, it felt like the entire Florer family estate had been razed to the ground,their power far too strong for a Sixth Dimensional world to handle with any sort of ease.creeping up around him, eating at his own Force. It swallowed it all with more forcefulness than even Anarchic Force seemed capable of, and yet it was precisely because of his experience with Anarchic Force that Leonel was somewhat able to deal with it.

    A pair of cold gazes met across a duo of crossing blades. Harmony''s scythe sliced downward,shifting the weight of Leonel''s spear and parrying it to the side. Her hips twisted and her body spun, three quick strikes descended toward Leonel''s off balance figure. The blade moved so quickly that its afterimages looked like a blooming lotus of Scythe Force,wafting an eerie deadly aura.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain raged, rotating with such speed that it deflected all three blows. At the same time, Leonel''s spear tip seemed to vanish into the void. It looked like he had been pierced by Harmony, her parry causing him to be off the mark by a few feet. And yet, the moment his spear tip vanished, it appeared at her throat as though it had always been there.

    Harmony''s pupils constricted, however her expression remained calm."OOooOOooOO." She pursed her cherry lips,her veil fluttering as she released the sound of a soothing harmony. It sounded almost like the seance of a religious cult. There didn''t seem to be any force behind it at all, in fact it was no different from the delicate hum of a young girl. And yet, Leonel''s spear felt as though it had met an immovable object. A gentle pulsing light radiated out in all directions. When it met Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain, it passed through it as though it substance at all.

    When it met Leonel''s Bronze Aura, the outcome was the exact same. It crashed into Leonel''s body, sending him flying backward. Despite the slow speed of the pulsing light, Leonel felt as though he had been hit by a speeding truck, his body flying out like an arrow out of a bow. At the same time, a dense,dark energy began to eat at his skin and the Force within his body.

    Leonel grunted, a surge of Vital Star Force rushing through his body and crushing the Death Pulse Force. He spun through the air, trying to regain his bearings. However, before he could, Harmony appeared above him, her scythe swinging down like the vicious stinger of a scorpion.

    Leonel''s expression remained cold and indifferent, his spear piercing upward. His blade seemed to draw a line in the skies, even in such a compromised position, he didn''t seem to lose any momentum or torque at all.

    BANG!

    Their blades crossed but Harmony pulled back faster than usual, suddenly kicking down toward Leonel, her bare heel colliding with his sternum. Leonel''s body shot downward like a meteor, a harsh whistling sound echoing through the surroundings. Just as he was about to land on the ground, he flipped, landing heavily on his feet. All around him, the earth shattered and crumbled.

    Up in the skies, high above, Harmony spread out her arms and legs like a starfish, her scythe being held tightly in one hand as she freefell. The wind rushed by her and fluttered her robes, a malevolent expression on her face as her tallhorns suddenly began to spark. At first, it just looked like subtle arcsoft lighting, but very quickly, it was as though the void had been torn apart and a small rotating black hole-like sphere took form, pulsing every time it expanded in size.

    In just a few breaths, it was over ten meters in diameter and Harmony opened her soft cherry lips once more, her veil wildly flapping in the wind.

    "UUUUUAAAAAAAA!"

    A sonorous call echoed and the pulsing black sphere suddenly appeared on the ground right above Leonel, crashing down with a speed that was nigh impossible to react to. Leonel felt as though an entire world had suddenly and lakes began to tower into the skies, forming tsunamis that flooded the surrounding green forests. The magnetic poles were knocked out of alignment, causing the perpetual spring-like temperatures to shift, forming a deathly heat in some regions and a frosty cold in others. At the same time, unearthed volcanoes began to erupt and earthquakes ravaged the surroundings.

    It felt as though if Harmony''s target was the planet itself and not Leonel, she could have wiped it all out with just that blow alone. Harmony was enveloped by the pillar of her own attack, but she continued to descend, her scythe slicing downward and splitting it into two. Her gaze was filled with a fiery light. She wanted Leonel''s head. She hit the ground.

    BANG! ROAR!

    Her palms slapped together, catching Harmony''s scythe blade before it could descend any further. The claps echoed like the roars of thunder.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1793 Defensive Path

    1793 Defensive Path

    Leonel''s three headed and six armed dark gold panda construct roared,the bellow of chest dispersing the Death Pulse Force in the surroundings.Four of its palms clasped around the scythe, stopping it in its tracks. Its remaining two palms struck out at the same time, aiming for Harmony''s body without the slightest care for preserving her life.Harmony was stunned for a moment with the sudden appearance of the panda construct. She felt that there was a familiar aura coming from it, but it was too different from the Aurora Black Panda Lineage Factor she was familiar with. If she had time, she might have been able to deduce what was happening, but before she could, those two palms had already appeared before her. Harmony''s surprise turned to a sneer. A construct made of Force was what she feared the least.

    second before her Death Pulse Force corroded all the Force it was constructed out of. However, before her Death Pulse Force could cause Leonel''s panda construct to collapse, Leonel''s lips moved. "Lotus Domain." Harmony''s pupils constricted. The change was almost instant. The Death Pulse Force she was so proud of became a Force she couldn''t even recognize, turning from a silvery black to a radiant white gold. The white gold Force exuded a surging vitality and Life Force that completely countered her Death-type Force.

    BANG!

    The two palms landed on her body. With the size of the panda, each was three feet long alone,so it truly felt as though her entire body was suddenly being ravaged.The air was entirely knocked out of her body and she shot backward, leaving fiery streaks in the skies. What shocked Leonel, though,was that she managed to hold onto her scythe, flying backward with a tight hold on it. Even so, Leonel''s Starry LightDomain activated and he appeared above her flying body ina single instant, striking down with a rain of palms.

    She managed to block a few,but once again, Leonel''s last two palms were her downfall. They grabbed her two legs with a great force as though he would rip her apart from the bottom up. However, Harmony''s body was far too sturdy. So instead, Leonel''s panda construct''s torso torqued, swinging Harmony upward before throwing her down to the ground with a vicious momentum. Blood flew from Harmony''s lips, her body curving into a ''U'' shape.

    Her body looked far too fragile to withstand such a beating. Leonel stood above, his Lotus Domain still suffocating Harmony''s Death Pulse Force as his Emulation Spatial Forcesurged to form his white goldspear. His Absolute Spear Domain Erupted with such a blinding light that the entirety of his pandas construct was swallowed up by the rotating gold cyclone.

    He pierced downward with all the momentum he could muster, space trembling and cracking beneath his might.Suddenly...SCREECH!A malevolent dark Force rose into the skies. Leonel felt as though his spear construct had entered a quagmire it was unable to extricate itself from. His pupils constricted. ''Shadow Sovereign. Leonel had expected this to be a possibility.

    The concentration of Shadow Sovereign talents that theThree Finger Cult had were far too many, and he had a feeling that Harmony''s use of it and herShadow World was on a completely different level.

    Harmony vanished from the ground in a swirl of darkness, appearing in the skies with nine pulsing blackholes hanging around her body. Even standing a measure away, Leonel felt as though his Force was being forcefully snatched and twisted into a vast nothingness.

    Hisexpression couldn''t help but turn serious for the first time.Shadow Sovereignty had many paths.

    Blackstar had the greatest ability to bolster his mimicry by feeding the blood he had to this point.

    Harmony seemed to be most talented in the defensive path, but it wasn''t just that.

    BOOM!

    At that moment, the nine black holes rotated and a familiar Force shot out at Leonel, appearing before him in the blink of an eye. Leonel recognized it almost immediately. This was the very same Force he had just applied to his spear strike. Now it was coming back at him even faster than before.

    Leonel''s panda construct roared, swinging out two pairs of arms to the side and forming a large amount of dark blue Force. Leonel''s gaze flashed and he completed a Magic Art, taking the formed Void Star Force and forming them into a pair of shields.

    If members of Shield Cross Stars had been here,they would have felt that this shield looked eerily familiar. However, in comparison to theirs, Leonel''s was hundreds of times more powerful. How could it not be, it was formed using the strongest Water Force in all of existence!

    !BOOM!

    Leonel''s shields shuddered for only a moment before they dispelled the attack, but in that next instant, Harmony had appeared to his side. It seemed that even if she focused on this aspect of her Shadow Sovereignty, it didn''t mean that she couldn''t use the other aspects. In fact, with her talent she might not have any weaknesses whatsoever.

    Harmony looked like the incarnation of a demon warrior goddess, her white gown streaking with black fog and her golden irises turning into a fierce dark gold while the whites of her eyes turned entirely dark. Even the scythe in her hands was now pulsing with black veins.

    When she swung down, space shuddered and collapsed, the single line of crimson blood trickling from her cherry lips seeming to be particularly tragic. But even so,her strength was menacing and her backdrop was the eruption of pillars of lava. "Die!"Her voice was entirely ice cold, the harmony seeming to make her strike even more powerful than before.

    Leonel pierced outward to meet her scythe with the hands not holding his twin pair of shields, but his brows jumped almost instantly.

    Her scythe passed through his spear construct as though it wasn''t there,even severing his panda construct in two and aiming right for his real body.Leonel roared and thrust out with his real spear, but it almost instantly cracked and then split in two,the scythe continuing toward his head and chest.

 Chapter 1794 Radiance

    1794 Radiance

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. He could vaguely feel the power of Harmony''s strike, but the scariest part about it was the fact that much of it seemed to be hidden in a completely separate dimension.

    This was an incredibly profound strike,a singular strike that let Leonel know that Harmony''s current weapon mastery was even beyond his own despite his own improvement. Somehow, she had layered her real self and her shadow.

    Attacking at once in both the real world and the Shadow World. As a result, her strike was twice as powerful as it should be.On top of that, her Force Manipulation had reached a realm where she could fuse her Darkness Force and her Death Pulse Force. One worked in the void, swallowing everything, while the other worked in reality,crumbling all Force it met. Together,they were too profound for Leonel''s current Lotus Domain to undo, and the result...

    Leonel shot backward, striking with his fifth and sixth palms at the air to gather up the momentum he needed to move.But even so, he was a step late. The scythe sliced through half of head and through his chest evans he continued to move backward. Harmony''s gaze was malevolent as she watched Leonel shoot backward.

    That strike would have been enough to kill any other enemy. She stood in the skies like a deity, her white hair fluttering and wisps of fog dancing out from the edges of her eyes.

    BOOM!

    Leonel crashed against the ground, a ghastly wound descended from his forehead down through his chest and evenhis heart. Harmony snorted and turned to leave, her anger still not quite satiated. But, she had already wasted enough time here, she needed to leave. However, before she could take a step, a surge of Light Force caused her head to snap back.

    Her eyes widened as Leonel stood to his feet, [Instant Recovery] still rotating around him.As the radiant white gold Force fell onto him, Leonel roared,a pulsing halo appearing above his head and a shining golden spear crown appearing at the center of his forehead. Leonel''s halo began to descend down his body, reaching his feet and bouncing upward to slowly manifest the image of an armor that caused the air to tremble and quake.

    Bits and pieces of the armor opened and closed as though it was a living, breathing entity, plumes of Force jetting out from its joints and causing space to vibrate. The armor looked as though it was formed of polished pearls, reflecting a milky whiteness in some regions and a delicate jade color in others. Where Leonel''s mouth should be there were Pulsing air vents, every time he took a breath, cyclones of wind would form in all directions, causing the runes on the armor to light up as they flooded his body with the vitality it needed.

    Leonel held his broken spear in his hands. After a moment, he flipped them into the air, allowing them to vanish into thin air, only to be replaced by a solid black rod.The Force in the surroundings shook. It felt as though every breath Leonel took, a strong tide would surge toward him as though all the Force in the world was in complete harmony with him.

    Leonel spread his arms wide, a tsunami of Force rushing toward him and lifting him into the air as the vents on his armor continued to open and close, their countless moving parts making it look like a true symbiotic existence.

    BOOM!

    The skies cracked as three shimmering blue stars appeared to Leonel''s back. With every rotation, an additional flood of Vital Star Force would fill Leonel''s armor, causing the runes to glow with a more permanent light and the pale jade to turn into a roval blue.

    Leonel took a step forward and he vanished, when he appeared again, his black rod was already piercing forward. The black fog that perpetually hung around it quaked to life,rotating fiercely and forming a drill bit that sliced space itself apart. Harmony reacted quickly ,swinging her scythe to meet Leonel''s spear,but the strength of Leonel''s strike caught her completely off guard. For a moment, she thought she was facing someone entirely different, someone with the strength of a descending mountain.Her body was sent flying.

    It felt as though their blades had just crossed, but in the single blink of an eye she had already been buried in the earth below, her eyes widened with shock. The drill on the tip of Leonel''s black rod dispersed before accumulating again. A menacing blade formed before it grew explosively in size.

    In just a breath it had already grown to over half a kilometer long,towering into the skies.

    It would have completely dwarfed Leonel''s figure if not for how bright the blue stars to his back were.Leonel roared, his Spear Force surging to coat the enormous blade as he swung downward. There was simply nowhere to dodge.

    SCREECH!

    Harmony''s lips part and she released another devastating banshee-like scream. This time, it left tears in space itself, the rippling lines of sound barrier shattering leaving glass-like shards of space sprinkling out in all directions.

    The ground around her shattered and the planet seemed to be on its last legs. Harmony was swallowed up by the enormous blade, being forced to tunnel through the earth out of no will of her own. Blood flowed from her lips,but the coldness in her gaze only grew.

    With a flash,she vanished, thinking to take Leonel off guard.She appeared right to his side and it was entirely too late to retrieve such a large blade. However,how could Leonel fall for the same thing twice? Harmony had only just appeared when she found a fist twisting into her gut.

    It was almost as though she had delivered herself to be hit. Plumes of Vital Star Force jetting out from the elbow joints of Leonel''s Divine Armor, causing his arm to bulge and his power to skyrocket.

    BOOM!

    The sound of the collision wasakin to a clap of thunder.Harmony finally felt her ribs shatter, shards of bone skewering her inner organs through. Leonel''s fist twisted once, grinding into her body before she flew out so far that she soared into orbit. Leonel''s Starry Light Domain bloomed, his range expanding by over a thousand times the usual, reaching a point where he was capable of enveloping the entire planet.

    His half a kilometer long blade vanished into thin air and he appeared in the depths of space, his hand having grabbed onto a handful of Harmony''s hair. She hung limply, blood falling from her lips in a flood. Her gaze was in somewhat of a daze as her mind turned to fog.

    She couldn''t remember whether she was in battle or not, her pain clouding her thoughts in confusion. Suddenly, Harmony seemed to snap awake. "Leave me alone!" she suddenly shrieked.

    Leonel thought that she was speaking to him until his lock onto her soul heard something odd. "You''ll lose without me." The moment the voice that sounded eerily similar to Harmony''s sounded, an eruption of white Force surged from her, sending Leonel''s hand flying upward. If not for the protection of his armor, he might have lost it entirely along with his arm.

    At that moment, Harmony''s eyes opened, her gaze sharpening. One of her eyes had lost its whites completely, falling into darkness with irises of dark gold, the other shone a blinding white light with irises of pure gold.The oppressive aura of a Sovereign descended again... ''Radiance Sovereign!''

    Within his helmet, Leonel''s brows jumped.

 Chapter 1795 Natural Light

    1795 Natural Light

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. This feeling... It was a lot more similar to Anya. Were they not twins? No, this was definitely a different woman, he wouldn''t make a mistake about that.

    Leonel knew there was no coincidence that Anya''s twin was here. It was clear and obvious to him that Anya must be a member of the Three Finger Cult.

    This also made him recontextualized everything she had ever said to him. Even down to her saving that?? he was supposedly dangerous.

    Just as Leonel was thinking, a piercing light suddenly appeared before him. Leonel''s reaction speed couldn''t be compared to before.

    He struck out with a palm, two more stars appearing to his back. These carried a dense dark blueish black color, rippling like the ocean waves in the depths of the night.

    BOOM!

    The pillar of light shattered beneath Leonel''s palm strike, the arm of his Divine Armor rippling?? like water. Despite the power of the strike, Leonel didn''t take even a single step back as he perfectly dispersed its strength.

    But even so,his expression was serious. That casual attack was on the same level as that profound scythe strike from earlier, and yet she had done it without much effort.

    Leonel suddenly understood at that moment that if Harmony had the other half of the Northern Star Lineage Factor, her power would be absolutely unprecedented.

    A Shadow and?? Radiance Sovereign in the same body... She was a monster. There were no shadows without the light.

    Light couldn''t be bright without the darkness of night. When the two came together, they amplified and fed off one another.

    Even if Harmony used no other abilities, her strength had increased by over ten times with absolute ease. Harmony''s chest expanded and she suddenly unleashed a mighty cry.

    It sounded like a phoenix calling down the might of the skies, her small body causing a?? sound that resonated across the solar system as though she wanted every existence to bow down to her reign.

    Under the blinding light, her injuries healed almost instantly. The sound of her cry made Leonel''s body rattle within his Divine Armor.

    If not for the very well have just experienced his heart rupture.

    CLANG!

    A white chain suddenly manifested from the blackholes?? surrounding Harmony. It was so fast that Leonel could react intime.

    He barely managed to put a hand up and block with his forearm, flooding his armor with Void Star Force and wanting to repel it.

    However, the chain coiled around his arm as though his Void Star Force wasn''t there, restraining and forcing it down. Leonel felt a strong force pull him toward Harmony. Without hesitation, he roared.

    The Vital Star Force pumping through him became like a crimson tide, the jade portions of?? his armor which had turned a radiant blue now became a bloody crimson.

    With a tug of his arm, the chain shattered beneath his might, but by that point, Harmony''s scythe had already appeared before him.

    Leonel''s other arm had swung down to meet her blade, his black rod forming a sharp edge that snaked forward.

    Just as the two blades met, Leonel sidestepped, causing Harmony''s strike to become a glancing blow.

    At the same time, his free hand?? rotated through the air, the Void Star Force it had been accumulating becoming even heavier as he struck outward.

    Harmony removed a hand from her scythe, countering with her own palm.

    BOOM!

    Their palms couldn''t even meet, separated by a wild fluctuation of Force. Both sides seemed to carry an oppressive void-like energy, swallowing everything in its path and wanting to devour the other whole.??

    The two were forced into a quick retreat, but they instantly stamped down against the air,surging forward and clashing once again.

    Their blows deformed the atmosphere, collapsing mountains beneath and causing vacuums of air that wiped out entire regions. Harmony suddenly vanished in a beam of light, appearing to Leonel''s side.

    Leonel''s brainstem lit up with a silver-gold color, his Emulation Spatial Force activating as his?? hundreds of clones, each of them swinging forth with a towering Spear Force.

    Harmony continued to swing as though she didn''t see them at all, clashing with Leonel and hooking her scythe into his guard and pulling his spear down.

    At that moment, Leonel''s clones all attacked at once, their Spear Force riddling Harmony with holes.

    However, each and every "hole" fluttered with a black fog as though Harmony wasn''t a corporeal existence anymore.??

    Leonel released one of his hands from his spear, escaping from Harmony''s hook attack and pulling back.

    But in retreating, Harmony''s golden irises flashed, attacking Leonel''s now open chest. Another beam of white light appeared before him, smashing against his broad chest.

    BOOM!

    Leonel was sent flying back, his body torpedoing into the ground. Harmony stood in the skies, her arms raised and her mouth open?? as yet another cry echoed.

    The skies quaked and the oceans overturned, the pillars of lava growing in size as though in response.

    At that moment, the skies flipped toward absolute darkness on one side and a bright day on the other.

    Harmony''s strength multiplied many times over.

    Even as Leonel burst out from the ground without the slightest scratch on him, her strength continued to multiply. ''Natural Light Realm...''?? The Universal Force fell in tsunami-like waves.

    It felt as though alI the Universal Force this region had to offer was being siphoned for the personal use of Harmony.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled,entering an unprecedented state of calm.

    To his back, the radiant Stars continued to pulse, but now, the crimson aura of his Divine Armor slowly became overwhelmed by a deep violet color.

    The final stage of Leonel''s Star Fusion technique... King''s Might!??

    BOOM!

    All of the chaos of the world seemed to vanish.

    The oceans became still, the pillars of lava calmed, the thunderous skies fell into silence.Dense violet fog billowed from Leonel''s body.

    He took a breath and the vents of his helmet emitted a pale violet steam.??

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1796 Voice

    1796 Voice

    "Disperse."

    At that moment, the split skies vanished. The endless darkness of one side and the bright day of the other disappeared under a single word.

    Leonel took a step and appeared before Harmony. Their cold gazes met as his spear struck out.

    A river of violet seemed to follow the thrust of his spear, the clouds splitting and the earth ripping beneath his feet.

    A lovely symphony played within the layers of his Force, appearing before Harmony in the blink of an eye. Harmony raised her scythe to block, but it didn''t seem to matter.

    Her wrists went numb and her shoulders were nearly ripped from their socket, and yet she oddly wasn''t sent flying backward.

    It was as though the laws of physics had entirely changed to be suited to the will of a single man.

    Leonel unleashed a flurry of attacks, each one Harmony was forced to take the full brunt of without the ability to take even a single step backward.

    Her inner organs rattled and her bones fractures, blood oozed from her lips and the suffocating presence before her only became more unyielding and towering.

    All of a sudden, Harmony froze and it all hit her at once. Her clothing exploded to pieces and her scythe cracked.

    It felt like until now, she had just been facing the build up of momentum before it was all unleashed at the same time, ripping her nearly to shreds.

    BOOM!

    Harmony crashed into the ground and Leonel appeared to her sides though he had been there from the very beginning.

    The wind seemed to be entirely still around him, the only sound coming from the "breathing" of his armor, billowing violet fog reminiscent of a descending nebula filling his surroundings.

    Leonel reached down and pinched Harmony''s finger, pulling the ring out of it. He looked toward the ring before looking toward her indifferently.

    The last time Leonel had used [Star Fusion: King''s Might], it was in his battle against Myghelle.

    But the him of now and the him of back then couldn''t even be placed within the same sentence, he might as well have been an entirely different person.

    Not to mention the fact his Vital Star Force was purer and more powerful being supplemented directly by his Stars having entered the Heavenly Body Realm, and his comprehension of King''s Might was on an entirely different level.

    Star Fusion already allowed him to break the limits of his body by filling it with a body-type LifeForce specifically known for its vitality.

    Anyone with a high affinity for Vital Star Force would be a naturally strong person. If one was born with such an Innate Node, they would definitely have something akin to inborn divine strength.

    Leonel didn''t have such a thing, but what he did have was arguably even better than that.Setting Aside his Stars, his Divine Armor Was on a completely different level.

    It had a symbiotic relationship with him, no different from an Innate Node and its affinity with Life Force, Water Force and related Forces was entirely off the charts.

    Any Vital Star Force it absorbed without having a hundredfold the effect it would have on just his body alone.

    But what was even more devastating for Harmony was that this wasn''t even his strongest Divine Armor. Of his three, this one was the weakest.

    If this one had a hundredfold effect, the second had a thousandfold effect, and the final one had a ten thousandfold effect.

    What was of most importance here, though, was what would happen with King''s Might applied to this.

    Emperor''s Edict allowed Leonel to bend reality to his will.

    When King''s Might and Vital Star Force were fused, Leonel''s innate ability to break the laws of reality were applied directly to his body.

    This would allow him to do something like... delay the true strength of his strikes by just enough that they would fuse together and be unleashed at once, seemingly one shotting a genius on Harmony''s level.

    ''Star Fusionбп is too excellent of a technique. I need to study Camelot''s Magic System more to see if I can create a Knight Technique that is suited to Void Star Force as well.

    If I can do that, the power of my Divine Armor will multiply several times beyond what it is now. It wasn''t that Leonel hadn''t thought of this before, it was just that it was very troublesome.

    When Leonel created Star Fusion, he was in a region where no other Force but Vital Star Force existed.

    On top of that, he had months of time where he was constantly thinking of ways to improve his strength using this Force.

    Leonel didn''t have an equivalent region comparable to the Dimensional Cleanse trial world for Void Star Force, so he couldn''t guarantee such a thing.

    He would simply have to set this aside for now and wait for an opportunity. Either way, he had proved that this path of his Divine Armor was the right path.

    It had never felt so powerful before, but now it was well and truly like a Divine Armor. Leonel wondered what he should do with Harmony.

    He could kill her and use her soul to extract the information he needed. She should have an incredibly high standing in the Three Finger Cult given everything.

    There was also the option of leaving her alive as she could potentially be more useful as a slave if he branded her like she did the others of the Etching Metal Organization.

    If she was a soul, she would only last 24 hours. But if she was alive, he could make use of her indefinitely, though she would also be a ticking time bomb.

    Leonel was pretty confident in defeating her. As things went, he hadn''t used anywhere near all of his strength though it had been a tough battle.

    But even so, having a potential backstabber waiting for him to slip up in the shadows wasn''t exactly heart warming either.

    Just as Leonel was about to make a choice, the spatial ring in his hands vibrated and his eyes narrowed.

    He took out what looked like a communication device and poured his Force into it. He smirked inwardly, wondering what would come out of the other side.

    But surprisingly enough, it was a familiar voice.

    "Hello, Leonel."

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1797 Breathe Life

    1797 Breathe Life

    "Anya," Leonel said lightly. An airy laughter came from the other side, she seemed genuinely happy that Leonel had remembered her despite the coldness in his voice.

    As for that part, she didn''t seem to have noticed it at all, or maybe she had ignored it on purpose.

    "I''m happy that you remember me, but you seem to have gone back to your old habits. Didn''t we already have a conversation about your coldness? I thought you had changed for the better."

    "Is this your way of reminding me of the two favors I owe you?" Leonel replied just as coldly.

    "If you choose to take it that way, you can. But I have to try to save my own little sister, no? Wouldn''t you do the same?"

    Leonel remained silent. Theanswer to that question was obviously yes, but the circumstances didn''t allow him to directly admit such a thing.

    And He also wasn''t some sanctimonious individual, he wasn''t about to let someone so dangerous off just because he owed her sister a couple small favors.

    Those matters were so miniscule that unless someone had memory on the level of Leonel, one would be hard pressed to remember that such a thing had happened at all.

    Leonel could almost feel Anya''s smile through the phone.

    She didn''t seem put off by his silence at all, she seemed to be too relaxed for someone who should have been worried about her sister''s safety.

    "It seems that you don''t like me very much, that''s unfortunate.I thought that we were friends."

    Anya didn''t seem to be faking it, but Leonel also wasn''t the type of person to be easily swayed by such things.

    As far as he was concerned, Anya was his enemy so long as she dared to stand on that side. When they first met, she had already threatened him.

    In context, her saying that he was dangerous was no different from wanting his life, it meant he was a threat, a threat to their ultimate goals, a roadblock along their path, and usually such things had to be removed no matter what.

    "I understand if you hate me, but if you could please spare my little sister, I would be endlessly grateful. If she cannot beat you now, it is unlikely that she will ever be a threat to you. Please let her go."

    Leonel didn''t respond. Was he a child? He could tell that Harmony hadn''t known how to use her Radiance Sovereignty to even a fraction of its ability.

    The best attack she could muster was a beam of white light, and the best thing she got out of it was the amplification of her Shadow Sovereignty, even allowing her to exist within the Shadow Realm while attacking, which was how she had managed to ignore all of his clones.

    If she used this loss as a catalyst to work on her Radiance Sovereignty more instead of ignoring it for whatever reason, her power would increase by reaching the same level of mastery with it as she had with her Shadow Sovereignty, her strength wouldn''t just be a few times stronger.

    On top of that, if she ever managed to get her hands on the light half of the Northern Star Lineage Factor, even Leonel Wouldn''t be sure of whether he could defeat her through normal means or not.

    Releasing such a person was absolute nonsense.

    "I will not let her go. I will let her live. Considering this repayment. The slate is now clean."

    Leonel''s Force dispersed and the communication was severed. He bent to a knee and pressed a finger against Harmony''s Forehead.

    A surge of violet fog condensed into a seal that entered her Ethereal Glabella. At the same time, Leonel''s Emulation Spatial Force shone and perfectly camouflaged the seal.

    Although he was confident in his own abilities, there was nothing wrong with an added layer of protection. He Didn''t know what special abilities Harmony might or might not have.

    After he was done, he tossed her into a snowglobe and walked toward the Florer family''s estate.

    Quite a number had been affected by the battle, but if they were smart, they should have evacuated.

    The planet likely wouldn''t be habitable again for a long while unless someone powerful acted to personally fix it all.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel found the remains of the Florer family still trying their best to escape.

    Although they had warships, having used some of them to attack Earth, the logistics of such a quick evacuation was complex and there would always be fools unwilling to leave behind their valuable possessions, only to end up bringing along too much.

    When the remains of the Florer family saw Leonel, their hearts shuddered, and they seemed to only become more afraid after he allowed his armor to fade into his body.

    For some reason, his real face was even scarier. However, when Leonel started helping with the evacuation, they didn''t know how to feel. None of them dared to say anything.

    This was a man who could destroy their home with just the residual strikes of his battle, if he really wanted to destroy them, it would be as easy as flipping over a palm.

    With Leonel''s existence, none dared to make a fuss anymore, many even directly leaving their belongings by the roadside to scurry into the warship.

    It was as though they all had a tacit agreement not to waste Leonel''s Time. Not long later,Leonel sat in a room across from the three head elders of the Florer family.

    They all had their heads down, not daring to meet his gaze, none even brought up compensation for the destruction of their planet.

    Leonel had met those people head on, and presumably since he returned, he had dispatched them. How could they dare to go against him now?

    "Your half of the inheritance, explain it to me. What abilities does it give you?"

    "This..." The three head elders smiled bitterly. It seemed that Leonel meant they had no chance at keeping their inheritance. They had let their ancestors down.

    "We can... Breathe Life into our affinities."

    "Explain," Leonel said.

    Elder Cherie hesitated before she shook her head.

    "In my youth, I liked cherries, so I chose to assimilate with a cherry tree. It was just an ordinary cherry tree when I first got a hold of it, but I was able to change its destiny with my choice. It went from a Fourth Dimensional tree to now having Sixth Dimensional strength after it reached maturity.б▒

    Leonel frowned. Was he wrong? Had he been incorrect about the correlation between this inheritance and the Morales family?

    Or was he missing something here? And why were they having such a hard time explaining what their own Lineage Factor could do?

 Chapter 1798 Confusion

    1798 Confusion

    "Continue," Leonel said.

    It was rare for him to not understand something, but from what he could tell, the confusion wasn''t coming from himself, but rather the Florer family''s inability to explain their own Lineage Factor.

    What shocked Leonel wasn''t just that they were so clueless, or even that these were supposedly the most experienced of them all, but that they could be so powerful even while having such a poor comprehension of what their Lineage Factor should be able to do.

    For context, one could take the Luxnix family. To the Three Pillar Sector, Earth''s home Sector, just before Leonel had been sucked into the Cataclysm Zone, the Luxnix had been the most powerful existence there was.

    They had built this reputation not only by destroying the Montex and the Viola families, but it was also because of their exceptional Lineage Factor as well.

    They had a 6th Dimensional Lineage Factor, but the Luxnix family had squeezed every ounce of potential it had out of it.

    They had created a large number of techniques and hadeven built up an entire Force Art system off the back of it.

    It could be said that among all the families of the Human Domain, even though the Luxnix was nowhere near the most powerful, when it came to this they were on top.

    This was the only reason a family with a mere Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor could have dreams of progressing to the Seventh Dimension.

    If not for their success in these aspects, they would have never had so much success.

    All things considered, the Florer family was inferior to the Luxnix family, but more than just a few steps as well.

    But the difference wasn''t exaggerated to the point that the Florer family couldn''t see the peak the Luxnix family stood on.

    One family had unearthed all of their potential. The other couldn''t even properly explain how their Lineage Factor worked.

    The difference was striking on one hand, and not striking enough on the other.

    When Leonel put this into perspective, he realized that what the Florer family had on hand was likely not so simple at all.

    In fact, it might have been more of a curse than a blessing that they had ended up with an entire half of the inheritance.

    At the very least, although the descriptions of the Midas and Radix families were poor, it was still enough for Leonel to draw some small conclusions.

    It was clear that breaking up the Lineage Factor into more easily digestible bits and pieces had done them good. But even so,they could barely fight off the Florer family.

    If Leonel was correct, if the Florer family could grasp at least some of the secrets of this Lineage Factor of theirs, then they might be able to catch up to the Luxnix family.

    If they went a few steps beyond that,they should be comparable to the middle levels of the Seventh Dimensional families, and that was just with half of the inheritance.

    "This... I..." Cherie looked toward the others. After hearing that Leonel wanted them to continue, she felt somewhat embarrassed.

    She had lived well over a hundred years already, it was nothing but embarrassing to not be able to describe her own abilities to someone who was effectively a child in her eyes.

    She hoped that she would get help from her counterparts, but they avoided her eyes. Clearly they felt that they couldn''t do better than Cherie''s original explanation.

    Usually when facing youths of their family, they might be able to spew some nonsense that sounds profound and trick them into going away.

    But not only did they not dare to do such a thing with Leonel, even if they did, with Leonel''s intelligence, he would easily be able to tell that they were spewing bullshit.

    They had learned of Leonel''s Intelligence personally decades ago.

    They had mostly shrugged it off before, but sitting before him now, they felt the need to accept every legend they had heard as the absolute gospel.

    Cherie took a breath and tried to calm herself. Realizing their dilemma, Leonel realized that it was useless to press like this. Instead, he asked a different question.

    "Before your family gained the inheritance,what were your abilities like? What about you is allowing you the ability to use this Lineage Factor in the first place?"

    Cherie felt like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders when she heard this question. She had thought that Leonel might kill them if she couldn''t answer his question properly.

    "Before we gained the inheritance, we had a strong Wood Force affinity." Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he heard this.

    As he knew, Wood Force didn''t exist naturally on its own, it was a fusion of Earth, Water and Life Forces that manifested in this way, that was where plant manipulating experts usually gained their abilities.

    He also wasn''t a great fan of the Wood Force purely because of the Evergreen Religion.

    "However, according to what we know, after we gained this inheritance, it evolved. Before, our abilities could be said to have been at a Fifth Dimensional level, but afterward, it increased to near the peak of the Sixth Dimension. We went from a small family in our galaxy, to the peak family.б▒

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. If they had such an affinity before, could it be that the half of the inheritance had nothing to do with Wood Force and other plant Forces to begin with?

    Could they be conflating their evolution in strength for something directly related to the inheritance itself? It was possible.

    But Leonel had a hard time believing that these people would be so foolish. Even if they were confused initially, it shouldn''t have persisted for so long.

    It was more likely that the reason for the confusion stemmed from the fact that the former Florer family''s Lineage Factor, and the inheritance, were very much related, and not just in one or two ways.

    After some thought, Leonel looked toward Harmony''s ring. The main inheritance was in there.

 Chapter 1799 Confusion(2)

    1799 Confusion(2)

    Leonel flipped a palm and took out a perfectly round wooden ball. It was about six inches in diameters and it radiated a very slight dark gold fog.

    "This is your inheritance?" Leonel asked. "What did it look like when you found it?"

    Cherie smiled bitterly. During their evacuation, this had,of course, been the first thing they went after.

    But when they got there, they found that it had long since been looted. It looked like that woman had gotten to it without their knowledge.

    "According to our records, there was a large bronze chalice filled with raging red flames. But somehow, the chalice wasn''t hot and the wooden ball that was inside of it wasn''t burning. The Midas and Radix family ended up with the chalice and flames, we ended up with the wooden ball,"

    б░Originally, we thought that we were on the losing end. It wasn''t until after a few years that it became obvious that the wooden ball was more powerful than the other two objects combined."

    Leonel frowned again, that also didn''t sound right. From all of his interactions with these three families, they had always said that the Florer family got half and the other two ended up with a quarter each.

    In addition, the Midas and Radix were ultimately forced to team up in the end of it all in order to keep the Florer family at bay.

    But from what it sounded like here, each one of these families actually got a third of the

    inheritance each.

    Leonel hadn''t been there, but if Cherie''s words were correct and the Florer family thought they were on the losing end at first, then it was clear and obvious that even their ancestors had assumed that each piece was a third.

    It was likely the case that these families had retroactively rewritten history to make sense of why there was such a power disparity among them.

    In all likelihood, the Florer family was just more compatible with their Lineage Factor than the other two had been with their portions.

    "What were the abilities of theRadix and Midas family''s like before they gained this inheritance?"

    "We know a little bit less about that, but if I recall correctly, according to the records the Radix family was a family of Crafters and they were also known for their hidden weapons. They were fairly widely disliked due to the latter, but because of their skill in the former they were able to maintain their hold on theregion. Among the three families, they were by far the most Powerful back then. In fact, their power then is about equivalent to what they have now even without our suppression. They would be much more powerful if not for this,"

    б░As for the Midas family, they actually weren''t human originally. They were a race of sharp toothed humanoids called the Shark Race. This was what they were colloquially known as since they never bothered to name themselves."

    б░After generations of inter-marrying with the Radix family, they are practically indistinguishable from humans now outside of the fact that they''ve maintained their sharp teeth and sturdy bodies."

    б░They were more ostracized back then and lived marginally. The Zone originally opened up in their territory and they were essentially forced to share in the end, which is what led to the current result as we see it now."

    Leonel listened in silence, flicking his wrist and letting the wooden ball spin on his palm, over his

    hand, before balancing its spinning form on his knuckle and then his finger.

    The movements were smooth and he didn''t seem to be thinking very hard about them at all. Once again, Leonel gained something very different from these explanations.

    Simply put, the Radix family might have started as Crafters, but they didn''t have any sort of Variant Earth or Life Force affinity that would be related to the Radix Cube Previously.

    In fact,even without asking, Leonel knew with over 90% certainty that the Radix Cube Had existed long before the Radixgot their hands on the inheritance.

    By the same token, the Shark Race Cheri spoke of had, presumably, sharp teeth and astounding bodily strength, but they didn''t have any of the Fire Force affinity that was reminiscent of their "quarter" of the inheritance.

    Of these three families, the only one that ended up with a portion of the inheritance that is compatible with them was the Florer family, and as such, they became the most powerful of the three in short order.

    But at the same time, this also cursed the Florer family. They Found it exceptionally difficult to comprehend the intricacies of their new Lineage Factor because it was muddled with the characteristics of their old one.

    And from what it seemed, it manifested differently and along different paths depending on which of them was putting it into action.

    On the other hand, the Radix and Midas families who hadn''t shared such affinities to begin with could pick out the differences with much greater ease.

    However, the tradeoff was that the Lineage Factors were much weaker in their hands.

    If Leonel was correct, the Midas family had been able to use their powerful bodies to force the issue, withstanding the Fire Force Until they birthed a natural immunity to it and could eventually swallow flames to strengthen themselves.

    If not for this, they would have died long before reaching that step. On the other hand, the Radix family was the most clever of the three.

    Likely knowing they didn''t have affinity themselves, they used their Radix Cubes as a proxy and fused it with themselves.

    After succeeding, they too were barely able to use their newfound Lineage Factor.

    This all fit together nicely, but Leonel had another question, this one maybe even more important than the others.

    How did this wooden ball, that chalice and those flames give a group of people a Lineage Factor? Were they related to the tablets? Or was this a different method he had never heard of?

    Leonel chose to not mind it anymore. Sending his Internal Sight forward, he swallowed up the wooden ball, looking for its secrets.

    As he did so, the three head elders didn''t dare to breathe too hard for fear of disturbing him.

 Chapter 1800 Heart Valve

    1800 Heart Valve

    Leonel almost immediately felt a strong rush of Life Force.

    After he had rebuilt his Metal Body, his own Life Force affinity was exceptionally high,and that was especially so for body related LifeForces.

    Right now, it could be said that his Life Force affinity was Sixth Dimensional.

    It should have been nearer the beginning since his Metal Body was still at Tier 1, but because he had only used Pure Force Crystals, it was no less effective than a Peak Sixth Dimensional affinity.

    The current Leonel was far better in this regard than the formerly Fifth Dimensional Florer family. Theoretically, his compatibility with this Lineage Factor should be even higher.

    Truthfully, Leonel wasn''t all too eager to gain another Lineage Factor, it would only mean more comprehending he had to do.

    He had barely brought out a decent amount of potential from the talent he already had, so he didn''t want to add more to his plate... at least not normally.

    However, his instincts kept telling him that these Lineage Factors were somehow related to this Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    And, even if it didn''t, it might give him some insights that would only help his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor in the future.

    Either way, there was a secret here to be dug up and he wanted to do so personally.

    A rush spread through Leonel''s body and he felt a pop in his instantly,his consciousness was seemingly teleported to a new Place.

    When his vision cleared, he found him standing within a forest of golden trees.Leonel reached out and knocked on a tree to his side with a knuckle.

    His eyes couldn''t help but narrow when it came back with a clear metallic ding. He looked up, but to his shock, there was no sky. But when he looked down, there was no earth either.

    It was an odd feeling.

    At first, he could have sworn that he was standing in the middle of a lush forest, but in an instant, that illusion was stripped away and he found himself in what could only be described as an ... incomplete world.

    Leonel pulled his consciousness back, a deep frown on his face.

    He could feel that something had already taken root in his body, but it was incredibly faint. It would stand incomplete until the wooden ball was fused with the chalice and flames once again.

    Until then, it would remain a vast empty darkness which just so happened to have golden trees standing within it in the middle of nowhere.

    Leonel activated his Starry Spirit Domain and scanned his body, checking for the changes.

    Unlike others, he had precise replicas of his own body even down to the individual cell, and even further down to the bacteria that called his body home.

    With this, he could take note of even the most minor of changes. Depending on the Lineage Factor, it could take root in different places.

    The bloodstream, the brain, some even created entirely new organs. This Lineage Factor seemed to take the third choice, Somewhat.

    Leonel noticed almost immediately that there was a new set of valves in his heart. Leonel was taken off guard by this change.

    This wasn''t because of the change itself, but rather because he hadn''t even felt the change happened.

    He had been almost 100% certain that the change would have been more subtle than most could perceive. He involuntarily took a breath in his shock.

    But in response, something even more shocking happened. His heart suddenly beat so hard and fierce that it echoed in his own ears, the strong BADDUM threatening to deafen him.

    His blood rushed through his body even faster than before and a cycle of waste was almost instantly purged by Leonel''s kidneys. Leonel''s lip twitched. What was this?

    The Florer family didn''t mention this change, could they just have not noticed? Leonel turned his Dream World toward Cherie and the others, scanning them all.

    They didn''t even notice the clear invasion in their privacy, still sitting nervously as though waiting for Leonel to execute them.

    When Leonel gained back a 3D projection of their inner organs, his gaze flickered. The vitality of this family was off the charts.

    Let alone an extra pair of heart valves, their hearts were all double the size they should be, with far thicker walls as well.

    However, they had adapted to it far better than Leonel had. Their hearts were so powerful that they only beat once or twice a minute.

    Even Leonel, despite his fitness, experienced anywhere between 10 to 20 beats a minute at rest. But what was even more important to point out was that they were nervous!

    They were sitting on pins and needles, they were sweating and their heart rates should have been off the charts. And yet even so,one or two beats per minute was the peak.

    If they were truly relaxed,would they experience maybe one or two beats per three minutes? Four? Maybe even five?

    This didn''t seem to have a Profound effect on their overall strength, but just in terms of sheer vitality, they were absolutely insane.

    Leonel couldn''t help but think, was this something one could miss? It was possible... The change was so subtle that even Leonel hadn''t noticed.

    But the problem was that over all these years, no one in their family had realized the oddity? Leonel shook his head. ''I''m still looking at things through the lens of an Earthling.

    There are countless humans in the Human Domain, a single galaxy has trillions upon trillions, let alone a Sector.

    The number of evolutionary paths and small tweaks and changes among them would be impossible to count.

    Even if they eventually noticed the oddity to their hearts, they wouldn''t immediately link it to the inheritance...Leonel turned his attention toward the 3D replicas of the three head elders and he slowly began to build a picture of what happened. In the end, it all came together.

    ''From the very beginning, their Lineage Factor was related to their hearts, that was where their vitality came from. Just like Aina, they have a Blood Force affinity, but they can''t extend theirs out of their bodies and it was very weak before they received this Lineage Factor.''

    After this Lineage Factor,though,their vitality skyrocketed and the strength of their hearts multiplied, making their BloodForce even more potent.

    Their act of assimilating plant species with themselves and growing it out of their bodies is actually just an act of them sharing the vitality of their Blood Force with these plants!

    It had nothing to do with Wood Force. No, more accurately, the stage to which the Florer family had awakened it had little to do with Wood Force. As for what''s beyond...

 Chapter 1801 Ignorance

    ?1801 Ignorance

    "Give me a drop of your blood," Leonel suddenly said. Cherie was caught off but eventually complied.

    There was nothing that she could do to resist anyway, even if Leonel wanted to do something untoward.

    She pricked her finger, but before she could take action herself, a strong suction force formed and the blood appeared in a droplet above Leonel''s palm.

    After a moment, a strong surge of Vital Star Force rushed forward and enveloped the blood.

    Leonel didn''t know a lot about Blood Force, but just from observing Aina, he had come to understand a few things. The first was that Blood Force was a vessel and a catalyst in one.

    It was the container through which Life Force was sustained, and it was also the method by which those without Blood Force or Life Force affinity could passively make use of their own Life Force.

    Everyone needed Life Force to live, much like everyone needed Dream Force, however not everyone could make active use of it. This was where blood came into play.

    Even so, not all Blood Force was created equal. In fact, there were large gaps.

    Some people were destined to have stronger bodies, stronger vital signs and greater vitality than others, and that would be reflected within their blood.

    Whenever Aina stole the Blood Force of an individual, she had to take all of these matters into account.

    Although she could personally increase the output of Life Force any given drop of blood would output at any given time, there would still be a limit and that would often be decided by the talent of this target individual in that aspect.

    Leonel decided, then, to quickly test Cherie and the others and he found that his hypothesis was correct. Even for just a single drop, the amount of Life Force that Cherie''s blood could withstand was astounding.

    In fact, her capacity was the equivalent of Leonel''s! To put this matter into perspective, Leonel had reforged his body with a great emphasis on vitality and Life Force, and of course Water Force although this was less important now.

    In doing so, his passive healing factor was off the charts and the amount of Life Force his individual droplets of blood could withstand was likewise, astronomical.

    This had a profound impact on not only his life, but his stamina as well. Leonel had destroyed four great families back to back to back to back and still had energy left to battle more afterward.

    In fact, just now, he had been in a violent clash with Harmony and yet his face wasn''t even flushed with fatigue.

    With all of this put into perspective, for Cherie''s Life Force capacity to be the same as his was almost entirely unacceptable... And in fact, it was.

    Of course, there was a glaring elephant in the room. This was just Cherie''s capacity, not her actual output.

    Leonel had to add Life Force to Cherie to test her true limits, but the Florer family wasn''t taking advantage of this at all! Ignorance was painful.

    One of Leonel''s inherent fears was his ignorance and how it could potentially stop him from reaching his full potential. Now he was seeing in real time how dangerous ignorance was.

    The Florer family''s entire fate was in the palm of his hands all because they didn''t understand how their own Lineage Factor worked.

    If they had learned how to do things properly long ago, even the current Leonel wouldn''t be able to move them.

    He would have had to be exceptionally cautious with how he proceeded, but now he could practically do as he pleased.

    "Why did you pick such a weak tree to form a symbiotic relationship with?" Leonel asked.

    Leonel''s gaze was still on Cherie''s pulsing drop of blood. He wanted to understand the final pieces. He felt like he had about 90% of it, that needed to be filled in.

    "We... it''s difficult to withstand anything more. It''s always been tradition to pick our life partner''s after entering the Fourth Dimension, but picking a life partner requires splitting your life in half. If the partner requires too much, the fusion will fail and both could die. There have been some who have tried to push the limits, but their outcomes have never been good."

    Leonel nodded slowly. "And why don''t you switch to a more powerful partner once you''re more mature?"

    "The relationship is symbiotic by that point. We have yet to create an effective method of separation that doesn''t harm both parties. In addition, the plant grows along with you, so it''s never been necessary."

    Leonel didn''t say anything, but he didn''t agree with this. In fact, with his affinity with Life Force now, he was beginning to see living beings in general as just an extension of Force.

    And, much like Force, even if you could take a Fifth Dimensional Force and have it grow along with you to the Seventh Dimension, it would ultimately be weaker than a Sixth Dimensional Force that had done the same.

    In addition, it would take more effort for the Florer family members to grow. Ultimately, though, this was just an issue of resources and ignorance.

    If the Florer family was born with higher standing, or to a higher world, they wouldn''t be limited by their low Life Force.

    They would be able to maximize their Blood Force and fill themselves with vitality. If, for example, they could cultivate a vein of Vital Star Force, this alone would fix all of their problems.

    And secondly, because they understood too little about how their own Lineage Factor worked, they hadn''t managed to find a reliable method of separating from their original symbiotic partner whereas Leonel felt that he could deduce such a method in just a few minutes.

    Leonel fell into his thoughts and tapped his armrest. He originally wanted to destroy the Florer family, but he had already decided against it.

    The Oryx were unreliable. Not even a word from them. And, it also didn''t help that he had wiped out so many of their souls from the Silver Tablet.

    He would subdue the Oryx in due time, after all he didn''t plan on having them waste the investment he had placed in them. However, in the meantime, the Florer, Midas and Radix, and especially the Umbra,would be more than good enough.

    "Bring me three of your most talented youths," Leonel suddenly said.

 Chapter 1802 Grey

    ?1802 Grey

    It wasn''t long before three youths were brought before Leonel.

    Two of them were even older than Leonel himself, but one of them only looked to be about 14 or 15 years old, a cute little girl with bob cut hair, all three were women.

    It seemed that in the Florer family, this was simply the trend. The women tended to be far fiercer than the men.

    In fact, Belize, their former Matriarch that Leonel had killed, was also a woman.

    Before her death, she had been the hope of the Florer family to unearth more of their secrets as her genius had been the underpinning of many discoveries in her lifetime.

    Unfortunately, she died at Leonel''s hands far too soon. Seeing the nervous girl, Leonel smiled lightly.

    It was too difficult to maintain an air of coldness around a young girl, especially when she looked like she was suffocating.

    Leonel had never had any younger siblings, but he still had this sort of instinct.

    "What''s your name?"

    "My name is Grey..." she said softly.

    "And you two?" Leonel asked the two older young women.

    "Rosna (Jean)," the two replied at almost the same time.

    "I see," Leonel nodded. "I didn''t call you here today for anything nefarious, this should actually be of great help to you. First, tell me what you chose as your partners."

    The girls blinked for a moment but complex. Rosna had chosen a breed of white roses known for its sharp and poisonous thorns.

    It was said that when it was dyed red with blood, it would be at its most dangerous, even giving off a thick fog that could corrode a Fourth Dimensional existence to a soppy green liquid in an instant.

    Jean had chosen a pink lily that was likewise poisonous. However, it had the ability to release a bell-like sound that hypnotized its target, luring into range to be poisoned.

    It was a long acting poison that relied on its target being in a trance for a long time.

    The most interesting of them was Grey who chose a very odd white-barked tree known for nothing other than its color.

    There wasn''t anything special about this tree, but because Grey had a very weak body, it was the only thing that she could pair with in her youth.

    After she grew, Grey had overcome this weakness of her body, but she was still stuck with the very same tree.

    However, instead of giving up, she found methods to mutate and evolve this tree of hers. She was self-pioneering a very new branch of Florer family techniques which required picking a "blank slate" partner which had a myriad of evolution options.

    The downside was that this target would be exceptionally weak in the beginning, but it would have an infinite potential for growth in the future... theoretically.

    In practice, though, Leonel could already see that Grey''s white-barked tree had reached its limit. The fundamental nature of the tree was simply too weak.

    Likely in a few years, once Grey''s method "failed", she would be cast out as a genius and replaced by others. Of course, Grey had no idea about this.

    She was still somewhat in her shell because of the poor treatment she had faced in her youth after only partnering with an ordinary tree.

    She had yet to become used to this top class treatment that she was receiving, and definitely couldn''t see what was ahead. Now she wouldn''t have to worry about such an outcome.

    "Alright, the three of you listen to me very carefully and execute what I say to the letter. First enter a meditative state and send your Internal Sights to your hearts."

    The three girls crossed their legs and sat on the ground, not daring to disobey.

    Just forming their Nodes at the Third Dimension required this ability, so they didn''t find it very difficult to do at all.

    "Regulate your breathing. Good. Now, dig deep. You should be able to see a valve connected to the bottom of your heart separate from the others. These are your extra valves. Follow that valve through your heart and spot where it connects to your central nervous system and to your Ethereal Glabellas. Do you see that?"

    The three girls nodded. They had never had it explained so simply before, and as the geniuses they were, just this small bit of explanation made them feel as though they had been enlightened by many things.

    Even the elders who waited to the side felt like their minds were being blown. How had they never realized that their hearts and Ethereal Glabellas were connected in this way?

    "Good. Familiarize yourselves with that connection, move back and forth, and then practice separating your Internal Sight from the path and reemerging at a different and random point....Good, now practice finding that connection by following the paths from your other organs and blood vessels..."

    Leonel took his time and allowed the girls to do this for at least half an hour until they were entirely familiar with this pathway.

    "Good. This pathway that you''ve just become familiar with, as you''ve probably already guessed, is the line that connects you to your partner. Functionally Speaking, your partner forms a Glabella, which has a connection to your heart which supplies it with the Life Force it needs,б▒

    б░If you want to sever this connection, it is not too difficult. The first option is to have Dream Force affinity, that way the happenings of your Ethereal Glabella are always 100% in your control. But this is likely not possible for you,"

    б░The second method is far more accessible, but it requires a large amount of control, control you should naturally have. It is your Blood Force. You can decide how it is used and is distributed. So long as you can master this ability, completely separating from a symbiotic relationship will be as easy as thinking about it. In fact, right now, you all are locked into forming just a single partner relationship because you don''t understand how to control your Blood Force to feed more than one partner at a time,б▒

    б░If you can master this and make it your own, it alone will ensure that your futures are bright and that your current strengths can skyrocket. However, this is just a single problem. The second problem you face is your limited Life Force. I can help you fix that as well. There''s only one thing I want in exchange: Your absolute loyalty. What will it be?"

 Chapter 1803 Really?

    1803 Really?

    "Yes!" The words almost spilled out of Cherie''s mouth, she didn''t even bother to look toward her fellow head elders. Even after all of this time, she still worried that Leonel would turn around and slaughter their family after he got what he needed out of them. So, the moment she heard this, she didn''t allow anyone to be foolish enough to hesitate.

    Seaward and Rosellia looked toward Cheri with surprise, but at this point, they didn''t dare to detract even if they had such a thought. If they did, the result would be even worse than outright rejection. Leonel swept a gaze through the head elders and then to Cherie and back. And then, he suddenly smiled. There didn''t seem to be anything special about the smile, but for some reason it made them feel ice cold. If Leonel had said some stern words just now, maybe they could have handled it well enough.

    But seeing that smile, that casual confidence, any sign of resistance they had crumbled to ash.

    Leonel didn''t bother with the old ones anymore and he pulled out a radiant blue Force Pill.

    Anyone with the knowledge would be able to tell that this was a refined demon almost instantly.

    Back then, Leonel''s stomach had almost exploded just eating one, and yet now, he handed such a thing to a 14 year old little girl without much hesitation.

    "Swallow it," Leonel suddenly said.

    Grey blinked but nodded obediently in the end. Her eyes reflected an extremely dull blue that truly did look grey in most lighting. It was a rare color that made her look like an exotic little doll. Seeing her, Leonel couldn''t help but think of another little girl, Nana. By now, Nana was probably a grown woman, if she didn''t die in his massacre, that is. Leonel could neither confirm nor deny if she did. Back then, he was too infuriated to care and directly destroyed the planet the Adurna family had called home.

    Even if Nana had died,though, Leonel didn''t believe that he would feel guilty. If she was present, that meant that she too had participated in the war against Earth.

    The little girl he had known back then was gone, so one way or another, it didn''t matter. Grey opened her small mouth and swallowed the pill whole. BOOM! Almost instantly, a wild wave of Force shot out in all directions and a slight hint of pain colored Grey''s adorable features.

    Even so, just as Leonel had expected, she didn''t implode, and instead, her aura began to skyrocket at a breakneck speed. This was exactly what the Florer family was missing. They had an enormous vessel, but they had nothing to fill it with. Grey was only in the Fifth Dimension, having barely entered it just recently. She was only at Tier 1, but she could actually withstand the vitality of a Sixth Dimensional Demon.

    This Force Pill was just from the remnant of a Human Class even so, it was on a completely different level. Even the members of the Cataclysm Generation weren''t as talented as such Demons. What shocked Leonel the most, though, was that it took less than a minute for Grey to open her eyes, her large irises blinking with excitement. But due to her usually reserved personality, she didn''t dare to make too much noise so she just beamed from the inside.

    Although she didn''t know what Leonel had just fed her, she could feel that her strength was almost ten times as powerful as before despite the fact her Dimensional Tier didn''t increase at all!

    Leonel gave Rosna and Jean one pill each as well, and they soon experienced the same thing.

    Their blood flowed like a raging tide and their body began to undergo many changes. If not for the fact Leonel had taught them how to control their flow of Blood Force to their partners, their plants

    would have skyrocketed instrength as well.

    "Here," Leonel flipped over a palm and handed Grey a little sapling. This tree couldn''t have been more ordinary on the surface, but the aura it gave off was refreshing and vibrant. This was a tree from the Eighth Dimensional world of the infant now, but in maturity, it could grow to several kilometers tall with ease.

    Grey''s small hands carefully picked up the sapling, a happy little smile causing dimples in her cheeks.

    Leonel smiled and rubbed her head. "I believe in your path, but your white-barked tree is too limited in its growth potential. This tree here was born in an Eighth Dimensional world. Although it is very ordinary in all aspects, just this foundation alonegives it the nigh infinite growth potential you need. You won''t be limited by your first choice anymore. Although, so long as you master the technique I taught you, you can partner with other powerful plants to supplement your strength."

    Grey''s large eyes suddenly glistened with tears. "Really?" This was the first time she had spoken without Leonel asking her a question first, which surprised Leonel somewhat,''She knew'', Leonel''s Dreamscape sparked. He understood right then that Grey knew that she had already reached the limit of her potential, she was just too scared to tell anyone.

    This little girl was incredibly astute and her talent was far beyond what even Leonel had anticipated. Leonel''s surprise became an even wider smile.

    "Yes,really." Grey''s tears began to fall but she quickly wiped them away, not wanting to affect the little sapling in her hands. Leonel couldn''t help but think that she was too adorable. Let alone this ones apling, he had tens of thousandshe had no idea what to do with. After all,the Segmented Cube was still pretty much a blank slate in this regard.

    "Thank you." Grey said with a softvoice. Leonel laughed and stood to his feet. "If you want to thank me, grow very strong and powerful. Take good care of your little sapling. In the future, you''ll be of great help to me."

    "Mm," Grey nodded surprisingly firmly. Leonel smiled and didn''t say anything more. Whether or not she would reach her full potential would be up to her.

    "Alright, navigate this ship toward Radix territory. It''s time to fullysettle things."

 Chapter 1804 Patience, Calm And Loyalty.

    1804 Patience, Calm and Loyalty.

    The atmosphere was quite tense. With two enemies being forced to face one another for the first two families, or rather three, had been at one another''s throats for centuries, pulling back and forth on one another and sowing grudges that lasted through the generations.

    Within the crowd, they could spot individuals who had killed their brothers, their sister, their husbands, their wives, their parents, their grandparents.

    It was a hard pill to swallow. If not for Leonelбпs existence in the middle of it all, they would have been entirely crushed.

    Libli, who had lost her own father not too long ago, tried to maintain her calm, but it was obvious that even someone as cold and calculating as her couldn''t quite maintain a cool head.

    She couldnбпt help but look toward Leonel with a blaming look in her eye. She thought that Leonel had come with intentions to help them eradicate this evil, but he had instead brought their enemies to their front door and was even acting as a shield for them.

    б░What do you mean by this, Leonel?" Libli asked.

    Although Leonel was indeed a Prince, and though he did, indeed have a high standing, as a Matriarch herself, she couldnбпt take a soft stance against something like this.

    Also, she hadnбпt been there to personally witness Leonel''s battle against Harmony like the Florer family had been.

    If she had, there was likely no way she would allow her tone to be so disrespectful. Didnбпt say anything immediately. He had already known that things would likely be like this.

    But when there was conflict within an Empire''s borders, things would always escalate in this fashion.

    In truth, the true weakness of the Ascension Empire was that they hadn''t gained all this territory through their sheer might.

    They were just lucky enough to be born into an exceptionally talented world which then proceeded to swallow up the territories of others.

    As things went, it wasn''t exactly wrong for these families and organizations to feel little toward the Ascension Empire other than some fear toward their potential and what the strength they had displayed already in protecting their expanding territory.

    This also meant that when it came to territories like that of the Radix family, or the Florer family, the way they saw things, their territories were still their own to protect or flourish within, they just happened to be under a new umbrella of influence, much like they had been when the Luxnix and the other three pillar families ran things.

    Due to this, Libli still felt that it was within her right to make it clear that Leonel had disrespected her by bringing her enemies into her home.

    When in reality, as a Prince, Leonel was just bringing a faction from one section of his territory into the territory of another faction of his Empire. Leonel tapped his finger and a wave of violet King''s Might spread out in all directions.

    It was the simplest of his abilities, Emperor''s Aura, but it was also the most effective in a situation like this one. It immediately suffocated all opposition and seemed to remind Libli who she was in the presence of.

    "... I''m aware of many things, б░Leonel suddenly began to speak, "I''m aware that many of you feel discontented about the sudden rise of the Fawkes family and the Ascension Empire. You feel that everything you''ve spent generations of blood building is being swept into the hands of another just because they were born into a higher station than you.б▒

    Many gripped their fists as Leonel spoke as he seemed to be whispering right into their souls. He was right, but none of them dared to so openly confirm such a thing.

    However, Leonel''s follow up shocked them. "This much is true, there is no denying any of that. The world is unfair. There is only so much that hard work can do, and working hard isn''t something you can have a monopoly on either. You might be working your ass off, but there might be someone twice as talented as you willing to work just as hard, and that person will make it further just by virtue of the fact they''re luckier than you are,б▒

    б░This is reality. This is how the World works. I take certain responsibilities on my shoulders for no other reason than the fact that I acknowledge myself to be luckier than others. There are probably many people who work harder than I do, but it will never matter because my starting place is so much higher than theirs,б▒

    "This is how the world functions. "Leonel swept his gaze through them. He could see bitterness, he could see unwillingness, but most often he saw sighs and acquiescence.

    "Even if it wasn''t my Ascension Empire, it would be my Luxnix family. Even if it wasn''t my Luxnix family, it would be the Chaotic Water Sector. Even if it wasn''t the Chaotic Water Sector, it would be the Constellation Alliances. Even if it wasn''t the Constellations, it would be my Morales family. Even if it wasn''t my Morales family, it would be the Void Palace, and if not them, it would be any of the other Races who deem themselves to be superior to our Human Race.б▒

    Every family and organization Leonel mentioned was more suffocating than the last.

    Even though these small families didn''t understand the weight of what half of these names meant, just the fact they could suppress the Ascension Empire and the Luxnix family was enough for them to understand just how isolated they were.

    "You all lack that luck, the chance to be given a place of high birth. You may never be destined to climb to the top of the Dimensional Verse, even I may not be destined to do so..." Leonel''s gaze flashed when he thought of that young man he saw after climbing to the top of the Bow Pagoda...His gaze flashed again when he thought about his father... and then again when he thought about that mysterious pressure he felt when he thought about the demoness.

    "... But what I can give you all is the lucky opportunity you''ve been lacking. The only price to pay is patience, calm and loyalty. If you can pay that, I will give you an opportunity. If you cannot pay that, your road will end here."

 Chapter 1805 Glowing

    ?1805 Glowing

    Leonel looked toward Libli who had been forced to bite through several layers of skin on her lips just to maintain her composure before Leonel''s Emperor''s Aura.

    As a Matriarch, there was no other choice for Libli to make. If she made any other choice, it would be nothing short of selfish.

    Like this, the Radix, Midas and Florer families were corralled into Leonel''s palms and the inheritance was finally brought together as one.

    Looking toward the flaming chalice and hovering wooden ball, Leonel felt an odd feeling in the depths of his heart.

    His Dream Force affinity could feel a slight pull, as though what was happening now was precisely the intention of someone else. The closer that feeling came, the more fleeting it felt.

    Leonel could tell that it wasn''t meant to be felt. But that feeling of something huge looming over the horizon was becoming more and more suffocating.

    It pressed down on his chest and threatened to erupt. He had to become stronger ,even stronger than he was now. Harmony was a great talent.

    Granted, he still didn''t use his full strength to defeat her, but she had been able to display such prowess and pressure him despite only being at Tier 5.

    If she was so powerful, what about the other talents the Three Finger Cult was raising? Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    He looked to the side and found Libli holding the hand of a little boy who was maybe 12 or 13 years old. Shockingly enough, though, this boy was already in the Fifth Dimension.

    He seemed to be even more talented than Grey. The little boy did look a little odd, though.

    He had sharp teeth like his father and radiant bronze irises like his mother, but the whites of his eyes were a dark red that made him look particularly demonic.

    In addition, while Leonel could tell that he was 12 or 13 by the feeling his soul gave off, the little boy was already two or three inches taller than his mother.

    Leonel was fairly tall, standing at 6''9, but the little boy still managed to not be entirely dwarfed in his presence.

    But at the same time, he lacked the savage look in his eye that other Midas family members had. Instead, his gaze was quite shifty and calculating, like his mother.

    This little boy was Magoron, Libli and Dynmo''s son and the first child born to their two families that could use both "quarters" of their inheritance.

    This was the very same child the Florer family had spoken of in their meetings. Magoron looked toward Leonel with curious, unblinking eyes. He was clearly far more outgoing and confident than Grey, but this was to be expected.

    Grey was treated as an outcast for much of her life, but Magoron had been the pearl in his family''s eye ever since he was born. One was raised to be ostracized, while the other was raised to be a King. The difference was clear.

    To another side, Grey and the others stood. Grey''s parents had pretty low standing, but due to their daughter''s talent, they had been allowed to come as well.

    "I want you all to feel free to try to sense the true meaning of the combination of these Lineage Factors, let its aura baptize you and see if you can gain the complete inheritance. I will heavily nurture anyone who can,б▒

    б░As much as I want every person to participate in this, it will likely be difficult given the limited range and the limited number of connections the inheritance can sustain at once. So I will personally pick out a thousand of you at a time and give you 24 hours. Then I will do the same for another set of a thousand. " Leonel chose based on his own comprehension of the inheritances.

    After seeing Grey and Magoron, he believed he knew what sort of talent it took to benefit from these inheritances. And, unsurprisingly, Grey and Magoron would be among the first branch.

    It took only an instant for Leonel to complete his analysis and list out a systematic method that would keep them busy for months.

    Scanning thousands of people at a time and assigning probabilities to their success was all too easy to him, especially since most were at the Fifth Dimension or lower.

    Leonel planned to leave these three families to their own devices for a couple weeks before checking back to make sure they hadn''t slaughtered one another.

    As for claiming the Lineage Factor himself, he would of course do so. But first, he was having Anastasia analyze it using a special function of the Lab Setting.

    The time investment needed wasn''t small. Leonel had only touched the tip of the iceberg in the wooden ball inheritance.

    Because he only took a step in and immediately left, he had only been granted the absolute lowest level possible, much like most of the Florer family members.

    If he wanted something deeper, he would have to invest more time. But there was simply too much to worry about and he also had his Tribulation looming over his head.

    He hadn''t forgotten that it was coming up very soon. According to Anastasia, it would take about 90 days to complete the analysis.

    By then, he would have the information he needed, and he would also be able to find the quickest method of assimilating with the Lineage Factor as well.

    In the meantime, he would continue to clean up the Ascension Empire''s territory. By now, the noose should be tightening around the necks of his enemies.

    However, what Leonel didn''t expect was that after not even an hour, wild fluctuating auras would begin to emit from Grey and Magoron. The two had been granted the closest seats to the inheritance and they benefited almost instantly.

    Leonel, who had been about to leave after assigning his tasks, came to a grinding halt. He looked toward the backs of these two young geniuses with a glowing light in his eyes.

 Chapter 1806 Neglected

    ?1806 Neglected

    Grey erupted with a golden flame. At the same time,Magoron''s hair began to grow out wildly.

    At first it was cut quite short, but very quickly, it reached his shoulders, then down his back, then it touched the floor and continued to pool at a faster and faster rate. Leonel didn''t say anything as he watched.

    With his fire affinity, he could tell that those flames from Grev were at all, but rather a physical manifestation of her Life Force.

    Somehow, this flame bypassed Blood Force entirely and allowed Life Force to be directly used without a medium. It was the purest form of Life Force in and of itself.

    Grey''s vitality had recently been increased a great deal by Leonel, and as a result, this golden flame burned especially brightly at this moment.

    In fact, if Leonel was correct, Grev could use this Force of external objects, and it may very well be especially potent against flames themselves.

    On the other side, Magoron''s Life Force seemed to have finally gained an appropriate vessel and it was flooding out of control, almost as though his body was spiking with growth hormones.

    It raged to the point even his eyebrows and eyelashes were growing. Soon, even layers of dead skin began to shed from him, only for newer, shinier skin to grow beneath. He understood.

    ''One aspect increases Life Force. Another increases one''s capacity to encapsulate and manipulate Life Force. The final allows you to transfer Life Force. But it''s also not this simple at the same time. The aspect that increases Life Force is also a method by which Life Force can be snatched from others. The method by which Life Force can be encapsulated was also a method by which you could form a symbiotic relationship with an artificial extension of your body. And the final that allowed the transference of Life Force outside your body without the need for a symbiotic conception...''

    The aspect which increased Life Force was the golden flame. The aspect that increased Life Force capacity was the wooden ball. The aspect that allowed the transfer of Life Force was the chalice.

    In other words, the Midas family''s Lineage Factor, the Florer family''s Lineage Factor, and the Radix family''s Lineage Factor in that order. They were all taken to be one.

    But this still felt like just the surface,there was something deeper here.After all, the aspect of the golden flame worked best on fire.

    The Midas family wouldn''t have been foolish enough to not try it with other things. After all, the Shark Race hadn''t had any prominent Fire affinity until after fusing with this Lineage Factor.

    The wooden ball clearly works best with living, breathing entities, such as plants, or if Leonel''s hypothesis was correct, Eighth Dimensional materials that could be considered to have stepped into the Life Grade.

    And, the Bronze Force of the chalice clearly worked the best with metal, and it very much seemed to be the foundation of all of this.

    It was the chalice that held the fire and the wooden ball. In Addition, back then, the Radix family had been by far the strongest of these three families until the Florer family overtook them.

    Clearly,the Radix, if they couldn''t get their hands on all three,would settle for what they believed was the absolute strongest. ''The wooden ball...Eighth Dimensional... Life Grade... This is...''

    Years ago, when Leonel first awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he had sensed the existence of a fifth set of nine doors, or in other words, an Eighth Dimensional tier for his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. Back then,he was ignorant and hadn''t thought much of it.

    It was only now that he understood more about the world that he had also come to understand that this was a tightly guarded secret of the Morales family they didn''t allow others to know about.

    There was another thing of great importance that happened back then as well... the mutation of his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    One was the crimson aura that manifested when he nearly lost his mind, and the second the violet aura that manifested when he dug himself out of the pit he nearly threw himself into.

    When the elders had seen this violet aura, they spoke words that Leonel hadn''t heard. If he had heard them, maybe he would have been able to slide together the final pieces of this puzzle......

    The Violet winds rise North...Leonel''s gaze narrowed but he eventually didn''t say anything. Without another word, he turned and left.

    ***

    "Did you not say that he was dead?!" The voice boomed. Although he was somewhat caught off guard, Rychard had long since reached a state of absolute calm.

    It was very difficult for much of anything to rattle him. "Is he not? That should explain some things, I felt that something was off."

    The voice was somewhat irritated by Rychard''s calmness. By now, they had expected all out retaliation from Leonel''s family, but nothing had come of it.

    In fact, their other underground workings were being suppressed one after another at the hands of an unknown organization that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

    "What do you want to do about this?" The voice said after a long while.

    "We meant to be more forceful to begin with. If they don''t want to come to us, then we will go to them. Tell the Thrusting Skies Sector that it''s about time."

    Eventually, a long enough time had passed that it was clear that they had vanished entirely. Rychard didn''t say anything, but deep within his placid eyes, there was a cold light.

    He knew better than anyone why he had been left alive by Leonel. He had been neglected, cast off like a useless pawn the latter couldn''t be bothered to remember about.

    That rage had long since faded and the maturity Richard exuded was beyond most his age. However, there was one thing that hasn''t disappeared.

    He would make Leonel pay for underestimating him.

 Chapter 1807

1807

    1807 was a false upload meant for a different novel, on Awespec''s part.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1808 Good Luck

    ?1808 Good Luck

    Leonel returned to the Etching Metal Organization. He thought about going to the Rain family, the last family that had attacked Earth back then, but he decided against it in the end.

    Unlike the Umbra, Midas, Radix and Florer families, he couldn''t promise the Rain family anything that would guarantee their loyalty, they would just be an unwanted variable that might flip at any time.

    Although it was impossible to avoid traitors amongst the other families, what Leonel could

    guarantee was loyalty at the most key positions. This wasn''t something he could accomplish with the Rain family.

    This was unfortunate. If Leonel could gather up all five of those families, then the Milky Way

    would have a nice buffer against everyone else.

    It had to be remembered that the reason those five families had attacked to begin with was because they controlled the galaxies in the immediate surroundings of Earth.

    Controlling those five would be as good as ensuring that no one would have easy passage into the Milky Way again, and it also put over 30% of the Three Pillar Sector''s galaxies in the palm of Leonel''s hand.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t meant to be. That said, it wasn''t all bad. For one, Leonel would know with 100% certainty where attacks would come from.

    He would be able to easily filter his enemies toward that direction and thus have the greatest level of preparation.

    And secondly, if the Rain family did do such a thing, that would give him an above board reason to simply wipe them out.

    Leonel stepped foot into the Etching Metal Organization to find a weird atmosphere. When he entered the core regions, he found the reason why quite immediately.

    On one side of a long oak forged table, there were five women. The moment Leonel saw them, he nearly choked on air, only because he felt that this situation might very quickly get out of hand.

    Three of the women were familiar enough, they were Aina, Yuri and Savahn. This alone was enough for the place to be a powder keg ready to blow.

    But, usually, due to the fact they were outnumbered, it was a bit easier to manage. But now these three had gained Aulina and Joyce, two girls Leonel was a bit familiar with.

    They had followed him to Planet Luxnix back then to participate in the selection. The two were both born on the moon and had the exceptionally pale skin and tall stature that came with it.

    They were just about as tall as Aina who was already over six feet tall herself. In these years Leonel was gone, clearly Yuri and Savahn had become close with Aulina and Joyce.

    The four were in lockstep, and Aina, would of course be on the side of her best friends since childhood. Yuri was her sister and Savahn was her closest friend.

    These things were inevitable. On the other side of the table, there were Leonel''s brothers. This much wouldn''t be an issue... if Leonel hadn''t known about what happened between Raj and Yuri.

    But worst of all, it seemed that Raj and Yuri weren''t the only ones with history. Joyce was staring at Franco as though he was her mortal enemy.

    Her fists glowed with a twinkling light before fading and twinkling again. It looked as though she was really thinking about attacking right here and now.

    Franco pretended like he didn''t see anything, taking a sip at a cup that had little nothing in it. But the sip at the faint strands of droplets remaining seemed to only infuriate everyone else all the more.

    If Leonel remembered correctly, Joyce had an odd fist ability that allowed her to accumulate Force and punch it outward. He assumed that this made her Fist Force quite powerful.

    But what was more poignant was the fact that her ability matched her personality quite well. The first time she and Franco met, they had been at odds almost immediately.

    That was because Franco had insisted on Aulina''s help during the war against the oceanic beasts.

    That help had placed Aulina in the line of fire, all to save a few young men she had only just met that day.

    Back then, Joyce had threatened Franco with death, but Franco had said that he would have died long ago if Aulina was harmed.

    Hearing that, Joyce could only let it go. But it seemed that now she had entirely new reasons to be furious. Leonel, however, didn''t feel that this was surprising.

    Franco was most definitely the most perverted amongst them, but he also acted out on his

    perverted intentions.

    Back in the academy, he flew through women as easily as turning the pages of a book. Unfortunately for him, Joyce didn''t seem like the type to docilely let such a thing slide.

    At the same time, while Joyce seemed to be deciding whether or not she should commit an act of murder, there was Yuri who said calmly and without the slightest ripple on her face.

    From the beginning, she didn''t send a single glance toward Raj as though they didn''t even know each other, and while it was Joyce on the women''s side that seemed about to explode, it was Raj on the men''s side.

    He looked like he was a step away from ripping a hole through a wall, The cherry on top seemed to be Aulina who kept stealing glances toward Allan, but unlike Yuri who was purposely ignoring Raj clearly out of spite, Allan didn''t seem to be aware at all, he was entirely focused on a tablet in his hands, calculating several things at once as his fingers flew across the screen.

    Every time Aulina saw that he wasn''t looking at her, she would dip her head down in disappointment, only to be back to looking at him a half minute later.

    While everything seemed to have gone to shit, there was one light on the horizon. Savahn and Joel would smile bitterly toward one another from time to time.

    As the most level-headed of both groups, the two seemed to have become like two peas in a pod. In a corner, Milan and Gil were having the times of their lives, their snickers echoing slightly before they covered their mouths.

    The moment Leonel entered, all of them looked toward him at once. Aphestus patted a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck," he said before rushing away.

 Chapter 1809 Grown

    ?1809 Grown

    [Representation of Leonel''s mother now available on my instagram @awespec_]

    Leonel wanted to turn and run as well, but before he could, he sensed a particularly fierce gaze on him. He turned slowly to find his lovely girlfriend showing a radiant smile that most definitely

    was not a smile.

    He couldn''t quite understand how she could look so beautiful and so menacing at the same time.

    Yuri looked over toward Leonel with a cold expression. Clearly, she wasn''t very happy with the mending of Leonel and Aina''s relationship.

    Savahn gave Leonel a light greeting, as did the other girls, but soon afterward, they seemed to forget his presence and go back to what they had been doing before.

    Leonel coughed lightly, trying to clear the air a bit. If those families could see him now, they''d be

    speechless. Where was the mighty Prince now?

    Unfortunately, when it came to those he cared about, it was a bit difficult for Leonel to be just as cold-hearted. Luckily, before Leonel had to say anything, a saving grace came.

    The doors opened and Raylion took a step instead. He swept a gaze for a moment before looking toward Leonel.

    "The Oryx are here," Raylion said evenly. He didn''t seem to notice anything about the weird

    atmosphere at all.

    Leonel nodded. He actually hadn''t expected this to happen, but he was grateful that it had. He would rather deal with this than relationship drama.

    Who would have thought that he and Aina would end up with the healthiest relationship here? Or maybe that right went to Raylion and Sael.

    Leonel turned back and gave Aina a grin before rushing away.

    "Leonel!"

    Elthor unleashed a happy laugh. He appeared before Leonel in a flash and looked like he was going to give the latter a hug before he suddenly threw out a furious punch.

    The location was a hidden underground hall of the Etching Metal Organization. The ceiling was incredibly tall at just about 20 meters.

    Pillars were located around the region and it looked much more like a cargo region with vehicles coming in and out from time to time. If there was one thing this region wasn''t good at, it was suppressing sound.

    So from Elthor''s shout to his sudden attack, it felt like a tornado had rushed into a tunnel, pillaging and ravaging everything. Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    A dull bronze glow coated his fists as he punched out to meet Elthor.

    BOOM!

    Leonel felt a strong pulsing power travel up his arm, but it was quickly dispersed throughout his body. However, he didn''t move a single inch.

    By the same token, Elthor didn''t move either, standing straight and tall. Even so, a droplet of blood formed on his knuckles and fell silently to the ground.

    Elthor was clearly surprised by this result. He had expected for Leonel to go flying back like a meteor, but he hadn''t thought that Leonel actually wouldn''t move at all.

    In fact, it was he, himself, who ended up injured in the exchange, albeit just a small measure.

    "You''re so strong?" Elthor blinked.

    He had gotten a small rundown of what had happened to Leonel from Raylion and he had come to understand that Leonel had disappeared for a long while.

    By that token, he should have gained 10+ years of practice advantage on Leonel, so why were their strengths still so close?

    If Elthor knew that Leonel was actually quite surprised as well, he would have probably cursed the latter to an early grave.

    What right did Leonel have to be surprised that someone so close to the Seventh Dimension was just as powerful as he was?

    Unlike Leonel''s brothers, Elthor didn''t take the Conventional Path, he followed the God Path.

    In addition, because he had been in the Void Palace during the Cataclysm, while he didn''t gain a full 20+ year advantage on Leonel, he had made it up by having quite some gains in the Zone.

    It had to be remembered that before his old man''s death, Elthor had been given the Oryx Kingdom''s World Spirit.

    Clearly, this had benefited him greatly as even after Leonel resurrected his old man, he refused to take the World Spirit back.

    "I should be asking you that," Leonel said with a chuckle. Elthor''s expression became somewhat slack jawed. What Leonel fucking with him?

    "Fuck you, I didn''t enter my true form."

    "Generals make excuses now?" Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    At that moment, the chuckle of a significantly more mature gentleman interrupted their conversation.

    Leonel looked over to find King Oryx walking over with a dignified cadence to his steps. He truly looked like a ruler, and he didn''t dampen it before Leonel in the slightest.

    It was clear that he hadn''t come here to "submit". Seeing his father, Elthor''s happiness became far more complicated. He felt that he was stuck between two individuals that he quite liked.

    Though if he told his father this, he would probably get a smack to the back of the head. How could he be struggling in choosing between Leonel and his own father?

    Well, the answer to that was actually quite obvious to him. His father wanted him to be a King, he didn''t want to be one.

    Leonel, however, gave him a path toward fulfilling his dreams, to become a General of the battlefield. That was all he had ever wanted.

    Leonel''s smile faded as he looked toward King Oryx. Inwardly, King Oryx was actually quite surprised. He, too, had expected that Elthor would blow Leonel in the distance.

    He was well aware of his son''s strength and he had long since become their greatest combatant and he had never looked back.

    But Leonel actually took Elthor head on without taking even a single step back, this had caused King Oryx''s position to have no choice but to soften.

    "It seems that you''ve grown quite well," King Oryx said with a smile.

    "You seem to have grown very well, too," Leonel said lightly, though his words seemed to have a different meaning entirely.

    It was hard to tell if he was talking about King Oryx''s strength... or his guts. King Oryx''s smile faded somewhat. He hadn''t expected for Leonel to take such a strong stance.

    His words seemed casual, but in political sense, they were hyper aggressive and might as well have been him throwing down the gauntlet.

 Chapter 1810 Too Much

    1810 Too Much

    King Oryx looked toward Leonel deeply.

    Elthor''s lips pressed into a line as he looked back and forth between his father and Leonel. The two didn''t seem to have any hatred for one another, but their perspectives were simply different.

    King Oryx was more than willing to give up his kingdom to his son, after all, Elthor was his own flesh and blood. Ultimately, the Oryx

    were a minority race deep within human territory, it was simply too difficult to entrust their future in the hands of someone who just might abandon them at any time.

    As for Leonel, he had invested in the Oryx in more than one way. For one, he had resurrected Elthor first, and then his father, when he hardly knew either one of them at the time. Back then, it hadn''t seemed like a big deal, but now that he had to purge the Silver Tablet for the sake of saving his brothers, it meant that Leonel had chosen the Oryx over the lives of men and women he had fought shoulder to shoulder with.

    When things were put into perspective like this, King Oryx''s hesitancy was nothing short of a slap to Leonel''s face. With Leonel''s temper, if it hadn''t been for the fact that he had a good relationship with Elthor, he would have already taught King Oryx a severe lesson.

    Leonel wasn''t the type of person to hesitate when he made a decision, so it seemed as though he had been incredibly decisive and uncaring when he purged the Silver Tablet. But the reality was that that was a weighty decision still being borne on his shoulders. He could still remember his final moments in that Zone, the only true and undeniable loss he had suffered in his life.

    He knew that it was selfish of him to act as he had. Those people had believed in him. When they died, they didn''t know that there was a chance to be resurrected, but if they had known that such a path existed... how would they feel knowing that he had made the decision to not grant them such

    an opportunity? None of this was King Oryx''s fault, but that didn''t change the fact that Leonel''s fuse when related to these matters was exceptionally short, even shorter than it usually was.

    King Oryx was an exceptionally benevolent King. He hadn''t hesitated to give up his life for a chance to protect his people. He truly had the heart and valiance of a ruler, he was a true man. However none of this would stop Leonel''s footsteps.

    It was either he was with him, or against him, there was no in between.

    "Child..." King Oryx said lightly. "... You aren''t as I remember. It seems that this world has ground down your spirit." "And left behind something far sharper,бп Leonel replied just as calmly.

    "If this is what you believe, then there''s nothing much that I can say to you." Leonel nodded slightly. "It really isn''t something that you can understand. When your Oryx Kingdom still stood, you did nothing as the Human Kingdom grew stronger and stronger. You feared what their King had become and didn''t dare to take action, choosing to remain passive.

    "It was only after I took action and forced the issue that you were forced to take action. Ultimately, you lost your life and much of your Kingdom. The people you rule now were introduced to you by me. The strength of your favored son is in great thanks to me. Even the breath you breathe now was granted to you by me. So don''t you believe it''s a bit silly for you to speak to me as an all- knowing senior of some kind?" Leonel''s placid gaze met the Oryx King''s own, there not seeming to be the slightest hint of a fluctuation within their depths.

    The Oryx King fell into silence. This was hard to reply to because it was simply the truth. The details were broadly correct and there weren''t any embellishments. Even so...

    "And how did you actions end? What success did you have, exactly?" "King Alexandre crossed the barrier to the Fifth Dimension only recently when the final began," Leonel said indifferently. "It took me only two years to reach the point of meeting them at the final gates of their Kingdom. Had you not been a coward and joined beneath my banner, it would have taken me three months at most. By then, I could have personally defeat him without such unwanted variables."

    "So your reply to me is that a stranger didn''t help you enough so it''s thus the stranger''s fault?" Hearing these words, Leonel''s placid expression vanished into a smile.

    "I think you''ve framed it incorrectly. My reply to you is that it took someone with no stakes in your Kingdom to make you finally make a choice that wasn''t cowardly and passive. And yet, even so, you haven''t learned your lesson. You continue to bide your time, continue to be passive, continue to want to sit on the sidelines in hopes that no one will cause you and your people trouble.

    "It''s no wonder that your son doesn''t want to follow in your steps to become a King, in his eyes, this is all a King can do." "Leonel!" Elthor wanted to interrupt but he seemed to be shielded outside of the clashing auras of his father and Leonel.

    "I can tell you this very clearly, though," Leonel continued, his aura growing, "I won''t let you sit on the sideline. I will not allow such a variable to exist within the barriers of my Empire. The Oryx only have one of two choices.

    "The first is to follow me as you should have from the very beginning, and the second is to be eradicated." Leonel''s gaze turned cold.

    "I have invested a lot into the Oryx, too much. More than you know. I won''t allow your cowardice to dictate the actions of your race any longer.бп King Oryx''s expression went entirely dark. He hadn''t expected things to take this turn at all. Just what had gotten into this Leonel?

 Chapter 1811 Unborn

    1811 Unborn

    This was exactly what the Oryx King feared. He didn''t want for the Oryx to suddenly be forced into a situation where they had no choice but to become the warriors of others. As for Leonel''s comments about his cowardice, if such comments could faze him, he would have long since changed his approach to ruling.

    People who could call themselves Kings wouldn''t easily change their mind about such things.

    As for Leonel, his mind had been made up. He had been too nice for far too long.

    Even disregarding what he had done for the Oryx Kingdom, back when Valiant Heart Mountain was being attacked, it was he who gave them a path to survive. Afterward, he invested a large amount in their development through Elthor to ensure that they would take full advantage of their Hyper Evolution stage.

    Those resources were nothing to Leonel now, but to the him of back then, they had practically

    been everything, and without said resources, how would the Oryx have been able to thrive in the way they had now? None of this even mentioned the fact he had quite literally brought their two most important pillars back to life, or the fact that the only reason they could live such comfortable lives as a member of another race so deep within Human Domain territory was precisely because of his name and organizations he had helped birth backing them.

    Even if King Oryx said he wanted to pay back those things in kind, could he even do so? For one, an investment was worth not only the price itself, but also what it was worth to the person receiving it.

    Let''s say that the Oryx King wanted to return the resources Leonel spent on them back then. That process would be akin to giving back a loan without any sort of interest. And to make matters worse, even if the Oryx King did pay this "interest", it still wouldn''t be enough.

    Usually, when a person takes a loan, a small interest is applied because the person giving the loan is well off to begin with and most of the risk is on the person receiving the loan. However, in this case, the risk Leonel had taken was just as great.

    He wasn''t some rich tycoon handing over a small percentage of his wealth, he had been akin to a popper giving up the last few dollars he had on him.

    The Oryx King "repaying" him would be akin to two dear friends having an agreement, one of whom would invest the last bits of money they had while the latter used it to make it big. Then years later, the friend who had succeeded would turn around as a millionaire, maybe even a billionaire, and return his "friend" exactly the amount he had originally invested, no more and no less.

    This alone would already be enough of a slap in the face and a lesson in picking better friends, but the matter was only made worse by the fact that even if the Oryx King was thick-faced enough to do such a thing, he had no way of returning the value of his life and his son''s life! That was the shocking truth. Even if he wanted to return the bare minimum... he couldn''t! Leonel knew this quite well, and it was precisely why he had run out of patience. If this so-called Oryx King couldn''t make a decision even after almost three decades, then Leonel would force him to make one.

    Leonel didn''t wait for the Oryx King to respond and simply turned and left. The fact he hadn''t attacked, as far as he saw it, was already an act of benevolence.

    King Oryx''s eyes narrowed but there was nothing he could say. The ultimatum had already been laid, there really wasn''t much else to be said.

    After Leonel''s back view vanished, Elthor couldn''t help but sigh.

    "He''s right you know, old man,бп Elthor shook his head. "It''s been well over two decades since you were resurrected, you should have made a choice by now.бп

    "It''s not as though the circumstances are conventional,бп King Oryx said lightly. "He wasn''t even here." б░And that''s why he''s anxious. If he had been here for all 20 years, do you think he would care very much about what help we could provide? You saw how strong he was, do you think I''ve been slacking for these last 20 years?" The Oryx King''s eyes narrowed before he shook his head.

    "This concerns our entire race, we have no one to rely on but ourselves. We can''t allow ourselves to become canon fodder for others. Plus, I''m getting a bad feeling from this Leonel, a bad feeling that wasn''t there before. It''s obvious that my patience has revealed something that I wasn''t aware of before, it only makes caution all the more important." "I don''t know what you''re talking about, but what I do know is that Leonel had an opportunity to gain a second Ability Index 20 years ago.

    The Oryx King frowned. "A second Ability Index? That''s impossible." "It is possible if you eat the egg of an unborn child of a foreign race that''s spent the last several years being baptized by the vital energies of countless long dead Seventh Dimensional existences. It''s even easier when you consider the fact this egg is from a being not of your race, so it wouldn''t even technically count as cannibalism. And, it''s even more enticing when you realize it''s an Ability Index as groundbreaking as Shadow Sovereignty.бп The Oryx King''s expression flashed. "What are you trying to say?" "I''m trying to say that Leonel entered a Rapax Nest where everyone''s goal was to gain this Ability Index, and yet he was the only one who saw those ugly bastards as people and treated that unborn child like an actual unborn child.

    "If you were there, father, I doubt even you would be benevolent enough to protect this unborn child as though it was no different from an unborn Oryx, right?"

    The Oryx King''s heart skipped a beat.

    All this time, his mind was filled with the echoes of the words Shadow Sovereignty, he hadn''t really cared about the unborn child ever since he heard it was a Rapax. Even Oryx looked more human than they did.

    Would he save that child? Definitely not. What idiot would give up such an overpowered Ability Index?

 Chapter 1812 You, You, And You.

    1812 You, you, and you.

    Leonel entered the tension filled room once again, his brothers and the girls still glaring at one another. They looked over toward him almost instantly, just like before, but this time they seemed to be able to tell that his mood was the best.

    BANG! Suddenly, Leonel''s palms slammed against the table.

    Something odd happened in that moment. It was as though Leonel had so perfectly controlled his strength that the table was just on the verge of being shattered to pieces, but not quite there. The result was a wild and eerie vibration that echoed across the room.

    "Alright, that''s enough pouting," Leonel said, his voice cold.

    Yuri''s eyes narrowed when she looked toward Leonel, but what she didn''t expect was for Leonel to suddenly look back toward her with an equally as cold look in his eye.

    "Your sister is my wife now. You''re going to have to get over it. If you can''t, I won''t let you see our children. Not even one of any one of the 27 of them, that I can promise." Aina, who had wanted to say something, was suddenly stunned speechless before she blushed profusely. She couldn''t even do her normal routine of asking Leonel who his wife was. She was truly silent for maybe the first time ever. Even Yuri didn''t quite know how to react to this.

    "You..." Yuri tried to speak, not quite sure if she should be enraged or not, she had no idea how to even respond to such a thing.

    "Shut up, I''m talking right now,бп Leonel''s gaze flashed with an oppressive violet light and Yuri suddenly felt it down to the depths of her soul.

    Yuri was a Spiritual, this much was obvious. As such, even if she had an opportunity to use a soul protection treasure, she wouldn''t feel the need to. Her own personal inheritances and her own skill was more than enough. But it was also precisely due to this that she felt the full brunt of Leonel''s oppression, taking her somewhat off guard before she quickly defended herself. But by then, Leonel was already speaking again.

    "Allan!" "Hm?" Allan, who had still been engrossed in his panel, even after Leonel started making so much noise, finally looked up. His gaze was calm as he looked toward Leonel.

    Leonel nudged his head toward Aulina. "Stop being clueless, she likes you." Allan blinked once and looked toward Aulina who had suddenly blushed down to her chest.

    "And you," Leonel looked toward Aulina. "Allan is my brother, I know him well. He doesn''t view relationships the way normal people do, and he''s not very interested in sexual interactions, although he might be willing to do it if that''s what you want. If you want to be his partner, you will have to stimulate him in other ways.

    "It''s not exactly impossible, most women who''ve liked him have given up. It''ll depend on you whether you care enough to follow through. You should probably make that decision as soon as possible." By the time Leonel had finished his words, Allan had already gone back to his tablet and Aulina didn''t quite know how to react. She put her head down and blushed harder. Wasn''t Leonel a bit too crude? She hadn''t even said anything to the girls yet. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you looked at things, Leonel wasn''t done yet.

    "And you," Leonel looked toward Joyce.

    "Don''t start lecturing me, or else I''ll show you what my fist can do," Joyce almost growled out. Even though she said this, her face was already red. She just didn''t want to be exposed by Leonel like Aulina had. Unfortunately for her, Leonel didn''t seem to give a damn right now.

    "Didn''t I say shut up already? I''m talking" Joyce suddenly found her next words caught in her throat. It couldn''t be said that she knew Leonel exceptionally well, but since when had he been this aggressive? In fact, she had always felt that Leonel was quite passive about a lot of things. He let life come to him, only then did he react... he was very rarely proactive, and he often didn''t need to be.

    But now, he felt... different.

    "This guy,бп Leonel pointed toward Franco, "is a bit of a dick.бп Franco''s mouth opened, but nothing came out. In the corner, Gil slapped his thigh, half dying with Milan. The two seemingly found all of this fucking hilarious, it was too good.

    Joyce''s eyes widened with surprise. She didn''t expect Leonel to be on her side.

    "He can''t keep it in his pants, he chases women for sport, he doesn''t know what it means to settle down even though he''s already nearing his 40''s. As far as I see it, he''s practically a defective product." Franco''s mouth hung lower. Leonel had never grilled any one of them like this. But why was it that he wasn''t mad and even had a smile on his face he couldn''t seem to wipe away? "You see that smile on his face?" Leonel asked Joyce. "He''s a masochist, through and through. The meaner you are to him, the more he likes it. If you want him, you can have him. So long as you''re willing to keep your foot on his neck for the rest of his life. He needs a very, very, very short leash." Joyce covered her mouth, almost forgetting the semi-seriousness of the matter. Why did she find this so amusing? To the side, Gil was practically coughing up a lung. It was hard to tell if he was laughing or if he was going into cardiac arrest.

    "And finally you two," Leonel settled on Yuri and Raj.

    Yuri was the only one who didn''t seem to find any of this amusing at all, but when Leonel spoke, her eyes couldn''t help but widen.

    "You''re sitting here, glaring at one another, when you have no idea that he died almost a decade ago. You were so mad that you didn''t even check on him during that time and are only just now finding out."

 Chapter 1813 Any Time

    1813 Any Time

    Leonel knew the underlying problem here.

    Spirituals had a far different concept of time than humans did as they lived over a hundred times longer. Raj didn''t bother to try very hard to convince Yuri of anything in one part due to his own pride and personality, and another part due to the fact he didn''t think she was trying very hard at all.

    A year was already far too long, let alone a decade. To Raj, this ship had already sailed and had been over for a long time already, and it was only made worse by the last word Yuri had left him with after their last fight.

    But this was another problem. Spirituals, especially Spiritual couples, could read intentions past their own words. Yuri could also read past Raj''s intent and see into his soul. So, she had never really been all that enraged, she was just being stubborn. But when Raj made no attempt, she thought that he wasn''t trying hard enough so she wanted him to try more.

    These two factors, on one side being their difference in how they saw time, and on the other side being how they took words whether at face value or not, had led to such a situation.

    Obviously, Yuri hadn''t discarded her old body and built a new one, this was the very same body she had had long ago, so obviously she hadn''t erased her history with Raj. But not only did Raj have no way of knowing that, he also hadn''t seen her in almost a decade.

    Raj had grown up on modern Earth, that kind of time frame was ridiculous. After a decade, you might as well be strangers at that point.

    It was no wonder the two were so useless in a relationship. It was difficult enough to date a person who didn''t share the same cultural background as you even if you were both human, let alone to date someone who was from a different species altogether. Without a willingness to communicate, they were bound to fail.

    But luckily for them, Leonel had stopped giving a damn.

    Yuri didn''t think that Leonel would lie about this and she couldn''t help but look toward Raj. Raj, who was still being a bit stubborn, looked away. He thought it would be a bit too corny of him to rely on his death to get a leg up, especially since he was obviously alive and well now.

    But this reaction only made Yuri more certain that Leonel wasn''t lying. Even though she couldn''t read Leonel, she could read Raj quite well.

    б░Alright, alright? Good." Leonel nodded to himself, seemingly feeling satisfied with the silence.

    "Wife!" "Hm?" Aina responded subconsciously, causing Leonel to grin.

    "Excellent," Leonel nodded again, leaving Aina blushing once more. What a shameless tactic.

    Just as Leonel was about to say something more, his eyes narrowed. On cue, Raylion opened the door. By his side, there was Sael, Aphestus and Emna.

    "What happened?" Leonel asked.

    "There''s movement. There''ll be an attack launched in about half a day." "Half a day?" Leonel raised an eyebrow before he smiled.

    This was the benefit of having such a robust information network. Half a day actually wasn''t long to prepare, but given the fact that all of this had likely been done in the utmost secrecy, and the fact the enemies attacking were almost certainly already within their territory, the fact that Etching Metal could give them a half day buffer was utterly ground breaking. It might as well have been akin to seeing the future.

    Leonel couldn''t help but chuckle. In his time in the Dimensional Verse, he was always on his back foot, always reading and reacting to what was happening instead of being proactive. But now that he had such an organization to fall back on, things just might come easy.

    "Aphestus, this is for you," Leonel flipped over a palm and a box of pills appeared. He handed it to Aphestus. "These pills will synergize well with your Ability Index. They were prepared by my lovely wife, so be sure to thank her." Aina was beginning to get exasperated, but it felt like this wasn''t the right time to say something.

    "This is for you,бп Leonel repeated the same action for Raylion. "This will be less helpful to you than it is for Aphestus, and you''ll also have to be far more careful. A single one of these Force Pills could kill you. You have to be mentally prepared and ready to endure pain. However, if you survive, this will set the foundation for you moving forward. I have something much better in mind for you, it''ll just require some time to execute." Raylion solemnly accepted the box, but there was a clear flash of determination in his eye, not dampened by the worry in his wife''s eyes.

    "Sael, vou have a Unique Ability Index. I''ve reserved a spot for you in the Midas and Radix familiesбп territory. If you go there, you''ll find a surprise and your strength will increase a hundredfold, easily." Sael''s brows jumped.

    Her Ability Index was, indeed, unique. Even with their information network and scanning through trillions upon trillions of people, she had never found a second one like her.

    Leonel was certain that the complete inheritance of the Silver Empire was almost tailor made for Sael, she would most definitely thrive from its use, even more so than the Florer family.

    "Here, Leonel handed Sael an Eighth Dimensional sapling similar to the one he had given Grey. With just this alone, her strength would increase quite a measure.

    Sael accepted it solemnly as well, not knowing what to say. In all these years, she had wondered if her husband''s faith in Leonel was warranted. But in just a few moments, he had handed over things beyond her wildest imagination. Just the scent of the pills he had given Raylion and Aphestus were enough to make her tremble.

    "Emna..." Leonel sighed somewhat. "Your path is your own. I actually think that if I gave you external items now, it would actually hinder you as oppose to help you. You only need a hint of inspiration to cross that final barrier and more battle experience. Less assassination, more upfront, life threatening clashes.

    "Are you prepared to do that?" Emna''s gaze flashed with a fierce light and she nodded her head.

    "Any time." The Blade Force around her seemed to sing.

    "Good. Let''s move out everyone. We''re going to crush them all ina single sweep."

 Chapter 1814 Subtle

    1814 Subtle

    The activity near the borders of the Three Pillar Sector was very subtle. In fact, from an outside observer, it was hard to tell that anything out of the norm was happening at all. The trading routes were still moving as usual, tourists still moved in and out as many without families and organizations to rely upon tried to move closer to Earth in hopes of gaining better lives, at the same time, those who had the foresight to see the coming implosion were doing the exact opposite, making their way out to stiller waters.

    Under all of this normal activity, though, an undercurrent was slowly building momentum. Covertly, several powers began to come together having been emboldened by the retreat of Shield Cross Stars.

    Although things had been tense before, they had never reached this extent. The power of the Shield was far too great and even those who were greedy had to temper their impulses. However, with the apparent hot-headed and foolish decision of Alienor, these lurking threats became very real threats.

    "How much longer?" "We still need a few more hours. This is already fast. If we move any faster, we''ll expose ourselves and our organization will be lacking. The most important leg of this war will happen right in the beginning. During the first push, we need to claim at least half of the Three Pillar Sector. We''ll need to secure all of the fast lanes toward the Rain Galaxy." "A few hours is fine." Of the two speaking, one was the Patriarch of the O''Neil family and the other was a Patriarch of the Bliss family. They were currently in a warship hanger, waiting for everything to be prepared to move out. Most of their warriors were already boarded and they were just waiting in silence for the signal.

    There were quite a few families that could control galaxies within the Three Pillar Sector and the

    surrounding Sectors and these were just two of them. It could be said that in the grand scheme, they were small fry, but it was also because of this that they would be leading the charge ahead first.

    It couldn''t be helped. As the weak, if they wanted to change their fates, they had to take some risks.

    It was too dangerous to target families within the Three Pillar Sector, but from other surrounding Sectors, it was much easier. Given the short duration between the disappearance of Shield Cross Stars and this attack as well, it was only right that only those that had been corrupted long ago would partake. There wasn''t time to convert others.

    Regardless, this didn''t matter to them. As they saw it, Earth was nothing but loose soil. Even their own families warred against one another. With the obstruction of Shield Cross Stars, this battle was as good as won.

    They didn''t need to do anything as crazy as conquering the Ascension Empire, although these few family heads didn''t doubt that this was the goal of their superiors, all they wanted was a small piece of the pie.

    Suddenly... BOOM! Without a word, without warning, the entire hanger was eviscerated, wiped from existence as though it had never existed. The chatting Patriarchs didn''t even register what happened and weren''t even aware enough to know that they had just spoken their last words and had their last thoughts.

    This matter was repeated dozens of times over. Entire armies of the absolute elite wiped out one after another, like clockwork. It all happened so fast that information couldn''t even make it back. It was only after news of the chain of explosions was known that the so-called "superiors" realized that they had actually been preemptively targeted, but none of them could understand how news of this had leaked.

    Even if one of their allies were traitors, those small fry would at most know their assigned gathering location. Even in the upper echelon, only a very select few who were aware of all of the locations, but all of these individuals had way too much to lose to betray them, if they didn''t they would have never been trusted to begin with.

    Unfortunately, before these superiors could understand what was happening, an army descended on their location. In an instant, a battle that should have been waged in the Three Pillar Sector was fought at its borders, the citizens of the Ascension Empire completely oblivious to what was happening.

    Leonel stood on the bow of his flagship, his gaze sharp.

    To his left, an unhappy Harmony side. But at the moment, she could only obediently be used as a pawn. Leonel seemed to have every intention of making use of her without a care for her status.

    To his right, there was a slightly skeptical Aina. But seeing the unhappy expression on Harmony''s face, she could only choose to trust Leonel.

    Behind them, the flagship was flooded with warriors prepared to battle.

    Leonel took a step forward, raising his foot and placing it on the bow of the ship as he peered over. A grin spread across his face as he looked toward the floating asteroids in the distance. At first, there didn''t seem to be anything wrong with them, until one took a second look and noticed the sheer number of warships using their flow as camouflage.

    "Going to continue to hide?" Leonel''s voice echoed through the vastness of space, rumbling like thunder. It was enough to make the weak feel as though he was squeezing their hearts in his palm.

    "Ah, seems like they don''t want to come out.бп "Yip! Yip!" Little Blackstar sneered with disdain from Leonel''s shoulder, waving his little claws.

    The simple action sent a surge of pressure through the void, causing the rockface of an asteroid in the distance to explode and send shrapnel in all directions. The warship that had been hiding behind it was pelted and instantly became riddled with holes. It barely managed to hold on.

    "Harmony, why don''t you go greet our guests for us?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Harmony grit her teeth, floating up from the flagship.

    These people would be very unlucky on this day. She needed someone to vent her frustration on.

 Chapter 1815 Coincidence?

    1815 Coincidence?

    Harmony vanished and appeared within the depths of the asteroid belt almost instantly. She crossed the seemingly impossible distance with absolute ease.

    In a flash, her scythe appeared in her hands and she let out a shriek as she slashed downward. She rampaged about with an unearthed fury. Every time she slashed, rocks would shatter and warships would collapse one after another. It didn''t seem as though anvthing could withstand even a single one of her attacks.

    A light cough echoed to Leonel''s back.

    "Where''d you find this one, cap?" Gil mumbled.

    "She''s my type, why don''t you introduce me?" Milan suddenly spoke, wiping his drool away with a forearm.

    "Look at her, she could snap you like a twig. Get yourself together, you''re embarrassing," Gil replied quite fiercely, despite the fact it was clear he couldn''t take his eyes off of the sway of Harmony''s hips.

    They couldn''t ogle Aina out of respect for Leonel and because they cared dearly for their lives, but the moment they saw a woman comparable to her, their eyes didn''t seem to want to function properly, even threatening to pop out of their eye sockets.

    "She can snap me like a twig all she wants," Milan replied.

    Joel, Drake and Arnold looked toward one another and shook their heads. These brothers of theirs were truly too embarrassing. They saw one beauty and already didn''t know how to act. They even looked like they would throw down their gauntlets and fight to death so long as Harmony asked them to do so.

    "Sure, I can introduce you," Leonel laughed. "She''s from the Three Finger Cult, though." Gil and Milan were suddenly rendered speechless. Since when had they had someone like that on their side? Wait, didn''t that also make her an enemy? Leonel was just trying to set them up! She''d sooner stab them to death than date them! The two felt cold shivers run up their spines.

    "Enough!" At that moment, a roar came from the asteroid belt. It was all too obvious that their attempt at a covert operation had been entirely thwarted, and even dense networks of traitors they had been building up for the last several years were all wiped out all at once.

    It could be said that of their canon fodder, over 90% would never see the light of the next day. Their operation had become a complete failure and they still had no idea just how things had ended up in this way.

    Even so, all hope was not lost. Even though their covert operation had failed, those that had died were just their vanguard, weak families they had planned to throw forward to distract the Empire from the true and most lethal threat. Ultimately, they had expected most of those families, if not all, to die regardless. It was just a shame that they couldn''t do any damage before then.

    However, if this was used correctly, Earth and the Ascension Empire would only suffer a greater loss. They had just wiped out countless families without word or warning, this sort of unilateral movement and decision was exactly the kind of thing that would put Earth in a more precarious situation.

    Right then, the person who had just spoken shot up from the center of the hidden formation of warships. He wore silver and radiant blue armor, his hair just as blue as the sparks of lightning that danced across his armor as well. With his spear in hand, he truly did seem to be a deity incarnate, a feeling only made all the more dominating by his Seventh Dimensional aura.

    Leonel didn''t need to think much to know who this was. This was none other than the man in control of the Thrusting Skies Sector, Patriarch Aleck, head of the Skies family and one of the greatest threats Earth currently faced.

    He seemed to want to end this battle swiftly as possible as almost the moment he spoke out, roaring to cover the region in his aura. Then, she struck out with lightning swiftness, the tip of his blade appearing before Harmony in a single breath.

    Harmony felt oppressed by the aura of a Seventh Dimensional existence for only a moment before she blinked and vanished, appearing on the bow of the flagship in an instant. She was already well outside the range of the attack before it could even build up momentum, let alone land on her.

    The attack rebounded against the barrier of the flagship and caused a slight ripple. Leonel could only shake his head toward this sight. Before his interaction with that Eighth Dimensional expert from Shield Cross Stars, such an attack wouldn''t have even caused the barrier to waver. Unfortunately, he hadn''t found a work around for the nerf yet, he would have to strengthen his mind further before he could use his Internal Sight to check on the fusion core and modify it.

    Even so, the strength it had access to now was enough for him to do what he needed to do.

    "Your attack is quite ferocious Patriarch Skies, but don''t you think you''re wasting time here?" Leonel asked lightly, his expression still quite a bit casual.

    Aleck Skies, who wanted to make a follow up attack after seeing that the flagship wasn''t invulnerable, suddenly paused. His gaze narrowed as he locked onto Leonel.

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Isn''t it obvious? How do you think we knew about your location? What about the location of the canon fodder you had so painstakingly prepared?" Aleck''s pupils constricted. "What are you trying to say?" "I don''t know, don''t you think that it''s just a bit convenient? Of all the important points to gather upon, it was the Rain Galaxy that was chosen. And beyond that, the support you have coming from the outside is the Chaotic Water Sector, right? A nice coincidence, don''t you think?"

    Aleck was intelligent enough to understand what Leonel met almost instantly. The Chaotic Water Sector and the Rain Galaxy both specialized in Water Force. Could this have been planned by the Chaotic Water Sector long ago?

 Chapter 1816 Thrummed

    1816 Thrummed

    Aleck suddenly sneered. Did this Leonel take him for a fool? Just how common were the core elemental affinities. Water, fire, earth and wind, you could find them everywhere. He could name a dozen other galaxies just like the Rain Galaxy off of the top of his head. This didn''t mean that they all had connections with the Chaotic Water Sector, right? And also, even if he was willing to accept this, what good would betraying their own operation do for the Chaotic Water Sector? If Earth wasn''t weakened because it was prepared for the outcome of this sneak attack, then the Chaotic Water Sector would not only lose its strongest allies, when the time came, they would have to face Earth alone.

    To make matters worse, the original reason why the Chaotic Water Sector wanted to get out in front of this was because they knew that when Earth finished expanding, its competition would only become fiercer. Those large families were still waiting in the wings under the guise of decorum and the "greater good", but they all understood how the world worked. The moment the benefits became too great to ignore, the so-called greater good and its ideals would fly out the window.

    Unless they could all get their footholds now, they didn''t stand a chance in fighting against those families in the future. This was their chance. Here and now.

    So why would the Chaotic Water Sector Ruin that? How ridiculous.

    "Oh, you''re doubting me?" Leonel chuckled. "How did I pinpoint your location, then?" "That''s enough,б▒ Aleck said coldly.

    Aleck wasn''t 100% certain, but he had heard rumors of the Ascension Empire''s Emperor being capable of using his Lineage Factor to view every aspect of his territory. Although they had believed that this was nonsense, which was why they had moved forward with their plans anyway, this seemed to be the only explanation for what was happening here.

    In that case, then covert operations would always be their downfall. The only method forward was to suffocate Earth with raw strength. First he would retreat from here, regroup, and then launch an all out assault when their strength was all in order. The best plan was one the enemy could see coming, and yet couldn''t stop anyway.

    Even if he was wrong, Aleck had no intention of making such a decision here.

    Leonel shook his head and laughed again. Those that could become the heads of such powerful organizations weren''t fools. Even if Aleck didn''t know the truth, that didn''t mean that he would so easily accept Leonel''s characterization of events, he would instead choose to investigate on his own.

    Just like the best schemes were the ones others could see coming and yet couldn''t stop, the best lies were the ones an enemy convinced themselves of first.

    "It''s fine if you don''t want to listen to me. But ultimately, you should think about it. You''re looking at things through a narrow lens. Some people are looking beyond just the Human Domain." The moment Leonel said these words, Aleck''s heart skipped a beat. The weight of the words that Leonel had just spoken were so frighteningly heavy that he didn''t even want to think about them. He immediately turned and wanted to retreat.

    "Wait a minute now, I still can''t let you leave. If I did, wouldn''t people think they can just choose to attack my Ascension Empire whenever they wanted?"

    Aleck sneered. Obviously, he believed that everything Leonel had said before this was bullshit now. If Leonel was really so certain that he would find some dirt on the Patriarch of the Chaotic Water Sector, then it would be in his best interest that Aleck be released with as much strength as possible. That way, when the two Sectors clashed, they would be able to harm one another sufficiently.

    But when Aleck looked into Leonel''s eyes, all he saw was the indifferent smile of someone with

    everything in the palm of his hands.

    Leonel''s thoughts were on a level even Seventh Dimensional existences couldn''t fathom. If Aleck thought he could see through him so easily, there would be nothing but disappointment waiting for him at the end of it all.

    "We''ll wipe out half of their fleet, then let them go," Leonel said lightly.

    Aleck suddenly raised his head to the skies, laughing uproariously.

    However, right then, a voice appeared to Leonel''s side.

    "Yes, Emperor!" The booming cadence of the voice caused the void to tremble. At that moment, a familiar big bellied man appeared. He was none other than the overseer of the asteroid convenience station. Since his death, he had been stored within Leonel''s snowglobe, and now he would have a final battle before his soul dispersed.

    Leonel pushed off the bow of the flagship, a surfboard appearing beneath his feet as he shuttled through the air with untold speed.

    "Attack," he said coldly.

    The big bellied man, weight valiant violet armor, soared after Leonel quickly before appearing high above his head and slapping his belly twice. His chest expanded and his diaphragm seemed to explode in size.

    Then he unleashed a mighty roar.

    The sound wave crushed everything in its path.

    Aleck''s eyes widened and he quickly raised his spear to counter.

    At that moment, though, Leonel, who had been riding his sleek black surfboard across the starry skies had already come to a halt, a dark gold panda construct appearing around him, its six arms each forming a different sign.

    Leonel''s kidneys thrummed with life, his Scarlet Star Nodes surging as a violent surge of crimson gold Force manifested in the surroundings.

    Watching the snaking Fire Force take the form of dozens of coiling flood dragons, sparkling brighter than even the stars that were their backdrop, Harmony''s pupils constricted.

    She had already written off Leonel''s victory against her as being due to the pressure she had experienced being in Earth''s territory, while it was Leonel''s home turf to begin with. But seeing this, she couldn''t help but wonder exactly how much Leonel had also held back in their fight...

    ROAR!

    The dozens of flood dragons surged forward. All they knew was destruction, laying to waste everything in their vicinity as Patriarch Aleck was held down by his spirit construct.

 Chapter 1817 The Best Scheme

    1817 The Best Scheme

    Leonel sat in silent meditation, his legs crossed and his palms resting on his thighs. In his mind, the battlefield was reflected with absolute perfection. He controlled dozens of fire flood dragons and his spirit construct all at once, and yet his face seemed to be absolutely relaxed.

    The warriors hidden within the flagship reacted all at once, surging forward like a tidal wave.

    "Boy!" Aleck''s voice boomed as he shot toward Leonel, but every attempt he made, he found himself entirely obstructed. The worst part of it all was that every time he tried to attack the big bellied spirit construct with his spear, his Spear Force would vanish entirely.

    He remembered being warned that his Spear Force would be useless against Leonel, but he had never taken this seriously. Why would he? He could kill the likes of Leonel with a single finger, why would he need to use his Spear Force in the first place?

    However, he had never considered the fact that Leonel would have the ability to extend his ability like this.

    Toward this, Leonel sneered inwardly. In the past, Spear Force had to touch him to disperse. But now, he had his Absolute Spear Domain. Within his Domain, anyone who wanted to use Spear Force was living out a dream.

    Aleck began to panic.

    If it wasn''t for the current setting, the situation wouldn''t have been so bad. However, because the plan was for them to hide within the asteroid belt, their maneuverability was almost non- existent at this moment. Not only was their usual formation impossible to use, but just escaping was nigh impossible.

    Leonel obviously knew this which was why he had only come with the flagship. He never planned to attack with it at all. Instead, he sent forward individual warriors who could maneuver around the asteroids with far greater ease than the large warships could.

    The strategic advantage was suffocating. It felt like he was being outplayed in all facets. What infuriated him the most was that Leonel didn''t even open his eyes to look at him anymore, he simply continued his slaughter.

    боNo, he''s not just controlling those flame constructs, he''s also moving the asteroids to give his people even more of an advantage: It was hard to notice at first because Leonel wasn''t causing large reactions, and the asteroids were moving around to begin with, but when Aleck began to calm down and analyze the situation so that he could find the best method of escape to minimize the losses, he realized what was happening.

    Aleck''s expression couldn''t help but become incomparably ugly. Was this the power of a Sixth Dimensional existence could have? Some of those asteroids were several kilometers across and their distance apart was incredibly vast. Although Leonel was only giving them small nudges here and there, this was a feat that even most Seventh Dimensional Earth Force experts couldn''t replicate! Monster.

    Aleck''s blood went absolutely ice cold. He only realized now what kind of existence he was facing off against. If Leonel made it to the Seventh Dimension, would it even be possible for those beneath the Eighth Dimension to even threaten him? Aleck''s mind couldn''t help but flash to another urban legend.

    Velasco Morales. Could it be that the Morales family was about to produce another undefeatable

    existence in just as many generations? ROAR! The dozens of snaking Scarlet Star Force flood dragons roared out all at once, their eyes opening to reveal reflective violet irises and their bodies becoming even more corporeal and solid.

    Their long necks raised into the skies, their bodies expanding as they took deep breaths.

    At that moment, they looked like the true beasts of legend, plucked right out of their mythos and

    drawn across the starry skies with a menacing aura.

    Their breaths came to a stop all at once and Leonel''s eyes suddenly flashed open with a cold light.

    "No!" Aleck called out. It was too late.

    Balls of fire dozens of meters across formed one after another and each flood dragon breathed out, unleashing carnage everywhere their breath of crimson and gold passed. The sheer destructive ability of Fifth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force scorched the skies, burned the eyes and trembled the heart. Warships that had been through dozens of wars, hundreds of battles, and thousands of injuries were turned to molten metal in a mere instant.

    The palms of Leonel''s dark gold panda construct opened up and the flood dragon constructs vanished. But even more quickly than that, the motes of flames that remained in the skies quickly formed into majestic Mage Arts, magic circles so complex one''s head spun just looking at them were created one after another.

    Within his Ethereal Glabella, Leonel''s Mana Core rustles, its countless leaves dancing with a delicate light. Compared to the commotion happening outside, it was incomparably calm, its runes lighting up one after another.

    Back outside, the starry skies trembled as the aura of destruction continued to increase. Space whined and twisted, Force collapsed before it could form, weaker constructs began to collapse from the outside in before the spell even descended.

    Countless spears appeared in the air, each marked with a crown of royalty around their polearms.

    Leonel slowly pressed his palms together before opening them up and pressing outward.

    His irises danced with a malevolent light and the spears in the skies stopped trembling all at once, an eerie silence fell over.

    Meeting Aleck''s gaze, Leonel smiled lightly.

    "Destroy, he said lightly.

    The spears descended. Like an Imperial Edict, they wiped out everything in their path, shattering them, grinding them, burning them, sundering them ashes. Flashes of light brighter than even the starry skies boomed across the battlefield.

    Before the destruction was even concluded, Leonel slowly stood to his feet, allowing his panda construct to vanish.

    "Retreat," he said evenly.

    Leonel turned back, ready to return to the flagship, but his steps suddenly paused.

    "Oh, right," Leonel smiled as he looked back toward Aleck who was entirely pale faced. He could only watch as his people were destroyed one after another. "You might want to think of an adequate explanation for why you were the only Seventh Dimensional existence here," Leonel said with a laugh. "Good luck, I hope they believe you." Aleck''s eyes opened wide.

    He was the only Seventh Dimensional existence here because it was the smart choice. Between the Chaotic Water Sector, the Viola family, and his Thrust Skies Sector, he was in the most vulnerable position.

    The Viola family already shared a Sector with Earth and their foothold was strong. In fact, in Aleck''s opinion, he felt that they were quite greedy to participate in this to begin with.

    The Chaotic Water Sect was outside of Earth''s territory so the pressure on them was nigh non- existence, they were only here to prepare for the future.

    Only his family was caught in an awkward in between. They were both within Earth''s territory, and yet not close enough to maximize all benefits. Their hands were practically forced.

    Due to this, he chose to be cautious and left a lot of their fight power back in their Sector. But the trouble was that this wasn''t the original agreement and he had acted on his own. He had thought the ask to bring more than just himself was asinine so he sneered at the request and did this instead.

    He hadn''t thought much of it before because he was certain this operation would succeed... until it suddenly didn''t.

    Never had Aleck expected that all this time, while it seemed that Leonel was trying to sow doubt in him toward his allies, it would actually end in Leonel making his allies doubt his Thrusting Skies Sector instead! Aleck trembled and nearly suffered a fatal blow from the spirit construct.

    The best scheme was one you knew was a scheme and yet could do nothing about it...

    If Aleck wanted to stop himself from being targeted by the Viola and the Chaotic Water Sector, the only path forward was to give a good reason for his actions... a reason that Leonel had already given him. The only path ahead was to divert blame.

    Suddenly, the connection between the Chaotic Water Sect and the Rain Galaxy looked more and more "obvious" to him.

    Aleck watched Leonel''s back get further and further away, clenching his fists so hard that his fingers dripped with blood.

 Chapter 1818 Important

    ?Aleck took deep breaths.

    About half way through the fight, he had begun to wonder why it was that Leonel had chosen him out of everyone. Logically, his position was the most covert of them all, and the most difficult to pick out. If he could find out about his location, then finding the position of the Chaotic Water Sector and the Viola family would be even easier.

    But that was just one aspect. Just as logically, the Skies family had been in the least compromising position. They were the most out of the way. The threat posed was the lowest.

    Only now did Aleck understand that Leonel had done all of this on purpose. All of those points would only further count against him.

    He could imagine it now, the questioning looks, questioning looks he wouldn''t have the answer for. He felt entirely helpless.

    Who would believe that a Prince who had impulsively killed four of Earth''s strongest families could bide his time and scheme like this as well? Aleck almost believed that Leonel had actually killed off those families as a convenient veil for his true self.

    There was even news that Leonel had just as impulsively charged into Viola territory. Although it had been exposed that that was a clone, everyone believed that only a clone of the highest quality would be so good. Considering the resources it would take to create such a clone, they still assigned impulsivity to that action although Leonel ultimately didn''t die.

    Of course, they had no idea that that clone had cost Leonel nothing but the corpse of an enemy as they had no idea how his Lineage Factor worked, nor had the world learned of his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node yet.

    The more Aleck thought about it, the more he felt like he was stepping into an intricate web laid out by Leonel, a web that if he took just a single wrong step in, he would find himself trapped within and slowly bled until he simply had nothing left.

    And the more Aleck thought like this, the more nigh mythical Leonel''s existence became in his mind and the more suffocated he felt. Suddenly, he felt like the only way to survive was to, indeed, do as Leonel had said.

    **

    Leonel exhaled his own breath, but it had little to do with nervousness, or even fatigue. He simply had some thoughts that he wanted to organize and a feeling deep within him that he felt that he clicked with.

    Just now was the first time he had used his Dream Force since his sudden enlightenment, or more accurately, it was at least the first time he had done so to actively attack and not just passively within his own head. And the feeling had been quiteбн magical, despite the fact he had only used it as a secondary supposed Force to his Emulation Dream Force.

    Those flood dragons he had formed back then had been constructed with the Luxnix family Force Art system, or more accurately, the Force Art system of the Northern Star Light-Star Elemental Lineage Factor. This was the very Force Art that could be comprehended through the tablets.

    From Leonel''s comprehension, that Force Art system was exceptionally good at creating constructs, creations that felt almost like living, breathing existences. It gave the Force Arts more flexibility, but at the same time they tapped into the Artistic Conception of the beasts they embodied, pulling power from them.

    The flood dragons that Leonel created mostly came from his mother. Leonel had chosen a humanoid construct for his King''s Might, but his mother had chosen a dragon for her Emperor''s Might. He hadn''t heard of dragons actually existing outside of myths and legends, and that was even after reading through everything within the Void Palace. In fact, dragons seemed to be a creation of Earth''s mythos in specific.

    As Earth''s World Spirit holder, Leonel believed his mother likely had a special connection to the mythos of Earth in specific, which was why she was able to create such lifelike versions and even base her Emperor''s Might construct on it.

    This aside, Leonel had only gotten an inkling from techniques his mother had left behind for him back when he first came to the Luxnix family, and he often liked creating attacks based on them although he was aware his conception would always be far off from his mother''s.

    But this time, something had changed.

    Rather than chasing after his mother''s conception of dragons, he veered from it and somewhat created his own, basing it not on some mythology of dragons, but rather upon what he personally thought they should embody.

    As he was doing it, the Force Art system, which should have been formed entirely of his Scarlet Star Force at the time, naturally incorporated his Emulation Spatial Force and even his King''s Might at the same time.

    His Emulation Spatial Force relied on his Dream Force to make the flood dragons more real than they had ever been, even to the point that they roared like real beasts. At the same time, they had gained violet eyes, violet eyes that looked almost exactly like Leonel''s own. He even vaguely felt that he could have seen through their perspective if he had really wanted.

    When those eyes were formed, it was as though they were no longer constructs and had truly become beasts. The carnage they wrought was on a completely different level and the power output was maximized when the stamina requirements on his part for an equivalent level of devastation had been minimized.

    It was an extremely magical feeling, almost as though he was truly breathing life, giving life, creating life. It was like he was a god forging the world into his image, and he had said let there be dragons!

    The Northern Star Lineage Factors had always had an underlying reliance on the mind and thus Dream Force. No matter which evolution of the Lineage Factors you were at, there was always an aspect that influenced the mind directly, and now Leonel felt that he had found a connection between this and his Dream Force that allowed his comprehension of the Force Art system to soar.

    And it was all because of a small improvement in his Force Manipulation standardsбн

    Leonel had already known before, but now he knew better than ever just how important Force Manipulation was to personal strength.

 Chapter 1819 Imagination.

    "What?"

    Rychard frowned for the first time in as long as he could remember. He couldn''t remember having ever had a fluctuation in his emotions in recent years, at least not one that was large enough to show so prominently. He had gone through too much in the last several years. The destruction of his family, countless humiliations in the Void Palace, being swallowed up by that zone, the death of his last remaining family member and brotherбн

    There wasn''t enough to make him frown these days. But this was a bit much.

    The news seemed to come one after another, but the most frustrating part was that it wasn''t coming through the channels it should have. Rather than their own people reporting back saying that they had been attacked, they had been wiped out so fast that they couldn''t even do that. Instead, Rychard was reaching reports from miscellaneous businesses of his and the Viola family that had been in the general area who were only contacting him to let him know that business would likely be slow for the next coming weeks due to the commotion. After all, tourists wouldn''t be in a happy, buying mood if their tourist destination had suddenly become a warzone.

    And yet, even after several such businesses contacted Rychard and the Viola family about this matter, likely all afraid that they would be accused of embezzling funds if they didn''t do so, there was still not a word from the actual alliances of this coming war.

    And then it came.

    The first to contact him was Aleck Skies. The Patriarch of the Thrusting Skies Sector was absolutely furious, Rychard could hear the thunder booming in the background and the strikes of lightning spilling about. He had immediately accused one of them of setting him up, Rychard could hardly get a word in, not because Aleck was so overwhelming to him, but because he was absolutely shocked to find out that half of Aleck''s fleet had been wiped out.

    After Rychard regained his bearings, smoothed out his frown and took a breath, his aura changed.

    "That''s enough."

    The ice cold of his voice cut the Skies family Patriarch off completely, stifling all of his momentum. Even the sounds of thunder and lightning on the other side seem to have been quelled.

    "What reasons do you have for suspecting us?"

    "Isn''t the result enough?" Aleck said coldly. "Do you think I just imagined half of my fleet being wiped out? My Skies family location was in the most covert region there was, but it was also in the region most susceptible to an ambush. How could we even maneuver in those asteroid fields? We relied entirely on this information being airtight, and yet somehow we were the ones to suffer?

    "I also can''t help but tell by your tone and surprise that obviously you weren''t attacked. Am I supposed to take that as a coincidence?"

    Rychard didn''t seem to take this accusation very seriously at all. Instead, he flipped over a palm.

    "According to my information, the only Seventh Dimensional existence who followed the fleet was you and you alone. By all rights, the one with the most odd actions was yourself. This was supposed to be an all out assault, did you expect to deal Earth a blow with nothing but a hoard of Sixth Dimensional existences? Or maybe you didn''t plan on dealing them a blow at all? What, did you want to play both sides? Exposing our allies and pretending to have been hurt yourself as well to get off scot-free?"

    After saying all of this, Rychard expected something very different from the other side than what he actually expected. He wanted to hear a flustered response, a disorganized rambling, a man on his back foot, but instead all he got was a laugh and a sneer.

    "Aren''t my actions perfectly justified judging by what actually happened? If I had brought out my full team, wouldn''t I be finished? You mighty Viola and warriors of the Chaotic Water Sector might be able to afford the loss of "nothing but a hoard of Sixth Dimensional existences", but my Skies family cannot!  They were our future! And many of them had potential to reach greater heights!

    "I''m not going to sit here and try to justify myself to a person who didn''t suffer even a single loss!"

    Rychard fell into silence, his expression unreadable.

    "What reason would I have to betray you?" Rychard finally asked. "Do you have any idea how much I loathe the Ascension Empire? What they''ve done to me? If you want to make up a story, at least make it make sense."

    Unexpectedly, Aleck only continued to sneer.

    "I''ve known from the beginning that you were in this for nothing more than a personal vendetta, you are the most untrustworthy kind of ally because you move with your heart instead of your head. Even if I had told you the information I had previously, you would have still gone ahead and did this."

    Rychard paused before biting. "What are you talking about?"

    "The goals of the Chaotic Water Sector are not the same as ours. In fact, I suspect that they''re being pulled along by the Cloud Race, using them to dictate their actions. Their ultimate goal isn''t to defeat Earth in this round, what they want is Earth to become public enemy number one so that the rest of the Human Domain attacks them at once."

    "You certainly have quite the overactive imagination," Rychard replied blandly.

    "And that''s exactly the response I would expect to hear," Aleck said coldly.

    "Does it make sense for me to simply take your words at face value? If you knew this, why did you still agree to act?"

    "Why did I still agree? The Zoltene Faith was wiped out, the Imperial Prince made a personal visit to you, who do you think was next?! I had no choice but to try and deal a blow to the Ascension Empire in hopes they wouldn''t have time to deal with me, but who would have thought that I would be backstabbed by my own allies first?!"

 Chapter 1820 Entangled

    Rychard fell into silence once more.

    "What proof do you have?" Rychard asked.

    "I would advise you to look into the Rain Galaxy," Aleck said coldly before directly hanging up.

    Rychard sat in silence for a long while, not saying anything. His mind seemed to go through several iterations and thoughts before he sneered.

    If Aleck had acted flustered when Rychard first questioned him, he would have believed him. However, that response was too prepared, too practiced, too ready, he had clearly been ready for the questioning.

    When someone did something suspicious by coincidence, it wouldn''t be at the forefront of their mind, often they wouldn''t even notice the oddity until someone pointed it out to them. For example, let''s take a couple in a relationship, if one of them had a habit of always putting their phone face up but one day placed it face down not just once, but a few times in a row, what would they do if their partner confronted them about this?

    If they had noticed the change in action in themselves, in all likelihood, they would already have a prepared answer. But if they reacted flustered, it would mean that they hadn''t thought much about it and would be more likely to be innocent in the matter. This could be the case if the phone of said partner recently got a new case that made it more difficult to pick up while it was face up, so they had gotten into the habit of placing it face down now for easier access. They might have made this choice subconsciously and never really once thought about it.

    Of course, it would be a shame either way, but most took someone being flustered as a sign of guilt, when this wasn''t always the case at all. And that was especially for absolute experts. Rychard trusted an expert like Aleck who could see this problem coming to be ready with a perfect answer, which meant that he was even more certain that Aleck was lying precisely because of said perfect answer!

    In Rychard''s mind, this confirmed that Aleck had defected. The best lies were marred in truth. Likely, he had felt the pressure from the destruction of the Zoltene Faith in just a single day, and that was only compounded by the destruction of the Brazinger, Adurna, Crudus and Laevis families. As such, he chose to exchange information with Earth for safety, and all he had to give up in exchange was some Sixth Dimensional existences.

    Rychard didn''t doubt that the destruction of those warships was real, they wouldn''t do this by half measures. So, he didn''t even bother to double check.

    With a thought, Rychard waved a hand and an attendant came into his office.

    "Send a few covert teams to the sites of destruction. If you''re caught and questioned, use the businesses as a shield. Say that you heard there was a war and came to protect the businesses from looters.

    "While you''re there, focus on gathering as much intel as you can. Report back to me anything interesting you find in three days'' time."

    "Yes, Patriarch! Is there anything else?" the woman asked.

    Rychard was about to wave her away, but he paused for a moment. Although several minutes of this silence passed, the woman didn''t dare to disturb his thoughts.

    Eventually, Rychard looked up again with a piercing gaze.

    "Send a team to the Rain Galaxy. The goal this time isn''t covert operations, but an all out seizure. Subdue their family, crush their spirit, and take control of their land. I also want this done within three days."

    "Yes!"

    The woman bowed and left quickly.

    Rychard tapped his large oak desk in silence for a moment, seemingly waiting for something. And then, it came. The crystal on his desk buzzed and the face of a familiar man appeared. He was none other than the Patriarch of the Chaotic Water Sector, Graros.

    Graros expression was just as cold and indifferent as Rychard''s, but deep within his gaze, there was a clear displeasure.

    "I just tried to contact the Skies Patriarch." Graros said before pausing. "He did not respond."

    Rychard''s gaze narrowed. Somewhere deep inside, he had assumed that Aleck would have put on the same act for the both of them, maybe even telling Graros the same thing he had told him but in reverse. Maybe in the tale he told Graros, it was Rychard who was colluding with the Cloud Race.

    But the fact that Aleck had only contacted him but not Graros was curious. Did he do it on purpose to make Rychard second guess himself, or was there another reason?

    "I assume he didn''t want to have to rehash the same accusation twice," Rychard said indifferently, repeating much of what Aleck had said, only leaving out the matters related to the Cloud Race.

    "I see," Graros nodded. "This is a hiccup, but it isn''t something that can''t be overcome. Even if the Skies family is on the side of the Ascension Empire now, that''s just one more enemy, there''s little to worry about."

    Rychard nodded. Obviously, Graros had come to the same conclusion he had.

    "I''ve already acted," Rychard said. "I''ve sent an elite group to conquer the Rain Galaxy, we can''t allow anymore variables to appear. And, since we''ve been exposed, there''s no need to use such a weak family as a middleman any longer. We''re already out in the open, so there''s already nothing to hide. We will press forward in a domineering manner."

    "Agreed," Graros said with a nod, not showing any dissatisfaction toward Rychard''s ask.

    "Good."

    "Good."

    The two hung up and fell into silence in their own respective corners of the universe.

    After hanging up, however, Graros'' own expression became somewhat malevolent before he called in his own attendant.

    "Tell the ones in the Rain Galaxy to retreat and hide themselves properly. Wait for my orders before taking any action."

    "Yes, Patriarch!"

    бн

    As the saying went, the best schemes were ones one could see but could only fall right into and the best lies were laced with truth.

    What Aleck, Rychard and Graros didn''t know was that as they believed themselves to be cleverly navigating Leonel''s web, they were only being further entangled.

 Chapter 1821 Cloud

    "Shouldn''t we be going to the other locations now?" Aphestus suddenly asked.

    In truth, Aphestus was a bit anxious. The pills Leonel had given him were burning a hole in his spatial device and he was trying his best not to be impatient and wait for this to calm down before he consumed them. But seeing Leonel be so nonchalant about it, all, even leisurely reclining and staring into the depths of space as though he was in his own dream world left him unable to remain quiet.

    Leonel, who had indeed been in his own world, looked up.

    "Hm?"

    Aphestus nearly fainted. He had thought that Leonel might be thinking about something important, so he had felt slightly bad for interrupting, especially considering his original reasoning, but seeing Leonel''s somewhat dazed look he didn''t even know what to say.

    "The Skies family wasn''t the only worry, we have other enemies to deal with quickly. Even if we dealt a blow to them, those people were just canon fodder, most of them weren''t even strong enough to control a galaxy to themselves, we can''t get complacent now."

    Several gazes landed on Leonel when Aphestus said this. In truth, he was correct, and the fact Aphestus of all people was saying it spoke volumes. He was usually the meathead who let Raylion make all of his decisions for him. But right this moment, Raylion was as relaxed as Leonel, sitting in silence seemingly without any intention to say anything.

    Aphestus knew Raylion too well. Considering that man''s pride, even if he was feeling as anxious as he was to start absorbing the rewards Leonel had just given them, he wouldn''t say anything about it. So Aphestus knew that it was up to him to say something.

    Currently, the group was in a lounging area of the flagship, there was food and snacks around and it didn''t seem like a post battle region at all. In fact, that battle had almost been too easy, they hardly had any casualties at all.

    "Oh, that?" Leonel said lightly. "Don''t worry about it."

    Aphestus choked on air. What was that supposed to mean?

    "Don''t we have to deal with the Viola and Chaotic Water Sectors?"

    "Them? They''ve been dealt with. We don''t have to do anything for the next few weeks. Next time you hear information from them, they would have crippled themselves," Leonel yawned slightly, feeling a bit tired. Indeed, he had been doing too much running around lately and not enough resting.

    He faintly closed his eyes, seemingly about to take a nap.

    Aphestus frowned. Leonel''s words implied that they could do what they wanted for the next few weeks, but was this true?

    The members of the Etching Metal organization looked toward one another. They knew too little about Leonel, and even for those of them that did, it had been over two decades since they last saw him, so they were feeling that the situation was a bit odd too.

    However, before Aphestus could follow up again, Raylion slowly stood to his feet and walked away. He was clearly taking Leonel''s words to heart and was returning to his quarters. He had waited too long, it was about time he transcended his limits.

    Seeing this, Aphestus understood. Ironically, of all those here, Raylion probably had the most respect for Leonel despite the fact Raylion was so standoffish. If Leonel said the matter was handled, then it was handled.

    As for the others, like Leonel''s brothers, and Aina and the girls, the former group didn''t need to be told twice, and the latter followed Aina''s cues and she obviously took Leonel''s words very seriously as well.

    Just like this, a supposed "war" ended after just a single half body and a few dozen ambushes. As for the "instigator", he reclined in a chair, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. He let the flagship drift through space as though nothing at all was happening.

    бн

    Within their rooms, Aphestus and Raylion glared down at the pills they had been given, their heartbeats dancing at various rates.

    This meant a lot more for Raylion than it did for Aphestus, or most others for that matter. Raylion had wanted to be number for as long as he could remember, he had an absolute obsession for power, it was what he cared about the most, at least in his youth.

    As he grew, he found other things he cared about, but that fire had still been there. It was just unfortunate that though he had once thought himself to be a great talent, to the wider Dimensional Verse, he was simply not worth very much at all.

    Staring at the pills, he could remember all the hardship he had gone through to make it to this level. He could have accepted Leonel''s help all those decades ago, but his pride hadn''t allowed him to, he refused to take handouts he hadn''t earned.

    Now he had built up the best information in the whole of Earth''s territory, and his hard work had grown the seed that would allow Leonel to crush so many enemies even while silently reclining in his chair.

    This was something he had earned, with his own two handsбн this was the chance he had been waiting so many years for.

    Raylion opened the box with steady hands. He knew that just eating one of these might lead to his death and all that hard work would have meant nothing.

    He sometimes thought about what it would mean to live a life of mediocrity, to be constantly protected by his own wife, to sit in the shadows and man an information networkбн but it simply wasn''t in his being, it wasn''t in his heart, it wasn''t in his soul to be that man.

    The universe hadn''t blessed him with great talent, but if it gave him another path to it, he swore that he would show it just what kind of mistake it had made snubbing him.

    Raylion reached forward and swallowed the first pill without hesitation. No more than half a breath passed before his body exploded into a cloud of flesh and blood.

 Chapter 1822 Irony And Family Values

    The raid on the Rain Galaxy occurred almost immediately after Rychard''s orders were given out. Rychard himself had no need to move out, a single elite team of the Viola family was more than enough. In just a single day, the Rain Galaxy was already unable to mount a counter attack, being forced back into the own territory further and further.

    The real shame of it was that they could have made this a real battle. But according to their deal with the Chaotic Water Sector, the Thrusting Skies Sector and the Viola family, the original intention was for them to pretend to be a third party caught in the conflict, they were meant to "battle" but purposely lose. While they would suffer a few casualties, it wouldn''t be anything that they couldn''t recover from.

    But how could they guess that the Viola hadn''t come here for a play, they had come here to conquer in earnest. By the time the Rain Galaxy realized that something was wrong with this picture and began to fight back in earnest, it was already too late.

    Just because a family controlled a Galaxy, didn''t mean that they had perfect control over all aspects of it. Normally, it meant that they had key bases in a majority of the quadrants at the very least, and could, as such, deploy troops anywhere within said region in a timely fashion.

    The Rain family met this criteria, but the Viola family countered it perfectly, not only taking advantage of the Rain family''s surprise, but also by swiftly taking control of key regions and moving on just as swiftly.

    They killed a large majority of the powerful experts they came across, which was another reason the Rain family took so long to catch onto what was happening. In order to maintain secrecy and nto make the hearts of the laymen go cold from being sacrificed, only the most elite of warriors knew the truth of what was happening, but with them dying, no one was reporting back the oddity of the situation. Only reports from lesser warriors were coming in, which were obviously ignored.

    Like this, the Rain family was beaten back to their main estate. The elders could only watch on with solemn expressions, regretting their decisions. If they had known that this would happen, how would they have ever agreed to trust the Viola? Even Earth hadn''t made any attempts to conquer them yet, and now they practically fell to their knees in just a few days.

    Standing on warships high in the skies, the elites of the Viola family stood. Lexus Viola, Destiny Viola and Eddy Viola, three great talents of the pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension, all of whom had names that rang quite frequently in Earth''s territory. But now, they had their blades pointed toward the Rain family.

    Just one of them was enough to strike fear in them, let alone all three.

    "What is the meaning of this? I thought we had a deal. Is this how the Viola family treats its allies?!"

    The current Matriarch of the Rain family, Darla Rain, a middle aged woman brimming with vitality, couldn''t help but shout out, the weather replying to her fury with a thunderous rain. Unfortunately, the Viola family was entirely unmoved by this.

    "Kill them all," Lexus said coldly.

    The Rain family paled as the warships descended. The heat of their engines and power of their winds razed the Rain estate to the ground before they even touched down. By the time they actually did so, millions had died. The sheer size of these warships was too much for Planet Rain to handle, but there was nothing they could do to stop it.

    The Rain family was eradicated with a great amount of grievances. In her final moment, Darla could only release a final plea for help. It wasn''t the first time she had released this signal, but she had been ignored every time. Even in the end, as she breathed her last, a sword through her lung, that help never came.

    бн

    Lexus cleaned off his sword with a close, his purple eyes piercing and cold.

    "We caught those outgoing signals, correct?" Lexus asked.

    "Yes, we did," Destiny replied, stretching out her curves with a lazy expression as though she couldn''t be bothered to have participated in this battle. She didn''t look like she had either, there wasn''t a bead of sweat or blood in sight on her.

    "What''s the result?"

    "It seemed to have been a scatter shot. From what the technicians said, it was a web signal designed to be spread and only be gathered by those that have the appropriate decoding methods."

    "Is there a way to decode those methods? We need to finish this to the end. Leaving enemies behind is a huge taboo, and if they''re connected with a large power, wellбн"

    The so-called no enemy left behind philosophy of the Viola family had ironically come due to Rychard himself. He saw the kind of enemy that he had become due to Leonel''s neglect, so he had grilled his family''s juniors to never make the same mistakes. It was truly an irony of all ironies.

    "There shouldn''t be a problem. The decoding process will take a few days."

    "A few days?" Lexus turned serious. A few days was enough for information of what had happened here to leak and allow those who this message had been meant for to retreat. But more importantly than that, if it took their best days to decode these messages, then this was definitely a message delivery method far beyond the Rain family.

    It seems that their Patriarch may have been correct about the Rain family''s connection to larger powers. This wasбн interesting, and somewhat troubling at the same time.

    This could be a large deal or a small deal depending, but they would have to properly investigate it first. Only that way could they be prepared to deal with the rest.

    Their family had been wiped out once before, but their Patriarch had allowed them to make a comeback.

    That humiliation was taught to every youth. They would never allow such a thing to happen again.

 Chapter 1823 Chaos

    1823 Chaos

    The days passed by quickly and Lexus eventually got his answer.

    "News? What''s the report say?"

    To the side, Eddy perked up as Destiny unfurled a document. They had all been somewhat anxious. If this had just been about the Rain family, it was no big deal. But it was clear to them that there were some large existences moving in the shadows, existences that they would definitely have to deal with to pave out the path for their future.

    Destiny quickly scanned the news and her gaze narrowed.

    "According to this there are literally dozens of locations. The team thought that they might be decoys to throw us off the scent. All of the locations seem to be very well hidden. Some are restaurants, some are convenience stations, there are also a few brothels and entertainment centers. It''s hard to tell without an even more thorough investigation which of them are real and which aren''t."

    This was troublesome. They had already wasted three days on this, if they wasted any more time, there would be nothing left to find.

    They had done an excellent job of suppressing the information until now, but it could only last for so long.

    "No, we can''t wait any longer. I''ll contact the Patriarch, but get moving on my orders now. Build up enough teams to attack all of them at once. Also make sure that each team has at least a few elite Seventh Dimensional existences, we can''t afford to send in a team that is too weak and potentially suffer a loss because of it. We''ll go all out."

    Destiny and Eddy both nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

    The operation began almost immediately. They had already prepared for this potential outcome, so the teams were already mostly formulated, all they were lacking were the Seventh Dimensional existences, and that approval would come from Rychard himself.

    Until now, Rychard had been hiding how many such powerhouses he had, but now he sat at a bit of a crossroads. When Lexus contacted him with the information, he took a moment to pause.

    The fact that these lines of communication existed at all seemed to confirm that the Rain family was, indeed, in cahoots with the Chaotic Water Sector. But he had already informed the Chaotic Water Sector days ago of their attacks, so if they were aware of this potential breach, they should have been ready to deal with it quickly.

    Due to this reason, Rychard was less worried about the time aspect than Lexus and the others were because he knew the full scope of the story.

    But it was also precisely due to this that Rychard had to okay the attack regardless. If he hesitated for some reason, he would alert the Chaotic Water Sector to the issue at hand. Graros would definitely raise an eyebrow if he knew Rychard had such information and chose not to act on it, and he might realize that Rychard had some information about this matter.

    In order to keep the status quo, Rychard had to attack, only then could he keep Graros guessing about whether or not he was aware or not. But there was another reason as well...

    Rychard needed to confirm whether or not Aleck was speaking nonsense.

    There was a potential world where Graros had connections with the Rain Galaxy, but had no connection with the Cloud Race.

    As Rychard saw things now, it was still far more likely that Aleck had betrayed them and was using Graros'' potential secrets as leverage for himself.

    Rychard had secrets, he hadn''t been forthright with how many Seventh Dimensional experts he had and many other things. There wasn''t anything inherently wrong with them keeping secrets from one another, and a connection between the Rain and Chaotic Water Sector families was potentially benign.

    Rychard maintained a level head. There was absolutely no reason to fall out with Graros over this matter.

    The way he saw it, things could go one of a few ways.

    First, they attacked and found nothing because Graros had smartly moved his things away already. This was what Rychard most expected to happen.

    Second, they attacked and found some traces that led them to a different trail away from the Chaotic Water Sector. This was potentially likely to happen as well, though it might be troublesome for Graros to set something like that up in a small time.

    Third, and the smallest likelihood, he would attack and find that Aleck hadn''t been lying at all and there were some connections to the Cloud Race indeed.

    Ultimately, Rychard didn''t expect to find anything substantial, although he would leave no stone unturned as he performed a nice play for Graros. As things stood now, Graros was far better as an ally than an enemy, even if he had some secrets.

    If he chose to backstab Rychard in the future, well... Rychard wasn''t the young man of the past. His scheming nature had matured and his ability to see the chess board was far clearer than most. He would be ready when that time came. For now, Graros, the Rain Galaxy, even Leonel and the Ascension Empire... They were all useful pawns.

    The operation proceeded and war broke out across the Ascension Empire. The Viola family swooped down like vipers, extending their claws and unleashing swift and decisive strikes.

    4

    Across these dozens of locations, the Viola family found countless powerhouses, many of which wiped out large numbers of their elites before they were finally taken down. In the end, Rychard''s most likely outcome didn''t come to fruition. Rather than finding nothing, they found all out battle.

    Rychard calmly accepted this outcome. It seemed that Graros had managed to set up the second option, even being willing to give up so many Seventh Dimensional existences to succeed. Could it be that Graros foundations were far deeper than he knew?

    Rychard immediately commanded that the investigation begin. He wanted to see what backstories Graros had concocted for these men and women.

    What Rychard didn''t know was that across the universe, an old man with a balding head and furiously blowing mustache had shattered the windows to his office again.

    Cross Elder Avan stood completely furious.

    "ASCENSION EMPIRE!"

    His roar billowed across the Empire.

    Rychard had no idea that the bases he had just destroyed weren''t from the Chaotic Water Sector at all, Graros had long since commanded his men to retreat and hide.

    Those many stations he had destroyed, every single last one of them, was a hidden branch of Shield Cross Stars, locations that Leonel had gotten by deciphering the Force Art hidden within the phone left behind in the convenience station.

    Small leaks even in a dam spanning countless kilometers could lead to floods. By now, the small leaks were too numerous to account for, because very soon, the straw that broke the camel''s back was about to descend.

    "Cross Elder Avan, there''s something wrong. The reports we''ve received back don''t tie back to the Ascension Empire at all. In fact, these signatures..."

    Cross Elder Avan''s rage calmed, his gaze becoming a piercing cold.

    "Cloud Race?" he questioned.

    Chaos was about to break loose and the young man who caused it was reclining in his chair, still snoring away.

 Chapter 1824 Prepare

    1824 Prepare

    "Cloud Race? How, explain it to me. Quickly."

    Cross Elder Avan was becoming impatient, but at the same time, something felt fishy here. Why would the Cloud Race attack them?

    The obvious answer was because Shield Cross Stars was interfering with Earth and this was messing with the Cloud Race''s goal. But that was only a surface answer that didn''t get to the deep roots of the matter. Only a low level tactician would fall for such a thing.

    While it seemed harmful for the Cloud Race for the Shield Cross Stars to be so involved in Earth''s matters, even if it was from the shadows, in reality, it was almost nothing but beneficial. So long as Shield Cross Stars existed in Earth''s territory, it meant that humans would be butting heads, and so long as the humans were butting heads, it allowed the Cloud Race ample chances to take advantage and sow discord, making their plans flow even smoother.

    The less variables there were in Earth''s territory, the more obvious any discord became, and the easier it was to pick out detractors. Like this, any movement that the Cloud Race made would have to be even more covert than usual, thus being contradictory to their original goals.

    If the Cloud Race had a halfway decent tactician leading their charge, which they most definitely did, they would not only not destroy Shield Cross Stars, they would ironically use them as their own shield, hiding behind them to reinforce their actions.

    The fact that things had happened in this way, and so boldly at that, made Cross Elder Avan believe that the Cloud Race was responsible even less.

    ''Unless that''s why they were so bold in the first place??? Avan narrowed his eyes before shaking his head.

    One could go around in circles like this all day until one ended up in a chicken and the egg scenario. Avan had too much experience to fall into something like that. 99% of the time, the simplest answer was the right answer. In that case, there would need to be evidence to have him judge otherwise.

    "Yes, elder! From the last bits of intel we gathered, the Ascension Empire thwarted a sneak attack planned. The attack was coordinated between the Thrusting Skies and Chaotic Water Sector, in addition to the Viola family of the Three Pillar Sector, Earth''s main Sector."

    "How?" Cross Elder Avan got to the crux of the matter.

    "We have been receiving tips about a potential underground information network spreading through Earth, however we haven''t been able to pin them down properly. It was our understanding that this network was crippled after the destruction of the Brazinger, Adurna, Crudus and Laevis families, but it is likely that they were able to survive and be repurposed by the Ascension Empire to be used in this fashion."

    The fact that Shield Cross Stars had some inkling about the Etching Metal Organization wasn''t impossible to accept, but if Leonel had been a fly on the wall, he would have realized where the leak came from.

    Treasurer Jemsy and the others, four of the eight executives of the Etching Metal Organization, had been exposed by Raylion as having formed ties with the four families. It was likely that in forming those ties, it caused a leak in integrity of the organization, thus leaving flaws for others to catch onto.

    There was a reason Raylion had wanted to maintain tight control over the organization, it was precisely to avoid situations like this one. This result was almost inevitable.

    However, it wasn''t quite yet certain whether this was a good or a bad thing.

    "Such an information network exists?" Cross Elder Avan mumbled.

    "We believe that the reason they''ve been able to remain so covert is because they''re entirely focused on gathering information in Earth''s territory. They''ve never encroached or poked at more powerful families or territories, so they''ve been very good at cleaning up their tracks and leaving nothing behind."

    Cross Elder Avan''s gaze narrowed, seemingly thinking of something, but he still waved a hand and had his attendant continued.

    "After the attack was thwarted, the Skies family was infuriated because they suffered the most losses and they seemed to have accused the Chaotic Water Sector of backstabbing them.

    The information in this space is muddled, but it seemed that the Viola family concluded that a change of tactics was needed and they swiftly conquered the Rain Galaxy before falling idle for a few days.

    "It was only after that that our stations were swiftly destroyed, leaving none alive. They were all attacked at once, and due to strict communication protocols, it was impossible to send back information."

    Cross Elder Avan shook his head. This was an inevitable part of covert operations. The various stations were connected to one another, but they didn''t connect back to any Shield Cross Stars branches. This was to maintain plausible deniability and the works.

    "However, there is an interesting piece of information here," the attendant suddenly said.

    Cross Elder Avan looked up. "And what is that?"

    "Our technicians observed the final hours of the Rain family once again, and we found multiple attempts at communication. We had stationed one of our covert branches in the Rain Galaxy due to its strategic location, so they were paying close attention to the war while remaining out of the way.

    "They intercepted those signals and reverse engineered them. What was especially interesting about these signals was that they were targeted toward a relay station, and only then would said relay station send the signal out toward the appropriate location.

    "The first signal was fine, but the second had very unique fluctuations only used by the Cloud Race. In addition... Their destination was the Chaotic Water Sector."

    The moment Cross Elder Avan heard this, he stood to his feet violently, the office floor beneath him almost giving out.

    "Send out my order, now! I need three 2nd Star Rank fleets! You have three hours to prepare!"

 Chapter 1825 Happened

    1825 Happened To Cross Elder Avan, it suddenly all slipped into place.

    After the Skies family was betrayed, they immediately concluded that someone must have betrayed them. How were they the only ones to suffer while the Viola and Chaotic Water Sect had gotten off free? Something felt fishy to them.

    However, they had no evidence so they could only roar out in displeasure and rescind their allyship. This was the best they could do.

    After this, the Viola family realized that it needed to change tactics and chose to conquer the Rain Galaxy swiftly. This was a Galaxy right adjacent to the Milky Way, it was both not too close, and also not too far from the Ascension Empire. It was the perfect launching pad for war.

    Not knowing that the Chaotic Water Sector had already placed its pawns in the Rain Galaxy, the Viola family attacked swiftly, eradicating them before they could react. At the same time, the Rain Galaxy probably allowed it to happen, thinking that it was part of the plan until it was way too late.

    In their panic, they sent out help signals, help signals, of which some were intercepted by the Viola family.

    There was trouble here, though. The Viola family had designed their signal catching net to deal with technology of the Human Domain, but they had no idea how to counter and trap the Force Arts of the Cloud Race. Only Shield Cross Stars and the Void Palace were well informed enough about the technological advances of the other races that they could be confident in snagging all of these signals.

    Due to this mix up, the Viola family foolishly believed that they had caught all of the signals, having no idea that they weren''t dealing with humans, but were rather dealing with Cloud Race technicians.

    But this was where Shield Cross Stars shot itself in the foot.

    At the same time that the Viola family was gathering information, so too was Shield Cross Stars gathering information, using far more sophisticated methods. But as the Viola family was intercepting messages, it snagged some of Shield Cross Stars'' signals.

    When the Viola family Force Artists were decoding these messages, they obviously had no ability to decode the Cloud Race Force Arts, so they instead ended up decoding the Force Arts of Shield Cross Stars instead!

    The network of Shield Cross Stars was well encrypted, but that was only in house. All of the encryption was completed on the back end, but why would they be worried about encryption when they were in the process of intercepting the signals of others?

    In an irony of ironies, Shield Cross Stars had ended up opening itself up to a breach while trying to breach others, leading the "locations" the Viola family decoded not being the location of the Cloud Race members like they should have, but instead the locations of the Shield Cross Stars stations!

    The Viola family thought that it was targeting the remnants of the Rain family, or more accurately, what remained of its lingering attachments to the Chaotic Water Sector. They had wanted to maintain decorum with the Sector, so they chose to attack anyway despite knowing that it was likely related to their people, and to their surprise, they actually found people... not realizing that they had never been attacking the Chaotic Water Sector to begin with.

    It was a shit show, a complete shit show. However, even so, Cross Elder Avan was raring to go. Through this coincidence, they had actually weeded out such a large base of the Cloud Race.

    Under normal circumstances, Shield Cross Stars might choose to bide their time and wait, seeing if more of the Cloud Race would expose themselves. But the humiliation caused by the escape of ""Zulgella", "Urrith" and "Winword" had caused a huge blow to the prestige of Shield Cross Stars in the eyes of the people.

    Shield Cross Stars needed a big win, and they needed one now. In fact, Cross Elder Avan moved out personally, wanting to vent some frustration himself as well. Plus, this way, he could absolutely guarantee that there would be no more escapes.

    He was still entirely oblivious to the fingers pulling at his puppet strings from the shadows.

    *k In recent days, Graros had been feeling somewhat anxious. He had reacted to every situation perfectly, and yet things still felt like they were slowly getting out of his control.

    First it was the failure of the sneak attack to begin with. He should be in the process of conquering the next half of Earth''s territory after having already stormed through claiming the first 50% in just a single day, but that had failed.

    The second was the attack on the Rain Galaxy. Although he had nonchalantly allowed the Viola family to take it, he had been carefully rearing that piece for decades already. In fact, his intentions went so far back that he was even part of the first assault on Earth after it entered the Fifth Dimension. While he used the Rain family and those other galaxies as a cover, he had moved quite a number of pieces in the Milky Way to buy time for the penultimate moment.

    But the straw that almost broke the camel''s back was the Viola family''s swift attack on "their" branches. The Viola had attacked seemingly random places, places that Graros couldn''t wran hic head arniind whv thew wanld attack Rut he alen canldn''t ack the Vinla familv ahant it hecance then it wnnld make it ahvinne that he knew which nlacec thew chanld have heen attacking instead.

    Although he had lost exactly zero men to those attacks, they left him more uneasy than anything else had. It felt like a shadow was slowly wrapping around his neck and he had no idea what to do about it.

    The pressure had reached its peak today. His face was entirely drained of blood and he was even finding it difficult to maintain his human form. Sometimes, he found himself almost slipping back to his Cloud Figure.

    And then, it happened.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    All across the Chaotic Water Sector, the vicious sounds of battle erupted. Shield Cross Star moved with an unquenchable momentum, crushing everything in its path.

 Chapter 1826 Executive

    1826 Executive

    Graros fell to his knees, watching decades of hard work crumble before him. His face was entirely drained of blood and his heart was beating so fast he couldn''t even feel it any longer.

    It felt as though everything was coming to an end.

    He wanted to roar out.

    Who was it!? Who was it that did this?!

    He felt like a scared man, roaring out into the darkness, wanting to know the face of the creature lurking in the shadows ready to pounce on him. He would rather see the ugly mug of a grotesque creature with a maw big enough to swallow his head whole than to be left in the sheer uncertainty of what might step out from the dark and into the light.

    However, there was no one coming to him with an answer on a silver platter.

    He didn''t even try to fight back. Shield Cross Stars had actually sent one of those old monsters and he had lost all sense of propriety. He didn''t seem to care about his status at all. He killed Fifth Dimensional experts just as easily as he killed Seventh Dimensional experts. The suppression of the Chaotic Water Sector seemed to be nothing more than a joke to him.

    When that man approached, Graros finally couldn''t control himself anymore and his human form crumbled. In his mind, he seemed to see the smirking image of a devilishly handsome young man. No matter how he tried, he couldn''t erase that image from his head.

    No... it couldn''t be him... that young man he said was only good at petty tricks couldn''t possibly be the reason he was in this state now... the reason he had fallen to the point of not even being able to maintain his disguise, something even a toddler of his race could do...

    Cross Elder Avan descended from the skies with a BANG! When he saw "Graros", he was so pleasantly surprised the he roared into the skies with laughter.

    He had had the faint feeling that someone was leading him by the nose as well, but when he saw "Graros", none of that seemed to matter anymore. Since there really was the Cloud Race in this place, he would take this as a win and nothing less.

    The Cloud Race was an odd looking race indeed, at least by Human Domain standards.

    Their faces looked almost like a two dimensional curved mask, the rest of the volume of their heads being made up by a foggy-like, grey energy reminiscent of clouds gathering on a soon to be rainy day.

    Their eyes were filled by murky white irises that looked like they fit better on the elderly than someone who was as young as "Graros". As for the rest of their body, they looked quite

    "human", just lankier and more grey than usual.

    What made Cross Elder Avan especially happy were the faint runes dancing within the cloud that made up most of the back volume of "Graros''s" head. Those runes, much like the runes of the Rapax, represented a higher noble class of the Cloud Race, they had definitely caught themselves a good one this time. This was too excellent.

    "Haha! I want to see who dares look down on my Shield Cross Stars now!" Avan''s voice boomed.

    "Who..."

    "Graros''" managed to mumble out these words. He had never suffered such a loss in his life. Ever since his youth, he had been nigh untouchable, he had even come here with all the confidence in the world to force the Human Race to his knees. And yet, just when he was that close... it all came crumbling down.

    "... Who did this to me? How did this happen?! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?!" "Graros''s" words ended in a fiendish roar.

    Avan froze for a moment before he snorted.

    "Did you not hear me say Shield Cross Stars, brat? Listen well, you were apprehended by the protectors of humanity."

    "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!"

    "Graros''" laughed so hard that his cloud began to rain, sprinkling water falling down.

    "Shield Cross Stars?! You incompetent pieces of trash could never put me in such a state!"

    Avan''s expression became somewhat ugly before he chopped down with a hand against "Graros''s" forehead and knocked him unconscious. He would be thoroughly interrogating this lad later, but for now, he didn''t want to hear such nonsense.

    "Apprehend the rest! Shield Cross Stars is invincible!"

    Avan''s voice roared and the other Officers surged forward. Even as he said this, though, a hint of doubt crept up in the depths of his eyes. Who was it, indeed...?

    *%

    Moans echoed through the room.

    Leonel pressed Aina down beneath him, his strokes deep and slow as he savored her lips. While he quite enjoyed subduing this little vixen, he enjoyed these slower, more intimate moments as well. He could feel every inch of her body, hear every beat of her heart... complete an elegant dance between her tongue and his own...

    This didn''t last long, though, as Leonel suddenly felt a hand grab his ass. He froze and pulled back, looking down at the pair of moist golden eyes that had a hint of mischievousness in them.

    Aina squeezed a couple times before pulling back and releasing a crisp slap.

    "Why''d you stop, cowboy? This mistress is not satisfied yet! Giddy up!"

    Leonel was speechless for a long while.

    "Is this what sexual assault feels like...?" he mumbled after a long while.

    Aina suddenly sputtered with laughter. What nonsense was this guy talking about while he was inside of her?

    "You do it to me all the time, now you want to complain?" Aina asked innocently as though she had been wronged.

    "It''s not the same." Leonel replied with great assurance.

    "How is it not the same?!" Aina asked.

    "Double standards, that''s why. If you want to complain, take it to the board of directors. I''ll warn you, though. I''m in all the executive positions."

    Aina blinked with a playful light in her eyes, grabbing Leonel''s ass with both hands this time to thrust him deeper inside of her.

    "I''d like to see what these "executives" can do then."

    "You asked for it," Leonel''s eyes flashed. Clearly, he hadn''t taught this vixen enough of a lesson last time.

    Aina squealed, but it was already too late for regret.

    If "Graros" knew what the enemy of his lifetime was doing while his own life was being entirely ruined, it was hard to say how he''d react.

 Chapter 1827 Until...

    1827 Until...

    Aina laid on her side in the little spoon position, angling a hand back to rest her palm on Leonel''s cheek and seemingly enjoying the kisses that trailed her neck and shoulder. The somewhat dazed look in her eye and the shaking of her legs painted a different sort of story, but unfortunately for her, Leonel had a firm grip on her one raised leg, leaving her no room to run away.

    At this point, Leonel was certain that she only provoked him like this despite knowing the ending only because she liked it so much. In the end, it hardly felt like he was in control at all, but he still chuckled, finally letting her leg go.

    The slight shift in position, albeit slow, hit her at a new angle and Aina shivered once more, apparently too tired to do much other than breathe hard.

    Her twitching caused Leonel to release his own breath, a torrent he had been holding back for a long while rushing forward.

    Leonel smiled with satisfaction, running a hand up and down Aina''s thigh, before trailing up her toned belly and grabbing a nice and soft handful of breast. His hand seemed to have a mind of its own, finding its favorite position without any prompting from him.

    "... Are you sure you don''t have any work to do?"

    Aina''s voice might as well have been a whisper, it seemed that she didn''t have much strength to even speak at a normal volume.

    Leonel laughed. "What, are you trying to kick me out after you''re done with me?"

    "Well, it is a little hot," Aina joked. "Who asked you to give off so much heat?"

    Leonel smiled and waved a hand. Suddenly, the two went from on their bed to within the cool waters of their personal bathhouse within the Segmented Cube. Almost instantly, the two felt refreshed and cleansed at the same time.

    "Ah! mn Aina hopped up a bit, feeling a strong pinch to her butt. She had just been sitting comfortably, but now she could only glare back toward Leonel who was already laughing.

    "A small punishment for doubting me, don''t you know how amazing your husband is?"

    Aina snorted before settling the back of her head onto Leonel''s check again. "I still don''t see a wedding ring. Plus, it''s been almost a month now since we''ve left this place, I''m a bit worried about Earth and what retaliation it might face."

    Leonel laughed again. "Those guys are too busy scrambling not to lose their lives to attack Earth."

    "Really?" Aina asked.

    Back then, when Aphestus was flustered and questioning Leonel, Aina could only roll her eyes. This man loved her almost more than anyone else in his life, and yet even for her it felt like pulling teeth to get him to explain anything. Compared to her, Aphestus was even more out of luck. The others could just cross their fingers and hope that Leonel was competent.

    Leonel''s teammates were already used to this, Leonel went off and did things on his own all too often. Sometimes he would even manipulate them without them being aware of doing exactly what he wanted them to do.

    When most thought about it, it made little sense. The effort needed to manipulate your enemy and your allies at the same time should have been more than the effort needed just to manipulate the former, but for some reason Leonel almost always insisted on taking the more difficult route.

    If it wasn''t for the fact Leonel had grown up with his brothers since they were toddlers, ever since they were all given their assignment after the Gene Assessment Exam, many might have already felt dissatisfied to the point of never interacting with him again.

    However, Leonel''s teammates saw things differently.

    The thing was... If Leonel wanted to manipulate a person and have them never find out, it was as easy as breathing. Even to this point, the Viola and "Graros" still had no idea who had put them in such a situation.

    If Leonel manipulated you, and you knew about it, it was more than 99% likely that he gave you enough information to know about it, and in his own weird way, that meant he liked you and respected you.

    That day during the championship game all those years ago, when James tried to throw the game for reasons Leonel had still yet to care enough to find out about, was a prime example. James thought he had succeeded in throwing the game, only for Leonel to manage to turn it around anyway. In fact, by that point, Leonel was already over 90% certain of James'' intention, and yet he still threw him the ball on purpose.

    This was all to say that at this point, Aina felt that Leonel was a lost cause, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her this time around. Although the Etching Metal Organization likely had the information she needed, if she went to ask, wouldn''t that be like admitting Leonel didn''t explain anything to her either?

    Her gaze suddenly flashed. She really had to rein in this unruly boy some more.

    "Really," Leonel laughed. "Would I lie to you?"

    "Maybe, maybe not. But what you would definitely do is annoyingly hold back information," Aina slapped Leonel''s hands away from her chest. "Tell me, what happened?"

    "Well, I didn''t really do much, they just shot themselves in the foot. Who asked them to be so stupid?"

    Aina''s lips twitched. She had been by Leonel''s side all this time so she knew that he hadn''t taken a step out, nor had he asked anyone for information about what had happened, but he was still so confidently calling those Patriarchs who ruled over trillions of people stupid.

    "They''re fighting each other?"

    "Well, a little bit. But Shield Cross Stars is ironically a nice sword to use. There''ll probably be news of the Chaotic Water Sector being annihilated soon."

    "Annihilated?" Aina''s brows raised. "Why''s that? And by Shield Cross Stars? How''d you manage that?"

    "Well, they are members of the Cloud Race, so Shield Cross Stars was probably just finally doing its job."

    Aina blinked. Since when had the Chaotic Water Sector become members of the Cloud Race?

    Leonel chuckled. "Remember when they somehow found us in the middle of nowhere and ruined our honeymoon? I''ve known since then. The Human Domain didn''t have the capability to do that with the precautions I had taken. Also, trying to bait me into killing their Prince with a weapon of Shield Cross Stars was really weird, and I couldn''t understand why they were so insistent, until..."

    "Until?" Aina was very curious about where Leonel was going with this until she felt a pair of hands creeping back toward her chest.

    Aina smiled and shook her head. It was almost like he was taking them as a reward, she would never understand why men were so obsessed with these things.

    As far as she was concerned she would prefer her hair to be cut to ear length and her breasts to be about a quarter as large. If those two things happened, her combat prowess would probably rise by another 10%.

    But so long as Leonel was happy, she would let it slide.

    Leonel smiled triumphantly as he continued his story.

 Chapter 1828 Blame Yourself

    1828 Blame Yourself

    "Well, there are a few possibilities. I thought about the potential fail safes the flagship could have, there could be a sudden activation when a human was killed with its abilities. After all, Shield Cross Stars would have a vested interest in making sure their Officers weren''t corrupt, and an even larger interest in making sure that if their flagships ever ended up in enemy hands, it wouldn''t be able to turn against them.

    "Of course, that ability''s scope and range would have to be limited, or else there would be too many checks and balances stopping the Shield Cross Stars Officers from doing their duty.

    So, the number of humans that could gain such protections would likely be limited to the nobility, which is why he would have to send his son.

    "So it seemed that their Patriarch was goading me into attacking and killing his son and his protectors so that the flagship would shut down and become unusable. At the same time, he would gain the favor and reward that came with not only the return of such a valuable military asset, but also my capture as well.

    "It was a smart plan, and the perfect cover. That idiot Richard was the perfect fall guy too, he was useless for everything other than the blood running through his veins.

    "But then I thought of another possibility.

    "The logistics of sacrificing a useless prince for the favor of Shield Cross Stars made perfect sense on the surface, but there were a lot of problems with it. Setting aside the fact that killing your own Prince would cause a blow to the prestige of your Empire, recapturing the flagship didn''t come with any guaranteed benefits either.

    "There was a bounty on my head, but that bounty is chump change in the face of a family on that scale. At the same time, there was no particular bounty for the flagship, so the Chaotic Water Sector was basically essentially just hoping that they would likely get a reward for their service.

    "Doesn''t it seem a bit stupid for a Patriarch to take such a risk with no real tangible reward?"

    While Leonel''s bounty was plentiful to an individual, to a large scale family or organization, it was practically pennies. What was a mere 10 000 kilograms of Seventh Dimension Ore to people who worked on that scale? That might be enough to run a single high class city for a few years, but a single family might have hundreds of those cities under their control.

    This was done on purpose by Shield Cross Stars. They preferred small teams, vigilantes and bounty hunters to chase down criminals. This was so that any prestige that came from capturing such criminals could only be enjoyed on an individual basis.

    One could imagine the kind of issues Shield Cross Stars might run into if a large organization or family became famous for catching many hard to snag criminals. At that point, why should Shield Cross Stars exist? They might as well be replaced by said family or organization instead.

    Aina nodded faintly to Leonel''s words, seemingly seeing a bit of a picture forming. But the logical leaps that remained still seemed too far apart.

    "But then I thought of something else. I learned about the Cloud Race in the Void Library, they''re an interesting race of people indeed. Their brains are amorphous and actually take the shape of real clouds. They''re incredibly intelligent as a result because their memories, thoughts and synapses aren''t tied down to a physical form or even a tangible limit.

    "That aside, the Cloud Race has tiers of nobility a lot like the Rapax, and those tiers manifest in runes that float within their "Cloud Figure", or in other words, their brain. The more concentrated and dense the runes, the higher class they are and the more talented.

    "These runes, however, have one path that they follow, and that''s the path of deception and mimicry.

    "The reason the brain capacity of a Cloud Race member has to be so large is because when they become someone else or pretend to be someone else, they''re taking into account thousands, millions, billions, or even trillions of variables all at once depending on their talent and strength.

    "The details don''t really matter, but what''s important is that when it comes to scanning, understanding, organizing, compartmentalizing, and then spitting out a summary, the Cloud Race is practically untouchable in this regard.

    "And then I thought about that Captain Wimword fellow who turned out to be a Cloud Race member, and Captain Urrith and Zylgella as well. All three of them had taken the risk to become high class Officers of Shield Cross Stars.

    "You have to wonder why?

    "When I thought to that point, I suddenly thought of something else. What if the entire point was to get the ship to shut down so that they could scan how it worked and reverse engineered it?

    "What if in the middle of a war, all of Human Domain''s greatest weapons just stopped working because it recognized the death of a Cloud Figure as a human instead?"

    Aina''s eyes widened as she sat up slightly.

    If what Leonel was saying was correct, didn''t that mean he had just saved the Human Domain from a calamity it didn''t even know was coming?

    Wait, who was to say that he had stopped it? What if there were others of the Cloud Race on the same mission that had had far more success?

    Aina calmed down and her gaze narrowed. "Wasn''t that all just speculation, though? You could have been wrong."

    Leonel laughed. "Like I told you at the beginning, the moment they found us, I knew they were members of the Cloud Race. I only became doubly sure after Wimword, Urrith and Zylgella escaped.

    "In my exchange with Wimword, he used a very special movement technique that exposed his race, but he didn''t have to do that. In fact, I''m pretty sure he exposed himself on purpose."

    "Why would he do that?"

    "Because the Cloud Race only really has one obvious weakness," Leonel said. "And that weakness is that they can''t scan a new target unless they release their Cloud Figure."

    Aina''s head snapped around and looked toward Leonel who was smiling.

    "You mean...?"

    "Yeah. The reason they were able to lock onto me and find us in the middle of nowhere is because Wimword likely has a near perfect replica of me in his Cloud Figure, a replica he likely passed onto the Patriarch of the Chaotic Water Sector who then used it to hatch this scheme."

    "Then that means..."

    Leonel nodded, but a cold and domineering light danced within his irises.

    ince they failed the first time, and even suffered such a severe loss, next time they come, the ring a lot more fire power, and that fire power might not just mean weaponry.

    "Since they failed the first ti d ffered such 1 t time they they''ll bring a lot fire p d that fire p ight not just ponry."

    Aina blinked, the undisguised indifference and confidence in Leonel''s eyes making her feel somewhat hot again.

    Leonel felt something grab him below and he blinked out of his thoughts, looking toward Alna somewhat speechlessly. Hadn''t she just barely been able to speak before? What was with this quick recovery?

    "Don''t give me that look, you only have yourself to blame," Aina smiled a toothy smile. "Now come please your mistress."

 Chapter 1829 Casual Breakthrough

    1829 Casual Breakthrough Leonel felt very lucky that he had invested so heavily into his vitality. If not for this, there was a chance that he really might not be able to keep up with Aina at all. Luckily, he went from potentially suffering loss after loss, to being quite undefeatable. Though, considering Aina''s own talents, her recovery was off the charts and almost any little thing he did seemed to "trigger" her.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, though, these were good problems to have. If there was anyone in his life that he wanted to please, this future wife of his was near the top of a very, very short list.

    About a day or so later, Leonel sat in a state of meditation.

    It was very easy to become complacent without the pressure of the Void Palace constantly barraging him from all sides. If there were any problems with the fact he had been booted prematurely, it was this.

    He understood his own personality quite well, there was a subtle sort of lazy undertone to everything he did that came from a place of complacency, a place that made it feel like he was constantly looking down on the whole world.

    But Leonel also knew better than anyone else that he hadn''t earned such a complacency yet. Unless he actively suppressed it, he could spend weeks or even months at a time rolling around in bed with Aina without even the slightest worry in the world.

    Luckily, he had become hyper aware of this flaw of his for multiple reasons.

    First, there was Aina by his side. No matter what, she didn''t have such complacency. Although she hadn''t said anything after learning about Leonel''s destruction of the Brazinger family, Leonel knew quite well that this was because they had entered a sort of second honeymoon period of their relationship.

    Aina probably still felt like what they had was fragile and she wanted to protect it, so rather than complaining about something she likely had a great right to complain about, she suppressed those feelings and directly ignored them.

    However, it was clear by how much harder she was working everyday that it bothered her.

    Leonel wasn''t clueless. In fact, he was hyper aware of everything around him, and this hyper awareness only became sharper after he unbound his soul and unleashed his true King''s Might Lineage Factor. He understood the ins and outs of Aina''s thoughts, maybe more than even she herself did.

    Back then, while it was true that Aina had been fatigued from helping him bring his body back to 100%, her hatred of the Brazinger family was deep enough that this wouldn''t have mattered to her. Logic and emotion were two different things, but one wasn''t necessarily more important than the other to most people not named Leonel Morales.

    The second reason was because of his King''s Might and the evolution of his Dream Force which had allowed him to enter Tier 3.

    Leonel''s increase to his Dream Force allowed him to be hyper aware of his own thoughts and the process by which they formed. He had a deeper understanding of why he was the way he was and what reasons there might be at the root of it all.

    Ultimately, he knew that if he didn''t force himself to work, or external pressure didn''t force him, he could easily become complacent.

    So rather than allowing himself to dictate things, he set a Dream Counter ability to trigger instead.

    And now, thanks to that, he was currently in blissful meditation. His mind compared and contrasted the improvements he had made in Dream Force versus the lack of improvement in everything else. He then referenced this with the shifts to his Emulation Spatial Force and slowly noted down several comprehensions.

    Thaela had made a great deal of improvement back when she was still in possession of this Innate Node. As such, there were many runes already formed.

    The formation of her runes were actually much weaker than the formation Leonel had made on his two Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes. However, Leonel didn''t feel like he could take much credit for this at all considering the circumstances that had led to things being this way in the first place.

    But what he did realize was that there were subtle shifts in her Innate Node that weren''t in his own. Some parts of the rune were far thicker and denser than other parts that looked to be drawn lighter and more illusory. These seemed to represent parts that she was more familiar with versus parts she had less comprehension about.

    This was intriguing to Leonel because he had never formed this way. Even for his Dream Force or his Vital Star Force, they either formed, or didn''t, there was no inbetween like this.

    The question was if the reason was due to his approach, or if it was just a matter of mindset. Leonel did seem like the type of person to not be satisfied with moving on unless he comprehended something entirely, only then would he use it. This was how things had always been with his weapon Forces.

    This time, however, Leonel didn''t feel like he was to blame. There was something deeper going on here.

    ''If I''m correct it''s a matter of whether this world can sustain it or not. I have a feeling that if I was in an Eighth Dimensional world, forming partial runes like this would be very much possible. In lesser worlds, though, without a perfect comprehension, runes can''t form at all.??

    Essentially, the reason why Thaela could form partial runes and increase her Force Manipulation in this way was because her environment could help her to do so.

    ''That hypothesis should have about a 97.2% chance of being correct, give or take."

    Leonel calmly nodded and moved on in his deductions, seemingly not realizing just how groundbreaking this discovery was.

    If one had an all or nothing approach to Force Manipulation, moving forward would be impossible with sudden enlightenment, like what Leonel had experienced a few weeks ago, or without a reference, like the complete Innate Node in Leonel''s kidney.

    This would be an inherent weakness of "imperfect" worlds, or in other words... Worlds beneath the Ninth Dimension.

    What was even more groundbreaking, though, was the fact that Leonel felt that he could create a work around based on this. And if he was correct, Force Manipulation improvement would come as natural to his people as it did for the geniuses of that Zone.

 Chapter 1830 One Condition

    1830 One Condition Leonel felt that his deduction simply ran smoother now with the improvement to his Dream Force. He saw the world with more clarity and could simulate with much greater speed and accuracy. It was as though he had his own personal vast world in his mind, just waiting to be experimented on.

    He made large leaps with every passing second and in just a few hours, he had created dozens of potential prototypes for a treasure that could help with this. His favorite iteration was the simplest configuration, relying only on Pure Force Crystals, the Mantras he retrieved from the Zone, and a Life Force type Jade.

    The only bottleneck would be Anastasia and her progress in dissecting and deducing the Mantras. But outside of that, the gadget was so simple that Leonel could allow the Segmented Cube to mass produce them once the blueprint was set.

    Of course, the result wouldn''t be as perfect as a true Ninth Dimensional world would be, but it didn''t need to be. Even Leonel was much too far away from needing a Ninth Dimensional structure to help him along, let alone his brothers and the others.

    There was something curious about these deductions, though.

    Logically, even without a Ninth Dimensional world, lower level worlds should at least be able to sustain partial comprehensions on equally as low leveled runes. But for some reason they could not.

    There was a deeper sort of... imperfection here. But for some reason, even the current Leonel couldn''t grasp what it was.

    Leonel opened his eyes and exhaled.

    That was enough for now, Anastasia could handle the rest. By the time he was finished with the other things he had to do, the first would be finished and he should be able to use it immediately with his Vital Star Force. Like that, his speed of comprehension should skyrocket immediately.

    ''It''s been three weeks,'' Leonel thought with a cold flash in his eyes.

    He had given the Oryx enough time. Now the two choices before them were all too obvious.

    Leonel could feel that his tribulation was coming and he didn''t know how long he would vanish for. He had to be certain that everything was perfectly lined up before he left because there was no telling what variables might appear in his absence.

    So, he was entirely serious about eradicating the Oryx if they didn''t comply. He would do everything he could to leave Earth in an absolute state of peace before he vanished.

    But first, he would pay a little visit to the Thrusting Skies Sector.

    He gave Aina who was meditating not far from him a kiss on the forehead before he left the Segmented Cube and manned the flagship to soar across Earth''s territory.

    *k Aleck had been sitting on pins and needles for the last several weeks.

    While the Sectors were in chaos and everyone was ducking, hoping to not be the next ones to be destroyed and wondering how all of this was happening, he was all too clear who was responsible.

    The young man never raised a single finger. He fought just a single battle and casually strode away after he was done. Right now, he was probably reclining with a woman in his arms, watching the world collapse around him.

    The Thrusting Skies Sector had taken a small blow after losing so many Sixth Dimensional experts, but the Viola family lost several elite Seventh Dimensional experts in their sudden ambush attempt and my more promising Sixth Dimensional experts. Even setting aside this, the Chaotic Water Sector got it the worst because not a single aspect of their Empire remained, they were wiped out by Shield Cross Stars in just a single day!

    Seeing these things happen one after another, Aleck couldn''t eat, he couldn''t sleep, he even found it difficult for him to breathe properly from day to day.

    He was tired of people asking him what was wrong so he just sent away all of his attendants and he sat completely alone in a dining room capable of seating and serving over 300

    people at once, and yet he didn''t touch any of the food before him at all.

    Suddenly, Aleck stood violently to his feet, snapping his own head around with such force that he quite nearly almost ended his own life.

    When he saw the young man casually seated on the host''s chair behind him, a table placed in an elevated position like the medieval dining rooms of old, his face paled completely. He seemed to have entirely forgotten that Leonel was a "mere" Sixth Dimensional existence and that he should have no need to fear him in a one on one battle.

    Leonel smiled lightly and didn''t say anything immediately, only faintly greeting Aleck. But to his surprise, the Patriarch immediately fell to his knees and slammed his forehead against the ground with such force that the entire room trembled.

    "I am willing to place the entire strength of the Skies family behind you, Imperial Prince! Whether that be for the coming Heir Wars or anything else you might need us to do. I swear I will do my utmost, I only ask for a path to survival."

    Leonel blinked a few times. Was he really that scary? He hadn''t really been all that cruel in his estimation, he could have made things far worse for the three parties, but in the end he decided to just eradicate the Chaotic Water Sector. As far as he saw it, he had actually been quite nice.

    Seeing that Leonel didn''t answer, Aleck didn''t dare to look up, he was absolutely subservient to Leonel, his heart having been subdued entirely.

    Truthfully, this was the best outcome for Leonel. The Thrusting Skies Sector was about as powerful as the Chaotic Water Sector, or at the very least, the Chaotic Water Sector''s display to the outside world. They were a Seventh Dimensional Sector not quite as good as the Constellation families, but not too far away either.

    Essentially, they were around the upper portions of the middle of the pack when it came to the Seventh Dimension. They would probably immediately become Leonel''s strongest support in terms of raw power.

    In past years, Seventh Dimensional existences couldn''t?? participate in the Heir Wars, but this was obviously thrown out the window considering the Heirs themselves were in the Seventh Dimension now.

    Once Leonel entered the Seventh Dimension as well, the Heirs Wars would begin and there would be no escaping such things.

    Leonel nodded to himself. By the time he entered the Seventh Dimension, the use of the Umbra, Florer, Midas and Radix families would probably be far more useful to him, but regardless, the Skies family would be a decent smokescreen.

    Plus, they would be a good sword to use in taking down the Viola family for good.

    "Alright, I accept," Leonel said lightly. Before Aleck could be overjoyed, though, Leonel spoke again. "On one condition. Open up everything to me. I want to know even the deepest held secrets of your family. If you choose to hide anything from me, I will leave and not look back. When we meet again, it''ll be during the destruction of your Sector."

 Chapter 1831 Everything

    1831 Everything With Aleck''s current mental state, he crumbled without much effort on Leonel''s part. He didn''t even consult the various elders of his family, he simply used his authority as Patriarch to directly force them in line.

    When Leonel saw this, he didn''t say anything, but he made a mental note of it. From his analysis, Aleck''s prestige in the family was high enough to get away with this, but unless there was a change, there would likely be a straw that broke the camel''s back later on down the line.

    The common people could be forced in line like this because they didn''t understand what was going on anyway, but the rich, powerful and affluent couldn''t be, at least not without tangible evidence and reason for what they were doing.

    Only Aleck was aware of Leonel''s fearsomeness, so it made sense for him to bow his head. But while the others trusted Aleck, if his choice didn''t bear fruit, then the inevitable result was for them to lose respect for Aleck as opposed to suddenly coming to trust Leonel.

    If Aleck realized this or not, he didn''t seem to acknowledge one way or another. Instead, he did as Leonel demanded and revealed everything about his family, everything from census information, to their relationship with surrounding Sectors, even down to how many young geniuses they had sent to the Void Palace.

    In truth, Leonel didn''t need any of this information. The Etching Metal Organization already had such detailed analysis on every organization, family and business within Earth''s borders. However, by cross referencing them, Leonel was able to tell how truthful Aleck was being was or not. And in the end, there were even a few reveals that even the Etching Metal Organization hadn''t been aware of.

    For one, the Thrusting Skies Organization had been contacted by the Cloud Race for cooperation. Aleck and their family elders hadn''t agreed or disagreed, maintaining a neutral sort of stance.

    This told Leonel something very important. The Cloud Race had methods of contacting various families that were nigh undetectable. In fact, they were so precise that they could even weed out potential spies from other families ahead of time so that such information would never leak.

    And that was the second thing Leonel learned. Many of the Skies family''s spies had suddenly been weeded out one day, with even a few agents of the Etching Metal Organization suffering.

    If Leonel was correct, this was likely related to the mind reading abilities of the Cloud Race. How could they perfectly replicate another''s identity if they weren''t also able to go through and replicate all of their memories?

    The Cloud Race was likely using this method to gain the trust of many families all while implanting their own spies. Leonel didn''t believe that there weren''t any members of the Cloud Race that had remained behind, and as expected, Leonel did find one among the elders, one that was very much against Aleck''s sudden change.

    The change caught Aleck and the elders off guard, but the battle was equally as abrupt and short. Surrounded from all sides, there was simply nothing the Cloud Race individual could do.

    In the end, Leonel ended up taking their corpse into a snowglobe. He had learned quite a bit about the Cloud Race through the Void Library, but there was little that could compare to having the real thing in his possession.

    The last thing of interest that Leonel learned that wasn''t part of the Etching Metal Organization''s information was actually related to the Chaotic Water Sector. This time, it wasn''t due to the organization''s missing it, but rather because that Sector wasn''t within their jurisdiction as such they only had some miscellaneous information about it.

    According to Aleck, the Cloud Race was targeting very key Sectors that contained natural resources of note.

    At first, Leonel was a bit confused by this.

    The Chaotic Water Sector, at least before the Cloud Race arrived, was about as powerful as the Thrusting Skies Sector. Both were semi-impressive, but nothing to write home about in the grand scheme. There were dozens of Sectors on their level.

    So why them?

    The obvious answer was that it was much harder to infiltrate the stronger families, and this was what Leonel had always assumed, until Aleck turned his perspective on his head.

    The Chaotic Water name, and Thrusting Skies for that matter, all came about for a reason.

    The Chaotic Water Sector was known not only for its exceptionally dense Water Force, but namely a very unique galaxy known as the Chaotic Water Galaxy where this thickness reached its apex. In that place, Water Force was so high in concentration that it suppressed all other things, even to the point that all colors were tinged with a slight hint of blackish blue.

    The closer you got to the center of this galaxy, the more exaggerated the effects, until you finally did make it to the center and walking through the air felt like wading through water.

    The Thrusting Skies Sector had a very special Galaxy much like this but instead for Lightning.

    That was when it clicked for Leonel.

    The point of this wasn''t the resources, at least not in their current state. Rather, the Cloud Race was interested in monopolizing these resources after Earth''s evolution influenced them to evolve themselves!

    If Leonel was correct, if the Skies family allowed their World Spirit to be assimilated by his mother''s World Spirit and allowed their heritage to fade, the evolution of their Galaxy would skyrocket and very soon, the resources on hand would become almost too many to spend even in several lifetimes.

    In a place of such high Force concentration of a single kind, just the sheer amount of Force and Pure Force Crystals would be mind boggling, let alone the other natural treasures that might appear.

    When Leonel got to this point in his thought process, he looked toward Aleck.

    He didn''t know why he hadn''t thought of it before. If he wanted to assure the loyalty of these families, this was the obvious way to do it.

    Leonel grinned. This changed everything.

 Chapter 1832 Mourning

    1832 Mourning These families were all fighting back so hard against Earth, not realizing that this was doing nothing other than hindering their own progress.

    Aleck hesitated for the first time in a long while. Assimilating with Earth wasn''t just about power, but they felt like they were losing a part of themselves in doing so. Although their World Spirit would eventually give way no matter what they did, unless they could somehow conquer Earth, it still felt... off, almost like they were abandoning their ancestors.

    Leonel chuckled a bit inwardly, not pressing Aleck very hard. In truth, the Patriarch had already exceeded his expectations in this regard. The man was much smarter than he had originally given him credit for.

    Ultimately, this was a problem of the Human Domain, not just Earth. Humans weren''t a cohesive whole, nor did they follow the same strict sort of hierarchy standards and paths that other races did. This was both their strength and their greatest weakness.

    To a Rapax, being assimilated by another Rapax family might feel bad, but they were ultimately the same people, with the same heritage, and the same culture and thoughts. More importantly, they also all followed the same paths.

    In the human race, there were no obvious markers of nobility and peasant, or the greater thans and lesser thans. This caused those at the bottom of the rung to have a chance to climb up so long as they put in enough effort and got lucky enough, but it was also the reason why even with such obvious benefits right before them, these families were reluctant to take the obvious choice.

    Aleck took a breath and closed his eyes.

    When he opened them again, they had some resolution in them.

    "You say that if we assimilate, our evolutionary potential will rise?"

    "Immediately." Leonel said without hesitation. "Your children, as of this generation, will begin to be people of Earth. My grandfather also has a method of shortening the five generation period and allowing your talents to catch up almost immediately, however this will require loyalty and contributions on your part.

    "Even so, without these contributions, you''ll be able to directly take part in the evolution of your resources. Your weaker territories will quickly catch up, and your main resource, the Thrusting Skies Galaxy, will become a hundredfold more valuable."

    Aleck nodded slowly and pressed a hand to his chest. He took a deep breath and his eyes watered.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened when he saw this.

    He could feel Aleck''s emotion, he was clearly distraught by this decision. Leonel felt that he was wrong about something for the very first time in a very long while.

    ''Is this normal? Am I too heartless on this topic? Or is there something else going on?"

    Leonel''s gaze shifted toward the elders of the Skies family and they all looked equally as distraught. Many of them even had to be held back by others, but there was clear murderous intention in their eyes while they were looking at Leonel.

    Leonel hadn''t been alive to experience a divided Earth. The only Earth he knew was a single united nation under the Ascension Empire. Skin tone, race, culture, it had never mattered, so Leonel never really thought about it either.

    This was the first time Leonel was seeing such a visceral reaction related to one''s pride in their country and their fellow man.

    Back on Ancient Earth, there were probably any number of smaller nations that may have led better lives by obediently handing the reins over to a large nation, but how many of them chose to do that? How many wanted to do that?

    Aleck was willing to open up his family and show Leonel their everything, but when it came to this decision, one that Leonel felt was a nobrainer, he felt deeply hurt and troubled.

    Leonel''s sharp gaze softened and his oppressive air cooled somewhat. Still, somewhere deep inside, he felt like there was something he had missed.

    ''... I remember back when I cleared my first Zone and met Uncle Montez, he had said that as one of the first four to succeed, I should have received a quarter of the World Spirit with a chance to fuse them into one in the future. However, it had already chosen its owner long ago, so I lost that chance forever...

    ''... It chose... It chose.. could the World Spirit be sentient?"

    If that was true, then wouldn''t the World Spirit have all the same instincts as any other living being? An instinct to survive? An instinct to evolve?

    And if that was the case, what would be the best way to do that? Wouldn''t it be to stoke an undying devotion in the people it served?

    Leonel felt a slight hint of guilt within. Even he found it difficult to just dismiss these very real emotions that Aleck and the others were feeling as the mere manipulations of a semi-sentient spirit. However, at the same time, he had to acknowledge it as part of the equation.

    The troubling part was that, in practice, the truth didn''t matter. No matter what had caused it, the fact was that most people would feel this level of devotion toward their World Spirit.

    The more powerful the World Spirit, the more powerful these feelings would likely be.

    Unless he could find the right combination of circumstances, getting people to give up their World Spirits willingly might be an almost impossible task, and Leonel wasn''t sure if taking it by force was possible.

    While he could kill the wielder, the World Spirit didn''t have to follow him, and given what Leonel knew about them, he wouldn''t be able to catch it either. Only if he was a member of the World Spirit''s world would it follow him so simply.

    Aleck pulled his hand away from his chest and raised it into the air.

    A mournful cry spread across the Thrusting Skies Sector and the entire region shook.

    Within the Ascension Empire, Emperor Fawkes looked up with an unreadable expression before he suddenly chuckled.

    "Interesting.

 Chapter 1833 Young Man

    1833 Young Man

    [Representaions of Leonel''s light half of the Northern Star Lineage Factor on my instagram :) @awespec__]

    Leonel left the Skies family in a semi-foul mood. The mourning of the Skies people left him with a sour taste in his mouth that he had expected. He seemed to be feeling something beyond him, but it wouldn''t be until years from now that Leonel understood where this bitterness was coming from, much the same way it would be a long while before he understood where his love of Aina came from.

    In this very same foul mood, Leonel crossed the universe and appeared above the Oryx''s territory.

    The race of people were quite secluded. They lived on just a single planet in a barren solar system, completely out of the way of others.

    Due to the circumstances, it was almost too easy for them to spot Leonel''s arrival.

    Maybe it was due to his mood, but Leonel even somewhat hoped that the Oryx would resist. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately in most respects, that didn''t come to be. Elthor''s words to his father seemed to have struck a chord.

    This time, when Leonel stood before the Oryx King, the latter had a hint of respect in his eyes that had never been there before. Even now, the Oryx King couldn''t fathom how Leonel had ignored such temptation, but if there was a chance to be taken, it made sense for him to take it on Leonel.

    The Oryx King didn''t expect the conditions to be as smooth sailing as they were in the past, he could understand this concept quite well. However, when Leonel finished laying out his conditions, he still couldn''t help but sigh.

    Most of them were fine, but the final one left the most bitter taste in his mouth. Leonel wanted them all to move to Earth and become official citizens. Once they did that, he would allow bygones to remain bygones.

    With that move, much of the comfort and calm lives the Oryx had been granted would be over.

    King Oryx really only had himself to blame for all of this. Leonel had wanted to treat them well and as one of his own, but what he received in return wasn''t the mutual respect he had been expecting. Instead, he found rudeness, indifference, and although it was subtle, mockery.

    The various Oryx elders were not happy with Leonel''s demands at all, but the Oryx King simply raised a hand to stop them all.

    "I will accept your demands so long as my people can have a large city of our own."

    "You can have the entire Moon," Leonel said casually.

    He had recently razed the Moon and all of its structures to the ground, but much like the recovery of a Seventh Dimensional individual couldn''t possibly compare to a Third Dimensional one, so too was the case for Seventh Dimensional worlds. By now, the Moon had already recovered and was once again filled with lush forests and rushing waters. The only unfortunate part was that its wildlife had suffered a blow, though the most powerful of the land and sea creatures were most definitely still alive.

    "Then I''ll thank you in advance," King Oryx said with a slight hint of relief in his tone. This was better than what he had expected, and he had a feeling that Leonel had done things like this on purpose.

    "You all can have half a month to prepare and move out. I will prepare everything in the meantime."

    The meeting was just as short as the one he had had with the Skies family. At a certain point, when you held enough strength in your hands, things became much easier.

    In the past, getting people to follow him was like pulling teeth. But now, Leonel had a solid base for himself, one that made him more than confident in facing and dealing with the world.

    *%

    As Leonel was beginning to feel much better and even quite confident, his number of enemies still seemed to be multiplying. This only seemed to be more of the case after Leonel began to assimilate one region after another, displaying efficiency the Ascension Empire had never displayed before and putting smiles on the faces of the Ministers of Earth.

    In just a week, not only had Leonel assimilated the whole of the Thrusting Skies Sector, but within the Three Pillar Sector, over 60% of the galaxies had had their World Spirits assimilated with Earth.

    Of course, the vast majority of this 60% came from the Umbra, Midas, Radix and Florer families which were considered quite powerful in the Three Pillar Sector. As for the remaining

    40%, it was essentially entirely under the control of the Viola family that suddenly found itself surrounded by enemies from all sides.

    After this was completed, Leonel had a meeting with his grandfather about allowing some to have Earth citizenship. Leonel never asked his grandfather how he could skip over the five generation rule, nor did Emperor Fawkes seem to have any intention of explaining, but the two stubborn men surprisingly worked quite well together.

    Leonel granted the Oryx Race full citizenship to Earth. Their current members gained about 50% of the Blessings of Earth, while their next generation of children would gain all 100%.

    Leonel also set aside this blessing for the most loyal members of the Etching Metal Organization, although they had yet to come out of seclusion, and also a few select geniuses of the Umbra, Midas, Radix and Florer.

    All the while, the suffocating pressure Rychard and the Viola family were experiencing only increased day after day.

    Leonel didn''t seem to be in a rush to crush Rychard at all.

    His first move had caused the death of many of Rychard''s elites and crippled him of his allyships with the Chaotic Water Sector and the Thrusting Skies Sector.

    Now, Leonel was just silently chipping away at him, sealing off his path to resources, squeezing his business dry, suffocating his lines of communication.

    Just two months after Rychard''s attempted sneak attack on Earth''s territory, he sat in his family''s throne room with a tight grip on his arm rests. At that moment, the aura of the throne seemed to be far less imposing.

    He couldn''t remember when it had all gone wrong...

    No, he could. The moment he "killed" Leonel, it seemed that things hadn''t stopped going wrong. Although he didn''t want to admit it, he was being outplayed by someone. And no matter how much he hated it, that someone seemed to be Leonel himself.

    Rychard took a breath, controlling his breathing.

    He had gone through too much to lose like this.

    Far too much.

    Rychard opened his eyes and someone had appeared before him without even his knowledge. However, he didn''t seem surprised by the appearance of this person at all.

    If Leonel had been there, unlike Rychard, he would have been very surprised. That was because the person standing before Rychard was none other than Orinik, the very same young man that had overseen his selection on Planet Luxnix and the very same young man who had tried to profit off of his and Aina''s "death" in the Dwarven Race Zone.

    What this young man who probably should have been in the Void Palace was doing here of all places was something maybe only he and the unsurprised Rychard were aware of.

 Chapter 1834 Endure

    1834 Endure

    "You''re here..." Rychard said lightly.

    Orinik gently patted down the slight wrinkles in his clothing. He was just as immaculately dressed as dressed, his robes looking like an evolved three-piece suit held together by a few chains of gold and silver. Even so, it didn''t feel gaudy or nouveau riche. He carried the air of a refined gentleman, and air that was even sharper than it had been in the past now that he wasn''t forced to wear the Void Palace''s uniform.

    Orinik looked much the same as he had in the past, the only difference being that he now had a beard, which was of course perfectly groomed. What was interesting, though, was that his beard had neat strands of silver hair, a nice contrast to his dark skin. This was odd, though, since he didn''t seem to have aged at the same rate as Rychard. He seemed to be the same youth he was in the past.

    "If I didn''t come, wouldn''t you have ruined everything?" Orinik asked lightly.

    Rychard wasn''t enraged by these words, or maybe it just took more than this alone to enrage him.

    "If you can point out to me where I''ve ruined everything, I would actually very much appreciate it. Even now, I''m not sure where things went wrong," Rychard replied.

    "Isn''t it obvious to you yet? You''ve been played."

    "By who?"

    "By who else? Leonel Morales."

    Rychard''s gaze narrowed and he looked toward Orinik deeply.

    "Explain." He eventually asked.

    "You showed your hand too early. You''re not as detached from this as you thought. If you wanted a chance for a sneak attack to work, then you should have let him trample all over you during his visit. There are no information networks that are infallible, if they hadn''t been specifically looking for signs of your action because you led them like calves to the river to exactly what they needed, things wouldn''t have happened like this. Or at the very least, your losses wouldn''t have been so devastating."

    "And how does the destruction of the Chaotic Water Sector fall into all of this?" Rychard asked.

    "This is something we still don''t have the whole picture on, but the information released by Shield Cross Stars should be at least semi-accurate. It''s just unlucky. They were destroyed before we could make use of them properly, but this is also a favor to us. The variables in Earth''s territory are now at a minimum."

    Rychard''s gaze narrowed. "You knew that they were of the Cloud Race."

    "Not completely, but we had our speculations. Regardless, since they weren''t part of the cause, they were destined to be destroyed. They were part of the previous world order, they''re part of the very system that deserves to be taken down. That Graros character didn''t hesitate to sacrifice one of his own sons for the sake of power, what right does he have to be one of us?"

    Orinik''s expression was placid, but the sneer seemed to be clear in his voice.

    "Then what do you want to do, exactly?"

    "We wait," Orinik said coldly. "Very soon, Earth won''t be able to deal properly with its own internal struggles."

    Rychard''s gaze narrowed. "Weren''t they destroyed?"

    "Those four families aren''t as simple as they seem. In the Cataclysm Zone, the region I went to was under the control of the Laevis family. There''s something very fishy about all of this. Those four families might not be human at all."

    Rychard''s pupils constricted. "Not human?"

    "Not human may not be the correct way to say it. They may not be humans of our Human Domain is a more... accurate statement."

    After saying this, Orinik turned and began to leave. "Endure for now. Very soon, you won''t have to endure anymore enduring."

    Rychard watched as Orinik vanished without a word.

    He too had heard inklings of those four families in the Cataclysm Zone. His assumption had always been that it was Zone was a marker of the end times of the Human Domain, a Zone demarking a future where those four families took precedence, a Zone where, much like Terrain of the path, it was created to give them an opportunity to survive.

    This assumption seemed perfect to him, especially since the Human Domain was facing threats from other races. The Cloud Race had already infiltrated so deeply and the others were only waiting for their opportunity to pounce.

    But Orinik''s conclusion seemed to be different. Of them all. for some reason. Orinik seemed to he the most mvsterious for reasons he couldn''t nut his fineer on. Although Orinik had come from a family much stronger than the Viola, in the grand scheme of the Human Domain, they were nothing more than ants, being even weaker than the current Thrusting Skies Sector or the former Chaotic Water Sector.

    Even so, upon his return, Orinik had elevated the status of his family even faster than he had.

    Rychard had been convinced that no one could have gained from the Cataclysm Generation more than he had, but then he met Orinik. And now, Leonel seemed to have returned with a vengeance and had, according to Orinik, been leading him by the nose.

    Endure, huh?

    He had already been enduring for almost three decades, even a few more months wasn''t a big deal to him. All he had to do was be ready when the time came.

    Unfortunately for Rychard, Orinik wasn''t the only intelligent man in existence. Leonel had known weeks ago that he had yet to destroy those four families completely and he knew what kind of danger they posed.

    So why would he let Rychard survive for longer than he had to? Just when Rychard thought that Leonel might try to suffocate him to death, a month later, an all out war erupted, executing a sneak attack Rychard could only dream of.

    In a single half night, half of Rychard''s territory vanished and another quarter was swallowed up as he commanded a tactical retreat. By morning, only the Three Pillar Galaxy remained.

 Chapter 1835 Bitter

    1835 Bitter Leonel stood on the bow of the flagship, his gaze cold. He had yet to step onto the battlefield, all he had done was direct, and yet he without a doubt had the most blood on his hands.

    His commands were incisive, and often outright cruel to his enemies. A tactician who could envision a battlefield that spanned across several galaxies was definitely not one to be trifled with, and that was precisely the kind of commander that Leonel was.

    Whether it was on the micro level or the macro level, he took it all into account. He could avoid detrimental battlefields on scales as small as individual cities, and seek out positive battle situations on scales as large as the galaxies themselves with ease.

    Usually, commanders would have to delegate tasks, trusting those under them to deal with these small scale matters. But Leonel had taken it all on his shoulders and he didn''t seem to be flustered in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to still have time to enjoy the scenery around him as his nigh countless split minds all dealt with individual tasks of their own, sending information across light years.

    Rychard sat in his throne room with his hands tightly holding onto his throne''s armrests. These days, he seemed to be facing greater and greater issues with maintaining his usual calm.

    Before he had met Leonel and Aina, he had always been a calm and calculating individual. It was only after meeting them, and Aina in specific, that he began to lose his temper more and more frequently. And now, as though to rub this in, the moment they appeared in his life once again, it was happening once more.

    After a moment, Rychard exhaled a breath. Every few minutes, he received reports of another loss. It was time that he join the battlefield personally. Only like this would he be able to turn things around.

    But before he could step foot out of the throne room, he was blocked by a familiar figure.

    Rychard met Orinik''s gaze.

    "You enter and exit my territory with greater ease than even I do. Don''t you have a family to manage?" Rychard asked coldly.

    Orinik simply shook his head, but it was clear that he wasn''t replying to Rychard''s question. He was taking a stance on Rychard''s previous actions.

    "You''re asking me to not go and support my family?" Rychard''s gaze turned bloodshot.

    "Now isn''t the time. You''ll only be going out there to die. Individual power hardly means anything on a scale like this one unless you can fit all of your assets, family members and allies onto just a single planet. Can you do it?"

    "I don''t have to do that!" Rychard roared, his voice losing its calmness entirely. "All I have to do is Kill that son of a bitch!"

    "While he''s protected by a Tier 2 Star Flagship of Shield Cross Stars? Do you like the idea of suicide that much?"

    Rychard clenched his jaw. "You said I just had to endure. You said so long as I endured, I wouldn''t have to endure any longer very soon. What are your words if not a useless pile of shit?!"

    "My words are still the same as they were back just a month ago. Endure. We have miscalculated this matter and Leonel is a stronger opponent than we assumed him to be. Until you realize that the game has changed and some pawns have become Kings, you will lose and continue to lose."

    Who would have thought that Leonel was returned now of all times? Not only that he would return, but even manage to steal such a weapon of war? And even worse than that, he would seemingly have returned with strength that was undefeatable within the Sixth Dimension and even have an ability that allowed him to battle against individuals of the Seventh?

    Hearing these words, although Rychard''s eyes were still bloodshot, he was taking deep breaths.

    Indeed, the game had changed.

    Their original plans were made taking into account those four families and the pressure they put on Earth. But the moment Leonel had returned, he not only did so with a fierce momentum, but he directly wiped them out, destroying the knife Earth had pointed at their backs.

    On top of that, he seemed to now have an information network that placed the happenings of Earth''s territory in the very palm of his hand. Almost nothing happened without his knowledge.

    "Retreat, Rychard. I''ve prepared an escape pad for you. Take your closest remaining family members, the most elite of your people, and come with me."

    Rychard remained silent for a long time before closing his eyes.

    Eyes still closed, he spoke. "This is what you''ve wanted from the very beginning, right?"

    "An ally as strong as you? Of course." Orinik replied lightly.

    "We were already allies," Rychard replied. "What I mean is my life line being in the palm of your hands. Everything will be under your control from now on, right?"

    "If you want to see things that way, I can''t stop you, Rychard. But you should also understand that if you''re under my leadership, not only will things run more smoothly, but I guarantee you will get your revenge, very soon, at that. In fact, the "destruction" of your family will only help.

    "You cannot say that I did not give you a chance to do things on your own. I have been completely hands off of Earth''s territory and have allowed you to form alliances as you please.

    Have I ever tried to direct you or control what you''ve done?"

    Rychard was silent because he knew that the answer was no. At least in this respect, Orinik was sincere.

    "You do not have to worry. I have a hatred for Leonel no deeper than yours, and soon, he''ll also come to experience what it means to be trapped in a web of schemes he can''t extricate himself from. The taste of his own medicine will be especially bitter."

    Rychard clenched his fists and his jaw before he relaxed, his calm returned and the crimson fading from his eyes.

    "I will follow you."

 Chapter 1836 Trust Me

    1836 Trust Me Leonel stood over the war torn Planet Viola with the very same indifferent expression, unmoved by it all.

    ''He isn''t here.??

    These were the only thoughts Leonel had toward Rychard since the start of this war. He hadn''t taken the latter seriously at all. But he had predicted that there was a better than 80%

    likelihood that Rychard would lose his temper and attempt one final all out assault against him before he perished with the remains of his family.

    However, not only had Rychard not done that, he seemed to have vanished without a trace. There were only two conclusions Leonel could see for this. Either Rychard had evolved more as a man that he had initially given him credit for, or someone else had interfered.

    Almost as soon as he had these two thoughts, Leonel knew that it was the latter of the two. If he hadn''t met Rychard face to face already, he would have thought it to be the 30-70 toss up, where the likelihood of the first option was 30%. But he had, so Leonel knew there was a better than 95% chance that it was the second option.

    The real question, though, was who would be able to steer Rychard off of his path of murder and destruction.

    Just putting himself in Rychard''s shoes, Leonel knew that he would be livid. Rychard had had his family destroyed once, but back then, the Luxnix had only attacked the main family branch, went meant that almost all of the Viola family''s side branches had survived to live out suppressed existences. However, that had happened again, but this time in reverse as Rychard seemed to have escaped with most of his elites.

    In one way or another, his family had been forcefully suppressed twice over. Even a monk would find themselves at the end of their rope, let alone someone like Rychard.

    To be talked down from a ledge, whoever this person was had to both be highly intelligent and highly respected by Rychard. And, maybe most importantly, this person should be quite likely to have a close relationship with Rychard.

    ''A woman? Less likely due to Rychard''s previous trauma related to these matters. He also didn''t have a second throne in his throne room, so he''s unlikely to have a wife, or at least a wife he deems to be his equal.

    ''A respected minister? Also unlikely. Those ministers of his blindly worshipped him and they were almost all exceptionally young. If Rychard said to run through a brick wall, they wouldn''t hesitate. Those people wouldn''t have the mind to ask him to turn around, and even if they did, Rychard wouldn''t listen to them.

    ''The only explanation then is that this person comes from outside of the Viola family, likely an ally or a friend, probably both given the circumstances. In that case, likely someone from the Void Palace, also likely someone who experienced similar to near identical circumstances as himself in the Cataclysm Zone.

    ''In that case, there''s a better than 60% likelihood that this person is from a background that''s not too powerful and also happens to have a World Spirit that gave them an advantage within the Cataclysm Zone.

    "Interesting...

    Leonel''s gaze flickered and he turned to his right.

    "Yuri, what families had the largest sudden boost in recent times."

    Yuri blinked, clearly not expecting for Leonel to suddenly ask her such a question.

    "... There are a lot. But if you mean the ones who''ve displayed the most improvement, there''s probably only three prominent ones. One is the Viola family," Yuri cast a glance toward the planet below them, "the second is the Eamon family, and the last is the Etazi family."

    "Eamon and Etazi? What do you know about them?"

    "Not much. They were fairly middle of the road in the past and they''re not exactly bigshots now either. It''s just that their improvement is disproportionate to the amount of time that has passed. They were formerly in the bottom rung of Seventh Dimensional Sectors, now they''re nearer the middle."

    "Is that all?"

    "There''s not much other than that. There might be even weaker families than that that have had larger overall improvement, but no one pays much attention to the Sixth Dimension given the scales of things."

    Leonel nodded.

    Unfortunately, Leonel didn''t know anything about Orinik''s background, because if he had, he would have recognized the Etazi last name as being Orinik''s family name!

    "Emna." Leonel called out.

    Suddenly, a flash of light appeared to Leonel''s left like a bolt of lilghtning before a young woman stepped out from its midst.

    "Yes! mn

    "The Eamon and Etazi families... During the expansion, tell the higher ups to focus on the two of them."

    Emna''s brows raised.

    The Etching Metal Organization was, indeed, preparing for expansion so that they could be properly prepared for the coming Heirs Wars. But originally, they were going to focus on the larger fish. This sudden pivot was unexpected.

    "Don''t worry about it," Leonel said with a wave of his hand. "I have a feeling that there won''t be enough time for the organization to expand adequately enough to be useful in the Heir Wars."

    Emna''s brows jumped again.

    Not enough time? The Heirs Wars wouldn''t start until Leonel entered the Seventh Dimension, no one would even blame Leonel if he purposely delayed a bit. Even the quickest estimate was a decade, although that was a bit of a time crunch, Emna was confident that as they became more powerful with Leonel''s backing, they could do it even half that time if they really went all out.

    So why was Leonel saying this now?

    Leonel smiled and didn''t explain. "Just trust me."

    "Okay!" Emna nodded.

    When Emna vanished, so too did Leonel''s smile. Yuri looked toward his side profile, wondering where the naive boy of back then went.

    Even as this conversation came to a close, news of the unification of Earth''s Sector spread like wildfire, there was simply no hiding it.

    Leonel had only just come back, and yet Earth''s turmoil, or at the very least the worst of it, had been suppressed in less than a single year.

    The Human Domain was lit ablaze.

 Chapter 1837 Peace

    1837 Peace

    [Just two chapters today, but I will upload three on Saturday]

    Earth''s territory had been in shambles for a long while, only for news of its sudden stabilization to spread like wildfire. No one had ever expected that the return of a Sixth Dimensional prince would cause such commotion.

    When Noah heard the news, he could only smile somewhat bitterly. He had been back home for a long while already, but he had been entirely focused on increasing his own strength.

    He didn''t believe that he was powerful enough to force Earth''s territory into submission, so he had been trying his best to quickly reach that point.

    However, Leonel seemed to have flipped that notion on his head. When Noah last saw him, he was only at Tier 1, and yet he had already wiped out the four families. Now he was at Tier

    3 and in just a few months had forced the Thrusting Skies Sector to bend the knee and forced the Viola family out. If Noah knew that Leonel was also responsible for the destruction of the Chaotic Water Sector as well, he might very well have to drink his sorrows away.

    He could still remember seeing Leonel that day. Despite having already stepped foot into the Seventh Dimension himself, he had still felt small. Maybe he really was too bogged down by tradition and doing things the right way. Leonel didn''t seem to care about what made sense in the eyes of others, he simply acted to crush those who would deem to stand in his way.

    Noah could still remember that feeling of weakness after being captured as a slave by the people of that Zone. If not for Leonel, who knows what would have happened to him.

    The impact of Myghell had been especially exaggerated. In fact, ever since their return to the Human Domain, Noah hadn''t seen Myghell even once, it was impossible to tell where he had gone considering the vastness of the universe, but that was definitely a blight on his heart that he couldn''t get rid of easily.

    The gap felt almost too large.

    Shield Cross Stars had less complex feelings about this matter, mostly because there wasn''t anything to feel other than rage. They had been booted out of Earth''s territory, and just when they thought that Earth would suffer for their choice, what actually happened was its stabilization. With the contrast between the two states, how could they not be infuriated?

    Didn''t this paint them out to be incompetent?

    What was even worse than this was that more and more everyday, Cross Elder Avan kept getting the feeling that he was being forced to do someone else''s dirty work. "Graros''"

    laughter at his expense still echoed in his mind.

    The more he thought about it, the more he realized who benefited the most from the collapse of the Chaotic Water Sector, and the more the image of that annoying, smiling brat appeared in his mind. He didn''t want to believe it, he refused to believe it, and yet it would practically wake him up in his dreams.

    His temper became so poor that most simply began to avoid him entirely, and things only became worse when it became clear how difficult it would be to get any sort of information out of "Graros".

    Rather than dealing with the methods of Shield Cross Stars, ''"Graros'' simply entered a deep hibernation unique to their race, cutting off his senses from the world and burying his mind. Not only did this make him immune to torture since he couldn''t feel anything, it also made probing and reading his mind nigh impossible due to the complex maze that was the Cloud Race''s Cloud Figure.

    The only drawback of this hibernation state was the fact that ''""Graros" could only rely on another member of his race to wake him up as he couldn''t do so naturally. But even so, he chose to take this route without hesitation, frustrating Avan to an extreme.

    This time, even the reinforced desks couldn''t survive his wrath. In just a week, he went through three of them, each one worth tens of times the yearly revenue of a powerful Sixth Dimensional city.

    Shield Cross Stars weren''t the only ones frustrated, the other Sectors eyeing Earth''s next expansion and the remaining territories within Earth''s who knew they were next were all frustrated. They had thought that they could just sit on the sidelines and reap the benefits when the time came, but reality was often cruel.

    The systematic oppression they faced under Leonel''s leadership was suffocating, and the most shocking part was that Earth''s core armies never made a single move, still silently improving themselves in the main region of Earth''s territory.

    Leonel utilized Shield Cross Star''s flagship and many somewhat lesser quality warriors to completely rout them, leaving them no chance for retaliation. There was simply nothing to take advantage of, and those that remained within Earth''s territory knew that they would be next the moment Leonel finished consolidating everything in the Three Pillar Sector.

    However, to their surprise, after crushing the rest of the Viola family''s opposition and swallowing up their territories, Leonel came to a full and complete stop.

    Those watching from the sidelines felt their hearts go cold upon seeing this.

    Nat anh wae T.eanel vniino and nawerfiil hit hic cammand of the hattlefield wae ninlike anvthino thew had ever ceen hefare Vanno ctrateocicte nften let their cniccece cland their judgment and often pressed too hard once they had gained an advantage, not realizing that it only took a single mistake to lose everything.

    Compared to others, Leonel had even more of a right to be cocky. He had subdued two entire Sectors in just a few months, why shouldn''t he feel arrogant?

    And yet, despite having a clear and strategic advantage, and having the momentum necessary to stake a claim onto the rest of Earth''s territory, he did nothing of the sort, pulling back and retreating into the darkness in complete silence as though nothing had happened at all...

    However, in that silence, what rang the loudest was peace.

 Chapter 1838 And Yet..

    1838 And Yet..

    Leonel sat in silence, his thoughts unreadable. It was hard to tell whether he was happy or unsatisfied with what was going on around him despite the fact that it was a clear and undeniable victory on his part.

    In his mind, though, Leonel was quite unsatisfied. He didn''t believe that there was anything to be happy about at all. As far as he was concerned, the moment he came back, this result was essentially inevitable. Was there a need to be happy or prideful about something that was guaranteed?

    It had been about half a month since the collapse of the Viola family and the Etching Metal Organization had already begun to work on Leonel''s asks. In fact, a preliminary report on those two families had already been given to Leonel and he had circled one very important thing.

    Head of the Etazi family: Orinik Etazi.

    It was a simple bit of information, one accessible to almost anyone even without such a large and robust information network. And yet, when Leonel saw it, his lip couldn''t help but curl into a sneer.

    His relationship with Orinik couldn''t be said to have started off with the latter being in the wrong. In the eyes of Orinik, Leonel was someone who had relied on his mother to gain a position that he didn''t deserve, and that much was true.

    However, after stepping foot into the Void Palace, it was Orinik spreading this information that put the life of not only Leonel, but also Aina and the others in danger. Spreading it wasn''t particularly the problem, the real issue stemmed from who he had spread it to. There was deliberate and malicious intent in his actions.

    Not long after that, Leonel and Aina entered the Dwarven Race Zone and Orinik once again took advantage of that situation in an attempt to make money off of their deaths, a choice he paid dearly for at the hands of Leonel.

    In reality, neither of these two things deserved death. Whether he had malicious intent in the first case or not didn''t matter because if he chose to spread the information, it would have reached the ears of those people regardless. At the same time, when it came to the matters surrounding the Dwarven Zone, just because it left a poor taste in Leonel''s mouth, didn''t mean that it was worthy of death either.

    Due to these reasons, Leonel had never really given Orinik much thought after he had gone through so much. He wasn''t interested in dealing with such things anymore and he had bigger fish to fry. But to his surprise, Orinik insisted on becoming one of those bigger fish.

    Leonel flipped through the documents in just a few moments before setting them down. There was absolutely nothing special about them, but this was only the first round. It took time to lay down proper networks and communication paths, he didn''t expect anything more than this at this stage.

    ''It should be about time that Anastasia finished. I''ll see what I can find out about the Silver Empire''s inheritance before the tribulation descends."

    "When are you going to let me go?"

    The voice knocked Leonel out of his state of focus. He looked to the side to find that Harmony had come to the bow of the ship.

    "You want the serious answer?" Leonel asked.

    "Obviously." Harmony said, annoyed.

    It could be said that a large part of why Leonel was able to crush so many armies with relatively average talent was because he used Harmony like his sharpest blade, sending her to all the most troublesome areas.

    She had done her job well... not that she had much of a choice.

    "Okay. You can go after I destroy the Three Finger Cult."

    Harmony''s pupils constricted. The murderous intent coming off of Leonel in waves suddenly made her realize that if it wasn''t for the fact he owed her sister a favor, he really wouldn''t have hesitated to slaughter her in cold blood.

    After a moment, Harmony exhaled a breath. "You have no idea what you''re dealing with. Even your father hasn''t succeeded, let alone you."

    Leonel''s aura receded and he chuckled as he stood to his feet.

    "I don''t know why that old man''s dragging his feet, but I guarantee it has little to do with you all. There are larger things at play. I dare to say that no one in the universe can look my old man in the eye."

    Harmony frowned. Wasn''t Leonel too confident about things he knew nothing about?

    But her skepticism made sense. She had heard all sorts of disparaging remarks about the so-called "cowardly" Velasco from the Cult. In fact, the higher ups seemed to go out of their way to be certain that everyone knew how little they respected him.

    "You''re talking nonsense."

    "Am I?" Leonel stretched out his hips, his lip curling into a smile. "In that case, why don''t you ask yourself the same question in reverse."

    After saying this, Leonel turned and left, leaving Harmony quite stunned.

    Indeed... Velasco was just one man while they were an entire organization. What pride was there in saying he couldn''t take them down? Wasn''t the real question to ask why it was that after all these years, they hadn''t been able to kill him?

    Also, it wasn''t as though Velasco''s location was unknown. He had spent nearly 18 years, almost two decades, in the same spot, living in the same house, sitting on the same couch. He was entirely casual about his actions, and if he could figure out a method to enter a Third Dimensional world with his strength, with the resources of the Three Finger Cult, why couldn''t they?

    And yet, they hadn''t even made an attempt to kill him in that time as far as Harmony was aware...

    During those two decades, Velasco couldn''t practice, he had no Force to absorb, no higher energies to meditate upon, no method of improvement... But they still did absolutely nothing to him.

    Harmony''s gaze snapped back just in time to see Leonel''s back view vanishing. For some reason, she felt as though her heart was pounding out of her chest.

 Chapter 1839 Symbiotic

    1839 Symbiotic

    [More chapters on the way, just got a bit of a late start today... *cough*]

    Leonel entered the Segmented Cube and didn''t disturb Aina. Instead, he went right to Anastasia to see what she might have found out about the inheritance until now.

    Quite frankly, he was quite curious. It wasn''t just about the inheritance itself, but also its method of transferring its benefits. Leonel had only been in contact with a third of the inheritance for a small while, and yet it had permanently altered his heart size and shape without him even noticing. Methods on that level were far beyond Leonel''s understanding.

    Even when it came to the tablet, Leonel could feel the transformation process, and there was even some pain involved, especially when the light and dark halves of his Northern Star Lineage Factor fused into one.

    For such sweeping changes to occur to him without even taking note of it... it was one part astonishing and another part somewhat scary. What if instead of benefits, the inheritance had been malicious? What if instead of improving the function of his heart, it added a permanent defect to it? Or what if it removed his heart entirely?

    These latter reasons were why Leonel chose to be cautious. If even his senses were useless in checking and monitoring the changes of this inheritance, then diving head first into it might very well be a mistake that he would never be able to extricate himself from.

    "Any news?" Leonel stepped into the lab to find a floating little girl.

    "This inheritance is quite amazing. If what you said about the Silver Empire being a hotbed for demons was true, then this inheritance is probably the reason they were able to do it.

    Just taking on this inheritance would practically make someone immortal. Just the benefits of slowing your heartbeat alone would extend your life by as much as 10%."

    Anastasia didn''t even look toward Leonel as she spoke, her gaze somewhat vacant. But Leonel was used to this. Unlike he who had to physically use the tools of the lab to get the results he wants, Anastasia was the lab and the lab was her. That vacant look in her was just her exercising her control over her surroundings, and that was made even clearer by the tools and flickering screens in the surroundings.

    Leonel didn''t seem too surprised by Anastasia''s words, though, most of these were his guesses already. Plus, even back on Third Dimensional Earth, the benefits of strengthening the heart and lowering one''s resting heart rate were well documented.

    "Anything groundbreaking?"

    "Everything is about what you would expect. The three parts of the inheritance come together to cause a qualitative change to the body, however the wood part of the inheritance caused the most obvious changes. More valves to the heart, larger sides, more folds in the lungs, more blood vessels, etc.

    "The fire part of the inheritance allows you to swallow Fire Force and turn it into strength and vitality that support the wood part.

    "The metal part allows you to transfer this vitality from yourself to other objects, namely metal objects, and if you''re clever like the Radix family, metal Crafts.

    "One part makes you a vessel. Another part strengthens the vessel. The last part allows you to share the strength of your vessel.

    "No matter how you slice it, it''s an auxiliary Lineage Factor designed for the express purpose of support, but what''s odd is that it''s not obvious at first glance what it''s trying to support. The fire part makes sense, but the transfer to metal objects part feels entirely arbitrary."

    "Why does the fire part make sense?"

    "Fire has and always will be the foundation of life. It was the first invention. Without its existence, without its warmth, there wouldn''t be life as we know it. It could be said that it''s even more fundamental in this regard than Life Force."

    Leonel frowned when he heard this. It sounded like some nonsense you would read in a book, or some legend about a man like Prometheus. But the way he saw it, the root of fire would always be destruction. It was designed to burn, to combust.

    Warmth came not from fire, but from the stars, and stars were decidedly not flames, they were nuclear reactors that took advantage of the exothermic output of volatile chemical reactions. Life could exist without fire, in fact existence might be better off without it in some respect. But it couldn''t make do without stars.

    If Anastasia had said the same thing about Water Force, he would have tended to believe her a little bit more. But for Fire Force...?

    One just needed to look at the number one Fire Force in all of existence to understand. How could the embodiment of destruction be the number one Fire Force in all of existence if Fire Force was the representation of life?

    It didn''t compute.

    "... if I had to guess why metal was chosen, it''s likely because its root is Earth Force. Earth Force is a great stabilizing Force and it can ensure balance. This ties in with the transferring of vitality quite well as well, as it won''t allow your body to become overloaded with Life Force that you cannot handle. As such, it allows you to offload some of that weight to another vq y y y y 8

    object."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    ''Metal as a stabilizing force... Hold on, Earth Force isn''t necessarily entirely disconnected from life. There are real minerals and metals within the human body that have to reach a certain level to maintain one''s health.

    "Tron, zinc, copper, magnesium, sodium... the list goes on and on. Earth Force is probably even more important to survival and Life Force than Fire Force could ever be? That sort of symbiotic relationship between organic and inorganic..."

    Leonel''s body trembled and he seemed to have comprehended something. His Bronze Aura triggered outside of his control, but the dazed look in his eyes made it clear and obvious that he didn''t notice at all.

    Leonel''s aura rose like a gentle tide, a far cry from the sudden burst he had experienced at the Umbra family.

    Even so, he crossed a major threshold, entering Tier 4.

 Chapter 1840 Slow And Steady?

    1840 Slow and Steady?

    Leonel''s progress was like a gentle tide, his aura like the warm embrace of the first rays of sun in the morning.

    The way Leonel looked at his Divine Armor and Metal Body felt different now. They didn''t feel like extensions of himself granted by his Lineage Factor, rather they felt more like fundamental aspects of his being and he even somewhat regretted how he had constructed them now. If he had this knowledge before, his approach would have been slightly different.

    However, unlike how he might have reacted to this in the past, Leonel didn''t panic now and his usual feelings of missing out weren''t there. That was because due to his new mindset, he was extraordinarily confident that he would be able to fix it.

    His Divine Armor and Metal Body weren''t rigid, immovable constructs. They were him just as he was them. If one wanted to change the composition of metals in their body, there were all sorts of methods even a Third Dimensional human could use, let alone Leonel who was now in Tier 4 of the Sixth Dimension and had a Lineage Factor specifically tailored for this.

    Now, Leonel was even more certain that the Lineage Factor of the Morales family was tied with the Lineage Factor of the Silver Empire.

    He felt that Anastasia was correct. The Lineage Factor was preparing a person''s body for something... and that something was the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. He was over 70%

    certain of this.

    The only questions that remained were related to how things had come about like this. Why was the preparation Lineage Factor not in the hands of the Morales? With it, they would have the only Ninth Dimensional Lineage Factor in the Human Domain, that was guaranteed, no one could convince otherwise.

    Even if by some anomaly Leonel was wrong and this inheritance wasn''t designed to help the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, the truth of the matter was that it would still raise the latter to the standard of a Ninth Dimensional Lineage Factor whether they were related or not. The two were simply far too compatible!

    Then there were the other obvious questions. What was the relationship of the Morales with the Silver Empire? And no, even deeper than that, the Three Finger Cult? Was this related to the death of his grandfather?

    He could feel that the demoness could sense him whenever he thought about her. It was the uncomfortable feeling of someone looking over his shoulder while he was trying to do work, scrutinizing his every action.

    If she wanted, Leonel felt that she could learn everything she wanted to learn about him in an instant, so why hadn''t she done anything yet? Could it be that she wanted this inheritance to fall into his hands? Could she be indifferent to it all? Could it be that she was afraid to take action because of his father?

    Even for Leonel, he felt like he was getting a headache thinking about it, nothing felt like it made sense. The jumbled mess of enemies, friends... frenemies? All seemed far too complex for even him to untangle.

    Leonel opened his eyes and exhaled. However, he was surprised to find that Anastasia was looking at him with a weird look in her eyes.

    "What''s wrong?" Leonel asked.

    "... People aren''t supposed to be able to break through like that."

    "Like what? Isn''t this how the Sixth Dimension works? My path isn''t exactly like the God Path, but it works similarly enough. So long as I comprehend my Forces, I progress."

    "Yes, but it''s not like that. You''re making massive leaps in logic, accepting them easily, integrating them, and then breaking through in the blink of an eye. Normally, one needs to have an idea, affirm it, test it, then meditate on it for a few weeks to months before consolidating and then finally breaking through. The only person I''ve seen breakthrough like you is...

    that annoying man."

    Leonel grinned, already knowing she was talking about his old man.

    "What''s even weirder is that you don''t seem to be using the same Forces to break through, and you also aren''t using a cultivation method of any kind. You did the same thing through the Fifth Dimension too, you didn''t even use [Dimensional Cleanse] until you needed to redo the Fifth Dimension and break through."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that? You weren''t there for that."

    "My vessel is an extension of me. Although I wasn''t there, my vessel was still on your finger the whole time. After I fused with it again, its memories also fused with me."

    "I see..." Leonel said lightly. "... Is there something wrong with what I''m doing?"

    "Not really, but it relies a lot on spontaneity, something that can''t be relied on. If you don''t learn to do things the slow way, it might come back to bite you... or you could be like that annoying man and never need the slow way anyway.

    "Just now, if your comprehension of Earth Force didn''t leapfrog your comprehension of Dream Force, you wouldn''t have seen much movement. And because it relied on a spontaneous comprehension, your Forces are imbalanced again.

    "It works for you, for now at least, because you have high affinity in a number of Forces so those spontaneous comprehensions have more potential paths to take. But when you reach a state whether your affinities start lagging behind your Dimensional Tier, it''ll be hard to tell what will happen. You may fall behind those who took slower and steadier steps."

    Leonel nodded. "I understand. But there is one thing you''re missing: my Ability Index."

    Anastasia fell into her thoughts and nodded once. Indeed, so called "slower and steadier steps" look a lot faster for Leonel simply by virtue of how his mind worked and the speeds it functioned at.

    "Still, keep this in mind," Anastasia said.

    "Mm," Leonel nodded. "I''ll be going now. I was wondering if it was worth it to put in the effort to gain this full inheritance, but I feel that there''s no doubt now. I have to have it."

 Chapter 1841 Restrictions

    1841 Restrictions Not long later, Leonel sat in the midst of the meditating youths of the Radix, Midas and Florer. He seemed to have entirely forgotten about the world around him. Although he was very much present, those who looked at him felt as though he wasn''t there at all. Every few minutes, his aura would shift slightly and the mysterious well of Force that surrounded him only became deeper.

    Leonel stood in the middle of a world of golden trees, flaming skies and dense rivers of bronze. He walked across the bronze rivers, crossing by the golden trees and feeling the heat of flaming skies above his head.

    This was the now complete world, of which he had only seen a portion of before. Last time he was here, there was no ground and no sky, only the trees of gold. But now, the world was truly complete and every step he took felt like he was being baptized by an odd energy.

    What was interesting though was that Leonel didn''t feel that it was very difficult at all.

    The Bronze River should have made his legs heavy, but other than a small slow down, he experienced no other hardships.

    The golden trees continuously flooded his body with vitality, trying to test to see where his limits lay, but he continuously broke through them as though they didn''t exist in the first place.

    The flaming skies above were supposed to burn his skin, to scorch his will through, to raze him down to nothing more than a pile of ashes... but compared to the three other challenges, this one was by far the easiest. He had two Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes within his body, how could normal flames hope to burn him?

    As he walked forward, the bronze rivers rushed with more vigor, the golden trees shone with more vitality, and the normal flames in the skies became something even more sinister than that, but Leonel only continued to walk forward without the slightest pause.

    In the outside world, Leonel''s once gentle breath became like hurricane force winds. He didn''t seem to be trying very hard, and yet all of the air in the surrounding hundreds of meters surged toward him uncontrollably.

    Without a choice, the elders could only evacuate the children in the vicinity. They had yet to see such an exaggerated result from meditating on the inheritance, but they had seen somewhat similar results before.

    Somewhere deep inside, they had hoped that Leonel''s results wouldn''t be as successful as theirs, in one part due to selfishness, and another part due to them wanting to maintain their usefulness to him. But after seeing this, they knew for a fact that Leonel was simply on a different level.

    Even the two most talented among them, Grey and Magoron took weeks to reach this level, but Leonel had only been here for a few minutes.

    Golden flames suddenly took life and danced across Leonel''s skin before being absorbed by him and vanishing.

    Leonel''s hair began to grow out to exaggerated length. Soon it had pooled so much that his body could hardly be seen. It was quite a beautiful sight, just endless strands of filaments exuding a gentle pale purple light. It looked like the hair of a deity.

    At the same time, Leonel''s Bronze Aura appeared once again, becoming thicker and thicker until it bordered an almost dark mustard to dark gold color. It solidified to the point it looked almost as though Leonel had gotten a harsh spray tan that didn''t compliment him well at all. But then it infused into his skin and seemed to vanish entirely.

    Just when it vanished, Leonel took another step within the trial world and it appeared again in the outside world, this time rippling outward with wild abandon. This time, however, the Bronze Aura had gained a tinge of a violet light to it, making it look particularly royal and majestic. This violet hue only continued to grow.

    Right then, in the depths of Leonel''s blood, the faint outline of a sixth set of doors began to form.

    Across the universe, in the depths of the Morales family hold land, three mountain sized incense sticks continued to burn with a gentle light as the elders meditate in silence, the commotion of the world seemingly having nothing at all to do with them. Until, all at once, their eyes opened with a sudden forcefulness.

    BOOM!

    The outline of a nine-layered door appeared in the skies of the Holy Land and the Morales family elders watched with trembling hearts. They had never seen such a phenomenon before, but inwardly they all knew what it was.

    The Sixth Door.

    The Fifth Door of the Morales family had always been a tightly held secret. No one but their most talented knew that their Lineage Factor had the potential to enter the Eighth Dimension. However, none of them had known that a Sixth Door was possible.

    They had no idea where this door was coming from and the aura was far too wild and volatile to lock down its location. But all of them still thought of just a single man. They couldn''t fathom it being anyone other than Velasco, that man who broke all laws of common sense on his whim.

    Could it be that he had finally found a path to enter that legendary realm? Could it be that he had finally broken the shackles of the Eighth Dimension that had bound this universe? Had he finally beaten the Regular at its own game?

    The elders all looked up with shimmering gazes, their hearts practically pounding out of their chest.

    At this point, even the restrictions of this Holy Land couldn''t block out this aura and it began to leak, enveloping the Human Domain and even crossing the barrier into other Domains.

    Leonel continued to sit in silence. In the depths of his bloodline, the Fourth Door and all of its nine tiers were nearly blown off its hinges. A door he should have only been able to open when he entered the Seventh Dimension with his Metal Body couldn''t withstand his blazing aura for even a few short moments, its shackles shattering to pieces.

 Chapter 1842 Bow Heads

    1842 Bow Heads Leonel''s aura continued to blaze, the Fifth Door nearly flying from its hinges a moment later. Only then did Leonel''s momentum begin so slow before coming to a gentle stop, standing beneath the looming presence of the Sixth Door.

    The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was the only one Leonel knew of that had steps to its progress like this. As a result, it couldn''t display its full player until it reached a certain point.

    Leonel could still remember hard being able to manipulate Earth Force to change his surroundings when he entered the Void Palace, and that was because back then, he had only opened up the Second Door. How could he manipulate a Seventh Dimensional world, especially one under the influence of Anarchic Force, when his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was only opened up to the Fifth Dimension?

    Of course, things weren''t exactly that simple. Despite its supposed weakness, the Metal Synergy Bloodline, especially thanks to its supplemental skills like Metal Body and Divine Armor, matched up well and even dwarfed many Lineage Factors when facing enemies at the same level.

    But now, Leonel had blown by the usual convention of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, awakening it to the Eighth Dimension in just a single step. In an instant, it had gone from one of his weaker Lineage Factors, at least in terms of raw power and ignoring its supplemental techniques, to one of his absolute strongest.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, causing winds of such force to manifest that the walls in the surroundings cracked and threatened to collapse the entire building.

    Leonel opened his eyes slowly, a dense light shooting out of them. When he saw the state of his surroundings, his gaze narrowed for a moment before he waved a hand. At that moment, a wave of Earth Force took shape and the cracks and damages to the foundation were healed in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel took another breath and realized he was breathing far too hard and adjusted himself accordingly. Others might take days, weeks or even months to properly adjust themselves to new strength, but Leonel took only a handful of seconds before it was all reined in.

    With a hand, Leonel grabbed at his hair and cut it short once more before storing it and standing to his feet.

    Leonel looked toward the inheritance and his gaze narrowed. Whether it was the chalice, the flame or the wood ball, all of them had greatly dimmed. It seemed there was a limit to the number of times these treasures could pass on the full inheritance. Leonel wasn''t sure if they would recover with time, or if this was permanent, but there was already nothing much he could do to change things.

    Leonel ruffled his hair and turned to leave. He had a feeling that something big would happen quite soon. Unfortunately this time, it was probably his fault. This change would catalyze a lot of things to happen on a faster timeline than he thought might otherwise happen.

    This was fine, though. Now he felt even more confident about certain things. Even on a slower timeline, there was no guarantee he would be able to reach this level of strength.

    *%

    As Leonel thought, the sudden burst of an aura that transcended anything they had ever felt before coming directly from the Morales family had made many feel as though they were standing on tenterhooks. It only made things worse that Leonel''s appearance had completely stabilized the situation in Earth''s territory, ruining any chance outside influences had to take advantage of the situation.

    The momentum of the Morales family felt too fierce. Not only did the Races outside the Human Domain want to stifle it, but so too did even humans themselves.

    As Wise Star Order had said, humans were simply too divided. In such a volatile world, any other race facing this sort of existential crises would have long since come together. In fact, this wasn''t just speculation, not long ago, something very similar had happened to the Dwarven Race after their first Eighth Dimensional world appeared. They had pulled themselves together and fought tooth and nail before succeeding in defending their territory.

    And what were humans doing? They had yet to pick out a leader, Earth was on the verge of entering the Eighth Dimension any time now, and it was already obvious that other Races were making their moves, but they were more worried about the Morales family gaining too much power too suddenly.

    Within the Etazi family, Orinik say in a courtyard sipping some tea. To his side there was Rychard and an unknown young man, or at the very least, he was unknown to most of the world as he had only just come onto the scene. He was none other than the current head of the Eamon family, Montero.

    They all looked up into the skies when they sensed the aura, their expression frighteningly serious.

    They fell into silence for a long while, no one speaking for as much as half an hour until an attendant ran in and respectfully handed Orinik a summary report.

    When Orinik finished reading, he passed it to the other two and smiled lightly.

    "It seems that this time came sooner than I thought it would. We just need to make a subtle little push."

    "What do you intend to do?" Montero asked.

    "It''s simple, really. The Morales family needs to be knocked down a peg. Leonel Morales needs to be knocked down a peg. Earth needs to be knocked down a peg. There''s just one obvious choice: the Heirs Wars."

    Rychard and Montero frowned.

    Seeing their reactions, Orinik chuckled.

    "You two look at the Heirs Wars too simply. This isn''t just a stage for the Morales family to pick a successor. Why do you think the Constellation families do not participate? It''s because they too know that it means more than just a few juniors fighting it out. If the Constellation families participated, it wouldn''t just be a friendly clash to pick out the Heir with the best future potential, it would instead be a Domain War of the Human Domain."

    The hearts of the two men skipped a beat.

    "So you want to..."

    "Well, we don''t really need to do much at all, we just need to plant some seeds. Despite the talent of the other Heirs, the one everyone fears the most is Leonel. If the Morales family ends up in his hands, it won''t be long before the Human Domain is ruled by them and there are too many who don''t want to see that day come."

    "... You want to force the Morales family to hold the Heir Wars ahead of time."

    Orinik''s lip curled. "Just the act of holding it before they want to will be a slap to their face. It will slow their momentum and humiliate them on a world stage. In addition, because Leonel has yet to enter the Seventh Dimension, and lost 20 years of preparation, his loss is almost guaranteed. Once he loses the right to lead the Morales family... Well, haha, I will keep some things to myself for now."

    "Will the Morales family bow to such pressure, though?" Rychard asked.

    "You''re still too naive," Orinik laughed. "There is no absolute power in the Human Domain, even in regards to the Morales family.

    "Will they bow their hands? Haven''t they done so already once before? Why do you think Velasco isn''t the Patriarch of the Morales family right now? You can''t really believe he just didn''t want such power, right?"

    The eyes of the two young men opened wide. The two couldn''t help but look toward one another, seeing the clear shock in one another''s eyes.

    *%

    In a distant place across the universe, Velasco looked up from teasing his wife, his gaze narrowing. In the end, in a rare moment of solemnity, he sighed. However, his sigh had nothing to do with the pressure the Morales family would soon face.

    ''... That demoness sunk her claws into my son?"

    His gaze became frighteningly cold.

    He didn''t sound like a man that was ignorant of the Silver Empire''s inheritance at all. But oddly enough, he didn''t seem to be worried about Leonel using it either... and yet he was enraged... no, more accurately annoyed...

    As for why, maybe only he and a select few knew.

 Chapter 1843 Pretentious

    1843 Pretentious The Morales family was incredibly complex in structure. One didn''t need to be a genius to understand this, just knowing that they had over a billion youths born into the Nova Generation was enough to necessitate this. Also, these were just the number of youths that had awakened at least one of their Lineage Factors and couldn''t represent the total number of youths born into this Generation as a whole.

    If there were so many born into just a single generation, then it was all too clear just what kind of scale the Morales family was one.

    Things only became more complex in recent times due to the 20 year time dilation. Because of the circumstances, the next generation of youths, the Post-Nova Generation, had already been born. Usually, these youths would be gearing up for their own Heir Wars in just another decade or so, but they had ended up unlucky in this regard.

    With the Nova Generation having yet to claim its Patriarch, the Post-Nova Generation might never get a chance to. It also didn''t help that while the number of Heirs to the Nova Generation was much larger than previous years at seven, the Post-Nova Generation actually had even more, with nine awakening two Lineage Factors!

    To the Morales family, this was actually a good problem to have. With so many talents, the elders spent their days smiling so wide that their wrinkles seemed to have entirely smoothed out. But to the rest of the world, this was just another item on the checklist of reasons the Morales family had to be suppressed.

    Their momentum was too great and it only seemed to be growing more and more everyday.

    Orinik was a lot of things, but a fool wasn''t one of them. At the very least, he was correct that there was only so much idling the remainder of the Human Domain would continue to do, and Leonel would seem to be the catalyst for many of these things.

    The current Patriarch of the Morales family was a man who went by Alejandro Morales. He was the father of First Nova, Adawarth, and a man known for his calm temperament and even keeled approach to things, a far cry from the usual madmen the Morales family placed in power.

    It could be said that it was thanks to Alejandro that the Morales family hadn''t been dissected by their enemies. His calm approach to diplomacy had eased a lot of the tension and bad blood that had been caused by the previous Heir War.

    There was no doubt that he was a well respected man who didn''t easily display his emotions on his face, but on this day he had a dark cloud hanging over his head, both figuratively and literally.

    Those who thought of Alejandro as a calm, and even keeled man had never met him in his youth. He had been forced to train himself to control his temper because whenever he lost it, a black cloud would appear above him just like this one.

    If those in his vicinity were lucky, he would be able to keep it to this relatively small and miniature size. If they were unlucky, or rather were stupid enough to keep provoking him, this dark cloud would spin entirely out of control and destroy everything in its path.

    Alejandro had a very rare weather control Ability Index and he had elevated it to Tier 4 which allowed him to create his own atmosphere. This meant he no longer needed to rely on the atmosphere of a planet or a moon to display his Ability Index. At this level, if he lost control of his temper, an entire solar system could be embroiled in a storm, let alone a single planet.

    Clearly, he had been so lowkey over these last few decades that everyone had forgotten. What other explanation could there be for them to provoke him like this again and again?

    The Morales family had a lot of turnover at the Patriarch position, usually changing every 20 to 30 years at most. This was because their personalities were very suited to leadership to begin with, they were all much too hotblooded.

    Alejandro had managed to rein in his temper because he thought he would only have to endure two decades of this bullshit, come to find out that his position would be extended by another two decades on top of that.

    He was already reaching the end of his fuse, and then this nonsense kept coming on his desk again and again.

    "FUCK!"

    BOOM!

    The cloud above his head released a resounding clap of thunder that sent a powerful sound wave in all directions. The window shattered, the walls cracked, the very foundation of the building quaked.

    Adawarth, who was sitting across from his father, slowly lowered his palms from his ears. Clearly, he had been prepared ahead of time, although the result was still jarring.

    "I don''t want to read this shit anymore, read it to me," Alejandro threw over a large pile of leaders and leaned back in his chair with an annoyed expression, bringing out a cigar.

    Adawarth shook his head, but eventually still opened up the next one and cleared his throat.

    ""... Greetings from the Lio family. We are concerned that with the coming Race War, the Morales family will be leaderless while moving into this new era. The position of Patriarch of the Morales family is one that changes the direction of the whole of the human race. It is best if this is no longer delayed as it would only be a detriment to the Human Domain.

    "In proving that we of the Lio family are properly invested in this matter, we are willing to send juniors to participate as well. We are committed to"

    BOOM!

    Alejandro''s desk shattered. His fuse was really short these days, he had no patience for any of it.

    "Tell them to go fuck themselves. They must really think I''m a pushover. Fuck, let me see that letter, I want to see the hand writing. If I don''t kick the ass of the bastard who wrote that pretentious pile of shit I''m going to explode!"

    Adawarth could only speechlessly hand the letter over to his father.

 Chapter 1844 Excellent

    1844 Excellent

    "I knew it was that bastard Vanuzi. He''s the only one of those pricks who thinks himself to be a scholar despite having the IQ of a pile of shit from a donkey''s ass."

    Adawarth''s lip twitched. The world hadn''t seen his father''s foul mouth in too long, so they had clearly forgotten. But he and his mother were all too well aware, they could only allow the man to rant. So, Adawarth did so until Alejandro seemed to have finally run out of breath.

    "We''re going to have to do it anyway, dad."

    Alejandro looked toward his son with bloodshot eyes as though he could swallow him whole. For a second, he saw a reflection of himself 40 years ago, back when he still had the patience to remain calm.

    The apple didn''t fall too far from the tree, so Alejandro knew all too well that his son had a temper no less fiery than his own. It was just that the two had bothered to learn how to control it unlike many of the others.

    Even so, he felt like he wanted to take a bite out of his son''s head right now even though he knew that he was correct. There were certain things that had to be done in the name of keeping the peace. If a family only knew how to move forward and never took a step back, things could easily reach a point of no return.

    However, the goal of these people was too infuriating. Holding the Heir Wars no was for no other purpose than to suppress Leonel. Even Sixth Nova, Valor, had now stepped into the Seventh Dimension after so long at the peak of the Sixth. The youths of the Cataclysm Generation were also taking that step one after another.

    The only one at a decidedly cruel disadvantage was Leonel.

    This was infuriating on multiple fronts. For one, the Morales family had no desire to suppress one of their own. And secondly, these actions were like the world saying that his own son was inferior!

    Even if he was inferior to Velasco, did his son not get a chance to at least prove himself before the world decided that he couldn''t match up to the former''s son? This enraged Alejandro just as much as anything else.

    But even a step beyond this, it was clear that the greatest goal here, especially with the Constellation Families insisting on taking part...

    Was to kill Leonel.

    Even in the case that they didn''t kill him, it was to at least knock him down a peg, to crush his confidence, maybe even to do him harm that he couldn''t heal from, to cripple him.

    This was the underlying motivation of all of this, and they were asking Alejandro to sanction it. To them, if so many families were participating at once, it would be impossible for Velasco to target all of them, not to mention the fact that it would only be the juniors participating to begin with.

    Leonel''s life wasn''t what was truly important here, it was his connection with Earth. If a Prince of Earth became the Patriarch of the Morales family, what that meant and represented was on a completely different level than the current status quo. The Morales family would have every right to move in and monopolize the whole of Earth.

    This was something the other families could not allow, and as such, Leonel couldn''t be allowed to continue pressing forward and growing at his own leisurely pace.

    With everything laid out like this, there was little the others could do. If the Morales family was firm in rejecting this, then the one to suffer the most would be Leonel. Those families had taken this approach for the sake of maintaining a faint veil of cordiality. If the Morales rejected, then it was just another step toward shedding all pretenses and they would have to be ready to war with the whole of the Human Domain.

    "That doesn''t mean we have to roll over either," Adawarth said with a smile.

    Alejandro, who was already annoyed, just rolled his eyes.

    "Just get to the point, you''re so long winded. I swear you get it from your mo??" Alejandro immediately stopped and cleared his throat. His eyes darted around and he only breathed a sigh of relief after he realized his wife wasn''t here. He had almost forgotten himself as he lost his temper, that could have ended very badly.

    Adawarth raised an eyebrow but just chuckled in the end.

    "Since they want to participate, let them participate. But not as supporters, but as Heirs themselves. Since they like to think themselves capable of suppressing our family, I''d like to see what they can do when they''re forced to be on a stage with us."

    Alejandro slammed his palms on the table. "Excellent."

    Firstly, this could be packaged as an event separate from the Heirs Wars although it would functionally still be the Heir Wars. Due to this, the hit the Morales family took to their reputation would be minimized.

    Secondly, it would give the Morales family Heirs a chance to completely suppress the Heirs of the other families and crush them one by one, thus mitigating the blow to their reputation even further. In fact, there was even an opportunity to gain reputation.

    And thirdly, maybe the best part of all, due to the fact these participating Heirs would have to gather up their own cohorts and supporters now, it would delay the matter for some time.

    It would take them a while before they were confident enough to match up their own cohorts with that of the Morales family Heirs.

    Of course, this might leave room for the Heirs to be backstabbed, so there was some risk involved. If the Morales Heirs'' people weren''t trustworthy enough and had ties to other powerful families, it would be easier to suddenly find yourself without any support in the end at all.

    This was a double edged sword that had to be baked into this event, or else the other families would never agree. If the Morales Heirs had all the advantages, wouldn''t the rest only be appearing to be humiliated?

    It seemed that during his reign, the world had forgotten to fear the Morales. In that case, Alejandro would let the juniors remind them first before the old fogies like himself stepped in.

 Chapter 1845 Arrogant!

    The reply of the Morales was surprisingly calm, but the reaction to it was anything but. There was only one word the Human Domain had to describe it...

    Arrogant!

    The release Alejandro made was quite simple. He accepted the terms of the other families. He said that he would happily welcome the families of the Human Domain to participate in their Heir Wars, in fact he was a bit surprised that none had ever requested to in the past. He felt that the youths of the Human Domain could have learned a lot from their previous generations, and he was happy that they would finally start with the Nova Generation.

    These words alone were a clear gauntlet thrown. He might as well have stepped out and slapped each one of their faces individually, and yet he had done it with a genial smile on his face and without the slightest hint of anger in his tone.

    However, this was only the very beginning. Alejandro''s statement continued.

    In commemoration of this change, the Morales family had decided to change things up. They would open up the Heir Wars Zone to all of the Heirs of the Human Domain. Anyone, regardless of background, could sign up to be an Heir. The only requirement was that one had to display strength equivalent to a Sector Ranked Disciple of the Void Palace and had to have at least three Seventh Dimensional existences willing to subordinate themselves to you. The only other catch was that these Seventh Dimensional existences could not be older than 100 years old.

    Just these rules alone cut off the path of many people. It had to be remembered that Rychard was already in his 70s when Leonel first met him, and yet he had only been at Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension. In addition, he had been in what could be considered a family at the very pinnacle of the Sixth Dimension.

    So, these rules cut off the opportunity to a lot of people. But from the very beginning, the Morales were only interested in teaching the families capable of pressuring them a lesson.

    This wasn''t a free for all.

    The Heir Wars Zone wasn''t just a place of battle, it was also one of the Morales family''s greatest resources. This couldn''t be casually opened up to outsiders just because.

    In his concluding statements, Alejandro said that this would be the first Domain-wide Heir Wars in their history so he hoped that the other families would show their sincerity. As rewards, the Morales family would be putting up not only their various body tempering pools on the line, but they also placed a chance to meditate within their Holy Land as one of their top prizes.

    This news alone unleashed a reign of chaos.

    Everyone knew that the Morales family body tempering pools were the best in the whole of the Human Domain, and maybe even in the whole of the universe. They were divided into several grades. There were their Common Pools, their Elite Pools, their Divine Pools, and finally their Transcendent Pools.

    To put into perspective just how valuable these pools were, just take the Common Pools for example. By soaking in the Common Pool just once a week, one could reach the Seventh Dimension in the Conventional Path in just 10 years while doing no other training.

    And that was just the Common Pool!

    The Elite Pool could have this same effect in just one year. The Divine Pool could have this same effect in just one month. The Transcendent Pool could allow this result in just a single dip!

    The shocking value of such a thing didn''t need to be explained. While the Morales family only had just three Transcendent Pools, their number of Common Pools could be counted in the tens of thousands. There was a reason they held nigh untouchable prowess within the Human Domain!

    Even so, the Body Tempering Pools paled in comparison to the Holy Land, or more accurately, the Breath of Incense one could inhale within the Holy Land.

    Breathing in these fumes would help one enter a state of enlightenment. Although there would be diminishing returns every time one inhaled these fumes, it was said that during the first time, depending on how deep your immersion, you might be able to break through several Tiers at once along the God Path!

    This was akin to the difference between Heaven and Earth. Leonel breaking through two stages at once was enough to leave the Umbra family, who had the Three Finger Cult as a reference, in complete and utter shock. However, the Breath of Incense within the Morales family''s Holy Land could induce similar results!

    Usually, the geniuses of the Morales family would delay their first inhalation for the longest period of time possible. The further they could make it first, the more valuable the first inhalation. There were even records of those with the best results crossing three and very rarely four Tiers at once within the Seventh Dimension!

    A single Tier divide within the Seventh Dimension, especially along the God Path, was even larger than the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension. And yet, this single inhalation could allow such a chance!

    The Morales family was very clearly forcing the hands of the other powerful families. They wanted to play games and poke the bear, right? Well in that case, if they wanted to even have the face to participate in these Heirs Wars, they had better bring out the best treasures they had or else they would be laughed out of the room before they even had a chance to catch their breath.

    Alejandro had laid down a very heavy gauntlet.

    In three months'' time, they would hold a conference on Planet Morales to iron out the rules of the Domain Heir Wars. In addition, by then, these families were to have their list of participants and the treasures they would be putting up prepared.

    The Morales family had made their move and the chess board seemed to have been flipped.

 Chapter 1846 Scorned

    Leonel, who had just been making his way back to the flagship, paused and looked up. There didn''t seem to be anything in the night sky, but he kept looking. Just half a minute later, a blinding flash of bronze light came and Leonel suddenly raised his hand and snagged it out of the air.

    "Oh?"

    Leonel had never received such a thing before, but he was almost entirely certain that it had come from the Morales family, he could just feel that familiar sort of familial aura.

    He quickly read it once, then twice, something he never had to do considering his memory. But the first time he read it, it was for information. The second time, however...

    Leonel burst into a fit of laughter, his laughter so loud that it echoed across Planet Radix. He hadn''t had a good laugh like this one in a while. The Morales family was indeed to his liking. Even if he hadn''t grown up with them, he still felt like he was one of them.

    ''A conference in three months, huh? Interesting.''

    He could feel that the Morales family was buying him time. They could have put the conference in a week from now and it would have still been enough time for those large families to react, but they hadn''t done so.

    By the time the conference was finished, probably another month would have passed. Considering the complexity of organizing such an event, Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if it took even longer than that. Then there''d probably be at least a couple months after that for final preparations.

    This meant even the earliest time for the Domain Heir Wars to begin would be about six months from now. It wouldn''t even be a surprise if it took up to an additional year, in fact. The Morales family had indeed done its best to give him all the time they could, something they definitely didn''t have to do.

    From Leonel''s understanding, compared to the most powerful branches of the Morales family, that of him, his father and his uncle could be considered to be the smallest. It should just be the three of them and their wives, making up barely six people.

    They had probably been larger in the past, but after his grandfather''s death, or maybe even in direct result of his grandfather''s death, that ship had sailed long ago.

    This was to say that the influence they had on the family outside of their personal prowess was limited and definitely couldn''t be compared to the other six Heirs, especially now Adawarth and Alejandro who currently headed the Ruler Faction of the family.

    In addition, those other families might think that Leonel was in cahoots with the Morales family to monopolize Earth, but only Leonel and the upper echelons of the Morales knew for certain that this was definitely not the case. To others, it was only natural that they protect Leonel because they wanted those resources, but Leonel knew that they were actually doing this for nothing in return. And yet...

    They still stepped out to protect him.

    In his actions, Leonel never really thought much about the Morales family. He was so used to the world being against him that he had just assumed the Morales would be plus one to that category. Even when it came to Earth, he was hyper aware that if he ever wanted it to truly be his, he would have to unseat his grandfather.

    However, today, he realized that the Morales family weren''t so calculating with him. They didn''t ask him for anything, they simply protected him because his last name was Morales, they didn''t need anything more.

    Leonel felt a hint of guilt in his heart when he thought to this point.

    Slowly, Leonel closed the letter and carefully put it away.

    Leonel titled his head up to the skies again and closed his eyes, falling into silence.

    He wouldn''t allow the Morales to be humiliated on his behalf. Since these families wanted to pressure them, he would just have to make them pay a price they weren''t willing to.

    They all knew that the Human Domain needed to unite against their common enemy, and yet instead of doing so, they were more worried about who would come out on top in the end.

    Even though Leonel wanted to take the Ascension Empire from his grandfather, did he ever do anything to harm Earth? Even though he wanted the Morales to be under his rule, did he ever harm his cousins? His actions were always measured and when need be, he stepped out to help even if it was in detriment to himself.

    However, it was clear to him that the Human Domain and their powerful families wouldn''t be sensible.

    In that case, there was only one path forward: absolute power.

    He would crush them one by one until they could no longer raise their heads, and he would start with their little prides and joys.

    Leonel opened his eyes and his gaze became entirely restrained. At that moment, he looked no different form a commoner youth without the slightest hint of energy leaking from him.

    With a step forward, he vanished.

    **

    In the depths of the Human Domain, there was a particular Alliance that was stirred by this, and that was the very one headed by the Omann family... The family who stood maybe in most opposition to the Morales outside of the Suiarf family... The Omanns, the heads of the Force Crafting Guild Alliance.

    The Scorned Queen Beauty had been completely silent in recent decades, not making any splashes more movements. She simply silently went about her business and the Force Crafting Guild continued to flourish under her rulership, growing silently more powerful everyday. Even months ago when she received news that her record in the Void Palace had been broken, she hadn''t made any movements whatsoever.

    However, when news of the Morales family''s Domain Conference reached her ears, she casually told one of her attendants to prepare transportation for her on that day.

    For the first time in decades, Cynthia Omann, the Scorned Queen Beauty, was going to make a public appearance.

 Chapter 1847 Thank You

    Leonel appeared on the flagship again and looked in a certain direction before a smile bloomed on his face.

    ''Not bad,'' he thought to himself.

    He had been paying attention when Raylion first took the demon pill. As he had expected, the process was anything but pretty, for all intents and purposes, he had practically died.

    However, Raylion was very special for one reason, and that was that his Ability Index was telekinesis.

    Leonel hadn''t thought about it much before, but after piecing together that Yuri was most definitely a Spiritual, he realized that the Ability Index she displayed was most likely not her real Ability Index. Of course, it had to be remembered that Yuri''s Ability Index was also telekinesis, or so it seemed.

    Leonel had posited that there were certain Ability Index that humans had that were actually just close replications of the greatest strength of other races. There was also a specific category of soul type Ability Indexes that gave humans abilities ranging closer to what one might expect a Spiritual to have.

    For example, Wise Star Order''s and Heira''s immortality Ability Index was actually just an ability that Spirituals are naturally born with. Likewise, telekinesis fell into this category as well.

    Leonel didn''t believe that he was unique. If he could find a method to separate his soul from his body under semi-natural conditions, he believed that other humans could do it as well, they just had to have a certain impetus and a baseline level of talent for it. And, in the case that they succeed, the benefits to their related soul talents would benefit greatly as well.

    In truth, Leonel''s real hypothesis was even crazier than that. He thought there might be a chance that Spirituals were just evolved humans who shed the need for their mortal bodies.

    But he didn''t have any real evidence for such thoughts other than some Ability Indexes and the fact he could separate his own soul, so he had only assigned about a 3-4% probability of such a thing being real.

    But now that Raylion had confirmed his hypothesis, that 3-4% had increased to about 11-12%.

    Raylion looked down at his own hands, an unbelievable power coursing through his veins. As a person with telekinetic abilities, his body had never been very powerful, he could just make it look like it was by using his telekinesis. But right now, he felt like he had been entirely reborn, as though he had risen from the ashes like a phoenix.

    Months ago, when he first swallowed the pill, he thought he was finished. His body couldn''t withstand the impact and he had directly exploded apart. However, thankfully, a mysterious energy had protected his Ethereal Glabella from shattering along with the rest of his body. From that point on, whether he succeeded or not was entirely reliant on himself.

    He was unwilling to give up, unwilling to let his dream go, unwilling to leave Sael behind. She seemed so strong, but she could also be so frail sometimes. She had just finally climbed out from that rut of guilt she had spent years in, he didn''t want her to go back into it because of him.

    So he had held it together, he had scratched and clawed.

    A mysterious energy had perfectly sealed the room around him, so whether it was his Ethereal Glabella, his soul, or the energy of the pill that had shattered his body, it was all trapped in an enclosed space.

    Raylion hadn''t had much time to think about it at the time, but he realized after he was out of the danger zone that this had been a great help to him. If someone else heard the commotion and barged in, he would likely be finished and never get the chance. At the same time, because the energy was restricted to a relatively small region, he was able to slowly gain the ability to use his telekinesis to reel it in and force it into his control to begin reforming his body.

    This was the very first time that Raylion had ever used his telekinesis on an intangible object like energy, he hadn''t even known that such a thing was possible until now. Just that process alone had evolved his Ability Index to a level it had never before touched.

    If he could control any and all energies with his telekinesis, didn''t that mean that he had affinity for any Force he so pleased?

    He had never had affinities before so he had been limited in this regard, but didn''t he have such a chance now?

    Raylion gripped his fists and his body crackled. At the same time, there were small warps and swirls in space that were invisible to the naked eye, but he could feel oh so clearly through his telekinesis. He felt that if he wanted to, he could even rip a hole through the void with his telekinesis.

    Raylion was even further shocked by this realization. His body had fallen to the Third Dimension after being reconstructed, but somehow he still held so much power. If he returned to the Fifth Dimension like he had been before, just what kind of power would he hold then? And what if he stepped beyond that?

    This was it, this was the power he had been hoping for all this time. No... This was the talent he had been hoping for all this time. This power was just the beginning.

    Raylion looked up toward the ceiling, his gaze glistening with unshed tears that he refused to allow to fall. He gripped his fists harder and harder until the droplets that fell were crimson as opposed to a salty teardrop of emotion.

    He exhaled a slow breath and stood to his feet. He had to increase his Dimensional level as quickly as possible to allow his body to catch up to his soul.

    Raylion reached for the door handle but paused for a moment.

    He raised his head to the ceiling and unleashed a mighty roar that shook the room and threatened to destroy it, and yet had no effect on the outside.

    Only after this and putting on a set of robes did he return to his normal placid self, opening the door and stepping out into what felt like a new world.

    ''Thank you, Leonel.''

 Chapter 1848 Same Level

    Leonel faintly nodded to himself.

    Right now, Raylion''s telekinesis was on an entirely different level whether that be in terms of strength or sensitivity, purely because it no longer had to deal with the barrier of his own body. Right now, his soul talent could truly flourish because it wasn''t being forcefully restricted by the limitation of his body.

    This was a barrier that all those with soul talent faced. Because the soul was fused with the body, one would inevitably hold back the other. Just by separating them, Raylion underwent a qualitative change. But by also increasing the strength of Raylion''s body on top of that, his future potential had been completely re-written and evolved.

    The current Raylion, especially due to the fact he had reconstructed his body as a citizen of Earth, had gained an extraordinary amount of benefits that would only continue into the future. As things stood now, Leonel believed that he was only a step or two below the Cataclysm Generation in terms of strength, and if he practiced again and entered the Sixth Dimension, there should be minimal differences between them.

    If Raylion took a step beyond and continued to seek out power and entered a unique God Path of his own, then the benefits could only be said to be extraordinary. He may surpass the members of the Cataclysm Generation and never look back.

    Raylion wasn''t the only one who had benefited greatly. In fact, it was unknown if he was the one who had even benefitted the most.

    In Aphestus'' room, his body was undergoing a great number of changes as well, but unlike the others, due to his Ability Index, Aphestus'' ability to assimilate and benefit from the demon pills was on another level entirely.

    While everyone else needed to restructure their body or improve their foundation, Aphestus was just restructuring himself, he was becoming a demon!

    This was a fundamentally different thing. If others only gained 50% of what they could from a demon pill, he gained all 100%. He not only gained their strong bodies, he gained their affinities, their strengths, their abilities, their reflexes, their healing factors... everything!

    The best part was that Leonel had purposely picked out demon types that were well suited to him and his battle style. He consumed several blade type demons, allowing him to literally grow swords and claws as extensions of his body as he pleased, and he topped it all off by consuming a large number of Fire Demons.

    That session alone allowed him to enter the Seventh Dimension with the Conventional Path, a shocking feat that he never thought would be possible for him, but what was even more shocking was that this was the end of what Leonel had in store for him.

    After essentially becoming a perfect fusion of blade and fire demon, Leonel sent Aphestus to the Radix family where he was allowed to meditate on the flame within the chalice.

    When Aphestus left, he did so with only a third of the inheritance, but with his body having undergone yet another qualitative change.

    Not only did he have the body of a blade-fire demon, but he could now swallow flames to strengthen his body and vitality. Due to his foundation as a blade-fire demon, his skill in this third of the inheritance was even beyond that Midas family of the past by an extraordinarily large measure.

    He felt so invincible that he roared up into the skies, laughing beside himself.

    Sael had also benefited greatly from a third of the inheritance, namely the Florer family''s third, the wooden sphere.

    It had to be remembered that Sael had a unique Ability Index. She underwent a mutation of sorts when she entered a battle state, gaining a floral battle armor more dangerous than even many metal forged armor.

    If Leonel had to describe it, Sael''s Ability Index was similar to his Divine Armor, but executed with plants and vitality as opposed to metal and vitality. Just with this alone, she was exceptionally powerful. She had become the most powerful combatant of the Etching Metal Organization, and that was even with Emna being present.

    After fusing with a third of the inheritance, her strength increased by leaps and bounds and she felt that her capacity to create more and more powerful armors with her Ability Index had increased. In fact, her Tiers began to plummet as well and she nearly fell out of the Sixth Dimension entirely, but the tradeoff was far greater strength than she had ever personally experienced.

    Much like Aphestus, she doubled dipped with benefits. After she had improved her Ability Index, Leonel sent her to Earth to gather up any evolved plants she might be able to increase her own strength with. By the time the months came and time ticked by, she actually returned as an expert of the Seventh Dimension, her aura causing the cocky Aphestus to look on with the first serious expression he had made in recent days as he had been too busy grinning ear to ear previously.

    Even with all of this being the case, though, the one who benefited the most was, without a doubt, Emna.

    All on her own, Emna had been very close to forging her own path, and that was without any sort of external resources to aid her. She simply relied on nothing other than her own talent.

    For her, Leonel did a few things.

    First, he sent her to Old Man Hutch. Although Leonel hadn''t believed in the old man''s path of the blade, he believed that it would be useful for others. Plus, this was the first time Emna was facing a master with talents comparable to her own in the blade and she gained a lot.

    After she returned, Leonel handed her a Perfection Stone. Then, she disappeared for months.

    No one knew where she went and she seemed to have vanished off of the Earth entirely.

    But when she returned, no one could withstand the pressure of looking her in the eye. It felt as though one was staring at the sun, and if they did so for too long, their pupils would be shredded to pieces.

    Emna had perfected her path and finally stepped into the Sixth Dimension. Of them all, she was the only one with power comparable to Leonel and Aina at the same level.

 Chapter 1849 Prepared

    Leonel, obviously, wouldn''t neglect his brothers. But the changes that he could make to a talent of Earth already within the Seventh Dimension were minimal.

    However, what he could do was greatly improve their foundations and affinities by allowing them to swallow demon pills.

    His brothers had their own thoughts on things and Leonel didn''t underestimate the progress they had made on their own. He no longer tried to guide them, he simply gave them resources and they used them as they deemed fit. Leonel had quite a lot of trust in them and he believed that they would give him a pleasant surprise when the time came.

    He gave them all Focus Crystals which could help increase their affinities. Then he scheduled time for everyone to use the Perfection Stone.

    Now that there was only a small amount of time remaining, Leonel reminded them to train hard, but to also think of rest. When there was only a month remaining until the Heir Wars, he wanted everyone to focus on relaxing first, and worry about everything else later.

    With everything on the right track, Leonel prepared to enter seclusion himself to wait for the tribulation to begin. But before he could, his cousin came to visit him.

    Leonel smiled. "Noah, I''m glad you''re doing alright."

    Noah smiled a bit bitterly, but he still shook his head. "I should be thanking you and saying that. It''s good that you made it out of the Zone, I wouldn''t know what to do with this guilt if you hadn''t."

    Leonel laughed. "It''s not that big of a deal, that Zone wouldn''t be able to hold me for long anyway. So what brings you here?"

    Noah''s expression turned serious. ''''I wanted to tell you personally that I won''t be able to help you with the Heir Wars. I''ve committed to staying on Earth and dealing with anything that might come. Imperial Grandfather can''t always take action personally for reasons that I''m not sure of, but I trust him enough that I know he has good reasons.

    "I''m not as good as you, but I still have an obligation to Earth and its people first."

    "Oh, is that all? Why do you sound so solemn, I understand," Leonel chuckled.

    Despite Leonel''s demeanor, Noah sighed in a hint of relief on one end, but a hint of bitterness on another. Somewhere deep inside he wanted Leonel to want his help, but Leonel''s confidence in moving forward without him left him feeling complicated.

    Noah shook his head. His thoughts right now were childish, they were both grown men now, and although their relationship had started off a bit rocky, it could be considered to be in a good place now.

    Noah hadn''t had many true friends growing up, but Leonel could truly be considered one now.

    Noah nodded heavily. "Then I''ll stay here and protect our Empire on this front, and you can go out there and show them who''s boss."

    Finally, Noah smiled, a rare thing from him, but a genuine thing nonetheless. He felt like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders.

    Leonel grinned. "Of course."

    **

    Leonel saw Noah off and finally got some time to himself. Now that everything was set, he felt a bit odd. He wasn''t used to being so... prepared. Things usually came flying at him from all directions, and he was forced to deal with them while more things were coming in overhead.

    It could be said that a Leonel with preparation time was exceptionally dangerous. Too dangerous.

    Leonel closed his eyes and entered a state of meditation. He calmed his breathing and allowed his mind to rest for the first time in a long while.

    Leonel didn''t know how long had passed, but when he opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting on an elevated platform in the depths of a force. When he tried to stand, the platform vanished and he was gently deposited onto the ground.

    "It started just like that? Not even a hint of warning either.''

    Leonel looked down at his hand and he found a familiar wooden spear in his hand. It was the very first spear he had ever gotten from the Spear Domain ring and one he thought had long since been destroyed. It was the somewhat crooked and hand-crafted wooden spear of the primitive man.

    Leonel looked down at himself and he found that he was almost naked outside of a beast skin skirt that allowed a decidedly clear draft up and between his legs. He could feel his manly bits dangling about in the wild. Clearly, whoever crafted this beast skin skirt had no sense of modesty.

    Leonel shook his head. Did he get transported into the body of another primitive man?

    No, that shouldn''t be right. He was definitely in his own body, he would be able to tell the difference. It seemed that he was just transported to an odd time.

    But what was the most peculiar was that all of his strength had vanished. He couldn''t'' access the abilities of his metal body and his skin''s defenses weren''t much different from a normal man. Whether it was speed or strength, he was within the realms of a Third Dimensional man now. In fact, other than his mind being somewhat sharper, his Ability Index seemed to be restricted as well.

    Leonel looked around, wondering when the other foot was going to drop. Where was the danger? The challenge? The enemy he had to face?

    But even after several seconds of standing around doing nothing, nothing came.

    ''So this tribulation isn''t a challenge like the Emperor''s Might tablet, for example. It''s more like a Zone?"

    Leonel frowned.

    The trouble was that he didn''t have his silver dictionary, and none of his treasures were with him. And, with his Ability Index all but gone, he had no way of sensing the rules and restrictions of this Zone via normal means...

    Leonel looked in a certain direction and moved toward it. Since there was nothing to go off of, he couldn''t just stand in place and do nothing.

 Chapter 1850 Unexpected

    Leonel found himself feeling quite uncomfortable. Using his eyes and ears like a normal person, not to mention continuously turning his head from left to right was annoying him. He never had to put so much effort into paying attention to his surroundings. Ever since the Metamorphosis had descended, he had been able to escape such a "mundane" fate.

    Unfortunately, he had no choice but to do so now. Without an understanding of where the danger may or may not be coming from, and while being in a completely unknown environment, not being at least this cautious would be a death wish.

    Leonel''s step suddenly came to a grinding halt and he ducked behind a tree for a moment before scampering up its side as though doing his best to impersonate a squirrel. He swung himself up and landed lightly, his eyes darting above before he suddenly froze in place.

    Without hesitation, Leonel leapt onto a higher branch, moving as far up as it would allow him before swinging to a tree to its side that happened to be taller and moving up even further.

    At that moment, what had been subtle rumbling became deep and resonating. As Leonel held his breath, the shaking of the ground became more pronounced and the tree he was perched within began to sway back and forth more fiercely, threatening to knock him off of his perch.

    Even so, Leonel held on tightly, his lips sealed tight and his chest not moving in the slightest. At this moment, he didn''t even dare to breathe as the creature passed below.

    When it finally entered his sight, Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    The beast couldn''t have been more generic. It was just a saber toothed tiger. But that wasn''t the problem. This saber toothed tiger was five meters long and three meters tall. To make matters more astonishing, its every bound was several hundred meters, a distance that would definitely have been further if not for the thick trees around it. But even more astonishing than that was its weight.

    With the way it moved, so quickly and so agilely, one would have never expected it to land with such force. The entire forest ground seemed to quake beneath its movement.

    The saber toothed tiger zipped by Leonel, not noticing him. But its aura continued to linger in the air, coating Leonel''s skin with a faint sheen of sweat.

    Leonel''s senses might have been dulled without his Ability Index, but his instincts were still there, instincts he had been honing ever since he unlocked the primitive man''s life and experienced what he had experienced.

    He knew with just a glance that in his current state, he didn''t stand a chance against that saber toothed tiger. If he had allowed it to sense him, he would probably have lost his life right here and now.

    Large beasts weren''t something that Leonel had ever seen before. No, more accurately, he had never seen them outside of that Zone. In the Dimensional Verse, creatures, no matter how powerful they were, fell within a normal range of size. Little Blackstar was a prime example of this. It wasn''t until that Zone he had seen a creature with a wingspan of dozens of meters.

    Regardless of why this was, this place definitely had creatures that were not only extraordinarily powerful, but also exaggerated sizes. Battling them would be incredibly difficult, especially when restrained to this stick they called a spear.

    At some point, if the creatures reached a size that was too large, even his most powerful of strikes would be nothing more than papercuts to them. To make matters worse, if they managed to keep the kind of speed that saber-toothed tiger had even as their sizes increased, he might as well pack his bags now and go home.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. After making sure that the tiger was gone, he leapt forward, moving from tree to tree. He hoped that it would be somewhat safer up here, but he had no way of knowing that for sure so he kept a sharp lookout. For all he knew, a bird with a 50-meter wingspan might swoop down at him at any moment.

    Leonel had no idea where he was going, but he just kept moving forward. He assumed that the first thing he should do was gather information, but he had no idea where to start. In the end, he decided to keep moving until he at least found a water source. If his body was in this state, it likely wouldn''t be long before he needed food and water, so he might as well get the hard stuff out of the way immediately.

    Leonel came across several more behemoth-like creatures. Even the smallest of them would stand to his height of over two meters tall even while on all fours. The biggest of them were entire heads or two taller than the saber toothed tiger.

    He unceremoniously dodged every single one, his expression becoming more and more solemn. He had yet to come across a creature he had any confidence in defeating, and he also hadn''t seen the point of this trial yet, nor had he found a water source.

    BANG!

    Leonel suddenly crashed into what felt like an immovable wall. He had been scanning his surroundings with the utmost diligence, not missing a single thing, only for him to suddenly run into an invisible forcefield.

    Leonel was so caught off guard that he fell out of the tree he was in, catching the attack of a creature below.

    Leonel''s brows jumped as his nose began to bleed from the collision. But that was the least of his worries as he fell toward a wolf that was over seven meters long and twice his height.

    Quickly trying to regain his bearings as he fell through the air, Leonel threw a vicious kick at a nearby tree trunk, just barely managing to get a solid hit on it that sent him flying toward an adjacent tree.

    He grabbed onto a tree branch and swung himself upward, a cold wind just barely nipping at his ankles.

    Leonel didn''t need to look to know that it was the wolf that had swiped a claw at him just now.

    His heart leapt into his throat. He felt like someone was messing with him. How could a forcefield come out of nowhere? And what the hell was it doing in the middle of a forest?!

    No, more importantly, how was he going to survive the blood thirsty wolf below him?

 Chapter 1851 PCHU!

    Leonel''s jaw steeled. He realized that without his Ability Index, his ability to remain cold and analytical had dampened quite a measure. It was an odd experience for him as he had had this ability with him for as long as he could remember. Even back on Earth when it was still in the Third Dimension, he could tap into it.

    But now, it was entirely suppressed. It was the first time Leonel had experienced such a thing. Even the Dimensional Cleanse trial zone couldn''t suppress his Ability Index. Whatever the Spear Domain Ring was, or whatever its origins, it was clearly a step beyond, maybe even beyond what the Regulator could control. That seemed to be the only explanation.

    When Leonel realized this, his gaze became icy. He was his Ability Index, not the other way around.

    The wolf suddenly stretched out its body, kneeling close to the ground.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''It''s about to jump.''

    He knew that this was a life or death matter. The agility of this wolf and its strength was definitely far beyond the saber toothed tiger. He had already noticed in his journey here that in this place, bigger size equaled bigger strength.

    In that case, if the saber toothed tiger could jump across hundreds of meters, this wolf could definitely reach him even though he was so high up.

    BANG!

    The wolf jumped and Leonel pierced out with his spear at the exact same time. He revolved the only ability he had: his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, and thrust down with a pulse of blinding golden light.

    SHIIING! PENG!

    His spear blade vanished and appeared hundreds of meters below, timing its appearance perfectly and just as the wolf was gathering all of its momentum. In that instant, Leonel''s strike downward and the wolf''s jump upward combined in strength.

    Leonel felt a surging power travel up his arm, threatening to break it, but he grit his teeth and held strong until his feet were lifted up and off the branch he was on.

    This time, there was no recovery. He flew up and back with astonishing speed even as the wolf below howled in misery and unbridled rage.

    Leonel''s blade had aimed right for its most sensitive region: its eyes. Clearly, this beast hadn''t expected Leonel''s blade to suddenly appear out of nowhere, nor had it expected for its own jumping momentum to be used against it. In that instant, it was half blinded and its jumping spiraled out of control, losing half its strength and causing its body to spin off to the side.

    Leonel crashed against the barrier that had caused all of this to happen and nearly lost control of his spear. His inner organs rattled and his bones almost shattered. Luckily, although his other Lineage Factors and abilities were suppressed, his body still retained some of its rigidity, albeit weakened to a great extent. So, he avoided the most devastating sorts of damage.

    Even so, he found himself sliding down a perfectly vertical forcefield with nothing but air between himself and a more than 300 meter fall.

    Leonel didn''t even look back toward the forcefield. He knew that his crashing up against it had also knocked him out of range of using it to propel himself to another tree. So, instead, he looked toward the spiraling wolf and pierced out again.

    His strike was cold and precise.

    He had realized a few things in this short exchange.

    The first and most obvious was that his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was indeed his greatest reliance and it could, indeed, pose a threat to these creatures, no matter how minimal.

    Second, these creatures lacked any sort of real intelligence, at least not any comparable to higher Dimensional creatures or humans. At the very least, this was true for the ones he had come across until this point.

    Third... he wasn''t helpless.

    These were things he probably would have realized instantly if his Ability Index and split minds hadn''t been locked away. But even so, it was a realization he was happy with nonetheless. As the saying went, better late than never.

    Leonel''s strike landed perfectly on the spiraling wolf''s other eye, blinding it completely as it howled in sheer madness and malice-laced fury.

    Its claws and tail lashed out in all directions, just hoping and praying that it could hit Leonel just one good time. It knew that the human that had done this to it was fragile and weak, just one hit would end his puny life.

    Unfortunately for it, Leonel had used the rebounding momentum of that strike to land in another tree while it fell heavily into the ground.

    Even so, the wolf''s claws and tail spun around with such fierce momentum that it left blade marks in surrounding trees without even physically touching them. The prowess of this wolf was simply off of the charts.

    Even with his success, Leonel''s expression was solemn.

    He had put his everything into those two strikes, and had even attacked the wolf''s most sensitive and fragile region, and yet he hadn''t managed to kill it. Even the flesh of the wolf''s eyes were so sturdy that he barely managed to pierce in a few inches, he couldn''t even imagine what would have happened if he targeted another part of its body instead.

    Leonel braced himself.

    He knew why. He was too far away. If he wanted to take this behemoth down before its tantrum called anymore beasts over, he had to get closer.

    Leonel ripped off a tree branch and threw it in a direction after coating it with Spear Force.

    PENG!

    The instant the wolf turned in that direction, Leonel swooped down from the skies, his movements fast and agile.

    He landed without the hint of a sound, ducking beneath the swinging tail of the wolf beast and piercing out with his full might.

    PCHU!

    The eye of the wolf was punctured again, this time by a half foot.

    Leonel jumped back dodging out of the range of a claw strike, but even so, the residual force shredded the skin of his chest apart.

    Leonel knew that he had been located by the wolf just now, he had underestimated its senses. But even so, he unleashed a roar, thrusting again with his greatest strength.

    The golden crown of a spear appearing upon his forehead and his aura caused the wind to still.

 Chapter 1852 Image

    BANG!

    Leonel was rocked. He was sent flying into a tree with such force that he nearly cut it in half. Even so, he felt that satisfying feeling of his spear piercing through truly tender flesh. No matter how powerful the wolf beast, there was no way that even its brain would be so fortified, right?

    The last mournful howl of the beast echoed as Leonel''s head swam. He nearly lost consciousness, but he bit his tongue. He couldn''t afford to lose his mind here.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood and stumbled once before pushing himself to his feet and nearly falling to the ground again.

    ''Dammit...''

    He had a mild concussion and all the wind was knocked out of him. In fact, he was also pretty sure that he had cracked a few ribs as well, not to mention the ugly gashes on his chest now. It was lucky, though, that the latter were just skin deep. But even so, in this environment, and considering his body was back in the Third Dimension, this kind of injury could kill him if he didn''t deal with it properly.

    Wouldn''t it be too pathetic if he lost his life to an infection after having already become a Sixth Dimensional existence? Even back in Third Dimensional Earth people almost never died from such things, technology had gotten much too far.

    Leonel stood weakly to his knees and thought about running, but he shook his head again in a vain attempt to clear it. He knew that he needed to understand what was going on with that barrier first. Why had it appeared? Why was it there? And why was there not even a single warning?

    Leonel rushed up to the barrier and pressed a hand against it. He couldn''t pass through no matter how hard he pushed, and the barrier showed no signs of giving in.

    Leonel frowned a moment and shook his head again, his fogginess beginning to clear a bit.

    There were no obstructions to his sight. He could see to the other side all too easily, which was why he had run into it to begin with. He wouldn''t have been foolish enough to do so otherwise.

    ''It''s moving...''

    Leonel wasn''t sure at first, but he definitely hadn''t moved his feet just now, but the barrier was definitely further out than it was originally. Was it here to protect him? Maybe there were much stronger beasts than what he could handle on the other side?

    That seemed to potentially be the case considering this was a trial or tribulation of sorts.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s pupils constricted. On the other side of the barrier, what must have been at least a few kilometers out, he actually saw another human.

    Leonel wasn''t too shocked by this to begin with. There was no telling whether beasts were the only challenge ahead for him. After all, this was a spear trial, one for the king weapon of the battlefield. To use it solely against beasts, although this was where its roots lay, was a bit... lacking for its status.

    However, the more Leonel looked, the more his shock increased, until his head spun so much that he didn''t quite understand how to take what he was seeing.

    The youth several kilometers from him ran into the forcefield like he did, but seemed slightly more prepared than Leonel had been. His spear chipped at it first before his body came to a stop. Only then did he nod to himself and turn back.

    There was enough distance between him and Leonel that he didn''t notice the latter, well that and the fact there were so many trees and obstructions between them. Leonel only happened to have the perfect angle to see this young man.

    The young man landed on the ground and brandished a spear that looked practically identical to Leonel''s own and pierced out toward a beast before him.

    He underwent an arduous battle, not much unlike Leonel. But what was truly shocking was the fact that everything was simply too similar... The Spear Domain Lineage Factor, the Absolute Spear Domain, the crown of spears...

    After a long fought battle, the young man finally managed to take down the beast. Without hesitation, he stuck his entire arm into the bloody eye socket of the beast, digging around in its brain until he found what he wanted and pulled out a bloody Beast Crystal. Then, under Leonel''s widened gaze, he opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.

    His body bulged once before concentrating back down to his original size.

    His head suddenly turned in Leonel''s direction. He paused for a long while, seemingly scanning Leonel up and down before he gave a bloodthirsty grin, the blood of the beast he had just killed drizzling down his cheek.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as the young man picked up his spear and shot into the distance, his speed clearly much swifter than before.

    Even after several moments, Leonel didn''t quite understand what was going on. This situation was far too weird.

    Leonel''s heart shuddered and he realized that he had wasted far too much time here. At any time, a swarm of beasts could be attracted to this location, he couldn''t allow himself to get caught with his pants down like that.

    He turned back, prepared to run away.

    What was obvious to him was that soon enough, if those barriers kept moving, his barrier would eventually overlap with that young man''s and maybe even the barriers of other humans that may or may not be here. Obviously, his only opponents this time around wouldn''t be human.

    He didn''t know what it would take to perform to the standard his grandfather of the past had, or even surpass him, but there was no doubt that doing so would require battle with his fellow humanoids.

    Leonel''s steps suddenly came to a pause and he shot back toward the wolf''s corpse. He mimicked the actions of the young man and dug into its eye socket.

    He hesitated for a moment. There was no telling if that young man was special or not. Maybe he had a body that helped him digest Beast Crystals like this, or maybe he had a cheat. It looked like he was far more prepared for this tribulation than Leonel had been for some reason.

    ''T''1l take the risk. This wolf had no attributes to begin with and it''s not like absorbing Beast Crystals in unheard of..."

    Leonel grit his teeth and swallowed the Beast Crystal, knowing full well just how foolish such a decision could be. But as things went, he had minimized the danger as much as he could.

    What he did know for sure was that if he couldn''t improve his strength like that young man could, his only path forward was death. In that case, he might as well take the risk now.

    To Leonel''s surprise, the moment the Beast Crystal hit his stomach, his body was flooded with strength. His brain fog, caused by his concussion, completely vanished, the cracks to his ribs healed, and the flesh wound to his chest began to close up.

    At the same time, his baseline of strength increased by leaps and bounds and he could feel himself growing more powerful.

    Leonel gripped his fists. It seemed that the beasts here weren''t just a measure of whether or not he could survive, they were here as stepping stones to prepare him for the later trials.

    If he wanted to survive, he would have to hunt them all down.

    Brandishing his spear, Leonel dashed forward.

    His mind flickered with all sorts of thoughts, but they ultimately landed on just one image...

    The image of the ring on that young man''s finger...

    The Spear Domain Ring.

 Chapter 1853 Queen

    ?1853 Queen

    Leonel didn''t understand what the existence of that young man and the ring could possibly mean. In fact, he doubted that even if his Ability Index wasn''t restrained that he would be able to figure it out. He simply didn''t have enough information and everything was a jumbled mess.

    What Leonel did feel was correct, though, was that that young man probably wasn''t the only one. He had only checked one side and he presumed there was an entire region barred in around him. In that case, there were probably several other regions just like this one.

    If he was honest, though, he wasn''t 100% certain of this either. For all he knew, they were the only two.

    Without his Ability Index, Leonel couldn''t calculate something as complicated as how long it would take their two regions to become one, but what he did know was that there was a time limit. This was why he didn''t waste time running along the barrier to check his hypotheses. He only had one life and he had to protect it well, and in this situation, that meant strengthening himself as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.

    Because he didn''t have any Internal Sight to work with, Leonel couldn''t just casually blanket hundreds of kilometers like he was used to and hunt down the beasts he was facing one by one, so he had to use other methods.

    ''This method is a bit dangerous, but it''s the best I''ve got right now... Bait.бп

    Leonel extended his distance from the fallen wolf corpse after wiping his arm down to the best of his abilities using its fur coat.

    Leonel almost cut himself on the sharp bristles of its coat, but thankfully he realized the problem in time and ran his forearm and hand along the grain. At the same time, he made a mental note of this instance.

    With most of his advantages stripped from him, he had to take advantage of the ones he did have. His abilities and other Lineage Factors were gone, and his mind wasn''t as fast as it normally was, but his memories and skills were still there.

    If the flesh of the wolf beast was so sturdy, its protective coat was definitely on another level. He had to find an opportunity to craft something more protective than the nonsense he was wearing right now. He might only have access to Spear Force, but Force was still Force. So long as it existed, he could use it to draw Force Arts.

    When Leonel had this thought, he felt his heart shudder.

    He had never really thought about the consequences of drawing Force Arts with other Forces outside of Soul and Dream Force, but just now he felt that it should naturally be possible.

    No, more specifically, he felt that it would be possible with Spear Force, this was a very clear and distinct difference because Weapon Forces were somewhat different from other Forces.

    In fact, in some ways, it acted quite a bit like Dream Force, especially in the way it reacted to Artistic Conceptions.

    Leonel felt that he had gained another piece of the puzzle toward formulating the next level of his grandfather''s spear technique.

    ''The first is here," Leonel thought, losing the strands of his other thoughts the moment he sensed a beast approaching.

    Unfortunately, in this state, he couldn''t focus on more than one thing at a time. But right now, the evolution of his Spear Force was less important than strengthening his body as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

    Leonel wasn''t ignorant to the fact that this breakthrough would also help his chances in this tribulation, but he was also aware that it was potentially fleeting while there was a very real opportunity for growth right beneath him.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened and he descended toward his first victim.

    *%

    In the outside world, a sort of silence had fallen in Leonel''s absence. His disappearance had been silent, and yet it was almost immediately felt, almost as though a safety blanket had vanished. Everyone seemed to realize then what kind of looming presence he had only then.

    Even so, life was forced to go on and due to Leonel''s preparations, things remained smooth and steady with progress moving quite seamlessly.

    On that day, Aina stepped out from her own personal seclusion.

    Other than the time she spent with Leonel, she had spent practically every waking minute meditation on the Blood Sovereign tablet. It could be said that her gains from it were no less than Leonel''s gains from the Emperor''s Might Tablet. The only difference was that rather than being an additional ability of hers, it seamlessly fused into her current battle style, and as a result, her growth felt more exponential than linear.

    The first person Aina saw when she stepped out was actually Harmony. She sent a glance toward her with every intention of just ignoring her entirely, but to her surprise, it was actually Harmony herself that spoke.

    "Where is he? Why can''t I sense him?"

    she interacted with the world on her own, she gained names like the "Sword Monstress". It could be said that she wasn''t very good at niceties.

    "He is currently busy," Aina replied simply. On her hand, though, there was a slight change, and that was the fact that Leonel''s Spear Domain Ring was actually now on her finger.

    Whether by conscious choice or not, it actually took the place a wedding ring should have had, something that Harmony seemed quite sensitive to.

    Harmony sneered. "There''s no need to gatekeep his whereabouts. If I wanted to steal him from you, I would have done so long ago. Though I can''t promise that my sister will be as nice as me. Since he''s not here to tie me down, I''ll just leave, then."

    Aina didn''t seem to react to these words at all. Or, at the very least, her expression didn''t shift. Even so, Harmony suddenly found that she couldn''t move a single inch and her pupils couldn''t help but constrict.

    Aina didn''t move an inch, and yet Harmony found her blood vessels constricting, her heart beat seemed to forcibly slow and her skin reddened as blood rushed to the surface.

    Harmony''s body pressed up against the wall as though a noose was pulling her up. She quickly found her feet dangling from the ground and the veins in her neck popping wildly as flashbangs went off in her vision. She seemed to be able to breathe just fine, and yet couldn''t seem to get enough air at the same time.

    Fear took root deep within her heart.

    She had seen Aina many times during her stay here, how could she not? She had already been stuck here for several months. In fact, she vaguely knew that Aina was a target of the Three Finger Cult and had even thought of snatching her while Leonel was gone.

    During this time, she hadn''t felt a sense of threat from Aina at all, she had just assumed that Leonel had chosen her because she was so beautiful. It only felt right, the most powerful man would be with the most beautiful woman, it was a legend as old as time.

    Harmony had never seen Aina do anything but laugh and smile and cling onto Leonel every waking moment, in fact she had felt a little disgusted by the act making sweeping assumptions about their relationship.

    It was only now that Harmony knew exactly how wrong she was.

    The pressure she was feeling suddenly vanished and she fell to the ground with a heavy thump, her heart finally beginning to beat normally again.

    Aina walked away without another word and Harmony could only watch as her back receded.

    It seemed that in the absence of the King, there was a more than capable Queen.

    Aina''s gaze flashed with its own cold light. If others wanted to test Earth because Leonel had disappeared for a short while, they could taste her ax.

    At that moment, in the depths of a hidden world, there was a storm brewing.

    News of what had happened to the four Great Families had yet to spread back to its normal channels, but this was only to be expected. With every last one of them having been wiped out by Leonel, who would be there to report back?

    However, there would, of course, be normal communication between the two sides, the fact that this contact had suddenly stopped abruptly and without warning was bound to raise its own sort of speculation.

    Unfortunately, there were very tight constraints on these four families. If there weren''t, why would they incrementally release their people like this? As such, it had been impossible for them to send others to check on the situation for a long while.

    In an irony or irony, though, Leonel''s actions in assimilating so many World Spirits with Earth''s had stabilized the region ahead of time.

    The good news was that the number of powerful Zones that appeared were less in number and frequency.

    The bad news was that the next batch of four Great Family geniuses could exit ahead of time, and these geniuses would be on a completely different level in comparison to the ones Leonel had originally faced.

    Leonel''s Queen would face her own challenge.

    Stepping out from seemingly thin air, a small group of red haired and eyed young men and women appeared in the depths of Earth''s wilderness.

    "Our base should be on the Moon," one of them said. "We will head there first and question them about the lack of communication."

 Chapter 1854 Four

    The Brazingers only numbered four. Their current head was a woman who went by Sarathana. She didn''t seem to have anything particularly special about her. Her looks weren''t too poor, nor were they too great. She wasn''t too tall, nor was she too short. She wasn''t too imposing, nor did she fade into the background. In fact, if one said that she was the leader among the three, it would feel a bit ridiculous, especially since the one who had spoken was a young man.

    This young man was actually Sarathana''s younger brother, and maybe this was the reason why he dared to speak in her stead at all. His name was Raffyr and unlike his sister, he was imposing and very noticeable for all the right reasons.

    He was tall, strikingly handsome, and he had an obvious air of command to him that made him the largest presence in almost any room he entered. But it was maybe due to this dichotomy that Sarathana was allowed to be the genius that she was. She didn''t seem very interested in such things at all, so she was okay to allow her young brother to take the spotlight.

    The final two were two young men who went by Berrion and Thedan. They seemed quite used to the interaction between the two siblings and didn''t find it to be very off putting at all.

    They simply took Raffyr''s words at face value and didn''t think much about it. Even if they wanted to reject, what good would it do with that monstress by his side? She might look unassuming, but they were well aware of how dangerous she was.

    The group pulled out a flying treasure, prepared to make their way to the Moon. But what they didn''t expect was that the moment they entered Earth''s airspace, they triggered a change.

    The four didn''t make it far before they found themselves surrounded from all sides.

    Raffyr''s gaze narrowed. He hadn''t expected this aggression, and even if he thought it might be a faint possibility, the speed with which they reacted also felt... too fast. Since when had Earth reached this level and why was it so different from their expectations?

    At that moment, the head ship of the fleet that had surrounded them opened up and a man wearing radiant golden armor stepped out. His eyes were a piercing blue and his hair fell like a rainfall of gold.

    This man was none other than Governor Duke Arthur Pendragon. Or, as most once called him... King Arthur.

    "I hate how right that brat is sometimes, how annoying," Arthur mumbled beneath his breath.

    "I think you''re actually more mad about him ordering you around, right dad?"

    Mordred somewhat seductive laughter came from an adjacent ship, twirling what looked like a sleek black wand in her hand.

    Whether it was father or daughter, the both of them had auras within the Seventh Dimension. However, what was particularly interesting was that they didn''t seem to have broken through using the Conventional Path, but it didn''t seem to be the God Path either. Of course, that was because they had broken through using Camelot''s magic system.

    There was a reason the integration of Camelot with Earth was the ultimate reward of their Mythological Zone, a reward Leonel only gained after clearing the hidden quest and resolving their love triangle. By succeeding in that endeavor, Leonel had planted a seed for the protection of Earth that was bearing fruit now.

    Camelot had just needed a little push, and with Leonel''s return, they were truly blooming into their own.

    Arthur grumbled. Although he had never said it out loud, he had every intention of surpassing Leonel and suppressing him one day, which was funny considering he had started off so much higher than Leonel to begin with. He could still remember all the arrogant things that little boy had done the first time he visited his kingdom.

    But now, he, the mighty Arthur Pendragon, was basically just a lacky. How sad.

    SHIIING!

    Arthur unsheathed his sword, a radiant golden light echoing through the world. Without a word, he vanished into a beam of light, his body losing its form as he moved forward at impossible to track speeds.

    The pupils of the four constricted.

    "Abandon ship!" Raffyr commanded.

    SHIIING!

    Arthur shot by in a blazing ray of light as the four of them didn''t hesitate to jump down toward the earth below. When Arthur appeared again, he was standing in the exact same spot, his hand still on his sword hilt.

    For a moment, the flying ship the four Brazinger youths had stood upon seemed to be completely normal, but in the next instant, a blade cut as clean as a mirror''s surface appeared, slicing it down the middle.

    Arthur watched coldly as the four youths fell to the earth below, his aura imposing. However, at that moment, a snort came from his side.

    "Show off. You don''t get extra points for being flashy, you know, dad," Modred laughed.

    Arthur''s cool demeanor vanished. He was speechless. Shouldn''t daughters look toward their fathers as their superheroes? He actually had superhero-like powers and still couldn''t get his daughter to treat him well, where was the justice?

    "Follow after them, we can''t let them get too comfortable," was the only thing Arthur could say.

    "It''s too late, they''re gone. They were likely prepared for a worst case scenario like this. I didn''t even see what method they used to vanish like that," Arthur''s son, Lionus spoke.

    "In that case, there''s only really two options for them. Either return to their world for reinforcements or they''re going to meet up with the other three families. Leonel said it''s most likely the second. There should be some restrictions on how easily they can move into and out of that world of theirs. The best they can likely do for now is send a message back,"

    Mordred replied.

    Arthur almost rolled his eyes at the mention of Leonel again, but he didn''t say anything to refute it.

    "Anyway, let the others know what''s happened. They''re here now, so we have to be ready for retaliation, especially when they''ve found out what''s happened to their people."

 Chapter 1855 Finite

    When Aina received the news, her gaze became frighteningly cold. She moved to stand, but it was Yuri who placed a hand on hers.

    Aina looked over, her gaze still quite scary. However, Yuri only smiled lightly, seemingly quite used to this. Maybe only she and Leonel could face this look of Aina''s.

    "I know you want to make them pay as soon as possible, but you also have other responsibilities here, no?" Yuri asked softly.

    Hearing this, Aina took a breath and exhaled. That was right. Currently, she wasn''t Aina Brazinger. For all intents and purposes, she was currently Aina Morales. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn''t change her name until the Brazinger family most wanted her to have it. However, for Leonel, she was willing to forget that vow for a while.

    In Leonel''s presence, she was allowed to be as willful as she wanted. But in his absence, she had to step into his role. She wasn''t as good of a leader as Leonel was, but at the very least, she had to be present. If she went off looking for murder, who would take care of things back here?

    "You''re right," Aina said lightly before she exhaled a final breath and calmed down entirely.

    She looked down at her ring finger. She had put the ring there purposely to remind herself. It wasn''t for the sake of being googly eyed and in love, that was the furthest thing from her personality. It was an anchor to remind herself not to lose herself in her murderous intent.

    "Then we''ll do things the smart way. Have the Raylion and the others spread out their information network to track their whereabouts, this won''t be difficult. Once they gather up support from the representatives they send from the other three families, we''ll deal with them all in a single sweep."

    This was Earth''s territory, and the playground they had just stepped into was in Leonel''s backyard. If they thought just a handful of people could overturn the skies and shatter the earth, they would be sorely mistaken.

    Yuri nodded and began to do as Aina had said. No matter what, ever since their youth, she had always been Aina''s guiding hand. Sometimes it was hard to tell if they were a pair of sisters or mother and daughter, but regardless, they were very close.

    "I''ll go speak to the others about remaining alert. Since battle could come at any time, it wouldn''t be a good idea to lose themselves in training," Aina stood and began to make rounds through the flagship.

    Her fists clenched and unclenched before her thumb spun the ring on her finger. Even in its dormant state, the Spear Domain Ring gave her quite a bit of warmth.

    *k Leonel dodged out of the way of a claw. His body was covered from head to toe in injuries, but his gaze was sharp and relentless.

    All around him, beasts of all shapes and sizes charged. Compared to the past where he would avoid them even in a one on one situation, but it could only be said that Leonel was a madman. This hoard wasn''t something he had accidentally triggered, but rather something he had triggered on purpose. And at the moment, he had nowhere to take a step back because there was nothing but the forcefield to his back.

    As for why Leonel had chosen to do things this way outside of being a madman, well... he wanted to save time.

    With the forcefield to his back, he didn''t have to worry about being encircled. To his left and right, corpses of beasts were quickly piling up and adding much more to the blockade. All he had to do now was focus on the beasts right in front of him, beasts that seemed to be getting larger and larger.

    After seeing the young man, Leonel had been constantly thinking about how he could get ahead. The young man''s Spear Domain Lineage Factor seemed to be on par with his own, his bodily strength was about on par, his weapon was about on par...

    So how could Leonel get an edge?

    Usually, the answer to that question was just to rely on his Ability Index. His mind was sharper, his reactions were faster and he was simply more intelligent. However, he had completely lost this advantage.

    While Leonel still felt he was more intelligent than most people, without the benefit of speed of thought and split minds, the margin was too narrow for it to cause any large swings in any one direction.

    It could be said that compared to other geniuses, Leonel wasn''t too much more intelligent than them, or at the very least, it wasn''t exaggerated. He was probably 0.1 standard deviations ahead of most geniuses, which wasn''t a small amount, but it wasn''t obscene either.

    What stacked this advantage so greatly against his enemies was how many minds he had working at once and how fast he could think. By the time another person deduced using their intelligence once, Leonel would have done so billions of times over. The winner was, then, obvious.

    However, without this advantage, while Leonelw as intelligent still, his application was lacking.

    Leonel realized that if he continued meandering about, his success after this point would be up to luck, something that was unacceptable to him. So, he decided to force the issue and he thought about how one would gain an advantage in this situation.

    His Crafting skills weren''t enough. Without Little Tolly and his Dream World, what he could make would be limited in use, and without his Ability Index, he would be too slow in making them. At best, he would be able to focus on just a single thing before he was forced to face the other participant or potentially participants in this tribulation.

    He needed a different sort of advantage, or at least a method of maximizing the advantage he did have better.

    And that was when Leonel thought of it.

    This was a finite space. Although the forcefield was moving, it was doing so very slowly and he had yet to see any beasts crossing the barrier, which meant that they were restricted by the same means he was.

    In that case, the most important commodity here was actually these beasts themselves!

 Chapter 1856 A Joke.

    Leonel asked himself a very simple question. What was the measure of success in this place in the rawest terms? He was able to find the answer by making one simple assumption: the goal of this first phase was to swallow Beast Crystals and strengthen yourself.

    With that assumption made, the answer was obvious. The measure of success was how many beasts you could kill.

    In that case, what Leonel had to do was even more obvious: kill as many beasts as he could, and even more ideally than that, kill them all!

    This was where the importance of the fact that this place was finite came into place. The fact that there was a finite amount of space meant that there was a finite number of beasts.

    And if there was a finite number of beasts, then logically, to perfectly clear this region, one had to kill every last one of them.

    So then the question became how could Leonel use his unique advantages to force this end result?

    Due to these lines of thought, Leonel ended up in this situation, bleeding from head to toe, still lacking any sort of defenses outside of his own flesh and bone, and wielding a spear so dull it could only rely on his Spear Force to give it an edge.

    After finding a good region near the force field barrier, Leonel drew a Force Art with his Spear Force that could mimic a Force Eruption. And now, he was paying dearly for it.

    Leonel drew in heavy breaths, but his grip on his spear didn''t slacken. After dodging the claw, he stepped outside of the tiger beast''s body and his arm clamped it down to his torso.

    When the tiger beast tried to twist its head toward him to bite his head off he sent a powerful punch at its long teeth while still holding onto his spear, shattering them.

    Blood and tooth fragments rained down, but Leonel had already switched his grip and pierced right through the tiger''s eye, mincing its brain to pieces.

    Leonel released its claw and sent out a fierce kick, sending the tiger''s body sprawling toward the next wave.

    Taking a step forward, Leonel pierced out with his spear, splitting the blade six different directions and forcing the second wave after the next back. His crowd control was immaculate as he hacked them down one by one, and his slaughter was relentless.

    Leonel realized then that his only advantage wasn''t just his Force Crafting. The changes the Silver Empire''s inheritance had made to his body were still there. There were still countless more folds in his heart, several more blood vessels carrying oxygen through his body, and his heart was still several times larger than it had been in the past along with having more chambers.

    If he could use his mind and spear to force these beasts to fight him one on one or two on one, he definitely wouldn''t be the first to tire. It felt like it only took a single big breath for his body to be refueled and rejuvenated.

    He continued his relentless slaughter, kicking corpses out of the way from time to time to slaughter more. He fell into a complete rhythm and his blade strikes seemed to paint a picture across the skies, his polearm floating as though it was being carried by the wind and caressed by the sun''s rays.

    Silence fell and the roars of the beasts didn''t seem to echo any longer. The melody of Leonel''s spear was all there was.

    The greatest shame of losing his Ability Index was that Leonel could no longer rely on Dream Class to execute his grandfather''s way of the spear. This was why he hadn''t used Swift or Forceful, or any of the other stances he had stored away.

    But at that moment, his spear seemed to have become ingrained into his very being. No, more accurately, he had come to realize that the part of his brain that the Spear Domain Lineage Factor had modified to be more in tune with the spear had saved all of these movements within his muscle memory.

    Ironically, for the first time, Leonel truly listened to his spear without filtering it through logic and reason, only because he simply didn''t have the luxury to. His mind wasn''t currently running fast enough to think and scheme in the middle of battle and he had become like everyone else, relying on their instincts and training.

    It was just that Leonel hadn''t realized just how much instinct he had built up until this moment.

    Suddenly, he needed no more than a single strike to shatter the Life Force of the beasts before him.

    He walked out from the forcefield, seemingly no longer needing it to his back. His spear became faster and faster, and for a moment, in the back of his head, he faintly laughed at himself. That young man? As skilled as him? Isn''t that what he had said before?

    What a joke. That young man wasn''t even a tenth as powerful as he was.

    The radiant spear crown shone with a fiercer and fiercer light.

    Leonel pierced out, his spear splitting into three. This time, he didn''t even aim for the enormous eye sockets of the beasts before him. And yet, their nigh indestructible coats of fur were shredded like wet paper beneath his blade and he shattered their skulls in a single strike. The attack was so smooth that he didn''t even face a hint of backlash facing three of them at once.

    Leonel''s spear drew an arc through the air. Blood flew and heads spun, mournful cries echoing through the forest.

    A bloodthirstiness wafted from Leonel, his blade snaking through the skies like a river of flowing crimson blood. Everywhere he passed, another beast would fall, and then another.

    The spear crown upon his forehead grew more and more condensed, the middle spear growing in size.

    PCHU!

    ROAR!

    A baleful cry left Leonel''s lips as his spear thrust forward. It felt like a blade strike that could split the ocean''s tides, several thousands of miles of deep, black waters as though they were nothing at all.

    Everywhere the Spear Force passed, beasts were shredded to pieces.

    Leonel suddenly came to a stop and took a deep breath. All the wind for hundreds of meters rushed toward him at its fastest speed, suturing his lungs in an instant.

    After that singular breath, his breathing became even and unhurried.

    He stood amid hundreds of corpses looking for more beasts when he suddenly realized something.

    He had already killed them all.

 Chapter 1857 To Know.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered as he quickly looked around. He hadn''t expected to kill them all so easily. Actually, if he was honest with himself, he couldn''t quite remember whether it was easy or not, he had been in a state of complete forgetfulness, something he had never before experienced.

    Leonel shook his head. Right now, this was actually a good thing. Leaning on his talent a bit, especially when he didn''t have his Ability Index, would be the best way to maximize his chances at victory.

    After a minor moment of hesitation, Leonel rushed forward and began plucking the Beast Crystals out from these beasts. During the battle, he obviously hadn''t had a chance to do so, so now he had some making up to do.

    The more he swallowed, the greater flood of strength that entered his body. His body was like a dry riverbed finally experiencing its first rainfall after countless months. But what was especially odd was that Leonel didn''t feel like he was regaining his previous strength. It both felt like his own body, and yet not like his body at all.

    Leonel realized it was incorrect to say that the Beast Crystals were allowing him to regain his former strength. Rather, he was just building up the strength of this temporary body. But this wasn''t necessarily a bad thing either. After all, if he was facing other enemies, who was to say that his Sixth Dimensional strength wouldn''t be too weak? This way, everyone was at the same starting level.

    It took Leonel longer than he thought it would to swallow all the Beast Crystals, but that couldn''t be helped considering the sturdiness of these beasts and the sheer number of them that there were.

    After he was done, he turned his attention elsewhere. He scanned the pile of beasts before he landed on a three. One was a hawk with a wingspan of over 10 meters, the second was a Komodo dragon creature with thick greenish black scales, and the last was a white furred wolf who, even in death, looked exceptionally beautiful, it was hard to tell that it had died at all, but that was also because Leonel had purposely lts lush coat intact.

    Leonel walked over to the hawk and hacked down at one of its large claws, severing one of its legs from its corpse. He held the large appendage that was just over half his height and examined it for a moment. He touched the tough leathery scales that coated it, then flicked a finger at the actual claws before nodding to himself.

    He then went over to the Komodo dragon and skinned it before repeating the same process with the white furred wolf.

    After he was done, he prepared the rest of his raw materials and cleaned them all in a nearby lake.

    Leonel walked to the side of a dead porcupine creature and raked a gaze over its body before he found a perfect size needle and pulled it out. After puncturing a hold in its blunt base, he began to form Force threads.

    Leonel was used to using Little Tolly in place of threads, or more accurately, this was the method of Force Sowing his father had taught him. But the most important aspect of the sowing was the fusion, and Leonel felt that if his Spear Force control was high enough, he could replicate the feat.

    Losing himself, Leonel didn''t focus on the time or anything else. After setting up Force Art protections around himself, he put his all into Force Crafting. The process was a lot slower than he was used to, but it also really allowed him to hone in on his weaknesses.

    For example, he wasn''t very good at drawing Force Arts without a perfect replica to follow from his Dream World. As such, he was forced to slow his drawing process and really think about every rune he drew. This process actually deepened his understanding and tied down loose ends he hadn''t even been aware existed.

    His skill as a Force Crafter increased by leaps and bounds and soon, just a few hours later, Leonel felt that he was ready.

    He donned his new armor.

    The gorgeous white fur of the wolf took center stage, making up most of it. However, in between and hidden in important regions, the black-green scales of the Komodo dragon added a nice hint of accent to the blinding white.

    On Leonel''s hands and forearms were a pair of gauntlets he had constructed out of the claws of the hawk. Hidden within the flat of his forearm, a blade formed from its claw extended and then retracted. On his feet, there was a pair of boots modeled in the same style as his gauntlets.

    Leonel slammed his fists into one another and the sound of a resonant energy formed. Hidden within the armor, gauntlets and boots, a Force Art solidified them all into one entity.

    Reaching out a hand, Leonel''s spear flew into his palm and he exhaled a breath. He turned toward his forcefield again, he wanted to see how much time there was left before he fused with another cornered off region. But, to Leonel''s surprise, when he touched the forcefield this time, his armored hand slipped right through it.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. ''Is this the benefit of clearing your bubble?"

    This seemed like the only plausible explanation. Leonel nodded to himself as he moved forward and broke out into a sprint. It seemed it was time to truly unleash unholy hell.

    Because he had taken his time to build this armor first, there was no telling if others had stepped out before him, so it was about time he unleashed his own killing spree. But first, he had to find one of the other participants.

    He wanted to find out exactly what was going on here. Why were there multiple Spear Domain rings? Was there really more than one in the universe? Or were they just participants from past tribulations? Or maybe incarnations created to challenge him but didn''t truly exist?

    He had to know.

 Chapter 1858 Kill Me

    Leonel''s speed was much greater than it had been before as he entered the bubble of the young man he had seen earlier. He thought it would be smartest if he entered more known territory. Not only was he certain that there was a person here to target, but he was also of a strength Leonel was confident in dealing with.

    Leonel''s steps paused for a moment and he turned back, pressing a hand toward the forcefield. The forcefield rippled, but stopped his hand from passing through. It seemed that by stepping into this region, he had locked himself into a cage and he couldn''t retreat as he pleased.

    That much was fine. He had considered the possibility of this happening which was why he had chosen a known location to begin with.

    Turning back, Leonel shot into the distance again, leaping into the trees agilely and vanishing into the foliage. He moved forward without a single hint of a sound, scanning the region quickly with his eyes.

    It was impossible to lure out this enemy like he had the beasts of his bubble. Humans might be intrigued by a Force Eruption, but there was a more likely than not chance that if the young man sensed a Force Eruption, given his strength, he would stay quite a distance away from it. He likely wouldn''t take the risk if he didn''t have to. So Leonel had to find him on his own.

    The good news was that Leonel''s senses were much sharper after absorbing so many Beast Crystals. So, he cut a straight line through the closed off bubble, paying keen attention. His ears twitched every so often.

    Finally, he caught the faint sounds of battle.

    He changed direction, gliding through the trees and moving up higher as he moved. Eventually, he could sense the strands of Spear Force gliding through the air and he locked onto a battle occurring about 300 meters ahead of him.

    The young man stood his ground as he faced off against two beasts. He was clearly much stronger than he had been when Leonel last saw him, and his confidence and battle style proved this much. However, after observing him for a while, Leonel felt that he was no threat at all.

    Without waiting for the battle to conclude, Leonel suddenly leapt forward. He pushed off of the trunk of the tree he stood within with such force that it bent in the opposite direction far enough to nearly touch the ground.

    The young man was completely caught off guard by Leonel''s sudden appearance on the battlefield, but before he could react, Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain had already shredded the two beasts he landed between to pieces.

    The pupils of the young man constricted. He immediately felt the potency of Leonel''s Spear Force and it caused him to shudder.

    His own Absolute Spear Domain erupted in an attempt to counter Leonel''s, but it was shredded to pieces as well, crumbling before his eyes.

    Leonel took a step forward, closing the distance.

    Seeing that the situation wasn''t good, the young man pierced forward with his spear, trying to catch Leonel off guard and make him pay for his nonchalance. However, Leonel simply tapped them with a finger, his Spear Force suffocating the young man''s.

    The young man''s spear was blown to the side as Leonel''s own thrust forward, nailing the former right in the collarbone and pressing forward until he was nailed to a tree.

    The young man roared out in pain and tried to swing out with his spear in vain, but Leonel''s hand grabbed its polearm with one hand, released his grip on his own spear, and then used it to grab the young man''s throat, suffocating the rest of his pained outcry.

    In just a few exchanges, the young man found himself weaponless and restricted. He couldn''t even move an inch without the spear through his collarbone making his body shudder with pain.

    When he looked at Leonel''s face, there couldn''t help but be a hint of defiance on it that masked a lingering fear. He had seen Leonel before, but back then, he had been very confident in his abilities. It had only been about three quarters of a day, how had someone who had been his equal become so powerful?

    No. it was simply impossible for someone with Spear Force this powerful to have shown the kind of weakness he saw from Leonel earlier, nor was it possible for there to be such vast improvement in the span of a day, it didn''t make any sense.

    Leonel was about to begin questioning the man before him, but to his surprise, he felt an odd pull from the young man''s spear. Subconsciously, Leonel felt that if he touched his spear to the young man''s spear, it would upgrade to a new level.

    Leonel tucked this information into the back of his mind and released his grip on the young man''s throat slightly.

    ж╤ж┴зсdж┴---n?ж═a| зуom "What is your name?"

    The young man was trying to decide what to do at this point. If he struggled, he might just die. But if things ended like this, so would his tribulation. He hadn''t even cleared his bubble yet, this wasn''t even enough for the lowest tier of clear. When he went back, his Spear Domain Ring wouldn''t even acknowledge him and he would have to pass it to someone new. This was simply far too frustrating.

    However, when he heard Leonel''s question, he was a bit surprised. Why was he asking this?

    The young man forced himself to calm down. Ultimately, he was a genius among geniuses, there was a very obvious reason he had been able to get to this step. Even in this situation, he hadn''t fallen to despair just yet.

    He didn''t really want to answer Leonel''s question, but maybe there would be a chance to find an escape route if he delayed.

    "My name is Nelligan Trudeau."

    Leonel frowned, he didn''t recognize that name or family...

    "Nelligan, where are you from?"

    Hearing these words, the young man suddenly understood. His astonishment was painted all over his face.

    "Oh... you''re from one of them. I can''t believe I actually lost to someone from one of them, my dad''s gonna kill me!"

 Chapter 1859 Cheating

    Nelligan hadn''t shown a hint of despair all this time, but the moment he seemed to have deduced something, it felt like his world was crumbling. He spoke about losing to Leonel as though he tried to snatch candy from a baby and actually ended up failing.

    Leonel frowned. From one of them? What was that supposed to mean?

    "One of them? What does that mean?"

    Nelligan stopped flailing about and looked Leonel dead in the eyes. He didn''t seem like he was going to say anything at all, until Leonel suddenly lightly touched the spear pierced into his shoulder.

    Although Nelligan didn''t make a single sound, his jaw still set. It was clear that he was clenching his teeth quite hard, but he tried his best to hide it. Unfortunately, even without his Ability Index, something like that couldn''t escape Leonel''s attention.

    "I''ll ask again. What does that mean?"

    Nelligan sucked in a cold breath and shook his head. "Go fuck yourself. If you don''t know, then tell you. You tell me, what would you choose between dying and your family? You''re not going to get anything out of me."

    Leonel frowned. He didn''t understand what these words were supposed to mean. Why did giving this information to him place Nelligan''s family in danger?

    Leonel looked into Nelligan''s eyes, but he already knew that it was a futile expert. Of all the emotions he had seen Nelligan display, none of them had been fear, even when Leonel could have taken his life with a single stroke. It was clear that Nelligan, although weak, was someone with backbone.

    "What a load of horseshit..." Nelligan mumbled beneath his breath. "... Since when did those places have someone capable of suppressing their Spear Force to this extent..."

    Leonel thought about just taking Nelligan''s spear and leaving. If there wasn''t any information to be gained, then this was all worthless. He felt that it wasn''t necessary to kill someone, taking his spear and kicking him out would be enough. But then Leonel realized something else.

    "Alright, I''ll let you go on one condition. Tell me everything you know about this tribulation. If you don''t, or I catch you lying to me, your family can wait for your corpse."

    Nelligan didn''t seem to be as opposed to this, this wasn''t a big deal. But then he lamented the fact that he had actually lost to someone who had no idea what was going on. Nelligan assumed that Leonel must be the first to trigger the complete tribulation, or else he wouldn''t be so clueless.

    To make matters worse, since Leonel was so clueless, then that meant that he had gained an idea of what to do by observing him back then. If not for Leonel spotting him before, he would have no idea that he could ingest Beast Crystals in this world.

    Nelligan really felt like kicking himself. This was worse than dropping a weight on your foot or even shooting it, he might as well have nuked his entire leg off. He had basically created the man who kicked him out of this tribulation.

    "This is the complete tribulation, it''s different from the three sectioned tribulation as it will only appear once."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Nelligan had corrected a thought he had almost immediately. He had assumed that there would be three of these tribulations exactly like this one. What had triggered this? Could it be what happened that day he lost consciousness in the Void Tower?

    "What''s the goal of this complete tribulation?"

    "Territory conquering. You''re already doing just fine," Nelligan said, his saltiness clearly evident in his words. "By clearing all the beasts in your territory, you gain the right to leave it and attack another. If you defeat the ruler of that territory, you get their spear and can upgrade your own. In addition, your territory will fuse with theirs. This will cause stronger beasts to begin to spawn, giving you a better shot at absorbing stronger Beast Crystals and benefiting more."

    Leonel''s irises flickered.

    "How does this end? What are the levels of completion?"

    "Clearing one territory is the basic pass and can grant you the Black reward. Ten for Bronze, 100 for Silver, a thousand for Gold. As for how it ends, that depends. Usually it''s when there''s only one participant remaining, sometimes it''s when there''s been a stalemate for too long, at other times it''s when all of the remaining participants have decided to accept their rewards and move on. It''s possible for you to leave right now if you wanted and just accept a basic pass."

    "There are that many participants at once?"

    "No. Humanoids aren''t the only ones who command territories. There are special territories with King Beasts and there are some with powerful and unique spears in control of them that can spawn warriors. Any combination of these works."

    "Humanoids? It''s not just humans?"

    "... Of course not. In fact, humans are probably the minority in this place."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Nelligan''s words seemed to imply something. It was likely that the people in the know about these matters were more likely than not, not human. It seemed that once again, the Human Race was lagging too far behind.

    "What else aren''t you telling me?" Leonel asked.

    "For the rules, that''s really all there is. The rest are little details. It would make no difference if I told you or not. If I tried to list them all, you''d be here all day and you''d only fall behind the others."

    "Then what about the competitors?"

    "If what you mean to do is ask for my advice, then I advise that after you claim ten territories, you cut your losses and accept the Bronze Reward."

    Leonel frowned. "Why''s that?"

    "For one, the Bronze Reward is already enough for you to rule over your little corner since you come from one of them. And secondly, if you try to push for Silver, claiming 100

    territories will definitely put you in their line of sight, you''ll already be lucky to not run into them after claiming 10."

    "Who''s them?"

    "The other Races, of course."

    "Why should I fear the other races? Aren''t they suppressed just like we are in this place?"

    Nelligan looked at Leonel and shook his head.

    "In this place, we''re all stripped down to our baseline and left with nothing more than our Spear Force. You think about it, humans versus the other races, who has the higher baseline?

    Without our Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes, we''re screwed. However, their abilities are too ingrained into their very bodies to be completely suppressed.

    "The Rapax will always have exceptionally strong bodies and no amount of suppression is going to remove the metal that coats their bodies. The Cloud Race''s shifting ability is ingrained into their very person. Although they can''t shift in this place, they can still analyze all of your abilities and counter them with a change in the battle style.

    "And the worst cheaters of them all, the Spirituals, still have souls separate from their bodies. While their bodies are suppressed, the suppression to their souls is much weaker because it needs to be. After all, your real body is in suspended animation right now, it''s your soul that''s occupying this puppet body for you to use. If it was suppressed too, everything that made you, you, would be gone and then there wouldn''t be a point to these trials.

    "Some of those bastards can use their affinities and even portions of their Lineage Factors...

    "You think about it, what chance do humans stand, exactly?"

 Chapter 1860 Resounding

    Leonel fell into silence. This was, indeed, a troublesome issue. But if what Nelligan said was true, then technically, shouldn''t he have such advantages too? After all, his soul was also separated from his body. So why was it that he hadn''t sensed anything special?

    However, when he thought back to what Nelligan had said, his frown deepened. According to what he had said, this tribulation world was still able to suppress Spirituals, it was just that the suppression wasn''t perfect. The Spirituals were still able to take advantage of their affinities, which likely meant that they could use Forces outside of just Spear Force.

    The Spear Domain Lineage Factor made this ability exception. Those with this Lineage Factor were able to fuse all Forces with their Spear Force, their spear was a perfect conduit or vessel for their other Forces.

    To keep this matter simple, if the Spiritual could use other Forces here, they were exceptionally dangerous.

    The trouble here was that humans and Spirituals weren''t of the same race. Although Leonel had had a hypothesis that they shared the same root, he had yet to be able to confirm this.

    Plus, even if they did, they had branched out in their evolution enough that this fact might not even matter.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om Essentially, humans stored their affinities within their bodies and the changes that occurred within them. Spirituals, however, carried all of their DNA within their souls. The greatest difference was that as long as their soul was intact, a Spiritual goal rebuild their Ethereal Glabella, but if Leonel''s Ethereal Glabella was ever destroyed, he would be finished.

    This was all to say that from what it seemed here, Leonel didn''t have the same advantages even though his soul was separate from his body. He couldn''t even sense his greatest affinities: Dream Force and Fire Force.

    "Wait..."

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened.

    He definitely couldn''t sense Fire Force, but was it true that he couldn''t sense Dream Force? In fact, hadn''t his Spear Force felt like an extension of his Dream and Soul Force when he used it as a replacement when he drew the Force Arts that formed his current armor?

    Suddenly, it all clicked for Leonel at once.

    He couldn''t access any of his other talents, but there was one of his talents that was firmly rooted in his soul: his King''s Might Lineage Factor.

    From the very beginning, it was the only one of his Lineage Factors that did elicit changes in his body but rather did so to his soul. While the Lineage Factor itself was currently suppressed, what wasn''t suppressed was the Dream Force affinity that came with it.

    Leonel realized then that he didn''t have an advantage similar to that of the Spirituals, it was just far less obvious, and it was difficult to tell how he would be able to apply it.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel was incapable of projecting his Dream Force out of his body. It was only after he gained Thaela''s Innate Node that he was able to. But now, he obviously didn''t have access to it any longer.

    This meant that just like before, Leonel was fairly limited in what he could do. Outside of drawing Force Arts using his spear as medium, it would be difficult to use it in other ways...

    After a moment of silence, Leonel''s mind flashed with a few thoughts and he nodded to himself, his confidence soaring.

    This was a tribulation of the spear. He didn''t care what advantages they had, so long as their blades weren''t as sharp as his own, they would lose. It was that simple.

    "Go." Leonel said coldly.

    He snatched Nelligan''s spear and pulled his own out of the latter''s shoulder. With a thought, the two spears fused and what was left, although still of low quality, was still much better.

    The crooked wood was now as straight as a javelin, the blade had lengthened, and Leonel could feel its sharpness with a touch of his finger.

    Nelligan opened his mouth to say something but just shook his head in the end as his body began to fade away. He could tell that Leonel had no intention of listening to his advice. In fact, Leonel had already begun to draw something in the dirt.

    It didn''t take Nelligan long to realize that it was actually a Force Art.

    Just when he thought it was futile, a surge of Force came forth from the surroundings. The last thing Nelligan saw was a horde of beasts rushing over.

    **

    Not long after Leonel cleared Nelligan''s territory, he left to another, and then another. Back to back to back, he cleared a total of five territories and his speed was only increasing.

    Leonel realized that he had to maintain this pace until the specialty territories began to appear. The later he was to enter a territory, the fewer beasts there would be remaining, and the fewer Beast Crystals he would be able to consume to increase his strength.

    Although one could gather territory by stealing the spear of someone who had already conquered many, doing things that way would be like leaving power on the table because you wouldn''t be able to absorb strength someone else already had.

    Leonel''s steps came to a pause and his eyes narrowed. By now, his armor had evolved several times and he looked not much different from a hooded hermit wrapped in white furs and blackish leather. Even so, his movements were just as agile and even far swifter than they had been before.

    Up ahead, Leonel caught sight of a Rapax, its oblong shaped head glistening with a blackish-silver metal-like carapace.

    This was the first non-human individual he had met, and the difference felt particularly striking. For one, he could see that the Rapax''s spear was already upgraded, which meant that it had already conquered other territories. But more importantly than that, it too was fighting several beasts at once without the slightest hint of fatigue.

    Even so, Leonel stomped a foot onto the ground, not hiding his presence in the slightest as he barrelled forward. He didn''t just want a victory, he wanted a resounding victory.

 Chapter 1861 Unfairness

    The Rapax seemed to sense Leonel almost immediately. It was far too difficult for Leonel to tell what its emotions were, especially without his Ability Index, but the slight hitch in its actions despite the fact it had reacted so smoothly before seemed to suggest that it was actually surprised that a human was coming at him.

    This was no normal Rapax, it was coated in golden runes that Leonel had only seen on the most talented of Rapax. In fact, when he thought back, only Rapax of the Seventh Dimension had had these runes. This wasn''t to say that only Rapax of that level could have such things, but rather that all those who had had such runes had the talent to enter the Seventh Dimension with their unique path.

    What was more important than this, though, was the fact that the Rapax had runes at all. This definitely meant that it had received more than a generic body when it entered this place, speaking to the unfairness spoken about before.

    Even so, that wouldn''t stop him.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and he slid by the beasts as though he didn''t exist. Not a single one of them reacted to his appearance and to the Rapax''s further shock, the beasts treated no differently than one of them, ignoring him and continuing to attack the Rapax.

    The Rapax blocked a lunging elephant beast with his spear. At the same time, his tail whipped toward Leonel like a whip. In some sort of weird martial art, it lifted its leg in a violent frontal kick all at once. Without fail, each attack was matched with a viciously sharp Spear Force.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om Leonel''s pale violet gaze remained frighteningly cold, but inwardly he had confirmed Nelligan''s words several times over in just a single exchange.

    The Rapax were close combat experts, and they were also practically immune to Soul Force to the point they couldn''t be seen with Internal Sight. They didn''t tend to use weapons and relied on their bodies instead as they lacked the affinity for it. But if one of them was born to be a spearman like the one right before Leonel, the combination of spearmanship and close combat skills would be exceptional.

    And now this was no longer a vague theory in Leonel''s mind, but was rather a very clear reality. Every single part of this Rapax seemed to be another spear pointed right for Leonel.

    Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain thrummed to life.

    "SKREEE!"

    The Rapax released a war cry, seemingly wanting to intimidate Leonel. Rather than pausing, its attack became fiercer, pressing down with a vicious momentum.

    BANG!

    Spiraling domain of Spear Force, tail and leg met. However, rather than going right through like he had expected, the Rapax found itself in a stalemate. Having underestimated Leonel, he found himself entangled for far longer than he thought he would be, and because it was still dealing with other beasts, it couldn''t do much as Leonel''s spear snaked forward, its blade appearing between the natural plated armor that covered its body.

    The Rapax seemed to enter another odd stance of its martial art. Using the momentum of its rebound against Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain, its leg and tail drew back and pulled its body into a half spin that shrunk Leonel''s target.

    Leonel''s spear passed through, drawing a line of blood through the joint in the Rapax''s natural armor, but it wasn''t the deep and devastating cut he had wanted.

    At the same time, the elephant beast''s trunk swung and knocked the Rapax away. Leonel could tell with a glance that the Rapax absorbed this blow on purpose, arching through the air, flipping once, and then landing agilely on its digitigrade feet.

    The Rapax hopped once as though it was loosening his body, but this casual leap of his easily brought him ten meters into the air before he landed.

    The elephant beast quickly caught up and tried to follow up, thinking it had the upper hand, but with his eyes still locked onto Leonel, the Rapax swung out his spear just once and severed the beast''s head.

    The elephant beast kept rushing forward as though it was still alive. It crashed through dozens of meters worth of trees before it finally came to a stop.

    The other beasts that tried to take advantage of the situation were instantly shredded by the Rapax''s own Absolute Spear Domain.

    Leonel didn''t follow up immediately, calmly meeting what he thought was the Rapax''s gaze.

    "...You aren''t bad... human..."

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. He was a bit shocked because this was the first time he had heard a Rapax speak, or maybe it was more accurate to say that this was the first time a Rapax saying something was properly translated for him.

    He hadn''t put any effort into learning the Rapax language when he last met them, so it was only right he hadn''t understood anything they were saying. But it seemed that this tribulation did the translation for him.

    "... It''s rare to see a suppressor among the humans, and that armor should be self-made, right? Judging by your spear, you''ve already conquered five territories already... how''d you Indeed, because he could emulate Force Eruptions, Leonel''s clearing speed for territories was actually the fastest, or at the very least, if it wasn''t, he should be near the very top. Even this Golden Runed Rapax had only cleared one territory up until now, this was his second and he was about 75% finished. How could he not be interested after seeing this?

    Leonel tilted his head to the side until he heard a satisfying crack. He didn''t bother to ask what a "suppressor" was, from the context clues he had gained from Nelligan, a suppressor should be someone who restricted their Spear Force in order to first chase perfection.

    More importantly, if Leonel hadn''t suppressed his Spear Force, he would have been dropped into a tribulation with those with Sixth Dimensional Spear Force. At that point, he probably wouldn''t stand a chance no matter how fast he cleared territories... if he could clear them at all, that is.

    "I always thought that Rapax were silent warriors, I didn''t expect a genius among them to be so talkative. You''re single-handedly ruining the image I have for your race, I hope your blade is stronger than your tongue."

    The Rapax didn''t say anything to this, but his aura seemed to darken.

    What an arrogant human.

    There was only a moment of silence, and then a rush of wind, before the two suddenly vanished, their spears crossing.

 Chapter 1862 Battle Prowess

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel pressed forward with a furious speed. It was clear that his Spear Force was sharper and his reactions were quicker. At the same time, his strength output was beyond that of the Rapax. After all, he had cleared five territories while the Rapax was still working on its second.

    However, the combat style of the Rapax was unpredictable and it flowed exceptionally smoothly. All parts of his body seemed to become a spear, it was to the point where it was difficult to tell whether he was a true spearman or if he was a close combat expert instead.

    Leonel''s spear separated into six blades, attacking all the vital points of the Rapax at once. The Rapax young man reacted with three of his own, but what was surprising was that his tail also split into three matching Leonel with a total of six.

    Leonel''s timing was thrown slightly off by this. The Rapax''s three spear collided against him first with a purely forward pressure, but the three tails followed up with a more side-swiping momentum. The delay between the two destabilized Leonel''s spear and opened up his guard.

    Suddenly, the Rapax''s foot appeared before Leonel''s chest, clearly having expected exactly this sort of lapse.

    Leonel didn''t have the time to block and could only try to twist away. Unfortunately, he was a step slow and a claw coated with radiant gold Spear Force shot across his chest, taking with it a strong impact that knocked the air out of his lungs.

    With a grunt, Leonel spun and shot backward at the same time, the armor that protected him deflecting much of the pressure. He realized immediately that had it not been for his self-forged armor, his rib cage would have been slashed to pieces beneath that strike.

    Leonel''s expression couldn''t help but become several hints more serious. He had the advantage in strength, power, speed and even sharpness, but he was actually losing in... combat effectiveness, experience and battle prowess.

    The Rapax appeared before Leonel instantly, not giving the latter any room to breathe.

    The Rapax''s leg soared into the skies, performing a perfect vertical split. Its momentum was so fierce as its ax kick descended that the ground around its plant leg cracked.

    Leonel swiped his spear at the Rapax''s plant leg, trying to throw it off balance before its kick could land. However, his tail countered before Leonel''s spear could even gather up momentum, clashing strongly against the spear.

    The ax kick descended swiftly, the Rapax''s heel glowing with a blinding golden light like a shimmering guillotine. Even before it landed, Leonel could feel the sharpness digging into the skin of his forehead. He had no doubt that if this kick connected, his body would be split right down the middle.

    Without a choice, Leonel used the momentum of his clash against the Rapax''s tail to roll off to the side, just missing the downward ax kick by a small hair.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om BOOM!

    The ground split in two and the residual impact cracked the rest. Even so, the Rapax was completely unmoved and he pressed down toward Leonel again, and then again.

    The closer to death Leonel came, the calmer he became. Although he didn''t have perfect control over his body like he did when he had his Ability Index, he still maintained perfect control over his mind. He realized that he needed to enter that state he had cleared the first territory again.

    After he had gained power, he had let his brain take over the heavy lifting again. Since he could win through sheer power, his skill had become less important.

    This was actually the first time that Leonel was fighting against a spearman for obvious reasons. A spearman who was also a close quarters combat expert like this Rapax was a whole other can of worms. He couldn''t win this by taking this so casually.

    The Rapax could sense Leonel''s gaze becoming sharper and sharper, so he pressed even harder. His own instincts were sharp enough to feel that something might change if he didn''t end things as quickly as possible.

    Leonel''s figure flickered. He had noticed another weakness of his: movement. With his speed, he had never needed a dedicated movement technique, and that only became more so after his Spatial Force affinity shot up.

    But after this battle, he could see that the martial arts Style of this Rapax seemed to be infused with a mysterious movement pattern that allowed him to press his advantage instantly.

    The more Leonel saw of it, the more he got used to it, until his cold gaze suddenly went entirely blank.

    Leonel planted a palm on the ground, holding his spear in his free hand as he pushed up into a handstand. His hips torqued and he twirled once, spinning out of the way of the Rapax young man''s downward swinging spear before bending his elbow and pushing.

    He spun through the air and landed behind the Rapax''s back on his feet.

    Swift.

    Leonel''s spear shot forward just as the Rapax''s tail rose to block, but this time, a mysterious Spear Domain seemed to form around Leonel''s spear rather than around his body, creating a vortex of Spear Force that deflected the spear and landed right on the Rapax''s body.

    The Rapax managed to throw Leonel''s spear a tiny bit off course, causing him to miss the vital point between his natural plate armor. Even so, the impact caused the Rapax''s back to curl in an awkward direction and his figure flew into the distance, crashing through several trees.

    Leonel shot forward, appearing above the Rapax and piercing down.

    "SKKREEEEE!"

    The Rapax released a war cry as he forcefully spun his to thrust his spear up toward Leonel. However, at that moment, Leonel met its gaze with a boundless confidence.

    "One spear to connect the earth and skies."

    The Rapax felt his heart tremble when he heard these words. Leonel''s voice seemed to have a magical tone to them that demanded his essence of meaning to be birthed into the world.

 Chapter 1863 Edrym

    Leonel''s spear seemed to vanish. In its place, a line that connected the skies and earth appeared in its place, descending with the might of a smite from the heavens above.

    In that moment, just the smallest tinge of violet colored his golden spear, causing its power to skyrocket beyond realms of normal reason.

    When it crashed down, the Rapax realized that there was simply no blocking it. There was simply nothing he could do.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear pierced through the Rapax''s stomach and into the ground below, a sharp light that would be denied brightening the entire world. The flash was seen from dozens of kilometers away, opening the eyes of all those that looked up.

    Leonel descended with a heavy thud, landing over the Rapax. The white furs on his hermit-like armor and hood fluttered in the wind, but not a single thing seemed out of place even after the intent battle.

    Although Leonel had defeated the Rapax, he still looked down at him with hints of respect in his eyes. If not for their gap in power and strength due to the circumstances of the trial, it was uncertain if Leonel would be able to win this battle. Though this uncertainty was only due to the fact that Leonel didn''t have his Ability Index, wasn''t this Rapax restricted in the same way.

    Still looking the Rapax in the eye, Leonel bent forward and snatched his spear.

    "What''s your name?" Leonel asked.

    eж┴glesn?ж═el The Rapax didn''t seem to want to speak, but Leonel only shrugged. It was only a moment of curiously. He fused the two spears together and his became sturdier and sharper once again. There wasn''t much of a change in its appearance since the first fusion, but Leonel could feel the changes quite profoundly. It had a bit of extra heft to it, its blade was a little longer, and whereas before Leonel had to rely on his Spear Force to pierce the hide of beasts, he could pierce them relying on his strength and the sharpness of this blade alone.

    Slowly, the Rapax began to shimmer away and vanish. But in the end, he did finally speak once more, maybe in gratitude for Leonel not killing him even though he very well could have.

    "My name is Urah''Kai."

    Leonel looked down as the Rapax slowly faded away and grinned. "The name''s Leonel Morales, don''t dream about me too much. Train hard!"

    Urah''Kai was immediately irritated, but it was already too late for him to get revenge. He could only strew in his own frustration. He, Urah''Kai, a genius among geniuses, had actually only managed to receive the lowest Black Grade reward in this tribulation. How pathetic.

    "I''ll remember you! I''ll crush you with my full strength when next we meet!"

    The cry of indignance echoed out, but Leonel only chuckled. This guy had been far too arrogant, he just wanted to knock him down a peg. Of course, Leonel hadn''t realized that he had been just as arrogant, or maybe he felt that his own arrogance was only natural while everyone else were posers.

    Leonel retracted his spear and waved it a few times. He gave himself a nod before beginning to draw a Force Art into the ground. There weren''t many beasts remaining in this zone, so he would clear them quickly. After he finished off three more, he would fuse his zones and allow the more powerful beasts to start spawning, only then would he begin to target more zones.

    Leonel realized what he needed most was a movement technique. He wasn''t sure if the treasure zone Nelligan told him about would have one, but he would have to take a look.

    After reaching Bronze clearance, Leonel would have certain other advantages that he could take advantage of, so he would have to make full use of them.

    As expected, Leonel quickly cleared the region. When this one was counted with his others, that made six, plus the one that Urah''Kai had already claimed and he had seven total. He just had three more to go.

    Leonel flashed forward and quickly entered a new zone. He didn''t meet anyone as powerful as Urah''Kai immediately and made quick work of the next three territories. All three had been headed by young geniuses who were still working on completing their first territory, so it went to show just what kind of gap there was between the participants of this tribulation.

    Although Leonel had many questions, he knew that he would likely have to wait to learn more about them. It couldn''t be helped. The best he could do now was put his head down and grind.

    Leonel fused his now ten territories. The forcefield that enveloped them rippled once before solidifying. Quickly, a surge of Force rushed through and Leonel instantly began to hear the howls of much more powerful beasts.

    This time, Leonel didn''t instantly draw a Force Art to attract them over, he wanted to see how strong they would be first.

    **

    At that moment, in the tribulation zone, a pair of young men were meeting.

    "Oh, so it''s you. I didn''t expect our territories to be so close."

    In reply, the young man who spoke only received a snort.

    If Leonel was there, though he wouldn''t recognize who these two young men were, he would recognize their races.

    One young man was handsome to an exaggerated degree. There wasn''t a single imperfection on his tanned skin. In fact, it felt like his tan was an illusion brought by the delicate bronze energy he gave off, almost as though the sun''s rays couldn''t help but cling onto him.

    His hair and irises shared the same radiant bronze color and it made him look far more like a carved statue than a living being.

    There was no doubt that this young man was a Spiritual.

    The other young man, the one who had snorted, was exceptionally handsome as well. He had a radiant glass orb in the center of his forehead, but he otherwise looked entirely human...

    Except for the two pairs of hands that floated around him. Despite being completely separate from his body, one would be certain at a glance that they were one in the same existence.

    This young man was without a doubt a member of the Nomad Race, a race of beings with six hands and yet just two arms...

    The young Spiritual smiled and didn''t seem bothered by the Nomad''s attitude at all.

    "In the end, it will always be the six of us. You, me, Alerina, Pririna, Coldar and Urah''Kai, there''s no need to fight now. I will see you to decide the champion in the end."

    With that, the young Spiritual turned around and headed in the opposite direction, not crossing the Nomad youth''s barrier.

    But it was clear that there were more hints of amusement in his eyes than respect... almost as though he was a cat toying with a mouse.

    "Edrym, I will personally take your head," the Nomad youth said coldly as he watched the Spiritual youth walk away.

    In response, though, Edrym only laughed. It seemed that he didn''t care in the slightest. To him, he had shown mercy. Wouldn''t it be a shame if a genius like Enul only passed with Black Grade awards?

 Chapter 1864 Problems

    Leonel sat on the back of an enormous rhino beast, it must have been the size of a small hill. At first glance, it wasn''t even immediately obvious that it was a creature and looked more like a large patch of dried, grey land. However, the aura it radiated was a different matter entirely, especially considering the large crystal orb that Leonel held in his palm.

    Leonel looked at the crystal orb that was larger than his own head and laughed to himself. How was he supposed to eat this, exactly? He would just have to hope that cracking it wouldn''t cause him to lose too much of its essence.

    Casually swinging his spear downward, Leonel shattered the crystal. Almost immediately, the energy began leaking out in all directions.

    Leonel sighed. It seemed that he wouldn''t be so lucky. However, he didn''t give up.

    With a large inhale, he tried to suck up everything he could. Without the ability to manipulate Force outside of his Spear Force, this was the best he could do. Surprisingly, things worked out better than he thought they would.

    The Force was ripped toward him along with the wind, flooding into his lungs.

    Leonel almost choked on the shards as they went down the wrong pipe, but luckily, when they entered his body, the shards dispersed into motes of energy, saving him from an embarrassing death.

    ''I really am too pathetic without my Ability Index," Leonel didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, what a stupid mistake. That was the kind of mistake even a normal human wouldn''t make, but he was so used to thinking at the speed of light that he was too confident in taking actions before he even finished his thought process all the way through.

    Leonel leapt up and nodded with satisfaction.

    He had finally cleared the evolved beasts in his new fused territory, it was about time he went hunting again. The next milestone was a hundred for Silver. He should be one of the first if not the first to reach a Bronze standard, so he had to press his advantage and slaughter his way through a few more territories.

    The moment Leonel stepped out from his bubble, he found that there were actually a few options down this path, three to be exact. Two looked quite normal in that they were also large forests with a density of beasts, exactly like all the territories he had conquered until now. The last one however had a different sort of aura to it, and Leonel could see a building in the far off distance, likely located at its center.

    Without hesitation, Leonel took this third option. This should be one of the challenging territories Nelligan had spoken about. There were any number of rewards to gain from it, whether it was a new spear or spear technique or an auxiliary treasure that could help you in the tribulation.

    Leonel shot inside and streaked through the forest, keeping a sharp eye out for anything dangerous.

    **

    Raffyr Brazinger, the leader in name of the four Brazinger youths, was quite exasperated at the moment.

    The instant they returned to this place, a place that, quite frankly, they had all seen as their backyard, they had been ambushed by Seventh Dimensional existences.

    Although they were geniuses in their own right, the gap between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions was far too great. Although this didn''t mean that they were helpless against a Seventh Dimensional existence, fighting in that situation would have only ended poorly for them. After all, if they caught up fighting one, what would they do when a second or third involved themselves?

    Under normal circumstances, Raffyr would have taken the risk. After all, the Moon wasn''t too far away by the standard of their current means, so if they were attacked in such a fashion, help from their people shouldn''t be far away.

    However, Raffyr wasn''t a fool. The fact that Earth had so boldly attacked made him feel that something was off. And, more oddly, the Seventh Dimensional individuals that had surrounded them weren''t normal. In fact, they could be classified as geniuses. Although they weren''t nearly as good as the best the Brazinger had, compared to the batch they had sent out this time under their current restrictions, they were still extraordinary.

    Due to these factors, Raffyr and the others had chosen to take the safer approach.

    But the moment they had, they found themselves in a dilemma.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om The air space of Earth was completely monitored with what seemed like a Force Art on the scale Earth most definitely shouldn''t have. They had no idea who could have possibly set up such a formation, but it made escaping Earth through the air nigh impossible.

    Due to this, their only option was teleportation, but after a few attempts, they realized that the formation also had very strong restrictive properties. By the time they finally gathered up enough materials to create a formation stronger than what Earth''s Force Art could stop, they ran into yet another problem: the path to the Moon was space locked and would require even stronger materials than what they had. Without a choice, they could only change their destination to a settlement of the Adurna family...

    Only to run into even more problems.

    The team of four had only just vanished and appeared in a distant location within the Milky Way, but not only did they find a planet that was almost entirely barren where they should have found thriving civilization, but Sarathana, Raffyr''s elder and most silent sister, suddenly spoke.

    "We''ve been tracked," she said softly.

    The other three couldn''t feel it, but she could.

    A Force Art drawn on a large enough scale to encompass an entire planet was difficult to make perfect unless a much higher Dimensional existence went down in Dimension to draw it.

    As such, it wasn''t surprising that Earth''s Force Art could be circumvented with the use of stronger materials.

    However, it was obvious that whoever had drawn it had known this, so rather than fighting the inevitable, they let it happen and tagged the teleportation of the four instead. Now they likely only had a few moments before they were hunted down once more.

    It was then that a familiar warp in space occurred and four blue haired individuals appeared.

 Chapter 1865 Naivete

    The eight youths fell into silence as they looked toward one another, both of them quite haggard. They looked toward one another and seemed to have a moment of silent solidarity. It was clear at a glance that they had both just come from Earth and had both been harassed in much the same way.

    After a moment, the leader of the Adurna family looked around before her face was warped into a frown. This was definitely their base of operations, why was it barren? No... it wasn''t barren, it was...

    Destroyed.

    If Leonel was there, he would recognize this leader of the Adurna family. Although she had grown up, his senses would be too sharp to miss the similarities. This person was none other than Little Nana, the very same little girl that Leonel had saved in the Camelot Zone.

    Right now, though, there was nothing about Little Nana that was little. She had already grown into her own, becoming quite a beautiful young woman. In fact, she and her brother beside her were both well into the Seventh Dimension, making them the only two with this level of strength present.

    Little Nana''s elder brother was also a person that Leonel had met before back when he was first chasing the golden scaled koi fish. He had returned Leonel''s favor for saving his younger sister by blocking Simeon and the other two geniuses of the Crudus and Laevis families, and now he had also grown into his own.

    "The Adurna family sent two Seventh Dimensional existences?" Raffyr asked, a hint surprised though his words also seemed to be implying something.

    It was very obvious to Raffyr that the Adurna family would only do this if they knew something the Brazingers did not, and that was made even more obvious by the fact they had sent Little Nana.

    Adrin was only at the level of Simeon and not worth Raffyr''s attention, much less Sarathana''s. However, Little Nana was a different case entirely, she was a genius even surpassing that of Raffyr''s elder sister and had a long track record to prove it.

    The only reason the Adurna family was even able to send her out was because she had already been in this world before when she was much younger.

    Little Nana''s Bind Ability Index allowed her to place restrictions on more than just the physical. As she had grown more skilled, she could even place restrictions on herself, allowing her to fool the eyes of the Regulator and slip by without detection.

    However, even while restricted, her current power dwarfed them all, and that would be the case even if she was in the Sixth Dimension like the rest of them, let alone the fact she was in the Seventh.

    "We..." Adrin started slowly, "... received a report a few months ago."

    "Why did it take you so long to reply, then?"

    "We weren''t here," Adrin replied, "we were in another Domain and had to come back to shore up things here. But it''s clear that we were too late, and I''m pretty it happened to all of us. Someone wiped out our families to the last man. The message only said... Prince Leonel Morales."

    "I don''t believe it," Nana immediately shook her head.

    Adrin opened his mouth to reply, but in the end he shook his head and sighed.

    His little sister might be exceptionally powerful, but this was ironically exactly why she had been able to maintain her innocence even to this point. She didn''t know what hardship was because everything was too easy, and everyone doted on her. The only hardship she had ever experienced in her life was in the Camelot Zone, and it was ironically Leonel who had saved her from it, so just based on this, the place Leonel had in her heart was exceptional.

    What his little sister didn''t realize, though, was the fact that even if Leonel had slaughtered them all, he wasn''t necessarily in the wrong. Their families were encroaching on the people of Earth...

    Of course, things actually weren''t so simple considering it was that Lineage that had control over Earth. But as someone born and raised on Earth, it made no difference to Leonel. All he knew was that Emperor Fawkes was his grandfather and that this territory was his.

    The reasons the four Great Families had for being here were irrelevant to him. Since they had warred against Earth, there was no doubt that Leonel had lost some people he cared for, so it was only right for him to be infuriated and destroy them if he could.

    And since he had managed to come back from that place... given his talent this kind of improvement was almost a given.

    However, in Little Nana''s naive little world, everyone she loved was always perfect. Whether it was the Adurna family or Leonel, both were in the right, so there had to be something else she didn''t know about and the two definitely wouldn''t hurt one another.

    Having such a naive little girl wield such power... it was hard to tell if this was a good or a bad thing.

    "Leonel Morales?" Raffyr repeated this name with a dark expression. However, almost the instant he did so, he regretted it.

    Raffyr felt his body go entirely limp and out of his control. He couldn''t even look toward the young woman pressuring him because even looking up at this point was like lifting a mountain for no reward other than greater pressure.

    "Nana..." Adrin said softly.

    Hearing her big brother say something, Little Nana snorted lightly and let the matter go. However, everyone else felt a helpless sort of cold sweat. Raffyr hadn''t even said anything bad about him yet, he had only repeated the name in a displeased tone, but it had still caused such a reaction.

    eж┴glesn?ж═el Raffyr cleared his throat as he took deep breaths. Although he was inwardly furious, there was nothing else he could do.

    Leonel Morales was a name he knew only because it was tied to Aina Atheleys Brazinger... and even more importantly than that half breed was her traitorous father, Adam Renier Brazinger.

    To think that such a person would actually dare destroy their bases... His name had already been placed on a sure kill list, but they hadn''t been in a hurry as he wasn''t worth that much concern. But now...

    Raffyr''s gaze flashed with a malevolent light.

 Chapter 1866 Elorin

    Raffyr took a breath and calmed himself. He was used to a hierarchy in the Brazinger family, among the four they were most definitely the strictest in this regard. Since their bloodlines practically made them thirst for battle, it was an inevitable outcome. The likes of Simeon was exceptionally rare, if not for his background, he would have never been favored so much regardless of what his Ability Index could do.

    Long story short, Raffyr was very much used to swallowing his pride and biding his time. He lacked top tier talent within their family, so he could only do things this way.

    "What should we do, then?" Raffyr asked. "Just from our short stint on Earth, it was too easy to tell that their entire system has been overhauled. And now that we''ve left Earth, returning to our families will be difficult with this being this way."

    Earth was their only gateway back to their families, so now that they had been lured away in order to find out information about what had truly happened, there was no going back, at least not with any sort of ease.

    No matter how they looked at it, whoever had set them up like this had done so on purpose and also had an understanding of how their system worked. Now, unless they disregarded the risks and tried to rush back to Earth, they would definitely be delayed at least a few more months, extending matters even further.

    Obviously, this was the goal of Earth and it only benefited them.

    "... I think the first thing we should do is gather the others. We need to leave here quickly as I''m sure you''ve all already sensed that we''ve been tagged. Since we''ve sent people, the Laevis and Crudus definitely have as well. After we gather up, we can decide what the next step will be." Adrin replied.

    "It''ll be difficult. I doubt the tag only applied to those coming here, so they''ve been tagged as well. If they chose to flee from their location as quickly as possible, finding them might prove difficult. By then, they can pick us off one by one," Raffyr said solemnly. "Also, there''s no guarantee that they sent Seventh Dimension existences like you did, so they might very well be sitting ducks."

    The four families couldn''t exactly be said to be entirely cozy and buddy with one another, they were more like reluctant allies as they had no other choice. But this was enough for them to not want the unwarranted death of one another.

    It felt that given how things were stacked up against them, before they even found the others, they''d already long be dead.

    "Your words make sense," Adrin nodded. "In that case we should pivot. If we can meet up with them, that would be for the best, but since we cannot, I think the best course of action is to leave Earth''s territory."

    After thinking for a while, Adrin came down with this conclusion.

    Everyone fell into silence. Although it was an uncomfortable truth, it was one nonetheless. Right now, they all felt trapped, like mice in a trap. If they squirmed about in Earth''s territory for too long, they could suffer greatly for it in the end.

    "Not necessarily," Raffyr suddenly said with a smile. "Since things have reached this point, I think it''s best we move some things forward."

    Adrin frowned. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of this, but they didn''t have the weight to make such a decision. In addition, with how suffocating Earth''s tactics had been, there was no telling how those chess pieces were fairing to begin with.

    "We had a good opportunity when Terrain attacked, but everything was ruined by that Leonel Morales so we shut them down before they could act. I think it''s only right that this Leonel Morales now becomes the trigger for the opposite," Raffyr said lightly, shivering slightly under Nana''s warning glance.

    "I''m not certain that..."

    "There''s no better time than now, we can''t delay any longer," Raffyr cut off Adrin. "Think about it clearly. Our families have been wiped out and all the time we''ve spent building up our foundation has been wasted. Although we don''t have the jurisdiction to know why our families are doing this, its apparent that they have their reasons, correct? If not, why even bother? Why not just wait until Earth enters the Eighth Dimension and send in the geniuses of your younger sister''s caliber? What chance would Earth stand then?"

    Adrin fell into silence. Raffyr''s words made sense, there was definitely a reason they needed to establish a presence first, and he felt that it was likely due to the necessity of not allowing the Fawkes to grow freely...

    "If we let things get too out of hand, reversing the situation would be impossible. It''s time we activate some trump cards and counters."

    Silence fell over them all once again before Adrin took a breath.

    He was a fool, he could see the ambition in Raffyr''s eyes. His words were logical, but they were underpinned by an insatiable desire to prove himself. It was clear that Raffyr saw this as an opportunity to increase both his and his sister''s station in life.

    Adrin no longer needed to press so hard, his little sister had already led their branch family far further than he could ever imagine. But he could understand Raffyr''s fire because he had once had it as well... before his little sister matured.

    He didn''t know when that fire vanished, but he had just become okay with letting Little Nana take the reins, he just felt that there were other things worth fighting for.

    But now...

    "Alright. Let''s contact Elorin, then." Adrin said firmly.

    **

    Deep within Earth''s territory, on a planet that was filled with lush greenery and wild beasts, but without a hint of civilization, a young man reclined within a tall tree''s shadow. He seemed to be at complete peace, a rusted machete by his side, until his eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing a piercing blue depth.

    eaglesnov?1,зуoзо This young man had features carved from a painting. Eyes as blue as the skies, hair as white and pure as winter''s first snow fall, and delicate brown skin that reminded one of gently roasted nuts. Every one of his actions exuded an air of vitality and suffocating pressure.

    This young man was Elorin.

    The young man who cleared the Zones of Earth the second fastest.

    Hacker Hutch''s grandson.

 Chapter 1867 Dent

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om Leonel took a deep breath, causing the surrounding air to rush toward him again. All around him, the strewn corpses of armored knights lay. Though they didn''t leak any of their own blood, the cracks and joints of their armor leaked out plumes of Force. Unfortunately, Leonel couldn''t absorb this like he could the Beast Crystals, he had already tried.

    Up ahead, there was just one knight that remained. His spear was so tall and mighty that it was at least 50% taller than him, who already stood over two meters tall to begin with. On top of that, its blade was of an exaggerated size and shape, taking up an entire third of its body. At first glance, it looked far more like a lance than a spear. The difference was that rather than having a cone shape, it had four blades perfectly perpendicular to one another, almost looking like the extended head of a mace.

    The knight rose from his throne as Leonel approached, plumes of Force jetting out from the joints in its sapphire blue armor.

    Leonel exhaled one more breath and he had already recovered to 100%, his body feeling loose and limber. He didn''t know what reward lay at the end of this castle, but clearing it had taken as much time as it had for him to gather up 10 territories to begin with on top of clearing the more elite beasts. He hoped that whatever he got in return would be good.

    All thoughts were thrown to the back of his mind as his gaze became frighteningly cold. With a step, he moved just as the blue knight moved, however his brows couldn''t help but jump the instant the latter did.

    The blue knight was fast. Extraordinarily fast. Although Leonel had moved first, he had actually attacked a step late. While he had expected some difficulty in the final hurdle, Leonel had thought that the greater part of the challenge was already behind him only because of the sheer number of enemies.

    It seemed like he had been wrong.

    Leonel realized that it was too late to continue attacking so his stance shifted and his wrists flicked upward, nicking the underside of the blue knight''s enormous mace-like lance spear.

    Ducking with a bend of his knees, Leonel slid under the violently piercing blade, his feet gliding along the marbled floors of the throne room.

    Forceful.

    Leonel''s spear spiraled through the air, forming its own lance-like construct as his Absolute Spear Domain wrapped around it and collided with the blue knight''s chest plate armor.

    CLANG! BAN!

    The blue knight stumbled just a single step backward, but it had already raised its spear upward, swinging it down as though it was a club rather than a spear, even to the point of using just a single arm.

    Leonel rolled to the side, just barely dodging. However, he was calm as he sprung back up to his feet, gliding back to dodge another strike. Inwardly, though, he was confused. Logically, his spear should have done much more damage.

    For one, his spear had been upgraded to the bronze grade after fusing ten territories. Secondly, he had used Forceful, the strongest strike he could utilize in such close quarters and with such short notice. And yet, he had only left a dent on the armor.

    Leonel dodged again as he sent a look toward his spear. This time, his expression changed a little when he noticed the micro fractures fissuring its body. The good news was that these fractures slowly healed, likely because this tribulation wasn''t cruel enough to leave a participant spear-less in the case of an accident. The bad news was that this pretty much guaranteed that Leonel wouldn''t be able to break down these defenses with normal means.

    He had been through this castle for long enough. Attacking the joints wouldn''t help. Only by causing enough damage to the armor itself could he cause a knock down and victory.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he stamped his foot down hard, unleashing a roar.

    The marbled floors cracked once as he launched himself forward. Backtracking wouldn''t help him, the only path forward was to push, relentlessly.

    The blue knight had exceptional straight line speed, but Leonel had already realized that its agility was lacking and things were only made worse by the heft of its spear. He had to stay close, unleashing barrage after barrage.

    Leonel glided around the blue knight, his tactics changing as his eyes glazed over. His spear left countless afterimages in the air, delicate brushes of gold painting the throne room in a nobility beyond anything it had experienced before.

    ''Faster... Faster...

    The white furs that coated Leonel''s body fluttered, dancing into the coarse wings as his body only seemed to become more and more agile. His spear danced, clashing against the blue armor again and again.

    ''Not working... change tactics... layer strikes..."

    Leonel''s body moved faster than his thoughts. He followed up "slow" strikes with accelerated strikes, giving the illusion that he was layering two attacks into one, and then three into one, and then four.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    ''Not fast enough..."

    The number of loud clashes began to lessen, and then they lessened again. Eventually, Leonel moved so fast and skillfully that the layered spear strikes echoed as one, making it seemed as though he had only struck out with his spear just a single time.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with a blazing light and he suddenly felt his spear techniques evolve. His Spear Domain Lineage Factor shifted, touching upon a barrier that felt far more ethereal than what it had before.

    Leonel tried to burst through and just barely failed, however the feeling of euphoria gripped his soul.

    This time, Leonel truly only pierced his spear forward just a single time, and yet the blue knight felt as though it had suffered three strikes at once.

    BANG!

    The armor dented.

    BANG!

    The dent deepened.

    BANG!

    The armor was torn through like thin aluminum, Leonel''s spear shooting right through like a blazing meteor.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1868 Arrogance And Ignorance

    Leonel held out his spear for a long while before slowly retracting it and allowing the blue knight to fall to the ground.

    He found that without his Ability Index, his Spear Force seemed to increase by leaps and bound with every battle. He had yet to have a battle where he didn''t make a large improvement. Every time he sunk into that state of forgetting everything, he would come out an even greater monster on the other side.

    Just now, he felt his spear transcend the laws of the world around it. Before, his spear was able to ignore space somewhat, extending his blade against several enemies at once and even vanishing to attack across large distances.

    When he had just entered the tribulation, he could only do so within his Absolute Spear Domain. But just after a few battles, he could extend it well outside and his Absolute Spear Domain had increased in range. Not long after that, he was even able to use his Absolute Spear Domain as less of a defensive measure and even began to use it offensively and change its shape and location, even using it to coat his spear.

    And just now... He felt like rather than just attacking across space, he could also attack across time. He had been so focused on layering his strikes in a better fashion, with a faster method, with a greater speed, that he had ignored reason and simply did what felt natural... And then it happened.

    Although he hadn''t broken through entirely, Leonel felt that it was only a matter of time. With his improvement speed, how many more battles would it take? Maybe only a handful more at this caliber?

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. This time it wasn''t because he was tired, but rather because he was sighing. It wasn''t that he didn''t know that allowing his talent to take over would have such great results, it was just that he was too arrogant to allow it to happen. He had wanted to fundamentally understand what was happening to him.

    Maybe deep down inside, Leonel knew why this was. Back then, it felt like too many things were entirely out of his control. The world he had grown up in was suddenly had a calamity descend upon it, his father wasn''t who he thought he was, his mother was the woman he had ignored and maybe even somewhat hated all his life, his grandfather turned out to be the man everyone on the planet worshipped, and now he was suddenly forced into killing and maiming just to live, something he absolutely did not want to do.

    Leonel was someone who liked to have everything under his control, everything within his purview, even if that sometimes meant offending those that were closest to him... James''

    words back then of calling him a sociopathic hypocrite, and then Aina''s actions of doing the exact same, was probably perfectly correct.

    The funniest part was that Leonel knew it. Despite his personality, he was hyper aware of everything and very emotionally intelligent, he couldn''t be a leader without such skills. He had just chosen to ignore it anyway, much to the frustration of a lot of people.

    Ironically, this tribulation, which was maybe a great challenge to others, was more of a joke to him, at least physically speaking. However, when it came to the truths it forced him to face... it could only be said that maybe this was a different kind of tribulation for Leonel altogether.

    Leonel waved his spear slowly. Despite the paced movement, he still left after images in the air, forming a wing of spear to his side.

    The afterimages only faded after a very long while. In that moment, Leonel confirmed and consolidated his gains in this battle.

    It would be hard to shut off his brain when his Ability Index returned, but since he was shut away from it in this tribulation, he would allow his talent to bloom. He wanted to see how far his Spear Force would grow before he was forced to leave this place.

    Leonel took a step forward and the throne of the blue knight shook once before sinking into the ground. By the time Leonel got to the top of the stairs, a platform had appeared. On it, there was a perfect replica of the blue knight''s spear, radiating the aura of a Silver Grade weapon, one Leonel would only be able to gain after clearing 90 more territories. Or, rather, 89 after this one.

    However, this wasn''t all.

    When Leonel grabbed the spear, strapping his old one to his back, he waved it around and felt its heft. After a moment, a flood of knowledge entered his brain and he learned about the ability of this spear.

    Knight''s Charge.

    It seemed that rather than gaining a domain with each spear, Leonel would gain an ability instead. Knight''s Charge seemed to be the reason for the blue knight''s obscene straight line speed. To make up for the heaviness of the spear, it allowed nigh instant distance collapsing. When Knight''s Charge was activated, he could accelerate in a straight line, closing up to a hundred meter distance in the blink of an eye.

    Of course, the drawback was that stopping was almost impossible. However, that could be mitigated because the distance of the charge could be decided by the activator ahead of time, you just had to trust in your own judgement.

    Leonel didn''t know how often he would use this ability the way it was meant to be used, but he felt it had great potential in increasing attack potency.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om Leonel waved the enormous spear around for a few rounds before he got used to it and nodded himself. Then, he turned and left, he had wasted enough time here.

    With that T.eanel charoed toward a new territarv and then anather It wouldn''t be long until he met his next Urah''Kai, and maybe that was exactly what he wanted. He was loving the challenge.

 Chapter 1869 Never Enough

    Elorin didn''t get up immediately, listening to the message in complete silence. It was only after an entire half hour that he stood. As he did so, his body seemed to leave afterimages in its wake despite the fact he wasn''t moving very fast.

    Suddenly, all of those afterimages snapped into one before the process started again, and then again.

    Elorin seemed to realize what was happening and shook his head before waving a hand and dispersing the odd Force in the air.

    After a yawn, he patted down his still pristinely white tracksuit that didn''t have even a slight stain on it despite the fact he had just been lying in the grass and began to walk forward.

    Under some mysterious power, he appeared dozens of kilometers away, but somehow still seemed to be standing in place.

    Like a rubberband, his afterimage snapped into the distance, fusing with himself dozens of kilometers ahead.

    Every step Elorin took, the process repeated until he stepped into the air, shot through the atmosphere, and began to stroll through the depths of space...

    "He''s been contacted," Raffyr said confidently. "Things will get started now."

    **

    On Earth, a silent movement began to take place.

    At that moment, a familiar young man walked into an estate with slow and deliberate steps. He stood at just over two meters tall and had exceptionally broad shoulders and large palms. Just shaking his hand would make one feel as though you were enveloped by his aura and presence, if not for his sturdy and unbothered demeanor.

    Everywhere this young man passed, servants and passersby would respectfully greet him.

    This man was none other than James Bennett, a man who could formerly be said to have been the best friend of Leonel, and the very man who had betrayed him not once, but twice, the first being during their Championship game, and the second being during Leonel''s escape from the Royal Blue Fort.

    Right now, though, James was no longer the James of the past. At the very least, the Bennett family wasn''t the Bennett family of the past. Instead, they had regained their title as Governor Duke family following the fall of the Siegfried family.

    James'' father''s plan had worked.

    Over 20 years ago, James didn''t know why his father had made him go to the Siegfried family and reveal that it had been Leonel who killed their son, Conrad Siegfried. But time had shown that his father was simply far more shrewd than he was.

    Conrad was the very young man that Aina had killed the moment Leonel stepped out from his very first Zone, it was an event that had shocked Leonel awake to the fact that the young woman he had been chasing after for so many years wasn''t who he had thought she was. But even Leonel couldn''t have guessed that this would be the catalyst for the rise of the Bennett family once again.

    Just that seed planted so many decades ago led to the fall of the Siegfried.

    Learning that Leonel had killed their son had left the Siegfried quite suffocated. Around that time was also the time that news that Leonel was the Prince of the Empire also spread, so how could a mere Governor Duke family dare to lay hands on him?

    Without a choice, they could only swallow their dissatisfaction, but it only continued to brew inwardly, especially after the Siegfried family missed their chance to join the Void Palace during the first round.

    Back then, Leonel had brought along many of Earth''s geniuses with him to Planet Luxnix, but he had never cared to note that the Siegfried family wasn''t among them, but James''

    father had pulled strings to make certain that things would happen this way.

    Of course, the Siegfried family wasn''t the only one that lost their opportunity to join as even James didn''t join as well, but this result made it look like the Fawkes family had not only condoned the killing of their son, but were even actively trying to suppress them so that they never gained a chance at revenge.

    The general population might see Emperor Fawkes as a God, but the noble families knew exactly how ruthless this man could be, this was the very same man who said that they were free to keep hunting his own grandson and that he would reward him if they could pull it off, this was simply not the type of ruler you crossed, and if you managed to get on his bad side, you had to try your best to get out from under his power.

    So that was what the Siegfried had done. They thought they had gained an opportunity to flip the tables during the war against the four families, siding with the Laevis family when they thought they had gained a valuable chance.

    But in the end, their choice had ruined them, they were entirely crushed and their family was wiped out...

    Things wouldn''t have happened as smoothly as this, or they would have at least been able to escape and join the remnants of the other families outside of Earth''s territory, but as things went, how could James'' father let this opportunity slip by?

    The Siegfried''s family''s deeds were reported by none other than the Bennett family, which eventually led a family of Tier 5 officials who had fallen from grace to regain their standing as Governor Dukes, a path that was made easier due to their legacy and the past.

    When this had happened, it had been the happiest day of James'' life. He had thought that now that the Bennett family had finally regained their honor, he would be free, he could finally live the carefree life he had always wanted to, he could sleep with as many women as he wanted, drink until he couldn''t see straight...

    Maybe even rekindle his friendship with the person he missed the most in the world, apologizing on his hands and knees if he had to.

    But how could things ever be so simple? How could he not have seen that to his father, returning to the status of Governor Duke was just the beginning? To him, nothing was ever enough... Now that they had climbed one peak, he wanted to aim for another...

    eж┴glesn?ж═el Today, James'' father had called him in once again.

    James entered his father''s office, feeling the same suffocating pressure he always had. The man now had on a stern expression, the smile he had worn the day he regained his great grandfather''s honor long since wiped away.

    "It''s time," James'' father, Governor Duke Bennett spoke evenly. "In three days'' time, half of the Slayer Legion will rebel, launching an attack from within the capital."

    James'' heart skipped a beat.

 Chapter 1870 Thats It

    Leonel took a deep breath. Truthfully, waving this lance spear around was much more troublesome than the enemies themselves. No beast he crossed seemed to be capable of lasting even a single strike. The value of holding a Silver Grade spear while facing what Leonel assumed were Bronze Grade threats in the eyes of this tribulation was undeniable.

    As time passed, Leonel realized that reserving Knight''s Charge was actually a foolish decision and his skill in wielding the spear increased with every exchange.

    Rather than relying on his own strength to gather up momentum, he would execute Knight''s Charge in short bursts, cleverly applying it to accelerate his attack speed and potency while keeping his attacks entirely unpredictable.

    Knight''s Charge didn''t seem to have any limitations on it at all, there was no cooldown, and it didn''t take anything out of Leonel''s stamina, making him realize just how valuable these treasure territories were. The only limitations were that once a distance had been chosen, the charge couldn''t be stopped, that there was a limited range of about a hundred meters, and finally, it could only be used in a straight line directly ahead of Leonel.

    When Leonel made this adjustment, he began to shred through opposition and the rate his stamina drained at was even less than it had been before. This led to an exaggerated result where it didn''t even seem like he was sweating as he battled.

    This time, Leonel faced off against Cloud Race man. He had faced off against quite a number of other races by this point. In fact, as Nelligan''s words had made quite obvious, by this stage, most humans would have either been eliminated or have chosen to withdraw themselves, so this outcome was unsurprising.

    What was more surprising was the fact that Leonel was still here. The Cloud Race man had thought he had gotten a lucky break to come up against such an easy opponent for his 10th territory, even to the point that he didn''t bother to scan Leonel initially. But after a few exchanges and finding himself on the backfoot, he realized that he had underestimated Leonel greatly.

    What shocked the Cloud Race individual the most was the fact that Leonel didn''t seem to be trying very hard, as though he was probing something.

    Gritting his teeth, the runes within his Cloud Figure shimmered to life and a wave of strength fell over Leonel. Very quickly, everything about his combat style was downloaded and stored. Eventually, the Cloud Race man seemed to gain the upperhand, even somewhat suppressing Leonel.

    ''Interesting...'' Leonel thought.

    The abilities of the Cloud Race were extraordinary. When taken to the logical extreme, and paired with their incredible mental capacities, their battle style could practically allow them to predict the future just by using the model they had of you in their mind.

    One of the very first dreams Leonel had ever had for his Ability Index was to be able to do this, but even until now, he hadn''t been able to accomplish it, and that was despite the fact he had gained the ability to scan people with his Dream World.

    And yet, people of the Cloud Race could just do so naturally and without any trouble whatsoever.

    ''There''s a secret here, and that secret should be hidden within the weakness of this ability..."

    Leonel''s battle tactics suddenly changed and he began to incorporate Knight''s Charge once again. His battle style became entirely unpredictable and erratic. However, what was fascinating to him was that this didn''t throw off the Cloud Race young man. Leonel began to overwhelm the Cloud Race young man not because he became unpredictable, but because his strength simply far outstripped the latter.

    eж┴glesnovel`c,om ''No, let''s change tactics...!

    Leonel pulled back his strength and changed tactics again. But, once more, he began to be suppressed by the Cloud Race young man.

    ''Fascinating... Is this ability really flawless?"

    Leonel''s gaze flickered and it landed on the dancing runes within the Cloud Race young man''s Cloud Figure. Maybe the craziest part about this race''s ability was just how non-invasive and nigh undetectable it was. If not for Leonel''s own sensitivity and deductive abilities, he would have even been able to tell that Captain Wimword had scanned him in the first place.

    But then again, Leonel''s own Dream World was almost undetectable as well.

    Leonel had a feeling that by analyzing the Cloud Race, even if he couldn''t gain their ability, his comprehension of Dream Force would definitely touch an all new level.

    By this point, the Cloud Race young man was infuriated. He could tell that Leonel was just toying with him, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

    "DAMMIT! FIGHT ME!"

    Leonel blinked and slipped to the side of a wild spear attack.

    "Oh, so that''s your weakness," Leonel suddenly said.

    The words were simple, but they somehow felt like the whisper of the reaper to the Cloud Race youth. He shuddered in fear but the tip of Leonel''s spear had already collided with his chest, shattering every bone in it. He couldn''t even hold onto the spear in his own hands as it had been ripped out by Leonel.

    Before he could even land, his body began to vanish. Clearly, his spear had already been claimed by Leonel.

    Leonel turned and walked away, slaughtering the last of the beasts in this region. He didn''t even bother to absorb their Beast Crystals because by this point, these lowest level beasts had no effect on him.

    "It''s still a bit surface level, though. Relying on an enemy to lose focus isn''t the way to go, but it is a look into how they operate. There should be other methods of restricting and countering them. There should be..."

    Leonel''s gaze glowed. He had it, that was it.

    ''12 more territories until I reach the Silver Grade since this guy gave me ten including this region...

    Leonel finished clearing the region swiftly. But when he stepped into his next target, his gaze sharpened.

    He sensed another member of the Cloud Race, but this one made the other look like a toddler in a play pen.

    Their gazes met and silence echoed.

 Chapter 1871 Alerina

    Alerina was quite surprised to see a human enter her territory. Well, this couldn''t truly be considered her territory as she too had just stepped into it. By coincidence, the two of them had entered at near the same time from adjacent directions. They had hardly taken a step when they noticed one another and immediately changed their focus.

    What surprised her even more, though, was that despite seeing her, this human wasn''t afraid. This was definitely new to her. Let alone humans, even members of other races who saw her would be very afraid. This wasn''t because she looked like a monster or anything, it was quite the opposite, in fact. The reason was because much like the other races, her talent had very strong physical signs.

    Alerina was all face just like the other members of her race. She looked like a sculptor that had had the back half of her head removed, but rather than making her look weird, with the flowing cloud that made up her brain and seemingly also her hair, not to mention the golden runes floating within it, it made her look like an ethereal deity untouched by mortality.

    The features of her face were especially gentle, the only sharpness coming from her small nose. The curves of her cheeks and jaw were all perfect and feminine in an almost exaggerated way, making her look like the representation of what a perfect woman might be.

    Her eyes reflected the Cloud Figure that flowed behind her, dancing with golden runes as well. Much like the rest of her race, it made her look like a hollowed mask being carried by a tail of ethereal clouds... if said mask was of a goddess descended from above, that is.

    Alerina''s cherry lips curled, her Cloud Figure sparkling like twinkling stars. Usually when she did this, most wouldn''t be able to stand looking at her anymore and would turn away in either embarrassment or a feeling of unworthiness, but Leonel simply continued to look at her without a word, his expression not giving much away.

    He had seen many beauties before, this wasn''t enough to move him. Plus, Alerina relied much more on her aura and disposition to pressure him, which was even more fool''s gold. If she thought such a thing would work, there was only disappointment in store for her.

    eaglesnov?1,зуoзо "You''re an interesting human," Alerina said lightly.

    "Someone else told me that before."

    "Oh? And where are they now."

    "Since I''m here, isn''t it obvious?"

    Alerina released a bell-like laughter. "What an arrogant man."

    Leonel''s own lip curled into a sneer. He had heard that one too, but he didn''t feel like repeating himself.

    With a glance at Alerina''s spear, he could tell that she had cleared between 20 and 30 regions. This was a far cry from his own almost 90, but given his advantages in this matter, Alerina was definitely very impressive, and that was especially so since she had done it without a special spear like his own.

    Even so, judging by the armor that coated her voluptuous body, although she hadn''t gained a specialty spear, she had definitely received other rewards.

    "Let me see if you have skills warranting that arrogance."

    Alerina took a step forward and charged, but to her surprise, before she could properly build up momentum, she was interrupted.

    Leonel activated Knight''s Charge and crossed the distance to her even faster than what she could muster, lancing his spear forward and aiming right for her chest plate without regard for her gender in the slightest.

    Alerina''s gaze narrowed. Her armor released a light glow and a pulse of light jetted outward with her as the center. Leonel immediately found the speed and power of his spear cut in half.

    CLANG!

    Taking advantage, Alerina deflected Leonel''s blade, sliding her own along its underside and snaking it toward Leonel''s throat. It was clear that she was exceptionally skilled, and she had gained quite a bit of practice using her armor as well. But what she didn''t expect was Leonel''s nonchalant response.

    Rather than panicking, Leonel slightly shifted the trajectory of his spear, not fighting back against Alerina''s blow, but rather deflecting his own spear even further upward. Then, he activated Knight''s Charge once again, this time for a short distance.

    His feet shifted and he suddenly covered a two feet distance in the blink of an eye, almost as though he had just teleported there.

    Alerina''s spear, which had been aimed for Leonel''s throat, was found to be off course due to Leonel''s slight adjustment and it barely slid by and over his shoulder by a centimeter or two.

    BANG!

    Alerina suffered a solid knee to her torso.

    Leonel had used the momentum of Knight''s Charge to not only dodge, but to also gather up strength for this attack, and the results were devastating.

    Alerina, caught off guard, had all the wind in her body knocked out, a mouthful of blood flying from her soft cherry lips as she was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

    Leonel shifted his lance-like spear again and activated Knight''s Charge once more, closing the distance between himself and Alerina in a blink.

    Alerina, despite being disoriented, reacted quickly, activating her armor''s ability once more and half Leonel''s strength and speed.

    But her timing this time was off. Leonel''s Knight''s charge stopped just outside the range of the ripple of life before he activated Knight''s Charge again and swung down with a vicious momentum.

    BANG!

    Alerina coughed out another mouthful of blood, her inner organs rattling. It was only now she realized that Leonel''s strength and raw speed were so much greater than her own. Just how many Beast Crystals had he swallowed until now? If not for her armor, she would have already been severely injured beyond the point of continuing in this tribulation.

    She couldn''t believe that she was losing so sound to a human.

    Leonel landed above Alerina, his spear glowing with a fierce light as he pierced downward.

    "One spear to connect the earth and skies."

 Chapter 1872 Awakening

    Compared to the last time Leonel had used this strike, it was countless times more powerful, not only because of the spear he was using, but also because his comprehension of Spear Force was far deeper.

    Alerina saw the light of death, a completely contradictory concept. It was as though Leonel was gracing her with it rather than throwing her into an abyssal hell of no return. She never thought that she would die in this way, she hadn''t even brought out her full strength...

    However, just when she thought she would die, Leonel''s blade came to a sudden stop right above her face.

    Their eyes met and he pulled back, leaping out from the pit he had created when he first smashed her into the ground and landing at its ledge.

    Alerina was immediately confused. Why had Leonel spared her? Could it be because she was a woman? This both made her somewhat angry but also uncomfortable at the same time.

    She wasn''t an ungrateful person, but she also wouldn''t sell her dignity for her life either.

    "Get up," Leonel''s cold voice suddenly knocked her out of her fantasies. Any thought she had of Leonel suddenly falling in love with her seemed to have been thrown out of the window. That wasn''t the voice of a man who was enraptured with her and her appearance at all.

    Alerina had already been standing to begin with, she had no idea what was going on so she had already been ready to keep fighting. But something about the sound of Leonel''s voice and his gaze made her feel a combination of suffocated and infuriated.

    "You are the most powerful member of the Cloud Race in this tribulation, right? Then show me your real strength before I send you away."

    Alerina was far too arrogant and had ended up losing before she even knew what was happening. However, Leonel''s vision was far beyond this tribulation, he already didn''t plan on coming in second place to anyone. The more important thing to him was learning more about the Cloud Race so that he could counter them better in the future.

    Currently, the Cloud Race had infiltrated the Human Domain and their claws were sunk far deeper than Leonel knew, that much he was certain of. If he wanted to deal with them, would need something more tangible than what he had, and there was no better target than one of their absolute geniuses.

    When Alerina heard Leonel''s words, she gripped her spear so hard that her fingers bled and her figure trembled.

    Clenching her jaw, she looked toward Leonel, the golden runes dancing in her Cloud Figure beginning to tremble as well.

    She didn''t say a single word. There was nothing else to say. She would make him regret the choice he had made to spare her and then humiliate her.

    **

    Deep within the territory of Earth, all seemed peaceful. Ever since Leonel''s return, everything had flowed smoothly, from the destruction of the Zoltene Faith and the four Great Families, to the subduing of the Thrusting Skies Sector and the expulsion of the Viola family, everything had gone perfectly.

    The absence of Leonel didn''t even seem to be felt and all things continued to run smoothly. But, all things would seem to be perfect until the day they weren''t.

    BOOM!

    The explosion came suddenly and without the slightest hint of warning. Almost instantly, half of the Ascension Tree that acted as the Ascension Empire''s capital was covered in a blinding pillar of flames that seemed to want to engulf it all.

    Guards that had been on patrol hurried to figure out what was happening, only for their own comrades to suddenly turn on them without reason.

    Several golden spears pierced through the backs of loyal Imperial Guards. They hardly had time to look back in shock toward faces they had known for decades before they collapsed to the ground with unwillingness, their consciousnesses fading to nothing.

    All hell had broken loose, and though a call to arms was immediately sent to many of the highest noble families of Earth, to the surprise of many of the court ministers, some directly ignored the summons as though they had never received it at all, locking down their own territories and forming their own small countries, defecting from the Ascension Empire.

    At that moment, on the second of Earth''s two moons, Avalon, King Arthur sat on his throne, Queen Guinevere to his side. Before him, there was the smiling face of a member of the Laevis family, a young man with flowing golden hair and blinding golden eyes.

    "It''s time, King Arthur. The attack should have gotten underway already. You only need to do what the others have and Avalon will be yours. Close your borders, declare independents, and when the times comes, reject delegation.

    "The Ascension Empire has humiliated the Pendragon family for far too long. You are a people of royalty, and yet you''ve been downgraded to the status of a mere Duke, I can understand your frustration.

    "The Fawkes family haven''t done anything to deserve the role they''ve had ever since they conquered Earth to begin with. Even now, they rely on a child-like prince to handle everything for them, and do you think that this is really that prince''s doing?"

    Arthur''s gaze sharpened and the young man chuckled.

    "Does it even make sense to you that a young man who''s lost over two decades of progress in comparison to his peers can still be this far ahead? Who else do you think is working behind the scenes to ensure that all of this happens if not the Morales? He and the Morales must really think everyone is a fool..."

    The young man didn''t realize that as he spoke, Arthur''s grip on his throne began tighter and tighter while Guinevere''s lips pressed into a line. Even so, if you looked at the latter more closely, it was clear that this was a practiced gesture to hold back her laughter.

    "... We will expose them for the frauds they are and then everyone will turn on the Morales family as they should. When they face the pressure of the entire Human Domain, they will crumble like-!"

    CRACK!

    Arthur''s throne shattered as he stood to his feet.

    "He''s just a child, huh...?! No one could possibly lose to him, right...?! He''s nothing more than a convenient puppet on a string, hm...?! THEN WHY DID I LOSE TO HIM!?"

    The young man was stunned but Arthur had already unsheathed his sword. Before he could react, he found himself looking at his own headless body, his eyes widened in shock.

    eж┴glesn?ж═el Arthur sheathed his blade and began to pace about with a harrumph.

    Finally, Guinevere couldn''t hold back her laughter anymore and released a bell-like giggle.

    Arthur''s head snapped over. "What''s so funny?"

    Guinevere laughed even harder. "Husband, if you wanted an excuse to follow Leonel, you could find a better one than this, don''t you think?"

    Arthur''s lip twitched. "What do you mean by that?"

    Guinevere just laughed and didn''t respond, causing Arthur to click his tongue.

    "Whatever, let those idiots do what they want. I have no intention of getting on that little monster''s bad side. They think the Morales are the ones pulling the strings so now that they''re occupied by that summit they''re holding, everyone else can run wild and free.

    "Well, they''re in for a rude awakening."

 Chapter 1873 Single Tear

    Leonel exhaled a breath. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, blood coating some of his white furred armor.

    On the ground before him, Alerina laid at the end of her rope. It was clear that even after Leonel had given her a chance, the ultimate victory still remained in his hands. At this point, Alerina didn''t feel like she had any more excuses to give.

    Even so, Leonel didn''t seem to be proud of his achievement. In fact, he was a hint unhappy. Even with his advantage in strength and speed, the battle had been a tough one. After Alerina copied his movements, she seemed to know everything he would do ahead of time, one would think that rather than copying, the ability of the Cloud Race was to see the future.

    Compared to the first Cloud Race individual Leonel had fought, Alerina was definitely on an entirely different level, and Leonel felt that if their strengths were equal the one on the ground now would probably be him. But that was precisely why he had taken this chance to begin with, he wouldn''t risk a loss here, especially after he had already confirmed victory, that would be nothing more than hubris.

    Leonel reached down and took Alerina''s spear, he had gotten enough from her.

    "Who are you?" Alerina asked weakly.

    "Leonel Morales," Leonel replied blandly.

    Alerina fell into silence. She didn''t recognize the name at all. Not only had she lost to a human, but he didn''t even seem to be a place she recognized, or maybe he was, but was from a weaker family... but then how did he get his hands on a Spear Domain Ring? There was no way the stronger families would allow the weak to monopolize such a treasure.

    Unfortunately, Leonel didn''t have the answers she was looking for.

    Alerina''s body shimmered out of existence, leaving behind nothing but her armor. Leonel looked at the armor for a moment before shaking his head. Truthfully, although his own armor had less functionality, he preferred it.

    Reaching down, he picked up the armor and thought for a moment. Although he didn''t want the armor, it still felt foolish to just leave it. He thought about modifying it, but the main problem was that without Little Tolly by his side, manipulating metal was too difficult.

    "Hm?"

    An idea flashed in Leonel''s mind.

    Obviously since this armor had been left behind, he could use it. Though Alerina was a member of the Cloud Race and not a human, she still had the more petite body of a human woman, meaning her and Leonel''s sizes couldn''t be compared.

    This meant one thing: the armor had shape and size changing functionality.

    ''I can... take advantage of that."

    Leonel began to take the armor apart quickly, finding the Force Arts responsible for the shape changing. After making sure to preserve them, he began to restructure the other Force Arts, piecing together what he had while throwing away much of it.

    ''Good... good."

    About an hour later, Leonel finished. What was left of the robust armor were just a few wrist, elbow, knee, ankle and neck bands. Every time Leonel snapped one piece on, a radiant aura would echo outward and seamlessly fuse with his hermit-like armor.

    Soon, it became exceptionally subtle. It was hard to tell he had changed anything at all, but the aura his armor exuded alone seemed far more powerful.

    Grabbing Alerina''s spear, he allowed it to fuse with his original spear. With a WHOOSH, his spear broke through the Bronze Grade and entered the Silver Grade.

    Leonel waved the spear around for a moment and then looked at the lance spear. He decided to keep using the latter since it came with the added functionality of Knight''s Charge.

    After exhaling a breath, Leonel''s gaze sharpened.

    ''Bring it on.''

    With a thought, Leonel''s territories fused and the roar of beasts began to echo. The powerful evolved beasts spawned one after, their furious roars echoing with greater and greater vitality with every passing moment.

    Leonel took a step and vanished. His white fur coat fluttered, with a spear strapped to his back and one in his hands, he dove into another blood thirsty battle.

    **

    The commotion that gripped Earth seemed to have overturned everything. There was chaos, and yet in some regions everything was quiet, too quiet. It was as though pockets of different worlds were forming along the planet''s surface one after another.

    Hacker Hutch stood in the midst of the commotion, stunned. He didn''t quite know how to react to this situation. His blade, which had always lusted for battle, seemed to have gone dull.

    Inwardly, he sighed. Despite the fact his improvements had allowed him to keep living, he had always felt old at heart. This era had come far too late and his prime had long since passed. He didn''t have the raging will he once had as a youth, and that was simply something he had no choice but to accept.

    Seeing everything he had worked all his life for come crumbling down, he simply didn''t have the heart for it. During the war with Terrain he had sensed something amiss, as though a shadow was slowly circling his Slayer Legion and waiting for an opportunity to pounce, but it had already been two decades since then so he had hoped that he was wrong.

    He had poured everything he had into this Slayer Legion, he had bled real blood. Back then, it was he who stood at the front lines and fought against so many City Lords all on his own just to protect the budding youth of the Slayer Legion...

    And yet now what? Was he supposed to raise the same blade that had protected them to cut them down now?

    Hutch''s heart trembled as his head slowly turned.

    In the distance, through the burning fires that threatened to raze the palace to the ground, a young man wearing a white tracksuit walked forward seemingly quite slowly, and yet whenever his afterimages snapped back together, he would have already moved countless kilometers.

    Hutch''s lip quivered and he closed his eyes, a single tear falling down his cheek.

 Chapter 1874 Why

    Hutch only closed his eyes for only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. Everything about his life seemed to flash by, and yet it hardly seemed to have anything to do with him at all.

    No matter what memory he recalled, they always seemed to revolve around the very same little boy, his pride and joy... his grandson.

    Hutch didn''t know when it was he had completely lost his grip on Elorin. Maybe he was too focused on the Slayer Legion, maybe it was because he placed too much emphasis on his loyalty, neglecting the needs of the child, maybe he hadn''t shown the little one enough love, enough care... enough affection.

    He had always closed one eye to such events. Even back then when his grandson had held a blade to his neck, seemingly thinking that Hutch was unconscious, Hutch had been aware of his surroundings the whole time, he had even been naively happy when his grandson chose not to kill him, as though this was something a person should get extra points for.

    When Hutch opened his eyes again, though it had only been a moment, his grandson was already just five meters from him. Even amidst the chaos, there seemed to be a moment of silence.

    The tear that streamed down Hutch''s cheek fell to the ground and seemed to quickly vanish. Hutch couldn''t remember the last time he had cried, it hadn''t happened even when his daughter and son-in-law passed away, not when his wife had passed away, not when brothers and sisters left this world before him...

    However, seeing his grandson stand before him like this broke something within him.

    As he looked toward Elorin, he thought about the conversation he had with Leonel back when he brought Emna to train with him. Although Leonel hadn''t come out and said it directly, everything about his words seemed to drop hints for the inevitability of the current decision.

    Leonel was simply too good at coddling the feelings of others. He didn''t even waste his time trying to convince a grandfather that a grandson would stab him in the back. Even so, how much experience did Hutch have? Didn''t he already know that this was inevitable.

    Hutch''s grip on his machete loosened. He couldn''t seem to gather up the strength to hold onto it tightly.

    "Why."

    This was all Hutch could say. In truth, he didn''t even expect an answer. He knew his grandson too well, he wasn''t a man who liked to speak much and was often in his own world.

    When he was much younger, Hutch used to think that it was because his grandson was a bit anti-social and lazy, but as time passed, he realized that whenever his grandson lounged around, he would come back even stronger than before... and it wasn''t that he was anti-social... it was more accurate to say that he couldn''t be bothered to deal with the people around him.

    However, to his surprise, Elorin actually answered. It was a short and succinct answer, but it was an answer nonetheless.

    "The Ascension Empire killed my parents. The Ascension Empire deserves death."

    There didn''t seem to be any rage or fury in Elorin''s words, he simply stated them with the ease of talking about the weather. His gaze didn''t fluctuate, his radiance didn''t dim, his expression didn''t even flicker.

    Hutch tried to open his mouth to respond, but everything felt empty.

    Elorin''s parents didn''t have the necessary talent, this was something their Gene Assessment made very clear. They lived very normal lives and didn''t even interact with Hutch very much due to his own duties. Hutch was just lucky that he was privy to the truth of the Slayer Legion, and as such, was able to allow some members of his family the freedom to be normal. Others were much less lucky, completely unaware that the rebellion of the Slayer Legion was a facade, they embroiled their entire lives in that fight...

    It was likely due to this dissatisfaction that so many had turned on the Empire now...

    One could easily imagine, then, how Elorin''s parents had died. As two completely normal individuals, they were almost guaranteed to become Invalids. When the Metamorphosis Descended, they were among the first to fall from the skies, being crushed to death even before the awakening of their Ability Index could fail.

    Elorin was far too intelligent, it was easy to put two and two together, even without having all of the information, it was obvious that the Ascension Empire had chosen to sacrifice his parents, to kill them along with the other Invalids, just to ensure that their evolution path was smoother.

    Even if there was just a 1% chance that his parents succeeded in awakening, it was still not a 0% chance. But in order to play to the odds, the Ascension Empire hadn''t hesitated to sacrifice tens of billions of people.

    1% or even 0.1% was a small number. But of such a large number, how many tens of millions were unjustly slaughtered? And what if his parents were among that number?

    "And so you''ll stand in opposition to the only family you have left because of this?" Hutch asked with a hoarse voice.

    "I think you should be asking yourself that question," Elorin replied, reaching toward his back.

    At that moment, a rusted machete arched through the air, seemingly zipping through time to land in Elorin''s palm. By the time Elorin lowered his arm, it felt as though the machete had always been there, as though he had stitched together different causalities until he found the one that granted him this weapon.

    Hutch looked toward the machete. He recognized it all too well. By now, it was decades old, forged of Earth''s Third Dimensional technologies. It was the very same machete he had gifted his daughter for her 13th birthday. Although she never had the talent for it, she swung it around everyday with a childish enthusiasm.

    Hutch could still remember that look of excitement on her little face and years of pain and agony came flooding forward all at once.

    Hutch howled into the skies with a hint of madness in his eyes as he and his grandson attacked at the same time.

 Chapter 1875 Smile

    Hutch''s skin reddened, his eyes glazing over with a furious intent. When he swung his machete, it looked as though a crimson wave followed his every action. Those near him on the battlefield fell to their knees, unable to withstand the world shaking pressure.

    Elorin calmly stepped forward, his own blade moving quite slowly, and yet it reached his grandfather just in time.

    The two seemed to glide by one another, barely touching. All noise vanished and the world seemed to freeze before all hell broke loose.

    CLANG! BOOM!

    The glancing blow caused a booming wind to slice in all directions. Elorin''s pristinely white tracksuit rustled wildly within the wind, almost as though it was trying to rip a path off of his body. At the same, Hutch''s shirt was shredded to pieces, revealing a bronzed and powerful figure that didn''t seem to match the old features of his face in the slightest.

    The two only paused for a moment before their strengths erupted. Their figures danced around the battlefield, every clash leaving a crater in their wake, and yet their creation seemed to lag behind, taking three collisions before the earth seemed to catch up to what was happening and finally collapse.

    Hutch''s enraged howls echoed all across the Earth, the pain and fury within them causing the hearts of all those who heard it to race uncontrollably.

    He fought like an absolute madman. None of his strikes seemed to have any sort of reason to them. He sliced from all angles, gathering momentum from impossible positions and erupting from irreparable positions.

    Elorin calmly countered. Anyone with the eyesight to keep up with what was happening felt as though three of Elorin were fighting just one of Hutch. Due to this, his slow movements always seemed to counter his grandfather''s fast and erratic ones with ease.

    However, on the other side, Hutch didn''t seem to be struggling very much at all either. His stamina felt endless and the bloody ocean wave that was his blade was relentless and all encompassing.

    This was the first time in a long while those of Earth had seen Hutch battle, and for some, this was the first time period. The old glory of the Hacker Hutch name seemed to have been entirely forgotten, but on this day it was revitalized.

    No one felt that it was too weak that Hutch hadn''t won yet. Rather, they were only more shocked by Elorin''s strength.

    A pair of grandson and grandfather, one furious, another calm, one bound by duty, the other bound by piety...

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Blade Force rippled out in all directions, bringing with it a suffocating sort of presence. A cyclone of the sharp Force twirled around the two of them, shredding apart everything in its path and suffocating all opposition. It reached the point where it was almost impossible to hold any other battles in the vicinity as the pair completely went all out without a hint of their familial ties holding them back.

    Hutch''s blade pierced forward, shredding forth like a torrential storm. Rather than a blade, it looked far more like a meat grinder. Blade Force stuck out in all directions, rotating akin a drill, and yet having no form or shape at the same time.

    The more the battle went on, the more violent Hutch''s Blade Force seemed to become, and yet it was this very violence that he somehow also seemed to have absolute perfect control over.

    Elorin gilded back, his arm shifting forward to parry with his own blade just once, and yet the after images of over ten blades formed at once, causing ten echoes to resound as he glided back another step.

    Despite his clever dispersal, Hutch''s blade was relentless. The ten strikes seemed to disperse some of the circulation patterns on the rotating Force, but the total number were far too numerous.

    For the first time, Elorin''s expression changed somewhat and his gaze narrowed as his grandfather''s blade continued forward unimpeded.

    The blade appeared before him, ready to pierce through his head, but at that moment Elorin''s figure seemed to ripple. The blade that should have taken his head passed right through him as though striking a puddle of water and piercing a reflective image instead of the target.

    The momentum of Hutch''s blade died and Elorin''s own blade danced. At that moment, the rust on the blade seemed to flake off one peel of gruesome brown-red at a time, falling to the ground like the fall of an ashen snow.

    The strike was perfect, so perfect that the wind sang and the stars shimmered, the Force of the world guiding his blade toward Hutch''s neck.

    Hutch reacted quickly, Blade Force rippling out of his body like a sharp nail, radiating in all directions. It only paused Elorin''s machete for a moment, but it was enough time for him to pull back his own blade.

    He raised the hilt to his neck, separating his ring ring and middle finger to allow Elorin''s blade to perfectly land in the space between all while deflecting his blow.

    Elorin reacted nonchalantly, twisting his wrist slightly in an attempt to sever his grandfather''s fingers, however Hutch''s battle experience was high. He clamped his fingers down first and pushed down, changing the direction of Elorin''s blade and countering his twist.

    He released the blade a moment later, stepping forward with a made look in his eye.

    There was nothing between him and his grandson anymore, no fictitious barriers, no heavy tolls, no blade...

    Hutch''s free hand pierced forward, covered by Blade Force as he thrust toward Elorin''s chest with a vicious light in his eye.

    His life flashed before his eyes once again. The day he was assessed to have talent and shipped away from his own parent... the day he made his first friends... the day he picked out the weapon that called to him... the day he met the love of his life... the day they had their first child... the day he carried his grandson in his arms for the first time, only to be forced to put him down and escape into the night so that his daughter wouldn''t be forced to feel his separation again... the day he appeared in their lives again to whisk their son away...

    The furious light in Hutch''s gaze blurred, flooding over with tears. However, his speed didn''t lessen and his striking power didn''t weaken.

    Even so... just before his fingers pierced a hole through his grandson''s chest, a mind flooding pain coursed through his own body.

    PCHU!

    Hutch''s actions came to a stop.

    He looked up, only to find that his grandson''s figure was becoming blurry for more reasons than just the tears in his eyes.

    Soon, Elorin''s figure vanished entirely.

    Hutch looked down, his gaze landing on a blade as its last hints of rust fell away and drifted into the wind.

    Silence echoed through the battlefield. It was palpable, an almost harsh sort of silence, suffocating, even. It wrapped his hands around their throats and squeezed even as they turned purple and blue.

    Hutch looked up from the blade, looking into the skies. Maybe only he knew what he was looking for... but he did suddenly smile, a smile of endless relief.

    He slowly fell from the blade, sinking into endless darkness.

 Chapter 1876 When?

    Elorin watched as his grandfather slid off of his blade. He seemed to frown slightly before his brows smoothed out.

    By now, the way he and Hutch saw the world was simply far too different. Hutch was still bound by his duty even now, but Elorin had no loyalty to anyone outside of himself. There were many things that he couldn''t be bothered to explain even to his grandfather, but now he felt lighter.

    Even so, Elorin was aware that his grandfather had gone easy on him. Not once did Hutch use his spatial affinity, of which he potentially had the highest on the entirety of Earth. There was a reason Hutch was probably one of the most talented raw combatants Earth had.

    However, in the end, he didn''t have the ability to go all out against his own grandson. In fact, he chose death. Rather than being forced to choose between what he felt was right and his own flesh and blood, this felt like the much easier path.

    Elorin was aware of this as well, but he wasn''t moved. Of course, this wasn''t to say that he didn''t care about his grandfather. Rather, he felt that he could defeat his grandfather whether he went all out or not. In fact, as things stood right now...

    He believed that he was the strongest warrior in Earth''s territory.

    Elorin sheathed his blade, kneeling to give grandfather''s side.

    Carefully, he turned his grandfather over. He didn''t seem to care about what was happening in the surroundings at all as he looked at the peaceful smile on Hutch''s face.

    Elorin remained silent for a long while. The blood that pooled from the wound coated his palms, sinking into the sleeves of his white tracksuit, but he didn''t seem to notice.

    After what must have been at least five minutes, he reached forward and closed his grandfather''s eyes and then picked him up.

    No one on the battlefield seemed to have the courage to stop him. They could only watch as Elorin made his way to the front of the Ascension Palace.

    A surge of Blade Force pulsed once, then twice, cutting out a perfect piece of land with edges as smooth as a mirror''s surface. If one looked into it and had a keen eye, it would be possible to tell that it was exactly six feet deep, not a single centimeter deeper or shallower.

    Elorin allowed his grandfather''s body to fall, but it didn''t seem to follow the laws of gravity. Hutch''s body fluttered like a falling snowflake, gently descending to the bottom.

    Elorin paused for only a moment before the hole was perfectly covered up.

    Unsheathing his blade, he carved out a large slab of the pearly white and gold three-quarters of his height before piercing it into the ground. With a flicker of his wrist, several beams of Blade Force surged forward, carving into the slab.

    ''Here Lies a Loyal Warrior.''

    The words were simple and unadorned, almost casual, but encompassed Hutch''s life perfectly without the slightest hint of exaggeration. The location of the grave spoke all the words that needed to be spoken. Right beneath the first step of the Ascension Palace, at the very center of this war, the very center of Earth itself.

    It was both a sign of respect and disrespect, both a sign of closure and a furious opening.

    The doors to the palace opened wide as Elorin walked around his grandfather''s grave and began to walk up the steps. With the first missing, he was forced to stretch his foot out far further before he could begin to walk up slowly and steadily. He didn''t even look up to meet the gaze of Noah Fawkes, still looking at the ground with a calm gaze as the Blade Force on his machete hummed.

    Noah stood at the tallest height of the stares with a serious expression, his veins pulsing. His expression was just as even as Elorin''s, but comparatively speaking, his blood was boiling.

    He had reacted as quickly as possible, and yet it felt as though the entirety of Earth was thrown into an upheaval.

    Elorin finally looked up and Noah felt his heart skip a beat. At that moment, the calm Elorin had a gaze that was surprisingly fiendish. His expression hadn''t moved, but his eyes seemed to hold a concentrated, abyssal hell, pulsing with a furious red. Noah almost felt the need to step out of his way.

    Instinctually, Noah swung down his blue saber, allowing it to grow to over ten meters long under the power of his Ability Index, it was as though he had seen a monster that needed to be destroyed as quickly as possible.

    "... All those with the Fawkes name... deserve death," Elorin said lightly.

    Noah could hardly react. His blade passed through Elorin as though he wasn''t there at all.

    CLANG!

    A machete blade rebounded against Noah''s neck, leaving a white streak around what should have been a severed head.

    Noah''s heart lurched. If it wasn''t because he had sensed a threat and used his Ability Index to change the density and weight of his skin, that singular strike would have killed him. In fact, if it wasn''t because Elorin had underestimated him and had been too lazy to use his Blade Force, that one strike would have taken his life.

    Noah''s gaze narrowed as he changed the density of his body again and allowed himself to flutter away like a leaf in the wind.

    Inwardly, he was more than a little shaken. When had Earth gained such a powerful Seventh Dimensional existence? This should be Hutch''s grandson, he knew this much. But he hadn''t displayed any outstanding abilities ever since the invasion of Terrain, just what was going on here?

    Just as Noah was thinking, he inexplicably found himself standing in the same place he had been before, as though he had never fluttered away to begin with.

    His heart leapt into his throat. How had this happened?!

    Before he could think, Elorin''s blade was already descending with no intention of clanging against his neck again. A bright Blade Force swung forth with it.

 Chapter 1877 Patience

    Aina sat in silent meditation, her aura in perfect balance. She took deep breaths, controlling her inhale and exhale in cycles that lasted sometimes up to several minutes.

    Suddenly, she opened her eyes just as there was a light knock to her and Leonel''s room.

    "Yes, you can enter."

    Savahn came in with a worried expression on her face, one that actually caused Aina to laugh slightly.

    "What is it?"

    Savahn was speechless. "Why are you laughing, this is serious."

    "I don''t know, this is just the first time in a while I''ve seen anything but a smile on your face, I found it interesting."

    Savahn blushed, seemingly understanding what Aina was getting at. But then she remembered that she wasn''t entirely without ammo in this conversation.

    "You''re one to talk, I can still smell it in the air."

    Aina suddenly panicked. "Smell? What smell?!"

    Aina''s head snapped around before she froze. This time, it was her turn to blush. There was no smell, clearly Savahn was just making fun of her and had won this round.

    Savahn''s laughter echoed like a silver bell. She was very used to Aina''s shyness and she used to have all sorts of fun making fun of her. After the Metamorphosis, she had thought that maybe all their previous interactions had all been an act, but by now, she knew that it wasn''t that the Aina she had known was fake, it was only that it was just one dimension of who she was. That Aina was just as real as this one.

    Aina rolled her eyes and coughed slightly, trying to clear her embarrassment.

    "Didn''t you come here for something important? Look at you making fun of me, I''m innocent."

    "Yeah, sure," Savahn laughed, "about as innocent as a death row inmate."

    Seeing that Aina was too flustered to respond, Savahn graciously took her victory and remembered that she had indeed come for something quite serious.

    "They''ve attacked and according to the news... Hutch has died already by... the hands of his grandson."

    Aina fell into silence. She knew that Hutch was quite important to Leonel although she had never interacted much with the man personally. Even so, it was impossible for her not to feel anything simply for the fact that Leonel had always seen him as a mentor.

    That said, before he had left, Leonel had known that this was a distinct possibility. No parent wanted to end their child''s life, and there was definitely no grandparent who wanted their grandchild''s life. However, Hutch had been unlucky in two ways, he had not only outlived his children, but he was faced with trouble of standing in opposition to his grandson.

    It was simply impossible for him to survive both, so even without being there, Leonel knew that Hutch would choose to die rather than make such a voice. It didn''t matter to him that Leonel had warned him, it didn''t matter to him that there was a path to survive...

    Hutch had always felt that this era had passed him by. Despite his talent, he never really felt the same passion he had in his youth, and maybe that was because he had simply lost too much...

    Even so, regardless of whether this was his choice or not, Aina knew that Leonel would take it quite hard.

    "What should we do?" Savahn asked.

    Aina took a deep breath and exhaled. "Nothing. Now isn''t the time yet."

    Savahn''s gaze flickered. "Even with the capital being burned down?"

    Aina shook her head and smiled bitterly. She couldn''t repeat what Leonel had said before he left. Her thoughts flashed and she remembered that annoying smirk on his face.

    Let that old man sweat a bit... is what he had said. That man was really too much. This was an existential crisis, but he could only see his beef with his own grandfather.

    Of course, Aina knew the real Leonel. More likely than not, it was something that he was too lazy to explain. If he could stop the unnecessary deaths, he would, but he wasn''t some sort of God. There was a limit to what he could predict and prepare for.

    At the same time, there was definitely something tying Emperor Fawkes'' hands, likely the same thing tying down the four Great Families. It didn''t make sense if only one side faced restrictions while the other side didn''t.

    If Emperor Fawkes could wave a hand and deal with everything, he would have. As such, there was a certain delicate approach that was necessary.

    "Alright, in that case, we''ll be on standby," Savahn nodded. She turned to leave but hesitated for a moment. "If you need anything, I''m here to talk."

    Savahn didn''t say anything else as she left. She knew quite well that of them all, the one having the most trouble waiting patiently for the right time was Aina herself. There was nothing she wanted more than to unleash unholy hell on the Brazingers and their allies, but right now, she had to exercise patience. In that case, this was the only option.

    Aina smiled lightly as Savahn left. Though she didn''t say anything more either, the appreciation was clear in her eyes.

    Soon... Soon she would make that family pay in blood for what they had done to her family... her mother.

    **

    Leonel clashed against an enemy spear, and slipped to the side. He activated Knight''s Charge and slid past the enemy''s left.

    With a twirl of his spear, the heavy butt of the lance spear smashed into the Rapax''s shoulder blade, throwing it off balance and causing its tail swing to miss and soar over Leonel''s head.

    "Swift..." Leonel said softly.

    His feet pivoted and the tip of his lance spear trembled, not feeling nearly as heavy as it once did.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    He pierced through space through three locations. At the same time, time layered as well, staking three strikes at each one of the three locations and piercing right through the Rapax''s vital points.

    The enemy Rapax slowly fell to the ground, unable to battle even as Leonel snatched away his spear, exhaling a slow breath.

 Chapter 1878 Aerial

    Battle The number of territories that Leonel had had already soared over 400 and the gap between him and others seemed to only be growing. These days, when he came across others, it would be lucky if they had 20 territories to their name, let alone hundreds like he did.

    But there was an unfortunate drawback to having so much more territory than anyone else, and that was that he was often forced into battles before he had time to rest or even choose his own targets. With the size of his territory, he was connected across far too many locations. Even if one wasn''t targeting him on purpose, accidentally strolling into his region was far too easy. If it wasn''t for the fact that a territory couldn''t be targeted by more than one person at once, he would have definitely suffered greatly by now.

    Leonel was about to take a step out of his territory when the forcefield solidified. He shook his head and knew that someone else had stepped forward to challenge him.

    With a sign, he turned and burst toward a particular direction, wanting to deal with this person as quickly as possible.

    Enul, the Nomad Race young man with two arms and six hands, walked around with a hint of frown on his face. He felt that something was off about his surroundings but he couldn''t quite understand what it was. It was like the territories were being suffocated by something, but it wasn''t immediately obvious what it was.

    His first assumption was that it was Edrym.

    Usually, the tribulation would do certain things to force battle and force the geniuses to face off against one another. For example, the fact that you couldn''t absorb the strength of a defeated enemy was a conscious choice rather than a bug. This was to force the geniuses to battle as much as possible, as often as possible, or else you''d lag far behind your peers by the time you came across one of them, and even if by some miracle, you managed to defeat them, that strength would vanish forever.

    This wasn''t the only thing in this vein either. Sometimes treasure territories where there would be the reward of a spear or armor or technique at the end would appear in between two territories to incentivize battle. Or, sometimes a powerful beast territory would appear, and by claiming it, one could spawn new beasts ahead of time without having to cross into a new Grade.

    However, the occurrences of such things were suspiciously low during this round, almost as though the tribulation was content with the level of activity... but why was it that Enul felt that this was all nonsense? He had hardly run into any challenge at all, and he had only run into a single treasure territory whereas by now he should have run into at least three.

    Enul shook his head.

    At the same time, several other geniuses were feeling the same exact way. Among them, there was Pririna of the Dwarven Race, or more specifically, since she was a woman, she was a Pixie.

    Just like the members of the other races, she had her own advantages. Namely, thanks to her wings, she was able to get a landscape of the surroundings that everyone else couldn''t and she could find her targets far quicker than most. As such, much like Leonel, she cleared Zone much faster than most others and by now, she had already crossed the Silver Grade.

    As a genius of the Dwarven Race, she had felt the same problem Enul had. Compared to the descriptions of her family''s record, this was much different than what she had expected, too different. Something felt off, but she couldn''t quite put her finger on it.

    Suddenly, her gaze sharpened and her gaze landed on a figure shuttling through the forest below with great speed. Her wings fluttered once and she rose higher into the air, choosing caution first. Although she was an absolute genius of her race, her first instinct was still caution. The Dwarven Race was one of the weaker races right there with humans, they just used their ingenuity to make up for it. Long before she was a genius, she was a Pixie.

    However, despite her caution, the young man below snapped his gaze upward, seeing her instantly.

    ''His gaze is that sharp? How is that possible? Is he a special demon race?"

    Pririna was caught off guard. She thought she was high enough and far enough away to not be spotted instantly.

    Down below, Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He had defeated several Dwarven Race members by now, but none of them could fly that high.

    Flight wasn''t a simple thing, especially in a world of Force like this one. Even if you had wings, there were limitations. Even in a Third Dimensional world, a bird could soar into the skies indefinitely. The fact that this woman could fly so high definitely meant that she was a genius.

    ''That should mean she has a lot of territories...

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and he suddenly tilted his lance spear upward.

    Knight''s charge.

    Under Pririna''s astonished gaze, Leonel suddenly drew a line through the skies, "charging" straight through the air and appearing level with her in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel thrust his lance spear out, a vicious momentum being carried behind its devastating weight.

    Although she was caught off guard, Pririna still reacted quickly, flapping her wings just once and angling her body to the side. At the same time, she pierced out with her own spear, aiming for the side of Leonel''s in a parrying action.

    She had seen through Leonel''s weakness in an instant. Jumping into the skies like this made him a sitting duck, she only had to dodge once and then he would become nothing more than her plaything.

    However, to Pririna''s astonishment, Leonel only muttered under his breath once and a barrier radiated out from him, rippling out and slowing her spear by half. But what was maybe even more shocking was that her movement in the air also slowed a measure.

    A parry required precise timing. With it thrown off like this, she missed, her spear hitting nothing but air.

    Leonel used the lingering momentum of Knight''s Charge to glide by Pririna and enter the air space just above her.

    With a pivot of his hips and a swing of his spear, just as his upward momentum came to an end, he viciously attacked her back, swinging with all his might.

    BANG!

    Pririna froze for a moment as though the time frame of the blade connecting with her was extended into infinity. Instantly she knew that one of her wings had been crippled.

    BOOM!

    The sound barrier shattered as she sped toward the ground like a streaking bullet.

 Chapter 1879 Freely

    Leonel began to rapidly descend from the air, his speed picking up with every passing moment. The harsh winds blew against his white fur coat, threatening to blow his hood bad entirely. And yet, he aimed his lance spear forward toward the still growing crater in the ground and did something even more insane.

    Knight''s Charge.

    Leonel drew a line diagonally and down through the skies, accelerating his downward momentum and appearing above the crater in the blink of an eye. He moved so fast that the crater below hadn''t even begun to settle by the time he swung again with a fierce momentum.

    Pririna was still in a daze, having suffered a crippled wing just an instant later all while having her ribs shattered and all the air knocked out from her lungs. If not for a protective treasure she had protecting her, that single strike might have very well ended her life.

    Even in comparison to humans, the bones of the Dwarven Race were incredibly fragile and most hollow. This was why they could fly with such small and weak wings to begin with, and also why their bodies were so much shorter than that of other races. If they grew too large, they would collapse under their own weight.

    That kind of harsh blunt damage was the kind Pririna feared most, and yet another barrage was already coming.

    Pririna grit her teeth watching Leonel descend like a blazing meteor. Her green irises flickered once as though to memorize his face before her one good wing flapped as hard as it good.

    Her body was flung up and out toward her left, just barely streaking by as Leonel collided with the ground.

    BOOM!

    Pririna hoped that Leonel had bit off more than he could chew. Falling to the ground with that kind of speed without something to break his fall should have at least jarred him. Until now, Pririna hadn''t even realized that Leonel was a human because she didn''t have the time to pay attention to such things. To her, he must have been from a sturdy race which was why he dared to do such a thing. But so long as he missed her, he would have to deal with the impact all on his own.

    To her shock, though, that weird blue ripple formed again, slowing Leonel''s fall just when it seemed that he would cause himself devastating injury.

    Even so, half of that impact''s strength should have been enough to harm him severely... or so Pririna thought.

    Unfortunately for her, she was measuring Leonel by the standards of her current body and upscaling it to a race with stronger bones than her own. This seemed logical to her because she didn''t think anyone could clear territories faster than she could.

    But she was wrong. Not only had Leonel cleared far more, his body was far sturdier as a result. He had consumed easily what amounted to be at least 50% more Beast Crystals than the person in second place currently.

    Comparing her current body to his own was asking to be humiliated.

    Pririna spiraled into the ground with a somewhat helpless expression as she watched Leonel spring up as though nothing had happened, shooting toward her direction with yet another Knight''s Charge.

    Inwardly, she was exasperated. Who had allowed this human to gain a weapon with such an ability attached to it.

    Wait, human?!

    Pririna''s eyes widened as Leonel''s spear descended.

    "Wait! Wait! I have something useful for you! Don''t kill me!"

    The Dwarven Race didn''t have the same culture of valiance that the other races did. They place survival first and foremost, and they sought it at any cost. Another genius might have felt too prideful to beg, but Pririna felt that in the face of someone obviously stronger than you, such pride was only useful in getting you killed faster.

    Leonel didn''t originally have the intention of killing Pririna to begin with. He had killed a few geniuses during these tribulations, but those were either people who had pissed him off or didn''t know how to give in. He didn''t have the time to coddle everyone.

    His spear came to a stop just above Pririna''s head.

    Pririna, who had closed her eyes, slowly opened them again and sighed a breath of relief. However, she panicked again when she saw that Leonel was reaching for her spear.

    "Wait!"

    Leonel frowned, looking to raise his spear again. What was this woman trying to pull here, exactly? He didn''t have the patience for this. Also, he could tell that her power wasn''t bad, and given her flight advantage, she should have cleared quite a number of territories. Leonel didn''t understand why he should spare such a person.

    Plus, if he spared her, how would they deal with this? The territory barriers wouldn''t open up again until one of them was dealt with, Leonel had already tested this. If it could, he might not have backtracked to deal with her first.

    By now, Leonel was getting a bit antsy. He didn''t know that everyone was experiencing a shortage of treasure territories due to his actions, so he felt the fact that he only had two silver grade treasures would come back to bite him eventually.

    All this time, aside from his stronger power and speed, his greatest advantage was that his weapon was better than everyone else''s. But now the best he ran into all had silver grade spears. If he wanted to maintain his advantage, he needed something better, which was why he was pushing so hard to leave his territory.

    But his territory was so large and had so many entry points that he couldn''t even do that without receiving challenge after challenge, so he was already frustrated. If Pririna tested his patience, she would just have to join the short list of those he had killed in this tribulation.

    "Don''t! I have a treasure that can allow one of us to exit a territory unimpeded, it''s useful to you, no? If I stay here, no one can enter your territory because it will be in an active state, but you can move freely!"

 Chapter 1880 Even So..

    Leonel paused, his gaze flickering.

    This sounded like a top class treasure, but even without his usual thinking speed, he could already see several drawbacks to it.

    For one, even if you can leave your territory, just like Pririna said, it would still be in an active state. As such, there would be a lot of things you couldn''t do, like fusing new territories into it or beginning to spawn newer and more powerful beasts.

    This treasure was probably best used as an escape measure to leave the territories of others if you accidentally ran into an opponent far more powerful than yourself. If you used it to escape your own territory, you would always have to come back to it eventually and deal with the enemy you left behind. So, unless you found a powerful treasure on the outside, the end result would be the same. However, considering how rare those were, Leonel wouldn''t hold his breath.

    This was the main problem. If Leonel used Pririna to block off entry to his territory, it would only be useful for so long. By the time he got to the Gold Grade, not only would he not be able to fuse his territories, but he would also be caught up to by the others due to an inability to spawn beasts.

    "I''m not interested," Leonel said coldly. "You have two choices. Obediently hand over your spear and you keep your life, or don''t and I kill you and take your spear anyway."

    Pririna sighed when she heard this, she had tried. But at least she wouldn''t lose her life. She was hoping to hit the Gold Grade, but Silver wasn''t terrible either. It was a slight disappointment, but not devastating.

    With a flick of her wrist, she sent her spear over to Leonel, but even as she faded away, nursing her injuries, she burned Leonel''s face into her mind.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed slightly. He could tell that while Pririna''s outward showing was demure and flexible, her heart burned with a similar fire as all the others. She was an interesting character. Clearly she could lay down her pride, but she had values she wouldn''t compromise.

    When she vanished, an orb and a hidden armor was left behind. Leonel stripped down and placed the hidden armor under everything and then took the orb, tossing it in his palm. This should be the treasure that Pririna was talking about.

    Leonel didn''t care much for it, though, he didn''t really have any intention of running from a battle, and he didn''t think there was anyone who could make him do it either. But there was no need to throw away decent enough treasure.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze flickered. ''She lied."

    Pririna probably didn''t expect Leonel to have the skill to tell. Outside of the person who had claimed the treasure, the true function of a treasure wouldn''t magically download its uses into your mind. When Leonel had taken Alerina''s armor, he had to learn how to use it himself, and the same was the case for this orb.

    After looking at it and checking into his Force Arts, Leonel realized that this orb''s ability wasn''t as simple as Pririna made it out to be. In fact, it was of the gold grade and it allowed you to freely change the state of your territory.

    Leonel realized that if he had taken Pririna up on her offer and left, she could have used tis orb to claim his territory for herself and then rushed away to a new territory while he was away. By the time he came back, he would find himself locked out of his own territory.

    Of course, to pull that off, Pririna would have to give up the orb and let Leonel control, but who knew what other tricks she had to deal with that.

    Leonel looked down at the flexible armor he had put on without thinking much and realized that it too had an ability.

    "What a tricky little woman... I actually thought about accepting her offer too, there were just too many drawbacks.''

    The flexible armor''s defense wasn''t great, but its ability was very useful. It allowed you to tether a home location onto an object and have it appear there with a thought. Usually, this would be most useful in helping yourself to avoid danger, but if Pririna had tethered it to the orb instead, she wouldn''t have to risk ever losing it to Leonel.

    She would get the territory, keep her life, and be a large way to the Gold Grade.

    Leonel smiled and shook his head. He had a feeling that he would mee this tricky woman again. But next time, he would have his Ability Index. He really wanted to see what tricks she would have for him then.

    Leonel tossed the orb and caught it. ''With these two treasures, the rest of this will be even easier. I should hit Gold Grade by the end of the day.''

    With a thought, Leonel turned his territory into an active one, barring anyone from entering as he rushed out. Finally, he could pick his own target.

    **

    The turmoil in Earth''s territory only seemed to be growing. The dichotomy between regions of chaos and regions of absolute silence was palpable. From space above, it almost looked like different worlds were colliding. On one side there was lush greenery and endless expanses of nature, and on the other there were acres of raging fire and plumes of smoke that fought against the white clouds in the sky.

    But oddly enough, after the initial huge swing in the favor of the rebels and the four Great Family geniuses, nothing happened. Well, maybe this wasn''t entirely accurate as a descriptor, it was more appropriate to say that things entered a stalemate.

    Prince Noah Fawkes was beaten back by Elorin, almost losing his life several times. However, after realizing that he was no match for Hutch''s grandson, Jessica Scarlet and the young heir of the Dove family appeared to support him, causing the battle to become a three versus one with no clear victor in sight.

    However, what was especially odd was that Elorin didn''t seem to be pushing for victory.

    It was then that the geniuses of the four Great Families descended onto the capital and everything seemed to change.

    In the skies, King Arthur stood across from Adrin. He had just failed to stop the others from returning to Earth and now he was forced to face off against a tough enemy.

    He shook his head inwardly, looking toward Earth. He felt that his decision was correct, but even so...

    He didn''t feel that Earth had anything capable of withstanding those monsters, at least not without Leonel here.

 Chapter 1881 He Is?

    "You are King Arthur?" Adrin asked with a dark expression.

    "Hm?" Arthur frowned, not quite understanding the hostility. After all, it was Adrin leading a rebellion, not him. Unless he was made about the death of that blondie from earlier? But he doubted that the relationship between the four families was that close, they were more tied by benefits than relationships, at least that was the feeling he got from his years of experience.

    How could Arthur know that the reason Adrin was unhappy was because the Camelot Zone was the very one his sister had almost lost her life in? On top of that, it was the Zone that had led Little Nana to having such a co-dependency on Leonel. Sometimes, Adrin wondered who the true elder brother was between the two of them.

    Of course, Adrin wasn''t petty enough to hate Leonel for this, after all he had returned the favor back then although Leonel didn''t quite need it. That said, that didn''t mean he forgave everyone else that was involved.

    The secrets of what happened back then in the Camelot Zone were still relatively unknown. It was hard to tell who had interfered and almost turned it into a Unique Zone. Even Leonel, who had been targeted as a result of it, wasn''t 100% certain of who had acted back then.

    With that perspective, Adrin didn''t have enough animosity toward the Pendragon family to go out of his way to seek them, but now that he was here and bound by duty, it made it convenient.

    Without answering to Arthur''s curiosities, Adrin directly attacked, placing the former on his back foot.

    Arthur''s expression darkened. Ever since he had come into his own with these odd new abilities, he had very rarely met anyone who was his match. In fact, other than when battling his daughter, everything else was far too simple. Unfortunately, it seemed that his work was cut out for him this time. He had only attacked once, but everything seemed to deflect off of those transparent scales that coated Adrin''s body.

    Luckily, they weren''t completely out of luck. While Arthur was blocked by Adrin, there were other powerhouses of Camelot more than prepared to make a move. At that moment, Avalon made its first large movements ever since the war over a decade ago.

    Mordred led a strong troop below, storming into the capital.

    At first, they were all cautious. With a rebellion like this, maybe one of the biggest issues was actually telling who was friend and who was foe, Mordred hadn''t even ruled out the possibility that there might be some enemies hidden within Camelot as well. It was impossible to tell.

    However, after the rust was kicked off and clear lines were drawn, Mordred''s wand danced across the air almost as though she was performing an elegant sword dance.

    With her as the vanguard and her vicious demon army to her back, they tore a path to the center of the battlefield, trying to effect as much change as they could.

    Mordred had never felt more powerful. In the past, she would have to patiently accumulate Dark Force for her spells, even to the point where she felt far more comfortable in the world of demons as opposed to the land where she was born.

    But after awakening to Shadow Sovereign as her Ability Index, it felt like she had an entire world of Dark Force to tap into whenever she wanted.

    Curses flooded the air, debuffing enemies. Lances, arrows and javelins filled the air, wafting a dense black fog as they manifested from spinning magic circles. At the same time, the land seemed to be slowly being corrupted step by step.

    Mordred''s demons suddenly shot out from behind her, raising shields and heavy weapons as they cleared the path forward.

    As the tides of the battle slowly turned, Mordred sighed inwardly. She knew that the other shoe was going to drop soon, mostly because Leonel had made it obvious that it would. If this was enough, he wouldn''t have emphasized caution so much at this point.

    Through the carnage of the battle, up ahead toward the palace that seemed to be about to be burnt down to the ground, the clash of Elorin and Jessica, Tyrron and Noah entered her sights. She couldn''t help but frown when she saw the kind of power Elorin had.

    Suddenly, her head turned in a different direction.

    ''There''s the other shoe..." Mordred mumbled in her mind.

    Mordred looked toward a descending group of youths with a solemn expression. Namely, she was almost entirely focused on just one young lady. She looked almost adorable despite the fact she should have been well into her 30s by this point. She had bob cut blue hair and bangs just barely short enough to stay out of her eyes. Her eyes were large and she blinked continuously as though she was still fascinated by the world around her.

    But she was powerful. Almost too powerful.

    The moment she touched the ground, in the surrounding near kilometer distance, almost everyone froze. This wasn''t because of a sudden sweeping cold, or even out of fear, it was a raw, unbridled power of restriction that the young woman didn''t even seem to activate consciously.

    If she was in range of that, Mordred wasn''t even sure if she could break free, let alone battle against it.

    The young woman didn''t even have to raise a finger, the moment she descended, the few that had followed after her burst into action, cutting down all enemies in sight. In what felt like no more than a few seconds, a tenth of the army was rendered entirely useless.

    If Mordred had made small pushes to better their situation, the appearance of this individual had completely swung the tide.

    However, just as Mordred was about to grit her teeth, feeling that she was probably the only one who could stop what was happening right now, a man appeared before the ground out of nowhere.

    He wore a pair of clear glasses, his dressing immaculate as not a single fabric was out of place. He clasped his hands behind his back and the innocent expression of the young woman seemed to be colored with confusion for a moment.

    For some reason, she couldn''t bind this man as casually as the others.

    The was a man the people of Earth too often forgot, the man who had the official position of Heir to the Ascension Empire, Princess Alienor''s elder brother, Leonel Morales'' uncle, and Noah Fawkes'' father...

    Galearon Fawkes.

 Chapter 1882 Children

    The rampage of the Brazingers, Adurnas, Crudus and Laevis came to a halt before this man. Even so, much like Mordred, he only had eyes for Little Nana who stood right before him, he didn''t even spare a glance toward his son who was currently fighting for his life.

    "The four Great Families are not welcome here," Galaeron said lightly. "I don''t have a passion for killing children, so don''t force my hand."

    Raffyr''s gaze narrowed. He didn''t dare to say anything, he knew his limits quite well. The gap between the Sixth Dimension and Seventh was already something that even the greatest talent had a hard time bridging, let alone the gap between the Sixth Dimension and a great talent of the Seventh Dimension like this man.

    "Nana, this man will have to be left up to you," a young man of the Adurna family said.

    "Mm..." Nana nodded, but didn''t make a move immediately. "... Where is Leonel? I want to talk to him."

    Galaeron''s expression was just the same, but he found this line of questioning to be interesting.

    "My nephew has more important matters to deal with."

    "Nephew? You are Leonel''s uncle?"

    "I am," Galaeron replied plainly.

    Nana hesitated. She didn''t want to fight Leonel''s uncle.

    Seeing this scene, the others were exasperated, but without Adrin here, no one dared to order this little powerhouse around with impunity. Plus, although Nana was a little naive, she wasn''t a fool, she had the capability of understanding what was at stake just like the rest of them could.

    Nana bit her lips. "Do you know when he will be back?"

    "That I do not know."

    Galaeron didn''t actually know where Leonel was, the latter had only come by a few weeks ago to inform them of some things before leaving. A lot like his father, his nephew refused to explain anything in clear terms. The two liked to butt heads, but they were practically the same person.

    "Then... excuse me..."

    Nana suddenly moved. Although her body had been entirely relaxed a moment ago, her explosive speed was enough to leave cold shivers running down the spine of the spectators. Her delicate palm crashed through the air with more speed than the wind trying to move around it could muster, causing the pressure to accumulate along her skin with an explosive might.

    Galaeron, though, the one facing this palm strike didn''t seem to be moved in the slightest. His tidy hair fluttered and his clothing rippled somewhat. Even before the strike landed, he actually took the time to smooth out those wrinkles before he looked up and pushed his hand forward slowly as though he was using it as a knife to cut into a soft layer of cake.

    Nana''s large blue eyes blinked. She instinctually reacted to the danger thrumming in her heart and a layer of transparent blue scaled immediately coated her palm, wrist and up the length of her forearm.

    The members of the Adurna family who saw this couldn''t help but feel their hearts skip a beat. Nana almost never used her Lineage Factor.

    Nana had something that could only be described as innate battle sense, something that usually only manifested in Brazingers. Her ability to deploy her power was perfect and she never used more strength than was necessary... never.

    Due to her strength, she would often still have piles of trump cards left unused after a battle. For her to bring out something so core to her greatest power before her first strike even landed said a lot about her opponent.

    BANG!

    Galaeron''s slow hand knife caused Nana to take three heavy steps backward. She looked toward her hand as though she was a hint of surprise. She hadn''t felt her body trembling like this after an exchange in a very long time.

    She wasn''t even entirely sure of what had just happened. Galaeron didn''t seem to have used any Force, and unlike Elorin''s strikes which only *seemed* to be slow, Galaeron''s strike truly was so.

    Attack speed was higher than movement speed for obvious reasons, and yet it had taken Galaeron the entire length of Nana''s run toward him to complete his strike.

    Without speed, there could be no power, this was simple logic. The only way for something to be both powerful and slow was for it to be heavy. However, Galaeron lacked in both aspects.

    His body was as light as a feather, that much Nana was certain of. On top of that, his strike was slow.

    Nothing seemed to make any sense.

    "This is the last opportunity I will give you," Galaeron said softly. "I don''t like to bully children, so please leave."

    A member of the Crudus family couldn''t seem to take it anymore, their green hair whipping about wildly as they pointed a finger toward Galaeron.

    "You say that, and yet didn''t you wipe out all four of our families?! How many innocent children were among that number?! Don''t bullshit us!"

    Galaeron''s expression remained unchanged. "Those were not actions taken by me. In addition, speaking of morality in war is a bit foolish, do you not think?"

    Hearing Galaeron say this, the others were speechless. Wasn''t he the one who brought up morality first by saying he didn''t want to Kill children? Which was it, exactly?

    "I don''t see this as a war, I see this as a lashing out by children who are looking to impress their parents."

    Galaeron''s gaze shifted and landed on Raffyr. In that moment, Raffyr shivered from head to toe. Why did it feel like he was completely seen through in that instant?

    "This attack is disorganized, it''s clearly sporadic, and it''s a shame that the powers that have taken your side can''t see that... or maybe they do and have no choice but to follow through anyway because they''ve received too many benefits from you.

    "But what I can say is that there is only one way this ends for you, and that''s in a complete and utter loss."

    It was clear that compared to his father and even his own son, the seemingly stoic Galaeron was far more talkative.

    "Oh? Is that so?" Raffyr forced himself to regain his composure and sneered. "This runs far deeper than you think it does. Come out!" Raffyr roared.

    "Is that right?" Galaeron pushed his glasses up. "You''re calling forth Minister Maia, the former Secretary Marquisette Maia, is that right?"

    Raffyr froze. In fact, Maia, who was prepared to make her move, also froze at that moment.

 Chapter 1883 Maia And Sela

    Galaeron was unmoved by Raffyr''s surprise, but this wasn''t because he had known for a very long time, it was instead because he had learned of the oddity himself via Leonel not too long ago.

    The former Secretary Marquisette Maia, now turned Imperial Minister, was a very odd story not because it was overly complex, but because of how covert and secretive it had been. If not for a small mistake Maia had made almost three decades ago now, this matter may very well have been entirely devastating.

    The first time Leonel met Maia she actually had an entirely different look and he almost lost his life at the hands of her schemes. Back then, she had been a captain of the Slayer Legion and his interactions with her could only be said to have been far from pleasant.

    The two women, or rather two identities, couldn''t have been further from one another. One was a leader of the rebels, and the other was a high official for the Empire, one was obese and quite ugly, while the other was a voluptuous, mature beauty who turned heads just by walking down the street.

    The two didn''t seem to have any connection with one another and their stories only seemed to diverge more and more as the years went on.

    The captain of the Slayer Legion identity-Captain Sela-slowly worked her way up the ranks, becoming a prominent figure in the Slayer Legion, a fact that likely resulted in the many traitors that had appeared today.

    On the other side, the Secretary Marquisette identity had worked her way into the Royal Blue Fort, becoming the new first wife of Governor Duke Leum and birthing his child.

    The last time Leonel had even thought of this woman, it was for the sake of laughing at the plight of Miles Leum. Back then, it was Miles and Simeon who had acted together to launch bombs after Leonel in his attempt to escape from the Fort. That had led to Aina being severely injured and the pair of lovebirds being separated for a time.

    Due to that event, Miles had been scapegoated by his father who had been in the capital at the time and the child Governor Duke Leum sired with Maia became the new Heir to the Governor Duke family.

    This felt like a satisfying conclusion to the story, and it would have been as such had Maia not had a second identity. But between then and now, she had climbed from Secretary Marquisette, to wife of Governor Duke, to Imperial Minister...

    What was especially odd about this was that Imperial Minister was a higher status than Secretary Marquisette, but this wasn''t necessarily the case for the title of Governor Duke.

    However, rather than using her child to leverage a Governor Duke position, Maia had chosen to come to the heart of the capital instead, sinking her claws into the heart of both the Slayer Legion and the Capital.

    This woman was very clearly smart, conniving, and exceptionally patient, having laid down her plans for decades. So what had exposed her in the end?

    It was something quite simple, actually...

    Her choice in perfume.

    Back then, Leonel had felt that Captain Sela''s fragrance was familiar, but his memory had been far weaker during that time. It was only after he joined Valiant Heart Mountain and replaced his Soul Force with Dream Force did his memory become sharp to the point of even remembering his time spent as a baby in his mother''s arms.

    After that, all of Leonel''s memories were retroactively etched into his mind like stone, quite nearly infallible.

    Of course, back then, he still hadn''t made the connection immediately. While remembering his mother was important to him, knowing the fragrance of a random woman was meaningless to him.

    However, while Leonel was preparing for this war, he would obviously pool together all of the knowledge he had. In addition, as a Prince of the Empire, he had access to all of the information he could ever want to know about the various nobles and the Slayer Legion, on top of whatever the Etching Metal Organization could gather up.

    The final nail in the coffin was Maia''s Ability Index.

    It was labeled quite simply, allowing her to maintain her youth. When Leonel first met her, she was a woman well into her twilight years, and yet she looked like a 20 year old bombshell just entering her prime.

    This seemed to check out, but then Leonel''s Dreamscape sparked.

    What other abilities could allow a person to appear much younger than they were?

    When one framed it that way, the answer almost seemed far too obvious. Obviously, if a person could shapeshift, wouldn''t making a change as simple as age be as easy as breathing? In addition, choosing to outwardly display your Ability Index in that way would make people think you were far more limited than you truly were.

    It was almost too easy for Maia to get away with this. Back when the Metamorphosis first descended, Earth''s ability to detect Ability Indexes was incredibly crude, it could only classify Leonel''s Ability Index as an S-grade sensory type ability. As for Aina, it classified hers as an S-grade healing type ability. Of course it would be too vague to expose Maia.

    On top of that, if exposing an enemy''s Ability Index was so easy, then so many in the Dimensional Verse wouldn''t hold their Ability Index out as a trump card. The details of one''s Ability Index was almost always a secret one would hold close to their chests.

    Maia would have never thought that her years of diligent planning would be exposed by something so simple. Even now, after Galaeron had spoken, she had no idea what had exposed her.

    Even so, there was nothing she could do but step out slowly. Since it had come to this point, there was no time for more preparation, there was only the final step remaining.

    Maia stepped down from the sky expressionlessly, descending as though a deity. To her back, two very young men followed. While many on the battlefield only looked like they were in the 20s but were really much older, both of these young men truly were that young.

    With a slight flicker of light, all three changed... And all three became members of the Cloud Race.

 Chapter 1884 Kill

    As though this transformation had triggered a change, several that stood in the mess of the battlefield stood to their full height. With a slight shimmer, one after another, Cloud Race members began to appear.

    At first, there were just the three in the skies. But very quickly, this number began to jump, seemingly doubling every few seconds.

    In just a few moments, it had gone from a battle of humans to an assault of the Cloud Race. No matter where one looked, another would appear. Very quickly, those that remained very much human began to warily look around, wondering just who would turn next and trying to avoid being stabbed in the back.

    Mordred''s expression suddenly flickered and her figure vanished into the void, swirling into a rotating black hole of dense fog before appearing several meters away.

    She looked toward where she had just been standing with an ugly expression. Right there, a halberd that would have pierced through her back thrust through the air, a violently rotating wind still circling around it. The attack itself wasn''t a big deal, but it was who was on the other end of it that left Mordred feeling her heart plummet.

    The demons had long since become her family, seeing her right hand men turn into members of the Cloud Race one after another left a lump in her throat. She knew for certain that the only reason this could happen was because those she had called brother had long since died.

    Mordred''s eyes turned red as she gripped her wand tight, her fair and slender fingers trembling.

    Maia touched down from the skies, her Cloud Figure fluttering in the wind. Her white dress danced along with it, wafting a familiar and delicate fragrance into the air.

    "Even if you know, it no longer matters. You''ve allowed me far too much time," Maia said lightly.

    Galaeron didn''t say anything to Maia. Instead, he looked toward Nana and the others.

    "Pairing yourselves with the Cloud Race is a bit pathetic, don''t you think?"

    Raffyr, who had recovered when he realized knowing or not didn''t make much of a difference, sneered.

    "You think we owe you something because you call yourselves human? As far as I''m concerned, we''re not even of the same race."

    The disdain Raffyr had in his heart for the people of Earth, and maybe even just the humans of the Human Domain in general, was palpable.

    Surprisingly, though, when Galaeron heard this, he smiled for the first time.

    "Interesting you say that, because I doubt the highest echelon of your Brazinger family think you to be of the same race as them either, let alone of the same family. Those who build their status off of foolish ideals are bound to be swallowed whole by such ideals in the future."

    Raffyr''s face paled, his pupils trembling. The words were simple, and yet they seemed to pierce his very soul.

    Galaeron turned from Raffyr and sized up Maia before opening his mouth slightly. "What is your relationship with "Graros"?"

    Maia''s gaze narrowed when she heard the question.

    "Oh, you might not know him by that name. I mean the member of your race who targeted the Chaotic Water Sector."

    Maia''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

    "Seems like you don''t know, a pity." Galaeron said lightly.

    "What happened to Jorrym?"

    "Is that his name?" Galaeron asked, seemingly not expecting an answer. "Well, I assume by now his days aren''t too good after being caught by Shield Cross Stars."

    Maia''s gaze seemed to tremble again.

    "Are these your sons?" Galaeron continued without a care for Maia''s reaction. "I assume that you had real children just for the chance to replace them with full fledged members of your race. Your plans run quite deep, and are even crueler than they are meticulous."

    Maia slowly regained her composure, but didn''t seem to have the intention of replying directly.

    "Even so, your ending won''t be much different from Jorrym," Galaeron spoke calmly and evenly just as a loud boom echoed across the horizon.

    BOOM!

    At that moment, an enormous flagship appeared in the skies. However, rather than descending, it began to fuse into what was once an invisible network of Force Arts, the very same Force Arts that had caught the Brazingers earlier.

    The Force Art that covered the entire planet solidified all at once and a brilliant violet-gold array of complex gears, runes and mechanisms replaced the white clouds and blue skies above.

    Maia''s heart skipped a beat. She didn''t need to check to know that even if tried now, she would have no ability to escape this battle. It was either she won, or she died here.

    The flagship opened and a young woman appeared at the helm. In her small hands a battle ax with a polearm over two meters long angled forward, its dual blades so large that they curved for over six feet from tip to tip.

    Sparks of black lightning and dense crimson fog hung around her, an oppressive aura suffocating everything.

    One after another, powerful warriors appeared from her back, leaping off the side of the flagship and falling like streaking meteors.

    BANG!

    The earth rose like a tide, rippling out in all directions.

    High in the skies, Aina still stood at the helm of the flagship, unmoving. She took deep breaths, her gaze slowly landing on the Brazingers below. Veins pulsed through her body, her heart beating with the heaviness of a mountain.

    For some reason, when they saw this gaze, they felt themselves shiver. Those piercing golden eyes wanting for nothing more than murder.

    "Kill." Aina said lightly, lifting her battle ax and slamming the butt of its polearm into the ground.

    At that moment, the Force Art rippled and barriers descended one by one. In that moment, Earth was divided into 11 sections, the capital, nine provinces, and the vast ocean, in addition to being completely isolated from the outside world. Now, it was impossible to seek reinforcements.

    Aina took a step and began to freefall from the skies above, her speed becoming faster and faster without her giving the slightest intention to stop.

    BOOM!

 Chapter 1885 Quite Well?

    Tsunami-like tides of earth rushed in all directions. Aina''s feet stabilized, her knees hardly bending beneath the impact. Wild surges of oppressive might pressed down, the suffocating scent of blood pervading the air.

    Despite the fact there were several Seventh Dimensional experts around her, none could seem to take their eyes off of the crimson armored Valkyrie in the center of them all. It almost didn''t seem right for such a young face to carry such fury and animosity. Even without a hint of Fire Force, the temperature rose by several degrees every second, only becoming more savage as Aina walked forward.

    All of sudden, Aina''s figure vanished.

    When she appeared again, the heads of what must have been at least a dozen Cloud Race members flew into the air. No, it was less accurate to say that she had appeared and more accurate to say that a scythe-like blade of Ax Force had. Her own movements felt far too fast to track, one could only seem to follow her by watching the fall of enemies and blinding blades of crimson.

    Just a moment ago, the fear and oppression of the Cloud Race had been so heavy. Just with a single look, these veterans of battle could tell just how much strength these members of another race had. However, before that fear could even solidify, their massacre had become.

    Aina didn''t seem to know fatigue, and for a moment, it truly felt like she was the only battling at all.

    Tides of blood rose into the air, forming dozens of blood-red roses that ground their way through the battlefield with impunity. It seemed the more Aina killed, the more vicious her killing methods became, the others hadn''t even gotten a chance to act yet, but hundreds had already fallen beneath her blade.

    Her hair fluttered in the air, a wild crimson aura forming around her body piercing into the skies above.

    The Brazingers in the distance couldn''t help but tremble. This level of the Berserk War God Lineage Factor was something they had only seen in a very small number of their kind, they couldn''t understand how this half-blood could reach it.

    Maia''s expression changed as well, she hadn''t wanted to step in immediately to allow her Cloud Race to establish their dominance, but this little girl was very clearly a top tier genius.

    The effect she had wanted was immediately suffocated.

    She took a step forward, prepared to end it, but her gaze narrowed as she felt a pair of eyes land on her.

    "It can''t be that you want to act against my little niece-in-law, right?" Galaeron asked lightly.

    Maia sneered. "This is the first time I''ve met such arrogant humans. In the Cloud Domain, the likes of you could only obediently spend their lives in chains, bound like dogs and destined to serve others for the whole of their existence. Do you think you have the right to speak to me this way?"

    Maia raised her hand as though she was going to act anyway, but one of the young men by her side grabbed her forearm.

    "You don''t need to step in personally for something like this, mother. Arden is more than enough."

    The second young man''s lip twitched. This older brother of his was so lazy. He wanted to pretend to be cool, and yet he was placing the task on his shoulders instead. It didn''t matter much to him, though, he was beginning to feel a bit antsy regardless.

    Arden flickered and vanished without a word, executing the unique movement technique of the Cloud Race. He became completely amorphous, weaving through the battlefield in a cloud of grey, white and gold.

    "Hey, hey! The Queen is on a roll right now, not just any nobody can attack her."

    BANG!

    A figure seemed to appear from nowhere, his shadow forming a crane-like posture as he kicked out. Arden almost couldn''t react in time to a foot nearly connecting with his face.

    Almost immediately, Arden canceled his movement technique and crossed his arms over his face.

    Arden''s pupils constricted when he felt the force of the kick. He took several steps backward, nearly losing his balance as a tall man with horrible posture landed before him.

    Aphestus stood with a sharp-toothed grin.

    "If you don''t get out of my way-!"

    "Cut the crap, your race of people seem to do a lot of talking. Are you going to fight or not?"

    Aphestus had already moved as he said this, a twin pair of jagged bone daggers appearing in his hands as he flashed forward, appearing before Arden in a blink.

    Arden''s brows furrowed as he dodged backward. He should have already realized after the first kick, but this enemy was, indeed, difficult to deal with.

    "It''s up to you. brother!" Arden shouted.

    "Tsk, useless," Maia''s first son, Auren, clicked his tongue before diving down as well. But before he could make it far, a Blade Force threatened to smite him, surging from the air and piercing through everything in its wake.

    Auren came to a stop immediately, pausing just before the piercing blade could take his head.

    BANG!

    Joel appeared holding a silver-black halberd. He wasn''t nearly as talkative as Aphestus, but his actions spoke loud enough. As Aina continued her massacre, both of Maia''s sons found their paths forward impeded. It was clear to the both of them that there would be no extricating themselves in short order.

    Maia frowned. This situation seemed to be spiraling out of control. Her two sons were both born on Earth for the purpose of this mission. They had the talent of the Cloud Race while benefiting from Earth''s talent as well. With the two of them, this matter should have been easily dealt with, but for some reason it was the exact opposite.

    The both of them were still in the Sixth Dimension, so she knew they hadn''t truly come into their own yet, but this was more troublesome than she thought.

    She thought she had understood the strength of Earth quite well, so what was this?

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1886 Thats Enough...

    Aina didn''t seem to see any of what was happening around her. Every time she came across an enemy, she would swing with all her might, and yet her stamina seemed to be entirely endless. Even putting her everything into every strike, she had still yet to sweat a single bead.

    With every step she took, she closed the distance between herself and the Brazinger geniuses. It soon became quite obvious that she wanted their heads. She didn''t care how deep into the battlefield they were. She didn''t care how many she had to kill to get to them. She didn''t even care if they ran toward her or ran away, no matter what, trapped in this cage, her blade would reach them eventually.

    Raffyr and the others were stuck in an awkward situation.

    To their front, Nana protected them from Galaeron. But Galaeron was also in a partial stalemate with Maia, seemingly controlling her movements as well.

    Galaeron had told them to leave, but even if they had a change of heart and took such an option now, it was impossible. There was simply no leaving with the restrictions placed down.

    The only two Seventh Dimensional experts they had with them were both occupied, one being Little Nana, and the other being her elder brother who was still battling King Arthur above. As things stood now, this was a very poor position to be in.

    While the battle in the capital seemed to be reaching a choke point where very few would survive, other regions were suffering from different circumstances. The sudden lockdown of Earth placed the defecting faction in a state of unrest.

    Originally, many of them had chosen not to act due to a confluence of reasons, but the ultimate deciding factor for many was that neither the Cloud Race nor the four Great Families required them to battle. Sitting on the sidelines was an easy decision for many of them, especially when the alternative required battling alien races so much more talented than them.

    However, what they hadn''t expected was for the Ascension Empire to have such a contingency. Now they were all trapped like rats.

    Within the White Angel Province, previously ruled by the Siegfried family and now taken over by the Bennett family, James'' father was oddly calm, in sharp contrast to his son who could only look up at the birdcage they were all stuck in with a pale face.

    James hadn''t even been able to make a decision before this happened.

    James didn''t fear battle, he didn''t fear battle, nor did he fear death, but for some reason, he couldn''t control the blood draining from his face. He felt as though something was slipping away right before him and he couldn''t grasp exactly what it was. But in typical fashion, his father didn''t seem to realize at all.

    "They''re here," Governor Duke Bennett suddenly spoke.

    At that moment, the courtyard they were in rumbled and several figures appeared. However, not a single one of them was human. There were only a small number, just a dozen or so, but every one of them was a member of the Cloud Race.

    Governor Duke Bennett casually sipped his tea.

    "You..."

    When James saw this he froze, unable to breathe. Now he understood where that uncomfortable feeling had come from. His father wasn''t just betraying the Ascension Empire, he was betraying the human race.

    No matter how James felt, he could understand and even somewhat support his father''s disregard of the Ascension Empire. Their family could have never lost the Governor Duke position to begin with had it not been by tacit acceptance of the Fawkes family. Back then, they had closed one eye and allowed their family, a family that had been there to support the Empire from the very beginning, to fall into depravity.

    If it hadn''t been for the tenacity of his grandfather, and his father after him, the Bennett family would have been eradicated by their enemies, let alone managing to maintain hold over a Tier 5 Official position like they had.

    However, this...

    Governor Duke Bennett waved a hand to signal his son to remain silent.

    "What is the plan from here?" He asked. "From my understanding, there are very few of you stationed outside of the capital as the original plan was to flatten them in one go."

    One of the Cloud Race individuals sneered.

    "We''ve already checked the formation, it has no other abilities other than to trap us within. But what good is it to trap yourself in the cage with a lion, wouldn''t the result be the same?

    In fact, this situation is even better for us, the capital will be dealt with in even shorter order. The plan hasn''t changed at all, just patiently wait."

    "Mm, I see. That''s about what I thought, but the Fawkes family isn''t as simple as you think, I hope you all aren''t taking this lightly. I''ve already taken the liberty of making a few contingencies in case of your failure."

    "Our failure? Haha!" The Cloud Race man chuckled. "You are quite arrogant for a human."

    Governor Duke Bennett sipped at his tea. "I am only doing what is necessary for my family to flourish."

    James stood to the side, practically vibrating.

    "THAT''S ENOUGH!"

    The roar shook the estate.

    "Hm?" The Governor Duke looked toward his son and raised an eyebrow.

    James shivered when he saw that look, all of his momentum being doused in a bucket of cold water. He had seen that look too many times before, and he always shrunk before it.

    James clenched his fists and lowered his head, his next words becoming caught in his throat.

    The Cloud Race man raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to be a problem?"

    "Why would it be a problem, he''s my son. James, go down to the brothel and take the next three days off, you don''t have to worry about any of this. Leave it to me."

    James'' clenched his teeth.

    "Didn''t you take a liking to that Samoa girl? I''ll let you take her as a maidservant, just go off and be obedient."

    At that moment, a light giggle came from a Cloud Race woman that made James freeze.

 Chapter 1887 ANSWER ME!

    James'' head snapped toward the Cloud Race woman, his gaze filled with a hint of confusion. He didn''t immediately respond to his father, it was just that that giggle sounded far too familiar.

    "You, who are you?" James asked.

    The Cloud Race woman blinked, tilting her head. She didn''t seem to want to answer. Or maybe wanting to answer was the wrong way to put it. It was more like she disdained to or didn''t feel like speaking with James.

    "Hey, I asked you a question." James said coldly, his pale face slowly becoming more rosy. At that moment, he wasn''t the same James that faced his father. That sort of fear was only something his old man could induce in him. To everyone else, he was a general who commanded respect and fear himself.

    The Cloud Race lady snorted.

    "James, did I not already dismiss you?" Governor Duke Bennett said coldly.

    James clenched his teeth but didn''t turn back to his father, instead taking a step forward.

    "This land is Bennett land, these skies are Bennett skies, when I asked you a question, YOU ANSWER!"

    James'' voice boomed, a wild fluctuation of Force causing the nonchalant expressions of the Cloud Race individuals to change. In fact, even his own father fell into a momentary silence.

    The Cloud Race woman recovered quickly, though, giggling again.

    "Fine, fine. Is there a need for such a look? Did I not give you a good time?"

    The face of the Cloud Race woman changed into a very familiar one for just a moment before reverting back. That face was none other than Samoa, the very prostitute his father had mentioned earlier.

    James felt his heart drop to his stomach.

    Did he care for Samoa? Hardly. He had never fallen for any woman, at best he just somewhat preferred her to the other brothel workers. She was beautiful, smart, and seemed to work there not out of necessity but rather because she enjoyed that line of work.

    He felt that he could relax around her. He didn''t need to worry about her having a mental breakdown because the last month''s abuse had finally gotten to her, and he didn''t need to worry about her trying to manipulate him into loving her so that he could "save" her, that latter story had happened too many times before and he always had to change his favorites as a result.

    He could be said to be a veteran of brothels and he knew how to maneuver around them to maximize his fun and minimize the headache.

    But ironically, it was because of this that a prostitute had become his only real refuge.

    The nonsense about taking her as a maidservant wasn''t even something that James had brought up to his father. The Samoa he knew wouldn''t even want to accept such a proposition, even though it was a much higher line of work and much safer as well. He respected her choices so he never even thought of it.

    However, it was very typical of his father to keep tabs on his actions and comment on them from time to time, so he hadn''t thought much about it until he heard that giggle.

    The laugh was slightly different, but the cadence was almost exactly the same. He had heard that laugh far too many times, more times than he could count. Samoa was the kind of woman that could laugh in any situation, whether that was while he was railing her from behind, or when some drunkard got too unruly and grabbed her collar.

    It was the same laugh no matter what the situation.

    "You are Samoa? You''ve been pretending to be her? Where is she?!"

    The more James spoke, the more furious he became.

    "James, that''s enough."

    Before James could respond to his father''s words, the Cloud Race woman giggled again.

    "Pretending to be her? Do you think I would let a human put his penis inside of me? Do I look like a masochist to you? Every time you thought you were railing your favorite little prostitute, you were just taking a nice nap."

    It was the very same tactic Maia had used with Governor Duke Leum. When the latter had thought she was pregnant, she brought out embryos she had already conceived in the Cloud Domain and allowed them to grow on Earth, thus allowing them to gain Earth''s talent boost.

    The Cloud Race was far too adept at playing with the minds of their targets. Just as easily as they could imitate a target, they could fabricate one from thin air as well. How could they not monitor a wild card like Tames? Thev had known from the verv beginning that he was notentiallv a nroblem.

    Governor Duke Bennett sighed and rubbed his forehead. Working with these people truly was annoying.

    "James, that''s enough. I won''t repeat myself again, you can go now."

    Suddenly, James turned back to his father.

    "You knew."

    It didn''t seem like a question. Rather, it was a statement, he seemed to already have his answer.

    "Watch your tone, young man."

    "You knew." James repeated.

    Governor Duke Bennett frowned, his brows pinching together.

    BANG!

    He slammed his tea cup down, standing to his full height.

    "Of course I knew. You lack discipline, going around sticking your dick in everything. Do you think the seed of the Bennett family can just be spread around as you please? If it wasn''t for my actions, how many babies by how many different mothers would you have now?!"

    For the first time, rather than cowering in the face of his father''s roars, James'' gaze turned crimson.

    "You''ve done this other times?!"

    Governor Duke Bennett seemed to have realized that his son had finally reached his limits, but he didn''t back down either.

    "James, I said that''s enough. Leave."

    BANG!

    Suddenly, "Samoa" moved, appearing behind James and chopping at his neck.

    "I''ll just deal with this, what a waste of time," she said lazily.

    SLAP! CRACK!

    James suddenly turned, grabbing her wrist and forcefully twisting it.

    A scream echoed in the courtyard, but James had already kicked out. The sole of his foot drove into her abdomen with such force that the arm he was still holding onto ripped out of her socket, the rest of her body flying out.

    "JAMES!" Governor Duke Bennett roared.

    "SHUT UP!"

    A wild aura soared into the skies, suffocating everyone in the province.

    James'' gaze turned entirely crimson, plumes of Force coming off of him like hot steam.

    With a thought, his father was encased in an energy shield he had no method of breaking out of.

    James'' gaze landed on those of the Cloud Race.

    "This will be your burial ground."

 Chapter 1888 Do You Think?

    James seemed to unleashed decades of frustration all at once, everywhere he passed only destruction was left in his wake. From looking at him, one would never think that he was born with a defensive Ability Index. He manipulated his energy shields as though they were weapons and armors integrated into one, blocking all attacks that rained down on him all while suffocating his enemies with an oppressive attack volley.

    A Cloud Race man appeared to his side, punching with a deathly momentum. However, James struck out with just a single palm, a dense energy coating the skin of his hand, dispelling the enemies power and sending back with more than double the strength once his own power was added to it.

    The Cloud Race man''s forearm splintered like wood, and yet James didn''t seem to want to let him retreat. Taking another step forward, he clawed out with the same hand, swiping down at the air with a crimson gaze and a deathly momentum.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Three heavy energy shields fell from the air like steel plates.

    The Cloud Race man hurriedly retreated, avoiding the first and just barely escaping the fate of having his body cut in half along his shoulders, but even so, he was a step slow. This resulted in his extended arm being cut off at the elbow.

    The second heavy energy shield fell as the man continued to retreat, but he was a step slow once again, causing his arm to be severed at his shoulder.

    The third heavy energy shield was too fast. The Cloud Race man froze, his body shuddering just once before he fell down in two halves.

    "How dare-!?"

    James had already turned to a new enemy. With a grip of his fists, his three heavy energy shields fused into one, forming a wall thicker than a back vault that he sent flying forward with a violent momentum.

    Many of the Cloud Race managed to dodge, but two failed.

    It was as though they had just been rammed by a heavy truck, their bodies bursting into a cloud of blood, disregarding their defenses as though they weren''t there at all.

    For some reason, scanning James was useless. They tried again and again, but they found their attempts blocked, and then blocked again. It was only at this point that they realized that James'' Energy Shield Ability Index had gone beyond just blocking the physical, he could protect himself even from attacks that couldn''t be seen clearly with the eyes.

    The current James stood as close to Tier 5 of his Ability Index as one could get without being a Savant. In all these years, without friends, and with nothing more than battling for his family on his mind, his skill had reached an impossible height.

    And now that he was enraged, they would have a true front row seat.

    BANG!

    James descended with a heavy stomp, crushing everything in his path. He crossed through the courtyard with speed, agility and ferocity. Eventually, the Cloud Race realized they had no ability to deal with him and tried to run, but this was the absolute worst decision they could make. When it came to restriction and control, how many could be much better than one wielded an Energy Shield Ability Index?

    With a thought, the entire courtyard was enveloped in an impenetrable shield. The Cloud Race tried pounding at it to escape, but they had already scattered, trying to force James to chase them individually. However, that only made them easier to pick off.

    They tried to attack the barrier again, but this time they found that it became soft and spongy. Their fists and weapons were embedded within and it felt as though they had struck at clouds.

    They tried to pull their strikes back, but the barrier suddenly surged forward like jelly, wrapping around them.

    "Samoa" screamed and waved her hand wildly, but there was nothing she could do as the wild energy continued to snake around her, coating her as though she was falling into quicksand. The harder she struggled, the further she sunk into it.

    Soon, the remaining Cloud Race members found themselves coated from head to toe. Although they weren''t injured, they were all smart enough to know that this was the absolute worst case scenario. With things like this... they were truly finished.

    James looked at them coldly. His gaze shifted until it landed on "Samoa".

    "I hope you have a fun time giggling in the afterlife."

    James squeezed his fists just once and the Cloud Race individuals only had a chance to screech once before their bodies were crushed. They died hardly able to fight back at all.

    James finally turned back, still fuming. Killing them couldn''t seem to get rid of his frustration, but when he looked back to find his father calmly sitting within the energy shield he had trapped him within, all of that rage seemed to dissipate. For some reason, he couldn''t find it in himself to stay enraged.

    With a wave of his hand, James released his father. He never had the heart to kill his own father, he had only trapped him so that he wouldn''t interfere.

    Governor Duke Bennett didn''t say anything immediately after being released. He looked at his son for a long time before shaking his head.

    "It doesn''t matter, a man needs to vent his emotions sometimes, but it''s good that you''ve regained your calm. This shouldn''t be too big of a problem since you made sure that none of them escaped, we will just blame their deaths on the Ascension Empire and everything will be-."

    James frowned. "Dad, siding with the Cloud Race is too far."

    Governor Duke Bennett looked up calmly. "Excuse me?"

    James took a deep breath. "I said siding with the Cloud Race is too far, they don''t have our best interests at heart. If Earth is taken by them, the only Eighth Dimensional world in the Human Domain will no longer be under our control. In that situation, won''t we still be slaves? But this time, we''ll be slaving for someone who treats us as nothing more than ants and have a great amount of prejudice against us."

    Governor Duke Bennett''s expression turned cold and a stern and powerful voice came out from him.

    "Do you think I need you to tell me how to do things?"

 Chapter 1889 Go

    James was startled for a moment before he lowered his head. Things weren''t much different from what they always had been, he was too used to this.

    "Wherever there are people, there will always be in groups and outgroups. Even when there are no tiers of separation, people will find them. If it''s not race, it will be skin tone. If it''s not skin tone, it will be culture. If it''s not culture, it will be wealth.

    "Even if there are two groups of people, both of the same race, with the same skin tone, the same culture, the same wealth, people might try to separate themselves based on who is a nouveau riche and who comes from old money, or on who was born in the north of the city versus the south, or on what gods they choose to follow, or what foods they like to eat most.

    "When you sit here and try to lecture me on what the Cloud Race may or may not do, or on how they may or may not treat us, do you know how absolutely foolish you sound? Even the Ascension Empire was forced to use the Slayer Legion as a scapegoat to maintain peace for decades because there can never be true peace, even when such a thing is achieved, it will only be a fleeting moment from vanishing.

    "It only takes one man''s greed, one wife''s dissatisfaction, one child''s grievance. This is the nature of life, of evolution.

    "Do you know why you can stand here and listen to this lecture from me?! It''s because you hold power! They infuriated you, so you slaughtered them and they could say nothing about it.

    "Do you know why they tolerated my questioning them?! It was because I provide them with resources they need, power they need, connections they need!

    "Who cares whether they share our race or not? Can you provide them value or not?!

    "Did the Ascension Empire care when your grandfather was schemed against by the Leum family and lost our Governor Duke position? Were we not fellow humans? Further than that, did we not share the same status? The same wealth? The same nobility? Even further than that did we not bleed for the Fawkes family? Did we not lose brothers and sisters for the Fawkes family? Did we not help them to build their Empire to what it is now?"

    The more Governor Duke Bennett spoke, the louder he seemed to become and the further his son''s head seemed to lower.

    "Did we not meet all the criteria you think to be so important and even surpass them? And yet we were thrown to the side, for what?

    "The reason is very simple. We weren''t useful enough. Others were more valuable. Your grandfather trusted the wrong people and he suffered for it. In this world, you can trust no one but yourself. There are no goals that are worth more or are more valuable than your own. There is no friendship worth your aspirations. The only people you can trust is family, and that''s not because of some bullshit reason like love.

    "I have an investment in you because you are my seed. I invested in your growth, I''ve protected you, and now you are the greatest weapon this family has.

    "Do you understand me?!" Governor Duke Bennett''s voice boomed.

    James'' head remained lowered and he didn''t answer immediately. When he did speak, he asked a question that weighed on him heavily.

    "... Doesn''t that mean if there was ever a reward worth more than your investment in me and better than what I can provide you in the future, you would sacrifice me as well?"

    "Look at me," Governor Duke Bennett said coldly.

    James slowly raised his head. When Governor Duke Bennett saw his son''s crimson gaze, his own narrowed, but he still looked forward without flinching.

    "Yes, I would." Governor Duke Bennett said just as coldly. "And I hope that if you see an opportunity to progress the Bennett family forward, you would sacrifice me as well. However, this shit, this lashing out and losing your temper, isn''t the way. You''re never going to get anywhere like this."

    James looked at his father, the crimson in his gaze slowly fading. His lips separated slightly, but no sound came out for a long while... until he finally managed to push it out.

    "Don''t you feel lonely?"

    Governor Duke Bennett''s expression seemed to change for the first time. Inwardly, his heart raced and it took several moments before it returned to normal.

    "... Men with heavy weights on their shoulders have no right to feel such emotions. You are cut from almost the same cloth as me, James. You don''t fall easily for women no matter how pretty they are, you aren''t good at academics, but you are able to focus on what you are good at with great ease. When you feel emotionally drained, you vent for only a moment before you regain control and put your nose to the grindstone once again.

    "Your only weakness was that Leonel, but that couldn''t be helped. He''s more perfect for this sort of life than you are. His ability to sever emotions is beyond mine, his ability to focus is beyond the both of us, and he has no holes in either his emotional or raw intelligence. Staying near him, you stood no chance. Your separation was necessary, it was the only way for you to grow into your own without being suppressed within his shadow."

    Governor Duke Bennett looked into the skies.

    "There is no fairness in this world, this is why you must take my words to heart. It''s even more apparent when it comes to things like talent. You must be willing to do things others aren''t if you want to succeed."

    Governor Duke Bennett fell into complete silence.

    "... Go," Governor Duke Bennett suddenly said.

    James'' brows shot up, seemingly feeling that there was something different about his father''s words.

    "I can see that you don''t believe in me the same way anymore, there''s no use in keeping you here. Things might be fine for now, but in a year or two, you''ll finally cross a point of no return. Also, judging by how easily you killed those Cloud Race members, I have a feeling they''ve long since overestimated themselves, your leaving is probably the only way to save the Bennett family at this point."

    Governor Duke Bennett continued to look into the skies, seemingly seeing Leonel''s face within the complex runes of the dome of white gold above them.

    He remembered that night he first met Leonel. He was beaten and ragged, facing off against an entire Fort and having just lost his girlfriend as a teenage boy, and yet still sharp enough to see through a ruse planned by his best friend of over a decade. In that sort of situation, Governor Duke Bennett was certain that even he wouldn''t have the ability to stay so clear headed, even given his long life and wealth of experience That sort of sharpness... wasn''t something you could teach.

    He couldn''t help but wonder... if Leonel had expected this to happen too.

 Chapter 1890 Blackened Wood

    Leonel looked down at his beaten and ragged spear, taking a breath and exhaling. As he had expected, his speed of clearing these hurdles had increased exponentially with the help of Pririna''s treasure, but what he hadn''t expected was to end up locked in such a battle not long after seemingly bright skies had opened up to him.

    Before Leonel, a twin-horned demon stood before him. Well, it only had one horn remaining, the other having been cut off by Leonel and sent spiraling into a tree in the distance...

    Well, several trees. Whatever that horn had been made out of, it was so sharp and sturdy that it wasn''t satisfied until it had raised thousands of acres of land to the ground.

    As best Leonel could tell, this person was probably a Fiend Class Demon, or close to it. Compared to the other geniuses Leonel had fought, this one was probably the most difficult up until this point because his body was so exceptional.

    While the strength of Leonel''s body came from his Lineage Factors and had been mostly stripped from him, the strength of a demon was innate to their flesh and blood. Facing this genius of the Demon Race, Leonel had no advantage despite having cleared hundreds more territories. Let alone not having an advantage, he was faintly losing and was somewhat inferior.

    What was the most infuriating was that outside of his horn, every other part of this Fiend Demon''s regeneration was top class, another very innate part of its being. Leonel had never felt the unfairness of the tribulation more clearly than he did now.

    Even so, Leonel''s skill with the spear was more than just one step above this demon that called himself Coldar. As such, he had been able to corner the latter several times, but to no avail. The demon hadn''t spoken a single word, but his tenacity was all too clear and obvious, and his stamina was seemingly no weaker than Leonel''s.

    Leonel glided backward, taking one more deep breath before his body stabilized entirely. He met the eerie yellow gaze of the demon who stood an entire meter taller than himself without the slightest hint of fear. He looked down at his spear one more time before shaking his head and throwing it to the side and unsheathing the base spear that had already grown to the point of nearly crossing into the Gold Grade.

    Unfortunately, while the basic spear could repair from damage, treasure spears and armors could not. Now that the lance spear had run its course, Leonel had no choice but to let it go, and with it, he lost access to Knight''s Charge.

    Leonel''s wrist flexed, his forearm waving once. The strength of this brandishing was so fierce that the spear tip swayed wildly from side to side, the rigid polearm moving as though it was instead a wet noodle.

    The spear blade moved almost hypnotically, swaying with a quick rhythm that made it quick and unpredictable.

    Even so, the Fiend Demon didn''t move a single inch. He had no way of knowing that Leonel''s Knight''s Charge ability came from the spear he had just thrown to the side. But what he did know was that even without Knight''s Charge, Leonel''s agility was beyond his own. In that case, he would stand in place and let Leonel come to him.

    Leonel suddenly thrust forward, his spear whipping through the air and its blade vanishing into a cascade of blinding gold lights.

    "I''ll grind you down until you have nothing left to give," Leonel spoke resolutely.

    The Fiend Demon once again didn''t respond, but a hint of solemnness touched his yellow gaze as he brandished his own spear to block.

    **

    Aina might as well have been the mirror image of Leonel on the battlefield. Although one faced one enemy while the other faced many, their ferocity could only be said to be identical.

    Many had thought that she would tire by now, but it eventually became quite obvious that she was far too confident in her own battle sense to make such a foolish mistake.

    Near the back of the battlefield, Harmony fought as well. She was more of a reserve unit, prepared to act as a trump card when the situation dictated it, but she was beginning to feel as though she was entirely unneeded. At the same time, her internal fear for this woman was growing with every second.

    It was easy to not notice just how brutal Aina was being. When lives were severed with just a single swing of her battle ax, it was easy to become numb to it.

    However, the screams, the panic, the palpable fear that was slowly condensing in the air was quickly increasing to the point that it was suffocating.

    As more and more powerful enemies faced off against Aina, the brutality only became more clear. Soon, they realized that maybe it would have been a blessing to be weaker. At least then, the torture would have ended immediately.

    She severed arms, stomped through chests, crushed wind pipes, there was even a warrior who suffered the fate of having their rib cage pulled apart and their hearts ripped out from their chest. Aina had cut into this warrior''s right shoulder with her battle axe, when she failed to go all the way through she punched into the left of the warrior''s chest, ripping his chest open by pulling her hand and ax apart.

    As though she wasn''t satisfied with the result, before this warrior could even fall to the floor, she ripped his heart out, the spurt of blood coating her armor and droplets dotting across her cheeks and face.

    The more the Brazinger family saw, the more shaken they became. It couldn''t have been more obvious that her target from the very beginning was them, and very soon, the only one seperating them from severing their head was Galaeran and obviously Galaeron had no intention of stopping her Aina''s golden gaze shone like two radiant stars as she slammed the butt of her polearm into the dirt. She passed by Little Nana without a single word, seemingly not worried that the latter would attack her.

    She looked forward in silence, her aura climbing with every passing second. A long way to her back, dozens of rotating blood roses continued to shred a path through the battlefield almost without her input at all.

    No one knew why Aina had stopped until her spatial ring glowed.

    One after another, she took out stakes. Each one was carved of a blackened wood and stood at exactly nine meters tall and were just about two feet thick.

    It wasn''t obvious at first, but the Brazingers shuddered when they saw it. Every time Aina''s palm touched this seemingly simple wood, another layer of her skin would be burnt off, droplets of blood falling and the smell of rotting flesh wafting into the air.

 Chapter 1891 Black Wood

    "Oh? You recognize these?" Aina asked softly. "I guess you would, right?"

    She took her time to stake the wooden pillars into the ground. Every time she touched it and another layer of her skin fell to the ground, rotten and sizzling, the Brazingers would flinch again. They couldn''t even feel Aina''s earlier rage, and yet this silence felt so much more oppressive, the heaviness of it all gripping at their throats and pressing down.

    "They call this Black Wood, a simple name, quite short, succinct... I guess its history speaks for itself."

    The calmness in Aina''s voice was eerie. They had heard too much about this supposed Black Wood, enough to know that most wouldn''t dare to even try to handle it without specialized equipment, and that went for experts that surpassed even the Seventh Dimension.

    Just looking at the ground they were pierced into told a story of a thousand words. Black veins pulsed into the soil, drying and cracking the land as though a curse was slowly spreading through it. This didn''t seem to stop until the phenomena had stretched over ten meters from the location of the pillars of Black Wood.

    "Look at you all, already in the Sixth Dimension and yet so afraid of this wood. It doesn''t move, it doesn''t bite, and yet you mighty Brazingers can''t look at it without shivering. I wonder how you''d react if you were in the Third Dimension like my mother?"

    Raffyr felt his heart leapt into his throat. Not long ago, he had been planning on making Leonel pay for simply being associated with Aina, a "stain" on their family. And yet, now standing before the woman herself, he couldn''t seem to even look her in the eye.

    "Who knows," Aina continued, "maybe it wouldn''t matter much? I heard that this wood had very unique properties. Regardless of who touches it, the suffering is the exact same. It never speeds up or slows down, always moving at its own pace.

    "I honestly planned on using this on the woman and the executioners who acted that day, but I think I''ve changed my mind. My man showed me a better way. Your entire family is rotten to the core, it would be better if you all rotted for an eternity together, don''t you think?"

    Aina lowered her hand from the tree, the rotting flesh on the palm of her hand not moving her in the slightest. This was a sort of pain that she had dealt with every moment of everyday, and let alone her hands, it had appeared on her face. Just to avoid having to deal with it, for much of her youth, she wore a thin mask over her face, masking much of it.

    It wasn''t until she gained Leonel''s Cleansing Waters did that horrible, unbearable pain lessen, but by then it had already been almost two decades. To her, this was absolutely nothing, and seeing the fear on the faces of the so-called Brazinger geniuses before her, she only felt more disdain and disgust.

    Her mother had been nothing more than a normal woman, a frail woman without any sort of special bloodlines or abilities... a common woman of the Third Dimension. And yet they had tied her to this pillar entirely in the nude.

    Aina''s father had never described how it had happened, but Aina had enough knowledge now to understand exactly what would have happened.

    Beaten and ragged, humiliated and stripped, her mother was strapped too one of these pillars back first after her head was shaved entirely bald, leaving nothing between her and the Black Wood outside of a special cushion between her skull and the pillar.

    The Black Wood''s curse would slowly slip onto the fair skin of her back, eating away at it slowly. It would make it sizzle and crack, a sick burning sensation piercing into her very soul as it peeled away layer by layer.

    By the time it got to her muscles and fat beneath, the curse would have already started eating away at the front of her body like a slowly burning flame, just taking off one layer at a time until she was nothing but a husk of bleeding flesh.

    The Black Wood wouldn''t sense this at all, only continuing to do its diligent work as it ate through her flesh, peeling away her muscles.

    Any normal Third Dimensional existence would have already died by now. The shock would be too great and the mortal human body could die even to burns that were too severe, let alone having all of your skin systematically burned away by a cruel curse.

    However, this was the truly sickening ability of the Black Wood, the scent it created from rotting flesh could force lucidity and force one to stay alive. At the same time, because the Black Wood didn''t work on bone nor nerves, but only on unrelated flesh, even when there was no longer any flesh on Aina''s mother''s back, she was forced to continue suffering, her nerves and spin remaining perfectly intact.

    With the cushion between her skull and the pillar, the last thing to disappear was the intricacies of one''s expression and the sound of one''s voice. Everything from the horrified screeches of pain to the twisting of one''s expression when sounds could no longer be made were laid out for the entertainment of those watching.

    When it was all finished, there would be nothing left but a skeleton, a bundle of nerves and an intact brain.

    In that state, one couldn''t see, nor touch, nor hear, nor smell... The only sense remaining was the eerie cold breeze passing over your exposed nerves, back and forth, again and again.

    You were forced to endure in that state, trapped in your own mind, until the fumes of your own rotting flesh had dispersed enough that you could finally die. With fail, no matter what the strength of a person was, this would take exactly 99 days, no more, no less.

    Then, as though to add insult to injury, your skeleton would be beheaded, your bones ground to ash and then stirred into the mortar that formed the execution platform.

    While Aina stood there calmly, recalling all of these matters without the slightest expression on her face, these thoughts continued to run through her head.

    She slowly picked up her battle ax, angling it forward toward the enemies before her.

    "Come die. You four will be the first, and soon, I''ll make the rest of you follow.

 Chapter 1892 Momentum

    Raffyr trembled, his body quaking. But when he saw his sister take a step forward, he felt his body relax before he felt a deep hint of shame. He talked big, but he actually didn''t have as much courage as his sister, let alone as much talent.

    Sarathana shook her hand just once and a mighty crimson glaive appeared. When she took another step forward, her feet were decidedly heavier, and yet her movements were no less agile. By the time her foot raised for a third time, a momentum had begun to build up and she suddenly vanished, streaking across the battlefield.

    BANG!

    To Sarathana''s shock, before her charge could reach its peak, Aina had already appeared before her, swinging down her battle ax. Seeing those expressionless golden irises, Sarathana felt her heart tremble.

    In just a single exchange, Sarathana was forced to take a step back, her wrists and forearms trembling. Her eyes widened. She had lost in raw strength to a halfling?

    Before she could think further about it, Aina''s battle axe was already descending once again, the blade appearing by her neck as though it had teleported there.

    Sarathana hurriedly ducked and blocked with the polearm of her glaive. She gave herself just enough room to succeed in the second maneuver, but the strength of Aina''s attack seemed to have increased. With her knees already bent, she was driven directly into the ground.

    The earth splintered and a crater was formed. Just the first impact formed a crater as wide as three meters from edge to edge and three quarters of a meter deep on a Seventh Dimensional world. But right then, with their blades still connected, Aina''s eyes flashed and the veins along her forearms bulged.

    BANG!

    The crater expanded, the surge almost forcing Sarathana onto her back.

    "Sister!"

    Raffyr and the others couldn''t stand idly any longer. They didn''t even bother to look toward the other three family geniuses for help, they would only get ridiculed. Their family had kicked out a halfling and couldn''t even properly control her, this was nothing short of a stain and humiliation on them. They would be lucky if the others didn''t kick them while they were down, let alone help them.

    Aina casually kicked out, nailing Sarathana right in the chest and sending her flying into the distance.

    She came out like a speeding bullet, colliding with Barrion before he could even get into a proper attack stance. The latter''s forearm bones snapped on impact and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling into a pile a distance away along with Sarathana.

    Aina could have killed Sarathan right then and there. A genius? She didn''t even feel like Sarathana, who was supposedly just a step away from the Seventh Dimension, was even worth more than a single exchange with her.

    All Aina wanted to do was bury them, to force them into submission, and then to force them to experience the same things her mother had experienced all those years ago. She would make sure every Brazinger she got her hands on experienced the same thing.

    Raffyr and Thedan appeared to her left and right with a fierce momentum. They knew that their lives were on the line, so they didn''t hold anything back, crimson auras flourishing around the both of them.

    Aina''s stance only shifted slightly, causing their blades to slip by the front and back of her. With one hand she tapped two fingers upon Raffyr''s wrist, with her other hand, she twirled her battle ax, causing the butt to bypass Thedan''s defenses and uppercut him squarely on the chin.

    Thedan''s jaw shattered into countless pieces on contact.

    Raffyr''s sword wielding hand plowed into the ground under Aina''s touch and he seemed to get off easy... Until Aina finished the twirl of her polearm, landing a hit on his shoulder blade from above that not only drove him further into the ground, but also shattered the bone into an even worse state than Thedan''s jaw.

    In the distance, Sarathana unleashed a roar. Of them all, her injuries were the lightest only because of the armor that covered her chest. Her aura flourished and her crimson aura quickly formed the silhouette and a valiant warrior.

    It grew and grew until it stood at over ten meters tall and solidified into a mighty mass. Every move Sarathana made, it too made, boosting her strength to a great degree as she dashed forward.

    Aina looked at this ability expressionlessly. She tilted her head to just one side, seemingly not noticing Sarathana''s rapid approach. The ability was somewhat interesting to her, and she felt that it wasn''t an Ability Index, instead, it should be a technique that stemmed from the Berserk God Lineage Factor.

    ''It should work like...

    Aina observed it for what must have been only fractions of a second before her own crimson aura flourished, growing taller and taller until the point Sarathana felt so much despair she slowed her dead sprint, her feet dragging until they came to a stop with her looking straight up at a valiant Valkyrie.

    "... I think I made it too big," Aina said lightly, words that made Sarathana''s heart drop to the pits of her stomach.

    Even so, Aina''s construct reached down, wrapping Sarathana''s ten meter tall construct into a palm and squeezing.

    Sarathana shuddered, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood as her construct was shattered into pieces.

    She fell to her knees, her vision swimming.

    She realized then that she couldn''t fight back, it was impossible. This woman was too strong.

    When she looked up she found that Aina was already standing over her expressionlessly. Even when Aina pulled her up by the hair, there was nothing Sarathana could do, her entire body having reached its limits in a pathetic few exchanges.

    Aina pierced her battle ax into the ground, lifting Sarathana up by the hair with one hand, and reaching for her armor with the other.

    Expressionlessly, Aina pulled, ignoring the injuries it caused Sarathana and ripping her armor off of her purposely.

    Sarathana grit her teeth in embarrassment, her chest being completely exposed to the world.

    "Stop! Stop! That''s too much!"

    The naive and delicate voice of Nana called out. Even while being pinned down by Galaeron, she couldn''t seem to hold it in any longer.

 Chapter 1893 Superiority And Greatness

    Aina didn''t seem to hear the words at all as she lifted Sarathana to eye level, almost as though she was picking up a chicken. She looked her right in the eyes as she gripped the waist of her pants, ripping them off as well.

    Sarathana closed her eyes, tears welling up within them. Even in the cruel environment of the Brazinger family, she had never experienced such humiliation.

    She felt herself be lowered, only to be dragged along the ground.

    Aina couldn''t be bothered to waste the strength to keep her upright, pulling her along the graveled and bloodied grounds of the battlefield and toward the Black Wood pillars.

    Nana felt both flustered and aimless. On the one hand, Sarathana wasn''t a member of her family and she also didn''t know why Aina was so angry, though she had mentioned her mother. But on the other hand, she couldn''t stand to see such a thing.

    But regardless of her feelings on the matter, she was worried about action Galaeron might take without her here. Galaeron also called Aina his niece-in-law, which must mean that Aina was Leonel''s wife, and that only added another layer of complication. Nana really didn''t want to have any conflict with Leonel.

    If Maia attacked, Nana might have a chance to take action, but the current state of things was actually positive in Maia''s eyes. Right now, the greatest killing machine was occupied with a personal grudge, and although Aina''s blood roses were still rotating on the battlefield, they were clearly less effective and weaker, some had even been managed to be destroyed with some teamwork. Plus, she trusted her sons to defeat their enemies soon, and it didn''t look like Noah and his helpers could hold out against Elorin for much longer.

    The more Aina focused on this grudge of hers, the better chance they would stand. In the grand scheme, these few geniuses of the four Great Families were inconsequential. This was a battle of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, while someone of Aina''s caliber or Nana''s may be able to sway it, the others could not.

    Aina didn''t seem to care about any of this at all as she lifted Sarathana up and began to tie her to the pillar. The moment her naked body touched the wood, a tragic scream left Sarathana''s lips. It echoed over the battlefield and her strength was very clear and apparent from its resonance. But Aina didn''t even flinch in the face of it.

    With calm movements, she tied her back to it and placed a cushion behind her head with a gentleness that made it look as though she was laying her to bed.

    Without a word, Aina continued with the other three. Raffyr tried to struggle, but it was completely useless. One after another, they were all put up, their tragic screams continuing to echo.

    As the screams continued, the morale of the Cloud Race army began to slowly plummet, an entirely unforeseen outcome by Maia. She began to regret her inaction, but it was much too late for that now, far too late. Aina had already finished tying them up, the damage was done.

    However, just when it seemed that Aina was finished, she stretched a hand out and all of the blood within their four bodies surged out. They could hardly keep a clear mind under the excruciating pain, let alone stop their Blood Force from being snatched.

    Taking so much blood from them would normally kill them, but the aroma coming from their rotting flesh matched with the Black Wood pillars kept them alive. After being tied to these pillars, there was simply no escaping. Unless you had perfect control over your own soul and could force it to disperse, suicide was impossible.

    If they had been smart, they would have done everything to kill themselves before they were tied to the pillar, but they still held out hope. They hoped that if they endured, Aina and her allies would lose this battle and then they would be freed. However, they never expected Aina to take such a cruel measure. Now, no matter what, they would have to die.

    What they didn''t realize, though, was that this wasn''t the purpose of Aina snatching their blood.

    Slowly, and diligently, Aina began to draw four Force Arts into the ground using their blood.

    "I''m not very good with Force Arts," Aina said lightly. "I never invested much time into them and only have minimal experience."

    Aina''s soothing voice sounded no different than the reaper to them at this point, but with their heads still intact and her ability to penetrate through their screaming still at an all time high, they had no choice but to listen to her words.

    "However, when it comes to simple Force Arts with simple mechanisms, so long as I take my time, given the control I have over my body, they''re actually quite easy to draw. Did you know that Blood Force is actually a very effective medium for Force Art drawing, just like Soul and Dream Force?"

    Aina continued to speak as though she wanted the last voice these people heard to be her own.

    "This one isn''t too complex either. Its only job is to release a little bit of your blood on a day. Exactly 99 days from now, it will release the first batch, and then again, once per day, for example 900 more days."

    Aina looked up from her Force Art drawing.

    "99 days is a bit too short, don''t you think? You''re all so strong and superior due to your bloodlines. Since my mother was forced to endure 99 days as a common woman, it shouldn''t be a problem for you superior existences to withstand ten times that, right?"

    Hearing Aina''s words, the four began to fight harder and harder to get off the pillar as their skin was slowly eaten away at, but it was a completely useless endeavor.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure the world knows how superior you all are to the rest of us. Every time your blood hits the pillar, more rotten fumes will form and your existence will be lengthened by another day. This way, you can definitely flex your boldness and greatness."

    Aina smiled lightly.

    It was objectively gorgeous, and yet it was the scariest thing those four youths had ever seen.

 Chapter 1894 Hard Life

    Aina clapped her hands once, a resonant sound echoing over the battlefield. At that moment, the rotting flesh on her hands seemed to have been smashed out of existence, fair and soft skin replacing them in the blink of an eye.

    Grabbed her battle ax, Aina rested it on her shoulders, looking toward the rest of the Great Family members. At the moment, the smile on her face was radiant, almost as though the cries of Sarathana, Raffy, Berrion and Thedan were her favorite kind of music.

    With a step she crossed a large distance, catching the remaining youth off guard. But by the time they reacted, it was already too late.

    With the sky piercing construct behind her, Aina''s strength seemed to have increased tenfold. She hadn''t even realized just how much strength she had been missing out on until this moment.

    In the distance, her blood roses grew explosively in strength, expanding by tenfold. Even the ones that were on the verge of destruction suddenly condensed once more, flourishing.

    If Aina had to describe it, it felt like she had accessed something similar to Universal Force, but it came directly from her body. In fact, she felt like she could make it so much stronger than it was currently, every attack she made seemed to prove that all the more.

    Maia''s expression changed.

    In the distance, Elorin, who was pressing down on his three enemies frowned, looking over.

    Noah''s saber swung down, passing right through his body as though he wasn''t there.

    Elorin appeared a distance away, his gaze still locked onto Aina as a tortoise half the size of a city descended from above, smashing down from above with Jessica on its back.

    He was about to dodge again when Tyrron appeared to his side, a glistening sword ray flashing across his glasses as he pierced forward.

    Elorin suddenly felt annoyed. These three were so weak, but they covered for each other well. He was trying to conserve his strength for what he felt would be an inevitable battle against Emperor Fawkes, so he hadn''t expected to be stalled here for so long.

    His allies were truly too useless, not able to deal with one woman. It was ridiculous.

    Elron''s pupils constricted once more as Aina''s strength seemed to continue skyrocketing. He had been certain that no one could match his speed of improvement, but Aina was improving by leaps and bounds. The youth couldn''t seem to withstand even a single strike before, let alone now.

    "Stop! Stop!" Nana''s agitation was growing, she couldn''t just watch her own family members die like that. Even though she didn''t know them personally, they still shared blood.

    "Young miss, I would suggest you calm down. She doesn''t have the same reservations you do. If you stand in her way, she will kill you," Galaeron said lightly.

    "Stop blocking me!" Nana shrieked. She was in the Seventh Dimension, there was no way Aina could even think of killing her. She might be naive, but she wasn''t stupid. It was clear that Galaeron just had no intention of letting her go.

    Galaeron remained silent. He could tell that this young girl had never experienced any setbacks in her life. To scream at an enemy like this as though it would work, this was beyond naivete, it was also laced with a heavy amount of entitlement. It was good that this young girl also seemed to have a kind heart, because if not, the result of that entitlement would probably be bad news for everyone around her.

    Tears welled up in Nana''s eyes when it became clear that Galaeron had no intention of letting her go.

    Red faced and agitated, Nana''s Force seemed to almost spiral out of control, a radiant sapphire construct beginning to form to her back. It grew taller and taller, reaching a point where it matched even Aina''s in size.

    "BIND!" She screamed, slamming out a palm toward Galaeron.

    Galaeron''s eyes narrowed. He was about to move when his senses flashed. He had been paying attention to Maia all this time, how could he miss her movement? The issue was that she had timed it perfectly with Nana''s outburst.

    Galaeron sighed inwardly. It seemed that he was actually going to have to work a bit this time.

    Holding out his palms, Galaeron suddenly began moving to an odd rhythm. It looked as though he was completing a routine of Tai Chi, his face the picture of peace.

    BANG! BANG!

    Maia and Nana''s palms descended at the same time, colliding with Galaeron''s own. Both women felt as though they had rammed into a steel wall. Even though Galaeron''s sleeves fluttered wildly, he didn''t move even a single inch. In fact, his elbows didn''t even bend.

    "Ouch," Galaeron sighed.

    Maia''s brows twitched unhappyily. She felt like Galaeron was making fun of her. She had thought that this was an excellent opportunity. only for her to end un entirely stifled.

    Suddenly, Galaeron moved. Maia tried to pull back, but as though her palm was stuck to Galaerons, she found her body moving along with the arc of his palms. On the other side, Nana couldn''t escape the same fate, her petite body being led like a horse to water.

    Galaeron spun once, causing both women to be spun out. They soared into the air out of their control.

    With elegant movements, Galaeron fluidly flowed into pressing his palms together once more. With a light exhale, he raised his right palm just slightly before pressing it toward the ground so slowly that it was almost agonizing.

    However, in response, the air seemed to compress above the flying women. As though the world itself was resonating with Galaeron''s movements, a concentrated and transparent pillar of air pressed down.

    Maia and Nana both coughed up a thick mouthful of blood as they were smashed to the ground below.

    Galaeron sighed, smoothing out the slight wrinkles on his clothing. This was why he didn''t like to battle, his clothing would be entirely ruined. Although he could shed some layers, that would be entirely unsightly. He was a gentleman, not a rogue, how could he fight without a shirt on?

    He had considered just wearing fashionable armor in the past, but he found the bulkiness and the flash of metal to be gaudy.

    He truly lived a hard life.

 Chapter 1895 Crimson Red

    Maia coughed up a mouthful of blood, her eyes opened wide with astonishment. She had no idea what ability Galaeron was using, she couldn''t tell whether it was a unique ability, a technique, or maybe a known Ability Index being used in an unconventional way.

    At first she thought it was telekinesis. It made sense, that was why he could move so slowly and yet output so much power, it should also be the reason why her and that little girl''s palms got stuck to one another. He should have been using telekinesis to make up for his lack of movement speed and momentum.

    However, just now, she felt an odd fluctuation of energy in the air, almost as though he was truly gathering up Force to act on his behalf, but this was very different from the feeling that telekinesis should give.

    In addition, there was something unique about the movement of his body. Though he was moving slowly, he was gathering up momentum in his own way, as though it was a technique of some sort, or more accurately, a Style.

    But if he was using the Style to gather momentum, then that contradicted the fact he was using telekinesis. In addition, she had never seen someone so adept in using telekinesis to the point they could apply such force without emitting any fluctuations. If telekinesis left no traces at all, how would you even fight such a person? Wouldn''t they be invincible so long as they had the strength to harm you and could cast perfectly invisible attacks?

    The worse problem though was that a technique should have left some sort of fluctuation as well, but the attack had come suddenly and without warning. The Cloud Race was well known for their senses and only fell short of the Spirituals in this regard. If Maia couldn''t sense it, then didn''t that mean that he was entirely impossible to deal with?!

    Across the battlefield, Aina''s ax fell for the final time and she took a deep breath, the light smile still on her face even though blood fell like rain around her. If even the likes of Sarathana couldn''t last a single exchange with her, the rest stood even less of a chance.

    The chorus of hoarse cries continued behind her like a symphony to her mother.

    Aina turned back to the rest of the battlefield, the tides very clearly turning in favor of Earth. Whether it was morale or strength, they had a step up in both regards. It felt like the Cloud Race was entirely unprepared for the level of power they would face, and that much was all too expected.

    The moment Maia was exposed, her planned surprise attack had failed. She had thought that it wouldn''t matter much, but what she hadn''t taken into consideration was the fact that in an upfront battle, the Cloud Race was actually inferior.

    The only true geniuses of the Cloud Race present here were her sons and herself. But her sons, who she had so much faith in, were still stuck in stalemates, while she herself hadn''t lasted even a single exchange. Was this really the supposedly weak Human Domain?

    None of this made any sense. The presence of a world with Eighth Dimensional potential was irrelevant, Maia herself came from a true Eighth Dimensional world, not just one with the potential to become one. There was no way she should have lost like this!

    Suddenly, Maia had flashbacks to something that happened almost three decades ago.

    "The plan has failed, Emperor Fawkes is far too ruthless. He preferred to slaughter billions of citizens to avoid an Invalid infestation than risk it. Retreat, Maia."

    "So what?" A disdainful female voice came from the other side.

    The male voice sighed. "Maia, think. Without an Invalid infestation, the Ascension Empire will solidify incredibly quickly, making it far more difficult to infiltrate. Secondly, without the potential use of Invalids and Variant Invalids as a spearhead, you''ll be too short handed. How are you going to take them down while suppressed under their world''s laws and alone?"

    "I have my methods. Aren''t you taking these humans too seriously? Watch well, Jorrym."

    "Maia! You are my wife and you''re carrying two of my children. Don''t risk their lives and yours because of your pride. Retreat to the Chaotic Water Sector with me. Together we''ll sweep through Earth with much greater assurance!"

    "Our children will be fine, watch well."

    She still remembered hanging up that call. Now, her Jorrym''s fate was unknown and she and their sons were in danger of dying here.

    Maia grit her teeth, standing slowly to her feet.

    Because of their control over their Cloud Figure, Cloud Race experts were able to shut themselves away much like Jorrym had, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. It could be used to do things like slow and manipulate their aging and had been a key part to Maia''s plans until now. Even now, she was still considered a member of the Cloud Race''s younger generation.

    While it seemed that she had experienced decades on Earth, in reality it was no more than a handful of years to her. It was also thanks to this ability that her sons had managed to remain embryos until she was prepared to use them.

    However, this age lock came with a double-edged sword, and that was the ability to store the skipped time.

    If that time was never touched, everything would be fine and the Cloud Race individual would age as they had intended. However, in the case that this time was unleashed, the Cloud Race member would enter a state of accelerated evolution where they would experience all the years they had "skipped" at once.

    This was the greatest ability of the Cloud Race, an ability that could only be used by them with gold rune Cloud Figures, those with the greatest bloodlines of their Race.

    There was, of course, a drawback. The consequences would always be tenfold. In order to experience all of the decades she had been on Earth for at once and gain the insights and strength that came with it, she would need to experience the equivalent of centuries.

    Even so, now that things had reached this point, Maia used the one trump card she never thought she''d have to.

    Maia raised her head to the skies, a screech that echoed over Earth billowing from her chest.

    The golden runes that floated within her Cloud Figure began to vibrate wildly, quickly becoming a crimson red.

 Chapter 1896 Anomaly

    Leonel took deep, heaving breaths. It had been a while since he needed to breathe so heavily to get something done.

    His battle with Coldar lasted almost an entire week. Leonel wasn''t sure if time in the tribulation and the time outside were the same or not, but regardless, a week here still very much felt like an entire week.

    Even when he clearly had the upperhand, the Fiend Demon had refused to give up, forcing them to continue the battle again and again. To make things worse, the Fiend Demon''s regenerative abilities were simply off the charts, it didn''t seem like Leonel could cause it a single injury that could actually harm it.

    Leonel continued to breathe hard, standing over Coldar''s body. Finally, the demon couldn''t seem to move anymore and simply looked up at Leonel expressionlessly. If it wasn''t for the fact he too was also breathing hard, Leonel would have had a hard time believing that this demon was actually a living being, well that and the fact that he was basically immobilized not, his healing factor finally losing the ability to keep up.

    Even now, Coldar hadn''t given up. Leonel could see his muscles twitching as though he was still trying to stand. Leonel couldn''t imagine what the battle would have been like if Coldar had absorbed as many Beast Crystals as he had.

    Ironically, by now the advantage he had in terms of Beast Crystals was probably gone now than to this battle and he probably didn''t get much else outside of whatever treasures were on him and a couple hundred territories. In the grand scheme, it wasn''t worth it, but he also didn''t have the ability to choose to retreat.

    Theoretically, he could have used the orb Pririna had left behind, but because of one part pride, and another part because he felt that the reward would be worth it, he held on. Plus, he knew he had to defeat Coldar no matter what. If Leonel had to guess, he was definitely the strongest genius here, the rest should be a cake walk.

    "What is your name?" Leonel asked.

    Coldar''s gaze flickered.

    There were a lot of race enemies, but maybe the one with the most division were humans and demons, their cultures were strikingly different. It felt weird that a human was asking him such a question, especially since this was the first attempt at true communication.

    Coldar didn''t seem like he was going to answer for a long while, staring at Leonel with the same placid expression. When his mouth finally opened, though, the answer that came out wasn''t'' an answer at all.

    "Why are you asking me that?"

    Coldar''s voice was cold and gruff. Oddly enough, it reminded Leonel of a soothing clap of thunder, a completely contradictory description. It was as though he had managed to incorporate the rumble into his vocal cords.

    "Can''t I ask out of curiosity?" Leonel asked with a laugh.

    "...I don''t like the way your eyes look. It makes me feel like you''re trying to court me."

    "Ah..." Leonel choked on his laugh. Did this big three-meter tall demon think that he wanted to take him out on a date? How had the conversation taken such a turn?

    "I like women, you do not need to know my name. Just kill me and finish your task."

    Leonel''s mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. He assumed that what Coldar was feeling was his Emperor''s Charm, though that should definitely be suppressed in this place.

    In the end, Leonel shook his head, completely rendered speechless.

    He bent down and snatched Coldar''s spear away and turned to leave as the latter began to fade.

    Coldar sighed. "I still do not like men. This will not help you in your pursuit of me."

    Leonel nearly tripped and fell, but by the time he turned back to say something, Coldar had vanished.

    "... What... ..."

    Leonel still had no idea what to say, he could only turn back and trudge away, taking deep breaths to try and quickly recover to his peak. He had to hurry and get out of this place.

    ''Hold on."

    Leonel shook his head, he was so flustered that he almost made a stupid mistake. He turned and rushed back, looking at the location Coldar''s corpse had vanished, but he was instantly disappointed. There was nothing there. It seemed that Coldar hadn''t gotten as lucky as himself or Pririna.

    Shaking his head again, Leonel shot off into the distance as he fused the two spears together.

    "Tch... still short...!

    Leonel felt that he was still missing around 50 or so territories to reach the Gold Grade. Coldar had definitely had a ton, but it wasn''t quite enough.

    In another territory, an unknown distance away, two geniuses faced off against one another.

    Edrym chuckled. "Well, this is unexpected. I thought it would take us some more time before we had our final battle, but for some reason I can''t find any other worthy opponents. I have a feeling that there''s an anomaly this time around."

    Edrym''s carefreeness was just as grating to Enul as it always was, but this time rather than responding with annoyance, his expression remained solemn. He too had felt that there was something odd about this tribulation... the lack of treasure territories, the fact it was so hard to find worthy opponents, he hadn''t come across any one of the other six outside of Edrym in all this time as well, and the only reason he had run into Edrym at all was because their territories had started off quite close.

    "I guess we''ll have to find out which one of us gets to meet this mysterious variable between us, no?" Edrym raised his spear with a smile on his face. "It''s unfortunate, though, one of us won''t be able to reach the Gold Grade evaluation."

    Enul''s expression became callous, his size pairs of hands raising up, each with their own spear. With a thought, he vanished appearing before Edrym with a deathly momentum.

 Chapter 1898 Ultimate Security Blanket

    James'' clenched his jaw, taking a strong gulp as though he was forcing his heart back down.

    "... He''s still the same, directing everyone around like he already knows what they''ll do," James mumbled.

    Aina smiled in understanding. Let alone James and the others, there were too many things that Leonel didn''t explain even to her. If James took offense to this, there wasn''t really much she could do, she would just have to reveal their other trump cards ahead of time. The trouble with that, though, was that it would make the Heir Wars far more difficult.

    However, at that moment, James smiled.

    "Do you know what they call a quarterback''s tight end in football?" James looked Aina in the eyes, his tears somewhat glistening but quickly evaporating away beneath a fiery blaze.

    Aina blinked before her smile brightened. "The ultimate safety blanket."

    She had been following Leonel''s games for years and had never missed a single one. Not only did she know all the rules of the game, when it came to the intricacies and the culture around it, she probably dwarfed even some of the players themselves.

    When James heard this his head raised to the skies and he erupted with a laughter that drowned out even the cries of the Brazingers. It boomed with a vibrant carefreeness, surging like a rising ocean tide and drowning out everything.

    With a leap, he soared into the skies, his foot landing on an energy shield platform that he shot like a canon off of, soaring over the battle between Maia and Galaeron with the confidence of a man who felt he could have participated in it if he so chose.

    Aina watched this with a smile. It was a little white lie, and considering how well James knew Leonel, he probably knew this as well. But as Leonel''s Queen, there were some things that she felt she had to do for him.

    Leonel had many brothers, but he had only ever had one best friend, and there was a reason for that. Some relationships couldn''t be forced, and some were too perfect to need to be.

    Leonel had set the probability of James making an appearance at 30%. He felt that the Cloud Race would be a bar that he wouldn''t allow himself to cross, and he was correct about that.

    But Aina felt like he wanted that percentage to be much higher, not for any other reason than that was what he wanted for the man who he had once called friend.

    Aina could feel that Leonel was becoming more distant from the world, more detached, more indifferent. Even when his brothers had returned to his side, they had been separated for so many years that it was difficult to reaffirm that connection to the same level, and that was honestly because they were missing the glue that had kept them together in the first place.

    James seemed like an unruly, wild card with barely half a brain in him, but he was probably the person who understood Leonel the most outside of Aina herself, and maybe even in comparison to Aina, he knew more.

    At the same time, James and Leonel were more similar than it seemed. Just considering their fathers... with how much Leonel loved his own, if Velasco had the same approach to life that Governor Duke Bennett had, how far would Leonel be from just being a second James?

    The two of them were the most similar in the things that meant the most, the more dissimilar in, ironically, what was also the most important.

    Since these two brutes wouldn''t take the steps to fix their relationship on their own, it would just have to be up to her.

    Aina smiled to herself, watching James dive into the battle and almost immediately force Elorin into a retreat.

    **

    Leonel had no idea what Aina had done, but at the moment he was too frustrated to care.

    He felt like he had traveled everywhere possible, but he couldn''t seem to gather up enough territories. No random treasure or beast territories were spawning, and even after a lot of walking, there didn''t seem to be any other participants waiting.

    He had come across one barrier, but it blocked him from entry. He had come across such a thing before, so he just assumed correctly that there was likely a battle going on within.

    Now, he had finally found another, and it was once again blocked.

    There seemed to only be one conclusion: there were just three contestants left, while he had been fighting Coldar everyone else but them had been wiped out.

    Leonel shook his head. ''How unlucky...

    If things were like this that meant that he would have to go into this final confrontation while stuck at the Silver Grade, and given the fact there were only two contestants left, whoever came out victorious would almost certainly have a Gold Grade spear.

    Taking a breath and exhaling, Leonel retreated to his territory then used the orb to lock his barriers down. If he was going to enter this final battle at a disadvantage he would definitely do it at 100%.

    What Leonel didn''t realize was how truly unlucky he was.

    Of the six strongest competitors, he had actually fought four of them and would now be fighting the fifth.

    However, due to his actions, everyone else was unlucky as well.

    Because he had sped up the timeline of the tribulation so greatly, less territories had spawned, and as a result whereas in the past there would be multiple with Gold Grade evaluations, this time around, there would only be one if Leonel lost this battle, and only two if he did manage to gain victory.

    Leonel collapsed into a pile of soft grass and closed his eyes, taking the first sleep he had in as long as he could remember. He wasn''t even sure exactly how long he had been in this tribulation.

    This sleep would turn out to be invaluable. They say the sleep consolidated everything one had learned during the day, and now... Leonel was consolidating weeks of training while entering a single deep sleep.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 1899 Elorins Ability Index

    Elorin reacted quickly to James'' appearance, slide out of the way.

    James seemed to form his body into a cannonball, wrapping himself in a spherical energy shield as he fell from the skies. The air rushed around him with such speed that it sparked, a rush of fire and explosive Force forming as he descended with a faster and faster speed.

    BOOM!

    Elorin crossed an arm and his machete across his face, gliding back effortlessly as a wall of concentrated air collided against him. Although he was unhurt, he couldn''t help but frown.

    The addition of yet another variable was annoying. The more this happened, the less he would be able to hold back. What was the Cloud Race doing exactly?!

    Elorin glanced toward the battlefield and a spark of annoyance sparked in his pupils. This was the supposed Cloud Race? Weren''t they supposed to be powerful and unmatched? Why were there so many who seemed capable of fighting them just fine?

    With another step, Elorin glided back further, avoiding pursuit with an ease akin to breathing. His gaze darted across the battlefield until he seemed to understand something.

    Under normal circumstances, the humans of Earth would stand no chance whatsoever. However, in concentrated pockets, scattered across the battlefield, there were small groups led by unconventional figures that seemed to subtly turn the tide.

    There was a young man with telekinetic abilities, a young woman wreathed in vines and flower, there were eight young men whose power output was clearly a step above and they didn''t seem to be going all out either, there was another subtle white haired beauty to the side, and finally, the most obvious of them all, there was the vicious golden-eyed woman who controlled Blood Force.

    This didn''t even mention the two battling Maia''s sons to a standstill, stopping them from becoming the anchors they should have been for the Cloud Race, or the obvious elephant in the room: Galaeron.

    These people acted like anchors on the battlefield, and there was a subtle funneling action that took place, making it difficult for the Cloud Race to gather up momentum or target weaker warriors. In fact, it felt as though they were all being directed by something or someone to move all too seamlessly.

    If Wise Star Order could hear Elorin''s thoughts he would have nodded to himself with that very familiar smug smile on his face. Without Leonel here, who better to direct the flow of the battlefield if not Wise Star Order?

    It was just that as a monster of the Seventh Dimension, these children couldn''t compare to him at all. His influence could hardly be sensed at all. In fact, the only reason Elorin could sense anything was because of the specialty of his Ability Index.

    ''..." Elorin fell into silence. He had concluded already, he had made the wrong bet.

    Suddenly, James appeared before Elorin. Elorin planned to dodge again, but his eyes narrowed when he realized that his paths of exit were all blocked by energy shields, very sturdy ones at that.

    James appeared with fist and Elorin had no choice but to respond with his own blade.

    BANG!

    James didn''t retreat. With his Ability Index, his entire body was a weapon and he didn''t fear meeting blades head on. At least, that was what he was used to, he didn''t even usually feel pain in battle because no one could force him to that extent.

    However, when Elorin''s blade descended, danger senses alerted James instantly.

    James'' fist opened up and the angle of the energy shield protecting him shifted. Elorin''s blades slipped by, meeting slight resistance as it was parried to the side, but even so, a small layer of skin was peeling down James'' knuckle.

    Elorin expected James to back off after suffering a small loss, but to his surprise James pressed forward with an even fiercer punch.

    Without a choice, Elorin could only meet it with a fist of his own. His hand left afterimages in the air, stacking three, then four times.

    BANG!

    Elorin took a heavy step back as James did the same.

    "Your Ability Index is actually Time Manipulation..." James said with surprise.

    Noah, Jessica and Tyrron were all shocked when they heard this. In between their heavy breaths, they overheard James'' mumble and found it difficult to believe. Was there really such an Ability Index?

    Elorin''s gaze narrowed.

    "Unfortunately, you have a very clear weakness, and that''s the need for preparation, that''s why your battle style is so evasive. The danger of your Ability Index plummets when you don''t have time to play your little chess moves."

    The strength of Elorin''s Ability Index started with his eyes. He was able to see timelines and the reverberating impact of causality. He could then gather these causalities and then use them to his benefit. For example, if he saw a future where he had crossed a distance of one kilometer, he could choose it and cross it instantly, skipping over the time it would have taken.

    However, everything had a balance. If he wanted to choose a future where he had crossed one kilometer, he had to first observe himself crossing that kilometer in said future, and that would take time.

    Of course, Elorin could accelerate this time, or else his Ability Index would be useless. However, no matter how fast he accelerated that observation time, it would never be instant. As such, there would always be a lag between him observing the future and enacting it. That was the weakness.

    Somehow, James had seen through this in a single exchange despite having never fought someone with such an Ability Index before.

    Time affinity was probably the rarest of all affinities in existence. To have a time related Ability Index was even rarer than that. Elorin could be said to be one of one, a rarer existence than even Savants. And yet it still took James just one exchange... It was shocking enough that Elorin spoke his first words.

    "You... have innate battle instinct..."

 Chapter 1900 2.5X

    5X James picked at his ears. "I don''t know what that means, but if you''re going to fight, I hope you have something better than this. If taking you down is too easy, how am I going to have the face to see the guys again? I need you to make me nice and bloody, preferably half dead."

    Aina was a long distance away from James'' battlefield, supporting the others, but she was still paying keen attention in case anything went wrong. She wasn''t entirely certain of how powerful James was although Leonel had said it would be fine. But hearing him speak like this her lip couldn''t help but twitch.

    He and Leonel were really too similar, too good at pissing people off, and had mouths that were too smart for their own good.

    Elorin didn''t say anything to James'' words.

    Innate battle instinct wasn''t something that was tangible or even a widely accepted concept, it was something he had only heard his grandfather talk about. Old Hutch used to say that there were simply some people in existence who had talent in battle that didn''t conform with common sense.

    In truth, James'' talent was bound to come out in one way or another. It was clear to everyone by now that the Gene Assessment wasn''t a casual measure taken by the Ascension Empire, they knew that it could point them in the direction of talents that they could then preserve and save from the massacre.

    Five Star Professions were especially rare, even in entertainment professions. On the entire Royal Blue Academy football team, only Leonel and James were Five Star.

    However, what was confusing was that while Leonel received an S-Class evaluation after leaving the Mayan Tomb, James only received an A-Class evaluation. Of course, that was still far better than most of Leonel''s other teammates that only received C and B-Class evaluations, but it was a hint disappointing for a Five Star.

    By now, those evaluations were quite useless as many had evolved far beyond those original markers, but they were still a baseline foundation for denoting potential.

    What no one could have expected was that the concentration of James talent wouldn''t come from Ability Index alone, but rather a more amorphous, auxiliary talent that was difficult to pinpoint, a talent buried in his very soul and one that had been fully unearthed only after he created his own Lineage Factor, becoming a true Spark just like Emna.

    Elorin took a breath and exhaled. It was a subtle action, but his demeanor shifted entirely. It seemed that holding back was not an option.

    In truth, Elorin had no idea how powerful Emperor Fawkes was, he was only operating under a possible worst case scenario. But since things had reached this point, there was simply no avoiding it. He would make one final push. Since the Cloud Race was useless, he would do it himself, and if he failed, there was no one better at escaping than he was.

    For Elorin, with his current speed, crossing a kilometer didn''t even take him a single second. In his base state, he could accelerate time by two times. Meaning, so long as he bought some time by evading in battle, he could witness the future at twice the speed anyone else experienced the present.

    After observing the future, he could pick a causality, but things weren''t so simple. At best, he could observe three causalities at the same time. So, if he wanted to layer a punch more than four times-one for his present, and three from addition causalities-he would need to reset and then observe again. And, of course, the causalities of others were very blurry to him unless he concentrated, which tied him down to observing only himself and things that acted directly on him.

    That said...

    This was just his baseline. This was a level of use that caused no damage to himself and took no energy whatsoever. He did this as easily as breathing and he could do it practically forever at no cost to him. And unfortunately for his enemies, this was nowhere near his limit.

    "Let''s see how you deal with four causalities then," Elorin said lightly.

    Suddenly, Elorin moved and James moved at the same time, both reacting at once as they clashed. The four-layering of Elorin''s strikes became five seamlessly. It was hardly more difficult, almost as though he had gone from sitting on a bench to a brisk walk.

    James'' eyes narrowed. This had already become a battle that Noah and the others couldn''t participate in even if they wanted.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The two cross blades and fists, dancing across the ruins of the palace as they glided around pillars and hard marble stone.

    "How about six?" Elorin asked softly.

    The pressure increased once again. Seven Elorin''s danced around James, each one just as real as the last.

    James'' grinned and ugly grin. He had asked for this and Elorin didn''t seem to hesitate to deliver. His own aura flourished, pieces of solidified energy shields slamming into place as they formed a radiant white-gold armor dancing with complex runes.

    He blasted out a punch, but what was shocking was that the very Force of the punch solidified a distance away, crumbling two of Elorin''s causalities.

    "How about ten?"

    James felt several punches collide with him, rattling his inner organs.

    Elorin danced, his machete leaving elegant, curved streaks in the air. He seemed like a completely different person, his fierce attacks carrying shades of his grandfather as he pressed forward with greater and greater ferocity.

    James countered, but he quickly found himself on the backfoot. He didn''t feel like he was fighting one person, it felt like he was fighting eleven, all of them just as powerful. Elorin''s power seemed to have almost tripled in an instant.

    Elorin, a man who didn''t speak much to begin with, seemed to have been truly triggered by James'' words. He saw this as a battle for his parents, but not only were his allies nothing more than walking clowns, this nobody wanted to crack jokes.

    In that case, he would crack jokes too.

    "How about 2.5x acceleration?"

    The voice came in layers, echoing through the curtains of time of space. It seemed to touch on the past, present and future, linking them into one.

    Elorin''s blade left afterimages in the air, crossing into a causality that James could react to.

    PCHU!

    The machete seemed to pass through the plate armor on James'' shoulder, ripping into his collarbone.

 Chapter 1901 Absorption

    Elorin''s machete pierced forward, his gaze expressionless as he suddenly unleashed his Blade Force. Without fail, such an attack would shred a person''s inner organs to mush.

    Despite the fact he had just killed someone, he didn''t feel very much at all. The exchange was quick, but he had expended quite a bit of energy, all he wanted to do now was to rush forward and end this battle as quickly as possible. Since the Cloud Race was such a disappointment, he would have to do everything himself.

    Elorin pulled his machete back, but just as he was doing so, he froze. His blade didn''t budge at all, even when he pulled harder.

    Elorin''s eyes narrowed.

    James'' head was lowered, but he suddenly shook it.

    "Shit, that hurt," James mumbled.

    Elorin''s heart couldn''t help but stir. He hadn''t felt his Blade Force being blocked, so where had it gone? It wasn''t that easy to trick him, he wouldn''t have made a foolish mistake like assuming his opponent was dead without reason.

    Suddenly, Elorin released a low hum and his body seemed to vibrate, becoming blurry. Several causalities stacked atop of one another and he pulled, finally, releasing his blade from James'' shoulder as he slid backward, extending some distance between them.

    To his surprise, though, James'' shoulder didn''t gush with blood even though the wound showed no signs of closing. If one had to describe it, it was as though he had poured epoxy into the hole in his shoulder, leaving a glistening and clear gap that stopped his blood from flowing.

    James shook his head and exhaled. He had to admit that he had bitten off quite a lot this time, but he didn''t feel very much fear at all. In fact, he grinned.

    His head rose and a malevolent color exuded from his irises, his broad shoulders trembling.

    No one really thought about what those with the Energy Shield Ability Index used to form their shields. It seemed to just happen, and most often it was nothing special, just a condensing of neutral Force. However, James had realized that his ability wasn''t so simple.

    If the Energy Shield Ability Index was broken down, its fundamental strength was in solidifying Force so that it could be used as a defensive measure. A step deeper than that, and it was a Force Manipulation type of Ability Index, with a thought he could force Force to act as he wanted it to. A step deeper than that and he could change the fundamental structure of Force itself to make it sturdier. A step deeper than that and he could change the structure of Force to make it do whatever he wanted it to do.

    Neutral Force, as Leonel had long since learned, was the perfect balance of all Forces in existence. No, more accurately, the usual Neutral Force everyone was used to wasn''t quite a perfect balance, it was rather Pure Neutral Force that could be considered this absolute perfect balance.

    And it was precisely this Force that James had learned to control.

    No matter what Force it was, he could assimilate it. He had taken the Tier 4 of his Ability Index to the absolute extreme... Allowing him to...

    James pointed forward with a finger and a great surge of Blade Force manifested and shot out in a concentrated beam, more concentrated than even Elorin himself could make it, more concentrated than maybe anyone on Earth could make it.

    BANG!

    It shattered the sound barrier no more than a centimeter from the tip of his finger, accelerating so fast that it appeared before Elorin before he could blink even once.

    Elorin''s heart skipped a beat. He pushed his time acceleration to 3x, just barely managing to dodge to the side.

    However, as he did, a fist appeared before his face. Elorin realized for the first time that there was no lane to dodge and he didn''t have the time to raise his machete.

    BANG!

    Elorin''s face twisted and one of his teeth cracked. His neck spun to the side and his body was sent flying backward, the harsh winds he experienced almost twisting his pristine white tracksuit to pieces.

    James landed nearby, looking down at his fist. Even in that situation, he had felt that his knuckles were on the verge of cracking. It seemed that Elorin could use his Ability Index even for defense despite the situation. It was versatile, indeed.

    Elorin spun through the air, landing harshly on his feet and leaving two deep trenches in his wake as he was forced to retreat again and again.

    James shook his head, then looked down at the wound in his shoulder.

    "Do you think that this is enough? Or do I need to let you stab me a few more times?"

    Elorin pupils constricted.

    ws

    "Forget it, if I let anymore of this happen, they''ll think I went Hollywood and forgot my roots."

    James looked up from his wound and stretched out a hand and a small vortex of Force formed before wildly spreading. Elorin couldn''t even react before the spreading dome of energy passed through him, but when he looked down, he didn''t seem to be harmed at all.

    There were five Tiers of the Energy Shield Ability Index. Partiality, Misdirection, Nullification, Reflection and Amplification. As usual, the last Tier was restricted to Savants only.

    The first Tier partially blocked attacks, the second could misdirect them, the third could fully nullify them, and the last could reflect them.

    With James'' level of control, he even directly absorbed Elorin''s Force, only releasing it when he felt like it. He had brought Reflection to its utmost limits.

    However, this wasn''t his limit in the slightest. His ultimate defense couldn''t even be called reflection any longer. Instead, it was more accurate to call it absorption.

    When he applied absorption on his body alone, any Force attacks would be directly swallowed up by him, unable to cause any damage whatsoever and even allowing him to use it in his next assault.

    When he applied absorption in a domain... well...

    Elorin''s pupils constricted into pinholes. He suddenly couldn''t sense any Time Force whatsoever, and without atmospheric Time Force to observe, there were likewise no causalities to observe.

    Suddenly, Elorin froze, a fist suddenly appearing before his face.

    "Don''t look distracted now, I still need you to make this look like it''s difficult."

    BANG!

    Elorin was once again sent flying.

 Chapter 1902 Annoying

    James unleashed a concussive barrage, his violent assault practically leaving craters all across Elorin''s body. All of the Force in the domain was absorbed by him, fueling his power to the point that he seemed beyond superhuman, nothing Elorin did seemed to be good enough.

    Noah, who stood a distance away, breathing hard, could hardly mask the complicated look in his eyes. It felt as though he was watching another Leonel crush him in all aspects he held dear.

    It was just Leonel, or even now James. He also had to experience Myghell surpassing him in all aspects as well. Though he didn''t know where Myghell was now, and he had done nothing but work hard all these years, he still knew deep inside that he had yet to catch up to him either.

    No matter how Noah racked his brain, he couldn''t understand what the difference was.

    Was his will not great enough? But how much had he been willing to sacrifice for Earth? How much of his life had he dedicated to causes that were anything but selfish?

    It just felt frustrating.

    He should have felt happy that Earth seemed to have been saved, but instead he felt inferior.

    Jessica looked toward Noah''s side profile and sighed herself. She wanted to comfort him, but she had tried many times before. This simply wasn''t something that an outside force could help with.

    *k Leonel''s eyes flashed open, a strong vitality rippling out from him. With just a single breath, he felt as though he had been revitalized.

    He jumped to his feet, stretching and unleashing a roar. The leaves rustled wildly and the earth quaked, a cyclone of wind spiraling into his lungs. His body felt light and the confidence in his eyes couldn''t have been sharper.

    Leonel turned toward a certain direction. There, on the other side of his barrier, a smiling youth with bronzed skin stood. It seemed that this youth had been watching him sleep all the while, a prospect that likely would have left most uncomfortable, but Leonel only smiled.

    An odd light flashed within Edrym''s eyes. Of all the responses he had expected, this was the last one, however what he didn''t know was that even with his Ability Index sealed, Leonel''s emotional intelligence was still off the charts. How could he not tell what Edrym was trying to do? Unfortunately for him, unsettling someone like Leonel wasn''t so easy.

    With a thought, Leonel communicated with the orb and released the hold on his barrier, allowing Edrym to walk right through.

    Taking it as an invite, Edrym strolled in with a radiant smile. His every action seemed like he was perfectly photo ready, it was aggravating in an almost too obvious kind of way, almost like Edrym knew what he was doing and yet did so anyway as though he couldn''t tell that it came off as fake.

    "I didn''t expect that the anomaly this time would be a human, quite fascinating. Color me surprised, I guess there really are a multitude of variables in the universe."

    Leonel''s lip curled. "Indeed, so it probably isn''t all that surprising to find a creep who likes watching people sleep among so many ''variables'', right?"

    Edrym laughed. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, but you see there''s only the two of us remaining so there really was no point in returning to my own territory, this made it more convenient for the both of us, no?"

    "That much I agree with," Leonel reached for his back and unsheathed his spear from its holster, the white fur that coated his body fluttering in the wind. He took a casual glance toward the spear in Edrym''s hand and realized that it was in the Gold Grade, but he didn''t seem surprised. He had long since expected this.

    Edrym''s spear vibrated slightly as he sighed. "I have to say, this is a bit unfortunate. This battle won''t be very fair. If it was in the outside world, we could battle our heart''s content. It''s a shame, I was looking forward to this."

    Leonel yawned, expelling his last bit of fatigue as his body slowly woke all the way up. His cells thrummed, his heart pounded and his blood gushed. He felt light on his feet and his spear truly felt like an extension of his arm.

    "You know, I thought I was annoying, but that seems to be a standout feature for you all. Tell you what, I doubt your recovery abilities are anywhere near as annoying as that Fiend Demon. If you can last a hundred attacks of my spear, I''ll let you get a free shot in."

    Edrym paused, suddenly not knowing what to say. If Leonel was going to say something like, should he have chosen a lower number? Also, what did "free shot" mean, shouldn''t he have said that he would willingly give up? Was he just trying to toy with him?

    What he didn''t know was that Leonel was dead serious. Edrym didn''t stand a chance against him.

    Leonel''s figure suddenly rippled and he vanished. When he appeared again, his spear was already at Edrym''s throat, causing the latter''s pupils to constrict. But rather than dodging, to Leonel''s surprise, Edrym didn''t move at all, instead choosing to directly counter.

    Leonel''s gaze turned fierce.

    Swift.

    Edrym sensed that something was wrong and hurried changed tactics, diving to the side.

    SHIIING!

    The sound of blades sharpening echoed through the air, but moments later, a harsh ripping sound replaced it.

    Edrym rolled to the side, popping up to his feet and hurriedly retreating. When he came to a stop, he slowly dodged his neck. He felt something moist that caused him to freeze, not quite believing it. But when he slowly brought it to his line of sight, there was a drizzle of bronze-gold blood running down his fingers, dripping down the length of his finger and falling to the ground.

    Leonel flicked his wrist and the blood that had coated his blade rushed out, tearing a hole through a nearby tree.

 Chapter 1903 Heart

    Leonel glanced at this blood for a moment. He had felt the heft of it weighing down his spear so he had gotten rid of it. That blood would be quite annoying to deal with, not only was it incredibly heavy, but it was sticky and viscous, latching onto the metal of his blade and seemingly trying to corrode it as well. If not for his Spear Force, that would have already happened.

    ''Interesting.'' Leonel smiled.

    Edrym had long fallen into silence, the small crater his blood left in the ground resting in the periphery of his sight.

    Leonel hopped just once and suddenly shot forward. He didn''t have the patience to wait for Edrym to think his way through this existential crisis.

    Human, Rapax, Nomad, Cloud, Dwarven or Spiritual, none of it mattered to him. Anyone who stood in his way would taste his blade.

    A radiant bronze aura formed around Edrym as he looked up, his smile vanishing, replaced by a steely cold gaze. However, in the face of it, Leonel''s smile only brightened.

    "Is that your real face? Show me more of it."

    BANG!

    Their spears crossed once before they separated and went at it again.

    Edrym''s senses were sharp and he seemed to respond to every one of Leonel''s attempts in kind. When Leonel''s spear separated into three, his separated into three as well. When Leonel swung the butt of his spear forward, so did he. When Leonel spun his spear and geared up his momentum, so did he. It didn''t seem like he was trying to follow the path of the Cloud Race, but rather trying to attack Leonel''s psyche.

    Even so, Leonel''s smile never faded. Suddenly, Leonel''s spear split into four, then five, then six, then seven.

    Every time Edrym matched him, he took another step forward, edging the battlefield as though he was making sweet love to it. Everything about the smile on his face to the fluid shifts between attacks and defense, between lunges and retreats, between thrusts and slices, was absolutely seamless.

    Leonel truly learned how fun it was to fight without having to think. He couldn''t see 10, 20 or even a hundred moves ahead like he could usually, in fact he could barely see three.

    However, these three moves were like they were ingrained into his very bones, as though he already knew how to react to them without having to deduce at all.

    He could entirely focus on the feeling of his blade gliding through the air, the sound of his Spear Force splitting the wind, the echo of a clash of blades. It was therapeutic in a way he had never experienced before, an escape from any and everything.

    His style was absolutely suffocating, his spear came from any and everywhere, until it suddenly began to come from any time as well. His rhythm shifted, and his perfectly paced blade suddenly slowed by a small margin, causing Edrym to miss time a block and overshoot his target.

    Leonel''s blade snaked through and pierced through his collarbone, pulling back just as Edrym swung back to counter and thrusting forward with a strike that was twice as fast as any of his other strikes, piercing the other side of Edrym''s collarbone.

    Any normal human would experience both of their arms becoming useless at this point, but Edrym only clenched his jaw, a mysterious power brandishing his spear with the same ease as he had previously. The bronze aura around him grew and the heaviness of Leonel''s spear seemed to increase.

    Leonel looked down at his blade. It was becoming unruly and difficult to control.

    He slid back, dodging out of the way of Edym''s counter and slipping it. He took a strong step forward, ducking under Edrym''s thrusting blade and closing the distance. He made a move to raise his spear and end the battle, but at that moment Edyrm''s gaze seemed to blaze with life.

    The blood that coated Leonel''s spear became hundreds of times heavier.

    Leonel had so much of his weight leaning forward to complete his attack that it was too difficult to stop the momentum, especially given its suddenness. Leonel hadn''t considered the possibility that a Spiritual could control their body parts outside of themselves, it was too easy to get caught off guard when you couldn''t think of millions of possibilities at once.

    Edyrm''s knee drove up with an incredible amount of force and Leonel seemed to present his jaw to him.

    A sickening crack echoed and Leonel felt his brain rattle. The heaviness of Edrym''s blood was nothing compared to the heaviness of his body. If it wasn''t because Edrym had to hurriedly take the opportunity and couldn''t grab a hold of a solid foundation, Leonel''s head would have likely exploded like a watermelon with that single exchange.

    Leonel''s teeth cracked and his jaw broke into at least three pieces.

    His head was driven upward as though Edrym was trying to rip it from his shoulders with that single knee.

    Edrym took a step back to stabilize himself and prepared a second attack immediately, retrieving his spear while Leonel was still in a partial daze and piercing right for his heart.

    Leonel''s brain continued to rattle around in his head, but a faint voice in his head told him that if he didn''t get a hold of himself immediately he would die here. Falling into a daze in the middle of battle was the greatest taboo. If it wasn''t for the fact their true strength was suppressed here, these last few split seconds would have already been enough for his life to be severed.

    However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t seem to. Without his Ability Index, he couldn''t take forceful control of his body without active participation of his brain, and right now it might as well have been mush.

    ''Just move, just move to the side, something, anything!"

    The roaring echo of Leonel''s soul seemed to reverberate through the dimensions, a burst of a violet aura pulsing to life around him.

    Suddenly he could see, but it wasn''t through the blurriness of his eyes, but rather through the tip of his spear.

    As Edrym thrust forward with victory in his eyes, Leonel''s spear seemed to move as though it had a mind of its own, being guided not by his hand, but rather the will that pulsed from his heart.

    PCHU!

    Edrym froze, looking down at his chest, the butt of Leonel''s silver grade spear jetting out of it.

 Chapter 1904 Reward

    Leonel dropped to the ground, a surging pain that started from his face radiating out to the rest of his body. He wanted to clench his teeth, but doing that only made things worse. He didn''t even realize how many micro expressions relied on the stability of his jaw until this very moment.

    He looked up and watched Edrym with a sharp gaze. Since he could control blood from outside of his body, then there was no telling if such an injury would be enough to kill him. For all Leonel knew, unless he could attack Edrym''s soul directly, he wouldn''t gain victory.

    Luckily, things weren''t so exaggerated. This didn''t seem to be Edrym''s choice either. The moment the tribulation sensed his ''death'', it was over. His body began to shimmer, his spear falling to the ground.

    "I haven''t lost yet!" Edrym suddenly roared, realizing what was happening. By now, his casual demeanor had vanished and he was absolutely furious. It wasn''t to the point that he looked like a madman, but he definitely couldn''t hide his real thoughts anymore. "Dammit!"

    Edrym''s bronze gaze blazed as he looked toward Leonel. By now, the latter knew that he likely looked ridiculous. He couldn''t even hold his own jaw up, a combination of saliva and blood pooling out under no control of his own. However, he still withstood the pain, closed his jaw, and grinned a bloody smile.

    ""Babye, have a nice trip."

    Edrym''s gaze turned malevolent, but Leonel''s smile only grew brighter. It was only after Edrym vanished that he coughed, shaking his head. He had actually almost died in such a foolish way. Without his Ability Index, Edrym''s speed of thought was naturally faster than his own just because of his Race, that made falling into traps a troublesome eventuality.

    This was probably how others felt when they fought him, being several steps ahead of your opponent meant that even if their raw strength was greater than your own, much like Leonel''s was here, your chances of winning were likely greater.

    It was funny, all this time Leonel had been learning of the benefits of truly just relying on nothing more than his talent and instinct in battle, only for the end result to smack him in the face.

    Leonel struggled to his feet, shaking his head.

    He reached down and picked up Edrym''s spear, fusing it to his own. At that moment, the world around him shifted and everything was surrounded by a blazing light. Leonel could feel that the pain wreaking havoc in his body was slowly vanishing. By the time he couldn''t see anything remaining, the pain was entirely gone.

    When he appeared once again, he stood in the depths of the Spear Domain. Up above, black lightning crackles and beneath him, black gravel crunched. However, when Leonel looked around, his eyes widened.

    This was no normal region of the Spear Domain Ring, it was the highest peak there was, that very same distant peak he had seen the first time he stepped foot into it. However, where there should have been a spear, there was nothing at all. In addition, on the other side of the mountain peak, there was nothing at all, a vast nothingness that branched into countless paths, all equally filled with nothing.

    Leonel was quite surprised by this. He was absolutely certain that whatever was at the peak of this mountain should have been the spear that suppressed all others, but there was nothing here at all. But beyond that, he was certain that there should have been spears that encircled the mountain completely, so why was there nothing on the other side at all?

    Leonel turned around, but just as expected, all of the spears that he was used to were still there. This was definitely his Spear Domain, and those empty spaces...

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and he suddenly realized that his thinking speed was back. No matter how he flipped the problem in his mind, it seemed that there was only one answer. The missing paths must be in the rings of those enemies he fought in the tribulation. The only way to complete it, and likely the only way to find the spear that should be on this mountain, was by fusing them all.

    Leonel shook his head and sighed.

    He had no idea where those people came from. There should only be a single Spear Domain Ring in existence. If Leonel continued with that assumption, then it should be that the enemies he faced were displaced through time rather than displaced through space.

    This didn''t feel impossible. After all, the Spear Domain ring had the ability to send his consciousness back to fuse with a Primitive Man''s. The tribulation was the same, just a displacement of consciousness, so it seemed to fit.

    Also, the Spear Domain Lineage Factor itself seemed to have some faint connections with time, although Leonel had his own theories about that. He felt like any Lineage Factor, affinity or Ability Index taken to its absolute extreme would have some influence on Space and Time Force.

    But regardless of whether he was correct or not, there was not, what was of core importance was the fact that the Spear Domain should have the potential to do so.

    But the question was why?

    To find the best Spearman across eras?

    That didn''t seem right either because of what he had heard from Nelligan. At least in Nelligan''s case, his people seemed to interact with the tribulation in a linear fashion. It felt weird that the Spear Domain Ring would displace itself across time, just to allow it to continue to be passed on normally. What was the point of that?

    Leonel''s frown deepened. The more he thought about it, the more entangled and nonsensical it all seemed.

    ''Forget this, where are my rewards?"

    Leonel was a bit worried about what might be happening back on Earth, so he wanted to take his rewards and leave as quickly as possible, but he was beginning to worry that there were no rewards at all. If there were no rewards, what was the point of the tribulation? Just for the right to keep the ring? That would be weird, and more than a little annoying.

    "Hm?"

    Suddenly, Leonel understood something.

    Could the reason he was brought here to begin with be the reward itself?

    Leonel looked toward the paths of darkness ahead of him and he felt a mysterious feeling.

    ''I see..."

 Chapter 1905 Regret

    Leonel understood. The reward was these paths. Using his placement in exchange, he had the ability to connect his Spear Domain to more paths. He wasn''t sure what extra rewards would come with doing so, but he was sure that they couldn''t be bad.

    Leonel didn''t hurry to establish any connections, instead scanning them one by one. He realized that they weren''t all created equal. In fact, the vast majority of them were what he would call dormant, as though he could have established a connection with them whenever he wanted without having to worry about passing the tribulation first. Though, of course, he would have had to have the strength to walk to the top of this peak to begin with, something he was quite far from doing.

    Suddenly, something sparked within Leonel''s Dreamscape. Could this have something to do with the oddity that occurred in the Spear Domain Ring before? The one that brought the tribulation forward for him?

    A flickering light couldn''t help but dance in Leonel''s eyes for a while until he eventually shook his head.

    It would be a waste to use his rewards on these dormant paths. Leonel had a feeling that the point of his reward, and even maybe why Edrym had been so infuriated, was because of these rewards right here. What he should be targeting weren''t the dormant ones, but the paths that had some resistance to them.

    Leonel felt that there was a limited number that he could take under his wing. Given his performance, the amount that he could ignore the resistance of was quite high, but there were exactly six of them that had a great amount of resistance despite this. And beyond there, there were about a dozen others that Leonel felt that even with his rewards, it was absolutely impossible to budge them.

    His eyes couldn''t help but narrow. His performance was definitely the very best it could have been, he didn''t think that it was possible to do anymore.

    In fact, Leonel was actually understating his performance. Of the six most resistant, aside from the dozen or so he couldn''t budge at all, he had defeated five of them directly. Compared to others in his field, his performance wasn''t just excellent, it was beyond excellent. A Gold Grade evaluation simply wasn''t able to cover it.

    That was when Leonel remembered something Urah''Kai had called him, a Suppressor... That title seemed to make it quite obvious that those with different tiers of Spear Force were sent to different tribulations. If he had allowed his Spear Force to enter the Sixth Dimension, he would have faced off against others with Sixth Dimensional Spear Force and the hill he had to climb to reach this point would have been both steeper and taller.

    That seemed to suggest that the paths he couldn''t budge at all came from those taking higher tier tribulations...

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed and he ignored them, turning back to the strong six. These ones were hard to budge, but it was possible. These six would have to be his target, namely...

    "This one.''

    Leonel''s gaze landed on the strongest of the six. It wasn''t by a large margin, minimal, even. However, Leonel was confident in his senses. This was definitely the one, and there was a better than 80% chance that this one was Edrym''s.

    Leonel grinned. ''He''s gonna be pissed. Good."

    With a sudden sharp gaze, a radiant spear crown appeared around Leonel''s head, wafting with billowing clouds of violet and sharp golden spear blades.

    All at once, an enormous spear blade formed above Leonel''s head and pierced forward with a blazing speed.

    SHUUUUUU!

    The rumbling thunder above seemed to react and surged forward as well.

    At that moment, in the vast emptiness, the vague outline of another peak formed. What was especially odd was that Leonel had the feeling that he was looking in the mirror, but the main difference was that rather than looking at himself, he was looking at the malevolent gaze of Edrym. The latter looked as though he was trying to bore a hole through Leonel''s forehead.

    CRACK!

    A small pane of glass separating the two cracked and the image of Edrym twisted.

    ''Not enough, one more," Leonel thought to himself, gearing up for another strike.

    Right then, there was a sudden change. The cracked glass quickly reformed itself and Edrym''s figure vanished. In his place, an older man that seemed to be about 40 or 50 years old appeared in his stead. At a single glance, Leonel could only describe him as a Greek god. The man was absolutely perfect in all aspects, even the infrequent strands of grey hair only seemed to make him look more noble.

    "Child, I advise you to understand your limits."

    Leonel blinked. This was possible too? Wasn''t this cheating? If you just switched owners of the ring at the last moment to a stronger person, then wouldn''t you always be able to protect your territory from being snatched? Where was the justice?

    "Where''s that old man when I need him..." Leonel mumbled.

    ''No, there shouldn''t be such a blatant loophole, I don''t believe it."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed and an even large spear blade formed above his head, the rattling of the lightning above gathering momentum as well.

    With a flash of his irises, it surged forward, completely ignoring the older gentleman.

    The expression of the middle-aged man turned to one of fury as well, but interestingly enough, he didn''t move a single inch, and soon Leonel understood why.

    The Spear passed right through where the shattered glass should have been, appearing before the old man and passing right through him as well.

    At first, Leonel thought that nothing had happened, but soon the peak the older man stood upon split into two, trembling and then collapsing entirely.

    The man continued to look at Leonel, his expression as dark as could be.

    "You will regret this," he said lightly.

    "Doubt it," Leonel said with a smile and wave.

 Chapter 1906 Obedient Puppets

    The middle aged didn''t say anything as he vanished entirely. Bright light rebounded and the Spear Domain world trembled. One after another, paths lit up, connecting with Leonel''s world and unleashing a tidal wave of Spear Force in all directions.

    Leonel''s heart skipped several beats. He realized at that moment that several of the dormant paths were connecting as well. At first he was confused until it all clicked.

    By targeting Edrym''s Spear Domain, he had also gained all of the domains that Edrym had conquered. No, not just Edrym, but whoever had come before him. It was no wonder that the old man was so infuriated, Leonel was basically raiding all of their hard work to this point.

    "Hm... I hope the outcome is worth it."

    Although Leonel had smiled in the face of the man''s provocations, he instinctively knew that that threat hadn''t been empty. If all he got out of this was more spears, it would be a great disappointment. He already had more spears than he could use at once, and though it was true that he would gain more insight by absorbing the life''s work of more experts, he was already at the point of receiving diminishing returns. There were only so many that he could assimilate at once.

    This wasn''t to say that it was bad to have so many, in fact it could only be good. The main issue was whether the tradeoff was worth making such an enraged and motivated enemy or not. If spears and memories were all he received, it truly wouldn''t be. In fact, all of this would have pretty much been a waste of time, honestly.

    The lands below solidified, and worlds of spears appeared before Leonel, their strengths radiating.

    Leonel took a breath, feeling a strong sense of pride that seemed to come from nowhere at all. It crept up on him as though it had always been there. It was then that Leonel understood that it came not from him, but rather the Spear Domain ring itself.

    After a while, Leonel shook his head. It seemed that this was really all there was to it, how disappointing.

    It didn''t seem that he had enough strength left to claim another one of the main six. From the feeling within him, his rewards were only enough to assimilate a lesser one.

    Leonel randomly chose a path he felt he had just enough left to grasp and targeted it. There was some faint resistance, but it was far weaker and was easily dealt with by Leonel, he coudlnt'' even see the figure that appeared clearly.

    The size of this one in the end wasn''t even 5% of Edrym''s, but it still gave Leonel a nice boost and everything settled in.

    Leonel felt a rush and an energy seemed to be pulling him away. Looked like the reward accepting process was over. He didn''t fight it and let the Spear Domain take him away. If he stayed here without approval, he would have to withstand the pressure himself. If he did something that foolish, he would end up with his consciousness being destroyed and he''d likely die on the spot.

    Leonel''s vision blurred one more, and then something suddenly caught hold of him. It felt as though a streak of lighting had collided with his mind, but rather than filling him with pain, it instead felt as though he was wide awake, too awake.

    He immediately realized that something was changing. A pulsing sensation took hold of the front of his mind, an increased number of folds manifesting and being layered unto one another.

    ''This..."

    Very few would be so hyper aware of this. It was only because of his Ability Index that Leonel knew exactly what was happening, and only because of it that he could clearly feel the changes.

    Leonel understood what was happening instantly, his Spear Domain Lineage Factor was evolving. The threshold he needed to reach to display certain abilities was being exponentially lowered, and the abilities that he could already use were beginning to cost him less and less to use.

    Right then, Leonel suddenly understood something else.

    By passing the tribulation, those with several Spear Domain territories would also undergo this evolution. It was no wonder those few dozen territories were so sturdy. Those must be individuals who had already undergone this process and had solidified their Lineage Factors to an untouchable degree, at least for the past Leonel.

    The location was the middle of the battlefield and all seemed to have entered a defined ending. However, at that moment, the sound of a sharpening blade echoed out in all directions.

    SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING!

    Aina''s hand lifted of its own accord, the ring on her finger levitating into the air until the golden silhouette of a nude figure appeared in the skies. He seemed to be formed entirely of Spear Force, his body itself exuding a majestic might capable of cutting anything in two.

    There was no lack of gazes that turned in that direction, the aura that radiated out from it feeling suffocating to an impossible degree.

    Suddenly, a line of Spear Force exploded forth, severing the earth beneath and the skies above.

    Unfortunately, the result of this was absolutely shocking. The formation stabilized by the flagship itself was cut in two as though it was nothing more than wet paper, torn to shreds beneath this power.

    ROOOOAAAARRRR!

    Leonel roared into the skies, gripping his fists as the golden lights that surrounded him concentrated into a radiant crown that rotated about his forehead.

    Maia was still exchanging a flurry of blows with Galaeron, both strained and bloody. It looked as though neither would be satisfied until they both died. But the moment Maia saw this, her gaze flashed.

    "RETREAT!" She roared at the top of her lungs.

    Leonel levitated in the skies in a daze, his eyes unfocused as his aura continued to rise. The Spear Force radiating from him continued to connect the earth and the skies, seemingly only intent on getting stronger without a care for what was around him, even Aina had no choice but to retreat. Leonel seemed to have no idea that he had opened up a chance for his enemies to escape.

    **

    In an unknown location, a roar laced with far more fury was echoing.

    Edrym drove his fist into a pillar that must have been at least a hundred meters deep in diameter, shattering what had stood for countless years in just a single blow.

    Not far away, a familiar middle-aged man stood in silence, his expression dark as well. The loss of the Spear Domain ring wasn''t just a matter of a lost treasure, it was a loss of countless generations of hard work, losing it was a slap to the face of every warrior that had come before them.

    "Who is he?! How dare he?! Does he not understand the rules?!"

    Edrym had never been this infuriated before.

    "No, he doesn''t."

    "What?" Edrym''s head snapped toward the man.

    "I caught a glimpse of his Spear Domain, it only had one Domain and only had the aura of primitive tribulations, no complete tribulations. He is the first of his generation."

    Hearing this, Edrym didn''t feel any better. In fact, his expression only became worse.

    "I recognize the aura, though. They should have a True Sovereign of the Bow already. This is an unexpected variable."

    "They have two True Sovereigns now?!"

    The man fell into silence. Their world once had three True Sovereigns, but now that was obviously no longer true. This was a huge loss.

    Their chance of surviving now...

    "The past cannot be changed, focus on the future. When the time comes, your future will be decided by whether or not you can get your own revenge."

    The middle-aged man looked toward the skies.

    "... There''s not much time left... Right now we can only be obedient puppets..."

 Chapter 1907 Easier

    The battlefield was entirely filled with Leonel''s roar and the sound of sharpening blades. The spear was one of the most frequently used weapons, especially in such a battle, but that only made the sudden change even more exaggerated.

    One after another, spearmen of all shapes, sizes, genders, and even races, suddenly found that they had no ability to control their weapons any longer. Some tried to struggle, but it felt entirely useless as their spears fought against them harder and harder.

    If things had ended at just this, it might have been fine, but suddenly those that didn''t use spears at all found their weapons uncontrollably lowering as their spearmen counterparts found their weapons rising. It seemed that not only was Leonel''s aura forcing the spears to go wild, but it even directly suffocating the Forces of other weapons, crushing them beneath the tidal wave that was his presence.

    The blinding lights of Spear Force concentrated into the radiant crown around Leonel''s head and two blazing torches where his eyes should have been.

    At that moment, just when it seemed like it was over, Leonel''s aura erupted once more, his Spear Force shredding past the barrier of the Fifth Dimension and entering the Sixth. Those that sensed this not-so-subtle change couldn''t help but freeze, one, realizing such oppression had come from a mere Fifth Dimensional weapon Force, and two, realizing that that already oppressive aura was only becoming more suffocating.

    The only regions the Cloud Race could use to escape were the scars that Leonel had created, but at the same time, it was those very same scars that Leonel''s Spear Force was still being unleashed upon.

    Maia quickly realized with an exceptionally ugly expression that she was among the very few that could probably force her way through. Anyone beneath the Seventh Dimension couldn''t even get close without being instantly shredded to pieces, and even for those that had crossed this barrier, the difficulty was not small.

    What made matters worse was that they didn''t bring any large scale flying treasures, they could only rely on their Cloud Figure movement technique to try to escape through the skies, but this left them even more vulnerable than normal.

    The sudden evolution of Leonel''s Spear Force shredded those who were on the outskirts waiting for an opportunity to pieces.

    Even to this point, Leonel wasn''t aware of his surroundings. The forcefulness of his breakthrough was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, as though every fiber of his being was evolving. He was becoming about as different as he could become without becoming an entirely new person. It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

    Leonel had broken through many times before, he had even reforged his own body from nothing but his Ethereal Glabella before, resetting himself to the very beginning. And yet even those experiences felt like nothing compared to this.

    The only way to describe it was... being born. He was being birthed once again, reborn, reforged.

    On the ground below, the spearmen finally couldn''t hold on any longer. Some of their spears directly turned to ash. The few that were somewhat better among them soared into the skies, adding to the shuddering aura of sharpening blades.

    At the same time, all other weapons plunged into the ground.

    Swords and sabers were buried to their hilts, daggers seemed to vanish into endlessly deep pits, polearms buried their blades, their polearms trembling above ground as though they didn''t dare to show any more of themselves.

    The echo of Leonel''s roar swallowed even though itself. He became the very center of the world, his voice resounding through Earth''s territory and even beyond, causing a shudder in all living things.

    When his lips finally closed, his roar continued even without his input. And when his eyes snapped open, the blinding spear light coming from them finally calming, the world seemed to fall into silence.

    Veins pulsed all across Leonel''s body, the lean muscle tissue twitching with a sheen of sweat. Every aspect of his body seemed perfectly structured and immaculately sculpted, while also carrying a sharpness that felt inhuman.

    A silent hum of hovering spears surrounded Leonel. They seemed to become his eyes, pervading every crevice and crack of the battlefield as it left not a single stone unturned.

    Leonel''s almost lazy gaze turned and landed on Maia. The last echoes of his Spear Force still blocked the scar above and below, but it definitely didn''t seem like it would last much longer.

    Slowly, Leonel''s lazy gaze sharpened and his brows furrowed. This was troublesome. The gap between him and Maia wasn''t small, even after this evolution. He couldn''t just casually try to stop the actions of a Seventh Dimensional powerhouse.

    "Hey, unc, what are you doing?"

    Galaeron, who was still trying to get his breath while fixing up his clothing, couldn''t help but fall into silence. Didn''t you just have a big and overwhelming breakthrough? Weren''t you verv oreat inet a cecand aon? Nidn''t van cance thic nrnhlem ta heoin with? Why were van ackine far heln now?

    "Shameless..." Galaeron mumbled, taking a breath and stabilizing himself.

    Slowly raising his palm, Galaeron locked eyes with Maia and suddenly pressed out.

    Leonel grinned. "Leave the rest to me. No one beneath the Seventh Dimension will escape."

    Maia''s hair was frayed, her lips were cracked with blood, and her chest heaved as she took deep breaths. Her nerves were at their absolute end, and her fury could hardly be put into words by now. Hearing Leonel''s words seemed to push her way over the edge, she was so enraged that she laughed.

    Leonel had no one around him, and though he floated in the skies, whatever mysterious power had allowed it was quickly dissipating. With her senses, she was sure that it wouldn''t last much longer.

    And yet, he still had the balls to say such a thing.

    "Hear me well, Cloud Race! Escape, but I want this boy''s head severed first!"

    Leonel blinked. "Did I say something wrong? Damn, is that kind of response even warranted?"

    Despite feigning innocence, Leonel''s grin only widened as he raised his hands, the spear hovering around him trembling just once.

    "Thanks for making my job easier, though."

 Chapter 1908 Palpable

    Maia''s eyes widened but it was already too late.

    "Die."

    The spears moved as though they had minds of their own, raining down from the skies like Armageddon.

    To Maia, these events could only be said to be a blur. Watching her people get slaughtered like this left her without the will to retaliate. She only managed to gather up some strength when it seemed that her sons were about to be slaughtered next, but the end result of that was all of them being captured at once.

    Like this, the second infiltration of the Cloud Race was suffocated and restrained.

    "Put on some clothes, look at you," Aina finally got a hold of Leonel, exasperated.

    Leonel laughed. "It''s not my fault, do you think I have a streaking fetish?"

    "You''re narcissistic enough for it," Aina rolled her eyes.

    "Is that your way of saying I look good? Can you say it clearer," Leonel bent down so she say it into his ear, but in return he got a light bite to his earlobe.

    "Behave," Aina said somewhat sternly.

    "Are you sure you''re the one who should be saying that? That felt kinky..." Leonel mumbled.

    Aina was speechless. She couldn''t help but think of James at that moment, the two of them really couldn''t take anything seriously. By this point, she actually felt sort of bad for Elorin, the latter was beaten to practically an inch of his life, but James'' mouth was just... too foul.

    Leonel smiled and stopped teasing Aina, looking toward the four pillars of Black Wood after he put on a pair of sweats. Their screams had been drowned out for a while, but now they were front and center once again. They were unfortunately in the Sixth Dimension, or else their vocal cords would have given in by this point.

    "It seems that everything went well, I''m surprised. Was the Cloud Race really this incompetent?"

    "... I have a feeling that they never took us seriously to begin with and they paid for that."

    Leonel nodded. Using "Graros" as an entry point, Leonel had come to understand that the efforts of the Cloud Race in the Human Domain weren''t necessarily holistic and well-coordinated. They had many different factions, each with their own thoughts on how to best deal with the Human Domain. "Graros" had been one, those that had infiltrated Shield Cross Stars had been another, and Maia was yet another.

    Among this number, there were bound to be a few that were more incompetent than the others. Comparatively speaking "Graros''s" efforts and "Captain Wimword''s" efforts weren''t incompetent, they were just unlucky to have run into Leonel.

    Maia seemed to have been quite diligent and patient, but that was only if one used the perspective of a human.

    Due to the special ability of the Cloud Race, Maia was able to "skip" large amounts of time. Effectively, it was like falling into a dream for long periods of time and finding yourself to have woken up a year or two later.

    To the people of Earth, decades had passed, but to Maia, it may very well have only been a handful of months. She would judge the time based on how much of it she had personally experienced, not how much had actually passed.

    If things were framed like this, then Maia wasn''t actually patient and diligent at all. She was just looking for the quickest path to victory and she had suffered for it greatly.

    Leonel looked toward Maia and her two sons. He wondered if he could get information from them. It wasn''t guaranteed due to the other ability of the Cloud Race to retreat into their own minds and induce a coma, but he hoped that Maia''s activation of their race''s trump card would hinder her ability to do so.

    ''Time will tell..."

    Leonel''s thoughts came to a pause as he suddenly looked in a certain direction.

    In the distance, a young man with a blade wound through his shoulder stood in silence. They must have been separated by at least a kilometer, and yet they might as well have been right in front of one another given their vision.

    The two didn''t say a single word and silence fell.

    The battle had long since come to an end. Of the thousands of Cloud Race there had been, only a few dozen remained. There were simply no other battles to fight and Earth had withstood another tribulation.

    Aina blinked, looking from Leonel to James and back again. She sighed inwardly, stubborn, indeed.

    Objectively, it was true that James had betrayed Leonel. That said, Aina didn''t believe that James ever wanted Leonel''s death, although it was a bit naive, he likely believed that the worst thing that would have happened to Leonel back then was a period of imprisonment. Leonel likely understood this as well, or else he would have never made any plans that required trusting someone who legitimately wanted his death.

    No matter what, what James had done was wrong, and more than a little stupid. He had seen that the Royal Blue Fort was willing to use explosives against Leonel, even at the expense of the lives of innocents, and yet he still thought that Leonel would live if he was caught. That was a dangerous amount of ignorance.

    Even so, that ignorance had stemmed from his blind trust in his father, something that Leonel was very obviously guilty of as well.

    In addition, on the other hand, Leonel had been aware that James was struggling with something at the time, but rather than getting a sure answer of what was going on, he did what he always did, moving those around him as though they were puzzle pieces to fit into his own worldviews.

    That was a frustration that had been bubbling up within James for a long time, and it had almost frothed over after the championship game, before it finally couldn''t be held back any longer after their last exchange of words that day so many years ago...

    Suddenly, the two men began to walk toward one another at the same time. They were separated by over a kilometer, and yet it only seemed to take the both of them a few steps until they stood no more than a half meter apart from nose to nose.

    The silence was palpable and the atmosphere was even heavier.

    BANG!

    Two fists moved at once, Leonel''s landing on James'' cheek and James'' landing on Leonel''s nose.

    Both spewed out a mouthful of blood, taking a single step back before they charged toward one another, butting heads and clasping palms.

    BANG!

    A concentrated blast of air rippled out in all directions.

 Chapter 1909 Bets

    Teeth and blood flew.

    Leonel grit his teeth. This son of a bitch really had a hard head.

    "Hard headed son of a bitch," James said through gritted teeth.

    Leonel craned his neck back in response, smashing forward again.

    Not to be one to lose out, James craned his own and followed suit.

    The sound of their foreheads clashing was akin to two slabs of metal, their brains rattling around as though jello on a plate. Even so, the two didn''t seem to notice as they reeled back and smashed forward again.

    Leonel''s knee suddenly drove up with a hop, catching James off guard and nailing him right in the chin.

    James'' grip on Leonel''s hands loosened as he stumbled back. Leonel tried to follow up with a winding kick, but James trapped it to his hip with an arm lock, roaring once as he lifted Leonel to the air and swung him toward the ground.

    Leonel reacted quickly, twisting the position of his knee in James'' hold and rounding the latter''s back. With a swift movement, he threw his other leg over James'' head and over his shoulder before locking in a solid headlock.

    James tilted over, the momentum he had gathered while trying to throw Leonel causing him to fall to the ground. His father almost immediately went red, then purple, as Leonel''s hold around his neck tightened again and again.

    With a slight wind up, James drove a solid elbow into Leonel''s liver as though he had eyes in the back of his head.

    Leonel gasped for air, his whole body threatening to shut down completely. It was just a short lapse, but James used the opportunity to reach his hands back and grab toward Leonel''s shoulders. When James realized that Leonel wasn''t wearing a shirt, he changed tactics and grabbed the latter''s head, roaring out as he flipped Leonel over his head and smashed him toward the ground.

    The wind rushed out of Leonel''s lungs, but he didn''t have time to react as James'' foot descended.

    Leonel flipped to his side once, dodging out of the way and palming the ground. He spun on his palm, sweeping his legs out and kicking James'' own out from under him.

    James lost his footing, tumbling to the ground. Before he could regain his bearings, Leonel had already scrambled over, sliding into a perfect armbar that left James'' joints on the verge of bending in the wrong direction.

    Leonel drove his hips upward, pinning down James'' face and chest with his legs.

    The pain shot through James'' body in waves and his arm was truly about to snap in two. But right then, he used his free hand to slap at the ground with such force that an enormous crater appeared beneath them as the two flew into the air.

    A sickening pop echoed as James dislocated his own shoulder, but he used the added flexibility to shift positions. As the two fell from the air and his elbow was on the verge of popping as well, he made sure that they fell with Leonel''s head first.

    They rushed toward the ground like a pair of streaking meteors attached at the hip.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s head collided with the ground, burrowing into it. He was immediately left in a daze. However, at the final moment, he had still managed to break James'' arm at the elbow before the impact forced him to loosen his arm.

    "Fuck!" They both cried out at the same time.

    James stumbled back from the impact, cradling his dislocated shoulder and broken arm. As for Leonel, he barely managed to pull his head out of the ground, but his legs wobbled and his vision blurred.

    Their gazes met for just a brief moment before they charged forward again, James with one arm and Leonel like he was some sort of drunk driver on legs.

    BANG!

    They tackled one another but ended up spinning off the side and tumbling to the ground again.

    They quickly stood and rushed toward one another again, throwing out fists and kicks. Quite frankly, if it wasn''t for the fact neither had used Force or any abilities, there would be no doubt that they were trying to kill one another.

    At the edge of the ever-erowing crater. Aina watched sneechlesslv.

    "... Men..." she shook her head. At this point, she preferred if they had decided to be passive aggressive and petty instead, she had a few tips for that path.

    Joel and the others appeared as well, but they seemed to take things very differently.

    "Who you got?" Raj asked.

    "Cap''s already on those bambi legs, classic CTE," Milan nodded like an expert. "He won''t last another dozen exchanges, James by TKO."

    Franco shook his head. "No way, James'' only working with one arm, he''s cooked, fried, sauteed, if you will. Cap''s got him by the balls."

    "What, are you willing to bet?" Milan grinned.

    "I got a dozen kilograms, Seventh Dimensional."

    "What is this? Do I look like a beggar to you? Pony up," Milan said with disdain.

    "Women are expensive!" Franco protested. "Don''t drag me down just because you''re single."

    "Hoho, I didn''t know that being whipped was something to brag about now," Milan laughed harder.

    Franco wanted to protest, but thinking about Joyce and her fists, he didn''t even have the face to even try to refute.

    "Franco''s just poor," Raj laughed, "I''ve got a thousand kilograms right here on Cap, do you dare meat head?!"

    Milan, who had been feeling smug, suddenly choked on his breath. His head whipped around and he glared at Raj. Not all of them could form diamonds out of thin air.

    Raj laughed so hard his belly rolled in waves.

    BOOM!

    A sudden collision caused all of their heads to snap over.

    "Sssss," Milan grimaced.

    "Yeah, that doesn''t look too good."

    Down below, both Leonel and James had kicked each other in the balls at the same time. It didn''t look like it had been on purpose, but who knew with those two madmen?

    The both collapsed at the same time, writhing on the ground with tears coming out of their eyes.

 Chapter 1910 Three

    Leonel coughed. "... Son of a bitch..."

    He held onto his balls as though he was cradling precious porcelain. His eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets, veins writhing across his forehead.

    "Fuck," James gasped, "even your balls are hard, why does my foot hurt? Did sis put a chastity belt on you? Damn, how whipped are you?"

    "Fuck you," Leonel wheezed, his eyes tearing. "Forget your foot, what about mine? I would have thought fucking all those prostitutes finally caught up to you and your dick fell off. I swear I hit nothing but bone."

    "Don''t mention that to me, that''s still a sore spot," James whimpered. He still had no idea if Samoa was a real person or not, or if he had been toyed with the entire time. How annoying.

    "Finally got your heart broken, huh? I tried to warn you, it was only a matter of time."

    "My heart is just fine! As strong as a bull!"

    "A bull? That explains a lot."

    James used what strength he had left and kicked dirt toward Leonel''s face, causing him to breathe it in and cough.

    "Sorry, my bull tendencies are acting up again," James sneered.

    The two paused for a moment before they burst into a fit of laughter. Although it was described like this, one would have thought two lions were roaring. With their current level of strength, just their hearty laughter alone caused the earth to quake and the clouds to disperse. It could only be described as valiant.

    Moments later, the two struggled to their feet, ending up leaning on one another just to stand. The tenderness between their legs didn''t allow them to walk normally.

    "Bloody hell, you''ve gotten taller," James said speechlessly.

    He was used to being taller than Leonel, but only now did he realize that Leonel was actually taller than him by at least three inches now.

    "Guess you didn''t drink enough milk," Leonel said with a sneer.

    "Fuck you, you grew almost an entire foot, that''s not milk. Tell me the truth, what''ve you been pinning?"

    "Pinning?" Leonel was confused for a second before he burst into a fit of laughter.

    Back in their Royal Blue days, one could imagine that steroids were rampant. For many youths who were only Three or Four Star Professionals, their positions were reliant on their performance. Plus, with the advancement in technology, only the most horrific kind of steroids actually still had poor side effects. So it was unsurprising that its abuse was everywhere.

    It had just been so long since Leonel heard of something so... mundane that he couldn''t help but burst into a fit of laughter.

    James rubbed his nose, his other arm still wrapped around Leonel''s shoulder.

    "I know I''m hilarious, but if you keep laughing so hard, I''m gonna think you''ve fallen in love with me."

    Leonel looked over toward James seriously, looking him up and down to the point the latter felt his spine tingling with a weird feeling. He suddenly felt the need to back away.

    "You''re not nearly handsome enough for that," Leonel said seriously, shaking his head.

    James was speechless. "Hey, hey, I ranked 1034th on the Eligible Minor list, I must be way higher now, I could be a runway model if I really wanted."

    Leonel looked at James with no small hints of disdain. "1034th? You don''t feel ashamed? Plus, how long has it been since you''ve been a minor? Talk about peaking in high school?"

    James grinned. "If you''re jealous about only being ranked 3021st back then, just say so. The have-nots always want to pretend like such things don''t matter, how petty."

    "Okay, okay, alright!" Raj roared from above. "How about you two get a room?! This lovey dovey shit is making me sick!"

    "Raj, you still haven''t lost any weight after all these years?!" James rebutted.

    "Your bitch loves these rolls, why would I get rid of them?!"

    "Excuse me?"

    James covered his mouth, trying his best not to burst into a fit of laughter as a young woman he recognized as one of Aina''s best friends appeared by Raj.

    "Ah..." Raj opened his mouth to respond but immediately went red, not daring to look toward Yuri. He had gotten swept up in the moment and forget that they weren''t in the boys''

    locker room any longer. That damned James did this on purpose, definitely.

    "Hm?" Yuri auestioned again.

    James finally couldn''t hold it in any longer, laughing so hard that he fell over and pulled Leonel down with him. When he saw that Leonel didn''t dare to laugh and was making eye contact with Aina while pleading his innocence, he only laughed harder.

    Soon, Milan and Gil joined in, unable to hold back.

    The ambience was warmer than it had been in a long time.

    **

    While Earth had just finished fighting back another calamity, the situation on Planet Morales was growing more heated. While the conference had yet to begin, the number of powerhouses converging was steadily growing in number. Whether it was individual powerhouse families like the Suiad family, or large networks of alliances like the Constellation Families and the various Craftsmen Guilds, not a single one missed this opportunity.

    Everyone had come to realize that this generation''s Heir Wars would become a flashpoint, a split road of sorts for the Human Domain. Its outcome, as impossible to predict as it was, would maybe become the most important event in the whole of their history.

    At that moment, a particular youth had recently exited his seclusion. He stood in front of the partial ruins of the Sword Faction, his visage expressionless. He hadn''t been present when Leonel returned, and as such he could do nothing as his Sword Faction was humiliated. Even now, those scars had yet to heal.

    Even so, he didn''t seem to care very much about this at all, he had been entirely focused on other things.

    The Sword Domain Ring on his finger glowed, the sound of a sword howl filling the air. He was suddenly very interested in these Heir Wars.

    If Edrym''s father had been there, he would have realized that he had made quite a substantial mistake.

    There weren''t two True Sovereigns in this world, there were three.

 Chapter 1911 Painted

    Leonel sat on his heels by Elorin, his sigh painted in the depth of his eyes. Seeing Elorin here like this, beaten unconscious by James, he already knew that Old Hutch was dead.

    If it was anyone else who had killed Old Hutch, Leonel would have already flown into a rage. He hadn''t seen Hutch for a very long time, and during their interactions a few months ago, it hadn''t been for very long. However, Leonel still felt that he owed a lot to this man.

    As a man of the Fawkes Imperial Family, he owed Hutch due to his sacrifices. This man had given up so much for his duty, and he deserved nothing short of respect, he had done things that even Leonel wouldn''t claim himself able to do.

    As a man who lived for himself, though, he owed Hutch even more. This man was someone who had mentored him, and although they had never seen eye to eye, he was the one who laid the foundation for Leonel''s spearmanship.

    Now seeing the man who had killed him, Leonel would have thought that he would be infuriated to the point of killing him outright. But knowing that this was Hutch''s grandson, he found it difficult to do so. Although Hutch would never ask him to spare Elorin out of his own duty, that didn''t mean that he wouldn''t hope for this to happen.

    Leonel thought for a moment, not entirely sure of what to do.

    A shadow passed by him and James appeared. "He was a tough one."

    "From what it sounds like, he went down pretty easily," Leonel said with a raised eyebrow.

    "Well, that''s because I''m me," James laughed before becoming serious. "His Ability Index is very powerful, if not for the fact that I can completely counter it, things wouldn''t have ended so simply. It seems to me that he placed a lot of effort on learning to control his Ability Index mostly because it was so difficult to use. It also benefited him because his Ability index is so powerful. But once he lost it, he couldn''t output even 1% of his power as a result."

    "What was his Ability Index?"

    James explained it as best as he could. Most of it came from his own instincts so the details were fuzzy, but this alone was enough for Leonel''s eyes to narrow in understanding.

    A time-based Ability Index... Indeed, Elorin would be quite alone in this aspect. James had done quite well to take his own Ability Index to the extreme, but it also had to be considered how common James'' Ability Index was.

    Although James was fairly alone, the amount of information he could find on the Energy Shield Ability Index was practically endless. Just for context, even within their friend group alone, James wasn''t the only one with it, there was still Milan who had this Ability Index as well.

    However, for Elorin, he probably didn''t even know what the five Tiers of his Ability Index was. Usually, Tiers were created after observing tens of thousands, usually millions of people with the same Ability Index, only then could an accurate assessment of the Tiers be made.

    But with such a rare ability, how could such a thing be possible? Elorin probably didn''t even know which of the Tiers he fell into, and he likewise wouldn''t know how to improve his Ability Index without fumbling around on his own, and even then it would be imperfect.

    For all Elorin knew, he was improving his Ability Index down the wrong path.

    With so much on his plate, how could he have time to hone other abilities? Outside of his blade, he had nothing. But in James'' Domain, even that was rendered useless.

    Honestly, Leonel couldn''t think of many who could defeat James, but he could think of many that would have performed a lot better.

    The main weakness of James'' Domain was obvious: he could sap away atmospheric Force, but that did nothing to the Force inside of your body. Unfortunately for Elorin, his Ability Index was entirely reliant on observing outside Forces and then executing his next steps based on that.

    When James said he perfectly countered Elorin, he wasn''t lying.

    After a long while of silence, Leonel exhaled and pressed a finger forward, pushing it down onto Elorin''s forehead. At that moment, Elorin suddenly reacted and his blade shot out with a great amount of speed. He didn''t seem to be awake at all, but his body still reacted instinctually.

    Even so, James reacted faster, an Energy Shield appearing between Leonel''s neck and the blade.

    Without any more fanfare, the blade was stopped and Leonel''s finger pressed onto Elorin''s forehead. A seed was formed and Elorin was quickly bound to Leonel much like Harmony had been.

    Elorin''s eyes struggled to open, but in doing so, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. The blurriness in his eyes were too great and he couldn''t see anything above him, the sun felt far too bright. At that moment, though, a warm current passed over him and seemed to alleviate the worst of his injuries somewhat.

    Elorin''s vision finally cleared, but when he saw that it was Leonel who was above him, his expressionless gaze turned cold. At this moment, he didn''t see Leonel, he saw a member of the Fawkes Imperial Family, the difference was subtle and yet it made all the difference.

    "I would retract that gaze if I were you," Leonel said coldly. ""Not only is your life in my hands, but a person willing to murder their own grandfather like you has no right to look at me or anyone like that for that matter.

    "Regardless of what you think the Imperial Family is guilty of, at the very least it''s not patricide. Whether you want to or not, I''ll make you slave for your whole life for the sake of the cause your grandfather devoted himself to. Maybe then, when you die, you''ll be able to look him in the eye."

    Leonel''s voice was cold and carried not the slightest hint of care. Even facing Elorin''s hostile gaze, he was unmoved. As far as he was concerned, allowing Elorin a chance to live was already his act of mercy, he owed him nothing else.

 Chapter 1912 Necessary

    Leonel sat in silent meditation, trying to feel the changes to his body. The changes previously had happened far too quickly and he wasn''t sure what had actually happened to his body, he wasn''t even aware of having become a so-called True Sovereign.

    He had heard about True Sovereigns before, but he knew next to nothing about them. He wasn''t sure what the separation was, and even after becoming one, he only had a faint inkling.

    For example, when his aura had flooded outward previously, it wasn''t just that spears had reacted to him, but other weapons were suppressed as well. Previously, Leonel couldn''t even influence spears from a distance, they had to actually attack him for him to be able to negate them. But now, he seemed to have an area of effect on not just spears, but all weapons to a certain extent.

    It was a mysterious sort of feeling and it made him see through the uniqueness of Weapon Forces all the more. Not only did they seem to have a strong link with his soul, but they seemed to be linked to one another in a special sort of way as well.

    Of course, this was the case for all Forces. After all, due to his fire affinity, Leonel could somewhat suppress and control all other fires, though not to such an exaggerated effect. If weapons Forces were Forces, as was natural, then it only made sense for a high affinity in one to have such an impact.

    But the oddity of this lied in its connection with the soul. Weapon Forces almost seemed... unique to the person. There was such a huge variety among them that it was almost impossible to account for them all, it was even to the point that two Spear Forces could feel entirely different from one another.

    When things were looked at like this, it almost felt weird that a person could use some arbitrary connection to influence others at all...

    However, that was just the first layers of oddity.

    Setting weapon Forces aside, almost all other Forces existed without human input. Whether or not there were conscious beings alives, Fire Force, Water Force, Wind Force, etc, would have to exist no matter what. Beyond that, the likes of Spatial Force and Time Force were tied into the very fabric of reality itself.

    That said... if all weapon Forces were suddenly wiped from existence right this moment, what would happen?

    The answer was nothing.

    Interestingly enough, there was one other Force that was exactly like that as well...

    Dream Force, or more accurately, its root, Soul Force.

    Ultimately, Dream Force was just the root of human consciousness. It didn''t need to exist for the universe to exist... right?

    Something about that conclusion just didn''t sit right with Leonel, but it somehow felt logically sound. If weapon Forces could be erased without consequence, there was no reason for Dream Force to be any different. Both were reliant on the existence of living beings, and the universe didn''t need such a thing to function. After all, 99.999% of the Dimensional Verse was void of any life at all, it was clearly not needed...

    Even in meditation, Leonel couldn''t help but frown. There was something wrong with this conclusion.

    If the metric was how little of the Force existed in the grand scheme, then the universe technically didn''t need any Force whatsoever because 99.999% of the universe was also empty space. Although there had been a ton of research on Dark Matter on Third Dimensional Earth, there were never any solid conclusions and Leonel had never heard of an equivalent in the Dimensional Verse.

    If the metric was instead necessity... you could try to argue that no Force was technically necessary, there were planets and even entire galaxies with center Force concentrations so high that only a single kind could be found.

    ''Is that true...? Or is it rather the case that other Forces are there but just in incredibly low concentrations..."

    Leonel felt that he was going around in circles, he didn''t even know what his original hypothesis was, what was he even trying to conclude?

    ''If I wanted to prove that a Force was necessary or unnecessary, I would need to understand it so fundamentally that... fundamentally enough to create a Theory of the Dimensional Verse, a theory that could explain everything.

    "Who am I to say that Dream Force isn''t necessary? And by extension that weapon Forces aren''t necessary?

    ''If I created the Dimensional Verse from scratch and left it to its own devices, could I say with 100% certainty that life wouldn''t appear? That seems like a logical fallacy. Given the vastness of the universe, so long as enough planets and stars and solar systems and galaxies appear, life is bound to be formed... and if life is bound to be formed, then Dream Force is bound to be formed... and if Dream Force is bound to be formed, then derivatives of weapon Forces are bound to exist...

    "When you frame things this way, isn''t Dream Force and weapon Force just as inevitable as any other Force in existence... Who says that there isn''t a fundamental law of nature that almost guarantees the creation of life...?

    "Necessary... Necessary...''

    The space around Leonel continued to tremble, growing more and more fierce with each passing moment. Spear Force seemed to manifest from nothing at all, becoming extensions of life ripped out from the atmosphere no differently from any other Force. Leonel suddenly found that just like he could use his Mage Core to control atmospheric Fire Force or Spatial Force or Light Force, he was actually also able to find strands of Spear Force as well...

    No, he didn''t find Spear Force, he birthed it. He made it necessary. By virtue of his existence, by virtue of the fact he was a living being who exuded Dream Force, he necessitated the existence of weapon Forces... he necessitated the existence of Spear Force.

    BANG! BANG!

    The world quaked and Leonel''s aura began to surge.

    Leonel still didn''t have a Theory of Existence, such a thing was far too beyond him. However, his very thinking itself had shifted, he realized that he had been wrong in his approach all this time.

    Mastering the spear wasn''t about deducing it like some sort of formula. However, mastering the spear also wasn''t about listening to it as though it could whisper its truths to you either.

    Even so, Leonel had no choice but to admit that Old Hutch''s approach had been far closer to the truth than he had.

    From the very beginning, Leonel had treated the spear like some synthetic creation separate from other Forces because it seemed manmade. But now he saw something different, his perspective shifted and he saw Spear Force for what it was.

    Necessary.

    Spear Force was no less naturally occurring than any other Force in existence.

    In that instant, let along the door to the Seventh Dimension, Leonel sensed the door to the Eighth. Whether it was his Spear Force or his Bow Force, the blows to both felt like they had been blown wide open.

    Leonel''s body trembled and a shocking pulse of Bow Force radiated out from his body. His Bow Force, which had always been a delicate white color, began to shimmer and change, becoming more and more gold with every passing second until it suddenly became no less resplendent than his Spear Force.

    The barrier to Tier 5 shattered, and then the barrier to Tier 6 shattered right after it.

    In one single step, Leonel crossed from Tier 4 of the Sixth Dimension to Tier 7.

 Chapter 1913 Hoped

    A pillar of blinding golden light shot into the skies, revolving with mighty blades. Spear and Bow Force spiraled about one another, piercing the veil of the skies and echoing across the Human Domain with the howl of blades.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed open, a sharp golden light echoing in countless ripples before they slowly calmed.

    Sitting in silence, Leonel didn''t move immediately. Inwardly, he felt as though there was a natural flow to his breakthroughs, one that made them seamlessly stack on top of one another and stream from one to the next effortlessly.

    This sounded ridiculous. After all, Leonel entered the Sixth Dimension with [Dimensional Cleanse], he crossed into Tier 3 using Dream Force, then he crossed the watershed of Tier 3

    and Tier 4 using Earth Force, and now he crossed into Tier 7 using Spear and Bow Force. It was nonsensical to think that he was flowing from one to the next smoothly, and in fact, it felt quite ridiculous.

    However, the more Leonel thought about it, the more beautiful he felt it was.

    To Tier 3, he had expanded his views on Dream Force. The Demoness had such a grasp of Dream Force that others just thinking about her existence would alert her, it was a level of control and comprehension that even the current Leonel couldn''t hope to fathom, and he couldn''t even quite see the road to reaching such a level just yet.

    To enter Tier 4, he expanded his views on Earth Force. He realized that Earth Force wasn''t some intangible object, and it was actually a fundamental part of life. The human body couldn''t survive with the perfect balance of minerals within it, and this was something that could only be carried on by Earth Force. On the surface, Earth Force and its constituents could simply be classified as inorganic, and this would fundamentally be true. However, at a deeper layer, it was more than just that...

    And now there was Spear Force and Bow Force. Ironically, much like he had with Earth Force, he realized now that weapon Forces weren''t as "inorganic" as he had once thought, and from a certain perspective, they were necessary.

    The flow from Dream Force, the foundation of life, and then subsequently toward the comprehension of Forces he hadn''t given enough credit in the past... He seemed to be moving toward the extremities of creation and the secret of life, something that left him fascinated, especially since his most fundamental ability was apparently as a Destruction Sovereign.

    He didn''t believe it was a coincidence and things were flowing as they pleased.

    Once the time came, he would relay his foundation by going through [Dimensional Cleanse] as he had before, then he would need to go and get the Seventh Dimensional layer.

    He hadn''t expected to reach Tier 7 before the Heir Wars even began, but now that he had, this would make things far easier.

    ''I hope you guys will make things interesting,'' Leonel chuckled to himself, standing to his feet.

    "Everyone!" Leonel''s voice echoed. "Let''s go set the world on fire!"

    Leonel walked out of his room with a booming laughter, but when he looked outside, he found everyone lazing around.

    James, who was snoring on the couch, opened an eye and waved a hand. "Morales territory is how many light years from here? What are you yelling for, let me sleep."

    Leonel looked around speechlessly for a moment. Was he the only one with any energy left? Everyone seemed completely spent.

    "You guys fought just one war and you''re already finished, I''m embarrassed for you," Leonel said, shaking his head.

    In response, a rain of pillows flew toward Leonel and he could only laugh and dodge out of the way. Indeed, it seemed that everyone needed a rest, that was no big deal. There was still a ton of time. The conference was only starting around now, and he was sure that the Morales would stall a bit more after that, so they easily had several months before they had to make a move.

    ''"Hm?'' Leonel suddenly looked in a particular direction. With a wave of his hand, the doors of the flagship opened up and Noah appeared with Jessica by his side. The two landed on the bow of the ship, and though they were a hint surprised by the sudden opening of the doors, they strolled in nonetheless.

    When Noah saw Leonel, he hesitated, feeling a hint embarrassed and another hint complicated.

    The last time they talked, Noah had proudly stated that he would remain and protect Earth. However, not even a few weeks later, he had embarrassed himself. Let alone protecting Earth, he couldn''t even defeat a single threat. If not for James, he would have died at Elorin''s hands, and if not for Leonel''s plans and Aina''s direction...

    He didn''t even want to think about what might have happened... Even his father ended up severely injured after that battle, and what had he been able to do? Absolutely nothing.

    Leonel smiled when he saw Noah. "Come in, come in. I was just talking about how lazy these guys are, they can learn a thing or two from you."

    Noah smiled bitterly. He knew that Leonel was trying to make him feel better, but someone who was as internally driven as Noah wouldn''t be so easily appeased. If anything such an approach only made him feel worse, it felt like he was burdening others with his emotions.

    Seeing this, Leonel smiled and didn''t say anything like that again.

    "We''re all just relaxing, you two come and sit."

    "I..." Noah lowered his head. "... Leonel, do you mind if..."

    "You want to join the Heir Wars? I thought you''d never ask," Leonel said happily. "I was really disappointed when you said you wouldn''t join before."

    Hearing this, Noah felt the weight on his chest lighten considerably and he gave Leonel a grateful look. The first time the two met, they battled... he had never thought that they would have such a relationship today.

    He didn''t know if the Heir Wars had his answers, but he truly hoped so.

 Chapter 1914 Waves

    Alejandro Morales sat in silence. Compared to the brewing rage he had had three months ago, he was currently the picture of perfect calm. He sat at the very top of a pillar that was at least a hundred kilometers tall. All around him, there were similar pillars, but even the tallest one of them was only 80 kilometers tall.

    Although Alejandro didn''t say anything, an invisible barrier surrounded him. It was clear that no one else was welcome to sit on his pillar. If one wanted to participate in this gathering, they would have to fight for the lesser pillars.

    The dignity of the Morales wasn''t something a mere few loud voices could infringe upon.

    One after another, powerhouses appeared around Planet Morales. With their sharp eyesights, even from so far above, they could see this set up completely. Many of their expressions darkened, but there was little that they could do. They had already pushed the Morales to this point, it was impossible to ask for more at this point.

    One at a time, the organizations and families that had chosen to participate sent forward one representative each. They descended from the skies with dignity and arrogance between their brows, each one very much used to ruling over trillions. They all represented the very pinnacle of the Seventh Dimensional and were existences that functioned as the backbone of the Human Domain.

    One of the first was an older woman wearing fluttering green robes. Despite the dignity between her brows, she still had some of the tender lines of youthful beauty that had aged akin to fine wine on her features.

    She was Inabella, a powerhouse of the Tier 9 Seventh Dimension, and a current pillar of the Viror family which Leonel had quite some contentious interactions with in the Void Palace.

    The fact that she wasn''t the Matriarch of her family, but rather an elder with even higher status than that, spoke volumes. She was considered to be an Ancestor of her family, but she had no choice but to greet someone who was technically her junior in Alejandro as though they were equals.

    But the unfortunate truth was that in this situation...

    They were.

    The moment she entered the region of the pillars that pierced the skies like spears, her flight wavered and she nearly fell from the skies. She teetered, clenching her jaw in silence as she tried to maintain her steady flight, taking a breath and walking through the air with her best feigned attempt.

    From start to finish, Alejandro never opened his eyes even a single time.

    After a while of struggling, Inabella finally managed to land on a pillar that was 60 kilometers tall, landing stably. Although she looked up toward Alejandro with a hint of coldness in her eyes, she didn''t say anything as she sat and crossed her legs and began to recuperate.

    Those that were waiting on the outside watched this with solemn expressions. Inabella was quite famous in her day and she had also been a Domain Ranked Disciple of the Void Palace.

    And yet, she had only been able to claim a 60 kilometer tall pillar. The worst part was that the lowest pillar there stood at 50 kilometers tal.

    In this context, 10 kilometers was too small of a gap.

    Those families that were substantially weaker than the Viror family had on especially ugly expressions. If even the Viror family was like this, what chance did they stand? They realized that riding the wave to condemn the Morales family wouldn''t be as easy as they thought it would be in the beginning. Numbers were quite useless in the face of absolute strength.

    After some hesitation, dozens of families chose to withdraw while some became even more selective with who they sent forward.

    Soon, a new batch came forward. They were much more prepared for the sudden pressure in comparison to Inabella, but even so, their performance wasn''t much better. In fact, not a single one managed to reach the 60 kilometer pillars, all of them accumulating along the most numerous 50 kilometer pillars. In fact, some of them still overestimated themselves, falling to the ground below red-faced and embarrassed.

    While none of the failures died, they had no choice but to walk at the pace of a mortal to leave the area of the suppression, only to become the scrutiny of everyone above. Witnessing others being embarrassed to such an extent only made others less and less likely to participate.

    It took a very long while before the next 60 kilometer pillar was filled, this time by an older man. This was a gentleman that would be very familiar to Leonel. He was an elder of the Thrusting Skies Sector, Malstar Skies.

    However, to everyone''s shock, Malstar''s toes only tapped the 60-kilometer pillar for a split second being he pierced forward like a streaking arc of lightning, appearing on a

    70-kilometer pillar and exhaling a slight breath.

    Inabella''s eyes snapped open and her pupils constricted. Malstar and her should have been on the same level, how could he possibly land on a pillar higher than herself? Although he had used a lower pillar for leverage, Inabella had experienced that pressure herself. If it was so easy, she would have done it herself. The only explanation was that Malstar was stronger than her now, at least in movement technique.

    Malstar didn''t seem to notice the expressions of everyone else, landing on the pillar with a calm expression and sitting in silence.

    Inabella frowned, but she could do nothing. Trying to reach the 70-kilometer pillar now, and likely failing, would only make her lose face. She had no choice but to swallow this. There were enough that had failed that while Malstar''s performance was shocking, it wasn''t enough for attention to be turned to her inadequacies.

    As for Alejandro, he likewise said nothing, not even opening his eyes. There weren''t any rules. If you could figure out a loophole, more power to you. He couldn''t be bothered to give a damn.

    At that moment, several powerful pressures came from above, new groups descending in waves.

 Chapter 1915 Silence

    The vast majority that descended could only take up 50-kilometer tall pillars, however as time passed, more and more powerful existences began to make their presences known.

    After Inabella, a group of organizations appeared swiftly, all three of which were actually prominent religions taking their place on the 60-kilometer pillars. There was the Evergreen Religion, the Zoltene Faith, and the final was the third largest religion of the Human Domain, the Star Faith.

    The Star Faith was quite mysterious in that they didn''t worship a person, but rather a Force. Their belief was that the most fundamental Force in existence was Star Force, acting as the foundation of all things. Unsurprisingly, their people tended to have exceptional Star Force affinity as this was believed by them to make these individuals the harbingers of the universe''s will.

    The numbers of the 60-kilometer pillars were swiftly filled much like the 50-kilometer pillars before them. And then, slowly but surely, powerhouses that could occupy the

    70-kilometer pillars began to appear one after another.

    Smaller families of the Constellation Bow Alliance fell into this category. The Hawk family, the Hood family, the Elven family...

    Not far behind them were the families that upheld the spearmanship. These were the families that mostly made up the Stalwart Polearm party. Among this number, there were quite a few that preferred weapons like the glaive and halberd as well... The Croft family, the Sterling family, the Diablo family...

    At that moment, the howl of a sword echoed over the horizon. The sudden change caused many that were focused on reaching their target pillars to waver slightly, the strong surge causing their pupils to constrict.

    At first, many assumed that the Suiard family was making the appearance, but after some thought, they felt that it was simply impossible. There was no way that the Suiard family would allow the Morales family to casually change the narrative. If they were going to appear, their current attempt would be far more forceful than just this.

    The Sina family.

    An older gentleman with long, fluttering eyebrows appeared over the horizon. He cut through the air like a sword, a formation of blades hovering around him as he sliced through the pressure as though it was nothing more than a thin wind.

    BANG!

    He landed heavily on an 80-kilometer pillar, his sharp, sword-like gaze landing on Alejandro who continued to sit unmoved on the 100-kilometer pillar. There weren''t even any

    90-kilometer pillars to make use of, this was already the furthest he could go unless he was willing to battle it out with Alejandro.

    The Morales had clearly done this on purpose, making it so that 80 kilometers was the highest would diminish the prestige of all the highest level families. The Suiard family was definitely on a far higher level than his Sina family, but wouldn''t they have to obediently pick out an 80-kilometer pillar?

    The older man sneered, his aura flourishing. However, he did nothing and he remained silent. He felt that it was beneath him to speak to a junior like Alejandro. In his youth, he was collectively known as the Twin Swords along with a current Ancestor of the Suiard family. That Ancestor was known as the Light Sword and he was known as the Shadow Sword, both literally and figuratively.

    The relationship of the Sina and Suiard families weren''t exactly like master and subordinate and was much more complex than that, but even setting such a thing aside, just his status alone was far beyond just pettiness.

    After releasing his aura to make his displeasure known, he said nothing else and sat in meditation. He wondered if Alejandro would be able to remain so nonchalant in a few more moments.

    The appearance of the Shadow Sword seemed to have unleashed an avalanche onto Morales territory.

    One after another, the constellation families began to appear one after another, each one carving paths toward the 80-kilometer pillars.

    The Gemin family family, the Libra family, the Taur family, the Tarius family, the Pyius family, the Cornus family, the Cancer family, the Ram family, the Virgo family, the Quarius family, the Pisc family, the Lio family...

    The uproarious laughter of Vanuzi Lio echoed through the skies, dispersing the clouds and causing the narrow pillars to sway from side to side. Many of the weaker existences were forced to grit their teeth and unleash their Force to forcefully stabilize themselves.

    Behind the Constellation Families came the number one religion of the Human Domain. Their representative was a young woman with thick and large sleeves that hid her hands in a clasp of prayer. A halo hung above her head and it seemed very much real, it didn''t seem to be a gimmick or even something forcefully created by Force. Even if it was, she was simply too beautiful for others to lambast.

    This young woman was known as a Demi Goddess to their religion, a young woman with Spiritual blood running through her veins...

    This was the Spiritual Faith, the strongest religion of the Human Domain and one that worshipped not a person, nor a Force, but rather an entire Race. This was a religion of people who belived that the Spirituals were elevated humans and that only by seeking their guidance and cleansing oneself could you transcend oneself could you transcend humanity and become a Spiritual as well.

    If the strongest factions of the Human Domain were to be listed, there was no doubt that the Spiritual Faith would be among them although they were often neglected.

    The Morales, the Suiards, the Constellation Alliance, the Guild Alliance, Shield Cross Stars, the Void Palace, and finally... The Spiritual Faith.

    Of these powerhouses, three had arrived. But in keeping with the humble nature necessitated by her religion, the Demi Goddess didn''t fight for a higher place, simply gliding to a position on an 80-kilometer pillar.

    At that moment, though, the situation seemed that it was finally about to change.

    An unexpected ship appeared over the horizon and an even more unexpected person stepped out.

    The young woman was gorgeous beyond words and perfect beyond description.

    Cynthia Omann, the Scorned Queen Beauty, stepped through the air, fluttering down with gentle steps.

    The entire world seemed to fall into silence.

 Chapter 1916 Go

    Cynthia fluttered down like a fairy, her presence among the only ones that could match and even faintly suppress the Demi Goddess. Even with her age, it was impossible to find a single flaw, and even with her somewhat negative title of Scorned Queen Beauty, not a single soul thought less of her. However, it was unknown if this was because she was simply that perfect... or if it was because the man who had tainted her reputation was so entirely irreproachable.

    The story of the Scorned Queen Beauty was one that had set the Human Domain ablaze all those years ago.

    Velasco had ruined his fair share of beauties in his youth, and had infuriated even more families and organizations as a result. Whether it was the backing of the beauties themselves, or the backing of the young men who had lost the race for her, it could be said that he had enemies everywhere. If it wasn''t for his absolute strength, even the Morales family would simply be unable to protect him.

    Even so, compared to all the others, the Scorned Queen Beauty was an especially tragic one.

    If there was any female counterpart to Velasco, it was Cynthia Omann. She was unmatched by all except Velasco, even the likes of Montez couldn''t last more than a handful of exchanges with her. Ever since they were born and grew old enough to walk, most were entirely unable to mention Velasco without mentioning Cynthia. Even when Velasco ruined his first segment of beauties, no one batted an eye, assuming that he would end up with the pure and perfect Cynthia in the end regardless.

    Some were enraged with Velasco for forcing Cynthia to deal with such humiliating rumors about her future husband''s lack of discipline, and no small number of battles had been triggered as a result of this.

    Even so, Cynthia had never said anything about it, silently waiting. And then, that day seemed to have come. Everything was prepared, the perfectly matched couple would finally come together...

    But it never happened.

    Before the wedding was meant to take place, Ishamel Morales died.

    What happened in between is unknown, but by the next time others heard of Velasco''s wife, that title was no longer attached to Cynthia, but was rather attached to an unknown and somewhat ordinary genius of the Void Palace, an inconspicuous young woman from a Sixth Dimensional family, Alienor.

    The Human Domain entered a state of uproar and the title of Scorned Queen Beauty was born.

    Seeing her fluttering down now, though, no one thought that this was a tragic beauty. This was a woman half the powerhouses of the Human Domain wanted, a beauty that most didn''t even dare to have such thoughts of.

    Cynthia''s body came to a pause in the air, her lovely blue eyes scanning the region for a moment. Her expression didn''t seem to give anything away, and despite the fact she was already within the range of the suppression, her body didn''t so much as sway. If it was not for the fact her robes clung to her curves just the slightest hint more, it would have been impossible to guess that she had entered range at all.

    Suddenly, Cynthia extended a slender finger and tapped at the air.

    WHOOOSH!

    Alejandro''s eyes snapped open instantly, but it was already too late.

    A complex formation that had once been invisible suddenly appeared before the eyes of everyone.

    Cynthia pressed a finger down and touched a rune. At that moment, all iterations of that rune shone with a bright light, shimmering like miniature suns.

    A surging aura rose from Cynthia''s lithe body, causing harsh winds to pick up. Those still sitting on their pillars and even many spaceships hovering around Planet Morales trembled.

    Countless faces paled and even Alejandro''s brows shot up.

    This wasn''t the aura of a Seventh Dimensional expert... She had already entered the Eighth Dimension!

    Cynthia dragged her finger across, shifting the position of the runes ever so slightly.

    BANG!

    The formation crumbled, bursting into a rain of shards of light. In that instant, the pressure everyone had been experiencing vanished.

    Cynthia floated forward through the shards as though she hadn''t done a thing, landing on an 80-kilometer pillar without a word and taking a seat.

    Alejandro''s lip couldn''t help but twitch. She could have taken an 80-kilometer pillar just as easily with or without destroying the pressurizing formation, and yet she had chosen this path anyway. The wrath and pettiness of a scorned woman knew no bounds and Alejandro knew better than to say anything. Even Vanuzi Lio, who would usually be laughing at the Morales family''s misfortune at this point, didn''t dare to say a single thing.

    Alejandro exhaled a breath, and here he thought that the only one of that generation who could have possibly reached that level already was Velasco... It seems that it was not a coincidence that they''re always attached at the hip in their youth.

    Shaking his head, Alejandro smiled bitterly inwardly. What happened next would be far more annoying because of the actions of this scorned beauty.

    Almost as though on cue...

    BOOM!

    A warship double the size of a planet appeared over the horizon. On the bow of the ship, several white robe fingers stood, the echo of sword howls sweeping over Planet Morales.

    BOOM!

    Another warship, just as large and just as looming, appeared. On the bow, men and women with bows striped across their chests stood in silence, the howl of Bow Force echoing over the planet.

    "Go."

    Two young men glided forward. Compared to the others present, they''re clearly out of place and were without a doubt members of Leonel''s generation.

    The Bow Deity, Nazag Tarius.

    The Sword Deity... Amery Suiard.

    The goal of the Tarius and Suiard families was clear and obvious, and Cynthia''s actions had allowed it to happen. The Morales had sent forward a junior that was young that 99% of those there, so they would send a pair even younger than that.

    Not only would this clearly knock the Morales down a pair, it would make their attempt to protect Leonel feel far more glaring than it should have.

 Chapter 1917 Real

    The two young men seemed to ride a wave of weapon Force, landing on their pillars with a bang. Despite the seniority of those around them, their visages were the picture of indifference. It was clear at a glance why they were chosen to carry the future of their families.

    Alejandro didn''t bother to close his eyes once again and he had long since regained his composure. He angled his head to the skies, seemingly waiting to see if anyone else would appear.

    This was unlikely, whether it was the Void Palace or Shield Cross Stars, they were both committed to neutrality, and everyone else of note was already present. Plus, the Void Palace wasn''t made up of families and organizations like this, while Shield Cross Stars, although they were, were very invested in not placing any sort of nepotism front and center for obvious reasons.

    "It seems like everyone is here," Alejandro said lightly.

    Although his voice was soft, it easily traveled to everyone.

    "The purpose of this gathering is to discuss the finalized rules of the Heir Wars, however..."

    Alejandro''s gaze flashed with lightning, the clouds above darkening.

    "The Morales family and I, as their Patriarch, would like to make something very clear first.

    "First, Earth has never been our target. The secrets of the Morales family are beyond your understanding, and if you think that the hot blood that runs through our veins is capable of taking advantage of a fledgling world which is yet to be capable of standing on its own two feet..."

    CRACK! BooM!

    Arcs of lightning flashed across the skies, a suffocating BOOM echoing through all their hearts and pressing down on their hearts.

    "... Then you''re assigning too much of your inferiority toward us."

    Alejandro''s gaze flashed like lightning.

    "Second, the Morales family and I don''t give a damn whether you believe us or not. We have never needed your acknowledgement, nor will we ever need it. If you think you''ve forced our hand by causing this change in the Heir Wars, you''re nothing short of mistaken, and in the worst case, foolish.

    "We do not need subliminal messaging, nor do you need to read between the lines with us. There is one and only one reason for these Heir Wars...

    "... And that''s as a reminder to you all that the dignity of the Morales family cannot be infringed upon.

    "For the sake of the Human Domain and the dangers that it is facing, we''ve decided to keep this small reminder on a stage the younger generation can claim, but this is the one and final warning we will give you all.

    "If you insist on pressing forward, thinking that numbers will oppress us and force us to take a step back, we will see what happens first...

    "Whether the Morales will destroy the Human Domain first, or if outsiders will. Feel free to take your pick, and while you''re at it, be sure to understand your limits."

    The crackle of thunder continued to echo and Alejandro''s voice had gone from a light whisper to a booming cadence. Those from lesser families couldn''t help but pale considerably.

    They had always heard that the Morales were a group of madmen, but never had they expected that they would rather war against the whole Human Domain than lower their heads.

    This was the final line the Morales were drawing, there wouldn''t be a second.

    Alejandro grinned a malevolent grin, suddenly unable to control his true self. The pressure of so many families sitting around him made his blood boil, his Spear Force threatening to rage out of control. Even an Eighth Dimensional expert had appeared, how could his blood not be alive?

    "If it''s up to me, I hope you don''t know what''s good for you. My blade has been sheathed for too long."

    At that moment, a figure rose up from the ground, landing by Alejandro with a light cough and patting his shoulder.

    Adawarth smiled lightly. "Sorry, everyone, my father''s temper has been the best recently. His words are correct, though, it''s best that we keep this to the younger generation, the patience of the older is much more limited."

    Adawarth swept a gaze across everyone present.

    "Truthfully, those words were the main reason we invited you all here. The Morales truly do not fear anyone and we do not change our plans for the sake of the pressure of outsiders. I, as the eldest brother of the Nova Generation, speak for my brothers when I say whether you all participate or not, makes little to no difference. Our real competition was ourselves to begin with.

    "The rules of the gathering will be the same as it alwavs has been and you all can experience what every generation of Morales has experienced. If you do not like the rules. feel free to complain, though those complaints will likely fall of deaf ears.

    "If there''s nothing else, I will go about explaining what these rules are. After I am finished, we''ll construct an official list of participants that cannot and will not be changed after we all leave here today.

    "Anything?"

    Adawarth seemed to gain the initiative back for the Morales family. At this point, if anyone asked for rule changes, it would seem as though they''re asking for leniency compared to what the Morales family juniors usually experienced and they would only end up humiliating themselves.

    But at the same time, if the Morales family''s rules weren''t strict enough to begin with, then exposing these rules after so much bloviating now would only give rise to them to smack their own faces.

    At this point, everyone had to put their best foot forward with failure costing them endless humiliation.

    Adawarth''s smile, though, seemed to make it clear that he was quite confident in this regard.

    "Good. Then I''ll begin to explain now.

    "As always, the Morales family''s Heir Wars will take place in the War Zone, a space constructed and reset every generation by Ancestor Hugo. The main fixture of this world is that for its residents and the general world, time moves 100 times faster than normal.

    "Although this space is virtually constructed, the danger, injuries, and death...

    "Are very much real."

 Chapter 1918 Door Frame

    Leonel leaned on a door frame, his expression hard to read.

    On a bed with, a young girl slept soundly. Well, he still saw her as a young girl, anyway. In reality, her age was probably almost double his by now. However, considering her naivete, he really couldn''t look at her any other way.

    This young girl was none other than Little Nana. It had been years since Leonel had seen her last even if he disregarded the over 20 years he had missed out on. She had grown into a woman now, but her mind didn''t seem to have changed very much.

    Leonel''s emotional intelligence was quite high, but when it came to real psychological theories, his understanding was limited. This was why he had left the raising of Candle and Vice to Wise Star Order despite the inherent danger that came with it.

    Back then, Nana hadn''t even been 10 years old if he remembered correctly, but she had gone through something that could only be said to be traumatic. It wasn''t too surprising for her to carry lingering scars from back then, and the fact that she still seemed to be obsessed with him only went to further prove this.

    Yes, he had saved her life when all hope had seemed lost, but that didn''t seem like enough for a woman who was almost 40 years old now to still be clinging to him, especially when he was certain that Little Nana''s life was filled with blood and carnage.

    It was just odd.

    Nana''s pearly blue eyes suddenly snapped open and she shot up, her head snapping from left to right until she suddenly noticed Leonel standing at the door. Her gaze lit up for a moment, but when she noticed the sternness of Leonel''s expression, they dimmed almost immediately. She looked down as though she had done something wrong and she found it difficult to look up again.

    Leonel sighed, moving toward the young woman and taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

    "Nana, you understand that we stand on two opposing sides of a war, right?"

    Leonel had thought a lot about how he would approach this conversation. The smart thing to do would be to toss Nana into a dungeon along with anyone else who had survived and call it a day. However, he couldn''t bring himself to do so.

    Nana''s small mouth opened a few times, but nothing came out.

    "Not everything will go your way, sometimes everyone works inside the grey and there are no heroes or villains. The ultimate choice with what you do with your life depends on you.

    "You have parents, you have a family, you have many who care for you... There will probably come a time where I won''t be able to be so lenient. Do you understand me?"

    Nana still couldn''t seem to make a sound, so she nodded, her tears falling like a string of crystal beads.

    Leonel nodded lightly. "I have no choice but to keep you here. If you can escape, that will be up to your skill, but it won''t be aided by me."

    Leonel stood to his fee and walked toward the exit of the room, but even after he made it to the threshold, Nana still hadn''t done anything. He sighed and shook his head, that could be considered to be Nana''s last chance of escaping. Here, with just the two of them, overpowering him wouldn''t be all that difficult for her, especially considering her Ability Index. But she was still too indecisive to act.

    Leonel left and closed the door behind him, sealing it with a powerful Force Art.

    His current morality was hard to pin down, maybe even for him. But he simply acted as he pleased. He felt gross taking advantage of a little girl''s trauma to gain an advantage over her, so he had given her a chance. Since she didn''t want to take it, his conscience was clear and his heart was light.

    With long strides, Leonel entered the dungeon of the flagship. As a war machine designed to be used by the highest echelons of the Seventh Dimension, it was unsurprising that their dungeons were incredibly robust. It would probably be difficult even for an expert of the Eighth Dimension to escape, though very much possible. As for those beneath that realm, there was likely no chance at all.

    Soon, Leonel stood across from a chained Adrin. He was in a much less comfortable position than his little sister, but Leonel did not feel the need to treat him very well just because of who he was related to. The two of them owed each other nothing, in fact, if there was anyone who owed the other anything, it was Adrin who owed him.

    Leonel pulled up a stool.

    "Why don''t you tell me what you know about the four Great Families," Leonel uttered with a smile.

    Adrin looked toward Leonel with a pair of piercing blue eyes. His wrists were chained above his head and basically the only thing keeping him alive was the steady stream of Force being pumped into him through them. Even if he wanted to starve to death, he couldn''t.

    On the bright side, these dungeons were so rarely used that they''re practically spotless.

    "No answer?" Leonel chuckled and didn''t seem to mind.

    The souls of the four Brazingers that Aina was torturing were still there. He could go and retrieve them any time and there would be no escaping for them. This meant that he would get information he wanted one way or another.

    Leonel had already gained a lot from Simeon, but the problem was that the latter''s standing was too low. He wondered if Adrin would know more or not.

    "I heard that you four families have quite the feud with my Fawkes family, and even my Northern Star Lineage, it could be said that we''re destined to be enemies, no?"

    Adrin''s pupils constricted.

    "It''s quite embarrassing, four families that are so powerful, still scared of two Lineage Factors that barely have any remnants remaining, do not you think it''s a bit embarrassing?"

 Chapter 1919 What Do You Know?

    Adrin''s expression darkened.

    "You have no idea what you''re talking about. You have no idea how cruel those two Lineage Factors are, how much harm they''ve caused to the world. They don''t deserve to exist!"

    Adrin realized that his emotions were more easily agitated than they should have been, but he shrugged this feeling off quite quickly. His people had died, the status of his sister was unknown, he had been chained like a beast, and now he was being interrogated by someone with the most annoying smile he had seen in his life, he had the right to be pissed off!

    "Mm," Leonel pursed his lips and nodded, "the Northern Star Lineage Factors can get quite sinister, and controlling the dead after their death is definitely quite horrible, I can see how you could reach that conclusion.

    "I don''t really see how that''s any worse than epigenetics and public torturing and executing innocents just because you think they fell in love with the wrong person, though. If you ask me, the tools of those Lineage Factors might seem cruel on the surface, but their evil is ultimately decided by the person controlling them.

    "But for you all... what''s your excuse, exactly? You just really like your blue hair? God forbid you end up with black hair, that would make you far too normal."

    Adrin grit his teeth, his eyes going red, but he didn''t know how to respond. He knew that Leonel was referring to what happened to Aina''s parents, but the Brazinger family wasn''t the only one that had done such cruel things. In order to keep their Bloodlines pure and within their control, all four families had done horrible things in the past.

    "Nothing to say? Interesting," Leonel nodded again. "What confuses me though, is that you know the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor is in my hands, and yet you still want to resist.

    That''s a bit silly, don''t you think?"

    Adrin shivered from head to toe.

    He had never seen that Lineage Factor in action, but he had read and heard enough about it. It had a huge taboo attached to it and struck fear in countless races. He didn''t want to end up like one of those puppets, being forced to smile, nod and dance for the man who had killed him in the first place for all of eternity.

    Suddenly, Adrin snapped out of it, shaking his head from side to side vigorously. He grit his teeth and eventually sneered.

    "Nice try. Just because you have the Lineage Factor, doesn''t mean you understand its secrets. It took countless generations to create those techniques, I don''t believe you have them.

    The tablets have..."

    "You mean this?" A golden tablet appeared in Leonel''s hand. "Interesting, so you do know about these. Then do you know what''s the difference between this and this one?"

    Leonel brought out the Silver Tablet right afterward.

    Adrin''s trembling grew to the point he began to hyperventilate. The fear buried in the depths of his heart was so great that he couldn''t even look at the tablets anymore, closing his eyes as tightly as he could.

    It would be a fate worse than death to end up in Leonel''s hands. He couldn''t

    "Hey!"

    Leonel''s voice echoed with a mysterious power, snapping Adrin awake.

    "If you understand the kind of situation you''re in, then answer my questions obediently. I don''t have the time to baby you."

    "IL... This..."

    Adrin''s chest heaved. Leonel had forcefully stopped his panic attack with a shout, he didn''t even know how to process that.

    "The Silver Tablet, what is it." Leonel asked coldly, his smile vanishing. He had suddenly gone from someone hoping for answers, to someone who was demanding them. The change caused the air to be caught in Adrin''s throat and the pressure forced him to answer almost immediately.

    "I... I don''t know."

    "You don''t know?" Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "It... I only know that it''s an opportunity that happens here."

    "Here?" Leonel frowned. "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "I don''t know, I really don''t know... my standing in the Adurna family is lower than you think, even Simeon has a higher standing than I do, it''s just that his needy talent placed him near my level. If not for my sister, I would not even be as powerful as I am now, at least not so quickly."

    "What do you know about it?"

    "They''re... They''re gateways. No, they''re keys... I''m not sure, it''s one or the other, or both."

    "Gateways...? Keys...?"

    "They''re shortcuts, right, shortcuts. All I know is that they''re created with a strong concentration of Time Force and Dream Force."

    "Time Force and Dream Force?"

    "Yes, it''s the strongest Force in all of existence, Infinity Force... The only Force that can match it is Anarchic Force..."

    Leonel fell into silence.

    "How does Infinity Force relate to Breaking Force?"

    "... Infinity Force is all Forces, and all Forces are Infinity Force, just the same way Anarchic Force swallows all Forces."

    "So this Silver Tablet gives access to Infinity Force?"

    "It... It''s silver so it only gives a portion..."

    "There are gold "shortcuts" ?"

    "I''m not sure, but even if it was gold it would not give perfect access to Infinity Force, Infinity Force is too powerful to be used by any creature..."

    "What are the abilities of this Silver Tablet, then?"

    "It should be able to help you to progress faster, it breaks bottlenecks for you and can give you enlightenment in exchange for energy. However, the silver tablet only works up to the perfection of the Seventh Dimension... It can also act as a second life so long as you are beneath the Eighth Dimension..."

    Leonel looked down at the Silver Tablet. It seemed that shortcut was, indeed, an appropriate name. He had known about this ability of the Silver Tablet, in fact he had made use of it before. It was thanks to it that he went from Tier 1 to Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension of his Metal Body back then. Without it, he would not have been able to win that fight against those Sixth Dimensional powerhouses that were targeting Earth.

    However, he hadn''t used it since then because relying on it made future breakthroughs much more difficult. Luckily, absorbing those demon Force Pills had allowed him to perfect his foundation and deal with the lingering issues.

    He was hesitant to use it again for those reasons.

    "... What do you know about Force Manipulation?"

 Chapter 1920 Tell Me

    ?

    Adrin trembled when he heard this question, looking toward Leonel with a wide gaze. Force Manipulation wasn''t something widely spoken about, it was a secret even more closely held than the existences of the Emperor''s Might and Northern Star Lineage Factors.

    Of course, the reason for this was because those two Lineage Factors were considered taboos, and as such the legend of them was spread only for the sake of disparaging the families that had once used them. But even so, this was the reality.

    Most beneath a certain standard only stumbled onto Force Manipulation through anecdotes and countless years of training. However, the true and systematic methods were only held in the hands of a very select few, and maybe only the Spirituals could boast having any sort of methods that was anywhere near complete.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he saw Adrin''s reaction.

    In truth, he had guessed much of what Adrin was thinking of right now, and there was a very simple reason for that. In the Cataclysm Zone, he had seen all sorts of treasures that could be exchanged for, even to the point of laying eyes on the Emperor''s Might Golden Tablet, but not once had he seen anything even remotely refer to Force Manipulation.

    On the one hand, it was possible that the Zone was just incomplete. It was a Zone, after all, so it was possible that it wasn''t a supremely perfect representation of reality. With something as hard to emulate as Force Manipulation, it made sense if it wasn''t all that easy for it to be replicated. If Zones relied on Dream Force to build everything, it would eventually have a limit.

    It had to be remembered that Dream Force was a Force itself, obviously. It was one thing to emulate other Forces at lower resolutions or weaker states, but if it was tasked with emulating other Forces at their very best, which is exactly what Force Manipulation represented, it would no doubt reach a bottleneck it couldn''t pass through, a bottleneck that would only become more stringent the more powerful the Force was.

    This explanation had been good enough for Leonel to accept back then, good enough that it didn''t bother him too much. However, there had always been a second explanation lingering in the back of his mindбн And that was that Force Manipulation was a secret.

    While it was impossible to stop geniuses from stumbling onto methods to better control their Force, so long as there was a tacit suppression of information about such methods generally speaking, disallowing the sharing of such methods, it would be fairly easy to suppress.

    Leonel had always had a theory brewing in mind, one that he only confirmed further as he gained more split minds.

    The difference between humans and apes of Third Dimensional Earth were only partial percentages of DNA. If you dropped an ape in the middle of a forest, and did the same with a human, their difference in intelligence wouldn''t be meaningful enough that their quality of life would be drastically different.

    What truly separated humans was the ability to communicate. Thanks to this evolution, humans were able to stack their small advantage in intelligence through the generations. With each small advancement and individual made, large numbers of the race benefited, until eventually humans pulled so far ahead of animals that they painted the illusion that they were infinitely more intelligent.

    When you take that advantage, and you suffocate it, what would happen?

    The result would be what was seen with Force Manipulation. You would have sporadic geniuses here and there, but with no ability to communicate and share insights, all advancement would stall with the end of said genius''s life and then the next genius would have to start all over.

    It was akin to Isaac Newton never sharing his invention of calculus and everyone having to deduce it on their own. Imagine a world where instead of calculus having been an annoying middle to high school level subject, it was instead a thesis one aspired to.

    The difference was akin to night and day.

    The question, then, was whyбн But that answer was even more obvious.

    Force Manipulation was force multiplier, not in the sense of energy, but rather a general sense. The only way for those born with weaker talent to catch up to those with stronger talent was through Force Manipulation.

    With the selfishness of the Four Great Families, how could they possibly allow those beneath them to have a chance to rise up?

    The cobra demon that Leonel had faced was the perfect example. He had been an exceptionally weak demon to start, and the Forces he used weren''t particularly impressive either, but he was so powerful that Leonel, even given all his talent, couldn''t last even a single exchange against him and had to be eaten alive just to stand a chance.

    This was what Force Manipulation did.

    One''s raw talent was almost entirely decided by their bloodline and lineage, it was something that could be easily controlled and assessed. While Ability Indexes were a potential variable, it was likewise difficult to maximize them without Force Manipulation and could have their effects dampened as a result.

    The obsession the Four Great Families had over maintaining their lineage and purity was clear and obvious, and now there seemed to be a more tangible reason why.

    The trouble was that Force Manipulation relied on inspiration and intelligence, two things that were far more difficult to control for. Even for families at this level, accounting for the complexity of the human brain was almost impossible.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze flickered as a spark flew in his Dreamscape. He suddenly remembered how cheap the Dream Force items were in the treasure exchangeбн could that be a coincidence?

    If there was one variable that perfectly correlated with intelligence, it was Dream Force affinityбн. Could there be a power that was attempting to undermine the Four Great Families through the use of Dream Force?

    Leonel''s finger tapped at his knee as he fell into deep thought. Things were rarely ever so simple, it would be foolish to draw such a conclusion now. With that thought, he looked up.

    "You clearly know something, so let''s not waste time, okay? Tell me what you know."

 Chapter 1921 Even...

    ?

    "Iбн"

    The beads of sweat poured down Adrin''s brow. If others learned that he told outsiders about this, his death would be practically guaranteed. He wasn''t even worthy of having this information, but his little sister had reached a level of status where it was tacitly allowed for her to bring this information back to her bloodline. Due to this, he had benefited.

    The reality was that the true name of this principle wasn''t even Force Manipulation, it was just that the moment Leonel had said those words, he understood exactly what he was referring to.

    This was inevitable. Leonel had deduced the existence of Force Manipulation himself, so he had also, of course, named it himself. He originally hadn''t expected Adrin to know what he was talking about at all, but it seemed that he was right to ask.

    Leonel leaned back in his chair, patient. Adrin wasn''t going anywhere and there was only one path forward for him. There was nothing that the latter could say to get out of this.

    "Iбн" Adrin took a deep breath. "бн They call it Dimensional Layering or Dimensional Folding. According to what I know, the true reason we call our progress Dimensions is because of the existence of Dimensional Layering and the principles behind it.

    "It''s said that worlds fundamentally change after crossing into the Fourth Heaven and gain Force which fundamentally changes the laws of physics, but the reality is that even in its infancy and before a Metamorphosis, Force exists. The trouble is that it exists in Folds of Reality that aren''t perceptible. With the way they layer, they can''t interact with the real world and worlds at and below the Third Dimension are water to their oil."

    Leonel frowned. "There are worlds beneath the Third Dimension?"

    "Yes. The First Dimension is known as the Impetus of Creation. Some believe it''s God, some believe that it''s the Big Bang, some others have any number of other theories and explanations for what it might be. Ultimately, its just the moment right before existence comes to be.

    "The Second Dimension is known as the Impetus of Life. It''s said that this is a reality that only the Regulator can exist within. The Impetus of Life is both an instant of time and an infinite strength of time, it both touches a moment in time and all moments in time. It''s a single line that wraps around all things that are, have been, or ever will be."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    "From the very beginning, the Impetus of Creation, Force exists. When the Third Dimension forms, it can begin to slowly unfurl itself. When the Fourth Dimension descends, it matures and fully unfurls itself."

    Leonel''s frown deepened. "Fully?"

    Adrin nodded somewhat nervously. "Depending on the strength of a Force, it will climb onto Dimensional Layers as though it was scaffolding. The stronger the Force, the more scaffolding it needs and the more Layers it will stretch into.

    "The process of Dimensional Folding is taking the complex Folds of a Force, untangling it, and layering such that it could be used with less and less scaffolding. This is the best way to strengthen your Force and the only method of making a weaker Force stronger than a more powerful Force.

    "The other way of doing itбн"

    "Is making your body stronger scaffolding," Leonel muttered, seemingly not needing Adrin''s confirmation.

    Adrin trembled once again before he sighed. This was the difference between someone with talent and someone without it. He had had all of this explained to him, but Leonel didn''t even need him to finish.

    Indeed, there were two ways of strengthening your Force.

    The first was through Dimensional Folding, or decreasing the amount of scaffolding your Force needed to function.

    The second was through normal practicing. By strengthening your body, you gave your Force more scaffolding to work with, and thus made it functionally stronger. However, this method required you to have great talent, otherwise, you would eventually run into a bottleneck where progress became impossible.

    This was why it was called Dimensions, you were using your body as a proxy for something your Force Manipulation should be doing, and as such, you were missing out on a lot of strength.

    And of course, the best results would occur when you did both at once, and best of all when you used the two in a feedback loop of sorts. Leonel had a feeling that leaning into Force Manipulation would open a path to breaking through bottlenecks you would otherwise lack the talent to make it through.

    Leonel felt his entire perspective changing. He wasn''t strengthening his Forces, he was just bringing them back to their origin. The more of them he understood, the easier he could "Fold" them, and the more of them he Folded, the more of its power he could use with less scaffolding, and thus the more powerful his output would be.

    The more powerful the Force he was working with, the more effort he needed to put into Folding it.

    Scarlet Star Force was a Ninth Dimensional Force, so it needed all Nine Dimensional Layers to unfurl itself. If Leonel wanted to shrink what it needed, he would have to truly extend himself.

    Snow Force was just a Sixth Dimensional Force, so it only needed Six Dimensional Layers to unfurl itself. As such, it took less effort to Fold it.

    This was a simplified version, but Leonel felt that he was missing something, that was because despite the fact he was already in the Sixth Dimension, he still felt that there was quite a bit more powerful to extricate from Snow Force.

    That was when Leonel''s gaze suddenly blazed to lifeбн he understood.

    The First Dimension was the Impetus of Creation. The Second Dimension was the Impetus of Life.

    What had Adrin said about the latterбн? He had said that it was both one instant and all instants, a line that touched all thingsбн

    How could a single human body match this level of grandeur?

    Thinking of the Dimensional Levels as perfectly analogous to real Dimensions was the wrong way of thinking, they were at most approximations. The more talented you were, the better your approximation, but Leonel didn''t believe any normal living being could ever match existence, that was simply impossible.

    Ultimately, the body would forever be limited by the Third Dimension. Alone, it could not access the more fundamental Dimensions, even the Regulator could not return to the First Dimension.

    While you could rely on your body and affinities as an approximation, the only way to truly match the grandeur of the Dimensional Verse was to Fold your Force was to reach a point where your Force Manipulation reached this untouchable levelбн a level only the Regulator could exist withinбн and maybe, ultimately, a level even the Regulator could not reach.

 Chapter 1922 1922 States

    1922 States

    Adrin fell into silence. The glow in Leonel''s gaze was almost blinding, he could practically see the thoughts flying behind it.

    Currently, Leonel was doing something most couldn''t fathom. He was restricting his entire thought process and flipping his former ideologies on their heads. While it was possible that Adrin''s explanations were limited and incomplete, Leonel felt that they were very close to the reality, so much so that he acted on them almost immediately.

    With the shift in ideology, Leonel could almost feel his body becoming lighter and stronger. Even without new comprehensions, he felt that the road forward was clearer and his comprehension of the Runes he had grasped shifted and changed, becoming stronger.

    The Ninth Dimensional complete Runes that were within his Innate Node now only represented superficial scaffolding, if he really wanted to make perfect use of them, he had to comprehend them and then shrink them until only one simple rune remained... the very rune that would have been the Impetus of Creation for this Force.

    The glow in Leonel''s eyes slowly faded, but the sharpness within them didn''t vanish entirely.

    His gaze shifted, landing on Adrin.

    "Tell me what else you know"

    "I... I only know the general path, but it''s all very vague and I don''t have in-depth information about any of it."

    "That''s fine, just explain."

    "The first Dimensional Fold level is the Unfurled State. Usually, it''s only attainable by either reaching the equivalent Dimension of your Force''s Grade, having an equivalent Dimensional Grade Affinity, forming a Star with it, or by having an Innate Node, though the latter three often come hand in hand. Only when you have full access to your Force can the next step begin."

    Leonel listened intently, his gaze focused. It seemed that even if you wanted to take the route of Force Manipulation to make up for your lack of talent, you still had to reach a certain level first.

    But then again, there was nothing stopping you from choosing to focus on a Fourth Dimensional Force in the beginning, and then switching to a related Force in the future. That way, you would always be able to keep up with those in your generation.

    Leonel didn''t know it, but he had just casually thought of something quite profound, the foundation of this thought would result in many changes in the future.

    "To step beyond the Unfurled State is something that most will never accomplish in their lifetimes, it takes a certain level of genius to take even half a step out of it, let alone stepping out entirely."

    Leonel chuckled. "Is that what they told you?"

    Adrin froze when he heard this, looking into Leonel''s eyes.

    "If it was really so difficult, why would they put so much effort into hiding it?

    I bet if you told 10 people these methods, seven or eight of them would be able to make it out. Whether they''d be able to make it further, though..."

    Suddenly, Adrin felt a light of hope. Indeed, that was something they had told him. But if it was so difficult, this sort of secrecy wouldn''t be necessary.

    It seemed that despite tacitly allowing his knowledge of this matter, they still took the steps to dampen his spirits, and he had fallen for it so easily.

    Adrin seemed to relax, the resistance he had had against Leonel seemingly vanishing into thin air.

    "Beyond the Unfurled State is what''s known as the Layered State.

    Depending on the level of the Force, it will have more or less of these Layered States, and also depending on its strength, moving through these Layers will give you varied results.

    "The number of Layers is dependent on the difference between your Force''s Dimensional Grade and the Sixth Dimension.

    "Forces at and lower than the Sixth Dimension all have just a single Layer.

    For every step above the Sixth Dimension, there is an additional Layer for a maximum of Four Dimensional Layers at the Ninth Dimension."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Why the Sixth Dimension?"

    "These are details I do not know... But there should be something special about the Sixth and Ninth Dimensions Respectively, it''s likely related to the fact life starts at the Third Dimension..."

    "The Fourth Dimensional Layer unique to Ninth Dimensional Forces is also unique as well, and these things are probably related. It''s probably more accurate to say that there are Three potential Layers and a Fourth bonus Layer known as the Transcendent Layer... But my sister only vaguely told me about these things as she doesn''t understand the details either."

    "Either way, the Sixth Dimension is the first hallmark and the Third Dimension is the second."

    "The first state is the Unfurled State, the second is the Layered State, and the third is the Impetus State. You are probably right about them fooling me with the truth of the Unfurled State, but according to my little sister, she has only ever heard of Eighth Dimensional existences even getting close to the Impetus State. And reaching the Impetus State is the requirement to enter the Ninth Dimension..."

    Leonel nodded slowly.

    Returning your Force to the Third Dimension was technically the theoretical limit of humans and all races in general. The foundation of the body was rooted in the Third Dimension and building began from there, so the Impetus State could be considered the Perfect Stage.

    "With the Layered State... it depends. But usually, only absolute geniuses Seventh Dimensional experts would reach Perfection. Of course, reaching Perfection varies depending on the Force in question. Normally, just being in the Layered State at all and taking a step or two makes you elite within the Seventh Dimension."

    "If you reach the Half-Step Layered State, or, in other words, take a half step out of the Unfurled State, you should be considered among the 1% of the 1% of the Sixth Dimension. This is about the general difficulty..."

    "As for beyond that... It''s basically unheard of. They call them the Life State and finally the Creation State, as you''ve probably guessed. They''re related to the Second Dimension and First Dimension respectively."

    "There is probably no one who has entered the Creation State. As for the Life State, there is probably only a handful of existences even within the Four Great Families. In fact, if I had to guess, there is probably only one per family..."

    "As for the Creation State... The only existences who stand a chance are probably in the Spiritual Race, no other Race stands a chance..."

    Leonel''s gaze practically shone.

 Chapter 1923 1923 States

    1923 States

    Leonel exhaled as he finished restructuring his approach. His Dream World shifted and became more complex, his simulations becoming more perfect as his comprehension of the Dimensions deepened.

    At that moment, a surge of Star Force rotated around Leonel, although it seemed like he was still talking to Adrin, with every moment, he seemed to improve by leaps and bounds. Although this didn''t cause huge fundamental changes to his overall strength, the bottlenecks that lay ahead of him seem to unlock one after another, loosening as though a zipper being separated.

    A sense of enlightenment hovered above Leonel''s head and his comprehension of the Sixth Dimensional layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] accelerated until suddenly he grasped it all. He had yet to even practice the Sixth Dimensional Layer, and yet it was suddenly all so clear to him.

    At the same time, he caught a faint look at the Seventh Dimensional layer, deducing its earlier portions vaguely despite having never laid eyes on it before.

    Leonel''s hair fluttered. Despite sitting in place and never moving, Adrin suddenly found it difficult to focus on his figure. Leonel seemed both there and not there at all, as though he had entirely fused into the world. The cognitive dissonance between what his eyes were seeing and what his senses could track made him dizzy. He was forced to blink several times, but even then he couldn''t seem to get rid of that feeling.

    Leonel didn''t notice Adrin''s oddity at all, or rather he was simply not paying attention to it as he continued to deduce.

    ''Vital Star Force... Should be in the Unfurled State...''

    Leonel felt that he was close to taking a half step out of the Unfurled State with his Vital Star Force, but he wasn''t quite there yet.

    This somewhat surprised him. He thought he had made great progress with it, especially after scanning the Mantra and rebuilding his Divine Armor. But it seemed that he had made an incorrect assumption. He still had a small way to go.

    If he had to pin it down, if the Unfurled State was separated into Lower, Middle, Perfect and finally Half-Step, he was currently at Perfect.

    His Fire Force, in general, was at a Half-Step Layered State, a step above his Vital Star Force. However, his Scarlet Star Force was, once again, at the Perfect Unfurled State. This had little to do with his own advancement and was entirely related to his Innate Nodes. With them, he had practically always been at this level. Of course, that was if he circulated his Scarlet Star Force through his Innate Nodes first.

    This went to show just how difficult it was to Dimensional Fold Ninth Dimensional Forces. But now that his approach had changed, Leonel felt that the path forward was much clearer.

    What surprised him even further was that his Void Star Force was also in a Perfect Unfurled State. He had formed two Stars with them, so this made sense according to the information that Adrin had given him. But, something felt off.

    ''The Scarlet Star Force I use from my Innate Nodes is far more powerful than the Void Star Force I use from my Stars... So how are they at the same level?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he looked toward his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node and he noticed the same thing.

    First Layered State.

    ''I see...''

    Leonel suddenly understood. The abilities of an Innate Node were more than he had known previously, but this made sense. Not only did Innate Nodes give him high affinity, but they also gave a boost to Force Manipulation.

    Without his Innate Node, his Emulation Spatial Force was at Half-Step Layered State, but with it, it crossed the barrier.

    As for his Scarlet Star Force, it was at the Perfect Unfurled State, and it inched toward Half-Step Layered State thanks to his Innate Nodes.

    ''And if I...''

    Leonel circulated the Force from his much larger Innate Node and he felt like he was almost burned up.

    ''As expected... Not just First Layered State, but Second Layered State. It''s actually so much more powerful... If only it didn''t also want to kill me...''

    The gap between Unfurled and Layered was so large that his smaller Innate Node couldn''t help his Scarlet Star Force cross even a half step. However, his larger Innate Node was such an anomaly that it crossed not just a half step, but two complete steps!

    As for his Emulation Spatial Force, the reason it was at the First Layered State was because Leonel could naturally enter the Half-Step Layered State on his own, and the reason for that was because...

    ''My Dream Force... First Layered State, already approaching the Second Layered State of Four...''

    Dream Force was a Ninth Dimensional Force, and Leonel''s comprehension of it had greatly deepened in recent days. If it wasn''t for the fact that Dream Force was only a small portion of Emulation Spatial Force, with the help of his Innate Node, he wouldn''t just be at the First Layered State, he might already be able to use it at the Second Layered State, and unlike his Scarlet Star Force, it wouldn''t be trying to kill him.

    It seemed that the Runes on his Innate Nodes weren''t useless, they served a real purpose, but in the end he would stil have to ultimately rely on himself.

    Even so, Innate Nodes were a huge advantage.

    Now that Leonel understood Dimensional Folding and how the process worked and wasn''t moving around blindly, he could use his Innate Nodes like a guiding light in the dark. Every step forward he took, his Innate Nodes would show him where to place his foot down next.

    If he approached things like this, his improvement would be impossibly fast!

    In fact, he could already feel it.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered and the heat around him suddenly skyrocketed.

    Adrin inched back in his cell, trying to distance himself, but he still felt as though layers of his skin were being peeled off.

    Suddenly, the heat vanished entirely and Runes began to dance in Leonel''s irises.

    He could now use his Scarlet Star Force at a Half-Step Layered State level relying on his smaller Innate Node.

 Chapter 1924 1924 A Way

    1924 A Way

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he reeled in his Force, controlling it until the heat vanished entirely.

    According to Adrin, entering the Half-Step Layered State placed him within the top percentile of Sixth Dimensional existences. However, Leonel didn''t know whether this was a measure of the four Great Families alone, or if it was the entirety of the Dimensional Verse.

    If it was the four Great Families alone, then it might be slightly more impressive. But if it was the Dimensional Verse as a whole, this likely meant that there were a few geniuses out there who could defeat him within the Sixth Dimension.

    Leonel felt that it was more appropriate to lean toward the latter. As he had deduced earlier, stepping into the Layered State wasn''t impossible so long as you had the patience and the knowledge, this was why the four Great Families wanted to hide its truth to begin with.

    This more than likely meant that while it was rare, it wasn''t exceptionally so to be at Leonel''s level. The only advantage Leonel had was his larger Scarlet Star Innate Node which allowed him to touch the Second Layered State of Four, but using it was like a double edged blade.

    At the same time, Leonel understood that in order to reach the level Wise Star Order had spoken about within a hundred years and save himself from being devoured by his own Innate Node, he would need to reach the Impetus Stage, only that way could he fully control his Innate Node. Beyond that would be the cherry on the sundae.

    ''Then... How does Weapon Force fit into all of this...?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he focused on his Spear Force and Weapon Force, trying to catch a glimpse at something. A mysterious feeling gripping his heart.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s pupils constricted. ''Second Layered State.''

    There was something very special here, though. Observing it with his new perspective, Leonel felt something special. He could suddenly feel the effect his Sovereignty had for the very first time. If before it had been an intangible existence, it now felt like a real force he could move and control.

    This wasn''t due to him becoming a True Sovereign, if it was, Leonel would have sensed it before. This change had specifically come with his change in perspective.

    Much like his Innate Node, his Sovereignty seemed capable of increasing his control and extending his Dimensional Folding ability. This was the most clear with Weapon Forces because from what Leonel could tell, it was reliant on his current Dimensional level.

    Because he was in the Sixth Dimension, and his Spear Force was likewise in the Sixth Dimension, under his perfect control, he was granted a First Layered State. Due to his Sovereignty, he was given an entire level more, and thus gained the Second Layered State.

    If Leonel entered the Seventh Dimension right this moment and his Spear Force remained in the Sixth Dimension, it would enter the Third Layered State.

    If he was in the Sixth Dimension and his Spear Force improved to the Seventh Dimension, he would fall to the First Layered State.

    If he moved into the Seventh Dimension with his Spear Force, then it would remain at the Second Layered State.

    This was Leonel''s general comprehension after some experimentation. He was essentially being forced to balance the quality of his weapon Force with his level of control over it.

    The more he suppressed his weapon Force, the greater extent of control his Sovereignty would have over it, and thus the higher state he would be able to force his Force Manipulation into.

    However, the obvious tradeoff was that his weapon Force would remain the equivalent of weaker Forces.

    This realization gave a whole new meaning to Nelligan''s words previously...

    What if a Suppressor was an individual who understood this fact intimately and chose to purposely suppress their weapon Forces so that they could gain greater and greater control over them?

    If Leonel had maintained his Spear Force at the Fifth Dimension, then right now it would be in the Third Layered State, when he stepped into the Seventh Dimension, it would enter the Fourth Layered State, and then finally, when he entered the Eighth Dimension, he would be able to enter the Impetus State and thus reach the requirements necessary for entering the Ninth Dimension in a single step!

    Leonel hadn''t known this before... but even though he was now aware of it, he didn''t regret his decision to form Sixth Dimensional Spear and Bow Force.

    There had to be another way... Leonel didn''t believe that this was the only way. He didn''t believe that something as fundamental as weapon Forces would be limited to such an extent.

    There was definitely a method of both raising your Spear Force to the Ninth Dimension and Dimensional Folding it down to the Impetus State and even beyond. Leonel didn''t have any tangible evidence for this, but he believed that such a path had to exist.

    Leonel suddenly remembered how when he first learned Spear Force, he had wanted to find his own path, even to the point where he had refused to learn even the names of the higher states of Force.

    Of course, now that he had read through the entire Void Library, this information was impossible for him to have skipped over, but thinking back to that mentality he had had, Leonel quite liked it.

    Suddenly, Leonel pierced out with two fingers. The sound of splitting wind echoed, but before it faded, he had already pierced out again.

    Swift.

    Leonel''s brows trembled.

    Forceful.

    His heart skipped a beat.

    Aland of blood rivers appeared to Leonel''s back, his change in aura causing Adrin to bite his lips so hard that he drew blood himself, but this blood, under some sort of odd magnetic force, rushed toward Leonel''s pointed finger, turning his Spear Force scarlet red.

    But this only lasted for a moment before the world fell into complete silence, a melody played by the beating of Adrin''s heart being all that remained.

    Leonel went through all three stages of his grandfather''s spear mastery until the final, ultimate step.

    In that final moment, pushing everything to the limit, his Spear Force crossed that barrier, transcending the Second Layered State and entering the Third.

    As expected, there really was a way.

 Chapter 1925 1925 Choice

    1925 Choice

    A combination of Leonel''s personal skill, his personal affinity and likely his Lineage Factor gave him access to the First Layered State. His Sovereignty gave him a step above that, allowing him to enter the Second Layered State.

    And, finally, perfecting his grandfather''s way of the spear gave him an entire level above that, allowing him to enter the Third Layered State.

    If Leonel suppressed his Spear and Bow Force from now on, this would mean that he would be able to replicate the feat of those who suppressed their weapon Forces at the Fifth Dimension, but this time with a Sixth Dimensional Force. This would mean that he would be able to suppress a Suppressor with his Spear Force alone should they be at the same level. In fact, suppression might be too benign a word to describe the level of advantage Leonel would have.

    However, Leonel wasn''t satisfied with just this alone. If his grandfather''s way of the spear was worth an entire State, then if he improved upon it further, there should definitely be more to gain. Leonel had already made progress on the next step, and if he could elevate it to the Fourth Layered State, there would be another qualitative change.

    ''But then what about Destruction Sovereignty...?''

    Leonel tried to access it like he had with his Spear and Bow Force, but for some reason, no matter how much he tried, it was all useless. He couldn''t seem to sense it at all, even with the changed state of his mind. He simply didn''t have an explanation for it.

    Leonel sat in silence for a while before he threw it to the back of his mind, beginning to test his weapon Forces in other ways. He began to fuse his other Forces into it, testing its limits and trying out what differences there might be.

    He realized quickly that fusing his Spear Force with Forces he had less control over lowered his ability to Dimensional Fold. Even when he circulated his grandfather''s methods, it was impossible to maintain the Third Layered State.

    However, it wasn''t all bad. Using a higher Dimensional Force like his Scarlet Star Force elevated his Spear Force that it mitigated the loss in control. The ultimate result was comparable and sometimes even faintly stronger than just relying on a Third Layered State.

    This made Leonel even more determined to refine his own way of the spear.

    A higher Force Manipulation didn''t always make you invincible, though it did go a long way. If you faced someone in a higher Dimension, using higher Dimensional Forces, you could still lose.

    Force Manipulation was a force multiplier, but it had its limits, limits one had to push to the greatest extent to give themselves the best chance to claim victory.

    Leonel suddenly stood to his feet, exhaling a breath. He still had many questions, but his heart felt light.

    After some thought, he waved a hand and the chains binding Adrin''s wrists unlocked, though the ones on his ankles remained. Once he was done, he walked away. He had no intention of releasing Adrin anytime soon, but he would allow him to be more comfortable. The information the latter had given him was more valuable than maybe even Adrin himself knew, and it would become the foundation for the nightmare of the four Great Families.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed brighter with every step he took. These Heir Wars would be fun, he wouldn''t let anyone stand in the way of him taking over the Morales family. And very soon, no one would be able to stop him from unifying the whole of the Human Domain and the Dimensional Verse beyond.

    A dense purple glow flourished around him.

    **

    Adawarth finished his explanation, looking forward with a light smile on his face. His expression seemed light and carefree without the slightest hint of worry. He had explained this quite simply, but the true danger of that realm wouldn''t be felt until everyone stepped within.

    "If there''s nothing else, then this meeting can be adjourned," Adawarth said with a smile. "The Heir Wars will begin a year from now."

    Adawarth''s smile didn''t waver after he said this, but the eyes of many narrowed. This time was clearly an attempt to buy time, but with the arrogant momentum of the Morales, no one dared to say anything for now...

    Except the one person who had nearly ruined everything to begin with.

    "A moment.

    The words seemed to be a request, but the inflection carried an undeniable weight. At the same time, the voice was soft, soothing and bone melting, and yet carried a sternness that was impossible to refute.

    The only person present who could balance such things was the Scorned Queen Beauty, Cynthia Omann.

    Seemingly without a need to wait to make sure others were listening, and her eyes half closed, Cynthia began to speak lightly.

    "A year is excessive. The Heir Wars will decide the direction of the Human Domain as it faces threats from all sides, too much can happen in this time.

    A month is already too long, but I feel that it''s the most appropriate given the circumstances.

    "Second, you are free to feel indignant for your treatment, but your indignance is irrelevant to me. The facts as they are laid out seem to bear out that the Morales want a monopoly on Earth, whether you claim this isn''t your intention doesn''t matter, this will be functionally the case.

    "I can only speak for myself, but I will be sending participants with the sole purpose of ensuring that one Leonel Morales does not gain control of the Morales family, and should I sense the Morales family pulling strings to ensure his victory, I will act with the appropriate swiftness.

    "I see these Heir Wars as the only method of maintaining the decorum of the Human Domain and not crippling a family that has existed since our beginning. I hope you can see those efforts and respond in kind. If the Morales family is truly sincere, you would remove the child''s right to participate in the first place. If you do that, the Omann family and the Guild Alliance will withdraw from this affair.

    "If you insist on your ways, however, then we can only press forward with this farce and the Morales will lose a young genius.

    "The choice is yours."

    After she said these words, Cynthia floated into the skies. She didn''t seem to move very fast, and yet after a single blink, she had already appeared on her own flagship, disappearing a few moments later.

    When an Eighth Dimensional existence spoke, the agreement of others wasn''t needed.

    Her meaning was very clear.

    Accept her demands or the Omann family and their alliance would declare war.

    A cloud of dancing lightning began to slowly manifest above Alejandro''s head, his temper threatening to flare out of control.

 Chapter 1926 Escalation

    The rumbling thunder above Alejandro''s head suddenly expanded as he slowly stood to his feet. Arcs of lightning rushed through his pupils, the pillar beneath his suddenly cracking and nearly fracturing.

    "Good, good... Good."

    Alejandro raised his hands and the skies darkened instantly. Cynthia, who had just stepped on her flagship, paused, though she didn''t turn back. Her dress fluttered in the wind, oddly peaceful compared to the raging storm rising around her.

    "If you want the Morales family to lower their heads, you''re all more foolish than I thought."

    Alejandro''s voice crackled and boomed, the weather itself echoing his words across the horizon. It felt like in that moment, everyone in the solar system could hear his voice.

    "Then wait for war," Cynthia said lightly, prepared to continue moving.

    "Wait?"

    Alejandro raised his head to the skies, his laughter causing the rumbling black clouds to thicken.

    "Since you all dare to come here in an attempt to humiliate my Morales family, why should you ever think of leaving?

    "Warriors of the Morales family!"

    Alejandro''s voice boomed so loud that even the elders representing exceptional families winced, their ears bleeding beneath the sound and pressure. Their hearts trembled as they realized that the Morales family wasn''t all talk.

    Roars echoed from the planet below.

    Alejandro closed his palm, a mighty spear spiraling with rainbow lightning appearing in his hand. At the same time, the sound of clinking armor echoed and a surge of rainbow lightning seemed to form around his body, forming a radiant armor that sparkled both like rainbow crystals and streaking lightning.

    One after another, thousands began to rise into the skies, the clinking of armor filling the skies as Divine Armors of all kinds manifested. Some rumbled like volcanos, others howled like wind, some were as tall as giants, and others stepped through the air as though it was solid ground, radiating dense Earth Force that steadily increased the gravity of the surroundings.

    "HA!"

    The mixture of those that could rise into the skies and those that couldn''t roared out. The white clouds that had clung to the bottom of the pillars dispersed, revealing a land below filled with men and women rushing to heed Alejandro''s call.

    It was clear at a glance that the Morales family hadn''t planned this in advance. Their gathering army lacked any sort of organization or forethought, but it was precisely this that made the hearts of so many tremble so fiercely.

    They didn''t ask why, they didn''t seek understanding, they didn''t even seem to care if there was a reason at all. The moment they heard their Patriarch''s call, they came out in droves, bloodthirsty lights in their eyes.

    What was even more shocking was the fact that even though they should have known that so many powerhouses were coming today, they hadn''t been on their guard at all. It was as though they had never regarded the rest of the Human Domain as something to take seriously in the first place, their faith in their Morales family was completely infallible.

    It was disregard, complete and utter disregard.

    Compared to any words that Alejandro could speak, this spoke far louder than anything else could have. This was the spirit of the Morales family, and the actions they all had taken in the previous generation to suppress Velasco didn''t seem to have had any effect on the culture of the Morales family at all.

    "Since you all want war, you can have your war right now!"

    Cynthia''s gaze narrowed as she turned back, a hint of surprise in her eyes.

    She was intimately familiar with the Morales family, but it was easy to be madmen when you had the definite upper hand. The fact that they still dared to act like this despite the circumstances made her want to re-evaluate them once again.

    However, she didn''t get the chance to think about this even more, because a moment later, the Morales family surprised her once again.

    BOOM!

    An old man with a fluttering off-white robe appeared high in the skies. His white beard fluttered while his head had not a single strand on it, shimmering almost as bright as the lightning that was still flickering about in the dark clouds.

    He cast an indifferent glance over the region before his gaze landed on Cynthia, causing her expression to become serious for the first time.

    The instant he appeared, two more old men seemed to tear through the void to appear, one appearing behind Amery, and the other appearing behind Nazag. Even so, the Morales Elder in the skies didn''t even glance in their direction.

    "It''s you who wants my Morales family to remove one of our Heirs from contention?"

    Cynthia turned and looked up. Her brows smoothed out and her gaze, as placid as a lake, met that of the Morales Elder.

    "I''ve made my stance clear already, is there a need to repeat? I speak for the Omann family, if the Morales want war, they can have-"

    "Since when was it the Omann family''s place to speak on the affairs of my Morales family?"

    The Morales Elder raised his palm and suddenly grabbed out.

    Cynthia''s pupils constricted. Before the palm even descended, her flagship began to creak and quake.

    Frowning, Cynthia gathered up her Force to counter, but shockingly enough, she found is dispersing before she could fully gather it up. Cynthia realized at that moment that she couldn''t fight back at all.

    Just when it seemed that she would be captured, a surging aura came from a pendant around her neck.

    "Aren''t you too shameless attacking a junior like this, Alvaro?"

    "A junior? So is that the excuse now? A moment ago, she was the speaker of the Omann family, but now she''s an insignificant character? Someone will have to pay for this, and if you stand in the way, it will be you, Radrian!"

    BANG!

    The slowly forming image of Radrian Omann shattered under Ancestor Alvaro''s pressure. However, in its place, a swirling portal appeared.

    Radrian stepped across the void, raising a wrinkled hand to struggle against Alvaro''s might.

    At that moment, everyone seemed to understand that the situation had escalated to a point of no return.

    Two Ancestors had not only appeared, but were now exchanging blows.

 Chapter 1927 Never Again

    BOOM!

    Ancestor Radrian stepped out completely, his bent arm extending fully and a rush of Force beat back Ancestor Alvaro''s Force and eventually dispersed it.

    Ancestor Radrian''s expression darkened. "Is this really what you want to do, Alvaro?"

    Ancestor Alvaro stood in the skies, the intent in his gaze blazing. With a wave of his hand, he pulled out a bronze spear with a menacing blade.

    Almost instantly, the howl of Spear Force sundered the skies, a violent swirl of sharp Force stinging the eyes of all those who owere foolish enough to look directly at it.

    "The Morales family will not take a step back!"

    Alvaro slammed the butt of his spear downward, causing cracks to appear in the air as though reality itself was shattering akin to fragile glass. With a flick of his wrist, he brandished his spear, crossing the distance between himself and Radrian.

    Radrian had no choice but to respond in kind, a dozen circular blades appearing around him. Three took form along each one of his forearms, the rest shooting forward and surrounding Alvaro.

    A hint of solemness pressed down between Radrian''s brows. No one had expected the Morales to truly take things this far. They had all underestimated the kind of fury they had all held in their hearts the last time something like this had happened.

    The previous generation of Morales was too powerful, and their head was even more so. It was widely accepted that if nothing was done to dull their momentum and blades, the result would be the unification of the Human Domain under the Morales family.

    In truth, the Omann family had had little to do with what happened back then. With Cynthia being the assumed soon-to-be wife of Velasco, the prosperity of the Morales would be their prosperity. At least, that was what it seemed to be on the surface... Radrian was quite aware that there were many in the Omann family that felt that a genius like Cynthia should remain within their family, allowing her to marry into the Morales would be as good as giving away a future pillar of their family.

    Back then, something similar had happened. Many refused to allow Velasco to become the Patriarch of the Morales family. Velasco had never cared or wanted the position to begin with, so he had never intended on it to begin with.

    However, right on the heels of that, Ishmael, Leonel''s grandfather, was killed. The fury of the Morales family after this happened was palpable, but after Velasco slaughtered his way into the Void Palace, the entire Human Domain was forced into a tumultuous state and in order to calm things down, the Morales had to settle for the payback Velasco had gotten himself.

    The choice made back then was one no single elder of the Morales was happy with. In fact, some harbored hatred for Velasco, believing that his rash actions back then had disallowed them the opportunity to retaliate properly. This was because no small number of innocents had died under Velasco''s rage back then, if the Morales still pressed forward, reason would have no longer entirely been on their side because many others had suffered.

    In the end, the Morales were forced to swallow their pride once, their bellies suffocating a large fire of fury, one that had been suppressed for many decades.

    Even so, they had all made one decision back then.

    Never again.

    The Human Domain had stepped on the lion''s tail, but now they were surprised by the reaction. Radrian realized this as he exchanged blows with Alvaro, but it was already much too late. They had miscalculated, and it hadn''t been by just a small amount.

    **

    "Shouldn''t you be training right now?"

    Leonel laid atop of Aina, looking into her eyes with a hardly hidden smile.

    "If you want to tap out, just say so."

    Aina looked appalled. "Tap out? If one of us is going to quit first, it''d be you!"

    Leonel laughed. He had done anything in the past several weeks except mess around and roll around in bed with Aina.

    "Very soon, we won''t have time to restt, so we might as well take it now, don''t you think?" Leonel grinned. "Of course, a quitter like you probably sees this as work. I can let the fair maiden off if she really can''t handle it any longer."

    Aina legs suddenly shifted and she pushed off her arms, spinning the two of them until she was the one riding on top. Leonel could feel her walls tightening around him. He seemed to realize that if it wasn''t for his Metal Body, she probably could crush him, and this little vixen seemed to want to remind him of this.

    Aina smiled a wide smile. "You don''t seem to be taking the Heir Wars as seriously as you should. Isn''t this your dream, but look at you now."

    Leonel didn''t seem to be listening as his gaze followed Aina''s swinging breasts, they might as well have been a hypnotist''s pendant with the way they had his attention.

    "My dream? I''m dreaming of something entirely different right about now..."

    Leonel mumbled.

    Aina giggled, leaning forward and smothering Leonel''s face.

    "Yup, definitely a dream..." Leonel nodded to himself seriously, wrapping two arms around Aina''s waist tightly.

    "Look at you, you''re like a child"

    "I''m getting in the mind state necessary for baby number one."

    "You''re supposed to be a parent in that case, not a child."

    "Says who? You be the adult, I''ll be the best friend. Good cop, bad cop, it''s a tale as old as the universe itself!"

    Aina pinched Leonel''s waist. "You want to make our child hate me?"

    "How could they hate you," Leonel reached up and jiggled Aina''s breasts.

    "With food like this everyday, they''ll be grinning from ear to ear."

    Aina laughed and dropped the subject. It seemed that Leonel had no intention of being serious right this moment, so she decided to help his mind relax. Very soon, there really wouldn''t be such an opportunity.

    Lowering her lips, she kissed him before he could let another joke fly. How was she supposed to enjoy herself if she was busy laughing?

 Chapter 1928 Is That All?

    Planet Morales fell into chaos. As Leonel was streaking across the stars, quickly approaching, he had no idea that a war had already broken out on his behalf.

    Leonel had already deduced that the Morales'' attempt to give him more time would fail, which was why he hadn''t decided to stay in Earth''s territory and had instead begun to make his way over immediately. However, what he hadn''t expected was for this to lead to the eruption of a decades'' long suppressed fury.

    The Morales family was intimately familiar with human nature. Taking a step back only made others think they had a license to take more.

    Last time, the Morales family had had no intention of taking the first step back, but Velasco hadn''t cared enough to even fight for it. The result of that were enemies spotting a chink in their armor and taking out a man who had contributed a great deal to their succeed.

    These two things, Velasco''s initial indifference, and his subsequent furious tirade, had caused no small amount of dissatisfaction within the family. But that was one matter, and this was another. It didn''t matter to them who Leonel was, what Lineage he was from... All that mattered was that he had Morales blood, and a step beyond that, that he was one of their Potential Heirs.

    The Morales family''s reverse scale had already been poked at once, they wouldn''t allow it to be poked out again.

    Ancestor Radrian found himself being suffocated. The Morales and the Omann''s might both be Crafting families, but their skill in combat couldn''t be compared. By the third exchange, Radrian was already on his back foot, by the tenth, beads of sweat were falling down his brow.

    The two old men who had appeared to protect Amery and Nazag frowned.

    However, almost the instant they twitched, the skies tore apart and two more older men wearing off-white robes appeared, standing above them.

    Without a word, they waved their palms and their spears appeared, howling Spear Force raging through the skies. By this point, the others could only be thankful that Cynthia had long since removed the gravity formation, or else their only fate would be to die.

    The expressions of Ancestor Suiard and Ancestor Tarius turned ugly. The Morales were truly serious about this.

    The both of them acted quickly, hiding their young geniuses behind them.

    Suddenly, they regretted trying to make a show of force by sending these two forward instead of a pair of elders. If Amery and Nazag died in this battle, it wouldn''t be worth it at all. Cynthia''s words about dead geniuses seemed oh so ironic at this point.

    "Is there a need for this?" Ancestor Suiard asked coldly, his gaze as sharp as a pair of twin swords.

    One of them, an elder who went by Ancestor Ramon, pointed the tip of his spear toward Ancestor Suiard, the battle intent in his gaze blazing.

    "The Suiard family has long since been an eyesore. Slaughtering you here would make my blade sing."

    As though in response, Ancestor Ramon''s spear vibrated wildly, the echo causing both Nazag and Amery to go pale.

    Ancestor Suiard sneered. "The Morales family can''t afford to do this"

    "You have no idea what the Morales family can afford or not. I''ve been waiting decades to say this, but blood begets blood. I don''t know who laid their hands on our brother Ishmael, but the Human Domain hasn''t suffered nearly enough for that.

    Hearing this, Ancestor Suiard''s expression only became uglier.

    If this was really the impetus for the Morales family''s action, then they had had decades to think about this. In that time, they should have cooled off and let more rational thought win, but the opposite had happened instead.

    What kind of trump cards had they prepared for this?

    Just when Ancestor Ramon was about to attack and vent the chest full of fury he had suppressed for so long, a sudden change occurred.

    BOOM!

    Yet another flagship appeared in the skies.

    Ancestor Ramon frowned. ''Shield Cross Stars?''

    This thought only lasted for a moment, though. That was because on the bow of the ship, there was a boy sitting with his feet dangling among the stars, a boy whose face was recognizable to many by now. That was just an inevitable result when you were a Tier 1 Fugitive.

    Leonel blinked, clearly not having expected to see such a shit show. This wasn''t even his real body, it was just a clone he was using to direct the flagship. His true body was still having a grand time, though whether it was a clone or his real body didn''t make much of a difference, after all both were being controlled by the same mind.

    "The hell...?" Leonel mumbled.

    The current Leonel really looked out of place. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but a comfortable pair of sweatpants. He couldn''t be bothered to conjure up anything more complicated for a clone, but this only made things all the more shocking.

    Leonel''s appearance, however, especially for those who thought that he had every intention of stalling and buying as much time as possible caught many off guard, almost more than the fact he dared to appear with a stolen flagship of Shield Cross Stars.

    Cynthia''s gaze drifted over, her expression unreadable.

    Alejandro, who stood in the skies among crackling lightning, also turned over. In fact, even the various Ancestors looked over, after all, this young man was the spark that had started all of this.

    Leonel blinked. He wasn''t one to be shy, but this situation was truly quite weird to him.

    Coughing lightly, he smiled. "Did I come at a bad time?"

    The expressions of many became weird. Of all the responses they had expected, this was definitely the last. Leonel looked slightly uncomfortable, but outside of that, he didn''t seem to feel the pressure of the situation at all.

    Adawarth smiled bitterly. "Little bro, you really did come at a poor time."

    "Oh? What happened?"

    The conversation echoed across the battlefield, the rumbling of the Morales family warriors unable to suppress it entirely. It made sense for a Seventh Dimensional expert like Adawarth to be able to do this, but Leonel being able to...

    "Well..."

    Adawarth looked around. Leonel''s appearance seemed to have caused a small lull, but this couldn''t be helped. The entire surrounded were still quaking due to the appearance of such a large war vessel, it was difficult even for Eighth Dimensional existences to maintain perfect balance currently.

    "... It''s like this..."

    Adawarth decided it wouldn''t do any harm to explain. He still wasn''t a fan of the Morales doing this, although his blood also boiled.

    Leonel''s brow raised after he listened to Adawarth.

    "Is that all?"

    Adawarth frowned, not quite sure how to respond to that.

    "A year really is too long, by then I''ll be in the Seventh Dimension. If we held the Heir Wars then, it wouldn''t have any suspense. What fun would that be?"

    Leonel''s smile was like the summer breeze, his hair dancing gently in a wind that seemed to be of his own creation. The carefree confidence he exuded seemed to sweep away all auras but his own.

 Chapter 1929 Different

    Arrogant.

    For many of the older generation here, this was the very first time they were seeing Leonel. But that smile, that casualness, that indifference in the face of what should have been insurmountable pressure... They had seen it before... And he looked so similar to that person that their images could practically be stacked atop of one another and fused into one.

    For some reason, seeing Leonel''s nonchalant smile, the fury in the eyes of the Ancestors and Alejandro abated, their gazes sparkling.

    Ancestor Alvaro''s wrist trembled once, sending Ancestor Radrian flying back with quite some speed toward the Omann family''s flagship. Then, he raised his head to the skies and laughed uproariously, his laughter echoing all throughout the battlefield.

    In truth, the Ancestors of the Morales family weren''t entirely on board with this. Setting aside the fact that they were still quite furious, Leonel''s words just now might have helped them vent somewhat, but the issue was that it could easily backfire.

    If Leonel actually won, or performed well enough, then his words now would gain them back quite a bit of face. However, if Leonel said all of this just to lose, and in terrible fashion at that, then it would only be worse for the Morales family from then on.

    Starting the war right here and now was preferable for multiple reasons.

    For one, there was the matter of momentum. Scheming and planning was just as important in war as the charisma of one''s leaders and the heart of one''s warriors. The morale of the troops was an often forgotten staple of victory, only the most foolish of commanders would treat their armies like numbers on a sheet.

    Right this moment, the momentum was on the side of the Morales. If they chose to take a step back, gathering up the fire they had in their bellies currently would be very difficult.

    The second reason was even more obvious, and that was because they could deal a decisive blow to all of their enemies right here and now. There were three Ancestors present, three men that these families would ache to lose.

    And beyond that, there was Cynthia, a talent the likes of which only Velasco had ever been able to suppress.

    If she was crippled or even killed, this was a blow that the Omann family would find incredibly difficult to deal with. The one thing the Omann family lacked was powerful combat power, if Cynthia grew to the point of her Ancestors, one would be hard pressed to defeat her without dozens at the same level.

    On the other hand, if Leonel won despite the odds stacked against him and became the new Patriarch of the Morales family, things would change.

    The war felt inevitable at this point, but the momentum they would have in this latter case would be even more than what they had now, not to mention the fact that they would also gain the support of Earth at the same time.

    While that might not be worth much now, in the future...

    The gain in morale and momentum, not to mention the suppression of the other families, would result in nothing but benefits. If this future was guaranteed, it would definitely be the preferred path, especially since if Leonel became the Patriarch, that lone wolf Velasco wouldn''t be able to be so casual with his actions any longer and he might finally return like he should have long ago.

    Truthfully, it was only because Velasco''s movements, whereabouts, and current strength were so unknown that these families chose to be so bold.

    Some thought he was beneath Cynthia after spending so long on Earth and thus wasn''t a worry at all. Some thought he was at best equivalent to Cynthia, making him a slight worry, but nothing much in the grand scheme.

    Very few knew his real strength, if not because of the event that occurred in the Void Palace, these people would have been even more casual.

    Humans were forgetful creatures.

    The Morales Ancestors didn''t know if Leonel realized these truths or if he was just speaking like a normal hot blooded youth. If it was the latter, it was acceptable enough, he had proved himself to be a Morales. If it was the former, however...

    This boy was no less arrogant than his father.

    "Boy, do you know what you are asking for?" Ancestor Alvaro looked down with a smile. He was one of the elders who disliked Velasco greatly, but he didn''t seem to transfer that dislike toward Leonel at all.

    Leonel looked up and smiled, but he didn''t seem to feel like answering. He had made his stance quite clear.

    Ancestor Alvaro nodded once and his gaze suddenly became malevolent, a suffocating pressure falling down toward Leonel.

    "Will you win?!"

    The voice cracked like thunder and rumbled like an earthquake. Those in the distance who thought that they had put enough of a gap between themselves and the battlefield suddenly exploded back in retreat once again, coughing up large amounts of blood.

    Despite the fact that the voice was aimed toward him, Leonel''s smile didn''t fade.

    "Winning is all I do."

    Leonel''s voice was much softer than Alvaro''s, but it was just as clearly heard, riding the waves and projecting to the world.

    Ancestor Alvaro''s malevolent expression slowly faded and he nodded one final time.

    SHIIIIING!

    At that moment, the sound of a howling sword Force also rose. Amery, who stood behind his Ancestor, looked toward Leonel with his same indifferent glance.

    He slowly unsheathed a sword, the howling only becoming louder and louder as he pulled it from its sheath.

    Ancestor Alvaro looked toward this with an indifferent gaze. If Leonel couldn''t deal with this much, then there wasn''t much of a point to allowing him to participate in the first place. In fact, seeing this, it was Ancestor Suiard who frowned, but it was already too late to stop him. If he did, he would be dampening his own family genius'' momentum.

    "All you do is win? I seem to remember different."

    Amery''s sword fully unsheathed, a howling Sword Force splitting the air in two as he surged toward Leonel.

 Chapter 1930 Belong

    The sword howl caused many to narrow their gazes. Even amongst the weaker older generation, they felt the need to take this attack seriously.

    They couldn''t fathom how someone in the Sixth Dimension could possibly deal with such a strike. In fact, they didn''t know many Seventh Dimensional existences in Tier 1 that could deal with it, not without ending up in a sorry mess, that is.

    However, Leonel''s smile didn''t fade. In fact, he didn''t even move.

    A shadow seemed to appear from Leonel''s side.

    James seemed to come from nowhere. Placing a foot on the rail of the flagship, he reached out a palm toward the coming sword blade.

    Many frowned when they saw this, did this young man want to lose his hand? But something most couldn''t have expected occurred.

    BANG!

    James'' fingers clawed downward, grabbing the golden Sword Force and squeezing down.

    The sound of shattering glasses echoed as the Sword Force dispersed into a whirlwind, the bits and shards echoing into the distance.

    Many stunned gazes landed on James. His hand was uninjured, there wasn''t even the slightest scratch on it. It seemed that he had casually dealt with it without even the slightest discomfort.

    "How rude," James clicked his tongue. "What are you doing attacking a clone like that? If you''re mad, wait till you''re face to face. Doing things like this just makes you seem petty."

    It was only after James said it that everyone seemed to realize that the current Leonel lacked something. This wasn''t something others could normally see through, but with the number of Eighth Dimensional existences here, there were no small number of them that could see the difference. Fooling the eyes of such experts was especially difficult, especially when they knew what they were looking for.

    It was no wonder they couldn''t sense Leonel''s exact Tier. Most had assumed that he was speaking nonsense when he said that he could enter the Seventh Dimension in a year. But if his clone was powerful to the extent of fooling so many eyes, then what about his real body?

    But even more importantly than that... Amery was a genius that many knew of. In fact, he was well known as the first since Velasco and Cynthia to be at such a level. So who was this young man who could resolve his attack with a hand?

    Just as many were lost in thought, another figure suddenly appeared. It was a young woman with a body filled with hidden and explosive muscles. She appeared by Leonel''s side with a hint of fury in her eyes, her hair fluttering with Blade Force.

    Emna reached a finger forward and tapped at the air.

    At that moment, a blade howl the likes of which didn''t seem to lose out to Amery in the slightest appeared, concentrating on her fingertip with a radiant golden light.

    Amery''s eyes narrowed, however an instant later, his pupils constricted.

    Without hesitation, he unsheathed his second blade, taking a step forward and swinging.

    BANG! BANG!

    Amery''s arms trembled and he was forced to take a step back. His eyes widened and released a low roar, his aura flourishing as he resolved the attack. Even so, he was forced to take yet another step back.

    James winced. "Oof, that''s a little bit embarrassing"

    Amery had attacked Leonel, and yet the result was one of Leonel''s men resolving it with ease, and a second one of Leonel''s men forcing him back.

    For someone who had such an undefeated legend, if this wasn''t embarrassing, then nothing else could be.

    The worst part was that no one seemed to recognize who these two people were. They were complete unknowns and only one of them seemed to have the aura of Earth, something the powerhouses were only now becoming familiar with. That meant that using Earth as an excuse didn''t seem to be enough...

    Emna didn''t seem satisfied, and wanted to attack again, but before she could, Leonel raised a hand.

    Seeing this, Emna didn''t hesitate to take a step back, her obedience making the striking difference all the more obvious.

    Ancestor Alvaro nodded inwardly. It seemed that there was a difference between Leonel and his father after all. While they were both extremely arrogant, Velasco was not a leader and never had an interest in it. Leonel, however... It seemed that he was quite capable.

    "You remember different, hm?" Leonel smiled. "Funny words coming from someone who couldn''t withstand a few arrows."

    Amery stabilized himself, his gaze still tranquil as he looked up toward Leonel.

    Amery stabilized himself, his gaze still tranquil as he looked up toward Leonel.

    "But I don''t really feel like rehashing the past. Since everyone is here, I think that there''s something far more important to talk about, don''t you think?"

    "What compensation do you all plan to give me?"

    The eyes of many narrowed, the atmosphere falling into silence.

    "Hm? Nothing?" Leonel chuckled. "Feigning ignorance is fine if your goal is to only seem more like a worthless bunch of elitists, even more so than your actions today would suggest. None of you find it funny that the geniuses you''re sending forward to participate in the Heirs Wars wouldn''t even be here to participate if not for me?"

    "The Morales family shares my blood and they don''t hesitate to step out to protect me. But what are the rest of you worth to me?"

    By this point, it was all too obvious what Leonel was referring to. Faced with this, there was little they could say.

    "It''s funny. I should have returned a hero, but the first thing that happened to me when I returned to the Void Palace was an interrogation and pressure to hand in a method that was mine to begin with."

    "Fine, that much is fine. My research and results could be game changing for the Human Domain, I might be inclined to help out if the feeling was reciprocated. But not long after that, Shield Cross Stars came to arrest me as though I truly was a fugitive."

    "As though that wasn''t enough, I''m also now suddenly a ticking time bomb that needs to be dealt with just because I have Fawkes and Morales blood coursing within me."

    Leonel''s smile suddenly faded, a dense violet fog exuding from him and enveloping the flagship.

    "My patience is very limited and my temper isn''t good."

    "I''ll tell you all right now, since you don''t want to acknowledge the fact so many of you owe your lives to me, I''ll keep count of the debt myself. I don''t have a need for your pity."

    "I''ll collect those debts back one by one. If you dare to send your geniuses in, I''ll dare to kill them. If you send in one, I will kill one. If you send in ten, I will kill ten."

    "As many come is as many as you''ll lose. Consider it as a repayment of your debt."

    "Your lives belonged to me to begin with."

    Leonel rose to his feet.

    These people thought that he was some sort of live target that they could casually hunt. It was only right that they came to understand how he saw things, that they came to understand the reality of things.

    He wasn''t the prey, they were. He wasn''t the hunted, they were.

    He was half Morales but no less of a madman.

    [There might, potentially, be no third chapter today. If there is one, it will be much much later. I will try my best, sorry everyone. This month and next month will be quite hectic for me]

 Chapter 1931 Question

    Leonel stood up with a calm expression on his face. He hadn''t said these words for the sake of these people feeling remorse, that would be nothing short of naive. He didn''t want anything from these people, in fact, if they folded now and acquiesced to such a demand, it would only disappoint him.

    This fury in his belly had to be directed somewhere, and he wanted the target to be solid, not some soft cloud.

    He understood human psychology well. Doing something might be impactful, but saying you would do something and then doing it would be doubly so.

    He wanted these people to feel suffocated, he wanted them to watch their geniuses with despair clear on their faces, and yet feel somewhere deep within their hearts that it was all their fault from the very beginning.

    Leonel swept a gaze over the surroundings. He could see the various responses to his words, some were enraged, some sneered, some didn''t bother to hide their disdain. However, regardless of the reaction, he met it calmly, his own confidence shining through.

    His eyes landed on Cynthia for a moment before he turned away and moved to return toward his flagship. This woman, he was glad she was unscathed. If she was acting out of some sort of animosity, it would be his mother who put her in her place.

    As Leonel clone dissipated, the uproarious laughter of the three Morales Ancestors echoed through the skies.

    "You''ve heard the brat, a month from now, those of you who still dare can make your way to the execution grounds."

    Ancestor Alvaro took a step and vanished after saying these words. Like this, the Domain War was cut short before it truly came into being. All those present knew that things wouldn''t end so simply, and that at this point, war was practically inevitable.

    These Heirs Wars had suddenly gone from a method of potentially avoiding war to a fight for momentum... Whoever came out on top would have an upper hand when the pot finally began to boil over...

    **

    A day later, Leonel walked into a grand hall holding Aina''s hand. He looked up, craning his neck just to catch a glimpse of a ceiling that must have been at least a hundred meters up. He had never been in such a grand place and he had to admit that the crafting specialty of the Morales family truly shone here.

    He smiled lightly and looked forward, meeting Patriarch Alejandro''s gaze.

    Alejandro smiled widely and he seemed to be in a very good mood, a far cry from the mood he had been in recent months. There was a point where he just wanted to leave and start a massacre of his own, but duty and responsibility weighed him down quite heavily.

    "Littlest Nova, you wanted to see me?" Alejandro asked. "Ah, and this is Aina Brazinger, I gather? Look at this, Adawarth. Leonel has already found his life partner, and what about you? You''re almost double his age by now and still single, what am I going to do with you?"

    Adawarth coughed. It wasn''t that he didn''t like women, but the one he wanted a bit... stubborn. There wasn''t much he could do about this, he wasn''t as lucky as Leonel.

    Seeing that he had done his parental duty of embarrassing his son in front of company, Alejandro laughed heartily and invited Leonel and Aina forward.

    "I did want to see you," Leonel said with a smile, bringing out the Segmented Cube and the Spear Domain Ring. "These two things are Heirlooms of the Morales family. My old man is a bit unruly so I can imagine how these things landed in his hand, but I believe that for the sake of fairness, these things should be given back to the family during the Heir Wars. It won''t be too late for me to reclaim them later."

    Alejandro''s brows shot up. Of all the things he had expected, this was the very last.

    Leonel wasn''t scheming with this move, he truly felt that it was only right.

    The only reason he didn''t think of doing this earlier was because he had, indeed, started at a disadvantage. The other Heirs had all grown up under the umbrella of the Morales whereas his dad didn''t tell him anything about this world until he was already 18, and even then that lazy old man had left him to his own devices.

    So, Leonel didn''t feel bad for having had them in the first place. But now that the Heir Wars were here, he thought it was only right he temporarily hand them over.

    However, what Adawarth didn''t expect was for Alejandro to suddenly shake his head.

    "While it can be said that these two treasures are Heirlooms of our family, it''s probably more accurate to say that they are Heirlooms of your family''s branch, this is especially so for the Segmented Cube. The Spear Domain ring has had many owners, but the Segmented Cube has always belonged to Ishmael''s Lineage, it doesn''t even listen to anyone else."

    Leonel raised his brows, he hadn''t expected this.

    "Plus, I can tell that you''ve already passed the tribulation of the Spear Domain Ring, so actually, you are its rightful owner now. The only thing you owe the family is a recounting of your experience in the tribulation ground for future generations, other than that you''re free to keep it."

    Seeing Leonel''s surprise, Alejandro chuckled.

    "Your father didn''t explain anything, right? That''s just like him."

    Aina giggled to the side, clearly amused by Leonel getting a taste of his own medicine.

    Leonel smiled bitterly, but inwardly he actually felt quite warm. He had already decided before that the Morales family would be his, but as things stood currently, he felt more a part of them than anything else.

    "If there''s nothing else, you can have dinner with us tonight if you would like. My wife has been wanting to meet you."

    Leonel smiled to accept, but his gaze flashed instead, suddenly thinking of something.

    "There is one more thing that I''ve been wondering about. Why is it that I feel that the moniker of madmen isn''t a coincidence? And why does it seem that this only becomes more true the older a Morales is?"

    Leonel had very few data points to reach this conclusion, he had interacted with too few Morales, but everything he did know seemed to point to this one conclusion.

    For one, the Morales tended to have very young Patriarchs. If the Heir Wars had occurred at the proper time, they would have been less than 35 years old. In the Dimensional Verse, this was exceptionally young considering even Fifth Dimensional existences in their 70s looked as though they were in their 20s. There was logically no reason to rush this.

    Secondly, on the battlefield just a day ago, Leonel had sensed a certain fury coming from the Morales Ancestors and Alejandro that, while could be considered reasonable, also felt somewhat irrational. It was incredibly difficult to maintain such fury for such extended periods of time, but the Morales didn''t seem to have any issues with this.

    And finally, maybe the reason Leonel thought there might be such a possibility, there was the crimson energy that had seeped into his body the day he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Hearing this question, Alejandro''s brows shot up, looking toward Leonel with a deep gaze.

 Chapter 1932 Only Time...

    Alejandro stayed silent for a long while. It would be one thing if Leonel asked this question based on something Velasco had said, but he knew that man too well. And considering Leonel had just tried to give over something he shouldn''t have, it was safe to say that his level of understanding toward the family was nearly zero.

    This meant that Leonel had deduced this on his own from the outside.

    Alejandro wasn''t sure if this was impressive or maybe even a bit said.

    "... It is true that the Morales have a bit of a temper problem, but it''s usually not much of a problem. It used to be much worse, but after a certain age, the elders and Ancestors of the family enter the Holy Land where the incense can calm their minds and soothe their soul.

    "The reality is that the ability to assimilate the elements with your body is a... demonic ability. For humans, the root of our affinities should be our Ethereal Glabellas. However, the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor takes root in the blood and the affinity is birthed from Runes that are ground into our bones and flesh.

    "This is far more comparable to demons whose affinities are rooted in their bodies."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. That was true, now that he thought about it. When Aina refined the Force Pills to refine their foundations, the most important aspect was the flesh and blood of the demons, they had already been the foundation of the strength of demons.

    Leonel had never really seen things from that perspective, but indeed, the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor truly did align much more with demons than it did humans.

    His mind couldn''t help but drift to the Demoness once again and the connection between the Silver Empire''s Inheritance and that of the Morales family''s. Was it a coincidence? Or could it be that demoness wasn''t just referring to the personality of this mysterious woman, but also her race?

    How were these things related, though?

    Just the timelines alone didn''t seem to match up. If the Demoness was related to everything, she would have had to have been there from the start of the Morales family to this point, the same would have been true for the other two founders of the Three Finger Cult as well.

    Even someone with a Tier 5 Immortality Ability Index couldn''t live that long, Wise Star Order had made it obvious many times that his lifespan was actually quite limited. And even if the Demoness had a Tier 5 Immortality Ability Index that was somehow beyond that of any Savant ever born before and she really had lived for so long, what about the current head of the Three Finger Cult? He was still alive as well. Was Leonel supposed to believe that two such anomalies were born into the same generation with the exact same Ability Index? What were the odds of that?

    It was all very confusing and even he couldn''t piece together what was happening.

    "But..." Leonel started, but didn''t quite know how to put it.

    Did demons have ingrained anger problems? He hadn''t personally experienced this, at least not from intelligent demons. The Cobra Demon was actually quite calm and calculating, and Coldar had actually been quite funny when he did speak, although Leonel was pretty sure he still seriously believed that the former swung for the same team.

    And also, even if they did, why did it seem based on age?

    "There are always consequences for going against the natural order of things. You''ve probably also noticed the other oddity in our Lineage Factor, that being that it unlocks in stages. Rather than being at a set level from the very beginning like most other Lineage Factors, it requires being unlocked over time.

    "There''s a reason it''s like that, our bodies wouldn''t be able to handle it all at once."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, this was also true. Though, he no longer had this problem. After assimilating the Silver Empire''s Inheritance, he had access to the full range of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, though... it probably wasn''t appropriate to call it that any longer as the synergy it had with the other three portions had created something entirely new that Leonel had yet to fully explore.

    On top of that, he had formed a Sixth Doorway that would allow his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor to cross from the Eighth Dimension into the Ninth.

    But as things stood now, he had no idea how to open that doorway. At the very least, right now, he felt like he was a very far distance from it.

    Leonel had yet to battle with this new body of his because he had to enter the tribulation right afterward. In truth, he was a bit eager to see where his limits lay, but that was a matter for another time.

    "... Although we don''t know the exact reasons, we can only guess that this is a large part of it."

    Leonel felt that this explanation was more than enough.

    In Earth''s past, there was something colloquially known as Mad Cow Disease. This was a disease caused when humans ingested cow brain, but more accurately, it was caused by a particular fold of protein found within the meat. This disease was named as such because of all of the cognitive changes it could cause in both cows and humans, even to the point of changing one''s personality entirely.

    If something as relatively simple as a protein, at least compared to an entire Lineage Factor, could cause a thing, then forcing something decidedly not human into a human form-factor was bound to have its own consequences.

    Leonel had already seen Lineage Factors casually make changes to his brain on a macro scale through the Spear Domain Lineage Factor. What was happening on a micro scale that he had missed?

    But beyond that, the real question was... by completing the inheritance, did Leonel save himself from such a fate? Or did he just cosign himself to damnation?

    Only time would tell.

 Chapter 1933 Novas.

    The next month flew by fast.

    Leonel felt incomparably relaxed. He spent his days in leisure, from the outside it was difficult to tell that he should have been the person experiencing the most pressure.

    When the day came, however, he awoke with a sharp coldness in his eyes. He bathed, meticulously cleaning every inch of his body. He ate, eating through tables'' worth of food as though he would never be satiated. Then, he dressed himself, wrapping himself in robes of violet and gold.

    When he stepped out of the Segmented Cube, he found his Queen with a dignified expression on her face.

    Aina wore a long violet and gold dress that clung to her curves and had just a single slit down its right side, revealing a creamy smooth thigh wrapped with a delicate lace garter.

    Aina smiled lightly, stepping forward and smoothing out Leonel''s chest. Her hair and eyes seemed to sparkle on their own, emitting a gentle light. When she seemed satisfied, she took his arm, and they stepped out together.

    The atmosphere was incomparably solemn, not a single sound could be heard despite the seemingly endless pair of eyes paying attention to the situation.

    The location was a space above a seemingly barren planet. There wasn''t a single blade of grass on its grey body, nor was there a single sign of life.

    Above it, there was a platform formed entirely of glass. On this clear platform, a large number of youths stood in pairs. One would have thought that Leonel''s threat had fallen entirely on deaf ears.

    Surrounding this clear platform, several flagship level ships were in attendance. Any power of the Human Domain worth much of anything was present, even if they had no intention of participating. There were no doubt powerhouses of the Void Palace and Shield Cross Stars present, as for those that couldn''t make it, the Morales had made certain that they had a chance to watch. They wanted the entire Human Domain to witness this event.

    It might be surprising that the participating youths were only standing in pairs rather than having their entire entourages with them, but this was how every Heir War began. Only by completing tasks would one gain access to more of their allies, and if you failed too soon, you may never get to display your full strength at all.

    In the center of these participants, six of the seven Heirs stood, each one with a preselected target. There wasn''t a single one of them that didn''t look prepared for battle, their gazes sharp and their aurasa piercing.

    Adawarth, First Nova. A bronzed armor covered his body, the maturity between his brows clear for all to see. In these years, he had managed to rein in much of the Stalwart Polearm Legacy Faction under his control, if he had been given some more time, there was no doubt that he would have returned it to the status of a Party and maybe even a leading Majority.

    Surprisingly, though, to his side, there wasn''t a member of this Faction, his supposed strongest backing. Rather, there was a young woman, a young woman that was recognizable by all, a young beauty that was most definitely on the Queen Beauty list and someone that Aina would recognize quite intimately. This young woman was none other than Vega Quarius.

    The appearance of this woman by Adawarth''s side was a huge surprise. The Quarius family was a Constellation Family, and as such had sent geniuses to represent them. But rather than siding with her family, Vega had actually made such a decision.

    Auran, Second Nova. He seemed to stand in the shadows along with his partner whose face was entirely obscured. In fact, even Auran''s face itself seemed impossible to see. He was without a doubt the most mysterious of the six, but this only made sense as he was known to have the widest information network. Covertness was the name of his game.

    Xavnik, Third Nova. Although his gaze was sharp, there was a confident smile on his face. That interaction he had had with Second Nova all those years ago felt like a lifetime ago. Only he understood his reason for working with the Unfettered Blade Party back then... To his side, though, an inconspicuous and unknown young man stood, shrouded in just as much secrecy as Auran''s partner.

    Sceio, Fourth Nova. He was without a doubt the most erratic of them all, he had even tried to place Aina under a slave contract many years ago. But, this was in line with his personality. Considering Vega was by Adawarth''s side currently but Sceio had been chasing her for a long while, it was clear that scruples weren''t something this Fourth Nova had.

    Even so, the current Sceio seemed to have undergone a striking change. The transformation was almost perfect... if it wasn''t for the fact Vega''s Vice Captain was currently by his side as his chosen partner. With that, the Morales Heirs had already monopolized two Queen Beauties for themselves.

    Ramon, Fifth Nova. If Second Nova was the most covert, Ramon was the most silent and also the only one of the six that Leonel had never heard of.

    Ramon wore a pair of glasses and his appearance was the least confident of the six. However, by his side, there was a valiant woman who seemed to exude all the aura that was needed for the both of them.

    This woman was yet another Queen Beauty, making that three. However, she wasn''t from another family. No, she was from the previous Nebula Generation, the Littlest Nebula, and was a Morales through and through. Of all the surprises of this day, the appearance of Valorie Morales was maybe the greatest...

    Valor, Sixth Nova. The most stoic of the six and also the one to enter the Seventh Dimension the most recently. By his side, a man stood in silence, his eyes half closed. At first glance, it was difficult to tell which of them was the more stoic of the two, and maybe that was exactly why they worked together so well...

    This young man was well known as the Sector Ranked Disciple closest to becoming the next Domain Rained... Bruno, his last name unknown.

    At that moment, a flagship up above shuddered and a young man and woman wrapped in violet and gold stepped out.

 Chapter 1934 No Words

    The difference was striking.

    Everyone was prepared for war. As far as the eye could see, there were armors, sharpened blades, gauntlets and pauldrons galore, and yet Leonel and Aina appeared as though they were strolling to a gala.

    No matter who it was, even those that would have the intention of directly ignoring him from the very start, they all couldn''t help but look.

    In this sea of Seventh Dimensional experts, there were only two in the Sixth Dimension, and both of them were right before their eyes. Leonel hadn''t chosen to bring one of his Seventh Dimensional guards. Instead, he had chosen to bring his Queen, his wife, his woman.

    Bold. Unrestrained. Arrogant.

    As he strolled forward, a radiant halo seemed to form above his head, a suffocating presence exuding from him. Despite the fact that he was clearly in the Sixth Dimension, his momentum seemed to suppress all those around him, but what was even more surprising was that the gorgeous woman by his side carried an air of dignity and majesty that was no less oppressive.

    Golden Forces seemed to appear and vanish around Leonel just as quickly. He descended through the depths of space with fluttering steps, this golden Force forming flying doves and gliding butterflies. It was such a magical scene that it took even Eighth Dimensional existences several seconds before they realized that this golden Force was actually Spear Force!

    Their pupils couldn''t help but constrict. They had never fathomed that Spear Force could be used in this way. It was alive, breathing. It was beautiful and seemed to lack the edge of blood and carnage that a spear should have had, and yet it was no less intimidating, in fact, it was more so.

    Leonel and Aina landed on the glass platform, causing it to tremble. Any thoughts of obstructing their path forward seemed to vanish into the air, the geniuses that should have been here to participate and compete with them flowing out of the way one after another.

    Neither Leonel nor Aina seemed to spare them a single glance as though their actions only made sense.

    At this moment, Leonel''s Tier 7 aura had flourished completely, entering the senses of those in the surroundings. However, rather than sneering at such a thing, their hearts could only leap into their throats.

    ... "A year really is too long, by then I''ll be in the Seventh Dimension." ...

    Those words should have been nonsense, they should have been something that could be dismissed with the wave of a hand, but the reality made this far from the case. Not even a year ago, Leonel was only at Tier 1, and yet he was already at Tier 7 now.

    Leonel appeared within the central circle of Novas. There wasn''t a single hint of a smile on his face, his King''s Might flourishing in all directions. He had never been more focused in his life, and the result was a pressure more suffocating than anything he had ever exuded before, a pressure which, just like always, seemed to be something only Aina was entirely indifferent to. In fact, Aina''s own presence seemed to fuse and multiply Leonel''s own, the resonance between the two of them causing the Force in the air to fluctuate and disperse.

    The weaker parties suddenly found that controlling their Force, even within their bodies, had become extraordinarily difficult. The appearance of two Sovereigns was more than what they could handle.

    The eyes of the elders and various Ancestors standing on their ships narrowed. Leonel''s words from just a month ago seemed to echo in their ears once more.

    The Morales Ancestors looked down with sparkling gazes, their blood rushing through their veins and their bronzed skin flushing red like melting metal. Oh how they wished to be young once more.

    Leonel''s statement couldn''t have been more clear. His attire spoke volumes, and it was a statement that was ringing throughout the entire Human Domain.

    The others were warriors, he was a King. The others had come to fight, he had come for glory. The others hoped for victory, he had come to pass judgment.

    To him, the outcome was already clear.

    "Hugo," Ancestor Alvaro said lightly.

    There was no need for any more words. Seeing the look in Leonel''s eyes, it was clear that he was finished talking. He hadn''t even looked toward his fellow Nova brothers even a single time. As his Spear Force continued to form life around him, it seemed that he was all too eager for his blade to taste blood.

    Ancestor Hugo stepped forward, spreading his hands out wide as his aura flourished. He was a man who looked like he had a foot in the grave, even his balding head was covered in dark age spots. Even so, when he moved, the world seemed to move with him, the momentum of an Eighth Dimensional powerhouse flowing out like a tsunami.

    A dense Dream Force pervaded the region and descended upon the glass platform.

    Leonel stood in silence, closing his eyes lightly. Even when closed, he could sense the countless gazes on him. Many were filled with apprehension and fear, but there was a good number who had unwillingness, rage and fury in their eyes. Without even using his Internal Sight, he could feel the changes in their emotions as though they were being imprinted on his very soul.

    Leonel slowly opened his eyes once more, a rippling ring of violet sweeping out from him. When these Heir Wars concluded, no one in his generation would dare to look at him with such a gaze.

    WHOOSH!

    All of the youth vanished at once.

    When Leonel opened his eyes, he found himself in a wilderness, but the region was quite poor. The soil wasn''t rich, and was in fact quite cracked and lifeless. The air was dry and hot with a sun beading down from above, it didn''t seem like there had been any rain in months.

    Looking down at his clothes, he wore nothing but a simple linen shirt and pants. If he wanted access to what he had been wearing previously, he would have to likewise complete tasks.

    Leonel looked toward Aina who was by his side, wearing clothes just as simple and yet looking just as beautiful.

    "Let''s go," he said lightly.

 Chapter 1935 Village

    Aina nodded and followed after Leonel who shot into the distance. He didn''t hold back on his speed at all, leaving trails of Spatial Force, Light Force and Star Force in his wake.

    The Heir Wars was the final test of the Morales, and it was treated and designed as such. Not only were your preparations being tested, but your skill was being tested. In the beginning, what you had done in the outside world was almost meaningless and would only begin to snowball as the Heir Wars continued. The only thing you would have access to is your original and raw strength.

    Leonel suddenly reached out a hand. At that moment, a bow began to appear in his hands. At the same time, a golden battle ax appeared before Aina, one that she didn''t hesitate to grab.

    The linen clothing fluttered in the wind as they appeared before a small village.

    The walls that protected the small village were made of bundled wood that looked as though they would be better used in a small fire. It was barely 30 or so meters across in diameter and it seemed to already be in a state of lockdown as though the appearance of Leonel and Alna had already been expected.

    Leonel exerted strength in his feet and shot into the skies, appearing high in the trees and surpassing them. Just when it seemed that he would fall back down, a spatial platform appeared beneath his feet and he pulled back the string of his bow.

    At the same time, barefoot and all, Aina whipped by an afterimage of his that was still on the ground. In a blink, she had already appeared by the gates of the small village, her gaze cold.

    On the outside of the Heir Wars, everything seemed to have changed. The barren moon below had become lush and vibrant. At the same time, the glass platform began to flicker, subtly moving. At that moment, it became obvious that it wasn''t a platform, but rather a perfectly glass cube that one could see through perfectly.

    At that moment, however, the glass cube flickered, images of all sorts appearing. An odd Force Art seemed to make it possible for the glass cube to function as any individual''s personal entertainment station. Even so, almost everyone focused on the exact same thing at the first sign of choice...

    Leonel.

    Watching him break out into a sprint immediately, the silence was loud. There was nothing wrong with this choice, but there was nothing right about it either. In addition, it was oddly confident for someone who was in the Sixth Dimension.

    The challenges and enemies of the Heir Wars were all set to a Seventh Dimensional standard. They had all felt that Leonel was foolish to begin with, taking another Sixth Dimensional existence in with him instead of a Seventh Dimensional one was the pinnacle of foolishness.

    That said, if he could leverage the statement, he could come out on top, but he would have to target the appropriate challenges first. Running around like a headless chicken wasn''t the right way, he hadn''t even properly scanned his region yet.

    The eyes of the spectators narrowed further when Leonel summoned weapons from thin air. He shouldn''t have any treasures on him right now, which meant he manifested those.

    The cube transmitted all information, including auras. Sensing the Emulation Spatial Force Leonel was using, their gazes narrowed.

    "A coincidence?" Someone mumbled.

    Leonel and Aina had barely crossed ten kilometers when they came across the village. But those that were sharp realized that Leonel had run in a perfectly straight line without even the slightest deviation.

    This realization was shocking. In order to take into consideration the larger number of participants and the relatively small arena, Internal Sight and abilities of the like were extremely suppressed. A normal Seventh Dimensional existence would barely be able to sense around 20 meters around themselves. Someone who specialized in sensory perception could probably hit around 100 meters, and only an absolute genius in the field would be able to approach half a kilometer to a kilometer.

    This was only proven by the state the others were in. They were entirely focused on slowly scouting out their territory and feeling out their surroundings. The only one who had acted as Leonel had was... well, Leonel.

    "He can''t be..."

    Many frowned.

    All challenges were set to the level of the Seventh Dimension. Leonel and Aina rushing toward the village like this and not taking a detour...

    It was clear and obvious. This was their goal from the very beginning.

    Aina swung her battle ax with a naked abandon. From the skies above, Leonel had already released his arrow.

    In perfect sync, her blade and his arrow descended at once.

    The gate was shattered into a fluttering mass of raining wood chips.

    By the time this happened, Leonel had already released his second arrow, and then the third.

    Two troll-like beasts standing at two meters tall appeared to the left and right of Aina instantly, each one exuding the aura of a Tier 1 Seventh Dimensional existence.

    Aina''s feet pivoted, her hips torquing as he battle ax descended from the skies and toward the head of the first. Leonel''s arrow appeared in that instant. Their Forces resonated and the attack strength suddenly exploded forth. The troll couldn''t even react before it was split in two, the two halves of its body seemingly imploded as they were crushed to pieces by the residual strength.

    The blood seemed to avoid Aina entirely almost as though it was too scared to blemish her.

    Her second swing flowed from the first one and Leonel''s third arrow appeared just as quickly. The two, blade and arrow, seemed to become attached to one another by a mysterious force, amplifying and strengthening one another.

    PCHU!

    The second troll beast was shredded to pieces.

    Aina and Leonel were entirely in sync. From start to finish, not even five minutes passed, but the village had already been cleared.

    The Human Domain fell into silence.

 Chapter 1936 Headquarters

    Leonel descended from the skies, landing by Aina. The two walked into the central building of the village and found a floating cube.

    Leonel grabbed forward and claimed the cube. A ripple spread out.

    In order to summon people, you needed to kill. Aina and he had cleared about exactly 37 people, not having allowed even a single one of them to escape. However, these 37 people, or rather trolls, were also worth points.

    This was to say that kills could always summon people or be used as points, but points could not.

    Leonel gained an additional point total for claiming the village, an additional multiplier for being the first, and yet another multiplier for difficulty and speed. For this lowest level primitive village, he went from 10 points to 100

    points instantly.

    <Set as headquarters?>

    Leonel confirmed without hesitation. This region actually wasn''t all the great. It lacked resources, the trees were quite sparse, the land was dry, but he didn''t seem to give a damn.

    He gained another 100 points for being the first to establish his headquarters. Then, without even taking a pause, he converted all of their kills to points.

    Calling the trolls Tier 1 existences was incorrect. Rather, it was more accurate to call them Sub-Grade Threats. The ranking system for the Heir Wars went Sub-Grade, Bronze-Grade, Silver-Grade, Gold-Grade, Heir-Threat. The rewards were 10, 100, 1000, 10 000, and 100 000 respectively, not including any multipliers.

    Simply put, this allowed Leonel to gain an extra 370 points instantly. Like this, he now had 570 points, and he needed exactly 500 to upgrade this village from Sub-Grade to Bronze-Grade. No one even had time to react to his absolutely insane choice before the village flashed with a blinding light and expanded.

    "Ready?" Leonel turned to Aina.

    "Mm," Aina nodded. She didn''t seem to have shed even a single bead of sweat.

    The two moved at once and then appeared on the growing walls of the now Bronze-Grade village. Rather than being formed of the bundles of wood, they instead became strong mud walls dug into deep trenches. But at that moment, enemies began to appear over the horizon, charging over. Every one of them was a Bronze-Grade threat.

    However, to even more surprise, rather than working together like they had before, Leonel and Aina separated, Leonel taking the North and Aina taking the south.

    Aina appeared by the pile of 37 troll bits and pieces. With a raise of her hand, the blood rose into the skies and began to burn with a blinding light. At that moment, all the energy and potential the trolls had ever had were forced out all at once, 37 phantoms appearing to her back.

    At the same time, without even looking, Leonel raised his own hands, the souls of the trolls being plucked out of the air outside of their control. In that instant, the King and Queen duo had turned 37 Sub-Grade threats into 74. To make matters more shocking, in Aina''s hands, although they would only last a short while, they could now output Bronze-Grade strength with explosive power.

    Silence reigned. Watching two Sixth Dimensional existences treat Bronze-Grade threats as though meat to a grinder was something that was difficult to comment on. The thoughts had gone from believing that Leonel must be suicidal, to suddenly choking on air.

    After seeing this, however, the tension in the hearts of the Morales Ancestor slowly vanished. If things were like this, then there truly was no need to worry any longer. All they had to do was lean back and watch the show.

    It was a bit amusing watching a Morales Heir use the bow so efficiently. Just glancing at the sternness on the faces of the Constellation Bow Alliance, Ancestor Alvaro couldn''t help but burst out into laughter, breaking the silence.

    "Look at your face, Mito! Did you eat a pile of shit on the way here?!"

    Ancestor Mito''s expression darkened, but he didn''t say a single thing. Thinking about the fact the White Lion Bow was in Leonel''s hands, how could his expression not be like this? A Morales who didn''t even care to use the spear, how unlucky.

    "You''re laughing too early," Mito sneered.

    The Bronze-Grade trial was wiped clean. The death total this time was 121, instantly giving Leonel and Aina 12 100 points instantly. If it was up to Leonel, he would upgrade to Silver-Grade instantly, but unfortunately the price for an upgrade was 50 000 points this time, a huge leap. It was clear that the Bronze-Grade was a gimme, the rest would be far more difficult.

    Even so, Leonel had clearly already expected this.

    The rate for exchange was simple. People were exchanged with kills, and as for items you had placed within the exchange ahead of time, they were graded on the same scale. Luckily, because they were your items, they were on a discount.

    Sub-Grade items only cost 1 point, Bronze-Grade only cost 10 points, so on and so forth. Heir-Grade items were an umbrella grade for all top tier treasures that fell off of the scale. This would include the Segmented Cube and other things.

    The issue with this system was that when you summoned your people in exchange for points, you would also have to trade for their items. If you had trade for your treasures, and that of your thousands of subordinates, just how many points would you have to waste just outfitting your people with the capability for combat?

    The answer was too much.

    However, there was a very obvious loophole: all raw materials were counted as Sub-Grade regardless of their true in-real-life grade up to 100 kilograms.

    Leonel spent 10 000 points and summoned the Segmented Cube. With a flash of light, it descended from the skies.

    Then, using every bit of his remaining 2170 points he traded for just as many materials.

    All materials used in the trials had to be registered ahead of time, whether that was people or raw materials. As such, hiding items wasn''t allowed.

    However, using the Lab Setting of the Segmented Cube to use these raw materials to church out treasures was very much allowed. And, setting the blueprint for these treasures before the Heir Wars so that he didn''t have to waste time crafting for himself right now was also very much allowed.

    Leonel tossed the raw materials into the Segmented Cube and left the rest to Anastasia.

    Taking Aina''s hand, they walked into the center of the Bronze-Grade village again. It looked much different this time. Rather than a dilapidated hut, it was a somewhat simple hall.

    Leonel made it to the center and looked at the rotating cube again.

    There was another reason he forced the upgrade ahead of time, and that was because of the unique property of territory at the Bronze-Grade and above: a territory map.

    Even Leonel''s Internal Sight was greatly suppressed here, 10 kilometers was about his limit. But this moon had thousands of miles of circumference, it was far too inconvenient.

    However, a territory map gave you a perfect bird''s eye view. At the Bronze Grade, this range was 50 kilometers in radius, five times that of Leonel''s current range. In that instant, all of the challenges and opportunities appeared before Leonel''s eyes.

    It wasn''t just the challenges that appeared... but also the people.

    Leonel''s gaze was frighteningly cold. The Heir Wars truly began now.

 Chapter 1937 Mine

    Given that the range was just 50 kilometers, there was only two other individuals within range. And when Leonel saw who it was, the coldness in his eyes only increased.

    "They''re mine," Leonel said lightly.

    "Indeed, it is too soon to speak," a sneer came from the side.

    This individual didn''t speak directly to the Ancestors of the Morales family, instead he only spoke to his own people within an organization known as the Golddark Organization.

    The Golddark Organization was an existence that could be considered on par with the Constellation families, or rather ranked amongst the weakest of those 12 families, but far beneath the likes of the Omann, Morales, and Suiard.

    They weren''t often spoken about because they hadn''t produced any extremely powerful geniuses since Ossenna and they were generally regarded as a power on the decline. Though, this could be said to be mostly an illusion.

    Rather than saying they hadn''t produced a powerful genius in a while, it was rather that they didn''t have a participating member of the so-called Cataclysm Generation. And the story behind this tied back to that oh so familiar name: Ossenna.

    Ossenna was none other than the overseer of Leonel''s True Selection and yet another woman with a grudge against his father, and likewise, his mother.

    The one who had spoken, though, was Ossenna''s husband, a man several times older than she was. It could be said that Ossenna was tragic in her own way. The only way she could have escaped such a marriage was if she had managed to entice Leonel''s father, but in the end her failure to do so sealed her fate.

    All things considered, her husband was an exceptionally powerful man and among the very few candidates slated to become among the next batch of Eighth Dimensional existences, a man who went by Bamun. However, he was a jealous man. As such, after Ossenna''s elders cosigned their marriage, Ossenna was forced to give up pretty much everything.

    Ossenna, as a result, was thrust into the role of swollen foot pregnant wife much earlier than the others of her generation. She was pulled out of the Void Palace under the pretext of a mission and didn''t return until after she had given birth twice.

    Of course, these were against the rules of the Void Palace, but these were sorts of matters that were easily swept under the rug if done cleverly enough. Rearing a child was one matter, but giving birth to them only took a handful of years. The trouble was that Velasco had no care for these rules and couldn''t be bothered to circumvent them properly, leading to head butting with the Void Palace top brass.

    Due to the fact Ossenna was forced into such a thing so early on, not only was she resentful as her potential was cut short, but her children didn''t quite match the ages of the Cataclysm Generation. They were too old to be part of the Cataclysm Generation, but too young to be part of her generation. This led to them being relatively obscure, something that left the Golddark Organization, Bamun and her quite dissatisfied.

    These Heir Wars were a perfect opportunity, and even better than that, their two sons had landed right within Leonel''s range.

    "Those two brats are decent," Ancestor Mito said with a sneer. "If that brat was smart, he would avoid them for as long as possible. But I doubt he''ll have a choice like that, the commotion he caused in clearing the Bronze-Grade challenge was far too much."

    Bamun''s gaze blazed. His hatred for Velasco was great. And he knew well that while it seemed like his wife hated him as well, it was a resentment that stemmed from a completely different feeling. Seeing Velasco''s son lose to his own would be the ultimate retribution, a sign to Ossenna that their union had always been the right one.

    Ossenna''s own gaze blazed with a similar ill intent, almost leaning over the side of their flagship just to get a closer look.

    It was then that, to everyone''s surprise, the moment Leonel glanced at the two on the territory map, he flickered and vanished.

    Leonel''s speed was unconscious. He moved even faster than he had before, his speed making the elders on the outside fall into complete silence.

    His figure flashed, then flashed again. He crossed the 50 kilometer distance in not even half a minute, booming shrieks of shattering sound barriers echoing out from behind him.

    At the same time, Aina had made her own move, but rather than moving with Leonel, she had targeted the first challenge within their territory, mapping out the path between three of them before setting off.

    The pair of Golddark brothers had been making their way toward the commotion, cautiously paying attention to their surroundings so that they wouldn''t miss any hidden dangers or challenges. However, what neither of them had expected was to run into their first contestant.

    The two hadn''t done much. Since entering, they had only cleared a single challenge and had been biding their time until they sensed Leonel and Aina''s upgrade challenge and began to move in this direction. However, the two didn''t know what an upgrade challenge would be like just yet, so they had yet to confirm. Plus, it was so early on that they didn''t believe that anyone would be undergoing such a challenge already.

    Before they could tell what was happening, though, someone had already appeared over the horizon.

    The two instantly recognized Leonel and looked toward one another. The faint excitement and eagerness in their eyes was clear.

    "He''s mine."

    "Fuck off, he''s mine."

    The two didn''t get to finish their little song and dance, nor did they have the time to think of why Leonel was alone rather than with his partner.

    Leonel unleashed a roar, three sapphire blue Vital Star Force Stars appearing to his back as his body erupted with a Bronze Aura. His halo expanded and descended down the length of his body, revealing a Divine Armor of jade green and pearly white that exuded a vitality that caused even the cracked and dried grounds in the surroundings to grow rapidly.

    The final piece of his armor had just clinked into place when he appeared before the two, dense blue nebulae-like fog coming from the vents of his Divine Armor.

    All at once, the Morales family Ancestors and elders stood to their feet.

    [Sorry for the uber late chapters everyone, hectic two months ahead like I''ve said previously. Chapter two coming asap]

 Chapter 1938 Golddark

    Leonel punched out with the momentum of the world to his back.

    The Golddark brothers reacted instantly, setting aside their disagreement and punching out in unison to meet Leonel''s.

    Their fists never even connected. The sheer pressure of Leonel''s punch snapped their wrists and broke their forearms in three.

    Pain twisted their features as they were blown backward.

    Leonel reached out a palm to his side, forming a spear of Emulation Star Force, Bronze Aura and Ethereal Star Force.

    The two brothers spiraled through the air, their hearts leaping into their throats. As geniuses of the Void Palace, they made their decision instantly. They had to bring out everything.

    They roared in unison, their skin beginning to glow with a dark gold glow as a twin pair of dark golden rivers took shape. The manifestation of the Golddark Lineage Factor roared like snaking dragons, the crashing waves causing the ground to rumble.

    The two coated their broken arms in a layer of this molten dark gold and landed heavily on the ground at once. They hadn''t been able to trade for their weapons after completing just a single challenge. Even so, they quickly formed a saber for each one of them, manipulating their dark gold rivers. Almost the instant they finished, their eyes widened. Despite their fast reactions, Leonel''s spear was already before them.

    They both crossed their sabers across their bodies.

    CLANG! CLANG!

    Their sabers exploded on contact, the integrity of their odd molten Force completely unable to hold up.

    Their arms were flung to the side of their bodies, parried away and completely exposing their chests.

    With a step, Leonel appeared above them. The two could barely see his eyes through the visor of his armor, but they felt a strong tide of helplessness take hold of their hearts.

    The tip of Leonel''s spear trembled just once and he pierced downward.

    PCHU! PCHU!

    Two throats were skewered through.

    Leonel didn''t show the slightest hesitation, not the slightest hint of mercy, not the slightest pause. He had already given his warning. From this moment onward, every contestant that crossed his path would taste his blade. Since they dared to ignore his threat, he would show them the consequences for doing so.

    He landed on the aura, billowing Vital Star Force jetting out in all directions.

    A towering pressure exuded from him, one that the Human Domain would maybe never forget. The first geniuses had fallen so soon. It suddenly dawned on them that this would truly be a bloodbath.

    "NO!"

    Ossenna shrieked. She nearly flew down from the railing toward the glass cube as though she would be able to enter the Heir War ground like this. If it wasn''t because Bamun caught her and held her back, she may very well have succeeded. However, in return for such a thing, Ossenna seemed to have completely lost her mind, lashing out at Bamun with what could only be said to be an intent to kill.

    She lashed out with everything she had and Bamun''s clothing was matted in blood instantly. Although he wasn''t anywhere near dead, or even threatened, as an expert deep within the Seventh Dimension herself, if Ossenna wanted to she could definitely cause harm to him.

    Bamun''s expression was already dark, but seeing that Ossenna didn''t seem to have any intention of stopping any time soon, he only became gloomier.

    At that moment, an Ancestor of the Golddark Organization stepped forward, tapping the back of Ossenna''s neck.

    Her vision went white and she collapsed, but her shrieks still echoed in the silence.

    "... The Divine Armor..."

    "Life Grade..."

    The Morales Ancestors couldn''t take their lives off of it.

    To put this ridiculous matter into context, the only people in their family that had Life Grade Divine Armors were them... Only Ancestors who had stepped into the Eighth Dimension could possibly have such a thing.

    The only person who had formed a Life Grade Divine Armor at the Seventh Dimension was Velasco, he was the one and only anomaly, there had never been another. He was the first and the last.

    However... Leonel was in the Sixth Dimension!

    If others could just forge your Divine Armor for you, this wouldn''t'' be so surprising, they would all just assume that Velasco had been a madman and forged Leonel''s Divine Armors for him. In that case, what would be impressive wasn''t Leonel''s skill, but rather the fact that his body could withstand a Life Grade Divine Armor in the first place.

    However, in order to fuse with a Divine Armor, one had to have intimate familiarity with it. This was why you had to forge your own Divine Armor.

    Even if you could fuse with a supremely powerful Divine Armor, whether or not you could control it and have the stamina to summon it in the first place was a completely different matter.

    In truth, Leonel wasn''t even aware of this. If he was, he would have known that his father''s suggestion to fuse Evolution Ores into his Divine Armor was completely insane, that was because all this time, Leonel had to sustain a Divine Armor a Dimensional level above his own!

    What these Ancestors didn''t know was that this was only the tip of the iceberg. This was just one of Leonel''s three Divine Armors, and it also happened to be the weakest one by no small measure.

    Even so, they were so shocked by the Divine Armor that they didn''t even take notice of the three blue Stars until several moments later.

    "Those Stars, why do I sense the aura of the Heavenly Body Realm?"

    "... This brat... Sure has a lot of secrets..."

    Before they could discuss any more, the agitation of the crowd couldn''t seem to be held back any longer.

    "The Morales family is too vicious!" Ancestor Golddark said slowly, but with power.

    Alvaro and the others turned over with a sneer, but before they could say anything, Leonel''s voice echoed.

    The atmosphere froze. How didn''t Leonel''s voice reach them so clearly through so many layers of Dream Force?

    Ancestor Hito, who was resting his eyes by the side, suddenly sat up, his wrinkles smoothing out as his eyes brightened.

    "However many come is as many as you will lose."

 Chapter 1939 Final Challenge

    Leonel seemed to stare into each one of their souls as he spoke. His eyes were almost entirely invisible beneath his visor, and yet just as piercing.

    The Morales might have been the first to notice, but one after another, the sharp senses of the other Ancestors caught up and they also realized that Leonel was, in fact, wearing a Life Grade Divine Armor. Their pupils constricted one by one, their hearts freezing over.

    He wasn''t just as monstrous as his father, he was a step beyond.

    No matter how big of a fuss the four Great Families made over bloodlines, it was simply impossible to guarantee the talent of an offspring.

    More often, what was important was having a large pool of descendants with a similar concentration of blood. By maximizing the number of such individuals, you would always be bound to have talented disciples.

    This was why, despite the fact Nana wasn''t from a strong family branch of the Adurna, she was still given the treatment of one of their supreme geniuses. Even those families had a limit to their nepotism and disdain for those of lower stature, although said limit didn''t extend beyond those with the same eye and hair color as them.

    This was all to say that the power of the parents didn''t always guarantee the power of the child. Although there was a correlation, the more powerful the parent, the less likely the child would be able to reach their level even when given sufficient time and more than enough resources.

    If such a thing was guaranteed, who would have dared to look down on Leonel? They would have all treated him like a little monster they needed to veer away from. However, not only was this unlikely, Leonel''s mother was an unknown variable that could very easily result in a lower bloodline overall.

    There was also one more matter, the key to all of this... The Velasco line had already produced three such geniuses in quick succession. Although Montez was considered to be a tier below Velasco and Cynthia, he was still someone that wasn''t to be trifled with. Then there was Velasco himself, and more importantly, the father of the two of them.

    The odds that this would continue and produce another genius in Leonel should have been next to zero. Every family line went through peaks and troughs, one could just indefinitely extend into infinity. And yet... That seemed to be exactly what had happened here.

    They had made a mistake.

    Leonel flicked his wrist, dispersing his spear and allowing his Divine Armor to sink into his body. He looked down at the two corpses before him and his gaze flickered. With a swipe of his hand, he stored the two kills they represented but didn''t use them immediately, he seemed to have other thoughts in mind. In addition, he gained an additional 1 000 points.

    Unlike the Spear Domain Tribulation, after kills in the Heir Wars, Leonel gained the points or progress of his fallen enemies in this regard. These thousand points should have been from the challenge that the two had cleared, but they had stored it rather than using it on anything.

    Leonel assumed that many who entered without a plan would make this sort of choice, but in his eyes, it was the epitome of foolishness. It was akin to sealing away hard cash in a safe in your basement rather than properly investing it. As the Heir Wars continued, the value of your points would only continue to plummet. The only thing that would maintain the same value were kill exchanges.

    The points you had now would never be worth as much again, so hoarding them, waiting for some perfect pie in the sky moment was nothing short of foolish.

    After this, Leonel shot back toward the Bronze-Grade village. He had already memorized the map and knew where all the challenges were, so returning wasn''t a pressing need, or so many thoughts. But he had his own reasons.

    Leonel immediately swapped in the thousand points he had just gained for more raw materials and tossed them all to Anastasia.

    At that moment, Aina had displayed her own speed, already returning with three challenges completed. She appeared before Leonel in a flicker and began speaking without delay.

    "Two challenges were a simple battle with a Bronze-Grade threat, both gave 1000 points each, ten times more than what you would receive for battling them in the wild and killing them there. However, they don''t count for a kill so they can''t be used to exchange for subordinates."

    Leonel nodded and let Aina continue.

    "The final challenge was a city upgrade challenge. It allows us to double the size of our territory and gain Silver-Grade walls without upgrading to the Silver-Grade first. I didn''t challenge it because it would take me too long to finish on my own, not worth it unless we do it together."

    Leonel nodded again. Then, he took the 2000 points Aina had come with and exchanged them for yet more raw materials.

    "Let''s go, that''s a worthwhile challenge."

    Aina was already moving. Leonel swiftly appeared by her side, the two shooting through their territory with great speed.

    Soon, up ahead, the two saw a floating glass orb. Within it, there was a floating wall of what looked like concrete, a Silver-Grade upgrade. However, it was likewise a Silver-Grade difficulty challenge.

    Without hesitation, the two entered together, appearing before a village with Silver-Grade walls but Bronze-Grade threats.

    With a tacit understanding, Leonel leapt into the air and brandished his bow while Aina rushed forward with the ax he had created for her out of Emulation Spatial Force.

    They both took a deep breath at the same time and suddenly roared, a heavenly resonance of Force forming between the two.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he pulled his bowstring back.

    One arrow to connect the earth and skies.

    He released, a streaking heat piercing down and leaving a blinding pillar of golden light in its wake.

 Chapter 1940 Well Oiled.

    Leonel and Aina swiftly swept through the challenge once the gates collapsed. Although they didn''t gain any kill exchanges, the value of the rewards weren''t to be scoffed out.

    Having Silver-Grade walls ahead of time meant that they could access Wall Upgrade ahead of time, which meant they could form a half-step Gold-Grade wall before even facing the Silver-Grade Upgrade Challenge.

    But to Leonel, this was less important than the doubling in territory size. Although it was said to be double, mathematically, it was much more than that. Increasing the radius of their territory from 50 kilometers to 100 kilometers meant that so much more would be within range.

    The two split up. Leonel returned to the village to use the upgrades they had gained while Aina had set her sights on the last three challenges that were within their current territories.

    Upon returning, Leonel used the upgrades. The village wands expanded, grew taller and much thicker. At the same time, they changed from mud walls to walls built with thick cement blocks, rising to just over ten meters in height.

    Leonel began to go through the upgrades one by one, adjusting his calculations. His pupils flickered back and forth and he went through an obscene amount of information in just a few seconds.

    Unfortunately, not all of the rules of the Heir Wars were known in full detail ahead of time. Well, the rules themselves were, but some small details like these and upgrades weren''t hashed out ahead of time, otherwise Leonel would have long memorized them and not even wasted time.

    "Most valuable upgrades are double height, double thickness, and the addition of the moat. Of these, the moat is most important because this region has no water whatsoever and the land is especially dry. It''s also very flat and doesn''t have many terrain advantages..."

    One might wonder why Leonel was worrying about water. At this stage, he could last months even without food, water or sleep... normally, anyway.

    Unfortunately, much like how he felt the need to sleep regularly in the Cataclysm Zone, this region had an added suppression that forced others into a similar state. Soon, food and the like would become necessary.

    For now, the speed of choosing a barren land trumped the future potential troubles that it could bring. However, this wouldn''t last forever, so Leonel was already thinking of methods to deal with the issue. And, as he had deduced, because of the gamified nature of the Heir Wars, there would be plenty of methods of dealing with this.

    "The total needed for these upgrades is about 20 000. Plus what we''ll need for the Silver-Grade upgrade, and that places our needs at around 70 000 points right now. There''s no easy way to gather that quickly, we''ll have to change our strategy after clearing out the region and look for some dungeons or bosses. If we''re lucky..."

    Silver-Grade challenges were rare at the start of the Heir Wars. The only way to get them to appear and thus gain more points per challenge was to upgrade to a Silver-Grade territory, or to explore the wilderness and hope you stumbled across one by luck. Leonel wouldn''t waste time on the second, and the first was obviously out of reach due to the lack of points for a Silver-Grade upgrade to begin with. So, everything came full circle.

    Leonel shifted his attention from the upgrade list and scanned the new territory map.

    "Excellent."

    With a flicker, Leonel vanished and used the same strategy as Aina. He picked out three challenges and carved out a path between them. He would start with the simple ones first and leave the more complex ones to last. If the more complex challenges could be completed quickly by him alone, he would move forward and do so.

    If it required the two of them, he would return to the territory and work together with Aina to clear the challenge. If the both of them ran into such a challenge, they would clear both before rinsing and repeating.

    The silence in the Human Domain while watching this scene was palpable. Leonel and Aina''s movements weren''t even the most entertaining, but they were so precise and well-oiled that it was suffocating in its own right.

    In just half a day, the two had cleared two dozen challenges while the next closest group didn''t even have a dozen despite the fact many were working in groups larger than just a pair by now.

    Leonel and Aina were supposedly the weakest, they were in the smallest group, and yet they were leagues beyond.

    After all the challenges in their territory were cleared, Leonel and Aina gained 22 000 points and several other rewards. The many rewards were mostly related to territory upgrades, including irrigation systems, farms, carefully bred animals and the like. Leonel''s favorite, however, were the three outposts they had gained.

    Outposts could be placed on the outskirts of their territory and they gain an additional 10 kilometers of range to their territory map.

    Leonel planted two and took the third with him as he and Aina headed toward the final challenge within their territory.

    As for the points, rather than using it on the village, Leonel used 10 000 to trade for Aina''s battle ax and another 10 000 to trade for the White Lion Bow, and finally the remaining 2000 points on more raw materials.

    The members of the Constellation Bow Alliance could only seethe when they saw this, there was nothing they could do.

    Ancestor Mito''s gaze turned malevolent, but he calmed himself. Soon, the bow would return to where it was meant to be. Now that he had brought it out and set such a challenge, it was only a matter of time.

    Nearby the dungeon Leonel and Aina were headed toward, three members of the Constellation Bow Alliance had already appeared and scouted out before preparing to return with the information to the main group.

    But how could Leonel not know what was happening within his own territory?

 Chapter 1941 Long Lost

    Leonel and Aina''s appearance caught the attention of the three archers almost instantly. As bowmen, it wasn''t a surprise that they had sharp vision. However, what they didn''t know was that compared to Leonel, their sight wasn''t worth much at all.

    Although Leonel hadn''t magically gained the Bow Domain Lineage Factor after becoming a Bow Sovereign as the two existences seemed to be separate, the bits and pieces of it that he did have were perfectly intact, and his deeper comprehension of Bow Force seemed to have a positive impact on them.

    Since he knew their location, he had maintained an eye on them from the moment he and Aina left their village for the final time.

    The eyes of the three narrowed. They were only scouts of the Constellation Bow Alliance, their only job was to scout the region and find challenges. If they could be cleared, they would do so and return with the rewards. If they couldn''t be cleared, they would return with a report.

    Given that this was a dungeon, it had to be reported no matter what. It was of the Silver-Grade and had a four person entry specification, but they only had three. They were supposed to mimic the Zones a real territory would have to deal with in real life, albeit more streamlined and less involved.

    The three looked toward one another and seemed to make the decision at the same time. There was no other choice, the moment they saw the White Lion Bow in Leonel''s hands, there was always only a single choice.

    However, they didn''t seem to have realized that the choice was never theirs to begin with.

    Aina seemed to flicker and vanished.

    All three reacted extremely quickly pulling out their bows. However, maybe the greatest weakness for the archers in the Heir Wars was that they couldn''t bring their normal set of arrows with them. They had no choice but to use Force in place of them.

    What they hadn''t expected, though, was for their Bow Force to suddenly stop responding to them at all.

    They pulled their bowstrings back, ready to attack, only to realize that absolutely nothing appeared. Their Bow Force fizzled out like the last fumes of a dying flame.

    They were so shocked that they almost couldn''t react in time to Aina appearing in their midst, swinging her battle ax with the moment of a dying sun.

    Crimson Force blazed, their blood boiled out of their control, and fear took hold of their throats.

    All three of them placed their bows out in an attempt to block, but Aina with her battle ax seemed to be on an entirely different level. Whether it was their bows or their bodies, they didn''t last even a single strike. All three of them found their bodies severed at the waist, their eyes still widened in shock even as they dimmed.

    Leonel appeared to Aina''s side, looking down coldly. Trying to use Bow Force in his presence? Wasn''t that too foolish?

    With a thought, Leonel planted the third outpost ten kilometers out from the dungeon and return swiftly. After this, he placed a hand over the three and extracted their souls just like he had for every other. But rather than using them, he simply stored them without the intent to use them.

    After a moment, three kill exchanges appeared in the form of three red orbs.

    This time, Leonel didn''t ignore them and immediately used all three.

    James, Emna and Allan appeared. Even after landing, the three didn''t say anything, waiting for Leonel''s orders.

    "Allan, this is yours."

    Leonel brought forward a rail gun, an enormous one with a barrel that must have been at least three meters long. However, any engineer who had ever seen such a thing would notice the decided lack of... engineering. In fact, it was overly simple, but that was because it could be. The Magnetic Ability Index that would make it run would all come from Allan.

    "There''s an output ten kilometers from here in that direction. It has the ability to sense anything within ten kilometers of it. Any enemy that appears is yours to handle."

    Allan looked down at the rail gun. It looked under-engineered, but the number of Force Arts backed into it that could help his accuracy and sight were mind numbing. He was the only one of Leonel''s brothers who had followed the Force Crafter''s path, so he knew well what he was seeing.

    "Leave it to me," Allan said lightly, accepting another small device from Leonel.

    He raised one hand and the rail gun raised into the air under a mysterious magnetic force. With a jump, he landed on the enormous mechanism''s back and shot into the distance with wind-tearing speed.

    Leonel nodded and turned toward James and Emna. "The two of you head out."

    Leonel tossed a pair of devices toward the two. The Segmented Cube hadn''t been working all this time for nothing.

    "Clear as many challenges as you can, kill as many as you can, if you find any other territories in the surroundings aside from in that direction, report it back to me."

    The direction Leonel pointed to was the direction Allan had gone in. That was the direction he speculated the three Constellation Bow Alliance members had come from and that should be where the rest of the number lied. It wasn''t that Leonel was scared Emna and James couldn''t deal with them, it was instead a waste of resources because...

    He alone was enough.

    Emna nodded, working alone was what she did best. As for James, he too had gotten used to lone missions. At the same time, these two were among the two strongest under Leonel''s charge, he could trust them to protect themselves and work alone.

    In addition, Emna and James were two who didn''t need weapons to be exchanged for them. Emna''s weapon was her body, and James had always relied on his Energy Shield Ability Index. They were the perfect two to bring out first.

    After a short exchange, Emna and James picked two different directions and rushed off.

    Leonel looked toward Aina and nodded.

    The two rushed into the dungeon together.

    From start to finish, the exchange had taken not even a single minute. Even now, as he pulled the distance between himself and others further and further, Leonel didn''t have the time to waste.

    Well, there was one small moment of time wasted, and that was when he looked up into the skies with a cold glint in his eyes.

    He didn''t need to say it again as his previous words were only continuously echoing in their ears by now.

    The Constellation Bow Alliance Ancestors had all stood to their feet, their fists clenched and their hearts stuck in their throats.

    If they had denied it before, there was no denying it now. They had hoped it to be a trick of the eye, a combination of Bow Force and Light Force, maybe the influence of the Spear Domain Ring, but now there was nothing before them and the truth...

    How... How did Leonel have access to that level of Bow Force? That long lost Bow Force?! That Bow Force no human had had access to since the loss of the Bow Domain Ring?!

 Chapter 1942 Earth Dragon

    Leonel and Aina sped into the dungeon.

    Dark cave walls loomed over them and an almost suffocating stench of earth filled their nostrils. The dampness and humidity made it difficult to breathe, the ventilation of the dungeon not seeming great at all.

    Leonel could immediately tell that their target weren''t humans, however he didn''t seem capable of pinpointing the exact race either, something that made him narrow his eyes. It seemed that Ancestor Hito had gone out of his way to pick more obscure targets just for the sake of maintaining the usual randomness associated with Zones.

    First there were the trolls they had faced earlier while claiming the village, now this.

    "Thick earthy smell, high humidity, low visibility..." Leonel thought of several possibilities before he narrowed it down to one. ".. 76% possibility this is an Earth Dragon den..."

    Earth Dragon, while was the official name of this species, wasn''t to be taken literally.

    Most accurately, they were a type of earth affinity centipede with the legendary ferociousness of dragons, and they were notoriously difficult to handle.

    They were adept at causing land fissures and earthquakes, they could easily collapse a cave of this caliber, and they could chew through most metals as though they were nothing but thin films of paper. In addition to this, they could hold their breath for weeks at a time even as newborns, and their body temperatures ran so hot that their roars gave off the illusion of fire breath.

    In reality, though, it was just that their digestive system was so powerful after countless evolution cycles of burrowing through the earth that if they opened their mouths up to the world, everything in their path would be scorched.

    The good news was that Leonel had an excellent Earth Force affinity that could somewhat counter these beasts. The bad news, however, was that their breath had nothing to do with Fire Force despite the heat, making it difficult for him to counter unless he had some sort of cooling measure.

    Of course, Leonel would still be resistant to the heat itself, but there was little he could do from an actual preventative standpoint.

    In addition, even his Earth Force affinity might not prove to be as beneficial as one might hope because the Earth Dragons were less focused on manipulating earth as opposed to devouring it.

    "Earth Dragons," Leonel said lightly.

    Aina didn''t need any more explanations after this. While it had seemed that the two had been in here for a long while already, the reality was that they had only taken a single step. Before their second steps even landed, Leonel had already spoken his conclusion. His mind was simply that fast.

    In response, their rolls shifted. Rather than taking the vanguard, Aina fell back and allowed Leonel to cross in front of her. She strapped her battle ax to her back and took out a twin pair of silk cloths that danced up her wrists and forearms as though they had minds of their own. At the same time, two gourds she had had by her waist opened up and large amounts of blood began to pool out from her sides.

    At the same time, Leonel''s body glowed with an earthly, menacing air. A three meter tall panda construct took form around him, but just as quickly as it appeared, a Divine Armor appeared and slid into place. By the time Leonel had taken his fifth step into the cave, an enormous three-headed, six armed, armor covered behemoth had begun to stomp forward.

    Leonel''s new comprehensions in Earth Force hadn''t just come with mental changes, they also manifested physically.

    For example... He could now use his dark gold Panda construct and his Divine Armors at the same time.

    Earth Force was an extension of his life. His Panda construct was just as much a part of his as his Divine Armors were. Why did they have to be used separately?

    Leonel unleashed a roar as his three Vital Stars appeared to his back. Aina was completely obscured, but that was exactly the point.

    He stomped down on the ground once and the earth trembled. The Earth Dragons had yet to be alerted as they had hardly moved very far into the cave. In fact, it was only now that the entrance vanished behind them, locking them into seeing this dungeon all the way through. But before that, the two took the initiative.

    Leonel''s six arms punched into the ground beneath him, roaring as he lifted as though he wouldn''t be satisfied until the whole world was above his head. However, it very quickly became obvious that this wasn''t a piece of earth at all and what Leonel had grabbed was actually the head of an enormous beast that must have been at least 20 meters long.

    Even so, Aina didn''t seem surprised. She reacted just as quickly, the twin silk cloths on her wrists suddenly becoming coated by blood as she launched them both forward.

    The head of the Earth Dragon was pierced through and its blood was quickly drained.

    Leonel tossed it to the side and charged forward.

    He punched walls, ceiling, and the ground.

    Every time he did, he ripped out another Earth Dragon, stunning them into place while Aina finished the job.

    Despite the fact that this wasn''t the normal mode of their team work, their efficiency was no less great. With a combination of his Earth Force affinity and sensory abilities, Leonel was able to find the Earth Dragon before they could launch their usual sneak attacks. At the same time, he clamped their mouths shut, stopping them from using their strongest ability while also crushing the antennas that worked as their sensory organs.

    When that was done, it was child''s play for Aina to sever their lives, and it only got easier and easier as she accumulated more and more of their powerful blood.

    They tore through the levels of the dungeon and eventually reached the final ground floor.

    Steam billowed toward their faces, the sheer heat making what should have been the hard ground around them feeling gooey and soft to the touch.

    Every step they took left another sizzle as an Earth Dragon that must have been at least 50 meters tall snaked into the air, its hundreds of legs shimmering like steel blades.

 Chapter 1943 Three

    PCHU!

    Leonel roared, grabbing two sides of a large wound Aina had caused in the BOSS Earth Dragon''s head with all six hands. Vital Star Force rushed out from his Divine Armor as he flexed, pulling with all the Force he could muster.

    Blood and bone flew as the Earth Dragon was torn in two from head to tail.

    BANG!

    Leonel landed heavily on the almost molten ground, exhaling a breath with a sharp and cold gaze. He dispersed his panda construct and his Divine Armor, his breath turbid and steaming.

    Aina appeared by his side and he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing a bubble of cool air to descend and envelop her. The steam increased, but Leonel had already moved forward, reaching the final altar of the dungeon and waving a hand.

    <Clear Time: 01:38:58>

    <Clear Condition: Perfect>

    <Clear Reward: Heir-Grade>

    Leonel waved another hand, accepting the rewards. For a dungeon like this one, a perfect clear condition would probably relate to clearing all of the Earth Dragons in addition to finishing within a certain time. This was a Silver-Grade dungeon, so although the clear reward was Heir-Grade, it probably wouldn''t be too exaggerated.

    The reward was twofold.

    The first was the point reward which was 270 000 points. The second reward was a one time use item that came in the form of a glass orb with the phantom of an Earth Dragon within it.

    From Leonel''s understanding, it was a terrain shift reward. He could change one thing about the landscape of his territory within certain limits.

    He did a few calculations in his head when he saw this, comparing and contrasting his ideas with the limitations stipulated in the fine print. After a moment, he nodded to himself. It was feasible, though only in part.

    What was more important, though, was the added effect that came with implementing this change in the first place. The shaking of the earth that supplemented the change could be both a negative and a positive depending on how it was used.

    Leonel thought of some possibilities before storing it away. With a nod toward Aina, the two left the dungeon together.

    "Where is it, Alvaro?! Explain yourself!"

    The fury of the Constellation Bow Alliance Ancestors seemed to have reached a fever pitch. The only conclusion they could come to after all this time was that the Morales family had somehow gotten their hands on the Bow Domain Ring, nothing else seemed to make sense to them. They had never heard of the so-called "Sovereign" moniker, at least not in regards to weapons. This was a relatively new concept that had only been introduced by some who had heard of it in the Cataclysm Zone.

    This conclusion seemed to make sense to them as well. Velasco spent a lot of time venturing outside of the Human Domain. If there was anyone who could reclaim that treasure under their noses, it was him. And if he had done so, who else would he give it to if not Leonel? Wouldn''t that also explain why the White Lion Bow had never followed any one of them but so obediently followed Leonel?

    The truth was that the bow didn''t listen even to Leonel''s mother. She had given Leonel the bow hoping that it would acknowledge him in the future, and it was a surprise to her that it did so immediately.

    If even Alienor, who probably believed in Leonel the most of anyone in existence, was so surprised, how could the Constellation Bow Alliance possibly accept it with open hearts? In the moment, it felt like they had finally gained an explanation for something that had been tearing into their souls for the longest time.

    The Morales Ancestors frowned, not quite knowing what Ancestor Mito and the others were even referring to.

    It seemed that every action Leonel took only increased the tensions in the surroundings further. First Ancestor Golddark accused them of being far too ruthless, and now Ancestor Mito and the others of the Constellation Bow Alliance were up in arms.

    "Don''t pretend to be ignorant! The Bow Domain Ring! Where is it?!"

    The eyes of the Morales Ancestors flashed.Was this what they were talking about?

    They put together the vanishing Bow Force and the golden Bow Force Leonel used and understood why they had reached such a conclusion.

    But the result of them comprehending this was them bursting into a fit of laughter. It was uproarious, arrogant, and filled with complete disregard and unfeeling, uncaring, derision.

    Ancestor Mito was so furious that steam truly began to come out of the top of his head. One would have thought that this was a ridiculous exaggeration of an old school cartoon, however the bodies of such experts could react with just as much exaggeration. When an Eighth Dimensional existence was enraged, the environment had no choice but to react.

    "Let me ask you something, Mito," Alvaro''s voice boomed. "Even if the Morales family had gotten its hands on the Bow Domain Ring... What would it have to do with your Alliance?!"

    The booming shockwave of Alvaro''s voice drowned out the voices of rage, his own malevolent expression seemingly not losing out in the slightest. It seemed that he wanted to slaughter the Constellation Bow Alliance members even more than they wanted to lay hands on him. There was nothing he abhorred more than hypocrites, and he hated weak hypocrites even more.

    If you were going to be hypocritical, the least you could do was not be on your hands and knees asking for handouts while you did so.

    "Your families lost the Bow Domain Ring to the Spirituals all those years ago, causing the Human Domain to drastically weaken. Your Tarius family went from a top dog, to a piece of trash with no other choice but to form an Alliance in hopes of maintaining your former prestige, now you want to come and bark in front of me?!"

    "Tell you what, if you dare to take three spear strikes from me right this moment, I might dignify your question with an answer!"

 Chapter 1944 Kill

    Ancestor Mito was so enraged by these words that his palm flipped over to reveal a shimmering black bow. But at the same moment that he acted, Alvaro had likewise taken out his bronze spear, it looked as though this was what the latter had wanted from the very beginning. Why did those little brats get to have all the fun? He wanted to let the world see his sharpness too.

    "Everyone, let''s calm down," an Ancestor by Mito''s side pressed down his hand before he could raise his bow and take a step of no return. "This isn''t what today is about. Let the kids handle this matter."

    Alvaro snorted. Pretentious pricks. If they didn''t feel the fire in their bellies anymore, they could just say so and off themselves.

    What good was pretending to be high and above it all when all it did was dull your blade. There was a reason the Morales were the strongest, and there was a reason it would stay that way.

    Leonel and Aina exited the cave.

    There was an immediate choice to be made. They had enough for a promotion to Silver-Grade now, but there was a threat to their side, and it wouldn''t be long before they realized that three of their own had died.

    This should have been a difficult choice to make, but Leonel didn''t seem to pause his steps for even a moment as he shot in the direction of the village.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Despite the loud booms to his back, Leonel still didn''t turn back, continuing to run in the opposite direction with Aina. He had left that matter to Allan, and he had already calculated that Allan would be able to hold on. When this matter was concluded, their advantage would only increase further.

    Allan stood at the top of the outpost, his eyes sharp beneath his glasses. He held up the massive rail gun, his eyes locking onto a group in the distance as he unleashed another barrage.

    Before the shot even landed, his muscles flexed and his hips pivoted, swinging the railgun in a completely different direction as he unleashed another barrage.

    No one could seem to enter within a ten kilometer radius of this region without being blasted to smithereens. Most managed to dodge and save their own lives, however the first few had been greatly unlucky, losing their lives almost instantly.

    Leonel checked his kill exchange counter. After almost two hours, it had climbed to 11. This couldn''t be considered too great or too small.

    The moment he and Aina made it back to the village, as they rushed into the central console room, Leonel began to exchange for more people. He brought out his seven remaining brothers, in addition to Elthor, Sael, Raylion and Aphestus.

    When they appeared, everyone already seemed to know what they needed to do. They rushed to the walls just as Leonel exchanged 20 000 points to complete the improvement to Silver-Grade that he had wanted.

    After the moat was formed, Leonel exchanged 50 000 more points and triggered the Silver-Grade Upgrade sequence. He and Aina, likewise, rushed to their positions on the wall, their gazes cold.

    "This brat continues to overestimate himself," Mito spat coldly.

    His temper was only becoming more and more frayed as he watched a single Allan hold back the young geniuses of his Constellation Bow Alliance. The only thing that gave him some reprieve was the fact there was no way he would be able to hold out for long. Soon, very soon, Nazag would be alerted to this matter and this farce would end.

    At the same time, this Leonel would likely bury himself under his own foolishness.

    There was a reason there was such a large leap in price between the Bronze-Grade and Silver-Grade Upgrade Challenges. One was supposed to have a large group of subordinates out by now, at least a few hundred.

    As time went on, more wild challenges were supposed to spawn, and barbarians of sorts would begin to appear in the wild, making accumulating kills and gathering more subordinates far easier.

    Right now, they were just at the beginning of Heirs claiming their first territories, Leonel was the only one with a Bronze-Grade territory in the first place, being greedy and trying to push for a Silver-Grade now was the epitome of foolishness.

    There were only 121 in the Bronze-Grade wave, but there would easily be a hundred times that in the Silver-Grade wave, on top of the fact they would all be Silver-Grade threats as opposed to Bronze-Grade threats.

    Leonel had already sent away his most powerful combatants. His most powerful ranged specialist was tied down by the Constellation Bow Alliance. And now he was going to try and challenge a wave of thousands with just over a dozen. If this wasn''t foolish, what was?

    Silver-Grade walls weren''t nearly enough to offset this kind of danger.

    However, this wave would leave nothing more than silence.

    Leonel stood on the walls as the ground began to quake. Large dust clouds appeared in the distance as the sparse trees began to fall one after another. However, Leonel only calmly held his bow before him, not making a single move just yet.

    His gaze was the picture of perfect calmness, his hair swaying ever so gently in the wind.

    Menacing creatures appeared in the surroundings. They wrapped around the city, hooting and hollering, their weapons clanging.

    "Three..."

    The rumbling ground threatened to split as it whined and gave way.

    "Two..."

    Leonel could see the faces of the front line clearly. Even if he had been in the Third Dimension, he would have been able to. Those menacing tusks, that dripping saliva, those blood-caked machetes...

    "One..."

    Leonel tapped his waist, bringing out a small orb with a writhing Earth Dragon within.

    "Zero."

    He dropped it to the ground.

    The moment it collided, everything seemed to change. The city, which had been on perfectly flat ground, began to rise up. The jagged edges of a mountainous region began to take shape, the water of the mote spilling over.

    The ground quaked and split. What had once been the intimidation of the enemy became their nightmare. Some fell within fissures, others were crushed by falling rock, and yet others found themselves wading in waves of water coming from a moat that seemed much too deep for common sense.

    At that moment, Leonel took out three more orbs. These were none other than the three irrigation rewards he and Aina had gained clearing challenges.

    As their village rose on the back of a growing mountain, lines of rivers began to appear, flooding the region with more and more water. The creatures that weren''t crushed by rock suddenly found themselves being drowned one after another.

    The result was absolutely devastating. By the time Leonel and the others stopped rising into the air, the army of thousands had been reduced to a few hundred.

    "Kill" Leonel said lightly, raising his bow.

    Silence fell over the Human Domain once more. There was nothing to be said, nothing that could be said. It was a sweeping victory.

    Leonel, however, didn''t seem to care very much. The next order of business...

    Crushing the Constellation Bow Alliance.

 Chapter 1945 10 000

    The now Silver-Grade village sat atop of a mountain, hidden deep within its sharp canopies.

    This mountain wasn''t of exaggerated size. This made sense considering it was a reward from a Silver-Grade dungeon, although it was granted as the highest level prize. As such, the mountain itself was only about 500 meters tall at its greatest point, which was relatively short even for a Third Dimensional world. Even so, it had become a nightmare to attack.

    The pathways of the mountain were a combination of crisscrossing rivers and narrow walkways. Attack in large numbers was almost impossible, it was probably easier to just try to raze the mountain to the ground first, but even getting into position to do so was a nightmare as well.

    Because Leonel had activated the Earth Dragon dungeon reward before the trial was completed, there was the added benefit of the Silver-Grade walls being reconstructed with the new terrain in mind. This might seem like a small matter, but now there was a wall that snaked around even the unpredictable terrain of the mountain, and around there, there was a much deeper and thicker moat.

    The village had become a beacon in all directions, making their location clear and obvious. But at the same time, it became a region that was near impossible to actually attack.

    Leonel descended from the walls and waved a hand. In this challenge, they had 13 138 Kill Exchanges. Without hesitation, he used 10 000 of them. Then, he traded in the remaining 3137 Silver-Grade kills for 3 137 000 points as every Silver- Grade kill was worth 1000 points.

    The Gold-Grade upgrade would require 500 000 000 points to trigger, so they were still an enormous distance away. However, these three million or so points, added with the 200 000 points he had yet to use, weren''t entirely useless either.

    Much like Leonel had been able to upgrade the walls after they reached the Silver-Grade, he could now pay to upgrade other facets of the city now that it was also in the Silver-Grade. After pouring another 50 000 or so points into the Segmented Cube to give it more raw materials, Leonel began to buy the upgrades he had had his eye on.

    By now, he had already cleared away all of the raw materials he had bought ahead of time and could outfit everyone with what they needed given another half day or so.

    As for the upgrades, he focused on two main things: more outposts and larger territory.

    After reaching the Silver-Grade, the range of the city went from a radius of 50 kilometers to 100 kilometers. Leonel doubled that for

    500 000 points, then doubled it again for a million points, giving them a 400 kilometers, which was already a 100 away from the range of a Gold-Grade city, which was probably why he wasn''t allowed to double it again.

    Finally, he bought the highest grade outposts that he could, spending the rest of the over 1.5 million swiftly. Each cost about 100 000 points each, he bought 16 and dotted them around the territory.

    The difference between the 50 000 point model and the 100 000 point model was nothing on paper. However, in the fine print, it made it clear that the highest upgrade was linked with the city.

    Meaning, when the city entered the Gold-Grade, so would they.

    This would allow teleportation function between the outposts, making the doubled price more than worth it.

    Of course, for most others, they wouldn''t be able to swallow this cost so early on, and by the time they could they wouldn''t want to lag behind and waste time accumulating more points just to have upgradeable outposts.

    Lights began to flash and one after another, thousands of Leonel''s warriors began to appear. Very quickly, it became obvious that not a single one of them was human.

    They were the Oryx!

    Much like everyone else, the moment the Oryx appeared, they were perfectly organized. They didn''t say anything, they didn''t waste time looking around, they simply filed themselves in an orderly line and waited as Leonel handed them their equipment one by one.

    Even with the sheer number of them, in just a single hour, they were already finished. Each Oryx was outfitted with their weapon and armor, shimmering with a black luster beneath the slowly setting sun.

    The more the elders on the outside saw, the more sure they were.

    Leonel had truly planned everything out from the very beginning, he had never left a single thing to chance, and his people were just as prepared as he was.

    Watching him as he steadily pulled away, the solemness of the others only became more and more obvious.

    Leonel waved a hand and motes of Force Arts formed in the skies, snaking around until they formed a roaring violet-scaled dragon that soared into the skies. By his side, there was no one else but Aina, the only one worthy of standing by his side.

    On the ground below, Elthor stood at the helm of the Oryx army, a massive black saber resting menacingly on his shoulder.

    Leonel''s brothers and the others stood on the city walls. They wouldn''t be participating in this expedition, the city had reached a point where it needed others to stay back and protect it now.

    However, they didn''t seem worried in the slightest, and why would they be?

    Leonel strapped the White Lion Bow to his back.

    "We move."

    The silence of the Human Domain was heavy. It felt like Leonel wasn''t marching toward the Constellation Bow Alliance, but rather toward them, their own homes, their worlds, ready to snatch their hearts.

    Looking toward the cobbled together resistance of the Constellations Bow Alliance, the hearts of Ancestor Mito and the others sank.

    Leonel had gone from having the fewest subordinates present, to suddenly having the most by far...

    What chance did they even stand?

    Ancestor Mito gripped the railings of his flagship, twisting the tough metal as though it was made of thin aluminum. "Nazag... We can only rely on you..."

 Chapter 1946 Fireflies

    The Constellation Bow Alliance was quite spread out. Although they had sent many, they could only enter in pairs of two, and each family only sent a single representative. However, among the devices they prepared to exchange for once they entered, there were communication devices that would make their coming together much simpler and easier.

    As such, by the time the first day of the Heir Wars began to wane, there were quite a number that had come together. When this number was combined with the number they had exchanged for through their kills, they were slowly approaching nearly a thousand members.

    However, what was especially ridiculous was that they couldn''t Cross into a certain territory.

    In the beginning, they had only sent one or two at a time, trying to see if there was a path to sneak in. However, those that were luckier were quickly forced to retreat under a barrage. Those that were unlucky, however... directly lost their lives.

    The only option seemed to be to move forward with a larger group, but it was difficult to organize such a thing without a sure leader, and there was only one person who would take up such a role.

    As the day waned, Nazag finally appeared. A group of elites of the Tarius family followed close behind him. They seemed to have already been outfitted with all of their equipment, and among this equipment there was what they had lacked the most: quivers and arrows.

    Nazag frowned when he saw the state of his people.

    Leonel wasn''t the only one who could plan ahead. The original intention of the people of the Constellation Bow Alliance was to gather together as quickly as possible. In the meantime, Nazag would form an elite team and clear as many challenges and gather as many points as he could.

    In his absence, his people were meant to capture a village and then quickly clear out the territory, so that when he came with enough points, they could directly challenge the Bronze-Grade and take a step into it as swiftly as possible.

    Nazag''s strategy wasn''t bad, not wasting his time finding and claiming a territory maximized his skill set, and after a day, he had already accumulated several ten thousand points and he was already close to having enough to trigger the Silver-Grade challenge.

    In his estimation, by mid-day tomorrow, they should be firmly entrenched and they could begin using their Silver-Grade territory as a springboard to attack other territories, expand, and gather more wealth, resources and points.

    Everything should have been perfect, but...

    "... Nazag, we weren''t able to clear out the entire territory. Every time we try to go in that direction, we''re barraged by a long ranged weapon. Six of our brothers and sisters have already died trying. There''s definitely another territory over there, but since the plan was to clear the region first, we couldn''t make the decision alone."

    Nazag frowned before making a prompt decision.

    "Everyone gather! Organize yourself! We will attack now, there''s no time to waste!"

    Nazag had a bad feeling. An enemy that could set up such a thing so quickly wasn''t a joke. The fact that six had already fallen on just the first day was also a hard pill to swallow. There were just shy of a thousand of them, a casualty count of six, not even mentioning the number injured, was already too high.

    The Constellation Bow Alliance quickly formed up, but before they could even set out, there was a sudden shout.

    "Leader! Leader! A large army has entered the range of our territory!"

    Nazag''s frown deepened. "I didn''t tell you to start the Bronze-Grade upgrade yet, what are you doing?"

    "No! There''s-!"

    Before the voice could finish, the darkening skies were suddenly enveloped by a violet brilliance.

    ROAR!

    A streaking arrow of fire descended from the skies. It was just a single line of red, splintering the black skies in two. Even so, it felt tiny and insignificant... Until it hit the ground.

    BOOM!

    The fires raged, shooting up into the skies and forming a pillar of devastation before a rain of flames fell from above, immediately turning the surroundings into a hellscape of heat and agony.

    Nazag''s pupils constricted, and his vision sharpened, streaking across the skies until it landed on Leonel''s face. His heart skipped a beat, his gaze shifting down to land on the army of ten thousand.

    No matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t fathom out Leonel had already gathered so many subordinates. But even more importantly than that, how were they all wearing such armors already?

    All of those armors were Silver-Grade at worst. To trade for that, it would take 100 points each, one for the armor, and another for the weapon. That was 200 points per person, for 10 000 people that was two million points! That was simply impossible!

    When Nazag saw that many of the weapons and armors were actually in the Gold-Grade, his face went completely dark. Could it be that the Morales were cheating so boldly under the eyes of everyone?

    There was already no more time to think.

    "Ready your bows! We must use our advantage while we can! Ready and aim! FIRE!"

    Nazag had already organized his people for battle. In this relatively flat and dry terrain, there weren''t any obstructions to worry about. Even if their village was burning to the ground, so what? So long as they could get off three or four volleys, this battle would quickly become manageable.

    The Oryx were on foot, so their charging speed was relatively slow. In addition, there didn''t seem to be any shield warriors, or more importantly, platoons among them. Without a collective effort to shield against their arrows, they would have to fend for themselves. That would cause their formation to collapse and make them easy pickings.

    Nazag thought through things swiftly and then lifted his bow, ready to fire.

    The first volley launched into the skies like fireflies sweeping through the night sky.

    But to their shock, their lights suddenly flickered and vanished as though swallowed into the belly of a black dragon.

 Chapter 1947 Not Worth Anything

    The violet dragon snaking through the skies suddenly whipped its tail, causing the few arrows that had been launched into the skies to snap beneath the wind pressure alone.

    Nazag''s eyes widened in shock. His first thought, once again, was some sort of cheating. This was a world created by a Morales Ancestor, after all, and it was designed to distort their senses from the very beginning. Maybe it could mess with their attacks as well.

    However, somewhere deep inside, Nazag knew that this wasn''t the case.

    He raised his bow into the skies, his heartbeat slowing. After the first volley failed, leaving him and his people stunned, the Oryx were still quickly closing the gap, in just a few more moments, they would be upon them.

    Nazag realized that maybe the only way to salvage this situation was to kill Leonel.

    "He''s about a hundred meters up and three kilometers away. This is a routine shot..."

    Nazag took a breath. Reaching into his quiver, he pulled out a radiant white arrow and pulled. His bow trembled once and ancient runes began to light up across its body. A white Bow Force erupted from him, spiraling around his arrow and shifting his hair like the wind.

    "Die..."

    Nazag released with an exhale.

    It whistled through the sky with a harsh sound, gathering momentum as it moved until it seemed to become two arrows spiraling around one another. This was Nazag''s most powerful single shot technique, at least the most powerful one he frequently used. It could be considered an excellent probing shot.

    His eyes narrowed as his arrow seemed to appear before Leonel in the blink of an eye. The entire world seemed to be focused on this exchange, however Leonel''s expression was indifferent and unmoved. As he stood on the back of his dragon construct, his pale violet hair shifted in the wind.

    The arrow appeared before his eyebrows, but just when it seemed like his head would be penetrated, exploding for all to see, the arrow suddenly crumbled. The Bow Force vanished and the arrow that was left fluttered away in a rain of ash.

    Nazag froze, his hand trembling.

    Leonel looked down toward him without a word. The deep abyss of those pale violet eyes were suffocating. Despite the distance that separated them, it felt like they were face to face. As Nazag craned his neck and Leonel calmly met his gaze, the difference between them seemed all too obvious.

    ROAR!

    The Oryx army crashed into the Constellation Bow Alliance''s formation. Realizing that their Bow Force had suddenly become useless, they could only use their bows as sticks, relying on their fists and legs to counter.

    But what good was it?

    Outside of Nazag and his small group that held up well, countering and killing a few Oryx, against the mighty and strong bodies of the Oryx who had recently undergone Hyper Evolution, they stood little chance at all.

    Nazag''s gaze turned red as his people were slaughtered. Leonel didn''t seem to care to raise even a single finger. He simply looked down with the loftiness of a King.

    For those on the outside who had watched Leonel meticulously measure every second, ensuring that not a moment was wasted, this was a sharp contrast to his usual tactics. However, it was exactly this sharp contrast that made it all the more glaring.

    He was doing it on purpose, he wanted this moment to be burned into their memories. It was a message, a message that when he spoke arrogantly, it wasn''t because he did as he willed and didn''t comprehend the vastness of the world. It was because he had already prepared, it was because he was already ten steps ahead, it was because he was already confident that others could never catch up to his steps.

    "LEONEL!" Nazag roared. "I''ll never forgive your Morales family for doing this!"

    Leonel looked down indifferently. As smart as he was, he could tell why Nazag was saying this. He could not wrap his head around how any of this could be happening if Leonel wasn''t cheating, cheating was the only viable answer he had.

    Leonel did not have to acknowledge his words at all, however at that moment, he suddenly raised a hand.

    The Oryx, who had flooded forward like an endless tide, came to a halt, retreating just as smoothly. They were a well oiled machine, responding to Leonel''s commands without the slightest hitch.

    Leonel took a step forward, fluttering down from the back of his dragon construct as his bow appeared in his hand. When he landed, the two armies had already separated, leaving a no man''s land. His location was as dangerous as it could be, and yet he was unmoved by it all.

    He took the White Lion Bow off of his back, piercing it into the ground. With a wave of his hand, the bow of a fallen Constellation Bow Alliance member shot up from the ground and snapped into his palm with a satisfying clap.

    Without a word, he pulled back on the bow string, a radiant golden Bow Force forming.

    The instant Nazag saw this, his expression went from one of derision to shock and then helplessness, before it suddenly became fierce. He gripped his bow and lifted it up, roaring as he pulled back the string and released.

    TWANG!

    Leonel shot an arrow at the same time, meeting Nazag''s and dispelling it.

    Nazag shot again, but Leonel''s arrow crossed the halfway mark even faster this time, colliding with its tip perfectly and shattering it.

    Nazag shot again and again, but every time, Leonel''s arrow would meet it. It didn''t seem to matter how it twisted, how it curved, or which direction it came from.

    The aerial assault between the two formed a net of white and gold in the skies, illuminating the dark skies. But as time passed, the golden arc quickly suppressed the white arcs. Leonel didn''t move and inch, and his firing speed didn''t seem to increase, and yet Nazag was quickly being suppressed and suffocated.

    Soon, his arrow could barely travel a few meters before they''re destroyed.

    Then they could not even travel a meter.

    Then not even half a meter.

    Nazag pulled back his bow to fire again, but a golden arrow whizzed forward, shredding his bow apart and snapping it into two.

    The arrow shot into his shoulder, leaving a hold so large that half of his mangled, beating heart could still be seen.

    Leonel did not even look at Nazag, tossing the random bow he had picked up to the side and picking up the White Lion Bow.

    At that moment, the white lions of the bow unleashed a mighty roar that shocked the skies.

    It swallowed up Leonel''s Bow Force, emitting a mightier and mightier aura until it finally unshackled the last of its chains.

    The aura of the Gold Grade crumbled and the aura of the true Life Grade weapon burst forth.

    Leonel calmly strapped the bow to his back as Nazag looked forward, blood spilling from his mouth.

    "I''m not sure why you all thought you were worthy of this bow,"

    Leonel uttered lightly. "Kill the rest of them, they''re not worth anything."

    ROAR!

    The Oryx charged, their gazes crimson with endless fervor.

 Chapter 1948 Night Side

    The lips of the Constellation Bow Alliance elders trembled as they watched the light fade from Nazag''s eyes.

    It was a complete slaughter, he never stood a chance. The worst humiliation was that Leonel hadn''t even used the White Lion Bow. All the while, it was stuck in the ground by his side and he suffocated Nazag with nothing more than sheer skill.

    If he had wanted, Nazag wouldn''t have been able to gather up any Bow Force at all. This was the fundamental difference between a fake Sovereign and a True Sovereign. Back then, Leonel could only rely on someone actually attacking him with a spear to crush their Spear Force. However, now, not only were Spears, Bows and Arrows useless against him, he could even extend this ability into a Domain that crushed all opposition.

    Nazag might have believed that Leonel was cheating, but the rest of them had all seen the process from start to end with their own eyes. If Leonel had been cheating, or if the Morales had made his path forward easier, they would have been able to sense it.

    There was no escaping it, Leonel had crushed them. Then when their best genius complained, he gave him a chance and then crushed him again.

    From the very beginning, the fact the Constellation Bow Alliance used the bow had sealed their fates. This was never their stage, and it was their misfortune to be placed near Leonel. Death was always the only path forward.

    Ancestor Mito trembled. His grip on the flagship tightened to the point the metal within his palms turned molten. He had a belly full of fury, but he didn''t know where to aim it. He never expected that the Constellation Bow Alliance would be the first major power to be eliminated like this. Even the Golddark Organization still had others inside, though they had already lost their strongest pair.

    This humiliation would follow them for a lifetime.

    Leonel returned to the skies, landing by Aina side as the massacre below was swiftly completed.

    Aina''s gaze was placid, however she still asked a question. "Will it really be alright?"

    She was obviously referring to Leonel''s ruthless methods. He truly seemed intent on killing every genius he came across, even the Heirs.

    In the past Heir Wars, Heirs always survived, firstly because of the Morales family rules, and second because there were mechanisms in place for them to give up ahead of time and be transported out. This was a measure provided this time as well. The difference was that Leonel didn''t give them a chance.

    He killed the Golddark brothers before they even realized the kind of threat they were facing, and he spit in the face of Nazag''s pride, placing him in a position where his only thoughts were of clawing back his dignity.

    However, those that came to support the Heirs were fair game. This was supposed to be a measurement of the charisma of the Heir. Who would be able to gather up subordinates who knew that their lives would be in danger, while their leader would never have to face death himself? But now it had become the burial ground so many geniuses had fallen to.

    "I want them to be enraged, I want them to retaliate. I want them to be so infuriated that they lose all logic and reason. That way, once we step foot out of here, I can unify the Human Domain in a single bound."

    Aina''s gaze flashed.

    She had wondered why Leonel had been so serious from the very beginning.

    It turned out his goal was never these Heir Wars to begin with.

    Leonel was a person who took his preparation seriously, yes. He had always taken his two Mantras, Respect and Persistence, to the absolute extreme.

    However, it was also because of this preparation that he tended to be lackadaisical and casual in his execution.

    This time, it was different though. From the moment he opened his eyes this morning, there was an unconcealed sharpness around him. Even James didn''t dare to joke around at this point, and everyone had their best brought out of them.

    Leonel''s demeanor had become like a guiding light in the dead of night.

    Everyone was in lockstep, they could subtly feel the kind of momentum that was brewing.

    This wasn''t just the Heir Wars. This was the start of the Domain War.

    On the other side of the Heir War Moon, most of the participants were oblivious to the looming threat. The sun was still high in the skies on this side as it had started off in the dead of the night. The disadvantage was that claiming villages in the dark was far more difficult as many had buffs during this time to their alertness. At the same time, there were far more creatures and barbarians spawned in the wild.

    However, it could be argued that these two changes actually made those who were spawned on the night half of the Moon far luckier. Only Leonel had been focused on claiming a territory as quickly as possible. Most were more concerned with gathering points, clearing challenges, and completing kill exchanges.

    With the added number of spawned creatures that could be slaughtered, the size of groups on the night side had surpassed that of the day side.

    Of the seven Heirs, four were located on the night side, while three were located on Leonel''s half of the moon.

    Adawarth had already gathered over a hundred subordinates. Although this number paled in comparison to the near thousand that the Constellation Bow Alliance had, it had to be remembered that the Alliance had only gathered this amount because they had multiple Heirs participating, while Adawarth was on his own.

    What was curious, though, was the fact the Heir performing the best on the night side wasn''t Adawarth the First Nova, but rather the Third Nova, Xavnik who had suddenly exploded with a great potential.

    Almost the moment they entered, several Heirs seemed to have betrayed their families, rushing toward Xavnik''s location. By the end of the first day, they had already built a coalition of over 2000.

 Chapter 1949 Loopholes

    Xavnik''s actions should have gotten far more praise than they did. He, almost rightfully, thought himself to be leading the pack. He had taken advantage of an obvious loophole in the rules, but taking advantage of this loophole wasn''t simple.

    Those that participated needed to come from prominent families, and he also had to convince not just the participants themselves to follow him, but even the powerful elders behind them that following his steps was in their best interest.

    With the fact that the Morales family were quickly becoming the public enemy of the Human Domain, especially as Leonel continued his slaughter, how could such a thing be simple? In fact, it was so difficult that it bordered on impossible. Pulling this off, especially given the short time that was given, was a feat of feats.

    Not only had this allowed Xavnik to accumulate a large number of subordinates in the shortest period of time, but he had also claimed three territories already. Although they were all still at the Sub-Grade, this was done on purpose by him. He didn''t want to grab too much attention too soon.

    His goal was to covertly gather up enough points and resources to push all three territories to the Silver-Grade by the end of the second day. By then, he would be leagues beyond anyone else. In fact, the only ones aware that he had gathered such an army beneath him already were those who were watching from the outside. From the perspective of those on the night side, everything was normal...

    On the day side, the two other Heirs outside of Leonel were Fifth Nova, Ramon and Second Nova, Auran.

    Interestingly enough, Ramon had taken a very similar approach to Leonel, just much slower. When he found a village, he and his partner, Valorie, got to work. After clearing the village, work that Valorie seemed to take charge of practically alone, Ramon entered the center console of the village and brought out a Workbench and a Force Crafting Quill.

    He had made the same decision as Leonel. Trading for individual treasures was too expensive, he would Craft his way out.

    While he worked, Valorie used the territory map to find challenges and clear them quickly, even entering a dungeon on her own. This valiant woman seemed to have a spear that was unstoppable, nothing could seem to last even a single strike and she swept through everything she came across.

    By the end of the first day, they had nearly a hundred subordinates as well, and each and every one was outfitted with Gold-Grade armors and weapons. Then, in the dead of night, they directly challenged the Bronze-Grade upgrade.

    As for Auran, his approach seemed to be the oddest of them all. He completely ignored the villages despite the fact that he had come across two unclaimed ones on the first day. He and his partner seemed to vanish into the shadows, making their position hard to lock on even for those watching.

    In fact, if it wasn''t for the fact you could find whichever candidate you wanted to check on with just a thought, even they might have already lost track of him.

    However, it was also due to this that Auran was easy to forget, especially with all of the other fireworks. As such, many only checked on him every few hours, not having the patience to give him their full attention, and it was because of this that no one seemed to have a grasp of what he was doing...

    The Heirs weren''t the only ones of the day side, half of the Constellation families were also present. Of them, the Lio family and the Gemin families were performing the best.

    The Lio family were entirely focused on the brute force method. They had placed their two best geniuses, Conon and Gunter, on the same team. Both had only recently entered the Seventh Dimension, but their strength made many veterans shrink, their power output splitting and trembling the earth.

    They had by far the smallest group at not even a dozen, but this wasn''t due to their lack of kills. Outside of Leonel, Adawarth and the cumulative efforts of Xavnik''s coalition, they likely had the most. However, they had converted all of these kills directly to points, first outfitting themselves with their best weapons and armors long since prepared, and then, strangely, pairing themselves with beast companions.

    Beast companions fell under a unique category. They could be exchanged for using both kill exchanges or like treasures, it depended on the individual''s choice. But what was interesting was the Lio family first traded in all of their kills for points, then traded for their beasts.

    This move was clever because the cost of their beasts was less than that of what they received for the kills. However, the question was why would the Lio family be trading for such weak beasts to begin with?

    Obviously, the more talented the beast, the more it cost. For their beasts to cost so little, they couldn''t be very talented at all...

    But when the elders on the outside saw these beasts, their eyes widened.

    These beasts were indeed not talented, they could even be said to be inferior. The amount of effort it would have taken to raise them to the Seventh Dimension simply wasn''t worth the return... And yet...

    Each and every one of them was the middle Seventh Dimensional Tier, Tier 4 at worst, Tier 6 at best.

    Even the strongest participating Heir was only at Tier 2. The hundred year limit on age was devastating, and each step taken in the Seventh Dimension could be counted as its own watershed, let alone if you were crossing Tier 3 to Tier 4, or Tier 6 to Tier 7. These gaps were enormous!

    But now the Lio family had taken advantage of their own loophole in the rules to bring out such powerhouses for cheap. It was clear and obvious that they had invested a great deal. For the cost it would have taken to raise beasts of such poor talent, they could have raised dozens of geniuses with just decent talent to that level, hundreds maybe.

    The approach of the Gemin family, though, was just as clever and resourceful.

 Chapter 1950 Fusion

    The Lio family''s methods were already excellent.

    While the age limit of humans was 100 years, the age limit of beasts was the exact same. If they weren''t, then wouldn''t that mean that these families could just send any Eighth Dimensional beasts they had in? They had obviously planned for this long ago. Just looking at the beasts, it was clear that they wouldn''t be able to live much longer than another two or three years, a price paid for such fast improvement, which was also likely why they hadn''t used such methods on humans.

    As for the Gemin family, they paired themselves quite oddly.

    Usually, the Gemin family geniuses would be born in pairs. When their women released eggs, their special Bloodlines, once said egg was fertilized, would cause them to split into a Yin and a Yang. This would produce twins that were almost identical in every aspect, but not quite identical.

    These twins would be the perfect battle partners and could communicate across exaggerated distances...

    This was why it was so weird, initially, that rather than pairing these Yin and Yang Twins together, the Gemin family had sent in two pairs of geniuses, pairing two Yangs and two Yins. One pair of these twins were ones that Leonel had intimate familiarity with as they had entered the same Selection Village as him back then... Huon and Droet, Huon being the white haired and dark-skinned Yin Twin, and Droet being the black haired and white skinned Yang Twin.

    However, in this case, they were separated, matching with Hulot, a Yin Twin, and Druid, a Yang Twin. Hulot and Druid were a pair of sisters, while Huon and Droet were a pair of brothers. The two could be considered cousins, with Hulot and Druid being in a middle generation between the Cataclysm Generation and Velasco''s Generation.

    When the two pairs entered, they split once again. But rather than meeting up with their partners. They picked a point and fanned out.

    Using their communication abilities, they built territory maps between the two of them larger than any city, far larger than even Leonel''s one. In just a day, they had mapped out the entire day side, finding all currently occurring challenges and taking down all those nearby them.

    If there was a number one group in terms of challenges cleared, it was no doubt the Gemin family. The number of points they had accumulated had already long entered the hundreds of thousands and their understanding of the situation was excellent.

    As for how they had done this, they used their Internal Sight like radars.

    Because they could connect while disregarding the distance, their Internal Sight connected like a singular line across hundreds and even thousands of kilometers.

    Then, by pouring their Soul Force to reinforce the strand of connection, they could send subtle waves into the surroundings, mapping it out like radio waves. Although the maps weren''t in striking detail, they didn''t need to be. This alone was enough for them to know the location of every challenge, every dungeon and every village on an entire half of the moon.

    After this, they picked the most prime location on the day side, a village with the best natural resources and defenses. In addition, this was a village that started at the Bronze-Grade from the very beginning!

    After claiming it, they used the kill exchanges they had gathered to gather up dozens of subordinates. Then, giving them the location of the dungeons they had already mapped out, they sent them out, only leaving a small number to protect their territory.

    The most shocking part about their strategy was that as they brought forward more and more of their family methods, their ability to scan the region got faster and faster, even having teams dedicated to updating them with the new spawns.

    Although their start was relatively slow, their efforts seemed to be quickly snowballing, and it was only increasing in speed.

    It was safe to say that there were others performing quite excellently although Leonel was still in first place. If he couldn''t continue pushing forward at this pace, he would be quickly surpassed before he could take advantage of the lead he currently had.

    But knowing Leonel, how could he allow such a thing to happen?

    Even as the Oryx completed the rest of the slaughter, Leonel entered the center of the Sub-Grade village with Aina, his thoughts dancing.

    500 000 000 points was incredibly steep, and the prices beyond that would only become steeper and more exaggerated to the point that they might take years to accumulate. There was no simple method to accumulate so many points, grinding was the only option. However, there was another path to advancement, and that was fusing cities.

    By combining three city cores of the same grade, you could trigger an upgrade challenge. The drawback was that the upgrade challenge would be more difficult as a result, the enemies would be marginally stronger, and much more numerous. It would be akin to triggering three upgrade challenges simultaneously.

    Leonel had already decided that this would be his right, but the when was difficult.

    He simply didn''t have enough subordinates, especially compared to these families who had billions of descendants per generation. As a result, he needed to not only end these Heir Wars before they had enough time to accumulate too many kill exchanges for him to handle, he could also only have just a single large territory because he couldn''t adequately defend more than that while also maintaining pressure on his enemies.

    Still, the question remained, would he fuse three Silver-Grade cities? Or would he fuse three Gold-Grade cities together?

    Leonel shook his head, there was only one choice. With a wave of his hand, he spent all the points they had just accumulated and triggered the Bronze-Grade and Silver-Grade challenges back to back.

    With an army of ten thousand ready and prepared, they steam rolled through the both.

    <Would you like to take the city core? This action cannot be undone.>

    <Yes.>

    After this, there was only one path left, and that was to find another Silver-Grade city core to fuse into his own.

    As Leonel was making his choice, the Gemin were communicating. Since they had mapped out the entire day side, they had long since found Leonel''s territory, but they hadn''t taken action just yet. Their original plan after seeing how close the Constellation Bow Alliance and Leonel were was to allow the two of them to fight it out and let them reap the rewards as they focused on other things.

    But very soon, they would receive news of their destruction as the scouts assigned to that region swept through once more...

 Chapter 1951 20%

    "The Constellation Bow Alliance has been destroyed. Although it''s not confirmed, Nazag has likely died along with them. It doesn''t seem like any but a few who used their escape badges managed to keep their lives."

    A scout reported to the four Libra Heirs, a solemn expression on their face.

    [Author''s Note: Mistake on my part. The four Heirs that were introduced in yesterday''s chapters are part of the Libra family, not the Gemin family.Apparently I can''t keep my own story straight, *cries in corner* The Gemin and Libra family have a very close relationship with one another, something mentioned back in vol 7. Apparently, that relationship is close enough that I mixed them up]

    It was obvious that after learning of the claiming of two territories, they would pay a great amount of attention to them. The commotion caused by Leonel wasn''t small in the slightest and it was too difficult to hide an army of ten thousand.

    "In addition, there''s been a change to Leonel Morales'' territory as well. A mountain seems to have appeared out of nowhere, and its gone from a territory that''s difficult to defend to one that has an incredible terrain advantage. We aren''t sure of how this happened.

    The four Heirs frowned, looking toward one another. They had only just returned, prepared to press their advantage. They wouldn''t be together considering the advantage they had when separated if it wasn''t for something extremely important, and that important thing was obviously upgrading their territory.

    However, what they didn''t expect was that the moment they returned, they would receive what could only be said to be bad news.

    They weren''t exactly close to Leonel''s territory, in fact they were quite far.

    The land Leonel had chosen was quite barren and could only be salvaged with the help of several terrain-changing rewards. However, their territory was lush and vibrant, there was a huge climate change between there and here.

    Even so, because of the way the Heir Wars seemed to be shaping up, there would likely be a victor decided between the two hemispheres before an overall was chosen between the two behemoths that remained on their feet.

    This was almost guaranteed because the moon was currently separated into two super continents, one on the night side and the other on the day side. It wasn''t worthwhile to invest in seafaring vessels and the like to cross to the other side if it wasn''t absolutely necessary. It would only slow their progress, all for what? To end up in a land they had no information about? It wasn''t worth it.

    "Mountain? It should be a dungeon reward. There was a dungeon located between Leonel Morales'' territory and the Constellation Bow Alliance''s. It was closer to the Constellation Bow Alliance''s territory, so it''s surprising that Leonel Morales got his hands on it first," Hulot said slowly.

    Huon and Droet were silent. They were the two with the most understanding of Leonel, they could still remember the first time they met him. He had started off with quite a disadvantage in the True Selection as well, but what had happened in the end? Since then, they had been quite wary of him.

    "For him to end up with the dungeon first... Is it a coincidence? From our most recent scan, he seemed to have been alone with his partner for a very long time, that''s very much unlike the Constellation Bow Alliance which spread out with numerous groups, covering a large area," Druid supplemented.

    "Ah... A-according to the new map, he now has several new outposts in the region, but their placement is odd. They''re placed very far from the boundaries of a Bronze-Grade village," the scout said.

    The gazes of the four Libra Heirs sharpened all at once, causing the scout to go quite pale.

    "How far?"

    "Ah... it should be 420 kilometers from his village?"

    The four Libra Heirs all stood.

    As Leonel has said previously, the details of the upgrades available at the Silver-Grade were kept in the dark. As such, there wasn''t enough information to conclude that Leonel had a Silver-Grade village which he had expanded the territory of twice over to 400 kilometers. Given that his upgraded outposts each had a radial range of 20 kilometers, that would explain the extra 20.

    However, even though they couldn''t deduce this, they all knew that Leonel wasn''t a fool despite how disdainful they had been of his threats. There seemed to be only two explanations for this.

    The first was that Leonel had received a rare reward that allowed him to extend the territory range of his village. As such, he placed his outposts a large distance away relying on this.

    The second explanation was that Leonel was using outposts in place of his scouts, using them to alert him of movement much earlier on. However, this second method felt quite foolish. The price to reward ratio wasn''t worth it.

    The number of outposts that would be necessary was excessive, it would cost millions at the very least.

    "How many outposts are there?"

    "There aren''t many, less than a dozen."

    The four Heirs frowned in confusion.

    Even just to cover a circumference of 420 kilometers, you would need at least 260 Bronze-Grade outposts with 10 kilometer ranges. Even if you doubled that, the price was eye watering. What was the point of so few outposts?

    "Show us the locations of these outposts."

    The scout hurriedly brought forward a crude map that seemed to update in real time. It was less accurate to say that the map was crude, and it was instead just not very detailed. Even so, there were many important points on it.

    Huon''s pupils were the first to constrict. "This configuration..."

    "They''re all strategic points," Druid said with narrowed eyes. "Here''s the closest water source. Here''s a choke point..."

    Every time Druid pointed, it would elucidate another important point. When she finished, they all looked up.

    It was impossible for someone who hadn''t had any scouts to have such a good understanding of the overall situation. The only explanation left was that Leonel''s territory had a range of at least 400 kilometers.

    Not only that, but after he had claimed Nazag''s territory, he had somehow gotten it to 400 kilometers of range first as well.

    If this was true, Leonel didn''t have a vague outline of the day side. He had a near perfect map of what amounted to at least 20% of the day side, a map that was far more valuable than their vague outlines of 100% of it.

 Chapter 1952 Trump Card Vs Trump Card

    "The gap isn''t that big. What''s most important is terrain, dungeons and challenges, we have a strong grasp of all of those."

    "We have a strong grasp of terrain and challenges, as well as villages, but dungeons are more difficult. They''re often hidden and don''t have any obvious markers, we can only make educated guesses. In terms of range, we have the upper hand. But in terms of details and dungeons specifically, we''re definitely on the losing end."

    The situation wasn''t as bad as they thought. Although they didn''t know how Leonel had gotten so much range, there was still a large buffer between them and him. In addition, they had their own preparations.

    "But look here, Nazag''s territory is gone. That means he''s moved it. But why?"

    "He''s planning on using the fusion method. He used the territory map of Nazag''s village first, memorized it, then took it with him. Remember, Leonel Morales is the youngest of us all, he lost 20 years, and he is also the Littlest Nova. He''s been behind from the very beginning, he knows this more than anyone.

    "So his goal is to focus on just a single territory. This is good for us, we''ll always know where he is, it''ll be much easier to monitor him. I suggest we assign a team to him. With the shorter range, the maps will be much more detailed and we''ll be able to pay attention to everything he does and respond accordingly."

    "Agreed, but we need some other measures as well. Fifth Nova is expanding quickly and he''s our most immediate enemy, we can''t divert too much attention to a fire so far away and end up burned on this side."

    "That much is easy. We failed to use the Constellation Bow Alliance, however I think we''ll have to stop holding back. Our advantages aren''t as large as we would like, especially with these variables. Less release a few more trump cards."

    "Already?"

    "The best faction to use given the situation is the Lio family, but a constellation family isn''t so easy to make use of even if their leader is a bit dense. This is the best choice."

    The four looked toward one another and nodded. This was a trump card they only wanted to use during the end game. Using it now would expose their tracks ahead of time and make it less effective in the future, but sometimes part of a powerful trump card was knowing when to use it, and waiting until the last moment wasn''t always the ideal moment.

    **

    As the Libra were scheming, Leonel had already been taking his own steps.

    They were very much correct about the fact that he had taken advantage of succeeding in the upgrade challenge to map out another 400 kilometers.

    The price was steep, but he valued information over all. What he needed most was the location of his next target, and he had found it.

    But first, he used the almost a thousand kill exchanges he had gained from the Constellation Bow Alliance, and that over 10 000 he had gained from another successful Silver-Grade challenge, to call forward more subordinates. The first group Leonel called forward was the Umbra family.

    In fact, he had called them forward even before beginning the challenge because he had been waiting precisely for nightfall.

    Leonel nodded toward Radlis and nodded. "You have the night. By the end of it, I want to know everything about this super continent. Ignore all challenges, mark down the location any dungeons, and [ want a systematic report of every Heir and territory in this region."

    "Yes!" Radlis nodded.

    In a flash, he and hundreds of Umbra family members melded into the night.

    It was as though they had never been there at all, fusing into the shadows like phantoms. In the depths of the night, they were truly at home.

    Back when the Umbra family attacked Earth, they were able to vanish from sight even in the middle of the day. However, Leonel had still waited for night to set them loose.

    There were multiple reasons for this, but the main reason was efficiency.

    The strength of the Umbra family was several times more powerful in the night, and they could, as such, finish their tasks much faster. It wasn''t worth it to trade for them earlier than now as they weren''t able to display their true strength for fear of exposing their family''s ties to the Three Finger Cult.

    As such, much like he had done with everything else, Leonel only revealed his cards at the absolute perfect time.

    After this, Leonel waved a hand and dozens appeared before him. To the absolute astonishment of those watching from the outside, every single one of them was a member of the Cloud Race. However, they were all in chains.

    Leonel had long since bound their wills to him, with a thought, he could kill them. So long as they refused to follow his orders, their death was inevitable.

    Of course, Leonel had done all of this long ago. He wouldn''t waste precious time here torturing and convincing.

    Leonel waved a hand and removed their chains. He flipped a palm, revealing a communication device. His gaze flickered through it as he read with great speed. This information was none other than what Emna and James had already sent back to him after their half days'' effort. Within it, there were a few territories already marked.

    Of course, Leonel couldn''t rely on the information given by just two people, especially since their original job was only to clear as many challenges and dungeons as possible, information was secondary. This was why he had sent out the Umbra family as well.

    That said, this advanced information, as crude as it was, was good enough to send out a few teams of Cloud Race members.

    "You few will go here... As for you, here..."

    Leonel quickly assigned them.

    Without many words, the Cloud Race dispersed. After activating their race''s movement technique, they were like wisps of silvery-grey in the night, fast and imperceptible.

 Chapter 1953 Most Neglected

    Leonel''s asks of them weren''t as detailed as he would like, but the rest would have to wait until the Umbra family returned. For now, this would have to do. They would know to infiltrate to the highest level of management they could.

    Although it didn''t feel like it, there were, quite literally, hundreds of Heirs participating. With the sheer number of families there were, and how many had completely disregarded his words, this number was actually on the lower end.

    However, the moon was small, only about half to three quarters the size of Earth.

    Of course, a few thousand people versus a moon of this side still made looking for people like looking for a needle in a haystack. As such, Leonel knew he didn''t just need to care for the bigwigs, he also needed to find and crush the smaller players before they could get a foothold.

    The reason for this was obvious. As he improved his lead, he would eventually become a threat, and because of his abrasive words, he would become a target, not that he wasn''t already a target to begin with. Even if Leonel was nothing more than a smiling face and spread nothing but niceties, they would still want to deal with him.

    In that case, Leonel had an obvious ticking time bomb strapped to his ankle, and that was the obvious ending where he was swarmed from all sides. He had a numbers problem to face to begin with, if he had to face so many at once, it would be hard to come out victorious.

    In that case, Leonel needed to start placing certain countermeasures in place now. The outposts were only the beginning, he would begin systematically grinding away at all of these enemies one by one.

    The Umbra would deal with any small groups they ran into that could be casually dealt with. They were a family of assassins after all.

    This first group of Cloud Race would infiltrate the few that could be considered to be at a middle range and destroy them from the inside out.

    Once the Umbra returned with a full detailed report, he would send out another group of Cloud Race with the purpose of targeting the largest groups and waiting for the opportune moment to crush them.

    Leonel finished assigning the Cloud Race swiftly.

    He turned toward the Oryx. "Return to the village, enter the Segmented Cube''s pods and rest. There are a thousand total pods. Take turns. After each group finishes, head to the north, east, west, south and their in between cardinal directions respectively. The remaining 2000 of you will say to guard the village."

    With the Segmented Cube, Leonel had a measure to deal with the fatigue pushed onto them by the environment. 15 minutes in the pod was worth a day of rest, but by the time they came out, they would be in pristine condition. Although he only had a thousand of them, or more accurately could only spare the energy to use a thousand at a time, it would only take two hours and a half for all 10 000 of the Oryx to be rejuvenated to their full strength.

    "As for the first eight groups, I will leave it to your commanders to decide when to retreat and when to advance. Do not die needless deaths."

    "Leave it to me," Elthor said boldly.

    Leonel nodded and sent them away. Then, he used the remaining more than 10 000 kill exchanges he had gained from the second Silver-Grade upgrade challenge and summoned a large army of Skies family members.

    If the number of Leonel''s subordinates were to be counted, the largest number without a doubt came from the Skies family. But as a family that wasn''t necessarily the strongest, they obviously didn''t have too many Seventh Dimensional experts younger than a hundred years old.

    Even so, for a family of that scale, while producing 10 000 such individuals who had entered with the God Path was impossible, they had more than enough of such individuals who had done so with the Conventional Path, and that was all Leonel needed.

    This was yet another loophole to take advantage of.

    While it was true that fatigue worked more luck it would for Third Dimensional existences in this world, that was only after they stepped foot into this world. This meant that from the moment they were summoned, a subordinate would have a fresh pair of legs and eyes.

    A fresh pair of legs and eyes perfect for war.

    Leonel soared into the skies. Although he could feel the fatigue settling in already, his gaze was still cold and sharp. Before daybreak, he would claim his third Silver-Grade territory. Tomorrow, the Heir Wars would introduce its first Gold-Grade territory.

    As Leonel marched, a group of individuals quickly caught up. With the village soon to be protected by the Oryx, Leonel''s brothers had already caught up.

    Leonel wasn''t taking any chances on this. He would kill two birds with one stone on this expedition. Not only would he claim his third territory, he would take down his second Constellation Family.

    The Taur family and Armand had entered his line of sight. He would conveniently deal with a small grudge at the same time.

    In an unknown corner of the Heir Wars Moon, a familiar trio had gathered.

    They stood by the ocean that separated the two super continents, cold air blowing by. They seemed close to one of the poles, but the water didn''t seem intent on freezing over. Despite the fact it was clearly salted, it moved like a rushing river.

    These three were none other than Orinik, Rychard and Montero.

    "This will be the most neglected region of the Heir Wars, but I believe the Ancestor of Morales will be quite thorough. If we claim the seas before anyone else, anyone who wants victory will have to come through us," Orinik said lightly.

    "That sounds nice," Montero said somewhat skeptically, "but the question is how. We won''t be the only ones, the Pisc and Quarius families will definitely have the same idea. Also, one of them is tied to the First Nova as well."

    Hearing this, Orinik''s smile only widened.

 Chapter 1954 Never Stop

    ?1954 Never Stop

    "Stop being mysterious, this is serious," Montero pressed.

    However, to Montero''s surprise, rather than explaining, Orinik looked toward Rychard.

    Rychard stepped to the edge of the rushing tide, his expression unreadable as he looked forward. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking, but he suddenly began to speak a moment later.

    "Many people think that the Viola family''s Lineage Factor is just related to heaviness. Our Violet Force is indeed quite heavy to everyone but us, it allows us to use less effort to explode with a great amount of strength. The more of our Violet Force we use, the greater the difference between our effort output and the strength resulting from it.

    "However, this isn''t the true secret of the Viola family. Do you know how old I''ll be this year?"

    Montero frowned. They had all been checked before entering, they should all be less than a hundred years old. Beneath a hundred years old, one''s age didn''t really matter very much unless you were still stuck at a low Dimensional Tier. But Rychard obviously didn''t have this problem.

    Rychard shook his head. "I''m already almost a thousand years old. It took me a lot of effort to reach this point. I was still in Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension when I was into my 70s, how could [ make it to the Seventh Dimension before I turned a hundred years old? In fact, with my talent, it probably should have been impossible to ever take that step."

    Montero''s frown deepened. What was Rychard trying to get at? And why was he saying all of this?

    "The true ability of Violet Force isn''t heaviness. The description is much simpler, but far more profound. It can be summarized in just a single line:

    Increasing output. Whatever you give, you will always receive more in

    "The true ability of Violet Force isn''t heaviness. The description is much simpler, but far more profound. It can be summarized in just a single line:

    Increasing output. Whatever you give, you will always receive more in return for.

    "If I want to run at 10 miles an hour, my Violet Force will allow me to run at

    12 with no added effort. If I swing to 100 pounds of force, my Violet Force will produce a swing of 150 pounds with no added effort on my part. If I exchange dozens of years of life, I''ll receive the equivalent of hundreds of years of training results."

    Montero''s heart skipped a beat.

    If what Rychard was saying was true, how could anyone ever defeat the Viola family? Just what kind of Force was this Violet Force and why was it that he had never heard anything about it before? And with such a Force backing them, why was the Viola family so weak? No, even more importantly than that, why was Rychard so weak?

    Rychard wasn''t even comparable to the geniuses of the Cataclysm Generation who had stepped into the Seventh Dimension, but the way he spoke about his Lineage Factor it would be hard to say that any Lineage Factor in all of existence could be said to be better.

    He was quite vague with his numbers and there didn''t seem to be any consistency between them, but even if he only gained the smaller 20% boost he mentioned first, that was game changing. A 20% change in strength, especially in the Seventh Dimension, was huge.

    Nothing seemed to make sense about this.

    "I understand all your questions already. Why are we so weak? Why am I so weak? Why was my family destroyed not just once, but twice. It''s quite pathetic when you think about it"

    Rychard looked toward Montero. "If I gave you access to a powerful Force right now, how well would you be able to use it? Take what you have the highest affinity in right now and imagine I gave you the number one Force in that category, what would you be able to do with it?"

    Montero''s creased brows slowly loosened. Indeed, he wouldn''t be able to do much with it at all. Just because you had high Fire affinity, didn''t mean Scarlet Star Force would listen to you. In fact, it might try to kill you instead.

    Leonel had the highest Scarlet Star Force affinity a person could possibly have and it was still trying to kill him.

    Rychard looked away.

    "Sometimes I think that some God was playing games with our family, rather than a blessing, this Lineage Factor has been more like a curse. Every step is labor intensive. Whenever I have a small breakthrough and sense an increase in my life, I have no choice but to gamble it away in hopes that I can take another.

    "That''s how I''ve made it here to this point. If not for becoming trapped in that Zone for those years, I would have never made the breakthroughs I had to finally reach this point and gain what small understanding of this Force that I have."

    Even Leonel could have never guessed that this was the reason Rychard looked far older than he should have.

    Rychard had only lived less than a hundred years, but the amount of years he had exchanged just to reach this point made him far older than that. He counted his age not in how much time passed, but in how many years he had lost.

    His every day was consumed by thoughts of revenge, of avenging his fallen family, of finally reaching the point where he could raise their legacy to the place his Ancestors and all those who had died had hoped and wished for everyday.

    The price was heavy, but he didn''t plan to stop. He would never stop.

    These Heir Wars were the perfect opportunity. If they could win, not only would they be able to get revenge on Leonel, but they would also be able to partake in the rewards the various families and organizations had pooled together. If they could take first place, then the losses his family had suffered would be returned a hundredfold, and when the time came, the Viola family would rise to the height it was always meant to be at.

    He had started from zero before, he would just have to do it again.

 Chapter 1955 Demand

    ?1955 Demand

    "... Then what is your plan?"

    Montero calmed his heart. He realized that things were spinning out of his control, and he didn''t like it very much. But what allowed him to maintain his composure was the fact that although Rychard had such hidden means, and Orinik was somehow privy to it all, was the fact that neither one of them felt outside of his ability to control.

    Of course, the three of them were allies, but such alliances only worked when all three had something equal to contribute, if that balance ever changed, it would quickly slip into a master-servant relationship. He couldn''t allow his Eamon family to fall into such a situation after they had finally shed the label of Sixth Dimensional family.

    At the same time, Montero needed to make sure that his inner thoughts didn''t leak out. There was no need to strain the current relationship needlessly.

    "One of the discoveries I''ve made is the fact that my Violet Force isn''t just useful on myself and only myself. If I extend it to others, I can trigger sacrifices within them to force changes. Of course, such parties have to be willing or far weaker than me, but this has some interesting applications, especially when you learn to hone on the exchange point...

    "Using my body as a medium, I can force exchanges even between one or more creatures. When I learned this, my progress became faster as I didn''t have to experiment on myself any longer, I could master control of my Force in lesser creatures and only used tried and tested methods on myself"

    Rychard bent forward and placed a palm of the dark waters. In the depths of the night, it looked quite black, its depths remaining completely unknown.

    "In the Rain Galaxy, there''s a very special race of beasts known as the Rain Beasts. They''re exceptionally weak, so much so that they''re usually kept as domestic pets. From afar, they look like little puffs of blue clouds. They have no faces, no limbs, and are basically just spherical furballs.

    "They''re usually quite hard to find. They like to rest at the bottom of freshwater sources where they can get quite large. Their existence didn''t become well known until they started clogging up some important waterways of populated planets. At first they were just directly killed, but this approach led to large floods.

    "It turns out that the Rain Beasts are very good at absorbing water, it just takes them a long time. A very long time. However, when you kill them, they release it all at once, and water, though a seemingly benign creation, can be exceptionally dangerous at the right pressures... in the right quantities...

    "A Rain Beast that only absorbs a small amount of water is a cute house pet that can be used to stay cool on a warm day or water your plants conveniently... A Rain Beast that absorbs a large amount of water is a natural disaster.

    "As they are now, Rain Beasts aren''t very useful to use. But after I''m done with them..."

    Rychard retracted his hand, looking up and asking a question he already knew the answer to. "How many points will it take to trade for one Rain Beast?"

    "They''re not even considered Bronze-Grade," Orinik said with a laugh.

    "Trading for a prepared resources always costs ten times less than gaining it here. Killing an Heir-Grade threat would provide 100 000 points here, so it only costs 10 000 points to trade for a prepared Heir-Grade treasure...

    "A Sub-Grade threat provides 10 points... A Sub-Grade treasure exchange...

    Just 1 point.б▒

    "How many Rain Beasts do we have?"

    Orinik''s smile grew wider. "More than we can use."

    Rychard''s, Orinik''s, and Montero''s gazes all burned frighteningly bright as they looked toward the ocean. Indeed, they could make these seas theirs.

    And the irony of it all? Rychard wouldn''t even have these beasts if not for Leonel forcing him to attack the Rain Galaxy back then in his scheme.

    Originally, Rychard had gathered as many as he could, prepared to counter the Chaotic Water Sector he believed had betrayed him, and now... They would lead to Leonel''s downfall.

    To Rychard, he felt that this was all too poetic.

    The conversation of these three went completely unnoticed. With all the excitement going on, not a single soul cared to pay attention to three relative unknowns. The Heirs of the Human Domains strongest families were fighting it out, how could they have time to care about three families that had only recently entered the Seventh Dimension?

    It also didn''t help that it felt like every one of Leonel''s actions was taking the attention of the elders by storm.

    The choice to challenge the Silver-Grade immediately once again, especially right after the Oryx had fought such a large battle, was baffling. Many couldn''t help but comment on the fact that he was pushing his men too far, it would only be a matter of time before they collapsed.

    But before this thought could even be properly formed, the sleeping pods of the Segmented Cube left them in complete and utter silence. After 15

    minutes, the Oryx exited as though they had rested for weeks, their auras as towering and powerful as when they first began their march.

    Many didn''t get much time to spend being surprised about this, because the appearance of the Umbra family left those of Shield Cross Stars watching with narrowed gazes.

    Cross Elder Avan, who was also in attendance, couldn''t help but watch with a frown. He had never seen such perfect assassins techniques, even with his eyes, he couldn''t quite keep up with their movements, and after they scattered, because none of them were Heirs, there was no easy method of finding them again.

    Just where had Leonel gotten such a force?

    But in very Leonel fashion, even this shock didn''t have much time to settle down before Cross Elder Avan and many others stood to their feet, their eyes widened in shock.

    "One... Two... Twelve... Twenty-four... One hundred..." Cross Elder Avan stopped counting, it no longer seemed to matter.

    He slapped his palm down, his rage echoing through the silence.

    "Shield Cross Stars demands an explanation! Where did so many Cloud Race come from?!"

 Chapter 1956 Single One

    ?1956 Single One

    From the beginning, Cross Elder Avan had been silent. He was supposed to be a neutral party, and though he had a belly full of both doubt and fury revolving around the matters of Earth, he had suppressed it. For the same reason he had to retreat from Earth''s territoryбкmaintaining the facade of neutrality Shield Cross Stars hadбкhe also had to maintain proper decorum here.

    However, the moment he gained a chance to apply pressure, the suppressed fury and doubt erupted forth and he questioned the Morales loudly.

    By this point, Ancestor Alvaro''s patience was wearing thin. It felt like an hour couldn''t pass by without another jumping clown trying to apply pressure on his Morales family. When did they become an easy target seemingly anyone could step onto?

    Of course, Alvaro was exaggerating by no small amount. Whether it was Ancestor Golddark, Ancestor Mito of the Constellation Bow Alliance, or Cross Elder Avan, not only were they all Eighth Dimensional monsters, each one of them was the leader of a powerhouse faction of great strength. While they weren''t seen to be on the same level as the Morales family, they also couldn''t be easily ignored, and this was especially so for Shield Cross Stars.

    Even so, Ancestor Alvaro didn''t seem to give a damn.

    "What kind of tone are you trying to use with me?" He practically growled.

    Avan''s temper was no less fiery. When he heard these words, he reacted like a tiger who had just gotten its tail stepped on. Fire quite literally blazed in his eyes and the surrounding metal of his flagship began to turn red.

    Just earlier, when Leonel had arrived with their stolen flagship and descended to the Heir Wars, he had already been stifling his words and actions. But now it seemed the Morales didn''t care about poking the bear.

    "Do you think the likes of you are capable of policing my tone?! Do you think I won''t sanction the whole Morales family for colluding with the Cloud Race?!"

    "Last I checked, Cloud Race scum were gallivanting amidst your ranks.

    didn''t see any of them in chains until Littlest Nova exposed them. Does Shield Cross Stars have the right to sanction anyone?!"

    Cross Elder Avan had been ready for a spar of words, but his next volley was immediately cut off by these words. He felt stifled, so much so that his face turned beat red and his mustache bristled beneath his heaving breaths.

    However, unfortunately for him, the Morales weren''t finished.

    "Littlest Nova had to register all of these Cloud Race people before they were allowed to be used, do you think we don''t know where they came from? They were all in Earth''s territory! Shield Cross Stars was present all the while, and yet it wasn''t until you were kicked out that they were exposed.

    "Police Force of the Human Domain? What a joke, you can''t even do your jobs as well as a junior!"

    Avan''s chest heaved. "бкSo you expect me to believe that just because you say so?!"

    "Just like you wanted the Human Domain to believe that an Heir of the Morales was a Tier 1 Fugitive just because you said so!? I still haven''t sought an account about that matter, how dare you?!"

    "You think I''m afraid of you?! Come, come! Come seek your account!"

    The bluster and billowing of the two old men made the starry skies quake. If not for the fact that most other families and organizations had sent their Ancestors as well, the surrounding flagships would have already been blown to bits by this point.

    However, that was all... bluster and billowing. Alvaro seemed to be daring Avan to do something more than just talk, but Avan seemed to be doing the same thing.

    Shield Cross Stars still needed to maintain their neutrality, while Alvaro had already won their spar of words. By this point, Avan''s responses were nothing more than the whining of a baby.

    The two barked back and forth, but quite quickly, their argument had no choice but to come to a pause as Leonel''s army had already appeared in Armand Taurus'' territory.

    In that moment, the Taur Constellation family gripped their fists. Leonel was truly ruthless, in the dead of night, he marched.

    By this point, the fatigue of the first batch of enterers was already setting in.

    For Leonel, it was no different. If there was any advantage he had, it was that his Dream Force was especially dense, so it took quite a lot to fatigue his mind, and his vitality was especially great, making it quite difficult to fatigue his body.

    Even so, he was reaching the end of his limits as well. He had used his mind to an extreme today, pushing his calculation abilities to the limit to ensure that every step was as perfect as possible. As for his body, it was in relatively better condition. However, he knew he had to do this.

    The Taur family was performing well, although not as well as the leaders.

    They had claimed a village that was currently still at the Sub-Grade.

    However, other than this, their approach was a bit unique due to their size, or more accurately, the village had adjusted due to this.

    The Taur family was a family of giant-like humans. For them, being two meters tall was considered short and most would be taller than three meters tall by the time they reached the Seventh Dimension.

    For the sake of fairness, the walls of the Taur family wouldn''t possibly be the same size as that of other families. They would naturally build their structures much taller.

    As such, the Taur family had gained an advantage only similar giant families gained. After claiming their territory, the height of the walls doubled, as did their thickness. While they were still marginally weaker than the Bronze-Grade, it wasn''t by a large amount. As such, the Taur family wasn''t obsessed with upgrades just yet and focused on using their territory map to quickly find and clear challenges and dungeons.

    Thanks to this approach, they not only had villages with defenses comparable to the Bronze-Grade, they had two of them in relatively close distance.

    Even so, Leonel didn''t split his forces, he charged on just a single one.

 Chapter 1957 Blazing Battle Intent

    ?1957 Blazing Battle Intent

    Leonel sat in silence for a long while. He took deep breaths as three silver Stars appeared to his back. They rotated slowly, large amounts of Dream Force seeping into his body. The recovery of his mind was especially so but it was just enough.

    His eyes snapped open and he jumped, fluttering down from the skies amidst the stars.

    "Attack!"

    The appearance of Leonel and the others had already been noted, but far too late for the Taur to make large, advanced preparations. Among those that were still awake, many were simply scouts. As this was the first day and their nerves were sharp, they were relatively quick to react. But the range of a Sub-Grade village was too short and not everyone had the capital to spend on outposts like Leonel.

    At best, their warning was just enough for the Taur that were resting to jump from their beds, rushing forward in preparation for battle.

    Unsurprisingly, Armand was among them. With every step he took, the ground quaked, a twin pair of battle axes crossed on his back. He stood at just over four meters tall and his muscles rippled like steel cords beneath his tough skin. The veins that protruded along his body were vibrant and a colorful bluish-purple with just the tiniest hints of golden flakes. One could almost see the blood rushing like tides within them, but one could most definitely hear the tsunami-like crashing waves that urged forward with his every movement.

    For such a tall person to appear in the human race, their entire physiology had to be properly changed. His bones were like steel pipes, his heart was like a rumbling engine, his nerves fired with great speed, his muscles were thick and powerful...

    When Leonel saw this man, he remembered the first time he had seen him.

    Back then, his Snowy Star Owl blood had been completely suppressed. Not used to such a feeling, he had lost in their exchange of gazes.

    In reality, it couldn''t be considered a loss. Leonel had frowned out of annoyance and Armand had taken it as his victory, maybe rightfully so. It was probably also due to this that Leonel had made the decision to give up the convenience of having techniques to match with his Lineage Factor and abandon the Snowy Star Owl entirely.

    Even so, Leonel wasn''t the type of person who liked to suffer such a loss.

    Maybe even Armand had already forgotten about this matter, after all, so many things had happened since then and Leonel had already proven himself several times over. But as though he had a fishbone stuck in the back of his throat, he had never forgotten this.

    At that moment, Leonel surged forward, his army flooding forward with him like a tide of darkness in the night. But very quickly, they lit up the battlefield as though it was midday, sharp flashes of lightning echoing through the skies like ripples of soundwaves.

    Leonel''s three Stars flickered and vanished, only to be replaced by three blue Stars that were just as vibrant and shocking.

    His panda construct covered his body and his Divine Armor snapped into place.

    BANG!

    He landed before Armand, the ground quaking as he punched out with six fists.

    Armand''s expression was not good at this moment. He realized that he was outnumbered in a ratio worse than 10 to 1, and now Leonel was appearing before him when he and the few behind him were the only ones capable of changing the situation.

    Although Leonel had great numbers, there were no great geniuses among them. Armand could easily face a hundred of them or more at a time alone, and that was only assuming that the rest would try to fight other battles. If there were no other burdens, he was confident in fighting all 10 000 on his own and killing them all.

    However, if Leonel blocked him...

    "You four go forward! I will deal with him as quickly as possible, don''t let our brothers die!"

    Armand punched forward, expecting a strong fight, but the moment his fists connected with Leonel''s, he frowned. Even when the other two pairs of fists landed on his torso, his frown only deepened.

    ... Too weak.

    Leonel''s fists crackled and his forward momentum came to a stop. Even as the Vital Star Force pumped through his veins, he was forced two steps back. If not for the protection of his Divine Armor, his Panda Construct would have definitely lost at least two arms, even his Divine Armor had hairline fractures on it.

    Although his Divine Armor was technically of the Life Grade, a Grade that was noted to be the equivalent of the Eighth Dimension, it wasn''t truly at this level. Leonel had simply comprehended a new state of Crafting, allowing him to use lower Dimensional materials to display strength of treasures far beyond. As such, when Leonel saw this, he wasn''t surprised.

    Armand''s gaze flashed, his expression turning ferocious as Leonel''s eight brothers and several other experts rushed forward to block his strongest backers.

    He could end his battle with Leonel quickly. In fact, he was a bit slow, now that he thought about it, as long as Leonel died or was forced to retreat, this victory would be theirs and they would gain over 10 000 kill exchanges on top of that.

    However, what Armand couldn''t see was that Leonel''s expression was absolutely calm. He could practically feel the excitement of the Taur and other families watching, believing that he had overestimated himself.

    A smirk curled his lips.

    He had crushed Nazag because the latter was an expert of the bow and he was a Bow Sovereign, what chance did he stand? Armand, however, was not only a genius at Nazag''s level, but he had no obvious weaknesses against Leonel.

    It could be said that this would be Leonel''s first true test since stepping into the Heir Wars. The gap between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions was indeed obscenely large...

    But he had only used his fists just now. Since when was he a fist expert?

    Leonel''s aura flourished. "[Star Fusion: Combustion].

    The sapphire blue Stars to Leonel''s back suddenly blazed to life becoming more akin to balls of fire than Stars.

    At the same time, the Vital Star Force rushing out from the joints and valves of his Divine Armor turned from royal blue to deep crimson as he grasped at the air, a large black rod appearing in his hands.

    "Show me why they call you all the Cataclysm Generation. The last time I fought one of you, I was greatly disappointed.б▒

    Leonel''s battle intent blazed.

 Chapter 1958 Aura

    ?1958 Aura

    Two giants stood across from one another, their auras blazing. Leonel''s black spear pulsed with dense black fog, rising like a tide and forming a twin pair of menacing blades. At the same time, Armand pulled his twin axes from his back, the veins along his forearms pulsing.

    Leonel''s Force rippled with a dense crimson. Armand''s skin seemed to redden, a white steam coming off of him as his heart seemed to rev up like an engine.

    The two moved at once.

    BANG!

    The ground cracked, rippling Force spreading out in all directions. Despite their size, they moved like wisps of wind. For most, the only way to keep track of them was to follow the trail of white and red. The colors intertwined, connecting and separating, spinning around one another and separating, sending one flying, and then the other reciprocating.

    Armand''s gaze sharpened and his blood continued to heat up. After the first exchange, whatever excitement he had had for this battle had waned. He had a poor habit of being lazy. He couldn''t seem to get up to do things unless there was a great battle in store for him. Not only his actions, but his face seemed to reflect this. He cared too little about many things.

    However, after the second exchange, and the third, and the fourth.

    His eyes began to slowly redden. His muscles grew a size and a pair of horns began to slowly manifest from his head. It seemed that with every exchange, they would grow another inch, and with them, his strength would rise explosively.

    By the time they had grown to just over two feet, Leonel''s combustion was being quickly suppressed.

    Even so, in that moment, the two of them suddenly laughed, a booming laughter that rumbled like thunder and struck like lightning.

    BANG!

    Leonel was sent reeling backward as Armand spread out his arms, his aura towering. The shimmering, but faint image of a creature loomed behind him.

    When it appeared, his body expanded by double its original size, his aura continuing to climb.

    On the outside, the Taur family elders sighed a breath of relief. In truth, they were quite helpless. Armand was the most talented junior to be born into their family in a very long time, maybe ever. But his laziness was a real problem. He should have been spoken about along with the likes of the Sword Deity and Bow Deity, but he couldn''t be bothered.

    This state of his... This was the first time they had seen it in a very long time.

    They were surprised that it was Leonel who could bring this out of him, especially since, with their sharp eyes, they could tell that Leonel wasn''t nearly enough to threaten him, at least not with the power he was using currently.

    However, Armand could sense something familiar from Leonel, a familiar sort of arrogance.

    It wasn''t that Armand was lazy, it was rather that he didn''t feel much was worth his effort. He wasn''t interested in recognition, nor was he interested in accolades. His position in the Taur family had already stabilized the day he was born, so what was there to strive for? In fact, he was only participating in this battle because his elders had made him.

    But for some reason... He suddenly felt excited.

    Leonel clapped his second and third pair of hands together, causing a resonating shockwave to spread out in all directions. To his back, his three Stars suddenly became five, a pair of dark blue Stars pairing with his three radiant bright blue Stars.

    Armand swung both of his axes downward without the slightest hint of mercy in his eyes. A bloodlust leaked from his body. He seemed to have forgotten about everything, even his fellow family members. All he wanted was battle.

    The wind kicked up and Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain suddenly manifested. However, it was decidedly different from usual. Rather than a simple radiant gold, it carried a dark blue heaviness to it.

    Armand found his twin axes slowing before he even made contact.

    Leonel''s smile seemed to have vanished and all that was left was an abrupt coldness. What excitement and pleasure that had been on his face seemed to have been entirely suppressed.

    "[Star Fusion: King''s Might].

    Leonel''s aura erupted once against, the dense crimson becoming an even denser violet. It felt as though a King had descended, the spear crown on his panda construct''s three heads growing in size and magnificence.

    His spear pierced forward, vanishing through the void.

    Armand''s heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly reversed the flow of his Force, something that would have shredded apart the body of almost anyone else, but he seemed to do it with ease, blocking with all his might.

    BANG!

    Armand stumbled a step back, but Leonel had already retracted his spear and pierced forward again. At the same time, the motion of his second and third pair of hands shifted, a large accumulation of Void Star Force appearing in the skies like surging flood dragons that descended with a deathly momentum.

    Swift. Swift. Swift.

    Leonel''s spear seemed to have changed entirely, its magnificence on full display. It felt as though he had just been toying around before. His previous attempts had entirely lacked the same elegance, the same oppression.

    Forceful.

    BANG!

    Armand''s block was nearly thrown back entirely, his back bending at an awkward angle. The excitement blazing in his eyes only seemed to be increasing. His muscles pulsed so quickly that they seemed to vibrate. He dug his heels in the ground, his horns turning red under the heat his body was giving off.

    ROAR!

    Holding his axes, he punched out, meeting the twin flood dragons of Void Star Force. He seemed to completely ignore Leonel''s spear as it approached and pierced into his chest.

    BANG!

    He was sent flying backward, his body arcing as he oriented himself in the skies and landed heavily.

    Suddenly, his expression changed. Leonel''s aura had changed once again.

    Before the eyes of everyone, the two dark blue Stars began to quickly accumulate Runes, its aura growing.

 Chapter 1959 Emptiness

    ?1959 Emptiness

    When Armand looked up, he could seem to see Leonel''s gaze. Despite the armor, despite the panda construct, despite the rippling obstructions of Force, he could still feel it.

    It was a gaze of dominance, a gaze that demanded submission, a gaze that wanted to crush the pride in his heart and force it into obedience.

    An absolute defense circulated around Leonel. An absolute offense graced the tip of his spear. And with a step, a flawless synergy seemed to be formed.

    The blade of his black spear grew and dwarfed Armand''s blades in the blink of an eye.

    "Kneel."

    It was just a single word, just a single syllable, just a single breath. However, the world seemed to change colors.

    When the tip of Leonel''s spear appeared before him this time, Armand saw that it was bathed in a violet light as well. Sometimes, the essence of a spear technique didn''t need a long phrase behind. Often an emotion didn''t need a long explanation attached to it. Leonel''s spear seemed to embody this, and it demanded surrender.

    The unwillingness bubbled up from deep with Armand and his battle intent quickly turned to fury.

    BANG!

    At that moment, the shimmering image behind him solidified and grew with a towering majesty. The form of a golden minotaur stood. Its horns shimmered like two gems, its body looking as though it was carved of the most precious gems.

    All at once, the Taur Ancestors rose to their feet, the excitement in their eyes practically boiling over.

    Armand''s body grew yet another size, the veins coursing throughout his body pumping. In the past, there were only faint flecks of gold, but now, they radiated a dense golden energy as though liquid gold was coursing through his body.

    Armand roared and swung to meet Leonel''s blade.

    Their weapons collided and the world fell into silence for just a moment before everything seemed to be unleashed all at once.

    The ground beneath and around them was blasted apart, a large crater spreading out. The air snapped and crackled, and the region for countless kilometers was lit up by colors of gold and violet.

    Leonel felt a powerful resistance, but so too did Armand. The faces of his panda construct and Armand were practically nose to nose. They leaned forward, even somewhat crossing over their own weapons as if they would rather headbutt than exchange blows with their blades.

    However, at that moment, Armand''s blades gave way.

    Leonel''s spear descended, slashing across his chest as though it was nothing more than wet paper. He severed flesh and bone as one, cutting into his lungs and heart.

    Armand collapsed to a knee, coughing up a mouthful of blood, and then another. The intent to battle was still blazing in his eyes, the golden idol to his back making that intent clear. But even with his usual healing factor, the wound refused to close.

    Leonel looked down toward the cracked battle axes in Armand''s hands.

    They were excellent weapons, but unfortunately, they were only of the gold grade. After their first few exchanges, they had already shown signs of cracking and fracture. Although Armand had tried to protect them with his Battle Ax Force, how could his weapon Force be superior to Leonel''s despite being in the Seventh Dimension?

    Leonel felt that it was a bit unfortunate. He could have stopped when he sensed Armand''s axes giving way, or he could have used a weaker spear from the beginning, but he had refused to do so. These Heir Wars weren''t about his own selfish desires to do battle, his goal here was bigger. He was already indulging enough by fighting Armand alone and not teaming up with Aina to finish it quickly in the first place, he couldn''t indulge any more than that.

    There was a moment of silence as Leonel met Armand''s gaze.

    "Good battle," he said plainly.

    Armand looked up without a word. Even though he was on a knee, he barely had to, his increase in size having been enough that even while down, he was almost the height of Leonel''s panda construct. At that moment, he could have crushed his badge and escaped, but seeing the slaughter of his clansmen around him, his eyes dimmed. For the first time, his battle intent waned somewhat.

    The tip of Leonel''s spear trembled once and Armand''s head was severed from his shoulders.

    The Taur family fell into silence. Veins popped across their forearms and foreheads, the heat in their surroundings rising as their bloodlines thumped.

    The sound of their hearts, especially as they resonated as one, felt like rumbling and collapsing earth.

    Unlike the others, they took deep breaths and didn''t say a word, but the red in their eyes, their growing horns and the quaking of their flagship painted a completely different picture.

    The echo of Leonel''s words seemed to descend once more. The words of a King couldn''t be retracted, and exceptions couldn''t be made for them.

    Others might have thought that Leonel might spare Armand for the sake of a good battle, or because he had never wanted to be there in the first place, or because he felt a sort of resonance with him. But...

    Leonel had never had any intention of doing that.

    As many came is as many as he would kill.

    He looked up into the skies as though he could see the gazes of those that must have been paying attention to him right this moment. His momentum was undying. If it wasn''t obvious already, it was as clear as day now. He had come with the intention of fighting against the world.

    On just the first day, Leonel had killed not just one genius of the Cataclysm Generation, but two of them. These geniuses that should have been fighting it out for the final, ultimate glory, were unceremoniously slaughtered with the Human Domain as witness.

    The words of Leonel Morales were never and would never be spoken with any sort of emptiness.

 Chapter 1960 Interesting

    ?1960 Interesting

    Every action Leonel took seemed to remind him of the words he had spoken back then. Every genius that fell caused another pang of regret to light their hearts, another surging pain and unwillingness coursing through their veins.

    It was at that moment that some began to realize that Leonel had done this on purpose. Every time he killed, they would be reminded of their words, reminded of what could have been, reminded that everything that was happening now was their fault.

    Whether they acknowledged that in the future and didn''t blame Leonel himself was entirely unknown. However, what was certain was that they would know the truth in their hearts.

    Armand had never wanted to enter the Heir Wars to begin with, it was they who had made him, they who had ignored his wishes. He could have been home right this moment, lounging as he normally did. But now he was lying in a pool of his own blood.

    "Ruthless, too ruthless." Ancestor Golddark said coldly. This time, he didn''t bother to seek an answer from the Morales family, he only said this to stoke the flames. His Golddark family wouldn''t be the only one to suffer, and if there was an opportunity to retaliate, they also wouldn''t be alone.

    However, when he glanced over at the Morales Ancestor, all he saw was pride in their eyes and sneers on their lips. This group of madmen didn''t seem to give a damn.

    "Gather up," Leonel''s voice called out as he lowered his gaze from the skies.

    "We''ll begin the Silver-Grade upgrade now"

    "Yes!"

    The Skies family members took deep breaths, but they weren''t nearly at the end of their ropes yet. They had had overwhelming numbers, and though they had to team up for victory, this had helped them to save quite a lot of energy as well. They were prepared.

    They reformed their teams and gathered up. With Silver-Grade threats on the horizon, they would once again have a tough challenge ahead of them, and this time Leonel didn''t have any terrain changers to use to his advantage. Even so, their numbers, with the support of his brothers, him and Aina, should be enough.

    The upgrade challenge was triggered and the battle ensued. As expected, it was far more challenging than the first time around. The Skies family members, at least the majority of them, were only about as strong as Bronze-Grade threats, as if they could fight such an existence one on one.

    Only about 10% of them were as good as a Silver-Grade threat.

    The Oryx were different in this regard, which was why they were such a surprise to the people of the Human Domain. This relatively unknown race of people were mostly Silver-Grade threats with about 10% of them being Gold-Grade threats.

    This aside, given the circumstances, it was unsurprising that the challenge was tough. This time, it was Leonel and his group that was at a disadvantage in number. Not only were they disadvantaged in terms of numbers, but they were also weaker overall.

    If Leonel''s earlier actions had seemed insane, this was even beyond just that.

    His eagerness to gather a third city to complete the fusion was excessive, this was especially so given the fact that if he was struggling so much with a Silver-Grade upgrade, there was absolutely no way he would be able to deal with the Gold-Grade upgrade challenge anyway.

    Not only would the numbers they faced in the Gold-Grade upgrade challenge be at least a hundred times more than the around 10 000 of the Silver-Grade, because it was a fusion path he was taking, it would be three times more than even that. On top of that, they would all be Gold-Grade threats!

    By this logic, it made no sense for Leonel to be pushing the limits like this.

    He shouldn''t be able to enter the Gold-Grade anytime soon anyway.

    However, at that moment, Leonel took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

    When they opened again, the fatigue within them was clear, but the determination was even clearer. These next few steps would be the ultimate deciding factor.

    Three silver Stars appeared to Leonel''s back once more and he roared into the skies. If one was standing to his back, it would be possible to see a silvery-gold glow shimmering through the back of his neck.

    At that moment, one after another, countless troll beasts appeared in the skies, each valiantly wearing a coat of violet armor.

    Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then over ten thousand.

    They had hardly settled down when Leonel''s aura rose again. Roars echoed across the skies as one Earth Dragon after another began to appear, their enormous bodies blotting out the skies. They, too, looked exceptionally valiant donning their own violet armor, their presences menacing as their hundreds of blade-like legs pierced down from the skies above.

    Leonel huffed and puffed, veins popping up across his forehead.

    At that moment, he used a kill exchange and summoned Little Blackstar. The little guy was only about three feet long, but he seemed to instantly become the center of the battlefield.

    "Crush them," Leonel said lightly.

    He threw everything he had forward. It was maybe only now that those watching understood that Leonel hadn''t run out of trump cards just yet. In fact, the only new ability he had displayed just now was the summoning of a beast creature they had never seen before. The little mink looked unremarkable, but the moment he entered the fray, he didn''t kill in batches any smaller than ten.

    Under the control of Leonel, Silver-Grade spirit constructs crashed against Silver-Grade beasts, monsters and trolls.

    The pressure against the Skies family members was alleviated instantly. With Leonel''s spirit constructs taking the frontlines, their job couldn''t have been easier. They looked for vulnerable creatures and killed them while they were occupied.

    Strikes of lightning spread across the battlefield and the battle soon came to an end.

    Leonel took deep breaths, his body seemingly reaching its limits as well. His mind couldn''t help but wonder. This sort of feeling was created using nothing but Dream Force, that he was certain of... What was the secret behind it? And could he replicate it?

    Leonel claimed the city after spending millions to expand its region to 400

    kilometers as well. His gaze flickered for a moment when he saw what the territory map had to offer.

    боInteresting;

 Chapter 1961 Fairy Tale

    ?1961 Fairy Tale

    Leonel didn''t move, standing in silence for a long while. His eyes were getting heavier, but he still pushed his mind to the absolute limit. After a moment, he waved a hand. This time, another wave of about 200 or so Cloud Race members appeared. Among them, there was even the former Secretary Marquisette Maia.

    Maia looked up toward Leonel with a cold gaze, but she didn''t say anything.

    Her two sons were in Leonel''s hands, there really was nothing that she could do. While she had planned to enter the special coma-like state of the Cloud Race, under Leonel''s threat, she couldn''t do this.

    "You''ll be him until I tell you otherwise," Leonel nudged a head toward Armand''s corpse.

    Maia took a glance and didn''t say anything. But after a moment, her aura shifted and she grew to the point where she was almost an entire two meters taller than Leonel. At a glance, even with further inspection, she looked exactly like Armand without the slightest deviation in look or aura, even her demeanor had become similar to his.

    Leonel hadn''t expected this sort of accuracy from a corpse. There was definitely something special about the Cloud Race''s ability to replicate others, more special than he knew.

    Disregarding this matter for now, Leonel sent the Cloud Race members away. They came as Cloud Race individuals and left as giants of the human race.

    A plan brewed in Leonel''s mind as he watched them leave. The moment he had noticed that the Taur family had not just one, but two villages, another idea began to formulate in his mind. He shifted around some of his original plans and made some small adjustments.

    Maia would have originally been invaluable to clearing the coming Gold-Grade upgrade challenge, but in her current spot, she was much more useful to him.

    Once this was done, Leonel claimed the now Silver-Grade city, completing his trifecta. Now, it was time to return and rest. By this point, all 10 000 of the Oryx should have gotten the rest they needed.

    "Let''s go."

    Leonel lit the region on fire. He wanted to give off the illusion that a great battle had been fought, but while the Taur lost one village, they managed to hold Leonel off and retreat to their second city. This displayed the strength Leonel wanted to give off while also making his trap easier to hop into.

    As of now, no one in the Heir Wars knew that he had Cloud Race pawns on his side, and he would keep it that way for as long as possible. By the time his trap was sprung, he would be able to raze the day side to the ground and march toward the night side. Victory would be his.

    Although everyone saw Leonel''s actions in impersonating the Taur family geniuses, there was nothing that they could do about it. Even the Morales family wasn''t interfering with the event, and if they tried to secretly communicate, the first to notice would be Ancestor Hito. Everything was under their control and cheating at this point was impossible. It would all come down to what preparations their youths had made ahead of time.

    Even so, seeing Leonel using the Cloud Race in this way no doubt made the Taur family absolutely furious. All the while, an incomplete and even false impression of the events was relayed to the Libra family Heirs. Their grasp of the situation was limited to begin with, they could only see the aftermath of the event and conclude exactly what Leonel wanted them to conclude...

    Upon returning to the village, Leonel entered a pod. When he stepped out just 15 minutes later, those watching were surprised, but they had already seen the Oryx do this. They could only watch with ugly expressions as Leonel gained another huge advantage.

    "Recall the troops marching in this direction, both of them."

    The messages were sent out swiftly and they began their return. Leonel didn''t want the troops he had sent out initially to interfere with the new

    "Taur" family. After all, if there was a troop in that area that the Taur, for some reason, didn''t touch, it would be exposed as an oddity almost immediately. It was best that he regroup and reassign them.

    After Leonel sent out these orders, he gathered Aina and his brothers along with Raylion, Sael and the others as the Skies family took their turns in the pods.

    He marked out locations on the map and sent them out. Their targets were the dungeons that had used their now three territories to memorize the locations of. With the fact he had upgraded three regions to the Silver-Grade now, they had not only spawned many more challenges, but many more dungeons as well, increasing the frequency of Silver-Grade rewards.

    After sending them away, Leonel used yet another kill exchange to bring out Little Tolly.

    By this point, everyone seemed to have realized that Leonel was running out of subordinates. Right this moment, he had thousands of kill exchanges, and yet he didn''t use them. Instead, he converted them all into points after bringing out Noah and some other geniuses of Earth. Even when it came to the Cloud Race he had sent to impersonate the Taur family, he only sent them the 500 points they needed to upgrade to the Bronze-Grade then left them to their own devices.

    As for the now over 11 million points he had now, they seemed to sit idle, burning a hole in his pocket. However, Leonel didn''t seem to notice.

    One by one, he took out the items the Segmented Cube had spent the day completing. After handing the Skies family their weapons and armors, he moved one to take out large bundles of what seemed to be simple plates without the slightest hint of engravings.

    Leonel''s three Stars appeared to his back, Runes dancing across its surface as he leapt past his village walls, appearing in the depths of the mountain range that now surrounded them.

    He lifted his hands and controlled Little Tolly with one hand. In the other, he held a Life Grade Force Crafting Quill that could only be described as gorgeous. Although it was formed with an ink blank feather, every time Leonel''s wrist flickered and it trembled, golden dust would sparkle down from its body, making it look as though it had come out of a fairy tale.

 Chapter 1962 The Ocean

    ?1962 The Ocean

    None had ever seen Leonel Force Craft before. He had left everything to the Segmented Cube until this moment.

    From the beginning, most had assumed that Fifth Nova was the most talented Crafter of them all and that Leonel was probably the most talented in Combat. Most didn''t understand the intricacies of the Divine Armor technique and as such couldn''t make accurate deductions about them, only the Morales family understood for certain that it must have been Leonel who created his Life Grade armor, for others, it was easier to assume that there must be a different sort of explanation.

    However, no one had expected Leonel to go from a path of murder to one of Crafting supremacy. His demeanor seemed entirely the same, and yet his actions couldn''t have been any different. It felt like his quill had become a spear, carving out everything in its path and crushing all it came across.

    Leonel''s drawn Force Arts could only be said to be perfect. His Finger Designation left afterimages in the air as his hands danced across the skies.

    Leonel tossed a plain plate of silver metal into the air.

    Little Tolly snaked forward, enveloping it as Leonel''s fingers tapped at the air. The crushing sound of the sound barrier shattering again and again resounded as Leonel''s fingers only seemed to become faster and faster.

    Little Tolly responded in kind, the plate of metal becoming long and wire-y before folding over itself and stretching out again.

    With his other hand, Leonel''s Force Arts appeared one after another. They danced in the wind like fluttering butterflies. Each had their own unique expression, breathing life into the surroundings. The weathered grass beneath his feet became more vibrant and the wind smelled sweeter.

    In the end, a long, curved bar appeared and the Force Arts shot forward, embedding themselves and sinking into the metal rod as though they had always been one.

    With a thought, Leonel planted the curved rod into the ground, perfectly connecting it with the one he had finished last.

    As he moved across the exterior of his village, moving up and down the mountainous region and even diving into the long rivers he had created with the irrigation reward, a picture slowly began to form in the heads of those watching.

    Leonel was setting up a formation. Not only was he setting up a formation, but he was setting it up alone and without even the slightest deviation in error.

    By the time he was finished, the sun had begun to appear over the horizon as dawn presented itself to the world. As Leonel set down the last bar, a ripple spread out in all directions. The formation solidified just as the Umbra family began to return one after another.

    Leonel listened to their reports one by one, building up a solid understanding of the day side of the formation. However, there was something that he was quite interested in, so he looked toward Radlis for an explanation.

    "No one seems to have stepped foot into the water on the surface, there are no signs of any waterfront villages being claimed, even the Water Force prominent families are taking their time."

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. The water was difficult to deal with, it was hard to tell what might be down there. Leonel had thought about expanding in that way specifically because it was difficult, but he changed his mind in the end, it wasn''t worth it. The effort it would take didn''t end up being worthwhile according to his simulations.

    However, Leonel knew that there would be others who had similar thoughts.

    Controlling the waterways might become a huge pitfall in the future.

    "In that case, that means there are only small groups dealing in the waters currently. I also assume that the Pisc and Quarius families are expanding in that direction.

    Radlis nodded. "Yes. Although they didn''t start there, they are definitely making a move toward it. It also seems that they''ve sent small groups, just like you''ve said. However, their targets are clearing the challenges and dungeons no one else can reach.

    Leonel nodded. The Heir Wars were meant to reflect the challenges in the real world. One only needed to look toward Earth to understand how difficult it was for fledgling worlds to deal with oceanic creatures and territories. If Earth hadn''t terraformed and built a supercontinent, their trouble after the Metamorphosis would have been countless times worse.

    Now, that trouble was being reflected here.

    One might wonder why the ocean was so much more trouble than land, and there were multiple reasons.

    The first was the obvious fact: humans couldn''t breathe in water. Although Force could replace it for a time, that wouldn''t be indefinite, it also didn''t help that the density of Water Force in the ocean meant that it was practically the only Force available to absorb and you would need special affinity with Water Force to separate out the Forces you wanted from its special brand of neutral Force.

    The second was the vastness and the relative secrecy. It was far too large and there were too many secret corners and crevices. Even Emperor Fawkes hadn''t managed to find an easy way to deal with the ocean.

    The third was strength. Creatures that could withstand the water pressure of the ocean, especially after the Metamorphosis, were all bound to be exceptional. There was no great change in gravity in the beginning, and any changes were slight and gradual. However, such slight changes could result in exponential changes in water pressure in the deepest reaches of the ocean.

    In addition, there was another glaring issue that fit into this third category:

    Invalids. Emperor Fawkes had wiped almost all Invalids in a single move...

    invalids on the surface, that is. Falling Paradise Islands might have caused devastating effects on the land, but in the ocean, given its depth, there was only so much their falls could have done.

    This made the ocean a prime location for the fostering of Beast Invalids, and more shockingly than that, Beast Variant Invalids.

    It was unknown whether or not Ancestor Hito would actually use Invalids, it was doubtful. But, he would make the difficulty of the ocean reflect real life, that much was certain.

    Leonel knew this, and as such, it was on his list of things to monitor despite the difficulty in doing so.

    [Author''s Note: bad news looms over the horizon. Potentially just two chapters today. As always, will do my best to get no3 out]

 Chapter 1963 Too Late

    ?1963 Too Late

    There was nothing much that could be done about the ocean for now. The only method forward was patience and prudence. That said, when it came to the other tidbits of information, that he could do something about.

    Leonel summons another wave of Cloud Race members. This time, his orders were hyper specific and targeted. In fact, they felt even more detailed than even the information the Umbra family had given him. Radlis, however, was slowly getting used to working with Leonel. He understood that this man was one who didn''t like to explain things. In all likelihood, he had already had an idea of what he wanted to do even before sending the Cloud Race members out.

    "Go and rest. After you''ve recovered, you and the others will head to the other supercontinent. Ignore the ocean for now, but note anything out of the ordinary." Leonel said, before looking up. "It''s about time."

    With the sun rising on this side, it could be night on the opposing side of the moon now. This was the perfect time for the Umbra family to take action.

    Even if Leonel was on this half, he had no intention of neglecting the other.

    He had eyes on complete supremacy.

    While it was true that his performance until now was already enough to justify his arrogance and boldness, giving the Morales family quite a bit of momentum, he wasn''t nearly satisfied enough. As he had said, this was nothing more than the precursor.

    Leonel''s figure flickered, appearing in the core region of the village. His gaze was sharp and his heart calm. The fatigue was already beginning to accumulate between his brows once again, but it wasn''t nearly as bad as it had been previously. It seemed that he almost took Crafting as a time of leisure rather than an intrusively difficult activity.

    Many had begun to pay attention to other things while Leonel was crafting the formation. There were too few who understood Force Crafting truly. It was only those of the Omann family and the Morales family who couldn''t take their eyes away, but even then, their relative reactions were far different.

    A deep frown marred Ancestor Radrian''s brows. The skill that Leonel was displaying didn''t make any sense to him. The precision, the meticulousness, even the faint inklings he had grasped toward his potential intentions, they all didn''t seem to be something a junior of the Sixth Dimension should have been capable of.

    He would just barely be able to accept it if Leonel was the same age as the others, but if his information was correct, Leonel wasn''t even 30 years old yet. In fact, he was quite a number of years from that age. How could he do this?

    As for the Morales family, they saw things on an even deeper layer.

    One would have thought that Leonel had allowed the Segmented to only forge the more complicated treasures like armors and weapons. But hours ago, when he first took out those plates, the eyes of the Morales Ancestors couldn''t help but light up.

    Those plates weren''t just forged of a single metal, they were instead a composite of them, a beautifully refined alloy. But what was especially shocking was that even with their sharp eyes, it took them several hours of observation to realize this.

    Of course, they had known that it had to be something special because it was a metal they didn''t recognize. With their wisdom and years of experience, how could there possibly be an ore they didn''t recognize? But it was also because of that confusion that they realized how beautifully forged this alloy was, so perfect that it made them doubt themselves.

    This metal alloy, without a doubt, had reached the level of the Life Grade. It had reached a level where it seemed that nature itself had created it.

    When the Ancestors realized this, they also came to understand just what Leonel had planned. He was using a self-created alloy as the foundation for this formation he was creating, which also meant that this formation, whatever it was, was also self-created.

    However, even with this being the case, when they saw Leonel enter the central core of the village, their hearts couldn''t help but skip several beats.

    This was insane.

    That was all they could describe it as. Although Leonel''s choice to challenge the Bronze and Silver-Grades were crazy to the majority, that was mostly because many still saw him as a Sixth Dimensional existence back then.

    If it had been Armand, or the Sword Deity, or Adawarth who had forced through such challenges, they could still accept it. That was because in the worst scenario, these geniuses could take center stage and force victory using their own power.

    But when it came to the Gold-Grade, no matter how you looked at it, it was simply impossible for one to do that on their own, and there was no sudden landscape change that could help now either, and even if there were, given the sheer number of enemies that could be coming... Even if Leonel could somehow manifest another mountain from thin air, it simply wouldn''t be enough to deal with them all.

    There were already over 12 000 enemies in the Silver-Grade Upgrade challenge. The number to face in the Gold-Grade upgrade challenge would be a hundred times that at over a million! To make matters worse, Leonel would have to face three times that amount!

    Right now, even after recalling two troops of Oryx, Leonel only had 4000

    subordinates. If he included the Skies family who had recovered by now, that was 14 000. And, even if he included the 10 000 or so souls he had claimed from, that was still not even 1% of the number of enemies he would be facing soon.

    As though that wasn''t enough, on top of that, he had sent his strongest individual combatants away. Whether it was Aina, James, Elthor, Noah, or the others, they were currently away on the tasks Leonel had set aside from them.

    At this point, even the Morales Ancestors wanted to reach through the screen and tell him to stop.

    But it was already too late. Leonel brought out his other two city cores and threw them forward.

 Chapter 1964 Worries

    ?1964 Worries

    The ground began to rumble. The near immediate commotion was so great that it made Leonel''s ears ring. Even so, he walked out from the core of the village calmly.

    "Take your positions on the wall. The rest will be left up to me," Leonel said lightly.

    The Skies family and the Oryx were already in position. However, the way they took up their positions could only be said to be odd. Along the walls, there were only enough positions for a few hundred of them. With what could only be described as precise organization, they formed lines behind these positions, only one stepping up and onto the wall at a time. At the same time, at the end of the line, a sleeping pod was lined up.

    These first few hundred in the first batch positioned themselves behind railguns that reminded them eerily of the one Allan had used previously to hold off the Constellation Bow Alliance. However, these somehow seemed more... complete.

    Despite seeing this, the worry on the brows of the Morales family elders only deepened. What were a few hundred railguns going to do? Even if it was thousands it wouldn''t be enough.

    These beasts were created to not have consciences. They didn''t care about how many of their allies were dying and they only felt bloodlust. Their only thoughts were of rushing forward as quickly as possible and reaping as many lives as they could. Even if a hundred thousand fell, another hundred thousand would be right there to replace them, even if it was the last hundred thousand. They had no concept of morale or momentum, normal war tactics simply wouldn''t work.

    These upgrade challenges were designed to mimic the real life patterns of Invalids. There was simply no simple way to deal with them, and lining the walls with a few guns just seemed foolhardy.

    These upgrade challenges were designed to mimic the real life patterns of Invalids. There was simply no simple way to deal with them, and lining the walls with a few guns just seemed foolhardy.

    The only saving grace was that if the upgrade failed and the walls fell, Leonel could at least run away, but that would also unleash these millions of Invalids on the continent. At the same time, that would ruin all of Leonel''s progress and his advantages would vanish into thin air.

    At this point, even those who wanted Leonel to fail didn''t say anything. They didn''t feel there was a point, the outcome felt inevitable. However, whether this was an outcome that Leonel wanted or not was what they were on the fence about.

    Now that they thought about it, maybe Leonel had sent his most powerful combatants away on purpose, what if this was another scheme of his?

    This worry had resulted in them remaining silent. It seemed that Leonel''s previous successes had left their scars, even at this point, many were hesitant to make their final judgments.

    As Leonel stepped into the air calmly, his expression indifferent and his coarse linen shirt and pants ruffling in the wind, his confidence seemed to be palpable.

    The ground continued to rumble as Leonel continued to rise into the air, a simple silver-gold platform of Emulation Spatial Force becoming his seat as he flew several hundred meters into the air. He closed his eyes, seemingly unable to sense the rumbling ground at all. However, his lips slightly parted.

    "Fire," Leonel said lightly.

    His voice was soft amidst the rumbling, and yet it traveled to each one of their ears. The few hundred on the walls gripped the handles of their railguns tight, swinging them forward.

    A black sea of enemies appeared not even a kilometer away. Their roars and clanging weapons grated on the ears, a suffocating heat and bloody scent quickly rising through the air. They seemed endless, felt boundless...

    And then the first railguns fired.

    Sparking lightning howled and solid rays of golden-yellow lasers streaked across the air, their projectiles hidden within.

    The first volley connected with the front line, causing a rain of blood and gore to surge into the skies. Just a single ray seemed to take out dozens before it was eventually blocked. After a collective volley, thousands had fallen.

    The railguns swung once more, lightning sparking once again as they fired.

    The loading process seemed smooth and seamless. Once again, another few thousand died.

    However... what was a few thousand to several million? And to make matters worse, after just two volleys, the "marksmen" were already pale. Most would only be able to withstand just a single more volley, while all of them only have a maximum of four to give.

    The situation seemed helpless, and yet Leonel''s voice descended calmly.

    "Swap.

    The lines shifted forward. The first group fell back and rushed to enter the resting pods and a new marksman stepped in on each railgun. Renewed and rejuvenated, the firing continued at the same rhythm, not a single beat was missed.

    By the time the army had closed the distance by half, almost ten volleys had been sent and over 50 000 had died. There was no doubt that Leonel''s approach was effective, but it still felt like it wasn''t nearly enough.

    But it was at this moment that Leonel slowly opened his eyes. They didn''t seem sharp. In fact, they seemed almost dull and lifeless, almost as though his attention was elsewhere.

    Down below, the army was only a hundred or so meters away from crossing the first line of his formation and he was ready and prepared.

    Three silver Stars appeared to Leonel''s back, slowly rotating as large amounts of Dream Force rushed into his body, replenishing his mind and soothing his soul.

    Then, one after another, familiar valiant souls began to appear on the battlefield. Donned in violet battle armor, they seemed prepared to face the world.

    Even so, when they appeared, the hearts of the Morales family elders sank. If Leonel had done something else, anything else, they would have still had some hope. But they had already seen this trick before, it had already been pushed to the limits when Leonel had to take on his most recent Silver-Grade upgrade, what good would it be here?

    Despite this, Leonel couldn''t seem to sense the worries of anyone else.

    Two more Stars appeared to his back, Runes beginning to dance across its surface. The temperature sky rocketed as the twin pair of red-gold balls of fire appeared.

    At that moment, one after another, the eyes of the soul constructs below suddenly began to blaze with fire as well...

    Scarlet Star Force.

 Chapter 1965 Real

    ?1965 Real

    At that moment, the demeanor of the soul constructs completely changed...

    no, it was more accurate to say that it felt as though 10 000 Leonel''s had appeared at once, all powerful and all equally as real.

    All at once, they raised their palms and 10 000 bows appeared. These weren''t soul constructs or creations of Emulation Spatial Force. They were real, tangible bows that could have only been forged by the Segmented Cube. Although each one only exuded the aura of the Bronze Grade, when they entered the palms of the soul constructs, they suddenly became the weapons of a King.

    They drew their bowstrings back at once, their backs straight and their gazes sharp.

    The instant the first line of army crossed the formation line, they fired.

    The speed of firing for Leonel and his soul constructs was far faster than any volleys the Human Domain had seen until now. Scarlet Star Force tore through everything in its path, burning everything it touched. The violent destruction made any previous carnage look like nothing more than a joke.

    Every time another troll fell, a slight ripple would pass through the formation, resurrecting their soul. After a small moment, two balls of fire would flicker to life in their eyes and they would suddenly become completely different people.

    It very quickly became obvious that Leonel wasn''t using his soul constructs as usual.

    As time passed, the worry that weighed down the hearts of the Morales Ancestor was slowly becoming lighter and lighter. They stood in a daze, their eyes locked onto the youth sitting cross legged in the skies.

    Very few knew that Leonel had Scarlet Star Force. The matters that happened that day in the Rapax Nest had been practically ignored by the members of the Cataclysm Generation and not much of this had spread.

    Coupling this with the fact that Leonel had been within the Void Palace when he displayed much of these abilities, and the wider Human Domain was even more in the dark.

    It was impossible to see even a top three Force in any given category, but Leonel had already made use of the number one Water Force and the number one Fire Force. What was even more shocking than that was the fact that this Scarlet Star Force was on a level that made even the hearts of the Ancestors tremble.

    Was this power a Sixth Dimensional existence should have?

    Eventually, the line of defense was overwhelmed. The flood of enemies was simply too many, Leonel''s bows alone, even ten thousand of them, couldn''t counter them completely. However, Leonel''s expression didn''t change in the slightest, the same dull, glass-like look remaining.

    In that moment, his soul constructs tossed their bows to the side and flipped their palms to reveal spears. Each one of these spears was of a different caliber, and yet revealed absolutely shocking auras one after another. Not a single one of them was short of the Life Grade.

    So many powerful spears could only come from one place, and that was when a shocking realization shook the Human Domain.

    No matter how powerful the Spear Domain Ring, one could only use a single spear at a time. However, somehow, Leonel had completely shattered this concept. The resonating howls of thousands of Life Grade spears shook the earth and dispersed the clouds above. It felt like the army of millions wasn''t the coming tide, but rather the group of soul constructs standing in silence ng thar mires cnnrad

    The Morales Ancestors looked toward the old and wrinkled man and were stunned to see a bright smile on his fast. Even amongst the Ancestors, there were hierarchies, and Ancestor Hito was without a doubt amongst the most senior and most respected. Ancestor Alvaro had been a toddler when he first saw this man, and he was already an Ancestor back then. He was simply on a completely different level.

    Not once had they ever seen this old man smile, and here he was, grinning from ear to ear.

    "... This formation is a stroke of genius. We will probably never understand its intricacies without also comprehending the Lineage Factor that Littlest Nova is using to give it such strength, but the general gist of it is clear.

    "It disperses and amplifies Dream Force, its function is that simple and can be summarized in just those few words. However, what''s especially ingenious about it is the fact that this Dream Force isn''t casually constructed Dream Force, nor does it come from the atmosphere.

    "If I am correct, Littlest Nova''s original Ability Index doesn''t allow him to project Dream Force. Instead, he''s using this Formation as a proxy for his mind and his soul, blanketing the entire region and treating the entire region as his limbs.

    "Dream Force seems like an enigmatic concept to most, but that''s only to those who had no affinity for it. Do you know why Dream Force is so dangerous? Why coming into contact with it is a life changing and often ending event? It''s because Dream Force is an unruly child, it simply flows at it pleases, finding vessels that it wants to invade.

    "When this Dream Force is ownerless, one ends up in an endless cycle of memories. However, what if it was owned? What if this Dream Force was under the control of another? What if this owned Dream Force ran into an easily manipulated and malleable Soul Construct?

    "Those soul constructs are no longer who they once were. For all intents and purposes, they are Littlest Nova.

    "They are more real than any clone in existence has ever been."

 Chapter 1966 Another...

    ?1966 Another...

    Through these "clones", Leonel could extend his affinities. It felt like his Mage Core had multiplied over several thousand times, allowing him to call down atmospheric Force from thousands of locations at once. With his Stars as an anchor, it further allowed him to extend the ability to use Scarlet Star Force to each and every one of his soul constructs.

    However, even this was only the tip of the iceberg. It felt that rather than controlling his clones, he was rather controlling extra limbs of his. With those souls as the mediums, all of Leonel archery skills, all of his spearmanship, all of his Mage and Knight abilities cascaded forth, crushing everything they ran into.

    Every time another enemy fell, yet another warrior would be added to the total.

    They rose up with flickering crimson flames in their eyes, marching forth with a deathly momentum.

    From time to time, hundreds of railguns would fire at once, taking out dozens more each. Even when Leonel''s "clones" were enveloped by a strike, they would ripple once and collapse, only to reform and begin their slaughter once again.

    Without having to worry about crushing allies, the Skies family and the Oryx released volley after volley, draining themselves and then retreating to the back of the line before the process started all over again.

    Any projectile that could drain a Seventh Dimensional existence in just three attempts was bound to be supremely powerful. Because Leonel wasn''t worried about their recovery, he had gone all out. Even the current him could only fire those railguns a dozen or so times before he had nothing left, that was why he hadn''t bothered to execute the Crafting of more than a few hundred.

    All of a sudden, it wasn''t Leonel''s combat prowess that was on full display, but rather his Crafting. The danger he posed to those of the Human Domain skyrocketed. This was an individual who was not only highly intelligent, he was likewise highly talented and powerful. On top of that, unlike his father who could only be described as a head strong loaner, Leonel seemed to be an exceptional leader who was willing to rely on others to execute his orders.

    He was nothing short of a monster.

    Leonel gasped for breath, his dull gaze regaining its sharpness as his platform of Emulation Spatial Force wavered. He truly looked like he had nothing left to give, but by now, there were only a few thousand Gold-Grade threats remaining and his army of soul constructs had already grown to millions. Even if Leonel could no longer control them, dealing with the rest was like using a steam roller to crush an egg.

    Leonel landed on the ground, his chest heaving. Every breath he took seemed to cause a hurricane-like event, the rushing wind falling into the endless abyss that was his lungs.

    The good news about having such great vitality was that reaching this point of fatigue was almost impossible. The bad news was that when he did, recovering was far more difficult for him than it was for most.

    Even so, Leonel looked forward as a wave of gold spread across his territory, their range increasing from 400 kilometers to 500 kilometers.

    By this point, what once was the light of dawn was already beginning to wane as evening approached. The battle had taken quite a period of time and many changes could have taken place in this time. Even so, Leonel dragged his body into a pod and didn''t exit until an hour later, the equivalent of four days of rest.

    At this moment, his soul constructs still stood in silence, like wisps of violet in the wind that could be blown to dust at any moment.

    боThey''ll last at most about 15 or so hours. That''s enough time.

    Leonel took a deep breath.

    The strength of his soul constructs would only be able to mirror his own strength when they were within his formation. However, outside of his formation, they would revert back to their original combat strength.

    That said, this wasn''t terrible for multiple reasons.

    Firstly, that majority of them were Gold-Grade now, making them quite effective and powerful. Although they couldn''t match up to the Heirs, they were stronger than many subordinates, or at least on par with many of them.

    Secondly, while it sounded nice to be able to perfectly control them as though they were his limbs, doing so drained a great deal of his stamina. If Leonel let them fight on their own, the stamina he would save was

    АNnormous.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and he entered the core of the village. In truth, it could no longer be called a village now, it was well and truly a city, and the core of it reflected that. The ceilings were tall, the pillars were thick, and now Leonel could city upon a throne to investigate the changes to the core.

    As expected, his outposts had upgraded and now had the added function of instant teleportation. This would save them a great deal of time and effort.

    Leonel now had over three million kill exchanges burning a hole in his pocket. That many Gold-Grade kill exchanges were worth 30 billion points.

    Though this was short of the 500 billion points he would need to upgrade this city into an Heir-Grade one, it was still a substantial sum.

    Without hesitation, Leonel attempted to use a billion points to expand his city limits from 500 kilometers to 2000. However, he realized instantly that there was a blockage.

    The first blockage was to his back, about 600 or so kilometers away, or about 100 kilometers from his border, there was the ocean. According to this system, he wasn''t allowed to expand his territory limits into the ocean without an underwater territory.

    The other blockages, to his sides and toward the front, were other territories.

    It turned out that the reason he had been able to see the location of the second Taur territory was because its owner, Armand, had already died. As such, it had been ownerless at the time. But he couldn''t just steamroll territories with his own by buying more.

    Even so, Leonel grinned, he had found another loophole.

    Comment VIEW ALL

 Chapter 1967 80%

    ?1967 80%

    During that attempt to expand territory, the failure points were clearly noted. Although it was only for a brief moment, and the option to expand had already been greyed out, just how good was Leonel''s memory, exactly?

    Although the Umbra family had already given him the location of the most important territories, they happened to be the largest and most prominent.

    In the end, there were only a few hundred Umbra family members that had come, given the scope of the Heir Wars, it was difficult for them to get everything.

    Of course, the Umbra family had far from just this many Seventh Dimensional existence beneath 100 years old, but convincing them to bring out a few hundred in the first place already took quite a bit of convincing.

    One had to remember that the Umbra family was meant to be a weak Sixth Dimensional family, having just a single Seventh Dimensional existence was already a big deal, let alone a few hundred. It had to be remembered that back then, even their "Patriarch" Silam Umbra, wasn''t even at Tier 4 of the Sixth Dimension yet.

    This meant that Leonel could only work with what he had, which was also why it had felt to Radlis that Leonel was working with information they hadn''t even given him. That was because all this time, Leonel had been piecing together a picture of the day side based on several sources. The Umbra family was only one of those sources, and now he had gained another.

    There was another matter to consider as well. The Umbra family was already currently on the night side, gathering up intel. It had been over a quarter day since Leonel saw them last. With how fast things were moving, there had most definitely already been changes to the information they had given him. This was a huge boon.

    "Excellent. Expand to the greatest limit," Leonel confirmed.

    At that moment, a whooshing sound extended and Leonel''s territory expanded an extra 100 kilometers toward his back, an extra 200 to the east and west, and finally, the largest change, an extra 600 to the north. It was unsurprising that there was such a large gap to the north as that was the direction of both the former Constellation Bow Alliance and the Taur family.

    It was ironically his own territory, the one he had sent the Cloud Race to impersonate, that had stopped him from expanding forward.

    That said, it was also because he had sent the Oryx to clear out several regions in all locations that he had this much room to his left, right and back as well. His preparations had given and taken to them.

    In addition to this, Leonel had learned something else. Apparently, it was only by upgrading to the Heir Grade could he forcefully assimilate territory.

    However, that wouldn''t help with the ocean. Essentially, he would be able to claim the entire supercontinent if he reached the Heir-Grade.

    But even for Leonel, he knew that this was pushing it. He had just given everything he had to clear the Gold Grade. Although he could rely on his more powerful people like Aina, James and the others, it would truly be a tall mountain to climb.

    The Heir challenge was different.

    Firstly, the enemies would still mostly be at the Gold-Grade, however there would be around 10 million of them rather than just over a million like before. In addition, rather than being a random tidal wave, they would be led by 100 Heir-Grade Generals designed to mimic Variant Invalids.

    They would be an organized army and threat, and their commanders would be at an Heir level, it wasn''t something that Leonel could take casually, even if he made great preparations.

    ''It should be about now... The timing is right.

    Just as Leonel had this thought, the flash of several teleportations took shape as figure after figure began to appear within the core throne room of the city. Once again, Leonel''s timing was immaculate.

    At this moment, James, Emna, as well as Aina, his brothers and the others had all returned. None of them seemed surprised that Leonel had cleared the Gold-Grade without them. This had always been the plan.

    Leonel turned toward them and nodded. "Tell me about your gains and then go rest in the pods. We will move out again within the hour.

    James and Emna came forward first, the two of them had been away for the longest and had the most accumulated gains. At the same time, they were the two in most need for rest, so it was only right that they came forward first.

    Between the two of them, they had accumulated over 50 million points, a shocking total. This would already be enough for one to challenge their Gold-Grade upgrade. While compared to Leonel''s current almost 30 billion it wasn''t worth much, the fact that they had gotten so much just clearing Bronze and Silver-Grade challenges and dungeons spoke volumes about how much effort they had put in.

    That said, Leonel was less concerned about the points and more concerned about the rewards themselves.

    It was a Silver-Grade dungeon''s reward that had given Leonel the advantage in clearing the Silver-Grade upgrade condition without many subordinates.

    He couldn''t neglect such rewards.

    Leonel quickly shifted through the rewards they had gained and made several calculations. Between the two, they had cleared about a dozen dungeons each, most of which were Silver-Grade. Although they didn''t always get the Heir-Grade reward due to various circumstances unrelated to their combat strength, they had gotten it the majority of the time as well.

    боA tunnel reward... A Silver-Grade instant pass reward... A territory protector reward... A wall collapsing reward... A territory masking reward..."

    Suddenly, Leonel''s eyes lit up. ''This could be useful, very useful...

    He had seen another potential loophole and this could change a great deal of things. If he was correct and used this reward appropriately, he should be able to extend his territory into the ocean, but even he wasn''t certain if this loophole would work with 100% certainty.

    боThere should be about a 80% chance... Worth it to try!

 Chapter 1968 Decision

    ?1968 Decision

    Leonel plucked the reward and rolled it between his fingers for a moment.

    Then, with a thought, he pushed it toward the core of the city and agreed to accept the change.

    After a wild bout of vertigo, everyone opened their eyes to smell an air that was decidedly more humid, refreshing and... salty. Even from here, they could hear the sounds of the crashing waves. Without even looking out of the city, they could tell that they had all suddenly been moved to the oceanside.

    Leonel didn''t flinch after this happened, he had already expected it. Without hesitation, he pushed forward a second reward and accepted it as well.

    The ground rumbled and the sound of heavy rocks crashing into the ocean resounded. Many who didn''t know what was going on rushed to the city walls and their eyes widened as they felt that the city was about to fall right off a cliff and into the raging waters below. However, just when it seemed that this would happen, the city stabilized and became rock solid.

    Waters rushed in from the side and the moat that had surrounded the city before was filled instantly with a rush of heavy salt water. It felt like, in that moment, the city was enveloped by the embrace of the ocean.

    The mountain range they had been hidden within was completely gone and they found themselves on soft, sandy land. If not for the fact that this was a simulation and not completely analogous to real life, there was no way such a heavy structure could exist on such fragile land.

    At the same time, they had been right near a cliff face which had now crumbled and collapsed, lowering their elevation and causing a rush of ocean water to tide in. Their city was now half perched on sand and another half in the ocean, and with their moat, they felt a step away from being entirely submerged.

    In order to accomplish this, Leonel had done two things. The first was that he used a territory moving reward. Since it was just Silver-Grade, it only allowed him to move his territory to anywhere within his territory''s range, however given the size of his territory to begin with, that gave him access to over half the supercontinent!

    Then, he used yet another terrain change reward, but this one, rather than being used for mountains, was instead used to direct waterways. Its original purpose was to create a source of water by extending it from a primary source. So, Leonel used it on the ocean and extended it into their moat.

    Only underwater territories were allowed to expand into the ocean. Well, was he not technically underwater now? His city limits had been entirely submerged in ocean water.

    Even if Leonel was just trying his luck, using these rewards like this still only benefited him. Although he had abandoned the mountain range, attacking his territory like this was even more difficult because you could only send an army from a single direction now, in addition to the fact the moat was even heavier.

    But it seemed that Leonel wouldn''t have to worry about only having this to gain. When he saw that his territory map now extended into the depths of the ocean, he almost couldn''t refrain from grinning ear to ear.

    The ocean was vast, just as vast as any one of the supercontinents, so Leonel wasn''t anywhere near close to mapping it all out. His territory should have extended 2000 kilometers from his city now, or rather, however far it could go before it ran into other territories, but territory distance was counted differently within the ocean. There seemed to be a 100 times reduction.

    Leonel wasn''t surprised by this. On land, territory only had to account for two dimensions, but with the water, depth had become very important.

    Now, his territory map wasn''t flat, but it also had to incorporate a distance down to the greatest depth of the ocean. But even then, because he had

    2000 kilometers, to 20 kilometers in this case, in perfect detail, the things he could see were almost too much.

    The ocean''s depth ranged from five kilometers to 20 kilometers. This was far deeper than a moon of this size should have had, but it was likely that Ancestor Hito had done this on purpose.

    Challenges and dungeons appeared at all depths and because of the difficulty in reaching them, they were far more tightly packed. In just this 20

    kilometer range that Leonel could see, there were already over 200

    challenges and over four dozen dungeons. Half of those were Bronze-Grade, about a quarter were Silver-Grade, however there were over 40 Gold-Grade challenges and almost 10 were Heir-Grade! At the same time, there were over 15 Gold-Grade dungeons and five Heir-Grade ones!

    To put this into perspective, the land had yet to even spawn Gold-Grade challenges and dungeons. Only now that Leonel''s territory had become Gold-Grade would it start to. This was completely game changing.

    As though this wasn''t enough, Leonel had also spotted the territory of several Heir-Grade oceanic beasts as well, each one of them was worth 100

    000 points so long as they were killed.

    "This is a huge treasure trove. If others tapped into this, all of the effort I put into getting ahead would be completely crushed. I expected this possibility, but it''s even more exaggerated than I assumed.

    Leonel narrowed his eyes.

    He was very much correct. Right now, the Pisc and Quarius families were behind, but once they entered the ocean, their advantages would sky rocket with great speed. In just a few steps, they would go from the bottom ranks of Constellation families to amongst the top ranks.

    Even so, the advantage that Leonel had was even greater. Who could afford to buy 2000 kilometers worth of territory right now in exchange for 20

    kilometers worth of information?

    Beyond that, he was even planning on pouring all 30 billion points he had not into underwater outposts to extend this range.

    The Gold-Grade underwater outposts each cost 10 million, and each one had a range of just one kilometer, but if 20 kilometers of space had this much information, how much would 300 kilometers have?

    Leonel didn''t care about points right now, there were only a few things he could spend them on to begin with.

    However, if he managed to monopolize a large number of Heir-Grade dungeons, the rewards he gathered from them could put him so far ahead that the Heir Wars would become meaningless.

    If the Silver-Grade rewards for these dungeons were already so useful, what could the Heir-Grade ones do for him?

    Leonel''s expression flickered.

    He had a decision to make.

    He currently had over 3 million soul constructs that would only last for a few more hours. He knew that they wouldn''t be enough to conquer the supercontinent, but he did know that they would be enough to wreak havoc...

    He was very understanding about the strength of the Heirs. If the Gold-Grade upgrade was a million, that meant that very soon, the Heirs would be able to deal with it. And if he made such a large commotion, he would attract public ire even sooner, not to mention make it even easier for them to deal with it by giving them a reason to band together.

    If he could separate out this army of three million, it would be one thing. But they were soul constructs held together by his Lineage Factor, he had to be there to direct them and he couldn''t move his formation freely to use clones as a stand in...

    The other option was, of course, to press his advantage and claim as many Gold and Heir-Grade rewards as possible, so that when he was eventually ganged up on anyway... They wouldn''t stand a chance.

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. He couldn''t afford a misstep.

 Chapter 1969 How?

    ?1969 How?

    Leonel raised his head, a flash of what felt like violet lightning coursing through his irises.

    Not every step could be meticulous and perfect. Not every scheme could be without pitfalls. Without perfect information, even he couldn''tбп guarantee a result, his simulations were only as good as the data he put into them.

    In that case, he would have to force the issue, suffocate his enemies until they didn''t have the option to add variables to his calculations in the first place.

    "Go and rest. Catch up when you can, I''m setting out now."

    The gazes of those present flashed, but they didn''t say anything. In these Heir Wars, Leonel had the final say and they had already accepted it. If they hadn''t, they wouldn''t be following him in the first place.

    Leonel stepped out, casually waving a hand and using the territory protection award that the others had gathered. These rewards summoned a protector spirit based on the strength of your territory at the time of the summoning. As such, Leonel''s territory gained three large spirit animals with the strength of about a hundred thousand Gold-Grade threats. This didn''t mean that they were a hundred thousand times stronger than a Gold-Grade threat, but rather that it would take the all out attack of that many Gold-Grade threats over the course of a few hours to take them down.

    After he did this, Leonel raised a hand and Little Blackstar seemed to appear from nowhere, landing on his palm and snaking up toward his neck in a hurry.

    Leonel smiled and rubbed the little guy''s head. Little Blackstar seemed to have reached his maximum size. Even after entering the Seventh Dimension, he didn''t grow past two to three feet long. The way he draped over Leonel''s Leonel smiled and rubbed the little guy''s head. Little Blackstar seemed to have reached his maximum size. Even after entering the Seventh Dimension, he didn''t grow past two to three feet long. The way he draped over Leonel''s shoulders wasn''t much different from a thick scarf.

    "We''re gonna wreak some havoc, Blackstar."

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Blackstar trembled and suddenly wrapped around Leonel with great speed, becoming nothing more than a blur of black before a large amount of Dark Force to shape into a prowling black dragon.

    Little Blackstar sat in its forehead, clearly visible, until the Dark Force became so thick and viscous that he vanished entirely. The creature opened its mouth and roared.

    At that moment, the entire Heir Wars Moon trembled and quaked. The slowly darkening skies seemed to suddenly enter the depths of night in a single step.

    Little Blackstar raised a claw and planted it on the sturdy Gold-Grade walls, raising his head to the skies as he continued to bellow. The war cry reached the ears of the Heirs across the two continents, even piercing into the ocean waters and causing the waves to rise and rock.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and he appeared on Little Blackstar''s head. His aura soared, a piercing spear howl becoming the only point of light in the skies.

    The soul constructs below shifted and stomped, the echo of their footsteps fusing into Little Blackstar''s roar and Leonel''s spear howl.

    A radiant halo appeared above Leonel''s head, descending down his body and forming a vibrant armor that shook with Vital Star Form. The towering sky blue and gold standing amidst a mass of deep and impregnable, roaring black made the man atop of the world the center of attention.

    Decisive.

    This was the only word the elders of the Human Domain could think. They could see everything Leonel could see, and with their experience, they knew well what thoughts he must have in his head at this moment. But rather than trying to tuck away until he had victory 100% confirmed, he chose this route instead.

    To try and confirm victory would underestimate the geniuses of the Human Domain far too much. While Leonel was advantaged now, he had his weaknesses. They had already seen that he had limitations in terms of both subordinate count and subordinate strength. If he didn''t take advantage of his lead now, he might never get the chance.

    The Morales family elders nodded. Leonel had not only proved them wrong several times, but he also knew when to not go against the majority''s thoughts and take the most logical route, even when that most logical route, like this time, took a great deal of wisdom to take.

    At the same time, the worry on the brows of the other elders deepened.

    However, no matter how much they wanted to reach into the glass cube and put a stop to it, Leonel''s army began to march, their momentum stifling.

    They didn''t try to hide themselves in the slightest. No amount of preparation on their enemiesбп part would matter. Their only outcome would be to be steamrolled.

    To the west, the Pisc and Quarius families looked up. Just as Leonel had expected, they were already making their move into the ocean, claiming several seaside territories as they began to look for their first underwater territory.

    What was surprising, though, was that these two Constellation Families were actually working together. But when one thought about it, this was less surprising in reality.

    The best genius of the Quarius family, Queen Beauty Vega Quarius, had joined First Nova. Without anyone to take up the reins, the Quarius family was reeling. Rather than simply not participating, though, they preferred to team up with the Pisc family. Together, as the two prominent Water Force families, they made a plan to conquer the oceans.

    However, hearing the roar, their gazes couldn''t help but narrow.

    The leader of the Pisc, Marina, and the current leader of the Quarius, Vega''s younger sister, Pearl, both seemed to react at the same time, their expressions solemn.

    They began to gather up their subordinates, sending out calls for returns as well, shoring up their defenses and looking toward the towering spear howl in the distance as a mass of violet moved toward them swiftly.

    By this point, their numbers were already well in the thousands, but even between the two of them, they only had about 100 000 or so subordinates, and that was after focusing everything on getting as many kill exchanges as possible. This mass of enemies... How would they deal with this?

 Chapter 1970 Humans..

    ?1970 Humans..

    Seeing their numbers, Leonel knew that he had made the right decision. As he had expected, after a certain point, the number of subordinates the Heirs and the others could accumulate would only increase exponentially. It was just simple math, a single person could only get one kill exchange at the same time, multiplying themselves to two. But two people could get four, and four could get eight.

    Of course, the Quarius and Pisc families were still a bit of an anomaly. They had focused entirely on gathering up as many people as possible because their goal was the ocean. With the depth and vastness, they needed numbers to explore and press their advantage.

    Leonel felt that this was the wrong approach, and he would likely be proved right by those who had focused on other things having numbers that were comparable enough. But their mistakes had nothing to do with him.

    боWithin an hour, I''ll crush them.

    Leonel had steamrolled over every small faction on the way here, sending the Oryx he came across back to rest and ordering them to circle around and support the "Taur" family. His momentum was already at its peak when he waved a hand and gripped his black rod, raising it into the skies.

    Right then, a wall destruction reward surged forward. The others had accumulated three of these total, and though they could only be used against Silver-Grade territories and below... Who other than Leonel had a Gold-Grade territory?

    The expressions of Marina and Pearl changed immediately, but there was nothing they could do.

    They leapt into the air, dodging out of the way of the crumbling walls as their city was exposed to the masses.

    Leonel''s spear raised its apex and Little Blackstar opened his jaws, his chest expanding. The latter''s head stretched over a hundred meters into the skies, his preparation causing the air to shake and quake. Suddenly...

    ROAR!

    A billowing cyclone of darkness surged out from his gaping mouth, tearing a path toward the crumbling wall.

    Marina and Pearl''s expressions changed once again. They had vaguely felt that the creature beneath Leonel should have just been a construct, but when it attacked, they were taken completely off guard. Was that really a dragon?!

    They had only heard myths about such beasts, there should have been any real occurrences of them.

    "Dammit!"

    Marines pulled at a silk fabric wrapped around her slender waist. Pearl reacted at the same time, pulling out a tall, blue-scaled trident.

    The two rushed forward, looking to block the black breath attack. Although they felt it was still manageable, they didn''t want the battle to start with such devastating losses. While they were capable of dealing with it, that didn''t mean that the others were. As the two Heirs, they had to take this sort of burden on their shoulders.

    However, before they could even properly, Leonel rod expanded, blotting out the skies as it descended in a torrent of rotating Spear Force.

    Leonel unleashed a furious roar that resonated with Little Blackstar''s, his blue Vital Star Force turning a furious red, then instantly a vibrant violet as he activated [Star Fusion: King''s Might].

    The two young women attacked, but found themselves meeting an immutable wall. With his Spear Domain Lineage Factor activated, Leonel''s spear passed through Little Blackstar''s roar as though it wasn''t there at all, not interfering with it in the slightest. But the same couldn''t be said for the two women.

    They were blown backward, their gazes helpless as they watched Little Blackstar''s Dark Force Breath shred everything in its path. What made them shudder instantly was that they realized they had underestimated Little Blackstar far too much.

    The attack had felt manageable just now, but when it descended, it swallowed up all the Force in its path, gathering it into its strength and continuing forward. It was like... It was like...

    Anarchic Force.

    Leonel rose into the skies, allowing Blackstar to wreak havoc below as he reached out a hand. The tidal wave of soul constructs surged forward into the remaining shambles of the army. Even when they managed to kill a soul construct, another one would take its place while the one that had fallen would reform and join the battle once again.

    The morale of the Pisc and Quarius families plummeted, but Leonel only kept churning away at them, his forward momentum relentless.

    Not even an hour later, there was nothing but ruins. Corpses littered the ground and the territory was swallowed up. At that moment, the borders of Leonel''s territory expanded, pushing past the barrier that had once been there and taking this land for itself.

    At that moment, streaks appeared from the horizon.

    Aina, James, Noah, Emna, Raylion, Aphestus, his brothers and the other geniuses of Earth caught up one after another.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. He shifted the direction of the army, his mind swirling with the images of the boundaries he had seen before. After settling the direction, he began to press forward with an even faster pace.

    He had 13 hours left to maximize these three million troops. He would destroy everything he could. Dancing red-gold flames lit his pupils.

    The commotion that Leonel had caused wasn''t small, however there was a reason he didn''t try to hide his tracks. Firstly, the commotion of his Gold-Grade upgrade wasn''t small. Million charging with Seventh Dimensional strength was bound to cause a great tidal wave across the moon. Secondly... He wanted to impose his will.

    This was precisely what had happened.

    Although ganging up and defeating a powerful enemy sounded logical, humans were selfish. Before it was necessary, they would bide their time and hope someone else dealt with it while they benefitted, and with the strategic placement of the Cloud Race members, Leonel could nudge things in the direction.

    With everyone holing up, all of his targets were in just a single place, and very quickly, the scouts of the Libra family rushed with news of his actions.

    [Third chapter is coming, but may be much later]

 Chapter 1971 Keiza

    ?1971 Keiza

    Huon, Droet, Hulot and Druid all looked forward with shock. Listening to the report of their subordinate, they didn''t know how to react immediately.

    They had upgraded their main territory to the Silver-Grade not long ago and they were preparing to continue their momentum swiftly as they approached the appropriate time to unleash their trump card and deal with Leonel. But they didn''t expect that Leonel would react before they could.

    To the side, Keiza, the Heir of the Gemin family, a young woman that Leonel had met and clashed with during the True Selection of the Void Palace.

    Back then, Keiza had taken interest in Leonel because her mother had been one of the many to fall for his father, Velasco. She was very curious to learn about that man through Leonel, mostly because her mother was a woman she couldn''t see falling for anyone. Of course, that included her father who she had little to no respect for.

    It could be said that Keiza took after her mother in her disregard for most men. Unfortunately, she didn''t get the chance to probe Leonel as much as she had wanted as the True Selection had been too hectic back then, not to mention the Cataclysm that occurred not long afterward.

    However, hearing about his movements now, her interest had suddenly returned. In truth, she didn''t think of Leonel much, and decades had passed since then. She was surprised, though, when the Libra family chose to change up their original plans by moving their cooperation up. When she learned that it was because of Leonel and the fact he had already taken out Nazag, she became even more intrigued.

    Her eyes couldn''t help but narrow, a playful smile spreading across her vibrant pink lips.

    "What do we do? How did he gather millions of subordinates already?" Huon spoke with furrowed brows.

    "It''s not millions of subordinates." Keiza suddenly spoke.

    Their heads turned toward her all at once. Although she had a playful smile on her face, they didn''t take it as a joke. Keiza looked like an airhead, but in terms of intelligence, she was ranked amongst the best of the Human Domain. There was a long time, before Leonel had done it, that many believed that if anyone were to surpass the Scorned Queen Beauty on the Void Library''s leader list, it would be her. But for whatever reason, Keiza had never bothered to enter the Void Library.

    "They''re soul constructs. You people really have no idea how the soul works, tsk tsk tsk..."

    Hulot and Druid, the two female Libra family members, were very much annoyed by Keiza''s antics. But Huon and Droet, who had practically grown up with her, were already wrapped around her little finger. Despite their genius, they practically just did as she pleased, which was also why it was so surprising to Keiza when they contacted her to change their original plans.

    Much like Wise Star Order had told Leonel all those years ago, the Gemin family was the only family of the Human Domain with any true understanding of the soul, and that was because their Lineage Factor allowed them far more free range than most humans. As such, when Keiza had sensed the unique fluctuations in some of the battles Leonel had fought, she had already sensed the uniqueness.

    Now hearing that he had suddenly manifested millions of subordinates, she put two and two together.

    "Soul constructs? Where would he get so many soul constructs?"

    "By killing, of course."

    The group of four frowned, they didn''t understand.

    Keiza shrugged. "I''m very curious about certain things. The person who fascinates me more is Alienor Morales, I really wanted to know what about her was so much better than my mother, so I investigated her. She has a very uncanny ability to use soul constructs, and this was obviously passed down to her little boy."

    Although Keiza was smiling, Huon and Droet looked away from her gaze, feeling a cold shiver down their backs.

    The two had had a crush on Keiza for the longest time, but they had never bothered to pursue her. That was because this woman had no heart. If that cold lump of coal in her chest opened up for anyone, it was her mother and her mother alone. Often... that love crossed a line that mother and daughter shouldn''t have, and it also turned into a level of fanaticism that led to results like this.

    Although Keiza was speaking casually, the amount of killing intent she was exuding was palpable. There was no doubt she wanted to kill Alienor.

    "Even so, that doesn''t explain where he would get so many soul constructs.

    Also, if he could get millions of kill exchanges, why wouldn''t he exchange them for real people?"

    Druid and Hulot, who didn''t understand Keiza as well, asked with questioning tones. Their two cousins shuddered but didn''t say anything.

    "Can''t you Libras use your heads? There are two of you and you practically share all thoughts, shouldn''t that make you smarter?

    "First of all, using soul constructs wouldn''t necessarily stop you from using kill exchanges, they''re mutually exclusive. Secondly, where would he get millions of subordinates from? He entered the Heir War games later than anyone. Earth is still too weak to produce so many Seventh Dimensional experts, while the Morales wouldn''t provide him with such support for the sake of fairness. If I''m correct, he''s probably already converted all of his kills into points by now.

    "As for where he would get millions of kill exchanges, that''s even more obvious. What is the easiest way to gain kill exchanges?"

    Their eyes suddenly widened and they stood to their feet.

    "Gold-Grade? Already? How is that possible?!"

    The hearts of the Libra family shook. To clear the Gold-Grade, one had to have the equivalent of millions of subordinates. Even if they were soul constructs, didn''t gaining those soul constructs mean that Leonel had such means already?! Why was Keiza so casual about this?!

    "How do we deal with this?"

    Keiza leaned back and reclined. "What do you mean how do we deal with this? We don''t. We are on opposite sides of the supercontinent, his soul constructs won''t last the trip all the way over here, don''t you think it''s about time the Nova brothers clashed? Let them wear each other down."

    Keiza took a sip of a drink and closed her eyes.

    Huon and Droet looked toward one another.

    They knew Keiza better than anyone. If there was anyone who took Leonel''s words the most personally, it was her. She seemed carefree, but she was the most arrogant person they knew. Leonel claiming that he would kill as many as he saw was probably the one thing that actually made her take these Heir Wars seriously...

    And when Keiza was serious, she didn''t have just one plan, she had at least three. As for what those other two were, until they moment they were revealed, maybe no one but her would know.

    There was maybe nothing more dangerous than a scorned woman. Though, if one said such a thing to Keiza, she would probably kill them without the slightest hesitation.

    If the person she hated most was Alienor, the person she hated the second most was none other than the Queen Scorned Beauty.

 Chapter 1972 Agreement

    ?1972 Agreement

    A tide of violet swept through the day side supercontinent. Nothing could seem to stop it.

    Leonel and Little Blackstar took the vanguard, causing death and destruction. Every time they took action, the opposing armies were thrown into chaos and disorder. After they were finished, the strongest of Leonel''s subordinates would rush over, splitting up the most powerful combatants and stopping them from having the opportunity to support the more average fights. Then, the army of millions would swoop in.

    The army of soul constructs was relentless. They maintained the same savage air that they had during the upgrade challenge, their bloodthirst often overwhelming the enemies before them. Even when one managed to hold their ground and fight back, witnessing one rise back from the dead as though they had never been harmed in the first place was enough to shatter even the strongest morale.

    By the time half of Leonel''s 13 or so hours were through, his territory had already expanded by as much as 30% and the hold he had over the day side supercontinent had begun to approach as much as 60%. He suffocated and suppressed the other territories, and his blade never seemed to show mercy.

    Given the circumstances, his kill rate had dropped from 100% of Heirs. It couldn''t be helped, some didn''t have the fortitude to stay until the final moments, or the stupidity, depending on how you looked at it. One after another, Heirs abandoned their chances at glory and vanished.

    When they appeared on the glass cube once again, they gasped for breath, their expressions pale and their gazes flickering with fear. In those moments, they had truly felt the scent of death.

    Seeing the states, flashes of pity couldn''t help but spark in the eyes of their elders. True death was one thing, but this sort of death of the heart was another kind altogether. The image of Leonel, standing loftily atop the back of a roaring black dragon was simply far too much for them to handle.

    Maybe in their lifetimes, they would never be able to raise their heads and face Leonel as equals, in this lifetime... they could only submit.

    Noah fought valiantly on the battlefield. His saber was bold and his courage was commendable, however he could only feel that the gap between him and Leonel only seemed to be widening.

    Much like the elders of the Human Domain, he too had sensed the fork in the road that Leonel had just faced, and quite frankly if it had been up to him... He wasn''t sure if he would have chosen to take this route.

    Things seemed to be going smoothly now, but Leonel''s current actions, his boldness, his trumpeting victories, was only provoking others. It seemed like a simple choice to use an army of millions to face off against groups that were only a few ten thousand at most, but that was only surface level analysis from those with little understanding of military affairs and war.

    Noah had spent much of his life on the battlefield, and he knew Leonel wasn''t a fool. One of the worst things a military commander could do was to overextend themselves, and there were very strong arguments for the fact that this was what Leonel was doing right this moment.

    Even so, he stood in the skies with a cold expression. Every time they conquered a territory, he would snatch its city core and leave it ruins. Then, as though it was an adequate replacement, he would leave behind an outpost and move on without a word.

    He continued to grind away at his enemies, making bold move after bold move.

    Noah could see that some fatigue was already accumulating along Leonel''s brow, but the latter didn''t seem to notice. It wasn''t a simple task to just reform the destroyed soul constructs, every time he did so another bit of his stamina would be sapped away. Although his Stars could quickly replenish it, he was wasting more than he was recovering.

    Even so, the fact that Leonel could sustain millions of soul constructs at all was a great shock. A slight fatigue after what should have been doing something impossible for most was far too difficult to fathom, and yet it was happening right before them all.

    Seeing Leonel crush the dreams of one Heir after another, though, the conflict within Noah''s heart only continued to grow.

    He truly couldn''t understand the difference. Were some people simply born better?

    He knew about Leonel''s life. He knew that Leonel was a normal teen of the Entertainment stream for most of his life. Other than being a Five Star Professional, there was nothing special about him.

    Whereas he had been a Prince of the Empire from the day he was born. He had the best teachers, the best resources, the best training. So why was he so inferior?

    The harsh reality was that Noah knew that Leonel agreed with him as well, not just Leonel, but even his own grandfather.

    Leonel had always thought he was better than others, the difference was that he felt this "betterness" was superficial and not enough to calculate the worth of a person. As such, he was determined to use the fact he was simply born better than others to help those around him and create a world where such heartache wasn''t necessary. This was why he had always taken these burdens on his shoulders, why he had wanted to be a King and not an Emperor.

    Although his ruthlessness had increased in recent times and his views had shifted somewhat, this was still the very foundation of his being.

    Emperor Fawkes, however, was a bit more difficult to read. Even so, his actions seemed to state that he didn''t care much about the world at all. He got rid of the useless, slaughtering them en masse. His true goals and aspirations were unknown, but it was safe to say that he wanted to maximize the growth of his Empire, even if it meant sacrificing innocents.

    As for whether there was a deeper layer to that story... only he would know.

    The irony to Noah, though, was that these two men that he respected greatly... both of them agreed on a fundamental level... There were simply certain barriers one couldn''t overcome without being born with a certain advantage others didn''t have...

    The army came to a slow halt.

    In the distance, the flag of a Silver-Grade city with walls even taller than Leonel''s Gold-Grade city appeared.

    Fifth Nova''s territory.

 Chapter 1973 Only As Good...

    ?1973 Only as Good...

    The armies of Fifth Nova had long since prepared, but it wasn''t the armies that had made Leonel pause.

    His eyes narrowed as he looked at the tall walls. He still had two wall collapsing exchanges that he hadn''t used yet, he simply hadn''t run into any enemies that were worth the effort, the Pisc and Quarius families had been the only ones that made the loss worthwhile.

    But now he realized even without trying that the remaining two that he had wouldn''t work now. These walls weren''t built by a mysterious system, they were almost certainly built by Fifth Nova and his subordinates. They were several times more powerful than a Gold-Grade wall and were probably more powerful than even the Heir-Grade walls would be.

    One shouldn''t take the pre-generated walls lightly. Even the Sub-Grade wall had taken a combined effort of Leonel and Aina resonating their attacks to take it down in one strike. The difference between each subsequent grade of wall was only more exaggerated.

    During Leonel''s battle with Nazag, his territory had been too small to accommodate everyone and as such they had gathered outside, plus their walls had only been at the Sub-Grade and not very useful. When he fought with Armand, their village had only been at the Bronze-Grade and they faced a similar problem with Nazag. Plus, Leonel had descended from the skies back then, making it difficult for even those walls to have much use.

    However, upon reaching the Silver-Grade, dropping down from the skies was already an impossible work around as the walls came formulated with a built in formation that protected both around and above. At the Gold-Grade, this formation was obviously even stronger, and as such, Ramon''s self-created walls were even more devastating on the defensive front.

    Leonel stopped the army because he knew no amount of forward momentum would be able to crush what was before him, he would only waste stamina going headlong without thinking.

    He couldn''t help but silently nod to himself. Indeed, he wasn''t the only person in the Heir Wars with such grand methods, he didn''t have a monopoly on Force Crafting or scheming. His fifth cousin was the most silent of the bunch, allowing Valorie to take the reins, but as a man born with both the Metal Synergy and Spear Domain Lineage Factor, he had his own strengths.

    At that moment, atop the tall silver walls, a young woman, wearing bronze armor and wielding a spear that looked a lot more like a glaive with a blade half the size of her body, appeared. Leonel recognized her at a glance as Valorie.

    From what Leonel understood, she was one of the last to be born in his father''s generation. But in reality, she only counted as such because she was born to parents of his grandfather''s generation. The truth was that she couldn''t be considered to be a part of the Nebula or Nova Generation.

    Leonel knew very little about her, but of what he did know he understood that she was very unsatisfied with the current Heir Wars system. She had only been born with the Spear Domain Lineage Factor and as such, hadn''t had the right to participate. It also didn''t help that she was born sort of in between generations, making the logistics even more difficult on her.

    Members of the Morales family weren''t technically allowed to participate in the Heir Wars so that it didn''t seem that the family was supporting one over the other. In addition, this rule minimized infighting and maximized the cohesiveness of the group. Even if a few Heirs butted heads, there would be no deaths, and because their family branches wouldn''t be involved, the grudges would be at a minimum.

    However, Valorie had become Ramon''s wife and as a result she was granted a unique exception.

    Even amongst the Morales family, rumors couldn''t help but spread. A strong woman like Valorie was obviously well known, and her fierce personality was even more so. Everyone had thought that she would end up with a man even more head strong than she was, but to end up with the silent Ramon of all people, no one could have expected such a result, until they suddenly

    "understood".

    If Valorie was going to fulfill her dream of becoming the Heir Apparent of the Morales family, who would be a better puppet than Ramon? He was silent, closed off, and even his own family knew very little about him. From the thoughts of others, Valorie strong-arming Ramon into marriage was an easy feat.

    Valorie being Valorie, though, never cared to address those rumors. Anyone she caught talking about such things would just taste her blade and that would be the end of it.

    Now, however, Valorie stood on top of the walls, her gaze narrowed and sharp. She had been expecting to see a Nova on the other side, but she hadn''t expected it to be Seventh Nova.

    If Valorie was honest, she quite liked Leonel. He had given the Morales family a great deal of face with his attitude. Although she was worried that he had spoken a bit too arrogantly and might end up falling hard because of that, the fact that he was here seemed to mean that he had backed up a lot of what he had to say.

    Even so, seeing that they were enemies now, it didn''t dull her blade in the slightest. In fact, it made it stronger.

    Little Blackstar moved forward until his shadow loomed over the city. By this point, the moon was looming high in the skies, but with Blackstar''s appearance, his head overshadowed it, casting a mighty darkness over the city.

    At this moment, many of Fifth Nova''s subordinates had been resting, but upon hearing the commotion, they immediately lined up. They had known that something was coming, but even so, they had slept like babies. With a single glance, Leonel could see just how well trained these warriors were, and the look of respect they gave toward Valorie was an even more striking sign.

    Archers lined the walls and prepared for battle. They all held real bows and powerful arrows, Leonel knew that even if he crushed their Bow Force, the power of the Crafts backing them would be enough to do some real damage.

    A single one of those arrows could kill a Gold-Grade threat, if they sent volley after volley, within a few minutes he would be drained of Dream Force even if he revived them all.

    Leonel analyzed the situation quite quickly. There was no doubt that this would be his greatest challenge since stepping foot into the Heir Wars. Even so, his gaze was calm.

    Little Blackstar lowered his head until Leonel was eye level with Valorie. He smiled slightly for the first time since entering this place. It was clear that he treated them far differently than he did the others he had come across.

    "I guess I should call you big sis, right? Let''s have a good battle. These walls though... I''m afraid they aren''t enough."

    Valorie''s gaze softened somewhat before they sharpened once again into a sneer.

    She raised her spear and pointed it at Leonel''s head, but at the same time, Leonel had raised his arms, his left kidney beginning to shine with a burning glow.

    "A formation... Is only as good as its weaknesses," Leonel said softly.

    Within the core of the city, Ramon''s eyes suddenly snapped open.

 Chapter 1974 Weaknesses

    ?1974 Weaknesses

    Leonel irises danced with complex Runes that fused and separated before fusing once more. A great feeling of danger suddenly took hold of Valorie and she felt like something she should stop was about to happen. But before she could, dozens of fireballs appeared in the skies, the temperature skyrocketing as they descended quicker than Valorie could react.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    There didn''t seem to be a rhyme or reason to the descending balls of fire, but every collision caused a quake that rocked the city. By the time the third had descended, the invisible barrier had taken shape and become very real, cracks spreading across its transparent surface. By the time the sixth descended, the walls had begun to shake as well, their structural integrity seemingly in jeopardy. Then, suddenly, all of the remaining over dozen descended at once.

    The reaction was immediate.

    The invisible barrier cracked like glass, motes of light descending from above and a beautiful, yet tragic sort of way. The balls of fire only continued to rain downward, setting fire to the city and laying waste to much of what was in its path.

    Valorie''s expression changed.

    She understood Ramon''s skill quite well. By this point, he had already overshadowed many of the older generation in terms of his Force Crafting.

    There shouldn''t have been anyone amongst the Heirs that was his match in this regard, and that was only further proven by the Gold-Grade armors that fitted each and every one of their warriors.

    Ramon hadn''t slept a single wink since the Heir Wars began. Even though the fatigue had set in for him long ago, he only continued to press forward.

    Valorie had seen his hard work personally, and she knew how meticulous he was. There was simply no way he would have made any large mistakes that could be so easily explored.

    In that case, the only explanation was that... Leonel was just far superior to him.

    The only things stopping Leonel from forging true Eighth Dimensional treasures currently was a lack of Force strength and Little Tolly''s limitations.

    He had already stepped through the boundary of the Life Grade, and the gap between that and the Gold-Grade could only be said to be enormous, there was simply no other explanation.

    What Ramon saw was a perfect construction, one that he had poored his blood and sweat into. In terms of Gold-Grade constructions, it was probably among the best possible, period.

    However, what Leonel saw was a construct that wasn''t whole.

    The definition of the Life Grade wasn''t a level of strength. Rather, it represented a product that was so perfectly synergized that it seemed to have life, a product so perfect that it seemed as though the universe itself had created it.

    Ramon''s construction, however, was far from that, and to Leonel, every point of imperfect synchronization was only another weakness... A weakness that could be exploited.

    Despite the change, Valorie reacted quickly. "Fire at will!"

    Her roar echoed across the skies.

    The archers raised their bows, but with a flicker of Leonel''s radiant crown, their Bow Force winked out one after another.

    Before the archers could respond to the change, Leonel''s brothers, Aina and the others charged. Little Blackstar whipped his tail out just once and they were all sent flying with great speed toward the walls. The moment they landed, a catastrophe seemed to have descended and the archers were thrown into complete disarray.

    Leonel reached out a palm and leapt forward, a black rod billowing dense fog darker than even the night sky appearing in his hand as he swung down toward Valorie.

    Though Valorie was shocked, she pivoted once more. She slid a foot back, gliding into an attack stance before piercing out toward Leonel''s chest. If her attack landed, there was no doubt Leonel wouldn''t even get the chance to step onto the walls.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. боWhat a perfect spear strike...бп

    Valorie''s skill had returned to simplicity. Unfortunately... What good was a spear against Leonel?

    Just as Leonel had this thought, though, Valorie''s spear strike smoothly turned into a javelin''s throw, a strong bronze Force coating it as she threw it. She had known long ago that Leonel had the Spear Domain ring and had lured him forward as such on purpose, lulling him with a false sense of security.

    Leonel''s expression flickered. She hadn''t used any Spear Force, and even if her spear crumbled, the Force surrounding it definitely wouldn''t.

    It was already too late to change his spear trajectory, but with a thought, two more Stars appeared to Leonel''s back. Ten Stars shone with radiant splendor, three silver, three sky blue, two red-gold and two dark ocean blue.

    His aura changed and reached its peak, the presence of the Heavenly Body Realm finally shining forth in full effect. Ever since he had shifted his perspective on Universal Force, this was the very first time Leonel had unleashed it fully.

    Before, the aura of Universal Force was far too subtle as it could only be displayed when he brought forth all of his Stars. But now... There was no denying it.

    The Human Domain was shocked once more. They had never seen a Heavenly Body Realm like this... a Heavenly Body Realm that was so perfect, so powerful.

    Void Star Force descended and formed a Force Art before Leonel that quickly solidified into a shield.

    The moment the Force Art was completed, more Runes formed within his two Void Star Force Stars, strengthening them once more, but he didn''t seem to notice at all as his spear continued to descend toward Valorie.

    Valorie''s pupils constricted. She was still in a throwing motion, she wasn''t in any condition to counter attack, she could only raise her forearm.

    But right then, an action that looked like a desperate attempt, shifted. The slots in her armor''s forearm opened up and formed a round shield, meeting Leonel''s spear tip head on.

    BANG!

    Valorie was sent flying, her body streaking through the air like a shooting star.

 Chapter 1975 Right Now...

    ?1975 Right Now...

    Valorie crashed into the building below as Leonel landed on the city walls.

    But just as soon as she did, she leapt to her feet, her battle intent blazing.

    With a flick of her wrist, the warped and broken shield was flung to the side and she brandished her fists.

    She didn''t have the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, so she obviously didn''t have her own Divine Armor. The armor that Ramon had forged for her was already extremely excellent, and yet it couldn''t survive a single strike against Leonel''s spear. It was clear that that spear was above the Gold Grade.

    Even though Valorie found herself unable to use Spear Force and wearing armor that was practically useless to her, she still brandished her fists.

    Leonel looked down for a moment. Despite the carnage around him, his mind seemed to be silent.

    The archers had recovered after their first fall. Although they realized they couldn''t use their Bow Force for whatever reason, they immediately switched their tactics. At the same time, the non-archers below and near the city quickly gathered, prepared to battle just as James reached the door mechanisms and forced the gates open for the tide of three million soul constructs to rush in.

    Leonel met Valorie''s gaze and hesitated. He almost put his spear away, but after seeing the look in her eye, he tightened his grip instead.

    боAlright, he said lightly. ''In that case...бп

    Leonel''s Stars suddenly pulsed and they grew a size. Each had been barely a meter across each, but they suddenly expanded to two, then three, then suddenly reached ten.

    The flood of Universal Force increased like a rising tide. The skies rumbled and the earth quaked. The skies above had been quite dark, but motes of lights began to quickly accumulate, each matching one of the colors of Leonel''s Heavenly Body Realm Stars.

    Leonel raised a foot and by the time it descended, his body had flickered and vanished. He was a blinding streak in the skies, activating [Star Fusion:

    King''s Might] and descending with a mighty momentum.

    "One spear to connect the Earth and Skies."

    The black rod in Leonel''s hand suddenly became a pillar of dark gold.

    At that moment, Ramon rushed out from the core of the city. The bags under his eyes had grown to the point they were blackened. Even so, his eyes shone like stars, a far cry from the timid gaze he had seemed to have the first time Leonel met him.

    When he saw Leonel''s strike about to land, his expression changed and he rushed forward, but it was already too late.

    Valorie struck out with her fist. A surprising amount of Fist Force coated it as he roared, some of the hints of simplicity that had coated her spear transitioning toward her Fist.

    Leonel seemed struck by it at first. How long had it been since he used Fist Force? Longer than he could remember... Why was this fist so beautiful, though?

    Despite its beauty, it didn''t seem to matter. When Leonel''s spear descended, Valorie''s fist only paused it for a moment before her arm split apart like pressurized wood. Her eyes rolled back from the pain, her forearm combusting into a rain of blood and gore.

    She was sent flying back once more, sliding along the ground and leaving a bloody trail as she fell to Ramon''s feet.

    Ramon''s eyes widened as he hurried forward.

    "Valorie? Valorie!"

    Ramon slid along his knees to her side, his brown eyes colored with anguish.

    He didn''t seem to know what to do, he wanted to help her, but he also didn''t dare to touch her for fear of making it all worse. His hands approached and retreated again and again, a flustered expression taking over him.

    He looked up to find the crumbling pieces of his formation still falling.

    Despair colored his gaze... no, it wasn''t despair, it was guilt, a heavy guilt that sunk like cold in the winter or darkness in the deepest pits.

    Leonel recognized that gaze. It was the same gaze he had had when he watched his subordinates die one after another in the Valiant Heart Zone, subordinates that he would no longer see again now due to his own selfishness.

    Given Ramon''s reaction alone, one could tell that the rumors about the two were nothing more than nonsense.

    Ramon finally reached forward and held Valorie up, if for nothing other than not wanting her to rest her head on the hard grown any longer.

    Valorie coughed, blood flying from her lips. Her eyes regained some focus and she looked up. Her eyes softened somewhat when she saw Ramon''s tears but then she began to push him away, coughing and wheezing all the while.

    "You big dope, I''m not going to die, it''s just an arm, what are you doing!

    You''re embarrassing me! How can my husband be such a crybaby!?"

    Ramon clenched his teeth, but his tears didn''t stop falling. It was his fault, it was all his fault. He didn''t make a formation that was strong enough, if only he had been better, if only he had held up his end of the bargain, this would have never happened.

    Ramon looked toward Leonel, a fierce glare in his eyes. But at that moment, Valorie reached for his collar with her only good remaining hand and stopped him.

    "Forget it, he has the Spear Domain ring and there are probably others eyeing us right now. There''s no use in fighting amongst ourselves, a Morales has to win this"

    For maybe the first time in their relationship, though, Ramon didn''t listen to Valorie. He grabbed her wrist and pulled, forcing her to loosen her grip as he stood with a dark expression hanging between his brows.

    He walked toward Leonel with heavy steps, Bronze Runes forming all along his body as his halo took form and his Divine Armor began to appear piece by piece.

    Valorie watched his back with a complicated expression, weakness overtaking her.

    Ramon had been quite like Armand, not caring much about these Heir Wars and never wanting to participate in the first place. It was only because of Valorie and the face of the Morales family that he had done so.

    But right now, he wasn''t a Morales, nor was he an Heir, or a genius fighting for glory.

    Right now... he was nothing more than an enraged husband.

 Chapter 1976 Third

    ?1976 Third

    Leonel and Ramon''s gazes met, the latter filled with rage and the former as cool as an iceberg. Internally, though, Leonel sighed. He couldn''t say that he hadn''t expected something like this to happen, but this also made the situation a hundred times more complicated to handle.

    He hadn''t wanted to harm Valorie so much, but there were two reasons he had no choice but to. The first was time, he didn''t have the time to be soft hearted and battle it out with his fists. The second reason was because not going all out would only be an insult to her. While to outsiders it seemed that he was relying on the Spear Domain ring, he himself knew quite well that even if he took the ring off right this moment, it wouldn''t change anything.

    His Sovereignty had transcended the need for the Spear Domain Ring.

    Now, however, he was faced with another choice once again. Would he go easy on Ramon?

    Suddenly, Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    Ramon''s fist had appeared right before his face and he hadn''t sensed it until it was too late.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s head snapped to the side and he took a heavy step back. His Divine Armor quaked once and dispersed the damage, but his pupils were still constricted. What was that just now?

    Ramon''s fist appeared before Leonel again, but Leonel took a light step on the ground, retreating and expanding the distance between them, but somehow, Ramon''s fist remained before him.

    Leonel raised his spear to block, but Ramon''s fist flickered past it, landing heavily on his chest.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s feet slammed into the ground three times in succession, each one driving him back further and cracking the earth beneath him. The amount of force that his armor was dispersing even caused the ground to seem to implode, as though a pressurized geyser was erupting from within.

    ''My senses are being distorted. No, they aren''t being distorted, it''s as though he''s using blind spots to take advantage of me. But how could my Internal Sight have blind spots? More importantly, how could my vision have blind spots?бп

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, his eyes landing on Ramon''s armor. He realized after just a split moment of deduction that it was Ramon''s armor, it was definitely his Divine Armor doing it. If Leonel was correct, the core piece of his armor should be a Dream Force Domain Type Ore, but he couldn''t sense the exact ore, which meant that just like he had with his self-created formation, Ramon had self-created an alloy for his Divine Armor.

    Leonel had done this before, so he knew exactly how difficult it was to fuse unruly Seventh Dimensional Ores into a single holistic piece. To do so with Dream Force type Ores was even more obscene. It was less accurate to say that Ramon was wearing a Gold Grade Armor, and far more accurate to say that he had taken a half-step into the Life Grade as well.

    There was no doubt that if it wasn''t for Leonel, Ramon would be the strongest Crafter of the Nova Generation.

    боThere''s only one way..." Leonel deduced.

    Leonel crossed his spear over his body again, but it was fruitless. Ramon''s strikes were becoming harder to handle, and more powerful. Leonel could sense that Ramon''s fatigue was slowly fading as he pumped more and more Dream Force into his body. As his fatigue faded, his strikes became more precise and more powerful.

    The jarring feeling of his organs being displaced shook Leonel awake.

    Ramon''s power was getting to the point where even his Divine Armor was being overloaded.

    If there was anyone who was surprised, though, it was Ramon. Leonel had taken several direct shots and was clearly trying his best to block and failing.

    He had aimed for several vital points that should have left him entirely incapacitated, how could a Divine Armor forged by a Sixth Dimensional expert had such great defense?

    Suddenly, Ramon''s eyes widened. First he was focused on Valorie, then he had lost himself in rage when he faced Leonel, so this was the first time he noticed that Leonel''s Divine Armor was actually of the Life Grade! How was that possible?!

    At that moment, Leonel''s body expanded, rising to over three meters tall and gaining an additional two pairs of arms and a pair of heads. Activating his panda construct, Leonel unleashed his Starry Spirit Domain. In that moment, his Internal Sight was swapped for his Dream World and the world became countless times clearer.

    Ramon''s invisible Dream Domain came into sight and Leonel could sense the distortions.

    This time when Ramon punched forward, Leonel punched out with a free hand himself, meeting knuckle to knuckle.

    BOOM!

    They both took a single step back, their forearms trembling.

    Ramon''s eyes narrowed beneath his visor. He didn''t know what had changed, but he too could sense a shift in the atmosphere. He immediately deduced that Leonel had deployed a domain as well, likely a sensory one.

    Even so, Ramon was unmoved as he pushed forward again, his single fist suddenly becoming two, then three.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he brandished his spear, striking out once and yet meeting all three fists at the same time. But to his shock, all three spear blades missed and Ramon''s fist appeared before him again.

    That was when Leonel realized that this couldn''t just be a distortion of Dream Force, his affinity in Dream Force was too high and he couldn''t be so easily tricked. There was an underlying Spatial Force that Ramon had only just unleashed.

    Leonel''s Divine Armor cracked and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body trembling as his heels left a deep trench in the ground. By the time he looked up, Ramon was already before him once again, bearing down with a fierce momentum. Leonel could practically see two red irises behind the latter''s visor.

    Leonel coughed again and took a break. He activated his Starry Star Domain and then his Lotus Domain, his battle intent soaring.

    His ideas of going easy on Ramon seemed like nothing more than a joke now. This was the Heir Wars, this was an Heir of the Morales family, weakness didn''t run through them.

    The lines of Dream Force and Spatial Force became clear in Leonel''s eyes.

    Pushing his Lotus Domain to the limits, he stripped Ramon of his Spatial Force and made use of the Time Force that it produced to strengthen the unpredictability of his blade.

    But at that moment, a third Force descended from Ramon''s Domain.

 Chapter 1977 A Genius

    ?1977 A Genius

    Leonel was certain after a single look. It was Breaking Force, the very Force designed to break rules and surpass expectations, the very Force known for shedding limits and shattering them. At that moment, Leonel''s Lotus Domain overloaded and crumbled. It didn''t seem capable of fathoming an opposing Force to Breaking Force.

    The three layers of Ramon''s Forces came together and his fists suddenly blotted out the skies. They came from all directions and no direction at the same time. It overloaded Leonel''s senses, almost as though he didn''t have enough minds to finish the calculation, but that was absolutely impossible.

    No matter how powerful Ramon was, he couldn''t possibly form millions of variables and Leonel had at least that many minds.

    There was only one explanation. The Breaking Force was impeding his calculation ability.

    Leonel was almost never impressed. His standards were exceptionally high, and he thought even higher of himself. He didn''t tend to be impressed by things he felt that he could do. But this Divine Armor of Ramon''s.

    ''.. What a genius.

    Leonel felt another fist crash into his chest, half of his panda construct was ripped to shreds and the remaining impact collided with him, dealing him the worst injury he had suffered since entering the Heir Wars.

    Heavy breathing forced Leonel to swallow more blood than he would have light. Half of his body hung out from his panda construct, his chest a mess of flesh.

    This Ramon sure was interesting. He was the most inconspicuous, but if not for Leonel, the odds of him winning these Heir Wars were exceptionally high. Leonel felt the most pressure from Adawarth, but after interacting with Ramon, he felt that it should actually probably be a fifty-fifty split between the two of them.

    He had really run into a buzzing chainsaw this time.

    Let alone Leonel, even Valorie was very much surprised. She didn''t know much about Ramon''s combat strength because he never fought. He was famously still a Galaxy Ranked disciple despite being in the Seventh Dimension because he refused to battle to this extent.

    However, it could be said that this wasn''t a display of combat strength, per se. This was a display of his magnum opus, the Craft he had poured the most blood, sweat and tears into, his Divine Armor.

    "Crush your badge and apologize to my wife later, and I will let you go."

    Ramon said coldly.

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh inwardly. The whole apology to his wife later was clearly Ramon''s attempt to save some face for Leonel. He knew that Human Domain was watching and forcing Leonel to apologize for what was effectively him doing what he should be doing was too much. Despite his situation, Leonel found it a bit adorable.

    He definitely didn''t have the capability of being so level headed. If someone had shattered Aina''s arm, even if she could practically instantly heal it, he would have probably lost his mind. Morales or not, the suffering of whoever had done it would be great.

    "I will let you know that I haven''t brought out my full strength. Even without my spear, I still have my other trump cards and my Ability Index. You''ve done well enough, don''t force my hand."

    Leonel suddenly took a deep breath, causing raging winds to surge forward from all directions. The violent vortex ruffled both Leonel and Ramon''s hair.

    Ramon''s gaze narrowed as Leonel''s injuries seemed to heal in practically the blink of an eye. In just a few seconds, his blood was trickling down from smooth and unblemished bronzed skin.

    A rushing aura surged out from Leonel and the rest of his panda construct shattered as he fell from within it and landed on the ground. He shook his head, pointing his spear down toward the ground as the Bronze Aura around him suddenly began to tremble, becoming slowly brighter and brighter.

    "Noted," Leonel said lightly.

    BADUM!

    Leonel''s heartbeat was like a roaring beast, echoing over the city and causing a wild earthquake.

    "But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve as well."

    At that moment, Leonel''s halo suddenly expanded and began to trail down the length of his body. Ramon and those watching couldn''t help but frown.

    Leonel should have already taken out his Divine Armor before, how could a trump card be something you have already taken out already?

    But right then, what should have been something they had already seen before became something decidedly different. The design of the armor was entirely different. With every movement, its joints and valves expanded and contracted, it looked almost like a living, breathing creature. While it carried the same pearly white and jade green colors, it also had an added black accent to it that made it look decidedly more dark and powerful.

    As the first streams of Vital Star Force slowly closed the distance toward it from Leonel''s Vital Star, the world seemed to fall into silence. When the streams finally entered the armor...

    RUMBLE!

    A piercing light howled into the skies.

    Leonel opened his arms wide. The amount of vitality coursing through his body made him feel wide awake, it felt as though he could shatter the world with a single step.

    Leonel raised his foot and Ramon''s pupils constricted instantly. The latter retreated, ready to expand the distance, but Leonel had somehow already appeared before him.

    BANG!

    Ramon didn''t even realize when Leonel''s fist had landed on his abdomen. He only vaguely noted that his Divine Armor had shattered to pieces.

    Leonel quickly retracted his fist, feeling that he would have pierced right through Ramon''s stomach in that moment. However, his mercy is exactly what caused Ramon''s body to shoot out like an iron ball from a canon, streaking through the air with such speed that a harsh whistling sound filled the air.

    Leonel landed lightly on the ground, looking forward. He didn''t seem surprised by the result at all, but the same couldn''t be said for the remainder of the Human Domain.

    No one seemed to know how to respond...

    Leonel had taken out a second Life Grade Divine Armor...

 Chapter 1978 Big Difference

    ?1978 Big Difference

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    The gap between the strengths of his Divine Armors were enormous. Vital Star Force was a high level Force and maximizing its usage required materials that were equally as high level. Just now, Leonel leapt from a Pseudo-Life Grade of the Fourth Dimension to one of the Fifth Dimension.

    The gap didn''t need to be described.

    Ramon''s Domain was only as solid as the defenses of his Divine Armor, and was only as useful as the weakness of his enemies. While Leonel didn''t have a way to counter it, there was always the most obvious method remaining:

    absolute strength.

    Leonel felt a glare on him and he looked toward it to find Valorie who had already stumbled to Ramon''s side. He could only sigh, what else was he supposed to do in this situation exactly?

    Luckily, Valorie seemed to understand and shook her head. Looking around, she knew they had lost. It would take several days, maybe even weeks, for Ramon''s Divine Armor to repair itself, and it had clearly been his greatest trump card. They didn''t have any more chances.

    With a sigh, Valorie found the badge in Ramon''s chest pocket and crushed it.

    Very quickly, he, as well as all of his subordinates vanished. The sounds of battle came to an end, but Leonel looked up toward the skies with a frown.

    Usually, he would keep his Starry Spirit Domain activated at all times. His Dream World gave far sharper clarity and was much less easily fooled than his Internal Sight, so it was a no brainer so long as he had the stamina.

    However, when he entered the Heir Wars, he had kept it in reserve. The first reason was because while he could hold it up with great ease in the outside world, there was a great suppression here that drained him quickly, especially when he used Dream Force. The second reason was because the range wasn''t large enough to give him a huge advantage regardless. His Internal Sight was 10 kilometers, but his Dream World only extended for 100

    meters now.

    When he used his second tier Divine Armor, though, this range expanded to just over a kilometer though the range of his Internal Sight remained the same.

    Just now, he had caught a whiff of something his Internal Sight had missed.

    "Those resonating strings... Libra family, huh?бп

    Leonel had learned quite a bit by reading what the Void Library had to offer.

    In return, he had a surface to mid-level understanding of every prominent Lineage Factor in the Human Domain and even some of other races from what wars and battles had gathered.

    When he saw the faint string of linked Soul Force, he recognized it immediately. He also wasn''t surprised. Since he had known about their abilities, he also had guessed that they would use it like this.

    Leonel''s lips suddenly curled and he flickered and vanished. His speed was ridiculous, leaving a trail of blue in his wake as his figure was almost impossible to track with the naked eye. He had appeared before the Libra family members before they even understood what was happening.

    He reached out, grabbing their head. They immediately tried to fight back, but if even Ramon couldn''t withstand a single strike, how could they? They found their legs dangled in the air as their arms squirmed about, but no amount of punching or kicking seemed to do a thing. If Leonel''s first armor had sturdy defenses, this one was practically an impenetrable wall. The Libra family member felt as though they were punching against the wall, and suddenly, they felt nothing.

    Leonel shattered their neck with a single squeeze. Why would he waste time interrogating a living person when he could take everything he needed from their soul with much greater ease?

    "Resume the connection with your sibling," Leonel commanded.

    "Yes!"

    The Libra family member reacted almost too eagerly, but this was simply the power of the King''s Might Lineage Factor.

    With a flicker Leonel vanished and killed yet another Libra family just as they were grieving the loss of their brother. The change was abrupt and it seemed to happen without cause. Even now, those watching had yet to recover from the appearance of a second Life Grade armor when the two had died in quick succession.

    The Libra family elders were standing close with the Gemin family members.

    They were worried about Leonel''s display, but they felt that their people were in a good position. With their experience, the things that the Heiress of the Gemin family had deduced, they had as well, so they knew that Leonel shouldn''t last much longer. But this sudden change had caught them completely off guard.

    This wasn''t the first time they had seen this ability of Leonel''s, but the visceral disgust they felt toward seeing it in this light was like a punch to the gut. Watching a grieving sibling suddenly begin groveling at the feet of the man who would have otherwise felt great hatred for moments ago, they felt shivers down their spines.

    Ramon and Valorie had just appeared in the range of the Morales family members and were quickly taken in. When they saw that Leonel was actually slaughtering people, their expressions changed once more. While they knew Leonel had been merciful with them, seeing his ruthlessness painted a completely different picture.

    Leonel, though, didn''t seem to care about this at all. He had already warned these people once. Their shivers, their disgust, if anything was only able to make him sneer.

    Leonel stood before the two constructs for a moment before waving his hand and sending them away. His conversation with them seemed to be brief, but he also seemed to be satisfied with it.

    His figure vanished once more and when he appeared again, he had already taken the core of Ramon''s city and begun to move forward, his Divine Armor fading.

    It was interesting. One of the main reasons he chose to use his lower level Divine Armors first outside of hiding his strength for the moment was due to the stamina drain he knew they would have. But to his surprise, it wasn''t very taxing at all.

    That was when Leonel remembered there was a big change between now and when he had created his Divine Armors...

    His Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was currently Eighth Dimensional.

    Leonel''s lip curled.

 Chapter 1979 Time

    ?1979 Time

    боThere''s not much time left..." Leonel thought for a moment.

    There was only a few hours left before his soul constructs would vanish. The current progress was worthwhile, he had taken out two Constellation families, arguably two that would have been the most threat to him during the "late game". In addition, he had dealt with a hidden ace like Ramon as well before he could build up anymore momentum.

    The strength of Ramon''s army wasn''t to be underestimated. Even after the battle had gone on for so long, only a few of them had suffered casualties while the amount of Dream Force Leonel had wasted reconstructing the soul constructs was more than he wanted to think about.

    If Ramon had been able to build an army of millions or even tens of millions like Leonel estimated most of the Heirs would be capable of during the waning days of the Heir Wars, and he had outfitted them all with Gold Grade armors and weapons, their momentum would have been truly devastating.

    Gold Grade treasures didn''t seem like a big deal, but it had to be understood that only the richest of Seventh Dimensional existences would have one or a few to supplement their battle prowess. Existences like Leonel who could pull out Life Grade items were few and far between.

    At the moment, Leonel simply didn''t have the resources to outfit everyone with Gold Grade items, he could only spare such expenses for the best of his subordinates. And, unfortunately, the Segmented Cube couldn''t create Life Grade items in his stead either, its current limit despite being in the Eighth Grade was the Gold Grade.

    As for why this was, Leonel was actually sure of the details. There was likely something special about the Life Grade that required a human touch or an extreme level of precision the Segmented Cube couldn''t seem to match.

    This was all to say that Ramon would have been a true problem if he was given any more time. If it wasn''t for James and the others, even Leonel''s soul construct army would have been run over.

    However, that begged another question. Was Ramon the only Heir here?

    Leonel felt that the odds of that were very small. There were seven of them, and he highly doubted that Ancestor Hito would only place two of them on a single supercontinent. Of course, there was the possibility that with random placement, things had just ended up that way, but Leonel still felt a hint of caution.

    He had a vague map of the supercontinent in his mind. After he had tried to claim the entire continent through expanding his territory, he had picked out several strongholds. From his numbers, there should only be two such strongholds left along with dozens of others much smaller territories.

    The issue was that the two strongholds should already be accounted for.

    One, as he had just found out, should be the Libra family. As for the other, it should be the Gemin family, as he had also just found out.

    With his scope of understanding, there shouldn''t be a third force hiding on the supercontinent. There simply wasn''t enough land for a third to appear, especially when the Gemin and Libra, as he had once again just found out, were in cahoots with one another. All the territory between them was practically a no man''s land. In fact, they had only separated their territories as such for the sake of keeping up appearances and not letting the cat out of the bag too soon.

    Leonel didn''t seem to be spending much thinking power on the Libra and Gemin families at all, he was entirely focused on where the next Morales would appear from, and maybe that was because of the impact Ramon had had on him.

    There were only two explanations for the lack of Morales here. Either he was wrong and the other five Novas had truly appeared on the other continent, or... From the very start there was someone bold enough to head directly into the ocean.

    As for whether there was a third possibility or not, Leonel didn''t have enough information to make a claim.

    "There''s another failure up ahead," James'' voice drifted to Leonel''s ears.

    As James had said, not long later, the group came across a barren village that had failed in the midst of its Bronze-Grade upgrade challenge. They had come across quite a few of these.

    It was possible to tell they had failed because the Bronze-Grade walls had formed, but had collapsed. In addition, their city core was cracked.

    These cracked city cores had a bit of value. You could fuse three cracked city cores into one to form a complete territory. It was an almost useless, secondary rule as it was probably only useful to those who had failed three times in a row and wanted a fourth opportunity. But by that point, they would have already been out of the race so there was no point.

    Another option would be to repair it, but it cost double the upgrade challenge you had failed.

    There were no corpses to find in failed territories like this one since the Heir in charge of it had probably already crushed their badge when they saw that the situation was bad.

    What needed to be questioned though was why such weak people would enter the Heir Wars to begin with. If Leonel was correct, they were probably from fringe Seventh Dimensional families. They probably even had Sixth Dimensional individuals in the midst as well.

    What needed to be questioned though was why such weak people would enter the Heir Wars to begin with. If Leonel was correct, they were probably from fringe Seventh Dimensional families. They probably even had Sixth Dimensional individuals in the midst as well.

    Leonel might have made it look easy, but even geniuses at Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension weren''t supposed to be able to fight against even the weakest Seventh Dimensional existence. These people had truly overestimated themselves by participating at all.

    Leonel casually swiped the cracked territory core before moving onward.

    "We won''t be able to make it to the Libra and Gemin families, there''s not enough time. This has been fruitful enough, it''s time to turn back," Leonel suddenly said.

    The others nodded. They were beginning to feel a bit of fatigue as well. It had already been a near half day since they set out and they had been battling and marching since. The suppression of these Heir Wars was truly unforgiving.

    The army of soul constructs and Leonel along with his brothers and subordinates prepared to turn back.

    However, at that moment, the ground began to rumble.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he looked into the distance.

    [More chapters coming]

 Chapter 1980 Retreat

    ?1980 Retreat

    "Retreat," Leonel said calmly.

    He took a glance at the distance just a single time before turning away. With a leap, he landed on Little Blackstar''s back, his expression calm.

    In the distance, an army led by Huon, Droet, Hulot, Druid, and most obviously, Keiza, had appeared. They rode on the backs of beasts that were all quite shocking and powerful, so much so that although he had long since looked away, Leonel''s eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    Leonel didn''t recognize those beasts, but the people of the Human Domain most definitely did. Those were the very beasts that the Lio family had prepared beforehand, beasts that had given them a great advantage previously, but had suddenly now come under the control of the Gemin and Libra families.

    The Lio family''s only choice was to be quite devastated about this. They were among the rare few that had two members of the Cataclysm Generation with both Conon and Gunter, but neither of them were strategists and they were both quite simple minded.

    In order to defeat them and claim their beasts, Keiza and the Libra twins only needed to defeat Conon. So long as Conon''s badge was shattered, his beasts would be left behind. This was the difference between using a kill exchange for a beast and using points. If these beasts had been exchanged with kill exchanges, then they would have disappeared along with Conon and Gunter when they exited the Heir Wars following their loss.

    The Lio family had used a loophole to gather a large amount of beast subordinates for just one point each. By the time Keiza had gotten to them, they had already gathered over a hundred thousand in this way.

    Normally, it should have been impossible for these beasts to so easily follow a new master like this, but the Gemin family had an advantage that the others didn''t... And that was their comprehension of the soul. Controlling such low talent beasts was actually extremely easy for them.

    Now, a great hoard was charging after Leonel and the others.

    Leonel had thought that something like this might happen after he ran into the Libra twins. The two of them already had his general location, and they also had methods of relaying this information back, so that meant for as long as Leonel didn''t notice, those two had probably been monitoring his movements. After they died and the connection was severed, the Libra and Gemin families had probably decided it was time to press forward.

    ''Those beasts... Their constitutions are weak, but they''re all in the Seventh Dimension. It must have taken quite a bit of investment to do that, that''s also a decent loophole to exploit as well... But those beasts shouldn''t be native to the Gemin or Libra territories, so it must have been claimed from another family.

    боThe only families or organizations with enough capital to use this method have to be among the few most powerful. It could only be one of the Constellation families.

    "Why are you running, great Emperor Leonel?! You''ve seen me! Are you not going to kill me?!"

    Leonel''s expression flickered. He recognized this voice, it was one of the Libra family twins that he had met during the True Selection. His gaze became colder, but he didn''t respond.

    The speed of the beasts the coming army charged with were not slow. They had just appeared over the horizon, but they were already rapidly closing the distance. Although it was true that if it wasn''t for their inhuman abilities, even seeing or hearing one another would be impossible right this moment, this distance was still close enough for them to close within a quarter hour.

    The only reason Leonel had been able to cover so many hundreds of kilometers of territory to begin with was because of the speed of the Seventh Dimension. But now that very speed was coming back to bite him.

    There was no way for him to make it back to his own territory in that time.

    If he abandoned the soul constructs, their speed would be much faster, but they would still be caught. And if they were caught without the soul constructs present, well that ending could be imagined.

    Little Blackstar was especially fast, but that was in his normal form. In this form, where he used his mimicry to imagine a much larger, more powerful creature, he wasn''t even a tenth as fast.

    The best option seemed to be to stop and fight. Their army was just shy of

    200 000 strong and Leonel still outnumbered them greatly with things the way they were. However, Leonel abandoned that idea instantly.

    They weren''t 200 000 strong, they were 400 000 strong. Each of them rode atop of beasts that multiplied their power. On top of that, half of them were Libra family members who were charging forth in tandem. When they worked together, their power was worth at least three people on the lower end, far more depending on their level of genius.

    This size of army was already enough to clash head on with Leonel''s soul construct army and not lose out. These were true geniuses of the Constellation families, a large segment of whom had made quite a name for themselves in the Void Palace.

    The Morales Ancestors frowned when they saw this scene. They had already known that Leonel''s actions were risky, and his timing of retreat wasn''t bad either, the problem was that this Keiza''s timing was even better.

    She seemed to have been lounging around until she suddenly decided to pounce, even using a teleportation reward they had received from a dungeon to press their advantage and make sure they caught up.

    The Lio family had lost so miserably and yet she had hardly needed to lift a finger. Now it looked as though Leonel was about to suffer the same fate.

    Even now, the young woman reclined in a sedan, sipping a drink as the twins continued to roar out derogatory comments.

    It seemed that the Libra and Gemin family were intent on ripping down all of the shock and awe Leonel''s actions had brought to this moment. If he ended up falling this way, running in his final moments, everything else would seem to have become meaningless.

    The man in question, though, continued to look forward, his gaze sharp.

 Chapter 1981 Monster In Pretty Flesh

    ?1981 Monster in Pretty Flesh

    The distance between the group only continued to close. Leonel took a different direction, his mind flickering with several thoughts. It would be the end of the road if his group was pincered into two directions, so he was constantly ensuring that there wasn''t a territory in the direction he was heading.

    But just as he expected, within a quarter hour, they had caught up. His calculations were too precise to get something so simple wrong, something that was quite unfortunate in this case.

    Leonel had already restructured his army. The moment they caught up, he sent out 100 000 to block. But to his surprise, Keiza waved a fan and the formation suddenly changed.

    The tide of beasts, Libra and Gemin family members split. 500 from the left and right surged forward, surrounding the group of 100 000 from the front and back, engaging in a battle a thousand against a hundred times their number. 2000 if the beasts were counted as well.

    The reaction was swift and strong.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. It was clear that Keiza had prepared for this possibility long ahead of time. A thousand wouldn''t be able to hold back the entire tide of 100 000, obviously. But they were strong enough to protect themselves even against such numbers, and they didn''t need to delay for long.

    The maneuverability this group had with the help of these beasts was far beyond what Leonel had. This was proven by how easily they had changed formation and swallowed up the 100 000 Leonel had sent out. They didn''t have to stop them for long, they only needed to outrun them.

    As expected, after delaying the soul constructs, the thousand who had blocked them rushed out, swiftly catching up with the rest of the Libra army and leaving the constructs in their dust. At the same time, the archers turned on the backs of their beasts, raising their bows high and firing volley after volley.

    There was already too big of a gap for Leonel''s Bow Domain to suppress their Bow Force. But even if he was close enough, they were using real bows and arrows. Unless they had been aiming for him directly, he wouldn''t be able to do anything to them.

    Leonel''s soul constructs were mowed down one after another and quickly lost a tenth of their number.

    Leonel hesitated for a moment, but in the end decided not to use the stamina necessary to reconstruct them. Although they continued to run forward and dodge to the best of their ability, they were limited in what they could do against so many archers. It looked like even those not skilled in the bow were firing, something that could only mean one thing: Keiza had outfitted them with bows and arrows just for this occasion.

    The army swiftly caught up again. Leonel had no choice but to send out another 100 000 as a delaying tactic. However, this time, they were prepared for the separation, splitting into two as well and rushing toward the front line.

    Keiza waved her fan again and the army that had just split into two split once again, dividing into four and curving around, repeating the very same action.

    Leonel''s change in formation, although he could control the constructs with his mind whereas Keiza had to control them with singles, was simply not as fast. These beasts were relatively normal in strength in comparison to their Tiers, but their speed was exceptional.

    In addition, while none of the Heirs Leonel had come across were above Tier 3, these beasts all seemed to be. The weakest were at Tier 4 and the strongest were at Tier 6. Not only were they elite in speed, but even while they were average in strength, their Tier was more than enough to make up for it.

    The army swiftly caught up once again in even less time than before. The archers continued to fire backward, but the pressure on Leonel''s back was even more suffocating.

    "HAHAHAHA!"

    The laughter of Huon and Droet echoed through the air. They were told by Keiza to make this process as humiliating as possible, but even without her words, they would have done so anyway.

    Back during the True Selection, they had suffered a small loss at Leonel''s hands. As geniuses who were rarely challenged by anyone, they had a deep seeded pride. Seeing Leonel run away from them like this, they felt endless satisfaction.

    "Keep running! Your Morales family only amounts to this much!"

    "You''re a disgrace!"

    "I heard your father was some monster, how''d he birth such a coward?!"

    The words and laughter of Huon and Droet were especially grating on the ears to the Morales, but to the other families, especially the ones that had The words and laughter of Huon and Droet were especially grating on the ears to the Morales, but to the other families, especially the ones that had already lost their geniuses to Leonel''s ruthlessness, couldn''t help but feel that some of their rage was finally being vented.

    The only shame was that if things continued like this, they believed that Leonel would definitely crush his badge in time. There wasn''t enough pressure on him to stop him from doing so. But his death could be arranged later, if they could guarantee his humiliation right now, they would gladly accept it.

    The only one who didn''t seem happy about this was Conon.

    He looked toward Keiza with a livid expression, blood still dripping down from his lips. It should have been him!

    SLAP!

    Conon grabbed the back of his head and looked back with a glare. However, when he saw who had slapped him, he looked down to the ground, gritting his teeth.

    "it''s your own fault you''re in this situation. You''re not strong enough to think that your fist can get you through everything, you should learn a thing or two from that woman. Better yet, it would be best if you asked for her hand in marriage."

    Conon shivered.

    Him? Spending a lifetime with a wife like that?

    He felt his heart grow cold.

    That woman was a monster in pretty flesh.

 Chapter 1982 Fool

    Chapter 1982  Fool

    Leonel''s gaze was frighteningly cold. He sat on Little Blackstar''s head in silence, his back as straight as a javelin. The only part of his body that seemed to be moving was his fluttering hair. As for the rest, even his eyes weren''t blinking.

    It had been a long time since anyone had provoked him to this extent. The last time that had happened he was still a disciple of Valiant Heart Mountain. Of course, the words those few individuals had been speaking were far more sinister and disgusting, however Leonel wasn''t the type of person to take any sort of slight lightly.

    His patience was short, his fuse was shorter.

    However, at that moment, he didn''t seem to have heard anything. The Libra and Gemin family couldn''t gauge his reaction at all, all they saw was a perfectly straight back. Only the Human Domain could see the frigid air he was exuding.

    Those pair of pale violet eyes seemed to become the only sight worth witnessing for a moment. But after the fourth attempt Leonel made at stalling the army rushing after him, even the impact of these cold eyes seemed to have been diminished greatly. What good was looking cold and imposing if you didn''t have the strength to back it up?

    For a Morales to swallow such insults time and time again, running with their tail tucked between their legs, it could only be said that they didn''t have any other left.

    The Libra and Gemin army swiftly caught up once again. This time, Leonel seemed to throw all he could at the wall. 500 000 soul constructs turned around and rushed toward them. They spread themselves thin, the deepest line only being at three soul constructs deep while many just had two.

    Leonel''s goal was obvious. He wanted to cover as much latitude as possible so that the Libra and Gemin would struggle to maneuver to the right and left. However, when she saw this, Keiza''s lip curled with disdain, her indifference almost palpable.

    This time, she didn''t change the formation at all. Her fan simply snapped close and she pointed forward.

    Roars erupted from the Libra and Gemin army. They seemed to break out into a speed that was just about 10% faster as they surged forward.

    The archers turned their attention toward their backs and pointed their bows forward, unleashing a rain as the frontline blasted through.

    This time, Keiza didn''t bother to out maneuver them. A formation as thin as this couldn''t possibly stop them, they would slice through it like butter.

    Many could only shake their head at the sight, but they didn''t know what else they would possibly try in this situation either. When Leonel tried to send out a real formation, Keiza would just out maneuver it. If he sent out a hastily cobbled formation like the one just now, she would just target its weakness and tear through it.

    Every time they caught up, the air felt more suffocating, especially as the buffer of the soul constructs thinned out. Three million soul constructs could take up a lot of space, but Leonel had sent out three waves of 100 000 and one wave of 500 000 for a total of 800 000 by now. With just another round of catching up, the archers would be close enough to target Leonel and the few following him on Little Blackstar''s back directly.

    Those observing within the Human Domain could also see that Leonel was no longer able to help his soul constructs restructure themselves after they had been destroyed. Considering the fatigue between his brows, that could only mean that his stamina was reaching its limits as well while the Libra and Gemin families were entirely fresh.

    To make matters worse, what would Leonel even do if he managed to return to his city?

    He hadn''t upgraded the walls like Ramon had, so they were just normal Gold-Grade walls that wouldn''t last very long. Although he had those protectors, they too wouldn''t last very long. His soul constructs were being mowed down one after another, so even if he tried to use that formation again, what good would it be if he didn''t have soul constructs to use it with? And even if none of these were issues, did he even have the stamina necessary to use that formation again considering his current state?

    The observers knew more than the Libra and Gemin family did, so they knew about the Cloud Race and Leonel''s "Taur'''' family. But they weren''t even in the picture currently and were too far away to As for this, it was the most foolish. He had obviously acted in a complete panic.

    do anything. A few Cloud Race couldn''t turn the tide at all.

    No matter how you looked at it, it seemed that Leonel was just trying to stretch out the inevitable.

    As though to confirm this, all of Leonel''s remaining soul constructs suddenly turned back in unison rushing toward the army in unison.

    Huon and Droet were stunned for a moment before their laughter became more uproarious. They could tell that this was a last ditch effort. Although Leonel''s previous attempts seemed pitiful, it was still the smartest thing he could have done considering the circumstances.

    As for this, it was the most foolish. He had obviously acted in a complete panic.

    "HAHAHA! FOOL!"

    "IDIOT!"

    Keiza sneered without saying a word, raising her fan and unfurling it. At that moment, the army came to a halt all at once and performed 90 degree turns. Half turned to the left and another half turned to the right. They seemed to have completely ignored Leonel as they ran.

    They rushed to the side with great speed, circling around the charging army.

    Ironically, this tactic had indeed delayed the Libra and Gemin families for the longest period of time, but after they finished rounding the soul constructsбн There would no longer be anything separating them from Leonel and the others.

    However, if Leonel had been patient, sending out sets of 100 000 at once, the cumulative time he could have delayed them would have been much greater.

    Clearly, in his desperation, he had only sealed his fate faster.

 Chapter 1983 Belief

    ?

    Noah looked back with a worried glance.

    Until now, the so-called "catching up" of the army was only to the back line of the soul constructs. Considering there were over three million of them running in formation, the gap between them and Leonel and the others who were on Little Blackstar''s back was actually quite substantial. But this time, after they rounded the formation of soul constructs, there would be no buffer remaining. They would have no choice but to face an assault of hundreds of thousands with just a few dozen people.

    The outlook seemed to be incredibly bleak.

    When Noah looked around, he saw many worried gazes as well. Until now, everything had gone exceptionally smoothly, everything was under Leonel''s calculations and nothing had deviated from the original plan.

    They had had many days booked solid with meetings before the Heir Wars even began, all so that Leonel could assure them of his plans and so that they would be ready to execute them at the greatest possible speed.

    Of course, the likes of Noah and the others didn''t know how rare it was for Leonel to do such a thing. The fact that he had even wasted time explaining himself just went to prove how seriously he had taken these Heir Wars.

    But the first time Leonel went off script, the first time he did something that could be considered to be quite risky, they seemed to be suffering for it.

    Noah''s gaze shifted and his pupils suddenly constricted. The person in his line of sight was Aina. She looked completely calm outside of a bone chilling coldness in her eyes. When his gaze shifted again, it landed on Leonel''s brothersбн Joel, Milan, Drake, Raj, Arnold, Gil, Allan, and Francoбн They too were eerily calm. It shifted again and it landed on Jamesбн His gaze was different from the others, but that was only because within his sheen of calmness, there was a hint ofбн excitement?

    Did they know something he didn''t know?

    No, that was impossible. They had held all of their meetings together. Although it might have been possible for Leonel to have had secret meetings with them, Noah didn''t believe that had happened. He had spent much of the last month with all of them, but more importantly than that, Leonel wouldn''t do such a thing.

    Doing such a thing would be as good as saying he didn''t trust the rest of them, but they were already a small group to begin with. In a situation where they faced off against the odds, Leonel wouldn''t casually splinter them like that.

    Noah realized what it was very quicklyбн

    Belief.

    Leonel hadn''t said a word. He seemed to have made several mistakes. He had painted them into a corner. And yet these ten individuals didn''t doubt him for even a moment.

    When Noah looked again, he realized the few that had worried expressions were all the few geniuses of Earth. These were the likes of Karolus, Joyceбн Even Jessica who was by his side. Without a doubt, each one of these people were among the few that had spent the least time with Leonel.

    ''Is it really about time?'' Noah thought to himself.

    If he was in this situation, would Jessica still have belief in him to succeed? What about Karolus and the others who had the most time with him? He had fought by their side for a long timeбн but he still didn''t know the answer to that question.

    Hadn''t there also been a two decade gap since Leonel had seen his brothers? Hadn''t he even had a falling out with James? Maybe Aina''s belief made sense, but what about the rest of them?

    Noah suddenly noticed that there was another group with unwavering beliefбн

    Raylion, Aphestus, Sael and Emnaбн These few he knew too little about, he only vaguely understood that they had been a part of an organization Leonel had joined many years ago. They had even less reason to have such beliefбн

    But hadn''t they already bet almost 30 years of their life betting on one man?

    Those four had started an organization and put their blood, sweat and tears into it for decades all because of one sentence from Leonel. Compared to this, wasn''t that something that had taken much more faith?

    Noah''s heart trembled as he looked toward Leonel''s back. He was this man''s cousin and he didn''t have this much faith, where did it come from? What was the difference? Was it because he was too focused on himself? Were the others seeing something he wasn''t?

    It seemed both obvious and not. Noah believed that Leonel was his better, but it was based on the latter''s competency. When Leonel seemed to make a mistake, he felt that that competency had run its course and that Leonel was now at the end of his rope.

    He never really stopped to consider that there was something more to Leonel than just his talent.

    When you measured people by haves and have nots, you tended to reach very binary conclusions.

    Leonel had never been such a person, though. He felt that talent was extremely important, yes. But he also didn''t decide a person''s value by such a thing. And, quite ironically, when one thought about it, when had Leonel ever thought that strength was the end all, be all?

    How many people more powerful than himself had Leonel defeated on his way to his current height? How many impossible battles had he fought? How many miracles had he created?

    At that moment, the rumbling of the earth reached a point where it couldn''t be ignored. Noah looked back to see that the army had already finished rounding Leonel''s soul constructs, they were no more than half a kilometer away, a distance that was practically meaningless.

    Leonel suddenly stood to his feet, calmly taking the White Lion Bow out and stretching it to full moon.

    His hair fluttered in the wind and the coldness of his gaze descended onto the approaching army.

 Chapter 1984 Soul Bound

    ?

    Leonel looked down, with a frightening cold gaze, his expression the picture of calm.

    Keiza narrowed her eyes, but after a moment she relaxed. She didn''t even put her defenses up. If Leonel thought he could mow her down from such a distance, he was sorely mistaken.

    She had already predicted that Leonel would try this. The last thing a person could do in this situation was to take out the Heirs, that way victory could be secured despite a disadvantage. She had already used a similar strategy against the Lio family, so how could she fall for it now? Wouldn''t that be too much of a joke?

    Keiza''s fan snapped close once again and her sedan seemed to sparkle. It was subtle, but it was impossible for Leonel''s sharp vision to miss it. Although Keiza wanted to hide it, to her it wasn''t absolutely necessary for it to be hidden either. Whether Leonel knew it was there or not hardly made a difference.

    However, she didn''t know how true this was, because she was never Leonel''s target to begin with, neither were either one of the Libra twins.

    "You finally want to fight back now?!" Huon''s voice boomed.

    "Tell you what, Leonel! If you admit the Morales family is trash we can consider letting you go and giving you another chance, how about it?!" Droet added.

    Huon laughed, he felt these words said by his brother were truly excellent. His laughter was his agreement. Of course, this "chance" would only be another small head start before they swiftly caught up again.

    However, to them, it didn''t really matter whether Leonel accepted their offer or not. Their goal only seemed to be to drag Leonel and the Morales family through the mud as much as possible before claiming their victory. They wanted the entire Human Domain to see and witness this moment.

    TSSSUUUUU! THWACK!

    The arrow was simply too fast. A soldier on the frontlines didn''t even have the time to react before their head burst into a rain of blood, bone and gore. His body slowly fell to the side and was quickly trampled beneath the feet of the other charging beasts.

    This was the first of their army to have died since the battle began. The soul constructs couldn''t shake them in the slightest, but it seemed that the moment Leonel moved, death reigned.

    TSSSSSSUUU! THWACK!

    Another arrow was released and another fell and was trampled.

    Every time Leonel pulled back his bowstring, another would die. None of the army knew who he was going to target next, but they all felt a formless pressure suddenly shrouding them. Somehow they knew at that moment that no matter what they did, so long as he decided to target them, they would be dead.

    It wasn''t just the people who sensed the shift, but even the beasts themselves. Their blood seemed to run colder, their bones and muscles stiffening. Their speed fell. Though it was only by a small factor, to sharp eyed practitioners like them, that slight delay was all too obvious.

    Leonel pulled his bowstring again and another fell.

    It was just a single man attacking an army of hundreds of thousands. However, it was ironically this that made it so frightening. If it was an all out battle and people were falling left and right, the situation would still be fine. But this oppressive atmosphere where no one knew who would be targeted next and death seemed to be instant filled each one of them with a seed of fear.

    Male or woman, ugly or beautiful, there didn''t seem to be a rhyme or reason to his choices.

    In the beginning, Huon and Droet still tried to hurl out insults, but they noticed that every time they did, Leonel would release another arrow. It was as though Leonel was firing in retaliation for their words. Every death was slowly being transferred from Leonel''s shoulders to that of the two of them.

    Their insults quickly became softer and less harsh, until suddenly they didn''t dare to speak at all.

    Keiza''s eyes narrowed. Leonel could obviously kill more than one at once, but he hadn''t done so. He was deliberately suppressing them in this way, and by this point, the humans and the beasts had stiffened so considerably that their speed had dropped by as much as 40%.

    However, after a moment, Keiza sneered.

    Fear only worked when you had your own mind, and the current speed was dictated by the beastsбн Beasts under her control.

    She waved her fan and a surge of Force came out from her. At that moment, the eyes of the beasts glazed over and they seemed to forget everything but running. Their speed picked up again almost immediately and the distance that had begun to slowly widen began to close once again.

    By this point, there was already less than 200 meters between them.

    Leonel, though, seemed unmoved. Raising a hand, his gaze suddenly flashed.

    The beasts of the fallen Libra and Gemin family members were suddenly enveloped by a strong Spatial Force.

    Leonel had realized long ago that the reason Keiza was able to control the formation changes so smoothly was because she was in control of the beasts. Because of that, even after their riders had fallen, these beasts continued to run uniformly within the pack. And as a result, they were well within range of Leonel''s abilities.

    The beasts instantly went from behind Leonel and the others to in front.

    Keiza frowned. What was Leonel going to do with a few dozen beasts? He couldn''t be this stupid, could he?

    At that moment, Little Blackstar raised his large paws and pressed down with great force. The dozens of beasts were slaughtered unceremoniously.

    "Rise." Leonel said lightly.

    Keiza seemed to finally understand what was happening. She had the advantage in speed because of the beasts they were riding, Leonel wanted to use his soul constructs to take advantage of this for himself. Like this, it would be much more difficult for them to catch up.

    However, when she realized this, Keiza finally couldn''t seem to hold her laughter back. She raised her pretty head and laughed heartily, the sound being far too sweet for the sinister intention behind it.

    бн

    In the crowd of those watching, a gorgeous woman wearing a sparkling purple dress that clung to her curves covered her cherry lips with a glass of wine. This woman seemed to be almost an identical copy of Keizaбн She was none other than Mistress Gemin, the current Matriarch of the Gemin family and Keiza''s mother.

    "What a little fool. For someone who uses soul constructs, shouldn''t he understand? What good is killing this first if their souls are what are bound?"

    бн

    Leonel raised his hand, suddenly feeling a great resistance against his command. Violet fog billowed out from him, but it seemed to be obstructed by invisible chains that he couldn''t shatter instantaneously.

    However, in that moment, the coldness in Leonel''s eyes seemed to reach its peak.

    If the others had paid more attention, they would have noticed that there was indeed a pattern to who he had killed. All of them had ridden Tier 6 beasts. This was his plan from the beginning. Or more accurately, the first of itбн

    As for these chains.

    A vortex of violet suddenly expanded out from Leonel''s body.

    "[Emperor''s Edict]бн Shatterбн"

    Keiza''s laughter came to an abrupt stop as a spike of pain traveled up her spine.

    Illusory shackles shattered like glass and dozens of beasts arose.

    Leonel and the others leapt down from Little Blackstar''s back as the latter reverted to his true form and flickered into the void.

    "Aina," Leonel said lightly.

    "Mm." Aina nodded without much of a word.

 Chapter 1985 Sundial

    ?

    Aina''s golden gaze began to flicker, a dense red fog coming from her body as she raised her hands. The instant Little Blackstar''s form vanished and he landed on Leonel''s shoulder even as the latter landed on the back of one of the soul construct beasts, the meat paste the beasts had become were suddenly ripped of their blood.

    She didn''t seem intent on using these globules of blood immediately. She floated down toward the beast soul constructs along with everyone else, pulling them along through the air.

    Keiza''s expression finally seemed to change. "Fire!"

    Her voice echoed through the skies, the irony being that her previous laughter had yet to finish echoing. However, she seemed to disregard this entirely as she roared out this command.

    Before, she was allowing the twins to continue to wear down Leonel with their words, but they had long since entered firing range of Leonel and the others. Seeing that the situation was changing, she immediately chose to forget the mind games and focus on pressing down upon them.

    However, when the first volley of arrows entered the skies, they immediately blinked out, the Bow Force that had been coating them vanished.

    James landed on a beast soul construct and waved a hand, causing a shield to appear before them. Without their Bow Force, he hardly strained at all to block this volley of arrows. In that moment, everyone had found a beast for themselves and they surged forward.

    Right then, the distance that had been quickly closing stopped closing entirely, and then Leonel and the others began to pull away. Leonel had only targeted Tier 6 beasts. In order to maintain the formation, Keiza had to make all the beasts uniform in speed. But that didn''t mean they all had the same speed.

    Those that were Tier 6 were substantially faster than those that were still of Tier 4. Without the pressure of maintaining the formation of an army, Leonel could obviously allow these soul constructs to speed forward with their true potential.

    Keiza''s expression darkened.

    бн

    Back in the Human Domain, Mistress Gemin''s expression also darkened. This child''s actions were only getting more and more annoying. However, outside of this darkening expression, she said nothing else. She had taught her daughter well enough to know that this wouldn''t be all she had.

    The Morales Ancestors didn''t have much of a change from their original solemnity. Of course, this wasn''t because they had the same faith in Keiza, but rather because they didn''t feel that this changed much. Other than making things more annoying for Keiza, the situation was the same.

    Keiza''s ambush had already forced Leonel to give up on his millions of soul constructs. His current base only had the protection of a few thousand Skies and Oryx members. Even if they were up to par in terms of talent, which they weren''t, this number would be far too few.

    No matter how you looked at it, it felt that Leonel was once again just delaying the inevitable.

    бн

    Leonel stood on the back of the beast in silence. Outside of calling out Aina''s name, he hadn''t said much else. Even now he hadn''t explained anything, and it didn''t seem like there was much left to explain. Reaching their city and fighting to the death felt like the only option left.

    Keiza''s looked toward Leonel''s back, her expression dark. She didn''t care about this maneuver of Leonel''s, what she cared about was the loss of face. She had just been laughing, but now her voice was deathly silent. Even a fool could tell she had made a mistake.

    What she hated the most was that this Leonel had actually harmed her. When was the last time she had felt any sort of pain? She couldn''t even quite recall, how dare he?!

    After a split moment, she snapped her fan close. A few lines of the formation separated and Tier 6 beasts rushed forward. She removed their restrictions and had them press forward, maintaining the distance between Leonel and the others without allowing them to extend the distance.

    Arrows continued to fire through the air, filling it with volatile Force and fireworks.

    Keiza had had a plan, but it would no longer work. Now that Leonel had similar maneuverability, it would be troublesome to use. However, she immediately adjusted her thoughts, pulling out a formation plate. It was in the shape of a circle and looked quite like a sundial. This was the very same teleportation treasure she had used to ambush Leonel and the others in the first place.

    She and the Gemin and Libra families were located on the other side of the continent, completely opposite to Leonel''s current location. As such, they were also by the ocean, and with Keiza''s intelligence, she had likewise taken advantage.

    They might not have had a large number of Water Force geniuses, but what they did have was a unique ability to map out large regions with just a bit of effort. By this point, they had already cleared out two Gold-Grade Dungeons not available on the surface and this sundial teleportation device was one of their rewards.

    It didn''t have many uses. She had already used it once and because of how large scale the teleportation was, meaning the number of people, that is, she could only use it twice more. She didn''t actually want to have to use more than one of Leonel as she didn''t know when she would get another, however he was a variableбн And she didn''t like variables.

    Her slender fingers pressed against the device and spun the dial. Instantly, she not only used one of the remaining teleportation opportunities, but both of them.

    The army was split into two and they all suddenly flickered and vanished.

    One group was small. They were made of the elite of the elite, a number not exceeding 200. They appeared just 50 meters in front of Leonel and his group, though their backs were now facing them. With a kick of their heels, their beasts turned and they charged toward Leonel and his group.

    At the same time, about half of the army appeared further ahead at about half a kilometer. They split into two once again and fanned out before beginning to enclose a circle around Leonel and the others.

    To their backs, the remaining half of the army continued to press forward, pincering Leonel and the others from all sides.

 Chapter 1986 Crush Them

    ?

    The change was sudden and it was difficult to react. Leonel sensed the fluctuations of Spatial Force and realized what was happening, but even he only had the time to fire one arrow before the group of 200 elite were upon them.

    Leonel''s gaze remained calm, his one arrow killing a frontline elite instantaneously. His body sprawled to the floor and his beast''s eyes were coated and covered in blood.

    Keiza had no choice but to relinquish control of the elite squad beasts for a few reasons. First, she didn''t want to suffer the backlash of Leonel severing their connection again. Secondly, she had to give the elite squad the freedom to maneuver on their own or else their combat prowess would take a hit.

    However, it was also due to the fact that once the beast''s eyes were obstructed by flesh and blood, it tripped and fell, causing disarray in the first line and ruining the backline.

    Unfortunately, the damage was minimal. These few had just turned around to face Leonel and the others, and as such their speed hadn''t hit a great height just yet. Due to this, they had more than enough agility remaining to react and dodge out of the way.

    Even so, this small delay still gave Leonel some time to analyze and react.

    "Raj," he said plainly.

    Raj slammed his chubby hands together, his large cheeks rippling. The seriousness of his gaze was piercing as the ground rumbled.

    Leonel knew first hand that the hardest Force to manipulate in a powerful world was Earth Force. It had been one of his greatest limitations back when he was at Void Palace. Butбн This wasn''t the Void Palace, Raj was in the Seventh Dimension, and he also wasn''t the same as before. He had fought many rounds with the Perfection Stone and he had meditated on the Earth Force Mantra for more hours than he could remember.

    BANG!

    The earth rippled and suddenly hardened. Spikes of shimmering diamond and crystal collapsed and fused out from the ground before surging up and ripping through the disorganized group of elites.

    Blood rained down from the skies above and Leonel led his small group to charge up the side of these crystalline spikes.

    They burst out from the curtain of blood, leaping over the small troop of elites and landing dozens of meters away.

    The soul constructs dashed forward, but up ahead, the encirclement of warriors had already solidified. It seemed that Keiza was already prepared for this possibility. Not only was there a blockage ahead, but the elites would likely recover quite quickly as well.

    Leonel slowly put his bow away, retrieving his black rod. Dense, dark fog billowed from its body, rising like a tide and forming a menacing blade on both ends. Despite the movement of the beast beneath his feet, Leonel seemed completely stable.

    "James, Raylion." Leonel spoke calmly.

    James swung the large shield that protected their backs forward and expanded it, his gaze flashing with a strong light. Then, he pushed it forward with all his might.

    At the same time, Raylion raised his hands. A powerful telekinetic force took shape and fused with James'' forward momentum. Like a mighty battering ram, the shield smashed into the front line of warriors.

    The Libra and Gemin family didn''t remain idle. They roared themselves, sending forward the strongest strikes they could muster in short order. However, to their shock, James'' barrier only trembled one or twice before it stopped completely.

    The speed with which James could move his barriers depended on how thick they were. Usually, to make a barrier this thick, he would have to give up on its agility. However, with Raylion supporting from the backбн

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    In unison, Raylion and James'' eyes flashed. The forward momentum of the barrier tilted, the bottom leaning forward and its top leaning back.

    After throwing the frontline off balance and clearing them. Many couldn''t stop themselves from rolling up the energy shield, their beasts thrown into disarray as their bones snapped and cracked.

    "Drake," Leonel said lightly.

    Drake pulled a pair of pistols of his holsters, raising both of his hands up as what looked like crosshairs rotated in his eyes. A blazing intent pumped his heart as he began to shoot. Every time someone was thrust over the energy shield, he fired.

    One shot. One kill.

    Leonel brandished his spear with one hand and used his free hand to scratch Little Blackstar''s head. The latter seemed to wake up from his slumber and vanished from Leonel''s shoulder.

    Leonel shifted to the side of the formation. At the same time, Joel mirrored his actions. Both of them took hold of their polearms, their battle intent soaring as they swung out.

    Around the edges of the energy shield, enemies tried to wrap around and target the sides of their formation, but they didn''t have the momentum to make any strong headway. Every time one managed to make it around, they would find the end of Leonel or Joel''s blade, their bloodied and mangled corpses being left in their wake.

    It hardly seemed as though Leonel and the others had slowed down at all. The gap that had been about 200 meters had only shrunk to about 180 or so. Although it was still somewhat closing as some loss of speed was inevitable, it was nowhere as fast as it should be.

    Leonel gave out command after command and the army of Libra and Gemin were being shredded to pieces. His voice became like the call of the reaper, the collapse of the guillotine, a suffocating, omnipresent pressure.

    He didn''t need to speak at all to relay these orders, and yet he had done so. Every time that soft, calm voice echoed, dozens would fall.

    Even so, the distance continued to close and the fatigue of the small group was only continuing to accumulate.

    Daylight seemed so close and yet so far away. The line of enemies was too thick and there was only so much Leonel and Joel''s polearms could do. The moment they slowed to a certain point, being swallowed from all sides was the only result.

    Keiza''s eyes flashed. "It''s about time you four took action. Crush them."

    The two pairs of Libra family twins'' eyes narrowed, slowly retrieving their weapons. Indeed, it was about time to end this.

 Chapter 1987 Meaningless

    ?

    Huon and Droet, along with Hulot and Druid, surged forward. However, what was odd was that although they both seemed to be running hard, only one of each twin suddenly sped forward, their speed so fast that they overtook their own beasts and caught up with Leonel in the others in what felt like an instant.

    Leonel didn''t turn back, but he could already sense the change.

    He knew what this was. The twins could share their strengths between one another, in exchange for one being much slower, the other could become much faster in an instant.

    At that moment, Huon and Hulot pulled at their waists, taking out a pair of rope darts. The rope twirled around their bodies before piercing forward with a fierce momentum.

    Keiza had been observing all the while. She had realized that although Leonel was constantly handing out orders, there were some among the group that he didn''t give orders to. At the same time, these few he didn''t give orders to also seemed to have the worst expressions and reactions to the situation.

    She was a person quite used to playing with and manipulating the minds of others, how could she not sense this crack in Leonel''s armor? As such, the moment she ordered the four forward, she told them exactly who to target.

    Most of Leonel''s group seemed to just be along for the ride, and even with Leonel''s small victories, their expressions remained solemn. These sort of weak links deserved to be poked and prodded at.

    The rope darts whistled through the air, their speed faster than any whip and overtaking even an arrow in the blink of an eye.

    Huon''s dart appeared before Joyce while Hulot''s appeared between Karolus'' brows. The harsh whistling stung their eyes and they couldn''t seem to react in time.

    At that moment, Noah unleashed a roar, leaping up and swinging down his saber hard. иC

    BANG! BANG!

    A strong reverberating impact traveled up Noah''s arm. He wanted to use the momentum of the clash to return to his beast and continue speeding forward, but the twins seemed to see through him. Their rope darts turned from a feeling like a piercing arrow to becoming as lithe and gentle as flowing silk. They wrapped around Noah''s saber and pulled.

    Noah noticed the change instantly and wanted to pull back, even ultimately choosing to abandon his saber, but it was too late. That split moment between their twins'' pull and his release slowed his momentum far too much.

    He fell well short of his beast''s back, landing heavily on the ground, weaponless and suddenly surrounded by enemies.

    Noah''s gaze sharpened and he roared immediately. He didn''t hesitate at all to activate his Ability Index and soar to over five meters tall, his skin glistening with a crystalline color as he hardened it. He leapt backward with as much strength as he could muster, punching out twice, then thrice.

    The twins'' gaze narrowed but they had already succeeded. Their rope darts soared to the skies but entirely backward. At the same time, their twins, still stuck trying to catch up, threw their own rope darts forward.

    The ends of their rope darts wrapped around one another and locked into place across hundreds of meters of air. With a tug, Huon and Hulot pulled Droet and Druid through the air.

    With one swift motion Huon and Hulot used the drag to pull back from the strongest impact of Noah''s punches as the latter''s saber clanged to the ground. At the same time, they sent Droet and Druid forward, the two of them appearing before Noah''s in the blink of an eye.

    BANG! BANG!

    The two twins kicked out against Noah''s chest. He might have been more powerful in this state, but he was also a much bigger target.

    Noah felt his skin crack and his organs rumble. He took heavy steps backward, blood already leaking from his lips after a single exchange.

    Droet and Druid''s rope darts untangled from Huon and Hulot''s. The instant they landed on the ground, their wrists flickered, their rope darts whistling through the air with a harsh whistle. One targeted Noah''s heart while the other targeted his knee.

    Keiza watched this from the distance with a cold smile gracing her cherry lips. Her Sedan continued to move forward at a smooth pace, almost as though she didn''t care about catching up at all. She was content to watch her chess pieces move across the board, this was what thrilled her.

    It didn''t matter what move Leonel made now.

    Would he ignore Noah? Sure, he could do that, but then the fragmentation between him and the discontent half of his subordinates would only increase. That would only make it even easier for her to take advantage of these problems.

    Would he turn back to save him? Even better. Then he could forget about charging out of this encirclement entirely.

    Keiza had only just finished this thought when a little black mink suddenly flickered into existence, landing on Noah''s shoulder.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Noah tried to block, but he suddenly stood in shock as the rope darts phased through his body as though he wasn''t there at all. His body only slightly rippled and he felt a breeze of cold air as though a draft had suddenly come by.

    Droet and Druid pulled their rope darts back, their eyes filled with hints of surprise. What had just happened?

    Keiza raised an eyebrow. ''Shadow Sovereignбн? A little interesting, but meaningless. The trap is already prepared to close.''

    As Droet and Druid were somewhat in shock, Hulot and Huon had already jumped back into the fray, their rope darts spiraling toward Joyce and Karolus once again. This time, there was no Noah to cover for them.

    Karolus'' body erupted with a strong Spatial Force, the space around him cracking like glass as he punched out. Space coated his knuckles, but the instant the rope dart met his attack, he was sent flying backward.

 Chapter 1988 --- [Bonus ]

    ?

    Joyce''s expression changed as well. She was a fist expert, but without having her feet beneath her, the strength she could muster was limited.

    Seeing Joyce in trouble, Franco had long since moved. Just when it seemed her head would be pierced through, he had jumped from the back of his beast onto hers, reaching out to grab the rope dart out of the air.

    Hulot sneered, her usually pretty features looking quite sinister at the moment. Trying to grab her weapon? Did he have a death wish?

    Franco''s body shuddered as he made contact, his entire arm going numb. He was blown backward, his body landing amidst their running beasts and rolling onto the ground.

    "Franco!"

    Joyce leapt down without hesitation.

    Suddenly, it wasn''t just Noah who was caught in a no man''s land. Joyce, Karolus and Franco had all been knocked from their beasts, stuck in the midst of two charging armies.

    As though this wasn''t bad enough, the small troop of elites they had left behind had swiftly caught up and were now bearing down as the first wave.

    Keiza smiled, swirling the wine glass in her hand. She and her mother took a long sip at the same time, their hearts filled with the sweet feeling of victory. What they liked the most was to watch their enemies writhe beneath their fingers, unable to extricate themselves.

    Leonel''s expression was frighteningly cold. He had been occupied with the charging army and couldn''t easily extricate himself. By the time he could, the damage was done.

    His spear whipped outward, a light roar clearing the surrounding five meter space as he turned back without hesitation. Whether it was for his cousin or his brother Franco, how could abandoning them ever be a choice?

    By this point, Druid and Droet had recovered from the shock of Noah''s survival. They flicked their wrists, one of them targeting the little mink and the other targeting Noah. So long as they fused their attacks with enough Force, phasing through them wouldn''t be so easy.

    As expected, Little Blackstar had no choice but to leap forward, brandishing his little claws as he sliced down with several Dark Force scythes to block.

    Noah prepared to take on Droet strike, but he suddenly coughed. The damage of the previous kicks he had taken head on were taking their toll. But then, not only had Druid and Droet kicked him, but they had amplified their strength through Huon and Hulot, he couldn''t gather up any strength without his entire body shuddering.

    He could only watch with despair as the rope dart approached. But right then, his despair turned quite savage.

    There was little he felt that he could control in his life right now, but he could at least die without being a coward.

    He roared out, his body expanding to 10 meters. Ignoring the pain, he punched out with everything he had, his momentum overbearing.

    Even soбн

    BANG!

    Noah''s entire right arm shattered and he was sent flying back.

    Leonel swiftly caught up, catching Noah as his body shrunk. At this moment, his expression wasn''t just cold, it was frighteningly dark. The air rippled around him, combusting and collapsing.

    The group couldn''t possibly continue forward without Leonel. The moment they saw that he had turned back, they did so as well. They were his brothers, and then there was his Aina, how could any one of them leave him behind?

    The army bore down from all sides, clamping until there was no direction to go. Whether it was forward, backward, to the left or to the right, there was nothing to see but a sea of Libra and Gemin family members.

    The night air was suffocatingly humid. The blood and sweat of countless warriors made it heavy and difficult to breathe.

    There were no steps left to take. High up, the Morales Ancestors could only sigh. Though it was valiant that Leonel hadn''t hesitated to turn back, it seemed that this choice had actually sealed his fate.

    Keiza waved her fan gently, relishing in the breeze as her sedan slowly caught up. The foul stench of blood and sweat didn''t seem to ruin her appetite at all, in fact it only seemed to make her wine taste all the sweeter.

    Her beasts rose her sedan into the air, giving her an excellent view. Seeing Leonel and the others encircled in this fashion, her smile only became brighter.

    "No longer running?" She asked lightly.

    Leonel didn''t respond. He seemed to be checking on Noah, but there really was nothing to check. While his life wasn''t in danger, for now, his ability to fight was likely shot. At least that was the case before Leonel palms began to glow with a strong Light Force.

    "Interesting, interesting," Keiza smiled, seemingly indifferent to Leonel''s disregard. What good was acting cool and aloof when you had lost before the eyes of everyone? "Indeed, you have the capital to be calm. Even for me, I can''t stop you from crushing your badge and giving up right this moment. Though you might lose face for wagging your tongue harder than your fists, losing a bit of face is definitely better than dying."

    Keiza nodded to herself. At this point, Huon and Droet didn''t even bother to pile on. Nothing they could say could ever be as sinister as what this woman''s venomous tongue could conjure up.

    "But, it is a shame. I was looking forward to what a whore''s spawn could do. I didn''t expect you to be so pathetic."

    Keiza tipped her wine glass over the side of her sedan with an expression of disgust. The blood and gore didn''t seem to bother her, but these words seemed to have left a disgusting taste in her mouth. No, it wasn''t the words, but rather the mention of that person.

    "I should have known that a woman only good for enticing the husbands of others wouldn''t have any redeeming qualities, but it''s as the saying goes, we all have our vices. Your mother''s vice just happens to be far more disgusting than most others."

    The more she spoke, the deeper the disgust on Keiza''s face seemed to become. It was as though she was recalling everything she hated in an instant.

    "I can''t stand the look of his face anymore. Kill him or get him to quit and run with his tail tucked between his legs. I can''t be bothered to care anymore."

    "бн About here should be good."

    Leonel spoke lightly as he stood to his full height, fresh blood falling from his blade as though it couldn''t be tarnished.

    "What did you sayбк" Keiza sneered.

    RUMBLE!

    The ground began to tremble and a formation suddenly rose out from the ground, forming a dome over the surroundings.

    Suddenly, those watching from the outside all had changed expressions. That locationбн Wasn''t it where Leonel''s original city used to be?

    At that moment, a realization overcame them. Leonel had added his formation separately, it wasn''t part of the city. When he used the city relocation reward, it had only moved the city itself, not what was around it.

    In this battlefield filled with dried ground and rubble, buried beneath it was a perfectly pristine formation.

    Leonel finally looked up after Noah could breathe smoothly without his aid. However, his gaze carried a fiendish air. Crimson flickered in his eyes, a demonic aura billowing out from him in waves.

    He met Keiza''s gaze for the first time since the chase had begun.

    "I''m going to enjoy killing you."

 Chapter 1989 Ash

    ?

    Keiza''s heart skipped a beat, her pupils constricting. However, after a moment, she slowly managed to calm down. She realized what was happening and made the same deductions as everyone else a step quicker.

    She didn''t know a lot about this formation. Although she had been monitoring Leonel all this time using Libra family twins, the level of clarity their methods could bring was limited. While they could cover very large regions and their methods were difficult to detect, there was a tradeoff that came with that as well.

    Even so, she knew enough to know that this formation was the formation that Leonel had used to clear the Gold Grade trial, and also further knew that he needed soul constructs to make use of it. Even though many had died in this battle, they were ultimately just a drop in the bucket, they weren''t nearly enough to turn the tide.

    In addition, she had seen through this formation''s obvious weakness: it only worked within the bounds of the formation itself. Even if Leonel had some other trick up his sleeve, it would only take a slight step out to deal with this situation.

    That didn''t even mention the fact it greatly drained Leonel.

    Not only was their army stronger than a three million strong Gold-Grade tide, Leonel was already feeling hints of fatigue. How long could he possibly use the formation?

    All of these matters made Keiza sneer, but right then, all she saw in Leonel''s eyes was disregard. He looked at her not like an enemy, not like a beauty, not like a peer, but rather like a lamb on a chopping block. She wasn''t just an annoyance, she was an inferior life form. Despite the fact she had the high ground, it felt as though she was already being trampled beneath his feet.

    Leonel took out three cracked city cores and pressed them together at the same time. One had failed a Silver-Grade upgrade while two had failed a Bronze-Grade upgrade. Taking the Silver-Grade upgrade failure as their core, they combined into a new Bronze-Grade village core.

    Before anyone could wonder what Leonel was doing, he had already swept through and accepted the Silver-Grade upgrade challenge.

    Keiza''s expression changed. That was impossible. According to the rules, an upgrade challenge couldn''t be triggered when there were a number of enemies within a certain distance of your territory. She couldn''t understand how Leonel could even accept the upgrade when it shouldn''t have been available in the first place.

    But even so, what was the point of this?

    A realization overcame Keiza but it was already too late.

    Leonel''s finger flickered and just as the tide formed, a bolt of lightning descended from the skies, killing them all. He had activated a Silver-Grade instant clear reward.

    Suddenly, outside an encirclement of thousands, 12 000 soul constructs appeared, each one of them with flickering red-gold flames in their eyes. A demonic aura rose into the skies, a vicious momentum causing the dark clouds above to roll and rumble.

    It was only 12 000, not even 10% of the number here, but their pressure was even greater.

    At that moment, they all extended their hands and a spear appeared in each one of their palms. Some were long and wirey, some were scaled, others were short and stockyбн all of them exuded a different sort of aura, but they were all, without fail, of the Life Grade.

    Leonel''s body trembled just once as a blinding Bronze Aura rose from him. His halo descended and his body was coated in his second tier armor. However, rather than billowing with radiant blue fog, a violent torrent of red gold flames billowed out from its vents.

    Everywhere he stepped, the ground crumbled to ash, large pits forming beneath him.

    BANG!

    The red-gold flames erupted from Leonel''s back, forming a large pair of overbearing wings.

    "Don''t move."

    Leonel''s words were calm, but the air seemed to crackle and pop as he spoke them. It took a while for others to understand that he wasn''t referring to his enemies at all. Instead, he was talking to his allies. His meaning was clearбн

    If they moved, he couldn''t guarantee that they wouldn''t die too.

    Leonel suddenly flickered and vanished. A heat wave rippled across the battlefield as his wings of Scarlet Star Force trembled just a single time.

    This wall of heat crashed into the wall of enemies around him. The weak among them were immediately burnt to ashes, rows of several hundred fell in droves, the residual heat alone being far too much for them to handle.

    However, what was even more shocking was that they weren''t even Leonel''s target to begin with. He appeared before Huon first, his palm stretching out for the latter''s head.

    "HUON!" Droet roared, sending his rope dart forward with the greatest strength he could muster. The sound barrier boomed and the air whistled, a large accumulation of spiraling Force appearing before Leonel''s forehead.

    However, Droet''s rope dart seemed to meet an impenetrable barrier an entire meter from Leonel. Then, under his astonished gaze, the rope dart trembled and then fell into a rain of ash.

    Droet''s eyes widened. That rope dartбн it was a top of the line Gold Grade treasure, how could it possibly justбн

    Leonel''s hand landed on Huon''s forehead. Not once did he look in Droet''s direction the entire time, it was as though he had already expected them to be able to put up no resistance at all.

    BANG!

    Huon''s head exploded like a watermelon, but even the rain of blood and gore didn''t last long before it was burnt to ash. Without the protection of Huon''s Force, his flesh had no ability to protect itself in Leonel''s presence.

    "HUON! Droet roared, his gaze turning bloodshot. "I''LL KILL YOU!"

    The words had hardly left Droet''s mouth when he registered that Leonel was already before him. The world felt eerily silent at that moment, all he could hear was a high pitched whining.

    He looked down at his chest, only to find that an arm had already ripped through him and pulled his heart out, burning it to ash.

 Chapter 1990 Shameless

    ?

    Hulot and Druid''s eyes opened wide. While they were also geniuses of the Libra family and were stronger than Huon and Droet, this was only because the two of them were older. They fell into a middle generation similar to Valorie and the Golddark brothers, and as such had had more time to acclimate and grow within the Seventh Dimension. However, in terms of talent, they were both inferior to those two of the so-called Cataclysm Generation.

    Seeing the two of them die like this, and so directly, their gazes couldn''t help but turn crimson at all. Although nothing was set in stone, they had known for a long time that Huon and Droet would likely become their husbands despite the love they clearly had for Keiza. But now they had been made widows before they would accept such a reality.

    Their fury rose like a tsunami, but it seemed that they hadn''t noticed that today, they already finished their role as the hunter. From this point forward, they were nothing but prey.

    Leonel appeared in the skies above Hulot, his foot stomping down just once.

    BANG!

    The sole of Leonel''s feet and Hulot''s back didn''t even properly connect. A wave of heat and wall of wind seemed to fuse into one, descending down with the density of a mighty pillar as she was drilled into the ground.

    A strong aura of destruction caused Hulot to spit up a mouthful of blood. Her skin of Force quickly resisted, but she could feel it being peeled away inch by inch. If that Destructive Aura touched her, even without experiencing it personally, she knew that she would become nothing but a pile of ash just like Huon and Droet before her.

    "Hulot!" Druid screeched. "What are you all doing?! Kill them all!"

    There were hundreds of thousands of them and yet they were all frozen by one man, how could they be any more pathetic?

    Druid rushed forward, her steps becoming akin to a floral dance and her rope dart spinning around her body like the body of a voluminous dress.

    The army had been shaken by the flap of Leonel''s wing. Ever since the first wave of destruction, they hadn''t stopped. It felt like they weren''t facing flames at all, they were facing the fiery abyss of hell, a place where you could only be chewed up, but there would be nothing at all left to spit out.

    Even so, they had no choice but to follow Druid''s orders. They roared out, swarming toward Leonel, but at that moment, the soul constructs that had been completely immobile suddnely moved. The ground shook as they took a step and thrust out together. In that instant, with just a single attack, over 10 000 of them had fallen.

    Leonel struck out with his palm, meeting Druid''s attack head on.

    BANG!

    She crashed into the ground below as Leonel kicked downward once again, driving Hulot even further into the ground. He didn''t seem to have registered that she was a petite woman at all. His mind projected nothing but a meat bag.

    Druid surged into the air, a large amount of Water Force breathing life into the surroundings and seemingly trying to fight back against Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force.

    Leonel''s head tilted in her direction. His eyes seemed to shine through the visor of his Divine Armor, the indifference of his expression palpable.

    "You''re annoying."

    [Emperor''s Edict] activated and Druid''s Water Force was snuffed out as though it was a weak flame.

    Leonel appeared before her, punching out just once. His fist didn''t even connect with her skull, but it shattered into a rain of brain matter and bone. It was as though anything that entered a meter radius of Leonel was only destined for one pathбн

    Death.

    Leonel landed on the ground, his heel driving into the back of Huon''s head. The last sight she saw in her life was the endless darkness of earth.

    Leonel took a step forward.

    His gait wasn''t fast at all. Everywhere he passed, more and more warriors seemed to be roaring and rushing toward him. But without fail, every time they came close, they burst into a rain of ashes. However, he didn''t spare them a single glance, his gaze entirely focused on Keiza.

    Keiza''s chest heaved, but she barely managed to maintain a calm expression. If it wasn''t for the bead of sweat falling down her brow under the heat, one would have thought that she was completely unruffled.

    She felt around for her badge and only sighed a breath of relief when she felt it in her palm. Knowing that she could crush it at any time put her completely at ease.

    "What? Are you very angry?" Keiza sneered. "What good is your range? Will it change your mother? Her actions? Everyone knows the truth already. Plus, after today, everyone will know how shameless the Morales are. You just blatantly allowed him to break one of the rules of the Heir Wars, do you think this is victory? I''ve already crushed you, and once I leave this place and enter the real world where you can''t twist and bend rules to your will, I''ll crush you again."

    Keiza''s sneer deepened. She seemed to want to wait until Leonel got closer, she wanted Leonel to try and approach her only to fail in the end, she wanted to see the despair on his face as she disappeared and he could do nothing about it.

    At the same time, she wanted to humiliate the Morales family. How dare they cheat? This was the only explanation she had for Leonel seemingly breaking one of the rules by activating the upgrade challenge in their presence.

    However, Leonel''s expression didn''t change in the slightest. His speed remained the same, his slow walk forward feeling like footsteps grinding against her heart.

    Leonel closed the distance between the two. Not a single person could seem to stop him.

    By the time he could probably reach out and touch her, the remaining of the army had already turned to run, only to find themselves being mowed down one after another by Leonel''s soul constructs.

    "Go on. Crush it," Leonel said lightly.

    Keiza suddenly trembled. Why did he sound like that?

    "Do it. CRUSH IT."

    Leonel''s voice suddenly came out in a roar and Keiza reacted as though she had been commanded. Her palm subconsciously squeezed, the fear on her face clear. However, when her eyes opened, they couldn''t help but widen. Sheбн Sheбн

    She was still in the same place.

    "Noбн No! HOW CAN YOU BE SO SHAMELESS!?"

    She couldn''t believe it. The Morales family were bold enough to flaunt their rules like this? So easily? Without the slightest care for the reaction of everyone else?

    Where was her mother? Why hadn''t they stopped this farce yet?! Why was she still here?!

    "SAVE ME!"

    Leonel suddenly grabbed her hair and drove his knee into her face.

    Keiza entered a daze. She felt the world spinning. Her nose bones entered her face and her front row of teeth all shattered.

    However, she didn''t even have the luxury of flying back, her hair still firmly in Leonel''s grip.

 Chapter 1991 Reverse Scale

    ?

    Mistress Gemin''s expression froze, her glass of wine suddenly cracking in her hands.

    "Morales family!"

    It wasn''t just her, many others looked toward the Morales family at once, looking for an explanation. The change was too sudden and it felt like the only thing that could facilitate it would be chilling. However, the Morales family didn''t seem to feel like explaining anything.

    This non-answer only caused the atmosphere to grow more and more heated.

    "Release my daughter!"

    "You''re all wrong."

    The voice seemed to cut through the atmosphere and it was even more shocking when many realized who it was. Of all the people to be speaking up, it was actually the Scorned Queen Beauty, and from what it seemed, she was actually defending the Morales family.

    "That formation, for all intents and purposes, is the mind of Leonel Morales. It is separate from the constructed world of the Heir Wars as it is built on its own Dream Force. He can break as many rules as he wants within it so long as those rules don''t fundamentally break the logic of the Heir Wars world and the action he is executing doesn''t require feedback. The badge didn''t work because he simply didn''t want it to, it''s that simple."

    For example, Leonel still needed to use the Silver-Grade clear reward and couldn''t just use his formation to bypass it entirely. This was because he needed the Heir Wars world to provide him with not only the soul constructs he was currently using, but also the rewards that would come with such an upgrade.

    However, he didn''t need this sort of feedback with Keiza''s badge. In fact, he wanted to cut off this feedback entirely so that the world couldn''t register that she had died.

    So long as he wanted to complete a task that didn''t need the Heir Wars world, he could do it.

    Mistress Gemin''s head snapped toward Cynthia''s, a malevolent expression hardly hidden in the depths of her eyes. At that moment, it looked like she wanted to devour everything around her, she didn''t even seem to register the fact that her wine had spilled all over her dress.

    What was this supposed to mean? Was she just supposed to watch her daughter die, then?

    Ancestor Hito opened his eyes, looking toward Cynthia with a deep gaze. He hadn''t explained this point when he described Leonel''s formation earlier, but it seemed that this woman had seen through it anyway. Indeed, she was quite a genius.

    He had an advantage that came from the world being created by his hand. He could sense the differences and the changes Leonel was causing. But Cynthia had no such references to rely on, she used nothing more than a small explanation from him and she extrapolated the rest of the information on her own.

    Of course, she didn''t do this out of the kindness of her heart. If the Heir Wars ended here, it would be much more difficult to take Leonel''s life. She ultimately didn''t want a Domain War either, so it was for the greater good if Leonel were to die within the Heir Wars themselves, that way the Morales family wouldn''t be able to say anything.

    If anything, this was only positive. The more the Human Domain saw of Leonel''s viciousness, the easier it would be.

    Cynthia''s gaze flashed with a hint of coldness.

    бн

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel treated Keiza like a ragdoll, his actions savage and entirely unrestrained. If there was anything he held back in, it was the retreat of his Scarlet Star Force. He wouldn''t allow this kind of woman to die so easily.

    Holding onto her hair, he smashed her head into the ground several times. It was only when he thought that he might accidentally shatter her skull did he pull back, lifting her high and grabbing one of her wrists.

    Keiza, whose head was spinning and was having a hard time seeing straight, didn''t even realize what was happening until it was too late.

    Her eyes suddenly opened wide and her mouth, missing several teeth, released a blood curdling screech.

    Her arm was ripped out of its socket, a current of blood following the arc of Leonel follow through.

    A flicker of a flame pulsed in Leonel''s eyes as her wound was seared close in stomach churning fashion. The air was filled with the stench of burning meat and blood and carnage.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel was absolutely relentless. He seemed to have entirely forgotten that there was an entire army around him, but then again, not a single one of them even dared to get close to him. Many of them had a deep fear of Keiza in the depths of their heart, seeing her being treated like this left them shivering uncontrollably.

    Leonel''s gaze didn''t even seem like that of a human anymore, it was as though no amount of beating could possibly allow Keiza to atone for her sins. Her face was entirely unrecognizable, her clothing was in rags, but even what should have been the soft and supple skin beneath was entirely ruined.

    Mistress Gemin could see nothing but red, but she was only in the Seventh Dimension. Although she had strong control over the Gemin family, the Ancestor wouldn''t allow her to do as she pleased, especially when the Omann family had also already spoken.

    However, what Leonel did next made her faint directly. Her Force went so far out of control that her skin burst, red streaks running down her rolled back eyes, ears and nose.

    "You like talking about whores a lot, right?" Leonel''s voice seemed to rise from an icy hell.

    Keiza shuddered. She wished for nothing more than to pass out, but Leonel had somehow managed to stop her from doing so. She could feel every break of the flesh, every shatter of her bones, every strong impactбн She had never experienced such suffering in her entire life.

    Suddenly, she was tossed out, her body landing heavily in an encirclement of the beasts she had been so proud to be in control of just moments ago.

    The eyes of the Human Domain widened. They knew that from that moment onward, that fiendish gaze of Leonel''s would be imprinted onto their nightmares. And at the same timeбн

    They knew never to touch his reverse scale.

    The echoes of Keiza''s screams sent jolts of electricity down their spines.

 Chapter 1992 Key To Victory

    бд?ж╚m ?

    Ancestor Alvaro cleared his throat as Ancestor Hito waved a hand, blocking the Human Domain from the option of seeing that scene.

    "His temper seems to be a bitбн" Alvaro coughed lightly.

    He seemed to have no care for the fairer sex at all. The echoes of Keiza made even them as Ancestors shudder.

    The Ancestors of the Gemin family had expressions as dark as night. Keiza might not be directly related to most of them, but she was still the pride and joy of the family, only behind that of her mother. Plus, as most of their upper echelon were women, they were particularly sensitive to this brand of revenge that Leonel had chosen, and it seemed that Leonel had acted this way despite being more than smart enough to know this.

    They wanted nothing more than to rip Leonel limb from limb, but Leonel himself only seemed to be looking for more targets. He ripped through what remained of the Libra and Gemin armies, his momentum not dying down in the slightest.

    Compared to the Gold-Grade army, this was even easier. The Gold-Grade army didn''t have the emotions and fears of humans, they only knew how to keep charging and aiming for the kill. However, this army had just seen their leaders systematically defeated one after another, their comrades slaughtered with nothing more than the flap of a pair of wings.

    How could they still have the will to fight? They were practically pieces of meat on a chopping board.

    Cynthia''s deductions were indeed correct about the formation, but even though they were correct, they were too limited in scope because not many understood what it really meant for this formation to become an extension of Leonel''s Dream World.

    When Leonel usually deployed his Starry Spirit Domain, his Dream World was projected, but it only really became a part of the world, layering atop of it. With this formation, though, his Dream World *was* the world. The laws, the rules of physics, the logic, it was all dictated by him as though he was lucid dreaming.

    In fact, that was the name of this self-created formation, the Lucid Dream Formation.

    Leonel had only exposed a small portion of its abilities, one part due to him liking to keep trump cards in his back pocket, but another part was due to the sheer strain.

    At the moment, the formation was just a work in progress. He wouldn''t be able to use it with true freedom until he entered the Eighth Dimension at least, but by then it would be so refined and perfected that it would become nigh untouchable.

    The entire Libra and Gemin family armies were wiped out. By this point, there didn''t seem to be any other powers on the supercontinent that could even begin to threaten Leonel. However, Leonel''s next steps seemed quite odd.

    First, he placed the silver city he had just formed down and let its walls take shape. After a while, he communicated with the "Taur" currently run by the Cloud Race and they took over all of the territory that had once been the Lio, Libra and Gemin families''.

    Like this, the day side supercontinent was split between two supreme powers, but in realityбн everyone watching on the outside was very much aware that Leonel, the Sixth Dimensional existence who should have been among the first to fall, had conquered an entire continent for himself.

    While there were still some powers here and there, it was only a matter of time for them all to be wiped out and for the continent to truly be unified.

    At the same time, despite the victory, Leonel knew when to take a step back as well. After his aggressive forward step, rather than openly claiming the continent, he maintained the illusion of the continent being controlled by two strong powers.

    In addition, he used his Silver-Grade city like a "dummy" capital city. While placing it within the same mountain range his original city had been in, it was difficult to tell exactly which of the two was the main city, especially when he ordered some soldiers of the Oryx and Skies to manage it.

    More importantly than that, he had monopolized the resources of an entire continent for himself. No matter how you looked at it, Leonel was by far and away firmly within first place.

    However, there wasn''t a hint of satisfaction on Leonel''s face.

    Just a pair of families like the Libra and Gemin had actually pushed him to this extent. By the time he started targeting the other continent, they would be even more established, with even more subordinates. The gap would only grow larger and larger.

    Leonel''s expression was dark, he only seemed to react when a soft hand slipped into his.

    Aina smiled. "She''s already suffered the worst kind of humiliation and death, there''s no need to keep being mad, because then she wins, right?"

    Leonel blinked. Indeed, he wasn''t mad about the odds he was being faced with, he was just still pissed off about Keiza. Maybe the fact that she had almost forced him into a corner made him a bit more sensitive about another potentially doing the same, but the root was ultimately her.

    He had every confidence that he would be able to crush everything in his path, he should just forget about such trash.

    Leonel smiled and nodded, the heavy atmosphere suddenly vanishing with the wind.

    "Let''s return, we have work to do after resting."

    Leonel and the others entered the nearest outpost and teleported back to the Gold-Grade base.

    Leonel''s mind flickered with many thoughts. His formation was powerful, but its greatest weakness was its lack of mobility, even setting it up took over half a day, it just wasn''t feasible to use continuously. He would have to put his eggs in a different sort of basket.

    Soon, the Umbra family would return with the details of the supercontinent and he would redeploy the Cloud Race that had been freed up after the territories he had sent them into were destroyed. They had made a lot of things smoother for him, and as the numbers of subordinates on the other side grew, it would be even easier for them to infiltrate and relay information back to him.

    For now, though, he would rest. When he awoke, he would begin to take his first steps into the ocean. The key to victory was within.

 Chapter 1993 His

    ?

    "Littlest Nova seems to be leaving us without much of a choice," Ancestor Alvaro said lightly.

    With things being like this, it was clear that there was no option remaining for the Morales. They had already known ahead of time, but there was simply no dodging things this time. Even the most pacifist among them could see it as bright as day.

    War was looming over the horizon.

    That child of the Omann family seemed to still be trying to avoid war, but the method by which she wanted to do so was by killing Littlest Nova. She could only be said to be na?ve if she believed that this would stop things.

    They knew Velasco well enough to know that he wouldn''t care if Leonel died to those of his generation, even if they had a 20 year advantage, he was just that kind of madman. But they also knew Velasco well enough to know that if his wife was enraged, then he was enraged. If his wife pointed, he would do it. If his wife wanted someone dead, they would die.

    In truth, Velasco was even more of a madman than they knew. To him, his seed should be capable of facing off against the entire Human Domain without trouble. Now that Leonel had Seventh Dimensional strength, he had grown up enough to maneuver the world on his own.

    Of course, all of this was irrelevant so long as Alienor shed a single tear. Even if the Morales did nothing, the Omann would face the wrath of Velasco.

    People knew too little about Alienor and the Ascension Empire. If not, they would know that facing the wrath of these two entities was definitely something to take note of as well.

    "He''s decisive, more decisive than the rest of us. The moment the Human Domain showed such intentions, we should have already known that war was inevitable, he''s already treating it as such. At this point, he''s only slaughtering their futures right before them and staking his claim to this generation."

    The Morales family looked around them and it seemed as though half of those present were seeing red. Most would have already left by now if not for the fact they wanted to wait to see Leonel fall. They were like gambling addicts, gritting their teeth and waiting for the chips to fall correctly.

    Of course, there were some with far more sinister intentions than just that. If it wasn''t sowing discord, they were definitely lying in wait. If by some miracle Leonel really managed to make it out, escaping the clutches of the countless geniuses of his generation, they would be here. They really wanted to see if the Morales family truly dared to face off against the entire Human Domain alone.

    бн

    When Leonel returned to his city, after delegating some tasks, he nearly collapsed. He entered the pod for an entire two hours, the worth of over a week.

    His gaze couldn''t help but sharpen. He had thought he felt fine, but this amount of rest period painted a completely different picture.

    The reality was that there was something he had done that was hidden from Cynthia Omann, and that was using his formation to more freely control his Scarlet Star Force. He only remembered feeling a fiery, burning rage that was threatening to boil over at every moment.

    And now, seeing how long it had taken his body to recover despite him feeling "fine", Leonel realized something else.

    ''It seems that it''s already affecting my mental state.''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Wise Star Order had already warned him that there would be a price to pay for the oversized growth of his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, but he thought he had made great progress already.

    If he was measuring things by what Wise Star Order had said, he essentially needed to reach the state of being able to freely use his Scarlet Star Force within a Third Dimensional world to be free of any potential ill effects. He was already making good progress toward that.

    He had around a hundred years to succeed, and it had only been around a year or two since he had this conversation with Wise Star Order. So he should still have plenty of time left.

    The good news was that the effects were still subtle, but it was important that he realize this now. Just because he had a lot of time left, didn''t mean that his Scarlet Star Force had no ability to affect him now. In fact, if he had let it rampage around for any longer, he would have suffered pretty greatly. If his body hit empty, but he kept trying to push it, the result would be disastrous.

    There was another mother that was exceptionally important here. Within his formation, the fatigue aspects of the Heir Wars world couldn''t affect him so long as he kept it activated, and yet he was still so tired. This painted a picture that couldn''t be more obvious, that formation truly took a lot out of him.

    Leonel adjusted himself and his gaze grew firm. With a step he vanished from his pod and appeared on the tall city walls of his territory. Down below, the ocean pounded against the walls.

    The others should have woken up long before him and started executing his orders. The surrounding 20 kilometers were all within their purview, there were almost too many things to clear in this region. However, not only did Leonel have that 20 kilometers, but he had also spent all 30 billion of his points to extend it by an additional 300 kilometers using his underwater outposts.

    The best part was that these underwater outposts that he had bought at a cost of 10 million points each, also had the teleportation function.

    ''I''ve rested enough, it seems that it''s about time to begin.''

    Leonel flickered and vanished. The supercontinent was conquered. There was only a final push to be made. Once he had finished accumulating, it would be time to march toward the dark side continent.

    But for now, these Gold and Heir-Grade challenges and dungeons were his.

 Chapter 1994 Show Me

    ?

    The current situation wasn''t bad, it could even be said to be quite excellent.

    Due to Keiza''s actions, Leonel had gained himself around 200 000 beasts. The beasts didn''t have great combat prowess, but they did have great speed, and their strength was at least enough to match up to Bronze-Grade threats. Those that had crossed the Tier 4 barrier could match up against those of the Seventh Dimension.

    бд?ж╚m In reality, these beasts were quite pitiful.

    The gap between the Tiers of the Seventh Dimension should be enormous. The gap between Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension and Tier 1 of the Seventh was only a precusor to what one might find on the other side. Someone like Leonel and Aina who could battle across that barrier could only be said to be monsters.

    As many of their number was already in Tier 6, they should have been the strongest creatures of the Heir Wars, and yet they were already now on their third owner without any ability to resist.

    This was also the reason why, though Leonel took this gain as a positive, it was only a slight one. He didn''t expect these beasts to cause a game changing event unless he used them with exceptional cleverness, though he wasn''t unique to such things.

    Ironically, Leonel''s strongest fighters were probably those of the Cloud Race, specifically Mae. If he fought her while holding back, the odds of him winning were next to zero. She was a tier of strength beyond even James.

    However, he had oddly chosen to sideline her into an odd position.

    The rest of the Cloud Race in general were exceptional. Even the weakest of a Gold Grade threat while most were beyond and could face an Heir-Grade threat on their own. It was almost a shame that Leonel only had control over a few thousand of them.

    Leonel organized these thoughts as he moved through the water with great speed.

    Soon, he had reached the region of the first Heir-Grade threat.

    In truth, Leonel didn''t have to go through all of this trouble. He had already thought of the golden scaled koi fish in his possession. So long as he released that annoying little guy, a storm of Force would form quite quickly that would catch the attention of all the oceanic beasts.

    This was the very same tactic it had used when it caused that oceanic beast flood all those years ago. It would benefit Leonel quite greatly to use it to his advantage now, or so it seemed.

    But there were many issues with this approach, the first of which being the fact that there wasn''t enough control. That insane method only worked when your goal was to destroy everything, Leonel didn''t want to do such a thing. The effort for the reward wasn''t worth it.

    It had to be remembered that for the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge, there would be 10 million Gold-Grade threats matched with 100 Heir-Grade generals.

    There were already quite a number of Heir-Grade threats just in this region alone. If Leonel really used the koi fish, he would end up facing a threat even worse than the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge. At that point, he would be digging his own grave.

    There was, of course, another problem as well, and that was alerting his enemies to what he was doing. The commotion of such a method wouldn''t be small in the slightest, so this was his best choice.

    That said, Leonel wasn''t here to gather a measly 100 000 points. Rather, while everyone else was focused on clearing the challenges and the dungeons, he was focused on clearing these Heir-Grade ocean monsters.

    As for why? The answer to that was obvious.

    He wanted their soul constructs.

    At the same time, this location was a convenient time to test the changes in his Void Star Force.

    Leonel extended a hand and grasped at the water, bringing out his black rod. At the same time, his first tier Divine Armor covered his body as five Stars appeared to his back. Vital Star Force flooded the peaks and crevices of his armor, lighting up the dark depths of the ocean.

    In the distance, an enormous shark beast finally noticed Leonel''s appearance. Its menacing teeth bared and it swept its tail out just once. This simple action shot it forward like an iron ball from a canon, the water gliding against its slipper skin as it grew to double its size in Leonel''s eyes in an instant.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. ''Fast.''

    He hadn''t expected the jump to Heir-Grade would be so enormous. He had experienced the jumps from Sub-Grade to Bronze-Grade up to Gold-Grade and he had thought he had a solid understanding by now, but just this movement alone let him know that he was very wrong.

    BANG!

    Leonel blocked the charge of the shark, feeling his organs jar as he was sent flying backward.

    His gaze narrowed.

    It was harder to produce force under water, but after you had succeeded, the impact of that force was much greater. Flying through the air was one matter, but being sent flying through water, especially at great speed, felt like he was being hit with a freight train again and again.

    "Alright, fair enough," Leonel balanced himself as the shark beast charged again.

    He took a deep breath. Even under water, he wasn''t impeded at all. At his level, he didn''t see objects like he had back in the Third Dimension, especially not after comprehending a bit of Force Manipulation. Items weren''t just themselves, they were also the sum of the Forces that summed them up.

    Separating out the Water Force and only absorbing the Wind Force that carried the oxygen he wanted was all too easy for the current Leonel.

    Leoenl wasn''t enraged that this shark beast was powerful at all, in fact he was happy. The more powerful it was, the more worthwhile this would be. He even hoped they would get stronger.

    Rather than switching to his second tier armor or activating Star Fusion, Leonel''s body relaxed and he brandished his spear as the shark appeared before him again.

    This would be the only remaining time he had to do this before he was embroiled in battle after battle again. He wanted to see how much more room he had to improve his Void Star Force.

    The two dark blue Stars to his back glowed, the ocean waters suddenly trembling.

    ''Show me what you can doбн''

 Chapter 1995 Not Enough

    ?

    Leonel''s battle intent blazed.

    With a step, a vortex of water formed to the sole of his feet. The water in the surroundings grew much heavier and the blazing light around him dimmed.

    The charging shark beast immediately found that its forward momentum was stifled greatly. Although it still appeared before Leonel with great speed, this time, Leonel had more than enough time to react. He swung down with a savage intention, his Divine Armor trembling with life.

    BANG!

    The shark beast was sent spiraling downward, but Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Its skin was a great combination of silky and slippery matched with tough and rubbery. Getting a good slice on it was difficult, but even when you managed to, its skin and the underlying flesh and fat was so elastic and injury proof.

    Leonel took another step and surged down toward the shark beast. He felt the changes in the water around him, as the pressure increased, he seemed to get closer and closer to the feeling that Void Star Force gave him.

    What Leonel was looking for was an enlightenment similar to what he had gained from Earth Force. His comprehension of it had been entirely flipped on its head when he realized that Earth Force was just as much related to Life Force as any of the other Elements.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    бд?ж╚m Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he clashed with the shark beast again and again. Although he was still holding back, the strength of this shark beast was still far outside of his expectations. He didn''t even have half a dozen people who could face off against these creatures alone, dealing with 100 would definitely come with great difficulty.

    It was no wonder the upgrade challenge didn''t require facing off against millions of them. If that was the task, there probably wouldn''t be anyone who could accomplish such a thing among the Heirs. Even if they all decided to work together it would be fruitless.

    Leonel punched out once, meeting the jagged edge of one of the sharp beast''s large teeth.

    CRACK!

    ''That''s it, that''s the feeling right thereбн''

    Leonel had chosen to change his approach after several exchanges. His Water Force affinity simply wasn''t high enough to try and grasp the secrets of Void Star Force just by relying on the water around him alone. But it was a different question if he tried to map on his feelings toward Scarlet Star Force toward the Force that should be its most direct opposite.

    When he used Scarlet Star Force now, he could feel the presence of a barrier that extended from his body, a domain that sought to destroy everything in his path with a single touch. It repelled and shredded apart all.

    He looked for a similar feeling within the Runes of his Void Star Force and he found it. Rather than repelling and shredding apart, it gathered and fused. Once destroyed on contact, and the other almost seemed to create more of a thing, but it wasn''t exactly that. Rather than creating, it was making it more substantial, more tangibleбн much heavier.

    Leonel fist became like a vortex, swallowing everything in its path. The result was a fist that was twice as heavy handed. Even without adding any more strength to his blow, it became twice as powerful, shattering the tooth of the shark beast and making it cry out in pain.

    Sound waves traveled with much more vigor in water, the echo almost shattered Leonel''s eardrums, but he still followed up again, and then again.

    With every strike, his fist became heavier and heavier, until he suddenly swung out with his spear.

    With a single thrust, a spiraling pattern of blood and torn flesh ripped through the shark beast''s tough skin.

    Leonel dodged out of the way of a tail swipe, fighting against the startling current that formed to pierce out again and again.

    Every time he did so, his comprehension seemed to deep and the violent blackhole of his power became more and more profound. Void Star Force should have had the greatest defensive power, but its offensive power was truly startling.

    Suddenly, Leonel raised a hand and clenched his fist. The shark beast that had chosen to suddenly turn in an attempt to run found the waters around it as viscous as cold lard. It swayed its tail with as much strength as it could muster, but even that action seemed to have slowed considerably.

    Leonel appeared above its head, the intent in his eyes blazing as a deep blue vortex danced within the depths of his irises. It looked as though his gaze alone could swallow up the world as he pierced downward.

    The blade of his spear extended and a rotating vortex of black blue took shape. The head of the shark beast caused Leonel''s attack to pause for just two seconds before he finally ripped through, shredding into its bone and eventually its brain.

    The shark beast unleashed one final howl before it collapsed, unable to sustain its life any longer.

    Leonel''s point total raised by 100 000 points as he waved a hand, storing the corpse of the shark beast.

    He took a breath and exhaled. He didn''t feel too good about that battle.

    Void Star Force was a Force on par with Scarlet Star Force but it didn''t feel that way in his hands. Even with such effort, it still took two seconds to break through the shark beast''s head. That amount of time was an eternity at his level. If there were any other variables, he would have failed.

    ''I need to keep honing it. The ocean holds too much importance for me to not be able to bring out incredible strength within its limits. This isn''t enough.''

    This was the secondary benefit of him sending everyone out now. They had no choice but to gain experience fighting in the depths of the ocean, it was the only way for him to make sure that they would be ready for anything.

    Leonel shot forward, aiming for his second Heir-Grade beast.

 Chapter 1996 Third And Fourth

    ?

    As Leonel''s actions seemed to garner a ton of attention due to the appearance of yet another rare Force, the situation on the night side continent was suffering its own sort of trial by fire. While Leonel had succeeded in unifying his continent, this was far from the case for the night side.

    This was only to be expected. Not only were there large movements from First Nova, Third Nova, Fourth Nova and Sixth Nova, this continent also had the Omann family, the Spirituals Faith and half of the Constellation families.

    While Leonel''s continent was whole, the night side continent was divided into at least a dozen large scale territories that covered hundreds of kilometers in radius. The fight over resources was great and many had begun to realize that having access to the ocean''s waters was of huge importance.

    Even so, if there was one that had eked out a first place position in the hearts of those watching, it actually seemed to be Third Nova, Xavnik.

    In the beginning, Xavnik had used a huge loophole to his advantage. Each family had only been allowed to send in a maximum of two Heirs, but there was no such limitation across families or alliances. This had helped the Constellation Bow Alliance form a huge coalition quite quickly before they were destroyed by Leonel, and it had likewise helped Xavnik.

    Rather than having his people enter as his kill exchanges, he made a bet on himself and had them enter alone. Many realized that Xavnik may very well have had even more subordinates than it seemed, it was just that many of them had ended up on Leonel''s continent instead of his own. But regardless, he had caused so many Heirs to defect to his side that he had started off with a hot streak that he had yet to allow anyone to close.

    Despite the volatility of the night side continent, Xavnik alone had taken out two Constellation families, the Cornus and Cancer families.

    From the Cancer family, he gained a large waterfront territory, securing a large coastal control as had become the meta of the night side continent. Much like the Pisc and Quarius families, the Cancer family had come with the intention of targeting the ocean. However, the Cancer family was a bit of an anomaly.

    For lack of a better descriptor, the Cancer family were parasites. The type of Water Force they controlled was one they called Cancer Force. This Force was a fusion of Life Force, Water Force and Soul Force, and it had applications as odd as this fusion of Forces.

    The Cancer family was able to use Water Force as a carrier of their Force. Once their Cancer Force was deployed, so long as the target had any Water Force in them, they would be cursed. This was a fate that humans couldn''t dodge as far too much of their bodies were formed of this Force.

    Depending on the path the Cancer family had taken, they could do quite a number of things with this control.

    Some controlled humans, others controlled beasts, some were excellent at reconnaissance, but all were quite well known asбн cancers.

    The original plan of the Cancer family was to poison the ocean''s waters with their Cancer Force and forcefully take hold of the creatures within its limits. The trouble with this plan is that it would take quite a long time. It was relatively easier since corrupting Water Force was what they did first, but the ocean was, obviously, impressively large.

    The other problem with this plan is that it was quite useless to control oceanic beasts if they couldn''t change the situation on land. The Cancer family hadn''t been able to find an underwater territory in time so they had to settle for one on land for the time being, but that made them a target for Xavnik to crush.

    In addition to this, Xavnik took control of the oceanic beasts that the Cancer family had managed to gather for himself, using them as the spearheads for his scouting.

    The Cornus family was the only high level family of the Human Domain known purely for their hand to hand combat. However, they were also the fourth and final family with strong ties to Water Force, in fact the style of their close combat was entirely built on concepts of the tides and waves.

    One might realize at this point that this was most definitely not a coincidence. For two of the families Xavnik had targeted to have such ties, it was clear that this was likely his plan from the beginning. He knew that he didn''t have affinity with Water Force and as such relied on others who did to build the foundation he would need to take advantage of it.

    While he gained oceanic beasts from the Cancer family, what he gained from the Cornus family was arguably even more valuable. They had a treasure designed to read and record the waves, almost like radar but with Water Force instead. They used their comprehension of tides and waves to form this sort of scouting device.

    Like this, Xavnik had gained not just one, but two methods of exploring the ocean''s waters.

    He knew well that First Nova''s partner was the Princess of the Quarius family. If he wanted to make sure he didn''t lose his advantage, he had to push quite fiercely.

    Though he thought this, this didn''t stop him from marching on the night side continent. As for his target, it was none other than Fourth Nova, Sceio.

    Fourth Nova was none other than the very same Nova who had tried to sign Aina to a contract. He seemed to have changed greatly since then, having vanished into thin air. Since then, Leonel hadn''t seen or heard a peep out of him.

    But now it seemed that there would be a clash between two brothers once again.

    Xavnik looked forward with a confident expression while Sceio looked down from the city walls quite solemnly.

    Xavnik''s army had already grown to almost a million. It was likely that after this campaign, he would directly challenge the Gold-Grade upgrade trial.

    After a moment, though, Fourth Nova''s expression sharpened, the hum of a spear echoing from him.

 Chapter 1997 Long Time

    ?

    As Third and Fourth Nova faced off against one another, First Nova had made great progress as well. As expected, he made great use of having Vega by his side.

    The Quarius family had high affinity in both the Wind and Water. Their understanding and comprehension of both is exceptionally profound, and thanks to this, their seafaring vessels are without a doubt the best in the whole of the Human Domain.

    Adawarth''s trust in Vega was no less than Leonel''s trust in AIna. As such, after reaching a certain point, the two separated themselves between two territories, one underwater and the other on land. Their efficiency was quite great and their progress was excellent.

    These two, First and Third Nova, were without a doubt the two with the strongest presence in the water on the night side supercontinent. The others could only be said to be much further behind, but this didn''t mean that they didn''t have their own advantages.

    Sixth Nova had focused entirely on his military might. Much like Leonel, he claimed a territory as quickly as possible, carving out a place for himself. Although his territory wasn''t the largest as that right was left to Xavnik, it was the second largest.

    However, he had run into problems of his own as well, much like Fourth Nova. He found himself sandwiched between both the Omann and Spiritual Faith. Much like Vega and Adawarth had separated, his partner, Bruno, had no choice but to take the helm in sweeping toward the west while he moved toward the east.

    After several clashes, the Omann and Spiritual Faith seemed to realize that Sixth Nova wouldn''t be easily dealt with, and as such they turned their attention away. Even so, most seemed to believe that Valor''s days were numbered.

    The Spiritual Faith didn''t seem to be taking part in these Heir Wars for the sake of victory. Rather, they had only sent in a few dozen individuals, all of whom had Spiritual blood running through their veins. Their only goal seemed to be to display their strength and spread awe for the Spiritual Race.

    The Omann family didn''t have great combat strength just yet as many of those they had exchanged for were pure Crafters. However, with such a large team of Crafters working as one, there was no doubt that the longer the Omann family was allowed to survive, the larger their future advantage would be.

    Due to these reasons, many waved off Sixth Nova''s ability to survive. While the Spiritual Faith had decided to focus elsewhere, it was only a matter of time before they felt it was about time to take him down.

    At the same time, once the Omann family settled and began rolling out their Crafts with great momentum, who would be able to stop him? Valor''s only chance seemed to be to deal with them as quickly as possible, but it was clear to all that he didn''t have the ability to do this.

    бн

    The Omann family was led by a young man. He was exceptionally tall, almost seven feet, in fact, but his frame was quite slight, the shoulders of his lab coat seeming to be quite loose on him.

    This young man was Kron. Had Leonel bothered to enter the Force Crafting Guild of the Void Palace, he would have recognized this young man. Because Ramon was so lowkey, it was widely accepted that the best Crafter of the younger generation was none other than Kron Omann, the younger cousin of Cynthia Omann, the Scorned Queen Beauty.

    That said, even if Ramon was less of an introvert, the winner between the two of them wouldn''t be clear. As talented as Ramon was, he split quite a bit of his time for his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, and even beyond that, most of his Crafting research was focused on forging his Divine Armor. This focus had allowed him to form an exceptionally powerful gauntlet of Divine Armors, but these were obviously niche Crafts that only he alone could use.

    Kron, however, was much more of a pure Crafter. His skill was more wide ranging and his tool kit was much deeper.

    That said, Kron wasn''t alone in this. The brain power of the entire Omann family was at his back.

    The Omann family had entered with a systematic plan. Even their "battle" with Sixth Nova was nothing more than a pretext for keeping up appearances. There was a perfect blueprint they would follow from start to finish, a blueprint that had been worked on by the Scorned Queen Beauty herself.

    This was the expertise of not a Gold-Grade Crafter, but a tried and true Life Grade Crafter, and not just a normal Life Grade, but the true Life Grade of the Eighth Dimension. All of the plans, from start to finish, had been drawn up by her.

    Kron could be considered to be of a middle generation as well, too old to be among the Cataclysm Generation, and too young to be a part of the Nebula Generation of the Morales. Outside of Crafting circles, his name was still capable of resonating, but it wasn''t to the same extent of Cynthia and Velasco of the past.

    However, what he could do was execute orders, and thanks to his Ability index, he was the perfect choice for this job.

    Kron stood in silence, monitoring the progress of the army of Crafters. Very soon, everything would be ready. At this pace, they only needed three more days. After that, there wouldn''t be anyone that could stop them.

    бн

    Leonel took deep breaths and exhaled, the momentum of both causing the waters around him to tremble.

    After a moment, he pulled up an giant squid beast''s corpse and stowed it away.

    He had been hunting Heir-Grade threats all day and he had managed to capture just above 30. This was already a good number and he felt that he was running on fumes now, so it was about time he returned.

    He found the nearest underwater outpost and flashed back to his city''s core. But the moment he appeared, his pupils constricted.

    There was someone here.

    Leonel''s head whipped around but he couldn''t spot them with his eyes immediately.

    Ignoring his fatigue, he deployed his Starry Spirit Domain, enveloping the region with his Dream World. When he saw who the two were, he immediately understood.

    "Those cracked city cores, they weren''t from failed upgrades at all, were they? They were you two."

    Out from the shadows, two figures appeared.

    One was very obviously Second Nova. It turned out that Leonel was right to believe that five Novas wouldn''t be placed on a single continent, there was indeed a third here.

    The second figure should be his partner, wrapped in mystery. However, the fogginess couldn''t block Leonel''s Dream World.

    "Long time no see, Kira."

 Chapter 1998 Kira Salvatine

    ?

    Kira was someone that Leonel had met long ago. She was actually the reason Little Blackstar had such great strength now. She was a bit quirky and silly, and Leonel found her to be actually quite adorable, but these could be considered to be less than ideal circumstances to meet though Leonel had already guessed that something like this would happen.

    Back when the two of them had met in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone, she had already told him that she couldn''t become one of his generals because she was already tied to one of his cousins. Obviously, that cousin turned out to be Second Nova.

    Leonel had been wondering about this for quite a while, though.

    The Salvatine family that Kira came from should have exceptional power. After all, how could a normal family possibly gain the blood of a Void Beast?

    It had to be remembered that Void Beasts were the most powerful and devastating creatures of the universe. The Spirituals were commonly known as the most powerful race, but that was only because Void Beasts were so few in number. It was hard to rank them among such powerhouses because many believed that they had long since been instinct.

    For the Salvatine family to not only have such a large vial of their blood, but to even treat that blood like a gift to give a little girl who was only in the Fifth Dimension at the time, just how great did their power need to be?

    But oddly enough, Leonel simply never heard a peep about the Salvatine family after entering the wider world of the Human Domain. He didn''t hear of any of them in the Void Palace, they weren''t on any leader boards, they didn''t even appear for the gathering of powers that decided the rules of these Heir Wars either.

    They seemed to have never existed at all, almost as though Kira had simply made up her name and that her family never existed to begin with.

    This much was still acceptable. After all, the Human Domain was large and the Leonel of back then was quite weak. Who knew, maybe the Salvatine family wasn''t nearly as strong as he had thought them to be and had just happened to run into the treasure of a Void Beast''s corpse. In that case, Kira would likely have just been insane to casually give something like that out, but she was a bit of an airhead to begin with, so that was relatively easy for Leonel to accept.

    However, the problem with that line of thinking was that Leonel had been to the Void Library. Not only had he been to that library, he had read everything within it. And yet, that library didn''t have a single mention of the Salvatine family, not a small historical footnote, no family register, not a single mention or peep about them.

    Leonel didn''t understand why this was before, but he suddenly understood now.

    When he looked at the shadowy figure that was Kira, it felt all so obvious. Kira wasn''t human at all, she wasn''t a beast, nor was she a Spiritual. She was actually a Demon.

    The shadow seemed to tremble slightly and then pout when Leonel called her out, but she still didn''t step out, nor did Leonel expect her to. She had already made her allegiances clear and Leonel didn''t blame her for it. What was she supposed to do? Betray Auran despite the fact she had known him for her entire life while she had only met him for a brief instance? That didn''t even make sense.

    Kira''s shadowy figure trembled once more and a pair of short sabers emitting dense black fog took form in her palms.

    At the same time, Auran moved slightly and a similar pair of short sabers appeared in his own.

    He didn''t respond to Leonel''s words, and if he was surprised by the fact that Leonel knew Kira, he didn''t show it. However, his silence was more than proof enough to the likes of Leonel.

    Many had taken all sorts of differing approaches to the Heir Wars, some targeted the ocean, some prepared beasts ahead of time, others plotted and schemed as they built up large factories of crafting treasures. But there was one very important thing that all of these people missedбн

    What good was all this preparation if your Heir died?

    The moment an Heir died, it was all over. The run of that power and the territory behind it would be finished. It was that plain and simple.

    During his tirade through the day side supercontinent, Leonel had run across many abandoned territories with cracked city cores. In fact, he had benefited from quite a few of them himself. He had originally thought that these territories had simply failed their upgrades as it was the most logical conclusion at the time, but seeing this now, it changed everything.

    Clearly, Auran had a method of sneaking into a territory undetected. If Leonel was correct, he was probably testing out this method on weaker powers before he targeted the ones he really wanted to get rid of, but he had likely never expected for Leonel to clear the supercontinent and claim it for himself so quickly.

    Even so, Auran had now perfected his method and as far as he was concerned, Leonel had only made his job easier. Now he would be able to head to the other continent and claim victory in these Heir Wars long before anyone could mount resistance.

    Now, his target was to deal with Leonel.

    Seeing the two prepared for battle, Leonel took a deep breath.

    He had already sent everyone out on missions and though they returned to rest whenever they were fatigued, it wouldn''t be all together. Plus, how useful would they be if they returned as fatigued as he currently was?

    Wind surged toward Leonel from all sides, his lungs expanding as his heart pumping.

    Suddenly, the two figures of Auran and Kira vanished.

 Chapter 1999 That Force...

    ?

    Leonel''s expression became one of unprecedented seriousness.

    He couldn''t seem to track the two without deploying his Starry Spirit Domain, even his Bow Domain eyes didn''t work. But in this state, deploying his Starry Spirit Domain was quite the difficult task.

    At the same time, he knew how powerful Kira was. Even back then, suppressed by the Dimensional Cleanse World, she had given him an exceptionally tough battle, and that was without having access to her Ability Index or Lineage Factor on top of that.

    Auran''s strength needed even less introduction. He was an Heir of the Morales family, and unlike Ramon, he seemed to be proficient in a weapon other than the spear, making his Spear Domain Lineage Factor quite useless in the grand scheme outside of, of course, the power it could give him.

    This wasn''t the only troublesome matter either. There was a very obvious and important question that he was ignoring in all of this.

    How was it that Auran was related to a demon family? There were only really two explanations, one of which was decidedly worse than the other, and that was of course that Auran had demon blood running through his body.

    This wasn''t just a small, hand waved issue. Leonel had already learned from the current Patriarch of the Morales family that many of their Ancestors and the other talented among them had trouble controlling their tempers, and that was related to the demonic characteristics of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    Logically speaking, this was a flaw, and any sort of flaw in a Lineage Factor made it weaker than it should have been. If Auran was half demon, it was likely that this flaw in his body was almost negligible, making the amount of strength that he could pull from his Lineage Factor far more than what one would see from most other Morales family members.

    Of course, no matter what advantage he had in this regard, it was impossible for him to match up to Leonel who had brought the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor the Eighth Dimension far ahead of time. But it still had to be considered that Leonel was still in the Sixth Dimension while Auran was already in the Seventh.

    As the second eldest Morales, the Second Nova, Auran was already in Tier 3 of the Seventh Dimension.

    Until now, Leonel hadn''t cared much about Tiers because his talent so heavily suppressed everyone else. But if he was correct about Auran, then the advantage he had was far smaller, and that didn''t even begin to mention Kira who was likely a full demon at Tier 1 of the Seventh Dimension.

    Leonel had met the geniuses of other races in the Tribulation Zone of his Spear Domain Ring. Although he had defeated them, he didn''t underestimate them for even a second. That was because during the Tribulation, much of the abilities they should have had were depressed and they were mostly forced into a confrontation of spears.

    Kira could be considered to be the first full fledged genius of another race that he would meet.

    Leonel''s expression couldn''t help but hold hints of solemnity. Finding a path to victory in this battle would be exceptionally difficult.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s pupils constricted as he took a strong step back.

    A saber blade just barely nicked his chin, drawing a hot line of smoldering, crimson blood.

    Leonel didn''t hesitate, immediately erupted into his second tier Divine Armor and released all ten of his Stars. He crossed his spear body before his body, just barely stopping another two sabers from piercing through his body.

    Leonel pivoted, blocked to his back and took another step back. His head weaved to the side and his spear shifted, thrusting out but hitting nothing but air.

    The teamwork between Kira and Auran was immaculate. They seemed to still be probing him, but the pressure was immense. With the support of his Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor, his strength wasn''t small by any extent. This was only further bolstered by Universal Force. However it was difficult to use strength if you couldn''t apply it anywhere.

    Their speed was fast, their attacks were unpredictable, and their strength was great. The worst part was that they had yet to use their full abilities while Leonel was already putting in quite some effort.

    Leonel wasn''t the only one unhappy about these turn of events. No one believed that Leonel would die to a fellow Morales, so if he fell here, that meant that they would lose their chance to kill him within the Heir Wars.

    In an irony of ironies, Leonel and his enemies were actually currently on the same side.

    ''I can''t let it continue like this,'' Leonel thought. To his astonishment, though, Kira and Auron seemed to have read his intentions instantly.

    Their attacks suddenly became more ferocious, their speed increasing. Both of them seemed to exude a corrosive sort of aura that tangled with his Vital Star Force and swallowed it up.

    Leonel could vaguely recall this aura, only because when he had fought Kira previously, it was greatly suppressed. Now that he was feeling the full brunt of it, there was no doubt in his mind. This was Death Force.

    This wasn''t the first time Leonel had come across this Force, but for some reason it felt so much sharper and more savage now.

    His Dream World couldn''t seem to keep up with their vague forms, and it was at that moment that he realized that it was because the very fog that coated their bodies was corroding his Dream Force. How could he track them if his Starry Spirit Domain was collapsing in on itself?

    Leonel shifted to the side, just barely moving out of the way of a saber, but at that moment one pierced into his shoulder blade, sliding through a sliver in his armor that wasn''t even perceptible to the naked eye.

    Pain shot through his body and he felt as though an entire side of him had gone limp. The corrosion was devastating and more potent than any poison.

    Leonel gaze flashed and his Scarlet Star Force circulated through his body, incinerating the Death Force to ash.

    His mouth opened and he unleashed a roar, his Absolute Spear Domain roaring to life and shredding everything in his immediate surroundings to pieces.

 Chapter 2000 Fair?

    ?

    Leonel took a breath and his gaze became frighteningly cold. At that moment, it was as though he had become a completely different person. His steps became calculated and measured, his spear strikes no longer feeling as wild and passionate.

    A cold breeze passed by as he stomped on the ground hard, his city lord manor trembling.

    His Starry Spirit Domain vanished as he dismissed it. In its place, his Starry Star Domain and Starry Light Domain manifested at once.

    He took another step back. A saber came to a stop just before his forehead before it retracted.

    He took a step to the side. A saber whizzed by his ear just as he brandished his own blade.

    CLANG!

    A shadowy figure took a step back and solidified for a moment before vanishing once more. However, Leonel still struck forward anyway, meeting resistance instantly.

    CLANG!

    Leonel weaved in and out of the two of them. He never moved more than he had to, his energy reserves being perfectly preserved. In fact, it even felt that he was somewhat recovering.

    As time passed, Leonel entered less and less of a passive state. His Spear Force flourished, his Universal Force uplifting his body as he struck with stronger and stronger momentum.

    The abyss of his eyes could only be described as frigid. He didn''t see people, he saw objects. He didn''t see spear strikes, he saw angles. He didn''t see defeat, he only saw a path to victory, as though a practiced chess master, his every step forward seemed to drive his enemies further and further into a corner.

    ''93%...''

    Leoenl''s right foot swept back in a semi-circular arc, gliding along the floor as his hips swerved. A saber whistled by his neck. The distance was too close to use his spear, but that didn''t stop him from using his fist. His spear vanished in a blink and his hip snapped back like an elastic band, his punching rocketing forward with it.

    Leonel finally connected with something solid, his second tier armor billowing with violet steam as his [Star Fusion: King''s Might] roared.

    BANG!

    A shadowy figure was sent flying, piercing through the air. However, just before they crashed into the walls of the city manor, they vanished.

    Leonel was unmoved by the change. He had already moved again, his Void Star Force rippling as he swung his spear out in a wide arm. Everywhere it passed, strong ripples passed through the air, almost like watching a bullet compress the wind in slow motion.

    Yet another figure was sent flying, a mouthful of blood flying through the air. Leonel was certain that this one was Kira, and the first had been Auran. They were actually so difficult to tell apart for him even now. Even so, Kira too vanished before crashing into anything.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, his frigid gaze becoming even colder. A piercing headache was threatening to split his mind in two currently, but he couldn''t seem to feel it at all, having activated Dream Sense.

    He held his spear out, his heel slowly pivoting. Kira and Auran didn''t appear for a long while.

    He narrowed his eyes, breathing slowly. But even after several minutes had passed by, they didn''t appear again.

    ''They''ve left?''

    Leonel made a show of relaxing slightly, but his heart was secretly on guard. For a pair of assassins like them, he wouldn''t casually lower his guard. Although he had gained the upper hand while relying on his Ability Index, his mind felt like it was going to explode.

    Simulating the two of them and their actions felt like the most difficult thing he had ever done, and he was certain they hadn''t even been going all out.

    ''Did they only come to probe me? But this would be their best opportunity to get rid of me, why would they only come to probe me?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Something was odd here.

    Of course, Kira''s identity was a bit surprising to him. It had to be remembered that the Silver Empire had been destroyed because of their relation to demons, the fact that Auran had demon blood running through his veins as a Morales was shocking in and of itself, but to also have contact with the Demon Race as well? That was definitely a step beyond anything Leonel could have expected.

    Leonel hadn''t said anything about Kira''s identity out loud because of this very reason. In addition, maybe only he could see through such a thing at a glance. He had not only seen demons personally, he had the sensory capabilities to see the true nature of a person''s soul. Unless one had a higher Dream Force affinity than himself, or an extraordinary treasure, it was simply impossible for them to hide their true nature from him.

    But what was their purpose, exactly?

    бн

    бд?ж╚m "Big bro Auran, is that all?" Kira appeared. By this time, they were already far outside the limits of Leonel''s territory, having already crossed a large distance through the ocean.

    Kira was a bit indignant, it seemed she had wanted to fight some more. This was the second time she had lost to Leonel like that.

    Auran showed a rare smile and laughed, rubbing Kira''s head like she was still a little girl.

    "He''s worthy of being our Morales family''s Heir, it was just a little test."

    "You didn''t even let me use 10% of my strength, though. That''s not fair!"

    Auran laughed harder. "You''re in the Seventh Dimension, even if you won, would it be fair?"

    Kira crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

    "You know my situation, I can''t become the Heir of the Morales, I''ll only cause them catastrophe. But before I exit stage left, I''ll have to deal with another catastrophe first."

    Auran''s gaze turned cold, facing in the direction of Third Nova''s territory.

    He only had one goal here, and that was to deal with that third cousin of his.

    бн

    At that moment, on the night side continent, Third Nova stood over the territory of Fourth Novaбн

    Sceio had suffered a crushing defeat.

 Chapter 2001 Kill.

    ?

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while.

    Despite his fatigue, his mind raced at a mile a minute, moving through all sorts of scenarios. Nothing seemed to make perfect sense, though. Ultimately, no matter how he sliced it, this was Second Nova''s best chance to deal with him, there was no advantage to gain by waiting unless he truly wanted to wait until Leonel was in an even more sorry state than this one.

    That meant that there was a better than 60% chance that Second Nova hadn''t come here with the intention of dealing with him at all, his original intention was just to probe him, and it might even be potentially true that Second Nova planned on giving up on the Heir Wars in their entirety.

    But if he was willing to give up on the Heir Wars in the first place, then why did he participate? Even if he didn''t like the optics of giving up without trying, what was the big difference between that and giving up midway?

    That seemed to point to the fact that Second Nova wanted to test the Heirs and pick whomever he liked best. But in that case, why did he vanish? If he had decided on Leonel, then wouldn''t he be helping Leonel? What was the intention in just leaving directly?

    It had to be remembered that each family was limited to two Heirs, but there was a very obvious exception to this, and that was the Morales who had seven Heirs.

    This was tacitly allowed by the other families for a few reasons. First, the Morales were already the targets of everyone to begin with. Second, while the others were simply here for glory or to deal with Leonel, the Morales family Heirs were here to fight for the position of Heirs. As such, they inherently could not work together as they were competing with one another.

    The other families would obviously step in if it seemed like the Morales Heirs were teaming up, and it would counter whatever advantage they could gain by doing so. It was probably even best to separate the focus of the families by doing this though this would likely place even more pressure on Leonel was one of the main focuses to begin with.

    Why was this all so important? It was because if Auran really wanted to help Leonel, he wouldn''t just injure him and then vanish. There were many other things he could do even if he didn''t participate himself, plus why did he have to test Leonel in the Heir Wars themselves? He had had plenty of opportunities in the last month to meet Leonel privately.

    All of this pointed to the fact that Auran had something he wanted to do in the Heir Wars specifically, and whatever that was, he felt that it was more important than even his chances at becoming an Heir. In fact, he might have no intention of becoming an Heir in the first place.

    ''I''m missing something, what is itбн What is itбн''

    Leonel didn''t like this feeling. Usually, when he didn''t have enough information, he wouldn''t'' bother to waste time trying to deduce, but this felt different. He felt that this was too important to ignore, and yet he still didn''t have the information he needed to deduce the answer, it was endlessly frustrating.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze sharpened.

    There was no doubt that Auran was targeting someone, someone that the Heir Wars made much more convenient to target. Who could that person be? That person had to be someone that was difficult to target outside of this place. That seemed to point toward one of the Heirs of the other families, but why would targeting a Seventh Dimensional existence be so important to Auran?

    There were only two explanations. Either this Seventh Dimensional existence had offended Auran in a way that was far too great for him to ignore, or this Seventh Dimensional existence would, in the future, become a world changing sort of threat.

    Leonel knew quite a bit about Auran and the other Heirs. Auran was the head of an exceptionally powerful information network, but he didn''t sell his services. This made sense to many people at the time, after all they all assumed that he had built it up because of the Heir Wars.

    But if Auran had never had any intention of becoming an Heir, then why did he build an information network he had no intention of profiting from?

    That led Leonel right back to the first two explanationsбн Either to find someone who had greatly offended him, or find someone who posed an existential risk to the Morales family or maybe even the Human Domain as a whole.

    Leonel''s brows glowed like two torches. He felt his Dream Force shifting, his simulations becoming sharper and sharper.

    What if the reason Auran gave up on being an Heir was because he knew that his actions would lose him the right?

    How could a Seventh Dimensional existence be an existential threat, they were too weakбн Well, how could a Sixth Dimensional existence like Leonel possibly have become a threat in the eyes of the powerhouses of the Human Domain?

    The explanation was the same. This Seventh Dimensional existence had to have the ability to gain access to a power that no one else could.

    Leonel was a Prince of the Ascension Empire and an Heir of the Morales family. This was unacceptable in the eyes of many as they believed that this was just the Morales family laying claim to the only Eighth Dimensional territory of the Human Domain via unscrupulous means.

    Suddenly it all seemed to click and the pieces slid into place.

    бд?ж╚m Leonel''s aura suddenly flourished and his strength took a large leap forward. From Tier 7, he stepped into Tier 8, his Dream Force Stars gaining more runes as they swirled about with a strong, pulsing, silvery light.

    ''He came here to kill. He came here to kill an Heir of the Morales.''

 Chapter 2002 Who?

    ?

    Leonel''s gaze was exceptionally bright at this moment.

    He felt that things had fallen in line, but this still opened up questions for who it could possibly be, and more importantly, why.

    Leonel didn''t feel that Auran was likely to be a person who acted without cause. In fact, all of his actions seemed to point toward the fact that he was very much prepared for all of this.

    Those several broken city cores should be his attempts at testing several hypotheses for sneaking into cities without detection. After all, given the territory maps, Leonel could monitor everything in his territory with great ease, that was why he was so comfortable leaving it behind.

    Then there was his information network. He might have already used several kill exchanges to spread them out across the two supercontinents. That was how he knew exactly where Leonel was despite the fact Leonel had a decoy city still sitting in the middle of the continent, and he likely knew exactly where his target Heir was as well.

    In fact, this final probe of Leonel before he set off was just a final check to ensure that everything was in line and working perfectly, killing two birds with one stone.

    This person was meticulous, intelligent, and most importantly, patient. He hadn''t even made a move until almost a week had passed in the Heir Wars, and he was still carefully planning even now. Ironically, due to his true demon blood, Auran was even calmer than most Morales as the Lineage Factor did affect his mind as much as it did the others.

    On top of that, he was young, comparatively speaking. Meaning, the Morales Lineage Factor had yet to impact him nearly as greatly as it did the other Morales Ancestors.

    What was most convincing to Leonel was that just now, he had gotten the final hit in on Auran, and yet the latter didn''t feel the need to prove a point. Leonel knew Auran was holding back and could have made him suffer a loss before leaving, but he hadn''t.

    This wasn''t a rash person who couldn''t control his own ego.

    Like this, even without understanding the underlying story, Leonel already believed Auran. But the question wasбн who was Auran targeting?

    Leonel''s thoughts flickered, his mind settling on one personбн

    Fourth Nova.

    Leonel deduced that Fourth Nova had the highest odds of being the person Auran was targeting. Back then, Leonel had thought that Fourth Nova wanted to sign Aina to a slave contract just because he thought she was a beauty, but what if it was more than that?

    Just a few weeks prior to that, hadn''t the Three Finger Cult appeared in an attempt to snatch Aina away due to her Blood Sovereignty? What if this was Fourth Nova''s goal all along?

    Leonel''s thoughts flowed incredibly smoothly and he felt his mind making connections that he had never made before. He immediately decided who was the most likely to be Auran''s target based on his own biases.

    ''The second most likelyбн Third Nova.''I think you should take a look at

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with a cold light.

    Third Nova had some ties with the Suiard family and had even aided in the collapse of the Stalwart Polearm Faction back then. These were records that Leonel only learned about after reading through the trascriptions of the Void Senate gatherings.

    Of course, this wasn''t immediately obvious through the senate filings, but who was Leonel and how good was his deduction skills? Even if the Suiard family and the Unfettered Blade Party never admitted it, he didn''t need their admission.

    That timing was also suspicious, because it was also during that time that there was a change to the original True Selection and the geniuses of the Cataclysm Generation were shipped off to the Rapax Nest.

    This wasn''t in any Senate documents as it was a unilateral decision, but this was even easier for Leonel to deduce for one specific reason: his father.

    Why would his father take Rosen Suiard''s arm if the Suiard family was not related to this?

    This seemed to paint the picture that Third Nova was in bed with the Suiard family, and may have even used this to intentionally target Leonel.

    Leonel didn''t have enough evidence to further connect this to the Three Finger Cult as the Suiard family didn''t seem to have any relations to them. If they had, Leonel believed his father would have taken Rosen''s head, not his arm.

    Leonel had quite a lot of belief in his father, that much was obvious. But anyone who had seen the rage in Velasco''s eyes when he spoke of the Three Finger Cult and the things they had done to his father and Leonel''s grandfather would likewise understand.

    It was because of this that Leonel placed Third Nova a step beneath Fourth Nova.

    A Morales Heir with ties to the Three Finger Cult versus a Morales Heir that was a puppet of the Suiard family. Both were absolutely terrible, but one was still clearly worse than the other.

    Of course, this also made the assumption that Auran knew of the Three Finger Cult and could even find their tail in this fashion. But Leonel didn''t feel that this was a great leap at all.

    Leonel had deduced long ago that it seemed that the Three Finger Cult, the Silver Empire and the Morales family had an odd line connecting them all.

    Why were the Lineage Factors of the Silver Empire and Morales family so similar? Why were the both seemingly related to demons? Why was it that of all the Ancestors that the Three Finger Cult could have targeted to kill, they would choose his grandfather? He hadn''t found any information of the Three Finger Cult being so bold with anyone else.

    Then there was the most obvious thingбн Auran had demon blood and seemed to be mixed in the middle of all of this. If there was any Morales Heir aware of the Three Finger Cult and maybe understood some of these underlying secrets, would it be him?

 Chapter 2003 Devastating

    ?

    The third most likely was Sixth Nova, and that was only because Leonel knew the least about him, while the fourth was First Nova. Sixth Nova was an unknown variable while First Nova was the son of the current Patriarch, the latter faced almost too much scrutiny on the daily basis to avoid detection of the masses.

    But the real question wasбн what would Leonel do about this?

    Given the strength of Kira and Auran, he didn''t think anyone of the Umbra family could follow them covertly, the best he could do was monitor the general situation of the night side supercontinent.

    But what if he failed?

    Leonel''s brow furrowed. Just as he was thinking, several flashes entered the city lord''s mansion. He didn''t even need to look to know that it was the Umbra family. They were actually a day late, but he didn''t berate them. If there wasn''t a good reason, they wouldn''t be. Leonel had originally expected them back yesterday, but the fact they had only come today wasn''t bad news, it was actually good news. If meant there was information to be had.

    As expected, after Radlis began his report, Leonel''s gaze narrowed. When he got to the end, Leonel''s entire perspective shifted.

    "Fourth Nova fell?"

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. This could only mean that his deduction was wrong. If the number one threat to Auran could fall to Third Nova''s hand so "easily", then Auran would have never had to put in so much effort in the first place. Leonel had a hard time believing that someone as powerful as Auran, and more importantly intelligent, would put so much effort into something that was such a non-factor.

    The only explanation was that Fourth Heaven wasn''t the true threat, the true threat was Third Nova.

    "Third Nova''s forces were too overwhelming. He had exaggerated numbers under his wing and they were all of exceptional strength. Fourth Nova didn''t even last very long before he was directly kicked out.

    "After that, his actions caused a cascade of events. Sixth Nova fell not long afterward, and its somewhat unknown how this happened. Originally, Sixth Nova was stuck between the Spiritual Faith and the Omann Empire, but neither seemed to have been the ones to take him out. He just suddenly vanished and his territory crumbled not long after."

    Leonel frowned. Could it be that Second Nova had gone after Sixth Nova? Was he wrong about his intentions all along?

    Then again, it might also be a method of protecting Sixth Nova. Aside from him, Sixth Nova was the youngest, and he was most definitely the weakest among them all after the strength Leonel had seen Fifth Nova display.

    This wasn''t the fault of Sixth Nova, he was just disadvantaged. He had only just entered the Seventh Dimension and most of his subordinates weren''t up to par. He faced similar issues to Leonel, more than just himself had been screwed over by the delay in the Heir Wars.

    But would Third Nova really dare to kill? At the end of the day, Patriarch of the Morales family was just a temporary position, and one could almost be considered a figurehead.

    The ones who held the real power in the family were still the Ancestors. Just by becoming the Patriarch, Third Nova couldn''t just hand over the reins of the family to the Suiard family. Even if there were family rules protecting Third Nova, given the fiery tempers of the Morales Ancestor, would he even last a day past a single reckless decision?

    That was when Leonel''s expression suddenly changed.I think you should take a look at

    That was right. The checks and balances of the Morales family were so impossibly sturdy. There was an underlying threat here that he wasn''t seeing, an underlying threat that made Second Nova entirely unwilling to see Third Nova even have the chance.

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly became frighteningly cold.

    Third Nova had made an enemy he wasn''t even expecting to have made. Not only would Leonel defeat him, he wouldn''t hesitate to kill him.

    Worse came to worst, if Leonel interrogated his soul and found that he was wrong, he would simply revive him. But from what it seemed like now, although he didn''t have the evidence, Third Nova was tied to something exceptionally sinister.

    Auran could have never guessed that just a single probing attack of Leonel, an encounter that lasted no more than a few minutes, would actually give the latter this much information.

    As for whether this was a good thing or notбн only time would tell.

    "After Sixth Nova fell, there was a huge shift in the land. He had controlled a great deal of territory, and with his disappearance after his badge was crushed, all of his subordinates vanished as well.

    "The other territories attempted to swallow it up, leading to a whole host of battles, of which it seemed that First Nova came on top. Third Nova had been occupied by his battle with Fourth Nova and didn''t receive the information until much later. By the time he marched over, the land had already been divided.

    "The only powers worthy of note left on the night side continent are First Nova, Third Nova, the Spiritual Faith, the Omann, the Suiard family, the Ram family and the Pyius family."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. Could it be that Second Nova had taken out Sixth Nova to cause this abrupt change? His timing was even so perfect, with Third Nova occupied by Fourth Nova, the one who gained the most advantage was First Nova and Third Nova was late to reactбн

    "What is the Suiard family up to? Why does it feel like you have so little information about them?"

    Leonel couldn''t help but realize this. Also, he hadn''t quite abandoned the idea that Third Nova was tied to them. With one being so active and the other being so silent it feltбн suspicious.

    "It doesn''t seem that the Suiard family has done much, but they are currently preparing to form the first Gold-Grade territory of that continent. Although I can''t be certain, it seems that their trust in their Heir is exceptionally high. They aren''t using any schemes or plans. Until this point, they''ve crushed everything in their path with pure strength.

    "It seems like they''re waiting for something."

    Leonel fell into silence. Something was brewingбн He had already expected the Heir Wars to come with a ton of extra baggage, but this single encounter with Second Nova had blasted open a door that he hadn''t expected. These Heir Wars and the aftermath would be more devastating than he had imagined.

    Leonel didn''t know how right he was at that moment.

 Chapter 2004 Entirely

    ?

    Leonel didn''t reply. He tried to think but he felt his mind was growing foggy. After a moment of thought, he realized that it was best if he entered the pod now, if there was another attack he wouldn''t even be able to stand straight, let alone deal with it.

    After 15 minutes had passed, Leonel stepped out feeling refreshed and invigorated. His eyes carried much more clarity within them and he could feel the changes to his Dream Force more substantially. He had actually stepped into the Second Layered State.

    This was a bit of a surprise. Although Leonel had already felt that he was close, he hadn''t expected that pushing his Dream Simulation so far would allow him to take such a step. Even so, he greatly welcomed it, though he felt that he had to be more careful.

    Dream Force was only a small part of his Emulation Spatial Force. Having such high control of Dream Force while lagging in Spatial Force, while it wouldn''t impact him negatively physically, might skew his comprehension of Emulation Spatial Force down an improper path in the future.

    Suddenly, Leonel froze. ''бн No, I''ve been thinking about all of this incorrectly to begin withбн''

    Leonel''s Dreamscape sparked with greater vigor as his eyes glowed. Now that his mind wasn''t fatigued, the benefits of the improvements to his Dream Force and its positive impact on his Ability Index breathed a lung of fresh air into Leonel''s body.

    His mind jumped and sparks of lightning connected Force Crafting, the Life Grade and his Emulation Spatial Force, a wild series of connections that seemed completely irrelevant together. But to Leonel, it made all the sense in the world.

    ''A Force, its existence, is just an exhibit of the Life Grade. Wise Star Order already implied this when he described the existence of Scarlet Star Force to me. The reason its dangerous for my Innate Nodes to be so perfect and complete, and yet for my comprehension of it to be lacking, is precisely because this Force has a life of its own, it has a disposition, a personality of sorts, born from its own uniqueness.

    ''In that case, why would Emulation Spatial Force be different? The unique characteristic of the Life Grade is that it had left behind its individual parts and become something entirely different. Although it is true that Emulation Spatial Force is formed of Dream Force and Spatial Force, considering it as the sum of its parts rather than something exponentially different will only hold me back.''

    Leonel''s gaze glowed and the back of his neck glowed with a silvery-gold.

    Suddenly, he tapped at the air before him. A wide net appeared before him, but it became clear soon that it was less of a net and more of a grid. This grid of perfect cubes began to bend and warp, it looked almost like a simulation of gravity and the impact great masses had on space and its nodes.

    The nodes began to shift and change, and if one paid close attention, it would be possible to see that Leonel was repeating the pattern of slight distortion around his own body. One after another, a perfect replica of the distortions continued to multiply, again and then again.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed. His outstretched finger flipped and he suddenly snapped his finger. Right at that moment the golden grid was flooded with a silvery flame. At that moment, the distortions solidified and one perfect replica of Leonel appeared after another.

    Soon, the entire city lord manor was filled with clones of Leonel.

    Up above the Heir Wars world, few were still paying attention to Leonel in the grand scheme. But when it came to the most important figures, although fireworks were going off on the night side continent, none of them left Leonel for more than a few minutes at a time.I think you should take a look at

    When they saw him break into Tier 8 seemingly just standing and thinking, their pupils couldn''t help but constrict. There didn''t seem to be anything logical about his breakthrough, only Ancestor Hito could sense the sudden eruption of Leonel''s Dream Force. He had comprehended something profound that allowed him to take such a step.

    But for Leonel to comprehend something like that right after a battle, and in such a tired stateбн Just what kind of monster was he exactly? It didn''t make any sense.

    However, this change shocked them even more than before. The reason for that was simpleбн

    They couldn''t tell which one was the real Leonel! And this included Ancestor Hito who had formed this world in the first place. Each clone was so perfect that they all felt like the real Leonel.

    They had seen Leonel use clones already in this war, but they had always been able to easily tell what was happening. But nowбн

    Leonel''s clones suddenly all vanished, and to their shock, the "real" Leonel, the one they had been locked onto all the while, wasn''t there at all. Just when they were wondering where he could have possibly gone, their hearts trembled.

    There, by a pillar of the hall, Leonel stood with a light smile on his face. If they remembered correctly, that was the location of where another clone had been just moments before. That was when it hit them.

    Leonel had swapped with one of his clones seamlessly and they hadn''t even been able to notice it happened.

    It had to be remembered that the images they were seeing now were absolutely perfect. There were no details missing, Leonel might as well have been standing right in front of them at the moment. And yet, even as Eighth Dimensional existences, they didn''t notice the change, it had been perfectly seamless.

    Leonel didn''t seem to care despite the fact he knew others were observing him.

    He realized his approach had been wrong.

    He kept thinking of Scarlet Star Force like it was a Fire Force, it wasn''t Fire at all, it was Fire, Star and Light Force, unless he could fuse those concepts in his mind, he had no right to try and define it.

    This was also the case for his Void Star Force and his Vital Star Force.

    His perspective on the world seemed to shift entirely.

 Chapter 2005 New Path

    ?

    Leonel tapped a finger at the air again. At that moment, a wisp of blue appeared. In one moment, it seemed like a liquid, but then it became like a gaseous fog, sometimes like that fog was viscous, at other times it was as fleeting as the wind.

    Leonel stared intently. He couldn''t seem to decide on a form.

    After a moment, he waved his hand and let it disperse. He realized after a few seconds that he didn''t know nearly enough about Void Star Force to make such a decision, and by extension he likely didn''t know enough about Vital Star Force either.

    Although he understood what he had to do, taking the actual steps was too difficult. That saidбн

    Leonel tapped the air and a flickering red gold flame appeared. However, he almost instantly understood that it was wrong.

    The flickering flame changed, becoming more and more solid. In the blink of an eye, it went from the wisp of a flame to a solid rotating ball. Every time it rotated, an echo of destruction flew out in a wave. It felt far more powerful, but somehow not quite right either.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed and suddenly the solid sphere became covered by a sea of flames, one state of solid and another of fire and gas, supplemented by a hidden layer of echoing silence. It didn''t crackle, it didn''t pop, a frightening sort of silence enveloped everything.

    With a clench of his fist, the Scarlet Star Force became a spear. A solid rod formed beneath the raging flames. A blade formed with a glass-like consistency, one could see right through it. And yet, with just a tap to the ground, the foundation of the city lord manor seemed to be on the verge of collapsing entirely.

    ''So that meansбн''

    Leonel grabbed at the air with another hand, a dark blue spear forming. However, it didn''t seem quite right. It was then it suddenly clicked.

    With a slight shift, the foundation of the dark blue Force became an amorphous blob, rotating like a blackhole. What was odd was that the center felt completely malleable. However, just before one reach the core, it was entirely solid, the suction force became so strong near it that everything, even the air itself, solidified.

    If one had paid attention, it would have been clear that this was simply the inversion of what Leonel had done with his Scarlet Star Force and it suddenly slipped into place.

    BANG!

    Suddenly, Leonel''s Void Star Force Stars and Scarlet Star Force Stars appeared on their own, their Runes rotating to life.

    Leonel''s irises began to glow, one with a fierce red gold glow, and the other with a fierce blue black. His hair fluttered, despite the fact he had only just entered Tier 8, his aura surged once again and he entered Tier 9. His aura seemed to want to soar past that, but there was simply nowhere to go.

    His Force spilled over in waves, the city trembling again and again.

    Leonel couldn''t seem to hold back. He raised his head to the skies, unleashing a roar.I think you should take a look at

    The waves of the ocean near his city rose like a tsunami. However, just when it seemed that it would swallow his city whole, it seemed to have crashed into an invisible dome. It was sent flying back with even greater speed, splitting the ocean tides into two to the point the barren bottom of the ocean could be seen for dozens of miles.

    Leonel''s palm flipped over as a spear appeared in his hand. The blade rod expanded and a menacing blade formed.

    With a step through the air, Leonel appeared high in the skies, thrusting out his spear. His blade tip vanished and he seemed to have pierced out dozens of times in a single instant.

    Leonel''s stance shifted and his spear swung. A beautiful spear dance overwhelmed the skies. Every time Leonel moved, the clouds above would split, after several moments, a gorgeous pattern appeared within him.

    The wind moved with his breath, space bent to his movements, time paused with his sight.

    A complex Force Art continuously grew beneath his feet. It seemed to respond to his spear dance, forming gentle strokes with his soft movement and thick gauges with his powerful eruptions.

    Leonel felt like a god upholding the skies. There didn''t seem to be a division between the air he thrust through, the skies above and the earth below. Every time he attacked it was as though his blade covered everything in the plane, and soon the beautiful pattern appearing in the clouds above also began to form on the ground below.

    The Morales watching this spear dance felt their spears hum. Those with the Spear Domain Lineage Factor couldn''t even control themselves as their spear crowns appeared above their heads, their irises flickering with raging Spear Force that wanted to howl into the skies above.

    Their hearts moved with Leonel''s every swing, their breaths caught in their throats.

    It had all clicked for Leonel at once. It was all connected. Indeed, the Life Grade had always been the guiding lamp. The moment he had thought that his Force Arts would be the secret to the next evolution of his spear, he had been correct. He just hadn''t known what the foundation would beбн

    But now he knew.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as his spear pierced into the skies. His entire being moved as one, the clouds above and the ground below glowed, the Force Art beneath his feet suddenly expanding to the point that it dwarfed the city below it.

    The spear howl seemed to be heard throughout the Human Domain, it tore through the canopy, forming the maw of a dragon as it soared, striking through the starry skies above.

    It was the kind of strike that would be indelibly marked in the memories of all those who saw it. It was a statement bolder than arrogance, louder than words, timeless and ageless.

    It was the strike of a new path of the spear.

 Chapter 2006 Over 20 Years Later

    ?

    The hearts of the various Ancestors palpitated. That strikeбн That strikeбн

    Why did they feel like it was so dangerous?

    It was the kind of strike they were confident they could deal with, but it was also the kind of strike they felt that if they were too casual with, they would be forced to suffer a small loss. It could most definitely draw blood. How was that possible?!

    At that moment, Leonel''s words from a month ago echoed in their minds once again. Indeedбн If they had allowed him to step into the Seventh Dimension, where would the suspense be?!

    Right before their eyes, Leonel had gone from Tier 7 to Tier 8, and then Tier 9 just 20 minutes later. It should have taken years to cross barriers of the Sixth Dimension. Leonel had given the others a 20 year head start and most of them had only barely stepped into Tier 1 of the Seventh Dimension! Watching a man go through two Tiers in not even an hourбн How could they accept this?!

    What made it worse is how Leonel broke through. This confirmed to them all that it was simply impossible for him to have taken the Conventional Path. Leonel had obviously used comprehension to breakthrough, and that wasn''t possible with the Conventional Path which was entirely about tempering the body. He would have needed to consume some resources before he could break through, but they had all been watching him, he had clearly not consumed anything.

    For one''s comprehension to be so strongбн Could even the likes of Cynthia and Velasco compare?

    Velasco wasn''t even 30 years old when he entered the Seventh Dimension, just like Leonel. However, what no one realized was that Leonel didn''t even know what Dimensions were until he was 18 years old whereas Velasco had been born and raised in the Morales family. It was simply impossible to compare these two things.

    He had to die.

    бн

    Leonel lowered his spear, his gaze still sparkling. He had never unleashed such a powerful strike before, it felt good. With that strike alone, he had reached the Fourth Layered State, just a step away from the Impetus Stage. It had to be remembered that the Impetus Stage was the requirement for entering the Ninth Heaven, to even approach such a state was absolutely game changing.

    However, Leonel wasn''t complacent.

    For one, to unleash that attack, he needed to complete his spear dance. Right now, his methods were imperfect so he first had to draw the power of several strikes before converging them into one. The process of drawing the Force Art currently shrinking beneath his feet right now wasn''t small. At the moment, it took over 10 000 strokes of his spear to reach this perfect state.

    In battle at his level, that would take several minutes to achieve, around five minutes or so. This wasn''t very long normally, but a lot could happen in a battle, the most obvious of which would be his ritual being interrupted. And obviously, a person who he needed to use such a strike against would be more than capable of interrupting him.

    The second problem was that this was the Fourth Layered State for a "mere" Sixth Dimensional Spear Force. If he improved to a Seventh Dimensional Spear Force now, he would only be able to touch the Third Layered State with this spear dance. And Leonel had no intention of holding back his Spear Force just for this.

    There was good news, though.I think you should take a look at

    When he began his spear dance, each and every one of his spear strikes was at the limit of the Third Layer, individually more powerful than almost any other technique he had. This meant that while he was accumulating, it wasn''t as though he couldn''t threaten his opponent. In fact, he would be likely to shred an enemy to pieces before he could even unleash the final attack.

    But then there was more bad news. Leonel wasn''t quite sure how to translate this to his bow.

    With his spear, he could use his spear dance, but with his bow he could only stand in place and draw his bowstring, he would be a sitting duck. When would he have the time to stand around for five minutes in battle without attacking?

    For the first time, his spear had actually surpassed his archery at least in this regard.

    Luckily, there was more good news.

    There were two paths before him to improve now. The first was simplifying the Force Art, the second was strengthening it. Decreasing the number of lines for the former, and potentially adding layers of complexity for the latter.

    In addition, this was just one spear dance, Leonel felt that he could create more with differing aspects. This one was particularly overbearing, it was like a beast rampaging within its cage and pulling against its chains, roaring when it finally made its way out.

    If he could create several spear dances, each with their own unique flare, he could one day enter a state of battle where he never had to step out of his spear dances at all, he could glide from one spear dance to the next, seamlessly using them.

    If he reached such a state, it would be almost impossible to interrupt a spear dance because he could just flow into another. If it was himself flowing from one to the next, he wouldn''t lose any progress. That way, he could incrementally complete one spear dance at a time until he had gathered so much momentum that he could bulldoze his opponents.

    In fact, maybe one day he would even be able to fuse the final strikes of his spear dances into one, creating an ultimate attack that was simply unblockable.

    Leonel''s spear trembled once and he took a breath, exhaling.

    He looked down at the heavy black rod in his hands. In the past, just trying to catch it had crushed his fingers, but now he could hear it roar.

    Just now, Leonel had finally sensed the Domain of the black rod and he couldn''t help but grin.

    Over 20 years ago, he had given up the Shadow Sovereign Lineage Factor and chose to protect an unborn child.

    20 years later, things seemed to have come full circle. Who could have known that he had had Shadow Sovereignty in the palm of his hands all the while?

 Chapter 2007 Good Timing

    ?

    Leonel''s gaze shifted to the Force Art slowly shrinking beneath his feet. He realized that he probably had one more strike in him if he did so now, but it would only be about half as strong as the one just now.

    ''Depending on the situation in battle, I''ll have to adjust that. Whether I grow more efficient at releasing it all at once, or hold back on the first strike so that I can have a second. Either way, I''ll just have to keep those thoughts tucked in the back of my mind.''

    Leonel subtly nodded to himself and stepped down from the skies.

    In the past, he still had to rely on his Emulation Spatial Force to step into the air, but he could now do it on his own. Aside from those with flying Ability Indexes, he was probably the only one of the Sixth Dimension who could do this without relying on Force itself, but rather a comprehension of Force.

    This, though, made it clearer to Leonel the kind of gap that existed between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions. He still remembered a time he could just barely battle against those of the Fifth Dimension when he was still in the Third. But now this small gap had actually caused him so much trouble.

    From the Sixth Dimension onward, every step was fundamentally different and world changing.

    Flying was an ability only those who used the God Path and had stepped into the Seventh Dimension could perform. There was something metaphysical that changed in a person''s being.

    Leonel had stepped into that realm just now relying on his comprehension, but others had undergone this change with their bodies. When this was put into perspective, the large gap between what seemed to be just a single step made much more sense.

    On the ground, Radlis shook his head. He had just stepped out from a pod himself as these last two days had been really taxing for him, he didn''t expect to see Leonel entering Tier 9 right before his eyes.

    It had to be remembered that not even a year ago, he had witnessed Leonel going from Tier 1 to Tier 3 right before his eyes, and now he was already in Tier 9, right after he had already stepped into Tier 8.

    It would be easier to accept if he had taken the Conventional Path, but this was very clearly not that. His aura was too powerful and his momentum was far too stifling. Radlis had never met anyone in the first Tiers of the Seventh Dimension with a stronger aura than Leonel.

    By the time Leonel had landed, his light smile had vanished into the same cold expression he had carried for much of the Heir Wars. He could allow the time he had just wasted to go because he had exchanged it for more strength, but in general he didn''t want to waste anymore time.

    Now that he was in Tier 9, he had much more confidence. The only unfortunate part was that he didn''t have the next layers of [Dimensional Cleanse].

    To Leonel, the actual process of going through Tiers didn''t necessitate [Dimensional Cleanse], but the breakthrough process did.

    In addition, Leonel had yet to fully comprehend the Sixth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse] either. He had done so for the Fifth Dimensional Layer, allowing him to pass it on to others, but he had yet to even actively practice the Sixth Dimensional Layer, let alone comprehend it.I think you should take a look at pandasnovel.com

    He simply had too much to do and he was always busy. If not for his sharp comprehension, making it to Tier 9 in such a short time would have been nothing more than a good joke.

    Leonel slotted this matter to the back of his mind. It seemed like just as he had with the Fifth Dimensional Layer, he would have to practice it last minute.

    That said, that didn''t mean that he had no idea of how he might proceed forward. After all, [Dimensional Cleanse] was clearly very closely tied with the Universal Cycle Comprehension and methods of the Cataclysm Zone.

    pandasnovel.com This meant that the next step likely involved taking his Stars and crossing from the Heavenly Body Realm into the Natural Light Realm, then to enter the Seventh Dimension he would need to shatter them and enter the Cosmos Realm.

    If that was the case, even if he wanted to, Leonel wouldn''t be able to practice the Sixth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse], that was because he still hadn''t gained enlightenment on the Natural Light Realm.

    "Radlis, continue to monitor the situation on the night side continent. I''ll provide the points. I want you to build a bride of outposts between the edge of our territory and the opposing shoreline. Use those outposts as your method of quickly returning here. I want a report every six hours. You can connect it right hereбн"

    Leonel pointed out several things on the map and then relayed a few more orders. After he was done, he sent Radlis and the other members of the Umbra family away.

    Outposts could only be set up such that some part of their range was within a range of territory you already owned, so Leonel had no choice but to waste the points needed to build an entire bridge across the ocean just for the sake of this convenience. But right now, information was extremely important to him.

    In addition, given the fact that the outposts would be hidden under the ocean''s tides, the likelihood of them being found was minimal, and even if they were foundбн So what?

    He really wanted to see who would dare to attack him casually right now.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with a fierce light.

    At that moment, several teleportation signals were received and flashes of light rippled out as those Leonel had sent out to clear the challenges and dungeons began to return.

    Leonel nodded to himself. This timing was good. He would take the time to maximize the rewards they had gained first before heading out to hunt more Heir-Grade threats.

 Chapter 2008 Huge Deal

    ?

    The first thing the others brought back was quite interesting. It was a water freezing reward.

    It was exceptionally difficult to freeze salted water for obvious reasons and oceans in higher Dimensional worlds were even more resistant to such things. The Heir Wars planet had poles, but they weren''t frozen over as one might expect, or more accurately, the waters that ran through it weren''t. This wasn''t only because the waters were salted, but also because the ocean of this world was akin to a very wide river, constantly moving about and "orbiting" the planet.

    The freeze reward came from an Heir-Grade Dungeon, and it could be used in two ways.

    The first was to build a bridge. If Leonel wanted to, he could build an ice bridge from his current territory to the other side of the ocean. This bridge would be exceptionally deep and thick, destroying it would be hundreds of times more difficult than breaking down the walls of an Heir-Grade city.

    The second use case was to build an ice island. This island would be even more immutable and nigh indestructible. Though its range would obviously be much shorter than that of the ice bridge, it would still be about 10 kilometers in diameter. In addition, this ice island would come with its own city core, allowing one to build a territory upon it.

    This city would be unique. Rather than receiving a hundred times reduction to one''s territory, the reduction would only be 10 times. This meant if Leonel had a city transfer reward and displaced his city to the ice island, the 2000 kilometer range he had had that had been limited to 20 kilometers would become 200 kilometers instead.

    This was quite an exceptional benefit. After all, Leonel had to spend 30 billion points previously to gain just 300 kilometers of range. He would gain two thirds of that essentially for free if he could get a transfer reward.

    The width of the ocean was easily over 500 kilometers. It wrapped around the entire planet as well, so its length was easily over 3000 kilometers. Even so, this would go a long way. If Leonel could block out a section of the ocean with more than just outposts, the benefit would be exceptional and also stop others from encroaching without a willingness to bear arms.

    Even so, Leonel set this matter aside for a small time.

    The next reward was actually quite an excellent one. It was an Heir-Grade Protector, this was worth a great deal. An Heir-Grade Protector was worth easily 10 of just one of the soul constructs he had gathered until now. Even better than that, their defensive abilities were off the charts, so ultimately, their combat strength was better than just the estimate of 10 Leonel had. It would probably be able to deal with a fifth of the Heir-Grade Generals come the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge.

    Leonel crushed the rewards and released it, allowing it to join the other lower grade protectors. Though they were invisible for now, when the time came they should be quite useful.

    The next few rewards were miscellaneous, but useful nonetheless. This included an Heir-Grade city wall collapse reward, a territory expanding reward, and a Gold-Grade upgrade pass.

    The territory expanding reward was especially interesting because it was Heir-Grade. It allowed one to expand their territory as though one already had an Heir-Grade city.

    The territory of an Heir-Grade city was measured differently. The Gold-Grade had a limit of 2000 kilometers even after one exchanged points for more expansion. But an Heir-Grade territory encompassed a continent. Meaning, if Leonel used this reward, so long as there weren''t the territories of others present, his territory would expand to engulf a continent.

    The trouble with this, though, was that Leonel''s goal was obviously the ocean and this reward wouldn''t allow him to claim the entire ocean for obvious reasons. But as a reward from an ocean dungeon, there was obviously a provision for it to be used in this fashion.I think you should take a look at pandasnovel.com

    This was when Leonel learned that the ocean was split into four seas according to this description, each sea taking up a fourth of its length.

    According to the reward, if he attached this territory expansion to a "special ocean territory" he would be able to claim up to an entire sea for himself.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered when he read through this, that was because he had access to one such thing already, and that would be the ice island city. That said, there was a bit of a drawback.

    He would only be able to claim half of a sea with a Gold-Grade city. In order to claim a whole sea, he would need an Heir-Grade territory.

    Leonel fell into thought.

    He had access to more than enough cities now, although he didn''t use them. There was his decoy city which he could upgrade now with his Gold-Grade upgrade pass. After that, he would only need to find one more city to trigger the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge.

    ?andasnovelбд?om But there were two major problems with this.

    First, this would obviously make the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge three times more difficult, and he was still accumulating to challenge even the base level challenge. Unfortunately, he was still an enormous amount of points away from being able to afford it, and he was constantly spending points now, the bride of outposts just being one matter.

    The second issue was that challenging with a special ocean territory meant that he would have to deal with oceanic beasts instead of land beasts. They would be a huge headache for obvious reasons, and his formation wasn''t here to support him.

    Howeverбн Claiming an entire city was a huge dealбн

    That was especially since this reward didn''t say anything about being limited by the territories of others. That likely meant that even if there was someone encroaching on his sea right this moment, they would be kicked out.

    This was a huge deal.

    Leonel fell into silence.

 Chapter 2009 Battle Intent

    ?

    Leonel had to function with the assumption that if he could accomplish something, although he was ahead now, that didn''t mean others couldn''t accomplish it in the future. In fact, there were probably multiple paths to accomplish the same thing, that meant in the future there would likely be others claiming seas and Leonel knew that he had to be one of them. More importantly, he had to be the first among them.

    Right now, the only advantage he had outside of his own combat strength was that he was the first to form a Gold-Grade territory. But if he was complacent, soon, others would begin to catch up. If he idled any longer, his advantage would be swallowed up. This was why he had taken the risk to march on the day side continent in the first place.

    However, this decision was still many times more difficult. The simple fact was that he didn''t see a simple path toward clearing the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge, let alone three times it. He had fought the Heir-Grade threats personally just now, they were monsters.

    With the improvements to his strength, he could likely take one down easily now, but a single wave would have a hundred, a fusion challenge would have 300. Most of his subordinates couldn''t battle even a single Gold-Grade threat, let alone 300 Heir-Grade threats.

    That didn''t mention the other elephant in the roomбн 100 million Gold-Grade threats, or 300 million in this case. That was the population of a decently sized country back on Earth. In the grand scheme of the Human Domain, it was a small number, but it was a crushing mountain to the current Leonel. Even if he had the option he wouldn''t be able to control that many soul constructs either, even if he factored in the recent improvement to his Dream Force.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled, closing his eyes.

    This had to be done. The only thought process now should be figuring out how.

    His eyes snapped open and his focus seemed to have increased. He scanned through the remaining rewards, most of which were still miscellaneous until he landed on one.

    This reward was in the shape of a conch one could blow into. There were two options, the first was to summon 10 Heir-Grade threats, the other was to summon one million Gold-Grade threats. All of them would be oceanic beasts.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''It seems that I''ll have to bring out one more of my trump cards.''

    Those watching likely had no idea just how much Leonel was holding back currently. He had many methods that he hadn''t used, but that was because he was aware that he was being observed and his goal was never just to win the Heir Wars. His eyes had been on the war that was doubtless to follow once he did win.

    In his eyes, this was nothing more than a precursor.

    But in order to assure his victory, it seemed he would have to bring out a bit more.

    He raised the conch to his lips. His chest expanded and he practically roared into its body. A billowing sound that caused the ocean to become agitated echoed time and time again. Then, he lowered it.

    "You all go and rest. When you feel refreshed, continue with the same plan, we''ll keep pushing forward like this, there''ll only be just one slight change.

    "The rewards from dungeons are less predictable and there''s no reproducibility. Focus on challenges for now, namely challenges with the highest possibility of producing upgrade clear rewards. Once we''ve found one more Gold-Grade upgrade challenge clear reward and a territory displacement reward, change your focus back to dungeons."

    The others nodded and Leonel handed a ring to Aina.

    "Aina, these are the corpses of the Heir-Grade threats I''ve dealt with until now. From now on, I won''t kill them. Is this enough."

    Aina swept her senses into it and looked up with a nod. "It''s enough. This will last me a very long time."

    "Mm. Good." Leonel nodded before flickering and vanishing.

    Leonel appeared on the tall city walls, looking down to the churning waters below.I think you should take a look at

    One after another, large oceanic beasts began to appear. Each was at least 20 meters large and they were all stingrays glistening with a silvery black color.

    These stingrays were all Gold-Grade threats and with the conch by his side, they were all under Leonel''s control.

    Leonel hopped down from the city walls and landed on the back of one. He inspected it for a moment before diving below the raging waters.

    The scene below could only be described as fascinating. These stingrays went for as far as the eye could see, especially in these dark waters. Their majesty was great and their beauty greater, but this wouldn''t do much to help Leonel.

    He tested it just now and the amount of control he had over these stingrays was incredibly limited. At beast, he could point them toward a direction to attack and he could group them up. As for how they attacked, that was left up to them.

    This army of a million seemed majestic, but they would get chewed up and spit out by an army of 300 million. Even the three million from Leonel''s Gold-Grade challenge would have laid waste to them.

    However, Leonel still inspected them all one by one. If one was paying attention to his mind, it would be possible to see a perfect replica of each stingray being carefully slotted away. They were accurate down the finest millimeter, completely flawless.

    After several moments. Leonel resurfaced.

    He commanded the stingrays to stay near the surface and avoid running into the territory of the ocean beasts below. If he lost a few of them for a stupid reason, it would be too late to regret.

    Leonel appeared back with his city and exhaled a breath.

    Each stingray was a slightly different size, it seemed that he couldn''t rely on the Segmented Cube this time.

    Although it might be possible to create something simple like a collar with an adjustable size and mass produce it that way, the effects wouldn''t be what he wanted. The power would be limited.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed.

    It seemed he would have to act personally again.

    As for Leonel''s planбн it was about time he put an idea that had been swimming in mind to action.

    Back in the Cataclysm Zone, he had seen a concept for armors that could allow troops to fuse their power into one and output more strength than just the sum of their parts. It was akin to working in formation, but with warriors being the nodes instead of something else.

    If he wanted to clear the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge as quickly as possible, he would have to create an army of Gold-Grade threats that could destroy a threat 300 times their size.

    Little Tolly squirmed from its position on Leonel''s wrist, clearly feeling Leonel''s battle intent. Or, maybe... It should be called Crafting Intent.

    A cold smile spread across Leonel''s lips.

    These old bastards would have to watch carefully now. The number one Crafter of the younger generation had been him for a very long while, if they truly thought he had opponents, they would be in for a rude awakening.

 Chapter 2010 True Talent

    ?

    Little Tolly snaked out from around Leonel''s wrist, spreading into the skies.

    This little one had been noticed by everyone long ago. But it only now seemed to click that Leonel didn''t have the slightest protection on his body. He came into direct contact with Little Tolly without the slightest worry, his synergy with his Metal Spirit was as high as it could be.

    But what was maybe even more shocking than this was the fact Little Tolly was still only in the Fifth Dimension. What was Leonel planning to do with such a weak Metal Spirit?

    They had seen Leonel use Little Tolly before, but back then Leonel was only bending a metal alloy into shape, and that metal wasn''t necessarily designed to be hard and sturdy, it was only created for the sake of facilitating his Dream World. But nowбн

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. He didn''t even seem intent on using a workbench.

    In his mind, several blueprints flashed and then vanished before flashing once again. He refined, shattered and then rebuilt.

    Leonel tapped at the air as Little Tolly circled his neck before rising high into the skies. At that moment, the grid of his Emulation Spatial Force appeared once again. Quickly, Leonel''s settled upon design began to appear.

    It was in the shape of an odd winged armor. There was a strong spine that ran down the back and looked like a sapphire blue set of spinal bones locked into one another. Each ended in a menacing blade, and despite the fact it was just a projection, the sharpness seemed to tear into the eyes of those watching.

    After a moment of astonishment, it suddenly clicked. This sort of armor wasn''t for humans, it was for the stingrays.

    Their eyes couldn''t help but open wide. That was impossible.

    Setting aside the fact creating an armor you weren''t used to was an almost impossible task, doing so for a million existence was an endeavor that should have taken years of effort. Even if you sped it up, it should take months.

    Even if you completed an armor a second, completing a million of them would take over a week, nearing two, let alone the fact it would take several hours to complete just one. Even if you managed to complete one an hour, a pace that could only be said to be blazing, it would take over a century!

    They couldn''t fathom what Leonel was trying to do. Even if he had a method to speed up these time tables by several factors, several months would still be an overly exaggerated estimate. But even then, several months might be enough time for the entire Heir Wars to come to an end.

    At that point, should Leonel have a better go-to than this? Unlessбн This was really all he had.

    The Morales Ancestors could only sigh. Leonel had truly done quite excellently until now, but much more couldn''t be asked of him. If he was in the Seventh Dimension, the winner seemed to be clear to them already. But even though he was in Tier 9 now, even if it was adjusted for his insane speed, several months would be an outrageous estimate for how fast he could enter the Seventh Dimension. Most were stuck for decades to even centuries at this step, even the Cataclysm Generation geniuses were stuck for at least five to seven years on average at that step.

    However, right thenбн Leonel began to move.

    His arms flared out and his hands trembled once. A golden glow formed a layer of his hands before separating. Right then, a perfect replica of Leonel''s hands appeared in the air beside his reals once. Then there was a second glow, then a third.I think you should take a look at

    In the blink of an eye, 999 pairs of hands appeared in the skies, with Leonel''s own making exactly 1000.

    "You can handle it right, little guy?"

    *Bloop*Bloop

    Little Tolly''s body shuddered once before a raging torrent formed. The skies seemed to be blotted out by a silvery tsunami, casting a shadow over a large swath of the city.

    Leonel grinned. Little Tolly might still be in the Fifth Dimension, but it was only ever fed the highest quality materials. Its foundation was incredibly solid and the only reason it hadn''t entered the Sixth Dimension was because Leonel was still trying to find a Force Eruption to allow it the perfect evolution.

    Metal Spirits were exceptionally dangerous existences, they could even swallow planets if they were allowed to rampage unchecked. There was a reason Leonel''s casual actions around it were seen as so shocking. And nowбн Leonel had fully unleashed it.

    Little Tolly could already break into dozens of pieces back when Leonel was still in the Third Dimension, but now, even breaking into a thousand wasn''t a problem.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed and countless ores appeared in the air. He had traded for so many with his points until now that he hadn''t even used up a tenth of what he had in reserve. He had more than he knew what to do with, and they were about to be of great use.

    Leonel''s thousand pair of hands flexed just once and as though striking down toward the keys of a piano, they shattered the sound barrier on the way down, a roar that echoed across the continent and through the oceans rising in a torrent.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Little Tolly''s countless pieces surged forward, its processing speed under Leonel''s control immaculate.

    A heartfelt silence reigned. It felt as though there was simply nothing else to say. Seeing Leonel''s skill for the first time, Cynthia''s expression changed for the first time, her heart skipping a beat.

    They had all seen Leonel breakthrough in Emulation Spatial Force together. This meant that Leonel had only just gained the skill to use several pairs of hands like this so seamlessly. And yetбн And yet he was not only skilled enough to execute such a thing, but he was also doing so with such confidence.

    How much self assurance must one have to try something you had never done before with your Fate on the line before the eyes of trillions?

    It was then that she realized the scariest thing about Leonel wasn''t his lineage, nor was it his talentбн

 Chapter 2011 Without Fail

    Chapter 2011  Without Fail

    Leonel was incomparably focused. His fingers tapped at slightly different rhythms, but each of their speeds was blinding,

    The ores before him were quickly heated, each of them being shed of their impurities.

    The way he approached purification now and the past was vastly different. Before, his only focus was making the ore shine in its own personal strongest light. But now, he saw things several steps ahead. Sometimes, he would even purposely leave impurities behind, knowing that certain changes would actually aid this ore to better bind with the future pieces of the alloy.

    This was what it meant to have entered the Life Grade, comprehending the holistic view of your creation rather than dealing with individual portions.

    His actions moved smoothly from one step to the next. Despite the fact he was working with such a large amount of materials considering the size of the stingrays, he finished the purification process in not even 10 minutes. His speed could only be said to be mind numbing.

    However, the results for those in the crowd who were laymen was underwhelming. Even from here they could see that many impurities were left behind, but they felt that this was likely the best Leonel could do given the circumstances. Only time would tell if the results would be good enough.

    Despite the feelings of these laymen, the Morales Ancestors and the Force Crafting Guild Crafters had all stood to their feet, their eyes wide as they moved forward as though they needed to get a closer glance.

    Leonel was keeping this relatively simple, working with just three Sixth Dimensional Ores, and, of course, using Urbe Ore as a foundation. It was for partly this reason that his actions seemed to be so desperate. What could Silver Grade treasures do to meaningfully change his situation at the moment?

    Two of these Ores were water based, while the third was a water-wind fusion that was particularly unruly. This third ore was known as Green Storm Ore, and what made it even odder was the fact it was a Vein Type Ore.

    own.

    The laymen weren''t able to see the subtle actions Leonel was taking, but how could This meant that it wasn''t only unruly, but one had to be delicate and finely controlled in its usage. Vein Type Ores were usually built into the core of treasures and used to write out the most integral Force Arts to a Craft.

    However, the method by which Leonel was refining it, and then subsequently fusing it with two foundational Water Force Ores, was justбн

    Genius.

    Leonel made the unruly ore look like a docile child. His mind worked on a plane of its own.

    The laymen weren''t able to see the subtle actions Leonel was taking, but how could the Ancestors not? They felt as though they were seeing a prodigy rising up before their eyes. Even until now, they couldn''t quite comprehend how Leonel''s armors were all of the Life Grade, but it seemed to suddenly click into place right this moment.

    The Green Storm Ore was spun into a thin filament, so thin that it floated through the sky like a thread of silk, weightless and flexible.

    One after another, Leonel began to form the spinal bones of the armor, threading the Green Storm Ore into the Water Force Ores it should have clashed with.

    A beautiful pile of refined metals began to appear. They shimmered with blue, like sapphires sparkling beneath the ocean''s surface. Within then, fine patterns of emerald glowed, giving it a mysterious appearance.

    At the same time, Leonel was refining one blade after another. This blade was formed by two Wind Force ores and yet another water-wind ore that was once again Green Storm Ore.

    Each blade was as thin as a cicada. They fluttered through the wind like a leaf, looking much more like the thin fins of a beautiful fish rather than the blades they were. With just a single jolt, they went from fragile and flexible to incredibly tough and sharp.

    The craftsmanship could only be described as gorgeous.

    The hours ticked by, and then over a day, but it seemed to finally click. Leonel didn''t need monthsбн By the end of the third day, he would be finished.

    The bags around Leonel''s eyes were so dark that they had become a dense black. However, his fingers continued to strike with the same speed, large numbers of armors floating in the air with a renewed sort of vigor.

    Leonel''s wrist trembled as a Force Crafting pen appeared. Suddenly, that Force Crafting pill multiplies, 2000 appearing, one for each of his hands.

    He took a breath and exhaled before his hands suddenly began to move with lightning speed. The skies were filled with golden arcs and complex Force Arts were formed one after another like the gears of a pocket watch.

    The gazes of those shocked by Leonel''s abilities turned to confusion. They had simply never seen such Force Arts before, it was completely foreign to them. They were even having trouble comprehending what they could do.

    Was this Leonel''s trump card?

    Suddenly, Leonel''s body froze and he felt backward, only to be caught in a soft embrace. However, by that point, he was already lightly snoring.

    Aina looked down with a hint of worry before looking up to the large pile of armors. Others would have a city filled with subordinates by now, the size of a Gold-Grade city was already enough to accommodate a population of millions. But Leonel''s city was filled with these large armors instead.

    To forge a million armors, even with a thousand hands, was akin to each pair of hands completing an army every four to five minutes. Keeping up such a pace for over 72 hoursбн She could imagine the kind of burden he had taken on.

    However, while she was worried about Leonel''s wellbeing, the Human Domain was in an uproar.

    After Leonel had finished those final strokes, the auras of the armors had solidified and took true form.

    Each one of those armors, without failбн Was in the Life Grade.

 Chapter 2012 Blueprints

    Chapter 2012  Blueprints

    The commotion this caused was hard to describe. It felt as though Leonel palm had suddenly descended from the skies, casting a shadow over all and gripping each one of their hearts one by one.

    Life Grade Crafters were simply impossibly rare. In the whole of the Human Domain, the number of them weren''t even close to four digits. In fact, they weren''t even half way there. The difficulty of crossing that final step was one that had stalled many for far too long.

    To put this matter into perspective, there were easily millions upon millions of Gold Grade Crafters, and yet not even 500 Life Grade Crafters. This was how solid this bottleneck was.

    There were some exceptionally rare geniuses who could cross this step while in the Seventh Dimension. But it was more accurate to say that this was just a painting of how difficult it was to step into the Eighth Dimension rather than a function of how difficult it was to become a Life Grade Crafter. It was simply impossible for a person to focus on both unless you were on the level of Cynthia and Velasco, or had many, many years of experience like the Omann and Morales Ancestors.

    And yet, here was an absolute genius with the strength of a Seventh Dimensional existence at the Sixth Dimension who had already crossed this threshold. In fact, it seemed that he had crossed it long ago, so much so that he could create a million of them right before their eyes.

    Cynthia gripped the railing of the Omann family flagship. Her pupils couldn''t seem to stop trembling even when she tried to stabilize herself.

    She had realized something from the beginning that everyone else was only now realizing.

    This stingraysбн Leonel had no way of knowing they would be the oceanic beast he would receive, he hadn''t even known what reward his subordinates would be able to bring back ahead of time. That meant that Leonel had casually drawn up a blueprint for a Life Grade treasure in a few minutes before executing it right before all of their eyes.

    Blueprinting was a process that should have taken years alone. Cynthia had spent an entire decade on the blueprint she was most proud of, she hadn''t even gotten around to Crafting it yet. The essence of the Life Grade made the blueprint more important than almost the entire rest of the process.

    To be in the "Life Grade" only meant that you had created at least one blueprint of that level and had succeeded in Crafting it. Many of the not even 500 Life Grade Crafters in existence in the Human Domain only had one or two Life Grade blueprints to their name and they were greatly praised for it.

    These one or two blueprints would be entirely unique to these Crafters and often powerful families and experts would be exorbitant prices just to have one of these unique treasures under their possession.

    There was a very good reason why the White Lion Bow was such a big deal despite only having been at the Quasi Life Grade for most of its life until recently. Life Grade treasures were impossible rare, so impossibly rare that it was difficult to put into words.

    The best of the Life Grade Crafters had one or two dozen blueprints under their wings, including Cynthia. Only Ancestor Hito of the Morales and the oldest Omann were speculated to have hundreds, maybe even thousands of such blueprints.

    However, there was a vast difference between having thousands of such blueprintsбн and casually creating one after a few minutes of thought.

    Of course, there was also a difference between creating Life Grade Crafts using Sixth Dimensional materials and Eighth Dimensional materials like the ones Cynthia and the other Crafters of her level used. But Cynthia wasn''t a fool, the gate of the Life Grade had little to do with Dimension, that was something only laymen believed.

    Fundamentally, a Life Grade Crafter, regardless of the base materials used, was still the Life Grade. It was several orders of magnitude more valuable than the basic materials used.

    The more Cynthia thought about it, the harder she squeezed. This was the first time she had been so agitated, even Leonel''s combat strength hadn''t done this. Not his Scarlet Star Force, not his Void Star Force, not his Vital Star Force, not even his powerful Dream Force.

    The weight of a Life Grade Crafter who could do such things was too much.

    But what Cynthia didn''t know was that the weight was about to become much, much heavier than she could have ever expected.

    бн

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, breathing heavily three times before his beating heart calmed. He had really pushed it this time, but the Life Grade was a very finicky realm to enter. If he had taken a break in the middle minute changes could have occurred that would have caused him to have to recalculate all over again, that would only make his situation even worse and extend the time he needed to take.

    Leonel pushed his way out and stepped out of the pod. Judging by the skies above, he had managed to recover in just 45 minutes, this was good. There was no time to waste.

    With a wave of his hand, the skies were suddenly filled with armors, shimmering like sapphires and emeralds.

    The ground shook and Leonel took a leap to the city walls.

    The armors shot down under his control, slipping onto the bodies of the stingrays below. The sound of clicking resounded before the blue waters suddenly began to glow.

    Suddenly, the stingrays seemed to naturally be formed into groups, a radiant aura coming from them.

    Leonel checked a new spatial ring that had appeared on his hand and nodded to himself. In the three days he had been focused on Crafting, the others had already succeeded in finding what he needed.

    Without hesitation, Leonel executed several actions in a row, upgrading his cities to the Gold-Grade one after another and then fusing them.

    The sea began to churn wildly.

    In another insane feat, Leonel had activated the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge without even waiting for the others to return.

 Chapter 2013 Monster

    Chapter 2013  Monster

    With a flip of his palm, Leonel''s black rod appeared. His hair whipped in the salty winds as the high sun pierced downward, illuminating everything.

    The waters turned frothy and agitated, but the cool air of the ice island he now stood upon left him feeling calm and unhurried. A confident aura exuded from Leonel, his momentum steadily growing with each passing second.

    In the distance, the waters began to rise. 300 large whale beasts appeared, surrounding the ice island entirely. Around them, millions of oceanic beasts began to appear. The numbers were so numerous that the waters turned black, a sharp contrast from the previous clarity. However, Leonel remained calm.

    The spectators could only remain silent. Were the Life Grade armors really enough?

    No one underestimated the worth of the Life Grade, but the problem was that they were so rare that many didn''t even have a reference for how powerful they should be. Most would kill to get their hands on even a top tier Gold Grade weapon, and this was all the reference they had.

    But was it enough to close a gap of 1 to 300?

    It was hard to believe especially when the Heir-Grade Generals began to appear. They looked to be even about 10% stronger than Heir Grade threats that Leonel had fought previously, each one was menacing to an extreme and seemed to have the strength to lay waste to Leonel''s city.

    But at that moment, Leonel, who had everyone''s focus, suddenly sneered. He raised his free hand and snapped his fingers.

    Right then, the world turned entirely silent.

    On the front line, a group of 10 stingrays suddenly trembled. They felt their backs grow hot as a powerful Force Art suddenly activated, but the chilly waters immediately cooled them down.

    A slight sheen of bluish green formed on their bodies until they suddenly explosively expanded, forming a gorgeous, shimmering bubble. Then, these 10 bubbles, one to each stingray, came into contact with one another and overlapped, fusing into one and forming a large bubble that enveloped all ten of them.

    Just when it seemed like it was all finished, the large bubble morphed, flattening out and gaining sharper edges and a long protrusion until it formed the construct of an enormous illusory stingray that contained 10 stingrays within.

    Even the smallest stingray was about 20 meters from wing tip to wing tip. But now, with this construct enveloping 10 of them, they seemed to have become larger than life, dwarfing 250 meters as they slowly swung their tails.

    In that instant, this process repeated, all at the same time, across the stingrays. At that moment, an army of what was once a million large stingrays had become an army of 100 000 enormous monstrosities, each causing vicious hurricane-like cyclones with just their small, insignificant movements.

    Leonel looked down as the challenge approached. He could almost feel the skepticism radiating from the observers. He had just limited the flexibility of the army he did have by a factor of ten and the change didn''t seem to be significant enough to cause any changes. What was the point of this?

    But Leonel''s sneer only deepened. He didn''t seem to have any intention of attacking himself.

    "Kill."

    His words descended and the world suddenly changed.

    On the front line, the first line of stingray constructs suddenly jolted.

    The movement could only be described as a bolt of emerald green lightning. They left afterimages in the water, splitting it apart with such speed that a huge dividing line in the shape of an inverted ''V'' appeared on the surface.

    Fast.

    This was the only thought that those watching could have.

    So fast that it was crippling, so fast that it left only time for despair.

    The stingrays didn''t even seem prepared for the level of speed they had now, so much so that they could do nothing but ram into the line of beasts they were facing. It was the kind of tactic that should have assured death. A hundred thousand running into a dense pack of over 300 million, how could it even compare?

    And yetбн

    Silence reigned.

    The stingray constructs shredded everything in their path. Their wings were as sharp as blades and their tails and menacing as jagged daggers with the soft touch of silk. Every time they moved, the water would churn and become their spearhead, shredding skin and blubber apart as though wet tissue paper.

    In a single charge each stingray had killed no less than a hundred in a single sweep, and not a single one had been injured. The construct that enveloped them seemed to double for both defense and offense, without the strength to tear it apart, harming the stingrays within was simply impossible. No matter how hard they tried, the mere Gold-Grade threats had no ability to cause more than a ripple on their surface, let alone shattering them apart.

    The Heir-Grade constructs bellowed into the skies, but in response, Leonel just took a seat down on the city walls. He realized that he had underestimated even himself. It seemed that it wouldn''t be necessary for him to raise a finger at all.

    Under the shocked gazes of the spectators, the first stingray construct, powered by a squadron of ten, made it to the first Heir-Grade General.

    The two clashed, the stingray construct trembling wildly as the Heir-Grade General was sent reeling backward, the howl of a whale echoing tragically as several cuts were carved out along its thick belly.

    The stingray''s construct cracked and threatened to collapse, but that was when a second came in and rushed into the body of the Heir-Grade General, shredding it to pieces.

    It was then that it finally seemed to settle in.

    Leonel hadn''t gone from a million Gold-Grade threats to just a hundred thousandбн

    He had gone from a million Gold-Grade threats to a hundred thousand Heir-Grade threats.

    The railing Cynthia was holding onto shattered, her fair palms bleeding as it was ravaged by cuts and scrapes.

    Leonel could only be described as a little monster.

 Chapter 2014 Two Options

    Chapter 2014  Two Options

    Leonel pushed off the city walls, his body suddenly flickering and vanishing. His first tier Divine Armor took shape, a blinding Bronze Aura emitting from him as the ocean''s waves rose to his back.

    Suddenly, he swung down, the mighty wave responding in kind and slicing an Heir-Grade General in half.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands. In response, the surging wave spiraled into the air like a twisting tentacle. He took another step through the air and appeared above another Heir-Grade General and thrust forward.

    The skies rumbled and the clouds split. The spiraling wave seemed to be controlled by Leonel''s might, shimmering with a slight golden hue as it pierced forward along with his spear, tearing a gaping hole through the head of another whale beast.

    Everywhere Leonel passed, the ocean''s waves roared after him. As though his movements alone were enough to elicit their action, they responded in kind. As he danced through the skies, they too danced, a deadly waltz of murderous storms and flickering Spear Force causing mass destruction everywhere they went.

    Just days ago, Leonel didn''t have nearly this much skill with Water Force. And yet, before their eyes now, he seemed to have become a God of the Seas, a Poseidon donned in armor and traversing the skies.

    Leonel swept his spear out three times, causing three spiraling tendrils of water to rise from the surface. His hips pivoted and his blade glided through the air. With one thrust, the tendrils ripped through the body of another beast, then another, then another.

    They followed Leonel like roaring flood dragons, droplets of water falling around them and reflecting the delicate gold of his Spear Force. It was a scene too beautiful for how deathly it was, even the waters below were beginning to turn a fierce violet color, dyed thoroughly with the blood of creatures far too large for their own good.

    The Morales Ancestors watched with a glow in their eyes. They had never seen the Absolute Domain used in this fashion, but it was truly a sight too gorgeous for words.

    With the Absolute Domain, Leonel''s spear could appear wherever he wanted given a certain range. In fact, when the Absolute Spear Domain grew enough in strength, even displacing it through time wasn''t entirely impossible.

    But to use this ability to make use of the power of nature itself to strengthen yourselfбн This was a level of Spearmanship that was rare beyond belief, this was even beyond what these Ancestors could do. Their Spear Force was, obviously, much stronger than Leonel''s. But when it came to comprehension of the spear, it felt like they were actually not just a single step behind.

    Ten Stars erupted to Leonel''s back and his Divine Armor shifted as he retrieved his first tier armor and used his second tier Divine Armor. His strength multiplied several times over.

    He unleashed a mighty roar, dragging his spear blade from a downward position and pulling it up in a wide arc toward the skies.

    A blinding crescent of golden Spear Force took shape, blasting forward and splitting everything in its path in two.

    The ocean''s waters parted, forming a trenching several kilometers deep. The boundaries of the trench''s sides were so solid that beasts caught up in it began to fall. They slipped out the sides of the trench, crashing into the darkness below and churning the waters with flesh and blood.

    It was a complete massacre. What should have been the difficult Heir-Grade upgrade challenge had become nothing more than a joke.

    In the three days that Leonel was busy, others had managed to catch up and form Gold-Grade territories of their own. But just as quickly as they had, they were left behind again, and this time the gap was even larger than it had been previously.

    It might not be an entire week, potentially two for some, before these Heirs even thought of challenging the Heir Grade. But nowбн Leonel had claimed an entire sea for himself.

    Leonel stood in the skies, taking a deep breath. The dense smell of the ocean filled his nostrils and lungs, leaving him with an oddly peaceful expression, even though the Human Domain was anything but peaceful at the moment.

    Still, this had nothing to do with Leonel. With a flash, he appeared in the city lord manor, looking at his current territory.

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. He already knew that he would have control over an entire sea, a fourth of the ocean after this, but he was stunned by just how expansive the territory truly was. Just taking into account the surface, it was about a quarter the size of a supercontinent. However, if you accounted for its depthбн

    Just in a small region of the ocean previously, Leonel had found 200 challenges and almost 50 dungeons, and that had been in just a 20 kilometer range. Now, however, Leonel controlled almost 2000 kilometers of length and just over 500 kilometers of width. There were so many challenges and dungeons that it wasn''t even realistic for him to clear them all in a short time.

    Leonel realized that this was likely another test. Now, he had to juggle the benefits of accumulation versus action.

    He had many resources at his fingertips, but there had to be a balance between gathering and taking part in these resources and spearheading his path toward ending these Heir Wars and claiming victory for him.

    Leonel fell into thought for a moment.

    Seeing the sort of advantage claiming a sea held, if there was one thing he had to do, it was to make sure that no one else could gain such an advantage.

    There were only two ways of doing this. The first was by finding anyone trying to expand into the ocean and taking them out before they could take more action, but this was unrealistic. Just his fourth of the ocean was so expansive, how would he find others in the three quarters that remained?

    That only left the other method: to claim them before anyone else could.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

 Chapter 2015 Could it be...?

    Chapter 2015  Could it be...?

    If he wanted to take this route, he would need three things. The first were more city upgrade passes, the second were more unique ocean territories, and the last were territory size upgrade rewards.

    The second was more important than the former. If it came down to it, he could just force upgrades on his own. After passing this Heir-Grade upgrade, he had more points than he even knew what to do with.

    Each Gold-Grade threat was worth 10 000 points, and there had been 300 million of them. That meant that just from them, not even counting the 300 Heir-Grade Generals, Leonel had 3 trillion points.

    Of course, not knowing what to spend his points on was a function of not having checked what he had access to now that he owned an Heir-Grade territory. Even if he had only passed a normal upgrade challenge, it would have still been at least a trillion points. Leonel doubted that Ancestor Hito would just provide enough points for it to be next to useless.

    Even so, if it came down to it, Leonel could afford several Heir-Grade upgrade challenges now if it came down to it, so the unique ocean territories that he could pair with unique territory size upgrade rewards were far more valuable to him.

    The first thing Leonel did after making his decision was to check through the rewards that the others had accumulated while he was Crafting and after he had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, there were no other unique ocean territories in them, but there were many Gold-Grade city upgrade passes, four of them to be exact, and there was one territory size upgrade reward.

    It seemed that special territories were rarer than Leonel had originally thought, but then again, after the first few days, all of the Heir-Grade dungeons had already been cleared, so the others had no choice but to focus on the other lower grade Dungeons. Now, howeverбн

    ''It seems that we need to make another push.''

    Leonel nodded to himself. The others should have already sensed the changes. Once they knew the locations of the other resources, claiming them would be exceptionally easy. As soon as they found a unique ocean territory reward, Leonel would be able to go about claiming a second sea as quickly as possible.

    бн

    As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, quickly planning out the next steps, the uproar of the Human Domain hadn''t simmered down in the slightest, and that was because of only one thing: Leonel''s Crafts.

    This wasn''t about the Life Grade anymore, it was rather about the value of Leonel''s Crafts, they were beyond a normal Life Grade treasure and this was plain as day for all to see. When it had settled in what Leonel''s Crafts could do, the entire Human Domain was shaken. This was for a very simple reasonбн The only organization that had a Craft even close to this was Shield Cross Stars!

    However, even Shield Cross Stars'' was wholly inferior. That was Leonel''s Craft now, it felt like nothing more than a joke.

    Cross Elder Avan''s expression was as ripe as a tomato. He, himself, because Leonel''s could be used both offensively and defensively. At the same time, it could be used by 10 people simultaneously. In comparison, Shield Cross Stars'' Craft could only be used defensively as it was a shield. To make matters worse, it could only be used by three people simultaneously, limiting its power.

    Despite how inferior it was, this unique Craft of Shield Cross Stars had been a staple of their power for countless generations and the secret to its Crafting was one of their top tier secrets. There was no doubt that it was the subject of jealousy for many, but seeing Leonel''s Craft now, it felt like nothing more than a joke.

    Cross Elder Avan''s expression was as ripe as a tomato. He, himself, didn''t know anything about Crafting, but he had enough life experience to understand what he was seeing. However, it was also because of his lack of perspective that he also believed that Leonel must have a method of forming this armor for humans as well.

    If this technology was in the hands of the Morales family who were already so powerfulбн just what would happen?

    This might restrict those with the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor as they were already used to wearing their own Divine Armor into battle, but a large half of the Morales family only had the Spear Domain Lineage Factor and garbed themselves with normal armors. What if all the Spear Domain Lineage Factor Morales members were given armors like the ones Leonel had just given the stingrays?

    Would it even be possible to defeat the Morales?

    The words of Leonel couldn''t help but echo in their ears.

    They had felt that Leonel was far too reckless. Even if he was confident in striking down his peers, what about the retaliation of the powers behind them, why was he so confident? Did he really believe that the Morales family was infallible?

    Everything Leonel did seemed to paint the picture that he was meticulous and scheming, he wasn''t the type of person to make such foolish mistakes. But now matter how they racked their brains, they felt that he was far too recklessбн

    Until now.

    Leonel wasn''t provoking them all, waiting to run behind the shadow of the Morales family and their protection. In fact, judging by his personality, he might very well be waiting for this war. In fact, he might even want this war.

    They shuddered when they reached this point in their thoughts, their blood running cold.

    Why did Leonel struggle so much against the Gold-Grade upgrade challenge if he had such a trump card in hand? It seemed that he didn''t even think about bringing it out until he really had no other options left, as though he was unwilling to display it unless he absolutely had toбн

    Could it be that he had many such trump cards? Could it be that his vision was never set on the Heir Wars to begin with because he had always felt that his victory was guaranteed? Could it be that, from the very beginningбн

    He was only using these Heir Wars among juniors to declare war on the entire Human Domainбн?

 Chapter 2016 Enough

    Chapter 2016  Enough

    Ancestor Alvaro laughed uproariously. He laughed so hard that even the stars in the distance seemed to twinkle under the wild vibrations. He laughed so hard that he even began to cough and wheeze.

    "Damn, I''m too old for this."

    Despite saying this, he couldn''t stop laughing at all. He knew that this change only put more pressure on the Morales family, but the pressure had gone from all the powers of the Human Domain toбн all the powers of the Human Domain.

    This was the problem with putting all your cards on the table at once. How could they threaten them more than they already had? It was even amusing seeing their expression change like this, Ancestor Alvaro and the others were having the time of their lives.

    The best part was that Leonel had Crafted it before them all, for a solid three days, repeating the same steps again and again and again, for a total of a million timesбн And they still didn''t understand what the hell was going on right before them.

    It was clear the gap between where Leonel was and where the rest of the Human Domain was was so wide that it was unfathomable.

    To put this matter into perspective, more Life Grade Crafters would be so secretive with their blueprints that they wouldn''t even allow others to see them, even their own children weren''t allowed such a privilege. While they were Crafting, the entire region was locked down and they would even often ask those who had commissioned for the treasure to bring far more materials than they would need just to keep the true materials list a secret.

    After such Life Grade Crafters passed on, it was only then that their Crafts would be passed down to others in their family, but even then only the highest echelon would be able to lay their eyes on it, while the younger generation would have to provide a great deal of merits just for the sliver of a chance. Usually, unless you rose to the level of an Ancestor, you could forget it.

    Even Cynthia, who was a great genius and could have benefited greatly from seeing a Life Grade blueprint ahead of time while she was still in the Gold Grade, wasn''t given such a privilege until she was well into the Seventh Dimension. Back then, she had already surpassed Tier 6, she wouldn''t have even been allowed to participate in these Heir Wars back then.

    If the Human Domain wasn''t so strict with Life Grade blueprints, there would probably be more Life Grade Crafters than just the few hundred there were, but this was just how things wereбн

    Or more accurately, this was how the Force Crafting Guild had made things.

    Whether it was Force Crafting or Force Pill Crafting, both had the same issues, and both happened to be overseen by the Omann family.

    The Morales family had never needed the Omann family for Force Crafting, but their rules surrounding Force Pill Crafting had caused no small amount of issues.

    Luckily, the Morales family could absorb ores to strengthen themselves and they were less reliant on Force Pills compared to other families. However, even so, only half of them had this benefit.

    It could only be said that the history of the Omann and Morales family was quite long and contentious, but what was important here was Leonel and his Craftбн

    Cross Elder Avan might not understand, but how could these Crafters not?

    Not only had Leonel forged a Life Grade treasure as a Sixth Dimensional junior, he had also begun to forge again on a Force Crafting language they had simply never seen before, one so complex they couldn''t even understand it.

    By this point, more than half of the best geniuses of the Human Domain had already been kicked out. Being forced to watch Leonel, the one who had threatened them all, shine like this, they could only grind their teeth.

    After the Amethyst Token drama of over 20 years ago, many of them had a faint recollection of Leonel in their minds. But after he didn''t appear for so long, many thought he had died and didn''t bother to care about him any longer. As for when he actually came back, they cared even less. How could they think that Leonel could bridge a gap of 20 years? They didn''t even consider itбн

    But then Leonel crushed Conon while he was still in the first Tier.

    However, they then broke through to the Seventh Dimension and they felt that they had left him far behind once againбн

    Only to realize that that gap had never meant much to Leonel in the first place.

    The reality was slowly starting to sink inбн if they hadn''t been given an over 20 year head start, they wouldn''t even have the right to stand on the same stage as him.

    The uproar of the Human Domain slowly faded into a solemn silence, the presence of a single young man looming tall and imposing.

    бн

    Leonel sensed a fragrant wind approaching and he turned to find that Aina had already appeared to his side. Without a word, he handed her yet another spatial ring. This one held the corpses of 300 Heir-Grade Generals.

    She looked within and her brows raised. It was a lovely sort of blaming expression that looked more cute than it did intimidating. Clearly, she was unhappy with Leonel for challenging the Heir-Grade upgrade while they weren''t even here. The other upgrades had been one matter, but this one was quite reckless.

    Leonel only smiled lightly, something that he had done rarely in recent days.

    "What''s the ETA?" Aina asked.

    "I''ve decided to conquer and corner off the rest of the ocean first as a defensive play. We''ll need more special ocean territories and territory expansion rewards. If things happen as fast as I want them to, we''ll launch the final march to end this one week from now."

    "Mm, it''s enough time," Aina said lightly.

    Leonel nodded and Aina flickered and vanished.

 Chapter 2017 Immediately

    Chapter 2017  Immediately

    Before Leonel set out again, he paid keen attention to the changes in his abilities as the new owner of an Heir-Grade territory.

    Many things were pretty standard. For example, there were upgraded outposts, and there were also some defensive measures unique to Heir-Grade territories.

    Right now, the walls Leonel had access to were already quite fantastic. They were a hundred meters tall and over 10 meters thick. On top of that, they were forged of a powerful metal alloy. However, other than that, they were relatively simple.

    Many of the options included infusing it with certain large scale Force Arts that could greatly strengthen it. There were also methods of banning flight within a certain range of the city, the more he paid, the larger the range would be.

    What was more interesting to Leonel, though, were the unique upgrades he could gain since he had a special ocean territory. Many of these things, unsurprisingly, were related to ice.

    The most intriguing of them was what was called Cold Force. Leonel didn''t think that such a Force actually existed, but it must have been created for the Heir Wars quite specifically. It was a Force that could be emitted from his island and act like a domain that covered the city.

    Those that entered this domain would feel as though their own Force was icing over. Their blood would flow slower and their bodies would become stiff. Depending on how stronger the over strength of the targets were, one could lose anywhere between 10% to even all of their combat prowess.

    would work with 100 meters of his walls, it would cost him over a trillion. The maximum setting, that would work for an entire 10 The price, though, was quite steep. Just for the lowest setting that would work with 100 meters of his walls, it would cost him over a trillion. The maximum setting, that would work for an entire 10 kilometers, cost ten times that. That maximum setting cost three times more than what Leonel had.

    Seeing that the first thing he wanted was actually so expensive, Leonel held off on buying it immediately. That was because he knew that if one thing was actually so expensive, then most other things would be as well.

    After a moment, and scanning through all available rewards, Leonel realized that these outrageous prices were unique to, ironically, the unique territory rewards of his city. But it was also because of this that they were likely to be the most useful.

    The Cold Force Domain was a game changer. Anyone believe the Gold-Grade threat level would be incapacitated and no different from fish on a chopping block within its range. Those on the weaker side of the Gold-Grade would lose as much as half of their combat strength, while those who were the strongest would lose at least a tenth. Only Heir-Grade threats would be capable of entirely ignoring it.

    At the strongest setting, costing over ten trillion, even an Heir-Grade threat would have a 10% reduction in their strength within a 10 kilometer range.

    Another unique reward was the Ice Moat.

    Leonel felt that a better name for this reward would be the Ice Maze. That was because it formed a maze of ice in the water that could hinder the advancement of oceanic beasts. The walls of this maze would be incredibly sturdy, comparable to about half that of the base city walls. Simply put, no single creature would be able to take down even a single wall without many hours of effort.

    The best part about the Ice Moat wasn''t its defenses, but rather the fact that it forced the oceanic beasts swimming below to split up, disallowing them the ability to gang up and use their potentially overwhelming numbers.

    It functioned essentially like a funnel, forcing the oceanic beasts to fight alone.

    The Ice Moat would also be quite useful in case anyone came to attack Leonel with boats and the like. Although it was an underwater design, it still peeked out of the water over three meters or so. Unless a ship wanted to destroy its hull in a battering ram attempt, they would likewise had no choice but to follow the path of the maze.

    Of course, the best part was that running into a dead end wasn''t impossible. At that point, you would only have two options: to turn back or to take the effort in attempting to knock down the wall. But if you chose the second option, you might run into yet another dead end on the other side.

    Both of these rewards were incredibly intriguing, but the Ice Moat was even more expensive. Just its most basic level cost 2 trillion more than what Leonel had. The good news was that it could cover an entire kilometer instantly, but the bad news was, obviously, that he couldn''t afford it.

    The last unique reward that had caught Leonel''s attention was a unique territory protector. It was, of course, of the Heir-Grade, but it was exceptionally powerful.

    This protector took the form of a Star of Ice. When activated, in exchange for a billion points, it could trigger an area of effect attack that worked like a rain of ice meteors. These ice meteors froze water on contact and had great blunt force damage.

    The lowest setting could target a 100 meter region. The highest setting could attack all around the city, though it was still limited to 100 meters, there was clearly a difference between one 100 meter region, and the entire 100 meter radius around the city walls.

    Unsurprisingly, this was the most expensive of them all at 10 trillion just for the lowest setting and close to 100 trillion for the highest.

    Leonel faced a situation where he had to choose whether he would save up or not. With his army of stingrays, he could take on the Heir-Grade upgrade with quite some ease and guarantee himself anywhere from one trillion to three depending. He already planned to do this three more times, so if he was patient, by the end of it, he would be able to afford the Star of Ice.

    However, Leonel shook his head.

    Sometimes, sitting on a pile of cash was worse than spending it. Even if you didn''t do anything and were frugal, as time passed, your money would only become worth less and less, that was the way of the world and of inflation.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel bought the lowest setting of the Cold Force Domain immediately.

 Chapter 2018 An Alliance

    Chapter 2018  An Alliance

    With the remaining more than two trillion, Leonel upgrade the domain to the greatest setting her could, gaining over a kilometer in range and quite a bit in strength. After this, he decisively left, his body vanishing.

    When he appeared again through a teleportation platform, he was within the territory he had left to Maia to manage. As expected of the Cloud Race, from the outside, it was simply impossible to tell that there was something wrong at all. They all moved and acted just like the Taur family would have, something that left the Ancestors of the constellation family quite enraged, but there was little to nothing that they could do about it.

    After handing Maia a spatial ring, Leonel vanished once again and returned to his main territory.

    It had already been over three days since his last report from the Umbra family, but just as he had asked of them, they returned quite frequently to give him reports. The more Leonel learned of the situation, the more certain he was that someone, most likely Second Nova, was stirring up a great deal of conflict.

    The first instance was Sixth Nova falling seemingly without warning. This left a vast and open territory that everyone immediately took advantage of. However, because Third Nova had been preoccupied with expelling Fourth Nova, he missed the boat, resulting in him falling behind the others.

    This felt like a coincidence on the surface, but Leonel was quite certain that this coincidence was actually a perfectly timed scheme with excellent execution. It was just unfortunate that Sixth Nova had to be the one to suffer. With Fifth Nova, Sixth Nova and Fourth Nova all gone and dealt with, there were only four Heirs of the Morales family remaining, and only three of which, including Leonel, who had any real territory.

    As expected, Third Nova wasn''t very happy about this change at all. It felt like his lead was being swallowed up, so he couldn''t remain idle for long.

    Not long after that moment, he became the "first" to enter the Gold Grade, and while the others were scrambling to lock down and ensure others couldn''t snatch their new territory, he swallowed up all of Fourth Nova''s old territory for him.

    Due to this, Third Nova was able to make up for his slight slip and he began making a big push toward the Heir-Grade.

    However, this was when the details of an explosive battle was relayed, and surprisingly, this time it had little to do with Morales family. For some reason, this huge clash came between the Suiard family and the Spiritual Faith.

    Leonel couldn''t help but narrow his gaze when he read about this information. That was because he was still wondering about what danger Third Nova possessed and whether or not he truly had a connection with the Suiard family or not. Obviously, Leonel felt that observing the Suiard family was one of the best ways to gain an understanding of what might be going on.

    For the Suiard family, who had mostly remained silent since the start of these Heir Wars, to suddenly get into a conflict with yet another power that hadn''t done much since the start of the Heir Wars, feltбн off. It was almost like they were putting on a play for others.

    But it was also because it was so obvious and blatant that Leonel felt that it was a bit ridiculous on its face. If they wanted to scheme, shouldn''t they come up with a more clever method?

    The Spiritual Faith was probably a thorn at the side of many of the most powerful powers of the Human Domain. How could the likes of Shield Cross Stars and the Void Palace be okay with a religion that so blatantly worshipped another Race?

    In truth, the Spiritual Race was so powerful that they very rarely took the initiative to attack anyone. Even if the Human Domain faced danger from other races in the future, the odds that this threat would come from the Spiritual Race was minimal.

    Even so, no one had to think to answer what the Spiritual Faith would do if the day came that the Spirituals did have such ill intentions. Just like that, one of the most powerful forces of the Human Domain would defect without a second thought.

    The Zoltene Faith was similar as they worshipped the Nomad Race. Leonel had already personally been to one of their shrines, these people had little regard for the Human Race despite being human themselves.

    Leonel felt that there was a secret to this matter. Despite the fact he had improved so much and seen so much of the Human Domain by now, he had still yet to meet one of these so-called "Gods".

    The Evergreen Goddess, The Zoltene God, the Spirituals God, he had always thought that they were real people, his father''s dictionary had made it clear that this was the case. So where were they? How could such individuals not participate in something that had captured the attention of the entire Human Domain?

    These thoughts had always been swirling around in the back of Leonel''s mind, which was why when he heard about this battle that made little to no sense, his antennas were immediately placed in an upward position.

    However, what baffled Leonel even more was the truth behind all of this.

    After a lot of scouting, and even the use of many strategically placed Cloud Race members, Radliscame back with information that left Leonel speechless.

    It turned out that Amery, the so-called Sword Deity, was betrothed to the Heir of the Spirituals Faith. Or, more accurately, the future Lady Pontiff of the Faith.

    For whatever reason, both parties were quite opposed to this marriage and they could only be described to be at loggerheads. This dislike of one another reached the point that they even fought on this sort of stage.

    However, after a battle that lasted the better part of a day and spread like wildfire, it settled down without a victor and there were even clear signs of both parties freely entering and exiting their adjacent territories.

    Even without it being described in so many words, the conclusion was obviousбн

    An Alliance.

 Chapter 2019 Only...

    Chapter 2019  Only...

    Leonel didn''t even frown at this realization, his expression indifferent. He always moved with the worst case scenario in mind. He already imagined that these Heir Wars would end with him facing off against many enemies at once. Whether they teamed up now or later made no difference to him.

    What he cared about more were the implications.

    It seemed that the Spirituals were uncaring about most of what happened in the universe. This was something he had become greatly aware of after reading the records of the Void Palace. There were many instances of other races attacking the Human Domain through the Void Battlefield, but none of the Spiritual Race doing so.

    Even if a family had an alliance with the Spiritual Faith, it wouldn''t be seen as a red flag to most.

    One also had to consider the stance the Human Domain had toward other races as well. Compared to the greater universe, the Human Domain was fairly lax with other races. Or, at the very least, there was no systematic movement to get rid of them.

    The Oryx could thrive just fine while the likes of Yuri were even allowed to enter the Void Palace. This made it clear that the Human Domain didn''t usually act against other races.

    However, the problem of Third Nova was making Leonel second and third guess this matter. Another interesting matter also happened to be the Suiard family''s Lineage Factor.

    Much like the Morales family, the Suiard family had two Lineage Factors, not one like most other families. This was why they were seen to be on par with the Morales, they had the strength to back up such thoughts.

    The Suiard family had the Sword Domain Lineage as well as the Blazing Devil Lineage Factor.

    Oddly enough, Leonel felt that the Suiard family was quite a bit like the Morales in this regard as well. Their Lineage Factor was very demon-like, maybe even more so than the Morales. Leonel could still remember how Amery''s eyes had reddened that day the second time they fought. In the end, he was forced to suppress himself so that his Tribulation didn''t erupt ahead of time.

    From Leonel''s understanding, their Lineage Factor similarly strengthened their bodies. Aside from that, it gave them great affinity with Dark Force in addition to having several other auxiliary benefits that wouldn''t have been listed in the Void Library. These would account for techniques similar to Metal Body and Divine Armor.

    Leonel would have no way of knowing the true details until he forced them out of Amery, then there would likely also be his Ability Index to deal with.

    Whether it was the first or second encounter they had had, Leonel knew that he had never fought Amery''s best. The first time he had been suppressed by the Vital Star Force, and the second time he had been suppressed by his Tribulation.

    Regardless of how you looked at it, he would be a powerful opponent, and unlike with Nazag, Leonel couldn''t directly strip away one of his strongest abilities. However, also unlike Nazag, Leonel had a great will to crush Amery in the worst way possible.

    At that moment, Leonel suddenly thought of something and his gaze narrowed. He sent a message to Radlis after a while and threw the thought to the back of his mind as he continued through the events.

    After the Suiard and Spiritual Faith clearly allied, they once again fell into dormancy, doing nothing much more.

    However, not long after that, First Nova and Third Nova had their first clash. This clash occurred in the open waters, but for an unknown reason, it didn''t continue to a point of no return and they both retreated without any results.

    Of course, this was actually a clash between Vega and some of Third Nova''s subordinates rather than First and Third Nova themselves. But Radlis had still added this to the report as Leonel had asked for everything of significance.

    Following this, Third Nova clashed with the Ram family. However, just when it seemed that he would claim victory, he suddenly retreated, rushing back to his territory to find that his city walls had fallen.

    Leonel felt that, once again, Second Nova had struck. But what he didn''t know was how Second Nova had managed to do this without detection to a Gold-Grade territory. He could only speculate that Second Nova had taken some time to clear dungeons and claimed a Gold-Grade version of the Silver-Grade wall, destroying rewards he had previously gained.

    There was no easy way to rebuild the walls after they had been destroyed. The only methods were to rebuild it by hand, to find a reward that could replace them, or to undergo an upgrade challenge. But taking on the Heir-Grade challenge without walls was nothing short of suicidal.

    Third Nova was thwarted again and he seemed to be in a bad situation. After investing so much into a Gold-Grade territory, he couldn''t just abandon it. And, he had yet to gather enough points to take on the Heir-Grade challenge even if he wanted to take the risk.

    Without a choice, Third Nova could only set aside his ideas of conquest and began to accumulate. He dispersed his subordinates with the goal of claiming and clearing as many challenges and dungeons as was possible.

    When Leonel got to this point, his eyes narrowed.

    As expected, there was a clash. No, more accurately, there was a speculated clash. The Umbra family didn''t manage to get eyes on it, all they could do was speculate.

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    To him, it was obvious. Second Nova had diverted Third Nova''s attention, giving him no choice but to spread out his army and give up his greatest advantage: numbers. Then, Kira and Second Nova could take Third Nova on without the disadvantage.

    Howeverбн

    бн

    Out in Morales family''s flagship, the sound of a crying woman echoed. Kira''s tears fell like a torrential storm, holding Auran who was continuously coughing up black blood.

    Ancestor Hito opened his eyes and frowned, an expression that even the Ancestors of the Morales had never seen from him.

    "He''s been poisoned. I have no method of dispelling it, this is only something that the Omann family can cure."

 Chapter 2020 Poison

    Chapter 2020  Poison

    Not many had seen the battle between Third Nova and Second Nova. It could even be said that the latter had wanted it this way. He attacked right when it seemed that Third Nova was about to enter a state of slow expansion.

    After watching the Heir Wars for many days already, the novelty had worn off and many were entirely focused on whichever region had the most action. As such, quite a few had no idea who had even injured Second Nova to begin with, even the Morales Ancestors were quite clueless.

    Since poison was used, the immediate assumption was the Pyius family, and Auran and Kira did nothing to refute this. For whatever reason, they didn''t want to describe what had happened and maybe that was always the plan.

    Despite Kira''s crying, Auran couldn''t seem to hear or feel anything but a spine tingling pain. He looked up toward the starry skies, his lips pressed into a line. Maybe he had never thought that things would end like this.

    Ancestor Hito was indeed correct. Maybe only the Omann family would have a method of dealing with this. While the Pyius family worked with poisons, their methods weren''t conventional. As they relied on their Unique Force and its manipulation, they didn''t concoct poisons and create antidotes like many other poison masters. Instead of this, they trained their Poison Force to be able to do the work of creation and immunity itself.

    The trouble with this approach, though, was that while Pyius family members could purge themselves and one another from poison, it was impossible for them to use this method on others. Trying to use Poison Force on someone without Poison Force affinity to dispel poison was like pouring oil onto an already burning fire.

    Even if the Pyius family had been the ones to poison Auran, their help was next to useless in this regard. The only one that could help would be the Omann family and their Force Pill Crafters.

    The Omann family was the only family with the skill to dispel such a high level poison. In fact, they would probably need one of their best Gold-Grade Force Pill Crafters to do the job as well, a normal Force Pill Crafter would have no chance. That was Ancestor Hito''s observation and they understood it intimately.

    Kira wanted to immediately get up and beg the Omann family if she had to, but before she could even stand to her feet, she felt a strong grip on her wrist, a grip firmer than anything Auran should have been able to muster given his current state, and yet he had found the strength.

    "The Morales family doesn''t know weakness."

    Auran continued to stare into the skies, his expression blank and his lips once again pressing into a thin line. His grip on Kira''s wrist didn''t weaken, and it even seemed to tighten as time went on. It was as though he knew that he was growing weaker so he tried his best to compensate.

    Kira writhed and struggled. "I''m not a Morales! Let me go!"

    However, Auran didn''t seem to hear her, his eyes slowly closing. He took deep and steady breaths, breaths steadier than anyone would have expected of him at this moment. He seemed to be at peace, his vice grip holding onto Kira firmly.

    ''A Solvatine doesn''t show weakness either.''

    The words entered Kira''s ears and she shuddered, her tears falling even faster.

    The Morales Ancestors watched with dark expressions. Auran had already made his stance quite clear, they would only be slapping his face if they asked for help now. They didn''t know how long Auran would last for, but it likely wouldn''t be very much time. Any poison with such potent effects couldn''t possibly take too long to deal with a Seventh Dimensional existence.

    "Who did this to you?" Ancestor Alvaro asked, his gaze red with fury.

    He didn''t look toward the Omann family even once. He knew if he did he would lose himself to rage and begin this war even before the Heir Wars ended.

    In the history of the Heir Wars, no Morales had ever died, not since their no killing rule had been established. It was an event that was supposed to promote harmony and healthy competition, not bloodshed.

    It was these people who had forced this event to be this way, it was they who had demanded bloodshed, it was they who wanted to enter for a chance to take Leonel''s head, it was they who wanted to knock the Morales down a peg, they who let their greed guide their judgment.

    He could imagine their snide sneers and upturned noses. They might very well have a Force Pill that could save Auran''s life right this moment in any one of their rings, but they would never step forward to give it over.

    Just thinking about it infuriated Ancestor Alvaro to the point he enough to infuriate the Morales Ancestors beyond compare. They should have had seven shining beacons into the future, but now it trembled.

    This was one of their best generations yet. Just the loss of one was enough to infuriate the Morales Ancestors beyond compare. They should have had seven shining beacons into the future, but now it seemed that one would lose his life here.

    "бн It doesn''t matter." Auran said lightly, his eyes still closed. "бн It will be up to First Nova and Littlest Nova nowбн"

    To the side, Sixth Nova''s expression flickered with a complicated light. He had, indeed, been eliminated by Auran, but he didn''t hold a grudge, it just meant that he was inferior.

    He gripped his fists tight. The only thing he regretted was not still being inside to deal with who had placed Second Nova in this state.

    The gazes of the Morales family members all turned red one after another, the space around their fists creaking and trembling. Their fury was stifling, a different sort of silence falling entirely.

    It seemed that they couldn''t wait to unleash their fury.

    The stars in the distance turned crimson and space itself quaked.

    This time, the Morales family was truly infuriated.

 Chapter 2021 Lost

    Chapter 2021  Lost

    "бн Auran lost," Leonel said lightly.

    It was hard to believe. The strength that Auran had displayed before him, albeit just a small amount, was substantial. Just to counter him and Kira, Leonel not only had to use his second tier armor, he also had to actively use his Ability Index in battle for the first time in a while.

    Ever since Leonel left the Tribulation Zone, whether subconsciously or not, he had stopped relying on his Ability Index in battle. The speed of improvement he had made in the way of the spear during his time in the Tribulation Zone spoke for itself. He would just be too stubborn if he chose to ignore the evidence right before him.

    Over time, he was slowly finding a balance between relying on his intelligence and his innate talent to slowly move forward and improve. However, it wasn''t an easy balance to find. The last time he had had a breakthrough in this regard was during his battle with Myghell.

    This was all to say that Auran was the first person since he exited the Tribulation Zone and had such a big boost in his power that had actually made Leonel go so far. He had used not only all ten of his Star, he had used his Fifth Dimensional Life Grade Divine Armor and his Ability Index. These three things should have practically made Leonel undefeatable within the younger generation, but he could tell that both Auran and Kira had held back a great deal.

    So how had they lost to Third Nova anyway?

    There were only two explanations. Each was dangerous for its own reasons.

    The first was the most obvious and that was that Third Nova was simply that strong. Even after dispersing his subordinates, he still had enough strength remaining to take on both Kira and Auran without a problem.

    In this case, the problem was obvious: he was far too powerful, maybe more powerful than Leonel could fathom. If the battle had ended quickly enough that others, and even the Umbra family, couldn''t find out the details about it, this was a testament to how large the gap between Third Nova and Second Nova had been.

    The second was that Third Nova had been prepared for Auran and only pretended to disperse his people while keeping his strongest subordinates by his side. Maybe he had even laid a trap just for Auran to fall into it.

    The problem with this case was that Third Nova was incredibly scheming and intelligent. It implied that after Auran''s two attempts at thwarting him, he had already seen through the fact that someone was targeting him and took appropriate precautions. He was ready for Second Nova''s appearance from the very beginning.

    This was shocking because Leonel had seen Auran''s level of caution first hand. In fact, now that Leonel thought about it, Auran''s methods of weakening Third Nova in the beginning seemed to smell of his lack of assurance in victory.

    It might have made sense for Auran to try and disperse Xavnik''s people, but what was the purpose of clearing Sixth Nova''s territory? One could argue that was to force Xavnik into a more desperate situation which eventually led to the outcome Auran wanted, but Leonel wasn''t so sure about that. He felt that Auran had felt that he was going to lose.

    But none of Auran''s actions seemed to line up.

    Why did he keep this a secret? Did he inform the elders ahead of time? If he did, why did the Morales allow Xavnik to participate? Wouldn''t it have been better to deal with him directly? Leonel didn''t believe that the Morales were the type of family to get tied up in tradition and red tape, they would definitely ignore their own rules if they had a good enough reason to do so.

    It all seemed to circle back to the same point, the only reason Auran was acting in secrecy all this time to begin withбн His Demon origins.

    ''How is it connectedбн''

    Leonel was in the middle of a battle with an Heir-Grade while trying to digest this information suddenly came to a complete stop. He was even swallowed whole by the Heir-Grade beast, but he made no attempt to stop it, his body frozen in place.

    Suddenly, the Heir-Grade threat was shredded to pieces from the inside out. Leonel appeared in the depths of the ocean, his Absolutely Domain raging around him.

    Leonel''s suddenly took a step, his speed blazing as he shot out of the ocean like a jet, quickly making his way back to his city. He had just received news that the others had finally found another unique territory, it was time to action.

    At the same time, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but grow with a fiendish light.

    Why would Auran keep all of this a secret? The only real expalantion seemed to be that exposing Third Nova would likewise assumed, there was very likely a shadow faction within the Morales that was more aware of this than others.

    expose himself. If Leonel was correct, not only was the Morales family''s ties to the Demon Race much deeper than he had originally assumed, there was very likely a shadow faction within the Morales that was more aware of this than others.

    There was a very obvious clue here. In order for Auran to be born, a Morales had to mingle with the Demon Race enough to, maybe not necessarily fall in love, but to at least copulate and have a child. This wasn''t a small instance of interaction at all.

    In the best case scenario, the Morales had ties to the Demon Race in small, benign increments.

    In the worst case scenario, the Morales family had always had the roots of the Three Finger Cult within it. In fact, these roots were so deep that if someone like Xavnik managed to become the Heir, it would be enough to shift the tides in the family so much so that those that had once been in the shadows could see the light of day once more.

    Leonel suddenly understood that he wasn''t the only one using these Heir Wars as a stepping stone toward something much larger.

    A flicker of crimson danced within Leonel''s eyes.

    ''Okay, Xavnik. Let''s play.''

    BANG!

    Leoenl landed and the entire ice island boomed and quaked, threatening to shatter to pieces beneath his might.

    [Important Announcement Below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

 Chapter 2022 Water Lotus

    ?

    Leonel appeared in his ice island city, his attention immediately turning to James who tossed over a glass orb to him. When Leonel saw what was in it, his expression flickered for a moment.

    He had already guessed that the unique ocean territories wouldn''t all be exactly the same, but this one was actually quite different. Of course, the name uniquely spoke for itself, but its unique attributes changed Leonel''s plans a bit. At the very least, he couldn''t be in as much ease as he had hoped.

    The unique ocean territory this time was probably more accurately called a unique water territory instead. If this was called an Ice Island Territory, then this unique water territory would be quite accurately called a Water Lotus Territory.

    Rather than forming a huge island of ice, it formed a huge island in the form of a blooming lotus.

    This didn''t seem like a big deal, until you understood that a Water Lotus was a freshwater plant. While it can handle slightly salty water, specifically brackish water which is a combination of river waters and ocean water, it wouldn''t be able to live in a full on salt body of water.

    In line with this, this Water Lotus Territory would turn the surrounding territory into a fresh water body. The surrounding 10% of territory would become pure fresh water while the remaining 90% would be brackish.

    This was actually goodбн if this had been Leonel''s only territory. This was because there was a permanent debuff to oceanic creatures who entered this territory''s waters. Within the brackish water, they would experience a 20% reduction to their strength. In the freshwater, they would lose as much as 50% of their strength.

    Of course, this scaled with the city''s grade. A Gold-Grade city could limit the strength of up to the Gold-Grade, while an Heir-Grade city would be able to infect even Heir-Grade threats. However, there was a very obvious problem hereбн

    Leonel''s army of stingrays were saltwater creatures. As a result, they were subject to the very same debuff.

    This was the obvious downside of this city. There were no freshwater creatures in the region to begin with, this was the ocean. And unless you bought freshwater creatures from the Water Lotus city itself, you would be out of luck.

    There were fresh bodies of water on the supercontinents, but Leonel didn''t have the time to divert his attention to them in an attempt to find freshwater creatures on a large enough scale for them to be useful. And there was obviously the largest problem: Leonel didn''t have the time to spare to make another huge batch of armors.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled, his gaze frighteningly calm.

    It wasn''t impossible to find freshwater creatures. He owned the entire supercontinent and thus had a method of scanning the entire territory for what he needed. The issue was that doing so was useless for the reason of time.

    Anyone else would be ecstatic to receive such a territory, but Leonel''s own skill had ironically painted him into a corner.

    This situation wasn''t as bad as it seemed. After all, these debuffs would be suffered by the creatures of the upgrade challenge as well. That meant his stingrays and the enemy would be on the same playing field.

    But the larger problem would be if Leonel was ever attacked. There was no telling if others had access to freshwater creatures or not, or maybe even creatures who could exist in both. How pathetic would it be if he was suddenly at a disadvantage in his own territory?I think you should take a look at

    The other problem was that because this territory came with such a large advantage right from the outset, the benefits one could get afterward was limited.

    Leonel tossed the territory reward up and caught it again, his mind spinning with several thoughts.

    ''Seems that it''s time to reveal another trump card.''

    "Call the commanders of the Skies family here."

    It wasn''t long before a long line of Skies family members stood before Leonel. All of them had on extremely respectful expressions, which was a far cry from how things had been just a month or so ago. They were the only group Leonel had never sent out on missions, so everything Leonel had done, they had personally witnessed.

    The kind of strength Leonel could display at such a young age left them in complete awe. All of them were less than a hundred years old and were relatively young as a result. Seeing the difference between them let them understand why it was their patriarch had lowered his head.

    "It''s about time, you all prepare yourselves."

    Leonel waved a hand. Exchanging several million points, he brought out over a hundred spatial rings.

    The generals of the Skies family that he had appointed already knew what these rings were for. So, without a word, they immediately turned and left, rushing to get into place one after another.

    Leonel turned back to the others. "For the next half day, stay outside this range of waters."

    After issuing his orders, Leonel flashed and vanished. With great speed, he found the location of waters he wanted and threw the Water Lotus orb out. It immediately burst from its glass orb and expanded wildly, surging out in all directions until it formed an enormous lotus.

    Large and thick green pads extended from the sides, while in the center, a gorgeous pink flower bloomed, its thin petals gently waving in the wind.

    For extra defense, the green pads could close, though it took a few hours to finish. So this had to be done well in advance. It could be said, though, that this territory was designed to be purely defensive. If he wanted it to be a deathtrap, it would be up to him.

    One after another, over the horizon, the Skies family members dashed across the water''s surface, swiftly catching up with Leonel.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he sent forward several more rewards, triggering the Bronze upgrade challenge and then the Silver and Gold upgrade challenges right afterward.

 Chapter 2023 CRACK!

    ?

    Leonel dispersed the challenges with instant clear reward. His gaze narrowed as the Skies family took up their position on the large greed pads.

    The current Skies family members didn''t look anything like they had before. There were still only about 10 000 of them, but since the beginning of the Heir Wars, they had been wearing the very same simple linen clothing. But now, each one of them wore radiant armor, their foreheads fitted with a tight headband that seemed reminiscent of a simple crown.

    The drama on the night side supercontinent was so great at the moment that many were still focusing on what was happening there, especially since Leonel had entered a bit of a lull since clearing his first section of the sea. But suddenly seeing that he had gained another special territory, the expressions of many couldn''t help but become serious.

    If Leonel succeeded, wouldn''t this mean that he would claim half of the ocean for himself? Combining this with an entire supercontinentбн wasn''t this far too much?

    Many saw the clear problem with this strategy, though. Leonel already had a shortage of people, what good was it to have this much territory? He should be attacking the others before they could gather any more people, this was his best chance.

    There was only one explanation for this: Leonel wanted to prevent others from benefitting from the ocean. It was ambitious, more than they understood. Leonel''s every action always seemed filled with so much confidence, it was clear that he did nothing by half measures.

    He was ambitious when he needed to be. He drew back when caution was needed. He schemed better than most they had seen, and the sharpness of his mind seemed to be on another level.

    Subconsciously, many realized that even when they couldn''t explain why Leonel was doing something, they subconsciously believed that he had a good reason for doing so. This was a subtle, and yet prominent change occurring all across the Human Domain.

    Leonel couldn''t be sure of the mind of others, but he had clearly planned on this kind of change. There was a reason he hadn''t just started the Domain War, and momentum was only part of the reason. He was far too unknown, most knew his father but not him.

    He wanted to show this Human Domain that his own merits were enough to crush them.

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly blazed to life as he fused two more Gold-Grade city cores into the Water Lotus City. Without hesitation, he shot into the air, overlooking the waters.

    They had become much clearer, the smell of freshwater filling the air. It was intoxicating and filled one with a sense and calm. They were so clear that one could almost see to the bottom of the ocean despite its ridiculous depth. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight.

    But as soon as it appeared, it vanished beneath the wildly churning waters.

    At that moment, the members of the Skies family all roared out at once. The clear skies above began to roll as a dense body of dark clouds began to make their way over. Their armors began to glow fiercely, strong pillars of gold light filled with lightning runes rising up and piercing the thick cumulonimbus clouds.

    Leonel watched this silently, unmoved by the churning lightning just above his head.

    The reality was that saltwater conducted lightning with far greater ease than freshwater. One would think that if Leonel wanted to use the Skies family, he should have used them during his first Heir-Grade upgrade challenge instead of now.

    But this was actually the wrong way to view things, albeit an easy mistake to make.

    Lightning always chooses the path of least resistance. That meant that if one was in water that conducted it with greater ease, your odds of surviving wouldn''t be lesser, it would actually be much greater. What did this mean? Simply put, the damage that could be done in freshwater was far beyond that of what could be done in saltwater, and that was because it was more difficult for lightning to pass through freshwater, and as such the odds it would choose to pass through your body instead was far higher.

    The moment Leonel saw that the surrounding and immediate 10% of his Water Lotus Territory would become purely freshwater, it clicked into place for him and he realized that this was the absolute best time to use the Skies family.I think you should take a look at

    Of courseбн Things weren''t so simple as they seemed on the surface.

    "Kill," Leonel said lightly.

    The gazes of the Skies family members flashed, their pillars of lightning expanding into the waters before them.

    At that moment, just as the oceanic beasts began to appear one after another, they were first hit by a wave of weakness after entering the freshwater, then right afterward, they were swallowed up by a sea of lightning.

    The harrowing cries of hundreds of millions of oceanic beasts echoed as the skies flashed with arcs of lightning that pierced downward again and again.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    RUMBLE!

    The Heir-Grade Generals froze, unable to move. They writhed in pain, their skin quickly charring beneath the menacing sea of gold.

    Leonel calmly took out his bow and pulled back its string taut.

    The smell of frying flesh filled the air. The Gold-Grade threats could hardly last a few seconds before they were fried to ash. Only the Heir-Grade threats seemed capable of holding on, but they were entirely paralyzed. To Leonelбн they were nothing more than unmoving targets.

    With an exhaled, Leonel released his arrow, tearing a hole 10 meters across in the head of an enormous colossal squid.

    Clearing this would be even easier than the first Heir-Grade upgrade challenge.

    бн

    Across the ocean, located on the ocean''s floor near an underwater volcano, a city was located. If others had been paying attention, they would be quite shocked, as this underwater city was actually already at the Gold-Grade, a rare find even at this stage. In fact, the only two with such a city were Leonel and Third Novaбн Or so most thought.

    However, at that moment, a large change took place.

    Orinik''s expression changed, but it was already too late.

    CRACK!

    The city core broke and the entire city was uplifted and shoved outward. They were expelled from the sea, their city forcefully relocated to another section of the ocean.

 Chapter 2024 An Hour

    ?

    Orinik stood stunned. What had just happened? He didn''t even remotely have a good explanation. The more he thought about it, the more baffled he was.

    Was it some sort of special reward? But according to his calculations, Gold-Grade should be the highest level city currently. It had to be remembered that the supercontinents only spawned dungeons and challenges equivalent to the territories it was in. This meant that if one wanted a reward higher than the Heir-Grade at this point, according to Orinik''s calculations anyway, one would have no choice but to enter the ocean. This was the only place that would spawn such challenges ahead of time.

    Orinik didn''t believe that a Gold-Grade reward could expel his city like it had just now, even cracking its city core. Such a thing would completely unbalance the situation. So did that mean that someone had been just lucky enough to clear an Heir-Grade dungeon with this sort of reward?

    But even that didn''t make any sense because that would have to mean that they were targeted in specific. They had been completely secretive and had definitely flown under the radar. Plus, who could even reach them currently? They only had such freedom so deep because of the Rain Beasts.

    Orinik threw that idea out and assumed that it must be some sort of large area of effect ability, but just how large could it be? He didn''t believe that anyone could sneak up on them, and they had already claimed a large region with their special territory, so if anything had appeared, they would have been alerted on their territory map the moment someone encroached.

    In order for them not to notice, the range of such a thing would have had to be enormous, hundreds of kilometers at the very least, and that once again brought him back to his original deduction: it had to be an Heir-Grade reward. Butбн that was impossible!

    Orinik took a breath and exhaled. Often, the simplest deduction was the right deduction.

    ''Someone formed an Heir-Grade territory. Not only that, but they succeeded in claiming the entire sea for themselves.''

    As a group with a unique ocean territory, Orinik, of course, knew about claiming a sea, he was actually working as fast as possible to get to that level as soon as possible. But just when he felt like he was getting close, all of his hard work had been destroyed.

    ''No, it''s not over yet.''

    There were obviously two choices before him. The first was repairing the city through fusion while the second was attacking the person who had done this to them.

    At that moment, Rychard and Montero flashed over from a distance. They landed in the midst of the ruined and cracked city, their expressions just as ugly as Orinik''s.

    "What the hell happened here?" Rychard asked.

    "We''ve been targeted. I think someone used an Heir-Grade reward to expel us and claim the sea."

    "How is that possible?!" Montero''s brows jumped.I think you should take a look at

    "It''s unlikely, but it isn''t impossible. We''ve run into upgrade rewards and territory rewards. It''s likely that someone was lucky enough to stumble into all three that were needed. Potentially one of the Water Force families. We would have to face off against the Constellation Families eventually."

    "You''re saying someone managed to gather a unique water territory, which is already rare enough, on top of all of those things? Bullshit!"

    "That''s the simplest explanation. It''s also best that we go forward with this explanation, because if we underestimate the enemy too much, we''ll suffer instead."

    Rychard gripped his fists. Why did it feel like every time he was close to succeeding, he would be crushed before he could even fully rise? His gaze burned with a furious light, causing the waters to become agitated.

    "We''ll crush them now before they can gain the full benefits of the Heir-Grade territory. They''ll be in a lull right after passing such a big trial as well. In addition, although they won''t know much about us, their territory map should have alerted them to the fact that they had just pushed a territory out. They won''t ever guess that we''ll attack them now when we''ve just suffered a huge blow."

    Orinik frowned when he heard Rychard''s words. He could tell that Rychard was already slowly losing his patience. However, when Rychard continued, his words still seemed to carry some reason.

    "Think about it. Anyone who could find so many rewards in the ocean, albeit lucky, also took quite a bit of effort as well. They''ve likely taken the same strategy as us in dispersing many of their subordinates into groups to clear as many dungeons and challenges as possible.

    "If they used an upgrade reward to reach the Heir-Grade, which makes the most sense, they wouldn''t have needed to recall everyone and they''re likely to even expand their radius even further. Now that they had a territory map that expands across an entire sea, there''s even more dungeons and challenges to deal with.

    "Before they consolidate and decide to attack other territories with the gains they''ve made, this is the best chance they''ll have, without a doubt."

    Orinik nodded slowly.

    Although he had originally felt that Rychard was far too eager, after hearing his words, Orinik felt that they held no small bit of logic to them. The reasoning was sound and he couldn''t find anything wrong with it immediately.

    Even if they were wrong and someone had somehow amassed an army that could clear an Heir-Grade upgrade challenge the normal way already, not to mention the point total it cost as well, after fighting such a huge battle, this person would be in quite a sorry state currently. So even in the case he was wrong, there was no better time to attack than now.

    Orinik nodded slowly. "Let''s prepare. We can only take an hour at most."

    Rychard and Montero looked toward another, clearly in agreement. It was clear that they had all agreed on this being the best step. If they retreated now, their chances of victory were next to nothing. Aside from revenge, the rewards of these Heir Wars were far too lucrative, they couldn''t give them up.

 Chapter 2025 Large

    ?

    Leonel slowly lowered his bow, his eyes narrowing as he looked off in a certain direction. He looked down and scanned the Skies family members. They were indeed in a sorry state. They had just maintained their domain of lightning for several hours. Although Leonel''s armor made it a lot easier on them, they would need quite a bit of time to recover unless they used the pods.

    "Return to the Ice Island," Leonel commanded.

    Unfortunately, the outposts were always tied to a single city, as in the city they were summoned from. As such, Leonel''s convenient teleportation network wasn''t useful here. He would have to build up another network for this city that could bridge the gap between the two and make it more convenient. He definitely had the funds to do so, but it would take time because one had to personally place the outposts down in their chosen location.

    In addition to this, Leonel didn''t yet know if he would have the points to spare. That was because he now had 3 trillion more points and another city to potentially upgrade. He would have to decide, once again, whether to save what he had or use it immediately.

    As Leonel had expected, the options weren''t many for the Water Lotus territory. So many of the advantages of the territory were baked into it already that giving it any more upgrade paths would be too overpowered and break the balance of the Heir Wars. The only option Leonel gained was one that allowed him to exchange points for a faster "closing" time.

    This closing time referred to the green pads of the Water Lotus entering a defensive position. Right now, it took about eight hours to close the pads and enter the strongest defensive state of the city. He could spend one trillion to half that time, two trillion to cut it down to two hours, and four trillion to cut it down to an hour.

    For every halving, Leonel would have to pay double the points. Other than this, there were no other options to gain.

    Leonel narrowed his gaze.

    He was in a bit of a situation now. He had, indeed, sensed that he had expelled someone from his territory. But just like he had sensed them, they had definitely sensed him. If they were smart, their next action would be to attack him with their full force as quickly as possible.

    His people were, indeed, dispersed, just as Rychard had said. In addition, the Skies family that had fought by his side were too fatigued for another round of battle. It would take them only 15 minutes for the uninjured among them to recover once they returned, but it would take at least an hour to return and an hour to come back to his side. That was two and a half hours total.

    He had just gained 3 trillion points from clearing the Heir Grade challenge. Although there were points to be gained from the dungeons and challenges as well, those points were adjusted to account for individuals potentially having millions of subordinates to begin with.

    He only gained 100 000 points for dealing with an Heir-Grade threat, while the others, in exchange for clearing an Heir-Grade dungeon, might receive anywhere from a few hundred million to a few billion. While this might sound like a lot, one would need to clear a thousand such dungeons just to get one trillion points, let alone the tens of trillions he felt like he needed.I think you should take a look at

    ''I have to release the stingrays and let them start clearing challenges on their ownбн''

    Leonel shook his head. It seemed that he would have to hold this line alone until the Skies family could return. Unfortunately, he had also told the others to stay out of this sea due to the danger of the method he was planning on using, so it would take them about an hour to rush to him, and that was if they were wiped out from their dungeon clearing in the first place.

    With a wave of his hand, Leonel spent all three trillion points, cutting the time needed to two hours and beginning the closing process. He was feeling a hint fatigued after the battle himself, but the hour he estimated it would take them to get here was more than enough for him.

    With a step, he appeared on the edge of one of the slowly moving green pads. His bare feet dangled in the clear waters, his expression calm as he closed them, laying his spear across his lap. His breathing seemed to match the rhythm of the slowly churning waters.

    The reason he had claimed this city in the first place was to ensure that no one else could claim a sea for themselves, and he planned to do it twice more. He didn''t care even if he had to leave the Water Lotus territory closed into perpetuity. His only goal was to hold this land, what happened with the rest of it didn''t matter to him.

    Oddly enough, this was a rare moment of relaxation for him since the Heir Wars had begun. Listening to the rushing waves as an army approached him, he felt an unprecedented calm. It was a calm that came from the depths of his soul, a confidence built on a track record that ran deep, a blemishless resume.

    Suddenly, Leonel opened his eyes. By this point, the edge of the green pad he sat upon had raised into the skies, leaving just the smallest gaps to squeeze through. However, the city was still too exposed. In order to stop someone from reaching the city core and claiming the city for themselves, it would take a great deal of effort on his part.

    The last hour felt as though it had passed in the blink of an eye, but the tranquility of Leonel''s gaze was more gentle than even the waves of a serene lake. Even when he saw the large army before him he was unmovedбн even after he recognized Rychard and Orinik he reacted as though they were nothing more than air.

    He stood to his feet slowly, holding out his spear from his body and pointing it toward the waters below.

    If one drew a line from the tip of his spear to the once calm surface, it would be possible to see a gentle ripple spread out, almost as though someone had touched the surface with a finger. And yetбн Leonel''s spear and Spear Force was nowhere near it.

    It was as though the ocean''s waters were informing the world that Leonel''s presence was much larger than it seemed to be.

 Chapter 2026 Floating Cotton Balls

    ?

    The scene at the front could only be described as shocking.

    Hovering above the water, what looked like enormous blue cotton balls floated. Each one of these cotton balls was almost a kilometer across at the smallest, and over ten at the largest. They looked completely harmless, and yet large tendrils of water streamed upward from the once calm surface with such speed that one could almost witness the surface of the ocean dropping millimeter by millimeter.

    The amount of water these creatures were absorbing was absolutely shocking, and yet it didn''t seem to hinder their movements in the slightest. It was clear that the Water Lotus Territory''s debuff was completely useless on these enormous creatures as well, and there were easily thousands of them, stretching as far as the eye could see. If it wasn''t for their ridiculous size, Leonel had no doubt that there would be even more.

    On top of these cotton ball creatures, warriors stood. It was a mixture of Eamon, Etazi and Viola family members. These people were relatively unknown in the Human Domain, so much so that many had been questioning why Leonel was sitting in silence and doing nothing at all. They had had no idea that such a line up was coming until now.

    Realizing that Leonel was actually planning on facing off against such an army alone, the hearts of the spectators shuddered uncontrollably.

    As for Orinik and Rychard, both were very surprised that the one before them now was actually Leonel. Both had believed that this person would more than likely be from a Water Force family, but when they saw it was the person they wanted to deal with the most, and better yet he was alone, a cold light suffused their irises.

    Even so, the unhurried calm in Leonel''s gaze was especially grating on their hearts. It felt as though they were reliving some of the most traumatic moments of their lives.

    The loss of the Void Library token that Leonel had snatched from him seemed simple, but just for a chance to enter as a Galaxy Ranked disciple, Orinik had lost count of the number of times he had put his life on the line, how much blood he had shed, how many near death experiences he had withstood, escaping by the skin of his teeth.

    But without a single regard for anything, Leonel, that boy whose only claim to fame were his parents, had snatched something he had spent years planning for. To this day, that was still the greatest humiliation of his life.

    He was an exceptionally cautious person, one who only took action when he believed that he had all the cards in his hand, and yet he had been outplayed.

    For Rychard, the hatred was even more deep seeded. His family had been destroyed and uprooted, not just once, but twice. Aina had crushed his pride as a man and the Luxnix had crushed his pride as an Heir. By now, he knew that Leonel had played him, forcing him into a corner without raising even a single finger.

    He could sense the disdain radiating off of Leonel despite the fact the latter''s expression was calm. It was a disregard so deeply entrenched that it made Rychard''s blood boil, his slightly greying hair dancing in the wind.

    Montero, the only one of the three without history with Leonel, was the only one looking around and questioning the situation. Where were his subordinates? Were they inside the city? Why didn''t he sense them?

    But it was exactly at that moment that Orinik and Rychard spoke at once.

    "Attack!"

    The skies above rumbled and the large tendrils of water tornados that the Rain Beasts were swallowing up shifted.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel narrowed his eyes as an enormous wave of water surged toward him. They towered tens of kilometers into the skies, blotting out even the sun in the skies. There was simply nowhere to escape it. Whether it was width or height, both carried the suffocating weight of nature.

    A Bronze Aura gently radiated from Leonel as he tilted his head up. Even doing so while standing in the skies didn''t allow him to lay eyes on the end of the wave.

    Slowly, a tier two armor formed over his body, his body trembling lightly just once before he suddenly appeared before the wall of thick water.

    With a roar, Leonel slashed down, splitting the tsunami in two.

    As he slashed, Leonel''s gaze flickered. He had felt more resistance than he had expected. Although the tsunami-like wave was large, between his Water Force control and Spear Force, it shouldn''t have been too difficult. But this water held a different sort of character.

    Leonel realized that these creatures weren''t just spraying water around, they were controlling it. They were large, floating, breathing Water Force Domains. That meantбн

    He had only just split the wave when it began to crash down around him. If it was just a wall of normal water, it would have fallen and collapsed. Even if it managed to maintain its form, it would have continued its forward momentum. But this one abruptly stopped and collapsed around him like a rain of fists weighing millions of kilograms.

    Leonel''s gaze blazed to life and his ten Stars appeared to his back, his aura surging.

    He took a step forward and vanished through his Starry Light Domain. When he appeared again, his Divine Armor was billowing with dense blue nebulae-like fog, his aura soaring once again.

    His Void Star Force Stars twinkling, trembling once and ripping the control of the tsunami from the wall of beasts.

    Leonel felt a bead of sweat fall down his brow, his heart skipping a beat. Just now, he felt the tug of not just one Rain Beast, but dozens. They were sharing control of these waters, making stripping the control away several times more difficult than it should have been.

    Even so, Leonel''s spear didn''t pause. With a sweep, his spear followed a wide arc, the tsunami to his back became a sharp, slicing wave and it surged toward the oncoming army.

    However, the Rain Beasts made no attempt to fight back. They only continued to float forward slowly, their size still expanding.

    When Leonel''s slicing wave hit them, their cotton bodies rippled slightly before all the water was swallowed up and they grew another size.

    Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

 Chapter 2027 Sneer

    ?

    Rychard sneered. Even the unmodified Rain Beasts, at this size, were practically immune to Water Force. Let alone Water Force, because they could expel so much water at once, their defenses were nigh impenetrable. Punching them quite literally felt like punch a large ball of cotton, it wasn''t just a look, it was a feature.

    There was a reason the Rain Galaxy didn''t allow them to get this large. Although they were generally harmless, when they grew to a certain size they were almost undefeatable. The only real way to handle them was to take them away from a source of water and allow them to run out of water to use and manipulate, then they would become no less docile than any other domesticated creature. However, Leonel didn''t even have this option.

    Just judging by the closing green pads, Leonel was obviously trying to protect this city. If he wasn''t, he would be too foolish.

    If there was no one here, snatching the city core wouldn''t even take any effort at all. Knowing this, how could Leonel lead the Rain Beasts away from a water source? The entire terrain was the water source. The shore was literally hundreds of kilometers away.

    Although Leonel had thought about placing the Water Lotus closer to the shore, he would be giving up its greatest ability in doing this, that being the debuff of fresh water. However, even that was ironically useless in this situation.

    It had actually taken so much effort just to rip Water Force from the tsunami wave just now. Leonel couldn''t even imagine what it would take to strip them of the water inside their bodies, especially since there were thousands of them, easily.

    ''There are only two explanations for this. Either these beasts have a massive weakness that I haven''t spotted yet, or they were trying to be secretive.''

    Leonel couldn''t see how these three had only made this much progress with this kind of trump card. If Leonel had had these Rain Beasts, not only would he had not needed to expose several trump cards, he would have already claimed the entire ocean for him and would probably be making a move onto the night side continent right this moment.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze flickered. ''I seeбн''

    He had found the "weakness". Unfortunately, it wasn''t quite as ground breaking as he hoped. This weakness was simply that it took the Rain Beasts a great deal of time to reach this state.

    In this state, these Rain Beasts were easily worth 10 000 points each. It was likely that Orinik and Rychard had chosen to exploit the same loophole that the Lio family had and imported them with just 1 point. Due to this, they had to grow these beasts themselves, causing them to waste a lot of time.

    If this time was removed, the fastest to form a Gold-Grade territory wouldn''t be Leonel, it would, in fact, be these three. If Leonel hadn''t ruined their plans, they would also have been the "first" to form an Heir-Grade territory. If they had been allowed to grow undisturbed, the likelihood that they would have claimed victory in these Heir Wars would likely have been won by them.

    Leonel''s lip curled, his sneer seemingly entirely displaced given the situation.

    He didn''t feel "lucky", nor did he sigh in relief. He hadn''t been lucky. The reason he had chosen to push forward with claiming all the seas for himself was precisely to avoid a situation like this one. This was the benefit of being proactive and knowing when to push and when to be conservative.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, he didn''t feel like he was backed into a corner. In fact, he felt that there was no better time to deal with this threat.

    Leonel held out his spear just as Rychard and Orinik began to feel a bubbling rage caused by his reaction. They couldn''t believe that even now, Leonel dared to look down on them. But it was then that his aura suddenly pierced into the skies.

    "[Star Fusionбн King''s Might]."I think you should take a look at

    BANG!

    A wild whirlpool formed beneath Leonel''s feet. The crowding clouds above seemed to be under the same spinning force, a vortex taking shape both above and below him.

    Leonel held out his spear and at that moment his body trembled, forming a clone, then a second, then a tenth, and a hundredth. Soon, the number of Leonels seemed to dwarf even the large army before him and they all surged forward at once.

    Orinik''s gaze narrowed. "Target that location!"

    He had seen this ability from Leonel before, or so he thought. The technique he had seen was one Leonel had picked up from Valiant Heart Mountain, it was nothing more than an illusion of the light. But this oneбн?

    A wall of water suddenly appeared where "Leonel" had stood.

    However, even after it landed, nothing seemed to happened. The other clones continued forward without dispersing, appearing around the army and attacking all at once.

    Right then, several Leonel''s appeared before Orinik and the others, his spear slicing down.

    "Kill!" Rychard ordered.

    They stood upon the largest of the Rain Beasts. It was almost 20 kilometers across. Even through Leonel had "appeared" before them, he was still easily ten kilometers away. It was almost impossible to even create an attack of that scale, let alone reach them.

    The water beneath the Rain Beast shifted and surged toward the oncoming Leonels. The three didn''t feel like they even had to move an inch, but what happened next left them without words.

    "[Emperor''s Edict]бн"

    In the blink of an eye, the Rain Beast that had been almost 20 kilometers in diameter suddenly vanished.

    Those spectating blinked. But when they looked closer, they realized that it hadn''t vanished. No, it had shrunk back down to the size of a palm. And as for the waters it had taken several days to absorbбн

    It was hovering behind Leonel as though a miniature planet.

    Wielding it like a weapon, Leonel''s slash continued, his gaze filled with a menacing light.

 Chapter 2028 Harsh Reality

    ?

    Before Orinik, Rychard and Montero could react, half of their subordinates died. It was as though everything had been reversed instantaneously. The moment Leonel had grasped the weakness and the strengths of the Rain Beasts, it was over.

    His clones surged forward, slaughtering the people of the Viola, Eamon and Etazi family. They used a strong Spatial Force to dodge out of the way of the other Water Force attacks and took down an enemy at a time with single strokes.

    The general warriors of these three families were no stronger than the Skies family. Their only real strength came from the Rain Beasts and their special strengths. How could they withstand even a single blow from Leonel''s clones, let alone Leonel himself?

    Orinik seemed to see red. His immaculate style of dress immediately became disheveled as the rain of water from above ruined his perfectly groomed hair. In just a single attack, he had lost his air of superiority in its entirety.

    Leonel''s figure flashed as he grabbed the now palm sized Rain Beast out of the air. He stood silently in the skies, observing it as though the battle around him had little to do with him.

    Fear gripped Montero. Leonel stood no more than a hundred meters from them, having crossed such a large distance as though it was nothing. Watching his people fall around him, his heart trembled uncontrollably. Unable to withstand the impact anymore, he reached for his badge, crushing it.

    Leonel looked up from the adorable ball of blue cotton in his hand. In its small size, it felt much more like a living, breathing creature. It rolled around without any sort of concept of danger, making odd blooping sounds as it rolled around. It was clear that it was harmless and as innocent as a blank slate. So, Leonel didn''t care to take his attention from it.

    Even so, Leonel didn''t do anything as Montero escaped, he and the rest of the Eamon family vanishing along with him. Instead, Leonel simply looked up into the skies.

    "Capture him," he said lightly.

    бн

    Montero appeared in the depths of starry skies, grabbing his heart as he took deep breaths. He had heard Rychard and Orinik talk about Leonel all the time. The amount of hatred they had toward him, and their constant fixation on revenge, made it seem as though they were on the same playing field. Although he had heard about some of the feats Leonel had accomplished while in the Void Palace, it was easily drowned out by the feats of others, or just too ridiculous to accept.

    For example when Leonel cleared dozens of floors on his first entry into the Void Tower. Even those that had been there didn''t believe it, let alone those who hadn''t. So, in Montero''s eyes, Leonel was always someone that it wouldn''t be a problem to deal with if they put their heads together. It was also not helpful that before all of this had happened, his confidence had been slowly growing everyday thanks to the benefits he had gained from the Cataclysm Void as an owner of a World Spirit.

    But the moment he had seen Leonel like this, face to face, witnessing his presence, the pressure he gave, his aura, Montero had entirely forgotten how to breathe. The gap was so large that he couldn''t even fathom it.

    Even after several deep breaths, he couldn''t seem to calm down at all. And that was when Leonel''s eerie voice penetrated his soul.I think you should take a look at

    "Capture him."

    The words echoed to everyone as though Leonel was whispering right into their ears. Just like before, Leonel had bypassed the restrictions of the Dream Force as though they weren''t there, and just like that, everyone who hadn''t been paying attention to this clash suddenly couldn''t take their eyes off of it.

    Montero''s eyes widened. He felt a cold chill travel up his back and his head spun toward the Morales family.

    "No! NO! I survived fair and square, this isn''t right! Is the Morales family going to break its own rules?!"

    The Morales Ancestors weren''t even looking at Montero. If Leonel actually expected them to capture Montero for him, he was sorely mistaken. He wasn''t yet the Patriarch, and even if he was, no Patriarch could order around the Ancestors as he pleased, the Patriarch was a functionally lower level than them. The position was only to deal with affairs at and below the Seventh Dimension.

    They frowned a bit, feeling that Leonel was actually a little too arrogant if he believed this. But before they could go down this line of thought much further, a mass of swirling Dark Force suddenly appeared behind Montero. It was sudden and quick, so much so that even the Ancestors hadn''t sensed it until it appeared.

    Out from within it, a mature beauty stepped out. A long, black dress clung tightly to her curves, a powerful, streamlined body hidden within. It was clear that she had more muscle than the average female, but rather than distracting from her femininity, it accentuated it, making it bolder, more exotic, more beautiful. Everything from her pale, almost transparent skin, to her rosy red lips, enticed and entranced people.

    Montero couldn''t even react before his arms and legs were suddenly bound, even his lips being covered by a thin black silk.

    Mordred released a delicate laugh, one that caused the hearts of many to skip. She seemed to be quite assured in her charm and she wasn''t the least beast shy about using it, her maturity shining through like well aged wine.

    With another step, she vanished into her ball of twirling Dark Force, leaving the line of senses for the other Ancestors. No matter how they looked, they couldn''t seem to find her at all.

    Just when everyone thought it was over, a streak of golden light appeared. King Arthur appeared for no more than a single instant before vanishing in another streak himself. However, after a few moments of silence, the flagship of the Eamon family split into two, its members dying one after another.

    Silence fell over all, a harsh reality settling in.

    The number of subordinates Leonel had shown weren''t his limit. In fact, they were very lucky that the age limit was just a hundred years old, if it was just a few decades more the world would have known the like of King Arthur and his daughter Mordred.

 Chapter 2029 Two Names

    ?

    The changes were sudden and shocking. Not many knew how to react to it.

    The strength of Mordred''s Dark Force left many apprehensive, her escape measures deeper than anything they had ever seen before. To be able to hide from even their senses felt too ridiculous, just who were these people exactly?

    But maybe even more impressive than that was cutting a flagship in half with a single bound. While the Eamon family was on the much weaker side, a flagship still remained a flagship. Just in terms of sheer size one would have to be able to levy an attack with a range of at least an entire kilometer within a breath to succeed in such a feat.

    To do that even in a semi-decent world was one thing, but this was the Morales family''s territory, this was a world with that, easily, stood at the pinnacle of Seventh Dimensional worlds with very few other Seventh Dimensional worlds being comparable. It was the sturdiest environment one could be in without entering the territory of the Void Palace or, obviously, entering an Eighth Dimensional world.

    The brows of the Morales Ancestors loosened somewhat, though there was also a hint of embarrassment for clearly taking Leonel''s words the wrong way.

    Now that they thought about it, Leonel had never asked them for anything. In fact, unlike their other Heirs, Leonel''s growth to this point had nothing to do with the Morales family''s resources. Even if one wanted to take into consideration the Spear Domain Ring and the Segmented Cube, the former would only be able to be used by those with sharp enough senses and talent in the spear to begin with, while the latter had been passed down through Leonel''s family line from the very beginning.

    When things were put into perspective, it was actually quite nonsensical of them to think that he had been asking for them to act, especially when before the Heir Wars even began, Leonel thought to return the Spear Domain Ring and the Segmented Cube.

    The fact that he hadn''t even known these two things about his own treasures meant that Velasco was still the very same Velasco they remembered. He hated to explain anything, even when it was to his own son. As for Leonel''s mother, she had been restricted by the rules of the Void Palace all her life, when could there have possibly been time for him to gain the shelter of his parents. In truth, Leonel might even be independent to a fault.

    Ancestor Alvaro sighed. Quite frankly, he felt bad for even thinking along this line of reasoning, and his impression of Leonel couldn''t help but become even better.

    But although the Morales family had realized their mistake, there would always be some fools who were unwilling to accept it.

    Nearby, the flagships of the Etazi and Viola families swayed back and forth under the raging explosion. Fear was clearly painted on their faces as they came to realize that their fates might very well be the same. Their only chance of victory was for Leonel to lose to Orinik and Rychard, but given how decisively Montero had run, was that even possible?

    Seeing this as a sort of opportunity, and seemingly still very much unhappy about Leonel using Cloud Race members to win a competition of human geniuses, Cross Elder Avan snorted, his unhappiness painted all across his face.

    "You Morales are truly acting as if I''m not even here. I advise you all return the Patriarch of the Eamon family now, or don''t blame me for being impolite."

    Avan had been too far away and too slow to react to Arthur and Mordred''s sudden appearance. As such, he could only watch as the Eamon family was massacred.

    He had used his senses to scan the region for several moments, but even after so many attempts, he still couldn''t seem to find the two at all, leaving him a bit frustrated. He had wanted to act against them directly, but how could he if he couldn''t even find them?I think you should take a look at

    His role here was quite limited. He was meant to be neutral and Shield Cross Stars hadn''t sent even a single genius in, neither did the Void Palace. Or, more accurately, none of the geniuses in line to become the next Void Elders of the Void Palace had participated as they were also meant to remain strictly neutral.

    But due to this neutral position, Avan was in a unique position to act on behalf of the Eamon family which was clearly much too weak to defend themselves. What also helped his methods was the fact that the Morales had already gained the ire of so many thanks to Leonel''s actions. If they were casually destroying weaker families now when it was convenient, it was easy to paint the picture that the Morales were trying to get rid of trouble before it became more troublesome to deal with in the future.

    If he could successfully accuse the Morales of such a thing, the pressure on them would only become more enormous.

    Of course, nothing Mordred or Arthur had displayed was even remotely connected to them to the Morales. Arthur had clearly used Sword Force and Light Force just now, while Mordred used what had looked like a wand straight out of a fairy tale.

    But who said all Morales had to use spears? There were many Morales who were born with neither of their Lineage Factors. In addition, who said they weren''t relying on their Ability Indexes instead? With that sort of reasonable doubt, putting the bullseye on the Morales was all too easy.

    However, what Cross Elder Avan never expected was for a light laughter, one that was all too familiar and melted the bones as it sped up one''s heart rate, would ring out at this moment.

    "I would advise Shield Cross Stars to stay in their lane. We wouldn''t want some embarrassing circumstances to leak out, now would we?"

    Mordred''s delicate and seductive voice echoed through the starry skies, but even now it was still difficult to tell exactly where it was coming form.

    Avan''s temper was fiery and he almost immediately lashed out.

    "You little harlot! Why don''t you come out and say that to my face."

    Mordred laughed. "Jorrymбн Graros."

    She only spoke out two names, but Avan immediately went pale.

    Under the shocked gazes of all those present, the blustering Cross Elder, the man whose temper couldn''t be calmed by anyone, suddenly sealed his lips.

 Chapter 2030 Pawn

    ?

    Avan had been skeptical about how he and Shield Cross Stars had ended up claiming victory over such a large contingent of the Cloud Race. When he had seen Leonel suddenly come out with so many Cloud Race members who were, essentially, his slaves, he had felt that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, that feeling that he had been led by the nose all this time.

    However, he had managed to ignore it, turning that sinking feeling into a will to target the Morales and blame them for their crimes.

    The moment Mordred''s voice had echoed those two names, though, his entire world came crashing down. He didn''t even know the name Jorrym because the moment he caught Graros, the latter had used a powerful measure of the Cloud Race to avoid interrogation and entered a deep sleep. But the moment he heard that name, the name of the very Patriarch the Cloud Race had been impersonating in the Chaotic Water Sector, it all clicked. Jorrym must be his real name.

    The fact that Leonel''s subordinates knew his real name meant that Leonel definitely knew more than he had. A lot more.

    Just the fact that Leonel could make Cloud Race members do his bidding spoke volumes to begin with. All of the Cloud Race members that Shield Cross Stars had captured had all entered that odd coma-like state that made it impossible for even those with Dream Force and mind reading Ability Indexes to get into their thoughts and read their memories.

    Now, there was simply no denying it. Leonel had been the one to lead him by the nose back then. He was the one that had manipulated them like they were chess pieces. And just when he thought he was making the Ascension Empire suffer by pulling out and making them deal with the host of problems on their own, he had ended up getting rid of Leonel''s biggest problem for him while Leonel himself was probably reclined somewhere, embracing a beauty.

    The more Cross Elder Avan thought about it, the more enraged he was, but even though others could see his face turning a bright shade of red, the metal of the flagship around him slowly melting, he still didn''t dare to say even a word.

    If everyone found out that it was actually Leonel who had been responsible for Shield Cross Star''s biggest victory against the Cloud Race, a victory that he had gained so much fame and adoration for, it would be impossible to come back.

    They had been taking nothing but losses in recent years, and every instance of victory they had was somehow related to Leonel. And yet, they had actually placed a bounty on his head and called him a fugitive. Their image was already in the dumps previously, and it was this victory that allowed them some respite.

    Avan simply couldn''t allow the world to learn about this. At least not now.

    Mordred''s laughter rang through the starry skies. It was exceptionally nice to listen to, but to Avan''s, it felt like nothing more than needle pricking at his ear drums. His fury could have taken tangible form if he allowed it.

    The Ancestors of the various families, even the Morales, couldn''t help but frown. Even if Avan remained silent, speculation was impossible to dodge. But at the same time, the place Leonel had in their hearts only elevated.

    In the beginning, it had felt ridiculous that Leonel could even compete with those of his generation. But now, he was toying even with Ancestors of their levelбн and the worst part was that he didn''t even seem to have to be present to do so!

    бн

    Back in the Heir Wars, Leonel looked down from the skies. He didn''t need to guess the results, he trusted his people and had no need to doubt them.I think you should take a look at

    Whether it was Mordred or Arthur, both of them not only had Ability Indexes that were incredibly rare and powerful, they were also gifted the same talent of the people of Earth while also having access to a Magic System novel to the Human Domain. Many of the enemies they faced didn''t even know how to face them.

    The only enemies they had ever struggled against were members of the Cloud Race, which were far more talented than most humans to begin with, and members of the four Great Families, whose strength spoke for themselves.

    When it came to anyone else, especially within the Human Domain, they were on a level all to their own. Beneath the Eighth Dimension, their number of opponents was already very rare.

    Leonel rolled the Rain Beast in his hands again. It felt incredibly soft to the touch, he could see why people had adored them as domesticated pets.

    Even now, he didn''t seem to take Orinik and Rychard very seriously.

    "Not going to run?" Leonel asked lightly.

    The two clenched their fists so hard that their veins threatened to pop. Their Force raged through their Nodes and their hearts pumped madly.

    They had no idea what had happened just now, but the fact that Leonel said capture them made them think that the Morales family had acted on Leonel''s orders just now. That made them realize that there was no way out aside from victory.

    After a moment, Orinik took a breath and exhaled, calming heart. His hands slid into the hems of his robes, one of the very first things he had traded for as a man enamored by his own appearance, and slowly slid them off his shoulders, revealing well cared for dark brown skin and a chiseled physique not very much shy of Leonel''s own.

    Rychard began to age quite visibly, but his back was still as straight as a javelin. His beard grew and became wizened and grey, billowing in the wind as the hairs on his head grew more sparse and willowy.

    Suddenly, a Dark Force erupted from Orinik that finally made Leonel''s eyes narrow.

    "I see." Leonel suddenly said. "You''re actually a pawn of Third Nova."

    Leonel spoke slowly, his gaze focused entirely on Orinik.

 Chapter 2031 Go On

    ?

    Orinik''s pupils constricted into pinholes. He wasn''t a fool, he could tell that Leonel wasn''t baiting him. That sort of confident, indifferent gaze, as though it didn''t matter even if Orinik got on his knees and swore to the high Heavens that he wasn''t involved with Third Nova, told him everything he needed to know.

    Orinik had spent his life plotting and scheming. Even Rychard and Montero had no idea where his truest allegiances lied, although Rychard did know a bit more about it. And yet, with just a single slip up, Leonel had seen right through him.

    Back then, when Leonel was first entering the Void Palace, no one knew who he was. Even to his own cousins and fellow Nova Heirs he was a nobody. He had never stepped foot into the family, and other than the fact they had a vague idea that he was Velasco''s son, there was nothing else.

    There was no news about him, he had awakened his Lineage Factors quite late compared to the rest of them, and he was stuck far away in the Milky Way. No one had any idea he was coming to the Void Palace that year, for all they knew he would never come.

    Velasco was always a wildcard to begin with, and he had a huge vendetta against the Void Palace, it wasn''t too impossible to believe that he wouldn''t send Leonel at all, it was quite easy to accept, in fact.

    So the question was, how did it seem like Third Nova was prepared?

    Manipulating the Senate into taking action wasn''t something that could happen in the spur of the moment. What about gaining information about the Rapax and the importance of their next round of birthed eggs? Or maneuvering matters so that the Senate could vote out the Stalwart Polearm Party and reduce them back to a Legacy Faction?

    All of these were things that took time and effort. This meant that Xavnik had to have had someone who informed him long ahead of time that Leonel was present and would be coming, and who better than Orinik who had been sent to oversee the Selection in the first place?

    When you looked at things that way, it almost seemed too obvious. Leonel felt quite foolish that he hadn''t seen it before, but now that everything was in line, he finally felt that a weight on his shoulders had vanished.

    Leonel''s lip curled when he saw Orinik hesitate. "Go ahead and use your badge to escape, it''ll only make things easier on me."

    Orinik shivered as he remembered the words Leonel had spoken earlier. Could it be that the Morales really had acted on his behalf? Orinik couldn''t risk such a thing, he would be crushed without even knowing what happened. How could he match up to an Ancestor? They could probably kill him with a single glance.

    Suddenly, Rychard roared, his fury bubbling over. A heavy black-violet rod appeared in his hands as he swung down with all his might, aiming for Leonel''s head as he crossed the distance between them.

    Leoenl''s gaze narrowed. He could feel the peculiarity of Rychard''s Violet Force, and he could also feel that the latter''s strength had exponentially increased just now. He took a step back and side stepped, gliding out of the way of the strike with ease.

    Although his strength had increased, his skill had very obviously not. Rychard poured so much focus and attention into the Force Manipulation of his Violent Force that he neglected practically everything else. Even when he exchanged his life in such a way, it wasn''t enough.

    "Rychard! Get out of the way and support me from the back! You''re no match for him!"

    Rychard''s body trembled as he tried to retreat, but Leonel had already taken a step forward and swung a strong fist at his abdomen. He didn''t want to kill Rychard. In fact, he didn''t want to kill any one of them. Of course, that wasn''t because he was soft hearted, but rather because he wanted what they had, whether that was information orбн their Lineage Factor.

    Leonel had no intention of gaining this Violet Force himself, but he felt that it was a perfect fit for the Tentacle Womb. What he saw in Rychard wasn''t a person any longer, all he saw was a resource.

    To his surprise, though, Rychard allowed himself to be hit just so that he could gain a path of retreat. Before Leonel could pursue, he suddenly felt a hint of danger, causing his gaze to narrow. He stopped his forward movement and clasped both hands onto his spear''s body, blocking to the side.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s wrists trembled but his feet didn''t move. Across from him, Orinik wielded two sabers that Leonel couldn''t take his eyes off of. Those sabers were definitely the very same twin sabers that Second Nova had used.

    Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted and Leonel''s gaze turned malevolent. He was uncaring and indifferent a moment ago, but all of a sudden even the air itself seemed to freeze over.

    He knew that Second Nova had lost to Third Nova, but he hadn''t thought that the latter would have been defeated badly enough to lose even his weapons. Not only had he lost his weapons, but Xavnik was even leisurely enough to pass these sabers off to Orinik.

    In truth, these sabers were quite bland and unassuming. Most people, even Crafters, wouldn''t be able to tell them apart from mass produced instances of such weapons. But who were normal Crafters compared to Leonel? He could practically see a Craft down to its molecular details with a single glance. If Orinik hadn''t already been exposed before him, he would have most definitely been exposed here.I think you should take a look at

    "What happened to Auran?"

    Leonel''s voice was as dark as an abyssal hell. Orinik''s gaze narrowed once more, but he didn''t say anything, his gaze flashing with a greenish violet light as an explosion of poison fog filled his surroundings.

    Leonel immediately recognized this as poison, his mind moved faster than Orinik could fathom. With a quick shift, he swapped places with one of his clones in the distance. He covered several kilometers in a single thought, leaping far outside the range of its influence

    "That poisonбн"

    Leonel felt that this wasn''t a pre-concocted poison, it had come right from Orinik''s body as though it was a Lineage Factor or Ability Index. But what surprised him was that Orinik could even produce such powerful poison, where had that come from?

    ''It''s branching from his Dark Forceбн Is Orinik a demon too? Something isn''t adding up.''

    Leonel had met poison demons before, he had steered clear of them.

    The truth was that Leonel was probably immune to most poisons. Even the ones he wasn''t immune to, he had Cleansing Waters to deal with. However, due to the current state of things, he didn''t carry the Segmented Cube around him. It was needed to mass produce and process ores, it was also the main source of water and food that his people had.

    It had to be remembered that due to the suppression of this world, everyone reacted like normal Third Dimensional existences would. They needed to sleep once a day, they needed food and they needed water. The only way to deal with these easily was to use the Segmented Cube.

    As for Leonel''s own personal immunity that came from his various Lineage Factors and powerful Scarlet Star Force, he was a bit hesitant to use them directly. He had already learned that in the Dimensional Verse, underestimating your opponent was a great way to suffer.

    ''Huh?''

    Leonel''s pupils constricted and he coughed out a greenish violet fog.

    He looked up to find that his clone had already been burnt to ash. Orinik''s laughter echoed through the air, his face contorting in a fashion that those familiar with him had never seen.

    Leonel understood immediately. This poison was more sinister than he had originally thought, it couldn''t be helped, this was only the second time he had fought a true poison expert, while the first one had been fought by Aina while he watched. That was back when Aina had fought the Heiress of the Pyius family, Simona.

    But, Aina was entirely immune to all poisons due to her Ability Index, so it was obvious that this "experience" wasn''t as helpful as it should have been.

    Orinik''s poison was able to target him through his Force alone. It was incredibly mysterious, there wasn''t even a direct connection between himself and his clone, and yet he had suffered anyway.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed and he immediately circulated his Scarlet Star Force, making use of its destruction characteristics to target the poison. But, his pupils could only constrict when he realized it was useless. In fact, the poison clashed with his Scarlet Star Force for a moment before the stalemate was suddenly broken, the poison using his Scarlet Star Force as fuel to attack the rest of his body.

    The echoes of Orinik''s mad laughter boomed across the skies.

    "I''ve waited too long for this! Since you''ve already exposed me, there''s no need for me to hold back any longer!"

    Orinik''s lips spread with a wild grin.

    "Go on and use your badge to escape."

    Returning Leonel''s words to him, he felt an endless satisfaction.

 Chapter 2032 Without Hesitation

    ?

    Leonel''s clone vanished into a push of green ash. Along his own body, greenish purple veins began to grow larger and larger in size. He was already incredibly vascular due to his Metal Body to begin with, but now it was exaggerated to the point of being grotesque. If not for the fact his Divine Armor was still applying pressure, restricting their growth, it might have looked as though his entire body was covered with squirming, snake-like tumors by now.

    Even so, Leonel''s expression was still cold. He already realized the issue.

    The Scarlet Star Force he had used just now was from his smaller node, it was only at the Fifth Dimension. The was a far cry from the Ninth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force in his much larger Innate Node. The limiting factor here wasn''t Scarlet Star Force itself, but rather his own limitations.

    He had thought about allowing his smaller Node to grow larger many times, but having a weaker form of Scarlet Star Force in his body made it very convenient to study it. It was akin to simplifying a complex math problem. In addition, it made things much easier on his body when his Scarlet Star Force was weaker.

    That saidбн The last time he had improved his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node was well before he had formed this level of Metal Body. He knew well that his body could withstand far more now than it could before. In addition, his control over Scarlet Star Force now, after his most recent breakthrough, was akin to night and day.

    ''This poisonбн Interestingбн''

    Poison and venoms alike might have a wide array of differing functions, but they all had one fundamental goal: to stop a portion of the body from working as intended. The methods by which they could do this were almost too numerous to count.

    This poison worked by attacking the most important system in the body of a Dimensional Practitioner, and that was the Force Nodal System. Of course, this system was just an extension of the circulatory system and could be said to be the same thing.

    It fed on Force, catalyzed its own creation, expanding while also forcing blood to pump faster and faster. Usually, when blood vessels dilate, blood pressure drops and blood flow slows. But this poison took on the best of both worlds. Not only did it dilate blood vessels, but it increased blood pressure.

    Leonel couldn''t help but narrow his eyes. The worst part was that any attempt to get rid of this poison through Force, unless you had a very specific kind, would only end in making it far stronger.

    That saidбн

    In the midst of Orinik''s mad cackles, Leonel suddenly flexed. His control over his body wasn''t something the likes of Orinik could even fathom. In one sweep, he forced all of the poison pumping through his body toward his larger kidney. This wasn''t even difficult for him as it didn''t require changing any of the way his body functioned, blood was meant to be filtered through the kidneys to begin with.

    The moment the poison came into contact with his larger Innate Node, and even his smaller of the two, it was crushed.

    In the blink of an eye, Leonel went from a bulbous mess to a normally sized human once again.

    Even so, Orinik''s laughter only grew more uproarious. In his estimation, the same thing that had happened to Leonel''s clown had happened to him. He had blown up like a balloon, leaving nothing but a rain of green ash. Of course his armor had shrunk back down, there was nothing pressing up against it any longer.

    The only reason Auran had lived for so long was because he had recognized the poison and stopped using his Force immediately. In fact, he had even expelled what remained of his Force from his body, leaving him especially weak and vulnerable.

    But Leonel, like a fool, thought that he could brute force his way to health. He had made the most foolish decision he could have possibly thought of making.

    However, Orinik''s laughter came to a frightened halt when Leonel suddenly rotated his shoulder as though he was stretching it. Leonel didn''t make many more movements than that, but it was already enough for the entire battlefield to become pin drop silent.

    Leonel was lost in his thoughts, wondering about something.

    ''I wonder if it''s possible to create anti-bodies for a poison on the spot. I have a great deal of control over my body, the sharper my mind becomes, the more of it I can control. But enlisting a specific kind of anti-bodyбн''

    Leonel felt that it would be difficult. He didn''t have that degree of freedom with his body yet. But, Aina probably did. Well, her body reacted immediately and she would form the anti-bodies necessary. If he had her in his Dream World as she did so, he could probably observe the process and copy it. He could use Dream Class to enter a state similar to hers and counter every poison.

    It was a working theory, but his main goal for this wasn''t to save himself, although there was some degree of importance in that. After all, as he learned most about Force Manipulation, the more he realized how dangerous people could be. There was definitely a poison master out there who had a Force that Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force couldn''t handle.

    Having such an ability would be important to counter such a person, but even more importantly than that, Leonel was worried about his subordinates. If he could manifest anti-bodies to help them, then have Aina refine them into a detoxification Force Pill, his army would also become immune to poisons.I think you should take a look at

    Poison masters were incredibly rare, and he had a good relationship with the only family in this Heir War that had them, so he had neglected this matter. He couldn''t allow this to happen again, he would only make a mistake once.

    ''It should work. There''s about an 80% probability. It still needs to be refined a bit, but in another few hours I should have a perfect method. That way countering Third Nova in the coming battle will be easy.''

    Leonel snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, seemingly only now remembering that he was still facing off against Orinik.

    "Anything more to say?" He asked lightly. "If that''s all, I''ll send you only your way now."

    Leonel took a step forward and Orinik suddenly took a step back. His gaze was filled with the incredulousness of the situation.

    Orinik was very well aware of just the kind of strength behind that poison. If he realized it even in the vicinity of an Eighth Dimensional expert, there was a great chance that they would be incapacitated for a long while.

    Of course, his Force Manipulation was still too limited to kill such an expert, but in the time they were immobile, he could definitely escape.

    However, not only did Leonel withstand it, he seemed to have recovered even faster than they would have. His momentum hadn''t suffered in the slightest and he looked as though his aura was just as robust.

    Orinik grit his teeth. This was already his greatest trump card. Usually, he would save it, but the moment just now was too perfect and he had even succeeded. He hadn''t seen a future where all of this would actually be completely useless.

    Taking a breath, Orinik calmed himself.

    Run. That was the only way out of this matter.

    Without hesitation, Orinik turned and fled. Rychard was somewhat caught off guard by this change and hesitated. Orinik had just told him to back up and support him from the back, but now he was running?

    Rychard felt a deep disgust within him when he thought about having to run away once again. How many times would he have to run? How many times did he have to suffer this same exact fact?

    All sorts of disgust and nausea rippled through his body. Tears of humiliation streamed down his cheeks as he turned, shooting through the skies after Orinik with the faster speed he could muster.

    Leonel raised his foot and suddenly vanished, appearing before them in an instant. Weren''t they a bit too na?ve to believe that they could outrun someone with such high attainments in Spatial Force? It was nothing more than a childish dream.

    However, when Leonel blocked Orinik, his gaze couldn''t help but narrow. In his hand, he held a familiar device, a sundial.

    Orinik held a grimace on his face when he saw Leonel appear so fast, but Leonel could see the twinkle in his eye. Even now, he was clearly scheming. What Orinik didn''t know was that he couldn''t possibly match up to Leonel''s speed of thought. In that brief instant, Leonel had already realized what Orinik was planning. In fact, from this plan, Orinik even potentially baked in the possibility that Leonel would realize what he was doing.

    There was only one place Orinik would teleport to in this moment for safety, and that was Third Nova''s territory. If Leonel got caught up in the teleportation, he would be alone in a hostile continent, surrounded by his third eldest cousin''s army.

    Orinik was banking that if he went, Leonel would either be caught up in this trap, or in the case that he realized ahead of time, he would be too scared to go. Either way, he would escape.

    Leonel sneered, taking a step forward without hesitation.

    Orinik activated the teleportation, swallowing up all three of them.

    Over the horizon, Aina and the others just caught up in time to see Leonel vanishing before their eyes.

 Chapter 2033 An Hour

    2033 An Hour

    Leonel''s body flashed, and his vision sharpened. Others couldn''t maintain their sense of direction in the middle of a teleportation, one would end up feeling weightless and would become unable to tell which direction was up, which was down, and where left and right was.

    However, Orinik had miscalculated. Not only could Leonel maintain his sense of direction, even his vision wasn''t obstructed. He could feel the swirling mass of space splitting open before him.

    Leonel had known that he could do this intuitively, but this was the first time he had truly done it. He could feel that his comprehension of space was shifting and molding to the changes around him, but he quickly snapped out of it and suddenly reached forward.

    Orinik, who couldn''t see or orient himself at the moment, felt a suffocating pressure squeeze around his throat. At first, he thought it was just an oddity of the teleportation, but when his vision cleared, his pupils couldn''t help but constrict.

    To his horror, Orinik looked forward to finding Leonel right in front of him, his throat clamped down. Right to his side, Rychard was in a vice-like grip as well, both of their feet dangling from above as they struggled to push blood flow to their brains. While practitioners of their level could last a very long time without breathing, that was only if their blood continued to circulate normally. Leonel''s palms weren''t just restricting their breathing, his fingers clamped down on the important blood vessels of their necks, making them feel light-headed as they struggled.

    "Help! HELP!"

    This was Orinik''s only option. He felt that they should be close enough to Xavnik''s territory now, calling out should bring down hell upon Leonel. In fact, because he had brought Leonel, he might not even get punished for this failure. Orinik could tell that while Xavnik was hyper fixated on First and Second Nova as his only competition, only he knew that Leonel was a true monster.

    Orinik had tried to explain these matters to Xavnik in the past, but the latter simply brushed it off. How could Third Nova believe that a Sixth Dimensional existence could threaten him?

    Then again, Orinik had a hard time understanding what it was that Xavnik was thinking half the time. Even now, he wasn''t 100% certain of what his plans were, all he knew was that he needed help right now, and a lot of it.

    So long as Xavnik could come with his army, there would be a chance for survival. Leonel should also be smart enough to know that he wasn''t a useful bargaining chip, so he just had toбн

    Orinik froze, his body shuddering.

    This locationбн This location wasn''t right.

    "Oh, you''ve noticed? If I can orient myself in a spatial tunnel, you think I don''t have the ability to step out of it early? Did you think I would let you drag me into such a trap?" Leonel tilted his head somewhat, his smile light and inviting. But at the moment, it looked like nothing more than a reaper''s kiss to Orinik.

    "You know, they say that scheming is useless in the face of absolute power," Leonel continued, "and I think that''s actually true. But the difference is that the definition of ''absolute power'' from person to person differs greatly. To you, I''ve long since reached that level. Against me, no amount of planning, no amount of preparation, no amount of scheming, would be useful."

    Orinik felt his heart shatter. It wasn''t literal, but his body felt like it had lost all of its strength. Hanging in the air, looking into Leonel''s eyes, feeling his cold indifference, he realized that the boy back then he could have crushed with a single hand had long since soared well beyond him.

    If he had only known that the Leonel he met back then was a young man who hadn''t even been in the Dimensional Verse for even a handful of years, he would have understood things much more thoroughly. They had simply never been on the same level.

    To his surprise, though, Orinik felt his badge shatter. It wasn''t him who had done it, but clearly Leonel.

    Rychard''s heart was even more dead than Orinik''s was. He didn''t even react to his badge shattering, the blacks of his eyes sinking deeper and deeper. He had well and truly lost.

    Orinik felt a sharp pain before he disappeared, feeling that something had been gouged out of his body, but he didn''t have the luxury of thinking about it. He already knew that the moment he left, he would find himself in the hands of others. His life was pretty much over nowбн

    Leonel didn''t care very much about the feelings of the two of them. He had always been a compassionate person, but he was just as easily able to turn it off against the people who targeted him.

    He didn''t blame Rychard in the past for what he had done. Back then, when the latter tried to marry Aina, he hadn''t even cared to go and stop the marriage in the first place, so how could he retroactively be enraged by such a thing? What he hated Rychard for was not for this, but rather the rumors he had spread about his mother. That was simply unforgivable.

    If it wasn''t for Alienor telling him that he was more useful alive back then, Leonel would have long since killed this person. But then he had the audacity to hold a grudge and target the Ascension Empire years later.

    Then there was Orinik. The "rumors" he had spread back then about the authenticity of Leonel''s Amethyst Token were true enough. Leonel wasn''t enraged by this, he was enraged by the intention behind the action, and then the further steps he took to profit from his and Aina''s life and death after they had entered that dangerous Zone.

    The two of them didn''t deserve his sympathy and he didn''t care for it. They were only alive because they were more useful that way.I think you should take a look at

    As for the sharp pain that Orinik had felt beforeбн

    Leonel looked down at his hand to see a bloody organ. It was a gallbladder of sorts, but this was filled with poison. But what was interesting is that when it was implanted into a body, it worked almost a lot like an Innate Node would, but this Innate Node was capable of evolving.

    It was fascinating.

    Leonel didn''t believe that Orinik had been born with this organ naturally. He had found it by scanning Orinik''s body with his Dream World and around the location this was found it, there were almost unnoticeable irregularities. This meant that this wasn''t an original part of Orinik''s body.

    "Somebody implanted it? So they gave him this ability, he wasn''t born with itбн But how could it be so seamless? Who has the skill toбн"

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. It had to be Third Nova. In fact, it was very likely that Auran had been poisoned as a result of this and that was why he had lost so easily and silently.

    Orinik wasn''t a demon, but somehow he was able to gain demon-like characteristics through this methodбн

    Leonel shook his head. Just what was going on?

    The Silver Empire had ties to demons. The Morales family had ties to demons. The Suiard family likely had ties to demons. The Three Finger Cult had ties to demons.

    What was the story behind this? Was the Demon Race infiltrating the Human Domain like the Cloud Race had? Something wasn''t adding up here, it didn''t make any sense to him at all.

    Why did so many powerful existences have ties to the one race that was the most "evil"? There wasn''t even a religion that worshipped demons, at least not out in the open, this was how against demons the Human Domain was. Even the Spiritual Race could have such a religion, but the Demons had never been allowed such a thing.

    And now there were even people creating demons?

    Leonel was truly speechless. He didn''t have an answer for any of these matters.

    With a frown, he stepped through the air. Beneath him, there was still nothing but vast ocean, he had stepped out of the spatial tunnel long before they made it to the continent, so he actually wasn''t very far from the Water Lotus Territory.

    After returning, Leonel saw Aina who rushed over with a slightly worried expression on her face. However, Leonel only smiled.

    "I have some work for you, can you create an antidote for this poison?"

    Aina nodded. "I can do that."

    "I''ll need to send one out of here for Auran. You''ll probably need to make it more potent, though. I''m only about 60/40 on whether or not they use the same poison. But if I''m correct, it''s like the same derivatives, but just far more powerful."

    "Mm," Aina nodded. She didn''t know who Auran was, but she assumed that he must have been Second Nova. Leonel at least kept them updated about certain things. "Give me an hour."

    Those paying attention to this situation were rendered speechless. An hour?

    They looked toward Auran''s body. He had been silent for a long time, but his skin was already turning a terrible black-purple color that wasn''t natural in the slightest. Even his sweat had begun to turn toxic and foul.

    This person was already at a point that only an Ancestor of the Omann family could cure him. How could a Sixth Dimensional little girl possibly have a solution in an hour?

    But under the astonished gazes of those there, Aina actually cut the bloody organ open and swallowed the contents.

 Chapter 2034 Where?

    2034 Where

    Aina stood in silence for a while, but to the surprise of many, her expression didn''t change at all, nor did she erupt into a burst of ash. She didn''t seem to have ingested any poison at all. Even if she was immune, she should have at least felt some pain, but she didn''t react like that in the slightest.

    There were certain Ability Indexes that could allow one to be immune to certain poisons, but everything had their limits. They couldn''t fathom why it was that Aina would be so confident; even those immune to poison wouldn''t necessarily go out of their way to consume it, let alone so much of it in a single sitting.

    Of course, how could these people know that Aina was used to far more pain than this? As a child, she would probably be thankful if she could spend a day with this sort of pain. It wasn''t until she consumed Leonel''s Cleansing Waters for the first time that she reached a state where that pain instead became itchiness, which was far easier for her to handle.

    Plus, Aina had the ability to subconsciously understand everything she was about to put into her body. If she looked at the poison once, she obviously knew the moment she touched it whether it was within her capabilities to handle or not.

    After several moments, Aina nodded to herself lightly. "I needбн"

    She listed off quite a few things.

    "Mm, at least these territories will be useful for something," Leonel said, looking toward the Water Lotus territory.

    All of the previously planned Force Pills obviously had materials that were likewise previously prepared by Leonel. He wouldn''t leave such things up to chance. However, this poison was obviously a curveball, and unlike metals, Leonel didn''t have a large supply of Force Herbs.

    However, the Water Lotus territory had them available for purchase. It was a function that he had ignored because it was of little use to him. After all, Aina was the only Force Pill Crafter of adequate skill that Leonel had by his side, and she was already swamped with work. While Force Herbs could have some effect on their own, those that would be worth it were far too expensive. Leonel was already beginning to feel the pinch of a lack of points currently, so he didn''t want to waste the few he had.

    That said, now, this was a matter of life and death. It wasn''t just Auran, but his armies as well. If he wanted to face off against Xavnik, he needed a counter to this poison, if he didn''t have one he might as well pack his bags now.

    Even he needed a counter. Although he could rely on his Innate Nodes, it wasn''t good enough.

    This poison still eroded Force away, and there were many entry points to his body that it could use. If he had to circulate his Force to his Innate Nodes first before he could get rid of it, over time, the amount of Force he would lose in doing this again and again would be too much. Essentially, it would drain his stamina far faster than it should.

    If Orinik had been smarter, he could have used the poison like a continuous domain to drain Leonel over time. But the first problem with that is that draining Leonel is only an option you could take if you were confident in surviving until he was out of stamina. The second problem with that would be Orinik running out of poison.

    Clearly, this wasn''t a natural part of Orinik''s body. Aina had to drain the entire rest of the contents to understand everything she could about it, that likely meant that there hadn''t been much left.

    But this didn''t mean that Xavnik wouldn''t be able to do so. So, Leonel observed Aina very carefully. He had every intention of paying close attention to her changes to see if he could come up with a perfect counter.

    After buying two sets of materials, one for Aina, and another for Anastasia to grow in bulk, Leonel began to watch Aina. She didn''t seem to mind; in fact, she felt an odd sort of peace with Leonel watching over her. Although they were in the middle of the ocean, it felt like home.

    She pressed two fingers against her brows and then extended them. From between her brows, a strand of thick reddish gold liquid came out. Just from the faint smell, Leonel knew that it was blood, but aside from that, it also carried the hint of a fragrant flower smell.

    Those who were watching couldn''t help but shudder. A Blood Refinement method? It wasn''t that they had never heard of such a method, but it was so impossibly rare that there wasn''t currently even a single other person who could use such methods. In fact, it was so rare that maybe only a handful of others had been capable in the pastбн All of whom were Blood Sovereigns.

    At that moment, the entire atmosphere around Aina seemed to shift. They had vaguely seen already that her strength was abnormal, especially for a Sixth Dimensional existence, but they had still felt that Leonel was too reckless in taking her as his partner rather than James or someone with more substantial and obvious strength. They thought that Leonel had put too much thought into a statement entrance as opposed to actually surviving.

    However, these thoughts seemed to fall to silence at this moment, a heavy one.

    While many still felt that Aina was too weak to have been Leonel''s first choice in partner, just this ability alone was enough to be shocking to an extreme.

    Aina''s red-gold blood flew forward and formed a new structure. It took the form of a multi-layered rose with no stem. In place of a stem, there were tendrils of golden roots, stretching out toward the Force Herbs in the surroundings and enveloping them.I think you should take a look at

    The gold color seemed to become contagious, moving from the roots and swallowing the Force Herbs up. As the roots returned to the floating, layered rose, faint bits of dust and ash fell. They were almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but the Ancestors of the Omann family couldn''t help but feel their hearts skip a beat.

    Those were definitely the impurities of the Force Herbs, but that was a process that should have taken several hours, several days even. It could be said that this was the most important step, in fact. This was what would decide the grade of the Force Pill, even more so than the fusion process.

    But it seemed like with a simple touch, Aina cleansed the Force Herbs, leaving them with nothing more than perfectionбн Or had she?

    The roots retracted and vanished into the layers of the rose. The rose itself began to gently spin, one after another, its layers collapsed and gained a more and more golden color. A rich fragrance began to fill the air, but the process remained delicate and smooth.

    The shocking realization that a Sixth Dimensional existence had just refined Seventh Dimensional Force Herbs hit the spectators like a speeding meteor. They had been so distracted by everything else that they hadn''t had the time to fathom how that could even be possible.

    Suddenly, the last layer of the rose collapsed and closed softly, leaving the form of what looked like a yet to bloom flower.

    Sparkling motes of golden light gathered from the surroundings, and Aina gently lifted her hand. The grace of their movement left one mesmerized, whether it was the gentle beauty of her long, slender fingers, or the elegance of their movement through the air, either one left one without breath to breathe.

    And then, the motes condensed.

    Silence ensued as the rose stopped spinning, its petals opening up one after another to reveal the floating mass of three thumb-sized green pills covered in complex purple Force Arts.

    Aina smiled lightly, looking up toward Leonel. "Finished."

    Leonel nodded and took the three pills. He held two between his fingers and palmed the third in his other hand.

    Looking up toward the skies, his gaze suddenly sharpened as he struck out the palm that held the third Force Pill.

    It rocketed through the skies with an inconceivable speed, vanishing through the layers.

    бн

    Up above, Ancestor Alvaro waved a hand and shook his head. He didn''t know how this kid sent an item through the barrier, but he really didn''t seem to care about the optics. This Leonel was so reckless, but it only made Alvaro chuckle. The only problem was whether this pill would actually work; how could he not be skeptical?

    He looked toward the Omann family, but they were a blank slate. Even so, the fact they were looking over made Alvaro feel a bit of curiosity.

    Although Alvaro was hesitating, Kira was most definitely not. She rushed over and demanded the pill, so he could only helplessly release it and watch as she shoved it into Auran''s mouth.

    At this point, Auran''s eyes were tightly shut, and he had no understanding of what was happening around him. When he sensed someone prying open his mouth, he wanted to fight back because he thought that it was from the Omann family. He didn''t want it. But fortunately, he was too weak at the moment to have a choice.

    The pill was forced into his mouth, and silence fell.

    Even the Omann family couldn''t help but look over. Despite their earlier confidence, after seeing Aina refine, they couldn''t say anything for certainбн

    Just where had this little beauty with such skill come from?

 Chapter 2035 My Wife

    2035 My Wife

    Auran''s body suddenly convulsed. Before anyone could react, he shifted violently to his side, dry heaving twice before a sudden belch of grotesque purplish-black gunk flew from his mouth. He vomited again and again, his body unable to contain itself. All of his muscles contracted at once as though the sole purpose of his body was to violently heave again and again.

    "Auran?! Auran!"

    Kira wanted to rush forward to help, her tears still streaking down her face, but she was stopped by the other Ancestors.

    "This is a good thing," Ancestor Alvaro said with a peculiar expression.

    While it looked like Auran''s situation had only gotten worse, the fact he was throwing up such foul material meant that his body was actually actively purging itself.

    For those who didn''t quite understand Force Pill Crafting, this was still quite novel. But to those that did, it was absolutely shocking to the greatest degree. This was akin to the difference between medicine and a vaccine. Aina''s pill wasn''t just curing Auran, it was giving his body the tools it would need to survive this poison should he ever encounter it again.

    Normal detoxification pills might target the poison and neutralize it, then over the next several moments to even days, weeks and even years, the now benign poison would be slowly excreted through normal waste removal procedures.

    However, the effects of Aina''s pill were strong and immediate, and it could be seen that it was using Auran''s body as the engine to drive the change. This was fundamentally on a different level. To not only medicate an illness but to give one the power to counter itбн And to do it with a poison she had only just come in contact withбн?!

    The shock was strong and immediate. The Ancestors of the Omann family were stunned silent.

    There was only one grade of pill that could do this.

    Due to Aina''s odd refinement method, it had been difficult to tell. Unlike with Crafts, there were simply too wide a range of possibilities for Force Pills. One could exhibit their skill in anything from culinary skills to potion making, all the way to the creation of actual pills. Due to the wide range, it was difficult even for experts to grasp the methods of another taking a different path from them immediately.

    But now, they were absolutely certain.

    Leonel''s team didn''t have just one Life Grade Crafter, it had two. And both of them were in the Sixth Dimension.

    A Life Grade Force Pill Crafter was even rarer than a Life Grade Force Crafter. In fact, in the whole Human Domain, there were only three of them, and two of them were on the side of the Spiritual Religion Faction, while the final was the most senior Ancestor of the Omann family.

    There were no "blueprints" for Life Grade Force Pill Crafting, and the methods of refinement tended to change on the day-to-day basis and even took into consideration the person who would be consuming it.

    If a Life Grade treasure was able to be a single cohesive unit, akin to a creation of the universe itself, a Life Grade pill was designated as a product of the reaction it had in the person who consumed it.

    Essentially, a Life Grade Force Pill was capable of eliciting a Life Grade level change in the body of the person who consumed it. In the past, Auran had been clearly vulnerable to this poison. But from now on, he would be entirely immune to it.

    This was the power of the Life Grade Force Pill and maybe the most immediate and shocking change. However, this wasn''t anywhere near the first time Aina had done this.

    Back in the Cataclysm Zone, when she refined the demons into Force Pills that caused permanent and foundational changes to Leonel''s body, this was also an example of a Life Grade change.

    Adding to one''s strength was easy as a Force Pill Crafter, but improving one''s foundation and reworking efforts they had accumulated in the past was on an entirely different level.

    A Crafted Treasure would always be an external item, but a Force Pill that could so fundamentally change the very anatomy of a person was akin to a holy grail. These sort of pills could build armies, they could make up for weaknessesбн They could even create Lineage Factors!

    And yet, this little girl in their eyes, with so much strength and potential at her fingertips, happily smiled at Leonel and followed along with him without a word.

    At that moment, the name Aina suddenly skyrocketed to the top of every list imaginable. Even the likes of Cynthia had never been able to compare, even at her height. The difference was large and obvious, plainly so.

    Cynthia was a Force Crafter and a Force Pill Crafter. However, while she was a Life Grade Force Crafter, the Life Grade of Force Pill Crafting had evaded her grasp for countless decades now. She had long since entered the Eighth Dimension, and yet this Sixth Dimensional young lady had already surpassed her.I think you should take a look at

    The weight of this matter was absolutely enormous.

    If the Morales family crowned Leonel as their next Patriarch, didn''t this mean that the Morales family would gain Aina as well? The value of such a thing was beyond Aina herself, but what experiences she had. Couldn''t she guide a generation of Force Pill Crafters for the Morales family?

    The most shocking part of all of this was the fact that Aina didn''t have the guidance of anyone.

    The Omann family had produced Life Grade Force Pill Crafters in the past, their documented experiences were all there for their future generations to benefit from. The Spiritual Religion also benefited from such a thing, not to mention the fact their Race made them more in tune with the Life Grade to begin with.

    However, who had guided Aina?

    She had made it to this level all alone. The unique insights she likely had were things that the others had probably never even heard of. Setting aside her Blood Sovereignty, just this matter alone was enough to make the eyes of many light up with absolute greed.

    Suddenly, the Heir Wars that were designed for the future generation of leaders had been co-opted by a young woman who wasn''t even among the Heirs. She could have very well created her own force. Just on the virtue of her status as a Force Pill Crafter, leagues of people would flock over from all walks of life, but here she wasбн

    Looking at Leonel now, many couldn''t help but feel annoyed. How had this happened?

    Auran heaved one last time before his eyes snapped open, the shock within evident. Others didn''t know much about this poison, but he most definitely did. He could feel that his tolerance toward it had shot way up, and on top of that, he was already in tip-top shape. If it wasn''t for the fact his muscles were a bit sore from the contractions and his Force had yet to be replenished, he would even say that he was at 100%, 110% even.

    "Whoбн How?"

    Auran was the leader of an information network. He had information about all sorts of things and was knowledgeable on even more topics. He understood that the pill he had just consumed wasn''t a normal Gold Grade Force Pill, but the Omann family only had one Life Grade Force Pill Crafter, it couldn''t be that that person had come out, right? That didn''t make sense.

    Ancestor Hito hadn''t; it was because they didn''t do business with humans, especially not the most powerful among them. They wouldn''t even consider it. If it wasn''t for the fact they were so powerful, this eyesore of the Human Domain would have been dealt with a long time ago.

    The shock that Auran was already speaking and moving about hit like another train. Those around had already lost the words to speak. All they could do was look toward the Heir Wars, their hearts shuddering.

    Not a day had passed by without Leonel giving them a surprise that left them in complete silenceбн

    Just how many more surprises did he have?

    бн

    Leonel descended from the skies above and then toward Aina with a light smile.

    "They''re jealous of my wife," he said in a joking tone he hadn''t used in a while.

    To Leonel, the most important thing would always be Aina; he had been willing to doom the world for her. So how could he maintain his seriousness toward the Heir Wars to her detriment?

    What Queen Beauty list? Could such a list even be allowed to exist if his Aina wasn''t number one? Let alone the fact she hadn''t even been on it to begin with. How could such a list have any sort of integrity?

    Aina rolled her eyes. "Stop playing around, there''s still work to do."

    "Yes, ma''am!" Leonel said with a laugh. "But first, those people with no life better make sure that my wife is the number one Queen Beauty from now on."

    Aina scoffed and forcefully took Leonel''s hand, a sweet smile blooming on her face when she turned to pull him away.

 Chapter 2036 Toying

    2036 Toying

    Leonel''s words sounded like a joke, but he was actually quite serious. He didn''t believe anyone should be ahead of Aina, and that probably had little to do with how she actually looked. If he had seen a physical manifestation of the Queen Beauty list without Aina''s name on it, he would have destroyed it on sight.

    Luckily for the list and its voters, though, Leonel had never actually stumbled upon it. As such, they got away with a light scolding instead.

    Despite this matter already being considered to be over, the rippling waves that it caused didn''t seem intent on settling down anytime soon. But even beyond the existence of Aina herself, the Morales family and their speculation about Auran was a different matter entirely.

    After Auran had regained his bearing, sitting up, and eventually standing up under his own power, he found that everyone was around him, their gazes questioning much of what they had seen. Leonel''s voice was quite clear when he mentioned Third Nova. If both Orinik, a supposed subordinate of Xavnik, had this poison, and Auran had also fought a mysterious existence that poisoned him with the same thing, it was clear how these two things might be connected.

    Although it was just a casual word on Leonel''s part, even the Ancestors of the Morales hadn''t realized that they had begun to subconsciously believe in even these casual words. Leonel himself had begun to hold a weight that he hadn''t in the past, and the cascading effects of that matter were only growing more obvious by the day.

    Auran, though, still didn''t seem to have any intention in exposing anything. With a smile, he only said that it wasn''t Xavnik''s fault, after all, they were in battle. Considering his state of weakness, had Xavnik wanted to kill him, he would already be dead.

    The Morales Ancestors seemed to accept this explanation as well. After all, Auran couldn''t even move, and there weren''t exactly rules against using poison in the Heir Wars, and it also wasn''t like others hadn''t had near-death experiences in the past as well.

    Plus, Xavnik didn''t have the same abilities Leonel had to communicate through the barriers and send things, so it made sense that he didn''t send any antidote; he didn''t have the capability in the first place. So with that, things seemed to have been concluded.

    It was only Kira who stood in silence with a furrowed brow, her face still very much hidden behind a mask that only revealed the slits of her eyes. She knew that this failure weighed a lot heavier than Auran had led on. They had been preparing for this matter for a long while, and since this approach had failed, it meant that they would need to take the measures that Auran hadn''t wanted to now.

    бн

    While this matter was settling, the lives of Orinik and Rychard had seemingly been forgotten. With the distraction that Aina had provided, everyone was too enamored to realize that the flagships of the Eamon family and Viola family had a striking lack of their Patriarchs despite the fact they had been ejected long before Aina had sent out the Force Pill.

    Now, there were three. Rychard, Orinik, and Montero were all chained, stranded in a foggy world of black that left them breathing hard. It felt like every time they tried to fill their lungs with air, a weight would be pressing down on their chest, slowing down their attempt. It made it exceptionally difficult for them to catch their breaths, and even worse than that, they had the uncomfortable feeling that they couldn''t take a deep breath at all.

    This matter left them unsettled, and their eyes continuously darted around as though they couldn''t even see one another despite the fact they were sitting side by side.

    At that moment, a beauty stepped out from the shadows and gazed upon them one after another. But what made their eyes widen was the absolute monstrosity standing by her side.

    He must have been at least four meters tall, with skin as red as blood and muscles as tight as steel cords. He had four arms and a set of jet black horns that were almost impossible to pick out in the darkness. If not for the redness of the skin causing them to spot the abnormality, they might not have realized that this "creature" had horns at all.

    Of them all, Orinik was the most shocked. That was because while Rychard and Montero only felt fear, Orinik felt not only fear but an understanding toward the kind of "creature" that was before him. There was no doubt in his mind, this was a demon, a true-blooded demon.

    He almost fainted, flashbacks of a past he wanted to forget running through his mind with no regard for his peace or sanity. The hole in his stomach from where Leonel had ripped out his poison sack began to ooze with thick, black blood.

    As a Seventh Dimensional existence, that sort of wound, especially since he hadn''t lost any vital organs, shouldn''t have left him so vulnerable. He could last for a long while even if it was never treated, weeks or months even. Even if he had to continue to battle, he could do so.

    But given his state of agitation, he seemed to be making the situation far worse.

    If others knew what he knew, they would likely be reacting like this as well. He felt as though he wasn''t a chess piece on just a single board, but many of them, and it was suffocating him down to his very core as though several hands were wrapped around his heart.

    Mordred raised an eyebrow and then waved a hand. An arm of darkness manifested and slapped Orinik across the face, snapping him out of his panic attack.

    Orinik was many things, but weak-minded wasn''t one of them. It was just that the current situation was a lot for him to bear given his past. After he had been shocked awake like this, he began to force himself to calm down, however even after a long while, the trembling of his hands gave himself away.

    The demon to Mordred''s back crossed his four arms over his chest, feeling a bit annoyed by the weakness being displayed here. If not for Mordred''s orders, he wouldn''t even be here.I think you should take a look at

    "So you recognize this big one, huh?"

    Orinik''s lips trembled. "бн How could I not recognize a True Blooded Demon?"

    "Oh? A True Blooded Demon? Why don''t you tell me what that is?"

    "бн"

    Orinik had no choice but to reply.

    Demons were an odd race. If they were to be described, they would be a lot like how many legends of Earth described Dragons to be. They were exceptionally promiscuous, they spread their seed everywhere, and the number of variations of their kind depending on the species and races they had mixed with were nigh infinite.

    This was why Leonel had never run into two demons who looked identical, each one seemed to have a wide range of mutations they could or had undergone.

    If the Demon Race were to be said to have one ability, it was that they could mesh well with most gene pools and the mutations that resulted from them were usually positive.

    In this way, Demons and Humans were actually a lot alikeбн Both didn''t have a set path or direction. It could even be said that they were two sides of the same coin as a result.

    That said, the Demons were better off because of one class of them: True Blooded Demons.

    True Blooded Demons were akin to Ancestors of a pool of Demon blood. If you took a family tree of all the Demons in existence, along with those with traces and portions of Demons blood, and you traced them all back, when you reached the starting line you would eventually find a True Blooded Demon.

    These were Demons whose blood hadn''t been mixed with any other races, a demon that was the purest in the truest of sense.

    These Demons were known as True Blooded Demons in the Dimensional Verse.

    In the Cataclysm Zone, these Demons were known as Chaos Demons.

    This might be a shocking realization, especially since Leonel had already fought Fiend Class Demons and almost lost his life to one, while Chaos Demons were a Class even above that. But this wasn''t the proper way to look at it.

    It was less accurate to look at Chaos Demons as an almighty Class of Demons, and more accurate to look at them like blank slates without restrictions to their potential. It was very simple, when one looked at a Demon and couldn''t immediately tell their grade or talent level at a glanceбн This was a Chaos Demon.

    The strongest of Chaos Demons were the reason why the Cataclysm Zone held such fear toward the Race.

    The weakest of them weren''t even as good as Lower Demons.

    However, even then, Chaos Demons were treasured existences in the Demon Race even if they were weak. That was because if they mated with a powerful existence, their child was guaranteed to be powerful as well, something even the most powerful of Spirituals couldn''t guarantee.

    This sort of Chaos of choice and possibility is exactly what the Demon Race embodied and it was where their strength came from.

    And now, somehow, such an existence was before Orinikбн Given what he knew, how could he not feel like he had been played for a fool?

    From the very beginning, Xavnik had been toying with him, that had to be it...

 Chapter 2037 A Single Line

    2037 A Single Line

    This matter seemed to be a simple matter. The ability to guarantee a powerful offspring so long as one was a True Blooded Demon didn''t seem to be a big deal. After all, there were powerful children born to powerful parents all the time. Wasn''t that the purpose of Lineage Factors to begin with? Wasn''t that why certain Races seemed to be stronger than others? Wasn''t that how things worked anyway?

    But no, this wasn''t true.

    Of the current Seven Morales Heirs, only two had fathers who had participated in previous years: Leonel and Adawarth.

    Even when one lost the Heir Wars, one would still be extremely powerful. Many of the current Ancestors of the Morales family were former losers of the Heir Wars. Such individuals were still people with two Lineages, still people with a great amount of talent, they would still be greatly nurtured, they would still be greatly belovedбн

    These were men who would often have many wives, and many more children than that. And yet, there were only two who had such previous lineages.

    In fact, this matter was such an anomaly that the fact Leonel''s line had produced three in a row of exceptional talent was almost unheard of, not to mention the fact that Leonel''s father''s generation actually had two, his father and his uncle, both from the same father, his grandfather.

    This was why the Human Race was so far behind others. It wasn''t just that they had too many paths to follow and pick from and didn''t have a single set leader, it was also that because they weren''t all following the same path, the odds of producing exceptional talents in a certain path were also lower.

    Other races, not only had trillions upon trillions upon trillions to bolster their population, but because they followed pretty much a single set path, there was a larger pool of talents to gather from as a result.

    In the Human Domain, a child who had great affinity with the Morales way of practicing might be born in a small Sixth Dimensional family who practiced Lightning Force, and because they had no talent in Lightning Force, they would have to forge their own path outside of the set plans of their family.

    This was a problem one would see again and again.

    In the Demon Race, though, once a True Blooded Demon was born, the path and talent of the future child could be hand-selected. This made True Blooded Demons, or Chaos Demons, the nobles of their race regardless of their personal strength.

    This was the main difference.

    Although the Demon Race followed countless paths, just like humans, because they could hand-select and practically create the talents they wanted, the effect it had on them weakened significantly. In fact, they got the best of both worlds, both a great deal of versatility and a great deal of talent.

    The weight of this matter was something that Orinik was all too familiar with, that was why he felt that he had been played. From the very beginning, he was caught in an internal struggle of the Demon Race and he hadn''t even known.

    Of course, this conclusion was entirely false because Leonel''s Demons had nothing to do with the Demons of Xavnik and potentially the hidden underbelly of the Morales family. The two were entirely unrelated.

    But how could Orinik know that these Demons had come from a Mythological Zone and not the Demon Domain?

    Mordred, who had been asked to interrogate Orinik and the others by Leonel, fell into contemplation. She was quite an intelligent woman, the moment she had seen Orinik''s reaction, she knew that something was wrong.

    Things weren''t adding up. After all, Orinik had the poison sack of a demon transplanted into his body, could he really be this scared just by seeing one in person? And then there was this True Blooded Demon name, she had never heard of it.

    There was clearly something much more astonishing going on here than she had originally assumed.

    "Why don''t you tell me what you know and we can make your life a little comfortable?"

    Mordred bent down, balancing her thighs on the heels of her feet. Smelling her orchid-like breath at such a close distance, Orinik felt his heart stampeding in his chest. He had never been so sensitive in the past, and he had seen a lot of beautiful women, but right now his mind was in a mess and his body was in survival mode, control was the last thing he had.

    To her surprise, Orinik actually spilled everything.

    Orinik, though, didn''t think he had much of a choice. That was because, in his mind, if Demons were here, and Xavnik was also with the Demons, they must be wrestling for control over the Morales family. Now that he had been captured, Xavnik would never trust him again, while these Demons probably knew enough about these matters that his small bit of information wouldn''t move the needle much. After all, they were basically on the same side anyway.I think you should take a look at

    There was a large difference between the clashing interests of internal struggle and the outside pressure of two enemies with vastly different family cultures clashing.

    As Mordred listened, she only became more and more serious. By the end of it, her body was tense and her lips were pressed into a thin line.

    The worst part of all of this wasn''t the facts of what Orinik had said, but rather that what he knew was likely nothing more than the tip of the iceberg, and yet it could still make her feel so apprehensive.

    Mordred stood to her feet. "Look after them."

    She said this only out of habit. Considering they were within her Shadow World now, these three simply had nowhere to go unless their comprehension of either Dark Force or Spatial Force was deep enough, and clearly, it wasn''t.

    After a while, she passed on the information she had gained to Leonel.

    бн

    Leonel had been focused on gaining control over a third sea as quickly as possible. The fact that Orinik and the others had been so close made his sense of urgency even greater than it had been in the past.

    It was actually good news that Orinik was tied to Xavnik because that more than likely meant that Xavnik''s greatest investment into the ocean was co-opted by Leonel, but that was enough for Leonel to relax in the slightest. In fact, it was very much possible that Orinik wasn''t his greatest investment at all; it was hard to tell just how deep Xavnik''s schemes ran, and while Leonel only had a few months to prepare, Xavnik had had over two decades, the gap was tremendous.

    However, when Leonel got word back from Mordred, everything came to a stop.

    He stood in the middle of the ocean in silence, his mind running a million miles a minute. Mordred''s information confirmed all of his speculation, but it had also added something he hadn''t known about in the first place, and that was a secret of the Morales family''s holyland.

    Orinik didn''t know anything about the specifics, all he knew was that the root of the Morales family''s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor was likely hidden within. Only Morales Ancestors were allowed to enter this deep as it held the key to unlocking the final door of their Lineage Factor.

    The problem was that most didn''t succeed and all of the current Morales Ancestors except for one still only had Seventh Dimensional Metal Synergy Lineage Factors. That one person was Ancestor Hito, and he was one of the very few to have succeeded.

    The target of Xavnik and the others was entry into this place, and that required a change in the rules of the Morales. Until now, only Ancestors had been able to appear, but because of a change that seemed to create a door beyond the Eighth Dimensional Door, opening the gates to the Ninth Dimension, there was no better chance than now to loosen the rules of the Morales.

    When Leonel had learned of this, he realized that Xavnik had likely gotten this opportunity because of him. Who else could have been responsible for the creation of the final door if not him?

    However, he didn''t blame himself too much. The fact that Xavnik and his faction had been planning this for so long meant that whether or not he had caused this, they would have acted without a doubt.

    But the question was what was the goal? Were they trying to steal it? But if stealing was their goal, why loosen the rules in the first place? Did they think it would be easier if the Morales were more lax with their regulations?

    Suddenly, Leonel froze.

    He thought back to the connection between the Silver Empire''s Lineage Factor and the Morales family''s, and then further about the Silver Empire''s connection with the Three Finger Cult. Could it be that this secret of the Morales was similar to the chalice, the fire, and the wooden ball?

    At that moment, a violent spark of lightning surged through Leonel''s Dreamscape. It connected so many thoughts and ideas that the lightning appeared even in his irises; it was as though his entire Dream World had been enveloped by a violent storm.

    He began to connect memories that he hadn''t thought about in more than half a decade, bits and pieces of information he hadn''t even deemed important, things that he had only casually thrown into his Dreamscape just for completion''s sake, never thinking that they''d actually become useful one day.

    And then, he made a single line of connection.

    Joan of Arc. Merlin. Ability Index Force Arts. Monkey''s death. Transplanted Demon Organs. The Silver Empire. The Three Finger Cult. The Morales. Earth.

 Chapter 2038 Project.

    2038 Project.

    The second-ever Zone that Leonel had entered, and the first one he had entered with Aina by his side, was one he slotted away in his mind as the "Joan" Zone. This was a Zone he was transported back in time for and one that had been very close to becoming a Unique Zone due to outside interference, but in the end, whatever had been about to trigger this change stopped and didn''t follow through.

    In that Zone, Leonel met a Bishop, and he learned about a man that both said Bishop, Joan, and her adopted brothers called God. This God was able to gift them a great deal of power, power they could never imagineбн These powers were things that Leonel immediately recognized to be Ability Indexes.

    This so-called God was able to copy the Ability Indexes of others, distill them into Force Arts, and then pass them down via a tattooing and branding method that allowed these Ability Indexes to become a permanent part of themselves. Of course, Leonel had also noticed that these Force Arts also carried a monitoring aspect to them as well.

    Back then, Leonel had had no choice but to allow one to be branded onto him due to the circumstances, but it was also something that he had long since gotten rid of. Not long after that, Leonel exited the Zone and was caught up in a whole host of trouble before he ended up on the side of the Slayer Legion and entered the Camelot Zone alongside many others, even including some of the Adurna family.

    In that Zone, every one of the Adurna family had died with the exception of Little Nana, whom Leonel had saved. But it was also as a result of those who had targeted the Adurna family in the first place that things had gotten out of hand. Although Leonel recalled that Zone to be a Mythological Zone, the reality was that it had long since become a Unique Zone.

    Within the Camelot Zone, Leonel had entered Merlin''s Trial, and even up until right this very moment, he still had the reward for that trial in his mind. Although he hadn''t used it in a long while, when he meditated upon the Natural Force Art, he was able to call down Auspicious Air, entering a deeper state of focus and benefiting from twice the benefits with just half the effort.

    Then there was Monkey. Monkey was one of the Savants that had been in the same group with Candle, Vice, and most importantly, Lionel, the prisoner who had believed himself to be Leonel. Monkey was a Savant with the ability to double things. It was a simple ability that was extraordinarily overpowered. In an instant, he could exponentially increase the numbers of himself and his strength. The only reason Leonel had been able to defeat him was that he was na?ve and not used to his power yet, and as a result easily hurt himself using his ability.

    Back then, despite defeating him, Leonel had still failed to kill Monkey and had no choice but to store him within a snow globe where his regeneration abilities were stalled. However, years ago, when Leonel decided that he wanted to give Monkey a chance to live a normal life just like Candle and Vice had, and he summoned him out, Monkey spontaneously died.

    Leonel was absolutely enraged when this suddenly happened because he felt that he had been plotted and schemed against. There was no reason for Monkey, who had such powerful abilities, to suddenly die in such a fashion if there was no foul play involved. However, there hadn''t been anything that he could do aside from using the Silver Tablet to transfer what was once Monkey''s ability to the Tentacle Womb.

    Since then, he hadn''t found any clues or potential answers to the shocking question of back then.

    Then there was Orinik''s transplanted organ. It was only a vague line, but it was eerily familiar to Leonel, familiar enough that he was quite baffled by it all. This sort of power-gifting ability was something that he had only seen casually done once before, and he hadn''t heard a word about this "God" at all afterward.

    What was shocking about this was that during the Merlin Trials, Leonel had met the people of The Bishop. One of their people, Aliard, had questioned him about why he wasn''t following the way of The Bishop if he was branded.

    But the issue with this was that it was a Mythological Zone, it wasn''t like the Joan Zone where one could just go back in time and place people in wait for an event that connected the past and present, it didn''t make any sense.

    Camelot wasn''t a real place, so how could you send people into itбн But if Camelot wasn''t a real place, then how could Leonel have entered it, then? How could Mordred and King Arthur come out with their people and become citizens of Earth without issue? What was the difference between those two events and someone infiltrating?

    What was he missing here, exactly?

    That was when it all came crashing down, a single kernel of information, a single pointed memory, a single remembrance that hit him like a falling tsunami.

    The Cataclysm Zone. Leonel had only spent a handful of months in the Cataclysm Zone, not long at all. He had only spent a fraction of a fraction of a second returning to the Human Domain after he found a method of connecting back. And yet, that fraction of a fraction of a second resulted in the loss of over two decades to him, a truly devastating loss to most.

    He hadn''t thought much about it back then. After all, Zones always had different time dilation situations, and this was also the first time that anyone had ever escaped from a Zone that had been closed off to begin with, it made sense for there to be certain distortions in time. ButбнI think you should take a look at

    Zones didn''t work that way. If anything, less time should have passed, not more, it didn''t make any sense.

    When Leonel entered the Joan Zone, months had passed within, but only days passed on the outside. When he entered the Merlin Zone, it was the same. The only Zone where this wasn''t the case was with the Valiant Heart Zone, but even then, the time was one to one.

    The idea of a Zone having time that passed slower than that of the outside world didn''t exist; it was even safe to say that it was entirely unheard of.

    Leonel knew this, but he didn''t have an explanation for it. He could only ignore it because he didn''t like thinking about things that he didn''t have a reasonable chance of coming to a conclusion on. Since he didn''t have enough of an explanation, it was all useless.

    But then these bits and pieces all began to slide into place, slowly connecting with one another.

    The Three Finger Cult. Of their three founders, only one had died. They should have been established countless generations ago, and yet two of them still lived and breathed, one of them even still in the process of targeting the people of the Human Domain and maybe even the entire Dimensional Verse. Wouldn''t it make more sense for these people to be alive if for every second they experienced, decades passed here?

    The Tribulation. How could there be more than one Spear Domain? Whether it was his own understanding, or even the records of the Void Palace, there had only ever been one. If there was more than one Spear Domain ring, there should have been more than one Bow Domain Ring as well, so why did the Spirituals have to steal it from the Constellation Bow Alliance? The Spirituals weren''t a warring race to begin with, or else they would have likely already conquered the whole of the Dimensional Verse, it felt odd that they would take such a stand for something that wasn''t even unique.

    The Valiant Heart Zone. How had Leonel found that ring so coincidentally? And how had a ring that had been in the hands of such an insignificant figure led to a treasure like the Silver Tablet, a treasure even capable of resurrecting the dead and treating the lives of real people as though they could be bargained for and bought?

    God. Leonel knew so much about Force Crafting now, he had already touched upon the Life Grade, he had already entered a state where although he had yet to climb it, he could see where the Peak of Force Crafting lay. And yet, even until this moment, even though he had personally seen the methods of Crafting, he still couldn''t even begin to understand how he would turn an Ability Index into a Force Art. Such methods were so far beyond himself that he couldn''t even fathom them, and yet he already felt like he was approaching the limits of the universe. So how could such a person even exist?

    A person who could gift an Ability Index with a tattoo, who could change one''s constitution with an organ transplant, who could resurrect the dead with a wave of the hand and even breathe life into fictional charactersбн Just what level would such a person be at?

    This Godбн Maybe even these Godsбн? Where were they? Why was it that there were so many religions in the Dimensional Verse, Religions he thought had stemmed from experts who had followed the God Path, and yet he hadn''t seen or heard of even a single one of them despite having already rubbed shoulders with the Ancestors that stood at the pinnacle of it all?

    There was only one thought that gripped Leonel''s heart and refused to let go.

    There was an old riddle of Ancient Earth that he had heard of before that left him chuckling.

    If technology reached a point where one could perfectly simulate an infinite number of Earth''s, would there be a reason to not do it?

    Even further than that, what if the fate of your world depended on one of these simulations bearing fruit?

    The Cataclysm Zone wasn''t a Zone at all. This was the Zone. The Dimensional Verse Leonel had known his whole life was no different from the pages of the fairytale that the legend of King Arthur had been written down upon.

    The Dream Project.

 Chapter 2039 Questions

    2039 Questions

    Leonel stared off into the distance. Nothing about the current state of his expression seemed to paint the proper picture of what was going on in his mind right now, nor did it describe the kind of shocking realization he had come to.

    This sort of realization wasn''t something that could be brushed off casually. It was akin to finding out that the entire life you were living was nothing more than a fictional tale, a paper-thin fabric of reality that was no different than what was written out on a piece of paper.

    However, there were also reasons that Leonel''s mind didn''t collapse in on itself beside the fact that he was strong of purpose and of heartбн It was quite simple really: he had been to the "real" world, he had stepped foot into it, he had fought their geniuses, he had enraged their experts, he had taken their benefits. All of it. He had done it.

    It wasn''t a helpless case without a light at the end of the tunnel, nor was he as confined as a stain in a petri dish. He still had some autonomy, although he wasn''t aware of what extent, and even if it wasn''t to a full extent, there was still a chance that he could break free completely given enough time.

    These thoughts were enough to calm Leonel and keep his heart at a steady beat. However, that didn''t mean that he had come to the end of his questions. If anything, he only had more questions.

    For example, the Four Great Families, how were they a part of this? If they were running the simulation, why were they sending people in to begin with? Was it because their goal was to gather the most powerful humans?

    Taking a step back, this "simulation" had all kinds of races, there were Spirituals, Nomads, Rapax, Dwarven people, the list was endless. So who had started this simulation and what was the purpose?

    If it was started by humans, then what was the point of the other races? Was it so that they could grow under the conditions they would need to survive in the "real" world? After all, there would be a large number of races on the other side, it only made sense to force humans in these simulations to face off against them as well and only take those that had come out on top.

    But then why were the Four Great Families so hostile?

    There were simply too many potential answers to this. It could be that while this simulation was started by humans, it wasn''t by the Four Great Families. For example, it could be the Fawkes family that they had destroyed, and maybe his grandfather was even involved in it all. That would explain the old man''s exaggerated strength and how he had somehow gained it so quickly. Many spoke about the genius of Velasco, but it had only been 30 to 40 odd years since Earth had Metamorphosed, and yet Emperor Fawkes already had the power to expel an Ancestor-level character from Earth''s territory.

    It could also be possible that while the Four Great Families had begun the simulation, their goal was to control the powers that came of it. They were used to being the top dog of the "real" world, so how could they allow one of their creations to so casually surpass them?

    Even setting that aside, what about the Three Finger Cult? Leonel was now more than 90% certain that at least two of their founders had come from the "real" world, that was why their lifespans felt nigh infinite. If a fraction of a second could cause more than 20 years to pass here, then of course, generations would pass without them dying.

    But what was their goal for interfering with this Simulation? Could it be that the Three Finger Cult was the main enemy of the people who had created this Simulation of life to begin with? Could their goal be to sabotage? Maybe hindering the efforts here was easier than attacking in the "real" world?

    Leonel couldn''t help but remember the oddities back then when he and Aina prepared to escape. Not a single top-tier expert had been there, only those of the Seventh Dimension and below had been present at all.

    He didn''t think much about it then, but given how important that event was, he felt it was much weirder now.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that those top-tier experts had been called away by a shocking event occurring, and as a result, they couldn''t be present. However, he could guess as much regardless.

    ''If so many experts couldn''t be present for such an important event, it goes to show just how much they have on their plates. That means that whatever enemy they''re facing is enough to occupy even such powerhouses for extended periods of time.''

    Since their disappearance was so sudden, it might even mean that that penultimate moment was coming forward quickly. For all Leonel knew, very soon, the plug could be pulled on the Dream Project and the individuals within would either be discarded, or forced to come out and fulfill the purpose that had been originally intended of them long ago.

    Then Leonel couldn''t help but think back to his odd interactions in the Tribulation Zone. He was almost 100% certain that those geniuses came from other Simulations now, and if he thought about it even further, given the way they were tiptoeing around the issue, it felt like they were aware.

    Leonel wasn''t the only genius in all of existence, and he wouldn''t be the only one to run into such oddities if those of the "real" world were interfering so frequently as well. He didn''t believe that he would be the only one to reach this conclusion, and he might not even be the only one who had come to this conclusion in his own Simulation.I think you should take a look at

    In fact, given the way his father moved and went about things, Leonel could almost be certain that Velasco was in the know about this matter. He was very much aware, Leonel was confident.

    ''There are two important clues here that I can use. The Spear Domain Ring and the Tablets. Both of these things are oddities that seem to exist outside the span of the Simulation and even seem capable of connecting them.''

    The Spear Domain Ring was obvious as its Tribulation connected Leonel with other Dimensional Verses. As for the tablet, especially the Silver Tablet, its existence was more subtle, but it was important to note nonetheless.

    Leonel couldn''t help but feel that his entrance into the Valiant Heart Zone was no longer a coincidence. It might even be tied to how the Valiant Heart Mountain of the past had been a participant in the Heir Wars, and how that further connected them to the Morales family and the Three Finger Cult beyond.

    But the most baffling question of them all wasбн

    Why wasn''t he dead right now?

    It was obvious by his previous speculations that there were other people and Simulations that were aware, so just knowing wasn''t enough to die, in fact being aware might give you extra points. The real reason he was asking why he wasn''t dead yet was because of one womanбн

    The Demonness.

    Every time he thought about her, he could feel a pair of eyes looking back. This woman''s Dream Force affinity was so high that she could probably move into and out of these Simulations as she pleased, and she could most definitely kill anyone who thought of her with a thought.

    Leonel could feel that if she wanted to, even reading his mind from such an impossible distance away wasn''t out of the realm of possibilities, she might just not care to.

    And yet, here he was, exposing things that should have been great and shocking secrets, but all he could sense was an eerie smile.

    He could almost see those cherry lips curling, that indifferent smile a person would have as they watched their puppy run around in their backyard, playing with a ball without knowledge that they were entirely fenced in.

    No matter what he did, no matter how he pushed and pulled, no matter how he struggled, there was no escaping it.

    Leonel closed his eyes, his breaths came deep and slow.

    In these last several moments, he had thought of so many questions that he didn''t have the answer to, and completely unlike him, he had actually entertained them for so long. It was clear that despite what he said, this was a matter that bothered him deeply, so deeply that he couldn''t even properly control his own mind, something he had always had perfect reign over.

    He wouldn''t allow this moment to cripple him.

    There were too many questions here, not of history or fact, but rather of morality, of philosophy, of existentialism.

    Was he a real person? Was King Arthur? Was life even as valuable as he thought it was if one could create such a world with the wave of a hand?

    Where did it start? And where did it end

    Who was Leonel Morales?

 Chapter 2040 Infuriated

    2040 Infuriated

    Leonel''s eyes opened, an unreadable expression within. It was hard to tell that such thoughts were going through his mind at all, and quite frankly, the few who were watching him at all only felt that he had been taking a small break, a break he probably deserved. Maybe even the likes of those who were aware of the secret of the Dimensional Verse couldn''t fathom that Leonel had just deduced such a thing.

    With a step, Leonel''s figure vanished.

    When he appeared again, he was within the abandoned territory of Orinik and the others. It was a cracked Gold Grade city, but it was still a unique territory.

    This territory was special because it was truly underwater, they called it the Atlantis Territory. It was an interesting name since Atlantis was a legend of Earth, but considering the names of the constellation families had influenced even how the people of Earth named the stars in the skies, it wouldn''t be too much of a surprise if they shared their reality in other ways.

    Of course, there was a lot to reconsider with this new revelation. Maybe these weren''t legends of Earth or the Human Domain at all, but rather tidbits of the "real" world''s history. After all, the foundation of the simulation had to come from somewhere.

    Leonel immediately claimed the city for himself, taking out two other broken territories. He commanded the stingrays to ready themselves and triggered his third Heir-Grade challenge.

    He felt his mind wandering as the waters began to froth. It was difficult to remain focused, and he even found himself biting his tongue again in an attempt to shift his mind away from other things.

    His speed of thought used to be a great asset to him, but it had suddenly become a curse. By the time he caught himself in a loop, he would have already gone through enough thinking that anyone would have taken hours, maybe even days to complete.

    Leonel almost didn''t notice an enormous tentacle swinging down at him with a maddening momentum. It moved so fast that an air pocket formed in the depths of the sea. It was entirely unmoved by the insane water pressure and pushed apart the water as though it was playing on the surface.

    In those last moments, Leonel''s Dream Counter activated and his body shifted, replacing itself with a clone.

    BANG!

    The bottom of the ocean shook and quaked as Leonel snapped awake.

    He couldn''t remember the last time his Dream Counter activated. It had to be remembered that his Dream Counter only triggered when he was on the verge of death, he had actually been that distracted just now.

    Leonel, despite his strength, was still ultimately at the Sixth Dimension, he couldn''t be casual when facing off against Seventh Dimensional existence, especially not ones at the Heir-Grade. A casual mistake on his part could result in true death.

    Suddenly, he felt angry.

    "Piss off!"

    It was said that sound traveled far further and better in the water. Leonel hadn''t thought much about it when he had lashed out, but the sudden boom of his voice sent out waves of destruction in all directions, shattering the body of the colossal squid general before into countless bloody chunks.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel took a breath and looked down at his chest. It was heaving irregularly, something that hadn''t happened since his body had mutated after absorbing the Silver Empire''s inheritance.

    ''Me? A panic attack?''

    There was no way Leonel was tired. He had already become used to settling his fatigue with a single deep breath, but right now his heart was beating so fast it seemed to want to rip a path out of his chest.

    He clenched his teeth and activated Dream Sense, dispersing the feeling throughout his millions of split minds until his heart finally seemed to calm.

    The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became, his eyes flaring with a flickering flame.

    "Fuck!"

    Leonel balled a fist, a spear of Scarlet Star Force appearing in his hand. His arm cocked back and his hips twisted, his torso flexed and he erupted with a violent throw. The sea began to boil and the waves churned with a red aura.

    Leonel formed spear after spear, even using his Ability Index to rewire his muscle memory, throwing with both his left and right hand as though throwing with just one wasn''t causing enough death and destruction for him.

    Very few were paying attention to Leonel at this point, he had just gotten out of a huge battle and he seemed to have been about to settle into another dull rhythm of claiming and conquering another territory. There were simply more interesting things to watch.

    However, given how popular Leonel was becoming, how could there be no one who was watching him at all? Especially since he was about to conquer three seas, an entire 75% of the ocean?

    But in an irony of ironies, none of these people could tell what Leonel was going through at the moment.

    To them, the lights were flashy, the power was amazing, the show was grand. They were distracted by the beauty and entertained by the carnage. They couldn''t feel Leonel''s fury or rage, all they could see was a powerful expert displaying a might that should have been far beyond him.

    There was only one person who seemed to see this and understand.

    In an unknown location, Alienor was, of course, watching her child. Since the entire Human Domain was watching, how could she not? She wouldn''t miss such a thing for the world, and who could know her son better than herself? They might not have spent very much time together, but there wasn''t a single part of Leonel''s life that she wasn''t aware of.

    Seeing him so infuriated at the moment left her heart broken.

    The last time Leonel had entered such a state, it was after he had said those cruel words to Aina. And now, he seemed to have entered such a state again.

 Chapter 2041 Abhorred

    2041 Abhorred

    How could Leonel not feel the way he did?

    When he first entered the Dimensional Verse, he absolutely abhorred killing. He felt that every life was worth the same. He had always thought himself to be a logical person, and because he couldn''t deduce the value of a life, he felt that he had no right to dictate the life and death of others. There wasn''t any objective measure of a person''s life, this had always been his reality.

    The first time he entered a Zone, he felt so guilt-stricken by what he had done that he almost allowed someone to take his life. No, it wasn''t almost, he had already given up at that point. He had already turned 18 by then, and what he thought were his final thoughts were toward his father, telling him to not mind his death because he had already succeeded as a parent, raising him to be an adult.

    After he left the Zone, he practically had a mental breakdown after witnessing Aina''s sheer disregard for the life that he held so sacred.

    Up until that point, the only person other than his father that he truly loved was her. To him, even though they had never been in a relationship, and even if she never accepted him, she was his family.

    Maybe even until now, Aina wasn''t aware of just how cruel that moment had been.

    She wanted to wake him up to the reality of the world, to allow him to realize in a single stroke that she wasn''t the idealized woman in his mind and that the world they were in now was far crueler than he had ever known. But back then, he had just allowed himself to die at the hands of another, he had been in an incredibly fragile state, that sort of shock wasn''t something that he should have been able to handle.

    And quite frankly, he didn''t handle it very well.

    Not long after that, he forgot his own morals to rage. He met an A-grade Invalid and beat it to death with the metal rod of his bicycle, completely forgetting his humanity in that moment.

    It might have been an Invalid, but who was to say that an Invalid''s life was any less valuable? Wasn''t he someone who couldn''t objectively tell the value of a person''s life, now he was so mercilessly beating something to death just to vent his fury.

    Then there was the Joan Zone after that, and he seemed to begin to justify his murders by the fact that the people in these Zones weren''t real. It was fine to kill them, they weren''t living, breathing people anyway, they were just constructs, echoes of a past that had already been lived.

    This seemed to open the path toward Leonel''s acceptance of the situation, and now he didn''t even think much of his kills, although he always kept count at the back of his mind, he would be lying if he said that he was affected the same now as he had been in the past.

    But what now?

    Now he was finding out that his life was no different from the people in those Zones, maybe no different from an Invalid''s. That sounded like an exaggeration, but to the people who had created this world, formed everything that he had come to know, was he really that different from an Invalid to them?

    Was there really no objective measurement of a life if people could create a world like this?I think you should take a look at

    Was there really no objective measure of a life even if this simulation didn''t exist?

    No matter what sort of secret of the universe you chose to prescribe to, whether it was religion, whether it was science, whether it was the new world order than Leonel had just been enlightened with, in which of those cases had life not been formed by the hands of another, whether that was nature or a sentient being?

    What was his life worth, then? There had to be an answer, and he felt that the only conclusion was that it was worth very little, an insignificant amount, a total so infinitesimally small compared to the grand scheme of reality that it would be laughable to even care to bring it up.

    This answer that he had been chasing all of his life was actually meaningless.

    It was the foundation upon which he built everything. His want to be a King, to unite the Human Domain, to help them face off against the aggression of the other races, it was everything.

    He had spent most of his life aimless, smiling and chuckling, without a goal and without a care. He hadn''t known what he was missing, the kind of life he was living if he wasn''t without purpose and without meaning, until he actually gained himself such a meaning.

    And now that he was watching it crumble before his eyes, he was so infuriated that he couldn''t even properly put it into words, so enraged that he simply wanted to destroy everything in his path.

    Leonel rampaged at the bottom of the ocean to the point that even the surface began to bubble. His eyes turned a striking red and chains within his consciousness seemed to vibrate wildly, on the verge of collapsing entirely.

    A fiery pair of wings appeared to his back, his suffocating momentum causing the Heir-Grade Generals around to cower. Their skin began to burn and char even beneath the ocean waters, Leonel seemed to entirely forget that he would have been better off using his Water Force. And thenбн

    There was suddenly nothing left.

    Leonel ran to the end of the line, but there were no more beasts, no further waves, no other Heir-Grade Generals to vent his frustration upon, there was nothing but emptiness.

    Leonel roared, a vortex forming at his mouth as he lifted his head, the spinning black hole of dark waters extending so far that even a whirlpool formed at the surface.

    The violent heat at both sides of his hips, coming from his kidneys, threatened to bore a hole through his skin, but he didn''t seem to notice in the slightest.

    But just when it seemed that Leonel was about to lose all sense of rationality, he felt something suddenly bury itself into his chest and wrap around his waist.

 Chapter 2042 Okay, No Problem.

    ж╤andasnovel.com 2042 Okay, No Problem.

    Leonel came to an abrupt stop.

    He could finally seem to hear around him and the sound of his heartbeat was so loud that it rumbled like thunder. Every pulse sent waves through the waters, causing it to shudder and wince. It beat so loud that Leonel felt that a single thump could have shattered his previous set of bones before he had been eaten by the Cobra Demon.

    Leonel hadn''t truly been aware of how powerful this new heart of his was until now, but it was exactly because such a heart was beating so wildly and strongly that it was so concerning. If not for the fact that it was so strong, it would have given out long ago.

    Now, there was nothing but a searing hotness in his chest. It felt like hot coals were resting within his ribcage and billowing scalding smoke up his throat. The pain was unbearable, and the heat of the waters around was almost as well.

    Looking around, Leonel realized that even the stingray beasts in the surroundings were forced to retreat a long way from him in order to avoid being crushed by their master''s might. If not for this, Leonel might have wiped out three days of hard work all on his own.

    Finally, Leonel looked down to find that it was Aina. She didn''t say anything and simply held onto him tight, refusing to let go. A large portion of her clothing had been burnt away, and if it wasn''t for her tightly holding onto him, she may have very well shown the world far too much.

    Leonel took a breath, and then another, and another. Only then did the searing pain in his chest seem to finally begin to calm down. The fact it only took three breaths was a testament to the strength of his recovery abilities, but even so, the dull pain continued to linger and would probably take several hours to vanish entirely.

    He had really pushed his body to its limits just now, if he had been any less cautious, he might have truly overheated himself and diedбн again. It was also unknown if his soul could even survive the rampaging of his Scarlet Star Force, he really might have burned himself to death.

    Leonel looked around at his body to find that it was truly in a mess. His left arm was half missing, his right leg was chopped at the knee, his body was caked and covered in blood. He had truly fought like a fool, he hadn''t even used his Divine Armors. But honestly, if he had taken out his Divine Armors just now, aside from maybe his third tier one, the first and second tiers would have both been destroyed under his own power, and he would have had to drain his stamina even further just to upkeep them.

    Leonel could only shake his head. ''How pathetic. [Instant Recovery].''

    Leonel''s hair gently waved, and a large pillar of Light Force and Star Force fell upon both himself and Aina. Not long later, though he was pretty much naked, he was in perfect condition.

    He wrapped his arms around Aina and ran his fingers through the back of her hair. He felt more at peace now, the slowly calming waves of the water slowing his beating heart further.

    "Are you okay?" Aina asked.

    She didn''t know why she had rushed over here, she had a lot of work to do elsewhere, but there had been a suffocating feeling in her chest she couldn''t ignore until she ran all the way over here. When she saw the state of Leonel, she knew that something was wrong.

    Originally, she had thought that maybe the pressure was getting to him, or maybe it was because his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node was taking over well ahead of the time that Wise Star Order had stipulated. However, now that she was here, she felt that it was something entirely different.

    Leonel didn''t answer immediately, and it seemed like he wouldn''tбн Until he suddenly did.

    "I don''t really feel like participating in these Heir Wars anymore," Leonel suddenly said.

    Aina was shocked by these words. They seemed simple, but the weight behind them was extraordinary. This was Leonel''s dream, everything he had been working toward in the last several years, everything he had done since exiting Valiant Heart Mountain, up until this point, was all for these stretch of days. And nowбн he suddenly didn''t want to participate anymore?

    Even on his way here, Leonel was only acting out of habit. It all felt quite meaningless. If he hadn''t been trying to stop his mind from wandering, he probably wouldn''t have even triggered this upgrade challenge at all.

    Aina didn''t know what to say for a long while. All she knew was that she couldn''t allow Leonel to quit, but she didn''t even know what was wrong, so she didn''t know how to convince him to continue.I think you should take a look at

    He didn''t believe that it was the weight of the situation. Leonel was the kind of person who thrived under pressure, she knew him well enough to know that.

    What was the last thing he had given up on, was it herself? And why had he done that? It was purely logical. She had crossed a line that he had drawn quite early on and he wasn''t willing to forgive it at the time.

    Then there must be a logical reason for this as well.

    Thinking back, the entire purpose for this was his want to become a King. And he wanted to become a King to help the most people possible. And he wanted to help the most people possible because he couldn''t logically deduce a worth to a person''s life.

    That meant one of two things. Either he felt that he had found an objective metric, or he had deduced that the answer was insignificant enough to be ignored.

    Regardless of which one it was, there was no simple answer to change his mind. Leonel was smarter and thought faster than anyone in existence, or at least, anyone that she had ever met. The only person who could draw a conclusion different from his own that he would actually listen to was his father, and he obviously wasn''t here now, and knowing that man there was no telling what he might say.

    In that case, trying to convince Leonel that he was wrong was something beyond her.

    Her gaze flickered for a moment, and after some hesitation, she spoke.

    "Do you still love me?"

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he suddenly looked down. "What are you talking about, of course I love you."

    He didn''t even bother to add the "still" part, to him it was an unnecessary addition. His love for Aina was constant, it would never change.

    Aina smiled sweetly. "I want our babies to be little princes and princesses, can you do that for me?"

    Leonel blinked. "They will be alreadyбк"

    "Not of Earth, or even just of the Morales family. I want them to be able to go anywhere and still have people look up to them, to be able to go anywhere and not have to fear or hesitate about anything.

    "Can you do that for me?"

    Aina looked into Leonel''s eyes, her golden irises dancing with a reflective light.

    Leonel paused for a moment, but then nodded. "Okay, no problem."

    He spoke these words as though it was a matter of fact. So long as he cared enough to participate, wasn''t the end result guaranteed?

 Chapter 2043 ...

    2043 ...

    Aina smiled sweetly, standing up to the tips of her toes and kissing Leonel deeply. Leonel seemed to feel his heart calm. The feeling of Aina''s soft waist in his arm and her ample bosom pressed against his chest was like the sweetest taste of heaven. It was so simple, and yet so relaxing at the same time.

    He didn''t know how long he kissed her for, he seemed to have completely lost track of time, or maybe time simply didn''t matter much to him any longer. If it wasn''t for the fact he knew others could start watching them at any time, he would have most definitely taken his wife to bed now.

    Although he thought about forcefully using his Dream Force to shroud such a connection, he decided against it in the end. He simply held Aina, feeling more and more at peace with every passing moment. His lips even curled into a smile as he pulled away, running his fingers through her hair.

    Seeing Leonel like this, Aina felt a warmth within her.

    No matter how hard she tried to run from it, the matters of all those years ago still haunted her. Sometimes she wondered when the next time Leonel would cruelly cut her off again without a word of care. Although she knew that she had a role to play in the matters of the past, this was still a very much human reaction on her path.

    However, there was no greater sign of love than what Leonel had done just now. Maybe he knew that she had only said such things to get him to continue fighting on, but just the fact she had said it was enough for him to continue.

    For someone like Leonel to say that he didn''t care about the Heir Wars anymore took a great deal, whatever had happened was most definitely not just a small matter. And yet, for him to take back those words almost instantly just because of a request on her part just went to show how much weight she held in his heart.

    Even without saying as much, just this gesture alone assured Aina, there was never anything much to worry about in the first place. This was her man, her future husband, the person she would grow old with.

    Aina put on a new set of clothing to cover herself up while in Leonel''s embrace and then took his hand, entering the Atlantis Territory along with him. She brought Leonel to the city core under his questioning gaze and then she waved a hand.

    When she did so, Leonel was suddenly enlightened.

    In truth, he had acted without regard earlier. He had triggered the upgrade challenge without any upgrade rewards or territory rewards. So, technically, he had faced off against three Heir-Grade challenges, and two each of Bronze-Grade, Silver-Grade, and Gold-Grade. That said, a Bronze-Grade and Silver-Grade and Gold-Grade challenges weren''t worth much of anything in the face of an Heir-Grade challenge, especially not one that was three times as difficult, so Leonel hadn''t cared much.

    Now, Aina had come with the territory upgrade reward that he would need to claim the entire sea.

    Like this, he had claimed his third sea, and he exhaled a breath.

    "Do you want me to come with you?" Aina asked.

    The previous Leonel was on track to maximize efficiency, so when it was convenient, he had sent Aina off on her own missions. However, she wanted to know if Leonel preferred her here now.I think you should take a look at

    She knew that whatever Leonel was going through wasn''t just magically cured with her words, she was just happy that he cared enough about her to be able to ignore it for the time being, but that didn''t mean that she didn''t want to find a solution as quickly as possible.

    Leonel didn''t respond immediately, looking out into empty space for a moment.

    "What do you think about life, Aina?"

    "Hm?" Aina was a bit confused, not sure where this question was coming from. In reality, no one could have known what was going on in Leonel''s mind, even her. To have deduced what he had from such small and minor bits of information, was absolutely ridiculous. Maybe even those in the background, pulling on their puppet strings, would have never guessed such a thing.

    "If you didn''t have the drive to gain revenge for your mother and make up for the loss of your childhood with children of your own, what do you think you''d be doing with your life right now?"

    ж╤andasnovel.com Aina paused, uncertain of how to answer.

    Leonel''s question wasn''t only difficult to answer, it was nigh impossible. Removing such things from her was like creating an entirely new person. If she never experienced such things, how could she still be the same Aina? In that life, she might not have even ever met Leonel in the first place.

    Leonel was asking her who she would be if she wasn''t herself, and even deeper than that, he was asking what her fundamental being was.

    However, even that seemingly fundamental question was layered with yet another even deeper meaning.

    What made a person? Was it their life experiences? Or was the person they would be decided upon at birth?

    If there was a "fundamental Aina", then that would assume that everyone had an innate nature to them. If there wasn''t, then that would mean that it was entirely a matter of nurture.

    Someone else might have tried to casually answer this question, but although she didn''t seem to be as smart as Leonel, Aina held her own sort of weight in this regard. So, quite truthfully, she didn''t know how to answer for a very long time.

    Aina had once lost her personalityбн Back then was she still Aina? She still had all of her memories, so why had she acted so differently than usual.

    The answer was complex. Aina felt what made a person wasn''t just a series of events, but also the variables associated with them. The timing, the sequence, these two things were highly important.

    Aina took a breath. "бн I don''t know."

 Chapter 2044 Third Party

    2044 Third Party

    Aina wanted to give Leonel an answer that could satisfy him, an answer that would sweep away all of his worries and lift the veil of darkness from him. She wanted nothing more than to put a smile on his face, but the question was simply far too difficult.

    But what Leonel said after hearing her answer swept away all of her hesitation and disappointment in herself, replacing it with shock and a beating heart that refused to calm.

    "бн I don''t know if it''s an illusion, but I feel that I know the answer for me all too well. I would be exactly the same person, just as lazy, just as unmotivated, entirely unable to take the world seriously. No matter how many variables changed, no matter the sequence of events, no matter what twists and turns came, there would only be two constantsбн

    "My personality and my love of youбн But now I''m confused.

    "I always believed that this feeling was like a guiding lamp everyone had, but as I grew up, I realized that not everyone had that same conviction. I chose to ignore it, as I usually did, because I can never be bothered to waste time thinking about things I know I can''t find the answer to, but then came the Metamorphosis, and I gained a new understanding.

    "The first time I heard the words, I was entirely stumped. It felt as though someone had gripped my shoulders and was shaking me violently, wanting me to wake upбн The future can affect the past, they said.

    "But if that was the case, why was I the only one that felt it? I don''t have a time-related Ability Index, so the future should be just as blurry to me as it is to everyone else, but that nagging feeling remained.

    "And nowбн I don''t know anymore if that nagging feeling is even real, that light that had always been guiding me, that path I had always followed because I felt that I was at least being my true self, feels like a fa?ade, a fabrication that was never real to begin with.

    "I don''t know what to think of it. I don''t know what would happen if I suddenly started ignoring that path forward and took a step off of it."

    Leonel''s face was placid as he spoke. Despite the weight of his words, it didn''t seem to carry to his expression in the slightest. It was as though he had entirely dissociated, observing himself, or what he had thought to be himself, through a lens as a third party.

    He didn''t even trust himself anymore. In his mind where there had once been two constants, there was just one, and that one was Aina.

    Funny enough, Aina''s worries weren''t unwarranted.

    Not long ago, Leonel had thought about what these urges meant, this tug he had always felt, what did it represent exactly. But then he remembered that he had not just one tug, but two of them. He wondered if he should stop associating himself with Aina as well.

    Was his love for her real? Or was that something that had been programmed into him? And his personality, was that casual indifference he always felt in so many things truly himself? Or was it just useful for this simulation if he were to act in this way? Maybe he just happened to have an Ability Index that also made him more aware of it than others.I think you should take a look at

    However, in the end, he couldn''t bring himself to do it.

    If he gave up on Aina as well, what good was living anymore. He couldn''t trust his own likes and dislikes, he couldn''t follow his dreams because it was all meaningless, if he also didn''t have Aina, why did he even have to bother anymore.

    His previous confidence in being able to enter the "real" world and rub elbows with them had vanished in a puff of smoke. Hadn''t he been able to enter Zones just as easily as well? Didn''t those people feel very real and very alive? What good was it for him to hold onto this as though it was truly some sort of saving grace.

    Aina listened in silence, gripping Leonel''s hand hard.

    She didn''t understand, she couldn''t understand. The leaps in logic Leonel had taken to gain his current understanding of the world were only things an existence with millions of minds like himself could do, it was simply impossible for anyone else to succeed in such a thing. Although he had laid out so much, Aina still hadn''t made the final conclusion.

    "бн Doesn''t the fact you can take a step off of it mean something?" Aina said softly.

    Leonel''s pupils trembled as he looked down toward Aina.

    "I am very afraid, Leonel. I have heard many things about those with exceptionally high Dream Force affinity, things that I don''t want to believe. I''m very happy that you''re saying so much, you rarely speak so much in a single breath, but it''s also because of that that I''m so worried.

    "I want you to remember that Dream Force is nothing but a vessel, a conduit, it''s a projection of what a person could be, but it isn''t a person. Just because you can use Dream Force, doesn''t mean you can create life, it only means that you can grant the capacity for it."

    Aina didn''t understand what was going on, but her best deduction was that Leonel''s Dream Force affinity had grown so deep that he was beginning to see past the layers of what it meant to be human, and as a result, he was questioning many things.

    While she didn''t understand fully, when it came to comprehension, and especially comprehension of her own body, Aina was far beyond anyone else. As a result, how could she not fully understand the role that Dream Force played in her own body?

    Of course, her deductions were entirely wrong, this wasn''t what was causing Leonel''s breakdown at all, but even so, hearing these words, Leonel felt like he had been hit by a speeding truck.

    "Fuse with me," Aina said lightly. "We haven''t done it in a while."

    Aina reached out and Leonel subconsciously deployed his Dream World.

 Chapter 2045 Idiot

    2045 Idiot

    Leonel felt as though a bomb had just gone off in his mind. When his vision cleared, he felt like he was standing within Aina''s body, experiencing what she was experiencing, feeling what she was feeling.

    It had, indeed, been a long time since they had done this. Since then, Leonel had improved greatly. Not only had his Dream Force Force Manipulation stepped to an all new stage, but he had also gained the ability to disassociate his soul from his body, granting him a great deal of strength in this aspect. As a result, when he touched his own Dream World with Aina''s mind, the connection was far deeper than it had ever been before.

    If before Aina had only been able to share a small portion, now it felt like she could share 110% of the aspects of her Ability Index.

    Now, Leonel could truly feel what she felt, that instinct toward her body, and since they were connected, his own as well. He realized that Aina had even unknowingly already entered Tier 9 of the Sixth Dimension, and she was on pace to cross into the Seventh Dimension long before himself.

    However, he suddenly came to a stop. That was because he could sense that Aina''s soul was under a great deal of strain. He immediately pulled back and sealed away most of his mind''s strength.

    Just now, he had been far too rash. He had continued thinking at his normal speed, and because he was using Aina as a proxy to take on the benefits of her Ability Index, all of the stamina drain was on her to withstand. If he had continued for a few more seconds, she might have collapsed and even fallen into a coma.

    This time, he only allowed a single one of his minds forward, leaving all the other ones to focus on his body. But in reality, he had seen all he needed to see.

    He felt a shuddering change within him as his comprehension of Dream Force grew even deeper.

    His mistake was in assuming that Dream Force was just like other Forces.

    Take Water Force for example, not only did it make up the various bodies of water in the world, but the shifts and changes within. The ocean, as an example, wasn''t just one type of Water Force, but rather an amalgamation of all the Water Forces in various quantities, almost like neutral Force which was a fusion of all Forces in existence.

    Leonel had always viewed Dream Force in this way. An amalgamation of all kinds of Dream Force, and depending on the type of person you were, one kind of Dream Force would be more pronounced than another.

    However, he was entirely wrong.

    There weren''t different kinds of Dream Forces, there was only one kind, the purest kind, the only kind in existence and the kind everyone shared.

    This was what separated Dream Force from other kinds of Forces, in fact it could be said that the other Forces that made up the human body were more likely to impact your personality than Dream Force itself!

    Dream Force was purely a vessel that allowed consciousness to exist, while Soul Force was what held the tainted colors of your personality.

    Leonel had always believed that Dream Force was a derivative of Soul Force, or more accurately a purified version of it. But it was more accurate to think of Soul Force like an impure Dream Force. It was a subtle difference in order, and yet it made all the difference in his mind.

    Suddenlyбн

    CRACK!

    Leonel''s body trembled and his gaze became vacant.

    Aina, who was allowing Leonel to explore and confirm the things she said, suddenly felt her expression change. She looked toward Leonel, shuddering at his dull gaze.

    Leonel''s aura seemed to have entirely changed.

    At that moment, the universe resounded with a harrowing crack, it was a sound that every soul in existence heard, no matter where they were, no matter where they hid, no matter who they were. However, it seemed impossible to tell where this crack had come from.I think you should take a look at

    Aina felt her shoulders trembling as she looked into Leonel''s eyes. She suddenly felt both an endlessly far away and endlessly close feeling. She wanted to take a step back, and yet jump into his arms at the same time. It was an absolutely suffocating feeling, so all she could do was stand in place.

    "Leonelбн? Leonel?"

    The dull gaze in Leonel''s eyes seemed to snap into focus. He looked around and then down at Aina, and then seemed to be stunned for a moment.

    His gaze suddenly became incomparably gentle, so gentle that Aina felt that she might melt. But to her surprise, tears began to stream down Leonel''s face at the same time.

    It was a moment that was difficult to describe. The aura exuding from Leonel was incomparably majestic, incomparably lofty, and yet the look in his eyes could put a newborn at ease, while his tears could make the same newborn burst into their own.

    Leonel suddenly looked away, his tears vanishing under a mysterious sort of power that AIna couldn''t even begin to understand.

    "I seeбн It seems that even this one has been a failure. I guess there are just some things that you can''t changeбн"

    Leonel closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his dignified aura had reached his eyes. The air around him trembled and seemed about to collapse at any moment, but, although Aina wasn''t sure if it was an illusion or not, it felt that it was also quickly becoming weaker.

    "Aina."

    "Yes?" Aina answered almost too hurriedly. She was nervous for reasons she didn''t know why, for some reason it felt like she was meeting Leonel for the first time all over again.

    "I''m an idiot that doesn''t deserve you. No matter what state I''m in a month from now, promise to never leave my side, okay?"

    Aina''s lips parted, but she didn''t know how to respond. In the end, she simply nodded, her face holding onto a strong determination.

    Leonel didn''t meet Aina''s eyes again, almost as though he couldn''t bear to, or maybe he was too embarrassed to. This version of himself was truly far too weak, whether in fist or in mind.

    "All the calculations in the world, and it''s still not enoughбн"

    But at that moment, Leonel smiled, it was a handsome, unrestrained smile, the kind that came from the bottom of his heart.

    "бн Even I cannot play with lives so casually."

    Leonel laughed, he laughed so heartily, a laugh filled with relief.

    It was completely contradictory, especially since he said he had just failed, and yet he was so happy.

    He had never been happier in his life.

    "Take care of this idiot," Leonel said finally. "One day I won''t disappoint you."

    Aina could only be confused as the suffocating aura suddenly vanished and Leonel collapsed. She hurriedly rushed forward to catch him, but even in this state, the smile on his face hadn''t vanished.

 Chapter 2046 Are You?

    2046 Are You?

    Aina didn''t have the words to describe what she was thinking about or how she was feeling. Any other person would have probably thought that their boyfriend had entirely lost his mind. He spoke about himself practically in the third person just now, as though the him she was looking at wasn''t him at all.

    But also, just now, Leonel''s mind had been connected with her own. And yet, despite that connection, he had never felt farther away from her than he had in that moment. It was as though she was a small water spout and he was a vast, endless ocean. Although she was feeding into him, she was hardly helping or changing anything at all, and what he had to offer was far too vast for him to be able to share anything without risking her destruction.

    Aina trembled.

    Something similar had happened before, although not exactly in this way. Maybe, in fact, it had happened two times before, once when Leonel suddenly cleared more than 70 floors of the Void Tower when he should have had no capability of doing so, and second when his father had appeared suddenly in the Rapax Nest and undid some kind of seal.

    But how were those two things related at all?

    This sort of unfathomable feelingбн Aina hadn''t sensed it when she met Leonel''s father. In her opinion, Leonel''s father wasn''t even half as strong as the Leonel who just spoke with her, and maybe even that wasn''t anywhere near exaggerated enough.

    So how could Velasco be the one who had sealed Leonel? It had seemed as though, back then, that he had done something for Leonel''s own good, but the Leonel that she had seen just now was beyond the capability of anyone to seal.

    And setting that matter aside, why did it sound like he had come from a far off land? Why did it feel like he had experienced so much, hurt so much...

    But what she was most interested in knowing was why was it that he was so happy about his failureбн It felt like she was looking through a mirrorбн On one side, there was the Leonel who was still looking for his answers, and on the other side, it seemed that there was another Leonel who had finally gained his answer.

    Both were the same man, maybe weak in their own ways, strong in others, but still pursuing after the same matter. Aina couldn''t fathom just how much hardship this elder Leonel had to go through to finally find the answer, but she had never heard Leonel laugh so heartily and happily, as though he was finally free, finally resolute in his path.

    Aina held Leonel up, her palm gently resting on his cheek, her mind unreadable. Although there was worry between her brows, there was still a light smile on her lips. She felt that even this older Leonel was an idiot too. How could she ever leave him?

    Leonel''s gaze suddenly snapped opened minutes later. He sat up so quickly that his head almost smashed into Aina''s, but he managed to weave out of the way just in time.

    His breathing was slightly labored and he looked around in confusion. He distinctly remembered the last time he had felt a similar feeling, but there was something odd. The situation wasn''t exactly the same. He couldn''t remember anything that had happened in the Void Tower, but this time he felt like he could vaguely recall something.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel looked down at his hands, his pupils constricting.

    His Dream Force was nothing like he remembered it. A tenfold increase wasn''t enough to describe it. Although his Force Manipulation remained the same, his Ethereal Glabella had become like its own Innate Node, so large that it had basically replaced the entirety of his frontal lobe, and it even looked as though it was eager to replace his entire brain.

    If his Dream Force output was one unit before, it was over a thousand now. It had gone from a drop of water, to an overflowing bucket, but he couldn''t quite understand why.

    It didn''t feel like his affinity had changed much, it was still outstanding. Or maybe it had grown to a point where he couldn''t even differentiate any longer.

    The most obvious change was that his number of split minds had gone from a factor of millions to billions. In fact, it was even approaching 10 digits rather than just nine.

    Leonel realized all of this looking at his hands because right now he wasn''t observing his hands at all, rather it felt like he was looking at the individual cells that made it up.

    It was akin to the difference between observing a planet through a telescope, and then zooming in to see the peaks and valleys, not to mention the populations that called it home.

    He was having a hard time wrapping his head around this matter and he couldn''t help but think back to what had happened in the Rapax Nest. Back then, his Dream Force affinity had gotten a huge boost, this time his Dream Force quantity had gotten its own huge boost.

    If he had had this much Dream Force when he was creating his army of stingrays, rather than an entire three days to outfit them, even a quarter of a day might be overexaggerating the time he would need, and that was only taking into account Little Tolly''s own limitations. The gap was simply as vast as an ocean.

    When this was simultaneously matched with the improvement of his Dream Force before this odd change, then the gap was overwhelming. In fact, Leonel wondered if this change was triggered by the improvement to his Force Manipulation or not, but it seemed unlikelyбн This hadn''t happened with his Scarlet Star Force when he had improved it, so why now?

    "How do you feel? Are you okay?" Aina''s questions suddenly snapped Leonel out of his thoughts.

    When he looked toward her this time, he couldn''t help but feel she was even more beautiful now than he remembered.

 Chapter 2047 Mini Vacation

    2047 Mini Vacation

    Leonel suddenly kissed Aina, catching her off guard. She hadn''t been prepared for this sudden change as she was still worried about Leonel and if he was doing okay, so she was far too stunned even to fight back.

    Eventually, she regained her bearings and bit at Leonel''s lips.

    "Ow, ow. What are you doing to your husband?" Leonel pouted.

    "There are people watching, behave yourself!" Aina chided. Even so, she couldn''t help but lick her lips. The taste of Leonel''s blood was truly great, if it wasn''t because she felt that it was too weird to ask, she would take a taste more often.

    Leonel, though, had noticed the subtle, seductive action. He didn''t know why, but watching Aina lick at his blood like that made a fire light within him. It was as though some repressed fantasies about being with a vampire empress were all resurfacing at once.

    "What are you looking at?" Aina asked to hide her embarrassment.

    "Lick your lips again, slower this time, I really want to imprint it into my memories. Take another bite out of my lip if you have to."

    Aina was stunned speechless before she hit Leonel on the chest. "Be serious!"

    "I am deadly serious! Come, come, take another bite."

    "I''m ignoring you," Aina stood in a huff, dropping Leonel to the ground, but when she turned back, her lips couldn''t help but bloom into a bright smile. If Leonel was willing to joke around like this, he was at least feeling better for now.

    She felt two arms wrap around her waist, a soft cheek pressing against her own. This time, she didn''t fight back, her palm reaching up to touch Leonel''s face.

    "Look at you, still as smooth as a baby''s butt."

    Leonel was aghast. "How could you poke at your husband''s insecurities like this?!"

    Aina laughed, allowing Leonel a nice view of her bouncing chest over her shoulder. He couldn''t help but shake his head, if only those perverts didn''t set up cameras everywhere. What were those old perverts thinking?!

    If the Morales Ancestors knew what Leonel was thinking, they too would have probably been stunned speechless. How was this their fault, it was just the way things had always been done.

    The two continued to joke around without a care in the world, forgetting the time for a moment and just enjoying one another''s company. Finally, Aina asked the question that had been on her mind all the while.

    "Are you really okay? You know you can talk to me, right?"

    Leonel smiled. "Maybe. At the very least, it''s not enough for me to stress over it like I have before. Questions about life and its meaning, they''re things everyone has, right? Why should I be the one to gain answers before anyone else?"

    After seeing Aina''s Dream Force, Leonel understood that it wasn''t something that could just breathe life into things, one couldn''t create life with it, and one wouldn''t be able to manipulate the personality of another with it either.

    Of course, that didn''t mean that there wouldn''t be other ways of doing so. For example, giving someone certain affinities, or tainting their Soul Force with certain aspects, both were viable options. So, that didn''t mean that Leonel''s worries were entirely unfounded.I think you should take a look at

    But what it did mean was that there was a path to true freedom, it existed, and it existed within every single person equally. That sort of realization was beautiful enough in its own right. As for what was beyond, it was still exactly that. Beyond him.

    If everyone had the same Dream Force acting as the foundation of their life, though, then Leonel was right back to square one. How could one possibly differentiate the value of a life?

    In fact, now that he thought about it, if it was so easy to just create people, what was the point of this simulation?

    If the point was to have predictive models of the future and use it to avoid catastrophes, that was still acceptable, it made sense for this simulation to exist. But if the creators of this simulation were looking for existences that could help them out of their plight, then that went a long way to addressing Leonel''s worries.

    As for why, one only had to ask themselves a simple question.

    If it was so easy to create life, why bother creating such weak lifeforms? If they needed help, why not directly create the most powerful existences they could? Or if they were worried about rebellion, why not just directly create the most powerful existences that could be safely controlled?

    The answer was obvious. It wasn''t that easy to create life.

    Maybe he was still being manipulated, but keeping the chains on him wasn''t so easy, and as long as there was a chance, he was certain that he''d be able to break free.

    Leonel rose to his feet.

    He was sure that this Dimensional Verse along with the others had been created for the latter reason. If it was for the purpose of simulating the future, there would have been no point in allowing a connection to exist between the universes, but those connections very much existed, the Tribulation likely only being just one of them.

    "Where are you going?" Aina asked.

    "You mean where are we going?" Leonel corrected with a grin.

    Aina smiled. "Okay, I''ll bite. Where are we going?"

    "To end these Heir Wars, of course. This piece of shit competition actually gave me a mid-life crisis three decades early, I can''t stand for it."

    Aina sputtered with laughter. "Don''t be reckless, we still need to plan things."

    "If James wasn''t out there being a lazy ass, it''ll all be okay."

    "Talking behind my back when you''ve just been smooching on my sister-in-law while all of us did free labor? Let''s revolt, everyone. This ''King'' is too much of a bastard."

    Leonel grinned hearing James'' voice. How could he not have noticed him already?

    The others had been worried after not receiving Leonel''s orders for so long, especially after they had already gathered so many materials without seeing a peep from him, so they had come here. Who would have thought that he was taking a little vacation in an underwater resort?

    James threw something over and Leonel caught it. After a look, Leonel''s grin widened, it was precisely what they needed to conquer the final sea.

 Chapter 2048 Small Knot

    2048 Small Knot

    Leonel tossed the glass orbs in his hand.

    "Let''s go, it''s about time we stop preparing. Now''s the time to end then, I''m quite tired of this game."

    The gaze of James and the others flashed. However, they simply nodded. Since Leonel had said so, that was how it would be.

    The first thing Leonel did was finish setting up a network of outposts. Since outposts of different cities couldn''t be connected, the best way to deal with this was to spawn separate outposts of differing cities near one another. Like this, it would be relatively easier to shift from one city to the next.

    Then, Leonel commanded the Oryx and the Skies family to make their way to the fourth and final sea. At the same time, he sent a message to the Cloud Race. It was about time he made a move with them. He had wanted to save the Cloud Race for the perfect moment, they had played their role well enough. There were most definitely spies from the other continent present by now, and thanks to them, pressure that would have been on Leonel was greatly weakened.

    Now, it was time to make true use of them.

    When Leonel entered the Fourth Sea, his Internal Sight trembled. The range he had once had was just 10 kilometers while he could barely deploy his Dream World for about 100 or so meters. But now, there was easily a hundredfold increase, the suppression of this world couldn''t bind him as well as it could in the past. He could easily see a thousand kilometers in every direction. Although this wasn''t enough to cover the entire moon, it was definitely enough to cover over 50% of this sea.

    Thanks to this, Leonel was immediately able to see that this sea was already occupied by someone else, and they were just a small measure away from forming an Heir-Grade territory and claiming it for themselves.

    resemblance with the Quarius family. But Leonel had already dealt with the Quarius family, so that could only mean that this was related with Vega, and thus Adawarth.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. Did he want to clash with First Nova right this moment? Or did he want to wait instead?

    Despite his words, he knew that he couldn''t just casually bulldoze through the Heir Wars right this moment. At the same time, victory was important for more reasons than just Aina''s happiness. He still couldn''t allow Third Nova to get his way.

    If Third Nova was truly connected to the Three Finger Cult, then that also meant that he was connected to whatever schemes that Cult was drawing up. Leonel had already deduced that the Demonness and King had to come from the "real" world, so the stakes of this matter were still the same.

    When he had thought that he was being controlled every step of the way, he couldn''t be bothered to care about this and didn''t even want to continue to participate. But now that he was participating, he most definitely had to crush Third Nova''s chances.

    However, after a moment, Leonel''s gaze flashed with a decisive light. Now wasn''t the time for taking a step back, it was about time that he went all out.

    "Let me," Aina suddenly said.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel looked over toward Aina.

    He remembered that Aina had a small relationship with Vega. In the past, Vega had wanted to choose Aina as her successor to the Faction after she was promoted to the Void Senate. Back then, Vega had even been willing to use Leonel''s health as a bargaining chip.

    This had occurred just after Leonel had cleared past the 70th floor and returned unconscious and heavily injured, it also happened to be around this time that Fourth Nova tried to sign Aina to a slave contract.

    If one were comparing pettiness, Aina was probably even more petty and ruthless than even Leonel. It seemed that after all this time, Aina hadn''t forgotten about this matter, which was actually quite amusing to Leonel. That was because Vega hadn''t even forced her hand, she was just negotiating from a strong position.

    But to Aina, she didn''t take anything related to Leonel''s life lightly.

    Before Leonel could even say anything, Aina had already taken out her battle ax.

    In truth, not many had seen Aina battle with her full strength. This was because although she was a beauty, she wasn''t a Queen Beauty, and Leonel had gotten far more attention than her, so when they split, most chose to focus on him instead. However, after her feat of concocting a Life Grade Force Pill, it could be said that very few paid more attention to anyone else.

    Leonel smiled. His demeanor seemed far more relaxed than it had in the past, Aina could tell that Leonel had somehow become even more like himself. That same, casual laziness was there and prominent once again.

    Now, though, Aina felt like she understood where it was coming from.

    Not long ago, she had spoken to what seemed to be a future version of Leonel. Just like everyone else, she was also aware of the fact that the future could affect the past, and if Leonel''s future self was as powerful as he seemed to be, how could his current self not be completely and entirely bored of everything he came across?

    There was no challenge that could speed up his heart, no obstacle that he would feel was too great.

    In that case, as his future wife, if she was meant to keep her promise to stay by his side, then her one and only goal was to stay powerful enough that she could do just that.

    Vega was a reminder of a time where she had been too weak to do exactly that, and she very much didn''t like it. Although she had no hatred for Vega, this small dislike was enough for her to draw her blade.

    It was her time to untie this small knot in her heart.

    2

 Chapter 2049 Fluttering

    2049 Fluttering

    The seas rumbled as the light of dusk grew lower and lower.

    First Nova had split his forces into two, trusting Vega to command the seas while he charged forth on land. As a result, they had done quite well. Although Third Nova believed that he was in the best position, relying on Orinik to take over the seas for him, his plans had been crushed by Leonel. Due to this, First Nova suddenly found himself to be in the best position.

    Vega was, obviously, under quite a lot of pressure from her family. She had actually suddenly decided to abandon her responsibilities and join a man of the Morales family. It might have been fine under normal circumstances since Adawarth was, indeed, outstanding. However, given the weight of these matters and the political weight behind them, her choice was truly much harder than it seemed on the surface.

    Her actions were akin to willingly standing on the side of a man who might very well soon take over a family that had the spears of the whole Human Domain pointed at it. This was a choice that took a great deal of courage, she might never be able to return to her family again.

    There was no doubt that in order for her to do this, her love for First Nova was not shallow, and the amount of effort she had put into making certain that he would succeed was not a small amount.

    Not only had she formed a Gold-Grade special ocean territory, but she was just a step away from being prepared to challenge the Heir-Grade.

    However, just when she felt that she was about half a day or so away from her preparations being complete, her gaze flickered as she was alerted to a large movement on her territory map. When she checked, her brows furrowed.

    There was an army of about a million moving toward her direction.

    A million would have been a large number during the first few days of the Heir Wars, but a million now was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Just the number of individuals she had scouting out her territory and clear dungeons and the like exceeded this number.

    Even so, Vega wasn''t a fool. Anyone who could make it to this point wasn''t an easy opponent to deal with. There was no longer any fodder remaining in the Heir Wars, they had all been wiped out in the first few days. Now, all that remained was the cream of the crop.

    Vega calmed and the first thing she did was alert Adawarth. Then, she gave out a series of commands.

    бн

    Leonel nodded toward Aina and allowed her to take the helm. Since she wanted to act, he didn''t mind. Maybe before all of these things happened, he would have insisted on taking the most efficient route properly. He had been in a serious state since the start of these Heir Wars, and he was meticulous about every detail. But right this moment, he felt more relaxed than anything else. It was difficult for him to take anything too seriously right nowбн

    It was as though the entire world was in the palm of his hand. Even if something didn''t go absolutely perfectly, he could just slide the misplaced levers back into place, adjusting for victory regardless of the circumstances.

    When they finally crossed into the territory, Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    Harsh winds kicked up, and they began to come across large numbers of whirlpools. The closer they got, the more numerous and dangerous these whirlpools began. The stingrays, whose numbers were no more than a drop in the bucket given the size of the ocean, had no choice but to split up to continue avoiding these whirlpools.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel realized immediately that this had to be something related to a special ocean territory, and this one used natural disasters of the water. If it was anything like the Lotus Territory, then they would also have to be prepared for the possibility of one time, large scale attacks that could be levied in exchange for a large number of points.

    The good news was that most of his army was made up of oceanic creatures, but that didn''t mean that they were immune from these disasters. If their formations were forced to become too small, then their armors would become less useful.

    ''Interestingбн''

    At that moment, Leonel finally spotted the city in the distance.

    It was in the Gold Grade, as he had expected. However, other than this, it was quite unique. It floated upon a thick, grey cloud that rumbled from time to time. This cloud was at least ten or so meters above the surface of the ocean, and beneath it was an enormous whirlpool that rotated like the blades of a saw.

    Just looking at it, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but flicker. He knew immediately that the stingrays couldn''t even get close to the city, at least not through the water. The defenses of this city were quite exceptional.

    ''If the balance is proper, since this territory has so many powerful areas of effect abilities, the odds that it has other powerful upgrades is minimal. It''s a lot like the Water Lotus Territory in this regard.''

    At that moment, a beauty with fluttering blue hair appeared on the city walls. Although there were many others as well, it was simply too difficult to ignore her. When she looked down and saw Leonel and the others, her gaze couldn''t help but flicker. Of all those she had expected, Leonel and Aina were definitely among the last.

    Soon, her expression returned to normal and she waved a hand. At that moment, several ballista units on the wall took aim.

    Leonel''s army was already greatly spread out. Due to the whirlpools, the largest group gathered in any one location was only a few hundred in number. At the same time, there was much room to maneuver.

    While on the one hand, this made it more difficult for a scatter shot to cause a lot of damage. On the other, it made it easier to target more powerful threats.

    However, Leonel didn''t do anything as he fell into silence.

    At that instant, a vortex of volatile, swirling energy appeared to his side. As for Aina, who had just been in that exact location, she had completely disappeared.

    When she appeared again, she had already appeared above the city, her speed so fast it might as well have been teleportation.

    She raised her ax into the skies, her hair fluttering wildly as she swung down.

 Chapter 2050 Raging River

    2050 Raging River

    Aina''s ax left a bloody trail in the skies. It felt as though it couldn''t be stopped, carrying a momentum behind it that seemed to encompass the auras of a myriad of weapons.

    Leonel had long since known that Aina had chosen her own path. While Leonel had first begun with calligraphy, before moving onto music, then painting, before finally having some accomplishment in translating his spear skill into Force Arts, Aina took a different approach entirely.

    Whenever she felt that she had come across a bottleneck in the improvement of her battle ax, she switched to a new weapon, gaining mastery over it before switching back and applying what she had learned. Every time she completed such a cycle, her skill would enter an entirely new tier, touching upon levels those her age shouldn''t have any business touching.

    Leonel himself could touch upon the Fourth Layered State when he finished his Spear Dance. Of course, this was for his Sixth Dimensional Spear Force.

    Aina, likewise, used Sixth Dimensional Battle Ax Force, and just that swing along was very clearly in at least the Second Layered State.

    Watching the woman he loved display such skill so casually, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but glow. He didn''t often think about how others viewed Aina. So long as they didn''t dare to say such things before him, and he wasn''t aware of their thoughts, he didn''t care, quite frankly. All that mattered to him were Aina''s feelings and his own.

    However, he was still human. Seeing Aina shine like this couldn''t help but put a smile on his face.

    ''I wonderбн''

    Leonel''s lips began to move as Aina swung her ax down. He didn''t seem to be saying anything, but if others played exceptionally close attention, it would be possible to see Aina''s ears subtly twitching from time to time.

    Due to the time constraints, Leonel hadn''t found a moment to tell Aina about Force Manipulation. Everything she had accomplished until this moment was done on her own merits.

    In truth, Leonel hesitated to tell many people about this, that was because he understood that sometimes, overthinking things could come as a detriment instead of help. There were many instincts beasts and children would have that adults would lose, and that because while awareness was a virtue, it was also a hindrance in many ways.

    Being aware of Force Manipulation might help some, but it could very well hinder most. However, Leonel had a great deal of faith in Aina. Until now, she had already been forging ahead on her ownбн so what about now?

    Leonel spoke quickly and Aina was more than strong enough in mind to catch it all. Her eyes seemed to become dazed for a moment before they sharpened considerably, her aura flourishing.

    A delicate roar came from her lips that quickly morphed into something far more majestic, a war cry that echoed across the skies that shook the walls of the city below her.

    BANG!I think you should take a look at

    Aina''s battle ax landed upon a shield of water that Vega had manifested. The latter had reacted quickly, her expression changing when she sensed the strength that was behind Aina''s blow. But rather than taking a step back, she moved forward.

    Their clash echoed throughout the surroundings, the immediate sections of the wall crumbling and quaking as the other members of the Quarius family found themselves flying out in all directions.

    Vega''s gaze narrowed. Her defenses were probably her greatest strength, but right now her water shield was threatening to collapse beneath the blow of a Sixth Dimensional existence? Just what was going on here, exactly?

    Her blue dress fluttered as she took a step back. Her fingers tapped at the air and the water shield''s form shifted, inverting and forming a large net that shot toward Aina.

    Aina''s battle ax suddenly became akin to a venomous snake in her hands, losing its form and curving out while its twin blades twinkled beneath the pulsing streaks of lightning in the dark clouds that accumulated above.

    The net of water shattered, becoming countless droplets of sparkling blue water. It didn''t carry a natural hue at all, instead infused with a large amount of Force that increased the humidity to the point that although not a single drop had fallen onto Aina, it still felt like she was enveloped from all sides.

    A sticky layer of something uncomfortable bore down upon her and Aina seemed to understand what it was instantly.

    Vega wasn''t just controlling the water droplets that were clearly visible to her naked eye, she was also controlling the invisible water vapor. This stickiness wasn''t just humidity, it was a warning sign.

    Aina''s gaze flickered and her stance shifted, with a twist of her wrist, the seemingly flexible battle ax in her small palms became as rigid as an ancient tree piercing the skies. Its polearm crashed into the crumbling wall beneath them, sending out a rumbling echo that spread out in all directions. It sounded like Aina had suddenly hit a resonating bronze bell at that moment.

    Instantly, the droplets of water shattered and the humidity scattered before it could coat Aina any longer.

    She took a step forward as Vega''s gaze narrowed, swinging her battle ax in a wide arc that bore down with a menacing momentum.

    Her movement flowed like water, her body moving instinctually to shatter all the traps Vega had set up before they could even become fully formed plots. It really felt like she wasn''t thinking at all. Her mind was her body, and her body was her mind. They moved and functioned as one without the slightest delay or lag.

    Vega''s expression became serious. She realized that this was no longer a matter she could just casually brush off. If she wanted to win, she would have to treat Aina like a real opponent.

    Defeat Aina, gather the momentum to her side, and crush the army that lay in wait.

    Vega''s aura suddenly changed. From a governess, her demeanor became valiant. Her blue hair lifted into the air, becoming like a raging river.

 Chapter 2051 Limit

    2051 Limit

    Vega stepped forward to meet Aina''s strike, but she met some resistance in the air. Her expression changed slightly, but her movements didn''t become any slower. In fact, they sped up considerably, her body tensing and her Force raging through his Nodal Pathways like the tides of the ocean.

    Leonel watched with narrowed eyes. Whenever he experienced Aina''s battle style, he couldn''t help but be in awe. That sudden slam of her battle ax on the ground just now seemed simple, but it was incomparably complex.

    That domain-like attack, or it could even be more accurately stated to be a defensive ward of sorts, had hints that reminded Leonel a lot of how he and Aina would resonate their Forces as one, using concepts that Leonel had learned from his grandfather''s way of the spear.

    However, Aina had used a reverse concept. She purposely failed in an attempt to resonate with the Force in her surroundings, and as a result, repulsed them away. This attempt acted like a dome-like barrier, expelling her enemy''s own domain attack.

    While this seemed simple, it was extremely complex, especially since Leonel was certain that Aina had simply done it on a whim, following her instincts without the slightest thought.

    Force wasn''t a naturally benign substance in most cases. They were designed to fuse into one or pass by each other without a care. Only when controlled by the intention of a person could this natural instinct of theirs be mediated.

    If things weren''t like this, how could ocean waters contain Wind Force that allowed Leonel to breathe? How could any ecosystem exist at all, for that matter, without collapsing in on itself?

    With how subtly Vega was using her Force just now, if Aina had chosen any other method of attack, it wouldn''t have worked to help her, but rather help Vega instead.

    Leonel couldn''t help but grin.

    BANG!

    The two met, one palm and one battle ax. Whipping winds sliced into the crumbling wall and the devastated surroundings. Even the whirlpools below no longer seemed to be a great deal at all, feeling like kid''s toys in the face of the destruction of the clash.

    Quickly, they separated before shooting forward again and separating once more. Every time they met, the walls crumbled to another degree, collapsing piece by piece. It didn''t seem to be a Gold-Grade wall at all, and rather felt like clay putty.

    Vega''s body was like water. Every clash caused a ripple to echo through her, dispersing into splashes of water. It really felt as though every time Aina attacked her, the sound of a boulder crashing into the surface of a calm lake would come to mind.

    Aina''s own style was entirely unpredictable. Sometimes her battle ax would be as soft as silk, other times it would be rigid and powerful, sometimes it bent like a bow and other times it would be as swift as a sword. And yet, each one of these styles smoothly transitioned into one another, sliding back and forth and becoming like one insurmountable mountain.

    Vega was beginning to feel suffocated. Every time she used a move to catch Aina off guard, the latter would adjust. The next time such a move appeared, she would seem to react even before Vega would, almost as though she could predict what Vega would do before she even knew herself.

    Aina''s skin glowed, her golden irises gaining a red ring that pulsed with a stronger and stronger light until it suddenly solidified.

    BANG!

    An explosive phantom appeared behind Aina, causing Leonel''s eyes to narrow.

    She swung her battle ax, its power increasing explosively.I think you should take a look at

    ''Third Layeredбн''

    Vega took a strong step back, her feet nearly slipping beneath the crumbling stone. She slipped to the side, regaining her bearings and redirecting Aina''s power. However, her gaze couldn''t help but congeal. What was this, a Lineage Factor? Was this the Lineage Factor of the Brazinger family?

    Suddenly, Aina swung again.

    ''Fourth Layeredбн''

    BANG!

    Vega was sent flying, her lips parting as a jet of blood came from her lips. She soared like a streaking bullet, crashing down below and leveling several buildings as her bones crackled and popped.

    Aina still felt as though a power was surging within her, its strength reaching towering heights.

    After Leonel had spoken, she understood the purpose of this manifestation. Much like [Emperor''s Edict] or other such techniques, this manifestation was a technique meant to be paired with the Brazinger family''s Lineage Factor. As for its function, Aina hadn''t been certain before as it was an extension of her body rather than truly being a part of it, but now she understood.

    It worked akin to a cross between an Innate Node and a Universal Cycle. It took her Weapon Force comprehension and forcefully raised her control over it.

    In an instant, Aina had gone from being able to wield her Battle Ax Force at a Second Layered State level, to the Fourth Layered State level, and quite franklyбн She didn''t feel like this was her limit.

    Her Force bubbled and her strength soared, and then soared again.

    Leonel couldn''t help but cough lightly, wondering if she had told this little t-rex in beautiful skin about this. How was he going to keep her in line in the future? He was already whipped, he stood no chance now.

    Aina raised her Battle Ax, the manifestation to her back solidifying to the point it became entirely corporeal. It looked as though she had brought a second version of herself into existence, beautiful, untouchable, valiant.

    And then, this unmoving manifestation suddenly shuddered and moved. It grabbed at the air, forming its own battle ax.

    This battle ax resonated with the one in Aina''s hand and complex Force Arts began to appear one after another.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. "AINA!"

    He suddenly roared out and Aina''s heart skipped a beat. Without a word, she retrieved her battle ax and lightly took a step back.

    In a flash, she appeared by Leonel''s side, her visage only slightly flushed as though she hadn''t just had a battle that shattered half the landscape of a Gold-Grade city.

 Chapter 2052 Kill.

    2052 Kill.

    Leonel might be in a different state now, but he was still mindful of the future. Nothing bad was about to happen to Aina just now, but he didn''t feel it was necessary to show all of these matters just yet. Using it on this one territory when victory was already in hand was unnecessary.

    Since Vega was First Nova''s woman, he had no intention of killing her. However, she wasn''t an Heir, so she didn''t have a badge to crush and send her out, it would be up to First Nova to do that. Even so, Leonel didn''t have any intention of using her as a hostage either. So as things stood now, the only thing he wanted was control over the city''s core. For that sort of purpose, this much was already enough.

    The Quarius family members, upon realizing Vega had lost the battle, and so miserably at that, couldn''t stand idly by any longer.

    There weren''t many of them, and truthfully most of them were actually just Adawarth''s subordinates, faithful followers he had gathered over the years. As First Nova, there was no doubt that he had had the most time of them all to succeed in this matter, and his subordinates were most definitely not incompetent.

    They had understood what Vega wanted to do, defeating an enemy in a one on one battle before the start of a large scale war was an excellent way to claim the morale for your side. However, things hadn''t gone as planned.

    Even so, they were all veterans of the battlefield and each one of them understood that they still ultimately had the upper hand. They were the defending party and their numbers were far greater. In addition, if Leonel and the others were too slow, they would end up pincered from multiple sides. Not only had they already contacted Adawarth, but their members who were focused on scouting out the region and clearing dungeons and the like could come back any time.

    However, maybe none of them actually expected what happened next.

    Leonel raised a hand and the Skies family moved forward, their valiant armors glistening even under the rolling clouds above.

    At first, not many had thought much of the storm clouds above. They had a storm-related city and this was quite normal, there was nothing much to think about. But none of them realized just how odd it was until just now.

    It felt as though every time the Skies family raised their feet and connected with the waters beneath them, the skies would rumble again. The cadence of an army''s march matched with the thunderous rage of nature, filling their enemies with an unexpected trepidation, one they had no idea how to account for.

    Suddenly.

    CRACKLE!

    An arc of lightning descended from the skies and crashed into the city below. At first, it was just one, but then there was a second, and then a third, then a fourth.

    It looked as though it was harming nothing at all until the first person was struck. A cry of agony echoed before they fell into a pile of crumpled flesh.

    "FIRE. FIRE NOW!"

    Vega barely pulled herself out from the rubble. She could only be described to be in a sorry state. Her dress was torn in countless places, one of her arms hung limply by her side, entirely unable to move, while blood flowed from her lips like a waterfall, coating her chin and dripping down into the cleavage of what remained of her clothing.

    She didn''t have time to fathom how she, a genius of the Void Palace and leader of a Legacy Faction could possibly lose to an Aina who had lost a 20-year advantage. All she could think about was trying to preserve Adawarth''s hard work to the best of her abilities.

    She had betrayed even her own family for the sake of being here, there was no way that she could allow things to end so easily.I think you should take a look at

    Unfortunately, because of the battle she had just had with Aina, many of the ballistae units that were directly facing the Skies family had fallen into the city, over the edge of the walls and into the water, or had just been directly destroyed.

    As a result, many that were facing off to the side had to overextend themselves, awkwardly changing their aimed direction and shooting from a much longer distance.

    Suddenly, phantoms began to appear in the army one after another. Giants constructed of lightning rose from the water, formed of the Force from the warriors that worked together beneath its protection.

    These giants of lightning struck out with their palms, smashing the projectiles into ashes while ignoring the ones that never stood a chance.

    Leonel waved another hand and the Oryx stepped forward, the ocean rumbling beneath them. In fact, they shook the ocean waves so much that even the whirlpools were beginning to show signs of collapsing, unable to maintain their proper state.

    Suddenly, the third eyes of the Oryx all split open one after another.

    The shadows of several crimson eyes began to appear in the skies.

    Staring at the sight, Vega felt a shudder. There was something oddly sinister about them, as though they were peering into the depths of her soul, and yet there was absolutely nothing that she could do about it.

    During their Hyper Evolution, the Oryx hadn''t seemed to undergo many changes, but this was because most of their evolution had been concentrated into their eyes.

    The third eye of the Oryx was oddly robust, carrying none of the usual fragility of what one would expect from an eye. And what had always been interesting to Leonel was the fact that their evolution had been concentrated into their eyes.

    The third eye of the Oryx was oddly robust, carrying none of the usual fragility of what one would expect from an eye. And what had always been interesting to Leonel was the fact that their third eye was located right on the forehead, taking up space in the location their Ethereal Glabella should have been.

    So, when he created the set of armor they would use in the month he had before the Heir Wars beganбн

    He took advantage of that.

    Leonel''s lip curled as the illusory eyes in the sky pulsed, glowing a fiendish bright red.

    "Kill."

    -----

    Erdiul Notes: I''ll be updating this novel this month, enjoy the mass release.

 Chapter 2053 Absolute

    "The flashing eyes pulsed one final time before solidifying. The moment they did, an eruption of violent Force surged out like a raging tide. At first they weren''t very controlled, splashing out like a spray of water from a hose, but very quickly, the Oryx seemed to get a grip on their bearings, reining in the trembling blast of Force and concentrating it into countless red lasers that covered the skies.

    The force was devastating. It crushed everything in its path, disintegrating it. Many died without even time to scream out for help, and the so-called walls of Gold-Grade were crushed like paper, collapsing without any sort of resistance.

    Seeing this scene, Leonel couldn''t help but think about the first time he had come across an Oryx. Back then, the Oryx in question had had an Ability Index almost exactly like this, but that man had just been one of many. And since it was an Ability Index, it couldn''t just be casually passed down from Oryx to Oryx, Ability Indexes weren''t hereditary from Leonel''s understanding of things.

    However, what was so crucial about this memory was what it told Leonel about the Oryx race. The eye was an incredibly fragile thing. As crazy as it was for Leonel to have formed a Node in his brain stem so long ago, forming one in your eyes was seen as equally crazy if not even more so.

    Nodes had to be connected to one another, so running a Nodal Pathway from your eye to other parts of your body only gave you, really, two choices. The first was to go through your face, and the second was to go through your brain.

    The first might not seem so bad, until you realized that there were only two choices for succeeding in this path as well. The first was to disrupt the normal flow of your bone structure, or most accurately, your skull, and the second was to use the thin skin on your face. Both weren''t very good options.

    Running a Nodal Pathway through your bones would ruin its structural integrity and create a weak point in your body. And as for running a Nodal Pathway through the skin and muscle of your face would limit how thick you could make it, unless you were alright with a large, vein-like snake running across your face, or you were alright with limiting your future potential.

    The second option of running it through your brain, but this was even more dangerous than forming a Node in your brain stem. There were even more moving parts, and increasing the size of your Nodal Pathway in the future would come with a new set of challenges every time.

    To top all of this off, there wasn''t usually much of a necessity or benefit to forming Nodes in your eyes to begin with. Those who had eye-related Lineage Factors could use their strength naturally without doing this, that was because the existence of one''s Ethereal Glabella alone already created all the networks you would need in your mind. And those that didn''t have such abilities would just be wasting their time for what was effectively just vision that was a little bit sharper than normal.

    This, however, was where the anatomy of the Oryx became so absolutely shocking. Their third eye wasn''t just in place of their Ethereal Glabella, Leonel was actually quite certain that it was their Ethereal Glabella.I think you should take a look at

    The implications of this matter were shocking because it went beyond just hoping for an Ability Index related to eyes was birthed within them. Instead, it was possible to take advantage of this such that they could create their own abilities off the back of it.

    This wasn''t just a quirk of their anatomy, it was effectively a Lineage Factor. What else was a Lineage Factor if not a biological quirk that could be passed down through the generations? The problem was that the Oryx faced a similar problem to Leonel after he had evolved beyond the level of the Snowy Star Owl, and that was that they were too far in their infancy to have the techniques they needed to make use of their abilities. So...

    Leonel created it for them. Rather than wasting time creating techniques, refining them, and improving them, Leonel took the crudest ability such an eye would have and amplified it to the greatest degree.

    What was the Ethereal Glabella if not a hub for the affinities of its owner? It was through the Ethereal Glabella that one gained access to their Ability Index. It could be said that it was the hub that made a person a person, and it also happened to be the location within which one could gain access to their soul.

    The Spiritual were born only as Ethereal Glabellas, and it was around said Ethereal Glabella that they constructed their own bodies. As a result of this, it could be said that almost from birth, they had already entered the Fourth Dimension, and not only that, they were intimately familiar with both their affinities and how their bodies worked alongside it.

    This was part of why the Spirituals were so absolutely powerful, and Leonel even believed that given enough time, it might actually be possible for the Oryx to replicate something similar given the access they had to their Ethereal Glabellas.

    It could be said that, better than any Force Art, better than any treasure, what the Ethereal Glabella was best at was accumulating Force and expelling it. When one gained such unprecedented access to one''s Ethereal Glabella, right from the purest possible source, the effect could only be said to be...

    Absolute.

    Feeling the power coursing through them, for the first time, the Oryx became keenly aware of just the kind of strength and power they had. There were many sayings about the eyes being the window to the soul, none of them being literal. But in the case of the Oryx, it just might very well be."

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2054 Shame

    Leonel landed from the skies above. In the surroundings, the battle continued to rage on, but it was very clear who had won and who had lost. Maybe if Vega had holed up and chosen to fight with her army instead of going head to head with Aina, things may have ended differently, or at the very least, it would have been much more difficult. But in the end, she had made a true mistake in underestimating her.

    The result of their battle was something that completely shocked the whole of the Human Domain. To have not just the skill of a Life Grade Force Pill Crafter, but to also have such strength at the mere Sixth Dimension, this was enough of a fear for Aina to skyrocket to the very pinnacle of the Queen Beauty leaderboards.

    Not just a small number of individuals had thought Aina to be someone Leonel had picked because of her beauty. In truth, it was even difficult to associate her with the Brazinger family purely because her eyes were not red and her hair was not crimson. This sort of thing had also caused many rumors to spread about the real backstory behind her existence.

    While the Brazinger family had gained a secret almost cult-like following, appearing from nowhere and displaying such great strength, because Aina didn''t share their patented look, it made it very easy to dismiss her...

    Until this moment.

    It was like this that many began to replay the events of the start of the Heir Wars in their minds, recalling the valiance and elegance that both Leonel and Aina had walked in with. The connotation of that moment flipped again and again in their thoughts. Every time Leonel accomplished a shocking feat, or Aina flipped their understanding of the world on its head, it felt like that memory was further ingrained into the psyches. It was recast and remodeled, etched deeper and deeper until it became a memory that they couldn''t forget.

    But what was especially shocking about this was that Leonel and Aina weren''t only gaining the label of shocking geniuses, but also that of underdogs. What once was the perception that the two were overly arrogant and knew too little about the wider geniuses of the Human Domain, became a shocking story of a couple fighting with one another against all odds.

    This story only became more and more of the public''s truth as Leonel''s trump cards turned the tide again, and again, and again.

    And now, with one of the main pillars of First Nova''s power crippled, the reality that Leonel just might win this was settling in.

    Vega looked as though she had lost her soul. Sitting on her knees, looking around with a blank expression, she almost couldn''t believe what had happened. She hardly had the strength to sit up, and yet as though she was torturing herself, she looked through every broken brick and fallen building.

    She had so much experience commanding a large number of people, so much experience in battle, so much knowledge to give and strength to use, and yet it felt like she had been slowly suffocated to death, like a frog in slowly boiling water.

    She vaguely understood that this feeling came from Aina''s combat, and then Leonel''s subsequent command over the situation, but understanding this didn''t make her feel any better. If anything, she felt wholly inferior.

    Aina''s combat strength was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Facing her had felt like she was facing off against herself. She knew everything that was going to happen ahead of time, before she could even breathe properly Aina had breathed for her, and yet Vega was absolutely certain that Aina didn''t have a sensory type ability.I think you should take a look at

    Then there was Leonel.

    After the stingrays had been forced to spread out due to the numerous whirlpools, she had believed that the battle would be easy. Picking apart smaller groups of enemies was far easier, and her marksman could truly make their skill known.

    But how could she have expected that the storm characteristics of her territory would become more beneficial to Leonel than it was to her? The strikes of lightning had been completely devastating.

    And then to make matters worse, his command over the Oryx and the deployment of their eye abilities was truly seamless. While her own ballistae units were struggling to fire from a longer range, Leonel crippled their visibility with sparks of lightning and then directed the crimson laser beams like they were his own spear strikes. He didn''t seem to be trying very hard, but he always managed to find the most crucial location in the battlefield, crushing an upswell before it could even begin to form.

    At the same time, the spread out stingrays became a nightmare for the troops that were attempting to return at their fastest possible speed. Somehow, the greatest advantage of their city had also become the greatest detriment. Just like the stingrays, the large groups of returning reinforcements were forced to separate so as to avoid the whirlpools themselves.

    Unlike Leonel''s territories, Vega hadn''t invested in outposts, or more accurately, hadn''t invested in teleporting outposts. She had thought that it was an unnecessary waste of points, only to find out in the end that such a thing could have saved her in the end...

    Leonel had simply moved too fast. In the end, it was precisely because his numbers were so few that he was able to approach Vega''s territory with such speed, beginning their attack before even the first wave had succeeded in returning.

    And now, her city lay in shambles. She had let Adawarth down and the guilt was eating her up on the inside.

    BOOM!

    In the skies above, the clouds split and a figure suddenly appeared high in the skies. With him, there were three other individuals, but it was very clear that there were no others.

    Vega looked up with a blank expression, only barely showing some light when she recognized First Nova, but after that, she looked away, unwilling to meet his eye. The shame felt now was only greater.

 Chapter 2055 Golden Armor

    Adawarth fell down from the skies with great speed before he suddenly came to a stop about 10 meters above the ground. He quickly scanned the region, his expression solemn. It was only when he laid eyes on Vega that he sighed a slight breath of relief.

    He had no way of knowing who it was that had been attacking, mostly because even Vega hadn''t known until the sudden moment that Leonel appeared. So, he had come expecting the very worst.

    At first, Vega had just informed him of the problem and he felt that she might be able to handle it on her own, he had a great amount of faith in her since he was allowing her to do such an important task. But after he received a second message, he rushed over with his greatest speed, even using a high-level reward to appear as quickly as possible.

    It was only now he knew that it was actually Seventh Nova that had caused all of this, but this made him feel better since he trusted that Leonel wouldn''t harm Vega''s life. This littlest cousin of his seemed to be quite unruly, but Adawarth knew well that Leonel''s heart had always been in the right place.

    Even so, after he saw Vega''s state of injury, Adawarth''s heart couldn''t help but tremble. He rushed over, landing by Vega and checking to see if she was truly alright, he didn''t even look toward Leonel, his mind entirely occupied with other thoughts.

    Vega pushed Adawarth''s hands away, unwilling to be in his care as she struggled to stand up on her own. But not long afterward, she fell toward him and Adawarth had no choice but to catch her, the gloominess in his eyes only growing.

    Adawarth passed Vega to one of the members of the Quarius family, his heart crumbling as he heard Vega mumble that she was sorry again and again.

    All the while, Leonel didn''t say or do anything. He didn''t feel that it was necessary to do so, the situation was quite clear. Adawarth''s army was clearly lagging behind, so if he was here with four, his goal was to stall for as much time as possible.

    In truth, he had a decent chance. The stingrays were ocean-bound and the city was floating above water, it wasn''t exactly easy for them to affect the current battlefield, though they would obviously have something to say if and when Adawarth''s men arrived.

    At the same time, Adawarth himself was clearly a powerhouse. If Fifth Nova had been so powerful, just more powerful was First Nova who had not only years on him but was quite well known for his combat prowess to begin with?

    There was a reason Adawarth had been able to uphold the Stalwart Polearm Party turned Faction despite only being at the Sixth Dimension back then. And now, he was well into the Seventh Dimension, and might very well be the one with the highest Tier of all the participants of these Heir Wars.

    Adawarth slowly stood before Leonel, the two of them standing about three to four meters apart. Then, he slowly sighed.

    In truth, he had been among the number that believed that Leonel would be eliminated by now. Although he had the Spear Domain ring, not everyone used spears, and at the same time, he wasn''t quite familiar with the abilities of the Segmented Cube. As far as he understood, it was just an auxiliary item, and he was fairly correct about that.

    Due to this, he had never really cared much if Leonel kept the two Heirlooms, not to mention the fact as a Sixth Dimensional existence, he felt that Leonel deserved at least a small handicap, as far as that went.I think you should take a look at

    But now...

    Adawarth took a breath. He felt that it was inappropriate to speak at the moment, so though he had something he wanted to say, he held back. His body trembled and a bronze crown suddenly appeared across his forehead. His aura surged as his Bronze Halo descended down the length of his body. When it bounced back up, a radiant golden armor took shape, one so blinding that Leonel couldn''t help but think of his uncle.

    Uncle Montez wore a similar armor, but the difference was that he wore his all the time. That said, the fact that Adawarth dared to make his armor out of this material spoke volumes.

    The core of this armor was known as the Morales Ore. This was an Ore capable of swallowing other ores in exchange for one thing: weight.

    The more it swallowed, the heavier it became. The heavier it became, the more difficult it was to wield. When it reached a certain point, the armor would form its own continuous gravitational field, pulling and pushing on your body continuously.

    This armor had once been used purely as a tool for training, until one madman decided to make it his main Divine Armor... And that madman was Leonel''s grandfather.

    Velasco was far too arrogant to follow the path of another, and Leonel hadn''t even learned that this was an option until he had read through the research papers of the Void Library. It was obvious that Velasco hadn''t wanted his son to follow others either.

    Montez was different though, clearly not minding one bit about following the path of his own father. And surprisingly, it seemed that Adawarth had taken the same path as the two of them.

    Almost instantly, a radiant aura spread out in all directions, weighing down upon Leonel and making him feel as though thick walls were pressing down on his skin from all sides. It was a truly suffocating aura.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he took out his black rod spear, pointing it forward and down toward the ground. His momentum was very calm and unassuming compared to Adawarth as his Bronze Aura took shape, forming his second-tier Divine Armor. Even so, he didn''t back off in the slightest, his expression the picture of calm as it was swallowed up by his mask.

    The two knew how important this battle was. No words needed to be exchanged.

    BANG! BANG!

    The locations they had just stood upon were suddenly replaced by two craters instead, the two of them having vanished.

 Chapter 2056 Spheres Of Destruction

    "It felt as though an atomic bomb had exploded in the skies. The cacophony burnt eardrums, and the wall pressure of wind nearly levels the city, almost knocking the Gold-Grade territory out of the air.

    The city''s cloud structure, the fluffy greyness that held it up in the skies, sank considerably, bouncing against the enormous whirlpool that formed its foundation and sending a surge of war into the skies.

    The resonating booms were felt bone deep, the catastrophic aftermath making the surrounding ocean for over a kilometer sink by tens of meters before a rush of water surged to replace it. This resulted in rocketing waves, devastating currents, violent twirls and towering tsunamis.

    Just this singular clash, happening for only the briefest of moments, made those in the immediate surroundings feel as though the entire world was being upturned. And yet, it was just the first clash. Even after it was levied, the two Novas didn''t appear in their sights again. The only sign that they were still clashing was the second resounding boom, then the third, then the fourth.

    Violent and nigh invisible spheres of destruction began to appear across the skies. Every time they occurred, the devastation would appear first before the sound wave followed quickly after.

    The buildings that remained intact didn''t do so for long. Their windows shattered into countless pieces, their foundations cracked and shattered, they began to lean to one side of another, almost falling until the true wave of devastation hit them, burning them to ash or crushing them into flat land.

    Adawarth''s body drew streaks of gold in the sky while Leonel''s drew lines of violet. Their movements were incomparably fast, their afterimages hardly taking shape before they moved again. After a moment, it felt as though there were dozens of the pair in the sky, each clashing with one another and then retreating to clash once more.

    First Nova''s fists carried the weight of a world behind them, while Leonel''s spear was deathly. For the former every clash felt as though his body was being shaken by mother nature herself, the ruckus of a category five hurricane or an earthquake rated at a 10 on the Richter scale forming their own microcosm within his body.

    For Leonel, his expression was unreadable, entirely unfazed. The Ten Stars to his back fueled his body with an unmatched glory and light. There was no doubt that without his main weapon by his side, First Nova''s strength had tanked considerably, but the light in his eyes was no less fierce.

    His golden armor shone with a radiant glow, the lines of ambrosia he was drawing across the skies, as though the casual swipes of a god''s finger, grew thicker and more robust. As they did so, the pressure he placed on Leonel only became greater as his strikes became heavier and heavier.

    Adawarth''s fist met the polearm of Leonel''s spear, his knee driving upward in an attempt to catch Leonel''s chin. However, Leonel reacted even faster, his own knee driving upward.

    A familiar resonating boom filled the skies as a sphere of air pressure echoed in all directions. The ground below looked as though a crater had formed while the dense clouds above dispersed into a wide circle once again.

    The two separated quickly and clashed once more. However, before his fist could land this time, Adawarth''s pupils constricted and he suddenly spun around, punching out with all his might. He didn''t seem to notice Leonel''s fist coming toward his back at all as he continued to punch out at empty air.

    Leonel''s own gaze sharpened as he suddenly formed a clone of Emulation Spatial Force. The two swapped places instantly and the region that Adawarth was punching toward was replaced by a clone of Leonel who stepped out from seemingly nowhere.I think you should take a look at

    Adawarth felt that his back was now vulnerable once again, but rather than turning around once more, his gaze flashed, the skies flashing as a bolt of lightning as thick as a giant''s waist descended toward the real Leonel toward his back.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. Ability Indexes couldn''t be inherited, but Adawarth actually had one so similar to his father''s.

    With a roar, Leonel''s aura flourished as his Lotus Domain took shape. In the past, his Lotus Domain was mostly invisible to the naked eye, but this time a spinning illusory lotus flower appeared above his head, swallowing the bolt of lightning whole as Adawarth''s fist blasted his clone to smithereens.

    The Lightning Force was absorbed by Leonel''s lotus as his fist continued forward as though nothing had happened. First Nova was caught off guard, but it was already too late to change things.

    The Lightning Force became a wild vibrational Force, coursing through Leonel''s body like rumbling thunder.

    PAPAPAPAPA!

    As though countless firecrackers were going off, Leonel''s fist landed on Adawarth''s back, the echo of his fist causing ten destructive spheres of air pressure to form all at once, destroying the ground below and the skies above ten times over.

    Adawarth spit out a mouthful of blood, his body shooting out like a canon through the skies. This streak of gold was less elegant in comparison to the others, but it was no less speedy.

    BOOM!

    He crashed into the ground below, being buried so deep that he ran through the length of the city, crashing through its foundation, through the cloud that kept it in the sky, and into the ocean waters below.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and his two Void Star Force Stars radiant a powerful dark blueish black glow. Looking upon it made one feel as though they were staring into a black sun, the gorgeous bits of discoloration feeling like the painting of a demon overlord.

    The raging waters, unable to calm down from their battle, surged around Leonel, responding to his beck and call as Adawarth shot out from the waters, rushing toward Leonel like a speed bullet.

    Leonel''s roar echoed once again as the snaking dark waters that responded to his call formed countless flood dragons."

 Chapter 2057 Surge

    "Leonel''s roar seemed to become the roar of the dark flood dragons. Their scales solidified and their foreheads began to protrude with horns as though they might become true dragons at any moment.

    At that moment, standing amidst the falling water droplets and the snaking flood dragons, Leonel looked as though he was a God of the Sea, his gaze shining a brighter and brighter violet as his aura continued to rise like a tsunami''s tide.

    He brandished his spear toward the oncoming Adawarth''s and he suddenly took a step forward.

    The flood dragons responded to his call. Like an ancient dance of a discipline long lost, Leonel''s spear thrust forward. The movement was simple, and yet elegant, silent, and yet deadly. He hardly moved at all, and it all looked effortless, but it felt like the world had resonated with his very being, heeding the call of his Spear Force and wrapping around it.

    He was small in comparison to the ocean, barely considered a single drop in a body that extended for thousands of kilometers. But the moment he moved, the waters around him raged and those outside his scope suddenly became deathly quiet.

    The first thrust caused the flood dragons to surge forward, ramming into Adawarth and sending him flying backward with another mouthful of blood. The second thrust caused them to spiral around one another, their bodies dancing and swimming through the skies, powerful but intentional, enraged and yet controlled. The third thrust fused them into a single existence. Their horn finally manifested, piercing the skies above. Their body snaked around the city three times, and yet still had length for more. But more importantly than all of that, their gaze suddenly gained life.

    It truly felt like a dragon had come into being, carrying all the magnificence of the legends. The savageness of a beast, the greed of a demon, the majesty of an emperor, a truly untouchable existence whether now or into forever.

    Leonel had always had a fascination with dragons, ever since he had learned that his mother''s Emperor''s Might construct had been that of a Dragon. The first time he had used the concept of a flood dragon was in his fight for the Violet Token on planet Luxnix against Myghell, but it had been entirely impossible for him to touch upon the true majesty of a dragon, at least not the kind his mother had succeeded in, so he had only ever been able to form flood dragons...

    Until now.

    His third thrust landed.

    The oceans split, an abyssal hole spanning hundreds of meters to the left and right, along with countless dozens of kilometers downward, formed. The power behind it was so devastating that the walls didn''t collapse around it immediately. In fact, for the longest time, it seemed as though it would be entirely impossible to succeed in such a thing.

    Leonel had perfectly fused the Luxnix family Force Arts, his Spear Arts, and his Universal Force into one, and it hadn''t even felt difficult. His comprehension over Water Force, his Force Manipulation, made him feel like a God that could accomplish anything.

    He stood in the skies with an arrogant sort of silence. Behind him, his ten Stars sat, each one a different color, but each one just as powerful in momentum. A truly powerful scene. It was said that a picture was worth a thousand words, but so was a single decisive memory. Maybe this current Leonel was one those who were currently watching would never forget, a Leonel who had grabbed onto their hearts and refused to let go... but also a Leonel they didn''t want to let go of in the first place.I think you should take a look at

    However, to this Leonel''s surprise, Adawarth still rushed out from the abyss he had been left it, soaring out from the vortex of Force and past the roaring dragon before appearing before Leoenl in the skies with a haggard appearance.

    His armor was cracked in several places, his blood was leaking out and mixing with once radiant gold, and his breathing was heavy enough to hear even against the commotion of the clashing waves and thunderous booms.

    He breathed deeply, his gaze locked onto Leonel before him. His eyes were surprisingly calm. He didn''t have the despair of someone who felt their dreams of a lifetime slipping away, nor was there any sort of overt confidence either. It was simply the gaze of a man who knew how to take one step at a time, who didn''t care how long the road was or how difficult it would be to travel... All he had in mind was how to raise his foot and firmly place it down one more time.

    Adawarth finally seemed to catch his breath after a few seconds, the rumbling in the skies matching with the arcs of lightning that colored his gaze.

    Having calmed himself, he reached out a palm, a streak of lightning descending from the skies above and hitting him squarely. That said, he didn''t make any attempt to dodge or avoid the situation, standing perfectly still.

    When the scene cleared enough for others to see, it was clear that Adawarth was still standing tall. But now, there was a blade in his hand.

    It was a truly crude blade. The edge was sharp as it continued to crackle about under the influence of the lightning it had been formed by, while it was also much too large. At the same time, it didn''t have a hilt and seemed to be entirely blade. It wasn''t exactly a sword, and it didn''t seem like a saber either, it felt a lot more like a piece of scrap metal even though it wasn''t nearly as defined in shape.

    Then, there was, of course, the worst part. Adawarth only knew how to use the spear, he wasn''t like Second Nova who had great skill in sabers. In addition, even if he formed a different weapon than the spear, if he used it with the intention and skill of a spearman, it would shatter before Leonel just the same.

    But having succeeded in forming this blade, Adawarth''s gaze only became even more calm, frightening so...

    Then, the golden aura around him began to solidify, flowing into the enormous "blade" in his palm.

    Under the gazes of those watching, Adawarth''s piece of scrap metal began to shrink under an untold pressure."

 Chapter 2058 The Insurmountable Gap

    "It all happened exceptionally quickly. With how far apart they were, even if Leonel had wanted to stop it, he couldn''t. Using his Spatial Force to close the distance might have been possible, but the sudden volatile use of Force made it incredibly dangerous to do so. Then, by the time Adawarth started, if he stepped in to stop the process midway, the both of them would end up dying.

    Leonel realized what Adawarth was doing immediately. He was using the powerful gravitational force of his armor, concentrating it into a single area, and then using that force to concentrate his lightning into a mighty, unstoppable blade. That was akin to infusing all the strength of his Divine Armor into his weapon, and though he would lose his Domain as a result, the trade off was more than worth it.

    The Divine Armor was faulty to begin with. It was a training equipment that turned most of its pressure onto its user. Although the pressure turned onto the user would increase their individual strength by making their hits and body both harder and much heavier, there were great trade-offs to that as well, such as lower speed, less maneuverability, not to mention a much weaker stamina overall.

    Against most opponents, this was enough. But against Leonel who had an exceptionally powerful body capable of withstanding his heavy hits, not to mention the fact that Leonel''s speed was also able to overwhelm his own as a result of his Light Force and Spatial Force, Adawarth who was very much used to crushing those of his generation found himself at a great disadvantage.

    The only choice now was to greatly increase his attack power. Usually, this could be done with his spear. This wasn''t the first time he had used this technique. Although he had never needed to use it against an enemy before, he had practiced it more times than he could count. The trouble was that he had always concentrated his gravitational Force onto his spear. But just now, in desperate straits, he wondered if he could use it on other things.

    Now, for the first time, he brought out this ability. Whether he lost or won, there was no doubt that in the next few weeks, his strength would grow explosively in a short time. But he didn''t care about any of that, all he wanted was this victory.

    The blood of the Morales rushed through his veins, his gaze reddening as his heartbeat began to accelerate once more. But this time, it wasn''t due to fatigue, and it was instead due to excitement. This sort of battle... It would be his.

    A wild grin spread across Adawarth''s face and his usually demure and restrained personality became wild and unrestrained. He howled into the skies, raging streaks of lightning descending like pythons from the skies. They connected the clouds and ocean waters below, making the formations that had been formed by the Skies family look like nothing more than a joke now.

    Adawarth''s figure flickered and vanished as Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Suddenly, all the snaking streaks of lightning that were descending from the skies all pointed toward Leonel, rushing toward him. Leonel only just barely registered this as he perceived Adawarth''s blade had appeared right before his face.

    Leonel suddenly grinned as he met Adawarth''s maddened gaze. Indeed, this was a taste of his own medicine. The difference was he had used the untamed seas while Adawarth had used the unruly skies. Since it was all so similar, though, Leonel really wanted to see who was better.

    With a roar, the two clashed once again, but this time it felt as though the apocalypse had descended. Members of the Quarius family and Leonel''s subordinates were forced to retreat into the distance. All they could see were snaking dragons. On one side, there were the roaring masses of lightning behemoths, while on the other, there was the unbreakable legion of infuriated water emperors.

    Lightning and water clashed. From afar, it seemed as though the skies and the ocean had suddenly become infuriated with one another, each throwing everything they had.

    A brotherly spat of fury, a clash of Zeus and Poseidon.

    This time, every time Leonel clashed with Adawarth, it felt like his own world was collapsing. He had no skill with the blade, and purposely used no skills so as not to let his expertise with the spear leak out. He swung with wild abandon, his howls and unbridled laughter filling the skies as he attacked again and again. He came from all angles, and because the blade was so heavy, it took Leonel too long to recover to counter before the next, resulting in a scene where he could only match Adawarth''s pace.

    Even so, Leonel''s gaze continued to glow a fiercer and fiercer light.

    Violet fog of [Star Fusion: King''s Might] continued to rush out from the joints of his armor, his spear blocked and parried, looking for an opening. Everything about his demeanor aside from his devilish grin seemed perfectly and entirely calm.

    And then, his gaze suddenly flashed.

    A blazing heat suddenly appeared and the entire situation flipped.

    The roaring dragons suddenly gained a flickering red gold flame in their eyes. Their bodies bubbled and the gaps of their scales began to glow with a savage blood red light. Before the lightning snakes could react, they were entirely shattered.I think you should take a look at

    Leonel took a step back, sweeping his leg out of the way of Adawarth''s next wild blow, his expression the picture of absolute calm.

    As his feet glided backward, an elegant arc was drawn as the dragon solidified into the foundation of an entirely new creature, radiating with a violet-black glow that caused the world to fall into silence.

    Leonel''s figure seemed to vanish even though he hadn''t moved an inch. It was like the only thing the entire world could focus on was his spear, fluttering through the skies as though it had a mind of its own.

    The violet-black dragon followed the cadence of his movements, its snout and horns becoming the tip of its own spear.

    As Leonel moved, a Force Art began to grow beneath his feet, and as the dragon moved, its snaking body formed its own.

    Adawarth found that he couldn''t even touch the hem of Leonel''s clothing when this dance begun, and by the time it end, his pupils could only tremble.

    Beneath Leonel''s feet was his own formed Force Art. Above his head was the formed Force Art of the violet-black dragon.

    When he completed the final thrust, the world came to a pause.

    Adawarth stood in silence, unable to move. It was like he had been bound by the spear dance, entranced into a dream world he couldn''t pull himself out of. It was both illusory and real, both right before his eyes and yet entirely untouchable.

    The skies above ceased to rumble and the oceans below became as calm as a lake in the middle of a new moon''s night.

    Adawarth looked down and he didn''t find even a single wound on his body, and yet the ocean below painted an entirely different picture. It was split into two halves entirely, both so clear and calm that it looked like two mirrors facing one another.

    The split started right behind Adawarth''s body, went through the city, and continued indefinitely into the distance. Even with their eyesights, the end of it was impossible to spot.

    Adawarth shook his head lightly.

    CRACK!

    His badge, hidden within his armor, shattered and his body began to fade away.

    All that power, and yet somehow, not a single hair on his head was harmed.

    Leonel didn''t display that strike because he had to, he displayed it so that the world would be aware of the gap between the two of them.

    The insurmountable gap."

 Chapter 2059 Determination

    Leonel stood in the air, the tip of his spear as straight and unmoving as a mountain. It pointed downward, and he seemed to be completely open to strikes from all sides. And yet, those who looked upon him felt a shiver in their souls. This simply wasn''t a man who could be attacked easily, regardless of what his current state seemed to be. Many felt that even if Leonel seemed to be on his last breath, he simply wasn''t someone that could be provoked.

    When Adawarth appeared on the Morales flagship, he unleashed a sigh. He didn''t know what to say for a long time and it was only after he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders that he seemed to snap out of it, turning to see Second Nova standing by his side, and to his surprise, Fifth Nova standing on the other.

    Fifth Nova never did things like this, but seeing that all three of them were standing here, looking forward toward Leonel, he seemed to feel that they all had all experienced the same thing.

    "He''s an arrogant bastard, huh?" Second Nova mumbled.

    First Nova looked toward Second Nova with a hint of surprise in his eyes. He could sense a hint of bitterness that wasn''t normal of this brother of his.

    He and Second Nova knew each other quite well. Or, it was more accurate to say that they had once been exceptionally close. Some time within the last three decades, a few years even before Leonel had entered the Void Palace, they had begun to grow apart.

    Of course, First Nova could tell that there was some secret that Second Nova was hiding from him, but if the latter didn''t want to tell him, it was hard to force him to. For the longest time, First Nova had assumed that this was just Second Nova''s way of telling him that he planned to go all out with him during the Heir Wars.

    But seeing Second Nova now, Adawarth doubted his previous assumption. In fact, he felt that these last few years for Auran had been more complicated than he knew. However, regardless of all of this, he was far more shocked by Auran''s words themselves. He didn''t really feel like Leonel was all that arrogant.

    "Is he?" Adawarth asked lightly.

    Second Nova laughed as though Adawarth had just told the greatest joke he had ever heard. Even Kira, who had spent the most time with Second nova recently, was stunned. She hadn''t seen him laugh like this in a very, very long time. Maybe not since they were children.

    "Maybe in the beginning he wasn''t, but don''t you get the feeling from him that he''s like someone who started off very serious and then got too bored to keep up the fa?бьade? Just look at him. He''s standing all cool and composed right now, but... five... three, two, one."

    As though on some sort of cue, Leonel put away his spear and swooped down from the skies, a grin on his face as he swept up Aina. She could only roll her eyes, this guy had really stopped taking things seriously again.

    Second Nova began to laugh once more. "I bet you that he''s smiled more today than he has any other day since the Heir Wars began.

    "It''s really when you think about it. Uncle Velasco and Littlest Nova are like two sides of the same coin. Both are supremely arrogant, it''s just that one is secluded while the other has a great number of friends. One of them is always focused on their work and can''t take a break, while the other is impossibly lazy because everything is beneath his notice. Just looking at them, I can''t help but laugh. Both of them look down on the world in their own way and don''t put any of us in their eyes."I think you should take a look at

    The more Auran spoke, the uglier Adawarth''s expression became.

    "Look at you," Auran laughed even harder. "You were always like this, you really don''t like to lose, huh?"

    "I''m fine with losing-"

    Auran''s laughter cut him off. "You don''t need to lie to me, I know you."

    Adawarth''s expression became awkward, but watching him laugh like this, he slowly began to smile. It really had been a long time since he had seen Auran laugh, it was as though a burden on his chest had been taken over by someone else. It felt as though he could put his whole faith in someone else now.

    In truth, Auran had long since surpassed Adawarth in strength, but he had still suffered so greatly. There was no reason he should have been so confident in Leonel, and yet he was.

    The way he saw it, he had already done his very best. Auran had always been a carefree person, it was these burdens that had turned him into a completely different being. However, he was also the type of person to put his all into something and live with the result.

    Regardless of what happened from here on out, he knew that he had given his everything, so he would live with it. Plus, there was always the hope that Leonel would actually be able to win. Although he felt that it was slim even with the strength he had shown, Auran hoped that Leonel was still holding back something that could turn the tides when the time came.

    At that moment, Adawarth''s subordinates began to come out one after another. Suddenly remembering something, Adawarth''s expression sharpened as he surged forward, landing by Vega''s side as she appeared and taking her hand.

    She was in a poor state, but he held her up, ready to escort her to the Morales family.

    He knew better than anyone how much she had sacrificed to be with him, but given that he had failed, it was always possible that the Quarius family might try to target them again.

    His aura changed and he looked ahead with determination in his eyes.

 Chapter 2060 Tension

    The tension in the air was high. The situation of Adawarth and Leonel''s battle was truly explosive, but after the shock that Aina had given them all, it was hard for the build up such shock once again. Instead, it felt like they were quickly growing numb.

    The only ones who seemed to have an exceptionally fierce reaction were individuals who had the most invested in Leonel''s losses. The likes of Cross Elder Avan and Cynthia felt as though their hearts were being crushed every time Leonel did something that was out of their expectations.

    The last few hours had truly been an odd one to witness. The odd change in Leonel''s demeanor made many feel as though he was finally succumbing to the pressure. With the largest challenges still looming over the horizon, there were many who would have crumbled beneath such a situation, so it didn''t seem unbelievable for Leonel to have entered such a situation.

    But then Aina appeared and spun the situation around once again, and Leonel somehow came out even stronger than he had before, his Dream Force progressing once again and his strength taking another major leap since the last time they had seen him.

    In just the bit over a week since the Heir Wars had begun, they had witnessed Leonel progress from Tier 7, to Tier 8, and then to Tier 9. Then as though he wasn''t satisfied with just this alone, his control over his Forces increased by leaps and bounds. It felt like every time he brought out another Force technique, it would come from the top of his head, as though his Forces were such an inseparable part of his body that commanding them was nothing different from second nature.

    Adawarth was a genius that had been spoken about for a long time. There was no shortage of individuals that he would be on the same level as the Sword Deity and the Bow Deity if it wasn''t for the fact he had to divert so much of his attention toward politics and if he wasn''t one of seven.

    The Sword Deity and Bow Deity were the only Heirs of their families while this was a title that Adawarth shared with the other six Novas, and would continue to until the conclusion of the Heir Wars.

    So to see him defeated by his youngest cousin made them feel as though they were dreaming. After all, Adawarth was much older than Amery and Nazag, so his strength had had more time to develop. But the end result was still oh so clear for all of them to see.

    Now... This fallen First Nova stood in the face of the Quarius family, and none of the Morales Ancestors seemed to have any intention of interfering.

    The rules of the Morales family were quite harsh most times. Maybe if First Nova had managed to claim heirship for himself, he could still command the lower level Morales family members to act on his behalf and thus ease the situation. But as a loser, he had no right to do such a thing.

    The Morales family had always been aware of their precarious situation in the Human Domain. It wasn''t just them, but families on their level like the Omann family and the Suiard family were also keenly aware of the politics surrounding their existence. These sorts of politics were even more important when it came to matters of marriage.I think you should take a look at

    Even in the case that First Nova had become the Heir, the Ancestors still wouldn''t have interfered in this matter. That was because their action could be seen as a forced assimilation of sorts. Vega was an incredibly important genius to the Quarius family, she was easily the strongest genius of this generation that they had.

    Although she had lost to Aina, by now, many had begun to believe that it was only a matter of course. Aina was a Life Grade Force Pill Crafter, who knew how she had modified her own body until now, who knew how strong she truly was, just because she had lost to Aina didn''t mean that the Quarius family felt that Vega was any less valuable.

    They hadn''t been able to act before because Vega''s appearance by First Nova''s side had been far too shocking. Plus, there was probably some hope in their hearts that First Nova would end up as the final victor.

    There wasn''t as united a front against the Morales as it seemed. For many powerful, but middle of the pack families, this matter was less meaningful to them.

    The Suiard and Omann families, not to mention the Void Palace, Shield Cross Stars and Spiritual Religion, or even the Constellation Bow Alliance, probably cared a great deal, but that was only because they stood at the same level as the Morales family. If the Morales family suddenly broke free of their stalemate and surged ahead, it would be they who suffered the most loss, or the greatest feeling of loss.

    But to these "smaller" families, not ultimately but at least relatively so, the winner of this battle of behemoths was less important to them. In fact, to the Quarius family, First Nova''s victory might have given them a reason to side with the Morales and gain the most advantages.

    Not only would First Nova''s victory mean that Leonel had lost and that the greatest reason for the opposition to the Morales would have vanished, but it would have also given them a direct line to one of the most powerful families of the Human Domain.

    It wasn''t like women of the Quarius family had never married men of the Morales. But whether it was situation or status, Adawarth would have been the greatest opportunity they ever received to advance further, something greatly difficult when you were already a family of their caliber and level. Every step forward as a family already near the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension was incomparably difficult.

    But now all of that was worthless, and the more days passed, the more and more it seemed that Leonel might truly come out as the victor. If that happened, the Quarius family would have no choice but to draw a strong line between themselves and the Morales, or else they might end up caught in the crossfire.

    So, the moment Vega appeared, the Ancestor of the Quarius family stepped forward, her wrinkles deepening as she frowned at the closeness of the two.

 Chapter 2061 Appeared

    Adawarth''s frown deepened. Ancestor Quarius had only taken a single step forward, and she hadn''t even seemed to release her aura, but the pressure on him was considerable. His grip tightened slightly on Vega''s hand.

    For the longest time, their relationship was entirely a secret, but that was mostly because Vega didn''t want to outright accept his advances. She was focused on other things and didn''t want to be distracted. She had always been a very serious woman, far more enamored with her own legacy and the history she would leave behind that even most men would be.

    Plus, due to the usual unspoken rules of the Heir Wars, members of the Constellation families wouldn''t participate regardless, so there was no need to talk about such things.

    But that was when everything changed. The Morales family was suddenly being pressured from all sides and this silly girl, not wanting him to misunderstand her intentions, actually decisively abandoned her family all so that he wouldn''t think that she had chosen her family over him.

    Ironically, if not for the pressure of outsiders, it might have taken several more decades for their relationship to reach this level. But now, it seemed that because of these very pressures, she might be ripped from him in the next moment.

    Vega weakly leaned onto Adawarth''s shoulder, her breathing shallow. Breathing now felt like an incomparably difficult task, her breath coming in sharp whispers from time to time that sounded as though she was pulling air through her teeth just to minimize the hurt in her chest.

    She slowly breathed in his scent, knowing very well that it would be the last time for a very long while. Not once did she consider the fact that it would be the last time indefinitely. If she was taken away today, then she would simply wait until she was powerful enough such that one in her family could command her any longer.

    She may very well be old and wrinkled by that point, but she hoped that Adawarth would still accept her.

    In truth, the reason that she had kept First Nova at bay for so long wasn''t just due to her ambition. The women of the Quarius family had always fallen in love quite hard, and once that barrier was broken, it was difficult to bottle it up once again.

    It was said that the origin of the Quarius family''s Lineage Factor was quite unique. Originally, at its lowest evolution, the strength of the Quarius family was only in their ability to be containers. They could store far more water in their bodies than normal people, allowing them to had access to a large story of Water Force whenever they wanted.

    It was a simple ability, one that couldn''t be any more normal. It was simply known as the Cupbearer Lineage Factor. However, the meaning of this name would change greatly when they appointed their history''s first Matriarch.

    It was said that in the hands of this Matriarch, the meaning of cupbearer changed forever, and their Lineage Factor became a vessel of both Water Force and love.

    Of course, this was nothing more than a metaphor. In reality, what happened was that they gained the strength to pour their emotions into their "cups". Akin to Leonel''s King''s Might, they were able to greatly strengthen their Forces by using their wills to influence their Water Force.

    After that day, the strength of the Quarius family soared by leaps and bounds and eventually, they reached the status they held today.

    The more emotions they experienced, the more life experience they gained, the stronger the Water Force in their cup began. Eventually, it would reach a point where it overflowed. On this day, they would become an Ancestor level character and the Water Force they could control would become the strongest in the Human Domain.

    However, because their emotions were stored in their cups like this, they felt and experienced emotions harder and more forcefully than almost any other population of people.

    Being afraid of the outcome of this, Vega had put up walls against Adawarth. Although it sounded like she would only become stronger the stronger her emotions became, there were many instances of Quarius family women dying due to their bodies being unable to handle the outflow of their cups. If they loved too hard too early, the only path left for them was death...

    At this moment, though, knowing that she would have to separate from Adawarth for so long, Vega felt like she was truly dying on the inside. Her Water Force was already stronger than most due to her talent, if it was also matched with the emotions she had been burying and refusing to face, she might die even quicker than others.I think you should take a look at

    "I''m sorry, Ada... I''m sorry..."

    Adawarth, who was beading with sweat as he faced off against the stare of Ancestor Quarius, suddenly forgot about it all to comfort Vega.

    "Vega, stop apologizing to me. It should be me protecting you, and I''ve failed. I swear that there will come a day when no one will be able to take you from me, I promise, I promise..."

    Vega suddenly smiled weakly, her eyes still closed. "Stupid Ada, I didn''t mean that. I mean that I''m sorry I never gave you my body, I''m sorry that we never shared a bed, that I''ve never tasted your seed. I feel so regretful right now... so regretful that I wasn''t able to experience such a thing with my love while I''ll still young..."

    Adawarth froze, his face suddenly turning beet red.

    Sensing the rise in his body heat, Vega''s giggle turned more charming. Others might think of Adawarth like this dauntless leader, but she knew the true him. This First Nova that everyone respected so much was truly too easily embarrassed.

    The frown of the Ancestor deepened. The Human Domain was still a place that was quite harsh on the requirements for a woman''s chastity. Vega saying these things before so many people was akin to outright ruining her opportunity to marry anyone else at the level of Adawarth in the future except for Adawarth himself. But how could the Quarius family ever allow that?

    She realized that she had been too soft hearted. She needed to take Vega away now before she said anything more.

    Ancestor Quarius reached forward, sending a powerful surge of Water Force. Sensing this chain, all the heat in Adawarth''s body turned frigid.

    Gritting his teeth, Adawarth''s aura pushed against the pressure as he retrieved his spear, his golden armor manifesting once more.

    Ancestor Quarius shook her head. She along with everyone else knew that it was a useless resistance.

    However, just before her Water Force reached Adawarth, another powerful pressure descended, shattering her Water Force and causing her expression to change.

    "There''s no reason to separate such a young and budding couple, right?"

    This sweet and soothing voice was entirely unfamiliar to many. The heads of many Ancestors looked up, unable to find the location of this voice until they suddenly flickered into being under a swirl of green Force.

    A woman with beauty that seemed to light up the starry skies appeared, her golden hair flowing and her piercing emerald eyes stirring their souls.

    But it was the man with the fawning expression behind her that left them entirely without words.

    Velasco and Alienor Morales had appeared.

 Chapter 2062 80 Years.

    A sudden silence fell.

    Velasco hadn''t appeared personally for any major event in too long, and even when he did, it was only a clone of his. But the Ancestors here were all too certain that this was the real Velasco, whether it was the aura, the casual dominance and that sort of unapproachable smile that felt far more manufactured than real, each part was as real as it got.

    This very Velasco they could hardly take their eyes off of stood behind a woman as though he was content to let her lead. It was truly a woman with beauty beyond words, but it was also a beauty they knew far too little about.

    From their understanding, Velasco had always been a playboy, the number of women that had been ruined by him were far too many to count. He simply wasn''t the type of man who would fall head over heels the moment he saw a beauty, and while Alienor was objectively a woman of great looks, it wasn''t to the point where there were no others who could be said to be in the same league as her.

    The Human Domain had trillions upon trillions of people. Among them, there were hundreds of women with beauty that could take one''s breath away, it was the reason the Queen Beauty rankings had been made in the first place.

    So the question was, why her?

    It was a question that had been in the back of their minds for the longest time, but no matter how they looked at it, the gap between Velasco and Alienor was enormous. Was it truly just a matter of Velasco taking a fancy to the type of person she was?

    Maybe that would be an acceptable answer if there wasn''t so much understanding of Velasco''s personality amidst the masses. He was a man who cared for little other than himself. Even when his father died and he went on a rampage, many had painted such a foul image of Velasco in their mind that rumors that he had been more pissed off by someone close to him being so weak than the actual death of Leonel''s grandfather.

    Of course, this matter was only exaggerated, but it went to show the kind of public perception many had of Velasco.

    He was a genius Crafter who had created all sorts of blueprints that could change the very fate of the Human Domain, or at least the Morales family on the smallest scale, but he had never shared them.

    He was the greatest talent in the history of the Morales and could have led them to new heights, but he disdained being a leader of people so much that he refused to even participate in the Heir Wars.

    His relationship with his own brother was strained precisely because he never gave their father his due respect. He shunned the way of the spear that Ishmael had painstakingly created, he didn''t care to use the Spear Domain ring, he seemed to constantly be going out of his way to take a different path from everyone else all so that he could prove that he didn''t need anyone else to be number one.I think you should take a look at

    This was the level of arrogance this man had, an arrogance that wasn''t swayed by beauty in the slightest. Even when Cynthia Omann waited for him silently in a wedding dress, prepared to spend the rest of her life with him, he hadn''t said a word and simply never appeared. He had let the woman that was the apple in everyone''s eye, the number one woman in the eyes of too many to count, sit in her own self pity for decades without a single word.

    But now, this very same man stood behind an unknown figure with a fawning expression, so sweet that it could make a single man puke and a single woman twist her face with unhappiness. He was truly whipped to the greatest of degrees, and it didn''t seem to compute to many... Until just now.

    The green Force around Alienor slowly faded as she stood in the skies, her green robes fluttering. Looking into her eyes, one could feel the echo of a dragon in their souls. She was such a petite woman, and yet her presence seemed so impossibly large.

    Those of the Void Palace that were vaguely familiar with this woman couldn''t quite understand this change. Alienor had spent decades in the Void Palace, so why was it that she wasn''t more famous than this? Why was her light so shrouded until this moment?

    What these individuals didn''t understand is that of those decades Alienor had spent in the Void Palace, the vast majority of them were spent with more than 99% of her talent sealed. With Earth having yet to complete its Metamorphosis, and her World Spirit still in a deep slumber, she was incredibly limited. The only thing she had to lean upon was her own intelligence and the Luxnix family''s Lineage Factor, a talent that was only of the Sixth Dimension.

    It could be said that the fact she made it to the status of a Sector Ranked disciple while so suppressed was an incredibly shocking fact.

    This suppression had lasted up until just two or three years before Leonel himself entered the Void Palace. But after the Metamorphosis descended and Earth officially entered the Fourth Dimension, those shackles began to loosen. Not only did she finally gain access to her Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor, but the remaining shackles on her affinities, not to mention her World Spirit, were all released.

    She returned from the Cataclysm Zone just over 10 or so years ago, being among the middle of the pack. But just like this, in barely 10 years, she went from barely in the Seventh Dimension, to an Ancestor level character.

    When those below began to do the math in their head, they froze.

    Right now, Alienor... Wasn''t she just barely over 80 years old?

    And Ancestor level character who wasn''t even 100 years old? Didn''t that mean that if she had wanted to, no one could stop her from participating in these Heir Wars?!

 Chapter 2063 Morsel

    The Human Domain was shaken once more.

    When they heard about Alienor kicking Shield Cross Stars out of Earth''s territory, they had assumed that this was just a wife relying on her husband''s prestige. This wasn''t something they would look down on her for, after all, if Alienor couldn''t rely on Velasco''s prestige, then who could? However, this event wasn''t enough for many to change their opinions of her.

    In addition to this, not many knew of the losses Shield Cross Stars had been forced to suffer at the hands of Leonel. After all, Shield Cross Stars would do their best to keep this a secret, and without them in the territory, how could information be so easily passed out to others?

    Now, however, many had a completely different outlook on things.

    It wasn''t that many hadn''t considered the idea that Velasco had been the reason for Alienor''s sudden rise, but if it was so easy to bring people up to the Eighth Dimension, wouldn''t there be millions more Ancestors?

    Whether it was Conventional Path or God Path existence, the number of Ancestors was far too few. So few, in fact, that even these powerful families usually only had just one or two. It was only existences on the level of the Morales or Suiard families that would have dozens to their name, but even then it couldn''t be counted in the hundreds.

    This didn''t even mention the fact that Alienor had very clearly used the God Path. Although it was extremely difficult to reach the Eighth Dimension with the Conventional Path, it was still far more difficult with the God Path. In addition, when you used the latter path, expecting to simply gain help from others was foolhardy.

    The God Path relied only on self-comprehension, and though resources could still be valuable, they would only be supplemental and not fundamental.

    All of this only meant one thing: Alienor had managed to reach this stage on her own. She was practically a member of the younger generation, and by the crudest and most direct definition, that was exactly what she was. And yet, she had already stepped out and onto such a stage.

    At that moment, without any boasting or even arrogance, Alienor had instantly skyrocketed in the placement of the hearts of many, so much so that many couldn''t help but look over toward Cynthia as though to gauge her inner thoughts.

    Cynthia was looking toward the duo in the skies just the same as everyone else. She didn''t turn away as though to pretend she was indifferent, nor did she seem too eager to look at them either. She expertly fit in, doing the same as others without even the slightest hint of deviation.

    Those that silently observed her couldn''t help but praise in their hearts. There weren''t many people who could do such a thing, it could be said that her mental fortitude was on a level all to its own.

    There was one person, though, who couldn''t seem to react like everyone else, and that was Ancestor Quarius herself.

    She took a step back, her face slightly paling. Alienor hadn''t actually attacked her directly, but the sudden vanishing of her Force left her feeling extremely uncomfortable, it felt as though a phantom limb of sorts had suddenly been ripped from her, leaving behind a phantom pain.

    Quickly regaining her bearings, Ancestor Quarius looked up with a hint of wariness in her eyes.

    "This is a matter of the Quarius family, is the Morales family insistent on stepping into this matter?"I think you should take a look at

    This old woman was actually quite smart. She took the best approach immediately. By tying Alienor''s actions with that of the Morales family and not allowing her to be an independent party, she would definitely have to rethink her will to take action once again.

    Adawarth, who had been ready to go all out just now, was taken off guard by the change. He didn''t know who Alienor was immediately, but he definitely knew Velasco, so he put two and two together. Seeing the situation turning bad, he grit his teeth.

    "I am willing to separate from the Morales family entirely. Auntie, I really can''t win this battle, but I can''t ask you to take on such a risk easily. Is it possible to send the two of us away from here? I will handle the rest."

    Alienor, who had been about to respond, looked down toward Adawarth with a sweet smile.

    "There''s no need to worry about this matter, I''ve been greatly unsatisfied with the matters of the Human Domain for a very long time already. So what if I piss some people off?" Despite her smile, the words that came from Alienor were actually quite crude, but many had no idea that this was just the tip of the iceberg and were entirely taken off guard when she spoke again.

    Looking back toward the old woman, she sneered.

    "And so what if they are? What are you going to do about it, exactly?"

    Ancestor Quarius'' eyes opened wide. "You..."

    She had barely gotten her words out when Alienor struck out with a palm. Ancestor Quarius was squarely hit in the chest, her seemingly frail body spinning out of control and being sent tumbling back. She tore a hole through the hull of the Quarius family''s flagship, causing it to rumble and begin to slowly fall out of the skies.

    Alienor''s gaze turned murderous as she stood tall and proud in the skies.

    "The next person that suggests I or the territory of Earth is a pawn of the Morales won''t just be blasted away by a palm of mine, I will directly kill them no matter who they are.

    "You''ve all been quite comfortable, making assumptions, jumping to conclusions, painting up fanciful tales you can use as an excuse to try and con your way into gaining the benefits you want while simultaneously upholding the moral high ground.

    "I''m here to tell you all today that Earth isn''t a pawn on your board nor is it a morsel of meat you can eat whenever you please.

    "Earth has its own powerhouses and it knows how to bite back."

 Chapter 2064 The First

    Alienor''s words left them absolutely stunned.

    Indeed, she wasn''t lying. Alienor''s temper was quite fiery, and her patience had always been extremely limited. She didn''t even have much patience for her own husband, the only person in this world that could make her slow down was her own son and no one else.

    Up until this point, she hadn''t been able to say anything because she had been too far away, but she had long been dissatisfied with how the Human Domain was trying to coddle Earth as though it was a child that couldn''t take a single step without their input. They did even have any idea how powerful her father was? Did they have any idea how much more powerful than even that he was within the limits of Earth''s Territory?

    More importantly, did they look down on her that much? Apparently, she had been far too lowkey.

    As powerful as she was here and now, she was easily tens of times more powerful within Earth''s Territory as well, not only because of her Emperor''s Might, but because of her World Spirit being allowed to unleash its truest and fullest strength.

    Just with the existence of the two of them, they were on par with any of the Constellation families. They weren''t some meat primed and ready on the chopping board.

    But she realized that she had indeed been too silent on the matter. Another reason she had boldly kicked Shield Cross Stars out of their territory, other than because she was enraged about their treatment of her son, was to make a point. But clearly, her point hadn''t been made well enough.

    So, she decided to make it again. This time, she would be even clearer.

    In truth, though, Alienor had probably just saved that woman''s life, because she had already sensed Velasco shifting to her back. Velasco wasn''t a fan of anyone refuting himself, let alone refuting his wife. The moment anyone tried to disrespect him, he would have already retaliated. He didn''t like explaining himself, his fist was the best explanation most could hope for. They could ask the spirits on the other side if they had any idea about why they had died.

    The silence was palpable.

    Alienor looked back toward Adawarth and smiled. "No need to worry, just go back to the Morales flagship. I doubt there will be anyone of the Quarius family waiting to cause trouble for you."

    First Nova blinked in surprise but then nodded solemnly.

    At the moment, he was in shock. No one had ever heard of a youth having two Ancestor parents. Maybe it had happened, but by the time that was true, the "child" would have probably reached the pinnacle of the Seventh Dimension already and have been old and wizened.

    But, Leonel suddenly had not just one parent, but two in that Realm, and he hadn''t even entered the Seventh Dimension yet. At this point, it all felt like a joke. Were they really going to use these Heir Wars to kill Leonel?

    It was easy to explain away Velasco''s personality while he wasn''t here. After all, he was well known to be quite cruel and so long as his son was killed by a member of the same generation, it was unlikely that he would lash out in anger.

    But with the man actually here, those that had been so confident were instantly hesitant. They remembered Velasco cutting off Rosen''s arm back then, strutting into the Void Palace despite his ban and exacting justice for his son without a word. Would he do that again?

    Technically, Rosen had been far above his son''s level, but it wasn''t like Rosen had acted directly, he had just facilitated the event that put Leonel in danger. Wasn''t that... Wasn''t that what they were doing right this moment?

    And now there was Alienor. She was clearly far more powerful than any of them had imagined. Although Ancestor Quarius wasn''t exactly a powerhouse amongst Ancestors, she was still an Ancestor. There were too few who could defeat her so easily. And, clearly, Alienor was the far more protective type.

    Even if Alienor didn''t have the strength personally, considering how much Velasco doted on her, didn''t that mean that she could make him act even when he normally wouldn''t?I think you should take a look at

    Suddenly, many felt that this matter wasn''t well thought out enough. It was easy to believe that they were equipped to deal with Velasco when he wasn''t present, but it seemed that they had taken the presence of his clone to be the cap of his true strength.

    It was only now that he was before them that they truly felt the vastness of his aura. Those below the Eighth Dimension couldn''t sense it at all, but the current Velasco was akin to a bottomless ocean. His aura was larger than that of even the solar system they stood within, as though so long as they were within this countless lightyear span, he could kill them with a thought.

    However, what no one expected was that at that moment, the silent Cynthia who didn''t seem intent on interfering, suddenly did.

    "So that''s it? Because you say so, it is?"

    The words were light and unhurried, they didn''t seem like they should have had a strong impact, but they were resoundingly true.

    If the Morales and Earth were really in cahoots, why would Earth be the one to confirm it? In fact, they would probably say exactly what Alienor was saying right now. Her words truly didn''t prove much of anything.

    "I seem to remember quite well that, in all his arrogance, Velasco forewent Force Pill Crafting because he didn''t believe that he needed another discipline to be able to change the fates of people.

    "I heard that the Morales family''s Sixth Door appeared not long ago, and now you''ve appeared. It would seem that he had succeeded."

    Cynthia''s voice continued unhurried, her casual words revealing secrets that the Morales had held tightly for countless generations. In one breath, she warned the Morales that she knew more than they thought, and on the other, she had shrouded Alienor''s shine and given all the credit to Velasco.

    One would expect Alienor to refute, to deny, however, her gaze only shifted over to Cynthia for the first time quite calmly.

    Her green Force suddenly appeared once more as her aura began to rise, growing to the point that even breathing seemed impossible.

    "You''ll be the first."

    She had already said it quite clearly. Whoever claimed Earth to be a pawn would die.

    Alienor suddenly vanished, when she appeared again, she already stood before Cynthia, her golden hair fluttering wildly.

    BANG!

    No one saw how she attacked.

    Cynthia was sent flying into the distance, disappearing amongst the stars.

 Chapter 2065 Emerald

    Alienor walked forward with light steps. One would have never thought that she had stepped onto the Omann family''s flagship.

    The Omann were among the most powerful families of the Human Domain, in terms of influence they might very well be number one, and yet none of that seemed to matter in the slightest.

    The green Force around Alienor suddenly solidified. A snaking dragon with jade horns opened its jaws and roared, the shuddering echo ripping the flagship to pieces as she continued to walk forward.

    A shocking realization seemed to have entered all of their hearts at once. Did she destroy the ship so that she didn''t have to change the direction of her steps?

    This understanding caused their hearts to quake. It was the sort of indifferent and casual power that existed on a plane all to its own.

    BANG! A streak came over from the distance. As far back as Cynthia was thrown, she seemed to have recovered just as quickly, returning with a countless number of rings hovering around her. Each exuded the power of a Life Grade treasure, reflecting a silvery hue that sparkled like the stars in the distance.

    The rings rippled, a sharp echo of what felt like Blade Force and yet was simultaneously entirely different forming. The coldness on Cynthia''s expression was all pervading, the indifference vanishing in the place of a smoldering hatred.

    Without a word, Cynthia''s palms struck forward. Space cracked and her rings rushed forward, each carrying the sharpness of an ancient, tempered blade.

    Alienor''s indifference, though, remained just the same. Her palm struck out a moment later, meeting in the surging Force in a surprisingly silent clash. With her other hand, she pressed out her forefinger several times, forming dozens of gorgeous greenish rainbow bubbles in what felt like an instant.

    These bubbles floated slowly, but they somehow intercepted the quickly moving rings surging toward her without much effort at all.

    The rings were suddenly enveloped, the seemingly fragile bubbles hardly quivering in the face of their sharpness and might. They came to a halt, unable to move forward at all, but what happened next was even more shocking than that. They began to corrode one after another, and in the blink of an eye, they fell into a pile of rust and ashes. Only then did the bubble finally pop, releasing their contents into the endless void.

    Alienor continued to walk forward unhurriedly. Her emerald dragon wrapped around her, its menacing roar echoing against and again. The pressure it exuded only continued to increase until Alienor suddenly struck out with another palm.

    The emerald dragon shot toward the stunned Cynthia. She hurried to defend, blocking her front with the rings she had remaining.

    She just couldn''t believe that her self-created weapons had had such a horrible and sudden ending. They were all forged with Eighth Dimensional materials, and were forged to the standard of the Life Grade. In addition, they had a symbiotic characteristic that came with them being in a set. As such, they could work independently, and also share power between one of them.

    Destroying one of them should have been as difficult as destroying the whole set. But somehow, the moment they entered Alienor''s bubble, their connection to the outside world had entirely vanished, and yet Cynthia hadn''t sensed any sort of powerful Spatial Force coming from Alienor at all.I think you should take a look at

    But it was already too late to try and figure out what would happen.

    BANG! Cynthia shot back like a rocket once again. This time, blood flew from her lips as the rings she used to defend cracked beneath the pressure. Looking into the eyes of the roaring emerald dragon looming over her, she felt her heart shake, her coldness cracking to reveal a hint of doubt and even fear.

    Those eyes... They didn''t look fake in the slightest. It was as though the real creature was looming over her.

    Cynthia coughed out another mouthful of blood, drenching her once pristine robes. Seeing this scene, many who had thought that she would be able to hold out on her own were both shocked and growing hesitant.

    The Ancestors of the Omann family who had finally finished saving those that remained within the flagship were quick to check on the situation, but just as they wanted to help, a cold shiver spiked down their spines.

    Velasco hadn''t said anything, he hadn''t even looked at them, and yet it was as though the voice of the universe had whispered a warning into their ears, putting a stranglehold on their thoughts. He was truly a madman, if they stepped out of line, he really wouldn''t care to wipe them all off the face of existence.

    Alienor continued to walk forward, her steps light and unhurried. She reached out a hand and the dragon in the distance rushed back toward her, shrinking until it formed an elegant 11-inch emerald wand with a dragon wrapped around it.

    She tapped at the air and a rush of Wind Force formed. She tapped again and a searing heat threatened to burn a layer of their skin off. She tapped again and the skies rumbled with Lightning Force and she tapped again, causing a rippling wave of Water Force to rise.

    Countless complex Force Arts formed in the starry skies, forming into groups of four-green, red, golden, and blue. They shuddered, fusing into one and beginning to rotate.

    Cynthia, who had finally stopped flying in the distance slowly turned to face this sight. It felt as though the stars had all been replaced by these formations, as though the only light left in the universe was the very woman before her and the wand in her hand.

    Alienor''s delicate wrist flickered, drawing an arc through the skies as she pressed down.

    The rotating Force Arts came to a trembling stop and the world fell silent for just a split moment before what could only be described as an Armageddon was unleashed.

    Spiraling bolts of fire wrapped in wind, lightning, and water surged forward.

    Cynthia was swallowed from all sides. The last image those around saw was the helplessness in her eyes before she was buried beneath the cacophonic rumble.

 Chapter 2066 Hushed

    A hushed silence fell. It was hard to accept. Had such a genius fallen, just like that? Cynthia Omann had been part of their lives for all too long, even weak Sixth Dimensional families had heard of her name before.

    The Ancestors of the Omann family looked as though they had lost their souls. She was supposed to be the future of their family, she was the most talented Force Crafter and Force Pill Crafter in their history, but not only that, her combat prowess was exceptional. She simply had no weaknesses. It was difficult to accept.

    Their eyes couldn''t help but go red, and yet none of them dared to move all the same.

    The Morales Ancestors didn''t know what to say about this matter either. They hadn''t thought that this family of three would all be madmen. Velasco had already painted his own legend, and then Leonel seemed to have begun to draw his. Then there was Alienor who was a complete unknown until this moment.

    Alienor turned back with an unmoved expression on her face. In her opinion, she had simply followed through on what she had said would happen. As for the matters of Cynthia and her husband, she had never really thought about them. Velasco had never said anything about it, so she didn''t feel the need to care.

    In the end, was there a need to think about someone who had already lost to her? Others might have tried to make it out to be some sort of rivalry between them, they might have even said that she didn''t stand a chance against the likes of Cynthia, but she had never taken this very seriously.

    If it wasn''t for Cynthia ignoring her words, she wouldn''t have even cared to look at this woman, let alone attack to kill her. She had simply been beneath her notice.

    There was a point in Alienor''s life where she hadn''t believed that she would ever get married because she found all the men around her to be simply too insignificant. Of course, this wasn''t part of the story she had told Leonel about how she had met his father.

    It could be said that she was exceedingly arrogant. Emperor Fawkes was so fond of her character that he had already chosen her to succeed him as opposed to her elder brother.

    Others might not be aware of her character, but they would be now. She was a woman who said what she meant and did as she said. Her patience was limited, her fuse was short, and she didn''t have time for those that would disrespect her.

    The reason she was so enraged by others believing Earth to be a pawn was because it made it sound as though she, Alienor Morales, was a woman who could simply be wooed by a man who wanted her for nothing more than her womb. It assumed that she was a chess piece, one that existed for the sole reason of giving birth to Leonel so that the Morales might have a legitimate reason for taking over Earth under the eyes of the Human Domain.

    It wasn''t the accusations themselves, but rather the underlying meaning that completely and totally infuriated her.

    Did she look like a woman who could be so easily controlled? Did her womb exist to be used for any purpose but her own? How dare they?

    The more Alienor thought about it, the more enraged she seemed to become.

    "All of you, scram out of my sight." She looked toward the elders of the Omann family that remained. "If you insist on staying, don''t blame me for continuing my slaughter."

    The expressions of the Omann family elders all became ugly. Alienor might have defeated Cynthia, but there was still an ample gap between Cynthia and the rest of them. Even if she had won that battle, she shouldn''t speak with them so casually.

    Alienor''s gaze flashed with a dangerous light when it seemed that they were dissatisfied. The Force around her seemed to go out of control and elements of all kinds seemed to warp and form around her. Volcanic Fire Form, raging Water Force, thunderous Lightning, whipping Wind Force, rumbling Earth Force...I think you should take a look at

    An endless number of types of elemental Forces took shape in the surrounding, each one as powerful as the last and not one losing out to the other. It was as though there wasn''t a Force she couldn''t control, and to some extent, that was very much true.

    In this world, there wasn''t an elemental Force in existence that Alienor could not use. Her affinity for each and everyone couldn''t even be scaled properly. And when she was enraged, the world reacted.

    [Emperor''s Edict].

    A violent swirl of Dream Force surged out in all directions, forming a bubble that expanded for thousands of kilometers.

    "I said, scram."

    The Omann Ancestors felt a shuddering Force collapse around them, and under the eyes of all those present, they suddenly vanished. They were entirely unable to resist.

    Alienor felt slightly better now as though she didn''t just want to slap Cynthia''s face into the afterlife, but to also disrespect her family after she was already gone as well. Only now did her indifference fade into another smile.

    Suddenly, a shadow appeared before her, but it was only Velasco. He brought out a handkerchief and began to pat away non-existent sweat from Alienor''s brow. Alienor couldn''t help but roll her eyes, what was this man always doing. Even so, the smile in her eyes was quite clear.

    "Don''t overexert yourself for such people, can''t you just let me handle such things?"

    Alienor pursed her lips. "You never do things right. If it was up to you, my son would still be a fugitive."

    Velasco grinned. "Let that brat suffer a bit."

    "What did you say about my son?"

    "Nothing, nothing, it must have been the wind, dear. Do you want a shoulder massage? You look a little tense."

    Velasco shifted to Alienor''s back and began to diligently massage her. He truly looked like a dutiful worker bee.

    Alienor''s gaze shifted and landed on Cross Elder Avan. Speaking of her son being a fugitive, she suddenly remembered who was responsible for that.

 Chapter 2067 Heavy

    Cross Elder Avan''s mustache bristled under his hot breath. This situation wasn''t one he liked in the slightest, he had already been suppressed by Leonel''s words earlier, but watching his mother and father now, he felt like dealing with this kid was getting further and further away from him.

    Seeing that his mother suddenly looked toward him, his brows couldn''t help but furrow. He didn''t take this woman''s strength seriously, he stood atop the Human Domain in terms of strength, a status he shared with very, very few others.

    Although she had sent those elders of the Omann family away, that matter wasn''t as simple as it seemed. For one, it was a technique they hadn''t been experienced with or ready to deal with. Plus, there was the factor of Velasco''s gaze. They hadn''t even dared to fight back.

    But he wasn''t so easy to deal with, nor did he feel like he had to give Velasco so much face. The Omann family wasn''t very well known for their combat strength, but all Shield Cross Stars did was fight. He had walked through countless bloody battles and corpses to make it to his current stage of life. He wasn''t the kind of existence that others could casually hope to deal with with a few glances and a beautiful face.

    So, he stared back, his temper threatening to spiral out of control more and more with every passing moment. He didn''t look like he had a single care in the world left. Even if the subordinates he had brought with him died, he simply couldn''t be bothered to care.

    But to his surprise, after giving him what looked to be a gaze of warning, Alienor looked away without another word. She fluttered in the starry skies, seemingly about to land on the Morales flagship.

    "Hey, hey. How could my wife sit on such a dingy vessel?" Velasco snorted.

    The lips of the Morales Ancestors twitched. Dingy? This flagship was on the same level as Shield Cross Star''s best flagships. In fact, it was actually a level better, they were a Force Crafting family, after all. There was no one in the Human Domain that could match up to their flagships. This sort of vessel could wipe out a solar system with a single casual fart, what part of it was dingy?

    Velasco waved a hand and an enormous boat appeared. It was sleek and silver, and truly built like a vessel more deserving of the ocean''s waves than the starry skies. But even so, it was gorgeous and pleasing to the eyes.

    However, when it "touched down", the hearts of the Morales Ancestors shuddered. That was because they felt the surrounding space ripple as though it was truly touching the surface of the water. They had never seen such a thing in their lives; just the implications were enough to leave them in stunned silence.

    The transition was absolutely seamless, and the distortions calmed a moment later. However, the image of space rippling couldn''t leave their minds. It was clear that this vessel was surfing on air, it was surfing on the bounds of reality itself. But it didn''t make any sense.

    Ripping through space should have been a forceful thing, even if you had a Spatial Force affinity, a high one at that, it would take a large amount of it to cross through space. And to just "soak" in it like this, it would take a continuous output of a steady stream of energy.

    But they couldn''t feel any of that. It was like this boat was simply in tune with the fabric of reality, being able to touch upon it whenever it wanted and gathering power from it. This was no different than the strength of a god, but Velasco had casually taken such a thing out for no other reason than to please his wife.I think you should take a look at

    Many had only heard legends of Velasco, they felt that the importance of elders who had lived far longer than him placed on him was far too much. They thought that some legends were exaggerated, that the real thing couldn''t possibly match up to the fanciful stories.

    But for those who understood even a little bit about Force Crafting, they came to realize that maybe these stories weren''t exaggerated enough. Just this boat alone was enough for Velasco to claim to be unmatched in Force Crafting. There was simply no one that was his equal.

    Velasco and Alienor took a calm seat in the silver boat, looking forward toward the glass cube below. However, after a few seconds, Velasco leaned his back and closed his eyes. His glasses darkened and shaded his eyes from lights before the sound of a gentle snore began to echo through the now silent starry skies.

    Alienor shook her head, but she didn''t disturb her husband. Compared to Velasco, though, the gaze she looked toward the glass cube with was full of fervor and love. It was clear to everyone without guessing who she was observing. Who else could deserve such a gaze from a mother if not her own child?

    The atmosphere seemed to calm down, but the last moments of Cynthia, the disrespect of the Omann family, and the destruction of the Quarius family''s flagship seemed to continuously replay in their minds.

    While everything seemed to have come to an end, the brewing undercurrents only seemed to be getting more and more volatile. The surface was calm, but anyone diving deep would find themselves pinned down, unable to resurface.

    The implications of the appearance of Alienor and Velasco were extraordinarily heavy.

    ...

    Leonel looked up into the skies, not quite knowing what was happening, but feeling an odd feeling in his heart. The battle of Eighth Dimensional existences would definitely ripple down here, although it would be greatly muted. Most wouldn''t be able to sense it, but he definitely had.

    After a moment, he smiled, then his smile turned into a grin.

    He looked back down, swiftly claiming the city. Then, he triggered the final Heir Grade upgrade challenge. It was about time he claimed this final sea fo

 Chapter 2068 Best Option?

    This Heir-Grade upgrade was probably the easiest of them all. The defenses of this city were far more useful than even the Water Lotus Territory. The whirlpools forward the waves of oceanic beasts to split before they could reach the city, and funneled them into concentrated lines that the stingrays were more than equipped to handle. At the same time, the stormy skies above made it so that the attacks of the Skies family were even more devastating, amplifying them to a new degree.

    First Nova could only shake his head as he watched this. He had been so cautiously preparing for his first Heir Grade upgrade despite the fact he had tens of times the number of people in comparison to Leonel under his command. And yet, Leonel, with just barely over a million subordinates, much of which were untamed beasts, was actually crushing such a challenge right before his eyes.

    He realized, though, that even if another person had this exact same setup, it would have been impossible for them to accomplish what Leonel had. Even setting aside the Life Grade armors all of those stingrays were wearing, just the seamless commanding of them was on another level entirely. It was clear that Leonel wasn''t just an excellent Force Crafter, but he was a commander the likes of which First Nova had simply never seen before.

    Soon, the battle came to an end and Leonel gave everyone a rest. This might very well be the last opportunity they received to have such a thing.

    But as this was happening, in the various circles of the night side supercontinent, there was an uproar.

    The first reason for this was because First Nova had suddenly disappeared, not just him but the whole of his subordinates as well. There were only two explanations for this, either it was a ploy on his part, or the more likely explanation.... He had lost to someone and he was forced to use his badge to vanish, resulting in all of his subordinates being teleported out as well.

    This was an almost unacceptable reality for many. It had happened too quickly, and far too silently. Was it an assassin? Did they have to be cautious against such a person? What was happening exactly?

    But this shock was only compounded by the matter that happened not long afterward. With the claiming of the fourth and final sea, Leonel had suddenly become the owner of the entire ocean. But this was only a small matter, mostly because no one was even aware that this had happened, at least not any still in the Heir Wars.

    What was more important was that the last of the territories within the ocean had been unceremoniously booted out. Leonel had crushed the dreams of anyone who had planned to expand into the ocean. All of the work they had put in, and all the effort they had diverted from their main territories, was all laid to waste.

    For Orinik, because there was still a sea that remained unclaimed, his territory was pushed out to an unclaimed sea. But now that Leonel owned all four seas, the territories that remained and the ones that had been previously pushed away were destroyed entirely, leaving them in waste.

    With these two pieces of news descending one after another, it was hard to know exactly how to react. None of them could seem to understand what had happened, and the wariness they had toward their neighbors grew. How could they conclude that a single person had already claimed all four seas for themselves? Instead, they believed that four different territories had succeeded in forming Heir Grade territories before them.I think you should take a look at

    This conclusion was asinine to many of them, but they believed that the simplest answer was already the truest answer. The idea that one person could accomplish all of this on their own was most definitely not the simplest answer, the hoops one would have to jump through to accept such a thing were far too numerous.

    Ironically, because of this conclusion, despite a juicy piece of meat like Adawarth''s territories being on the chopping block right before them all, no one dared to move rashly, and there happened to be a person who knew that exactly this would happen.

    Leonel''s grasp of human nature was quite excellent, and thanks to the Umbra family members, his comprehension of the goings on of the night side supercontinent were deeper than most would know. As such, not only did he act upon this moment of caution by everyone else, he capitalized on it.

    Before the night side powers could react, Leonel had taken over Adawarth''s territory silently and seamlessly, using all of the points he had just gathered from his last two Heir-Grade upgrades to outfit the large region with a complex network of outposts.

    Once this was complete, Leonel calmed and took his time. Now, it didn''t matter when they realized that the ownership of this land had been changed. In fact, if they took too long, it might very well be too late.

    Leonel stood in silence near the coastline. This was Adawarth''s main city, and it was located on the waterline just like Leonel''s original territory had been.

    Out in the sea, several Rain Beasts floated in silence.

    Because they had sent these Rain Beasts in using a loophole, just like the Lio family of before with their Seventh Dimensional beasts, they were left behind even after their badges were cracked. As such, ever since the end of that battle, Leonel had had access to them. The trouble was that directing them wasn''t as easy as it was the stingrays.

    The stingrays were a reward, and as such, they were designed to follow his orders. However, these Rain Beasts were independent creatures. Although they were docile, their intelligence was low. They were only able to understand the direction Rychard had given them, so it wasn''t convenient to use them. As a result, until now, they had just been lingering around, unused.

    Leonel stood in silence, staring at them... What his best option here.

 Chapter 2069 50%

    Leonel stood in silence. There were only two options before him. The first was to abandon these creations entirely, or find an easy and quick method to make use of them. The reality was that he didn''t have much time. Very soon, others would realize that he had taken over Adawarth''s territories, and in addition to this, they would very soon begin to probe him and likely attack him.

    By Leonel''s estimation, he probably only had half a day at best to figure something out, probably even less than that if he was honest. If he couldn''t do something proper, then it would probably be best if he didn''t do anything at all. Having a variable on the battlefield that he couldn''t properly control would be more of a detriment than anything else.

    The first option he thought of was to just use an exceptionally crude method. He could make these beasts carry a large amount of water toward the territories of the other Heirs and then directly flood them.

    The method was the easiest and Leonel wouldn''t have to do much of any preparation. However, it was an extremely weak method as well.

    For one, he was facing off against Seventh Dimensional existences, not mortals. If he used this method on a Third Dimensional World, the devastation was obvious. People would die both from the water and the collapsing buildings, he probably wouldn''t have to lift even a single finger. But setting aside the buildings would even be so vulnerable here, even if they were buried into kilometers of water and couldn''t'' breathe for hours, or were crushed by millions of kilograms of weight... Would that really kill a Seventh Dimensional genius?

    The unfortunate answer was probably not. If Leonel could guarantee it would shatter their city walls, at least, it would be useful. But he wasn''t sure of even that. Gold Grade cities were exceptionally sturdy at this point, and many would have built up extra defenses by not in preparation for the Heir-Grade upgrade challenge.

    This did even mention the other issue of actually transporting these Rain Beasts. They moved exceptionally slowly, and they were huge targets from a distance. They would need escort and protection, and hiding them would be impossible.

    If he targeted others, it still might work since they didn''t know what the Rain Beasts were and they might take precautions that were inappropriate, but this would never work against Xavnik who knew exactly what they were, and more likely than not, they wouldn''t work against the ignorant either.

    This problem of speed and transport would likely be a problem no matter what options he chose. The Rain Beasts simply took too long to absorb water, and they were languid, low iq beasts without much intelligence. Everything about them was annoying to deal with.

    It was a bit better on the ocean''s waters where they held a great advantage. But now that they were on land, unless Leonel wanted to take the roundabout, the longest way through the ocean, those advantages were entirely useless. And even if he was willing to do that, not all of his enemies would be able to be sniped down from the coast.

    Leonel flipped a palm and a small Rain Beast appeared. This was the same Rain Beast that he had extracted all the water from previously. After a moment, he enveloped it in his Dream World and began to scan every corner of its body.

    Soon, a diagram of it appeared before him, formed of Emulation Spatial Force. He began to spin it apart in his mind, dissecting it and separating it into pieces.

    "Aina," Leonel said lightly.I think you should take a look at

    Aina didn''t take long to appear. When it came to matters like this, Aina was definitely the far better of the two. She had a natural inclination toward understanding what she should and shouldn''t put in her body, and that gave her an intimate understanding of both Force Herbs and Force wielding creatures.

    "What do you think?" Leonel asked. "Is it possible to force it to take on water at a great speed? If that''s possible, we could shrink them for easy transport, and then pump them with water suddenly when we''re in enemy territory. It wouldn''t be the most efficient thing, but it might be the best option we have."

    Aina blinked. "Their bodies are weird. Logically, if they can grow from the size of a palm to kilometers in length, then their elasticity has to be great. But from what I can see, their elasticity is actually on a gradient. The more water they absorb, the more of those special proteins that they produce, increasing the elasticity of their bodies and allowing them to expand in size.

    "It''s probably less accurate to say that they have an ability to absorb water, and more accurate to say that water is the only thing they can absorb that''s able to both trigger their protein synthesis and is likewise benign enough that it doesn''t poison them in the process."

    "So you mean to say that it could theoretically absorb anything."

    Aina nodded. "That would be its lineage factor, its ability to expand. It''s not much unlike Noah''s Ability Index, but the difference is that Noah can control his own synthesis, and he also has the ability to change the structure of his body to make it sturdier and more powerful, these aren''t things that this Rain Beast is capable of doing. It could be said that they have a greatly simplified version of Noah''s Ability Index.

    "But their capacity for expansion is much larger and requires much less energy at the same time, although it takes a great period of time for them to reach that state..."

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. This was very fascinating.

    "And what about this Rain Beast right now. I only just extracted all the water from its body maybe a day or so ago. How long does it take for the extra elasticity its gained to disappear."

    Aina''s eyes lit up with understanding as though she had just pieced something together.

    "So that''s why... Yes, it''s able to retain some of its elasticity even now, but it''s probably lost about 50% of its original capability already. If you wait another day, it will take an extremely long time for it to build it back up again."

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened.

 Chapter 2070 Appearance

    It seemed that there was a chance that this would work, but it wasn''t perfect either. There were still many issues to fix. For example, how would he transfer such a large amount of water? How would he feed it into the Rain Beasts?

    It wasn''t like his enemies would give him as much time as he wanted. The methods had to be seamless and extremely quick. But if it couldn''t accomplish that, then it was all useless and once again, he might as well give up these beasts entirely.

    He had a solution for the water problem. Thanks to Kira, he still had an ocean''s drop vial that could hold an ocean''s worth of liquid within. It had once held the blood of a Void Beast, but now it was empty after it was entirely swallowed up by Little Blackstar. It was a simple matter to use it.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s gaze flashed. That was right, he had once used that vial to transfer golden scaled koi fish around. It was the perfect solution for this. In fact, at the moment, it was filled to the brim with Cleansing Waters. Considering the current Segmented Cube, accumulating such a large amount of Cleansing Waters was child''s play.

    Obviously, the Segmented Cube itself could be used for such transfer, but Leonel didn''t want to use it for a very good reason. Even the Morales weren''t aware of the limits of this treasure, it was clear that his father and grandfather had never disclosed these matters.

    For one, Leonel felt that there was a reason for this. The more he learned about the Segmented Cube, the more he understood it was no normal treasure. Even the Spear Domain Ring was far inferior to it in his opinion. Just the amount of Cleansing Waters it could produce alone was worthy of being the sole ability of a world changing treasure, but the fact that was just one of its many abilities was shocking.

    He felt it was best to hide as much of what it could do from the masses. Until now, he only revealed that it could help him mass produce simple crafts and it contained pods that could help people recover quickly. These weren''t quite enough to shock people entirely just yet.

    The fact he could use the vial instead was a huge positive. But now, Leonel was thinking of something else. If the Rain Beasts consumed a large amount of Cleansing Waters instead of regular water? How would it change their anatomy? What about their abilities?

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''Cleansing Waters as an attack method...''

    He was used to Cleansing Waters by now, but he had remembered a time that soaking in Cleansing Waters of the Sixth Dimension had been exceptionally painful as it forcefully expelled the impurities in his body. He wondered...

    As he thought, Leonel moved. Taking out the familiar crystalline vial, he began to toss the Rain Beasts in one after another. After he solidified his hypotheses, he consulted Aina for a moment and they came up with a plan that they felt might work.

    After that, Leonel vanished into the Segmented Cube to finish up some experiments. He stepped out again just an hour later, prepared to move forward.I think you should take a look at

    There were no preparations left to make. He was once again at a point where his taking time for accumulation would instead make him fall behind instead. It was time to press forward and take the final leap of fate he would have to. But compared to the last time he made this choice, he had a confident smirk hanging from his lips. It didn''t seem nearly as difficult this time around.

    However, what Leonel didn''t expect was that just as he was about to set out, with everyone prepared and well rested, he would instead have to snap his head in a particular direction.

    Standing on his city walls, there was an unexpected character. He had very clearly used a treasure to appear so suddenly and soundlessly, so much so that his eyes flickered with surprise when he realized that Leonel had already noticed his arrival. It was clear that this person had expected to wait at least several seconds, but he had actually been discovered immediately. In fact, if he was correct, Leonel''s head was already moving before he had even fully manifested.

    This person couldn''t help but narrow his eyes.

    He looked around silently for a moment. He actually felt slightly uncomfortable taking his eyes off of Leonel at this moment, but he moved as though this discomfort wasn''t in his heart at all. With a calm gaze, he scanned over the city, but the more he looked, the more it couldn''t help but narrow. Nothing he was seeing seemed to make much sense.

    Leonel had only... about 20,000 subordinates? Were the rest elsewhere? Or was it that he had been caught with his pants down? It couldn''t be that this was really all he had, right? But then again, now that he thought about it, this was already the final territory of Adawarth''s that he had come to check, and this was the only one with anyone in it.

    Something was off about this.

    Finally, after several seconds, this man finally looked back toward Leonel with calm eyes, only to find that the latter had an amused light hidden within. He didn''t seem to take his appearance very seriously at all, it was a confident glance, almost as though he could see through him with absolute ease.

    Leonel stood very calmly despite who this individual was. He hadn''t expected for the meeting to be so sudden and unexpected, but it also wasn''t enough to shock him to the point of being unable to react. At the same time, he didn''t seem to have any intention of attacking immediately either, calmly allowing the other observer the state of the city as though he couldn''t be bothered to care what he did or didn''t find out.

    This man was none other than the only Nova Leonel had yet to meet face to face.

    Third Nova. Xavnik Morales.

 Chapter 2071 Mistake?

    The two final Novas looked toward one another calmly, one''s expression unreadable, and the other''s smiling. Xavnik was quite handsome and tall. He had slightly paler skin than most Morales, but not to the extent of Second Nova. He still carried that familiar bronzed hue, it just wasn''t as forceful as the bit of coloration had its edge taken off.

    His eyes were a gentle brown color and his hair was slightly stiff, though well styled. His robes were meticulously cared for, and he seemed to prefer darker colors. This was a man who dared to negotiate with an expert like Rosen Suiard, a leader of the Senate, while he was merely in the Sixth Dimension. There were clearly no faults to pick in his temperament, nor his boldness.

    "Littlest Nova," Xavnik greeted with a smile, his unreadable expression suddenly becoming amiable. Leonel smiled back. Despite the fact he was looking up at Xavnik from the ground while the latter was on the city walls, one didn''t feel that this was the case at all. It rather felt as though they were both on even ground, looking into each other''s eyes. The height difference, the distance between them, and even the fact they stood on opposing sides didn''t seem to create any sort of division between them.

    "Third Nova."

    Xavnik chuckled slightly. "I had thought that First Nova would be my greatest challenge. If there was a dark horse, I would have definitely picked Fifth Nova. But I didn''t expect that it would truly be you. If you hadn''t lost 20 years of advantage to us, we really wouldn''t stand a chance, hm?"

    "Where would the fun in that be?" Leonel didn''t refute politely, his words all but confirmed that he felt that this was the case as well. But Xavnik didn''t feel that this was inappropriate. Over bloated humility was just as bad in his opinion as underserved arrogance.

    "Your temperament is to my liking. How do you feel about working together? There''s only the two of us left and the enemies remaining aren''t easy to deal with. There''s still the Omann family, the Suiard family and the Spirituals Religion. Plus there are still some other stragglers. In order to avoid any issues, I''ve had a feeling that they''ll team up to deal a blow to our Morales family before deciding a winner amongst us, we can''t allow that, right?"

    Xavnik expected Leonel to be surprised, or at least take some time to consider, but this wasn''t the answer he received at all. Instead...

    "My old man would probably kill me if I used an alliance to win in the final stretch," Leonel said with a laugh. "His temper is a weird one. I have a feeling he''s watching right now. Well, considering his personality, he''s probably pretending to take a nap, but he''ll never let me live this down."

    Velasco, who didn''t seem to have been paying much, mumbled beneath his breath.

    "At least he knows not to embarrass me."

    He felt his wife''s glare come from the side, but he pretended as though he hadn''t seen it, turning his glasses into an even darker shade as he reclined further. However, Leonel''s next words made Velasco almost fall out from his seat.

    "A pity..." Xavnik said with a sigh, his gaze flashing with a peculiar light.

    Leonel laughed. "But what I love most to do is piss that old man off, count me in."

    The Human Domain was rendered speechless. Velasco was a character that most of them didn''t even dare to look in the eye, many even believed he was ruthless enough to not bat an eye if his son died. In their opinions, he was probably an extremely strict father that wouldn''t allow his son to joke around with, let alone embarrass him like this.

    But Leonel actually...I think you should take a look at

    Alienor began to giggle, laughing a beautiful laugh that made the hearts of those who heard it flutter.

    Others might fear Velasco, but in Leonel''s opinion, his dad was just a bastard who loved to think himself a comedian and a prankster. If he could get back at this old man, he''d take every opportunity.

    Velasco coughed, fixing his chair and stabilizing himself. This brat, he was going to ruin all the prestige he had taken decades to build up, what the hell was this?

    Seeing Velasco trying to maintain his composure, Alienor''s laughter only grew.

    ...

    Xavnik, too, was surprised. A hint of doubt couldn''t help but grow in his heart. Clearly, he felt the same about Velasco as everyone else. How could he know that the only "suffering" Leonel had had at Velasco''s hands were prank voicemails?

    "Is that so? That''s good, excellent!" Xavnik''s face lit up.

    "How would you like to cooperate?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    There were all too many methods, Leonel himself had already thought of many, but he didn''t state them out. He seemed to want to know more about Xavnik''s thought processes. Neither of them knew one another very well, so this sort of simple probe was only a given.

    "About this... Are these all the subordinates you have, Little Nova?"

    Leonel shook his head, causing Xavnik to relax slightly. But it was clear he wasn''t relaxing due to the fact Leonel would be of more help with more subordinates. Rather, he relaxed because the fact Leonel admitted this so readily meant that there was a hint of trust here.

    "I have an army of another million or so, but they''re beasts that can only be used in the waters. They''re stingrays. In addition to this, I have about 200 000 or so land beasts, the strongest of which have the strength of Tier 6, and the weakest of which is at Tier 3. But since their strengths have been forcefully raised to this stage, their actual power is limited.

    "Other than this, I have a secret powerful force of about a few hundred. They''re all members of the Cloud Race and have exceptional combat prowess."

    Leonel laid out all his cards as though he didn''t have a care in the world.

    No one seemed to know his thoughts. Even Second Nova, who knew Third Nova''s true colors, couldn''t help but pale. Had he made a mistake by not telling Leonel the truth

 Chapter 2072 Great Opportunity

    Xavnik''s heart jumped. When he heard mention of the Cloud Race, the odd light in his eyes couldn''t be hidden in the slightest. If he had any doubt, it was hard to retain it now. The existence of the Cloud Race was too easy to hide. Leonel could have easily hidden them amidst his people without a word and Xavnik would never know.

    The appearance of the Cloud Race wasn''t a small matter. Although there were, of course, weaker and stronger members of every race. Usually, the strength of other races was far more consistent than that of humans. Having the Cloud Race on one''s side was like having a guaranteed floor of strength on your side.

    The weakest humans were absolutely no match for the weakest of Cloud Race members. This was a well known fact. But the true hidden danger here was whether or not Leonel had managed to get his hands on any powerful members.

    The likelihood in Xavnik''s opinion was very low. However, he had some information on hand that made him not place the probability at 0%, and that was the information he had on Leonel''s very first interaction with the Cloud Race. He had been able to easily point them out when others hadn''t been able to, that was definitely an eyebrow raising matter.

    Considering Leonel had dominion over Earth, Xavnik didn''t believe that there were no Cloud Race members targeting the only Eighth Dimensional potential world in the Human Domain. In that case, it might even be true that Leonel had gained the ability to see through Cloud Race members by first observing Cloud Race members that had been exposed on Earth itself.

    In that case, the odds that Leonel might have an extremely powerful member of the Cloud Race on his side wasn''t 0%, nor was it too low, it might even be as high as 30% or even 40%. The more Xavnik thought about it, the more serious he became, but Leonel''s smile was just the same. He looked na?беve and innocent, but could a na?беve and innocent individual control the Cloud Race under his charge? Could they become the greatest example of a dark horse in Heir Wars history? Could they be the one to defeat the enemy that Third Nova thought he would have to struggle the most against?

    In Xavnik''s opinion, Sixth Nova had been too young, Fifth Nova was a wild card and a potential pitfall, but if he took caution, things would be fine. Fourth Nova was a playboy who had taken far too long to take things seriously, and even then he had only begun to take things seriously because he had accidentally gotten his long-time fling pregnant, leading to a whole host of pressure, especially because they were both still within the Void Palace when it happened.

    As for Second Nova, he had never taken him seriously because although he was clever, he was too used to being a lone wolf. He didn''t know how to rely on others, and even when it came to his wide information network, he micro-managed everything he could. One of the most important characteristics of a leader was knowing when to release the reins, and Second Nova thought he could do everything on his own.

    Knowing all of this, Xavnik had slotted First Nova in as his greatest enemy. He both had great combat prowess and was extremely intelligent, not to mention extremely charismatic as a leader. But somehow, before he even got the chance to lift a finger, this supposed top tier enemy of his had been eliminated by someone else, and he wasn''t even sure how it had happened.

    Now Seventh Nova, the one that he had given the least regard to, was smiling an unreadable expression toward him, leaving him without the words to respond.

    After a long while, Xavnik slowly nodded. "Little Nova, you''ve truly been too honest; it feels a little burdensome."I think you should take a look at

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade. "If I am too on guard against you, how can we work together properly? We don''t have much time, how about you tell me what you have in mind?"

    "Right. Little Nova''s numbers are smaller than expected, so I assume that you''ve used your mind to achieve the standards you have today. I wouldn''t be surprised if you have many ideas far better than my own. I''ll tell you my plans and you tell me how you feel about them, how about it?"

    "No problem," Leonel nodded.

    Xavnik smiled. "As I see things, our greatest threat is the Omann family. They have been focused on Crafting for several weeks now, and it''s hard to tell what their plans are because as more time passes, they spend less and less time clashing with others. At the same time, the biggest wildcard is likely to be the Spiritual Faith.

    "Even with all of this being the case, I don''t believe that attacking either one of them directly is a smart idea. I believe it''s best that we act to take out the Suiard family first.

    "You and Amery have quite the history. After seeing you, I think this plan will work far better with you than it would have with First Nova. If you challenge him to a one-on-one battle, I don''t believe that he wouldn''t accept, if for no other reason than to regain his lost pride.

    "I have a treasure here that I''ve gained from a Heir Grade Dungeon. It''s able to release a Force-eating poison. If it''s released at an opportune moment, then whether it''s his Sword Force or other Forces, Amery will find them all to be useless. He will either be forced to use his badge to escape or die."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Why haven''t you used this yourself just yet?"

    "Well, for one, aside from what I''ve said about it likely working best with you, I only have one such treasure, and I''ve had to be cautious with it. In addition, while you''re doing this, there''ll be a great opportunity."

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2073 Ruthless

    "Oh, an opportunity?"

    "Yes. You may or may not know, but the Spiritual Religion and the Suiard have attached themselves together, much like us. The difference being that it''s a marriage alliance between the current Heir of the Spirituals Religion and the Sword Deity.

    "They made a show of fighting one another, resulting in many lowering their guards. The original assumption was that they would be a check and balance on one another, but the moment they became allies, this check and balance vanished, leading to their combined territory not only be the largest with the most plentiful resources, but they also have a very defendable land with no, so-called, ''natural predators''."

    Leonel''s brows raised, and he nodded, gesturing for Xavnik to continue.

    "While you''re challenging the Suiard, it''ll be more convenient for me to target the Spirituals Religion directly. This is the best way to separate the two and not allow them to take advantage of fusing their abilities into one, which will be too troublesome for any one of us to handle.

    "Setting aside the Sword Deity''s combat prowess, the Heir of the Spirituals Religion is exceptionally powerful as well. You may or may not know this, but she is the current number one in our generation''s Queen Beauty rankings. This isn''t just because she''s an exceptional beauty, but it is also because of her exceptional combat prowess.

    "Of course, the greatest issue with all of this is that no one knows the true limit of her strength. The Spirituals Religion do not often associate themselves with conflict, and because they''re so powerful no one comes to find trouble with them either. In addition, their Heirs, or Heiresses, have never entered the Void Palace; it could be said that the fact she made her way onto the rankings at all, let alone number one, just goes to show you her extraordinary strength."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Number one on the Queen Beauty rankings? Who decided that nonsense?

    "I see. So I''ll attack the Suiard half of the territory, while you deal with the Spirituals half. Even if you don''t succeed, we''ll at least be able to deal with Amery and stop him from receiving reinforcements from the Spirituals Religion. This makes sense."

    It was a simple plan, but often these were the best. With a limited number of moving parts, it would be exceptionally easy to execute and it would be a simple matter to get in and get out.

    "So you''ve agreed?" Xavnik asked with a smile.

    "Of course, no problem at all. Just give me the time. I was planning on moving out right this moment anyway; I''m ready to go."

    Xavnik''s gaze lit up. "Excellent. I will attack exactly three hours from now; that is when you can issue your challenge."

    "Noted."

    Leonel watched with a smile as Xavnik flickered and vanished. Soon, there was nothing but the light breeze of the salted ocean brushing against his ears. The smell in the air was quite strong, but Leonel felt that it was quite good.

    He looked to the side to find that Aina had appeared by his side. Their conversation wasn''t hidden in the slightest, which was actually quite odd for such a complicated affair. Usually, in order to hide such matters from the ears of spies just in case, such things would happen behind closed doors. But both Leonel and Xavnik had sealed the deal on such a thing out in the open.

    "Is it alright to do this?" Aina asked.

    She had found out a lot about what was happening during her mini vacation with Leonel. While they had been in their own little world, it didn''t mean that they hadn''t discussed any business whatsoever. So, she was fully aware of Leonel''s speculations about Third Nova.

    Toward her question, though, Leonel laughed. "Alright? Well, I guess that would be up to him. It doesn''t really matter either way."I think you should take a look at

    Aina''s gaze flickered, and then she pinched Leonel''s waist, an action to which he pretended to be quite hurt by, yelping and running away without the hint of the seriousness a leader should have.

    Aina could only roll her eyes. Clearly, this man didn''t want to explain things.

    ...

    Xavnik appeared in his territory once again, a pensive expression on his face. With a step, he entered his city''s core, his contemplation growing deeper and deeper as he slowly sat on his throne. As though on cue, a man strode in with heavy steps.

    This man was clad in deep green armor, so deep, in fact, that it almost appeared to be black beneath dimmer lights. His hair was an ocean of black, as were his eyes. He looked quite average, but there was something about his demeanor and the depths of his eyes that felt off.

    "Ysemsan," Xavnik suddenly said without looking up from his thoughts.

    "Yes!" The green-armored man replied with a booming voice.

    "Kill these people."

    Xavnik waved a hand, and a list unfurled. Upon it, there was a large list of individuals, thousands of them, in fact. Xavnik seemed to have manifested them from the air.

    "Do it appropriately. Form up a troop consisting of them, march them off toward the ocean under the pretext of dungeon hunting, and make sure none of them ever resurface."

    Ysemsan''s gaze flickered. He didn''t quite understand why Xavnik was asking for this... That was because if these people could be called to form a troop, and then march off on Xavnik''s orders, weren''t their identities obvious?

    Xavnik was actually executing his own subordinates without the slightest hesitation.

    Seemingly sensing that Ysemsan hadn''t moved to act on his words immediately, Xavnik looked up. His expression was unreadable, but Ysemsan couldn''t help but shudder, his shoulders visibly trembling.

    "Right away, lord!"

    Xavnik didn''t say a word as Ysemsan vanished, his fingers tapping on the armrest of his throne. Suddenly, his shadow seemed to shift beneath his feet, but he didn''t seem to react to it even as it took the shape of a willowy woman.

    "How ruthless," she said with a giggle.

    "It has to be done. There may very well be Cloud Race members right under our noses," Xavnik replied indifferently.

 Chapter 2074 Confident

    The willowy shadow paused. It was clear that this was the very last thing that she had expected to hear. What would the Cloud Race be doing here? And worst yet, why would they be interfering in their plans? She suddenly thought of the worst possibility and she couldn''t help but tremble a bit.

    "I don''t think that the situation is that bad," Xavnik said.

    "These Cloud Race members come from the Prince of Earth."

    The shadow jumped again, before she seemed to piece together the same things that Xavnik had slowly come to understand while he listened to Leonel''s words. But what baffled the shadow was why Xavnik would know this, it couldn''t be...

    "He just directly told me. That littlest cousin of mine is not simple. He knows well that him informing me that he has Cloud Race members under his charge doesn''t lessen my worries. In fact, it increases them. Look at him, he didn''t even have to lift a finger and yet I''ve directly executed 10,000 of my men for him, he has such a charming smile and glistening eyes, and yet his heart is no less cruel than anyone I''ve ever met."

    The shadow paused for a moment before giggling. "Keep talking like that and I''ll start getting jealous. Don''t tell me you''ll fall for your own cousin when you have me?"

    Xavnik seemed to be very used to this shadow and her antics, but at the same time he wasn''t in the mood to play around. His thoughts were running a million miles a minute. Even as he spoke, he was trying to figure out what to do from here.

    Sensing this as well, the shadow''s voice changed, and she became more serious. "Tell me exactly what happened."

    Xavnik almost carelessly explained things in the most direct way possible. His contact with Leonel was brief to begin with, so there wasn''t much to explain.

    "I see... Indeed, this Littlest Nova isn''t a simple character. Not only did he tell you so much, he didn''t even ask you to reciprocate, it''s as though he couldn''t be bothered to care."

    "... Or he knows everything he needs to know already," Xavnik said lightly.

    The shadow fell silent. Indeed, if Cloud Race members had already infiltrated, what could there be that Leonel didn''t know? In fact, it would be an exaggeration to say that Leonel might know even more than Xavnik himself did. How could a leader know every little thing his subordinates did? There might very well be some who were dissatisfied with his orders, some holding grudges from the death of their loved ones, and these would all be things that Leonel would have access to that others wouldn''t dare to tell him for the sake of retribution.

    Just by being honest, Leonel had actually painted Xavnik into a corner he didn''t know how to advance from and couldn''t retreat from.

    "Is there a chance he''s lying just to mess with you?"

    "Unlikely. Given his displays in the past, and the precarious situation of Earth, the odds that he really has Cloud Race members are quite high. The real question is how powerful they are."

    "Then how do you plan on moving forward? This isn''t something that we can allow to go freely; if we''re too lax, victory will slip from us."

    "What do you suggest?"I think you should take a look at

    The shadow laughed a seductive laugh. "If it was up to me, we would take the most direct approach. As I see it, he''s managed to reach this stage likely using his mind over his brawn. There are potentially powerful Cloud Race members protecting him, but if you take an elite squadron with you, I don''t believe you would lose.

    "In addition, you did well giving him that Heir-Grade ''reward''. He''ll never be ready for the poison now, and he might even foolishly try to use it on you, leaving him in a precarious position."

    Xavnik thought for a moment, then shook his head. The eyes of Leonel weren''t those of someone who was simple to handle. He wouldn''t be handled with brute force directly, at least not without revealing his true face. But he wouldn''t do that unless it was the final hope he had.

    The shadow laughed, unbothered. "You never listen to me anyway, but you always ask. This is just you trying to make me feel like I''m more than just a bed buddy, huh? I''m wise to your games."

    Xavnik didn''t move for an entire hour, nor did he respond to the shadow''s attempts at seducing him. Then, when there were just two hours left to his and Leonel''s meeting, his gaze suddenly glowed with a fiercely bright light.

    "Oh, my hubby has a plan? Tell me, tell me."

    "I''m certain of Leonel''s final trump card. The Pyius family. No one would ever guess that a Constellation family would divert their resources at the final moment, and especially not to the one young man so many of them want to kill. It seems that Leonel''s charm is even greater than that of Adawarth''s."

    The Pyius family''s position was a bit unique. They had a portion of Sixth Nova''s old territory, and it had to be remembered that Sixth Nova was once sandwiched between the Omann and Spirituals Religion.

    If Xavnik attacked the Spirituals Religion normally, and then tried to retreat back to his territory after all was said and done, who would be waiting for him right as he was in his most vulnerable position? The worst part was that after passing through the Pyius, there would still be the Omann lingering, and with just a bit of prodding from Leonel, they might jump to capitalize on the situation well.

    Of course, this wasn''t what Xavnik had spent an entire hour figuring out...

    "I know what we''ll do," he said lightly, standing to his feet.

    As though on cue, Ysemsan came rushing in from the outside.

    "Prepare the troops, Ysemsan. We are moving out now."

    Xavnik strode forward, his gait confident.

    -----

    Erdiul Notes: Oh man, this guy is clueless LOL.

 Chapter 2075 Im Sorry

    Leonel sat atop of a lion beast from the Lio family. Their size wasn''t all the substantial, especially not compared to what he had seen in the Cataclysm Zone, but it was still more than substantial enough for three or even four people to be seated upon it, and definitely large enough for him to be able to take Aina with him so that he wouldn''t be bored on the journey.

    Aina could only be speechless. The Leonel of the last few months and this Leonel were far too different. She couldn''t even count the number of times Leonel had smiled in the last few months because it had basically never happened. Now he was in the mood to tease her all the time.

    It made it all the more embarrassing that she knew that his parents were likely watching, and probably even her father. The projections went all across the Human Domain, so even if they weren''t physically present, it would only take a little effort to watch.

    Knowing this, she felt a bit embarrassed about what had happened before. She had actually kissed him in front of so many people, and now he wouldn''t leave her alone.

    Aina suddenly pinched Leonel''s thigh fiercely, causing him to yelp. This time, Leonel didn''t have to fake it, this woman truly had a strong enough grip.

    This time, it was Leonel''s turn to be speechless. What had he done this time? He couldn''t even tease his wife? Where was the humanity? In the end, he could only pout.

    "Be obedient! Be serious! Look at them, how can you lead people like this?!"

    The various soldiers were doing their best to hold back their laughter. Did they look down on the current Leonel? Of course not. The Skies family only knew the smiling Leonel to begin with, he had crushed their family''s Patriarch while hardly lifting a finger. As for the Oryx, they knew Leonel from before he even had the conviction to become King in the first place, all that Leonel knew how to do was goof around.

    After so many tense weeks, watching this scene made a weight on their chests lower.

    Because Leonel was always so perfect, everyone around him had the pressure to be perfect as well. Since Leonel never made mistakes, they couldn''t make mistakes. Since even their leader was always working so hard, how could they be the ones to slack off?

    Leonel had never been cruel, and his demands had never been excessive, but that only made the burden the rest of them carried even heavier. No one wanted to be the one who disappointed Leonel. Even though they still had such feelings now, for some reason it didn''t feel as burdensome.

    The relaxed Leonel gave off the illusion that everything would be fine. Even if they made one or two mistakes here and there, he would be there to cover for them. Even while marching into enemy territory like this, he was still in the mood to have fun.

    The respect they had for Aina was no less deep. While others had only just learned of Aina''s skills, that was only because they had only just begun paying attention. All of them had already been beneficiaries of Aina''s skill, and they were quite aware of battle plans that Leonel had in place that no one in the outside world was yet privy too, so they were all well aware of how much of it was contingent on Aina.

    So, seeing her reprimand Leonel like this, they felt like laughing in their hearts. Neither of them was inferior to the other, this was how things should be.

    The Oryx had grown used to following the Oryx King and the Skies family had obviously grown used to their own form of governance. But after just a few months with Leonel, they couldn''t help but think that it would be so bad to follow such a King and Queen.I think you should take a look at

    Smiles bloomed on their faces as they watched Leonel apologize like a wronged child.

    ...

    The ground rumbled, an army moving forward like a swiftly shifting tide. They were akin to a sea of dark green, crushing the greenery in their path as though they couldn''t be bothered to march around it.

    In the territory of the Pyius family, they had on solemn expressions. They knew that this moment would be coming soon, but they hadn''t expected that the sea of people would be this great. They had already known that Xavnik had the largest armies, but it was only now that they were seeing it themselves that they knew how truly exaggerated it was.

    Xavnik''s army, or at the very least the one marching toward them, was easily numbering at a hundred million. This sort of monstrous number was enough to build its own Heir-Grade upgrade challenge, but now it was coming toward their city.

    If they had the strength to challenge the Heir-Grade, they would have done it already.

    Within the core of the city, Simona''s brows furrowed. This wasn''t a part of the plan.

    According to her original thoughts, the fact they had survived to this point likely meant that they would make it to the end point.

    Given their special characteristics and ability to use poison, not to mention their numbers, anyone targeting them would be sure to suffer greatly. No one in the end game would be willing to take them on until the very final moment... or so she had thought.

    But now, Xavnik''s armies were rushing toward her, and clearly willing to go all out.

    Simona sighed and came to an understanding. Xavnik definitely wanted to attack the Suiard and Spiritual Religion alliance, but was afraid of their taking advantage of the situation. So, he wanted to take them out first regardless of the cost. At the very least, even if things went poorly, he still had a lane of retreat back to his own territory.

    Simona''s expression became a bit bitter. They had made it so far just to make a mistake at this step.

    ''... I''m sorry Leonel, looks like things won''t work out.''

    Indeed... It seemed that Xavnik''s conjecture had been correct.

 Chapter 2076 Returned

    Simona took a breath and stood to her feet.

    She had indeed promised to side with Leonel. Very few would understand why she would do such a thing, or more importantly, why it was that her family seemed to be alright with it.

    Simona was the most talented junior born to the Pyius family in an extremely long time. But what many didn''t know was that her status in her Paternal Clan was even more important.

    This was an extremely odd matter, and also one that very few knew about. That was because it was far too unconventional, and her Godlen family, her father''s family, was far too reclusive. They tended toward nature, so aside from worshipping their God and raising their beasts, they didn''t interfere with any matters, much less the politics of the human world.

    If not to avoid the spotlight being placed on them, Simona would have never been sent to the Void Palace in the first place.

    This might sound odd. After all, if you wanted to avoid detection, why do the opposite of that by sending such a genius to be placed upon the Queen Beauty rankings? However, it was precisely because of this clever maneuvering of public opinion that the Godlen family was able to keep themselves separate from worldly affairs by not allowing others to talk to them.

    The fact that the Matriarch of the Pyius family had married the nameless man of an unknown family would have been shocking news enough. However, if the child between them was also under the rules and regulations of his nameless family as well, this would go from a cute love story where the underdog gained victory, to something many speculated about.

    The weight of marriage alliances was quite heavy, this was seen by the fact that even the likes of Amery and the Spiritual Religion Heiress could be married off for the sake of their families. The idea of Simona''s mother marrying a man without a hint of reputation was entirely unheard of.

    It had to be known that as someone that could become the Matriarch of a Constellation family, Matriarch Pyius was no normal woman. She too had once been on the Queen Beauty rankings, and outside of Cynthia, there was rarely anyone else of her generation that could match up to her.

    Due to all of this, after Simona was born, in order to avoid the speculation of the public, her outward face was that of a genius of the Pyius family, with her father''s family being of secondary concern. In fact, even her last name wasn''t Godlen, but rather Pyius.

    It painted the image that Simona''s mother had managed to pick her love, but in order to compromise with her family, her daughter''s future, along with any other children she might have, were under the control of the Pyius family.

    But the reality was very far from this. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that the Pyius family was quite subordinate to the Godlen family, and her parents had not a single ounce of strain between the two of them. When she visited the Godlen family, she was even referred to as Mistress Godlen. There was definitely no fear on the Godlen family''s part about offending the Pyius family.I think you should take a look at

    So why was all of this important? It all went back to Simona''s little purple puppy.

    As a member of the Godlen and Pyius family, she was actually born with two Lineage Factors, not one. This was exceptionally rare, as one understood. The Morales family had billions of Novas in this generation, but only seven had been born with two Lineage Factors. The Suiard family was likewise in this situation, but there were only four in their current generation, and one of them was Amery.

    However, this wasn''t the important part. What was important wasn''t Simona''s raw talent, but rather what kind of talent it was.

    The Godlen''s Lineage Factor was known as the Natural Beast Lineage Factor. When a woman gave birth to a seed of the Godlen family, she would actually give birth to two things. The first was their child, and the second was known as the Natural Beast Core, an existence that looked very much like an egg.

    Setting aside the oddity of a human woman birthing an egg, this egg could be considered to be the most important existence to the life of a Godlen family child. That was because one''s talent was split between themselves and this creature, and this creature was also the outlet through which all of the Godlen''s family''s strength was produced.

    One could see through the talent of a child easily by testing this egg. However, for Simona, this hadn''t even been necessary. That was because the instant she and her beast companion were born, the phenomena that was triggered was the likes of which the Godlen family had never seen. And if the Godlen family had been aware, the only phenomena that could have possibly matched up was Leonel''s own and the birth of his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node.

    That was the level Simona was at.

    Unfortunately, the more talented you were as a Godlen family member, the more time it took for your beast companion to grow. And, while your beast companion had yet to mature, not only could you not use the Godlen''s family''s strength, but your improvement speed was only a fraction of what it could be because more than 90% would be diverted to your companion.

    The moment she was born, Simona was already slated to be the next leader of the Godlen family. In fact, she matched up with the prophecy of their ancient teachings. With her appearance, the Godlen family would finally be allowed to come out of seclusion, establishing their might and saving the Human Domain from their calamity.

    However... due to the schemes of Xavnik and Rosen, Simona had been separated from her beast companion during the teleportation to the Rapax Nest. This had cut off all her potential and crumbled the hope of the Godlen family... Until Leonel suddenly returned it.

 Chapter 2077 Small World

    When Simona lost her puppy it was akin to her losing almost 90% of her talent and cutting off the future hope of the Godlen family. No matter how great their conviction, how could a population of people be willing to stay in seclusion forever?

    At the same time, how could Simona be willing to never reach her full potential? There was simply no replacement for her beast companion, it had quite literally been born with her. It was like an extension of her limb.

    This is why she had shed tears when Leonel returned it. After 20 years of despair, hearing the praises of people while knowing that she could be so much better, she finally saw the light of hope that she had prayed for for so long.

    What she was even more thankful for was Leonel''s restraint.

    That puppy wasn''t just a benign little creature, it was also an endless bundle of energy. It had carried over 90% of her energy until this moment. Every time she took one step forward, it would take almost ten. On top of this, it was the purest form of absorbable Force as well.

    There was a reason that the Godlen family had been forced into seclusion long ago, a story that had been wiped from the annals of Human Domain history.

    Their beast companions were just extensions of their Lineage Factors and were more valuable than even Pure Force Crystals. Their beast companions could quite literally be used as resource wells. To put this matter into proper perspective, the immature beast companion of back then, the very one Simona had lost, could be used to produce dozens of Conventional Path Seventh Dimensional existences. It could even be used at a crucial point to push one to the Eighth Dimension of the Conventional Path, something that was extraordinarily rare.

    She didn''t believe that Leonel could sense this, but she also wasn''t surprised.

    Leonel was a man who had turned down the Shadow Sovereign Lineage Factor because he could stand to kill an unborn Rapax. Many would see such Rapax as nothing more than enemies of another race, unable to humanize them in any way because they simply looked too foreign.

    But not him.

    Simona didn''t know Leonel very intimately, but she knew enough about him to be willing to follow him wholeheartedly. It was just a shame that at the final moment, she wasn''t able to be as useful as she had initially hoped to be.

    ~Grrrr

    A little puppy growled by Simona''s feet, causing her furrowed brows to unwrinkle into the hint of a smile. By now, the little puppy had finally begun to show some signs of growth and was about 20% larger than Leonel remembered.

    Although she had lost 20 years, because she was so much more powerful now, Simona could help the little one to grow a lot faster. Before, it had taken over 20 years for it to reach the stage of being able to walk around on its own. But now, after only just a year or so of having returned to her size, it had grown by 20%.

    At this pace, it would reach maturity in just another decade or so. Given the fact the more talented she was, the more time it would take, this speed was actually exceptional. Originally, her companion wouldn''t have reached maturity until she became an Ancestor level character, and even then it wasn''t entirely certain.

    It seemed that being forced to find a path without this little guy for so long had definitely helped her in many ways.

    "Come on, little guy. Although we aren''t allowed to display too much of our strength, I don''t believe that we can''t make a dent in this army."

    The little puppy barked with a menacing glare in its eyes, but Simona only laughed more heartily. The little guy didn''t sound very menacing at all.I think you should take a look at

    Those who knew Simona would truly be shocked right now, how could they have ever seen this ice beauty laugh like this?

    Simona turned and strolled forward. The more she walked, the more her laughing expression faded. By the time she walked out from the hall, her expression was icy, her purple hair dancing in the wind.

    "Young Miss."

    A powerful voice came from the side. A young man standing atop a black line with flickering black flames for a mane appeared. The beast seemed to be both illusory and corporeal. Despite the fact the rumbling of the ground had already reached this point and the buildings were quaking, whether it was the beast or the young man, both were entirely indifferent.

    "With the current state of things, we will lose," the young man said indifferently.

    They were limited in the strength they were allowed to display. In this regard, they were a lot like the Umbra family. So, the moment they saw the state of this, they knew there was nothing they could do.

    The question was whether or not Simona wanted them to continue to fight to put up a fa?бьade, or to retreat right this moment.

    "We will fight," Simona said lightly.

    The young man didn''t show any dissatisfaction or pleasure, he only nodded once. "Yes, Young Miss."

    ...

    The rumbling came to a stop just half a kilometer from the gates of the Pyius family territory. Seated in the middle of the army, Xavnik watched on with silence as Ysemsan took a step forward.

    "We will give you all a choice out of respect for the Pyius family. Heiress Simona may choose to crush her badge now and we will make no attempts to stop her. If you refuse, we will attack with full force!"

    Ysemsan had hardly finished when the thunderous roar of countless beasts echoed.

    Simona''s gaze flickered as another army came into view from the distance.

    Seated in the middle of his army, Xavnik''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow. It couldn''t be?

    At that moment, Leonel rode over from the distance with his arms still wrapped around Aina''s waist. He didn''t seem to be taking this very seriously at all.

    "Ah, Third Nova," Leonel said with surprise. "I didn''t expect that you and I would actually have the same idea, what a small world."

 Chapter 2078 Or...

    The army was small. Compared to Xavnik''s numbers in the upwards of nine figures, the barely few hundred thousand that Leonel had come with was truly too pitiful, especially when among that number, most were just wild beasts and only about 20 000 or so were actual humanoids. It didn''t make sense to take this matter so seriously.

    And yet, Xavnik''s pause was long and his thoughts came slow. He seemed to lag, not knowing exactly what to make of this immediately. When Leonel said that he had had the same idea, could it be that he wanted to deal with the Pyius family before he went forward to attack the Suiard and Spiritual Religion alliance? Technically, Leonel was just as vulnerable from the back as Xavnik was given the relative positions of everything, so could it be that his deduction was wrong?

    In addition, Xavnik had, indeed, suddenly come up with many allies that others couldn''t have expected. He had the largest numbers precisely because of this. So Leonel believing that he might have the Pyius family in his back pocket wasn''t an impossible leap to make.

    As for Xavnik himself, the reason he had concluded that Leonel must have the Pyius family by his side was because of those matters that happened over a year ago. Back then, Leonel hadn''t done much to hide the fact that he returned Simona''s beast companion. In addition, Simona had very publicly stated that her paternal family would be willing to help Leonel out.

    Back then, it was still a taboo for the Constellation families to take part in the Heir Wars, so it wasn''t a matter that many thought about, especially since the Godlen family was relatively unknown. However, given his unique standing, Xavnik was able to put together many oddities about the Godlen family that made him pay a little bit more attention to them.

    Unfortunately for him, there wasn''t anything that he could find in the end that was worth paying any more attention to, so he had forgotten about this matter, until he thought through the methods by which Leonel could have used to deal with him.

    But now seeing Leonel here, he really had no idea whether he was here to help or attack him. This sort of confusion left Xavnik feeling as though he had just short circuited. It was too difficult to draw a conclusion, and right now, depending on how he reacted, he could make things either easier or more difficult on Leonel, and yet, at the same time, no matter what path he took, no step was perfect for him.

    On the one hand, there was potentially offending an ally who was more than willing to work with him ahead of a timeline that he was comfortable with. On the other hand, there was Leonel and the Pyius family teaming up with one another to deal with him, and he had actually delivered himself on a silver platter.

    Looking at Leonel''s smiling face, he actually couldn''t tell which one it was, and it was actually beginning to agitate him. He had always had everything in the palm of his hands. He was easily forgotten as the Third Nova, it could even be called middle child syndrome if he wanted to be dramatic about it, but this had also allowed him to fly under the radar while setting up everything exactly like he wanted it.

    He had even played with the governing structure of the Void Palace as a mere Sixth Dimensional existence, but right now he actually didn''t know what to do.

    Leonel''s expression gave nothing away, and the few seconds that were ticking by truly felt like an eternity. The more he tried to find an answer, the further it slipped away from him. It felt like everyone was observing him, waiting to see how he would react.

    Xavnik''s confusion was just the same as everyone else. This was the largest conflict currently taking place in the Heir Wars, so the number paying attention to this location was over 90%. But they couldn''t make heads or tails of it either.

    Suddenly, Xavnik began to laugh. He shook his head.I think you should take a look at

    "Indeed, it''s a funny matter," Xavnik responded to Leonel''s words finally. "As they say, great minds think alike. But I''m beginning to feel that your mind and mine aren''t exactly the same at all. It seems that we''ve been quite on guard against one another, so what will you do, Leonel?"

    Leonel grinned. "Well that depends. If I help you out, will you kill me like you did your subordinates once you''re finished with me?"

    Xavnik''s smile didn''t fade, but the downcast over his gaze only grew.

    "I''m not sure what you mean, Littlest Nova."

    "You don''t? Ah, you really might not, but that''s because I forgot to explain something during our first meeting. What you might not know is that the reason no one else can build territories in the ocean is because all four seas have already been claimed."

    Xavnik''s pupils constricted, but his expression wasn''t too surprising. After all, he knew this already. Everyone was dealing with the very same situation and they were all wary of one another, wondering which four powers had actually managed such a thing.

    The problem was that there weren''t many powers remaining, there were barely over four in number to begin with. So who could have done it?

    "The simplest answer is usually the right one," Leonel said with a chuckle. "But even when you have that saying in mind, the importance of context is also important. There are only six powers remaining. Myself, yourself, the Omann family, the Pyius family, the Suiard family and the Spirituals Religion. However, two of those powers are in an alliance, and so there''s only five powers remaining, technically. And you yourself are certain that you don''t own a sea, so that means what, exactly?"

    Xavnik suddenly shuddered.

    It was either all four powers remaining aside from himself had claimed a sea, or...

    "Or," Leonel grinned. "They were all claimed by a single person. You tell me, which is the simplest answer?"

 Chapter 2079 Refute?

    Xavnik felt as though his mind was collapsing. Looking at Leonel''s charming smile, his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest.

    It was, indeed, the simplest answer, it was just one that he wasn''t willing to accept. He had the largest number of people, and he had even been the closest to claiming a sea aside from Leonel before Orinik and the others had been booted out by Leonel''s success.

    What made more sense? That everyone but the one with the largest number of followers had managed to succeed in such a difficult endeavor, or that just one person with a perfect system had managed to do the impossible and claim the entire ocean for him?

    When it was laid out like this, the answer was all too obvious, and it wasn''t even one that Xavnik could refute.

    It was then that the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. How had they managed to make it to this point in the conversation, wasn''t it because Leonel was accusing him of killing his subordinates? Of course, he had done so, but how could Leonel have any proof of that?

    But then he remembered... he had sent Ysemsan to the ocean.

    Back then, it had just been the obvious choice. The continent had already been cleared of its resources by the rapaciousness of the Heirs. The only resources that remained were within the ocean. If he wanted to send a team out on a pretense, the only location he could use was the ocean.

    But... But the entire ocean was Leonel''s territory! Everything that happened within it, every person who stepped foot within its borders, especially if it was a number as large as within the thousands, would be known by him.

    "You..." Xavnik wanted to speak, but Leonel had already flipped a palm, throwing an orb into the air.

    At that moment, the images began to speed by one after another.

    Basically no one had paid attention to Xavnik sending out his subordinates on a mission to clear dungeons. The fascination with dungeons had long since waned, and the public was far more excited about the coming alliance war between the Morales and the Suiard.

    Xavnik knew this and had taken advantage of the situation. Although he had spoken Ysemsan''s orders "aloud", the reality was that only Ysemsan himself and the shadow beneath his feet had heard it. He had long since come up with a system to hide his actions perfectly, but it seemed that none of this mattered at the moment.

    He couldn''t even stop Leonel, he could only watch as the actions of Ysemsan were broadcasted. The slaughter of his subordinates was right before everyone and no small number of individuals felt their hearts grow cold.

    Others might not know, but those within Xavnik''s army knew all too well. Ysemsan was Xavnik''s right hand man. Many of the orders they received came from him directly. Even those that weren''t familiar with Xavnik''s chain of command had watched enough battles to know this. And those that were a little too foolish to pick up on this earlier had quite literally just seen Ysemsan step forward to give Simona an ultimatum.

    It was like every step Xavnik took just chained him down further, suffocating him until the point his vision could only go black. He was certain that Leonel had even waited to appear until after Ysemsan had spoken just so that the connection could be made even easier.

    He didn''t even pause the video, he didn''t speed it up, he forced them all to watch as Ysemsan trapped and killed over 10 000 of Xavnik''s subordinates, one after another without pause. Maybe the most eerie part was that Leonel''s smile never faded even a single time. His arm remained wrapped around Aina''s waist, enjoying her supple skin as though he was still on vacation rather right in the middle of a battlefield.I think you should take a look at

    Suddenly, the video came to an end and silence fell.

    "Oh, it''s over," Leonel said lightly, putting the orb away.

    Xavnik sat in silence. His expression had long since become placid, but a brewing rage was within his heart despite not showing up in the slightest.

    "You put on a nice show for us all," Xavnik said softly.

    Leonel smiled. "I try my best."

    "When you told me that you had so many Cloud Race members on your side, I didn''t believe you. But you''re quite bold to be willing to kill thousands of them. They would have been very helpful toward your cause."

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade although he very much understood what Xavnik was trying to say. Clearly he wanted to pretend as though this was all a ruse. Either that or he wanted everyone to believe that everyone he had ordered Ysemsan to kill had been a member of the Cloud Race.

    "Me? Controlling the Cloud Race? Where?" Leonel blinked innocently. "Your imagination is pretty wild, Third Nova."

    Xavnik clenched his jaw so hard that his teeth almost cracked, a vein surging up his throat and another pulsing across his forehead. Slowly, he calmed down.

    Of course, everyone watching in the Human Domain knew that Leonel had Cloud Race members, but Xavnik''s people didn''t know that. In addition, those watching knew that Leonel only had a few hundred Cloud Race members, where would he get over 10 000 from? His greatest weakness was his small numbers.

    Leonel was simply too brilliant. Convincing people only required the simplest explanations.

    Everyone outside knew he had Cloud Race members and could draw the conclusion that he had too few of them, but if he tried to explain this to Xavnik''s subordinates, it would take too many words and many wouldn''t believe him over Xavnik.

    So, he chose the simplest approach, making Xavnik''s explanation look as ridiculous as possible. There was simply nothing Xavnik could say to refute.

    Like this, he killed two birds with one stone. Everyone in the Human Domain now knew exactly how vicious Xavnik was, while his subordinates did as well. Would they be able to continue fighting for him?

 Chapter 2080 Flatten

    If Leonel''s greatest weakness was his small numbers, then Xavnik''s greatest weakness was that he simply had too many subordinates.

    There were too many factions, too many families, too many powers. Each one had their own thoughts, and though they had come together, this was under the assumption that Xavnik was their best choice and the best leader they had.

    If they were suddenly given reason to not agree with this, then what would they do?

    Leonel had obviously thought of the possibility that these subordinates were procured for Xavnik by the Three Finger Cult or the Demon Race, but would they all be? How could such a top-tier secret be kept by so many people? Leonel believed that it was likely the only people who were aware of this information amongst Xavnik''s subordinates were those in the highest echelons.

    The likelihood that those so high up in their families would be participating in this Heir War was next to zero. It had to be remembered that the age limit was 100 years old. It would be very rare for someone of that status to be trusted with such information.

    Even if Leonel took a step back and believed that such people were within these walls and participating in this matter, how many of this 100 million number would there be? Maybe one for every million? Less than that? Would they even be able to control the situation if a rebellion occurred?

    Of those that had died, there were brothers, there were sisters, there were parents, there were friends. Leonel really wanted to see what Xavnik would do now. He probably hadn''t even informed them just yet that so many had recently died.

    While death was an inevitable part of the Heir Wars, this sort of death wasn''t the kind that those below would be able to accept. It only made the situation worse that Heirs usually had a way out, while subordinates could only accept their fate, dying when they came across something they couldn''t defeat.

    As expected, Leonel''s words had hardly fallen when the discomfort within Xavnik''s army began to spread.

    Leonel had hardly done anything. He had simply spoken a few words and Xavnik fell head first into his trap, thinking himself to be bold and clever. Even now, he continued to smile, not in a single hurry to attack at all.

    Soon, the disorder in the army continued, reaching a pinnacle and certain sections began to peel off, looking toward Xavnik with unfriendly gazes.

    Despite the animosity they felt, they didn''t dare to attack Xavnik directly. They were just members of small families, how could they lay hands on a Morales Heir? At the same time, Xavnik''s survival was their only way out of this place without losing their lives. If they had had an easy method of snatching his badge, they would have done it.

    On the city walls, Simona''s gaze flickered. She looked down toward Leonel with an unreadable expression.

    Her deepest interaction with Leonel had been in Rapax Nest. He defeated Amery with three arrows, defeated those Variant Invalids with ease, and had even carved out a path for them to escape utilizing nothing but the materials around him. He had always been unfathomable to her, but this was the first time she was truly seeing it.

    The Leonel she had met back then was trying to be someone he wasn''t, pulling himself toward being more serious and professional. He seemed to have completed his transformation in their most recent interaction. But now... he somehow felt far more natural, far more like himself, as though a burden he had been carrying had suddenly vanished.

    If she knew what Leonel had gone through recently, she would have truly been rendered speechless. How could learning of such a thing relieve his burdens? Especially given how he had reacted to the news initially?

    Xavnik watched as his subordinates backed away from him. He didn''t say even a single word, he didn''t try to plead for them to stop, in fact he hadn''t even looked at them directly just yet, his eyes entirely focused on Leonel from start to finish.

    He had, indeed, had a great plan. He was going to swiftly crush the Pyius family and then retreat under the pretext of having been ambushed. Of course, Leonel would know that this was nonsense because he was allied with the Pyius family to begin with, but he wasn''t important, it was instead the remaining enemies.

    While Leonel was distracting the Suiard family, and he was "retreating", the Omann family might try to take advantage of the situation. Like this, Leonel would likely be assaulted by the Suiard Alliance, and he would be able to catch the Omann family suddenly off guard and deal them a decisive blow.

    Like this, he would have played all of his enemies in his palm and he would come out on top. But now... it all seemed so silly and worthless.

    Xavnik finally calmed down and chuckled. He hadn''t been this enraged maybe ever. He had truly been played by this littlest cousin of his.

    Soon, much of Xavnik''s army had peeled away. When they made it into the distance without Xavnik reacting, they began to move faster, forming a large and larger gap. Soon, many were even over a kilometer away, but even then, Xavnik didn''t do anything.

    However... not everyone left. In fact, over 10 million remained. Even so, a loss over almost 90% without a single battle was a truly shocking matter.

    Leonel''s smile deepened. To him, this was just a little game. In the overall scheme, those 90 million Xavnik had just lost were nothing more than cannon fodder, these 10 million remaining, each one with stone faces and gazes that didn''t seem to perceive anything around them at all... These 10 million were the true danger.

    "... You''ve really succeeded in pissing me off, Littlest Nova," Xavnik said lightly, his smile returning. "Let''s decide which of us will be the final Morales right here and now."

    "Oh? That''s unfortunate," Leonel pouted. "I thought we were really hitting it off, what happened to our alliance?"

    Aina and Simona bit their lips, seemingly trying to hold back their laughter. This Leonel... was truly too good at pissing people off.

    Ysemsan slowly unsheathed a saber, his expression as dark as night.

    Xavnik didn''t answer Leonel directly, instead waving a hand and pointing.

    "Flatten the city."

 Chapter 2081 Bulldoze

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade as he finally released Aina''s waist. He slipped off the back of the lion beast and his figure flickered. With a speed that was difficult to spot, he appeared atop the walls. He wore a calm expression as the 10 million troops below rumbled into motion.

    His actions didn''t seem to make much sense. Down below, his own army, which was only a fraction of the size, was in a precarious situation and there very clearly wasn''t any time to open the city gates without also risking the entry of Xavnik''s army as well. It looked as though Leonel''s people would be crushed first, before Simona''s people followed soon afterward.

    This was clear to everyone, except for Leonel himself, apparently.

    Just then the lion beasts roared, leaping forward. Their numbers were large, numbered upward of 200 000. However, compared to a sea of 10 million, it really seemed as though it would be worth much. Until, suddenly, collars around their neck began to glow one after another.

    Their manes flourished and grew a striking shade of gold, until that light suddenly peeled away, forming a circular disk of golden light. This circular disk moved before the heads of the charging lion beasts, snapping into place as they connected with one another one by one.

    Suddenly, the charging sea of lion beasts formed a golden shield that spanned hundreds of meters, blocking the path forward for the army of 10 million rushing for them.

    Leonel hadn''t used the lion beasts until now, but that wasn''t because he had forgotten about them. They were simply not very useful in the ocean waters. Although it wasn''t like they were helpless in the water, the tradeoff wasn''t worth it, especially if that meant that he had to reveal another trump card.

    This time, though, was a perfect situation for them. The collars they were wearing currently were mass produced Crafts created under the efforts of the Segmented Cube. It was one size fits all and each one was of the Life Grade. Their only purpose was to convert the large well of the Seventh Dimensional Force these pitiful beasts were in control over into a formation of powerful defenses.

    Back when Leonel had formed the armors for the stingrays, he had thought of using this method, but he had decided against it in the end because he wanted something more powerful, and that would require taking into account the unique measurements of each individual stingray.

    Now, however, he just needed a crude measure... of course, the definition of "crude" to Leonel''s eyes and the eyes of others was vastly different... Especially when...

    BANG!

    The frontline of Xavnik''s warriors rammed into the illusory golden shield walls. They hadn''t hesitated for even a moment, already imagining the scene of the shields collapsing. Even if they had been against the sturdy shields of Shield Cross Stars, they would only have been a little hesitant, let alone now.

    However, to their astonishment, the first line was repelled. They soared backward, but not very far only because there simply wasn''t anywhere to go but toward the second line... then the third...

    The army''s charge collapsed, the spearheads crumbling beneath the pressure.

    Leonel didn''t say a word as the lion beasts shifted their stances, digging in their heels and setting a hard line of defenses. He only gave Simona an almost careless gaze, and she snapped out of her stupor.

    "Archers!" Simona roared.

    At that moment, several bird beasts soared into the skies, their archers priming their bows and releasing in waves.

    Leonel took a glance up into the skies, a light smile on his face. This Golden family definitely fascinated him. He had put quite some effort into raising Little Blackstar, and it could be said that they had some tacit understanding, but it couldn''t compare to the skills of this Golden family at all. Whether their beasts had more potential or strength than Blackstar was one matter, but just their coordination alone was a beautiful thing.

    They flew in perfect formation, raining down an assault of arrows.

    PAK! PAK! PAK!

    The sound of flesh being pierced echoed throughout the battlefield, but the expected cries of agony, pain and fear didn''t follow. There were some roars, but they were all defiant, while the mass majority seemed to remain silent even in the face of death.

    Leonel retrieved his gaze from the top of the city walls, an amused glint in his eyes. These main soldiers of Xavnik were, indeed, excellent.

    "Bulldoze," Leonel said lightly.

    Just at that moment, it seemed that the lion beasts were wavering and their shields were about to collapse. But then they rose up from their position, roaring as they rushed forward again.

    Their line of shields pulsed with a light that repelled enemies.

    "Hold," Leonel commanded again.

    The lion beasts once again came to a stop after pushing the battle line just 10 or so meters, their shields flickering in and out as though they might collapse at any moment.

    "Bulldoze," Leonel commanded once more.

    They rose, rushing forward and pushing back the combat line another ten meters.

    Xavnik''s cold gaze watched this scene. He seemed to have a small idea now of how Leonel had accomplished so much. It seemed that the best Crafter among the Nova Heirs wasn''t Fifth Nova after all. However, it still wasn''t enough.

    "Release," Xavnik commanded.

    At that moment, the 10 million strong army that was being quickly whittled down suddenly retreated. They ignored their fallen comrades and didn''t make any attempt to save those that had fallen beneath their charge. They raised their polearms, some with pikes, others with halberds, and some with spears.

    Their armors trembled and their faces were covered by helmets, even the seams within being subtly covered. It was to the point that even their eyes couldn''t be seen any longer, not even through a small slit. Each one had become like a tank, their steps causing the ground to rumble and quake.

    Leonel''s lips suddenly curled into a grin.

 Chapter 2082 Blood.

    Leonel seemed to see the next step before it even happened.

    A dense gas was released across the battlefield. The wind billowed and spread it wildly, but even so, the density was so great that it continued to sink, moving forward like a grotesque algae throughout the battlefield.

    The moment the gas touched the shields, they began to sizzle. The Force upon them was being suffocated. Every attempt at recovering was crushed and the shields began to crack, and very soon, some of the gas began to roll up and over the shields, descending down toward the dogs below.

    There was no doubt. This was chemical warfare, and chemical warfare on such a large scale at that.

    Even in the Dimensional Verse, the matters of chemical and biological warfare were very much looked down upon. It could cause far too much devastation. If it wasn''t for the fact that the Pyius family had such a deep and rich history, they may very well have been taken out by other families for nothing other than what their affinities were.

    This was an interesting matter, actually, because it may very well have been tied to how the Pyius family became acquainted with the Godlen family in the first place.

    This aside, the fact that Xavnik had chosen to do such a thing meant that there most definitely wasn''t any coming back. He had fallen deep within Leonel''s schemes already, and though he hadn''t lost his head to rage, he knew that there was little he could do to reclaim his prestige currently. What mattered most was for him to secure his victory, everything after that mattered very little.

    One after another, the lion beasts began to grow ill and shaken. Their brownish furs turned grey and then a sickly green before their bodies began to expand as grotesque tumors started to form. Then...

    BANG!

    The first lion beast exploded. Thick globules of coagulated blood spread out in all directions. At the same time, a second of the shield wall collapsed and flickered, causing an even larger surge of greenery to pass through.

    Indeed, although Aina had a method of curing this poison, it was still a matter of time and resources. When would she have the time to concoct 200 000 such Force Pills, especially when Leonel had already put so much on her plate?

    At the same time, due to the Lio family, these beasts had had their potential squeezed out entirely. They probably wouldn''t live for even another year or two as their lifespan had been dwindled in exchange for power. As such, in Leonel''s eyes, even if Aina had had the time, it probably wouldn''t have been worth it to extend the resources needed toward them anyway.

    Xavnik''s sneer deepened. However, when he saw Leonel''s smiling expression hadn''t vanished in the slightest, his pupils couldn''t help but constrict. A paranoia had taken deep root into his heart. Without even noticing, he didn''t feel as though he could trust even his own judgment anymore. Everything he did, he had to double-check how Leonel was reacting to know if he had done good or not, and this sort of situation was the worst kind of leader to be in...

    Especially when he was right to be worried.

    BOOM!I think you should take a look at

    It happened too suddenly. The beam of reddish-golden light swept out from the gap, blowing a massive hole through the dense fog and colliding with a long line of soldiers. They didn''t even have the time to react before they were blown to pieces, and before those that had survived could even register what had happened, a second explosion took place, and then a third.

    Each time it happened, tens of wars would fall, and the pace of the explosions only seemed to be increasing.

    Xavnik''s eyes widened as he suddenly realized what had happened.

    Just now, it wasn''t that the shield had shattered, it had disappeared. What Xavnik hadn''t known was that Leonel had never expected for these lion beasts to survive a very long time; in fact, he hadn''t expected much from them at all except their death.

    Leonel took quite some inspiration from Aina. Back before she gained the Blood Sovereign Tablet, Aina''s method of using her talent was to absorb Blood Force to increase her strength. Life Force was the energy while the Blood Force was the carrier. Throughout a person''s life, in order to sustain their breath, Blood Force would use a small amount of Life Force at a time.

    Aina was able to ignore that limiter, ripping a person''s entire life''s worth of Blood Force out for immediate use. One could imagine what years of energy expended all at once could do for a person''s strength... Even if it was just one or two years.

    Leonel had set a function in the collars those lion beasts wore to trigger upon their death. Once the poison was sensed, all of their remaining Blood Force would fuse with the large amount of Neutral Force that had formed their shields in the first place. Once they came together, they would explode out in a beam.

    The process was so fast and devastating that even the poison fog that could easily corrode Force didn''t react fast enough to stop it. Now, every single time one of those beasts fell, it was as though they were taking down dozens within them. Xavnik was watching his army fall in real-time, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.

    He could accept the loss of the other 90 million, but this 10 million were his core, the foundation of his strength, it had taken a great deal of effort to raise them up.

    "RETREAT!" Xavnik roared.

    He couldn''t stop himself anymore. He leapt up with such ferocity that the wooden carriage beneath him exploded into countless pieces. He pulled out a spear and shot into the skies, rushing toward Leonel like a madman.

    He had to stop this, he couldn''t continue to be played like this.

    He wanted blood.

 Chapter 2083 Much More Interesting

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Leonel raised up his hands. "Why all of this animosity?"

    Suddenly, Leonel''s hands shifted and he pointed his two forefingers up to the sky as he shook his head. He looked as though he was reprimanding Xavnik for being too reckless. What was this, he was still the leader? How was it helpful for him to get so hot-headed?

    RUMBLE.

    Xavnik only now seemed to realize that there was a storm brewing in the skies. The gloominess of the earlier atmosphere made it easy to ignore, plus it hadn''t mattered to him much if it rained or not; what difference did it make?

    But once again, seeing Leonel''s smiling expression, he began to rethink his whole life. He double-thought and triple-thought through things, his self-doubt creeping up from all corners.

    He roared into the skies, his frustration reaching a breaking point as he thrust his spear forward. He seemed to cleave the skies in two, a truly devastating attack that almost threatened to disperse the coming storm above. He didn''t seem to care about anything anymore; if he couldn''t guess what Leonel would do next, he would just crush it with brute strength. What good were schemes in the face of absolute strength?!

    Unfortunately, in his rage, he seemed to have forgotten that Leonel had the Spear Domain Ring. And, even if he hadn''t... What good was a spear in the face of a True Spear Sovereign?

    The powerful attack that caused the sky and earth below to split suddenly dissipated when he entered the range of Leonel''s Absolute Domain. It no longer even had to touch him, collapsing tens of meters away.

    Leoenl clicked his tongue. "I tried to warn you."

    "YOU-!"

    BANG!

    Tens of streaks of lightning descended from the skies all at once, bombarding into Xavnik before he could even realize what was happening. He had been so enraged, so infuriated, that he had completely lost himself. His vision had blurred, his only focal point being Leonel himself. But this sort of suffocating reality was exactly what caused him to be a charred mess on the ground.

    Xavnik lay in a pit, looking into the skies in a daze.

    The attack he had taken just now had been responsible for wiping out several Heir-Grade upgrade challenge armies, except while those had targeted many, he was the only target for this one. It could be said that the fact he was still alive at all was truly a surprise for Leonel, but it wasn''t as though this surprise would appear on his face.

    To the current Xavnik, Leonel was practically omnipotent. Even to the current Leonel, this was also true. Ever since he had awakened from that odd dream, he felt as though the entire world was nothing more than a joke. He didn''t even have to put much effort into crushing his so-called enemies. It only took a few words and Xavnik had become clay puddy in his hands.

    The army below found themselves in a state of chaos. Their commander''s life and death were unknown to them, and they were now being crushed by wave after wave of what could only be described as suicide bombings. It was truly unlike anything they had ever experienced before.

    Under Xavnik''s rule, they couldn''t remember ever losing. Even against the best geniuses of the Human Domain, they had always had the utmost confidence. They couldn''t believe they were losing to a youth they had hardly given any regard to in the past.

    The worst part was that he hadn''t even lifted a finger. From start to finish, he had only said some words and then pointed to the sky, and now they were actually in this sort of situation.

    Suffocating... It was a word that came up again and again, but it was the complete reality.I think you should take a look at

    The members of Xavnik''s army, or rather those that had once been a part of it, had retreated far into the distance. Many had escaped outright, looking for places to hide. Although they had left Xavnik, they too had an innate trust in his abilities and as such, many of them had been so certain that he would still win that their only thoughts were of looking for places to hide so that they wouldn''t run into him again before the Heir Wars ended.

    Only a small percentage remained, either confident in their escape abilities or believing that Xavnik couldn''t possibly get them all, especially not without destroying his reputation further. But even these people had still believed he would win... Until now.

    They almost couldn''t believe the gap. Were they really sure that they were of the same generation? Were they certain that this wasn''t an old monster taking over the skin of a youth? Was this really the Littlest Nova?

    The Human Domain didn''t know how to respond to this situation. They had seen Leonel create miracle after miracle, but it had never been this easy. They didn''t know what had happened to Leonel, or maybe that break he took was really exactly what he needed, but they felt that even the current him put the past him to shame.

    Leonel took a step and leapt down from the city walls, his expression calm as he came beside the pit that Xavnik was in and then dove within, picking up Third Nova by his neck and holding him up.

    The current Xavnik was still in a daze, not quite knowing where he was. Or maybe he did know and simply didn''t want to acknowledge it.

    "I guess it''s best if things end this way, go on your way," Leonel said with a light smile.

    His hand moved toward Xavnik''s chest to shatter his badge, but at the same time, his gaze flashed with a deep purple light. Clearly, he planned to use the same method he had on Anya''s sister to keep Xavnik under his control. He could wrap up these Heir Wars quickly and then take his time to interrogate Xavnik.

    Even if Xavnik was in full health, Leonel wouldn''t fear doing this. But he had still so diligently taken his time to completely crush and eviscerate Xavnik''s psyche, all so that this moment couldn''t have been any easier.

    Even as he began the process, Xavnik remained in a daze, unable to react, and Leonel knew that he had won.

    But at that moment, just when his seal was about to implant itself, Xavnik''s shadow moved.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted as he flashed away, his body vanishing and a clone appearing in its place.

    He watched his clone be severed into two and as Xavnik''s body was swallowed whole by the shadow and swept away.

    He didn''t react to this matter very much, looking down at his wrist. He grabbed out with his other hand, catching his severed hand before it could fall to the ground.

    Leonel chuckled despite having "lost" a hand. "Well, this is much more interesting."

    That shadow had been so well-hidden that even his senses hadn''t picked it up. But as well concealed as it was, its speed was even more impressive. His reaction speed was practically second to none, at least within this generation, and he didn''t believe that anyone could get by Ancestor Hito''s rules. But he had actually still "lost" a hand.

    Interesting indeed.

 Chapter 2084 Not Bad

    A large surge of Light Force took shape and [Instant Recovery] was cast once more. Leonel attached his hands to his wrist and they seemed to seamlessly fuse in an instant, without even the slightest effort. He was in perfect condition just a few moments later.

    He thought back to that shadow and couldn''t help but have several thoughts about the matter. Was that a Shadow Sovereign ability? It wasn''t impossible, though it felt slightly different. This was especially so the Three Finger Cult seemed to have a fascination with Shadow Sovereigns to begin with. They definitely had the highest concentration of such experts in the whole of the Human Domain.

    Leonel shook his head and looked toward Aina. "Is it enough?"

    Aina took a gaze at the still flowing cloud of poison and shook her head. "It''s way too much."

    Leonel laughed. That was a good thing. It was better to have too much than to have too little. This made things much easier and the amount of effort Aina would need to put in was much less. It was just unfortunate they had traded in the lives of so many lion beasts for this result.

    The Skies family and Oryx family only had worshipful gazes. They hadn''t known all of Leonel''s plans, but seeing everything go so smoothly made them feel that it didn''t matter much. They hadn''t even been forced to put their lives on the end.

    All of them had been there when Leonel had spoken to Xavnik, and many of them had even been skeptical about what it was that Leonel was trying to accomplish by handing over so much information. But seeing that even such a thing had worked out for them perfectly in the end, there was simply nothing that they could muster aside from deep admiration at this point. It felt like they were witnessing the rise of an Emperor, but he already had all the intelligence, bearing, and even experience that he should have only gained in the future.

    Leonel finally looked toward Simona and the others. He hadn''t originally come to the Morales with the belief that the Pyius family would be on his side. As he had said back then, he didn''t know much about the Godlen family to begin with. However, the more he learned, the more intrigued he was.

    If there could be one such hidden family, why couldn''t there be more? He even wondered if this Godlen family was similar to the Brazingers and the other three of the Four Great Families.

    He still had a lot of questions in his mind about the purpose of this world and that of the people trying to interfere with it. For example, were the Brazingers and Three Finger Cult on the same side? If they weren''t, then how was it that the creators of this world had allowed their enemies into an important thing? Or was it that the figures behind the Three Finger Cult and the Four Great Families were all just different factions of the same power so they all had equal access but different thoughts on how things should proceed? Or maybe it was that the nature of such a simulation in the first place necessitated that it be vulnerable to the influence of outsiders?

    He truly did have too many questions and not enough answers. He even had half a mind to start interrogating Anya''s sister, but he honestly very much doubted that she would have many answers.I think you should take a look at

    For some reason, although Harmony was apparently the elder sister, Anya felt far more unfathomable to Leonel. The fact that they were twins made even less sense to him. There was definitely something important related to this matter, but he also had a feeling that it wouldn''t be long before he met that woman again. This time, it was less likely that they would still be so friendly.

    Even though he had all of these questions, Leonel didn''t make any effort to ask Simona about them. As far as he was concerned, she likely didn''t know as much as he hoped, and if he began to ask even roundabout questions, it opened him up to potentially being exposed by others.

    Simona was just as cold as he remembered her, although her gaze carried a hint of something different when she looked at him. It seemed to be a surprise and a tinge of respect.

    Simona had probably, rightfully, looked down on most of her generation. She was seen as on par with them despite having the vast majority of her talent sealed, so she never really took any of them seriously.

    When she lost that battle against Aina, she had very much wanted her revenge, but she hadn''t expected things to turn out this way in the end.

    "Those deserters are pretty useful," Leonel suddenly said. "Can you send some people to round them up? It''ll make things much more convenient later on."

    Simona blinked before she nodded slowly. She looked toward the young man with the flaming black lion beast to her side and he understood, immediately taking action to give out orders.

    "It will be difficult to use them in battle. Most of them only participated to be under Xavnik to begin with. Those that have already given up that dream only really fall into two camps. The first, and likely the largest majority, are simply done with the Heir Wars and want nothing else but to wait for things to die out until they are transported out.

    "The second group is likely the minority and they might have realized that with so few of us remaining, they might still have a chance to become their own Heirs. It has to be remembered that most of them entered as Heirs on their own, so they don''t need to wait for Xavnik to escape. Of those that remain, they probably just want to maintain some of their face or see if they have a chance at becoming the ultimate winner."

    Leonel chuckled when he heard Simona''s analysis. "That''s not bad analysis, indeed. You''re missing something, though."

 Chapter 2085 Obvious

    Simona frowned when she heard Leonel''s words. If it had been someone else who said this, she might have directly attacked. She didn''t like the tone, and she liked the fact there was no explanation afterward even less. The current Leonel was far more condescending than he was charming, but it was difficult to refute that he deserved this sort of arrogance. Then again, Simona felt that she was thinking too much. In reality, the issue wasn''t with Leonel''s tone, but rather that he so seamlessly began to talk to her like a subordinate, something that left her uncomfortable.

    She had, indeed, agreed to help Leonel in order to return a favor, but she hadn''t subordinated herself to him. These two things couldn''t be equated. Leonel had just spoken like she was any of his other followers. He hadn''t been disrespectful, but the implication had irritated her.

    Simona took a breath and shook her head. Indeed, in this situation, she was meant to be a subordinate even if she didn''t like it. She wasn''t here to fight for her own Heirship, but rather that of Leonel''s. She had followed all of his plans up until here, and it could be said that without his guidance, she would have been taken out like the other Constellation families already. The Godlen family was unable to exhibit their full strength here, so left to her own devices, she would have had to flee already. This was probably what happened due to the odd nature of their partnership. She knew too little about Leonel and was only here to repay a heavy favor. In addition, her Pyius family cared less about outward prestige, or else her mother would have never married her father to begin with, so she was in a unique position to return this favor.

    Shaking her head, Simona waved a hand to the young man who had already returned, causing his brows to unfurrow. "I was in the wrong to begin with, I questioned his methods when he''s clearly already come to a decision. He was already respectful enough," Simona said lightly.

    The young man didn''t say anything to this. Since Simona had spoken, he accepted it. Even if he had felt that she was wrong, he wouldn''t have voiced it.

    ...

    "That didn''t sound very smooth," Aina suddenly said when Leonel returned to her side. "This not explaining things habit of yours will get you into trouble."

    Leonel smiled. "It''s not too big of a deal, whether she''s on board or not doesn''t make much of a difference to me."

    Leonel could have asked the Oryx or the Skies, or better yet Aina and the others to round up the 90 million that had escaped, but he hadn''t. Instead, he had gone out of his way to ask Simona to do it, and that was to draw a clear line. That look that Simona had given to the young man with the black flaming lion was all Leonel needed to see. If he was going to command people, he needed them to be perfectly in sync with him. Those that thought they could do things better were only a liability and nothing more.I think you should take a look at

    This was also why during the battle, he had only asked for a minor amount of help from Simona, enough that it wouldn''t be too obvious that he was making a statement, but also little enough that it would be obvious to them that he hadn''t come on bended knee for their assistance.

    The peculiarity of their relationship lent itself to this sort of outcome. Leonel was very good at reading the intentions and emotions of others, so it wasn''t something that escaped his grasp in the slightest. The hard truth was that from an outside observer''s perspective, Leonel had done very little to end up with a lot. No matter how important the little puppy was to Simona, he hadn''t even known that when he came across it, and the puppy could have easily been found by anyone else. Of course, there were other matters about that event that made Simona endlessly grateful, like the fact he hadn''t sacrificed the puppy at the altar of his speedy progression and increase in strength, but humans were also interesting creatures. It was all too easy for gratitude to turn to complacency and complacency to turn into disdain.

    If you did too much for someone, they could very easily take your kindness to just be a matter of fact, and regardless of how helpful Leonel had been to restoring her future potential, it was a fact that it was still something that anyone could have done.

    Human nature could easily ignore the deeds of the extraordinary if it happened too often, let alone when the deed wasn''t very extraordinary at all. But at the same time, Leonel''s grasp of human nature was extremely profound. He had targeted the problem before it even truly became one.

    Now, whether Simona would remember that and take it into consideration moving forward, he didn''t know. That much would be up to her. But like he said... He didn''t really care much either way. If she didn''t know what was best for her, or if her Godlen or Pyius family wanted to "stand up" for her, then in his eyes, the result wouldn''t be very much different. It would only mean one extra buried enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.

    "So then what do you actually want to do with them, then?" Aina looked at Leonel. Clearly, she had no intention of letting him skirt off like Simona had. If not, she had a few strong waist pinches in store.

    Leonel grinned when he saw the dangerous look in her eye. "Well, just think about it. Everyone on this continent knows about Xavnik and almost none of them know that he''s been defeated, at least for the time being. "Did you see how uniform and mono-colored their army was? Nice and organized if you ask me, very cool uniforms as well, top class. Third Nova did well."

    Leonel''s grin became wider. Aina''s gaze flickered, although Leonel hadn''t answered, the implications were all too obvious.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2086 Wanted

    As expected, most of those who remained of Xavnik''s subordinates were not fans of what Leonel was trying to do, and that was especially so for those of them that had survived the explosion of lion beasts. However, even for this latter group, it was only a matter of allowing James, Elthor and the others to have some fun of their own.

    The moment they took action, the weakened remaining members found themselves crushed.

    Out of curiosity, Leonel took one of their armors. But after a glance, he shook his head. He guessed that it was decent, at the Gold Grade, that is. But it wasn''t anything worthy of turning his head. If anything, it was just a waste of materials, albeit impressive that Xavnik managed to gather so much materials to waste in the first place.

    Had Xavnik known Leonel''s thoughts at this moment, he might have been angered to the point of aggravating all of his injuries. But these were just Leonel''s true sentiments. The current him felt that even his most recent Crafts weren''t up to par, let alone the Crafts of others.

    This aside, it didn''t particularly matter to Leonel that these armors weren''t very good. What was most important was that they were easily recognizable.

    That was right. Leonel planned to use the illusion of Xavnik to deal with those that remained. After he finished, it would be about time to have the final battle between himself and Amery. The first he had lost, the second he had won, and this third one would conclude the saga. Although his expression didn''t seem to show much, he could still remember that day all too clearly.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered with something unrecognizable, his lip curling.

    Suddenly, he moved, vanishing. When he appeared again, his palm descended upon Ysemsan''s head with such force that the latter''s knees crashed to the ground, leaving two deep pits. Ysemsan couldn''t even resist. He grit his teeth hard, but there was simply no fighting against it.

    Although he was outwardly enraged, his heart itself was palpitating. He had never thought that Leonel''s individual strength was actually so great. From beginning to end, it had felt like he had relied on nothing more than his mind, it was to the point that Ysemsan hadn''t even reacted to Leonel''s movement, not believing that the latter would dare to react.

    This sudden change didn''t catch just him off guard, but the others who had been roundup as well, not to mention the members of the Pyius and Godlen family that were observing from the city walls. Their expressions all changed.

    One moment, Leonel was smiling, and in the next, he had released an explosive energy they were certain over 90% of them couldn''t hope to counter... And that was despite him not having stepped foot into the Seventh Dimension yet.

    "Don''t glare at me," Leonel said with a smile.

    He bent down, resting the hamstrings on his heels as he looked the kneeling Ysemsan into the eye. With a flash, a strong violet Force descended and Ysemsan felt as though his mind had been imprinted.

    "You probably don''t need me to explain to what that is, right? Your only use to me is to command the rest of these people," Leonel spoke and then looked up. "As for the rest of you all, you will listen to him. Of course, if you''re obedient and attack as I tell you, those of you that survive I won''t touch. In fact, once I become the Heir of the Morales family, I''ll use my power to make sure that Xavnik can''t target your families on the backend."I think you should take a look at

    The upper echelons watching this scene were probably grinding their teeth. To them, Xavnik was their leader and they understood the backstory behind all these matters. Unfortunately, these youths had no idea and ate Leonel''s words up.

    Of course, they also believed that Leonel had no idea what was going on. If they knew that he was well aware, their teeth might very well shatter from grinding so much. The fact he knew made this matter all the more sinister.

    Hearing Leonel''s words, the rounded up subordinates slowly nodded.

    Those of them that had had hopes of becoming the new winners realized how foolish their thoughts had been. They had been crushed with just a little effort on Simona''s part, how could they have lasted until the end? Leonel himself hadn''t even made a move.

    In their eyes, Leonel was of course the greatest threat. The Pyius family didn''t compare to the Morales family, and it was Leonel who had crushed Xavnik''s army with just a few words and schemes. So, the fact that it was Simona and not Leonel that crushed them made them give up all of their dreams before they could even manifest.

    As for those that had just wanted to last until the end and survive, Leonel''s words about protecting their families were the greatest lure.

    Once again, just with a few seemingly minor and unimportant decisions, Leonel had dealt with the situation perfectly, gripping onto the weaknesses of both groups with just a single action.

    "Good," Leonel said with a light smile. "Your task is simple, the only thing you''ll do is attack the Spirituals Religion, just like you planned to do originally."

    The expressions of many changed. Without the backing of Xavnik, and considering the fact most of their best elite troops had been crushed, this was practically suicide. However, in the end, they could only grit their teeth. They truly didn''t have much of a choice.

    Leonel nodded to himself.

    In truth, they were thinking too much. It was precisely because Xavnik wasn''t present and the elite troops were nowhere to be seen that they would survive.

    What would one think if an easily recognizable army suddenly appeared without their center pieces? Wouldn''t they be wary? Wouldn''t they be hesitant? Wouldn''t they be on a constant lookout for where Xavnik might appear?

    And that was exactly what Leonel wanted.

 Chapter 2087 Whetstone

    The Suiard family had been very silent in this span of time. It could even be said that they were quite silent throughout the Heir Wars. Amery hadn''t seemed to be very interested in expanding his territory, and he hadn''t even made much headway toward the ocean. In fact, his territory was actually quite a distance from the coast despite the fact that he did, indeed, control all the land between this place and it.

    From the beginning, the only large scale clash that the Suiard family had had was actually against their only ally. It was quite ironic, actually. But other than this, Amery had truly not done much. It was as though he was waiting for someone, waiting for someone he knew would definitely come.

    This stance by the Suiard family was truly baffling. That was because they were considered to be the de facto leaders of the sword families of the Human Domain, and unlike the Morales family that never really cared to gather up all the spear masters, the Suiard family actually had subordinated many of them.

    As such, if Amery had wanted, he could have been a lot like Xavnik, gathering up many Heirs under his banner and using it to sweep through the competition.

    But he hadn''t.

    Why would he waste his time with such a thing? He wasn''t like the trash of the Morales family.

    The Suiard family had their own version of the Heir Wars, but it didn''t have the bounds of a competition, it didn''t have a start date or end date, nor were there rules against killing. The only rule was that no one beneath the Seventh Dimension could be targeted, only then would they become part of the boundless competition.

    However, before even entering the Seventh Dimension, in fact even before entering the Sixth, all of Amery''s brothers had already submitted to him. He had been the decided leader of the Suiard family ever since he was 12 years old, he didn''t have competition in his generation, nor did he take anyone seriously. Even his so-called fiancижe, a half-Spiritual, was no match for him.

    If it wasn''t for the face of his family, he wouldn''t have cared to come in the first place.

    In reality, he really only had two goals for this trip. The first was to conveniently deal with that guy they insisted on calling the Bow Deity, as far as he was concerned that guy was far too annoying. Placing another on his level was a bit ridiculous.

    The second was even simpler, and that was to defeat whoever was last to remain and came to challenge him for ultimate victory. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn''t really give a damn about anything else.

    And finally, it seemed that that day had come.

    Amery slowly opened his eyes. Up in the skies, a young man stood with a smile on his face, but just this simple smile made Amery''s pupils constrict. That was because it was too casual, too relaxed. It felt like Leonel wasn''t even here for him, but was rather here to conveniently deal with him since he was obstructing his path.

    Of course, Amery remembered that he had suffered defeat at Leonel''s hands, but he never took that matter to heart. As his grandfather had said, there was no room for excuses, so he would willingly allow Leonel that victory, but that didn''t mean that he had to take the man himself seriously.

    Back then, Leonel had used a treasure bow to increase his Bow Force usage. In truth, Amery could have disregarded that usually as well, if it wasn''t for the fact most of his strength was sealed away while suppressing the Tribulation. Knowing this, it was only natural that he didn''t take Leonel seriously. In fact, he hadn''t even thought that Leonel would be among the last standing.

    Amery slowly stood to his feet.I think you should take a look at

    He stood within the top floor of a tower. While the others did, this floor in particular didn''t have glass windows, opening them up to the weather.

    The window billowed as he took a step forward, appearing in the skies as well. He didn''t seem intent on drawing his blade. Looking at Leonel''s calm smile despite how close he was, Amery''s expression remained placid.

    Even against a Seventh Dimensional existence, at this distance, it would only take a thought for Amery to kill them.

    Suddenly...SHIIIING!The howl of a sword echoed and the violence of a sharpening blade split the skies. A rotating cyclone of Sword Force formed in an instant, it was so fast that its manifestation wasn''t seen. However...ROAR!The spiraling manifestation of Spear Force formed just as fast, rotating around Leonel''s body and clashing with Amery''s cyclone.

    Two young men stood in the skies, their Force grinding against one another. It looked as though two mighty golden hurricanes had formed in the skies, creating two eyes of the storm that shredded everything in their path apart.

    The entire city was thrown into disorder. Members of the Sina family and the other lower level Sword families, along with members of the Suiard family, had already been alerted to Leonel''s arrival long ago. But before they could react, he had already made it to Amery, making them realize that this was definitely no simple opponent.

    Seeing this, their gazes were painted with horror as they all retreated at their fastest speed, dodging out of the way of flying shards of glass, collapsing buildings, and most important, residual blades of Spear and Sword Force.

    Suddenly, it all came to a stop. Amery''s robes fluttered as Leonel''s linen shirt threatened to fly from his body, clinging against his torso with such force under the harsh winds that every peak and crevice of his chiseled physique could be seen.

    Amery was silent. Of all the things he had thought would happen, he would have never guessed that Leonel''s Spear Force would actually be on the same level as his Sword Force.

    No... Technically he was a level below. He had already formed Seventh Dimensional Sword Force, but he could actually only be equal to Leonel''s Sixth Dimensional Spear Force.

    Without a word, Amery slowly pulled out two swords, his gaze tranquil.

    Those days he spent in the Tribulation were some of the best days of his life. He had simply never met anyone on his level before.

    He had faced a bottleneck in his Sword Force for too long, it was about time a whetstone came to him.

    -----

    Erdiul Notes: I remember when Amery was actually sort of an interesting character, but in the end he truly just manifested into a typical young master. A shame.

 Chapter 2088 Confident

    Leonel smiled, his demeanor relaxed. "You seem to be quite confident."

    Amery looked into Leonel''s eyes, it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He seemed to have the same level of indifference no matter the situation. Back when he was defeated in Leonel''s hands, he had the same casual expression. After a brief instant of suppressing his Lineage Factor from activating, he reacted quite normally.

    In truth, his reaction was quite muted. It had to be remembered that his goal from the very beginning was the egg. Unlike Leonel, he had every intention of taking on the Shadow Sovereign Lineage for himself. Such a thing would have given him three Lineage Factors, placing him beyond almost anyone who had ever existed. Not only that, but all three of his Lineage Factors would be exceptionally powerful.

    But that had been snatched from him. The fact that he had decisively left and managed to rein in his temper, even to the point that he didn''t even bother to target Leonel personally after that event although there were definitely opportunities to do so, went a lot toward showing Leonel exactly the kind of person this man was.

    However, it was also precisely this sort of attitude that Leonel wanted to knock down a peg. Not targeting him afterward was a sign of clear disregard, he simply hadn''t cared enough about Leonel to do so, and even now, he seemed to think that it would be a simple matter to take a step forward.

    In Amery''s mind, it was only right that Leonel had grown to this point. Leonel had been under a lot of pressure, forced to grow faster otherwise he might very well lose his life. As for him, he had never been under such pressure in his life. Every challenge he had come across, he had always shattered with just a single swing of his sword.

    He hadn''t faced any sort of adversity, and yet he had grown to this point. The truth was that he very much hoped that Leonel was as powerful as he seemed, maybe in this lifetime, he could finally have a real challenge.

    He had had a taste of that during his tribulation. He had come across all sorts of powerful existences that pushed him to his limits and his growth then was far beyond anything he had ever experienced in the Human Domain. However, it had already been a small while since then.

    It was about time he had a second.

    Leonel didn''t seem to expect Amery to respond, nor did he care to listen to his response. Instead, he looked down toward the ring on Amery''s finger.

    "That ring, I have someone who would be far better suited for it. I''ll be taking it off your hands today."

    Leonel said these words without the slightest hint of emotion in his tone. His smile had entirely vanished, nothing but the vacant depths of his eyes staring forward as though an endless abyss was hidden within.

    He returned Amery the words that he had said all that time ago. That day, he had nearly lost his hand, and if not for Anastasia''s awakening, his path of Crafting may have been cut off forever, or at the very least, crippled.

    Leonel didn''t take very many things seriously, but what he absolutely abhorred was disrespect.I think you should take a look at

    Respect and Persistence. These were the two things that he had built his life upon. And whenever he didn''t receive the sort of reciprocation, he believed that he deserved, the only thing he felt was a bubbling up of fury.

    His body flashed with a blinding Bronze Aura, his Divine Armor clicking into place. The violent and raging aura of a pillar that seemed to connect the earth below and the skies above manifested, his ten Stars flooding his body with power.

    He took a step forward and the air beneath him cracked and shattered. It looked as though space itself was collapsing, a sight that shook those below to their core, especially as the ground immediately beneath his feet rippled, a hole with edges as smooth as a mirror took shape, almost as though someone had stamped a god''s pillar down and then quickly removed it.

    Amery''s fingers trembled and a sword light suddenly appeared before Leonel.

    With a slash, Leonel shattered it, his body flickering and vanishing and appearing before Amery in an instant. The wind wrapped around his descending black rod, forming a howling barrier that echoed through the city.

    Amery, wrists flexed, his movements smooth and unhurried, but despite his seemingly slow movement, his swords seemed to reach the perfect location at just the right time.

    BANG!

    Billowing steam-like Forces surged in all directions, a violent black Sword Force from Amery and a radiant violet and blue Spear Force from Leonel. It felt as though the two were dividing the world between the two of them, painting reality in their own colors and leaving an indelible mark behind for the countless generations to follow.

    They separated and suddenly rushed forward once more.

    Leonel''s spear spun and moved in elegant arcs no less beautiful than Amery''s swinging swords. It was hard to believe that such a gorgeous sight could come from a spear at all. The Leonel of today and the one Amery had met couldn''t even be said to be on the same level. That Leonel only knew how to simplify and use the crudest and most direct actions. This Leonel seemed to see the entire board, carrying both the systematic and rigid rules of the game, while also having the flair of ingenious, brilliant movement that could only come from a deep well of creativity.

    Every time they clashed, another large swath of the city collapsed, flattened beneath their might, but neither one of them seemed to be going all out.

    Their gazes seemed to clash more than even their weapons. They tracked one another through the air, the sounds and reverberating impacts of their weapons unable to obstruct their meeting eyes in the slightest.

 Chapter 2089 Two

    Amery''s style suddenly changed. He shifted to the side, drawing a circular arc with one sword and piercing straight forward with the other. His hands moved independently of one another, a beautiful display of duality.

    It looked as though he was drawing a bow and arrow across the air.

    BANG!

    The arrow cut through the skies, appearing before Leonel''s throat in an instant. However, with just a flicker of Leonel''s eyes, the arrow vanished into thin air, he didn''t even bother to block or slow his attack, slashing down toward Amery''s exposed shoulder.

    Amery''s pupils constricted. He hadn''t expected this to happen in the slightest and was a bit late to react. Even so, his speed was exceptional. Rather than moving his feet, it was his attack speed that was on full display instead. The sword that had been drawing the body of a bow through the air continued its elegant arc, slipping the side of Leonel''s spear body and parrying it off to the side.

    At the same time, he shifted his stance forward, closing the advantage of range Leonel''s weapon gave him to continue thrusting his piercing sword forward.

    His two arms seemed to work on their own and together at once, forming an air tight defense that could react and shift on its own. He didn''t seem to have to think before he reacted at all, his body in a seamless sort of higher state.

    Leonel shifted his own stance, the Void Star Force Star to his back pulsing once before a Force Art seemed to be completed in an instant.

    Amery felt as though his thrust had slowed considerably and yet sped up at the same time. It was an eerie feeling that made it difficult to tell which way was up and which was down, but by the time he had begun to unravel the mysteries, Leonel''s parried spear had spun in his hands, recovering and sweeping back with a momentum that made the air crackle and pop.

    BANG!

    Amery blocked with his second sword with a deft precision, his first thrust sword barely stopping before Leonel''s chest as he ran out of momentum.

    He didn''t quite have enough strength to fight back, his body being sent flying to the side and losing a bit of the initiative.

    Leonel thrust several times in the skies, the tip of his spear vanishing and suddenly fusing several strikes into one as they appeared before Amery just as the latter had lost his balance.

    Even in this situation, Amery''s calm hadn''t changed in the slightest. His Absolute Sword Domain rumbled to life, but just when it seemed that he would use it to defend, its purpose changed entirely.

    Amery struck out with his sword several times and his Absolute Sword Domain vanished, forming three cyclones that appeared around Leonel all at once.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. He took a step and vanished through space, dodging out of the way of the approaching cyclones, but Amery had already recovered, using the spine of his sword to block his attack. The level of skill and confidence in oneself it took to do such a thing was entirely off the charts.

    However, despite the fact both seemed to be doing impossible things, they didn''t blink even a single time. It seemed to come naturally to the two of them, their cold indifference weighing heavily on the hearts of the spectators as they vanished once again.

    It felt like every single one of their clashes were just as deadly, each one carrying a close shave with death that both of them had to dance with. And yet, despite this, they were entirely unmoved.I think you should take a look at

    By the dozenth exchange, Leonel was absolutely certain that Amery, too, had an analytical Ability Index. In fact, it might very well be one with an exceptionally high Dream Force affinity as well because he was entirely unmoved by Leonel''s clones.

    Amery seemed to have decided that this was the case for Leonel as well, and as though they had both come to some sort of tacit understanding, their gazes lost their placidness and became incomparably vicious in an instant.

    In that moment, when the flip switched, they seemed to have become entirely different people. Their howls filled the air and a violent sort of momentum started to come from their bodies, an aura that could only be described as demonic.

    Amery''s pale skin began to redden and the billowing blue Vital Star Force coming from Leonel became a blinding sheen of crimson.

    BANG!

    The air around them exploded.

    Amery''s swords crossed and Leonel grabbed his spear with both hands so forcefully that the polearm almost creaked and warped.

    It was a violent clash, even more so than the past ones. If the others flattened the land, this one devastated it.

    Their Forces were entirely wild and out of control, expanding in all directions without a thought for stamina or those around them.

    Leonel grinned wildly, a crimson Force billowing from him, forming a sparkling nebulae in the skies. It felt as though he had become the center of his own universe.

    At the same time, Amery''s eyes had become entirely red, such a deep shade, in fact, that it looked more magenta than it did red. His long hair whipped about wildly with such fierceness that it almost looked as though they wanted to fly away on their own.

    Veins popped up across their bodies, Amery''s exposed and Leonel''s hidden beneath his Divine Armor. Their momentum rose like a tide and suddenly, two gems on the back of Amery''s hands began to glow with their own light.

    One was such a deep jet black that if not for the surge of crimson, it would have been impossible to spot in the first place.

    The other could only be described as bloody. Its light was incredibly heavy and almost liquid, dripping down his hands and fingers.

    Even in his current state, Leonel recognized them immediately.

    Innate Nodes. Not just one, but two.

 Chapter 2090 Born

    Innate Nodes were incredibly rare, so much so that it was practically well accepted that only the Spirituals Race could produce them. Even when humans formed them, they were usually exceptionally low level Innate Nodes. Someone like Leonel who not only had one, but one of exceptionally high quality like the Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, was entirely unheard of.

    Even so, even Leonel didn''t have two Innate Nodes. Although he technically had three right now, one of them was regrown, the second was taken back from the one who had stolen it from him in the first place, and the final one was snatched from one of his enemies.

    The fact that Amery had not just one, but two himself, and in such a perfect location for himself at that, was something that maybe only the highest echelon members of the Suiard family had been aware of... And that was because Amery had simply never needed to use them against those of his generation.

    At that moment, the winds howled. Spiraling cyclones of Force formed around Amery swords, one wrapped in a deep, abyssal black light, and the other looking as though it had been coated in blood.

    The black force, there was no doubt in Leonel''s mind, was definitely Dark Force. This wasn''t a low level Innate Node at all. Dark and Light Force were considered to be above most elemental Forces and only below Forces like Dream and Star Force. The fact that Leonel had had a Light Force affinity had already been a shocking matter to the people of Earth back when the Metamorphosis had just descended, and that was the location with the greatest concentration of talent in the entire Human Domain. If he had been exposed to have a Light Force Innate Node, the reactions wouldn''t have been so "muted".

    But then there was that odd liquid red Force. It looked almost like Blood at first gaze, and Leonel had truly thought it to be a Blood Force Innate Node. However, the longer he observed it for, the more he felt that this was probably not the case.

    There was something different about this Force... It seemed to carry a hint of Water Force... another hint of Earth Force... and a final hint of Life Force.

    That was when it hit Leonel. He had only vaguely heard about this Force, and that was only after he had gone through the entirety of the Void Library. If not for this, he might not even recognize this Force, much like he hadn''t recognized Breaking Force back then.

    This was Gaia Force.

    This odd fusion of Water, Earth and Life Force was precisely Gaia Force. Its abilities were extremely enigmatic. Not only could it be extremely heavy, but it could borrow power from the earth and that of large bodies of water. This borrowed power would become the strength of the user, an almost infinite well of strength.

    Leonel was absolutely certain that it had more abilities, abilities likely related to why Amery had actually dared to use the imagery of a bow and arrow to attack him earlier.

    This wasn''t for certain, but what was absolutely certain was the fact that this Gaia Force was most definitely a high level Force, a Force on the same level as Scarlet Star Force without a doubt. It seemed that this was likely the reason the Spirituals Religion had agreed to marry their Demi-Goddess to him.

    "Is that so..." Leonel said lightly, his grin becoming wilder. "Two Innate Nodes? I have that, too."

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura exploded forth like a collapsing star. His Innate Nodes began to glow with such force that they shimmered through his Divine Armor. But just when it seemed that his Scarlet Star Force would burn through, something changed.

    His armor trembled, its crevices beginning to glow with a crimson light. Just when the crimson light was about to take over entirely, a silver-gold light flowed to meet it. Two vein patterns, one red-gold, and the other silver-gold, met and intertwined in a beautiful sort of dance.I think you should take a look at

    His tier one armor was made of materials too weak to enter this state, but... who had said that he had shown everything his tier two armor could do

    Amery and Leonel stood off across from one another, their auras reaching their peak.

    At that moment, on the outside, sitting as the observers, the Suiard family stood to their feet. They had all felt that this matter would only end in one way, but they had never expected that even before the battle could ramp up, Amery had brought out one of his greatest trump cards so casually.

    He hadn''t been pushed into a corner, his stamina wasn''t running out, he hadn''t even been injured yet, and yet he had chosen to make this move.

    There was only one explanation for why. He felt that Leonel was an equal opponent, and an opponent that he should go all out against before he lost the chance to.

    When they reached this conclusion, they felt that it was too difficult to accept. That was because there was only one person who was on such a level, and that was precisely the number one Queen Beauty of this generation, the Spiritual Religion Heiress.

    How could there be a second?

    Even with all of this said, Leonel and Amery seemed to have forgotten about the world all around them. As the skies collapsed and the ground crumbled, they stood in silence for just a moment before they clashed. Their speeds were so fast that their afterimages seemed to still be standing in the air, having not moved at all. In fact, their afterimages had yet to even fade by the time they returned to their same exact locations, blood trickling from both of their lips.

    Horns began to slowly grow from Amery''s forehead as three tails extended from Leonel''s back, growing so large that their swinging motion stirred the clouds in the sky.

    A silence fell.

    BANG!

    The aftershock of their exchange finally exploded forth, leveling the entire city to the ground.

    The Human Domain watched with rapt attention. Just how many trump cards did these two youths have?

    But most importantly... The Spear Deity seemed to have been born in that moment.

 Chapter 2091 Impenetrable By Wind

    Leonel''s spear was surrounded by a spiraling red-gold and silver-gold light. It wrapped around it tightly, dancing as though they had minds of their own. His arm and his spear seemed to have become one. By extension, his armor and his spear seemed to have likewise fused into one.

    The phantom of a roaring panda barely took shape, his three long fox tails continuing to stir the clouds in the skies. Across from him, Amery seemed to have grown a size, towering to over seven feet. His horns were menacing, and the depths of his crimson eyes looked as though one was staring into the depth of an erupting volcano.

    His swords trembled slightly under the tightness of his grip, one dripping with a viscous Force that looked no different from streaks of thick blood, and the other emitting plumes of endless Dark Force so dense that the shape of its body was impossible to spot perfectly.

    The skies trembled around the both of them, the muted hums of their weapons causing mountains to quake and the air to split around them, unwilling to get close for fear of being severed to their very roots.

    BANG!

    Leonel moved with an impossible to track speed, the billowing steam of Force surging from the valves of his Divine Armor becoming a pair of fiery wings that blotted out the skies.

    Amery didn''t seem to move an inch, or rather, his legs didn''t. His arms instead became blurs, meeting the dance of Leonel''s spear without a hint of calm. His aura became savage, his blades wanting for blood and his gaze piercing like streaks of red lightning.

    His Dark Force sword was ethereal and difficult to track. It seemed to slip in and out of the shadows, a sinister dance of subtlety and shrewdness making it almost impossible to track.

    His Gaia Force sword was akin to crashing waves. It was heavy and relentless, carrying the weight of the earth and the persistence of trickling water. It was all held together by a surging Life Force, endless and unfathomable.

    Leonel''s own spear didn''t seem to have a direct style at all, but its flexibility and smoothness was undeniable. Sometimes it was speedy, others time forceful, yet other times crafty and still yet direct. His skill alone made spear masters blush with shame, they couldn''t fathom such a use having grasped such a skill in a weapon they had dedicated centuries to.

    The two didn''t seem to be moving at all. If it wasn''t for the blur of their arms and the destruction of the world around him, it would be impossible to tell that they were battling at all.

    At the same time, it was as though each were wielding dozens of blades. Amery''s swords appeared from all sorts of angles, hundreds of blade tips and edges separating through space, attacking Leonel from all sides. As for Leonel''s spear, even when he seemed to strike out just a single time, it was dispersed through both space and time, layering atop one another and making it seem as though he had endless pairs of arms and countless spears.

    The echoing sounds of their clashes rumbled and layered atop of one another, the bounds of the Heir War planet threatening to collapse entirely. In the end, this wasn''t a true Eighth Dimensional world although Elder Hito had simulated the pressure. It was ultimately just a world of the Seventh Dimension, and whether it was Leonel or Amery...I think you should take a look at

    Both of them were True Sovereigns.

    Streaks of golden Sword and Spear Force blotted out the rumbling of the clouds. As darkness fell, it felt as though the brightness of the sun was still present among them all.

    Leonel''s Scarlet Star Force constantly fought to erode Amery''s Gaia Force. At the same time, Amery''s Gaia Force was like an anchor, sinking into Leonel''s endless streams of fire and stripping them of their strength.

    At the same time, Leonel''s Emulation Spatial Force forced Amery''s Dark Force to continuously manifest itself. Under its strength it was as though it wasn''t allowed to be formless and shapeless, grasped by the power of Leonel''s control over space. Whether it chose to hide in the shadows or manifested within reality, it would be found nonetheless.

    Only the Ancestors seemed to realize that the battle of this pair of Sword and Spear Sovereigns were occurring both in reality and within the void. The amount of foresight and skill it was taking for the both of them to display this kind of strength wasn''t something that should have appeared in the younger generation.

    Amery''s wrist twisted, his Dark Force sword suddenly losing all form. It wasn''t just the Force, but rather the blade itself that had vanished. In that moment, it became clear that Amery''s sword was actually of the Life Grade.

    Leonel''s spear missed it, unprepared for this sudden change and his shoulder was pierced. Despite the sudden change, Leonel didn''t seem to react in the slightest. His Scarlet Star Force circulated and crushed the Dark Force that was threatening to enter his body. At the same time, his spear, which had missed its target, didn''t pause or stop for even a moment, shredding a path into Amery''s shoulder instantly as well.

    The two drew blood at the same time, retreating a step before exploding forth with an even greater power. At that moment, just as suddenly as the last change, the darkening skies turned entirely black. A surge of Universal Force descended, basking Amery in an endless light that couldn''t be seen by most in the slightest.

    Day and night were overturned, then reverted once again, it seemed that whichever sword Amery chose to attack with would decide even the state of the world itself.

    His power jumped explosively, and several cuts were torn into Leonel''s armor. Leonel''s gaze remained fiery and fierce, his spear changing to a more defensive stance. His spear blade became like a net.

    "Impenetrable by the wind, untouchable by the light. As vast as the skies and sturdy as the earth."

    His Spear Force trembled, streams covering him from all sides.

 Chapter 2092 Done.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    The rumble of Leonel''s poem seemed to resonate with the world, dimming the depth of Amery''s night and the brightness of his day. His defenses became airtight, his spearmanship taking another leap forward.

    The raging battle intent in his eyes seemed to become as calm as a chilly lake, but it was precisely this controlled battle intent that made one''s heart grow cold.

    He took a step to the side, parrying Amery''s assault.

    "One spear to connect the earth and skies."

    Leonel''s voice rumbled again and his spear tip met the perfect crossing of Amery''s two blades, thrusting through the two of them at precisely the same time and disrupting the flow of his attack. A streak of spear light shot through the vast darkness above, becoming a dividing sign between Amery''s Natural Light Realm and the rest of the world.

    Amery''s swords flew to the side and he was forced to take a step back, the strength of Leonel''s spearmanship throwing him off balance. But even so, his gaze only gained a fiercer depth to them. His Natural Light Realm changed once again.

    If before Leonel''s "One spear to connect the earth and skies" had been the dividing line, at this moment, Amery himself was the dividing line. It was as though he became the center of the world, his Dark Force sword holding the night and the Gaia Force holding the day.

    The fierceness of the glow of his Innate Nodes continued to grow, each becoming the center of their own world.

    Amery''s horns sparked, sharp, howling Sword Qi spiraling around each one of them. His Gaia Force sword rose and the world seemed to fall into silence. The echo of Leonel''s poetic words dimmed and faded entirely, the strength of his spear dimming considerably at that moment.

    To Leonel''s astonishment, Amery hadn''t actually learned the Complete Universal Force. Universal Force was difficult enough to learn normally, but to learn the True version, like Leonel had, and apply Universal Force to all aspects of his ability, was even more difficult.

    Leonel didn''t believe for a second that Amery didn''t have the strength to learn True Universal Force, or more accurately, the talent. But, Amery had made the conscious choice to only learn Universal Force for his Sword Force.

    At first, Leonel didn''t understand why this was, but now he had.

    Amery dedicated his life to the sword in a way that Leonel had never done for the spear, or even the bow. And his Universal Force...

    Reflected exactly that.

    BOOM!

    Amery''s sword streak carried the profundities of the day. The Gaia Force swallowed up everything in its path, swallowing up more Universal Force than Leonel had ever seen in a single instance. He was taking advantage of the strength of his devoted focus toward the sword to manipulate the Universal Force in a fashion that Leonel had simply never seen before.

    He traded versatility for complete mastery, and now, this singular strike felt as though it couldn''t be blocked. In fact, even as he swung this strike, Leonel felt that Amery was making small changes to his stance even as he moved.

    He was improving in real time.

    Leonel suddenly grinned. Facing this tide of Sword Force that couldn''t seem to be blocked, the savageness of his expression only grew and the pulsing crimson light within the depth of his pale violet irises only grew fiercer and fiercer.I think you should take a look at

    The black spear in Leonel''s hand trembled and Leonel''s Absolute Spear Domain suddenly roared to life. However, the moment this cyclone of golden Spear Force appeared, it began to be corrupted by a deep, black fog. It grew deeper and deeper until the point it had swallowed the entire cyclone and an enormous sphere of Dark Force enveloped Leonel and Amery before anyone could react.

    The strength of Amery''s strike fell by half instantly.

    Leonel roared, piercing out with his spear. He seemed to draw a line through the darkness, but as quickly as he split it into two, was just as quick as it swallowed itself back up, suturing up its own wound.

    Leonel seemed to have been attacking himself, but Amery''s pupils constricted. He felt the Dark Force Innate Node within his hand tremble.

    At that moment, Amery had a shocking thought. ''Shadow Sovereign!''

    The strength of Amery''s Dark Force sword plunged and the balance of his Natural Light Realm was thrown off entirely. The strength of Universal Force comprehension came from the concept of Cycles, and Cycles found their strength in repetition, balance and consistency. With one of the cycles being thrown off, the balance plummeted considerably.

    How could the Dark Force maintain its proper strength beneath the might of a Shadow Sovereign?

    With this spear in hand, and its Domain deployed, the strength of Leonel''s Dark Force skyrocketed while Amery''s became all but useless.

    "Shadowless."

    Leonel spoke lightly and without much effort, but his words rumbled through the darkness, echoing into infinity and multiplying over themselves. It sounded as though not just one Leonel had spoken, but a countless number of them. It layered atop his comprehension, resonating and increasing the strength of his spear.

    AT the same time, his gaze glowed with a blinding violet radiance. He had activated [Emperor''s Edict], fusing its capabilities with his Shadow World and increasing its strength to control the world.

    After speaking such a word, his spear seemed to be both nowhere and everywhere at once. Amery didn''t know how to begin to defend because there didn''t seem to be anything to defend against.

    PCHU!

    The world fell into silence. Even in the darkness, the capabilities of Ancestor Hito were unmatched in this regard. Everyone could see the scene exceptionally clearly...

    Amery''s head had been pierced through.

    Leonel stood proudly in the skies, his spear blade having split Amery''s forehead in two.

    Their gazes met and the raging battle intent hadn''t faded even in the slightest.

    Many held their breaths. Even at this moment, they couldn''t believe what they were seeing... Leonel had truly done it?

 Chapter 2093 333

    Those words that Leonel had spoken seemed to echo in their minds again. It had been too long since he had killed anyone of note, so they had forgotten... But at this moment they were reminded once again.

    As many as he came across is as many as he would kill.

    He had spoken those words boldly and beneath the disdain of many. But weeks later, the crowd seemed to have grown stunned to the point of being numbed. He had really done it, even when Amery, the treasure of the Suiard family stood before him, he hadn''t hesitated to strike to kill for even a single moment...

    At this moment, the weight of what Leonel''s actions really meant were slowly sinking in. However, it was right then that the situation suddenly changed.

    Amery, who should have been on the final legs of life, suddenly reached up and grabbed Leonel''s spear.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed, but he only watched as Amery pulled himself from the tip of his spear, pulling back until the last of the blade was out and blood fell down his face. It was an eerie sight, one that made it look as though countless rivers of blood were dripping down the peaks and crevices of the Sword Deity.

    Leonel felt an unprecedented sense of danger that didn''t allow him to move. It wasn''t that he couldn''t move, but he didn''t want to move recklessly, feeling that he had been locked onto by something. A single incorrect movement at the wrong time could take his life.

    When he had learned that Amery was the fiancиж of a half Spiritual Race woman, he had decided to use this opportunity to attack the latter''s forehead. He thought of the possibility that Amery might have also learned a method to separate his soul from his body, allowing him to survive worse wounds than most could imagine.

    If that was the case, then Amery''s most vulnerable point should definitely be his Ethereal Glabella, so Leonel had struck to shatter it.

    The wound that was left behind was incomparably smooth and it looked like it had caused minimal damage, but that was only because of Leonel''s exquisite control. The reality was that the entire inside of Amery''s skull should be nothing but mush at this moment.

    Amery shouldn''t even be able to think, let alone glare at him with battle intent and even move.

    Leonel''s gaze was sharp as he took a glance into Amery''s forehead through the small slit that he had created. But as he had expected, there was no Ethereal Glabella. Even though he had expected this after Amery''s unexpected survival, seeing it still left him in some shock.

    Amery''s Gaia Force surged and he trembled just once before a large amount of Life Force from the ground below and Water Force in the air began to fuel him, quickly healing the wounds on his forehead until it was completely smooth.

    Even so, it did nothing to change the blood that had already streaked down his face. With his horns and his demonic presence, it truly made him seem to be a devil incarnate.

    Amery took a breath and exhaled. "Indeed, only in a battle of life and death can a person breakthrough. This must be how you improved so quickly. After these Heir Wars are finished, I will leave the Human Domain. I would be ten times more powerful than I am now if I didn''t have the protection of the Suiard family."

    The hand that Amery had used to grab Leonel''s spear trembled once again and his sword surged into it, slapping into his palm with a satisfying echo. With a tremble, his aura changed entirely.

    The dark and light skies above vanished. As though the atmosphere had been ripped away, for as far as the eye could see, only a vastness of twinkling light could be seen. It felt as though one was standing in an observatory, standing in the middle of a dome of starry lights that grasped the soul.

    Stars streaked across this canopy, howling with an intent of the sword. From time to time, these streaking stars would flash again, each time exhibiting another facet of a sword''s beauty. It felt vast and endless.

    Leonel was certain. Amery''s Universal Force had broken through, leaving behind the Natural Light Realm to enter the Cosmos Realm.

    It was well known that the Universal Forces were the only method through which those of lower Dimensions could battle those above them. Of course, the likes of Leonel and Aina had proven this to be untrue as overwhelming talent and comprehension of Force Manipulation could do the same.

    The Four Seasons Realm allowed those of the Fourth Dimension to battle those of the Fifth... The Natural Light Realm allowed those of the Sixth Dimension to battle those of the Seventh...

    And the Cosmos Realm allowed those of the Seventh Dimension to battle those of the Eighth!I think you should take a look at

    Suddenly, the gap between Leonel and Amery had become insurmountable. It was as exaggerated as the difference of night and day that had just been displayed.

    Even so, Leonel suddenly chuckled. His unmoving body suddenly relaxed.

    "So is that what it was? Interesting."

    SHUU! SHUU!

    Leonel swiped his spear across the air twice in quick succession, leaving behind a howling and sharp wind.

    With a flicker, his armor shone and the silver-gold lights took a more prominent role. At that moment, just a single clone was formed, splitting off from Leonel''s body.

    Amery''s gaze suddenly narrowed. He actually couldn''t tell even after a second glance which was the clone and which of them was real. What made it even more difficult to accept was the fact that the "clone", or at least the one that wasn''t holding a spear currently, flipped his palm to reveal a bow he recognized all too well.

    The White Lion Bow.

    The body of the clone trembled, a heart-shuddering aura taking shape as he vanished, appearing high in the skies and pulling back his bowstring.

    "That''s fine. Since one of me isn''t enough, two will be."

    Leonel''s stance shifted, his back leg gliding back in an elegant arc.

    The Forces of the world fell into silence.

    "I''ll give you some advice," Leonel said lightly. "You have exactly 333 exchanges to kill me."

    Leonel''s clone''s bowstring reached a full moon.

    Amery''s heart skipped a beat, a shocking pressure suddenly descending and causing his gaze to narrow. He couldn''t believe that this sort of pressure was coming from Leonel. Could it be that even until this point, Leonel was still holding back? He found it difficult to believe.

    The Forces around Leonel began to shimmer with a soft light, small and delicate lines of wavy fog emitting from his body.

    The arc that his back foot had drawn took form, shaping the first line in a mysterious Force Art.

    At the same time, the same thing occurred to his clone high in the skies.

    "A second piece of advice," Leonel grinned. "You had better kill the both of us within that time frame."

    Leonel''s spear shuddered and he suddenly moved.

    All the world could seem to focus on was the fluttering blade of his spear.

 Chapter 2094 Bleeding

    Leonel''s aura flourished, the cumulation of Force in the surroundings surging toward him in violent tides. It felt as though the entire world was in the palm of his hands, Forces of all kinds being stripped of their character and uniqueness to fuel the strength of his Spear Force.

    Amery''s gaze narrowed once. Three hundred attacks? Wasn''t that just child''s play? He took a step forward, his sword light descending before it seemed that he had moved at all. It felt like his sword had a mind of its own, almost as though it wasn''t just an extension of his arm, but its own living, breathing existence.

    The rippling of the stars above reacted to Amery''s movements, descending toward Leonel with a menacing light.

    Leonel''s gaze turned sharp, an unprecedented seriousness taking hold of him. At that moment, his gaze lost its fierceness entirely, being replaced by a gaze that seemed to see through the world. It was indifferent to its very depths and vast by its very nature. Looking into his eyes, it felt less like one was gazing upon a youth, and more like they were observing a being that was larger than life, an existence that was larger than even the world he claimed to exist within.

    His spear moved to meet Amery''s attacks. It seemed to lose its splendor, returning to an absolute simplicity. It felt like the turning pages of a book, a casual sip of water, even as rudimentary as a careless breath of air. It was the kind of movement that carried an endless ease, and yet the fundamental importance was beyond imagining, as though it was part of a bigger picture that couldn''t be pinned down with any immediacy.

    Leonel took a step back, and then another. A line of blood appeared across his shoulder, then by his cheek. In the next instant blood sprayed from his neck in a fierce rain, but the cold indifference in his eyes was just as placid as it had been from the very beginning.

    There was no doubt that the gap between himself and Amery had suddenly exploded, it was so enormous in fact that retreating was all that he could seem to do. Whether it was himself or the clone in the skies, they moved as one, taking steps back at the same moment.

    Leonel''s stance shifted and his spear pierced forward. He seemed to have sensed a change in Amery''s thought process before even the man in question had decided upon it. He disrupted the attack entirely, but in return his collarbone was pierced through.

    A flare of Scarlet Star Force suddenly shot out from the blade wound, rushing after Amery''s Dark Force blade.

    Amery hadn''t been prepared for such an unconventional attack, but he reacted as quickly as one might expect. The stars in the skies shifted and his Dark Force blade solidified once again. His wrist turned and he twisted through the surging flames.

    He could feel the overwhelming power of destruction bearing down on him, but his Gaia Force reacted soon after, stopping the destruction with large amounts of Life Force before it could interfere with his body.

    At this moment, the weakness of having chosen to focus on Sword Universal Force alone was showing. While his sword techniques were exceptionally powerful, and he had even broken through to the Cosmos Realm so quickly after entering the Seventh Dimension, this advancement was only useful in his sword techniques.

    However... This was still more than he felt Leonel should be able to handle.

    Amery shrugged off the attack, his movements becoming fluid once again, or more accurately, they had never lost their fluidity.

    At this moment, the battle between Leonel and Amery had begun to cause far less destruction than it had in the past. Whereas before the grounds collapsed and the clouds above were stirred, the current moment it was as though the entire world had had a dampener placed upon it.I think you should take a look at

    Sounds weren''t as loud, clashes weren''t as resounding, even the crossing of their weapons made it seem as though they were a pair of Third Dimensional existence attacking one another fiercely instead of the geniuses they truly were.

    But as time passed, the devastation of such a battle became more and more apparent. Clouds of blood continuously erupted from Leonel''s body, his lips leaking and his limbs threatening to hang limply by his side.

    Amery seemed to become more accustomed to his new strength with every swing of the blade. He was all too aware of the complex Force Art forming beneath the feet of both himself and Leonel, and the count of the number of spear strikes, while continuously increasing in his mind, still didn''t make him panic in the slightest.

    The confidence he had in his swords was unlike anything else. Even if Leonel managed to last 333 exchanges, so what?

    He would sever this attack with his blade just like he had everything else.

    Leonel''s stance suddenly shifted. His stiff and direct movements gained a sudden grace to them.

    His spear swept through the air, leaving an alluring draw of sparking, silvery fog. The incomplete Force Art beneath him pulsed and then pulsed again.

    His attacks became fiercer, but the number of lines of blood appearing across his body increased. The cracks in his armor began to accumulate and it threatened to lose its function entirely.

    However, at that moment, one of Leonel''s tails trembled.

    His Lotus Domain took shape and the world suddenly became a blinding ball of golden light. For as far as the eye could see, not a single drop of Dark Force could be sensed.

    One of Amery''s swords lost their most powerful reliance. His Dark Force seemed to be stripped from him, only capable of circulating within his body, but completely unable to make an appearance into the real world.

    The only oddity in the world were two Force Arts of shimmering violet light.

    "Shadowless." Leonel''s deep voice echoed once again.

 Chapter 2095 332

    Amery''s pupils constricted. This attack was one that he hadn''t been able to sense the first time, but almost as soon as his heart skipped a beat, he regained his composure. His sword seemed to improve once again.

    CLANG! He struck out without even looking, his blade parrying Leonel''s strike.

    Leonel''s spear faltered and his Force Art flickered, threatening to collapse. The greatest weakness of his Spear Dance technique was that every stroke had to be perfect. If he made even a single mistake, he would need to start again from the beginning.

    This was only the second time he had used such a technique, and it was even in a completely different situation than the first time, but Amery had actually reacted to it even quicker than he had the first time. Not only had he reacted faster, but he had not just blocked, but even parried it.

    A sword blade entered Leonel''s chest, just barely missing his heart but still tearing a hole right through his lungs.

    Before the Sword Force could explode, Leonel''s cold, indifferent gaze flickered with a slight violet light. He activated [Emperor''s Edict], fusing it with his mother''s bubble world technique. He had long since realized that these two techniques had the very same foundation.

    He contained Amery''s sword strike, and in an odd occurrence, the blade separated into two pieces almost as though the front of Leonel''s body had become a portal to his back, but leaving his body itself entirely unscathed.

    The explosion of Amery''s Sword Force occurred to Leonel''s back, a strong Spatial Force warping its location. Leonel''s spear recovered quickly, his eyes flickering with a calculative light as he adjusted and made up for the mistake.

    His body spun out of the way, his spear arching backward, sweeping down and then up once again, forming a gorgeous semi-circle of golden Spear Force that ascended right toward Amery''s head.

    Leonel''s spear tip and Amery''s sword tip met perfectly.

    Leonel was forced into a strong retreat, but his spear seemed to use the momentum of Amery''s retaliation to draw another elegant arc through the air.

    Amery''s gaze narrowed. He could feel the pressure of Leonel''s spear strikes increasing. It had already been over 200 exchanges, and though Leonel was in a sorry state, Amery could feel that the accumulating power in his spear was only increasing.

    Leonel himself felt that his understanding of Amery was quickly deepening. The two had both stopped using their Ability Indexes at once, and they had once again both started using them again at the same time.

    He was certain. Amery''s Ability Index was very much similar to Aina''s, however it wasn''t related to self-healing or Blood Sovereignty. Instead, he seemed capable of improving extremely quickly.

    It hadn''t been obvious before because he had been at the bottleneck of the Natural Light Realm, but the moment he crossed into the Cosmos Realm and gained so much room to improve, it was as though he was riding with jet fuel in his sword. Every time Leonel''s Spear Dance improved, so too did Amery''s, and in what was an absolutely shocking realization, it felt that Amery was improving even faster than his Spear Dance could.

    Even so, a realization was just a realization.

    The clash of their spear and sword didn''t move Leonel in the slightest. In fact, his heartbeat became calmer. The lines that his spear drew across the air became firmer and less impacted by Amery''s swords. His steps became lighter, his hands moving faster and the weight of his strikes heavier.I think you should take a look at

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Suddenly, the space between the two erupted. The silence of their clashes seemed to have boiled over.

    The planet rumbled, pits of carnage forming everywhere they went, but this time they were so deep that bubbling pools of magma rushed over their edges, snaking across the crevices of the ground and burning everything in their path.

    The fierce glow of Leonel''s gaze seemed to have reached its fever pitch.

    Blood leaked from every inch of his body, it seemed that there wasn''t a single location on him that didn''t contain an injury, but every ounce of Force in his body seemed to have been focused on just this singular pursuit.

    The twisting of Leonel''s feet, the sway of his spear, the trembling tip of his blade, it seemed to fuse with the image of a dance that the spectators had seen all those weeks ago.

    At that moment, the backdrop of Leonel''s 10 Stars seemed to become a cosmos of their own. They separated, taking up points of Leonel''s quickly forming Force Art as though they were anchors.

    Lines of Force surged out of them. Dream Force. Scarlet Star Force. Void Force. Vital Star Force.

    Within the shimmering ball of gold, they were the only other sources of light. Standing in the middle of it all, one Force Art below, and the other above, rotating like the complex inner workings of an ancient clock, Leonel''s wrist stiffened as he took a single step forward.

    With this step, the world around his sole rippled. It felt like the very fabric of the world itself was moving like the disturbed surface of a lake.

    The sudden rush of danger hit Amery like a moving truck. The accumulation of Leonel''s power had been so slow and incremental until this moment when it exploded forth like a geyser from the heart of mother earth.

    His hair fluttered in the winds. At that moment, wrapped in colors of royal blue, gold, vibrant violet, deep blacks and hues of silver, Leonel looked to be no different from a guardian deity, unmatched and untouchable.

    That danger that the Eighth Dimensional Ancestors had felt before assaulted their senses once again.

    "332," Leonel said lightly.

    The violet glow in his eyes had grown to the point that the whites of his eyes couldn''t be seen any longer. As though two orbs of amethyst had replaced his eyes, he looked down upon the world, unmatched and untouchable.

    Then, he pierced forward.

 Chapter 2096 Lost?

    Amery''s expression became dignified, his heart turning as cold as steel. He took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. He couldn''t see anything in this world of gold, but he didn''t need to. His Cosmos had become his eyes, his sword his heart, there was nothing that they couldn''t be guided to.

    In this state of tranquility, Amery seemed to break through once again. His swords swayed to his sides, pointing at the ground at an angle. His chest was entirely open to attack, but his breath was unhurried.

    Suddenly, when Leonel''s spear strike was upon him, his eyes flashed open, a blinding light of radiance coming from them. Meeting Leonel''s amethyst, pearly-like eyes, one of his one became a dense black pearl and the other a magenta one. He looked toward the world with this sword of dichotomy, a silence of the ages falling.

    And then, there was a howl. His swords seemed to come to life, his Sword Domain Ring shaking fiercely. He drew two circles with his swords and then suddenly pierced forward.

    The entire Human Domain held their breaths. It was only just a few fractions of a second, these fractions felt like an eternity. They seemed to feel the weight of this battle. It wasn''t just about choosing a winner, it was about choosing the future leader of the Human Domain. None of the other youths they had seen could compare to these two in terms of talent and future potential. No matter how good one''s Crafting was... Strength reigned supreme.

    BOOM! Leonel and Amery shot backward, their speeds faster than anything they had displayed until this point, and it was precisely because of the power of their strikes. They both spit out a mouthful of blood, but compared to Amery, Leonel''s state had already been absolutely terrible. He couldn''t afford such an injury at this moment, he had already been hanging on by a thread to begin with.

    Leonel landed on the ground heavily for the first time in the battle, but he pierced his spear into the ground, drawing a deep trench through the ground until he came to a stop. He heaved for breath, blood hacking up from time to time.

    That was indeed the strongest strike he was capable of in this state. That was a spear strike that touched upon the Fourth Layer, although it was in the Sixth Dimension, that wasn''t something that most in the Human Domain could fathom.

    He was certain. If an Ancestor wasn''t prepared for this strike, he could definitely severely injure them with this strike. For context, for most even Tier 9 Seventh Dimensional existences, even if a Tier 1 Ancestor stood still and allowed you to attack them for days on end, you would be lucky to leave even a single mark on their skin.

    The higher one''s Dimension, the larger the gaps. But... Leonel hadn''t expected for Amery to actually touch upon the Third Layer of Seventh Dimensional Sword Force in that final moment. That man was truly a genius, even in such a perilous situation, he was able to make such progress.

    Leonel coughed up another mouthful of blood, shaking his head. Amery''s Gaia Force was truly powerful. His Scarlet Star Force was having a hard time dealing with it properly.

    It couldn''t be helped. Amery had had his Innate Node for over 30 years. Leonel had only had his in his possession for less than four years total, and even then it was mutated and didn''t allow him to take proper control of it. He was ironically making faster progress with his Emulation Spatial Force now only because it was actually normal.

    He slowly stood to his feet, suppressing Amery''s Gaia Force and not allowing it to rampage about.

    In the distance, about a hundred meters away, a meaningless distance to them, Leonel could see Amery standing to his feet. Amery had a trickle of blood falling down his lips, and his face was pale, but other than that, he seemed to be perfectly fine.

    The Human Domain seemed to collectively release a sigh. Indeed, it seemed that it was quite obvious who had come out on top this time. Amery might have been slightly injured and a little weak, but other than being tired, there wasn''t much else wrong with him. The winner was clear.

    The Suiard family exhaled a breath of air they hadn''t known they had been holding. They had never expected for a Sixth Dimensional existence to push Amery to this point. They couldn''t help but shudder... That was right, Leonel wasn''t in the Seventh Dimension yet...I think you should take a look at

    Amery took deep breaths and eventually regulated his breathing. His Gaia Force trembled and large amounts of Life Force seemed to connect directly to him. Ironically, now that he was on land, the effect of his Gaia Force was even more prominent and powerful. His recovery speed was at least ten times what it had been in the air, and the paleness of his face was quickly recovering.

    "It seems that... My ring will be staying with me today," Amery said lightly. "If you don''t want to die, I would suggest breaking your badge now. Though... If you cower in this way, it''s like you won''t ever be my opponent again."

    Amery didn''t talk often. There were only two kinds of people that he spared words on, people he felt deserved it, and people that he truly looked down upon.

    Ironically, Leonel had been on both sides of his opinion. In the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone, he had spoken harsh words toward Leonel because he had truly felt that he was too pathetic.

    And now, he was speaking to Leonel like he would an equal. As for sparing Leonel, he never really considered it. That was because he felt that although Leonel was still in the Sixth Dimension, so long as he continued to improve, he would never be able to catch up even if he let him leave. Plus, if someone was spared like this, the genius they had once been would be gone. There was no use in saving a crippled genius who no longer held any sort of self belief.

    However, who would have expected for Leonel to chuckle at that moment. Amery wasn''t very surprised. If Leonel cowered at this moment, he wouldn''t have been a person he acknowledged in the first place. But what did surprise him were Leonel''s actual words.

    "I think you''re forgetting something," Leonel said lightly. Amery recalled instantly. He wasn''t a fool, he had been paying attention to the second Leonel all this time, but somewhere around the 200th attack, it had lost its aura entirely.

    Wait, wasn''t that the moment that Leonel had suddenly deployed that odd world of gold? Amery''s pupils constricted and the world was enveloped by a galaxy warping aura descended.

    Leonel smiled. Despite being bloodied and beaten, he was incomparably relaxed. He shook his spear and that aura that had vanished seemed to double.

    "You see... I can send out that spear strike twice. As for the arrow that''s about to descend... Well, let''s just say it''s easily ten times more powerful than both."

    How could it not be? Although Leonel''s Spear Dance was more flexible and allowed him to use it in battle while maintaining his movement, what it couldn''t do was... Accumulate it all into a single strike.

    Leonel suddenly stepped forward and pierced out a second spear strike.

    Amery''s hair stood on end. He had yet to accumulate enough himself to parry, although he was recovering quickly, it wasn''t quickly enough. He couldn''t even deal with this second spear strike, how would he handle the arrow that was coming?

    He had... actually lost?

 Chapter 2097 I Was Wondering...

    The arrow streaked across the skies as though it could split reality in two. Despite the fact an attack, devastating in its own right, was coming from Leonel''s spear didn''t seem to change anything at all... because all one could seem to focus on was that spiraling arrow.

    The world was divided into four, the split prongs of the arrow rotating and leaving complete wave-like patterns across the ground and within the clouds above.

    Everything in its path was shredded apart, and when it had only made it halfway to its destination, Leonel''s spear suddenly met Amery''s swords.

    That pair of Life Grade swords shuddered, their bodies losing a great amount of shine as their owner was sent flying backward, digging a deep trench into the ground that embedded him like an etching upon a stone wall.

    Amery couldn''t move. His body was shaking involuntarily, his hands barely strong enough to hold onto his swords.

    He looked up into the skies, only having time to complete that action alone before Leonel''s arrow appeared before him, shooting through his chest and releasing an explosion that echoed throughout the land.

    The sound was so loud that nothing else could be heard. It was difficult to tell even when it had stopped, the sharp whistling sound of deafness and damaged hearing being all that most could listen to. Even when they covered their ears, trying to escape from the destruction, it followed them, filling their minds with sensory information they would never be able to forget.

    Leonel breathed out, his chest heaving. He looked into the skies, his eyes closing. Despite his injuries, he stood tall. The loud noises didn''t seem to bother him in the slightest, and the rumbling ground beneath his feet couldn''t stop him from standing tall and unbothered.

    As the sounds died down, a smile curled his lips. Nothing could seem to bother him at the moment.

    He was truly a man who held grudges. He had already defeated Amery once before, but he was still irritated by that matter in the Dimensional Cleanse Zone.

    After a moment, he wondered. If he claimed Amery''s soul now, would he be able to use the latter to comprehend the later stages of [Dimensional Cleanse] and finally break into the Seventh Dimension?

    It was hard to tell. That was because [Dimensional Cleanse] had an odd sort of protection over it. Even those that had learned the parts beyond the Third Dimension couldn''t share it with others. Only Leonel could because he had fully comprehended and reverse engineered the method. He had succeeded in doing so for the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dimensional layers, but he had yet to even lay eyes on the Seventh Dimensional method, so it was hard to tell where to go from here.

    Theoretically, he could deduce that on his own since he had the foundation, but without personal experience of what it was like to be in the Seventh Dimension, or deep understanding of where he would need to proceed to enter the Eighth and Ninth Dimension beyond, such a deduction would be nigh impossible.

    More accurately, he could do it, but what he deduced wouldn''t necessarily be the correct next step. It could still deviate in all sorts of ways and it would be too hard to tell if he was correct or not. His father might be able to give him some clues, but Leonel would rather roll over dead than ask that old man questions face to face, he could imagine the scorn already.I think you should take a look at

    ''Forget it, it''s easier to just find another token to enter the Dimensional Cleanse Trial Zone.''

    If others could hear Leonel''s thoughts, they would definitely roll their eyes. Were these a pair of father and son? Or mortal enemies? It was impossible to tell.

    Leonel slowly opened his eyes and he looked down to see that Amery was still stuck, embedded into the side of a deep trench his own body had dug out. There was a small hole in his chest, barely two inches across, but that was what made Leonel''s attack so devastating.

    It had caused such destruction in the real world, but at the point of contact, it was actually so perfectly controlled. It was hard to imagine that an existence of the Sixth Dimension could possibly display such might.

    Amery might look like he had only suffered a "small" wound, but setting aside where the attack had landed, even if it had only hit his arm, the entirety of his inner organs were shredded to pieces. Whether it was heart, lungs, nervous system, everything.

    Leonel''s strike was so skillful that all of the residual energy that might have laid waste to the world around them had he allowed it to rampage was concentrated to the point that the one that had suffered the most was Amery himself.

    It was a shocking endeavor, and yet, Amery actually still seemed to be alive.

    Seeing this, Leonel chuckled, walking forward. This sort of vitality was something that he had only seen out of demons. Back when he fought the Cobra Demon, he had ripped a hole right through its torso and even caused a large amount of damage to its inner organs, and yet it had continued to battle him and even pushed him to the very edge.

    Although Amery looked like a demon, it wasn''t that simple to tie the two. Rather, Leonel instead believed that it was a combination of Amery''s Gaia Force Innate Node and his separated soul that led to this matter.

    But that left a question, if Amery''s Ethereal Glabella wasn''t in his head, and it wasn''t in his chest, then where was it, exactly?

    Leonel took a seat at the edge of the trench Amery''s body had formed. At the moment, Amery''s gaze was vacant, but his body was actually quickly recovering. His vitality was actually far stronger than even Leonel''s own, but Leonel''s smile didn''t fade.

    "I was wondering why it was that you all allowed me to attack him just like that, but it seemed that you were quite confident in his ability to survive, huh?"

 Chapter 2098 Interesting

    Leonel didn''t seem to be talking to anyone. Whether it was the other members of the Suiard family, their subordinate families, or even Leonel''s own subordinates, they had all evacuated from the region long ago. The entire city that had once been here had been destroyed under the might of their battle, there truly didn''t seem to be anyone to talk to.

    To most of the Human Domain that were observing the situation, Amery was already dead. That vacant look in his eye, that sort of wound, there was simply no surviving it. Many couldn''t help but think that maybe a few of Leonel''s screws had been knocked loose during the battle.

    But to the astonishment of those present, Leonel continued to speak despite not receiving an answer. "There really is no need to hide anymore. Look at how weak and vulnerable I am, aren''t I on the chopping block for your viewing pleasure. Isn''t it best if you took action right here and now, you can''t want to lose this opportunity, no?" Leonel grinned.

    His feet swung as though he was seated on a swing. He looked happy despite his injuries and he didn''t seem to take his defeat of Amery with any hint of pride at all, almost as though it was only natural that this would happen.

    But suddenly, his demeanor changed entirely as he looked toward a certain direction, his gaze as fiery as a blaze of light. His eyes seemed to emit a great amount of strength as a plume of fire descended upon a certain region.

    These flames danced with hidden Great Runes, complex and ancient. They were entirely different than the flames Leonel had used on Amery, but it was hard to tell if it was because he had been holding back or if there was another reason.

    In reality, Gaia Force was something Leonel felt had been an even greater antithesis to his Scarlet Star Force than even Void Star Force would have been in the hands of someone powerful.

    In many works of fiction or amusing tales, Water Force would be the perfect counter to Fire Force, but the truth was that this was a matter of relativity. There were numerous types of Water Force that wouldn''t even be able to approach Leonel without being burnt to ash. What mattered wasn''t the element, but also its quality and quantity.

    Beyond that, Water Force wasn''t the only thing good at suppressing Fire Force, because there was Earth Force as well. Earth Force was sturdy and great defensively, it was resistant against being destroyed and hard to light on fire.

    Gaia Force carried both the sturdiness and resilience of Earth and also had the suppressive effects of powerful water on his Scarlet Star Force. Then, to top it all off, it had a strong Life Force associated with it, the strongest counter there was against the powers of Destruction and a Destruction Sovereign.

    Against Amery, the improvements to his Scarlet Star Force couldn''t be displayed properly, while it would have been foolish to use Void Star Force actively since whether it was Water or Dark Force, Amery was his superior.

    Now that he wasn''t facing Amery who countered him so perfectly, the strength of his Scarlet Star Force flourished in its truest light. However, before it could descend on its target location, a shadow shifted out of the way, quickly forming.

    Very quickly a beautiful young lady took shape, but even then they were difficult to see properly. Their face was obscured and the only thing that could be vaguely understood was the fiery nature of her body, too fiery, even, for casual eyes to see.

    Her figure could only be described as perfect. Although her skin was a little grey, something that could be seen even through the haze, it didn''t make her look sickly at all, and instead showed a hint of a unique character to it.I think you should take a look at

    Her hips were wide, rounding to form a pair of long, luscious legs. They made way for a butt so round and plump that it could be seen both from the sides of her waist and through the gap in her thighs.

    Her chest carried just as much volume, threatening to burst against the pressure of its own skin as though even it couldn''t accommodate it all.

    And yet, despite the fiery nature of this woman''s figure, she chose maybe the most dangerous kind of clothing to cover it with.

    Her chest was bound by nothing more than a nipple pasties, a black, metallic, circular object that was connected to nothing other than her breasts. Although there were chains of black around her shoulders and collarbone, they seemed to be there for nothing more than decoration because they hardly covered anything, leaving very little to the imagination.

    Her bottom half was hardly any better. The thong she wore was entirely strapless. The part of it that covered her front was shaped like a black metallic leaf, while the back of it was entirely swallowed by those two round cheeks.

    This sort of clothing was definitely something that should appear in one''s private bedroom and not out for so many to see, even if it was somewhat obstructed by a haze, but this woman clearly didn''t care in the slightest.

    ''Interesting,'' Leonel thought. ''She has the same Ability Index as Arthur, but for Dark Force instead. Rare, very rare. Arthur is the only one I''ve seen with an Ability Index that allows their entire body to turn into an element, and she''s the second...''

    Leonel was unmoved by the sight before him, she might as well have been a piece of meat on a butcher''s table. Instead, when he spoke, he didn''t seem to be satisfied with this alone.

    Instead, his eyes shifted and landed on another location. This time, the existence that was hidden moved even before Leonel''s fire manifested.

    This time, the individual was quite clear to the eye.

    ''A Shadow Sovereign,'' Leonel smiled.

    This individual was none other than Xavnik, Third Nova.

    Leonel wasn''t very surprised by this in the slightest, even when he felt that Xavnik had fully recovered.

 Chapter 2099 Plop.

    Xavnik had already regained his calm. When he looked at Leonel, his emotions were unreadable.

    In truth, he hadn''t expected for Leonel to actually win such a battle. Amery was arrogant, but he had the right to be. He was the reason why despite the fact that the Morales had so many Heirs in this generation, no one had spoken of the Suiard family''s decline. He alone, with his sword, was enough to uphold the skies for them.

    He was an existence seen to be on the same level as Velasco. He was only over 25 years old, but he had already reached Tier 2 of the Seventh Dimension, and very soon he would enter Tier 3. He was an existence the likes of which very few could match up to already, and that was proven by him comprehending the Cosmos Realm.

    It had to be remembered that not everyone returned at the same time. Depending on their distance from Leonel when the formation had been activated, one could either return sooner or later during that 20-year span, and most had returned around 10 to 12 years ago.

    Amery, however, had only returned about five or so years ago. It went to show one just the kind of talent he had to reach such a state so quickly. After he returned from the Tribulation, it was as though he had become an entirely different man.

    But it had all been useless before Leonel.

    Amery was born and raised seriously by the Suiard family from the moment he picked up a sword. Leonel had only returned to the Morales family a month ago.

    Amery had been training since he was a toddler. Leonel only began when he was 17 years old, and even then he had no sort of guidance aside from a silver disk and the memories of the experts in the Spear Domain Ring, experts that Amery had access to on his own side.

    On top of that already 17-year advantage, Amery gained five more years of advantage thanks to the Cataclysm Zone.

    The gap between them was obvious, and it was a shocking thing to accept.

    But what stunned Xavnik even more was maybe the implication of Leonel''s words. What had he meant by those words? They didn''t save Amery because they knew he could survive? By him saying that, didn''t that mean?

    Xavnik''s gaze turned serious.

    "What? Not going to admit it?" Leonel laughed.

    He had expected this. In order for Leonel to know the relationship between Xavnik and Amery, it would mean that he understood things he very much shouldn''t have, like Xavnik''s goals, who he was working for, what underbelly lay in the Morales family and when it might spring up upon them.

    But all of that was impossible. Leonel wasn''t Second Nova, and even Second Nova couldn''t claim to know so much.

    Leonel''s laughter made Xavnik uneasy, and all the progress he had made to take the shadow of Leonel out from his heart and soul seemed to be crumbling before his eyes. When Leonel finished his next words, the viciousness that flashed in Xavnik''s gaze couldn''t be ignored.

    "Are you shocked? You shouldn''t be," Leonel smiled. "You see, I''m very good at using small details to comprehend the bigger picture. Unfortunately, this partner of yours has very loose lips.

    "You know, the first time I met him, it was just about three years ago. Well, it was three years ago to me. To all of you, it was probably closer to 30 years than it is to three by a wide margin.

    "This guy was very arrogant back then. Poor little me was just in Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension, but he had already broken through into the Sixth. Unfortunately, I didn''t have the chance to avoid him because we were both seeking the complete layers of [Dimensional Cleanse], and I had no choice but to battle it out with me.

    "I was defeated, quite soundly, but this guy actually tried to take my Spear Domain Ring. And do you know what he said back then?"

    Leonel turned from Amery and looked to meet Xavnik''s eyes. Xavnik felt as though his world was collapsing, he couldn''t breathe properly, it felt like a hand was gripped around his throat.

    "He said he knew someone would be far better suited to the Spear Domain Ring than me, can you believe that? What an arrogant bastard, right? He doesn''t even use the spear, and look at how antisocial he is, even his family had to arrange a marriage for him just so that he could have a wife, where would he find someone he would give the Spear Domain Ring to? Let alone someone that he trusted and respected enough to do so."I think you should take a look at

    Xavnik''s hands were trembling.

    It wasn''t about the revelation, the revelation itself was almost meaningless aside from the implication that Leonel knew everything. But what was setting Xavnik''s heart ablaze was the fact that Leonel had figured so much out based on a single casual sentence spoken years ago to him in the spur of the moment.

    There was practically no one who could do such a thing. Such a memory was the kind most would only remember after they found out the truth, and only then would they backtrack and realize the clues had been there all along.

    But Leonel''s mind seemed to be on an entirely different level. Those clues that were meaningless crumbs to most people''s minds became a masterful tale in his own, weaving a story that was 99% close to the truth without much effort at all.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴snж╧vж┼l.cж╧m And now facing the weight of those words, Xavnik felt like he couldn''t breathe.

    Leonel couldn''t even be bothered to explain things to his own family, but he had spent so much care laying things out for Xavnik. It was clear that this was the scene he wanted to see; he could practically watch the reflection of Xavnik''s world collapsing through his gaze. Leonel found it very amusing.

    Somehow, he felt that this was even more satisfying than punching the face of someone he hated.

    Seeing that things were going wrong again, and remembering what had happened last time Xavnik had lost his reason, the scantily clad woman suddenly spoke.

    She was very disappointed in Xavnik. The Xavnik she knew was a King amongst men and he had always taken his steps so calmly and assuredly... Until he met Leonel. This Leonel had to die, only that way could their anchor in the Morales family be solid. So, she said the most sinister thing she could think of.

    "You speak a lot for someone who won''t be living for much longer. Amery will not die and will recover quite quickly, and you don''t have the strength to land the finishing blow, especially not with us here.

    "Whether it''s myself or Xavnik, we are both stronger than Amery. And very soon, Amery''s fiance?e will come, and she''s no weaker than him. What chance do you stand?"

    Leonel blinked. The pause in his words seemed to give the scantily clad woman a sense of satisfaction, until...

    Plop.

    A head suddenly descended from the skies, landing and rolling until it hit paused by her feet.

    BANG!

    A Valkyrie descended from the skies, her black wings blotting out the skies as she landed by Leonel''s side heavily.

    The scantily clad woman''s eyes opened wide. She looked down at the head at her feet, a head too gorgeous to put into words... and yet, it had no body attached to it.

    She recognized this head immediately.

    The Heiress of the Spirituals Religion!

    The shriek of a banshee echoed through the battlefield, the violently whirling tornado of black feathers around Aina seemingly wanting more blood.

 Chapter 2100 Unwilling

    Aina''s aura blazed like the spark of an awakening star. Although she didn''t say anything, her presence alone seemed to warp the world around them, the arcs of black lightning that sparked between her horns and the black feathers that zipped by causing even the eyes of those that only gazed upon them to sting.

    Her black wings came out from the back of her hips, but their majestic bearing was no less. Each spread out for at least two meters, carefully arcing through the air with the grace of a phoenix. Just a single one of their flaps made the shadow woman and Xavnik feel as though they might be thrown off their feet, their bodies flexing just to maintain their positions.

    The eyes of the scantily clad woman froze over. She couldn''t take her eyes off of Aina, her heart palpitating at the aura she was sensing. What she felt the proper conclusion was happened to be something that she was entirely unwilling to accept.

    She had all the information she needed about these matters. It was simply impossible for Aina to be what she thought. Aina was a Brazinger, she was born on Earth, her mother was a mortal woman and her father, though an unknown wild card, was ultimately just a cast-out of the Brazinger family.

    It didn''t make any sense for her to have this kind of aura, but then it all suddenly clicked.

    "... Blood Sovereign..." She said lightly.

    It was true. Back then, when their cohort was sent to the Rapax Nest, the true goal wasn''t Leonel or dealing with him, nor was it for Amery to receive the egg of the future ruler of the Rapax. No, from the very beginning, the goal had been Aina.

    Leonel had been infuriated back then when the Variant Invalids appeared and simply directly killed them in his tirade, so it had been impossible to confirm this. The only one outside of the individuals related to the Three Finger Cult who knew this with absolute certainty was Leonel''s father. But just the same way Leonel hardly explained things to others, neither did his father explain things to him.

    Although Leonel had partially deduced this matter, there was still a limit to what he could do even with his intelligence when information was so limited, especially when there were so many other answers that likewise made sense. It also didn''t help that the answer simply didn''t seem all that important.

    Ever since they reunited, Aina had always been by his side or within range of a region he could act in. It didn''t matter to him if the Three Finger Cult were targeting her, because whoever came would simply have to face his wrath.

    In addition to that, since that moment, the Three Finger Cult seemed to have "forgotten" about Aina, having not chosen to make any other moves. It was hard to tell how valuable they saw Aina to be, or if they were aware that kidnapping her wouldn''t suddenly make her come over to their side.

    The truth of this matter, though, was something that the shadow woman was well aware of. It wasn''t that the Three Finger Cult had forgotten about Aina, it was rather that someone had been born within their ranks that was far easier to make use of and just as valuable to them as a Blood Sovereign.

    Plus, after their first failure, the deployment of the Cataclysm Zone had caused them to believe Aina was dead and dealt with... Until she suddenly appeared once more years later.

    That was right, the Cataclysm Zone had been a scheme by the Three Finger Cult to deal with the greatest threats of the Human Domain in one fell swoop. Not only would some of the most powerful experts be lost in a far-off land, but the future generations would have all been crushed in a single action.I think you should take a look at

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴sжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Leonel had thought that this matter could have only been done by them, but he still didn''t have an answer for... why? What did they gain out of it?

    If the Three Finger Cult knew that the Cataclysm Zone was the "real world", wouldn''t they know that sending them all there wouldn''t accomplish anything? Even if they never managed to come back, wouldn''t they just be able to live out normal lives in the "real world"?

    Of course, that was a matter of relativity. Everyone stuck in that Zone would want to come back to something familiar, especially since they weren''t aware of what the Dream Project was or what it represented. That meant that the more important question to ask wasn''t this, but rather what in his simulation world was so valuable that the Three Finger Cult would choose to continuously target it?

    Something wasn''t quite adding up.

    Leonel didn''t believe that the Three Finger Cult would be able to access that world and yet be unaware of the Simulation. In fact, he had already deduced that their three leaders had to have been from the Cataclysm Zone to begin with, so they most definitely knew.

    So why?

    He didn''t have an answer, and his confusion wasn''t something that this shadow woman would clear up, at least not willingly, and that was assuming that a lower-level character like her would even be aware of this matter to begin with.

    Instead, it was the shadow woman who was glancing at Aina with an enlightened expression, finally fusing the rumors she had heard with the woman before her.

    She sent a glance toward Xavnik and spoke. "She''s the Blood Sovereign."

    Xavnik''s pupils constricted before his gaze became somewhat malevolent. He seemed fully prepared to erupt with his greatest strength now, however, Leonel was still sitting, unmoving. His ease despite the situation made him feel suffocated.

    That smile, whenever he saw that smile, he knew that bad things would happen.

    "Get up!" Xavnik pointed toward Leonel, almost as though trying to command him to do something that made him feel more at ease.

    However, Leonel only chuckled.

 Chapter 2101 Clear Aura

    "Me? Get up? Can''t you see how tired I am? I don''t have the energy," Leonel suddenly yawned, his eyes even watering to complete the effect. He really seemed as though he might collapse and begin a long, comfortable napping session at any moment now.

    Veins bulged across Xavnik''s forehead. His composure was entirely thrown into the wind. Those who had had great opinions of him in the past couldn''t help but begin to second guess their judgment. Was this really the Xavnik they had come to know?

    Leonel was right before him, why wasn''t he attacking? Although it could be argued that Leonel was still sitting and it wasn''t honorable to attack, it also wasn''t honorable to lurk in the shadows and wait for their battle to finish first. If Xavnik really cared about being honorable, rather than trying to force Leonel to get up right now, he would instead allow him to rest.

    But it was clear and obvious that Xavnik didn''t dare to do that. He wasn''t trying to be honorable, he was scared, scared of Leonel''s nonchalance, scared of what trump card Leonel might have waiting for him in the shadows.

    To Xavnik, the fact that Leonel dared to continue to sit down and be so casual meant that he had another plot waiting to be sprung. The moment he took action, he would fall into it. He didn''t believe in himself anymore and he was entirely reliant on Leonel''s actions to dictate his own. The more relaxed Leonel was, the more uncomfortable he felt, the more Leonel acted like this, the more he felt that he was missing something.

    ж╤ж┴ж░dж┴sжнж╧vel.cж╧m It had to be remembered that when Leonel defeated him earlier, it wasn''t even Leonel who took action, it was rather the formation of the Skies family. That was a formation of 10,000 Seventh Dimensional individuals, fused into one and amplified further.

    Xavnik could easily defeat 10,000 average Seventh Dimensional existences on a normal day. Well, easily was an exaggeration, but he was sure that he could do it. The problem with the formation was that it managed to fuse their strengths into a single strike, Xavnik would have to be literally 10,000 times more powerful than a normal Seventh Dimensional existence to have come out unscathed. In truth, the fact he survived at all was a great surprise to Leonel at the time.

    Now, he remembered that memory very clearly and he was hesitating about taking even a single step forward.

    The shadow woman grit her teeth. She was a demon, she was very used to manipulating people, it was one of her favorite pastimes. Often, just to relieve her boredom, she would do such things to Xavnik, but she had never succeeded before.

    Seeing Xavnik in such a state, and being aware of the tactics of other demons, she knew that Leonel was doing this on purpose. She could almost see the horns growing from his head, that devilish glint in his eyes. He was taking pleasure in it.

    Her heart couldn''t help but shudder as the image of a certain Demon Race flashed in her mind, but she shook her head immediately.

    Those Demons loved to do this sort of thing. They were exceptionally powerful in body and could defeat most with a flick of their hand, but they preferred to use their minds instead, taking people down long, winding paths until they lost their minds entirely. Even if it would take years to accomplish what a fist could in a second, they would still prefer to take the longer route. They found pride and accomplishment in it...

    But she couldn''t accept such a thing, she most definitely couldn''t, because it was impossible for Leonel to be among such a reclusive and small Clan of Demons.

    And yet, even so, she found herself hesitating to attack as well.

    At that moment, though, her gaze turned sharp. She knew the reason why her mind had wavered, it wasn''t because of Leonel but rather because that Clan of Demons left a shadow in everyone''s heart. So long as you had heard of them, you couldn''t escape... even when you thought of them, they would be aware of it...

    The shadow woman was about to attack when Leonel suddenly looked at her and smiled.I think you should take a look at

    She shuddered from head to toe, her body freezing for a moment before she released a violent screech.

    "DIE!"

    She rushed forward. Rather than backing down, her demon blood seemed to have been provoked and her power soared. Even as many were entranced by the physiques of her body moving with such little clothing, they were even more shocked by the strength.

    When she had said that she was more powerful than Amery, no one had taken her seriously. She was an unknown existence and Amery was the Sword Deity. How could they possibly be compared?

    But at this moment, they swallowed their words. This woman...

    Less than a hundred years old and yet already in Tier 4 of the Seventh Dimension!

    Her power surged wildly and her hand formed a clawing motion toward Leonel''s head. Her body became incorporeal, becoming a lengthy stretch of shadowy Dark Force that encompassed the world, there simply didn''t seem to be a place to dodge.

    Her claw expanded to over 10 meters from palm to curled finger, ripping through the kernels of space in her path as she sought for Leonel''s death.

    And yet...

    BANG!

    The shadow woman felt as though she had been hit by an immovable object and an unstoppable force all at once. She was sent flying back with even greater speed than she had come with, the solidified claw of darkness she had become dispersing like misty drops of water in a howling storm of wind.

    Xavnik''s lip trembled as he slowly looked toward Aina. She simply lowered her palm without much expression on her face, unmoved.

    Aina''s aura was finally clear and nothing short of shocking.

    She had entered the Seventh Dimension.

 Chapter 2102 Aghast

    The Human Domain had fallen into silence for a long while. Ever since Amery and Leonel''s battle had begun, probably around 70% of all observers had been entirely focused on them.

    In truth, that number actually seemed quite low, but it was actually surprising that it wasn''t even lower than that. That was because to many, the battle was a joke. The idea of a Sixth Dimensional existence defeating the Sword Deity was asinine. The viewership was only that high due to how excellent Leonel''s performance had been until now. Those who had come to watch had felt that maybe Leonel had a trump card that he would be ready to spring, one that would catch them off guard like all those other times.

    However, the longer the battle went on, the more shocked they became. They hadn''t actually expected that Leonel would be able to fight Amery head-on at all... And yet they were proven wrong time and time again, until the moment that Amery broke through and entered the Cosmos Realm.

    Many had believed the battle to be over, but even so, they would continue to watch if for nothing other than the fact they felt Leonel deserved at least this much for coming so far despite only being in the Sixth Dimension. Or rather, they would have, had something else shocking not happened.

    Aina, yet another Sixth Dimensional existence and a newly crowned Queen Beauty, had actually gone off to challenge the number one Queen Beauty, the Heiress of the Spirituals Religion, Syriah!

    This shocking change left the Human Domain speechless. Two Sixth Dimensional existences, both challenging the greatest geniuses of their respective genders and within their generations, wasn''t this a bit too ridiculous?

    But then the battle began, and they were shocked once again.

    The 70/30 split that had become over 99% in Leonel''s favor once he showed that he could actually keep up with Amery suddenly became 50/50, with many even jumping back and forth between the two battles.

    The strength that Syriah displayed was beyond their imagination, placing her firmly on the same level as Amery... at least in the beginning. But then she unleashed a Lineage Factor that simply took their breaths away.

    At that moment, the gap between the Human Race and the Spirituals Race was on full display. For such a thing to be an ability that was simply and casually passed down through blood wasn''t something that the Humans could fathom. It made the most powerful Lineage Factors of the Human Domain seem like nothing more than child''s play.

    It was then that they came to understand that Syriah wasn''t on Amery''s level; she was actually a step or two beyond!

    But then the situation changed again when Amery broke into the Cosmos Realm, and they were suddenly on equal footing once more. And unfortunately, unlike Leonel, Aina didn''t have a technique that allowed her to touch upon the Fourth Layer in such a short period of time.

    Aina unleashed a demonic form that took their breaths away, but it still wasn''t nearly enough. She was easily suppressed and beaten and battered, until...

    Until she suddenly broke through.

    None present had ever seen a breakthrough into the Seventh Dimension be so easy nor so smooth. Her power skyrocketed in an instant.

    Many thought at that moment that they might get to witness an even battle, a nice exchange of movements, but no...

    It had become a one-sided slaughter.

    Syriah, despite being in Tier 3 of the Seventh Dimension, couldn''t survive even a single strike from the Tier 1 Aina. She had been completely crushed. There was no suspense at all.

    In the recent days, because of Leonel and Aina, many had begun thinking that the gap between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions wasn''t so large after all. If they put in more effort and took their training more seriously, they could maybe be like Leonel and Aina...

    But Aina''s breakthrough crushed all those hopes. The gap between the two Realms was a wide and inescapable chasm. If it wasn''t, how could Aina have improved so much after taking just a single step forward?

    And now, the cruel reality was that in these Heir Wars... There simply wasn''t anyone who was her match any longer.I think you should take a look at

    ...

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴snж╧vж┼l.cж╧m Above the Heir Wars planet, an illusory woman stood. She was absolutely expressionless, and many who didn''t know her would think that she was unreadable because of this... But everyone who had seen her before would understand that she was absolutely infuriated at the moment.

    This woman was none other than Syriah, the Heiress of the Spiritual Religion.

    Her body had been destroyed, but as a Half-Spiritual, she was able to exist with her soul alone. To Spirituals, their bodies were only flesh puppets that could be reconstructed with some effort and resources; it was extremely difficult to truly kill them, and they were practically immortal.

    But, even so, in their Race, having one''s body destroyed would both regress their strength and be a great humiliation.

    She had been in the Human Domain since her birth, but no one had ever dared to disrespect her in such a way.

    Wherever she went, she always had a lovable smile on her face that no one could ever bring themselves to hate, and that was part of the reason why it was so shocking that her expression was so placid currently. But in her mind... she had every right to be infuriated.

    She continued to look at Aina, almost as though she was trying to sear this memory onto her soul.

    ...

    Leonel smiled and hadn''t moved a single inch from his sitting spot. He had already felt that these Heir Wars were over, but now that Aina had broken through, he didn''t even really need to put much effort in any longer. So why couldn''t he be leisurely?

    "Why are you glaring at me so fiercely?" Leonel asked, putting a hand on his chest. "I scare easily, you know, and my wife is very good to me."

    Those last words about his "wife" were very clearly a threat that made Xavnik shudder.

    Aina rolled her eyes, but she couldn''t help but be amused. She thought of how she''d definitely be able to teach Leonel a lesson later and felt much better.

    Xavnik stayed silent for a long time before he suddenly grit his teeth.

    "You actually want to rely on a woman to win the Heir Wars? Don''t you feel ashamed?"

    "Ugh-" Leonel spoke, seemingly aghast at the accusation. "Don''t be mad at me just because I''m better in bed than you are."

    Leonel sent a meaningful glance toward the shadow woman who was spitting up a mouthful of blood one after another, struggling to stand.

    Aina choked on air.

    Xavnik''s mind snapped, suddenly seeing red. He had never been humiliated like this in his life.

 Chapter 2103 A Palm

    Aina''s head snapped toward Leonel, her glare quite vindictive. She looked as though she wanted to teach Leonel a lesson right here and now, he was truly too much. It didn''t matter if he teased her like this in private, but why with so many people listening? The worst part was that her parents-in-law were definitely watching, and who knew, maybe her father was out there, somewhere, watching too? How was she going to face people now?!

    Her face blushed down to her neck. It likely went much further than that, but the spinning black metallic feathers were moving so fast that nothing between her knees and collarbone could be seen clearly.

    In the past, this transformation had completely ruined Aina''s clothing. Leonel had long since created something for her that could survive the change, but that didn''t stop these feathers from acting much the same as they always did.

    Aina couldn''t seem to stand still anymore, feeling that her embarrassment was about to boil over. However, how could she vent her anger on Leonel? Obviously, the two to suffer would be the shadow woman and Xavnik.

    Xavnik didn''t even know what hit him. He barely registered a crimson-black glow and then he felt as though his body was streaking through the skies even faster than any meteor shower he had ever laid eyes upon. He was stunned. He couldn''t imagine why the gap was so large. Weren''t they both in the Seventh Dimension? He was even quite confident in his strength. He had met so many powerful enemies, and he had defeated them all, but how had things ended up like this?!

    He felt that if it wasn''t for the fact that he had deployed his Divine Armor at the final second, he would have been pierced right through.

    As he flew, his armor finally slid into place, but a huge dent had appeared in his chest plate, deforming his blackish green armor and shattering his ribcage.

    He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his gaze turning redder and redder as he flew.

    How had things ended like this? How had he turned out to be so pathetic? How could he lose like this?! Xavnik was so agitated that the beating of his heart pushed against his shattered rib cage. When he rebounded against the ground, he didn''t seem to feel anything. The whites of his eyes turned entirely black, and his bronze irises seemed to streak with lightning.

    The shadow woman, who was still coughing up blood herself, was trying to stand when she sensed this change. Her own expression warped, and she didn''t seem to be happy about what was happening.

    The demon blood running through Xavnik''s body wasn''t pure. Technically, the strength of the demon race was that they could reproduce with any race and the mutations that occurred would allow them to come out much stronger on the other side, it also helped them to not be bound by the same weaknesses as humans.

    However, not every such mutation would turn out to be extraordinary.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴sжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Xavnik was lucky in that the Morales bloodline had strong ties with demons to begin with. As such, the other half of his lineage worked even better than usual.

    But what was happening right now was an unexpected variable. It was none other than something that Leonel was quite intimately familiar with: Bloodline Deviation.

    When Leonel had first awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, he hadn''t been well informed on how things worked. As a result, he had tried to awaken it far too early and before he had developed all nine, or rather, ten of his Nodes. Back then, he had almost failed and the Bloodline Deviation caused a crimson character to appear within his Lineage Factor. Even until this moment, he wasn''t quite sure what it was, and it was still with him to this day.I think you should take a look at

    He didn''t really think about it much because it didn''t seem to affect him much. However, when he had the conversation with Adawarth''s father, he began to speculate that that crimson energy was likely related to the Morales family''s fiery tempers. It was probably the case that Leonel''s Bloodline Deviation had caused it to appear much earlier in his life than it did for most others.

    However, there was something else that had happened that day as the elders of the Morales family observed Leonel''s breakthrough.

    The violet winds rise north.

    Those words were meaningless to Leonel. After all, he hadn''t been there when they were spoken and he wasn''t even aware of them. But they were currently a shadowy whisper, almost as though an echo of another reality was speaking into his ears.

    This aside, it was Xavnik''s changes that had triggered this memory within Leonel. He seemed to have lost himself to rage, the hidden danger of the Morales family''s Lineage Factor fusing with the intricacies of his demon bloodline.

    His body was filled with an endless amount of vitality, his Divine Armor even quickly repairing, but his mind wasn''t clear.

    Large plumes of black fog came from his body, pushing his body up from the ground and standing him up. He looked as though he had been possessed by an abyss of blackness.

    The shadow woman grit her teeth and suddenly vanished, entering Xavnik''s shadow. Her aura vanished entirely and Xavnik''s own multiplied several times over. Some clarity returned to his eyes, but a fiendish, menacing hint of something extra was still hidden within.

    He howled to the skies, a spear twice the height of his body appearing in his hand as he suddenly struck out.

    Aina stood in silence. From start to end, she didn''t seem to feel the need to act at all.

    Suddenly, a towering crimson manifestation appeared to her back. She struck out a palm the moment it formed, the manifestation and her real body moving as one.

    BANG!

    The newly strengthened Xavnik froze, a powerful pressure descending upon him from above. Under the astonished gazes of those watching, his Divine Armor began to disintegrate, fluttering into the wind and leaving behind nothing but a naked Xavnik.

 Chapter 2104 Subdue

    The wildness in Xavnik''s eyes vanished, their blackness disappeared and the whiteness that returned enveloped his entire iris. He had entirely lost consciousness, standing there wide-eyed and unable to believe it.

    He slowly fell backward, collapsing to the ground with an anti-climactic thud.

    "Oo, scary," Leonel shuddered. Aina was more powerful than even he had thought. The moment her manifestation came out, her strength soared. It seemed that it was even more powerful in the Seventh Dimension than it had been in the Sixth. It might as well have been an entirely new ability.

    The most shocking part was that she hadn''t even used her battle ax, or her Blood Sovereign abilities. Although she was in her demon form, one of her more powerful abilities, it seemed to have been a lingering change from her battle with Syriah, she just hadn''t bothered to disperse it. Leonel had a feeling that victory would have been just as easy with or without it.

    Leonel stood with a smile, seemingly about to pat Aina''s shoulder. But before he could, one of her black feathers zipped by, forcing him to retrieve his hand. Leonel laughed, it seemed that she was still a bit mad.

    "Hmph," Aina harrumphed, walking away.

    "Wait! Wife! Don''t leave without me!"

    Aina continued to ignore him without a care in the world. Her speed was exceptional, unless Leonel used his Spatial Force, he probably wouldn''t be able to catch up with her if she didn''t want him to.

    Without a choice, Leonel could only laugh and give up, returning to the battlefield. Amery still seemed to be in the process of healing, having not even regained consciousness, while Xavnik and the shadow woman had separated again.

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while, wondering what he should do.

    Xavnik was a difficult choice, obviously. Although he had deduced that he was a problem, killing a member of his own family under the eyes of so many would be difficult to explain. With Xavnik defeated, it was clear that the winner of the Patriarch position of the Morales for this generation was none other than himself, Leonel Morales.

    If he chose to kill Xavnik right now, especially when Aina was the one to have defeated him, it would be hard to convince others. And since the shadow woman was obviously Xavnik''s close companion, it was also difficult to kill her just because.

    Aina had obviously known this. Since she was so much more powerful than the two of them, if she had still ended up killing them, then she would be seen as cruel.

    As for Amery, Leonel''s reason for not taking action immediately was very different than it was for Xavnik. He didn''t fear what the backlash would be for killing him, he was ready for war. Plus, it was he who had defeated Amery with his own hands, that was clear and obvious to everyone. In addition, he had already said that aside from his family, anyone who landed in his hands would die.

    Even with all of this set aside, he was also tempted by Amery''s Gaia Force Innate Node. He didn''t care much about the Dark Force Innate Node, but if he had this Gaia Force Innate Node, it would be a game-changer. This issue here was actually his conscience.

    Setting aside what the Suiard family might be wrapped up in, Amery was someone worth his respect. He had had an advantage in strength for a long while, but the only time he had "targeted" Leonel was when only one of them could continue forward in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial.

    Of course, that was only because Amery looked down on him and was extremely arrogant, but wasn''t he also extremely arrogant? Someone who could stick to their principles like this even after suffering a humiliating defeat with their strength suppressed was someone who would definitely become someone great in the future.I think you should take a look at

    Someone like Amery was needed for the coming storm. Leonel believed there was a very good reason those running this "simulation" had allowed him to meet those of other "simulations" during the Tribulation. There was a very good chance that this wouldn''t be the last time, and when that time came... those geniuses wouldn''t have their Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes suppressed.

    Leonel could tell by Amery''s Sword Force that he had experienced the same Tribulation as himself, he too was a True Sword Sovereign. If not for this, how could he push Leonel so far? In addition, this was obviously a key to survival, Leonel was certain of it.

    There was a reason they were being pitted against one another in the Tribulations, Leonel felt that this was just an appetizer to the bigger cause and effect. If he was correct about these simulations being created to deal with a much larger threat, then it was obvious that only the best of the simulations would survive in the end, this was an obvious case of survival of the fittest.

    Having Amery alive would be more useful than not. Had he died beneath Leonel''s blade, he wouldn''t have been worthy of this consideration, but the fact he had actually managed to survive made Leonel second-guess things.

    That said, there was a very clear flaw to all of this thinking: the Suiard family''s relationship with the Three Finger Cult and Xavnik.

    This one thought should have caused everything else to be thrown out of the window.

    Leonel suddenly smiled. With a thought, he brought out a snow globe and put Amery inside. The Suiard family, who were already sitting on tenterhooks, were in an uproar when this happened. Had Leonel just captured their greatest genius? Their future Patriarch?

    Leonel didn''t care about the reaction of others. His scope was far beyond that of others.

    Soon, not to mention the Human Domain, the entire Dimensional Verse would be under his control. Who cared about what plans and schemes the Suiard family had?

    Just like when he had captured Old Hutch''s grandson for his own uses, and just like how he had teamed up with Heira, those that were useful to him could live, those that weren''t could die.

    The geniuses he had killed until now were worthless in his eyes, but Amery wasn''t. He had far more potential to grow much stronger, and Leonel had all the confidence in the world to subdue him.

    Leonel walked toward Xavnik and the shadow woman, storing them away in snow globes as well. As for these two, just because he wouldn''t kill them, didn''t mean he would allow them to run amok and cause him future trouble.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴sжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Now, these Heir Wars were soon to be finished. The only enemy that remained was the Omann family, but if his calculations were correct, they would fall without him even having to be present. After all, he had sent the Cloud Race along with James and the others after them.

    However, just as Leonel was feeling complacent, his gaze suddenly sharpened. He flipped a palm and took out a communication device.

    His eyes turned red with fury and he took a step and vanished. The "injured" Leonel moved so fast that the air itself seemed to be torn into shreds.

 Chapter 2105 Shameless

    The distance between the territory of the Suiard family and that of the Omann''s wasn''t small. It was easily thousands of kilometers. In addition to this, Leonel hadn''t expected to need to take action himself as he felt that the measures he had handed to James and the others were more than enough.

    While he was fighting against Amery, he had sent Xavnik''s army to "attack" the Spirituals Religion. Due to this, Syriah had believed that she was being attacked by a joint force of Leonel, Xavnik, and the Pyius family on top of that. Due to this, she didn''t even have the presence of mind to consider the fact that Amery might also be in trouble.

    On top of that, because Amery saw that Leonel was the only threat before him, he hadn''t cared to report this matter to Syriah either. Like this, the two supposed allies were separated like this.

    Because Xavnik never showed up personally, Syriah kept waiting for the other foot to drop, not knowing that the black-green armored army was nothing more than a faA?бьade to keep her pinned down.

    While all of this was happening, Leonel had sent the others to deal with the Omann family. In his opinion, the Skies family and Oryx with the help of the Cloud Race was an undefeatable force.

    It had to be remembered just how powerful Maia was. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that she was the most powerful existence in these Heir Wars. Maybe only if Leonel broke through to the Seventh Dimension and then teamed up with Aina could they defeat Maia with any sort of confidence.

    This wasn''t because Maia was so talented, but rather because she had used the special ability of the Cloud Race, exchanging her "stored up" years for immediate strength and power. As a result, while she had only experienced about 20 or so years of life, she had the strength of an absolute genius of the Cloud Race that had practiced hard for decades longer than that.

    If Leonel had been willing to put her out in front, he might have won this war on day one before anyone could do a thing to stop him. The reason he hadn''t was that, as he had said, this wasn''t his end goal. As he saw it, the Heir Wars were only the beginning, and its purpose wasn''t just for him to win either.

    The Heir Wars was the stage for him to show off his abilities, for the Human Domain to become aware of who Leonel Morales was and the kind of strength he held. That way, when he conquered them in the future, they would have a deep-seated respect for him in their hearts already. He couldn''t do that if he just let Maia run amok from the very beginning.

    In addition to this, Maia was a trump card he didn''t want to reveal too soon. He wouldn''t have even traded for her in the first place and brought her into the Heir Wars if it wasn''t for the sake of wanting to make sure the Cloud Race stayed in line and followed his orders.

    The talent of the Cloud Race when it came to controlling the mind and related matters was too high. Leonel wanted a fool-proof plan to control them, so placing seeds into their minds wasn''t enough. He thus took control of Maia''s sons and then used Maia''s prestige to keep the others in line.

    This was all to say that with Maia present, it should have been impossible for the Omann family to turn the tides.

    According to Leonel''s orders, Maia should have only acted if it was strictly necessary. But, should things go left, he gave her permission to display her true strength. This was why he had been so confident. But what he hadn''t expected was for the Omann family to be so shameless, though he should have.

    Rather than calling these the Heir Wars, it was more like a battle between Leonel and the most powerful families of the Human Domain. It was absolutely ridiculous.

    The Heir Wars were meant to test the connections of the younger generation and their abilities; it wasn''t a place for powerful families to flaunt their resources. Everyone already knew that they were powerful, but they didn''t seem to care about this.

    Leonel had caught a glimpse of this shamelessness with the Lio family. He knew for a fact that Conon and Gunter hadn''t raised those beasts themselves, but they still brought them forward as though they had.

    And now, the Omann family had placed their full effort behind Kron Omann, the supposed best Force Crafter of the younger generation.

    This time, it wasn''t just a small hoard of beasts at the end of their lives. The Omann family had provided the "Heirs" of the Omann family with all the resources they needed to build a Tier 2 Star Ship!

    It had to be remembered that when Leonel stole a Tier 2 Star Ship from Shield Cross Stars, Cross Elder Avan had been enraged to the point of throwing a tantrum. That kind of wealth was astronomical, it was enough for even an organization of that size to feel the pinch. They even sent an Eighth Dimensional Ancestor after Leonel to try and get it back.

    Leonel had used a Tier 2 Star Ship to destroy not just one but four of the Great Families, each of which had had several experts that could have fought the likes of Maia. The strength of such a vessel shouldn''t have appeared in the Heir Wars, and the rules had made it so as well.

    Everyone knew that Leonel had stolen a Tier 2 Star Ship from Shield Cross Stars, so there was a limit on the kind of vessels and war weapons that could be traded for. If Leonel could just hand over 10,000 points and activate his flagship, the war would have been over.

    The Morales had agreed to these stipulations. In years past, they hadn''t needed such a rule because no one in the younger generation had the resources to build such a vessel, but they felt that it was a good rule to add as well since it would no longer be just the Morales participating now.

    But obviously, the Omann family had taken advantage of a loophole themselves.I think you should take a look at

    Rather than trading for such a vessel, they built it from the ground up!

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴snж╧vж┼l.cж╧m The more Leonel thought about it, the colder his expression became. He activated his Starry Light Domain, and his body began to leap through hundreds of kilometers at a time, flickering and vanishing with a speed that put the wind to shame.

    Only several minutes later, he saw the battle over the distance.

    The ocean seemed to have been extended by several kilometers, large swaths of flooding waters filling the once grassy plains. Bodies, or rather what remained of them, floated in the water.

    The large Rain Beasts collapsed one after another. Every time they did, a large flood of water would be expelled, drowning out the formations of Leonel''s army that were stuck on the ground.

    Up in the sky, a looming flagship floated. It was much smaller than Leonel''s flagship, which could match a moon in size and couldn''t possibly fit on a small planet like this one, but Leonel was certain that Aina wouldn''t make such a stupid mistake. Somehow, despite its much smaller size, this was no weaker than a Tier 2 Star Ship. In fact, it was even better than one.

    It was faster, more agile, and had more concentrated strength. Not only could it destroy a planet, but it could fight a relatively smaller scale battle like this one without destroying everything around it.

    Laying eyes on it, Leonel was even more infuriated. That was because this wasn''t just an example of the Omann family spitting in the face of the core of what the Heir Wars was meant to be by providing juniors with so many resources, but Leonel was also certain that there was no one in the younger generation with the skill to blueprint such a monstrous flagship.

    There was no doubt. This was a self-created product by none other than the Scorned Queen Beauty, and the Omann family was actually shameless enough to use it in the Heir Wars.

    The more enraged Leonel was, the calmer his gaze seemed to become. The smoldering crimson of his eyes flickered in and out as he continued to move.

    BANG!A light that split the skies shot out from a cannon on the flagship.

    Leonel''s expression changed as he rushed over. This light wasn''t aimed toward him at all.

    Aina''s roar filled the skies as her manifestation appeared once again, this time easily tens of times more powerful than what she had used against Xavnik.

    She swung her ax down with a mighty force, resisting against the blast.

    To the astonishment of those watching, she actually managed to hold it back for a brief moment. But not even a split moment later, she and her manifestation were enveloped.

    Aina catapulted backward, her body flying like a broken arrow. She couldn''t seem to gather up her power again as the laser blasted by her obstruction, swiftly catching up to her body and seeking to destroy her entirely.

    Standing on the bow of the flagship, Kron stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his arrogance towering.

    These Heir Wars were over.

    Sword Deity? Bow Deity? The Morales? The Suiard? The Spiritual Religion?All of them were worthless in the face of the greatest crafting family of the Human Domain.

    [Announcement below]

    Author''s Note: Just one chapter today and tomorrow everyone, sorry about that... but according to the bylaws, signed into being by the Dimensional Verse Regulator, it''s stipulated that author-san is freed from public lynchings so long as his birthday is within one business day of said follies. *cough* *runs away quickly*

 Chapter 2106 Too Late

    Leonel''s expression changed. His speed hit a completely new state, a wild surge of Light Force and Spatial Force spreading over his body. He seemed to lengthen, his body becoming a blurred afterimage spreading across the skies.

    He caught Aina just before the beam appeared before them, but already felt too late to do anything after it. It almost looked as though he had rushed forward just to die along with her.

    At that moment, Leonel unleashed a furious roar, his Bronze Aura erupting from his body and forming a gravity field that crushed everything in its path.

    The ground, or rather large body of water below him suddenly exploded, a pillar of invisible force crushing it as though a mighty fist had suddenly slammed against its surface.

    BANG!

    The beam of light smashed against Leonel''s defenses and seemed prepared to destroy them even faster than they had Aina''s. But right then, the wild fluctuation of golden and silver energies wrapped around Leonel''s body suddenly surged as well.

    However, it was all helpless.

    SHUUUU!

    The laser shot past, the end of its body blinked before waning like the final drip of water from a faucet. It shuddered out of existence and the beam of light disappeared into the distance, far out of the reach of their sight until...

    BOOM!

    A mountain range in the distance had a hole that was at least a half kilometer across burnt right through the center of it. It didn''t even seem as though it had been hit by anything, the laser having long since vanished. But it wasn''t until the shock waned that people realized that the laser had moved so quickly that it had long since left the range of the mountain before they were aware of the damage that it had caused.

    The time it took for light to travel back to them was actually delayed enough that they didn''t see the changes until after they heard the sound! This sort of impossible phenomena was too difficult to wrap one''s mind across, but very few picked up on this subtle difference as most had fallen into silence.

    Just moments ago, Leonel and Aina were standing tall, crushing everything in their path. They were two geniuses that the Human Domain had grown to root for and no one seemed to believe that they were as arrogant as they had previously presumed. Their entrance just weeks ago was imprinted onto their minds and they replayed it again and again, feeling that this sort of grandeur was only right for two geniuses of their level.

    But they had actually died... just like that?

    Subconsciously, many began to feel some animosity toward the Omann family. While the lowest level families wouldn''t understand what it meant for a Tier 2 Star Ship to appear, the middle tier families definitely did. The high tier families didn''t care about fairness because Leonel had humiliated them all and even killed so many of their geniuses, but the middle tier families, which made up the majority of the Human Domain... felt very different.

    This sort of indignance was something that had been in their hearts for the longest time, and now it was on full display before everyone and it left them feeling both helpless and enraged... until suddenly a pillar of water that had ascended beneath Leonel''s might collapsed.

    Leonel stood in the skies. His breathing was heavy, but his gaze was impossibly cold.

    He looked down at Aina in his arms and her breathing was shallow and pained. Just the aftershock of the laser, without even hitting, was devastating. It superheated the air to the point that only someone with such high Fire Force attainments as Leonel could ignore, and it hit like a truck. It was one thing if you didn''t resist, you just might die immediately. But the moment you did, the result could only be said to be devastating.

    The air subtly trembled around Leonel, his heavy breathing becoming the only thing he could hear.

    He looked down at the waters below. Corpses were strewn about, some face down, some face up, all floating and not a single one complete. There were limbs, incomplete torsos, there was even an individual who was nothing more than a head.

    Leonel took all of this in and finally looked up, his gaze matching Kron''s who was still slightly stunned that Leonel had actually survived.

    It had been close. However, in those final moments, Leonel had used his Gravity Field along with his Spatial Force and Light Force to slightly bend the laser around him just enough that he had the space to dodge. It was impossible to know if he could do it again, especially considering the state of his body...

    Although his current Lineage Factor allowed him to use [Instant Recovery] many times a day, that required him having a huge store of Life Force, Light Force he had practically used the entirety of just now. He would need at least an hour to gather up more, or he would need Anastasia to give up a Pure Force Crystal. Unfortunately, the Segmented Cube wasn''t with him, it was still in his ocean territory.I think you should take a look at

    The only other option was to use the Dark Star half of his [Instant Recovery] ability, but that required sucking people dry, and the only people he could do that with were on the star ship before him.

    Even knowing all of this, Leonel continued to stare at Kron, the coldness in his gaze growing to the point the space before his eyes crackled like shattered glass grinding beneath a boot.

    Kron continued to stand with his hands clasped behind his back. He was quite intelligent, so he had figured out how Leonel had survived. It was an easy enough deduction to make, but it was surprising nonetheless.

    Even so, once something before him was within his realm of comprehension, he had no need to fear it any longer. The upper hand was held by the Omann, and if there were no other tricks, they would be the ultimate winners.

    Better yet, this Leonel was right before him now. The only worry was whether or not he would shatter his badge before he could kill him. The Omann family had already made it clear that this young man had to die, but the original plan was for a sudden sneak attack that Leonel couldn''t react to, he hadn''t expected for Leonel to come to him like this.

    Seeing how enraged Leonel seemed to be, though, Kron sent a secret signal with his hands clasped behind his back and his dignified expression turned into one with a sneer.

    "Leonel Morales, I presume? I can''t tell if you''re simple or stupid. Did you believe that sending your headless subordinates here would be able to deal with the Omann family?"

    Leonel didn''t respond. Holding Aina in his arms, it seemed he didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly for fear that he might hurt her more. But even so, his gaze never left Aina.

    "This is your woman?" Kron asked with a smile before looking down. "Those are your brothers?"

    Kron shook his head. "A pity they were led by a fool. Are you really the best that the Morales have to offer? I''ve already scanned this continent and none of you remain here, I hope for their sake that there are others waiting on the day side supercontinent."

    Kron didn''t seem to care whether Leonel responded or not, but his words were sinister. They didn''t carry the crassness one might expect, but they instead hit the nail on the head again and again. By targeting the Morales family, even if Leonel felt that it was alright to leave now since he had already secured the Morales'' Heirship, Kron''s words made that accomplishment seem meaningless.

    Suddenly, the canons began to pulse.

    Kron''s sneer deepened.

    Leonel took a step forward and Kron erupted in laughter. In truth, he didn''t believe that Leonel was so stupid. He felt that Leonel probably thought that he could rely on his Spatial Force to make it here, but he would be sorely mistaken.

    Back during Earth''s second large scale war against the Umbras and Radix families, Leonel had assaulted a frontier on his own. Even the Radix family, a mere Sixth Dimensional family, understood how dangerous Spatial Force wielders were and had measures that made it impossible for him to teleport, let alone Crafters on the level of the Omann.

    The distance between Leonel and the ship was over a kilometer, and even if Leonel managed to dodge this barrage of the lasers, the fluctuations of Force in the area would become so volatile that even his badge wouldn''t work anymore.

    This is why Kron had sent secret signals as he provoked Leonel. What he wanted was for Leonel to be unable to react by the time the larger canons fired, but these larger canons took time to warm up and shoot.

    Now, it was already too late.

    However, Kron, although he knew information like Leonel''s use of Spatial Force, he clearly didn''t know Leonel well enough.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴snж╧vж┼l.cж╧m That was because from the very moment Leonel had stepped foot into these Heir Wars, he didn''t plan on anything weaker than first place.

    And the moment Aina had shed blood, Kron''s life was already forfeit.

 Chapter 2107 Mysterious Ability Index

    Leonel''s figure flickered to the side. He moved before the final pulse of canons echoed through the air. It felt like an Armageddon was descending, the piercing lights enveloping everything as they crossed to meet toward Leonel''s location.

    ж╤ж┴ж░dж┴sжнж╧vel.cж╧m Kron had already seen Leonel''s movement, but his sneer only deepened. Now that these canons had been fired, the region was far too volatile to allow the badges to work properly. Let alone the badges, even controlling Force would be difficult in this environment.

    Now, he just wanted to see how much time Leonel would last for.

    There was nowhere to escape, the Star ship was far faster than any one human. Even Eighth Dimensional existences wouldn''t be able to easily outrun them. There was no winning, the Star Ship was too powerful. Any one of its strikes could threaten the life of an Ancestor. There was only despair to be had.

    When the lights faded, all others saw was Leonel calmly strapping Aina to his back. He moved slowly and with purpose, too scared that his abrupt movement could injure her further.

    Just moments ago, this woman stood at the top of the world, casually defeating all the geniuses in her path. This was the glory she deserved, a glory that Leonel was more than willing to give her. She was his woman, the one he loved. It didn''t matter to him even if others downplayed his achievements because he had relied on her in the end.

    When she smiled, he was happy. When she frowned, he felt sadness. When she was angry, he felt enraged on her behalf, and when she bled, his fury could burn even the stars.

    Leonel''s gaze had sharpened, his expression becoming so dark that it was difficult even to see his eyes clearly.

    The last time he had been forced to strap Aina to his back like this, he had caused a city to fall from the skies, crushing the enemy that had dared to make her feel fear. Back then, the Puppet Master hadn''t even laid a hand on Aina yet, only because of her reaction Leonel had caused two powerful cities to crumble beneath his might.

    What he would do to Kron and the Omann family would be far worse.

    Leonel flickered and vanished. To the astonishment of those watching, rather than turning and running, hoping to find a way to exit the range of the volatile Force and crush his badge, he instead shot forward like a blazing meteor.

    At that moment, streaking through the skies felt like swimming through a vat of oil, using Force felt like pushing a boulder up a hill. Many who weren''t even present found it difficult to breathe.

    It was truly the hot bloodedness of youth. Facing such a ship, even Ancestors would have to turn away. Back then, even the hot tempered Cross Elder Avan had only targeted Leonel after making certain that he had lost the ability to use the Star Ship against him.

    But now, against an upgraded Tier 2 Star Ship, Leonel was actually moving forward like he had lost his mind entirely to rage.

    Kron was stunned for a moment as well. He had only meant to use provoking words to delay Leonel for a moment so that the canons could fire. He hadn''t expected to provoke Leonel to the point that he would actually attack. The way he saw things, Leonel might be stupid enough to not crush his badge immediately out of pride, but when he saw the situation, he would make a move nonetheless.I think you should take a look at

    But the reality showed that Leonel was far more foolish than he had thought.

    Kron suddenly began to laugh. "This is indeed the difference between the Morales and the Omann family. This hot blooded foolishness killed many of your Ancestors, it killed your grandfather, and it will kill your father very soon, but I guess that you won''t be there to witness that day."

    This time, Kron wasn''t speaking just for the sake of goading Leonel, he spoke from the very bottom of his heart, his disdain practically taking physical form as it exuded from him.

    The other geniuses of the Omann family couldn''t help but sneer after awakening to the truth as well.

    Vanlamar, Eirdal, and Garfin, three Gold Grade Crafters only beneath Kron in terms of Crafting skill within the younger generation. The four of them had worked themselves to the bone in the last several weeks, making sure that everything was absolutely perfect, and now it seemed that it would all work out.

    They manned the lasers, shifting them toward Leonel''s next location and firing.

    This time, they weren''t worried about power. Even at 5%, these lasers were more than enough to grind a Seventh Dimensional existence to ash. At that moment, the Starship displayed its power. The lasers were continuous, blotting out the skies. Although they were far thinner than they had been in the past, they fired continuously, an endless supply of power coming from their rumbling fusion core.

    The rest of the Omann family members flew around the ship like headless chickens, making sure that everything was in order. Even though they were being worked to the bone, they grinned with wide smiles on their faces, the pride they felt in their families growing to the point of manifesting like Kron''s disdain.

    Leonel couldn''t even approach. He continuously flashed to the side, trying to get closer. But every time he succeeded, he would actually be forced to retreat. That was because the closer he got, the higher the density of lasers would be, leaving him less and less room to dodge.

    The Human Domain sighed. By now, the domain of volatile Force had increased to the point that even if Leonel managed to rush hundreds of kilometers away, he wouldn''t be able to escape. But how could he even begin to put that kind of distance between himself and a Starship?

    ...

    At that moment, in the starry skies, a body was suddenly surrounded by several figures. It was a young woman who had had her legs and one of her arms blown off, even her beating heart could be seen. But she was indifferent to it all, looking toward the floating images before her.

    This woman was none other than Cynthia Omann.

 Chapter 2108 Over

    Cynthia didn''t care about the state of her body, nor the Omann family elders trying to sustain her life around her. She felt that since she still had her consciousness, her survival was inevitable. She would get her revenge in due time. What she cared about now was the death of Leonel.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴snж╧vж┼l.cж╧m She had given Kron a blueprint she had spent the better part of the last few decades on. It was a machine that would allow the Omann''s to rise to the top. No one would be able to compete with them. This... was nothing more than an appetizer.

    If before she didn''t care much about Leonel and only wanted him dead for the sake of avoiding accidents, she now wanted to see Alienor''s face when she learned that she had both survived and was the cause of her son''s death.

    Although Cynthia''s expression was unmoved, the viciousness in her heart was practically like crawling, black-scaled snakes, imprinting themselves throughout her veins and arteries and turning her thoughts dark and gloomy.

    No one knew what her thoughts had been like in the years since Velasco didn''t show up to their wedding, no one even knew whether she had loved Velasco or not. The world could never read anything from her expression and even when she was on the brink of death like this, she had given nothing away at all.

    In truth, though she wanted to see Alienor in pain, she was actually partially grateful.

    Much like no one knew what her true emotions were, even fewer knew what her Ability Index was. But this time, that was because even Cynthia herself hadn''t been aware of what it was. All her life she had assumed that it was just a minor Ability Index that boosted her strength or speed, but this was unexpectedly not the case.

    Just now, she had truly died and been reborn. If she already stood atop the world before, she would supersede even this world in the future. And the first step toward that glory... was the death of this thorn at her side.

    ...

    Leonel''s moves became more and more erratic. In the end, this was the first time the Omann had used this Starship, they were yet to become used to it. The more they fired, the more accustomed they became, and the sharper their attacks and their aiming became.

    The only reason Leonel had survived for this long was because he was moving before the canons fired, basing his movements on the aiming of the barrels rather than waiting to time the trajectory of the lasers themselves. But the sharper the Omann family became, the more and more difficult this became as well.

    However, no one noticed that Leonel''s gaze had become akin to the sea god''s trident, cold and merciless, enveloped the chilly depths of the dark ocean. And then... Leonel suddenly moved forward.

    This time, there was no sideways movement to his steps at all, he barrelled forward as though he had given up on life and sought to die in a blaze of glory.

    Kron''s smile deepened until it suddenly froze.

    There was only a kilometer that separated himself and Leonel. This was nothing more than child''s play in terms of distance at their strength. But it hadn''t mattered because Leonel couldn''t even get close. In fact, Leonel had even been pushed back until there was over a 10 kilometers distance separating them.

    But Leonel suddenly closed the distance to nine kilometers, crossing a distance that should have gotten him killed immediately... And he was still moving!I think you should take a look at

    Leonel''s flickered and moved like the pieces on a chess board. Every time he shifted to one location and the canons reacted, he would shift again, sliding into an impossible to target blindspot.

    All barrels had their limitations. These limitations came in terms of how fast they could move, their recharge time, their recoil, and the final limitation was that of the experts manning them.

    With this fast rate of firing, the reload time was not even half a second. The recoil was minimized not only by the design of the barrels, but also the thickness of the lasers-although they were far thinner now than when they were fully charged, that was only relative. As for how fast they could move side to side and up and down in order to re-aim, that was even smoother, they were being manned by the geniuses of the Omann family, their speed of calculation was out of this world.

    However, in Leonel''s eyes...

    A half second was still a period of time. Recoil, no matter how minimal, was still minimal. Thickness, no matter how thick, wasn''t infinite. And calculations, no matter how fast they were done, couldn''t possibly be done faster than his own.

    After just three minutes, a map of the location of the barrels, their limitations, and what regions they could currently attack, had all appeared in Leonel''s mind. Every time he moved, he would force the barrels to overextend themselves, then suddenly step into the nearest blind spot they couldn''t react fast enough to.

    His movements were agile and his steps were confident.

    He halved the distance to five kilometers in an instant, then in the blink of an eye he was already less than half a kilometer away.

    It had all happened so fast that Kron almost couldn''t react. Leonel was akin to a fish in water, the coldness in his eyes suddenly piercing through Kron''s soul for the first time.

    But just because he was a bit slow to react didn''t mean he couldn''t.

    Kron calmed and waved a hand, a shield activating that blocked Leonel''s path when he was just a hundred meters away. Even normal mortals could see across this distance clearly, let alone two individuals of their stature.

    Looking into Leonel''s eyes, Kron felt that it was far too close.

    "Kill him," Kron said coldly.

    This shield was even stronger than the shield Leonel had used to protect himself from Cross Elder Avan. This battle was over.

 Chapter 2109 A Practical Joke

    The lasers charged and suddenly there was no place to dodge. With Leonel being so close, Kron changed his command. Rather than firing at the fastest speed possible, they delayed the onset, charging it up from 5% to over 50%.

    The thickness of the lasers would increase ten times over. At this distance, if all the canons fired together, the entire range around Leonel would be enveloped. There would be no blindspot because all of the lasers would cover for one another.

    Suddenly, Leonel, who looked as though he was about to turn the tide, faced his death.

    Vanlamar, Eirdal and Garfin reacted even faster than Kron could give the order. They were all absolute geniuses in their own right and were only a small bit worse than Kron. If the Omann family had their own Heir Wars, there was no doubt that these four would all be their own respective Heirs.

    Due to this, the order came even faster than Kron had expected and the sneer on his face deepened. If there had been a delay due to the time it took for him to give the order, Leonel might have had a 10% chance to escape. But now, those odds had fallen to 0%, and even that was Kron being reserved. If there was a way for him to give Leonel less than 0% chance, he would. But his pride as a Crafter and scholarly man wouldn''t allow him to do something so meaningless.

    Many looked away, unwilling to see such a scene. Leonel''s death would mean Aina''s death as well. Such a young couple, a Life Grade Crafter and Force Pill Crafter, would actually die in this way?

    Of course, Kron had no idea about all of this as he didn''t have the viewer''s perspective and hadn''t seen what the two had accomplished.

    As far as Kron was concerned, he was unmatched amongst the younger generation in Force Crafting, he had no equal. Even though he was currently relying on Cynthia''s blueprint, he didn''t feel any shame. In fact, he only felt endless amounts of pride.

    He, as a Seventh Dimensional existence, had actually led a team to complete a Life Grade Craft. He had already stepped through the threshold of becoming a Life Grade Crafter and he was sure that within the next three years he would succeed.

    To him, the Crafters of the Morales family, especially those of the younger generation, were nothing more than jumping clouds.

    With his hands clasped behind his back, he met Leonel''s cold gaze. Just a hundred meters separated them, but it might as well have been an endless cavern.

    ''This is my skill, this is what the power of a Crafter can bring you. What meaning is there to be a group of fighting apes like the Morales, unable to focus on anything and having the tempers of children? You''ll die and your parents will come to accompany you soon.''

    Kron''s intent blazed and his Force actually surged. Beneath the rising might of the laser barrels, his power actually improved. He stepped across the threshold of Tier 3 of the Seventh Dimension and stepped into Tier 4.

    His Force flowed with an impossible smoothness and the smile on his face was calm. He felt like everything in the world was in the palm of his hands. The difference between him and Leonel was akin to the skies and mud. He had just broken through a barrier no one in the younger generation could touch, and Leonel''s journey would end here. Wasn''t it all clear?

    BOOM!

    The lasers fired and enveloped the world. As expected, Leonel was entirely swallowed. There was nowhere to dodge, no blind spots to take advantage of.

    It was over.

    Kron looked away complacently, a bright smile on his face. "You''ve all done well! This is the Omann family''s glory! Prepare the ship, we''ll go to kill off the rest of the Heirs and finish this farce."

    "Long live the Omanns!"I think you should take a look at

    "Long live the Omanns!"

    The roar of the geniuses on the ship was deafening. They too had had a helping hand in completing a Life Grade Starship, how could they not be endlessly prideful? Maybe soon, like Kron, they would sense the threshold of the Life Grade as well.

    ж╤ж┴ж░dж┴sжнж╧vel.cж╧m Vanlamar, Eirdal and Garfin were all feeling prideful as well. Unlike the others, they were right on Kron''s heels, they had already sensed the threshold as well. Although Kron had gone beyond them and entered Tier 4, he was always slightly older than them.

    Soon, the Omann family would have four new rising geniuses. This was the power of Cynthia''s blueprint!

    But at that moment, amidst the roaring adulation, the gentle sound and feet landing on the ground was deafening.

    It should have been a sound that was entirely drowned out, a sound that was so miniscule and unimportant that it would have been washed away by the deafening boom of their happiness. And yet... it echoed in their ears like thunder... because they were all too familiar with that sound, it was a sound they had heard thousands of times in their lives... the sound of someone descending from the skies...

    But the problem was that none of them had been in the skies just now.

    They all looked back, their eyes widening as they found Leonel standing there with the same cold expression. This time, the biting wind of his gaze reached them, the hollow sound of chilly wind echoing through their heart resounding in their ears like the creaking doors of an abandoned home.

    Kron''s expression changed, his head whipped back so fast that an aching pain spread through his neck. However, he couldn''t seem to sense this at all as his eyes landed on Leonel.

    "You... How..."

    Leonel didn''t say a single word as the entire ship was enveloped by darkness. At that moment, even the Human Domain couldn''t see a single thing. All they could hear was the echo of screams, a shuddering, heart wrenching, blood curdling symphony that they would never forget.

    When the darkness cleared, Leonel held Kron''s throat in his hands as he breathed his final few breaths.

    Kron''s eyes suddenly lit up with enlightenment, a wash of relief flooding his body. "That''s how... how you did it..."

    Kron chuckled, the excursion causing him to cough up the final strands of blood in his body. To the horror of those watching, everything beneath his waist had actually already been separated from his body.

    The ship could only be described as the bloodier reincarnation of hell. Limbs, headless corpses, random assortments of legs, bones and inner organs. Blood painted the deck and dripped down the sides of the once proud Starship. It could be seen that Leonel hadn''t spared even a single person, not even the most minor of characters from the Omanns had lived, because they were all responsible for Aina''s injuries.

    And yet, the leader of them all, was laughing such a mad laughter as he breathed his last breaths. He found it all to be absolutely hysterical, a wild tale of the most epic proportions.

    That was because he felt that his title as number one Crafter of the younger generation had been nothing more than a joke the Human Domain had played on him.

 Chapter 2110 Silence

    There was nothing but a void of silence. The way Leonel stood, it looked like he was still infuriated, tossing aside Kron''s corpse as though he was dissatisfied that there was no one left to vent his fury on.

    Indeed, Kron had managed to figure it out at the last moment. His shock and awe had nothing to do with Leonel''s Divine Armor. As he watched his fellow family members die one after another, suffering horrible, cruel deaths, all he could think about was what could have possibly led things to come to this point... and in the end, as he breathed his last, he finally grasped it.

    But even then, he found it hard to believe... hard to believe that such a Crafter could exist in the younger generation because it was hard to believe that such an existence could even exist amongst the older generation. It felt that none of it made any sense.

    Everything hinged on one matter: the protective formation itself.

    When one thought about it, what did it mean for a Starship to be able to defend itself and attack at the same time? How could it both stop Leonel from approaching, while also attacking Leonel? It seemed that the only way for that to be possible would be for the canons to be outside of the formation, but in that case, the canons would be too easily targeted.

    Of all the blind spots that Leonel had risked his life to calculate, there existed some that even toddlers would be able to figure out was a safe region, and that was the location of the barrels themselves. If the canons had been located on the outside, it would be easy for Leonel to protect himself.

    However, there would never be such an obvious design flaw. The formations of the Starship were designed to allow one-way pass through, to block from one direction, but allow easy access from another direction. It was like this the ship was able to both protect itself and attack at the same time.

    It didn''t need to be an example just how difficult doing such a thing was. The level of Force Art mastery that was required was on a completely different level. It was one thing for it to be a simple pass through, or to maybe allow a person or two through, but to maintain its integrity while powerful cannons like those lasers were firing, it was almost impossible.

    It could be said that the greatest feat of engineering on the Starships was this formation that could block Eighth Dimensional existences from one side and kill them from the other. To Leonel, however...

    This was nothing more than a flaw to exploit.

    The weakness of such a Force Art was that the amount it could let through at once was limited. Kron wasn''t a fool, he was well aware of this. As for the Protective Force Art, it was designed to be just fine even if all the cannons fired at once at 100%. If it could do this, it wouldn''t be a feat of engineering.

    Even so, there were still flaws, and it had only taken Leonel a moment to find them.

    During his approach to the Starship, Leonel had already been targeting one region in particular. However, those that were intelligent would see that there was a problem with all of this.

    The cannons, fired at 50%, had lasers so thick that they covered the entire range of Leonel''s escape options. How could Leonel target a single flaw if the lasers spanned hundreds of meters? And if the flaw spanned hundreds of meters itself, it wouldn''t have even been a feat for Leonel to succeed because the Force Art would have long since collapsed.

    But once again, the Starship was designed to take the cannons fired at 100%, even all at the same time, so something wasn''t adding up.

    Originally, Kron had thought of this possibility, and simply threw it to the back of his mind. It wasn''t until his final breath that he remembered what Leonel had done right at the beginning of the battle and it all clicked for him at once.

    In order to survive the first strike of lasers and save Aina, Leonel had redirected the lasers, using his Gravity Field, Light Force, and Spatial Force to bend light as though he was a crystal prism.

    This time, Leonel did it once again, but on a far larger scale.

    He had realized that the protective Force Art was no different from a polarized lens. It allowed objects to pass through from one direction, but didn''t from another. So long as he got close to this lens, he could tweak it just the slightest bit.

    On his own, Leonel could only shift the laser''s light a few centimeters...

    With the help of the Protective Force Art, he forced the lasers that spanned hundreds of meters in thickness to concentrate onto a single point, targeting the weakness of the Force Art.

    ж╤ж┴ж░dж┴sжнж╧vel.cж╧m While passing through the Force Art, the lasers immediately overloaded the protective formation. The formation was rated to handle 100% canon fire with ease, but after Leonel took action, it was as though the power of the cannons had increased a thousandfold, shooting far past what the Force Art could handle and shattering it.

    At the same time, because the laser was concentrated into a single point chosen by Leonel''s manipulation of the Protective Force Art, he knew exactly where to stand to avoid being hit.

    As though this wasn''t terrible foresight enough, because the lasers had to be filtered through the Force Art first before their beams could be shrunk, from Kron''s perspective, it looked as though everything had gone perfectly because all he and the rest of them could see was a blinding flash of light that enveloped everything ahead.

    Leonel controlled it all perfectly. He overloaded the Force Art just enough that it only shattered after all the light had passed through. Then, he calmly stepped forward through the now shattered Force Art, and before it could even be reported that the Protective Force Art had issues... He landed on the desk of the Starship.

    Now, he stood alone and it all began to sink in for the spectators.

    These Heir Wars were over, and the number one genius of the younger generation had been crowned.

    His name was Leonel Morales.

 Chapter 2111 Not Earth?

    The silence of the Human Domain very quickly became a raging uproar. Not many understood how Leonel had done it; it relied on concepts of Force Crafting that even Life Grade Crafters might not understand, let alone the general masses.

    But what they were all aware of was that Leonel wasn''t just lucky. Unlike Kron, they had a bird''s eye perspective of what had happened. They saw Leonel placed his hand on the Protective Force Art, they saw the large, thick beams of lasers converge and come out the other side in a far thinner line, they saw Leonel dodge it with ease, and they watched as it shattered beneath its own power.

    At this point, in the eyes of those watching, Leonel was practically omnipotent. He had just taken down a Starship that even Ancestors feared on his own, and yet he hadn''t been injured during the exchange even a single time. In fact, he had entered the battlefield tired and drawing on his final dregs of stamina, and yet this was the result.

    If it wasn''t for the fact that Kron and the others had lost their lives as a result of this matter, some conspiracy theorists might have thought that this was all a show put on by the strongest powers of the Human Domain just to shine a halo upon Leonel.

    It all felt too exaggerated. From the very moment he stepped onto the Heir Wars moon, it could be said that he was in first place from the very first breath, and in the end, he finished off in first place. Despite the winding twists and turns, and even when it seemed that he had nowhere to go and had finally reached a dead end, he broke through time and time again... Nothing was able to pause his steps.

    The Morales Heirs watched on in silence, their expressions unreadable. They too had begun to feel the sort of bitter sweetness that the Heirs of the past had felt. For Adawarth, sometimes when his father got drunk and complained about the things on his plate and how being Patriarch was exhausting, he could hear the undertones in his voice. That year, Velasco hadn''t participated, and Montez, as though trying to prove something, had entered the Heir Wars with no backers other than his own spear, believing that he was no weaker than his elder brother and he didn''t need the help of others.

    The current Patriarch of the Morales was the first winner in their history that didn''t feel the pride in his victory. Every time he had more work to do, every time another thing was shoved onto his plate, every time his temper wanted to flare up but he was forced to suppress it, he would remember that this was a job that others hadn''t even wanted so he ended up with it, and it made it all the more bitter.

    Adawarth had wanted to win, to defeat his fellow Heirs in the most talented generation of the Morales with his own hands, so that he could take some of his father''s pride back.

    But that satisfaction had already been stripped from him. The moment the Human Domain forced Leonel to participate as a Sixth Dimensional existence, he had been enraged, although he didn''t show it. What good was it if he defeated Leonel like this? What was it worth? Could he take his father''s pride back? Could he help their branch of the family set their hearts at ease?

    This rage, however, wasn''t aimed toward Leonel; he wanted to vent it on the other Heirs of the Human Domain for daring to stain something he had worked so hard for.

    But now, seeing Leonel stand victorious, a smile couldn''t help but spread across his face.

    This was what Leonel deserved, what the Morales deserved. All the humiliation he had felt, that they had felt, that every Morales had been forced to shoulder for the last several months, was washed away in a single instant.

    As fiery as all of their tempers were, they grinned from ear to ear, their bodies rumbling and their blood boiling.

    One after another, the howl of the Morales spread through the Human Domain. There didn''t need to be a projection for the powers, weak to strong, to hear it.

    The stars aligned and a constellation that spanned countless light years appeared above their heads, taking the shape of a spear roaring with the howl of a blade.

    ж╤ж┴ж░dж┴sжнж╧vel.cж╧m The commotion was larger than a single Domain could encompass. The echo spread across the Dimensional Verse, the stars aligning as though in worship of the birth of a new existence.

    The spear lengthened and grew, its mighty body shuddering and shaking as though it wasn''t satisfied with this alone.

    The doors that gates the Morales Lineage Factor were flung open one after another. A raging torrent of Star Force accumulated and descended upon their territory.

    Everyone with even the slightest Morales blood rushing through their veins felt a connection with the roaring stars in the skies. Their understanding of Star Force and what it truly represented seemed to undergo a metamorphosis, and their gazes lost their sharpness, the vague hue of enlightenment filling their bodies as the commotion continued to grow.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The Morales Holy Land rumbled. The ground cracked and large plumes of violet smoke came out from its depths, filling the region that had already been extremely thick with Force with larger and larger amounts of it.

    And then, suddenly, it was as though a pane of glass had shattered, a ceiling made of the most pure and transparent crystal being crushed as an artificial glass cap was erupted through.

    The Morales lands trembled, their skies thundered, and all of the stars within the thousands of galaxies they commanded seemed to surge with life.

    Every existence in the Dimensional Verse was alerted all at once.

    The Human Domain finally had an Eighth Dimensional territory...

    And it wasn''t Earth at all.

 Chapter 2112 Howl

    The howl of the Morales resonated with their spear constellation as it morphed into something entirely different.

    A hand of stars appeared from the vast nothingness, grabbing ahold of the spear as the rest of his body quickly formed. A magnificent armor formed of a rainbow assortment of stars and galaxies took shape.

    The man raised his foot and stomped it downward. A wild pressure spread in all directions, the howling blade of the spear piercing through the veil of the universe.

    The man''s spear steadied, straight and unfathomable, steady and unmovable.

    And then, it all fell into silence.

    The rolling blood of the Morales continued to tumble. They felt their bodies strengthening by leaps and bounds, whether it was the Heirs or the lowest of the talents, their so-called Bloodline Shackles were shattered one after another.

    Even without being consciously aware of it, the Morales seemed to understand that they would never have to awaken their Lineage Factor step by step again. However, even this wasn''t the most shocking part of it all.

    Their Metal Synergy Lineage Factor and their Spear Domain Lineage Factor had seemingly fused into one, becoming an entirely new Lineage Factor more substantial than it had been in the past. And, as though that wasn''t enough, every Morales alive on this day had received it.

    In the past, the fifth door of the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had been a tightly guarded secret, one that the Morales hadn''t been willing for outsiders to understand. But when the sixth door was awakened by Leonel, the uproar within their Holy Lands was devastating, though many had assumed that it had been done by Velasco.

    Now, however, it had all changed.

    Doors? They didn''t have them anymore. And let alone the sixth door that they had to suppress information about had entirely vanished.

    The two Lineage Factor standards that had become the deciding factor as to whether or not one could become an Heir and compete for the Patriarch position had vanished, fusing into one and forming an entirely new Lineage Factor that existed on a plain of its own... at least in the Human Domain.

    The other families that were witnessing this felt shaken to their core.

    At this moment, one had one very important question to ask themselves. Why was it that only 12 were known as the Constellation Families? Why was it that word of the Morales family or the Omann family or the Suiard family having Constellations not spread?

    It didn''t seem to make any sense. The influence of these constellations was so heavy that even the people of Earth had heard of them, to the point that they had even named them properly down to the final word.

    If the influence was so great, then why was it that these families had to join up in alliances just to match up to the Suiard and Morales families? Why were they so weak, relatively speaking?

    Of course, to the people of the Human Domain, these families were absolute behemoths, but they still didn''t sit upon the apex. So what was the reasoning for this?

    The harsh truth was that very few knew or understood, but there was some speculation... And that while it required a powerful family to form a Constellation, if a family was too powerful, it would be even more difficult than a weak family trying to form one.

    While there were many medium to large families that had formed Constellations, the pinnacle of the Dimensional Verse had never managed to do so...

    Until now.

    The Morales Constellation seemed to take up the entire skies. No matter where you were in the Dimensional Verse, no matter how bright your sun had just been in your skies, there was nothing but darkness except for the shining radiance of this constellation.

    The howl of the Morales, rather than getting weaker, only seemed to get stronger. Their boiling blood only grew hotter and hotter, their skin growing flush.

    A spear radiance shot from their bodies, piercing toward the stars as though in acknowledgement of the man wielding a spear above them. Even their Ancestors couldn''t seem to hold back, howling along as though they were in the prime of their youth once again.

    The Human Domain was entirely silent outside the roar of the Morales. Many had thought about the fact that should the Morales have won these Heir Wars, their morale would have reached unreachable peaks, but they had never expected for it to be this exaggerated.

    They felt that if they truly attacked the Morales now, even if they could deal a devastating blow, destroying them would be entirely impossible.

    Their gazes couldn''t help but fall onto a single young man, standing amidst a sea of blood and carnage. It was he who had caused all of this, he, who from the very beginning, had shattered their expectations one after another. It was he, who even on the first day of his role as Patriarch, had gathered up the Morales into a single unified front even without breathing a single word.

    ...

    The Void Elders of the Void Palace couldn''t believe what they were seeing. Void Elder Wimarc, Void Elder Galienne, and Void Elder Lizbeth had unreadable expressions, their gazes shifting from the Constellation in the skies to the young man basking in Star Force.

    They had been infuriated by this youngster time and time again, but they had never been able to get their revenge. They had thought that they could at least watch him fall on his face during these Heir Wars after offending so many, but he had shattered their expectations again and again.

    It was truly suffocating.

    Before any of them could decide on a word to speak, the Void Palace suddenly rumbled.

    Their expressions changed. The last time this had happened, the Cataclysm Zone had descended and swallowed them whole, it couldn''t be that...

    "The Void Battlefield! The barriers have been shattered!"

    The expressions of the Void Elders turned pale all at once.

    This only meant one thing. The other Domains were invading.

    -----

    Erdiul''s Note: I really enjoyed this Heir Wars arc, what about you guys?

 Chapter 2113 Drawbacks

    Leonel opened his eyes, his gaze somewhat vacant. In truth, he wasn''t entirely in the mood to worry about the changes happening to his body, nor the changes occurring outside this planet, but he didn''t really have much of a choice. He might have still ignored it if it was a change to his Lineage Factor alone, but during these last few moments, he had suddenly gained enlightenment on Universal Force.

    It had come in an unexpected way, but also in a mode that made perfect sense. He had never thought that the constellation families would be so related to the Universal Forces, but now that things had been laid out this way, it almost felt too obvious. Of course they would have to be related in some way.

    Even so, the fact that his Lineage Factor had actually evolved was beyond his expectations, and his breakthrough was even more unexpected.

    Leonel had found breaking through the Realms of the Sixth Dimension incredibly easy, he improved by leaps and bounds what felt like almost everyday. And yet, his Universal Force and comprehension of Universal Cycles was still stuck at a Fifth Dimensional standard, it didn''t seem to make much sense.

    That said, Leonel understood why this was. He had suddenly upturned his entire understanding of Universal Forces and what they were meant to be, and had even tied that in with [Dimensional Cleanse]. The complexity of taking even a single step forward now couldn''t be understated.

    What Leonel had neglected was the fact that since his Universal Force had fundamentally changed, the method by which he had to approach his next breakthrough should likewise change, but he hadn''t been flexible enough.

    Now, he realized where his mistake was.

    He had already fully comprehended the Sixth Dimensional Layer of [Dimensional Cleanse]. All he had to do now was use it as a prism to comprehend the Natural Light Realm and everything would flow smoothly. The moment he had this thought, it happened.

    The world of his Ethereal Glabella changed entirely and the shifting tides of night and day came with a surge of Universal Force that was all too easily masked by the commotion of the Human Domain as a whole.

    Leonel was so distracted by these changes to his Universal Force that he didn''t pay much attention to his body. He already had improved his Lineage Factor greatly and he hadn''t thought about what benefits this matter would bring him. In fact, he was actually lamenting it.

    Why were the Morales so powerful? It wasn''t just because of their Lineage Factor, but rather because of the skills that they had paired it with.

    The Metal Synergy Lineage Factor didn''t come with Divine Armor by default, it had to be remembered that the Divine Armor creation technique was one that passed down to Leonel from his father. It and techniques like Metal Body were the real reason that Leonel and the others were so powerful.

    If the Lineage Factor changed too much, these techniques that had taken countless generations to produce would become useless. Even if the floor strength of the Morales had skyrocketed, and their ceiling couldn''t be seen, the time it would take for that improvement to be seen would be extremely long.

    In fact, if those techniques truly became useless, in the immediate future, rather than becoming stronger, the Morales would actually weaken by a substantial margin.

    This is why Leonel wasn''t very excited about these matters. He had already lucked out once by the improvement of his Lineage Factor not interfering with his Metal Body and the like, he didn''t know if he would be lucky enough to succeed again.

    These reasons were also why he had held back in improving his Northern Star Lineage Factor to the next stage either. If he casually did so, the synergy between the light and dark halves might vanish and things like the Lotus Domain that he had grown to like very much would disappear as well.

    Leonel shook his head and sighed. It seemed that only time would tell.

    After his enlightenment ended, he swept through his body once and sighed a breath of relief when it seemed that his Divine Armors were still there. However, although they were still there they felt somewhat... empty.

    They had had such a perfect fusion with Leonel before, but now it felt that there was something missing.

    The situation in Leonel''s body, oddly enough, was actually quite similar to what the other Morales were experiencing as well. This was surprising because Leonel''s own Lineage Factor had already deviated from their own, and his Divine Armor had changed a great deal.

    ''Hm?''

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened. He actually felt that he could expel his Divine Armor from his body now.

    Others weren''t aware, but Leonel very much understood how he had managed to reforge his Divine Armors... It required literally being eaten alive. Although it wouldn''t have had to be so exaggerated if he wanted to do it again, he would still have to take the step to destroy his own body and reforge it like a Spiritual would.

    That wasn''t a fun process, and he could only do it because he had succeeded in separating his soul. But now, it seemed that he could actually do it at will.

    ''Maybe... the drawbacks won''t be so bad...'' Leonel felt hopeful. However, he didn''t smile too quickly. He knew that with these sorts of subtle changes, it would take time to pick out all the new issues they would have to deal with.

    At least with how things stood now, his Divine Armor was definitely no longer perfectly suited to his body, he would have to do something about that sooner rather than later.

    Exhaling a breath, Leonel looked up. It seemed that it was time to leave.

    He took a step and the Starship rumbled. The corpses that had fallen into the ocean were all taken by him.

    When Leonel pierced through the atmosphere of the Heir Wars moon, there probably wasn''t a single person who didn''t have their eyes on him. All at once, the animosity that had built up so long came flooding forth like a tide. This was truly their last easy chance to kill Leonel.

 Chapter 2114 Brat

    These people never got the chance to act. Let alone his parents, the Morales all moved in unison. However, people soon realized that it was entirely unnecessary.

    ''This brat...'' The Morales Ancestors shook their heads. Even in this situation, it seemed that Leonel didn''t care to rely on others. He had exited the Heir Wars riding on the Starship that the Omann were so proud of. They had been so excited by the various emotions they had experienced in the last several moments that they had entirely neglected this point.

    Who here could even harm Leonel? They would have to turn their own flagship canons toward him first, but the agility that the Omann''s new prototype had shown was on a completely different level. Their large Starships took time to warm up and prepare for action, and took even longer to accelerate into movement. After all, they were all the size of a planet at the smallest. But the Omann''s... or rather, Leonel''s now, was only about three or so kilometers in length. It might be small, but it was no less powerful, and they would probably be crushed before they even knew what happened.

    Even now, Leonel didn''t need any sort of protection. He had the pride that a Patriarch of the Morales family should have.

    Leonel stood quite stoically, he didn''t seem moved by the killing intent of those around him. Even those of his generation that had managed to escape, lucky enough to have never run into him, lowered their heads, unwilling to meet his sweeping gaze.

    Whether it was the arrogant Conon of the Lio family, or even Simona who had just been Leonel''s ally, they felt that they were at a loss for words and didn''t deserve to stand on the same plane as him.

    One might wonder why it was that Simona was already among the spectators, but the truth wasn''t all that difficult to decipher. She had charged toward the Omanns to deal the final blow along with Leonel''s brothers and his armies. However, the moment she had seen the Starship, she felt that the situation was helpless.

    Without hesitation, she crushed her badge, leaving the others behind to fend for themselves.

    Leonel''s army was only about 20,000 deep. The millions of soldiers that had been under Xavnik were all in the territory of the Spiritual Religion. It could be said that Simona and her people had been the absolute largest force, but they had left even without a fight.

    It was hard to blame her, what could she do in the face of a weapon even Ancestors would be helpless against? But when Leonel swept a gaze past her, unsurprised by her appearance here and treating her just the same as every other genius he had trampled beneath his feet, she felt a hollowness in her chest.

    Looking toward the beauty calmly resting on Leonel''s back, Simona thought she saw a slight smile on Aina''s face. Even so injured, even in such a helpless situation, the moment she had felt Leonel''s touch she seemed to have entered a state of incomparable ease.

    She didn''t care if the skies were falling, her man would be there to hold it up.

    Simona adjusted herself and calmed down. Looking at the puppy by her legs, she relaxed entirely. In some time, she would dazzle the world as well. It might be later than her peers, but that time would come. The helplessness of this day would reverse soon enough.

    Suddenly, a shadow appeared before Leonel with a swift speed. Leonel, who wasn''t in the best of moods, couldn''t help but smile. He didn''t move as two soft palms pressed his cheeks together.

    Compared to Leonel''s mood, Alienor''s mood was even worse. If not for Velasco, she really would have stopped the Heir Wars and attacked directly. Everyone could see how unfair the situation was, the Omann family was actually so disgusting and shameless.

    Seeing that her Little Lion was okay, the heavy boulder on her chest had finally been placed down. Even so, it was quickly replaced by an erupting fury. She wanted nothing more than to charge into the Omann family''s territory and slaughter them down to their last man.

    Leonel chuckled. "Mom, don''t frown so much, it''ll age you."

    Alienor was stunned out of rage with Leonel''s words and she suddenly gave her son a light palm to the forehead.

    "Look at you, mom has neglected your education. Don''t you know how to talk to women?"

    Leonel grinned. "I think I did okay."

    Alienor rolled her eyes. Although Leonel didn''t pick up his father''s playboy habits, he had definitely picked up that glib tongue and arrogance.

    With a gentle swipe, Alienor palm descended on Aina''s cheek as well, but this time there was a swell of Light Force. Very soon, the paleness on Aina''s face vanished entirely.

    Alienor''s brows jumped. She hadn''t expected healing Aina would take such little Force, that could only mean that Aina was more than 50% healed by now. Such self-healing capabilities for a Tier 1 Seventh Dimensional practitioner was more than exceptional, she could only be said to be a little monster.

    Leonel looked past his mother''s shoulder to see that his father was still lying lazily and he couldn''t help but roll his own eyes. He hadn''t seen this old man in over half a decade, in fact, to this old man, it probably would have been over three decades since he last saw his son, but he was still trying to act cool.

    Before Leonel could say anything, the rage seemed to have boiled over. It seemed that what would come would come. The Golddark family, the Taur family, the Gemin family, the Libra family, the Quarius family, the Pisc family... More enemies than Leonel could even count were all infuriated.

    Of them all, the Matriarch of the Gemin family, that vindictive young woman''s mother, seemed to be the most pressuring.

    Seeing them really about to do something, Leonel suddenly held up a finger as though he was telling them to wait a moment.

 Chapter 2115 Extortion

    Leonel''s actions stunned the surrounding elders before they were suddenly infuriated. Patriarch of the Morales or not, since when did a Sixth Dimensional junior have the right to speak to them in such a way? No, he hadn''t even spoken to them, he waved at them like a nobleman might a doorman.

    Leonel seemed to remember something at that moment and took out a Silver Tablet. Before anyone could understand what was happening, his eyes glowed a fierce violet light and the corpses that he had brought up with him began to vanish one after another.

    Aina, who was having a good sleep, subconsciously mumbled something and the Blood Force responded, surging into the Silver Tablet. After a moment, Leonel began to revive them.

    Under the astonished gazes of the Human Domain, Leonel''s people came back to life one after another. His brothers, who had experienced this once before, looked at their bodies and shook their heads, a feeling of helplessness welling up inside of them.

    As for the members of the Skies and Oryx families, they jolted feeling as though everything was surreal. Many thought they had entered some form of heaven or hell, until they looked around and realized that it was all as they remembered the real world to be. Were they hallucinating?

    But soon, Leonel''s next words seemed to have awakened everyone to reality. Then, he looked toward the families that were clambering and every one of them seemed to understand what this matter meant.

    They looked toward the Silver Tablet in Leonel''s hands, their gazes practically burning.

    This was a gathering of the strongest powers of the Human Domain, it wouldn''t be unlikely that one or two of them had seen such a tablet before. In fact, the Morales might even have one. But what was clear was that none of them had ever seen it used like this.

    The reason was simple... which of them had the ability to control and snatch souls before they disappeared like Leonel did? The answer was that no one but Leonel had this ability, not even his mother did, that was because the Golden Tablet of the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor that held all the secrets of their power''s uses was with Leonel.

    Even if they knew the tablet had such an ability, they wouldn''t be able to use it in such a way. Only Leonel could, and that was thanks to the amazing soul controlling ability that they had seen him use on those lowly disciples of the Libra family.

    Leonel''s gaze blinked as he looked toward the Patriarchs, Matriarchs, and Ancestors who had been ready to clamor. None of them seemed to know what to say because they suddenly realized that Leonel was their only hope at ever seeing their young geniuses again.

    Alienor gazed at the Silver Tablet silently for a moment, but didn''t say anything, simply standing by her son''s side.

    Suddenly, it became obvious why Leonel hadn''t used one of his greatest trump cards during the Heir Wars. He had already exposed his ability to control souls, so why had he only used it once but never again? Wouldn''t it have been useful?

    And the answer to that was that after he resurrected a soul, it would only last for 24 hours before vanishing. At that point, forcing it to rise wouldn''t be possible again, and said person would be officially dead. This was something even the snowglobes couldn''t stop.

    But by only keeping their corpses, he could freeze them in the moment of death and force their soul to stay put until he was ready to force it to rise.

    Leonel suddenly grinned. "It seems that you''re all very eager to see your geniuses rise again, huh?"

    Leonel''s words made their bodies tremble, but no one said a single thing.

    Suddenly, everything felt like a joke. They had done all of this to stop the Morales from monopolizing an Eighth Dimensional world, but now the Morales territory itself was an Eighth Dimensional world. They didn''t even have to overextend themselves anymore, as a Crafting family, the built-in defenses of the Morales territory were beyond what most could imagine.

    And now, the youth that was both the Prince of a world about to become an Eighth Dimensional world and the current Patriarch of an Eighth Dimensional world was sneering at them while they could only come with a hat in hand.

    "It''s very simple. I''m willing to trade the life of an ordinary genius for a gold grade weapon, it doesn''t even have to be a good one."

    Hearing this, the expressions on their various elders softened considerably. This might sound like an astronomical price, but a Gold Grade treasure for a genius that had entered the Seventh Dimension with the God Path was more than worth it. In fact, Leonel was suffering a huge loss. These powerful families could probably pay that price with a single one of their main cities with just half a year or so''s revenue. Of course, that was if they were exchanging for all of their geniuses at once.

    However, the smile on Leonel''s face was anything but comforting.

    "For a medium-level genius, a Half Life Grade weapon. These will be geniuses that had been in leadership roles beneath the Heirs and their trump cards."

    The elders remained silent. The price was getting far steeper.

    Life Grade weapons were exceptionally rare, and Half Life Grade weapons, although a step down, could be considered the pinnacle of what most experts would wield. Only in the hands of Ancestors could you find Life Grade weapons, and even that wasn''t guaranteed if the family was on the weaker side.

    "For high-level geniuses, geniuses on the level of the likes of Gunter who were the right-hand men of your operations, or the partner that your Heirs brought in, I want the revenue of a capital city for ten years."

    The elders choked, their gazes becoming gloomier and gloomier. That price was enough to build a Tier 2 Starship!

    "As for your Heirs, your beloved geniuses, I want the revenue of 100 years. Or, 10 years from 10 Capital cities, whichever you so choose," Leonel said with a bright smile.

    "You''re extorting us!" Matriarch Gemin roared.

    "Yeah, and?" Leonel asked, blinking as though it was only a matter of course. "As for you, because I particularly dislike your daughter, the price is double. On top of that, if she dares to appear before me again, I''ll directly kill her even if she says nothing at all. So you''d better protect her well."

 Chapter 2116 Acting Cool

    The smile on Leonel''s face was one those elders present wished that they could wipe away with a single slap, but whether it was the Starship, or due to Alienor, they knew that such a thing was a pipe dream. But the ask alone wasn''t why they were in such a tough situation. They had witnessed Leonel''s cunning a long while ago, they had even felt enraged on behalf of their disciples, but when it was suddenly turned on them, they felt even more suffocated.

    Compared to the revenue of a 100 years for a single disciple, a single Gold Grade weapon was less than nothing, it might as well be an ant by the side of the road. So, why was there such a disparity in the price?

    Of course, the Heirs were worth a great deal more, but surely it wouldn''t be millions of times more which was the range that they were working with here. The only explanation was that Leonel had done it on purpose.

    While one Gold Grade weapon wasn''t worth much, just how many disciples had they sent in? Any who wanted to have even a small chance of winning would have to send tens of millions in, and that was the bare minimum.

    Those that were like the Taur family that had died early on were still relatively luckier. That was because they had only had a few thousand disciples to start when their road had come to an end. But how could this be the case for them all?

    Leonel hadn''t made a distinction between people he had killed with his own hands and those that had died at the hands of others either. That meant it was a wide open opportunity for all of those here, and after the shock that they could be revived subsided, the sinister nature of Leonel''s words settled in soon after.

    This was because of one simple reason: if they saved one, they would have to save them all. No, even further than that, even if 99 of 100 families refused this deal, just one of them nodding their head would force the hand of the rest.

    The Taur family, for example, was one such existence that was very likely to agree. Armand was their one Heir level genius that had died, if his partner was taken into account, they would have to exchange 110 years of revenue in addition to a few thousand Half Life Grade weapons. After all, the first few thousand disciples to be traded for would have been their absolute best.

    This was a steep price, but it was relatively easier to swallow compared to what the Gemin and Libra families would have to pay, or the Pyius and Quarius families after them.

    This might not sound like a big deal. Just exchange for less people, right? But any Patriarch or Matriarch who would be willing to make such a decision never deserved their position in the first place. That wasn''t because of some sanctimonious moral high ground, but rather because they would be far too stupid.

    If you traded for some lives, but not others, how would their people react? Didn''t those geniuses have their own parents? Didn''t they have grandparents? Siblings? How would such individuals react to knowing that the family could have revived their loved one for a mere Gold Grade weapon and yet refused to?

    What was the value of a human life? This was a question that Leonel had been pursuing the answer to for all his life. But right now, the answer seemed quite clear: to the right person, it was priceless.

    If these leaders and Ancestors wanted their absolute geniuses back, they would have to exchange for everybody, or nobody at all. And if they took the latter option, they would have to hope that no other families took Leonel up on his deal or else their higher ups would look both weak and heartless in comparison.

    That was the reality. Although Leonel was seemingly giving them the option to refuse, the guillotine was already above their heads. His sly smile held all the meaning in the world. They were already caught in his net the moment he had taken action.

    And now, these families were in a situation where they had no choice but to fund the Morales family''s war efforts. And considering the skill that Leonel had displayed, and the special armors he had created that could allow soldiers to share their power amongst one another, this was the worst thing they could do.

    Leonel smiled and didn''t say anything more, he didn''t care to waste his breath on these people. He had already given them a way out.

    He had told them already that anyone he saw would die under his hand. They hadn''t believed him, they had thought he was too weak, and far too arrogant, and now they were paying the price for it.

    With a slight nudge, the Starship moved forward, the various Ancestors having no choice but to move out of the way.

    Alienor shook her head when she saw where Leonel was going.

    Leonel landed on his father''s silver boat and unceremoniously threw out a kick. Those in the surroundings were once again stunned, and each of them wore odd expressions. Once again, everything they knew about Velasco''s character said that he wouldn''t stand for such a thing even by the hands of his own son.

    As expected, before the kick could land, a shield magically appeared and Leonel''s foot was blocked.

    "You have a lot of nerve disturbing my nap!"

    Velasco''s voice boomed like thunder, the various Starships in the surroundings tumbling and groaning. Even the Protective Force Art of Leonel''s newly acquired Starship rumbled and cracked. A shield that should have been immune to the attacks of an Ancestor almost fell beneath a single shout.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴sжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Everyone''s expression changed once again. However, Leonel''s next words made them choke.

    "Are you done yet, old man? Give it up, your beautifully sculpted image has been tarnished. I mean, I could tarnish it a little bit more if I revealed what was in-"

    Velasco suddenly scrambled to get up.

 Chapter 2117 Degenerate

    Leonel''s next words were covered by Velasco''s hand. The latter looked like he had a fiery rage in his gaze, but before he could do anything more, Alienor landed silently by Leonel''s side, throwing up an eyebrow.

    "Reveal what, exactly?"

    Leonel sent his mother a helpless glance, as though to say that his mouth had been sealed by the criminal before him. He was helpless to do anything before this kind of power, how could he continue to explain?

    "Nothing, dear. This little rascal is just making things up," Velasco hurried to explain.

    "Is that so?" Alienor said lightly. "Interesting."

    Velasco coughed, trying to regain his dignified bearing. He sent another glare Leonel''s way, but the latter seemed to have been consumed by his amusement.

    His father had a fascination with anime during his time on Earth. Just like any self-respecting weeb, he had fallen down his own rabbit holes and ended up basking in the degenerate side of the culture. That poor man, within his wife by his side for a whole 17 years, he fell into complete depravity. He was a reformed playboy, but his libido hadn''t magically vanished.

    It was impossible for Leonel to find something that Velasco wanted to hide normally, but the trouble was that Earth had very strict rules before the Metamorphosis, such content had very strict bans on them and the methods by which one could get their hands on them was very long and grueling.

    Of course, Velasco didn''t fear the punishment of the people on Earth. But the trouble was that in order to partake in that culture, one had to use the systems of Earth, obviously. That meant that he had to use the same devices as everyone else.

    Velasco''s main focus on Earth originally was taking in their knowledge about healing the body. Earth might have been primitive at the time, but they were unmatched in talent, and when it came to curing the ailments faced by Third Dimensional existences, it probably wouldn''t'' be an exaggeration to say that they had become number one.

    Velasco was originally a Crafter, he didn''t know anything about biology initially, and because he was so focused on the biological side of things, his tech savviness lagged behind.

    In such a situation, an old man with minimal knowledge or care, faced with a youth of the younger generation who knew the ins and outs of such devices, he never stood a chance. It also didn''t help that Velasco was arrogant and felt that everything was beneath his notice, it only took a single slip up and Leonel had grasped his weakness.

    Originally, Velasco had already wiped this memory from Leonel, but after Leonel''s Dream Force had reached a certain standard, he was even able to remember his mother''s face, let alone this.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel''s grin only grew wider and wider.

    Seeing that his wife was now ignoring him, Velasco really wanted to shake this son of his until he couldn''t see straight anymore. If before Leonel had already tarnished his well-earned reputation, it had all come crumbling down now.

    ж╤ж┴ndж┴sжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m "Alienor, babe, baby, it''s not like that, really!" Velasco let go of Leonel and moved toward Alienor. However, he knew it was helpless. Alienor wouldn''t talk to him until he explained what Leonel had wanted to say, and knowing her character, she wouldn''t let Leonel tell her, she would want to hear it from Velasco himself, making it even more embarrassing. How could he say such a thing out loud?

    "I was just speaking nonsense, mom. You don''t need to worry about it," Leonel said slyly.

    "You!" Velasco nearly cut Leonel''s tongue out.

    Saying such a thing only made it worse. This son of his was more than smart enough to know that, he had definitely said it on purpose.

    Leonel started to laugh hard, so hard that he couldn''t even breathe properly.

    This was what his father got for trying to act cool. Leonel seemed to be having the time of his life. It didn''t look like he had just fought a life and death battle at all, all of his gloominess had vanished. He felt that life wasn''t so bad right now.

    He looked toward Aina''s side profile. She still rested on his back, lost in a deep sleep.

    Yeah, life wasn''t so bad right now.

    The rest of the Human Domain weren''t quite sure what they were looking at. Seeing the kind of relationship that Leonel had with his father, and that Leonel truly dared to tease him to this extent, they realized how foolish it was to try and separate Leonel''s death from Velasco by using the younger generation.

    They had thought that no matter how in love Velasco was with Alienor, when it came to his own bottom line, he wouldn''t cross it no matter what. There were many relationships like this where the man would take the docile position until it came to a matter that he had a stern position on. That was why they weren''t too worried about Alienor pressuring Velasco into taking action.

    But now... it seemed that maybe all this time Velasco''s love for Leonel was a bit too understated, and maybe that had been done on purpose by Velasco to force his son to grow without his shadow and looming presence.

    And the results were all too clear. Between Amery who had been protected from birth and Leonel, which one of them was better? They didn''t believe that Leonel was so much more talented than Amery, the gap between them lay between what they had experienced to reach this point...

    The Morales Ancestors looked quite gratified. For a long while, Velasco, despite being one of the Nebula Generation, was practically a separate entity from the Morales due to his independence. But now, it felt like the Human Domain had been reminded of where his roots truly lay, and it was ironically due to his son.

    "It seems that we''ll need to prepare for a grand coronation ceremony," Ancestor Alvaro said with a bright smile.

    However, at that moment, their expressions all seemed to change at once.

 Chapter 2118 Unity

    The rumbling of the Human Domain wasn''t something that could be ignored. It was a trembling that originated in the depths of space, as though a monstrous existence had grabbed hold of the folds of reality and began to whip it about.

    There was only one thing that could cause this, and that was a large change in the Domain Barrier.

    The Domain Barrier wasn''t much of a barrier, it was instead the very Void Battlefield that Leonel had been to once before. The trouble was that the deeper one ventured into the Void Battlefield, the thicker that Anarchic Force would become. At a certain point, it would thicken to the extent that even Ancestors would find it difficult to make their way through while maintaining their lives.

    It was possible to make it through, but it required a great deal of effort. This process usually required a large amount of Force that scaled depending on the number of individuals that were being transported through.

    Leonel had been to a Rapax Nest before, but that Rapax Nest was located in human territory, on their side of the barrier. It was just unfortunate on the part of the Rapax that their once-in-a-generation genius happened to be born there. But this was due to the fact that Rapax were particularly war-hungry, they spent the majority of their lives on the battlefield and many joked that the Rapax Domain was probably empty because the rest of them were all fighting Domain battles on the Void Battlefield.

    This aside, the point in mentioning this was that movement through the barrier was infrequent, but it wasn''t rare, so many were used to it. However, for the commotion to be this large, it could only mean that an impossible number of enemies were storming through all at once, possibly even from multiple Domains at once!

    When those present thought to this point, their hearts lurched into their throats.

    Suddenly, the reason settled in for them all.

    All this time, those races had mostly left the humans alone because they didn''t have any land worth conquering. For those monstrous Races, they had too many Seventh Dimensional worlds to care about waging war to get more. All they cared about were Eighth Dimensional worlds. If they could claim a few human territories with ease, they would take some, which was why there were still other races on the Void Battlefield. But if it took too much effort to the point of not being worth it, they wouldn''t bother.

    But now...

    Everyone looked toward the Morales.

    This had all happened even faster than they had expected. The sudden breakthrough had caught them all off guard. They were ready for Earth to promote in the next coming years, but no one had been ready for the Morales to do it first.

    It had to be remembered that the Morales world only had Seventh Dimensional potential to begin with. If not for the sudden formation of their Constellation, all of this wouldn''t have happened.

    Many wanted to blame the Morales. They were already enraged with them as it was due to Leonel, but what could they do in this matter? At best, they could use it as an excuse to try and force the Morales to take on the most difficult missions.

    But after they had this thought, they couldn''t help but take a look toward Velasco who was still trying to appease his wife as though he couldn''t feel the commotion at all. In fact, his silver boat was surprisingly sturdy in the roaring waves of space.

    They hesitated and grit their teeth.

    The Void Palace was the frontline, but they knew that they would have to act to help soon. The strongest of the human families were surprisingly unselfish in this matter as they were well aware that if things went wrong, it would be they who were finished.

    Like this, many of the Starships vanished into the horizon. Many swept another glance toward Leonel, but seeing that it was absent-minded, they felt that the warning in their glares fell on blind eyes. He simply didn''t seem to care.

    Soon, only the Morales were left, but they realized the seriousness of the situation as well. It was unknown how long the Void Palace disciples would be able to last. There was no doubt that the Domain Ranked disciples would take action now as this was their main purpose, but many of them were out on missions and it was hard to tell how organized they would be.

    This matter dampened their mood considerably. Those that were sharp knew how much this matter would influence the Morales'' place in this war. It was one thing for Earth, which was perceived to have little power of its own, to trigger this war, but for it to be them, as one of the apex families of the Human Domain to do so...

    It had a completely different connotation.

    "Little Nova, it seems that your coronation will have to be put on hold, but for all intents and purposes, you are the Patriarch of the Morales family now," Ancestor Alvaro said lightly.

    Suddenly, a rare female Ancestor among them stepped forward. "Indeed, Little Nova is now our Patriarch, but isn''t it about time that you released Third Nova? The Heir Wars are over and any grudge you two have had during them should be over now."

    Ancestor Alvaro subconsciously nodded. Indeed, those were the rules of the Heir Wars, it kept the peace in the family. And since a Domain War was about to be waged with the Human Domain being assaulted from all sides, unity was more important now than ever.

    The female Ancestor went by Ancestor Issa, she had a petite frame and was getting on in her middle ages, but she still had a youthful, sharp look in her eyes. Female Ancestors were quite rare among the Morales because the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor wasn''t particularly suited to them. However, Ancestor Issa was one of the rare few women who had been an Heir Candidate in the past, although she hadn''t won.

    Leonel sent a calm gaze toward the Ancestors. Indeed, to these old fogies, the Patriarch position was only the figurehead of the family, the true authority rested on their shoulders. This could be seen by the dissatisfaction even the impartial Ancestor Alvaro had felt when he thought that Leonel was ordering him to capture Rychard.

    But how could Leonel release Third Nova so easily?

    Second Nova frowned, he knew that Leonel knew something, but if he took too firm of a stance without evidence, it would cause far more harm than good. He knew that Leonel was a bit hard-headed, but at the same time he believed that Leonel wasn''t a fool either. It was hard to tell how he would approach this situation.

    Just when Leonel was about to respond, a dashing streak of golden light came from the distance and it unfurled into a long, white gold scroll.

    The expressions of the Ancestors changed once more. This scroll, it was the fastest communication method the Void Palace had access to.

    They thought it was fine at first, just alerting them to what they already knew, but the actual news shook them to their core.

    It only had one line.

    The First Line has been breached!

    The Human Domain of the Void Battlefield only had three main lines of defense and in just a few moments, the first had already been charged through!

    This matter was impossible to understate. The Domain Ranked disciples they had thought could hold on for at least some time had already fallen into chaos.

 Chapter 2119 Complex Feelings

    The Ancestors were all shaken. No matter how fast the others invaded, they believed that the Void Palace should at least be able to hold on for a few days, at least two or three on their own. In the best case scenario, and if the other Races had reservations of their own, even a few weeks wouldn''t be impossible.

    It couldn''t be forgotten that the Void Palace was the protector of humanity against foreign races. They weren''t just a random power, it could be said that if they weren''t neutral, they would be the strongest power in the whole of the Human Domain. For them to have already lost a line of defense was ridiculous.

    But then, it hit them like a ton of bricks.

    To Leonel, the matters of the Cataclysm Zone were only less than a year ago, but to the people of the Human Domain, it was over 20 years ago and much of those matters had already long since settled down. Even for these Ancestors who had experienced so much life, 20 years was definitely not a short time by any stretch.

    It had made them neglect a fact... the current Void Palace wasn''t the same Void Palace of the past!

    Not everyone had made it out of the Cataclysm Zone. In fact, the casualties were heavy. It had to be remembered that just a normal beast Leonel came across had almost taken his life, and before he left, he could already be considered to be better than most Galaxy Ranked disciples.

    If just a single beast had put Leonel in that position, let alone the strength of that small village he had run into, what chance did many of the others stand?

    But this was something that should only affect the disciples at and below the Galaxy Rank, right? Unfortunately, this wasn''t even remotely the case.

    After adjusting themselves, many had concluded what Leonel had. A rampaging Zone had trapped them all and now they would suffer the same fate as others that had failed to clear Sub Dimensional Zones. As such, many had thought that they would have to adjust themselves and live out the rest of their lives in this place.

    They had tried to contact civilization, to become a part of their cities, and their culture... but just how many would have died in such an environment?

    Leonel had only spent one day in a city before he practically became a slave to a noble family. The outcomes for the others would have been even worse.

    Many wouldn''t have even been able to make it to the city. They would have died in the forests before reaching it, they would have died at the hands of the villagers who couldn''t enter the cities, and even if they made it to the city, they would have fallen from the chain bridge before they could cross it.

    This was the cruel reality. Many didn''t even have spectacular deaths, some even spawned directly into demon territory and were shredded to pieces by monsters one would only see in nightmares.

    The true weight of the lives lost was hard to quantify only because those that had survived had come back in such a trickle, so many could hope that the rest were still on their way. However, with Leonel''s return, that hope was dashed... but the Void Palace had taken advantage of the lag to not promote their losses as it would shake the Human Domain''s resolve in their abilities.

    But now, they were seeing those effects first hand. It didn''t matter if they tried to control it now, the Void Palace wasn''t even 50% as powerful as it used to be.

    Many Void Elders had died, many Domain Ranked disciples vanished never to be seen again, and even more disciples beneath the Domain Rank that had died couldn''t even be counted in numbers that could be visualized.

    This delayed onset of the severity of the matter hit much harder than if they had been fully prepared.

    Leonel stood in silence, watching the reactions of the Ancestors carefully. He had already guessed that this matter would happen, but even he was caught off guard by the sudden promotion of the Morales territory to the Eight Dimension.

    That said... He had been prepared for a war to break out the instant the Heir Wars erupted, it was just that this was a much different war than the one he had been waiting for. Even so... war was war, was it not?

    Leonel reached out a hand and suddenly snapped his fingers.

    His second Starship, the much larger of the two, rumbled as the sound echoed. Under the shocked gazes of those present, the skies suddenly began to ripple.

    One warrior after another appeared. At first, there were only thousands, but then there were tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions, then tens of millions.

    By the time they had all appeared, there were billions of them. And, somehow, the Ancestors didn''t sense them until Leonel had snapped his fingers.

    "Board the ship," Leonel commanded coolly.

    The billions of troops filed onto the Starship. Despite their numbers, the Starship didn''t even begin to show any signs of being overloaded. In fact, it could probably house ten times more warriors with absolute ease.

    The Morales Ancestors looked toward Leonel with an incredulous gaze.

    "The rewards for winning the Heir Wars, can I have them please?" Leonel turned toward Ancestor Hito and asked.

    Before Ancestor Issa could bring up her request again, Ancestor Hito actually waved a hand.

    The Morales weren''t easy to force into a corner. Long before the Heir Wars began, they had already forced those families to hand over the rewards, that way it would be impossible to back out in the final moment.

    Leonel caught the spatial ring.

    "If you want to use the Morales pools, you''ll have to go there, though," Ancestor Hito said amiably.

    Leonel smiled. "There''ll be plenty of time. For now, I''m more eager to slaughter those that want to stand on my land."

    The gaze of the Morales family flashed.

 Chapter 2120 On Par

    "Mom, old man, are you two coming with me?" Velasco, who was still trying to appease Alienor snorted. "Why would I stand on such a shabby ship? Do I look like a beggar to you?"

    The Morales Ancestors couldn''t help but wear weird expressions. Velasco sounded much less overbearing than he usually did; he sounded more like a big brother teasing his little brother. They found it hard to believe, but indeed... the relationship between Leonel and Velasco wasn''t as it had seemed.

    "Of course, mom will come with you," Alienor said immediately as though Velasco hadn''t spoken at all.

    Velasco was speechless, but as the Starship vanished into the distance, he could only climb into his own silver boat and follow behind, mumbling something to himself.

    The Morales Ancestors watched in silence, their feelings complicated.

    This Leonel was somehow both very much like his father and very different. They were both supremely arrogant, but while Velasco didn''t care to accumulate power, believing that he himself alone was enough, Leonel was different. He had supporters, he was more than willing to leverage his bloodline to command their resources, and he even had no qualms about being shameless and relying on the support of others.

    In a way, Leonel was even more dangerous than his father was. Just as talented, but less restricted by his own personality and demeanor.

    Seeing him take out billions of soldiers this way, right after the youths had already put everything they could into the Heir Wars, was baffling. Though most of them were older than 100 years old, there were definitely a large number that weren''t, and yet he didn''t even care to use them...

    That was because his goal had never been the Heir Wars in the first place, from the beginning, his vision was beyond that, and it seemed to be that he didn''t care whether the Morales fully supported him or not.

    The former Heir Candidates looked toward one another silently, but the Ancestors were the ones who really didn''t know how to deal with this matter.

    Leonel couldn''t be controlled, he couldn''t be constrained, it was difficult to tell just what would happen to the Morales family under his control. In fact, it seemed that their usual traditions were in jeopardy. They had just been really happy, but they weren''t sure now.

    When it came time for the next generation to take up the Patriarch position, would Leonel willingly step down as all the others before him had? His ambition didn''t seem to allow for this...

    There had been one other time this happened in Morales history, and it had caused divisions that lasted until this day. Could they allow it to happen again?

    The Ancestors looked toward one another, their expressions unreadable.

    How could they remove Leonel from the Patriarch position after all that had happened? Maybe even some of the Ancestors wouldn''t agree. How would the Human Domain react to such a farce? And further than that, what kind of retaliation would Leonel give them?

    ...

    Leonel could guess the thoughts of the Ancestors. The funny part was that they were right to worry, because he truly had no intention of stepping down. He truly had a knack for getting himself into trouble he deserved, but he didn''t care very much.

    By the time it was time for him to step down, he would have already united at least the Human Domain. It would no longer be the Morales family, it would be an Empire.

    If the Morales tried to kick him out ahead of time, well... Good luck.

    Leonel spun the spatial ring he had received in his finger before he forgot everything around him to send his mind into it. He didn''t have as much time as he thought he would, so if he wanted to maximize these resources, he would have a very short time.

    The Silver Tablet only worked on those below the Eighth Dimension, he couldn''t just use it as a get out of jail free card. And even when it came to using it on Seventh Dimensional experts and lower, there were limits, or else he wouldn''t have had to purge the souls that had remained from the trial.

    Relying on just being able to revive everyone would only get him so far, he needed real power.

    He had prepared a great deal already, but in his opinion, there was no such thing as too much preparation. These resources were rare and he couldn''t easily get his hands on them, they represented the accumulation of the most powerful families of the Human Domain. He would be a fool to not try and make use of it immediately.

    With the help of the suspended reality pods of the Segmented Cube, he could extend this next day into almost 100 days.

    He had only displayed 1000 pods during the Heir Wars, but that was only so that others would be fooled into thinking it couldn''t be scaled. In reality, he had a million. This was enough to fundamentally change an already elite troop.

    Leonel didn''t edge himself, he moved his mind directly to the most powerful treasures, or rather, what he assumed to be the most powerful, the Suiard family, the Omann family, and the Spiritual Religion.

    It had to be remembered that the treasure they were trying to match up to was the Transcendent Pool of the Morales. This allowed someone with no training to enter the Seventh Dimension of the Conventional Path in just one day!

    The Morales wouldn''t let those families bring out anything weaker than that. Of course, the resource itself wouldn''t be given to Leonel, that would be ridiculous. But the amount necessary to use it once would be.

    To most, a quantity of one for an army of billions was far too little... but Leonel had his own thoughts.

    His mind landed upon the Suiard family''s treasure and his eyes narrowed.

    Indeed, it seemed that the Suiard family was worthy of being on par with the Morales family.

 Chapter 2121 Boost

    Leonel took out a stone. It was only as large as his palm, but its heft almost caused the back of his hand to hit the ground. This might not be too surprising if it was others, but Leonel''s raw strength now had almost caught up with Aina''s before she broke into the Seventh Dimension. His future wife was practically a dinosaur in the body of a lovely woman, so this metric alone was enough to paint just how powerful Leonel was.

    The fact this stone was so heavy, though, only surprised Leonel further, that was because he could somewhat already guess what it could do.

    This stone was designed to train Weapon Forces. One would sink their Weapon Force into the stone and in return, it would be shattered. This process would be fed back to the individual using the stone and the weaknesses of one''s Weapon Force would be reflected to them.

    This was a truly magical thing. If Leonel had seen such an item back in the Cataclysm Zone, he would have definitely taken it for himself even at the cost of giving up the other things that he had exchanged for.

    Leonel didn''t know how useful it would be for him since he had already formed a Sovereign Spear Force, but if he was correct, this sort of stone should be one of the best that the Suiard had access to. Depending on the talent of the person that was using it, helping them to form True Sovereign Weapon Force wasn''t impossible.

    The Suiard family simply called it the Whetstone, an apt name for its function.

    Leonel hesitated. While he was curious to see if he could lower the required strikes to display Fourth Layered Spear Force, he didn''t act immediately. After his recent increase in Dream Force, he had gone from needing almost a thousand strikes to only 333. If he used this stone, he might be able to lower it further.

    If he could lower the requirement to just a hundred, he could probably use it for longer periods of time in battle. But... there was also the chance that the stone would be useless on him.

    After analyzing the stone on its own, Leonel realized that there was actually a small introduction to the treasure. This made sense, the Morales would obviously force the families pressuring them to teach them how to use their treasures as well. After all, many of these were top secret and very few outside the top echelon of the families would know everything about them.

    ''I see...''

    According to the introduction, this Whetstone was able to do one of two things depending on the focus of the user. The first was to allow one to comprehend Universal Weapon Force, the second was to increase the base power of one''s Weapon Force itself.

    There were various grades of Whetstones just like there were various grades of Morales pools as well. However, this was the highest Transcendent Whetstone, so there was no need to consider anything else.

    The only requirement to use the stone was that you had already formed your Weapon Force. After that, the result was based on one''s talent.

    That said, according to the introduction, even those with the weakest of affinities, assuming they started with Third Dimensional Weapon Force, could increase their Weapon Force to the Fifth Dimension at worst.

    Of course, the benefit would be lesser depending on where one began, but so long as you were below the Fifth Dimension, you would be guaranteed to form a Weapon Force two Dimensions above. If you had a Fifth Dimensional Weapon Force, however, you wouldn''t be guaranteed anything if you had poor talent.

    This logic was the same for Universal Weapon Force. Someone in the Four Seasons Realm could instantly comprehend the Heavenly Body Realm, but anything above wasn''t guaranteed.

    These effects seemed lackluster compared to the Morales pool allowing one to enter the Seventh Dimension of the Conventional Path instantly, but this wasn''t the case. This was almost akin to increasing one''s affinity for a Force instantaneously, it was much more complex than just increasing the strength of one''s body.

    Even so, Leonel frowned. After a long while, he made a decision.

    "Emna."

    Leonel''s voice echoed and it drifted to one particular beauty. At the moment, Emna, even while seated in silence, felt like an unsheathed blade. But her aura was far too obvious.

    Emna was the only one of Leonel''s subordinates that Leonel felt stood firmly shoulder to shoulder with him and Aina. Her talent was that extraordinary. If not for wanting to keep her as a trump card as well, she would have displayed far more strength during the Heir Wars. Leonel couldn''t imagine what would happen to her strength if she managed to become a True Blade Sovereign.

    Leonel had wanted to give her the Sword Domain Ring, but then he realized that he was too naA? ?ve. The sword and the blade were two wholly different disciplines. It wouldn''t help Emna, it would hinder her.

    So, instead he would give her this opportunity instead. If there was a Blade Domain Ring out there, she would definitely be the one to receive it.

    Emna appeared before Leonel in a streak of sharp light, even leaving a faint white mark on the solid surface. Caught off guard, she caught the stone Leonel thrust at her.

    Leonel explained things simply and concisely. Then, he began to describe Force Manipulation to her and gave her a few pointers on what to focus on while using the stone, then he let her go.

    Whether she could become a True Blade Sovereign or not would be up to her. Leonel had succeeded in becoming a True Bow Sovereign without a Domain Ring, so he was certain that it was possible.

    He turned his attention toward his other rewards. He didn''t regret not being able to use the Whetstone. In fact, even if he didn''t have fate with any of these treasures, he would still grin ear to ear, because that would mean he had given each one of his subordinates a huge boost.

 Chapter 2122 PING

    Leonel took out the Omann family treasure and he was surprised. He had been certain that it would have some relation to Crafting, maybe something that would help Flame Spirits evolve, or maybe a Spirit of a different kind since the Morales had a monopoly on Metal Spirits, but it was nothing of the sort.

    ''The Omann family actually has such a treasure related to combat? Why are they so weak, then?''

    In Leonel''s palm lay a bronze disk. It had a slight taper to it that didn''t allow it to sit on Leonel''s palm perfectly. Its outer edge was a separate mechanism from the inner, the outer being layered with complex runes while the interior was perfectly smooth.

    This was yet another surprise, because Leonel had been expecting a consumable item, but then it clicked for Leonel.

    Given the plans the Omann had for the Heir Wars, would they even consider the possibility of losing? They were very weak overall outside of their Crafting abilities, and it could be said that Cynthia''s appearance and her high combat strength was an anomaly of their family. As such, they didn''t invest in large consumable products like the Suiard family''s Whetstone or the Morales family''s pools.

    At the same time, the items they had that could help Spirits evolve were the greatest secrets of their family, they wouldn''t easily hand them over to the Morales because even if the Morales lost, in the time that it had spent in their possession, it might be reverse engineered, and they wouldn''t stand for that.

    So, in the end, they had given this item instead and its introduction was very brief.

    Reversing Disk. Inject your Force and it will expel the opposing Force. Resist the change to train your Force.

    Leonel''s brows jumped. Wasn''t this exactly like his Lotus Domain?

    His eyes narrowed. This matter definitely wasn''t so simple. He activated his Internal Sight and scanned the disk in its entirety, but he didn''t find anything out of the ordinary, it seemed to do exactly what the description said.

    But Leonel did find something else that was shocking. This was definitely a Life Grade treasure, but more importantly than that, it gave off a sort of familiar energy that Leonel recognized.

    ''The Cataclysm Zone!''

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. This was definitely the unique air of the Cataclysm Zone, it reminded him of the other treasure he had in his possession.

    The Cataclysm Zone wasn''t just ahead of their "simulation" in terms of fighting prowess, but their Crafting was on a completely different level. From what Leonel had seen, even their standards for Black, Bronze, Silver and Gold Grade couldn''t compare. This is why even until now Leonel was still using the Force Crafting Quill he had gotten from them despite technically being able to forge a "better" one with his Life Grade status.

    Though, of course, quills weren''t that easy to forge because they required special materials from living creatures.

    This disk fell into a similar category. It was of the Life Grade, but it was a Life Grade that existed on the standard of the Cataclysm Zone, and as a result, was in a plane of its own. It was no wonder the explanation was so simple, the Omann didn''t believe that the Morales could find more information about it through normal means.

    Leonel flickered and vanished. "Anastasia, start an analysis on this treasure."

    Reverse engineering was an ability that Anastasia definitely had. In fact, if given enough time, she might even be able to construct a replica. The reason why Leonel had to forge it himself first before she could mass produce things for him was that it greatly simplified the process because then she would only have to copy him.

    However, it could be said that Reverse Engineering was the foundation of this mass producing ability.

    Although he spoke these words, Leonel still deployed his own Dream World. As Anastasia was completing the task, he was deducing on his own, picking the treasure apart.

    A diagram appeared in the air, formed of his Emulation Spatial Force. He waved a hand and the disk suddenly split into countless pieces.

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat. This overly simple interior that looked like the workings of a watch or an analogue computer... they reminded him of...

    Leonel waved a hand and a familiar silver disk flew into his hand.

    PAH

    His thumb rubbed the outer surface of the disk and he frowned. This was obviously the dictionary that his father had left for him. It had been a long time since he had needed to use it, especially after he gained Wise Star Order and then read all the books and research papers of the Void Palace. He was no longer that naA? ?ve boy who didn''t know anything.

    But he had still wanted to take apart this silver dictionary one day. Unfortunately, he still didn''t have the skill, he couldn''t even spot his father''s peak, it was a bit exasperating. It was clear that there were large gaps between Life Grade Crafters as well.

    That said... why was the interior of the silver dictionary and this Reversing Disk so similar? Could it be that his father had learned Crafting techniques from the Cataclysm Zone? Or was this just the natural progression of Crafting?

    Leonel was a bit frustrated now. He knew that if he asked his father about it, he would be brushed off even in normal situations, let alone right after he had exposed him in front of his mother.

    Suddenly, he grinned.

    "Hey, what''s this disk and what''s its relation to the way you were crafted?"

    A familiar, somewhat robotic version of his father''s voice began to speak. Leonel''s grin widened. As expected, the dictionary was just designed to do as it was told and answer questions appropriately. He had thought once before that it had already reached its limit, but maybe that was just him thinking too much.

    Usually, highly important information or information that his father thought he was too weak for would be redacted, but without noticing, Leonel''s strength had reached a point where most of the information he hadn''t been able to access before was laid out bare before him.

    [*Ping*]

    [Defensive-Support Treasure Item][Life Grade: First Star Inferior][Uses: Reverse Force, Absorb Force, Dispel Force, Suppress Force, Train Force][Responding to Seed, there is no relation]

    Leonel''s brows jumped. First Star Inferior? Wasn''t that a grading system of the Cataclysm Zone? Why would this silver disk use it?

 Chapter 2123 Humble Servant

    His father''s silver dictionary responded with the grading system only seen in the Cataclysm Zone, but it had still concluded that there was no relation? Leonel frowned for a moment before he remembered something. This silver dictionary was known for being a tricky mistress, unless he asked a hyper specific question, it tended to skirt the issue.

    But when he thought about it, it made sense. At least, it made more sense to him now than it ever had before.

    The silver dictionary probably didn''t store answers like a huge database would. Rather, if Leonel was correct, it deduced answers on the spot. The scanning function Leonel had taken advantage of to understand the missions of Zones wasn''t just an auxiliary function, it was the foundational function of the silver dictionary.

    The only stored information within the silver dictionary were the voice messages and video messages left behind by his father that would either help him complete certain training modules, or activate when he asked a particular brand of question.

    When Leonel had first reached this conclusion, he was in complete awe. This made the silver dictionary countless fold more complex than he had originally given it credit for. It was like it was built with a foundational understanding of the world, and then could deduce everything based on this foundational information... almost as though it was a kernel of the universe itself.

    Knowing all of this, Leonel made his question more specific.

    "These two items seem to have been forged using very similar techniques and their inner components resemble one another, why is that?"

    To his surprise, though, Leonel didn''t receive the answer he was expecting even after all of this.n0velusB.C0m

    [Ping][These two treasures do seem to be built upon the same principles, but they are a product of Convergent Evolution. They are very similar, but entirely unrelated]

    The shock in Leonel''s heart was even greater upon hearing this. The implications were almost too much to accept, he couldn''t help but grin.

    Divergent Evolution was when a species branched into two, forming different traits and eventually becoming two novel species of their own. Of course, it didn''t have to be as exaggerated as that, it could also be as simple as polar bears gaining white fur while black bears gained black.

    Convergent Evolution was the opposite. It was the process of two entirely independent species, unrelated to one another, gaining the same or very similar traits in order to combat the very same environmental factors. This could be any number of traits.

    In this case, the silver dictionary seemed to be implying that his father had independently created this form of Crafting that was very much in line with what the Cataclysm Zone called their own. In that case, his father hadn''t necessarily been to the Cataclysm Zone before, but this only made his feat all the more astounding.

    Even with these two items before him, Leonel couldn''t even begin to comprehend them, they were on an entirely different level, but his father had created it on his own.

    "What form of Crafting is this?" Leonel asked.

    [Ping][This form of Crafting is known as Simplistic Convergence by Father Overlord. It takes the rule that a Craft with more parts is more complex and reverses it, attempting to minimize the number of moving parts and creating a maze of layered blueprints that can allow a simple mechanism to be responsible for many actions at once...]

    The silver dictionary continued to ramble, but the most important part was in the first.

    Indeed, according to Leonel''s understanding, the more parts a Craft had, the higher level it tended to be. In fact, this was part of the difficulty of forming a Life Grade Blueprint. To have so many moving parts be of one mind and body was a tall task.

    It was no wonder these inner mechanisms reminded Leonel so much of a watch.

    On Earth, the mechanical watch had never been phased out despite the fact it was maybe the most primitive technology still alive aside from the wheel itself. Instead, watch makers took pride in making so-called in-house movements that were increasingly more complex and yet served just a single purpose: to move a second hand at a set and steady rhythm.

    Some watches might include moon and star cycles, but they were ultimately all following the same fundamental principle.

    Then it all hit Leonel at once. He wondered... did his father gain inspiration for this form of Crafting from Earth as well?

    Now that Leonel thought about it, there were two things his father never took off. The first were his glasses and the second... was his watch. It was an old leather watch with an incredibly simple white face, it was thin and unassuming. But as expected, after seeing his father for the first time in so long, it was right there.

    The shocking reality awakened Leonel and he felt enlightened, and yet confused at the same time. He realized that this level of Crafting was still impossibly far beyond him, there was simply nothing that he could do to understand this right now.

    However, more carefully than ever, he stored the silver dictionary away after asking it all the questions he wanted to. Then, he called James forward.

    "Oh mighty Emperor Leonel, thank you for calling thy servant. Your humble Knight is here to serve you."

    James bowed low, but in return he got a kick for his efforts.

    "I''m sorry, Emperor! I''m sorry! Please forgive this humble servant!" James begged for forgiveness.

    Leonel was exasperated. "Alright, alright, I get it. I called you here for a reward, but it seems that you don''t want it, maybe I should just call someone else."

    James suddenly appeared by Leonel''s side. "Leonel, ol buddy, ol pal, you wouldn''t do that to your boy, right? We were raised in the same crib practically! We peed in the same bed!"

    "... I didn''t meet you until I was four years old."

    "Potato, tomato, now gimme," James grinned, snatching the bronze disk.

    Leonel laughed and shook his head, letting James take it.

 Chapter 2124 Protective Mechanism?

    Leonel chuckled as James left. That annoying guy had a way of making him feel better and yet annoyed at the same time.

    Once again, he didn''t hesitate to give something so valuable away. In fact, this might even be more valuable for James than the Transcendent Whetstone would be for Emna.

    That disk didn''t seem to be very related to James, but if one thought about it, it was essentially James'' Ability Index in treasure form. It could take in Force, absorb it, expel it. James'' strongest ability was nerfing a specific type of Force within a certain region, and the treasure also had that ability as well. The only thing that James couldn''t do was convert one Force to another type of Force, but with that treasure, he could obviously use it as a medium to do so.

    That said, Leonel didn''t want James to rely on the treasure like a crutch. Rather, what he wanted was for James to study the Runes of the treasure and gain a deeper understanding of them. Then he could use the treasure as a jump off point to improve his own Ability Index and Lineage Factor.

    It had to be remembered that both Emna and James were Sparks. Emna had a taller mountain to climb and more hurdles to jump over, which was why she was so much more powerful than James. As for James himself, his hurdles were lower because he was already born with great talent as a person of Earth, he wasn''t a particularly introspective person either, so much of his advancements came naturally and without much effort.

    If he made full use of the bronze disk, his abilities should take a massive leap forward. By then, he would become the second person on par with both himself and Aina. At that point, they would truly be unstoppable.

    If one added Elorin, Old Hutch''s grandson, and Amery to the equation, the core of Leonel''s formation would be nigh undefeatable.

    Elorin may have lost handily to James, but Leonel wouldn''t necessarily say that James was undisputed, James just happened to be the perfect counter to Elorin.

    That said, Elorin ran into similar problems as James, but for different reasons. Elorin was very introspective and had grinded every day to improve himself. His issue was that his Ability Index was far too special and it took him walking 10 miles to see through what someone would see walking one, and that was despite having impossibly high talent already.

    As for Amery, his problem was only life and death experiences. But very soon he would get much more of that.

    These weren''t things that Leonel was worried about, instead, the true problem with these two was whether or not they would follow him without causing problems. The more powerful a person was, the more difficult it was to guarantee such a thing.

    ''I wonder, though... Why didn''t the Suiard family force me to hand back Amery immediately... Unless they assumed that it was useless to ask until they brought forward compensation.''

    This was, indeed, an odd situation. But Leonel felt that that answer was probably true enough.n0VelUsb.c0m

    Regardless, he felt that investing in those around him so that he didn''t always have to do everything himself was an excellent best. He hadn''t given nearly enough to his brothers and those around him.

    After a slight nod to himself, Leonel took out the Omann family''s treasure. This was the third of the treasures he was most looking forward to. Although the Pyius family was a bit interesting, with how low profile they were constantly, Leonel didn''t believe that they would put forward anything of great shock. And, since Shield Cross Stars and the Void Palace weren''t participating, this was definitely the top of the line compensation.

    That said, Leonel didn''t really expect very much from the Spirituals Religion either. With their pacifist tendencies, they didn''t seem to have entered the Heir Wars for victory. If they were planning to lose, what could they have brought forward?

    If Leonel had to guess, this treasure was one of two things. It was either completely useless, or something that they were certain that only Spirituals could use. And sure enough...

    Leonel took out an orb. The moment he touched it, he felt a familiar feeling. It was the feeling of his soul trying to be sucked out of his body. The last time he had felt this, Wise Star Order had been trying to trick him into learning a technique of the Spirituals. Back then, Leonel had had no idea that the Spirituals protected all of their techniques so that all non-Spirituals that tried to use them would be harmed.

    However, Leonel wasn''t the Leonel of the past. Aside from a slight tug, he felt nothing else. His soul strength surprised even himself, quite frankly.

    But there was something else more curious, why didn''t Ancestor Hito warn him about this? Leonel''s gaze flickered, but he shook his head after a long while.

    ''That old man is quite... something,'' Leonel thought with a chuckle.

    He didn''t believe that Hito was trying to harm him. In fact, he was certain that that old man knew what would happen and allowed it anyway because he was confident in Leonel.

    After Leonel looked at the introduction, his brows shot up.

    ''Interesting, so this isn''t just a protective mechanism, this so-called Soul Extraction Orb is precisely designed to pull your soul out from your body. Is this how Amery succeeded in separating his own?''

    Leonel only knew a single crude method for separating the soul from the body. Whether it was himself or Raylion, both of them had to destroy their bodies first before succeeding. But it seemed that the Spirituals had a far more elegant method.

    ''I see, so I''ve wrongly accused them. They weren''t trying to harm me at all. That said, this item is pretty useless. Without the methods of the Spirituals, separating your body and soul only allowed you to be a bit more immune to death than the usual person, but it doesn''t grant you anything else. Maybe...?''

    Leonel pulled out the silver dictionary again.

 Chapter 2125 Extraction

    [PING][Soul Extraction Orb][This item is used to separate the soul and body. In lower lifeforms, the soul is omnipresent and impossible to detect and sense. As a result, when the body dies, the soul dies. The only exception are those with special Ability Indexes or those of higher races. Some races, such as the Spirituals, are even born with their souls alone, and then construct their bodies after birth.]

    Leonel had asked what the object and what the significance of Soul Extraction was, but he didn''t expect this answer. Did that mean that humans were the only "lower" lifeforms without the ability to separately sense their souls?

    "Why is the omnipresence of the soul within the body classified as low level?"

    [PING][Replying to Seed, the soul is formed of Soul Force. Soul Force is unique from person to person. When this Soul Force is diffused into the body, it becomes further tainted and further removed from the origin of Dream Force that birthed it. This makes it more difficult for higher class talents to be born and even those of equivalent talent will be weaker in this state].

    Leonel''s brows couldn''t help but jump as he had a bad feeling.

    "What happens if you separate the soul from the body... after birth as a lower life form?"

    [PING][If being born with soul and body separate is first class and being born with them fused is third class, then separating them after birth would be second class. But even then, the progress will be slow and only occur over the course of a long time as the cells of the body turnover and the person in question trains. The damage to affinity and talent has been mostly done after birth and it is difficult to reverse]

    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. This was what he had thought, he had been hoping to hear something else, but clearly it wasn''t in the cards for him.

    When one thought about it, it made sense. The Spirituals were born with just their souls, but as a result, they were able to construct perfect bodies for themselves. All of the talent that they had was stored within their souls, so whether they would have Innate Nodes or not, for example, was already predestined.

    It could be said that the body was just a projection of what the soul was, and if they were born as one, then the soul couldn''t do its job properly.

    The Spirituals were the highest form of this, but there were several other races who had their souls birthed within the womb first, before their bodies were constructed, and as such could stand almost shoulder to shoulder with Spirituals.

    Also, it was hard to say which among these races and the Spirituals had it better. That was because not every Spiritual would have access to the perfect resources to construct their bodies, while not every body formed within the womb would be perfect for the soul it was bonded to.

    Either way you sliced it, though, the Spirituals at the very top, the noblest of them with access to all the resources in the world, would have access to the greatest and most perfect bodies. In addition, from time to time, those among races with bodies constructed after souls in the womb would hit the lottery a few times a generation with geniuses with perfect bodies as well. As for humans...

    Well, humans were essentially screwed at that front. There was simply no lottery to hit for them.

    Leonel chuckled.

    Although he had reconstructed his body, he had done it with [Instant Recovery], it just reformed his body based on the previous blueprint, nothing had changed. As for Raylion, his situation was similar, unless one could figure out what was wrong with their body ahead of time, no amount of reconstruction would change anything. At best, separating one''s body and soul would allow slow improvement over time, but perfection would be impossible.

    There was another problem as well. Aina had told him that his father had a sort of seal on him. He felt that that seal had finally been entirely undone, but it also left him even more at a loss of what to do. He didn''t even know the first step to take.

    His soul was already tainted, how could he cleanse it?

    Suddenly, Leonel froze. The spark shot through his Dreamscape was so violent that lightning almost manifested in the real world. His clones, which were manning the Starships, rippled wildly, almost dispersing.

    Cleanse? [Dimensional Cleanse]?

    Was it a coincidence? Was he grasping at straws?

    "Aina," Leonel suddenly spoke.

    Not long later, Aina strolled in with a raised eyebrow, but Leonel only tossed her the Soul Extraction Orb.

    "Use it."

    Aina blinked but didn''t think much. Soon, she felt a weird pressure coming from within; she felt as though the deepest part of her being was being ripped out from her.

    The pressure coming from Aina suddenly doubled, and then it doubled again. The look on her face became somewhat pained, but she didn''t stop.

    For Aina of all people to show such an expression, Leonel knew for certain that what she was truly experiencing was world-shattering. Maybe this method was no less painful than being eaten alive. Even so... Aina didn''t make a single sound.n0veluSb.c0m

    Leonel watched in silence, but his expression was very serious. Lost in thought, he thought about the fact that his was a simulation once again. Anything that could appear in here was, in all likelihood, available in spades to the outside world.

    If this orb was really so useful toward changing their fate, they wouldn''t be in their current situation. The same went for [Dimensional Cleanse] that had appeared in here... no?

    But Aina was a bit unique. She had Brazinger blood flowing through her veins, so her family line was from outside of this simulation. In addition, she had a unique Ability Index that allowed her to subconsciously understand the best path to take her body down.

    He wondered... if he allowed Aina to separate her soul from her body, would she be able to naturally understand how to make herself perfect?

 Chapter 2126 Nothing Made Sense

    Veins popped up all across Aina''s body, her power fluctuating wildly as her Blood Force threatened to break free of her control. But after several moments, it finally seemed to calm down. She took deep gasps, however before she had even caught her breath, she gasped in shock, her expression changing again and again.n0velusb.c0M

    She felt as though her body was levitating at the moment. Her Ability Index had become sharper than she had ever imagined it becoming. It was as though rather than just being able to see one step ahead, she could see two. Usually, she would have to identify a problem or a roadblock she faced, and then go through a database of information she had within her mind to find the perfect solution. But now she felt that she didn''t just see the problem that she was facing currently, but she could see ahead to the problem she would face after they were resolved or even branching problems that might manifest irrelevant of these matters.

    It was like the road ahead had been cleared, the fogginess that had blocked much of it lifting up a great deal. Now she didn''t just see enough to take a single step forward, but two steps! That was a 100% increase in her Ability Index and all because of a little stone?

    She looked down at the stone, quite speechless. Only then did she focus and find what had fundamentally changed within her.

    Whereas before her body had felt like both the engine and the car body, it was now just the car body, while a mysterious bundle of energy that could only be said to be the engine had separated.

    Suddenly, Aina understood. The core of her ability should come from this bundle of energy, but while the bundle of energy was fused with her body, it was too difficult to distinguish what was fundamentally herself, and what were problems that should be corrected. As such, that limited the options she could take. But now...

    She gripped and released her fists, her golden irises shimmering.

    CRACK.

    The stone''s crack shocked her awake and she looked at it with a bit of pity. It would be amazing if everyone could have such a feeling, but it seemed that this stone could only be used a limited number of times.

    Leonel looked toward the stone and shook his head. From his understanding, it could only be used three times, and each subsequent usage would force the person in question to undergo more pain than the last. That was because the stone had to work harder due to its imperfections, placing the body under greater stress.

    That aside, Leonel doubted that anyone would receive the same great advantages that Aina had. Her Ability Index was very unique.

    It had to be remembered that there was a point where even Aina herself couldn''t tell where her Ability Index stopped and where her Lineage Factor began. They had too many overlapping abilities and the cloudiness made it difficult to take perfect advantage of the two. While this was good for continuing down a singular, unified path. It was bad for comprehending the inner workings of a singular power.

    Now, however, with it separated from her body, the ease had become far greater. Whatever benefits Aina was receiving now was just the tip of the iceberg.

    It had to be remembered that the Lineage Factor was rooted in the body and changes within it. Whether it was bloodline, additional organs, or changes to existing organs, these were all categories of Lineage Factor.

    Ability Indexes, however, were bestowed by the Regulator and they were matters of the soul. Now that they had been separated, Aina''s comprehension of both would become as clear as day. She was so happy that she almost squeezed all the air out of Leonel''s lungs with just a single hug.

    Leonel coughed heavily. "Okay, okay, Miss Guinea Pig, your husband needs your help?"

    "What did you call me?" Aina squeezed tighter.

    "Mercy, mercy, it''s a joke, a joke!"

    Aina nodded with satisfaction and then quickly came to understand what Leonel had meant. It seemed that she would be testing to see how one might form a perfect body after separating the soul.

    After some hesitation, Leonel shook his head and then passed down the layers of [Dimensional Cleanse] up to the Sixth Dimensional layer to Aina. Now that he had fully comprehended all the layers he had, he wasn''t restricted to passing it down in the slightest. The knowledge had truly become his own and he didn''t have to rely on anyone else.

    It was a long shot, but he thought that maybe it was still worth exploring. His Dreamscape had never stirred him wrong before, so maybe he would get a pleasant surprise this time.

    Even so, Leonel wasn''t very optimistic, that was because things weren''t adding up.

    This simulation had likely been created for the sake of something their creators feared. If he had to guess what this threat was, he would probably guess other races and specifically the Demon Race, but the answer was unimportant. That was because all that mattered was the fact that they needed to get stronger.

    An excellent way to get stronger would be precisely something like [Dimensional Cleanse] if it was capable of surpassing the issues of being born with a fused soul. So if it was really possible for it to do such a thing, why did they need this simulation?

    That aside, even if they knew about this "secret" of [Dimensional Cleanse], why would they create humans who weren''t aware of how to circumvent this weakness of theirs? Why would they allow inferior examples of humans to propagate?

    If they already had this technology, what use were weak, fused soul humans to them?

    Clearly, they could simulate better versions... after all, weren''t there Spirituals here too?

    Leonel suddenly felt a headache coming on, not a figurative one, but a very real one. His mind was fatigued. No matter how he forced himself to think, there were simply too many questions and not enough answers...

    That was right, if they could create Spirituals... Then why would they fear the Demons? Nothing seemed to make sense...

 Chapter 2127 Time Force

    Leonel took a breath and closed his eyes. Although he had more treasures to go through, he directly shook his head, he needed rest. Without another word, he entered a pod and entered a deep sleep. It wasn''t until three hours later, the equivalent of almost two weeks, that he finally stepped out.

    His mind felt far sharper and he was also much calmer. These questions weren''t things that he allowed to bother him any longer. The answer didn''t matter. All that mattered to him was that Aina wanted their babies to be little princes and princesses. Simulation or not, real world or not, did it matter? He would just conquer it all and enjoy the smile on his wife''s face.

    With a sharp gaze, Leonel went through the remaining treasure in the spatial ring. As expected, none were as world-shattering as the first three. He didn''t really want to waste his time with these things because there was nothing here better than simply training with the Segmented Cube.

    ''Hm? The Segmented Cube?''

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly lit up. Indeed, why hadn''t he thought of that?

    He had been looking for something to strengthen his most powerful combatants. In his mind, his top priority currently was the improvement of Aina, James, Emna, Elorin, and potentially Amery depending on how things went.

    He had already greatly helped the first three, but Elorin had stumped him. He had hoped to find some inspiration, but how could families weaker than even the Morales and Suiard families have something as rare as a treasure that could help a time Ability Index user? And, even if they did, they would likely take such a thing to the grave, how could they allow others to know when they could use the faA?бьade of their weakness to avoid its reveal?

    But Leonel had forgotten that he had the ultimate treasure right with him.

    Whether it was the snowglobe or the suspended animation pods that had spun off from them, both were a spectacular application of Time Force, there was nothing else that could be used to describe them. It was very likely that Anastasia knew something about this Force that others simply didn''t.

    "Anastasia."

    Leonel called the little cloud spirit over again. The analysis of the bronze disk was still going although he had given James, but Anastasia could multitask quite easily, especially since this was a question that should be within her purview to answer.

    "You''re ordering me around a little bit too freely, don''t you think? And didn''t I sense your father? That bastard is actually so close and won''t come to say hello? How dare he?!"

    Anastasia seemed to have been holding in this belly full of anger for quite a while, but finally couldn''t anymore. She had wanted to play it off and be as uncaring as Velasco was, but clearly that wasn''t within herself to do.

    Leonel smiled bitterly. That old man was too busy sucking up to his mom after his past as a pervert was exposed to focus on anything else right now, how could he have the time to remember Anastasia especially since he had already given the Segmented Cube to Leonel to control.

    "Humph, Humph, HUMPH!" Anastasia''s lower half, formed of clouds, bristled and shook, even darkening as though she would begin to shoot out lightning bolts.

    "Okay, okay, I''ll bring him here to see you, promise. That aside, what do you know about Time Force? Do you think that it''s possible for you to pass on any of that knowledge to someone else?"

    Anastasia froze for a moment then looked toward Leonel. "You don''t have any talent in such things. Just like Dream Force, if someone without affinity tried to mess around with Time Force they''d only hurt themselves. The consequences for messing with Dream Force might be devastating in that you''ll forget yourself, but there''s always a small chance you could come back. If you mess around with Time Force without affinity you won''t just figuratively lose yourself, the devastation would be very real and there would be no coming back.

    "Death would be the easiest and simplest outcome."

    Leonel wanted to explain that this wasn''t for him, but then he suddenly became curious when Anastasia said this.

    "What would be a worse outcome?"n0velusb.c0M

    "How about being caught in a perpetual loop where you can only experience that same death again and again?" Anastasia said, somewhat annoyed.

    Leonel sucked in a cold breath. He had experienced being eaten alive once before, but what if he had to experience that again and again.

    "The causalities you have to deal with when using Time Force can easily trap you unless you have a talent for telling the difference between reality and constructs, only death awaits you."

    "Why do I feel like my spear can kind of use Time Force, then?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    Anastasia looked at Leonel deeply before shaking her head.

    "Everyone has Dream Force in them, can they use it? Everyone has Soul Force, but can they freely wield it? In truth, calling it Time Force is incorrect, it''s more accurate to call it Causality Force, Reality Force, even Creation Force would be more accurate. Time Force is the foundation that gives everything else meaning. Even space, location, and size are all irrelevant before time. Without time, there is no existence, you can describe a being without describing their location, but you can''t separate them from the causality they''re tied to.

    "There was nothing before time came into being, and there''ll be nothing after it vanishes.

    "The so-called Time Force you''re controlling is only you taking control of the causality of your spear. You''ve gained enough understanding of it to begin to shift and change its very being with your Spear Force, but don''t mistake that for controlling Time Force. These aren''t the same things."

    Leonel''s eyes widened. Anastasia had never spoken so much in one sitting, but when she finally did, her words seemed to hold the weight of a world.

 Chapter 2128 Mistake

    leonel took a breath and exhaled. he seemed to gain a deeper understanding of his spear force and the direction it was going in.

    "you don''t need to worry, anastasia. i wasn''t asking for myself; i already have too many things on my plate dealing with forces i do have affinity for, let alone ones i don''t. i was asking for someone else. i thought of the snowglobes and the pods and realized that you must have some comprehension of such things, and it seems that i was right."

    anastasia snorted. "every world spirit do-"

    anastasia, seemingly realizing that she had made a mistake, suddenly stopped talking.

    her not speaking much wasn''t a mistake. usually, she was quite talkative. it was just that she knew her own habits and thought to control herself using this path. but she had accidentally let something she had held close to her chest slip just like that.

    she looked toward leonel, hoping he hadn''t heard anything, but before she could sigh a breath of relief, he was blinking in shock and she blushed with shame and embarrassment. she had really let such an important piece of information go in such a stupid way.

    ''stupid velasco, idiot velasco, this is all your fault! if i wasn''t so agitated, i wouldn''t have spoken so much and i wouldn''t have made such a mistake!''

    leonel remained silent for a long time and didn''t answer immediately. he was still processing what anastasia''s words could mean, but in the end he smiled bitterly. he didn''t have enough information. he actually didn''t know what this could mean at all.

    "alright, never mind that," leonel said lightly. "i don''t know why you want to hide that you''re a world spirit from me, but i assume it has something to do with the fact this is a fake, simulated world, huh? i would blame you for thinking i''m too fragile, but then again i did have a mental breakdown a couple of days ago."

    anastasia froze. "... what did you just say?"n0velusb.c0m

    leonel waved a hand. "i''m what you would call a genius; deducing these things is child''s play."

    leonel looked up and suddenly started, finding anastasia right before him. she surprised him, but she didn''t say anything for a long while.

    "indeed..." she finally mumbled. "a pair of monster father and son, makes no sense... is this the miracle of the randomness of life?"

    leonel raised an eyebrow, but he let this little world spirit sort out her own emotions. finally, she retreated, floating into the air again.

    "fine, depending on how this matter goes, i might tell you other things..." she said lightly. "for now, sure, i can help this person you speak of. time force comes naturally to me."

    "does that mean my mother can use time force too?" leonel asked. he wanted to ask anastasia to help his mother as well, in that case. although his mother already had a world spirit, a complete one at that, something was telling him that earth''s world spirit and anastasia were on two completely different levels.

    to his surprise, anastasia shook her head.

    "it''s not that i don''t want to help, but i truly had a slip of the tongue back then. world spirits that are more than blobs of instinct are incredibly rare. in all of existence, there are probably fewer than 10 like me.

    "while one can help you comprehend the laws of your world, time force isn''t something they can pass down. even for me, such a thing is impossible."

    "even if you fused with someone?" leonel asked.

    "i have a mind of my own; although that makes me far more powerful than most world spirits, it also limits me as well. i cannot fuse with someone for the benefit of my world; that would suppress me rather than helping me. what i need is someone to partner with me and help me find precious resources. once i succeed in entering the ninth dimension, i''ll finally mature, and my world will fully take shape; only then can i try to skirt some of the regulator''s rules by passing down such knowledge."

    leonel nodded slowly. "i see, i understand."

    after a moment, he tossed over a snowglobe. "he''s in here. we don''t have much time, so i hope that you can train him in a time-dilated state. try to see if you can make him obedient as well."

    anastasia nodded and her eyes lit up. indeed, elorin had a strong time force affinity; this was indeed perfect.

    "obedient?" her head suddenly popped up.

    "let''s just say he''s a bit unruly. his parents were killed due to a decision of old man fawkes. his own grandfather stood in his way, and he was enraged enough to cut him down. so maybe being unruly isn''t exaggerated enough for this person."

    "his parents died?"

    "indeed. they were likely to become invalids, so they were killed before the metamorphosis."

    "i see..."

    "what, you can do something about that?"

    "well, in the real world, no, but this world is more... pliable, and it''s even easier when the people in question have weak causalities. third dimensional beings without even ability indexes are about as easy as it gets. it would be helpless if they had entered the god path, or the eighth dimension of the conventional path, but this is too easy."

    leonel was stunned. he suddenly realized that maybe there were a lot more things anastasia was hiding from him so that he wouldn''t realize just how special she was too early. but now that he had exposed these matters, her misgivings were much less.

    she directly spoke about resurrecting two people who had died more than 30 years ago as though it was a trip to brunch.

    after a moment, leonel grinned. after this, would elorin still dare to disobey him?

    now that he thought about it, hutch was in the seventh dimension of the conventional path at best, and his ability index was just as broken as his grandson''s. if not for familial love, it was unlikely that elorin would have had a chance to win at all.

    "since you''re busy being a god anyway, anastasia, how about someone else?"

 Chapter 2129 Dont

    the person that leonel had thought of first, was, of course, aina''s mother. of course, he had hutch in mind as well, but the one he most wanted to see happy could be no one else but aina. the weight that aina had carried all this time had started from that very day her mother was executed for having the audacity to bear her as a child.

    it wasn''t just rage, but it was also helpless, exasperation and, most importantly of all... guilt.

    if she hadn''t been born, then maybe her mother would still be fine, maybe she wouldn''t have to suffer such a cruel fate, maybe she and aina''s father wouldn''t have been found out and so severely punished.

    but, there was already no going back to reverse all of these things. there was only one thing left... revenge. and she could only hope that it would be enough to fill the void in her heart.

    however, before long, leonel''s eager smile had faded. he looked toward anastasia who had a furrowed brow and his heart sank. he didn''t seem to need to hear the reason because it was of little importance to him now, but he still asked.

    "you can''t do it?" leonel asked softly.

    when he had heard that resurrecting those that had only been in the third dimension was easy for her, leonel had immediately thought of aina''s mother. but how could it be that there was still a roadblock here? what could possibly be stopping it?

    "... i can''t, no," anastasia slowly shook her head.

    "are you... sure you have the right person?" leonel asked.

    all he had told anastasia was that it was aina''s mother he wanted to resurrect, he hadn''t given her any other details because even he hadn''t had any other details. plus, although he had confidence in anastasia, he didn''t want to alert aina in case something went wrong, and time had proven that his caution was correct...

    even so, he had to ask. was it possible for anastasia to be 100% certain of who she was targeting when things were just like this?

    anastasia shook her head. "a parental relationship is the easiest causal relationship to see through. if i had to look for a distant cousin, maybe there''d be a small chance i could make a mistake. but since aina is here, and it''s her mother that''s in question, it''s practically a one to one relationship, i wouldn''t make such a mistake. it''s definitely her."

    "but aina''s mother died before the metamorphosis, she''s also in the third dimension just like elorin''s parents, why is one possible but the other isn''t?"

    "i... i don''t know, i can only speculate. someone with a far greater causality is interfering with aina''s mother''s own, entangling it to the point that i wouldn''t be able to extract her perfectly even if i tried. if i forced it, what came out the other side wouldn''t even be her mother, it would just be a woman who carried a similar form."

    leonel''s heart shuddered. hearing this, he realized that resurrecting people wasn''t nearly as easy as he had thought it would be, but at the same time he felt somewhat empty.n0velusb.c0m

    he had spent so long looking for the meaning of life, why was it that this world didn''t allow him to rip off the band aid in its entirety? why couldn''t life just be completely worthless through and through.

    but now he was hearing that those with lower value lives could be more easily resurrected than those that were more powerful. it was as though his worldview that all lives were equal was being spit at and smacked across the face time and time again, and yet he couldn''t even benefit from it.

    it was frustrating.

    "would this be because... she married aina''s father?"

    "no, this isn''t enough. but..."

    anastasia hesitated.

    "tell me," leonel said firmly.

    "this... remember how i said finding a parent through aina was exceptionally easy because it was a one to one relationship in causality? well... the reverse is true as well. it''s difficult to affect someone else''s causality, but the closer you are to that person, the easier it is. and, having literally given birth to a person..."

    leonel paled and he sat down. there were very few things that could make him react like this, but he felt like he was feeling aina''s emotions for her at the moment.

    if aina knew that her mother couldn''t be brought back because she had grown too strong, how devastated would she be? no, even beyond that, wasn''t it because of revenge that aina had put in so much effort to increase her strength? and now because of that strength she had worked so hard for, she would never be able to see her mother again? how cruel was a fate like this?

    what leonel didn''t know was that there was something else that anastasia hadn''t told him. if she was correct... things might have still worked if aina was still in the sixth dimension.

    one would enter the god path upon entering the sixth dimension, but because her mother was one step removed from her causality, the impact was lessened. however, the moment she entered the seventh dimension...

    it was just one day, just a single day was the difference between aina being able to cry in her mother''s arms or not... just a single day...

    leonel took deep breaths and slowly managed to calm himself.

    "don''t resurrect them," leonel suddenly said.

    "what?"

    "don''t resurrect elorin''s parents. leave them as they are."

    leonel didn''t say anything else as he stood and left. anastasia could only look toward his back with a complicated twinkle in her eye.

    she understood. if anastasia resurrected them, then aina would learn about it one way or another. aina was quite intelligent, she wouldn''t believe that leonel would put in the effort to resurrect the parents of others and yet not her own. if she realized this, then she would only be one step away from the truth...

    leonel refused to see that kind of pain on the love of his life''s face.

 Chapter 2130 Fortune From Misfortune

    many minutes later, leonel finally managed to calm down.

    this matter was far more complex than he had expected and it felt like the world was playing a practical joke on him. so close and yet so far away, just a single step away and yet miles away.n0velusb.c0m

    he suddenly heard the echo of a familiar laughter in his mind. he didn''t remember having laughed like this in the past, but for some reason he was certain that it was his own laughter. the laughter sounded quite heroic, and yet there was an undertone of sadness and helplessness hidden within, an echo that grew louder and louder until his vision suddenly went white.

    when leonel came to, he was still standing in the same spot. his body was drenched in sweat, but other than that, he seemed like the same person he had always been.

    taking a breath, he returned to the living setting and entered his and aina''s personal bath. he had already reached a state of cleanliness where he could spend months, even years, without a shower and still be fresh, but right now, he felt like he really needed one.

    he slipped into the cleansing waters after stripping down his clothes and lowered himself into the water. the water slid around him until he had submerged even his head, sinking to the bottom of the large pool.

    he breathed deeply, ignoring the waters around him. when the cleansing waters entered his lungs, rather than flooding them and leaving him gasping like one might expect, it immediately became vapor, dispersing into his body.

    leonel hadn''t expected this. in truth, he had just made a mistake. he had wanted to do what he had recently begun to do in the water, filtering out wind force from the water force and inhaling that. but in his absentminded and somewhat fatigued state, he had forgotten that cleansing waters were the purest form of water force. there was no wind force within it at all to filter out and breathe.

    just when he thought that he would be drowned by his own foolishness and was prepared to rush up to the surface to expel the cleansing waters from himself, this had happened.

    his body suddenly began to tremble, deep-seated and hidden imperfections began to be pushed out one after another.

    leonel was rendered speechless. he hadn''t expected that things would actually end up like this. he had been thinking about how to help his body approach perfection, and he had actually stumbled into the method in such an unbelievably stupid way.

    quickly, leonel calmed down and accessed some things. only then did he realize that this wasn''t a natural state of cleansing waters, or most accurately, not just anyone could inhale cleansing waters like this. if someone else tried, they might truly drown themselves.

    the sudden vaporization of the cleansing waters he inhaled was a result of his new lineage. or rather, a result of his previously evolved metal synergy lineage factor evolving once again.

    leonel''s new lineage factor built upon the four components of the metal synergy lineage factor quite beautifully.

    the first component was the one all morales had access to, and that was the ability to absorb the life of metals and make it their own.

    the second, the one the radix family had received, was the reverse. to take one''s life and bestow it upon metals.

    the third was what was given to the midas family, and that was the ability to swallow flames and gain endless life force from them.

    the fourth was given to the florer family and it was ultimately the ability to bestow life once again.

    the way leonel had seen it, although these were separated into four more complex bits, they were ultimately two larger halves, one that could take life and make it one''s own, and the second was to bestow it and grant power. one relied on refinement of external sources to grant oneself power, and the second relied on refinement of internal sources to grant an external object power.

    both formed a yin and yang sort of balance and there were all sorts of techniques that could branch from it. but what leonel benefited from the most was the nigh infinite pool of longevity.

    somehow, after the evolution, leonel had gained the ability to refine more than just metal and fire, even water seemed possible now, and he had gained the largest store of unrefined waters right before him. even if he tried to refine all of these cleansing waters, he wasn''t sure if it would truly be possible unless he reached the nine dimension, but by then these waters would expand once more as anastasia would definitely reach that level as well.

    as his pores dilated, leonel found that his body had far more imperfections than he had thought. what was being expelled from him wasn''t impurities, per se, but was rather like foul force. this force would be the kind that stopped normal force crystals from becoming pure force crystals.

    this sort of force, impeding those born with fused souls, was precisely what stopped them from reaching the perfect state of body and mind.

    these cleansing waters were only eighth dimensional, so leonel wasn''t sure if it would truly be able to allow his body to reach that state of perfection that only few geniuses of other races and a handful of spirituals had. but.. what he was certain of was that it would allow him to get much, much closer.

    ''i guess this can be counted as a disaster turning to fortune...'' leonel whispered to himself softly.

    the complexity of a pie forming in the sky, only to land right in his face, and then for another one to form soon after had brought him through a rollercoaster of emotions.

    suddenly, leonel gripped his fists.

    the complexities of life were something that smacked him in the face every time he tried to gain an inkling about what truth may lie behind the doorway.

    but he felt that maybe he was going about this all wrong. he had always felt like he should have an answer first before he decided what road he should take, but did he have a right to gain such an answer at his current strength?

    maybe instead of that... he should do the reverse, work to strengthen himself so that maybe one day, he too could laugh like that...

 Chapter 2131 Not Quite

    as leonel was meditating in the depths of a pool of cleansing waters, the situation in the void palace was only getting worse with every passing moment.

    the domain ranked disciples that remained had worked their whole lives for this matter, and they carried resolute faces as they faced off against legions of otherworldly beings, but their resolution did nothing to change the fact of the matter: they were entirely outmatched.

    in the past, the humans had at least had the advantage of numbers. there were so many roads that they cultivated that there was bound to be at least one a person could excel in. this was about the only advantage humans had over the other races.

    however, the void palace had suffered devastating losses due to the cataclysm. and, to make matters worse, even if they hadn''t, they were facing the combined numbers from several races at once. not that they were also missing so many of their own, what chance did they stand?

    the nomad race, the cloud race, the rapax race, even the dwarven race and the beast domain were attacking. it seemed that every single one of them wanted a piece of the pie and they weren''t willing to take even a single step back.

    they flooded in from five different directions, assaulting the humans on all fronts. they were stretched thin and there was simply nothing that could be done, and this was before even any ancestors showed up. with the way things looked, it seemed as though the human domain would fall without the eighth dimensional experts of the other races even having to lift a hand.

    however, there seemed to be good news, even after the first line of defense was breached and the second was halfway through falling, the spirituals had still not shown up.

    the spirituals rarely participated in conflicts and they didn''t seem to care for the land of others. there were a rare few stragglers who came out from time to time to remind the world of the power of their race, but other than that... there was absolutely nothing.

    that said, it had been a long while since the last eighth dimensional world had appeared. it would be hard to tell what they would be willing to do in this situation.

    as a result, they became like a lingering guillotine in the air. but so long as they didn''t appear, the situation wasn''t helpless quite yet...

    on the side of the humans, the void elders stood outside the tallest peak of the void tower, their expression solemn and their wrinkled faces contorted. they could see that the second line was about to fall.

    "the prestige of the void palace has fallen too far..."

    it had already been half a day but there were no signs of those families appearing. the void palace wasn''t worried that they wouldn''t show up, but rather worried that they would show up far too late. they were waiting for everything to be perfect for them to make their appearance, not realizing that there would simply be nothing left to be perfect if they were any later.

    but it couldn''t be helped. the prestige of the void palace had taken a huge blow after they failed to protect so many of their disciples. many middle-of-the-pack families had sent their own hope in generations to the void palace, only to lose their child forever...

    now, those families were being called again and it was hard to tell how they would feel.

    "there''s no choice. if they don''t appear, the entire human race will be enslaved."

    "it''s already helpless," void elder lizbeth said softly.

    "what did you say?" void elder galliene, a drill sergeant among them, snapped almost immediately.

    "i said that it''s helpless. who cares how many of them appear, what will they do when the ancestors of the other races start appearing? even back when we had such a huge advantage in the number of seventh dimensional existences, our number of eighth dimensional existences couldn''t match up to even one of the races, let alone so many of them.

    "we have many paths to reach the seventh dimension, but none of them are excavated deeply enough to allow a large number to enter the eighth dimension. we are finished."

    hearing a void elder say such words, the others were shocked, so shocked in fact that they couldn''t even react to what happened next.

    void elder galliene, who had just seemed to be reprimanding lizbeth, turned around and swiftly attacked. it wasn''t just him, but lizbeth and void elder wimarc attacked all at once as well. the other void elders were caught off guard, many of them having their chests pierced and hearts shattered in a single swift move.

    "you!" cornelius, who had only recently managed to become a void elder himself, was instantly enraged. he had never imagined that the people he had spent his whole life looking up to would suddenly do this.

    the remaining void elders suddenly recovered as well, but just when cornelius was about to attack, he froze.

    he looked down, finding an arm piercing through his chest. he struggled to look back, but he never managed to see who it was.

    he had never expected it to be a two-layered plan. only a part of the traitors had acted in the first rounds while the rest pretended to be shocked along with everyone else. then, just when it seemed the traitors were clear, the second group attacked.

    cornelius didn''t even know what to think in his final moments until his thoughts suddenly settled on a particular one man for some reason.

    that young cub had given him such a headache in the small time he had known him for, but he had always seemed to pull out victory from the jaws of defeat.

    cornelius slipped down, falling from the hand of the person who had attacked him, through the clouds below and toward the ground.

    the hand pulled back, slowly wiping their hand of blood as their features began to change.

    "do we attack now and finish it?" lizbeth suddenly asked.

    the person shook his head. "not quite yet."

    if leonel had been here, maybe his heart would have stopped beating entirely.

    this man was someone he knew all too well.

    he was none other than lionel morales.

    -----

    erdiul''s notes: for those who are confused, or don''t remember. lionel morales is the savant from earth, that thought he was leonel. he should be dead, but i guess not. also the author says maybe leonel would have his heart stopped beating, but let''s be real... bro just realized his world is a simulation and that people can get rezzed like it''s nothing. i don''t think this would surprise him.n0velusb.c0m

 Chapter 2132 Mercy

    leonel opened his eyes, feeling a strong surge of power flooding his body. the odd part was that he didn''t feel as though his strength had changed a great deal, but for some reason he still felt far lighter than he ever had before.

    he didn''t know what to say about that matter, but he slowly made his way out of the pool.

    unfortunately, because he had spent so long out of the pod, he didn''t gain the 100 days others likely had. but even so, he felt that it was worth it. after some thought, he had finally touched upon what that odd feeling was.

    it was like his body was a treasure and it was being slowly refined toward the life grade. it was like his body already had all the building blocks, but it was missing the impetus to fuse into a perfect product, becoming one.

    leonel had experienced this before, this was the feeling he had had before he succeeded in crafting his first life grade treasure. when he connected the two, he was quite speechless. it felt quite crude to think of his body as though it was some kind of inanimate object. but when he took a step back... wasn''t it exactly that?

    earth had a dividing line between inorganic and organic materials, and the body was obviously formed of the latter, but higher in dimensions, that line blurred more and more. plus, leonel had already had a huge breakthrough in his earth force that was caused by his realization that the body was quite reliant on earth force to survive, or else where would the important minerals that kept them healthy come from?

    everything had a balance to it, and there was no reason to treat his body any differently than he would a treasure. in fact, his body was almost irrelevant, what was most important was its use as a medium to allow his soul and ethereal glabella to display their strength to the greatest degree.

    as expected, leonel''s body didn''t reach the level of perfection that he was looking for, but the change was still quite substantial.

    there was still quite a long process left. he would have to be patient, waiting for his cells to turnover and then undergo the process again. the more times he did this, the better his body would be at producing cells that were closer to perfection, and the closer to perfection he would be overall.

    his force flowed through his force nodes much smoother.

    at that moment, leonel looked up, only to find that aina had suddenly rushed in. he smiled.

    "what''s wrong, you''re actually in such a rush?"

    "cleansing waters," aina suddenly said. "i think it would be very useful for this!"

    leonel smiled meaningfully.

    "you already figured it out?"

    leonel chuckled. "sort of, it was a bit of an accident. but it''s crude right now. i''m only able to do it by breathing the water in, someone else would end up drowning themselves. do you have a better method?"

    aina nodded. "i can use the cleansing waters as a binder in a force pill to amplify the effects. the other materials would just be supplemental to act as a binding agent to allow it to pass into the blood, the organs, and the cells effectively. it would take several treatments, but it should have a strong effect given enough time. the results would be better the more pain someone is willing to withstand."

    leonel''s eyes brightened. "we''ll revisit this after this war."

    "after?"

    aina''s brows shot up. why did leonel sound so confident? it didn''t seem like they were in a very good situation right now. it would probably be better if they held back now and only came forward when they had all their ducks in a row.

    when one took a step back, what were they worth in the face of the whole human domain? a billion warriors? that was a drop in the bucket. it might be enough to target a solar system, but even if one''s target was only a galaxy it wouldn''t be nearly enough, let alone a sector or facing off against several domains at once.

    leonel grinned. "don''t you think this is a good opportunity?"

    aina''s expression changed.

    she understood what leonel wanted to do. the heir wars put leonel on the map, but if he performed well in this war, or if he actually won it for the human domain, how much easier would it be to unify it in the future? in fact, he might even succeed before the heir wars were even through.

    it was a wild plan, that was all she could say about it. she couldn''t help but hesitate. was leonel doing this because of her words about wanting their children to be royalty? but...

    aina''s eyes wandered, feeling nervous. she couldn''t just take these words back now, or else the weight of her words in the future would diminish. she also didn''t want to see leonel without drive and ambition, she felt that the world deserved to know his talent.

    in her stupor, she didn''t even notice leonel lean forward and kiss her forehead.

    "you should trust your husband a bit more."n0velusb.c0m

    aina frowned, responding subconsciously as she wiped her forehead. "who''s my husband? why don''t i see a ring."

    leonel grinned. "a ring, you say?"

    aina''s heart skipped a beat, her frown suddenly vanishing into a panicking expression. however, it didn''t last long because the mood was interrupted by leonel''s wheezing laughter.

    aina turned beat red, her fists suddenly beginning to rain down. usually she held back, but leonel truly felt the pain this time.

    "mercy! mercy!" leonel howled.

    "obediently take this beating! how dare you tease me about this!?"

    despite his cries, leonel was practically grinning ear to ear?

    a ring for his wife? how could he give her something casual? his aspirations were grand.

    what was a diamond before the keys to the void palace? what about the head of a spiritual? or maybe he would make the dimensional verse kneel at her feet.

    leonel suddenly sprang up and wrapped an arm around aina''s waist, lifting her into the air and planting a kiss on her lips.

 Chapter 2133 Retreat.

    "these humans are actually so worthless. what was all this preparation for," a nomad young man yawned.

    this young man mumbled to himself, watching the carnage without much care. he leaned back on his own floating hands, reclining in the skies without a care. he was well known among his race, but this went without saying since he was chosen to lead his own legion. he was prince gregwyn, and was quite known for his laziness. he was probably the only nomad who would use his extra hands in such a way.

    the nomad race''s standout feature was, of course, their three pairs of hands, two of which were attached by their wrists to their arms, and the remaining four of which floated around their bodies as though they had minds of their own. then there was, of course, the gems on their foreheads, a protrusion of their ethereal glabellas.

    gregwyn looked off to the side. two of his floating hands acted as his seat and the remaining two acted as his backrest. he looked quite comfortable, and yet he seemed to want more from the occasion.

    did he feel bad about attacking the humans like this? of course not. he only lamented that they weren''t strong enough.

    the humans weren''t unique in this matter. every domain that formed an eighth dimensional world like this would be invaded. well... aside from the spirituals.n0velusb.c0m

    that said, the humans were unlucky in the fact that so many were attacking them at once. back when their nomad race had experienced this, only the beat domain had invaded. the only race that had experienced a similar level of pressure was the dwarven race, and right now the dwarven race had ironically sent the most experts.

    clearly, the dwarven race still held a grudge from being kicked out of the human domain back then.

    the worst part was that the dwarven race were full of archery experts that were especially lethal in this density of anarchic force. anyone who could expel their force over large distances was a huge asset in this void battlefield, and the dwarven race happened to have the largest percentage of such existences.

    "it''ll probably only be another day before the second line is breached and then just the third line would be left. by then, the entire human domain will be open to us and the war will basically be over. it would be impossible for them to defend more from entering from the void battlefield, and deal with the wild fire spreading in their territory.

    "the dwarven race was dealing with their own problems so they didn''t want to overextend themselves by entering the human domain fully before, but now they won''t have such scruples. their defensive measures have grown too tough for others to continue to attack them now. it seems that the humans will be the new heel."

    gregwyn laughed uproariously.

    on the side of the dwarven race, a pair of brother and sister stood in the air, the wings flapping. their gazes were surprisingly cold despite their somewhat adorable appearances.

    each of them held a bow in their hands, directly following traffic below. the grey skies were practically blackened by the number of arrows that were flying. the humans couldn''t even get close before they were mowed down. it was a truly devastating sight. the humans could only form barricades to try and defend from the volleys, but with half the second line having fallen, the defenses simply weren''t very great and could only be hastily put up.

    this pair of brother and sister were likewise nobility of their race. this could be seen by the fact that they looked more like short humans as opposed to dwarves in the eyes of most. the princess, ularora, and the prince malcuhorn.

    what was far more interesting, though, was the fact that the city they were currently besieging was one that leonel would very easily recognize, it was the very one he had first run into when he returned from the cataclysm zone. and, as expected, it was none other than rowan. this was the very same young man that had almost killed leonel after he had helped them to escape the rapax nest.

    rowan cancer had surprisingly not participated in the heir wars and had remained with the void palace. he hadn''t told anyone why, but if he had said it, no one would believe him.

    the reality was that unlike others, he could see through the danger leonel posed and he wanted no part in it. it was, of course, due to his special ability index that he was so certain. and he had felt that he was quite smart while watching the broadcast, but who would have thought that he would end up so unlucky in the end?

    suddenly, rowan got an order that made his brows jump up.

    retreat? what?

    rowan couldn''t even believe such a ridiculously stupid order. if they retreated from the position, they''d be completely finished. there was nothing to retreat back to but the first line, but the so-called first line was just the void palace itself. it was incredibly difficult to defend because the palace was only meant to be used as a life support. as difficult as it was to attack, it would simultaneously be hard on those who took it upon themselves to defend.

    to make matters worse, there was a forward legion below. their blows from within the city weren''t effective enough, and if they allowed the dwarven race to approach too closely, they would lose the city too swiftly. if they retreated now, how many of them would die?

    rowan hesitated. this order was definitely official, it couldn''t just be ignored because he disagreed with it. for all he knew, they had a better plan than he did.

    after another round of hesitation, it wasn''t even rowan himself who acted. he was yet to become a domain ranked disciple. he realized at that moment that it wasn''t up to him in the first place. the domain ranked disciples were the true pillars of the void palace, they held the most authority.

    a domain ranked disciple he knew as avelaer handed down the orders.

    "prepare for retreat! ready the canons for one final blow! hurry!"

    the words had only just fallen when the air trembled. rowan''s head snapped around to find a starship had suddenly appeared behind their city, shocking him into silence.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: two chapters today, none tomorrow and three on saturday. author''s words, not mine.

 Chapter 2134 Defend

    [i just remembered that i promised 3 chapters today, but when i promised i forgot that i had certain obligations this weekend. i''ll find another date to make it up]

    this was a completely unexpected change. something so large should have been alerted to them in advance, but the fact that it hadn''t made rowan''s eyes narrow. he felt that there was something big going on right now, and he felt far too small to handle it.

    the very purpose of the void palace was to act as a defensive gate to the human domain. this defensive measure worked in both directions, it was impossible to just casually enter the void palace from any direction whatsoever. the only ones that could even think about doing so were ancestor level characters.

    the only way to the void battlefield was through the void palace, and the only way from the void battlefield to the human domain was, once again, through the void palace.

    for this starship to reach this location without a word from the higher ups, it meant that it was here without permission. but anyone in the human domain with access to a starship was impossible high up on the food chain.

    did that mean that the humans had traitors already? but news of the fall of the first line should have only been sent to the most powerful of families.. but then again, only the most powerful families would have access to such a starship.

    rowan felt his head spinning. no matter how much he thought, he could have never guessed that the traitors had come from the void palace itself. the void palace was the pinnacle of humanity, the void elders that led it had prestige surpassing all, they were the experts that had sacrificed their lifetime of happiness for the sake of the human race...

    even rowan, who was quite jaded about most things, would never suspect them.

    but when he saw who stepped out from the ship and onto the bow, his own expression couldn''t help but change. leonel morales?

    as impossible as it was for the void elders to betray humanity in his mind, it made just as little sense for leonel to do so in rowan''s opinion. it had to be remembered that the only reason they had survived the cataclysm and returned home in the first place was because of leonel. although rowan hadn''t known this before, who wouldn''t be aware of this by now?

    ''just what is going on...?''

    domain disciple avelaer frowned, but before he could say much, yet another domain ranked disciple appeared, and he was yet another person that leonel was quite familiar with. this young man was none other than the very impetus for leonel''s falling out with the void palace, he was the one who moved behind the scenes to link the leonel of the milky way, to the leonel fo the void palace, raising his fugitive status and causing shield cross stars to come to the void palace to apprehend him: ronan sith.

    ronan was a member of shield cross stars, but more importantly, a member of their sith-led assassin unit. his position was extraordinary and the grudge he had with leonel wasn''t small at all.

    back then, ronan had been stalled by leonel''s aunt while he and aina slaughtered much of ronan''s faction. due to that, what had once been a powerful faction well on its way to becoming a legacy faction as ronan promoted to the void senate crumbled before everyone''s eyes.

    ronan wasn''t able to do anything as leonel and aina vanished, but now he seemed to have become an official domain ranked disciple and he very clearly stood on avelaer''s side in wanting to follow orders and complete their retreat.

    seeing leonel, he seemed to have seen red, but he quickly regained his calm, coolly ordering that the retreat continue. however, it was then that leonel took a step, his figure flashing as he landed on the top of the city walls. he was only a few meters from ronan, but it was as though he hadn''t seen anyone else.

    "sheesh, the void palace is getting more and more pathetic these days, huh?"

    leonel looked up, his gaze suddenly becoming sharp.

    "anyone who retreats dies."n0velusb.c0m

    leonel''s voice thundered. it came as a completely unexpected change.

    the level leonel''s mind worked on was completely different from others, but this time his action was purely based on his endless trust in his father. his father had attacked the void palace all those years ago, to leonel that meant that there were definitely traitors within them. it was that simple to him.

    if he accepted that as the truth, then it was impossible to do anything exactly to the wishes of the void palace. in fact, the reason rowan and the others didn''t receive any information about their arrival was because leonel had directly shot by at the highest speed his craft could muster, they hadn''t even been able to react.

    everyone was stunned by these words. those that had been following the orders of the domain ranked disciples were caught in the crossfire, not knowing whether to continue or retreat.

    on the one hand, there were the domain ranked disciples, but on the other there wasn''t only leonel who had saved them all from the cataclysm zone, but even more importantly than that there was a starship even ancestors feared in the skies behind him.

    ronan was completely taken aback. leonel actually dared to say these words?

    at first, he was speechless until he was so enraged that he laughed.

    "do you think that because you did well against some little kids that you can do as you please now?!"

    leonel''s head turned toward ronan, his gaze as deep as the depths of the starry skies.

    "no. i can do as i please because the power i wield is greater than yours."

    the starship suddenly rumbled as a piercing beam shot forward. ularora and malcuhorn''s expressions changed at the same time.

    "defend!" they roared.

    they had set their moving formations to a standard that could deal with the canons of the fortified city, but they hadn''t expected for the canons of a moving ship to be even better than a fortified city. it made little sense, and yet...

    boom!

 Chapter 2135 Closer

    leonel''s gaze flickered. the moving formation of the dwarven race was incredibly unique.

    in his studies within the void library, leonel had learned a lot about the warring habits of the various races. usually, when launching a siege like this one, most races relied on siege towers that double as formation foundations. these foundations would become the core of force arts that would help the army to move forward and attack while they defended themselves.

    these defensive measures tended to be weaker than unmoving force arts for obvious reasons, but the one exception to this rule seemed to be the dwarven race that managed to have formations that were no weaker at all.

    the canons of the fortified city weren''t to be taken lightly. these cities had no less investment in them than starships did, and their attacking methods were no weaker, but the dwarven race had managed to weather them with their siege towers without the slightest hiccup.

    and then leonel suddenly appeared.

    the beams of light winked out after their power was exhausted. the siege towers of the dwarven race shook a great deal and some of the power leaked to the army below, causing many of them to die. but ultimately, the casualties were only in the few hundreds.

    even so, this loss of a few hundreds was more than the city had been able to accomplish in several volleys. it was clear that this starship was on a completely different level.n0velusb.c0m

    this was a true success, but there wasn''t a hint of happiness on leonel''s face. he knew that if he fired again without changing anything, he would be lucky if a few dozen died, let alone a few hundred.

    in exchange for a slowed pace, the dwarven race could adjust the strength of their formations. they were caught off guard, but they wouldn''t be caught off guard easily again. however, their speed had plummeted by more than 50%, leonel had bought the fortified city a great deal of time.

    this seemed to be the perfect chance to retreat, but leonel had no intention of doing so. in fact, the canons of the starship were already revving again. at the same time, a second starship appeared, but this one was far larger, the first was only a few kilometers across, but this one was the size of a planet and it dwarfed the entire battle, casting a shadow over everything.

    that said, this shadow didn''t change much about the terrain. the void battlefield was an endless foggy and dull atmosphere to begin with. they were just swapping one form of darkness for another.

    soon, it began to fire on the dwarven race as well.

    ''the beams are about threefolds weaker,'' leonel quickly calculated, ''the larger starship is even worse, only being about 20% as powerful as usual. that should be due to both the anarchic force and the distance of separation.''

    "that''s enough!" ronan barked. "did you think you could change the situation on the battlefield with a few starships? do you know how many the void palace has on their own? what did you think you could accomplish, don''t come here to make a fool of yourself. continue the retreat!"

    bang!

    ronan had hardly finished talking when he felt a huge pressure suddenly crush his chest. he was sent flying like a broken kite.

    he only managed to stop himself a long while later and could only feel lucky that whoever had hit him had done so across the city walls and not to the ground below.

    unable to hold back, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, holding his chest. he looked up weakly to find a beauty with long, flowing black hair, standing by leonel''s side. he didn''t even register when she had appeared.

    ronan coughed again, taking deep breaths.

    to be a domain ranked disciple, he had to at least have the strength of most tier 7 seventh dimensional experts. he, himself, was only tier 6, but with his talent, this was a difficult, but not impossible feat.

    but just now, he had been slapped so far away by a single palm from a tier 1 existence?!

    "demoralize the human race again and i''ll have my lovely wife pierce through your heart next time. watch your mouth."

    leonel looked back toward the battle below.

    the humans, having gained some relief thanks to leonel''s actions, were able to reverse the situation somewhat.

    the siege towers were only designed to take on powerful, large scale attacks. they weren''t wasted on small scale attacks from the army''s men and women below. as such, that battle was far more level, it was just that the humans were far too outnumbered.

    in terms of direct combat, there was no large difference between the geniuses of the human race and the dwarven race, but a disparity so large...

    leonel, however, seemed to be entirely focused on the siege towers, trying to look for a weakness. at least it seemed so until he suddenly snapped his fingers.

    the starships opened up one after another, billions of armored warriors making their way out.

    their weapons clanged and the sound of surging energy whirred in the ears of the spectators. their armors began to glow and they were quickly linked with one another.

    the human domain had seen leonel''s special armors before, but... those armors had been created on a whim based on a sea creature he had only seen for a small moment before he began. these armors, however, were crafted to perfection.

    they were on an entirely different level.

    ''... i need to get closer.''

    suddenly, leonel''s body flashed and his divine armor formed. there was a hint of a frown on his face because it didn''t feel nearly as comfortable as it had in the past, but oddly enough, despite this, its strength had actually risen a great deal.

    he extended a palm and his black rod appeared.

    he stomped his feet hard, launching himself from the very walls ronan had been fearful to fall from.

    aina frowned as well, but she stayed put, realizing that leonel wasn''t asking for her to participate.

    it seemed that leonel didn''t treat this domain war much differently than he did the heir wars he had just conquered...

 Chapter 2136 Soaring

    a single aura of the sixth dimension was completely out of place in a sea of seventh dimensional monsters, even more so when these seventh dimensional monsters were geniuses of other races or the best geniuses that the human domain had to offer.

    and yet, leonel didn''t seem to feel the weight of the matter at all. in fact, his gaze flickered with fancing crimson lights that danced like embers within his irises. beneath the helmet of his divine armor, a wild grin spread.

    the human race was weak, huh...? he would be the judge of that.

    bang!

    the ground beneath leonel shattered. a roar filled the skies as his soldiers landed behind him, the earth rumbling and tumbling beneath their weight. and yet, in front of this monstrous tide, a singular young man who was nothing more than a speck of dust before the vastness of the void battlefield seemed to become the center of it all.

    leonel''s black rod rose, his ten stars appearing to his back, one part hidden in darkness and the other bathed in a blinding radiance.

    his foot sank into the earth, countless cracks and devastating, bowing, boulders of earth raising from the ground as he exploded forth.

    he crossed the distance between the city and front line warriors of the void palace in an instant. he soared above their heads, a flourishing pair of fiery wings appearing around him as he crossed the no man''s land toward the dwarven race.

    he seemed to have entirely lost his mind, too excited by the prospect of war and battle, he had done maybe the most foolish thing he could have, entering a piece of land that only left room for death.

    this no man''s land had formed after the dwarven race''s pace slowed due to the roaring lasers of the two starships. this kind of region was absolutely deadly under normal circumstances, let alone when facing a race of marksmen like the dwarven race.

    the eyes of ularora and malcuhorn flashed at once. they didn''t even need to give the order, the archers had already raised their bows, nocked them and fired. their movements were smooth, it was an action they had lost track of the number of times they had completed. in truth, only one of them needed to act, but they had all reacted so fast that hundreds had fired at once.

    the rain wasn''t exaggerated to the point of blotting out the skies, but it was simply too fast and too vast, there was nowhere for leonel to dodge.

    but it was right then that the people of the fortified city seemed to remember something.

    leonel''s grin became wilder. "using archery against me? it seems i need to introduce myself to you invaders."

    leonel''s heart seemed to blaze with an undying fire, his voice booming. the anarchic force seemed entirely incapable of stopping the spread of his presence. his scarlet star force wings expanded, and then expanded again.

    he came to a sudden stop in the air, his spear sweeping out before him. however, it wasn''t aimed toward the coming arrows at all, instead it drew a perfect arc on the ground below. it didn''t seem to serve a purpose at all other than to display the sharpness of leonel''s blade even from afar... until the arrows tried to cross it.

    one after another, the volley disintegrated to ash. it was as though the dividing line leonel had casually drawn had laid down a law of causality, an unbreakable rule decided by the man standing high in the skies.

    leonel was entirely unmoved by the failure of the arrows. the ash that remained of them continued to float in the air, dancing like the dead embers of a fallen hope.

    the tip of his spear trembled and he vanished.

    when he appeared again, he was standing before the frontline of dwarven race members and his blade flashed.

    in an instant, dozens of heads flew into the skies.

    leonel took another step and vanished once more. everywhere he passed by, his spear force would sparkle for just an instant before fountains of blood would fall.

    the bows and arrows of the dwarven race were entirely useless against him. every time one tried to target him, it would disintegrate even before making contact. as for the close combat skills of the dwarven race, they were worse than trash. they were smaller than him, weaker than him, and in such a large group, their level of agility was entirely useless.

    leonel''s wings alone left a trail of death and destruction. he hardly tried, but every flap would send out a wave of heat and destructive aura, shattering protective armors and forces that were already struggling beneath the anarchic force in the surroundings.

    he was a one man grinding machine... and then his army caught up with him.

    streaks of lightning filled the air as several large eyes appeared in the skies. the dwarven race, which was already thrown into disarray by leonel, was suddenly faced with an unending tidal wave of oppressive might.

    no matter how fast leonel killed, he was still one person. he could at most kill two or three dozen per second, against an army of tens of billions, it would take him decades to kill down to the last man.

    however, if leonel was the swiss army knife that disrupted their formation, and his army was the butcher''s knife that ground down what remained, how much faster would his killing speed be? it simply couldn''t be compared.

    leonel''s roaring laughter filled the skies.

    indeed, the great dimensional verse didn''t know the name leonel morales, but starting today, much like he had put the human domain on notice, he would make sure that they were aware of him as well... because he was coming.

    leonel flickered and vanished, or so he thought, but he quickly found that the siege towers had changed once more and his spatial force was restricted. even so, the wild grin on his face didn''t fade at all.

    he unleashed a roar, his spear spinning in his hands as a wild wheel of flames took shape, surging in all directions a single sweep.

    and wiping out over a hundred dwarven race members in

    he pointed his spear toward the skies toward the pair of prince and princess.

    a soaring battle intent surged out from his spear.n0velusb.c0m

 Chapter 2137 Exposed

    illowing plumes of royal blue fog came from leonel''s divine armor. standing in the middle of a region that had been entirely cleared by him, he looked like a war god descended from the very skies themselves, untouchable and noble.

    bang!

    his gravity field seemed to activate on its own. the dwarven race members that were rushing to fill in the gap were crushed instantaneously. their faces were driven into the ground before bursting into a puddle of flesh and blood.

    leonel''s free hand grasped out at the air, space itself solidifying to the point he could run his fingers through it as though it was the surface of a calm lake.n0velusb.c0m

    suddenly, his hand which had been moving slowly pressed down with great force. the gravity field''s range expanded to double its original range. the carnage was devastating. from hundreds, thousands of dwarven race existences were compressed from the head to their feet, falling into condensed bags of meat.

    ularora and malcuhorn finally couldn''t stay still any longer. they raised their bows, attacking in unison. they had a beautiful tacit understanding, their arrows spiraling around one another and suddenly fusing. they didn''t seem to believe that leonel could ignore any and all arrows.

    unfortunately...

    bang!

    "[emperor''s edict]."

    leonel suddenly disappeared. the lockdown of his spatial force vanished, the siege towers having been rendered useless within the range of his emperor''s edict.

    leonel''s slaughter only became more devastating. every time he appeared, his gravity field only seemed to get stronger, its range getting wider and wider. it had never been this powerful before, but it seemed to be drawing on an endless store of energy, descending down toward the world as though the core of its plane of existence.

    the devastation of dying for simply being within range of a person began to fill the dwarven race with fear. without their bows and arrows, their strength was far beneath that of their tiers. even those well into the middle tiers of the seventh dimension, and even some of the higher tier, couldn''t last a single strike against leonel.

    for the first time since the domain war began, one of the other races seemed to see the downside of their actions. it had seemed that there would be nothing but benefits to gain in their future at almost no cost to themselves. but now, although the number leonel had killed was nothing more than a drop in the bucket, it was as though they could finally see their own mortality.

    leonel''s body spun and the arc of his spear force seemed to gain a new sort of character to it.

    the line of a force art appeared around his feet. one stroke, then two, then three. his laughter filled the air as he seemed to be dancing all alone, each stroke of his spear force shooting out for dozens of meters and cutting down those that managed to escape outside the range of his gravity field.

    the accumulation of his momentum seemed to be getting faster and faster and faster. the rumbling roar of a beast slowly crescendoed. leonel''s words seemed to echo in all of their ears.

    "my name is leonel morales. welcome to the human domain."

    roar!

    a towering violet dragon manifested from the foggy energy around leonel. his spear swung, carrying the momentum of the world as it suddenly thrust forward.

    a trench was torn through the battlefield, the violet dragon roaring forth as it took out hundreds of dwarven race members a second.

    there was no escape, no refuge to take, no amount of togetherness and teamwork that could block it. everyone in the line of leonel''s spear strike was wiped out, left without body and corpse, their final moments spent in awe.

    bang!

    the butt of leonel''s spear slammed into the ground, his ten stars growing another size as the light of day and night flickered back and forth. the current leonel, just by virtue of his improved universal force, was on a completely different level. but when this was paired with his new lineage factor, he seemed to have become a beast in human skin.

    he turned his back on the battlefield as though he couldn''t be bothered to fight anymore, as though his boredom had taken hold and there was nothing left that could interest him.

    ularora and malcuhorn were infuriated. he had just pointed his spear at them and provoked them, before he entirely ignored their presence. however, what could they do with their archery being useless? without it, they weren''t much more powerful than their race members. even so, it was impossible for them to do nothing.

    "rise!" malcuhorn roared.

    the siege towers whirred to life, a beam of light connecting them in a line. malcuhorn swapped his bow for a staff, using it as the center to connect the siege towers before pointing it down toward leonel.

    leonel had put in a lot of work to clear out the surrounding dozens of meters around him, but this only made things more convenient. they could target him without harming any of their own. however, at that moment, leonel suddenly looked back.

    malcuhorn couldn''t see his face, but he still felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

    "your little siege towers... i''ve already figured them out."

    leonel suddenly vanished, appearing atop a siege tower in an instant.

    malcuhorn frowned before relaxing. approaching a siege tower was maybe the most foolish thing a person could do. leonel''s actions now were akin to trying to attack a fortified city wall with nothing more than a fist.

    however, leonel only raised a hand and snapped his fingers. it was a snap that echoed much further than it should have.

    the ground beneath the siege tower trembled and some sort of rhythm seemed to have been disrupted. the beam that had been accumulating on malcuhorn''s staff vanished as leonel casually swung his spear blade down.

    the siege tower, meant to be indestructible and unmovable, was split in two down to the base, a blood mess falling to the ground as well as the dwarven race members within collapsed along with it.

    leonel raised his spear once again and rested it on his shoulder, softly landing on the ground.

    the canons of the starship took aim and the entire dwarven race felt exposed.

 Chapter 2138 Ancestor

    ularora and malcuhorn were shaken by what they had just seen. there were without a doubt ancestors hiding likely in plain sight, but all of them had similar reactions. they didn''t understand what it meant for leonel to simply snap his fingers and for their highly touted formations to just collapse as though they were never a big deal.

    what they didn''t know was that leonel had been getting familiar with the dwarven race''s force arts for over a year now already. his first exposure to them was within a sub-dimensional zone, and it went to show why existences like the silver empire went so far out of their way to distort their zones. leonel had actually gotten so much information out of what was essentially a lingering remnant of the dwarven race long since passed.

    what leonel learned in that zone was twofold. first he had learned that zones were almost entirely constructed of dream force, a realization that laid the foundation for his sudden understanding that everything around him now was nothing more than a simulation. the second thing he had learned was a concept that resided with him to this day, and that was the concept of resonance.

    resonance was an ethereal concept that was difficult to grasp, but just by understanding tidbits of it leonel was able to do a great deal. he was able to amplify his battle strength when fighting alongside aina, he was able to bring his spear force to the current level, and most importantly to the given situation, he was able to grasp the weakness of the dwarven race.

    the dwarven race loved to build underground, they had a fascination with being close to earth and nature, and their force arts were built upon this. the reason their traps and defensive measures were so great was because they could resonate with the very ground they stood upon and pull upon both its strength and its concealment.

    this made the dwarven race''s force arts incredibly powerful and it had also allowed them to resist the invasion of other races. however, before leonel who both had a deep understanding of force arts and an earth force affinity that was quickly flying off the charts...

    they were worth nothing more than a snap of his fingers.

    while leonel couldn''t dispel all dwarven race constructs so easily, the siege towers were especially vulnerable to him. that was because their foundation was compromised for the sake of gaining mobility. they simply stood no chance against him.

    the canons began to glow and were already prepared to fire, however it was then that the ancestors of the dwarven race couldn''t seem to sit still any longer.

    there was a very obvious tacit understanding amongst those participating in this war. so long as the ancestors of one side didn''t appear, neither would the ancestors of the other side. however, with their army facing extinction in the face of these laser canons, what choice did the dwarven race have? they could only attack.

    but to their surprise, their action didn''t receive the sort of retaliation they were expecting. it was as though the ancestors of the void palace elders hadn''t appeared just yet, nowhere to be seen in one of the most crucial times.

    the disciples of the fortified city all paled at once. they thought they had a clear grasp of the situation because leonel had stopped them from retreating. of course the elders wouldn''t be present to help stop this situation because they likely already expected to sacrifice a number of them in exchange for giving up the city.

    the dwarven race ancestors immediately spread out into a formation of their own, their gazes steely as they prepared to block the coming lasers. they didn''t have the luxury to guess at why the void palace elders hadn''t appeared just yet because even a single starship was a huge threat to an ancestor, let alone a pair of them like this.

    that said, not all of them were like this. taking advantage of the situation, one peeled off from the group, his gaze malevolent as his wings flapped, bringing him near leonel in the blink of an eye. he didn''t even bother to use his bow and arrow, not knowing whether leonel had a method to dispel even his, instead he wanted to end this matter as swiftly as possible.

    a sixth dimensional existence capable of killing seventh dimensional geniuses as though they were trash? that was unacceptable enough. he couldn''t allow such a genius to grow in another race.

    he didn''t know whether leonel was responsible for the collapse of his formation. in his eyes, this must have been something the human race as a whole had figured out recently. after all, the dwarven race was well aware of the danger that the zones they had left behind posed, they just hadn''t expected for the humans to find a method of dealing with them through it.n0velusb.c0m

    if he had known that leonel had figured it all out on his own, nothing would change. at most, his killing intent would be even sharper, but he was already going all out to kill leoenl as soon as possible so that none could interfere.

    leonel sent a gaze toward the oncoming ancestor. unlike normal sixth dimensional existences, he was capable of sensing this sort of speed clearly, and his speed of thought was fast enough to keep up. unfortunately, his body was not.

    the gap between the sixth and seventh dimensions was already enormous, let alone the gap between the seventh and eighth. this man didn''t just seem to be in tier 1 of the latter either.

    even so, leonel remained exceptionally calm, unmoving.

    the ancestor believed that this was because leonel didn''t even realize he was in danger yet, but at that moment a palm suddenly manifested from thin air, appearing right before the ancestor.

    the ancestor was taken off guard and hurried to defend, striking out with a palm of his own.

    bang!

    his figure shuddered and he was sent flying back dozens of meters before he stopped in the air.

    from afar, a woman with flowing golden hair and sharp green eyes stood on the bow of a ship, looking down toward the battlefield.

 Chapter 2139 Glow

    oom! boom! boom!

    the lasers collided with the formation of the elders in the skies. they all grit their teeth defending against the volley. at the same time, the pair of prince and princess hurriedly commanded a retreat, having no choice but to leave behind the siege tower that leonel had split in two.

    after a small bit of hesitation, leonel didn''t follow after them, his gaze only narrowing.

    he was truly aware now of the scale of these wars. unless he was supremely powerful, it was impossible to make a dent against so many people. he must have killed thousands already, but that wasn''t even a tenth of a percent of the enemy''s army. they were simply an endless swarm.

    his own army didn''t get a chance to be very effective because the dwarven race was simply too decisive. normally, another race might be too arrogant to throw out their ancestors just because a sixth dimensional existence was stirring trouble, but this must be why the dwarven race had managed to survive for so long despite their weakness.

    they were decisive, they weren''t scared of being called cowards, and they cared for their own. for the current leonel, this was the most troublesome type of opponent because they were too cautious. the moment they felt that things were going left, they vanished. even the ancestor that had attacked him, after his mother had forced him into a retreat, he vanished without a trace as well, not even trying a follow up attack.

    ultimately, the losses for the dwarven race were more than acceptable. they had exchanged basically a few thousand lives in exchange for breaching the first line of defense and causing no small bit of damage to the structure of the second. they would probably regroup and prepare for another attack, or try to benefit off the back of another race''s attack.

    leonel looked down at the siege tower beneath him, his gaze flickering with some thoughts.

    in his preparation for war, he had created quite a number of things. the armors, or what he called the linked resonation armors, were only just one of these numbers, he had also created his own siege towers. the segmented cube made these matters so much easier on him since he only needed to create one and provide the resources while anastasia handled everything else.

    but, one thing he had neglected in their creation was the possibility of incorporating the force arts of the dwarven race. this siege tower might give him some clues toward improving it.

    he tossed the siege tower into the segmented cube then threw these matters to the back of his mind. then, he ordered his subordinates to return before looking toward the disciples of the void palace.

    "return to the city, i don''t want to hear talks of retreat."

    the disciples hesitated, but then they looked toward the woman on the bow of the ship. they didn''t recognize her by face, but they could guess who she was, and they had all heard the rumors about what had happened at the heir wars.

    this woman should be leonel''s mother, and with her here, even if leonel''s intention was to betray the void palace, there really wasn''t much of anything they could do. the gap between their dimensions was far too steep. even if the current leonel was in tier 9 of the seventh instead of the sixth, no one would just assume that he would be able to battle an ancestor.

    to put this matter into perspective, if leonel had the means of an ancestor, it wouldn''t take him decades to kill an army of billions. a few hours would probably be enough. the gap was impossible to fathom.

    like this everyone returned to the city obediently and leonel began to take inventory of everything. of course, this wasn''t for resources, but to rather understand what he could make do with and what was useless about the city''s defenses.

    this was only one city of many, he couldn''t just stay here, and there were likely other cities that had received the retreat order, if he was too slow the entire second line would collapse and by then, a single city would be useless.

    the second line of defense had by far the most cities of them all. the first line only had three cities, but the second line had nine while the third line of defense was just the void palace which, though large, technically just counted as one though no one would really see it that way.

    there were certain advantages.

    the first was that the cities were connected by teleportation platforms, and these platforms could accommodate large amounts of people at once, up to a million at once without issue. of course, a million was a drop in the bucket in a war of this scale, but it was much better than others.n0velusb.c0m

    leonel, though, didn''t plan on relying on this. although it wouldn''t be instant, he could transport more people at great speed with his starships. then, he suddenly had an idea and grinned. such a large teleportation platform, it would be a shame if he didn''t use it.

    back on earth, he had dropped a city from the city relying on a force art similar to this one. although he had completed so many great things since then, that still felt like a crowning achievement of sorts. wouldn''t it be a shame if he peaked so early? wouldn''t it be embarrassing if the coolest story he could tell had happened when he was still a teenager?

    he was a grown man now, but he wasn''t old yet. he still had some youth in these bones.

    leonel grinned wildly.

    his mind swirled with thoughts of the dwarven race force arts, his new comprehension of spatial force, his self-created lotus domain. then he thought about how this formation was quite unique in the fact that it could only teleport precisely to nine locations, those being the other eight cities and the final being the void palace itself.

    leonel double checked and realized that there was truly no way for him to make it to all eight cities at the same time.

    that was when his eyes began to glow, his dream force flourishing.

 Chapter 2140 Pure Radiance

    leonel looked like a madman. he stood before the empty teleportation platform while everyone else remained idle. he must have stood staring into space for what was at least 10 minutes. this was really only a small period of time, but in this kind of war where everyone felt as though they were sitting on tenterhooks, it was far too long.

    for leonel, this sort of time was even longer. his dream force had experienced three enormous leaps during the course of the heir wars, each time his ability index increased with it. but none was more exaggerated than after his future self seemed to connect with his current self. it was as though all of the shackles that had been holding him down were crushed into ashes all at once.

    for the current leonel, thinking for 10 minutes without any other thoughts was akin to another person thinking for years, it was truly that exaggerated. in the past, wise star order had been able to counter his split minds and speed of thought with pure speed of thought of his own. but the current wise star order couldn''t hold a candle to leonel, and at the moment, even ancestors couldn''t think even a fraction of a percent as quickly as leonel could.

    for leonel to spend an entire 10 minutes on this problem, it could only be said that it was the greatest project of his life.

    the problem with what he was trying to do was the fact that he only had access to one of the nine formations. he couldn''t do anything to the others. if he had access to all nine, it would be far easier, but because he didn''t, he had to use the spatial tunnel that connected them all to transpose the changes in real time.

    he couldn''t do this ahead of time or else it would alert others and introduce variables. he had to do it such that everything would move in unison, at once, completing in the shortest time possible and executing all at once.n0velusb.c0m

    at the same time, the movement through the spatial tunnels would introduce deviations, distortions and margin of error. he had to account for this and correct it, but this was a tall task not just due to the insane distances that were in question, but also the biggest elephant in the room: anarchic force.

    while it seemed that leonel had reached the point where he could ignore anarchic force, this couldn''t have been further from the truth. the reality was that he hadn''t noticed a significant dip in his strength only because this was the second line of defense, if he had been at the first, he would have probably experienced at least a 10% dip.

    and with how things were, even in the second line, the further one''s attacks or force in general traveled through anarchic force, the larger chance there would be for it to suddenly collapse.

    in order to account for this, leonel had to wrap his calculation in a complex lotus pattern, like a transfiguration for his force that would account for the chewing up of anarchic force and leave behind just enough that everything would go perfectly.

    he couldn''t make these defenses too solid or else there would be too much, and he couldn''t make them too weak or else there would be too little.

    this was the reality of what leonel was facing. it wasn''t an exaggeration to say that it was the toughest problem he had ever faced. and yet, in the face of such a problem, he was already grinning ear to ear in just ten minutes.

    leonel began to move.

    the first thing he did was stomp a foot, hard, shattering everything in his path and seemingly ruining the formation before him. but those thoughts only seemed to last for a moment before it became clear that the formation was untouched and undamaged, the only change was that the enormous platform had begun to sink into the earth.

    many paled when they saw this. for one, this was their only route out, but the second issue here was that... wasn''t leonel''s earth force affinity a bit too high?

    it was well known that earth force was one of the hardest forces to use at a high level not because it was any more unruly than others, but rather because the higher the dimension of the world you were in, the more sturdy the ground and the more unmovable the earth was.

    this matter was even more exaggerated in a world filled with anarchic force, and yet here was leonel, casually stomping his foot and causing a platform kilometers in diameter to sink into it. it was ridiculous.

    only leonel knew how far he had come. the first time he stepped foot into the void palace, he couldn''t even leave a white mark on a mere tree trunk, let alone take mastery over the earth. but now...

    the cracks in the earth began to become thicker. not only did they become thicker, but they became more organized and mysterious. just looking at them, people felt as though their souls were being sucked out from their eyes, it was a magical feeling that couldn''t be described.

    and then, these lines solidified. the moment the earth stopped rumbling, the teleportation platform began to grow on its own, large swaths of anarchic force being dispelled as pure force moved forward, filling the trenches created by leonel''s stomp.

    it was then that it clicked. those trenches... they were a large force art!

    by this point, the teleportation platform had already sunk deep into the earth for what must have been at least 10 meters. as it did so, all of the force in the surroundings surged toward it, growing thicker and thicker until the point of a dense white fog was covering the top of the teleportation platform and completely obscuring it from view. it was unlike anything anyone here had ever seen, it looked like the force was just moments away from becoming a dense liquid.

    and then, the entire city began to rumble.

    leonel tilted his head up into the skies and began to laugh.

    a wild pillar of energy surged out and pierced into the skies.

    at that moment, all eight of the remaining cities were in a heated retreat. many of those in the vanguard were being slaughtered wantonly. the dwarven race could be considered the weakest of these invading races, so one could imagine the kind of devastation the others were facing currently.

    if ronan''s orders had been followed, this sort of slaughter would have been levied against the people of leonel''s fortified city, but they were spared this fate while the others weren''t so lucky.

    the spirits of the invading races were high and filled with disdain while those the humans had hit rock bottom. it seemed that there would only be death or enslavement in their future... until their cities began to rumble and suddenly gave off an enormous pillar of light.

    one after another, their teleportation platforms sunk into the earth and exploded with force, deep trench marks identical to the ones leonel had created taking shape one after another.

    the ground shook and quaked, then in a shocking scene, all of the anarchic force in the region seemed to be pushed away, expelled like waste blocked by a barrier of pure radiance.

 Chapter 2141 Semi-Ring

    the sudden change shocked many.

    the dispelling of anarchic force wasn''t rare. it was something that all those at the top echelon of various domains were capable of. though it took effort and many resources, it wasn''t impossible so long as the anarchic force was beneath a certain threshold of concentration. leonel himself had been to many places capable of doing this, like the spear faction of the void palace as one example.

    but for it to happen here, on the second line of defense, and on such a large scale as well and seemingly completely randomly, it was a shocking change for many on the battlefield. and what was more important than even that was that it seemed that the shift of anarchic force wasn''t a simple matter at all, rather, it seemed that this was just the byproduct of what was really happening.

    the cities suddenly began to absorb a large amount of force, and it was this rushing influx of force that was pushing the anarchic force away.

    it was then that a shocking realization settled in. the purpose of this commotion wasn''t to shift the anarchic force at all. rather, the true purpose was so volatile and taking place on such a large scale that it had formed a perfect semi-ring of anarchic force-less region that completely changed the landscape of the battlefield.

    and then it happened.

    the rumbling of the cities reached an apex and a strong fluctuation of spatial force began to accumulate. as the cities continued their loud commotion, it was as though the entire world was shaking.

    the vibrations of the earth seemed to hit a perfect tone. like the sharp voice of a soprano treble echoing into shapely glassware, the city and the earth shook as one, each amplifying the other until they reached a crescendo.

    fear took hold of the faces of several, both human and not. it felt like the entire world was coming to an end as one of the most dangerous forces in existence, spatial force, continued to increase in concentration. if this amount of spatial force suddenly went out of control, what it could cause was simply beyond imagining.

    spatial ripples would be the least of one''s concerns. fissures in reality, cracks in the void, even the sudden onset of true blackholes wasn''t impossible. if any one of these things occurred, there would only be death waiting for them all.

    but at that moment, just when things had reached their greatest height, everything came to a grinding halt.

    the rumbling slowed, the pillars of light gently dispersed, and the quaking cities solidified upon their foundations once again. it was as though the world had regained its peace, however... the clear semi-ring of dispersed anarchic force remained like the dividing line between heaven and hell.

    it was then that many sighed a slight hint of relief, but their curiosity couldn''t help but spike. just what had happened here?

    some races were trapped within the semi-ring, but the vast majority of them had retreated out of the range. as for the human race, they were the exact reverse, having been stuck in the middle of a retreat from the very start. but now, even they were wondering what was going on and just what had happened exactly.

    unable to withhold their curiosity any longer, some attempted to approach the semi-ring of anarchic force-less regions. however, when their hands tried to pass through, they were suddenly frozen solid.

    their hands, they couldn''t pass them through. even after putting in more effort, they couldn''t seem to pass through at all.

    at the same time, those on the opposite side, on the side of the humans, fell right through. but to their shock, their bodies suddenly began to stretch as though they had entered a blackhole. they didn''t even feel any pain until they suddenly no longer felt anything at all.

    dead. they were all dead.

    the hearts of those that hadn''t had the courage to go forward lurched. they couldn''t believe what they were seeing. how could seventh dimensional existences die after just touching a formation for a split moment? how could they not even have the chance to resist?

    it was then that the races stuck on the human race side of the barrier realized that they were truly trapped, there was no going back. they could either be obediently captured, or they would die to the last man.n0velusb.c0m

    as for the races stuck on the invader''s side, they didn''t have a quick method of moving forward at all. ancestors started to come forward, and many attacked the barrier in full force, only for their expressions to change when they realized that even they couldn''t make a dent.

    when had the human race gained such a protective mechanism? what was happening?

    the man who had made it all happen was still grinning, but the fatigue on his face was evident. he breathed heavily, his mind feeling as though it had been drained to the last drop. but even then, he could feel himself quickly recovering at a speed that had been entirely impossible.

    even so, he took a step forward, landing in the middle of the enormous, sunken teleportation platform. force swirled around him and suddenly his image was projected to all nine of the cities, his grinning face appearing in the skies above the void battlefield.

    "welcome, welcome," leonel said with a light chuckle. "you all may not know me, but that time will come soon. don''t worry about this for now, i just have a little message for my fellow humans.

    "this barrier will hold for three days. in that period, any attacks that come from our side will be concentrated and amplified. your canons will be easily five to ten times more powerful than usual. i would suggest that you use this time to attack."

    leonel spoke with a leisurely smile on his face, but his words were surprisingly sinister.

    at that moment, a starship had already suddenly appeared before a fortified city. before it, there was an ancestor of the cloud race testing the strength of the barrier before himself. however, after throwing a punch, the world suddenly fell into silence.

    the starship fired a single time and the ancestor froze, his body slowly falling backward and hitting the ground. dead.

 Chapter 2142 Ideas

    leonel''s laughter echoed through the void battlefield. he seemed to take the death of an ancestor as a practical joke.

    the most shocking part of the attack was that the laser beam had started off wide and thick. but the moment it passed through the semi-ring anti-anarchic force barrier, it was stretched so thin that it became entirely invisible on the other side.

    it seemed that the stretching of the races that had entered the barrier wasn''t a bug, it was a feature. not only could it prevent those races from running away and forcing them to accept their punishment at the hands of the humans that now suddenly completely outnumbered them, but it could also be used to enhance laser attacks and any force based attacks for that matter.

    leonel had clearly taken inspiration from the end of the heir wars to design this barrier. why just have a barrier that could only allow attacks from one side when you could have a barrier that only allowed attacks from one side and amplified those attacks as well?!

    it was only after the ancestor collapsed to an attack he couldn''t even see properly that a small dot in the middle of his forehead was noticed.

    on that day, the first ancestor had fallen in the world, and the backdrop to his death was the laughter of a young man barely in his mid-twenties. the shock that this caused spread across the battlefield and the other races quickly retreated.

    "why are you running?" leonel asked, jeering the invaders. "you all came with such fierce momentum, don''t leave like this, i''ve been looking forward to meeting you all for so long."

    the fury of the invading races seemed to reach an all new height. they had never thought that they would come here just to be humiliated. the truly horrendous part of all of this was that the matters of one battlefield couldn''t travel to another instantaneously, and definitely not faster than leonel''s starships.

    before even a few minutes was up, eight ancestors of various races had fallen, each one as tragically at the last, and each one regretting that they didn''t take leonel''s near maniacal laughter more seriously.n0velusb.c0m

    the human race was stunned as they watched the other races flee, their frustration and agitation of the last day or so being reflected back to them in a way that had never felt more satisfying than now. it was like they had finally gained space to breathe.

    however, when they remembered that this would only last for three days, though their moods didn''t completely dampen, they cooled a great deal.

    looking up at the face in the skies, they didn''t need to guess that it was leonel that had somehow made all of this possible.

    "fortify your cities," leonel commanded, changing the resonance of his voice so that it couldn''t be heard past the barrier. "don''t retreat. anyone who retreats now i will kill personally, that is a promise. the human race has more backbone than this, act like it."

    the blood of the void palace disciples began to boil and they roared one after another, rushing toward the straggling other-race members and killing them one by one. this wasn''t the kind of war they could take prisoners for, the only thing that was left was battle!

    leonel "disconnected" and exhaled a breath, shaking his head. he was quite aware that he had just put a huge target on his back, but the smile on his face hadn''t faded in the slightest.

    aina appeared at the edge of the crater and shook her head. she really wanted to ask leonel why he had revealed that this barrier would only last for three days, but she didn''t know if this annoying man would actually answer her question.

    leonel grinned, taking a step and appearing by her side. "what? am i very handsome?"

    aina rolled her eyes, "barely passable."

    "i''ll take it," leonel laughed. "you don''t need to wonder so much. they would figure it out anyway eventually, the barrier will definitely weaken over time. if i tried to play it off like we had more than three days, or even an infinite time, they wouldn''t see it as strength, they would see it as a vulnerability. by candidly admitting that we only have three days, after the three day period is up they''ll second guess attacking immediately.

    "how many ancestors are there in the whole dimensional verse? maybe a few hundred? i doubt it''s much more than a thousand total, but eight died today when maybe eight have died in the past hundreds of years in totality. they''ll definitely think twice before they make a move."

    it couldn''t be helped, this method by leonel was genius, but it was crude.

    he relied on the innate spatial force accumulating ability of the teleportation platforms and then used the earth and concepts of the dwarven race to amplify this ability hundreds of folds over. but the problem with that was the fact that the platforms were taking the brunt of the punishment.

    these platforms were made with excellent, top class, top quality materials. they were rated to last thousands of years with minor maintenance. but now leonel was burning through all of that durability in three days. it could be imagined the kind of pressure that was on these platforms currently.

    aina could see that behind leonel''s confidence, there was a hint of a spinning wheel. it was clear that he didn''t have a solution for all of this, he at best had a minor stopgap but it was hard to say how things would turn out in the end.

    he had given the human domain three days, so hopefully the other families would show up. the problem, however, was that the void palace was clearly compromised, it was hard to say what would happen. in fact, very soon, it might be the case that the void palace might try to come here to stir trouble, or they might ignore him directly out of fear of his father and target the other families before they could even appear.

    this matter would definitely be troublesome.

    however, leonel was still leonel. he had his own ideas.

 Chapter 2143 Treasured Son

    the dwarven race didn''t know exactly what had happened, they had no idea how lucky they were that they had gotten off so easily. the other races all lost at least one ancestor, while some had even lost two, with the worst being the beast domain which had lost three.

    in their ignorance, they were quite enraged by what had happened, but they were also hesitant. they were the weakest of the races aside from the humans themselves and they had only attacked because they felt that it would be an easy way to gather more resources and strengthen themselves.

    they were well aware that their current strategy of remaining holed up in their domain and constantly defending against outside attacks couldn''t last forever. they would suffer greatly eventually if they weren''t also improving. the only race that could afford to rest on their laurels was the spirituals. they didn''t have such luxury.

    an ancestor of the dwarven race, ancestor beros, looked toward another, an ancestor wranqen with a questioning look. ancestor wranqen was the very same ancestor that had tried to quickly kill leonel during the commotion. he was being questioned about what he had experienced.

    "... it was a powerful attack, i didn''t feel like i could resist. but i don''t understand it well. she attacked from at least 10 kilometers away, through anarchic force, her strength is not small. if she was closer, she could have very well killed me."

    ancestor beros and the other ancestors looked quite serious. against such a powerful ancestor level being, the dwarven race was at a disadvantage, especially if that child''s ability to negate bow force could be extended toward them as well.

    "more importantly, that brat who destroyed our siege tower, how is that he can dispel bow force? isn''t the bow domain ring with the spirituals? how is this possible?"

    "this is something beyond even the bow domain ring. the bow domain ring can only dispel bow force targeted toward the person in question, but this child can dispel bow force in a wide range almost as though it''s a domain of sorts."

    "is it an ability index?"

    "it must be, there doesn''t seem to be any other explanation. it''s just unfortunate that this is a perfect counter to our race''s strength. i think we should consider our next step very carefully."

    the ancestors fell into silence and subconsciously looked toward ancestor beros. this man''s opinion was highly respected as he was the one who had convinced them all to take part in this war. it was in their nature to defend and hole up, so one could imagine the kind of influence this man had to convince their entire race to go against their usual stand.

    before ancestor beros could say anything, the princess of their race, ularora, rushed in.

    "greetings, ancestors, i''ve received a message from gregwyn, prince of the nomad race. there''s a meeting of the races taking place to discuss the human race."

    the expressions of the dwarven race''s people jumped. this wasn''t something they had expected. had something happened? what kind of change could warrant this sort of response?

    not long later, ancestor beros entered a circle of ancestors.

    the nomad race, the rapax race, the beast domain, the cloud race, they were all here. the appearances of the nomad, rapax and cloud race could be imagined, but the beast domain ancestor was different as one might expect.

    the beast domain''s representative was a three-headed serpent beast. it had a huge body, spanning almost 20 meters in length. the section its three heads connected to thumped with the echo of a raging river. every time its tongues slithered, a harsh whistling sound would fill the air and it felt as though all the oxygen in the surrounding dozens of kilometers was taken over by it.

    the beast domain was really known as a wild zone. it wasn''t controlled by any single type of beast but rather had a myriad of races within them. however, each ancestor that was born among them was allowed to take over a region of their own and this became their governing bodies.

    they didn''t cooperate in anything but war because they all felt that more territory would only benefit them. however, having lost three ancestors already, it could be imagined that they were entirely enraged.

    however, this made what happened next all the more infuriating.

    "the rapax will not be participating in this matter any longer."

    the language of the rapax was just as grating on the ears as usual, but it seemed to be perfectly translated in the ears of the ancestors present.n0velusb.c0m

    without any hesitation, the beast domain''s representation raised its three heads and roared, its fury causing the skies above to churn.

    ancestor beros'' expression changed and he retreated. he wasn''t the only one who retreated, but he was definitely the one that had the fastest.

    the rapax ancestor, however, didn''t move. in fact, he waited for the three-headed serpent beast to stop roaring before he swept it a casual glance and then turned to leave.

    "wait!" the beast domain ancestor roared, its voice sounding like rumbling thunder clouds. "why you retreat?"

    its speech was very simple, and its language was nothing but a mixture of roars and grunts, but the point got across clearly enough.

    "because our race''s treasured son does not want to participate any longer," the rapax said calmly before vanishing over the horizon.

    the other races were stunned. the rapax put so much stock in the words of their prince? if they understood correctly, this boy was barely over 20 years of age as well.

    the others looked toward one another, but it was clear they had no intention to retreat. they didn''t know what the rapax were doing, but this wasn''t enough to sway them.

    that said, aside from the beast domain, the rapax were the most suited to being the vanguard. even so... with the rage of the beast domain representative seemed clear enough... this could be used.

    the nomad and cloud race ancestors looked toward one another, their thoughts unreadable.

 Chapter 2144 Could It Be?

    the choice of the rapax didn''t make sense to the remaining ancestors. their greater hatred told them that the rapax were just cowards, but the much greater reason told them that this was absolute nonsense. the rapax were a warring race, they were constantly attacking all of the domains at once. in truth, they were a bit of an eyesore due to this, however they were so difficult to deal with that none of the domains had taken action until now.

    there was no race that was more prepared for war than the rapax. from youth, they were birthed on the battlefield and from the moment they took their first breaths they had already begun to acclimate to anarchic force whereupon by the time they were mature, they were practically entirely immune. it also didn''t help that they were entirely undetectable through usual sensory methods.

    due to all of this, they were a race unafraid of provocation and loss. they were probably the least moved by the loss of their ancestors. so why were they retreating?

    even with all of this being laid out before them, the ancestors simply didn''t have a reason. they had no idea what had happened all those years ago, and maybe to them, even if they did know, they could never connect these two matters because it was simply too ridiculous.

    after a moment, the ancestors of the cloud race and the nomad race spoke.

    "even without the rapax, this matter can''t be ignored. the human domain cannot be allowed to produce an eighth dimensional world and advance within it."

    if these words were to echo in leonel''s ears, it was unknown how he would react.

    all this while, his assumptions toward why it was the human domain was being attacked was quite benign and normal. an eighth dimensional world provided a world of resources. these other domains might not care about seventh dimensional worlds because they had too many, but eighth dimensional worlds, the pinnacle of the dimensional verse, were another animal entirely.

    however, these words seemed to imply that this wasn''t a war for resources, but rather an attempt to stop the humans from growing any further.

    but this didn''t make any sense. in terms of geniuses and overall combat strength, these races were far beyond that of humans, so much so that when it was one to one, humans would almost always lose against other races with the exception of the dwarven race.

    "even so, we will have to wait three days."

    "don''t you think it''s odd that this boy would make it so clear that it was three days? what''s his purpose?"

    "it might be to lure us into a trap. it''s possible that in three days they will control that mysterious formation to vanish, and then when we''ve let our guard down, they''ll spring another trap," the nomad ancestor said coldly.

    "how could your spies not know about this?"

    the cloud race''s expression was somewhat ugly when he heard this question.

    "what is it?"

    "my race''s members have been dying one after another in quick succession. also, not a single one has sent reports about this formation. from the information i was fed before this war began, it''s impossible for the humans to have such a measure, and it''s even more impossible that it would be so well hidden. from my understanding, the greatest threat is, without a doubt, the omann family''s new starships, and one has already appeared on the battlefield."

    "no news, that''s impossible."

    "might i ask what is going on here?" ancestor beros finally interjected, his brows locked into a frown.

    even if these two looked down on the dwarven race, speaking as though he wasn''t here after inviting him here was too ridiculous, no? it was one thing for the somewhat slow and unintelligent beast domain race ancestor to not speak, but shouldn''t they try and integrate him into the conversation?

    the cloud race and nomad race ancestors looked over. they instinctually wanted to ignore the question, but they had already decided to invite the dwarven race. so they were needed. they quickly explained things, but the more beros heard, the more ridiculous he felt it was. but then... he thought of a certain body.

    "... my race was forced to retreat before these things occurred so i was unaware. however, we experienced something similarly baffling. one of our siege towers was destroyed by a boy, likely the same boy you are speaking about. indeed, he did say his name was leonel morales as well."

    the two ancestors were frowning, but when they heard this they suddenly jolted awake. they had subconsciously ignored leonel''s name because they couldn''t be bothered to give a sixth dimensional existence the time of day. they all inwardly believed that leonel was just the proxy for the actions of someone else and had ignored his name.

    but suddenly hearing it again, they linked it to another man.

    velasco morales.

    their expressions turned serious.n0velusb.c0m

    the reason they were taking the human race so seriously was because they were aware of the potential of the humans. their efforts were scattered and unfocused, so they were weak, but that didn''t mean that it would always be like this... leonel wasn''t the only one who felt that the human race and the spirituals were far too similar for it to be a coincidence.

    but if there had to be a second reason, it was definitely that man who had been rampaging across the dimensional verse as though it was his own backyard, acting as he pleased without a care in the world.

    the morales name was of no consequence to them, they knew them as a family with a seventh dimensional lineage factor. however, that had recently changed with the eruption and formation of their family''s constellation.

    however, according to their understanding of that man, he didn''t work with others... ever. but would he be so callous toward his own son?

    from what they knew, years ago, he had caused a commotion in order to save his wife''s life. could it be that woman had birthed him a child?

 Chapter 2145 Idle

    the expressions of the ancestors continuously changed, and soon they became unprecedentedly determined. the silent beast domain ancestor growled, its scales lifting up as though they were peeling before settling back down. it looked as though it was breathing through its skin. they seemed to have made a decision right then and there.

    at that moment, leonel wasn''t idle. much like the cloud ancestor had said, before he did anything else, he went through every human, painstakingly, one by one. every time he found a cloud race member, he slaughtered them without mercy.n0velusb.c0m

    there was a limit to how many people he could control with his seals, and the cloud race was too skilled in these matters. he had to take his own cautions.

    after he had resurrected maia after her death, she was far more obedient than she had been in the past, but this didn''t make leonel relax. if anything, it made him more attentive. it made sense for someone to change after experiencing death, but it was when things seemed the most calm that the greatest caution needed to be taken.

    maia had never been so close to the cloud race''s core since she began her mission. in addition, her uses to leonel currently were limited. she was a great power in the heir wars, but she was ultimately of little consequence here.

    the first day passed in a blaze and it was only at its tail end that leonel finally finished expunging the frontlines of the cloud race. the harsh reality of this, though, was that once the other families came, it would infuse the army with another huge load of them, it was an infestation that would never give out.

    however, half way through the second day, leonel''s expression was quite dark.

    these families that he was preparing for... hadn''t appeared at all.

    at first, leonel had understood how slow they were being. after all, not all of them had had the luxury to come here directly from the heir wars like he had. they had affairs to get in order, and defenses to set up in case the final lines of defense were breached and the invaders poured into the human domain. but...

    a day should have been enough.

    after that day, especially given the urgency of the messages that were sent out, they should have already appeared the day after. however, he was well into the second day after his arrival and he hadn''t seen a single shadow of even a single one of them.

    he thought that maybe the void palace had done something. this wasn''t impossible, but then he shook his head.

    the current void palace should be in a peculiar state. it was obvious to leonel that there were traitors, but it wasn''t the same for everyone else. it was also in the void palace''s best interest that they keep up this faa?бьade of being still on the side of "good", which was why they hadn''t done anything even after their orders for retreat were directly ignored.

    if they did something as ridiculous as command the large families to not come, they would definitely be exposed.

    but on an even deeper level than that, wouldn''t they prefer those families to come? if the void palace was under the control of traitors, their goal was obviously to deal a blow to the human domain. if those families were scattered, how would they deal with them all at once? that might even be why the traitors had allowed the urgency message to be sent out about the first line of defense being breached.

    and yet now... those families had yet to appear.

    leonel''s gaze was practically spitting fire. he might have reacted with a cold sneer if it was just the usual suspects. but he, the patriarch of the morales family was currently standing on the front lines, facing off against the enemies of the human domain. and yet, the family he supposedly led was nowhere to be seen.

    he didn''t receive a message, there was no communication, not even an attempt at once. it was as though they didn''t feel the need to explain themselves to him.

    leonel''s gaze flickered with a crimson glow, an eerie grin spreading across his face.

    the second day came to an end and the weaknesses of the formation were already becoming clear. whereas before it was impossible to push it even a single inch, those that were sent forward to test it, although meeting some resistance, could push forward a few feet before being repelled.

    due to this, the races were able to confirm that leonel hadn''t been lying about the three day deadline and they began to prepare. this wasn''t something that could be faked. leonel wasn''t the only force art expert in existence. although they couldn''t replicate what he had done, or figure out exactly how he had done it, analyzing force arts was far easier than creating them.

    the third day began to be eaten into and leonel realized that not only would he not receive the reinforcements he thought he definitely would, but he wouldn''t even receive a message from the family that he supposedly ruled over either.

 Chapter 2146 A Bit Longer

    the morales ancestors hadn''t had even a moment of rest. the moment they felt they understood the situation, they had given up all thoughts of going to the void battlefield and instead began to spend night and day fortifying their defenses and learning the new landscape of their territory.

    it was extremely difficult and there was chaos across their world. there were countless force eruptions day in and day out as the force in the atmospheres began to raise themselves to an eighth dimensional standard. this caused the wild evolution of various plants and wildlife, not to mention the birth of new force crystal mines and other ore deposits of the like that stimulated the greed of their people.

    they didn''t even have time to think about leonel. in fact, leonel technically wasn''t their patriarch yet because the coronation ceremony had yet to take place. for all intents and purposes, adawarth''s father was still their patriarch.

    even so, at the moment, even patriarch alejandro was nothing more than a figurehead at the moment, the reins of the family having been taken over by the ancestors.

    a large portion of the ancestors had split off to focus on researching the changes to their lineage factor and how to quickly maximize the benefits that they could gain from it in the shortest amount of time possible. using their knowledge and countless family records, they were already making great progress.

    it was lucky for them that the lineage factor seemed to have been amplified rather than mutated, or else the progress would have been even slower and it would have taken an unknown number of decades and maybe even generations to figure everything out.

    however, after just two and a half days, it felt to them that they had figured out about 20% of the new changes and they were making faster progress the more they understood. every time they made a large discovery, they released it immediately, knowing that there wasn''t much time left. they wanted those that could take advantage of the changes to do so as soon as possible.

    as for the remaining ancestors, they were entirely focused on governance and policy. namely, ancestor alvaro and ancestor issa took these reins. they didn''t believe that it would take more than two ancestors to handle these matters.

    ancestor hito, as the most senior and knowledgeable, was entirely focused on researching their new lineage factor.

    ancestor alvaro and issa were swift and decisive. they quelled greed with strict and even draconian policies, they directed large workshops of crafters to get to work on building defenses around their new eighth dimensional world, and at the same time, they began to organize evacuation orders for the most vulnerable.

    they realized that defending their entire territory might be impossible as much as they wanted to. so while they set up strong defenses on the outer regions, they evacuated much of their population to the core regions of their territory.

    trillions of morales made their way swiftly and it could be said that the organization was as good as it could be for such a large scale migration. it was clear that the weight of an ancestor''s words and appearance weren''t small in the slightest.

    whether it was the ancestors themselves, or even the citizens who had just been praising leonel to the high heavens, none of them felt that this was odd. after all, leonel was still young, it only made sense that such important matters would be handled at the whims of those that were by far his senior, this was just the way of the world.

    it was likely that no one expected that leonel would be upset by this matter. or maybe more accurately, they thought it would be ridiculous for him to feel such a way.

    "we haven''t gone far enough," ancestor issa spoke in her usual cold tone.

    "we can''t be too cruel to our own citizens, issa," ancestor alvaro shook his head. "no, they aren''t citizens, they are our family, no matter how distant."

    "this "family" of ours has worked us to death in the last two days. why haven''t they realized we''re family yet?"

    alvaro didn''t respond because he didn''t have anything to refute with. this was true enough. the mob mentality of people in these sorts of situations was nothing short of annoying. weren''t they smart enough to realize that everyone would benefit very soon and this wasn''t the time for this?

    he shook his head before his eyes suddenly lit up as though he finally remembered something.n0velusb.c0m

    "right, we need to have someone call littlest nova back. it''s a good time to hold the coronation ceremony and officially crown him as patriarch. it''ll help calm the people''s hearts down, the more normal we can be, the better.

    "he''s an excellent uniting force. it''ll be easier to control the masses with him here. it''s like killing two birds with one stone. we can also give him much of the credit for the organization of this matter, give him a nice little boost to start his term."

    ancestor issa frowned. "are we sure we want to do this?"

    "do what?" alvaro asked, confused.

    "this leonel is just as unruly as his father, but he has ambition velasco didn''t have, and that makes him more dangerous. i''m afraid if we give him the family, he''ll never want to give it back."

    alvaro fell into silence before he shook his head. "breaking tradition now isn''t worth it. also, can he even do such a thing with us here? it''s a worthless worry, when the ancestors speak to have him step down, what will he be able to say?"

    issa''s gaze flickered, but this time it was her turn to remain silent.

    "okay, we''ll wait a bit longer to call him back. your words aren''t without merit, he may need a little reminder of what the position of patriarch represents."

    ...

    leonel looked up into the skies, standing silently. the third day''s light was waning and the formation was already beginning to flicker.

    suddenly, the formation ring collapsed entirely and anarchic force began to rush forward.

    the third day had ended and there were no reinforcements in sight.

 Chapter 2147 Assimilate (1)

    aina appeared by leonel''s side. she knew him well enough to know why the smile had disappeared from his face even if he didn''t spell it out for her.

    after the matters related to what seemed like leonel''s future self, he had been entirely carefree. but in these last three days, he had become serious once more, entirely silent and unmoving. it felt like every time she looked for him, he was standing in this very spot.

    without a word, aina took leonel''s hand, looking out toward the failing formation. his hand felt sturdier than usual. it seemed as though, despite what his expression might show, he was still the same steady hand.

    this serious expression of his was nothing more than him keeping receipts, remembering this moment quite well.

    his impression of the morales family was still overall quite good. it was probably difficult for old folk that had been doing things one way all their lives to suddenly change.

    it probably also had to be remembered that they were probably just as arrogant individually as leonel was. after all, to step into the eighth dimension, which of them weren''t the absolute geniuses of their era? in fact, the only reason they didn''t get a fancy name like the cataclysm generation was one because they hadn''t experienced such a disaster, and second because in their day, only one or two of them appeared at a time.

    how could you name an entire generation when there were only a couple of stars among them?

    but this only made these ancestors even more arrogant. they were used to not having any opponents at all. in their view, in their youth, they were probably no worse than leonel. they glanced over the details, ignoring the things that made them uncomfortable and focusing on what gave them confidence. it was human nature and something that even powerhouses of their stature weren''t immune to.

    ultimately, they still had the intention to crown leonel their patriarch, they still saw him as a morales, they still felt that he was the pride of their family, they only wanted to remind him that in the past, they too had once been the pride of the morales family.

    the leonel of today, in their eyes, was just a younger version of them. and yet, not only were there multiple of them, but they had had the time to grow and reach the extent of their potential... why would they defer to a youth?

    leonel understood all of this. he even felt that it made sense on some level if you ignored the details of what he had accomplished. he just didn''t care.

    if his arrogance had been a vague, amorphous being that only partially directed his action in the past, right now it was like an oppressive, shining beacon that refused to be restrained. it was as though he was both the same, and an entirely different person at the same time.

    in the past, he might have been enraged because the morales family didn''t show him the due respect he deserved. even when he was at his most docile, and the most lacking in ability, back then when he first met king arthur and casually took a knee to bow because he didn''t care much... his limit of patience toward those who didn''t give him his due respect was limited.

    but now, even this small slight of not even bothering to contact him was burning like an inferno within his heart.

    even so, after a moment, he grinned.n0velusb.c0m

    it was his first smile in three days, and as the barrier he had formed continued to weaken and the teleportation platform to his back began to crack and collapse in on itself, he spoke some words that didn''t seem to make much sense at first.

    "it would be a shame if the human domain didn''t witness this matter, right? i can''t have old fogies thinking that they can just be so casually compared to me, right?"

    leonel looked toward aina who looked back with a complicated look in her eyes. she didn''t quite know how to feel. her gaze was a cross between confusion, worry, and a hint of support as though she was trying her best to put on a strong front. however, she couldn''t hide the fact that hearing these words of everything come from leonel in this matter had left her not quite knowing what to feel.

    however, when she saw the brightness in leonel''s gaze, it seemed to illuminate the darkness within her thoughts. it was as though a galaxy of violet was hidden within, expanding with the grandeur of the big bad and the beauty of a nebula that held the very kernels of life and future possibilities within them.

    leonel''s emperor''s charm seemed to overflow out of his control, roaring with the arrogance of a mythical creature never before seen.

    with a thought, leonel snapped his finger.

    at that moment, an echo flashed before quickly vanishing. a dispelled connection that had ended after the heir wars concluded suddenly fired up once again, but this time it was of something entirely different. the projection of the second line of defense appeared, and to the shock of many of the powerhouse families who had more information than the general population, it was actually still holding on firmly.

    leonel waved a hand and the corpses of several ancestors fell to the ground. his eyes opened wide and his hair fluttered wildly. these were corpses that should have long since disintegrated, and yet they were laying at leonel''s feet.

    what others didn''t know was that this had been a faa?бьade from the very beginning. and now, these dead ancestors had fell in the hands of leonel morales.

    the wild grin on his face became more menacing as his hair whipped about.

    he wasn''t on the same level as ancestors? was that so?

    there was nothing in this world above him.

    no one worthy to be compared to him.

    "[emperor''s command...

    "... arise]!"

    leonel roared.

 Chapter 2148 Assimilate (2)

    the eight corpses before him trembled. a shuddering might came from leonel''s mind, and he even deployed his ten stars. day and night fluctuated to his back, the rushing impact of a roaring wave of dream force descending.

    his three dream force stars began to rotate so fast that harsh winds threatened to flatten the entire city. it felt as though the world was coming to an end, and yet the young man at the center of it all was at the mere sixth dimension.

    there was absolutely nothing that could have prepared the human domain for this. the death of eight ancestors was already enough to shake them. even after so long, they didn''t quite believe what they were seeing. however, after a double take, and a triple take, they had no choice but to believe what it was they were seeing before them.

    however, before they could even settle down to accept this sort of reality, these changes began to occur. what happened in the heir wars suddenly shook them all awake. it couldn''t be... it couldn''t be that he would take control of their souls as well?!

    at that moment, the impossible seemed to have become the exact opposite. the shadows of eight ancestors took shape, each armored in gorgeous violet armor.

    one was a tiger beast, a menacing creature with teeth alternating between a dense black and a glowing, vibrant red. its gaze flashed with endless killing intent, and when it lifted its large head to roar into the skies, the whole of the void battlefield seemed to be collapsing at the seams.

    the second was a rhino-type beast. it had three horns, each larger than the last and aligned in a straight line up its nose. its body shimmered with radiant silver scales, and even in death, it looked as though it could illuminate a night sky. as a soul, its radiant scales were mostly obscured, but this didn''t dim its radiance at all. in fact, it only amplified it. the violet armor and silver scales seemed to have fused into one, acting in synergy with one another and feeding off the strengths of one another.

    the third was a vulture. it was a grotesque, wrinkled creature from the neck up. and yes, from the neck down, its majestic bearing seemed as though it could compete with any creature in all of existence. its individual black feathers looked like they had been crafted by the most elite of artisans, carefully and individually. in its soul form, much of its grotesque head was obscured by its violet armor, and much like the rhino, the armor accentuated its body, giving it an elegant bearing that it had never had in life.

    these three were the three ancestors of the beast domain. the blood tiger ancestor, the radiant rhino, and the majestic vulture. however... they were just three of eight.

    there still remained two of the nomad race, two of the cloud race, and one of the rapax race. they looked just like the others of their races.

    the nomad ancestor, ancestor naedi, was an older woman but carried a beauty even in her elder age. all six of her hands were fair, delicate, and dainty, and yet they carried a strength that caused the air around her to tremble. she was the strongest of the two.

    the cloud race ancestor, ancestor olfina, was yet another woman. her cloud figure was the largest leonel had ever seen, extending out from the back of her head like a long, flowing river of hair, filled to the brim with complex runes that would make even the strongest of crafters dizzy. she was also the strongest of the two.

    and finally, there was a rapax ancestor, ancestor xipex. he stood tall at almost three meters, his tail looked like his spine had continued out from its back, covered in a metallic, silver skeletal structure. he stood on his digitigrade feet, his pill-shaped head splitting to reveal a glistening row of transparent, drool-covered teeth.

    each and every one of these existences were legends of their races. but one after another, the instant they appeared, without even the slightest hesitation, they turned toward leonel and bowed.

    ancestor xipex, olfina, and the other humanoids all dropped to their knees. the radiant rhino ancestor and the blood tiger ancestors lowered their heads until their foreheads touched the ground. the majestic vulture ancestor prostrated itself to the ground, even allowing its chest to press down.

    "emperor!"

    they all roared out in their various languages, the echo of their voices echoing like a clap of thunder. the reverence in their eyes couldn''t have been any clearer.

    leonel waved a hand and the eight of them immediately vanished. however, it was soon clear that they hadn''t truly disappeared. rather, they had moved so fast that the tracking system lost track of them for a moment. this was inevitable, leonel had commandeered the projection method of the morales, and it was designed to follow seventh dimension existences; how could it keep up?

    however, the one person who was easy to follow was leonel. it was then that it was clear that leonel had hopped into the cracking foundation of what remained of the teleportation platform, letting go of aina''s hand.n0velusb.c0m

    he raised his hands and pressed them together. his dream force stars, which had calmed down, began to roar to life once again.

    "[emperor''s might]..."

    "... [assimilate]!"

 Chapter 2149 Assimilate (3)

    at that moment, the images seemed to have finally caught up. the human domain realized that the ancestors hadn''t vanished; they had moved exceptionally quickly, and their destination was actually the eight remaining cities.

    when leonel roared out, they too had appeared on the teleportation platforms of the eight fortified cities with leonel on the ninth.

    at that moment, the cracking teleportation platforms began to crumble even faster. but rather than this being a result of the crumbling formation, it became obvious that it was because of leonel''s actions.

    one after another, the residual force of the teleportation platforms surged into leonel and his eight ancestors'' bodies. the weakening formation weakened even faster as this began to happen, but leonel didn''t seem panicked in the slightest.

    [emperor''s command: arise] was quite straightforward. it was able to take control of the souls of the dead and force them into submission. depending on the stamina of the one who awoke them, they would basically be undead warriors, unfazed by injury and death and completely loyal to their emperor.

    it was a fearsome ability, and one that struck fear in the four great families. this alone was enough to explain the collapse of the fawkes family. this sort of power was likely the kind of thing that even the spirituals wouldn''t be able to remain idle in the face of.

    however, [emperor''s command: arise] was only one of three... there was still assimilate and breathe.

    if [emperor''s command: arise] was able to handle the souls of the organic, [emperor''s command: assimilate] was able to handle the souls of the inorganic.

    assimilate allowed leonel to find the kernel of life within natural resources and take control of them. he could then assimilate with these resources or allow those awakened by arise to do so.

    when leonel learned of this ability''s capability, his entire expression changed. that was because it was simply too heaven-defying, even if it was the case that it was temporary just like arise was, the implications were massive.

    it had to be remembered that natural resources were where the inspiration for the life grade came from. natural resources were akin to the universe''s hand at crafting a life grade existence. it was seamless, perfect, and carried its own sort of life. this was why it was so dangerous for leonel to have so little control over his scarlet star force innate node.

    but assimilate allowed leonel to sense that kernel of specialness that made a natural resource unique, tap into it, and then extract it. once he did, and he absorbed it to himself, he could gain the benefit of clarity that resource provided. it would cause a sharp spike in his affinity for it for a span of 24 hours, just like arise.

    however, gaining affinity was just one of the possibilities...

    at that moment, the violet armor that covered the eight ancestors began to warp and change. it was as though the ores of the teleportation platform were becoming a part of them, but not just that, they seemed to all connect them all across the cities.n0velusb.c0m

    this wasn''t just an example of assimilate. or rather, leonel was applying it in a way that maybe no one of the fawkes family ever had before. and if they had... it was something that could have only been accomplished by the most talented of them all. not only was he integrating the remaining strength of the teleportation patterns into them, but he was also using their innate link to fuse the changes into one.

    to make something complicated simple, leonel was creating the strongest linked armors he had ever created before.

    from the very beginning, leonel had had this plan in his back pocket, it was rather that he didn''t know if it was worth it to expose at this moment. but his rage had spilled over.

    rather than letting the platforms run out of strength on their own, he changed his mind. he instead used assimilate on them, sucking in the last of their power. this was absolutely perfect because assimilate had its limits, if he had tried to assimilate them in the beginning, even the ancestors would have exploded and died, not to mention him.

    but now... it was absolutely perfect.

    the eight ancestors raised their heads and howled into the skies.

    the other races were alerted to the sudden change immediately. although the third day had ended, it looked as though the barrier would still persist for a while, which made sense since it was just an imprecise estimate. but just now, it had suddenly blinked out, a huge change from the previous steady decline.

    they immediately sent out their orders, preparing their armors to attack, but that was when something shocking happened.

    eight figures... no, nine figures, charged past the second line of defense, rushing toward the first line the invaders had been using at their headquarters. they were erratic and hard to track, moving at a speed so impossibly fast that it seemed as though they were practically shuttling through the bounds of reality.

    leonel felt a power booming through his body that he had never touched upon before. however, he knew that it was nothing more than an illusion. what wasn''t an illusion, though... were the eight ancestors under his control.

    leonel appeared high in the skies above the base the cloud race called home. he didn''t seem to have the disposition a sixth dimensional youth should have... and why should he?

    he raised his hand high into the skies. at that moment, something odd happened. it was as though the shadows of the eight ancestors that were nowhere near him stacked atop of his own, appearing as illusions to his back.

    linked armors worked best when the people using them were of one mind, but there would always be flaws. that said... what if the links were formed between a man and the souls under his control? wouldn''t that be a completely infallible link?

    leonel roared, pooling the strength of eight ancestors into the force above his head and lashing out.

    his palm descended from the skies, covering the whole city.

    boom!

 Chapter 2150 Time

    a raging torrent of energy fell like the collapse of a mountain. it was sudden and ferocious, barbaric and uncontrolled. it was as though leonel had released this attack, venting out everything in his chest all at once.

    the savage grin on his face practically rose from the depths of hell, an abyssal sort of unbridled darkness spilling over. the crimson within his irises threatened to spill over.

    the balance was entirely broken. hundreds of thousands of cloud race members died all at once, falling in droves. they didn''t even understand how it was that they had died before it was too late, and never could any of them had thought that it would happen at the hands of a sixth dimensional expert.

    eighth dimensional experts weren''t supposed to make moves easily. this sort of change could lead to terrible losses on all sides. but what could be done if a sixth dimensional expert seemed to have suddenly gained the strength of an eighth dimensional one?

    the ancestors of the cloud race rushed out all at once, they seemed to be the only ones that could withstand such an attack without dying directly. their faces were all contorted in shock and horror. even for an ancestor, causing this amount of damage wasn''t a simple matter.n0velusb.c0m

    they wanted to lash out, but when they saw that the one that stood before them was actually leonel, their hearts lurched. what was going on? how could a sixth dimensional expert have such strength? it didn''t make any sense.

    however, there was no time to worry about such matters. they rushed forward, trying to target leonel and kill him as swiftly as possible.

    but just when they thought that they had succeeded, leonel suddenly vanished.

    the nomad race had no idea what had just happened. just a moment ago, an ancestor had appeared in the skies above the encampments they had formed. but the oddity was that this ancestor wasn''t a member of their race and was instead the majestic vulture ancestor.

    the beast domain ancestor had never communicated which of their ancestors had fallen, so the first assumption was that the beasts had something to communicate with them. the nomad ancestors appeared one after another, prepared to receive a message. but just when they had, the majestic vulture ancestor vanished.

    before the nomad race could react, leonel had appeared, but compared to the beast ancestor, he wasn''t even a tenth as large, his body vanishing and appearing above the city. a roar escaped his lips as he struck down with all his might.

    boom!

    he didn''t have any regard for life. after luring the ancestors out, the number remaining that could resist his strike plummeted. whereas the cloud race had lost hundreds of thousands to his singular strike, the nomad race lost millions.

    the devastation could only be described as carnage, the destruction leaving only blood, flesh and ruins behind.

    the nomad race ancestors were so stunned that they couldn''t even react properly. what had just happened?

    however, before they could do anything, leonel had already vanished once again.

    the void battlefield was an impossible large place. even with the starships, it took several minutes to hours to cross from one location to another. but the current leonel treated it like a playpen. he skipped from location to location, leaving death in his wake. he toyed with the invading races as though they were nothing more than children before a wild beast.

    in just a few hours, he had killed more than the total number that had fallen in several days all on his own. the gap between him and the rest of his generation seemed to only be growing wider and wider. in fact, it seemed that even those in elder generations couldn''t hope to compare to him.

    the nomad race, the cloud race, the dwarven race, and the beast races found themselves unable to retaliate. eventually, they saw nothing but red.

    there was only one way in their minds to deal with leonel, and that was to unleash the devastation he had unleashed upon their races against the human race. since the rules of the eighth dimensional experts seemed to have been ignored, they would ignore them as well. they wanted to see what leonel''s face would look like whenever everything he had been protecting was razed to the ground.

    their fury rose up to their heads as they directly abandoned the seventh dimensional experts of their races without a care, shooting toward the second line of defense again with their greatest speed, each and every single one of them with nothing more than murder on their minds.

    the only one that didn''t seem to react like this was ancestor beros. looking toward his dead clansmen, he felt heavy of heart, and he commanded a full retreat. he didn''t know just how much he would appreciate this decision in the future.

    ...

    leonel suddenly appeared high in the skies of the second line, breathing heavily.

    his body couldn''t handle the influx of so much energy. he was using the materials that he had absorbed as a proxy, but even then he didn''t want it to wear out too fast, so most of the energy he had taken control of was used externally, placing a great deal of pressure on his mind and draining his dream force at an extreme pace.

    even so, the brightness in his gaze didn''t diminish in the slightest. he had already known that these invaders would react like this. they felt humiliated. a sixth dimension expert was leading them by the nose and forcing them to suffer losses they maybe never had in their entire lives.

    however, leonel didn''t care about their feelings. all he cared about was making a point.

    he suddenly flipped a palm, revealing the trembling body of his spear. all this time, in order to limit the amount of drain his mind experienced, he had only used the simplest attacks. if he tried to filter so much energy into his real skills, the formation would collapse within a few minutes, which was why he had only used his fists and palms.

    but now... it was time to see just what he could do.

 Chapter 2151 Seven Minutes

    the flying ancestors looked like laser beams streaking across the skies. they moved so fast that the air combusted and space trembled.

    as leonel had expected, they had gathered together, forming a pack. although they could cause more devastation to the humans by separating and attacking all nine cities at once, this would put their lives in danger. they had already come to understand that leonel could somehow use the corpses of ancestors to strengthen himself in these few hours, they couldn''t risk any more accidents.

    when they saw that leonel was waiting ahead of them, their faces almost lit on fire for more reasons than just the combusting air around them. they wished that they could eat this child alive.

    not a single one of the races had experienced losses less than a billion. for the largest of them, this was at least a 5% loss on their numbers, for the smallest it was already as much as 10%. to lose so much in just a few hours was completely unacceptable.

    this boy needed to die. they didn''t care if he was relying on someone else to do all of this, they didn''t care if he was just a figurehead used in an attempt to humiliate them, both things they believed in their hearts to be the truth. all they cared about right this moment was crushing leonel and forcing whoever was at his back to come out so they could crush them as well with their full force.

    that was right. they had come all together like this not only out of caution toward what other tricks leonel might have up his sleeves, but also because they felt that once they targeted leonel like this, they might accidentally trigger the final stages of the battle. in such a situation, they would crush the ancestors of the human race with all their might.

    however, even after they closed the distance to just a few dozen kilometers, nothing more than a few seconds to the likes of them, there was still only leonel, standing in the skies with his spear pointed toward the ground. he seemed to be completely focused.

    he didn''t manifest his divine armor because he knew it couldn''t withstand the kind of strength coursing through his body at the moment. but the rush of force didn''t stop.

    his hair fluttered in the wind, his bare torso exposed to the world, covered in sweat, his pants simple and soft, rolled to his calves. he looked like he was in the middle of a training session rather than about to face off against a legion of dozens of ancestors as a boy of the sixth dimension.

    suddenly, when the distance was less than ten kilometers, his eyes opened. his smile was gone and all that was left was an endless abyss of cold. the sharpness of his blade seemed able to cut the hardest of gems, the howl of his spear force shredding the air around him to pieces.

    he took a step forward and eight flashes manifested around him. all eight ancestors had returned, their auras blazing along with leonel''s. a pride shone within their eyes, as though they felt there was nothing they could do in their lives better than fighting on the same battlefield as leonel.

    leonel''s spear trembled and a crisscrossing, hazardous wasteland of spear blades shot through the air.

    the ancestors who had been charging forward with all the momentum in the world suddenly found themselves having to stop to defend themselves. the strength of this attack was beyond their expectations.

    "seven minutes," leonel said lightly, his voice emotionless.

    the ancestors didn''t know what this meant, but leonel had already moved, his squad of ancestors following to his back. they shot across the skies, intertwining around each other with a tacit understanding.

    the majestic vulture took the helm, its wings spreading so far and wide that all eight behind him had been perfectly obscured. before the ancestors could rely on their internal sight to find the true locations, an orb of darkness, within leonel as the starting point, suddenly erupted.

    in the skies, an orb of darkness as large as a small moon appeared. not even a few seconds after it had formed, a body flew out like a flying meteor. it landed on the ground heavily, and the nomad race ancestor who owned it coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. however, just when it seemed that he would be fine, his chest exploded with countless crisscrossing blades.n-)ov)el,usb(c-o)m

    just like that, his body was shredded to pieces, the only thing barely remaining intact being his head and his eyes opened wide to the world.

    one after another, ancestors were thrown out like ragdolls, the shocking devastation that leonel had left in his wake leaving the human domain in silence once again. but while in the past it had been due to leonel''s potential, they now realized just how naa? ?ve they were.

    this wasn''t just a future monster, this was a monster. this wasn''t a young man that was a devastation to the younger generation, he was a devastation to anyone that dared to slight him.

    the orb of darkness suddenly burst. leonel appeared drenched in blood, his left arm gone from the shoulder down and his right leg vanquished from the knee down. all around him, the shattered corpses of his eight ancestors were struggling to pull themselves together again, but he simply didn''t have enough dream force left.

    even so, the wild, surging spear force around him didn''t seem intent on stopping.

    below his feet, a gorgeous force art had taken shape. in direct contrast to the darkness that floated around him, it was bright and untouched by imperfection. it seemed like that star of the world, a sun of worlds, a radiance of the universe, untouchable by even the regulator itself.

    with his singular arm, he raised his spear, the intent in his eyes as lofty as the skies above.

    the ancestors couldn''t support him at the moment, but it was their momentum that had allowed him to complete his force art. this strength was beyond just eight ancestors.

    "seven minutes," leonel said lightly.

    the tip of his spear trembled and the radiance beneath his feet took over the world, swallowing everything in its path.

    without hesitation, the ancestors that remained turned, running for their lives.

 Chapter 2152 My Seed

    leonel''s spear dazzled the world but his body cracked apart just releasing it. the roars of rage and helplessness of several ancestors echoed like a symphony to his ears.

    the surge overwhelmed everything in its path, and it was only after seeing this that leonel''s body couldn''t sustain itself, falling to the ground. he barely held himself up, leaning on his one leg and the butt of his spear as he looked forward.

    he didn''t even bother to use [instant recovery]. he knew that it was helpless against these kinds of injuries. the blows of eighth dimensional ancestors weren''t something that he could handle.

    when the lights faded, the world fell into an endless shock. dozens of ancestors had come, but only three heavily injured ones remained.

    the leader of the nomad race, charnos. the leader of the cloud race, lufiel. and the leader of the beast domain, the cerebos serpent.

    they looked as though they were standing on their last legs, but the devastation on their faces when they saw the death around them was hard to put into words. it all felt like a dream, they had come with such momentum, only to end up like this? how was that even possible?

    it was all him. it was all him.

    no matter how much they thought that leonel had relied on others before, they didn''t feel that it made sense to continue on with these thoughts. if he wasn''t at least a part of these matters, why would the human domain put such important power in his hands? if they had done this with an actual ancestor, would even they be able to survive?

    the worst part was that they realized they had all been lured here. from the very beginning, this was leonel''s goal. he wanted them to lose themselves to rage, to abandon their people and to come here in full force, and most importantly, together.

    if they were scattered, it would have been much easier for them to escape and much fewer would have died. but because of their choice, leonel was able to round them all up and slaughter them as though their lives were as worthless as canon fodder.

    the image was something that the human domain would never forget.

    the cerebos serpent roared into the skies, its fury causing its scales to lift up and retreat again and again as though its body itself was inhaling and exhaling. it wanted to shred leonel to pieces, and when it saw that leonel could hardly hold himself anymore, it couldn''t hold back any longer.

    leonel took deep, heaving breaths. that battle had only lasted for a short moment, but it was the most intense one he had ever been a part of. with the speed of ancestors, seven minutes was the equivalent to days to lower level dimensional beings, the amount of exchanges was too many to count.

    when he saw that the cerebos serpent was going to attack him, he chuckled. he really didn''t have anything left. that said...

    bang!

    the cerebos serpent was sent flying. before leonel, a gorgeous woman with flowing golden hair had appeared, her expression livid.

    her son had been just fine when he entered the bubble of darkness, but when he came out he had practically been half dead. the moment she saw this, alienor couldn''t see anything else but red.

    she had wanted to interfere earlier, but this son of hers was an enigma. she didn''t want to disrupt his plans, but she hadn''t expected him to be so absolutely reckless.

    she threw out three more palms in quick succession. the three heads of the cerebos serpent burst with a rain of blood and flesh. its body was thrown back even further, but it was actually buried into the ground at the same time, causing it to remain much closer to alienor than it should have.

    maybe in its peak state, the cerebos serpent wouldn''t be left in such a sorry state. however, after withstanding that attack from leonel, it had already been on its last legs. against an enraged alienor, it seemed that it could do nothing at all.

    seeing this scene, without hesitation, the nomad race and cloud race ancestors rushed off into the distance. but they couldn''t even make it far before alienor appeared before them, striking around twice.

    alienor had hardly finished her attack when her pupils constricted.n,o.vel(u-s,b/./c,o.m

    without hesitation, she clapped her hands together, a large bubble of green instantly forming around her.

    bang!

    an attack came from seemingly nowhere and crashed against the barrier, shattering it into pieces.

    leonel''s expression changed, but his heart settled down immediately as his mother appeared by his side.

    before leonel could understand what had happened, a blazing aura suddenly pierced the skies. to his astonishment, the cloudy greyness of the void battlefield that had never once dispersed was split, revealing an endless dark abyss above as this aura continued to grow.

    "who the fuck dares to attack my wife?!"

    a beam of light pierced through the skies, the very fabric of the void battlefield tearing in two as though reality itself was being split.

    the beam disappeared into the distance and there was suddenly nothing but silence.

    alienor frowned, placing a hand on leonel''s shoulder. a green bubble formed around leonel and all of the eighth dimensional force he couldn''t handle was expelled.

    ''[instant recovery].''

    as leonel recovered, he tilted his head into the skies and watched as his father appeared. velasco was completely enraged, every step he took shattered the ground beneath him despite the fact he had to be several kilometers in the air.

    he grasped out, the folds of reality that were quickly repairing themselves suddenly shattering again.

    all at once, countless figures that had been hiding seemed to have been ejected from their hiding places. even if they were countless kilometers away, they were all brought forward.

    these were individuals that leonel couldn''t recognize in the slightest... most of them, anyway. but there were two that caused his eyes to narrow.

    the first was a lovely woman protected to the back of an expert that must have stood at at least four meters tall. she was a woman he had only met once before, but the impression she had left was deep.

    anya.

    the second was a man that should have long since been dead, however he had had his own thoughts about this matter. when he had taken out monkey from the snowglobe and he had immediately died, he realized that someone must have interfered.

    if they could interfere to kill monkey, they could definitely interfere to save someone with a soul as powerful as this man''s.

    he was none other than the savant of earth, the so-called "lionel morales".

    however, leonel''s father didn''t seem to care to see any of them. even eighth dimensional experts were beneath his notice, let alone seventh dimensional existences like anya.

    this number of experts was even greater than the number that had appeared across all the invaders. these people could only be of one group... the scholars of the three finger cult.

    but once again, velasco didn''t seem to notice at all. his hand continued to grasp at the air and one of the scholars was ripped forward out of his own control. he was sucked into velasco''s palm and crumbled to pieces before even making contact.

    velasco only now seemed to notice that there were others around him, the sneer that hung from his lips showed disdain for the very world itself.

    "sending this sort of trash to face me? even my seed just killed over 50 of you, what do you think i can do to you?"

    -----

    erdiul''s note: lmao, velasco is the goat.

 Chapter 2153 A Perfect Creature

    the scholars of the three finger cult outnumbered even the number of invaders that had appeared earlier. each of them wore scholarly red robes, their shoulders graced by ribbons that made it look more like they were on their way to graduate from a prestigious college rather than about to unleash a slaughter on the human domain.

    leonel''s face couldn''t help but contort with disdain. "what trash uniforms. seriously uncool. who decided on this design? don''t you all feel embarrassed?"

    the atmosphere was quite tense at the moment, especially after the momentum of velasco''s strength settled in. these people had spent their lives hearing stories about this man, many of them even disparaging him as a weakling behind closed doors. however, standing face to face with him now, they couldn''t seem to find those words ridiculous.

    when that feeling was suddenly fueled by leonel''s disdain-layered words, these stone-faced scholars almost blushed with shame. if it wasn''t for their supreme control, many really would have shown such an expression, but they just barely managed to ignore leonel.

    velasco looked down toward leonel, shaking his head. if there was one thing this son of his was good at, it was pissing people off, and that apparently included even him. he had just said such a cool one-liner, and yet the show was stolen by this brat.

    leonel grinned when he saw his father''s gaze. "there''s quite a lot of corpses here, old man. how about you tell them to bring king out? i could probably deal with them all on my own. your bones are getting a bit weak, maybe you should go back and relax with mom..."

    when leonel said the word king, the scholars that had been trying to ignore him all had a change in expression.

    "is that a name that you can say?!"

    the sudden roar came from a scholar who stood at the helm. the ripples of his voice left trails through the air. this person was without a doubt a powerhouse even amongst ancestors, however before the echo reached leonel, alienor raised a hand, her frown deep.

    leonel''s gaze landed on his mother''s wrist, noticing just how much effort it had taken his mother to do that despite the casualness of her actions. his gaze flashed with a dangerous light as he looked up.

    "i''ve yet to come to collect the debt the three finger cult owes me, but it seems that you''re actually so eager. someone actually dares to call themselves king when i exist in this world, and you''re mad that i said his name? that''s about as much respect as i have for that sore loser."

    the eyes of the scholars opened wide.

    how could they not know what leonel was referring to? what else could it be if not the love triangle of the silver emperor, king, and the demoness? they had all been alive for more than long enough, and been part of the three finger cult upper echelon for enough time, to be aware of these sorts of secrets. but they didn''t even dare to say king''s name, who would actually dare speak about such things aloud?

    however, they were focused on the wrong thing...

    bang!

    the head of the scholar who had just roared suddenly exploded. it came without warning, the only marker being the simple flick of a finger.

    velasco slowly lowered his hand, his expression indifferent. the most powerful of the scholars was crushed in a single movement as though he wasn''t worth more than a single glance. the gap was so exaggerated that the remaining scholars explosively retreated, their expressions turning heavy.

    "it seems you all take my presence too lightly. that''s strike two already."

    the scholars fell into silence, the beating of their hearts being the only thing they could hear. the rushing of their blood seemed to encapsulate their entire world.

    velasco took a step forward and a scholar was shattered to pieces.

    he took another, and yet another fell.

    he took a third step and a third body exploded, filling the skies with a rain of blood.

    even leonel had forgotten that there was a broadcast to the human domain currently. when he finally did, he clicked his tongue. he had put so much effort into looking cool, and it was all ruined by this old man. who would remember him after this?

    the legend of velasco, which had been brewing in the hearts of many for countless words, suddenly exploded. it was one thing when leonel relied on the help of other ancestors to defeat others, but it was a completely different matter to kill with such casualness.

    another step and a fourth died, then it was a fifth, then a sixth. it hadn''t even been more than a few minutes, and yet 10% of their people had fallen.

    it didn''t even seem like velasco was in a hurry to kill him, it felt more like he was on a leisurely stroll, moving through the world without a care and taking lives for no other reason than the fact it felt convenient to do so.

    leonel, however, was thinking about something else. his father seemed to be trying to lure something out.

    there were many things about his father''s actions that he didn''t understand, many of those matters also happened to revolve around the three finger cult. his father was so intelligent and powerful, and he seemed to be mowing down the three finger cult as though they were worthless, so why did the three finger cult still exist?

    there was something else at play here.

    all of a sudden, the skies were filled with a blinding, golden flash.

    leonel looked up and past where his father had been standing and watched as maybe the most perfect creature he had ever laid eyes on slowly appeared.

    this "creature" was a man wearing golden robes. he stood unblemished and untouched by nature, and yet as one with it at the same time. the anarchic force around him dispelled naturally for no other reason than his very existence.no/velusb/c-o,m

    leonel had thought the most handsome man he had ever seen was wise start order, but now even he felt wholly inferior.

    ''a spiritual...?''

 Chapter 2154 Emperors

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. the spirituals hadn''t shown up for the invasion, but had shown up now? and it was just one man? what did this mean exactly? were they related to the three finger cult? or was this precisely the king he had been asking for?

    but that didn''t make any sense. leonel was over 90% certain that king came from the cataclysm zone, or more accurately, the so-called "true" world. this was why he and the demoness could have lived for so long, it was all a matter of relying on the huge time dilation between the two regions. over a year had passed since leonel had exited that zone, but maybe only a few fractions of a second had passed over there. that was the reality.

    why did this mean it made little sense for this man to be king?

    leonel didn''t know what race it was that had created this simulation, but if he had to guess, it would definitely be the humans. the reason for this was the way this world was set up, and how all of the other races seemed to have perfectly set and defined paths to take, while the humans were meandering and somewhat aimless.

    if one had to run a simulation, constraining the variables made no sense. they would be looking for something that could change the status of their current situation, and constraining the subjects would make little sense. rather, they would more so want to allow the simulations as much freedom as possible, allowing the chance for spontaneous mutations that could result in changes that they could take advantage of to help them out of their current situation.

    leonel was even more certain of this because of what had happened in his last moments in the cataclysm zone. back there, there had been many seventh dimensional experts present, trying to stop him, but not a single eighth dimensional expert.

    that event was far too important for not even one eighth dimensional existence to show up. and given what leonel had done and said about the ancestor who had brought aina, it was even more impossible that she would do nothing.

    so where had she been?

    with the sudden breakthrough of his mind, he had a secondary experience of what he had gone through the very first time he had awakened dream force, and that was an amplification of his memory.

    suddenly, the snap! sound that everyone could seem to hear but it became like a dream in leonel''s mind, a lingering memory that he was faintly aware existed, but he couldn''t quite grasp... and he also remembered that that harsh sound had echoed while he was in the trial alongside aina.

    could it be a coincidence? the likelihood of that being the case was near zero.

    so why was all of this important? it all went back to proving the fact this simulation was likely created by humans and that king couldn''t possibly be a spiritual. what was the implication of the dream project, created by humans, being infiltrated by spirituals of the "true" world?

    what chance would the humans stand?

    leonel''s expression changed. was that the truth? was that the reason the three finger cult was created?nov,elu-sb-c-o(m

    now that he thought about it, was the demoness human? she should be exactly what her namesake claimed her to be, a demoness, an empress of the demon race. didn''t that make two races now that had infiltrated?

    leonel frowned. he couldn''t understand why he had muddled such an obvious deduction. why was it that he was so sure that this man wasn''t king when it made perfect sense that he would be? what was wrong with him?

    he raised a palm to his forehead, pressing it. he felt an aching in his head all of a sudden, and it was making him feel more and more annoyed, agitated even, he was finding it difficult to stay still. he suddenly really... really wanted to kill something.

    "little lion?" alienor''s concerned voice echoed. she didn''t seem to care about what was happening around in the world at all as she took care of her son. at some unknown time, even aina had appeared, ignoring the danger to approach leonel.

    "... i''m fine," leonel said much more coldly than he had wanted to. his mother was a bit stunned and her eyes dimmed, but the care on her expression didn''t change as she rubbed leonel''s cheek. it felt cold to the touch, but the warmth of her palm seemed to be pouring into him.

    aina''s expression was especially worried. leonel seemed to be going through, but she couldn''t even begin to understand what it was. the worst part was that she didn''t even know how to ask leonel about it, she wasn''t sure if he would even have an answer.

    in the far off distance, very few were paying attention to leonel anymore, and even fewer were paying attention to the small figures of the three finger cult, namely... lionel. however, lionel''s current gaze was practically spitting fire as he watched alienor take care of leonel.

    that was his mother, his mother.

    just as he was about to lose control, the reality around him warping, a hand pressed down on his shoulder. he looked to see anya wearing that same carefree smile on her face.

    "soon," she said in that voice as sweet as honey before looking up.

    velasco sent a casual glance upward and yawned.

    "the emperor of the spirituals," he said casually. "... still not enough. who said you could stand higher than me?"

    velasco pressed his raised hand down and suddenly, the lofty spiritual''s head distorted. a strong golden force appeared above his head, but it was useless.

    bang!

    in one moment, he was in the air, and in the next, he was buried deep into the ground.

    leonel frowned. the gap between his father and this so-called emperor of the spirituals was indeed large. but he had noticed something immediately...

    his father had killed all the others with a single strike. but this spiritual...

    the ground rumbled and an unblemished golden figure slowly walked out from it.

    ... had actually survived.

    almost on cue, the skies split again. one after another, existences that could only be said to be the emperors of their kind appeared.

 Chapter 2155 Imperatress

    leonel looked forward. he didn''t seem to notice the appearance of the other emperors because his eyes were still on the spirituals emperor.

    he slowly stood from the ground. it even looked like he had simply descended all by himself, his legs hardly bending when he hit the ground.

    he stepped out from the crater, rising into the air once again. the dust that fell around him couldn''t seem to reach his body at all.

    this man was, indeed, the emperor of the spirituals, emperor ridryn. this wasn''t a man who had been seen by his own people in hundreds of years. and yet, oddly enough, he had appeared here, and maybe even more odd than that, leonel''s father had recognized him in a single glance.

    ''was this about dad the entire time?'' leonel thought to himself.

    these people had begun to attack the human domain immediately. but if that was their goal, why did they wait so long to appear? why was it that it took leonel killing so many for this to come to fruition? this might have still been acceptable, after all, maybe they were biding their time and waiting for the right moment to expose their true strength. but then why did none of them pay much attention to leonel?

    someone else might answer that leonel was too insignificant, but would leonel think about himself that way? also, could someone insignificant kill more ancestors in a day than the number that had fallen for centuries?

    leonel pinched his forehead harder.

    he felt like his thoughts were meandering, like he was constantly thinking about worthless, meaningless things. somehow his mind both felt sharper than it ever had, and slower, as though it was something other than his intelligence that was impeding the flow of his thoughts.

    ''dammit!''

    leonel''s aura fluctuated wildly. he was getting more and more frustrated, but he didn''t know where this frustration was coming from.

    only alienor and aina seemed to realize that there was something wrong with leonel. well, there was one other person... a particular white-haired beauty that stood high in the skies with a careful and gentle smile on her face.

    ''you are indeed dangerous,'' anya thought to herself.

    she had asked herself a question long ago. if you knew what someone would become, the kind of heartache and carnage they would cause, should you kill them while they were still in their cradle? would that make you a moral person? or would that make you more evil than the person you were trying to put a stop to?

    she still didn''t know the answer to that question, but seeing leonel now, she felt that maybe she wouldn''t have to answer it. after all, that dangerous bloodlust would be picked up by her from worlds away.

    "hoho," velasco chuckled. "personally, i would be embarrassed if i were you. but this is still not enough. how about you all stop playing around and get serious?"

    the emperor of the nomads, keafir. the empress of the cloud race, venxina. the emperor of the spirituals, ridryn. the emperor of the beast domain... abyss. even the emperor of the rapax was present... uh''cerax. it seemed that the weight of their little prince''s words might be enough to sway the lower reaches of the rapax, but those at the very top still acted as they pleased.

    however, velasco was most definitely correct. this wasn''t everything.

    at that moment, in the skies, four colored bridges appeared, arcing through the air in a fine mist that made them look like rainbows. one was blue, one was green, one was yellow, and the final was red.

    when these bridges faded away, slowly but surely, four figures appeared. this time, velasco didn''t recognize them at all. but he knew exactly where they had come from.n-o-vel)u/s/b.--c,o-m

    blue-haired and blue eyes. green hair and green eyes. golden hair and golden eyes. red hair and red eyes.

    these could only be one group of people. they were none other than the four great families. the adurna family in blue robes, the crudus family in green, the laevis family in gold, and finally... the brazinger family in red.

    when they appeared, it was as though they were above the world itself.

    leonel''s head felt as though it was splitting into two. no matter how hard he tried to use his healing, even resorting to dream sense to split the pain he was experiencing several times, it wouldn''t vanish. there was one explanation he could think of, and that was that these symptoms were purely psychosomatic. it didn''t matter how many times he split the pain because his brain would always make him feel it to the same level.

    that woman in red, the one with flaming crimson hair and a pair of ruby eyes that looked like rubies carved from the gems of hell itself, he subconsciously knew her name. or rather, he subconsciously knew her title.

    this was a name that simeon had spoken before while his soul was under leonel''s control. this was the woman who was responsible for the cruelty of aina''s mother''s death.

    imperatress anselma.

 Chapter 2156 Instant

    leonel had no reason to draw this conclusion, and yet he felt that it was the obvious answer. nothing that he thought of could shake this belief.

    the more agitated leonel became, the more the burning sensation in his kidneys grew, but he didn''t even seem to understand until something suddenly clicked.

    four auras flourished and leonel''s expression changed. ''ninth dimension!''

    he didn''t know why he knew this. he couldn''t even differentiate the strengths of ancestors yet and could only make vague guesses based on the varied pressures they put on him. but right now, he couldn''t have been more certain.

    those four men and women that had appeared, each and every one of them was an existence that surpassed the eighth dimension.

    however, almost the moment they appeared, that flourishing aura suddenly collided with something. their faces paled somewhat as foggy chains latched onto their bodies, wrapping around their arms, legs, and necks.

    still, they had come prepared. their skin began to glow with various colored runes, these runes matching the colors of their hair and eyes. when these runes solidified, the constricting effect of the black chains that seemed to have been formed of concentrated anarchic force weakened and slowed, though it did not disappear in the slightest.

    not many understood what they were seeing. they simply felt that these four were the most powerful eighth dimensional existences that they had ever seen. they stood on a level all to their own. but as though this wasn''t enough, the skies suddenly shook once more.

    another bridge appeared, but this time, it was a blinding silver, and more shockingly than that, it wasn''t leonel who understood what was going on first, but it was rather aina''s expression that changed first. that was because she was intimately familiar with this aura, it was the very aura she had sensed after she entered the silver empire''s zone, the very same aura that was in line with the inheritance she had received.

    in the skies, a man donning radiant silver armor stood. the armor was constructed of so many pieces that it looked more like an elaborate work of art than anything else. this man''s aura... was no weaker than the four of the great families, but what was different this time was that...

    the chains didn''t appear!

    leonel''s pupils constricted. what did this mean? what was going on?nov,elu-sb-c-o(m

    he had learned from simeon that the people entering through the ascension empire form the four great families were very restricted. even little nana, who was only a great genius of the seventh dimension, couldn''t use her full strength, let alone these four.

    so why was this man fine? the silver emperor? leonel was certain that he should have been from the "true" world too, so why was he just fine?! and wasn''t he dead?! how was he here?!

    that was when he saw it. the gaze of the silver emperor was entirely vacant. it didn''t carry any emotion, any light... any life.

    ''a puppet?''

    leonel shuddered. he seemed to catch a glimpse of how others felt when they saw his lineage factor. there was something about that vacant abyss that shook him to his very core.

    at that moment, velasco was grinning ear to ear.

    "good, good. this is more like it."

    his black hair fluttered in the air. he seemed to grow to twice his original size despite the fact his body was most definitely the very same. it was like his aura itself simply demanded more space.

    it had been a very long time since he had faced any sort of challenge. his sights were impossibly far beyond these words, he couldn''t even talk about these matters with his wife and son.

    "... but, this is still not enough," velasco growled, his irises turning red. "if the man who dared to lay a hand my father doesn''t appear, i will just kill you one by one until he does."

    "arrogant!" imperatress anselma''s sharp voice echoed. "do you believe you would even have the right to stand before me if not for the restrictions of this world?! die!"

    she struck out with a palm.

    the entire world seemed to lose its color. in the blink of an eye, a formless energy wrapped in a translucent fog appeared before velasco. leonel couldn''t even track it properly, even his senses seemed to have been distorted by it.

    bang!

    velasco''s body disappeared beneath the raging torrent of force.

    anselma snorted. she wasn''t happy to have to come here just for the scum of this world, to have such a lowly being actually speak to her was even more unacceptable. if this matter could end so simply, that would be even better. she felt uncomfortable all over.

    however, at that moment, the volatile force cleared and velasco appeared. he seemed unscathed, his robes fluttering in the air, and his gaze as bright as torches. at that moment, his eyes seemed to carry far more of a golden color than bronze.

    without a word, he suddenly punched out. he felt that the time for talking was over. right now... he was nothing more than an enraged son.

    his fist landed on anselma''s chest before she could react. her body curved and shot out like a speeding bullet.

    velasco took a step forward, ready to pursue, but before he could, a blinding silver light descended. velasco responded with a punch.

    the skies split, a vast cavern of darkness taking shape.

    velasco and the silver emperor stood both close and worlds apart, neither taking even back, the gap between their fists enveloped by a black hole that could shred a solar system to pieces.

    the emperors and the four great families'' experts acted at once, all of them surrounding velasco.

    leonel was suddenly agitated and he took a step forward. his mother stopped him before he could even move very far, but before she could say anything to comfort him, several auras locked onto them.

    too many of the scholars still remained, and aside from them, anya and lionel seemed to be focused entirely on leonel.

    the situation had flipped on its head.

 Chapter 2157 NO!

    anya landed on the ground far more softly than one might expect. as the colors in the sky changed, a battle of proportions far too world-changing and epic to describe began, she didn''t seem very affected by it. but at the same time, leonel seemed to have noticed her at all either.

    while anya had been focused on leonel the entire time, leonel himself had only faintly noticed her appearance before ignoring her entirely. at this moment, almost all of leonel''s computing power was trying to find a way out of this.

    his gaze was frighteningly cold, the space before his eyes seeming to freeze a great deal. however, no matter how he racked his brain, nothing seemed to be enough. the scale of the battle above him was far too much.

    leonel had thought a lot of times that maybe he would one day run into this sort of situation. but he didn''t expect it to actually appear, maybe he was too arrogant, maybe it was just a confidence that he had earned, but he had truly believed that there was no situation his mind couldn''t get him out of.

    he had defeated a squad of sixth dimensional existence in the fifth. he had entered a world where even those on his same level were tens of times more powerful than him and still came out alive. he had fought demons, been eaten alive. he had just crushed legions of seventh dimensional geniuses while still in the sixth dimension and even slaughtered over 50 ancestors due to his mind alone.

    he had felt invincible, untouchable, infallible, as though everything in the world could exist on the palm of his hands and be flipped on its head with a thought. it wasn''t an arrogance that had come from nowhere, it was a confidence that he had built with his own hands from the ground up, a level of prestige that he deserved.

    he had accomplished what no other existence could, and just when he was flying high, he had crashed head first into an immovable wall.

    his eyes were glued to the skies, his teeth set so hard against one another that it felt as though they might crack at any time. his father was entirely surrounded by an existence that wouldn''t even need to raise a finger to erase his own existence, just a single one of their attacks seemed to overturn the world itself, the battlefield entering a state of chaos. maybe if not for his mother by his side, he would have already been crushed by the battle before him.

    for the first time, he knew it was useless. there was no path out, there was no sudden plan he could pull out from thin air to claim victory. he felt a sort of helplessness from the depth of his soul, a helplessness that he should have experienced long ago when the metamorphosis just began, but also one that had been delayed to this point.

    this was a wall that many learned to overcome early on. anyone who had grand aspirations should have run into such a roadblock in their early years. one might be able to say that it was technically still quite early for leonel, he wasn''t even 26 years old yet. but even in his young age, he had reached a level that others couldn''t imagine touching even in their old age.

    the agitation was bone deep, and the wild fluctuations in his body were only growing. the frigid region before his eyes seemed to have been sparked. like two rocks banging against one another, the sharp lines of red-gold sparks flew through the air, and yet the temperature only continued to plummet.

    "i really didn''t expect you to ignore me on our first meeting in so long, leo," anya said lightly. she still wore a smile, barely visible behind that veil she wore everywhere. though her words seemed to be reprimanding, and even carried a faint touch of a wronged expression, her smile never faded and her voice was as gentle and beautiful as ever.

    aina frowned. she was very worried about leonel''s current state and she didn''t want to have to deal with this sort of nonsense.

    as for alienor, her expression was serious. of course, this wasn''t for anya, nor was it for lionel. rather, she was focused on the scholars. that said, the scholars didn''t seem to have any intention of attacking. the warning velasco had left echoed in their ears, it was likely they didn''t even dare to attack for fear that the rage of the battle above would turn on them.

    at that moment, none of them had any illusions about velasco''s weakness. all of those harsh words they had spoken about his cowardice had long since been thrown out. they didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly, only silently encircling alienor, aina and leonel.

    leonel didn''t even seem to hear anya''s words at all.

    "mom!" lionel spoke with a somewhat twisted expression.

    alienor frowned, sweeping a glance over this boy before her. mom? there was only one person in this world that could call her that. she would know better than anyone.

    "don''t you remember me?" lionel asked, his expression becoming more and more agitated.

    alienor looked away from this boy, her expression becoming more and more serious. she could have maybe two or three of these scholars at once. maybe if she had more time, she would have a greater chance of dealing with them all. but she was simply too young, she wasn''t even 100 years old. compared to these other ancestors, she hadn''t even had time to grow yet.

    just when alienor was about to make a decision to take leonel and aina away, a powerful pressure descended.

    alienor''s expression changed. "father! no!"

    it was too late. a pillar of emerald enveloped alienor and even leonel couldn''t react to the sudden change.

    leonel seemed to finally wake up, but when his head snapped back, his mother was gone. it wasn''t just his mother, but aina had disappeared as well.

    he frowned. ''father? emperor fawkes?''

 Chapter 2158 Relief

    leonel actually sighed a slight breath of relief when he saw this. in truth, he felt that he had underestimated emperor fawkes even more than he knew. to be able to directly snatch people from the void battlefield as though nothing at all had happened, he couldn''t even fathom what kind of strength it would take to do that from earth.

    at the same time, though, with his mother and aina safe, he really could breathe a sigh of relief. even though he still felt completely helpless, he still felt freer to move as he pleased. if only he could grasp onto something, anything, even the faintest hope, he could take action.

    ...

    "bring me back!"alienor''s roar shook earth itself. the oceans rolled and the earth split. it looked for a moment as though the supercontinent that the ascension empire had so painstakingly put together was about to split into pieces once again. it really would have happened if an emerald energy didn''t suddenly heal everything, stitching the very land back together and filling the skies with beautiful, green northern lights.

    emperor fawkes sat on his throne calmly, his gaze flickering when he saw his daughter''s rage, but he didn''t say anything.

    aina stumbled back, her ears bleeding due to alienor''s roar. she had only barely entered the seventh dimension, how could she handle such a thing?

    ...

    "bring me back!"alienor''s roar shook earth itself. the oceans rolled and the earth split. it looked for a moment as though the supercontinent that the ascension empire had so painstakingly put together was about to split into pieces once again. it really would have happened if an emerald energy didn''t suddenly heal everything, stitching the very land back together and filling the skies with beautiful, green northern lights.

    emperor fawkes sat on his throne calmly, his gaze flickering when he saw his daughter''s rage, but he didn''t say anything.

    aina stumbled back, her ears bleeding due to alienor''s roar. she had only barely entered the seventh dimension, how could she handle such a thing?

    alienor''s expression warped when she saw that her father had no intention of responding. maybe if he said something, she might be able to convince him. he had always listened to her, doted on her, without exception. but he could also be stubborn about a great many things, and when he got like this, it was impossible to change things.

    tears fell from alienor''s eyes like the rain. her father never interfered with velasco, even if it was related to her protection. this showed an implicit sort of belief in velasco''s strength. but the fact that he was doing this now made alienor, who had had reason to believe that her husband would pull through like he always did, second guess herself.

    alienor''s head suddenly snapped around. her expression changed when she saw the state of aina and she quickly waved a hand to help her heal. but when she looked again and saw that leonel wasn''t here, her emotions that had been turning from rage to worry reversed once more. the agitation in her heart practically exploded and her chest heaved.

    "little lion, where is my little lion?" alienor looked toward her father, not roaring again. this time, her gaze was filled with a pleading light.

    this time, emperor fawkes couldn''t quite meet his daughter''s eyes. he looked away, gazing off into the distance.

    "... if i brought him here the fuss he would cause would be much more than yours."

    alienor''s expression changed. what kind of nonsense was her father saying? she was in the eighth dimension! her son was powerful, but he wasn''t even in the seventh yet! was this really just an excuse? was emperor fawkes tired of leonel defying him and had chosen to do this?

    "father... father... father please, he''s my little baby. i''m sorry, i''m sorry i didn''t wasn''t here to introduce him to his family, to help him meet his grandfather, for him to know that he could rely on you. please, please forget about any rude things he''s said, please bring little lion here too."

    alienor looked as though she would completely lose it, she was only moments from falling to her knees and pleading. she didn''t want to believe that her father would do this.

    emperor fawkes, who had been calm and somewhat awkward from the very beginning, suddenly became enraged.

    boom!

    his palms slammed onto his throne as he stood to his feet. earth vibrated, pillars of ocean water piercing the skies and tearing holes through the atmosphere. they escaped earth''s orbit as suddenly covered half the planet in a rushing river of raging waters.

    alienor was stunned. her father was the calmest man she knew, nothing ever fazed him, he never so much as raised his voice. he was prideful, but it was almost impossible to see it from his exterior. she had never seen him react like this about anything.

    "do i seem like a petty man who would do such a thing because of a few words?"

    emperor fawkes'' voice rumbled with a deep tone. the echo made alienor feel as though her bones might shatter at any time, the suffocating sort of feeling overwhelming her.

    "don''t mistake my softness toward you for anything more than what it is. my grandson, my son-in-law, are two men i respect the most in this world. my leaving them on that battlefield is nothing more than a sign of this. whether they live or die will be decided by the weight of their own spears."

    emperor fawkes flicked his sleeves and vanished. the vigorousness of his aura only seemed to be increasing by the day. the last time leonel had seen him, he already looked no different from a middle-aged man, but now he only looked like a man in his thirties. maybe soon he would look no different from any other young man.

    alienor stood in stunned silence.

    by her side, aina''s lip trembled, but she remained silent. she hadn''t wanted her own words to sway emperor fawkes one way or another, she knew too little about this man. but if even leonel''s mother couldn''t do anything, what would her words mean?

    however, this didn''t change how helpless she felt. she fell into her old habits once more, nibbling at her lip. she didn''t even realize when she had drawn blood. the pain in her heart was far more than what the pain of her lip could match up to.

    maybe if leonel had been here, he would do what he usually did. picking her chin up with a finger, he would wipe her blood away with a finger and reprimand her with a smile. "how could you ruin such beautiful lips?" he would say.

    aina''s tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit her lip harder, refusing to allow them to fall.

 Chapter 2159 Two Favors

    leonel turned back. his heart couldn''t calm, but its beating had slowed somewhat. that roadblock ahead was as tall and thick as it was before. in fact, the more he observed the battle above him, the more he felt that he was still underestimating things.

    the scholars'' eyes narrowed, the apprehension in their hearts increasing. they had no idea how this had happened. how could they just disappear right before their eyes? if there had been some sort of spatial tunnel formed, then they would have been able to take action to cut them off. but how could you move someone such a large distance without spatial force?

    more oddly, who would have the willingness to save aina and alienor, but not leonel? what sense did that make?

    anya''s gaze flickered, seemingly thinking of something. but she didn''t say anything about it, it was lionel instead who seemed to have lost his mind. he roared out, his expression warping. not only had his mother ignored him, but she had disappeared not long after. he had finally seen her after so long, and yet this was what had happened.

    his dream force peeled off into countless layers, twisting and warping the space around him. it was truly the stuff of nightmares.

    werebeasts, monsters, twisting distortions of fear and animosity, all bundled up into a single, towering tapestry of twisting dreams.

    anya frowned slightly, her lips parting as though she was preparing to say something. but it was actually leonel who spoke this time first.

    "shut up!"

    leonel''s roar echoed like a clap of thunder. all at once, lionel''s dream force seemed to have been forced back into a bottle.

    in a flash, leonel had appeared before him, his fingers shooting out like a spear and ripping lionel''s throat through.

    leonel''s wrist flickered and his hand wiped off to the side, the motion causing a disk of crimson blood to erupt from lionel''s throat, separating his head and neck.

    anya''s brows jumped. their strongest savant had died... just like that? what?!

    leonel kicked out, his eyes lit with fury. lionel''s entire body exploded to pieces.

    he grabbed out at that air. "rise."

    lionel''s soul was ripped out from his body.

    "assimilate."

    lionel''s soul didn''t even get a chance to show its loyalty. in fact, he wasn''t the only one that was too slow. an odd and mysterious force seemed to rush forward, but it was far too late.

    leonel knew exactly what it was. it was that odd force that had appeared after he captured monkey, the very one that appeared after he took him out and he died right before his eyes. but this time, leonel was even faster than it.

    the rush of violent violet aura surged and leonel''s hair fluttered into the air. he grasped at the skies before him and the atmosphere changed.

    anya''s foot tapped the ground and she glided backward, out of reach of leonel''s influence, or so she thought. she looked down and her expression changed, why was she still standing in the same area? she could have sworn that she had moved back.

    "i''ve already returned the favor i owe you. right now, i think that you should just die," leonel said coldly.

    he reached forward at the air right before him. there was still quite some distance separating himself and anya, and yet her neck magically appeared in his palm.

    anya''s pupils constricted, but her face was surprisingly calm given the situation. she just hadn''t expected this change to be so sudden and for her life to be in danger so swiftly. but since she had dared to take control of lionel, why would she be afraid now?

    her pupils slowly relaxed and a ring on her finger trembled before leonel''s hand could squeeze. at that moment, a figure appeared to her back.

    a domain spread out in an instant and all the dream force that had been at leonel vanished into thin air.

    anya''s body was enveloped by a pure white light and she vanished into motes.

    leonel cast an indifferent glance toward the one that had appeared from anya''s ring. it was actually yet another savant, one with the ability to disperse force and nullify ability indexes.

    anya appeared by the savant''s side, but before she could speak, leonel pierced forward with two fingers. a strong pulse of bow force took shape. her expression changed, but it was much too late.

    the savant''s head burst like a watermelon, the rain of blood splattering toward anya who had been by his side. a white light shielded anya from being spoiled, but the savant was deader than dead.

    anya heart leapt into her throat. she didn''t understand what she was seeing. first the dream force of a savant was directly suppressed. then, a savant who should have had the ability to nullify all force, ability indexes and lineage factors had suddenly died to... force?!

    however, leonel didn''t even take it seriously. when he first met savants, they were existences that he found hard to fathom. but now, he had long since come to know that they were just as fragile as everyone else, if not more so. if not, why were they strategic resources that powerful families could take control of? if they were so invincible, wouldn''t they have a rising power of their own that could exist outside of the shadows? what right did a mere savant have to suppress his sovereign force?

    leonel waved a hand. "rise."

    that mysterious energy appeared again, but leonel was even faster. "assimilate."

    this kind of soul soldier would have been far more useful to him as a separate entity, but it couldn''t be helped. leonel knew that if he didn''t assimilate these souls instantly, whatever that mysterious energy would, it would step forward and scoop these savants up.

    leonel''s dream force, which had vanished, appeared once again in full force. by then, anya had already calmed down.

    she sighed lightly. "how about you return my sister to me, leo, and accept the guidance of the three finger cult? it''s still possible for you to turn a new leaf, you''re following down the wrong path.

    "not everything in life can be calculated, i''ve told you that one before. trying to treat life like it''s something that can be weighed on a scale is something only a narcissist would do. you aren''t as special as you think you are.

    "also, i believe you''ve forgotten... you owe me two favors, not just one."

    anya spoke lightly, her voice light and gentle. she had told leonel these things once before, but this time, her words were far more direct and forceful.

    leonel truly looked at anya for the first time. he didn''t just look through her, he looked into her.

    "the first favor was returned when i didn''t kill your sister. the second favor was returned when i didn''t use your sister to find you and take your head."

    anya''s gaze flickered. how arrogant. she was always with the people of the three finger cult, did he think killing her was so easy?

    her gaze couldn''t help but become colder and colder. every word leonel spoke was as though he was looking at an ant, an insignificant figure that would be buried six feet deep in the blink of an eye.

    "now, my patience has run out."

 Chapter 2160 What Right?

    leonel''s body swayed and suddenly vanished into a stream of mist. he looked like an image dashed away by rushing waters, floating away and into the wind as though his body had lost all of its form. he didn''t even bother to respond to anya''s words, the response she received was a danger sign tingling up the length of her spine.

    anya''s expression became unprecedentedly serious, a familiar twin pair of horns appearing on her forehead. there was no doubt that this was the death pulse deer, the highest lineage factor provided by the silver tablet of the dark side of the northern star lineage factors. however, leonel had already seen it once before... he was entirely unmoved.

    bang!

    a scythe appeared in anya''s hands, barely blocking leonel''s fist. even so, she took a strong step backward, her wrists trembling. she felt as though her arms might collapse beneath the strain at any moment, but just when she wanted to use force to stabilize herself, it vanished into thin air, leonel''s fist stripping it from her scythe''s body.

    her body lost control of itself and she was sent flying back. the expressions of the scholars that had formed a circle froze. anya was the greatest genius of their three finger cult, they had never expected for such a thing to happen in just a single exchange.

    leonel appeared above anya, his gaze as cold as an abyssal hell. he didn''t seem to see the gorgeous features revealed under her fluttering veil. if he couldn''t crush this woman, what right did he have to think about helping his father? he felt that she should just die.

    bang!

    leonel''s fist descended. anya tried to block again, but it was entirely worthless. leonel''s arm deformed, countless arms growing out from the right side of his body in a truly grotesque sight. but regardless of how impure and gut-turning it was, what it was most definitely was effective. he didn''t care about looking pretty, he only cared about destroying this woman before him.

    anya''s scythe couldn''t even begin to block them all. her body was barraged by a rain of fists, each one more powerful than the last. her body''s clothing was torn to pieces, her bones breaking and her limbs shattering. before she even hit the ground, she was beaten to a bloody pulp.

    leonel flexed his fists and they vanished one by one until just a single arm was left. wasting his dream force on creating elaborate, reality-warping phenomena was just a waste of stamina. since he could bend reality with his dream force now, he would use it in a way that fool lionel had never considered.

    he stepped through the void, his body appearing above the beaten and broken anya. he rose even higher, his fist raising above his head and multiplying to several times its original size. it wasn''t just a cosmetic change, but rather a multiplicative effect, one that twisted space and dispersed anarchic force.

    "die."

    his fist descended, falling like a meteor from the skies. sparks of flames flew, a cocoon of wind forming around it as it shot downward. anya could barely see straight, but in the final moments, her finger barely twitched, two more figures appearing from within her ring. one moved quickly, appearing before leonel''s fist and crossing his arms.

    bang!

    leonel''s arm trembled for a moment before it suddenly exploded. his bones shattered to pieces, his blood and flesh falling like rain from the skies above. the destruction was so devastating that in one moment, his fist seemed to cover the skies, and in the next, he was left with nothing more than a shoulder stump overflowing with rivers of crimson blood.

    even so, leonel''s gaze didn''t shift in the slightest. one might have thought that it wasn''t his arm that had just been torn to pieces. the second figure that anya had manifested pressed her hands together and cast a light over anya before quickly disappearing. it was clear that she didn''t trust herself to remain safe, so after healing anya, she vanished, not staying behind for even one moment later.

    leonel only took note of this as anya stood. without any more hesitation, he took out his bow as his arm grew back under a mysterious force. he didn''t have the time to waste. he drew his bow and fired.

    anya''s expression changed, but the arrow she thought was aimed for her suddenly vanished. she sighed a slight breath of relief. to her, leonel was clearly targeting the defensive savant that had just protected her, but if he thought it was so easy to deal with him, he would be sorely mistaken. this savant was the oldest in her possession, and also the one with the highest survivability if lionel was ignored. the irony that lionel had long since died to leonel''s hands didn''t settle in until it was far too late.

    anya''s expression, which had just settled, shook once again as she looked down at her ring in horror. but there was nothing she could do.

    crack!

    the ring on her finger, a protective item that carried her greatest trump cards, cracked and then shattered into pieces.

    it was then that it dawned on anya. leonel''s arrow wasn''t aimed at her or the defensive savant. somehow, he had breached the boundaries of reality, peeling back the layer of space that her spatial ring called home and attacking its structure directly. in that moment, it wasn''t just one savant that perished; it was all of them.

    anya didn''t have time to recover before the defensive savant, standing before her in a protective stance, froze. he stood there for a moment, seemingly at peace, before...

    bang!

    his head shattered like a watermelon. this time, in too stunned a state, anya was splattered from head to toe in blood, her pristine image, already shattered by leonel''s fists, falling even further.

    leonel took a step forward, his fist piercing forward. it ripped through anya''s chest as she stood frozen, her body shivering as she looked down at the hole going through her chest.

    "what right do you have to speak to me about morality, what place does trash have to pass judgment on my actions?"

 Chapter 2161 Why?

    leonel waved a hand, his gaze sharpening. he could already feel the movement of the scholars. the only reason they had hesitated was because of velasco. it could be said that velasco was only ignoring them now because they weren''t worth much in the grand scheme, something that was difficult for these ancestors to accept. but that moment of hesitation had actually caused their genius to fall.

    despite this, their reactions were odd. rather than being torn or inconsolable, they were actually... worried? this was an emotion that made sense, but the trouble was that it was a bit misplaced, and it didn''t seem severe enough given the situation.

    anya fell from leonel''s arm.

    seemingly feeling that something was odd, leonel also waved a hand, severing anya''s head from her neck and then sending two fingers forward, a sharp bow force taking shape and attacking the location of her ethereal glabella directly.

    with his current dream force, seeing through this only took a small amount of effort. he wouldn''t make a mistake like he had with amery, missing the ethereal glabella after his first attack.

    however, even after anya''s head shattered, his eyes remained narrowed. the reaction of the scholars was still off.

    that was when it happened.

    a blinding pillar of light rose from the starship in the distance.

    the vessel had been completely ignored by leonel. it was because it was far too impractical for this battle and not nearly powerful enough. if he wanted to make a difference with the starships, he would need a whole fleet of them, but he only had one, not even counting the second and larger of the two.

    in addition, it was better that he did ignore it. after all, his brothers and many of the geniuses of the humans had retreated back to them. not using the starships could count as keeping them out of the line of fire.

    however, there was someone else that was on the starship, a woman that leonel had found practically useless after defeating her...

    harmony.

    harmony was unable to participate in the heir wars because she was only in the sixth dimension and far too weak. of course, that was just by the standards of leonel. compared to other sixth dimensional existence, she was even beyond the so-called cataclysm generation. it was just that leonel and aina were on a completely different level.

    but there was something else that clicked for leonel in that moment. back when he was fighting harmony, there was an odd and sudden boost to her strength that occurred not long after she communicated with anya.

    ''two sides of the same coin...'' leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    from the location where anya''s corpse had collapsed, another pillar of light formed, forcing leonel back a great deal.

    the rage in leonel''s heart was only growing. he wanted this matter to be over and done with, but bullshit kept coming. it was like the world was telling him that his power alone wasn''t nearly enough, as though it was trying to remind him just how insignificant he was.

    the more he thought about it, the more furious he was. he clenched his fists, his pores suddenly dilating and beginning to spew out small streams of flames. his body was completely coated, but he didn''t seem to have noticed at all, his patience wearing thinner and thinner and thinner.

    the two pillars of light combined, a shadow of harmony and a streak composed of anya''s corpse shooting into the skies and melding into one.

    their auras began to soar, growing fiercer and fiercer until they reached the very pinnacle of the seventh dimension, but even this didn''t feel like it was enough to describe it properly. it was an aura no weaker than an ancestor''s despite the level it was stuck out. it felt like anya... or maybe it was harmony... or maybe both... could cross the dimensional barrier and battle it out with ancestors whenever she so pleased.

    anya stood in the skies, power overflowing.

    her horns were twice as large as they had been before, the death force that was under her control spilling over from all sides.

    leonel didn''t even give her more than a glance, his rage continuing to spill over.

    "rise."

    his roar echoed, the corpses of ancestors that had fallen under his father''s might and his own spear beginning to rise out from the ground.

    however, just when it seemed that he would succeed, anya cast a glance downward and her death force fell like a torrent.

    "trying to control death before me? your arrogance will be your downfall," she said lightly.

    the connection leonel had formed was stripped away. it felt like the souls that had just been in the palm of his hands were accelerated on their path to the underworld, not giving them a chance to resurrect at all.

    anya looked toward leonel, seeing the flames raging out of control around him she shook her head. indeed, it seemed that this answer she was going after didn''t matter. clearly, it was already much too late for leonel. it wasn''t a matter of when it would happen anymore, because it already had.

    he felt that the whole world was beneath his notice, as though he could act with naked abandon and not be expected to care for the consequences. he didn''t understand the kind of good work she was trying to do.

    this world was designed to go down a certain path. whether it was leonel''s grandfather, his father, or leonel himself, they all tried to deviate from this path. for the greater good, for the people that called this place home, they had to take a step back, and if they refused to do so...

    they deserved to die.

    she raised her hands to the skies, her palms facing upward. even beneath the carnage of the battle of velasco and the four great families, she seemed to have carved out her own piece of the skies.

    the phantom of a death pulse deer took shape and her aura reached its peak.

    her scythe flew up from the ground as she stretched out a hand.

    without another word, she slashed downward, aiming for nothing more than to take leonel''s hand.

    however, she had only just attacked when she froze, looking down at her chest again.

    why was there an arm in her again...?

 Chapter 2162 Valiance

    leonel looked anya in the eyes, his flaming arm burning through her chest.

    her mouth opened slightly, but nothing other than a puff of black smoke came out. all of her arrogance, all of her condescension, all of the prim and proper words she had spoken, vanished into the wind along with the ashes of her body.

    just because leonel hadn''t used elaborate illusions before, didn''t mean he was incapable of it, it just meant that he couldn''t be bothered to waste his dream force on her. but since she wanted to continue to push and push, speaking as though she was on the same level as him, above him, even, he chose that there was nothing more to do than to properly put her in her place... forever.

    assimilation worked very specifically. it was best used with souls, but if leonel wanted to use it on himself, there were restrictions, namely he had to be compatible with what he was assimilating to receive the best possible results. this didn''t mean that he couldn''t assimilate certain things, but rather that doing so would weaken them a large measure.

    for example, when he assimilated lionel, the results were immediate and extremely powerful. but when he assimilated the force canceling savant, it was much weaker, so much so that he had to be in direct contact with anya''s spear to dispel its strength.

    these restrictions were far lesser when he used them on actual souls, but he clearly wasn''t a soul, he also had a body to filter things through. this was another reason why having a fully separated soul was such an advantage, it gave one the purest chances to be powerful.

    this aside, the combination of an illusion and leonel''s attack was far too much for anya to handle. the moment he got into her range, her strength was meaningless. everything his fist contacted dispelled her force. she didn''t even have a chance to protect herself.

    when he looked toward the scholars this time, their reactions were fierce. this was exactly what he wanted to see.

    clearly, they had known that anya and harmony were truly just a single person. this was none other than anya''s ability index, an interesting method of cheating death. however, this death right here was the truest death... there was simply no coming back.

    "rise." leonel said coldly.

    anya''s ashes had barely dispersed when they were suddenly ripped out of the air, a powerful torrent of violet force rising as she took shape once again.

    a valiant soul of a beauty untouched by blemishes appeared, donning a valkyrie-like armor that seemed to be the only like in the skies.

    "my king!" anya''s voice bellowed as she took a knee in the skies, her face filled with reverence. every ounce of her holier than thou attitude had vanished, replaced by an undying loyalty to battle by leonel''s side until she drew her last breath.

    leonel reacted coldly, looking down on anya without a word as his flames flickered around his body. even so, anya didn''t dare to look up, waiting for leonel''s motion to rise. leonel, however, had his eyes set on the battle in the skies, even the scholars didn''t seem to be worth his attention.

    his father stood amidst a tide of enemies, his aura valiant and not weak in the slightest. he hadn''t suffered even a single injury, but the armor of the silver emperor was beaten and broken, the four members of the great families all had blood trickling down the corner of their lips, and the emperors of the various races were in an even sorrier state, many of them missing limbs.

    even against so many, he seemed to be in a league of his own, using nothing other than fists to crush all that were in his path.

    his laughter rang through the skies, his clothes without a single wrinkle and even his glasses remaining firmly upon his nose as though he was leisurely reading as opposed to fighting a battle to decide the fate of the very human domain.

    however, this sort of scene only made leonel feel more agitated. despite getting beaten back again and again, these people didn''t show any signs of retreat, even the arrogant imperatress anselma had simply fallen into silence, not saying a word.

    leonel didn''t know where this uncomfortable feeling was coming from. he simply wanted the world to burn to the ground.

    it was then that it happened.

    the skies split, a spear appearing for just a moment.

    the instant it did, it had already begun to collapse. it was clear that the laws of this world didn''t allow it to exist, but the residual force that came with it didn''t show any signs of slowing, the lag of the regulator unable to keep up with its speed.

    velasco looked into the skies instantly, a wild grin on his face. he seemed to have expected this, his body glowing with a radiant bronze light.

    he grabbed out with one hand, a spear appearing. with the other, a gauntlet formed swiftly.

    in the blink of an eye, an armor of silver, gold and black took shape. even without the imaging ability of the ancestor hito, this armor was projected all across the dimensional verse as though it was a constellation all to its own.

    the moment before velasco''s helmet took shape and his visor snapped down, whether by coincidence or not, he looked down at his son, a look that leonel had never seen in his life appearing in that moment.

    it was a gaze filled with pride, but this pride wasn''t for himself like it usually was. rather, it was a pride in his seed, in his son, his own flesh and blood.

    it was only an instant, but velasco knew that leonel had seen it.

    "this spear is for my father," velasco said in a voice filled with unprecedented calm.

    his aura soared.

    leonel''s expression changed, his mind working too fast.

    that aura, it surpassed the eighth dimension, it surpassed the state that the regulator felt was tolerable.

    velasco pierced out, the stroke of his blade more beautiful than anything leonel had ever seen in his life.

    the descending force was torn to shreds, but velasco''s spear force continued, piercing through the veil of the skies and tearing toward the one that had attacked.

    a roar of pain echoed. it didn''t sound human. it didn''t sound demonic. it didn''t even sound like it had come from the living.

    golden blood flowed from the skies, dyeing reality in a sheen of death.

    the instant this blade fell, velasco raised his head and laughed to the skies.

    one after another, black chains descended, slapping against his armor and cracking it. a second fell and his armor shattered completely. a third fell and his flesh and bone were nearly torn to pieces.

    it was then that leonel understood. his father didn''t have the same protections against the regulator that the four great families did, and how could he? the four great families were the ones that had created this world, his father was meant to be just another one of their pawns, a pawn that had broken free of their control... until now.

    when the final chain fell, velasco''s spear shattered as well, but his laughter didn''t stop.

    coated in blood, covered in chains, he raised his hand with the last of his strength.

    "son, watch closely."

    he gripped his fist, and another spear appeared. although much weaker than his first, it shone with a radiance no fainter beneath his valiance.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: nah bro....awespec ain''t about to do what i think he''s about to do...nah bro...nah...

 Chapter 2163 Steady Blade

    velasco raised his spear, his gaze red. but it was hard to tell if it was because of his emotions, or if it was because of the blood flowing across every inch of his body, only obstructed by the black chains that layered atop of it. even so, the tip of his spear was as steady as could be.

    maybe one of the first things a new spearman would learn was how to raise and hold their spear. those that learned fast would learn the importance of a steady blade, one unmoved by fatigue and imbalance. it was the foundation of the fundamentals, both the most basic and the most perfect.

    it could be said that there were absolutely no flaws in velasco''s form. when he raised his spear, the world itself grew steady as though influenced by his calm.

    the expressions of the ancestors and four great families changed.

    the silver emperor took action first, moving swiftly. his face as placid as ever, he didn''t seem to notice the danger that stood before him at all, he couldn''t feel the hidden sharpness or the soaring spirit. he moved like a puppet would, emotionless, uninspired, plain and ugly, a contrast so completely against everything velasco stood for.

    velasco took a step forward, his body swaying with weakness, but the tip of his spear just as steady.

    velasco''s spear and that of the silver emperor''s clashed, the latter crumbling to ash.

    it was the simplest of stabs, but it tore a gaping wound in the silver emperor''s shoulder, shredding apart the dominant arm on his spear.

    the others, broken and shaken, realized that they couldn''t stand idly by. they didn''t know what had happened just now, but if things continued like this, there would only be one path remaining for them.

    velasco''s laughter echoed when he saw them coming. the silver emperor was thrown back, a slight tremble of his spear nearly shredding him to pieces.

    he raised his spear with one hand and fixed his glasses with the other, the blood stain that appeared not seeming to impact his vision in the slightest. he moved with a complete lack of agility, a stumbling sort of inelegance that looked like a poor reenactment of a drunken fist. and yet, he swayed out of incoming attacks.

    his spear thrust forward once again, shredding through the head of the nomad emperor. the latter only trembled once before his head burst to pieces, his body collapsing to the ground below.

    vexina of the cloud race crossed her fingers, her cloud figure raising higher and higher into the skies before she suddenly slapped down. her palms seemed to layer atop of one another across time, fusing one another''s afterimages until they suddenly snapped into place and attacked velasco all at once.

    velasco was too slow to react, his body stumbling and broken. he took the full brunt of the attack, but his lips remained in a grin even as more blood seeped through his teeth. he didn''t even move, his back straight and tall.

    it looked as if even the emperors of the various races couldn''t touch the hem of his clothing. but leonel knew that this was simply his father''s pride. he didn''t want to give them the satisfaction. even if it meant taking the full brunt of the attack, never being able to take advantage of his flight to disperse some of the strength, he would still take it head on.

    he was velasco morales. it wouldn''t be these people who gained the right to see his weakness.

    velasco spear thrust forward once again, yet another simple thrust. the blade glided through the air in a steady stream. like beautiful flowing water, moving with the grace of laminar flow, it appeared before the empress''s eyes, severing her face in two.

    her head burst apart, falling to the ground below.

    the tail of the rapax emperor, uh''cerax whipped across at velasco''s waste, its blade shimmering beneath the gold clouded skies. it looked like he had every intention of shredding velasco into two.

    velasco was once again too late to react. the blade cut into his hip, ripping a path toward his spine and seemingly carrying the momentum to split through to the other side. however, just when it was half way through, velasco''s body flashed with a bronze light.

    he once again remained in place, grabbing onto the tail with a steady hand. the expression on his features was one part mocking and another part sinister. he looked down on these so-called emperors from the bottom of his heart, the very depths of his soul.

    his hand squeezed down and pulled. he ripped the rapax''s tail through his body, pulling the uh''cerax closer to him and piercing out with his spear at the same time.

    the rapax''s sturdy carapace was like wet paper.

    every time velasco attacked, another would fall. every time he attacked, it would be the simplest of strikes, they didn''t even seem to carry any force, but the world itself reacted. it was as though he was doing something he never did... he was explaining.

    he was simplifying his strength, dulling it down to its very roots, extricating only the most important points and shedding light where there was once only darkness.

    the silver emperor suddenly appeared once again, having finally flown back from the far off distance he had been stuck in. he closed the distance between velasco and it in the blink of an eye, punching out with its only good remaining arm with an expression as cold as ice.

    velasco was ready this time. the silver emperor was the one he paid the most attention to.

    however, at that moment, ridryn, emperor of the spirituals, had raised his hands high into the skies. a strong, surging, metallic-like earth force took shape as countless hiltless blades appeared, each as powerful as the last.

    with a sway of his hands, they all descended, moving toward velasco the instant he had attacked the silver emperor.

    velasco had expected this, though, and circulated his force in that moment, striking out a palm at the same time as his spear descended. however, midway through his palm strike, his force seemed to have caught a snap in his nodal pathways, a mouthful of blood flowing out of his mouth as his aura was disrupted.

 Chapter 2164 Sona?| Watch Closely.

    velasco''s grin didn''t fade.

    the rapax emperor''s blade had severed quite a number of nodal pathways. he could still deal with it when he was only attacking once, exhibiting a level of control others couldn''t even begin to fathom. but it seemed that two streams were beyond his limit at the moment.

    his spear and palm halted for just a moment before they blasted forward again, but the timing was already off. his spear wasn''t fast enough to repel the silver emperor completely, and his palm wasn''t fast enough to disrupt the casting of the spirituals emperor.

    ridryn couldn''t dodge the palm strike, but he had already sent his attack forward. his tattered golden robes fluttered and solidified, bracing for impact. but even so, he was sent flying into the distance with an even greater speed than his attacks had come.

    the silver emperor''s head shattered completely under velasco''s spear, but his fist energy was now too close for velasco to dodge.

    a hole was blasted through velasco''s chest, causing his body to shudder. his spear tip trembled uncontrollably before his wrist flexed and he stabilized it. his grin subsided somewhat, his mouth parting so that he could gasp for air with what parts remained of his lungs.

    right then, the blades of the spirituals emperor descended, peppering his body through as though it wouldn''t leave a single inch unscathed.

    the four great family experts stood in the far off distance. although there was only a line of blood trickling down the corner of their lips, only they knew how truly ravaged their inner organs were. the only reason they only looked somewhat harmed was because their pride didn''t allow them to show anything more. maybe in a superficial sort of way, they were similar to velasco in that regard. except for the fact that velasco would never rely on numbers like this.

    "this is a worthless waste of our time, those fools died because they''re too stupid," the ninth dimensional expert of the laevis family said. "the moment the regulator''s chains fell without protection he was destined to die. the only difference is whether it''ll be in a few seconds or a few minutes."

    the gazes of the other three flickered, but they didn''t speak. they knew that this was true as well. without the runes they had relied on, it was impossible to survive. those chains weren''t a suppression, they were a death sentence, an execution.

    the fact that velasco was still standing at all was enough to shock them into silence. they had been stunned enough that they hadn''t even dared to move.

    but the reason they didn''t leave was also due to pride. they wanted to take this man who had humiliated them down with their own hands.

    seeing him standing there, his spear tip no longer able to remain steady, a hole in his chest, his gaze lowered and dark, they felt that this was the most perfect opportunity they could ever have. and yet, none of them dared to move.

    imperatress anselma didn''t dare to move either, but she was so agitated the veins bulged across her forehead. she wasn''t a patient person and had never been humiliated like this in her life, how could she take such a thing lying down?

    suddenly, she remembered something.

    her gaze shifted and landed on leonel who was standing in a complete daze. his eyes were blank, his body so relaxed it looked like it could collapse at any time, he truly looked as though he was in the greatest state of shock he had ever experienced.

    ''son?'' anselma''s gaze turned sinister.

    she raised a palm. "dead man, before you go. take a nice look as your son dies."

    anselma had already struck as she spoke. she wanted to see velasco''s despair, but she also didn''t dare to stay even a moment longer. she, along with the other three, all activated their own treasures, their bodies already beginning to fade by the time her words had echoed out.

    "both father and son will die together, what a fairy tale."

    anselma''s disdainful words echoed through the skies as she finally vanished.

    velasco looked up, his gaze bloodshot. this time, it wasn''t due to the pouring blood of his body, but rather because he had truly reached the end of his limits, but he had yet to do everything he needed to. there were still far too many scholars still left alive, and now his son was in harm''s way.

    "so long as i breathe..." velasco said lightly. "... there is no one that can stop my spear."

    velasco raised his spear once again, the trembling tip becoming as straight as a javelin, as steady as a mountain, as undeniable and eternal as the starry skies themselves.

    he spoke the words with a steady voice.

    in his life, he had always taken his own path. he had disregarded much of the morales'' teachings and built his own. he had ignored the ways of the void palace and set out to see the world at his own pace. he had ventured across the dimensional verse and unearthed the secret of worlds. his blade was unmatched and his legend unblemished. the only shame was that he had been born in the wrong place.

    even when it came to his spear, he had refused to take on his own father''s teaching. but it was unironic, in these last moments, when he spoke those words, he felt the spirit of his own father. that beautiful sort of harmony of words, a symphony of syllables that caused the world to tremble one final time.

    so long as i breathe...

    ... there is no one that can stop my spear.

    velasco thrust out his spear once more, his absolute domain expanding to the point it seemed to encompass the whole of the dimensional verse. everyone, no matter who they were, felt the boundless vastness of velasco''s heart.

    it was imprinted into every soul. that unbridled arrogance, the confidence to stand atop of the world and to look down on everything, and most importantly... that fiery, undying will to protect his son.

    it wasn''t just his spear that transferred through space this time, but even his body.

    his tall back appeared before his son as he thrust his spear one final time.

    his voice, spoken several minutes ago, echoed through time as well, filling leonel''s ears.

    son... watch closely.

 Chapter 2165 The Weight Of A Fathers Love

    velasco''s spear descended, the last of his force piercing through the world.

    everything in its path was shredded to pieces, nothing it touched could remain unscathed. it was a strike that carried the purity of fatherhood, casting light onto the shadows and brightness upon the dark. even compared to the strike he had used to kill king, velasco knew that this was the greatest spear strike he had ever levied in his life.

    it was his greatest pride.

    anselma''s attack never touched even a single hair on leonel''s head.

    velasco fell into silence, the last echo of his laughter filling the skies. his spear was steady, his back was straight. but at that moment, his pair of glasses, a pair that he had begun to wear the day his son was born, and did until this very day, fell from his nose, clicking as it landed on the ground below.

    at that moment, the seemingly normal pair of glasses began to flash with images. one after another, memories that even leonel could only barely seem to remember began to play through their lenses.

    he saw his father pick him up with the biggest smile on his face. it was the first time he had seen his son. he had never thought that he would want children in his life, but he had actually found a woman that he truly loved, a woman that he respected, and she had repaid that trust with the most beautiful of little boys.

    he saw the absolute fury of his father after his innate node was taken away. his father, who never seemed to care about his safety at all, almost destroyed the planet entirely. if not for the pleading of his grandmother, and the state of sickness his mother was in after giving birth to him, having only just barely begun to recover after their trip, the luxnix family would have been wiped from the face of the earth at that time.

    he watched as his father got used to raising a baby on his own. this confident man, unmoved and untouched by everything, couldn''t even seem to put a diaper on properly. he read the instructions again and again, looking back and forth between a small, giggling leonel and the package in his hands, stumped at what to do.

    he could see the change as he grew older. he saw his father fighting with himself to be sterner, to be stricter. he bundled up his care and affection, storing it away. he bought leonel his first bike and watched from the side, cross-armed and unmoved as the small leonel tried and failed to ride it again and again, refusing to lend a helping hand.

    what leonel hadn''t seen was his father bandaging his wounds in his sleep, carefully cleaning them so that they wouldn''t be infected, and changing his bandages so that they wouldn''t bleed through.

    he watched as his father poured over dense texts, how he spent years in the lab, subordinating himself to scientists that he could have killed with the snap of the finger all for the sake of learning a discipline that didn''t exist in the wider dimensional verse, all so that he could fully design the vomit brew leonel had drank every day for more than a decade of his life.

    the images flashed faster and faster, seemingly having no intention of stopping. and when they got to the end, they looped again, and then again, and then again. on constant repeat. even after such a battle, they didn''t have even the slightest crack on them. it was impossible to tell just how much effort velasco had put into crafting them.

    these glasses were something that velasco had created so that alienor could watch leonel grow up. stuck in the void palace, there was no other way for her to experience her son''s growth than to do this. at least this was what velasco had told leonel.

    but there was an obvious flaw in his story. leonel''s mother had long since left the void palace, and velasco had long since left leonel''s side. so...

    why did he still wear the glasses that he clearly didn''t need?

    velasco''s back was all leonel could see. the vastness of the world around him seemed so minuscule in the face of his father''s figure, completely meaningless and without the slightest sense of importance.

    "dad," leonel called out, his dazed gaze seemingly having regained some of its focus. he called out to his father, hoping that he would answer, hoping that he would turn around, hoping that it was another one of his practical jokes.

    another voicemail prank, that was definitely what it was. he just decided to up the ante a little bit because he was getting too good at seeing through them. that must be it.

    "dad. it''s not funny, the joke is played out... old man."

    leonel reached forward and touched his father''s back, pushing forward.

    his dad didn''t budge even an inch. strong and steady, an ancient mountain unmoved by wear and tear.

    but when leonel touched his father, he felt like a jolt had been sent through his body. he looked down at his palm, a thick, sticky liquid dripping down it. it felt as though he had dunked his hand into a bucket of red paint, he couldn''t even see a single inch of his own skin, there was just blood and more blood, endless and continuously flowing without pause.

    "old man i swear to god if you don''t turn around right now i''ll never talk to you again!"

    leonel had never been so enraged in his life. he had never reacted to his father''s pranks like this, even after he made fun of him after his and aina''s breakthrough, he had at most smiled bitterly. but right now, he was truly enraged. this was too far, much too far.

    he grabbed his father''s shoulder and pulled hard, but he still didn''t move.

    leonel spun around his father''s body, his expression livid, but his lip trembling uncontrollably.

    it was then he saw it.

    that indifferent smile. those pride filled eyes. that spear as steady and calm as the surface of a lifeless lake.

    there was nothing else.

    there was no breath. no light.

    leonel''s world crumbled.

    his tears fell, his gaze turning entirely crimson.

    a banshee-like screech echoed across the dimensional verse, the void battlefield shattering into countless asteroid-sized pieces of rock.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: *sighs*....

 Chapter 2166 DIE! DIE! DIE!

    leonel''s roar was akin to nothing that had ever been heard before. the pain and devastation were undeniable, but it was more than just that; it was a fury toward everything, a fury that burned within the deepest reaches of his very being, a fury that wanted to destroy everything in his path.

    a violent wave of dream force spread out in all directions. it was a wave the likes of which should have only been able to be produced by a universe, a wave so large and all-encompassing that it was entirely inescapable.

    that was the most shocking part of it all. the void battlefield wasn''t destroyed under some mysterious strength, nor was it some physical force; it was destroyed for no other reason than leonel''s will descending down, wanting to see everything in his path destroyed to the greatest degree.

    the void palace crumbled to the ground, the surrounding solar systems and galaxies quaked, even the anarchic force before leonel, the arbitrator of destruction, the force of the strongest beast of devastation to ever exist, crumbled to ashes.

    leonel''s twin pair of scarlet star force innate nodes erupted with a blinding light, tearing a pair of holes through leonel''s body and forming two burning flames on either side of his hip. cracks began to appear in his skin, jagged and grotesque, and colored in red and gold.

    it looked as though a virus was taking root in his body, but leonel himself only seemed to continue to roar into the air.

    at that moment, within the deepest depths of his mind, a figure sunken into a lake of blood was collapsed face first within without even the smallest sign of movement. the chains that had bound him had already long since shattered, but this didn''t seem to have been enough to stir him awake. right then, though, his finger twitched.

    the dream force erupting from leonel doubled.

    the figure stirred once again.

    the dream force erupting from leonel doubled once more.

    it was impossible to measure just how large the difference was getting. leonel had already somehow awakened his dream force to a level that surpassed a savant despite not being a savant himself. but now, it seemed to be that he was pushing even further beyond those bounds, his limits impossible to see.

    the stronger his dream force grew, the more violent the destruction around him became. even the scholars were forced to rapidly retreat, the shock on their faces evident. they hadn''t moved initially just to make certain that velasco was dead, but the moment they had the intention to do so, it looked as though leonel had completely lost his mind.

    they looked down at the battlefield before them, their minds shaken.

    the void battlefield was the strongest land in all of existence. it withstood the wear and tear of anarchic force for countless years. while it was possible for them as ancestors to cause sweeping damages to it, that was still greatly limited by both breadth and depth.

    however, right this moment, they could see through to the end of the void battlefield entirely. leonel hadn''t just shattered a top layer; he had shattered the entire thing.

    leonel''s body continued to warp and change. the more the figure stirred, the more furious his roar became.

    the images projected to the rest of the human domain simply couldn''t hold up. they only had time to see leonel''s head tilt up into the skies and for a howl the likes of which they had never experienced before to suddenly bellow forth before the images crumbled completely.

    their only conclusion was that this destruction had to do something with leonel, but they had no way to confirm this, and their greater logic told them that this simply didn''t make any sense at all.

    leonel, however, wasn''t in a state to care about the thoughts and feelings of others. the more the figure in the pool of blood stirred, the more violent his thoughts became.

    his body grew a size, and then another, until he was eventually over three meters tall.

    horns that seemed as red as blood in one light, and as dark as night in another, grew from his forehead, piercing toward the skies above. his skin, cracked by violent streaks of scarlet star force that looked like the tracks of molten rock, began to be covered in scales of alternating red and violet.

    if it wasn''t for the fury on his face, it might even be possible to say that he was a truly beautiful creature. every line of his scales was clearly defined, carved of the most gorgeous of gems, and carrying the reflection of the world within. the pulsing veins of scarlet star force that flew through them only made them look more exotic and accentuated their beauty all the more.

    his hair had grown into a flowing river of twinkling violet-red light, seeming to have neither shape nor form. it looked as though he had stepped out from a dream.

    but leonel didn''t want beauty.

    he wanted death.

    he wanted destruction.

    leonel''s body vanished, his howl lingering in the air without the slightest hint of disappearing.

    the scholars felt their hearts jump into their throat, but it was already much too late.

    they didn''t even realize when leonel had appeared before them. it was as though he had always been there, as though he had twisted reality to make it so. he didn''t need to move; he just needed to change reality into what he saw fit, and it would be.

    his claw swung out in a slapping motion and caught the jaw of a scholar that tried to dodge. the strength behind his swipe was so fierce and all-pervading that the scholar''s head twisted on his neck, not stopping until it had completed three revolutions.

    by the time he had fallen to the ground, dead, leonel had already appeared before four more scholars, killing them all as though he was shredding trash apart.

    "die! die! die!"

    for every word he spoke, yet another planet in the far-off distance would crumble to ashes.

 Chapter 2167 Ceased To Be

    2167 ceased to be

    leonel''s howls descended onto the whole of the dimensional verse. those that were lucky enough to not be destroyed took cover, dodging out of the way of shattering glass windows and collapsing buildings. but the one thing they couldn''t escape from was that sound, that howl that would haunt their dreams for decades to come, and even worse than that... the events that would happen afterward.

    the blood of scholars dripped from leonel''s fingers. his mouth had long since closed, but his howls continued to sustain. it was clear that these roars came not from his voice, but his very soul, an entrenched and impossibly deep pain that resonated through his very being.

    it wasn''t enough, it wasn''t nearly enough. there hadn''t been enough death, not enough destruction. he needed more, he wanted more. he wanted to feel more blood drip between his fingers, more bones cracking beneath his claws, more cries of despair to drown out his own.

    he flashed and vanished, his steps moving impossibly quickly, and yet not at all. reality warped around his being, and every movement he made was like another step on the hearts of those that were sitting and waiting... waiting to see just who he would target.

    the cloud domain was in shambles. the existence of an emperor to their race was like a pillar that held up the skies. it was impossible that they wouldn''t know about her death immediately, especially since they were so skilled in matters of the mind and soul.

    they were in a state of both chaos and mourning when leonel''s howls reached them.

    the broadcast to the human domain had not been sent to them, so they had no idea about what had happened. only the highest echelons understood the mission their empress had been on, and they had known the risks. but seeing the price they had to pay made it extremely tough to swallow. now they had the responsibility to calm down the masses.

    what they didn''t know is that they might never get the chance to.

    leonel hadn''t chosen the cloud race out of malice, he simply chose the closest domain he could. there was a reason the cloud race had been able to infiltrate them so deeply. he cared about nothing other than making the world suffer.

    he walked through the starry skies, walking across impossible distances. every planet he walked by, whether inhabited or not, crumbled to ash. it took nothing more than a ripple of dream force and everything else followed naturally.

    he moved even faster than a starship could fathom. the news of the death and destruction spread fast, but not faster than his steps. often times the news would come long after the planet had already shattered to pieces. the death count was already quickly approaching the hundreds of billions, and then began to push the trillions.

    these lower level planets simply didn''t stand a chance against him, and the barriers that protected lower level worlds from higher level existences entering them seemed to be entirely useless against leonel.

    he crossed into fourth dimensional worlds, fifth dimensional, crossed that and entered seventh dimensional worlds before going back down to sixth, seamlessly and without issue.

    the world was his to command.

    the eighth dimensional world of the cloud race quickly got word of what was happening, their expressions warping violently. they didn''t know about leonel, they only believed that velasco had survived and was now seeking revenge.

    however, the who didn''t particularly matter. their race was taking devastating losses every minute that this continued, they had to do something. but their preparation didn''t mean a single thing.

    leonel appeared in the skies above their capital, his howls growing so loud that many died just from the sound itself. it discriminated against no one, laying waste to everything in its path. many died with their ears and eyes bleeding, their internal organs shattered to pieces.

    dozens of ancestors began to appear in the skies one after another, many more rushing in from other worlds in order to close in on the gap.

    leonel raised his hand. his scarlet star flames roared out of control.

    he was enveloped in a ball of fire that expanded wildly. it surged out in all directions as the fine seals on his second scarlet force innate node completely shattered, forming two enormous ninth dimensional innate nodes in each one of his kidneys.

    he didn''t even need to face the members of the cloud race. he fell like a meteor, crashing through their planet and straight to the core of their world. his flames erupted like a roaring tempest, taking over the magma veins of their world and causing all of their volcanoes to erupt all at once.

    the ancestors rushed after leonel, but an eighth dimensional world wasn''t something that even they as ancestors could ignore. leonel using their natural phenomena to attack them was like killing two birds with one stone, destroying their most important world and killing their most valuable citizens all at the same time.

    the eyes of the cloud race ancestors went red, but they didn''t realize that this wasn''t leonel sparing them, nor was it him avoiding them because he couldn''t face them. they were too used to being infallible, they didn''t realize just how much danger they were in...

    until it was too late.

    they weren''t able to react at all when it happened. all they saw was a sea of red and then the life that they had been so proud of was entirely snuffed out.

    leonel''s shadow appeared within a surging geyser of magma. his fist was raised into the air, but it was already on its way back to his hip as his second pierced forward.

    the speed of his punches felt both slow and somehow impossibly fast at the same time. every time he punched, another flare of red-gold would form, burning the bodies of the surrounding ancestors to ash.

    he punched again and again, even after they had all died he was entirely relentless, his furious howls echoing through the skies.

    that day, the cloud race of the dimensional verse ceased to be as it was once known.

    .

 Chapter 2168 Two Sons.

    2168 two sons.

    the shock of this matter wouldn''t truly settle in until much later. it was simply far too unfathomable, and worse than that, it was almost impossible for news to spread from domain to domain. while the cloud race had infiltrated the humans, this was a very rare instance of taking advantage of a very unique talent.

    however, there was one matter that couldn''t be hidden, a matter so shocking that it wasn''t a mere simulation that would be astonished, but rather the entirety of the cataclysm zone. or, more accurately... the vast bubble.

    the location was deep within the vast bubble, a region where only powerhouses could hope to step foot. the deeper one was, the more powerful the demonic attacks one would face would be. these sorts of places were rife with resources, but there was only a collection of a very few that would dare to step into this territory.

    this place was one where the four great families thrived, the brazinger family, the laevis family, the adurna family, and the crudus family.

    soon after vanishing, it was this location that imperatress anselma and the others returned to. this was the place they called home. but what they didn''t expect was that the phenomena of golden blood filling the skies that had taken hold of the human domain and the void battlefield, would be even more exaggerated in this location, so much so that even they, who were quickly replenishing their strength as ninth dimensional existences, suddenly felt far too suffocated to breathe.

    their expressions changed one after another because they knew exactly what this sort of thing meant, but they couldn''t bring themselves to believe it. it was unfathomable to them, something that they were entirely unwilling to accept... it was a true death.

    when one entered the ninth dimension, they would practically become infallible to all others except other ninth dimensional existence. but even then, a ninth dimensional existence was extremely difficult to kill, so much so that they had to be classified in terms of false deaths and true deaths.

    a ninth dimensional existence was more than just their being, they were also the sum of their comprehension. given enough time, it was possible for a ninth dimensional existence to regain their life slowly, even though their consciousness was indeed dead, or rather, in this case, dormant.

    this would be considered a false death. but, when that line was crossed, and there was no return at all, it would become a true death, a death whereupon there would be no coming back, no slow retrieval process, no chance at survival...

    when this happened, all the sum of what a ninth dimensional expert had been would be released back to the universe. the strength of such an existence was truly unfathomable, especially when they reached a certain level that allowed them to look down upon even most other ninth dimensional existences.

    there should have been only two ways to kill an existence like this and force them into a true death, and both of those ways should have only been related to a single existence... a regulator. either such an existence had to offend a regulator in some way, or they had to be attacked by a person who could circumvent or supersede the rules of a regulator, but such existence were either legend or acting in small bubble worlds.

    in reality, the death of such an existence was a great boon. it would give many others a chance to rise.

    but to the four great families that wanted to be in control of everything, this was the worst-case scenario... and for more reasons than just this.

    a supreme of the human race had just died, and not long ago, the final seal on the barrier had shattered. the vast bubble was on its deathbed.

    they all paled at once, because they also came to another realization. the person that had died... there couldn''t be such a coincidence in this world. there was no doubt that this person was king, the strongest expert of the vast bubble, an existence unfathomable to them and the only reason they would lower themselves to enter that small world...

    the creator of the dream project, the man who loomed in the shadows of the dream pavilion, a bestower of abilities, a man even called god by others... had died to the single spear of such an insignificant existence...?

    they had seen the spear strike. they had seen the blood. they had heard the cry of pain and unwillingness.

    however, the legend of this man was so firmly imprinted into their hearts that they never once considered the idea that he might die, at the very worst an extremity of his was injured and he had roared out in humiliation... but dead?

    their bodies shivered from head to toe.

    such a man was killed by a single spear stroke, one stroke of the blade, a single chance in an infinitesimally small window of opportunity... all at the hands of a man who had been forced to suppress himself at the eighth dimension and only suddenly broke through in that one brief instant.

    how was this possible?

    no, the answer to this question didn''t even matter, what would they do now? how would they respond to this situation? the demons were already coming, demons that they couldn''t even fathom defeating. the so-called rankings that they had formed were nothing more than a political plow to trick the smaller families of the vast bubble to believe them to be infallible, the only existences at the very top. it was what the great families were best at, manipulating public opinion and pulling everyone along on puppet strings.

    but now the real demons were coming, the truest of the demons, the most powerful of them... and the one man that should have been their frontier of hope had died...?

    to a single spear?

    the plight of the vast bubble took a shuddering pause as they came to a realization. velasco had never cared about them. they were entirely insignificant in his eyes. he had only wanted one thing... revenge against the man that had killed his family.

    at that moment, a howl filled with grief and indignation echoed through their reality and they shivered from head to toe. the first son they had enraged had killed their greatest expert. and now his son after him, even though they didn''t quite realize it now, would become an even worse nightmare than the first.

    .

 Chapter 2169 Possible?

    lood dripped from leonel''s claws.

    a sea of beasts stood before him, but there was a single one that wasn''t prostrated to the ground, quaking in fear. beasts always had a higher sensitivity to certain things. with their intelligence being lower on average, they relied almost entirely on instinct to reach the level they had. but that was also their downfall. while they were more instinctual and thus speedier in improvement, they, who should have been maybe the greatest challenge to leonel, couldn''t even raise their heads.

    they bowed them low to the ground, not even looking up as their hearts were ripped from their chests, as their heads were severed from their necks, as their blood was forced to run in reverse and their inner organs ruptured within their bodies.

    every step leonel took, millions would die. by the time he had walked through to the end of the beast domain, he had no idea how many he had killed, nor did he care. but his steps showed no signs of stopping, entering the nomad race domain with those very same slow and yet impossible fast steps. it was as though nothing in this world could stop him from massacring all that there was.

    the nomad race, being the third furthest away, had already felt that something was wrong. after their emperor had fallen, they had been alerted as well and were quickly trying to deal with and handle the situation. when the howls began, their entire population was shaken and it made it much harder to control the situation. how could the common nomad not believe that the end of the world was coming? first their emperor had died, and now they were facing an unknown enemy whose enraged howls made their blood curdle.

    they sent out scouts to gain an understanding of the situation, but without fail, each and every single one of them died, whether it was a mere seventh dimensional existence, or a monstrous existence of the eighth dimension, it was all the same.

    it was then they understood just the level of danger they were in. rather than being caught off guard like the cloud race had been, they hurried to evacuate. they didn''t have full information on what had happened, but the snippets that they had caught from the messages sent back by their people was more than enough for them to understand just the kind of monster they were facing.

    the faces of those of the upper echelon warped. not all of them had been on board with the actions of their emperor, but he was too much stronger than them. usually when he made a decision, they could only nod along. none of them had thought that such a decision would put their race on the brink of annihilation. but that was the harsh reality facing them all.

    "gregwyn, that is enough nonsense. i told you to go, so go!"

    gregwyn, the little prince of the nomad race, was speechless. he had never been reprimanded like this in his life. he was usually quite a laid-back person, and hadn''t done much even during the domain war, but he was a genius for a reason. when he saw his race losing in such humiliating fashion, the first thing he had wanted to do was go out to seek revenge.

    but before he could do that, he was sent back here. and then, before he could even get over the first humiliation, their entire race was evacuating? to where exactly? this was their home, their domain, what the hell was this?

    unfortunately, he didn''t get a chance to say anything more. with a wave of the ancestor''s hands, he was sent away with the others. as for where, even gregwyn wasn''t aware.

    not long after he disappeared, the ancestor stood in the skies with those that had chosen to remain. it was simply impossible to evacuate everyone, they knew quite well that their people were still being massacred. those from fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh dimensional worlds simply didn''t stand a chance even if they had chosen to evacuate.

    this sort of humiliation wasn''t something that they could forget even given an entire lifetime. as such, they had chosen to remain behind. whether to appease the rage in their own hearts, or for the sake of hoping that their deaths would appease the monster that was coming for them, both seemed like viable reasons for these old men and women to hold their heads high.

    and then they saw it.

    they didn''t know what they had expected. they had thought of the legend of void beasts and thought that maybe one had gone on a rampage. they had also considered velasco, thinking that the failure of their emperor was tied to his success and willingness for revenge.

    what they hadn''t expected was for the creature before them to be so beautiful, so utterly mesmerizing. if it wasn''t for the blood that ran from its claws, they would have felt like they were in a wonderful dream, one they didn''t want to extricate themselves from.

    however, this wasn''t a dream. it was nothing more than a nightmare.

    the ancestor that had sent gregwyn away didn''t even have time to blink once before he found five bloodly claws running through his chest, pinching down and ripping out his ribcage, lung and heart.

    he collapsed to the ground, his consciousness fading. he could only barely listen to the horrible screams of the men and women he had been by the side of for countless centuries. he could distinctly remember each one of their faces with each one of the cries he heard, his chest pulsing even without his heart... that sort of pain went beyond just a physical organ.

    but then he heard that howl once again. it seemed to fade back into his consciousness, and he wondered if his own pain could match up.their emperor had gotten involved in something he never should have, and it seemed that their race would have to pay the price for it.

    the eyes of the ancestor flashed with unwillingness. this sort of monster, could their descendants hide from him...?

    was that even possible...?

 Chapter 2170 Rational

    leonel dropped the final skull from his hands. it looked so small in his palms, so insignificant.

    his head tilted up to the air. the white of his eyes had become entirely violet, his irises a deathly sheen of crimson. his face looked just as demonic as the rest of his body, his vision sharper than it had ever been.

    the ancestor was right to worry; it only took a moment and a single glance for leonel to see through what he wanted to see through. he took a step forward, ready to pursue them, but before he could, his raised foot stopped, slowly lowering back to the ground.

    before him, a man wearing valiant golden armor had appeared. that stalwart face, that determined expression, that complex look, there was only one person it could be. it was none other than leonel''s uncle montez.

    leonel didn''t say anything, he simply looked at the man. he didn''t seem to be in a hurry, time wasn''t an issue. he had all the time in the world to send everyone in this dimensional verse to hell. he didn''t need to use much effort to find them again, and then again. there was no one that could hide from him, nothing.

    "it seems you haven''t lost your rationality," montez said lightly, realizing that his nephew had no intention of speaking to him first.

    he didn''t blame him. he had done nothing as his own elder brother died, but there was truly nothing he could have done. he wasn''t as good as velasco, he wasn''t as strong, he was always chasing after his elder brother''s footsteps, and yet continuously only able to watch him get further and further away.

    leonel had seen that frustration on his uncle montez''s face before. it happened the day he taught him his grandfather''s way of the spear. he had tried to paint a spear, and it had looked beyond perfect in leonel''s eyes. but after he had finished, drained and sweating, montez shredded it to pieces, enraged by the result.

    back then, leonel could tell that if not for the fact his nephew was right before him, montez''s reaction would have been one of even greater frustration.

    not long after that, montez had left leonel to his own devices, going off to who knows where, and now he had suddenly appeared before leonel once again.

    "i''m perfectly rational," leonel spoke slowly.

    his voice carried an edge of biting cold to it that didn''t quite seem to be human. but just hearing it made montez completely shocked. he had truly thought that leonel had completely lost his mind, even the echo of the howl still reverberated in his ears. just to stand so close to leonel, over 50% of his force was used to protect his orifices so that he didn''t vibrate to death.

    but this... this made the reality worse than he had originally thought. he thought that maybe he could try to risk his life to wake leonel up, or maybe help him to awaken enough rationality to stop this madness. but reality was very much different.

    suddenly he understood. the closest domain to leonel hadn''t been the cloud race at all. in reality, it was the human domain. if he had lost his mind, why would he go to the cloud race first and now the human domain? if all he wanted to do was kill indiscriminately, what point would there have been in going so far away? he had never lost his mind at all, he wanted to kill, he knew exactly what he was doing, and he didn''t care much about the innocence of those that fell beneath his blade.

    "leonel, you''re killing women and children."

    "so what?" leonel asked.

    montez didn''t know what to say. he had never been good with words. someone like leonel was already far beyond him in this regard. the only saving grace was that it seemed that leonel didn''t have any intention of killing him, but even that was still up in the air. someone so cold, so distant, so unfeeling... seemed to be the kind of person that could do anything.

    "why not just target those responsible? i''ve heard about what you''ve done in the past before, i know the kind of young man you are. you gave up the chance of having two ability indexes all for the same because you saw the humanity in the child of another race, what you''re doing now is not like you."

    "wrong. i didn''t kill that child because the ability was worthless to me, i had no need for it, it served me no purpose, no function. the trash of the void palace would never be able to match up to me regardless and it was more worth it to gain a favor from the rapax than it was to obtain something i didn''t need."

    montez was shocked by these words. looking into leonel''s eyes, he didn''t know how much of it was true and how much of it was nonsense. but what struck him was that leonel didn''t seem like the type that would lie in this sort of circumstance, what would be the purpose?

    montez shook his head, gritting his teeth.

    he was on his backfoot. he was very much used to interacting with leonel as the one in the superior position, but now he could hardly tell who was the uncle and who was the nephew. he almost felt that leonel had simply casually allowed him to take the lead in the past because he felt that it was what most others would do.

    just how much of his nephew''s personality was real and how much of it was manufactured for the sake of appeasing those around him? how much of his charisma was real versus fake? how many of his actions were just calculated chess moves to make those around him feel the way he wanted them to?

    montez didn''t know what to do or say, his flustered appearance only growing as leonel raised his foot once more to leave.

    suddenly, his mouth opened.

    "aina is pregnant!"

 Chapter 2171 Your Son

    in a deep crevice of the shattered void battlefield, a man laid beaten and broken. he continuously coughed up blood, but he found it very difficult even to move a single inch, let alone escape from this place.

    he had fallen into a fold of reality, albeit on purpose. he knew that his only chance at surviving was to do this.

    the regions between domains were quite volatile, and with the destruction of the void battlefield, the only real stabilizing force, it became even worse.

    these so-called folds of reality weren''t just pockets of space, or else there was exactly zero chance that leonel would have missed a chance to kill this man. that was because this man was none other than the emperor of the spirituals race, ridryn.

    it had to be remembered that folds of reality were the substance used to protect lower level worlds, and they were also what were used to keep third dimensional and yet to mature worlds away from the devastation of the wider dimensional verse.

    in doing so, the dimensional verse was able to keep things organized and separated, and the regulator was able to maintain its control.

    this wasn''t a normal fold of reality, it was one found in the void battlefield. it was stronger than most and it was highly layered. ridryn had allowed himself to fall through three, nestled within one another. maybe if leonel had been specifically looking for him, he would have found him. but leonel''s opinion of his father was far too high, in his mind, ridryn could only be dead.

    of course, leonel had been thinking too much. velasco had been heavily injured and he had also only attacked with a single palm strike. in addition, ridryn was most proficient in defense as he was a metal type spiritual. if velasco had used his spear, there would have only been one result, but he had to use it on the puppet of the silver emperor at the time.

    ridryn shook his head. he knew he stood no chance to get out on his own, and this kind of injury wasn''t something that he could deal with easily.

    usually, he would just cast this body away and rebuild a new one. of course, such a thing would take a ridiculous amount of resources, but he was an emperor. even if he didn''t want to waste the resources, his people would never allow him to give up on himself like that.

    the issue was that velasco was truly sinister. something about that palm strike had not only heavily injured him, it had likewise heavily injured his soul, while simultaneously binding him to this body. right now, he was like any other human. if his body died now, he would die. he had no choice but to call for help.

    ridryn had no idea how long passed. it was impossible to tell the length of time while stuck in a fold of reality, but eventually a spiritual did come. when he saw who it was, he couldn''t help but relax. it was his pride and joy, the best of his children.

    a young man stepped into the fold of reality, his body protected by a mysterious flickering chain around his neck. his expression changed when he saw the state of his father, but he didn''t say much as he came forward, helping him up slowly.

    if leonel had been here, he would have recognized this young man with incredible ease. it was none other than the very same young man he had seen projected from the bow domain tower.

    it was only right for the young man to be shocked. he hadn''t expected that his father could ever end up in such a state.

    "let''s return, rhangyl."

    "are you going to be alright, father?"

    "yes, i just need-"

    ridryn froze.

    he looked down at his chest, only to find that an arm had gone through it. he couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    he hadn''t thought much about who he asked to come back, he trusted everyone in his race, his position had always been unshakeable. although it was a bit weird that his son would come of all people, he didn''t think twice about it, that was because even if he trusted everyone, how could he trust anyone more than his own flesh and blood.

    but of all the outcomes, he had never expected this one.

    "i don''t know why you felt the need to lie to me, father," rhangyl said lightly. "i can see through your state with a glance. your soul has been fused to your body, you''ll be a cripple for the rest of your life. you''ve served the spirituals for long enough, it''s time for you to rest."

    "i..." ridryn''s consciousness began to quickly fade. "... didn''t try to lie to you, i only wanted..."

    ridryn collapses, dead. he only wanted to tell his son that he hadn''t tried to lie to him, he had just wanted to continue his front as a powerful father, unflappable and unmovable. but he didn''t know that that image had already crumbled the instant rhangyl had seen his state.

    ridryn looked down at his father''s corpse. there was truly no better opportunity than this; it was as though a pie had fallen from the skies.

    he looked away and at the object in his hands. with a flick of his finger, the flesh and blood vanished, leaving behind nothing but a gorgeous, golden innate node.

    rhangyl was the very same legendary genius that wise star order had spoken about, the boy born with not just one, but nine innate nodes.

    what others didn''t know was that rhangyl wasn''t satisfied with this, that was because he was just a single innate node away from accomplishing something that would flip this world on its head. not only did he need a tenth, but he needed this very innate node in his hand.

    if he could have taken it from someone else, he would have... the trouble was that even though innate nodes were less rare amongst spirituals, that was only for the base and lower elements. this variant earth type innate node was special and had only appeared once in their history.

    and now, it was his.

    "don''t worry father. the fact that you ended up in this state could only mean that your potential wasn''t enough to stand atop of this world. if you can''t even conquer this world, then how insignificant would you be in the next?

    "your son will carry on this burden for you."

 Chapter 2172 Better Lie?

    leonel lowered his leg once again and looked toward his uncle. he didn''t say anything for a long while, and neither did montez. it was completely silent, the scent of blood raising through the air as the countless corpses continued to bleed out.

    "i can give you another chance to come up with a better lie," leonel said lightly.

    montez''s lip twitched, but he didn''t know what to say. he knew nothing about aina''s ability. in fact, the last time he had seen aina was the last time he had seen leonel. he had never actually been to earth before, and when he first met leonel, it had been nothing more than a projection. as such, when would he have even had a chance to see aina recently at all, let alone know before leonel that she was pregnant?

    montez had been around the battlefield when everything happened. he felt that velasco was too arrogant, arrogant even to the point of disrespecting their own father by refusing to take on his legacy when he was clearly so much better suited for it than montez himself. but how could montez not understand the inner turmoil within velasco? there was a point in the latter''s life where he didn''t care about anything other than gaining his father''s approval.

    the truth was that despite the love that montez and velasco had for their own father, he hadn''t been the best parent. the loss of their mother had led ishmael down a road that seemed to have no reward at all, and though he never directly took it out on his two boys, he drifted away and apart from them until the day they received news of their death.

    montez and velasco reacted very differently to this news. back then, montez had only been in the sixth dimension. his progress was so much more similar to the cataclysm generation than it was to his genius of an elder brother. he couldn''t do anything but lash out and rage within the confines of his own home.

    velasco, however, had strength, true strength. he left without saying a word and began to rampage, shedding blood all across the human domain. it was much different than what leonel was doing now, but the difference was that velasco had grown up within a power clan, he understood the inner workings and politics much more intimately than leonel did. as such, he was far more interested in making those traitorous bastards die.

    the reality was that the only reason the void palace had survived to this point was because velasco had already killed all those he had evidence for. he had gathered much more evidence in recent years, but he never took action because he had a bigger target in mind, the real mastermind, the man who called himself king.

    that event and the things that occurred afterward caused montez to build up a lot of resentment. he felt that he was too useless, too small and insignificant in the face of his brother. he felt that as a son he should have had a part in revenge for his father, but he never got the chance, and he took that failure out on both himself and his brother... even with his wife, he couldn''t even bring himself to give her a child, that sort of trauma carrying forward and suffocating him.

    but watching his elder brother die the way he had had broken him. not only had he lost the man who likely understood him more than anyone else, he had once again been far too weak to even participate and could only stand there and watch. even afterward, he was too weak to stop his own nephew. he had only barely managed to catch up because leonel had spent so much time slaughtering. and even now, he couldn''t seem to come up with a good reason.

    montez took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he exhaled. he regained his calm slowly and opened his eyes.

    "your father wanted me to give you something, please come with me. show me some respect as your uncle."

    leonel remained silent. he looked off into the distance. he had enough time to slaughter the dimensional verse to his heart''s content, but if he returned to the human domain now, this form would definitely vanish, and he would fall into a state of dormancy again.

    the moment he awakened this form, he remembered what had happened that day in the void tower. he had entered this state back then, but he had completely forgotten it. this wasn''t because something had happened to him, but rather because his mind''s capacity in this state was far too vast.

    if his mind out of his state was a grain of sand, the current him was an entire beach. just a single second of thought was more than what he had pondered upon his entire life in his other form. as such, when he reverted back, his mind didn''t have enough space for all of that information, so it was completely forgotten by him.

    his best understanding was that this was some sort of latent, hidden lineage factor within himself that he couldn''t fully access. he didn''t feel that this was just the nature of the lineage factor. rather, he felt that someone had messed with his body, causing it to be like this.

    his first thought was his father. after all, that time he passed out in the rapax nest, aina had told him that his father had done something to his body. but... he wasn''t so sure, and after seeing his uncle in this state, he realized that his skepticism was correct.

    leonel raised a hand, and his uncle''s body suddenly flew toward him. montez''s expression changed, but it was already too late. leonel''s claws ripped through his chest, tearing by his divine armor as though it wasn''t there at all, and piercing his heart from five locations all at once, squeezing down without mercy.

    occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2173 Played

    montez looked toward his nephew, but he didn''t quite seem to recognize him anymore. that cold gaze that looked down at him without a single word, as though his life was just as worthless as all the others he had killed... it was heartbreaking.

    but montez only felt this for a moment before his consciousness began to fade.

    just when it seemed that his death was imminent, montez''s body suddenly erupted with strength. his force nodes were forcefully expanded, and the nodal pathways between them doubled in size, and then doubled again.

    at the same time, his divine armors shattered one after another until, under a mysterious force, his soul was forcefully separated from his body. but rather than being pulled out entirely, it rather felt that he had gained a great amount of clarity in an incredibly short period of time.

    leonel pulled his claw back, allowing his uncle to fall to the ground.

    montez''s aura continued to grow explosively, as though all of his potential was being unearthed all at once. leonel observed all of this silently, as though he was watching a science experiment of sorts. he wanted to see what the result would be.

    soon, his uncle actually began to change as well, a familiar set of dense scales, beautiful and radiant, took shape. very quickly, he became a beautiful creature not much different than leonel. in fact, he was taller and more magnificent, his power clearly beyond that of leonel''s. the difference, however... was that montez had been fully awakened while leonel''s lineage factor was clearly very much still in a dormant state.

    this much was obvious, though. even in this state, leonel was completely unable to fully awaken himself, and yet he had done so with ease for his uncle.

    montez collapsed to the ground, heaving for breath. his scales and horns quickly retreated, his body drenched in sweat. clearly, he couldn''t stay in that state for very long. but inwardly, he was completely astonished.

    he kept his divine armor activated for every second of his life, rarely taking it off. it was a training method for his body, and one he took pride in since it was created by his father. but just a second in that form had left him completely gassed, he could barely find enough air to breathe.

    he looked up at leonel, slowly getting to his feet, not because he had the energy to, but rather because his pride wouldn''t allow him to stay down.

    "what did you just do to me?"

    "what did i do?" leonel mumbled. "the better question is what did i just undo. i didn''t do anything, i just awakened what was already in you."

    "in me? that''s impossible. i''ve spent too long analyzing my body to..."

    montez trailed off because leonel didn''t even seem to be listening. it was as though he was in another world, thinking about something else entirely.

    but montez felt that he was correct. he was the only one who knew how much effort he had put into improving; it was impossible that he wouldn''t have found such a large boost of power hidden within him. he couldn''t even fathom what it would take to even begin to hide something like that. it wasn''t as though the body was a vast and endless plane; there was a limited amount of space within it, and often one''s talent was decided by how efficiently that space was used.

    and yet...

    "i''ve heard of a demon race... one that''s physically extremely powerful, and yet they prefer to use their minds to mess with people. it''s an interesting story, don''t you think? wouldn''t it be funny if two brothers were born, but just as talented as one another, or maybe there was just a small difference between them, and yet the talent of one was sealed away, never to be reached, while the other continued to soar."

    leonel''s gaze regained its focus as he looked down at his uncle.

    "would it be interesting? interesting to watch that family crumble from the inside out, to watch as something that took so little effort on your part practically ruled the world of both of them? maybe for a god, these sorts of things were the only way to brighten an otherwise dull day."

    montez froze.

    was he... talking about him and velasco?

    leonel''s gaze regained its focus as he looked down at his uncle.

    "would it be interesting? interesting to watch that family crumble from the inside out, to watch as something that took so little effort on your part practically ruled the world of both of them? maybe for a god, these sorts of things were the only way to brighten an otherwise dull day."

    montez froze.

    was he... talking about him and velasco?

    "... don''t speak nonsense, leonel!"

    montez suddenly felt agitated. he had completely lost his bearing as an uncle; leonel''s words had pierced to the very depths of his soul. something about his demeanor, his nonchalance, his casualness, had torn through what faa?бьade he had left as a senior.

    if leonel was correct, it meant that he had been played his entire life. he had lost connections with his brother for no other reason than the schemes of a third party. he hadn''t given his wife the children she wanted all because of the schemes of some higher being, snickering at his suffering. he hadn''t been able to live the life he wanted to, the life he deserved, all because some god was bored.

    leonel, though, didn''t even care to respond to this; he was unmoved and unimpressed by the outburst. instead, his mind was elsewhere.

    the last time he had entered this state, he did two things.

    the first was the change to his mage core. he turned it into a tree, filled with countless leaves, each one representing a different rune and a different discipline. it made digesting those various elements far easier for his suppressed self.

    the second thing he had done was seal the smaller of his two innate nodes, allowing it to naturally progress, once again making it easier for his suppressed self to improve.

    however, it could only be said that his suppressed self was far too stupid; he had overestimated himself. if others heard this evaluation of a leonel was already too far beyond others, it was hard to say exactly how they would react, but this current version of him cared for nothing but the fact.

    since his uncle had come to stop him, leonel had already made the decision to return. whether montez was telling the truth about his father''s remnants or not, even if there was only a 0.1% chance, it was more important than the rest of these people''s lives combined.

 Chapter 2174 [Bonus ]

    he had decided to return. as far as he was concerned, whether he had this form or not, even if he forgot everything about entering it, it wouldn''t make a difference. one way or another, these people would pay in blood, and that was especially so for the spirituals. but before that, there were several of the human domain that he would make suffer for their inaction.

    the only difference to him was a matter of time. using this form would take much less effort, but there was no one in this world a match for him given time. they would all suffer one way or another.

    when he made this decision, leonel shifted his attention. he moved from thoughts of violence to thoughts of how to maximize his time in this form. of course, his greatest reliance was his mind.

    the first thing he did was analyze this new lineage factor. his lineage factor had undergone two changes since he last entered this form. the first was his fusion of it with the silver empire''s portions, and the second was the constellation event.

    ''i see. there''s two main changes, and probably several dozen mid-level changes. let''s focus on...''

    leonel pressed a hand to his chest and closed. he drew five deep lines across his chest, but quickly, out of the center of his chest, three kernels of light appeared. without much thought, leonel squeezed a hand and shattered them.

    these three were none other than his three divine armors. it was a shame; he didn''t even get the chance to use his third, outside of the massacre of the omann family, but it didn''t matter much to him. in his eyes, these products were far too inferior. he could make them thousands of times better, but what he could do now was worthless.

    he had to create a new design that was both far better, but also within the ability of his suppressed self to comprehend, or else it would be all useless. after not even a split moment of thought, his hand began to draw in the skies and three blueprints formed one after another. he hesitated for a moment, but didn''t choose to form the fourth. it was better if his suppressed self did it; it would be a good opportunity to improve his dream force further, and that would give him a greater chance of remembering the things he had thought of in this state.

    if one looked closely at these blueprints, it would be possible to see that the armor wasn''t the only part present. in fact... it wasn''t just one extra part either. there was not only a spear to pair with, but a bow as well!

    leonel waved a hand and the blueprints vanished.

    he immediately began to draw another blueprint. those that were sharp would be able to see that it was actually a starship, but it wasn''t just any starship; it was one based on the creation of the omann family. leonel was actually creating a blueprint of modifications that would make it far more efficient.

    he planned to destroy the omann family soon enough, and he believed that they had definitely already created a fleet of these starships. obviously, when things were said and done, those starships would be his own to have.

    this blueprint was like killing two birds with a single stone. it would inform his suppressed self about all the obvious deficiencies that could be taken advantage of, while also strengthening himself a great deal the moment those starships landed in his possession.

    it took him no more than a few seconds to finish, and he put this blueprint away as well.

    after he finished this, he pressed two hands to either side of his hips, right over his flaming kidneys. with a thought, they were suppressed and sealed. soon, the flames flickered out, and they returned to their original states.

    everything flowed smoothly, but to leonel, this was simply too easy. because he was keeping the level of his suppressed self in mind, he didn''t need a lot of time to do things to a standard that his suppressed self would understand. these things were as easy as breathing.

    he turned his attention to his ethereal glabella. within, the glorious mage core stood tall and proud, almost entirely unused by his suppressed self. it was astonishing how dense he could be sometimes, but there wasn''t much he could do about it. instead, he turned toward his ten stars and waved a hand.

    they began to tremble and quake, solidifying and becoming purer and purer.

    his vital stars, the only a minimal number of runes, began to quickly catch up with the others. his void star force also began to swiftly gain nodes.

    soon, they came to a stop. if he did too much, it would have the reverse effect. this was at a level his suppressed self could easily comprehend, thus making things flow far more smoothly.

    leonel turned his attention to his body and shook his head. more stupidity.

    his blood churned and he shattered the barriers holding back his northern star lineage factor just like he had done in the past.

    before, when leonel lost consciousness, he had suddenly awakened with the starry tailed fox lineage factor. you would have thought that he would have taken the hint, but apparently he was truly too stupid. while it was true that a lineage factor could suffer without having the appropriate paired techniques, the gap between a seventh dimensional lineage factor and a peak eighth dimensional one was so large that it didn''t matter, especially when two peak eighth dimensional ones could interact and benefit one another greatly.

    unfortunately, he didn''t have any golden tablets to reach the true pinnacle of these two halves of the northern star lineage factor, but this would have to be enough.

    the roar of a majestic tiger and the proud shadow of a deer with fur as dark as night and eyes as bright as the starry skies appeared.

    the tiger had gorgeous white fur and stripes of the brightest gold. just a single one of its roars seemed capable of collapsing the bounds of reality itself.

    the golden tiger and the death pulse deer had appeared.

    -----

    [author''s note: leonel and aina are slipping further and further away from first place in the event *tears*. i was going to wait until later to say this, but if we can make it to first place overall by the end of the event, i was going to upload four chapters a day again for a 5 day period, so essentially five bonus chapters. anyhoo, let''s just try our best]

    erdiul''s note: author is talking about the main character event on wn, you can find it by login into your account if you have one, and vote with coins on your fav mc and fmc.

 Chapter 2175 Go

    the strength in leonel''s body seemed to reach another level, but his reaction was quite benign; he didn''t seem to care very much at all. to him, this wasn''t very impressive at all, in his current state whether his northern star lineage factor was seventh or eighth dimensional didn''t make much of a difference. it would only make a difference if he had the golden tablets for both.

    in reality, just the fact he had the death pulse deer''s blood running through him right now was even more impressive because of one simple fact: he had never seen the dark side silver tablet before. he had instead given it up the chance to aina who had gained the blood sovereign tablet.

    so how did he have the death pulse deer bloodline now? the answer was quite simple: anya.

    after he had lost himself to rage, anya''s souls had been shattered. she was completely unable to withstand that kind of force, and he didn''t care to save her either. however, all of his souls had an undying character. they wouldn''t die unless he wanted them to, but that was reliant on his stamina and his intention.

    after anya had "died," he vanished. the kernel of her soul, or the root that could be used to allow her to resurrect was with him, he just hadn''t made any attempt to deal with it. however, just now, he had used assimilate on it, and then, he had used breathe, the third and final monstrous ability of the emperor''s might lineage factor.

    assimilate allowed one to fuse a soul construct with an external item, or fuse a soul into oneself to gain its abilities. either one worked, though the second had far more restrictions under normal circumstances. however, breathe was very different.

    with breathe, someone could take a soul, sacrifice an item, and give it life again. this life, however, was very different from the normal as this soul would remain highly loyal. this was akin to gaining a death sworn by one''s side, and the most important part was that they were far more permanent than the original 24-hour period that limited arise. although, the more powerful the soul, the more powerful the sacrifice required.

    however, there was a second method of using breathe, and that was similar to the second method of using assimilate. by using assimilate and breathe in unison, leonel was able to sacrifice a portion of himself in order to give himself the permanence of anya''s ability. in the end, he had chosen to sacrifice the aurora panda bloodline within him.

    of course, there was a very important issue here. how could he sacrifice an inferior bloodline in order to gain a much stronger one?

    and that was where the genius of the current leonel came into play.

    the potential of the death pulse deer was already within leonel''s body, what was missing was the catalyst. normally, that catalyst was the comprehension and use of the silver tablet, but with anya''s soul, he didn''t need to. he just needed to catch a small spark of the death pulse deer lineage factor. once he did, he could catalyze the northern star lineage factor within his body to force it into being.

    the short of it was that his aurora panda bloodline indeed wasn''t enough, but what it was enough for was causing a small fuse to be lit, and before this fuse burnt out, leonel stimulated it with the rest of his bloodline, forcing it into being.

    this matter was explained quite simply, but if this was explained to others, the amount of awe they would experience wouldn''t be small in the slightest. leonel had essentially casually figured out a workaround for the need of the tablets.

    it had to be understood that these tablets weren''t just existences used to bestow power, they were also used as a means of control. you weren''t meant to be able to access the next unless you were of a certain standard. without reaching this standard, you would never be able to touch upon this level in your entire life. this was what the umbra family had experienced until leonel gave them the bronze tablet of the dark side northern star lineage factor.

    and yet, in just a brief few seconds, leonel had already figured out a method to circumvent this without even the slightest of effort. he had just broken a code that had left countless generations helpless with little trouble at all. and yet... he didn''t seem like he was done.

    the three-headed panda construct that had once been so strong for leonel had already begun to fall by the wayside. this was the reason he was using it less and less recently. the self-created techniques that he had formed and that paired with it so well were too casually constructed.

    his lotus domain, for example, was created off the back of a low-level research paper from the void library that the current leonel felt was nothing more than trash. its construction was shoddy and it didn''t have staying power at higher dimensional levels.

    he could do much better. whether it was the golden tiger or the death pulse deer, they both had exceptional combat prowess. leonel had already taken this into account when he had created the blueprints for his divine armors; they would take great advantage of this. but in order for it to work, he had to fuse the two first.

    his body began to change and he grew even taller. his scales vanished beneath strong tufts of white fur, his eyes becoming a sparkling golden color, his horns becoming even more prominent and powerful, shimmering with a black luster.

    the death pulse deer controlled death force, the golden tiger, however, controlled golden force. it was a very special variant earth-type force known for its astounding offensive power.

    golden force was constructed of variant earth force, spatial force, star force, and light force. it was considered to be the force with the greatest piercing power in all of existence, aside from weapon forces mastered to an extreme.

    death force, of course, spoke for itself. now, leonel had fused the two halves into a perfect whole.

    his eyes regained their focus, and he looked back down toward his uncle, who was still in an agitated state. he grabbed his shoulder.

    "let''s go."

 Chapter 2176 I Swear

    not long later, leonel had appeared before his father again, his uncle by his side. his gaze flickered as he looked at the man, his rage threatening to bubble up again.

    montez''s gaze flickered with its own complicated light. the words that leonel had spoken had truly weighed heavily on him. his relationship with his elder brother had once been very good. if he thought about it, it was indeed his fault that it had reached the state it had.

    he clenched his fist. ''i swear i''ll kill whoever did this to us...''

    although he thought this, the amount of self-blame was palpable. he didn''t say anything for a long while, and it was only after he felt the coldness emitting from leonel that he remembered how things had reached this point.

    he actually hadn''t been lying; velasco had indeed left something behind. the only lie was that it wasn''t exactly meant for leonel, although it would benefit him greatly.

    "your father... val said that after a ninth dimensional expert died, there would be a great phenomenon. the land they stood within would gain a great boon, even more beneficial than a world entering the eighth dimension. depending on the strength of the expert, it might even be better than a world entering the ninth dimension.

    "i didn''t have much of a reference for that until recently, but if he''s right, the change would be enormous. do you know why there isn''t a phenomenon here?"

    leonel wanted to hope, but his uncle''s eyes painted a completely different story. there was truly no use in him having hope. his father was indeed... dead.

    "your father has always been a selfish man; how could he allow others to benefit from his death?"

    montez opened velasco''s shirt with shaking hands and revealed a necklace. he slowly took it off and handed it to leonel.

    "give this to anastasia. tell her that val said he always keeps his promises."

    leonel''s jaw clenched as he took the necklace. it looked as though an entire universe was spinning within the gem that hung from it.

    in this state, he could vaguely remember some things. back when he had lost to amery, anastasia had nursed him to health, swearing about how he was holding her back and how he was just as useless as his father. she had also mentioned something about his father promising to bring her back to the ninth dimension, implying that she had once been there before.

    "... what happened to anastasia?"

    "i''m not sure, but when she fell into father''s hands, she was already heavily injured. but after val lost himself to rage after father''s death, anastasia fell even further, descending to the point that she was barely at the third dimension anymore; she even had to fall into a deep sleep. your father was slowly nursing her injuries until he left her to you."

    montez hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he decided to speak.

    "your father... has been very powerful for a long while. back then, he had already broken free of the restrictions of the world."

    leonel frowned.

    "you''re wondering why he died this time, but not back then? i think you''re already smart enough to know the answer," montez looked down at the necklace.

    suddenly, leonel understood.

    his father had already broken free of the restrictions of this world, but if he had continued to do so, he would have died that day. he probably relied on anastasia to avoid punishment back then, causing her to be heavily injured and almost die.

    thinking about how angry anastasia was when his father hadn''t come to say hello after so long, leonel felt he understood his father even deeper than before. it wasn''t that his father was so aloof... he didn''t want to see anastasia so that she would remain angry, continuing to ignore him. that way, when he acted this time, she wouldn''t do something as foolish as trying to protect him again.

    because this time, if she really dared to interfere again... she really would die.

    leonel clenched the necklace in his hand. without a word, he sent it into the segmented cube and crushed it before anastasia could understand what happened.

    a large amount of energy rushed forward. as though the skies were filled with golden blood, what once were blue and expansive became bold and beautiful.

    anastasia rushed out, seemingly focused on something in the lab. she looked into the skies in a daze before her senses extended outside of the finger sleeve leonel always wore. she had indeed not been paying much attention, but when she saw the state of the void battlefield, and then rewound the events play by play, she froze.

    her little face became ghastly pale, and her big, larger than life blue eyes reddened. even the adorable little blue cloud that made up her lower body darkened, rumbling with arcs of lightning.

    her aura surged, quickly approaching the pinnacle of the eighth dimension and then shattering a path through to the ninth, but this only caused the tears she was holding back to spill forth.

    "idiot! idiot! idiot!"

    her small body rushed out of the finger sleeve, her little fists pounding against velasco''s body.

    unfortunately, velasco''s body had already lost all of its strength. the power holding up was no longer there, the necklace having already been taken.

    anastasia panicked when the body began to fall, forgetting all about the huge amount of power at her fingertips. she balled her eyes out, helpless and weak before the changes.

    leonel took a step forward, barely catching his father''s body before it crashed, catching it. his gaze carried a frigid cold within them, looking off into the distance. he seemed to peer through the veil of reality, looking toward the enemies and marking each one of them in the heart. whether it was the invaders, or the cowardly humans who remained on the sideline...

    ''i swear i''ll kill them all.''

    leonel barely had this thought himself before he too collapsed, his body exploding with clouds of blood.

 Chapter 2177 Sharper

    leonel''s eyes snapped open.

    it was probably a common occurrence among normal people to be partially confused about where they were, or maybe forget about what had happened recently, especially after being asleep for so long. but while the events of his transformation were blurry to leonel, it was much less so than it had been in the past. in addition, his mind was far too fast to fall into such a trap.

    in the end, he remembered it all instantly. he didn''t get the hope of a few seconds of bliss; the instant his eyes opened, he was plunged into a pit he didn''t know how to get out of. he simply stared blankly at the ceiling. but even this was short-lived.

    not even a few seconds later, leonel stood to his feet. he had work to do.

    he didn''t contact aina, he didn''t go to see how his mother was doing, he didn''t even try to communicate with anastasia despite the fact he was already aware that he was within the abode setting. instead, he directly entered the lab and pulled out three blueprints.

    his mind''s capacity was far beyond what it had been in the past. as such, the gap wasn''t as exaggerated as it had been back when he had first entered void tower, and he was able to remember bits and snippets. at the same time, his more enlightened self had been ready as well, sealing off much of what it could and leaving behind only what he felt that the current leonel could handle.

    as such, leonel remembered the most important points.

    he remembered the blueprints, whether that was his divine armor or that of the modifications to the starship. he also understood some of the changes that had been made to his body and he was aware that he had awoken two new lineage factors, though they now seamlessly acted as one. he was also aware that he needed to pay more attention to his mage core in the future and understand it to a greater degree.

    but for now, he was focused on these blueprints before him.

    what astonished him was how simple the materials were, and the path they took was even more curious. there was very clearly a heavy emphasis on his new lineage factors, namely the golden tiger and death pulse deer lineage factors, but it hadn''t completely abandoned the path of vitality that he had laid out either.

    it used concepts of death and life to find greater life and vitality than even leonel thought possible. at the same time, it opened up a door toward a fusion of his talents that leonel had never considered before.

    the way leonel saw it, aina had always been able to keep up with him because her ability to focus her talents into a single path was simply unmatched. even without much effort on her part, all of her skills, whether it was ability index and lineage factor all came together seamlessly. in fact, there was a very long time where leonel couldn''t even tell where her lineage factor ended and where her ability index began.

    his more enlightened self had seen through this problem clearly and gave him a solution: his divine armor.

    now, his divine armor, or more accurately, his metal body, though even this wasn''t wholly accurate any longer, could accommodate both an armor and two weapons. this gave him a level of flexibility that hadn''t been there before.

    this added flexibility opened a door of possibility that if he should walk through, he would be able to become an entirely new person, one that could stand toe to toe with aina in terms of how streamlined and perfectly meshed his talents were in one.

    there was some bad news, though, unfortunately. as great as an idea that this was, there was a huge elephant in the room: his spear and bow sovereignty.

    in the past, it was his spear domain ring that didn''t allow him to touch inferior spears. he had never even attempted to craft a spear before because it would have been a useless effort. he didn''t quite understand where that kernel of "worthiness" stemmed from.

    it made sense that he was confused. after all, the spear domain ring was filled to the brim with swords of all kinds, from those formed of the most inoffensive and cheap wood, to those constructed of the holiest and most precious materials known to man.

    there didn''t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it outside of a mysterious something that set them apart from everyone else.

    one might say that leonel no longer needed the ring; he could just set it aside now that he had sovereignty of his own. plus, the spears within were useless to him as they wouldn''t mesh with his divine armors perfectly. it would be better to set them aside.

    however, therein lied a problem. because he didn''t need to rely on the ring anymore, the source of the trouble was no longer external. if he tried to craft an inferior spear now, or even an inferior bow as well, for that matter, the result would be the same.

    failure.

    it wouldn''t be a ring that destroyed the spear anymore, but rather leonel''s aura itself.

    the only past this was to figure out what that kernel was, and finally forge a true spear for himself. but all he had here was a blueprint, and he didn''t even need to try to know that just following it wouldn''t be enough to reach that standard.

    it was almost too silly. he was a spear sovereign, a true spear sovereign, and yet he had no confidence in forging a spear.

    his gaze turned colder and colder, until it reached such an abyssal absolute zero that he couldn''t quite even see clearly anymore.

    he clenched his fists and closed his eyes. this sort of agitation wasn''t helping him in the slightest; it was only wasting his mental strength on useless emotion.

    when his eyes opened once more, they were several fold sharper.

 Chapter 2178 Intent

    leonel tossed another aside, his expression indifferent. he felt by this point that maybe his enlightened self had created a blueprint that used such cheap materials anticipating that he would fail so often. even though he was only working on a fourth dimension blueprint right now, even fourth dimensional materials when piled up to a high enough degree would make him feel a pinch, especially since he was in a stage where he was completely focused on saving as much material as possible for the coming battles he planned to fight.

    leonel tossed yet another aside, not even bothering to continue it. he already knew that it was a failure.

    the design of this spear he was attempting to craft was ingenious. it used the simplest elemental ores, sticking to the basics and using them to create something new. their power would only show when they came together as one, entering the true life grade realm.

    often, ores like these ones were used in amplification force arts, ones that could increase the concentration of certain forces in a given area. this was something that the void palace had quite a lot of. in fact, they had so many that they wouldn''t even bother with fourth dimensional materials like this one, or even sixth dimensional ones. they directly began at the seventh, which was why these materials were seen as so cheap in leonel''s eyes.

    thinking back to how many of his points he had wasted back in the cataclysm zone, gathering the most expensive of materials, leonel realized that he had been going down the wrong path of crafting, or at the very least, life grade crafting.

    life grade crafting was meant to create new life from the materials that forged it. the more dominant the material, the more resistant it would be to change. using high class, high-level materials was actually the antithesis of what he really wanted, and he was actually holding himself back.

    that wasn''t to say that you weren''t allowed to use high-class materials, but the issue was that he had overstepped his bounds in some respects and underappreciated himself in others.

    he had overstepped his bounds in the regard that he had only just entered the life grade; he could be considered a fledgling to the discipline. what right had he earned to already be working with the best materials already?

    as for how he had underappreciated himself, one only had to ask one simple question. what point was there in using the highest class materials of the fourth dimension? what about the fifth? or the sixth?

    it had to be remembered that the entry of the life grade by many was seen to be the eighth dimension; this wasn''t a coincidence.

    after one entered the gold grade, it didn''t matter how great the materials were, even if one used ninth dimensional materials-of course, only if you were able to refine such materials despite only being in the gold grade-there wouldn''t be a qualitative leap in terms of treasure strength unless one understood the concepts of the life grade.

    this was to say that materials less meaningful at the lower level of the life grade. how could it matter much whether you used a low class or a high-class fourth dimensional material when your aim was the life grade anyway? it was a waste of effort.

    it was better to simplify things, to go back to the basics, to choose materials one comprehended to their very roots and bring out the best in each and every one of them.

    ''... go back to the basics...''

    *bloop

    leonel''s fingers flickered, and little tolly went into action, moving with swift speed. leonel''s action seemed far sharper, and his true spear sovereign aura towered.

    he thought back to what it would take to forge a wooden spear... carefully picking out a branch, checking its sturdiness, letting it dry, then carefully beginning to carve it with a knife. each one of your strokes would carry your intent, the thought of forging a spear. was it long enough? was it sturdy enough? was it flexible enough? how did it feel in your hands?

    when using a metal spirit to forge an item, it was easy to forget these things. you were detached from the material, the spirit becoming the medium of your efforts, and disconnecting you from the process of the spear''s creation. in such a situation, how could you gain access to its truest strength? how could it feel the dignity of a sovereign?

    at that moment, leonel understood. he was trying to form a life grade spear. the life grade represented new life, a new creation. if he just threw the materials together, following the blueprint, would this new life grade spear even have the understanding that it was now a spear? or would it feel that it was a rod? a glaive maybe?

    leonel had always had this question in his mind. there were many so-called spears in the spear domain ring that looked a lot more like other weapons, some looked like glaives, some could be separated into two pieces and wielded like twin swords, some looked like tridents, even his favorite spear in recent memory looked like nothing more than a long black rod until its foggy blade took shape. so... what was the separation? what decided what was a spear and what wasn''t?

    the answer was obvious now that he thought about it... it was the intention.

    if he wanted to create a life grade spear, he had to have the intention to do so from the very beginning.

    but that begged a question. why were there bronze, silver and gold grade spears within the ring, then? there were even black grade spears as well.

    but leonel felt there was an answer to this too, and it was related to the reason why the higher in quality one went, the further one traveled into the spear domain ring, the more spears of these higher caliber could be found!

    leonel retrieved little tolly, and a pulsing light radiated. the roar of a tiger and the proud prance of a deer king echoed, flashes of light and dark piercing outward.

    he had succeeded.

 Chapter 2179 Return

    the answer was quite simple. when those spears began their life, they had no intention of becoming the weapon of sovereigns. it was only after a long journey, and a life by their side, that they evolved and entered the state they were in. however, most normal spearmen probably couldn''t even notice how special they were, even leonel couldn''t grasp it... until now.

    holding his forged spear in one hand, leonel extended his other, and a wooden spear appeared.

    leonel remembered this stinger-like spear quite intimately. it was the second ever spear he had gotten from the spear domain ring, the first having been destroyed due to his carelessness. usually, the spear domain ring could repair damaged spears, but this was only up to a point, a point his first spear had passed, unfortunately.

    this spear, however, was owned by a female spear master. she was quite crafty in her bearing and the way she used a spear was light and agile, quick and sharp. she had taught leonel a lot about cautiousness and precision in battle, not to mention cleverness. without even noticing, she was probably a large reason why leonel''s battle style had become the way it was, even aside from the state of his ability index.

    it was one of the spears he was most familiar with, intimately so. and yet, in his hands right now, it felt completely different. it had soul, it had heart.

    he casually pierced outward, and the spear seemed to sing.

    leonel stood in silence for a very long time. that feeling, he had seen it before. his father''s last spear strike...

    it was much weaker, by an impossibly wide margin, but he was certain that they shared the same roots. at the same time, his spear force, which had been at the third layer, transcended to the fourth, faintly touching upon the next level.

    that spear strike that had taken him 333 strokes to complete could now be executed casually by him. if he executed his spear dance, he might be able to take a half-step into the impetus state, a level of strength that was practically an infinite distance from the fourth layered state.

    it had to be remembered that the impetus state was the requirement for entering the ninth dimension, and now leonel was just a step away. however... he had no plans on relying on this, that was because he had no intention of suppressing his spear force. once he entered the seventh dimension, he would allow it to smoothly enter the seventh dimension as well, and as a result, his spear force would fall back from the fourth layered state to the third layered state.

    even so, the feeling of the fourth layered state in his hands right now made him feel invincible. the power to use such strength so casually made him feel like a completely new person. with this kind of strength, defeating amery, or at least the amery he had last battled, would be a matter of a single stroke of his blade.

    even if he entered the seventh dimension, he wouldn''t suddenly weaken, he would probably actually become a slight margin strong. after all, the gap between the sixth and seventh dimensions would make up for the gap between the third and fourth layered state.

    leonel slowly put the stinger spear away and gripped his self-created spear.

    it was truly beautiful and it radiated a unique aura. it felt better in his hands than any spear he had ever touched, as though it was created for him... and that it was.

    it sparked with what looked like muted lightning, its shaft filled out with hexagonal scales that shimmered with a golden light between their bodies. its blade had a dark gold body and its sharp edge was like a radiant black light, even looking somewhat purple and ethereal.

    the next progressions of the spear looked similar. the only real difference was that the fifth dimensional one was three meters long and far more flexible, similar to a wind spear he had used in the past. as for the sixth dimensional one, it was four meters long and had twin heads.

    now that leonel had succeeded with one, he was far more confident that he would succeed with the others.

    he closed his hands tight and the blade disappeared into his body, a shuddering strength shooting within him as the fusion process completed. he had never experienced this before when fusing, or rather, the effect was always minimal. but this time, it felt as though everything had changed.

    without much more thought, he began to work on the others, moving swiftly as though he didn''t have time to lose, and he truly didn''t.

    every time he thought about his father''s final moments, the fire within him burned fiercer and fiercer. he wanted to destroy everything, to watch the world burn. that fire spurred him on, and he worked faster and faster.

    in just a day, he had finished all of his armors. to his surprise, no one had come to bother him, but he also didn''t mind. he preferred it this way. he didn''t want to socialize, to speak to others; it would only delay his revenge.

    after he was finished, he entered a pod even though he didn''t absolutely need to. he had rather done it because he knew exactly what kind of workload was facing him.

    once he finished modifying the starship, he would start making plans to return to the morales family. but the kind of return they expected was most definitely not the one he would give them. however, before he even thought about that, he would most definitely enter the seventh dimension.

    of all the kernels that his enlightened self had left for him, this was probably one of the more important. if he had to find a key to enter the dimensional cleanse trial world, and then wait for the other keys to be found and everyone to be ready to enter, who knew how much time would pass?

    luckily, his enlightened self had left behind enough of the deductions he would need.

    once he entered the seventh dimension, he would return to the morales as patriarch leonel.

 Chapter 2180 Real Mother

    chapter 2180 real mother

    the starship could be considered to be cynthia''s magnum opus, the greatest blueprint she had ever constructed and the best craft that she had ever been a part of. even so, there were many faults with it, most of which surrounded its shrunken size.

    a regular starship was capable of lasting without a replacement of its core for at least a decade without issue, but cynthia''s could only last a single year. this was still not bad as a year was a relatively long time in the scale of a war, at least. however, this 90% drop was something that hurt quite a bit.

    the reason for this was that because the core, a fusion core, was an object that simulated the power of a star. it was extremely powerful. the amount of power within it was obscene, if it wasn''t like this, how could it power such a large vessel? but it was also ironic because of this that the fusion core last a shorter time on this modified starship, rather than longer despite its smaller size.

    there were a few reasons for this. the first was cooling, the second was capacity, and the final was size, this time referring to the core''s size instead of the ship''s.

    the cooling of the fusion core didn''t just happen within the engine room, but rather throughout the entire ship. the main method used was also the easiest and most effective, and that was diffusion. by using special cooling pathways more effective than even copper could hope to be, the heat was evenly distributed throughout the ship.

    the problem was that because the size of the starship was a handful of kilometers, as opposed to the thousands of kilometers of the original starship, the change in size was far too drastic to accommodate the original fusion core.

    the second problem was one of capacity, and that was that the smaller starship simply didn''t have enough mechanisms that could be powered. fusion cores had a great amount of volatile energy and it could only calmed and parsed to a certain degree. after a certain point, it would refuse to split. as such, a much smaller starship could be easily overloaded.

    in order to deal with these problems, cynthia had chosen to shrink the size of the fusion core, and the method she used was actually quite ingenious, but it unfortunately only further exacerbated the problem. now that the fusion core was also smaller, there was less overall energy and ultimately there was the trouble result of a shorter shelf life.

    this was the trade off that had come with a smaller core, and this was just one of the major problems the starship faced.

    the second issue was one of defense, and this unfortunately fed into more of the size of the vessel.

    the main mode of defense for both starships were their protective force arts. however, for the smaller of the two, this was basically the only mode of protection, and it wasn''t as good as the first. it required access to much more energy to complete the same tasks.

    of course, since the starship was smaller, the area its force art took up was much smaller as well, but that also meant that it had much less area to take up. when it took on attacks, there was much less room to disperse said attacks and as a result, it took more energy to deal with the same trouble, once again resulting in a decrease in its shelf life.

    the larger a force art, controlling for quality, the more powerful it was. this was a simple rule. but even more importantly than that in this case, the more material used as the foundation of a force art, the more powerful it was.

    but this was unfortunately another problem that the smaller starship had to suffer in to gain the benefits it had.

    the third and the final major issue was speed.

    in truth, the smaller starship was both far more agile, and far faster. where it suffered was in using space jumps.

    its personal gravitational pull was highly limited due to its much smaller size, and as such its size couldn''t be used as a personal shortcut to opening up a spatial tunnel. as a result of this, it took a great deal of time for the smaller of the two starships to move across large distances, even though in confined spaces, it far outstripped the larger one.

    in order to make up for this deficit, the smaller of the two starships, once again, had to compensate with more energy usage, once again placing it even further behind.

    these were the three most major issues, while the rest were more miscellaneous. leonel planned to not only fix this, but he also planned to improve upon the starship''s strengths as well. in fact, he planned to use the material of this one starship, to craft three more. he would also use the much larger of the two starships to construct an entire fleet, but he wouldn''t be able to do that until he finally brought little tolly beyond the fifth dimension.

    however, in order to help little tolly evolve, he would have to find a force eruption, and there was only one place that he could guarantee would have one... and that was none other than the morales'' territory which was currently undergoing a huge evolution.

    for now, he would focus on this matter.

    "let''s do it," leonel said lightly, taking little tolly along with him. this would be a large project, even larger than the creation of his divine armor, but soon he would be ready.

    right outside of the segmented cube, a trio of women sat. the atmosphere was quite somber.

    empress fawkes gently rubbed her daughter''s back, her eyes slightly puffy from crying. she didn''t want to see her daughter like this either.

    alienor was always cheery and full of life, but now she could only be said to be the complete opposite.

    "he''s awake?" alienor asked.

    aina, the third woman among them, nodded her head slowly.

    slowly, alienor''s gaze went from downcast to sharp, and then from sharp to sharper.

    "let''s not bother him. tell me when he comes out, it''s about time i was a real mother to him."

 Chapter 2181 Foreign

    chapter 2181 foreign

    leonel exhaled a long breath, his face marred with fatigue. even little tolly, who leonel had never seen exhibit such signs before, also seemed to be worn out. it was clear that this was already pushing the little guy''s ability.

    if others knew that leonel had accomplished so much with a fifth dimensional metal spirit, it was hard to say how they would react. however, this was meaningless to him, what was important was that he had succeeded.

    in a spacious field of the segmented cube, three ships, each exactly a kilometer long large. they were all sleek and powerful, and yet despite hovering in the air, the grass beneath them only swayed gently as though a delicate gust of wind was passing by instead of the behemoth-like starships they really were.

    in leonel''s estimation, this starship was at least twice as strong as the previous one in terms of both offense and defense, and in terms of speed it was three times faster and more agile. on top of all of that, it would last five years instead of the previous estimation of one despite having had its fusion core separated into three pieces, and on top of that it could not only form space tunnels, unlike the larger starship, it could cancel mid flight and avoid an interception.

    leonel believed that this ship was no worse than the tier 1 starships of shield cross stars, despite the fact it was made only of tier 2 materials. on top of that, it was far more versatile and stealthy.

    if leonel ever got his hands on a tier 1 starship, he wouldn''t need his enlightened self to return. with what he had learned building these three, he would be able to modify any that came across him.

    what was maybe the best about this starship, though, was the fact that it could be controlled by a single person. usually, leonel had to make hundreds of clones, thousands for the larger one. only then could he barely control one at great cost to himself.

    but now, even someone far inferior to him in terms of mental capacity could control these ships. this starship was truly on a level of its own.

    leonel dragged his body to a pod and remained inside for half a day. this was the equivalent of an entire 48 days, but when he came out, his aura was primed and powerful. a large rush of auspicious air manifested around him and his ten stars appeared.

    he closed his eyes, the sweatpants he wore fluttering in the air wildly as he continued to take deep breaths.

    [dimensional cleanse] had always been a unique technique to leonel, it almost felt that it had come to him by choice rather than him conspicuously picking it out after exiting the mayan tomb. there was clearly a tie between it and the cataclysm zone. this was something that leonel had only casually concluded in the past, but the more he learned about the cataclysm zone, the more he felt that [dimensional cleanse] wasn''t as simple as he thought it to be.

    [dimensional cleanse] had opened up the world of true universal cycles to him, teaching him the uniqueness of it all and giving him a peek into a power that exceeded himself. as a result, his own universal cycles were extremely powerful.

    by this point, especially considering his enemies, the heavenly body realm he had once been in should have been useless, but he was still able to use it to fight against the likes of amery. now that he had entered the natural light realm, he felt that it, too, was somewhat connected.

    the sounds of a shattering barrier resounded and leonel''s body pulsed with a wild light, his body expanded and contracted wildly, seemingly growing to as much as double his size before shrinking back down to his original again and again.

    it was an incredibly odd feeling, and it was the kind of breakthrough he had never experienced before.

    an overwhelming power ascended from within the depths of his body, his strength leaping to tens of times his original in an instant before beginning to double continuously as though it would never stop.

    leonel exhaled a slow breath as it all came to a stop. when he opened his eyes, the world seemed simpler, less involved, easier to manipulate. his dream force affinity seemed to have increased again and he remembered even more of what his enlightened self had experienced, albeit still a fraction of a fraction.

    ''it''s time to go,'' leonel said lightly.

    his first destination wouldn''t actually be the morales family. instead, it would be the umbra family. it was about time he cash some checks.

    he didn''t even bother to think about the skies family and the likes. he felt they were too inferior for what he needed to do, and though they were currently benefiting from the evolution of their land under earth''s influence, it would take at least a generation for those benefits to truly settle in. by then... he would hopefully be on to other things.

    the moment leonel stepped out from the segmented cube, though, a gust of gentle wind formed a beautiful woman appeared before him. a familiar fragrance assaulted his senses before he even looked down to find aina.

    she had a complicated look in her eye, not quite certain of what to say or how to say it. she was also worried about how leonel would react to her presence, she felt like she was walking on eggshells. she was faintly aware that it wasn''t normal to feel this way, but there was also nothing she could do about it.

    in the end, she simply wrapped her arms around leonel tightly, burying her head into his chest. she didn''t say anything.

    she had lost her mother as well, and she knew just how much leonel cared about his father. this was a pain that she understood all too well.

    she felt leonel hesitated slightly, but she relaxed when she felt his arms wrap around her as well.

    at that moment, a golden-haired woman emitting an air of maturity appeared. she looked quite dignified and sharp, an aura familiar to her and those that had known her for many years, but one completely foreign to her son.

 Chapter 2182 Your Plans

    chapter 2182 your plans

    leonel met his mother''s gaze. he didn''t really react very much. usually, he could be quite charismatic, but that wasn''t because it was his true personality, it was rather because he could analyze a situation and understand the best way to respond. but he simply wasn''t in the mood. it could be said that he was rarely his true self, but right now, he very much was.

    he didn''t have much to give, and he didn''t really want to take either. but given his mother''s expression, it seemed that she was well aware of this, something that surprised leonel.

    if he had known that she had been a bundle of emotions just a day prior, he probably wouldn''t believe it. however, this sort of reaction suited him just fine. he wasn''t in the mood to console others. if he had to, he might very well just directly leave so that he wouldn''t say something he would come to regret.

    "what are your plans?" alienor asked.

    "kill." leonel replied simply.

    "okay," alienor replied simply. "mom will help you."

    leonel''s gaze flickered, but he didn''t say anything else. he simply vanished out from aina''s arms, disappearing from everyone''s sight.

    aina lowered her arms, feeling somewhat helpless. however, she knew leonel well enough to know that he dealt with things his own way. remembering the words that his other self seemed to have spoken, she regained some of her calm. the fact that he had spoken those words meant something clear, this wouldn''t last forever, and that was all the confirmation she needed.

    when leonel had first begun to pursue her, he had been the one that was extremely patient. because she never said no and gave him no signs of direct refusal, he continued to ask. that was his own sort of resolve, and it was because of her own complicated feelings that she had strung him along for long, but not once had he ever complained about it, nor had he ever held it against her.

    he had just lost his father. if she didn''t even have this much patience, then what good was it for her to be in a relationship at all?

    **leonel took control of one of his starships the moment he entered earth''s orbit, zipping out of earth''s solar system in the blink of an eye.

    "yip! yip!"

    an adorable little mink appeared above leonel''s shoulder, slithering down and curling in his lap. leonel took a glance down before looking away. the small bit of warmth on his thighs, silent and guarded, was all he felt he needed.

    the starship appeared within umbra family territory with a great amount of speed. leonel descended and sent the ship into the segmented cube''s finger sleeve before descending. he didn''t wait for anyone and directly entered the capital building of the umbra, or maybe it was more accurately a palace. it wasn''t long before people reacted, and even more quickly, radlis'' aunt, seltin, appeared before him.

    "leonel," seltin greeted, though her expression was a bit weird. she, along with many others had seen what had happened that day, at least vaguely. the system was only designed to follow lower-level seventh dimensional battles, so one could imagine how many details had been missed when observing a battle nearing the ninth dimensional level and even directly entering it.

    however, it was still enough for her to understand the gist of what had happened, at least up until the death of leonel''s family.

    "mm," leonel nodded faintly.

    seltin frowned inwardly, feeling that leonel''s attitude was a bit too disrespectful. her strength level wasn''t something the current leonel could fathom. she was well aware of what had happened in the heir wars, she had watched attentively along with everyone else. after all, they had sent some of their best inside and wanted to be ready to take action in case any of them were exposed.

    however, seltin restrained her true inner thoughts. she could imagine what leonel was going through, she too had lost many people she cared about, many at the hands of the three finger cult. so, she didn''t blame him too much and simply waited for him to explain why he had come, but what she heard next caught her completely off guard.

    "i will give the umbra family a choice now, there is no in between, and there won''t be time to regret later. stand by my side in a war against the greatest powers of the human domain, or don''t. what will your choice be?"

    seltin froze.

    of all the things she had expected to hear, this was the very last. hadn''t leonel just become the patriarch of the morales? was that why he was asking? did he believe that the morales were about to be attacked by the rest of the human domain? that was possible, but it shouldn''t happen for a while, though? who would attack right after a domain war? especially right after it was a morales'' death that had pretty much protected them all?

    "you... you mean you would like to ask us whether we want to help defend the morales?" she probed.

    this was a much different ask than the meaning behind leonel''s words, but she felt that she had to ask anyway.

    "i meant exactly what i said," leonel replied plainly.

    seltin''s frown deepened. by this point, the rest of the upper echelon had realized that something important was happening, but their reactions were much fiercer than seltin''s, and they were much more unable to hide their expressions.

    "we can''t just..."

    "the three finger cult''s upper echelon has been almost entirely destroyed, all that remains are likely their variant invalids and maybe a few hidden branches. there is no reason for you to continue to hide."

    "this..."

    seltin''s heart skipped a beat, but her resistance seemed to only grow.

    "alright," leonel said coolly. "the bronze tablet. return it."

    seltin froze and her resistance reached its peak.

    leonel didn''t seem to want to waste any time. the moment he saw seltin''s hesitation, he knew what the answer would be. however, when he saw her reaction to the returning of his property, his gaze became frighteningly cold, so much so that seltin seemed to be snapped awake.

    it didn''t feel like she was facing a youth any longer.

 Chapter 2183 Indifference

    chapter 2183 indifference

    leonel didn''t move; he only continued to look at seltin. his expression didn''t seem to have changed in the slightest, but the frigid aura emitting from him was palpable.

    at that moment, radlis and patriarch silam both appeared. radlis had long since returned to the umbra family, and the latter felt quite helpless. silam was nothing more than a figurehead; he was only in the sixth dimension, and he wasn''t in a position to truly lead the umbra family. but leonel''s strength was something that was deeply imprinted into him.

    although he couldn''t use his full strength at the same, leonel, a boy at merely the fifth dimension, and not even the peak of it but rather only at tier 1, fought several patriarchs all on his own, killing most of them and forcing the rest to heel.

    there was an imprint of leonel deep within his heart, an imprint that seltin clearly didn''t share despite having been present for leonel breaking through two tiers of the sixth dimension in a single bound.

    the umbra family had been on the sideline for too long. if silam had to be honest with himself, although their stated goal was to gather their strength and eventually eliminate the three finger cult, the reality was that they weren''t doggedly pursuing this goal every waking minute.

    they had grown complacent, and now that the three finger cult had been dealt such a devastating blow even without them lifting a finger, they were even more so. many had changed their goals. they felt that they could finally appear in the outside world once more, competing for hegemony in the human domain and even the wider dimensional verse.

    as for the bronze tablet, they had never had any intention of returning. their ancestors were part of the founding of the three finger cult, and though they had to escape, if there were any remnants of the cult, then it was rightfully their own.

    of course, they didn''t know that this bronze tablet wasn''t from their cult at all. rather, it was a reward that leonel had taken for himself from the cataclysm zone. it had nothing to do with them outside of the fact it happened to complete the same function.

    but even if leonel explained this matter, something he couldn''t be bothered to, would this change their position? at most, it would just make them more shameless.

    "three," leonel said lightly. seltin frowned, understanding what this meant.

    "two." she froze. suddenly realizing what leonel was doing, the humiliation and pride within her chest exploded. how dare he-?

    "one." leonel suddenly punched out.

    "auntie seltin!" radlis roared out, but it was too late.

    bang! leonel''s fist shot through seltin''s chest, shattering her heart into pieces. it was so furious and fast that leonel''s knuckles and wrist were entirely untouched by flesh and blood, a hole around his arm forming large enough for it to pass through unobstructed.

    seltin froze, looking down and not quite believing what had just happened. she was dead? that was impossible, there was still so much to do, she still had so much talent to unearth, she hadn''t even brought out her greatest strength, she hadn''t even...

    her eyes dimmed and she fell back, crashing into the ground.

    "leonel!" radlis roared. he couldn''t believe what was happening, there was still room for discussion, why did he attack without saying anything. that was his aunt, a woman that had doted on him since he was a child. although they weren''t that close, he still saw leonel as somewhat of a friend, just that they were unfortunate enough to separate before their relationship could deepen. but now...

    leonel couldn''t seem to hear him at all. he stepped over seltin''s corpse as though it was worthless, moving slowly into the umbra family''s territory. his internal sight flourished, and he locked onto a certain location. there simply wasn''t anything in the whole of this planet that could escape his senses.

    the elders in the surroundings had been stunned into silence. but when they finally processed what had happened, their eyes turned red with rage.

    several manifestations rose into the air, some were still shadow tails, but many more were dusky steel bats, and even more than that were aurora black pandas. seltin was a woman they all respected to the bottom of their hearts. although she only led the surface of the family, it was only a matter of time before she entered the true core of the family and became one of their pillars, but now she was dead far too early.

    their fury reached a tempest, but for every one that charged forward, leonel would only punch out once. chests caved, heads burst like watermelons, cries of agony and pleas of murder echoed through the skies, the thick scent of death filling the skies and rising like a tide before washing down like a tsunami.

    leonel didn''t have any leniency, he didn''t have any mercy, he killed indiscriminately. the moment he had taken seltin''s life, there was already no more room for negotiation, and he didn''t care to negotiate either. you were either with him, or you would die. there was no other option.

    at that moment, truly powerful auras began to approach one after another. the majority were infinitely close to the eighth dimension, definitely in a quasi realm of sorts, but at least three of them were true ancestors. it was clear with a thought that the umbra family had indeed been hiding away their true strength, but this was something that had been obvious to leonel the moment he had learned that they were in fact once a part of the three finger cult.

    "stop!" one of the ancestors roared. he was a stalwart man and seemed to look like a panda himself, even having dark, deeply sunken eyes. his words were forceful and powerful, but his expression was ugly as he looked at the carnage before him. just what had happened here?

    leonel looked up, his expression indifferent.

 Chapter 2184 First Casualty

    chapter 2184 first casualty

    when the panda-like ancestor''s eyes landed on seltin''s body, his expression became even uglier, but he struggled to force himself to calm down. how could he not recognize leonel? he knew that this man was the current patriarch of the morales family, if they were to do something to him it would be about as good as declaring war, and if they were ready for something like that against such a behemoth, they would have already attacked the three finger cult to get their revenge.

    but at the same time, he couldn''t just let things go like this, that was impossible. they had their own bottomline as well.

    the panda ancestor, a man named gefnor, took a breath trying to calm himself. he didn''t interact with the world much for obvious reasons, so these types of matters weren''t what he was good at, but he was still sharp and astute. he immediately thought of a solution.

    "... i know that you''re able to revive people. bring them back to life and we will pretend like this matter never happened."

    "my tablet. return it. now." leonel said coldly.

    gefnor''s expression darkened. so this was what this was about?

    "revive her first, then we can discuss this matter..."

    "she will remain dead."

    gefnor and the others were stunned into silence. they thought that maybe leonel would demand to see his tablet first, maybe he would talk about not trusting them to keep their word, maybe he would try to work out some other deal... but what they never thought was that he would respond like this.

    he didn''t want to revive her. he would revive her. he had given her three seconds, and she didn''t cherish it. what right did she have to live after offending him? what right did she have to revive when he couldn''t do the same for his father?

    the dead should remain dead.

    gefnor didn''t know how to reply, but his fury did. it continued to bubble upward, threatening to spill over. whether he interacted with the world or not, he understood the kind of weight the title of ancestor brought, and he understood even greater than that what a gap between strength levels represented. no matter how talented leonel was, even if he had been at the pinnacle of the seventh dimension, bridging the gap to the eighth was absolutely impossible. that was only an understanding that one would gain after touching upon the threshold.

    how could he allow a child to talk to him like this? but before he could say anything, leonel nodded.

    "you can all die, then."

    at that moment, three starships that had been hovering in the skies made their presence known. they rumbled just a single time and then their lasers shot out, piercing forward. the laser whizzed by leonel''s ear, a searing heat erupting that would have burned practically anyone else to ashes.

    the laser was too quick for gefnor to react. a hole was torn through his head and his gaze became vacant almost instantly.

    the remaining two ancestors were shocked away, quickly reacted to pull their strengths together, but leonel had already spoken again.

    "rise."

    gefnor shuddered and a violet spirit came from his body. it didn''t even get a chance to bow to leonel before it was forced to attack.

    tragic cries echoed once again. the two remaining ancestors were entirely occupied with waiting for the next strike of the starship. by the time they realized the rest of their family was in danger, it was far too late and over half of their quasi eighth dimensional experts had been crushed to death beneath gefnor''s might.

    leonel continued to walk forward, slipping by the two ancestors as though they weren''t worth much and entering the depths of the umbra family compound.

    by the time he came back, bronze tablet in hand, only gefnor and the two ancestors remained. unfortunately for them, it wasn''t easy to deal with an ancestor who could endlessly regenerate. the two were on their back legs and struggling mightily against gefnor''s suicidal attacks. he had already been the strongest amongst the three of them, which was why he was the first one to speak, and now they were suffering an obvious fate.

    "fight to the death," leonel said indifferently, stepping out from the palace and preparing to leave. he didn''t have the time to waste here, and he didn''t feel like using more of his power on something so insignificant.

    however, when he stepped out, he found a red-eyed radlis kneeling by his aunt''s corpse. he cared about his aunt greatly, and their relationship had always been extremely close. although the latter was always teasing him and saying ridiculous things about her beauty, it was exactly that that made radlis love her so much. it could even be said that most of his perversion came from the influence of his aunt, she had practically molded his personality.

    but now she was dead, and at the hands of a person he had thought was a friend.

    when he met leonel''s gaze, he thought he would see some helplessness, maybe an understanding that they were simply standing on two separate sides and that this matter was inevitable, maybe a certain level of understanding for his pain, maybe even a little remorse, but he saw none of that.

    there was only an endless depth of indifference, as though he saw radlis'' emotions as nothing more than a fixture in his life that would pass away given enough time. there was no humanity in there, no care, no sympathy.

    radlis was in a complete daze. could that even be a gaze that a human could have? did he not understand human emotion? did he not have a heart?

    by the time he awoke from his daze, leonel and his three starships had vanished. the umbra family, filled with hope and expectation for the future, had been razed to the ground. those that remained alive were only those leonel felt to be insignificant existences, and of those that were important, only radlis and silam remained, their silence palpable.

    they were only the first casualty of leonel''s wrath.

 Chapter 2185 Army

    chapter 2185 army

    "how do you get to the spirituals domain?" leonel called out wise star order, asking him a straightforward question. but this sort of question threw the latter completely off guard.

    wise star order had practically been ignored by leonel, so he spent his time training his two disciples. he had thought that maybe leonel would ask them to help during the war, but that time never came.

    in leonel''s opinion, it wasn''t yet the right time to use them, and they wouldn''t have been much help to begin with. they wouldn''t have changed the outcome. savants were secret weapons that were best used when the enemy knew nothing about them. otherwise, it would be possible to plan for their abilities and counter them ahead of time. once their abilities were countered, savants were no different from mortals.

    but to call him forward so suddenly and for this reason...

    leonel''s enlightened self could make it to the spirituals domain with ease, but that was also because dream force could envelop an entire domain; it was easy to find entrances to other domains like this. but without this ability, travel was much more difficult.

    the void battlefield wasn''t just a battlefield, it was also a buffer between regions and it was incredibly difficult to cross without the right tools. leonel didn''t want to go to other domains now, but he wanted to understand what he had to prepare first. since wise star order had spent quite a bit of time in the spirituals domain and had even hidden a great amount of treasures there, he definitely should know how to get there.

    as expected, after regaining his calm, wise star order gave a brief explanation. it was also about as complex as leonel had expected, but it wasn''t just because of the anarchic force, but rather because the spirituals had gone out of their way to corner themselves off as though they were some sort of untouchable existence.

    but it was greater than this for leonel.

    ''they know something.''

    from wise star order, he had gained something he hadn''t expected and he could see a bit of why the spirituals acted the way they did. he could also see just how rare it was for one of them to exit their world, and how much importance they had placed on his father for one of them to show up, especially since i was their emperor.

    leonel slotted this to the back of his mind.

    given what his father had done to king, there would very soon be huge changes to these "simulations." however, due to the time dilation between the worlds, where even a few split seconds was years, it was hard to tell when exactly it was this would happen. or, it might very well be possible that they could adjust the time dilation at their will to mitigate these factors.

    regardless, he had to be faster, sharper.

    leonel waved wise star order off and left swiftly, not looking back and leaving the extraordinarily handsome man in a bit of a state of shock.

    in the blink of an eye, this young man had caught up to him, but it was worse than that. wise star order felt that now, even if he racked his mind for schemes, catching leonel off guard would be absolutely impossible.

    all he could see was death. if he even tried, the afterlife was all that awaited him after all these years of living. leonel didn''t even feel the need to worry about him anymore... and that was despite the fact his father was no longer here to ensure his safety.

    wise star order sighed. he wasn''t sure what to do. did he really have to give up all of his hopes and aspirations?

    ...

    leonel entered the lab setting, but the region had stepped into was one that only himself and aina had been in. no one knew what was here, and even if it was explained to them, they would likely never believe it... and yet here it was.

    before leonel, countless human-sized tubes filled to the brim with light blue liquid floated. there were easily millions of them, the space simply felt endless. but what was more important than these fluid filled tubes was what was within them...

    demons. as far as the eye could see, countless demons rested within these test tubes, waiting to be awakened.

    at the very forefront of these demons, was one that leonel recognized intimately. it was a beautiful, blue-scaled demon with a flesh hood that connected its shoulders and the top of its head. every time it breathed, a tongue would slither out, snapping at the air and colliding against the body of the tube, causing it to shake and quake despite the fact it was formed of nigh indestructible materials.

    that was right, this was none other than the cobra demon, the very demon that had eaten him alive. not just one of them, but over ten thousand. and this... what nothing more than just a single one of leonel''s troops, each of which he had forged a special unit binding armor for. this was the handy work of the tentacle womb, a process that had taken many years to finish.

    this was an army that he had planned to unleash to protect the morales family from the onslaught of the wider human domain, but now their purpose had changed. the morales had pissed him off, greatly.

    if the umbra family had seen this army, it was hard to tell how they would react. if they were paired with the starships, it was hard to say if there was a single army in the human domain that could deal with them properly. they were existence that were nigh undefeatable in the seventh dimension, and now they were about to be released on the world. if such an army just had the backing of a handful of ancestors, just how powerful would they be?

    leonel took a step and exited the lab setting. he found aina standing, seemingly waiting for him.

    "let''s go, we''re returning to the morales family."

    aina didn''t say much and only nodded, the two of them vanishing. alienor followed along, the family of three moving toward a behemoth of the human domain.

 Chapter 2186 Encirclement

    chapter 2186 encirclement

    the atmosphere of the morales family was odd. the death of velasco wasn''t lost on them. it was only after he was gone that they seemed to understand just how much of a looming presence he was. long before leonel, there was velasco, and it could be said that the amount of pride and joy he had brought the morales family despite his personal attitude issues was impossible to measure.

    how long had he been the symbol of the morales? the untouchable expert who stood above them all? even though he didn''t hold any power in the family, he was subconsciously understood to be their most powerful expert, and as a result, he was likewise a badge of projection. the morales family was powerful enough in their own right, but anyone who wanted to do something to them needed to think twice, and then thrice, not just because of them, but because of what that one man might do.

    the day of velasco''s rampage was something that had left a scar on the whole of the human domain. it was something they all remembered profoundly, and it was something that the morales had hung their hat upon for the longest time. and now... that man was gone.

    subconsciously, they all felt a little less safe, a little less confident, a little less prideful... that sort of emptiness wasn''t something that even the ancestors could immediately contest against. despite their best efforts, the somber atmosphere was heavy, mixing into the once happy and jovial atmosphere and creating an odd mixture.

    it was impossible for there to be 100% acceptance of a matter in a family that was so large, and there were of course some who simply didn''t care and even some who felt that a scourge was finally gone, many of those being members of the older generation.

    leonel didn''t feel anything different when he entered the morales family. he wasn''t very familiar with it, nor did he have any close feelings of familiarity with it. it was already much different from the first time he had been here, but once again he didn''t seem to care much.

    rather than reporting to the central region of the morales family territory, leonel had other plans, and that was of course to finally allow little tolly to evolve. in order to pick the perfect evolution path for the little one, he needed a force eruption.

    force eruptions were the method by which worlds evolved. they pumped a world with a large amount of higher quality force than it was used to, but as a result, they were also quite dangerous.

    the last time leonel had been caught up in the force eruption, he had to fight tidal waves of beasts, and because he had been on an island at the time, oceanic beasts got involved and caused a great deal of damage to the land.

    he didn''t think about those memories much, though, mostly because the friends that he had made on that island had all died due to the terrain invasion. war was a cruel thing, and people died. it was a blunt and all too obvious truth. but leonel had always been good at ignoring it... at least when it didn''t involve the people who had large pieces of his heart.

    clearly, there was no avoiding it now.

    these matters, though, weren''t on leonel''s mind at all. he didn''t care about the danger, nor did he care about those that had died all that time ago. instead, he was more interested in finding the location of such a force eruption. luckily, they weren''t hard to find at all.

    the morales world had been a seventh dimensional world previously for many generations. it had long since reached the end of its potential and if not for leonel, it would have never crossed over to reach an eighth dimensional world. it had to be remembered that earth was supposed to be the only world in the human domain with eighth dimensional potential.

    this aside, as a result of this, the morales world was impossibly vast, covering several sectors. in order for such a large region to enter the eighth dimension, the number of force eruptions necessarily was uncountable.

    it wasn''t long before leonel was able to find one. he just needed to map out the regions of force from lowest concentration to highest and move toward the flow of the latter. once the force eruptions ended, the force would equalize. but for now, things were still very much imbalanced.

    controlling the segmented cube shuttle, leonel whizzed toward the force eruption.

    the segmented cube''s shuttle mode was sleek and powerful, formed of jigsaw pieces of black and radiant blue, it looked like an enigma racing across the skies.

    the moment leonel got into range of the force eruption, though, he sensed that his shuttle was locked down upon by several auras.

    leonel didn''t need to think very hard to understand what was happening.

    in such a situation, especially one so unexpected, there would of course be many bad actors. evolving into an eighth dimensional world involved much more than just force, but resources as well, and many of these resources were concentrated in regions of force eruptions as well.

    if the morales were smart, they would of course leave guards in these regions, stopping both fellow morales and bad actors from other families from taking advantage.

    however, leonel simply didn''t care. he was the patriarch of this family supposedly. he didn''t feel any sort of guilt. though, even if he wasn''t the patriarch, it would be hard to say if he had the capacity to feel such a thing at the moment at all.

    the segmented cube was much too fast after entering the ninth dimension. leonel knew without a doubt that there was no one in this world that could catch him in this shuttle, so how could he not get by a mere encirclement of a few?

    he zipped by, leaving them in his dust.

    however, it was clear that this matter wouldn''t end so simply. and maybe leonel didn''t want it to either.

 Chapter 2187 Who Cared?

    chapter 2187 who cared?

    leonel landed, the raging force eruption spewing like a geyser before him.

    "go," he said lightly.

    little tolly rushed forward greedily.

    leonel had never forgotten the innate instinct of little tolly, and that was of course to consume, and consume, and then to consume some more. if the little one''s food intake wasn''t regulated, it was quite easy for it to go on a complete rampage. so, when he saw how excited little tolly was, he wasn''t surprised at all. it seemed that the little metal spirit was happy that it could finally release.

    leonel didn''t say or do much. he had already prepared everything long in advance, and little tolly had been ready for this evolution for even longer than that. it had to be remembered that tolliver had waited for leonel for over 20 years; it could be said that they were overprepared.

    better than that, the morales seemed to have set up some sort of barrier to stop outsiders from interfering with this region, or maybe more importantly than that, beasts. as such, all he really had to do was stand here, but that sort of leisure could only last for so long.

    soon enough, the auras that he had sensed previously quickly closed in. but in a comical scene, the three that had appeared were stuck out of the barrier that the morales had erected. all three had thought that leonel would be stuck outside as well, but who would have thought that he would be just fine?

    there were two men and a woman, all of them wearing the bronzed, and somewhat rustic and brushed armor. this armor also seemed to carry some rust on it, but it was impossible that the morales would dress their guards in such shabby attire on purpose; there was either some historical significance to this, or there was something special about the armors themselves.

    these three, though, were part of the morales divine guards. they were all well into the seventh dimension, and they had the sharp eyes of spearmen and the valiance of warriors. despite the fact they felt somewhat humiliated by the situation, they calmed down quickly, realizing that leonel could only leave this region once he was done; they just had to be prepared to intercept him.

    from this vantage point, they could only see leonel''s back view, but all morales had bronzed skin, darker to bronze hair and dark to bronze eyes. even when they married out, the genes of the morales were so strong that this would always be the case. unless, of course, they married into a bloodline of equal standing, but this had never happened in the history of the morales.

    due to the hidden fifth door of their lineage factor, even morales who had illicit affairs with suiard family members, or even other races, never experienced anything different. this was such a hard rule that many had just become used to it, and their first assumption was that leonel wasn''t a member of the morales at all, something that made their killing intent much deeper.

    but then, they frowned. that hair color...

    leonel''s hair color was extremely unique, and it didn''t even seem to be a color alone at all, it was rather like a negative light. it appeared white in some light, an extremely pale pink in others, and a fierce violet in others. it moved in the wind as though it had no weight to it, and it seemed to be made up of countless strands of fiber glass material instead of hair.

    it was truly beautiful, and it only seemed to become more so the longer one looked at it. but it was also due to this uniqueness that it was very familiar.

    that hair color, they had seen it before. their patriarch, leonel morales, that man''s son, didn''t he have the same hair?

    the three looked toward one another, not knowing what to do immediately. there were some odd rumors circulating about their patriarch, but it was hard to verify them because it hadn''t come right from the mouths of the ancestors. but, for them as divine guards to learn of this information, especially considering the kind of circles they kept, it was more likely than not that there was some truth to it.

    the first rumor was that their patriarch had been called back by the ancestors over a month ago, but he still hadn''t appeared. that was all the rumor said, but if it was true the weight behind it wasn''t small in the slightest.

    leonel was ultimately still a junior and the greatest power of the morales was in the hands of the council of ancestors. plus, leonel had yet to have his coronation ceremony, so technically, adawarth''s father was still the patriarch to this point.

    the second rumor, though, made the first even worse. and that was that leonel was like his father, the only difference was that he didn''t mind using others to reach his goals. and if that was true, then would leonel abdicate from the position like all others before him had?

    it was impossible to know who had started these rumors, it was done too cleverly, and things were to the point that even these divine guards believed them.

    but that was the thing... these matters were the truth. these rumors weren''t lies at all. leonel had indeed received a summons a month ago that he had completely ignored. although he had been in a coma at the time, even if he had been awake, he would have directly ignored it.

    as for the matters of abdication, it was less that leonel had intentions of spitting in the face of tradition, and more so that he felt that by the time enough time for abdication had passed, the situation of the morales would be so different that these old and ancient rules likely wouldn''t be worth a damn at all.

    at that moment, the ground quaked and the earth rumbled.

    leonel raised an eyebrow, but then he shook his head. he didn''t care, it was just one mine, who cared if little tolly swallowed it all?

 Chapter 2188 ROAR!

    "shit!"the female divine guard cursed. they were all morales, and they were well aware of the existence of metal spirits. though divine guards were part of the spear domain faction, they had enough interaction with the metal synergy faction to understand what they were seeing.

    this was a textbook example of a rampaging metal spirit, just what was this young patriarch of theirs doing?! was he trying to get revenge on the morales for something by destroying their resources?

    no, this didn''t make any sense. he was already caught after the first time. one mine wasn''t enough to even put a dent into the morales.

    but then they remembered that shuttle that leonel was using. it was so fast that they barely caught wind of it. in fact, if it wasn''t for the fact that leonel had slowed to so that he could detect the flow of force more clearly, they might not have been able to track him at all.

    even so, now that he had been found, did he really want to continue?

    "stop! don''t do this!"the female divine guard could only say this, it was happening too quickly to explain anything else.

    under normal circumstances, a patriarch would be able to control something as insignificant as a single mine. but setting aside the fact that leonel had yet to be coronated, the morales were currently in their own state of martial law. their alert state gave power over most decisions over to the ancestors and it also made even petty crimes that would usually be dealt with a slap on the wrist far more severe.

    these rules were put in place to control the population and to also keep bad apples from poisoning the well. it only made it worse that although this mine was fairly insignificant in the grand scheme, for it to have three divine guards guarding it, it wasn''t too bad either.

    suddenly, a geyser shot into the air, overshadowing the force eruption. but very soon, it became clear that it wasn''t a geyser, but rather the roaring form of a rampaging metal spirit.

    the expressions of the guards changed once again.

    "run! leonel!"

    no matter the situation, they didn''t want to see a young genius of the morales to die just like that, but leonel didn''t move at all.

    leonel looked up, his gaze calm. mother nature didn''t make mistakes, or more accurately, it couldn''t. given enough time, any existing creature would tend toward perfection. that was the simple fact of evolution. those with defects, those that were inferior, would die off, while those that were strong would continue on.

    for the metal spirit, one of the most ancient of creatures, for it to have such a tendency within it... could it really be a mistake? or was this just how metal spirits should be?

    the cataclysm zone gave leonel the answer to that question. or more accurately, it had given him the clues he needed to reach his own conclusion. he needed little tolly to be stronger, he needed a way to bridge the gap and deal with his own current weakness.

    and this was that way.

    leonel was of course choosing the jack of all trades path for little tolly. however, being a jack of all, of course came with being a master of none. that was the catch, but he would also be able to improve upon these weaknesses, it would just require a great deal of effort and resources. unless, of course... this worked.

    the four paths of the metal spirit were straightforward. the first allowed the improvement of ores, helping them tend toward perfection. the second allowed the fusion of ores to create new ores that combined the abilities of both. the third allowed them to swallow universal force, supplementing their crafter and helping their stamina while also increasing the chance of success. the fourth was, of course, what leonel was choosing... but with a twist.

    after reading the method of breaking through, leonel got an inkling that something was missing, and he felt that intuition was very correct.

    the original breakthrough method had a great deal of precaution around the potential rampaging of your metal spirit. in fact, most of the so-called method was actually a series of force arts that could suppress this wild ambition of a metal spirit.

    however, the reason leonel was standing here, arms crossed, doing absolutely nothing, was because he had cast away all of those methods. the only things he had prepared were what he needed to force little tolly onto the fourth path. and now, it was time to see if he was correct or not.

    maybe if he was in another state of mind, he might feel nervous, maybe feeling a bit of fear, or maybe a bit of hope. but the current him looked forward quite coldly, watching as little tolly got so big that the once little guy could be seen across the entire hemisphere.

    the divine guards had already retreated a great deal, feeling like they "understood" leonel all the more. they felt that this was his plan all along. if he allowed his metal spirit to rampage, then it would only be a matter of time to swallow up everything. soon, there would be no one but the ancestors that could stop it.

    a metal spirit that had swallowed up such a large amount of condensed eighth dimensional force, but swallowing up an entire eighth dimensional mine on top of that, wasn''t a level of existence that they could deal with confidently alone.

    the commotion grew so large that the planet began to rock back and forth. without a choice, the divine guards hurried to report this matter to the ancestors. they had had some thoughts of maybe turning a blind eye so that this situation wouldn''t become too complicated and they wouldn''t get caught in a whirlwind of what seemed to be an internal conflict, but now they simply had no choice.

 Chapter 2189 Success?

    little tolly''s roar shook the skies. it was hard to believe that an adorable blob of silver could make such a sound, but this was the reality before them all right this moment.

    the once little one raised into the skies like a roaring dragon, snaking through the skies, but even that form didn''t last for long. tolly couldn''t seem to decide on a form, shifting through countless mystical creatures. sometimes it was a dragon, sometimes it was a qilin, sometimes it rose into the skies like a majestic, silver phoenix, and yet some other times it became something far more sinister, a vast, endless and casting net of silver that seemed prepared to swallow up the entire world.

    ''something is missing...'' leonel thought to himself.

    if things continued like this, he felt that he would fail. he felt that his general idea was correct, but it was impossible for things to go perfectly just because he had this idea.

    just think about it for a moment. in order for this method to be created, others had to have failed before. they had all likely witnessed a rampaging metal spirit and decided that it couldn''t be allowed to happen. that meant that if he did nothing and simply continued to observe, whatever terrible outcome the people of the cataclysm zone had wanted to avoid would be exactly what happened here.

    it was just unfortunate that leonel hadn''t figured out what that was ahead of time. he felt that he was still missing something to complete his deduction, and the only way to do that was to observe the process in person. but he only had one metal spirit and there was nothing else that he could observe in its stead...

    so he chose this approach. it was either he succeeded here, or he would lose his metal spirit.

    tolliver was a precious friend of his. it couldn''t communicate, and it hadn''t even chosen an identity for itself, but the teachings of his father was something that leonel took up with the utmost seriousness.

    now that he thought about it, he had never seen his father''s own metal spirit. in all likelihood, that was related to exactly why his father was so serious about the matter. his father had lost so much in his life, and maybe his metal spirit was just yet another sacrifice on that path...

    leonel closed his eyes, the net of little tolly expanding to the point that it crashed against the barriers that the morales had set up, pushing against it and causing it to crack once, and then crack again. it seemed that even this barrier designed to stop the most powerful of the seventh dimension could barely resist against the current tolliver, the rampaging metal spirit having lost its mind entirely.

    suddenly, leonel''s eyes opened. ''that''s it.''

    with calm movements, leonel slowly took out something that he had been saving for a long time. in fact, he had never thought that he would come to find a use for it, and even if he did, he thought that maybe it would be used in one of his final divine armors, but it seemed that all of that preparation had instead led up to this very moment here.

    in his hands, leonel held up none other than his very own strand of hair.

    leonel didn''t know why, but every time he had a great boost in strength, his hair would likewise grow. after recent breakthroughs, his hair became like flowing rivers, extending outward for dozens of meters, even hundreds recently.

    what was most shocking about this was that if it wasn''t for his emperor''s might lineage factor, he would just have to let it be. the reason for that was because... his hair was truly indestructible. he thought that maybe it was just because he was weak in the past and couldn''t gather enough strength, but even now, he was unable to do anything to the hair that had grown back when he was still merely in the third and fourth dimensions.

    in fact... even his enlightened self couldn''t do it.

    luckily, his hair was attached to his body, it was a part of it, and thus he had perfect autonomy over it. using his king''s might to allow him to cut it was as easy as breathing, but it was also the only way to do so.

    it was truly an anomaly, the other morales didn''t seem to have this problem at all. leonel actually felt that due to his lineage factor deviation back when he had originally tried to open up his first set of doors, he had caused this mutation within himself.

    either way, right this moment, leonel felt that this was somehow the very best solution to the problem.

    he needed something to ground tolliver, something that made their connection even stronger. another person might be helpless in this sort of situation. what part of themselves could they feed to a metal spirit if not their own flesh and blood?

    however, leonel had a true solution, one he felt had a better than 90% chance of working.

    he threw his long strands of hair into the air as little tolly dove toward him. sensing the powerful metals coming his way, tolliver was immediately distracted, swallowing it all up. but to both their surprise, tolliver couldn''t seem to absorb it all instantaneously like it had done in the past.

    the little metal spirit bundled up, wrapping around the long strands of hair until it was nothing more than a small silver ball that landed with a plop upon leonel''s hands.

    ''corrosive...''

    leonel had long since gotten used to touching tolliver directly, but it seemed more dangerous now than it ever had been. even so, he didn''t seem to mind.

    he nodded to himself, watching as tolliver pulsed, slowly digesting his ore-like hair. it was hard to believe that this same bundle of silver had just been about to swallow a planet, but here it was.

    he had succeeded.

 Chapter 2190 How Many?

    the rumbling earth and the collapsing skies came to a pause. the divine guards, who had escaped into the distance, thinking that everything for this planet had come to an end, were stunned into silence. they truly hadn''t expected that things would actually end like this, and so... simply at that.

    they had heard tales of rampaging metal spirits. although it hadn''t happened in a very long time, there was a special alert placed on divine guards like them to watch out for them this time, that was why they were so quick to report things. during a force eruption dense region like this one, the metal spirits that were native to their world could very easily go out of control. luckily, this hadn''t happened yet, or rather not until now, but that was beside the point. what they were more keen on was the fact that things shouldn''t have ended so easily.

    a metal spirit was a force of nature. the more it observed, the more powerful it became, and in the end, the worst of them could even stand toe to toe with monstrous existences like the void beast. of course, that was only in the most extreme of cases, and unlike the void beast, such metal spirits would usually not have their minds intact when they reached such a state. but it was a huge worry nonetheless.

    often, it took the efforts of an entire seasoned army, at the cost of many, to reel in this sort of enemy. so how had leonel done it all on his own?

    at that moment, several auras that both matched their own and even surpassed them rushed in from the distance. in the lead, there was an ancestor issa, but this wasn''t too surprising to them. most of the ancestors were still focused on elucidating the secrets of their new lineage factor to worry about other things. so, currently, only ancestor issa and ancestor alvaro were heading the charge and leading the family currently.

    however, when they approached, ready for battle to deal with the metal spirit, having responded quite quickly at that, they found... nothing?

    ancestor issa frowned. her time as an ancestor was very precious, she couldn''t just move around as she pleased. if it wasn''t because the fluctuation of force in the air was a bit odd, she would have already turned around and left the punishment to the forces beneath her. however, since something seemed off, she turned to the female divine guard.

    "divine guard elilen, what is the meaning of this?"

    "this... i..."

    seeing the flustered appearances of not just elilen, but all three of them, issa''s gaze narrowed. what was happening here?

    in the end, elilen could only just describe the happenings to the best of her ability.

    "a force eruption? littlest nova? metal spirit..." issa mumbled, looking down.

    but... why was it that there was no force eruption here? and mine, there was no mine either. there was leonel, she noticed, looking down toward the earth below, but he didn''t seem to have acknowledged their appearance at all, remaining entirely focused on little tolly who was in his hands. in fact, after several moments, he put little tolly away and caused the segmented cube''s shuttle to appear before him with a wave of the hand. it really seemed like he would just leave like that.

    ancestor issa frowned and she waved a hand, clearly having plans to seal leonel in place. but the moment her force moved, a rippling barrier of the segmented cube seemed to have deflected it, as though it stood in a world of its own that issa couldn''t interfere with.

    leonel finally looked over, a sharp coldness in his eyes that made issa''s pupils constrict. she saw leonel as nothing more than a child, but at the moment he was anything but. it even felt that he had the ability to kill her if he truly wanted to, an illusion that she couldn''t shake no matter how many times she tried to reset her mind.

    her frown deepened, but she soon relaxed. what kind of nonsense was all of this, exactly?

    they had summoned a child of the morales back, and yet he had ignored him. then a month later he shows up and rather than appearing with an explanation and an apology, the first thing he does is plunder their resources? what kind of joke was that?

    "arrest him," ancestor issa said lightly. the other divine guards had heard the story clearly enough. they made a move to apprehend leonel immediately, some more hesitant than others, but none daring enough to show so physically. in the face of an ancestor, leonel''s prestige wasn''t nearly enough, and that was doubly so since he had yet to be coronated and his father had died.

    however, they had only moved a small measure when a golden laser suddenly whizzed by. the heat seared their faces, their bodies going taut before they could even fight against the instinct.

    issa was the most frozen. an entire half of her long hair had been sliced off at the ear, her earlobe bleeding just the faintest bit before the wound quickly corroded under heat.

    leonel took a step into the segment cube and almost vanished from view. but before the hatch closed, he looked up.

    "if the morales family wants to take the patriarch position away from me, feel free to do so. just know that i''ll then treat you like every other family in the human domain. don''t test my patience. i''m not a child that you can order around as you please.

    "how many ancestors have you killed in your lifetime, ancestor issa?" leonel asked coldly.

    issa, still in a state of shock, seemed to have been frozen cold all over again.

    "no answer?" leonel spoke lightly as he looked away, the hatch slowly closing. "well, i''ve personally killed over 50, a sight i''m sure you personally witnessed. that number seems to be more than the amount the morales have in total."

    click. the hatch closed and the shuttle shot off into the distance, closing in the central city of the morales.

 Chapter 2191 His Own.

    a silence fell over the skies. the divine guards didn''t dare to look toward issa. they didn''t dare to disrespect an ancestor, but leonel''s words couldn''t help but echo in their ears again and again, sinking into the psyches and rewriting what they had come to know.

    the images of leonel forcing the souls of ancestors to rise and the slaughter of the invader ancestors replayed in their minds. it felt as though they had conveniently forgotten this had happened, or maybe it was that it had seemed too far and out of the norm that it was easy to ignore it as though it had never happened at all.

    it was hard to rewire their minds, to understand that dimensional strength wasn''t just everything they could see on the surface. it probably also didn''t help that they all came from spear domain faction.

    the morales had two main factions. only the heirs were born with both of their lineage factors, so often from birth, people were separated into two main camps, those born with the metal synergy bloodline, and those born with the spear domain bloodline.

    the morales had some clashes in philosophy and culture as a result of this, and they of the divine guards, all born with the spear domain bloodline, valued personal strength over everything. seeing velasco strike down that entity with a single spear strike was something they could see, something they could feel. but leonel''s soul controlling abilities and scheming nature was something that they were less accepting of.

    this was something that was deeply ingrained, something they weren''t even consciously aware of, and they actually managed to expunge something so significant from their minds.

    however, no matter how much they wanted to ignore it, no matter what kind of biases they had, when it was laid out before them like this, it was absolutely impossible to ignore.

    ancestor issa''s expression was frighteningly dark, but she didn''t say anything.

    she wasn''t a fool. she remembered quite clearly what leonel had done, it might have very well been part of the reason she had sent others forward first.

    leonel''s weakness was all too obvious. he needed to kill an ancestor first before he had the strength and power of one. the second weakness was that in order to kill one, he needed to rely on a starship. these were two things that could be easily exploited... or so she thought.

    where had that laser come from? she had already scanned the area. could it be that it came from the shuttle?

    this would be extremely troublesome. there had never been a patriarch of the morales family that didn''t have fear and adulation for the ancestors. if he couldn''t be controlled, issa didn''t know if there was any recourse for this sort of situation. the only solution she could see was staying in this current martial law state, that way the greatest power would remain in the hands of the ancestors.

    the rules placed her in the right. but what did you do with someone who had no care for them? this was more than just a little troubling...

    ''third nova...'' ancestors issa thought, her gaze flickering.

    "return," she commanded. "you three report back and be reassigned, there''s no longer a force eruption here."

    usually in such a situation, the leader might say something about keeping this matter a secret, but issa said no such thing. simply taking a step and vanishing before all of their eyes.

    ...

    the morales capital city was bustling, even more so than usual. due to the evacuation, the concentration of individuals in this solar system had reached its peak. usually the population would be far more spread out, but that obviously wasn''t the case now. the result was these cities being far denser and more populated than ever before.

    looking at the state of things, one would never guess that the morales were in a state of high alert. it could be said that ancestor issa and ancestor alvaro had both done an excellent job. at the very least, they had their own reasons for trusting their own personal strength and experience over leonel.

    this move made it possible to use the whole of the morales territory as a battlefield if it came to it, and in all likelihood, the reverberations of any war that did happen would likely never reach this place. this was the power of a large family.

    leonel zipped through the air, moving too fast for most to catch even a trace of him, but there was one person who didn''t fall into such a category. unfortunately, even he was too slow to react.

    leonel''s shuttle landed right before the grandest building of the morales, a majestic building visible even from orbit. it was thousands of kilometers tall and easily just as deep. it could be said that the entire planet was co opted for the sake of this building and it was also the location that carried the only entrance to the morales holy land, and it was also the location where leonel''s coronation would take place.

    stepping out from his shuttle, leonel''s aura was towering. familiar robes of violet and gold wrapped around his body, his every step causing the planet to quake as though he was announcing his arrival.

    his king''s might aura rose from his body, the image of a man rising taller than even the building before him appearing to his back. it seemed to be similar to the manifestation of the four great families, and yet oh so different at the same time.

    leonel came to a stop as ancestor alvaro finally caught up, rushing out from the building. but it soon became obvious that leonel hadn''t stopped for him at all, rather, he had stopped so that he could raise his hands.

    the manifestation to his back moved at the same time, its hands rising as well and a powerful tremor shooting through the territory of the morales.

    the constellation of the morales appeared once more, each individual star shifting and changing until their colors, too, radiated a blinding violet.

    boom!

    a rippling wave of force surged, starting with leonel from the center and rushing outward until it reached the very edge of the morales'' territory.

    leonel slowly lowered his hands, the constellation from above shimmering as beams of light descended, landing upon his body.

    without even his personal effort, his bronze aura manifested, his halo appearing above his head and slowly turning into a pulsing crown.

    whether the morales wanted it or not, this territory was his.

    he waved a hand and an ancestor hidden deep within morales territory shuddered. a blinding light came out from their chest, the ancient world spirit of the morales shaking out of their control and soaring through the layers of the morales holy land and piercing toward leonel.

    leonel opened up his palm and the world spirit landed gently within. it obediently bobbed within leonel''s hand, somewhat intelligent and yet somewhat not. it wasn''t exactly what leonel had expected, if a world spirit could choose its own owner, so why was this one so dull?

    then... he seemed to understand.

    the stars above, descended to form his crown, shone even fiercer when the world spirit appeared, pouring into its body and increasing its strength by leaps and bounds.

    a coronation? he could hold his own.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: my emperor!

 Chapter 2192 A Better Idea

    when a world entered a state of dimensional descent and their metamorphosis began, a world spirit would be born. upon the birth of the world spirit, a world would make a bet on a certain group of youths and bless them, allowing them the chance to enter zones and fight for the right to earn a piece of the world spirit. of course, in this case, the world spirit would be split into four.

    on earth, for whatever reason, the world spirit was awoken ahead of time and it chose to take on leonel''s mother as its host. as such, it never split into four.

    of course, the reason for the usual choice of the world spirit was quite obvious. it wanted to select a group of talented youths to fight for hegemony over the budding world. these four youths would usually establish families or organizations that would carry a great deal of influence through the history of the world.

    sometimes, these organizations and families would be defeated one by one, leaving just one hegemony, much like what had occurred in the case of the morales. or, in many cases, the world spirit would remain in two, three or four pieces, controlled by several powers. this was what had happened in the case of the three pillar sector, the former stomping grounds of the luxnix family, the viola family and company.

    most of the most powerful families and organizations had managed to successfully fuse their world spirits into one, giving them a great deal of staying power and giving themselves a great advantage while battling within their own territory. it could be said that a large part of why the other families were still hesitant to take action against the morales was precisely because of this.

    at the same time, though, it could be said that there also had to be a reason they still dared to do so despite this obvious disadvantage, and leonel believed that he had found this reason.

    just why was this world spirit so weak and haggard...? and was it because it was so weak that other families still felt that they had a chance?

    leonel could think of a few theories.

    the first was that the world spirit was just old. it seemed to be a living, breathing existence, so it was possible that the morales world had existed for so long that it simply couldn''t be in its prime any longer.

    leonel didn''t know how he felt about this thought, that would mean that even these worlds had their limits and it was only a matter of time before it came crumbling down. that said, the good news was that this didn''t seem to be the case, or else it wouldn''t have been so easy for leonel to reverse its weakening. or, at the very least, it couldn''t be the only explanation.

    the second thought he had, and the one he felt had more of a chance to have at least a kernel of truth, had to do with what the morales had likely gone through to fuse the world spirits in the first place. the morales were a family of crafters, who knew if they had the ability to restrict or curse their own world spirit? he wasn''t sure.

    maybe in order to deal with their competitors in the past, the morales had dealt a blow to their world spirit that they had not found a method to reverse in all these years.

    then there was the third reason... control.

    leonel had read all of the research papers of the void library, and among maybe the most researched phenomena was none other than the world spirit. as such, when it came to understanding the rules of world spirits and how they functioned, leonel was likely among the very best.

    due to this, he knew that it was very well a possibility that a world spirit could reach the end of its lifespan and a world could die along with it. however, he also knew quite well what happened after the owner of a world spirit died.

    when this happened, a world spirit would simply choose another person. most often, this person would have some relation to the person that died, but it wasn''t a 100% certainty. there had certainly been examples in the past of prominent families losing their world spirit to smaller existences of their world, but it was usually a simple matter to retrieve it.

    however... what if it wasn''t? or, what if those that controlled the world spirit only wanted to see it fall into the hands of very specific members of even their own family?

    this was where the theories of control came into being, and almost all of them necessitated the weakening of a world spirit and the lulling into a state of dullness and stupidity that could be easily manipulated.

    of the three theories leonel had thought of, it was possible that each one had a small kernel of truth to it, but there was no doubt that this one was the most likely to be 100% true.

    but it didn''t matter now. the world spirit was in his hands, but he also had no intention of keeping it for himself.

    like he had said. he had read all the research papers there were to have on world spirits, all of the cumulative thoughts and understandings of countless generations of people. plus, he had wise star order and anastasia to chest his understanding with. so he had an even better use for this new and improved world spirit.

    before ancestor alvaro could even say a word, leonel squeezed his palm lightly, condensing the world spirit into its purest form and then tossing it into the air.

    the world spirit shot out like a ball from a canon, roaring into the air and suddenly becoming like another star in the skies. but then it dispersed, spreading out wildly and fusing into the morales constellation.

    at that moment, every morales in the territory suddenly felt a mysterious power coursing through their veins, feeling far more powerful now than they had ever felt before.

 Chapter 2193 Patriarch

    leonel lowered his hand, his gaze indifferent and unmoved. he already expected much of this to happen and none of it surprised him. however, this sort of commotion was the kind that could easily catch the attention of an entire family. even while so focused on understanding all of the secrets of their new lineage factor, the morales ancestors couldn''t help but be alerted by this matter, and even the deepest reaches of them, existences that hadn''t appeared in the light of day in centuries, came forward.

    obviously, this was caused by one very important reason... the world spirit had vanished.

    ancestor alvaro landed not far from leonel, his brows knitted into a tight frown. he had witnessed everything with his own eyes and the shock within him wasn''t small in the slightest. he didn''t quite know how to react. should he be angry? impressed? should he reprimand leonel and try to punish him? or should he pretend as though he hadn''t seen anything?

    but the problem with the latter choice was that there was simply no way that others would let it slide, and it seemed even less likely that leonel just planned to leave things as is and stop causing these things to happen.

    "littlest n..."

    "gather the various elders and ancestors of the family. i have some things i need to say. i will make some things clear first, though. this is the one and only chance that i''m giving the morales, and for no other reason than the fact half of my blood comes from here. if it was another family that cowered in their own dens while others fought for the safety of the human race, there would be no negotiations at all."

    leonel walked by ancestor alvaro, leaving him far too stunned to speak. he in one part couldn''t believe that a junior was talking to him like this, but on the other hand he didn''t quite know how to refute.

    staying here and adding to their fortifications seemed like the obvious and natural thing to do, but when he heard leonel describe it as a cowardly act, his old face became a bit red. the morales were naturally straight forward and valiant people, they knew what it meant to be brave and what it meant to lead a battle with the tip of your spears. it should have naturally been they, who were among the strongest humans, who led the forefront of the battle.

    instead, though, the human army had been made up of juniors and a hodgepodge of geniuses from lesser families that had worked their way up to the pinnacle of the seventh dimension. not a single of the human domain''s most prominent families had appeared, and it seemed that they had taken the fact that leonel had repelled the invaders for granted.

    but what else was new?

    leonel reversed the entrapment of countless geniuses in the cataclysm zone, saving the hopes of countless families, and yet this seemed to have been forgotten.

    he had become the patriarch apparent of the morales family, completing a shocking feat and defeating seventh dimensional geniuses while only being in the sixth... and yet this seemed to have been forgotten.

    he had killed dozens of enemy ancestors, he had crushed the scourge of the human domain, he had wiped out threat after threat, and yet this had been forgotten.

    and why, exactly? because he was too young? because his feats were too ridiculous? because it was easier to accept the status quo? because others felt that he was too arrogant? or maybe it was because they felt they could do with him as they pleased now that his father was dead.

    amusing.

    leonel walked into the grandest room in morales territory. it was embroidered in gold, brass and bronze, the workmanship of the morales on full display as ancient depictions of battles long passed were etched into the very walls that seemed forged of dozens of meters thick bricks of metal.

    every step he took was resonating, and ancestor alvaro''s action seemed completely unnecessary. one after another, the pinnacle existences of the morales appeared. whether it was those of the spear domain faction or those of the metal synergy faction, they arrived in full force, originally believing that their family was in danger, and only now understanding that littlest nova had appeared.

    without a hint of ceremony, leonel reached the throne and sat upon it. the floors rumbled and the planet shook, a surge of king''s might taking hold of the morales land. at that moment, even without making a single move, the morales ancestors seemed to feel that none of them stood a chance against the current leonel.

    "sit." leonel commanded coldly.

    the elders and ancestors subconsciously moved. many of them were able to resist and continued to stand, hidden in the shadows or in plain sight, but the majority could not, following along one after another until the hall was completely filled.

    in a daze, they didn''t even realize what had happened until they had already sat down. and now, most were far too embarrassed to even stand once again in a fit of rage, feeling that it was better if they pretended that this was their intention all along.

    at that moment, ancestor issa caught up, her expression twisted. what had happened, how had things ended up like this?

    she had faintly heard leonel''s earlier words, and she couldn''t quite believe it.

    many of the ancestors were more than a little unsatisfied, feeling as though a junior was trying to step on their heads, but the current leonel''s presence was too suffocating, almost like he could snuff out their lives with a single word.

    "littlest nova, what is the meaning of this?" a certain ancestor wenrow spoke, his distaste clear in his voice. "that throne can only be sat upon by the current patriarch, you''ve yet to be coronated. in addition, when all ancestors are present, the level of the throne must be brought down in order to show respect to those that came before you. there are several here who''ve served as patriarch before, you aren''t the first, and you won''t be the last."

    "are you finished?"

    ancestor wenrow froze.

    "now, i have some things i would like an explanation for. the family made a decision to hole up and retreat from the battlefield without my consent. why?"

    silence fell. no one knew how to answer this question because they felt it was too ridiculous.

 Chapter 2194 Overlord

    leonel didn''t seem to pick up on the reaction of his elders. he sat on his throne stoically, his eyes even partially closed. it didn''t seem like he cared at all about their response, and yet he didn''t say a word after. it was as though he was just fine with the silence, just fine with letting this sort of atmosphere brew and breed, just fine with allowing the pressure to slowly and steadily rise, pressing down upon the shoulders of these ancestors in a way they had simply never experienced before.

    the silence was deafening and persistent. many thought that leonel would eventually fold, but eventually it looked as though he was simply taking a nap, his aura dormant, rumbling like a sleeping dragon.

    eventually, it was ancestor alvaro, the very one who had witnessed this process from start to finish that spoke. the others were aware that something big had happened, but they had no idea just how big it was. however, even alvaro never guessed that he wouldn''t be able to speak.

    an aura the likes of which these ancestors had never felt before descended. the expressions of several changed, as though waiting for an oncoming enemy. but those that were in the know and recognized this aura all too well felt their faces go pale. just what had occurred for this individual to be stirred?

    the most senior of the ancestors was ancestor hito, or so it seemed to be so on the surface. the truth was that the true depth of a large family''s prowess was more than even deeper than most of their upper echelon knew, let alone outsiders.

    there were two separations of such existences within the morales.

    the first were the death sworn. these were individuals born and bred their entire lives to give up their very breath for the sake of the family. often, even to their former family members, they had died long ago. it wasn''t until the day they were needed that they would step forward, but most often they would die of old age, never able to take up their role they were meant to. after all, for such a large family like the morales, how many could threaten them enough that such a trump card would need to be used?

    for many powerful families, the so-called death sworn were mostly made up of savants that were taken and raised from birth. such was the fate of savants in the dimensional verse, a sad fate for many.

    normally, though, these death sworn savants would be used in ways much more cleverly than anya had used hers. anya used her savants as though they were her personal attacks, throwing them out like tamed beasts. but a family like the morales would only use them in key areas and they''d be highly protected. for example, as the core of a large scale force art...

    the second were the overlords, the truest and deepest reaches of the family and existences that stood beyond the ancestors. these were existences that while still in the eighth dimension, had abilities that approached the very limits and sometimes even surpassed it. these were old men and women so ancient that many thought that they had already died of old age, but due to the use of special methods, they were able to extend their lives...

    special methods like the use of a world spirit.

    it seemed that leonel''s deductions were both correct and incorrect. it was true that the world spirit was weakened due to the actions of the morales, but the purpose wasn''t just control, it was to extend the lives of these overlords of theirs.

    it took far too long to practice to the extremities of the eighth dimension, and by the time that happened, many would be at the end of their lifespans. only the most powerful of families could circumvent the tides of times, and it could be said that one of the reasons world spirits didn''t play a prominent role on the largest stages was precisely because they were the most useful in this role.

    as for why the void library didn''t talk about this sort of thing, it was obvious. why would these large families allow such a thing to be casually shared?

    leonel realized all of this the moment he sensed the aura of death around the man who descended.

    his face was filled with a countless number of wrinkles, so much so that his eyes were barely visible. his eyebrows were overgrown and a densely packed grey, while his hair was sparse and his skin filled with aged spots.

    when he descended and touched down, the ancestors who knew who he was kneeled down immediately. they didn''t have the slightest bit of arrogance and loftiness on their faces any longer. this was the same even for ancestor issa and alvaro, both of them bowing their heads low.

    the more regular elders of the morales, many of whom were getting on in age and were stuck at the pinnacle of the seventh dimension, didn''t understand what was going on at all. however, they knew that if an ancestor was kneeling, they had no right to stand on their feet. as such, they immediately followed suit without the slightest hesitation.

    the old man continued to walk forward as though he hadn''t seen anything. it seemed, though, that every movement he made only caused the aura of death to thicken.

    he stopped before the throne, seemingly unsurprised that leonel hadn''t kneeled.

    "like father, like son. the world spirit of the morales, return it."

    the old man''s words startled everyone but alvaro who had seen what happened. but even more so than that, his voice shook their hearts. it felt like walking on a gravel road, but in their ears instead. their eardrums themselves felt uncomfortable, like they had been aged to the same level as this man in an instant.

    leonel didn''t respond. it was as though he hadn''t heard the old man speak at all. he, the patriarch, had asked a question, and yet no one had answered it, but now they wanted him to answer to other things? he didn''t have the patience for it.

    the atmosphere grew dense and the old man chuckled. "indeed, just like the father."

    it was odd for him to be laughing in such a situation, seemingly moment away from death, but here he was, having the time of his life. he didn''t seem to be laughing out of rage at all, but rather out of true amusement. he hadn''t seen the world in a long time, but he had actually run into such a scene the moment he did.

    "what was that question he asked? indeed," the old man looked toward ancestor alvaro, "you and issa should be in charge. explain."

    leonel''s eyes suddenly opened, but he could only now see the back view of the old man. he had already looked away, completely focused on alvaro.

    "this..." alvaro, who was still kneeling, was taken aback. "... the family entered a state of ancestor rule, all decisions were made by us. in addition, little nova wasn''t yet the patriarch, it is still technically first nova''s father. there is no protocol or need to communicate with him at that moment."

    "logical," the old man nodded and looked toward leonel, "but it seems like there''s more to the story, no? as far as i''m aware, when the family enters a state of ancestor rule, every member should be informed of the current situation and understand that the patriarch has been stripped of their power. is littlest nova not a member of the morales?"

    alvaro froze. this was true, but...

    back then, they had felt that leonel was a bit too arrogant and they could feel his ambition seeping through, especially when he refused their order to release third nova. as such, they had thought of teaching him a small lesson. the only purpose was to show him how well the morales family functioned without him, nothing more, nothing less.

    what they hadn''t expected was for this to come back and bite them like this.

    they didn''t know what the overlord was trying to do, but wasn''t this a bit too biased? if he really wanted the world spirit from leonel, couldn''t he just snatch it back, why did an overlord have to say so many words?

    "at the same time, though..." the old man looked toward leonel. "... it seems that this little one has far too much ambition. what is it that you want to do with my morales family, exactly?"

    leonel looked into the old man''s eyes, the scent of death permeating the air as the overlord seemed to wilt right before their eyes.

    after a long while, leonel waved a hand and a strong surge of force appeared before flooding into the old man''s body. he, who had just been on the brink of death, while he wasn''t suddenly young, looked as though he could live several more years with ease.

    the overlord''s pupils constricted, but he remained silent, seemingly still waiting for leonel''s answer.

    in the end, leonel answered simply.

    "the morales family will go as far as i take it."

 Chapter 2195 HavenтАЩt Realized...

    chapter 2195 haven''t realized...

    the overlord looked toward leonel, his expression changing from its baseline for the first time since he had appeared. while his old age wasn''t suddenly cured, it felt like his life force had been stabilized in a way that he had simply never imagined to be possible without the help of the world spirit, and there was a very obvious elephant in the room... just how had leonel done this?

    leonel hadn''t originally come to the morales territory knowing of the existence of these overlords. he was sure that his enlightened self had likely battled it out with these individuals, but he simply didn''t remember enough details to know for certain. however, the matter of this overlord''s life wasn''t too difficult for leonel to handle because in this territory, he was practically invincible. he even had ideas on how to make this matter more permanent by using methods of separating soul and body and the like. though, he held off on these matters for now.

    much like his grandfather and the ascension empire, the morales territory had become the domain of leonel''s king''s might, and as a result of that, there were several benefits to be had.

    for one, he could draw on the strength of the entire world, and that was world spirit aside. it was simply impossible for even an overlord to match him within the walls of this territory so long as his mind was fast enough to keep up with the battle and his mental strength didn''t fatigue.

    this was precisely why he had directly given up on the world spirit. a world spirit had limited amplification to strength outside of one''s territory, which was why the young generation of smaller families didn''t suddenly enter and become little overlords of the void palace.

    to leonel, he didn''t need a world spirit to access such strength within morales territory, because he had the function of his own lineage factor for that, and it could even be said that his king''s might lineage factor was far better than a world spirit in this regard.

    that said, that didn''t mean that he had lost access to the strength of a world spirit either, it was just that it was distributed across the many rather than the few, while likewise being amplified through their constellation.

    helping the overlord to stabilize his life force was as easy as redirecting some of the strength of the distributed world spirit and concentrating a bit more of it on the old man before him. in fact, the results were even better now than they had been in the past because the world spirit had been strengthened several times over, on top of evolving into the eighth dimension.

    whereas in the past the world spirit would struggle to maintain the life of an eighth dimensional existence, now it was as easy as breathing because they were on the same level.

    this simple action by leonel made the overlord realize that he had still underestimated the young man before him. that said, he still had several questions and this matter couldn''t just be allowed to rest as it was.

    no matter what rules leonel was using to wiggle his way out and be placed firmly in the right, the obvious truth was that issa and alvaro''s worries were very much warranted. it was true that leonel wanted to do away with the former system of the morales, it was true that he likely would have no intention of abdicating when the time came, and it was true that he would have ignored this so-called ancestor rule even if they had taken the steps to contact him. leonel wanted far more than most of the morales elder generation were willing to give him.

    "littlest nova, i hope that by this action you aren''t hoping to buy my acceptance," the overlord spoke slowly.

    "with all due respect, senior..." leonel spoke slowly. "... what the ancestors and elders of the morales family are worried about is that i will refuse to comply when necessary and that i''ll refuse to abdicate when the time comes.

    "the reality is by the time this worry is playing out in the present, the situation of the morales family will be so far different than what you know now that these worries will all seem like worthless sophistry. do you believe me?"

    "no." the overlord replied simply. "and it''s also not just a matter of what will come in the future, it''s also a matter of what actions you might take now that will come to shake the family in the future. the internal structure of the morales is complicated, but what it has always remained is whole and balanced.

    "it is not lost on me just how much ambition you have, but even further than that how good you are at scheming and planning. what if you are wrong and the matter of abdication remains a big deal in the future? what reason does the family have to believe that you won''t have left several counter measures to ensure your success one way or another?

    "you''ve already displayed the ability to kill ancestors now, what will it look like in 10 years? we cannot skip a generation of patriarchs or else it will cause an imbalance in the family''s future that won''t be easily corrected. because the nova generation was stuck in the cataclysm zone, your time of rule must be cut down and shared with the comet generation, this has already been decided. and yet, you still talk of how much the family will change in that shortened time frame, just how do you expect others to believe you?"

    indeed, the ancestors had already decided to compensate the comet generation in this way. both the nova and comet generation would serve for shortened sentences. maybe if leonel had the normal reign, he would be believed. but with the length of time shortened so considerably, how could they? they felt like he was just saying anything he could to get his hands on the position, then he would likewise do whatever he could to guarantee himself a position into the future.

    but toward this explanation, leonel only responded lightly.

    "it seems you haven''t yet realized... the morales family has already changed beyond your recognition. what need is there for 10 years? or even five or less?"

 Chapter 2196 Cowardice

    chapter 2196 cowardice

    the overlord frowned, not quite understanding what leonel was trying to get at. but in a rare moment of patience, maybe due to the attitude of the overlord to begin with and how he had approached matters, leonel chose to explain.

    "how have heirs been chosen in the past?"

    the overlord''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

    "it seems that you understand already," leonel continued indifferently. "an heir is a man or woman with both lineage factors of the morales. it''s always been easy enough. there are billions born to the morales in every generation, deciding a ruler among them would be a ridiculous task to take on every few decades. so, instead, this route was chosen. it was also a method to bring together the two bashing heads of the metal synergy and spear domain factions, allowing them to unite under one person. but...

    "is that even possible anymore?"

    the ancestors and elders who were still kneeling on the ground were shaken. they had spent so long trying to make clear the new changes of their lineage factor that they had forgotten one very important thing... there were no longer two lineage factors; the two had been fused into one supremely powerful lineage factor, and on top of that, every currently living morales had been granted it under the power of the stars.

    if the rules of the past were taken literally, the comet generation had no heirs. if they were taken loosely, then everyone of the comet generation was an heir.

    this was a huge change that they hadn''t even considered until this moment. they were too focused on other things, so much so that they had neglected something so obviously right before them. how would they even begin to deal with this?

    hold an heir war with them all? but there weren''t even remotely enough powers in the human domain to do such a thing, setting aside how difficult it was to set up such an event.

    what if they forgot about the leadership part of the heir wars and just had the morales fight amongst themselves? but that wouldn''t work either. for one, it would breed a lot of animosity, and it would also result in various factions helping their descendants in one way or another, the very matter that the original rules were supposed to stop.

    to make matters worse, the morales didn''t want to choose an heir just based on battle prowess. not only would that greatly dissatisfy those of the metal synergy faction, it wouldn''t be smart on their part either. they wanted someone who could lead, and this was especially important for the members of the morales family who were all too used to being free-spirited and hot-headed; they needed a steady hand.

    the more they thought about this matter, the more of a headache they got. they suddenly understood that leonel was right, this was already a version of the morales that they had no understanding of, it had completely changed... and it was mostly because of the young man right before them.

    if not for his performance in the heir wars, their constellation would have never awoken.

    while it was a headache, would any of them choose to go back to the old way? of course not. while it was extremely rare to have a single family with two lineage factors, what was even rarer than that was having such a powerful and synergized lineage factor like this new one before them.

    the overlord looked toward leonel deeply.

    "this is still not enough. we figured out a method in the past, we can figure out a new one now. once the new lineage factor is understood, it will be easier to pick out those with great talent and those with less. we can simply create a new standard."

    "and by the time you do that, how many more changes do you think there will be?" leonel asked.

    the overlord fell into silence. it was hard to tell a young man that had already done so much what he could and couldn''t do, no matter how unlikely it seemed.

    "beyond that, i think you''re wrong about something, i do not need 10 years. it took me not even two years to go from the sixth dimension to the seventh. i could kill ancestors at the sixth dimension... what do you think i can do now?"

    the overlord''s eyes narrowed. "are you trying to threaten the morales?"

    "i should be."

    the pupils of the overlord constricted, he suddenly felt a very dangerous aura coming from leonel, one that could snuff out his life with a thought.

    "the morales have greatly disappointed me. weakness, i can tolerate. cowardice and inaction, i cannot."

    the ancestors and elders had a fierce reaction to this. yes, they had chosen not to go to the void battlefield, but it wasn''t out of fear or cowardice. they were morales, they didn''t have such a bone in their body!

    "unwilling to admit it? ask yourselves why you chose to remain behind. you wanted to protect this land. you feared that if you left you would be vulnerable, that the morales you left behind would be taken advantage of by others.

    "you would rather allow the human domain to be broken into, to be plundered, to watch the weak from families you probably feel superior to fight the battle for you.

    "is this not a form of fear? of cowardice?"

    leonel never raised his voice, and yet the morales ancestors couldn''t seem to raise their heads, their throats constricting and their chests feeling heavy.

    "would you like to know what i want to do with the morales, that matter is simple enough, you''re welcome to stay and listen to the changes i''m about to make."

    the overlord frowned, but he didn''t say anything else. technically, leonel wasn''t allowed to make any changes while they were in an ancestor rule state, but it was also clear that leonel didn''t care. currently, the overlord was more interested in what leonel had to say.

    "the first is the most simple. from now on, no member of the morales will enter the void palace."

 Chapter 2197 A Pride Beyond

    chapter 2197 a pride beyond

    these words weren''t as crazy as what they expected, but the more they thought about the implications, the heavier they felt.

    the void palace was the symbol of humanity. sending their descendants was more than about training. if it was just this, they would be able to train their own descendants far better. after all, they had the deepest understanding of their lineage factor and how their bodies worked, figuring out a training plan for just a single kind of person was far easier.

    no, sending their disciples was in one part to remind the human domain of the kind of potential the morales had, making their prestige greater and making it so that it was even less likely that others would have designs on them. but, more importantly than that, it was to forge a united front.

    the humans had an obvious weakness... they followed too many paths as a race. it was easy for them to butt heads and to push and pull in all sorts of different directions. the void palace was needed.

    while smaller families fought for a place in the void palace, for larger families... it was almost a tacit mandate, one accepted by them all. if the morales truly decided not to send anyone, it would be adjacent to declaring themselves an enemy of the human domain...

    looking at the indifferent leonel, they felt that this was truly what he wanted. his sights were set beyond the morales. they faintly gained the understanding that when leonel said that he would change the morales, he didn''t just mean them... he likely meant the entire human domain.

    "the second thing will be a replacement for the void palace, whether that is in battle, crafting, or force pill crafting."

    the morales were shaken when they heard this. they had never had many force pill crafting talents. it could be said that part of the reason it was so important for them to remain on good terms with the rest of the human domain was so that they could continue to be supplied by such things.

    but then they remembered... this littlest nova''s woman, wasn''t she one of the only few life grade force pill crafters in the human domain?!

    after they thought this, though, they felt a sense of shame. leonel''s words about cowardice and fear rang in their ears once more.

    they should have cut ties with the void palace the moment ishmael died, but they hadn''t. now velasco had died, and anyone who wasn''t a fool could be certain that the void palace had some hand to play in this matter as well... would they still swallow that sort of insult just for the sake of some pills?

    "the crafting curriculum will be designed by my father. the force pill crafting will be designed by the best elders you have here. the battle curriculum will be decided after the secrets of the new lineage factor are fully understood."

    confusion colored the faces of the people here. some thought the worst and even thought that maybe leonel and aina were no longer together. but leonel explained the matters quite simply.

    "my woman''s ability index is the reason that she can enter the life grade of force pill crafting, this isn''t an ability that she can casually hand off to others." before the elders could be disappointed, leonel continued. "however, what she can do is provide many life grade recipes, from the fourth dimension to the seventh. it will lay a foundation that can allow those who are close to the life grade to cross over the final barrier."

    the hearts of the elders skipped a beat. fourth dimensional life grade?

    suddenly, they remembered leonel''s armors. could it truly be that a life grade treasure didn''t have to be eighth dimensional? just this information alone was groundbreaking.

    recipes to force pill crafters were just like blueprints to force crafters. leonel''s words seemed to imply that aina could actually provide many, and it didn''t even sound like a handful or just a few either. this was something that was hard for them to fathom.

    for force pill crafters, as rare as they were, they would often just have a single life grade pill that they could craft. the idea that aina was so far beyond this made it difficult for their heads to wrap around.

    "the third thing is a return to the status quo. the morales will not live in fear. those that are here, once the force eruption is through, will be sent back to their homes to take care of the land."

    these words were ones that the ancestors had the fiercest reaction to. however, it was only because of leonel''s words about force pill crafting that many of them only frowned, not immediately lashing out. still, it was clear that they didn''t like this decision at all.

    leonel''s actions were akin to placing the commoners of the morales in the line of fire. they would be vulnerable and prone to dying. it would also be harder to manage the resources as well.

    in a family so large, there were bound to be bad actors. if they also left these fringe families unprotected, that would breed a lower class and crime would ramp up, making this population of bad actors even larger.

    if a group decided to start smuggling their eighth dimensional resources to the outside world, what would they do? it was impossible to manage such a large group of people without extremely strict rules.

    there was no way other families wouldn''t take advantage of this.

    if they could think of these matters, how could leonel not? but his thoughts were quite firm.

    "the morales need a family of warriors, not a few warriors and a large group of commoners. you still think yourselves to be valiant men and women, willing to stand with blade in hand to face death, and yet what decision did you make when it counted most?

    "that identity of the morales has long since been forgotten, and the people beneath you have forgotten how good it feels to fight and earn what you deserve.

    "the most important part is that no matter how thorough you ancestors are, unearthing all of the secrets of a new lineage factor in just a few weeks or months is impossible. you need to give as many people as possible a chance to unearth new techniques and abilities you had never thought of, you need to incentivize them with rewards, and let them feel a pride that comes from being a morales that goes beyond just a name and a skin tone.

    "do you understand?"

    leonel''s indifferent words made the hearts of the morales tremble.

 Chapter 2198 Second Question.

    chapter 2198 second question.

    leonel listed off many other things and the elders slowly began to feel numb. they felt that everything he said was quite reasonable, but there was also another clear undercurrent to it all. this was especially so when leonel spoke about creating an identity for the morales...

    everything he said was perfect, it even made their blood boil, but then old men and women were all savvy and well experienced. everything about this identity that leonel was trying to create existed outside of the morales themselves. to put it bluntly, he was trying to create a culture that had nothing to do with their bloodline.

    as expected, his sights were far beyond the morales. in fact, it seemed that the morales were just a stepping stone to what he truly wanted to accomplish. when he succeeded in that goal, and conquered other families, this sort of culture that he was breeding would be perfect for that...

    but what it also made clear was that leonel''s loyalty to the morales was questionable. in fact, he had made it obvious that he wasn''t very satisfied with them at all. but it was also this that made them fear this young man all the more.

    not only did he not feel a need to fawn over them, but it even gave them the feeling that they wanted to prove him wrong. they, as elders countless years leonel''s senior, actually wanted to prove themselves to a junior. just what kind of ridiculous situation was this?

    however, those here also knew that there were clear undercurrents in the morales family that leonel had most definitely not dealt with just yet. they wondered how leonel would deal with these matters. but it also seemed that they wouldn''t have to wait long to know.

    after everything had settled down, and leonel seemed to be finished, ancestor issa stepped forward once more.

    "littlest nova, if you want to push the family in the right direction, a better, stronger direction, i can respect it. however, we need to deal with some ugly matters first. if we concede to you and allow you to take on the role of patriarch despite the rules you''ve broken, then you must concede in some facets as well. it''s not lost on me that you seem to have a grudge with third nova as you''ve still not released him from your captivity even until this point, can i ask why and when do you plan on letting him go?"

    there were two main factions within the morales, but there were also many branches of families. these family branches weren''t named for the sake of cohesion, an effort taken on by the ancestors and something that only became more troubling with every passing generation, but these solutions obviously weren''t perfect.

    ishmael, velasco and leonel, along with his uncle montez, represented one such branch. first nova, the current patriarch, and first nova''s mother represented another. and, of course, third nova was the representative of yet another, a branch that issa had obviously been a part of until she departed for the sake of serving the family as an ancestor, another measure that the upper echelon had taken for the sake of maintaining cohesion.

    however, this measure was obviously not perfect either, because this was already the second time that issa had been the one to speak up for third nova. although, her words were perfectly reasonable as well. if leonel wanted cohesion, he couldn''t be so biased. the point of the heir wars was for all conflict to start and end with the rise and fall of its banner. if conflicts were taken outside those limits, how would the morales continue to exist?

    the overlord, who had remained silent all the while, continued to do so. he had obviously watched the heir wars he watched every single one, which was why he was familiar with how leonel did things. but leonel also wasn''t the type to leave such a large flaw in his plans either, nor did he seem like the type that would rely on emotion to make decisions... at least not when it came to things other than his father.

    so the question was, what was his plan here, exactly?

    the overlord was obviously privy to a lot of information that others weren''t, as were the other overlords who had yet to appear. but it was also because of this that he didn''t have a fierce reaction to leonel''s choice, while also waiting to understand how he planned to deal with it.

    even those that weren''t part of issa''s branch felt that she was correct. if leonel didn''t do this, then their resistance to other matters would be far greater, and he might not even be able to get off the ground. it wasn''t lost on them that leonel had yet to be truly crowned their patriarch.

    leonel didn''t answer immediately. instead, he waved a hand.

    at that moment, a chained and almost far too scantily clad demoness appeared. as disheveled as she was, even the private and intimate parts that even she usually left hidden had quite literally fallen out, but she didn''t seem embarrassed enough to try and fix it, or maybe she was simply too tired to do so.

    "do you know what race of being this is?"

    issa frowned. "it could be a demon, but it could also be a human with a special ability index or lineage factor, it would be impossible to tell at a glance. are you trying to incriminate third nova with this? you used cloud race members during your battle, did you not? wouldn''t you be incriminating yourself? there are no such rules in the morales."

    many nodded, this much was true.

    "when did i say anything like that?" leonel asked.

    usually, this would be a rhetorical question, but after several seconds, issa realized that leonel was forcing her to respond.

    "... you didn''t."

    "good. don''t make assumptions about what my thoughts are, it makes it too obvious when you''re trying to poison the well. i suggest a more subtle approach."

    issa''s gaze flashed with rage, but she quickly calmed down, looking toward leonel indifferently.

    "please continue," she said lightly.

    "second question," leonel replied unperturbed. "do you know what relation these demons have with the silver empire?"

    issa''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

 Chapter 2199 Third NovaтАЩs Demise

    chapter 2199 third nova''s demise

    leonel didn''t react much to issa''s shock. the line he was drawing was something others probably didn''t expect him to know or to understand, but there were clearly many here who were shocked by more than just the fact he had said the words silver empire.

    "what are you trying to say?" issa said with narrowed eyes.

    "this woman has a relation to the silver empire. it was the silver empire''s emperor that fought my father in his final battle, and this woman and your third nova are closely connected. what should i think about that?"

    issa''s gaze narrowed further. "you''ve simply said this with no other kind of proof. on top of that, even with such choppy visuals, it was clear to anyone with sharp eyes that the silver emperor in that battle was nothing more than a puppet on someone else''s string, how can that matter even be blamed on the silver empire, especially when they died so long ago?

    "taking a thousand steps back, the silver empire, like i''ve said, is long gone. even if this girl is their descendant, how can she still be related to the silver empire of old? and even if she was somehow related to all of this, once again, the silver emperor you saw was nothing more than a puppet."

    issa''s words were once again reasons. leonel had not shown any proof, he had just spoken as though his word was law, this was already something that the various elders didn''t like. but on top of that, the silver empire wasn''t clearly on the side of the wrong either.

    while the silver empire had been destroyed due to its connection with demons, these elders and ancestors knew that that was nothing more than a pretext. powerful families didn''t like other powerful families to exist, and the silver empire just happened to give them a good reason to target.

    plus, since leonel had made use of the cloud race, where was his moral superiority in this case?

    "mm, that would be a good rebuttal. if not for the fact that one of the three founding members of the three finger cult, the organization behind the descent of the cataclysm zone and the very same organization that both sunk its claws into the void palace and took part in this domain war on the side of the invaders."

    issa was shaken again, but she didn''t have an immediate response outside of the fact that leonel had yet to display any proof. unfortunately, she was far more unwilling to say this now because she felt like leonel was goading her into doing so, all so that she could embarrass herself again.

    this time, leonel didn''t wait. he waved his hand and an old man appeared. he waved his hand again and another old man appeared, then another. the fourth time came an old woman, and then another, and then an old man again.

    this continued until the hall was filled with what looked like dozens of old timers, each of them exuding powerful auras, and yet each one of them subdued and unable to do anything but look around with sharp gazes.

    "do you know who these people are?" leonel asked.

    issa grit her teeth, but outwardly she looked just the same. "no," she finally said.

    "these people are the leaders of the families and organizations that third nova had under his wing. do you know what they all have in common?"

    leonel waved his hand, and a powerful spear force that made issa''s spine tingle manifested, shredding their clothing apart in various locations. one after another, a simple tattoo of an unadorned line of three appeared. the tattoo couldn''t have been blander, just three straight, thick lines of black. and yet, with it appearing on them one after another, a pattern was revealed all too easily.

    the three finger cult. each and every last one of them.

    how third nova had managed to get so many family geniuses to defect to his side was entirely unknown. but what was even more unexpected than that was that leonel had actually gone out to find each and every one of them, bringing them forward just for this moment.

    just with this alone, leonel had no need to prove any sort of connection to the silver empire. it made others wonder just why he had at all... it was like he was trying to goad issa into looking foolish, as though he was trying to make a point.

    for those that understood what was happening right before them, it was something they found a difficult time accepting... but they knew exactly what it was.

    a warning.

    "third nova has broken the most sacred of morales family rules. over 20 years ago, when i first stepped foot into the void palace, i was sent into the rapax nest along with my fellow members of the cataclysm generation. during that time, my woman was targeted, yet again, by members of the three finger cult.

    "the ones behind that sudden change to the structure of the true selection was none other than the unfettered blade party under the behest of none other than third nova. he tried to kill me once back then, then he tried to kill me again during the heir wars, he''s spat in the face of what it meant to be a morales, even relying on such an evil organization for the hope of becoming the patriarch of his very family.

    "you tell me, what should happen to third nova under these rules?" leonel asked calmly.

    issa looked leonel dead in his eyes before slowly responding.

    "according to the family rules... he should be executed."

    "mm," leonel nodded. "sounds about right. none of you have to worry, though. i''ve long since taken these matters into my own hands, third nova is no longer in this world."

    issa''s pupils constricted, her fists clenching, but there was nothing she could say. of all the things she had expected to happen, this was the very last. but here they were.

    leonel stood up and walked down from the throne, walking by the ancestors one by one until he disappeared from sight. he didn''t even bother to say goodbye.

    not long later, leonel appeared within a certain section of the segmented cube, looking down at a chained individual with his hair drooping over his eyes.

    this man was none other than third nova.

 Chapter 2200 Let Me Know

    chapter 2200 let me know

    leonel had purposely left the various patriarchs and matriarchs of the families that third nova had made use of behind. it not only showed confidence in his story, but it also allowed the family ancestors to double and triple-check his story. in the end, they would have no method of refuting him. he had even left third nova''s favorite little demoness behind as well.

    but therein lied a question. why did he lie about third nova''s death?

    really, he just wanted control. lying about third nova''s death was an opportunity he couldn''t pass on because it would save him the trouble of dealing with other variables. so long as others thought that third nova was dead, they wouldn''t ask to see him, or for him to be put on trial, and it would stop his branch and those that sympathized with him from finding a way to weasel him out of the situation.

    but that obviously left another question. why hadn''t he actually killed third nova?

    that answer was more complicated.

    truthfully, in his rage, it seemed only natural that leonel would do so. after all, someone with a connection to the three finger cult that had in many ways caused his father''s death truly infuriated him. the problem was that the risk wasn''t worth it, not now. that risk was, of course, the matter of information.

    there seemed to be an obvious solution to that, and that was to kill third nova, use his king''s might lineage factor, gain himself an obedient soul, and then ask this soul everything that he wanted to know.

    unfortunately, this wasn''t the perfect solution, and that was something that he had learned from questioning simeon, the first important member of the brazinger family that he had killed.

    leonel had only managed to get rudimentary information out of simeon, but this made sense. the four great families had once had a great fear of the fawkes family, and this was also what led to their destruction. how could they not have countermeasures to deal with their strength, especially when they released that tablet into the world once more through that gathering of geniuses event?

    it wasn''t certain that third nova had similar protections, but leonel kept remembering how after the savants of the three finger cult died, their souls couldn''t be controlled by him indefinitely, as though some power was pulling them away. he had no choice but to assimilate them so that he didn''t lose their powers indefinitely, but this didn''t allow him to gain the information he wanted.

    this ultimately meant that he had to question third nova the good old-fashioned way, or else he might not gain any information at all. but such a thing would take a great amount of patience.

    of course, there was also the second method... and that was to find and undo whatever restrictions there might be on him and then do it the far easier way. but the unfortunate part was that the progress of the cataclysm zones was too far beyond that of the dimensional verse and leonel''s current understandings.

    leonel could practically storm through the dimensional verse thanks to his self-created armors by his troops, but such armors were commonplace in the cataclysm zone. and that was just one example. he could only leave this matter up to anastasia and hope for the best.

    at that moment, seemingly sensing leonel''s arrival, xavnik slowly looked up, his gaze swimming with a gaseous green that slowly faded away. he revealed a menacing grin before lowering his head once more, ignoring leonel entirely. at the very least, he had the heart of a morales. even in this situation, he had yet to show any weakness...

    but neither did leonel care.

    he turned and left, going to see aina and explaining to her what he needed her to do for the sake of his plans with the force pill crafting division.

    "no problem, leave it to me," aina said lightly.

    "thanks," leonel said before vanishing.

    aina smiled bitterly. ''you really don''t need to thank me, idiot...''

    ...

    leonel appeared not long later before his mother.

    "mom, i need your help with something," leonel said.

    alienor''s eyes lit up. they had been in the morales territory for almost a day now, but she hadn''t done anything. she really wanted to support leonel, but she also didn''t want to be in his way.

    "what is it, little lion?"

    "with your world spirit, you have a strong understanding of the camelot magic system, right?"

    "mm," alienor nodded.

    "have there been any other zones like camelot in the time that i''ve been away?"

    "there''ve been some, but none as good or worthwhile. that said, we''re quickly approaching the eighth dimension, and i can sense that another one is coming. that zone will probably appear soon."

    leonel''s gaze flickered. he didn''t expect that his mother would be able to sense such a thing as well, but it made sense. it wouldn''t be impossible that soon, the morales family world that hadn''t had to deal with sub-dimensional zones in a very long while might have yet another wave on their hands as well. but leonel was far more interested in earth''s zones now that he was hearing that there may be some interesting ones.

    "i see..." leonel nodded. "can you please make a comprehensive plan for how one would learn the camelot magic system from simple to complex, according to your understanding? i would like to give it as an option for certain members of the morales."

    "okay," alienor nodded without hesitation. her understanding of the magic system was better than anyone else''s, even his enlightened self. it was practically an innate part of her; she was by far the best for this task.

    "also, please let me know when those zones start to appear. i''m a bit worried about earth, things are happening too fast, and i have a feeling that they''ll speed up even faster. there likely isn''t anyone on earth outside of yourself who has the ability to clear eighth dimensional zones."

    alienor''s gaze flickered with worry as well, but she nodded.

    this would be the first time that the human domain was dealing with such powerful sub-dimensional zones. while it was a great opportunity... it was also a great hidden danger as well.

    whether it would lead to treasure or death would be decided within these next few years.

    "... one more thing, mom... if you hear of any zones with the prefix ''merlin''s prophecy''... let me know."

    that person that called themselves god in the joan zone and the camelot zone... leonel was certain that he was king, the very man that his father had risked it all to kill with a single spear strike.... the very man with the ability to gift ability indexes through force arts.

    one had to wonder why such a lofty existence cared so much about treasures in a world he had supposedly created himself. it seemed backward and illogical... why would someone who could create this world be interested in any it could produce... but then again, why create this world at all if there was nothing to gain from it?

    leonel wanted to know why.

 Chapter 2201 Indifference

    chapter 2201 indifference

    leonel sat in silent meditation. absolutely nothing was happening around him, and the same was true within him. his mind was completely clear, and his thoughts seemed to have entered a state of dormancy. he was truly doing nothing at all, simply waiting.

    it was a novel sort of feeling. he hadn''t been able to clear his mind like this for a long time, staring at the blank, dark space of his own eyelids. but it did nothing to change the negative emotions stirring within him.

    he could feel it bubbling upward, that cold indifference toward everything, that look that gazed down upon the world itself as though nothing was important before his whims. it was the very same emotion that he had feared taking root in himself for so long, and yet he had inevitably reached this point despite his efforts... and the greatest shame of it all was that he simply didn''t care.

    he originally valued lives only because he couldn''t think of a logical method to differentiate human lives, but there was another reason. it was because his father had instilled certain values within him, and if he ever reached a point where he simply stopped caring... the result on the other side wasn''t something that he would want to see.

    he had said himself many years ago that this was the case. he had avoided it, he had dodged to the best of his ability, running away from his own nature, and yet here he was...

    he could feel that there was something inside him. that very same feeling his usual laziness stemmed from, the same feeling that encroached on disregard for all life, it was the kind of feeling that came from someone who already sat atop it all. he was lazy because nothing was worth his effort. he was indifferent because he had already seen it all. he didn''t care about life because he had already seen too many people die, and maybe he was waiting for someone to finally kill him.

    too bad they were all too weak.

    insignificant creatures. all of them. rushing around the world, pretending as though they were accomplishing something when, in the end, they were just pawns on the chessboard of someone else.

    when those ancestors looked at him as though they were so much more knowing, so much more experienced, so much stronger, it took everything in him not to kill them. quite frankly, he didn''t know why he had. what use was this worthless morales family? why was he even trying...

    it felt like it was out of habit, a muscle memory that extended beyond him, or maybe it was the muscle memory of a version of him that still cared.

    little princes and princesses, was it? he could do that. but it was amusing, the woman he was doing it for he had hardly looked in the eye in the last several weeks. he could see that hopeful expression in her eye, the hope that he would smile and turn everything around in a blink like he usually did, that disappointment when he inevitably didn''t.

    he could see something similar in his mother''s eyes.

    they probably thought that they had hidden it well, and maybe they had... in the face of someone else, that is. but he could practically see the fluctuations of their souls. he couldn''t read their thoughts, but it might as well have been the same. and maybe that was also part of where the indifference came. the fleshly nature of a person was so irrelevant, it told nothing but lies, it was far too weak and fragile, able to collapse at just a single touch.

    what worth did it have?

    she was trying, though, that woman he hardly knew. it wasn''t her fault; she had been forced to stay in the void palace, that place that he would raze to the ground soon enough. she wanted to support him, to be by his side, and it was admirable, especially considering how much her soul was hurting, how much she wanted to no longer be in this world.

    maybe that was the kind of weight a parent''s love should have. he wondered if he would look at his children the same way, or if it would be just like this. maybe he would be able to love them as babies, but what about when their thoughts became more complex, when their cries turned from something instinctual to something manipulative, as though they could fool his eyes.

    or maybe they would be like him, their father. would they look upon the world with indifference as well? when they gazed down upon the structure of all that was, realizing that their father had handed it to them on a silver platter without even their effort being necessary, just what kind of person would that make them? how could they not end up like the current him, carrying that same indifference to all things...

    and maybe that was why his own father had always been that way. velasco had thrown him to the wolves, forcing him to fend for himself every step of the way. if he never reached the pinnacle of the world, then maybe it would have been a perfect tactic, so long as there was someone above him, that indifference would sit at bay...

    maybe his father wanted to be that very person... but he couldn''t be that anymore; he was gone, forever.

    he knew it was useless to even think about. he had already asked aina exactly what that version of himself had said, and he had already deduced the meaning of those words.

    ... this time was a failure too ...

    even with all the strength in the world, it was useless, entirely useless. without his father, it would be impossible for another to be above him, and so the cycle would continue. that cold indifference, that certainty of the meaninglessness of life...

    and maybe that was his purpose. his father couldn''t be here, so maybe it was simply his task to become that insurmountable mountain for his own children...

    so that they wouldn''t experience this level of coldness.

 Chapter 2202 Ancient History

    chapter 2202 ancient history

    leonel slowly opened his eyes. as he did so, there was a knock at his door before it opened. aina walked in with a tall bundle of paper and handed them to him. they seemed to carry the recipes that he had asked her for. he nodded lightly and accepted it before he waved a hand, and it vanished, likely off to whomever he had tasked with doing such things.

    "it''s also about time to return," aina said.

    leonel stood, understanding her meaning. "what are the details?"

    "alienor says that it''s a four-person entry. the name of the sub-dimensional zone is: merlin''s prophecy. earth''s ancient history."

    leonel frowned. earth''s ancient history? what was that supposed to mean? it didn''t pin down any sort of era, nor did it mention a myth. he assumed that this would be a mythological zone, but maybe that had been an incorrect assumption in the first place. after all, there had also been joan''s zone which had such a prefix, but it was a normal zone that went back in time to an obvious era of history just like one might expect. just because camelot''s zone was mythological in nature didn''t mean that the next would be.

    it was impossible to establish a pattern with just two, but maybe this zone would be purposely unlike the first two. but all of this was questionable and uncertain.

    earth''s ancient history could mean too many things, and many of the matters that had occurred prior to the establishment of the american empire were far too blurry, and it only got worse after the ascension empire took over the world.

    emperor fawkes had a very tight rein on information, but there was very little about how the ascension empire had come about, and also what the world was like before the war began, at least not much beyond the immediate past of the situation. on top of that, because the tectonic plates had been moved and manipulated, forging a large pangea-like supercontinent that brought everyone together, whether it was former historical sites or even regions that could have been used for carbon dating, it was all thrown away.

    it could be said that matters before around 1000 ce, and certainly anything before, was far more blurred than anyone wanted to admit; the profession of archaeology and history was mostly dead, although still taught in some lesser form.

    emperor fawkes probably had his reasons for doing so. he had truly come out of nowhere, and he likely wasn''t even a true native of earth, at least not in the sense that could be widely accepted by everyone, so doing things like this was obvious.

    just to put matters into perspective, monuments like the pyramids or the sphinx, or anything of the like, had long since been destroyed, removed, and replaced by monuments of the ascension empire instead. as for archaeology, whereas it had once been a profession of field study, language, and deduction, it had mostly become one of deduction and theory, not much different from the field of cutting-edge physics, and yet much less useful.

    there were many on earth who still speculated that the pyramids were built by ancient beings, or that atlantis had truly once existed, or even that the library of alexandria held secrets that they as humans of the mortal world couldn''t even begin to imagine.

    leonel had learned all of this at royal blue academy, from a bit of a cooky professor who went by teacher midnight. that wasn''t even his real name; he just insisted on calling himself that as he felt that the world of archaeology was in a dark age. he found this to be very lamentable and changed his name in solidarity.

    he was quite well-known as the crazy teacher, and leonel had only taken one of his classes. funny enough, it was that very class that he had learned the history of joan of arc that helped him quite a bit during the joan zone.

    teacher midnight had been a five-star archaeologist, a shame considering he could never put his profession to use. he was actually the only one on the whole of earth with that title, but he taught at the third-ranked school instead of the first. one could see just how little the title was valued from that alone.

    that man was probably dead by now. leonel hadn''t bothered to check, but the situation in the school wasn''t good at the time, and the world spirit''s portals would have only picked up the youths. that meant he would have been stuck in a maze of invalids without any fighting experience.

    on top of that, even if he had been alive, leonel wouldn''t have bothered to go and find him. he was likely too weak, for one. and everything he knew was mostly theory. leonel could read more and know more than him in a single sitting; it wasn''t worth his time.

    plus... the way he would approach zones now was very much different.

    "let''s go, then," leonel said lightly.

    "who are you taking?"

    "you, mother, and as for the last... it will have to be little tolly."

    aina''s gaze flickered. indeed, tolliver counted as a living existence; it wasn''t possible to casually take others. but she had a feeling that anastasia might have a work around for that. if she could think of it, leonel definitely could. it was just that he couldn''t be bothered to deal with anyone else. that made her feel both grateful, but also worried. how far down this path would he go, exactly?

    leonel left the morales territory with more confidence than one should have expected. he had barely taken control of the situation, and yet he had directly left for a period that may very well be a very long time.

    days later, he stepped foot onto earth once again with his mother and aina by his side, directly appearing before the massive portal. it was the largest that he had seen outside of the cataclysm zone''s descent, and he could also smell a keen sense of danger from it. although his gaze sharpened, he didn''t say anything else, entering with confident steps.

 Chapter 2203 Corpse Ship

    chapter 2203 corpse ship

    when leonel''s opened his eyes, his gaze was quite sharp. he immediately realized that he wasn''t in his own body, something that startled him partially. his first thought was immediately the valiant heart zone. though, back then, he had been in his own body, he had been dropped into a story that wasn''t his own, having already formed relationships with a great deal of people he simply did not know. this seemed to be just a step beyond that, but the body in question was far too odd.

    his skin was a greyish hue with a slight tinge of blue. his body was tall, standing at almost four meters, and while he was lean, he was extremely muscular. his hands were powerful and curled with short, but sharp claws, and his head was smooth, without the slightest sign of the hair that he remembered.

    his body was covered in tattoos, ancient and deep, seemingly a mixture of an inking and a burning technique that made them slightly elevated but also a rich, dark bronze to dark gold color.

    interestingly enough, he had just been thinking about the valiant heart zone, and his current form of dress was very similar to their style of dress. thick, white hammer pants covered his lower body, a soft, silky, fabric belt wrapping around his waist and forming a banner that swung between his legs with a powerful force art that leonel couldn''t quite decipher immediately.

    the only real difference between this uniform and that of the valiant heart mountain was that there was no necklace ornament. instead, his bare and powerful chest was exposed to the world, rippling with that familiar greyish blue hue.

    finally, there were the steely blue eyes that now reflected from his irises. but within, a ring of violet couldn''t be hidden, giving him an even more mysterious air.

    leonel looked down for the first time and realized that he was seated on a throne, one so high up that he overlooked the earth itself. before him, there was a fast last of green, filled with flowing water. however, in the center of it all, there was a flat of sand that was surrounded by dunes. in the middle, dozens of workers that looked like smaller versions of himself worked, as for what they were building...

    ''the pyramids.''

    leonel had never seen them before, outside of pictures, that is. it wasn''t even remotely complete now, and most of it was large constructions under the earth, and yet he understood instinctively just what was happening.

    what kind of zone was this exactly? was it a true recounting of history? but this race didn''t exist amongst the many he knew of, and even if they did exist in some other world, what would that have to do with the fact that they were here? this was meant to be history, it wouldn''t take into account unrelated parties.

    with such looks, they could be mistaken for demons, but leonel was intimately familiar with the aura of demons. these guys didn''t have the same sort of chaotic aura usual of demons. they were clearly a race of beings completely separate.

    of course, it wasn''t impossible... they could be like the oryx, a smaller group of beings with a population size unable to take control of their own domain. but... why were they so powerful? it felt to leonel as though he could destroy the world with a snap of his finger, as though a single claw would rip through the fabric of reality, as though a single clench of his fists could bring two realities together and force them to be one...

    this group of being, even if there was just one of them at this level of strength, could easily command a domain, if not the entirety of the dimensional verse. what was most shocking was that this strength didn''t seem to be regulated by the regulator at all. it didn''t make sense for this to be real history in this case...

    but this couldn''t be a mythological zone either. a mythological zone necessitated that it be a prominent legend. many people had to be aware of it, it had to still be talked about, to still be passed along.

    he had simply never heard of these people. it was impossible for them to still be talked about because no one knew about them. even if this was a legend surrounding the pyramids, it didn''t make any sense because there was no conclusive theory on what had happened with the pyramids, there wasn''t even a popular guess, it just wasn''t talked about enough...

    there was another important matter as well. aside from the fact he had no idea where aina and alienor were, the stronger the mythological zone, the more prominent its legend could be. the fact that this zone hadn''t appeared until now should mean that it was one of the most significant events in earth''s culture...

    that only made it more impossible that it was a mythological zone.

    logic all seemed to point to this being a normal sub-dimensional zone. it couldn''t even be a zone placed in the future because it was the pyramids being built right now, this couldn''t have been any further in the past if it tried.

    even after all of this thought, he still didn''t have any answers, but what was more suffocating than that was that he realized that he didn''t have the segmented cube or his mother. that meant that he had no method of telling what the goal of his zone was supposed to be.

    his father''s dictionary was inside of the segmented cube. his mother, with the world spirit, should be able to tell the goal with just some thought, and yet she was nowhere to be seen as well.

    ''there is an entry limit of four. if i''ve taken over the life of someone else, that should mean that they have as well, but more importantly than that they should have taken over the lives of figures just as important as me, whether that be in status or in what role they played in history... in that case...''

    leonel''s gaze sharpened. he raised his head, and at that moment, the oddest ship he had ever seen in his life began to descend from above.

    suddenly, his pupils constricted.

    no wonder why it was so odd. that wasn''t just a ship, it was a ship formed of the corpse of a beast... and not just any beast, but the strongest beast in existence...

    the void beast.

 Chapter 2204 Just the same...

    chapter 2204 just the same...

    ''void beast...''

    the greatest interaction that leonel had ever had with void beasts was with the vile of blood that had changed much of little blackstar''s future. however, the more he learned, the more ridiculous he felt that matter was.

    back then, kira had told him that her family found the corpse of a void beast that had already died long ago, and thanks to that, they were able to gather up its blood. but even though she had admitted that they hadn''t killed it, leonel had still found that master odd. in fact, he felt that the idea that a void beast could exist in the dimensional verse at all was far too ridiculous. this kind of world couldn''t accommodate such a powerful creature. so...

    where could its corpse have come from?

    looking at the carcass of the beast formed into a ship above him, he realized that he might be looking at the answer right before. what if it was precisely this ship that kira''s family had found in the past? but then, that left another question... just where had it come from?

    this led him down the very same rabbit hole that had left him silent for so long in the first place. just who were these race of people and where had they come from? and why did they make him feel like the spirituals that he had placed on such a high pedestal... were worthless beings?

    leonel slowly stood from his throne, stepping out and into the air. with a flicker, he had appeared on the back of the corpse ship, his hands clasped behind his back and his movements slow and deliberate.

    those that were watching didn''t think much of it, but if they had known that this was the first time leonel had ever seen such a thing, their reactions wouldn''t have been so casual.

    it was said that the first time anyone saw a void beast, they would be immobilized with fear, faced with an existential dread that could consume their lives. in truth, many never recovered. the lucky among those spent the rest of their lives in depression. those that landed in the middle might push on for several more years before finally succumbing and committing suicide. as for those that were the unluckiest, they would never awaken, frozen in a state of fear for the rest of their lives. unable to eat, breathe or circulate their own force, they would die standing, vanishing into the wind in a swirling stream of ash.

    this was the void beast, the most powerful creature in all of existence, the wielder of archaic force...

    the void beast didn''t immediately look as though it had any form. it was a mass of swirling shadows that sometimes solidified, but seemed to prefer to be free-flowing and unrestrained. just its presence alone darkened the skies for more reasons than just blocking out the sun.

    however, the more you looked at it, the more the defined patterns of movement cleared in your sights, and the more the true form of this beast imprinted itself into your mind.

    it had many eyes, what seemed like countless, all concentrated onto a single pointed surface that barely resembled the majestic head of a dragon. its body was both scaled and furred, but seemed to be formed of twisting masses of thick, condensed lines of darkness that looked somewhat like a being skinned to reveal the muscle mass beneath. it looked as though these muscle fibers could pull themselves apart or retwist together into an entirely new form so long as the void beast willed it, and it was also this flexibility that allowed the countless rows of dark windows that made up the ship to call its sides home.

    once this image imprinted itself into your mind, the fear would then take root. the image would fade and etch itself into your soul as though it was a force art designed for the sole purpose of crushing your dreams.

    it was hard to tell if this form that the void beast seemed to have was real or not, or if it was all a ploy from the very beginning to force you to experience the greatest fear there was in all of existence. and yet...

    leonel simply landed on its back, his expression unmoved and his movements unhurried. this was precisely what one might expect from el''rion, prince of the pluto race. however, who it was not expected of was leonel morales... human.

    leonel walked forward with slow steps, as though waiting for something. by the time he had made it across the deck, the doors had finally opened.

    out from within, a being with skin as dark as night appeared. it looked as though the cosmos was hidden within its flesh, its eyes as bright as the sun''s rays. it was no less tall than leonel, standing at almost four meters, but it seemed even lighter on its feet. on second glance, it actually seemed to be a woman, carrying a peculiar sort of beauty that felt more like how one would feel watching an eagle soar through the skies, like a husky rushing through thick snow-she truly seemed to have a beauty carved out from mother nature herself. but what was odd about this comparison was the fact that in all likelihood, in her eyes... she was the lofty being while all others were the animals by the roadside.

    this woman, seemingly naked and yet not at the same time, was shan''rae, princess of the void race.

    leonel could tell at a glance that she was neither aina nor his mother. at the same time, looking into her eyes despite the brightness, he could tell that she wasn''t an ally, nor was she an enemy. so, the next words flowed out from his mouth smoothly.

    "why are you here?" he asked coldly.

    "just the same as usual," shan''rae spoke with a layered voice that sounded like three beautiful women harmonizing at once. "cold, detached, above it all. it''s no wonder your pluto race has sunk to the point of having to repay a favor to a mere human."

 Chapter 2205 Disdain

    chapter 2205 disdain

    leonel looked toward shan''rae with an unreadable expression. it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, mostly because in reality he was trying to deduce what this woman meant. a favor was being returned? to who exactly? and who could make a race of people on this level return a favor?

    there only really seemed to be one answer... the fawkes family.

    it was the only logical answer but it was also one that leonel wasn''t willing to accept immediately. there was an obvious flaw you didn''t even need to be as intelligent as him to comprehend, and that was the fact that the pyramids had been destroyed by leonel''s time. in fact, they had been destroyed before fawkes truly came into power. also, if this favor was returned so early on, where was emperor fawkes? and if he had the help of this race, why in the world would it take him so long to conquer earth? a place filled to the brim with mortals?

    he was still missing something. no, he was missing a significant part of the story.

    he didn''t say this, though. instead, he directly attacked, his fist descending like a shooting star.

    shan''rae''s pupils constricted, clearly not having expected this, but it was already too late. she was struck in the face.

    leonel frowned. his fist felt odd, it was as though he was punching something far larger than himself, but also akin to a bundle of clouds. at the same time, it was as though all of his power was sinking into the depths of space, dispersing an infinite number of times before it turned to nothing.

    even so, he followed through and then retracted his fist as though he had expected it. in the end, it came off as more of a slap than anything else, but without the same sort of disrespect that came with an open palm.

    shan''rae''s gaze flashed with fury, but then something peculiar as though she had realized something. by the time her head turned back from being turned to the side, and she looked toward leonel again, it was as though nothing at all had happened.

    "watch your mouth." leonel said lightly. "i asked you a question, answer it and nothing else."

    shan''rae smiled. "oh my, i''m sorry my esteemed prince. this humble servant should have been more selective with her words."

    she couldn''t have sounded more sarcastic if she tried. in fact, leonel faintly felt that she had seen through the fact that he wasn''t the real el''rion, but for whatever reason, she didn''t do anything about it. or maybe she was unable to do anything about it.

    just what kind of races were these? she could see through something like this with just a single touch?

    this wasn''t a normal matter. it was shocking enough that leonel could see through her thoughts, but it was even more shocking that she could see through him. the matter of sub-dimensional zones dealt with the folds of reality themselves. in a lot of ways, they were the action of the regulator pulling together to points of time, or two dimensional folds. how could a living being see through such a thing? even leonel was certain that he would have no ability to do so.

    seeing that sarcastic smile, it was hard to tell if she was making fun of him for trying to pretend to be something he was not, or if she was making fun of el''rion for actually having his body taken over by another.

    something told leonel, though, that it was the latter. this woman seemed to be so indifferent to the existence of lesser beings that it just might be impossible for one she deemed to be so to move her emotions, whether in anger or disdain.

    would one feel disdain toward a dog even if they ate right out of a garbage can? you might give it a glance and nothing else.

    this was a sort of arrogance that leonel had simply never seen before, because it wasn''t born or created. rather, it was hereditary, passing down via the very blood rushing through her veins... if this sort of being had blood at all.

    leonel suddenly felt supremely pissed off. his mood hadn''t been the best in recent times, seeing that smile, the ring of violet turned crimson.

    the woman chuckled again, not taking it very seriously, but leonel had already attacked. this time, the result was far different than what it had been in the past. before, he had only tried to fire a normal fist. this time, he stirred something deep within this body, a power that he couldn''t quite describe outside of a single word...

    creation.

    bang!

    the woman''s expression changed but due to her indifference and disdain, it was already too late to react.

    she was blown backward, unable to catch herself. the skin of her face cracked like glass.

    she shot through the doors she had just come from, blasting into a wall. however, the corpse of void beast was so sturdy that she didn''t blast through, instead slamming to a stop and coughing up a mouthful of blood that looked like a silver star vomiting.

    those within the ship were suddenly alerted, many of them rushing forward. what leonel noticed immediately was that they were all far smaller than shan''rae, and the cosmos that covered their skin was far less elaborate.

    shan''rae slipped to the ground and coughed once. she looked up slowly, wiping the blood from her lips. her gaze now carried a look different from her former disdain. some of that rage had come back, but on the surface, higher than it, was surprise, as well as a hint of wariness.

    was she wrong? was this still el''rion?

    slowly, shan''rae remembered what she had come here to do.

    "el''rion, i would advise that you place that arrogance of yours down. i have come for a very clear purpose. the void beast is the symbol of my void race, do you think that i would be allowed to take it with me as a junior if i didn''t represent my-"

    shan''rae''s eyes widened as leonel attacked again.

 Chapter 2206 Incomplete World

    ang! bang! bang!

    the void beast''s corpse was simply far too sturdy. no matter how hard leonel punched, it didn''t give way, and shan''rae only suffered for it all the more. her body rattled like a drum. having been caught off guard once, she couldn''t seem to find the momentum to retaliate. in the end, she even felt like her life was slipping away from her.

    ''no way... i can''t... i can''t die like this.''

    if shan''rae was confused before, now she was absolutely certain. there was no way that el''rion would kill her. although it was still within his personality to punch her like leonel had before, the consequences of killing her wasn''t something that he would be willing to take on. this person was an ant-like existence, but he actually dared to kill her?!

    shan''rae felt a rage bubble up inside of her, but it was suppressed even more quickly by another one of leonel''s fists. it was absolutely relentless. each one was plain and simple, and yet they seemed to carry the power of the world.

    "enough!"

    shan''rae roared out, but this roar seemed to take a lot out of her. the glass-like fractures on her skin expanded rapidly and it looked like she might crumble like porcelain in the next moment.

    leonel''s pupils constricted. it was the most emotion he had shown in recent days, and the reason was quite simple: he couldn''t track shan''rae at all.

    he dug deep, checking through this race''s body to find a kernel of the power he had used previously. but trying to do something like that mid battle, especially when shan''rae was as familiar with her own body as she could possibly be, was practically a death sentence.

    leonel barely dodged to the side and his spear-wielding arm shot into the air.

    at that moment, his blood dripped down. despite the ghastly wound, it was shockingly only three drops, three drops of a radiant gold with hidden flecks of royal blue within. but this very blood, when it fell into the body of the void beast, collided akin to an atomic bomb dropping on the earth.

    boom! boom! boom!

    this indestructible void beast corpse was blown through with three heavy craters. the blood almost fell through the entire ship, only stopping after blasting through dozens of floors.

    shan''rae sneered. to think that she would be able to see the mighty blood of the pluto race. although they were on the decline, it hadn''t reached a point where one of their prince''s could be harmed to this extent. but this was the price to pay for rolling around in a pit of mud with trash.

    her scythe swung again. it was the kind of strike that leonel couldn''t even fathom, it seemed to be impossibly simple, and yet carried the mysteries of a universe within. it was a level of skill she couldn''t even begin to grasp, and he couldn''t deduce what level her force manipulation, or rather, force folding was at.

    he couldn''t react and his leg was taken, those droplets of blood falling once more. however, it was as though the laws of reality themselves refused to allow this race of being to bleed too much. even after losing an arm and a leg, he had only lost six drops of blood.

    at the same time, although he had lost two limbs, the coldness in his eyes only deepened.

    and then it clicked.

    leonel spun on the tips of his remaining toes, thrusting out his spear with a momentum that shrouded the skies.

    shan''rae, who had been indifferent and sneering, froze.

    a spear shot through her chest, her fragile as porcelain skin collapsing as a black hole forming within the depths of her soul.

    her eyes glazed over.

    but just when it seemed that she would truly die, a pressure the likes of which made the both of them look like children appeared.

    a figure that dwarfed the size of earth appeared. in fact, he dwarfed even the milky way galaxy. if not for the portion of this mind that he had tapped into, leonel wouldn''t even be able to perceive that it was a living being that had just appeared.

    an eye that was impossibly large locked onto leonel.

    "an ant of an incomplete world dares?"

    the figure snorted once and leonel went flying. but this time... it was truly leonel.

    el''rion stood frozen in place, confusion appearing in his eyes, while leonel''s real body flew out like a broken kite, every bone in his body broken.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: surely it''s note another humiliation ''''character development'''' moment from the author.... i hope i''m wrong. kind of tired of the author constantly using humiliation as a way to develop his mc''s.

 Chapter 2207 Boiling

    leonel landed heavily on the deck. one would have thought that with the level of strength this being had, he would have flown much further than that. or, even worse, would already be dead. but it seemed that the strength was applied in breaking the rules of this zone, separating him from a body that he should have been one with.

    in the simplest words, it could be said that he had already failed this zone. in the most complex, this existence had the ability to ignore the rules of this world, stepping through reality and manipulating it to their desires.

    however, rather than feeling fear, leonel was only more enraged. why was this man able to ignore the restrictions of the regulator, but his father was not? who did he think he was?

    a furious roar left leonel''s lips. he didn''t seem to feel the shattered remnants of his body as his force pushed him up. if he couldn''t move his body, then he would move other things. he looked up into the skies.

    he could no longer feel it. he was certain that there had been an eye there, but his current perception wasn''t even able to understand what was before him now outside of a large mass that blotted out the skies. he had no way of telling how it had appeared, or why it was seemingly able to stand both here, and not, both in existence, and not, somehow taking up all space, and yet not interfering with any of the existence planets, stars, and worlds.

    but he knew it was there, he was certain.

    boom!

    leonel''s tier 3 armor appeared, a radiant bow wrapped in black and gold taking shape. he raised it and pulled, his arrow aimed toward the skies.

    then he felt it. that very same annoying sneer. he couldn''t see it, but he could sense it. it was as though that very emotion prickled the deepest sense of rage within his heart, a part of his sense of self that was so solidly and deeply ingrained that it existed across all time and reality.

    he knew his arrow would never reach. he knew that trying to attack this existence was meaningless.

    "all those that dare look down on this king..."

    clink.

    leonel''s visor snapped into place, his divine armor rumbling to life and the pressure of force, or lack thereof, coming from earth''s atmosphere rushed toward a single direction. even the slowly expanding desert below accelerated its growth.

    "... deserve death."

    leonel''s arrow suddenly lowered, and he released his bowstring. the echo of the twang of his bowstring roared across the folds of reality, the depth of meaning behind his words shaking even the regulator awake.

    at that moment, the regulator who had been prepared to take action against this being that had suddenly appeared, felt some of its strength being snatched away by the arrow of leonel''s bow. a swirling mass of dense and destructive force took hold, appearing before shan''rae in a blink.

    the entity''s expression changed. leonel still couldn''t see it, but he could feel it. he could feel that annoying disdain changing to something different, something filled with shock and a lack of understanding.

    the only explanation was that the words of leonel were so profound that they had stirred even the regulator, stripping it of its usual control. but this was impossible, definitely not by a seventh dimensional ant, and especially not an ant of an incomplete world.

    "no-"

    it was too late. leonel''s arrow pierced through shan''rae''s forehead. one after another, the stars that twinkled across her body began to dim, collapsing one by one. but...

    just when it seemed that she would die, el''rion, who had been in a daze, not quite understanding what was going on, or how he had suddenly lost not just an arm, but even a leg at that, finally reacted. he took a leap forward.

    in that instant, the energy of the regulator reached balance once again and was stripped from leonel''s arrow. at the same time, his remaining arm reached forward and his hand wrapped around the arrow''s body, stopping it in its tracks when it was just half an inch into shan''rae''s head.

    el''rion took a deep breath, looking around again as he slowly pulled the arrow back. he couldn''t remember the last time he had been in such a stressful situation, and he could never remember being injured in his life. this sort of feeling was novel, but his expression remained cold and indifferent, unreadable.

    with a thought, his severed arm and leg flew back to him, his droplets of blood doing the same and becoming like the glue that put him back together.

    if one understood the culture of the pluto race, and how they treated their own bodies like a temple, the indifference in el''rion''s reaction would have truly been shocking. just the idea that someone else would be within him should have set him off, let alone losing two limbs like this.

    however, this was just the type of person he was.

    at the same time, leonel''s own reaction was colder than an iceberg. his expression didn''t change, but that bubbling fury within him threatened to boil over.

    he stood in his armor, looking down before he looked back up at the sky. he didn''t know who these people were, but if he didn''t die today, he would most definitely not forget this. for the simple act of disdaining him, he held a grudge so deep it seemed ridiculous.

    leonel had gone from a man who didn''t seem to care much whether he had to kneel to king arthur or not, to a man who took even this insult to heart. it was difficult to tell just how far he would go. what was certain was that his greatest hatred was aimed at the fact he didn''t have the strength right now to change much about the situation... not without preparation.

    at that moment, el''rion slowly looked back, meeting his gaze.

 Chapter 2208 Laughter

    chapter 2208 laughter

    the gaze of a pluto held the vicissitudes of the world. if gazing upon a void beast could send one into the pits of despair, then meeting the eyes of a pluto was akin to being forced to question one''s very existence. it was beyond despair, it was a feeling of being inconsequential, of feeling meaningless. it forced you to live out your life in the blink of an eye, only solidifying how worthless your accomplishments would be.

    most would look away immediately on instinct, but it would have already long been over. it only took an instant, an instant to realize just how insignificant you were.

    however, this gaze lasted longer than el''rion would have ever thought possible for someone outside of his race. leonel even looked like he would directly attack to kill him if he had the strength to do so. the only reason he hadn''t was because he was logical enough to know how idiotic it would be. maybe if he had known that such a thing could happen within a zone, he wouldn''t have attacked shan''rae so freely either, but what was done was done.

    all he cared about now was finding a method to move toward victory.

    he no longer feared failing a sub-dimensional zone. since he could find a way to exit once, he could do it again. and since others could ignore its rules, he could find his own method of doing so. all it required was him staying alive. so while he looked at el''rion, it wasn''t for the purpose of a meat measuring contest, although that was inevitably part of it, it was also because in a fight of this level, a single moment of hesitation or distraction would cost him his life.

    el''rion slowly looked away. this time, it wasn''t disdain, but it might as well have been. he didn''t even take shan''rae seriously, let alone leonel.

    "what did you come here for?" el''rion''s voice wasn''t layered like shan''rae, or her ancestor''s, but it seemed ancient in its own right. leonel hadn''t noticed when it was his own voice, but now the effect was multiplied several times over, it was almost like even his voice could force you to fly through a gateway of time.

    shan''rae coughed up blood once more, her body in a truly sorry state. but when she looked up toward el''rion, she realized that he actually couldn''t be bothered to talk to her at all. instead, he was paying attention to the skies. or in other words... her ancestor.

    "watch your tone, boy."

    that layered voice echoed once again, the stars in the sky blinking in and out of existences, only to collapse and reform once again.

    el''rion directly ignored these words, not even responding as he waited for an answer to his original question. the ancestor felt as though he had swung and hit nothing but air. the skies rumbled, but he didn''t say anything. in truth, he had wanted to attack to kill leonel directly, but he wasn''t willing to pay the price to do so. he was more surprised than anyone that leonel had actually lived.

    the only explanation for the fact that leonel was still living and breathing was the fact that he was tied to someone decently powerful. but that shouldn''t be possible on this weak, incomplete world.

    what a farce. he had sent shan''rae here specifically so that he wouldn''t have to deal with this. but now that he was here, he couldn''t just leave or else it would be an insult to the pluto race.

    "the gods haven''t sanctioned this sort of action on your part," the entity spoke evenly.

    "since when has my pluto race needed the acceptance of your races?" el''rion replied indifferently.

    the entity chuckled this time, not feeling the same ire he had previously. maybe it was because he was mentally prepared this time, or maybe it was because he knew something that he wasn''t saying in so many words. either way, his layered laughter echoed with that very same emotion that leonel hated so much.

    "i won''t say what doesn''t need to be said, i''m sure your seniors know better than i. however, the act of handing over the rights to so many fledgling worlds to the human race of all races is a ridiculous waste of resources. the pluto race can do as it pleases, but what it can''t do is use the hard work of us all for their own personal gain.

    "as for the matter of a god personally coming here to oversee a project, it''s even more ridiculous, but that is your personal matter and i won''t say anything. i am here for only one purpose. how will you compensate us?"

    "the overseeing of incomplete worlds and how they''re used is the jurisdiction of my pluto race. it has never been the turn of your races to tell us how to use them. compensation? why would you be compensated for something you never owned in the first place.

    "your races might have forgotten who the kings are, would you like to be reminded?"

    the laughter of the entity echoed once more.

    boom!

    el''rion couldn''t react. he was sent flying backward, his chest caving like crumpled aluminum foil. even with such an injury, he didn''t bleed, nor did he cough up a mouthful of blood. even his gaze and expression remained indifferent and unmoved as he skid to a stop beneath leonel''s feet.

    at that moment, the regulator came roaring back to life, but the laughter of the entity didn''t fade.

    "you would do well to remember your station as a junior when you speak to me, boy. your pluto race might be king of gods, but that was built on the backs of your ancestors, not you. since i''ve received your answer, farewell. i hope your pluto race doesn''t regret this in the future."

    the entity waved a hand, and countless stars blinked out of life. what must have been over half of the galaxies in the dimensional verse were snuffed out and poured into shan''rae''s body. only then did the entity slowly vanish.

    it was clear that he had acted this way on purpose. bleeding or not, el''rion was heavily injured. even if he could finish off leonel, shan''rae definitely would.

    he left with his laughter still echoing through the stars.

 Chapter 2209 Too Strong

    chapter 2209 too strong

    2209 too strong

    el''rion touched the dent in his chest as though it wasn''t his own. he looked back up toward the skies as the entity faded. he didn''t seem to be enraged, nor did he seem to be in pain. he simply stood up slowly and looked away. he stumbled slightly, but he regained his bearings quickly. even now, he didn''t seem to notice that leonel was above him.

    leonel also observed these matters silently. his gaze shifted from el''rion to shan''rae, who was suddenly brimming with power. her glass-like skin quickly recovered, sealing. at the same time, the number of stars that made up her cosmos seemed to have multiplied several times over.

    she rose to her feet under a mysterious power, her expression a cross between a grimace and anger. she had almost died not just once, but twice.

    she waved a hand, and her scythe, which had vanished earlier, appeared again. it looked as though it was forged of blue glass, even somewhat ice-like, while being far more radiant than it had been previously. the last time she had summoned it, she was already in a heavily injured, half-dead state. but now she was at 100%.

    she didn''t even look at el''rion, her gaze landing on leonel. this human had actually almost killed her not just once, but twice. although el''rion was heavily injured, she still had an innate respect for the pluto race that was etched into the depths of her soul. if she didn''t have to fight el''rion, she wouldn''t. her ancestor injuring him wasn''t for the sake of killing him; injuring a pluto and killing them outright were two completely different things. rather...

    it just made what she wanted to do here far easier. clearly, she hadn''t just come for the sake of passing on a message. in fact, it might very well be possible that the void race had expected all of this to happen from the very beginning. leonel was a bit of a variable, but it was hardly worth caring about.

    she raised her scythe, but leonel had already reacted.

    his dream force flourished.

    what he hadn''t expected was that even though he had reacted first, he would still be a step slow. shan''rae''s scythe appeared before him, ready to swing down.

    leonel actually couldn''t tell what shan''rae''s dimension was. he just felt that she was completely unfathomable, and yet she was a junior. he didn''t know what any of this meant. there should only be the eighth and ninth dimensions beyond him; there was nothing above. could you still be considered a junior if you were in the eighth dimension?

    leonel''s bow vanished, and a black rod appeared in his hands. he didn''t bother to take out his divine spear because he knew that it wasn''t strong enough. now that he had been expelled from el''rion''s body, whether it was his spear domain ring or the segmented cube, they had both returned to his possession.

    a shadow sovereign domain erupted from him, shrouding the space. but, to his surprise, the instant it touched the void beast''s corpse, it dissipated, twisting apart and vanishing. this narrowed the scope of his domain considerably and made his force sluggish.

    he dodged backward, just barely tilting his head to the side.

    the scythe tore through his divine armor as though it was wet tissue paper, carving through his forehead, just barely missing his ethereal glabella, and curving out from his chest. the wound was deep, at least three to four inches. although it hadn''t cut all the way through his body, it was a devastating wound that would have ended any other human''s life, especially as this energy roared and twisted, looking to destroy him from the inside out.

    shan''rae frowned. this human actually survived her strike? no, he should be dead. her force wasn''t something a mere human could withstand.

    just as she was thinking this, leonel''s scarlet star force roared to life. his golden tiger and death pulse deer bloodlines pulsed, rushing into his divine armor and mending it. horns grew from his head, wrapped by the beautiful black and gold of his armor. at the same time, plates of white gold fur formed, making him look like an armored beast warlord.

    he released the seals on his scarlet star force, allowing it to rampage and push against the odd force that shan''rae controlled.

    shan''rae''s gaze narrowed. leonel was clearly using a force beyond his ability to control. no human could produce a force that could fight against her own; it was nonsensical.

    leonel suddenly thrust his spear out, aiming for between shan''rae''s brows. and yet, due to his domain, it felt as though it was coming from everywhere. when this was layered with his absolute spear domain, it likewise felt that it was coming at all times. his skill in the spear had been pushed to the absolute limits.

    "paltry skill."

    shan''rae waved the butt of her scythe and collided against just one of leonel''s many spear tips, and yet they all dispersed at once.

    "not even at that impetus state and you want to fight me? just die."

    leonel''s gaze was just as cold as always. he didn''t seem to react to shan''rae''s taunt at all because he had found it.

    his gaze flashed with a furious violet light. "come."

    earth trembled and shook. a dormant spirit hidden deep within came to life, forced to move long before it was ready. this time, when leonel moved his spear, the world itself moved. however, even he was surprised at this moment.

    ''this world spirit is far stronger than it should be, especially at this stage.''

    his gaze sharpened as he looked down at the pyramids and the desert rapidly forming around them. he understood at that moment. those were definitely not just normal monuments.

    his spear spun in his hand, and he struck out again.

    "dammit!" shan''rae''s expression changed and her power surged. but just as she was about to cross a certain limit, a black chain slapped down on her arm, nearly ripping it out of her control.

    bang!

    leonel''s spear landed on her body. only the smallest crack formed, but he didn''t seem to care at all.

    she was sent flying back, but he didn''t move an inch, raising his spear into the air.

    the world spirit and earth rumbled, a force art quickly beginning to form, roaring with spear force.

    ...

    in a location across the dimensional verse, the vanishing of the galaxies hadn''t gone unnoticed, and the devastation it had caused was even worse.

    a certain man sat on a throne, his brows tightly furrowed. if leonel had been here, he would have recognized this man as the very same puppet that had fought his father... the silver emperor.

    the problem was that this person wasn''t the silver emperor at all. rather, it was aina.

    1

 Chapter 2210 Once More

    chapter 2210 once more

    aina was very familiar with the history of the silver empire. she had, of course, entered their zone before, although that zone was heavily distorted. however, given aina''s instincts, she was very good at telling the fake from the real. the problem here wasn''t this, though...

    the problem was that according to her understanding, the silver empire would be destroyed very soon. in fact... there was a rush at the doors of the throne room and a messenger rushed in, heaving deep breaths. this messenger didn''t even get the chance to speak before it happened.

    the palace rocked and quaked.

    aina''s expression changed, and she quickly stood to her feet. her force imploded within her body, and she struck out. compared to leonel, her ability to adapt to this new body was on a completely different level. she had access to 100% of the silver emperor''s strength immediately. in fact, as time passed, she was actually faintly surpassing the silver emperor until she would reach the point where she could entirely suppress him.

    the power of aina''s palm was mighty. it almost matched the rocking scene seen before her, blasting a hole through the double doors and out of the palace, surging into the skies and meeting a rippling wave of raging star qi.

    despite the power of her strike, aina''s expression was quite ugly at the moment. or rather, the expression of the silver emperor''s was.

    her strike managed to protect a large segment of planet silver, but it was still only a segment. and, "large" in this case wasn''t nearly large enough. the capital city and its surrounding lands were all well protected, but the rest of the planet was practically blown off the map, some of the destruction even wrapping around and destroying the opposite hemisphere.

    just what had happened?

    the messenger shook in fear. at first, he had thought that the silver emperor was attacking him in rage for interrupting, but now he realized that he had been just this close from dying.

    "your imperial majesty..." the messenger huffed and puffed. "... the galaxies... our territory... it''s, it''s..."

    aina''s expression went completely dark. she had thought that the skies had seemed far more... lively than she was used to. it practically felt as though a net of starlight was cast over them. in fact, it was so vibrant and gorgeous that the stars could be seen like the moon in the middle of the day.

    but now... now the skies looked like the skies she remembered... dim, uninteresting, obedient to even the smallest hints of light pollution... weak.

    who could even do such a thing? destroying so many galaxies with a wave of the hand? but worse than that, and especially pertinent to the current mission at hand, what did it mean for the silver empire to suddenly lose so much of its strength?

    they had the largest territory in the human domain currently, there was no doubt that they had suffered the greatest at the hand of this destruction. what was the point of this zone, exactly? was she supposed to do the impossible and save the silver empire? that couldn''t be the mission, right?

    but then where was leonel? what about her mother-in-law? and what about little tolly?

    ...

    leonel''s spear tip trembled, his force art roaring to life. using the world spirit, he had limited the strokes of his spear from 999, down to less than a dozen, relying on the power of the world to forcefully raise the standard of his spear force.

    shan''rae''s expression changed. she had just spoken about the impetus, and now this ant had brought out something infinitely close to it?!

    "that''s enough," el''rion spoke lightly.

    leonel''s spear pierced out as though he hadn''t heard anything at all. to others, the words of a pluto were law. to leonel, it was nothing more than whispers of the wind. when he wanted to do something, no one would stop him.

    el''rion, beaten and ragged, appeared before leonel, his gaze just as indifferent as ever. standing almost two meters taller than leonel, he loomed over him. his presence imposing and domineering.

    someone else might question him. why was he trying to help someone related to an existence who had just almost killed him? why was he stopping leonel when he had nothing to do with this situation at all? it might even make sense to question the unfairness of it all, but leonel didn''t have such a change in expression.

    el''rion was stepping forth? it sounded to him like he wanted to die too.

    leonel''s spear thrust forward, roaring like the wave.

    el''rion shook his head. "killing her will do nothing but bring you trouble. as for you, you''re no match for me even in this state, why are you wasting your time here?"

    el''rion reached up a finger, almost too slowly, and yet he still managed to touch the tip of leonel''s spear.

    leonel''s spear force veered violently out of control, splitting like a tide and roaring out in all directions. some danced across el''rion''s bluish-grey skin, but it reflected off of it like a light on a mirror, spiraling out in all directions and leaving him unscathed.

    leonel was forced into a retreat, and el''rion looked down at his finger. there was the faint mark of slightly white-gold. it seemed that he had almost bled again; this world was truly filled with bad luck for him.

    with a strong surge, leonel came to a stop, lowering his spear slightly. he looked forward coldly. he had seen demons before, many of whom he had thought to be exceptionally powerful. but he had never in his life seen a body so powerful, and that was saying something considering his metal synergy lineage factor, or rather what it had become, was truly excellent in this regard.

    at that moment, shan''rae recovered and moved, her scythe screeching out in humiliation as she shook the regulator''s chains off of her arm. her power multiplied, that mysterious energy flaring once more.

 Chapter 2211 Hourglass

    chapter 2211 hourglass

    el''rion looked back toward shan''rae and waved a hand. a palm appeared in the air, formed of force. it somehow looked as though it was a part of el''rion''s body despite the fact it was clearly entirely separate. almost like a breath of air, connected and yet not, but as important as life despite the latter feeling.

    shan''rae frowned, not liking what she was seeing at all. she had originally made the assumption that el''rion had stepped in to stop this human so that she would leave him alone later after he was dead, but she most definitely didn''t expect that he would step up in this way. however, if he thought that he could deal with her as easily as that human, he was sorely mistaken.

    palm and scythe met, the plains of the earth below being completely flattened. the strikes they sent out casually collapsing leonel''s strikes. shan''rae''s expression changed, and she retreated quickly, managing to remain unscathed.

    "leave." el''rion said coldly.

    "are you really in the state to talk to me like this?" shan''rae asked coldly.

    "do you think that you are your ancestor?" el''rion replied, taking a step forward. "since you won''t leave, i''ll send you on your way."

    el''rion flipped a palm, and an hourglass appeared. it was simple, small, and unadorned. in fact, it was so uninteresting and ordinary that it was even cracked. however, the moment shan''rae saw it, all of the stars across her body lit up at once, her expression, or what seemed to be her expression, changing wildly.

    "are the plutos crazy?! how could they give you such an item?!"

    shan''rae shook from head to toe. even if her ancestor had still been here, he would react like this. this seemingly small and insignificant hourglass was the most fearsome item in all of existence. it was a treasure that even the most senior powerhouses of the plutos should have never taken out. it didn''t make sense for el''rion to have access to it, especially not for a meaningless mission like this one.

    this item was known simply, almost too simply... the hourglass. it didn''t have any fancy prefixes or suffixes. it was that and nothing else. but it was because it could stand out with such a simple name that it was so special.

    the hourglass gave one control over maybe the most mysterious force in existence, that being time force. however, it was on a level that could manipulate existence itself.

    usually, time force manipulators were restricted to small regions, whether that be a limited time or a limited region, usually both. if you could ignore any one of these parameters, you were a genius the likes of which even the gods would have to respect. however, the hourglass had no such limitations.

    to make a complex matter simple, when the hourglass turned a second of time back, every world, every planet, every star, every universe, experienced the same reversal. no matter where you were, no matter how powerful you were, no matter how high you had reached or how low you had sunk.

    but... this was said to be the simplest ability of the hourglass.

    fundamentally, it could warp reality. it just so happened that doing so was made simpler and more convenient with time force as a base...

    that was right. the manipulation of time by the hourglass was nothing more than an act of convenience that made the rest of its abilities simpler and less complex to execute, eliminating the need to care for karma and the laws of cause and effect entirely.

    the instant it appeared, shan''rae no longer hesitated. she didn''t even look toward her ship, nor the members of her race that lagged behind. she brought out an item of her own and crushed it, vanishing into a swirling blackhole that blinked out of existence the moment she did.

    el''rion didn''t do anything, he just felt that shan''rae was foolish. what did an escape mechanism mean in the face of the hourglass? he could easily reverse time to a point where she right back where she had just escaped from and then killed her. but he didn''t say anything. this result was exactly the result he wanted.

    he put the hourglass away without a word, but when he looked back to leonel, he noticed that the latter was entirely focused on the hand that had just held the hourglass, even following it to exactly where it had disappeared.

    el''rion didn''t think that the look in leonel''s eyes could get any colder. he seemed to have already reached his limits before, but at this moment, even el''rion felt a chilly wind tingle his smile.

    leonel raised his spear.

    el''rion''s gaze narrowed. "it can''t do what you think it can."

    leonel didn''t say anything, his spear tip growing incomparably steady. a gentle and almost mist-like swirl of spear force slowly gathered around him, his divine armor growing brighter and brighter.

    "that item can kill quite easily, but when it comes to life... it''s a completely different matter. the only way toward eternal life is through rebirth. nothing that can be reclaimed so easily was all that important to begin with."

    leonel''s gaze only became sharper. "when did you become so talkative?"

    "take it as pity," el''rion responded.

    "wrong answer."

    leonel''s aura flourished, his blade becoming sharper and sharper. his spear force rose, emitting the aura of the seventh dimension.

    el''rion closed his eyes. his patience was wearing thin. he was a mighty pluto, and yet just in the last hour, his body had been taken over by a human, he had been disrespected by the junior of the void race, a so-called ancestor had attacked him for nothing more than words, and now this boy was spitting in the face of his efforts to help him.

    leonel had no idea what kind of consequences he would face for killing shan''rae, yet he wanted to do it. and yet, whatever those consequences were, they would pale in comparison to him actually succeeding in taking the hourglass for himself.

    el''rion took a breath and opened his eyes to find that leonel''s spear had already closed the distance, but in his palm, the hourglass had already appeared once again.

    leonel froze in place, completely unable to move.

 Chapter 2212 Bipolar

    chapter 2212 bipolar

    the atmosphere was quite somber, and maybe the location didn''t help very much. leonel''s brothers sat in silence around a table, bottles of alcohol sitting half finished as they reclined, lost in their own worlds. the smell was so strong that it felt as though a mixture of 99% rubbing alcohol and a field of roses were smashed and mashed into one, releasing a peculiar scent that made one''s nose red.

    they had been stuck like that for quite a long time. it was as though they could feel the heaviness of leonel''s mood, and it had been transferred over to them. this couldn''t be helped. after being resurrected under leonel''s power, they felt the influence of his soul. once they regained their own bodies, they no longer felt that sort of fanaticism that his soul constructs did, but they could still feel leonel more clearly than they could in the past. this was only more exaggerated since some of them had experienced that feeling not just once, but twice.

    leonel hadn''t come to see them since his father had died. he didn''t even have much patience for aina and his own mother, let alone others. but that didn''t mean that they weren''t very worried about him.

    james suddenly sighed. "that guy..."

    "what do you think, james? is he finished?" raj asked somewhat absentmindedly.

    james laughed. "why are you asking me? do i look introspective to you?"

    "dumbass. we''re asking you about someone else, what would you need to be introspective for?" milan mumbled.

    "smart ass, don''t you know you''re supposed to be a dumb jock?"

    "then what''s your excuse?" milan snorted.

    "what are you trying to say?"

    "don''t think i forgot. all those dropped passes in the championship game? you can''t even call yourself a jock, so what are you exactly? just dumb?"

    james'' gaze flashed. he seemed to be about to lose his temper, but in the end he sighed, just leaning back and pretending as though he hadn''t heard anything. he truly didn''t have much of a right to get mad about this matter.

    "what happened that day anyway? you never told us," raj asked. he didn''t seem to get the memo that they were trying to move on, but truthfully they felt it was about time they talked about this matter. james had been gone for so long, he couldn''t just come back after betraying them not just once, but twice, and expect not to have to explain himself.

    of course, the championship game was a minor matter in the grand scheme. they already had three trophies and they didn''t really care all that much about winning again, especially when the metamorphosis came afterward. but the reason why they separated in the first place, the matters of the royal blue fort and how leonel and aina almost died... those were completely separate matters.

    in reality, they wouldn''t even know the details of this matter if it wasn''t for leonel getting drunk that one time on planet luxnix. he had been with joel back then, and he opened up about a lot, including the matter that separated him and james. if not for this, who knows if they would even be aware of what had happened. that man hated explaining anything.

    james sighed again. "fine, fine. i guess i should be an adult and own up to my mistakes, huh?"

    "oh man, he finally grew a pair, look at my boy grow up."

    "fuck you," james said with a laugh. "it''s not that complicated. you know that the quarterback of the angels academy pricks was conrad siegfried? the siegfried family is a governor duke family, or rather... was. my old man wanted a favor from them. well... it was probably more complicated than that?"

    "what''s that supposed to mean?"

    "my old man rarely has one-step plans. conrad is also a bit of a dumbass. he would be an easy pawn to use so long as he was buttered up. too bad my sister-in-law killed him for being a horndog."

    "too bad, is it?" milan sneered.

    james shrugged. "it''s fair of you all to be mad, but quite frankly, i still can''t be bothered to care about football. it was just a means to an end to me, and it was also too easy. but in typical leonel fashion, he went and won it on his own without considering anybody else."

    "you actually still have the cheek to say that?" franco laughed.

    "well, i do know him the best. i just accept him for his flaws."

    "what about your flaws?"

    james laughed again. "i didn''t say i didn''t have any... but leonel''s flaws... well, they''re more complicated."

    "so you do have an answer? then what''re you tiptoeing around it for?"

    "because even if i said it, i don''t know if you guys would believe me."

    "just say it."

    james fell into silence, his gaze flickering. his eyes were half closed due to the alcohol.

    "leonel''s a bit of a... sociopath. he doesn''t have normal emotions i don''t think, and he fakes most of it because he''s smart enough to do so. you wouldn''t even realize if you didn''t spend a long time with him, and even then you wouldn''t notice unless you piss him off enough like i have.

    "but that''s not the important part. i don''t even really think it''s his fault, not that it''s a choice to be a sociopath. before the metamorphosis, i thought he was bipolar, he had two personalities. if i had to name them, i''d say that one is probably his "true self" and the second is the man his father raised.

    "well, that''s what i thought before the metamorphosis anyway. but now, i think i have a better explanation.

    "you know how everyone''s always saying that the future affects the past? i think that leonel is in that sort of situation. his two mentalities... one is his "true self", as in his current immature self, and the second is his "future self".

    "the reason he''s so arrogant, the reason he''s so indifferent... it''s probably the reason he loves my sister-in-law so much. the reason he doesn''t take anyone seriously isn''t because he''s stupid, it isn''t because he''s a prick, but it''s because there''s a very important portion of him that''s already earned the right to have that level of confidence.

    "unfortunately... his current self hasn''t earned that right yet."

 Chapter 2213 Weight of a Planet

    chapter 2213 weight of a planet

    "what''s all that supposed to mean?" milan asked.

    james shrugged. "you asked, i answered. i don''t know what else you want from me. believe in my guess or don''t, not like we can do anything about it anyway. that man won''t listen to anyone right now. the only person he would listen to is dead now."

    "not necessarily," joel suddenly spoke.

    "you think aina can do something?"

    "maybe, but that''s not what i meant. though... probably not. he still has that silver dictionary. maybe it can talk some sense into him."

    the group fell into silence again. it made sense, the trouble was... who would do it? that silver disk was probably the possession leonel valued the most right now, it would always be in his possession and on his mind. it also didn''t respond to anyone''s voice but leonel''s own. expecting someone who was hurting to find their own path to healing was like asking a baby to feed and dress itself.

    just like that, even if they felt that they had the solution, they would never be able to use it. maybe only aina or his mother could get him to try and use it.

    like james had said... the so-called "true leonel" was the man his father had raised. the other leonel wasn''t exactly a real person, but rather the influence of one. the first usually trumped the latter, unless... the first completely shut down.

    james shook his head. "you lot are too depressed about this."

    "fuck off. you said all of that and now you want us to act like everything''s fine? what if he goes out there and gets himself killed, what then? no one''s gonna be there to resurrect him like we were. he''s the only one with that ability."

    james laughed. "i did say all of that, but i also didn''t hold back in one aspect. the operative word was yet. he hasn''t earned that right yet. but every time he''s been given an opportunity to prove it, he has. does the process matter if he wins in the end anyway?"

    milan took another swig of his beer. "winning a football game is a little bit different than challenging all the families of the human domain on a revenge vendetta."

    "that depends, it''s all relative. a normal, third dimensional boy, facing off against a team with far more five stars than his own, while his only five star receiver is throwing the game on purpose, probably has no business winning that game either, right?"

    the room fell into silence and james closed his eyes with a grin.

    "now he''s in the seventh dimension with access to far more weapons than just his arm alone... all i''m saying is that if i had the choice...

    "i probably wouldn''t piss him off when he''s in this state."

    james fell into silence, his smile slowly fading. pissing leonel off now wasn''t just a small matter. in fact, it could very well be an existential matter. the usual leonel had an off button, he had a limit, he had values that he would usually stick to. as for this leonel... it was doubtful that he even had a conscience.

    ...

    leonel stood frozen in the skies, unable to move even a single inch. it wasn''t a matter of effort, because the truth of the matter was that he couldn''t even try to move. he couldn''t feel his muscles flexing, he couldn''t even send the command to his brain to try. even his thoughts themselves had been frozen in place.

    this was what it truly meant to be frozen in time, and this was the power of the hourglass. one didn''t even have the right to fight back. however...

    el''rion''s expression changed, but he was a step late.

    shuuu! pchu!

    an overwhelming power pierced into el''rion''s wrist, cutting through it and almost exiting from the other side. although it failed to make it all the way through, it didn''t matter. what needed to be done had been done, the hand that el''rion had been using to hold the hourglass was rendered almost completely useless.

    el''rion was in shock. what had just happened? how was it possible? n(-0vж┼lb1n

    it had to be known that fooling the hourglass was next to impossible. he hadn''t even aimed it, he had just thought of leonel and willed him to be frozen. it shouldn''t have mattered what schemes leonel had in store, even if he used a clone as a decoy, even if he vanished from his divine armor and left it out in his stead, nothing should have worked.

    of course, el''rion had miscalculated one very important thing. the leonel that he thought of in his mind was in a very special state, not only was he fused with the world spirit of this world, but he was also, obviously, in this world.

    while it sounded convenient to just be able to think of someone and freeze them, it was also more involved than it seemed. a significant change to a person''s state, especially since el''rion wasn''t intimately familiar with leonel, could easily throw the lock off.

    in that moment, leonel had indeed used his divine armor as a decoy, disappearing from within it. but, he had also disassociated from the world spirit, and at the same time, he had entered the segmented cube, an entirely different and complete ninth dimensional world.

    when el''rion was confident in his success and was ready to speak with leonel calmly to try and talk some sense into him, leonel had appeared again, this time with one of his starships, concentrating all of its power into a fine line that attacked el''rion''s wrist.

    leonel appeared in the air, his divine armor slowly fading away.

    the hourglass tossed and turned through the air.

    he simply extended his hand, allowing it to land there as though he had calculated even this much.

    when he made contact with it, he looked down, his gaze cold. it felt light, almost too light, like it was a flimsy toy rather than the powerful tool he was certain that it was.

    suddenly, leonel''s body trembled, and the ultra-lightweight hourglass multiplied in weight several times over. in the blink of an eye, it had become so heavy that even moving planet earth itself would be easier than holding it up.

 Chapter 2214 Hesitation

    n(.o(/v-(e))l.(b.(1(/n

    chapter 2214 hesitation

    leonel frowned. he was able to hold it up for a while, but it was clear that the hourglass planned on getting heavier and heavier until he was truly out of options. realizing this, he immediately tried to send it into the segmented cube, but then he realized something even more devastating.

    in order to send items into and out of spatial devices, it required internal sight. namely, the intention of internal sight. it was the locking of senses that allowed the ring, brace, or the world, in this case, to understand that something wanted to be transported inside or outside. it was similar to el''rion and his intentions of locking leonel down with the thought of him, though a bit different.

    to make a complicated matter simple, it felt like leonel''s internal sight couldn''t wrap around the hourglass no matter how hard he tried. it was as though every time he was almost there, its size would increase, requiring more and more effort, more and more internal sight to make the attempt.

    leonel was a person who had never struggled with such a thing before. others had a limit to how large an item they were moving in and out of a spatial device could be, and for some who didn''t have limits, there was a definite and long lag that took place the larger the object in question was. but, leonel had never worried about this. he could even move something the size of a starship in and out of the segmented cube in a split moment.

    but now, this hourglass in his hand, that was still the same size as always, seemed to be forming a larger and larger picture in his mind. he realized instantly that no matter how large his range was, the hourglass would always be just a hair better.

    his frown deepened, the coldness in his gaze flickering. in another split second, any attempt to continue holding onto this item would shred his muscles off the bone. but more importantly than that, there was el''rion.

    he had just used a starship capable of one-shotting most ancestors, and yet he hadn''t even managed to sever el''rion''s hand completely. no, it was even worse than that. the starships in his possession were upgraded using the blueprint of his enlightened self. they were easily twice as powerful as cynthia''s already modified and improved starships. on top of that, he had concentrated all of the power into a thin line barely three to four inches thick...

    and yet he still couldn''t sever maybe the weakest part of el''rion''s body?

    how would he continue to fight this person?

    in terms of a straight-up battle, leonel didn''t fear him. while he had long since acknowledged that there was a limit to what scheming could accomplish, he still firmly believed that he had yet to run into that peak just yet.

    but if he couldn''t at least store away the hourglass, even if he couldn''t use it himself, it would definitely land in el''rion''s hands once more. at that point, he wouldn''t stand a chance.

    when the hourglass appeared, he had realized how special it was immediately. other ignorant individuals would think it to be a worthless ornament, maybe even making the assumption that the reason shan''rae was scared off was because the item was akin to a badge, representing someone with a bit of an eccentric personality.

    but he could feel it. any item that he couldn''t completely cast into his dream world was one that existed on a plane far beyond his understanding.

    so, the instant he had seen it, he had already thought of thousands of methods to get his hands on it. he felt that it might be a chance to reverse what had happened to his father. so long as he could figure out how to use it, he could return to that moment, he could be more prepared, he could find a method to deal with the regulator, he could...

    leonel''s teeth clenched. it was only a split moment but his mind simply worked far too fast. it had only gotten several-fold faster after he entered the seventh dimension and it was prone to overrunning even its own self, accelerating past what maybe even leonel himself was consciously aware of.

    leonel clenched his jaw so hard that some of his teeth cracked, but no matter how fast his mind ran, he couldn''t figure out a solution.

    ironically, he had run into that peak schemes were useless again just when he thought he would be undefeatable...

    no.

    that was actually a lie.

    he did have a solution... but when he was about to use it, his mind working in a frenzy, he hesitated. it was something he never thought he would do in such a situation, and especially not in his current state of mind. but he simply... couldn''t bring himself to do it.

    unfortunately, a split moment of hesitation was all it took to lose a battle like this one.

    crack.

    leonel''s arm snapped like a twig. the recoil was so strong that even after the hourglass fell from his palm, his bicep tendon snapped and his arm swung down and back. the sight was grotesque, but how could it not be when the back of his hand slapped against the back of his shoulders?

    el''rion appeared before leonel, almost carelessly catching the hourglass. his eyes, though, seemed to carry more emotion than they usually did. he had actually been out maneuvered by a human?

    this ending was still inevitable, that was only logical. the hourglass was forged by the constellation of the pluto race, how could it respond to the call of anyone else? even if he left it in the middle of the road of the busiest city of the god domain, no one would even dare to touch it.

    but... why did he still somehow feel that this had ended far too simply?

    he looked down at leonel, his wrist having already healed, his thoughts unreadable.

 Chapter 2215 This Year

    chapter 2215 this year

    n(.o(/v-(e))l.(b.(1(/n

    el''rion looked at leonel, but the latter seemed to be in a bit of a daze. despite this, el''rion still felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, one that grew stronger every time he hesitated. even though he felt this way, he didn''t move, his expression remaining the picture of indifference. it was hard to tell if this man had any emotion at all. even after being humiliated like that by the entity, he didn''t even so much as clench his fist, nor did he care to take it out on his descendant.

    this kind of man was one who had a mind that was impossible to pry into. but interestingly enough, though el''rion felt that leonel was quite easy to read as someone who was grieving, he still couldn''t seem to grasp the exact depth. as for the depth of what exactly, even this was a blur, as though even making guesses about leonel''s state of mind was impossibly muddled.

    at that moment, leonel suddenly looked up at el''rion. the height difference between them could only be said to be exceptional, one stood at two meters or so tall, but the other was almost at four. even so, leonel''s gaze didn''t seem to give off the impression of a person who was inferior in any way.

    "why aren''t you attacking yet?" leonel asked coldly.

    in a battle like this one, leonel knew that he couldn''t take the initiative. his ability index worked best when he had data, and in order to have data his enemy had to take action, only then could he read, react, counter, and force his enemies to regret their choices.

    the only reason he had attacked first before was because he had already predicted how el''rion would react. others might find this man to be unreadable, but leonel felt that it was obvious enough, his emperor''s charm had only made him better at reading people.

    el''rion was a carbon copy of his cousin. the difference was that el''rion had unmatched talent while noah did not. this simple difference is what had led to a deviation in the direction their personalities had brought them down.

    how had noah reacted the first time he met leonel? of course, he was a stickler for the rules and he had acted in accordance with the law. unfortunately, that had gotten him beaten within an inch of his life by leonel because he had dared to touch aina.

    this man was the same.

    he was probably ordered to come here by his family, so he had. he wasn''t angry with the entity because he felt that it only made sense someone so powerful would have a temper, he also felt there was no need to get angry because he would surpass this individual soon enough. as for taking it out on shan''rae? why would he do something to put his family in a poor situation just for his own personal grudge? he was better than that, and most importantly, the likes of shan''rae weren''t worth his effort.

    he was arrogant, but only rightfully so, and he was the furthest thing from a hypocrite. although leonel asked him why he wasn''t attacking, he already knew the answer.

    attack leonel? why? what would that get him?

    even compared to shan''rae, leonel was even more inferior. attacking him out of rage would only be like admitting that he had suffered a loss and that he took it more seriously than he did. of course, that didn''t mean that he didn''t acknowledge leonel''s victory, he did, and he would also adjust his expectations and future actions such that this wouldn''t happen again. however, it wasn''t worth attacking over.

    it was infuriating, indeed. it was even worse than disdain. like he had said before, would a passerby disdain a dog for digging into garbage bins for scraps to fill their belly? of course not, what human would waste their time disdaining a dog? the only appropriate reactions would be indifference, maybe a bit of aversion, but most importantly... they would feel that it was just natural. that''s where a dog belonged, digging in the trash, so what was the use of an overblown reaction?

    however, this time, leonel didn''t attack, he just stood there, looking up at el''rion as though he was trying to remember this person''s face.

    "the hourglass doesn''t do what you think it does," el''rion explained simply. "well, it does, but it won''t work out in a way you think it will. in addition, the pluto race wouldn''t be willing."

    "make sure you keep it safe." leonel replied just as simply. "soon enough, it''ll be mine. the more you stall, the greater price it''ll have to pay."

    leonel''s meaning was simple. the more time passed, the more time would have to be rewound, and the greater pressure there would be on the hourglass.

    el''rion looked toward leonel, but he didn''t reply immediately. both of them seemed to be exceptionally okay with silence. if it wasn''t for leonel''s hostility, and the fact that he was too weak, they might have been able to be friends. while he didn''t disdain the weak, el''rion wasn''t a fan of the idea of watching such a weak species of people die long before he did.

    his gaze flickered. what a peculiar thought that was.

    friends? with a man who had tried to steal the symbol of his pluto race? if others found out about this, even just the threat he had levied just now, even his bones wouldn''t be left.

    but he suddenly felt compelled to change leonel''s mind.

    "do you understand what you are saying?"

    "it doesn''t matter," leonel replied simply.

    "it does." el''rion responded. "do you understand how strong the existence who separated you from my body was?"

    leonel didn''t reply, he wasn''t a fan of repeating himself. since he had said it didn''t matter, he meant that it didn''t matter.

    "in order to do what he did, he would have to have the power to ignore the regulator of your incomplete world," el''rion continued as though he didn''t need a reply. "if that''s not enough of an answer for you, do you have any idea how strong shan''rae is? how strong i am?"

    leonel once again didn''t reply.

    "this year, if converted to your time, i am 14 years old. my strength level, if converted to your understanding, is at the quasi sixth dimension."

 Chapter 2216 Maybe...

    chapter 2216 maybe...

    the reaction that el''rion might have expected wasn''t the one he received. if anything, he was underwhelmed.

    leonel had already seen just how far apart the strengths of various races could be. setting aside the spirituals, there was himself. when that figure in the blood pool moved, it had to be understood that leonel''s dimension didn''t change, the only thing that changed was how much access to his own personal talent he had. that meant, the man who could kill ancestors, and even overlords, as though they were wet tissue paper, had been the very same sixth dimensional leonel.

    of course, that was still not as impressive as el''rion who was only in the fifth dimension. though the latter had said quasi sixth dimensional, this was the reality. quasi or not, it was still the fifth dimension. however, it wasn''t enough to completely upend leonel''s reality.

    as for why he was underwhelmed, it was because he would expect such an existence to be further along at 14 years old.

    if he had been born in the morales family, he would have most definitely been faster than that. he had entered the dimensional verse at 18 years old. he was now 26 years old, and most of that time had been spent struggling on his own. it was completely unlike el''rion who even had access to such a treasure.

    that said, leonel still stored away several things from this information, much of which was speculation.

    el''rion had said if his age was converted, it was very possible that he had experienced much more than 14 years, but just like dog years, different species experienced the years differently. this would explain why there wasn''t even a hint of childishness on his face, though that could also be explained by his race itself.

    the second important speculation was that he didn''t believe that el''rion was actually just slow to progress. or, rather, even if he was slow, every step he took was far more substantial than leonel''s own. that meant that the pluto race had a different method of progression, one that leonel was very much interested in.

    a part of his senses drifted down to the members of the void race that shan''rae had left behind, a cold glint lighting his eyes.

    el''rion shook his head. it seemed that this kind of man couldn''t be swayed in such a way. he didn''t know why he had wasted his time, it was truly uncharacteristic of him. there also wasn''t a point in converting his strength and age like that, this man would have no reference for what that truly meant.

    seeing that leonel seemed to have some intention toward the other void race members, he was rendered somewhat speechless. laying a hand even on a servant of a god race would get your entire race eradicated.

    he had yet to get to it because leonel didn''t seem to be paying attention, but if leonel had truly killed shan''rae, it would have been like sentencing everyone to death. he didn''t know why, but he didn''t want to see this man die, at least not in such a ridiculous and unfair way.

    he truly wouldn''t even see his enemies if he made such a folly. he would likely spend his years in eternal damnation, never laying eyes on the person who put him there in the first place.

    at that moment, el''rion suddenly remembered something his father had told him. he was used to being reprimanded for his straight forward ways, he might be talented, but he lacked in charisma. as a leader, this was a deathly sort of flaw.

    his father had once said that smart people couldn''t be convinced with reason. usually, they had already thought of every possibility. telling them facts would do nothing to change the situation. he had already assumed that giving a person the facts was only right, any logical person would obviously come to the same conclusion as him, right?

    but his father had said no. humans were emotional creatures, no matter how smart they were. if you wanted to convince someone of something, you had to understand their why and manipulate that. unless you could understand that, it would all be useless.

    even if a person was stupid, so long as they had enough bias, even if you laid out all the facts before them they might nod to your face then return to their ingrained beliefs later.

    but what was leonel''s why?

    el''rion''s gaze flickered and he remembered that the world spirit had responded to leonel. the only way that would happen would be if...

    "don''t." leonel suddenly said, raising up a hand. n)-ovelb1n

    el''rion froze, not quite understanding.

    "i don''t care how powerful your people are. i also don''t care what your original purpose here was, or how you might be related to my grandfather or the fawkes family. i truly do not give a damn.

    "i can see it in your eyes. you''re looking, trying to find a light of reason, trying to understand me, trying to convince me. i originally didn''t know why you were deviating so far from your original personality, but now that you''ve told me your age, it''s too obvious. you''re still a child and still don''t have any sort of real conviction."

    el''rion frowned for the first time.

    "i wasn''t even trying, but i was already leading you by the nose. what do you think i am? a broken vase you need to put back together? maybe because your family gave you a mission to fulfill that promise you want to complete it to 100% of your ability and maybe pull me out of an abyss to help the descendants of your benefactor? is that it?

    "it''s all worthless. you may have all of the "facts", but those facts are just your understanding of your race. do you even know who i am? do you know what i''m capable of? did you check to see who you were speaking to first? or was it that because i''m a human ant in your eyes, you believed that you could understand me in just a few seconds of thought?"

    leonel rose into the air until his nose practically touched el''rion''s, looking into those eyes that held the weight of the universe within.

    "since you''re being so "helpful" with your words, i''ll ask you a question. do you have any idea how close to death you were just now?"

    that cold shiver el''rion thought had vanished appeared again.

    "you might not believe me, but i''ll lay it out for you. you see that beast corpse over there?"

    el''rion subconsciously looked toward the void beast corpse ship.

    "i have a beast companion that''s been by my side for almost a decade. he''s an adorable little mink, his fur is quite soft, and his soul would be very useful to me. if i killed him, animated him, and then used this beast corpse to breathe life into him again, making him my puppet for life, how powerful do you think he would be? would your little prepubescent body be able to handle it? what shan''rae be able to handle it? i have a feeling that even her entity wouldn''t be able to able to handle it."

    the more leonel spoke, the colder his gaze became, and the worse the shiver up el''rion''s spine became.

    "do you know why you''re still standing here, alive?"

    this time, it was el''rion''s turn to remain silent.

    leonel turned and walked away. "... maybe... it''s because i''m not angry enough yet."

 Chapter 2217 Sturdy?

    chapter 2217 sturdy?

    el''rion found that his heart was beating too rapidly for him to control. leonel had already gone off far into the distance by the time he regained his bearings. he didn''t seem to snap out of it until he realized that leonel was actually going down below to the location of the partially built pyramids.

    el''rion took another deep breath, trying to settle himself. he looked toward the corpse of the void beast. controlling that? wasn''t that too ridiculous? who was he trying to fool? who would believe that a human could take control of a void beast''s corpse?

    he had some understanding of the fawkes family''s ability. of course, he knew that leonel wasn''t talking about taking control of the corpse. he was speaking of using arise on little blackstar and then using assimilate and breathe on him. that way, blackstar would gain the strength of the dead void beast. if such a thing succeeded, blackstar would indeed become an existence the likes of which even the entity feared, and he would indeed become a puppet of leonel.

    but how could such a thing be possible?

    killing little blackstar and animating his soul was easy enough. leonel could easily use arise on the ancestors of the dimensional verse, so blackstar was well within his abilities. however, while assimilate and breathe worked better the better the material was, the energy couldn''t come from nowhere. it would obviously need leonel to provide the catalyst for the fusion. if it was too far beyond leonel''s abilities, how could he possibly succeed?

    el''rion was smart enough to think of all of this. if the fawkes family didn''t have such limitation, it would be they who were the gods and not the other way around. in el''rion''s opinion, the so-called ninth dimensional lineage factor was barely passable. of course, that didn''t assume that there were tenth dimensional lineage factors and above, rather it was that the title of ninth dimensional was just a world, and the ones that leonel knew of were just the outskirts of this world.

    in fact, el''rion didn''t call lineage factors by such titles. he divided them into complete and incomplete. only when you were ninth dimensional could you barely be considered complete.

    el''rion knew all of this. so why... why was it that he still felt that leonel wasn''t lying to him just to save face? was it truly because he was too young and easily led by the nose? or was it because there were other matters that leonel couldn''t be bothered to explain?

    if el''rion had known leonel, he would understand just how rare it was for leonel care to explain anything in the first place. the idea that he would explain everything... especially to a potential enemy...

    well, wasn''t that too ridiculous?

    after one final breath, el''rion exhaled another breath and managed to fully reclaim his calm. he descended after leonel, wanting to understand what this man was doing. regardless of the circumstances, he had entered a state of complete curiosity. someone else might have already been completely enraged, but el''rion was someone who had taken the humiliation at the hands of the entity as though nothing at all had happened, so how could he take a few words from leonel seriously?

    ...

    leonel landed on the ground, gliding across the grown sandy plains. the world spirit that had been fused with him had long since separated, but now it followed over his shoulder, an amorphous blob of energy. nove-lb/1n

    somewhere inside, leonel wondered if this world spirit had followed his mother because it had truly chosen her, or if it was his fault. after he left this place, he couldn''t very well take the world spirit with him, so it would be stuck here until alienor was born. who knew, maybe it attached itself to her because it had finally sensed an aura similar enough to leonel''s.

    though he thought this, leonel didn''t accept it right away. for one, world spirits weren''t foolish creatures, they had enough intelligence of their own though it didn''t manifest in the same ways. secondly, he felt that this current world spirit was very different from the one he knew... it was too strong.

    leonel had noted this the moment it appeared, but since he was in the midst of battle, he couldn''t exactly explore this idea. but now, he felt that he had quite a bit of time on his hands.

    because he had been forcibly expelled from el''rion''s body, for all intents and purposes, they had already failed this zone.

    this was unfortunate because his mother wouldn''t be able to gain the benefits of completely understanding a new magic system this time. but it was fortunate in that he didn''t have the same restraints.

    at the same time, although the rewards would be lost to them, there would be other rewards here. there were still the void race members above and there was still this pyramid being built here.

    how much had leonel gained just from entering the zone of the mere dwarven race? it benefited his combat prowess even now and it was a large part of the reason he had mastered his spear so quickly.

    the benefits waiting here for him were on a completely different level.

    as for why the void race members above had yet to run for their lives... the truth was that they didn''t dare to. only the likes of leonel would dare to even speak so brazenly to a pluto. as for them? the moment shan''rae escaped, even though el''rion had yet to speak even a single word to them, they acted as though they were captives.

    leonel waved his arm and his injured elbow snapped back into place. with a clench of his fist, it was soon as though nothing at all had happened.

    when he entered the range of the pyramid, his eyes narrowed.

    with the evolution of his lineage factor, he had gained a great deal. one such thing was that his earth force affinity had risen to an entirely new level. so, when he stepped foot into range, he felt as though he was standing upon the sturdiest earth he ever had.

    it was a completely contradictory feeling. what about sand could possibly be sturdy?

 Chapter 2218 Incomplete World

    chapter 2218 incomplete world

    it reminded leonel of elthor''s chaotic particle force. it was formed of granules of earth as well, and yet it was the number one earth force in all of existence.

    well... he wasn''t sure if he could say that anymore. he wondered if these force evaluations were just limited to the dimensional verse''s understanding of them or not. although he reacted as though it was nothing much, that didn''t mean that he didn''t take note of the existence of the pluto and void races. their existence clearly meant that this world was much larger than he knew.

    there was a second pressure leonel had felt just now as well, though... and that was the pressure of the others of the pluto race.

    they were dressed simply, but even the shortest was at least five meters tall. it seemed to be reminding leonel of el''rion''s age again and again. they didn''t seem powerful outside of their size, and yet their every moment seemed to rock the earth. nove-lb-in

    as leonel walked forward, he felt that el''rion was holding back a great deal. at the very least, when a pluto sweat, it seemed that the entire world worked as well. every drop of a pluto''s body was precious and couldn''t be shed without an equivalent exchange.

    ''a powerful race, indeed...'' leonel thought to himself.

    even so, it didn''t stop his steps forward. he didn''t even react when el''rion appeared by his side.

    he really didn''t understand this boy. but, he had learned that different cultures of humans could react to things differently. the morales were a prime example, they were almost all fiery and battle-hungry, but that wasn''t entirely because of their blood, it was also because of their culture.

    it was clear that the pluto race had its own unique culture. they felt that they were so above everything that they weren''t quick to any emotion at all.

    even though leonel had appeared, they had ignored him. only when el''rion appeared did they look over, but even after this, they looked away.

    ''it isn''t appropriate to call them servants, they don''t seem to be despite their style of dress. they''re artisans, and those are most definitely not limestone like the history textbooks say. as for what they''re resonating with... it seems to be quartz...''

    quartz, back in this era, or rather a few hundred years later, would be quite widely used. it was one of the most abundant substances on earth, and it was useful in a wide range of applications from glassware to powering watches.

    it was completely unremarkable, at least at the time.

    in leonel''s era, though, the importance of quartz skyrocketed, and it was likely also part of the reason that earth hadn''t reached the point of having to gather energy from the stars either. on earth, by the time leonel was born, they were able to build surface cities around quartz deposits, using the existence of these quartz deposits to power the cities entirely without the need for fossil fuels or other types of renewable energy.

    the best part was that this energy seemed endless and inexhaustible because it relied on the natural chemical bonds of quartz, bonds that were incredibly difficult to break as it was the fourth strongest material on earth at the time.

    quartz was quite fascinating... at least to a third dimensional leonel. the current leonel had already long since stopped caring about this level of material, and had already come across a countless number that had similar and even stronger effects. compared to third dimensional electro-chemical effects of the like, just how far beyond was a trickle of force from a fourth dimensional ore? it could completely crush the former.

    but then why? why were the artisans of this mighty race relying so heavily on this material?

    leonel could tell after a few moments what was happening. they were using the pyramids as a foundation to resonate with the quartz of earth. this would thus execute some unknown action still elusive to him... but wasn''t there a better way?

    the obvious answer to this question seemed to be that they were on earth so they were just using what was available on earth, but something was telling leonel that things weren''t as simple as they seemed. he was missing something. he would have to get closer.

    just as he was going to, el''rion suddenly spoke.

    "this pyramid is one of the symbols of our pluto race. it''s being used to harness the energy of your planet, it will ultimately downgrade its level, an unfortunate price to pay."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed, and he looked up and toward el''rion.

    "in the past, a member of the fawkes family did a member of our pluto race a favor. it has been many generations since then, but the favor was cashed in upon the destruction of the fawkes family.

    "this place is what you call an incomplete world. you see how all the planets and stars are scattered? this is what happens when a world fails in its birth. what you call stars are not technically real stars, they''re kernels of a universe''s energy. you would normally not be able to see them as they would all be fused into the land. the fact you can see them so clearly is evidence of this world being incomplete.

    "a complete world has one land, one star, one being. an incomplete world does not, and phenomena like sub-dimensional zones appear as a result. though..."

    el''rion trailed off as though not wanting to explain the rest of this matter fully.

    leonel''s brows furrowed. why was this man explaining this to him? he suddenly found himself getting annoyed. he knew that his temper wasn''t the best in recent days, but this was ridiculous even for him.

    it was then that he calmed down. he understood that maybe the rest of the pluto race was quite calm, but el''rion was still a child. how could he be as unbothered as he seemed?

    it seemed he had begun to understand more about leonel. a person that leonel had just reprimanded explaining things to him that he didn''t understand? was there even a better way to annoy him?

    "usually, incomplete worlds are disseminated to the gods as they''re still valuable commodities. but this time, my pluto race... commandeered them to return this favor and help in something they called the dream project.

    "the parameters of this dream project, though, are quite strict. the last remnants of the fawkes family need safe passage, and the only way to allow that is to weaken this world. but should everything go well, this world may rise again."

    leonel''s gaze turned frighteningly cold. what did he just say?

    -----

    [author''s note: sorry everyone, i''ve been feeling like shit all day and tried to ride it out... which is part of the reason gab chapters were so late today though many of you dd readers probably didn''t notice that. i''ll spare you the more gory details as this is a family friendly server. only managed to write two today. the good news is that i almost just wrote one... yay? *tears*]

 Chapter 2219 One or Two

    chapter 2219 one or two

    "the dream project? this was only the second time he was hearing about it, but there was something that he had already deduced about it, and that was that the so-called ''simulation'' and this dream project should be one in the same. but, even beyond that, the man who had tried to strike down his father, the very man who was felled by just a single strike, a man who called himself king, should be one of the masterminds behind this dream project.

    just the name alone, and the fact the demoness had such strong dream force affinity, made leonel feel as though it was almost a near certainty that the three finger cult was intertwined and related to all of this. how else could an organization of a so-called incomplete world like this one possibly open up a path to a complete world?

    the deductions seemed to logically follow from one another, flowing freely and easily. the simulation was created to help the complete world with some troubles it was having. his father became an uncontrollable variable that the complete world felt that it had to get rid of, and maybe his grandfather had fallen into that category as well, leading to the both of them being killed. ultimately, the purpose of this dream project would become clear and obvious in the end, but if leonel had to guess, it was likely related to demons and their invasion. n/.ovelb1n

    the so-called complete world, or the land that he had called the cataclysm zone up until this point, had a very clear and obvious demon problem. their complete world was actually divided into segments as though it was in the middle of fusing with another complete world, a demon world at that. this was why their cities and the demons seemed to overlap so considerably.

    of course, this was all speculation on leonel''s part, using bits and clues that he had learned of this while stuck in the cataclysm zone, or rather the complete world. but he had no idea just how close to the truth he was, nor did he know that the final seal blocking the demon world had been undone upon his return to the dimensional verse, causing the paused fusion to continue once more.

    what made this matter set with him even more obviously was how cheap the dream force type items were in the exchange. it seemed that someone with great dream force affinity was trying to make certain that they could help out as much as they could, and that was why leonel was able to trade for so many dream force items that had helped him considerably until this point, items like the dream star gathering beast formation, or the focus crystals, or the perfection stone.

    the purpose of this incomplete world, or rather these series of incomplete worlds, was obviously an extension of that. to build up an army of soldiers, soldiers that would live in accelerated time frames and be able to create all sorts of new methods to control and manipulate force, methods that the complete world would absorb and use to strengthen themselves as well.

    it all made perfect sense... until el''rion mentioned the fawkes family.

    the last remnants of the fawkes? that was obviously his grandfather. but if his grandfather was the reason this simulation could even exist, then how was he related to the dream project? didn''t that mean that it was him and not king who was the true arbitrator?

    but if his grandfather was in control of all of this... why did his father have to die? why didn''t he have more control over the situation? why didn''t he save him?

    the more questions leonel had, the more agitated he became, and the more than crimson light flickered in his eyes.

    did he have the best impression of his grandfather? not particularly, but the reason for why was because of his choice to massacre so many for what was ultimately just convenience.

    but was it still fine for him to hold this against his grandfather? he had already killed far more than the number of citizens of earth that had died during the metamorphosis. and quite frankly... he couldn''t be bothered to care even now that he had done so.

    was it moral of him? probably not. did he find those people to be innocent? also probably not. who else would benefit from the conquering of the human domain if not them? and now many humans would have died to allow them such comfort?

    of course, leonel wasn''t saying that this justified his actions. quite frankly, he couldn''t be bothered to justify them, he didn''t care to. they had enraged him, so they suffered the price. he didn''t think any other justification was needed.

    but by the same token, he could no longer blame his grandfather for the same things. though, he still felt that killing your own for such a reason was far too ridiculous.

    now, though, he had another reason to not let go of that anger. just what was the truth here?

    he found that despite how enraged he was, he couldn''t quite blame his grandfather as much as he thought he might. it was all too obvious that there were certain matters tying emperor fawkes'' hands, and the fact that the four great families were seemingly trying to interfere and ruin things for him spoke volumes on their own...

    but that didn''t mean he didn''t have questions.

    "you''ve probably already guessed the purpose of this world, and that''s to both create warriors and gather resources. incomplete worlds are less desirable as places to live in, but they''re great commodities. many gods even use them as a form of currency.

    "the saying goes that existence doesn''t make mistakes, even the birth of incomplete worlds can serve their own purposes. because of their unique structure, the zones you know can appear, and they can ''reshuffle'' reality, allowing yet unknown theories and conclusions to be drawn. some of the most powerful existences in all of reality use incomplete worlds as... computers, as you might call them, calculating the best ways to improve their strength.

    "one or two incomplete worlds might be born every... decade or so. the others are enraged because my pluto family allocated a hundred or so to repaying this favor."

 Chapter 2220 CRACK.

    n)/o(-v-(e--l)/b.(i--n

    chapter 2220 crack.

    leonel remained silent. his calm had returned; he simply let el''rion speak. he didn''t interject; he simply let the pluto, who he was starting to see more and more like a little boy, speak.

    "while incomplete worlds are very useful, for many more ways than i listed as well, they''re very finicky and difficult to properly control unless you have very specific methods. the void race, for example, are able to fuse with incomplete worlds; it''s the source of the cosmos that covers their bodies. however, without their bloodline, doing something like that is impossible.

    this is all to say that entering an incomplete world as an existence of a complete world is not easy. not only are there heavy restrictions on... dimensional level, but there are also restrictions on how much you are allowed to affect the world.

    the descendant of the fawkes family needed to enter, but he was much too powerful, especially since he had set his sights on ... earth in particular. we''re building this pyramid and a few other structures to absorb the latent potential and weaken it further. though, it wasn''t entirely for this reason either."

    el''rion moved on without explaining. he seemed to take some satisfaction in being able to give leonel some of the information he wanted, but to also dangle the rest in a place that was impossible to reach. very childlike, indeed. leonel was almost in a mood to say that it was adorable. though, it was hard to say such a thing about a four-meter-tall behemoth.

    "to make a long story short, the fawkes family descendent needed our help to be able to not only enter this world but truly become a part of it. that takes quite a process, but it''s not a complete loss. this incomplete world is quite interesting, and it happened to have a material i''ve never quite seen before. this quartz is very interesting. it seems to emit a substantial enough amount of power whenever pressure is applied to it; no other ore quite works exactly like it."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. he had already realized that they were working with quartz, but why would these existences find it to be so interesting? he had already said that there were similar enough materials at higher dimensions that worked a bit like quartz did, so he didn''t believe that el''rion had never seen anything like this before.

    though leonel didn''t seem to be paying attention, he was entirely focused on el''rion''s words. his pride wasn''t overblown to the point of ignoring an easy well of information right before him, even if he didn''t ask any questions of his own.

    that''s right, it seemed that he was still missing something... and then it clicked.

    the ores that he was thinking of that were similar enough to quartz had a very clear defining difference. their energy was... stored while the energy of quartz was innate to its very chemical structure.

    for example, a force crystal would have a large well of force within, but it could be easily used up. but not quite in the same sense, the "energy" of quartz doesn''t run out. the energy of quartz is an innate property of its chemical structure. although it can be taken too far, it couldn''t be depleted in the same sense.

    leonel had never really made the distinction. to him, wasn''t the energy within a force crystal part of its chemical structure? this was a difference he had never thought about.

    his eyes flashed with a blinding light. of course not, what a stupid mistake. a force crystal was just a vessel capable of holding force. he had assumed that because they could be purified into pure force crystals, that they were all of one entity, one existence, but this wasn''t correct. if he changed the way he viewed this, then...

    leonel entered a hint of a daze. were the chemical structures of materials and the force they produced separate?

    his finger twitched, and he almost subconsciously called out little tolly, but then he realized that because he had taken the little metal spirit in as the fourth entry, it had probably fused with the body of an unknown existence by now.

    even so, that didn''t stop leonel''s thoughts from running faster and faster.

    foundation type ores, vein type ores, domain type ores... if what distinguished them wasn''t their force, but rather how their chemical structures interacted with force, this would be a huge matter. it would fundamentally change how he approached the life grade and the things that he could create. he wouldn''t be limited by force any longer, or more accurately, not to the same extent.

    the wind whipped around leonel, and he suddenly felt that his divine armors weren''t nearly ambitious enough once again. his enlightened self had no way of knowing how long it would take him to figure this out, so he had made them to the limit of leonel''s understanding, but this... this changed everything.

    his mind flashed to the gears that made up his father''s dictionary. the way they moved in relation to one another, like a single thought and existence capable of reacting to every order of variable that it should ever meet... the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it resembled the complex lattice structure of a chemical bond, building atop of one another.

    then he thought back to the token that had allowed him to enter the dimensional cleanse trial zone. back then, he had to rearrange what almost amounted to the chemical structure of the token, piecing it together and sliding them into their proper position all so that he could open the portal. wasn''t it... just like this too?

    ''in that case...''

    leonel stretched out a hand, and the earth rumbled. deep underground, a vibrant piece of quartz broke off and tore through the layers of the ground before snapping into his palm.

    his eyes glowed a fiery violet and then...

    crack.

    leonel vanished, his eyes glazing over. when he appeared again, his heart skipped a beat.

    this starry road, that blazing blue star in the distance...

    he had entered the dimensional cleanse trial zone once more.

 Chapter 2221 Who?

    chapter 2221 who?

    leonel''s hand squeezed down, and the quartz in his fingers shattered. the only thing he had done was dig into his memories and replicate the chemical structure of the token of entry, and he had actually been let in just like that. it seemed that he was correct.

    his crafting ability had taken another enormous leap forward. he had already felt that he was no worse than the life grade ancestors of this incomplete world, but now he felt that he had definitely surpassed them firmly. in fact, they probably couldn''t be said to even be in the same class any longer.

    and yet, he felt that he had only just entered the threshold of his father''s level. in fact, saying so might be overestimating himself far too much.

    leonel closed his eyes and subconsciously took out the dictionary. he hadn''t been able to bring himself to even look at it in recent days, but for some reason it now gave him a great deal of comfort. whereas in the past it was like a reminder that his father was out there somewhere and couldn''t be by his side, now that he understood more of how it worked, he felt far more at ease with it in his palm.

    when he opened his eyes again, they were sharp, and the dictionary had vanished.

    "since you''re here, why don''t you say anything?"

    a laughter rang out, but leonel couldn''t help but frown. this laughter sounded too familiar. others might find it charismatic, but he knew a fake laughter when he heard it. it was probably the same fake laugh he had been using ever since he was old enough to know that he should probably learn to socialize properly.

    the cadence, the tone, the hidden hint of disdain, all impossibly subtle and yet one that he was intimately familiar with all the same.

    why was there a recording of his laughter here? n//o)(v)-e-.l/(b))i()n

    "my, my, my, i really am an arrogant prick."

    leonel''s gaze flickered. it was richer, a bit deeper, a bit more wizened, but he was certain as well. that was definitely his voice. he would easily remember the voice of a person he had met just a single time, let alone his very own voice. it was impossible that he wouldn''t recognize it.

    "i don''t seem to like to follow rules either, it seems. you know, you''re supposed to wait until all of the roads can be filled before you enter this trial world. wouldn''t it be too unfair if you can just walk through unchallenged now?"

    leonel still didn''t respond. for some reason, he found his own voice incredibly annoying. he had already concluded that this person was trying to mess with him. it would probably be trivial for an existence that could create [dimensional cleanse] to change their voice.

    "when i''m speaking, you listen."

    the voice became a biting cold, and a piercing pain threatened to run right through leonel''s chest. he coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to a knee, his eyes bulging.

    "man," the voice became light and cheery again, "is this considered masochism? well, i''ve done far worse to my body in these years, this is probably the least of them, it probably wouldn''t even deserve to be ranked last."

    leonel clenched his chest, the pain only slowly fading. it felt as though it had been done on purpose.

    "this is the only real way i can communicate with my younger self. jokes aside, i already expected myself to figure out how to enter this place alone, if i can''t do it, then probably no one but my old man could.

    "you probably won''t believe it, we''re stubborn like that, and ironically quite foolish, especially now. you''ll probably do many stupid things between now and the moment you snap out of it. going through a teenage angst at 26 is a bit embarrassing, don''t you think? the only stain on my record, honestly.

    "unfortunately, everyone else is too weak. maybe if i suffered a loss or two, it would have happened sooner, but i can''t blame the world for being too incompetent."

    leonel was frowning. this arrogant prick was far too annoying. he remembered the first time he had learned about [dimensional cleanse], the introduction practically made him roll his eyes. in fact, he had called this bastard narcissistic back then, those were his exact words. it seemed that he was even worse in person.

    "i haven''t appeared to give you a boon or anything, in my opinion it would be better if you fall flat on your face soon, maybe even die a few times. i''m really only here to tell you two things.

    "first, because of your stubbornness, tolliver entered this world and is currently fused with the last barrier of this trial world. i originally built this in to stop most others aside from myself from reaching the final leg, but in usual fashion you''ve gone and screwed it up for yourself. since you''re smart, you figure out a way to separate them unless you want to kill your own metal spirit. or don''t, i don''t really care. i''m sure your father would be proud."

    leonel''s gaze went red. one of the very first lessons he had learned from his father''s dictionary was that metal spirits were partners, not tools. but that didn''t mean that this person could just casually mention his father like that.

    however, the moment his gaze went red, that suffocating pressure descended again, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood, almost passing out entirely.

    "second, you had better take this seriously. despite what i''ve said, you think about why i would still make this world to help a far lesser version of myself out."

    after this, the voice completely vanished along with the pressure.

    his meaning was quite obvious. this was a world filled with vital star force. though leonel used it offensively, it was also the reason for his exceptional stamina, aside from his lineage factor, of course...

    what else could this world be used for if not helping increase leonel''s chances of saving someone?

    if his future self had already admitted that saving his father was impossible... then who was he intending to save with all of this effort?

 Chapter 2222 Control

    chapter 2222 control

    even after the voice had long since vanished, the pain in leonel''s chest dulled just as slowly as before. it felt that he was still somewhere in the background, hiding and slowly turning down his pain as though there was some sort of hidden dial that he could tweak up or down.

    it was extremely frustrating, but there was something about being on your knees and being entirely unable to fight back that left one without the same room to grow angry. it was almost as though he had been forced into submission. one part of his body was billowing with rage, and the other part, the part that was still fueled with that pain that was dulling far too slowly, was bearing down like a wet blanket, suffocating his flame.

    leonel was so infuriated that he roared, but as though it had sensed it, the pain heightened and what should have been a mighty roar capable of causing a mountain to collapse and a planet to quake came out instead like a muffled whimper.

    this time, the redness in leonel''s eyes came out far different than the past. tears threatened to spill over, the frustration blowing over to the point he felt like throwing a fit as though he was nothing more than a child. the only thing that stopped them from falling was his pride. that sort of sickening voice in the back of his head that told him that that man might still be watching, and even if he wasn''t, he was leonel morales. n/-0velb1n

    he didn''t know where such thoughts came from. he didn''t think himself to have such strong emotions about crying in the past, he never really thought about it, the same way he hadn''t really thought about what it meant to kneel. he had definitely cried in the past, but it wasn''t something that lingered on his mind, making him feel as though he was less of a man.

    but now it did feel that way, though maybe not for the reasons it seemed to be. rather, it felt like he would be acknowledging something.

    those tears that had fallen when he knew his father had died had dried up as quickly as they had formed. they didn''t get the chance to sit and stew, to stir his soul and vent out all the frustration that wanted to rush out from his heart like a swimming tide.

    the whimpers that came out in place of his roar were like a rope pulling taut, stringing his throat into a tight tube that caused his neck to spasm. his heaving breaths couldn''t seem to bring enough air, and his muscles seemed to have forgotten how to move. a stinging sensation in his eyes grew fiercer and fiercer until they spilled over.

    the weakness overcame him, his body collapsing onto the starry roads. nothing about them seemed to be beautiful any longer. when he had first entered this world, it had felt to him that he had been entering a fairy tale, but now it felt like any normal road. and how would one feel when their face had been pressed into the ground?

    maybe if it was by a boot, one would feel rage or fury... but what if it was by one''s own weakness? somewhere inside, leonel knew that that man had definitely vanished, he knew that such a man couldn''t be bothered to stay in a single place for even one moment longer than he had to, he wouldn''t feel the need to pull such petty tricks either, especially with how arrogant he was.

    but that only made it worse. he wasn''t being pressed down by anything, he even knew that that pain in his chest wasn''t even the doing of that man any longer. that was just a darkness sitting in the pit of his chest, overwhelming and latching out like the venomous sting of a cobra. it wasn''t a physical pain, but that only made it worse.

    leonel''s lip trembled, his fingers digging into the road that removed to move for him. his nails fissured and cracked, a dripping, dense blood that almost shaded black coming out. he clawed with everything he had, almost as though he could pull it back, to bundle it back up, to stuff it on the inside like he was always able to.

    he was leonel morales. his emotions had always been a fa?бьade, right? he had always been able to compartmentalize with great ease, right? he could easily flip his emotions off with a flip of a switch, right?

    so why was that ache getting worse? why was it overflowing? why was it getting stronger?

    leonel tried to roar again. it was his final attempt, the last bit of strength he had left to push it away, to wrench his control back, but it once again didn''t come out properly.

    it wasn''t a roar, it was a wail. it echoed into the emptiness, reverberating into the illuminated darkness like a broken record.

    leonel''s stomach lurched, his body curling into a heaving motion as though he was trying to get something disgusting out of his mouth. he retched, but his stomach had nothing to give. he couldn''t remember the last time he had eaten anything. he didn''t need to eat. he was a machine. his force was enough, it could sustain him.

    he retched again, saliva and a croak coming from his mouth.

    the feeling of disgust welled up even stronger than before, but this seemed to be the straw that broke the camel''s back.

    the tears poured out like a flood, blood vessels in his eyes popping in a vain attempt to stop them. and soon after, the wails echoed once again.

    he gripped his chest, his bloodied fingers sinking into his skin. his forehead scraped along the ground, his own broken voice reverberating back to him to the point even his ears began to bleed.

    but in a way, the pain was a relief. a relief from the grief that washed over him, his tears falling in an endless stream.

    there was no one to hear it, no one to witness it. he simply curled up in his own self-pity, his body too broken to control itself any longer.

 Chapter 2223 DonтАЩt Talk Big

    chapter 2223 don''t talk big

    leonel lay on the starry road. he was a person very much used to being on top of everything. for the past several years, his mind had worked on such a high level that he could even tell how much time had passed without even being consciously aware of it; it was like there was a ticking clock in the back of his mind, constantly rolling forward with the seconds. after he had woken up from his coma just this past month, he had been aware of exactly how much time had passed without even having to double-check with anyone. but this time...?

    he had no idea.

    he didn''t know whether it had been a few days or weeks, for all he knew it could have just been a few seconds. it was as though everything around him had shut down, and when he came to, he had his dad''s dictionary in one hand and his glasses in the other. he wondered if he would have even been able to come to himself if not for these two things.

    even so, he didn''t quite feel like he had the energy to stand. every cell of his body had been wiped clean, moving in what felt like slow motion. his high vitality had no ability whatsoever to help him recover, or at the very least, not any time soon. it was a feeling that he would have called suffocating, if not for the fact he couldn''t quite remember if he had breathed, or if he even needed to breathe.

    he lay on his back, looking up at the endless depths. he wondered... no, it seemed that this trial world was actually an incomplete world of its own. but it was completely devoid of life, well, outside of those that would come here from time to time.

    it was quite fascinating. he wondered how the creator of [dimensional cleanse] had managed to make it so easy to cross from one world to another without an extraordinary power source. although he could copy the method and rearrange the chemical structure as he saw fit, copying and understanding were two completely different things. it was so far beyond him that he couldn''t wrap his head around it, but it was also fascinating for exactly that reason.

    what other discipline could allow a layman to copy a master so precisely and execute the same results with repeated certainty? it was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

    leonel''s head shifted, and he looked down at the pair of glasses in his hands.

    he had squeezed them pretty hard, all of his strength, in fact. but they didn''t so much as creak. it was an odd feeling; he was sure that even if there was an eighth dimensional item in his hand, even if he couldn''t destroy it, it would at least have some give to it. but this had nothing of the sort.

    he wondered how much effort his father had put into it, how many hours of work.

    leonel looked away. that was the thing with tears. if you let them go once, the second time would come even easier, and the third even easier than the second. eventually, you would be as worthless as a crying baby, curled up on a starry road when there were treasures to be had not too far away.

    he thought this, but he still didn''t move. "say something, old man," he mumbled to himself.

    [ping]

    leonel''s gaze flashed, but he didn''t react as violently as one might expect. in fact, he didn''t even look toward the dictionary.

    "finally finished crying? i''m quite touched. what was that, 27 hours? sheesh, not bad if i do say so myself."

    leonel''s lip curled into a slight smile. he knew that it was a message. by now, he understood enough about crafting to know how his father had done it. the usual mechanical voice of the dictionary, a version of his father''s voice without life in it, was done on purpose to lull leonel into a certain belief. in reality, all of the dictionary''s messages could be in just as lifelike of a voice if his father had so chosen. but he preferred the chance at pranking his son instead.

    that said, there were indeed many things within the dictionary that were pre-recorded, but there were even some pre-recordings within that presented themselves as such that were, in reality, just the dictionary speaking.

    this was one such example. the "finally finished crying" part was pre-recorded. the "27 hours" part was deduced by the dictionary on its own.

    the dictionary was definitely a complex system that brought most ai to shame, and if not for his father''s pranks, leonel would have noticed long ago. this dictionary was maybe the greatest invention of his father. it wasn''t casually cobbled together as velasco had made it seem. in fact, if its intelligence were to be measured against leonel''s, it would definitely be smarter, and not just by a small margin either.

    if there was one item in the dimensional verse that was the equivalent to the hourglass of the pluto race, it was definitely this small silver disk in his hands. its abilities were simple, but it was in this simplicity that it was so shocking and amazing.

    "yeah, i''m done crying, old man," leonel muttered.

    "lame. i thought i could at least milk this out for a few more years. who knew that my seed wouldn''t be as useless as i thought him to be."

    leonel remained silent, still not answering.

    "if you''re hearing this message, i''m dead."

    "shut up," leonel almost rolled his eyes. "you couldn''t come up with anything less cliche?? all that brain power, wasted. you should have used it to at least leave me behind a few starships."

    "bah, starships, what useless things. even you managed to single-handedly down one, what good would they be to me?"

    "don''t talk big when you''re dead..."

    the dictionary fell into silence.

    "some things have to be done. how far you go now will be up to you. now stop moping, there''s only one thing i programmed this thing to tell you because i knew you would be too stupid to ask.

    "whatever you do, do not trust the demoness. she only wants one thing, and that''s to see the world in chaos."

    "why would i trust her in the first place, stupid old man." n.-0velbin

    "you now have daddy issues, who knows? it might be easier for another member of your family to slip through the cracks. she''s your grandmother, after all."

 Chapter 2224 Snores

    chapter 2224 snores

    leonel didn''t react violently either. maybe he was just in a numb kind of mood, but this was also how he always was. he had spent most of his life thinking his mother was dead. actually, he had felt that that was probably the lesser possibility, the greater of which being that she had abandoned them. it was the only reason he could think of for why his father didn''t tell him about her. of course, now he knew it was just a matter of necessity. telling him about alienor would have meant exposing the void palace because on modern-day earth, there was simply no excuse for not being able to see anyone. you could travel from one end of the planet to another in just a few minutes, and even if there was some reason you couldn''t, even 21st-century earth had countless communication methods, let alone modern-day earth.

    if his father had tried to lie that way, rather than being indifferent toward his mother, he would have probably been resentful toward her for making his father have to come up with so many lies.

    when he had finally learned that his mother was alive after the metamorphosis, he had reacted with a shrug; he never really cared. he never cared enough to ask about her, and he didn''t care enough to find out the truth about her, so why would he care that she was alive?

    it was only after awakening his dream force and recalling every bit of his memories did he know that he could have love for his mother without letting her off the hook for something so egregious as not staying in her own child''s life.

    so, when he learned that this mysterious woman was his grandmother, he didn''t care. even when he thought about the so-called love triangle between king, the silver emperor, and her, he still hadn''t cared. the idea that his grandfather was potentially a cuckold didn''t really move the needle for him at all. there wasn''t much you could do against such a powerful woman. plus, that love triangle was nothing but a folk tale; he had no real evidence for it.

    if she wanted to bed you, you could probably only accept it. if she wanted to leave you afterward, well, it was only right. you should thank your lucky stars at that point.

    at best, leonel''s thoughts just drifted to the fact that the lineage factors of the morales and the silver empire were so similar. it seemed that the connection all along was this woman. but beyond that sort of understanding, he was still indifferent.

    however, velasco obviously knew his son well, so he wasn''t waiting for leonel to ask questions. as he had said, this was the very reason he had left behind such a message, so he wouldn''t let leonel''s tendencies stop him from speaking. he rarely explained anything, so the fact he was going out of his way to do this meant that it was important.

    "i don''t understand much about the relationship between your grandfather and grandmother, but what i know is that she was never of this world. this place was nothing more than a playground for her because something had caught her attention.

    "i''m not sure what that something was, but i have my deductions. it''s likely related to the simulations."

    velasco spoke this as a matter of fact that everyone should know. it was either he was trying to get a rise out of leonel, or he simply felt that if leonel hadn''t figured it out by now, he would be too foolish to be his son. or, rather... his seed. n-)o/-v/)e--l--b.)1-/n

    "that dumbass who calls himself king, who can''t even withstand a single spear of mine, most definitely isn''t strong enough to create these worlds as they are. only a race of being far above could allow this to happen. turning worlds into a playground of breeding just to form a large group of powerful soldiers in a short amount of time is beyond what the three finger cult and their backers are capable of.

    "i believe that this is what caught the attention of your grandmother."

    "if you hate her so much, why are you still calling her that?" leonel muttered to himself. even now, he was still acting as though he was alone. it was easier that way. what would he look like allowing an ai to become his new father?

    "i call her that out of respect for my father and nothing else," velasco suddenly said coldly before continuing as though nothing had happened. "-only something of that magnitude was enough to catch her attention.

    "as for why she did all the things afterward, i have no way of knowing why she did. but i know that she has an eye on you, that''s something you''re going to have to deal with on your own."

    "if you hated her so much, you should have tried to kill her on your own."

    "she never had a direct hand in your grandfather''s death, that was entirely the work of king, and precisely why he is now dead. as for her, she''s a puppet master that prefers to be hands-off. her plans are probably only known and understood by her..."

    silence fell.

    "alright, i''m off. what you do with this information is up to you. also, stop being such a crybaby, you''re a grown man.

    "stop chasing the impossible. focus on what you can do with absolute certainty. only fools overestimate themselves. then there''s me, who finds it impossible to overestimate myself, haha!"

    the voice faded, and leonel fell into his own silence once again.

    leonel continued to stare into the vast emptiness above him. himself, and even the endless starry road, and even the enormous vital star in the far-off distance seemed to be entirely... too small.

    leonel closed his eyes, and his father''s glasses and the dictionary disappeared from his hands. then... he simply fell asleep.

    soon, his light snores filled the trial world.

 Chapter 2225 Clicked

    chapter 2225 clicked

    leonel woke up quite slowly and casually jumped to his feet. without much thought, he turned toward the enormous star in the distance and began to walk toward it.

    the feeling was familiar. even with the strengthening of his body, the limitations were all the same. he couldn''t access his other abilities, and the only thing that seemed to respond to him was the very same vital star force that was around him. but... such a thing was hardly able to stop his steps.

    the avatars he faced fell down one after another, and he didn''t even feel the need to lift a finger. they died beneath the rampaging of his force, a feeling that seemed to carry a hidden sort of anger despite the fact he felt far better now than he had before.

    it wasn''t long before he had already crossed past the distance he had already traveled before. of course, there were no human enemies to face this time, so the path ahead was leisurely.

    he came to only a brief pause when he crossed the region he had fallen to amery in, but that was a shadow that he had long since gotten rid of. it was no longer enough to move him so greatly.

    soon, he found himself beneath the enormous blue star. this close up, he could see that the dancing runes on its surface were unlike anything he had ever seen before. it made the runes on his vital stars seem insignificant and small, not just in size, but in raw complexity and even in beauty.

    leonel knew with a glance that this was most definitely past the impetus state, it was likely even past the life state, though he had no reference to use to make certain of this. if he fused with his star, his greatest force would likely no longer be his dream force, and it wouldn''t even be his scarlet star force either.

    even so, he didn''t even want to think about the implications. what kind of stamina drain would it be to try and use such force? how much focus would it take? would forming a wisp of it suck his dream force dry? it was a joke to even consider it.

    that said, due to the words of that man, he had felt that there was another secret stored away within [dimensional cleanse], and he finally understood what it was.

    [dimensional cleanse] was a technique that he had originally chosen because he felt that it matched together with his ability index quite well. he had felt that it could strengthen his dream force, or rather soul force at the time, and help him upgrade his ability index from the c- grade ability he had thought it to be back then.

    as he continued on with his practicing of the technique, he had learned quite a lot about it. for example, the oddity of the sixth dimensional layer in forming a complex natural force art that could allow for the breeding of auspicious air, or its seemingly odd connection with universal force.

    but after he had broken through into the seventh dimension, and also came to understand some things from that man''s words, he understood what the true purpose of dimensional cleanse was.

    it was a technique that used dream force for the sake of polishing one''s other forces. the connection with auspicious air, the melding with universal force, these were all foundational layers that could allow one to reach the ultimate goal... the cleansing of one''s force, its refinement, and its compression into higher and higher states.

    it was obvious if one thought about it... how else could it be compatible with every other technique?

    that was the ultimate truth. the reason [dimensional cleanse] could be used along with other techniques was because it wasn''t like other techniques at all... at least on the surface.

    staring at this star, and having reached the conclusions he had, leonel had thought of a very obvious question: if dimensional cleanse was so free and loose with its restrictions, then why vital star force?

    to save someone? that''s what that man seemed to imply he would have to do, but why would vital star force be the best for this? if anything, of the healing forces, vital star force would probably be the worst at saving someone.

    it was a type of life force that could only be used on the body and was useless against the mind. it also couldn''t be transferred over to others, or else leonel would have long since built a healing force art around vital star force instead of the light force he always used instead. it just didn''t make any sense. n(-0velb1n

    and if he took a step back and took the man''s words as skeptically as he wanted to, then it made even less sense for vital star force to appear here when this was obviously a technique best paired with soul and dream force. using vital star force in place of it wouldn''t even work.

    but then leonel thought of something.

    [star fusion]... [star fusion: combustion]... [star fusion: king''s might]...

    these were three techniques, though really just one, that he had personally created. it was interesting, he had created these techniques while he was still within the third dimension, and he had broken through into the fifth dimension in this very place. and yet, despite his inexperience at the time, aside from some tweaking, he found that his [star fusion] technique was even more useful now than it had been in the past, and it was perfectly flexible.

    but it finally clicked.

    [dimensional cleanse] wasn''t just a technique of the mind. the reason it could be paired with other techniques was because of its innate flexibility, but most importantly because it was never paired with a bodily portion...

    a portion leonel felt that he finally understood now.

    the reason [star fusion] was so good was because when he had created it, he had been deducing the fourth dimensional layer of [dimensional cleanse], a layer that was, ironically, related to the body, and also a layer that he had neglected until now.

    [star fusion] just might be more related to [dimensional cleanse] than he had originally assumed.

 Chapter 2226 Useless Ability

    ''that''s right...'' leonel suddenly thought back, trying to remember his exact state of mind back then. for some reason, it felt a bit foggy, something that he wasn''t used to. it was as though two separate memories of the same thing were overlapping, but both just slightly different from each other.

    but then those two memories became three, then four, then eventually they weren''t memories of anything, but rather probabilities and deductions. his mind went blank, and he felt a heavy overflow of fatigue and dizziness that didn''t stop until he forcefully stopped himself from thinking about it anymore.

    ''what was that?''

    leonel frowned. he had never experienced something like that before. it was like he was trying to deduce his own memories, but that was ridiculous.

    ''no, it''s like i was trying to think of other possibilities that might fit with that timeline, but that''s...''

    leonel was taken aback. he understood. he was making an attempt to find a perfect string of events that could have occurred in that moment, leading him right back to where he was now. but the number of possibilities was truly infinite. no one in existence should have a mind that powerful, let alone his current self.

    though he understood the what, what he couldn''t understand was the why. and even if he had succeeded, what would have been the purpose?

    he had a dark thought, but he didn''t even want to go down that road. it threatened to make him frustrated once more and it almost brought him right back to that broken state. the words that el''rion had spoken echoed in his mind, and the supposed uselessness of the hourglass was put on full display.

    wasn''t it obvious? he could think of thousands, tens of thousands, billions, even, of possibilities that would lead him right back to this very same state... as though the present was a rubber band fixed at two ends, no matter how much the past changed, the beginning and the present would stay the exact same.

    leonel clenched his fists. he had thought of many useless abilities of the ability index in the past, but this one was most definitely at the very top.

    he took a breath, steadying his beating heart and going back to his original thoughts. he made himself calm down and focus. then, he finally completed the loop on his initial thoughts.

    ''it goes right back to the soul again. it seems that i don''t need cleansing waters after all; from the very beginning, [dimensional cleanse] was capable of doing it for me. not just this, but it should even be able to steadily increase the state of my body as well. that man is an arrogant prick, but this technique... is truly genius.''

    it wasn''t that leonel didn''t understand the man was implying that he was himself. only a fool wouldn''t understand, and leonel was probably the furthest from.

    he didn''t acknowledge it for one reason and one reason alone. if even that version of him couldn''t bring his father back to life, he didn''t want to be him. he would become someone else.

    that was all the thought he needed on the matter. he didn''t care about anything else, and now that he had understood how [dimensional cleanse] truly worked, he didn''t have the time to think of anything else either. but first...

    the star path beneath his feet rumbled, and the star before him quaked and then suddenly split right down the middle as though it was hiding a ship within. but out from within, tendrils of white gold shot out, piercing toward leonel like roaring vipers.

    leonel''s body flickered, and he danced out of range.

    he had never thought that tentacles could be beautiful, but that was precisely what was before him, a gorgeous sight. the movement of this enormous tentacle beast was like watching streams of golden light descend from the sun, peeking through the misty beauty of a day right after rain.

    unfortunately, it was just as gorgeous as it was deadly.

    there were two problems that leonel needed to figure out, both of which were probably quite important.

    if this was little tolly, why was he attacking him? while he was in el''rion''s body, he had had full autonomy, and that was a pluto. why didn''t little tolly? or did that mean that little tolly did have autonomy and simply chose to attack him anyway? had the mutation failed and was his little metal spirit still rampaging? or was it something else?

    the second problem was, obviously, how to separate little tolly from this... beautiful creature? the void race entity had done it with a simple shout, but leonel obviously wasn''t at that level, so what could he do?n(-0velb1n

    surprisingly, leonel had only just thought of the question when he had thought of an answer, for the second, anyway. as for the first. well... he would just have to find out.

    leonel came to a grinding halt, the tips of his toes gliding along the starry road until he came to a stop.

    with a pulse of light, his divine armor manifested, his halo bouncing to his feet then back up.

    before his armor could even solidify, he had already surged forward, his speed impossibly fast.

    he weaved through countless golden tendrils. the creature felt sluggish for some reason, as though it had yet to wake up properly. if he wanted to do this, he had to do so swiftly.

    his body shot into the splitting star, looking for something that could be considered to be a core. but for a creature that could fill up the insides of a star, just how large was it?

    ''i''ve seen bigger just this week alone,'' leonel thought to himself, flashing forward and appearing in a mass of tendrils so deep he had to continuously move about just to avoid being crushed to pieces.

    by this point, he almost believed that this creature didn''t even know he was here, he was too small and insignificant. but there was no telling what would happen if it truly awoke.

    ''there.''

    leonel dove in and crashed down, his body suddenly lighting up with a roaring vital star force.

 Chapter 2227 Especially When...

    leonel had deduced something quite profound.

    from the very beginning, [dimensional cleanse] had had three aspects. the first three stars were meant to be related to one''s most confident forces, the second three related to one''s body, and the last three in relation to one''s mind.

    leonel had done this in an inappropriate order. his first had been formed from his mind because that was all he was thinking about when he was forming his techniques. forming his stars had been so easy in comparison to others that he had been able to easily skip steps that others had to worry and slave over.

    but it was also precisely because of this that he had always considered [dimensional cleanse] as a supplemental technique, a technique that was most useful on the mind. the most shocking part was that his mind was so powerful that he often didn''t use the benefits of [dimensional cleanse] either.

    how infrequent was his use of auspicious air? how much time did he even spend meditating on the natural force art of the sixth dimensional layer of [dimensional cleanse].

    the truth was almost no time at all, and that was more of a shame than anything. now that he had put it all together, it slotted into place nicely, and everything seemed to make perfect sense.

    from the third dimensional layer that laid the foundation of the force, to the fourth dimensional layer that laid the foundation of the body, to the fifth dimensional layer that opened up one''s mind and made it sharper, faster, to the sixth dimensional layer that opened one up to the universe, linking one with universal force and forging a path that transcended the god path... forming the universal path...

    to the seventh dimensional layer that finally stood tall upon this foundation, linked them all as one, and began to unearth the truest, deepest secrets of [dimensional cleanse].

    [dimensional cleanse] was exactly what it sounded like; it was always a cleansing technique, one that existed even beyond the scope of cleansing waters. using your stars as a foundation, and the universe as a cauldron, one could refine not just one''s body, but one''s very existence toward the limit of perfection.n.-o-/v--e-/l.-b..1-)n

    to make a complicated matter simple, the problem of humans and their fused souls could be fixed by [dimensional cleanse]. not only could you break free of the restrictions, but with enough effort, you could even transcend your original limits.

    many months ago, when leonel had spoken with little nana''s elder brother, he had said that the reason the four great families hid the matter of force manipulation from "lessers" was so that they could maintain control. if one had enough comprehension, it would be possible to break free of talent constraints, so they had to keep the restrictions in place...

    but even when he had said that, he hadn''t thought that the changes that one could make were actually so substantial.

    not only were they substantial, but just understanding a portion of them would be enough for leonel to free little tolly. hidden deep within the enigma that was [dimensional cleanse], there was a foundation that allowed the soul to not only separate from the body but one that allowed the soul to be used as a foundation to refine the body into a more perfect state as well.

    what better technique was there to accomplish his goal?

    almost the instant his force blazed to life, he could already sense little tolly within. he and little tolly had a strong connection with each other. maybe if it had been another existence, it wouldn''t have come so naturally, but for his metal spirit, it came as easily as breathing.

    ''come!''

    leonel found little tolly and pulled hard, but very quickly his expression changed. something was wrong; little tolly was fighting back against him.

    leonel''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat. this creature was quickly waking up quicker and quicker; if he couldn''t separate little tolly and use its momentary daze to kill it, he would definitely die here. he didn''t know what this creature was, but it was beyond his understanding, and he didn''t have a way of facing it.

    it would be fine to continue to let little tolly control it if the little one was of its right mind, but very clearly, his metal spirit wasn''t on his side right now.

    leonel took a breath and exhaled. ''there''s only... [assimilate]!''

    leonel had never tried to use this one two living existences right now, but he thought that since they were already of one body, it had a great chance of working. but, there was immediately bad news. well... good news and bad news.

    the good news was that it had worked.

    the bad news was that it had worked far too well.

    his dream force was sucked dry in an instant, and he almost directly passed out, even his hair and eyes completely dimmed from a vibrant pale violet to a sickly, flat white.

    ''how?!''

    leonel''s expression changed. the only explanation was that this creature he was trying to forcefully [assimilate] to little tolly was far beyond him. in fact, saying things like that didn''t quite do it justice. he even vaguely felt that this creature had to be close to the level of the void beast corpse, if not on its level.

    leonel''s gaze sharpened. ''in that case...''

    face pale and breathing haggard, leonel began to move again. he truly hadn''t been bluffing when he said that he could give little blackstar the strength of the void beast, and now it seemed that he would have to prove it.

    with a wave of the hand, an illusory force art appeared, so large and all-encompassing that it looked like a twinkling starry sky within the waving tentacles of white gold.

    this formation was none other than the dream star gathering beast formation. it was a formation that leonel had exchanged for the sake of passing on force mantras to little blackstar and any other beasts he might rein under his control. it was meant as a shortcut to help elevate beasts past their usual talent as they couldn''t just learn like humans did.

    but how could such a formation be useful in the current situation?

    especially when the beast beneath leonel''s feet now was a legendary beast more rarely seen than even the mighty void beast...

    the infinity beast.

 Chapter 2228 Another

    the dream star gathering beast formation was one that used dream force as a foundation to communicate deeper concepts to a beast, concepts that couldn''t always be explained by word of mouth. it was akin to translating the abstract into the manageable, at least in layman''s terms.

    in reality, what it did was convert, extract, and transfer thoughts in their most perfect states, allowing a beast''s more subtly manipulatable minds to understand things that they otherwise wouldn''t be able to. it was akin to bolstering the talent of a beast in a certain aspect, and it was made easily digestible to them in the same way their talent usually allowed.

    beasts in the dimensional verse, or any verse for that matter, were able to progress extremely fast. this was part of the reason why earth''s oceans were still so shockingly dangerous despite all the time that had passed. in fact, there were still beast tides from time to time that threatened the empire. and every time earth evolved, these beasts would get stronger much faster than their human counterparts did.

    even so, there was a price to pay for this as well. beasts could progress extremely quickly, but their talent was decided at an early age and abstract matters like force manipulation were beyond them. essentially, while humans and other humanoid races could somewhat change their fates based on hard work and other factors, the talent of a beast was immediately decided by their ability index and beast crystals from birth. once they reached whatever that pre-decided limit was, progressing would be impossible for them.

    little blackstar was extremely talented, and this only became more true after absorbing so much void beast blood. however, leonel had already seen some flaws with blackstar''s progress, especially since he had someone else to compare the little guy to: mordred.

    mordred, or em as leonel liked to call her, was a shadow sovereign just like little blackstar, but the flexibility and unique flair she added to her ability index was unlike anything leonel had ever seen little blackstar perform.

    of course, there was a simple answer to why, and that was because of camelot''s magic system. but that was precisely the point, beasts couldn''t even learn techniques and magic systems in the usual sense.

    this was where the dream star gathering beast formation came into play... but this was a lengthy explanation for something that seemed entirely useless in the situation. what good was a formation like this? what would he do with it? ask the infinity beast to kill him swiftly and make it painless?

    the secret lay in the mechanism with which the formation worked... taking complex concepts, simplifying them... making them easily digestible.

    when leonel broke down the fundamentals in how this formation worked, he immediately realized that it could do more than he had given it credit for.

    to make a complex matter simple, the formation could become a proxy through which he applied his abilities. but this wasn''t the important part.

    the lineage factor of the fawkes had been refined across countless generations. there was even a generation of them worthy enough to have the pluto race owe them a favor. this simply wasn''t the kind of lineage factor technique that could be so easily simplified, especially not by the likes of the people of the four great families and the dream pavilion.

    what was important wasn''t a modification of the lineage factor''s technique, but rather that the formation could be powered by external items, one, and secondly, whereas in the past he would have to first filter what information came from the items he was assimilating through himself, and then pass it on to the target, now the filtering and passing on process became one and the same, lowering the energy requirements by a large factor.

    in order to use [assimilate], leonel''s lineage factor had to break down a target into its component force arts, making them easily digestible, binding them with his dream force, and using said dream force as a binder to his body, thus altering his talent, or that of his souls for a short while.

    [breathe] worked on this principle by taking it a step further, sacrificing some of the immediate strength in exchange for more permanence.

    the two worked together like a pair of peas in the pod, but the more troublesome the target, the more difficult it was. doing it to himself was the easiest, although he couldn''t use [breathe] on himself as he was a living being. doing it to his souls was an extra layer of difficulty. doing it to a living entity like little tolly with its own thoughts and will...? it was an even more difficult task.

    ultimately, this formation would be what allowed it... but the true core to it all...

    ''anastasia, i need your help.''

    "of course you do. at least you said something and didn''t just expect me to act, it seems you''ve woken up a little bit. i am a mighty world spirit you know, more mighty than you know!"

    leonel shook his head, now wasn''t the time for showing off, but luckily anastasia had already gotten to work.n/-0velb1n

    at that moment, a large amount of vital force surged forward, being converted to dream force through anastasia''s means, and then being filtered right into the formation.

    the star that had just split to reveal the beautiful monstrosity within became the fuel through which anastasia worked.

    that was right. from the very beginning, as early as leonel could remember, anastasia had had an ability he didn''t quite understand until just now. it was an ability that could only be described as one of a god''s.

    to be able to freely turn a force of one kind into any other you cared to.

    at that moment, the slumbering infinity beast felt its strength being whittled away. but it had been asleep for too long, and its mind was groggy and unresponsive.

    in the end, it took this as a sign that it was still tired, not realizing that its life was being devoured by another...

 Chapter 2229 A Better Pairing?

    chapter 2229 a better pairing?

    what leonel didn''t know was that this infinity beast was more than just tired, it was old and worn. for a creature to be so beautiful, and yet so close to the end of its lifespan, was probably something a human like leonel who was destined to grow old and wrinkled could never truly understand.

    it was tired of life, tired of existence, maybe it was fully aware of what was happening and simply couldn''t be bothered to care anymore. that was all it had done in its life... care... and it cared too much.

    it wasn''t like the void beast that destroyed all things, because it was, in fact, all things. it was all forces, all beings, and as such it understood all forces... all beings. its sympathy was boundless, but this was like a curse, one that ate away at its very being and suffocated it for all that it was worth.

    marred by this beauty, no one had ever seen its true self, that hidden interior awashed with darkness and suppressed by its own care and concern.

    in its final moments, it exhaled a breath of relief. someone else would have to hold onto its burdens from now on... it was no longer its cross to bear.

    leonel began to fall from the skies, the infinity beast''s body having vanished into a clump of silver he held onto. he couldn''t fly at all in this dense den of force arts, because even though the entire vital star had vanished, the runes that had once colored its surface were only released from their shackles, unleashing onto the world a wide range of changes that made an eighth dimensional world''s pressure feel like child''s play.

    however, leonel couldn''t focus on the fact that he was falling right now, because it wasn''t the time to. he still needed anastasia''s help to cast [breathe].

    even now, leonel didn''t know what kind of beast he had just killed, nor the kind of weight that had been on its shoulders.

    when he had looked at the void beast, although he had reacted indifferently, he had still felt that mighty pressure coming from even its corpse. he couldn''t imagine what that beast would have looked like if it had been alive.

    knowing that, how could he know that this creature that he felt nothing from could possibly be its counterpart? when looking at the infinity beast, he felt that it was somewhat forgettable aside from its gorgeous exterior...

    as though he had never seen its true self.

    due to this, the only thing he was focused on at the moment was making sure that the impermanence of [assimilate] didn''t ruin little tolly''s chances. of course, he was also worried about little tolly turning on him, and the best way to deal with that was to use the excess energy that little tolly would have now and turn it into the little guy''s future potential instead.

    with that move, he would both weaken little tolly significantly and make any potential rampage manageable, and he would also secure his metal spirit''s future. it was a win-win situation, so he acted immediately.

    this time, little tolly didn''t resist. leonel could sense a faint bit of the little one''s intention to devour the power itself, but it immediately realized that it simply had no ability to and left matters in leonel''s hands. n-/o--v-)e.-l--b.-i()n

    leonel almost laughed when he sensed this, one because this was the most complex thought that he had ever heard come from little tolly so he was certain that the maturing process had gone well, and two because this little guy was exceptionally greedy.

    while he didn''t know what kind of beast that beautiful creature had been, he was certain that it was at least beyond the level of the ancestors of this world. so, the fact that it could be so strong, and yet not dealt with by the regulator, made leonel feel that just maybe... it might be closer to the entity of the void race than not.

    whatever the truth was, tolliver was truly too greedy thinking that he could devour something like that on his own after only just entering the sixth dimension.

    anastasia helped leonel with the force conversion once again. luckily, this burden was much lower because much of the energy came from the residual force of the infinity beast itself. so, even though the vital star was gone, there was plenty left to deal with this situation.

    boom! leonel crashed to the ground and coughed out a mouthful of blood. it had been a long while since he had been worried about gravity of all things, but looking at little tolly, he grinned, feeling that it was worth it.

    in truth, he had been a bit worried. that beast didn''t look like it had metal attributes, and leonel had learned long ago that more abilities wasn''t as good as abilities that coincided with your current path. for example, with the silver tablet, he had been able to steal the ability indexes of others for a long while, but he never had. that was because he knew that he could very easily cripple himself doing so.

    but looking at little tolly... it seemed that he had worried too much. he didn''t know why, but he felt that little tolly had reached a level he couldn''t imagine, a level that reminded him of... those two god races he had just seen. despite being of the sixth dimension, the pressure the little one gave him was suffocating.

    little tolly was still that same adorable little silver blob, but within that silver there were densely packed runes of white gold that looked like the ancient markings of a long forgotten temple.

    leonel looked up toward the floating and fading force art runes in the twinkling skies and immediately sat upright. he had to study these as much as he could before they faded away completely. comprehending them himself was far better than just assimilating them, that way he wouldn''t have to worry about anything else.

    in his focus, he forgot about tolliver''s changes for a moment...

    of course, leonel had no idea that he had just helped his metal spirit assimilate one of the strongest beasts in all of existence...

    what better pairing could there be for a crafter''s partner than the beast of creation itself?

 Chapter 2230 Harmony

    chapter 2230 harmony

    leonel''s gaze flickered again and again as it danced across the floating runes. part of his senses were focused on little tolly, just in case the little guy still felt that it was necessary to attack him, but outside of that, he was entirely focused.

    right now, his vital star force was the weakest of his force, most probably. even his void star force was able to keep up because he could use it as a reflection of his scarlet star force. it hadn''t even stepped out of the unfurled state in, and that was quite pathetic.

    if his vital star force was at the same level as his spear force, for example, just the strength of the lowest level of his [star fusion] technique would be hundreds of times more powerful, and by extension, his divine armors would be as well.

    honestly, even that might still be an underestimation. the potential of [star fusion] was probably beyond what he knew it to be now that he could subtly feel its connection with [dimensional cleanse]. they could feed into one another and he could use it to strengthen himself far more with [dimensional cleanse] as a foundation.

    that said, the importance of vital star force was beyond just this alone. if leonel was correct about the true purpose of [dimensional cleanse], then it along with his dream force would be the foundation upon which he brought his body beyond its current level and shed past the original weakness of the human race.

    this was more important for leonel now than it ever had been, especially since he had learned who his supposed grandmother was.

    someone had messed with his uncle, this was one of the few things he was able to recall from his experience as his enlightened self. it was also possible that someone had messed with him as well, though he wasn''t certain.

    what he did know was that the reason he was only able to spend such a short amount of time in that enlightened state was for one reason only: his body could handle the strength of his soul.

    this made sense because he was a human. what didn''t make sense was how such a soul was born into such a weak body in the first place, and the answer to that question was exactly why he felt that someone had potentially messed with him just like they had his uncle.

    thinking back to how his father had also placed some sort of seal on him, leonel felt that this matter likely still wasn''t as simple as he thought. but he didn''t want to waste time asking the dictionary questions now. there would always be time for that. his only goal right now was to increase the state of his vital star force.

    his body shook and his eyes blazed with a blue light that calmed quickly.

    ''first layer...'' he mumbled to himself before focusing once again instantaneously.

    his mind split countless ways, analyzing each one of the rules one by one, splicing them together and forming a complete picture. the more he did this, the more the back of his mind rumbled with a certain thought...

    this feeling, wasn''t it similar to his current mage core? those branches, those leaves, each one adorned with a partial rune, separate, and yet whole. it was quite a fascinating feeling.

    second layer...

    leonel''s progress sped up as an auspicious air formed around him. [dimensional cleanse] was actively aiding him in comprehending faster and faster, and in a reverse sort of scenario from what he had expected, comprehending seemed to get easier rather than harder.

    then it clicked.

    while he was analyzing all of these runes one by one and piecing together the ones that made sense, he was also discarding many of them at the same time. the ones that he discarded didn''t just vanish from his memory, they were recycled and then used again when it made sense.

    ''recycled and then used again...''

    the words reminded leonel of nature, of how the death of one being could easily become the fuel for another, a fertilizer of the earth... a fertilizer that could grow plant life, sustain wildlife, to give... trees life.

    within leonel''s ethereal glabella, and ancient tree with rainbow colored leaves stood at the center of it all, looking as though it held up both the skies and the ten stars that surrounded it. it was gorgeous, and looked like a being that existed beyond imperfection, beyond stain and impurity.

    a gentle wind blew by and its leaves lifted, rustling. this common feature of nature came with a gorgeous sound, a resonance that could enlighten buddha and force devils to turn over a new leaf.

    beautiful in its bearing, simple in its grace, peaceful in its presence.

    leonel''s own hair seemed to rise up and the complex force arts of [dimensional cleanse] began to grow as well.

    for as long as he could remember, the natural force art that he had formed at the sixth dimensional layer of [dimensional cleanse] had been buried within the soil. it didn''t seem to matter to him as where it was was hardly relevant...

    until now.

    the magic system of camelot and [dimensional cleanse] seemed to fuse into a single being. leonel didn''t know how to describe it, but as the skies of his ethereal glabella fell into darkness, and then slowly brightened, only to fall into brightness once more and continue to cycle, but it felt as though his ethereal glabella had reached a state of absolute harmony... n/(0velbin

    as though a collection of images had become one beautiful painting, perfect and whole.

    his hair gently waved in this mysterious wind and the undersides of their filaments radiated with a familiar rainbow color.

    the speed of his deduction became even faster and he slid into the third layer, and then soon the fourth.

    by the time the last of the sparkling runes had vanished, he stood at the quasi impetus state, his body thrumming in harmony.

 Chapter 2231 Bad Taste

    chapter 2231 bad taste

    leonel opened his eyes slowly and exhaled. his strength hadn''t improved in a tangible way, as he was still in tier 1. but if one was to say that his power was the same, they would be sorely mistaken. in fact, he felt that staying at tier 1 was the far better decision as well. if he could, he might even choose to return to the sixth dimension. he had been too hasty in progressing.

    the more powerful you were in terms of tiers, the more difficult the hurdle to clear was if you wanted to improve your forces. leonel could also feel that within [dimensional cleanse], the best state for him to improve his body the most would have been in the sixth dimension as well. while he could still feel large progress in the seventh, he felt that he would have gained even more had he been weaker.

    there was no use in regretting it, but it was something that he kept in mind for the future. it would be a harder path, but he could still reach the end.

    he also couldn''t help but note that the creator of [dimensional cleanse] hadn''t given him the eighth dimension layer or the ninth dimensional layer. the meaning behind this was obvious; he wanted leonel to deduce the rest just like he had the first several layers. it would benefit him far more to do this.

    leonel stood to his feet. to his surprise, little tolly reacted, squirming up his arm and spreading across his hand, wrist, and up his shoulder and even part of his chest. he coated leonel like a sleeve, turning his left arm into a gorgeous pattern of silver and white gold.

    a slight smile spread across leonel''s face. he could feel that the little guy was trying to say sorry; it seemed that it was still forming more and more complex thoughts. he felt like a parent watching his little toddler grow up.

    after a while, his expression grew more serious and his gaze became cold. he could feel the forces singing around him, so he also knew that this world was going to collapse soon. the unfortunate part was that he didn''t know how to go back.

    he had to actively enter this space by clearing the puzzle, but when you were sent out, it was automatic. there obviously wasn''t the same clear process. he had to figure something else out.

    suddenly, he felt movement from little tolly. the little guy was just messing around, feeling happy that leonel didn''t blame it. but the movement and the strong connection between the two of them made leonel suddenly realize something.

    ''i''m thinking faster, but my dream force didn''t increase. the only explanation...''

    little tolly was acting like something akin to an innate node, but this time for his dream force.

    leonel''s eyes widened, and he suddenly remembered something. that was right, one of the paths for metal spirits was related to crafting stamina and helping their partner to be able to craft for longer periods of time.

    but this felt like it was beyond that. leonel subconsciously felt that it wasn''t just crafting stamina that little tolly could help with, but there was a noted improvement to all of his forces. though not as exaggerated as improving an entire stage, this was surprising.

    leonel knew that helping little tolly breakthrough like this would give him access to all of the spirits'' paths, but what he didn''t expect was that the power would be so immediate.

    taking this path was supposed to be like making your metal spirit a jack of all, and master of none. but for leonel to be able to feel this change so intimately, it felt more like... little tolly was already a master of all.

    ''it could only be that beast, that''s the only explanation.''

    leonel shook his head. he had to think about this less and more about how to survive.

    the obvious answer was to reverse the chemical structure he had used to get here, but that was stupid. he knew it was, so he didn''t even try it. he didn''t even know what "reverse" would mean in this context. what surface would he use to reverse the chemical structure? up and down? left right? across all planes? he didn''t even know.

    the truth was that returning would likely have its own unique chemical structure, one that he wasn''t strong enough to even begin deducing. there had to be something else.

    leonel''s gaze flickered again and again. how to return home, how to return...

    suddenly, leonel''s left arm raised into the air on its own and tapped. little tolly did a small happy dance in him mind as though it had done something great, and leonel''s brows raised.

    ''well... even if he leads me into the middle of a blackhole, i might be able to live a few more seconds.''

    leonel jumped into the portal, but to his astonishment, he stood right where he had left, right beside el''rion, and the latter even seemed to still be talking.

    "-i''m not sure why you did that; quartz has an interesting structure, yes, but it''s ultimately still a third dimensional material without any force to speak of. it''s only useful here because the target is earth itsel..."

    el''rion trailed off, looking at leonel for the first time since he began his "payback." he could feel just how different leonel was, and when he looked at the silvery white gold sleeve on his left arm, his pupils constricted.

    from his words, it was clear that el''rion was most definitely not a crafter. but he was still a pluto. he knew the aura of an infinity beast when he saw it.

    no, it was more accurate to say that those of his family line would. even weaker pluto, though still far beyond the human race, wouldn''t recognize what they were seeing. that was because the infinity beast... was the rarest creature in all of existence.

    but how did leonel change in the blink of an eye? and that quartz crystal... wasn''t it just in his hand; where had it gone?

    "you..."

    leonel gave the boy a glance. at this point, that was all he could be bothered to see him as.

    "your pluto race is quite strong, right? then you should probably be able to understand what''s supposed to happen in this zone. how about you tell me?" n--ovelb1n

    el''rion''s brows shot up. he almost subconsciously answered as though he owed leonel a response. this sort of feeling shouldn''t come from a human. and why did him saying the pluto race was powerful leave such a... bad taste in his mouth?

    "of course, you could not tell me. but then i''d make repaying this favor of yours impossible," leonel said with a bright smile. "how embarrassing would it be if the mighty pluto race couldn''t repay their benefactors?"

    el''rion''s expression darkened.

 Chapter 2232 He Did

    nove)lb/1n

    chapter 2232 he did

    leonel''s words hit a sore spot, but it was also probably the easiest deduction he had made today. one didn''t need to be nearly as smart as him to understand what was going on here.

    the pluto were in a strained situation, that much was obvious by the conversation between el''rion and shan''rae, and even further by the actions of that void race entity. leonel also now knew the value of these incomplete worlds. this world was valuable enough to be used as the top currency of these god races, and more importantly than that, as the currency of the most powerful among them.

    and yet, in order to repay this favor, the pluto not only made the decision to use these incomplete worlds that could have been of great benefit to helping them out of their current situation, but they had also offended the void race and supposedly several other god races. as though all of that wasn''t enough, el''rion, a junior of the pluto race, albeit of high standing, was given the hourglass to command.

    no matter how you sliced it, repaying this favor was so important to the pluto race that they were willing to make sacrifices to do so.

    of course, leonel was very curious as to why this was. he didn''t believe that there was anyone with such a good heart, and the current fawkes were far too weak to demand anything of the pluto race. in fact, leonel believed that they had never been even remotely strong enough, and it was instead a unique set of circumstances that allowed them to have the ability to cash in such a favor to begin with.

    that meant there was a deeper reason, a more fascinating one, one that he probably wasn''t even of high enough standing to be privy to. but whatever that reason was, it didn''t matter to him for now. all that mattered was that this could be used as the leverage he needed to make this matter far easier on him.

    he had already failed this zone, that much was inevitable. however, his current understanding of zones was beyond what it had been in the past, far beyond. just because he had failed, didn''t mean that he couldn''t still reap the rewards, and it also didn''t mean that he couldn''t force the zone to recognize itself as being cleared.

    ever since he had entered the dwarven race''s zone, he had come to understand that zones were large constructions of dream force. that said, eighth dimensional zones like this one were very different.

    it had to be remembered that from the seventh dimension onward, treasures would be taken out of zones, that meant they had a more physical form, a form that transcended beyond what could be expected of lower level zones.

    while this would make them more difficult to manipulate, leonel was still quite confident. he wasn''t even worried about returning home, all he was worried about was maximizing his chances here, and in order to do that he would need information.

    he could gather this information himself, but it would likely take months, and time wasn''t something that he felt like wasting if he had other options. as for dealing with this ... rather large baby here, he felt that it was as easy as turning over a palm, especially since he doubted it would cost el''rion anything to speak of these things.

    thinking back to the hourglass, leonel believed that it was exactly because it existed that el''rion and the other pluto were so free here, and it was also because of this that he was confident that el''rion would be able to meet his demands. that said... none of this meant that the pluto would be very happy about it, especially when he had just believed himself to have the upper hand.

    "i don''t-"

    leonel shook his head and sighed. "let''s skip the back and forth, shall we? you''ll say you don''t believe me, when in reality you already do. then you''ll ask me to prove myself, which i inevitably won''t. and then you''ll take action and do something to piss me off, and then i''ll do the thing you claimed i couldn''t that you already believed i could, and then we''ll both be unhappy.

    "so how about instead, i just say: sorry for my rudeness, oh great pluto. if you''ll allow this humble human a chance to see his mother and future wife again, i''ll be ever so grateful."

    el''rion''s lip twitched. he had had more changes in facial expression today than he had in his last 14 years. his mother had always said he came out a deadpan baby, but now all of that seemed to be getting thrown out of the window.

    leonel''s "praise" was even more grating on the ears now than when he had called the pluto powerful. he had never thought that hearing positive affirmation would be so... disgusting.

    he could tell that leonel didn''t even mean a word, and worse than that, he didn''t even try to hide that he didn''t. he could understand if leonel was ignorant to the matters of the god race, but it was impossible for him to be so after all of these events, and especially not with...

    he looked down at the coat of silver and white gold runes that had taken over leonel''s left arm, feeling the annoyance within him growing.

    after a moment, he simply stopped and exhaled a breath. it was as though he chose to not be annoyed anymore and simply wasn''t.

    leonel smiled. he found that action to be somewhat familiar. he wondered when it would be el''rion''s turn to boil over and lose it.

    "what do you want to know?"

    "don''t you already know? this zone, what is it, what''s its purpose, which other bodies were taken over by the... two other entries, and how can i get the most out of it?"

    el''rion''s expression flickered for a moment, but then he took out the hourglass once more. the seconds ticked by and leonel remained silent, he didn''t seem to be impatient in the slightest. he was quite confident that el''rion would answer.

    and then he did.

 Chapter 2233 Mistake

    chapter 2233 mistake

    n.-0velbin

    "... this ... zone seems to be related to a so-called silver empire. it''s facing destruction at the hand of outside forces. it seems that you were given my body because these forces include those from outside of this incomplete world."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. when he realized what this meant, he almost smiled a bit bitterly as well.

    these so-called "outside forces" could only be those from the cataclysm zone. compared to the pluto race members, what were they worth? had leonel been able to keep el''rion''s body, this zone wouldn''t have been able to be any easier, it might even be the easiest zone he had ever completed.

    that said, there was no going back, and the matter also wasn''t as simple as it seemed either. that''s because without el''rion, he wouldn''t be able to understand this zone so easily. he had gained el''rion''s body, not his memories, so he hadn''t even known that a treasure as valuable as the hourglass had been on him, he couldn''t remember el''rion holding any spatial treasures.

    setting aside those feelings, this explanation didn''t feel complete, and there were too many questions. was he supposed to save the silver empire? but with how real this zone felt, wouldn''t that change the timeline of the future? or was the goal something else entirely?

    "the silver empire is meant to be destroyed, but there is a tablet that you must recover before it can be. from my understanding, your... future wife is currently the emperor, while your mother is the current leader of a family that goes by the luxnix, she is called... northern star order."

    leonel frowned.

    northern star order was one of the hegemonic titles of the luxnix. northern star order, wise star order, and snow star order, these three represented great things. the problem was that according to wise star order, there had only ever been one northern star order in the history of the luxnix, the rest having all been fabrications by him, all 13 of them.

    knowing this, the problem was obvious.

    that one northern star order should be his grandmother. his grandmother was old, but she wasn''t this old. this timeline at best should be around the time wise star order was born, at worst it was a generation before even wise star order''s father was born.

    from leonel''s understanding, northern star order should have been one of the very first luxnix, so this didn''t make any sense either. the only explanation was that wise star order didn''t even understand his own family''s history, or... that old man had tried to con him again.

    now that he thought about it, basically everything he knew about luxnix family history was told to him by that con man. but even worse than that, even if he had gone to the family record directly, wise star order had already manipulated them so that it would appear as though 13 northern star orders had appeared in their history, effectively weakening his grandmother''s influence on the family. why wouldn''t he have altered everything else?

    this was why leonel hadn''t even bothered to double-check. there was nothing to double-check against... until now.

    wise star order was an ambitious man, and it wasn''t easy to whittle that ambition down with just a few chains. he was a man who had experienced countless years and generations, he had even survived in the spiritual domain, his patience was far greater than leonel knew.

    at the same time, though, the current leonel wasn''t the same leonel of the past. wise star order couldn''t think faster than any longer, and even without his father''s protections, he could kill wise star order him...

    leone''s thought came to a halt.

    his father''s death had taken quite a toll on him, and it had also exposed the fact that he was a far more caring man than leonel knew, but that didn''t change the fact that his old man was very particular about the kind of help he gave him.

    even when he was in the rapax nest, his father hadn''t done anything to help him, and there had been countless seventh dimensional experts present. it could even be said that velasco had made the situation worse. because velasco had appeared and killed all the scholars, the rapax elders were freed from their battles and were able to close in on leonel and the others.

    of course, in the end, they did so to reward leonel with the black rod, but that could have very well ended badly.

    if velasco''s glasses had told leonel anything, it was that while his old man was soft at heart, he was hard in his actions. he wouldn''t help leonel with such a thing... unless he had to.

    back then, wise star order had run circles around leonel. speed of thought or not, leonel wasn''t a fool, but he felt like a toddler. could wise star order be stronger than he knew?

    and what was his purpose, exactly? why did he feel the need to hide the history of the luxnix?

    and also, beyond that, his grandfather and his grandmother... emperor fawkes didn''t seem like the type to randomly fall in love. as cruel as it sounded, leonel had believed his grandmother to be a pawn in his grandfather''s schemes for as long as he couldn''t remember.

    but at the same time, his grandfather seemed to be restricted to staying within earth''s territory. how had he even met his grandmother? and if he could leave earth for a price, then why did he insist on paying it to meet his grandmother?

    as leonel was lost in thought, thinking of countless possibilities, he suddenly realized that el''rion had fallen into silence despite not having explained everything quite yet. he looked over toward the young boy to see that his expression was actually quite solemn.

    it wasn''t a normal solemn, it was the kind that only appeared when one felt that they had made a mistake, a huge mistake... a mistake they couldn''t reverse easily, a mistake they''d have to stay true to toward its ends.

    and that expression had come right after mentioning the luxnix family.

 Chapter 2234 The God Beasts

    chapter 2234 the god beasts

    leonel didn''t say anything, but he felt that he should have known after seeing that enormous void beast corpse in the skies, ridden by a race of beings he couldn''t even fathom until this very moment.

    it was easy for leonel to ignore the legends of the void beast because this world was so weak. even a reasonable person could conclude that the void beast and infinity beasts were only legends in this incomplete world.

    however, what was becoming clearer and clearer to leonel was that... if not for the appearance of the pluto race, leading to the appearance of the void race and their corpse battleship, this incomplete world wouldn''t even know about these questions.

    this wasn''t the only matter to consider either. the luxnix family was a mere sixth dimensional family in his eyes. although they had gotten stronger after his grandmother''s return to the fawkes family, they were still subordinate to the fawkes. even though they only had the lowest level of the light side of the northern star lineage factor, why would he assume that they had the capability to have access to anything at this unconscionable level?

    suddenly, leonel''s pupils constricted. n.-0velbin

    who had told him about the highest levels of the northern star lineage factor? wasn''t it wise star order? he wouldn''t have even known otherwise.

    the more leonel thought about it, the more he felt that something was off.

    el''rion suddenly opened his mouth. just when leonel thought english would come out just like it had every time before, a language that sounded like the roar of dragons, with punctuation akin to claps of thunder, came out instead.

    leonel felt his eardrums burst and begin to bleed, but he didn''t cover them, even circulating his force so that he could heal them and hear more.

    it only lasted a brief few seconds, but el''rion turned to leonel soon after. "i will go with you."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. it seemed that his previous assumption was incorrect. if el''rion insisted on coming then his thoughts that this would be an easy matter with him wouldn''t be even remotely true. it seemed that there were no cheat codes to eighth dimensional zones.

    "are you going to tell me why? or are you going to just do as you please?"

    "this isn''t a simple matter to explain," el''rion said, somewhat exasperatedly.

    "you seem far too concerned for someone with that hourglass on you."

    "that isn''t "that hourglass" it''s "the hourglass"," this distinction seemed very important to pluto race boy who was growing more agitated by the second. "also, that item can''t be used as freely as you think."

    "you used it on me just fine."

    "you''re insignificant. the ties of karma and the wear of time and space are almost non-existent on you. the more prominent the target, the deeper the folds of reality, the more effort it would take. judging by what i''ve understood, it would take one of my seniors coming for the hourglass to still be effective."

    "and are they?" leonel didn''t react as though he cared about pluto''s slander at all. he was far more interested in the answer to this question.

    "no, we''ve already paid too high a price for this. it''s up to me."

    "and me," leonel added, in a playful mood. the more agitated he saw this pluto boy, the funnier he thought it was.

    el''rion looked at him as though he might try to strangle a chicken. he was really running out of rope to give. he knew that leonel was doing it on purpose, but that didn''t make it any easier to deal with. maybe god races were too prideful to use such tactics, but he had never met a person with such a foul mouth before.

    he still didn''t know how leonel seemed to have changed on a dime, but he didn''t have time to think about it.

    "just come," he eventually said, placing a large hand on leonel''s shoulder and taking out the hourglass.

    leonel didn''t resist, but he still raised an eyebrow. "you''re obviously taking me because you need me, if not you would have already left. so are you going to ruin your chances by not telling me what''s going on?"

    el''rion''s jaw set as the two vanished into thin air.

    leonel didn''t ask again. he understood people quite well, even if they were god race beings. he only needed to say it once and then let enough time pass by that el''rion could pretend that it was his idea to explain.

    sure enough, the explanation came.

    "you don''t know why the god races exists. the management of the formation of worlds is something that''s done out of necessity, not out of a will for power. there''s only a limited amount of resources that existence can provide. worlds need to die off, and you can''t allow too many worlds to sprout up in their place.

    "before the god races, there were the god beasts. they were the embodiment of creation and destruction, and they were able to keep the balance. though, they were also at constant war.

    "this was the natural path of evolution, a path that existence allowed to occur. but for reasons unknown... existence also tends toward chaos, towards disorder, towards death... due to this, the god beast of creation has always been at a disadvantage.

    "the greatest embodiment of this disadvantage are... the regulators.

    "they''re born with every world and their responsibility is only to make sure that a cap of power is never exceeded and the rules of practice are followed. however, the problem is that they work using the very same force that the god beasts of destruction use... anarchic force.

    "the more regulators do their job, the more anarchic force a world is filled with, and the closer to death it approaches. eventually, a balance will be tipped once the concentration of anarchic force reaches a certain stage. at that point, just as quickly, a world will die, like a house of cards...

    "if things continued like this, the god beasts of destruction would eventually win, but the process would be slow, too slow for them. the god beasts of destruction were not known for their patience. so, they created henchmen, henchmen that shared a small portion of their bloodlines to spread chaos to the worlds."

 Chapter 2235 The Northern Star

    chapter 2235 the northern star

    leonel''s pupils constricted. he could tell what el''rion was getting at immediately.

    he had only reacted like that after he mentioned the luxnix family, and it was the luxnix family that had access to the northern star lineage factor, the very lineage factor that ended in the void beast and the infinity beast, or in other words... the god beast of destruction and the god beast of creation.

    the so-called henchmen of the void beasts had to be those of the dark side of the northern star lineage factor, that was the only conclusion. and sure enough...

    "the god beasts of destruction realized a problem, though. their bloodlines were far too powerful. even the current god races couldn''t take them without dying agonizing, slow deaths. so they took a different approach, splitting the aspects of their bloodlines into five pieces and building them up like stepping ladders.

    "they created a legion of beasts, the shadow tail, the dusky steel bat, the aurora black panda, the crimson clawed ape and the death pulse deer... each one took up a position in the armies of the god beasts of destruction and they were powerful. they were enormous beasts with wings that could crush the planets of this incomplete world of yours and claws that could sever stars into countless pieces.

    "in the beginning, the god beasts of destruction felt that this would be enough. their envoys were more powerful than they thought they''d be, and far more helpful as well, so it no longer seemed necessary to pass down their bloodline. they were haughty creatures to begin with, impatient, disdainful, and arrogant, if they didn''t have to share their bloodlines, they wouldn''t.

    "but the god beasts of creation didn''t roll over. seeing the state of things and how the god beasts of destruction were acting, they realized that they could fight back in the same way, and it might even give them a chance at reversing the tide. so... they created their own beast envoys.

    "the snowy star owl, the white stone elephant, the starry tailed fox, the twinkling light bear... the golden tiger.

    "the god beasts of destruction were on their back foot. their beast envoys were incredibly powerful, but they couldn''t compare to the beast envoys of the god beasts of creation. after all, they were beasts of destruction and chaos, how could they compare to god beasts of creation in... creating?

    "having given the god beasts of creation such an idea, the god beasts of destruction regretted their action, but it was already far too late to reverse things. at the same time, the god beasts of creation felt that they could seal things, to put a final nail in the coffin, to finally end things, so... they did what the god beasts of destruction couldn''t and passed down their bloodline. n--o)(v.-e-(l()b(.i((n

    "at first, they looked through the various god races, or what they had once been, and realized that they couldn''t do what needed to be done, and neither could the others, but interestingly enough, there was one race that was able to do so... and an unexpected race...

    "the human race."

    leonel fell into silence, he knew that there was much more to this story and that el''rion was far from finished, but his mind couldn''t help but spin at a thousand miles an hour. it was suffocating the number of questions he had.

    "the human race is born with a birth defect, but it''s also that defect that allowed them to take on the power of the god beasts of creation. their souls are born fused to their bodies, but this also makes it so that there''s only one variable to consider from start to finish, as you change their bodies, you can easily change their souls at the same time given that you have enough power.

    "like this, one of the weakest races of existence gained maybe the greatest power and existence gained itself prosperity... a golden age the likes of which had never been seen before and would likely never be seen again.

    "unfortunately... this didn''t last."

    el''rion fell into silence, looking toward leonel with a darker expression than usual. luckily, his rationality seemed to win over and he managed to calm himself. as for what his rationale was telling him, leonel could guess by the way the story was going.

    it seemed that the palpable disdain of the human race didn''t just come from their weakness. he had vaguely felt that shan''rae''s vitriol whenever she spat out the word human was much deeper than it seemed to be on the surface, but even when he realized this, he just chuckled.

    what was this? a cliche? line about how corruptible humans were and how much better other races were in comparison?

    what a joke. how about they be granted infinite power first and see how they dealt with it. from what he could see, these god races weren''t much better. an entity that attacked his junior out of rage... what high horse did they have to sit on, exactly?

    "as i said, existence tends towards chaos, it''s just a simple rule of law. absolute chaos must be formed first before everything can return to step one. the more energy existence expends, the closer toward death it grows. existence is the only immortal in all of reality...

    "the pressure of the golden age wasn''t missed by existence, but it did nothing, it could do nothing. existence isn''t an entity, it''s simply an arbitrator of rules, and the god beasts of creation didn''t break any rules, they simply followed their instinct. in fact, they did exactly as they were meant to and created...

    "but, as existence is the only immortal, it is also the only infallible being in all of reality as well. they went overboard, spreading too much wealth and prosperity. existence was quickly becoming overwhelmed and worlds began to collapse. death and destruction spread ironically without even the god beasts of destruction doing a single thing.

    "and that was when it appeared...

    "the northern star."

 Chapter 2236 Unchallenged

    chapter 2236 unchallenged

    el''rion looked up, his expression solemn, a touch of sadness and forlornness on his expression. it wasn''t the kind of face that a child should make, but leonel felt a hint of subtlety within it, the kind that told him that this expression wasn''t perfectly his, but rather one that had been passed down.

    it was an interesting feeling. but he felt that if the future could impact the past, then it wasn''t too unacceptable. that said, he felt it was more complicated than that. n(/o-)v)/e/(l-(b.(1(.n

    a race like the pluto had abilities he couldn''t fathom. even turning back time across existence wasn''t outside their purview. maybe they had a method of passing down important thoughts and feelings to their highest priority descendants...

    "... the northern star is quite beautiful, isn''t it?" el''rion suddenly said.

    leonel''s heart skipped a beat. why did he suddenly feel that the northern star el''rion was mentioning was the very same northern star he was so familiar with?

    the northern star was the hope of sailors and adventurers of earth, no matter how lost you were, so long as you pinpointed that star in the skies, you could find your way home. it was the single constant even when death had you by the ankles.

    however, these were mostly just folktales. the northern star couldn''t even be seen on half of earth, so most of the fanciful tales around it were just overblown and exaggerated. but... that didn''t change the fact that even the smallest child of earth knew of the northern star and the kind of hope it represented.

    el''rion couldn''t be talking about the same star... right?

    he was.

    "it can be seen from everywhere, it''s the constant in all of our lives, no matter where you are, it can orient your direction. but what most people probably aren''t aware of is the fact that the meaning of the northern star is far more real and simultaneously philosophical than just that alone.

    "the northern star is the central point of all of existence, but it isn''t at the center of all things, it''s rather at the end of all things. it''s the point that we all go toward, it''s the final flash of light, the penultimate representation of life before only death is left.

    "in the past, it didn''t have a prominent name because it was too far away. but the closer we get to the death of existence, the more prominent it is in the skies, the brighter it becomes, the more... hope it seems to spread..."

    el''rion fell into silence once again, trying to gather himself. his solemnness retreated and his deadpan expression took hold as he looked forward. the calmness he feigned only seemed to make the previous agitation all the worse in comparison.

    "the source of all star force comes from the northern stars, and it''s also the greatest center of death. not many understand what star force is or what it represents, but i can tell you there is really no point in trying to in the first place. just think of it as the fabric of reality, it''s what gives existence substance, but more importantly than that... it brings balance, or rather, a relative balance

    "the more success the god beasts of creation had, the closer the star became, the stronger by comparison the god beasts of destruction became. star force fueled them and they began to make a comeback, fiercer and stronger than before.

    "this time, the god beasts of destruction succeeded. they passed down their bloodlines to the human race and suddenly one of the weakest races of existence became the center of a blood war that ravaged reality.

    "the details of this war are murky, but ultimately there was no winner. although the god beasts of destruction had become stronger, the head start of the god beasts of creation was substantial. at the same time, it wasn''t yet time for existence to collapse, so the northern star shifted the balance once again when the time came, whittling away the strong advantage the god beasts of destruction had... but not before they had sunk their claws into every aspect of existence.

    "the gods beasts practically went extinct after that war, but existence continued toward destruction, getting closer and closer. everyday, the northern star grows larger, and as it does, the void beasts of destruction grow as well and soon they''ll likely make a comeback of their own.

    "unfortunately, the time of the infinity beasts has passed. there isn''t enough momentum of creation left."

    el''rion fell into silence.

    leonel didn''t say anything. he felt that he was beginning to understand how important these incomplete worlds were now; they might very well be among the last worlds that existence could create before everything collapsed. in fact, the fact there were so many incomplete worlds might be a sign in and of itself. if not for the slow weakening of existence and the approach of the northern star, there might have been far more complete worlds in this batch than what had actually occurred.

    even so, leonel had more questions than answers right now.

    el''rion still hadn''t explained how these two separate lineage factors had suddenly become linked. was it because of the northern star? in that case...

    leonel''s eyes narrowed. could the northern star be the constellation of the lineage factors, forcefully linking them and causing the strength of one to be dependent on the weakness of the other? in that case, what happens to leonel when the two are fused like this?

    also, how is even possible for leonel to fuse them? it can''t be that he''s the first if the people of the cataclysm zone had both tablets as well, right? that doesn''t make sense?

    more importantly than that, how are even the likes of the pluto allowing such tablets to circulate at all? why haven''t they gathered them all up yet? more dark side henchmen would only speed up the descent toward chaos, while more light side henchmen would only exacerbate the problem, no? both should be eradicated?

    and there was something else that el''rion had conveniently not mentioned...

    if even the human race could be disdained for a now faint connection, then how were the void race allowed to prance around unchallenged? what was their relation to all of this?

 Chapter 2237 Timeless Event

    chapter 2237 timeless event

    leonel frowned. there was something obvious that he was missing, and that was el''rion''s reaction. since he had reacted so violently, and even insisted on joining himself, then it likely meant that he would do something about this and they weren''t ignoring the problem. but... wasn''t this too nonchalant? if this was such a big matter, why were the pluto sending a junior? something was off here; he was missing large bits of information.

    "if this matter is so important, why are they sending you?" leonel asked.

    el''rion looked slightly offended when he heard this, but he quickly settled down.

    "you don''t understand."

    "so politics," leonel answered simply, and el''rion seemed to be quite embarrassed because leonel''s answer was spot on, so much so that he didn''t even want to continue explaining. but, in the end, his better judgement won out. nove)lb-1n

    "there are many factions among the god race, each one with different thoughts on how to deal with this situation. most believe that passivism is the best choice. the last time the scales were tipped, the timeline toward destruction was accelerated."

    leonel nodded. the "good guys" won, and instead of that being a win, it ended up being a loss. and obviously, they couldn''t side with the "bad guys" or else they''d just be shooting themselves in the foot. indeed, it did sound best to just sit back and ignore everything, hoping that the natural path of balance would extend their lives for the longest. but this... also seemed quite defeatist, no? the mighty god races were just waiting for their deaths? it was almost amusing.

    then again, maybe they were just like humans. el''rion had said that the only immortal in all of reality was existence itself. that meant that even these "gods" had finite lifespans. maybe they felt that they would long be dead by the time the northern star was the only star in the sky, it would be someone else''s problem by then. they just wanted to hold onto the power they had for now.

    as expected, el''rion''s expression was quite dark when he said this. clearly, he wasn''t resigned to this sort of fate either. leonel found it to be a bit cute. then he felt that maybe he was being a bit too nonchalant about this. he didn''t know why, but he couldn''t quite drum up the momentum to... give a damn.

    el''rion took a breath, steadying himself. he really was all over the place today; just what was happening to him? he was better than this.

    "... their thoughts have some logic to it. the humans that could reach the highest realms of the northern star lineage factor all died in the war. those that are left can at most reach the level of the highest envoys, but those bloodlines within humans are far weaker than they would be in the real deal. this is also true for the god beast of creation and destruction as well, but even a fraction of their power was enough to place humans on the same level as us god races. well, at least near the middle levels of us god races."

    leonel thought about the visions of those massive beasts he had seen whenever he progressed his lineage factor, and then he thought about the power he had in comparison to that, and he couldn''t help but nod to himself.

    the snowy star owl he had seen when he awakened his lineage factor initially had been able to cross an entire galaxy with a single flap of its wings. the dusky steel bat could envelop a planet with its wings. but in leonel''s eyes, they were "mere" sixth dimensional and seventh dimensional lineage factors, they weren''t even worth much in this incomplete world, let alone in the outside world.

    so staying hands off... made sense. their existences were inconsequential while they risked the end of everything if they interfered with the wrong matter.

    seeing leonel be so amused with himself, el''rion gave him a glance.

    "there is also a minority faction who think the best thing to do to remain neutral is to eradicate all humans from the face of existence."

    el''rion unfortunately didn''t get the response he wanted out of this.

    "let me guess, the void race?" leonel asked with a laugh.

    el''rion''s gaze flickered. "... no."

    "oh?" leonel responded, seemingly somewhat surprised, but not really. he felt that a void race wanting to commit mass genocide was too on the nose.

    "-they''re even more extreme. they believe that the best way to extend the life of existence is to erase most of the worlds that remain. if there''s a second faction after those that want to remain perfectly neutral, it''s them. that''s because the void race had evolved into a race that seemed to have an ability that might be able to... reset existence."

    leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "you saw it. they can destroy worlds and absorb them into their being. just this action alone maintains the balance exactly as is. every time a world is about to be destroyed, one of their ancestors absorbs it instead. that action hides the destruction from the northern star and everything remains the same. the northern star hasn''t moved any closer in the last at least several generations."

    leonel chuckled. wasn''t there an obvious weakness to this "solution"? what happened when one of their ancestors died? the worlds they had absorbed would surely be noticed by the northern star then, at that point it would just be delaying the inevitable.

    "you seem to have thought of the problem as well, but they feel that they can find a solution, it''s just that their ancestors haven''t grown powerful enough yet to break through that final barrier, to exceed the limits of the... ninth dimension. they want to sacrifice as many worlds as they need to toward that end."

    once again, el''rion didn''t receive the response he wanted.

    "so they want to be the universe''s janitor, how noble of them."

    el''rion was truly speechless this time. he really didn''t know how to deal with this man.

    "you still haven''t told me, though," leonel changed the subject. "what''s got you so agitated this time?"

    "... there''s a timeless event that''s about to begin."

    "timeless event?"

    "it''s an event that will occur no matter what changes in the past or the future."

 Chapter 2238 Why Bother?

    chapter 2238 why bother?

    "a timeless event, huh..." leonel said softly.

    "timeless events usually happen when the northern star reached a new stage. existence won''t allow anyone to reverse such a thing, or more accurately, it''s impossible to reverse. the one thing that can''t be fought against is existence itself. and this time..."

    el''rion came to a stop. the stream of stars and galaxies that had been blowing by them came to a stop, and they stood above a familiar huddle of three planets, but they were much different than what leonel remembered.

    the three pillar sector was the home of the luxnix family and two others, namely the viola and montex. the other two seemed to be irrelevant to the matter at hand, but leonel still kept their names in the back of his mind because he felt that none of this was as it seemed.

    if all of this was really a scheme of wise star order, then in all likelihood, everything had been done for a very specific purpose. of course, wise star order was also a master at sleight of hand and could very easily make him focus on something that he shouldn''t be focused on at all, but his mind now was on a completely different level than it usually was. he wouldn''t be tricked so easily.

    in the past, the three planets were in a perfect sort of harmony. one golden with swirling white clouds, another violet with dark hues of black, and the final with countless mountainous regions that could even be seen from the depths of space.

    today, this territory was that of the silver empire, and the planets didn''t look like what he remembered at all.

    "this force, how can it be here?" el''rion''s expression changed once more. "i''ve made a mistake, i shouldn''t have come so casually. this really isn''t something that i should interfere in."

    el''rion''s expression settled down, and his words came out in a calm and calculated analysis. he had clearly seen something that he didn''t like in the slightest and wanted to back out as soon as he could.

    leonel didn''t say anything. he felt that he understood what el''rion was trying to get at, or more accurately, he seemed to have instantly understood what force he was talking about. a spark went off through his dreamscape and it all pointed toward a single person... rychard of the viola family and his violet force.

    and if that was the case, it explained everything he was seeing below. n(/o-)v)/e/(l-(b.(1(.n

    it was like he had been transported back to the 19th century earth. there were billowing columns of black fumes, projected out from factories that looked as though they had been pulled out straight from a black and white movie.

    workers moved around like slaves, transporting things in and out of these large factors that took up all three planets. they seemed to cover every inch except for a single patch on the former planet luxnix, or rather soon to be. this patch was vibrant with greenery and a river of... violet.

    this violet, though... he felt something far different from it. even when rychard used that force, he didn''t feel moved. but now, he felt a great amount of danger.

    if he had been there when rychard lamented his lineage factor, maybe he would have understood somewhat...

    rychard had said that it felt like someone had played a sick joke on his family, giving them a power that they couldn''t make proper use of at all. it was like a tumor within their soul, leeching away their lives with every passing moment. it was a truly devastating chain to be burdened with.

    leonel''s smile faded, and the coldness of his gaze returned. he still didn''t understand what was going on, but there was one person who could give him an answer. he looked within the segmented cube.

    he probably should have expected it. the script practically wrote itself.

    wise star order was nowhere to be found.

    in fact, if leonel thought back, he had been nowhere to be seen ever since his father died, he just hadn''t bothered to take note of it because he didn''t care. and why would he need to appear at all? if this was a timeless event, then that meant that he didn''t need to put his hand on the scale anymore, he had already done his job and victory was his.

    "you shouldn''t have come at all if you thought it was a timeless event," leonel said casually.

    el''rion froze, but he didn''t know how to respond to that. indeed, he was far too impulsive. what could he do to change a timeless event?

    "no..." he said, somewhat forced. "timeless events are variable in that no one knows exactly what aspect of them definitely has to happen and what parts can be tweaked. a bomb might have to explode and kill many people, but the word many might be variable. it could be that only a select combination of people have to die, while the rest can be saved."

    "you made resurrecting people sound like it was impossible, but now you want to save people who should die?" leonel asked blandly. he didn''t seem to be accusing el''rion because he had never taken his words seriously in the first place.

    "you... are a truly aggravating individual."

    "thank you," leonel said. "now can you tell me what this supposed timeless event is?"

    "... soon, many citizens of this silver empire will be gathered up and slaughtered for their... parts. they''ll be brought to this factory and will be refined, and it will be allowed because they are... demons."

    "sounds simple enough to stop, just destroy the factories."

    "what about timeless event do you not understand?!" el''rion''s voice nearly came out in that dragon''s roar once again. "if we destroy these factories, they''ll come up with another method, a different approach, a different path that leads to the same thing."

    leonel smiled. "then tell me again. why did you bother coming?"

    el''rion saw red and suddenly punched out at leonel, his fist carrying the weight of worlds. he had completely forgotten to hold back.

 Chapter 2239 Dream Step. Dream Shock.

    chapter 2239 dream step. dream shock.

    leonel''s expression was already cold, but it was even more calculating than that. he had already felt the twitch of the start of el''rion''s action before he even moved with intention. inwardly, he still found it amusing, but there was nothing amusing about the power of the fist approaching him right this moment. there was no facing it, the only option was to dodge. and luckily, he was ready to do so.

    his steps moved at the same moment el''rion did, his head tilting to the side, and his body narrowing from el''rion''s perspective.

    for a long while, leonel had thought about maybe learning a dedicated technique for his movement, thinking that it might help boost himself to an all-new level. but every time he entered a situation like this one, he realized why he never had. calculating which step to take was far better than any movement technique he could learn from someone else.

    ''let''s call it... dream step.''

    his hair fluttered as the roaring beast that was el''rion''s strike flashed by his cheek, leaving a searing heat on their surface, but when had he ever feared heat?

    boom!

    even in the depths of space, there seemed to be the boom of wind and the collapse of the sound barrier, but leonel realized that it was far more devastating than that. it was more like reality itself, the fabric of space, the folds of reality, had collapsed. it was truly ridiculous that a 14-year-old had such power. what would he be like after finishing puberty?

    leonel reached forward with two fingers and jabbed them into the pluto youth''s ribcage. the latter was so large compared to him that his fingers would easily fit through the gaps, but slipping through was one matter, actually piercing through this tough, greyish-blue skin was a different matter entirely.

    however, leonel didn''t plan on piercing el''rion''s skin. he had been in the latter''s body already; he knew that it was very similar to that of humans aside from some "small" difference. he had not one stomach, but four of them. he had not one heart, but two of them. his muscle fibers made what leonel was proud of seem like more of a joke than anything else. but... the liver was still the liver.

    spear force raged to life on the tips of his fingers, growing pointed and flashing with a bright gold.

    bang!

    leonel''s two fingers pierced into the right side of el''rion''s body, his timing perfect.

    el''rion was slow to react, having regretted his punch the moment he threw it out. that was when he felt a sudden jarring pain. at first, he hadn''t felt that it was anything; he only wanted to let leonel hit him out of apology... or that was what he told himself. he didn''t know if he could dodge even if he had tried his very best.

    but right then, his nerves seemed to have been fried, and his entire body shut down. he shuddered and fell to a knee. he would have even fallen to the planets below if not for leonel grabbing onto his shoulder with a palm, squeezing down.

    even with him kneeling like this, he was still much taller than leonel, and the latter had to reach up to grip him. even so, he suddenly felt very small, and somewhat embarrassed. he looked down like a child that had done something wrong, and for the first time, leonel felt that this behemoth actually looked like he was 14 years old. n-/0velb1n

    leonel actually felt somewhat bad for a moment. in truth, he had cheated as well. in the last moment, he realized that his strength wouldn''t be enough to pierce el''rion''s defenses, so he had added something unexpected to his spear force... dream force.

    his spear domain lineage factor was perfectly designed to accept the power of other forces; that was maybe its foundational strength. so, it had happened seamlessly.

    he used his dream force to amplify the feedback el''rion felt from his strike, amplifying a dull quake into a flood. he had never been able to emit his dream force in the past, but now that he had his emulation spatial force innate note, not to mention his domains, it was no longer that difficult for him. he had gotten much more used to the feeling after assimilating lionel as well, though that power had already faded.

    el''rion''s body had shut down, but it was just a trick of the mind, one that he would have probably shrugged off quite easily if he wasn''t a child who felt that he was in the wrong.

    leonel let el''rion rise after the latter had recovered.

    ''two new abilities in just a short few seconds, not bad. i should spend more time on my ability index. let''s call this one dream shock.''

    "better?" leonel asked.

    el''rion didn''t respond. he felt bad, but that didn''t mean he had stopped thinking that leonel was a bit of an asshole. that said, he realized that this man was doing this on purpose, and getting frustrated was only playing into his hands.

    this time, he would truly take his time to calm down. he was a pluto; he couldn''t keep allowing this to happen.

    leonel smiled but he didn''t say anything. an agitated pluto wasn''t a useful pluto; how would he make use of him if he was a loose cannon? things were much better like this.

    at that moment, a starship suddenly flashed from the distance, coming out from a spatial tunnel. the markers of shield cross stars rose to the skies, and those familiar cool uniforms were lined across the bow of the ship.

    leonel''s senses pierced by them and into the ship, finding several barriers. but with a release of his dream domain, seeing through those barriers was as easy as breathing.

    he froze.

    initially, he didn''t care very much; there were just a large number of prisoners, likely being taken to those factories down below. however, deep within, he saw a man chained up, wearing broken silver armor that was all too familiar with.

    then el''rion''s words flashed in his mind.

    ''aina?''

    leonel vanished before el''rion could react.

 Chapter 2240 Crushed Slowly

    chapter 2240 crushed slowly

    leonel didn''t spare the time to think about what relation shield cross stars might have to this matter, nor did he think about how this might be tied to the timeless event. his body moved on its own, and his speed was blazing.

    why should he be surprised? it was a deduction he felt was obvious, even though he had never thought about it too clearly, especially after he had decided to crush the human domain. after he had thwarted the plan of "god" and the bishop, then continued to do so once again in the camelot zone, he had offended a mysterious organization. then, not long afterward, shield cross stars targeted him, leading him to become a fugitive. nove)lb-in

    could there even be such a coincidence in this world?

    he could feel his mage core rip force from the surroundings, forcing the spatial force to bow in obedience as he crossed into the flying space of the starship instantly.

    those of shield cross stars didn''t expect to suddenly be attacked like this. their flags were flying high, and who of the human domain didn''t know of their standing? such a standing had only solidified further after they had crushed the silver empire beneath their boots. who still dared to attack them?

    "spatial force user! deploy the barriers!"

    cross elder avan had yet to be born yet, maybe even his grandfather hadn''t even been born yet. this current mission was being led by a certain cross elder cristal, a woman built like a behemoth, standing with hulking shoulders and an even fiercer face. the way the patented metallic skirt of shield cross stars swayed between her legs beneath the forceful nature of her force made it seem as though it was made of silk rather than metal.

    she spotted leonel with a sharp gaze. although she could tell that leonel was only in the seventh dimension, she felt that something was off about this matter. while it was possible that he was a straggling member of the silver empire taking a long shot at revenge, having lost his head to fury, anyone who knew cross elder cristal knew that she did everything by the book.

    even though she could crush a seventh dimensional expert with a single look, she still forced them to deploy the shield, solidifying the spatial force in the region and ripping away what she thought was leonel''s greatest advantage. but soon enough, she realized that her caution actually wasn''t enough.

    at that moment, the pull of leonel''s mage core surged and shredded the barriers apart. the restrictions that had once been able to hold him in place were torn apart, fueling his spatial force further and allowing him to jump forward even faster.

    cross elder cristal''s eyes narrowed. the defensive barrier was already up, so one could say that by deploying a spatial lock she was doing far more than was necessary. this wasn''t a tier 2 starship like the ones in leonel''s possession; this was a tried and true tier 1 starship. its power wasn''t just a small bit greater, and its size was at least that of ten planets.

    "ready the cannons."

    another crew might have questioned why their commander was taking things so seriously, but this group had long since learned that questioning cristal was a quick path to death. they aimed the cannons that could kill even overlords with a single stroke toward the swiftly approaching seventh dimensional expert, already ready to fire.

    "fire."

    leonel vanished. he appeared before the defensive barrier, his hand stretching out. under the astonished gazes of the crew and the almighty cross elder, the barrier crumbled beneath leonel''s palm as though it was nothing more than ash in the wind.

    leonel''s current craftsmanship was on a level even life grade crafters couldn''t fathom. if he still allowed this sort of barrier to stop him, creating as the peak technology of a race not even capable of being at the peak of an incomplete world, what breakthroughs he had made would only be worthless.

    with a step, leonel crossed the shattered motes of light, a sort of deathly beauty surrounding him as his spear appeared in his hands and his third-tier armor surrounded him.

    "morales?!" cross elder cristal barked. "state your name! how dare the morales interfere in the matters of shield cross stars?!"

    leonel''s abilities weren''t exactly like she remembered the morales to be, and she had also never seen a morales without dark hair and eyes, but it was also hard to deny what she was seeing before her. she instantly decided to probe to see if she was correct about her assumption, but all she got in return was a blade.

    no. it wasn''t a blade. it was a raging tornado of swirling spear force.

    cross elder cristal went pale. when had the morales produced a spearman with this level of skill? she didn''t even realize that she had already forgotten that leonel was only in the seventh dimension.

    the spear force didn''t even touch her, but the instant it vanished, her subordinates fell to the deck one after another, and leonel had already crossed by her, vanishing into the ship.

    she was violently shaken awake. "alert!"

    leonel, who had already entered the ship, found that all the high lights were turned off, replaced by flashing, deep rouge warning lights, supplemented by a blaring sound that made the ears want to scream.

    to his back, he sensed an oppressive aura pressing down on him.

    his spatial force felt more useless in this place than anywhere else. the best barrier was dense force of all kinds, it made it unstable to teleport anywhere, and unfortunately, the walls of this starship were flooded with force pouring in from the core. leonel could only run the normal way, and obviously, he couldn''t outpace an ancestor.

    but he could outsmart one.

    his gaze flickered with a dense cold light as his stance shifted, dodging out of the way of a strike coming from his back and cutting a corner.

    he understood this ship like the back of his hand, and he had a feeling that even this cross elder wasn''t intimately familiar with this maze-like ship.

    at the same time, this ancestor couldn''t attack with her full force for fear of injuring her companions.

    he would crush her slowly.

 Chapter 2241 Not Enough

    chapter 2241 not enough

    leonel moved like lightning, his agility hitting a completely different level. every time he came across a shield cross star member, he slaughtered them without mercy. n-.o--v/(e-)l.)b/)i)(n

    although he didn''t think about it much, it was almost amusing how difficult it used to be for him to kill. but he felt like he was a boulder one had rolled up from the bottom of a steep mountain. he reached the other side now and was tumbling with such speed that it was hard to tell what would happen when he got down to the bottom.

    would he smoothly roll out and crush everything in his path? or...

    would he smash himself into countless little pieces?

    leonel turned another corner, but this time his fist flashed, coated with a beautiful gold, black armor. death force erupted from in a raging steam. it didn''t seem to want to form into something solid, preferring to be an amorphous fog akin to dark force, but leonel''s mage core compressed it down, forcing it into a gauntlet that smashed through.

    a rush of pressure came gushing out. screams filled the room as a dense heat and a leak of the fusion core spilled boiling energy into the region.

    leonel seemed entirely unaffected. could this fusion core''s energy be hotter than the innate nodes that burned in his kidneys? hot star force? was there a hotter star force than scarlet star force?

    without even turning back, the energy was pulled under his control, forming a curtain that cristal braced herself to storm through. her speed picked up, her hair singed and her fury bellowing as loudly as the hissing steam.

    she couldn''t understand how a mere tier 1 could blast a hole through the walls of this ship at such a critical point. how could channels carrying such hot fusion core energy not be heavily reinforced? but leonel had burst through them so easily that she hadn''t even been able to catch up after he slowed.

    watching her subordinates die one after another, her blood threatened to boil over. the frustration of not being able to unleash her full strength for fear that she might cause more damage felt like she had been wrapped in plastic, her nose and mouth in all. she couldn''t even run with her full force because her legs would blast through the floors, destroying whatever was below.

    the other cross elders had told her many times that she had to learn to be more delicate, but she had never expected that it would come back to bite her like this.

    she roared out in frustration as she turned a corner. as though a dragon, a line of force shot out from her lips, aiming for leonel''s back.

    ''earth force?'' leonel sneered inwardly. ''trying to use earth force as though it was fire force is amusing enough. trying to use it against me, though, when you haven''t stepped into the impetus stage despite being an ancestor is even more amusing.''

    the breath of force split around leonel''s body, being ripped from the cross elder''s control. leonel turned back as he continued to glide forward, his steps just as light.

    he raised his fists, the cross elder''s eighth dimension backed force pulling into gauntlets on his fist. he could feel their rage, shaking and quaking as he struggled to control them. in the end, an ancestor''s full strength was still beyond him... but this wasn''t her full strength.

    he inhaled a breath and his spear force surged before he punched out twice.

    he turned around and continued to rush forward, not even looking back.

    cristal''s expression changed once again, feeling a slight sense of danger. in the back of her mind, another question rose. just how had leonel used spear force with a punch? she had seen other masters use two fingers before, but that was still with the intention to treat their arm as a spear. but leonel clearly hadn''t had that intention, he had been thinking about punching all the while. doing that should have caused his spear force to scatter.

    ''this boy is... dangerous.''

    bang!

    cross elder cristal stumbled back a strong step. the ground beneath her crumpled slightly as though it was aluminum foil. her palms stretched out as she caught her own attack. she thought that she could deal with it easily as it was her own force added with a mere seventh dimensional expert''s force. but the spike of pain was immediate.

    she retrieved her palms after the force had vanished, looking down to see a spiral of blood trickling down her hands. she was astonished.

    a seventh dimensional brat had... injured her?

    cristal realized at that moment that this matter was far more serious than she knew. if she kept holding back, then she would have to stand here and watch as every shield cross stars member onboard died. even if some died beneath her rampage, they would just have to be sacrificed.

    leonel sensed the towering aura behind erupt moments later, but a smile spread across his face.

    ''it seems that she''s quite smart... and cruel, at that. unfortunately...''

    leonel''s figure flickered to the side.

    dream step.

    he slid by cristal''s blow by a hair, her fist gliding just over his shoulder and by his cheek. in fact, if all he did was shift to the side, her equally as monstrously sides chest would slam into his back. but that... was exactly what he wanted.

    ''[star fusion: combustion].''

    boom!

    an eruption of red force flooded out of leonel''s body, his strength increasing so explosively that his bones cracked and his skin splintered.

    his hands reached up, and he grabbed cristal''s elbow with two, strong hands.

    the cross elder''s eyes opened wide, but leonel had already dropped his hips, twisting his core and powering through his legs with his greatest might. flares of foggy crimson force billow out from his armor as he roared.

    cristal flipped over his shoulder, arms flailing as she tried to fly to change her momentum. unfortunately... it wasn''t enough.

    she flew right into the fusion core, blazing with energy.

    boom!

 Chapter 2242 Danger

    chapter 2242 danger

    leonel raised up his hand, his mage core flaring as he roared.

    if he left things like this, then he and everyone else on this ship would die. throwing someone into the fusion core wasn''t enough to set it off, it was designed to be far more stable than that and the entire ship was built around this design. however, a rampaging ancestor trying to save her own life was a completely different matter entirely.

    but he was prepared.

    the moment he had scanned through the ship, he had already been ready to deal with this particular outcome as he had already deduced that this would be the easiest method he could use to deal with an ancestor.

    while it was true that he had improved greatly, it wasn''t enough to close this sort of gap. he could now read and react to ancestors, but if he wanted to deal a death blow to them, he could only rely on this sort of method.

    his dream force flourished, rushing into the channels of force arts that maintained the fusion core and solidifying them. he roared as he poured 90% of his force into the closest lines and then began modifying those on the outside, morphing their structures and forcing them into more and more powerful states.

    the explosion was suddenly contained.

    heat blasted into leonel''s body, threatening to rip him to pieces. but once again, this was what he feared the least. a wide grin spread across his face, he had gained a tier 1 starship so cheaply. he had already improved enough to modify the tier 2 starship, but now this would be yet another boon. he really wanted to see who would be able to stand up to his fleet of improved starships.

    he could see cristal''s face as she continued to struggle. her armor had already melted, pouring over her skin and melding into her bone. her limbs had vanished as she focused all of her force into the most important organs of her body and her head, and this woman actually continued to roar. if nothing else, she was a fighter.

    ''your soul will do me nicely.''

    boom!

    cristal vanished, burned to ash and the fusion core collapsing under her might, only to be reined in by leonel''s own.

    the starship rumbled and dimmed, its power constructs fading as the channels were interrupted. it tipped over, but it continued to stay in the skies. the real problem was that without its protective force fields, its effect on gravity was immense, and instead of it falling toward the planets... it was instead the planets that began to be pulled toward it.

    leonel''s gaze flickered. he had been forced to disrupt the channels so that he could stabilize the core. he knew this would happen but... one problem at a time, right? n-.o--v/(e-)l.)b/)i)(n

    he had to re-establish the channels and that would take time. by then, the planets below would be ripped out of their usual alignment. although he was confident in succeeding before they came crashing into the ship, it would still be too late to save the original balance. unless...

    at that moment, a familiar grey-blue skinned little boy god appeared in his senses, raiding the hourglass and freezing the planets in place.

    leonel''s lip curled and he got to work. it took him a few hours, much more than he had thought it would. but that was the thing with destroying things, it was far faster to do so than it was to build them back up.

    after he was done, he rushed out, still slaughtering all of the shield cross star members that he came across. they weren''t innocents, they were shoulders, and he didn''t have the room nor the care to take prisoners.

    he appeared before a particular door and saw aina, or rather the emperor within. she didn''t seem to notice that he was there until he opened the gates. when she saw leonel, her reaction wasn''t as leonel had expected at all.

    aina opened her mouth to say something, but then she hesitated, forcing herself to calm down. she didn''t know what kind of state leonel was in, but the last time she had seen him, well... it was safe to say that their usual banter wouldn''t fly.

    "aina brazinger holding her tongue? i think i need to document this momentous occasion." leonel said, nodding to himself as though seeing something spectacular.

    aina was caught off guard and then suddenly furious. "what are you trying to say?! am i a woman who doesn''t understand propriety?!"

    leonel coughed. "well, let''s just say i only dared to say as much because you''re in chains. there''s really no better time, no?"

    aina glared at him, one part relieved, another part feeling that this change was far too easy, and yet another part feeling like ripping his face apart.

    "you absolute idiot, do i look like the type of person who gets caught so easily?! in this body, i could have ripped that foul woman apart ten times over, i''m doing something important and you just went and ruined it!"

    leonel smiled. he had guessed this the moment he saw aina''s expression after noticing him, but he didn''t feel too bad about it because what was done was done, at least in this case, anyway. also, he could tell that her frustration didn''t really come from him either.

    it was likely that upon her capture, she had suffered quite a lot, but she had forced herself to hold back her usually... violent temper. that straight laced ancestor he had just killed would have definitely made her life a living hell. she was probably looking forward to turning things on their head, but then he had appeared.

    "then what''s your original plan?" leonel asked. "i have a helpful little boy outside, it might make things easier on us."

    "... little boy?" aina asked.

    listening to her speak in such a rough and deep voice, when he had grown used to that sonorous, siren-like melody of a voice, was far easier than leonel had accepted. it was as though the moment he realized this was aina, he fell in love again. of course... he would never tell his boys that he was looking upon a middle aged man with such fondness in his eyes... he''d have to take that one to the grave.

    "forget it, this matter is bigger than you know. i don''t know why you''re in your original body, but if you only have seventh dimensional strength, you''re in danger!"

 Chapter 2243 Shredded to Pieces

    chapter 2243 shredded to pieces

    leonel''s gaze flashed. "i just killed an ancestor, you know, this lack of belief is hurtful."

    aina rolled her eyes. even in that body, it seemed that she oozed feminine charm. it was funny watching a middle-aged man act like this. he would probably be mortified if he were anywhere in there. he had spent all of his life being a dignified emperor, only for this to happen. poor guy.

    "i don''t have many details, but i know that someone was waiting and expecting all of this to happen. more than half of the silver empire''s galaxies were wiped out in an instant, and our fighting force was crushed. even those that survived were suddenly ripped apart by the wild shift in gravity, i barely managed to hold onto the capital as it was.

    "you know this, i entered the silver empire''s zone before and i got a technique out of it. it''s the technique that allowed me to assimilate with real demon blood and create my own demonic form. for whatever reason, these people are very interested in this technique and are doing whatever they can to get their hands on it.

    "i was originally in a battle with them before shield cross stars came on "official business" and they vanished."

    "you don''t know who they are?" leonel asked.

    "i can''t be certain but... but they felt a lot like the people we met in the cataclysm zone, but more mature and stronger. their foundations were incredibly solid, and their force manipulation, as you called it, was off the charts. luckily, the silver emperor''s body was incredibly powerful too."

    leonel frowned. he felt confused, like countless stories were piling together in a manner that didn''t quite make sense to him, and he still didn''t understand how this matter might be related to the timeless event. according to his understanding, the dream project couldn''t be created by the cataclysm zone''s families and pavilions on their own. instead, they relied on a favor the plutos owed to the fawkes, gaining the incomplete worlds, and then using it for their experimentation. there was likely some point in that timeline where they stabbed the fawkes family in the back, and earth became his grandfather''s contingency plan, or maybe it was his plan all along, he wasn''t certain.

    the likely purpose of the dream project was to strengthen the cataclysm zone so they could deal with an upcoming threat, likely demons that were adjacent to their world. as such, it made sense that they might send people in to steal a technique capable of allowing them to assimilate with demons.

    this wasn''t what confused leonel. he wanted to know how these matters were woven into one another and how they might come back to tie into the timeless event. he felt like he was missing just one kernel that might weave all of these things together.

    "were they wrapped in black chains and golden runes?" leonel asked.

    aina, who was about to continue, stopped. "how''d you know?"

    she hadn''t been there to witness the death of leonel''s father, so she didn''t know how leonel could possibly know these things. but yes, it was true that they had looked like that.

    "i''ve seen them before... on that day," leonel said lightly.

    aina fell into silence. she knew what leonel was talking about before he even explained. she wanted to comfort him, but he spoke before that.

    "continue."

    "i realized immediately that there was something wrong with the appearance of shield cross stars. their appearance was too timely."

    "wouldn''t they want to deal with the silver empire too?" leonel asked.

    according to the history of the human domain, the silver empire was always a scourge, they were just too powerful to deal with immediately so they were tolerated. of course, this all wrapped back to the fact that they were "demons".

    "i would have thought so too, but i''ve learned a lot, speaking and questioning attendants and such. i assumed that all of this was related to the zone, which was why i was following it all to the end. according to my understanding, everything in the human domain has been peaceful for a long while, everyone accepted the silver empire''s "demon" status as something that was just part of their power."

    leonel nodded slowly. indeed, it had always sounded like an excuse to him. the morales and the suiard both had clearly demonic characters in their lineage factors, so why weren''t they treated the same? something didn''t add up.

    "it seems that no one turned on the silver empire until they were suddenly greatly weakened, and then they swooped in.

    "if what you''re saying is correct, it''s even odder. those people who were capable of battling... your father should be supremely powerful, there''s no reason for them to fear the appearance of shield cross stars unless there was another reason."

    the pieces were slowly coming together, becoming clearer in leonel''s mind. of course, he had been na?беve. if the four great families could target the fawkes family, destroying them, even though the latter was the reason they had a chance at all to grow powerful, then who was to say that there wasn''t more internal strife in the cataclysm zone complete world?

    even further than just that, they had the tablets that could grant them the northern star lineage factor, and on top of that, somehow, in the past, the fawkes family had been strong enough to have the pluto race owe them a favor... how else could they have been that strong if not by the most obvious answer?

    it all lined up slowly. those henchmen of the god beast of destruction had yet to vanish from the world, they were still making their presence known, and they were trying to sink their claws into one of the few remaining human bubbles.

    it was almost obvious. after such a war, how could there be many humans left if even the god beasts had practically gone extinct? any that remained would be first on the chopping block, they were probably being ripped apart by the sheer number of forces trying to take control of them. n)/o-.v/)e--l(.b/-i/)n

    at that moment, it happened. the veil that el''rion had put upon the planets in order to keep them in alignment was shredded to pieces.

    leonel''s gaze sharpened.

 Chapter 2244 Horizon

    chapter 2244 horizon

    leonel stomped, disrupting the force arts beneath him and releasing the shackles that had bound aina. her expression couldn''t help but change; it definitely shouldn''t have been so simple. she might not be a crafter, but she had some understanding of the profession, and though she knew leonel was excellent, he hadn''t reached the point of being able to ignore everything, or else it wouldn''t have been so difficult for him to deal with the starship of the omann family.

    but now... it felt like he looked at this level of craftsmanship as though it was child''s play. it had only been less than a day since the last time she saw him. her expression flickered with a hint of a complex emotion.

    leonel''s greatest fear in the past was that his compassion would vanish and his truest self would be unveiled, causing him to disregard the lives of the people he had once wanted to become a king in order to protect. however, the fears of everyone else should have been very different.

    if the leonel of the past was gone, and he spent every day, seriously plotting to improve himself toward a goal, then just what would he accomplish?

    she had always been a hard worker, but leonel always seemed to keep up with her steps effortlessly. this wasn''t something that she had ever told him about, but it left her feeling a bit uncomfortable, not because she was jealous, but because she felt that he might very well leave her behind one day.

    it was an odd emotion for her, especially since the reason she trained so hard wasn''t for the sake of keeping up with leonel, but rather to gain revenge for her mother. the fact she had such thoughts left her feeling guilty on two fronts, one being that of leonel and her hope that he would slow down somewhat, and the second being that of her mother who she felt should be her sole focus...

    these were things that she could never bring herself to speak about with leonel because she felt that they were just as ridiculous as the thoughts that had caused her to leave him in the first place, a decision she still regretted to this day. also, what kind of girlfriend would she be pouring her problems onto leonel when it was he who needed support now and not him?

    in all of her swirl of emotions, triggered by a simple action of leonel''s, she shook when leonel suddenly vanished. she saw that smirk on his face and snorted.

    leonel appeared on the outside of the starship with great speed, however when he got there, he found the back of a broken silver armor. his lip couldn''t help but twitch.

    "you''re slow." aina said lightly, hiding away her grin with her broad shoulders and back.

    leonel opened his mouth to respond, but he closed it.

    aina snickered, loving every minute, but soon neither of them could focus on their banter at all because what was happening below seemed to be... nothing?

    they frowned. aina obviously didn''t know who el''rion was just yet, but she had sensed it as well. there had just been a large and sturdy barrier, but it had vanished. no, it had been unceremoniously shattered by an overwhelming strength. so who had done it, where had it gone?

    aina''s first instinct was the large grey-blue man who made her heart skip a beat, radiating a danger that put her on guard. but when she saw that leonel didn''t mind him, she knew that there was something deeper going on here, and it had nothing to do with this man.

    "you know him?" aina asked.

    "ah, the little boy, yeah, he''s alright, i guess."

    "... little?"

    "don''t say that with so much shock, you''ll make me think i''m lacking something," leonel pouted.

    aina rolled her eyes. was it just her or had this man become more insufferable? how he could still flirt with her when she was in this body was beyond her, but it also somewhat warmed her heart.

    "i didn''t think you''d be so flirty. is there something you want to tell me?"

    "ah," leonel placed a hand to his chest, "if this is your way of asking me if i want to introduce a third to our bedroom, i''ll have to reject, thank you. i''m not a fan of sharin-"

    a kick landed on leonel''s chest, sending him flying back into the flagship.

    el''rion caught this matter in his periphery, and he really wanted to be happy about it. but... it was coming.

    "can''t you choose your words more carefully!" aina put her hands on her hip, another amusing sight. "if someone else had said something like that, you would have probably put their head on a pike."

    leonel coughed between his laughter. she wasn''t wrong, but that only made it funnier.

    boom!

    leonel''s eyes widened. his internal sight hadn''t caught onto what was happening at all. it just suddenly appeared, a hand the size of a planet, extending out from one of the many factories beneath. he realized that it wasn''t that he had been neglectful, but rather the very same protections that the rapax had against his senses.

    he deployed his dream domain instantly, but to his shock, even this was useless. even the rapax couldn''t hide from the deployment of his dream world, but then he remembered.

    his lineage factor had changed. how could he still deploy his dream world at all? he no longer had the three domains of the starry tailed fox.

    his perception changed and the way he used his dream world changed once again. but he realized that even then, it was still useless.

    all of this happened in an instant, even as he was rushing to his feet.

    when he laid his eyes on it, his heart grew stone cold. it wasn''t a hand at all, it was a shadow that seemed to cover the skies to infinity, reaching up like it had no limits and appearing before el''rion in an instant.

    the pluto was set flying back, his still injured chest caving in even further as he flashed so far into the distance he looked like one of the many stars on the horizon... n)(0velb1n

    leonel was certain. one of the god beast of destruction''s henchmen, the shadow tail had appeared.

 Chapter 2245 Damned Woman

    chapter 2245 damned woman

    leonel''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

    "aina!" he roared.

    up until this point, aside from his father, el''rion was simply the strongest person he had ever come across. although he had been injured by the entity and only had a fraction of his peak strength remaining, he had attacked that very same man with the full brunt of his modified starship and hadn''t even managed to cut his wrist off completely, what should have supposedly been one of the weakest parts of his body.

    but now, that very same el''rion, while holding his family''s strongest treasure at that, was blown away as though a leaf in the wind. the strength of this monstrous creature wasn''t something that he could fathom. and the most horrible part was that even after he had attacked, the regulator showed no intention of taking action.

    aina had already acted. in fact, she was happy that she had sent leonel flying into the starship as well because even though she was shaking in fear currently, she couldn''t imagine what would happen to leonel if he was struck like that.

    leonel stood in a fury, but aina was already attacking. n--o(-v./e/(1).b.(i(/n

    "damned woman, how da-"

    leonel caught him, surprised by what he had been about to say, but that didn''t calm his rage at all. he was far too furious to think about it with much depth; his thoughts were entirely occupied with how to get out of this situation.

    but that only lasted a second before the rage spilled over once again. why didn''t she listen to him?! there was clearly a huge gap between them, a gap that couldn''t be closed with her style of battle, the smart thing would be to rely on his style of battle instead. no matter how much she hated it, it was clear and obvious that his more devious, long-game, calculation-intensive approach to battle was the far better approach here.

    and yet, she had just stormed in as though he needed to be protected to her back.

    it was cute, funny even when they were in normal settings and he allowed her to take the lead. it was lighthearted, and he didn''t mind because he was confident in himself not to care. he loved her, and that was enough for him to allow her to do as she pleased in 99% of situations. but in this 1%, in these dangerous situations, in times where their lives were on the line, she had to listen to him! she had to let him stand in front of her, no matter what she perceived her strength to be!

    leonel dashed forward at his greatest possible speed. the appearance of the shadow tail and the destruction of the barrier of time and space had been far too volatile and violent, causing his spatial force to be useless. he ran forward even though he knew it was foolish, even though he knew it would change nothing. his best weapon was the ship he had just been in. even his modified ships were at least 20% weaker than a true tier 1 starship, and yet he ignored it all.

    but he was far too slow. without the use of external force, he was just a tier 1 of the seventh dimension. he wasn''t a member of the god races, he wasn''t even one of the many races just a step below, he was a human, he was weak.

    aina punched out with the full strength that she could muster. all of her previous "injuries" seemed to have vanished, but they had only been that, facades she used to let the members of shield cross stars think that they had been able to catch her. in reality, she had already long since surpassed the former silver emperor, and not just by a small margin at that.

    it gave her confidence. confidence that vanished in the face of this beast. but she had to stand before it.

    she gave her everything, throwing out a strike that was the greatest of her life.

    it was far too similar. a strike that gave everything to protect the person they cared so much for to their back.

    leonel''s gaze turned a furious shade of red, trying to tap into a power hidden deep within him.

    but then he saw a smile. it was just a pair of cherry lips, graceful and beautiful, enticing and soft, so gorgeous it could make a man forget everything in his life to worship at the feet of its owner.

    he only saw it for a brief moment, and then the power that he couldn''t even control, power he wasn''t confident in pulling out of himself in the first place, vanished like a puff of wind. it was as though that smile was teasing him, holding a piece of meat right in front of his face. it was insulting, patronizing, the lowest form of instigation.

    and it worked.

    aina''s fist landed, and an overwhelming force swallowed her up. leonel couldn''t spot anything but a mist of blood. bits and pieces of something shattered, sent flying so far into the distance, and at such a fast speed, he didn''t even have the time to catch her.

    dead? dead again? another one? so quickly? he had just... just...

    leonel roared, his fury rising like an overwhelming tide.

    "i''ll kill you! i swear i''ll kill you! i''ll shred apart everything you care for! i''ll grind your pride into the dirt and make you face that sick smile!"

    it didn''t matter how loud he roared, how violently his blood boiled, that same overwhelming power didn''t come. that smile didn''t even appear again. it was as though it couldn''t be bothered to stick around to listen to the tantrum of a child; she had already seen the amusing expression she had wanted to see. she was bored now and wanted to entertain herself with something else.

    however, none of this stopped leonel''s furious bellow. what did was the shadow tail suddenly turning on him, curving through the air as though it didn''t have a form and smashing toward him.

 Chapter 2246 Fear

    chapter 2246 fear

    leonel watched the shadow tail come toward him, his body and his very soul seething. the veins in his eyes popped and seemed to roar all on their own, breaking and pulsing. they shattered, blood leaking from his eyes and splitting over. however, just as quickly as they appeared, they erupted into a burning flame.

    streaks of fire ran down his cheeks as he watched the shadow tail get closer and closer, but he didn''t move, he didn''t even seem to react at all.

    the flames dripped down his body, blazing with greater and greater fervor.

    "she called me a destruction sovereign," leonel suddenly said, as though he was speaking to the shadow tail that approached him. in the vastness of space, their distance between one another couldn''t even be described in simple kilometers and miles any longer, and yet it crossed this seemingly impossible distance with such speed that it only seemed normal that leonel couldn''t react.

    "she said i shouldn''t exist, that she felt the need to kill me for that. is that what your people told her? did you use a similar reason to target my father? was he too great a threat to you? a variable you couldn''t deal with? so much so that you had to use a coward''s path to deal with him? couldn''t even face him yourself? too scared to fall to a single spear strike?"

    the shadow tail was moving even faster, the distance closing with such speed that it was already upon leonel. it didn''t even seem to respond as though it never understood his words. but leonel continued speaking as though it didn''t matter to him one way or another.

    "is that all you mighty races are worth? all the backbone you have? are you that easily scared?" leonel looked up, his gaze no longer even seemed to be a gaze, it was rather two blazing balls of red-gold flames, flickering with the brightness of a twin pair of stars. "in that case, i''ll give you something to truly fear. remember this promise, you and the rest of your kind. i, leonel morales, will not rest until every single last one of you is wiped from existence."

    "do you think i need this power? do you think it matters if i don''t have a fraction of your strength?" nove-lb(in

    the blazing fires in leonel''s eyes seemed to catch the surface of the shadow tail, but they did absolutely nothing. they might as well have been a pair of gently blowing winds, gliding across its tough, black skin. the raging heat was worthless before its might. however, as insignificant as they were, the fires continued to flicker weakly as though in sheer defiance as leonel spoke one last time.

    "i swear that i will do these things, and i will do so as a human."

    that power, he would never use it again. not until he crushed that smile beneath his feet, not until she understood with or without it, she wasn''t worthy of mocking him. no one was. not even this shadow tail. not even while he was merely in the seventh dimension. not even when a pluto could do nothing before its might.

    still within the range of the starship, having not moved nearly fast enough to get out of its way, leonel suddenly stretched his dream force out, solidifying his dream world once more, but not to observe this shadow tail. instead, he activated the defensive formation once again.

    bang!

    the shadow tail shot through it as though it was nothing but a thin pane of glass. it was so swift that if not for the shattered motes of force, it would have been impossible to tell that there had been a barrier up at all. however, leonel didn''t even seem to care. in fact, leonel wasn''t standing in the same spot at all, he had already moved.

    he had deployed the barrier not to stop this monster before him, but rather as a stabilizing force. he used the power of the starship to still the raging force in the surroundings and allow him to use his spatial force once again.

    he appeared a long distance away, deep within the range of the starship and hovering over its body. his gaze only seemed to grow colder and colder despite the raging flames only becoming hotter and hotter. veins of red tore across his skin and the space around him cracked and fractured, collapsing and fissuring.

    boom!

    the shadow tail tore through the tier 1 starship as though it was paper mache. the strongest weapon of the human domain was worthless before it, a piece of tin foil trash. it didn''t matter what materials it was made out of, what could it do against an envoy of destruction?!

    the ship was ripped to shreds, even the fusion core was absolutely useless, it flew through it as though it was nothing more than a slightly warm breeze, causing a deafening explosion that could be heard across the galaxy. it flung out so much matter that sound even traveled normally.

    "little lion!"

    leonel finally heard his mother''s screech. he had already sensed her appearance, but her force couldn''t reach so far, and the vacuum of space hadn''t allowed her voice to travel. it was only then that he registered her voice for only a moment before it was overwhelmed by the boom!

    however, his only thoughts were simple. he was here... so why was she worried?

    leonel stretched out his hands, the bits and pieces of the starship, or rather the force arts that had once formed them together into a single existence, responded to his call even as the shadow tail closed the distance once more.

    "you... will be the first."

    at that moment, the scattered pieces of debris, flying out in all directions, wildly and uncontrolled, froze into place under a mysterious power. they were linked, one after another in a pattern that would be oh so familiar to anyone who had completed the trial puzzle of the dimensional cleanse zone.

    the power of the destroyed fusion core flooded into the surroundings, pooling away, and much of it being pulled into leonel''s control under his scarlet star force, strengthening the connection between the nodes.

    the world froze and then leonel and the shadow tail vanished.

    silence fell and a vast emptiness was left behind.

    ...

    leonel didn''t know how long he watched the scene. watching the shadow tail writhe in pain and horror, being slowly torn apart by the collapsing world around them didn''t move him.

    a god-like creature was being tortured beneath his schemes, beneath his own power, and yet he only felt that it was natural, a dense emptiness within his heart.

    he reached forward, grabbing its shredded body as it slowly breathed its last. it was enormous compared to his body. it was like an ant holding up a silverback gorilla, looking down at it like a hunting trophy.

    he could finally feel some emotion coming from it. it was palpable, hanging in the air like a thick curtain of heavy rain.

    rage, fury, humiliation... fear.

    "yes." leonel spoke lightly. "that''s exactly what you should feel. it''s what i''ll make every single last one of you feel."

 Chapter 2247 Stunned Speechless

    chapter 2247 stunned speechless

    leonel walked out from seemingly nowhere, a corpse as large as a moon, and only getting bigger, hanging from his silver, white-gold arm. the shadow tail''s body seemed to be losing its form slowly, or what small bit of form it had once had, the longer it spent dead. its billowing dark force spread out, and as it did so, its large, mangled body expanded as though there was a balloon within it.

    he was so small compared to the corpse of the shadow tail that it was almost impossible to tell that the former was being carried at all, it seemed more like the beast was languid, beaten and battered with injuries, and it was only now slowly making its way back.

    as for leonel, his gaze was vacant and empty. they held an unfathomable depth, one worn and torn by the ages.

    there was one person, though, who noticed him immediately.

    alienor, or rather alienor in the body of a woman he didn''t recognize, rushed forward with her greatest speed. however, in the devastation, and especially after being blown so far back by the destruction of the fusion core, just how far was that distance?

    who could stop a grieving mother, though?

    it had been hours since leonel had disappeared, and alienor had already pried herself forward, looking through the debris of the destroyed tier 1 starship. when she saw the shadow tail suddenly appear, she rushed forward in a fury. but when she noticed its startling lack of a reaction, and then saw that it was actually being carried, her tears spilled forward in a torrent.

    she rushed forward and buried leonel''s head into her chest, holding onto him maybe more tightly than she should have. she seemed to have completely forgotten that to leonel, she should have just been a random woman he had never met before, but she couldn''t be bothered to deal with this.

    she didn''t care how leonel had defeated the shadow tail, she didn''t care where he had gone, she didn''t care about the zone or what challenges they had passed or failed, she just pulled in her son as tightly as she could, and leonel let her do as he pleased.

    he stood there, silently listening to the sobs of his mother.

    after a long while, he spoke, "there''s never a need to worry when i''m here. i promise."

    alienor only cried harder when she heard this. these words, they were all too familiar. she had tried her best to not show leonel her tears, to not show weakness, to be the same strong pillar that her husband had been, but the loss was weighing heavy on her, and just now she thought that she had lost even her son.

    she wasn''t strong enough, not nearly strong enough. her son shouldn''t have to say such words to her, her husband shouldn''t have had to say such words to her, she should have been able to stand in front of the former and stand beside the latter, and yet all she could do was hold them and cry.

    "i''m sorry, little lion, mom is sorry..."

    leonel didn''t say anything. he had already said all he needed to say. he might understand how his mother felt, or how aina had felt, but soon, there would come a day where their hearts could lay to rest and their calm could return, a day when their confidence in him was just as high as his confidence in himself... and if not? then the day where there was no one left to threaten them would come first.

    alienor pulled back, teary faced, looking into the abyss of her son''s eyes. she didn''t seem surprised to see this. she had observed leonel for far longer than he knew, at least until recently. she understood him better than most, which was exactly why she had never tried to coddle his feelings.

    but it was ironic. she said that she would be a true mother, and yet she had indulged her son instead of doing the opposite. it was embarrassing, she wasn''t all that far from 100 years old, relatively speaking, but she still didn''t quite understand how to be a parent.

    it was hard to accept. she had been talented all her life, and it could be said that she rarely came across any roadblocks, but this... she didn''t quite know what to do.

    "i''ll be back," leonel said lightly before alienor could make up her mind.

    he took a step and vanished into the distance. alienor''s shoulders trembled, but she bit her lip hard, so hard that blood dribbled down her chin. she didn''t have a decision, but the one thing she knew was that her tears wouldn''t fix anything.

    ...

    leonel moved into the distance, crossing large distances.

    "anastasia," leonel said.

    "mm."

    "is the snowglobe large enough to take this thing?"

    "you want to keep it?"

    "i can''t leave it lying around just anywhere, and i feel like i might be able to use it to strengthen my lineage factors with..."

    his voice trailed off. he wanted to say aina''s help, but his intention switched. if aina''s skill increased enough, she could definitely succeed. if he wanted to use it to form an armor, he didn''t know if even his current self, with all the improvement he had made, was enough to process this envoy of destruction into a divine armor. it was a task so complex he couldn''t wrap his mind around it, and he had yet to ever use living existences in his armor, he didn''t even quite know if it was possible.

    "... none of the current snowglobes can contain it, but i can do something about that." n-)0velb1n

    "thanks," leonel said lightly.

    the corpse suddenly vanished from his hand, but not before a certain pluto caught sight of it from the distance.

    el''rion''s tongue felt both tied and frozen. that creature that had shaken him to his core was... dead? it was dead? and by the hands of this human?

    no, the timeless event, it surely revolved around this creature, no? what did that mean for it, then? just how...

    he was stunned speechless.

 Chapter 2248 What Good Was It?

    chapter 2248 what good was it?

    the pluto race youth was in a sorry state. it was already odd seeing someone so heavily injured not bleed even a drop of blood, but that was maybe the constant state of the pluto race.. on the rare occasion that they were actually hurt, that is.

    "you... you... what happened?"

    leonel walked by the el''rion, ignoring him. he could spare a few words for his mother, but el''rion wasn''t such a person to him. in fact, if he could kill el''rion and take the hourglass, he would do so. unfortunately, he would have to waste his best opportunity to get his hands on that item until he could figure out a method to take it away without it ripping his arm from his shoulder.

    el''rion''s gaze flickered, but he didn''t say anything. leonel had already been in a bad state when he met him, but this...

    leonel continued to walk, the further he got out of the range of the original battlefield, the further he could blink ahead.

    eventually, he made it.

    in the depths of space, there was no wind, no resistance, and the forces in action were so weak that once something started flying in a certain direction, getting it to stop was just hoping that it crashed into a planet. but in the vastness of this emptiness, that was like hoping a sewing line would thread itself into a needle cast into the ocean off the back of a wave. there was too much darkness, too much emptiness...

    but that also meant that if something flew in a single direction, you would almost always find it continuing in that said direction... at the same speed, at the same pace...

    the first thing leonel saw was red. a blob of rouge that surged through the skies, scattered like a smear of paint. there wasn''t even the semblance of a body remaining, there was nothing body blood, even the flesh was minced so fine that it looked not much different. the fact there was anything at all remaining, though, was quite surprising. leonel had begun his journey, thinking that he wouldn''t find anything at all. maybe he would walk in this direction to the ends of the universe and never find the remains of aina.

    he felt his heart lurch as he stood there. he didn''t even know why he had come, it was just as foolish as his actions had been previously. he knew that if he found anything, it would be exactly this, a spattering of blood, drawn across the endless darkness of space, a ghastly gore that even the twinkling stars in the distance couldn''t seem to brighten.

    there was no breath, no life, nothing. and why would there be? there wasn''t even a body to hold it.

    that rage that leonel thought he had vented, watching the shadow tail writhe and squirm in its last moments, came back even more furious.

    they should have grown old together. they should have had a school of children. he should have crowned each one of them little princes and princesses, allowing them to live a life of freedom and leisure.

    he gripped his fists so hard that the small bones in his hands cracked one after another, his nails splintering, but he couldn''t seem to feel it at all.

    he knew it was all useless. he had allowed aina to separate her soul, the destruction of her body shouldn''t have been the end of her, but how could such a blow not shatter any semblance of an ethereal glabella that she had? and even if it hadn''t, this zone would have forced her soul to fuse with the body of the silver emperor, there was no telling if the benefits would still be the same.

    without an ethereal glabella, her soul would have dissipated from her body even quicker. after he had spent hours battling the shadow tail, it was impossible that there would still be a soul here for him to awaken.

    he gripped his fists harder. the shadow tail was targeting everyone, it targeted him immediately after dealing with aina. he didn''t have the strength to ignore it and go after aina immediately. he could only sit and wait for it to die, dancing on the edge of life and death until he could finally return. but he knew it was useless.

    even if he had been able to go after aina immediately, the speed of the blow was so great, and she was moving so fast, that by the time he finally caught up, her soul would have already dissipated. the only reason she had even slowed down enough for him to catch up at all was because her body had dispersed into countless pieces and the force was distributed across them. ironically, the reason he could see her again, even in this case, was because she was nothing more than a mist of blood.

    leonel closed his eyes, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest.

    suddenly, his eyes opened wide. his actions seemed to be a step ahead of his thoughts as he opened a palm, a golden tablet appearing within. he had taken it out of aina''s room, or rather their room. aina had stopped staying in her own room a long time ago.

    something clicked for leonel.

    he reached forward, his vital star force blazing to life and it sparked like blue lightning, jumping from his finger and toward the first blob of blood. at the same time, his hand that held the tablet pulsed. n)/0velb1n

    as though a magnet, the globules of blood, connected by vital star force, roared to life and surged into the tablet.

    leonel frowned. he had acted practically on instinct, as though his body wasn''t his own. he knew that vital star force was the life force of the body, but what good was it if there was no soul or ethereal glabella? the root of one''s life was one''s soul force and dream force. he had seen many examples already of people living with their bodies destroyed but their souls intact, it didn''t even make sense to him that the vice versa could happen.

    what did it mean to have a body without a soul? wouldn''t it just be an empty carcass?

    what good would it be to regain aina''s corpse? in fact, it might not even look like aina, it would just be... a middle-aged man''s naked body...

 Chapter 2249 A Pair of Sovereigns

    chapter 2249 a pair of sovereigns

    leonel''s pupils constricted. the blood came together, forming a connection with the tablet, but what shocked him the most was the form it took. it was aina, most definitely aina. although it was like a liquid mass of crimson, and it was a body formed entirely of blood without the slightest hint of flesh and bone, he would recognize that body anywhere. in fact, he recognized it even before the details of her face fully formed and strands of long, blood hairs took shape as well.

    however, after being shocked for a moment, leonel closed his eyes and sighed. it still had no soul. he had gotten a foolish rush of hope just now when even someone from third dimensional earth would be able to understand what was going on.

    a single cell of the body carried all the dna information one needed about a person. that sequence would be able to decide everything. it was probably possible from those of higher dimensional worlds to reform a body out of a single drop of blood, and even take some guesses as to what kind of personality the person in question might have had.

    of course, this was possible in higher dimensional worlds, because it was possible even on modern earth. it quite literally meant nothing that this blood was able to take the shape of aina''s real body. in fact, if a blood sovereign tablet wasn''t capable of at least this much, then what worth would it have? how would it still dare to call itself such a thing?

    the only real oddity is that it managed to pull out aina''s body from within the silver emperor''s body, a feat that leonel had only seen the entity accomplish so easily, but even that made perfect sense. n-.o/)v//e(-l-(b-(1-.n

    the human race was one connected to the god beasts of both creation and destruction. leonel didn''t believe that it was a coincidence that this golden tablet shared the same color as the fawkes golden tablet, and most importantly, what he assumed would be the northern star lineage factors'' two golden tablets.

    for them to share the same form as the northern star lineage factor, it wasn''t too large of a leap to assume that all of the tablets originated from the god beasts. the humans were able to retain some of them even after the war, and for whatever reason, the other races hadn''t targeted them for possession. though... even that might not necessarily be true.

    from leonel''s understanding, the cataclysm zone was in great danger and that was the reason for the existence of these simulation worlds in the first place. it could very well be that these tablets were precisely what their enemies were targeting.

    that would also explain why they had held such a competition when leonel had been there and why they allowed the youths to trade for them. though leonel hadn''t exactly traded for this golden tablet, he didn''t gather nearly enough points.

    this was all to say that if there was a treasure that could accomplish what that entity had, then it was these very golden tablets. even this wasn''t too surprising.

    leonel''s gaze softened somewhat as he looked at the bloody mist that had formed into aina. he felt a pressure on his chest increase before he pressed it down. it was exactly while he was focused on this that aina''s figure was sucked into the tablet.

    his heart skipped a beat and he pulled the tablet back hurriedly, but it was already too late. he felt a panic in his heart, he had no idea what this tablet wanted to do and his understanding of the blood sovereign path was far too limited. even so, from his understanding, devouring blood was practically the baseline of how all of these abilities worked. what if that was exactly what this tablet wanted to do?

    but it was too late. he couldn''t do anything as it rushed in, even ripping away a large portion of his vital star force and practically sucking his three vital stars out of his body.

    his body went limp and he stumbled in the air, almost falling over entirely. beaten and haggard, he looked toward the tablet with a listless expression, unable to even see straight and proper any longer.

    and then everything fell into silence.

    there was no magical revival, no sudden change, no earth shuddering, jaw dropping transformations... there was just nothing.

    leonel drifted in the emptiness, not saying anything. the despair on his face had already faded and he simply did nothing, thought nothing, not moving at all. he probably should have felt rage, and that he did, but he had already reached such a peak that it simply simmered and smoldered over the hot, ashy coals of his heart. he had reached such a depth of wrath and fury that it simply became nothing but a bright sheet of white, reflecting on his face as indifference and coldness.

    he didn''t know how long passed, but he simply stood, placing the golden tablet back into his and aina''s room.

    he walked back slowly, not noticing the smokey blackness under the soles of his feet.

    when he turned, he realized that el''rion was still there. he seemed to be trying to keep a "respectful" distance. not that that meant much when he could quite literally see for thousands of miles away as though it was all right before his face.

    looking at the soles of leonel''s feet, and the smokey ash coming out from the sides of his eyes, el''rion paused.

    "you are a destruction sovereign?"

    leonel didn''t answer, he simply kept walking.

    destruction sovereign? god beast of destruction? he wouldn''t be surprised if they were related somehow and even less if el''rion tried to kill him for it. however, he was truly not in the mood. if the pluto race wanted to lose a junior today, he would gladly oblige.

    "she''s a blood sovereign?"

    leonel, who had ignored el''rion to this point, looked toward him, his eyes carrying a smoldering sharpness. el''rion could even feel the heat on his own eyes. had he not been a pluto, his eyes would have already combusted.

    "then you can probably save her."

 Chapter 2250 A While

    chapter 2250 a while

    leonel didn''t say anything, and his expression didn''t change. he simply stood there and waited.

    "blood sovereigns are different from the rest of us. sovereigns in general. being a sovereign is like catching a glimpse of the life state before stepping foot into it truly."

    the life state was the second last state of force manipulation there was. it represented, apparently, the so-called second dimension, a dimension in which only the regulator could exist in. it was apparently where the spark of life and the way little nana''s elder brother had described it, it made leonel think of the big bang theory of earth. an instant of time that was both instant and yet infinite, it was a beautiful picture that he wasn''t in the head space to admire.

    "it''s that faint hint of the life state that allows your force to have seemingly inexplicable properties. it''s why your spear force can recognize what is and isn''t a spear, and it''s also why it can swallow up lesser spear forces. though, if your enemy was of the life state, this ability would be rendered useless unless you were likewise in the life state."

    el''rion shook his head, feeling that he was explaining too much. for some reason, beneath leonel''s gaze, he felt that he was in the presence of his father, and he wanted to over explain himself rather than under explain. but even this thought felt ridiculous. his father was an existence the like of which could force existence itself to tremble, he couldn''t fathom comparing him to leonel. and yet here he was...

    "each sovereign is special in their own way, and you can either be born with the ability, or you can comprehend it yourself, though the latter is far more difficult. the blood sovereign is special in that its sovereign state is a physical manifestation of its body, same for similarly titled sovereigns that don''t fall into the usual weapon force categories."

    "the reason ninth dimensional existences are so hard to kill is because the life state is birthed into their bodies once they enter that realm. the separation between "powerful" ninth dimensional existence and "weak" ones is whether or not they''ve comprehended this kernel of life state or not. for many ninth dimensional existences, especially the ones you''ll come across, this kernel is the only sense of the life state that they''ll gain in their entire lives. even for those that do comprehend this kernel, many of their forces will still be stuck at the impetus state, however this won''t stop their strength from being elevated to an extreme level.

    "you might have guessed it by now with this explanation, but blood sovereigns gather their power from their own blood, they''re adept at manipulating it and using it to swallow the blood of others. in order to do that and not lose themselves, a part of their soul is always dispersed within their blood, but that''s not important. even if it wasn''t, she could still be saved."

    "that''s because her very blood is laced with the life state already. she is essentially like a ninth dimensional expert in that she can''t be killed so easily without the help of someone of a regulator or someone that can somewhat ignore a regulator. she''s only really missing one thing."

    el''rion looked off toward where aina''s body had been as though remembering the sight of something. "... but it seems like you already have that one thing.

    "she''s like a ninth dimensional expert, but she isn''t truly one. her force hasn''t reached a high enough state to exist for long periods of time. if too much time passed, she would truly die. however, you have vital star force, the life force of the body. so long as enough of her blood remains, and you''re able to get to her in time, you can use your vital star force to stimulate her revival. you also seem to have the perfect vessel for her too. the only problem is...

    "your vital star force has to at least be in the impetus state, and you''re only half a step in. that''s not enough. at best your vital star force can sustain her, but it can''t revive her, and you''ll need to give her quite a large amount every day. you''re lucky that you happen to have the perfect force, and it''s at just the right level too. if it was only at the fourth layered state, it wouldn''t be enough even to sustain her."

    "unfortunately, i do not have expertise in vital star force, nor do any of the companions i''ve brought. or else i would try to help you."

    leonel looked at el''rion for a long while and then nodded slowly. the smoldering smoke coming from the edges of his eyes and the soles of his bare feet edged away slightly and became almost imperceptible to the eye. though, they didn''t fade entirely.

    "anastasia," leonel said lightly.

    "you know, i don''t like your tone, young man. i can even count how many times older than you i am." she probably wouldn''t have said this had aina been definitely dead, but knowing there was a good chance to reverse all of this, she was in a good mood. n-.o/)v//e(-l-(b-(1-.n

    "how far away can you sense force?" leonel asked.

    "in this broken world? anywhere," she replied.

    "can you find out for me if there''s a spiritual with a vital star force innate node? or any race, for that matter."

    she blinked, but she immediately understood.

    although leonel was just a half step from the impetus state, it wasn''t so easy to cross. having taken a half-step, he could feel that impossibly vast chasm and he knew it might very well take even him years to cross that line. he refused to leave aina in that state for years if he didn''t have to.

    innate nodes were cheat codes in increasing your force manipulation. so long as he fueled one for long enough, it would definitely be able to help him to cross that half step. but he needed the node first.

    el''rion gaze flickered, but he didn''t say anything.

    "i can check, but... you should know that even among spirituals, not all of them have innate nodes, and those that do usually just awaken normal, middle of the road, elemental innate nodes. the odds that one would have a vital star force innate node, especially given the fact that this isn''t an aspect spirituals excel in is... very low.

    "i will look, but just manage your expectations. it will also take me quite a while, probably a few days."

    leonel nodded lightly.

 Chapter 2251 Smoldering

    chapter 2251 smoldering

    leonel truly waited for those days. he didn''t move, he didn''t check on his mother, he simply meditated in the depths of space, without thought for water or food, or even entertainment. his entire mind was focused on comprehending the path of the vital star force, the very path that he had maybe neglected the most until this point.

    he didn''t rely entirely on anastasia. in fact, he smartly made the assumption that she would fail. if this was the case, then he would have to do whatever he could to speed up the process as much as he could. he could not, would not, leave aina to be in that state for even a second longer than he had to.

    el''rion didn''t move either. he might have been 14 years old, but time seemed irrelevant to him. he had the patience of a monk that had lived for an impossible number of years. he didn''t say anything, and he even only seemed to breathe a few times a day. slowly, though, his injuries were becoming far better. by the end of the fourth day, he had actually recovered a great deal.

    if others saw how long it was taking to be fully recovered, especially those that understood the true majesty of the pluto race, they would be stunned speechless. this was a man who had healed his arm and leg being severed in an instant of time as though nothing at all had happened. it could only be said that those that had harmed him were truly monsters.

    "... i''m sorry leonel, there''s no such innate node here."

    leonel''s eyes opened and he nodded lightly. he had already expected this.

    he rose to his feet, or rather let his feet fall from their meditating position, and stepped forward, crossing the distance to el''rion in an instant. he raised his foot again, to take another step, but el''rion''s large hand had landed on his shoulder. or, rather, half of his palm had. he was so much larger than leonel that the other half of his hand hung off.

    "i know you won''t listen to me, but i feel like i should say this anyway. absorbing the innate nodes of others will never be perfect, there will always be some hidden flaw, even if you use the best methods available to you, or even me for that matter. when it comes time for you to become a... to enter the ninth dimension, it will only hold you back.

    "if you want new nodes, the best course of action is to form them on your own."

    leonel''s turned a smoldering gaze toward el''rion. streams of black smoke, hot to the touch, were still coming out of the corners of his eyes and the soles of his feet. though, they were much weaker than they had been before, el''rion still felt that seering pain when he met leonel''s gaze, and it was even more exaggerated now than it had been in the past.

    "and..." el''rion hesitated again. "... killing is already a heavy enough burden on one''s path forward. if you snatch things of importance from those that you kill on top of that, it will make things even more difficult. if even on top of that, what you snatch is of enough importance that you rely on it heavily to progress, the burden will be even heavier.

    "and that''s not just for you. if you use this method to help your loved one, she will suffer as well." nove/lb.1n

    leonel didn''t say anything. el''rion was talking about a concept so abstract that it was for anyone to wrap their heads around it, but he... had already known it existed the moment that anastasia had told him it was impossible to revive aina''s mother because aina was too powerful.

    those lines of time, of fate, of karma, whatever you wanted to call them, could bind anyone. and the more powerful you became, the heavier the burden became.

    "there''s no burden i can''t carry," leonel said before vanishing.

    el''rion''s lip twitched. he didn''t even ask about how to forge his own innate nodes. but in the end, el''rion sighed. what would be the point if he had?

    one could only do such a thing when given an extremely special opportunity, and even that wasn''t necessarily without risks. leonel was learning first hand just how dangerous it was to have powerful innate nodes, if he took one from others, as he already had, or if he forged new ones, it would be even more dangerous.

    this was such an important rule that even el''rion himself only had a single innate node. his father refused to allow him to forge more, although he definitely could. he could even replace all ten of his nodes with innate nodes if he so wanted to.[author''s note: not a typo]

    leonel returned to the location of his mother. she sat in a meeting with the remainder of the luxnix, or maybe what the luxnix would become. they seemed to be in the middle of a war against an existence they couldn''t even quite name. but leonel appeared out of nowhere, causing the luxnix to suddenly stand violently, ready to fight.

    "stop! this is the man who defeated the creature, you should be thanking him!" alienor said with a powerful voice.

    the luxnix were astonished and then froze in place.

    leonel looked around, still not quite understanding what was going on.

    "it''s time to return home, mom."

    alienor''s gaze flickered, and the expressions of the luxnix changed. when had their matriarch had a child? and when had he grown so large? and so powerful at that?

    in the end, alienor nodded slowly. she had only continued this farce because she thought it would still be important to the zone. but since it wasn''t, that would be fine.

    "come with me," alienor said to leonel.

    though they would be leaving, there were still certain things she wanted to show leonel first.

    "halt!"

    a man stood with a furious gaze, he was practically spewing hot fire. this was his wife they were talking about, how dare-

    bang!

    leonel''s fist was like a tide of smoldering heat.

 Chapter 2252 Violet Winds

    chapter 2252 violet winds

    leonel could guess what the problem was, he just didn''t have the time to care about it, or coddle this man''s feelings. just because there was no vital star force innate node in this time, didn''t mean there wasn''t one in his time. and he wanted to find out before he decided what his next step would be.

    every second someone delayed him, was another second that aina would spend dead. this person was lucky that they were a member of the luxnix family, or else he would have just directly killed him. though he knew that time didn''t work linearly, he still didn''t want to risk what might happen if the wrong person died. but his message was clear and obvious.

    alienor looked at this scene with a complicated expression, but didn''t say anything. she knew that her son wasn''t in the best of moods, and though she didn''t know what he had gone to do in the last few days, she knew that it was definitely related to aina.

    "be kinder to them, they don''t understand," alienor said after some hesitation.

    "i think they understand more than they''ve told you outright," leonel responded. "or more accurately, they haven''t repeated it before you in these last few days. but the luxnix family here isn''t the same as the ones we know from our timeline."

    the man coughed up a mouthful of blood, his situation quite haggard. if not for the fact he suddenly felt a rising heat charging through his nodal pathways, he would have already tried to get up and charge forward. however, he realized that if he was any more reckless, he would burn to ash from the inside out.

    alienor''s gaze flickered, but she didn''t say anything. after a moment, she turned and began to lead leonel away. she knew that his words were correct too, but it was difficult to just outright ask questions that she already knew the answer to. it would cause suspicion and make her task more difficult. but that didn''t mean that she hadn''t done her own research. and that was precisely what she was leading leonel into.

    "i''m not sure what was going on here, but there was a powerful beast located in this region that was overseeing a great deal of things. for whatever reason, though, it never took action personally to wipe the rest of us out as though it was wary of something. but this..."

    alienor stepped out from the underground passageway and into a room of lightly glowing violet.

    leonel''s gaze sharpened. as far as the eye could see, there were countless tubes filled with a thick, pale violet liquid. it was far more like a gel than anything else, and it was sturdy enough that it held the humans inside them in place.

    this violet liquid... he recognized it. he had definitely felt it from rychard. nove/lb.1n

    "in the last several years, these three planets have been like a farm... that''s the best word that i can use to describe it. 90% of it were factories just like this one, while the remaining 10% were lands more like the ones were just in, and the latter was "ruled" by our luxnix family. in reality, we were more like farmers, having children, raising them, only to have the majority of them chosen for this sick science experiment.

    "i''ve felt the weight of this force before, from that rychard boy. i know i told you that you might be interested in it, but now i''m quite happy that you didn''t pay attention to my silly words. i don''t know what this force is, but it... is incredibly dangerous.

    "it''s quite clear to me that they don''t even trust themselves with this power, which is why they''ve instead chosen to experiment on us, though i don''t know why."

    leonel knew exactly why. the human race was the very same race that succeeded in accepting the powers of the god beasts. who knew what other kind of potential they might have lying dormant?

    this violet force, it felt powerful, extremely so. but it was also something that he felt no one person could possibly control because...

    the words came to him like a tide.

    ... because they broke the fundamental laws of reality.

    in these few days, he had only split his attention away from improving his vital star force for a single reason, and that was to talk to one of his prisoners.... rychard. in that time, he found out exactly what the ability of violet force was.

    it broke the laws of causality, the most fundamental rules of equivalent exchange. whatever you gave, you always received more in return. if you punched with 100lbs of force, you would explode with one with 200lbs of power. if you ran at 10 kilometers an hour, you would find yourself at the end of that hour having run 15 kilometers instead.

    you could exchange years for more years, time for more time, it was fundamentally impossible in nature, no matter how strong you were, and definitely regardless of how weak you were.

    the violet winds rise north.

    leonel felt his body quake and he suddenly violently bent over, his body shaking. he coughed, feeling something within him stir.

    "fuck off," he said coldly.

    the stirring figure in the pool of crimson came to a stop, its connection to leonel being violently ripped apart.

    leonel stood to his full height as though nothing had happened.

    "mom, i''ll take these factories with us."

    alienor, who had just gone from worrying about leonel to confused, couldn''t say very much as anastasia appeared and began to swallow up the factories as though nothing at all had happened.

    these were all failures, leonel knew that. in fact, the fact rychard continued to live in the dimensional verse at all meant that the entire project was a meaningless failure, so much so that they had abandoned them all together.

    however, leonel still took them. as for what he wanted to do with them, maybe only he knew.

 Chapter 2253 Deserved

    chapter 2253 deserved

    "there''s something else i want to show you," alienor said after leonel had finished.

    alienor led leonel through the somewhat familiar catacombs again, but this time, there was a barrier up ahead, one formed by the luxnix family. it seemed that they had almost guessed that this was where alienor would go. or rather, they had assumed that this would be the first location she brought leonel, and had even begun doubting their own judgment until they finally appeared.

    leonel moved, but alienor held his shoulder, stopping him. she didn''t use a lot of force, but leonel wouldn''t just casually brush off his own mother''s arm, at least she thought so. and luckily, he didn''t seem to be rage-fueled enough to do so.

    she lied lightly. leonel was too smart to casually let something so detrimental to them slip. he probably only called her mom so that he would have someone to fight, it was uncharacteristic, but what it told alienor was that her son was still very much a child.

    leonel might be 26, but it was hard to grow and mature when everything came so easy to you, and even more difficult when you had to fake much of your outward appearance.

    alienor knew exactly what that felt like. this wasn''t just because she was a princess with a father like emperor fawkes, but it was also because she was extremely talented from a young age. it took her a long while, and meeting velasco, to finally mature into the woman she was today. but even then, she had had her mother.

    velasco''s method of raising leonel had grown into a self-confident, and perfect warrior. he could face the battlefield without a change to his expression, and even smile at that. he was a true morales.

    alienor didn''t hate what her husband had chosen to do. velasco had likely known the kind of situation they were in and that very soon, they would have to face a world far larger than their own. however, it had still neglected leonel as a person.

    not entirely, of course. because velasco knew the type of person leonel was, he was able to mold leonel''s character with just two words, respect and persistence. another child wouldn''t understand such an abstract thing, but leonel had grown around those two words, slowly molding their definitions into his own understanding until he became a level-headed man who could see right from wrong...

    he still knew right from wrong. his mind was more than sharp enough to grasp it, he just didn''t care right now. and that was what was missing. when logic couldn''t lead leonel to why he should care, then something else had to.

    alienor ignored everyone else and looked leonel in the eyes, cupping both of his cheeks. the billowing black fog that came from the corner of his eyes singed her hands and burnt them slowly, but she didn''t seem to notice, looking toward leonel deeper and deeper as though she was trying to understand something.

    "little lion, my father said something about you that i can''t quite understand, but i still believe to be true. he said you and your father are the two greatest men he''s ever met. do you want to prove the both of us wrong?"

    leonel didn''t say anything, looking at his mother. he would feel much better if he could just steamroll them all, he knew he would. he hadn''t vented nearly enough against the shadow tail, it just wasn''t as satisfying when it wasn''t his own raw power, it wasn''t as pleasing.

    "your father was a man who held this sort of rage within himself, but do you know what happened when he lost control over his own mind? he harmed anastasia, a companion that had been by his side for countless years.

    "the void palace, the deeper, hidden branches of the morales family, the three finger cult, these were all existences that your father could have destroyed whenever he wanted. it would have been easy, just a snap of his fingers. do you know why he didn''t? why he let them insult him behind his back? to show fear in his face, and yet scheme against his interests in the dark? do you believe that your father was stupid, little lion?"

    leonel''s fists clenched, the billowing trail of smoke becoming thicker and thicker.

    alienor''s hands were practically black now, but she still didn''t release leonel''s cheeks, her eyes looking at him with a slightly watery look.

    "it''s because they weren''t worth his time, it''s because he had a bigger, larger goal, it''s because he was able to place down his temporary satisfaction for the sake of something larger than himself. he couldn''t gain satisfaction from others, he could only find it within himself.

    "there''ll no doubt be many who speculate about your father''s death, many ignorant people who don''t understand what he truly faced and believe that he had simply overestimated himself. did he ever spare a thought for those people? did he even care to look at them?"

    leonel''s fists were clenched so hard that they twitched despite his usual steady control, the space around them splintering beneath a roaring wave of destruction.

    leonel took deep breaths, the winds in the surroundings growing agitated before he slowly calmed down.

    he had lost count of the number of people he had killed to vent his rage. he had once always kept track of the exact number, but it was lost to him now, dancing within a dense blob of memories beyond him and only accessible to his enlightened self. and it was possible that even he hadn''t bothered to count.

    the number was easily in the trillions, an impossible number, vast and endless as the rivers of blood...

    and yet the rage was still there, it was still smoldering, it was still overflowing, boiling and rattling as though his body was a lid it was trying to pop off.

    he hadn''t made those that had actually attacked his father pay, they were already dead at his hands. it had all been meaningless, a vast chasm of emptiness that only deepened with every death, many of whom had done nothing at all and were as innocent as could be.

    did he feel bad? no, he really couldn''t bring himself to, he didn''t have the capacity anymore.

    did he know it was wrong...? that, at least he could admit.

    he closed his eyes and the smokiness ebbed into a slow stream once more.

    did he want this wrath to disappear?

    no. n-/o).v(/e.-l)(b))1)(n

    but he would direct it to where it was deserved.

 Chapter 2254 Key

    chapter 2254 key

    alienor smiled lightly, pinching leonel''s cheeks as though he was still a little boy. she hadn''t gotten to do this and took pleasure in every second. unfortunately, she didn''t get to see leonel''s embarrassed expression, she was certain that a 26-year-old having his cheeks pinched by his mom like this might react with a blush, but leonel only stared at her with certainty and stability.

    inwardly, she couldn''t help but laugh to herself. confidence and self-assurance wasn''t something that leonel lacked, half of her speech was probably useless. her son didn''t gain validation from others, but the problem was that he was walking down a path of cruelty that was almost impossible to turn back from, and she wasn''t sure that she had helped him turn back.

    she could only hope that he would have more control over his emotions. at the very least, exposing their relationship so that he would have a reason to get into another fight was far beneath him, and he likely knew this as well.

    alienor released leonel and the latter raised his hand. with a flash, his body changed, growing about half a foot. his eyes turned golden and his pupils became sharp, slit lines. his hair turned a furious and aggressive white gold color that shone like the sun, and his usually facial hair-free face gained just as aggressive sideburns.

    his canines lengthened and claws grew from his hands. his heart thumped like the growl of a wild beast and the bloodlines of the luxnix before him seemed to cool into an icy flow, their bodies freezing in place. no matter how hard they tried, they couldn''t seem to muster up the courage to fight back. nove-lb)1n

    alienor nodded slightly. leonel had indeed had a non-violent method of dealing with these people. what was the snowy star owl lineage factor to the golden tiger lineage factor? especially when one of his arms was coated with the god beast of creation.

    the two walked by, and the members of the luxnix seemed to resign themselves to the situation. what else could they do? it was clear that this son of their matriarch was far beyond their understanding.

    when they had entered the temple, one that was once again extremely familiar to leonel, his expression couldn''t help but become serious, if it was even possible for his current self to become any more serious.

    in the position of where leonel had first found the bronze tablet... it was still there. the difference was that there was a silver tablet present as well, and on top of that... a golden tablet.

    confusion painted leonel''s thoughts. why would this be here? and if it was here now, then why wasn''t it here in the future?

    "logic" would tell him that it was because he had taken it here and now, so how could it be here in the future. but then why didn''t everything else work like that?

    he had just destroyed the world of dimensional cleanse, so how was it there for him to benefit from in the future? it was clear and obvious that time didn''t work linearly, so something else must have taken it. but then what did that mean for...

    ''the timeless event.''

    leonel''s pupils constricted. el''rion had said that there should be a timeless event that occurred here, so where was it. unless...

    ''the shadow tail.''

    leonel''s thoughts spun. the time around a timeless event should be stricter in flow that other points in time. it was easier to snip, loop and rearrange normal points in time, but a timeless event was fixed. what happened here would definitely reverberate into the future.

    it seemed that leonel was very much correct to not kill that man with a single fist. had he, depending on what relation he had to himself, he could have very well ended up ending his own life.

    leonel didn''t have the cold shiver of a reaction one might expect from such a revelation. if anything, it had only emboldened him because it only meant that he was correct once again. something had told him to be cautious, and listening to his inner voice and his calculation abilities had never failed him.

    ''then what does it mean if i took those that should have become the members of the viola family. what would change?''

    the moment leonel had this thought, he immediately sat down where he was. without a word, he entered an intense state of meditation.

    alienor wasn''t to say something, but she held back. she had tried meditating on the golden tablet as well, she thought that with her talent it would be a simple thing to see what was on the other side. she had already formed the starry tailed fox lineage factor long before anyone else in the luxnix had.

    as she had expected, things flowed smoothly from one step to the next, and she formed the twinkling light bear lineage factor, and then soon succeeded in forming the golden tiger lineage factor although it had taken her much more effort.

    but when she got to the golden tablet, she couldn''t even sense what the creature hidden deep within was, let alone comprehending it. she even felt, for the first time in her life, even if she dedicated years to it she would never succeed.

    what she didn''t know, though, was that leonel wasn''t attempting to meditate on the golden tablet at all. with a single glance, he knew his current body didn''t have what it took. it would be nothing more than a waste of time.

    if he had to guess what it would take, he would have to do one of three things. either become a light and star sovereign, raise his scarlet star force innate node to at least the eighth dimension, probably nearer the pinnacle and close to the ninth, or comprehend both light and star force to the life state.

    he would reach that level one day, but that wasn''t today. his goal was different.

 Chapter 2255 Good Luck, Master

    chapter 2255 good luck, master

    these were just guesses on his part, and it could very well take more than that. but what mattered most to him now were what changes would occur in the future.

    half a day later, he opened his eyes with a confident light.

    indeed, the changes that would occur in the future should have already occurred, otherwise the silver and golden tablets wouldn''t have been missing already.

    but that wasn''t why he had meditated for half a day, he had already concluded that in the first couple of minutes. instead, he was confirming something else.

    he was certain. he could use timeless events to change the future. this might be the key to reviving his father. if he played his cards correctly, he could most definitely change those events, of that he was certain. whatever the rest of the details were, he didn''t care.

    but he would need to be able to do one thing: he would have to be able to predict a timeless event before it happened. and if he couldn''t, then he would have to trigger one himself. he was sure that he could do it because el''rion had made it quite clear what it took for one to appear... and that was any event that caused the northern star to come closer.

    these were the thoughts of a madman. everyone wanted to avoid such events to the best of their abilities because it would mean that existence itself was one step closer to being destroyed, but leonel didn''t seem to spare a thought to this at all. hadn''t he just stopped a timeless event? then the world owed him already.

    and even if it didn''t, so what? in his mind, he would already sacrifice the world for the sake of aina, he had already done it before. if it was for the sake of his father, he would sacrifice existence itself.

    leonel looked up to find that his mother was still standing there, patient and unhurried. when she saw that leonel opened his eyes without any change, she smiled understandingly.

    "it''s very difficult to comprehend, don''t be too hard on yourself. from what i can tell, you need something beyond just light and star affinity to succeed, you need an in-depth comprehension of the two that exist beyond this realm. i don''t believe that even those outside worlds would find it easy."

    there were definitely many life and star experts out there, leonel was sure. but they lacked the flexibility of the human body. it was this in conjunction with proper affinity and force manipulation that could allow them to touch upon that power.

    it was still beyond the current alienor, but leonel was confident that she would reach that level soon enough. as for him, he felt that it was guaranteed.

    leonel didn''t correct his mother about what he was meditating about, it was true anyway. he did, indeed, have no ability to claim the highest level of his lineage factor just yet.

    with a wave of his hand, the silver and golden tablets were taken with him.

    "is that everything?" he asked.

    "yes, we can go now," alienor confirmed.

    leonel let his mom into the segmented cube. he looked around, trying to see if he could spot anything.

    in an unknown number of years, wise star order would come here and then bind himself to the bronze tablet. he had already checked the tablet, but there was definitely no sign of wise star order, and he had long since vanished from the segmented cube, even taking vice and candle with him. it was almost amusing how he hadn''t used the two in order to save them as a trump card, but now he would never be able to.

    he didn''t find himself caring much, wise star order had at least never hurt anyone around him. though, whether that was because leonel was ignorant to when he had tried or not... that was a matter that only time would tell, along with what goals wise star order truly had.

    when he truly couldn''t find anything, leonel turned and left, stepping into the segmented cube and streaking toward earth.

    not long after he had done so, the matriarch''s husband stepped into the temple. looking around and seeing that they had left, he surprisingly sighed a breath of relief, stretching out his back while leaning backward and pressing against his hips.

    "damn, i''m getting too old for this."

    ''you''re young right now, though.''

    "fuck you, damned brat. you have the time to contact me from the future now, but what about the last three years? were you too busy on vacation? too busy fucking everything with two legs and a pair of breasts?"

    ''i resent that, i don''t have long to live, you know. i thought you''d be nicer to me.''

    "ah, bah, you''re not getting any sympathy from me and my old bones. how many times have i experienced death because of you? now you fear it? where''s your humanity?"

    ''fear it?'' the voice laughed boisterously. ''i fear nothing.''

    "easy to say that when you know some part of you will live on, but i''m glad you finally made this choice. i told you when i met you that it was a fruitless endeavor, and you just refused to listen. instead, you''ve put me, not to mention that poor girl, through hardship again and again."

    ''she won''t remember it.''

    "but i will. and there you go again, using logic over everything. what happened to humanity?! have i taught you nothing?!"

    the voice chuckled. ''you''ve taught me plenty, old man. humanity isn''t on the list, though.''

    "have some respect-!"

    ''need i list off some of your greatest hits? my, the list is quite long. let''s see, ah yes, here there''s stealing that emperor''s wife, and then there was the time you pissed over that city wall, oh right, there''s also the time that woman pissed you off so much that you rap-''

    "enough! you describing those things so simply makes it seem like i wasn''t in the right, you should have more respect for your master. in fact, you should actually call me that for once!"

    ''oh, would you look at that. your 1327th death is on the way. good luck~!''

    the matriarch''s husband practically pulled at his hair. talking to this brat was truly infuriating. nove-lb)1n

    from the skies above, a shadow suddenly appeared from a gaping, spinning black hole.

    a second shadow tail had appeared.

    it seemed that changing timeless events wasn''t so simple after all...

    ''good luck... master.''

 Chapter 2256 God Childe

    chapter 2256 god childe

    the matriarch''s husband stepped out into the air, facing the monster in the skies. his hands were clasped behind his back without even the slightest intent on defending himself. was there a point? his death was inevitable.

    no one could ever tell what the trigger of a timeless event was. it was also impossible to tell just how many people would be allowed to die, or how many you could save before the backlash of the timeless event made the event far worse.

    many had tried to fight against timeless events before. the strongest of them sent armies of entire worlds at these timeless events, losing an uncountable number of experts all in a vain attempt. what was clear through all of these attempts was one thing... n/)0velb1n

    it was hopeless.

    the more you fought against a timeless event, the worse it became, the more bloody, the more violent. the best way to deal with a timeless event was to slow it down and minimize risk, hopefully finding out what the center point of it all was and allowing just that event alone to happen.

    while doing this wouldn''t change the fact the northern star would most definitely come closer, it would still help those related to the event feel somewhat better.

    rarely, though, did a timeless event necessitate the death of just a small number of people. usually it required at least several hundred, each one changing the course of history in their own way and causing a tsunami tide of changes in the far-off future.

    even rarer was it that a timeless event necessitated the death of just a single individual... but this was exactly such an event. and this single individual who had to die was none other than the matriarch''s husband or more accurately...

    wise star order.

    he didn''t go by any other name, or maybe he had just lived for so long that he had forgotten what his original name was. he might have asked these people what his name had been the first few times he was revived at the whims of that terrible disciple of his, but he couldn''t be bothered to any longer. he no longer had the patience for it.

    plus, he preferred wise star order. he was indeed very wise, and very handsome at that, though that had nothing to do with his name. wise star order suited him, it also suited his duty.

    he had long since become indifferent to these deaths. you could become numb to anything if you experienced it enough. but this time, he had a wide smile on his face. that disciple of his had finally gotten his act together, it was a beautiful day indeed.

    a beautiful day to die.

    to others, death was the end. but in reality, to wise star order, his death on this day all those years ago... or actually, today-yes, indeed, it was today, how had he forgotten that? that brute was descending from the skies, he couldn''t forget that.

    regardless, death for him was just the beginning.

    to the people of this world, savants were extraordinary, they were talents that needed to be hoarded away and saved. but they were deeply flawed, and they obviously weren''t so extraordinary if they could be so easily captured in the first place.

    to the wider world, the whole of existence out there, savants were defects, poor imitations of the real thing, poor imitations of existences born to be gods.

    wise star order raised his hands and laughed toward the skies as the shadow tail descended.

    "come here, you big brute. in the future, i''ll slaughter you kind like children, i''ll bathe the seas in your blood and i''ll dye t-"

    bang!

    wise star order was hit out of the skies, crashing through the entire planet. his body only seemed to hold its shape for a small moment on the other side before it burst into a rain of blood, leaving behind nothing but a small, transparent ball...

    his ethereal glabella.

    "son of a bitch, that bastard never lets me finish my speech!"

    wise star order drifted like a speeding bullet through the endless depths of space. it wouldn''t be until a long while later he finally came to a stop on a planet with force so that he could finally be reborn and become the god that he was always meant to...

    the so-called spark of the dimensional verse was another bastardization of a concept that existed in wider existence. it could even be said that it was only half of the puzzle, the existence of savants being the other half.

    there was only one problem. in order to touch onto all of this strength...

    you had to die first.

    no one knew why this was. some speculated that it was because you had to come into contact with the first dimension in order to display your full strength, others said that the body could only stimulate its greatest potential when it had been pushed over its limits, others said that this was simply a reflection of the ultimate force manipulation, a state where you were able to reach enlightenment of the complete opposite of your path... what could be the opposite of an untimely death if not a life far more bright and blazing than others?

    it was unknown if anyone would ever find out. but there was one thing that was known for absolute certainty.

    for every death and revival of a god childe, existence would grow one step closer to a forever death. without fail, every new god childe meant the existence of a new timeless event...

    by now, things might very well be becoming clear to many.

    cynthia omann died and was revived, forming a timeless event.

    the good news was that velasco morales'' death had occurred several days afterward and there was hope that it would be considered a different event.

    the bad news was that velasco morales had a great number of ties to cynthia omann, and the hatred cynthia omann held for velasco was maybe one of the few things that actually drove her.

    aina''s mother couldn''t be revived even by anastasia due to their connection. compared to the seventh dimension, the birth of a god childe was so impossibly beyond that it was impossible to put into words.

    anastasia, the world spirit of a complete world, could not revive aina''s mother because this fallen woman''s daughter had entered the seventh dimension.

    cynthia omann was a god childe. even those with faint connections to her would be out of anastasia''s reach. and as for velasco...?

    even existence itself wouldn''t be able to bring him back as it inched toward destruction.

 Chapter 2257 Farewell

    in a location separate from time and space, a man sat. his face was hard to see, but it didn''t seem to be because he made any attempt to hide it, it was rather that the dream force radiating from him was too strong, it made him look more like a dense mass of potential rather than what he truly was... a man that had reached the limit of all things.

    sometimes, he too forgot who he was, not that it mattered much to him. he had reached the pinnacle of the world, but he had lost everything along the way. his father, his mother, the love of his life, his brothers. one by one, they left him, all so that he could sit here, at the end of existence itself.

    this was the only location in the world that remained whole. while he was thinking about his family, everything else had already crumbled. there was no more concept of family, no more concept of personhood, or life, even.

    he should probably be dead too, but he was strong enough to resist things that others could not. it was quite amusing, actually. it was only because he was here that the world couldn''t be erased and start anew. not until all things faded away, until there was nothing left to destroy, until destruction itself reached its very limits, could creation bloom once again.

    his home of earth had called it the big bang. he had heard it called several things throughout his life, he had too many different names for things floating around his mind, he hoped to actually forget some of them, not that his mind would allow it. an infallible memory was probably the wish of many, none of them thought about what kind of curse it was, though.

    he envied that master of his. he had experienced so many years of life that he had even forgotten his own name. ah, to forget, what a wonderful thing.

    the faceless man waved a hand, a bottle appearing. the world around him trembled with rage and squeezed down, but he ignored it as though existence itself was just a child throwing a tantrum. it didn''t like the fact things were still being created. just this bottle of liquor had cost him half his remaining strength to conjure.

    he took a swig of the strongest alcohol left, staring into the northern star ahead.

    he had never liked alcohol very much, he avoided it. he liked having perfect control of himself at all times, the idea of a substance that could alter his "perfect" thought filled him with disgust, he hated it. and yet here he was, allowing it as part of his final meal.

    "disgusting," he muttered. "can never tell why men like this so much. i much prefer those fruity drinks."

    he waved his hand again and pina colada appeared in place of the bottle of hard liquor. this time, existence didn''t protest, probably because he had changed what he had already created instead of creating more. it was a nice little loophole. compared to the first that had taken half of what he had, this time it wasn''t even a drop in the ocean, his deep well of force was so vast that he could probably consume this northern star before him...

    not that he cared to.

    what would be the point? was there something beyond this star? they say that it represented existence, but what did that even mean? the human consciousness was so frail, it couldn''t fathom something like this, and even now, having shed all that weakness, it overloaded his mind to think about it... maybe because he knew the answer.

    he was the only one with the strength to go beyond this northern star, to see what was behind it. he had given everything he had to see his loved ones again, twisted fate and time in all kinds of ways. he had thought that maybe, just maybe, if there was something beyond this world, something stronger, something beyond even himself, he could finally do it.

    he just wanted that chance. he was certain that even if he popped into a world where even he was somehow the weakest ant of the hill, he could climb to the top once again, then he might be able to finally see those faces again, those smiles.

    he took a sip of his pina colada. "delicious," he said with a smile, taking another sip.

    a hand reached up to his face, pushing up what seemed to be a pair of glasses. who knew why a man of his stature needed such a thing, it didn''t seem to make much sense, but he didn''t care to remove them. these glasses and himself were the only things that had made it to the end of all things.

    "you''re a funny joke, you know that?" he laughed, raising his glass to the northern star. "did i reach the top of the world? or was that always you?"

    there was no response. of course there was no response. the northern star wasn''t a person, it had no will, no intelligence. and beyond it...

    there was absolutely nothing.

    he remembered how he had felt the first time he learned that, that vast emptiness in his chest, as though existence was telling him that there was nothing more to chase, and he had already left behind everything that would have made this painful life of his worthwhile. but worse than that, it was frustration, frustration of not understanding, frustration of an unanswered question, frustration of a logical inconsistency.n--0velb1n

    how had existence come to be? how could there be nothing beyond? how could something come from nothing? what caused this repetitive cycle of life and death, of creation and destruction?

    why did they exist?

    it was so frustrating that he laughed, drinking the last of his drink.

    he could keep existing into perpetuity, looking into this star and staring down the existence that even the gods could do nothing again.

    well, he couldn''t do anything about it. but...

    it couldn''t do anything to him, either.

    but, he was tired. sitting in this very spot, he had tried everything, poured out every potential solution the strongest mind in existence could think of, and it had all never mattered. he was still alone.

    he tipped the glass one final time and threw it into the air. it didn''t last even a second before it was destroyed.

    "you win. i, leonel morales, accept my loss. farewell."

    there was no fanfare. in one moment, there was a single kernel of life remaining. in the next, there was nothing.

 Chapter 2258 Youth

    leonel froze, a discomfort coming from his chest. for some reason, he felt both a lot lighter, a slight hint annoyed, and a huge amount confused. when he checked his surroundings, his pupils constricted and his breath caught in his throat.

    what just happened?

    at the speed the segmented cube was moving, they would reach earth in less than an hour. anastasia could push it even faster, but that would require personal energy use that extended beyond the force she was pulling from the surroundings, so it wasn''t a worthwhile expense. but that wasn''t really the point.

    because they were moving at such speed, even the slightest deviation could throw them way off course in just a few split moments. he could have allowed anastasia to pilot things herself, but because he wanted to take his mind off of something, he chose to control the segmented cube himself.

    ''3.29 seconds.''

    there was a gap in his memory of exactly that long, as though he had been reset and rebooted, and no matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t understand what had happened. he had only experienced this two other times, three if he counted his first interaction with dream force, while the other two times were the only times he had entered that enlightened state.

    but he was certain that it wasn''t that this time, unless that demoness could...

    if she could remotely stop him from transforming, could she force him to transform? but for what purpose, he was still in perfect control of himself in both states, there was no purpose other than to spite him.

    his jaw set. that wasn''t beyond that woman in the slightest. slighting him out of pure spite? it seemed that she might gain a great amount of satisfaction out of doing that.

    leonel took a breath and calmed himself. surprisingly, it happened much faster this time than it had before, he felt more in control of his state of mind, he felt a lot more like himself all of a sudden. he felt that he could shut off the valve of that emotion again, just like he had when aina left him. it was so easy suddenly.n--o-(v(.e.-l-)b).i(-n

    instead of doing so, though, he stopped, falling into a deep silence.

    he never acknowledged it because he didn''t want to. that future version of himself, he chose to see it as just one possibility of many, a possibility that he would surpass. but now feeling the difference in his control over himself, he felt that he had disappeared.

    it seemed that he had falsely accused the demoness. was that why he had lost those few seconds? he had heard of the future affecting the past, but was it supposed to be so exaggerated? he had even thought once that this was simply a quirk, or rather a flaw, of incomplete worlds like this one. he didn''t think it would be such a prominent thing in the real world.

    leonel sat in silence, closing his eyes after a while and allowing the segmented cube to drift.

    there was too much he didn''t understand. why did his future self''s influence suddenly disappear? and did it actually disappear? or was it just that deep well of despair that had? he had a feeling that it was just the latter.

    but that only made it more odd. why had the despair vanished?

    leonel wanted to believe that it was because his future self had finally succeeded, but he felt like that wasn''t the answer either.

    what was there to despair about if you had already given up everything? there was no despair because there was only apathy left. no... something deeper than apathy...

    nothingness.

    leonel opened his eyes, a blazing light within.

    his future self had failed? he didn''t care. as far as he was concerned, that wasn''t him at all.

    leonel''s fists gripped the controls before him tightly, suddenly flooring the segmented cube and zipping through the skies. the smoldering smoke coming from his eyes and the bottoms of his feet ebbed again and again until they vanished entirely, a wild grin spreading across his face.

    he was eager to get home. he would have anastasia check one more time, and if there were no innate nodes, then he would break free of this simulation. there was no doubt that he would find someone with the innate node he needed in wider existence.

    once he saved aina, he could turn his attention to his father again. a timeless event was all he needed, just one timeless event.

    leonel''s eyes carried the brightness of youth, a brightness that wasn''t worn and torn by the vicissitudes of life. he had the fire and drive of a young man, he felt that everything could be in the palm of his hands so long as he worked hard enough.

    he would see his queen again. he would see his father again. he would see his family whole again.

    he raised his head to the skies and roared, having the joy ride of his life.

    ...

    an unknown number of years later, a certain ethereal glabella finally crashed and landed into a barren planet. it was so small that one might assume that it was a moon instead, but it had enough... just enough force for the dim ethereal glabella to finally flash.

    very quickly, all the force of this small planet surged toward this small crystal.

    it was said that all god childes had their own trials to face in order to successfully awaken. regardless of what it was, death would always be observed in some form. for wise star order, his fate was to drift through the endless depths of space, weathering countless years of torment.

    the first time he experienced this, it had nearly broken him. but now, he found it to be an interesting journey. it was as though he had lived hundreds of lives, each one just slightly different from the last.

    at first, he blamed that disciple of his. due to the nature of his power, he had grown too enlightened to not experience others toying with his timeline. so, every time leonel tried a new method to save his father, he had to experience this death again....

 Chapter 2259 Lab Setting

    naked, but happy, wise star order stretched himself out, feeling exuberant. he got to experience life again, that much was a small bit of happiness. but then he sighed, remembering how much work he had to do.

    "that brat surpassed me again, i really have to figure out how he does it. something''s not right with that little monster."

    he had experienced over 1300 lifetimes due to this quirk of time and his status as a god childe. it was an oddity in the timeline that was caused for reasons that he still wasn''t completely certain of. he was sure that disciple of his had an explanation, but what kind of master asked their disciple for pointers? he would rather die...

    again.

    every time he was revived, he would find new insights, and he would tweak his progression path just a little bit to increase the efficiency. but there was only so much he could do, honestly. he was already in the eighth dimension in this body, so to say that his foundation had already been laid was a huge understatement.

    but there were obviously ways to overcome this, if not leonel wouldn''t have been able to become so strong either. and he, who had taught and raised that brat a bit, obviously knew his fair share as well. he just had to do it all again.

    plus, between now and when he would meet leonel next, thousands of years would pass, and that was just in this incomplete world. the true first time he met leonel, the time that occurred before leonel''s first attempt to save his father, happened even longer after that, and it didn''t occur in this incomplete world at all.

    he laughed to himself. he was looking forward to it. beating down that arrogant little boy was one of the many guilty pleasures he would get to enjoy in this lifetime again.

    "but this time, i won''t let you surpass me so easily," wise star order thought to himself, a flash blazing in his eyes.

    he had been carefully preparing himself for this lifetime. there were certain things that those at the very top couldn''t see but those pitiful people at the bottom could see clearly. of course, if his enemies heard him describing himself in such a way, they''d have him stripped naked, hung upside down, and whipped, and his beautiful, pert bottom would be swollen red.

    wise star order subconsciously grabbed his own butt, shuddering. "i should get to work. i''ll need to be strong enough to stop that brat from destroying the world."

    years from now, leonel would most definitely try to trigger that timeless event, and he wouldn''t care about the casualties at all. in fact, that was also the first time he met leonel on the original timeless.

    there were some burdens that an elder would have to alleviate from his juniors, and he was determined to take this one on.

    he shook his head. "where did that brat find an infinity beast, though? my work is cut out for me."

    with that thought, wise star order put his hands on his hips. it was time he got out of there.

    as for why he had chosen to change so much about the luxnix family''s true history... maybe only he and that annoying disciple of his knew.

    ...

    the segmented cube shuttle appeared above earth, and leonel stepped out. down below, the pluto race was still building the pyramids, and up above, the corpse vessel of the void beast was still floating aimlessly, the void race members that had stayed behind waiting for judgment to be cast on them.

    leonel looked toward the void beast''s corpse and took a leap forward, landing on it.

    the void race reacted to this quite violently, but remembering how leonel had been with el''rion, they hesitated. one part wanted to shred this human apart, and another part wanted to appease the pluto. the two sides of themselves crippled their own movement entirely.

    "anastasia."

    the little floating spirit appeared, a hint of surprise. leonel''s voice sounded... brighter.

    "you know, you never really explained to me how you work. the fact you''re a world spirit makes sense to me... somewhat. but the lab setting and abode setting? not to mention that odd vessel? what does that have to do with... what you are?"

    anastasia fell into silence for a long time, and then just chose to explain things simply.

    "i''m the world spirit of a complete world that was destroyed by the god beasts of destruction. i should have fallen with my world, but i was saved by the minerva race."

    "minerva race?"

    "they''re similar to the pluto race but... they were destroyed a long time ago..." anastasia fell into another silence before she continued. "they crafted me into this vessel, and the hope was to help their race live, but i wasn''t enough and ended up being crippled. i''ve passed through many hands, dormant, until i was lost and forgotten, eventually falling to this world."

    "falling, huh?" leonel said.

    "what''s that supposed to mean?"

    "i don''t know, just sounds suspicious. a treasure like you-"

    "i''m not a treasure!"

    "yes, okay, okay, a beauty like you-"

    "much better."

    "-wouldn''t just casually fall to a world like this one.

    feels like a scheme."

    "what a stupid scheme, do you not see how valuable i am?"

    leonel chuckled.

    that explained his question. the lab setting and abode settings were just add-ons. the main function was probably to turn the power of a complete world toward crafting. in that case...

    there was a workbench within anastasia, one the most valuable tools at a crafter''s disposal outside of their world spirit, but he had never realized that...

    anastasia herself was probably one of the greatest workbenches in all of existence.

    "i haven''t paid nearly enough attention to all the special quirks of the lab setting, especially after your evolutions.

    what do you have in there that can dissect a corpse?"n).0velbin

    leonel grinned ear to ear.

 Chapter 2260 Easy

    anastasia''s brows shot up, then she looked toward the void beast below.

    processing materials and alleviating the more troublesome aspects of force crafting like gathering materials, refining them, preparing them, were all matters that the lab setting was created for. but on top of that, it was also a force multiplier. it allowed for experiments on large levels and without even leonel''s input, she had already integrated all of the test subjects of the violet force experiments, it was something that came second nature to her.

    processing a beast, even if it was a void beast, was well within her power. after all, this void beast had long since died and its vitality had been crushed to a point even these lessers of the void race could stand within it just fine. as a complete world''s spirit, it was well within anastasia''s prowess.

    the reason she was a bit shocked was because this wasn''t what she had expected leonel to do. didn''t he plan on passing this down to little blackstar? why did he change his mind?

    anastasia shook her head, hard. what was she thinking? this was a huge problem, just thinking about this matter. leonel was already marked by the god races, stealing their ship was tempting fate. they obviously feared the pluto, not leonel. also, it was impossible that they wouldn''t fight back against this attempt, they already seemed as though they were ready to fight it out with leonel to the death, just overhearing this conversation.

    these might be servants of the void race, but many of them were actually stronger than shan''rae and el''rion. after all, those two were exceptionally young, while they had already matured. they were on an unfathomable level in comparison to a human.

    of course, that also meant that if they used their strength the regulator would react, and unlike their entity, they wouldn''t be able to escape it so easily. in fact, it could be said the only thing protecting them from such a fate was the void beast ship itself which did wonders for masking presences.

    everything about leonel''s intentions sounded wild and ridiculous. but by this point, anastasia was used to it. she mostly wanted to know why leonel didn''t want to help little blackstar out.

    "i would expect a mighty world spirit like yourself to already understand," leonel said, reading anastasia''s thoughts.

    "don''t you like doing reckless things? why would i care to consider that stuff?" anastasia huffed.

    leonel chuckled, finding it all amusing.

    assimilate allowed him to take the strength of an external item and pass it into a living being, whether that be himself, another, or his soul constructs. breathe allowed him to give life and permanence to an object, that could be done through giving it a soul he commanded, or it could be done by allowing it to integrate with a living being after the use of assimilate.

    the problem, then, wasn''t the powers themselves, but rather the limitations. when he used assimilate on himself, the cost of dream force was higher than when he used it on his soul constructs, and it was even higher when he used it on a living being other than himself.

    this had been fixed with little tolly because of anastasia''s help, help he obviously had access to. but then came the second limitation: what one could handle, or more accurately, what their foundation could in this case.

    little tolly had been in a state of hyper evolution, preparing to set its foundation by fully integrating itself into the sixth dimension. it couldn''t have been a more perfect time to integrate with such a beast and it gave the little guy a world of benefit.

    as for little blackstar... he had already entered the seventh dimension and he was already well into his own path. although he had integrated with a large portion of void beast blood, from what leonel could tell here, that blood had not only been greatly diluted, but it was a drop in the ocean compared to the true amount of blood this creature had flowing through its veins.

    if he were to use assimilate and breathe on little blackstar now, while it might still work, he would lose much more to breathe than he would have had he been just entering the sixth dimension or just deciding on his path.

    no, leonel had something different planned. he knew that his king''s might lineage factor wasn''t infallible and it had its weaknesses. if he wanted to maximize this void beast corpse, he had to take it slow and give little blackstar the chance to slowly change his fate on his own.

    the little guy had already fallen well behind leonel, and for a beast that had once almost killed him on their first meeting, he knew that little blackstar was very much not satisfied with just this.

    at the same time, the approach may also aid him in helping much more than just little blackstar as well. who knew what kind of treasures were hidden within a void beasts body?

    of course, the void race probably took out all of the most valuable things before turning it into a ship, but he was already prepared for that reality. a little guy like him was just perfect for the scraps.

    leonel grinned again and anastasia rolled her eyes. what was this guy thinking about now?

    "then how are you going to take it, then? cheeky brat."

    leonel laughed. "how? el''rion!"

    leonel''s voice came out in a roar that sounded like something matched between a dragon''s roar and claps of thunder. it boomed so loudly that his throat shredded to pieces, but on the surface he acted as though nothing at all had happened.

    the infuriated void race members froze and began to shake in fear.

    the pluto race members below froze as well, but they looked up in astonishment rather than fear. a human could speak their language?

    leonel strolled in and kicked the void race members out one by one, they didn''t even dare to resist. they suddenly feared slighting leonel.

    "see? easy."nove)lb)1n

 Chapter 2261 A Name

    anastasia watched everything, speechless. she didn''t know what to say. that language had frozen even her for a moment. it held the weight of command, and an undeniable majesty. coming from leonel, even without his king''s might lineage factor activated, it felt as though the shadow of a true king had appeared, albeit it for just a moment.

    but after a moment, seeing the sneaky smile on leonel''s face, she couldn''t help but ask.

    "you... what did you say?"

    "oh, that?" leonel grinned. "i said that little boy''s name."

    anastasia froze. "you... you said a name?"

    "well, yeah. i can''t actually speak that language, and if i copied anything else they said, wouldn''t it be embarrassing if i said a word like "and" or "the", they''d laugh me out of the ship. plus, i assume that whatever his parents named him meant something bold and powerful."

    it was impossible for even leonel to learn an entire language just based off of a short conversation. but, picking out a repeatable series of sounds within that conversation was all too obvious. when el''rion was leaving, they had all saluted him with that sound plus a prefix that he assumed meant something like "young master" or "young ruler". by process of elimination, picking out el''rion''s name was as easy as breathing.

    "you... are unbelievable," anastasia muttered.

    "i know, right? i''m pretty gre-"

    anastasia slapped the back of his head. "not in that way!"

    the void race servants who had been kicked off of the ship quickly felt the suppression of the world around them. they quickly took out several items to fight back against the suppression, and unlike the individuals who had come down from the four great families, the black chains didn''t appear around them. clearly, whatever items they had taken out to protect themselves were far beyond what the four great families had had.

    they looked around in fear, but seeing that no one came for them, they took out other treasures and began to escape quickly one after another.

    leonel rubbed the back of his head. "i don''t know how a race like that can be so cowardly. i don''t know what you''re so angry about, when have i ever been wrong?"

    "would you like me to list them one by one? in alphabetical or chronological order?"

    leonel was stunned. this was very much not the response he had expected. but, just as quickly, his one mind began to subconsciously form the list and he had to shake his head to get it to stop. by then, he was already one longer than he cared to admit.

    "... never mind."

    after a while, anastasia burst out with laughter. she laughed so hard that twinkling crystals of blue came from her eyes. she felt like she was even dying of laughter. a name, they had been scared off by a name, it was cracking her up. the funniest part was that they probably had no idea.

    she knew a little bit about the pluto race, mostly due to the minerva race, and she knew that their language wasn''t understood by many outside of their races, and definitely couldn''t be spoken by anyone so casually. they had probably run because they thought they had mistaken leonel''s identity. after all, leonel had been expelled from el''rion''s body, who knew if he was closer to the pluto race than he seemed?

    just imagining someone screaming "leonel" in english and then scaring off a race of gods was killing her.

    leonel smiled. "when you''re done, we should probably get going in case one of them realizes they''ve been duped."

    anastasia wiped her tears, though they had already long since floated away.n./o/)v)-e/-l-/b))i(/n

    "this was a nice idea by you and all, but moving this corpse in isn''t exactly easy either, you know. it won''t be as difficult as the hourglass because the difficulty is set and won''t just infinitely increase, but it''s beyond the current you for sure."

    "isn''t that why i asked you if you could process it first?" leonel smiled.

    anastasia looked down with a hint of hesitation. could she? maybe if she had a few months, probably a few years, actually.

    "that''s okay, my favorite water boy is finally here," leonel perked up.

    el''rion rushed in from the distance. he was still quite heavily injured and he hadn''t fully recovered, but when he heard his name called, he rushed forward with all the speed his could muster.

    plutos were the god of gods, so long as their name was spoken in its truest form, no matter the distance, they would hear it. but what el''rion didn''t expect was that the person who called out would actually be... leonel?

    "hey, you''re finally here, good. do me a favor, use that little hourglass thingy to help anastasia put this corpse inside."

    el''rion froze and his lip twitched. hourglass... thingy...? he had only just learned this language recently but he was pretty sure leonel was being absolutely ridiculous again.

    ...

    wise star order streaked across the skies with great speed. this timeline was already long after leonel would have left this zone, but it had taken him quite a long time to finally revive.

    it was unknown whether all god childes would definitely revive, but it was also obvious why. those that were dead couldn''t exactly tell tales, now could they? but wise star order theorized that so long as a god childe died with an intact ethereal glabella, and around enough force, they would most definitely come back.

    every time he died and leonel did something dangerous, it was becoming more and more difficult to make sure his ethereal glabella remained protected, but this was a master''s duty to his disciple.

    "ah, finally back."

    wise star order looked down toward the devastation of planet luxnix, viola, and montex. he remembered how heart wrenching it had been the first time he saw it, but now he was simply numb.

    on the bright side, his wife survived in this timeline. on the unfortunate side, how would he sleep around now?

    he descended, his mind swirling with thoughts.

 Chapter 2262 Put Me Down!

    wise star order chuckled to himself. he didn''t know why he was thinking about that woman. which life was it that he learned how she betrayed him?

    he was a wise star order, and that sounded great. but compared to a northern star order, it was worth next to nothing. the reality was that the truth of namesakes of the luxnix family was much deeper than others knew, and it was something that wise star order had allowed to be buried.

    wise star orders were the bookkeepers and zoo keepers of the god beasts of creation. it was their job to document all of the races, worlds, and natural phenomena of existence, not to mention taking care of all species. there was a time where the god beasts of creation had at least one pairing of every plant and animal to ever exist.

    of course, that catalog had long since been destroyed, but the ultimate purpose of wise star orders was their mental capacity to remember a lot of things... that was all. so, one could imagine why it was wise star order''s wife who was the matriarch and de facto leader of the family, and not himself.

    northern star orders were the true warriors. they were existences that, so long as they came into contact with an adequate well of light and star force, would be guaranteed to touch upon the golden tablet and claim the truest lineage factor of the infinity beasts.

    of course, in this incomplete world, you would be more likely to enter the ninth dimension without the regulator striking you down than you would be to find a strong enough well of force. even in complete worlds they were nigh unheard of, mostly destroyed by the god beasts of creation.

    not that wise star order would ever allow a northern star order to take such a step even if they had such a thing available... that would be nothing short of suicide. if the other races knew that humans still had this capability, the small quarter that they had been given to continue to live as a race would be crushed. it could be said that this was the most foolish thing a human could do in this day and age.

    and then there was snow star order... this was actually the fault of the english language, the translation wasn''t nearly bold or sharp enough. snow referred now to one of ice water, but rather one of soot and ash. snow star orders were the executioners and messengers of the infinity beasts, and they were meant to remain as snowy star owls.

    compared to other humans, they could exhibit much more of the snowy star owl''s real strength and they too could cross a galaxy with a single flap of their wings.

    unfortunately, none of the techniques that wise star order had left behind had allowed the snow star order of leonel''s time to display any of that power, which led to her dying at the hand of velasco.

    then again, wise star order thought to himself, knowing that man, he probably had enough strength to deal with the situation regardless. it was a shame that such a monster was born in this incomplete world.

    of course, he too was born here. but unlike velasco, his luxnix family didn''t originate in this world and he also knew how to get out. and with the project abandoned and the shadow tails gone, he could leave with his own methods whenever he wanted.

    but first... he had a treasure vault to leave behind in the spirituals domain.

    was it smart to give this kind of strength to the very disciple he would have to kick the ass of in a few millennia? no. definitely was not. but he would do it anyway because this was how the first timeline had gone.n-.o((v..e-/l--b.-i)-n

    originally, he had left that treasure vault behind in the spirituals domain out of sentiment. he knew what was coming and he had a fondness for the human race. plus, he was leaving behind some of his luxnix family, so he hoped that they would be able to benefit from his teachings.

    as for why he had left it in the spirituals domain and not the human domain, it was a test. if the people of this incomplete world wanted any chance of crossing the coming trial, they had to at least dominate this incomplete world, or else they wouldn''t stand a chance against the others.

    very soon, the vast bubble would run out of time and they would have to cash in on the bet that the fawkes had made. in a final push, they would pit the juniors of the incomplete worlds against one another, taking advantage of the time dilation for one final spurt of accelerated growth.

    incomplete worlds were like rolls of the dice. there would be many that evolved down a path far weaker than the dimensional verse, but there would be some that had evolved in special niche ways that placed them on par with even some complete worlds despite lacking the ability to take the final step into the ninth dimension.

    these latter worlds were what the vast bubble were banking on. they wanted warriors that would be useful and the dimensional verse was far too weak. and then, once they gave them a path to the ninth dimension, they would have these warriors in the palm of their hands forever.

    velasco was supposed to become one of these warriors, but he had grown too powerful on his own. as for whether they would allow the son of such a man to live... well...

    wise star order laughed into the skies as he landed in the courtyard of his and his "wife''s" abode. that brat was harder to kill than a roach, he''d find a way, probably. the only question was how many would die before he did find that path. the answer to that question was more important than anything else.

    "xxx? you''re here?"

    wise star order''s mind seemed to filter out his name naturally, at this point he felt that he did it on purpose.

    seeing the face of the woman he knew would betray him, and just how gorgeous, and equally annoying she was, he felt an amused thought bubble up as a bulge in his pants shifted.

    the matriarch of the family looked as though she was about to launch into a lecture. she had only married wise star order because he was the most eligible bachelor, but she usually took out the stress of her position on him. wise star order had never been a push over, but he couldn''t defeat this wife of his in the past either so it was useless.

    now, though...

    wise star order took a step forward and grabbed her by the waist, halling her over his shoulder and storming into their bedroom.

    "xxx!! you! put me down!!"

    the protests were soon drowned out by dense cries for mercy filled with a lustful undertone.

    wise star order had an excellent time subduing this wife of his. it wouldn''t change much about the future, but he didn''t care for it to. it would be even more interesting later. his life was just getting started.

 Chapter 2263 Creation Tablet

    wise star order stood with a stretch, sliding his robes on. ah, it was good to be young. last time he had gone so hard, his back had ached for days.

    he ignored the limpid words of his wives. she was hardly intelligible, her speech slurring and her eyes half closed. she was probably saying something about why he wasn''t staying in bed, but it was more funny than anything to him.

    before this day, he had bedded this woman a single time, and she hadn''t even let him finish. she only did it out of a sense of duty and to officially consummate their marriage. of course, the most important reason was because of her ability index. she had been trying to take on his wise star order abilities for herself.

    as much as he would like to play with this heartless woman some more, he had some work to do.

    "right, valiant heart..."

    wise star order took a step as his wife''s gargled mess of words were becoming sharper and louder. he luckily didn''t get to listen to whatever nonsense she was definitely trying to spew. instead, he had appeared deep within the catacombs of the luxnix.

    these catacombs were built by the envoys of the god beast of destruction. there hadn''t been an active void beast in countless generations, but that didn''t stop the creature''s lessers from doing their best to stir up trouble.

    despite their usual brazenness, they were somewhat cautious in this world. that was because of the appearance of the pluto race and its relation to the existence of these incomplete worlds was something worthy of being wary of.

    the void bubble was far too weak to even have a single incomplete world for this sort of experiment, let alone dozens, it could only be done by the god races. but at the same time, this world was too valuable precisely because of its variability and potential for evolution, it was the perfect place to experiment with a new force.

    since the experiment was a failure, and a youth of the pluto race had appeared, they chose to abandon it. the place had already been stripped bare by leonel, but why would they care so much about failures? no, it was probably more accurate to say that they couldn''t spare the risk and the failures weren''t valuable enough to put themselves on the line.

    wise star order appeared in the temple once more. now, all that remained was a bronze tablet, and he didn''t seem surprised. he had allowed leonel to take the silver and golden tablets. it would be a long while before leonel could use the latter, so he wasn''t worried. of course, he didn''t expect that foolish disciple of his to understand propriety and not use the tablet even when he could, not in this state anyway.

    that was leonel''s fault. he would be under a lot of pressure soon, and he might take power from anywhere he could. but if he took it from this source, he would only die sooner.

    wise star order stepped forward and toward the bronze tablet. he looked as though he was about to crash right through, but the moment his shin looked as though it would crash into the alter, a ripple of space flashed and he disappeared. the luxnix would probably rush in soon enough, but find nothing at all.

    the space wise star order appeared in was a vast darkness. there was only one thing floating in silence, a single tablet... a single silver tablet.

    he reached forward and grabbed.

    the creation tablets.n./o/)v)-e/-l-/b))i(/n

    as a wise star order, he had a duty to these tablets. bronze, silver, golden and...

    he waved the hand with the silver tablet in it and its body rippled, the words on its surface forming into a force art that rolled and foamed with light until it became a blinding crystal color. star crystal. the crystallization of the purest, attributeless star force. it was the energy that was the very foundation of existence itself.

    he might be a glorified librarian, but the books he oversaw were far beyond the imagination of most individuals. in incomplete world, even a silver tablet like this one had infinite power, it could bend and twist reality as it pleased and had very few restrictions.

    to the god beasts of creation, though, this was simply a simulator. it was used to document experiments, it was these creation tablets that were the center that allowed the god beasts of creation to succeed in passing down their bloodlines to humans, and all the while, they killed not a single person thanks to it.

    ''it''s a decent gift,'' wise star order thought to himself. ''he''ll be pretty aimless in his life because of the influence of his future self, why chase anything when you feel like you have already achieved everything? this should help him get a taste of what it means to have drive and purpose, it''ll make the moment his future self vanishes more manageable as he''ll have his own sense of self.

    ''but this isn''t quite enough.''

    wise star order stroked his chin.

    leonel had no idea that his master, a master he didn''t even know he had and wouldn''t acknowledge until years later, was diligently laying out a plan for his improvement step by step. however, that wouldn''t stop wise star order from being as diligent as he could.

    "right, i''ll use this to influence a few zones, then."

    he shook the silver tablet again and it went back to normal as he vanished. streaking across the skies, he felt leisurely, a smile on his face. he guessed that he owed his disciple a small bit of advantage. he had made it so far without any, so wise star order wanted to see what he would accomplish now.

    wise star order appeared above earth, prepared to make some alterations to the timeline. enough time had passed that the plutos had long since gone and earth was slowly building up its own civilizations. interestingly enough, the true history of earth seemed to be completely wrong, not that that mattered.

    "ah, right, i need a name, i can''t exactly use wise star order, too on the nose. hm..."

    he looked at the tablet. "ah, what was it that that stupid woman kept calling me? nilrem, right? alright, let''s go with merlin, then."

 Chapter 2264 Maze Ore

    chapter 2264 maze ore

    leonel appeared back in his timeline. his gains this time were quite great. he had gained the odd beast that fused with little tolly, he had gained a void beast''s corpse, and his vital star force had taken a half-step into the impetus state. beyond that, he had been informed about a great many things and even gained the silver and golden tablets.

    he wasn''t too eager to pass down those two tablets to the luxnix. they had had them for so long back then and accomplished nothing, giving it to them now wouldn''t magically change anything except... for his grandmother.

    even so, he was hesitant to give it to her either. he had too many questions for that grandfather of his, and his grandmother was practically wrapped around his finger. he was very good at reading people, and he could tell that his grandmother was entirely googly eyes for the ascension empire''s emperor. she would stand on his side almost no matter what.

    in a situation like that, he wasn''t sure what to think. did he hate his grandfather? no. did he distrust him? not exactly, though it was close enough to that. did he want to take unnecessary risks? also no.

    so he kept it to himself. instead, rather than returning to the morales family, he was far more interested in two things. first anastasia''s second search, and the second, and also the reason they returned home so easily... he wanted to fully understand little tolly, or at least understand him to the greatest extent he could.

    he stood in a familiar location of the lab setting. it was the first room that had ever formed. his simple workbench ahead, the walls were lined with snowglobes and simple shelves. this was the room that he had learned to craft in, the room he had started the first of his father''s lessons and gained an understanding toward how he should treat his spirit partner.

    he sat at the bench and pointed out a hand. little tolly stretched out, peeling off of his skin and forming a perfect ball. silver was still the little guy''s main color, but the dense runes of white gold that made his head dizzy to look at.

    little tolly rolled on the table between leonel''s fingers, making booping sounds that made it seem like it was having a great deal of fun.

    ''interesting. spirits usually choose a favored form and even a gender after entering the sixth dimension, but little tolly has done neither, choosing to stay like this. is this because of the way i evolved him? is it because of the best he assimilated? or is there another reason?''

    tolliver should have a perfect fusion of all paths. there was a ore refinement path, a creation path, a universal force path, and of course the jack of all trades.

    the first allowed the ease of processing of ores, but not just this alone. this seemed to sound like a spirit would just clear an ore of impurities for you, but it was deeper than that.

    when one had entered the life grade, you began to appreciate the intricacies of each and every ore. even when they shared the same name, they weren''t exactly equal, and you had to account for all of these little changes when you wanted to create something whole and new, something that had a life of its own.

    this path was like a cheat code to the life grade. rather than relying on your personal skill to learn and adapt, you could rely on your spirit instead to force the ores into a predictable path. this lowered the bar to forge life grade crafts considerably, you only had to worry about the blueprint and not the whims of nature.

    this was the first thing leonel tested. he took out an ore that went by maze ore. it was a light domain type ore that could project a large amount of illusions as it refracted the light around it. it was an interesting ore he had been playing around with as he thought it would be interesting to form a troop around this kind of armor. n.)o--v--e--l/)b--i/(n

    however, it was very difficult to work with despite being a sixth dimensional ore. this was because even the slightest deviation in a cut to the ore could drastically change how it warped light around it, and it could trick the eyes of even its crafter and their spirit, so getting precise cuts in the first place was a nightmare.

    it was a problem ore that most completely ignored. only those with exceptionally high light force affinity could hope to deal with it, and it was rare enough to have an affinity of such a rare force to begin with, let alone having the skill in crafting to match it. unless, of course, you had a dream world like leonel.

    this ore could fool even internal sight, but what it couldn''t fool was leonel''s dream world.

    even so, there were other problems aside from trying to get perfect cuts, and that was related to the actual and slight differences between the force densities of the ores themselves. even if he cut them perfectly, these small differences would throw him for a loop.

    he held out two maze ores and handed them to little tolly with a simple command: make them identical in every way.

    to leonel''s surprise, little tolly only tapped each one of them once then went back to rolling around and having fun.

    leonel''s brows shot up before he deployed his dream world.

    he sat in silence for a long time. he scanned everything about the ore, the cuts, the force balance, the size, the weight, he didn''t miss a single detail, even down to its chemical structure...

    ''it shouldn''t have been anywhere near that fast...''

 Chapter 2265 Lighthouse Ore

    chapter 2265 lighthouse ore

    little tolly was supposed to be a jack of all trades but master of none. however, this speed was even faster than a true master of this purification path should have found possible. he didn''t have much of a reference outside of what he had read in the void library, but he was certain of this. it wouldn''t have been a surprise even if it took days, and the spirit in question should have had to swallow the ores first, process them, and then expel them... not just tap them once.

    leonel knew that the beast would cause some great changes in little tolly, and he even expected that the little guy would be more of a master than he knew. but this was greatly exaggerated.

    of course, the ores weren''t perfect. he only commanded little tolly to make them identical, but he didn''t specify how, or what parameters he wanted. so, he assumed that the little metal spirit had chosen the easiest path, and not the path best for his army, but he didn''t care very much.

    he took another ore. this one was another sixth dimensional ore and it was a vein type ore that directly light force. it could be used to dampen and expand the maze force of the maze ore, shrouding a much larger area than that of the troop with the maze armors, or it could be used to do the opposite and shrink the illusions to contend against a small number of enemies or even one powerful enemy.

    this vein type ore was known as lighthouse ore, it was the best ore in this category at controlling light force. the reason for its necessity was quite obvious. maze ore, once its cuts were set, could be confusing to look at, but not much about it would change over time, and it lacked flexibility. this would fix all of that.

    however... leonel felt it would be better if they were the same ore, containing the characteristics of control and confusion. of course, that was easier said than done. leonel had never bothered because considering all the effort it would take, he might as well just forge the both of them into a life grade armor, it would be the same thing, mostly. unless.

    the second path of the spirits allowed one to fuse ores into one, creating all new effects and combining abilities. this was yet another cheat code of the life grade, making the ores perfect for crafting into a holistic and whole form.

    "ah, i haven''t studied these two enough, i need a third maze ore-"

    leonel mumbled to himself prepared to take out a third, but then he froze.

    little tolly''s white gold runes lit up and a maze ore suddenly spit out from thin air. there was only the slightest fluctuation of force in the surroundings as though the little one was pulling on something and then it appeared, just like that, in a flash of light.

    leonel reached forward, slowly picking the ore up. it was a maze ore, perfect and whole. he squeezed it and it was crushed between his palms. everything about it was exactly the same, even the resistance. it wasn''t an illusion at all, or else he would have sensed the dream force by now.

    he looked toward little tolly. "i need another."

    little tolly didn''t think much, making a cute bloop sound and forming another. leonel picked it up and he was completely shaken. this one was slightly different from the last one, and the last one was slightly different from the two that he had originally given little tolly.

    "i need a lighthouse ore."

    little tolly sat in silence for a while, confused. then, suddenly being enlightened, it reached forward and touched the lighthouse ore in leonel''s hand quickly, then pulled back, acting innocent before it flashed with light.

    a perfectly whole lighthouse ore appeared, slightly different from the one in leonel''s hands. little tolly didn''t even seem to be struggling at all. n.)o--v--e--l/)b--i/(n

    leonel immediately put the little metal spirit through a countless series of tests, pushing the little one to the limits... or so he tried. nothing he did seemed to tire little tolly out at all. he assumed that it was because he didn''t go far enough, but this alone was shocking.

    little tolly could perfectly replicate ore at the sixth dimension and below without much effort at all. it was completely stonewalled when it came to higher ores, and it more so seemed like a "yes or no" switch rather than an effort switch.

    each time he created one, he pulled from the force in the surroundings, causing each one to be just a little bit different, just like real ores you would find in a mine.

    what was more shocking than that was that after creating the new ore, a fusion of maze ore and lighthouse ore, little tolly became like a database, remembering the new ore and being able to create it even without the two base ores any longer.

    there wasn''t even a point in testing the third path, that of using universal force to supplement crafting, because leonel could already feel it passively when tolliver stuck to his arm. but he chose to do so anyway, just to cover all of his bases, and this was maybe the most shocking of them all.

    when he used universal force through tolliver, he could sense something beyond, or maybe it was on par... he wasn''t entirely sure. it was like he could touch upon the veil of the world and he discovered something absolutely shocking...

    he could sense the constellations of the dimensional verse. those of the human domain, those beyond the human domain, it didn''t seem to matter in the slightest.

    not only could he sense them, but he could use little tolly as a bridge, connecting to them, and using these constellations to directly power his creations.

    the implications of such a thing were beyond what leonel could even fathom currently, especially once he stepped outside of this verse.

    as he was thinking, anastasia''s voice drifted to his ear.

    "i''m sorry leonel, there is no such innate node in this time either."

    -----

    erdiul''s note: ofcourse, lol.

 Chapter 2266 A Suit

    chapter 2266 a suit

    leonel fell into silence for a moment before he closed his eyes and exhaled a slow breath. when he opened them again, there was a resolute look within. the plan remained the same. crush this dimensional verse into his fists as quickly as possible, open a path to the outside world, and if he was lucky enough to enter the impetus state before then, then he would forget about this matter. if he wasn''t, then he didn''t believe in the whole of wider existence there wasn''t at least one such person. he didn''t care how powerful they were, what their background was, if it would save aina, he would do it.

    "with me, tolliver. we''ll finish this within a day with your help."

    the sound of popping bubbles and bubbling water echoed. it sounded much more complex than the noises little tolly usually made, and leonel even felt that he could even somewhat understand the little metal spirit far better. while it hadn''t seemed to mature exactly as he had expected, it had definitely still matured. confidence and excitement radiated from tolliver, and leonel even felt like the metal spirit was a miniature version of himself, at least somewhat.

    "good."

    leonel got to work.

    ...

    a day later, he stepped out from the lab setting, sharp-eyed and radiating a suppressive aura. the first thing he did was go and speak to his mother. after confirming that she had already formed the golden tiger lineage factor, he asked her to follow him. it was about time they returned to the morales family and saw what the situation was. not much time had passed. the time allocated for the mission within the zone should have taken years to finish, and the time dilation was, as a result, quite forgiving. due to this, leonel and his mother had only been inside for a few minutes. overall, it was only a single day if his time spent crafting was.

    on that day, not only had he completed the final sets of armor for his demon troops, but he had also reformed his divine armors, again.

    "if you want to return to the morales family, you can''t wear that," alienor suddenly said as anastasia set off.

    "hm?" leonel looked down at himself. his robes were decent enough, though not as elaborate as the ones he had worn to match aina as they entered the heir wars. but, they were still decent enough. he had wanted to wear his sweatpants, but he felt that he should be a bit more mindful of his image. that said, he wasn''t exactly in tune with the fashion sense of the wider dimensional verse, he just randomly picked something out. now that he thought about it, it was aina who had decided on their matching robes as well. he was much better at designing cool uniforms, but now wasn''t the time for that. n.-o/.v(-e-(l(-b.-i)(n

    alienor shook her head and patted leonel''s cheeks. "i didn''t want to overstep my bounds before, but i won''t let anyone stop me from being a mom now, not even you."

    she waved a hand, and a white robe appeared.

    leonel''s expression became a bit weird. why white? it wasn''t that he hated the color, but he would prefer something bolder. what about black and gold? a nice grey and blue also sounded nice.

    "don''t doubt your mother, little lion. now come, strip."

    leonel''s face became weirder.

    "what are you doing? hurry up now, i haven''t got all day."

    leonel coughed and stripped off his outer robes. he wasn''t a shy person, and had gotten into his fair share of wild battles that had practically left him entirely naked. but for some reason he felt a little uncomfortable standing in front of his mother in his boxers. alienor looked at his body and nodded, patting her own shoulder as though she had done a great job. leonel''s physique had already been exceptional ever since he entered the fourth dimension. he had gone from an elite athlete to a man that seemed more like a fitness model than anything else. but now, whether it was in vascularity, leanness, or definition, he was levels above.

    she threw a pair of white pants and robes at leonel. when leonel caught them, he felt that the material was incomparably soft, almost like silk and clouds had a baby. on top of that, looking a bit closer at more than just the color, there were faint patterns of a grey so subtle that it almost looked white as well. but together, the subtle embroidery made it look quite noble and elegant. when he put them on, he was actually quite satisfied. the material even made his force flow with a smoother cadence. he made a mental note to study up on fabrics and how he could incorporate them into his crafts. his father''s teachings had had sewing lessons, but he hadn''t applied them anywhere but the beast skin armors he had made for his companions during the void palace true selection.

    however, his mom didn''t seem to be finished. she had yet to help him accessorize.

    by the time leonel was done, he was wearing a golden chain around his neck and wrist, the latter of which was just barely hidden beneath his love sleeve, and the former of which was just as subtle beneath his collar. his hair was slicked back in a formless gel that he couldn''t even feel, and he actually wore shoes for a change. his white suit with faint grey embroidery reminded him of an indian style suit, a jodhpuri if his memory hadn''t failed him. as for his mother''s nods of satisfaction, they were even more exaggerated.

    "now, your father''s glasses," alienor commanded.

    leonel froze, but his mother''s tone didn''t seem to leave room for negotiation. with a deep breath, he slipped them on, and alienor beamed.

    "there''s my little lion. go on now."

    leonel shifted the crystal-framed glasses on his face and then stepped out, a vibrant violet color in his eyes. when he stepped out, he found the morales family in chaos.

 Chapter 2267 Gifts

    chapter 2267 gifts

    the morales family wasn''t under attack, at least not officially. rather, the ships of several powers were in the surroundings, each one had come with "gifts", these gifts being leonel''s demands of them in exchange for the lives of their juniors.

    due to the matters that had happened the moment the heir wars ended, they hadn''t had time to gather up these materials. but, leonel''s ability to read the intentions of people, and further these powers, only got sharper the stronger his mind became. he could see the difference between those that had come with the intention of actually paying up, and those that expected the gesture alone to be enough.

    the morales family elders had simply said that leonel wasn''t here, but how could these people believe that? so, they had started pressing, leaving their warships up in the air around the morales capital. of course, if it was aggressive enough for a war declaration, the morales would have never come this far, but the intention was obvious enough.

    however, as bold as the threat was, leonel''s lip curled. he could sense the hesitation, the fear, and why shouldn''t they have such reservations? the momentum of the morales was unlike anything they had ever seen. if not for his father''s death, maybe they wouldn''t even dare to do this much.

    this was a test. they wanted to see how much they could push the morales.

    as leonel walked toward the capital, his mother a half step behind him with a doting and caring expression on her face, his presence seemed to loom, becoming taller and taller until the world fell into its own sort of silence.

    the engines of the warships still blared, the raging winds caused by their presences, and the distortions in gravity were still heavy, however in the end it still felt as though there was only one person that could be focused on.

    the members of the morales who were just passively observing this situation from the outside, not quite knowing of the internal conflict between leonel and their own elders, felt a sense of pride well up in their hearts.

    this was the champion of the heir wars. not just any heir war, but an unprecedented heir war that would be remembered for generations, a man that stood atop the strongest collection the human domain had seen since its inception.

    and he was a morales. he was their patriarch.

    the will of the morales seemed to solidify and the flickers of their constellation in the sky dimmed the momentum of the surrounding families considerably. the faces of their messengers fell. never did they expect that the appearance of just one person would have such a profound effect on the situation, but they steeled their hearts.

    they had already expected much of this, though not all of it. it was the reason for their partial caution in the first place. but even so, they still represented the whole of the human domain, and even the suiard family and the spirituals religion had suffered at the hands of leonel, not to mention the omann family.

    three organizations and families, all on the same level as the morales, had come for compensation. no matter what the future of the morales looked like, it was still the future and not the present. it was impossible for them to have taken full benefit from their constellation and new lineage factor already. this was their best chance to suppress them.

    the so-called "messengers" were all among the strongest these families could call forward without sending their ancestors. if they sent their ancestors, it would have a much different connotation, and they didn''t want to take that step just yet. instead, they sent the very strongest of their seventh dimensional elites.

    the constellation families, the constellation bow alliance, the suiard, the omann, the spirituals religion... but they were just the beginning. once again, the smaller families became a pawn in the game of the big wigs, countless smaller seventh dimensional families, and even a minority of sixth dimensional families, appearing as well.

    they all had the intention of stepping off their ships and questioning leonel directly, but the latter waved a hand. nove(lb/1n

    all of a sudden, the strength of the world trembled and their ships were locked in place, all of the force arts no longer responding to their call as though they were cut off from the laws of the world.

    "guests should wait to be invited in. you wouldn''t want to be rude, right?" leonel asked lightly.

    the messengers froze as leonel strolled into the planet-swallowing palace of the morales. within, the elders were in heated discussion. they hadn''t even gotten time to implement many of leonel''s changes before this happened.

    they all realized they hadn''t improved nearly enough yet. while their pride wanted to fight it out with the rest of the human domain immediately, the cost of this was heavy, especially since they had already sent much of the evacuees back to their homes due to leonel''s orders.

    if not for leonel''s almost blinding presence, they wouldn''t have even noticed someone enter, something that was a hint embarrassing.

    some found themselves subconsciously exhaling when leonel appeared before catching themselves. since when had they trusted this brat so much? he hadn''t proven anything but how rude he was.

    leonel scanned the region, but the overlord was nowhere to be seen. ancestor issa and ancestor alvaro seemed to have taken over the proceedings, but because the other families hadn''t sent any ancestors, it would be a sign of weakness if they took direct action so they were trying to find some workarounds.

    seeing leonel, the two had their own complicated set of reactions, but in the end, they exhaled.

    "patriarch." they greeted at the same time.

    of course, they weren''t unduly respectful. the word patriarch coming from them sounded no different than had they said leonel''s name directly.

    they noticed alienor as well, but they chose not to say anything. for one, they were quite familiar with leonel''s temper by now and he might do something ridiculous if they really said something, and secondly... well, she carried the morales name too.

    "is there really all that much to talk about? let them come and bring us great gifts."

    the expressions of the ancestors and elders changed.

 Chapter 2268 Junior Ancestors

    n..o-(v/(e--l/.b./1)(n

    chapter 2268 junior ancestors

    the elders were truly stunned by leonel''s words. their first assumption was that leonel didn''t understand what he was talking about, lacking in too much experience to see what the problem was.

    take, for example, two individuals of vastly different standings, one of which was a man of average class and fit well amongst the common people, and the second of which was a noble existence, an emperor or king, even.

    would the man of average class be able to make a deal of equal with the king? according to the rules of society, they would be, by their very nature, two existences of vastly different worths. making a deal of equals first necessitated being equals in the first place.

    a king could order a man of average class to do as he pleased, the vice versa would ever be true.

    how this applied to the current situation was obvious. the morales might be a king if it was dealing with any one family, but the problem was that it wasn''t dealing with one family or even one organization, it was dealing with the entire human domain. how could they match up?

    what did it mean to make a deal of equals? it meant that if one party should default on their word, the consequences the opposing party could force them to pay would be too great for them to ignore. this would force both parties into upholding their word.

    what could a man of average class do to a king? and in this situation, in an exchange of life for treasure, if these families defaulted on their words, they would lose one genius, true enough. but they would also be able to gain a reason to retaliate in kind.

    but what about the morales? if leonel didn''t follow through, then he would bring down the wrath of the entire human domain on the morales.

    this was fundamentally not a deal of equals. so when leonel spoke of just "accepting" the gifts, it sounded like a joke, like a peasant trying to force the hand of a king to give him treasures for doing something easily within his power.

    however, leonel didn''t seem to notice their reactions at all. he walked forward, taking his seat at the helm, his mother standing to his back, though only for a moment. at an unknown time, a flash of green surrounded alienor and she vanished into thin air as though she had never been there. it was impossible to tell if she was still behind leonel, or if she had gone off to some other place.

    leonel smiled. "ancestor issa, ancestor alvaro, i''ll have to ask you two to leave. our guests have only brought forward seventh dimensional experts, it would be beneath your station to appear here, no? leave this matter for a junior like me."

    the eyes of the two ancestors flickered. leonel''s words just now was probably the nicest thing he had ever said to them. well, it was at the very least not as rude as the usual. but it was clear what his intentions were. if they really left, then what happened from here on would be dictated entirely by leonel''s temper, and they didn''t know if they could trust such a thing.

    however, what they didn''t expect was that they wouldn''t get a chance. leonel tapped a finger subtly after he spoke, and the world''s power descended. in the eyes of others, it looked as though the two had disappeared under their own power.

    the other ancestors looked toward one another and one by one, they too vanished.

    leonel radiated a confidence that left the remaining elders a bit stunned. in the end, they too took deep breaths and found their positions, taking a seat.

    "elder kriss."

    a middle-aged woman with a stern face and short cut hair stood immediately. "yes, patriarch."

    leonel tapped his armrest for a moment, in thought. "do we have any promising youths in this coming generation?"

    elder kriss was one of the head commanders of the divine guards and also one of the strongest among the peak seventh dimensional morales. for those like this, the morales had their own unique names for them, and they called this group of elders the junior ancestors, though there was nothing junior about them at all.

    she would be among the best in knowing what promising youths there were, at least in combat. the morales had yet to get used to the fact that the spear domain lineage factor and the metal synergy lineage factor had now become one.

    "among the post-nova generation, there are indeed a few good seedlings," she nodded in affirmation.

    "pick one, call them here," leonel said.

    her gaze flickered, but leonel had already moved on.

    "elder aria."

    yet another older woman stood, straight and tall. she didn''t look nearly as stern, but there was still a hint of authority between her brows. her hair was long and tinged with deep hints of silver that alternated with the usual deep brown of the morales, and from her neck hung a pair of glasses.

    she was one of the head crafters and led the crafters of the family in many things. she wasn''t a junior ancestor in raw strength, but rather in the power of her divine armor and how cleverly she implemented her crafts. in this way, she was a lot like the radix family, but on a completely different level.

    unlike elder kriss, though, she didn''t call out to him as patriarch, not that there was a rule for this.

    "do the same as elder kriss, call one here."

    she frowned. "p.. patriarch," she said slowly, "this matter is quite delicate, it isn''t very appropriate for..."

    leonel looked over and met her eyes. elder aria could see an almost indifferent sort of gentleness within, but it still froze her. the weight of the world bore down.

    "inappropriate? i think it will be fine," leonel said with a smile. "we just need a few flower girls and ring boys."

    the hearts of the elders skipped a beat, but everything was quickly put into motion. soon, the doors of the morales palace were opened wide, and at the forefront, two teenagers, one young man and one young woman, stood forward, their pride beaming and the arrogance of the morales blooming out from deep within them.

    "the morales family welcomes you!" they roared.

 Chapter 2269 Guest

    chapter 2269 guest

    tommie morales. a bright spark of the spear faction and a young man of 15 years old with a pair of eyebrows that looked like a flare of fire. his face was just as stern as his instructor''s but the hints of immaturity on his face were clear, but it carried a vibrancy of youth.

    nora morales. a bright light of the crafting faction, she too was 15 years old, and she had an interesting style herself. her metal spirit held her hair up into two ponytails. it couldn''t help but remind leonel of a certain faction leader from valiant heart mountain; she too used her fire spirit to hold her hair up. it exhibited quite a level of control.

    but, leonel only smiled when he saw this. though it was well hidden, he could see a special fabric and clip separate nora''s hair from her metal spirit. it was clear that leonel was still one of the very few, if not the only one, in the human domain that dared to touch his metal spirit directly. even so, it still took quite a bit of control to stop her metal spirit from eating through the metal and getting at her hair, which was worthy of a great deal of praise.

    together, they were two of the brightest stars of the next generation. considering their age, it wouldn''t even be much more than five years before they were meant to participate in the heir wars, but the timeline wasn''t on their side this time around.

    the two held up their spears and slammed their butts into the ground, a soaring spear force coming from them.

    it was quite weak. you couldn''t expect much from fifth dimensional existences like them, and yet...

    the constellation in the skies appeared once again. their strength soared, from the fifth dimension, to the sixth, and from the sixth, the seventh, but by the time their spear force reached the height of the surrounding battleships, they sang like a pair of dragons and phoenixes.

    shaken, the various family messengers entered the hall one by one. their edge had been filed down to a dull tip and the hesitation in their steps was clear. the only ones that seemed to carry the same sort of confidence were those of the strongest families, with the standouts being that of the suiard family, the spirituals religion, the omann family, and a special, unexpected visitor...

    the void palace.

    leonel didn''t react much to this. the loss of the void elders, or at least most of the void elders, wouldn''t be enough to crumble them entirely. an organization like this would have its trump cards, but even more importantly than that, the void palace was the symbol of humanity, even if it fell it would be held up by the various families of the human domain. n)(o)-v--e(-l-(b..i-(n

    of course, whether or not the mission of the palace would stay the same after this... that was a different story entirely. if they were anything more than a puppet, it would be an amusing surprise.

    the leader of the void palace, obviously here to play the role of "mediator", was actually quite a young man. leonel recognized him almost immediately, and he found it even more amusing.

    this young man was a member of the unfettered blade party, micarth. the last time leonel met him, he was a galaxy ranked disciple just a couple weeks away from the sector rank. now, he was nearly a domain ranked disciple.

    for the void palace to not even send a domain ranked disciple to mediate the situation was funny enough, but even more importantly than all these other identities...

    his last name was suiard.

    micarth had a deep hatred for leonel. he first found trouble for the latter after his father severed rosen suiard''s arm, micarth''s uncle. and it only became personal after leonel personally defeated him in battle.

    honestly, leonel had to say that micarth was the perfect choice.

    he was the absolute most talented among the suiard family, that was a title that went to amery. he wasn''t a step below that, as there were three others who would have been part of the suiard family''s "heir wars" that were passed up for amery. he was just a step below that.

    he was a great talent, for sure. but he wasn''t prominent enough to be said to be a representation of the suiard family, and he was just talented enough to have a great position in the unfettered blade party and the void palace.

    it would be "geniuses" like him who likely held up the foundation of the void palace now, and in the future, the void palace of the past would be no more, controlled like a puppet behind the scenes by these powerful families.

    in fact, that future might be here already, or else the likes of micarth would have never been sent first.

    micarth cleared his throat, a slightly prideful expression on his face with the comfort of his family''s backing to support him, but before he could speak-

    "patriarch morales has yet to ask you to speak. please be mindful of your position and only speak when spoken to!" tommie spoke with a crisp voice. while it was slightly immature, it carried the same hints of sternness head commander kriss had.

    much like his mentor, he was a stickler for rules and etiquette. he would never allow a guest to speak before his patriarch, nor would he allow his patriarch to have to be the one to correct this guest.

    he and nora stood to leonel''s back, one to each side, arms clasped behind their backs. as a pair of youths, they did surprisingly well in this atmosphere, and it was clear that much of their confidence came from the man on the throne before them.

    the older generation might be hesitant about leonel, but the feelings of the youth were quite clear when it came to him.

    he was their idol.

    micarth''s face flushed red. never did he expect to be reprimanded by a child like this, but he also wasn''t in a position to argue with one either, especially when said child was in the right.

    leonel smiled lightly and slowly opened his mouth. some thought he might say some fake words to "reprimand" tommie, but he did no such thing.

    "welcome, dear guests. i assume that you''ve come with the offerings?"

 Chapter 2270 What Cost?

    chapter 2270 what cost?

    leonel''s words were grating on the ears. offerings? it was like he was implying that he was a king and they were his servants come to pay the taxes for a year out of a faint hope that he might give them enlightenment.

    they had seen leonel battle, his schemes, his intelligence, there was a next to 0% chance that he had misspoken. he picked this word on purpose. every step of the way, he was showing his indomitable will. he wouldn''t take a step back before these families.

    micarth''s expression darkened, but he reined in his distaste. he was already in a partially compromised position, although the suiard family had sent him here precisely as a show of strength and power. they now had the greatest influence in the void palace and the future generations of the human domain''s protectors, and no one else could do anything about it.

    the momentum of the morales was something they had to cut down at all cost. although the omann and spirituals religion was seen to be on the same level, the reality didn''t exactly play out like that.

    for one, the most powerful families and organization was six, not four. there was still the void palace and shield cross stars. everyone knew that though they were "neutral," they could tip the scales whenever they so chose.

    secondly, the omann family had the shield of being a crafters family and normally stayed out of most conflicts, the heir wars was a rare instance of their participation and it was fairly well acknowledged that this was a combination of both extenuating circumstances-leonel taking control of both earth and the morales-in addition to the scorned queen beauty''s more... personal feelings.

    then there was the spirituals religion. their reputation had taken quite some hit after the emperor of the spirituals was defeated by velasco even while having the aid of so many experts, not to mention the fact that velasco had very clearly been injured by some mysterious force. this could even be why they had chosen to come despite the fact their heiress hadn''t died at aina''s hands, she had only lost her body.

    but the truth was still the fact that the spirituals religion was almost always neutral in all matters and the heir wars was yet another exception.

    due to all of this, the families most used to butting heads for supremacy over the human domain was the morales and suiard families. if one surpassed the other, the other obviously wouldn''t be able to tolerate it. this was why the suiard family had pulled so many strings to place micarth in this position, and he had to represent them well.

    micarth had matured a great deal in the last over 20 years, and his control over his temper was more fit for a middle aged man although he did still look not much older than leonel. so, he spoke with far more calm than what his heart was experiencing. n--o-/v--e//l-/b(-1/(n

    "your words are a bit inappropriate, morales patriarch. these are not offerings, they are not gifts either, they are payment in exchange for the lives you''ve ripped from the human domain."

    "oh?" leonel''s brows shot up. "indeed, i guess that is the case. i seem to remember that i gave quite a fair warning, though. and some people overestimated themselves and chose to ignore it."

    leonel''s smile was just the same, and everyone remembered exactly what he was talking about, and yet as though to drive home the point, he waved a hand.

    the words he had spoken that day rung again. as many as he saw was as many as he would kill.

    "as i see it," leonel continued, "it''s an act of kindness on my part to provide this opportunity. so, before i take it away, i would advise that you curb the edge in your tone. i use the word offerings because that is exactly what they are. the lives of your lost geniuses aren''t worth even a single hair on my head, and yet they all entered with only two purposes."

    "the first was to trample the dignity of the morales by proving that the geniuses of your families were superior, and the second was to kill me."

    leonel''s smile was just the same, but his words were cutting. inwardly, micarth was flustered, leonel continued to be far more direct and scathing than he expected. he had come here with the thought that the sharpest words spoken would be under cloak and dagger, hidden in trap-laced sentences and paragraphs of subterfuge.

    but that wasn''t what he received at all. leonel was coming right at them, and his words and expression might be coated in a thin layer of politeness, but it was exactly that... thin.

    "these offerings are to appease my anger, to allow your families and organizations a chance to raise your heads and attempt to compete with me again, as ill-fated as your geniuses will be if they should choose to do so. but don''t misunderstand the situation."

    "the power to return their lives to you lies in my hands and my hands alone. the choice to use said power lies in my hands and my hands alone. do you understand?"

    leonel''s emperor''s charm was so imposing that micarth almost cracked, involuntarily mouthing the word "yes". but luckily, in the last moment, he managed to stifle his throat, choking down the sounds of the coming word and instead entering a fit of coughing as though food had gone down the wrong pipe.

    "now, i''ll repeat myself for the only time today," leonel''s smile beamed. "dear guests, i assume you''ve come with the offerings?"

    a silence fell.

    the elders of the morales had mixed reactions, though they were sharp enough not to show it on their faces. many felt a bone deep satisfaction, many more felt that the end of the world was coming, and even those that did feel satisfied began to tremble inwardly afterward, experiencing what one might after an extremely greasy meal.

    it was delicious... but at what cost?

 Chapter 2271 A Proud Suiard

    chapter 2271 a proud suiard

    micarth no longer knew what to say. all of this preparation flew out the window and his experience, or lack thereof, was showing plainly. to make matters worse, his cough still hadn''t disappeared and the more he tried to stop it, the worse it became. every time he held the cough back, there would be a slight few seconds of silence before the fit began again. he was making his own situation worse and worse by not allowing it to see itself through to the end.

    it was when the situation seemed unsalvageable and his face was as ripe as a tomato that a young man stepped forward.

    this young man was handsome, almost too handsome, it reminded leonel a lot of wise star order in that regard. his hair was a flickering bluish grey that shone more like light than filaments of hair and his eyes were a dreamy sort of violet, not pale like leonel''s, but rather cool in hue and deep in resonance. it was easy to get lost in them, and it was only made more potent by the fact this violet faded to sky blue near the edges of his irises.

    it was clear with a single look that this man was a spiritual, or at least half of one. he was the representation of the spirituals religion, ivan, a powerful junior ancestor himself and the backup plan in case micarth fell flat on his face.

    however, before ivan could even speak, leonel held up a hand, a law of sorts seemed to bind ivan''s mouth. he could still move freely, but even when he moved to clear his throat no sounds came out. it was as though he had been made a functional mute.

    "forgive me, but i''m still in the middle of grieving. if a spiritual speaks in my presence right now... i can''t promise i won''t kill them," leonel said lightly.

    his tone was far more somber and light than it had been previously. the edge of cheeriness and carefreeness had vanished, and even without saying it in so many words, the position of the spirituals religion became precarious.

    they were supposedly the neutral party, but the race they worshiped had acted against the human domain. this was an undeniable fact. velasco was clearly a man that could hold up the skies, and yet the spiritual emperor had come to attack maybe their greatest hope... at least that was how the smaller families saw it.

    the situation was going from bad to worse, and even the morales elders were beginning to fidget in their seats. the only ones who seemed emboldened and prideful were the two youths to leonel''s back. they were beaming, feeling intoxicated by the prowess of their patriarch.

    and that was exactly why they were here. all of these messengers were so focused on leonel and the two youths that had humiliated them that they couldn''t catch on the micro slips in the expressions of the morales elders.

    however, the situation was only becoming more and more tense. leonel didn''t seem like he had a plan, it looked as though he was just venting his frustration. but even if it made him feel good for now, what would they do afterward?

    a man cleared his throat. this was of the suiard family, dressed in silver robes that radiated a swordlight when reflecting the sun in just the right way.

    "excuse me, morales patriarch, but i believe that the spirituals race is the only one that didn''t take advantage of our situation to attack. it''s a bit inappropriate to treat them like this, no? also, the spiritual religion is quite misunderstood, they do not worship spirituals, but rather their way of life, their oneness with nature, their balance with the elements. it is not the same as worshiping the race."

    "and even if they did worship the race, i do not believe it is as big of an issue as the patriarch makes it out to be. there are many half spirituals in our lands, but have you ever seen any half nomads? or half dwarves? or half rapax? the spirituals are the one race that do not treat us as lessers, but rather as equals enough to be life partners and mates."

    "i cannot speak to why that spiritual chose to attack hero velasco, i do not wield that kind of power, nor do i claim to understand the thoughts of ancestors. what i can say is that during the day of that battle, it wasn''t any one person that killed hero velasco, but rather the workings of the heaven themselves."

    "hero velasco was a loner, a man who completed a great deal of experiments that he never shared with anyone, maybe other than you, his son. it is impossible to tell how he might have enraged the heavens, but i hope that you can put your personal biases to think about... why else a noble spiritual might have chosen to attack your father."

    that was it. those words were finally spoken and everything would be over.

    the elders of the morales were quite sharp people, they could see the willingness to die in the man''s eyes. he was old, and wrinkled, even more so than the overlord had been when he first appeared before leonel. he might not live for more than a few more months or a couple of years even if he was able to walk out of here.

    but speaking these words alone was what he had needed to do. leonel would lose his temper, maybe even kill all those here using the power of the morales.

    once he had spoken out this sentiment, it would boil and fester, and soon the title of "hero velasco" he had used to soften leonel''s position so that the latter would allow him to finish would become nothing more than a joke.

    locke suiard could already sense it, the shifting tide, the skepticism of the smaller families he had brought with him, and even the faint anger radiating from the elders of the morales. his mission was complete and he could finally close his eyes, a proud suiard. n(-0ve1bin

    and that he did. he closed his eyes and waited for leonel''s strike, a smile of pride on his face no weaker than that of the children to leonel''s back.

    he was a suiard, a suiard of the sword, he would die with his back straight, a smile on his face, and... a hand on his sword.

    his hand slowly reached up, gently descending toward the hilt he had known all his life.

 Chapter 2272 No?

    chapter 2272 no?

    locke''s hand missed, swinging at the air. he was inwardly stunned, so much so that he opened his eyes. his sword had always been there, it was the one thing that never failed him, and even with access to all the spatial treasures he could ever hope to use in a single lifetime, he still chose to hang it by his waist. he was so used to this sword that he could find it blindfolded in the depths of a blackhole if he had to, so how could he have...

    the sword wasn''t there. locke''s eyes snapped open and he looked at his waist. it was all gone, his trusted sword wasn''t there.

    the blade of that sword had changed over the years, but the hilt was always the exact same. he asked every swordsmith he had ever worked with to transfer it over. it was the blade hilt his father had passed down to him, and a blade hilt his grandfather had passed on to his father before him.

    this was tradition of most of the suiard. they didn''t believe in keeping the same blade all your life, that wasn''t being a swordsman, that was being stupid. no one could deny the strength of a weapon and how much it aided your combat prowess. it wasn''t an exaggeration to say that this sword hilt was as important as his entire lineage to him.

    the only reason why he had even brought it when he expected to die was one, because it gave him courage, and two because he believed that the protective measures micarth had with him would allow him to bring the sword out. but now...

    locke looked up to find that the sword was in leonel''s hands, being lightly swung with a grace he didn''t think should have been possible for a spear master, and that leonel was. there was no denying that his spearmanship had surpassed even more of the elder generation, but the sword didn''t look out of place in his hands at all.

    "i''ve always found swords to be interesting. if it wasn''t for the fact the weapon of a man i killed when the metamorphosis first descended upon earth was a spear, i might have actually picked up a sword first. though..." leonel swung the sword again. "... maybe not, i was also quite a prudent and calculated fighter back then, i would have probably concluded that a layman like myself would do better with a longer stick. better chance of not dying, and all."

    leonel looked up with a smile. the sword rang and the echo of sword force manifested with almost too much ease. it was sharp and powerful, though silvery white unlike his spear force and his bow force. however... it was seventh dimensional.

    "that''s the kind of person i am," leonel continued. "i like to be prudent, cautious, i like to calculate out every step, and while that wasn''t the case in the past, i no longer hesitate to kill. i find that doing so is a waste of my effort, trying to figure out the worth of a life, who deserves to live, who deserves to die... it''s all very tiresome.

    "and not to be rude, but if i can''t figure it out, all of you most certainly can''t. your plan is filled with far too many loopholes.

    "send the bushy-eyed youth forward first, let him stumble. then "attempt" a save with a person you were quite certain i''d never let speak, before you follow through with your real plan. and it''s even better for the suiard, isn''t it? after all, it would be your real representation and not this pseudo representative doing the speaking, right?

    "and then what? you would use the rage i showed as an excuse to attack? maybe if try to rope me and my morales family in with the demons like you did the silver empire and find an excuse for shield cross stars and the void palace to act too, is that it?"

    the silence was palpable, but leonel didn''t seem to need to bounce his ideas off of anyone.

    "at the same time, you''d have something to tell the masses. hero velasco was just a joke of a man who experimented with what he shouldn''t and brought down upon himself the ire of the gods. the spirituals and the other races weren''t attacking the human domain at all, rather they were just doing their best to stop velasco from bringing down the wrath of the gods upon you all, right?

    "they weren''t cowardly scum at all, in fact they were trying to save everyone! and the cherry on top was that maybe if "hero" velasco had shared his research, and spread the truth of how he had grown so powerful so quickly, and how his wife and son seemed to do the exact same, then none of this would have ever happened.

    "everyone could have resisted the gods together and rather than striking down hero velasco, you could have worked together to fight against the oppression and lead the human domain to a brighter future."

    leonel tapped the sword with his other hand, running his finger along its blade toward its hilt. with every inch that he passed, the blade crumbled. it looked as though it was being burnt to ash, and yet there was no heat in the air at all... it was like leonel had simply commanded it to crumble, and it heeded.

    locke''s chest constricted as his treasured sword was suddenly left with nothing more than its hilt. leonel spun it in his hands, letting it land on the tip of his finger as it continued to spin.

    "is that all about right? it''s a pretty stupid scheme if you ask me, it lacks any sort of cleverness or flair, it relies entirely on the ignorance of the people to the truth of the situation, and even relies on your own ignorance as well- not that you care very much to correct whatever those misconceptions were."

    leonel caught the hilt in the air and his smile vanished. he didn''t do anything, but those messengers that were present suddenly wanted to fall to their knees and plead for mercy, the weight on their souls nearly crushing them.

    "you''ve all miscalculated, though, unfortunately. you can all return, i think the purpose of this meeting is over. when you go back, tell your people that the morales will be coming, to clear the name of both their hero, and the stain you tried to place upon us."

    leonel crushed the hilt in his hands, letting it burn to ash.

    leonel''s smile returned as he looked toward locke. he didn''t speak, but a voice echoed in locke''s hands. ''kill you? you value yourself too much. i would much rather kill whoever told you to speak those words. it would be much more interesting if you were alive to see your treasured suiard family burned to the ground, no?''n/)o/-v(.ж┼.-l-)b/-1)/n

 Chapter 2273 Much Better

    the silence was palpable, no one knew what to say.

    how correct were leonel''s words? 100%. how much did saying it aloud change? practically next to nothing. in fact, they could take their chances by using the fact that leonel had "exposed" them as a method he was trying to use to absolve himself and his father of wrongdoing.

    but something about leonel''s smile made them feel uneasy, uncomfortable and shaken. and it only became worse when his smile vanished.

    tommie suddenly stepped forward and his glare looked down on them all. "didn''t you hear what patriarch morales said?-scram!"

    his words, as though they carried mysterious powers of their own, blew the envoys out of the large double doors. they rolled along the ground, their clothing being wrinkled and dust kicking up in their wakes.

    interesting enough, the smaller families were spared the same fate. however, they got the message well enough as they rushed out, not wanting to be implicated in the same way.

    micarth''s expression was black as a pot as he rose to his feet as quickly as he could while pretending not to be in a sorry state, but even this wouldn''t last for very long as he looked up into the skies.

    their ships. they were gone!

    he wanted to roar out and demand an explanation, but he noticed that no matter how he strained his voice, no sound seemed to come out at all. it was as though the laws of the world were restricting him, suffocating his voice and muting him for all to see.

    it was just them. the sixth dimensional families still had their warships very much intact and they rushed away.

    inwardly, they understood that this was leonel giving them a chance to turn to his side, and they even had the "offerings" prepared for their youth, but now they didn''t dare to complete the exchange. the implications were very much different now and soon they might be forced to pick a side... but they preferred to sit on the fence for as long as possible.

    as for the loss of their youths... the honest truth was that if it gave their families a chance to survive this coming storm, the cost of a single genius or even many was a worthy price for these small families to pay.

    that was the harsh reality. a single genius would have never changed their fates. their best couldn''t compare to the likes of amery, or simona, or armand, or any number of the other members of the cataclysm zone. it wasn''t worth it to risk the whole family for them...

    at least not without the consent of their own upper echelon.

    the seventh dimensional families that had come to pressure leonel grit their teeth. they had been robbed in broad daylight and they couldn''t even voice their complaints. they tried to send messages to their families, but they realized that even this was blocked. it seemed that without morales territory, there would be absolutely nothing they could do.

    they could only go the long way, leaving by foot and through air under their own power.i think you should take a look at n.-0velbin

    the laughter and jeers of the morales citizens echoed through the skies as they rushed away. their faces burned and their anger was palpable, but they didn''t dare to attack. even if they had the balls to, they felt like an all-seeing eye was bearing down on them from above, observing each and every one of their actions. and even if it wasn''t there, what chance did the small handful of them stand against so many morales? the elders wouldn''t even have to take action, they would be drowned by sixth dimensional experts.

    this seemed like a great victory, but after the doors of the morales palace closed, the elders seemed to boil over with all of the emotions that they had kept bottled up, the leader of which was elder aria. leonel could already read her impression of him from a mile away, and right now she couldn''t seem to control herself at all as she exploded.

    "patriarch! this was highly inappropriate! you''ve put the entire family on the brink of destruction!"

    tommie and nora morales, who had just been in exceptionally high spirits, looked around in confusion. wasn''t this a great thing? what was happening?

    elder aria realized that there were still third parties here and that she had exploded too soon. she made a move to dismiss the two children, but before she could leonel held up a hand. his smile had returned and she met her eyes.

    "what would you suggest we do?"

    aria took a breath and regained her composure, her eyes becoming more piercing.

    "they were just messengers. since things have come this far, we''ll catch them, detain them, accuse them of disrespecting the morales family name and jail them. we''ll send a message to their families and organizations, demanding compensation. this compensation will be less than what you asked for their geniuses.

    "when they come forward with this compensation, we will return both their messenger and their genius as a sign of good will. to the public we will appear both strong and magnanimous, while politically, we will sow more relationships than enemies. it will fix all of this."

    the elders fell into silence and leonel even saw many of them visibly relax. this was an excellent plan, and a win in all directions. it was the kind of plan their patriarch should have been the one to come up with, but there was a reason they were a council. their patriarchs were often young and needed guidance, their help would fix everything.

    even leonel''s brows rose up, and in the end, he happily laughed and even clapped.

    "that is very much not the response i expected," leonel said cheerily. "i thought that your solution would be to have me step down and give the excuse of grieving to deal with this situation, but i must admit that i was wrong. i apologize, elder aria."

    elder aria snorted. what a joke. even if she wanted to do that, it would make the morales look weak to have their patriarch step down due to the pressure of other families. she would never allow that.

    "however, i still like my plan better."

 Chapter 2274 You Dont Believe Me?

    elder aria was stunned silent, and then her expression twisted. "you-!"

    leonel held up a hand. "do not misunderstand. i respect my elders and your experience. i am not casually dismissing your plans out of malice or anger, nor am i acting out of emotion."

    ''though, even if i was, it really wouldn''t make much of a difference,'' leonel thought to himself with a smile. whether he was being emotional or not, he didn''t believe there were many, if any, who could outmaneuver him in this world. victory would be certain one way or another, but since he had his wits about him, he might as well be calm and calculated, taking the best and most perfect course of action.

    aria grit her teeth, but since leonel had spoken so clearly, it was her duty to calm down and listen to him. she really wanted to hear what he could possibly say that was better than her plan.

    "first, you all need to understand something. if we cannot get on the same page, we will never be in harmony, and if we lack harmony, you all will fight me every step of the way.

    "you need to understand that these choices i''m making aren''t only because they will benefit the morales family the most, but also because there is no other choice."

    leonel looked through them one by one. "i know you heard my words, i know you feel that they are reasonable, and i know that in your thoughts, you believe that the only thing we can do against such allegations is to stall. but do you know what these families fear the most right now?"

    aria''s jaw tightened.

    "that''s right. you''re all very experienced. what they fear the most is us having time; they fear us unearthing the potential of our new lineage factor, of birthing more talents that have acclimated to it from birth, of me potentially sharing whatever illusory and mysterious plan my father has to help others improve greatly in a short period of time.

    "this month or so they''ve given us since the death of my father wasn''t out of courtesy; it was the time they needed to prepare, to line all their ducks in a row, to make sure that they were ready for war at any given time-''second nova,''" leonel suddenly called out.

    a subtle portal of spatial force opened up, and auran appeared. he was slightly confused at first, but he quickly focused and bowed to the elders around.

    leonel grinned. "your information networks are some of the best in the human domain, no?"

    "the best," auran corrected out of habit. he hesitated afterward, but then he felt that being humble right now wouldn''t suit him. if anything, it would just annoy him. he had his own pride as a morales and a demon, for that matter.

    "and what would you say the odds the seventh dimensional families are preparing for war?"

    auran blinked in confusion. "well... 100%, but isn''t that obvious considering the sudden invasion by the other domains? of course they''re..."

    auran trailed off, and his heart jumped several beats.

    having information was one thing. interpreting it properly was a completely different matter. if information was enough to understand every and all things, then who would ever fail to answer a mathematics problem? who would ever mistakenly answer a reading comprehension question? it was all too easy to get lost in the weeds of unimportant information.i think you should take a look at

    and auran, too, had made that mistake.

    he had gathered quite a bit of intel on the movements of the families and how much preparation they were doing for war, and to him, and the rest of the morales for that matter, it was just a matter of simple logic.

    the human domain had just suffered a devastating attack, why wouldn''t the most powerful families be preparing?

    what he had neglected was the fact that this was also the perfect shroud, the perfect wool over their eyes, the perfect misdirection.

    were these families really preparing for another invasion? how had the morales prepared? they called all their citizens, huddling them up in their capital solar system and deployed sentries to scout and make sure that no one encroached on their territory. this was how you might best prepare for a coming invasion.

    but what had those families done? nothing of the sort... they gathered resources, called back their warriors, tightened control over various human domain organizations, and then... they sent out envoys to pressure the morales family? a family that would be one of their biggest allies during an invasion?

    when it was put like this, even a fool could see it, auran almost felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. looking at leonel, he felt that he understood why he had lost so handily. of course, he had never entered the heir wars for victory, his only goal was to deal with third nova. but even so, something told him it wouldn''t have mattered even if he had intentions for victory.

    auran took a deep breath. "they want to strike us a blow."

    leonel smiled, and aria and the other elders remained silent. they understood even without it being said in so many words. there was never room to compromise, and there was never room to stall; war was already on their front porch, and leonel seemed to be the only one who had noticed.

    then, leonel suddenly spoke.

    "the second thing you need to understand is that even if this wasn''t the case, i would still attack. why? because we are in an undefeatable position."

    the elders frowned.

    "no? you don''t believe me?"

    leonel waved a hand, and countless runes appeared in the air. the elders suddenly felt light as air, as though they could run at double the speed. but then they suddenly felt as heavy as boulders, their arms and legs not moving like they wanted them to. and then their force surged, rushing through their nodal pathways like raging rivers, but then the reverse almost buried them into their seats and an instant later.nove-lb(1n

    "controlling their abilities to speak or not wasn''t a parlor trick," leonel beamed. "it''s an ability that requires fundamental control over this world''s very laws. if they step within our borders, they die."

    this was already shocking enough, but this wasn''t what leonel was banking on at all because he felt they still didn''t understand exactly what this meant. instead, he had something they would understand with far greater clarity.

 Chapter 2275 Undefeatable Position

    leonel looked at them, and he could see that they didn''t understand. or, maybe they did, and they just didn''t understand how far it could go. sure, seventh dimensional existences would be the backbone of any powerful army, but how many of them could leonel use it on at once? and let''s say that he could use it on an infinite number and practically cripple their battle strength, what good was it against ancestors?

    even if the morales wiped the floor with every seventh dimensional expert the others could throw at them, when their ancestors were all defeated beneath the sheer numbers they would be forced to face, what good would it do?

    once all the morales ancestors were dead, the ancestors of the opposing families would just turn their attention toward them, and then what? they would all be massacred to the last man. no amount of advantages and help would close the gap between the seventh and eighth dimensions.

    "your worries aren''t warranted. you know as well as anyone that the ancestors didn''t want me to become patriarch, at least not so easily, and yet what happened?"

    the elders froze. indeed, alvaro and issa weren''t happy at all; an overlord had even appeared. they had forgotten about this matter because they just chalked it up to the overlord taking favor upon leonel, but was that really what happened?

    "it doesn''t really matter whether you believe me or not, though, at least not for now. because you''ve understood the first point well enough. there is no taking a step back; there is only forward now, and we can only walk that path together."

    leonel grinned. "what i can help you with, though, is all that worry."

    he snapped his finger, and a soul appeared. it took shape and quickly formed a vibrant violet armor. it was a behemoth of a man, and they immediately recognized him as the genius of the taur family, armand. but now...

    armand took a knee before leonel, his gaze filled with subservience. "greetings, king!"

    "tell me, armand. what is the structure of the taur family armies."

    "yes, king! the taur family has a total of 200,000 tier 9 god path seventh dimensional experts. they''re led by the general of earth, the general of love, the general of war, and the general of strength, each one a junior ancestor with exceptional combat prowess. we have six ancestors. ancestor orion, ancestor pleiades...

    "... the greatest trump card of our taur family, at least as far as i know, king, is the constellation formation, as it is for all constellation families. gathering together all six ancestors, and the pride of our family, the constellation can enter a sort of berserk state that allows the ancestors to tap into greater power. this trump card can only be used while within our territory, but it is exceptionally powerful. the time of use should vary from family to family, but it lasts about three hours for us.

    "some other trump cards include the first ancestor''s battle axe. it is a life grade weapon and it has a life steal ability. it is said that our first ancestor was a blood sovereign and had exceptional earth affinity. he was able to forge this weapon despite not being a crafter, and when used in the hands of an ancestor, their stamina is as unlimited as their number of kills. so long as the blade tastes blood, the ancestor will never falter.

    "another trump card..."

    armand continued to talk, holding nothing back and filling the hall with so much information that even the elders felt overwhelmed. was there such a thing as too much information? how would they even take advantage of all of this, but seeing leonel''s laughter, and remembering what he had done during the heir wars, they felt a unique weight being lifted up and off their shoulders.

    leonel didn''t even wait for armand to finish; this was all a farce. he had already documented and stored all this information, both physically and in his mind. the plans he had for each and every family were on a completely different level, but what was more amusing than this was what he would do first.

    with a thought, leonel brought out a powerful ore that exuded a great amount of pressure. it was an eighth dimensional ore, one that had only been produced in morales lands, and of course he had taken it without asking. but very soon, they would understand why.i think you should take a look at

    with a smile, he spoke. "[breathe]."

    armand shuddered with excitement, and his soul was suddenly absorbed into the orb.

    this ore was known as blood diamond ore. it was one born in the depths of thick combat and blood, and it carried aspects of blood force and earth force, ironically an ore that was a perfect match for the first ancestor taur''s weapon.n-.0velbin

    the ore boomed and expanded, and soon a fully armored, and more importantly, flesh-covered armand appeared.

    this was the true use of breathe. with an adequate sacrifice, a soul he forced to arise would gain permanence beyond the 24-hour period. the more talented the soul, the more powerful it was, the higher the required sacrifice.

    this blood diamond ore was actually far more than what armand needed, but leonel could also use breathe as a proxy to strengthen his souls as well.

    when the process was complete, he could decide the new construction''s level of autonomy. if he wanted its growth potential, he would have to give it more autonomy. if he wanted its immediate strength and complete loyalty far more, then he would restrict its autonomy. though, he could change these matters later so long as he did it within a certain time frame.

    and of course, he had chosen to restrict armand''s autonomy.

    leonel grinned. "return to your family."

    "yes, king!"

    armand rushed away without even glancing toward the morales ancestors.

    leonel beamed, raising up the silver tablet.

    "i can resurrect people with this tablet and they''ll be complete and whole. or, i can resurrect people with a sacrifice and my strength, in which case they''ll be completely under my control.

    "i think you''ve all forgotten. i meant it when i said we are in an undefeatable position.

    "no matter how many below ancestor-level brothers and sisters die, so long as they are a morales, i can bring them back."

    the morales elders were beyond shaken for the final time that day.

 Chapter 2276 Goal?

    chapter 2276 goal?

    "there''s no time to wait. the attacks will begin within the day. and by attacks... i mean our own."

    leonel stood to his feet, the shock of the elders not moving him.

    "but, the others-" elder aria tried to speak, but she was far more hesitant and unsure. nora had never seen her mentor like this, and it made her respect for leonel skyrocket. her eyes sparkled as she looked toward leonel''s back, but her discipline was strong as her expression remained professional, imitating her mentor.

    "i only retained armand to show you all. before i even came here, i had already sent the other geniuses back and i also noted down all of the information that i needed to as well. i have a perfect battleplan in place for each and every seventh dimensional family. we will attack in one sweep and i will lead every charge."

    "you will...?"

    leonel''s figure flickered and clones of himself manifested one after another. however, these clones didn''t seem... normal. instead, they were like a cross of soul constructs and something beyond... were they crafts? how was that possible?

    elder aria''s heart skipped a beat. as a crafter a step from the life grade herself, her experience was great and untold, but she felt wholly inferior just seeing this scene. she couldn''t even begin to tell just how leonel had done it, nothing she thought of made sense.

    and of course she couldn''t. this "craft" was a combination of little tolly''s help, his king''s might lineage factor, and his crafting expertise. it was impossible for a crafter alone to accomplish this, at least not at leonel''s current level.

    the first thing he did was intimately understand breathe. he couldn''t do this without his enlightened self, but what also made it far easier was the help he received from his vital star force, raising it to a half-step from impetus state.

    breathe was ultimately a bridge from inanimate to the animate, a connection that gave something "dead," "life."

    the second thing he did was create the perfect ore for himself. compared to the blood diamond ore, it was far more valuable, and it drained his wealth. this ore didn''t have a name, so leonel simply named it the king ore. it was the perfect representation of him, carrying every aspect of his affinities and skills.

    this obviously relied on little tolly, but what relied on little tolly far more was what happened next.

    leonel had to place a small part of himself within every king ore, and then use breathe on himself. he wasn''t quite sure how to succeed in this, and everything he tried only harmed himself to no benefit. but then little tolly, as he always seemed to do these days, made it impossibly easy.

    little tolly simply latched on to each piece itself, carrying with it its connection to leonel. then, when leonel used breathe, each clone gained a small bit of himself, and an aspect of tolliver.

    originally, he thought that this might harm the little one, so he did just one as a practice run, but to his shock, it was like nothing had happened at all. before, there was a limit to how much he could split tolliver and he could only work on a thousand or so crafts at the same time. but now, tolliver had completely shed those limitations.

    though leonel hadn''t tested it, it might as well have been infinite to him because it was over the capacity his own mind could even handle. as a result, forming one copy of himself to lead each army was impossibly easy.

    "this..."

    the morales ancestors might have usually already complained. leonel was the least experienced of them all, but now it seemed that he wanted to take control of everything? were they going to trust a youth to decide the destiny of a family that had existed for thousands of years?

    but none of the elders remaining had the face to do such a thing. they remained silent and let the ancestors make the choice, their silence speaking for itself.

    it was then that a voice echoed. "littlest nova will be the supreme commander of this war. listen to his every order."

    the elders shuddered. they wouldn''t normally recognize this voice, but they had learned who this man was just a day or so ago.

    the overlord of their family.

    leonel had already walked out from the palace even as the voice sounded. it seemed that he had already expected as much and nothing about this matter could surprise him.

    the elders rushed after him, the first to appear being elder kriss.

    "please command me, patriarch!" she spoke in a low shout.

    "build me 12 armies. each must have a size of 10 million. seventh dimensional experts only." all 12 leonel''s spoke in unison. "within each, there must be an organization of sets of ten, then a hundred, then a thousand. do not organize beyond that."

    elder kriss inwardly questioned this kind of order. if the organization stopped at a thousand with an army of that size, it would be a mess. that would mean 10,000 independent minds trying to work on their own, there wouldn''t be any forward momentum whatsoever.n).o(-v-/e--l//b))i./n

    the other problem was that 10 million was too small a number for a war on this scale. the numbers should start at billions; what was a scale of millions going to do? there were billions of morales who had awakened at least one lineage factor in the nova generation alone, let alone the others.

    but her discipline caused her to not even attempt to question it.

    "split the tier 9 seventh dimensional experts evenly, and do not add any junior ancestors. you all will anchor the home base. you have exactly six hours to accomplish this, go."

    elder kriss saluted and then vanished.

    "patriarch... what is our goal?" elder aria tried to remain in line, but she wasn''t raised in the military like kriss was, her discipline was nowhere near the same.

    "the goal? within a week, the constellation alliance will be brought to their knees."

 Chapter 2277 Falling Sky

    chapter 2277 falling sky

    the location was the territory of the constellation bow alliance, more accurately, that of the tarius family.

    the constellation bow alliance was one of the weaker organizations, at least compared to the spirituals religion, the void palace, or shield cross stars. originally, the tarius family was a powerhouse that stood toe to toe with the morales and the suiards, but after losing the bow domain ring, their strength plummeted in the coming generations.

    in order to stave off this downfall, they brought together their subordinate families, many of which were branches formed by tarius family members that had married into other families, and formed a single alliance behind a single bow constellation.

    the result of this was their influence remaining relatively the same, although far more spread out. it was a sacrifice that allowed them to maintain their power, but it was still a sacrifice. the tarius family of today could no longer do as they pleased, and the loss of nazag, the youth meant to carry them back to their true prosperity had caused them to hit rock bottom...

    until he suddenly came back.

    this should have been a joyous occasion, but the elders of the tarius family didn''t feel that way at all. in fact, they were very wary.

    the timeline matched up, they had just sent an envoy to pressure the morales family, and an envoy that would have had the backing of all the most powerful families and organizations of the human domain as well. they received reports not long afterward that leonel morales had been enraged, stolen their warships, and then kicked their people out, which had caused a delay in the message.

    but then soon afterward, nazag returned home...

    it all lined up. according to the reports leonel had acted on his own and the elders of the morales didn''t have a chance to stop him. it made sense for them to take this course of action as a peace offering to buy themselves more time. but...

    these old men and women were very experienced, and they hadn''t forgotten leonel''s abilities. namely, they were worried about the cloud race infiltrating their ranks.

    exposing a cloud race member when you were unaware of their existence was impossible, this was a technology of scope the human domain didn''t have. however, when you had a suspicion, exposing a cloud race member was incredibly easy.

    and so, while pretending like they welcomed him back with open arms, the tarius family had actually trapped nazag and began to test him ruthlessly. but to their shock... or maybe their relief, it truly was nazag.

    his soul was the same, his body was even stronger than it had been in the past, and he seemed to have even gained a sort of enlightenment, coming back with a more powerful momentum than he had in the past. it seemed that he had taken the loss to heart, but not enough that it would affect his future advancement and it filled the hearts of his father and the elders with pride.

    ...

    marcello tarius stood before his son, a beaming smile on his face.

    "it''s good that you''re alright, it''s good," his eyes glistened with unshed tears but he held back. both he and his wife couldn''t possibly be bundles of emotion. even now, theresa tarius refused to let go of her son, holding onto her tightly.

    it had been hard for the two of them these last few days. they had understood the intentions of the elders, but they also wanted their son back. at the same time, they didn''t want to treat a member of the cloud race as their own flesh and blood as that would only hurt more. it could only be said that they had been greatly conflicted in recent days, and they couldn''t be happier now.

    nazag smiled. "there''s no need to worry, mom, dad. i''ve learned from this, i''ll only come back stronger. leonel morales released me this time, but next time, i''ll make sure he''ll regret giving me this opportunity."

    marcello nodded firmly. he wanted to slap his son''s shoulders, but his wife was in the way and he could only settle for a hearty laughter instead.

    "nazag," marcello suddenly said, getting serious. "we''ll be going to war soon. although i don''t want to put you in danger so soon after you''ve returned to us, there''s no other choice. the constellation families and much of the human domain have already decided to make a move on the morales. we must be swift and surgical, you''ll get your revenge very soon."

    nazag nodded. "when will we move out?"

    marcello grinned with pride seeing his son''s eagerness. if nazag had shown any hesitation, he would know that his previous bravado about learning from this loss had been nothing but a faa?бьade. but now, he was certain his son had come back stronger.n/-o)/v)/e((l-/b/)i()n

    "the war preparations are already finished, however the date of attack hasn''t quite been settled yet. we need a sudden and swift attack, one that deals the morales a devastating blow. their momentum right now is far too fierce and we need to knock it down several levels before we take any further course of action. families like the morales and ours have extremely deep foundations. it''s easy to deal a blow, but it''s much harder to eliminate them from the roots. if we act, we need to do the latter."

    "understood, father! i''ll be ready."

    "good. now go off, elder moody is waiting for you. i and your mother have our own part to play, and as do you. you are in the seventh dimension now, you have responsibilities-"

    boom!

    marcello never stopped speaking, but it might as well have been as though he had. the cacophony of sounds was so vicious and violent that all noise aside from it was washed away in a tsunami-like tide.

    the expression of the entire family changed and they rushed out onto their large balcony, looking up into the skies to find that it felt like it was falling.

 Chapter 2278 My King

    chapter 2278 my king

    marcello was shocked. this was the capital of the tarius family, the core of the constellation alliance. how could there be an attack here without any further information? how could they not have been alerted? any family worth their salt would have countless outposts stretching from the edge of their territory to the very core. even if dozens failed, there would still be dozens more. it simply didn''t make sense for anyone to get this far without their knowledge.

    marcello''s expression changed again as he realized something else. the planet''s protective formation, a formation that had stood for hundreds of years and was maintained with the full force of the family, had fallen already.

    the quaking of the planet was none other than a sign of its collapse, and at this moment, the noblest of the tarius family were on the chopping block. a single string from a tier 2 warship could destroy the entire planet. even if the ancestors took action now, it would still be too late. just how had this happened?

    the worst-case scenario that marcello was expecting didn''t happen.

    in the skies, half a dozen starships surrounded the planet. they were far smaller than anything marcello had ever seen before, but the power of their lasers was so precise that they perfectly targeted the weaknesses of their formation.

    each was about the quarter the size of a normal moon, and their swiftness was unlike anything he had ever seen before. they moved with such fluidity out of the way of the retaliation of the tarius family and then flew to one another''s sides, forming a large force art between them that repelled another onslaught back toward the planet.

    and then they appeared. armored like a rainbow, battalions and troops of all kinds of solid colors.

    marcello had never seen an army like this one. it was normal for an army to have a single banner they flew under, and a single uniform they all shared. but he had never seen an army that had so many different armors at once, at least not when attacking as one unit. it felt disjointed, unprofessional, even a bit childish...

    until it suddenly wasn''t.

    a troop of a million wearing shimmering white gold armors flickered, and before marcello could even understand what was happening, the next volley of attacks to the army passed right through them as though they weren''t there. in fact, the volley flew right through the starships to their back as well.

    it wasn''t until there was suddenly a devastating boom on the ground that marcello realized what was happening. it was all an illusion, maybe they had never been in the skies in the first place. no, maybe it was that they had been in the skies, but while they were all focused on what was happening above, the battle on the ground had already begun.

    ...

    the retaliation of the tarius family was swift. there were already several powerhouses of the constellation bow alliance present all focused on planning for the coming war. in addition, like marcello''s family had said, they were very ready for war as well. the moment their enemy didn''t choose to destroy their planet with a single laser strike, they were able to recover and begin their counter assault.

    however, even as they did so, they found their options being whittled down one by one.

    first, their large-scale war machines became useless because they couldn''t pinpoint the starships in the skies. on top of that, the army made it to the ground and targeting them with such weapons would mean targeting their own citizens as well.

    second, they realized that their greatest advantages as bowmen suddenly vanished. their bow force couldn''t gather at all, and this was the most devastating blow they could have faced. their most powerful weapons and large-scale force arts all relied on bow force, without it, they couldn''t even communicate with their constellation.

    and that was when it settled in. where had they seen this ability before?

    ...

    "the morales are attacking!" a young man far too big and burly to be an archer roared into the hall of elders.

    the elders looked toward this messenger, their gazes dark. they already knew this, they had figured it out the moment their bow force stopped working. there was only one person that they had ever seen do this.

    and they had already decided on a course of action. they would send an ancestor to kill leonel, no matter what the cost. and they did exactly that...

    unfortunately, the moment this ancestor appeared, they were cut down by the starship.

    they sent a group afterward, but they were cut down by the starships as well.

    by the time the regular populace and the leaders of their armies realized that the morales were the ones attacking, the constellation bow alliance had already lost four of their ancestors. in the entire alliance, they only had nine, four of which were the ancestors of the tarius family, and the other five of which came from their allies.

    and now, the tarius family had lost two, while the various families had lost three. this was the most devastating blow they had taken since the loss of the bow domain ring. they almost lashed out at the messenger for bringing them news they already knew, but they didn''t even get the chance to.nove-lb.in

    ...

    deep within tarius territory, even deeper than the elders'' meeting room and in a location similar to the morales holy land, the tarius family had already begun to evacuate their future. among this number, there was nazag, and he had been the first on their list of priorities. so long as he lived, everything else could be negotiated.

    that was why it was so surprising when nazag suddenly tapped his forehead and a resonating force art suddenly formed. beneath the astonished gazes of the escaping constellation bow alliance members, leonel suddenly appeared with a smile on his face by nazag''s side.

    "my king!" nazag said with a resounding voice.

    leonel ignored him, waving the hand that tolliver wrapped around. in that moment, a woman deep within tarius territory stirred and the world spirit of the tarius family was ripped from her body.

 Chapter 2279 Two Choices

    chapter 2279 two choices

    the tarius family members were shocked. the strongest of them were out fighting the morales army, but that didn''t mean that those they had left behind were weak. in fact, it could be said that this was the strongest collection of geniuses that the family had. even those that were in tier 9 were among those with the highest chance of one day entering the realm of ancestors.

    they were shocked into almost not reacting, but that only lasted for a brief instant before they all rushed leonel. unfortunately, that brief attempt was all they got.

    leonel crushed the world spirit in his palms and raised it into the air. in that instant, every tarius in existence felt as though a part of them had been violently ripped away, many of them feeling their eyes tears well up for reasons that were far beyond their control.

    an overwhelming pressure descended from the distance as the individual leonel assumed was the overlord of the tarius family reacted. she rushed forward with a great amount of speed, but her expression sank when she understood the situation. no... when she felt it.nove(lb)1n

    the tarius family territory, even while they were still fighting with everything they had, had been stripped away from them. a new and foreign energy swept in, far weaker than the first had been, and far more subtle as well. each member of the tarius felt a small suppression on their abilities. it was minor, but it remained uncomfortable. almost as though a thin and moist paper towel was placed before their nose and mouth, making breathing just a bit more difficult.

    overlord tarius saw red. she didn''t know how this had happened, or how an outsider had so easily entered their territory, but a scarlet red bow that looked as though it had been carved of rubies took shape in her hands. even as her wrinkles deepened, her fury rose up, flames sparking in her eyes as she unleshed a roar.

    she hadn''t spoken in several years, she didn''t have to. her only duty to the family was to cycle her energy, protect the world spirit, and remain alive for the event that they were placed in an existential crisis. and now, she had already failed in one of these tasks.

    her arrow released in an instant, appearing before leonel''s forehead as though it had teleported there. she didn''t hold back in the slightest, not even minding the life and death of their family''s future. if there was no world spirit, there would be no future to be had in the first place!

    however, under her astonished gaze, the arrow, even wreathed in flames, vanished. no, it didn''t vanish, it crumbled like a moist cake, then it quickly dried out and drifted into the air like fluttering ash.

    leonel turned a gaze toward overlord tarius, his expression indifferent. the overlord had seen this young man before. as an overlord, her and her many companions across the human domain never cared to pay attention to other heir wars... except for this one.

    they knew the face of this young man well, but never did she think she would come face to face with him so very soon.

    "soon, all of the former strength of the tarius family will vanish. at that time, you''ll have a choice to make. it''s either you''ll subordinate yourselves to those four powers, or to me. i can tell you that the smart choice is the latter one, but i have a feeling that you''re all going to make a decision out of emotion. all i can say to that is that i don''t give second chances. if you don''t want to live, feel free to choose the wrong side.

    "adios," leonel gave the overlord a mock salute and then vanished in a twinkling starlight.

    the instant he did, nazag paled. "he used me!"

    his words were full of grief and indignation, his legs buckling beneath him and his wails echoing through the holy land of the tarius family. no one knew what to say, some of them had seen the light come from nazag, but they found it difficult to blame him. it seemed they didn''t know that they didn''t know just how intentional it all was.

    but they were still children in the overlord''s eyes, and what they would be swayed by wasn''t what an overlord would be swayed by.

    "detain him," she said coldly.

    her teeth clenched and her chest heaved. without the world spirit, she was staring down more than just the mortality of the tarius family, she was also forced to face her own mortality. without the world spirit, she would live at most a few more months, and not much more than a year at the very most.

    all the while, her strength would decrease day by day. it could be said that the function of the world spirit aside from keeping her and other overlords alive, was for the sake of maintaining a constant outpouring of strength. without it, their power would decline too much with their old age.

    overlord tarius watched as nazag was captured and chained, but her reaction didn''t change much... other than the biting of her lip. she could sense that leonel''s army was retreating after dealing them a devastating blow and she felt her rage rising up to her.

    they had lost their world spirit. they had lost several ancestors. their future seemed to remain intact, but what good were they without a strong backbone to begin with?

    the worst part was that she didn''t know whether this was all that was happening either. it made sense for leonel to attack them first, after all he had a decided advantage against them. she hadn''t thought that even her own arrows would be useless against him.

    and yet here they were.

    overlord tarius took out an item that looked like a talisman and then burned it with an odd white flame. however, her expression twisted when she realized immediately, even before it completely dissipated, that her message hadn''t gone through. leonel was already using their world spirit to interfere with the normal function of their world.

    she ground her teeth so loudly that the echoes resonated through the holy land.

 Chapter 2280 Couldnt Believe

    chapter 2280 couldn''t believe

    overlord tarius took a breath and calmed herself. she refused to allow herself to remain flustered over a child. after a moment, she summoned the remaining two ancestors of the tarius family and the remaining two from their subordinate families. the fact that the tarius family still had an overlord remaining was actually a secret from their subordinates, but now wasn''t the time to still retain a trump card.

    the appearance of overlord tarius immediately settled the growing fissures between the tarius families and their branch families. however, it also made them realize just how bad the situation was if the death of five ancestors wasn''t enough.

    once they appeared, overlord tarius began to speak immediately, taking control of the situation.

    "my ability to communicate with the other families has been closed off, and i assume that their ability to contact us has been likewise cut off. i also cannot leave for fear that another attack might be launched, and the alliance needs a stabilizing force right now.

    "i will lay out the situation as plainly as possible. we have lost our world spirit, nazag was used as a gateway to enter our holy land and locate it, while some method unknown to me was used to capture it. it''s safe to say that within a certain range, the morales family has the ability to steal any and all world spirits, i did not even have the chance to resist, let alone speak of resisting.

    "with the current situation, our constellation will gradually weaken until our connection with it is lost entirely. our lineage factor will follow it in weakening. as that happens, the hold that the morales have on our territory will strengthen until this region is no different from any one of their other territories. within a few years, this location will become an eighth dimensional world as well, but this boon will have nothing to do with us as we will be beneath the thumb of the morales.

    "as things stand, there are only two options before us. the first is to kneel to the morales. the second is to kneel to the suiard family and the spirituals religion.

    "a family without a world spirit has no right to raise their heads high, and i only have a limited time left to affect change and help position us well for the future."

    when overlord tarius finished speaking, there was nothing but somberness and frailty in the air. the four ancestors seemed to sink into their positions, realizing that they were almost helpless to do anything.nove/lb(in

    ...

    this very same conversation occurred all around the human domain. these families found themselves stretched thin, their world spirits snatched. some were in an even worse position than others, not having even a single overlord to rely on and their speaking power being even weaker as a result.

    the cancer family, the ram family, the virgo family, the pisc family, the cornus family. of these, only the ram family surprisingly had an overlord, a secret they had tightly held to themselves all the while, but in the end, it did them little better than the chance to jockey for position in the future.

    some families were in more complicated straits, though, finding themselves torn in two directions for more than just benefits... but rather emotion as well.... one of which being the quarius family.

    ...

    vega quarius sat in her family''s hall, her mind quite blank. unlike the other families, there was no traitor among the quarius, but that had only made their fate all the more devastating. leonel''s armies didn''t pull back, instead they were led by the true leonel. he bulldozed through their ranks with sheer force, and a great number of starships descended onto their planet.

    leonel hadn''t given the week-long timeline for most families. the families like the tarius had fallen in just a few hours. in fact, 10 of the 12 constellation families had fallen within a few hours, without even the chance to retaliate. the gemin, the lio, the libra, the taur, the cornus, the cancer, the ram, the virgo, and the pisc families had all fallen.

    ironically, it was due to her connection with first nova that vega''s family had ended up among the worst. well... relatively speaking. many more of their seventh dimensional experts had died, but their ancestors were intact. of course... that was relative as well.

    their ancestors were all bedridden, each one so heavily injured that this meeting could only be led by vega''s great grandmother, and the only overlord of the quarius family.

    the quarius, the gemin, the libra, the taur, the tarius, and the ram families, the six that all had overlords among their ranks.

    in these past few weeks, vega had gotten into a habit of blankly staring out into space. after velasco had died, she had been called back to her family. truthfully, she hadn''t thought much of it. leonel''s mother had spoken out to help her and adawarth''s relationship, but now that velasco was dead, her words held much less weight. she had had no choice but to return, not wanting to put undue pressure on the morales. in fact, she had even returned in secret.

    what she hadn''t expected was that when she returned home, she would hear of a war plan.

    she immediately tried to escape, but that had ended in her imprisonment, and imprisonment she had only been "released" from today so that her great grandmother could interrogate her about her involvement and learn of whether she had been aware of this plan or not.

    she had been "spared" since she truly had no idea, but her fate in the family was precarious... not that it mattered much since the family''s fate as a whole also seemed to be.

    bang!

    overlord quarius'' wrinkled palm slammed into the throne beneath her, nearly shattering it completely.

    "the quarius family will not stand for this. we will storm the capitals of the morales and wash them over with rivers and oceans."

    her roar thundered.

    ...

    leonel didn''t seem to particularly care about what choice the families would make. at the moment, he strolled through pyius territory, his armies around him.

    in the distance, he could see a furious simona. she couldn''t seem to believe that leonel would do this to her. hadn''t they been allies?

 Chapter 2281 An Ally of Mine

    chapter 2281 an ally of mine

    leonel pretended as though he didn''t see simona''s furious glare. his senses were focused on the battle around him, sharply directing the movements of his troops. he didn''t have the time to baby the emotions of a young woman he hardly knew. the amount that he hoped to gain from returning her puppy beast to her had already been fulfilled; the rest would be decided on very different factors.

    it was almost without suspense at all. his battle plan for the pyius family had been the most robust, containing contingencies for simona''s paternal family, but it seemed that he had thought too much; they weren''t actually taking action at all, and he strolled right up to the gates of the pyius family''s palace.

    at that moment, simona stepped out from the palace, her mother following to her side and a large number of pyius ancestors appearing with them. high in the skies, the starships rumbled, but leonel didn''t control them to fire.

    with his dream domain still deployed, leonel scanned every inch of the planet, not paying attention to the mother-daughter duo immediately. he seemed to be quite calm, and it didn''t seem like he was fighting a bloody war at all.

    the warriors of the morales were already valiant, but without the fear of death looming over their heads, they seemed to become like monsters in human skin. their spears sung, and the eagerness in their eyes was palpable.

    this was the last battle leonel was fighting; he had actually left it for last along with the quarius family, splitting six of the twelve armies he had had elder kriss build toward each one of those families. so, these men and women had already experienced what it meant to fight with leonel as their general; they had tasted the ease of victory, the thrill of fighting without the worry of death.

    it was exhilarating.

    the ancestors thought that their appearance would dampen the spirits of the army they were facing considerably, but what they found instead was a pair of 60 million burning eyes, each one looking as though they would tear even them apart had leonel not given the command yet.

    it was shocking. they knew that the morales would have high morale, but how could it possibly be this high? their plan was always to dampen it, but it seemed that the morales had acted far swifter than they had expected... and it all seemed to be due to this young man they had watched systematically dismantle their young geniuses one by one.

    "leonel!" simona finally roared, unable to take the silence any longer. her violet puppy had grown and barked with a raging moment, but it was still far too small to be intimidating. even so, sensing simona''s fury, it too lashed out.

    leonel finally looked up as though he had finally begun focusing on the situation. "hm? oh, hello simona, how''ve you been?"

    simona had always been a beauty with an ice-cold disposition, but when she heard these words, she nearly exploded. she grit her teeth hard as her puppy growled.

    simona''s mother raised a hand, calling for her daughter to take a breath. this was no longer leonel morales, and her daughter didn''t seem to have noticed this yet.

    "patriarch morales, this action of the morales is indeed a bit inappropriate. the pyius family never has any intentions of taking action along with the other families. if you continue to press, we''ll have no choice but to retaliate in full force."

    "huuuuu"!

    the morales army roared, slamming the butts of their spears into the ground. their cries resonated and echoed, drowning out the threat in matriarch pyius'' words as though she had never spoken at all.n()0velbin

    leonel raised a hand, and the roar came to an abrupt stop like a taut string cut cleanly right at its most tense point.

    the matriarch''s pupils constricted, but she said nothing, waiting for leonel''s response.

    "if you don''t want me to attack, it''s quite simple, don''t you think?" leonel asked with a smile. "hand over your world spirit and subordinate yourselves to the morales, and you won''t have to fight any battles today."

    simona''s temper threatened to flare again, but her mother continued to speak calmly.

    "is it a tactic of the morales to try and humiliate their enemies? that''s unbecoming of a warrior."

    "humiliate?" leonel blinked in confusion. "i was only telling you what you could do to avoid battle."

    matriarch pyius fell into silence for a long while before she spoke again. "i see now how the morales treat their allies, why would i place my family''s fate in your hands? prepare for battle."

    this time, it was leonel who laughed, and uproariously at that.

    "so you want to use this line of reasoning, in that case, i will make something as clear as possible. your daughter has never been my ally. she lost that right the moment she chose her life and death over being so. don''t think i forgot that simona pyius escaped the heir wars the moment the omann family''s starship appeared. you speak of the fate of your family as my ally, but why should i care for allies who vanish the moment the situation shows signs of going poorly?"

    simona''s expression turned a blazing shade of red as her rage boiled over. was she supposed to risk her life against a ship that could take an ancestor''s life in an instant for a mere heir war?!

    "but, truth be told, i don''t care about this matter," leonel''s smile grew brighter. "the heir wars was a child''s game to me, i never took it seriously, and none of your so-called geniuses ever stood a chance against me because even most of your ancestors wouldn''t.

    "the real reason i choose to treat you as enemies and not as allies is because i don''t have a fetish for being stabbed in the back.

    "if today i left here, your pyius family would wait on the sidelines, biding your time. you would face some pressure here and there as both sides tried to force you to choose a side, but you would ultimately resist.

    "and then, when the time came, your true leader, the godlen family-"

    matriarch pyius'' eyes widened.

    "-would take action at the most opportune moment, and i''d be caught with my pants around my ankles, now wouldn''t i?"

    leonel grinned. "so, how about we skip all of that? and i crush you now?"

    matriarch pyius took a haggard breath, her calm mask slipping somewhat. "i think that you''ve misunderstood something here, you aren''t as clever as you think you are."

    "oh? is that so?"

    leonel''s smile faded, and the air solidified. the morales began to slam their spears butts onto the ground once more, the roar of their spear force spiraling into the air. high in the skies, the constellation of the pyius family seemed to flicker in and out of existence, a pressure weakening it considerably.

    "then, let me not mince my words so that we won''t have any more misunderstandings," leonel said lightly. "no family, no organization, no powerhouse that sat by and watched as the human domain was attacked and did nothing but sit on their hands...

    "will be considered an ally of mine."

    leonel''s voice rumbled.

    "attack."

 Chapter 2282 Landed

    chapter 2282 landed

    the morales army charged forward, not showing the slightest hint of fear toward the lineup of ancestors. with a rush, a barrier formed over the palace, however the army seemed prepared. they closed the distance to just 50 meters and then came to a controlled stop.

    three groups of troops felt their bodies tremble as three large translucent shields appeared in the skies. they resonated with a clear power and prepared a perfect defense even before the canons of the pyius family canons took shape and fired.

    leonel wasn''t surprised by this. he only needed one army for 10 of the constellation families because he had insider information. he knew about all of their formations, where they were located, and a general idea of what their weaknesses might be.

    against the quarius and pyiu families, though, he had no such information and was forced to compensate with larger numbers. however, "larger" was only relative. charging into a constellation family''s territory with just 60 million troops was like trying to eat an elephant to death with just a handful of ants.

    but that was leonel''s confidence.

    the formation had only appeared for an instant, and the shields of the army had only been bombarded a single time, but leonel''s gaze had already flickered. he raised up a hand and another three troops trembled as their armors began to echo with a pulsing energy.

    leonel aligned his arms as though he was holding an invisible bow even as three large bows appeared in the skies. however, this wasn''t the function of the armors. rather, a large gathering of spear force took shape and settled into the bows.

    leonel''s body pulsed with a light as a blinding golden wave came from his eyes. the three weak points shone to him like the stars in the sky, his heart thrumming with life and power as he released his fingers through the air.

    shuuuu!

    three spears streaked across the skies too fast to stop. at first, the ancestors of the pyius family thought it to be a worthless endeavor to even try, that was what their formations were here for. they would crush leonel from here.

    while they felt that they could fight this army on their own, they were wary of the starships in the skies. they could sense the danger locking onto them with every step. at the same time, the armies that leonel was sliced through like butter were recovering. soon, leonel would find himself pincered from the front and back, and by then, victory would only be a matter of time. however...n--o.-v-/e.-l.-b.-i.(n

    crack.

    the first spear landed and the formation cracked. the second spear landed and it shattered. the third spear landed and the foundation of the palace was crushed, the quaking of the very core of the pyius family territory being disrupted.

    ''there,'' leonel thought calmly.

    the most difficult part about any of these incursions was finding the holy land. these were regions that seemed to be hidden away in a slice of space and they were even capable of hiding from leonel.

    however, there was a method he had found with some ease. any formation built into the palace would also be among the strongest that the family could create. in order to do so, the process of building the formation would have to be incorporated into the building plans of the palace itself.

    by the same token, the holy land was most likely hidden in this region as well, stored in the absolute safest place, the core of the family.

    when one was disrupted, flaws would appear in them all for an instant, flaws that couldn''t escape leonel''s senses at all. and when he found that flaw, he would take action.

    leonel took a step forward, a squadron of ten following him close in lockstep. their movements were in sync, their faces and bodies hidden beneath dark black armor. with a single intention, their force pooled together and began to swirl around leonel like a whirlpool of water.

    leonel grasped at the air and his black rod appeared in his hands. he took another step and vanished from the center of the army along with his squadron of ten. he appeared in the midst of the ancestors to their shock, his spear sweeping out.

    a feeling of danger touched their hearts and a cold breeze sliced across their necks. they rushed backward, their hands subconsciously reaching up to their throats.

    leonel used the opening to step into the palace and smashed his foot down once. the whirlpool of force around him roared and covered his leg in a tornado of energy. that single slam caused cracks to spread out in all directions, a sinkhole appearing right at the core of the most prestigious location of the pyius family home...

    a sinkhole right to their holy land.

    matriarch pyius'' eyes widened. she had retreated with her daughter the instant the battle began, the both of them still being in the seventh dimension and unable to make any large changes. but that didn''t stop her from calling out.

    "stop!"

    it was too late.

    leonel reached out with a hand and a violent suction force formed from the arm little tolly coated. with a rush, the world spirit of the pyius family was crushed in his palm.

    the morales roared as the pyius felt a pressure on their bodies that could only come from suppression. it was clear that victory was theirs, but leonel was focused on the hole below. it practically looked like it led to another world, and from within it, he could feel an overwhelming strength heading right for him.

    leonel leapt backward, his squadron moving in unison with him. as he did so, he just barely managed to dodge out of the way of a coming strike so powerful that it tore apart the world. space tried to stitch itself back together, but it took a great deal of effort.

    an old man with a grizzled beard that reached down to his belly button appeared in its place, robes of purple and green hanging loosely from his shoulders and revealing the equally greyed hairs on his chest.

    his eyes flashed and they landed on leonel.

 Chapter 2283 Cold as Ice

    chapter 2283 cold as ice

    leonel''s gaze remained placid, but when he looked down at his chest, he found a thin line of red had formed. it was trying to eat him alive from the inside out, and if not for his powerful vitality, he would have already died from the small nick.

    his vital star force surged, and he was surprised to find that the aching feeling only slowed somewhat. this old man was powerful.

    unlike the other overlords leonel had seen, this old man didn''t seem to have a foot in the grave. judging by the world spirit, it wasn''t being used to sustain his lifeforce either. this was either because this old man had only just become an overlord... or he was an elite even among overlords. in fact, saying that he was elite probably didn''t do him justice, there was something else going on here that was going over his head.

    if not for tolliver, he had a feeling that snatching anything from this man would never be so easy.

    the old man stroked his beard, seemingly surprised that leonel had dodged, or so it seemed. it was hard to tell what his actual expression was as it was somehow both flat, and yet... cheery? he didn''t look like he had just lost something important at all, but that didn''t make sense either.

    "like father, like son, it seems," the old man spoke after a while. "both doing stupid things that their elders have warned them against."n.(o).v-/e/.l-)b(/1)-n

    leonel attacked.

    his spear''s tip trembled and an upswell of spear force seemed to coalesce from the surrounding air. his body shifted and his tier 1 divine armor took shape. it clicked into place one by one, its pieces looking as though they had been pulled out from the void of space and glued to his body under a mysterious spectral force.

    leonel''s halo shifted from the top of his head, to the back. then, its inner space flickered, forming a swirling portal of rainbow that eventually solidified into a glorious tree that seemed to uphold the very skies themselves.

    the armor could only be described as gorgeous. leaf-like vein patterns of black, gold and white covered it, crystals forming 25% of it, and a dense black, obsidian-like metal forming the remaining 75%. this time, when leonel changed his spear from the black rod to a spear that looked wreathed in vines of gold and silver, its aura didn''t seem to drop at all. in fact... he only grew stronger.

    the old man''s eyes narrowed as he leaned back a step, piercing out with two fingers flickering with a foggy green and purple energy. however, as soon as this force appeared was as soon as it was dispersed under a powerful suppression.

    little tolly filled the gaps in leonel''s armor, running through the veins of black, gold and white as though calling those places home. vital star force erupted from leonel and the life force in the region roared to life, suppressing everything that had the scent of death...

    except himself.

    the old man''s pupils constricted, but it was too late. leonel''s spear gathered the strength from his squadron and shredded the old man''s fingers apart, then his wrist, and then his forearm. the old man almost lost his entire arm and just barely managed to dodge back in time.

    blood dripped from the stump of his elbow, his smiling expression having vanished, but leonel hadn''t come to a stop at all.

    the old man seemed to stop taking things casually and a sickle with a curve like a crescent move appeared in his one good armor. his chest hair seemed to stand on end, his robes fluttering more like silk bathrobes than formal robes a senior of his stature should wear.

    the scent of death permeated the air, and this time, leonel couldn''t suppress it nearly as easily. however, leonel''s bloodlines thrummed. he could feel the roar of the golden tiger and pulses of white and gold erupted from his body, his armor becoming a cross of beast furs and metal that carried the elegant bearing of a beast god.

    the old man had never seen an armor morph so much and so fluidly. he had seen leonel''s life grade armor before, but it had never been on this level, and the suppression of this strength...

    little tolly pulsed and leonel seemed to grow an entire foot, his armor following with him. the halo to the back of his head followed suit and the tree upholding the skies grew more prominent as leonel''s ten stars appeared to his back.

    darkness descended and light bolstered, playing off of one another, they supplemented and played like the moon and sun sharing the same sky. if everything was bright, then nothing was bright. if everything was dark, nothing was dark. together they cared for another, forming the shadows and the light.

    that was the natural light realm.

    leonel''s void star force and scarlet star force spun around one another, his [star fusion] entering [combustion] in a single bound as his energy erupted to another level.

    his spear blade met the sickle and the wrist of the old man trembled and then broke. following suit, the sickle shattered as he attempted to solidify his arm with force. and then soon afterward, he lost yet another arm.

    matriarch pyius'' eyes opened wide. of all those here, only she knew who this old man was, and that was only because of her husband. never did she think that she would see such a sight.

    armless, kneeling on the ground, bleeding out rivers of blood, the old man chuckled as leonel descended from the skies. the only sight of leonel''s expression was the cold gaze behind his visor, it was clear he planned to kill this man on sight.

    "how nostalgic. i''ll remember this just as i remembered the last time."

    a mysterious strength caused the planet to rumble and then the old man, matriarch pyius and simona vanished as leonel descended.

    bang!

    a fissure blew clean through the palace, splitting pyius city in two.

    leonel landed on the ground, his divine armor slowly fading and his expression cold as ice.

 Chapter 2284 Leonel Morales

    chapter 2284 leonel morales

    leonel looked toward the pyius ancestor indifferently, but they were just as confused as everyone else was. his gaze changed focus and he looked down toward the holy land of the pyius family, but he knew that it was a waste of his time. if they left so abruptly, so much so that even he couldn''t quite figure out immediately how they had, then there was no doubt in his mind that there was nothing of use left. they wouldn''t be that foolish.

    he didn''t feel any sort of satisfaction. he would have felt much better if that old man had just died, but next time they met he would know to watch his mouth. not that it would matter much, next time they met, he''d have the man''s head on a pike. just because he had controlled his rage, didn''t mean that it wasn''t still there.

    that man''s words were clearly meant to taunt, and taunting an enraged leonel was the last thing a person should do.

    as for who that old man was, it was impossible to tell with the information he had. even his talks about the godlen family stabbing him in the back was nothing more than posturing. he had no idea what the godlen family was or what their plans were. he was only just well aware that they were far more powerful than they let on.

    he was far too sharp to be fooled by their acting, or what they thought was acting. the youths they had sent to the heir wars were far too arrogant to be from a sixth dimensional family, and their lineage factor had far more potential than they were letting on.

    this and the fact that simona had abandoned aina and his brothers in their time of greatest need was enough for him to act against the pyius family. he wouldn''t blame her for her actions, at least not to the point of punishing her for them, but he also wouldn''t continue to treat her like some great ally. wasn''t that a joke? what had the pyius family done for him in the heir wars? if a percentage were to be given, it wouldn''t even be one.

    leonel slowly walked from the palace, his squadron following him. then, he raised his spear.

    the morales army roared with victory and the pyius constellation seemed to almost flicker entirely out of existence.

    it would take some time before all 12 territories were truly morales. but every day that passed, every second even, and along with every new territory they conquered, the more furious that momentum became. soon, the entirety would be their territory and no one in the human domain would be able to stop them.

    ***

    bang!

    matriarch pyius watched in silence as the old man kicked at a mountain furiously, causing it to crumble practically to ash. it was just a false mountain, one created by the hands of man, but it was just as large and sturdy as a real mountain. it was just unfortunate that it had caused the ambience of this peaceful garden to crumble. it was even worse that the old man seemed to have done it with a smile on his face.

    the old man exhaled as though he felt better and shook out his stumpy arms. "find me something that can heal my arms, quickly. i can''t walk around like a muppet."

    "are you really alright, mauve?" matriarch pyius asked.

    "don''t question me in front of the child, woman. you''ll ruin my prestige."

    "i think you''ve done plenty of that on your own."

    the old man looked over. "you''re lucky that you''re mendel''s woman."

    "i think we both know it has nothing to do with luck, and also i am not his woman, i am his wife."

    "whatever helps you sleep at night," mauve said casually.

    "not all of us need to lie to ourselves to be at peace."

    "there''s no lying about it. i told the dumbass velasco that he would die if he continued on his path, and did he not? i told his father before him too, and didn''t he also die? now his grandson, and his son, will follow the same path. i might kill him myself if he crosses me again."

    "if? you''re well aware that you can''t kill someone so important," matriarch pyius said lightly. "as for whether or not he''ll kill you because you can''t control your tongue. well... that would be another matter entirely."

    mauve didn''t say anything.

    "also, you know well that the reason velasco didn''t listen to you is because you wanted him to spare the man responsible for his father''s death."

    "his father wouldn''t have died at all had he just listened to me!" mauve said with finally a bit of bite in his voice.

    "i have a feeling that these... youths, these brats, these young men, as you so like to call them, might be far more insightful than you are. every word out of your mouth is just yet another lie."n-/ovelbin

    mauve fell into silence again. neither of them seemed eager to talk, actually, and it seemed that everything would come to a conclusion like this. but then, mauve actually parted his lips once more.

    "... the human race needs some who are willing to make a sacrifice. it can''t be the weak, it has to be a sacrifice from the strong, and not just the strong, but the strongest of the strong. if they aren''t willing, if they insist on being selfish, if they are so wrapped in their own designs, their own rage... their own grief, then we have no chance.

    "the human race will be wiped out from the whole of existence."

    matriarch pyius didn''t respond.

    ***

    the news of the collapse of the 12 constellation families, or rather the robbery of their world spirits and the claiming of their territory by the morales spread like wildfire. though, this wasn''t until weeks later, when messengers finally managed to get free of leonel''s suppressions, but by then, leonel had already prepared the morales for the next wave.

    in a certain hq though, a familiar cross elder avan received the news. he sat in silence for a long time before he suddenly exploded to his feet. grabbing his indestructible desk, he roared and ripped it from the floor, launching it out of the glass window to his back.

    he furiously bellowed. "leonel morales!"

 Chapter 2285 Cross Elders

    chapter 2285 cross elders

    cross elder avan was absolutely furious.

    he remembered when he first met leonel. he could have crushed that little shit immediately. daring to steal the property of shield cross stars, and such an important property at that, was unforgivable. to make matters worse, he had actually been a fugitive for so long. he deserved nothing but death.

    what others didn''t know was that shield cross stars had been targeting leonel ever since he exited the camelot zone. the failure to claim that zone for them was an unacceptable loss, and it was felt that the best way to gain the benefits they wanted was through leonel. unfortunately, there was only so much that they could do while maintaining the same level of caution.

    he had wanted to throw it to the winds, but he wasn''t the only one making decisions. there were several other cross elders, each with their own factions and their own thoughts on the matter. and now look what happened.

    he had wanted to launch a full assault on earth the instant emperor fawkes had thrown him out of their territory, but he had gotten word from above that it was unsafe. he had wanted to strike to kill during the heir wars, but he once again received word that it was ill advised. he wanted to send a lone ancestor to ensure that leonel would die during the human domain invasion, and yet he was once again rebuffed.

    and now what? he was standing here, more than half of the most powerful forces of the human domain effectively crippled and fallen under the power of the morales who were already gathering far too much power and it was already far too late to take any sort of easy, but drastic action.

    leonel had somehow already gained the ability to protect himself from ancestors, even setting aside his armies, there were those modified starships, and even setting aside those modified starships there were still the reports that over a dozen ancestors had died in battle... and yet there was no use that leonel had made use of them yet.

    the sight of leonel resurrecting ancestors of the foreign races and then slaughtering over 50 ancestors under his own power was something that was burned into cross elder avan''s psyche. now, leonel had even more ancestors than he had had back then, and they were a trump card in his back pocket that he could use at any time.

    this news was as bad as it could be, or so it seemed. because what came afterward was even worse than that.

    this news was delayed, by several weeks at that. leonel had immediately used the conquering of the world spirits to restrict information moving in and out of the 12 territories. although he wouldn''t be able to use the full strength of those territories any time soon, this required almost no strain at all. if information wanted to get out, it had no choice but to move through more normal channels, and how long would that take?

    how vast was the human domain? how many families were there? how many would fear what it would mean to betray leonel by leaking this information? and these families, who were cut off from the outside world as well, how could they know that they weren''t the only ones to suffer at leonel''s hands? for all they knew, they were the only ones to suffer and sending this news out would do nothing more than expose the fact that they had lost their world spirits, making them vulnerable as a whole.

    ironically, then, those families actually helped leonel keep a lid on his escapades for fear of what it would do to them until they confirmed that other families had suffered the same fate. no, not just until this, but until they understood that enough had suffered the same fate that it wouldn''t be easy to target them all at once.

    it was only then that they allowed the information to flow smoothly and it finally reached the ears of shield cross stars. and that was precisely what set cross elder avan off.n-/ovelbin

    each one of these territories had shield cross stars branches within, but these powerful families didn''t trust those branches as far as their youth could throw them. they were restricted to the outskirts, and leonel had passed right through most of them without even attacking.

    however, the same wasn''t true on the way back.

    leonel left most of the outskirts of these territories unscathed. he used the expertise of the geniuses he had snatched to learn of the structure of their outposts and make it past them without any warning at all, and then he directly attacked their capital cities without any warning.

    but he didn''t do the same for shield cross stars. it was like he was provoking them, like he was spitting in their faces.

    he unceremoniously slaughtered them all, or so cross elder avans thought. all he knew was that aside from strips of blood and flesh, their branches were deserted of people, strangled and practically wiped from existence.

    he didn''t respect them at all. he slapped each one of their faces and it was practically like he was taking a piss over their walls.

    cross elder avan''s infuriated roar echoed through the capital of shield cross stars and it was like a call that brought all of the cross elders together at once.

    some young, some old, they rushed into cross elder avan''s ravaged office as his eyes spit with flames... literally.

    cross elders, men and women alike looked around. some sneered, some were somber, some found the situation amusing, and some were serious.

    it was clear by this meeting that the numbers given to the public for the number of cross elders was nothing more than a lie. in this room alone, more than three dozen had gathered, many of whom not a single soul in the human domain would recognize.

    "do you see what you''ve all done?! do you see what you all have allowed?!" cross elder avan barked, the temperature in the surroundings skyrocketing.

 Chapter 2286 Arrogance

    chapter 2286 arrogance

    there was a slight silence as the roar brewed, until a man with a particularly chilly disposition chuckled.

    this man was the overlord of the sith family. this wasn''t a well-known face in the human domain, but this wasn''t because he was unknown like the others. rather, it was because he was the greatest assassin in the human domain. what assassin worth his salt would allow the world to know his face?

    the sith family led the assassination units of shield cross stars. leonel had met one of them before in ronan, a man of the void palace that leonel had once bought information from. he had also tried to stop leonel and aina from leaving the void palace when divincenzo had appeared, but ronan was far more the man here.

    overlord sith was like a touch of darkness and a slice of ice. his clothing was a dense black, his skin a pale white, his hair was even darker than his robes, and his eyes were a piercing ice blue.

    those that knew him realized that although his eyes could be said to be the only "beautiful" part of him, he absolutely hated them. they made his ability to be stealthy even more difficult than the whites of his eyes. but this was also why he was known as the blind sith... the visionless assassin. the number of deaths he had on his tally was enormous, and they included even experts of the other domains.

    "laugh again, sith, and i''ll slice out that tongue."

    "please do," overlord sith said with another laugh. "it would be my pleasure to become a sightless and soundless assassin. i wonder if i would reach the true pinnacle of my path once i have done so."

    many felt a shudder down their spines when he said this, but avan only grew more infuriated and truly seemed as though he was about to attack. he had two others here who were the only ones that didn''t fear this man. but whether it was by ability, or by ignorance, it was hard to tell.

    the other two were overlord veiga and overlord lela, both women, both middle-aged, and both beautiful, the latter with radiant blue hair much like a certain vega, sharing more than just a similar name, and the other had shimmering black.

    there were four factions of shield cross stars. the commanding faction, led by cross elder avan, the dark faction, led by cross elder sith, the logistical faction led by cross elder lela, and the shield faction, led by overlord veiga.

    the commanding faction dealt with everything in the daylight. they were the ones that handled much of the politics. this sounded ridiculous, especially considering their leader was also the one with the worst temper. but leaders of these various factions weren''t based on merit... they were hereditary, and if one wanted to take it from cross elder avan, well... you''d have to step over his dead body.

    the dark faction spoke for itself. they worked in the shadows, and to the public, they dealt with the enemies that normal armies couldn''t deal with. if the commanding faction was the broadsword, they were the change weapon, the small dagger pulled out in a pinch. in reality, though, their work was likely far more... sinister than this, and they were responsible for the largest and most in-depth information network in the whole of the human domain. no, it was more accurate to say that they had spread even beyond the human domain. as for how deep they had gone, it was likely that overlord sith was the only one who had the knowledge to explain this.

    the logistical faction did as its name suggested, much like the other two. they were the cleanup crew that acted after the commanding and dark faction had finished up their work, and they also had the largest collection of healers, and the strongest of this kind, in the whole of the human domain. healers weren''t exactly a profession like crafters or force pill crafters, but they could be. some were true professionals, and studied much like doctors did. but others simply had powerful ability indexes that didn''t require such effort. the best of them had a combination of both. a point of interest was that the viror family, led by their young genius who had once had a great deal of conflict with both leonel and especially aina for taking her spot on the rankings, had recently joined their ranks.

    the shield faction was more... complicated than the others. even many of the upper echelon of shield cross stars didn''t understand exactly what they did, but those here most definitely did. what could be said was that they both had the weakest authority of those present, and at times... had authority surpassing even that of the commanding faction. as for their leader, overlord veiga, she was the quietest of them all.

    of the more than three dozen cross elders here, they were quite evenly distributed amongst the factions... except for the shield faction, which both had the largest variety, and the largest number of them.

    "that''s enough," overlord lela said lightly. "i still stand by our earlier decisions. the child also hasn''t done anything significance, and definitely nothing that relies on himself solely. the main power behind everything is the morales family, and so long as they are dealt with, the child is still not a problem. your demeanor is unbecoming of the head of the commanding faction."

    "speak to me like that again, woman, and see if i don''t rip your head off." avan snarled. "i am not worried about a child, but it''s been three generations now, three generations of you all saying the same things. the second was already far better than the first and cost us countless losses, and now the third feels even more powerful than the second was, on top of the fact all monitoring attempts on the once unproblematic uncle has now failed as well.

    "do you still think that we have control? your arrogance will be your death!" avan spoke in a low roar.

    occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.n-(0velbin

 Chapter 2287 Overlord Veiga

    chapter 2287 overlord veiga

    a silence fell, but avan could tell with a single glance that none of these people had taken anything he had said seriously. and yet, instead of becoming more enraged, his lip curled into a sneer, a reaction that caught them off guard. they showed much more of a reaction to this than they had to anything else.

    "king is dead."

    the words hung in the air, and then suddenly rushed through them all at once.

    "what?" overlord lela asked with a frown.n--ovelbin

    "did i stutter, dumb woman? king is dead."

    "explain." lela said coldly.

    "i was contacted a week ago with this information."

    "and why are you only telling us about this now?"

    "because i both wanted to see your stupid faces and understand what the fallout of that matter is. also, in case you''ve forgotten, the head of the commanding faction is me, not you. when i''m contacted with information, it''s up to me how it''s divulged."

    "how did he die?" overlord veiga, who hadn''t spoken until now, suddenly asked.

    avan was surprisingly straightforward this time, without any fanfare. "velasco killed him."

    "what?!"

    "oh? now you all understand that i''m not just chatting horseshit? i told you all to take this matter seriously, and you refused to time and time again. i''ve not been fooled. the reason you all dragged your feet is because you feared him, and maybe you were right to. but now his brother is nowhere to be seen, and his son is rampaging across the human domain as the time approaches, and you''re still dragging your feet.

    "what, are you going to wait until he''s as strong as his father before you act?"

    avan had a sneer of satisfaction intertwined with his words, he looked like he was on a high horse despite the fact this problem was one that was on his plate as well.

    "the cult is actually so useless," overlord sith said coldly.

    "oh? is it the cult''s fault now? what happened to the mighty assassin, aren''t you in love with a challenge? what better challenge would there have been for you if not that one?"

    overlord sith remained silent, but the coldness in his blue gaze deepened as though he might lunge forward and attack avan right this moment. but avan only greeted the stare, hoping that the sith really would attack. he had still not finished venting his wrath.

    "we were placed here to monitor earth, to gather its resources before they could be made use of by others and help the great families to stabilize their position and minimize the variables. we''ve failed on all accounts. emperor fawkes grew powerful on our watch, the greatest treasures of earth are only partially under our control, and now the lineage factor of the fawkes is flourishing once again."

    avan''s brows jumped as he was not the one to speak. it was overlord veiga, and hearing such words, he couldn''t help but become serious.

    "the situation was going well, mostly so in the last 30 years. over 95% of the greatest benefits that could be gained from earth had fallen into the hands of the great families and there was nothing the fawkes could do. but then, just two years ago, everything changed instantly.

    "the established powers of the great families were eradicated to their last man. the territory of the ascension empire expanded wildly and without check. all of the branches of shield cross stars, prepared and ready for the worst-case scenario were eradicated. then, their borders were stabilized so quickly that future infiltration was deemed nigh impossible.

    "do you know what happened two years ago?" overlord veiga asked lightly. "leonel morales somehow reversed the schemes of the cult and returned from the vast bubble."

    a silence fell once more and this time, avan could sense the seriousness in their expressions, a seriousness they had never given him.

    "in those years, velasco was occupied by the court, the fawkes were restricted by his bindings, and there was no "war", there was only a systematic dismantling of everything that was left of our enemies. a single young boy reversed it all and the sacrifice the cult had made was almost rendered all but useless."

    "it wasn''t useless, most of earth''s resources were taken."

    overlord veiga gave avan a glance and he suddenly felt like his throat was gripped, but his usual temper didn''t allow him to back down and he met the woman''s stare.

    "as good as those resources were, they are nothing compared to what is being gathered now. this version of earth, the one on the verge of the eighth dimension, contains the most valuable of the loot. leonel morales has already entered one, and he returned far stronger, stronger than should be possible for a seventh dimensional existence of this world."

    avan fell into silence.

    "this is not a matter that can be taken lightly. i''ve never liked the cult. their views don''t align with our own and the direction they want to take the human race is abhorrent. however, they, just like the rest of us, understand that these incomplete worlds are our final chance and nothing can be allowed to go wrong.

    "the existence of fawkes in this world has opened us up to a great deal of variables, and each one seems more dangerous than the last. the cult''s presence in this world has been ground to almost nothing, and those of the dream pavilion have yet to make their presences known.

    "from this moment forth, i will be taking command of shield cross stars and our next movements will be decided by me. all commanding rights will likewise be handed over and the full cooperation of the faction leaders will be expected and required."

    veiga tapped the emblem on her lapel and the shield began to glow. the kilted skirt of the organization fluttered and the metal shin guards beneath shone.

    the overlords felt a flash of anger when they sensed what was happening, but soon an illusory chain constricted their hearts and their movements. shield cross stars was now fully under veiga''s control.

 Chapter 2288 Wait Here

    chapter 2288 wait here

    leonel sat in silent meditation. his expression didn''t carry any hints of happiness, just focus. he had done nothing in these last several weeks other than meditate on his vital star force. he gave it all the attention he had. or, at least, this version of him had.

    when he returned home triumphant, the morales elders had nothing more to say. to use 120 million soldiers to conquer just one world spirit of a constellation family was shocking enough, such a number was too far from the number of elites that were present in just one of these families. and yet, leonel had used that number to take on 12.

    if the status quo remained like this, in a year, the territory of the morales would grow by more than 10 times, and there would be almost nowhere in the human domain that they couldn''t go without having the advantage of suppression on their side. it was a realization that made them realize just what leonel meant by saying that they were at an undeniable advantage.

    but maybe the most shocking part of all of this was that they hadn''t lost a single person. some had died, but they had been revived just as easily. the morales had essentially given up nothing but a sputteringly small amount of resources in exchange for the most valuable treasure of each and every family.

    so, when leonel gave them their next set of orders, they responded to them with sharp precision. when the third week came to an end, everything was prepared and leonel slowly opened his eyes. as he did, the sight of himself reflected in his irises.n).o.)v((e.(l-.b-)i()n

    he didn''t seem to be surprised by this, and why would he be? he simply touched his own hand and the two of them became one. all of the insights he had made into vital star force came together as well, but unfortunately it still wasn''t enough for a breakthrough, but he had expected this as well.

    he took a step out of his meditation room and found his squadron of ten waiting for him. but these ten weren''t just any ten, he knew them all too well. joel, arnold, james, milan, raj, franco, drake, allan, gil, and the latest edition... raylion.

    these ten hadn''t participated in many battles, and he had purposely had them hold back during the heir wars as he never had intention of going all out for that battle. since then, they had only grown ever stronger.

    they had benefited greatly from the rewards leonel had gotten for winning the heir wars. each and every single one of them was already in tier 9 of the seventh dimension, but this was also because they had entered the sixth dimension using the conventional path. progressing for them was as easy as absorbing more resources, what was difficult was making it so that they could absorb more resources for the same increase in benefits. this required changing their very foundations, something that was far easier than it should have been... now that they had died before.

    when leonel had resurrected armand and the others of the constellation families using breathe, he had done so with an ore instead of the silver tablet. that was more of an experiment than anything, a successful one at that. what he had been testing was how much he could improve someone''s talent through the use of his lineage factor.

    the result was beyond his expectations because... it was far easier than it should have been.

    in leonel''s views, this only proved one of two things. either the fawkes family lineage factor was just that powerful, or the people of this incomplete world were simply that weak.

    in reality, it was a combination of both. but at the same time, it was also in great thanks to tolliver.

    when it came to armand and the blood diamond ore, leonel had just chosen something that was close enough and tested it out. however, when it came to his brothers, not only did he pick out such ores, but he used little tolly''s abilities to fuse them together, forming them into new ores that perfectly matched their paths.

    little tolly could only create sixth dimensional ores, but leonel had realized after meeting el''rion that dimension was next to irrelevant. in fact, it probably would have been better the lower their dimension was, it would only make it easier to reforge their foundations.

    the stronger his crafting became, the more perfect the ores he would be able to forge with little tolly, and the stronger he could make his brothers. so long as they were willing to experience death and trust him with their souls, he could take them as far as he could go.

    and now, while each one wasn''t yet as strong as junior ancestors, together with their armor, they could kill as many came their way. once they settled in with their new talent and their force manipulation caught up, even junior ancestors wouldn''t be a match for them. and with him leading them...

    even ancestors weren''t their match.

    "let''s go," leonel said lightly.

    they all vanished at once, and when they appeared outside the segmented cube, they found a sky filled with starships. it wasn''t just one or two, it wasn''t even just a few dozen, there were hundreds. in the whole of the human domain, even in the whole of the dimensional verse, the number of ancestors didn''t greatly surpass this number. and yet, just one of these starships could take out an army of them on their own.

    overlord morales appeared by leonel''s side. no one knew who this old man was, and he even looked like leonel''s advisor to most. no one would guess that this man was one of the strongest of the morales family.

    "are you certain?"

    "why risk the lives of the most valuable morales?" leonel asked.

    "at this point, i think it''s fairly certain that the most valuable morales is you."

    "i don''t think you mean that," leonel said with a smile.

    "you''re too clever for your own good, child."

    leonel''s lip curled. "wait here for news of victory."

 Chapter 2289 Rude

    chapter 2289 rude

    leonel stepped onto the head starship, his focused trained and his gaze sharp. he didn''t rush this time, nor did he hide his movements. this time, they would be cautious, they would be ready. trying to sneak around would have the opposite effect, it would dull the momentum of his army and scatter them unnecessarily.

    no. this time they would be bold, direct, vicious and swift.

    the scouts that the various families had placed around the territory of the morales noticed the movement instantly and made their reports one after another. the entire human domain seemed to be lit on fire.

    many had speculated about what the morales would do, even some smart strategists thought that it would be best if they took their time, waiting for the constellation families to "bleed out," so to speak. the closer the morales came to those territories truly being theirs, the less chance the rest of the human domain would have in dealing with them.

    at the same time, they were the most powerful within their own territory, especially now that they had formed their own constellation.

    but how could they know? the news of the morales victories had only just disseminated to the public, but to leonel, it had been a foregone conclusion for weeks already, and in these weeks, he had done nothing but prepare.

    all the while, the first target was already decided. the suiard family would crumble today.

    ***

    the suiard family, a family standing at the peak of the human domain, unsurprisingly had a long and storied history. their mastery over the sword had begun long before the sword domain ring landed in their possession, but it had only gotten stronger since then.

    what was surprising, though, was that the suiard family had once been a collection of buddhist temples. the suiard temple, the sina temple, and the suave temple.

    most who would learn of this history would find it to be ridiculous. buddhist monks practiced in the art of killing? and what of their secondary lineage factor? one that seemed steeped in the aura of demons and devils? what about them could be related to buddhism and what had happened since then for them to be in this situation now?

    to the suiard family, though, these things were just a matter, of course. they were buddhists who focused on the art of severing, to reach nirvana and escape suffering through severing all things that weighed down their lives, this was the way of the suiard, sina, and suave families.

    it was hard to say how many of these teachings remained, but what was more curious than that was how the suiard family evolved to their current state from where they had begun. the god path was an interesting one, but the suiard family had once had their own path, only to conform to the ways of the rest of the human domain.

    was this by coincidence, or were there other reasons? maybe only the ancestors of the suiard family would understand why it was that they had abandoned the path of their own. or maybe that history would be buried on this very day.

    "ishmael, your grandson is as annoying as you were," an old man muttered.

    this old man was amery''s grandfather, and he seemed far too unworried for a man whose grandson was still very much missing. maybe he was well aware that amery was still alive, but even so, this sort of nonchalantness wasn''t what one would expect from a situation like this one, especially since news of the morales charge had already reached him.

    by now, the families knew that leonel had used their geniuses to pry into all of their secrets. no amount of willpower would save amery from the fate of having his thoughts and memories read like an open book.

    amery wasn''t just a normal genius, he was the future of their family, the hope that they had placed everything in. there wasn''t any part of the suiard family that he didn''t have perfect information for, he even knew quite a great deal about the spiritual religion too.

    there was nothing that the suiard family could do in a short time that would change the situation. any tricks or trump cards they had were useless. there was no point in trying to hide them, and it was impossible to come up with anything even remotely as good or effective even given ten years, let alone the few hours they had.

    however, even now, maxx suiard reclined in his rocking chair in the tallest tower of the suiard family palace. he looked out over the approaching starships, his gaze unreadable.

    a young man met his gaze. he had translucent, pale violet, short cut hair. his demeanor was quite sharp, yet subdued. his gaze, though, seemed to hide the tip of a spear, a blade capable of piercing through all things.

    "same annoying gaze, too," maxx shook his head.

    the brat had actually picked him out already, out of all the other things he could have been focused on, he was focused on this one in particular. he didn''t know whether to be flattered or annoyed.n).o.)v((e.(l-.b-)i()n

    maxx stood from his rocking chair slowly. his eyes were as black as night, and his robes looked like they were knitted of thick, off-white thread. his feet were bare, and he looked completely unadorned. there was no spatial device, no sword, not even a belt for his waist. he didn''t look like he was heading out for a fight, and rather looked like he was going to bed.

    and yet, when he seemed to still be taking his first step, he had already appeared before the starship.

    the lasers fired the moment his foot raised, but he had already passed them by as a searing hole was torn through the suiard family palace. a flame sparked and maxx''s rocking chair was lit ablaze along with the rest of his room.

    "that was rude, young man. is this how you treat your elders?"

 Chapter 2290 I See

    chapter 2290 i see

    leonel looked toward this elder before him without much of a reaction. however, the calmness of his expression had nothing to do with how alert he was.

    the starship had never failed up until this point, at least not in such close proximity, or what would be considered relative close proximity. even el''rion hadn''t managed to dodge it. though, granted, not only was the pluto not harmed to the point of lethality, but he was also far closer to the strike.

    even so, the feat of dodging the starship''s attack-and most importantly, the starship under the control of leonel''s skill-was absolutely ridiculous.

    this person must be amery''s grandfather, overlord maxx suiard.

    leonel had learned quite a bit about this man in recent days, or at the very least, he had learned everything that amery knew about him, as much as a grandchild could know about his grandparent. that could either be quite a bit, or nothing at all depending on the temperament of the grandparent in question. and judging by the reaction of this old man, leonel had a feeling that it was by far the latter.

    "don''t be like that, i used to know your grandfather, you know. we could be considered good friends. why don''t you step out and we can have a chat?"

    leonel didn''t say anything, continuing to look at the old man. the more he did, the more he felt that the words "old man" didn''t really fit maxx. he was too vibrant, too full of vitality. he seemed to have as much life ahead of him as a newborn. comparing him to the older generation felt wrong.

    maxx sighed when leonel had no intention of taking him up on his offer. there were quite a number of things that he couldn''t talk about so openly, and this brat insisted on making things hard on him. what an annoyance, what an annoyance indeed.

    overlord suiard took another step and he vanished. this time, leonel saw it clearly. this man wasn''t a spatial force expert at all, rather his attainments in the sword were so high that he might as well have been. leonel was certain with a single glance that that sword force was, at a minimum, at the impetus state.

    he wasn''t crossing space, his sword quite literally sliced reality apart, shattering any concepts of distance until his destination was just a single step away from him. to call this man an overlord felt like an insult to him, he had already met the requirement to enter the ninth dimension, and the only reason he hadn''t was likely because of the restrictions of this world.

    by the time leonel''s mind had finished processing all of this, maxx had appeared within the starship, sitting across from leonel as though he had always been there. his expression was quite casual, until he seemed to realize that leonel''s was just as casual. but after a momentary gaff, he calmed down again.

    "has anyone ever told you that you''re very annoying? i''m glad that you''re not my grandson, i''d have to spank your bottom red every day just to vent a bit."n).o.)v((e.(l-.b-)i()n

    leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    "don''t you have any refreshments here? really. i''m sure your grandfather taught you better than this, you''re just ignoring his teachings." maxx shook his head. "forget it, this is a waste of time. i''ll keep things to the point. how much about this situation do you understand?"

    leonel didn''t know how to respond to this question. he knew what maxx was referring to, but how much of his assumption was correct, he didn''t know. also, this didn''t seem like the kind of question this man should be asking him, he should have been on their side, no? was he wrong about that?

    everything the suiard family did seemed to side with them, most pointedly of which was marrying amery off to the spirituals religion as though he was some damsel.

    suddenly, leonel''s pupils constricted. what was he thinking? what a stupid mistake. he had already learned that these incomplete worlds were set up by the humans of a complete world in order to survive some sort of calamity. but he hadn''t thought about something very important...

    if this place was created for humans, then what did that mean for the other races in these incomplete worlds? what would happen to them? would they be seamlessly integrated? that sounded very unlikely.

    it was more likely that they would be pulled into slavery and forced into subordination, used for the purposes of the humans of the complete world, and then... well, if the humans had as poor of a position in greater existence as el''rion and shan''rae had made it seem, then they would likely get rid of these pawns as quickly as possible so as not to attract the ire of species and races far more powerful than them.

    the spirituals of this incomplete world were already so powerful, what about the spirituals in greater existence? what about the rapax? or the beasts? or the nomads? and how would they react to knowing their race of people was forced into submission by the humans?

    leonel only now realized just how much of a gamble this was. it wasn''t just them gambling their future existence within these incomplete worlds, but if they dared to use the other races, even if they survived the first calamity, they might invite upon themselves countless more.

    he was so used to humans being in the weaker position that he had almost neglected the fact that in this small corner of existence, they were the ones in control, and as a result, the races that usually pinned them beneath their heels, were in a precarious situation as well.

    him assuming that the suiard family was just like shield cross stars or the void palace or the three finger cult, all because they had sided with the spirituals religion was foolish. he had simply taken their being an enemy to be natural as they had always been the rival of the morales, but he was only making false assumptions.

    he also wondered... just how much of these deductions could be translated to the hidden branch of the morales as well?

    "i see." leonel spoke his first words. "okay. hand over your world spirit and give me information about your cooperation with the spirituals and i will handle the rest."

    maxx suiard didn''t even know what to say.

 Chapter 2291 Losers

    chapter 2291 losers

    overlord maxx had asked his question perfunctorily. he knew, or at least he thought he knew, that leonel didn''t know the truth of the situation. but in just a few seconds, he watched leonel pause, ponder, and then respond as though he had just seen right through him. it was a feeling that he had never experienced before, not even from ishmael.

    he truly didn''t know how to respond because he was rendered speechless. he felt that he had underestimated this boy a bit too much. but he was still far too arrogant to-

    leonel waved a hand, and maxx felt an uncontrollable force pull at his heart. he didn''t realize that by entering the starship alongside leonel, he had already sealed the fate of his world spirit. there was no need for battle, no need for leonel to find the location of their holy land, because what he wanted was right before him.

    overlord maxx''s expression changed, and he reached forward with a deft swiftness, but it was too late. the world spirit landed in leonel''s palms, and he crushed it. in that instant, the suiard family''s world had been conquered, leaving much of the family stunned. let alone them, even maxx didn''t really understand what had just happened.

    the overlord probably should have been enraged, but he didn''t even know what emotions he should be feeling in the first place.

    "this brat..." maxx mumbled.

    unlike the others, maxx wasn''t a fool. he could tell that for some ridiculous reason, the morales had actually let leonel hold onto their world spirit. instead of fretting like the others did, if he really cared about the world spirit so much, then it would be as simple as killing leonel and taking it.

    of course, there were some problems with that choice too. for one, this brat seemed to be far too confident. but in maxx''s views, leonel understood too little about his own strength. if it wasn''t for the fact that he was less hot-headed than the morales men, velasco wouldn''t be the only one they were all intent on killing.n).o.)v((e.(l-.b-)i()n

    but that matter couldn''t really be blamed on velasco honestly. in maxx''s opinion, this was the case of the son paying for the sins of the father, and it seemed that that cycle was trying to replay itself here. he couldn''t help but sigh.

    "this isn''t a worthwhile path," maxx suddenly said. "maybe it''s hypocritical of me to say this because i''m not sure how i would react if i ever lost my wife, but hate me or not, i believe your grandfather was a fool. your father after him was a fool. and now you''re being a fool."

    maxx hoped to see some anger in leonel''s eyes, some rage, but he saw nothing at all, and it was precisely that that made him realize just how hopeless it was. rage would imply some irrationality, some emotional instability, some lack of forethought or awareness toward the reality of the situation he was in. but the fact that leonel showed nothing, and didn''t show any signs of attacking him either, meant that he was of his right mind... and that only made it worse.

    "all those years ago, your grandfather fell in love with the wrong woman. honestly, if it wasn''t for the fact that you have the morales family lineage factor, i wouldn''t even be able to say with any more than 10% assurance that you are your grandfather''s grandson. in fact, even though you have the lineage factor, i still can''t say it with any more than 50% assurance. i have no idea what that woman is capable of.

    "he was arrogant, believing himself to be infallible, believing that it was only natural that such a woman would fall for him. and maybe had this woman been from this small world, it would have made sense. he was truly excellent for a person born to such disadvantages.

    "i warned him many times, but he didn''t listen. i had never known him to be a man infatuated by beauty, but you never know what a man is capable of when he falls in love. in the end, what was likely a childish game to her became a life and death situation for him. he offended those he shouldn''t have, and turned far more attention to this world than he would have otherwise.

    "do your grandfather''s love for that woman, the last bastion of the fawkes family was exposed, the cult entered this world, and shield cross stars was infiltrated by another party. right now, they''ve probably already taken control.

    "in the end, he still didn''t even blame her. he blamed himself, finally saying that he had overestimated himself, all for that worthless woman."

    maxx seemed to become more and more enraged as he spoke, but in contrast, his voice became more subdued. it was instead the sword force in the air that crossed and echoed like sharpening blades.

    "a woman can help a man to do great things. a woman can also destroy a man, and sometimes that can happen whether she''s a good woman or not." maxx looked at leonel. the latter could feel the blood vessels in his whites popping one after another, causing a stream of blood to stream down his cheeks, but he still didn''t look away.

    "i don''t know how many female powerhouses lie with random men and have children with them. i can''t say whether she was one such person, if i''ve misunderstood her, or whether she''s a spawn of satan. what i can say is that there''s a cycle you have the chance to stop so long as you will it, and i would advise that you take that chance."

    silence fell. it was a long one, one that lasted upwards of ten minutes as the two met each other''s gazes, one indifferent, and the other bleeding tears of blood.

    "alright, return my grandson to me," maxx suddenly said.

    leonel just waved a hand, and amery appeared, looking just the same.

    "useless brat," maxx scolded, slapping amery with a palm to the forehead despite the distance between them. amery, though, didn''t react to this. even after his grandfather stood and pulled him up by the scruff of his collar, he still didn''t react.

    "if you can win, i''ll consider supporting you. but i don''t invest in losers," maxx said as he turned and left with amery in tow. "i would advise you to be careful, though. they''ve sent one more powerful than me."

 Chapter 2292 A Warning

    chapter 2292 a warning

    leonel didn''t say anything even after maxx had left, but his senses relaxed somewhat and his hold on his brothers loosened. the reason he had insisted on not closing his eyes when he faced maxx''s stare was because he didn''t want to be distracted for even a moment. against such a person, even a split moment of distraction would mean death, and if leonel died, there would be no one to bring him back to life.

    he didn''t miss any part of what maxx had said, but that was less because he was listening for his advice, and more so because he was searching for clues about other matters. his grandfather''s lover was one person that he needed to know more about.

    usually, this would be a person he directly ignored, but she had crossed his bottom line. since she wanted to stand opposing him, then she would have to die.

    leonel didn''t move immediately, though, even after the meeting had concluded. he had planned to spend quite some time on the suiard family and he didn''t quite know what it meant to let them go like this.

    until now, he had simply taken the world spirit and left. in his opinion, that was all that was necessary for the "weaker" families, at least relative to the other powerhouses of the seventh dimension. however, the suiard family was different. they were a true powerhouse, and the blow they could deal leonel if he was caught off guard was heavy, especially if maxx took action.

    it was more difficult than not to leave them be like this. his finger had even twitched somewhat as he felt that killing maxx here would be easier on him, he wouldn''t have this constant lingering insecurity in the back of his mind. letting him leave essentially barred some of the path he would have taken otherwise, but then again it opened up others.

    by now, everyone assumed that he would be attacking the suiard family. this was a move that would definitely surprise them as the morales and suiard had been battling one another for so many years that they should know just how evenly matched they were. they were widely known as the two most powerful families in terms of pure combat, so starting with them might not seem to be the smartest thing to do.

    but now that they had, everyone would be expecting a battle that would rage on for days at the very least. catching the off guard now would be even easier. however, the matter of who to catch off guard surprisingly stumped leonel.

    should he attack the spirituals religion? but they were allies with the suiard''s and now he was in a tentative relationship with the latter. did it still make sense to attack them? but then again, while he might have some reason to think that the spirituals would stay on the sideline, what about the religion? could maxx sway them to not?

    if he didn''t attack the spirituals religion then who should he attack? shield cross stars? the void palace? it was difficult to choose.

    leonel seemed aimless right now, but that was precisely because this situation was so baffling to him. originally, he planned to cut the suiards down in about a week or so. although he had cut right to their capital, he expected a very difficult battle, and he also prepared contingencies for being attacked from the back. he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the suiard family''s forces caught up and joined the battle.

    in that time, he planned for his scouts to pay attention to the situation in the rest of the human domain and had at least three different maneuvers prepared for various situations. but now...nove-lb)in

    leonel shook his head. he almost had half a mind to believe that maxx had given up his world spirit on purpose just to catch leonel off guard, because he had never thought that gaining an ally would confuse him like this.

    ''this isn''t a normal sort of confusion,'' leonel thought pensively.

    he had felt something like this before. or rather, it was similar, but not exact. when he had first thought of the demoness, he could sense her gaze on him, and now he was feeling something similar. someone could sense him thinking and was obstructing his vision.

    despite this thought clearing things up for him, it made things even foggier.

    leonel''s gaze narrowed further. then he remembered what maxx had said. someone even more powerful than him? was this person powerful enough to know that maxx had mentioned them? because if they were, then the fact that maxx had said anything at all could have alerted this person to what was happening here, and in the case they were alerted, that meant that any intentions he had of using a surprise attack had already failed.

    leonel''s confusion lifted and his gaze glowed.

    the dream pavilion... it seemed that whoever they had sent had the capability to use dream force on a far higher level than his own and it was likely that any schemes or plans he had prepared would all be useless.

    but that also confirmed something else. maxx was helping him.

    he didn''t believe that someone as powerful as maxx would mention this person without reason, and it couldn''t possibly be such a foolish mistake on his part. he had mentioned it hoping that leonel would pick up on the problem.

    maxx was letting leonel know that if he continued like this, he would fail, and he would fail miserably at that. the way that he had learned to wage war until now was playing around in a kiddy pool while the adults had been surging on raging tsunami-like waves for generations already.

    ''i see... this level of dream force is still out of my reach.''

    leonel tapped a finger on his arm rest, his gaze growing sharper and sharper.

    he needed a method to protect his mind. unless he could succeed in finding such a method, the only path forward would be brute strength. and right now... he didn''t have nearly enough strength to succeed with that method, not outside the bounds of morales territory...

 Chapter 2293 Dream Force and Star Force

    chapter 2293 dream force and star force

    leonel took a breath and closed his eyes, taking deep and slow breaths. he had spent all of this time completely focused on vital star force and hadn''t spared time for his other force, but now it felt very necessary to do so. the trouble was that he didn''t have a cheat this time like he had with his vital star force.

    leonel was certain that the one who was obscuring his path forward was far weaker than that so-called grandmother of his.

    for one, his person was in this incomplete world with him, while the demoness most definitely was not. in addition, the demoness only allowed him to sense her out of sheer amusement, that was something else leonel was certain about. if she didn''t want him to know of her gaze, he wouldn''t be able to sense a single thing.

    this was to say that while the manipulation of this person that was opposing him now felt far more subtle and he wouldn''t have noticed if not for maxx''s hint, it wasn''t impossibly beyond him, he was just ignorant.

    the most important thing he learned was that... dream force could be used in this way.

    he fell into the trap of always thinking about dream force as an internal thing, and the fact that his ability index was designed the way it was made it even more difficult to break free of this thought. but it could be said that dream force was the most abundant force there was, or at the very least, it was among the top few, sharing the spot along with neutral force and star force.

    where there was life, there was dream force. it underlied the very fabric of reality, and it was probably the very foundation of the second dimension, the same way...

    ''star force is the foundation of the third and higher dimensions...''

    when leonel first learned about star force, he didn''t understand what it was. what did it mean for there to be star force?

    light force was straight forward enough, it was light. so was dark force. so was earth force or any other elemental force. most forces made perfect sense to him, except for this one...

    stars emitted light, so why wasn''t it a kind of light force? or, what about the heat they emitted? why wasn''t it a kind of fire force? why was there a need for a distinct and separate category, and why was it that all of the most powerful forces seemed to have a foundation of star force within them?

    it was only after meeting el''rion that it clicked for leonel, and it was due to a single like the pluto youth had spokeplete worlds have just a single star, a single land, only incomplete worlds are so scattered.

    it all made sense, and it was even more obvious by the fact the representation of existence itself, was none other than a star, the northern star.

    fire force wasn''t the representation of the spark of life like leonel had thought. no, that was a star force. it was something even more fundamental than fire force, even more fundamental than light force as well. it was why there was no "star force" like there was fire force or light force, it was always accompanied by something else. and this wasn''t because it was weak, but rather because it was the strongest, it was the very foundation of all that was.

    after the big bang, there was an endless soup of energy, and it was only when these soup of hot energy organized into stars that the planets that formed afterward could begin to teem with life. more accurately, without star force, there was no life force, and without dream force that came before it, there was no potential for star force to spark life in the first place.

    if dream force was even more fundamental than star force which represented all things, then why was he treating it so separately? why was he treating it like his mind was separate from everything else? his mind was just one kernel in a sea of kernels, and his dream force wasn''t as separate as he thought it to be.

    not being able to expel dream force out of his body didn''t equate to it being separate, rather it just meant that his dream force didn''t need to exhibit such skills to display its understanding of the wider world.

    if he took an extremist view, his dream force was just a borrowed strength from this world. dream force was never separate, not at his level. much like star force, it was always attached to others, always infused into a fabric, a fabric that existed within the second dimension, the fabric of everything, the life state.

    his dream force rippled out and he stepped past the fourth layer and entered the impetus state. his thoughts seemed to enter a completely separate plane and within it, he could sense countless swimming minds, minds that seemed to immediately sense him and then attack.

    leonel felt a shuddering pain and his nose began to bleed. he pulled his mind back as quickly as he could, but still fell to a knee, coughing up a mouthful of blood. looking inwardly, he saw a hairline fracture run through his ethereal glabella that left his gaze burning.

    that plane, he didn''t know what it was, not exactly, but he felt that it was all too similar to the shadow world of shadow sovereigns. he didn''t think himself to be a shadow sovereign, or rather, a dream sovereign. but then again, wasn''t this situation very similar?

    little blackstar wasn''t exactly a shadow sovereign, but rather received it as an ability index. modred, however, was a true shadow sovereign as her ability index and her shadow sovereign abilities were separate.

    leonel was more like little blackstar, having an ability index that could tap into the abilities of a dream sovereign, but he seemed to have suffered for it.

    his burning gaze became surprisingly cold and the temperature in the surroundings plummeted. he took a breath and a large amount of dream force from the surroundings flooded into him. and then, his scarlet star force stars began to rotate with a pulsing vibrancy and as his ethereal glabella was coated with destruction runes.

    he wasn''t a dream sovereign, but he was a destruction sovereign. he wanted them to dare to destroy his soul again, he would crush them.

    without hesitation, leonel entered the dream world again.

    -----

    [author''s note: just two chapters today everyone, and no chapters tomorrow unfortunately]

 Chapter 2294 Shortcut

    chapter 2294 shortcut

    this time when leonel re-entered the odd plane, he came in like a blazing inferno. he could easily remember the energy signatures of all those that had attacked him previously, it might as well have been like looking at a face for him. but he realized almost instantly that those people were no longer around him.

    he realized what the issue was soon. the movement in this odd plane was incredibly fast, but it was also a great deal restrained. the further he traveled the greater burden he felt on his dream force reserves, as though his soul itself was being stretched thin.

    the more soul he had, the further it would be able to go from his current location, but if he moved too recklessly, he could find himself having killed himself before any of these people could get around to him.

    however, what leonel learned immediately after that was that it didn''t seem to matter who was around him at all, or more accurately, he hadn''t landed in the midst of a particularly sinister bunch. it instead seemed that everyone in this plane was a complete jerk. he had only appeared for a few fractions of a second before he took everything in, and yet the new group of individuals around him had attacked without hesitation again.

    it was as though they all had a keen sense for fresh meat and they wanted at leonel immediately. but this time, they paid the price for it.

    the destruction runes lit up, and a raging, violent aura shredded everything in its path.

    "sovereign!"

    it felt like someone had roared this into his ears, and yet it felt instead like it had echoed out from his very skull. it was an odd and disorienting feeling, the kind that almost made him think that this was some sort of soul attack instead of what it actually was.

    but more importantly than that, he was shocked. someone had pinged him as a sovereign immediately, but they didn''t really say what kind. that was interesting, interesting enough that leonel felt that he could make some extrapolations from it. in fact, leonel believed that it might be the case that the only method of using a force outside of dream force in this plane was to be a sovereign.

    ''if that''s the case...''

    leonel tried to think in a more solidified way instead of the quick pictures and images he usually thought in, but the instant he did, his voice came out like a roar, even louder than the various souls around him.

    his reaction was quick, and he stopped immediately, but the damage of doing so was even more devastating than his destruction runes had been. his voice blasted the surrounding souls away, and their dream force dimmed considerably. some of them even became motes of light, floating into him.

    leonel was stunned. this...

    he hadn''t experienced this feeling since the last time he had killed an invalid, so it had been quite a long time.

    the more he integrated into the wider dimensional verse, the less invalids there seemed to be, but this made sense. the powerful families that had managed to survive would have long since gotten rid of the invalids that threatened them. as for variant invalids, well... the last time he had come across one was in the rapax nest, so they should be part of the cult, but since then there had been nothing at all.

    but why was this feeling so similar? he could even feel that his dream force had gotten not a small boost either, it seemed that whoever he had absorbed was quite decent. but what was even more shocking than that.

    ''they''re memories?''

    leonel was rendered speechless once again as his voice roared out again. just what kind of place was this? he could kill souls to increase his strength, and he gained their memories on top of that?

    the shadow world of the shadow sovereigns worked similarly... but it didn''t directly increase their strength. from his understanding, as they defeated other shadow sovereigns, their shadow world became larger and their ability index became stronger as well, but it wasn''t a direct addition to their strength, at least not like this.

    is there a destruction plane like this dream plane? or was this a unique thing? if this was something all sovereigns had, then aina would have found her own long ago, but she hadn''t.

    leonel felt like he was sitting on the edge of something big, but he couldn''t quite understand it. he chose to immediately go through and organize the memories he had gotten. he had just killed what should be seven people, and they were a jumbled mess of collected thoughts and feelings.

    he created a new dream ability on the spot and called it dream filter. he organized their memories into dreamscapes first, and then used dream filter to pour out everything that was useless. he wouldn''t waste his time on the thoughts and emotions of these people, what he needed was information, very specific information about what plane he had just tapped into.

    dream plane.

    leonel got his information with a great deal of swiftness, and the more he assimilated, the higher his brows arched. he had long since left the plane and was still sitting within his starship.

    the dream plane was a world that anyone who had entered the impetus state could access. it was a fold of reality and represented the second dimension, and within it, at least in certain locations, it was practically a free for all.nove(lb(1n

    leonel was only in a corner taken over by incomplete worlds, it was known as the incomplete wilds and often experts of lesser worlds gathered there for quick power ups because it was their only option. if they stepped into the lands of the complete worlds, they would be shredded to pieces. this wasn''t because they were far weaker, it could be said that anyone who had entered the impetus state was a powerhouse.

    the problem was the suppression and the rules, though there was one more thing...

    absorbing the strength of others, looking for quick shortcuts, had crippled many of them.

 Chapter 2295 Obscure

    chapter 2295 obscure

    ''crippled...''

    it was something he probably wouldn''t have thought of if not for these memories, but he was happy that he had. his dream force was the best ability he had; if he lost it, his combat effectiveness would take a huge plummet downward.

    in reality, though, it wasn''t that his dream force would become weaker. it would grow stronger, to a point. but after that point was reached, instead of growing stronger, it would instead grow faster. he would gain access to a larger pool of dream force, but the amount he could use in a single sitting, and the amount that could output in a single moment would remain the same.

    it would be like restricting the funnel of his body, but this funnel would be toward the outside world. he wouldn''t grow any smarter or sharper, and his ability index wouldn''t increase either.

    to make a complicated matter simple, he would be stuck in the lower impetus state for the rest of his life.

    interestingly enough, there wasn''t a known reason for why this was, or more accurately, the memories of those he had absorbed had no real idea. it was hard to tell if this was because they were too ill-informed, or if it was the case that everyone was in the dark.

    that said, there were a few theories, the best of which stood out to leonel because it sounded like something el''rion had warned him about. but interestingly enough, what el''rion had said back then was related to innate nodes and not this matter, but leonel''s dreamscape sparked with lightning and linked them.

    taking on the strength of so many people would weigh down his ability to progress into the future would hinder you far more than it would help you. you might benefit in the short term, but going into the future, you would find yourself weighed down by chains you didn''t even know you were carrying.

    even though he had learned of this, leonel felt fascinated by the plane. the idea of being able to steal the memory of others and assimilate all of their thoughts was more intriguing than he ever thought it could be. just a single soul absorption had been enough to heal the crack on his ethereal labella, and the remaining few had made him feel like he was already on the verge of breaking through again.

    it was an intoxicating feeling, and he realized why those of the incomplete worlds took this path. they couldn''t progress anymore due to the cap of their worlds anyway, so why not search for other methods of strengthening themselves? why should they resign themselves to being weak?

    leonel frowned. it had a strong pull for himself as well, but he likewise didn''t want to cripple his future. he was willing to do it for aina, but quite frankly, when it came to his dream force, he was supremely confident in himself.

    just a small clue from max had allowed him the ability to enter the impetus state. if he had had this much affinity with vital star force, he would have already taken that final step. unfortunately, he didn''t.

    he shook his head and focused. first, he would go through the rest of the memories to see if there was anything useful. once he was done, he could begin investigating just how that hidden expert was confusing him.

    he finished the first quickly, and he learned a great many things.

    one of the seven he had killed came from an incomplete world that leonel believed was better than 70% likely to be among the several dozen under the control of the vast bubble. in addition, this person was actually aware of their state as well.

    this wasn''t surprising to leonel. after the spear domain trial, he realized that the other incomplete worlds that had become part of this simulation had unearthed their plight as well and were preparing for the other shoe to drop.

    that made leonel wonder if the domain rings were dropped into this world for that specific purpose. was it the design of the dream pavilion? or, maybe... it was the intention of the fawkes family?

    he wasn''t sure. either way, this man came from a family that had an ax domain ring, and he had an illusion type ability index. leonel was less interested in the domain rings these days as he felt that forming a weapon sovereignty on your own was much better. the rings were just glorified storage rings that only housed one type of weapon in his eyes, even the spears weren''t as attractive.

    of course, there was one more thing the rings were good for... and that was their lineage factors. if he came across an ax domain ring, he would be certain to try and get it for aina.

    ''the rader family...''

    he took mental note of this.

    this was only a side project for leonel though. when it came to these memories, what he focused most on was the unique insights these men had toward the dream plane and their use of dream force.

    it turned out that these seven only really used the dream plane to hunt. it was too risky to go after veterans, so they waited around for newbies like leonel before taking action. using the more complex functions of the dream plane took more effort and could be more dangerous depending on the situation.

    the dream plane was something that linked all beings across the cosmos whether they were aware of it or not, much like how everyone had a shadow, but not everyone could access the shadow world.

    in incomplete worlds, the dream plane would have various weaknesses. usually, one could only enter the dream plane after forming a life state dream force, or by being a dream sovereign. however, in an incomplete world, you could do it from the impetus state, and it also gave you great control and pull in your world.

    you could use it to spy on the thoughts of others and read their intentions ahead of time, reading their thoughts and memories while they were unaware. or...

    you could obscure their vision and make their thoughts muddled and confused.nove(lb-in

 Chapter 2296 Ignorant

    chapter 2296 ignorant

    leonel''s dream force affinity was far too high. even if one hadn''t gained access to the dream plane yet, having high affinity would allow you to sense its pull even while unawares. due to this, whoever was trying to mess with him had to be extremely subtle and couldn''t just dig through his thoughts and memories as they pleased.

    of course, you could avoid this sort of probing in other ways as well. one way was through the use of mind protecting treasures, something that was far more common in complete worlds. in addition, you could avoid this by just being extremely powerful yourself and having a force within the life state.

    having a life state force made you more sensitive to the matters occurring in the second dimension and you could fight against them. that way, even without protective treasures, you could be immune to the probes of a dream force master.

    of course, only those with crafters of a certain caliber could hope to have such protective treasures. the likes of the void bubble had to buy such treasures from other bubbles, and since they had been cut off from the wider world for so long, they had very few remaining and they were concentrated in the hands of the most elite.

    that said, since leonel wasn''t in the life state yet and was only in the lower impetus state, he was very far away from being able to affect the dream plane of a complete world, even if it was a weak one.

    even so, this sort of understanding blew everything he had come to know out of the water. what was more important than that was that his own mind wasn''t the only thing he had to worry about, there was also the minds of everyone else.

    luckily, leonel hated explaining himself and usually kept his plans to himself aside from a few irrelevant tidbits. this weakened the possibility of others probing those around him for information considerably.

    a thought flashed in the back of leonel''s mind.

    was this the influence of his future self again? had he been aware of the pitfalls and grown to keep his thoughts within the only mind he could protect?

    leonel shook his head. he wasn''t going to think about that person.

    ''you didn''t need to give me that clue, i would have figured it out on my own. but this was indeed faster...''

    due to the demoness, leonel was already familiar with this kind of probing. the moment he sensed the confusion in his mind, the odd, contradictory sort of confusion, the kind he had never experienced before, he would have realized that he was missing something.

    whoever was trying to mess with him had underestimated the level of confidence he had in himself.

    the question now was, how would he counter?

    he understood how to after reading the memories of seven experts. each one of them had their own unique theories on how to manipulate dream force, and in an objective kind of way, each one was the pioneer of their own unique fields.

    being raised in an incomplete world and making it to the impetus state on their own made each one of the geniuses. had they been born in complete worlds, they would have been high class experts without a doubt, and that sort of unique insight was invaluable. if not for the dangers of absorbing too much, he would have wanted to take more advantage of this.

    there were clearly some unique paths in incomplete worlds that complete worlds hadn''t thought of yet. there wasn''t a gap in intelligence between the worlds, but rather a gap in time and resources. there might very well be some unique magic system or style or force manipulation method that existed in an incomplete world that existence couldn''t even fathom.

    leonel sat in silence for a long while, tapping his finger on his arm rest.

    ''i don''t know who you are... but you just made this war a hundred times easier for me. i''ll thank you with a swift loss.''

    leonel''s mind reached out into the second dimension, taking advantage of the weakness of his incomplete world. then, he began to send messages to each one of his people.

    they wanted to find a chink in his armor, right? well, find away.

    after he was done, he stood.

    ...

    countless galaxies away, a middle aged woman with flowing blue hair snapped awake from her meditation.

    anyone of the shield cross stars organization would recognize her as cross elder veiga.

    her blue eyes glowed radiantly for a moment before she calmed down. she closed her eyes once more then double checked, and then triple checked.

    ''this method of dream force manipulation is so crude.

    whoever this is only recently came into contact with the dream plane and their strength is weak. an early impetus state expert. using an array of commands to try and confuse my sight?''

    veiga slowly shook her head. it was meaningless. in this world, there was no existence with dream force manipulation better than her own.

    she had felt maxx warn leonel the moment he mentioned her in passing. this wasn''t because she was as sharp as the demoness, but rather because there were certain minds she always paid attention to, and the overlords of this world were all on that list.

    that list, though, had an odd entry that stood out as the only seventh dimensional existence on it, and that was leonel morales, and it seemed it had done her good.

    that boy used a single offhanded and subtle clue to grasp the secret of the dream plane and now he was actually trying to use it against her. this sort of seedling was exactly the kind the dream pavilion would fawn over. not even 30 years old and yet had entered the impetus state and touched upon the dream plane, there were only two on par with him in the entire younger generation of the vast bubble...n(/0velb1n

    unfortunately, he had made the wrong choice.

    veiga waved a hand and several protective talismans appeared. leonel had learned from the memories of the seven that protective treasures existed. what he hadn''t learned was that there were other methods of protection, and one of them was a direct shroud by another expert who could enter the dream plane.

    toying with an ignorant boy was child''s play.

 Chapter 2297 Extremely So

    chapter 2297 extremely so

    the human domain''s forces began to move around like pieces on a chess board. a complex and intertwined network, layered in the push and pull of politics, relationships, and benefits bent and twisted, all of them converging toward the spirituals religion.

    leonel sat silently in the cockpit of one of his many starships, his gaze somewhat lazy and his focus trained on the endless sea of stars before him. his fleet continued to move with great speed, reading and reacting to his organs as they slithered by one outpost after another. he didn''t seem to feel the sense of looming danger that he should have, his expression as cool as a frigid lake.

    soon, he had made it into the airspace of the spirituals religion and the location could only be said to be bright and beautiful. the planets ahead all had gorgeous planetary rings that looked like angelic halos as though the asteroids had been dusted with gold eons ago when they had taken shape. however, there was a keen sense of danger hidden within that beauty, countless force arts hidden within.

    the spirituals religion was ready, and their force arts were the strongest that leonel had ever seen within the human domain, even the strongholds of the morales didn''t have such grand force arts or protective arrays.

    "the morales might be crafters, but that didn''t translate to all skills. there was quite some difference between crafting treasure, concocting force pills, and drawing large-scale protective force arts. the morales shared the title of best for the first with the omann family, the omann family was practically a lone wolf when it came to the second as far as he was aware, and as for the very last, he hadn''t known of anyone who was truly a master of this craft... until now."

    leonel didn''t place the large-scale force arts of the starships in the same category, honestly. although many of them were truly large, they relied on crafting as a foundation, and it was the strength of the treasure, not the force art itself, that gave it its strength. that was different from a force art that could be used to protect a planet, or even a chain of planets like this one. unless, of course, one wanted to replace their planet with a forged treasure.

    there were many reasons this wasn''t done, though, the leading of which being the fact that starships required too much power to use even on occasion, let alone as a permanent living arrangement. it was much smarter to rely on the resources of the wider world to provide you with what you needed.

    and it was precisely because of that the morales didn''t have such high attainments in this sort of art.

    crafting treasures required taking control of the elements and bending them to your will. this was even more so for the life grade where you were practically giving birth to an item with its own sense of existence, at least in a more philosophical and tangential way.

    "however, these large-scale force arts required working with the elements, not bending their will but rather understanding them and then working together to mold them along a particular path."

    this was the feeling that ryu got when he saw natural force arts, and it was why just meditating upon them allowed one to feel and experience auspicious air. this was the beauty of listening to the insights of nature...

    and who could be better at that than the spirituals?

    "interesting..." leonel thought to himself.

    one of the seven minds that he had absorbed had some insights into this matter. he might have thought of it himself after seeing this scene, but knowing it ahead of time made him feel enlightened as though he had truly come to understand it himself.

    there was no ability that could make one better at understanding the insights of nature than being able to enter the dream plane.

    his real sight could see the majesty of the formations before him, he could feel their power. he still had the partial and incomplete bow domain lineage factor and even from so far away, he could lay eyes on it himself as though he was right in its midst.

    "his dream sight-or what he had chosen to call it-could see the complex swirls of runes that swam among them. usually these runes were in a jumbled mess, exposing the more erratic nature of the world and existence, but under the care and attention of the spirituals, they had to line up perfect, fitting into one another like the pieces of a puzzle or countless tiny dots spaced and shaded so perfectly that when one zoomed out..."

    "only a masterpiece remained."

    it was truly gorgeous in a way that leonel had never seen before, and the feeling of being able to see the world in this way made him smile involuntarily, his cool expression giving way to a gentleness. he wished he had been able to see the world like this long ago.n--ovelb1n

    "go back from whence you came!"

    "the voice was gentle, but firm, and it carried a power that made leonel''s heart skip a beat. he couldn''t help but wonder just how many hidden powerhouses of this level there were in the human domain. first there was that man in the pyius family, then there was maxx of the suiard family, and now there was this older woman who still managed to exhibit the air of a supreme beauty. even though she was getting on in years, leonel wouldn''t be surprised if there were several young men who would be willing to fall at her skirt even to this day."

    her hair was a dazzling arrow of pink and lavender, her eyes matching the hues. her skin carried slight wrinkles here and there, but they were often interrupted by patches of beautiful, smooth flesh that was no less elastic than a 20-year-old''s. her figure was hidden beneath a modest robe, but her exposed hands carried not the slightest hint of age and it made one feel that whatever was underneath was just as well maintained.

    "but more important than all of that, she was powerful. extremely so."

 Chapter 2298 Devastating

    chapter 2298 devastating

    leonel didn''t respond. or rather, he didn''t respond with his words.

    three laser beams shot out at once, their speed so great that the echo of the older woman''s voice hadn''t even faded before they appeared around her, pincering her in from all directions.

    the half spiritual overlord was taken off guard. she had been ready for the strikes, and she had been perfectly ready to dodge using a method not too dissimilar from maxx''s efforts earlier. but seeing them coming, and barely registering their speed at that, she realized that all of her efforts at dodging would be in vain. all of the angles she could use were cut off. or more accurately, the ones that she could use with great enough speed were.

    her gaze turned serious, and a pendant on her chest danced as though a rush of wind had just passed by. the rising winds of force echoed across the chain of ringed planets as the force art lit up, an overwhelming strength descending and forming a shield around the woman.

    bang! bang! bang!

    the shield of force shuddered for only a brief moment. it showed no hints of cracking and it was sturdy to the point that even if leonel concentrated the beams any more than he already had, it wouldn''t make much of a difference at all.

    the spirituals religion had managed to gather strength beyond that of the tier 2 modified starships, and even the strongest tier 1 starships in their home. in the whole of the human domain, they might truly have the most impenetrable walls.

    the half spiritual overlord took a step forward, and her hands caused the arrays around her to light up. the runes that were once invisible to the naked eye, only displayed before leonel when he used the vision of the dream plane, solidified and became corporeal.

    she looked gorgeous as she stepped forward, the laws of the world rotating around her like a second flowing dress.

    this time, she struck out with a palm, and the energies of the world seemed to resonate, forming a half dozen palms that descended from the skies above.

    boom! boom! boom!

    leonel could only watch as his starships were crushed to pieces, killing the several million on board.

    he had modified the starships personally. their defenses and their attack strength was only marginally weaker than a full-fledged tier 1 starship. but they had been crushed like tissue paper, leaving no chance for those on board.

    his expression became cold. he managed to follow the pathways of the descending palms and moved his starship out of the way, but he was only fast enough to calculate one trajectory and dodging path. while it was the case that entering the dream plane was a great boon to his senses, it also occupied much more of his minds and the effort in making use of his advantage in thinking speed was also strained.

    he needed to form a better balance, one between the quantity of thought and another for quality. at the same time, he also came to understand that the strongest beings of existence probably didn''t just endlessly increase their number of split minds. they would gain access to the dream plane as well, and they would likely begin to tend toward quality as well.

    he still remembered that lesson wise star order had taught him when they first met. wise star order only had one mind but leonel already had thousands back then. he thought that he could hide his thoughts from wise star order by jumbling up his minds and hiding his intentions in only one, but wise star order had blown him out of the water.

    his one mind back then was worth far more than thousands of leonel''s because the quality of his one was impossibly far beyond leonel''s at the time. he couldn''t help but wonder if wise star order had touched upon the dream plane as well, but now wasn''t the time to think about such things. this was the greatest loss he had suffered since his campaign had begun, and he couldn''t take it lying down.

    he gave over 90% of his minds over to the dream plane, reading and analyzing everything happening in his surroundings. there was no longer a need to deploy his dream world because it was completely and wholly inferior to what access to the dream plane gave him.

    he needed to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of the force art ahead, target the latter, and avoid the former. then, he needed to find an opportunity to shatter it.

    the segmented cube was quickly deployed, and its various jigsaw puzzles fanned out and enveloped the starship. then, the starship began to rapidly shrink, from a few kilometers in diameter to no more than a few meters.

    this was a trump card he hadn''t used just yet. the segmented cube wasn''t a fortress, and it couldn''t be used to attack either. but that didn''t mean that he couldn''t use anastasia to integrate into his other creations, fusing the benefits of both into one.nove/lb-in

    one of anastasia''s fundamental abilities, and one that he often neglected because of how much of an open secret it was, was the ability to take large items and put them into a very small space...

    so why not use that for his starship?

    suddenly, the speed of the starship blazed, and it became even faster. leonel took manual control and whizzed by the attacks of the overlord, inching closer until he suddenly vanished, appearing to her back.

    a second one of anastasia''s fundamental abilities was control over time. whether it was the suspended reality of the snow globes, the dilated inner world of the incubators, or even her ability to peer through the stream of time and even pluck out lives to resurrect, all of them relied on time force and spatial force.

    together, they were devastating.

    leonel shot through a weak point of the force art like a speeding light beam of his own. it was so fast that the overlord couldn''t even react, the long-standing force art of the spiritual religion crumbling right before their eyes.

 Chapter 2299 Snapped

    chapter 2299 snapped

    the surroundings seemed to explode with gold dust particles. as though a child had gone too crazy with their arts and crafts project, the depths of space was dyed with a sparkling tapestry. it was a gorgeous sight, unless you were a half spiritual, in which case it was probably the most devastating conclusion.

    the fate of other races in the human domain wasn''t always horrible, but it wasn''t necessarily great either. and despite the words of locke of the suiard family, those spirituals that impregnated humans didn''t usually care for their families very much.

    though the term half spiritual was used, the reality was that most of those that were left behind in the human domain weren''t even a quarter spiritual. however, they managed to hold onto most of the power and were quite talented anyway, displaying the kind of strength spiritual bloodlines had, though, leonel had another guess for this.

    in his opinion, there was probably some strong staying power in terms of the gene of the spirituals that allowed the soul to be born separate from the body. as a result, even when the lineage had long diverged from the original spiritual that had birthed it, the spirituals, or rather half spirituals, born later still gained almost the same benefits as the original half spiritual in their line.

    this, however, wasn''t what was important now.

    to form a power, especially one this strong, while having strong ties to another race was a very daunting task. to stand where they stood today, the half spirituals of the human domain had faced all sorts of adversity and their current strength didn''t paint an accurate picture of where they had come from.

    this was the reality of most other races that were a minority in the domain they lived in, the spirituals religion just happened to be a success story in what was likely a sea of failures.

    this was all to say that the force art that protected these lands was more important to the spirituals than just the strength it provided. it was security, it was autonomy, it represented to them the hope to make their own choices and lead their own lives.

    and now it was gone.

    ...

    off on a distant ship, yuri stood in silence. she too was a half spiritual, and she didn''t know much about her family at all. for all she knew, someone here was her parent, not that it mattered much. the only family she cared for now was aina and her step father. well... maybe she should include that big, lumbering brute too.

    it was funny, though. she hadn''t seen aina in what felt like years, still not knowing what had happened to her sister. her step father was just as absent. and now that big brute was off fighting with that annoying man up ahead.

    yuri shook her head, not quite understanding why she was feeling like this right now. it was more embarrassing than anything else. the fate of the human domain was on the line, and this was what she was thinking about?

    "it''s cruel, isn''t it, what he''s doing to your people?"n/)0velbin

    yuri subconsciously nodded. leonel really was too cruel. he didn''t used to be like this. in the past, he was so compassionate, too compassionate. she had known that he carried a hidden sharpness within him, and had been hesitant about her sister falling for him as a result, but she had never thought that it would be so dark... so sinister...

    as a half spiritual, she was quite sensitive to such things. as good as leonel was at reading people, she was quite good as well, and her soul force affinity was exceptionally high.

    looking toward leonel''s back in the far-off distance, he just felt like a shroud of evil, wrapped in the cloak of a black dragon of sorts and carrying all of the creature''s worse vices.

    "wrath. greed. pride."

    he was the worst kind of leader. his charisma worked well on those he had been manipulating for a very long time, and it even worked well on those who were hyper intelligent but lacked the sharpness of eq. but to a person who could read him like she could, he was just a blob of insecurity, of aimless fury... of malice.

    she was quite powerful by now, no less talented than either james or that blade girl who turned out to be a spark, or she guessed both of them were sparks now. but leonel never used her.

    "he was quite vengeful. only because she had treated him a little coolly almost a decade ago now, he never allowed her into the spotlight, never allowed her to help protect the only family she had left, never allowed her to display her strength."

    the big brute told her that leonel only made use of people he trusted, and that being used by him was actually a sign of respect and nothing less, but that just made her lip upturn into a sneer.

    raj had been manipulated by that man for too long. since when was being used a sign of respect? since when was it a sign of trust?

    but she had grown tired of the argument. she realized that she truly did love raj. she didn''t like seeing the pain in his eyes every time she said something cruel about leonel. plus... if not for leonel, that big brute would be dead, not just once, but twice over.

    yuri seemed to calm down from the odd voice in her subconscious pokes and prods. she did carry some animosity toward leonel, but not enough to truly hate him. at worst, they were just on opposing sides and could learn to live with one another.

    plus, he had begun to use her now, right? maybe this was a turn for the better.

    she looked down at the controls before her. it should be about her turn to act now, right?

    "three..." she counted, "... two."

    ''how could she not take part in such an important mission? where do you think she could be?''

    something within yuri snapped.

    "aina is dead."

 Chapter 2300 In the Eye

    chapter 2300 in the eye

    a sharp pang cut into yuri''s heart. somehow, she inwardly knew that these words were the truth. her sister had died, and that bastard couldn''t even take the time to look her in the eye and tell her that he had failed to protect her.n/)0velbin

    her eyes brimmed with tears, her chest felt like it was being ripped apart, and her blood felt like molten metal in her veins, pulsing about and making her organs feel as though they were being seared from the inside out. and yet, that feeling was only a reprieve from the heart-hollowing pain.

    what was he doing? couldn''t he resurrect everyone else easily? why hadn''t he resurrected aina? was he truly that cruel?

    yuri grit her teeth so hard she felt as though her jaws alone might shatter this rattling mortal of hers.

    the cruelty this man was capable of was beyond her expectations. or was it? this was exactly what she should expect from him. she could still remember those callous eyes. she had known how leonel would respond to aina''s outpouring before anyone else had; she could feel the darkness within him.

    that day, on planet luxnix, when the selection was taking place and leonel was slotted to battle aina, she had never expected that aina would do such a thing, or else she would have done everything in her power to stop her.

    in the past, she had never made an effort to stop leonel''s attempts at wooing aina because she felt that they were people from two different worlds. one was a quarterback, and the other was a five star health profession. one had a father born to a world that the other couldn''t imagine, and the other was a normal human boy who couldn''t even live on the surface. one was a talent destined to bring the brazinger family to their knees, and the other couldn''t even fathom what a family like the brazinger family was capable of.

    in her views, he might even become an invalid the moment the metamorphosis descended, and it wouldn''t be something to even worry about. but even when he didn''t become an invalid, his reaction at seeing aina kill was all she needed to see.

    aina was too focused on revenge for her mother, and there wasn''t time to care for all of these other things, especially not the coddling of the feelings of a grown man.

    however, as time passed, she slipped further and further away, and the feelings of a high school crush she thought would fade with time instead became stronger.

    it all culminated in that day when aina told that man the truth, poured out her heart to him, described every secret little moment that she had kept to herself until that moment, secrets that she hadn''t even told her own sister...

    and how had that man responded?

    so what.

    those were his exact words.

    she could see it coming. she wanted to scream out for aina to stop, to save those feelings for someone who was worthy, and yet it was already too late.

    she had to stand there and watch as her sister''s heart crumbled to ashes. and then, she watched as that night, she gathered herself up, cleaned away her tears, and put on a dress she didn''t even like to wear, just to go and support the man who had ripped her heart out the very next day.

    yuri didn''t have words for how furious that made her, didn''t have the capacity to express exactly how filled with rage and fury she was.

    she wanted him to die, she wanted his body to be ripped limb from limb, for him to withstand unimaginable torment and spend the rest of his wretched life kneeling before the grave of her sister.

    the thoughts steamrolled as she imagined what could have happened to aina. why would she not be alive if the man had the capability? what cruelty had she experienced? could he have lashed out at her in rage due to that father of his? could they have gotten into another argument and he once again cut her off, not worrying for her life and death? what kind of torture had she experienced at his hands.

    the wild thoughts just kept churning and churning until her entire body seemed to emit a dense, black fog, the forces in her vicinity turning over with an almost solid darkness.

    ...

    leonel breathed heavily. in order to deal with an existence on the level of this overlord, he had to lean on the dream plane to be able to read and react to her movements, but doing so while keeping a portion of himself lucid drained even his vast stores of dream force quickly.

    the moment he had shattered the large-scale force art, he had felt a wave of fatigue collide into him like a truck. but he had to withstand the assault of the spirituals right afterward.

    the segmented cube in this state was an excellent force art destroyer, but its defenses still weren''t any better. having thrown himself into the thick of battle, and within the time to reverse knowing that the overlord was already upon him, he had no choice but to stand out and take action himself, pulling on the strength of raj and the others.

    now, he had to fight while protecting the segmented cube to his back. although it would be easier to turn it back into a treasure he could wear as a finger sleeve like he usually did, if he did that he would be cut off from the strength of his squadron of ten, and by then, he would find himself dying in a single strike to this enraged overlord.

    but leonel wasn''t a fool, he had prepared for this exact thing.

    with the overlord occupied dealing with him, the rest of the spirituals, or rather half spirituals, were vulnerable.

    he didn''t like relying on yuri, but she was the only one under his command with the sensory capacity to do this. in addition, as a half spiritual he had yet to be exposed to be under his command, when she acted, the spirituals religion wouldn''t even see him coming.

    leonel''s ear twitched and he sneered inwardly. here it came.

    a beam shot over from the distance, and in the next instant, the confident leonel froze.

    he looked down at his chest, a blood hole the size of a bowl having formed.

 Chapter 2301 Heartless Monster

    chapter 2301 heartless monster

    a rush of silence shot through the surroundings, even the half spiritual overlord was stunned. that blast hadn''t come from one of her people, their defenses were extremely powerful, but their offenses could only be directed under the hands of a master. this was one of the weaknesses of such large-scale natural formations.

    however, she was the only one who could control enough of the formation to threaten leonel''s life, and only one person could use the formation at a time on top of that. and since she most definitely hadn''t taken action, then...n--o-)v()e.(l()b((i/-n

    she already knew what the answer was. someone on leonel''s side had actually betrayed him. despite the situation, she was too stunned to speak, and happiness wasn''t her immediate emotion.

    there was something sad about seeing a genius like this fall, even during this battle she had mostly wanted to capture leonel and deal with him, she had some inkling about the kind of trouble that was coming over the horizon and people like leonel were the kind they needed, it was just that his edge was far too sharp.

    but now...

    she looked at the hole that had gone through leonel''s chest and watched as his life began to fade. even after several moments, she didn''t know what to do, and because she hadn''t done anything, the other half spirituals didn''t do anything either.

    of course, they didn''t feel the same way as their overlord did, they only didn''t move out of respect for her. if it was up to them, maybe they would have acted to cut leonel''s corpse into bloody ribbons just to make sure that he really was dead.

    despite the fact leonel was now gone, he had left them vulnerable, his death didn''t even feel worth it. just how much effort had they put into making it to this point? and now the formation their ancestors had put their blood, sweat, and tears into was no more. would they even have the same standing in the human domain any longer? what about when the other races recovered and began their attack once more?

    the more they thought about it, the more enraged they were at the dead leonel. they felt that his death had been too easy. plus, a man who would be betrayed by his own people had a character that spoke for itself. if he could be cut down at such a time, how could he have been a good, noble leader?

    whether it was he or his father, neither were good people.

    within the morales army, the shock was palpable. they had gotten used to leonel being infallible, they had gotten used to being infallible themselves as well. even after so many died under the attacks of the overlord, they felt nothing. after all, leonel would just resurrect them later and everything would be fine, just like before.

    but now that leonel was dead... didn''t that mean that all their comrades were dead as well? and what about the future of the morales? this was a patriarch that had accomplished so much in a short time, was his life really going to be cut short like this?

    "was that you?"

    in a corner, hushed voices spoke.

    "no, i didn''t take action. that kid practically has a thousand eyes, it feels like nothing escapes his vision, i wouldn''t try to use such a simple ploy to deal with him. but maybe i just overestimated him."

    "then who?"

    the two looked toward a region. the beams were too fast, and they were all focused on the battle. only the starships in the immediate vicinity would know exactly which starship had fired, and it wouldn''t be long before they reacted.

    as expected, after a brief pause, the starships in the vicinity all backed away and aimed their cannons toward the same exact location. there was no doubt who had taken action now.

    "it''s her? according to our intelligence, isn''t she the sister of the first nova''s woman? how could she be the one to betray him?"

    they had all made the same assumption, it only made sense that leonel had given such an important task to this person. he was aware that there were hidden means within the morales family that hadn''t exposed themselves to him just yet, so he would only trust those closest to him to act as he wanted them to.

    but now...

    yuri gripped the controls, her fury still boiling. in fact, she was furious that she could only kill leonel like this. he deserved much worse, far worse.

    however, just as she was thinking this, the skies crackled and boomed, countless shimmering blue shields the size of planets appearing around the two armies.

    shield cross stars had appeared, and even several of their cross elders had as well. it was clear what their goal was.

    in order to jump so far through space and appear so immediately, it would have cost a significant amount of energy remaining in the fusion cores of their starships, upwards of at least 10%, which was worth years of function.

    there was only one reason they would make such a big move: they wanted to deal a devastating blow to the morales.

    the half spiritual overlord frowned. she didn''t believe for a single moment that they would dare to act so boldly in her territory if their formation hadn''t crumbled. in fact, such a large jump through space wouldn''t have even worked without it.

    she sent a gaze toward leonel''s corpse. even dead, this boy was causing her so many problems.

    the spirituals religion was its own thorn in the eyes of the cult and shield cross stars. it was a link between the spirituals and the human race that many weren''t aware of... but these powers definitely would be.

    it seemed that the calamity of her spirituals religion hadn''t come to an end just yet.

    overlord veiga stood at the helm of a tier 1 starship. she was ready for any contingency plans the morales might have, she didn''t believe that they would send a junior to handle all of their problems like this, the ancestors were probably just a thought away, and truthfully, she hoped they would appear.

    that would help her to deal with all of these problems in a single sweep.

    the morales, as presently constructed, didn''t need to exist. their constellation, however... that was far more interesting.

    as for the spiritual religion, she knew of their connection to the suiard family, and she knew that there was another hand making moves in the shadows. it was best if they were crippled as well.

    she had to thank leonel for making things so easy on her.

    ''you''re welcome.''

    a voice suddenly echoed in her mind that made her freeze.

    leonel''s corpse suddenly gripped its fist and the sparkling streams of golden dust stopped dispersing into the depths of space and formed a barrier that solidified around the entire battlefield...

    trapping shield cross stars within.

    overlord veiga immediately tried to activate the mass teleportation of the starships, reacting more quickly than even more ancestors should be capable of, but it was useless. once again, the spatial lock on the region had returned and they were trapped.

    the "dead" leonel slowly rose, the hole in his chest seemingly not impacting him in the slightest.

    he was already a heartless monster. he might as well look the part.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: bitch didn''t even hesitate to betray him, lmfao. and she wonders why he doesn''t trust her.

 Chapter 2302 Leonels Web

    chapter 2302 leonel''s web

    his plot was quite simple, truth be told. well, at least it was simple to leonel. the actual thought required not only a deep understanding of his own people, but also how the enemy might be reading and reacting to his actions, the latter of which probably seemed far more difficult, when in reality both took quite a bit. after all, he had to understand his own people intimately, and often, the closer you were to a person, the easier it was to shroud their true intentions or what their weaknesses were in your mind.

    leonel had known from the beginning that his entering the dream plane couldn''t be hidden, and this wasn''t quite his fault.n-.0velbin

    for one, in a world where so few had the ability, any new addition would be immediately sensed. secondly, there was the fact that just by giving him a warning, maxx was exposing leonel to the elements.

    as such, leonel had lost the right to work from the shadows from the very beginning, and he had to approach this in a different way. since everyone thought him to be an arrogant young boy who thought too much of himself, why not play the part?

    after just a moment, he made the choice to not only not make a foolish attempt to hide himself from the world, but he also pushed it to the max, leaking out his aura any and everywhere and arrogantly making his presence known.

    to veiga, he probably seemed like a brash idiot whose dream force control was limited and crude. of course, his dream force control truly was like that, at least compared to experts like veiga. he had great talent in dream force, but he didn''t have the systematic training that those of the dream pavilion had, and he was almost entirely self-taught considering just how rare dream force affinities were in this world.

    that only made his ploy all the easier, but this was only the first part.

    none of this was enough to lure veiga in, or more accurately, none of it was enough for him to lure her into a situation where he had the de facto upper hand, that was where the latter stages of his plan began.

    the first leg came from the information he had gathered. he might have released amery, but that didn''t mean that he hadn''t gotten anything out of him, and the information he did have wasn''t restricted to the suiard family either. as the fiance to the heiress of the half spirituals, how could amery not have some information about his in-laws?

    of course, this information was scarce, but it was enough for leonel to be aware of the large scale formation that protected the spirituals and also be aware of some of its baser functions... like the ability to lock down space.

    and then it came down to how he would use that information.

    he had learned from the seven memory wells that he had absorbed just how useful the dream plane could be. it wasn''t just about gathering up clues and knowledge while others were unsuspecting, but it could also be used to subtly suggest people.

    of course, this wasn''t an ability that could be used casually unless one had the ability index to match it, and even then it was hard to change a powerful person''s mind. that meant you had to prey on their basal instincts, pulling at strings that already existed and make them looser, more susceptible to manipulation.

    this was what leonel was certain the demoness had done with the relationship between his father and uncle. maybe she found it to be amusing, sealing away the talent of one and making the other the crown jewel of the human domain. maybe she wasn''t to see how interesting it would be if they fought it out, and maybe the reason she had stopped leonel from using his own bloodline to save aina was because she was unhappy with him ruining her experiment.

    whatever it was, that sliver of understanding allowed leonel to understand just how the dream plane could be used. it wasn''t as straightforward as hiding what his plans were, he had to also be mindful of the mental state of his people and which of them could be used for what.

    and that was when he thought of the perfect plan. yuri couldn''t have been more perfect for this job even if she tried. in fact, even if he engineered a person to fulfill just this one role, he would just end up with a clone of her.

    the specialty of the spirituals array was that it was meant to protect the freedom of half spirituals. due to this, it couldn''t be used against anyone with spiritual bloodline within them, and the formation ignored all those with that lineage.

    that said, leonel couldn''t just strap a rocket to yuri''s back and send her in. what good would that do? she was far too weak in comparison to overlords. let alone an overlord, she wasn''t even a match against the weakest of ancestors.

    however, if she was the one to act, the formation wouldn''t retaliate, and thus she was perfect as a tipping point, a final push to get them over the hump.

    so he gave her a simple task. once he collapsed the outer ring of the formation, she would take action. while shrouded in the power of the formation, the half spiritual overlord wouldn''t even sense yuri before she acted. with a single strike, the overlord would fall without even realizing what happened, and then the rest would be easy.

    it was the perfect plan, and it took advantage of the greatest weakness of the spirituals.

    from veiga''s perspective, it was also perfect. in fact, she would find it amusing how leonel would try to mask his attentions by giving everyone in his army different decoy orders. with her skill, she could easily tell what was true and what was false...

    but that would be her downfall.

    she targeted yuri immediately, peeling away the layers of protection on her mind. it was all too easy, especially since she knew that aina was nowhere in this world, where else could aina be if not dead?

    and in the end she won... or so she thought she did.

    all the while, she had been intertwining herself further into leonel''s web.

 Chapter 2303 End Result?

    chapter 2303 end result?

    leonel didn''t seem to be in a hurry to make a move. he had the whole world in the palm of his hands, they moved to his rhythm, not the other way around. he gave the hole in his chest another glance before his force rumbled, and instant recovery activated.

    being far stronger than it had been in the past now that he had evolved it to an eighth dimensional lineage factor, even a beam that could kill ancestors instantly wasn''t immune from his abilities. quite quickly, the hole in his chest was fixed, and he finally gave veiga a glance.

    the cross elder still didn''t look like much had changed on the surface, but what good were her facial expressions to leonel any longer? he could see her very soul in the dream plane, and he knew exactly how shaken she was.

    "i don''t believe i''ve had the pleasure," leonel said with a smile. "though, i can''t say that it is one even now. i''ve lost count of the number of times shield cross stars has tried to kill me."

    the half spiritual overlord frowned. she could feel that the formation had returned, but it was most definitely not in her control any longer. she suddenly felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

    on one side, there was the enemy that had come to take her down, and on the other side... well, there was an enemy that had come to take her down. now, one of them was trapped within the formation she had thought was largely shattered, and she was trapped with them.

    leonel gave her a knowing glance, but ultimately didn''t say anything. this formation in his hands, especially now that his mind had connected to the dream plane was more than enough to deal with all situations. of course, he didn''t plan on destroying the half spirituals, and they were just another pawn in his game. but they didn''t need to know that just yet.

    he had learned quite a lot in his short life, not the least of which was that people often didn''t appreciate the things that were given to them on a silver platter. the spirituals had to understand that he was doing them a favor.

    the other races might be afraid of what the vast bubble had in store for them, but that hadn''t stopped them from teaming up to attack his father, now had it? it was clear and obvious to him that many of them were trying to play both sides, trying to thread a needle that would allow them to live beyond their usefulness to the humans that ruled them from the complete world above.

    he didn''t need fence sitters. he needed people that would follow his orders properly. if he had to adjust for every possible betrayal like he did today, even he couldn''t guarantee whether he would succeed or not.

    if he suddenly gained a bunch of people who had second thoughts about everything he did, just how much pressure would he be under to keep them all in line? he would be much better off just directly killing all of the people so that they wouldn''t be a problem for him in the future.

    leonel turned his attention back to veiga, but it seemed that the latter didn''t want to speak.

    "leonel!"the shriek was filled with rage, but leonel only sent a glance toward it. "shut up."

    a violent pressure descended toward yuri, and even the outer hull of her starship almost shattered to pieces as she shuddered. she almost felt as though her soul was about to be ripped out of her body and she seemed to snap out of her daze, but leonel had already ignored her.

    he had been doing a lot of that recently. he didn''t care to deal with yuri, and she had always felt like a great annoyance to him.

    of course, he understood her perspective and where her thoughts came from... he just didn''t care. his own emotions were already wild and unfettered; he didn''t have the time to help out someone else deal with theirs.

    the instant he looked back toward veiga, he raised a hand, and the starships all aimed toward her, each one gaining a clone they hadn''t had before.

    veiga immediately began to shout out orders, causing a linked shield to form, but with a single blast, leonel perfectly targeted all of their weaknesses, blasting them to smithereens. and then, he moved.nove.lb(1n

    golden dust particles danced around leonel as his arm reached out, a black rod appearing.

    the black spear trembled, and a billowing black fog shot out from it. its blade suddenly spanned dozens of kilometers, all wrapped in a nebula of golden dust. he used so much of the formation''s power and so seamlessly at that that the half spiritual overlord felt her eyes bulging out of her sockets.

    leonel was actually controlling each individual strand of golden dust as though it was its own weapon. just what level of mind did it take to do that?

    the devastation was far beyond what the half spirituals could have imagined. the ships of shield cross stars, each dwarfing a planet in size, were all suddenly split in two. as though a black hole vanished into a scythe''s blade, rotating with golden stars, had suddenly decided to manifest between the tops and bottoms of their warships.

    it was a strike as beautiful as it was destructive, and final as it was pure.

    it was hard to imagine just how many had died from that strike. not a single one was an ancestor, but even so, the blow was unimaginable; it might even be said that the very foundation of shield cross stars had been shaken.

    veiga looked upon this scene with the very same indifference, but her mind was in turmoil.

    she had taken him seriously. she had moved with full force. she had even used underhanded tactics against a child.

    just how had this been the end result, exactly?

 Chapter 2304 Follow My Words

    chapter 2304 follow my words

    it was almost laughable. in fact, if she had been in the mood to do so, laughing was pretty much all she could have done. she had bided her time, waiting in the shadows, and only struck when she felt that she had all the information she needed at her fingertips. but not only had she failed the moment she took a step out, she had done so in such a resounding fashion.

    she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

    of the cross elders of shield cross star, over half of them were here. there were only eight remaining at base. if things continued this way, over 20 of their ancestors would fall here, and their ability to continue to control the situation would crumble. she couldn''t allow this to happen, but she also most certainly couldn''t allow herself to fall here. selfish or not, her life was by far the most important.

    if there was no one present in the human domain that could counter leonel''s access to the dream plane, then it would all be-n(-ovж┼lbin

    ''follow my words.''

    the voice was light and sweet, and veiga recognized them immediately. of the high profile targets, there was velasco, and then there was this woman. she was a great talent, and if nurtured she could become a supreme asset to their cause. in addition, while she was arrogant, she had never painted outside the lines. she could be controlled and she could be guided. so while veiga kept one eye on her, she didn''t make any moves to deal with her like she did the others.

    this woman was, of course, cynthia omann, the scorned queen beauty.

    but what shocked veiga was that she hadn''t sensed when cynthia entered the dream plane at all. had she been wrong all along to not pay attention to this girl? no, that wasn''t in her personality; she had most definitely done her due diligence, it just hadn''t mattered in the slightest.

    velasco had never bothered to hide his presence because of his arrogance, so she had known he was from the very beginning. in fact, she didn''t dare to even probe him as velasco was simply on another level compared to her. unlike she who could only enter the dream plane in an incomplete world, velasco was just like a king who could enter the dream plane even in a complete one!

    leonel had been easy enough to spot because maxx had somewhat exposed him, and the actions he took afterward were purposely bold and arrogant.

    but this woman...

    veiga''s heart trembled. this incomplete world was always marked as an anomaly. they knew that there was a reason the last remnant of the fawkes family had chosen this one of the dozens of others. and time and time again, they were proven correct as one monster after another simply appeared.

    should she even listen to this woman? clearly she was just as dangerous as the family before her, but she was also cautious enough to hide her intentions and bide her time for the perfect opportunity. how could she listen to her.

    ''what choice do you have?''

    veiga shuddered again. indeed... what choice did she have?

    her heart trembled and her hands shook. were these her own thoughts? or was cynthia manipulating her? when had she become so uncertain of herself?

    as though she couldn''t hear these thoughts at all, cynthia spoke easily and plainly.

    ''there is no way out of this situation except for sacrifice-''

    was that even true? veiga felt her head spinning. did cynthia have a way to get them out of here unscathed but preferred that her enemies not be too powerful? how could she even trust these words?

    ''-the formation of the half spirituals is powerful, but not to the point of being untameable. the issue is the son of velasco has already claimed the initiative and taking it back from him is impossible. so, the only remaining choice is for you to flee. but you are trapped and space is locked. whether its reinforcements, or your own escape, neither will work. even if you attempt to run out of the encirclement under your own power, the moment you leave the strongest core of your own formation, he will cut you down. he has his eyes on you and in his eyes, it''s people like you who are the reason for his father''s death, it is impossible that he would ever let you go, even if he has to let everyone else go.''

    veiga fought hard to control her exterior emotions. by now, she was certain that cynthia was manipulating her. she was a person who had always been in control of her exterior, at the very least. but now her entire mind was focused on it. what else could this be if not cynthia''s efforts?

    but it was the best kind of scheme... an open one... one your enemy knew was there, and yet had to fall into anyway... this was the method of the smartest individuals in the universe.

    ''in that case, if you want to live, you''ll have to follow my instructions and sacrifice your people at timely intervals. do as i say... if you want to live, of course.''

    ...

    leonel looked off into the distance. he had sensed another mind approaching this region the moment it happened, and though they were subtle, they couldn''t hide from him.

    this meant one very important thing, though: this person was close.

    he knew just how difficult it was to travel across the dream plane while your body stayed in place. the further you moved, the further stretched your dream force became and it was soon akin to a rubber band on its final legs. if you pushed too far, then not only would the rubber band snap, but even if you pulled back just before it did, it would lose its elasticity.

    he knew all of this, he had learned it not just once himself, but seven times over through the memories he had sensed.

    so... why couldn''t he find where this person was even though his senses were expanded across the solar system with the help of the formation of the half spirituals?

 Chapter 2305 Overlooked Question

    chapter 2305 overlooked question

    leonel''s gaze became sharp, and he didn''t move immediately.

    the next sequence of events happened so quickly it felt impossible to stop, but from start to finish, leonel didn''t even move. it was like he was resigned to it already.

    he stood and watched as veiga seemed to manipulate her own hoard of ancestors, riling them up into a frenzy and leading them into a charge she never had any expectations of finishing off.

    he didn''t move even when they seemed to show signs of putting his own life in danger, and he only made some faint and subtle actions when he saw that part of her plans seemed to encompass his starships and their fusion cores.

    in the past, leonel hadn''t been able to figure out how to separate the control shield cross stars had over their fusion cores from his control. due to that, he had been unable to use the starships to attack other humans and the individuals of shield cross stars, especially. but since then, he had obviously overcome that weakness with his strength in crafting.

    however, there was a weakness that couldn''t be stripped from fusion cores, and that was their susceptibility to instability. veiga obviously wanted to use this as a method to carve out a path of escape, and he just made a movement to stop this.

    in the end, the real reason leonel hadn''t taken any action showed itself as his people began to act oddly. some starships turned to face one another, some began to directly battle without a word, and in the far-off distance, yuri even seemed to be on the verge of directly killing herself.

    it was a house of madness.

    this shouldn''t have been possible. the suggestive effects on a person''s psyche should only be possibly by pulling at their already ingrained tendencies. unless somehow every part of the morales army wanted to kill one another, it shouldn''t be possible even for someone in the life state to just suddenly turn them all on one another.

    at the same time, how could yuri of all people try to kill herself? not only was he certain that she had far more to live for than not, even if that was just to confront him about aina''s situation, but she had just broken free of a suggestion earlier. she would be on alert and couldn''t possibly fall for another so quickly.

    what was most sinister about it all was that whether it was the morales who had suddenly begun to battle one another, or yuri who was trying to end her own life but seemed hesitant to do so, each one was targeting an ethereal glabella. it was so obvious and clear that leonel was certain that whoever was doing it was doing it on purpose.

    if leonel himself suffered a destroyed glabella, there would be nothing but death awaiting him. as for these people, even if he had the silver tablet, if their ethereal glabellas were destroyed, then their souls would dissipate much faster. if a few hundred died, he might be able to revive them all in time. but if a few thousand died, he knew he wouldn''t be able to get to the last of them... so what about a few ten thousand? hundred thousand? what if half of these tens of millions of warriors died in battle with one another?

    this person was not only showing him that they could do such a thing, but they were also telling him in no subtle manner that they also understood the weakness of his seemingly endless ability to revive others.

    leonel continued to look around, a calm expression on his face as veiga rushed away.

    ''i see, so that''s it.''

    in the end, it was the formation.

    the spirituals religion wasn''t exactly one that worshiped the spirituals. unlike the other religions that leonel had come across, there was no deity, and rather nature itself was the deity of the spirituals.

    as a result of this, much of their strength also hinged upon this.

    back in valiant heart mountain, when leonel met his first apostle of a god, goddess evergreen to be specific, the person in question had been able to tap into the power of their god and emit strength beyond themselves.

    it seemed that he hadn''t understood the formation of the spirituals as well as he had thought. while he understood the skeleton of the formation, and the many pillars that formed its strength, he had missed the forest for the trees. it was akin to thinking of a baked cake as flour, eggs and sugar, rather than as a cake.

    what did the formation itself represent? where did its strength come from? yes, it was a natural force art that pulled on the power of the world, but what was "natural" about it? where was the power coming from?

    the simple answer was a god. the god of the spirituals religion.

    if leonel had followed the god path, he would have picked it up much earlier, but he didn''t follow the god path, he followed the path that dimensional cleanse had laid out for him, or more accurately... that he had laid out for himself.n()o-.v))e//l(/b)/1//n

    due to this, he wasn''t familiar enough with the god path and what its strengths and weaknesses were. now that he thought about it, he had never really separated what empowered users of the god path either.

    back in the void palace, when he had fought the henchmen of treanna virror, the god path had manifested in tangible runes and physical signs. but he found that as he battled more powerful users of the path, there was no such obvious sign, or rather... he wasn''t really looking for it.

    this culminated in him overlooking an extremely important question: what exactly was the god path and what were its strengths? what were its weaknesses?

    and in this context... how did it interact with the dream plane?

    leonel had brought his people into a field of battle that he didn''t understand and his opponent had taken advantage of the terrain.

    after a moment, he snapped his fingers, and the formation was truly destroyed, but not before he shredded veiga''s ancestors to pieces.

    the hold on his people vanished, but veiga used the opportunity to finally trigger a long-distance teleportation, disappearing from his sight.

 Chapter 2306 Smart

    chapter 2306 smart

    leonel''s reaction was far too calm, but the reality was that it was hard to act surprised when you had deduced what would happen the moment it started. had he wasted time trying to stop veiga, the morales would have suffered casualties, and heavy ones at that. at the very least, upwards of a million would have died. for the casualties to go from zero to that point, to this sort of level, he found it unacceptable.

    but it was likely that whoever was messing with his plans likely knew this and acted accordingly. though it was doubtful that they expected leonel to be so decisive.

    unfortunately, whatever facade of a brash, unruly youth who was too full of himself wouldn''t work anymore, but that was the least of his problems.

    he cast a glance toward the half spirituals.

    in order to deal with the immediate problem, he decisively destroyed the formation. this time, it was truly destroyed and there was no coming back from it other than to rebuild it from the ground up. while he could have taken his time to find a less crude situation, the more time he wasted, the more morales would have died.

    his speed of thought was fast, but not fast enough to analyze a path that he had little to no idea about, and then apply that to a formation that spanned an entire solar system. even he wasn''t that mighty yet.

    his most important takeaway from this event, though, was that this person was smart. almost too smart.

    leonel couldn''t remember ever giving this sort of evaluation to anyone. it was a simple one-word description, and it wasn''t overly flowery in his presentation, but it held the weight of the word when it was spoken by him.

    in order for this person to outplay him like this, they had to not only understand the weakness of his silver tablet and his lineage factor in combination, but they also had to be able to use an entire path and a formation they had likely never even seen active in person, to create this whole farce.

    but that wasn''t the worst of it. that much was still acceptable. the truest problem was that for this plan to have worked, it relied on something else: the weakness of the morales, their bloodlines, and their origins.

    to make a complex matter simple, this individual used the strength of the spiritual''s formation to target the weakness of the morales, dealing a blow to shield cross stars, the morales, and leaving leonel here dealing with quite a few enraged half spirituals.

    as for how that was done, leonel still wasn''t 100% certain on the details, but he had a general framework.

    the spiritual religion emphasized oneness with nature. their formation worked by sensing the life of the universe around them, melding into it, and allowing the power to wash over it. but it was also precisely because of this that it was turned around and used against leonel.

    oneness with nature could mean multiple things depending on the location, the person, and even the time. with that in mind, it was beginning to become clearer how this person had done this.

    there was now a large concentration of morales in the surroundings. and what exactly was the innate nature of the morales?

    this might be a hard question to answer until one remembered one thing: the curse of the morales.

    as morales men and women grew older, their lineage factors seemed to influence their minds and they became more battle-hungry and less reasonable. this was what had sparked the creation of the current heir wars system and the short duration of rulership in the first place.

    using the formation as a foundation, and leonel''s lack of understanding of it, this person had used the dream plane to amplify the innate weakness of the morales, manipulating them into a frenzy.

    and, because everyone else was also in its sphere of influence, the very nature of the world around them began to change, and slowly people other than the morales began to be affected as well.

    for yuri, who was in a state of emotional turmoil, and was both hating herself for what she had done, and hating leonel for putting her in such a situation, it had manifested in a way that it almost certainly never would have before.

    when things were laid out like this, it almost felt that leonel''s analysis of this person wasn''t nearly high enough. orchestrating this matter took no less than a genius who stood above all others.

    however, leonel only felt that it was interesting.

    he had read through the entirety of the void library, and how could there not be explanations of the god path within? but they were all vague and abstract, as though even people of the human domain didn''t understand how it worked.

    now seeing it in action, he felt that the path was more interesting than he had given it credit for, and that was partly why his analysis of this person''s strengths was so lukewarm.

    this was a strategy they should have saved, because it most definitely wouldn''t work again. of course, only leonel would think like this.

    "so? are we going to fight?" leonel asked, looking toward the half spiritual overlord.

    the overlord didn''t know what to think. the situation had changed so fast, and she didn''t have nearly the understanding leonel did of what had just happened. one moment leonel had everything in his grasp, the next his people started fighting one another, and by the time it all ended their ancient formation seemed to have truly been destroyed.

    she still hadn''t regained her bearings, and yet leonel was now asking this question. but she was smart enough to understand the implication.

    whoever had outplayed leonel wanted them to fight.

    so should she follow the plans of that person? or should she fall into leonel''s plans instead?nove/lb-1n

    she suddenly felt indecisive even as her warriors looked raging for battle.

 Chapter 2307 Step Back

    chapter 2307 step back

    leonel met the eyes of the half spiritual, his gaze not giving anything away, though he knew the reality of the matter. if they fought a battle like this one, casualties would be inevitable, and not just casualties that he could casually revive either, true, final death casualties. it would take too much time for the war to end, and by that point, damaged ethereal glabella or not, the end result would be the finality of death. there wasn''t much he could do about this. this was the reality of a war you weren''t prepared for, and the striking difference was stark in comparison to the war he was prepared for.

    the decision would be in the hands of the half spiritual overlord, but no matter how you looked at it, he didn''t receive the kind of benefits he wanted from this battle. if things had gone perfectly, he wouldn''t have only dealt a savage blow to the power of shield cross star, crippling their strength by at least half, but he would have also been able to force the spirituals religion into submission. but now, he might be forced to withstand some devastating losses himself.

    the overlord''s thoughts were one matter, but the thoughts of her people were another. they all seemed enraged, and it was hard to tell how much control the overlord had over the situation.

    leonel doubted that the spirituals religion had just a single overlord, much like his morales family most definitely had more than one as well, that old man couldn''t hide such a thing from him. who knew if the other overlords would be docile as this one? and even the so-called "docile" overlord was on the fence when deciding what to do.

    ''hm?'' leonel suddenly looked up and shook his head. ''fine.''

    he waved a hand, and a portal manifested. out from within it, a familiar old man with an annoying, shit-eating grin appeared. he rubbed his beard with a hand and chortled, liking this situation very much.

    this old man was none other than amery''s grandfather, overlord maxx.

    "ah, tracilia, how''ve you been? has this brat been annoying you?"

    maxx placed a palm on leonel''s head and rubbed just a bit too hard. leonel tried to move away and even slap it away, but he failed both times, and if he tried a third, it would have been more embarrassing than just letting it be. he found this situation to be unbelievable, and at the same time, he was certain that this old man was doing it on purpose. no matter what, the morales and suiard families had been enemies for countless centuries. how could maxx possibly miss a chance to humiliate their patriarch a bit, especially since he was here to help out with a sticky situation?

    "... maxx?" overlord tracilia spoke a bit hesitantly. soon, though, she got a bit angry. she might have been slower in thought and duller in intelligence than leonel or cynthia, but she wasn''t a fool. it was clear that leonel and maxx had some sort of mutual understanding, were the suiards betraying them? since when had the morales and suiards been on the same side? was there a suiard army on their way here now? and hadn''t they already decided to leave the morales out of their alliance? that family''s problems were too volatile. if the spirituals religion had wanted to team up with them, they would have done so already, instead of making such a choice. after all, they had always assumed that choosing one meant forgoing the other, so they had discussed the matter at length, even ultimately choosing to give their best genius'' hand over in marriage. knowing all of this, tracilia truly did have the right to be more than a little bit enraged, and she almost gave the order to attack right here and now.

    "listen, listen, i didn''t want to do this either," maxx raised up his hands. "but this brat stole my family''s world spirit and kind of forced my hand. i''m not saying to bend over backward, but you saw it yourself how there are powers at play here we can''t deal with alone. it''s best we work together."

    "how is anyone supposed to trust you?" tracilia said with a growl.

    she simply didn''t believe that leonel could just take maxx''s world spirit. he must have handed it over. were those hidden forces of the morales stronger than they knew? unfortunately for leonel, tracilia didn''t seem to be the one of the spirituals religion that had their world spirit, which was one part why he knew there had to be other overlords, and another part why she didn''t believe maxx''s words.

    "if you don''t believe me, then why don''t we go see poppy?" maxx said.

    tracilia frowned. was this a ploy? maxx chuckled and handed over his spatial ring with a flick of his fingers.

    "just me and the boy, you have nothing to worry about."

    tracilia was stunned. that spatial ring might as well have been maxx''s wedding band, he never took it off, and it definitely held the greatest of his treasures. this either meant that he was going all out for this ploy, or he was really serious. however, she had known maxx for years, this just didn''t seem to be something that he was capable of. just what should she do?

    tracilia took a deep breath and shook her head.

    "no. i won''t let you in."nove.lb/in

    she threw the ring back, and maxx shook his head.

    "well, you see that? i tried my best. good luck in this battle," maxx said with uproarious laughter. leonel shook his head. he really wanted to see who had planned all of this. he couldn''t wait to make them feel the same level of helplessness. he raised his spear, and he suddenly flickered and vanished. maxx''s hand, aimed to knock him out, missed completely.

    maxx was a bit stunned for a moment. he had rubbed leonel''s head so easily earlier, so how had he missed? he shook his head again. this brat was sharp, too sharp even, he would likely cut his own hand trying to wield that blade he was born with.

    "you need to learn when to take a step back, patriarch morales," maxx said softly.

 Chapter 2308 One Last Chance

    chapter 2308 one last chance

    leonel didn''t seem surprised by the change. this couldn''t be called a betrayal, maxx hadn''t been lying when he said that he had done his best.

    if leonel was escorted to this overlord poppy, as maxx called her, then taking the world spirit of the spirituals would be as easy as just thinking it. by then, it would be clear that the suiard overlord hadn''t betrayed the spirituals and simply had his hands tied.

    but because tracilia was so cautious, things had turned out this way instead. the best way to solidify this current rocky relationship was to use leonel as a sacrificial lamb. of course, this didn''t mean that the suiard overlord wanted to kill leonel, he didn''t have such intentions. rather, knocking leonel out would make corralling the morales army easier, than the rest could be dealt with in the future.

    unfortunately, leonel wasn''t as naive of the world as he had once been, and he had never been foolish enough to fall for such a bait and switch. he had already deduced that this would be the most likely result if maxx failed to convince tracilia and he was prepared for it.

    the worst kind of scheme to deal with was one you knew was there, and yet had to fall into anyway. it seemed that the schemes of this hidden expert hadn''t concluded just yet.

    maxx knew that all of this was only happening because of the machinations of someone else, and yet he had to act in this way regardless. the spirituals religion and the spirituals had already made their choice years ago, they had already planned to exclude the morales.

    and now, this was just the next logical step.

    looking into leonel''s indifferent eyes toward his change of address from "brat" to "patriarch," maxx almost felt like sighing. he felt as though he was looking into his own grandson''s eyes. even when he did the most ridiculous of things, this was precisely how amery reacted as well.

    overlord tracilia was confused about the situation once again, she almost made the false assumption that this was all an act. after all, how could the likes of leonel dodge an overlord''s strike without the support of the formation? but all of those thoughts were thrown to the back of her mind when maxx took a step forward.

    the vast depth of space beneath his feet rippled outward like a pond. the chimes of swords echoed and an overwhelming pressure descended. following that, there came a piercing sense that almost made tracilia''s heart stop beating entirely.

    killing intent.

    "i''m not sure i can deal with all your tricks and schemes if i battle you with the intent to capture you, so i will act to kill. this is the last chance i''m giving you to stand down," maxx spoke lightly.

    leonel wasn''t even looking at him. his gaze went above, and then it moved below. this was the problem with battles in the depth of space. on flat land, the worst you could face was a pincer from four sides, and most often pincers would come in pairs. however, in this vast endlessness, where up and down were just figments of one''s imagination and far more cultural than they were tangible, the number of directions you could attack from was infinite.

    above him. below him. to his back. to his front. upward and an angle. downward at an angle.

    there were half spirituals everywhere. the only saving grace was that their formations were just as much of a jumbled mess as his own had become.

    "i''ll give you one final chance, too," leonel replied, still scanning the battlefield. "for every morales that dies here, i will kill two suiards. is that the choice you want to make?"

    leonel finally looked up and met maxx''s gaze.

    the suiard overlord finally seemed to see it. that endless, unfathomable depth.

    the corner of leonel''s eyes and his feet began to smolder. the ripples formed beneath maxx''s feet came to a dead stop over a hundred meters from him, then they began to collapse on their own.

    "attack!" tracilia suddenly roared.

    the reaction was instantaneous. the powder keg of emotions the half spirituals had been bottling up exploded forth. beautiful men and women painted the skies like the descent of angels, a rainbow-like assortment of elemental energies rushing forward without restraint.

    the confusion within the morales was high. the different changes to their mental states, followed by sudden combat in a situation they had just believed to be on top of, was devastating.n-.o.)v()e(.l-/b--i-/n

    however, before the first wave of assaults could land, a calming voice had already entered their minds.

    "stand tall."

    it was just two words, and yet their spines shivered and the tips of their blades trembled.

    roars escaped their lips one after another, and their force echoed across the planes.

    "don''t be distracted."

    the whisper of a sword blade passed by leonel''s ear. he felt as though he had been cut in two, the sensory perception coming even before the actual blade, like his mind and his body were being attacked at the same time.

    he could understand the kind of despair a person would feel facing such an attack. what was the point in dodging if you have already been bisected? but he shattered the mental assault as though it was as fragile as stale bread.

    his squadron was too far away from him for him to rely on their strength, but he didn''t even bother to call them back. their task was different. as for his task?

    it was to crush every ancestor that dared to stand before him.

    leonel''s aura flared.

    "[arise]."

    one after another, the corpses of the ancestors he had killed in the last several weeks appeared and then began to crumble as though all the strength of their bodies were being devoured into the rise of their souls.

    in an instant, leonel was covered by five ancestors, each one emitting a sharp light as they raised their bows.

    these were none other than the ancestors of the constellation bow alliance.

 Chapter 2309 A Mess

    chapter 2309 a mess

    the ancestors of the spirituals religion, all of whom were ready to take action, felt as though their bodies had frozen. a dangerous aura locked onto them and it felt like if they took just a single step in any direction, their heads would be pierced through.

    they were all ancestors, and leonel was just using puppets. just how could he have the strength to make them feel threatened to the point that they were immobilized?

    what they didn''t know is that by having the ancestors consume their own bodies during the formation of their souls, they were actually at least 50% stronger than they would be otherwise. they were closer now to overlords than they were to normal ancestors.

    this was a lesser form of [breathe] that came from the weaker techniques of the emperor''s might lineage, known as [cannibalize]. it could be used on the corpse of a soul alongside [arise] to make them stronger.

    this, though, as an imperfect form of [breathe], had some drawbacks. normally, a soul would last 24 hours in leonel''s possession, but a soul that had [cannibalize] used on it would last no more than an hour.

    but this wasn''t the only reason why the corpses fell so much more powerful. the real reason for that was because of the improvement to leonel''s dream force, namely his connection to the dream plane.

    now, he couldn''t just perfectly direct his soul constructs, he could infuse his own comprehensions and incorporate his very will into his commands.

    one could use the dream plane to push people in certain directions, but they would ultimately only act within the bounds of their own personalities. it would take many years of manipulation, and constant attempts to get someone to do something they wouldn''t normally do.

    however, the will of leonel''s soul constructs was to do whatever he wanted them to do. that meant that his control over their impulsions was perfect.

    on the surface, this seemed like a minor thing. couldn''t he just control them with his mind normally? what was the use of this seemingly extra, useless step?

    but there was an important difference. not only could leonel command his souls to act and react faster, he could mold their minds and change their tendencies to exactly what he wanted. when it came to soul constructs like this that already had a foundation that matched his will...

    he could give them his skill in the bow.

    the five ancestor''s auras roared to life. in that moment, their bows, which had just been surging with a silvery white bow force, seemed to shatter, streams of light dispersing and them reforming into a blinding golden streak.

    right then, five bow sovereigns were born. and not only that, but they each had the power of an ancestor backing them.

    in a single bound, they went from a half-step to the overlord ranks, to true overlords.

    five overlord bow sovereigns.

    they had never been this powerful in their lives, but in death... they stepped into a realm of strength and power they could never have imagined.

    maxx''s expression became serious. he had only attacked once, and yet the situation had changed so resoundingly. just how...

    "stop, don''t!" maxx roared as he saw that tracilia had taken out some sort of orb. if he could have stopped her from even taking it out in the first place, he would have. but that ship had already sailed. "if poppy comes here, your world spirit will be taken away in an instant. i wasn''t lying."novж┼-lb.1n

    tracilia shivered and put the communication device away, but then a cold wind passed by her neck.

    she turned back slowly, and what she saw made her heart feel as though it had been hollowed out.

    five bows. five arrows. five echoing twangs. five deaths of her brothers and sisters.

    the ancestors of the spirituals religion were still rushing forward, seemingly not even having realized that they died. but the bloody holes in their heads painted a different picture, one of bleak sadness.

    could this have been avoided?

    leonel didn''t make a move, standing calmly. but it was like five of him were aiming their bows. looking forward, neither maxx or tracilia could even quite feel their individual auras any longer, it was like they had instead become clones of the young man who stood in their midst.

    maxx realized that he couldn''t allow things to stay as they were. he moved like lightning, his very body seeming to carry the aura of the sword.

    two arrows appeared to his left and his right, but his absolute sword domain took shape, shredding them to pieces.

    his thumb rubbed along the spatial ring tracilia had returned to him and a rusted sword appeared in his palm. it looked as though a single swing might cause it to collapse, becoming nothing more than flakes of metal dancing in the wind. and yet, when he made his move, it was like the world had been split in two.

    leonel looked into his eyes.

    people, relationships, complex webs of emotion... nothing was ever simple due to these things. it should have all been easy. he already had maxx on his side, his army had already surrounded the half spirituals, he had already been just a step from victory...

    but things had ended up like this because humans were complex creatures that rarely, if ever, acted logically. he was no different, that he knew. as much as he tried to peel himself away from those more human layers of him, he couldn''t escape it.

    he was realizing every day just how much pressure his future self had placed on him. he even understood that much of his "cold logic" came not from the fact that he was some sort of psychopath, or even from the fact that he preferred logic over all...

    it was just a coping mechanism.

    looking at the world like it was an array of numbers, of buttons to push and sliders to adjust, that was much easier than looking at it for what it really was...

    an imperfect blob of a mess.

    the five archer overlords around leonel shifted and seemed to form an odd force art with just five nodes between themselves.

    ''so, is this how it works? i guess so.''

    their auras doubled once again and maxx''s strength was drowned out.

 Chapter 2310 Two Way Street

    chapter 2310 two way street

    leonel didn''t follow the god path, but his soul constructs did. it could be said that over 95% of all ancestors in the human domain followed the god path. there was a reason it was the path that the void palace demanded of their students. it was the path that had allowed most of the elites of the human domain to rise up like they had.

    the actions of the mysterious person that had placed him into this situation made leonel realize that there was more to the god path than what met the eye. but he, obviously, couldn''t go back and choose a new path, and even if he could, he wouldn''t. his intuition told him that [dimensional cleanse] was a far better bet for himself.

    but it got him thinking. had he really reached the potential of his emperor''s might lineage factor just because he had succeeded in comprehending its three strongest techniques?

    the answer didn''t feel as obvious as it should. the three strongest techniques were meant to build upon one another, slowly building a foundation that could make the next and final steps logical. but leonel had skipped all of that and went right to the strongest abilities of the lineage factor, ignoring much of its subtleties.

    in such a situation, how could he know with any certainty that he was pressing his potential forward to the greatest extent?

    his connection to the dream plane seemed to have only solidified that truth. he felt like he had been a child messing around with a toy, and that toy just so happened to be a loaded gun.

    that wasn''t to say that leonel was in any danger while using his lineage factor, not that he knew of, anyway. it was rather that he still didn''t quite understand just how lethal it could be, and he felt that he had just taken a step toward understanding.

    not only could he use the dream plane to pass down his own understanding to his soul constructs, but the reverse was possible as well.

    like he had said. he might not follow the god path, but his soul constructs had when they lived, and if he applied some of the concepts of the spirituals religion formation, and also some of the strategy of the mysterious existence that was toying with him from the shadows... then if he sprinkled atop of that some of his own theories on force arts, namely ones used in armies...

    the five soul constructs resonated with one another and they thrummed with life. the hum of nature echoed and the golden dust particles that were aimlessly floating in the air seemed to come to life once more.

    of course, it was nothing like the truest formation. the use was limited as it didn''t have the core of the formation any longer since leonel had destroyed it. leonel''s understanding of the spirituals religion''s formation wasn''t yet deep enough to simply reconstruct it using his soul constructs, but that was more than enough...

    to send these overlords to their deaths.

    five arrows streaked through the air, and yet it felt like just one. tracilia''s chest was ripped apart and her body was sent flying backward like a broken rag doll. however, she couldn''t even land, or even be sent flying into the endless distance, before she was shredded to pieces, even her blood being torn to ash.

    the soul constructs pulled their bows back once more and aimed toward maxx, but leonel shook his head and sighed as they fired.

    the arrows had only just left their bows when the soul constructs shattered to pieces. in the distance, their arrows weakened considerably, but still slammed into maxx with an undying force.

    maxx''s chest caved in and his consciousness shuddered. it took everything he had to remain conscious, but he was still sent flying backward much like tracilia. he was only lucky that he didn''t have to suffer the same fate.

    leonel shook his head. it seemed that using his soul constructs for more than just their base uses limited the time they could last even further. he had already felt that instilling them with his insight into the bow had shrunk the time they had considerably, but it seemed that taking a step beyond that caused the hour he should have had to fall to just a few seconds.n-)o--v()e)/l/-b/)i--n

    even so, the outcome was still acceptable. it was unfortunate that he didn''t have any more ancestor souls that were experts in the bow in their lifetimes, but the fact tracilia was dead and maxx was on his last legs was a worthy trade regardless.

    leonel looked toward the battle of the morales and half spirituals and shook his head. the casualties were about as devastating as he expected, it was a complete mess. there were no formations, none of the tactics he liked to use. things might have still been fine had they been organized enough to make proper use of the armors he had given them, but they were too scattered to even do that.

    in addition, many of the armors that leonel had constructed were purely auxiliary in function and only provided help when used in the context of an army. what could forming small scale light illusions, for example, do in a battle like this?

    he took a breath, scanning the battlefield so quickly his pupils looked as though they were bouncing around his sockets. on a battlefield this large and expensive, his internal sight wasn''t enough. at that moment, he wished for the complete bow domain lineage factor more than he had ever before.

    then, he stretched his dream force into the dream plane, immediately sending out tens of millions of orders, each one specified and unique for the person in question in an instant.

    it was time to turn this battle around before the other overlords of the half spirituals could realize what was wrong.

    even as he did so, his hand reached and grasped out, pulling the spatial device that tracilia had taken out the communication device from before her soul or maxx could react.

 Chapter 2311 A Best Way

    chapter 2311 a best way

    the battlefield became like a go board. the swiftness with which the situation changed was shocking, and in as little as a few seconds, the casualties went from about equal on both sides, to slightly lopsided, and then the morales began to slowly take a firm upper hand.n/.o/-v(-e-)l)-b()1/-n

    ...

    a morales sharply thrust their spear, but retreated a moment later. he glided backward across the depths of space exactly 112 meters, only to sense a heat behind him as a part of his armor began to resonate.

    he didn''t need to look behind him to know that someone with a matching set to his armor had appeared. they both acted at once, causing their force to roll and their armor to link.

    they both threw out another spear, the flickering light of illusion painting the skies. their enemies couldn''t dodge at all. how could they when they didn''t know which spear was real?

    ...

    in another section of the battle, a single morales found herself surrounded by three half spirituals. beaten and broken, there was no chance for her to escape. her absolute spear domain roared with what felt like the last of her force, causing the enemies to take a step back, but it was only a brief reprieve as they rushed forward.

    suddenly, there was a subconscious suggestion in her mind and she twisted her body. however, the light of hope came to an end as soon as it came. her body was pierced by swords and a glaive from three sides. the pain shot through her like a torrent and she could feel her life slipping away.

    but that darkness of death didn''t come like she expected. she had thought that she was dead for sure, but only now realized that the blades had missed her vital organs. no, more accurately, what was vital, what wasn''t, the line between life and death, that was decided by her, wasn''t it?

    the spear domain lineage factor... no, the morales lineage factor... what did it mean for the absolute spear domain, a pure offensive ability, to fuse with their metal bodies and their divine armors?

    she felt that she had a vague idea.

    she released her spear, causing it to vanish. she grabbed onto the two sword blades, pulling down and snapping them before throwing both broken blades into the brows of their owners.

    at the same time, her spear suddenly appeared behind the head of the glaive wielder, shredding them to pieces.

    ...

    two morales brothers, sharing the same branch bloodline, pressing their backs to one another. they trusted each other with their lives, just like they always had. they would make it out of here just like they had every time before.

    one of them gritted his teeth with determination, blood trickling down his chin until his heart suddenly felt hollow.

    the solid back pressed against his suddenly went limp. he could feel the life of his brother draining as a sharp blade pierced an inch into his back. he didn''t need to look to see what had happened, someone had just driven a blade through his brother''s heart so far that it had almost run through him as well.

    the morales looked down and watched as a familiar spear drifted down beneath his feet. once again, he didn''t need to look to see what had happened. his brother had thrown his spear away, grabbing onto the sword with both hands so that it wouldn''t drive through him as well.

    a suggestion pressed onto his mind as he roared in fury, his absolute spear domain raging like a torrent.

    the energies of the world were suddenly being swallowed with a vicious momentum.

    the metal body of the morales could assimilate metals and earth. this was the foundation for many of their strongest techniques... metal body... divine armor... countless others...

    this ability, though, was built off the back of an insatiable greed to devour, a greed that reminded this morales brother a lot of the metal spirit.

    he really wanted to be one. he really wanted to swallow everything in his path, to rampage with fury fueling his mind.

    his absolute spear domain rushed outward, swallowing all the force in the surroundings, assimilating them, and then using that strength to shred everything in his path apart.

    they would pay for the death of his brother.

    ...

    leonel breathed heavily sweat drenching his brows.

    in the past, he had created a technique to help his brothers improve and keep up with his steps. he called it dream path.

    unfortunately, this ability was one of the few that he had created with the help of his ability index that didn''t work out well. as a result, he had only used it once on his brothers, but ended up abandoning it.

    but after awakening in the dream plane, he had come to understand some things. he still couldn''t just draw out a path for a person, and he had overestimated himself far too much when he thought that he had the ability to. instead, he could sense the small kernels of inspiration they had brewing in their subconscious and push them forward.

    there were millions of morales, each with their own ideas, each with their own thoughts on how to progress, but many of them found themselves tied down. either they hadn''t reached the perfect circumstances for enlightenment, or they were so tied down by tradition and hierarchy that they didn''t dare to strike out on their own path.

    however, seeing through their thoughts, leonel realized that maybe there was no right way or even a best way to use a lineage factor. there was a huge array of application methods, and each one had its own viability. this was only more so for a recently mutated lineage factor like their own.

    so he gave them the nudge that he deserved.

    the battlefield became a mixture of continuous breakthroughs and squadrons that quickly became teams, and teams that quickly became battalions and battalions that quickly became armies.

    just when the tide was firmly on the side of the morales, the overlords of the spirituals religion finally realized that something was wrong.

 Chapter 2312 Over

    chapter 2312 over

    leonel sent a glance toward the planets below, his breathing labored. not far from him, maxx and tracilia were still trying to gather themselves.

    tracilia wasn''t a threat. as a half spiritual, after losing her body, while she could survive, she was far weaker. he could probably defeat her on his own even without relying on a formation or his soul constructs.

    maxx was in a state of great weakness right now. he was nigh incapacitated and only barely managed to hold onto his consciousness. he wasn''t a threat, at least not on his own. he could still launch an attack if it came to, but leonel still held back from trying to deal him a final blow. this old man was definitely not simple. even if you pressed a normal animal into a corner, they could lash out, let alone an ancient beast.

    leonel took a breath, trying to catch his breath, but he realized that he was practically hyperventilating. he was breathing so heavily based on a reflex, not because he needed to. that much was proved by the fact his breath was actually so controlled rather than causing waves of hurricane force winds like it usually did.

    the fatigue was soul deep, it was a depletion of his dream force and a fatigue of his mind, something he hadn''t experienced in a long time. it was nothing like a bodily fatigue might be, no amount of breathing hard would help him.

    with a thought, his three dream stars took shape and began to rotate with a fierce momentum.

    leonel suddenly gasped and it felt as though he finally caught his breath. his gaze sharpened as he felt the difference and his plan changed.

    he had forgotten. the manifestation of his stars wasn''t just a method to accumulate dream force quickly, nor was it just a representation of his universal cycles. it was the manifestation of his path, the path of dimensional cleanse.

    in an instant, he found that he could travel much further in the dream plane, and every action he took stripped away a lesser amount of his dream force.

    he sent out more commands, and suggestions that were more precise. the efficiency of his control over the morales army skyrocketed even as the overlord of the spirituals, the woman he assumed to be poppy, rushed out from her hiding spot.

    he sent out a final wave of orders as he snapped his attention toward the coming ballista.

    poppy was another beautiful older woman, but she had a fiery temper that rivaled that of a bubbling volcano. her hair was a shortcut blaze of red, her eyes just as piercing red. leonel would have thought her to be a brazinger if he didn''t know better.

    at the moment, ten shadows appeared by leonel''s side.

    "is it done?" leonel asked.

    joel tossed an orb at leonel.

    leonel nodded, but the confusion on the faces of maxx and tracilia practically formed tangible phantoms. that orb... it was definitely the communication device that leonel had just taken from tracilia, but these ten hadn''t been by leonel''s side from the beginning that meant...

    maxx''s gaze turned solemn.

    that meant that leonel had sent them on a mission before even getting his hands on the communication device, before he had even seen tracilia take it out.

    the realization hit tracilia at the same time and her heart trembled. her gaze turned to her fellow brothers and sisters in the distance. every moment, another one of them fell, and they weren''t lucky enough to maintain their souls like she had. the morales directly targeted their weaknesses. somehow, many of them had gained the ability to kill them with a single strike.

    "easy enough," joel said. "with the orb, the location was as easy as breathing to find."

    leonel had sent the ten on a simple mission. their goal was to find the entrance of the spirituals religion holy land.

    any communication device required a receiver, and any such receiver would give off fluctuations. if the communication device was modified under a crafter as skilled as leonel, the receiver would become no different from a beacon.

    of course, leonel didn''t need to send them for just this. if it was just this, he could have found the location from right here.

    there were two things he needed.

    the first was to lure overlord poppy here. what better way than to send enemies to her resting place?

    the second was to find the core of the formation that leonel had been forced to destroy. as he had predicted, the moment poppy was alerted, she noticed the problem going on outside and had no choice but to rush here. while she did that, these ten had brought the shattered core she had been forced to leave behind here.

    as expected, raj tossed something at leonel soon afterward. it was just a ring, but within, there was a shattered core the size of a planet''s core.n./0velbin

    leonel shook his head. luckily, he had sent anastasia with them, or else putting such a thing into a spatial treasure would have been impossible.

    and even further than that, it was lucky that he had chosen the method of shattering the formation core that he had.

    leonel hadn''t just indiscriminately shattered the formation. instead, he had treated it like a puzzle, following along the fissure lines and only breaking them along those weak points.

    due to this, it was not only far easier to rip apart. but, due to his crafting skill reaching the molecular level...

    it was also far easier to put back together.

    boom!

    the entire battlefield froze. every warrior, including poppy, maxx and tracilia felt like their bodies had been marred in cobwebs of time and space.

    before, the core of the formation had been light years away and leonel could only use an endless chain of commands to control it from an obscene distance. the design of the formation made this possible as it was designed to be used across the entire solar system, but that didn''t mean that it didn''t have its weaknesses.

    now, however, the core of the formation was right here.

    this battle was over.

 Chapter 2313 Kill

    chapter 2313 kill

    everything came to a stop. there was no moving forward, no retreating, and everything danced in the palm of leonel''s hand.

    after a moment, leonel exhaled a breath and shook his head. he looked out into the battlefield once more and his gaze flickered with rage. the casualties were atrocious, almost 10% of the morales army was either dead beyond his means to revive, or heavily injured. there was another 10% on top of that that were dead and he might have a chance to revive if he was quick enough.

    20% of an army of this caliber and size was a devastating blow, especially when the total had been at 0% for the past several days. these were the most elite of the morales seventh dimensional experts. the only ones missing among them were the nova heirs, at leonels request. every loss of one was not only one less that they''d have, but it would also be a great detriment to the future potential of the morales in the short term.

    it was simply infuriating, infuriating that something like this could happen when it could have all been avoided. maxx wasn''t supposed to be his enemy, but he had made such an idiotic choice in the end.

    when he spoke of killing two suiards for every morales that fell, he hadn''t been lying, but it also wasn''t just an act of rage that he wanted to mete out. the history between any two forces had to be taken into account whenever they were moving forward in any sort of conflict or cooperation.

    real morales had died due to maxx. their parents would grieve, their wives and husbands would carry that pit in their hearts for a lifetime, their spouses, their children, their friends, each one would be impacted in their own way.

    how could they just forget everything and move forward in cooperation with the suiards? the original cooperation that leonel had wanted now was dead. he had tried, he had made concessions, he had even laid down his own fury toward these families and their inaction as his father fell on his spear. and yet this was how they repaid him.

    the smoldering lines of black began to appear around leonel again, but just as quickly as they had, he snuffed them out, his gaze returning to a cold depth of indifference.

    his actions might have seemed crude, he might have even been seen to have pushed the suiards and the spirituals religion to this point, but he knew what his intentions were better than anyone else.

    he had left maxx alone after taking the world spirit. he had proved himself by entering the impetus state with his dream force and countering veiga. he had had no intentions of slaughtering the half spirituals when he came here and the entire brunt of the attention he had given had been focused on killing the ancestors of shield cross stars.

    he had been bold, a bit crude, and a bit strong-handed, but these had all been necessary actions. if he came, hat in hand, trying to form alliance bonds with these two powers, what would the result have been?

    in the best case, he would have been laughed out of the room. in the worst case, they might attack to kill him due to his role in linking the morales and earth, the soon-to-be only two eighth dimensional worlds of the human domain.

    he had chosen to forgive, to forget... not only their actions in not aiding his father, but also in their intent to pressure the morales just to keep their families safe. did the spirituals religion not send a representative that day? did the suiard family not place a pawn in the void palace and use it as a proxy to pressure his morales family?

    he had been too kind.

    bang!

    maxx was forced to his knees under a resounding pressure. there was no land to stand on, and yet the space beneath his kneecaps cracked and shattered, forming a pseudo-land just for him. the golden dust particles around him swam and then formed powerful chains, piercing through his shoulders, his chest and then, finally his knees. then, they bound around his body tightly.

    soon, the same actions were repeated for tracilia, and the poppy in the distance. despite the latter being the only one of them that wasn''t injured at all, under the weight of the formation... it was all worthless.

    leonel raised a hand and a strong pull came from poppy''s very soul. her eyes widened as the world spirit was torn out and brought to leonel''s palm. with a squeeze, it was shattered and the half spirituals, all at once, felt a sense of laws that trembled their hearts and caused their eyes to water. compared to humans, the spirituals were far more sensitive to this sort of matter. their world spirit subconsciously felt no different from family to them.

    after he was finished, leonel began to use the formation to speed up the process. he didn''t have to gather force the normal way since the formation could accumulate so much of it. thanks to this, the force he needed to revive the members of the morales were readily available.

    luckily, he managed to revive almost the entire 10%, only missing out on a few, a result that was much better than he expected. there was nothing he could do about the ones that were gone before he got his hands on the formation, but this would have to do for now.

    leonel looked toward the army. his expression was the mask of coldness and he could see every morales looking at him with the same steely intent.

    he knew that this was exactly what the person lingering in the shadows wanted. there was no better scheme than one your enemy knew was there, and yet had to fall into anyway.

    right now, though, it didn''t matter. for the sake of the future, this was the best step to take... the only step.

    "kill."nove/1b.in

    the roar of the morales shook the solar system.

 Chapter 2314 Satisfied?

    chapter 2314 satisfied?

    the fallout of the battle rocked the human domain. the slaughter of both the spirituals religion and the suiards was akin to watching the fall of titans from their mountain. these two powers had always been seen to be on par with the morales, and yet the morales alone, after taking out twelve constellation families just weeks ago, followed through with a campaign that brought these two to their knees... and it was all led by leonel morales.

    it felt like a curtain of silence had fallen over the human domain. it was inescapable. many felt that such infighting, when they had only just survived the invasion of several domains just months earlier, was inadvisable. if there was a scale of public perception, it had easily begun to swing from fear of the morales, to a lambasting for their actions.

    how could the public know of the intricate details of the events that had occurred? and even if they had an actual chance at knowing, would that mysterious figure, hidden in the background, and spurring on those very same flames of hatred, let it go so easily?

    this was exactly what they wanted. to paint the morales as savages, as demons that didn''t understand the true weight of the situation, and there was no better mascot for their displaced fury than velasco and his son after him.

    rumors of velasco toying with the taboo and thus bringing down the rage of the gods spread like wildfire. watching as his son now led armies to take down families that had lived for countless generations only seemed to bolster these thoughts further. how could a child like leonel possibly bring down these families if there wasn''t something nefarious at play? many even began to believe that if they really allowed the morales to take control of the human domain, and thus left leonel to be their de facto leader, rather than the gods coming down to smite velasco on his own, it might even be the whole domain that was wiped from existence.

    the moment this sort of paranoia grew legs, it soon grew wings and soared through the skies. it passed through countless ears and affected countless hearts, and it only grew worse as the details of the past events began to be spread in earnest.

    first came news of just how thorough the destruction of the spirituals religion was.

    the spirituals religion had quite a positive public perception in the eyes of many. they never led crusades like the other religions, and humans always had a sort of innate awe of the spirituals. in addition, such a group of beautiful men and women, how could they possibly be hated? if it wasn''t for the fact they only accepted half spirituals into their ranks, the largest religion in the human domain might actually be them.

    and yet, leonel had not only plundered their ancient formation, but he had razed their lands to the ground. the territory of the spirituals religion was just a single solar system unlike the suiards that controlled many sectors filled with many more galaxies, and so every act was akin to the impetus of a genocide.

    being so small, the spirituals religion simply had no large group of weaklings that the large families and organizations did. as such, leonel had gone to each and every one of their planets, waging a bloody, one-sided war until he forced them all to their knees. and it was precisely this picture that the human domain received...

    but this was nothing compared to what happened to the suiards.

    the half spirituals only suffered a loss of life. the suiards, however, suffered a loss of dignity, of pride, even the willingness to raise their heads high had been crushed no different from when leonel had kicked down their doors of their sword faction.

    maxx was chained to the front of leonel''s starship. every battle, he was forced to watch as his suiard family was crushed and split to pieces. the fervor of the morales, as though unleashing a wave of countless years of animosity and hatred, spilled over like a tsunami.

    the holy land of the suiards were razed to the ground and their spirits were crushed.

    amery, their greatest hope, faced off against leonel in battle once again. legends of their battles had spread like wildfire, and many believed that another legend would be painted on this day so long as leonel didn''t use his king''s might lineage factor, and yet the result...

    leonel crushed amery. there was no suspense. he didn''t even bring out his spear, it simply wasn''t necessary.

    it wasn''t until now many remembered... the last so-called legendary battle between these two had taken place when one was in the sixth dimension and the other was in the seventh.

    they were never on the same level to begin with.n-.ovelbin

    one after another, the ancestors of the suiards were bound and captured, chained up and thrown into the dungeons of the morales. it could be said that for the first time since the founding of the suiard family...

    their capital lands were vacant and empty. leonel might as well have burned the crops and salted the earth.

    "for every morales that dies, i will kill two suiards." he had said those words, and he meant those words.

    locke, the envoy of the suiards, truly had to watch as his home was burned to the ground.

    leonel speculated that it was never maxx that told him to speak those words. it might have been another ancestor of the suiards, or... it might very well have been that mysterious figure that had been goading him into a trap from the very beginning.

    but none of it mattered.

    ...

    "are you satisfied?"

    the voice was gruffer than before, but that made sense, considering maxx''s state.

    leonel glanced over but didn''t care enough to say something. if maxx wanted to avoid this, he should have never acted against him.

    "your grandfather would have never done this." max continued, much of his hair covering his eyes.

    leonel didn''t care to respond directly to that either.

    "rest up," leonel said indifferently. "from now on, the suiards will be the vanguard of the morales."

    a force art, complex enough to split one''s mind if it was gazed at too closely, whirled in his palm.

 Chapter 2315 Cruelty

    chapter 2315 cruelty

    maxx looked toward leonel''s back, his words escaping him. he should have known, someone like leonel wouldn''t be so easily swayed by moral arguments. even the most caring of people would have their bottom line, let alone leonel.

    what maxx could have never guessed was that there truly was a point in leonel''s life where the pull of his morality ruled him. over the years, those thoughts had been overruled, taken over by a man who killed without hesitation and shed blood without blinking an eye.

    it was difficult to tell for an outsider whether this was the fading of a youthful vigor and naivete?, or if it was something else, something deeper.

    leonel, as oblivious as he seemed about his own emotions sometimes, was very much aware of everything happening within him. even if he missed something, with his memory, he could go back in time, so to speak, watching the changes that took place step by step and understanding what had brought him to this place.n)-o--v/)e-(l))b-/1)-n

    maxx would never know the answer because leonel would never tell him. the old overlord had his own reasons for doing things, and so did leonel.

    seeing that leonel was about to walk away, unmoved, maxx shook his head.

    the morales family was simply not to be trusted. these weren''t words he thought of due to leonel, though at this point, even he couldn''t deny the animosity that was building up in his chest. rather, it was pointed toward the hidden undercurrents within that family.

    if ishmael was still alive, things wouldn''t have gotten to this point, and maybe he would have been marrying his son to an heiress of the morales instead. but such things couldn''t be deliberated over now, especially when things had already reached this point.

    leonel had won. for now. and it seemed that his suiard family would be forced to be hitched to this wagon. whether they sunk or swam would be all reliant on the shoulders of this cold and detached young man.

    ...

    leonel stuck to his word, he would turn the suiard family into the vanguard of the morales. he knew what kind of words were spreading about him and the morales now, and since these were the thoughts that everyone in the human domain would have about him, he would simply lean into it.

    he knew how these kinds of storms worked. no one would believe that he suddenly became benevolent and started to treat the families he had conquered well. even if he did, whoever was in the shadows could spin it any number of ways.

    for example, what if that person planted the seed that those captured by leonel would be turned into his loyal soul puppets? and that the only reason he seemed to be treating them all well was because he had already captured their souls just like he had shown many times before.

    the abilities of the fawkes were powerful, but leonel had no doubt that it had created quite a number of enemies for them over the years. a family that could one day in the past do a favor to the race like the pluto, and yet end up regulated to just one descendant locked away in an incomplete world, most definitely couldn''t have fallen so far without many powerful individuals wanting it to be the case.

    and right now, leonel was watching that play out in real time. he made a mental note to himself that he would likely have to be far more cautious with how he displayed his king''s might lineage factor once he left this incomplete world. but for now, there was no use in fretting about it.

    it was too late to win the war of public perception, and his actions in releasing the young heirs of the weaker seventh dimensional and sixth dimensional families was wasted, but that was fine. one of the markers of a great general and strategist wasn''t just how good their initial plots were, but also how they adapted to changes in the field.

    so, he wouldn''t try to win it at all.

    yes, the morales family were a family of demons. what were they going to do about it?

    leonel got to work not long later. his plan was simple. right now, what remained in his way was the remainder of shield cross stars, the omann family, the void palace and the godlen family.

    shield cross stars was mostly crippled, as was the void palace. his greatest worry was that the most powerful of shield cross stars, aside from veiga, hadn''t made their moves yet. these were existences like cross elder avan and overlord sith.

    he had been avoiding the omann family until now because he knew they would be the most difficult to deal with. they were the only family capable of mitigating the advantage of leonel''s linked armies because they had wealth and crafting skills comparable to the morales.

    of course, leonel didn''t believe that there was anyone who could match up to him in this regard, but he was just one person. the spirituals formation had already threatened him a great deal, who knew what the omann had prepared? especially since the tier 2 starship design that he had improved came from them in the first place.

    the void palace was most crippled too, but there were still hidden cards of the cult that had yet to make their presences known. leonel hadn''t forgotten about the large center of variant invalids that they should have, nor the large number of savants that the void palace should have accumulated as well.

    as for the godlen family, they were a complete wildcard. he knew nothing about them, and the souls of the pyius ancestors had been completely in the dark.

    this time, though... leonel wouldn''t be attacking. the time for pushing and launching assaults had ended. he had antagonized the human domain enough, and his next series of plans would only antagonize them more. the next phase of this war would be played on his turf.

    all were welcome. he would be happy to send them to the grave.

    ...

    one by one leonel began to brand the experts of the suiard and half spirituals that remained, turning them into the loyal warriors. as he did so, the final straw that would break the camel''s back descended.

    a group of demons, wearing morales armors and wielding morales spears appeared in the depths of the void palace. there were just 100 of them, but each one radiated a towering aura. as for when they worked together, even the sturdy lands of the void palace crumbled and shattered.

    one by one, they killed every elite of the void palace. nominal disciples, quadrant disciple, galaxy disciples, sector disciples, domain disciples, it didn''t matter. rivers of blood ran and each of their corpses was desecrated. each had a hole in their forehead the size of an ethereal glabella.

    the demons didn''t even try to hide their movements as they returned, paving a streak of crimson across the cosmos as they made their way back to morales land. then, without a word, they disappeared. all that remained of the once mighty void palace were the corpses of the most promising youths of the most powerful families of the human domain. the powder keg exploded.

 Chapter 2316 Names

    chapter 2316 names

    ''hm? no losses?''

    leonel looked toward the small troop of a hundred demons, somewhat surprised. he had sent this troop into the void palace without his support with only a single goal: kill. of course, there were some other caveats about time constraints, efficiency, and the like, but he had ultimately left it up to them to decide the details.

    the troop was the first batch of his experiments with the golden scaled koi fish and the tentacle womb. it was years in the making, but it was finally bearing fruit. it was just that he had been waiting to use it at an optimal time.

    this time, he decided to use them to provoke the human domain. what could be a better tactic to provoke the ire of these powers than to kill their children and their future? he could imagine just how enraged they were now, and whatever plans they had been making would most definitely move forward.

    but standing here, right here and now, he was shocked.

    according to the report these demons had brought back, they hadn''t just managed to kill a small number, they killed all of them. not only did they kill all of them, but they didn''t lose a single member of their original 100.

    this troop, his first troop, was built based on the cobra demon that had eaten leonel alive. they all had beautiful, sapphire scales and their necks and heads were covered in the natural hood of a cobra.

    each one stood at over two meters tall and they radiated a dense cold. their armors matched this cold, fusing them and amplifying them. leonel had added some of his comprehension of void star force, but honestly it was limited and not his best work as he had created these armors even before his breakthrough in crafting.

    his thought process was that even if this cobra demon troop was caught and dissected, they wouldn''t look any different from normal demons, and on the other hand, his enemies wouldn''t have any idea what his current crafting skill was at.

    but the end result was beyond his expectations and his provocation had worked almost too well. looking at the storage device filled with ethereal glabellas, he didn''t even quite know what to say.

    he had personally created, from one cell to a complete living being, an army stronger than the greatest elites of the human domain?

    he shook his head and sighed. from the moment he learned of the abilities of the silver tablet, he had felt that life was far too worthless, and here he was confirming those ideas once more. it was hard to accept for someone like him whose journey of morality and its push and pulls had once given him the conviction to save all beings.

    it was funny, in a morbid sort of way.

    back then, he thought that all lives were equal because they were each immeasurable.

    now he thought the same... but only because all lives seemed to be equally worthless.

    it was a foundational difference that led to the same conclusion. but what made it worse was the legend of the northern star.

    life could be created so casually, it even felt that the life and death of those born in these incomplete worlds was no different from a breeze riding the rays of the sun, fleeting and without substance.

    and yet the end of the world was looming on the horizon and no one seemed capable of stopping it.

    these things... how could both be true, why were they both true, what kind of sick joke built the fabric of reality as it was?

    leonel looked toward the demons, his gaze a bit blank. right now, he was striving to bring his future wife back to life, striving to see his father stand broad and tall once again, but if he really succeeded in either, just what worth did they ever even have?

    it was a thought he had been running from and it was like he was being forced to confront it, ironically due to creations of his own.

    what was more important to him? that lives were worth something more substantial than an outpouring of resources? or that he could always bring those he loved most back to life?n.(o--v.(e-)l..b(/i()n

    if he could bring those he wanted back with a thought, if he truly ever reached a level of power that allowed him to be infallible to such an extent, would acting on his power diminish the worth of the lives he had wanted to save so much?

    he didn''t know the answer. it was another question, one maybe even more profound and complicated than the one that had guided his journey until this point, and it came with a depth of suffocation and helplessness that was even heavier than the first.

    leonel gazed toward the demons again. they stood tall, none of them knowing what thoughts were running through the mind of their creator.

    their intelligence was no less than that of the demon that leonel had fought back then, the strength no less as well. in fact, they were stronger, having been constructed to the level of the seventh dimension rather than the sixth.

    what made the reality all the heavier was the fact that this demon wasn''t even from an incomplete world.

    "what are your names?" leonel suddenly asked.

    skkkkrrreeeeeeee!

    the roars of the hundred threatened to shatter leonel''s eardrums, and leonel actually began to laugh.

    he didn''t understand their language, but he no longer needed to. with the dream plane, he could sense the intentions of their words directly.

    their names? they didn''t care about them. they had never had one. they only wanted to fight, to bleed for strength, to crush the bones of their enemies beneath their feet. all of the more complicated things, even if it was just a name, they didn''t care to have one.

    it was a simple and beautiful existence, and one that he unexpectedly envied.

 Chapter 2317 A Good Look

    chapter 2317 a good look

    to not care, to be carefree. he wanted it, but his mind wouldn''t seem to allow him that sort of peace. it was all too easy for many to focus on the next step forward, to chase that next goal, to aspire toward something larger than themselves, but they rarely thought about what it meant to sit at that height.

    if you really did have the power to wave a hand and make everything you want come true, to force it into being, would it all even be worth it?

    ''what a uselessly human thought,'' leonel thought, still laughing to himself.

    he was laughing because he could already see himself taking it for granted, as though he would definitely reach that height, as though he would be proposed with this question one, inevitable day... and when that time came, what choice would he make?

    the question was too complicated, too marred by his own biases, and maybe if not for the level of thought he had achieved, he might not have even considered the question in the first place.

    ''i really hate you demons,'' leonel thought to himself, shaking his head.

    demons had almost killed him more times than he cared to admit. a demon had eaten him alive. demons were infiltrating his morales family. a demon was supposedly his grandmother, toying with his life since even before the day he was born.

    if this was a novel, he''d feel that the author was far too on the nose with his motifs and literary themes. what a condescending wackjob.

    his life truly looked as though it was the greatest joke. how many existential crises was he going to have?

    well, this didn''t really feel like an existential crisis. he felt calm as he faced these questions, and it wasn''t because he knew the answer, or because he felt that the answer wasn''t as important, but he was already certain of what he would do.

    he didn''t know whether they would be worth the same, but he knew that he couldn''t allow his life to go by without trying to see his father again, he couldn''t allow that silly girl who never listened to him to go to the grave without seeing those that had harmed her mother to be buried first.

    even if he found out that their worth really had plummeted just by virtue of his actions... he was too selfish to not try anyway.

    and for the first time, just thinking these thoughts, leonel felt that he had finally understood something about himself, his true self.

    for as long as he could remember, he hated to lose, so much so that even if it required crossing the benefits of his own brothers, he would rather win anyway. james had first had experience with this matter.

    that day during the championship game, he had known there was something wrong with james. james himself had tried to bring it up earlier in the day, and leonel had had plenty of opportunity to ask about it.n./o.-v/(e/-1-(b)/1(-n

    he just chose not to. he chose not to because he didn''t want to face the decision of what to do himself. he didn''t want to be split between his own desires and helping out someone he cared for.

    so he had avoided james. he hadn''t allowed james to tell him about his plight. even up until this day, he still didn''t know exactly what sort of issues james had faced that day.

    and why was it? was it because he hated to lose that much?

    no, it was deeper than that.

    he was selfish. he wanted it all. he wanted his brother by his side, and he wanted victory. he was insatiable and there probably wasn''t anyone who could turn him from his own goals.

    how foolish was it to ask the woman out over 500 times? even if you felt that she might be interested in you, wouldn''t it be obvious after the first handful of times that she had worries and troubles that went beyond her liking of you?

    he had ignored that. his charisma had made those around him ignore just how ridiculous what he was doing was too, they had even begun to cheer him on, looking forward to the day that he would finally receive his answer. he had manipulated them for his own goals much like he manipulated everyone else to suit himself.

    he hadn''t cared about what troubles or worries that aina had had, because all that mattered to him was her saying yes. he didn''t care about what might have caused her to be hesitant. all he wanted was that answer.

    it was something that was constant. it was maybe his one constant.

    he left his brothers behind on earth, brothers that he had known since he was a toddler, all to chase a woman who hadn''t even given him an affirmative yes yet. their lives were on their line, and they had actually died. but he didn''t care.

    aina told him many times that she wanted him to take better care of his life, that she had already lost too much in her life and she didn''t want to lose more, that the lives of everyone he was trying to save weren''t worth as much to her as his own. but he hadn''t cared, even up until the point she had chosen to leave him.

    it didn''t matter to him, he was on his own crusade, he had a savior complex back then and he didn''t even know how much of that was genuine emotion versus a childish hatred of the fact that he had, well... lost.

    thinking about it could make someone quite sick to their stomach.

    did he really make the decision to unify the dimensional verse because he wanted to save people? or was it because his failure in the valiant heart zone stirred his selfish desire to win?

    how much had it really mattered to him if he was willing to sacrifice the lives of those thousands of warriors that had called him brother, just to revive the brothers that were only dead because he had abandoned them too?

    leonel looked down at his hands. they radiated the familiar bronze color of the morales family, but in his eyes right now, they just looked beaten and bloody.

    he had finally gotten a good glimpse of himself, free from the restraints of an almighty future self, and his conclusion was quite something.

    he had never been as good a person as he thought himself to be.

 Chapter 2318 Worth

    chapter 2318 worth

    leonel wasn''t too shaken by the conclusion. he felt that everyone was selfish in one way or another, the problem was that he was selfish, and he also had the ability to enact his selfishness without the burden of judgment. if you could always manipulate everyone into doing what you wanted them to do, what worry did you have to have about backlash?

    this, though, was still a bit of an excuse, and he knew it. this was his reality, and he had to decide whether he wanted to change or not.n./o.-v/(e/-1-(b)/1(-n

    but it wasn''t that simple... because there was a very strong pull leading him in a certain direction. he still had a strong conviction to save his father and aina, and he simply didn''t see that changing.

    leonel clenched his fist and suddenly vanished.

    ...

    leonel stood high in the skies a long while later, staring down at a devastated scenery. this place was familiar to him, and it could be considered his true first stint into the wider dimensional verse...

    it was valiant heart mountain, the place linked to maybe the most growth he had experienced in his life. it was a place he owed quite a bit, but just like everything else, he had left it quite selfishly. he had taken everything he wanted from it, and then he had directly abandoned it.

    bits and pieces of it were now part of his people, those like rayon and his wife. emna was also a remnant from this part of his life... but the mountain was no longer anything. the people that had once called this place home, the elders that had given their entire lives to protecting it and helping it to grow, the excited youths who put their lives on the line just for a chance to enter...

    it was all reduced to dust now, crushed until nothing remained.

    leonel descended and landed on the ground, standing along what remained of the wide road that led to valiant heart mountain. in this place, two mighty pillars had once stood... it was they that pressured the disciples on their ascent up the mountain, and it was also they that also opened the valiant heart zone.

    leonel closed his eyes, breathing in the air.

    the planet was weak, so weak that if he took a breath that was too deep, the trees that had managed to survive the catastrophe of this world would be ripped out and tossed into the air.

    he remembered the first time he had come to this world. he couldn''t even make a dent in the ground with his spear, let rip a tree out from it. and yet, it all felt so feeble.

    the faces of many crossed his senses.

    rollan.

    it had been a long time since he had thought of that name. he was the best friend of the general, the character he had become in the zone for those two years... or was it a character?

    rollan had truly become his best friend. he was different from james. he wasn''t a playboy, he had a loving wife, elise. he was less braggadocious and boisterous, but he was earnest and he had a kind pair of eyes that could melt the soul.

    his wife was a perfect match for him. she was weak and didn''t have any talent for improvement herself, but rollan cherished her like a man should his wife, and she had begun to bear his child. when the zone closed, she had yet to give birth, but leonel knew how hard rollan had fought just to give her and their child a chance to look into the skies with a smile on their face.

    goggles.

    that pragmatic youth who refused to put his life on the line for anything. and why would he? with his ability index, he never had to. but he had chosen to fight for leonel, to ignore his usual baser instincts and fight for something larger than himself.

    gertrude.

    that fiery, red-headed young woman. she had once been a noble woman, but she abandoned her status because she felt that the actions of king alexandre the apex were vile and disgusting. she had a temper that could rival a dragon''s, but a heart of gold.

    he knew quite well that she was in love with him, but he had ignored her feelings. even though he and aina had already been on a rocky road back then, she was still the only woman for him. but she didn''t deserve what happened to her...

    none of them did.

    he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, but the single tear came anyway.

    he exhaled a breath.

    "i''m sorry."

    it was a hollow voice in a silent world. there was no one here to hear it. the ones that deserved to hear it were long gone because it was an apology that was long overdue.

    rumble.leonel''s eyes sharpened as they snapped open. it was a risk to come here, he knew that. war would break out soon of the morales world, and yet he was here reminiscing. however, when he saw what was before him, his pupils constricted.

    a portal, a familiar one. it was the valiant heart zone. he could feel it in every sense of the word.

    he hesitated, but he eventually stepped in.

    it was all the same. two years wasn''t even necessary. a few hours wasn''t even necessary. even a few minutes felt excessive.

    he crushed the zone that had once taken his years to complete in not even a fraction of the time.

    but he felt every second as though it was years.

    what was the tradeoff? he was so powerful now that he couldn''t build those relationships again, he didn''t get to bask in rollan''s kindness, in elise''s sweetness, in goggles'' sense of humor...

    and why would he? he was far above them, he was an existence beyond even their understanding. the tyrant king that they had feared for so long could only be strung up like a chicken in leonel''s palm.

    and then, he stood before the silver tablet once again, entering its world and looking at the endless spirits who this time, instead of seeming illusory because of their deaths, look as real as could be. he had enough force within his own body right now to revive them all if he wanted, he wouldn''t even need external treasures.

    but that question came back to nag him.

    if you stood at the top of the world, with the strength to make anything you wanted to happen come into existence... if you acted on that strength, would its worth still be the same?

    leonel grabbed the silver tablet and poured his force into it. his body acted without his mind''s consent, disregarding the question entirely. all he wanted was this pit in his chest to disappear.

    somewhere a long distance away, a sigh that leonel couldn''t hear echoed.

 Chapter 2319 Never Existed

    chapter 2319 never existed

    leonel looked at the various souls floating around him and felt a hint of excitement that was doused quickly. how could he remain excited? while it was true a burden that had been weighing him down for so long was finally off of his shoulders, there was another matter that was harder to accept...

    after a bit of hesitation, he reached forward toward rollan''s soul.

    rollan was someone that leonel had met long after his falling out with james. after what happened between him and his longtime best friend, leonel truly didn''t think that he would ever connect with a person on that level again. he and james might have been complete polar opposites, but they worked in a way that leonel simply couldn''t describe.

    that wasn''t to say that leonel thought more of james than his other brothers, that wasn''t the case at all. some parents might lie when they said they loved all of their children equally, but leonel wasn''t lying at all when he said that he loved all his brothers the same.

    what differentiated his best friend from his buddies wasn''t how much he liked james, but rather how well they clicked, how well they played off of one another, how well james seemed to compliment him.

    now that he understood a bit more about himself, leonel knew exactly why this was too. would it even be him if it wasn''t for a selfish motive?

    james was a simple minded brute and he was all too willing to deal with leonel''s manipulation. but at the same time, he was sharp and intuitive in a way he himself probably didn''t understand. he could pick out leonel''s flaws in a way that others simply couldn''t.

    in a lot of ways, james was like leonel''s litmus test. if he could pull one over on james, then his actions would go unnoticed.

    in truth, leonel knew he had probably tipped the scales a bit too far out of his favor. yet, he was a selfish person, but he didn''t believe that he had crossed the line to evil, villain, mastermind just yet, treating james like some sort of science experiment.

    even so, he knew that there was some truth to this for certain, because although rollan was also a polar opposite of james, he reflected those very same core traits.n.(o--v.(e-)l..b(/i()n

    he could see through leonel''s nonsense, he could cut right to the core of whatever was ailing them, and if anything, he was a bit sharper than james was, at least when it came to actually articulating his thoughts.

    he actually reminded leonel a lot of joel, their personalities were nearly identical. and it was amusing because if leonel had to choose which friend he was the second closest to outside of james, it would be joel. their drunk escapades and night of cuddling painted that picture quite well.

    the difference was just one thing: joel didn''t tolerate leonel''s nonsense at all, once again proven by that drunken night.

    it was joel that had brought the liquor that day, and it was joel who forced leonel to see that he was less okay than he tried to pretend to be.

    leonel didn''t want that kind of best friend. joel wouldn''t just call him out like rollan, or tolerate him like james, he would try to force leonel to change, and it made sense. joel was a captain in his own right.

    while on the football field leonel had been the captain of the offense, it could be said that when the defense was on the field, the leader wasn''t leonel at all. after all, he was on the sidelines. it was joel who took control of their defense... he was the quarterback of the defense.

    when he put it that way, it was almost sad. maybe if joel had been his best friend instead, or rather if he had allowed that to happen, he could have saved himself a lot of pain.

    but why would he? why would he allow someone to change him? did a person as selfish as himself even have that sort of capacity?

    leonel grasped rollan''s soul and it shuddered. he undid the restrictions and allowed rollan to break the final barrier to life.

    rollan practically popped into existence, looking around in confusion for a moment. when he noticed leonel, he immediately bowed deeply, and it was precisely this that made leonel sigh.

    how could this rollan be the same as the other? of course, no matter how quickly he had completed the zone, he and rollan were still slated to be best friends. after all, it had to be remembered that it was rollan that had given leonel the first clues on what his role in that zone world would be.

    but that was "the general" and leonel was leonel. rollan hadn''t had any time to acclimate to them being the same person, and the leonel that had entered was so far and beyond the best friend he had known that they easily became two separate existences in his mind.

    to rollan, his best friend had long since died and the leonel before him was a completely different person, a person that had crushed king alexandre, the tyrant that had ruled them all for so long with absolute ease. if for no other reason than to ensure his wife remained safe, he couldn''t afford to neglect showing proper due respect.

    any camaraderie the two had had seemed to have gone up in a puff of smoke. leonel knew that even if he explained things clearly, it wouldn''t change a single thing. the rollan of now and the rollan that he fondly remembered would never be the same person.

    leonel stoically resurrected them all one by one, the familiar burden that he thought he had left far beyond weighing him down once more.

    goggles'' previous gusto was nowhere to be seen as he looked around shifty-eyed. gertrude didn''t have that familiar infatuation in her eyes when she looked at him. and elise... her stomach was decidedly and glaringly flat. their baby was dead. or rather...

    it had never existed in the first place.

 Chapter 2320 Fuse or Shatter

    chapter 2320 fuse or shatter

    it took a few hours, but leonel got to everyone. in truth, this chance had dealt with a problem he had been avoiding all this time: the oryx.

    the oryx empire had yet to learn that leonel sacrificed the rest of their people as leonel had never told them. elthor would have been an especially important warrior to lose out on as his potential had yet to be fully unearthed.

    originally, he thought about what it would mean to have this chance. would there be two elthors? two oryx kings? but he had overthought it. there was nothing of the sort.

    this realization, though, made leonel certain that someone had a hand in this.

    thinking back, how did he even earn the right to enter the true valiant heart zone? he had found a ring on the body of a dead person whose name he wouldn''t even remember if not for his infallible memory. that person was as close to a nobody as you could get, and the fact the ring landed in leonel''s hands was still something that felt... odd to him.

    but leonel could only really deal with one problem at a time. there were too many forces in the dark that wanted to bring him down, and there were very few like this one that actually seemed to... help him. he didn''t have any more attention to split on this.

    leonel shook his head. even this matter took far too much effort on his part.

    years ago, the lives of these people would have been a great benefit to him, but whether it was the humans or the oryx, they were both far too weak. in fact, that probably wasn''t even harsh enough.

    back then, king alexandre had killed leonel just because he had stepped into the fifth dimension. leonel had been completely helpless against him, and these people were even more.

    he had almost forgotten. these people weren''t in the fifth dimension at all; they were all in the fourth. they were so far from being useful in this conflict that it was laughable. and yet, leonel still took his time to revive each and every one, giving them a small token of his own personal assurance.

    all of these people were already familiar with him, not in the intimate sense of the first time he had taken the zone trial, but rather in that they had all seen him defeat the king as he had made certain that they would.

    the person this seemed to impact the most was normand the speedster, or as he had been known in the zone... normand the cuckold. and it was precisely because of that name that normand looked toward leonel with more passion than just about anyone else. it was thanks to leonel that the love of his life had finally been released from her shackles.

    even during the first trial, leonel had never been close to this person. in fact, they had ended up fighting in the end, and leonel almost died at his hands. but it was also because of this that leonel knew how much potential normand had.

    the pure speedster ability index was incredibly rare and extraordinarily powerful when brought to its limits. and at the same time, his former fiance?e, though i guess current fiance?e now, was yet another monster.

    normand''s fiance?e had had her blood drained by king alexandre for the sake of harnessing her power of life. she had a life force innate node, and just by virtue of that, her lifespan was nigh unlimited.

    if her blood also carried such power, leonel also had an inkling that she might also be a blood sovereign, though it was possible that this was just a byproduct of her life force innate node.

    and then there was king alexandre himself. he was one of the few that leonel hadn''t resurrected, but after he had finished going through everyone, he stared at this looming silhouette for a long time.

    there was a good reason for that: king alexandre''s ability index.

    the king called himself the apex. he was able to grant others titles that could strengthen them, and he could also strengthen himself by giving himself such a title. in truth, even when leonel thought back, he was a shocking talent.

    part of leonel wanted to resurrect him and rein him under his control. but to do that, he would have to first find a resource worthy of resurrecting such a talent.

    leonel shook his head. just how could so many astounding talents be squeezed into this inconsequential zone? it was like, once again, he was being pointed in this direction.

    he had thought that when he returned, even if he gained such a chance, these people would just become another burden he had to take care of. but the more he thought about it, even when he reframed the things that happened back then with his current understanding of the world...

    it was hard to accept just how far ahead these people were.

    whether it was elthor, normand, his fiance?e, alexandre, and maybe the most shocking talent of them all, goggles, they were each more ridiculous than the last.

    but leonel''s hesitation about alexandre went beyond just the mystery of why so many talents would be here, so even whether he should revive such a vile man, it was instead something completely separate.

    should he do it... should he finally absorb a talent that wasn''t his own?

    leonel hesitated.

    in the past, he hadn''t noticed. his scope was too limited and his comprehension of dream force wasn''t nearly as deep, but now he saw it as bright as day.

    king alexandre''s ability index was a pure dream force ability, maybe the strongest dream force ability index he had ever seen, stronger than even lionel''s despite him not being a savant.

    the people of the zone had called it "royal force," and it had completely thrown him off. but ever since he had come out of the zone, he had never heard another word about this so-called royal force, nor did the void library have any information about it.

    then he thought about his king''s might lineage factor. if there was any ability that would make use of royal force, wouldn''t it be it? and yet... it was a lineage factor built completely from dream force.

    and then, the straw that broke the camel''s back, was his new comprehension of the second dimension and his new access to the dream plane.

    breathing life into a word, that was how alexandre''s was described by the people of the zone.

    but the way leonel saw dream force now, wasn''t it the same?

    dream force was said to be the impetus of life, but it was no more than the capacity of thought. that alone gave birth to life; it was the core of what created.

    if one took it a step further than that, force arts were a method of tapping into this sort of language, pulling on the laws of the world with words as well... it was just that they were words the common person couldn''t understand.

    a step further than even that, and his own ability index was just a translation of his own "words" into an internal change. his ability index highest level was known as control, a perfect internal control that allowed him to in turn exert pressure on the outside world.

    alexandre''s, though, was the exact opposite. it was an exertion of control on the outside.

    leonel believed that he had found the other side of his ability index''s coin.

    the question was, if he absorbed this ability index...

    would they fuse and provide a multiplicative effect?

    or would they cancel one another out and shatter both?nove-lb.1n

 Chapter 2321 Goggles

    chapter 2321 goggles

    leonel thought about it for a long time, longer than he wanted to admit. considering his speed of thought, he knew the right answer immediately, but there was a sort of thirst for power that was pulling him in the opposite direction of the smart choice.

    he knew well that it didn''t make sense for him to take this risk right now. if his ability index changed too much out of his expectations, he would be screwed. he had relied heavily on his ability index to get to this point, he had spent years constructing abilities around it, even the strength of his spear force, one of his greatest offensive cards right now, was built with his ability index as its foundation.

    if not for dream class, how would he have mastered his grandfather''s way of the spear so quickly? and if he no longer had dream class, would his insights hold well? he actually felt that he would be fine even without dream class because his comprehension had already solidified, but what about into the future? would he make his path of the spear easier or harder?

    there was another reason that leonel was so hesitant as well. thinking back to his battle with myghell, the latter had used words to breathe strength into his swords. in fact, his grandfather''s methods did something similar with poetry, pulling strength from imagery drawn by word of mouth.

    this was obviously nowhere near what alexandre''s abilities could do, especially when they were scaled down to the fifth dimension. however, what it did say was that an ability index wasn''t the only way to access this power.

    there was some overlap between ability indexes and other power systems, that leonel was certain of. if there wasn''t, then how could an existence like king who could be considered to be near the bottom rung of greater existence, be capable of converting abilities indexes into force arts and gifting them to people?

    there was a wider tapestry out there that he was just barely missing out on, and the thought made it easier for him to set aside the idea of fusing with a relatively unknown ability now and rolling the dice.

    leonel managed to settle his impulses and looked toward goggles. almost immediately, the latter shifted into a position that displayed his absolute attention and leonel couldn''t help but chuckle. even when this brat was nervous, his antics were still just as amusing.

    ''when''d i start thinking like such an old man?'' leonel rubbed his nose.

    goggles was young, about 19 or so years old if memory served. when leonel first met him, they were about the same age. but now that they were meeting in these circumstances, it felt like a lifetime had passed. leonel had matured... well, he had at least aged, and it made him look at goggles like more of a little brother than anything else.

    leonel chuckled to himself again, wondering if goggles'' infatuation with rollan''s wife was still the same now that so much had changed.

    ''is this guy cracked in the head?'' goggles thought, watching leonel laugh to himself for no reason. he inched away, wondering if the man was thinking about all the evil things he''d do to him.

    "li-listen, boss," goggles stuttered, "i love the attention, but i''m a strictly woman loving man. if you must have me... at least be gentle, okay?"

    leonel''s lip twitched. was that the kind of aura he radiated?

    well, to goggles, who had a somewhat gruff appearance despite his lankiness, and whose idea of fashion was the pain of goggles stuck to his forehead, the shimmering silvery suit that leonel was wearing did look like only something a man too obsessed with her personal appearance would wear.

    "i''ve heard that you have a powerful ability?" leonel asked instead.

    "ah? who''d you hear that from? who''s spying on me?!"nove-lb/in

    leonel smiled, getting a bout of dejavu. when he originally met goggles, their first interaction was like this as well. the difference was that back then he had been trying to catch a thief who seemed capable of evading him with ease that was far too great.

    he only managed to catch goggles after several months of effort and then recruited him to his cause. or, rather... rollan''s wife had. leonel could never seem to convince this brat to do anything or take anything seriously.

    it made sense, though. goggles was like an orphaned child with too much street smarts for his own good, except he also had an ability index that made him fit that character times a thousand.

    he always looked out for himself and was always looking for a way out, leonel almost felt it was a shame that rollan''s wife had fallen for him instead of goggles, but he wasn''t going to do anything to change that.

    there were other ways to get goggles on board. plus, the kid had his heart in the right place, and that was all that really mattered to leonel.

    "isn''t it obvious?" leonel asked, with a raised brow. "your exploits are well documented, including a case of sneaking through a particular open window to take a looking at some hanging-"

    "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" goggles looked around, his heart beating out of his chest.

    at the moment, they were all still within the silver tablet, and there were two nations worth of people in here who didn''t dare to make a peep. he couldn''t allow secrets he wanted to take to the grave to be doled out like this.

    leonel smiled. "oh, you want to cooperate?"

    "yes, yes! whatever you say!"

    "call me leonel in private, patriarch morales in public."

    "yes, patriarch morales!"

    leonel''s smile grew.

    goggles had a unique ability index, one that leonel hadn''t seen documented anywhere else, much like anna''s own. so, he chose to call it the oracle simulation ability index.

    with enough background information and context, goggles could naturally predict a series of events with absolute accuracy and avoid any unwanted outcomes.

    if there was any trump card he would need to save his father, wouldn''t it be goggles?

 Chapter 2322 Mass Murderer

    chapter 2322 mass murderer

    leonel believed that there was still more he didn''t understand about goggles'' abilities, and maybe even things that goggles himself didn''t understand. that was because the parameters of background information and context that goggles needed were quite... broad.

    when goggles had been working for him, it wasn''t just information that helped him out, but rather an intimate relationship with the events in question. for example, after goggles bound himself to the army that leonel led, he had been able to predict certain things about the outcome of various battles. however, leonel had realized the more specified goggles'' target, the more accurate and clear his predictions became.

    so, leonel scaled down goggles'' "binding" from the army to just a small squadron that had carried the elites of his army, including himself, rollan, gertrude and others. after doing that, goggles'' prediction ability skyrocketed, and he began to make them more frequently and with more clarity.

    as such, there were two necessities that bound goggles: information and/or relationship ties or bonds. but this didn''t exactly seem to just be a simulation. it seemed to allude to that mysterious force el''rion spoke about, the very same mysterious energy that was the reason why el''rion didn''t form more innate nodes than he needed, and also why stealing innate nodes wasn''t something the strongest did.

    there seemed to be faint ties between the two, and it fascinated leonel. it also meant that goggles'' ability delved into a force much deeper than what it seemed to on the surface.

    when leonel first learned of the ability, he had likened it to his own attempts at simulation. but he was very much wrong about that; goggles was on an entirely different level. leonel believed that if goggles had read through the entire library of the void palace, he might be capable of doing something similar to aina in that he could seek out the perfect path for himself.

    even then, the void library was limited in its information compared to wider existence. if he fed goggles this kind of information, just what kind of monster would he become? after all, if stronger relationships and a more focused lens made goggles'' oracle-like abilities sharper and more accurate... what better target was there than goggles himself?

    leonel''s gaze became a bit more gentle as he swept a gaze through everyone present.nove-lb.1n

    "you all may not know me, and rightfully don''t trust me very much. you''ve spent years beneath a tyrant, and those with power aren''t exactly the ones you would be willing to put your own lives in the hand of. so, i will give you all power of your own.

    "grasp the chance i give you, and the king alexandre, the supposed apex that barred your path for so long, will be nothing more than a stepping stone in your path.

    "you don''t need to trust my words now, nor do you need to show me some undying loyalty. you won''t believe it, and neither would i. instead, i''ll allow you the time to see for yourself."

    the approach that leonel took with this batch of people was much different than he did to those of the morales, or the constellation families, and definitely far different from the treatment he had given the spirituals religion and the suiards.

    he felt like he owed these people, and for the first time in a long time, he felt like leonel. not the leonel he truly was, but the leonel he had idealized himself as, the warm-hearted, caring person he tried to pretend to be... and seeing the visible relaxation of those here, he felt an unexpected warmth.

    in the midst of that crowd, though, there was a blazing fire as well, and none were more fiery than goggles himself. the passion in his eyes would practically rival that of stars, but it wasn''t toward leonel. it was instead toward what leonel could provide.

    when leonel returned, he half expected to find the morales territory on fire. but it seemed that the other powers were both more cautious and cowardly than he had thought them to be.

    if they were smart, they would capitalize on the righteous indignation to bolster their morale. well, it wouldn''t work, but it would still give them a better chance. of course... unless that mysterious figure was planning something else.

    leonel gave the odds of that pretty high. though, without more information, he wasn''t too sure of the motive of this person, or if they were even human to begin with.

    what he was most concerned with wasn''t the intelligence of this person; he didn''t feel that anyone could deal with him on this front. the main issue was that their range in the dream plane seemed unlimited.

    even if leonel was more intelligent than this person, if they could gather more information than him, and affect change on a larger scale, he would still be at a disadvantage.

    but that was precisely why he had chosen to have this final battle on his own home turf. by then, any preparation there was didn''t matter. leonel suddenly smiled before it even happened.

    "seventh nova!"

    the voice was booming.

    ''oh my, not even calling me littlest nova anymore. that''s not very endearing.''

    leonel walked forward as though he hadn''t heard a thing. his current location wasn''t the morales palace, but rather his personal abode. the residence of the patriarch was one of the many moons that surrounded the capital planet of the morales, and he actually had the entire small moon to himself, not that he used most of it.

    this voice was definitely ancestor issa''s though he could already sense the auras of many others. they had actually invited themselves into his home all on their own; it seemed the ancestors were still the ancestors.

    however, he could also sense the old overlord... and there were actually three others that gave off the same overwhelming pressure.

    how fascinating. even the spirituals religion and the suiards only had two overlords a piece. though, maxx was on another level even compared to other overlords. but the morales actually had four.

    leonel strolled into his home, finding that the elders of his family had already made themselves comfortable.

    splintered wood flew in all directions as his dining room table was blown to bits, shattering even further even as they flew through the air.

    "how dare you put such a stain on the prestige of the morales?"

    "ah, so that''s what this is about."

    leonel nodded. seemed they were mad he murdered the void palace down to their last man.

 Chapter 2323 Terrible Grandmother

    chapter 2323 terrible grandmother

    leonel walked in with a smile. "what a pleasure. i always love seeing people invite themselves into my home, it''s one of the finer things in life."

    issa felt her momentum stiffen, as did her face. it was indeed true that it was unbecoming of existences like them to ignore the rules of etiquette so blatantly, but usually when they did so, no one would dare to say much of anything about it. leonel, though, clearly didn''t have this sort of filter.

    overlord morales, or rather the very man who had once held the morales world spirit shook his head and sighed. in truth, he was the one who had cosigned to leonel''s actions, but he didn''t expect things to go this far. it was hard to defend. even in war, there were bottom-lines that you didn''t cross, that you couldn''t cross.

    on the one hand, leonel had made the suiards the slaves of the morales, along with the spirituals religion. on the other, he had massacred the future of the human domain. although the strongest of the elites in the youth no longer attended the void palace, just how close had they all been to being there? leonel''s actions were simply unacceptable. was he trying to make them an enemy of the entire world?

    "is that all you have to say for yourself?" issa growled. her temper was just as fiery as any other morales, but it was especially so now. "you use demons as an excuse to kill third nova, your own blood brother! but now you use demons yourself? even if you didn''t use demons, just your actions alone prove what''s in your heart. how dare you?!"

    "oh, so it''s the moral grandstanding. if that''s what it''s about, i have all of their ethereal glabellas stored, i can revive them whenever i want. is it really the same when i have the ability to bring them all back? at worst, they''ll just be a little traumatized.

    "as for the demons, so what? i used that as an excuse to get you all off my back. i think you know best the real reason why i''ve kept third nova hidden, and now i''m too bored to keep it a secret, would you like to investigate the matter?"

    issa froze. this kind of attitude... the problem wasn''t what leonel was saying, but rather that he was the one saying it. it showed disregard, it showed a sincere lack of respect for them, and most importantly, it showed that even if they turned on him right this moment, he would care because he could simply subdue them all.

    at that moment, it was another overlord who spoke. she was significantly younger than the old man, but this was something that leonel already expected. the world spirit could only be used to extend the life of one overlord at a time, and that had to mean that if the others were sitting here just fine, their age was clearly much less of a factor.

    even so, she was still an older woman that looked to be in her fifties. she had buzzcut hair that made her look somewhat like a monk, and this was only exemplified by the thick prayer beads that hung from her neck and the even thicker rope around her waist.

    leonel smiled toward her even before she finished pronouncing her first words, and it made her shudder. even so, she was an elite and regained her composure immediately.

    "none of us here are your enemies, seventh nova."

    "when did i say that you were?" leonel asked. "as i see it, our relationship could go one of two ways. i could treat you all like the grandmas and grandpas i want you to be, or i can treat you like the elders of a power i need to wrest control from. which path we take will be up to you."

    the old woman looked at leonel deeply. "your words exude a confidence that doesn''t match your age."

    "i''m sure you''ve met my father before; i guess it just runs in the family," leonel replied.

    "indeed. but neither you nor your father understood our sacrifices. neither did your grandfather before him. are you insistent on following their path as well?"

    "i won''t be following my father''s path, but only because i would like to help the morales family to rise up with me. if, though, i have to fight and pull for every inch from you all, i would prefer to not.

    "i''m sure you understand that the only tie i have to the morales family is my father, and i guess my uncle. other ties, i don''t care much about, and it''s becoming very tiresome to have to coddle your feelings especially after i''ve already accomplished so much.

    "i''ve said it once before and i''ll say it again. i don''t like to explain myself, and i certainly don''t like to repeatedly explain myself, so it could be said that you guys are getting very special treatment.

    "i am infallible within morales territory. if they attack this place, they die. it''s really that simple.

    "the constellation families have fallen. the suiard family has fallen. the spiritual religion has fallen. the void palace has fallen. shield cross stars has been crippled. is this still not enough?"

    silence fell.

    "even so, i think it''s good that you all are here because it saves me the effort of having to go out and look for you all. in the past, i was a bit cautious with exactly how to proceed given that there''s clearly a hidden faction within my morales family, but now i''m much more confident.

    "how about i give you all a chance to step out on your own?"

    the old man seemed to have aged considerably when leonel said these words. was he still too young? had he been too confident in him?

    "ah, how interesting." leonel''s eyes suddenly lit up. "so, you, you, you..."

    leonel pointed out over a dozen individuals instantly, and every time he did, especially from the third one on, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

    "so, tell me. what did my terrible grandmother promise you all?"n--ovж┼lb1n

 Chapter 2324 Manipulation

    chapter 2324 manipulation

    leonel''s smile didn''t fade even as he said this. the truth was that the difference between now and the matters of the past was his breakthrough in dream force. with the dream plane, his senses had sharpened considerably. maybe on a complete world, experts at this level would be more adept at hiding their emotions even in the dream plane, but on this world, they were entirely incapable.

    it made sense, in a twisted sort of way. leonel had already made a guess that the demoness was responsible for the hidden faction of the morales. he didn''t know why, if there was some larger plan, or if she just found it interesting. but what he did know was that wherever she was, it was easier to manipulate the happenings in this place if everyone was as ignorant of the dream plane as possible.

    they were practically an open book. he couldn''t read their minds, but with his intelligence, sifting through their emotions and figuring out exactly what they meant was as easy as breathing. they simply couldn''t hide anything from him.

    he had known that he would be able to expose them so easily, so why should he hide the true extent of his knowledge? seeing them react like this, he almost felt a childish sort of satisfaction.

    his rage toward that woman had been buried deep, but it hadn''t vanished. knowing that there were existences here that were her pawns really made him want to do something he knew he would regret.

    no matter what leonel did, the truth was that he didn''t want to be surrounded by enemies. it was tiresome to have to plot and scheme everything. he missed having aina by his side... she was a partner he had never felt the need to question, a woman he trusted without hesitation.n-(ovelb1n

    at the very least, he still had his mother. she wasn''t here now, but leonel knew that she was likely not far away. if he really needed her, she would be here. it was just that her presence wasn''t necessary, because as he had said... he was undefeatable in morales territory.

    "nobody wants to say anything?" leonel shook his head, pulling up a seat between his legs and leaning his chin on its backrest.

    the old overlord looked toward leonel deeply. has he underestimated this boy again? judging by the reaction, it seemed that he hadn''t just picked out these people randomly, but how had he done it?

    suddenly, the overlord sensed something familiar and his pupils constricted. that ability... the last time he had seen it used was velasco. but the difference was that velasco didn''t care enough to do anything about it. velasco didn''t like his mother, but for whatever reason he didn''t carry actual hatred for her. others might not understand this, but leonel definitely did.

    back when alienor was nothing more than a vague figure in leonel''s mind, he hadn''t thought about her, he hadn''t pined for her, he hadn''t even cared to meet her. part of this was because of his own personality, but there was another reason that he never really put into words.

    his father was his hero, the strongest man he knew and a mythical figure in his mind. the idea of a woman leaving him wasn''t something he even wanted to confront, so he simply didn''t.

    in all likelihood, velasco was the same. he was willing to give up so much just to take down the man responsible for his father''s death. even if he never said it in so many words, it was clear that leonel''s grandfather''s place in his father''s heart was the same as his own father in his own.

    there might be other reasons, but this was the explanation that leonel vaguely accepted. it probably wasn''t something that most would immediately jump to.

    "... your grandmother?" the old woman spoke slowly.

    "oh!" leonel''s brows shot up. "now this is much more interesting; you actually don''t know."

    the old woman went by overlord guiliana. she was known for her poise and calm, but this situation was making it difficult even on her.

    "i''ve been wondering for a long time how all this worked, what was your goal, what purpose this all had, so i''ll get a few guesses out of the way. the least you guys can do is listen to my thoughts, right? after all, you already invited yourselves into my home."

    leonel continued without waiting for their response.

    "a long while ago, i ran into two interesting families. well, three, technically, though two are basically attached at the hip. they call themselves the radix, the midas, and the florer families. each one of them had a lineage factor that was fascinating to me.

    "one of them could breathe life into ores, making them react more like organic matter than inorganic.

    "one of them could eat fire much like we can eat metals, incorporating them into their strength and gaining strength from them.

    "and the final one had an extraordinary amount of vitality that could be applied in all sorts of unique ways."

    leonel''s palms suddenly flipped over.

    a chalice, a ball, and a flickering, undying flame. they radiated much weaker auras now than they had in the past, a consequence of passing the lineages to so many. but even so, within the walls of the morales territory, they seemed to explode with life once more, gaining a second and even third wind. of course, this was because leonel had helped them along with the morales world spirit.

    all of the ancestors present felt themselves stir, particularly those that leonel had pointed out.

    "these lineage factors didn''t seem to have much to do with our own, but i kept feeling this nagging sensation, a sensation that made me feel as though they were linked, that they might even be one in the same."

    leonel shook his head, putting the items away.

    "now, i know that these weren''t really my own thoughts. at the very least, i didn''t experience them so boldly, it was at best a kernel of suspicion i had.

    "no, the real reason i was so certain was because someone had manipulated me into believing it was so."

 Chapter 2325 United

    chapter 2325 united

    leonel scanned the room calmly. "i thought long and hard about why it was that an existence like the demoness would care so much about this matter, but then someone told me a little story, a story about godlike beings finding the human race to be extremely convenient test experiments for their paths.

    "then it all clicked for me. the morales were convenient lab rats, and my grandfather was probably a man who broke through certain barriers that the demoness was looking for. so, she chose to sire a child, a child who ended up being quite a success in my father, and she even managed to reproduce the success with my uncle.

    "but it was all so very curious. my uncle was clearly far less powerful than my father, so why was that? why would she purposely seal away one of her sons and only allow one of them to thrive?

    "i didn''t know the answer to this one either, at least not initially. but then..." leonel laughed, letting his words hang for a bit. "i bet you''re seeing a little bit of a pattern here, aren''t you? i don''t know something, and then i suddenly conveniently do. it''s enough to drive you crazy. is it really because you''re so smart, so intelligent? or is it because i''m being manipulated again?"

    seeing the glare he was getting, leonel''s smile deepened, and he didn''t seem to mind it. the charisma that exuded from him was palpable, but all these ancestors could feel was that uncomfortable uncertainty that they too were being manipulated.

    "but then," leonel continued, "i learned of the dream plane. it is worse than a two-way street, it''s a street of infinite lanes and paths, ones that can be used by a countless number of people. i wondered if the demoness was making so many moves in this small world, just how many of them could be hidden? if she could even sense her name being spoken, what could bad actors sense should they wish to do so?

    "so, she took precautions. she only allowed one of her sons to thrive. she didn''t take action when her sperm donor died. and she even split the lineage factor she was working on into several pieces until the time was ripe.

    "she buried much of her influence into the psyche of the morales, keeping many of you in the dark, splitting you into factions, stirring the confusion to the point that even you all thought you were on different sides.

    "and now, she expects me to pick up the pieces. after all, i was the one that fused her precious lineage factor into one, and i''m also the one that needs to succeed in the trial the cataclysm zone has planned for us so i can deliver myself to her in one piece.

    "she can''t have any scratches getting on me, now could she? i''m her precious lab rat-i mean, grandson. she also can''t let me risk my safety anymore than i already have, so how could she let me use my bloodline freely? that would make it possible for her enemies to sense me and that would ruin my chances of staying alive until i fell into her clutches."

    leonel''s smile was still there, but it was decidedly dark and cold. the chill in the room now had far less to do with the ancestors, and those that had yet to meet leonel before only now realized just the level of horror they were facing.

    the entirety of the morales sector seemed to bear down on them. it was the kind of heart-rending pressure that made them all want to fall to their knees.

    leonel waved a hand, and at that moment, a startled third nova appeared, causing issa''s expression to change several times. first came astonished relief, then confusion, then a hint of embarrassment, then rage, before it all came crashing down into a helpless sigh.

    he really played them all.

    "regardless of what you all think of me, i am not a bloodthirsty person, especially not toward my family. you say that i turned the human domain against you all, but i''ll say it again. the human domain is already against you all. there has been no room for negotiation ever since my father died. he was far more of a deterrent than any of you all know.

    "i would like our family to be a united front. but if you can''t trust me to do what i need to do, even after all i''ve already accomplished, then say so now. because if i learn of it later-and trust me, i will learn of it-my reaction will be as cruel and ruthless as what all the others have experienced.n-)0vж┼lbin

    "if you want to be a separate faction then, then i would allow you to be a separate faction, and i would also treat you as such."

    third nova stood blankly, not quite knowing what to say or so. he didn''t understand what was going on, but judging by the situation, leonel had succeeded in becoming patriarch. but leonel''s standing as patriarch seemed to be far beyond anything he had ever seen before.

    just why were so many ancestors gathered here, just what...

    he felt his heart tremble.

    "you... where...?" leonel gave third nova a glance, and the latter froze in place. he regretted that he had spoken immediately. he had wanted to ask about his demon companion, but... just what was this presence?

    leonel''s gaze suddenly flickered as he looked up.

    "it seems that our time has come to an end. by this time tomorrow, the human domain will be united as one. i hope that in that time, the morales will also be as united, or else i''ll have to shed the same blood here as i have outside."

    leonel stood, a halo of light descending toward him as he vanished, leaving a stunned third nova and a group of elders without the words to speak.

 Chapter 2326 Wrong Path

    chapter 2326 wrong path

    when leonel walked out of his residence, a shadow of swirling dark energies appeared over his shoulder. little blackstar''s body was almost a meter long by this point, but he still insisted on acting like he was still an infant. even so, his antics brought a smile to leonel''s face as he patted the little guy on the head.

    "how about it? did it help you out?"

    "yip!"

    leonel smiled. little blackstar still couldn''t and probably would never be able to speak human language, but that didn''t mean that the little guy hadn''t matured. leonel could sense his thoughts becoming more complex and what he wanted to express was likewise much more complex.

    the little guy was bragging again, but leonel knew the truth. little blackstar hadn''t made much progress at all. though, he had already expected this.

    little blackstar had ignored the corpse of the shadow tail and had instead focused on the void beast carcass against leonel''s recommendations. the little guy wanted to take a large leap immediately rather than taking one step at a time as was only natural.

    it seemed that aina wasn''t the only one consumed by wanting to keep up with leonel. in the past, if one were comparing talents alone, little blackstar had thought that he was even beyond leonel. after all, those days where they had first met, little blackstar had actually almost killed leonel several times.

    of course, the little one hadn''t really understood what he was doing back then, but the truth was still the same. if one had to power scale leonel and blackstar back then, the latter would have been far superior.

    since then, the reverse had become true.

    what was most amusing about it all was that the way their relationship was formed, leonel was technically the beast to blackstar''s master. they hadn''t formed it normally, and as a result, blackstar could sense leonel''s state far clearer than the latter could do the reverse.

    blackstar watched as leonel got further and further away every day, and as his thoughts grew more complex, that sort of dissatisfaction he would feel and then lash out toward little tolly with had become a strong drive to be better instead. it only made it worse that tolliver had returned with such a great boost to his power as well.

    why should he have to take one step at a time when his rival had taken such a large leap immediately?

    leonel smiled somewhat bitterly.

    in the beginning, it was true that blackstar could feel his state and hear his thoughts far clearer than he could do the reverse. back then he was so pathetic that he couldn''t even stop this troublemaker from turning him into his beast companion.

    but how could it still be the same now? blackstar''s mind might as well have been an open book to him.

    "just think about it, blackstar. you have the bloodline of a void beast within you, and i have a feeling that i was far too hasty back then, forcing you to swallow that kind of strength. you could have very easily died.

    "i''m happy that you did, but i have a feeling that i stalled your progress as a result. absorbing too much too early, instead of supplementing you, just buried what potential you had. that''s my fault as your companion, but don''t let my mistake be what keeps you anchored for so long.

    "i want you to follow me for a lifetime, so do as i say and not as i do, okay?"

    little blackstar''s large black eyes, reflecting like two beautiful marbles, blinked. his whiskers drooped a bit and his large body seemed to sink into leonel''s shoulder.

    "yip..."

    leonel smiled bitterly.

    from what he had learned in the void library, beasts progressed easier than humans, but time worked differently for them as well. little blackstar was an infant when leonel met him, and even after experiencing a 20-plus year time dilation, he was still an infant. little blackstar might have to turn a century old before he could transition into adolescence.

    leonel realized that he had been too hands off with the little guy.

    if he had never done anything to alter little blackstar''s path, he could continue to be. the problem was that he had pumped blackstar full of a bloodline that wasn''t his own, causing the usual instincts blackstar would have had toward his path forward, something innately born to him as a beast, to dull considerably.

    it was all leonel''s fault. he had messed with things he shouldn''t have when he was far too ignorant to do so, and now blackstar was suffering the consequences.nove-lb/1n

    somewhere within blackstar, there was talent and potential strong enough to consume void beast blood without dying. blackstar needed to take his time building up through the ranks, starting with the shadow tail, so that he could understand exactly what the void beast bloodline represented.

    the god beasts of destruction had built a perfect step by step plan on how to become one of them. the dark northern star lineage factor was that blueprint, and blackstar had it before him.

    once blackstar perfectly understood what was void beast within him, and what was his own talent, then he could begin to properly separate them and maximize the use of both.

    little blackstar was special, he knew that. if you could just inject void beast blood into a person and gain their abilities, then why was it that they had to experiment with humans? why not just find a whole bunch of beasts and pump them full of their bloodlines?

    and yet, he had done exactly that with little blackstar.

    suddenly, leonel''s eyes lit up. indeed, little blackstar was just an infant, or maybe a toddler by this point. why was he trying to talk to him like an adult? so, he stopped holding back, telling the little guy of something he had thought of much earlier.

    as leonel spoke, he strolled toward the battlefield as though morales territory wasn''t under threat of imminent collapse.

 Chapter 2327 Today.

    chapter 2327 today.

    "... you got it? it''ll make you really cool, i promise."

    little blackstar''s eyes lit up. when he thought about it, what leonel said made sense. he had always wanted to change shape like little tolly. that annoying bastard always got the good stuff. but if he did things like this, he really would have a chance at finally one-upping that guy.

    he was so excited that he vanished in a swirl of darkness, then came back not even a half second later to lick leonel''s face on the left, vanished again to lick him from the right, before finally disappearing into the segmented cube.

    leonel smiled.

    what he had told little blackstar was based on his speculation, but he felt that it was very close to the truth.

    the strongest ability of little blackstar, one that he had from the very beginning, was his mimicry. while it was true that leonel had triggered it with a bloodline he had traded from his uncle, that was a bloodline that was within blackstar from the start. the mimicry bat had only helped blackstar to trigger it, different from the void beast blood that threatened to alter blackstar''s path completely.

    this was only further proven with the ability that little blackstar gained after entering the seventh dimension. rather than using his ridiculous offensive power, or even using the anarchic force he had gained control of as a defensive barrier, little blackstar did something that left leonel speechless.

    during the heir wars, little blackstar had used his force to form illusions of great beasts like the dragon leonel had ridden into battle.

    of all the methods of using anarchic force, this was probably the absolute worst, and the void beast definitely didn''t have an ability like this either. the void beast was a god beast of destruction, why would it have to turn into anything else? and could it even mimic other creatures in the first place, something that was clearly a branch of creation, if it was so obviously on the path of destruction?

    it didn''t make sense, but it was also because of that that leonel was more assured in his assumption of what little blackstar''s original path was.

    the shadow tail was unironically perfect for little blackstar as a result. the amorphous, flexible blobs of darkness, that endless curtain of fog that could be anything, become anything...

    what could be better for little blackstar?

    of course, leonel couldn''t just explain things so clearly. he had been treating little blackstar as an equal from the very beginning, and that hadn''t changed. but that had skewed his perception.

    little blackstar was still a child, and should be guided as such. so, instead of talking logic, he goaded the little guy a bit.

    tolliver and blackstar had had a rivalry from the very beginning. rather than using it as a negative and trying to suppress it, he chose to do the opposite. he bet the next time blackstar came from his seclusion, the little guy would finally show some real improvement.

    ''ah, we''re here.''

    leonel looked up to find death and carnage strewn all around him. but as for how much of that was the morales, well...

    zero.

    starships of all shapes and sizes lit up the skies not with their lasers, but rather their destruction.

    leonel knew what this was, it was just the first wave. although he had seemed to just be on a light stroll, with the strength of the world spirit, he had already traveled to the edge of morales territory.

    there weren''t any powerful seventh dimensional families among their number. these were just the sixth dimensional families, riled up by the losses of their children and then goaded into action as the vanguard of this attack.

    the truly powerful ones were still watching on, but they had likely never guessed that things would be like this.

    this was just the edge of morales territory, and yet they hadn''t even managed to make much headway at all. as for why, that was all too obvious.

    the suppression of the morales territory was unlike anything the human domain had faced off against in the past. sending talents of the sixth dimension here was akin to sending lambs to the slaughter.n/-o/.v()e))1/)b.(1-)n

    not only were they suppressed, but the boost to the morales themselves was enormous.

    even at the worst, many of the morales fought easily three tiers above their strength, which was a watershed in any dimension.

    some of the more talented morales, who could communicate with their constellation on a deeper level, could fight upward of an entire dimension above.

    to make matters worse, the morales was only strengthening every day.

    usually, just taking over one territory would have a slow process. but combining the slow process of over a dozen territories, two of which were on the same level as the morales, had large cumulative effects.

    since the first attack, the morales world spirit had strengthened by at least 10% already, and the longer this war dragged out, the stronger the effects would be. though... leonel had no intention of dragging things out.

    he knew that they would realize that they didn''t have much of a choice. after all, if they did nothing as the morales bided their time and grew stronger, one day they would die anyway. they would come. once they understood that using these few sixth dimensional families as cannon fodder would be useless, they would attack.

    so... leonel thought that he might as well help them out.

    a gentle light of silvery gold illuminated his emulation spatial force innate node. the light wafted from the back of his neck, growing fiercer and fiercer.

    he stretched his hands out and countless clones appeared, each one raising two hands into the mock form of a bow without one in sight.

    even so, the bow force energies of the world began to accumulate even as the clones continued to appear.

    thousands, then millions, then billions, then hundreds of billions.

    if one had a mind as sharp as leonel, it would be possible to see that he had formed the exact number of clones he needed to match the changing experts of the sixth dimensional families and organizations...

    and then he sentenced them all to death.

    the skies were washed in a blinding golden curtain of arrows and the battlefield fell into silence.

    "this battle... there''s no need for any more morales blood to be shed. i will fight it alone."

    this battle for the human domain would end today.

 Chapter 2328 He Too...

    chapter 2328 he too...

    the deaths came in a single, world-ending tidal wave. in one moment, the battlefield was flooded with sounds of battle, and in the next, it was like a god had descended from above, snapping his fingers and ending it all in an instant.

    "if you want to challenge the morales, i would advise you to bring the best you have."

    gravity warped and flexed, several tier 1 starships appearing on the horizon. in fact, several wasn''t enough to describe it, there was easily a fleet of hundreds. the number was more than leonel thought possible.

    tier 2 starships already took up a great amount of resources. the wealth required couldn''t even be counted in terms of normal numbers, and rather had to be assessed with the revenue of capital cities instead. but even then, what was required to form tier 1 starships was orders of magnitude beyond.

    according to leonel''s calculations, the human domain shouldn''t only be capable of producing two dozen tier 1 starships. this number was almost ten times that.

    leonel''s lip curled. the only explanation was that the omann family hadn''t just improved the design of tier 2 starships, they had made a huge stride in improving tier 1 starships as well.

    this wasn''t surprising to leonel, it was within his expectations at odds about about 60%. why would a family like the omann family waste their best trump card on the heir wars unless they had a trump card that was even better? the only reason he hadn''t assigned an even higher probability was because it was potentially true that the omann''s had found his death to be a worthy exchange. he was the link between the only two eighth dimensional worlds of the human domain, after all.

    but even so, this was a bit outside of his expectations. this meant that the breakthroughs of the omanns on the crafting front were beyond what he had thought of them.

    he still believed himself to be the best crafter of this incomplete world, but compared to the omanns had had spent too little time at that level. just months ago, he didn''t have the capability of improving the tier 2 starships like cynthia had, he had to rely on his enlightened self to do so. improving tier 1 starships was even further beyond him.

    even so, he didn''t change his plans. his clones vanished in a blink and he clasped his hands behind his back, standing before the strength and power of the whole human domain.

    at that moment, he couldn''t help but close his eyes and take a deep breath through his nose. the feelings within him were complex, not because he feared losing, not because he was worried about the outcome, but because of how far he had come, and yet how far he still felt that he had to go.

    with his memory, he could remember being 17 years old as though it was just yesterday. so much had happened since he was thrust into that mayan zone. he had bled, he had lost, and most importantly, he had climbed.

    for most of it, he was aimless, without purpose and without drive. he never really felt the need to find what his drive might be either. and yet, he never really felt the emptiness that should have come from that.

    humans weren''t meant to be aimless. it didn''t sit well with them, it led to a pit of darkness that even the people with the greatest opinions of themselves couldn''t easily climb out with.

    now that he was finally free of those chains that had bound him for so long, he really wanted to think about it. what drove him? what did he want to get up every day and do? now that he could truly know what freedom was...

    he smiled, his eyes still closed.

    was little blackstar the only infant here?

    if he took a step back, his current mental state had probably stagnated at 17 years old as that was the day earth left the third dimension and the influence of his future self descended.

    if he took another step back, even if he never increased his strength, he could easily live for hundreds of years. so how old could he even really be counted as right now?

    he guessed that maybe he deserved to be a bit aimless right now.

    no, he wasn''t aimless, not in the same sense as before. instead, he was looking, searching with an open mind and all the potential in the world at his fingertips.

    he might as well aim high, right?n((ovelbin

    ''you never wanted to be a quarterback anyway!''

    those words echoed in his mind. they had been said by james all those years ago.

    indeed, he had never wanted to be a quarterback. all his life, his next step had been chosen by others. whether it was the genetic assessment of earth, his future self, his terrible grandmother, even his father to some extent.

    every step had been chosen for him or forced.

    leonel angled his face upward. even with his eyes closed, he felt that he could sense it, the looming presence of the northern star. it was everywhere, and yet located in just one place...

    the end of all things.

    ''i think... i''d like to lay eyes on that, one day. not because i think you''d be beautiful, though maybe you would be, in a sense. i just want to understand...''

    what was a common thread linking every choice he had made? at the very least, what was the underlying philosophy?

    when he had chosen to be a king, it was because he couldn''t understand how to value a life. when he gave up on being a king during the heir wars, it was because his concept of the equivalency of every life had collapsed.

    ultimately, he never really cared about life itself, he wasn''t cut out to be some holy saint or savior, he was too selfish.

    what guided him forward was his will to know, his will to understand, his will to grasp the truths of the world.

    leonel''s heart beat once and the echo roared across the human domain.

    he too... was a wise star order.

    a stream of golden light radiated out from leonel.

 Chapter 2329 Wise Star Order

    chapter 2329 wise star order

    leonel felt a level of strength coursing through his veins unlike anything before. this wasn''t because he had suddenly gained a large influx of energy. if anything, it was the exact opposite of that. the energy in his body was decidedly less, or rather... the energy that he could sense and feel was.

    as though greedy and finally feeling that they were being put to proper use, leonel''s cells greedily absorbed light force and star force from all directions, and then in an odd turn of events, it likewise began to swallow large amounts of dark force on top of that.

    leonel heard the words wise star order echo in his mind, and he was surprised. he had stated himself to be a wise star order even before he understood the implications. it was as though the title had been buried deep within his soul and had only been waiting for a moment to burst through.

    and the instant it did, his lineage factors, while remaining the same, somehow also grew leagues more powerful, jumping forward in efficiency by leaps and bounds.

    he had always felt that his fire force and dream force affinities were beyond all of his other talents, the latter of which was quite a measure beyond even the former. but now, he felt like his light force and star force affinities were making movements of their own, rising up until the point they actually began to match his fire force affinity.

    things that he hadn''t been able to quite understand in the past suddenly became as open as a book, and soon afterward, his dark force affinity caught up as well.

    large swaths of destructive aura exuded from leonel as he made a breakthrough in his scarlet star force with a mere thought. in that instant, it stepped a half foot into the impetus state.

    his fire force affinity had always been nigh impossible to match by most he came across, but ultimately, scarlet star force was formed of three legs, not just one. there was fire force, star force, and light force.

    and now, with the power of all three gently bobbing in his hands, the complex runes he hadn''t been able to see through took shape in his mind as clearly as if he had drawn them himself.

    at the same time, a memory within himself unlocked, and he recalled.

    "ah, yes... this was a feeling he had felt before, or rather... a feeling that his enlightened self had felt. it was no wonder he was able to become a starry tailed fox back then so easily, it was no wonder he had been able to draw all of those runes on his innate node, it was no wonder...

    his enlightened self had already felt what it meant to be a wise star order, what it meant to cross that final barrier and become the man the god beasts of creation had bestowed the right of bookkeeping to."

    it was then that leonel also came to understand something else.

    "when he first began his journey, he thought that his insane dream force affinity came from his ability index. when he learned of his so-called grandmother, he believed that it came from her bloodline instead. but now, he understood the true root.

    his dream force affinity, his greatest reliance and an affinity he couldn''t properly scale even if he wanted to... an affinity that even the god races would likely be unable to scale, wasn''t a product of just one series of factors at all. rather... it was a combination of everything.

    his ability index. his bloodlines. his title. and, likely the result of his future self reaching such an unprecedented level of control in the dream plane that he came to benefit from it.

    he was an anomaly, a series of coincidences brought to a head in a single body.

    a race of sovereign demons. the experiments of the god beasts. and the natural inborn talent of an ability index that could be summarized in a single word.

    control."

    the morales territory rumbled and began to change. at that moment, in the core of the planet leonel stood upon, large waves of dream force began to take shape, taking hold of the large sums of force, bending them and then beginning to mold them into a force art that any expert would recognize quite clearly...

    "the protective formation of the spirituals religion."

    the planet rumbled as dust particles began to flutter wildly, dust particles that were none other than the solidified manifestation of force.n--o/.v/-e//l--b(/1.(n

    leonel punched out a single time and the world froze.

    "a hole the size of a planet was torn through a tier 1 starship. the strength of the fist traveled across a distance that could be measured only in light years, and yet it didn''t lose its strength in the slightest.

    leonel, who had been patiently waiting for his enemies to get into range, no longer needed to. or, rather... his range had increased to the point that everything else was superfluous.

    they had already entered his domain."

    he punched out again, and then again.

    "every time he did so, the hearts of the morales below would feel as though they were being crushed, and yet the excitement in their eyes was palpable.

    when leonel said that he would fight alone, they had hesitated, they had been wary of what this would truly mean. was their patriarch overestimating himself a bit too much?

    but their questions were answered instantaneously.

    it was far too far to hear anything, and they couldn''t even feel the deaths of the families that had been their competition for millennia. but that only made it all the more surreal.

    tier 1 starships, the greatest offensive firepower of the human domain, couldn''t even get close beneath leonel''s might.

    one after another, fireworks echoed and large shockwaves resonated. it would take several days for them to even reach the planet, but by then would it matter? what could get beyond leonel''s formation?"

 Chapter 2330 Destroyed

    chapter 2330 destroyed

    the final sight of many was nothing more than a blinding flash of light. never did they think that their lives would end so simply, so cruelly. and yet, this was the reality of the world.

    these large families knew this. just how many had they snuffed out just like this on their rise to power? too many. and not a single one of them were acknowledged in the annals of their history, not a single soul.

    the reality that they would become one such existence in a long line of many only barely sunk in before they were crushed.

    leonel stood high in the skies, shaking his head. he had been looking forward to this battle, but the moment he had heard that voice in his head, he knew that it was a waste of time to have cared so much.

    the truth was that in morales territory, he was, indeed, invincible. however, it was all relative.

    after he gained access to the dream plane, his ability to control the world spirit of the morales and their constellation had reached an entirely new level, and the him of then could defeat the him of before without even breaking a sweat.

    once he sensed that he was a wise star order, though, the largest changes weren''t to his affinities at all, or even his lineage factors for that matter. rather, it was to his mind.

    the cells that had most greedily swallowed the surrounding dark, light, and star force were the neurons of his brain.

    in truth, by this point in his advancement, leonel had already begun to stray away from what his body alone could provide him, at least when it came to matters of his mind. he found it much more important to strengthen his dream force and increase his intelligence that way, than to think about the pathways of his physical brain.

    but it seemed that he had underestimated the use of the body a bit too much. there was clearly much he still had to learn.

    if he thought about it, though, this made perfect sense. why was it that separating the soul from the body was so important if the body didn''t also play a great and important role?

    the unfortunate part, though, was that he didn''t get his battle.

    while his dream force hadn''t improved, with the sudden super powering of his mind, his efficiency in its use had skyrocketed. as a result, he was able to fully copy the formation of the spirituals in an instant, then use the morales world spirit to amplify its function.

    like that, he was able to launch an attack that surpassed the bounds of their current solar system and crushed the tier 1 starships in its wake.

    he had an inkling of what these families wanted to do. they were likely biding their time, being cautious, they probably had several more waves of warriors to send forward just to probe the situation.

    leonel also didn''t believe that these families would go down without a fight. he was about as strong as his father before velasco broke into the ninth dimension back then, or at least the power his father had displayed.

    from leonel''s understanding, it was likely that his father had maybe used a percent or two of his strength while at the pinnacle of the eighth dimension. he probably had the strength to kill king without breaking into the ninth dimension.

    the reason his father had been forced to breakthrough, and thus withstood the backlash as a result, was because his attack needed to make it through a restriction of worlds and still be strong enough to kill king on the other side.

    this aside, leonel believed that he was at least as powerful as what his father had displayed in the eighth dimension with the support of the morales territory, bolstered by his king''s might lineage factor, the world spirit, and their constellation. at least this was true before he became a wise star order.

    the power his father had displayed back then was powerful, but not infallible. it could easily crush overlords, and deal with a few tier 2 starships, but it couldn''t easily deal with tier 1 starships. that would have required several plans and schemes on his part, not to mention a deep understanding of crafting.

    by his simulations, he would have needed to withstand the destruction of at least 25% of morales territory before he would come out victorious, 50% if shield cross stars or the godlen family managed to take out something that really surprised him.

    of course, he still had every intention of coming out victorious and he wasn''t very worried.

    but even he couldn''t expect that he wouldn''t even need to risk so much. all of his enemies had been crushed by a sudden breakthrough.

    leonel looked up. it seemed that state of mind was more important than he knew... that and that mysterious karma-like energy el''rion mentioned.

    it looked like he still had a lot to learn.

    vast bubble.

    a young woman, with her head buried in a well of water, suddenly shot back up, gasping for breath.

    she regained her calm quickly, but she still felt her heart beating out of her chest. she had only been in the water for what must have been a split second of a split second in this world, but she had experienced many months, and the result made her feel completely drained as though she had truly experienced the entire time underwater.

    if leonel had been present, he would recognize this person immediately.

    cynthia omann. the scorned queen beauty.n/.o.-v.)e./1.(b--1)(n

    but what was she doing here, exactly?

    "you''ve seen what you needed to see?" a voice came.

    "my family has been destroyed."

    the voice stopped, not having expected this. in truth, this was quite embarrassing. they had promised cynthia that the warning was silly, and even gave her a chance to observe, but the result...

    cynthia slowly wiped the water from her face.

    "you can begin the selection now. i would truly like to see how far he can go."

 Chapter 2331 Mere Mortals

    chapter 2331 mere mortals

    "are you sure?" the voice asked. "i doubt that everyone in your family has perished. they will be swept up in this matter as well, especially those of the junior generation. i can allow you some time to return and handle what you must."

    "no," cynthia said, quite curtly.

    she couldn''t return, there would be no point. so long as leonel had the support of the morales territory, she would be sending herself to death.

    with the experts of the various territories mostly dead, there was nothing that could be done to change the situation, and she wasn''t yet strong enough to cover the skies with a hand. on top of that, the smaller the population of experts, the faster the territories that leonel had conquered would be assimilated.

    just in this brief conversation, several months would have passed. if she took the time to send herself in, it might even be years. by that point, leonel would be even stronger than he was now and he might have already conquered the entire incomplete world.

    if that happened, she wouldn''t just be sending herself to death, she was sending herself in to be absolutely humiliated.

    she had already experienced that once, she would not experience it again.

    "your family will be unlikely to be treated well," the voice continued, trying just one last time.n(-o(.v)/e-.l--b.(i--n

    in truth, they felt quite bad. not long ago, they had told cynthia that just a single person couldn''t overturn things in an incomplete world, especially not after making an enemy out of everyone, but the situation flipped on its head seconds later.

    they would prefer if cynthia had warm and good emotions about them instead of potentially holding a grudge. but after cynthia spoke again... she could only let the matter go.

    "those that i bring here won''t be able to survive. they''ll live out terrible existences and always be under the thumb of another. i, myself, am not powerful enough to shield them, in fact, i might be the reason they were instead targeted.

    "only those among them that have the strength to climb up on their own and survive the coming trial should come. the rest of them... i would have preferred if they could have stayed in the incomplete world, but i understand that that won''t be possible.

    "a, hopefully, quick and swift death is the best thing i can afford those who are not prepared."

    she hadn''t been here for long, not even mere moments, but she had already sensed many things.

    the suppression in this world was greater than even the void battlefield. anyone just born in this environment would be countless times stronger.

    and she was very much correct. when leonel first entered the vast bubble, he hadn''t even been able to defeat those that lived in the outskirts in tribes and small clans. any one of those people, if placed in the void palace, would be guaranteed to become a domain ranked disciple.

    cynthia''s words were cruel, but they were the harsh reality.

    "... while you do that, though," cynthia suddenly said when the voice thought she was finished. "this should be the cataclysm zone that the youths of my world were sent to, correct? in that case, you should have some information on him, no? can i have that?"

    mauve looked out into this distance, still standing within the godlen garden. from time to time, he would mumble something unintelligible beneath his breath and then shake his head in exasperation.

    "it''s time to go," matriarch pyius'' voice drifted over.

    mauve frowned. "are we really going to go, just like this? i''ve yet to teach that brat a lesson."

    "how old are you?"

    "fuck you."

    "i guess i should report this sort of insubordination. you''ve gotten too free and loose with your tongue."

    "did you just forget that i''m your elder brother?" mauve asked with exasperation.

    "you look like you should be my grandfather instead, but you act like you''re my son."

    mauve ran a hand down his face. "this is what i get for volunteering to come to this godforsaken, time-dilated, shit hole."

    "i would have volunteered myself if i knew you would waste our efforts like this. come, there''s no time to lose. not every plan can go perfectly, and it''s time that we return.

    "you''ll have your chance to get back at the child. after all, without us, even if he does defy all odds and places first among all these incomplete worlds, how will he survive?

    "the dream pavilion and the cult have lost quite heavily at his hands. they won''t let him survive without a heavy price."

    mauve''s eyes lit up when he heard this. indeed, there would be a chance after all. he barely stopped himself from rubbing his hands together when he thought about leonel being forced to ask for his help.

    well... it wouldn''t be his help, but rather the help of the godlen family. but, that was just semantics.

    leonel shook his head. maybe he had been a bit anxious, those tier 1 materials could have been useful. well, it was fine even if everything else was destroyed so long as their fusion cores were still fine. with them, he would be able to do everything he needed to.

    and that he did. leonel didn''t know exactly what was coming, but his goal stayed the same. once he finished consolidating matters in the human domain, he would march onto the other domains.

    what he didn''t know was that he wouldn''t even get the chance.

    not even a day later, leonel received a message. to his shock, it was actually from his grandfather, emperor fawkes.

    leonel had been avoiding the topic of earth for a while now. on one hand, he wanted to unify the human domain, but on the other, he didn''t know if his grandfather would just hand earth to him and he also didn''t know how he felt about waging war against his own kin.

    when he entered the ascension empire''s palace for the first time in a long while, he found his grandfather waiting.

    however, he didn''t even get a chance to speak before the whole dimensional verse rumbled as though it might split at the seams.

    "prepare for combat, mere mortals. fight for a chance to serve the gods."

    a voice blanketed reality itself, seeping into their very pores.

 Chapter 2332 Downfall

    chapter 2332 downfall

    leonel looked up into the skies and sneered. they had some nerve calling themselves gods, but he guessed that this made sense. their goal would be to subdue the powerhouses that came out. unless they formed an image that would demand absolute obedience, they''d have to expend too much effort keeping them in line.

    this is what those four great families did best. they hid the truth, making them seem infallible when in reality, they were weak.

    they had done it with the ranking system of the demons. leonel wouldn''t even be surprised if all the demons he and aina had come across in that world weren''t even worth ranking to the true demon empires of greater existence.

    they had done with force manipulation, not wanting talents to rise up and question their rule or their methods. force manipulation was the way those without talent could rise up in the world and form methods of power for themselves. keeping such methods hidden away was sinister beyond compare.

    they had done so with the various lineage factor tablets. if not for leonel''s bloodline, how could he have ever gotten his hands on the emperor''s might tablet?

    he did, though, get a small bit of satisfaction wondering how they had reacted to this sudden change. they had probably panicked when they learned that he had taken the tablet.

    but that wasn''t something that he had to worry about for now. he knew how shameless those four great families could be and he understood their methods quite well. it was probably because of their methods that they were in this situation to begin with.

    if they hadn''t suppressed their populations for so long and with such great effort, would they need to rely on the breakthroughs of geniuses of incomplete worlds to help them out of their predicaments?

    but those fools probably didn''t even see the error of their ways, and if they managed to survive this, they probably never would.

    "so, old man, you''ve finally decided to call and explain things to me?"

    emperor fawkes looked down from the skies, his expression just the same as always. his eyes carried a hint of a confident smile and he seemed unbothered by any and all things.

    "old man? what an endearing term. so you don''t want to kill me?"

    these words didn''t seem like they were exchanged between a grandson and grandfather at all, but since when was the relationship between these two anything like the norm?

    "kill you? i thought about it. but then i learned some things."

    "ah, so you know i could shatter your existence with a flick of my finger. it''s good that you do."

    leonel chuckled. "even if i knew that, it wouldn''t matter. if i had the intent to kill you, i''d find a way."

    "mm, maybe, or maybe not. you''re not the only intelligent being in all of existence. don''t mistake these rabble you''ve been playing around with and anyone worthy of your attention. that cynthia character is passable, and yet she was already able to put you in quite a bad situation, don''t you think?"

    leonel''s brows raised before they relaxed.

    "so it was her? mother should have killed her already. she''s needlessly... well, needy."

    emperor fawkes broke into an uproarious laughter.

    "she did die. unfortunately for you, she was revived."n)/0velbin

    leonel didn''t seem too surprised by this. if he could resurrect seventh dimensional existences of this world with impunity, then he was sure that someone could do the same with someone of the eighth, especially if a golden version of his silver tablet existed.

    emperor fawkes, though, shook his head.

    "i''m afraid that you''ve misunderstood. her resurrection wasn''t at the hands of anyone. she simply returned because existence willed it."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed, but emperor fawkes only smiled as though he was satisfied with this explanation alone.

    "next time you meet her, i advise that you be careful. if you''re as carefree and arrogant as you usually are, you''ll suffer another loss. she might not necessarily need to scheme against you either, the strength she has will only grow exponentially from here on out and i would be wary of that."

    "interesting."

    emperor fawkes smiled. "you''re no fun."

    leonel clearly didn''t have any intention of asking more questions, and that left emperor fawkes a bit helpless. whether it was that son-in-law of his or this grandson of his, they were both so stubborn.

    but then again, wasn''t he the same?

    "then, i guess as your grandfather i should tell you some things. you''ve met the pluto race, i take it?"

    "i have." leonel nodded.

    "still confident, are we?"

    "i''ll never lack that," leonel said with a grin.

    "good. in this world, we humans might be lowly, but we have our own bite."

    "spoken like a true emperor."

    "an emperor that will rule all humans one day and lead them up to the world of gods."

    emperor fawkes'' voice was far softer now than it had been before, and yet the conviction made it ring loud.

    when leonel heard this, he realized just how much he hadn''t really cared about becoming a king in the past. the will in his grandfather''s voice wasn''t something that he had, at least not toward this matter.

    and maybe that was why emperor fawkes had just chuckled when leonel challenged his throne. he had known from the very beginning that this wasn''t the path his grandson yearned for.

    "as you know by now, the fawkes family was once far more powerful than it is now. we led true empires and we were the only humans with the ability to stand shoulder to shoulder with the envoys of the god beasts.

    "unfortunately, we fell, and it wasn''t because of the attacks of other races like you may or may not have guessed. our downfall was far more sinister than that as we fell to none other than our own kind.

    "feeling that the fawkes were too powerful after the fall of the envoys, and that our existence would antagonize that of the other races too much, leading to the downfall of the human race...

    "it was humans that shattered our foundations and orchestrated our downfall."

 Chapter 2333 His Fate

    chapter 2333 his fate

    leonel''s eyes narrowed when he heard this. the implication wasn''t far off from his assumptions, but it also wasn''t that close either. after hearing about humans and some of the politics that decided things in wider existence, leonel had always somewhat assumed that the fawkes had fallen due to the combined efforts of other races. that might still be the case now, but it seemed that their part was more subtle and covert.

    but this also meant something else. humans, at least the humans of back then, even without the envoys of the god beasts, weren''t complete pushovers either. that meant quite a few things, whether that meant explaining why his grandfather was so cautious, or how he''d decide to take his next steps forward as well.

    "the details of that matter aren''t something you need to know. i''m sure in time you''ll unearth them yourself and we also don''t have much time."

    "well, whose fault is that?" leonel asked.

    emperor fawkes chuckled. "you''re still saying that after learning how the dream plane works?"

    "do you just spend your time spying on me, old man?"

    "and why not? can a grandfather not pay some attention to his grandson?"

    "why does it feel so gross when you say that? like it''s some sort of sick power play? it''s not as though i chose who to be related to, you''re a little too arrogant."

    emperor fawkes got a good laugh out of that. this grandson of his was indeed a little too sharp. it was a bit like that... though, he doubted the current leonel would understand why fully.

    "that aside, i''m sure you understand that there''s some things that are better kept to yourself, and there''s also some things that you can''t mention without alerting those who have the greatest karmic ties to the matter. if not for you making a sudden breakthrough in your dream force, i would have allowed you to leave here steeped in ignorance.

    "but even if you have taken that step, it doesn''t make you infallible. i still have to be cautious with what i can and cannot say."

    leonel nodded slowly, understanding. he had already understood this, of course. but this grandfather of his loved his power plays. since he realized that leonel wouldn''t go out of his way to ask questions of him, he instead made the decision to explain things clearly instead.

    it was a bit amusing, actually, because this was exactly how el''rion had reacted as well. was his demeanor really that annoying?

    "what i can tell you is that the human race of wider existence is separated into three main powers currently, all three of which you have met. though, soon enough, it will likely be just two as your father has cost one of them a devastating loss.

    "those three powers are the cult, the godlens and the dream pavilion."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    the godlens and the dream pavilion weren''t too much of a surprise. it was more of a surprise that the four great families weren''t among the listed as it had seemed that the dream pavilion was beneath the four great families in the cataclysm zone.

    but beyond that, the cult was the most surprising. wasn''t one of its founders a demon? and wasn''t another one born in an incomplete world? how was this one of the pillar powers of the human race? it didn''t make any sense.

    also, how did shield cross stars relate to all of this? were they just the outward face of the three finger cult after all?

    but his grandfather didn''t say anything. it seemed that these details were among the few that he couldn''t go into too deeply.

    that made sense. in the past, before he transformed his dream force and entered the impetus state, leonel couldn''t even think about the demoness without sensing her eyes drift toward him.

    of course, just the fact he could sense a hint of her attention to begin with went to show just how amazing his dream force affinity was, but it was still uncomfortable, feeling as though someone could take a look into your mind whenever they wanted.

    this aside, if they started talking about these details in earnest, leonel wasn''t yet strong enough to stave it off entirely.

    "i cannot give you more details than this: "the four great families are not to be trusted. the dream pavilion will never be as fragile as they seem. the godlens are the most aligned with goals that you might describe as... the greater good. the cult can be used. and your best chance at survival is the dream pavilion."

    leonel blinked when he heard all of this. it felt like his grandfather was talking absolute nonsense.

    the four great families weren''t to be trusted? well, wasn''t that obvious? it wasn''t like he would come to them with hat in hand hopping for some handouts. if for no other reason than aina, at the very least, the brazinger family couldn''t be allowed to continue to exist.

    the dream pavilion isn''t fragile seemed like another obvious one.

    the godlens were... good?

    the cult could be used was another head scratcher, and on top of that, if the godlens were good, then why was his best chance for survival the dream pavilion instead?

    hadn''t king been the head of the dream pavilion? shouldn''t they be his greatest enemies?

    wait, how did he know that?

    leonel''s pupils constricted. this matter was far more complicated than he knew, and fawkes was clearly driving that home.

    "what will happen to this incomplete world?" leonel finally asked a question.

    "i will be taking it with me."

    "and you aren''t asking me to go with you because?"

    "you''re an annoyance."

    leonel''s lip twitched. he knew that this wasn''t the real answer, but shouldn''t this old man be a bit more mature in this situation? unbelievable.n--o./v-)e(.l/(b-.i./n

    "i will be taking your grandmother and your mother with me."

    leonel looked up and met his grandfather''s eyes, then eventually nodded. he doubted his mother would be very happy about it, but he also doubted that she would get much of a choice in the matter too.

    he much preferred things to be like this.

    "your cousin, however, will be with you. whether he lives or dies, will be decided by his fate."

 Chapter 2334 Again?

    chapter 2334 again?

    emperor fawkes looked toward leonel deeply, but couldn''t quite read anything on his face. this grandson of his used to be an open book, but after just ten years, he was already so closed off and guarded already. such was the weight of existence.

    "nothing else to ask me?"

    leonel''s lips curled. "there''s not much to say. my gramps is a useless schmuck who can''t even allow me the leisure of being a useless, second generation, nouveau riche, brat. i hope you feel ashamed."

    emperor fawkes was speechless for a moment before he burst into a fit of laughter.

    "look at this guy, having the time of his life," leonel shook his head. "at least give me some treasures."

    "what treasures could you possibly need? the emperor''s might lineage is already with you, that''s already the most valuable thing i can give you."

    "if you''re cheap just say so. who''re you trying to fool?"

    "you''re not going to con me out of my wealth, brat. if a man can''t make his own way, what worth does he have."

    "you know, that''s not very progressive of you to say, and quite sexist."

    "if you had your balls snipped, just say that."

    leonel didn''t even know what to say to that. wasn''t this supposed to be a dignified emperor? now he was talking about his grandson''s balls?

    but emperor fawkes didn''t seem to care as he stood his feet. his aura was quite imposing, and it was almost too easy for leonel to forget, most because he didn''t feel any of its pressure. he had no doubt that his grandfather was quite powerful, at the very least powerful enough to set out what he meant to do.

    by extension, emperor fawkes probably wanted him to go to the dream pavilion because it would help the old man in whatever endeavor he was trying to accomplish.

    leonel still didn''t know much about this grandfather of his, but he felt that he understood his personality well enough. he was a ruthless man, one with drive and purpose. there was nothing that could shake his resolve, even that was his very own family. in fact, leonel had no real certainty, but he was fairly certain that even getting married and having children was no more than a means to an end for emperor fawkes.

    as for whether that meant his grandfather was an enemy or not, leonel didn''t really know. at the very least, for now, he wasn''t.

    leonel looked away from his grandfather and toward the tall ceilings of the palace. he guessed that he wanted to see more of the world, and while he was at it... he would conveniently destroy all those that had forced the hand of his father.

    the dream pavilion was the best chance of him surviving? so what? king might be dead, but he didn''t believe for a moment that he was the only one responsible.

    the godlens were on the side of good? so what? who knew what they had done for the "greater good", how many sacrifices they had allowed, how many good people they had allowed to fall, all for the sake of their own visions?

    the four great families weren''t to be trusted? good enough, he would just make it so that no one could make that mistake again.

    as for the cult, that grandmother of his would get what was coming to her. it might not be in a year, it might not even be in ten, or a hundred, but one day he would look down with that same, sick, twisted smile as she watched her efforts be wasted.

    leonel looked back down to find that his grandfather was standing right before him, barely two feet.

    he realized that his grandfather was actually quite tall, an inch taller than even himself who was already 6''9", and yet he didn''t emit that sort of perception until it was too late.

    a finger tapped leonel''s forehead before he could react and a bomb seemed to go off within him.

    his mind went entirely blank.

    when leonel regained his senses, he found himself standing in a bubble. outside the bubble, there was nothing but a vast blackness, until there wasn''t. one after another, more bubbles began to appear, each one with a different person within.

    ''what the hell happened?''

    leonel felt that he had lost several hours of time. his ability index was sharp, and his comprehension of his body was great. just by checking the energy levels of his cells, he could tell how long he had been unconscious. it was more than half a day.

    as for where he was, he thought he had a pretty good guess as well. this place was the selection. the event had begun already and he didn''t even have time to properly prepare.

    he looked down at himself and he was wearing the same clothing. his finger still had anastasia on it, at least, which was the first sign of good news. but even so, just what had happened? what did that old man do to him?

    ''hm?''

    leonel''s body timer clicked again.

    this time, it wasn''t that the time was too long, but rather the exact opposite. how had he gone through so many thoughts and scenarios in such a short time? his speed of thought was almost three times faster than he remembered it being.

    inside his body, he even felt like there was another realm within. inside, there was a man in a lack of blood, surrounded by broken chains. and yet, he was moving at all.

    ''what the he...''

    leonel''s thoughts were cut off again as his bubble began to move with lightning quickness, rushing through the bounds of reality alongside the others near him until they all suddenly popped at once and they were flung through the stars.

    ''is it that?'' leonel thought.

    aina had mentioned his father had a seal of sorts on his mind, had his grandfather lifted it? or was it something else?

    ''shit.''n(.ovelbin

    leonel found himself tumbling through the skies, but worse than that, looking down at himself, he was truly at a loss for words as those that fell from the popped bubbles alongside him suddenly began to charge up their attacks.

    why was he in the fifth dimension again?

 Chapter 2335 True Sailor

    chapter 2335 true sailor

    leonel didn''t know how to react to this immediately. he even assumed that his grandfather had screwed him over for a moment, before he tossed that train of thought away. unless emperor fawkes had stolen his progress, what good did it do him to harm leonel in this way?

    it was possible that he wanted to use leonel as a scapegoat, but that was such a stupid idea that leonel couldn''t even quite take it seriously. he refused to believe that there was anyone in his lineage that stupid. least of all his grandfather who had a decent opinion of.

    plus, even with his original power, even he wouldn''t say with 100% certainty that this selection event would be a breeze. he had met those geniuses of the other incomplete worlds during his spear domain trial, and they were all so powerful even though they couldn''t use their various race-related abilities.

    and those were just the spear domain geniuses. what about the other domain ring geniuses? or what about the geniuses that didn''t rely on the domain rings at all?

    they definitely weren''t to be underestimated, which was why leonel had wanted to have time to prepare, and yet he hadn''t been given that grace at all!

    ''damned old man.''

    in addition, if the seal on him had been undone, how could he be weaker? his speed of thought was so much faster as well and he felt that everything was still in the palm of his hands.

    ''maybe i should deal with this situation first...''

    leonel looked toward the attacks coming toward him and shook his head. these people were weak, pathetically so.

    he understood, though. even if there were some of the incomplete worlds that would be absolute monsters, the law of averages still applied. for there to be a few monsters, there would have to be quite a number of garbage dumps for wider existence to have the poor opinions of incomplete worlds that they did.

    that meant that the vast majority of those thrown into this life-death battle would be like the weaklings of the human domain who couldn''t even make it into the void palace.

    the only reason that they had attacked him so boldly was because they sensed that he was only in the fifth dimension and thought that he was an easy target.

    he somewhat lazily stretched out a finger, ready to blast a hole through them all with a strand of spear force.

    ''hm, but for them to be so eager to kill me, could there be some sort of point system? i wouldn''t even know about such rules because of that damned old man. maybe i should keep one of them alive just to ask...''

    leonel readied his attack and then his expression changed.

    ''son of-''

    bang!

    leonel was consumed by the attacks on all sides.

    ...

    "i killed him. all of you scram!"

    one of the "experts" barked as a tally appeared above his head before blinking out. however, none of the others even paid him any heed.

    just now, they had all gained somewhat of an understanding of each other''s attack strength, and no one was far above the other.

    leonel had been right, there was indeed a point system that tallied kills, and just now, above the head of the one that had just barked out these orders, a young man with horns that ran from his nose to the very top of his head and back down his spine, a flashing 1 had appeared.

    however, this was just one of the benefits of a kill.

    every kill would net you a +1 not to mention the kill count of the one you had slaughtered, except for those so-called "seeded participants". but the true boon would be what was left behind after the death of the person.

    somehow, the gods that had sent them here had the ability to turn the participants into quasi-invalid type existences.n)/o)(v-.e-)l(.b()1()n

    when invalids were killed, their strength was turned into motes of light and those motes of light would, in turn, strengthen the one that had killed them.

    usually, it was said that this was a way to balance out the creation of new worlds. the newer the world, the more invalids there would be, and thus the faster the progress of the world. this would make it so that those that had just survived the dimensional descent would be able to somewhat compete with the other fourth dimensional worlds around them and not be immediately swallowed up.

    at least, this was what those of the various incomplete worlds had spread as the truth. either way, these gods were able to convert even humans in the same way, and that gave them all a chance to benefit.

    the difference was that the person that had landed the kill wouldn''t immediately benefit from their kill, so why would they listen to this horned young man''s barks?

    they all landed on the ground heavily, some in sorrier states than others. they all warily looked toward one another, no one willing to make a move. that was, until one of them suddenly felt that something was off.

    this young woman, with skin the color of caramel and eyes as bright as pink diamonds felt her heart shake. she had a sensory type ability index and the only reason she didn''t run immediately was because doing so when no one else was would draw undue attention to herself. it would be easier if she watched them fight it out, and then slipped away in the chaos.

    she was sharp. that was why she noticed that there wasn''t just one person that was missing among their large group of just over a dozen...

    there were two.

    the smoke cleared in the dry landscape, and soon they saw two corpses laying on the ground, one faced down and the other looking up at the skies, wide-eyed as though he had died with unwillingness.

    but then this second "corpse" began to move, curse words flying from his mouth like a true sailor.

 Chapter 2336 Dont Let Me Find You

    chapter 2336 don''t let me find you

    leonel kicked the corpse that was beside him away, the curse words still flying from his mouth. this was unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

    right when he was about to attack to kill all of these people at once, he felt a heart-rending pain tear through him. the last time he had felt that kind of pain, it was back when his bow force had progressed to the sixth dimension while he was still in the fifth. ironically, he was once again in the fifth dimension, but now whether it was his bow force or his spear force, both were in the seventh dimension.

    the worst part was that they weren''t just in the seventh dimension, but each one was just a step away from the impetus state, making the gap between himself and his forces so wide that even trying to gather them up had almost shredded him apart.

    in the past, at the very least, he could squeeze out a bow strike or two and come out of it with nothing worse than some fatigue. but now he had quite literally felt that his body was about to be shredded apart.

    it only made it worse that he hadn''t taken out his spear and had instead tried to use his fingers as a replacement. all the nodal pathways in his right arm had practically been shredded to pieces and it hung limply to his side. he had no choice but to use his left arm to prop himself up, his curses still flying without the slightest hint that it might come to a stop any time soon.

    if this alone was the issue, he could still deal with it. it was acceptable enough. at the very least, the chance to return to the fifth dimension was worthwhile at least in some respects, especially since his comprehension was all still very much intact.

    the issue was that this had clearly not come without a price.

    firstly, his scarlet star innate nodes were currently both very much dormant as though all the energy had been sapped out of it.

    secondly, his king''s might lineage factor was likewise dormant. his mind had been powerful for long enough to see the changes that each one of his lineage factors had caused to his body, and the cells that made up the king''s might lineage factor were all dimmed as though the energy that made them up had been sucked dry.

    thirdly, his metal body... leonel looked at himself, wanting to cry and yet having no tears to shed. if his metal body was still as powerful as it had been in the past, none of this would have been an issue. he would still be able to forcefully use his force comprehension without losing out in the slightest.

    but his metal body had been completely and utterly drained. he didn''t even have a fourth dimensional body anymore. had he let those strikes hit him, he would have died ten times over.

    ''absolutely unbelievable...''

    leonel understood why these things were happening. he remembered wise star order complaining in the past about how he wished he hadn''t entered the seventh dimension so soon, and somehow leonel got the ability to return to the fifth.n/-o/-v-/e..l-/b-.i))n

    however, having the chance to return most definitely wouldn''t come without a price, and his sacrifice was likely much of the foundation that he had built up until now.

    the only things that remained by his side seemed to be his northern star lineage factors and his spear domain lineage factor, or rather, the spear aspects of his now-fused morales lineage factor, but it was still a depressing sight to behold.

    the youths around leonel didn''t know what to say. they didn''t know how or when he had grabbed one of them to be a scapegoat for their attack, and that left the smarter ones among them on edge, but if everyone was smart... no one would be.

    seeing that there was a corpse with energies to absorb and a second injured fifth dimensional existence that could be seen as an easy kill, at least half the group rushed forward, the other half frowning as they chose to observe the situation for longer.

    leonel didn''t seem to see them at all as he continued to curse, his unhappiness clear and obvious on his face. the stupid among them even thought that he was only reacting to his imminent death.

    but just when the horned young man reached him, grabbing for his head to shatter him at once, leonel''s body crumbled into countless motes of light, causing the youth to swing at air.

    he only had time to frown before his eyes opened wide as the world began to spin around him. why was the world spinning? and why was he looking at his headless corpse?

    leonel flickered with his every step. his power was weaker, but his skill was impossibly far beyond these people. even if he couldn''t use his spear force, the comprehension of the spear that he had achieved just by raising it to the level he had made him akin to a spear master amidst a flock of toddlers.

    at the same time, even if he couldn''t use his body as a conduit for his force, did he not still have his mage core? and did he not also still have his mind and his ability index?

    these people might as well have been moving through quicksand, their movements so slow and easy to track that leonel could think of dozens of ways to kill them before they landed even a single strike.

    when he finally lowered his spear, not even three seconds had passed and yet a forest of headless corpses stood before him before slowly tumbling to the ground.

    the world seemed to fall into silence, the only noise the sound of leonel''s curses.

    "i swear to god old man, don''t let me find you--"

    the instant he said this, he flickered again, appearing amidst those that hadn''t moved. they tried to run, but what good was it.

    the pink-eyed girl closed her eyes, seemingly having accepted her fate when she felt something ice cold press against her neck.

 Chapter 2337 How Bold

    chapter 2337 how bold

    leonel looked down at the girl. even in his enraged state, he had noticed the actions of this young woman before. his connection to the dream plane had been cut off in this place, but he could still read people''s intentions with far sharper intent than most could.

    knowing this, he targeted this woman because she seemed smart. she would likely know about the stuff he had missed out on.nove)lb(in

    "open your eyes."

    the pink-eyed young woman trembled and bit her tongue. but after a moment, she opened them, a hint of resolution within.

    she was, indeed, sharp. among those that leonel had killed, there were two women who were conventionally more attractive than she was. if leonel wanted to do that kind of thing, she wouldn''t have been his first choice. he didn''t seem like the type to use women in that way, he would sooner kill them so that they wouldn''t be a burden. though it was possible he found her to be a bit exotic due to her oddly colored eyes, this was a small percentage chance that she didn''t place more than a three or so percentage chance upon.

    there was another important matter as well. the way leonel fought, the look in his eyes when he swung his spear, it was all precise, cold and calculating. he probably had a sensory type ability index much like her own, and as such, he probably felt that she was useful to him for something.

    but it was odd. it didn''t make sense for leonel to need another sensory ability if he had one of her own, but judging by that old man he was cursing, maybe he hadn''t come here of his own will, and as such... didn''t know the rules?

    leonel hadn''t made any attempt to absorb the energies around him, so that made sense.

    he suddenly smiled. "you''re clever. good, i don''t want to waste my time talking too much. tell me the rules of this place, don''t hold anything back, or else i''ll know. if you satisfy me, i don''t mind letting you go."

    "yes," she nodded quickly, only stopping after she realized leonel''s spear was still pressed to her neck and she had nearly cut herself. it seemed that even she was a bit flustered in the face of death.

    "right." she adjusted her mental state. "this selection of the gods seems to be divided into rounds. they haven''t told us what the next rounds entail, but this one is a point-based system and it also seems to be an opportunity.

    "you get points by killing those around you, and everyone is worth the same amount of points aside from the seeded participants. killing a seed participant doesn''t net you points, but it nets you their position as a selected seed.

    "in addition, when you kill those around you, you gain a chance to absorb their energies as well. these energies will be a combination of insights and raw strength. it can be either used to push your tiers upward, or you can gain insights on a force that your enemy understands better than yourself."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. was that possible? he didn''t believe it for a second.

    if the likes of el''rion didn''t dare to have more than one innate node, which was essentially a hack toward comprehension, how could you just take insights from others?

    in fact, el''rion had implied that it was bad even to create innate nodes yourself. the gods clearly had a method of forming innate nodes naturally, but they advised against doing so.

    and on the ladder of trouble, stealing an innate node was even worse, making your future path even more difficult.

    leonel didn''t believe that the likes of the vast bubble had a method to circumvent these problems. in fact, if his deductions were correct, this method of refining people down into their force insights was likely just a crude method of the god races'' ability to create innate nodes from scratch for their descendants.

    one method was perfect, and yet inadvisable to use. so how much worse would the imperfect method be?

    leonel sneered inwardly. this was clearly another scheme by the great families. they wanted their pawns to be strong and also use this opportunity to get stronger, but in line with their usual history, they didn''t want them to get too much stronger.

    if leonel was correct, they wanted the best among them to become extremely powerful within the eighth dimension, but never be able to become powerful among the ninth dimensional experts.

    and the worst part was that the method was so subtle that even when the day came that their potential ran dry, they wouldn''t even think to link it back to this occurrence, making them remain loyal to those families just for a hope of maybe, one day, breaking through.

    it was a clever scheme, indeed.

    the pink-eyed beauty felt her heart skip a beat when she looked into leonel''s eyes. she found it almost impossible to read anything from this young man, but she could still tell that he knew more than he was letting on.

    she felt like she had to keep talking. maybe if she proved herself useful enough, she could stay with leonel. after all, she doubted that only leonel would be this point. just how vast was the cosmos? how could she just so happen to stumble onto the only monster participating? leonel didn''t even seem to be a seeded participant.

    how much more powerful were they?

    "the seeded participants, if you don''t know, are the existences that have the backing of their entire world. they were unanimously nominated by their people to lead their batch.

    "you likely don''t have a seed participant because one of the benefits of being a seeded participant is spawning with the selected geniuses of your world. in addition, you''ll always be able to sense your seeded participant no matter where you go, so you can go off to look for opportunities and always meet back together."

    leonel raised his eyebrow. "oh? so is that what that feeling was?"

    leonel chuckled inwardly. the dimensional verse had chosen a seeded participant? and it actually wasn''t him? how bold of them.

    the pink-eyed young woman looked toward leonel with confusion. what he said didn''t make sense. how could leonel sense a seeded participant, and yet not have spawned with them?

 Chapter 2338 Dimensional Eyes

    chapter 2338 dimensional eyes

    leonel didn''t know what happened to him in the last half day, but he found this result to be quite amusing. it wasn''t that he was so eager to become a seeded participant, but it was rather that he really couldn''t imagine why the dimensional verse would pick anyone but him.

    the human domain might not know, but how could the other races not understand the level of strength he had access to? he had massacred them down to practically their last few descendants. how was there anyone in their younger generation a better pick?

    of course, one could argue that was the very reason they didn''t pick him, but he didn''t believe that that was a good enough reason.n--0vж┼lb1n

    that was because they should know the rules just like this little pink-eyed woman should. what did they think he would do if they stonewalled him out of fear of his massacring them again?

    according to what this little woman said, they should know that he would spawn with them. why would they put another one of their geniuses in the line of fire by risking the chance of enraging him?

    seeded participant places could be taken through killing, so only a fool would think that it was safe.

    plus, they knew little to nothing about leonel''s power. they didn''t know that he could only use it for a limited time, nor did they know that he had sworn off using it to scorn that woman. that meant, from their perspective, he had actually spared quite a number of them.

    he had massacred the beast domain and the nomad domain, but he had "spared" the juniors of the nomad domain-mostly due to his uncle''s interference-and he had also not even touched the dwarven domain, the spirituals domain, or even the rapax domain.

    on the surface, then, it seemed illogical for them to even think about picking leonel. but if you had even a modicum of critical thinking skills, you would realize that it was absolutely foolish for them to not. if anything, they were putting themselves at risk of his ire.

    that meant that there were only two possibilities... maybe three.

    the first was the most obvious. since he had appeared here, that meant that he hadn''t been present for whatever gathering of the minds they had had, or maybe he had even been unconscious for it. in addition, his power had clearly seemed to have plummeted, so if they had seen him unconscious, they would have definitely never thought him to still be powerful enough to do anything.

    of course, they were wrong, but it was still semi-reasonable.

    the second was that he had never been there in the first place. something his grandfather had done had displaced him from the dimensional verse, and that should also be why he hadn''t appeared near the others. that would be the best explanation for what was going on.

    so, with him gone, there were two, maybe actually three that were potentially worthy of becoming a seeded participant, so it made sense that they would pick someone else if one of them managed to show some promise that cleared the others.

    of course, the three leonel was talking about was that rapax egg he had saved all those years ago, that nomad youth who had been part of the attack on the void battlefield, and finally, that spiritual youth he had seen in the bow domain tower who wielded the bow domain ring.

    leonel had already met all three of them under various circumstances.

    the rapax, even as an egg, exuded quite the powerful aura. leonel had a feeling that the fact that it was a shadow sovereign might even be the least of their strength.

    the nomad youth was the one he knew the least about and probably also the one with the greatest grudge against leonel considering he had genocided his race. if he had become the seeded participant, leonel doubted that the humans would have a very cold time at all.

    a flash of coldness came across leonel''s eyes before he shook his head. he guessed that this was what they called the consequences of one''s actions, but that didn''t mean that he would allow that nomad youth, prince gregwyn, to do as he pleased.

    the last was the spirituals youth. leonel could still remember his aura quite firmly, and he was very powerful. but the current leonel didn''t feel the need to take him too seriously. the real question was if anything had changed since he saw him last.

    leonel looked up from his thoughts.

    "anything else?" leonel asked.

    "ah right. they said that whoever manages to retain the seeded participant title at the end of everything will gain the right to choose with the god''s factions they join. the others will have to hope that they are selected, and those unworthy will become slaves."

    "and i assume that means a single world can have more than one seeded participant, then?"

    "yes, that was implied..." the little woman nodded.

    leonel smiled, this woman was indeed interesting. she looked like a nervous wreck, but when it came to her deductions, she was fully confident in them. leonel didn''t believe that her true personality was one that was so reserved, but rather something that she had adopted so that she could seem as non-threatening as possible.

    "tell me, then, where do you come from?"

    the little woman seemed to have expected this question and already had a response ready.

    "i come from the dimensional eyes incomplete world. we focus heavily on ocular techniques, but we are also very divided.

    "many of us only form our nodes above the neck, so our bodies are relatively weak, but our senses and skills are excellent.

    "i can be considered to be above average in my cohort, but my family''s legacy, the opaque radiance lineage, has been cut off and only a few remain.

    "my dimensional eyes give me the ability to remain calm, even when i''m not, and it also enhances my speed of thought and vision."

 Chapter 2339 Ocular Chaos

    leonel raised an eyebrow. this little woman was prepared, indeed. she told me a lot, and yet not too much. she didn''t try to bog him down with details as though she was looking to confuse him or pull the wool over his eyes either.

    she told him the most important things. the strength of the people of her incomplete world, she told him what backing she might have and what trouble bringing her along might bring, and she also broke down her potential uses to him.

    "interesting, do you have a wielder of the bow domain ring?" leonel asked.

    "yes, we do."

    "and why are they not the seeded participant of your group?"

    "with all due respect, young sir, the ocular lineage factor granted by the bow domain ring is inferior to our most powerful lineages. this doesn''t mean that it is weak, but rather that ours are more comprehensive. having the bow domain ring wouldn''t guarantee any sort of superiority, as the ocular aspects of the lineage factor are more supportive in nature."

    the little woman felt her heart skip a beat after she said these words. she felt that she was both too arrogant in her statement, and that she had said too much. she subconsciously looked down at the ring on leonel''s finger, hoping she wouldn''t see the bow domain ring. she didn''t want to offend this powerhouse.

    but then she remembered that he had used a spear and breathed out a sigh of relief.

    leonel''s lip curled. "oh? and why do i get the feeling that your ocular heritage falls under much the same categorization, and yet i didn''t feel the same sort of disdain for it as you have for the bow domain ring?"

    the little woman froze. she looked into leonel''s eyes warily and for some reason, he seemed much more large and looming than he ever had before. the height difference between them was already quite large. she was barely 5''3, making leonel a foot and a half taller than she was. but now, she felt like she was facing a behemoth of a man.

    "i..." she bit her lip before sighing. "the calming effect that my eye gives is more... expansive than i mentioned. it increases our comprehension and makes it possible to see the runes that make up the forces we utilize. as such, more than calming, our eyes and the techniques we use it with give us greater utilization and comprehension of forces than practically any other force. it is more than just... supportive."

    the pressure upon her vanished and she almost collapsed. her heartbeat quickened and she seemed to finally realize how much she was sweating. she felt some relief, but it also seemed that leonel wasn''t finished yet.

    "but it''s more than that, no? part of your disdain came from something deeper, a hatred, no? you have a grudge with this bow domain ring wearer, don''t you? and if you have a grudge with him, i have a feeling that you also didn''t tell me all of the rules, right? because you partly expect to be traveling with me?"

    the little woman felt her vision go dark. she barely managed to sustain herself and stop her fall to the ground, but she felt that this person before her was simply too much. how had he known?

    in truth, leonel felt that there was more to the domain rings. it didn''t make sense for them to connect the various incomplete worlds with one another and yet serve no other purpose. he had even thought about getting rid of his own ring, since he no longer needed it and could forge his own spears now.

    but in the end, he had chosen to keep it... mostly to get to the bottom of this mystery.

    it was in the best interest of the forces of the vast bubble to keep their experiments as subtle and secretive as possible. however, those that had lineages who had entered the true trial of the domain rings before all had an inkling of what was going on. even that human that leonel had caught in the beginning of the trial had known what was going on, although he refused to tell leonel what it was.

    so why would they risk that?

    there were only two explanations, at least given the information he knew.

    the first was that the rings had a more sinister intention and would be helpful in making sure the best talents were reined in properly.

    the second was that the domain rings were disseminated by the dream pavilion and the four great families at all, but were rather the work of another one of the human factions. if leonel had to hazard a guess...

    he would pick the godlens.

    n).ovж┼lb1n

    as for why, it was just conjecture. he had no certainty. but what he did know was that if it was the godlens, then the benefit might not be entirely sinister, but that didn''t necessarily mean that it was good either.

    "i... i..." the little woman was close to hyperventilating before her pink eyes glowed and she seemed to calm down. "... there are two extremely powerful factions in the dimensional eye verse, one of them is the ocular chaos clan. they are capable of swallowing forces of all types, storing them in their eyes, and attacking with a wild burst of chaos force, or so they call it.

    "in reality, chaos force is just neutral force. it''s an amalgamation of all forces. the difference is that it skews ever so slightly toward imbalance, causing it to rip across everything in their path.

    "in the past, the ocular chaos clan was very weak and their lifespans were very short. but-"

    "but the bow domain ring gave them the ability to expel the chaos force from their pupils and thus made them one of the most powerful families in your verse. and the cherry on top, i presume, was nearly wiping your family out, and this is your opportunity to retrieve the bow domain ring and right the injustice, no? that would also likely mean that they''re another quest related to the domain rings in specific, hm?"

    the little woman trembled but eventually nodded.

    "having a domain ring will give you access to special zones. remember the trial areas i mentioned earlier? there are many with strict requirements for who will be allowed to enter. some require a certain amount of kills, some require a certain level of force, and some..."

    "require the domain ring."

    "yes... there is a chance to strengthen your ring through these trials and by snatching the rings of others and fusing them. it''s said that if you do this, you will have a chance to become a true sovereign and gain the true domain lineage factor, a ninth dimensional lineage factor!"

    leonel could see the excitement in the woman''s eyes. even the calming effect couldn''t control her in the slightest. but he...

    was unmoved.

    there was a catch. there was always a catch. plus, becoming a true sovereign? he had already done that on his own. even so, he was interested in finding out what that catch was. it would decide whether he would be procuring a battle ax domain ring for his future wife or not. which reminded him...

    "does your verse have anyone with a vital star force innate node?"

 Chapter 2340 Decision

    the little pink-eyed woman felt her heart skip a beat. what was that question? well, it was obvious. this man wanted to steal innate nodes. was he an innate node hunter? those kinds of people in her verse were especially notorious, but it didn''t matter. there would simply always be a market. there were probably many in the ocular chaos clan who fell into this category as well.

    was she wrong about leonel''s character? what did she know about this man anyway, and did it even matter what she thought of him? would it change anything?

    even when she tried to be cautious against him, he saw through it and cut right to the heart of the matter with absolute ease. there was simply nothing she could hide.

    "n-no... not that i know of..."

    she looked to the ground, unable to meet leonel''s eyes and worried she would expose her own. she made a mental note that unless it was a matter of life or death, she most definitely wouldn''t use it. in this world, where killing was already incentivized, she couldn''t give others extra reasons to target her if she didn''t have to.

    leonel could tell that there was something that this woman was hiding, but this time, he didn''t choose to say anything about it. her use had run out. and unlike what she was thinking, he didn''t go around hunting innate nodes just for the fun of it.

    maybe he would have, if for no other reason than to help strengthen his brothers and subordinates. but after learning what he had from el''rion, he understood that it wasn''t as simple.

    but if you thought about it, it made sense.

    the vast bubble was middling in the grand scheme of existence, and yet they had a method of perfectly fusing with innate nodes. if that method was truly so valuable, and could change a person''s outlook on progress and life, why would it be in their hands? there were only so many truly valuable things a place like the vast bubble could have.

    what leonel was interested in, though, were the domain rings. he really wanted to see what secrets those people were trying to hide from him.

    "alright, you can go."

    after leonel said this, he flickered and moved, only causing a bout of annoyance to well up inside of him. he was much slower than he had been in the past. the level of force he could circulate within himself was limited, and his body was also weaker, so his actual speed had plummeted.

    that said...

    leonel''s ethereal glabella pulsed as his mana core thrummed with life. he gathered spatial force from the surroundings and the ground seemed to shrink beneath his feet.

    his speed exploded as he rushed ahead. he guessed that the first thing he should try to do would be to close the distance on that so-called seeded participant of the dimensional verse.

    the little pink-eyed woman watched this scene stunned. he was really letting her go... just like that? like it was nothing?

    she almost collapsed in relief, but then her eyes drifted toward the corpses around them. each one had an orb of energy floating above them. she didn''t believe for a second that leonel had just forgotten them. he had heard her explanation about the uses of that energy, but he didn''t even give them a second glance before he vanished.

    ''this...''

    she hesitated. this wasn''t the only thing that was odd about leonel. how had he not known the rules? everyone knew the rules, even the weakest of them. they had it all explained to them at the same time and they were projected across the verse. even those not participating would know the rules.

    then there was the fact he was in the fifth dimension and yet so powerful... how was that possible? on top of that, he came from a verse that had a seeded participant and yet he didn''t spawn with his group? it all pointed to the fact that maybe leonel wasn''t like them. he might be ignorant about some things, but not in everything... in fact, he might know much more than most of them about the situation, maybe even more than those families who had seemed to have begun preparing for this decades ago...

    after some hesitation, she grit her teeth and went with her gut. she wouldn''t take the energies here. with one last look, she too shot in a direction, the exact opposite of leonel''s.

    ...nove)lb)1n

    leonel continued to run in the far-off distance, his internal sight still trained on the little woman. when he saw that she didn''t absorb the energies, he chuckled.

    of course, leonel didn''t just have the task of surviving this endeavor, but he also had some recruiting to do. although he didn''t care very much about being a king any longer, there was still a nudge within him to continue to build.

    there was something that stuck with him from his future self even though that vast, overwhelming pressure had vanished... and that was loneliness.

    despite his true personality, leonel had always liked to have people around him. the camaraderie of his football team and his brothers had always been a highlight of his day. he didn''t want to be alone. he wanted to experience this world that he was so curious about with others by his side.

    but in a world like this one, that not only required strength but required backing. since he didn''t have backing of his own... he would just have to make it.

    leonel rushed forward, tweaking his spatial force use from time to time. right now, he was at the very bottom of the fifth dimension. in fact, he was even at the very start of tier 1. he could feel that if he wanted to, he could shoot right back up to the seventh dimension in one go. it might take a few hours, if that. but then wouldn''t that waste his opportunity?

    ''ah, another group of people to interrogate.''

    leonel caressed his wooden spear. it was the primitive woman''s spear, faceted with a stinger-like blade. wielding it made him feel nostalgic. he didn''t think these people ahead would feel the same, though.

 Chapter 2341 Uproarious Laughter

    leonel stepped on the chest of a man whose body was only lacking hair in the upper portion of his torso and his face. he looked very much like an ape, and leonel would have thought that he had run into an ape race of sorts, if not for the fact the entire party seemed to have different bodily oddities, not to mention gave off a foul stench reminiscent of the oryx.

    some had spotted fur, some had twin tails, some were covered in scales...

    they looked like a completely different set of people, but they also seemed to be of one mind.

    that was when leonel understood. these people were likely humans that followed a path of experimenting with their bodies through the use of beast blood and the like. as for how they were already together, it was likely that they had a seeded participant as well and started off as one before splitting off into several groups, and leonel had just so happened to run into one of them.

    having a seeded participant was truly a great advantage. it allowed you to start with a huge leg up, and rather than ending up in a battle royale like leonel had from the start, you could be among allies and start looking for treasures immediately. this was obviously done on purpose. the vast bubble didn''t want a bunch of stragglers; they wanted to maximize the chances of those that had been powerful enough to curtail their entire verse.

    more likely than not, those that could come together to anoint a seeded participant also had the strongest and most unique paths to benefit from. after all, conquering an entire verse was not easy. leonel speculated, then, that those with seeded participants would be the most powerful, while those without would be fighting for scraps.

    there would be some exceptions. for example, verses with more than one powerful path that couldn''t choose a seeded participant because they had too many powerful paths, but that would be rare for obvious reasons. really, then, leonel believed that this group he had run into just happened to be among the weaker members of this verse.

    how many participants were there? from just a single verse, there should easily be billions. that number wasn''t exaggerated at all. he had questioned the little woman about many things, and one of the things he learned was that the only requirement was being under a hundred years of age. of course, there were some other caveats so that toddlers wouldn''t be running around, but that was the main requirement.

    there should be a few dozen incomplete worlds, each with billions of participants. the number that would be true elites among that number would be minimal.

    "hey."

    leonel pressed his foot down harder before realizing his bodily strength wasn''t enough anymore. instead, his body trembled and his gravity domain roared with life. the sudden change in weight was so great that the crackling of ribs echoed moments later.

    a roar of pain came from the ape-like young man before they quickly became whimpers. all signs of resistance vanished from him. the people of the beastman dimensional verse respected strength of the body far more, and they had strict hierarchies that were divided into beta and alpha. usually, the ape-like young man would have lowered his head far more quickly, but leonel had defeated them with speed, finesse, and trickery, that wasn''t something he could respect.

    but now, there was nothing to

    "good. now we can talk."

    the ape-like young man spit up a mouthful of blood, drowning as the pressure around him lessened.

    "you''re all in a group, so you should have a seeded participant. lead me to them."

    the ape-like young man''s eyes opened wide when he heard this. there was a squirming shift of power within him, one that felt almost cancerous in nature.

    leonel frowned. ''hm?''

    just now, he had felt the ape-like young man''s willingness to comply, a benefit of his dream force. although he couldn''t sense his king''s might lineage factor any longer, his sharpness in reading people had increased thanks to whatever seal had been placed on him being undone.

    however, just as quickly as that will had appeared, it was actually suppressed, almost like these beastmen were being forced to comply with certain rules.

    ''this is a compulsion built on the back of soul force? no, it''s not soul force, it''s actually blood force, but it seems to have a layer of soul force as well. interesting. a blood-force-soul-force fusion. is this just a force i''ve never heard of? or is it another unique force like the chaos force that little woman mentioned?''

    leonel was interested. theoretically, as a life grade crafter, he could create ores that had never existed from scratch, and by proxy, that likewise necessitated the creation of new forces as well.

    who was to say that these various verses didn''t have unique forces he had never come across before?

    in this case, there seemed to be an alpha and beta system in this world. those that were forced into submission would always be in submission unless they could become alphas themselves.

    leonel began to question these beta beastmen, and he soon found that his conjectures were correct, but only in part.

    there were layers in their alpha and beta system, not that he cared much to parse apart the differences. what was important was that they didn''t have any ability to directly help him in betraying their alphas.nove-lb/1n

    in fact, it turned out that the only reason they could answer these questions at all was that they were questions that would help leonel defeat the seeded participant, but not their direct alpha.

    if leonel had intentions of targeting their pack leader, or rather, if they believed that he had the intention of targeting whoever they were, they would be compelled to remain silent.

    ''i see. so their compulsion''s strength is dependent on how close they are to the alpha in question. these few are so low ranked that they''re quite a distance from the purview of the true alpha that leads them all. what a fascinating system... but that''s also why i saved this question for last.''

    leonel grinned. if he was correct, if there was anyone who would be born with a vital star force innate node, it would be a group with powerful bodies.

    it had to be remembered that leonel''s birth of a scarlet force innate node was seen as absolutely ridiculous because a human birthing an elemental innate node made no sense at all. humans weren''t nearly in tune enough with nature to produce such a powerful elemental innate node.

    clearly, leonel and amery were the exceptions to this rule. now, leonel had a verse of body experts right before him. if they didn''t have what he needed, then who would?

    leonel''s grin widened. "is there anyone among you who has a vital star force innate node?"

    the eyes of the ape-like young man widened, and soon after, they began to bleed as though he was leaking tears of blood.

    seeing this, leonel burst into laughter. he had finally found it. he would have his wife by his side soon enough. with a flash, leonel vanished, but not before he stored the beastmen into his segmented cube.

 Chapter 2342 Hunting

    chapter 2342 hunting

    leonel flashed forward with great speed. he now had a strong purpose for what he wanted to do and accomplish in this place, but it was still troublesome to figure out how exactly he would do it.

    with the binds of alphas to betas, he couldn''t just have the betas lead him to their alpha, or else they would die long before they go there. just thinking about helping him had caused their eyes to combust with blood, there was only so much that he could do.

    thanks to this, finding them through tracking was impossible, but that didn''t make him completely helpless. if he could find another alpha, maybe their compulsions would be weaker. or...

    ''let me know how it goes, anastasia. if you can remove the compulsions, that would be great. if you need me to gather some materials to make it possible first, we can do that as well.''

    anastasia''s voice echoed in leonel''s ears.

    ''removing the blood soul force isn''t actually all that difficult. the real problem is that it''s tied and intertwined with their very life force. you can''t extract one without the other. you might even need to use a method as crude as blood transfusion to make it work, but you''d need to replace their blood and their life force at the same time -''

    ''something i can''t even think of doing without a vital star force innate node, huh?''

    ''exactly.''

    leonel chuckled. what a circular problem he had on his hands. why couldn''t things ever just be simple and straightforward for him?

    ''another method would be to just do what they''ve been doing themselves all this time.''

    ''you mean find a beast they''re compatible with first, then do the blood swap?''

    ''yes. it should work as long as you use your dream force to contain the proliferation of the blood soul force into the new blood. it would be easy to do if you still have your king''s might lineage factor, but since it seems to be dormant, you''ll need to create a new force art just for this purpose.''

    leonel nodded slowly.n()o(/v-)e.)l-(b)(i.(n

    in reality, he was learning a lot from this beastman dimensional verse, not the least of which was the fact that even his king''s might lineage factor couldn''t have saved these betas even if it wasn''t currently dormant.

    normally, his first instinct would have been to just kill these few beasts, extract their souls, then make them his minions. but according to anastasia, even his king''s might lineage factor couldn''t free them.

    instead, they would have been pulled in two different directions, one being a compulsion toward his orders, and the other toward the compulsions of their alphas.

    this was an awakening for leonel in many ways. it meant that even when his king''s might lineage factor returned, something he was sure would happen, it wouldn''t likely be an unrestrained cheat like it was in the dimensional verse.

    if even an incomplete world had measures against it, the humans that had been responsible for the fall of the fawkes family most definitely had their own methods against and, they were probably far more robust.

    ''i''m still far away. at this speed, it''ll take me half a day to catch up to this seeded participant of the dimensional verse.''

    leonel frowned. too much could happen in half a day, and this round technically had its own time limit as well.

    this time limit wasn''t based on actual time, but rather the fall of a certain number of participants, that being 90%.

    once 90% had fallen, this round would come to an end and those with the highest kill rates would be ordered in two tiers.

    the seeded participants would be in the first tier, while the other would be in the second tier. meaning, even if a seeded participant had fewer kills than you, they would always remain ranked ahead of you.

    these rankings would, apparently, be quite important for the second round which had rules that had yet to be disseminated.

    ''no, i can catch up and kill at the same time. if the round ends before i catch up, so be it.''

    he doubted the round would end so quickly anyway. the rush of battle royales that started the round would take out a large number of people, but the fact there were seeded participants and a large number of allies would be spawned together would mitigate that to a great extent.

    plus, since there were opportunities to be found just laying around, he expected that many would focus on these first before they went on a killing spree.

    it would be at least a month before those 90% figures could be reached. unless...

    leonel looked up into the skies.

    something like the demand of a 90% death rate was truly vile, and he had a feeling that those above would do their best to force things along. they were on a schedule as well and they couldn''t waste time even with the time dilation.

    in fact, since they had brought everyone together like this, leonel still didn''t quite know if there was a time dilation at all.

    leonel took a breath and he suddenly expanded his internal sight outward, far and wide. it crossed over a thousand kilometers in an instant.

    he locked onto a particular location and shot forward, his speed becoming faster and faster.

    if he had run into a beta squad of the beastmen so quickly, then this was definitely the region they had all spawned in, and as such, there should be a large concentration of beastmen in the region.

    in that case, he would go hunting.

    his aura flourished and rose into the skies as he stopped hiding himself entirely.

    his stars no longer appeared to his back, but his comprehension of the natural light realm was still just the same. so, when he roared, the daylight faded and darkness descended.

    for now, he would focus on killing his way through this region until the alphas were forced to come to him.

 Chapter 2343 It Bites

    chapter 2343 it bites

    in the depths of a swamp, a meeting was taking place between three individuals. each one was at least three meters tall, and they all radiated a heart-thrumming aura. it felt like the movement of their bodies alone carried enough strength to make space tremble.

    one had a raging golden mane that connected his hair and his facial hair. his canines were sharp, and his shoulders were practically boulders.

    the second looked no different from a normal human... if one discounted the fact that she was truly a goddess amongst women. her hair flowed a gorgeous white, the very same as her hair and the fluffy tail to her back, and most importantly... the same as the pair of angelic wings that graced her slender hips.

    the third, however, was one the two seemed to be stepping on eggshells around. he radiated a dark and ominous aura. sometimes it seemed to crackle like black lightning, at other times it gained a hint of a dark violet that looked like chaos incarnate, and at other times, these energies would become like wisps of black smoke, tendrils of darkness rising out from an eerie abyss.

    the man had sharp, yellow slit eyes that shimmered like gems, claw-like hands, and his body was a dense smattering of black scales that only dispersed slightly to allow one a good look at his face... a face that was cold, detached, and carrying a creature of the dark kind of handsomeness that could capture the heart of women.

    these three could be considered the strongest of the beastman dimensional verse''s younger generation, at least it seemed that way on purpose. two of them knew quite well that even if that title was extended to the older generation, at least one of them would still be on that list.

    "... there will be billions of participants. one of the advantages we should have with a seed is a territorial one. this surrounding region is covered by our people, and anyone not of us can easily be weeded out. likewise, all the resources can be controlled by us."

    the angel-winged woman, known as alpha angelica by her people, spoke quickly. however, the response she received was both worth a sigh and expected by her.

    "no."

    the voice was impossibly deep and made one feel as though their very bones were vibrating.

    the one who spoke was none other than the strongest of them, but this scaled young man had a name that one would never expect him to carry...

    alpha clown.

    neither of the two present knew why he had this name, nor did they dare to ask or even use it. despite him having introduced himself as alpha clown, they simply called him alpha.

    what a joke. which of them would dare to do so? anyone who had dared to refer to him as such had died a horrible death. including those of the older generation.

    "this is not a territorial war; this is a fight for survival. the existence of a seed is nothing more than a distraction. to them, the seeds are already among the few that they have chosen. even if i do nothing, so long as i defend my life, my rewards will be just the same.n/-ovelbin

    "you two have spent so many years toiling in the beastman dimensional verse; can you not see a cage when it''s placed right before you?"

    alpha clown swept a gaze between the two, causing them to shudder.

    he was right. the collars had already been placed on their necks, but they were trying to obediently play the game.

    seeded participants were spawned with billions of protectors, out of the way another of their power level, and given free rein over a "territory" to make do with as they please.

    even if they didn''t get kills, they would be ranked at the top, and all they really had to do was protect their own lives, something that would be impossibly easy given how many of their own kind had been placed around them.

    but why? if they always planned on opening a backdoor for them, why not just assure them in?

    it was a show of power.

    who outside of the beastmen could understand such a thing better? they didn''t have clans; they didn''t really have bloodlines; they started as humans and they carved out their own paths for themselves.

    no two beastmen looked exactly alike because from the very beginning, they had forged everything with their own two hands.

    any beastman that stood here today had thousands of lives bloodying their palms and an understanding of what it meant to climb out from the very bottom.

    one shouldn''t mistake the chains that bound betas as providing security. as much as it was power, it was a reminder that should they fall behind, they would one day be the ones bound in chains instead.

    and now, these gods had descended, making them realize that all along, they had been the betas of a much larger game.

    "then what do you want to do, alpha?" alpha gold spoke for the first time.

    silence fell before a bloody grin spread across alpha clown''s face. the smile was so wide and jagged that it twisted his handsome face, making him look like much more of a nightmare creature than a man.

    "the same thing we''ve always done. when an animal is cornered, they lash out. when a beast is subdued, chained and controlled, it bides its time, it lowers its head, and then when its enemy is within striking distance...

    "it bites."

    ...

    leonel stood around a pile of corpses. the deeper he moved into this territory, the more he felt just how truly ferocious these beastmen were.

    he didn''t think that it was a matter of bloodline, and it obviously wasn''t about race either as he was fairly certain that these people were just humans that had experimented on themselves with beast blood.

    ''this will be... troublesome.''

    leonel looked up from the corpses, a hint of fatigue on his brows.

    his eyes landed on an inconspicuous cave, but the symbol of a glaive hovered above it. it seemed that he couldn''t enter with the glaive domain ring.

    or could he?

 Chapter 2344 Menace

    chapter 2344 menace

    leonel stood before the cave, looking it up and down. he reached a hand forward, and as expected, he ran into a barrier. however, in doing so, he picked up just the slightest hint of something.

    it was a simple detection force art. well, simple to him. it seemed that rather than checking if he had glaive force, it instead directly checked his domain ring to see if it matched or if he even had a domain ring to begin with.

    leonel pulled his hand back and then touched the barrier again. then he repeated. he must have done this at least a dozen times before he finally came to a stop.

    ''i got it.''

    he closed his eyes for a moment, reaching his hand forward a few moments later; it passed right through as though the barrier wasn''t even there.

    leonel smiled.

    he didn''t believe his crafting was beyond that of a complete world; he wasn''t so arrogant. however, his level of understanding of domain rings was likely far beyond what these people likely assumed, and more importantly than that...

    how much effort would they put into hiding their intentions when they thought them all to be country bumpkins?

    leonel strolled into the cave. he thought for a moment and then swapped out the primitive woman''s spear for another wooden spear.

    this one had a bone for a blade that looked quite roughly shaped. leonel had never used it before, but it looked close enough to a glaive. it would serve his purposes.

    leonel felt a strong suppression pin him down, but in the end, he smiled. as expected, this suppression was designed to stifle glaive force, but leonel didn''t even have glaive force to stifle.

    the pressure ended up passing right through him, only slowing his steps somewhat as it pressured his body instead.

    in truth, the pressure wasn''t designed to do this. unfortunately, he was only in the fifth dimension now, so pressure designed for seventh dimensional existences just happened to have this passive effect on him. but it wasn''t enough to slow him considerably.

    he wanted to know, what was at the end?

    leonel made it to the end quite quickly. it turned out that this cave only existed to suppress and refine glaive force, likely in an attempt to purify it into true sovereign glaive force.

    it was an interesting concept, and leonel''s senses swept about as he took note of the force arts that were active in making it happen, but in the end, he felt that it was nothing special.

    he felt that if this was a cave for spear force, he wouldn''t have even a 1% shot at crossing that elusive threshold. you could only do so if you had an inkling of what that kernel of truth might be.

    he threw the idea of using this to help emna out to the back of his mind.

    ''oh?''

    leonel stopped. at the end of the path, there was a podium, and upon it, there was a ring. he didn''t need to think much to understand what it was; it was a glaive domain ring.

    his eyes narrowed. this must be the reward, a chance to absorb this glaive domain ring into your own and multiply its strength.

    leonel had a small bit of familiarity with this process. after he had succeeded in placing first during his tribulation, his spear domain ring gained a whole new section and the number of spears doubled. in addition, beyond the mountain, a place that once was a vast darkness, another graveyard of spears appeared.

    this was apparently an opportunity to do the same. but once again, it felt... hollow, like he was missing something.

    after some hesitation, he picked up the ring and tossed it into the segmented cube.

    ''how good is your multi-tasking, anastasia?''

    he could practically hear her roll her eyes.

    ''i''m a world spirit, my duty is to manage a world. if anything, you''re not giving me nearly enough tasks.''

    leonel laughed. ''your family, i can''t just order you around as i please, right?''

    ''don''t try and sweet talk me, brat. i watched you grow up. i''m not some lady you can just sweep off her feet.''

    leonel laughed harder. ''i feel like there''s something odd about these rings; their existence doesn''t make sense. what can you tell me about them.''

    ''well, if you had asked earlier, i could have told you that the rings are just part of a whole, of which there should be nine total.''

    ''and what happens when you gather nine?''

    ''well, it should be able to create a quasi true sovereign aura, one that goes beyond what each individual ring gives. it should also give you a pretty much 50/50 chance of truly becoming a sovereign as well.''

    ''but why? the why is lacking...''

    leonel didn''t really say this to anastasia; he was thinking it to himself. something about this wasn''t adding up.

    these were not good people. such an amazing treasure was definitely something they would have kept for themselves if they had the capability.

    leonel stepped out from the cave and found a group of beastmen looking down at the corpses. his eyes narrowed when he spotted one among them, or more accurately, when he spotted the ring on his finger.n/)o-/v/-e-(l)-b--i.)n

    leonel understood. this person should be an alpha, and these people had found this cave for him. he was a domain ring wielder suited for this place.

    ''an alpha, huh?''

    leonel looked toward the young man. he had grey, leathery skin with muscles bulging out from every orifice. he was just two meters tall, a bit shorter than even leonel, but he felt so bulky and large that it hardly mattered.

    the most standout feature, though, was the sharp rhino horn that took the place of his nose. when he spotted leonel, he let out a gruff, low grumble that superheated the air.

    a glaive that looked like it was formed of magma and lava rock appeared in his rough hands, swinging down toward leonel with menace.

 Chapter 2345 Serious

    chapter 2345 serious

    leonel''s thoughts wanted him to grab a hold of the magma glaive. he was practically immune to fire and heat, while also incredibly resistant to earth force as well. this person would usually be someone that he could perfectly counter without even the slightest hint of unease.

    but the moment he thought to do so, his instincts screamed at him to not be stupid an instant later.

    dream step.

    he took a single step back as the glaive swung, barely missing the tip of his nose. the searing hint threatened to burn a layer of his skin off, and the sharpness caught some of his hair, slicing them off and then, as though a will of fire itself continued to burn within them, began to quickly burn them as well.

    ''what the hell?''

    leonel was speechless.

    his hair was truly indestructible. he had tried everything, but outside of the compulsion of his king''s might itself, nothing could cut his hair, let alone singe and burn it.

    he didn''t even know what to say, but then he understood a bit later... the metal synergy aspect of his body had hit absolute rock bottom, while his king''s might lineage factor was entirely dormant. the reality was whatever it was that had made his hair special in the past was no longer active.

    ''ah, so you''re saying i could end up bald? what a travesty!''

    leonel dodged again. despite his internal jokes, he realized that he had to take this matter more seriously.

    there was a certain threshold of enemy he could deal with right now. so long as they were below that threshold, no matter how powerful they were, killing them was as easy as a single stroke of his spear. despite how ferocious the beastmen had been until now, this was the category the most of them had fallen into.

    this was a gap in pure skill. leonel was no longer that youth fumbling about with a spear, not understanding how to maximize his own strength. he was a true spear master and he put much of the older generation to shame. he could not use any force at all and still kill sixth dimensional existences with ease. with the help of force and his ability index, he could kill even seventh dimensional existences.

    but there was a limit to this.

    once that threshold was surpassed, even if there was still a large gap in skill, the weight of overwhelming power would be difficult to ignore.

    and this alpha magma fell into that very category, weighing him down with oppressive might and charging forth.

    ''no divine armor, no king''s might, no metal body, no innate nodes. can''t use my true sovereign spear force or body force, can only gather elements from the surroundings... you really screwed me over big time, old man.''

    before this alpha had appeared, a part of leonel had thought that he would still be able to steamroll everyone. but he knew that this alpha wasn''t even the pinnacle of this beastman dimensional verse, and yet his momentum was already so fierce and his power was so oppressive.

    leonel continued to dodge.

    his senses swept the surroundings and he realized that the betas had no intention of interfering. this was interesting because in the past, they had no problem with ganging up on him.

    it seemed that when alphas were involved, the first priority of the betas was to protect the former''s ego.nove-1b(1n

    that was fine by leonel, though it wouldn''t make much of a difference anyway. all of those betas were below the threshold, so even if they jumped in, they would be a single spear stroke away from falling. if anything, they had saved themselves from death, at least for now.

    ''since that''s not a problem, i need to focus on how to win this battle. this man''s greatest strong suit is his strength if i was still using my ability index to put numbers on people''s "stats," he would be near the limit of his current tier. he''s fast as well, though not nearly as fast as he is strong, and he can''t synergize his agility and strength all that well. but none of this matters because he''s so much stronger than me...''

    leonel''s head tilted to the side and he dodged out of the way of another strike.

    ''i''ve been slacking too much. i need to use dream path on myself, i need to understand exactly what steps i need to take to maximize the chance i''ve received by returning to the fifth dimension. sure, reforming my metal body and crafting my divine armors... again, seem like the obvious choice, but none of those things will fundamentally change my foundation. well, my metal body might, but i don''t think this is what gramps wanted me to do with this chance. i don''t think el''rion''s current strength, even though he''s in the fifth dimension too, is built off the back of techniques like metal body. there''s something deeper i have to look for, something that i''m missing.''

    leonel dodged out of the way of yet another strike.

    alpha magma was starting to become truly infuriated, but rather than making him sloppy, he seemed to become even faster and even stronger.

    leonel''s brows shot up and he tapped his foot on the ground several times, flashing in a round arc and stabbing out at alpha magma''s hip.

    before the strike even landed, he shook his head and explosively retreated, just barely managing to avoid the fate of having his spear, and likely his arm as well, being burnt to ash.

    ''force.''

    leonel ultimately decided on this, at least as a sort of pivot point.

    what was the largest difference between himself and el''rion other than their bloodlines? well, it was obviously their usage of force. el''rion wasn''t just in the impetus state, but he had also traveled quite deeply into it.

    could it be that el''rion and shan''rae had wanted to enter the life state before they entered the sixth dimension? was that their goal?

    leonel''s spear tip shook as the surroundings began to tremble.

    this really wasn''t the time to think about this. it was time he get serious.

 Chapter 2346 Clicked

    chapter 2346 clicked

    alpha magma could almost feel leonel''s eyes sharpen. it was akin to a blade being pressed into his skin, like a knife being twisted into his heart, like a searing piece of metal being branded onto his flesh.

    his senses heightened and his rhino-nose even twitched slightly as he took his first step back.

    leonel''s spear was swapped out for a rolling wave of killing intent. it was as though the spear itself had already vanished, and instead he was enveloped by a dense web of them, covering him from all sides.

    alpha magma suddenly felt enlightened. was this what it truly meant to have a domain... to form a glaive domain?

    the bout of enlightenment was like a fierce wave crashing through his body and the ground beneath his feet suddenly became a wasteland of boiling lava and searing rock. it quickly covered the distance and instantly became the only ground that leonel could step on for the surrounding several hundred meters.

    several of the betas were caught up in the domain and found themselves burnt to ash or sinking into a puddle of heated doom.

    but leonel felt like swearing inwardly. had he just helped this guy to break through?

    then he understood. he was using his dream force to pay attention to the alpha''s every movement and read and react to it even before it happened, but it seemed that, at least in a subtle way, observing someone through the dream plane was actually a two-way street.n-.o()v/.e/-l-(b-/1--n

    he had accidentally given a bit too much of his insights to this person.

    when he had been fighting against the spirituals religion, this was an excellent thing as it helped many of the morales to make sudden breakthroughs.

    against an enemy, though, he had just shot himself in the foot.

    the gap between leonel''s skill and that of the alpha''s shrunk a small portion. he was still far more leonel, but when it was combined with his raw strength and speed, it almost felt like leonel had crippled himself.

    ''it can''t be force...''

    leonel shook his head, his thoughts suddenly wandering back to his previous thoughts. his forces were already so powerful, and yet he couldn''t make use of them. if he tried to use his spear force the way it was intended, he would end up blasting his own arm to smithereens.

    if one wanted to return to the fifth dimension just for the sake of comprehending forces, what good would it do them in the end if they couldn''t even use it all in the first place?

    leonel dodged out of the way of another strike, but his spear found a perfect gap.

    he had already swapped his spear for a radiant violet one. it was gorgeous and looked as though it had been dotted with amethysts and then carved to be reminiscent of the scales of a dragon.

    he had never used this spear before; it just happened to be the first one he locked onto that was both of the life grade, and had a dream affinity.

    since dream force was the only strength of his that remained... he would lean into it.

    his aura flourished, the skies turned dark, and alpha magma suddenly found himself surrounded from all sides. at least... that was the feeling this domain gave him.

    it had been a long while since leonel relied on one of the domains of his spears, but it seemed that he would have to if he wanted to get out of this one.

    he spear danced in the wind, the enlightened alpha magma feeling as though he was frozen in time before the feeling suddenly vanished entirely.

    leonel landed behind the alpha, swiping his spear at the ground and causing a slash of blood to sprinkle into the air before it was charred to nothingness by the oppressive heat.

    he was only able to hit his cool pose for but a moment before he jumped up, though.

    "ooo, oo, ah..." leonel grabbed his feet in the air, blowing at them, wanting to shed tears but having none to do so with.

    he really needed to get his metal body back in shape, but he didn''t dare to take even a step forward in his power progression without understanding exactly what to do.

    he didn''t understand why that old man couldn''t just tell him. this was really getting ridiculous. was this how people felt when he didn''t tell them anything?

    leonel looked back at the fallen alpha and shook his head.

    it was a shame. this opponent was about on the level of the average void palace genius. no, he was probably a little higher than that; he could definitely become a domain ranked disciple.

    even so, this was a person that he would have defeated in two strokes at most, normally. but now, he had to kill him even though he would be more useful alive purely because he wasn''t strong enough to capture him.

    ''think about [dimensional cleanse],'' anastasia suddenly said.

    ''hm?''

    leonel blinked for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened in understanding.

    now, when he used his universal cycles, his stars didn''t appear. that meant that they had lost access to them, and in a way, [dimensional cleanse] had reset.

    that wasn''t what was important, though. what was important was just how interchangeable the first three layers of [dimensional cleanse] had been.

    it had to be remembered that the third dimension was meant to set a foundation for force, the fourth dimension for the body, and the fifth dimension for the mind.

    in the third, you formed the nodes. in the fourth, you formed the nodal pathways to bring energy to the rest of the body. in the fifth, you enlightened your mind and broke the mortal chains that bound you, unleashing your truest and fullest potential.

    [dimensional cleanse] matched that. you were supposed to form stars for your energy first, then ones for your body, then ones for your might.

    but leonel... he had formed his dream force star first, something that should have waited until the fifth dimension, then he formed his vital stars for his body, and only then did he form his energy stars out of scarlet star force and void star force.

    he had done everything out of order and it all clicked now.

 Chapter 2347 Bluestar

    chapter 2347 bluestar

    the conclusion was simple. so long as you were within the first of three steps, and you hadn''t locked yourself in by entering the sixth dimension, everything was still negotiable.

    the reason why he could rearrange the steps of dimensional cleanse like that without much backlash was precisely because it didn''t matter which of the three steps you took first.

    if he had wanted, he could have focused on his body in the third dimension, his mind in the fourth, and his energy in the fifth. who knew, maybe there were some techniques out there that did just that.n(/o--v)-ж┼--l--b-/1()n

    he now also understood why he felt so depleted, why his body was so weak and why his innate nodes were dormant.

    the real reason was because he wasn''t in the fifth dimension at all...

    he was in the third!

    the reason he felt that he was in the fifth was because his mind was fully unshackled. it was also why his dream force was so absolutely powerful.

    his innate nodes were dormant because he technically hadn''t formed his nodes, though they were very clearly in his body.

    his body was weak because he had yet to form his nodal pathways, though technically he already had.

    everything lined up and made much more sense to him.

    one might be wondering why it was that leonel was so excited. after all, just because he understood his situation now with greater accuracy, didn''t mean that anything had changed.

    he still didn''t know how to move forward, and if anything, he had even more questions now than answers.

    but leonel didn''t see it that way.

    the first thing he had thought when he realized he was in the fifth dimension, after he finished cursing, was that it was a shame he hadn''t been returned to the third dimension instead.

    but now he knew the truth and everything had been laid out for him perfectly. how could he not take advantage?

    ''why didn''t you say something earlier, anastasia?''

    ''blame yourself. you like to get in your own head as though you''re the only one with all the answers. you should try and see what your father thinks about this matter as well.''

    leonel''s heart skipped a beat, but then he slowly nodded.

    he had gotten some closure the last time he talked to his father, or at least his ai father, but that didn''t make him use the dictionary more often. if anything, he had begun avoiding it again.

    but who knew, maybe his father really would know something about all of this; he seemed to have everything planned out.

    that seal that he felt had been undone in his mind was definitely something that his father had placed, so once it was undone, maybe...?

    his father hadn''t been very helpful to him when his journey began, at least not in terms of the progression of his path. but now that he thought about it, he found it odd.

    his father had created such a detailed schematic to help his crafting progress step by step. even now, there were still more lessons in there that he could be taking advantage of if he wasn''t so stupidly stubborn.

    why would velasco make a whole training plan for his crafting, but then leave him to his own devices for everything else?

    unless... he had always planned for this day to come?

    leonel smiled bitterly. whether it was his grandfather or his father, it seemed they both liked to hold up a mirror to his face and show him how truly annoying he was.

    but they were also the only two he didn''t seem to really mind being the pawn of.

    ''alright, i''ll take a look. but first...''

    leonel stretched out a hand and one of the almost feral surviving betas had their throat sucked into his palm.

    there were a few stragglers remaining that hadn''t been killed by the alpha''s domain, and they all wanted to get at him and tear him to pieces, but they also couldn''t step onto the magma without combusting and dying. so they had been growling around the outer rim, launching attacks at him.

    it was a bit sad, but also another part amusing.

    "hey!"

    leonel roared into the face of the beta, causing their heart to shake and their growls to subside. it felt like a lion had suddenly shouted at him.

    "good. was he your direct alpha?"

    the beta hesitated, but when he realized that the compulsion was gone because his alpha was dead, he nodded slowly.

    ''hm, i can take advantage of this. the other alphas should still have some compulsions on them, but not enough to stop him from answering some questions now that his own alpha has died.''

    with a flip of his palm, leonel took out one of the betas he had stored away from his first encounter, the one he had asked about the vital star innate node.

    "do you recognize him?" leonel asked.

    the beta of alpha magma shook his head.

    "smell him." leonel commanded.

    the beta did as he was told.

    "do you now?"

    the beta nodded.

    leonel had picked up some things over the past couple hours. with such a complex, interlocking system of alphas and betas, if the beastman dimensional verse wanted to maintain order, there had to be methods of telling each other apart.

    some betas would be above other betas because of who they served, there were even betas more powerful than the alpha he had just fought. likewise, there was a hierarchy among alphas.

    it could easily become a mess if you assumed someone''s strength just by their prefix.

    "who''s his alpha?"

    "ah... his alpha is known as alpha bluestar..."

    "what''s his rank among alphas?"

    "... alpha bluestar is quite young. it''s said that he has a chance to become one of the true elites, but for now he is not. he is still a half-step away, but many believe that with the help of this trial, he will take that step and begin to..."

    the beta suddenly furiously shook his head, not daring to finish.

    alpha bluestar rivaling alpha clown? even if one thought it, some things could never be said out loud.

 Chapter 2348 Together

    chapter 2348 together

    ''alpha bluestar, huh?''

    lightsж═ж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m "do you know where this alpha bluestar is?"

    when leonel asked this question, the beta finally began to show some signs of discomfort. it seemed that he finally understood that leonel wanted to harm alpha bluestar, and as such, the compulsion began to kick in.

    it was a truly interesting technique. it worked on intention rather than a rough set of rules, and the former was far more difficult to produce than the latter.

    both had their own pitfalls, obviously, as leonel was still able to get a lot of the information he wanted even with these guard rails. for example, he was able to learn about this bluestar just by avoiding the topic of the void star innate node altogether, that way the beta didn''t put two and two together until he had already gathered quite some information.

    but he would argue that drawing a hard line at some rules would have even more pitfalls. anyone who knew a lawyer could attest to the fact that rules would always have loopholes in them, ones that leonel was sure he could exploit with much greater ease than he was now.

    "so that''s a yes." leonel nodded to himself. "and what is he doing now, exactly?"

    "he... i... i don''t know."

    the beta''s lips trembled, and he couldn''t quite get his words out, but judging by the shiftiness within them, he definitely knew more than he was letting on.

    "speak."

    the beta almost collapsed, but he seemed to be far more afraid of leonel right now than he was afraid of a far-off alpha bluestar.

    "he-he-he''s looking for entrances to battle ax domain caves like the one you just entered. he spread out all of his people to look, but he''s staying in the same spot. but that spot..."

    to leonel''s surprise, when the beta tried to talk about "that spot," he directly died.

    leonel felt like he understood why. it was clear that that spot was related to more alphas than the ones he knew. this beta''s alpha had already died, so for the compulsion to be so strong, there was only one of two explanations he could think of.

    first was that a compulsion of multiple alphas, even if individually weak, was far stronger than that of a single alpha, even if that alpha was your direct alpha.

    the second was that this information was related to an alpha so powerful that their compulsion outweighed all others, so much so that they could have the compulsion of a direct alpha over everyone.

    regardless of which one was, leonel believed that he had an understanding of what was going on.

    the beta had said he''s staying in the same spot, and that should mean that bluestar never moved from their spawn point. he''s waiting for his betas to come back to him with information on what he needs.

    in all likelihood, there were probably several alphas in that location doing something similar. maybe alpha magma was among those that had waited, but he was lucky enough to find his cave before anyone else.

    leonel''s eyes narrowed as he bent down and took alpha magma''s ring. he didn''t think that there was anything particularly special about these domain rings, especially after anastasia''s explanation, but he still felt like they might be missing something.

    none of what he knew now explained why those "gods" had taken it upon themselves to hand something so good over. it seemed that he would have to find out later.

    as much as leonel wanted to try and use some context clues to find the location of the alphas, he knew that this would be too foolish of him.

    he had struggled so much with just one alpha; he doubted they would let him stroll into a lair of them, take out one of their best talents, and then raid his corpse on top of that.

    there were two choices. the first was to wait until bluestar left his location and was on his own. the second was to grow strong enough to do something as foolish as attempt a raid.

    the problem with the first was that he didn''t even know where bluestar was now, let alone where he''d be in the future. and right now he was just aimlessly walking around, hoping to stumble into something.n./0velb1n

    the worst part was that even if he was lucky enough to stumble into bluestar, would he be strong enough to deal with him?

    ''it seems like getting stronger first is the best way.''

    there would be time to deal with bluestar. for now, he would continue heading in the direction of the dimensional verse''s seeded participant, while he...

    leonel took out a small silver disk, running his finger across it.

    ''alright, don''t disappoint me old man.''

    ...

    three looming figures walked out from a dense swamp, and the world seemed to fall into silence along with them.

    when these three alphas appeared, the title that they all shared seemed to become hollow. maybe if not for the necessity of their current structure in maintaining order, they would have all become betas by now.

    there was only one who looked up from their seated position with calmness in his eyes. he had eyes slitted much like alpha clown, but rather than a reptilian, sharp yellow, they were a radiant and almost blinding blue.

    the rest of his body, though, didn''t have any scales and he almost looked entirely human. the only signs that he wasn''t were those cold eyes of his and the subtly sharp claws that graced his fingers.

    who else could this be if not alpha bluestar?

    "you are all my people," alpha clown said in a rumbling voice, "but you all only listen to power, not reason. it''s the reason i''ve been cruel, i''ve been harsh, i''ve been murderous. it''s all our people know, that struggle. but that struggle will also be the reason we have the best chance to survive.

    "from here on out, we travel together. if any of you have any objections, raise them now. i will happily beat them out of you."

 Chapter 2349 Perfect Balance

    chapter 2349 perfect balance

    leonel didn''t know that his mission had just gotten that much harder. in fact, he was in a state of quite some tranquility as he moved because his father had indeed left something behind.

    "listen here, oh seed of min-"

    "could you stop with that nickname?"

    "silence, twerp. i''m trying to help you."

    "oh? that''s a change."

    it took way longer than leonel cared to admit to get his father''s ai to actually start giving him the information it was apparently here to provide. but the moment it did, what he learned quite quickly was that he had too little understanding of what his father had done for him.

    for one, leonel learned that his being born with a scarlet star innate node and then having it taken away not too long after was actually somewhat of a blessing in disguise.

    his father had, indeed, gone to earth to learn about their forms of medicine in an attempt to regrow the innate node and also to stabilize his condition.

    after losing his innate node, the infant leonel had been in an extremely precarious state where he could have died any time. the pressure of a higher-level world only made his situation worse, and it was only by returning to a third dimensional world could he finally begin to heal.

    the question he had never really thought about was why?

    the answer seemed obvious. obviously, it was because he had lost a precious part of himself, but was that truly the case? when he took his innate node back from myghell, the latter had seemed fine afterward.

    of course... leonel had been a baby while myghell had been a grown man. there was obviously a clear difference.

    but leonel didn''t believe that was enough to explain it.

    as a child of velasco and a wielder of the world spirit, leonel''s constitution at birth should have been excellent. even if he lost his innate node by rather crude methods, it was so small and insignificant back then that unless those few bastards tried to kill him at the same time, he should have been able to weather the storm at the same time. at the very least, he shouldn''t have been on the brink of death.

    lightsж═ж╧vel.cж╧m but what if this was another ploy by the demoness?

    he thought back to anya and how much of a danger she said he would be. then he thought of how wise star order had said that his innate node would consume him if he didn''t master it within a hundred years. and then there was something else that was curious...

    his lineage factors, from birth, had a heavy leaning toward life. whether it was the light side of the northern star lineage factor or the portion of the morales lineage factor.

    taking another step back, the morales lineage factor as a whole had a heavy emphasis on life, so much so that he practically exuded vitality, his single breath capable of causing whirlwinds in the sky.

    the metal synergy lineage factor, even though only part of the whole, had a heavy emphasis on creation, mimicking aspects of the metal spirit race and forming many things from nothing.

    its ties with creation couldn''t have been stronger.

    but then there was his innate node. it could be said to be the exact opposite. it was the embodiment of destruction, and he, himself, was a destruction sovereign.

    the clash between the two should have been enough to tear an infant apart. it reeked of an experiment, reeked with a stench of subterfuge.

    maybe the demoness'' experiments hadn''t come to an end after all, and she really wanted to see what would happen when she took two aspects and smashed them together.

    what was worse than all of this was something else that he had neglected: his ability index.

    dream force. it was the impetus of life itself, and his affinity in it couldn''t have been stronger, especially with the bloodline of that demoness running through his veins.

    how would it have clashed with his innate node?

    it seemed that leonel''s father had seen this as well. as a result, not only was he looking for a way to regrow leonel''s innate node, but he also suppressed leonel''s true dream force affinity so it wouldn''t affect the formation of the scarlet star force innate node.

    leonel''s body was truly a ticking time bomb with creation pulling in one direction and destruction pulling in the other. he might have even found it to be poetic if it wasn''t for the fact his life was on the line because of it.n-/o--v--e/(l.(b)-i--n

    ultimately, his creation side had been the far stronger of the two until two things happened.

    the first was that he gained a second scarlet star force innate node, his enlightened self even having brought it to the same level as his original one after its second awakening.

    the second was that he had gained the dark northern star lineage factor as well, finally balancing out the light side.

    thanks to this, and his demon bloodline still being suppressed within him, he could finally unleash his mind the way it was meant to be unleashed.

    however, that didn''t change the fact that he was a ticking time bomb.

    for one, having two innate nodes with destruction character meant that he had to grasp destruction to an even deeper level if he wanted to keep them in line.

    at the same time, as he progressed, his demon bloodline would only grow stronger with time and it would begin to clash with what he had now.

    obviously, as his demon bloodline grew stronger, his dream force would grow stronger, and as his dream force grew stronger, his creation aspects would likewise gain huge bumps in strength.

    this was the balancing act that leonel had to play now, and it likely also didn''t help that little tolly was giving off incredibly strong waves of creation as well.

    one would think that if one side was far stronger than the other, then it would just suppress it and flourish.

    but in the end, creation and destruction couldn''t exist without proper balance.

    much like the tale of the god beasts of creation had taught him... when you created too much, it would inevitably lead to destruction.

    if he wanted to survive, there needed to be a perfect balance.

 Chapter 2350 0.17%

    chapter 2350 0.17%

    from the very beginning, leonel had been forced onto this path and his choice in the matter was quite minimal. though, he could probably consider himself lucky. given the track record of the demoness, the idea of a first experiment subject succeeding was probably next to zero. the fact that he lived and breathed right now was both a miracle, and thanks to a lucky series of events.

    it could be said that the healthiness he had displayed soon after his birth was more akin to the last dying sparks of a once vibrant life, almost like the second wind and glow one would radiate just before death.

    that left one question, then. where did that leave him now? well, according to his father, his method would only work if one day he managed to withstand his seal being undone. that day had come but... the method made leonel''s lip twitch.

    he was used to his father''s grueling methods. if his crafting regimen was anything to go by, there would be nothing but pain waiting for him ahead.

    he still remembered how his father wanted him to reach a perfect grade one designation with his fingers before he even began to crafting. even now, he felt that that requirement was absolutely ridiculous. but then again, wasn''t the requirement to start this path of progression equally as ridiculous? but he had made it already, right...?

    he basically had to progress to the seventh dimension before he got all his ducks in a row. only then could he return to the third dimension and have this unlocked to him.

    his father couldn''t want him to do more than that... right? wrong. looking at the requirements, leonel saw nothing but a long list of question marks. the only thing on the holographic screen that was available for actual reading were three things.

    the first, he was lucky enough to have already done.

    [separate soul from body]. this made him feel like he could smile. he finally had a leg up and could grin with some pride. obviously, the other two would also be things that he had already succeeded in, right?

    [reach impetus state in all required forces before forming any stars].

    leonel was rendered speechless when he saw this. he had already reached the impetus state for his dream force, so that was one requirement ticked off. but assuming that he followed the very same path he had before, that meant that he would need to do the same for his vital star force, his scarlet star force, and his void star force.

    this obviously referred to a true impetus state, not one that he could push his force to while relying on his innate node. that meant that even if he found his alpha bluestar, it would be useless in helping him to fix his current lack of comprehension.

    but the third requirement made leonel want to shed tears. it was simply impossible. he could practically hear his father''s mad cackle from the afterlife. wait, he wasn''t imagining it, this damn ai was playing a recording of his father''s laughter right here and now.nove-lb(1n

    [reach the constellation realm]

    leonel stopped running, looking around to see if he could find the cameras. there had to be a joke hidden around here somewhere. there was no way that this was an actual requirement.

    the four seasons realm. the heavenly body realm. the natural light realm. the cosmos realm. and only then, there was the constellation realm.

    the first helped those of the fourth heaven to be capable of fighting those in the fifth. but the last aided those of the eighth to be capable of fighting those of the ninth!

    of course, these were the crudest terms, an explanation that leonel had learned of way back when he was still in the third dimension, and one that was likely only the teachings of the dimensional verse.

    but this didn''t change much. [dimensional cleanse] alone seemed to be attached to these comprehension states. when he entered the sixth dimension, his heavenly body realm and his stars had basically fused into one, becoming of one mind, while summoning one meant also summoning the other.

    lightsж═ж╧vel.cж╧m that meant that the natural light realm would attach itself to the seventh dimension, and so forth until the ninth and the constellation realm.

    his father was essentially asking him to comprehend something meant for the ninth dimension just to unlock the ability to cultivate his method for the third dimension. leonel didn''t even know what to say. it felt like a practical joke. in fact, for all he knew, these were just the first three requirements in order to unlock the right to attempt the next requirement. how long would his father have him stay in the third dimension, exactly?

    he was speechless.

    leonel shook his head. ''fine, fine, old man. this better not be one of your practical jokes. i''m toying with my life here.'' the screen before him blinked and a detection seemed to sweep over him before the first line was crossed out. leonel faintly nodded to himself before his lip twitched.

    the line that was crossing out the [separate soul from body] requirement stopped halfway as though it was recalculating. then, a progression bar appeared.

    leonel was stunned. for a moment, he thought it was just a normal bar. but it took him looking for a solid few seconds before he realized that there was a tiny sliver of progression, so tiny that he didn''t even notice it at first. he hesitantly reached forward and tapped it.

    [soul separation]

    [progress - 0.17%]

    leonel''s finger froze. yes, he was definitely being toyed with. most definitely. he had definitely already separated his soul from his body. how did he know? he had been eaten alive to prove it! he could still remember every single excruciating detail. he felt his bones being chomped into, his flesh being torn off the bone, his heart being squeezed for its pulp as though it was an orange. why was this thing telling him that he hadn''t made any progress at all?!

 Chapter 2351 I Understand

    chapter 2351 i understand

    leonel was truly speechless. he had lost count of just how many times his father had pranked him in the past, but this just felt... ridiculous.

    "why the hell is my soul only at 0.17%?!"

    leonel shook the dictionary a bit as though he was grabbing his father''s shoulders. unexpectedly, or maybe expectedly, he received an answer.

    "your soul was mostly sealed in the past, any attempt that you might have made only released it in part, while what remained was still chained within you."

    when leonel heard this, he calmed a bit. but what he heard next made him feel helpless.

    "in addition, there are layers to the soul. these layers can be looked at much like force manipulation. there are multiple dimensions, and the soul is layered throughout each one. the stronger your soul is, the more dimensions it is layered throughout.

    "if you want to fully separate your soul from your body after birth, you have to first reach the impetus state in dream force-life state if you find yourself outside of an incomplete world-and only then can you fully sense all the layers of your soul.

    "then, you can begin the process of true separation."

    the reason why leonel felt helpless after he heard this was because he was in the impetus state now, but he was already on his way out of their incomplete world. this place should still be in an incomplete world, so he should be fine for now. but all of this essentially meant that he had to find a method to separate his soul from his body fully before all of this came to an end.

    judging by the situation of the humans, even in complete worlds, it was obvious that they didn''t have such a method, so he couldn''t expect to just stumble onto such a thing while roaming this world.

    that meant that he would have to find this method on his own. or would he?

    even if the true progression path his father had laid out couldn''t be started until he checked off all of these boxes, that didn''t mean that velasco hadn''t laid out a detailed plan for these individual tasks.

    so, leonel chose to ask, and luckily, his father didn''t leave him hanging. and better than that, the fake digital voice that he was using in the past seemed to have been left there, so it really felt like his dad was speaking right to him.

    "meditate within the dream plane. the more you understand yourself, the easier it will be."

    lightsж═ж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m the words were vague and cryptic, but this told leonel that there must be some sort of bar of comprehension that he had to clear.

    after some hesitation, he chose to find an abandoned region before he used his earth force to bury himself deep underground. only then did he enter the segmented cube.

    he sat in the midst of a forest and entered a deep state of meditation. in a flash, he had appeared in the dream plane once again.

    ''layers... sense of self...?''

    leonel thought deeply about what this would mean, but almost instantly, he understood the first. there was a vague line connecting his true self and the self that entered the dream plane. the dream plane was the second dimension itself, but his body...

    when he focused on that vague line, he found that his body was being stretched across several planes of existence, pulled in countless directions. there was his body which was in the third, his mind which was in the fifth, his forces which were in the seventh.

    this all confused leonel, though. he had begun to stray away from the concepts of "dimensions" a bit. once he had accepted the vast bubble as a complete world, he felt that their magic system was more "correct".

    the vast bubble didn''t use dimensions, they used stars as a gauge instead.

    but what was odd about this was that force manipulation used dimensions, and his father was obviously also using dimensions. so who was...

    it clicked.

    ''those sons of bitches...'' leonel shook his head.

    this was obviously another ploy by those four great families to keep people in the dark. the less they understood about dimensions and their weighted importance, the less likely they would be to grasp certain things.

    soon, these youths here would probably be like him, thinking the so-called "gods" were obviously correct, and abandon their already adequate comprehension of progression and how progress should be made.

    the dimensions were important. extremely so. and they actually seemed to be loosely based on earth''s physical sciences as well.

    the idea of dimensional folds, of one step above being infinitely more powerful than the last...

    then it clicked for leonel once again.

    ''to understand myself... should mean to comprehend just how much my soul is doing for me. it''s being stretched in so many directions, supporting my existence in the third dimension, and even up to my forces in the seventh.

    ''it''s so flexible. it''s the very foundation of my life and it does so with ease, but that doesn''t mean that it''s working optimally either.''

    leonel meditated in silence, trying to understand what that might mean. his thoughts drifted and he thought of the first seven individuals that he had killed when he entered here, how their thoughts were so different from one another, and how they all knew and understood that absorbing the souls of others was bad not just morally, but for their own progression path as well.

    and then he thought about how his soul seemed to be anchored to this place. it couldn''t move across large distances from his location because...

    ''because my body is an anchor holding it down...''

    to separate the soul from the body. didn''t it mean to give the soul absolute freedom?nove-lb.in

    but he felt like he was missing something. it shouldn''t just be absolute freedom, or else wouldn''t he be essentially killing himself? if the connection to this soul and body was fully severed, his body would atrophy and die.

    ''i understand...''

    leonel''s progression bar suddenly trembled, and from 0.17%, it began to skyrocket upward in 10% increments.

 Chapter 2352 Lost

    chapter 2352 lost

    leonel could feel his soul almost compressing. if before it was like an accordion stretched thin and playing a note that was as shrill as it was high pitched, now it was an extended, rhythmic hum.

    it was almost like a piano with the pedals pushed down, each note resonating longer and layering atop the next note that was played. the notes played first began to slowly decompress and fade, while the latter ones thrummed with a vibrant boom.

    these images that coated his mind were more figments of his thought, almost like artistic conceptions that were leading his action. and yet, it was exactly this artistic conception that held so much strength and power. just how much had he learned about the art of thought. his grandfather''s methods built atop of this, starting from the power of the word, progressing to the power of a verse, to the power of a painting and a resonate note.

    these were all artistic conceptions and even until now, they were a core part of why his spear force was so powerful.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l.cж╧m but why was it that such a thing could impact his spear force? leonel had deduced this matter long ago. weapon forces were far more malleable than other forces. a force like scarlet star force had its own personality, its own will, its own life, so to speak. however, what differentiated weapon forces from other forces was that while they had their own character, they could be molded.

    leonel had come to understand that the impetus for the creation of weapon forces had to rely on the same impetus that created life itself. weapons wouldn''t exist without the will of humans. it took unique intelligence to create weapons. however, this intelligence didn''t just manifest weapons out of nowhere. it relied on the laws that the world had already created. the two worked hand in hand.

    on one hand, there were the humans who created weapons for the sake of hunting, of protecting themselves. and on the other hand, there were the laws of the universe. how could a weapon work without the concepts of sharpness? the concepts of momentum? the concepts of swiftness and flexibility?

    a sword could only be sharp because the universal laws dictated that a blade, when refined enough, would find it much easier to cut through things. this was a crude explanation, and yet it was a true one.

    leonel found himself understanding the connection between the two all the more... the connection between the life that was humans and the life that was forces... the line that separated what was the soul, what was the very core of a being''s, well... being, and what was simply a law of the world, one that would exist even without the input of life.

    when he understood this, leonel felt his body tremble at the same instant his soul reached 100% separation. his spear force and his bow force had both entered the impetus state. not only had they entered the impetus state, but they had entered the middle impetus state, a step beyond even that of his dream force.

    however, this didn''t last for long as his dream force took one step, and then another. his dream force entered the higher impetus state, a step beyond that of his weapon forces, and just a step below the very peak of the impetus state... just two half steps from the life state.

    leonel felt as though his body was floating on a cloud. he felt both disconnected from it, and somehow more connected to it than he ever had before. he realized that the true core of his life wasn''t his body at all. rather, his body was just a conduit of nature and its laws. his body was a vessel through which his soul could impose its will onto the world, but it was not his soul, and it was not the root of his life.

    at that moment, leonel felt that his soul could travel endlessly through the dream plane. of course, if the life force of his body ran out as he did so, his body would "die" and he would have to reconstruct a new one. but ultimately, the bounds that had been placed on him were no longer present.

    what leonel didn''t know quite yet was that there were even some life state dream force users that could not accomplish this. reaching the life state didn''t mean that you could separate your soul from your body perfectly. and those that relied on treasures to do the same thing would not have this privilege either unless they came to understand the truth.

    it could be said that leonel had opened up a clear path for himself toward the life state. all he needed was time and accumulation. but what he was more interested in wasn''t the state of his soul, he already knew he had succeeded. rather, he was far more interested in his weapon forces.

    his spear force and bow force had taken such an enormous leap forward, but he had a feeling that it was a bit... hollow. the comprehension that leonel had just come to could be applied to any and all weapon forces. technically, if he used glaive force right now, it would be at the middle impetus state as well.

    ''this is... a bit of a problem.''

    without even circulating his spear force and bow force, for fear of what it might do to his body, leonel knew that he had lost his true sovereignty. if he used either right now, or used his mage core to gather it from the surroundings, it would no longer have its golden hue. instead, it would be the normal white-silvery color.

    leonel hadn''t known that this was even possible. he assumed that it would be permanent. even so, leonel wasn''t worried. if he wanted to regain his true sovereignty, he just had to bring his precise comprehension of the spear and bow, to the same level as his holistic level of weapon forces in general.

    he grinned. that was far easier than what he had just done.

    occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.n-.0velb1n

 Chapter 2353 Thank You

    chapter 2353 thank you

    leonel stood up. he didn''t begin to meditate on the spear and bow now because he knew that it was useless. even if he regained his true sovereignty, so what? his use of his weapon forces would be limited until he returned to his original strength.

    this wasn''t exactly true. leonel had a feeling that the training plan his father had in store for him would allow him to use his weapon forces long before he returned to the seventh dimension. or else, what would be the point? however, it wasn''t worth the time expenditure currently.

    although what he had just done was much harder, he had also had a sudden moment of enlightenment that brought together all of his comprehensions from across several years of thought. he didn''t have such momentum for the spear and bow themselves. if he wanted to meditate on it, it would probably take him at least a few weeks. if he battled, however, it would likely only take him a few days. unless...

    ''unless i use the spear domain ring...''

    leonel looked down at the ring, but he was already moving. there was a chance that if he continuously tried to gain the acknowledgment of the spears in the ring, he could cut down a few days'' work to just a few hours. but once again, he felt that it wasn''t worth the time.

    when he gathered his weapon forces with his mage core, the effects weren''t as strong. though, he now understood why. the source of weapon forces came from one part humans and another part the world. if he solely gathered up weapon forces from the world, then he was cutting off half of its strength.

    ''that''s interesting,'' leonel thought as he continued to move toward the dimensional verse''s seeded participant. ''what if i used myself and the mage core at the same time, and then used my spear dance on top of that. would i be able to gain a spear strike that was close to the life state as a result?''

    leonel''s thoughts swirled with ideas, but he soon tossed them to the back of his mind. it didn''t matter how many ideas he came up with if in the end, he couldn''t use them. his first priority was to strengthen himself. that meant that his focus should be knocking down the other two items on his father''s list. this meant that he had to bring all of his forces to the impetus state, and then find a way to enter the constellation realm without leaving the third dimension.

    ''easy peasy.''

    lightsnж╧vж┼l.cж╧m leonel chuckled to himself. what were his forces? he had vital star force, scarlet star force, void star void, and emulation spatial force; these were the few forces he had left that hadn''t reached the impetus state. but did his father really mean all of them?

    that was when leonel realized he didn''t need to just stumble around blindly anymore. he could just ask.

    "... all forces core to your path."

    ''my path?'' leonel mumbled. "how do i decide that?"

    "don''t be an idiot."

    leonel was rendered speechless again. he had forgotten that this was an ai of his father, of course, it''d have a few answers like this one. so, he decided to be more specific.

    "right now, my core forces are... should i keep them as is?"

    "why do you have void star force?"

    "to balance out my scarlet star force."

    "and why do you need to balance it out?"

    "because..."

    leonel''s voice trailed off. back when he had made the decision to strengthen his void star force, it was because he wanted the mirror of his scarlet star force. this would not only help him keep it in check, but it would also provide him a different perspective in comprehending his scarlet star force.

    but now that he knew the balance to his scarlet star force innate nodes was this apparent creation path that he was on, was it still necessary? if anything, the void star force might mess with the balance instead.

    "that''s a shame, having ten stars was kind of cool..."

    "i don''t need you to have ten stars. in the end, your stars will form a force art. this force art will become the only natural force art you will ever need, and it will use your constellation as its foundation. one star, ten star, nine stars, a million stars, it doesn''t matter."

    leonel blinked. "i..."n(/0velbin

    he was about to finish his words when his gaze sharpened. he slipped his father''s silver disk back into the segmented cube and he dodged to the side. an arrow hit the ground with such force that it cratered it. even after doing this, it still didn''t seem satisfied, splintering the ground that remained as its feathered earned whipped back and forth with enough force to cause hurricane force winds.

    ''... maybe i should have strengthened my bow force back to true sovereign force after all, what an annoyance.''

    leonel''s gaze sharpened as he saw the perpetrator in the distance. they were some sort of demon-monkey hybrid. his arms, and most of his body, really, was covered in a red, almost rusted fur. it was just that practically the only thing leonel could see were his arms because they were so long.

    if this demon monkey wanted, he could drag his knuckles across the ground as he walked. upon closer inspection, leonel actually noticed that this demon monkey, or one of the beast men, he presumed, actually had three jointed arms instead of just two.

    leonel looked at the demon monkey alpha as though he was a raining idiot. you had those sorts of genetics, but instead of wielding a spear, or a pair of sabers, or... literally anything but a goddamn bow, you chose this path?

    when leonel chose his weapons, he did so out of necessity, and then soon afterward he did it because his lineage factor matched it. it was practicality that came first for him. but this fool...

    alpha demon monkey could almost feel the palpable disdain coming from leonel, and it confused him. he had just been surprised that leonel actually survived his strike, all for this to happen.

    "oh!" leonel suddenly lit up. "you have a bow domain ring, thank you very much!"

    alpha demon monkey didn''t know what to say... why was this human thanking him?

    but leonel had already moved.

 Chapter 2354 Ability Index

    chapter 2354 ability index

    leonel''s speed didn''t feel fast, especially not in the eyes of the alpha demon monkey. and yet, for some reason, the latter felt his senses blur for a moment, and by then, leonel was already right before him.

    ''interesting, that doesn''t work too bad, but it''s not as effective as my ability index. also takes up a lot more of my dream force, not that that matters all too much...''n)/o/-v-/e./l--b()i--n

    leonel punched out, trying to test something.

    the demon monkey alpha was completely on the back foot. he was confused. how had his advantage disappeared so quickly?

    he was an archer, so obviously the distance benefited him. he had been at least a kilometre away from leonel, so how come all of that had already vanished?

    he raised his bow to block leonel''s strike, but leonel''s fist seemed to vanish and he found a strong strike landing on his chest.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l.cж╧m or was it a strong strike?

    alpha demon monkey took a single step back, his heart skipping a beat as he felt death loom over him, but that feeling vanished as quickly as it appeared, being replaced by a dull ache instead of the heart-rending pain that he had been expecting.

    ''so weak?''

    what alpha demon monkey didn''t know was that leonel was surprised as well, not by the weakness in his strike, but rather the exact opposite.

    he hadn''t used any force just now and only relied on his third-dimensional body. of course, he had also used his dream force to pull at the demon monkey''s mind and confuse the location of his fist, but other than that, it was just pure strength.

    ''my body is stronger? why?''

    in the third dimension, he shouldn''t be able to make a seventh-dimensional being feel anything with just his body alone. it should have felt like a fly was landing on his chest, but the demon monkey actually took a step back.

    ''interesting...''

    leonel didn''t believe that this was being of his force comprehension, obviously, because he hadn''t used his force to bolster his strength just now. the only explanation was that this was a result of his soul being fully separated from his body.

    with his soul being separated, it wasn''t just his soul that was freed, but his soul as well.

    together, the body and soul formed a sort of mutually suppressive relationship with one another. only when they were pulled apart could they display their truest strength.

    most importantly, with his soul fully separated from his body, leonel''s talent could finally flourish to its greatest extent.

    in the next coming days to months, his body''s strength would increase by leaps and bounds. he was looking forward to seeing just how much stronger he could become in body alone.

    leonel''s gaze flashed and his combat style shifted. universal force descended and melded with his body, the skies turning various shades of light and dark.

    "natural light realm? but you''re-"

    bang!

    the next fist that landed carried with it the weight of a mountain. the demon monkey tried and failed to block once again, finding himself surrounded by countless afterimages of leonel.

    thousands of fists rained down, but only one in a batch of hundreds was real. the alpha found himself being kneaded like meat, but his life ultimately wasn''t in danger.

    even so, the danger to his life was one matter, but the humiliation was a completely different one. he felt a rage bubbling up deep within him and he roared into the skies.

    leonel lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, appearing outside the range of the roaring force in an instant. he didn''t fear it, but he was rather reassessing some things.

    using his dream force like this had great results. it took more dream force, but his reserves were so large that he hardly felt the dent. access to the dream plane made several of his previously created ability index techniques far stronger as well, not to mention shed the previous weakness of his dream force being unable to project to his body, at least somewhat.

    using the dream plane as an extension of his soul, he could basically stretch his dream world within the second dimension. as a result, he didn''t need to rely on the starry tailed fox''s domains any longer.

    however, he wasn''t sure if this was the path for him.

    toying with the mind was something that he could do, but it wasn''t ultimately a path that had a great deal of potential for him. if he had an illusion-type dream force ability index, then it would be worthwhile investing some time into this path, but right now, it wasn''t as viable.

    due to his father''s training regimen, and especially the time he had spent separating his soul, leonel began to think more about not just how to get stronger, but what the best paths were for him as well.

    his mind couldn''t help but drift back toward king alexandre and his ability index. he could still absorb it any time he wanted, but...

    leonel took out the silver disk again. "old man, what do you think about absorbing another ability index?"

    alpha demon monkey nocked an arrow, pulling back with all his strength. seeing this, leonel nodded. at the very least, the demon monkey hadn''t given up all of his advantages.

    taking advantage of his long arms and extra joints, his bow was much larger for his body than it should have been, allowing him to pull far more power out of the bow.

    "if you believe that your ability index is so close to this king alexandre''s, a mirror image, even, then why waste your time taking strength from others when you can forge it on your own?

    "if you have a chance to do something on your own, never rely on someone else.

    "an ability index is more flexible than you''re giving it credit for. once you understand what an ability index is, where it gets its strength from, and how much you should or shouldn''t rely on it, everything will become clear."

 Chapter 2355 Off Switch

    chapter 2355 off switch

    shuuuuu!

    the arrow shot through the air with blazing speed. the separation between leonel and the demon monkey wasn''t even a hundred meters. with their strength, even shooting arrows from tens of kilometers away could be considered to be close, let alone just a few dozen meters.

    the danger leonel was in was quite high. even a few seconds would be too long of a counter for the time it would take the arrow to pierce his head.

    even so, leonel seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

    "... never rely on someone else for something you can do yourself..."

    that was indeed his father''s philosophy, even to the very end. he followed it until his dying breath, relying on nothing other than his spear.

    leonel was different from his father. he wasn''t a lone wolf, and he didn''t want to be one. he wanted to move forward with his brothers, with his friends, with his future wife.

    that all-consuming loneliness wasn''t something he wanted to experience again.

    leonel shook his head. ''that guy isn''t me.''

    even so, leonel felt that his father''s words were correct. he was often careless with his path. no, he had been careless with his path until now.

    that feeling of loneliness wasn''t all that had consumed him; there was also that arrogance, that unwarranted, unearned, undeserved arrogance that had been a mainstay for him for so long.

    because of that, he took his steps casually, he didn''t plan very much into the future, and he had made several mistakes until now, mistakes he could only say that he was lucky to receive an opportunity to correct.

    recklessly absorbing the ability index of someone else just because he felt that he had deduced that it was the perfect mirror image of his own was something that the leonel of the past would have definitely done.

    he would take his father''s advice and apply it where it was needed, and where it wasn''t needed... he would follow his own path and rely on his own thoughts just like his father had told him to.

    leonel smiled.

    it was a sight that looked absolutely ridiculous, especially when there was an arrow just about to pierce right through his head. if it landed, it wouldn''t just be his body that was destroyed, his ethereal glabella would go along with it and he would truly die.

    however, his lips only slightly parted.

    "disperse."

    the arrow trembled in the air and suddenly lost all of its strength and momentum. it wobbled and then fell out of the skies.

    a wave of fatigue hit leonel, but his eyes were glowing with a fierce light.

    everything seemed to line up perfectly. he even felt that he understood why it was true sovereigns were able to become immune to all weapon forces of like kind.

    "that ability index-!" alpha demon monkey practically screeched.

    leonel moved again, his movements even faster than last time. even so, the demon monkey felt that he was far easier to read and react to, but halfway there...

    leonel pulled out a wooden spear.

    "you...!"

    the demon monkey''s eyes opened wide in shock. leonel was very clearly a fist expert, how had he just?

    he froze. the spear strike was simply too exquisite, he almost wanted to present his neck to it.

    what was he thinking about just now?! where...

    his thoughts ceased. it was like the candlelight of his life was cut off, crushed instantly and so quickly that he never had a chance to realize what was happening.

    leonel flexed his wrist, the tip of his spear vibrating wildly as he pointed it to the ground.

    that spear strike felt good. very good.

    it seemed that even though he had lost his true sovereignty, the effect of having a weapon in the impetus state was clear for all to see.

    but that obviously wasn''t all. it was as though he could impose his very will on the world now.

    he didn''t need to think that there would be such a large change immediately.

    he couldn''t grant titles like alexandre had, at least not yet, but his will was far more tangible than it had been before.

    and if he did take that step and speak a word... the world itself seemed to be forced to listen.

    leonel reached out a hand, and the bow domain ring flew to him. he rolled it through his fingers as though it was a coin, his designation shining through as it moved so quickly that the ring blurred and then disappeared entirely.

    leonel stood in thought for a long while.

    he had been focused on the weapon force aspect of the domain rings, but there was something that he had neglected: the lineage factors.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l.cж╧m why was he so excited to get his hands on the bow domain ring? it obviously wasn''t for the bows; he had one in his possession that was already of the life grade, and his morales lineage factor also now allowed him to create his own as well.

    what he really wanted to do was complete the lineage factor and allow his eyes to become a great supplementary strength.

    but his father''s words echoed in his ears again.

    don''t rely on others for something you could do yourself.

    this alone made him hesitate, but then he thought of that little pink-eyed woman''s words. she had said that the eyes provided by the bow domain lineage factor were just inferior products.

    of course, she had spoken partially out of anger, but leonel could sense the truth in her words. she had exaggerated, but she hadn''t been untruthful.

    then he thought about his own strength, how the demoness could seemingly turn off his strength as she pleased and seal him away with a thought.

    he didn''t know if this was just because she was obscenely powerful, or...n(/0velbin

    there was an off switch built into his very dna.

    leonel''s fingers suddenly stopped, the ring spinning on the tip of his thumb before he flicked it upward.

    it never got the chance to fall down as it vanished into the segmented cube.

    "you''ve all been there for a while now, is it necessary to continue to do so even now? why don''t we get acquainted?"

 Chapter 2356 Clown

    chapter 2356 clown

    in the far-off distance, there was quite a large group of people. even with his partial bow domain lineage factor, leonel could see them quite clearly.

    they had clearly used the demon monkey as a scout, which made sense considering the benefits of being both an archer and one of sharp sight. however, leonel was wondering why these people hadn''t done anything while their companion died.

    ''it seems that the relationship between the alphas isn''t as close-knit as that between the alphas and their betas. it''s also possible that it''s just a cultural thing, and they don''t want to interfere in one-on-one battles. it''s also possible they didn''t respect this alpha; a sneak attack like the one he tried to use against me isn''t very much like the rest of the alphas i''ve fought.''

    leonel casually tried to deduce some things. he felt that it was important to understand the enemies he was facing, mostly because their current behavior was... peculiar.

    they had actually gathered up like this, each one of them with extraordinary power.

    his eyes scanned them one by one, observing alpha clown for a very long while before he finally focused on alpha bluestar. this was definitely the person he was looking for, he was sure of it.

    but the words of his father echoed in his mind again and he hesitated.

    after a short while, he came to a decision.

    ''if i cannot break into the impetus state with my vital star force before this farce ends, i will take it regardless of the consequences. the longer i leave aina in that state, the more variables there will be.''

    leonel relaxed when he came to this decision, as though a guillotine that had been hanging over his head vanished.

    then there was a flash of black.

    leonel practically had to look straight up. alpha clown stood at a height that was easily two of him. he moved so quickly that distance felt like nothing more than a joke to him.

    he stood no more than a single meter from leonel, looking down at him. his yellow, reptilian eyes seemed to be trying to see something. but what he wanted to see clearly didn''t come.

    "you can understand our language."

    the words were deep and rumbling, and they also didn''t seem like a question at all. instead, it was a statement. leonel could tell that this person wasn''t very used to asking questions at all.

    "that''s not what you want to ask me," leonel smiled. "first you want to know why i haven''t retreated yet. second, you want to know why i''m so powerful despite being in the fifth dimension."

    the reptilian slits in alpha clown''s eyes sharpened.

    indeed, he already knew how leonel could. he had seen powerful dream force users before; he had instead wanted to probe leonel, to get a baseline for who he was, and he had an answer already.

    arrogant.

    and more than that, correct.

    "people like you, who like to toy with the minds of others, often die horrible deaths," alpha clown said slowly.

    "blaming someone else for your inadequacy? it doesn''t seem like something an alpha like yourself should do, no?"

    a bloody grin spread across alpha clown''s face. it was feeling with an eerie and almost crippling darkness, one that could freeze enemies as though a cold spell had been cast.

    "you are not a seed participant. there are people in your world stronger than you?"

    "i doubt it." leonel said after a moment.

    "you don''t seem sure."

    "well, i can''t be too arrogant, now can i? people don''t usually like people like that."

    "i believe that ship has sailed long ago."

    leonel chuckled. "you have a pretty scary face, but your sense of humor isn''t bad."

    "i try to tell people that all the time, but they never believe me."

    "and why''s that?"

    "i''m not sure. i even put it in my name."

    leonel''s smile brightened. "what? do you call yourself alpha clown or something?"

    lightsж═ж╧vel.cж╧m the atmosphere seemed to freeze. the alphas in the distance all felt their hearts constrict as a fist that could end worlds descended.

    leonel took one step to the side, and yet he still felt his knees nearly collapse.

    a raging wind blew by his ear, shredded his skin apart. it would have taken his entire head with it, just from the wind pressure alone, had it not been for the fact his universal force was still circulating.

    even so, it looked as though half of his face had suddenly erupted in a wave of blood. he lost so many layers of skin that it almost exposed his bone.

    leonel shook his head and chuckled.

    "i take it back," leonel said with a bloody smile, "a clown shouldn''t have such a bad sense of humor."nove)lb-1n

    alpha clown slowly pulled his fist back. that sick and twisted smile was still there.

    "interesting. there are only two people i know in the seventh dimension that can survive a fist of mine. well, you can''t survive it, but you can at least dodge it.

    "i''ll give you a chance. become my beta and teach me how you are so powerful despite being so inferior in dimension, and i will allow you to live."

    leonel''s grin widened. looking up at alpha clown, from the distance, it didn''t feel as though he was half the former''s height either.

    "didn''t i tell you before? no one likes arrogant people."

    "arrogance implies inadequacy. the word you''re looking for is confidence."

    "you''re not keeping up; i also already said something about that. didn''t you hear me?"

    leonel''s smile suddenly faded, and the air shifted.

    "blaming someone else for your inadequacy isn''t very alpha-like.

    "kneel."

    alpha clown''s smile froze.

    "this ability index-"

    bang!

    alpha clown''s entire expression seemed to be cast into a moment in time as one of his knees came crashing into the ground.

    it was as though the world commanded him to do so, and he... couldn''t fight back against it.

    leonel''s spear rested on alpha clown''s neck, looking straight into his eyes. he seemed to want to ingrain his image into alpha clown''s psyche.

    then, he suddenly vanished.

 Chapter 2357 Cripple

    chapter 2357 cripple

    leonel landed heavily a long distance away. of course, this wasn''t because he had been kicked or punched, but rather because he had escaped with his emulation spatial innate node. the "leonel" that had been holding his spear to alpha clown''s neck was nothing more than one of his clones.

    as for himself, the moment he said "kneel", he had already escaped. this time, though, he used his will to form an impression on space and combine it with his ability index, allowing him to jump a much, much, much further distance in one go than he would otherwise be able to.nove.lb(1n

    after hacking up several mouthfuls of blood, leonel chuckled to himself before slumping against some rock. he had let his ego get the best of him. truthfully, he should have just escaped directly, but he didn''t like letting that clown go unscathed, so he had forced him to kneel.

    well, that had cost him practically all of his dream force, and as a result, he hadn''t been able to jump as far through space as he had hoped. if he didn''t get a move on, they''d probably find him within a few minutes. if they had any spatial force experts, it would be even faster than that.

    that alpha clown was annoying, but he was powerful. in fact, leonel felt that even if his grandfather hadn''t sent him back to the third dimension, he would still be weaker than alpha clown. of course, he was tier 1 of the seventh dimension back then, while alpha clown was well into tier 9 and seemed to be suppressing himself from entering the eighth dimension, but it was the truth nonetheless. the gap was huge.

    in the dimensional verse, just stepping into the seventh dimension had made leonel invincible among seventh dimensional humans, at the very least. but clearly, this wasn''t the case here, and it most definitely wasn''t the case since he was stuck at the third dimension for now.

    ''if it was the me of back then, i would have probably meandered around until i had a breakthrough of some sort and then i would have defeated him before going on my merry way.'' leonel smiled as he pushed himself up. his body was in a bad, but not terrible state. the greatest wound was to his face, so nothing major. he''d just have an ugly mug for a bit.

    the greatest problem was his dream force. he only realized now just how valuable his stars were. recovering his dream force felt that it was moving at a snail''s pace.

    leonel began to run, using the energy of his emulation spatial innate node directly to cover more distance. he didn''t even want to waste the dream force it would take to use his mage core, so he had to do what he had to do.

    "just my luck..." leonel mumbled. his dream force might be drained, but everything was relatively. he might just have a single percent remaining, and yet he was still capable of using his internal sight to a distance of several hundred kilometers even if he could no longer tap into the dream plane.

    all this time, leonel had been making his way toward the dimensional verse''s seeded genius, and that would, obviously, be leading him out of the beastman dimensional verse''s territory.

    well, after his huge teleportation, he had made it to the borders of this "territory" and into the borders of another, and these people seemed to have exceptionally sharp minds because they had already long since spotted him.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l.cж╧m for the millionth time, he blamed his grandfather for not letting him prepare for this before pulling out his bow.

    ...

    the nomad race.

    they looked no different from humans aside from the fact their ethereal glabellas stuck out from their foreheads. oh, and there was of course the fact that they had six pairs of hands, two of which floated without wrists or arms, as well.

    in a lot of ways, though, they were simply better at being humans than humans were. they had larger ethereal glabellas, more hands, and most importantly, they were better at being jacks of all trades than any other race in existence.

    it could be said that the greatest weakness of the human domain of leonel''s dimensional verse was that no one followed just a single path, as such their energies were diverted across numerous disciplines and they couldn''t align their potential as one.

    the greatest strength of the nomad race, however, was exactly this weakness of the humans. they were exceptional in body and hand to hand combat, like the rapax. they had great nimbleness and mobility, much like the dwarven race. they had excellent attunement with the elements, much like the spirituals.

    this was why they were called the nomads. the paths they could journey were many, and the ones that they could travel to the end of were numerous. as a result of this, the nomad race was quite well known for their insatiable desire for knowledge, knowledge they wanted to assimilate into their own understanding to grow their strength.

    so when the nomad dimensional verse, a verse that had swallowed up all other races but the nomads themselves, laid eyes on a fifth dimensional expert strong enough to dodge even their strikes...

    their eyes lit up as though it was christmas day.

    leonel was bombarded from all sides, hounded, and treated like some run-away science experiment. there were weak nomads, as there were strong ones, but the main issue was that the baseline of the nomads was much higher than that of humans.

    as such, while the betas had been easy kills for leonel, he had yet to come across a nomad that was anywhere near as easy. leonel was able to kill many of them from a far off distance, but the nomad race was intelligent and not nearly as feral as the beastmen. when they saw their comrades die, their first thought wasn''t to charge forward blindly.

    instead, they took a step back and reassessed, preparing to launch an assault that would cripple leonel.

 Chapter 2358 Damn

    chapter 2358 damn

    leonel huffed in deep breaths. the good news? because he was in the middle of his shitstorm, the beastmen shouldn''t feel that they have an easy time either, if they pursued him so far, that is. of course, leonel didn''t have any fantasies about the matter. someone like alpha clown, when he was interested in something, would pursue it to the very ends. this was what it meant to grow strong.

    even so, leonel shook his head. this was truly ridiculous. if it wasn''t for the fact most of his lineage factors were greatly weakened or even outright sealed in many cases, he would have long since used [instant recovery]. he thought about bringing out his demons to fight for him, but he had sensed great resistance when he tried to do that, and he had a feeling that if he pushed through, he would end up causing some undue attention to himself that would make the rest of this place a hassle to deal with.

    ''hm?''

    "yip! yip!"

    a swirl of black appeared before leonel, causing his eyes to open wide. little blackstar? why was this little guy so... he didn''t know exactly what it was, but the cluster of little blackstar''s fur felt less... lustrous. not in a sickly or faded sort of way, but rather in a deep abyssal black and swallowing all light sort of way. the last time he checked, little blackstar wasn''t in anywhere near this condition. it had only been half a day, no? and even if he accounted for the time he had spent in this trial world, it had been less than two. basically, he had only just convinced little blackstar to focus on the shadow tail just yesterday.

    "how''d you become like this in a day, little guy?"

    little blackstar''s head tilted in confusion.

    "a day? it''s been over a year," anastasia''s voice echoed.

    "what?!"

    leonel hurriedly checked his body as though to check if he had any wires coming out of him. if he had been out for a year, then those nomads would have definitely dissected him thoroughly.

    "oh, you don''t know." anastasia seemed to have a tinge of amusement in her voice. "after your grandpa tapped your forehead, you were out cold. he took you out of the incomplete world entirely and into an odd space. only half a day passed to you, but in the incomplete world, over a year passed. whatever he did, it left me and little blackstar behind."

    suddenly, so many things seemed to make sense. it was no wonder he had ended up being transported without everyone else, was he even considered a participant of the dimensional verse? that was a good thing, though, no? it made it harder for those that wanted to track him.

    but..

    "aina?!"

    leonel''s heart was beating out his chest. if blackstar experienced over a year, so had aina.nove(lb.1n

    "i wouldn''t worry about her if i were you, she''s doing fine."

    "fine? what do you mean? did something happen?"

    "yes, her self-healing has already kicked in, from what i can tell. it''s a bit blurry to see through the golden tablet and i don''t want to push through in case it affects her, but her soul has already reformed. i wouldn''t be surprised if she woke up soon."

    "uh..."

    leonel didn''t know what to say. wasn''t he supposed to gain an impetus state vital star force understanding first? but then he remembered. it wasn''t his future self that told him that, his future self hadn''t explained anything. it was el''rion that had told him that. back then, he used his half-step impetus state vital star force to help bring what remained of aina''s together. he hadn''t thought that aina would be able to do the rest on her own. leonel practically grinned ear to ear.

    "damned pluto brat, pretending to be all knowing when- hey!" leonel suddenly turned his attention to anastasia. "was it impossible for you to explain these things before?!"

    "you never asked."

    "you didn''t think that it would be important for me to know?!"

    "you''re always in your own head. you should try thinking aloud, then i''ll know what you need," anastasia harrumphed.

    "unbelievable," leonel said speechlessly.

    rumble.

    lightsж═ж╧vel "shit."

    leonel tapped into his emulation spatial force, but little blackstar was faster. the both of them were surrounded in a swirl of black that appeared outside the cave he was hiding out in.

    standing atop the rock face of the cave, leonel saw that there were at least a hundred nomads below, separated into several squadrons in a perfect formation. however, leonel was completely focused on the cute little mink in his arms.

    "well damn, little guy. you sure have gotten stronger."

    "yip! yip!" little blackstar nodded, his cute little reflective black eyes, seemingly the only part of him that reflected any light at all, blinked like two large black marbles.

    "good. well, it''s your duty as my master to protect me, no. these guys are annoying."

    little blackstar''s expression became surprisingly serious as he reached out a paw and tapped leonel''s forehead twice. at first, leonel thought that the little guy was trying to do something magical, but he only realized after a split second that this was little blackstar''s way of patting his head.

    leonel burst into a fit of laughter as little blackstar vanished in a swirl of black. carnage was unleashed. weapons passed through little blackstar''s body as though he was nothing more than a ghost. tendrils of darkness erupted across the battlefield, spearing through the chests of two or three nomads at a time. every time little blackstar flickered and vanished, a swipe of his claws would cause another head to fly into the skies.

    it was a one-sided slaughter, but little blackstar seemed to have learned well from leonel because he wasn''t finished showing off yet.

    with a roar that sounded like a mighty primordial beast, completely unlike the little one''s usual cute "yipping" sounds, little blackstar appeared high in the skies, raising a cute little paw.

    very soon, though, there was almost nothing "cute" about this paw at all.

    a rush of heartrending shadows billowed forth as the paw was suddenly shrouded by a claw so large it seemed to blot out the skies. it descended, splitting wind and shattering space as it crushed the nomads that remained into meat paste even before it landed.

    even so, little blackstar was committed to his bit as he pressed the claw the rest of the way down, destroying the land for the surrounding kilometer.

    leonel''s eyes opened wide as he blinked a few times.

    "well, damn."

 Chapter 2359 Wicked

    chapter 2359 wicked

    leonel was taken aback by little blackstar''s strength. the little guy was still in the seventh dimension, and hadn''t even moved up in tiers. though leonel had known that the shadow tail would have a huge positive impact on little blackstar, he didn''t expect it to be this much.

    the truly shocking thing wasn''t really the power blackstar showed. this was still relatively close to his previous strength. what truly impressed leonel was two things. first the sheer ease, and second the method of force control.

    blackstar had output a level of strength that was comparable to the blackstar that leonel remembered, but the difference was that there was no effort to it. it was the equivalent of a stroll in the park. if leonel had to make a guess about the level of effort, it probably wouldn''t have been more than 10%.

    as for his force control, it was less about force manipulation, and far more about technique, style and effectiveness. though leonel was sure that little blackstar''s force manipulation had undergone a change, it wasn''t what stood out to him the most.

    the way he manipulated his dark force to ebb and flow like fog when he needed to, only to instantly snap it into a physical form no less sharp than a blade. or how he seemed to so easily phase in and out of the shadow world, moving freely and ignoring even the force infused attacks of his enemies. or how his sudden force output and explosive instantaneous strength was enough to go from no movement, to the enormous crater that was below them now...

    each one was the mark of a true expert, but little blackstar-mostly due to leonel-hadn''t truly fought that many battles, if he was honest.

    "yip! yip!"

    little blackstar blinked into existence above leoenl''s shoulder and patted his head for extra good measure, as though to make sure that leonel knew that he was there.

    leonel chuckled and reached up to scratch the little guy''s head. well, this made things a lot easier on him. he could let blackstar protect him for now while he got his body in order again.

    the duo continued to travel forward and leonel really felt reassured to leave things to the little guy.

    in the past, it had taken a great deal of effort for little blackstar to take leonel into his incorporeal state along with him, but now, although it wasn''t necessarily easy, it wasn''t nearly as strenuous.n(.o/.v./e-.l(.b--1/)n

    of course, the only reason leonel knew this was because the little guy loved to be playful. they hadn''t encountered a situation where this was a necessary maneuver, but little blackstar had only done it to show off.

    it gave leonel quite a scare when he thought the little guy had messed up, and blackstar seemed to have his own little hoot about that.

    what was interesting, though, was that after making that attempt, leonel noticed the tolliver, who was still a sleeve of silver and gold on his left arm, hadn''t been phased in with him.

    there were two explanations for this. either little blackstar could, or the little one was still enjoying his rivalry with the little metal spirit and purposely didn''t bring it along for the joy ride.

    leonel chuckled and felt that it didn''t matter much. honestly, he didn''t know what it would even take to harm tolliver at this point. it wasn''t that the metal spirit was immune to everything, but rather that its life force was unending and undying even if it was blasted to pieces, it wouldn''t make a lick of difference.

    the nomad dimensional verse found themselves being slaughtered, but leonel still found it curious. were they simply this weak? or was there something else going on?

    ...

    alpha clown stood across from an existence barely a quarter of his height. he was used to being the largest in a comparison of two, but even so, a person that was only a single meter tall was truly an anomaly, especially when this person was of the nomad race and not the dwarven race.

    "no need to look so shocked," the nomad youth chuckled. "my family''s lineage factor is quite unique, albeit quite annoying to use. my nomad race has a fondness for following many paths, and my family''s nomadic rebirth lineage factor allows us to reset our life when we''ve found an interesting path that we want to fuse into our own understanding. the more rebirths we undergo, usually, the stronger we are. though, the requirements for paths interesting enough to make us suffer through such a thing only get greater with every attempt."

    the nomad youth chuckled once again. "this is why i look like an eight year old youth, don''t mind it, don''t mind it."

    "you''re quite forthcoming with your secrets," alpha clown said with a sneer.

    "and why not? will it make a difference to me whether you know of this lineage factor or not?"

    "maybe," alpha clown grinned. "after all, in my beastman dimensional verse, we all share just a single lineage factor, the beastman lineage factor. it allows us to consume blood and incorporate it into our path. usually, we only do so with beasts, but..."

    alpha clown took a step forward, his aura bearing down.

    "oh my," the nomad youth chuckled, not seemingly the least bit intimidated, "that is an interesting lineage factor indeed. i wonder what sort of synergistic effects it would have for my own? it might even be worth becoming a toddler again."

    alpha clown''s sneer deepened. "it''s too bad you won''t have such a chance."

    "is that so? i''m not sure i agree. after all, there are so many of you, i just might succeed. my first rebirth was when i was 23 years old. my second came when i turned 47. my third when i was 63. i didn''t think i would need another as the older we get, the more grueling the process. the record for success in my rhismet family is just 82 years old and i''m already 93, i didn''t think that i would risk it.

    "but you know, as the saying goes..."

    the atmosphere darkened.

    "... there''s no rest for the wicked."

    [author''s note: capitalized because his name is actually wicked rhismet. i know, i''ve been killing it with these names, praise me.]

    the both of them vanished and the first clash was so terrible that both armies were sent flying back, unable to maintain their footing.

 Chapter 2360 Peddled

    chapter 2360 peddled

    leonel looked off into the distance, turning back toward the direction he had just come from. no, it should be just a bit off from that, but it was close. just a slight deviation, but it was enough.

    that clash just now was felt even by him. he recognized one half of it, but the other half was entirely foreign.

    he expected those as strong as alpha clown to be rare, and he still felt they should be. who would have known that his luck would be so bad that he would run into two of their territories back to back.

    in the end, leonel turned back toward the direction he was headed in and continued to rush forward, chuckling to himself.

    ''seems like he''s pretty mad about that kneeling incident. worth it.''

    he was just buttering himself up. with that alpha clown''s temper, he wanted to be the only one on the mountain top, he wouldn''t share his position with anyone else.

    whether leonel had pissed him off or not, that battle would have been inevitable.

    the real question was whether alpha clown and the others as powerful as him could adapt to the situation. those that still insisted on having the mountain top all to themselves would likely soon find themselves being thrown off.

    leonel had a feeling, though, that alpha clown was of the smarter variety. someone like him should also travel alone, so why did he have so many alphas around him when leonel met him?

    compromise.

    alpha clown had likely felt that there was something wrong about the situation they were all in currently. he might not know as much as leonel did, but he definitely felt the moving tides around him. as expected of a beast in human form.

    anyone as powerful as them would be bound to have quite a level of intelligence, and if you paired that with the instincts of a beast, the feeling of the world crashing down around you would be almost palpable.

    people who called themselves gods suddenly descended and "asked" you if you wanted to participate in a battle royale that would kill over 90% of billions of participants?

    what was the catch?

    that was a question that they''d all be asking, and it was an amusing one at that. wasn''t the catch the fact that 90% of you would die?

    the smart ones would know that there was another layer hidden within.

    what leonel didn''t know was that it wasn''t just personal deductions that would spread this issue, but his own actions as well.

    he hadn''t really thought much about the little test he had given the little pink-eyed woman. but it would have reverberating consequences that he hadn''t cared to consider.

    ...

    amethyst was leaving a trail of corpses in her wake. she moved with quite a bit of stealth and she was both smart and sharp. it wasn''t a surprise that she had managed to survive until this point.

    suddenly, she frowned, coming to a stop. her breath became slow until it stopped completely and she almost melded into the ground.

    although she hadn''t disguised herself in any way, to the internal sight of any passerby, she would have looked like another piece of nature. a rock by the roadway, a short tree, maybe even a fissure in the ground depending on what the target''s mind chose to fill in the gap with.

    however, her worst fear seemed to be realized.

    a sweet, angelic voice drifted into her ears.

    "little cutie, you can''t hide from me with just that."

    a bell-like laughter resonated, and amethyst realized that she had been discovered. without hesitation, she turned and sprinted off in the opposite direction, but she had only taken two steps when she came to a hard stop.

    before her was the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on. at first, the only thing she could feel was softness and the huge mound of deep caramel before her. however, when she took a hurried step backward, she found that what was before her was the very chest she had just run into.

    a beauty with skin the color of milk chocolate and amber eyes that looked like the final dying embers of a once radiant flame stood before her. she was an entire head and a half taller than amethyst, and a white gown seemed to have a mind of its own, flowing through the air like the fins of a koi fish.n)(ovelb1n

    "you... i..."

    amethyst lamented her own bad luck. first leonel, now this woman. why did she keep running into absolute monsters? she hadn''t seen when this woman moved behind her at all.

    "don''t be scared, cutie, mama bear won''t hurt you," that beautiful laughter echoed again, like caramel drizzling across a brownie, it was so rich and satisfying.

    "i just have a question to ask. you killed so many of my people, but why is it that you haven''t absorbed any of the energy they left behind?"

    amethyst froze.

    ...

    ''finally,'' leonel thought to himself.

    he could sense the seeded participant was just a few hundred kilometers away. it should have been a half day journey, but it became a nearly three day affair as he crossed these territories. after the nomad dimensional verse, there was another territory, this one even more wild than the last.

    this territory had no organization because leonel assumed there was no seeded participant. due to that, it was just a free-for-all and everyone was much more aggressive.

    thanks to this, though, leonel got a much greater understanding of little blackstar and had time to fully heal. not only did he fully heal, but he could feel more of the changes that his separated soul was causing to his body now, and they were truly astonishing.

    thinking back to his enlightened self, and how he was usually covered in scales, leonel wondered just how much of that strength was coming from the demon side of his bloodline.

    a few hundred kilometers was nothing to leonel, it was a matter of a few minutes at worst. but as he moved to close in that distance, his thoughts grew eerily silent and his expression seemed to have lost all of its playfulness.

    his body might be hundreds of kilometers away, but this was a distance his internal sight could easily cover now, and what he saw left him completely enraged.

    every human within range of his senses wore a neck collar of iron as though being peddled as slaves.

 Chapter 2361 It Seems...

    chapter 2361 it seems...

    leonel didn''t do anything immediately. there was simply no point. if he rushed to save these people, then what?

    that would only be a temporary solution. by the time he got back to these people, they might be caught again, or even killed for the insolence of daring to escape in the first place.

    he simply scanned through the iron collars just a single time before continuing forward. with that glance, he understood their properties and what they were designed to do, not to mention the fact he understood how to take them off without harming those that wore them.

    he didn''t try to hide himself at all. the presence of a human walking, and so very clearly at that without a collar, was shocking to many.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l some humans-scouts that had been sent forward to get a lay of the land and report back with the treasures they found, mostly likely-tried to communicate to him with their eyes that it wasn''t safe, clearly not daring to say anything outwardly, but it was all useless.

    what was interesting was that some of these humans didn''t recognize leonel at all. this made leonel wonder and think of something.

    could these humans not be from the human domain? was that why they were chained?

    this possibility made some of leonel''s coldness dissipate somewhat. it wasn''t that he cared less about humans, not of the human domain, but it was rather that if these people had always been slaves, then it likely meant that the other races hadn''t acted on the humans in his absence.

    there was a possibility that such a thing would have happened regardless of leonel''s actions, but he would be a fool if he believed that it had absolutely nothing to do with his actions.

    he had embarrassed the invading armies, and then his father had slaughtered their emperors. as though that wasn''t enough, he added insult to injury and massacred their people.

    the first two were already enough for them to have a tidal wave of hatred for him, let alone the final of the three.

    leonel ignored the glances he received from the humans, crossing those hundreds of kilometers that remained step by step until he laid eyes on the seeded participant.

    ''it''s him.''

    these were all the thoughts leonel had. he didn''t raise his brows in shock, nor did he speak any words.

    he would recognize that young man anywhere, and even more so the bow domain ring on his finger. he was the heir of the spiritual clan that had stolen the bow domain ring from nazag''s family.

    he was led by a procession of warriors, covered by all sorts of races. there were nomads, there were rapax, there were the dwarvens, and of course, the spirituals.

    leonel was just one man in front of this army of hundreds of thousands. but what he was thinking about had nothing to do with the number disparity at all. he only had a single thought...

    where were the rest?

    there should have been billions of participants from the dimensional verse. so, why were there only a few thousands scouts and an army of mere hundreds of thousands?

    he could sense it quite clearly. each member of this army was an elite of the elite. it was possible that they had simply abandoned the rest to their own devices. after all, they only needed so many scouts.

    many were surprised to see leonel. as for why, it was twofold, only one of those reasons being that he had embarrassed a large number of them during the initial invasion of the human domain.

    as for the second reason, leonel didn''t have the proper context to understand what it was.

    amidst the army, a youth of the nomads looked toward leonel with a searing hatred in his eyes. prince gregwyn wanted nothing more than to jump out and shred leonel to pieces, but his greater judgment won out.

    this was a man that had massacred the ancestors of his people like they were puppets on a string, what could he do to them if he so chose to?

    ''wait... fifth dimension?''

    gregwyn felt his heart beating out of his chest. was this an opportunity?

    however, he still didn''t act. back then, leonel was only in the sixth dimension, and he still slaughtered his ancestors. did this make a difference?

    that said... even after the spirituals did all of that stuff to the human domain, leonel never appeared, not once. could there be a limit to the strength that he could display? if he could have always displayed that power, then why did he pretend to be so weak during the invasion?

    in fact, it was possible that leonel had taken on a huge backlash for that power, which was why he was not in the fifth dimension.

    the more he thought, the fiercer gregwyn''s gaze became.

    ...

    leonel swept a gaze over everyone until his eyes landed on the beasts pulling the cart forward.

    they were a long line of dozens of power bear beasts, each shimmering with a slightly golden sheen.

    the first time he looked past them, he didn''t care to take a second look. however, he felt something nudge him, something from the dream plane.

    why were those bears looking at him, telling him to run as well?

    leonel closed his eyes even as gregwyn''s sneer deepened.

    his brothers. raj, joel, milan...

    his cousins. auran, valor, even the innocent fifth nova.

    morales children. tommie and nora, he could see them both.

    when leonel opened his eyes, there was nothing but indifference within. the unending, furious tempest of rage that gregwyn wanted to see wasn''t there at all. it was just a deep, abyssal blackness.

    instead, it was little blackstar who stood over leonel''s shoulder that growled. this simple action made their chests rumble and their bones rattle.

    leonel did nothing to calm down the little mink as he stared forward.

    looking from gregwyn to the others and finally to the spirituals prince, his lips finally parted.

    "it seems that i didn''t kill enough of you."n-)o/)v(/e-/1(.b-/1)(n

 Chapter 2362 I Swear

    chapter 2362 i swear

    a spear appeared in leonel''s hand. it was simple, with a wooden pole arm and an obsidian blade. despite this, the craftsmanship was exquisite.

    the primitive man that had formed had taken a great deal of care and attention. four years, in fact. everything from the grain of the wood to the edges of the obsidian were perfectly in line.

    it was light. not by leonel''s standards, but rather by the standards of mortals. it wasn''t even two pounds of weight or a single kilogram. it felt that the entire spear had been hollowed out.

    and yet, the sharpness that it exuded alone seemed to press upon the throats of the entire army.

    they subconsciously reached up to their necks, feeling as though they might find themselves spurting out a great amount of blood, but they turned pale when they realized there was no wound to speak of.

    rhangyl slowly opened his eyes. a wave of gold flourished in the surroundings, but it seemed to be met by a wall of obstruction before it could even cross into leonel''s sphere of influence.

    he observed the situation silently, rubbing his thumb along his bow domain ring, but not saying much. he didn''t seem intent on handing out orders either, he simply watched.

    the others, who had gotten more used to rhangyl''s personality in recent days, understood what this meant. it meant that they could do as they pleased.

    however, even so, no one moved.

    leonel''s dream force was too powerful, and even without his king''s might lineage factor as a conduit to give shape and solidity to his will, just its form as a vast, shapeless nebula bore down on their souls.

    most of the army of hundreds of thousands found it difficult to move. their movements were sluggish and they seemed to need to push ten times as hard just to complete a single thought.

    beads of cold sweat rushed down their brows with every step that leonel took forward.

    but at that moment, his words suddenly registered and gregwyn''s eyes went completely red.

    he had always been a calm and cheerful young man. he didn''t take much seriously and his talent was such that everything came easily to him. the adoration of his people, the love of women, the ease of power, it had all made his life a heaven on this mundane earth.

    and yet it was all stripped from him in a single day.

    he rushed forward with a furious intent in his eyes, his four floating hands glowing crimson as the ethereal glabella on his forehead shimmered.

    it was then that leonel suddenly came to a stop, closing his eyes. his rage continued to simmer in the air, but it didn''t seem to continue to rise like it had before. it slowed almost as though a moat had appeared before it, controlling it and pulling it into a steady current.

    there was something here.

    his eyes flashed open and he looked into the distance. after a moment, he sighed. it was an internal sigh, and yet the entire army could seem to feel his lament.n)(ovelb1n

    rhangyl was powerful. too powerful.

    leonel could see through it all, because no matter how strong this spirituals prince was, he not only didn''t try to hide his strength, but his dream force control was wholly inferior to leonel''s own.

    rhangyl hadn''t held back in absorbing the energies of this world at all. in just a handful of days, his power had skyrocketed and he had even crossed into the eighth dimension after shoring up his foundation.

    leonel could also tell that he had innate nodes. several of them. ten, to be exact. and one of them, he recognized from the battle against his father.

    he remembered wise star order telling him of a legend, a spiritual that had been born with nine innate nodes. then that conversation got derailed because wise star order was shocked to hear that he had ten nodes in total.

    but he had always remembered that.

    leonel didn''t fear rhangyl, but that didn''t mean that he shouldn''t. he simply didn''t have much fear or reverence for anything. he had killed an envoy of destruction on his own, why would a child faze him?

    the problem was that there were too many variables in this world, and he didn''t have the luxury of ending up in a bloody battle that would leave him broken and beaten, one that he might not even be able to win with the current cards he had.

    the only reason he felt he had a chance at all was because he was confident that blackstar would be able to stall rhangyl while he killed the rest. then they would be able to team up to slaughter the prince.

    but now...

    thousands of kilometers away, another large group was making their way over, and judging by the look in their eyes, they had already seen them.

    ''the dimensional eyes verse.'' leonel concluded. they were the only ones he knew of that could see from such a distance other than himself. plus, he could sense the chaotic energy that the little pink eyed woman had warned him about.

    with them observing the situation, they would be sure to be idle and wait until a victor was decided, and only then would they act. they had already seemingly pulled up their chairs and their popcorn, so to speak, ready to enjoy the show.

    bang!

    little blackstar swiped a paw and gregwyn was driven into the ground like a cheap scrap of metal. the latter''s body became twisted and broken, sheared apart on several levels. it looked as though not a single inch of him was left unscathed.

    "save them," leonel said lightly.

    with a thought, little blackstar vanished as leonel bent down to pick up gregwyn by the neck. even now, the latter had a furious gaze as though he was trying to rip leonel apart with it alone.

    "i swear-i swear-i swear i''ll kill you!"

    he tried to roar but his throat was too constricted.

 Chapter 2363 Open Book

    chapter 2363 open book

    "will you?" leonel asked lightly.

    the indifference made gregwyn squirm. he pushed and pulled, disregarding the injuries just for the chance to even scratch leonel, but it was all useless.

    leonel''s body was growing stronger by the day and he was already at a strength that dwarfed his previous fifth dimensional body. in such an injured state, with his bones practically turned into paste, gregwyn could do nothing against him.

    "you slaughtered my people, i will make you pay even if it''s from beyond the grave."

    "oh? and what did you think would happen when you invaded the human domain? did you just want to advance and retreat as you pleased?"

    gregwyn snarled. "we don''t kill women and children you coward! your morales family got what they deserved, and we''ll make sure everyone you care about remains a dog for the rest of their life."

    "interesting." leonel nodded. "it doesn''t seem to me that you care very much about women and children, though. what enrages you the most is that you''ve lost your lifestyle.

    "you no longer have huge backers to make your life simple. you''re no longer the most talented in the room. you now have to, ironically, be the dog of others yourself as you bow your head and do whatever the spirituals tell you to do.

    "and look at you now, stranded, without someone to help you, being held up like a cheap toy in my hands... and it wasn''t even me who took action, but rather my beast companion.

    "what makes you think you have a chance? what makes you think you have the right to judge me?"

    leonel didn''t raise his voice even a single time. he didn''t even seem to mind if no one other than gregwyn could hear him.

    gregwyn didn''t have a response other than a rage-fueled stare and snarl, but leonel wasn''t very impressed by this. he already expected that someone like gregwyn would be all too easy to render speechless. there likely didn''t exist a person that he couldn''t do this to, at least not at his level.

    it didn''t really matter how wrong he was, he could always find a way to legitimize himself. but it made him wonder just how much of that was truthful. if there was a seemingly obvious and objective morality, why was it that others couldn''t argue for it effectively.

    he didn''t have to attack gregwyn''s own convictions and drives to "win" the argument. just the fact gregwyn said they wouldn''t target women and children was laughable.

    weren''t tommie and nora a pair of children? did they really have such a bottom line?

    even if one wanted to say that it was leonel''s fault that they ended up in this state, what did your morality count for if you could decide who to use it on when it was convenient for you?

    a step further than that, how could any invasion not involve women and children? did the humans they enslaved in their domains not include women and children? when they killed the warriors and left the women defenseless, to be sold off as they pleased, or the children to be raised up to be ideological spearheads, would that not be involving women and children?

    even if they did none of this and truly returned to their homes afterward. would it not be their own women and children benefiting from the pain they had caused in another domain?

    truthfully, leonel knew what he had done was abhorrent. but even more truthfully than that...

    he simply didn''t care.

    he couldn''t muster up sympathy. maybe it was partly due to the fact he still wasn''t over his father''s death, maybe it was another part due to the fact there was so much circular and pointless "logic" tied with what was moral and what wasn''t, and maybe it was because right now...

    he was too pissed to think about it.

    bang!

    with a single burst of energy, the chains that bound the bear beasts were crushed.

    rhangyl, who had a hand extended outward, clearly intending to stop this, tilted his head in confusion somewhat. his attack had missed?

    dozens of swirls of blackness enveloped the bear beasts and when they reappeared once more, they were by leonel''s side. not even a split moment after that, they, too, had vanished into the segmented cube.

    little blackstar bared his little teeth and growled. the skies above seemed to rumble with thunder and the earth shook.

    rhangyl slowly lowered his hand. his expression didn''t give anything away, but through the dream plane, leonel could feel his rage bubbling up.

    leonel swept another gaze through the armies that were here.

    "i''ve said this once before. i kept my promise then, and i''ll keep it this time as well.

    "for every morales that died, i will be certain to kill twice of your number.n/-o(-v-.e)/l-.b--i(-n

    "wait patiently."

    "do you think i''ll allow you to leave?" rhangyl said calmly.

    leonel gave him a glance. then, he spoke a single word and vanished into thin air.

    swirls of elemental energies, carrying shades of fire, wind, earth, and water all appeared at leonel''s location, bursting with a violent chaos shattering the earth for the surrounding kilometer.

    but leonel was simply nowhere to be seen.

    rhangyl''s gaze flashed with sparks of rage, but it was right then he looked off into the distance and seemed to finally sense the same thing that leonel had earlier.

    when he saw this, he remembered the direction leonel had turned in, and it just made his rage simmer all the more.

    not only had leonel noticed before him, it seemed to be the case that the only reason leonel didn''t attack was because of this group.

    he was slapping his face. he didn''t take him seriously at all.

    all the while, rhangyl''s expression was calm as a lake. this had always been his expression. he had learned long ago the value of hiding his true intentions from the world.

    he just didn''t know how much of an open book he was to leonel already.

 Chapter 2364 Believe?

    chapter 2364 believe?

    leonel appeared in the far-off distance with a pale expression. it looked as though his face had been completely drained of all color.

    using this ability really took a lot out of him, though, he could already see some of its parameters.

    when he used it on actual people, the requirements were far more stringent. he also noticed that the closer something was to being "complete", the more difficult it was as well.

    take, for example, the arrow that the demon monkey sent his way. because it was close to taking his head, and he waited so long to say the words "disperse", it took more energy to deal with it.

    if he had commanded as the demon monkey was taking action, or before it had taken action, he would have been in a much better situation. this was his measure of "completeness".

    so why was he so tired now? was it because he had used it on himself, or little blackstar, maybe?

    leonel didn''t think so. little blackstar didn''t resist, and it was easiest to use it on himself even in comparison to the outside world. toward that effect, leonel actually believed that he was skipping steps.

    this ability index, at least at its current level, probably worked best on himself. but he was pushing it to work on the outside world.

    as for why he was so tired, that was part of it, but another reason was that he had pushed himself hard.

    his normal range of teleportation right now with his current strength was probably a kilometer, two if he really pushed it. that took into account the fact he was mostly restricted to ambient spatial force and the strength of the world he was in as well.

    however, just now, he had teleported over 2000 kilometers, using his ability index to force the spatial force in the surroundings into submission.

    if he could have gotten away with a few hundred kilometers instead, he would have done so. but unfortunately, that would have still been in range of sight of the dimensional eyes verse.

    ''what a headache.''

    leonel took a breath. for it to drain his own enormous well of dream force, one could imagine just the level of strain he had undergone. someone else, with a more normal pool of dream force, assuming all other parameters were the same, might have only been able to extend a kilometer of initial range to a few dozen at best.

    this went to illustrate just how superior leonel was in terms of pure dream force stamina. but, unfortunately, without his dream stars, his recovery of that enormous pool was likewise frighteningly slow.

    finally, leonel caught his breath. his head felt a bit light, and his unhappiness hadn''t vanished either.

    after finding a calm place, he entered the segmented cube to look upon the dozens of bear beasts. most of them were just sitting silently, some were pacing about, but no matter what they were doing, once leonel appeared, they all looked toward him with various emotions.

    some had hope in their eyes, some had resolve, and some even had anger that was pointed toward him.

    now that leonel knew that he hadn''t been gone for half a day at all, but rather over a year, he could understand some of that sentiment.

    putting everything on your back and crushing all opposition sounded great, until you were suddenly gone and those you had helped all the while had to do something you had never allowed them to do-this time without even your support.

    this was the dark side of what leonel had done.

    the world spirit of the morales was in his hands, and that was a handicap to one of their greatest trump cards. while the morales were still strong alone, before he had left and suddenly vanished, they had only just begun to deal with their problems of internal strife.

    without their world spirit, and suddenly finding the leader that had brought them all together suddenly gone, the morales had likely had a huge push and pull internally, making it far easier for them to crumble.

    if leonel had known that he would disappear for so long, he would have never revealed the hidden faction of the morales so casually. that was a secret that most were likely not even aware of, and without him, his bastard of a grandmother could easily take advantage to reach a conclusion that suited her needs.

    leonel shook his head. his grandfather really should have told him before he did all of this. he would have had several things to fulfill first, but now things had already come to this, there was simply no going back.

    taking a breath, leonel ignored the emotions in their eyes and began to focus on something he was much better at dealing with. he needed to find a solution to this issue; he obviously couldn''t leave them all as beasts.

    whoever had turned them into these creatures likely had an ability index similar to simeon''s. unfortunately, that brazinger heir had long since died at his hands and his soul had dissipated long ago. after all, leonel hadn''t had [breathe] or [assimilate] back then, so he didn''t have an option to fully reanimate simeon.

    leonel''s first interaction with simeon was his weremen. he created them by splicing their genome with that of powerful creatures, making them stronger, faster, more imposing. this seemed like a similar ability, but on a whole other level.n)-o--v/-e//l..b-/i/-n

    there was no aspect of their humanity left other than their souls themselves.

    if leonel had to guess, this was probably the ability index of the spiritual prince. but the question was how would he reverse it?

    ''any ideas, anastasia?''

    ''well, the simplest solution would be to just kill them all and resurrect them.''

    ''i can''t do that without my king''s might lineage factor and i don''t know if... things would be the same after that.''

    leonel could get away with doing that with his brothers, but the others, especially the children might not handle it well.

    it went beyond just the trauma. even if leonel swore to them that he hadn''t altered their minds...

    would they believe him?

 Chapter 2365 Astonished

    chapter 2365 astonished

    ''it''s possible,'' anastasia said.

    leonel frowned, waiting for an explanation.

    ''what i mean to say is that the silver tablet underwent a change ever since you realized you were a wise star order. you might not need to use your king''s might as a proxy to take their souls in any longer; you can do it directly now. it might also have some new abilities that you might not know about.''

    leonel shook his head. this little world spirit really knew how to let things drag on. these sorts of important things were the types of matters she should definitely let him know immediately.

    the idea that the silver tablet had undergone a change, though, wasn''t all that shocking to leonel. that was because he felt a stronger sense of unity with it as well. in fact, when he had met the spiritual prince just now, he had felt an odd feeling coming from him as well.

    in ancient times, tablets were what were used to carry knowledge. now that he knew the pyramids were formed by the pluto race, he wondered just how much of ancient earth was actually the tradition of an entire other world entirely.

    but in the end, leonel shook his head.

    whether he killed them and resurrected them with king''s might or the tablet, what difference would it make? they certainly wouldn''t know the difference. after all, they''d be dead.

    the good news was that leonel had done this for them in the past when he limited the casualties of the morales family. but the question was whether they would trust him now the same as they had before?

    seeing the rage in some of their eyes... he doubted it.

    leonel suddenly found himself feeling... annoyed. maybe he really was never cut out to be a king after all. the moment he felt some pushback from his people, he just wanted to go forward with his plans, ignoring their feelings.

    ''just check the silver tablet first. i''m curious, anyway.''

    leonel exhaled a breath. ''alright.''

    he took a seat, right then and there. maybe if he did things like this, they would realize that he didn''t have anything to hide.

    he took out the silver tablet, an action that made many of them flinch. he could only shake his head inwardly and focus on meditating on the tablet.

    leonel found his mind being sucked into the silver tablet almost the immediate second after he had the intention.

    this much wasn''t a surprise, he had always been able to enter the tablets with his mind. though, it had never flowed as smoothly.

    but what he saw on the inside was a completely different matter entirely.

    it was a vast library, one so large that he had to blink a couple of times to see it right.

    the ceiling must have been at least 200 meters up. it was covered by a glass dome sparkling with all sorts of complex runes. ladders with minds of their own flew about, attaching and detaching from tall bookshelves. the place seemed to have a spirit that was beyond what was natural... especially for a place completely devoid of life outside of leonel himself.

    however, despite the vastness of this library, only a small corner of shelves actually had "books", or tablets, rather.

    there was really nothing to stand around aimlessly for, so leonel approached one of the shelves, but what he saw made him shudder.

    a name and a force art.

    he put the tablet back and then checked the next one, and then the next one, and then the next one.

    the more he looked, the more shocked he became.

    [alexandre apex]n./ovelb1n

    [ability index: dream subjugation]

    [lineage factor: strengthen]

    ...

    [leonel morales - wise star order]

    [ability index: dream control]

    [lineage factor: emperor''s might; [unnamed]; [bow domain: fragmented]; dark northern star legacy; light northern star legacy; dream asura''s reign]

    ...

    leonel didn''t know what to say. it wasn''t just the names that caught him off guard, it was the fact that each and every one had a force art attached to it. he didn''t need to be a genius to understand what these force arts were, and yet, the longer he thought about it, the more shocked he became.

    his mind spun in shock. could it be that king never had an ability index that could turn ability indexes into force arts at all, but was rather a wise star order from the very beginning?

    the implications made leonel''s eyes widen, his heartbeat beating erratically for quite a while before he managed to settle it down.

    he shouldn''t have been so shocked. the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense.

    the silver tablet had always been able to extract lineage factors and bestow them upon others. the fact that it could form a force art from them wasn''t all that shocking at all.

    if he had to rank the two, being able to bestow ability indexes was obviously the more shocking of the two.

    but even so, this was a game-changer.

    since leonel was marked in here, it was potentially true that he didn''t even have to kill others to get information on them. there was definitely a requirement of some sort, but it might require much less of him than he initially thought.

    but this wasn''t what he was focused on at all; he was rather focused on what it would mean to be able to study the force arts of an ability index. namely, if he could study and fully comprehend king alexandre''s ability index, then wouldn''t he be able to progress his comprehension along much quicker?

    on top of that, if he had the force arts here, didn''t that also mean that he could test the synergy of various ability indexes and how they would work or clash with one another before he took the risk and gave his brothers ability indexes that could bolster their strength as well?

    the instant leonel had this thought, the world seemed to respond to him and with a whoosh, king alexandre''s and his own force arts appeared in the skies.

    leonel was astonished.

 Chapter 2366 A Chance

    chapter 2366 a chance

    leonel could suddenly feel an unprecedented level of control over the world. he felt that he could push and pull the force arts that appeared, layering them on top of each other, fusing them in parts, or even in whole.

    he didn''t hesitate to go all in. although he didn''t know exactly what would happen, since it wasn''t happening within his body, he was willing to take the risk.

    leonel''s gaze flickered as the two fused into one, but to his astonishment, when the process was complete...

    the force art collapsed.

    no, it didn''t collapse, it seemed to cease to be. there even seemed to be an air of anarchic force that came into being, one that left leonel without words.

    had he done something wrong? or was this what would have happened to him had he absorbed alexandre''s ability index?

    he thought they were the perfect opposites of one another, what happened?

    or maybe... was it precisely because they were perfect opposites that they had canceled out like that? but then why did the anarchic force appear?

    leonel thought back to the last time anarchic force had almost screwed him over. wasn''t it wise star order that had helped him deal with that? he hadn''t even noticed the lingering danger.

    after he formed his tenth node, the regulator had sent some backlash toward him, but for whatever reason, he hadn''t noticed the ticking time bomb within his body until wise star order pointed it out. then, he had to soak in cleansing waters until the matter was dealt with.

    was this a similar situation? was it because the regulator felt that the resulting ability index was too powerful, and so it stepped in to stop it from forming?

    it was just a guess, but leonel had a feeling that it was an accurate one. but, it was simply enough to test it.

    [goggles]

    [ability index:karmic puppet]

    [lineagefactor:-]

    leonel pulled out goggles'' force art, his eyes narrowing. feeling the lineage factor like this, it was almost, well... he could feel how grandiose it was. it was far more complex than his own or alexandre''s.

    after some thought, he fused the lineage factor with his own force art and watched what happened.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l the fusion completed and the complexity fell drastically. leonel could feel that it had weakened both his own ability index and goggles'', but the result was an interesting one nonetheless.

    the force art concentrated and hovered above his palm. he studied it for a long while, losing himself within it for a while.

    he didn''t know how much time passed, but when he looked up, his eyes were bloodshot and his dream force, which had yet to properly recover, was actually in an even worse state.

    from what he could tell, the combination of his own ability index and goggles'' would result in an ability index that was focused on divining the future.nove)lb)1n

    rather than the certainty of goggles'' ability index or the versatility of his own, it would be distilled into an ability that could simulate the future.

    it would actually be far more effective than leonel''s own dream simulation or dream class ability. but it would also be stripped of all of his other abilities. for example, the control he had over his body, his thoughts, his split minds, everything.

    this was a good example of what would happen if you absorbed an ability that wasn''t compatible with your own. that said, the result was better than what leonel had expected. it seemed that while he wasn''t fully compatible with goggle''s ability index, they at least shared similar enough branches that they didn''t become a cripple.

    just to make sure the whole "becoming a cripple" warning wasn''t entirely overblown, leonel fused his ability index with one that was as far away from his own as he could think of.

    [normand]

    [ability index:pure speedster]

    [lineagefactor:-]

    leonel fused the two, and the result was... about as expected.

    the speedster aspect was focused into his mind, but his dream force control and well of stamina were practically sapped dry. if he fused with normand''s lineage factor, he would be able to think at a speed thousands of times, maybe even millions of times faster than he could now...

    for about a picosecond.

    the moment he had any sort of intention to think anything, his dream force would be sucked dry so fast that he would be an invalid in a split second of a split second.

    essentially, taking on this ability index would make him a vegetable. he wouldn''t be able to control any aspect of his being. he would be immobile and all but brain dead. he would be a prisoner in his own mind, except he wouldn''t even have his own thoughts to keep him company.

    a cold chill ran up leonel''s spine. this was worse than just being a cripple; it would make every waking moment feel like hell. he would prefer if someone just killed him if he ended up in such a state.

    leonel shook his head, realizing that he had gotten distracted. he still needed to know if the silver tablet had any other abilities; maybe he had to broaden his horizons so that he could understand some things.

    that said, there were many thoughts that were slated into the back of his head. for example, this silver tablet could be extremely important for not only ability indexes but lineage factors as well. he wondered what changes it could help him to make to the tentacle womb and golden-scaled koi fish.

    ''wait...''

    ''wait...''

    leonel stood in place for a long time, his eyes somewhat vacant.

    ability indexes...

    he never really put much thought into what they were.

    of all the things in existence, ability indexes felt so completely... out of place.

    they weren''t a function of evolution. ability indexes were entirely random, and there was nothing hereditary about them.

    they were probably the only thing in the whole of existence that seemed completely separate from the laws of cause and effect. it just clicked for him how absolutely ridiculous this was to say.

    but why? why did they exist?

    leonel stared at the force art hovering before him, his mind in a slight state of absolute chaos.

    a chance. that''s what they were. ability indexes were a chance.

    a chance for a low-born to change their fate in a single instant.

    a chance to grow powerful by focusing inwardly instead on what the outside world could provide you.

    a chance to escape the cycle of life and death... the looming threat of the northern star.

 Chapter 2367 Flowery Nonsense

    chapter 2367 flowery nonsense

    leonel felt himself slowly calm down, his expression becoming serious. he didn''t know how to feel about the conclusion he had just come to. it felt like there was something missing.

    sure, ability indexes were an anomaly that he couldn''t quite understand. they appeared for seemingly no reason and they were an existence that manifested outside the bounds of reason.

    it was no wonder.

    leonel had a deep understanding of his soul now, deeper than any comprehension he had ever had in the past, and beyond what even some with life state dream force might come to comprehend. and yet, he had still yet to find the source of his ability index.

    could it be further down? could it be located in the first dimension instead of the second? the dimension of the impetus of existence itself?

    ''there''s a kernel of truth to that, something...''

    leonel''s gaze flashed.

    what about the universes necessitated that there be life? why was it that under the pressure of evolution, life would appear again, and again, and again, given the right conditions?

    lightsж═ж╧vel the answer was obvious.

    there was a rule as fundamental as any other rule of physics that everyone was ignoring, a rule so fundamental to existence that it forced life into being.

    what that rule was, what its parameters were, what limitations it had... those were the questions that would decide just how useful this information was to leonel.

    ''the necessity of life...''

    leonel''s heart thrummed and he felt his vital star force comprehension shift. those vague, partial runes that he had memorized as they fell from the vital star seemed to fuse, albeit only partially.

    his hair danced in non-existence wind for a moment before it settled down.

    he didn''t feel much different, and maybe somewhat disappointingly, his vital star force comprehension was still at half-step impetus state. but it felt far more like his own comprehension now, as though rather than relying on the runes, he had taken every step on his own.

    something else changed as well. the world around his felt brighter, as though he could almost see the various colored swirled of force.

    it was gorgeous.

    when you choose to see the beauty in everything, rather than allowing yourself to become tied down by its complexities, there would always be more to experience, more to love, more to care for.

    ''it''s no wonder i''m so incapable with this force...''

    leonel looked up toward the sky light above. the beautiful dome of glass that projected an image of the perfect blue sky.

    if comprehending life force meant grasping the beauty of life, it really wasn''t a force meant for him.

    he had only comprehended vital star force to begin with because he just so happened to enter the dimensional cleanse trial. and if that really was his future self, then the only reason he had placed vital star force inside was to save aina.

    well, aina had been saved. soon she would awaken and everything would go back to normal once again. so did he even need vital star force anymore?

    ''why am i running away from the beauty of life?'' leonel asked himself.n(-o))v)-e()l--b)-i--n

    he knew the answer. he didn''t really see the beauty of it at all.

    wildlife wasn''t beautiful. it was quite disgusting and even more cruel. beasts used the world as their own personal toilet, they fought and killed one another for scraps, scavengers might even have some dung for dinner if it meant surviving another day.

    child birth was something everyone tried to gaslight him into believing was a beautiful journey. but was it?

    a woman would spend the end of her pregnancy in almost constant discomfort. her back would hurt, her feet would be swollen, she would be a slave to her own cravings and hormones.

    and on the day she finally did give birth, it would be the worst pain she would likely experience in her lifetime.

    so why would they do it again? well, it was because their brains would trick them into forgetting the entire experience, making them feel as though it wasn''t so bad, all so that evolution could spur them on to have another.

    what was beautiful about that? to be chained into being a slave of your own mind, or a law of existence as fundamental as life itself...

    even colors felt like a scam. you didn''t even truly experience colors as they were, not only was a large segment of the spectrum hidden from you, the color of an object was only was it reflected and didn''t want to absorb.

    in a way, the "beauty" of colors was just an exhibition of rejection.

    of course, leonel wasn''t so cynical, especially not about the last of the three examples. but it was amusing to think about. it even sounded like something an intelligent designer would cast into being like a practical joke, almost like an animator hiding a penis in their work only they would ever know was there.

    even so, leonel felt that it was all a farce. he simply couldn''t see life as beautiful.

    or could he?

    wildlife in general wasn''t beautiful, but who could deny the beauty of a blooming flower? of cherry blossoms gliding in the wind? of a baby deer learning to walk for the first time or a majestic blue whale leaping out of the ocean for a breath of air?

    who could deny the beauty of holding your child in your arms? of watching them grow up? of experiencing their first crawl, their first word, their first walk?

    and maybe the colors he saw weren''t the rejects at all, but rather an amplification, a suppression of some kinds to accentuate the beauty of one above all else?

    leonel laughed. "what flowery nonsense."

    even so, a smile spread across his face, his heart thumping once, and then twice.

    a radiant blue light danced within his eyes.

    his heartbeat was so loud that it echoed like a boom.

    his vital star force crossed into the impetus state in a single bound, and his blood roared in response.

 Chapter 2368 Caged Body

    chapter 2368 caged body

    leonel looked down at his hands. he felt that his skin was more radiant, its bronze sheen emitting just the faintest cluster of royal blue. this wasn''t a blue that colored his skin, but rather his aura itself.

    his vitality felt as though it was on a completely different level, and unlike the other forces that threatened to shred his body to pieces, despite the fact his vital star force had grown so powerful, he didn''t feel the same burden on his body.

    in fact, his body was strengthened considerably. even though the full benefits of his soul had yet to be fully unearthed, he was already about as strong in body as he had been when he first entered tier 1 of the sixth dimension.

    lightsnж╧vж┼l this was without using [star fusion] either. leonel actually felt that he could use [star fusion] now without harming himself, and it was an odd feeling.

    logically, with his vital star force growing so powerful, it should be a greater burden. but it wasn''t like this at all.

    there were only two explanations, either this was a quirk of vital star force itself, or that of his [unnamed] lineage factor.

    of course, leonel''s [unnamed] lineage factor should be the one he had casually referred to as the morales lineage factor. this was the lineage factor that not only fused his metal synergy lineage and spear domain lineage factor, but it also incorporated the aspects he had gained from the radix, midas, and florer families.

    this lineage factor had a huge emphasis on vitality, so it was possible that it allowed him to withstand life forces with greater ease.

    on the other hand, life forces were also far more docile than other forces as well, and one like vital star force, was designed to bolster the body.

    ''likely a combination of both,'' leonel concluded after a while.

    this wasn''t something he had come up with on a whim, but rather a conclusion that he reached after studying the [unnamed] lineage factor for a moment.

    another benefit of his silver tablet was clearly that he could break down his lineage factors into force arts, allowing him to read their abilities like an open book and thus craft techniques around them with much greater ease.

    with this library, he would never have to worry about holding his lineage factors back again so that he could maintain techniques to match with them.n(-o))v)-e()l--b)-i--n

    in fact...

    leonel touched the northern star lineage factors. and as expected, one after another, more techniques that he could even comb through in a short time appeared.

    as a wise star order, he, of course, had a library of techniques to match the northern star lineage factor his title originated from.

    ''it seems to have some restrictions, though...'' leonel saw after a while.

    for one, this was an exchange, not a depository. to take these techniques out, or to see anything other than their brief descriptions, he had to contribute.

    leonel already had some contribution points, and he concluded with not much effort that these contribution points came from the force arts he helped the silver tablet to form.

    [leonel morales - wise star order][clearance level: apprentice][contribution][life: -][gold: -][silver: 1][bronze: 1][black: -][common: 1 307 820]...the contribution points were divided into currencies, and they couldn''t seem to be converted from one to another. it wasn''t even allowed to trade down, there was no exchange at all.

    looking at the few techniques available to him, they could all only be bought with common contributions as well.

    taking a deep look, his bronze contribution came from king alexandre, while his silver contribution came from goggles.

    it seemed that he couldn''t get contribution points from himself.

    the remaining over million common contributions came from the dead citizens of the zone, not to mention his brothers that he had used the tablet to revive.

    ''what a harsh grading scheme.''

    though leonel thought this, he didn''t actually think that there was anything wrong with it. it made perfect sense.

    this contribution ranking was created by individuals who fought on the scale of gods, not fake gods like those of the vast bubble claimed to be, but real monsters like the plutos and the void race.

    the fact that he even had a silver contribution at all was probably shocking.

    leonel looked at the techniques. he didn''t actually want to go through them now as he hadn''t forgotten the initial reason he came in here, but then he wondered something.

    given the high standards of this place, what if he could find a technique that could help within the common graded ones?

    the moment leonel started looking more seriously, though, he realized that he was a pauper even among the common ranks.

    it was quite common for techniques to cost in the several hundred thousand ranges. even the cheapest were inching on six figures. the most expensive cost billions, easily.

    the worst part was that he couldn''t even access all the common techniques. he couldn''t even trade for one of the six-figure ones. it seemed that his clearance wasn''t nearly high enough.

    leonel didn''t really care, honestly. he almost never relied on techniques he didn''t create himself these days. though, part of that was because his enlightened self had gone and upgraded his lineage factors without his input, and another reason was that his morales lineage factor had suddenly mutated.

    but regardless, he didn''t have a huge reliance on techniques to begin with. he wouldn''t have even been moved to care had he not wanted a method of turning his people back into humans.

    what he could have never expected, though, was that the more he looked, the more serious his expression became.

    these techniques, if their descriptions were correct...

    weren''t they far too powerful?

    eventually, leonel landed on one.

    it was a body method that could strengthen one, but it did so through the soul. according to it, the more separate the soul from the body, the better the results. also, the further from optimal the body was from its true state, the more effective it was.

    [caged body: chained soul]

 Chapter 2369 Much More Fun

    chapter 2369 much more fun

    leonel stepped out from the silver tablet. or, rather, he simply snapped out of his meditative state, alerting himself to the outside world once again. it wasn''t lost on him that there were some hostile people before him, but he wasn''t worried about it in the slightest. how could they harm him with anastasia around? he hadn''t hesitated to enter a deep state of focus at all.

    "i have a technique here that might help you all return to your human forms. it might take some time, but so long as you''re diligent with it, things should work out in the end."

    leonel crushed the technique orb that appeared in his palm, and a force art appeared before him. it wasn''t too complicated, and it was actually far simpler than what he had seen from his own ability index and alexandre''s, and certainly less so than goggles''.

    he didn''t know how these people would react to a technique being in this form rather than the more digestible format they were used to, but this was the best he could do for them.

    what leonel didn''t expect, though, was that joel would block his path before he could leave to handle other matters.

    these bear beasts that his brothers had been turned into were enormous. even on all fours, they could look leonel right in the eyes.

    leonel and joel''s eyes met for a long while before joel''s eyes suddenly lost all spirituality. his body keeled over and collapsed.

    leonel rushed forward and caught joel by instinct, feeling his heart beating out of his chest.

    ''what''s wrong with me?''n(-o))v)-e()l--b)-i--n

    leonel furiously shook his head. normally, he would understand joel''s intentions instantly, and react with far calmer. it was obvious that joel understood enough about leonel''s abilities to know that he could turn them back so long as they killed themselves.

    of course, joel was a bit too eager. if not for the change to the silver tablet, leonel would have had to put him in a snow globe until he got his king''s might lineage factor back.

    but, leonel had felt panic first before anything else.

    life wasn''t so fleeting. he could feel the weight of it now more than he ever had before.

    he hurriedly took out the silver tablet again, and joel''s beast body trembled before it crumbled to ash.

    leonel hardly got done with this before the rest of his brothers followed through, one by one. they killed themselves without hesitation.

    every time it happened, it felt like a knife was being twisted into his heart.

    he rushed to help each and every one of them, bringing them into the silver tablet before pouring what force resources he had left into resurrecting them.

    he felt a heaviness that he hadn''t felt before, a heaviness that didn''t vanish even when he brought them back one after another. it felt as though he couldn''t catch his breath, and bringing them back did nothing to change that feeling of discomfort.

    "how could you be so reckless? what if something went wrong?"

    leonel had wanted this to come out far more light-hearted, and even in a joking manner, but it had lost any sense of that it once had when it was filtered through his emotions.

    lightsж═ж╧vel it sounded harsh, grating on the ears even, like he was reprimanding them.

    their gazes of trust felt like a burden, a burden he almost wanted to instinctually give up.

    ''what the hell is wrong with me?''

    leonel took a step back along with a deep breath.

    was it because of his vital star force? it was like an anchor in his heart. without the presence of other forces within him because his body simply couldn''t withstand any other force right now, it had taken the reins completely.

    "we have our own convictions too, leonel," joel looked into leonel''s eyes, their deep brown trembling. "i''m tired of dying. i''ve already experienced it three times now. but i''ll experience it however many times i have to so that i don''t have to again."

    the contradictory words rang in leonel''s ears.

    a chance, an opportunity. an ability index wasn''t the only thing that could represent those concepts, but life itself could.

    ...

    leonel didn''t know how he got out of there, but he felt suffocated. he understood what wise star order had meant about an innate node being able to consume you now more than ever. and this was just a force he had comprehended, what if one day his scarlet star force innate node began to rampage as well?

    he sat on his bed, holding aina''s blood sovereign tablet. his fingers trembled slightly as he tried to steady his breathing.

    no, maybe it already had.

    his thoughts were so cruel, his actions so decisive and emotionless. how much of that was really him, versus his innate node?

    he needed the space to breathe.

    suddenly, though, the golden tablet trembled and a light manifested.

    before leonel could react, the tablet spun out of his hands, and a humanoid figure appeared around it as it shrunk.

    leonel bolted forward without thinking, his arms wrapping around aina before she was even aware of her surroundings.

    ** "the humans are amusing, don''t you think? all this effort, and for what, exactly? do they think they''re going to find a savior among those incomplete world ants?"

    a demon, wrapped in shadows and with the menacing horns of a bull crouched over a sheer cliff with nothing but black waters below.

    however, those who knew better knew that those weren''t waters below at all, but rather, the turbulence of space and destruction. it was anarchic force so thick it manifested into a loose liquid.

    all around him, there were others demons of all shapes and sizes.

    "what do you all say we crash their party? i would like to see how the vast bubble would react to their careful plan crumbling before their eyes?"

    smack.

    a thick hand hit the bull horned demon on the back of the head.

    "remember the goal. we''re here to get evidence of the humans enslaving higher races."

    the bull horned demon snorted. "we could just kill them all. what''s the use for all of this?"

    "why don''t you go question the higher-ups yourself? i''m sure they''ll love that."

    the bull horned demon snarled but fell silent.

    the demon by his side, one that seemed formed entirely of flames, looked down toward the abyss below.

    "remember, somehow, the humans were able to stop our advance with that formation for generations, while our brothers and sisters were getting slaughtered inside.

    "that formation finally shattered, and we made it through, but there''s no telling if they have another trump card like it.

    "we''re demons. be a bit more cunning, would you? wouldn''t it be much more fun to watch the whole world slaughter the humans again?"

 Chapter 2370 You Little...

    chapter 2370 you little...

    leonel hugged aina so tightly that at any other time, he might have thought he had a chance at crushing her. but at least right now, with the gaps in their strength of body having widened once more, that wasn''t something he had to worry about in the slightest.

    he took in her warmth, her heartbeat, her soft...

    ''she''s naked,'' leonel suddenly realized.

    even so, he didn''t have such thoughts right now. he only wanted to hold her in his arms for the first time in what felt like forever.

    aina, herself, was a bit confused. she felt the familiar scent envelop her, and she instinctively knew that it was leonel, but what had happened? why was there such a large gap in her memories? weren''t they in a zone? and hadn''t she been in the body of...

    aina''s eyes widened, her heart trembling. hadn''t she died?

    her body subconsciously wiggled as though to make sure that she was still all in one piece, but her senses flared as her ability index kicked in. her eyes widened.

    just what had happened to her body all of a sudden--

    aina''s thoughts were cut out when she remembered leonel. he was still holding onto her, and he didn''t seem to have any intentions of letting go. he cradled her head in one palm, sweeping up her waist in the crook of his other elbow. he pulled up at her so hard that she was forced onto the tips of her toes just to accommodate his height, and yet she hardly felt her own weight at all, he was carrying it all.

    aina''s eyes watered beside herself. leonel had just lost her father, then he had likely thought that he lost her in quick succession. he could remember the rage and anger in his voice. he only barely stopped short of calling her a stupid woman back then, and maybe she would have deserved it if he had.

    that beast obviously wasn''t here any longer, which meant that leonel had done something to defeat it, something that she obviously couldn''t accomplish even by putting her life on the line. novж┼(lb/in

    her brimming tears began to soak leonel''s chest. she had wanted to be useful, but had ended up being his burden.

    her fingers clutched at leonel''s back, holding onto him tightly in return. she could feel the erratic state of leonel''s heart, his back felt so solid, and yet so frail at the same time.

    "don''t do something that stupid again, okay? i can protect you, i definitely can."

    leonel''s voice carried a grating hoarseness to it. it drummed upon aina''s heartstrings, making her tears fall all the faster.

    why were these words so familiar? they were words she used to say to leonel all the time, when she wanted him to stop risking his life to save people who had nothing to do with him. it was the main reason they had separated once before, her emotional state just couldn''t handle it all.

    but now, it seemed that it was she who was the one in the wrong now.

    "yes, okay..." aina said softly between her sobs.

    leonel buried his nose and lips into aina''s hair. just a while longer. he just wanted this peace for just a while longer.

    ...

    it was hard to say how long the two spent in that state. but some unknown time later, leonel sat cross-legged on their bed, aina cuddling up in lap like a happy little kitten. she rested her head on his collarbone and shoulder, her eyes closed with a deep sense of peace.

    there was nothing hot or steamy about the atmosphere, but it was probably more intimate than they had ever been before.

    they held one another''s hands, basking in the warmth of their other half.

    "i think there''s something wrong with my body," aina suddenly said.

    leonel, who had entered a peaceful lull, felt his heart skip a beat.

    "what''s wrong? where?"

    he pressed a hand to aina''s chest, looking for the answer on his own as though he couldn''t wait even for her answer.

    aina giggled. "you saw an excuse to feel me up and just took it, huh?"

    leonel only now seemed to realize that aina wasn''t referring to something bad, which was soon followed up by the realization that he had pushed her ample breasts out of the way to press his palm on her chest.

    "how''s this my fault? it''s been hours and you haven''t even reached for clothes. who''s trying to feel up who, exactly?"

    "i was testing you," aina said with a humph. "it took you three hours, four minutes and seven seconds before you took advantage of me. tell me, who''s been draining you so much in my absence that you''re not even tempted, huh?"

    leonel was speechless. this woman, what was she talking about? this was supposed to be a sweet reunion. if he pinned her down and got to work immediately like some beast, wouldn''t he hear complaints about that as well?

    "you little..."

    aina squealed.

    leonel completely forgot about the problem with aina''s body. it was clear that in her absence, she had forgotten who was the boss here. seeing the wave of delight in her eyes, though, he wondered if he really was.

    aina''s feverish moans filled the room, waves of heat coming from her as her skin turned a slight tinge of crimson. it was a gorgeous sight leonel couldn''t take his eyes off of.

    pinning her face into their pillows, the graceful arch of her back made his heart thrum with excitement.

    his irises flashed with a radiant blue light as he unleashed what was just the first wave.

    "don''t run now," leonel growled. "i''m not finished yet."

    aina felt a tingle run up her spine. those words of command only made her feel all the more excited.

    "yes, king," she said softly.

    leonel didn''t even care about becoming a king anymore, but hearing these words, he felt that he would conquer as many lands as his woman wanted him to.

 Chapter 2371 Clairvoyance

    chapter 2371 clairvoyance

    the hours seemed to tick by once again without notice, and by the time aina was fully subdued and gasping for breath, maybe much of a day had gone by.

    it was only then that the two finally seemed to get to what aina was trying to tell him about, and it was more shocking than what leonel was expecting by far. it almost felt ridiculous that they hadn''t gotten to it immediately, but this little vixen had insisted on teasing him.

    ''this feeling...'' leonel registered what aina was saying, and then he sensed the changes in his own body. he had gone from a bodily strength of someone in tier 1 of the sixth dimension, to at least tier 3. of course, these were metrics he gained by comparing himself to himself.

    he didn''t believe that he could do so in just a handful of hours; it should have been much slower. the only real explanation was that his intimate time with aina had sped some things up.

    hearing aina''s explanations as well, these things felt like they all slipped into place. aina felt far more powerful, to an almost scary degree. according to her words, she felt that she could even fight an ancestor of the dimensional verse now on her own, and that was despite the fact she was still in tier 1 of the seventh dimension and hadn''t really learned anything new.

    all she had done was die once and then come back. their best guess was that reconstructing her body had allowed her a great boon. for one, after asking the generation, aina''s soul was now 100% separated from her body. so if that was matched with a complete reconstruction of her body as well, the benefits were obvious.

    in fact, leonel felt that aina might still be being too conservative with the leap in her strength. aina''s ability index allowed her to have a perfect grasp of what was going on in her body, but it was hard to tell exactly how far that extended.

    after some thought, leonel brought out the silver tablet, wanting to check something. "touch this," leonel said.

    aina blinked, but did as she was told anyway. ''hm, so it doesn''t work like that?'' leonel''s eyes narrowed. he was partly trying to get a better look at aina''s ability index, and partly trying to understand how to gather more knowledge to raise his contribution points.

    the former was a more important point than he knew, though. aina''s blood sovereignty, lineage factor, and ability index were all so perfectly matched to one another that it was hard to draw a dividing line between them. this was excellent for fusing your paths into a single road, but what it wasn''t good for was targeting your weaknesses and improving yourself.

    plus, he was curious. "try pouring some force into it instead," leonel changed his words.

    aina blinked. "wait, it might just be soul force," she said after a while and then acted again.

    this time, leonel felt a change. his brows shot up and he slipped into the silver tablet.

    ...

    [aina brazinger]

    [ability index: body clairvoyance]

    [lineage factor: berserk god: mutated; soul clairvoyance]

    leonel''s brows rose. aina had two lineage factors, not just one? was it always like that? or did something change? and that second lineage factor, it shouldn''t be one that she was born with, so did that mean that aina was a spark? or maybe something else?

    it was hard to tell when he didn''t even know what the original state of aina''s abilities were. however, there was something else that was shocking about this change.

    [leonel morales - wise star order]

    [clearance level: apprentice]

    [contribution]

    [life: -] n-(o.-v./e(.l-)b-(i)-n

    [gold: 2]

    [silver: 2]

    [bronze: 1]

    [black: -]

    [common: 1 307 820]

    leonel stood in silence. there had been not only an addition to his gold contributions, but two. and as thought that wasn''t enough, there was an additional point added to his silver contributions as well. aina had three force arts formed from her contributions, and there were exactly three additional points added to his totals.

    that meant that even the weakest of aina''s talents was at the level of goggles. was it truly always like this? leonel''s instincts were telling him that something had changed...

    ''hm?'' leonel looked to the side, and another side of the library, or more accurately, his library, had gained something.

    when leonel looked closer, it was actually a copy of the blood sovereign tablet. it had been unceremoniously copied. when he reached out for it and grasped it, it felt just as tangible as aina''s own. in fact, he even felt like he could take it out if he wanted.

    was this a copy, or? leonel sent his mind back outside, and he found that aina''s tablet was still there. the blood sovereign tablet had actually been duplicated with such ease.

    the more he learned about the silver tablet, the more he felt like he understood it. it was a well of knowledge, first and foremost. but it was also akin to the last line of defense. so long as the silver tablet existed, or maybe even a bronze tablet like the one in aina''s father''s possession, the knowledge of the envoys of creation would continue to persist.

    just coming into contact with a blood sovereign like he had allowed him to reform an entire tablet from thin air, allowing the knowledge to continue to be spread.

    it was no wonder the vast bubble had access to such tablets. if they had a wise star order like king, and so powerful at that, his own library must have been far beyond leonel''s.

    but then... why did an emperor''s might tablet not appear when he entered? leonel then remembered. it said that aina''s berserk god lineage factor was mutated, but it didn''t say the same for his own. in fact, it called it emperor''s might and not king''s might.

    this should be because by the time he interacted with the silver tablet again, his lineage factor had fallen into dormancy. leonel shook his head and focused on aina. "do you want to see? i''m not sure it would be a help to you or hindrance, though."

    aina blinked for a moment as though thinking about something, but she eventually nodded with quite some certainty.

    -----

    erdiul''s note: i''ll update the third chapter either tomorrow morning or later tonight if i''m still awake.

 Chapter 2372 Complicated Emotions

    chapter 2372 complicated emotions

    leonel projected the force art to aina, and she stared at it for a long while.

    he didn''t rush her, but as she was lost in thought, so was he. he felt that being a wise star order wasn''t just about gathering knowledge, but it was also about guidance, being a shepherd of sorts as well.

    it didn''t restrict him from sharing the techniques that he traded for, and it didn''t stop him from showing aina her force arts either. one would think that there would be some restrictions on this matter, but there were none at all.

    aina took a breath.

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. it was a seemingly normal action, but he felt the force in the air shift. and when she took yet another breath, it shifted even more forcefully.

    every time aina took in a simple breath, everything in her immediate vicinity changed. her very presence was pushing and pulling at reality, as though trying to force itself into being.

    it was a sight that could be felt, but not seen. it came with a heaviness that imposed its will and pressed down on even leonel''s shoulders.

    leonel''s and aina''s heads suddenly snapped into a direction as well. before leonel could be surprised that aina had been able to keep up with his senses, they both moved at once, but leonel fell behind quickly.

    aina was simply too fast.

    leonel''s lip twitched. ''does she remember that she''s naked?''

    by the time leonel made it out, he found that whatever had been happening had already been put to a stop.

    in the clearing, within the depths of the endless forests that were anastasia''s world, a battle had broken out between the bear beasts. well, between the bears beasts and leonel''s brothers.

    aina froze them all in their tracks. luckily, not because she was naked, or even because they were surprised that she was alive. rather, her aura alone made it difficult for them to move.

    "what''s going on?" aina asked, turning to leonel.

    "a spirituals prince with an ability index similar to simeon''s turned them into beasts. it didn''t seem like they''d trust me to kill them and then resurrect them in their own bodies, so i gave them a technique to practice instead."n/)0velbin

    "what happened?" leonel turned to joel, james and the others.

    "they-" joel covered james'' mouth before he made the situation worse.

    "good to see that aina is back," joel said with a smile.

    "i got lucky. it won''t happen again." leonel said seriously.

    looking into leonel''s eyes, joel seemed to understand that he wasn''t just speaking about aina and his pupils trembled somewhat before he regained control over himself.

    "... as a beast it was hard to maintain our inhibitions as high as they were as humans. what kept us in line were the chains and rhangyl''s commands. but now, neither are here."

    leonel frowned. "they can''t focus enough to learn the technique?"

    "yes. the only reason they''re calm now is because an "alpha" has appeared. i have a feeling that they''ll only get more rowdy as time goes on, it''ll make it harder for them to focus.

    "it''s part of the reason i couldn''t stand being in the body, it made me feel like i couldn''t even control myself."

    leonel took a breath. this was... very troublesome. he really didn''t want to have to-

    "i can undo it," aina suddenly said. "it shouldn''t be too hard, you might have the materials on hand, too."

    leonel''s eyes lit up. "how could i forget my lovely wife was so talented?"

    aina rolled her eyes. she was still waiting on her ring, but this guy insisted on taking cheap advantage of her?

    "is it just me or did leo become more of a simp?" james held up his fingers and thumbs, framing leonel''s head in a picture frame.

    "nope, i think you''re definitely onto something. he''s softer, too. you think he has a baby in the oven?" raj asked.

    james shifted his picture frame to aina''s face, and then down to her belly. but before he could lock in, raj nudged it back to leonel''s stomach.

    "perfect." raj nodded.

    "hey, cap. how''s your hormone balance doing? you feeling any unexplained sickness in the mornings? maybe some unexpected cravings? ever wanted to sniff some gasoline? maybe put some ketchup on your ice cream?" james asked.

    aina sputtered with laughter as leonel threw out a kick that james blocked all too easily with an energy shield.

    "hey, hey, i''m just worried about your safety! don''t push yourself too hard."

    laughter rang through the forest.

    ***

    it didn''t take aina long to finish. in fact, as leonel watched, he realized that she used concepts from the [caged body: chained soul] force art in her concoction. it seemed that part of the reason she was so confident was because she had seen it.

    this was good news. at the very least, leonel hadn''t wasted his contribution points. though, the technique was quite useful for him as well.

    when the bear beasts were forced to absorb the pill, their bodies seemed to be sucked into their ethereal glabellas before their bodies began to manifest out of accumulated force.

    leonel exhaled a breath of relief seeing this. this was a better outcome than he had expected for everything. so, he turned his attention to more serious things.

    "tell me what happened."

    everyone looked at each other. without their beast bodies fueling the rage in their minds, the animosity many had toward leonel lessened somewhat, but it wasn''t to the extent that all was forgiven.

    even so, seeing how ignorant he was of the matter, just how mad could they be? at most, they could lambast him for abandoning the family he claimed to want to lead at the drop of a hat.

    however, from leonel''s perspective, he had already defeated everyone that needed to be defeated. weren''t they too useless if they couldn''t last even a year and some change without him?

    back in their human bodies, their emotions were far more complex.

    they felt rage that their patriarch had let them down.

    but they also felt the very same morales pride within them, asking why it was they had to rely on someone else to be strong.

    were the morales truly weak now without a single person?

 Chapter 2373 Never Again

    chapter 2373 never again

    leonel didn''t make a sound as he listened to the story, his expression not giving anything away. what happened was within his expectations. or, more accurately, after he had seen the state of the morales family, he understood what must have happened.

    after their victory, everything was smooth sailing. but because leonel wasn''t there, there was actually some hesitation about what exactly to do. this made sense. the morales had suddenly gained so much territory and control in such a short time. they didn''t even have the necessary population to occupy all of those lands, and they certainly didn''t have the infrastructure to govern such a large amount of land either.

    some were divided about what to do. one faction believed that they should just enslave everyone like they had the suiard and the spiritual faction. this would keep everyone in line and make it easier to force assimilation.

    another faction believed that they should take a softer approach. they had already bred such destruction and carnage, a more diplomatic approach now might actually help the morales in the long run rather than making everyone think that they were dictators.

    lightsж═ж╧vel after all, they fully controlled the narrative now. so long as they put out some feelers, and cleverly manipulated history, many wouldn''t even remember the massacres in a generation.

    hearing about these two factions, leonel could close his eyes and see who was on which side, and he was even more certain that those dividing lines would have been drawn across the picket lines of the demon faction of the morales family, and the human side.

    in fact, the more he listened, the more he was absolutely certain that the demoness had a hand in forcing things to go this far. the infighting began not long afterward and the morales family became fractured. because leonel had exposed who was on which side, many historical, eye-blowing moments were brought up, and many began to wonder how long this betrayal had been going on for.

    some things that were completely unrelated began to be pooled together. the morales entered a mass state of paranoia where everyone was accusing everyone else of something. in the end, it became the lynchpin of their downfall.

    the spirituals had experts of their own, and without leonel there, the seals he placed on the "slaves" of the morales were all too easy to weaken considerably. suddenly, the morales were facing not only their own internal civil war but a violent retaliation from the spiritual religion and the suiard family.n--o-)v/.ж┼-.l-(b)(i-)n

    even so, the morales were quite powerful. despite the strength maxx held, the morales had powerhouses of equivalent standing, and their number of ancestors, ancestors that had remained hidden until the civil war began, dwarfed both the suiard and spiritual religion.

    unfortunately, by this point, the second invasion of the human domain began. there was void palace to protect them as leonel had already massacred them. there was no shield cross stars because leonel had already massacred them. there was no omann family because leonel had already massacred them.

    the only powers left remaining to protect the human race were the morales that were in shambles, and the suiard and spirituals religion that had suffered catastrophic losses not just due to leonel, but also because of their fight for their freedom.

    leonel had always meant to let them go once everything blew over, but how could they know that? and with leonel vanishing for a year, for all they knew, he had always just been a puppet of the morales family, a convenient excuse they could abandon should things not go perfectly for them.

    the human domain in that state couldn''t even handle a normal invasion... let alone an invasion the spirituals participated in. using the fall of the spirituals religion as a way to claim the moral hierarchy, the spirituals led a crusade and hardly suffered any resistance. they proved themselves to be the most powerful race of the dimensional verse, and it wasn''t even close.

    the morales were massacred and they lost large numbers of their ancestors and young geniuses. ancestor alvaro fell. ancestor issa fell. the overlord, the very old man that was the reason leonel''s command of the morales had been so smooth to begin with... also fell.

    leonel looked toward those that survived. first nova adawarth. third nova xavnik. fifth nova ramon. fourth nova had died. sixth nova, valor, had died. second nova... auran, had died.

    leonel didn''t have much goodwill toward fourth nova; he had tried to sign aina to a slave contract, but he was still his cousin. sixth nova was different. leonel still remembered when he first met him. he was a stoic man of few words, but that day beneath the void tower, he had been proud of leonel''s achievements.

    he had his own personal ambition, but that didn''t get in the way of the love he had for his family... love that was likely only dwarfed by auran himself. if there was anyone who least deserved to die, it was auran. he had sacrificed so much, fighting a battle against the hidden faction of the morales all on his own. he took that burden on his shoulders and he never complained, even willingly giving up a chance to become the heir apparent just to take xavnik down.

    leonel looked into kira''s eyes. they were brimming with unshed tears and carried a dense rage within that couldn''t be buried. they rimmed with crimson and the force around her fluctuated. he understood her feelings. words couldn''t describe how much he understood.

    leonel closed his eyes. he knew it wasn''t his fault. he knew that it wasn''t because he was neglectful or irresponsible. he knew that if he had been there, the chances he could have changed the outcome would have been slim.

    it was clear that for whatever reason, the demoness no longer wanted the morales to exist as presently constructed. in fact, it might even be for a reason as petty as not wanting her lab rats to get too powerful. after all, how could her precious lineage factor spread to so many insignificant beings.

    leonel clenched his fists. however, the guilt was just as heavy. ''never again.''

 Chapter 2374 Prick

    chapter 2374 prick

    leonel didn''t know how much it was the vital star force affecting him, but he felt that he would have reacted much the same way. he had never lost his empathy, at least not toward the people he actually had connections to.

    his father''s death hit him like a truck. aina''s death felt like the same truck had backed up and dumped its load on him. he could still remember the rage he had felt when he had seen his brothers trapped in the bodies of beasts, and knowing at the same time that the morales family was likely finished as a result of what he was seeing.

    he had felt all of those things then, and he felt them just as strongly now after stepping into the impetus state. this made him feel better. in fact, it made him feel better than he thought it would make him feel. it was as though there was still a kernel of what was really him in there, a piece that wasn''t entirely dictated by the forces he chose to comprehend.

    but as good as that feeling was, his sense of duty was even more suffocating. right now, he could intimately feel the difference.

    the leonel ruled by his scarlet star force would immediately go on a rampage, not stopping until what was left of the spirituals were mowed down like dried weeds. however, the current leonel felt that he wanted to take a different approach entirely.

    he still felt the will within him to fight, to slaughter, make those that had made his family, his friends suffer, pay back their debts in blood. but he knew that it was a useless endeavor. would it bring those that had been lost back? and he had already slaughtered to his heart''s content, and what was the end result, exactly?

    would there be slaughter? yes. there would definitely be a reckoning for this, and he would make certain that all those who were responsible were buried six feet deep. the spirituals would only be the beginning. the day he met the demoness would be the day she paid for all her crimes as well. he would show her what it truly meant to be toyed with.

    but would it be now? no. if he wanted this to not happen again, it had less to do with his own strength. could he guarantee to always be there? to always be ready and by their side? it was impossible. it had been proven again, and again, and again.

    how many people had he lost? even if he had managed to bring many of them back, would he be able to do so forever? what about when they entered the eighth dimension and the silver tablet became useless? would he keep them at the seventh dimension forever? forcing them to remain weak and useless?

    if he wanted to change things, it didn''t start from him, at least not in the sense that he had to continue chasing after strength and power. he had to change himself, yes, but the change would come in his approach.

    he had to pass on his knowledge. he had to help his brothers to grow stronger and more powerful. he had to empower his people. even if they couldn''t reach his height, he had to at least bring them close.

    leonel closed his eyes, his thoughts thrumming. of those that were here, there were his brothers, three of the remaining novas, kira, and the youths of the morales, namely nora and tommie. the rest fell into similar categories. there weren''t any of the people of earth, leonel noticed, aside from his brothers, of course. but aina''s friends were glaringly missing. that said, if they had died, leonel was certain his brothers would have also said something.

    aside from that, there was also emna, raylion and his wife. leonel had a feeling that the only reason so many people he knew survived was precisely in an attempt to humiliate him and also to drive him out to kill him. obviously, the latter part of that plan had clearly failed.

    leonel opened his eyes and shook his head. here he was, trying to do things by himself again.

    "give me a few hours. feel free to talk into the skies if there''s anything you want. anastasia will help you."

    "you''re volunteering me for work i didn''t ask for, aren''t you too cheeky?"

    "ignore her," leonel said, before running away.

    ...

    leonel sat in a quiet place, looking out into the ocean. his father''s dictionary felt smooth on his palm, vibrating with a slight warmth.

    "what do you think of the conventional path?"

    "it''s shit."

    leonel''s lip twitched. classic.

    "it''s the path i chose, though."

    leonel was shocked once again.

    "why?" leonel asked after a long while.

    "because the path is a blank slate. the god path is a stupid path. it has some interesting quirks, but trying to step onto a path like that one before you have a full understanding of the scope of the world around you is foolhardy at best. it''s like expecting a toddler to already have chosen their career path.

    "if you use the conventional path, though, you gain an extreme amount of flexibility. when you understand everything well, and you''re certain of your path, you can devote yourself to it and not worry about potential backlash."

    "that sounds very valuable, though. so why do you not like it?"

    "because there are better methods of doing the same thing. [dimensional cleanse] for one, is a technique well known for being compatible with every other technique. what most don''t know is that there''s likewise a path that comes with it that is compatible with every other path.

    "not only does it provide flexibility, but it also comes with a great deal of powerups and helpful boosts that the conventional path doesn''t have."

    leonel smiled. "then why didn''t you use [dimensional cleanse] instead of the conventional path?"

    he had a feeling he already knew the answer.n--ovelb1n

    "why? have you read that technique''s introduction? the creator was an arrogant prick. i wouldn''t allow myself to owe that bastard anything. over my dead fucking body."

    leonel''s laughter rang out.

 Chapter 2375 A Path That Suits You

    chapter 2375 a path that suits you

    "how''d you manage to use the convention path in the void palace?"

    "you think i went to the void palace for their help? i went to chase skirt-i mean i went to be an instructor. i never joined that shitstain of an organization as a student, i had better things to do. plus, they paid me a hefty sum. probably thought that if i was in their sights, they could learn about what made me so powerful. jokes on them, i''m one of a kind."

    leonel smiled. this old man never explained things so clearly, but because his ai was strapped to the rules of the dictionary, it was like he was finally learning more about his father''s life.

    "so basically the conventional path is very malleable. are there any limitations?"

    "there are limitations to everything, but the conventional path is a bit... unique. you essentially undergo two body tempering stages. to the outside world you seem to be in the sixth, then seventh, then eighth dimension. but in reality, you just repeated the third, fourth and fifth dimensions. you never really stepped into the sixth."

    leonel frowned. that sounded... wrong.

    "if it sounds wrong, that''s because it is. the conventional path is theoretically supposed to work like this, but it doesn''t. rather than staying in the fifth dimension, or better yet, backtracking to the third with the same strength and power, you instead get what i call... quasi dimensions."

    "quasi dimensions? what''s the difference?"

    leonel was suddenly very interested. he had concluded recently that dimensions were highly important, but they didn''t quite work the way explained in earth''s physics textbooks. he had a feeling that this was the piece he was looking for.

    "dimensions represent an elevated state of being. the higher your state, the closer you are to the foundations of life itself, and thus the more powerful you are.

    "this elevated state of being is mostly reflected in an abstract sense to most who go about their day to day lives. however, it''s more tangible than just existing in the abstract, and it''s as real as the dream plane is. i just don''t believe that there''s someone in existence you can touch upon that plane.

    "well, i would have given enough time. but there''s no use crying over spilled milk.

    "what''s important is that this state of being is like an anchor that holds everyone in place, and i believe that it''s related to the regulator.

    "the regulator isn''t the physical manifestation of a being. it has no will, no consciousness, it only exists as an arbitrator of rules. more accurately, it is the rules.

    "my hypothesis is that if anyone actually ever came face to face with a regulator one day, it would just be a force art, just like everything else is."

    "and it''s the structure laid out by the regulators that gatekeep states of being?" leonel asked.n-)0velb1n

    lightsnж╧vж┼l "yes. i would explain more but your little mind would probably implode.

    "to keep a complicated matter simple. when you cross a dimension, you gain greater access to these layers of reality. the more access to these layers of reality you gain, the more you can impose your will onto the world and ignore the rules of the regulators."

    leonel''s eyes narrowed. he thought back to that void race ancestor who was so large he seemed to encompass the entire incomplete world. the regulator had tried to stop him as well, much like it had tried and succeeded in stopping his father, but it had all been useless.

    was this what his dad meant by ignoring the rules of the regulators?

    "then what about forces? this explanation sounds a lot like one i received for force manipulation."

    the dictionary fell into silence, but leonel could feel it calculating something. in fact, he could vaguely tell that what it was doing was translating.

    leonel''s crafting was on an entirely new level now, and though he was far from his father, he had at least clipped the edge of velasco''s cloak. he could feel what the dictionary was doing now with much more clarity.

    when the dictionary was doing this, it was converting the terms his father used into ones he used.

    force manipulation was a term leonel had coined, it was unlikely his father would use the same words. and his father had never stepped out of the dimensional verse, so how could he know what terms the four great families used either?

    but somehow, the dictionary was able to convert everything into vocabulary only he could understand.

    then it spoke.

    "yes, the concept is the same. but the distinction is in body and in soul.

    "an increase in dimension, regardless of what caused it, or path you follow, is fundamentally a change in body.

    "a comprehension of force will fundamentally cause changes in the soul.

    "this is why separating the two is so important. the soul''s natural state is in the second dimension, as is that of every other force, but the body''s natural state is in the third.

    "when you''re fused into one, it''s impossible to give both the care and attention they need. both need their own approaches. if you keep them together, as the body progresses, it will pull the soul along, forcing it to stretch itself across several dimensions so that it won''t be left behind.

    "this weakens your soul overall, and it likewise weakens its connection to forces."

    leonel frowned.

    he... somewhat? understood this.

    the layered state of force manipulation represented folded your forces until they could return and be used naturally as close to the third dimension as possible. then, stepping into the impetus state allowed you to finally take that step, while the life step would allow you to return to the second dimension.

    but it was interesting. it seemed that the body''s task was to rise through the dimensions, and the soul''s task was to return.

    it was this push and pull that made the powerful truly powerful.

    "then what''s wrong with the conventional path?"

    "it''s unable to make you stronger without pushing your body forward somewhat. every step up in dimension in the conventional path is about... a half-step up in reality, rather than a full step.

    "stepping into the seventh dimension means you still have the flexibility of someone in the sixth. so on and so forth.

    "it''s not perfect, and this adds some rigidity to the path, but it''s still far more flexible than most because so long as you haven''t stepped into the eighth of the conventional path, there''s still a lot you can do. it''s part of the reason i spent decades in the seventh dimension, looking for my path."

    leonel''s eyes glowed. this gave his brothers far more of a chance than he originally thought.

    plus, aina never followed the god path either. or, rather, she seemed to have only used it as a skeleton. she relied on her clairvoyance to make her own path.

    as for him, he obviously used [dimensional cleanse]. not that it mattered since he had somehow returned to the third dimension anyway.

    "then for someone in the seventh dimension of the conventional path, what would you suggest?" leonel asked.

    this was the main reason he had come here.

    "not everyone can follow my path, and i assume you''re not talking about yourself because you clearly didn''t follow that path either.

    "it ultimately comes down to a few things. raise your forces as high as you can. raise your ability index to the highest level you can. raise your universal forces to the highest level you can. and since you''re not as amazing as me, find a path most suited to your growth.

    "only after doing those three things first will you be able to understand best what path suits you."

 Chapter 2376 Pulling His Leg

    chapter 2376 pulling his leg

    leonel nodded slowly. his father''s words were helping him to slowly bring together the bits and pieces of information that he had cobbled together over the years into a more holistic understanding of what he had to do. he had to first find a balance between strengthening the ability indexes of his brothers, and helping them to reach the limits of them as well.

    it would be easier to help them reach the limit with the help of the silver tablet''s force arts, but he still had to factor in their talent and the digestibility of the material. not everyone could just innately comprehend force arts by using prior, seemingly unrelated knowledge like leonel or aina could.

    "the force arts of silver tablet were in a language that leonel had only seen once before, and back then he was just barely 18 years old and was stuck in the joan zone."

    then, he would have to help find resources that could aid them to comprehend their forces faster. maybe he could even fuse the two purposes into one. who knew, maybe he could help them gain an ability index that would make it easier for them to comprehend their desired forces. that way he would be killing two birds with one stone.

    but he was still curious about something.

    "how did universal force factor into all of this?"

    leonel''s task, the one given by his father before he could even begin to progress out of the third dimension, was quite similar to the three things he just listed. he had already succeeded in separating his soul, and the only forces he had left to raise to the impetus state would be his dark force, his scarlet star force, and his emulation spatial force.

    "the dark force was a requirement of him since he had both halves of the northern star lineage factor. of course, that would usually require him to understand star force as well, but he felt that he already had his bases covered on that front."

    "with vital star force, he had already brought one star force-related force to the impetus state. if he did it again with his scarlet star force, he felt that he would be in a good position."

    "he didn''t believe that his father meant for him to grasp not only all of his forces, but all of the individual strands that made it up as well. that would defeat the purpose of focused attention."

    "plus, he had already had an enlightenment on that front during the heir wars."

    "forces like his vital star force and scarlet star force weren''t just a whole that could be separated into parts. the only reason they had individual categorizations like life and star force for vital star force, or light, star and fire for scarlet star force, was just as a way to colloquially categorize them."

    "what was more important wasn''t the parts, but rather the sum of them."

    "as for why leonel was bothering to comprehend dark force separately, it was because he had decided to abandon void star force, so he needed another anchor of comprehension to satiate the dark side of his northern star lineage factor."

    that all led back to his question.

    "why is universal force so important? isn''t it by definition external to all of this? and if it''s so important, how could you want me to push it to its final stage before even leaving the third dimension? isn''t that contradictory?"

    "there are three pillars in your path of progression. your body and your soul are the first two. they are highly important. but what''s just as important is their connection to the world at large."

    "until the day you grow powerful enough to separate from the laws of the world, your connection to said world is of paramount importance, and there''s no stronger connection that can be formed than through universal force."

    leonel sat in silence for a long while when he heard these words.

    "it was true. his body would only day reach the ninth dimension, and that could be considered the end. his soul would one day truly be one with the second dimension, and that could be considered the beginning."nove)1b.1n

    "but neither represented where the real impetus of creation was, where the true spark of life was, where the strength that sparked all that was, all that had ever been, and all that ever would be, rested...."

    "his father was essentially saying that the root to that kernel, that spark, that impetus of life itself and the path toward the strongest existences in the world, was universal force."

    "universal force was the only force that could grant you strength and power beyond your means. it was the only force that even the current leonel could use without any burden to his body whatsoever, and that was despite him having comprehension at the sixth dimensional level while his body was in the third."

    "although his vital star force seemed to fall into this category as well, leonel was certain that it was somewhat related to his [unnamed] lineage factor."

    "universal force, however, could be used by everyone. if a newborn somehow grasped enlightenment and entered the constellation realm, they could use that universal force without detriment to themselves."

    "it was the only force that was truly without bias."

    leonel''s eyes glowed. he just realized. two of the aspects his father wanted to focus on were both things like this, things that anyone could work on to strengthen.

    "his ability index and universal force."

    even so, that still didn''t answer the last question.

    "if universal force was so powerful and so useful, how could his father want him to push it to the constellation realm? that was impossible."

    "wanting him to push his forces to the impetus state was already pushing it somewhat, but it was still acceptable."

    "but the constellation realm was the realm of the ninth dimension. he had been far from that even when he was in the seventh dimension, let alone now."

    "the constellation realm isn''t the end, it''s the beginning. i never reached it myself, but that i''m certain of."

    leonel''s lip twitched. this old man was pulling his leg, surely.

 Chapter 2377 Cut Deep

    chapter 2377 cut deep

    leonel never thought that his father would ask him to do something he had never done. never mind the fact that his father would never admit to it either. it could only be said that the programming of the ai likely had his father rolling in his grave.

    "how am i supposed to do something you couldn''t?" leonel asked speechlessly.

    "who said i couldn''t? couldn''t and didn''t are too different words, brat. don''t curse me from beyond the grave."

    leonel laughed beside himself. now that, that was a more typical answer.

    "then why didn''t you?" leonel asked.

    "because i didn''t want to deal with the hassle. my foundation was already imperfect because i practiced the conventional path to the seventh dimension, one more imperfection wasn''t going to make or break me."

    leonel frowned. it sounded more like his father had a method that he could have used but chose not to.

    suddenly his eyes widened in understanding.

    "i see you get it now. the constellation of families and that of the self aren''t too indifferent. in fact, they''re built on the same foundation: universal force. in truth, forming a family''s constellation is much more difficult because it requires a combination of the wills and comprehensions of several people. it takes a real hero to do that.

    "back then, i was a lonewolf and couldn''t be bothered. plus, those annoying elders had pissed me off one too many times."

    "because of grandpa? or because of the demon faction?"

    "neither," velasco''s ai snorted. "they actually tried to reprimand me for choosing the conventional path instead of the god path, and some of those old relics tried to take my right to become an heir away.

    "so i said fuck them. i became more powerful than every one of them before the heir war and put them on their asses.

    "then i didn''t participate in the heir war at all because it was a waste of my time. those spineless cowards wouldn''t do what i wanted them to do anyway. we should have just directly conquered the dimensional verse.

    "but then i met your mother and i didn''t want to step on my father-in-law''s toes so i didn''t let them convince me even when they did finally get their shit together."

    leonel shook his head, not even knowing what to say.

    before the heir wars? his dad couldn''t have been more than 40 years old at worst at the time. leonel didn''t know which nebula his father was, but he was montez''s elder brother, so he was probably higher ranked than not, maybe even the first nebula.

    adawarth was already nearing his thirties the first time leonel met him, and the heir wars would have happened within a half decade had the cataclysm zone not descended.

    that meant that his father was more likely than not in his early thirties, maybe five or six years older than leonel was now.

    leonel couldn''t imagine becoming that strong so quickly without this sort of guidance, but his father had done it on his own.

    "how do i use the morales constellation to reach that level myself?" leonel asked. "i''m not even in the dimensional verse right now, and i don''t think i can return anytime soon."

    "you don''t have to. the moment it formed, every morales gained a kernel of it within them. the location is irrelevant. in fact, the less morales there are, the stronger you''ll be able to sense it, not that it would have been difficult for you anyway considering you have the morales world spirit."

    leonel''s brows shot up before his mood sank.

    from his father''s words-"the less morales there are"-it was clear that he likely guessed even from beyond the grave what the fate of the morales would be. he too felt that leonel''s presence wouldn''t have changed anything.

    but that left more questions than answers. if his father knew, why was he so obsessed with king? shouldn''t his anger be directed toward the demoness instead?

    if his father had been alive, how could the morales have been so vulnerable even if he wasn''t there? if he was powerful enough to deal with even king, what threat would the human alliance of the vast bubble be? the moment he left the dimensional verse, he could have broken into the ninth dimension and become a level of existence that was nigh unmatchable.

    leonel hesitated. he didn''t want to ask the question. it would imply he was doubting his father. but the question was burning a hole through his tongue.

    eventually, it came out anyway. if he was ever going to ask, it would have to be right now.

    "if you knew, then why?"

    leonel expected to hear a sigh, maybe a pause, maybe some lament. but it was then that the ai chose to remind him that it was, in fact, an ai. it had been asked a question, and so it would answer to the fullest extent of the truth that it knew.

    it answered immediately.

    "i had escaped the range of her influence. i shed her lineage factor and her chains. my only regret is that i could not do the same for you and my little brother.

    "if i had stepped out of the dimensional verse, what i could do would be limited. i''ve had enough conversations with your mother''s father to know the true extent of the strength and power out there.

    "i had already reached the very limits of this incomplete world. the only way for me to progress further would be to see what was out there, but if i left... that woman wouldn''t allow a variable out of her control to spread their wings.

    "so i paved a path for you and montez instead. so long as she feels like she can still toy with you on a puppet string, she will allow you to live.

    "king wasn''t someone i slayed just for selfish reasons. with him out of the way, things will be easier on your mother''s father, and so long as you can survive until he is ready, both you, your mother, and your uncle will have a chance to stake a place for yourselves in the outside world."n..o(-v)-e-(l--b.(1/.n

    there it was again.

    words that leonel was certain his father would never admit to if he had been alive.

    and they cut deep.

 Chapter 2378 Causality

    chapter 2378 causality

    leonel closed his eyes and regained his bearings. when he opened them again, he was sharp and focused. he began a focused state of meditation, part of his focus on the dream plane, and the other half on the silver tablet.

    right now, he had over a million ability indexes in his silver tablet. this sounded like a large number, but it was insignificant in the grand scheme. a single city on a single planet could have a population that dwarfed that number, let alone the entire planet, the entire solar system, the entire galaxy, or any quadrant, sector, domain or world beyond that.

    and that was just an incomplete world. a complete world didn''t have its force separated across such large space. the result was a large piece of land, that although smaller than a given universe, it likewise had a population concentration that was impossibly far beyond what one could expect of an incomplete world.

    to make a complicated matter simple, there were countless uninhabitable planets in an incomplete world, but a complete world, aside from danger zones, could be settled across every square inch. the vast bubble was more of an anomaly than not due to the fact a demon world was trying to fuse with it, causing much of it to be unpopulated.

    but a bubble world without this issue would have a population that made numbers in the trillions sounds insignificant.

    however, while the pool of ability indexes he had access to was limited, not to mention the fact they were all common and couldn''t even be ranked, he believed that if he made clever use of this store of ability indexes, he could help his brothers out a great deal.

    he had decided on a few things.

    first, he would help his brothers to raise their ability indexes from the common level to the black grade. if leonel was correct, this actually might count as a contribution to the silver tablet as well, but only time would tell.

    once he had raised them to the black grade by filling in some of their weaknesses, he would turn to the matter of lineage factors. the silver tablet seemed to have some... untold secrets within it, but they weren''t hidden either.

    the fact that both ability indexes and lineage factors could be turned into forces and analyzed told leonel something. lineage factors were also a chance to change your fate. the difference was that while ability indexes were granted to you, lineage factors could be created.

    james had formed his own lineage factor and so had emna. this made them "sparks", but leonel didn''t believe that this was some innate characteristic, as though they were destined to form these lineage factors from birth.

    even so, he could use james and emna as a template. both of them had formed lineage factors that synergized with their ability indexes so well that it made them far more powerful than they seemed.

    james: "in the silver tablet, but emna wasn''t. after he had laid out a path, the first thing leonel did was fix that."

    he found that adding people to the silver tablet was far easier than he had thought. those without access to the dream plane, or without force strong enough to counter his dream force, easily had a small kernel of their soul sucked into the tablet. like this, leonel was able to add everyone without even getting up from his seat.

    [emna beiceran]n()ovelb1n

    [ability index: blade affinity]

    [lineage factor: blade as body]

    this was an interesting screen to look at, mostly because of the blade as body title. the ranks of the blade affinity were: sense, feel, body as blade, union and transcendence. that wasn''t leonel misremembering. it was truly body as blade, while emna''s lineage factor was known as blade as body.

    it was a simple flip of the words, but leonel felt that this change held a lot of weight for emna, and it was probably the reason she was able to reach true sovereignty as well. leonel''s black contribution ticked up by one, causing him to raise an eyebrow. even james wasn''t at the black level, but if he took a deeper look, it seemed that james was very close.

    ''hm. it looks like james never really focused on strengthening his ability index. he and milan have the same ability index, energy shield. the difference was that milan awakened it at the lowest partiality level, while james awakened it to the second misdirection level immediately.

    ''in these years, james raised it to reflection, the fourth level, but it seems that most of the heavy lifting is being done by his lineage factor...''

    [james bennett]

    [ability index: energy shield]

    [lineage factor: blackhole]

    leonel rolled his eyes. only james would pick such a ridiculous name. he probably thought it sounded cool, but it lacked any flair whatsoever. it was too bland.

    observing the lineage factor, though, leonel nodded to himself. his conjectures were correct. james'' lineage factor allowed him to pick out a force and nullify it. this was how he had managed to defeat elorin, the time force wielder.

    the problem was that nullify was already one of the abilities of his ability index. though, the difference was that that ability was concentrated into the shield, whereas james was able to expand it into a domain instead. even so, it overlapped with his ability index, rather than raising it up and amplifying it.

    it was a subtle difference, but it was one that emna had grasped while james hadn''t. even so, he had been able to defeat elorin.

    speaking of which... leonel reached out toward elorin who was still under anastasia''s tutelage. to leonel''s surprise, elorin''s head snapped upward instantly. however, leonel only smiled.

    it seemed that elorin''s time force was on the verge of entering the impetus state. even so, it wasn''t there yet.

    [elorin hutch]

    [ability index: strings of causality]

    [lineage factor: -]

    leonel''s eyes narrowed. there was a point of contribution added to the silver tiers.

 Chapter 2379 Correct

    chapter 2379 correct

    in truth, leonel expected it to be ranked higher. at least until he saw that elorin''s progression in the ability index was still at the very first tier.

    ''it''s so powerful at just the first tier? he looks like he''s completely focused on his ability index as well, and he''s had the drive and conviction to improve it every day. from what i''ve seen, he uses it cleverly and with sharpness. is it just that difficult to progress time force?''

    wait, but he had felt elorin sense him in the dream plane. even emna hadn''t been able to, and neither had goggles. only aina was able to replicate that feat.

    that should mean that elorin was on the verge of the impetus state, but...

    if elorin''s time force was that strong, his ability index shouldn''t still be at the first tier.

    ''fascinating...''

    elorin''s ability index allowed him to use his eyes to see the path of causality. he could then gather those causalities and use them for his benefit.

    if he wanted to streak across a marathon, he had to observe himself complete that marathon first within one of the potential causalities, then pick that causality. once he did, he would cross the distance of a marathon in an instant.

    of course, that would require time. if he had been a mortal, even an elite one, that would have taken two hours of observation of casualties.

    this was where the strength of his ability index came in. he was able to accelerate time within these casualties and gain a small advantage.

    essentially, he could observe himself cross a distance at an accelerated pace, and thus finish that task faster overall.

    if it would usually take him a minute to run a kilometer, he could observe the causality at an acceleration of 10%, and thus finish in 54 seconds instead.

    when leonel laid it out like this, this did truly sound like the first tier of an ability. there were countless restrictions and it was extremely difficult to use in the midst of battle.

    it was no wonder elorin couldn''t focus on anything else. if anything, making his ability index any stronger would be a detriment to him.

    unlike james who focused too much on his lineage factor, elorin was the opposite, focusing too much on his ability index.

    but leonel couldn''t even really blame him. if he could toy around with time, would he even waste his time with other things? he could imagine what he could do with elorin''s abilities and just the thought made him want to salivate.

    of course, though, if he had elorin''s ability index, he would lose his own and thus lose the sharp mind that would allow him to execute his ideas.

    ''that''s enough reconnaissance. i''ve got it. first, joel.''

    [joel dangote]

    [ability index: sharpness]

    [lineage factor: -]

    joel''s ability index was as simple as it came. in the past, leonel had thought that it was similar to emna''s ability index, but this was due to his ignorance.

    joel''s ability index did one thing: increased piercing power. it was that simple, almost like a buff in-game.

    this wouldn''t have been interesting to leonel in the past, but with his current understanding of weapon forces, he found it maybe even more fascinating than elorin''s ability index.

    sharpness. it was a physical law of reality. when an object reached a certain unspecified number of parameters, it would be sharp. joel could enhance those parameters.

    what was interesting was that sharpness was one of the laws of physics leonel thought of when he was comprehending weapon forces.

    what made weapon forces exist? as he had comprehended, on one side there was the human consciousness with birthed all sorts of weapons, and on the other side there were the laws of physics those weapons relied upon to be effective.

    all weapons but blunt force ones relied on sharpness. the spear might also rely on laws of leverage and the like. whatever unique combination of these laws that a weapon leaned upon would decide what kind of weapon force it was.

    if joel came to understand this, leonel had a feeling that his power would shoot up like a speeding rocket. but looking at his ability index...

    joel was still at tier three and that was after decades of effort.

    leonel understood why. it wasn''t just due to lack of talent. when he wasn''t there, the role of leader fell onto joel''s shoulders. joel bore this weight well, but it hindered him in many other facets.

    ''joel''s ability index has much more potential than i gave it credit for. i won''t touch it unless i find other ability indexes that are extremely similar. maybe one related to the laws of hardness or...''

    leonel''s gaze flashed, he looked through all million ability index force arts in an instant before he landed on one.

    leonel couldn''t just give joel his insights. comprehension never worked like that. instead, he had to find a way to lead joel to the same conclusion he had reached.

    [ability index: heaviness]

    ''perfect.''

    leonel tested the synergy between this ability index and joel''s. and as expected, they were akin to two peas in a pod. they fused more easily than any ability indexes that leonel had tried out until this point.

    while the result was still common, that was because both joel''s and the person who had once wielded heaviness had both were stuck at quite low tiers and had limited understanding of what they truly had.

    ''now he just needs a lineage factor to pair with it.''

    leonel looked inwardly toward the glaive domain ring.

    it was perfect for joel, but he shook his head.

    not only did he feel that these lineage factors were ticking time bombs, but-

    leonel''s thoughts were cut off as another tablet appeared within his library. his gaze sharpened as he brought it out.

    [ability index: glaive domain: corrupted]

    leonel sat in silence for a long while. sometimes, he really hated being correct.n..o(-v)-e-(l--b.(1/.n

    ''... those sons of bitches...''

 Chapter 2380 Corruption

    chapter 2380 corruption

    leonel looked at the "corrupted" tag for a long while, his eyes narrowed. he had expected this already, but it was still annoying to see.

    the good news was that he didn''t receive the same tag, and the reason was quite obvious. his spear domain lineage factor had fused with his metal synergy lineage factor, not to mention the radix, midas, and florer family lineage factors to become [unnamed].

    as for his bow domain lineage factor, it was incomplete and had yet to fully form. he had also not taken the steps to complete it even though he had the bow domain lineage factor. so, obviously, he didn''t have to deal with that issue with it either.

    instead, his bow domain lineage factor received the tag of "fragmented," if he recalled correctly. if he completed it, though, he was almost 100% certain that it, too, would be marked down as corrupted.

    ''wait...''

    leonel looked toward the force art, focusing his attention. after just a split second, he waved a hand and got rid of it. he was being foolish. if he wanted to comprehend the corrupted portion of the lineage factor, he had to pick a lineage factor that he was intimately familiar with.

    he took out his spear domain ring and had the silver tablet scan it. it was a ring that was always on his finger, and he felt that it was about time he comprehended its true depth.

    even though [unnamed] wasn''t corrupted, who was to say that it wasn''t imperfect due to the corrupted nature of spear domain being part of its foundation?

    due to this, it might very well be more important than just for the sake of his curiosity to get an understanding of what was going on.

    leonel spent the next half an hour memorizing, analyzing, and teasing apart the secrets of spear domain. not only did he feel like he learned a lot and even new methods, but he felt that he had nailed down the corruption of the lineage factor.

    there were two aspects to the corruption, the first was something that he had already expected: control.

    spear domain was a lineage factor that gave one access to a weapon force with hardly any conscious effort. a weapon force was highly linked with one''s very being as it relied on the will of a person and the laws of reality to manifest. as such, controlling a person through their weapon force was as far a stretch as it seemed.

    the second aspect, though, was more surprising, and that was just the fact that the lineage factor was imperfect.n()ovelb1n

    this shouldn''t have been as surprising to leonel as he originally felt it was. of course, the lineage factor was imperfect; that fit well with everything else he knew.

    he had a feeling that the existence of the domain rings mimicked true sovereignty because the original intention of the domain lineage factors was to birth true sovereigns.

    leonel didn''t know who had created this lineage factor, but they had to be a genius to get so close to a perfect product even though they hadn''t succeeded.

    lineage factors and ability indexes could provide affinities that could help one''s comprehension, making the world of a certain force easier to understand. but this lineage factor was trying to take it a step forward, directly granting comprehension. or at the very least, making the path toward comprehension so easy that it was barely a step or two away.

    ''i see. the imperfection part of the lineage factor can be fixed just by becoming a true sovereign on your own. however, the control part...''

    the control portion of the lineage factor was designed as a failsafe. it allowed, assumedly the creator, to control those who had the lineage factor.

    of course, their targets were likely those that could perfect the lineage factor by becoming true sovereigns themselves, which ironically meant that leonel would have become one of their prime targets. in fact, he still might be their target even now, even more so since they couldn''t control him.

    just what he needed, honestly. more enemies in the dark. who didn''t love that?

    however, leonel disregarded that. what he cared most about was the fact this "control" aspect also masqueraded as a dampener on the lineage factor, not allowing it to display its full strength once completion was reached.

    now that leonel thought about it, there wasn''t any bump in strength in his spear domain lineage factor at all that didn''t come directly from his spear force. but his spear force was his own; he could use it with or without the lineage factor.

    he hadn''t thought much about it in the past because he didn''t not of the connection. but now... he realized that his lineage factor likely hadn''t reached its full potential precisely because of these blockers.

    with a thought, [unnamed] appeared before leonel.

    it was a complex, jumbled mess. leonel got a headache just looking at it. it was so much more complex than even goggles'' that it was hard to pay attention to the details he needed to.

    this was quite shocking for leonel considering just how strong his dream force was, and he felt that it might be a helpless endeavor, until he suddenly had an idea.

    ''my spear force fell out of true sovereignty after my recent comprehension. that means that if i reach true sovereignty again, i can compare the changes to the [unnamed] force art with and without it. that should help me pinpoint the location in the force art that spear domain made up.

    ''once i do that, i should be able to find the corruption as well as they should be nearby one another.

    ''if i can fix the corruption on mine, fixing the corruption for joel would be a breeze.''

    leonel got to work. it would take him forever if he was alone, but didn''t he have a lovely wife that would be a perfect sparring partner?

    unfortunately, he underestimated just how much this lovely wife of his loved to kick his ass.

 Chapter 2381 Too Heavy

    chapter 2381 too heavy

    leonel coughed, feeling like he was about to hack up a lung.

    "-is all of this strictly necessary? haven''t you heard of being gentle? i''m not a masochist like you, you kn-"

    leonel quickly rolled to the side as a long-haired beauty descended from the skies like a war god. it seemed she didn''t like what he was about to say even one bit.

    "since you can still run your mouth, you obviously haven''t been pushed to your limits yet."

    leonel rolled out of the way again. "you know i''m doing this for you too!"

    "i don''t need that damned corrupted ring, i can become a true sovereign on my own, it''s easy."

    leonel''s lip twitched. if anyone else said this, he''d call bullshit. but since it was aina, he knew just how true it was.

    aina''s body clairvoyance and soul clairvoyance abilities were absolutely broken. they did exactly as their name suggested and practically gave her the ability to see the future so long as it was related to her own body.

    he could barely look at his own [unnamed] force art without going into a tailspin, looking at those two clairvoyance force arts felt like he was thrown into a blackhole and forced to watch his body stretch across time.

    what was interesting, though, was that aina''s ability index and goggles'' had great synergy between one another.

    however, he decided to leave this matter be. the one person who didn''t need his help for her path was aina. this was already how he felt before she "died", but now it was even more exaggerated, she was on a completely different level.n/-0velbin

    in just the last few days, leonel felt that her strength had probably doubled, and she was still unearthing more strength every day.

    by this point, she could probably fold alpha clown in half and make rhangyl her whipping boy. leonel doubted it would even take much effort.

    he didn''t know what had triggered this, especially since it didn''t actually seem to be related to her blood sovereignty. but what else could he do but stay here and take a beating?

    ...

    ''there it is...''

    a day later, leonel finally felt the threshold again, his head filled with lumps that were growing their own lumps.

    his spear force regained its golden sheen, its power skyrocketing. at the same time, leonel felt that he actually gained a little bit more control as well, not in terms of the spear force itself-that went without saying-rather, it was the ability to use the spear force even with his fragile body.

    by this point, even without having used [caged body: chained soul] yet, leonel had a body that was almost as strong as it had been before his grandfather unceremoniously knocked him out.

    he had expected to be able to use his force by now, but he guessed that having a body strong enough to withstand powerful forces was about more than just a strong body, but the dimension of the body almost mattered.

    it was a metaphysical matter rather than a purely physical matter.

    leonel crossed his legs and he entered the silver tablet, focusing his attention and aina reluctantly had to stop the swing of her staff.

    this staff was the latest weapon that aina had decided to pick up. she usually alternated between her battle ax and other weapons. once she mastered whatever random weapon suited her fancy, she would always go back to her trusted ax.

    it was true when she said she could become a true sovereign when she wanted, but until now, she hadn''t. she trusted her instincts and followed what her body and mind told her to do. as far as she was concerned, it had never led her astray.

    in truth, for years now, for as long as she could remember, part of that nagging voice in her mind had been telling her to commit suicide. it was the one thing she had always ignored because she had too many things to do, too many things to accomplish, too many people to make pay for what they had done to her family.

    but ever since she had awakened, that voice had vanished and without the constant bombardment, her clairvoyance was hundreds of times clearer to her than it had been in the past.

    she didn''t know exactly what this meant, but she was happy. this meant that she would be able to keep up with leonel''s steps and she wouldn''t have to worry anymore.

    even if this meant that she would leave leonel behind in terms of strength, it would be even better. she would happily protect leonel for the rest of her life if that''s what she had to do.

    she smiled to herself. of course, she would definitely enjoy whacking him on the head during said time.

    ...

    leonel didn''t know aina''s thoughts, he was far too focused on the task at hand. plus, it wasn''t as though he could use the dream plane to read her mind, she was the only one in the segmented cube aside from elorin who could sense him with ease.

    ''that''s it, this part right here...''

    leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    with his mind focused on one part of the force art, and with this part being easier for him to comprehend now that he had regained his true sovereignty, the impact on him was far less.

    after a moment, he entered a deep state of meditation, one that lasted three days and nights.

    when he opened his eyes, they were bloodshot, and their disappointment was clear.

    he had overestimated himself a bit too much. how could he unwind this kind of thing in a short time? the task was far too heavy.

    he could hardly look at the force art directly, how was he going to modify it to any great extent?

    leonel exhaled a breath slowly and slipped into a pod to rest.

    when he came out, his determination was renewed.

    he couldn''t do anything about his lineage factor the conventional way, but that didn''t mean the silver tablet couldn''t.

 Chapter 2382 Choice

    chapter 2382 choice

    a force art was essentially a series of symbols that acted like a programming language. this language could communicate with the universe to elicit a certain response that usually came in a combination of force. this corrupted section of the lineage factor was designed to dampen the overall structure and weaken it. so, what if leonel fused it with several other force arts that could do the opposite.

    after some testing, he felt that it might be viable. this was because he didn''t seem to have to fuse force arts as a whole, he could do so in parts, and even concentrate which sections to fuse where.

    he currently had four complete domain lineage factors on hand. he had the bow, glaive, ax and spear rings. although each was built on different concepts, they all had overlapping sections. so, his first thought was what if he took these overlapping sections, fusing them into the lineage factor, and used quality to outmatch the corruption.

    while this wouldn''t deal with the control aspects of the corruption, it might be able to deal with the weakening.

    this method worked, but the result was unsatisfactory. not only was there the previously mentioned issue, but it was also lacking in something fundamental. leonel understood what it was immediately. the only portions of the force arts he could fuse were general purpose and not specific to the weapon.n/-0velbin

    so, he chose a different approach. why not just stack several of the same force art on top of each other?

    this worked much better, but the corruption actually seemed to feed off the force art, growing stronger in kind. this told leonel that the corruption wasn''t some inanimate object, it had some bite to it, and he had to be cautious of that. trying to do this within his body might have had even worse effects.

    so that left leonel thinking until he came up with another approach. he began rifling through the ability index until he found one.

    [energy shield]

    ''interesting...'' leonel''s eyes narrowed. energy shield was obviously the ability index of james and milan, but it shared some characteristics with the corruption.

    he continued looking and soon he found three more that triggered his dreamscape and leonel felt like he was beginning to put the pieces together.

    ''could it be that this person is also a wise star order? or was the person that created the domain rings king to begin with?''

    although leonel didn''t discount the possibility of there being yet another wise star order, the fact that king had done this was in line with everything he knew and easier to accept.

    wise star orders weren''t as rare as northern star orders like his grandmother, and from what he had learned, even northern star orders weren''t exactly extinct either. he would definitely have to deal with others in the future.

    ''this wise star order combined the force of several ability indexes into one to create this corruption aspect.'' leonel entered a state of focus again, mixing and matching the four lineage factors he had picked out until he compiled a perfect replica.

    ''yes, this is it.'' leonel had succeeded in reconstructing the corruption perfectly. by now, he was even more certain that this person was a wise star order. in fact, it should be a wise star order that was using their tablet to create a new force art, but they had ended up failing and took this approach instead.

    now, though, leonel understood the corruption perfectly and all the parts that made it up. what once was an enigma to him fell into a logical train of thought, and likewise, how it connected with the original lineage factor made all the more sense to him.

    so, when he reached forward, and began to pull the corruption out of his force art as though he was plucking an apple from a tree, it all flowed smoothly and naturally. he was no longer confused about where the corruption started and where it ended, nor was he confused about which of his actions might ruin the force art and which one wouldn''t.

    when he finished pulling the corruption out, he felt a rumble in his mind. [lineage factor: glaive domain] [lineage factor: ax domain] [lineage factor: bow domain] [lineage factor: spear domain] not a single one had the corruption tag on it.

    ''it''ll take a little more time, but i think i can do this one too, now.'' leonel looked toward [unnamed] and grinned. ... another three days later, leonel stepped out from the silver tablet practically brimming. he could feel the energy coursing through him, though it didn''t come from changes in his lineage factor.

    although he had succeeded in changing the force art, he hadn''t implemented the changes in his body yet. for one, this wasn''t about him, he had promised to focus on helping his brothers to improve. if it hadn''t been necessary, he wouldn''t have wasted time on returning to true sovereignty either.

    secondly, his lineage factor was dormant right now anyway, it wouldn''t make a large difference in combat strength even if he did choose to be selfish again.

    "alright, everyone gather up, i come bearing gifts!"

    soon, leonel''s brothers and some other interested participants came forward. many didn''t know how to face leonel anymore, whether that be due to their own animosity or their own inferiority. but at the very least, that wasn''t everyone.

    "joel, you have two choices. well, this one isn''t a choice."

    leonel pressed a palm into joel and passed on the heaviness ability index to joel.

    joel''s brows raised up and he felt an extra hint of something special, but he didn''t quite understand it.

    "think about this new ability index, how it''s similar to your previous one, and what lines connect them. once you understand that, i promise you''ll have a huge leap in strength.

    "as for what your choices are, it''s quite simple."

    leonel waved a hand and the glaive domain force art appeared.

    "you have two. one is to learn this lineage factor by directly absorbing it. two is to learn this lineage factor by meditating upon it."

    joel''s eyes narrowed. "and what do you think i should do?"

 Chapter 2383 Simple Ability Indexes

    chapter 2383 simple ability indexes

    leonel smiled, feeling that joel''s question wasn''t as simple as it seemed. it was almost like the latter was testing something.

    "well, that would depend on you, now wouldn''t it?"n(-0velbin

    "how would your opinion depend on me?"

    "i think you know."

    "still the same leonel," joel said, shaking his head.

    indeed, the changes to leonel were a bit subtle. he seemed more expressive than usual. no, he seemed more expressive than he had been originally. the leonel of royal blue academy was a lot more like this.

    it was enough that joel was a bit skeptical of what was going on. the fact that leonel was giving him a choice and not just telling him what to do was the most baffling. since when did leonel do that?

    the last time they had a session like this wasn''t long after aina left for planet viola. back then, leonel had just told them all directly what to do. this time, though... it was very different.

    "just checking to make sure you didn''t have a brain worm."

    leonel grinned.

    "i assume that this choice is pretty straightforward. absorbing it now will give me a more immediate strength increase, but waiting and comprehending it on my own will give me more potential in the future. i choose the first."

    leonel smiled, he didn''t question joel''s decision. of his brothers, joel was without a doubt the most insightful. although allan was the smartest and the closest in intelligence to himself, that was more so toward the physical sciences and mathematics. when it came to people or reading social situations, he was very much lacking.

    joel hadn''t chosen the option with seemingly less potential out of frustration or anything of the like. rather, he read the situation quite well. whatever this ability was, leonel had only gotten his hands on it recently. by all rights, just like leonel''s advice for them had changed since back then, it would change again into the future. leonel would likely also have changes in philosophy and gain more from the silver tablet than even what he had now.

    by then, even if he chose the path of greater potential now, the difference would be marginal as he benefited more and more from leonel''s breakthroughs.

    in fact, if picking to fuse with it was so detrimental to him, leonel would have made a note of it. it was more likely that while it would be more difficult to comprehend by directly absorbing it, it wouldn''t be impossible either.

    without hesitation, joel took the glaive domain lineage factor and absorbed it, sensing the changes within himself.

    "here," leonel tossed the ring over. "there are many glaives within that can help your insights, but be sure to be careful as you progress. i had to remove some corruption aspects of the lineage factor before i gave it to you. it''s possible that there might be some more lingering traps within."

    joel nodded solemnly before going off to focus. he didn''t want to waste any time, as curious as he was about everyone else''s improvement.

    "alright, james, after thorough analysis, the evidence is conclusive."

    james wore a rare serious expression as he waited. it was clear that this would decide a lot of his future.

    "you''re a useless blockhead."

    james was stunned for a moment before he recovered to everyone''s laughter.

    "you son of a bitch, and here i was being serious for once."

    leonel grinned. "i''m only telling the truth. you focused so much on your lineage factor that you''ve neglected other things.

    "milan, by comparison, focused so much on his ability index that he has no other supplemental skills to go along with it. the two of you could learn quite a bit from one another."

    leonel brought out two force arts, swapped them, and then pressed them into the two energy shield users'' chests.

    "milan, i''ve given you james'' self-created lineage factor. as for james, i''ve passed onto you milan''s ability index progression."

    james was speechless. "what kind of bs is this, this useless lug has always had a worse ability index than me. you''re selling my body for cheap."

    milan, who was feeling quite happy, suddenly felt attacked.

    "you tryna start something?"

    "and so what if i am?"

    "alright, alright," leonel spoke, trying to hold back his laugh. "while your ability index used to be stronger than milan''s, that''s no longer the case.

    "you stagnated due to your focus on the nullification tier, but above the nullification tier there''s still the reflection and amplification stages. milan is a step beyond you and has grasped reflection."

    "see that? be a little more humble, shit-for-brains."

    leonel shook his head. "but there is something to be said about how deep james comprehended his tiers. he could probably use reflection, and maybe even amplification if he was focused on it."

    "isn''t amplification a savant tier?" allan asked with a frown, clearly paying more attention than these two.

    "it is, because james created a supplemental lineage factor, it''s possible for him to extend the abilities of his ability index into realms he would normally be unable to touch."

    allan''s eyes lit up. that was possible too?

    "i would give you two more, but i think that for now, focusing on this will help you to progress much faster. if you find a balance between your lineage factors and ability index, the benefits will be shocking."

    leonel sent the two away and then turned his attention toward emna.

    "emna, what terms would you use to describe your blade?"

    "sharp. swift. agile. subtle."

    she spoke without hesitation. she felt far more like a soldier than a friend, but even so, leonel was surprised by the directness of her response.

    with a nod, he pressed joel''s sharpness ability index into her chest.

    "for now, i do not have the others you need. but i believe that this ability index will be of great help to you."

    although leonel was still speaking, emma seemed to have already entered her own world, a whirlwind of enlightenment turning into sharp blades that threatened to slice leonel apart.

 Chapter 2384 Pure Enlightenment

    chapter 2384 pure enlightenment

    leonel leapt backward, coughing a few times. "take her somewhere safe, will you, anastasia?"

    "it''s like i''m a maid or something, unbelievable."n).o(/v.-e).l-)b//1(.n

    though she grumbled, she did take emna away.

    leonel nodded to himself. he felt that there was some great potential in these so-called "common" ability indexes and lineage factors, especially when it came to their synergy. it seemed that his calculations had been correct and everything was going smoothly.

    for drake and his pure marksman ability index, leonel didn''t go the expected route and hand him the bow domain ring. this wasn''t because he wanted to keep it to himself, but because drake had never used bows or even crossbows. drake liked guns and modern machinery. this had caused him no shortage of headaches because this path wasn''t common in wider existence. but he obviously had leonel by his side now. what weapon he wanted to use was irrelevant.

    not only did leonel give drake a pair of pistols forged by him personally, he gave him a long-barreled sniper rifle. however, these were all ultimately external items. he fused drake''s pure marksman ability index with a telekinesis ability index, feeling that the synergy would be great, and that it was.

    finally, leonel gave drake some general advice about weapon forces. he believed that if drake wanted to continue down this path, he would need to create a new weapon force for himself, and that would require comprehending a new set of what leonel was choosing to call simple building blocks. these simple building blocks were the aspects of sharpness, swiftness, and the like that decided the characteristics of various weapons. if drake wanted to do the and create a "gun force", then he would have to first break it down into its individual parts and understand what a "gun force" would entail. finally, he gave drake the sharper eyesight character of the bow domain lineage factor, though not the whole thing.

    afterward, leonel moved on to gil.

    gil, aside from being a top-tier pervert, was a lightning elemental speedster. after absorbing the crimson lightning from an oceanic beast that leonel had given him, his lightning not only gained the ability to boost his physical abilities somewhat but also a life-stealing character. the first thing leonel did was help gil shed this unnecessary life-stealing aspect; it was only hindering the purity of his path. then, he helped gil fuse with normand''s pure speedster ability index, raising him to an all-new level. this mutation allowed gil''s lightning to gain the ability to impact his nervous system direction. it made him sharper and allowed him to function at high speed with greater ease, on top of, of course, increasing his base speed a great deal.

    leonel turned to franco next.

    franco had a simple strength buff ability index, but it made leonel interested. if joel''s ability index could have such interesting effects, what about franco''s? so he tested it, fusing franco''s ability index with the pure speedster ability index.

    [franco rohan] [ability index: pure amplification: incomplete]

    after the fusion of pure strength and pure speedster, this was the result. the incomplete tag intrigued leonel even more, especially since it already raised franco to a level of a black contribution. unfortunately, he couldn''t find any more matching sets until he looked toward arnold.

    [arnold macarthur] [ability index: pure enlightenment]

    then leonel remembered. when he first tried to guide arnold, he realized that the latter''s comprehension of universal forces was off the charts. back then, when he asked arnold to describe his ability index to him, arnold said that he could shoot energy out of his palms that vibrated. but clearly, according to the silver tablet, these two matters were completely unrelated, and looking at arnold''s lineage factor screen, that was explained quite clearly.

    [lineage factor: vibrating; strong; explosive; heavy...]

    the list went on and on, so much so that leonel was rendered speechless not just by the terrible naming sense, but the sheer number. then he understood. every time arnold comprehended something, he would slot it into his body and it would manifest into a lineage factor because his comprehension was so deep. however, he had so many lineage factors, many of which played such a small role in his combat style. they were holding him back, leonel was certain.

    this was all because arnold didn''t have the knowledge that leonel had. if he knew that his ability index was related to the mind and not the body, it would have changed his entire approach. arnold''s pure enlightenment ability index was, as a result, stuck at the first tier, and all of his lineage factors were even worse off.

    when leonel learned this, he sighed. it was his fault, how could it not be his fault. if he paid just a little bit more attention, how could arnold fall into such a hole? leonel helped arnold to sort it all out, and then, he transferred over pure strength and pure speedster to him, while transferring pure enlightenment to franco.

    "holy shit," franco mumbled. his thoughts were racing at a mile a minute. it was no wonder arnold was half a mute. when would you have time to decide what you wanted to say when you could think of a million things a second?

    afterward, leonel moved on to raylion.

    raylion had the telekinesis ability index, and among those that followed him, he had some of the strongest will power that leonel had ever seen. but it was also a bit difficult to help raylion out. while he had given drake the telekinesis ability index, he couldn''t just do the reverse, and this was the same reason why he gave franco pure enlightenment, but didn''t give it to gil. the foundation one started with was important. franco was used to fighting with the body, but gil was an outright speedster who evolved to use his lightning better.

    meanwhile, raylion was used to using his telekinesis to battle, but he wasn''t a marksman. as such, leonel had to help him out in a different way.

 Chapter 2385 Perfect Match

    chapter 2385 perfect match

    after reviewing raylion''s path, his fighting style was fairly clear to leonel. he was almost a mage of sorts. he liked to control a battle from a distance, and though he had recently begun using his body more actively due to the refinement of the demon pills that aina had created, that was still not his preference.

    what was more interesting than this, though, was the construction of the telekinesis ability index. then, he remembered how yuri had masked her true ability index by using telekinesis as a cover.

    the telekinesis ability index was a method of imposing your will onto reality. it was far more like a weapon force than it was a manifestation of force. meaning, a person with telekinesis didn''t manifest "telekinetic force" and then move things. no, instead they directly thought about the movement of an object and moved it.

    this was why it was so similar to a weapon force, because it was precisely this that gave weapon forces their strength. one part was the fundamental laws, but the other portion was human ingenuity, or in other words, human will.

    this was another reason that leonel had given drake a telekinetic ability index to fuse with his pure marksmanship.

    the question was how he could help raylion strengthen himself, and once again, he found an answer in an unexpected place.

    allan, the smartest of his brothers, had an electromagnetic ability index. he was able to magnetize objects and targets, using it for anything from accelerating his speed, increasing his attack power, or amplifying his defenses.

    due to his intelligence, allan had thought of all ways to use this seemingly "simple" ability index.

    the two seemed entirely unrelated-allan and raylion''s ability indexes, that is-but leonel didn''t feel it to be so. giving non-magnetic objects magnetism was a method of imposing your will onto reality. after all, allan wasn''t relying on a force either, but rather his ability index entirely. the difference was scale. allan focused on the quantum level, while raylion functioned on a more macro scale.

    of course, he couldn''t just swap their abilities like he had done with others and call it a day. they were compatible in terms of function, but not in terms of concept. they wouldn''t become crippled if they fused, but they would still be stronger overall.

    instead, he began to look through the ability indexes that he had to see if he could find similar effects. unsurprisingly, he did find some, each of them relying on imposing your will onto reality. there was a gravity ability index, a heat ability index, and surprisingly, leonel''s own ability index and that of king alexandre''s fell into this category, though they were not the exact same.n--0velb1n

    the gravity ability index was self-explanatory, but what was interesting was the heat ability index. the latter could control the excited state of chemical bonds, either chilling them by removing heat, or superheating them by increasing their state of excitement.

    these two mirrored raylion and allan quite well and gravity was an especially good match for electromagnetic forces, though the latter was by far more powerful.

    leonel gave allan both the gravity ability index and the heat ability index, and only portions of the telekinesis ability index. as for raylion, he did the opposite, giving him bits and pieces of all three.

    allan''s eyes lit up almost immediately due to the changes, while raylion was a bit slower to get there. he didn''t have the understanding of physics that allan did, and he was probably the least talented of those present as well.

    but leonel believed in his grit, and as such, sent them off to meditate on the changes.

    that only left the more difficult of them. of course, leonel also had yet to help those of the morales that were left, but he was still thinking about how to handle this matter.

    sael was one of the new members of his party that he had known for quite a long time, even longer than raylion. she was also raylion''s wife and happened to have a particularly tricky ability index because it was entirely unique, at least in the dimensional verse.

    [sael erouge] [ability index: crowned greenery]

    crowned greenery allowed her to use plant life abilities and her battle form was akin to a queen flower of sorts. he found that her ability index had aspects similar to aphestus. aphestus was able to eat beasts and assimilate their strengths into himself, while sael did the same with plant life.

    he helped her incorporate some of that assimilation aspect into her ability index, but the most important thing was the lineage factor he matched it with: a portion of his own. or, more accurately, the florer family''s lineage factor.

    as for aphestus, leonel reversed it and gave him some of sael''s assimilation aspects. at the same time, he took portions of the radix and midas family lineage factors which allowed one to give life to metals and the other to swallow flames for strength, and gave them to aphestus as well. of course, he didn''t give aphestus metal or fire affinities, he rather took bits and pieces that would be useful to him in digesting beasts for their abilities.

    finally, he was left with raj and elthor. the two were quite similar.

    raj had an extremely high earth affinity and his ability index allowed him to control earth on a quantum level, changing its structure and strengthening or weakening it depending on his preferences.

    elthor''s ability index gave him a high earth affinity as well, but mostly focused on just one force: chaotic particle force.

    the two were easily a match made in heaven. chaotic particle force was called as such not only for its chaotic properties, but also the fact that unlike most earth forces, it was powerful even as a single particle. but due to this, it was extremely difficult to control and when elthor fought, he often had to gather up all of his chaotic particle force into easy to manipulate shape, relinquishing one of the most powerful characteristics of his force.

    raj, on the other hand, was stuck with using simpler earth forces, but he could control them to a molecular level. how much more perfect could they be for one another?

    leonel stored that one away for later. he was pretty sure that raj was the one that took the picture of joel sleeping in his arms. revenge was abound.

 Chapter 2386 Saber

    chapter 2386 saber

    in a corner of a battlefield drowning in the scent of blood, a young man sat huddled, hugging a saber in one hand and a barely recognizable woman in the other.

    whenever he had time, he could only check on her like this. within his heart, there was a constant weighted fear that seemed to drive its erratic beating. it was a fear that she might breathe her last at any moment, that their next seconds might be their last seconds together.

    by some miracle, she had managed to last for this long, but the bleak future ahead made every moment that passed only grow more suffocating. it was like the laws of probability themselves were toying with his fate.

    every moment she survived should have been a happy event, and yet it was just a reminder that every following second only made it more likely.

    it was times like this that he wished he was stronger, wished he was more like his cousin, more unrestrained, more powerful, more capable.

    half of his body tensed, the other half so gentle and unwilling to harm the woman in his arms that it split him into an odd dichotomy. even so, he pushed so hard that his saber pierced into his flesh, tearing into him.

    he didn''t seem to notice. he already had so many wounds, what did one more mean? what did ten more mean?

    ''weak. you''re weak. he wouldn''t have given up already. he would already have a plan, ten plans, a hundred plans. he would have already healed his woman. he would have already crushed his enemies.''

    the voice of insecurity, inferiority, and rage bubbled within him. every day, they seemed to get more and more difficult to rein in.

    hot tears streamed down his cheeks. it was impossible to tell beneath all the mud, grime, and caked blood, but the searing heat felt more painful to him than even the saber blade from earlier.

    he just wanted to be better, to be more capable. but every step he took felt lacking.

    when it was just about himself, he was able to maintain his calm outward demeanor. but now the life of the woman he loved more than anything in this world was hanging on by a thread because of his weakness. it was no longer just about him.

    he bit down on his tongue, hard, seemingly not caring even if he bit it off. what good was the ability to speak if it couldn''t be with her?

    she should have been safe. she should have gone with the others and stayed by the side of his grandfather. but she had insisted on coming with him, on being by his side like she always had been. and he couldn''t even reject her firmly enough to make her stay.

    he was always like that. unable to say what he really thought, what he really felt. this tongue of his was truly useless.

    move. he needed to move.

    the words echoed in his mind. he couldn''t stay here for long; he would be found soon. those beasts had strong noses and the scent of blood was accumulating too much.

    he got up, carefully tying her to his back again and raising his saber. not a single part of his body was without a wound, and yet the most crimson part of his were his very eyes.n((ovelbin

    he began to move again, and the battles raged on. he didn''t know how long passed, but he did it again and again.

    he would fight. he would stop. he would check if she still lived. he would cry. he would fight.

    then he came across a cave entrance that radiated an aura that enticed him. it was without a doubt the aura of a saber, but when he approached, it wouldn''t allow him inside.

    he knew that he had to be cautious. his grandfather had informed him not to absorb any energy from corpses, and he had also warned him to be wary of any benefits that he might gain.

    what he didn''t expect was that just when he had finally come across one of these benefits, even though it so very obviously suited him, he couldn''t even enter.

    at that moment, he seemed to snap.

    a bubbling rage billowed out from within him as he raised his saber. he didn''t care about anything else. he just wanted what was before him now to be split in two.

    everything his path seemed to come with a roadblock. he couldn''t advance as fast as his cousin, he couldn''t protect his woman, he couldn''t even tell his "woman" that she was his.

    at that moment, he seemed to realize that none of these roadblocks were even caused by others. they were all his own weakness, his own inferiority.

    he was tired of it.

    he was exhausted. his legs could barely stand beneath him. his ankles ached, his shoulders screamed under the weight of his saber, even his eyelids felt heavy. the very blood that caked his body felt like too much for him to carry.

    but none of it mattered. he had had enough.

    and in that moment, he felt his saber force react to him in a way it had never before.

    the sword was a weapon of elegance, of nobility, of reservation and calmness. maybe had he picked it, he would have sensed such a change long ago. however, he had felt that a sword was incompatible with his ability index. it wasn''t a weapon that could expand in size and heaviness along with him and maintain its demeanor.

    a saber was the weapon of a savage, of a warlord that ruled over war-torn lands. it wasn''t a weapon of reserved emotion and calculated steps. it was a weapon of fury and violence.

    he was weak. he was much too weak. and much of it was because his own steps were hesitant and lacking in conviction.

    in that case, he would just hack all of these barriers before him to pieces!

    his saber force flourished and from a white-silvery light, it became a blinding gold tinged with just the slightest sheen of a majestic green.

    the barrier before him was split in two and he walked in with rage still on his mind, not facing any danger at all until he suddenly reached the end.

    on a pedestal ahead, a ring lay.

 Chapter 2387 Blood Force

    chapter 2387 blood force

    leonel and aina stepped out into a stretch of desert. it was pretty easy for leonel to hide himself and the others here, but the environment itself was quite annoying and oppressive. the heat was almost unbearable, and it seemed to sink into your body whether through the sand that hunkered your feet and ankles within, or in the perpetual mild sandstorm that pelted against their skin.

    this sandstorm felt like droplets of piercing molten metal were colliding against you again and again. it was a horrible feeling without a doubt.

    leonel was especially quite uncomfortable with the situation, but aina seemed fine, not even squinting her eyes in the midst of the gusting sand. in fact, to add insult to injury, little blackstar seemed to be just fine as well.

    "yip! yip!"a condescending and yet adorable chirping came from blackstar.

    "hey, hey. do you see whose shoulder you''re standing on right now? show me some-"little blackstar hopped off of leonel''s shoulders and buried himself within aina''s bosom. leonel''s words could only be caught within his throat.

    little blackstar stretched and yawned before waving a paw and starting his nap.

    "unbelievable," leonel shook his head.aina smiled. this had always been blackstar''s favorite spot; leonel was just overestimating his importance in the human-transportation hierarchy.

    "so, what do you want to do?" aina asked.leonel sighed, pushing the betrayal to the back of his mind. at the very least, little tolly hadn''t abandoned him.

    "well, i don''t think there''s much for us to do. i have a feeling that the first round will end very soon, we''ve spent quite a long time idle. so really, we''re just here to gather information if there is any. if not, we''ll just see if there''s anything we can conveniently pick up and benefit from."

    aina nodded and they began to move.

    leonel conjured some scarlet star force and began to use it like a shield, deflecting away the pellets of sand and rock from colliding against him.

    he still had quite some way to go before he could bring it to the impetus state, so he thought that he might as well work on using it.

    what was interesting was that his control was actually... so weak.

    with his innate node dormant, and now having the ability to directly compare and contrast it with his weapon forces, it was impossible for him to miss just how unruly this force was in his hands.

    part of it was the gap between it being in the third layered state and the state of his weapon forces, another part of it was the fact his innate nodes were dormant, but he felt the largest reasons were the characteristics of the force and his lack of familiarity with it.

    scarlet star force already casually listened to him when his innate node was present, but this had clearly masked his own lack of control.

    there was something deeper, though. leonel could just barely sense it.

    his scarlet star force was unsatisfied with his current character. he was too nice, too laid back-the version of him it wanted was the one that had almost cursed aina for charging at the shadow tail.

    ''... interesting...''

    it seemed that the change in personality was a two-way street. but he didn''t like it. if he would have to change himself just to learn to control a powerful force, was it even worth it.

    ''be obedient.''

    leonel constricted the scarlet star force to be more in tune with his will, but it lashed out, quickly draining his focus and placing more pressure on his mind. it felt less like he was slowly using up his stamina, and more like the scarlet star force was actively eroding it away.

    "up ahead," aina suddenly said.

    leonel and aina''s figures flashed and they landed amidst a sea of corpses. or, more accurately, it would have been a sea had the dense sands not turned an eerie rusted color while absorbing all of the blood.

    even that color, though, was slowly fading as the sandstorm kicked up, moving and displacing the sand while covering up the scene that had been here.

    "what interested you?" leonel asked.

    he had of course seen this scene, likely before even aina had. she obviously also knew this. despite the gap in their strength, the gap in their dream force remained firmly in leonel''s favor.n--o.-v--e)(l)-b--1./n

    the fact that she pointed it out meant that there was something special about it.

    "the blood, it has no life force within it."

    leonel frowned.

    in a lot of ways, blood force was to the body what soul force was to the mind, though there were some differences.

    not everyone could make use of life force, so a vessel was needed to make it more manageable for the common person. the same was true of dream force, which was why soul force existed.

    of course, it wasn''t a one-to-one relationship and there were clear differences. for example, soul force could completely replace dream force, but blood force would always just be a vessel for life force.

    this aside...

    "isn''t that normal?" leonel asked. "they''re dead, after all."

    "they haven''t died for long enough. blood force is very good at retaining life force; it''s designed to be like a filter for your life force.

    "at birth, and after every breakthrough, everyone is given a certain amount of life force. without blood force, the life force would be used up almost instantly. blood force is like a limiter that allows you to only use as much life force as you need at a given time.

    "even after death, unless there''s a blood sovereign that acted or a curse or poison of some sort, blood will continue to act like this. for people as powerful as them, it would take months for their blood to be completely devoid of life force. but if i''m correct, they''ve only been dead for three days at most."

    "so is there a blood sovereign?" leonel asked. "i don''t sense any poisons or curses."

    aina fell into silence. "... it doesn''t look like a blood sovereign, but it''s definitely someone with a high blood force affinity."

    "is that rare?"

    "it''s hard to say; i don''t know how things work out here. but that''s not the main problem. the issue is that there''s a hint of a twisted nature in the blood force.

    "this was done by a demon."

    aina had only just said these worlds when the world trembled.

    the first round had come to an end.

 Chapter 2388 Aged as Milk

    chapter 2388 aged as milk

    leonel was actually curious about how this matter would work. aina was technically "dead" when this matter began, while james and the others were practically slaved. he wondered how the people of the vast bubble would parse these things. everything felt too disjointed and unorganized. but he also felt that this might just be a feature and not a bug.

    maybe they simply didn''t care about the rules and how they were bent and twisted. they weren''t here for the fairness olympics. the world wasn''t fair and the enemies that they would be facing would definitely make certain that whatever unfairness existed would be exacerbated.n--o.-v--e)(l)-b--1./n

    in that case, they preferred those that could thrive in unfairness and take advantage of loopholes there may or may not be. that should also be why they hid such methods of control within their round as well. whether it was the energy-absorbing trap or the domain rings, both were methods of control. leonel was even quite sure that there were many more pitfalls he just didn''t have the "luck" of running into.

    as for aina''s conclusion that there were demons, he felt it was odd, but not enough to be shaken up about. didn''t the dimensional verse also have demons? who was to say that the other verses didn''t also have such races? he simply tossed it to the back of his mind and looked into the skies as the world around him seemed to vanish.

    he grabbed aina''s hand subconsciously, thinking about putting her into the segmented cube again. he didn''t want to be separated from her again after they had just come together. but he had thought too much. he found himself in a bubble again, but aina was within his along with him, as was little blackstar. it seemed that wherever they would be taken, it would be together.

    a sudden bright light assaulted his vision, and when it cleared, he cursed under his breath. he had somewhat expected this, but he hadn''t expected it to come so soon. he also realized why it didn''t matter if they were separated or not.

    they had all appeared in an arena. tens of millions of participants were huddled together across what were only a few hundred arenas, each of which had dimensions of exactly one kilometer by one kilometer. above, the stands of this so-called "arena" were nearly empty. it looked like it could have housed billions of observers, but instead, there were only a few dozen, all of whom chose to observe in a single sky box located at least a hundred meters into the sky.

    aina heard leonel curse beneath his breath, and her gaze narrowed. she could understand his sentiment as well. leonel probably thought he would have more time to improve himself before they reached this stage, and maybe he would have had he not diverted so much of his time to helping his brothers.

    they didn''t explain what the later rounds would be ahead of time, or else leonel might have made a different choice. however, there was no use in crying over spilt milk at this point. there was really only one objective: survive.

    he suddenly felt several powerful gazes land on him. ''fantastic,'' he thought. it was impossible that he wouldn''t be marked in some way. if he had a choice not to launch himself into this death trap, he would have taken it. unfortunately, his gramps was an asshole, and he was a glutton for punishment.

    of course, leonel knew the matter was more complicated than that, and he was just venting some frustration while his mind thought of a way out of this. what he didn''t know was that this round wasn''t meant to start so early. there were supposed to be another two selections before this "tournament". but due to some variables, it was impossible to act as they pleased anymore, even with the time dilation.

    the observers above were separated into several groups. one looked like an array of colors and were the very same eugenicists that leonel abhorred-the four great families. there was another section that wore robes embroidered with clouds, a section leonel believed were likely the dream pavilion, not just from their style of dress, but also the fact they were not only the first to set eyes on him, but also the only ones that held animosity equal to that of the four great families.

    even so...

    "those uniforms... very cool," leonel approved. their robes were a somewhat reflective blue that looked trippier the longer you stared at it. tiny clouds of white moved about dotted its structure. it truly looked like a lucid dream. the robes themselves only covered about three-quarters the length of their bodies, revealing black pants beneath that were both baggy and comfortable. even without touching them, leonel knew that they were probably as soft as the clouds that decorated their robes.

    each one of them wore a headdress that reminded leonel of the turbans of earth. they varied in colors from a gentle blue to a similar violet and even a dense black. the uniform came together quite well, and even though he hated their guts, leonel couldn''t help but approve.

    aina snorted with laughter. only her boyfriend would go from existential dread to this nonsense in a flash.

    there were several other groups that leonel couldn''t pick out the origins of instantly, but he couldn''t help but sigh a breath of relief. although it was a small win, at least that mad-woman that was aina''s "master" wasn''t here. he had insulted her pretty badly the last time they met, and if not for that mission that inexplicably brought her away, he might have already died at her hands.

    but then his pupils suddenly constricted. in one of the groups, a woman as aged as old milk sat in silence. she was the only one who was seated, and it wasn''t normally either. her legs were crossed upon her set, and her eyes were closed. what leonel was focused on, though, was the object in her lap. a tablet. a black tablet.

    occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2389 Mad Woman

    chapter 2389 mad woman

    leonel looked at the old woman for a long time. or more accurately, the tablet. he didn''t seem to register anything else that was happening around him and he was completely focused on what he was seeing.

    at first, his initial reaction to a black tablet was just what maybe anyone else would think. his silver tablet seemed to be inclined toward the light side of the northern star lineage factor, so what if he had just run into someone with access to the dark side?

    but he threw that idea away almost the instant he thought of it. it was too ridiculous.

    there was simply no way that there would be someone stupid enough to body present themselves as an envoy of destruction. in addition, her aura wasn''t like that in the slightest. she was for sure a wrinkly old woman, but more in the mother theresa sense rather than an ancient witch sense.

    that was when leonel remembered. the rankings for contributions were common, black, bronze, silver, gold and life. he had always assumed that bronze was the lowest-ranked tablet, but what if it wasn''t? what if there was a black tablet below bronze? and what if below that there was a common tablet, maybe carved of wood or concrete, or something else "inferior".

    leonel thought of his silver tablet again. although he had never put it in so many words, he thought it was a shame that it wasn''t golden, and he felt even worse about it after he learned there was something even about gold.

    but what if he was luckier than he had initially thought?

    a flashbang seemed to go off in leonel''s mind as the old woman opened her eyes. she looked weak and frail but her eyes were as pieces as a curious child''s, large, bright and carrying a hint of imposingness that was entirely unlike their child-like size.

    leonel blinked once before recovering. he looked at the woman curiously; she didn''t seem to be targeting him on purpose. but she had clearly sensed his gaze and reacted.

    that was odd, though. the reason leonel was looking so openly was that there were millions of participants here and only a dozen or so observers. even if everyone''s attention was split evenly, this old woman should have millions of eyes on her.

    plus, he wasn''t stupid enough to observe her from the dream plane. for one, while the first round''s world still seemed to be within an incomplete world, this one was not. so even if he wanted to, he couldn''t.

    and secondly, he knew about the taboos already. he wouldn''t try something like that on someone he suspected might also be a wise star order-a wise star order with far more experience than himself, at that.

    and yet, she was still obviously looking at him.

    though another person would find it hard to tell considering the distance and the sea of people around him, there was no way leonel would make such a mistake.

    in the end, he just gave the old woman a smile. at the very least, she didn''t seem to be affiliated with those he hated, plus bonus points for being an adorable old lady, and he thought this was the most apt response.

    he didn''t seem to realize that under the influence of his scarlet star force, this most definitely wouldn''t have been his reaction. at the moment, he was far more like the leonel of royal blue academy.

    the old lady was startled for a moment, but by the time she reacted, leonel had already looked away and began to observe the others, taking note of each one of them. in the end, he turned his attention to aina and blackstar as though there was no one else in the world.

    "did that brat just smile at me?" she muttered under breath.

    she could feel much more than leonel thought, and what she sensed wasn''t just his smile, but the intent behind it.

    suddenly, she began to laugh.

    "adorable old lady"? she had never been called such a thing in her life. she didn''t know if she should have leonel whipped to death on the spot or treat him like her own grandson.

    among the dozen or so near her, not a single one managed to remain unfazed by this laughter. one of the experts of the dream pavilion who had been preparing to speak was startled into silence.

    the problem wasn''t the woman''s power. all of them here had their own shocking methods and the internal politics of the human race was only so complicated because there was no "top dog," so to speak. they could all be said to be of equivalent power.

    however, that didn''t mean that there weren''t certain people to be wary of, especially when one of them was the mad woman, mo''''lexi.

    even her name was eccentric. it was spelled with not one, but two apostrophes because they represented not syllables, but rather a pulse of force-namely dream force.

    not only did she want you to say her name, but you had to convey a pulse of dream force or soul force that would be in line with the image she wanted to portray.

    as for what that image was, well...

    she picked a particularly famous painting, one created by a figure even more famous... northern star van''''wellia.

    it depicted the last bloody war of the envoys of destruction and creation, a sea of blood, corpses and strewn flesh.

    van''''wellia, in an irony of ironies, had her own pulse of dream force to go along with her name. the difference was that her own was a beautiful tapestry of a special force flower known as the dream lotus.

    it was hard to tell if mo''''lexi was mocking van''''wellia or not, and quite frankly, no one dared to ask this mad woman. maybe only she and few others knew the truth.n.(o/(v-/e()l--b.(i/-n

    and now, for some incomprehensible reason, this mad woman was laughing.

 Chapter 2390 Just Now...

    chapter 2390 just now...

    leonel could practically feel the laughter in his bones. he frowned and looked back up to find that the old woman was still looking at him, her eyes were far brighter than before, her irises practically taking her even her sclera.

    "brat, my name is mo''''lexi. if you can manage to remember it-"

    that was all leonel heard. in fact, he didn''t hear anything after "mo". his eyes dulled and his mind seemed to shut down. he felt a trembling in his very soul and when his vision finally cleared, all he saw was death and destruction.

    the blood came up to his shins, and yet it didn''t feel like liquid. rather, the flesh was so numerous, so minced and blended within that it felt like he had stepped into pudding, as though much of the liquid of the blood had been evaporated, leaving behind a dense glob of death.

    he stood frozen in place. it wasn''t that he couldn''t move-though that might very well have been the case-but rather that he couldn''t even muster up the intention to do so.

    he could feel the very psyches of each one that had died. the sludge that wrapped around his ankles and calves, seeping into his toes and clawing into his flesh, feeling like the bony hands of those the dead.

    then the clawing began at his very soul, ripping him to shreds, piece by piece.

    had he known destruction? had he known death? had he known the heaviness that came with it? the pain, the horror, the sick and disgusting smells that twisted your gut?

    these people had probably sacrificed themselves for what they felt was a worthy cause. maybe they had hoped that once they were gone, they would be remembered as heroes, that their tales would be sung across the generations and that their will would impact the future into forever.

    and yet this was the reality. there was nothing beautiful about this dense land of rotting flesh. not the sight, not the smell, the feeling...

    this was what true destruction was. there was no beauty to pull out from this, even the skies above were dim and the sun was painted in red.

    leonel suddenly snapped out of it. when he awoke, he found plumes of smoke and ash coming from his feet and eyes, his innate nodes, one in each of his kidney, thrumming with a searing pain that threatened to burn even him to ash.

    but hardly any of the participants noticed this, not because it wasn''t obvious, but because so many of them had keeled over.

    the weakest of them were dead. they lay in a pool of their own vomit, their eyes rolled back, their skin pale and the last vestiges of life slowly leaking from them. they released their bowels and the last relaxation of life grabbed hold of them.

    this was the vast majority. tens of millions died in fat swarms.

    and then there was the second group, the group that had collapsed to the ground unconscious. many of them may never wake up again, and those that could would find themselves chained to their beds for the rest of their lives, whether as vegetables or mad men and women.

    the third group was incapacitated. they fell to the ground, also unconscious. they frothed at the mouth, and tears and snot streamed down their faces, but they were still alive, and given some time, they might be able to return to a normal life.

    and then there was the fourth group. some of them kneeled to the ground, clutching their chests, some of them kneeled and prayed to gods they had maybe not even thought of in the last year, and some of them hyperventilated.

    among this number, there was aina. she kneeled by his side, holding blackstar in one hand and grabbing at her chest and rubbing it with the other. it was as though she was hoping that the pain would go away as though it was a stubbed toe rather than a scar on her mind.

    and then there was leonel. he was the only one standing, the only one that seemed to be clear-headed, and the only one radiating an aura of death and destruction all too similar to the echo of mo''''lexi''s name.

    but he was shocked by something else entirely.

    ''half a day. it''s been half a day and they''re still all in this state.''

    what leonel didn''t know was that it had indeed been half a day, but what had happened in that half a day was unlike his original thoughts.

    he believed that everyone had come out of the illusion at the same time, then collapsed like this.n(/o)(v.)e)-1/-b.)i--n

    in reality, he was the only one that had experienced the illusion so clearly and for so long. for everyone else, they received just a brief flash before collapsing. for the vast majority, and those of the first and second group, they hadn''t even seen the illusion. just the name alone had caused their deaths.

    "aina!"

    "don''t touch her!" a voice boomed in his mind.

    at that moment, he couldn''t move even if he wanted to. when his head barely managed to turn back up toward the sky box, he found that every one of those over-dozen gazes were on him.

    in half of their eyes, there was a dense killing intent. in the other half, there was intrigue and interest. in mo''''lexi''s eyes, there was nothing but shock.

    she wasn''t the adorable old lady leonel thought her to be at all.

    usually, leonel was exceptionally good at reading people, but what about when the target was a dream force user leagues beyond him? it was impossible for him to pick up on his normal cues and he had to take said person at face value.

    just now, mo''''lexi had, indeed, said her name aloud. but she had only allowed it to simultaneously reverberate in the mind of a single person. and that person was leonel.

    to make a complicated matter simple... just now...

    she had tried to kill leonel.

 Chapter 2391 Numbers

    chapter 2391 numbers

    ~hours ago.

    "what is the meaning of this-?!"n-.o-(v((e-/l-)b--1-.n

    the man who had prepared to speak for the dream pavilion stopped his words, realizing that he had almost lost his temper toward this mad woman. although he didn''t fear her, he didn''t want to offend her without reason either. even so, this action of mo''''lexi''s was completely maddening.

    she knew how much weight her name held, and she seemed to have even put a little bit of extra oomph into it this time as well.

    of their participants, she had killed off over 90% of them! mo''''lexi was still frozen in shock, looking at leonel. that was because everyone else had practically died immediately, while those that managed to survive were in an agonizing struggle with their own minds that manifested in waves of pain. however, leonel just stood there in a daze.

    it took her a while to snap out of it and realize that she was being spoken to.

    "what are you moping about?" she said with a frown. "you wanted to kill at least this many regardless. we don''t need numbers, we need elites. how can the numbers of even a thousand incomplete worlds match the population of our bubbles? let alone the fact we only have barely over a hundred. i just saved us all some time. why have them fight one another when we can do this instead."

    the man''s jaw clenched. mo''''lexi was correct, but only in part.

    the issue was that not everyone had such powerful resistance to dream force, especially not if they came from an incomplete world. they might have strengths that were focused in other areas.

    in fact, for their purposes, they even preferred those with such weaknesses. it would make them far easier to control, almost superficially injured.

    among those that had died just now, there were definitely geniuses that excelled in certain facets that simply didn''t even know about the importance of dream force protection. even leonel, who was practically a dream force savant, hadn''t known about the importance of protecting yourself against the dream force of others until he, himself, entered the dream plane. how much worse off was everyone else?

    all of those geniuses were as good as dead now, only leaving a small number that could actually protect themselves.

    the issue was that the man-clarence emerii-couldn''t just say this aloud. this wasn''t because those here didn''t understand this truth, none of them were fools. rather, it was because he liked to uphold his public facing image.

    mo''''lexi sneered, clearly understanding this, and even more clearly not caring.

    "look over there, didn''t i find a perfect little genius-pawn for you? you should be thanking me."

    clarence''s eyes flashed as he looked down below. when he saw who it was, his expression darkened.

    leonel stood in silence, unable to move. he was completely vulnerable. if he died now, he wouldn''t even know how it happened.

    suddenly, his feet and eyes began to smoke.

    mo''''lexi''s heart skipped another beat as clarence stepped forward, grabbing the rails of the sky box.

    "destruction sovereign! kill him!"

    a red-haired woman, clearly of the brazingers, spoke sharply. her words practically came out in a bark.

    this woman was obviously not the same woman that leonel''s father had fought. in fact, none of the four representatives of the great families were.

    what the public didn''t know was that those four were currently experiencing a great state of weakness. clearly, aside from the strength of leonel''s father, the price to pay to descend to incomplete worlds, even with countermeasures, was too great as a ninth dimensional expert.

    a hand was held out to stop the woman.

    "i don''t think that''s appropriate, rouge."

    the one who spoke was not clarence, but rather a man from a group that leonel didn''t immediately recognize. he wore plain linen robes that were a slight tannish-brown color and his words clearly held quite some weight themselves.

    he was vivak godlen, a representative of the godlen family.

    "what is inappropriate about it? are you a fan of the envoys of destruction?"

    "i would remind you of the position of your so-called, self-proclaimed, ''great families''," vivak spoke calmly. "you are experiments no different from those envoys. if there''s any close relations to them, shouldn''t your family be first in line to be put on trial?"

    rouge''s expression darkened. "it seems the godlen''s want war?"

    "i would remind you who spoke out of turn first," vivak said, unmoved. "in the end, what''s important isn''t what the child is, but rather if he can be used. you''ve all already seen the traces of the demon activity in these trials, we might very soon be on the losing end of the optics battle.

    "but, optics are something only the powerful can care for. we''ve already made enough concessions in pre-emptively handing over all of the members of other races over. we do not have the luxury to also start shaving away at the few talents that do remain."

    if leonel had been paying a little more attention instead of flirting with aina, he would have noticed already. it might have also just been that he didn''t care to put too much emphasis on the other competitors and was much more interested in those that could actually control his fate. but...

    there truly weren''t anyone but humans remaining in the arena. there were no spirituals, no nomads, no rapax. although there were a variety of people of all shapes and sizes that made it seem like there was an array of races here, most of them were just like the beastman dimensional verse, following an unconventional path.

    due to the actions of the demons, the humans had no choice but to do this.

    "a pawn that can''t be controlled isn''t one worth having," rouge sneered.

    "if you cannot control a fifth dimensional child, then just say so, and be clear that you are speaking up only for yourself."

    a dangerous light flashed in rouge''s gaze once again, but she remained silent.

    clarence, all the while, remained silent as well, his grip on the rails quite firm.

    with everyone to his back, no one could see the wild look in his eyes.

 Chapter 2392 Tranquility

    chapter 2392 tranquility

    leonel frowned as the words descended to him. his body felt frozen in place, but his temper flared and the smokey heat of destruction coming from the corner of his eyes and his feet vibrated wildly.

    however, before he shattered the intention of the old woman, he restrained himself and closed his eyes.

    he was not happy, not happy in the slightest. he didn''t believe for a second that this old woman wouldn''t know what would happen when she spoke her name.

    even now, he didn''t know that this was the true method of relaying her name. instead, he felt that she had tried to distract him before levying this attack. maybe she wasn''t even interested in him at all and this was the original intention of these people to begin with.

    ruthless slaughter. why would she???

    why was he mad?

    leonel pressed his hand against his forehead, ignoring the fact that he shouldn''t have been able to move.

    he had committed slaughter on an even larger scale, had he not? did he feel bad about it all of a sudden?

    still no. even with the changes caused by his vital star force, he simply couldn''t bring himself to care. he felt like he was slowly starting to find his own baseline.

    he felt that he had his own justifications for doing what he did. was he also throwing a tantrum? yes, he was. but it didn''t change a thing about how justified or unjustified he felt it was.

    as for this slaughter here? why did the old woman act at all? it was on a complete whim, trampling on caged animals that she herself had been a part of caging in the first place.

    and the worst part was that she had actually dared to get aina caught up in her madness.

    leonel was slowly starting to understand more about himself as the days went on. he wasn''t some hero of morality, as much as he had tried to be in his youth.

    part of the reason he wasn''t any longer was because the world had jaded him, but another part was that he was never this person to begin with. that shadow of his former self was in one part due to the culture of earth- that being one filled with the philosophy of equality- and another part due to his father''s teachings of respect and persistence.

    who was he, though?

    as he had said, he was a selfish person. where his bottom line was drawn was decided by his own self-interest.

    he was a normal person who had delusions of grandeur, a person who had normal convictions, normal goals, normal drives, and yet was granted power he thought could make him some untouchable deity that could pass judgment on everyone else.

    leonel''s breath became calmer and calmer.n/-o(-v--e)/l))b./i-(n

    this wasn''t a depressing realization, it was just the right realization.

    if for the largest segments of your formative years, you had your personality being torn in all sorts of different ways due to the strengths of things and people far beyond your own, how could you be anything other than "normal"? there had yet to be enough time for you to make anything unique of yourself.

    his scarlet star force pulled him one way. his vital star force pulled him another way. his future self had pulled him yet another way. his father had an ideal of the kind of man he wanted to be.

    and what was he left with, exactly?

    was his curiosity even him either? or was that just his genes as a wise star order talking for him?

    he thought back to the scene of carnage. those people had extremely strong convictions. they all died with their heads held high and their own thoughts of grandeur fuelling their final breaths.

    how much of that conviction was truly their own? how much was it what their parents had told them to believe? how much of it was what their children hoped of them? how much of it was far more sinister, the puppet strings of organizations as terrible as the four great families manipulating their thoughts and pulling at their emotions?

    was he even unique in this sense? did anyone truly know who they were?

    he imagined what life would have been like had he stayed on earth. his career path was already chosen for him; he would become a multi-millionaire, probably marry some beautiful woman who was likewise elite in her field, and they''d have children who''d go off and do the same thing.

    even if he had been born on ancient earth, would it have been much different? there wouldn''t have been the gene assessment back then, but there would have been plenty of people to push and pull him in all sorts of directions. maybe his parents would have insisted that he become a doctor, or a lawyer, or an engineer, anything that could have made them proud.

    who knew?

    leonel suddenly relaxed. the push and pull and everything around him suddenly felt meaningless. even the callous disregard of lives mo''''lexi had displayed didn''t move him.

    he wasn''t special, not in this sense. he was so worried about how his forces were manipulating him, how his future self was manipulating him, that he had neglected the fact that everyone dealt with the same things to different degrees. even aina had a voice constantly in her head telling her what to do; he wondered if she ever wondered who she truly was as well.

    there was a fairly simple answer to all of this.

    he thought back to how lazy and unmotivated he was back when his future self was a heavy influence on him.

    was it really laziness? or was it a confidence in yourself, a confidence in knowing that no matter what you did or didn''t do, it wouldn''t matter because there was simply no one who could defeat you anyway.

    that state... that "laziness"... it was a beacon. when you finally reached that level, it was the moment you could be certain that the only one that could influence you...

    was you.

    leonel''s dream force vibrated wildly, but as soon as it appeared, it vanished in a puff of smoke, and he opened his eyes.

    within, there was nothing but the calmest reflections of tranquility.

 Chapter 2393 Patient

    chapter 2393 patient

    leonel felt a calmness that he had never experienced before. it was probably the case that not even as a baby, without even needing to worry about his own bowel movements, did he feel so free. however, he didn''t explore what this chance was. he knew that he could.

    it was a large change, that was for certain. it was probably no less important than one of his force breaking into the impetus state. but he didn''t have the luxury of finding out exactly what it was because he felt that too many powerful eyes were on him. so he remained still, looking at the ground in silence and feeling the speed of his mind increase at least tenfold.

    at that moment, he could see it even more clearly than ever before, that "man" within himself that seemed to be almost drowning within a lake of blood. ''go away,'' he thought, seemingly without much conviction.

    the lake of blood was suddenly blown into by a gentle breeze. as though the crimson was stripped away, all that was left was a gorgeous and radiant blue, so beautiful and perfect that it seemed to be droplets of heaven themselves coming together to form it.

    the once-chained man, his hair covering his features, trembled and waves of dream force threatened to roar out again, only to be suppressed by leonel''s will. the man entered a state of calm and finally looked up. or, rather, his head tilted upward as he adjusted himself into a state of meditation.

    as he did so, leonel felt a strong pull on the atmosphere around him that he once again forcefully cut off. just now, he felt a speed of collecting dream force that put his three stars to absolute shame. the gap was so large that leonel almost thought that even if he never formed his stars again, he would be just fine.

    ultimately, though, he shook his head and dispelled those thoughts. the stars he formed this time around would be so far beyond what he had formed the first time that it was unfair to compare. however, he still found it difficult to view a path that would allow their impact to be as great as this.

    ''this man should be me... as for what it is, i think it''s a manifestation of my dream asura lineage factor. one of its abilities should be taking the amorphous soul and giving shape and function. it''s no wonder every time it moves there''s such a large change to my dream force output.

    ''but, freeing it to work properly like this might not be a good thing.'' leonel wasn''t thinking about this in terms of his vow not to use his enlightened form; he was instead thinking about it in terms of what his father had said.

    when you escaped the chains of that woman, she would no longer treat you as a proper pawn, but instead as someone to get rid of. leonel didn''t know if he had truly escaped her control, but he felt that there was a good chance he had. however, he wasn''t worried because he had an advantage his father did not.

    he was her only successful experiment while everyone else of the morales were her prototypes. if there was one person she couldn''t afford to kill, it was him.nove)lb(1n

    "...leo-"

    leonel immediately knelt down by aina as though he wasn''t just having a world-changing realization. he cupped her face in his hands and to any outside observer, he simply looked as though he was concerned for her. however, in reality, aina felt some of her own dream force being steadily influenced by leonel until her mind became completely clear.

    "aina, are you okay?"

    "i..."

    aina felt her heart skip a beat. "... i think my blood force..."

    aina didn''t finish her words because she realized where they were. she didn''t want to say the truth, that truth being that she felt her blood force enter the impetus state. she hadn''t seen the scene that leonel did, her dream force affinity wasn''t as high as his. but she had felt it.

    the reason she had been down and out for so long wasn''t because of the attack on her psyche, but rather because there was a visceral change taking place in her body, one that filled her with pain. in the end, she smiled somewhat weakly and grabbed onto leonel''s palm.

    "don''t worry about me, i''m more worried about..."

    she looked down toward little blackstar, but found the little guy was actually still taking a nap. unbelievable. all this time, she had thought that he was frozen like everyone else, when in reality he might not even have woken up.

    leonel stealthily put blackstar away without saying anything. he had seemingly finally realized that there were no one but humans around, and he didn''t know what they would do if they took an interest in blackstar. there was a beast domain of the dimensional verse, so there were likely a few similar bubbles here as well. it was best to act more cautious now until he understood more about the situation.

    aina weakly stood to her feet, leaning against leonel. she felt much stronger now than she looked, but she didn''t want to expose whatever leonel had done so she remained like this. plus, why would she pass up a chance to be close with her man?

    the pair stood in silence as people began to recover one by one. however, even after another day passed, the number that managed to do so didn''t exceed even a hundred. from tens of millions, barely over 90 people managed to retain control over their faculties. most of the rest might only awaken months from now, and that was if they did at all. as for the remaining number leonel didn''t count, they were forever lost to this world.

    ''why are they so patient...'' leonel thought. ''... and is this number of people even enough to help them? what are they playing at?''

 Chapter 2394 Wait

    chapter 2394 wait

    leonel frowned, waiting for the other shoe to drop. but the more he observed the situation, the more uncomfortable he felt. not only did he finally notice that there were only humans present, but there was a distinct lack of noah as well.

    his grandfather had said that he would make noah participate in this as well, could it be that noah had died? leonel''s relationship with noah could be said to be close, and they had also started said relationship off on the wrong foot. however, noah was still family and he didn''t believe that his grandfather had spoken those words without reason. in all likelihood, emperor fawkes wanted leonel to do what he could to help noah if the opportunity was given, or else he might not have mentioned it at all.

    leonel hadn''t run into noah during the first round, and now he wasn''t here even during this gathering. it made him feel that maybe he had to prepare for the worst. his dislike of the situation grew, but the tranquility in his eyes remained.

    finally, there was some movement above. clarence stepped forward once again.

    "congratulations to those of you that have survived and regained your bearings. you have made it through the first cleansing."

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. he might have been out of it, but he could pick up some fluctuations from the outside world. or, at least he could now that his dream force had seemed to change again.

    this was a round they definitely hadn''t planned for. that old woman, mo-something, she was called, had acted on her own and now they were pretending that this was the plan all along.

    but why should he be surprised? this was always what these people did.

    "now that you have made it to this stage, i will give you your task-"

    leonel''s frown deepened. that was it? no more fighting? or was this just the start of the battles?

    he looked around when he felt a gaze on him. after noticing that it was alpha clown, he shook his head and turned away. he didn''t have the time or care to deal with this person right now.

    "soon, you will all be assigned to leaders and placed under your commanders. you will enter a battlefield and your performance will decide how much care and attention you will receive from the gods."

    ''something is off, what am i missing?'' leonel''s pupils jumped back and forth between a focused and unfocused state, his mind speeding along with numerous thoughts.

    "-seeded participants are different. you may choose a leader to be under the tutelage of right now. step forward."

    leonel''s gaze landed on the tablet once again, his mind trembling. a huge arc of lightning connected several disconnected streams of consciousness in his dreamscape and his eyes widened for a moment.

    ''it can''t be...'' could their main goal not even be support from them, but rather from what ability indexes and lineage factors they could provide?

    leonel thought about aina''s clairvoyance and his tranquility threatened to give way to rage, but he maintained his calm.

    "are you okay?" leonel asked aina.

    aina was weirded out by this question, not because of what it was, and definitely not because of who was asking it, but rather because leonel had already asked this question earlier.

    then, she suddenly realized that the words were reverberating in her mind, not her ears, and it all clicked into place.

    "i''m fine." aina thought.

    leonel didn''t expect this answer. aina was the only one that could sense his movement in the dream plane. if something had been done to her, she would definitely know. but her answer effectively meant that no one had done anything to her mind, so it was impossible for them to have gained her ability index and lineage factor.

    leonel felt like he was a novice slowly making his way into the realms of a practitioner. the more he learned about this situation, the more he felt he was just far too clueless.

    he watched as the seeded participants were forced to pick leaders without knowing anything about them. and these "gods", who were pretending to be lofty, obviously wouldn''t deign to explain themselves either.

    eventually, all of the seeded participants had gone. they made up the majority of those that had managed to survive, and the three standouts were the youth from the dimensional eyes verse that leonel had seen, alpha clown, and a woman who carried around that little pink-eyed woman like she was some sort of pet and called herself "mama bear".

    as for the non-seeded participants that caught leonel''s attention, there was only alpha bluestar whose expression was just as placid as elsewhere. what was interesting was that he made a concerted effort to choose a different leader than alpha clown despite the latter''s gaze. at least, that was an intention that leonel could feel coming from him. but whether he would get a choice was up in the air.

    finally, there were the non-seeded participants.

    "non-seeded participants have yet to earn the right to be full members. you will be messengers and carriers. seeded participants will have a certain level of protection, but non-seeded participants will have their lives and deaths decided by their leaders. keep that in mind, lest you die for overestimating yourselves."

    leonel almost thought that clarence looked at him directly when he spoke these words, but he was still focused on trying to understand what this farce was.

    it was all so disorganized in leonel''s view, and that was because they insisted on trying to pretend like everything was still going to plan, when in reality things were barely holding up at the seams.

    first their intention to have multiple rounds was thwarted. then mo''''lexi acted on her own, killing over 99% of them. now they were still trying to act high and mighty.

    leonel wondered if he was the only one that didn''t fall for this nonsense.

    at the very least, alpha clown had seemed to sense something was off the last time they spoke. but just the same, neither of them could do anything about it.

    "now, non-seeded participants will be randomly-"

    "wait."

    leonel''s voice echoed out.n..0ve1bin

    at this point, even aina''s pupils shook. she knew that leonel wasn''t a fool, but what did he think that he could do here?

 Chapter 2395 Dangerous

    chapter 2395 dangerous

    leonel gave aina a reassuring smile. it seemed that even now, his top priority was making sure that she was comfortable.

    he knew exactly what she was thinking. in this kind of oppressive environment, especially one where these old men and women were doing their best to portray themselves as gods, any sort of dissension would be squashed with impunity.

    it didn''t matter if leonel had something "clever" to say. in fact, the more clever he was, the more inclined they would be toward directly killing him.

    everyone knew that, even the greatest fool could read the room. no matter how useful they thought leonel may or may not be to them, if they had to pick him or their prestige, the choice was obvious.

    it wasn''t just a matter of face. this would quite literally decide whether or not they could maintain control over their subordinates. in the coming war, especially with all these variable chess pieces at play, they couldn''t afford any sort of hesitation.

    however, leonel wasn''t an impulsive person. he might seem to be completely reckless, especially when he was under the influence of his scarlet star force, but his "recklessness" rarely came back to bite him because he always had an exit plan.

    this time, he would just have to gamble to see just where the bottom line of these "gods" lay.

    almost the moment he spoke, he was the subject of a great deal of pressure. he could already see the lips rouge flexing into what would, without a doubt, be a harsh reprimand.

    however, the first step was to not allow them to speak. even if they were compelled by his words, if they had an outburst first, then it wouldn''t matter.

    making someone who hadn''t voiced their opinions first change their minds was much easier than doing the same for someone that had made their opinion known. this was the same even for a "god".

    so, leonel had already begun to speak the moment the shock settled down in preparation for reactions.

    "i have nothing to say about the rules of the esteemed gods. they are well thought out and filled with intricate details that i cannot properly understand with my station. however, i would still like to say that my talent would be wasted as a non-seeded participant."

    clarence held a hand up, stopping rouge from jumping in again.

    "what makes you think your talent is worth a damn?"

    "i can''t say anything for certain," leonel said with a solemn expression. "the only thing i know is that the elder miss goddess used a strong pulse of dream force just now and i was the only one that remained standing."

    alpha clown''s pupils trembled. he didn''t bother to believe that leonel was lying. how could he be before these people?

    after he got over the shock of the fact that leonel actually dared to speak, he began analyzing everything as he usually did, so this much he was certain of.

    clarence fell into silence.

    this was obvious to all of the "gods", but eagerly pushing leonel forward to become a seeded participant would once again make them seem too desperate. it was easier for them if they pretended that they didn''t care to waste leonel''s talent.

    this, however, did make some things more interesting and other things more difficult.

    as a seeded participant, leonel would be able to pick his own leaders. he didn''t want that. he wanted leonel for himself.

    however, it was also inconvenient to use leonel for some things if he wasn''t a seeded participant either.

    what if he instead found a middle ground? that way he could-

    "hoho," mo''''lexi''s chuckle echoed through the empty arena.

    she was having a grand old time.

    before, she could read leonel like a book. now, even after all her attempts at flipping the pages, she found nothing but blank spaces.

    on top of that, leonel was calling out to her so respectfully now, when she had just been an "adorable old lady". she was fascinated by this change.

    "sure, boy. you can be a seeded participant under me."

    clarence, who had been about to say the exact same words, felt his temper flare up again and he only barely managed to calm himself.

    before he could react, though, leonel spoke again.

    "your confidence in me is a heavy weight on my shoulders, goddess. however, this is not the sort of acknowledgment that i want.

    "i''ve noticed that there are no non-human races here, and this brings warmth to my heart. i was born and raised in a verse where humans were nothing but the heel of other races, to be oppressed and suppressed.n//ovelbin

    "to see the power of you human gods lets me know that there is a world where humans reign supreme and i want to help in that endeavor.

    "my own father died under the joint attack of several shameless non-human experts and the blood in my heart burns.

    "when i say that i do not want my talent to be wasted, it is not out of selfish reasons, but because i do not want to be lost in the backline while my brothers and sisters shed blood for me."

    the more leonel spoke, the redder the gazes of the remaining participants began. it was as though he was doing a better job galvanizing the youth that these so-called "gods" had.

    "the vision that the goddess showed us all, one of blood, carnage and the violence of war... i''ve understood it and i''m willing to take that responsibility onto my shoulders."

    mo''''lexi''s gaze narrowed.

    was this why he was doing all of this? he wanted her to know that he had seen the vision.

    she didn''t believe for a single second that given leonel''s dream affinity, he wouldn''t be ignorant of how rare it was for him to sense anything, let alone see a vision.

    leonel''s fists tightened and his eyes seemed to be lit with passion.

    mo''''lexi chuckled inwardly. ''this little boy is dangerous.''

 Chapter 2396 No Sense

    chapter 2396 no sense

    what happened next, without a doubt, enraged a large segment of the "gods".

    mo''''lexi didn''t seem to care about propriety as she entirely ignored the words of clarence and the others, taking leonel under her wing.

    in fact, when leonel took aina''s hand and made it quite clear that he had no intention of letting go, mo''''lexi turned a blind eye to clarence''s rage, while clarence himself couldn''t say anything too boldly about it.

    for a moment, he had thought that leonel was doing his best to draw a dividing line between himself and his father, even going as far as to say he died at the hands of non-humans as opposed to the four great families. in fact, he even somewhat believed it.

    but in the end, leonel had gotten exactly what he wanted.

    or did he?

    leonel had no idea. his grandfather had told him about the godlen''s, the four great families, the dream pavilion and the cult, but he had no idea who this woman was a part of. though, he had a good guess... a guess that was confirmed not long later.

    ...

    lightsnж╧vж┼l "brat, you think yourself to be very clever, don''t you?" mo''''lexi chuckled.

    at the moment, leonel, mo''''lexi and aina stood in a room of pitch blackness. and yet, in an odd method that completely defied the laws of physics, leonel could see them both as clear as day. it was as though someone had photoshopped them out of reality, leaving them as the only light and heat sources in existence.

    leonel blinked, seemingly not understanding what mo''''lexi was getting at.

    "goddess, i-"

    "stop, stop, stop-it''s getting annoying," mo''''lexi plucked at her ears.

    leonel blinked again, and looked down.

    seeing that leonel''s "act" was still ongoing, mo''''lexi didn''t know whether to praise him, slap him to death, or if she was making the wrong assumption to begin with.

    what was fascinating to her, though, was that even this close, she truly couldn''t tell.

    now that she thought about it, leonel''s only "slip up" was in thinking that she was an adorable old lady. anyone with reverence for a god would never have this thought.

    but then again, after that "slip up", she had immediately said her name and didn''t get a chance to test his true intentions any more than that.nove/lb.1n

    as a result, leonel still had plausible deniability on his side.

    that said... there was a second slip up, though this one was more of a quasi-mistake.

    mo''''lexi looked toward aina. no matter how you looked at it, the fact leonel had insisted on bringing this beautiful little girl would be seen as an attempt to use her.

    even so, she had ended up accepting it. the end result being that she couldn''t even choose anyone other than these two while the other groups had at least a dozen to their names.

    "so you''re going to insist on this act, then? that is fine," mo''''lexi smiled somewhat evilly. "regardless of what you do, i''ll be working you to the bone one way or another.

    "welcome to the three finger cult."

    ...

    leonel didn''t really get the chance to decide how he felt about his current circumstances. when mo''''lexi spoke about working him to the bone, she meant it.

    he and aina were forced into a hybrid role. the battles hadn''t even begun yet, but they were ordered around like slaves, picking up and moving heavy artillery and large vessels of resources.

    one would think in a world like this one, there would be easier methods of moving things. but it felt like leonel had gone back to the primitive times.

    now that he thought about it, in the cataclysm zone, they hadn''t had large machinery like the starships either. instead, they rode on the backs of huge beasts the size of which leonel had never seen before.

    likewise, here, there was no technology, at least not in the natural sense.

    even so, leonel didn''t care. his mind was still on exactly what the purpose of these human race powers were. what were they trying to do?

    mo''''lexi had explained it in part.

    the gaps between "bubbles" were a lot like the void battlefield, filled with dense anarchic force. the difference was that in complete worlds, anarchic force was so thick and viscous that it took on a liquid form.

    this anarchic force was especially potent against powerful individuals. much like the anarchic force of the dimensional verse, it tried to consume all of the force it came into contact with, turning it into nothing. but liquid anarchic force worked in a contradictory sort of way.

    it sought balance, and it was hard to reach a "balance" when the target was too weak. as such, it acted much more like gaseous anarchic force against weaker, sub-ninth dimensional existence.

    if it was a quick trip, a ninth dimensional existence could make it across with ease. but if it was a prolonged battle, they would be in far more danger than even a seventh dimensional existence.

    this was why the gods wanted to use them to gain an advantage in this war before their bubbles were invaded.

    ''bullshit.''

    that was the conclusion leonel came to. unfortunately, he had a feeling that most people would believe it.

    unfortunately, he didn''t know what the real reason was, and he was too busy sweating his life away carrying these mountain-sized crates to investigate anything further.

    then the time came. leonel and aina called again, one of them looking much more tired than the other.

    not only was leonel unwilling to let aina do such mundane tasks, they had the strongest chance at survival if one of them focused on raising their strength. the best choice was obviously aina. so, in these past weeks, leonel had done the work of two people on his own while aina focused on nothing other than strengthening herself.

    mo''''lexi''s eyes flashed like lightning when they landed on aina, but in the end, she said nothing.

    "the first mission has been prepared for you," mo''''lexi spoke, her lips quirking into a smile when saw that leonel practically looked like death.

    "we''re entering alone?"

    leonel frowned. this was once again outside of his expectations. weren''t they afraid that he would escape?

    mo''''lexi laughed again as though she could read leonel''s mind, though he was certain that right now, she most definitely couldn''t.

    "esteemed goddess, what is our task?"

    "nothing too big. come back with the heads of three demons and i will be satisfied."

    leonel and aina were eventually led to a hidden room with a door on one end and a swirling portal on the other.

    confusion consumed him. it was a novel feeling, one that he didn''t like in the slightest.

    they hadn''t seen any other geniuses of the three finger cult. the people he had worked with over the last weeks were all old men and women at the end of their potential. mo''''lexi hadn''t given him any sort of guidance or even resources to improve himself...

    just what was going on? weren''t the incomplete worlds supposed to be the final trump card of the humans to deal with their enemies? so why were they being treated so casually?

    there was no structure. no sense. no common thread linking everything.

    he was being led by the nose and he couldn''t even do anything about it.

    he and aina entered the portal under mo''''lexi''s bright smile.

 Chapter 2397 Love Affair

    chapter 2397 love affair

    aina''s chuckle pulled leonel out of his thoughts, leaving him speechless. they had entered another world of darkness, and a gaseous blackness flew all around them. on top of that, their lives were being plucked along under some unknown symphony, controlled by composers that likely didn''t have their best interest in mind.

    what could this little vixen possibly have to chuckle about?

    "look at your face, so serious and so confused. you''ve spent the last almost three weeks doing nothing but thinking. what is that worth to someone else? a couple months? a couple years, maybe? you''re still not tired?"

    leonel didn''t even know how to respond to this. for a second, he thought that someone was trying to whisper doubts into his mind and that they were using aina''s voice as a convenient in. but soon, he realized that it really was this future wife of his that was teasing him.

    seeing leonel''s expression, aina laughed harder.

    "aren''t you having too good a time with this?" leonel finally responded.

    "what can i do but have a good time?"

    leonel felt a hand rub at his crotch and squeeze a few times.

    "i know what it is," aina said seriously. "you''re too pent up, i haven''t been doing my wifely duties."

    leonel blinked, then turned and cupped aina''s face. seeing the serious look in his eyes, aina almost stopped her joke completely... until he spoke.

    "who are you and what have you done with my aina?"

    aina scoffed. "you become a completely new person every other day and i can''t change just a little bit?"

    although leonel could tell that aina was joking again, his eyes dimmed somewhat.

    "i''m sorry."

    aina''s heart skipped a beat.

    "i know. i''ve been pulled in a lot of directions lately."

    he never really thought about it, but if he changed so much and so frequently, would aina even like him anymore?

    he had been too neglectful. he thought a lot about how he would react to things, but not enough about how everyone else would. just joel''s probes alone should have alerted him to this, but aina actually had to make a joke about it before he registered that it might be a problem.

    leonel opened his mouth to say more but aina''s hand had already covered his lips.

    "you''re thinking too much about it. do your parents know what your personality would be when you had just been born?"

    "huh?"

    staring into those beautiful eyes, leonel was completely in a daze. he didn''t have the brain capacity remaining to even understand what she was saying.

    aina giggled. "not everything has to be logical. and don''t give me some nonsense about evolution and protecting your offspring, you''ll make me annoyed."n-/o-(v--e..l))b.(i--n

    leonel couldn''t help but laugh, looking at that pouting face, it seemed that she was already annoyed.

    "your child will undergo a myriad of changes in their life. your parents were different people before they had you, and as you grow, they would grow too. if we marry, and have children, how many changes would i undergo? how many changes would you undergo?

    "my love for you became unconditional a long time ago, why are you worrying about stupid things?"

    leonel blinked, remaining silent for a long time. after a while, his lips parted.

    "you''re trying to seduce me, aren''t you."

    "what gave you that idea?" aina tilted her head to the side. "was it the heartfelt words? the fact we''re all alone now? or was it my hand on your-"

    aina squealed as she was swept up again.

    -----

    in the depths of flowing darkness, a group of demons moved. there were four of them, each one of which had powerful, crimson bull horns, skin as dark as night, and flaming golden eyes that looked as though they deserved to be floating in the skull of an undead.

    whether male or female, they were all extremely muscular and walked around bare-chested, having nothing more than a beast skin cloth covering their lower bodies.

    there didn''t seem to be a leader among them, even down to their heights, they were all of perfectly equal height and build. if not for the slightly puffier chests and longer hair of the women, it wouldn''t even be possible to tell their genders apart at all.

    at that moment, they all came to a stop at once.

    moans drifted to their ears and they looked toward one another. their blood began to boil somewhat before they shook their heads.

    "unbelievable. it''s got to be those lust demons."

    despite his "harsh" words, one of the bull demons was already pitching a tent, and his eyes had already stopped looking off into the distance and were entirely focused on the female bull demon by his side.

    "look at me like that again, larkan, and i''ll chop it off."

    oriza pulled a chipped ax from her back and glared at larkan.

    larkan cleared his throat, it sounding akin to an avalanche. "those lust demons are truly despicable."

    the second male bull demon fell into a booming laughter as larkan shifted uncomfortably.

    "let''s go over there and deal with that," oriza snarled. "this matter is too important for them to get swept up in such nonsense."

    the group of four moved and they closed the distance quite quickly. but they were a bit stunned by what they saw.

    it was a storm of dense black feathers, swirling like a tumultuous storm. the sounds of the moans were just as feverish, but the power coming off of them made their hearts sink.

    "run!" oriza barked, turning and rushing away at her fastest speed.

    she had only just spoken when a few black feathers peeled away from the group and two of them died almost instantly.

    oriza spun back, leaping with all of her strength away from the fierce attacks and swinging down her ax with all her might.

    she reacted quickly enough, but she felt the bones in her arms crack and almost shatter entirely.

    listening to the moans fade as she rushed into the distance, she was speechless.

    she knew the only reason she hadn''t died was that that woman was far too engrossed in her love affair.

 Chapter 2398 Web

    chapter 2398 web

    oriza took deep breaths, a solemnity painted between her brows. she gripped her ax so hard that blood seeped between her palms, her forearms trembling beneath the pain of her fractures.

    there was a ferociousness on her expression that could only be matched by a demon. she abhorred running from battle, but she also wasn''t a fool. whatever that was had been so far beyond her she couldn''t even properly understand it.

    she had felt only one aura, but there had definitely been two shadows within that storm of feathers. plus, a demon that powerful stopping in their tracks just to masturbate in this land between worlds was far too ridiculous. not that two such demons having sex in the middle of this battlefield was any less ridiculous.

    ''the aura felt demonic... but also not... it definitely wasn''t a lust demon either, that aura didn''t have the effect of charm force at all...''

    "who?!"

    oriza''s head snapped to the side, and she only relaxed when she saw that it was actually larkan. he was far more beaten and bloodied than she was, but she still felt that it was a net positive that he had managed to survive as well.

    "what was that?" larkan said between breaths.

    oriza frowned, clearly not having an exact answer. but then her eyes suddenly flashed with light.

    "could it be...?" she mumbled. "we need to report this matter."

    "what are you thinking about?"

    "the seal. the seal that divided our worlds from theirs and kept those shitty humans, it was located here. it spanned across this entire region and somehow managed to stand strong under the barrage of anarchic force."

    "and?" larkan was confused.

    "during that time, this place was practically a world of its own, and it''s even possible that it formed its own ecosystem."

    larkan frowned. "would there be enough time for that?"

    "for humans, no. but it''s been, what? at least three or four generations since the seal first appeared, that''s almost 40???50 thousand years. there were definitely some of our kind left behind and trapped here. those inferior demons are unlike us. they eat whatever they can get their hands on, improve however they can, they have no bottom line at all.

    "if they were stuck in an environment like this one for so long, it wouldn''t be surprising if a completely new race of demons was formed-especially since there would also have been other races left behind and trapped here.

    "the higher-ups probably didn''t care to consider this matter too much because the odds that they could have become a threat in such a short time were miniscule. but obviously, the situation''s changed."

    larkan was enlightened.

    inferior demons were none other than the so-called ranked demons that leonel and aina had faced during their first stint into the cataclysm zone.n//o--v-(e.-l-.b(-1)-n

    demons were well known for their adaptability and they followed numerous paths, much like the humans and, to a lesser extent, the nomads.

    "... i think it''s possible that a new race of chaos demons has appeared."

    larkan''s eyes opened wide.

    -

    "i''m sorry, didn''t i already say it!"

    "it''s not sincere enough, i think you need some more punishment."

    leonel and aina''s voices continued to echo as though nothing at all had happened. they seemed to entirely forget that they were supposed to be on a mission.

    eventually, though, they did stop terrorizing the world with their passion and they stepped out from the tornado of black feathers.

    aina pouted. "i took so much "punishment" because of these two, they better have something interesting on them."

    leonel almost choked on air. he really didn''t know how this woman could be such a masochist, it fit with literally no other part of her personality. even when she said "punishment" just now her eyes lit up with excitement as though she was trying to goad leonel into doing it again.

    in the end, he chuckled to himself.

    ''just wait,'' he thought to himself. once he started breaking through the dimensions again, he''d have far more stamina than she could handle.

    the two walked up to the corpses of the bull demons, checking them one by one.

    there didn''t seem to be many interesting things to find. they didn''t wear spatial devices, which was odd at first until leonel concluded that it must be due to the environment. other than that, there was just the best skin that acted as their skirts, their weapons, and...

    "a map?"

    leonel was more shocked that he could memorize it with a glance. it actually took him two scans.

    the paper on it was odd and it seemed to obscure his senses. when you looked away, it was easy for you to forget what you had seen. leonel had to imprint it into his mind using a unique method to make himself remember, but then that formed an odd connection with an ethereal feeling he didn''t like, so he wiped his memory a moment afterward.

    ''what was that?''

    leonel''s brows trembled.

    he had reacted quickly, but he had a wakeup call in that instant. he couldn''t do things as casually as he had once done in the dimensional verse. just now, he could have really put himself and aina in some serious danger.

    "they''re mapping out the region, and they feel that it''s important enough to protect. if my guess is right, these two maps probably aren''t even identical."

    leonel picked up the second map and confirmed his guess. it was likely that the two that had escaped had two more of these maps, and in all likelihood, that wasn''t everything.

    his internal sight was incredibly limited in his in-between world. though, due to his improvement, it was still in the hundreds of kilometers. he had seen these bull demons even before they heard him and aina.

    "they''re preparing for battle?" aina asked. "it makes sense to map out the terrain, but why isn''t that our task as well? why tell us just to kill?"

    "the lines on the map, though it''s subtle, look like a huge force art. those lines should be a defensive type force art, one created to stop the in-flow of demons.

    "however, it''s fragmented and broken. if i''m correct, this seal was used to hold the demons back and it only recently gave way, allowing the demons to take action.

    "if that''s true, then whatever terrain is here has likely already been thoroughly understood by the humans and there''s no point in sending people in to map something they already understand."

    aina sent a glance at the map and her lips pursed. she had no idea how leonel had concluded that from all the swirly and squiggly lines. she was familiar with force arts as well, but this looked nothing like one. even so, she trusted leonel''s judgment.

    ''what a powerful seal...'' leonel thought. ''... why does it look so familiar?''

    his eyes widened. these runes, they were the same runes that were on the chains that held down that image of himself in the blood lake!

    sparks of lightning rippled through leonel''s dreamscape.

    he felt the web he was stuck in had suddenly become marginally clearer.

    if he had known that the shattering of this seal had coincided with the shattering of the chains within his mind, he would have been even more certain.

    back then, it was precisely because this seal shattered that leonel and aina had been saved from the wrath of aina''s "master", the head of the endless twilight pavilion, pavilion head ophelia.

 Chapter 2399 Top of the World

    chapter 2399 top of the world

    ''a seal, it''s all a seal. they''re trying to map it, and what, the three finger cult wants me to stop it? but those chains in my body should have been placed there by the demoness, so shouldn''t that mean that this seal was created by her as well? isn''t she a demon? so her own people are trying to undo her work? but then why is she so entangled with humans?''

    leonel felt another headache coming along. the web had become just a little bit clearer, but he still didn''t have enough information to see the whole picture. it felt like he was still being suffocated.

    at first he was a frog at the bottom of a well, but now he was slowly climbing up the walls to find that not only was he buried far deeper than he thought, but the world outside was probably vaster than anything he could even begin to imagine.

    "well, we''ve killed two demons, but we definitely can''t use them to meet our quota of three," leonel finally said. "we''ll have to find some more."

    aina nodded. she had killed them both too swiftly and far too easily. it didn''t make sense to try and add some wounds to it either. who knew what kind of means those powerhouses had? they could even read your mind if you weren''t careful, let alone if you handed them a body of evidence to use against you.

    luckily, aina could protect her mind thanks to soul clairvoyance, and leonel''s dream force had improved greatly as well, at least enough that he felt like he could maintain some semblance of control over his life in the short term.

    the gap in the strength they expected leonel and aina to have, versus the strength they actually had was too far apart.

    it had to be understood that the demons aina had just treated like playthings were on a level beyond the fiend demons they had once had to risk life and limb to defeat. the geniuses of the vast bubble would have found themselves killed several times over if they had met that group of four.

    although mo''''lexi was still far stronger than the two of them, leonel still didn''t want her to know just yet how much potential they truly had.

    this was especially so for aina.

    luckily, they hadn''t ended up in the hands of the people of the vast bubble. had they, they would have recognized aina once ophelia got her hands on her, and then much of their secrets would have been revealed.

    "i''ll fight," leonel said. "you don''t worry your pretty little head."

    "how chivalrous of you." aina giggled.

    the two set off, leonel''s internal sight doing a wide sweeping search.

    he found several demons; it actually wasn''t that difficult. if it wasn''t for the fact he and aina had chosen to... take a break, it was likely that they would have already been in multiple battles by now.

    however, he didn''t want to just target any demon.

    firstly, he needed demons that were particularly weak. second, he was also hunting these demons for the same purpose he and aina had initially. this was an excellent chance to bolster the strength of his brothers, not to mention add to his silver tablet''s collection.

    he wasn''t worried about his things being found out. anastasia was particularly good at hiding her aura if she chose to. the finger sleeve on his hand looked like an ordinary ornament, and some people might even assume he just used finger martial arts, or that he had weird tastes.

    there was another thing on leonel''s mind as well as he completed these tasks, and that was the changes to his body.

    firstly, his dream force was still at the same stage of the impetus state, the lower state. this was odd to him... at least at first.

    secondly, his dream asura lineage factor was under his complete control.

    thirdly, he felt like he could think of the demoness now without feeling those constant pair of eyes on him.

    fourthly, and the one that took him maybe the most to come to terms with, not only because of how shocking it was, but how difficult it was to confirm... he had become a dream sovereign.

    his dream force gained an almost milky character to it, as though it was a smooth cream flowing through his mind. if he had to describe it, it was as though someone took the purest white, and the most subtle of gold, and melted them down into a substance that didn''t quite fuse together perfectly.

    he didn''t quite know how to feel about this.

    he was born a destruction sovereign, that made sense. the domain rings opened up a path for him to become a weapon sovereign, and that made sense.

    but wasn''t this too casual? too easy?

    however, when he really thought about it, when he really felt it, he understood. nove-lb-in

    weapon forces were an exception because they relied on one part the universal laws that dictated everything, and the laws created by humans and intelligent creatures. as such, becoming one after birth was a matter of comprehension.

    he had obviously been born with his destruction sovereignty, so there was nothing much to think about there.

    then what about his dream sovereignty?

    well, didn''t it fall into the same category as his weapon sovereignties? his dream force was personal, it was even more personal than any one of his other forces.

    so long as he had the affinity not to get lost in dream force like so many others would, if he could find himself, his true self, wouldn''t he naturally become a dream sovereign?

    but that was the thing... he didn''t feel that he had found his true self. rather, he felt that he had come to peace with the ways of the world pulling him in every direction... and he felt confidence in one day reaching a point where he could rise above it all.

    was that really enough?

    it seemed that the answer was yes.

    and this made him feel like he was on top of the world.

 Chapter 2400 Errand

    chapter 2400 errand

    "that''s three."

    leonel exhaled a heavy breath. that was difficult, but it was within his expectations. he didn''t have the strength to face these demons head on; it felt like he was in the midst of all those fiend demons again, bringing back memories of being eaten alive.

    facing these creatures that were so much stronger than him, he focused on hit and run tactics, using his bow and arrows. he was still trying to get his bow force back up to the level of true sovereignty, and he felt that it would happen in due time.

    in the meantime, using the lower ranked bows in the bow domain ring was actually quite an eye-opening experience. leonel had always practically been a savant with bow force. it was the weapon he felt the highest inclination toward, and it was also the weapon he would have focused on had he not been born with the spear domain lineage factor.

    as a result, he had never had to rely on others to help him improve. his path had been smooth and without blemish.

    seeing the thoughts of these experts though, he was intrigued. there was so much he hadn''t really thought of, not because he wasn''t intelligent enough, but because others simply had different experiences than himself.

    for example, there was a primitive female archer born into a tribe where all of the bows were longbows used by hyper-masculine men. how could a petite woman like her pull a bow that would require 200 pounds of force to reach a full moon?

    rather than creating a smaller bow, which leonel himself would have advised since it was objectively the smartest thing to do, she insisted on using the longbow, eventually gaining the ability to pull it to about half moon.

    this experience reminded leonel of when he first got his hands on a black grade bow. he, too, had been unable to pull it to full moon. but it hadn''t been necessary for him to make up for this. after all, half moon of a black grade bow was more than enough to kill his enemies at the time.

    but with such a primitive bow, such a weak force would have a hard time penetrating armor at all.

    so the woman swapped power for precision; she even learned to shift the arrow''s butt away from the middle of the bowstring, as was convention, and change the angle of attack.

    all of her solutions were mind-numbingly stupid in leonel''s view, but that was also why he would have never thought to use the bow in such a way. because he had so much strength now, he practically always pulled his bow to the full moon. in fact, even when he wanted to use less force and rely on his skill instead, rather than pulling the bowstring less, he just downgraded to a weaker bow like this one.

    seeing the different philosophies amused him on one part and made him wonder what his complacency had caused him to miss on another.

    the primitive female''s method of using the bow wasn''t interesting to him at all, but what about others? it would probably take some time to pick out some interesting pieces, though, as he felt most of them were silly.

    "alright, it''s been like a week. we should probably return."

    "you haven''t thought of escaping?" aina asked.

    "i have, but that woman was too confident."

    aina nodded. it even felt like she expected them to die, but then all of this wouldn''t have made any sense at all. it was too hard to understand what they were planning. nove-lb-in

    their haul wasn''t bad, honestly. not only had they managed to kill and store quite a number of demons, but leonel had managed to get some interesting ability indexes. namely, he had found "swiftness" to help emna out further.

    "also, i want to understand what they are planning before we do."

    "so you have a way out?"

    "pretty sure," leonel grinned, earning him a pinch.

    he had made it sound existential just now, but he just wants to play with fire.

    soon, they returned to the marked entrance and they waited.

    it took an entire hour before the portal opened up, and leonel''s gaze narrowed at that. but he immediately returned to normal as he stepped inside.

    mo''''lexi sized the two up, a hint of surprise in her eyes. it seemed like she really did expect them to die.

    leonel looked like death, and aina, who he was carrying on his back, looked like an unblemished little doll.

    mo''''lexi didn''t know what to think about this young man. he seemed so smart, and yet he was so willing to be a guard dog for a woman who clearly didn''t care as much about him as he did her. she had heard that he didn''t even allow aina to help him carry boxes around.

    ''a man with such a golden heart is bound to die early,'' she thought with a sigh. ''that little girl by his side is too beautiful.''

    as mo''''lexi was sizing them up, so too was leonel doing the same, because mo''''lexi had not come on her own. she had three young men by her side.

    it seems that there was a uniform of the cult after all, and mo''''lexi just couldn''t be bothered to wear it because all three wore the very same thing.

    looking at the puffy, fabric-made shoulder guards that they wore, though, leonel wanted to gag.

    ''very uncool uniforms. they look like they just stepped out of a renaissance painting.''

    "i''ve completed my task, goddess."

    one of the young men covered his mouth when he heard leonel''s form of address, while the other two just had an amused light in their eyes. these three were quite inexperienced if they weren''t capable of controlling their emotions to this extent.

    "mm," mo''''lexi nodded. "you three, go on. that''s what you''re here for."

    the three young men unceremoniously snatched the corpses that leonel had "painstakingly" gathered.

    then leonel understood.

    ''was this just another errand? they sent us to gather resources for their young?''

    his pupils constricted when the three young men unceremoniously bit into the corpses and began to suck their blood dry.

 Chapter 2401 Opaque Whiteness

    chapter 2401 opaque whiteness

    leonel felt a spark fly through his dreamscape, but he said nothing. other than a slightly odd expression, which is about what one would expect for seeing such a scene for the first time, he gave nothing else away.

    aina''s reaction was even more visceral.

    leonel knew how aina had ignored her blood sovereignty for much of her life for fear of how it might appear, namely to him. even after he said having a vampire girlfriend was cool, it took her quite some time to come into her own.

    seeing this sort of scene, and how truly disgusting it was, she felt all of that suppressed disgust come back up all at once.

    one of the young men laughed.

    "haha, little beauty, have you never seen a real masculine man before? real men eat flesh and drink blood."

    leonel''s gaze flashed with undisguised frigidness.

    "real men catch their own prey. if you want to flex your muscles, go do it elsewhere."

    leonel''s words were biting, and the embarrassment on the young man''s expression was clear, even as it quickly turned to rage. n.)0velbin

    "what did you say to me, slave?!"

    leonel didn''t respond, staring at the man as he stood to his full height. the latter''s embarrassment returned when he realized that he was actually half a head shorter than leonel, but that didn''t stop his blood-covered snarl from echoing.

    the young man seemed to remember that mo''''lexi was there and restrained himself somewhat. he glared into leonel''s eyes and spoke word by word.

    "watch your mouth in the future. you''re nothing but a butcher, a farmer, a convenient transport. am i supposed to catch every meal i have with my own hands? don''t give yourself more credit than you deserve."

    the young man snorted, feeling that his appetite was ruined. he placed the demon within his spatial device and then left after bowing to mo''''lexi.

    the other two laughed to themselves and then left as well after giving leonel a glance. though, he didn''t miss how their eyes lingered on aina at all.

    mo''''lexi didn''t say anything as they left, but she looked at leonel with an amused light in her eye.

    "that look in your eye, those are your real eyes, huh?" mo''''lexi asked.

    leonel had already gone back to his servile expression and didn''t seem to understand what mo''''lexi was getting at.

    "still with the games, hm? if you see me as a goddess, then anyone i bring along with me should have that status as well, no? why did you not give them their due respect?"

    leonel''s eyes widened. "is that so? i was unaware! i will apologize to him immediately."

    leonel spoke seriously and seemed to have completely forgotten about his initial rage.

    "i assumed that they were seeded participants like me, but with a more official title. i''m sorry."

    mo''''lexi''s eyes narrowed.

    "here is your list of duties for the next month. for the both of you," she emphasized.

    "yes, i understand!" leonel nodded.

    mo''''lexi disappeared, and leonel immediately left, his target quite obvious. he was going to go and apologize.

    "excuse me! sir!" leonel called out, swiftly catching up to the young man.

    mo''''lexi saw this and shook her head. after a sigh, she truly vanished. she didn''t have the stomach to see this sort of thing.

    the young man''s eyes flashed with confusion when he saw that it was actually leonel, and he was even more stunned when he saw the expression on the latter''s face.

    what happened to him? wasn''t he just so arrogant?

    in truth, he had been planning to find leonel after mo''''lexi disappeared to teach him a lesson.

    he couldn''t even react as leonel apologized profusely and then rushed off to do his "duties".

    for some reason... the young man felt so completely... unsatisfied.

    "what was that, bogrum? the little twerp actually came to apologize to you?" another one of the young men came in with a laugh.

    bogrum, bryan, and elek, these were the names of the three young men of the cult.

    in truth, their status wasn''t very high, despite bogrum''s arrogance. they were quite surprised when they were called over for such a reward.

    to be able to drink demon blood, what kind of boon was that? they were highly excited.

    it was too bad that leonel had ruined their moods.

    "yes... he did," bogrum replied somewhat slowly, still not quite understanding what had just happened.

    suddenly, he felt angry again, but he didn''t know where to vent it.

    "ah, senior alastar!"

    bryan and elek''s reactions snapped bogrum out of his daze, and he quickly bowed as well.

    their current location would probably be best described as an airplane hanger, although there were definitely no airplanes in sight. the floors were smooth and a shade away from glossy, the ceiling was tall and filled with glass, and crates were piled up everywhere, formed of wood, though some were made of stone.

    there were huge lanes between these crates, and it was possible to see for tens of kilometers ahead without end. alastar had easily been almost 50 kilometers away from them, but they were already bowing. and soon, it became clear why.

    alastar appeared before them in no more than a few seconds, pausing for a moment and then sniffing the air.

    the three froze, their fists clenching. they thought that maybe their reward might end up being stolen by alastar, but what he said next caught them off guard.

    "i smell a woman, an excellent woman..."

    they weakly looked up at alastar''s face, only to see those eyes of white opaqueness.

    "oh god, i think i''m going to die. massage a little bit firmer please."

    leonel''s voice echoed out as aina massages his temples. he really felt like he might vomit any time now, not because he was sick, or hurt, but because the cringe was about to kill him.

    aina giggled. "who asked you to be so forthcoming? that woman already disappeared after you called out the first time; you didn''t need to follow through on the apology."

    "ai-!"

    leonel was about to make another joke, maybe even con himself into a few cheap kisses, but his expression turned unprecedentedly serious a moment later.

    "go inside."

    aina didn''t say a word and vanished into the segmented cube.

    barely a moment later, a hulking man appeared, his shadow looming over leonel to the point the latter had to look straight up.

    ''... variant invalid.''

    -----

    erdiul''s notes: we are truly going full circle.

 Chapter 2402 A Shame

    chapter 2402 a shame

    "where..."

    leonel''s gaze flashed with a cold intent. if there was one thing that could still get him riled up even in the midst of all this tranquility, it was matters related to aina.

    he had allowed the previous matter to slide without saying much and even apologizing because he understood the kind of situation they were in. plus, that young man had only said some slightly crude words at worst. however, even without this variant invalid completing its sentence, he knew exactly what it was trying to get at.

    standing before it, and looking it in the eyes, the coldness within his own only grew colder and colder.

    alastar wasn''t quite prepared for this sort of response. although his face didn''t show anything particularly different from his norm, sensing... defiance? was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

    leonel was undergoing his own confusion.

    from his understanding, variant invalids were the result of a failure to awaken. but this "awakening" process, meaning the so-called dimensional descent or the metamorphosis, should be something that only happened in incomplete worlds where they had a wide division between world types.

    essentially, variant invalids came from invalids, and invalids could only appear during a world''s awakening process. this would happen in incomplete worlds where there were several separate planets and folds of reality that needed to awaken individually; however, in a complete world, this matter should have only happened a single time countless trillions of years ago.

    considering the fact that no new complete worlds had been formed in an exceptionally long time, and even the number of new incomplete worlds forming was dwindling drastically, the number of variant invalids that could possibly exist should be an impossibly small portion of the population, and any that did should, at the very least, be incredibly old.

    leonel didn''t actually know if invalids had lifespans, but weren''t they a form of living creature regardless? it was impossible for them to be truly immortal. even those born with the immortality ability index weren''t truly immortal, so how could they be?

    ''then...''

    leonel thought of only two possibilities.

    either this variant invalid was one of those old monsters and had a strength rivaling that or maybe even surpassing mo''''lexi. or...

    ''they gathered up all the variant invalids from the incomplete worlds as well.''

    leonel''s gaze sharpened. after his run-in with the puppet master, the only other variant invalids that he had met came from the cult. he didn''t believe that this was a coincidence.

    variant invalids were essentially cheat codes, similar to savants and yet having the ability to progress in ways savants could not. in that way, they might actually be closer to a god childe.

    at the same time, though, variant invalids had very difficult progression paths. they were shunned by most of society, and they had to consume powerful individuals to progress. this made them far easier to control than other races as well.

    if the human powers wanted talents that they could easily manage, and yet packed a heavy punch...

    were there any better options than variant invalids and savants?

    leonel''s gaze only grew colder as alastar looked around.

    "woman. where is she?"

    "i don''t know what you''re talking about-"

    bang!

    leonel''s throat was grabbed so forcefully that his body would have flown out at an impossible speed had alastar not clamped his hands down.

    his body swayed as the feeling of having his neck forcefully stretched settled in. had his body not improved back to its original level, just the move of grabbing his neck would have directly killed him.

    even so, leonel''s gaze didn''t lose its sharpness as he was lifted into the air to meet alastar''s gaze.

    alastar looked like he wanted to talk, but his words came out in a jumbled mess. n.)0velbin

    "where. woman. now."

    all of the variant invalids leonel had ever met had intelligence equal to that, or even surpassing, humans. this alastar, though, seemed to be a simpleton through and through.

    this didn''t make leonel any more sympathetic. instead, watching this bumbling fool trip over itself, even salivating at the thought of aina, he felt a killing intent welling up in his heart.

    "you don''t... show fear." alastar finally growled something somewhat intelligible.

    leonel''s initial instinct was to say why should he fear an idiot, but he refrained. there was no point-

    "alastar, put him down."

    mo''''lexi''s voice suddenly echoed, and she appeared right amidst the two of them. she was by far the smallest of them, and yet her aura was without a doubt the strongest.

    alastar''s gaze flashed with a hint of defiance, then a hint of fear.

    he placed leonel down a bit too forcefully, almost causing him to fall over completely.

    alastar gave leonel another glare, then mo''''lexi a fearful glance, before he disappeared into the distance.

    mo''''lexi frowned, not really understanding what was happening. if she didn''t feel a wave of killing intent, she wouldn''t have noticed what was happening here at all. but when she arrived, she felt that... the killing intent wasn''t coming from alastar at all, but it was hard to prove.

    "again?" mo''''lexi asked. "you''re lucky i didn''t get very far."

    leonel looked toward mo''''lexi respectfully.

    "i''m sorry, i didn''t expect this to happen either."

    "aren''t you going to apologize?" mo''''lexi asked.

    "why?" leonel blinked in confusion.

    "didn''t you apologize to bogrum?"

    "yes, but bogrum is a god," leonel said seriously.

    "and alastar is not?"

    "i do not believe someone so stupid can be a god," leonel said equally as seriously. "he can''t even complete a full sentence without drooling over himself. plus, aren''t variant invalids just failures? would he even understand my apology?"

    mo''''lexi was speechless for a moment before she burst into a fit of laughter. she laughed so hard that the crates leonel had worked so hard to organize and stack almost fell over despite the fact each one weighed as heavy as a mountain.

    leonel''s ears began to bleed, but he continued to stand respectfully, not "daring" to laugh along with mo''''lexi.

    mo''''lexi was starting to find this leonel more and more interesting; it was almost a shame considering their plans for these youths.

 Chapter 2403 Why...

    chapter 2403 why...

    leonel left the region with a sharp look in his eyes after mo''lexi vanished once again. that killed intent she sensed was indeed from himself. he had released it far and wide, though a hint subtly through his dream force, so that she would sense it and return. his gamble was that she would interfere.

    but now, more of his cards were being released one by one and he didn''t believe that the woman he was meeting now was some amiable old lady.

    the worst part of all of this was that even if he really did take aina away and escape, something he was heavily considering, where would they go, exactly?

    he doubted that humans were widely accepted in wider existence. they were scourges that had been the tools of the god beasts, and those that remained were usually only powerful due to some experimentation from that era. ever since the fall of the fawkes family, there really were no other human powers remaining that could hold up the sky.

    he was surrounded from all sides by enemies and he couldn''t even trust his own kind. it was the worst kind of situation to be in.

    ''invalids... the seal... the demoness...''

    his mind churned, trying to piece everything together. he was still missing some pieces, he knew he was. but he was running out of time to figure it out and options to explore to preserve his and aina''s lives.

    ultimately, he just wasn''t strong enough. if he was as strong as his father, would any of this even be a worry?

    leonel took a breath and exhaled slowly.

    he moved toward the next set of boxes he was set to deal with and he began to rush around with them, only one of his millions of minds was focused on the task while the others were focused on his body, trying to understand what was happening.

    ''i need more information. maybe these boxes...''

    this wasn''t the first time leonel had thought this. the trouble was the boxes themselves.

    each one of these crates were the size of small hills at worst, and huge mountains at best. and yet, each one was just constructed of a simple six sides. there was no extra reinforcement, no extra limbs, no nothing.

    one of leonel''s fundamental tasks as a crafter was understanding structural engineering like the back of his hand. at a certain size, even wooden crates would react no differently from cardboard boxes. they would collapse beneath their own weight without a doubt.

    whatever these crates were made of, and the links holding them together, was exceptionally strong. and, leonel''s internal sight couldn''t penetrate them at all.

    he assumed the reason they were so comfortable with him holding what was obviously a large well of wealth and importance was because these crates were nigh indestructible, and whatever was within was highly protected.

    ''that said...'' n))o/.v--e..l-/b--1)-n

    leonel thought of an idea. it was a higher application of dream force than he had ever used before, but he felt that theoretically, it could be possible.

    why was it that wise star order had warned him to be careful of his scarlet star force? it was because it had a life of its own, its force had a certain signature that was ingrained into its very being, a signature that made it scarlet star force.

    in that case, all forces had their own signatures, and their own "life". that meant that they should have an imprint on the second dimension as well, and as such, enter the dream plane.

    leonel would normally be unable to enter the dream plane in a complete world like this one. however, was that still the case now that he had become a dream sovereign?

    just like el''rion had said, those with sovereignty have a small smidgen of the life state, the state above impetus, within them.

    leonel continued running his errands, his body threatening to collapse under him, but he kept pushing, kept pressing.

    ''there!''

    leonel finally succeeded in sensing a hint of something, and it felt like a flash bang had gone off in his mind.

    he collapsed, the enormous crater above him falling onto his body and crushing him.

    leonel coughed, but managed to slow the crates'' descent with a pushup. he grit his teeth, pushing it back up.

    the boom had caught a lot of attention, but the hangar was huge. no one managed to see much of anything but a mountain-sized crate moving down a meter and a half, which was nothing compared to its size.

    leonel felt dizzy and his mind held a heavy weight on it. that short glimpse had taken almost everything out of him. it wasn''t just stepping into the dream plane, but rather that he was trying to peer into a layer even deeper.

    luckily, his memory was nigh infallible. although it was just for the briefest of moments, he remembered everything.

    the first thing he saw was actually a trio of things. two balls of flaming red-gold and one of silver white.

    he knew what they were immediately: his innate nodes. they burned particularly brightly, but this made sense. there was no purer form of a force than its pure crystal or innate node form. leonel even felt that if he could hold this state for a little longer, his ability to comprehend his forces would improve dramatically.

    the second thing he saw was a jumble of mangled forces, ones that he assumed had to be his lineage factors and the pulls of affinity they had on him.

    it seemed that so long as he saw through this layer of the dream plane, he might be able to tell a person''s affinities at a single glance. he could even come to understand himself better.

    then there was the third thing.

    it too was a mangled mess of forces, but it was much larger and not quite clear in an instant. even so, it reminded leonel of something quite clearly, something he would never forget...

    the valiant heart zone.

    why did it remind him of the valiant heart zone so much?

    why...

    why...

    leonel froze.

 Chapter 2404 Tired?

    chapter 2404 tired?

    ''... you''ve got to be kidding me.''

    leonel unleashed a groan and pushed the crate off of himself, pushing it into the air with all his might and ducking for cover before the wind could knock him off his feet. he slid to the ground, gasping for breath. he pulled one knee to his chest and rested his forearm on it. with the way his pale violet hair drifted over his face, his eyes were entirely obscured.

    in that moment of silence, it was truly as though he had been cut out from the world and placed in one of his own creations entirely. and within it, his heart felt a frightening cold, one that chilled him to the bone and made his flesh feel as fragile as a thin pane of glass.

    if leonel had known that wise star order used the silver tablet to create the legend of merlin, he would have figured this out long ago. if leonel had known how zones worked in complete worlds, rather than assuming that they couldn''t exist at all, he would have figured this out long ago.

    but now, he felt like it was all rushing to him at once, and he also felt that it just might be too late for him to realize all of this.

    these people were truly monsters.

    his breathing calmed, and the tranquil look in his eyes returned.

    he understood why they had all been so casual, why they didn''t react much to the deaths of so many of the youths that were supposed to be their "last" hope, why mo''''lexi didn''t seem to care even about sending leonel and aina off to their deaths, so much so that she had even casually allowed them to hunt demons for such insignificant characters.

    he could tell. compared to alastar, those three young men could be considered trash. there was absolutely no way that leonel''s own potential was seen to be weak enough by mo''''lexi to risk his life just for their sakes. if anything, shouldn''t mo''''lexi be trying her best to raise leonel from the fifth dimension? she knew that his dream force affinity was greater than maybe anything she could have hoped from someone raised in an incomplete world, and yet she ignored it as though it didn''t matter in the slightest.

    all of these disjointed actions, all of these inexplicable choices, could all be explained in a single sentence.

    they wanted to wring them up like farm animals, place them on a plantation, then work them to death. and the worst part was that even if they died, it still wouldn''t be an escape.

    he had known something was wrong, he just couldn''t fathom what it could be... until he finally understood. n))o/.v--e..l-/b--1)-n

    he could still remember how he felt after he stepped out of the valiant heart zone for the first time, how much existential dread he felt watching all of the subordinates he had just watched die for him suddenly available again like floating characters in a game...

    tap to unlock!

    it was like human lives were worthless, as though they were a joke. that was the impetus for his own change, one where he swore to become a king, just to ensure that such a thing would never happen to anyone else.

    and then he killed them. he had erased them like the unspawned game characters that they were, trading their lives for the much more "real" lives of his own brothers.

    killing millions to save eight. what a trade that was. he must have felt like some sort of god, pressing his finger on the scale like that and skewing it in favor of himself.

    maybe this was what he deserved.

    those boxes, that zone. they all pointed in a single direction.

    the incomplete worlds could only be so useful. the people within had potential, but it was hard for them to have as much potential as the truest elites of the complete worlds-even among the humans. and worst of all, their numbers were far too inferior.

    of the millions that might be barely worthy enough to reach a middling standard in the complete worlds, there were only a handful that might be just barely good enough to make a small change.

    it was too insignificant.

    but what if they could make the life of one worth more than that?

    what if they could pluck them out from their words, throw them into a frying pan, and force them to be revived again and again just to be herded like cattle?

    what if they could create a zone much like the valiant heart zone where their lives and deaths were based on the whims of the zone itself, like a game that could be played again and again, like characters that could be reset and reloaded whenever they felt like it?

    the valiant heart zone was always a zone that leonel couldn''t probably place. was it a variant zone? a normal zone? a mythological zone?

    he didn''t know. he had always assumed that maybe it was mythological, based on some legend of planet valiant that he wasn''t aware of.

    but what if it was none of the above? what if that was precisely the reason the silver tablet was within it to begin with? what if one of the abilities of the tablet was to create these worlds?

    the god beasts of creation had always been trying to revive the world to its original state, to fight back against the fading of the northern star and to allow creation to continuously flourish. they had tried many things, and they had ultimately failed in the end...

    what if this was yet another one of their families.

    leonel''s eyes were closed, his tranquility becoming as deep as a bottomless well.

    a choice? he bet that there was never a choice to participate in this event at all. he bet that anyone foolish enough to not take these "gods" up on their offer was unceremoniously brought into the zone of the human race''s creation.

    there was another piece to this as well.

    why didn''t the humans do this with their own people? as arrogant as they were, there were certainly those of lesser birth that they would find useful.

    leonel felt that he had the answer to this as well.

    there was something special about those born in incomplete worlds, something that made their lives so flippant and worthless that they could be used in this way, a way that the geniuses of complete worlds could not be.

    with this method, the humans of the complete worlds could continuously farm them, continuously breed them, continuously wring them dry and then toss them back in to be ripened again.

    the worst part was they might not even remember it happened, much like goggles and the others didn''t even recognize leonel.

    the more leonel thought about it, the calmer he became. his breathing seemed to fuse into the world around him and the web that he was in was suddenly fully detangled. he could see everything but the faintest edges of it, the faintest edges that flashed with the silhouettes of the masterminds behind it all.

    leonel slowly opened his eyes and looked up from his seated position.

    the first thing he saw was a pair of bright eyes and an amused smile staring right back at him.

    mo''''lexi squatted before him, her grin wide and her expression relaxed.

    "what is it, little boy? suddenly tired?"

    that smile that looked no different from the smile of an adorable old woman held a completely different weight to leonel right now.

 Chapter 2405 A Moment of Rest

    chapter 2405 a moment of rest

    nove-lb/1n

    leonel met the gaze of the old woman and didn''t even flinch.

    "just a moment of rest," he said with a peaceful smile. "i will be back to it very soon, i apologize for the inconvenience, my body isn''t as strong as i would like it to be."

    "oh? i think that it''s actually very strong. i''ve never seen someone in the fifth dimension as strong as you are."

    mo''''lexi didn''t hold back her praise in the slightest, and if leonel didn''t know better, he would have thought that she truly cared quite a bit for him. it was just a shame that what she was more excited about was locking him in a zone and ensuring whatever secrets were on his body were immortalized for the cult''s future use.

    whether he died now, or died later, it didn''t really matter much, now did it? the most important thing to her was that leonel would be in her palms.

    the more she observed this boy, the more she felt that she had won out even though she didn''t get to personally select anyone else.

    "where''s the little girl?" mo''''lexi asked, seemingly only now realizing that aina wasn''t present.

    "she''s doing her own work," leonel said with a bright gaze as though a boy madly in love.

    mo''''lexi shook her head and sighed. "i would keep that treasure of yours capable of storing life as secretively as you can. the fact that it can work in a complete world like this one is quite the shock."

    leonel''s eyes widened in shock as though he was surprised that mo''''lexi knew.

    "haha, little boy, not much you can do can escape my sights. be a little more careful in the future."

    mo''''lexi vanished again, and leonel hurried to stand with an embarrassed expression on his face. his acting, given his control ability index, was entirely unmatched. there wasn''t a single aspect of his expressions that he couldn''t control with perfect ease.

    he continued to go about his work as though he couldn''t feel mo''''lexi''s gaze on him at all.

    ...

    ''hm? what was that? did i imagine it?'' mo''''lexi mumbled to herself.

    she had felt leonel''s dream force quite clearly before. in her opinion, he had managed to break into the impetus state after hearing her true name, and that was the reason his emotions became a bit fussier to her.

    as expected, after she began to focus a bit more on him, there was no aspect of himself that he could hide from her. she could read him like an open book.

    but just now, she felt a flash in the dream plane and it caught her off guard. she had been on edge these last few days and completely focused on making sure everything went perfectly.

    however, those demons... their ability to use the dream plane was far beyond her own and it made many things tricky. it also didn''t help that they were also relying on ticking time bombs like the variant invalids to get things done. it was a nightmare through and through.

    ''it must have been the demons again. are they investigating what we''re doing to such a thorough extent? if they''re able to penetrate our world already, their understanding of the seal has already deepened considerably. we need to hurry...''

    mo''''lexi''s gaze flickered. it might be time to move up the timeline of events. but first, they would still need to stall a little bit more.

    the truth was that even with the seal protecting the human worlds from the other bubbles shattered, the seal was still having a hindering effect on the demons.

    the combination of anarchic force and the trenches of the seal was muddying the teleportation pathways and making it difficult to secure a line to enter the human bubbles.

    however, with the demons investigating and doubling down on their efforts, and even succeeding in breaching her dream plane realm for a moment, she realized that there truly wasn''t much time left.

    this would decide the fate of humanity and she had no intention of becoming a slave for the rest of her life.

    all the while, mo''''lexi didn''t even consider the fact that leonel had entered the dream plane because even she could not enter the dream plane. her dream force had yet to enter the life state!

    her so-called dream plane realm was just a protective measure that most learned about as they moved up in the world, it made it difficult for others to breach their and their subordinates'' minds and learn of their plans ahead of time.

    mo''''lexi had been able to cut off the connection before it solidified, but who said she would react fast enough next time? and what about the time after that?

    there was simply no time to lose.

    ...

    leonel''s gaze turned cold when he felt that mo''''lexi had truly left.

    he was conflicted and not sure of what to do.

    if he really escaped, then what about the other humans of the dimensional verse? what about his cousin, if he was still alive?

    he didn''t have any love lost for many of these individuals, but the shift in his perspective made him hesitant to just abandon them all.

    at the same time, he knew he wasn''t strong enough. his mistake just now had hurried along mo''''lexi, that he was certain of. escaping would be easily ten times harder than it had been in the past.

    ''i need a plan...''

    leonel''s mind churned, but he shut down everything he thought of. these plots would be good enough in the incomplete world, but this was a completely different ball game. he would be playing with fire trying to outsmart everyone here.

    he had to finally admit that he wasn''t the smartest in the room anymore. there were plenty of people with the capability of outthinking him, whether that be due to experience or sheer dream force.

    if he wanted this victory, he needed to think outside of the box...

    leonel grit his teeth, then his mind suddenly wandered to his spear domain ring and his gaze narrowed.

 Chapter 2406 Perfect Woman

    chapter 2406 perfect woman

    leonel handed aina a letter. "here, go give this to those three bastards."

    looking at leonel, who was gritting his teeth as though someone had just beaten his mother half to death, aina didn''t even know how to react. she wanted to ask leonel what was wrong, but when she saw that deadly sort of look in his eyes, she stopped.

    "okay," she said after a while.

    taking the letter, she turned and left.

    leonel went back to work, one part of his mind focused on aina and the other focused on his tasks. he looked completely focused and dutiful again as though he was never enraged to begin with.

    ...

    mo''''lexi suddenly sensed a flash of rage that rippled outward, but it disappeared just as quickly. when she checked, she found leonel working alone as usual, but to her surprise, there was also that little girl. oddly enough, she wasn''t with leonel. instead, as he completed both of their workloads, she had gone off to do gods know what.

    mo''''lexi sighed and shook her head. she had seen this sort of scene play out a million times before, so she shut her mind off to it. it didn''t matter.

    ...

    aina didn''t know what leonel put in the letter, but judging by his rage, she had some guesses. even so, she didn''t ask. she would just have to teach that man a lesson when she next got a chance. how dare he do this to her?

    the three young men leonel was referring to were without a doubt bogrum, bryan, and elek. these three, aside from alastar, seemed to be the only others in the hangar. and unlike leonel, they didn''t spend their time lifting heavy loads, but were rather responsible for double-checking that he had stacked everything correctly. as a result, their lives were quite leisurely.

    they didn''t expect that aina would come up to bogrum all of a sudden, hand him a letter, and then vanish into the wind like she was never there.

    bogrum was dazed by aina''s beauty and couldn''t even react properly to her approach, not to mention the fact her speed was... ridiculous. if not for the fact his hormones were raging, he would have questioned how someone from the lower worlds could even possibly be so quick in the first place.

    but he was completely enraptured. he would have only looked like more of a bumbling fool if drool began to leak from his lips.

    he had known that aina was a beauty just by half her face. after all, the other half had been pressed against leonel''s back, so he hadn''t seen clearly. to make matters worse, her figure had been obscured by leonel as well.

    but now, seeing her in full view, he felt a heat within him that wouldn''t die out.

    how could there be such a beautiful woman in this world? everything about her from top to bottom was so...

    bogrum shook his head, suddenly remembering the letter in his hands. those two hounds, bryan and elek were already staring at him with unfriendly gazes, looking like they might pounce on the letter at any time.

    he sneered and taunted them before slowly opening the letter.

    he held bryan back with one leg and elek back with his free hand, reading the letter like a fiendish demon. his grin couldn''t have been wider and laughter rang out.

    his reaction only made elek and bryan more jealous and furious.

    "you two plebs can stay here. i have some preparations to make for tonight!"

    he smoothed out his clothing and strolled away like he was a king on top of the world.

    ...

    aina returned to leonel with a gloomy expression.

    when leonel saw her, he tried to greet her with a happy smile, but she gave him a death glare, grabbed his hand, and then disappeared into the segmented cube.

    leonel''s gaze flashed with rage soon afterward, but then he sighed and shook his head.

    ...

    mo''''lexi, who had said that she wouldn''t watch anymore, couldn''t help but shake her head.

    none of it would matter in the end anyway.

    ...

    leonel continued to do his job as the hours ticked away. soon, he called aina out and she left again without a word. n(.o./v.)e--l(/b..i/)n

    "done?" leonel asked.

    "about as finished as it could be, i guess."

    "that''s not the vote of confidence i wanted to hear," leonel said.

    "humph."

    anastasia turned and ignored leonel.

    welp, it seemed like everyone was too mad at him to ask questions, and that was just fine by him. he''d just have to coddle them a bit later.

    he continued doing his work.

    ...

    aina walked through the shadows of the crates, her expression quite cold and off-putting.

    soon, she saw bogrum in the distance and continued forward with even slower steps.

    "ah, aina! my darling! i was happy to learn your name through your letter, a beautiful name indeed. morales is also a beautiful last name, i''m sure your parents were wonderful people."

    seeing bogrum stumble over himself, aina felt disgusted. but when she heard the name morales, her temper flared again.

    that shameless bastard was pimping her out, but he couldn''t help but leave his mark behind. aina morales? when had she changed her last name? he was really getting on her last nerve.

    "don''t touch me," aina said coldly.

    "ah, right, yes, yes. i apologize."

    bogrum giggled like a little high school girl and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

    "right, right. it''s a bit too fast, we should get to know each other a little bit. this isn''t the best environment for a date, how about i bring you somewhere better?"

    bogrum turned and escorted aina down the path.

    "so, aina, what kind of hobbies are you into?" bogrum tried to break the awkward silence as he continued to walk forward.

    "killing," aina responded. "i particularly enjoy killing."

    bogrum paled for a moment sensing a hint of bloodlust, but when he saw aina''s beautiful silhouette, he seemed to forget all about his fear.

    suddenly, aina stopped, her eyes widening.

    bogrum was taken aback, and when he looked toward the direction aina was looking in, his eyes widened too.

    "ah... ah... s-senior al-alastar... what are you doing out so late?"

    alastar didn''t seem to hear bogrum at all as his gaze locked onto aina.

    "woman... perfect woman..."

 Chapter 2407 Holy Hell

    chapter 2407 holy hell

    "perfect woman... perfect woman... perfect woman!"

    alastar''s words practically came out like the chants of a religious fanatic. the more he looked at aina, the more the lust in his eyes burned.

    but he was a variant invalid. the things that normal creatures of flesh and blood felt weren''t the same things that could move him. instead, it was because he could sense aina''s blood sovereignty that was going so crazy. it was the scent of her blood that drew him completely over the edge.

    bogrum turned completely pale. he was so close to going on a date with such a beautiful woman, but then alastar just had to appear. how could he not be aggrieved?

    "al-alastar. aina is my-"

    his words were caught in his throat as alastar turned his gaze toward him.

    "scram!" alastar roared.

    bogrum was sent flying backward by the wind pressure alone, crashing into the heavy crates, and yet being entirely unable to budge them even an inch.

    the result was his body taking the full brunt of the impact and his bones shattering like fragile, rusted metal.

    alastar turned back toward aina, his gaze burning with a fiery passion.

    "keep looking at me like that, and i''ll cut you into a thousand pieces."

    aina''s voice was even and didn''t carry the slightest fluctuation of an emotion, and yet the atmosphere itself seemed to chill considerably.

    alastar didn''t seem to register aina''s words at all as he reached forward, seemingly about to grab her.

    aina''s gaze flashed with fury as she struck out with a heavy palm.

    bang!

    she and alastar both took one step backward, causing the latter to blink in slight surprise. clearly, he hadn''t expected this sort of result. since he came to this world, he had yet to sense someone as powerful as himself that wasn''t also beyond his dimension.

    "woman..."

    aina struck out again, her disgust pouring out in a rain of attacks that caused the air to clap like thunder. her arms blurred, her palms descending as though meteors ripping through the atmosphere.

    alastar had no choice but to meet these attacks with fists of his own, his surprise giving way to rage, and his rage giving way to fury.

    bang! bang! bang!

    aina took three heavy steps back, her body vibrating along with everyone. it truly hurt to fight on surfaces she couldn''t destroy with a single hit. because the walls of the hangar were so strong and sturdy, just stepping on the floor felt like 100% of the force was dissipated into her body alone and it made her expression drain of blood.

    alastar pressed forward, his towering might suppressing aina every step of the way. a wild, fiendish aura billowed out from him and his strength only seemed to increase further and further with every strike.

    ...

    mo''''lexi frowned, looking up. she was completely focused on finishing the last steps when she saw what was happening.

    bogrum was half-dead and that variant invalid was causing trouble again? he seemed to be trying to subdue that little girl?

    mo''''lexi sneered. didn''t you want to climb onto a higher tree? why don''t you let the variant invalid take you to bed, then?

    she didn''t make a move immediately, almost as though she wanted to watch aina suffer first. but she was also curious. why was the variant invalid going so crazy? what was it about aina that it was seeking?

    she turned her attention away to lock onto leonel. he once again leaned against a crate, his aura gloomy.

    it seemed that the reason leonel was so "tired" before was because he had had a fight with this lover of his.

    "what a pitiful little boy."

    mo''''lexi seemed to truly feel bad about what was happening. she sighed and turned her attention to aina and variant invalid again.

    by this point, aina had lost all ability to resist, her face was pale and her neck was caught in a vice grip, blood draining from her face.

    mo''''lexi was content to let her die. it wasn''t a big deal, they would all end up in the same place anyway.

    but then she froze.

    indeed. why was the variant invalid so interested in a girl? although she could admit that aina''s beauty was the kind she had only seen amongst spirituals, beauty didn''t move variant invalids in the same way it did other humanoid males. at least not the majority of them.

    the sole focus of variant invalids was evolution. their failure was like an ingrained mark on their souls, pressing them onward to be better and better.

    mo''''lexi watched as alastar took a huge sniff of aina''s hair, he looked like he was intoxicated. when he grabbed her wrist and sunk his teeth into her as though she was a bar of chocolate rather than a human, and his eyes rolled back like he had entered a high, mo''''lexi''s eyes widened.

    "blood sovereign!"

    mo''''lexi immediately vanished.

    ...

    in that instant, leonel, who had been brooding in his own sorrow suddenly flashed, moving so quickly that he left blurs in his wake.

    "don''t be mad, aina. i''m sorrrryyyy."

    "leave me alone," an annoyed voice entered leonel''s ear.

    "it was just a letter!" leonel protested.

    "i''m ignoring you."

    leonel appeared before a door, one that was quite familiar to him. it was this very door that mo''''lexi had led him and aina into for the sake of entering that in-between world.

    of course, it was under tight lock and key. there wasn''t even room for the slightest air gap to make it through. n)-o--v.)e-)l)-b-/i-.n

    however, the level wasn''t exceptionally high either. it was a measure that mo''''lexi had clearly casually put together.

    "don''t ignore me, you know i love you."

    "go love your foot."

    "if that''s what my lovely wife wants me to do, i''ll do it."

    "nobody''s your wife. call me morales again without my consent and i''ll chop it off."

    leonel shivered. "yes, wife."

    aina snorted as leonel broke through the restrictions and sped inside. with a wave of his hand, the restrictions were back to normal as though nothing at all had happened.

    leonel stepped forward and crossed into the portal again.

    standing in the world of flowing darkness again, he looked at the spear domain ring on his finger.

    ''well, it''s about time i unleash some holy hell.''

 Chapter 2408 Hell

    chapter 2408 hell

    leonel had, of course, not sent aina into the jaws of danger just to distract everyone. n//o.-v-.e)-l.-b(-1()n

    he had been noticing the odd gazes of the old woman for quite a while now, and she seemed a hint hostile toward aina.

    in the past, or namely when they first met, leonel hadn''t been able to grasp any of the woman''s thoughts at all. even now, it was difficult to do so, but he could nibble at the edges.

    when it came to her truest, most secret thoughts, those were well guarded. but mo''''lexi never found a reason to hide her dislike of aina, and that dislike only grew every time she saw that leonel was working while aina was "unexpectedly" absent.

    of course, that old woman couldn''t possibly understand the kind of relationship he and aina had. from her perspective, aina was taking advantage of leonel thanks to her beauty.

    what was odd to leonel was that an old lady like this, who seemed so "adorable," was willing to get mad about this matter, but somehow also willing to turn the lives of so many into that of farm animals for her gain.

    there were really only one of three reasons for this, all of which could be exploited by leonel.

    either she had something in her personal past that mirrored what she was seeing from aina, she was just an outright hypocrite, or she felt like their sacrifice was "worthy" for the sake of the whole human race.

    either way, it didn''t matter.

    the "aina" that was sent on a date with bogrum was one of her abilities as a blood sovereign. the level of clones that she could create with her blood were impossibly lifelike, and it was practically impossible for even someone with life state dream force to tell that it was fake.

    aina didn''t usually use these clones because she preferred to fight herself and she didn''t very much like her blood sovereign abilities despite warming up to it in recent months. so, it could be said that she was doubly mad at leonel, one for using her, and two for making her use such an ability.

    the clones were quite useful aside from fooling people.

    they could be used in conjunction with escape, but most importantly, if aina went all out, she could even create up to three clones that had 90% of her battle strength.

    this clone, in particular, only had 50%, though. leonel would have asked her to make a weaker one if possible, but the unfortunate truth was that if she made it any weaker, it could be possible for someone with impetus state dream force like leonel or mo''''lexi to see through them.

    all of this set the stage perfectly for leonel. it could be said that the first half of his plan had already gone smoothly, and if it came to it, he and aina could just escape from here.

    but then what?

    humans were the pariahs of wider existence; it would be hard for them to be accepted as anything other than slaves if they left here.

    if they went to another one of these human organizations, their endings wouldn''t be much different than they would be in the cult. they''d be thrown into a created zone and reared like cattle for their abilities.

    if they just became rogues, which was probably the best choice for them, it would be highly difficult just the same. they''d have to live in wildernesses, surrounded by creatures, wildlife, and plant life that could take their lives at any turn, and their progress just might slow to a crawl.

    the only real choice was to stay with the humans, to learn from them, to take advantage of them...

    but the question was how?

    leonel rolled the spear domain ring through his fingers.

    this ring was a trap, but it was also a flaw. he bet that whoever had created it had kept it a secret from the other human powers, or else it would have never gotten so far.

    for one, it was because of this ring''s existence that leonel learned that his world was nothing but a breeding ground for the benefit of these "gods". without having entered the tribulation, he might have never learned about this matter at all.

    by then, he would have had to rely on his father or grandfather to explain, something they couldn''t do because of how easily exploitable his mind would have been. leonel was sure that had he been a dream sovereign back then, he might have already gotten all the details from them long ago.

    there was a second flaw of his ring.

    how was he able to enter that tribulation world? how was he able to suddenly expand the world inside the ring by defeating those other geniuses?

    if he had known that noah also disappeared after getting his hands on a saber domain ring, he would have come to this conclusion far quicker as well.

    these rings, they were all connected, not just in their nature, but through space.

    of his possessions, if the segmented cube and silver tablet were of the highest order and could be considered his best treasures, then below that, ranked third, would definitely be these rings.

    they were covert and it was hard to think of them as some supreme treasure, but the more he learned about crafting, the more he understood just how incredibly high level they were.

    he couldn''t do anything with this knowledge. he was still far too weak.

    however, he had two advantages.

    first was the advantage of theory and his father''s ai to bounce ideas off of.

    second was the engine that would make this whole operation go...

    anastasia.

    "ready?"

    anastasia snorted, but a push of force began to pour in the domain rings that leonel took out.

    "there''s pushback."

    "that should be the lingering effects of the seal," leonel confirmed. "crush it."

    anastasia did as she was told.

    if someone well learned was present, they would feel that this sort of pressure wasn''t much different from a world spirit swallowing another.

    bang!

    all hell broke loose.

 Chapter 2409 Loose

    nove)lb-1n

    chapter 2409 loose

    leonel blinked. "man, i''m a genius." anastasia and aina snorted at the same time. maybe leonel was right, but the moment he was running for his life as the world collapsed around him was most definitely not the time he should be thinking about this.

    and that was-running for his life, that is.

    plumes of anarchic force rose like vicious tides as though a nuke had just gone off, but the worst part wasn''t this gaseous anarchic force, but rather the liquid that billowed forth from the ground like ancient hidden geysers.

    leonel sprinted, ducked and rolled every which way, taking advantage of his strong senses to make it through.

    out of mo''''lexi''s range of influence, he could slip into the dream plane much more easily, though it was greatly taxing on him. however, right now, he didn''t have the luxury of worrying about his dream force consumption.

    his body was in a terrible state from all the labor he had put it through, and he hadn''t been able to eat a proper meal in weeks.

    setting aside the fact mo''''lexi and the other higher-ups wanted to rear them like cattle, she took advantage of the fact they were in higher dimensions to not feed them either.

    but leonel was in the third dimension right now. his body really couldn''t make do without food, making his situation even worse.

    unfortunately, aina and anastasia were still mad at him, so he could only continue to run without their worry to bolster his morale.

    "still going in the right direction?" leonel asked and received another snort in reply. he took that as a yes and kept pressing forward.

    just now, what anastasia had done wasn''t too complicated. just like her aura had said, she tried to use her status as a world spirit to consume the world spirits of the domain rings.

    but just as leonel expected, the true world spirits were located off-world in a completely separate location. demons couldn''t even make it through this in-between world easily, so how much more difficult was it for anastasia to try and establish a connection and then absorb those world spirits through a mere few rings?

    thankfully, leonel hadn''t needed anastasia to succeed. what he needed her to do was to throw a seal that had already shattered even more off balance.

    according to his original calculations, the seal''s latent energy should have dissipated slowly. during that course, it would begin to display more and more flaws until the demons could bring in large streams of armies. once it completely collapsed, the demon worlds would finish their fusion with the human worlds and all hell would break loose.

    the only reason mo''''lexi had been able to teleport leonel and aina in and out like she had was because the "flaws" were more well known to the humans in the first place. that was why they had been able to enter, and it was also why leonel had to wait hours for mo''''lexi to open the portal as she had likely been doing her due diligence to ensure that they weren''t followed.

    anastasia''s pressure, though, in trying to force a connection between what were two different human bubble worlds had thrown the balance completely off.

    the last piece of the puzzle was leonel''s experience in the cataclysm zone, or, the vast bubble, rather.

    that world seemed to be torn into pieces, and their locations rife with demon activity that could only be defended by strategically placed cities.

    all of those "demon worlds" were real.

    the reason complete worlds were called bubbles was because they could act exactly as such! these bubbles could be fused and separated under the right kind of power, leading to drastic changes in the landscape.

    what leonel had done firstly formed a connection between two human bubble worlds that had never been there before. second, he had disrupted the latent energy of the shield, causing its stabilization of the situation to falter. and thirdly, because of these two factors, the attempt of the demon worlds to fuse their bubbles with the human bubbles, which had been paused for a very long time, had suddenly sped back up once again.

    so when leonel said he had let all hell break loose, he might have even been a little too humble.

    right this moment, what must have been at least half a dozen bubbles were being forcefully pressed together and would soon merge into a whole new complete world.

    and it was all because of him.

    another snort sounded.

    okay, all because of him, aina, and anastasia.

    "there." anastasia suddenly said.

    leonel grinned, diving forward and just barely sliding past two boulders that quickly smashed against one another.

    he saw a demon in the distance running for their life, but he sped right by them, not even giving them a second glance.

    he found a seemingly ordinary location that was a little bit too stable given the chaos in the other regions.

    "please open it for me, anastasia."

    another snort resounded, but he eventually felt the world being pried open.

    this was his second goal, to use the commotion as an excuse to enter another world outside of mo''''lexi''s where it would be easier for him to blend in. in fact, he might not have to hide his identity at all depending on how things went, but it would all depend.

    ''it''s time to find out who''s on the other side of those domain rings.''

    leonel''s gaze sharpened as he jumped through.

    there was only one other world that anastasia could find so quickly, and that was the world that she had formed the connection with in the first place, the world that gave power to the domain rings.

    ...

    the commotion that leonel had caused could only be said to be devastating, but the most shocking part of it wasn''t what it did to the world, but rather all of those crates.

    one after another, under the rampage of anarchic force, the worlds were split open and the crates that leonel couldn''t even manage to dent were destroyed one after another.

 Chapter 2410 Greater Good

    chapter 2410 greater good

    mo''''lexi''s head snapped up, her expression changing.

    "no-!"

    it was too late.

    the center of the explosion was none other than the room that held the portal, and the backlash was devastating.

    space itself was worn and torn apart. there was nothing calm and tranquil about two worlds fusing together, let alone more than a half dozen. n-)o--v--e-/l(-b).i-/n

    while lives away from the edges of these worlds would be mostly preserved, those so close to the edge as was in this case, would find themselves teetering on the blade of life and death.

    mo''''lexi could only watch in shock and horror as the crates that had been so diligently worked on, combining countless centuries of resources from the cult, were unceremoniously shredded to pieces.

    alastar was blown away, as was aina''s clone, but it was like mo''''lexi had lost her soul.

    how could this happen? according to their calculations, there were still several more months before the demons could map out the in-between worlds, and several more years after that before the seal''s lingering energy would truly collapse.

    whether it was one or the other, there was time, so much time...

    she stood in a daze, the tears in reality unable to harm her, at least not at this level.

    suddenly, the situation just felt... hopeless.

    ...

    leonel entered the portal and found a huge commotion on the other sides.

    the first thing he spotted were the skies. after so many weeks in the hangar, where the only "breathing" room he got was in the dark trenches of the in-between world, he felt like he could finally take a breath.

    he had never thought himself to be one who pined for the sun so much, but it seemed that anyone could become claustrophobic when their freedom was being restricted.

    the next thing he noticed were the enormous stone platforms.

    these platforms clearly had defined grooves and complex mix and matches of various ores that formed a very delicate balance... at least they did before the storm of energy shredded them all to pieces.

    leonel had a feeling that this was another piece of the puzzle, a part of the human race''s plans to turn them into convenient farm animals. it felt good to see them blasted apart, but while everyone was running around like headless chickens, he grinned.

    he had all this crafting skill and nowhere to expel it all because the resources he had on hand were all of an incomplete world standard.

    in his time since coming back to these complete worlds, he noticed a lot of things that he had entirely missed in the past. for example, it wasn''t just the worlds here that were complete, but even the forces as well.

    it was why when he first stepped into the cataclysm zone, it had felt like both an eighth dimensional world, and yet not at the same time.

    if leonel had to make a guess, he would assume that if there was a ranking of bubble worlds, the human bubbles would be nearer the bottom. however, because the forces were more whole and complete than leonel was used to, it had still felt to him like an exceptionally high level world.

    regardless, he felt that anastasia would probably know about this. he''d have to remember to ask her later.

    the point was that since the forces were more complete, so were the resources born from them such as force herbs and ores. even the weight of a grade was worth more here than elsewhere.

    in fact, if leonel was correct, this was likely true across worlds. meaning, a black grade treasure that came from el''rion''s world might be stronger than even a life grade treasure that came from here.

    as he thought, his steps never stopped. he unceremoniously stored away large pieces of flying rubble as he scanned the region, trying to get an understanding of what was going on.

    in just a few seconds, he had already stashed mountains worth of these precious resources. thinking about all the things he could create with these alone, he felt like he was floating on a cloud.

    this wasn''t because of the resources themselves, per se, but rather because he felt like he was finally gaining a bit of control over his life back.

    he might have realized that maybe being a king wasn''t the path for him, but one mainstay of that process remained...

    he still hated to kneel.

    leonel''s figure flashed behind a large falling piece of rubble, his gaze sharpening. he felt that someone was coming over in an attempt to control the situation.

    the current region was pretty much filled with people on the same level as bogrum and those other two. they should have had positions similar to leonel''s role in the hangar. the rest of them were participants from incomplete worlds that leonel recognized. that meant that whoever was coming should have a role similar to mo''''lexi''s.

    out from one frying pan and into another, but he had been ready for this.

    in this volatile environment, the control these experts had over the dream realm was limited, so he had more control over using it. at the same time, even if he was found... so what? he could just say that mo''''lexi had sent him into the in-between world, and when everything started to break down, this was the only place he could escape to.

    he had options, and he liked options.

    leonel''s senses swept over. as a dream sovereign, he was far less affected than everyone else, but in the end, he restrained himself, communicating with anastasia.

    this wasn''t the time for him to get cocky.

    "i''ll need you to be my eyes and ears, anastasia."

    leonel didn''t get a response, but he knew that she would listen. soon, a stream of energy about the surroundings began to enter his mind.

    he was overwhelmed at first, but anastasia pulled back until he was able to bear it quite easily.

    anastasia was able to scan an entire incomplete world in just a few seconds. her senses were obviously far beyond leonel''s own.

    leonel saw the one who was approaching and his eyes narrowed.

    it was vivak godlen.

    while he was out, leonel hadn''t been able to listen in on the conversation of the so-called "gods", but anastasia had. she had heard enough to know this man was of the godlen family.

    ''so it was the godlens, huh?'' leonel thought to himself, then remembered his grandfather''s words.

    the godlens were aligned with the greater good?

    no... his grandfather''s exact words had been.

    ''the godlens are the most aligned with goals that you might describe as... the greater good.''

    what did those words mean? why the hesitation? and how could they be good if they were part of these plans as well? how could they be good if they hid corruption within their lineage factors?

 Chapter 2411 Second Round

    chapter 2411 second round

    leonel still didn''t know what that meant, even now. but he was also thinking about it harder than he would have in the past now that he knew the godlens had such sinister intentions.

    did his grandfather just not know about the domain rings'' secrets? that wasn''t impossible, it wasn''t like emperor fawkes had to be infallible. he was human too, he was allowed to make mistakes.

    just as leonel was thinking, he heard vivak begin to bark out orders, and in the corner of anastasia''s sight, or at least the furthest corner he could comfortably compute, he saw something that made him curse under his breath.

    noah and jessica.

    ''fuck.''

    leonel could see the saber domain ring on noah''s finger from here, and he didn''t have to guess very hard to understand what happened.

    the godlen''s must have used the "flaw" in the domain rings as a benefit to themselves. noah likely found the saber domain ring in the first round and had a breakthrough that caught the attention of the godlens. the reason why he hadn''t seen him when the second round began was because the godlens had already snatched him up in secret.

    now, noah was walking around with a somewhat dead look in his eyes that only lit up when he heard vivak''s command. only then did he have a burst of speed as he began to corral the large masses of rock and debris, making sure that none of them were lost in the tears in space.

    the only slight hint that he had any sort of humanity left was the fact jessica was still strapped to his back. leonel didn''t doubt that they had probably tried getting rid of her several times, but it hadn''t worked for them so they gave up. in the end, noah didn''t have enough of his faculties left to continue taking care of jessica properly, so she would likely die soon. the fact she had lasted so long in the first place was a miracle in and of itself.

    ''i have to do something.''

    leonel was constantly moving, using the large pieces of debris to hide, and taking advantage of the volatile force in the air to escape from an internal sight sweep.

    in this sort of environment, the only ones that could still use senses other than their eyes to see things were those with life state dream or soul force, and leonel had already concluded that maybe the only one at that level in the entire human alliance was probably king, but his father had killed him.

    leonel continued to store away large amounts of resources without anyone knowing. by the end of it, he had so many that he could probably build his own little asteroid with them and float off into space on a cloud, but he knew he couldn''t.

    he sighed inwardly. there was no way he was leaving his cousin behind.

    at that moment, leonel''s calm face became "panicked" and he "flew out" from a crack in space.

    vivak''s expression changed as he looked over, only to find that leonel was speeding head first into a large piece of debris that would probably shatter his body into pieces.

    vivak could save him, but at that same moment he saw another important piece about to fly into a spatial tear. he decisively gave up on leonel even though he was curious about the latter and immediately corralled this piece into his control, pulling it down from the air.

    when he looked back, expecting to see leonel become a piece of earth, his eyes widened in shock.

    a bead of golden spear force came from leonel''s fingers, tapping against the stone as he spun out of the way.

    ''spear sovereignty!''

    he looked at leonel''s finger and noticed there was a spear domain ring there and he was even more shocked.

    how had they failed to bring him in?

    they had only managed to get a return of two people when they activated their hidden plan. of course, this didn''t include jessica, but it was rather noah and one other person who wasn''t currently present because he was less of a hassle to deal with.

    noah held onto an obsession related to that woman on his back, so they could only allow her to die naturally so that they could continue with their plans. they wanted to be more forceful about it, but with how fragile the matter was, it was impossible.

    but now, this boy had suddenly come out and he was a sovereign as well. so how had they missed him?

    ''could he have comprehended it after the call? no, we would have still sensed it anyway. then...''

    vivak''s gaze flashed as he corralled the last large piece of the formation.

    "everyone retreat! this is a dead zone."

    vivak''s speed flashed and leonel couldn''t even react as he was picked up by the scruff of his collar along with noah. n(/ovelbin

    he could only sigh toward the situation. being treated like a little kitten who had done wrong did not make him happy at all, but what could he do? this was what he got for being too weak.

    he had never really experienced this sort of helplessness before. of course, he had been weak before, and he had even been forced to watch as others died before him, but this constant and perpetual impugnment on his own self-sovereignty was beginning to make him angry.

    he took a breath and calmed himself. he would play these people to death one by one. he would definitely get the last laugh.

    minutes later, leonel was put down beside noah and pretended to be disoriented.

    "who?! where!?"

    he looked around, his eyes widening when he saw vivak.

    "ah, sir god!"

    vivak''s lip twitched. this young man was a little too eager, but none of it mattered.

    "you, how are you here? didn''t mo-"

    the man paused, not wanting a round two of a previous situation.

    leonel smirked inwardly. that had worked once on him, it wouldn''t work again. but that was just fine, at least he didn''t have to pretend to be a dull mute for another few hours.

    in the end, he explained with the previous reasoning he had already thought up.

    it seemed it was time for a second round of games to begin.

 Chapter 2412 Impossible

    chapter 2412 impossible

    "-so you were thrown into the in-between worlds to collect demons for the juniors, and this happened while you were inside?" vivak''s gaze narrowed. "you''re quite... lucky."

    leonel laughed, scratching the back of his head. "my dream force is quite good and my reaction speed is excellent. plus, i was lucky enough to find a spatial tear out and took my chances."

    vivak nodded slowly. leonel''s dream force was indeed powerful, abnormally so. it should also explain why he managed to become a spear sovereign.

    ''a destruction sovereign and a spear sovereign in the same body. he''s exactly the kind of specimen we were hoping for... no, he''s more than we could have ever hoped for. but that doesn''t explain why we didn''t sense him.''

    "your spear dom-"

    "ah! noah!"

    leonel''s eyes opened wide as though this was the first time he noticed his cousin by his side.

    noah was a bit sluggish to react, but he looked at leonel with a dull gaze before nodding lightly.

    "oh... hello, leonel."

    he nodded and then lowered his head to the floor.

    leonel blinked in "confusion," before he pursed his lips and pretended to be peeved by noah''s reaction.

    "we''re cousins and you still act like this every time you see me? is it that big of a deal that i was named crown prince and you weren''t? you even went and changed your last name." nove/lb(1n

    the nonsense flew out from leonel''s mouth with a practiced ease.

    he had thought about pretending not to know noah at all, but he tossed that idea to the back.

    for one, he didn''t know how much information these people had about him. if he pretended not to know noah, and then they found out that they were cousins, then wouldn''t he be shooting himself in the foot?

    but this was a perfect compromise. it gave him a reason to expose their relationship without appearing to be too close to him.

    plus, if they investigated, they would find that he and noah were indeed not that close. though, their relationship also couldn''t be said to be bad either.

    what leonel really needed was an excuse to help jessica out. he couldn''t let her die just like that. if noah ever snapped out of it and found out what happened, he would never forgive himself.

    "cousins?" vivak''s gaze narrowed.

    "yes, my mother and his father are siblings," leonel said lightly, still a bit "annoyed."

    vivak''s eyes seemed to flash with a fierce light. this sort of thing...

    he pushed it aside for now.

    "your spear domain lineage factor, how is it?"

    "spear domain..." leonel''s eyes lit up. "... oh, you mean that. sorry, i haven''t called it that in a long time."

    vivak raised an eyebrow, "why''s that?"

    "well, everyone in my morales family calls it that, but when it awakened for me, it was different. i think it might be because i have too many lineage factors; it might have mutated."

    vivak''s brows shot up. "i see..."

    if this was true, it would explain everything. it was no wonder they didn''t sense it; this brat managed to evade them by luck.

    in truth, vivak wasn''t necessarily wrong. at the very least, the first avoidance was due to sheer luck.

    leonel never finished the bow domain lineage factor, so he didn''t suffer its corruption. and then his spear domain lineage factor fused with his metal synergy lineage factor and the midas, radix, and florer family lineage factors as well, so he was completely in the clear.

    "tell you what, leonel, is it?"

    leonel''s eyes brightened. "sir god remembered my name; i''m flattered."

    vivak chuckled; he found that he quite liked this kid.

    "how do you feel about going with me instead of molexi?"[author''s note: spelled like that on purpose]

    "ah... this..." leonel was hesitant.

    vivak observed leonel.

    he really couldn''t tell that anything leonel was doing was an act, but he still felt a hint of suspicion. it was difficult to reconcile this leonel with the leonel that boldly spoke to all of them and "demanded" to be a seeded participant.

    but then he remembered something, that beautiful young woman who was by his side.

    he was a man, so he understood. men did stupid things all the time for their women. if leonel had only acted back then to make sure that he and aina went to the same place, it would be easy to reconcile this leonel and the one of back then.

    "tell you what, i''ll even contact molexi about bringing your little lover over too."

    when leonel heard this, his face sank, and tears began to pool in his eyes.

    vivak understood immediately. something must have happened to that little girl. grasping this weakness, he changed his tactics immediately.

    "i won''t ask you what happened, young man, but i can tell you that in this world, power is everything. if you want to seek revenge, all you can do is make yourself as strong as possible.

    "the three finger cult only treated you as half a seeded participant, even making you run errands for them. but i''ll take it upon myself to give you full rights as a seeded participant so long as you comply with some experiments my family scientists will hold.

    "you will grow far stronger under my wing as opposed to theirs."

    when leonel heard this, he looked toward vivak with his red eyes.

    "thank you. i accept," he spoke through gritted teeth.

    ...

    it wasn''t long before leonel and noah were escorted out of the region of destruction. leonel even got his own room and board, and it was semi-luxurious at that.

    he sat onto his bed, his gaze flickering.

    he was really playing with fire right now, but what else could he do? he wondered what kind of experiments they would try to run on him?

    regardless, there was one thing vivak said that was correct. he had to get stronger.

    he had stalled their preparations, and soon the fusion of the worlds would be complete and these higher ups would be entirely occupied by fighting off the armies of the demons. it would be all hands on deck.

    he felt that it would at most be half a month before the worlds stabilized and there would be a full-scale, all-out war.

    in that time, he had to finish his father''s first three tasks.

    even if they were impossible, he had to make them possible.

 Chapter 2413 Underestimated

    chapter 2413 underestimated

    leonel took a breath, and his mind sharpened.

    he focused his attention. there were two things he had to do before he could start building his nodes again, that being raising all of his forces to the impetus state and comprehending the constellation within him.

    thanks to mo''''lexi, his scarlet star force had risen to the impetus state, and his destruction sovereignty had taken a huge leap forward. if not for the fact he was stuck in a third dimensional body, he would be a true force to be reckoned with.

    his dream force was already in the lower impetus state, his vital star force was also there, his weapon forces were in the middle impetus state, and they were actually his strongest forces currently.

    this only left two targets.

    he had to raise his dark force to the impetus state along with his emulation spatial force.

    leonel hesitated. there was a hidden third thing he had to do, and that was an unspoken requirement of his father''s list... nove/lb(1n

    that was to confirm his path. every force he brought to the impetus state was like another confirmation of the path he was headed down.

    right now, all of his innate nodes were in a dormant state. he had already figured out that this was because he had yet to activate his nodes yet. he was in a similar state to before he had created even his first node back in the joan zone.

    did that mean that if he wanted to abandon his innate nodes, this would be the best time to do so? should he consider abandoning emulation spatial force entirely?

    he was hesitating.

    emulation spatial force wasn''t a pure spatial force; it was mixed with dream force. it allowed him a method of projecting his dream force out of his body, something his ability index didn''t allow alone.

    but much like el''rion had said, there was definitely a price to pay for taking the innate nodes of others. in fact, there was even a price to pay for having your own innate nodes as well.

    so should he move forward with it? or not?

    leonel made his decision. ''i will keep it.''

    for one, there was no guarantee that if he got rid of the innate node right now, that it wouldn''t still impact him.

    he believed his grandfather had used an ingenious method to return him to the third dimension, but he highly doubted that that method was absolutely perfect, or else everyone wouldn''t see him as being in the fifth dimension.

    second, he felt that emulation spatial force was an excellent conduit for his current path of dream force. if he wanted to use king alexandre''s ability index to its fullest degree, this might be a key cog.

    ''okay, then these are the last two. dark force. emulation spatial force.''

    of the two, they were closer than he thought.

    thanks to him raising his scarlet star force and void star force simultaneously at one point, his dark force was already at the fourth layer, a step from the impetus state.

    his emulation spatial force was at the third layer, two steps from the impetus state.

    leonel''s thoughts went back to that feeling that he had gotten when he entered the dream plane. he felt that comprehending his own forces had never been easier, even in that brief instant.

    after thinking for a while, he had an idea. anastasia was right; he tried to do everything alone too often.

    "how do i avoid the suppression of other dream forces?"

    mo''''lexi wasn''t in the life state, but her impetus state dream force was stronger than his own. as such, she was able to create a domain around her that disallowed others from slipping into the dream plane. he had almost exposed himself when he made the attempt.

    he doubted that vivak was also some dream force master, but he knew that there were other ways to protect against dream force. plus, the godlen family was a strong enough crafting family that they created the domain rings; how could they not have some dream force experts too even if they were weaker than mo''''lexi?

    due to this, he was stuck. he couldn''t enter that wonderful feeling again, not here, not if he didn''t do something first.

    "idiot," anastasia''s voice came before velasco''s ai could respond. "you have me, don''t you? their suppression can''t reach me. you want to observe your own forces from the dream plane, right? there''s no better place to do that than in the segmented cube."

    leonel felt like he had been struck by lightning. indeed, why didn''t think of that?

    ultimately, he knew why. he treated anastasia like a chubby-faced annoying older sister, not what she truly was: a world spirit. he was carrying his own independent world around with him; it was time he started acting like it.

    leonel stood. "okay, i will go to the library vivak mentioned and use it as a convenient method to check on noah. aina, can you please use my blood to create a clone of me?"

    a snort echoed in leonel''s ears, and he smiled bitterly. it seemed that he still wasn''t forgiven.

    he gripped his fists. soon, he would be strong enough that he''d never have to put her through that again.

    without a word, he left his room and strolled forward. when anastasia told him the coast was clear, he slipped into noah''s room.

    when vivak was here, leonel had pretended not to care about where noah was going, making the matter less suspicious. but he had had anastasia keep an eye out. luckily, to keep up appearances, noah also received his own room along with jessica.

    looking at his dull reaction to his sudden entry, leonel shook his head.

    "what do you think, anastasia? can i free him?"

    leonel knew a lot about the corruption, enough to know that it was still beyond him to deal with. that was why he had to go through all that effort in the first place.

    now that it was activated, it might be even more of a headache to untangle.

    but to his surprise, after a while, noah''s dull eyes suddenly sharpened.

    "leo, you''re here?"

    leonel blinked then he grinned like a madman. it seemed he had underestimated this cousin of his a bit too much.

 Chapter 2414 Tell You

    chapter 2414 tell you

    leonel was more than a little bit pleasantly surprised. although it was unfortunate that he had allowed himself to be caught for noah''s sake, there wasn''t much he could do to change that. it wasn''t like noah could snap out of it in front of vivak and tell him to run. if that happened, they would have both been screwed.

    that aside, this wasn''t the end of the world either. if he could take proper advantage of the godlen family, he could likely advance faster than if he was on his own anyway. in a way, being here was much safer than just being out and about in the wider world.

    at least here, vivak and experts like him could be used as a buffer while leonel worked in the background to improve his position.

    "that''s a relief. it seems i thought too much, it''s good you''re doing fine."

    noah smiled a bit bitterly when he heard this. he was doing fine, but jessica...

    he hadn''t been ignoring jessica all this time, it was just that he couldn''t do much about her. he didn''t have any healing abilities and all of his attempts to help her ended quite awkwardly. he had a hard time feeding her, he was a bit embarrassed to bathe her, and he was careful with how he moved her around to an almost anal degree.

    back then, when vivak had just grabbed them and run, it took everything within him to not snap.

    leonel looked at jessica and then brought aina out.

    "can you do something about her?" leonel asked.

    aina ignored leonel, clearly still a bit angry. she turned her focus entirely on jessica.

    it was harder for her to target her pills toward others. her clairvoyance was perfect for her, but much like her healing abilities, it only worked on herself and no one else.

    that said, she did still have great skill as a force pill crafter regardless. if it was just a task to create a general purpose healing pill, it wasn''t too complicated at all.

    jessica was still in the seventh dimension and was at the standards of the incomplete world. she wasn''t hard to heal at all.

    aina nodded after a moment and then disappeared. a few minutes later, a pill appeared in leonel''s hands.

    "it should dissolve easily enough in her mouth. you can also press it into any open wound if you''re worried about her choking. so long as it makes contact with her blood, you should be fine."

    noah took the pill, his green eyes filled with endless gratitude. but just when he was going to feed the force pill to jessica, he hesitated.

    if jessica suddenly became perfectly healthy, wouldn''t they be exposed? the idea of leaving her in this state on purpose ripped his heart out, but if they were exposed, wouldn''t they all die? by then, let alone pain, they would simply cease to be.

    "don''t worry about it. aina controlled the efficacy of the force pill so that its main property would be sustaining her life. once she''s recovered enough, we can draw her blood and create a realistic clone of her to act injured on her behalf. then, i can place her into the segmented cube where she''ll be safe."

    noah didn''t know what to say. "... thank you."

    "no need to thank me, we''re all family, aren''t we?"

    leonel''s grin made noah''s heart skip a beat. leonel seemed to have changed. this leonel was much more like the leonel he had first met. well... the leonel that wasn''t enraged about him fighting aina, that is.

    after nodding firmly, noah fed the pill to jessica. almost immediately, he could sense her situation stabilize and a weighted stone on his heart finally fell.

    over the next week or so, she would slowly begin to heal. after that, she should be strong enough for them to draw some blood for aina to create a blood clone. then he wouldn''t have to carry her around like this.

    finally, the two men got serious.

    "what''s your goal?" noah asked.

    "get stronger and then escape," leonel replied seriously.

    "is that all?"

    "well, not really. but due to the circumstances, there''s not much else i can explain to you."

    "is it because of the dream plane?"

    leonel''s brows raised. he didn''t expect noah to mention this.

    "yes, you could say that." leonel eventually nodded.

    "i understand. i''ve thought of a method to deal with it. that dull state i was in previously was triggered by the domain ring, i think, or maybe the changes its lineage factor caused to my body.

    "i could feel it taking over my mind, and that was when i learned about the dream plane. i managed to awaken an ability of the emperor''s might lineage factor that allowed me to hole my mind up. unfortunately, it''s at the weakest level right now, so that''s why i can''t keep my faculties. but this ended up being a blessing in disguise because that dullness is exactly what they were expecting."

    leonel''s gaze sharpened. it seemed that he had neglected something.

    when he got the emperor''s might tablet, there was a whole store of techniques. other than a handful of the first few, he had skipped all the ones in the middle and jumped right to the three strongest techniques: breathe, assimilate, and arise.

    all this time, he had been focused on gathering more merits so that he might find a technique in the silver tablet so that he could protect his mind more easily, when he had a perfect method with him already. nove.lb)1n

    noah managed to stumble into the method by accident, likely because he had the pure emperor''s might lineage factor while leonel had a mutated version. but even so, this was a big deal.

    "i see, then i''ll tell you some things..." leonel began to speak, explaining the zone farming plan to noah.

    noah''s expression was serious the entire time despite the shock in his heart. not only was he in shock toward the real goal of these humans'' powers, but also that leonel had actually managed to figure all of this out on his own.

 Chapter 2415 Sneer

    chapter 2415 sneer

    "... i''ve managed to stall their plans quite considerably, and if i''m correct, i highly doubt they could get it back up and running without at least several more years. in addition, that should only be if they could focus their full attention on it. with the demons coming, i doubt they''ll have the luxury of planning something so big.

    "things are relatively calm now, but they''ll be crushed under the weight of battle after battle soon enough. when that time comes, they''ll really have no choice but to use us as normal warriors for the time being, likely while they collect the corpses of the dead for the future."

    "this was all caused by you?!" noah''s eyes widened in shock.

    "ah," leonel waved a hand, "just a little."

    noah was speechless. this man had single-handedly ruined everything for these powers and they probably still didn''t know that they had been played. worst yet, he had just been invited by one of them to benefit from their resources on top of that.

    two snorts echoed in leonel''s ears, causing him to rub his nose.

    "that aside, before i knew you were fine, my plan was just to save you. the second thing was to understand what the godlen family wanted to do with the domain rings. now that i have you here, though, what experiments are they running?" leonel asked.

    noah frowned. "it''s hard to remember clearly when i''m in that state, but i''ve been trying to improve my retention as well. i think that their original intention was to separate my mind from the dream plane.

    "although it''s also a method of control, i think they also wanted to hide me and amery."

    "amery is the other?" leonel asked.

    "yes, he is the other." noah confirmed. "as for the experiments, it seems that their focus is on the mind and the soul. i believe they''re looking to perfect the domain lineage factor, not just giving one an innate ability to use spear force, but a step beyond to use sovereign spear force."

    leonel nodded slowly before he heard a snort echo in his ears again.

    it seemed that the two women in his life right now couldn''t use their big girl words, so this was about the only warning he would get out of them. it was likely that there was someone coming soon, so he should be on his way.

    "someone is coming. we can try and discuss this again later. let me know if you have any ideas," leonel spoke as he opened the door a crack and slipped out, unbeknownst to anyone but noah himself.

    noah sighed. with a shake of his head, his gaze slowly turned dull as his room door was opened once again.

    a woman who was just a few years shy of her middle-aged rushed in. she wore what should have been a lab coat, or what these bubbles took as their own spin on the concept. though the long coat was white, it was also embroidered with countless runes that formed a force art spanning the whole fabric. it made what was once a white coat radiate more like a steely blue.

    she unceremoniously stepped forward, grabbed noah by the tricep, and then pulled him out of the room.

    ...

    leonel watched this from a distance down the hall silently. he took mental note of the woman and then flickered and vanished, rushing toward the godlen family library. he didn''t have time to waste.

    as he did so, he was mindful of a number of things as well. the godlens were one of the families he had had conflict with in the dimensional verse. it would be hard to say what would happen if he ran into simona, or her mother, or that annoying old man who didn''t know better than to keep his father''s name out of his mouth.

    however, he also couldn''t just hole himself up either. he quickly thought of some countermeasures to deal with him as he slipped into the library.

    he displayed a token that vivak had given him and was granted access.

    ''it seems that there are likely very few people that know about the situation with the incomplete worlds. that''s probably why only the elite of the elites appeared during the "second round". in that case, they probably treat me like i''m any other disciple, which was why they gave me so much freedom.

    ''i''ll have to be more cautious, though.''

    leonel was sharp. when he went to noah''s room, he had left his token there. he wouldn''t be surprised if it had a tracking function of sorts, but he didn''t try to tamper with it in case there were measures against that as well.

    he quickly found a book on exactly what he was looking for.

    it was titled [universal forces: a comprehensive breakdown].

    the title couldn''t have been simpler and it was very much beginner-friendly.

    truth be told, leonel didn''t know how much of these books to trust. these human powers had turned everything into an opportunity to suppress the masses and pass down their own teachings. they had even changed the name of the dimensions so that their underlings wouldn''t understand the importance of those words.

    however, leonel had a facade to keep up. if he was suddenly given a wealth of knowledge, and yet didn''t use it, wouldn''t they be suspicious?

    it was only for a moment. while he was "reading" this book, he was consulting his father''s words, trying to understand more about it.

    ultimately, he came to an odd conclusion.

    ''if i use [caged body: chained soul], it''ll give me a stronger grasp over my body and i''ll be able to sense the constellation within me easier as well. if i match that with a trip to the dream plane, i should be able to sense and comprehend the constellation as clear as day.

    ''that makes my path to understanding the constellation clear, but what about my two remaining forces...''

    leonel''s eyes narrowed and he decided to go over something he almost never did: techniques.

    he had spent quite a long time in this world of battle and blood, but the number of techniques he had learned could be counted on two hands, and most of them were self-created at that.

    it was a neglected aspect of his combat prowess, if he was honest. but he wasn''t looking to bolster his strength right now.

    if there was one thing that these powers couldn''t hide, it was the intricacies hidden within their techniques. if they stripped those techniques of even that, then they wouldn''t just be gaining control, they would be crippling themselves. nove-lb.in

    he didn''t have enough contributions to spend on the techniques in the silver tablet, so this was the best he could do.

    "you-!"

    a voice made leonel''s eyes narrow and he looked up to find simona and a young man about 15 or so meters from his seated position.

    ''what an annoyance,'' leonel thought to himself.

    the problem with running into simona wasn''t her strength, the problem was having someone here who was intimately familiar with his true self. it would make fooling these people hundreds of times more annoying.

    that said... he could use this as well.

    leonel sneered inwardly.

 Chapter 2416 Triple It

    chapter 2416 triple it

    leonel didn''t say anything and only gave simona a cursory glance before continuing to "read" what was before him. this, unsurprisingly, caused simona to be agitated. she was usually a calm person, but everything leonel did seemed to throw her off that steady rhythm.

    the young man by her side was familiar to leonel, he was the very same young man who used that black flaming lion during the heir wars. leonel had never bothered to learn his name, but it was still of some interest that he was here.

    leonel couldn''t help but wonder how much the godlen family and the other powers had personally taken out of the dimensional verse or the other universes.

    seeing that leonel was planning on directly ignoring her, simona clenched her teeth before taking a breath to calm down. then, she turned and directly left, the young man giving leonel a glance before following after her soon afterward.

    leonel didn''t need to look up to know that simona was entering a higher level of the library than he had access to. he didn''t mind this, what he was more so paying attention to was that she could. that meant that her father''s standing wasn''t very weak. in fact, he had never met her father before. for all he knew, vivak was precisely him.

    ''i''ll need to find a way to sneak into those higher-tiered rooms. i think i can manage it.''

    anastasia scanned the force arts protecting these things. it was clear to him that everything worked based on the token he was given. he didn''t have the confidence to tamper with it himself, but he felt that maybe he could trust anastasia with the task.

    leonel put the book down and read another, then another. n)-ovelb1n

    these people already knew that his dream force was exceptional. if he stayed too long on one book, it would only harm him. in fact, the best use of his time would be distracting them with the thought that he was soaking in all of their knowledge.

    leonel got up after three hours and made a move.

    ...

    "father," simone''s voice called out.

    vivak looked up from his desk. there was a hint of gloominess between his brows, not because he was seeing his daughter, but rather because of all the trouble that kept piling up on his desk.

    they had lost at least 20% of the formation stele that they had labored over for decades to create. if they wanted to return it to its previous state, it would take first creating an action plan to fuse together the pieces they had, then they would have to gather the missing materials, before fixing all the damage.

    each stage could easily take years to complete, but that wasn''t even the worst part.

    mo''''lexi sent a report that she had lost at least over 60% of her prepared resources. she had by far the worst losses and it might take upwards of a decade to recover.

    to experts of their level, a decade was nothing. in fact, it was quite fast. that was because they already had all the plans ready, so they''d only be focused on gathering what they already had.

    the trouble was that they still didn''t have that kind of time.

    the only saving grace was that the godlen family had only ever been using that plan as a coverup. what vivak was so worried about wasn''t the fact it failed, but rather that now there was no buffer for them to roll out their real plans any longer.

    they were already on a tight schedule, but now it felt like they didn''t have the luxury even to take an extra breath.

    "what''s the matter, simona?"

    simona could sense her father''s displeasure with being interrupted. however, she still grit her teeth.

    "leonel morales? i thought he went with the cult?"

    "he was caught up in the whirlwind-" vivak frowned and met his daughter''s gaze. "didn''t i tell you to forget that man? but you''ve run all the way here to ask about him?"

    simona became a bit angry. "father, i''ve already told you, i have no feelings for leonel."

    vivak continued to look into simona''s violet eyes, but then nodded slowly.

    when a man''s daughter came from far away and one of the first things she didn''t was speak about another young man, how could a father''s mind not wander?

    the problem wasn''t simona falling for someone, but rather who she was falling for. that couldn''t be allowed.

    "i came here to tell you that you''ve given him too much freedom. he is very dangerous; the family will suffer if the leash on him is not tight. he is a dog that will bite back."

    hearing these words, vivak finally set his last worries at ease. it seemed he had really thought too much, and in the end, he actually chuckled, some of the shadow over his expression dissipating.

    "i''ve taken proper precautions; you don''t need to worry about that," vivak said lightly.

    simona hesitated, but she bit back her words. instead, she spoke simply.

    "father, when he was in the fifth dimension he was responsible for reversing the plot of the cult and sending us all back to the dimensional verse.

    "when he was in the sixth dimension, he entered the heir wars, and even when i escaped, he stayed behind and faced off against a planet-destroying weapon on his own and won.

    "when he was in the seventh dimension, not only did he unify the human domain on his own, he shattered the efforts of the shield cross stars, the cult, and even our own efforts in stopping him from doing so.

    "i do not know how he has returned to the fifth dimension somehow, and you might be right that he''s just been crippled. i know it''s not my place to say or try to correct father''s actions, but whatever you''ve done, please double it or triple it.

    "he is a danger to everyone."

    vivak''s smile faded.

 Chapter 2417 Follow Me

    chapter 2417 follow me

    [mind''s sanctuary].

    leonel went through the ability quickly and picked up the force art as though it was as easy as breathing. this was the very technique that noah had naturally awakened, and it was one that would protect his mind. it stopped others from easily prying into his thoughts through the dream plane and it was likewise a method that he could use in stages and tiers.

    noah had said that the only reason his expression was dull when he used this technique was that he wasn''t proficient with it. the technique at this stage was best used when going to sleep so that you could be protected even while you weren''t aware.

    but who said it didn''t have its uses?

    with his control ability index, leonel was able to fake the dull expression if he needed to, but he would have a hard time faking the dream force waves within him. this technique would help him to do that if it became necessary.

    he looked at the other techniques within the tablet, but he changed his mind after a while. he didn''t have time to delve into all of these techniques right now. the best use of his time was his constellation.

    leonel took a breath and exhaled. he sunk his mind into the deepest parts of himself and entered the dream plane.

    it was a bit difficult, but it wasn''t nearly as difficult as when he was under mo''''lexi and vivak''s influence.

    surprisingly, he saw it almost immediately. it was a valiant warrior made of stars, wielding a spear prepared to pierce through the veil of the world itself. it was a gorgeous sight.

    leonel, though, felt like it was missing something.

    he had seen the daunting auras of the shadow tail, the dusky steel bat, and the aurora black panda when he first grasped the dark side of his lineage factor. he had also seen the snowy star owl in that vision when he first awakened the light side.

    they had so much life, so much imposingness. it felt that the planets around him could be crushed with a single movement of theirs.

    ''it''s not the same, though, right?''

    leonel was a bit conflicted. somewhere in his subconscious, he felt that they carried some similarities. but logically, he felt that this was ridiculous.

    one represented a living, breathing creature, while the other was just a manifestation of a family''s pride. it was amorphous and nebulous, it had no real form, no real substance. it was meant to be a supplement, not an existence all to itself.

    what was this discomfort, then?

    ''stars...''

    star force seemed to lay the foundation for so many things. the only reason that leonel hadn''t bothered to comprehend it separately, much like he had ignored light force, was because he already had two star force-related forces that he had brought to the impetus state.

    but this...

    now that he thought about it, he could remember ever hearing of anyone using "star force." he had heard of pure light force before, pure dark force, he had heard of pure spatial force or pure dream force, but why had he never heard of pure star force?

    ''universal force?''

    it all seemed to be building up to the stars.

    the four seasons realm, then heavenly body, then natural light, then cosmos, then constellation.

    it felt like a disordered mess to him when he first learned about it.

    shouldn''t it be natural light, then four seasons, the heavenly body, then constellation, and only finally then cosmos?

    but he had been proved wrong about that and it opened up another realm of understanding for him, but even that was just surface level.

    he felt like there was something deeper, something hidden deep within-

    "leonel, someone is coming."

    leonel snapped out of his meditative state and left the segmented cube in a single step. but he frowned instantly.

    ''three days? how did three days pass? that''s impo-"

    knock. knock. knock.

    leonel got up and opened the door, finding a familiar woman wearing a lab coat waiting for him.

    ''shit, this is a problem. what happened to noah while i was out? how did three days pass so quickly? was it because i was so focused on the dream plane?''

    he didn''t blame anastasia. whatever that feeling was, it was akin to an enlightenment that was easy to hear of and yet difficult to grasp.

    another person might have been enraged by this loss, but leonel didn''t feel it to be so. with his control ability index, even if he lost that moment of enlightenment, he could perfectly replicate the series of feelings, thoughts, and emotions that had led to it.

    unfortunately, it seemed he didn''t have the time to do so.

    "you''ve been in your room for three days," the scientist lady spoke lightly.

    leonel smiled. "i didn''t even notice the time. i was digesting all the information i got from the library and three days passed in a blink, i''m kind of surprised."

    "mm," the lady said somewhat coldly. "my name is liana. you may call me head researcher."

    leonel chuckled inwardly. what an odd woman. why introduce herself if she wasn''t going to let him use her name?

    "follow me."

    leonel did as he was told, his senses on full alert. what liana didn''t notice was that a finger sleeve that was almost always with leonel had disappeared. of course, it was still there, just not visible or tangible. novж┼-lb-1n

    anastasia was using up ambient force every second to keep herself within this intangible state.

    they entered a lab, and it looked like it was plucked right out of earth and placed here.

    "please strip. everything, even your understanding. lie down on the table."

    leonel''s lip twitched. they really did want to treat him like some kind of animal.

    "in a few seconds, you will feel pressure on your mind. this is a simulation event that i put all my patients through. it will separate your mind and body and make it feel as though you''ve gained a perfect clone of yourself.

    "do not resist."

    leonel''s eyes narrowed somewhat when he heard these words.

 Chapter 2418 Needle or...

    chapter 2418 needle or...

    leonel eventually did as he was told, stripping down. his body was as vascular and ripped as it had been after he entered the fourth dimension for the first time. in fact, right now, it felt even more exaggerated. he actually found it to be a bit amusing.

    back on earth, those with a bodybuilding gene analysis used to be some of the people he looked to. he remembered that allan used to be very disappointed that he didn''t get such a designation because it was the designation his father and brothers had received as well.

    the idea of starving yourself for weeks at a time, just to get down to a few percentages of body fat, was insane to him. he loved food too much, though in an irony of ironies, he rarely ate these days.

    now, he was one of those lean fitness models. it was funny sometimes how life came full circle.

    leonel shook his head, what was he thinking about?

    he took off his pair of boxers, silently apologizing to aina.

    "i won''t let them take advantage of me," leonel sent his voice into the segmented cube, but he could tell that aina was even angrier now than she had been before, causing him to smile bitterly.

    leonel slid onto the bed as liana turned around. her gaze flickered with an odd light, but she didn''t say anything as she came back to hook leonel up.

    "hey, hey, wait. you don''t really need to put a probe down there-"

    leonel''s words were cut off as liana tried to shove a probe up his ass.

    "please unclench," liana said, pulling back with a frown on her face. just now, that clench of leonel''s had almost broken her finger.

    she was in the eighth dimension, and leonel was only in the fifth. so, she had just pressed forward, trying to get it over with swiftly as this was something her patients always complained about. truthfully, the probe wasn''t strictly necessary, but she liked the potential extra data she could receive.

    "no way," leonel shook his head.

    liana frowned. "this isn''t a choice."

    "that probe is hardly necessary. my body is in the fifth dimension, it has little to no resistance to anything. i can tell that the rest is enough-"

    "this is not for you to decide."

    "am i being forced?" leonel asked.

    just as liana was about to say yes, her words caught in her throat. she remembered her orders, and she knew that pushing the patients too far, especially when they had all their faculties about themselves like leonel, would be more of a detriment than anything else.

    eventually, she chose to take a step back.

    "no... but i''ll have to replace it with something else." liana took out a long probe. "please open your mouth."

    leonel chose to comply this time, but the feeling of a tube stretching down into your throat was the kind he didn''t want to have to experience ever again. nove)lb-in

    even then, liana wasn''t finished as she placed what looked like electrodes all over his crotch region. she had brought forward two initially, but as though she felt it wasn''t enough, she took out two more, then another two for a total of six.

    leonel could only shake his head. ''this woman is crazy.''

    "okay, please lean back and relax."

    liana moved behind a wall of curved glass that took up about a quarter of the white room. behind it, there was an array of monitors and a standing desk she stood behind.

    "i will begin on the lowest setting just to test your reflexive resistance tendencies. then we''ll move deeper and deeper."

    leonel closed his eyes, but his mind was on full alert.

    he could deduce some things from liana''s words. by reflexive resistance, she was obviously referring to whether he would fight back against the feeling or not. anyone would have some subconscious resistance to their mind being probed at.

    leonel, if he wanted, could turn his inhibitions down to zero. he had perfect control over himself. but the question was... should he?

    it was hard to make deductions when he didn''t know exactly what would happen, and in her stealth form, anastasia was limited in how much help she could give him.

    he hadn''t managed to spot any obvious force arts, and he was hesitant about using [mind sanctuary] just yet.

    ''hm... let''s dial it up... to about 10%,'' leonel decided.

    he felt an odd energy descend toward him and blanket his ethereal glabella. it was like it was wrapping the crystal in a cocoon, making it both a part of his body, and yet somehow separate at the same time.

    leonel resisted.

    bang!

    his eyes snapped open to find that a crack had appeared in the glass liana was hiding behind, and her hair even looked somewhat disheveled.

    liana pressed a hand to her chest and took a breath.

    she slowly came out from behind the glass.

    "your reflexive resistance is very high, i''ll have to feed you quite a high dose of sedatives. i wouldn''t normally want to do this as it might impede the later results, but we have no choice."

    leonel nodded. "okay."

    he wasn''t very worried about sedatives. his blood circulated through his heart and into his kidneys. once it did that, it would have to pass through his scarlet star force nodes. even though they were dormant right now, he wasn''t worried.

    "would you prefer a needle or-"

    "needle," leonel quickly said before this woman could try to shove a finger up his ass again.

    liana blinked, feeling that leonel''s reaction was odd. but she still followed through with using the needle.

    leonel heard a giggle in his ear, though it stopped quickly. he couldn''t help but grin. i knew you couldn''t stay mad at me forever.

    "we''ll go again," liana said.

    leonel''s expression became serious once again.

    he didn''t expect his 10% resistance to have such an exaggerated result, but it was still enough to know what was happening.

    these people... were quite annoying.

 Chapter 2419 All Roads

    chapter 2419 all roads

    leonel could feel what they were trying to do. noah was right about their attempts to find a method of isolating the variables that made them a sovereign and then duplicating it. but the method in which they chose to do so was quite sinister.

    ultimately, they understood that the truth was located within the soul, and they wanted to grasp this. the trouble was that the soul was almost impossible to observe for a human, namely because it was fused with the body.

    they were using a method that separated the two, and they even told leonel not to resist it. the problem was that if this method was perfectly safe, they would have used it on themselves already. unfortunately, their methods had a fatal flaw, and that was that it completely separated the soul from the body.

    this sounded like it was a positive thing. after all, wasn''t that the goal?

    the trouble was that that was only true when leonel or anyone else was explaining the matter casually. in reality, completely separating the body from the soul meant only one thing: death.

    after leonel had completely succeeded in separating his soul, there was always a lingering connection remaining. it was this lingering connection that gave him life.

    the method of the godlens would have him walking around like a zombie.

    still, these were matters that leonel had already guessed before he came here. after all, noah''s existence was an obvious red flag. the fact they pretended like he was normal told him everything he needed to know.

    no, what was truly shocking to him was something entirely different. if he had to describe it, it was like they were concentrating the vileness of the human race''s plans into a single foul action instead of a genocidal one.

    leonel couldn''t help but chuckle to himself. was this what his grandfather had meant by they had the greater good in mind?

    they were trying to isolate his soul and turn it into a rune not too dissimilar from a portion of the force arts that ryu had seen so many times in the silver tablet.

    the trouble was that it didn''t seem like the godlens had a tablet, so for all intents and purposes they were using all of this machinery to replace its function, and they were going to try and turn leonel into the core of it all.

    essentially, he was just becoming a different kind of farm animal, one they used to study and observe the path of sovereignty, so that they could hopefully replicate it.

    ''okay, i gotcha...''

    leonel turned his attention away from what was happening around him to pay attention to the serum they had injected him with. it wasn''t necessarily what they said it was either.

    it was too late for regret, not that regret would matter much. liana definitely wouldn''t have allowed him to reject the serum.

    in that case, the best option was to let them assume that they were close to succeeding, when in reality they were quite far away. then they would try to tweak the setup rather than getting rid of him entirely.

    leonel smiled bitterly. the life of the weak was truly hell.

    he didn''t know why they had suddenly tried to take the final step with him like this. according to his guesses, it would have been at least a month or two before they went so far.

    but he didn''t have to think long to understand. who else could have put her finger on the scale if not simona?

    leonel slowly "drifted" off to sleep. according to the reading liana was getting, he had entered quite a deep sleep as well.

    after a few minutes, she nodded to herself and began another round.

    the instrumentation shuddered and a soft light began to glow. it grew larger and larger until it began to pulse and vibrate.

    liana frowned. even now, it was actually struggling so much? how could the mind of a fifth dimensional existence be so powerful?

    unbeknownst to her, leonel was perfectly conscious. he had sensed the strength of the instruments before when he broke through them the first time. this time, from 10%, he lowered his inhibitions further until just about 0.13% was still active. if he was correct, this should be just enough to make it a struggle that he barely won in the end.

    of course, he didn''t believe himself to be infallible, so he was constantly paying attention, not wanting to completely fall through the cracks.

    ...

    in a separate space, there was a gathering of just two, both of whom leonel would recognize. one was vivak, and the other was matriarch pyius, simona''s mother.

    vivak had a slight frown on his expression. leonel should have been the perfect specimen, but he had ended up listening to his daughter''s words and trying to limit the potential variables by getting things over with as swiftly as possible.

    seeing things now, he felt that he had been correct to do so. why were they still unable to corral the mind of a fifth dimensional brat?

    bang!

    the sound reverberated, and though vivak''s expression didn''t change, he knew what happened. they had failed.

    vivak stood in silence as he watched liana duck for cover. n./o.(v-)e-/l/(b-.1/.n

    "i''ve said that i don''t believe he''s the best tool to use for this job," matriarch pyius spoke lightly. "his soul is tainted with destruction sovereignty. it''s hard enough to isolate one variable without having to worry about others."

    "i understand. i mostly pressed forward because of simona''s warning."

    "you believe him to be a danger as well?"

    "i believe that in these moments, any variables can ruin everything. something that can''t be controlled isn''t worth having around. since we can''t take his soul, it''s best to just directly kill him and store what remains."

    matriarch pyius fell into silence for a long while before she replied.

    "how do you want to do it?"

    vivak''s eyes narrowed.

    "i want to see what this child is hiding first. i feel that the more i think about simona''s words, the odder he is..."

    after some thought, he spoke again.

    "use him as a sparring partner for the young. they don''t need to hold back. when someone is forced into a corner, they''ll reveal their true colors."

    "and then what?"

    "if his true colors are as simona says, then we''ll kill him. if they''re not, we''ll see if liana can improve her methods and then try this again. if she cannot, then we''ll kill him."

    the matriarch''s gaze flickered. it seemed that her husband had decided. one way or another, all paths led to death.

 Chapter 2420 HeтАЩs Dead

    chapter 2420 he''s dead

    leonel found himself sitting in a room. though, this sort of description was far too neutral, and maybe even positive, for where it really was.

    it might as well have been a dungeon. there were no chains around his wrists and ankles, but it was effectively the same.

    he had simply been told to wait here, in this dingy room, while something was prepared for him. he was also told that he would have to be here for a few weeks depending on his performance. as for what his task was, he was apparently meant to be a sparring partner for the youths of the godlen family.

    well, honestly, this was just leonel''s translation. in reality, this was introduced to him as a training opportunity. he was also told that he would have to do his best to protect his life, or he might lose it.

    toward this explanation, leonel could only chuckle.

    well, it seemed that simona had brought him more trouble than he gave her credit for. what should have been a few weeks buffer became a steaming hot pan of frying oil.

    the more the situation was like this, though, leonel found himself becoming calmer and calmer. if it wasn''t because he was still worried about his cousin and jessica, he might have already entered a perfect state of tranquility.

    why a sparring arena instead of just directly trying to kill him? wasn''t it obvious? they wanted to see the real leonel.

    they had even sent him here with the serum still running through his veins. they were clearly hoping that it would lower his inhibitions enough that he would display his true feelings outwardly.

    leonel took note of all of this silently as the doors to the dungeon, that wasn''t a dungeon, that was definitely a dungeon finally opened.

    he stood without a word and stepped out.

    the arena was quite empty, as one might expect from one set aside for a sparring session. the only individuals present were simona, the young man that always followed her around, and three others that leonel didn''t recognize.

    "primrose, you''ll go first," the young man by simona said. "remember that this is supposed to simulate real-life combat."

    primrose''s figure flickered and vanished, appearing 20 or so meters away from leonel. the sand and dirt in the arena kicked up before settling down slowly.

    primrose''s head tilted to the side, observing leonel.

    "he looked a bit slow," she mumbled.

    primrose looked like a little girl in a woman''s body. it wasn''t that this was the case literally, but rather that her face was far too overly innocent. it was like a fairy tale princess had come to life.

    her personality, though, wasn''t quite the same. at the very least, she didn''t flinch at the scent of blood and sweat that hung in the air, nor did she seem squeamish about battling leonel.

    leonel looked up and met her gaze. at the moment, he seemed to have just rolled out of bed. he wasn''t wearing a shirt and his pants were loose-fitting, barely hanging from his waist.

    his mind, however, was as sharp as it could be.

    what to do in this situation?

    ''seventh dimension. tier 6? ah, does it matter? she''s strong. probably stronger than any of the ancestors of a dimensional verse by a decent margin. what a farce.''

    he didn''t know who thought of this "brilliant" plan, but what did they think they were going to get out of sending a seventh dimensional genius after someone in the fifth dimension like him?

    "begin," the young man said coldly.

    primrose pouted, but at that moment, a beast seemed to manifest from nowhere. it lunged forward, attacking viciously.

    leonel barely had time to register that it was some sort of panther beast before he sighed.

    bang!

    leonel went flying. his chest exploded into a rain of blood and gore, and his bones were all shattered.

    when he collided with the wall of the arena, the back of his skull was violently ripped apart in an even worse mess.

    primrose froze, as did all the other geniuses.

    what the hell just happened? he was dead? just like that?

    ...

    in a separate space, vivak''s frown deepened. n)-0velbin

    that was it? his gaze was sharp, he had the strength of a ninth dimension behemoth, and he wasn''t the kind of person that could be fooled easily.

    it made perfect sense. leonel was in the fifth dimension. what else could possibly happen when he fought someone in the seventh?

    everything, even down to that helpless sigh leonel released in that final moment, sounded like someone that had resigned to his fate.

    ...

    "unbelievable. you two had us all come down here for this? those incomplete world pieces of trash couldn''t handle even a single strike before, even that cunt who called himself an alpha was almost ripped to shreds. what was someone in the fifth dimension going to do?"

    a young man named oryan was completely disgusted by the situation; he felt that he had lost valuable training time on this.

    primrose, down below, called her beast back. despite her cute appearance, she didn''t even blink when leonel went down.

    shaking her head, she agreed with the young man above. this really was a waste of their time.

    ...

    a long while later, liana came forward with a team of three men.

    "be careful. don''t miss a single drop of his blood. if it''s soaked into the sand, i want it all. put it in a separate container if you can. try to keep him together as much as you can, i''ll do the dissecting later."

    leonel''s remains were brought to a new lab, one different from the original one he was brought to in the first place, before he was placed in a special container with all of his remains carefully shelved around him.

    ''well,'' leonel thought, ''at least this is better than being eaten alive. right? right? right.''

    leonel groaned inwardly. this pain sucked.

    ''focus. now, how do i get out of here? and what do i do about noah?''

    ...

    as leonel was having these thoughts, a meeting of the higher-ups was called once again. vivak and mo''''lexi were caught off guard because it was about a young man they were both quite familiar with.

    imperatress anselma appeared before them, her face somewhat pale. it was clear her injuries were still quite severe, even her makeup could do nothing to hide it.

    "i''m contacting you all about a young man who calls himself leonel morales. i would have informed you all about this ahead of time, but i didn''t believe that he would actually participate."

    anselma and many of the others familiar with leonel thought that he might do everything in his power to avoid taking part in the selection, they even had contingencies to deal with it. they never thought that he would actually just jump headfirst into the fiery pits, and that was surprisingly what saved him... potentially.

    as for why it was just potentially, that was because despite their efforts, they couldn''t seem to find a pathway into the dimensional verse any longer.

    "this is a matter of utmost importance. according to our intelligence, he snatched the emperor''s might golden tablet during a trial that we held. even to this day, we aren''t sure of how he did it, but we need that tablet back.

    "mo''''lexi, i''ve heard that he was taken under your wind. where is he?"

    anselma had entirely changed the true reason the four great families were looking for leonel, but it didn''t matter to her. as far as she was concerned, this question was good enough.

    "he''s dead."

    mo''''lexi and vivak spoke simultaneously.

 Chapter 2421 See it

    chapter 2421 see it

    the two powerhouses looked toward one another. of them, mo''''lexi was the only one confused as to why the other would speak for her, and vivak was already prepared to explain. what vivak didn''t expect, though, was that mo''''lexi''s gaze would turn almost fiery when he spoke.

    "sent him into the in-between world? i mean, i did do that, but he had already exited by the time the incident was triggered. he was actually quite close to the center of the explosions, so when i didn''t find him afterward, i thought he had died."

    vivak''s gaze narrowed. that was definitely not how leonel had described it. leonel had said he had been in the in-between world at the time and was lucky enough to escape. but if what mo''''lexi said was true, didn''t that mean that leonel had lied to him?

    it wasn''t that leonel hadn''t thought of the possibility of mo''''lexi and vivak exchanging information, but he had chosen to lie anyway for a couple of reasons.

    first, vivak knew that he was mo''''lexi''s subordinate and still chose to take him in. that means he was already fine with lying to her and the odds that this would slip out was slim to none as a result. after all, vivak would be doing his best to gloss over the matter so that mo''''lexi couldn''t demand to have him back.

    second, it was impossible for him to tell the truth anyway. even if he cut out the part where he broke through mo''''lexi''s restrictions and made it into the portal, just surviving those spatial tears would be unbelievable.

    it had to be understood that the spatial tears resulting from the bubble worlds fusing and the stable spatial portal that connected them to the in-between world were two completely different things.

    if a normal person entered the latter they would be fine. however, if a normal person tried to enter a spatial tear they would be shredded to pieces, the sections of their body being flung across space and time. the only exception would be if you were powerful enough.

    this was to say that if leonel admitted he hadn''t been in the in-between world at the time, he would be admitting to one of two things. either he would be admitting that he had been able to decipher mo''''lexi''s restrictions, or he would be admitting that he could survive in a spatial tear.

    the latter was obviously not true, but either one would put far more eyes on him. in fact, the latter would be so unbelievable that most intelligent people would assume the first even though it was highly unlikely as well.

    this sort of attention was something leonel didn''t want, so he had obviously lied. but even he couldn''t imagine that he would be exposed in this way.

    not that it mattered, though. hadn''t simona''s words caused vivak to take action to kill him?

    mo''''lexi suddenly laughed her familiar, hearty laughter.

    "that little brat."

    her grin was as wide as it was savage, but then she remembered vivak''s words and her thoughts of torturing leonel went out the window.

    "what do you mean he''s dead? if he made it to you, what happened?"

    vivak realized then that he had been too eager to speak. if he had just remained silent and let mo''''lexi speak, the end result would have been the same. after all, one way or another, leonel was dead. but now he had to admit to what he had done.

    vivak sighed. "he managed to come out of our own portal, and i caught him while he was trying to survive in the carnage. i couldn''t save him as i was focused on trying to keep as much of the formation''s original foundation as possible."

    vivak left out the fact he had recruited leonel and mixed fact with fiction. there was no need to let mo''''lexi get a leg up on him, and lying completely to a dream force master was almost imp-

    "you''re lying," mo''''lexi growled. "what really happened."

    vivak almost rolled his eyes. whatever, was he scared of this old woman?

    "i wanted to save you some face, but since you exist. i recruited him for a time, my daughter said he was dangerous, so i took her advice to see what his bottom line was. he ended up being pushed too far and was killed during the sparring session."

    "you dared to steal my people from me?" mo''''lexi looked like her eyes might spit out fire.

    "your people? have some shame, you act like you wanted to take him in as your grandson."

    "don''t try to twist my words. i gave up recruiting anyone else just so i could have that boy. even his corpse and his ethereal glabella belong to me. do you think that the cult is a push over? hand what''s left of him over! now!"

    mo''''lexi''s booming words carried the weight of her peak impetus state dream force. it looked like she might drown everyone in rivers of blood if vivak didn''t comply.

    at the moment, vivak himself was quite troubled. his slip of the tongue had caused all of this.

    unfortunately, he wasn''t some innate, high level, cognitive genius. not everyone had minds as sharp as leonel, and when most everyone''s minds were more than half taken up by protecting themselves against poking and prodding from the dream plane, they didn''t have the normal advantage they should have in terms of thinking speed either.

    now, he really only had two choices. either he could double down or he could try to compensate mo''''lexi. regardless, after all of this, how could he possibly give leonel''s corpse back so casually? at the very least, he couldn''t do so until liana had finished the autopsy, and even then there would definitely be some parts they wanted to keep.

    "i can compensate-"

    "i don''t want your damn compensation. i already gave up-" n-(o/-v)-ж┼)/l-/b--1.(n

    "enough." anselma said coldly. "his corpse, where is it? i want to see it."

 Chapter 2422 Pressure

    chapter 2422 pressure

    vivak frowned. pressure from one mo''''lexi, he could handle. but if he was being pressured by multiple powerhouses now just for this one child, how could this still be an easy situation to deal with? this was far too frustrating. how could this one leonel cause so many issues for him?

    he realized not just how right he was to follow through on his daughter''s words.

    honestly, vivak was very good at fighting, but when it came to all the miscellaneous matters of management, he usually gave it to others to accomplish. this was why liana was his head researcher and practically handled everything on that front. it was why he had been willing to listen to his daughter''s advice because he was quite open to taking advice from others as this was already his style of rule. but it was also why he could make such a stupid slip of the tongue at the same time.

    now he was in a bind, and it was impossible to get himself out of this one unless he wanted to have a falling out with everyone.

    what he didn''t expect was that yet another person would speak, and this would be the straw that broke the camel''s back. if vivak still had some intention to resist before, it completely collapsed after a third person appeared.

    clarence emerii. representative of the dream pavilion.

    "i would like to take a look at his corpse as well."

    back then, it was clarence who was the most heartbroken about missing out on leonel. it was all because mo''''lexi had taken the initiative back then that he had missed it.

    he had a feeling that something was going on here, and his intuition was kicking at him. however, he couldn''t grasp what it was so he chose to follow the tide along. maybe this corpse would come with the answers he needed.

    vivak took a breath and then exhaled. this was a sign that he had already surrendered. there was no fighting against this.

    "fine. i will be expecting your visits tomorrow morning."

    vivak left the call without giving them the opportunity to refute. he thought about extending the time, but he realized that he couldn''t. they would definitely show up early just to spite him if he gave a time like "next week" or "next month" like he had wanted to say.

    he suddenly raised his hand above his desk like he was about to slam down, but in the end, he clenched it and took a breath.

    this time, it was his fault. he had no one to blame but himself.

    however, while he wasn''t the smartest or sharpest leader out there, he was willing to be the boldest.

    he lowered his clenched hand and pressed into a force art that lit up with his stream of strength.

    "liana, i know that it will be harsh on you, but start the autopsy as quickly as possible. also, store the most important parts of his body away and keep them in a separate room."

    "-but patriarch, i don''t have the time to-"

    "i understand, but this time it''s what we must do."

    "... okay. i will start in an hour, that''s my fastest speed."

    "understood."

    the call ended, and vivak had already regained his calm. he pressed a finger into another force art and the rooms of noah and amery appeared before him.

    if all else failed, these two specimens were excellent. the blond one was a bit inflexible, but the swordsman... he had helped them make the most progress they had in hundreds of years.

    vivak closed his eyes. if he could become a sovereign, he would be able to finally enter the life state. once that happened, the human race would no longer be dregs; they would be able to stand on the world stage again.

    too many ninth dimensional experts were stuck at this step. the only one of the humans who had managed to reach that state was king, but he was too busy philandering with the enemy as though they were all too stupid to notice.

    but what else could he do? king was a tragedy in and of himself. he had reached that ever unreachable life state, and yet it was done through dream force. not only was it done through dream force, but he was restrained to an ability index that disallowed him from projecting it outside his body.

    ironically, king was much like leonel in this way. the difference was that leonel was already working on a method to project his, while king had never been able to.

    what did that mean?

    it meant that king was only able to plot and scheme, but in terms of those that had reached the life state, he might as well have been the weakest. he could crush the likes of vivak or the others with a single finger, but on the world stage, he was a pitiful worm.

    however, if he, vivak godlen, was able to take that step, his halberd would sweep through the enemies with a blade that could rend the skies and the earth in a single stroke.

    he had to succeed. he had to reach that step.

    leonel had no idea that a coincidental event had caused several ninth dimensional experts to converge toward one location for the sole purpose of meeting him. had he known, he would have probably cried real tears. at this point, he felt like the mighty overlords of the world were just monkeys throwing piles of shit at him.

    even so, regardless of the situation, his goal was pretty much the same: escape.

    however, he couldn''t just do so casually.

    setting aside the fact that leaving such a place was probably more difficult than entering, how could he leave empty-handed?

    he was pissed, but he couldn''t allow his hatred to cloud his judgment. if his innate node was still in control, he worried about what he would do.

    luckily, he was clear-headed. n-(o/-v)-ж┼)/l-/b--1.(n

    "hey, anastasia. how fast are you?"

 Chapter 2423 Soon Enough

    chapter 2423 soon enough

    anastasia had two speeds when she entered her flying ship mode. one was where she pulled in ambient force to propel her, and the second was where she used her own internal force, or rather, force leonel provided, to go instead.

    leonel bet that the first type would be far faster in this situation, and that was because this world was obviously far stronger than the incomplete worlds had been. after all, leonel mostly used anastasia in her flying form in the depths of space where there was little to no force around. but in a bubble world, the entire world was land and an abundance of force at that. so he was somewhat optimistic.

    "fast," anastasia said. "it would be impossible for anyone outside of the life state to catch me, and even if they are in the life state, they would have to have wind force, spatial force, light force, or something of the sort to bolster their speed for it to matter."

    leonel nodded when he heard this, but he wasn''t as giddy with joy as one might expect. he didn''t need anastasia to tell him the limitations.

    for one, the segmented cube''s defenses were limited. even if he was faster than vivak, it was a different matter entirely as to whether he would be faster than vivak''s attack speed. second, top speed and instantaneous speed were two different things. before anastasia would need to accumulate force form the surroundings, there would be a small build-up time until she could hit her top speed. that small time frame, to a ninth dimensional expert, might as well have been an eternity.

    that meant if he wanted to use anastasia to escape, he would both need time and space.

    ''that''s doable, i can manage... now i need to get out of here.''

    leonel couldn''t cast instantaneous recovery for obvious reasons, but truthfully he didn''t need to. he had a third dimensional body and yet had impetus state vital star force at his beck and call. it took all his concentration for him to not heal.

    as expected, the moment he unleashed his vital star force, his body began to wiggle about with a vibrant energy and he was made whole in an instant.

    he pulled himself out of the box liana''s henchmen had put him in and then pulled out a perfect replica of himself from within the segmented cube. of course, he had had aina make this.

    "sorry bud, bear with me."

    "leonel" rolled his eyes before he was unceremoniously shattered by his true body.

    leonel''s ability to recreate the exact same injuries was absolutely frightening, but this was no time to admire his handiwork as he needed to go.

    blood clones were very good, but they had their limitations.

    for one, they had no ethereal glabella. second, when the blood force used to create them ran out of life force, they would turn into a lifeless pool of blood again. third, when the main body was far enough out of range of the blood clone, it would begin to act oddly. without the personality of the main body as a foundation, it could easily become twisted.

    that said, the last problem wasn''t really a problem. that was because without an ethereal glabella, this blood clone, after suffering the same blows leonel had, was already dead.

    the only reason leonel had survived was that his body and soul were perfectly separated. obviously, this blood clone didn''t have the same luxury.

    leonel pulled on a pair of sweatpants and glided across the floor barefoot. he narrowed his eyes when he made it.

    it seemed that outside there was a pair of guards.

    after some thought, leonel looked up and found an air duct above him. in a clean room like this one, liana was obsessed with making sure no contaminants or pathogens entered.

    this world was so advanced in some ways, and yet so primitive in others. they had all sorts of force arts leonel had never seen before, and yet also used beasts to travel and had used air ducts for air filtration.

    ''perfect for me,'' leonel thought. ''i''ll have to be cautious, though. there''s probably a contaminant detector in there, and if i''m using the air ducts to move, i''ll be a contaminant that could be detected myself.''

    leonel found the hidden force art soon enough and destabilized it. then he leapt up and entered swiftly, disappearing.

    ''help me monitor everything going on in the godlens'' family compound, anastasia. only send me what my mind can handle, of course. i''ll have to leave the rest up to you.''

    anastasia snorted.

    seemed like she was back to being mad at him. she and aina had formed quite a united front. it seemed that even almost dying hadn''t saved him. nove(lb.1n

    he could only smile bitterly.

    soon, a stream of information entered his mind. truthfully, he already had a perfect map of the compound in his head, he was more so asking for this so he could see the movement of people without getting stuck in a dead end himself.

    shockingly, though, leonel wasn''t making his way toward the outside of the compound, but rather toward the center.

    he had said he would check out the techniques of the godlens already, but now that they had gone so far, he might even directly raid the entire library.

    he didn''t care about the passive information on things they had, but the one thing they couldn''t ruin were their techniques.

    ''the air ducts will come to an end, soon. it''s too bad liana isn''t anal enough to fill the entire compound with them. but this is already enough.''

    leonel slipped out of the air ducts, landing in a huge room filled with the loud noises of machinery. there were a couple of furnaces, air conditioners, and a large air filtration system that almost shredded him to pieces.

    "little blackstar," leonel suddenly whispered.

    "yip! yip!"

    leonel chuckled. not covert at all.

    luckily, the little guy appeared swiftly around leonel''s shoulders, and then they vanished into the shadow world.

    this wasn''t infallible, which was why leonel hadn''t used it to get past the guard. just like the dream plane could be countered by non-dream force experts, so too could the shadow world.

    however, when he was out of people''s sight already, and wasn''t trying to pass right in front of their faces, it was perfect.

    ''i''ll need to kill some time until noah is allowed to exit his room again. then i''ll snatch him up and put him in the segmented cube before we make our escape. for now, let''s clear out this entire technique room. consider this as some interest for what you''ve put me through. i''ll come back to have you pay the full debt soon enough.''

 Chapter 2424 Who?!

    chapter 2424 who?!

    leonel frowned. ''why can''t anything be easy?''

    he had already entered within striking range of the technique room. it was actually part of the library, just in a higher space.

    he had scouted it the first time he came here, and that had been enough to know that it wasn''t a place that was frequented often.

    this made sense. a person might spend years trying to perfect and grow with a technique. unless you were sprinting through the dimensions, something only a stupid person or one lacking background would do, a technique would need to stay by your side for at least that long.

    due to this, the technique room of the godlens was one that was only visited once in a blue moon, and yet the moment leonel wanted to raid them, he found that simona and that young man he still didn''t know the name of had actually entered. n/-0velbin

    ''maybe it''s not bad luck but just poor timing,'' leonel said with a sigh.

    simona had only just returned from the dimensional verse, and her foundation was probably lacking due to the fact she hadn''t had her little violet puppy by her side for much of her life.

    it wouldn''t be a surprise if for the first few weeks, she had been focused on readjusting her foundation, and only now did she think about gathering a few techniques to strengthen herself.

    ''this isn''t necessarily a bad thing either,'' leonel thought, looking at the silver lining.

    under normal circumstances, he would have to break the restrictions on the technique vault in order to enter. there were a million things that could go wrong if he did that, and he knew he was being quite reckless just thinking about doing it.

    but now, wouldn''t there be a convenient doorman to let him in?

    leonel sneered and flashed forward.

    the young man suddenly looked back, but all he saw was empty space, causing him to frown.

    leonel hung from a balcony down below. although he was in the shadow world, he still did his best to not allow others the chance to look at him directly, at least not for now.

    he flipped himself back up after the two started moving forward again. he landed gently, moving along the balcony''s lane as he followed them upward.

    he wasn''t worried about little blackstar''s stamina running out at all. back when blackstar first met him, he was only able to help leonel out for a brief instant. now, however, he could probably spend days like this without issue.

    "elder varough, i would like to enter the technique room," simona addressed an old man.

    elder varough sat behind a desk that was off to the side of a thick vault door that looked as though it had been plucked out of a bank dungeon.

    he hummed slightly to simona''s request.

    "you know the rules," he said lightly. "eduardo, are you using your entry on this?"

    the young man nodded before simona could reject.

    "you don''t have to follow me everywhere," simona protested, but as usual, eduardo didn''t even respond. he just gave her the same unmoved look.

    "alright, you may both enter. you have one hour. don''t try to force it, not all the techniques in there are meant for you. protect your mind properly."

    hearing these vague words, leonel''s eyes narrowed. it seemed that this technique room would be more like the void library than a real library like the one below them. that might make things more troublesome.

    the heavy vault door began to roll to the side and leonel hesitated. should he still enter?

    his feet moved him. he was agile and quick, hiding behind eduardo''s shadow in a blink.

    elder varough looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn''t seem to see anything as the three of them slipped inside.

    the vault doors slid shut with a boom and elder varough went back to his business.

    ...

    leonel felt that his gamble had paid off. the technique vault didn''t separate them, they appeared in the same space. the difference was that all around them, there were techniques floating in odd balls of light.

    leonel had felt that since eduardo insisted on following simona in, it didn''t make sense that they would be sent off to different places. if the latter was true, then he wouldn''t be just protective, he''d be a bit insane. what would be the point in following her if he couldn''t even see her?

    eduardo looked around again, feeling that something was off. it just felt like someone was constantly looking at him, and yet this time, when he turned around and stared right at where leonel was standing, he couldn''t see a single thing.

    was he losing his mind?

    ''this whole hiding in the shadow world thing is really not what it''s cracked up to be. i''ve been sensed so many times already and now their senses are on alert. but... that''s fine.''

    bang!

    leonel''s fist slammed into the back of simona''s head with lightning quick precision. her eyes rolled back before she could even understand what was happening, and the instant she lost consciousness, he pulled her into the segmented cube.

    he would have attacked eduardo first, but he could feel that this young man was exceptionally powerful. taking control of simona, who he was clearly tasked to protect, would throw his mind into disarray and help him deal with him quicker.

    "who?!" eduardo''s voice boomed and his eyes widened as he watched simona disappear from right next to him.

    none of this was part of leonel''s original plan, but he was more than willing to go with the flow.

    since the godlens had changed their plans for him based on simone''s words, then he was even more certain that her father was likely to be vivak himself. how could he pass up on such a useful hostage?

    leonel appeared, and eduardo''s eyes opened wide. how else was he supposed to react when a dead man suddenly appeared before him as though everything was fine?

 Chapter 2425 Frustration

    chapter 2425 frustration

    leonel''s gaze was completely different from the last time eduardo had seen him.

    in the heir wars he had been playful. in the arena, he had been somber as though he had lost all hope. but right now, his gaze carried a frightening sharpness to it, as though the depths of hell itself were hidden within him.

    his destruction sovereignty erupted, plumes of smoke coming from the corner of his eyes and the soles of his feet.

    eduardo barely managed to snap out of his daze when a fist appeared before him.

    ''was that a mental attack? what just happened?!''

    eduardo hurried to put up a defense, crossing his arm before him and preparing to summon his lion beast. just when he formed a connection with his spatial device, it was shredded to pieces. it was like his mind couldn''t reach any further forward even if it wanted to.

    this feeling made eduardo''s eyes widen. not having his beast by his side made him feel like he had lost an arm.

    it had to be remembered that the beast companions of the godlen family weren''t normal beasts, they had come from the womb of the same mother, they shared life and death, they were closer than even twins would be. to say that they were like an extra limb was an exaggeration in the slightest.

    unfortunately, if his spatial device couldn''t sense his intention to take his beast out, then the only other way would be to physically touch it, but leonel didn''t seem to be giving him that sort of leeway.

    leonel''s strikes weren''t exceptionally powerful, but they cut deep. it disrupted his flow of force-no, it completely shattered it. it was as though all the force he wanted to gather was burnt to ash in an instant.

    this was impossible. it was all impossible.

    how could someone in the fifth dimension suffocate his soul force?

    how could someone in the fifth dimension, destruction sovereign or not, destroy his force? n-/o--v/)e)-l-)b.(1--n

    "enough-!"

    eduardo roared, but leonel directly turned a deaf ear to it. as quickly as eduardo pushed leonel back, leonel closed the distance once more even faster.

    eduardo found himself being pelted from all sides, his arms, his torso, his head.

    he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, the shock in his heart enough to make it turn over.

    he could feel that leonel wasn''t powerful; if he was, a single one of his fists would have been enough to shred him to pieces. one punch wasn''t nearly enough to cause any damage to him, but leonel kept hitting the same dozen spots again, and again, and again, relentlessly and without even the slightest hint of fatigue.

    the cold look in leonel''s eyes was only becoming sharper and sharper.

    "oof-"

    a solid punch collided against liver. all the air was sucked out of his body and he could almost feel the flex of his ribcage.

    his vision blurred, everything turning to white but that pair of violet eyes.

    he felt that the moment he lost the initiative in the battle, he had been on the back foot. like an army trying to come back against all odds, or a chess novice being cornered by a grandmaster, he was smothered and suffocated.

    what he didn''t even realize was that any attempts to make a comeback wouldn''t have mattered in the slightest to begin with. that was because this entire time, while leonel was raining a hail of punches on his body, venting his frustration of several weeks, there was a little mink hiding in the shadows.

    leonel''s attacks could only pelt against his body and slowly accumulate damage, but a single surprise strike from this little mink would have ended his life.

    bang!

    eduardo collapsed to a knee, not capable of seeing clearly. he felt something grab onto his hair and suppress his will. then he was ripped into another space entirely.

    leonel exhaled a breath, the coldness in his gaze taking quite a while to calm down. it seemed that he had suppressed more frustration than he even knew. that liver shot had been open to him for a while, but he purposely wailed on eduardo for an extra few seconds.

    he took another breath and exhaled.

    his stamina was too great to actually need these breaths, but at the very least, they helped him calm down and pulled back the dark intentions of his destruction sovereignty.

    liver shots were quite effective against third dimensional existences, but they were less so against true powerhouses. the real reason that liver shot had shut eduardo down completely was that he had built a node there.

    eduardo''s dream force control, and dream force protection methods, weren''t nearly strong enough to stop leonel from prying into all his secrets at this distance. he was practically an open book to leonel.

    not only did leonel know where that node was located, he knew where all of eduardo''s nodes were.

    ''that ability is more useful than i thought. while my destruction sovereignty is still in this weak state, its strongest benefit is in destroying force it comes in contact with. if i know where everyone''s nodes are, i can easily crush them like i did him.''

    "yip! yip!"

    little blackstar landed on leonel''s shoulder, licking his cheek.

    leonel chuckled. "you''re a mink, not a puppy."

    "yip! yip!"

    little blackstar licked more vigorously, his sounds of protest sounding something like: "i''m the master here, i can be whatever i want to be!"

    leonel smiled. he bet blackstar had picked up this habit by secretly watching the interactions between the godlens and their beasts.

    "alright, now i have an hour to figure out how to rob these bastards blind."

    leonel stood with arms akimbo, staring at the floating techniques. the more he stared, though, the more solemn his expression became.

    he only had an hour to figure this out, but it didn''t seem like things would be easy.

    although this place wasn''t exactly like the void library, it was similar enough in that without a certain level of strength, most knowledge wouldn''t be available to you.

    the problem was that if he wanted to scar the godlens, leaving a wound they would remember, he had to take their best techniques. but...

    their best techniques could only be touched by those in the ninth dimension.

 Chapter 2426 Godlen Codex

    chapter 2426 godlen codex

    leonel stood in silence.

    the concept was quite simple. target a technique with a vibe that matched with your path, then attack it. once you attacked it, so long as your attack met a certain standard, the technique would break open and the contents would be given to you to rent for a time.

    this was far more annoying than what leonel was expecting. he hoped that he could just pick up and scoop everything into a bag and make out like a bandit. but since when were things in his life ever so simple?

    he sighed. maybe he should just try and find some techniques that were actually compatible with him. if he released blackstar and aina as well, maybe they would be strong enough to steal some techniques that would make the godlens feel the burn.

    leonel shook his head. not good enough.

    "leonel, noah was just brought out of his room. i''m a bit worried about what''s happening."

    "what do you mean?"

    "i don''t know, but that head researcher looks stressed about something and like she''s in a rush. amery was brought out as well, it feels like they''re doing something big."

    leonel fell into silence and looked toward the vault door behind him. he cursed under his breath. no matter what, he wouldn''t be able to leave this place until that elder opened the doors again unless he was willing to be exposed.

    he couldn''t interact with the world while he was in the shadow world, that was why things phased through little blackstar when he entered this state. so, he obviously couldn''t open the door and hide at the same time. but he could slip out of the door mostly undetected if it was opened for him.

    now, however...

    leonel''s frown deepened.

    he had been waiting for noah to be taken out of his room because he had a feeling that he had been too reckless the first time he entered it. but now he was in a bit of a predicament.

    as strong as eduardo was, that old man would definitely make him look like a child. there was no way leonel could escape if he exposed himself like this, and there were no air ducts here to take advantage of.

    trouble came knocking on his door again.

    what leonel didn''t know was that liana was taking noah and amery out at this time because of him, or more accurately, because of vivak''s slip of the tongue. this was part of her preparation to dissect his corpse.

    "is there anything you can do?" leonel asked.

    "nothing," anastasia replied with a frown. "nothing that wouldn''t make it obvious there was another expert in their midst. you''re barely skating by when they don''t know they should be looking for you, if they were aware you would be finished. the only reason i didn''t stop you from coming here was that i could tell you were frustrated, and vivak does indeed have a method to look into noah''s room."

    leonel''s gaze flashed. it was as he thought.

    "you have 17 minutes," anastasia suddenly said. "you''re going to have to figure something out. from what it looks like, they might attempt what failed on you on noah instead."

    leonel''s gaze flashed with a suffocating coldness. vital star force had taken the edge off of his temper, but these human powers were slowly chipping away at that again. he was finding it very hard to not spin out into a rage again.

    17 minutes. he didn''t ask anastasia how she came up with the number, but he trusted it.

    somehow, he had to get out of here in that time, but there was still more than 50 minutes until the doors would open.

    the more pressure there was, the calmer leonel seemed to become. the calmer he became, the more tranquil his gaze was.

    at that moment, his hair and eyes began to give off a silvery starlight. when he inhaled, the air moved and when he exhaled, a foggy breath would come with it, sparkling with more silvery stars as though the air was frigid.

    ''i got it.''

    leonel pulled out the silver tablet and approached the first technique.

    if these floating orbs were just normal balls of force, then it wouldn''t be able to read and react to the proper style of combat. how could it know the difference between a fist attack, or a spear attack, or a sword attack?

    clearly, they weren''t just balls of energy, they were complex, interconnected networks of force arts.

    leonel didn''t have the time to sit here and analyze every single one, but he had a cheat code now.

    the silver tablet analyzed and absorbed the essence of each force art.

    ''i was right...''

    in order for these force arts to have such character, they had to be left behind by an expert. only someone familiar with the technique and understood its core could put up a proper barrier test for it. n-(0velbin

    in doing so, the force art would have some spirit of its own, almost like a soul. and because of that, the silver tablet could latch onto it, analyzing it like it did ability indexes and lineage factors.

    the actual force art didn''t need to come from a living being, so long as there was some small connection of dream force that leonel, or the tablet, could pull on.

    leonel''s gaze flashed like lightning as he memorized every one of the force arts. it was as though he was staring at a series of locks and he just needed to pick them.

    he grabbed the first force art, then grabbed a fist-related force art off the shelves. he shed the fist force art of much of its properties, leaving behind a tiny sliver that was barely a fraction the size of the lock it was trying to unseal.

    leonel slammed it into the lock force art, and as expected, it crumbled at the slightest touch.

    leonel pulled his mind out of the silver tablet and flung the small force art toward the technique and it shattered into a rain of motes of light.

    his speed was fast. he repeated this action again and again and again. even as the locks became progressively more difficult, he seemed to only become faster, as though he was improving even faster than his mind and hands were moving.

    suddenly, only the last few remained.

    leonel swung out a hand and they were all shattered at the same time.

    the entire godlen compound was lit on fire.

    this was a momentous occasion. someone had unsealed one of the godlen codex techniques after so long. no, someone had actually unsealed all three of them!

    a fire was lit in their souls.

 Chapter 2427 Enough

    chapter 2427 enough

    this was about what leonel expected. he knew that there had to be techniques in here that the godlens placed much higher emphasis on than others, and so long as he managed to unlock them, a huge commotion would break out.

    he knew nothing about the godlen codex, nor did he care at this point. quite frankly, he had acted mainly out of spite. only when he knew that noah was in danger did he begin to unlock these techniques with a real purpose, and it worked. nove)lb.in

    not even a few seconds later, leonel could hear the gears of the vault opening up and he made a move instantly.

    he leapt to the top of the huge door, sliding through the narrowest crack he could.

    elder varough frowned again as he seemed to sense something, but he didn''t even look up. the elder wasn''t even two meters tall, but the vault doors were over five. with him controlling the mechanisms to open it up, he was so close to it that looking up in an attempt to spot leonel would literally mean looking straight up, to the point his chin would have to point to the skies. it was an uncomfortable movement to make, especially when nothing in your peripheral vision moved.

    so he ignored the feeling once again, allowing leonel to slip away.

    by the time elder varough realized there was no one in the vault-especially with how deep the technique room was-leonel wasn''t even in the library any longer.

    he stood in shock, looking around in a bit of a daze.

    his godlen family techniques, where had they all gone?

    there was only one entrance to this place. even if you wanted to dig a tunnel in an attempt to create another one, you''d have to dig through hundreds of meters worth of thick reinforced urbe ore.

    that simply wasn''t possible to do if you were below the ninth dimension, but even if you were in the ninth dimension, the commotion you caused would make any sort of stealth meaningless.

    simona was the next generation of their family, and the only child of her brother. but that madman had actually sent her to an incomplete world in her most important formative years.

    now, a second branch family member had unsealed the codex, and the pressure the main family was facing would only increase now.

    to make matters worse, because simona''s foundation lagged behind others, she was still playing catch up. if not for the fact eduardo followed her around all the time, those branch family kids might have humiliated her a million and one ways by now.

    liana shook her head. she didn''t want to go and watch her main family take yet another blow. the more this sort of thing happened, the more focused she had to be.

    she looked down at amery''s unconscious form. she had to succeed.

    ...

    the godlen family compound was huge, and this was even given the fact a bubble world that existed on this sort of scale was enormous in and of itself. it wasn''t enough to call it a city; it was almost like its own country, if this country spanned an entire planet, controlling the skies and the sea on a whim.

    it was toward this enormous compound that a crimson bird with a tail of feathers that stretched kilometers headed toward. on its back, there was a pale red-haired and red-eyed woman and an old man with his hands clasped behind his back.

    they were none other than imperatress anselma and one of her most trusted subordinates, butler halvar.

    "miss, this is inadvisable."

    this was the third time he had said this, yet anselma had yet to kill him for it. considering her temper, this was enough to show how much value she placed on him.

    "appearing uninvited, and an entire day before we are meant to, will only strain relations between the powers. we of the great families are not liked very much to begin with; this will only make things-"

    "enough. we are here," anselma said coldly.

 Chapter 2428 Someone...

    chapter 2428 someone...

    "aina, we''re going to need a change of plans. how far away can you control the blood clones from?"

    "if i''m outside with you, probably a few kilometers without issue."

    "oh, someone''s finally talking to me again."

    leonel grinned.

    aina rolled her eyes. he was currently running for his life, but he still had the time to tease her. plus, the only reason she answered was that she knew that this wasn''t the time to be petty.

    "you should be careful," anastasia suddenly said. "there''s at least one person who knows that there''s a problem right now, and that number will only increase as a factor of time. even if aina can control them from miles away, there''s no way an expert wouldn''t sense the connection. you''ll be exposed."

    leonel nodded. that one person was obviously varough, and he didn''t believe that that man would give up after just a single scan.

    as for why varough couldn''t see through little blackstar''s shadow world, that was in one part due to blackstar''s overwhelming improvement and another part due to leonel''s help.

    blackstar''s dark force had entered the impetus state firmly. in fact, leonel believed that his dark force was no weaker than leonel''s dream force at this point.

    to match that, leonel''s dream sovereignty matched with the king''s might technique made it difficult for others to use their minds to lock onto him. it didn''t help varough at all that he was a soul force user and not a dream force user. he couldn''t match up to leonel at all even if his soul force was at a higher state. soul force was simply the inferior force type.

    however, regardless of all this, if aina used her blood force on such a large scale, there was no shot that they didn''t get exposed. he had no choice but to close in on the original location of his body, but that would make his original plan more difficult to execute.

    the wave of people kept coming toward leonel''s location, but he had acted fast, returning to the furnace room that he had originally left the air duct from. he slipped into the air ducts once again without a word, zipping through on his elbows and belly.

    suddenly, his ears twitched. ''dammit.'' n//o(/v/)e))l.)b.(i./n

    leonel cursed, feeling that the flow of force here was different. he understood immediately. it was likely that liana was about to begin her experiments and had turned the air filtration system on.

    "i''m like this so that i can expand the lockdown of my dream plane to include you as well. that way, you''re unlikely to be noticed if someone''s soul force sweeps by-"

    leonel had only just said this when a soul force did, indeed, pass through. but nothing happened.

    "-the furnace here is connected to the room my ''corpse'' is in."

    leonel pressed a hand to it, his eyes still closed as he took deep breaths. after a few seconds, he nodded to himself.

    he didn''t do much. he just reversed the flow of the fans. the spinning green-blue fans began to appear from his side and rushed toward the cleanroom instead.

    liana would definitely have to come here to check what was happening, and in addition to that, he could do something else.

    "use this furnace as a conduit. do you think you can control the blood clone through it?" leonel asked.

    aina thought for a while, seemingly calculating something. then, she eventually nodded.

    "good."

    aina took action as leonel remained in a state of meditation. liana had definitely already noticed the problem; they didn''t have much time.

    and, if things went like this, this was probably the last time he''d be able to use the air ducts as too much attention would be brought to it. but you couldn''t make gains without taking losses.

    "what do you want me to do?" aina asked.

    "heal my blood clone so that it can try to make its own escape," leonel opened his eyes with a grin.

    aina smiled and did as she was told.

    after a while, leonel put aina back into the segmented cube and then timed his jump back into the air duct.

    he had only left for a few seconds when liana came rushing into the furnace room, a tight frown on her brows.

    ''hm? someone...''

 Chapter 2429 Spinning

    chapter 2429 spinning

    nove)lb.in

    leonel deviated from his original path, heading toward the room amery and noah were in. at the same time, his blood clone opened its eyes.

    the blood clone was still in a mostly sorry state. leonel hadn''t let aina heal it completely, but pain wasn''t a restriction that would hinder the blood clone anyway. though, thanks to dream sense, pain didn''t hinder leonel all that much either.

    after opening its eyes, it looked around and seemed to receive signals from leonel himself. it understood immediately and pushed itself up. then, ignoring the door as there were guards, it too leapt into the air duct, moving in a completely different direction than leonel.

    leonel jumped down, landing in the room with amery and noah. he wasn''t surprised to not see jessica as anastasia had already informed him about those things.

    without much hesitation, he scanned the region, checked to see if there was anything untoward attached to noah and amery, and then he placed them both inside the segmented cube.

    he wasn''t the biggest fan of amery, but he also wasn''t the biggest fan of hutch''s grandson either. since he was here and it was convenient, not to mention the fact it would ruin the plans of the godlens as well, why not take it?

    leonel didn''t do much thinking about what it meant to ruin the plans of the humans. he knew quite well that whatever they were trying to create was an attempt to fight back against demons, and every plot he destroyed would just be another notch toward the demons, but quite frankly... he didn''t really care.

    for one, he wasn''t some race fanatic. just because everyone else in existence was obsessed with race didn''t mean that he was.

    those that harmed him were his enemies. those that didn''t harm were neutral. those that helped him were his friends.

    simple.

    since the human powers wanted to step on his toes, they would pay for it.

    when the demons came knocking, he would make them pay as well.

    leonel slipped out of the door without a word. this room didn''t have any guards before it, likely because liana was here and this was a top-secret operation of the godlen family. having guards here would only complicate the matter.

    varough took a breath and explained what happened.

    raimondo''s smile slowly faded away, and his expression even became several measures more firm. his grandson had just disappeared into thin air? along with that useless little girl? was that a joke?

    his gaze landed on vivak like a flash of lightning. when he saw the confusion and worry in vivak''s expression, he sneered inwardly.

    ''what a good family patriarch. your acting is excellent.''

    it felt like acid was rolling around in raimondo''s gut. how could he not assume that vivak had finally had enough of the rise of the branch families and took action to take them out? he was practically seething.

    "what other information do you have?" vivak asked.

    "the only explanation i can think of is that this person slipped right by me. i had the odd feeling that someone was watching me, but i couldn''t see anything and my soul force also didn''t-"

    "the codex, where is it?" raimondo asked coldly, cutting him off.

    varough''s expression twisted, but he still grit his teeth and answered.

    "the codex, all of the techniques, they''re gone-"

    before vivak could even respond or comprehend what that meant, he felt someone trying to contact him.

    "patriarch! anselma of the brazinger family is here to visit!"

    vivak''s expression changed, but the tsunami of information didn''t seem like it was going to end any time soon.

    "brother! the corpse, it''s gone!"

    vivak felt his head spinning.

 Chapter 2430 Death Flag

    chapter 2430 death flag

    vivak felt his head spinning. too much information was coming at him at once. first, his daughter was missing; second, the brazinger family had suddenly appeared out of the blue, and now leonel, who was supposed to be dead, was gone?

    wait, did that mean he was never dead in the first place? no, that was impossible. he had used his soul force to check personally. how could a fifth dimensional existence possibly escape his senses?

    so did that mean that someone else had stolen his corpse? this was very possible. he had many issues to deal with as the patriarch, and the problem of his branch family members was only one aspect. given the... less than perfect relationship between the human powers, and given the sheer size of the godlen family, there were without a doubt several spies.

    he had done his best to hide the true intention of the godlens from the world, and he only trusted a very small few-mostly his little sister-to deal with these matters. however, it wasn''t impossible that something might leak.

    the more vivak thought, the darker his expression became. even as someone in the ninth dimension, he was quickly feeling overwhelmed. but he eventually took a breath and pulled himself together.

    he might not be the most intelligent patriarch there ever was, but he knew how to lead, and he knew how to delegate tasks. n./0ve1b1n

    his gaze sharpened as it landed on raimondo.

    "raimondo, i don''t care if you believe me or not, but i did nothing to your grandson. the godlen family is in a crisis situation right now, and if you dare to step out of line at such a crucial moment, i will personally slaughter you and every member of your immediate family. do you understand me?!"

    vivak''s voice boomed, his halberd force spiraling within his eyes.

    despite the loudness of his voice, only the four before him could hear him at all. even so, the somberness of the atmosphere caused the other excited members of the godlen family to fall into silence, their energy murmurs fading.

    after vivak gave everyone the order to return, this was inevitable. clearly, the man hadn''t expected this outcome.

    panicking somewhat, he looked for a room to enter.

    leonel shook his head, feeling that this man was truly too useless in all aspects. there were at least three nearby supply closets. he should be more familiar with this compound than leonel was, and yet he was like a headless chicken right now.

    without a choice, and not wanting the situation to get more complicated, leonel took the risk and bore down on the man from the dream plane, pulling at his thoughts and reminding him of where the nearest supply closet was.

    the man finally burst into action, not realizing that leonel was right behind him, and they both swept into the closet just in time.

    however, relief couldn''t come to the man in time as he found a sharp blade severing his neck in two.

    leonel didn''t have much sympathy for men like this, so he didn''t even think twice though his scarlet star force was no longer dictating his actions. however, he didn''t just leave the corpse here either. he had a better place to plant it.

    he quickly put jessica and the headless corpse into the segmented cube, then stepped out of the closet when the coast was clear.

    he slipped into the shadows once again and moved agilely through the halls. then, when he was ready, he took out the corpse of the man and planted it before leaving in the other direction.

    "how many escape routes have you seen?" leonel asked.

    "there are many, but there''s only four gates and only one real path to get to each one of them. unfortunately, the godlens follow more conventional defensive methods, so there is no one straight path from the gates to the core of the compound, where you are now. unless, of course, you take off in the skies, but that''s inadvisable. you should do your best to not be discovered until after you leave the territory, or else the godlens could put up their formation and trap you on the inside..."

    "don''t say that," leonel mumbled. "you''re trying to give me a death flag, and i don''t like it."

 Chapter 2431 Got You

    n//o(/v/)e))l.)b.(i./n

    chapter 2431 got you

    the location was quite a grand hall. compared to the places of the godlen family compound that leonel had been in, this looked much more like the location of a truly powerful family. the rest of the godlen family compound looked more like a school, with plain tile, walls, and even long, blinking lights. it felt like leonel had been transported back to 21st century earth.

    leonel guessed that this was because liana had taken over the region and had co-opted much of the compound for the sake of her research. this seemed stupid considering vivak was doing his best to keep these matters a secret, but leonel didn''t agree with this. he actually felt it was quite smart. keeping everything a secret was almost impossible, but pretending your secret was part of the norm could make others easily overlook it all.

    regardless, this grand hall wasn''t like what leonel had seen previously and looked much more regal and ancient. it had tall pillars, floors of heavy, polished stone, each ten meters wide, tall, and thick, and seemed to be capable of fitting the ambiance of a throne room or a dining hall depending on the situation.

    in this case, the grand hall wasn''t prepared at all due to anselma''s abrupt arrival, but it wasn''t untidy either. instead, the large and mostly empty room gave it an imposing feeling, making it easy for one to feel small and insignificant.

    it was in this room that anselma and vivak met, both the former and the latter looking exceptionally serious.

    "what is the meaning of this, anselma?" vivak asked calmly. "are the brazingers fond of being uninvited guests?"

    "i was in the area," anselma responded calmly.

    "were you?" vivak sneered. "six bubble worlds are in the process of fusing right now. in order to cross from the vast bubble to my codex bubble, you would have had to surf through at least two cataclysmic-level regions. but you were ''in the area'', huh?"

    anselma seemed unmoved by vivak''s words.

    "it''s a simple matter. i just want to see the corpse. just allow me this and we can leave on good terms."

    vivak''s sneer deepened. "you must think that my godlen family is just here to be at your beck and call. i said tomorrow, so you will wait until tomorrow. if you don''t like that, then you can scram."

    vivak''s eyes widened. "a corpse? who?!"

    his heart leapt into his throat.

    "i''m not sure of his name, but he was a regular security guard and one of head researcher''s henchmen."

    vivak sighed a breath of relief, but then he immediately frowned.

    whoever had snuck into the godlens had to be a top-level expert, no? after so long of not being caught, and even sneaking into their treasure room, avoiding detection by several eighth dimensional existences, and a ninth dimensional existence like elder varough, how could he only now slip up and leave behind the corpse of a mere seventh dimensional guard?

    unless... could it really be leonel?

    but then the techniques...

    vivak''s eyes darkened, his gaze landing on raimondo. who else could it be? maybe all this time, raimondo was pretending and the real person who stole the techniques was his grandson, eduardo, all along?

    could elder varough be in on it? had he been betrayed?

    ...

    leonel ran, blood soaked and panting. he dove around a corner, met the eyes of a few people, and reeled back immediately, rushing in another direction.

    not far away, elder varough had already gathered his task force and was delegating tasks. all the while, he was constantly sweeping with his soul force until he finally picked up on something.

    "got you," he growled.

 Chapter 2432 So Close

    chapter 2432 so close

    elder varough moved like the wind. his task force looked toward one another and gathered at once, following after his swift steps. although they lost him almost immediately, they followed after his aura, moving at their fastest speeds as well.

    "shit..." leonel mumbled beneath his breath. he didn''t manage to make it far, but he was forced to slip back into the furnace room, dodging behind the large pieces of machinery.

    with the most speed he himself could muster, he appeared beside a familiar furnace, the very same one he had made changes to previously. the blood that covered him and the irregular shape of his chest made it clear he was nearing the end of his rope, but his gaze was still sharp.

    bang! the door to the furnace room was ripped open so forcefully it flew off its hinges. varough rushed in like a wild beast. when he saw leonel, he couldn''t believe it. had he really been tricked by a mere fifth dimensional existence? how could he not see red? n//o(/v/)e))l.)b.(i./n

    however, seeing that leonel was cornered, he took a breath to calm himself. he knew that he couldn''t kill leonel now; at the very least, he needed to bring him back to be studied.

    "stay back."

    the sudden command from leonel left varough without words. was this brat stupid? why did he have to do as he said?

    varough shook his head, feeling that this previous rage was really too silly. how could he allow a brat like this to threaten his baseline?

    he thought that leonel was clever to be able to make it so far, but maybe he had overestimated him.

    he continued to move forward anyway, not giving a damn about leonel''s words... until he heard what came next.

    "alright, keep moving. i''ll be sure to blow this entire place sky-high."

    varough''s steps paused. he looked around, seeing the collection of various furnaces, ac systems, and boilers; he was confused. was something like that possible? he wasn''t sure; he wasn''t a crafter. but just theoretically speaking, with all the heat and various systems in this place automated, there was a great deal of energy stored here. if it was disrupted, then...

    varough sneered. "am i supposed to believe that you can do something to change the equilibrium here? do you have any idea who designed these-"

    "then call her here and ask her; it''s not like i''m going anywhere, right?" leonel sneered, standing tall and straight despite his injuries. "at the same time, you can ask her who it was pulled her away from her lab and brought her here to fix an issue."

    at that moment, the rest of varough''s team caught up. but he raised a hand and stopped them from approaching.

    "go fetch liana," he said coldly.

    the task force looked toward one another, and one of them was eventually tasked with the duty.

    however, in this unstable state, if he gave the formation a little nudge, it really would all explode.

    varough sneered. "so what? this level of explosion couldn''t even guarantee the death of an eight star existence, let alone the true powerhouses of the family. do you think this is enough to threaten us?"

    "and what if i have your patriarch''s lovely daughter in my hands?"

    liana''s eyes widened, and varough''s brows twitched.

    "also, you can fool me," leonel sneered. "whatever this whole operation is, it''s clear that it''s highly important to your people. if i blow it up, all your hard work will go up in a puff of smoke."

    liana paled considerably. not only her niece but her research? this was too much.

    "what are your demands?" varough finally said. "you can''t plan to stand here forever, right?"

    "it''s simple. build me a formation out of godlen family territory. i''m sure miss liana can tell you that my crafting skill is high enough that it''s impossible to fool my eyes, so be diligent about it. once you do so, i will leave this ring holding your little heiress here."

    "the codex. where is it?"

    leonel sneered. "one step at a time, old man. if you want that, you''ll need to pay up some more."

    varough gripped his fists, hard. was his godlen family really about to be toyed around with by this boy?

    at that moment, five powerful auras descended, and varough''s expression changed. in an instant, five more powerhouses stood at the edge of the furnace room. if not for the fact leonel''s eyes sharpened when they appeared, they might have directly attacked to subdue him. somehow, this boy could react even to their speed.

    "boy!" vivak''s rage was towering. his eyes had actually been fooled by this brat?!

    "pipe down," leonel said coldly. "my eardrums aren''t as reinforced as yours. if i''m suddenly deaf and can''t hear what''s going on around me anymore, my hand just might slip."

    vivak''s eyes bulged.

    anselma frowned. "this isn''t a real person; this is a blood clone."

    leonel froze.

    ''son of a bitch. so fucking close.''

    vivak''s heart skipped a beat, and he seemed to put something together.

    "activate the formation!"

 Chapter 2433 Not Easy

    chapter 2433 not easy

    vivak felt his heart beating out of his chest when he looked at this young man. he had listened to his daughter, and yet he had still almost suffered such a terrible loss. no, was he even out of the woods yet?

    the playfulness on the blood clone''s expression vanished, and for the first time, vivak saw what he was looking for. he wanted to see leonel''s true face, and he had finally been granted his wish.

    "capture him!" vivak barked out an order. but in response, leonel just sneered.

    "what''s the point of that? plus, have you forgotten that i still hold some cards here?" n/(o-)v-(e)-l.(b(.1-.n

    "stop!" liana called out. "brother, if he triggers an explosion, all of our hard work will go up in smoke."

    vivak grit his teeth.

    the blood clone didn''t seem to be surprised by this result. this was a stalemate. the difference was that there was a slight imbalance. his main body had already escaped the main compound. the trouble was that the formation had gone up now, trapping him inside godlen territory.

    but this wasn''t the only issue he was facing.

    soon, the distance between him and this blood clone would be so far that he wouldn''t be able to control its every action. once that happened, he would not only lose control over this situation, but his threat would become empty.

    before he could even decide what to do about this, though, anselma spoke again.

    "this blood clone still has intelligence, he must still be within a few kilometers. your godlen family territory spans hundreds of kilometers, he''s still close."

    everything went up in flames, and as the person closest to the explosion, the blood clone, the weakest of them all, formed by mere third dimensional blood, was shredded to pieces.

    what blood were they going to use to track him, exactly?

    ...

    ''dammit,'' the real leonel cursed under his breath. he had indeed been only a few kilometers away. though, since then he had exploded with speed.

    it was much easier to rush through an open city than a compound. he could cover several kilometers quite quickly and he was already dozens away. the problem was that as fast as he was, the ninth dimensional existences would be even faster, and he also didn''t have a method of dealing with the huge fort he was suddenly trapped in the middle of.

    in addition, although he had painted the illusion that he had already dealt with the blood problem, he had left blood in too many places not knowing that this would be a problem. he could only hope that the explosion was enough to deal with all the blood he had left in the morgue.

    the problem was that liana had been too diligent. she had carefully stored everything, and they were in containers much more robust than his third dimensional body. so long as a drop survived, he would be in trouble.

    there was only one silver lining to this.

    according to aina, the smaller the amount of blood, the shorter the distance he could be tracked from. in addition, his weakness was also a benefit.

    if he was in the ninth dimension, his blood force would have far more power and even a drop could allow him to be tracked a great distance. but because he was in the third dimension, he had lucked out... somewhat.

    although his body was in the third dimension, his vital star force was exceptional. it was just a good thing that his blood clone didn''t have full access to this and as such, its blood force was far weaker than his own.

    "anything, anastasia?" leonel asked.

    "there''s only really two ways of dealing with this. either going to the core of the formation or an important root of it, and destroying it. or finding a flaw to slip through. both aren''t exactly easy...."

 Chapter 2434 Increasing

    chapter 2434 increasing

    "the core of the formation is back in the direction you came from, deep underground. there were twelve large kernels that stabilize the formation, and probably a dozen times that in smaller scale nexuses. every single one of them is heavily guarded."

    leonel shook his head. what paranoid pricks. but it made sense. even in a time of peace, they wouldn''t allow anyone to casually approach such important areas, let alone now that they were about to enter a full-scale war with the demons.

    the other problem was that these nodes and nexuses would be obvious points. they''ll know that with him being trapped inside their territory like this, the only thing he could do was try to break the formation. that meant that very soon, all of these places with already robust security would likely become even more difficult to deal with.

    the other path was finding a flaw in the formation, but...

    this wasn''t the dimensional verse anymore. leonel was no longer head and shoulders above every other crafter he came across, and if he wanted to find a flaw, especially one that he could fit through or take advantage of, it would take hours of study, and that was in the best-case scenario. more likely than that, it would take days.

    in fact, for the people of the godlens, they probably wouldn''t even consider this. even a seasoned crafter wouldn''t dare to hand out such short timelines. it could only be said that leonel was either far too arrogant or very confident in himself.

    as for creating a flaw like he had done with the surface, that was even more impossible. that formation had been much smaller, not to mention one with far fewer checks and balances. and yet, it had still taken almost everything he had to cause some small changes to a minor part of it.

    once again, this wasn''t the dimensional verse. he couldn''t just casually change things because he felt like it anymore.

    there was a possibility of holing up and creating a large-scale teleportation formation he could use to leave the protective formation in an instant, but that thought was also a joke.

    he could already sense how solid space was here. how could such an important formation not have contingencies against spatial force masters?

    "what about going underground?" leonel asked.

    maybe if he found a home to commandeer, he could build an underground path out of the city right from under their noses.

    "the ground is far too solid. in addition, part of the formation is designed to defend against underground operations as well. there''s a net solidifying the ground, and it''s even more powerful than the formation exposed to the air.

    "you can only see a hemisphere now, but it''s more like if a bowl had a lid placed on it and then was flipped. imagine the city being trapped within it."

    leonel shook his head.

    the imperatress herself had already been suppressing her displeasure. from the moment she came, vivak had disrespected her, and now they seemed to be trying to blame her for this as well.

    "what are you-"

    butler halvar quickly cut anselma off before the situation got worse.

    "this is the territory of the godlens; we''ll take a step back. if you need our help, please feel free to approach us."

    it was only after hearing this that vivak''s brows relaxed slightly.

    ...

    "never do that to me again, halvar!" anselma growled, her red hair whipping in the air.

    "miss, please," halvar dabbed at his forehead. "we''ve already pushed things too far; if we push any more, it will be that child that benefits."

    "he did this on purpose. he wants to drive a wedge between us!"

    halvar frowned. he didn''t understand why anselma was so fearful of this boy. it was more likely a coincidence than anything else; how could a child have such deep schemes? it was fine if he was a bit clever, but manipulating the thoughts and emotions of ninth dimensional existences was a bridge too far. however, he had learned long ago not to refute his miss.

    "then we should do our best to not have his plans work any better. if you snap now, then it will only strain relations further. it''s better if we take a step back. the miss is the best counter to the boy now, but if we offend the godlens now, they might not even let us help."

    hearing these words, anselma slowly calmed down, taking a deep breath.

    she knew that her butler was right. she had been on edge these days and she wasn''t thinking clearly.

    ...

    leonel clicked his tongue when anastasia''s relayed these images to him.

    "how annoying..."

    the difficulty of his escape just seemed to keep increasing.nove-lb-in

 Chapter 2435 Droplets

    chapter 2435 droplets

    "anastasia, lead to the node nearest second nearest from the walls."

    "there are several that are equidistant."

    "show me the landscape around them."

    leonel''s mind began to be flooded with images.

    "alright, show me the path to the second one."

    after some thought, leonel picked and then slipped into the shadows once again.

    he knew quite well that being near any formation nodes right now was highly dangerous. but so long as he picked his spot well, it would be a simple matter for him to hide, in his opinion. as the saying went, the safest place was often the most dangerous place.

    plus, he didn''t particularly have a choice. he had to study the nodes one way or another, and without proper comprehension of the path of crafting, there were some details that he would need to see that anastasia might miss. after all, it had to be remembered that anastasia was doing her best to scan the region while also hiding her scan from the ninth dimensional experts. although she could do so, there would inevitably be some gaps caused as a result. n/(o-)v-(e)-l.(b(.1-.n

    as leonel moved, he could already sense the shift in the atmosphere. like he had thought previously, it was war time. the godlens already had several guards on high alert, and it was child''s play to activate them for a situation like this one. the godlens didn''t need to create a net to surround him because the net already existed.

    luckily, the scope of their territory was so large that it was likewise easier for leonel to hide. but after three close calls in a row, he realized that it might not be so easy to continue doing so.

    this building looked reminiscent of an apartment building of earth from the 21st century. leonel was starting to realize that much of the things that shaped the ascension empire came from these human powers. but that made sense; after all, it was under the control of his grandfather who likewise came from these places. it was natural that there would be some or even a ton of overlap.

    another matter that was reminiscent was the fact that this building was entirely devoid of citizens. while it looked like a normal apartment building from the outside, this was just a front.

    this was a common matter on olden earth as well. often, these fronts would be centers for power line companies or things of the like to provide their services without ruining the ambiance of the residential area.

    in this case, this building was a facade that hid the winding underground tunnels that connected the nexuses of the large-scale formation.

    the empty halls of the apartment building were patrolled, but most casually. it was more heavily guarded near the actual entrance of the tunnels themselves.

    in the shadow world, it was a simple matter for leonel to leap into an apartment he chose at random and slip into a closet.

    "rest up, blackstar. i don''t need you for now."

    leonel took a breath and appeared back in the real world. it wasn''t exactly safe to allow blackstar to take a rest now, but it was about the best chance he was going to get.

    after taking a breath, he reached down with his internal sight, using his dream sovereignty to once again mask his own presence.

    according to anastasia, there was at least one ninth dimensional expert overseeing each nexus node, making it difficult on him. but none of them were dream force experts and this matter was still firmly under his control.

    "leonel, it''s as you feared. they managed to find a few droplets of your blood."

    leonel cursed under his breath.

 Chapter 2436 Go Now

    chapter 2436 go now

    "if aina is right, they''ll probably be able to sense you anywhere within 50 or so meters with that amount. if they find another drop, it could be upwards of a hundred meters. but aina also does say that those are to her standards..."

    leonel''s gaze flashed when he heard this. nove-lb-in

    "send me an image when the force art is in the process of being completed. i''ll double-check."

    after saying this, leonel seemed to close himself off to the rest of the world. he was entirely focused on what he was seeing below.

    the nexus node was quite large, or so it seemed. much of it was bluster as it required a large amount of energy and cooling to function properly.

    much of the outer structure, as a result, were force arts designed to control the flow of energy and also to send excess heat outward. if he wanted to see the true formation, it would require him going in deeper.

    this was why he had to come in person. the force art was quite complicated, but anastasia had no idea what parts were important to what he needed and what parts weren''t.

    leonel sucked in a cold breath when he saw the true depths of the force art. it was far more complicated than anything he had ever seen before, and just looking at it, while not as bad as taking a look at goggles'' ability index, still made him feel like his dream force was being sucked down an endless vat of darkness.

    what leonel didn''t know was that most of the large-scale formations of the human alliance were set up by king personally. the godlens were willing to pay an exorbitant price for this former overlord of the dream pavilion to help them out, and now it was leonel''s problem to deal with.

    the gap between the impetus state and the life state was too enormous to put into words. even if king was casual with his attempts and didn''t put in his full effort, it was incredibly far beyond leonel''s means to deal with.

    it could be said that leonel was lucky he was able to recognize the portions that were used for energy control and cooling at all, as for the rest of it...

    "do i really have no choice but to try and destroy it?"

    leonel grit his teeth. it had only been a few seconds, but he knew it was helpless. his crafting simply wasn''t on this level yet. he had been too arrogant in assuming that he would definitely be able to do something about it.

    ...

    "leave it to me," anselma said, taking the droplets of blood.

    with one hand, the air under her palm seemed to solidify. under the other, she shattered the vial and sent the droplets of blood in.

    soon, a force art began to take shape, and the blood fused into it slowly.

    "i need something solid. preferably at least eighth star level."

    vivak nodded and gave some orders. soon, anselma had a piece of reinforced urbe ore she imprinted the force art into.

    "this should work. within 30 to 40 meters, it will be able to lock onto his aura."

    "30 to 40 meters?" vivak asked with a frown.

    "the blood is too little. this is already an excellent result. your city is large, but that''s only a consideration for the weak. even if you sent something of the eighth star out, it''ll only take an hour at most to scan the entire city."

    "and what if he moves?"

    "does it matter? would he be faster than someone you sent out? and even if he could manage the same speed, so long as you pick your search pattern properly, you can force him into a corner."

    vivak nodded and agreed. then he barked out some orders.

    "keep searching the rubble, salvage what you can. inform us immediately if you find any more droplets of blood."

    the workers continued their task, and vivak called his sister over. quite frankly, he wanted to do this personally, but the optics of a patriarch scouring the city for a fifth dimensional brat just didn''t look good. it was impossible for leonel to escape, and he just needed to set someone he trusted on the task, especially since his daughter was involved.

    "liana, you will be the head of this matter. go now."

 Chapter 2437 Pay it Forward

    chapter 2437 pay it forward

    "we''ve found him!"

    the voice came suddenly and with far more speed than anything could have expected. liana was caught off guard and immediately made a move.

    they made a move to circle around the apartment. at the same time, feeling that there was something odd about this occurrence, liana contacted her brother as well.

    vivak frowned when he received the message. found him already? what were the odds of that? he shook his head. no, it should make sense. he had been monitoring leonel all the while, which meant that there was no way he had swapped a blood clone in before the arena battle. the only time he should have had to do so was when everyone thought he was dead and the security was more lax as a result. that should mean that the real leonel was likely heavily injured. it made sense that he wouldn''t be able to make it far.

    after some thought, he got up and made a move as well, giving anselma and her butler a glance.

    ...

    the building was yet another apartment building, but this one was full of residents. when they saw so many covert ops surrounding their building, they were immediately on edge.

    liana swiftly controlled the situation.

    "clear out the building!"

    liana wasn''t very worried about the situation here. no one had seen leonel''s real strength, and in her opinion, he was currently just a heavily injured fifth dimensional existence. even children of the godlen family were stronger than that, and that wasn''t even taken into account of the fact that just being born in a complete world made you far stronger as well.

    back when leonel was in the fifth dimension and he first stepped foot into what he had called the cataclysm zone all this time, he had come across villagers that didn''t seem to have a dimensional level at all, they should have technically been in the third dimension. and yet, they were so powerful that he didn''t dare to meet them head on and could only observe them from afar as he accustomed himself.

    liana was logically correct to assume that the situation would be about the same here. as such, worry of casualties was quite far in the back of her mind. she didn''t think that leonel could harm people, at least not on a large scale.

    of course, she had also been informed about the disappearance of simona and eduardo. however, she had her own theories about how that matter had gone down.

    during the acceptance of a technique, one would be fully focused on the task at hand and their mind would be completely co-opted by a flood of information. usually, the technique room was a completely safe environment, so they obviously wouldn''t hesitate to be completely at ease.

    she believed that leonel had hid and waited until that moment before kidnapping them both. this was very possible.

    the only reason she was leading an evacuation in the first place was out of an abundance of caution. there was no reason to not take this extra step and cover all her bases.

    soon, large streams of people were being escorted out. with the blood compass in hand, none of them were worried about leonel slipping through the cracks amongst this stream of people. if he tried to do so, then he would be too foolish.

    just minutes later, the task was complete and liana commanded the team to close in. n/)ovelbin

    they swiftly did their jobs. they had already located the exact room that leonel was hiding in, but none of them were surprised that leonel hadn''t made an attempt to escape. he probably thought that they might accidentally pass him by.

    a man kicked out with a strong black boot, shattering the door into countless little pieces of wood.

    they stormed inside, only to find leonel calmly sitting in a corner.

    there were hundreds, no, thousands of leonel''s, each one dotted across the city, and each one registering as the real him.

    the compass that should have been an easy cheat code in helping them find leonel had quickly become a headache instead.

    vivak was even beginning to feel that anselma was lying to him. according to everything she said, this should be impossible. by now, leonel should have died ten times over!

    his distrust in her was reaching the point that he didn''t even bother to report matters back to her at all, a fact that only raised anselma''s frustration.

    ...

    "miss, this still isn''t our territory. the situation isn''t as bad as it could be. tomorrow, the other powerhouses will arrive and it will balance it out somewhat. you can use their opinions for more leverage and control when the time comes, vivak won''t be able to do as he pleases by then."

    hearing these words, anselma took a breath and slowly nodded. this made sense. it was impossible for leonel to vanish in a day, he was already a fish in a barrel. once the others arrived, she would be able to exert more pressure.

    ...

    anastasia passed information about this conversation to leonel.

    at first, he was annoyed by the old man calming anselma down yet again, but when he paid attention to the contents of the conversation, he couldn''t help but frown.

    ''why is my luck so bad...'' he shook his head. ''this... could be an opportunity, though.''

    if there were people scheduled to come in tomorrow, didn''t that mean that they had to open up the formation?

    of course, he wasn''t naive enough to believe that they would shut down the whole thing. a formation of this level definitely had a method of opening up a small area.

    the question was whether he could take advantage of it or not...

    leonel''s gaze flickered.

    it would be impossible for him to get out of this situation without taking some risks.

    ''in that case, let''s move forward some of my plans a bit.''

    ...

    in the far off distance, leonel''s blood clones began to set their own formations.

    soon, they would realize that it wasn''t just simona and eduardo that were his hostages, but rather the whole city.

    leonel no longer felt himself to be some moral arbitrator of justice, nor was he the fiend that could genocide entire races.

    he wouldn''t go out of his way to kill, but he also wouldn''t just turn a blind eye to all the useful pawns around him.

    the godlens treated the people of the incomplete worlds like sheep to the slaughter.

    it was time to pay some of that forward.

 Chapter 2438 The Best Scheme

    chapter 2438 the best scheme

    boom.

    the situation had just reached a lull. the task force under liana had entered a rhythm, slowly and systematically taking down one blood clone after another, hoping that the next one would have leonel without.

    in the end, liana realized that it was far too slow, so she separated the group and expanded the task force, even giving them the right to act on their own. the swifter they were, the better, because something told her that leonel had actually not stopped creating blood clones yet. if he created two for every one they found, would this ever end?

    however, no one could have expected the first explosion.

    liana stood in a daze, watching an apartment building go up in flames.

    it was a brief instant, practically a flash bang that appeared and vanished in the next second.

    but as fast as it was, what it left behind was even more devastating...

    that being nothing at all.

    it was nothing more than a pit in the ground, a well of nothingness, empty air and fluttering strands of dust and debris.

    dead? they were all dead? just like that?

    sergeant moe, the task force member that had been about to clear this building, stood in stunned silence. everyone looked toward the direction of the explosion with solemn faces.

    they knew what this meant immediately. leonel was fighting back again; they just didn''t know how he was doing it.

    anyone trusted enough by liana to work on this task force was in the know about leonel''s origins. they were all still working under the assumption that he was a fifth dimensional brat from an incomplete world that just happened to have some more difficult to deal with abilities.

    it should be hard for leonel to leave a scratch even on normal dirt and clay, let alone their structured buildings. nove-lb-in

    it should be even more difficult for him to harm their citizens. even the weakest here should be able to kill leonel with a well-timed sneeze. if it wasn''t for the fact they didn''t want to alert the population and publicize their incompetence, they could have already released wanted posters and felt confident in letting their people hunt him down.

    leonel took a glance at his segmented cube. within, large groups of unconscious people lay.

    those flashes had actually been mostly a facade for a forced teleportation.

    while he couldn''t teleport out of this barrier, it was possible to use anastasia as an anchor to teleport people within this city so long as he had strong enough material to withstand it.

    after gathering so many of those high-level ores the godlens were using to create those farming zones of theirs, leonel had a lot of such stabilizing material in hand. more than he could even use.

    he didn''t really do this out of the kindness of his heart, though. these people were useful for many reasons.

    one, and most obvious, their disappearance would enrage the godlens further and potentially open up a path for mistakes to be made.

    two, their ability indexes would help to bolster his contribution points and he might be able to find something useful within to help his brothers and the others.

    three, and most importantly to this task at hand, he could use their blood.

    of course, if he had wanted, he could have just kidnapped these people the normal way, but how would he piss off vivak that way?

    "these people aren''t you, i can probably only make one or two clones with each of them. because you don''t want them to be controlled by their original selves, i''ll need more blood than usual."

    "i only really need one each. and i don''t even need all of them at that. after all, if they all appear at once, then it''ll actually ruin my plans. i just need a handful."

    ...

    and then it began. a storm of cries and pleas for justice, for explanations and reassurance.

    dozens of people who had just lost their families appeared one after another, raising hell, and why wouldn''t they?

    their families had just inexplicably been wiped off the face of the world and the godlens main family was actually trying to stay quiet about it?

    worse than that was that vivak, who was too infuriated even to speak to anselma, had no idea that they were blood clones.

    the worst part, though, was that even if he had known... it wouldn''t have mattered.

    the best scheme was the kind everyone knew was right in front of them, and yet had no choice but to step into anyway.

 Chapter 2439 Someone Else

    chapter 2439 someone else

    "we demand answers!"

    ...

    "give me my babies back!"

    ...

    "where is the patriarch! we demand to speak to him! why has he said nothing!?"

    ... n/(o-)v-(e)-l.(b(.1-.n

    the roars of protest outside the godlen family estate quickly grew into a fever pitch. the blood clones that leonel was controlling didn''t even need to stir up the crowd for much, and they quickly slipped away after their damage was done.

    the godlens weren''t used to having to deal with public relations much. their city was mostly harmonious, but rather than this being due to their excellent governance, it was mostly because of the power disparity.

    in a world where everyone carried explosive power in their hands, it was harder to find concepts like democracy. usually, the powerful ruled, and the weak accepted it.

    when that was the sort of dynamic at play, even if things weren''t perfect, or even if they were practically in a state of perpetual war, the discontent of the people wasn''t often a factor that was weighed in unless it was a matter of face.

    vivak was hesitant to take action personally precisely because of this. the more of an ethereal god he was in the eyes of the people, the easier it was to maintain his air of indomitability, and the less he had to worry about such things.

    it was a lot like an empire that had just conquered a territory.

    if you wanted to expand your territory, you had to have far more power than the land you were trying to take. this was because assimilating a land that didn''t properly fear and revere you was difficult. it would often require dividing the population and forcing them to migrate.

    this was only to his benefit.

    liana and vivak were correct about one thing: the people of complete worlds were strong. removing them from the equation was just one less problem that he would have to deal with. plus, he had managed to sneak some of his blood clones inside.

    the best part was that because these blood clones had been formed with the blood of different people, creating a blood compass was useless. anselma would have to literally scan these billions of people one by one if she wanted to find all the blood clones inside.

    now, the only things left in the city were leonel, the task force, and the guards tasked with protecting the nexus nodes. well, and leonel''s thousands of blood clones.

    ''it''s time.''

    leonel''s eyes flashed open. he might not be able to decipher the weaknesses of the formation, but he could just barely make out its various functions.

    he had found the parts that cooled and controlled energy, and after a few hours of analyzing the main force art, he was able to find the function that opened up a small hatch for people to move in and out without shutting down the entire formation.

    from what he could tell, there were twelve locations, one to each. in order for these hatches to be opened, you either needed the strength of the ninth dimension or a key to open it up.

    leonel couldn''t even analyze the whole force art, so he had no shot at making a key for it. in addition, he obviously didn''t have the strength of the ninth dimension.

    there were two options he thought of.

    after a while of running through a brick wall, he had ended up asking his father''s ai if it could help. it had all but told him to piss off and figure it out for himself.

    leonel''s lip twitched at the response, but it was expected. his father definitely wouldn''t have baked in such a convenient function; he was still the same bitter old man.

    the second thing he wondered was if anastasia could silently build up enough force to explode with the strength of a ninth dimensional existence for a small moment, but he threw that idea away as well.

    that idea had the same problem with the destroying a node idea: he would have to actually somehow make it close to succeed, but the security was far too heavy.

    that left him with the final hope: waiting patiently for someone else to do it for him.

 Chapter 2440 Right Now

    nove-lb-in

    chapter 2440 right now

    "i''ve duplicated the compasses. so long as you stand in different regions across the city, it should make it possible to get them all at once," anselma explained as calmly as she could.

    if it wasn''t for her butler''s constant mention of the fact there was already just a few hours left until she wouldn''t have to deal with this anymore, she would have already completely lost her temper.

    vivak didn''t even communicate with her directly any longer. instead, he sent this weak wife of his that she could snap in half between two fingers. did he forget who she was?! how much power she wielded?!

    "in addition, i''ve limited the range to just 30 meters so that the compasses will not interfere with one another. like this, there shouldn''t be a case where they go haywire again."

    "thank you for your help, imperatress. the godlens are ever-grateful."

    matriarch pyius bowed slightly and swiftly walked out of the room, holding a spatial ring filled with blood compasses.

    unfortunately, the blood compass was too easily fooled. because it could only point in a single direction, he could easily be confused.

    as such, the godlens were forced to restrict the range again and instead use the large amounts of blood they gained from the clones they had captured in an attempt to catch all of the leonels in one sweep.

    matriarch pyius'' expression became steely. this had to work. there were tens of thousands of blood compasses here and they had taken anselma hours to make.

    what they didn''t know was that leonel found all of this quite amusing. his blood clones couldn''t hide themselves from detection of internal sight like his main body could. what was the point of all that effort? if they just swept their senses around, they''d eventually find them all since the city had been mostly emptied by now.

    they had falsely assumed that since leonel could hide himself, all of his blood clones could do the same. they had tunnel vision and were stuck on the uses of the compass.

    however, why would he stop them from being foolish? they''d probably kick themselves when they realized, but by then he would be long gone.

    amynta and her brother rushed back, only to find that they were holding yet another blood clone in their hands, but this one wasn''t leonel at all.

    eyes widened in realization before their hearts went cold.

    this young man...

    every turn, every scheme, every trap... it felt like they hadn''t trapped leonel within the city, but rather that they were trapped in the city with leonel.

    amynta placed a hand on her husband''s arm.

    "i will speak with anselma. we''ll weed out all of the blood clones as quickly as we can."

    vivak''s expression was as dark as night, but he nodded. before all these people, he couldn''t afford to lose his composure.

    like this, the godlens found themselves delayed once again. they did find all the blood clones, but by the time they got to the fourth, they realized they might not need anselma at all. they were all so obviously dull-eyed that they could be spotted from a long distance away.

    however, they couldn''t take the chance. what if only some of them were like this but there were sharp-eyed ones under leonel''s control elsewhere?

    when they checked the last person and realized that all of the blood clones had indeed been dull-eyed, these experts who sat at the top of the world could practically feel the humiliation seeping into their bones.

    they were being toyed with. they knew it, and yet they could do nothing about it.

    "patriarch, several powers have arrived and have requested entry."

    after all the news that he had received in the past day, this was honestly only the semi-positive thing that vivak had heard.

    mo''lexi and clarence were both dream force experts. with them here, this matter would come to an end right now.

 Chapter 2441 Too Late

    chapter 2441 too late

    n/)ovelbin

    mo''''lexi and the others waited outside for the formation, each one in their own vessels, and each one wearing a confused expression.

    why was the godlen family formation activated? had the demons attacked? but there didn''t seem to be any sign of that?

    they had arrived from different directions, but seeing the oddity, they ended up converging, knowing that if the godlens were going to let them in, it would be from one location.

    soon, they saw vivak arriving from a distance, but to their surprise, anselma and her butler were also with him, causing them to frown once again.

    clarence had been interested in leonel from the moment he saw him, but he didn''t have any right to him as that fell to mo''''lexi. so, he could only come to see if he would have an opportunity later. but he didn''t expect that someone would arrive so far ahead of him.

    could anselma have only been a couple of hours early? but...

    clarence looked up into the skies, finding that the sun was only just rising. if anselma had arrived any earlier, she would have come in the dead of night. could it be that she had arrived the previous day? for what purpose?

    mo''''lexi was having some of the same thoughts and she was immediately unhappy.

    "what is the meaning of this?" she asked with an angry growl the moment vivak was in range.

    "come inside first and i will explain everything," vivak said calmly.

    he pulled out a key and held it out in his palm. it vibrated, sensing the activation of the formation and rushed forward, ready to open a small passageway.

    it had suddenly, a volatile explosion so explosive that it almost made the ninth dimensional existences take a step back.

    although it wasn''t strong enough to do so, it blinded anselma and vivak completely, while mo''''lexi and clarence, along with their people, retreated explosively.

    they had been hesitant to step into the city in the first place, but with their sharp minds, they had already retreated the instant they sensed the first fluctuation. they didn''t even have time to register that this explosion wasn''t strong enough to harm them; they acted first and thought about it later.

    it was in the midst of this explosion that a little mink wearing a familiar brace on its little wrist shot through the gap, spiraling through the shadow world and through the small gap.

    mo''''lexi and clarence had the senses to see through the explosion and spot the little mink, but that left them in confusion.

    they had never seen blackstar in action, and had directly ignored it after it seemed to pass out after mo''''lexi said her name. what they didn''t know was that blackstar hadn''t passed out or died; he was sleeping. it was just that blackstar had a habit of protecting his vital organs within the shadow world as he did so, making it seem to them as though he had completely lost all vitality.

    when leonel had first spotted blackstar, he was also sleeping like this. back then, leonel had tried to kill blackstar, only for his attack to go right through the latter''s body. this was a habit that blackstar had held onto even into maturity.

    due to this, neither of these experts immediately thought of leonel when they saw this shadow, nor when they realized it was a little mink. their first assumption when seeing this little beast was that it had been startled by the explosion and was running away. either way, their senses swept over the mink and landed on the two people they truly found to be threats, only to find that they were caught completely off guard as well.

    "hm?"

    the confusion of the two increased several times over. what the hell was going on? had they been too cautious?

    that wasn''t too much of a big deal. it wasn''t as though anything terrible had happened. it was best if they waited here and prepared to deal with whatever enemy there was. they would have never thought that a mere seventh dimension mink could have warranted all of this anyway, so they directly ignored little blackstar...

    until it was too late.

    the brace on blackstar''s wrist trembled and formed a vessel amid the smoke, then it quickly shot off into the distance.

 Chapter 2442 Thoroughly

    chapter 2442 thoroughly

    nove.lb(in

    mo''''lexi and clarence reacted at the same time.

    a little mink was fine. although this enclosure was called a city, it was more accurate to say that it was a world of its own, just one that happened to be excellently protected. there were plenty of spots with large forests filled with beasts for both hunting game and training.

    the fact that a beast had been inside the city didn''t faze them. but how could they not feel that something was off about a little mink suddenly taking out such a flying treasure?

    a beast was one thing. a beast with enough intelligence to do this shouldn''t be a normal beast. in fact, it could very well come from one of the beast bubbles.

    after the situation with their selection, and the demons having a chance to expose what happened, the various overlords of this region were on edge about other races. they had their hands full with the demon race already; they couldn''t afford to garner the ire of everyone else, which is why they immediately removed the other races from the selection.

    obviously, then, they wouldn''t be bold enough to outright kill little blackstar, but they also couldn''t just let him off scot-free either. they needed to at least capture and question him.

    but who would have expected for the vessel to suddenly expand and for the ship that seemed to have been under the control of a little mink to gain a very much human pilot instead?

    leonel didn''t even look back. he took control of the vessel with one hand, and just as mo''''lexi was about to attack, she froze.

    it was fear. fear from the deepest depths of her heart.

    the corpse of a void beast appeared. it was so large and looming that it could have crushed a tenth of the godlen city in an instant.

    no, it wasn''t the corpse. it just felt like that. in reality, leonel only held up a single scale, one as large as dozens of meters across. it shielded over the segmented cube and cube, held up by a mysterious power.

    just a small glance at it made mo''''lexi and clarence feel as though they had been dipped into an ice-cold hell. if they had just used their eyes, they might have still been fine. but because of all the lights and smoke, they could only use the dream force, and that only made the backlash worse.

    it was said that when one laid their eyes on a void beast for the first time, some might feel so much dread that they would never get over it, even committing suicide to escape their thoughts.

    this wasn''t a full void beast corpse, but sinking your senses into a piece of the god beast of destruction''s body was asking for trouble.

    80 kilometers... 90 kilometers... 99...

    the compass'' vibration stopped completely, and it fell into a lull.

    nothing.

    in just a few breaths, leonel had already cleared over a hundred kilometers and left their range of influence.

    anselma''s chest heaved, her red eyes turning redder. it looked as though even her sclera might be painted in crimson.

    unable to take it any longer, she screeched, her roar causing the walls to tremble. she felt her blood boiling and her veins popped all across her body.

    she coughed up a mouthful of blood, having agitated her injuries, but she didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    her hair became disheveled, sweat beginning to drench her body as her breath came in heavy, panting, puffs of steam.

    vivak knew there was only one reason for this sort of reaction, and he clenched his fists so hard that his bones nearly cracked.

    the godlen codex. no, the entire technique room. his daughter. his face.

    "leonel morales!"

    his roar split the clouds above a wild vortex forming in the skies as his halberd force spread out in all directions.

    who would have thought that they''d hear uproarious laughter.

    it echoed from dozens of miles away, and yet it was as clear as day.

    whose laughter could it be if not leonel''s?

    he didn''t say any words, he didn''t need to. the laughter was enough.

    the ninth dimensional existences, overlords of this region, have palms that could cover the skies and feet that could split the earth, had been thoroughly outplayed.

 Chapter 2443 [Bonus] Wisdom

    chapter 2443 [bonus] wisdom

    [bonus chappy thanks to douglas bell <3 (1/1)]

    leonel was having a great time. honestly speaking, he would have much rather punched them all through their faces, he wouldn''t even have minded if his knuckles exited out through the back of their skulls, but he wasn''t strong enough for that yet.

    in that case, he would just have to settle for making them spit up blood in anger.

    of course, he could tell that the real reason anselma spat up blood was because of her internal injuries, but who cared? minor details, minor details.

    "anastasia, find us a relatively safe place. i need to sleep for like a decade."

    a snort came back as a reply, leaving leonel without the words. how were they still mad at him? n.)o(-v(.e/-l(/b))i-.n

    back then, he really didn''t have much of a choice. he was enraged about the matter too, that was why he had looked so angry when he handed the letter to aina. although he knew that he would never let anything happen to aina, just the idea pissed him off greatly. honestly speaking, had it not been for his breakthrough in vital star force, the thought would have filled him with too much fury to even execute. by then, it would have been a much worse ordeal to even make it out of there alive.

    simply put, his best chance at dealing with these ninth dimensional powerhouses wasn''t to outsmart them, and it also wasn''t to overpower them. both were far too difficult. his best chance was to prey on the one thing they couldn''t change: the fact they were human.

    they had emotions, they had faults and flaws, they had relationships, both good and bad. this was what he had to exploit.

    with mo''''lexi, he had seen that she didn''t really like aina because of assumptions she made. he and aina were as close as could be, and yet from an outsider''s perspective, it looked as though aina was taking advantage of leonel.

    for whatever reason, this really seemed to get under mo''''lexi''s skin, so that made it a flaw that was easily exploitable. it was her achilles heel.

    across a mountain range about a thousand or so kilometers northwest, there was a serene region. leonel adjusted his flight path and shot ahead.

    "hey, anastasia, how far can you see?"

    "i can see everything so long as it''s one world, but that doesn''t mean i should," she replied.

    "oh?"

    "yes. vivak and anselma aren''t dream force experts, so they won''t be able to sense me, but that''s not the same for everyone."

    "and what if you don''t care about them sensing you or not?"

    "well, i guess that''s not too much of a problem. so long as they aren''t in the life state, that is. someone in the life state could both use my senses to track me and even harm me if they''re vindictive enough."

    "i see," leonel nodded. "is there any way to tell who or what areas to avoid?"

    "not until you touch the edge of their domains, but otherwise no. usually, experts just have their own etiquette and keep the range of their senses within a reasonable range. the more powerful you are, the more flagrant you can be."

    "mm..." leonel nodded slowly. "in that case, let''s be a bit more cautious. keep your range to a thousand kilometers. at this point, i''ll need resources and you''re the best metal detector there is. i wasted too many of those precious ores making that flash bang."

    "what did you just call me?!"

    leonel''s laughter echoed again.

    ''hm, after a nice sleep, i should check on that golden codex they were talking about.''

 Chapter 2444 [Bonus] Kitchen

    chapter 2444 [bonus] kitchen

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (1/6)]

    leonel collapsed almost immediately. he couldn''t be bothered to care about anything else; he barely had the strength to appease aina for a bit and calm her before his heavy eyes fell closed.

    he was in the third dimension now, the fact he could even stay awake for so long in the first place was nothing short of a miracle. he was completely relying on his strong dream force and his vital star force. the two were able to bolster his baseline, but there was only so much they could do.

    his dream force right now was in the higher impetus state, but it could barely exhibit the strength of the lower impetus state, and that was only because of his dream sovereignty. if not for this, it wouldn''t even be that good. n.)o(-v(.e/-l(/b))i-.n

    his vital star force was in a similar state, as were his other forces. his current body was just too much of a bottleneck.

    these were some of the last thoughts leonel managed to have before his body ran to the end of its rope.

    ...

    aina stood watching leonel sleep with a hint of a sad smile. she took a seat by their bed, stroking leonel''s hair lightly.

    she found her previous thoughts to be a bit amusing. she was so much stronger than leonel now, and yet wasn''t she still being protected by him?

    there was a part of her, a deeply feminine part that liked the feeling. that trust she could place in leonel to handle everything.

    if she had blind faith in leonel''s abilities, she would have never doubted his talent to keep up with her. if she had blind faith in him, she would have never doubted that he could keep his life no matter how many unrelated people he tried to save.

    but now, it could be said that her faith had truly reached that level, and she was almost intoxicated by it.

    it had started when she woke up. when she did, she knew that somehow, that undefeatable beast, capable of wiping out a galaxy on a whim, had somehow been killed by him. then, he escaped that woman who could make her freeze with just her name... and now he had escaped almost a dozen ninth dimensional experts, and he had saved them all on top of that.

    if she couldn''t have blind faith in this man, then who could she give it to?

    leonel was startled awake. his mind seemed to flip on like a switch when he finally had enough rest, but for the entire time, he had truly been out of it. even if there was danger, he was certain that he would have probably just died.

    that sort of fatigue was something that he hadn''t felt in a long time, and he reminded himself to take his rest more seriously. luckily, there were still the pods. he''d have to make better use of them in the future.

    after a glance around and using his connection with anastasia to scan the world, he realized that aina was in training so he didn''t bother her.

    "i''m so hun-"

    "go to the kitchen," anastasia''s voice echoed in his ears.

    leonel did as he was told and found a spread of food that made his mouth water. his future wife was truly the best.

    he devoured it all. his vital star force churned in his body and his digestive system seemed to roar with life.

    after just the first bite, leonel felt his cells singing. every bite revitalized him and felt like his body was quickly soaring past its previous strength. he had thought that his body was already finished adjusting to his soul, but it seemed that he was wrong about that. there was actually still so much room, and aina''s cooking was helping that along greatly.

 Chapter 2445 [Bonus] Codex

    chapter 2445 [bonus] codex

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (2/6)]

    leonel shook his head. he was neglecting something so important.

    he hated to put so much on aina''s plate, but he hoped that they could make such a meal plan not just for himself but also everyone else.

    his brothers had been completely focused on training. he didn''t tell them what was going on outside so that they wouldn''t feel guilty about it. although they would know that the best way to help him was by growing stronger, logic was one thing and emotions were another.

    since he could help them by keeping them ignorant, he would do so.

    to them, it had only been less than a month. and since leonel popped in from time to time, they felt that things were just fine. leonel was content with that arrangement.

    after he finished eating, leonel took a deep breath and exhaled.

    "yip!"

    he chuckled as little blackstar appeared for a moment, licked his face, then went back to his own training. that little guy had been a lot more serious recently as well.

    leonel felt a bit guilty about it because he felt that part of the reason why was because little blackstar could sense his own frustration and agitation. he had to be calmer of mind in the future. nove.lb(in

    ''a plan...'' leonel thought to himself.

    it was hard to tell what to do from here. he had dealt a strong blow to the human alliance, so at the very least, in the short term, they wouldn''t be farming anyone.

    ''i guess they can have some uses too. but i''m not delving into any techniques until i finish those three tasks on dad''s list.''

    though he thought this, leonel chose to take out the so-called godlen codex. he had some thoughts about there being traps hidden within, but he also thought that if there were, they would have already appeared after he snatched them the first time.

    luckily, within the segmented cube, everything could be controlled quite easily.

    while anastasia''s power was limited on the outside, she was nothing short of a deity within the segmented cube itself which could be considered its own world.

    [domain]

    [universe]

    [finality]

    ''hm? what weird names...''

    it was hard to tell immediately whether these names were chosen out of a false bravado or if it was something else. though, leonel leaned toward the former since he didn''t have much respect for these human powers.

    even so, he didn''t look down on them entirely. judging by the fact mo''''lexi had a black tablet, leonel concluded that there should be some lingering influence of the god beasts left behind. if the cult had a tablet, maybe the godlens had something similar.

    at the very least, the lineage factor the godlens created had been able to fuse with his other lineage factors to form a true ninth dimensional lineage factor. they had to have done something right to get to that point.

    in the past several days, while they had still been trapped, leonel had been having anastasia scan the entirety of godlen territory. as such, she had overheard a lot of information about these techniques.

    for one, it seemed that there hadn''t been anyone in the godlens that could use all three for several generations. in fact, it had been so long that most thought it was impossible to do so.

    second, the earlier one could get recognition of these techniques, the stronger potential one would have. usually, the earliest one could was the "seventh star", or rather the seventh dimension. at such a level, one would be touted as a once in a generation genius like eduardo almost was.

    third, from the order of most commonly unlocked to most difficult to unlock, it was: [domain], [universe], and only then was there [finality].

 Chapter 2446 [Bonus] Stacked

    chapter 2446 [bonus] stacked

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (3/6)]

    leonel scanned the introduction of all three techniques, and his somewhat curious expression became a hint more serious. he sat up, wondering one thing...

    was this true?

    [domain]. [universe]. [finality].

    [domain] seemed to be where inspiration from the spear domain and the other created lineage factors came from. it was clear after reading it a bit that the godlens hadn''t exactly created the lineage factor from scratch. n.(ovelbin

    [domain] required impetus state force, which was interesting since it was apparently the easiest to get access to. it was only after reading a bit further that leonel realized there was a rudimentary form that you could use with half-step impetus state force. only then did it make a bit more sense to him.

    if the description was correct, then [domain] was capable of doing what every person dreamed of. it had such a simple name because it was completely malleable.

    so long as one had an impetus state force, it could take it and mold it into a domain. this domain would allow you more influence over a region, suppress all other forces, and bolster your force by a quasi level state.

    essentially, it could take a lower impetus state force and give it the strength of a middle impetus state force. however, it couldn''t give you the comprehension or the flexibility a higher state force would allow you.

    [domain] truly began to shine when you had more than one impetus state force. every additional force was an exponential increase in strength. if you had one, you could already suppress an enemy by 5%. if you had two, you could already suppress them by 20%. if you have three, over 50% wouldn''t be a problem. if you had four, you could suppress an enemy by over 90%. if by some miracle you had five or more, an enemy would find themselves completely at your mercy, unable to muster any force or combat skills.

    once again, leonel found these requirements silly. was this really the second hardest? if anything, [domain] sounded like the harder one...

    in the past, leonel used to have very specific techniques that he would use with his universal cycles. these tended to match well with the imagery created. for example, when he was in the four seasons realm, he had a technique he called withering snowfall, and three others that matched well with it.

    [universe] was similar, but it was a pure movement technique, or more accurately, a movement method as it was more than just about speed and agility.

    according to its description, it quite literally used universal cycles to warp universal law, or in other words, the fundamental laws of physics. the more powerful your universal cycles, the more change you could force.

    you could instantly change momentum, whether that be of yourself or even your weapon. this meant that you could accelerate to your full speed on a dime, change an attack''s target mid-strike, or even turn full assault into a full retreat nigh instantaneously.

    however, momentum was just one of the universal laws you could control and it was one of the weakest of the laws.

    from weakest to highest there was: friction, velocity, momentum, waveform, and finally, folding.

    friction, as the simplest, allowed you to negate all forms of friction or increase it to extremes. this was the only tier available in the rudimentary version.

    it sounded lackluster compared to the others, but leonel''s mind instantly thought of thousands of complications in battle.

    air resistance was a kind of friction. being able to move without worry for the wind would be huge, especially considering his body was still in the third dimension.

    just with air resistance alone, there were countless applications, especially if it was matched with [domain] and applied onto an enemy.

    that was the scariest part of these techniques...

    they stacked.

 Chapter 2447 [Bonus] [Finality]

    chapter 2447 [bonus] [finality]

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (4/6)] nove-lb-in

    velocity allowed one to instantly change their velocity''s direction. although you couldn''t speed up or slow down, you could choose the direction at which. if used with enough precision and confidence, it might even be possible to make it look like you had come to a sudden stop, but the consumption of mental fortitude, universal force, and dream force would be astronomical.

    momentum was the evolution of velocity. instantly controlling momentum allowed you to not only choose the direction at will but also the speed. the flexibility was much greater, and the results far more devastating.

    waveform allowed you to phase in and out of reality, similar to blackstar''s shadow world, but this time firmly under leonel''s control. he could even focus on just a single part of his body if he was confident enough, minimizing the consumption.

    and finally, there was fold.

    this one had the most wide array of applications and it folded space and twisted distance. this wasn''t just for movement but for attacks as well. if applied cleverly, the strength could easily be beyond the previous four in total.

    for someone with leonel''s battle style, one that was highly analytical and liked to analyze every aspect of combat, this sort of technique was absolutely perfect for him. he almost wanted to apologize to the godlens for looking down on them, even though he was still a bit skeptical.

    descriptions were one thing, but would the technique actually be that powerful in practice? it was hard to tell until he actually put it to good use.

    then there was [finality].

    this technique was... the oddest of them. it had no starting requirements at all, and yet it sounded like the one you would least like to use.

    if he tried to use a 100 times [finality] strike now the only silver lining was that his death would be instantaneous.

    third, just because you could strike, didn''t mean that it would land. so what if you could use a strike 100,000 times more powerful than your best, if it hit air, it would all be for naught.

    ''i''m looking at this wrong...'' leonel suddenly thought, his eyes narrowing.

    sure, this technique was presented as a "final strike" or trump card sort of technique, but did it have to be used like this?

    there were two ways to fill the technique.

    the first way was passively. for leonel, or at least the leonel who once had [dimensional cleanse]''s stars in his ethereal glabella, he would be quite fast. even so, it would take a day to fill it passively.

    that meant that he would be able to use [finality] at double his strength once a day if he only relied on passive activation.

    he had another advantage, and that was his innate nodes. his innate nodes were even faster than his stars. far faster. they could fill [finality] once over once an hour. because he had two scarlet star force innate nodes, he could do it at double that speed.

    for context, a normal person would take anywhere from a week to an entire month to do the same.

    however, other than that, there was the active activation. this could be done much faster, especially with innate nodes. anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on your force state.

    another hidden advantage that leonel had in this context was the fact he was a dream sovereign. his ability to split his attention in battle was unparalleled.

    never mind double. what if he only used [finality] in its active state to continuously increase his strike power by 10, 20, or maybe 50% increments? wouldn''t he instantly raise his combat strength by that measure just by measure of this technique alone?

    if he matched that with the suppression of [domain], and the physics breaking of [universe], he, who could already battle far above his level, would become all the stronger.

 Chapter 2448 Prison

    chapter 2448 prison

    leonel leaned back on the dining room chair and chuckled. quite frankly, this was an unexpected find. while he still didn''t know if these techniques were as exaggerated as their descriptions claimed, he was beginning to warm up to them.

    regardless, he knew that vivak''s organs were twisting with regret right about now.

    one thing that leonel learned while he was stealing the techniques was that each barrier wasn''t just a force art created by a crafter. instead, they were each formed by a person who had come to comprehend the technique.

    the reason he hadn''t taken these techniques seriously at all was because the difficulty of breaking the three barriers around [domain], [universe], and [finality] weren''t nearly as complicated as they should be given their descriptions. if they had been, leonel might have wasted the entire hour that he had been given and still not been able to break in.

    this painted the image that the godlens had truly regressed a great deal since these techniques were shown to the world at their peak. they were wholly inferior in every way, shape, and form, and their comprehension of the techniques was far too inferior.

    it wasn''t just this either.

    based on his analysis of the barrier force arts that protected these techniques, leonel could roughly guess when they were created. this estimate should tell him when the techniques were last comprehended, or more accurately, when the last person who claimed the techniques managed to understand said technique enough to create a new barrier.

    according to that, [domain]''s barrier was last reformed around a decade or so ago, [universe] was last reformed around half a century ago, and finally, [finality] was last claimed over 5000 years ago.

    leonel didn''t actually know much about lifespans. they changed too frequently based on a series of factors. it wasn''t like so long as someone reached this dimension, they would definitely live for such and such long.

    this was great news for leonel, though bad news for the overall state of the human race.

    leonel stood to his feet and put the techniques away. they were great, but ultimately they took second fiddle to the foundation of his power. these techniques would definitely shine in his hands, but he had to actually start making it out of the fourth dimension first before he even considered any of that.

    he had felt that he was on the edge of a breakthrough in his path to the constellation realm earlier before he was interrupted back in the godlen compound. he planned to use his ability index to place himself right back in that state of enlightenment.

    unfortunately, the duties of a leader couldn''t just end there. he had found more ability indexes that would help his brothers after scouring the godlen citizens, and... he also had a few prisoners that he should take a look at.

    leonel spent some time with brothers, passing along the new ability indexes and help he had gotten for them, and before he could even say goodbye they had already rushed off to do more training.

    he could only chuckle in response. although he hadn''t said anything about what was going on, it seemed that they had figured it out all on their own already.

    leonel shook his head and went off to a separate space.

    ...

    the "prison" that held simona and eduardo was a place one would be hard pressed to call a prison at all.

    because of anastasia, they could do nothing at all in this world, even if they tried to run to the ends of it. truthfully, only leonel could come and go from this world as he pleased, and that was only because anastasia had recognized him as her master.

    as for these two, they were stuck in a spring garden of sorts, not really knowing what the next day would bring until leonel suddenly showed up.n.(ovelbin

 Chapter 2449 Gotcha

    chapter 2449 gotcha

    n()o(/v--e-(l(.b-(i/.n

    simona stood in a violent rage, her purple eyes flickering with fire. she attacked immediately, but she paled a moment later.

    she watched as her force died out within her body. it was like she couldn''t even control her own thoughts anymore, and her force couldn''t hear her cries.

    at the moment, both she and eduardo were nothing more than a pair of mortals. even their bodily strength didn''t work properly. when they tried to run, they were like a pair of amateur half marathon runners from back on earth. they were entirely helpless before leonel.

    leonel smiled and took a seat on a tree stump nearby.

    the scenery wasn''t bad. there were gorgeous flowers and tall trees. there was even a stream of water and a small meter-tall waterfall that gave even the sounds it produced some soothing ambiance.

    he was in quite a good mood right now. the only thing that would make it better was having aina by his side, but he didn''t want to disturb her training. he knew well that she had her own thoughts and aspirations. seeing the strength of anselma had probably also caused her to redouble her efforts.

    even clearly injured, leonel knew that he couldn''t put up a fight against that woman. through the eyes of that blood clone, he had felt her strength and it was beyond his imagination.

    "nice scenery, don''t you think?"

    simona scowled and didn''t reply. she was usually such a calm and composed person, but every time she ran into leonel, things always went horribly wrong.

    leonel should already be dead; she had seen it with her own eyes, but somehow he was here. worse than that, he had somehow snuck into her family''s vaults and even kidnapped eduardo.

    herself, she was fine with. she knew that she was weaker than leonel.

    of course, this wasn''t something she was resigned to. she felt that the only reason leonel had surpassed her was that she lost her beast companion for over 20 years. though it would take some time, she felt confident in catching up and surpassing her peers.

    however, eduardo... he was a real genius. it just didn''t make sense to her.

    with eduardo''s personality, he never liked to embellish anything and simply told the truth as it was.

    within anastasia''s world, of course he could use the dream plane. of course, it was also partly due to the fact he was likewise a dream sovereign, but they didn''t need to know that.

    it was also easier now that they couldn''t use their force to protect themselves.

    regardless, now he knew that the last person to claim [finality] was simona''s grandfather and vivak''s father. it turned out the man was already dead as well, falling at the hands of a demon warrior.

    vivak was truly the strongest presence in the godlen family. that was interesting.

    "now, let''s get to what i really want to know," leonel smiled. "i heard your mother talking about the constellation families. so they exist in the complete worlds too?"

    simona was in a daze and still couldn''t quite compute, so leonel asked again, and she was startled back to reality.

    "gotcha."

    leonel stood up and patted his beaten and ruined pants. he should take some time to switch them out.

    then, without another word, he vanished, lost in thought.

    anastasia had been paying attention to everything happening in the godlen city and only relayed back to leonel what she deemed important. the conversation between simona''s mother and uncle was one of them.

    it seemed, though, that simona''s information was limited. all she knew was that the constellation families were very important to her mother, that they had been destroyed during the final war, and that, unsurprisingly, their greatest strength and reliance was in their constellations.

    leonel wouldn''t be surprised if they had their own version of [universe] that maximized the use of their constellations even more, likely a method perfectly matched to their lineage factors.

    but leonel wasn''t really interested in it for that reason. what he found interesting was that simona''s mother was sneaking around trying to resurrect these families.

    he wondered if vivak was involved and there was more to the godlen plans than he knew, or, if even more interestingly...

    matriarch pyius was going rogue.

    now wouldn''t that be a sight to see?

 Chapter 2450 Dream Enlightenment

    chapter 2450 dream enlightenment

    leonel sat in silent meditation, slowly pulling himself into that state of sudden enlightenment that he had touched upon just days before.

    if for no other reason, this sort of ability was one that others would kill for. who knew how many sudden enlightenments were ruined in the past by a stray thought or an interruption? and yet, this couldn''t faze leonel at all.

    he would call this ability dream enlightenment.

    it could be used for anything as simple as catching a strand of sleep before wild thoughts put you into an awake state again, all the way up to resurrecting a true state of enlightenment like this one.

    the four season realm... the heavenly body realm... the natural light realm... the cosmos realm... the constellation realm...

    he pulled himself back to those thoughts once again.

    ''star force... it was the only force that always seemed to be attached to something else... it didn''t usually come alone... the disorder of the realms...''

    leonel quickly found that rhythm again.

    he thought about how he had always assumed that the progression should be the natural light realm first, then four season, then heavenly body, then constellation, before only then cosmos appearing. n()o(/v--e-(l(.b-(i/.n

    but he had been proved wrong, and wise star order had even laughed in his face when he said so.

    but why...

    why four seasons first? why was natural light not more simple than the seasons?

    if you thought about it, the seasons could decide the light, could they not? in winter, the days were shorter, and in summer, they were longer.

    then why would constellation come after the cosmos? it was a similar problem... the cosmos was formed of many constellations, so how could constellations come afterward? it didn''t make sense...

    no matter where you were, what world, whether complete or incomplete, it would always be there, pointing due north.

    it was the true star force.

    the reason star force was always attached to something else was because it was akin to urbe ore. it was an enhancer, a constant and steady hand, a foundation that things were meant to be built upon.

    the seasons were the cheapest form of this foundation. it showed you that the slightest changes in the amount of star force one received could lead to drastically different results.

    the heavenly body was another foundation. many were weak stars or failed stars, some were a step away or many steps away. but each one could only bask in the glory of the true stars they orbited.

    the natural light was of greater substance than the four seasons realm. it wasn''t just the result of a change in star force, but it was the emission of star force itself. although it was still a distance away, it could paint a picture of what a world with and without star force would be like.

    cosmos was the result of star force''s work.

    he had been so obsessed with incomplete worlds that he didn''t even realize that these large slabs of earth didn''t have endless skies of stars. they had just one star. endless stars was the sign of a weak world, an incomplete world...

    the cosmos wasn''t a tapestry of endless weak stars. no, it was the harbinger of a real star, a single star that could sustain a world as large as an entire universe...

    and then there was constellation.

    it was the strongest form.

    a collection of true stars that didn''t just act as a foundation or a support, but became something of their own.

    leonel''s gaze flashed with a blinding light as a subtle thought crept to the back of his mind...

    could the northern star just be one of many? was the strongest star there was... truly alone?

    it was a fleeting thought, one that he paid little to no attention to because he had already found what he needed.

    a raging aura erupted from his body, and the morales constellation appeared high in the skies above him, trembling with an undying might.

 Chapter 2451 [Bonus] Trap

    chapter 2451 [bonus] trap

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (5/6)]

    leonel''s eyes flashed open, an overwhelming pressure coming from him. no, it was from him; it felt more like the stars were shining down on him, elucidating his path with a level of clarity and strength he had simply never experienced before.

    it was only after entering the constellation realm that he understood that it was just the beginning. the constellation gave you the right to finally start forming your own path. everything leading up to it was just a precursor.

    however, that didn''t mean that the power it provided was mediocre or lacking by any stretch of the imagination. leonel felt that if he channeled his constellation realm, even if he had this third dimensional body, he could shatter an eighth dimensional existence of the dimensional verse with a single fist.

    the greatest benefit was probably [universe]. right now, he felt that he could use up to the momentum tier. although it would be taxing, especially considering his current dimension, it would be easy.

    leonel also felt that even without his dream sovereignty, just by virtue of this comprehension of his, he was almost entirely immune from the simplest forms of manipulation and coercion.

    it was like his constellation was a guiding lamp that laid the foundation of his will. with it, his mind was a nigh impregnable fortress, unmoved by outside forces. maybe only someone deep into the life state could hope to move him now, at least with those simpler methods, that is.

    for all leonel knew, much like the techniques of [domain], [universe], and [finality], there were other techniques out there that worked similarly but for the mind. at the very least, he believed that if the godlens could manage to protect these techniques for so long, the gods, the real ones, likely had their own methods that were at the very least equal. n()o(/v--e-(l(.b-(i/.n

    of course, it was possible that the lingering influence made many unwilling to try and deal with the humans directly, but leonel put less stock in that considering the void race actually dared to use the corpse of a void beast for travel.

    leonel exhaled a breath and smiled.

    "you mentioned looking for resources. a fight broke out between a group of humans and the demons over some stuff in this mostly desolate region. they''re fighting over a special force herb. i was curious and paid some attention to the fight since none of them noticed me.

    "the force herb is pretty good and seems to have the ability to allow people to enter a state of enlightenment and progress their forces. it should help someone in the impetus state move it forward by one grade. so, from lower to middle, or higher to peak."

    leonel''s brows raised. that was indeed excellent, and he was also looking for force herbs that anastasia could nurture and help to mass-produce in the future.

    the trouble was that anastasia didn''t seem to really be contacting him for the herb, and he could tell why.

    he was too weak to fight for such a thing. since others had already found it, it was his turn to try and snatch it from them. plus, it wasn''t worth it to be exposed right now.

    on top of that, the humans already hated him; he didn''t want to be on the radar of the demons as well. so he waited for anastasia to continue.

    "the force herb is great, but its power source is more interesting. remember, we chose this region because it lacked wildlife and things of the like, so it was easier to avoid problems. but what''s odd with that is that the senses of beasts are far beyond that of humans and demons. long before we found it, a beast should have already staked this place out as its territory."

    "a trap?" leonel asked.

    "something like that. under the force herb is a deposit of what looks like mutated evolution ores."

    leonel''s brows shot up. evolution ores were foundation type ores capable of elevating the dimension of companion ores by a half step. he had always incorporated them into his divine armors, making them stronger than they should be.

    but what did anastasia mean by mutated?

    "you''ll have to learn to be more careful in the complete worlds," anastasia explained. "forces all have minds of their own. although it isn''t as complex as a consciousness, they all have an instinct toward survival more similar to plants.

    "this mine of evolution ore learned to use blood to fuel its growth; that''s why this region is so desolate."

 Chapter 2452 [Bonus] Weak

    chapter 2452 [bonus] weak

    [bonus chappy thanks to dragonman009 <3 (6/6)]

    leonel fell into his thoughts.

    he could understand this. long ago, wise star order had warned him that if he was too careless and relied too much on his innate nodes and not enough on his own comprehension, he would eventually suffer for it.

    years later, he had felt those effects firsthand.

    it seemed that in complete worlds, this was even more exaggerated. he was fighting against not only his fellow man and other races, but also the environment itself could kill him.

    he had a feeling that these human bubbles were on the milder side of things. n-/o((v)/ж┼()l--b-(1--n

    he remembered when he was first captured by the olidark family and forced to work for them. back then, when he entered the "demon world" for the first time, it felt like the world itself was trying to kill him, let alone the demons themselves.

    there were definitely even more dangerous worlds out there if even collecting resources here was such a pain.

    "you have a method?" leonel asked.

    "you have that [domain] skill of yours now and a constellation. it''s very difficult for that mine to influence you now. i can feel that it''s even a little bit more difficult for even me to do so."

    leonel mulled it over.

    soon, he would have to reforge his divine armors, a thought that made him chuckle. in the beginning, those armors had seemed permanent, but in the last few months, he had had to reforge them again and again. sometimes, he didn''t even get to use them properly before they broke again.

    even so, this was a blessing in disguise. now he could do it all over again with everything he knew now...

    "you lost your memories?"

    "no... the best way i can describe it is like your mother. she was able to understand camelot''s magic system perfectly because she has earth''s world spirit. that innate comprehension came to her naturally; she didn''t have to memorize or consciously understand anything. if the world spirit suddenly disappeared, so too would that innate understanding.

    "it''s like a severe spinal cord injury and how you''d have to learn how to walk again."

    leonel was enlightened. anastasia never really understood his father''s path, at least not in the same way velasco would.

    for velasco, so long as his memories were there, he could retrace those steps. but to anastasia, although she had the memories, the feel was entirely gone.

    that''s probably also why anastasia''s factories were able to craft for leonel, but only things that he had crafted in front of her before.

    leonel suddenly came to a stop. even though it was a long distance away, he could already feel the fighting. the world just felt far more clear to him.

    "there''s an entrance you can use nearby. it''s very well hidden, and even protected by a few force arts. but i think you can manage."

    leonel found it as soon as anastasia mentioned it.

    up ahead, there was a blockage of foliage that looked very natural. it looked like overgrown shrubbery met palm trees in an oddly picturesque scene, but inside there was an open air mine that was booby-trapped to hell.

    after scanning it, leonel understood why anastasia felt he could handle it. the force arts were actually so...

    weak.

    he was already at this level the first time he grasped the essence of life grade crafting, let alone now.

    he chuckled to himself and flashed forward. he passed right through the formation without even alerting anyone and slipped inside, the rumbling above ground growing more fervent.

    almost immediately, he felt an insatiable desire bear down on him.

 Chapter 2453 [Bonus] Greed

    chapter 2453 [bonus] greed

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (1/6)]

    leonel was wowed for a moment. it wasn''t that the desire emitting from the mine was impossible for him to handle. just like anastasia had predicted, it was actually quite a simple matter for him to deal with it.

    instead, this was the first time he had felt the influence of forces on the mind so clearly.

    back when his innate nodes deactivated and his vital star force crossed into the impetus state, the realization wasn''t so clear. that was because the influence his scarlet star force had on him was so well-executed and so subtle that he hadn''t even noticed until the contrast of vital star fort enlightened him.

    however, this was on another level. it was direct, flagrant, and almost...

    offensive.

    leonel realized that even though this mine was so amazing, even capable of imposing its will onto the world. it was quite rudimentary and almost childlike. if you had the ability to protect your mind like leonel did, and could see through the attempts, it was more amusing than anything else. n-/o((v)/ж┼()l--b-(1--n

    ''if i could find a mine like this that focused on dark force or emulation spatial force, i have a feeling i''d be able to enter the impetus state even faster.''

    it wasn''t just that leonel could feel the pressure of the mine trying to act on his mind, but he could also clearly feel the character and personality of the force.

    it was greedy, insatiable, it always wanted more and nothing was enough.

    this seemed perfect for an ore title with the word evolution. it was always seeking to improve and it could take this will and use it to elevate everything around him.

    leonel bet that the force herb that had caused all the fighting was just like this as well, forced to evolve by the mine and then used to lure in unsuspecting victims.

    leonel grinned. "this person seems to want the mine to focus on light force. a light force expert died here previously and became one of the many paths fighting it out down here, and this person is trying to selectively strengthen the light path and influence the mutation of the mine. whoever this is, their crafting and comprehension of force arts is garbage, but they''re clever nonetheless..."

    leonel had his father to guide him along his path of crafting, but not everyone had the same benefit. this person might be lacking in skill, but it wasn''t due to a lack of talent.

    this sort of ingenuity was excellent. it was the kind of thing leonel might have thought of if the circumstances were correct.

    the goal of this person was quite clear to him.

    what if the insatiable greed of his mine was focused down a single path and it swallowed up everything along said path? in that situation, if you could resist the corruption of the mine, wouldn''t the mine become a perfect haven of improvement?

    it would collect all sorts of light force and light force comprehensions for this person, and even start creating ores that would be perfect for the kind of treasures this person would most like to use.

    it was perfect.

    however... leonel didn''t need light force comprehension right now. he needed dark force comprehension and emulation spatial force comprehension.

    he thought about it for a moment and then shook his head.

    he was far more adept at crafting than this person. honestly, now that this idea had been presented to him, and the ores were here, he didn''t need to wait for the mine to naturally take these steps of progression. so long as he mined the ores, he could create his own simulated training room.

    "since you don''t need these, i''ll take them."

    leonel focused on a part of the array of rainbow colors that had a distinct darkness to them. evolution ores were usually balls of gold and they could easily be mistaken for the far inferior precious metal, but this area was tinged with darkness that almost made them look like unmined coal.

    leonel was curious about who this person was. he had seen the crafting of mo''''lexi and the godlens; it was at a much higher level than this. this seemed to mean that this person wasn''t from those large factions, or was at the very least only a peripheral member of them, and that made leonel curious.

    this gave him many ideas, but whether any of them would bear fruit would depend on what origins this person had.

 Chapter 2454 [Bonus] Half-Baked Hacks

    chapter 2454 [bonus] half-baked hacks

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (2/6)]

    without disrupting the little array the mysterious person had going here, leonel began to mine the dark force-tainted evolution ore.

    the number was quite a bit and could only be measured in kilograms, as per usual.

    "anastasia, what do you think would happen if i dumped these in cleansing water? would they become a purer version of whatever this mutation is? or would they return to the original evolution ore they came from?"

    "it''s hard to say, you''ll probably just have to test it out."

    leonel nodded. the deciding factor would probably be if these ores had fundamentally changed enough in character to become a new type of ore entirely. if not, the latter would occur, but if so... he might be able to create a far stronger version of what was in his palms now instantly.

    ''well, this experiment will decide whether i continue to be a good person or not.'' n-/o((v)/ж┼()l--b-(1--n

    leonel smiled and tossed one of the ores into the segmented cube, then observed it from outside. there was a hint of a sizzle, and leonel raised an eyebrow.

    it actually looked as though the ore was trying to fight back against the influence of the cleansing water. no, more accurately, it was trying to absorb the character of the cleansing waters as well, something that made leonel chuckle.

    he had come a long way since aina gawked at the fact he used cleansing waters to flush his toilet, he knew just how valuable these waters were now. it was doubtful that these cleansing waters came from the crafting of the minerva race.

    it was more than likely that the reason the minerva race picked anastasia to craft the segmented cube in the first place was due to the existence of cleansing waters in the first place.

    if he was correct, everything else was secondary to its existence, and cleansing waters were definitely a huge deal.

    "speaking of which, anastasia. you probably comprehend cleansing waters more than anyone else, right? you aren''t holding back on me, are you?"

    "... you idiot... the minerva race was well known to have the greatest crafters to ever existence..." she said between sobs.

    "then existence is filled with nothing but half-baked slobs who could have never been allowed to pick up a force quill in the first place. what do you think, tolliver?"

    bloop* bloop*

    tolliver had been mostly silent these days, but leonel could tell that he was taking in this new world. the sights and feelings were all new, and leonel could feel that the little guy was passively sucking up a large amount of force every second.

    unfortunately, leonel couldn''t wear it as an arm sleeve like he liked to do before, in case it caused him trouble. but now he had gone back to doing so, so tolliver heard him loud and clear.

    although leonel didn''t say it in so many words, anastasia understood his intentions quite well.

    one day he''d improve the segmented cube and instead of anastasia''s prison, it would become her home.

    leonel continued cursing under his breath as he mined.

    "best crafters in existence my ass."

    they crafted anastasia as the final hope to save their race, apparently. but this incomplete prison was the best they could do? the more he thought about it, the more furious he was.

    anastasia slowly calmed down and the two got their answer.

    the mutation had indeed progressed far enough, and the ore became an even purer form of what could now only be called dark evolution ore.

    "someone is coming," anastasia suddenly said.

    an image of a young man wearing a pair of goggles that reminded leonel a lot of goggles'' own pair appeared.

    he looked a bit flustered, and even a hint guilty, but the excitement in his eyes shone bright.

 Chapter 2455 Destination

    chapter 2455 destination

    ''hm...''

    leonel didn''t really expect this. the young man was probably around his age, give or take a few years, but he still seemed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. he was quite quick and seemed to have strength deep into the seventh dimension. of course, that was at the standard of these complete worlds so the weight of those words was much greater than usual.

    he hurried forward, rushing through the forest before stopping at his enclosure. he scanned the region carefully, then double-checked to see whether there was anyone else that had messed with his restrictions.

    when he found nothing, he nodded to himself then finally slipped in.

    leonel moved himself, sliding into one of the many off-shooting tunnels of the mine. he was paying attention to the young man, but he didn''t want to run into him just yet.

    this place was in the middle of nowhere. the nearest settlement should be godlen city, but it was quite a distance from there, at least a few thousand kilometers.

    crossing that distance without a treasure like the segmented cube was impossible, not at the strength of this young man, that is. between there, there would be countless dangers. n-/0vж┼lb1n

    now that leonel thought about it, the only reason he had survived in the wilderness the first time he came to one of these worlds was firstly because oliidark city was so nearby, and secondly because he was in a relatively weaker part of the world where a sixth dimensional family like the oliidark''s could be the overlord.

    but both things were untrue here. not only was he a far off distance from such a center of power, the godlens were also located in a portion of this bubble world with the highest concentration of force. the dangers were unprecedented and this mine was only one of many examples.

    the young man rushed into the core of the mine, slapping what looked like talismans across his body. leonel assumed that these were methods of transferring the effect of a force art directly onto your body without a medium and without tattooing it into yourself.

    ''fascinating...''

    though, leonel felt that he was being a bit harsh. the fact that this young man dared to come here in the first place was a sign that he had more than enough courage.

    when that two-day period came to an end, the young man wiped the sweat from his brows with a forearm, stretching his back. then he put the mining tool away and took a gaze at the talismans he had slapped onto his chest. it looked like they were just about to run out of juice, so it was time to go.

    he pivoted and rushed toward the exit.

    leonel finally stepped out of the segmented cube as he rushed by.

    after waiting on the young man for a moment, he rushed after him.

    "why are you following him?" anastasia asked.

    leonel smiled. "intuition."

    "you''re not a woman."

    leonel almost stumbled. you had to be a woman to have intuition now? wasn''t that sexist? where was the justice?

    leonel could only ignore the little fiery world spirit as he rushed after the young man, who leonel realized now was actually quite fast.

    he didn''t have light force, but he did have other talismans capable of increasing his speed a great deal. on top of that, he had more talismans to hide his presence. even leonel, due to the distance from which he was following, found it hard to focus on the young man''s presence.

    of course, leonel wasn''t lagging so far behind because he feared the young man. rather, he had a healthy dose of caution toward where the young man might be going.

    when leonel saw the destination, he raised an eyebrow.

 Chapter 2456 Fun

    chapter 2456 fun

    nove-lb.in

    there was a vast expanse of wilderness.

    the mine was located in an oasis of sorts, a small patch of forest about a hundred or so kilometers from edge to edge that also happened to have a few mountains that surrounded it.

    outside of this oasis though, the land was mostly barren. this was probably in part due to the evolution ore, another part due to the godlens hogging much of the force, and only finally due to the natural environment.

    but it was within this endless expanse of dull, unkempt and dry lands that the young man kept running, and in the opposite direction of godlen city at that.

    soon, leonel could see the destination, probably even before the young man did, and it was mostly because of anastasia because it was simply too well hidden.

    he could have called this land a desert if not for the fact there was no sand, it was that barren. it was simply a wasteland. but within this wasteland, there was a... hatch?

    it was too perfectly hidden, a one by one meter patch of perfectly covered land in the middle of nowhere. even if you knew what you were looking for, it would be impossible to find without senses like anastasia''s. but even then, anastasia would have overlooked it if not for the fact leonel had told her to look closely.

    leonel simply didn''t believe that this young man would run any further. not only was he nearing his limits, but the wilderness extended tens of thousands more kilometers. whatever he was looking for had to be here.

    and he was correct.

    the young man rushed up to the inconspicuous piece of land, stomped his feet in an odd rhythm, and then the hatch opened up.

    he looked around, probably out of habit, then hopped inside.

    the hatch closed after him and he disappeared from the world without a single word.

    leonel stopped and didn''t continue.

    even modern-day earth didn''t have a thorough understanding of it. it supposedly made up the majority of all that was, and yet he never heard talk of it.

    leonel felt that this meditation room he had created of blackened gold crystals was tugging at this fabric as well.

    dark force wasn''t just the absence of light force, it was its own existence, it had its own meaning, its own character.

    and it was powerful.

    a flash of darkness pooled in leonel''s eyes and his pale violet hair turned a deep magenta for a moment before it slowly pulled back.

    he exhaled a slow breath.

    his dark force affinity was especially high now that the dark northern star lineage factor had been awakened within him and the fact his scarlet star force innate node was dormant.

    so, leonel wasn''t surprised that he managed to step into the impetus state so quickly. though he obviously had this room he forged to thank as well.

    ''this place''s help is minimal. i have a feeling that it should only be able to help me reach the middle impetus state at most. beyond that, i would need something else, or have to improve the evolution ores.''

    leonel turned his attention toward the golden scaled koi fish for the first time in a long while. he wondered...

    ''that''s right, i should try to analyze the ability indexes of those two in the silver tablet as well and see if i can help them improve.''

    "hey allan," leonel called as he stepped out from his training room. "how free are you?"

    "i''m good," a voice came back.

    leonel was probably easily thousands of miles from allen, but thanks to anastasia, they could talk like they were right beside each other.

    "good, let''s go have some fun."

 Chapter 2457 Lit Up

    chapter 2457 lit up

    leonel and allan stood in a lab.

    leonel realized after seeing the young man that he couldn''t be the only crafter of his skill in his group. allan was just as intelligent as him, or at the very least close. it would be a shame if he ended up like that goggle-wearing young man purely because he didn''t have much guidance.

    so leonel decided that whenever he was crafting and allan had some time, he would take the latter under his wing. it wouldn''t really cost him much of anything. he couldn''t always be the one crafting as he had to focus on his training as well. plus, if he trained allan, then it would be easier to train others.

    unfortunately, he couldn''t duplicate his father''s dictionary and he didn''t really want to even if he could... though it was a bit selfish.

    [ability index: energy purification]

    leonel moved a hand and the force art appeared before them. this was the ability of the koi fish, and it overlapped heavily with cleansing waters. the difference was that the koi fish could impact the external world while cleansing waters forced an internal process.

    back then, the koi fish had been able to wreak havoc because it was able to swallow up a large amount of force and expel it, pulling all sorts of invalids toward the shores of earth.

    leonel had been rightfully pissed about that considering how many people died because it wanted a little more territory, but he had changed a lot since then. nove/lb.in

    regardless, he had always kept the koi fish by him because its synergy with the tentacle womb was perfect.

    [ability index: gene replication]

    leonel felt it was a shame. he had put so much effort into the creation of those demons, and though they were powerful, they were far too weak for what he needed now.

    the strongest specimen he had was that peak sixth dimensional demon that had eaten him alive.

    that cobra demon had been strong enough to rip the void palace to shreds even though it wasn''t seventh dimensional, but here... the playing field was more even.

    while it could still deal a blow to seventh dimensional existences from weaker organizations, against his real enemies, the godlens, the cults, etc, it wasn''t enough.

    "i''ve told you about these two before, right?" leonel asked.

    "yes," allan nodded. leonel had let him in on some of the secret projects he was working on a long time ago, and this was just one of them.

    "the silver tablet i have here is able to take the ability indexes of people, form them into force arts, and then project them for manipulation or study."

    allan''s brows shot up. this was about as much emotion as he usually showed; it was clear that he was completely stunned.

    "this gene replication ability synergizes well with the purification one, but it''s not complete. it takes too much energy, too much effort. just the number of demons i have now took years to complete, and they''re already useless."

    "breaking force."

    leonel took bits and pieces from both force arts, working slowly so allan could follow his stream of logic.

    it took over a day, but he eventually had something he was happy with.

    "how much energy do you think i''ll need for this one?" leonel asked.

    "there definitely isn''t enough here," anastasia said.

    leonel nodded with a bit of a bitter smile. he expected this.

    the only reason it seemed so easy to fuse ability index and lineage factors earlier was because he was working with the lowest graded ones, but even the silver tablet needed energy to work.

    disregarding aina''s ridiculously high rated ability index, just his alone was a huge headache to provide energy for.

    he was trying to elevate the tentacle womb from the common grade all the way up to silver in one go; it would require much more than what he had now.

    but that was fine, he had mostly done this to guide allan a bit anyway.

    now, it was time he turned his focus to emulation spatial force; then he could finally progress.

    after sending allan away, he checked on aina then asked anastasia another question.

    "what do you think i should do to bring emulation spatial force to another level?"

    anastasia laughed.

    "what''s that supposed to mean?" leonel asked, confused.

    "what''s there to be confused about?"

    "oh holy goddess anastasia, please give me your esteemed guidance."

    anastasia''s laughter only got harder.

    leonel could only pout, this woman was having too much fun at his expense.

    "okay, okay. aren''t you a dream sovereign? and didn''t i tell you, there''s no one better in using space than me?"

    leonel''s eyes lit up.

 Chapter 2458 [Bonus] They Called Themselves...

    chapter 2458 [bonus] they called themselves...

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (3/6)]

    leonel had almost forgotten. all this time, anastasia had taken on the task of guiding hutch''s grandson.

    truthfully, even with the loss of his innate nodes full influence on him, leonel had still not forgiven elorin. hutch was his first mentor. although the two had never seen eye to eye in the way of weapon forces, it could be said that it was because of hutch''s insights back then that leonel eventually came around, fusing their paths into one understanding.

    at the same time, though, after losing his own father, he was well aware of the kind of spiral a person could fall into. there were many things that he had done in recent months that lacked any form of humanity or empathy. in a lot of ways, elorin''s actions were far more rational than his ever were.

    plus, time force was so esoteric and difficult to understand. although elorin didn''t have an innate node, who knew how it affected him?

    what if due to the fact elorin was such a master of time force, he saw all streams of time as the same? what if the day he lost his parents hurt just the same today? what if he couldn''t move past events like others could?

    the more leonel thought about how best to maximize his intelligence to deal with this new world he was in, the more he understood just how important understanding different forces could be toward that end. and after feeling the harrowing effects himself, he was even more inclined to have sympathy.

    plus, there was a more human reason to keep elorin around.

    ultimately, he knew that hutch had never had the heart to kill his own grandson. in all likelihood, he had fallen on his blade.

    how could leonel spit on the final decision hutch had made in his life? it simply wasn''t his place to take elorin''s life.

    "let''s do it," leonel finally said after his mind stopped wandering. this wasn''t the time to think about such things. he had to take this final step. n/.o-.v))e()l./b/.i/-n

    a young man ran through a city that looked like a mix between a plumber''s wet dream and the complex inner workings of a mechanical watch.

    "i''m kidding, i''m kidding..." eamon''s eyes dimmed somewhat before he muttered under his breath. "... it''s not like we have much time left anyway..."

    a flash of pain appeared on cindra''s expression. how could she not know what eamon meant?

    war was coming, and it would be people like them who suffered first.

    they looked like they were safe, but there was only so much food here, only so much water. once the war broke out, they''d be finished and the promises of those so-called leaders of theirs would-

    cindra closed her eyes. when she opened them once again, she had regained her usual calm.

    she stood to her feet and walked past eamon, patting his shoulder.

    "go find a girl closer to your age, little boy. hopefully one less used and jaded."

    cindra left the tent and eamon rushed out, but she had already disappeared.

    eamon shook his head. he knew that cindra was exceptionally powerful, far more powerful than him. he didn''t know why she stayed here at all, and he certainly didn''t know if his efforts with the mine would even be useful to her, but...

    he just wanted to do something for the girl he liked.

    cindra walked slowly, but the distance she covered was incredible.

    she headed deep into the city, entering a region that many of the lower class couldn''t dream of crossing into.

    this place was yet another core of human power. it was the smallest, and the weakest, but it was one nonetheless.

    they called themselves the slayer legion.

 Chapter 2459 [Bonus] Make it Make Sense

    chapter 2459 [bonus] make it make sense

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (4/6)] n./o..v/.ж┼-.l--b/)1-)n

    leonel had never felt such a steady wave of enlightenment come at him again and again and again.

    he felt that it was probably in part due to the fact that he had the dream force affinity to take in so much of it in the first place, but the sheer amount of knowledge that anastasia had access to was enough to leave him entirely speechless.

    the trouble was that anastasia was a horrible teacher. in fact, even that might give her too much credit. he could only feel even more badly for elorin than he already did.

    anastasia''s form of teaching was the equivalent of a professor throwing chalk at your forehead until you finally understood it all.

    for most, that didn''t work. in fact, for most, they would probably shut down and forget about learning anything ever again.

    as though that wasn''t bad enough, anastasia had no ability to "dumb things down" either. not only did the information come in a barrage, it was filled with phd-level mathematical jargon that could make one''s head spin.

    honestly, leonel only picked on phd mathematics only because it was the easiest reference to him. unfortunately, it was even worse than that.

    the current leonel could write a different phd-worthy dissertation once a minute for an entire day if he was so inclined. that level of math couldn''t faze him.

    but it was like he had been stripped of all his knowledge, sent back to when he was three years old and first learning about addition and subtraction, and then expected to do the same thing.

    in the past, leonel would have blamed anastasia for this. but after getting more context about her situation, he knew that he couldn''t.

    anastasia''s mind didn''t have the flexibility to help him more than this. it was up to him to take this gargle of information and try to focus it with questions.

    he had only really looked at it for one purpose when he initially took it from that woman, and that was to project his dream force outside his body.

    however, he hadn''t realized until now just how restricted he had been to thaela''s battle style. because he had watched her use it, she naturally assumed that she was using it in the most optimal way.

    but was she?

    she was just a sixth dimensional existence, a person he had long since surpassed by a large margin although he had fallen down once more.

    why should he be restricted to her methods?

    then, his mind drifted to [universe]... there were aspects of its complex force art that truly resonated with emulation spatial force...

    leonel felt some snap within him, a radiant silver-gold aura beginning to erupt.

    cindra walked into the tall building bursting with dark bronze pipes. it looked odd, its first floor far smaller than its largest floors. it was almost like dozens of misshapen and differently sized boxes were stacked on top of one another and it was called a day.

    the guards were startled when they saw this woman, but they ultimately didn''t say anything, even when she walked into a large meeting hall on the top floor, interrupting a meeting that had been raging for hours.

    "-it''s impossible to know who it was, but we need to find out. according to our intel, someone dealt a fatal blow to those powers. the disappearance of the godlen codex is just one matter, what''s more important than that is the fact that the resources needed to build the farming zones have been destroyed."

    "how do you know it was someone? you sound so sure! how could a person be both strong enough to force the fusion of six bubble worlds, and yet weak enough to have to run away? you''re not making any sense. the intel says it was a child-"

    "and that makes even less sense!"

    "cidra," someone said calmly when the doors opened.

    the man had a head of fiery red and eyes just as blazing crimson. the aura he exuded was no doubt that of a brazinger. and yet... he was here.

    "miel," cidra replied softly.

 Chapter 2460 [Bonus] Blissful Ignorance

    chapter 2460 [bonus] blissful ignorance

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (5/6)] n./o..v/.ж┼-.l--b/)1-)n

    "nice of you to join us."

    these words seemed to carry a great weight of pettiness with them. if not for the fact miel had said something, they would have ignored cidra''s appearance completely. it was clear that there were quite a number that were unhappy with this woman.

    still, this unhappiness didn''t spill over into anything more toxic than this pettiness.

    without saying another word, cidra took a seat by miel and continued to listen to the arguments about nothing.

    eamon''s words had stirred something in her, which caused her to come in the first place. but she knew that the reality was that there would be nothing of importance discussed here, just the same, circle-jerking nonsense.

    the slayer legion. such a bold and imposing name, and yet it had been clipped of its wings long ago and it was nothing but a bunch of bastards floating in the ether. its only saving grace was that though these guys were assholes, they were still dedicated to the cause, or else they wouldn''t be here. the odds that any one of them was a traitor was about as likely as the sun suddenly falling from the skies.

    the reason for this was quite simple. all of them were defectors, people who had left the most powerful organizations of the human alliance after learning of the truth behind the scenes.

    how could everyone be content with the status quo? content with knowing that most of the knowledge of the world was under lock and key in a vain attempt to stop the rise of others?

    ultimately, most would fall in line and accept it. the tide was already so great in the other direction, how could they possibly choose to fight back against it.

    those here were those stupid enough to try and say no to that status quo.

    quite valiant, no?

    in practice, yes.

    in real life, well...

    "-bullshit! the evidence is right here, vivak godlen roared out the words leonel morales. it was loud enough that even if you weren''t trying to spy on the situation, you would have heard it."

    of course, miel could have never guessed that leonel would have a treasure like the segmented cube that the human alliance couldn''t scan into at all. nor could he have guessed that his daughter would have actually died long before his plan could kick in.

    as for where yuri was now, it was impossible to tell as well.

    this father was in blissful ignorance, only thinking about kicking a certain kid''s ass.

    ''how dare you make my daughter cry...''

    miel was stewing so much that it was difficult for anyone to even think properly, let alone continue the meeting.

    it seemed that this would be another fruitless get-together.

    -----

    leonel roared, and emulation spatial force came off of him in waves. his thoughts seemed to manifest, and a dream-like world took shape, all sorts of fanciful thoughts and memories falling into a glob of abstract art.

    on his arm, little tolly glowed just as furiously.

    emulation force... silver and gold...

    little tolly... silver and gold...

    it felt so superficial, and yet it was this that made leonel connect dots he hadn''t before.

    emulation spatial force... was it just the far inferior version of infinity force?

    to be anything, to forge anything...

    to create anything.

    emulation spatial force would never be infinity force. it was akin to trying to make a normal fire force into scarlet star force.

    however...

 Chapter 2461 Doubled

    chapter 2461 doubled

    while emulation spatial force would never be infinity force, it felt like leonel had gotten a peek under the hood, a small snapshot of what it would mean to comprehend this force. and that feeling filled him with both awe... and trepidation.

    infinity force was a truly beautiful force, as was emulation spatial force. they objectively moved with an elegance and radiated an aura that brought many closer to it. but when leonel dove deep, he felt like there was something much more dark and sinister.

    its shadows reminded him of the greed of the evolution ores, constantly looking for something to create, to improve. however, the problem was that something could never truly come from nothing, it broke the bounds of reality and shattered the laws of physics to even think of such a thing.

    leonel suddenly understood, intimately at that, why it was that though the god beasts of creation gained and maintained an advantage in the start, it didn''t last... every time they created something, they snatched it from elsewhere. a great amount of creation, and a forceful push toward creating more and more, was just another form of destruction, and the two weren''t all that different at all.

    it was a devastating sort of reality, but it was also a perfect example of how you came to comprehend something was far more important than how you comprehended it in the first place.

    leonel had always known that there was no objective "evil" force in this world. even anarchic force was just another example of this. it wasn''t needlessly cruel, it just did its job and broke down force into its simplest parts. you could even make an argument that anarchic force was the kindest force there was. at the very least, it didn''t try to make leonel die for it like those assaults on his mind he had experienced in the mind.

    leonel had these thoughts the first time he learned about dark force as well. he chuckled when he learned that he had light force, feeling amused because there was so much fictional media on modern earth that wrote of the clashes between light and darkness.

    however, in the end, one could even say that god beasts of creation had more of a hand in the downfall of existence than god beasts of destruction had.

    he had always understood that there was no objective evil force, and yet it was only now that it truly clicked and it elevated his emulation spatial force to another level.

    it was because of this comprehension that he had come to understand how his emulation spatial force was meant to be used... it needed a sacrifice, it needed an offering, it needed to take in order to give.

    leonel trembled.

    he had almost made the same mistake again.

    his first mistake was in mostly using the dream force to manifest his creations and not enough on spatial force.

    and now, he had done the vice versa. now he was relying too much on spatial force to do the "taking". shouldn''t dream force be taking something as well?

    he kept trying to separate the aspects of dream force and spatial force into two separate entities. this was a mistake he had made time and time again with several of his forces by now.

    but he had to remind himself, a force wasn''t the sum of its parts, it was beyond that, it was an existence all to itself. a force was the pinnacle of the life grade, it was a new creation.

    dividing it into its parts was convenient for people like him to get a grasp of it in a rudimentary state, but unless you could bring both or its multiple parts together to work together toward the same goal, you would never allow the force to display its greatest power.

    he had to use both dream and space to create.

    he had to use both dream and space to form the sacrifice.

    what was the impetus state? it was the representation of the second dimension, the state wherein the impetus of life could be found.

    a step beyond that was the first dimension impetus of creation itself. even the regulator could not return to it, even the regulator could not take from it.

    leonel suddenly understood that emulation spatial force, in its strongest state, would have to be taken from the first dimension...

    leonel''s aura suddenly doubled in presence, and then doubled again.n)-o--v-/e--l-/b/-1-.n

 Chapter 2462 Poverty

    chapter 2462 poverty

    leonel knew that this was impossible. emulation spatial force was not infinity force and it was likely that even infinity force could not do so, but he understood now how dream force could "take". space would become the root of his current world. dream would become the root of the second dimension, the impetus of life itself. his dream plane was precisely the access to the second dimension that he needed and it would be the truest form of "taking" that he needed.

    lower impetus state...

    middle impetus state...

    higher impetus state...

    peak impetus state...

    half-step life state.

    leonel took so many leaps forward at once that his presence became suffocating. just sitting there, he emitted more pressure than the likes of mo''''lexi or vivak ever had, and his emulation spatial force directly became the strongest force he had.

    in fact, if it wasn''t for the fact that his innate node was now dormant, he might be able to use that innate node to push his comprehension into the legendary life state.

    however, after his recent comprehension, leonel''s understanding had deepened so considerably that he didn''t immediately leap to that.

    it was impossible to create something from nothing. whenever his innate nodes acted to do this, they were taking something from him, tying him down in some way. this might be the reason why even el''rion was so hesitant about adding innate nodes to himself.

    there would always be something to give back... n-)0ve1bin

    it might be best to use his innate nodes like large wells of force and sources for comprehension rather than as a boost to power. this would be the best way to protect his future.

    leonel''s eyes opened and they flashed with a dense silver-gold that only slowly faded after a long while.

    he exhaled. he had finally done it, he had finally completed the three tasks his father had asked of him.

    [final destruction] was a technique of accumulating force and moving through the dimensions. it seemed to also temper the body beyond normal techniques as well.

    leonel wasn''t really worried about this. [dimensional cleanse] was always a technique that had been compatible with others. leonel had actually been missing out on some of his potential by not finding another method to use along with it, another example of his laziness coming back to bite him.

    what he was left speechless about were the requirements.

    first off, the minimum requirement of this technique was to be a destruction sovereign.

    that was fine, he didn''t mind. he was born with that ability anyway. however, the rest of the technique, or rather the small part of it that he was allowed to read at the moment, was truly headache-inducing.

    ignoring the matter of destruction, the point of the technique seemed to form the nodes into an amorphous blob. rather than having hard and faceted locations, they would be transported into a different space almost like the dream plane or the shadow plane, a location of endless destruction.

    the problem was that you were supposed to create your tenth node, then use the anarchic force conjured from that to influence this separate plane.

    as though using anarchic force to do this wasn''t absolutely insane enough, the amount of resources that it took to take just a single step in this technique was asinine. you were essentially forming your own realm of destruction, relying on the minor life state aura that your destruction sovereignty gave you.

    according to this explanation, it seemed that the shadow world and dream world weren''t exactly natural. no, they were, but rather the society, rules and regulations created around them were.

    there was no reason that some sovereigns would have such worlds and others wouldn''t other than the fact that some worlds were more convenient to enter and create than others were.

    for destruction to create something... well, the difficulty could be imagined.

    but after his recent comprehension, leonel didn''t find it absolutely ridiculous either. if creation needed to take and essentially destroy to do the same, why could destruction not do the vice versa.

    the main issue was that it needed to do a whole lot of destroying before it could get there.

    according to the technique, you needed the equivalent of about a million kilograms of reinforced urbe ore and an equivalent amount of evolution ore to open just one node.

    reinforced urbe ore... that was about a hundred million kilograms of the unrefined kind.

    the worst part was that they all had to be of the fifth dimension at worst.

    he hadn''t even started and he felt poor.

 Chapter 2463 What to Do

    chapter 2463 what to do

    leonel sighed; at the very least, there was a bright side. he had coincidentally found an evolution ore mine just a few days ago. although it would mean stealing it from that young man, well... he didn''t really have a choice, now did he?

    the reinforced urbe ore was a bit more troublesome, but it would be manageable so long as he refined it himself. it would be far cheaper as well, though far better if he could likewise find a mine. at that point, it would just take time and effort.

    luckily, urbe ore mines were far more common than not. with anastasia, he should have a good chance of finding one relatively quickly. he''d also have to do some analysis on the evolution ore mine to see if it had enough evolution ore. a million kilograms was far too exaggerated; it was hard to say if the mine had ten million kilograms worth.

    in addition, the fifth dimension was just the lowest requirement, but the technique mentioned that it could be improved in the future. that meant that if leonel could manage a higher dimension, he should do so.

    he took a breath and exhaled.

    after some thought, he stood and vanished.

    ...

    kira sat in silence. she had been a bit aimless in the last few days. auran had been her best friend, her elder brother, her father-figure. now that he was gone, she didn''t really know what to do.

    she sensed someone land by her and she looked over to find that it was leonel. she tried to force a smile, but tears came out of her eyes instead. she hurriedly looked away and wiped them, looking back out toward the seemingly endless ocean of cleansing waters before her.

    she didn''t really blame leonel. though this was the first time he had come to see her, much like everyone else she could tell that there was probably something horrible going on outside. they weren''t as clueless as leonel liked to think.

    plus, she had only met leonel once before; it wasn''t like they were extremely close or anything. since he had something more important to do, it wasn''t like she could demand his time. nove.lb-1n

    "i''m sorry for not being there," leonel finally said. "i just want you to know that if i could have been, i would have been."

    however, his comprehension of the complexities of the human mind had taken an enormous leap forward thanks to his dream sovereignty.

    he believed in kira.

    ...

    ramon was lost in his own world. his metal spirit continuously formed up the urbe ore in his palm and then crushed it before creating something again and then repeating.

    leonel watched from afar and sighed again. he didn''t need to guess to know that ramon had lost valorie, his right-hand woman and presumably someone he wanted to make his wife.

    he didn''t look as distraught as kira, but this sort of daze was something that leonel was intimately familiar with. his body was moving on autopilot so that his mind wouldn''t have to think about it. he was doing everything he could to try and forget it all, and yet the scene kept replaying in his mind again, and again, and again.

    "is there really nothing we can do?" leonel asked anastasia.

    the idea that so much of the morales family had died both filled leonel with rage and helplessness.

    "many of them are weak, but if you''re right about this being a scheme of the demoness, then her influence is all over this. it''s hard to say if it would be just as easy due to that."

    anastasia had been technically able to reach back in time and resurrect aina''s mother, something she would have succeeded in had aina not entered the seventh dimension, supposedly.

    but then again, hadn''t aina''s mother died due to higher dimensional beings? or was that not the case?

    this matter got very complicated very quickly.

    originally, he hadn''t wanted to resurrect hutch so he wouldn''t have to explain to aina that this was possible at all, but...

    ''what to do...''

 Chapter 2464 [Bonus] Mines

    n-(0velbin

    chapter 2464 [bonus] mines

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (6/6)]

    leonel had grown up on modern earth. due to advanced technology, it was extremely rare for someone to die sooner than they should. life expectancy was easily two to three times more than it had been on ancient earth and everyone, for the most part, lived healthy lives.

    although there was something like the floating islands that separated the haves from the have-nots. honestly speaking, leonel never minded them. even on a floating island, he had lived in a large suburban home with tons of space. in a way, it was even better to live on a floating island than it was to live on the surface...

    until that fateful day came, of course.

    leonel had always had his father, and back then he didn''t care much for the memory of his mother, so he had never lost anyone until recently.

    but these days, it felt like he was losing important people around him all the time.

    auran had been a man he knew for a brief time, but his selflessness moved leonel. he was willing even to give up the right to fight for heirship so long as he could keep his family together.

    valorie was a woman he had only known for a short time as well, but her plight was one he understood, mostly because he had originally begun his journey of becoming a king precisely to pick people like her.

    valorie had talent, but she wasn''t born with two lineage factors. as such, though she had aspirations of becoming the matriarch of the morales family, she wasn''t allowed to participate as an heir and could only follow ramon in.

    she worked very hard, but she could never reach her goals, and that was the plight that many were in. the world was a cruel place and hard work could only get you so far. it wasn''t lost on leonel that even he could only reach this step because he had been lucky enough to be born with the talent that he had.

    without the influence of his future self bearing down on him, having shed at least some of that near baseless arrogance of his, he could see it more clearly than anyone.

    he could be confident in coming out of any situation because he had dream force affinity that surpassed anyone he had ever met. he could return to the third dimension and rebuild his foundation from the ground up because he had a grandfather that had the means and the willingness to sacrifice for his sake. he could stand here, overlooking the tears of others only because he had a father who was willing to give his life to give him just the slightest sliver of a chance.

    he was lucky.

    he had shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but he knew that this was the truth.

    "anastasia, expand your scanning radius through the ground. avoid that underground city for now. i need to find urbe ore deposits. they need to have at least a billion kilograms, and preferably be at least of the seventh dimension."

    "that''s easy enough, but you''re aware that all of those kinds of places have already been found, right?"

    "all the better." leonel said calmly. "i''m in a bad mood anyway."

    "okay," anastasia replied.

    though she said this, she did her best to look for unoccupied mines. due to this, she lagged behind by several hours, and could only sigh at the ultimate result.

    "the closest i could find with a billion kilograms worth of un-mined urbe ore is fifth dimensional, of course under the control of the godlens, as they all are. it''s being patrolled by a troop of seventh dimensional existences.

    "there are about three dozen of these, each one has at least a thousand such powerful existences, and are led by one eighth dimensional existence.

    "there are about a dozen sixth dimensional..."

    anastasia continued to list them, and every step up she went, the security was even more terrible.

    it made sense, the godlens were prepared for war and urbe ore wasn''t just currency, it was the most important strategic resource to any power. even the fifth dimensional ones were under such lock and key.

    "... you know leonel, we can choose a different approach. weren''t we talking about resources you would want me to grow here? if you find the core of the mines, i could probably grow a mine of that size in a few months..."

    anastasia was rightfully worried. if leonel only needed one batch, it would be easy enough. but leonel needed to mine a billion worth of kilograms to have enough once the ore was refined. there was no way he wouldn''t be noticed because you couldn''t just sneak that amount of ore out from under the noses of so many powerhouses.

    leonel looked toward little tolly. the little guy did have the ability to produce ores, but after his breakthrough, leonel was certain that much like everything else, it didn''t come without a price. if he really asked little tolly to produce that much, would he still even have the little guy?

    plus, little tolly could only produce up to sixth dimension ores right now, leonel was a little reluctant to take that sort of risk with his partner for an insignificant gain.

    after some more thought, he focused on the fifth dimensional mines.

    ''one step at a time. once i''m more powerful, i can easily reforge the destruction world with stronger materials.''

    "it''s okay, when have i ever let you down?" leonel said. "show me the layouts of the three dozen fifth dimensional mines, i''ll have to pick carefully."

 Chapter 2465 Stroll

    chapter 2465 stroll

    bang.

    a man slammed his palms onto a sturdy table.

    "this is starting to get ridiculous. we don''t have the manpower to waste on this. the demons are already starting to become more brazen, we lost a squadron while trying to scout out that region already, and several more in the last few days. how are we supposed to spare the manpower to look for a brat?"

    sergeant amon was absolutely furious, but he couldn''t take out his rage on his higher-ups, so his subordinates could only sit here and let him vent.

    his life was pretty leisurely usually, or rather it had been in the past. as an eighth star expert, there was very little that he couldn''t have. however, in the past few months, maybe even years now that he thought about it, everything was going to shit.

    first, he had actually been sent to oversee these mines. this was usually a job that would be handled by mostly fifth star folks, and maybe a sprinkle of sixth star. in fact, many of them were just pawned off to the lesser forces in the surroundings and they were allowed to keep a small portion of what was mined over the years.

    but now he had to stay here year-round and defend against demons, putting his life on the line all the time.

    he had been born a talent, his life had been easy from day one. when had he ever suffered this sort of hardship?

    unlike the vast bubble, the godlen''s bubble wasn''t in nearly as terrible a state. the vast bubble''s integration had started off half complete. even when leonel went there, there were bits and pieces of the demon world overlapping with it, causing them to have to set up defensive fortresses at all the contact points. n)-o--v-/e--l-/b/-1-.n

    the godlens were luckier in this regard and they didn''t have to worry about this matter, and with vivak''s focus on his other plans, not to mention the incomplete worlds, the edge that his experts had outside of the godlen''s true center of power was limited.

    because it was a new mine, all of the tunnels had yet to be perfectly mapped out. in addition, they were still working on the closer sections, there was no need to move too deeply as that would just make things difficult on the for no reason.

    it was multi-layered as well, meaning that the tunnel system could be separated into tiers or floors for a total of three. there was the shallowest layer, a middle layer, and a bottom layer that was easily a hundred meters underground.

    at the moment, the largest concentration of people were in the first layer. it would probably take several more decades before they even thought about focusing on the second layer or deeper. it was definitely a large mine.

    unfortunately, there were some things that would still make this matter troublesome.

    for one, they were still running scouts through the second and third layers. from time to time, they would fight off beasts that had called the mine home for what probably had to be at least centuries. this would keep the miners of the first layer relatively safe, though some danger was still there.

    of course, another reason there were such scouts was to stop others from taking advantage of the vastness of the mine to pocket some of the resources for themselves.

    secondly, there were what seemed to be researchers in the deeper portions of the mine. because it was still relatively new, they were still trying to understand the true depth of the mine. after all, they didn''t have anastasia.

    after listening to their conversations, leonel knew that they had only found the third layer many years after the second layer. so, much of the time had been spent thinking that there were only two layers. right now, they were doing their due diligence to make sure that there wasn''t a fourth layer.

    of course, leonel knew that there wasn''t one, but they didn''t know that.

    ''now just need to sneak in,'' leonel thought.

    leonel took out a device and bound it to his arm. at that moment, his outward showing of the fifth dimension changed and his aura became that of a seventh dimensional existence. at the same time, a shimmering and thin film of emulation spatial force took shape over his body and his presence in the eyes of others became identical to one of the soldiers who had just been sent out by sergeant amon.

    then, leonel boldly strolled into the encampment.

 Chapter 2466 Actus

    chapter 2466 actus

    nove/lb)1n

    "hey, actus, weren''t you sent out on a mission?"

    "haha, i managed to pawn it off on some rookie," leonel laughed uproariously.

    actus was a burly man with a rotund belly. he was quite friendly with a lot of people here and he was probably the last person one should try to impersonate. and yet, leonel had still chosen him.

    as expected, everyone seemed to notice his presence pretty much immediately, but this was what he wanted.

    "you dog." the soldier laughed and shook his head.

    "well, it''s not all good, he took my task so now i gotta take his and scout the mines."

    "ooo," the soldier put up his hands and waved them about in mock-fear, "the horror. you must be pissing in your boots."

    "actus" grinned and patted the soldier''s shoulder.

    "maybe if you were as charismatic as me, you''d have an easier time than standing on your feet all day."

    "fuck you, bastard. i have better things to do than flirt with men all day."

    the two laughed and walked by one another, "actus" into the mines and the soldier making way for him to enter.

    leonel smiled to himself as he entered the mine. that was quite easy, now wasn''t it.

    his ability to disguise himself was obviously quite new, and it was one of the outcomes of him diverting away from thaela''s method of using the innate node.

    leonel rolled his eyes. "you''re always such a stickler for rules, grimey."

    "my name is grim!"

    "ah, right, much better."

    grim''s partner covered his mouth, stifling a laugh. grim, however, was not amused.

    "follow us, we will be reporting this matter up."

    "alright, alright, don''t be such a scrooge," grim''s partner finally stepped in. "what''d you get yourself caught up in this time, actus?"

    "haha," leonel scratched the back of his head. "well, i didn''t want to go on a non-mine scouting mission. they want us chasing after that leonel morales brat everyone''s been in an uproar about. i just swapped places with a rookie, but the kid didn''t tell me who he''s partnering with or anything so i''ve been flying blind."

    grim''s partner laughed. "typical, just like you. tell you what, grim, you go report this guy and i''ll be his partner."

    "that''s unacceptable. i can''t be alone either, it''s against the rules. the three of us should go back and report this immediate-"

    leonel suddenly moved and the two were entirely caught off guard. grim''s partner was hacked in the throat and he keeled over, his eyes bulging. at the same time, leonel drove a shin up grim''s groin.

    grim foamed at the mouth and fell to his knees, his eyes rolling to the back of his skull.

    with swift motions, leonel threw both of them into the segmented cube. then, his appearance changed. he took grim''s appearance, and to his side, a clone with his partner''s appearance took shape.

    it all took place quickly and suddenly. he moved through the second layer with ease.

    there were even more passages to the third layer that hadn''t been discovered, three in total. however, leonel didn''t pick one of them immediately.

    the third layer was the deepest, but it was also the largest and the one with the least tunnels. it was 80% an enormous open pit. if he just fell into the third layer now, he would be exposed instantly. he needed to use a different method.

 Chapter 2467 Den

    chapter 2467 den

    nove.lb-1n

    leonel had anastasia project the full situation of the second layer to him. then, he burst into action again, walking along the path along with his clone.

    he nodded toward several passersby; because he was grim, he didn''t really have to make fake conversation with himself either. he just continued to silently go about his task until he found what he was looking for: a den.

    around the corner, just past his shoulder, there was a den of wolves. these earth force-wielding wolves had called this place home long before the godlens found this mine, and they had yet to be completely cleared out. there were still several pockets of them in the second layer, and their concentration in the third was even greater.

    leonel chuckled to himself. what he was about to do was a bit ridiculous, but why not? he might as well have some fun.

    his clone vanished, and emulation spatial force sparkled around him again. then, he became an earth force wolf, standing at over two meters tall.

    of course, he was still standing on two legs and it was once again just a projection to fool the perceptions of others, but it would be perfect nonetheless.

    taking a deep breath, leonel deployed [domain], flooding it with his impetus state earth force. since he had just had a thought about how he needed to use this force of his more, why not now? this couldn''t have been a more perfect opportunity.

    right now, he was just using the outermost shell of [domain]. he hadn''t really practiced using this technique at all since he had been so focused on raising his forces to the impetus state, so he only had a basic understanding of it. however, this result alone would be enough to leave the godlens shell-shocked.

    in complete worlds, techniques that took the shape of force arts were not the norm. usually, they were inscribed in booklets and passed on. it could be said that any technique in the form of a force art was not only exceptional, but it was also far more difficult to learn.

    unfortunately for the godlens, it was the opposite for leonel. a technique in the form of a force art was even easier for him to grasp. maybe if it had been written out, it would have taken him even longer to reach this state.

    at that moment, leonel moved forward.

    the alpha earth force wolf howled in response, leaping forward.

    their bodies clashed in the air and the earth reverberated, but the wolf was sent flying.

    [domain] was able to suppress the forces of others and their overall strength, for that matter. but when you used the same force as your enemy, there was a hidden boost within that made it even more effective.

    plus, these wolves were barely seventh dimensional and not one had an impetus state force. using [domain] at all was overkill, but leonel didn''t have the time to waste and he also didn''t want to risk injuring himself too heavily either. his body was a liability at this point.

    he rushed forward and pressed a foot against the wolf''s neck, though from the perspective of the other wolves, it looked as though he was pressing down a paw.

    then, he unleashed a howl beneath the chorus of laughter that had suddenly become his backdrop.

    ''unbelievable,'' leonel thought to himself. ''and here i''m just an honest man trying to become stronger to protect those i love. a man can''t do anything in this world without being ridiculed.''

    that laughter only came in more waves.

    leonel smiled and shook his head, pulled his foot off of the alpha''s neck. well, at this point, he was the alpha now, no?

    this system didn''t work like the beastman dimensional verse''s did. there was no magical connection between them; it just worked the same way everything else in the animal kingdom did: the strong won and the weak followed.

    the alpha weakly stood, its head lowered so far that its snout almost touched the ground.

    leonel nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave. however, not before he gave the wolves a glance that clearly meant: follow me.

    it was time to kick up a storm.

 Chapter 2468 Retreat

    chapter 2468 retreat

    "a beast tide! there''s a beast tide!"

    "grim" came running down the corridor, clearly having lost his partner. his words caused the eyes of the others to widen, and the commotion filled the mines.

    "shit! this hasn''t happened in years, what the hell!"

    "there''s a new alpha, i''m not sure what''s going on, but we need to clear everybody out, they''re going crazy!"

    the pair of soldiers across from leonel were guarding one of the entrances to the third layer. they went by slim and spam, a pair of twin brothers who usually took on these sort of missions together. it was hard to tell if this was their real pair of names, or if it was because slim was indeed quite skinny and spam looked like he had a can at the ready to eat every hour, on the hour.

    "wait!" grim said when the two looked like they were ready to run. "we need to report this to the research scout team and lead the evacuation, what do you think you''re doing?!"

    slim and spam knew grim''s personality and understood that he was a stickler for rules, so they weren''t surprised by this in the slightest. they had indeed almost made a mistake, if they didn''t alert the research teams, they''d probably die.

    "dammit!" spam spat, his large belly rolling. he really didn''t want to do this.

    leonel smiled on the inside. this was why sergeant amon''s incompetence was important. grim was a stickler for rules, but there were too many unprofessional parts of his legion.

    actus was just one. grim''s partner had been willing to sweep it under the rug; the soldier that let actus into the mine in the first place was also willing to do so, and now these pair of twins were cursing about having to do their duty. nove/lb)1n

    actual discipline was few and far between in this troop, and it only made leonel''s job easier.

    if sergeant amon was competent, he would have personally led an excursion to wipe them out long ago. but luckily, he wasn''t.

    the last research team was the most troublesome to deal with, and it was the reason leonel had left it until last. it was led by a woman who, though didn''t have a dream force affinity, had a particularly strong soul force affinity.

    it was impossible for soul force to outmatch dream force. however, it was still harder for leonel to use the previous tricks he had.

    research popsy was her name. her hair was up in a messy bun, and she wore what looked like a jet black lab coat. among those fighting against this last batch of wolves, she was actually the strongest, stronger than even the soldiers that were supposedly meant to protect her. she should be a quasi eighth star.

    on the way there, leonel''s eyes flickered with a glint and from grim, he immediately became an alpha wolf again.

    howls filled the underground expanse as he moved, but this was just for show. in reality, he began to move and coordinate the wolves, changing their attack pattern from wild and unrestrained to calculated and logical.

    the change was instant. it took no more than a few seconds for the first researcher to die.

    researcher popsy''s expression changed. "run!"

    she realized she had made a mistake. this should have been her first intention, but she had thought that they could fight off this wave and wait for the sergeant. it seemed that they didn''t have this sort of luck.

    she stumbled backward before she suddenly sensed the looming presence of a wolf to her back. her heart skipped a beat, but she looked, she found grim standing behind her.

    "retreat! i will hold them off!"

    leonel began to valiantly "fight" the wolves, not turning back.

    research popsy hesitated, but in the end she nodded firmly and rushed to retreat with the others.

 Chapter 2469 34 Meters

    chapter 2469 34 meters

    leonel collapsed and took a breath. what a headache, all that trouble and it had bought him what? maybe a couple dozen minutes at best? what an annoyance. his old man really knew how to screw him over even from beyond the grave.

    leonel shook his head and returned to his alpha form, forcing the wolves to rush up from the third layer into the second layer.

    sergeant amon was beyond all of them in strength. culling this sort of beast tide would only be slightly complicated for him because of the winding tunnels and the various soldiers and researchers he would have to protect. if not for this, leonel might not even have more than a few minutes.

    he had done his best; now he just had to mine a billion kilograms of ore, and he didn''t even have an hour to do it. perfect. not to mention the fact he would also have to find a method of escaping as well as the only entrances and exits were guarded on the surface. but that would be easy enough.

    leonel stood and stretched out his back. then, he grinned.

    the third layer was massive.

    the ceilings were at least 50 meters tall, and it was at least a half-kilometer of diameter from one end to the other. this was only about 80% of the region as well. outside of this, there were several chains of tunnels which would be where the wolves of the third layer normally hid until leonel goaded them into coming out in full force today.

    the walls were lined with a shimmering metal that almost looked like obsidian with a touch of the faded black of charcoal. however, what was interesting was the fact that there wasn''t a single mark on them; they hadn''t been touched at all. nove/lb)1n

    of course, most of the mining had taken place on the first layer, so it made sense there wasn''t much movement on the second and third. in addition, this had been the realm of the researchers.

    as for what they were researching, leonel had a few guesses.

    aside from looking for a potential fourth layer, they could be looking for the core of the mine which would be responsible for the production of such a large mine to being with; they could be trying to see if there were any ores of higher evolution here, or maybe any invasive ores that would need to be weeded out to keep these ores strong.

    unlike on modern earth, metals in these worlds had real life to them. they were better treated like plant life than inanimate objects. as such, caring for the mine so it could continue to produce for many centuries until its core ran dry was of utmost importance.

    "and they get progressively weaker?"

    "yes."

    leonel''s eyes flashed with a blinding light.

    there was only one explanation: something was pushing the ore downward.

    no... maybe something was pulling it.

    the core of the mind had likely started nearer the surface, and then over long, grueling years, it had been pulled further and further away from the surface, eventually creating this thick slab.

    "how far into the earth can you sense?" leonel asked.

    "it''s harder to scan into the earth. the closer i get to the core of the world, the harder it will be."

    "why''s that?"

    "well, that''s where the world spirit would be. even if it''s a world spirit from a weaker world than mine, it would have precedence in its own territory."

    leonel''s brows shot up. "wouldn''t the world spirit be in the possession of the godlens?"

    "world spirits in complete worlds don''t work like that. in most worlds you visit, there won''t be anyone who can wield a world spirit. they''re often too strong for the average ninth dimensional existence. only someone who has touched upon the creation state can do so."

    leonel was shocked again. he had never expected that the requirements would be so high, but now that he thought about it... it made sense.

    just controlling one world spirit in a fragmented incomplete world was so valuable. how valuable would the world spirit of a complete world, the cumulative total of all of the world spirits of the dimensional verse fused into one, and then some, be?

 Chapter 2470 Benefiting

    chapter 2470 benefiting

    "okay, i understand. see how far you can get, don''t hurt yourself. what''s most important to me right now anyway is just getting the billion kilograms, a fifth dimensional mine core isn''t valuable enough to risk much on."

    "okay~"

    anastasia dove her senses into the earth, and it wasn''t long before leonel got an answer.

    "oh, i see."

    "what''s up?"

    "there seems to be an embryonic urbe ore core below. the mature one is trying to fuse with it."

    "embryonic?" leonel nodded slowly.

    an embryonic urbe ore core was obviously one that had yet to stabilize and begin to produce ores. it was just a coincidence that these two were born in the same location. or, close enough. n-(0velbin

    "what''s the potential of the embryonic one?"

    "seems like sixth dimensional, but it''s close to the seventh. if they fuse, it should allow them to enter the seventh."

    leonel''s eyes lit up. this was good. it would probably take anastasia a few years to form a mine with a billion kilograms of seventh dimensional ore, a few months if they invested into it properly, but the wait was worthwhile.

    the trouble was, how would he get it? going that deep underground would be a huge headache, and he still had to mine the billion fifth dimensional ores first.

    leonel looked at little tolly, who was wrapped around his arms. under this large concentration of force, it wouldn''t be good to let blackstar risk it. however, tolliver was his trump card for finishing up all this mining to begin with.

    "go wild."

    leonel had a feeling that it was the second because she went right above the location tolliver had dived into the ground to retrieve it and suddenly went ghastly pale.

    leonel could only watch as she pulled out some kind of communication device and barked out a stream of information.

    "... lock down the mine! lock down the mine! someone stole the urbe ore core!"

    leonel sighed. he knew this woman would be troublesome, but unfortunately he wanted to avoid problems. he couldn''t guarantee that he could kill her cleanly, so he didn''t even make the attempt.

    she was sharp, and his plan wasn''t without loopholes; it was normal that an intelligent person like her could see through the flaws. if he had really taken all of the time he originally thought he had, he would have been caught by her before he even finished.

    ''welp, it''s a little harder to slip away now, but it''s not that bad.''

    leonel chuckled and had anastasia project the important points to his mind. all he really needed to know was where the largest concentration of people were, and most importantly, where sergent amon was so he could avoid him.

    it was too easy to escape research popsy. though she was of decent strength, he had already made it to an exit channel before he sensed her. she had no idea that she had only just missed him.

    leonel slipped into the stream of combat as grim once again, fighting so valiantly that no one could tell that he was running away. in just a few minutes, he had already made it to the back near an entrance of the first layer. plus, he was already at the furthest location from sergeant amon who had long since charged in. this would be far simpler than escaping the godlen territory.

    sometimes he didn''t know why he dared to have nice thoughts.

    the ground rumbled, and the sound of the sky collapsing left leonel speechless. just as he was about to rush into the first layer, it collapsed, nearly falling in on his head and crushing him.

    he barely managed to rush back into the second layer and looked on... stunned.

    "anastasia, what just happened?"

    there was a slight pause before anastasia spoke in surprise.

    "demons! they suddenly appeared, it looks like they''re trying to attack the mine and claim it for themselves. either that, or they''re trying to stop anyone else from benefiting from it."

    leonel cursed.

 Chapter 2471 Dangerous

    chapter 2471 dangerous

    this was trouble.

    leonel quickly got information about the demons. there were four of them, all of whom were in the eighth dimension. it was really enough to make leonel wonder why they did this at all. just one of them was probably enough to kill the sergeant, so why go through all of this trouble?

    soon he understood, though. nove/lb-in

    the demons probably had their own resources, they didn''t need to steal the humans. in addition, their race probably had a generally low reliance on such things to begin with. they were fighters and they relied on their own strength. leonel was willing to bet that their number of crafters was low, especially considering the standard of weapons he had seen from the group of demons he and aina had killed.

    in that case, their priority wasn''t to kill or occupy this mine, it was to destroy it, or at the very least make it very difficult to unearth again. if they could kill some humans as well, then that would only be to their benefit.

    but leonel felt that they were a bit stupid. this wasn''t the best method to destroy the mine at all. seeing the sinister look on their faces, it looked as though they had chosen one of the worst options just because they felt it would be more fun to watch the humans squirm this way.

    leonel fell into his own thoughts. if this was their intention, then making it out would be even more difficult. in that case, his best option would be setting up a teleportation formation and getting himself out of here.

    he made the decision quickly and used anastasia''s help to get him to a region of the second layer with the least amount of people. then he used one of the many entrances that had yet to be found to slip back into the third layer, where he rushed into the tunnel system, ignoring the catacomb.

    researcher popsy had already long since gone back up to the second layer. in her opinion, the person was long gone from the third layer and was now trapped somewhere in the second along with the rest of them.

    she was smart enough that she might guess that leonel had returned to the third layer, but by then, he should hopefully be gone.

    teleporting out of a mine like this wasn''t exactly easy. one could see the dense ores like force barriers of sorts, and it only made it worse that urbe ore was so robust and sturdy.

    "that happened?" leonel asked with a frown. that vial was yet another thing he didn''t understand, the second in not too much time at that. first it was the talismans that that young man had used, now this vial. "replay the image for me in all the detail you think i can handle."

    anastasia nodded and did as she was told.

    leonel fell into silence as his gaze slowly became brighter and brighter.

    ''fascinating...''

    the vial did exactly what it seemed to do. it could take a sample of force and analyze its properties. this was probably exceptionally useful for gathering information about one''s surroundings, especially in a mine like this one. or, in this case...

    finding the exact location of where one had teleported to.

    of course, the vial wouldn''t do that for you, and it would be up to popsy''s intelligence. it was just unfortunate for her that leonel''s destination was in the middle of nowhere.

    leonel looked up and saw the encampment about ten or so kilometers from him. the demons could definitely see him from this far away with ease. in fact, they could see him even if he was a thousand kilometers away, so he would have to get moving.

    his emulation spatial force shimmered and tried to pull him into a mirage. if they looked toward this direction, they''d most likely see a trick of the light.

    it was too hard to use his emulation spatial force to become invisible because it required constantly reflecting exactly what was behind him. but it was easier when he was so far away from the people he wanted to avoid.

    ''that woman is a bit dangerous... the fact she used that vial means that she already deduced that i''m not with the demons, or else it would have been a waste of her time. i wonder if they''ll survive...''

    leonel knew that things were heating up. so many demons were appearing. that meant that the barrier between worlds was becoming thinner and less dangerous. soon, the flood would come.

    the question was... how could he best take advantage?

 Chapter 2472 Short Time?

    n.)o-.v()e-)l/(b/)i-.n

    chapter 2472 short time?

    leonel threw this to the back of his mind and made his way back to the evolution ore mine. it was quite a distance away, but with the segmented cube, even this journey didn''t mean much to him. anastasia was so fast that it probably wouldn''t take him any more than half a day to make it to any location within the golden''s bubble.

    soon, it was within his sights again. luckily, there wasn''t another battle going on, and he could directly enter the mine. after analyzing the normal portion of the mine, leonel nodded. it was a little bit inconvenient, but he had some ideas on how he might deal with this situation.

    the evolution ore mine was on another level compared to the urbe ore mine. while the urbe ore mine had been fifth dimensional, the evolution ore mine was clearly seventh dimensional. there was also the problem of the multi-faceted core, but that had yet to spread to the other regions of the mine just yet.

    it was both a positive and a negative that leonel had stumbled onto the existence of such a mine.

    on the one hand, it saved him the trouble of finding a stronger one in the short term. but on the other hand, it couldn''t be used with such a weak foundation of urbe ore.

    however, leonel had an idea.

    "little tolly, how many fifth dimensional evolution ores can you make out of this one seventh dimensional evolution ore? don''t try to input any of your own power."

    leonel gave tolliver some instructions and limited his capabilities. he knew that the little guy was eager to help him and to outdo blackstar, but he was worried about tolliver overextending himself.

    so, he thought of this idea instead. if tolliver was breaking down a superior ore into a weaker one, that should take basically all the pressure off the little guy. the only question was whether he could do it or not. after all, little tolly was in the sixth dimension and the ore was in the seventh.

    once again, it turned out that leonel didn''t need to worry at all. in fact, it didn''t even take much time.

    tolliver came back to leonel making more happy blooping sounds. leonel couldn''t help but smile, sending signs of affirmation to the metal spirit.

    ''this should be enough to reach the peak of the third dimension in one go.''

    leonel''s eyes lit with faint excitement.

    finally. it felt like his body had become a prison. he knew that he had so much more power to use, but his third dimensional status refused to allow him the chance to. it was infuriating.

    he stored away the 100 billion kilograms of fifth dimensional evolution ore. he hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. he didn''t know what would happen while he was breaking through, so he should cover all his bases first.

    clearly, it didn''t take much time for tolliver to mine ores, so it would be quick.

    over the next few minutes, leonel leaned on tolliver to mine a million kilograms of the pure evolution ore. then, he had tolliver find the core and pull it out. he likewise passed this core, as he had done for the first two, on to anastasia.

    then, he found a relatively safe place to bury the segmented cube again and then vanished. he hoped that he''d be able to come out in a reasonable time. but he knew that that was probably a false hope.

    when had his father ever let him have anything easily?

    not long after leonel left, a familiar young man wearing a pair of goggles returned. there was a happy expression on his face as everything had gone smoothly last time, but when he saw the mine this time around, his face fell.

    the pressure of the mine was gone, large portions of it were excavated, and his hard work was all but ruined.

    just what happened here?

 Chapter 2473 Dammit

    n)-o//v./ж┼--l//b.)i/)n

    chapter 2473 dammit

    leonel adjusted himself, taking a small rest. he felt that all was right with the world, at least in this small vacuum. everything was under his control, and everything was perfect.

    when he was ready, he felt like he had just had a good night''s rest. his mind was refreshed, and his body was rushing with vitality. then he began.

    leonel''s first node would be the very same one he had started with initially: his brain stem. at that location, there was his emulation spatial force node, and it was also one of great importance to him. leonel didn''t know if it particularly mattered which one he started with, but out of habit, he chose that it was best to stick with the status quo.

    plus, when he thought about it, there was no better other region to start with anyway.

    after months of not having to worry about the influence of his scarlet star force, he had grown used to that kind of peace. truthfully, now that his scarlet star force had reached the impetus state thanks to mo''''lexi, he didn''t have to worry about the influence being as hard any longer. even so, he was still far more cautious now than he had been in the past.

    ''activate my destruction sovereignty... use my constellation realm as an anchor... use my node as the connection between myself and the realm...''

    leonel went through the process in his mind.

    none of what his father had made him do was superfluous. every step was integral to the technique''s success. the separation of his soul allowed him to view his body from a third perspective. getting comfortable with that feeling would now only teach him how to anchor his existence in a different plane than where his true body was located, but it would also protect his mind from the corrosion of destruction as well.

    because his soul was so firmly rooted in the second dimension now, his forces were even less likely to have a strong impact on him. forces could only so directly act on his body, at least the body was far easier to target in this regard.

    then, his constellation realm became an anchor, as he had said. the constellation represented the essence of the star, it was your own world, your own existence, your own path. its existence meant you no longer had to rely on the world around you to provide the guiding light you needed; you could be your own guiding light.

    the essence of the ores pooled toward, rushing into leonel''s body.

    slowly, they began to form the complex force art of [final destruction].

    leonel trembled, and he began to feel an odd feeling take root in his body. it was calm and tranquil...

    until it wasn''t.

    ''god dammit...''

    the wave of pain hit him like a truck. it didn''t come from his body but rather from his very soul. somehow, leonel subconsciously understood what was happening.

    his soul had been separated from his body, and now this technique wanted to take a piece of it.

    this made sense. the world that leonel was creating needed a real connection to him, and his body wasn''t good enough.

    unfortunately, the pain was so excruciating that he would have fainted if he hadn''t become a dream sovereign, capable of finding clarity even within this depth of despair.

    he cursed, spewing out all the vulgarities known to man. this was actually worse than being eaten alive; he never thought that he would say such a thing in his entire life.

    but as though that wasn''t bad enough, soon he felt as though his emulation spatial node, which had been mostly dormant all this time, had begun to drill through his body as though it had to tunnel through his flesh to get to the world he was creating.

    leonel had started off in a dignified and calm position, but that had been quickly thrown out the window as he huddled into a fetal position, his skin turning a deathly shade of grey.

 Chapter 2474 Hated

    chapter 2474 hated

    leonel exhaled a shaky breath, his body trembling. pain directed at the soul was absolutely the worst thing he had ever experienced.

    it wasn''t just pain that was the problem; it almost felt as though some higher existence was taking control of your existence and slowly erasing it. it was an assault on the psyche and body, an existential crisis bottled up and stripped of all the middle-aged angst that could make it somewhat amusing.

    it was the worst feeling he had ever experienced. he didn''t want to admit it, but it had truly felt worse than watching his father and aina die.

    no, it was almost like that experience had taken the worst things he could imagine and forced him to experience them with a dose of heartrending pain to boot. it refused to stop at just pain and wanted to destroy everything it meant to be leonel.

    leonel knew that it couldn''t have just been the pain that did this to him; it was also what this pain was going toward accomplishing.

    his soul wasn''t just anchoring anything; it was anchoring a world of destruction. not only was there the pain of feeling his soul split, but it was also being seeped in the truest despair there was, the destruction of all that had ever been and would ever be.

    leonel exhaled another hollow breath. he had succeeded, and yet he didn''t even feel happy. he felt like that weight was trying to take hold of him again, but he managed to hold it off, his gaze flashing with a frighteningly cold light.

    he could remember the first time he had felt the pain of improvement.

    he had only been 18 years old, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. he knew nothing about this so-called dimensional verse and stupidly tried to awaken his metal synergy lineage factor much too early.

    he had no qualifications to do so, not due to lack of talent, but lack of experience and fortitude. he had been a normal youth until that day. the worst pain he had experienced was probably getting his ribs broken in a meaningless football game.

    but he had persevered.

    his reasons back then were endlessly superficial and outrageously selfish. he just didn''t want to lose out.

    they were all selfish bastards.

    and he didn''t want to be like them.

    that became his anchor, his small ember of will that was constantly buffeted by the winds of the cruel world.

    the tenth node began to take shape, and the world seemed to roar.

    at that moment, a large amount of anarchic force pooled into leonel, peeling away at the layers of his soul.

    by this point, he was huddled into a corner, his body shivering uncontrollably. the room around him had been completely destroyed, and he was lying in a pile of ash. the only reason there wasn''t more was that what had already been destroyed couldn''t possibly be destroyed again.

    he trembled fiercer and fiercer, feeling his destruction world greedily soaking up this anarchic force without a care in the world.

    it lashed at his soul, and he barely managed to keep himself together. it looked more like he was huddled to try to protect the final dying embers of his will than anything else.

    that feeling of helplessness and despair was as strong as it could possibly be, but he didn''t waver even a single time. in fact, even as the situation got worse, he seemed to feel that his mind was only getting sharper and sharper.

    under this constant assault of his character, he could feel his true self with much greater clarity than he ever had.

    if the first thing he learned about himself was that he was selfish, the second thing was more of a confirmation of something he already knew.

    he really, really, really...

    didn''t like to lose.

    in fact...

    he hated losing more than he loved winning.

 Chapter 2475 Ten Stars

    chapter 2475 ten stars

    leonel barely managed to crawl into a pod and collapse. truthfully, he had no idea how many days had passed. it might have even been a month for all he knew. he had been so solely focused on a single goal that he could mind anything else. everything drifted away, and he fell into a deep sleep.

    when leonel awoke, his gaze flashed with a blindingly cold light. but when he looked around him, he found himself lying on a bed of ash.

    ''what the hell...''

    "what do you think you''re doing destroying my thing?!" anastasia began to berate him immediately. "do you know how expensive those things are to make?!"

    "expensive?" leonel muttered, still a bit confused.

    "yes! each one you see here took ten years of accumulation for me to make!"

    leonel didn''t really think about where the pods came from before; they were just here after anastasia finished her final breakthrough, so he never really thought about it. now it seemed that there was a price to pay for them after all.

    even so, his mind was somehow both incredibly sharp and yet groggy at the same time. he didn''t have the mind to care about the little world spirit throwing another tantrum.

    he slowly stood, putting a hand on his forehead.

    "well, damn..."

    he looked around himself, and the region was in a complete mess. let alone the pod he had crawled into, the surrounding kilometer was in shambles. he had left behind nothing but a big crater of darkness and destruction.

    seeing this scene, he was a bit worried. was this because he had lost consciousness? or was this just going to be his new norm now?

    after some thought, leonel felt that he should do this right. if he was going to be at the peak of the third dimension, then he should get there with his full strength.

    he turned his attention to [dimensional cleanse], but when he began to circulate its method, so much force rushed toward him that he hurriedly stopped, his brows furrowing.

    he looked up and seemed to understand.

    under the influence of his constellation realm, these stars he was about to form... were not normal by any stretch of the imagination. in addition, their synergy with [final destruction] was beyond his imagination.

    leonel had a feeling that though his father disdained to use [dimensional cleanse] because the introduction was too arrogant, he had still used some of its ideas as inspiration...

    or maybe was it that he had used his father''s ideas for inspiration when he created [dimensional cleanse]...?

    it was obvious which one had to come first even though it felt like a chicken and the egg situation. maybe it was because it was him, but he was more certain the more he thought about it.

    maybe [dimensional cleanse] was created purely for the sake of pairing with [final destruction].

    leonel began to form his stars once more. this time, even when the world seemed to collapse beneath the pull of his will, he didn''t stop it.

    earth force. dark force. dream force. universal force. bow force. spear force. vital star force.

    three innate nodes.

    one by one, ten stars took shape, becoming the suns of the ten bubble worlds within leonel. with every breath he took, streams of rainbow-like force poured into his body, and he was practically brimming with power.

    they seemed to restrain his violent destruction, not making it weaker, but pulling it under his control.

    leonel''s lips curled into a smile.

 Chapter 2476 Spar?

    chapter 2476 spar?

    leonel felt better than he had in a long time. he had been somewhat worried that that pain would linger, but it seemed to only be necessary during the formation of the destruction world at the start. after that, everything was smooth sailing.

    the best part was that it seemed that thanks to [dimensional cleanse], he didn''t have to labor in his efforts to control the waves of destruction. the stars became a stabilizing force and seemed to react to the existence of his constellation realm. together, they formed the perfect balance, and his mind wasn''t constantly occupied by other matters.

    he felt strong and powerful, so much so that despite the pain, he was already looking forward toward what it would take to enter the fourth dimension.

    leonel shook his head, he was really getting way too ahead of himself. even so, he took a look anyway. knowing his father, the requirements would be strict so it would be best if he knew what they were now so that he could prepare properly in the future.

    his bitter smile returned immediately.

    [1 000 000 000 kilograms of ninth dimension reinforced urbe ore]

    [1 000 000 000 kilograms of ninth dimensional mutated evolution ore]

    [100 000 000 kilograms per force type]

    [elevate all forces to the middle impetus state]

    [comprehend true destruction sovereignty]

    [complete metal body tempering with sixth dimensional pure ores]

    [progress constellation realm from rudimentary comprehension to common comprehension]

    [rudimentary, common, black, bronze, silver, gold, life]

    ...

    the list was so long it made leonel''s head spin. this was just the fourth dimension, what would he ask for the fifth?

    and true destruction sovereignty? didn''t he already have true destruction sovereignty?

    though the list was difficult, the one that gave him the most headache was the resources he would need. where was he going to find that much ninth dimension material?

    ''let''s focus on the positives for now.'' leonel grinned and clenched his fists. he could finally feel his lineage factors and innate nodes again. his confidence had skyrocketed; it was time to make some waves.

    ...

    on the surface, eamon was still in shambles. he was working as hard as he could, racking his brain to figure out a method of dealing with all of this. but it was all useless.

    without the core of the mine, much of its power had already begun to leak and dissipate. it didn''t have the driving force of evolution pushing it anymore.

    however, he kept trying and doing his best, even though he knew he was being foolish.

    coming out here to the middle of nowhere was already foolish enough. doing so when the evolution ore mine no longer had that driving force that protected it from predators and humanoids alike was even more foolish.

    he kept pushing his luck, coming back here again and again over weeks of time trying to salvage the unsalvageable.

    and he finally suffered for it.

    the demon stood over him, its bull-like horns curving into the air as it looked down at eamon, not sure of what to think of this scrawny little brat.

    "you know, i''ve heard that human flesh is tasty. but you don''t even have much of it. should i fatten you up first?"

    eamon didn''t understand the words the demon was speaking. he didn''t have leonel''s near instant translation abilities, and even if he did it was doubtful that he''d be able to calm down enough to use them.

    at that moment, though, the rustle of a few leaves and some soft footsteps shook the bull demon out of his focus.

    he looked back to find a shirtless young man strolling through the forest, his bare fist gliding across the soft grass.

    then, he smiled.

    "oh, hello. i''ve got some new strength and i''ve yet to fight to test it out. how about a spar?"

    -----

    erdiul''s note: new year! same me! hope you all had a great year, and if not, i hope the service i provided over the year made it a little bit better. it will continue though, how long? not sure. i will notify when i do have to stop, and i will try to find a good replacement if possible. but that''s for the unknown future. for now i will continue as usual. let''s hope we all have a great entry into 2024. cheers mates.

 Chapter 2477 Low-Class

    chapter 2477 low-class

    let alone the demon, even eamon was taken off guard. he obviously didn''t recognize leonel, but he could sense that this person was only in the fifth dimension. what was he doing?

    "r-run!" eamon cried out.

    leonel blinked, looking toward eamon. he smiled, this guy wasn''t too bad.

    a growl left the demon''s lips and its bull horns sparked with a peculiar force that didn''t seem to be related to lightning at all. then it sneered, turning toward leonel and suddenly rushing forward. its fist bore down on leonel so quickly that he seemed to teleport.

    eamon felt the ground collapse beneath him, the shaking so violent that he felt weightless for a moment. his expression changed as he tried to scramble to his feet, but by then leonel and the bull demon had already met.

    bang.

    two fists clashed in the air, the reverberating impact compressing the air into a clap of thunder.

    leonel took a heavy step back but then pursed his lips and nodded to himself as though saying not bad. the demon, however, was sent flying backward, its body crashing through the restrictions that eamon had put up to protect the mine and colliding with the hard walls.

    leonel shook his fist out, his knuckles throbbing a bit. this only lasted for a split second before his vital star force healed him completely; in truth, he was being more theatrical than he needed to be. even his attack was the worst he could have chosen.

    one didn''t temper their body until the fourth dimension, and leonel hadn''t begun practicing metal body again just yet. that meant that even with his base body being in the third dimension, without the support of any improvement, he could already send a seventh dimensional demon flying. it was only made more impressive by the fact demons of this caliber were well known for their bodily strength.

    a roar shook the mine, and a streak of black and red rushed out in the form of a humanoid bull. its fury towers as it bore down over leonel.

    ''alright, that''s enough playing around.''

    eamon''s eyes widened. "i... i don''t know what you mean."

    leonel laughed, then changed the subject.

    "the light force user you wanted to help out with this mine, who is it?"

    eamon was shaken again, and took a step back. his wariness was raised to the limit as his thumb touched his spatial ring, seemingly ready to bring out a talisman at the slightest notice.

    leonel shook his head. like he had thought, this young man was smart, and quite sharp, but his overly cautious nature was holding him back. he had the right to be cautious about leonel, but the problem was that he should understand how far the gap between them was and adjust. but he wasn''t thinking clearly.

    leonel''s gaze flashed with a silvery blue light and eamon suddenly felt his connection with his spatial ring cut off entirely. he couldn''t even see the inside of it any longer. this was the same trick leonel had used against eduardo. ultimately, you had to use some form of soul force or dream force to communicate with a spatial device to pull things out or put things in. it was a simple matter for leonel to suppress that if he had to.

    "let''s talk like normal people, alright? i know you come from that underground city, there''s no reason to try and hide it. i also know where it is already, so i don''t really need you to help me find it."

    eamon''s heart quaked, but the words seemed to finally calm him down somewhat. in the end, wasn''t he helpless regardless?

    "good. now the demon?" leonel asked.

    "it''s... it''s a lower low-class demon."

    leonel grinned. he had expected that there would be some warping in the rankings, but to think it would be that exceptional. the human alliance was truly pathetic.

    "are there unranked demons?" leonel asked.

    "yes... the unranked demons are usually those without any intelligence."

    "now, the person you wanted to help?"

    eamon froze up again.

 Chapter 2478 The Nerd

    chapter 2478 the nerd

    leonel decided to let eamon off the hook. he didn''t really need to know, honestly. given the circumstances, and the risks eamon was willing to take, this was obviously someone he cared deeply about.

    as for the matter of the bull demon being a low-class demon, he wasn''t very shocked by this either. the demons were a powerful race overall, and the bubble worlds of demons acting now were unlikely to have demons stronger than the low-class.

    this was to mean that most of the fighters were probably lower low-class demons, with the strongest probably being middle low-class. there might only be one or two higher low-class demons if any at all. this was just someone that leonel concluded using common sense. if the bull demon and cobra demons were only considered low-class, and yet this was the best class of demons the human geniuses just below the likes of the godlens and the four great families could battle, then there was no way there were any demons of much higher rank.

    if there was a middle-class demon present or better, the human alliance would have already been wiped out. this was a good thing for leonel as well. in his opinion, the demoness had to be middle-class at worst. he had no proof of this, and it was just a gut feeling-a conservative one at that. he didn''t believe that anything less could force his father into such a corner.

    that meant that there was no way she would be part of this invasion even if she was pulling some strings in the background. this gave the humans more of a chance.

    leonel obviously had no love lost for the human alliance, but there were many innocent people tied with them as well. it wasn''t as though he was willing to see the last bastion of human power wiped off the face of the map.

    even so, he couldn''t let them have their way either. he would need to play both sides and thread the needle.

    the more powerful he became, the more confident he was in doing this. he had already shifted his attention toward his metal body and building his foundation up again.

    "do you know who the main players of the demons are?" leonel asked.

    eamon sighed a breath of relief when leonel didn''t press him. he really didn''t want to talk about her with a stranger.

    "the bull demons, the cobra demons, and the lust demons are the main powers. however, above them, there are the sun demons and the moon demons, they''re middle low-class."

    eamon hesitated halfway but eventually finished. he knew that he had just been manipulated into answering, but there was really no other choice.

    "interesting," leonel nodded. "alright, you can go."

    "the slayer legion?" leonel asked with a raised eyebrow.

    was it a coincidence? why did they share the same name as the rebel army of earth? was this a pawn of his grandfather?

    he had extremely bad luck joining organizations, so he had no intention of joining up with those people until he was at least at the peak of the fourth dimension. he felt with the current progression of his strength, that should give him the right to defend himself and retreat safely.

    but the name made him hesitate.

    as for why his grandfather didn''t tell him about this... did he not?

    backtracking to his grandfather''s words, he said that the godlens were on the side of the greater good. but what if he wasn''t referring to the godlens themselves, but rather their world?

    was it a coincidence that the slayer legion was located in godlen territory? was that the clue?

    ''hm...'' leonel thought for a long while. then he nodded.

    "alright, let''s go."

    eamon''s eyes widened. he didn''t expect leonel to accept so readily.

    leonel snapped his fingers, and then his brothers appeared one after another.

    "an adventure?" james asked, wrapping an arm around leonel''s neck. "who''s the nerd?"

    "the ''nerd'' is probably stronger than you," leonel replied.

    "bullshit! fight me," james stepped forward, taking his arm back and rubbing his fist.

    "uh... this..." eamon took a step back, not wanting any trouble. he suddenly wondered if he made the right choice.

 Chapter 2479 Pants Down

    chapter 2479 pants down

    leonel reclined in a chair, his legs up on the desk before him. across from him, his father-in-law sat. compared to leonel, miel''s posture was ramrod and straight. he looked like a disciplined general as he stared at leonel. leonel''s brothers sat around him, each one facing another group of elites of the slayer legion. the atmosphere was quite stiff and rigid. well, mostly. because leonel himself was still smiling and he felt that the situation wasn''t too bad.

    what was amusing was that miel hadn''t asked about aina even once, but when leonel thought about it, it made sense. in miel''s view, he probably already had a contingency plan in place for his daughter. the main issue was that he had no idea that aina had died once, throwing his plans for a loop.

    as for leonel, he was content to let him keep thinking that. if aina was here, who knew whose side she''d be on? she might even try to get back at him for that situation in the cult; it was best she didn''t know for now.

    "so, adam-"

    miel''s gaze flashed with rage, causing leonel''s words to pause. did he get the name wrong? or was it that he didn''t like the fact he was calling him by his first name? leonel had no idea that miel had changed his name. the name he remembered was spoken by one of simeon''s werebeasts back when leonel first found the domain ring and the segmented cube in his basement. his memory was near infallible, so he was certain that he got the name right, so he thought it was probably the latter. what did this man expect him to call him? sir?

    leonel wasn''t going to do that. he was a pushover for aina, but that didn''t extend toward her father. he''d rather rot.

    "father-in-law?" leonel changed his words, teasingly.

    miel''s temper flared again beneath leonel''s smile.

    "you see what i''m saying? i knew this was a bad idea," raj sighed, rubbing his forehead. "cap''s luck with organizations is truly in the shitter."

    leonel rolled his lips over themselves, not wanting to burst into a fit of laughter. truthfully, though this situation seemed tense, he was actually far more comfortable here. since miel was here, he was even more confident that this slayer legion was related to his grandfather.

    leonel didn''t know miel''s history, but for him to have a child with a woman of earth, he had to have some interaction with his grandfather. he might even be a valued subordinate of emperor fawkes.

    "watch your words. don''t put hats on my daughter she doesn''t want to wear."

    "she doesn''t?" leonel blinked in confusion, but to miel it looked quite mocking. all he could remember was the last time he had seen leonel, those cruel words he had said to his daughter. it felt like leonel was trying to slap him in the face.

    bang.

    "i''m getting really tired of people calling me that," leonel sneered. "i''m 26 years old. the person who had the right to call me that is already dead."

    miel''s crimson hair fluttered, his brows looking as though they had become live flames.

    "miel!" cidra roared again.

    the words seemed to finally get through and miel looked over to look at the destruction he had caused. he looked down at his hands and shook his head. he had let his temper get the best of him.

    just when he was about to say something, a loud, blaring warning noise echoed.

    the expressions of everyone changed. they knew what those blaring noises meant, someone was attacking the slayer legion.

    "report!" miel roared.

    soon, a talisman that appeared in his hand lit up.

    "commander! the godlens have sent an army."

    miel frowned, this was nonsense.

    the location of the slayer legion was a secret, but it wasn''t to the point that true powerhouses couldn''t find them with enough effort. the real reason they had never been attacked was that it was far too troublesome to deal with. there were thousands of kilometers worth of underground tunnels here, and their strength wasn''t bad. given they had to deal with the demons, trying to deal with them would have dealt too great a blow to their strength.

    leonel looked up into the skies and information was brought back to him by anastasia even faster.

    100 000 seventh dimensional experts led by a thousand eight dimensional experts.

    it didn''t constitute the full power of the godlens by any means, but they probably didn''t want to risk being stabbed in the back.

    plus, this timing seemed ridiculous to miel, but to leonel, it was perfect.

    this was the moment the slayer legion was the most relaxed, the moment where they thought the godlens would be too occupied by the demons to consider them.

    and now they had gotten caught with their pants down.

 Chapter 2480 Gotcha

    chapter 2480 gotcha

    as everyone was ready to panic, leonel''s brothers appeared around him.

    "what''re we doing, cap?" milan grinned. he looked like he was ready to bash some heads in already. the group completely ignored the other leaders around them.

    "well, looks like some killing''s in order," leonel replied with a smile.

    "this is slayer legion territory, this isn''t a place you can do as you please. if you insist, we will detain you right here and now." miel spoke calmly, having regained his bearings.

    this time, the others agreed with miel. it wasn''t that they thought that leonel might be a spy or someone sent to stab them in the back. if the godlens really made such an elaborate plan they could only bend over and take, quite frankly. instead, they didn''t want military order to be disrupted.

    a squadron of powerful existences who went off to do their own thing would be an annoying thing to deal with, and it could end up costing many their lives. they couldn''t allow it.

    leonel sent his father-in-law a smile, and then more experts began to appear around him.

    "anastasia, activate the best of my mask protocols. i''ll need one."

    "gotcha..."

    soon, a mask appeared in leonel''s hand. several of them, in fact.

    he passed them out to his brothers and each one was outfitted with a sleek black mask that seemed to absorb all the light that bounced toward it. other than the two slits they had for eyes, there were no other holes or openings, and those around them found that even using their internal sight didn''t help in seeing what was underneath. nove1bin

    truthfully, the masks were a bit shoddy compared to what leonel''s current abilities could create. he had created them for the sake of the morales. it wasn''t just this, but he had allowed anastasia to scan the making of several potential mass-producible items. it was just that he never got around to actually using them until now.

    "what would you like me to do, sir?"

    "what''s the main target of the enemy?"

    "i don''t have enough information."

    leonel saw that goggles took the fact that he knew about his ability index in stride. but once again, this was in line with what leonel knew about this character.

    leonel nodded. "let me be more specific, then. where will they attack first?"

    goggles blinked. "they only have information about two of six main entrances to this underground city. they will focus their attacks from there. it''s just that they''re also aware that there are likely more, so they''re spreading around and pretending as though they have everything in hand before they take swift action at these two entrances. the plan is that by the time you all notice, your forces will be too dispersed to react properly."

    leonel grinned. and this was what goggles was here for.

    after a moment, goggles pointed out where the two entrances and leonel immediately made a move, the others following him quickly. as for goggles, he put him away. this was all leonel needed for now.

    a shadow moved to block leonel''s path. it wasn''t just miel, but a whole host of others of the slayer legion. leonel had treated their words like air, but how could they stand such a thing?

    "wife!" leonel called out.

    aina appeared by leonel''s side, looking around with one hint of confusion, and another hint of annoyance. why was this man called her wife again-

    aina''s eyes widened when she saw her father.

    "yes, yes. cute reunion time. people are trying to kill us above. good, good. let''s go."

    leonel took aina''s hand with one of his own and used the other to slap a mask on her face.

    seeing his daughter not even resist, miel stood in silence. he didn''t even know who to direct his rage at this time.

 Chapter 2481 A Single Boy

    chapter 2481 a single boy

    leonel shamelessly used aina as a distraction and blew by the group, flashing into the distance, a small squadron of barely over 10 moving swiftly with him.

    "miel! why didn''t you stop them?"

    truthfully, many had been in a daze. aina was beautiful, yes. but there was something more to it than that. her very presence was beyond their understanding. that sort of feeling... it came from the life state, and it was something that filled them with fear.

    but how could someone in the seventh dimension possibly grasp the life state? there had to be something else to it, something hidden deeper that could make their hearts palpitate like it just had.

    miel didn''t respond. he didn''t understand why his daughter was here either, but he also understood that they couldn''t waste any more time here.

    "forget it. the men should be gathered by now. we need to move."

    "miel," cidra called out.

    "yes?"

    "that boy, he mentioned the two exits..."

    "we can''t put stock in this. they aren''t part of our military personnel and we can''t risk our men on the words of a fourth dimensional existence. we''ll move with the original plan. just in case, i will head the army of the second exit the boy mentioned. the rest of you will split up and man the other five entrances.

    "cidra, please follow after my daughter and the exit they took." nove1bin

    "understood."

    everyone nodded. considering the situation, this was the best they could do. they agreed with miel''s decision as well; it was the most logical.

    leonel felt a pinch at his waist and winced.

    leonel poked her forehead, stunning aina awake.

    "hey, hey, focus. we''re about to go into battle."

    "yes, king." aina nodded obediently.

    leonel was speechless.

    leonel''s brothers choked on air.

    ...

    sergeant moe had been in a bad mood for weeks. first the several godlen citizens had been sacrificed at leonel''s hands, then he humiliated them all by actually managing to escape right under their noses. as though that wasn''t bad enough, not only had there been no trace of him for weeks afterward, but when he did finally appear, it was to steal the core of one of their mines.

    it was still fine. after receiving the report, they thought that this was a good thing. since leonel was trapped in there with the rest of them, this was a chance to capture him as well. due to this, the powerhouses of the godlen family were personally mobilized, catching the demons off guard. they could have never guessed that so many ninth dimensional existences would appear for a mere fifth dimensional mine. how could they know that the godlens believed the man who had stolen their codex was stuck within?

    who would have thought that even after sending out so many powerhouses, it would have all been useless? leonel had long since escaped and they put in so much effort for nothing.

    the worst worst part was that because they had focused so much attention on a useless mine, they had actually lost their most important ninth dimensional urbe ore mine as a result.

    the demons had taken cheap advantage of them, and launching an assault was far too dangerous compared to just defending.

    as they were hesitating, deciding whether or not to launch another all-out assault, news that the ninth dimensional urbe ore mine had been destroyed came from above.

    the mine was completely buried. if they wanted to excavate all the tunnels again, it would take years of effort and large amounts of manpower. this was ninth dimension urbe ore they were talking about; even the miners had to be at least of the mid-level of the eighth dimension to make any sort of progress, let alone now that it had been completely buried. maybe only vivak and the other heads could take action at this point.

    but how could they spare the time for this now?

    after all these months of frustration, the godlens really needed a win. as such, they moved the plan to deal with the slayer legion up.

    this was their chance to regain morale and momentum... morale and momentum that had been stolen from them by a single boy.

 Chapter 2482 Too

    chapter 2482 too

    sergeant moe held up a hand, his gaze boiling with fire.

    in the desolate wasteland they stood in, it looked as though their armies were completely unorganized. in the eyes of anyone observing the situation, it would look as though they were still preparing to arrange themselves, but the reality was that they were in a perfect position. at his signal, the troops and battalions in the distance would be able to do an about-face in the shortest time, turning and rushing to complete a full-force attack on their two chosen points in an instant.

    according to the plan, the slayer legion would find themselves divided, defending several points, when in reality they were concentrated in just two. they would be able to deal them a swift blow.

    as for a potential pincer, sergeant moe was perfectly prepared for this. what use would there be in a pincer if their annihilation speed was even faster-

    boom.

    the ground before them exploded.

    the small entrance that eamon had used to sneak into the slayer legion''s underground city wasn''t considered to be a real entrance. at best, it was an emergency hatch that could be used to sneak away the young and the old should the situation arise.

    the true entrances, the six main entrances that goggles mentioned, were enormous. they were huge mechanical slabs covered in dense patches of dirt. it looked like an underground hangar''s door, lifting up on an incline and revealing an exit that was 20 meters wide.

    however, it wasn''t meant to open nearly so explosively. it was only because leonel had purposely broken the mechanisms, causing the two mechanical arms to explode upward with far more strength than they should normally.

    the result was a huge amount of dirt filling the air, and some of the scattered soldiers were even sent flying, ripping through the air at astonishing speeds.

    however, these soldiers were just the minority. sergeant moe was one of the thousand eighth dimensional existences that were leading these troops, as such he knew exactly where the entrance was. he wouldn''t organize his shoulders to stand right on top of it.

    it was too late to consider this matter. he immediately swept forward with his internal sight to get an understanding of what was going on through all the smoke and dirt.

    to his horror, his internal sight was suppressed a mere centimeter from his body, causing a flashing to go off in his mind. he had trained his senses on his internal sight, so at that moment he was like a mortal who suddenly had his eyes covered with a sleeping mask. the matter was enough to disorient him and the other soldiers for that matter, for just a split second.

    "milan, james."

    the two tanks took the vanguard, slamming their fists together and forming a pair of shields as leonel took out his bow.

    others couldn''t see through all the dust, but how could leonel not? as for his suppression of soul force in the region, he would easily select who he did and didn''t want to influence.

    this would be an all-out slaughter.

    "go wild," leonel said with a grin.

    his arrows blurred, filling the skies. large amounts of bow force and universe force filled each one, along with a healthy pulse of destruction.

    many died before the arrows even touched them, others were so devastated that it looked as though a bomb had gone off in the region, exploding and leaving them falling in a hail of ash.

    joel and emna took the role of supporting their forward offense. behind james and milan''s shields, they advanced and retreated as they pleased, their blades flickering with streaks of blood that almost looked akin to crimson shooting stars dancing across the skies.

    drake stood shoulder to shoulder with leonel, a sniper rifle being held up to his eye. with every shot he took, another soldier fell. there was a mysterious strength swirling around him and it looked like he was dancing on the very edge of something new.

    at the same time, aina appeared and vanished as she pleased across the battlefield. none of the sergeants could last even a single strike and eighth dimensional experts fell like flies.

    she appeared before sergeant moe in a sudden flash.

    "aren''t you the one who chased him?"

    the voice was so gorgeous, and yet to sergeant moe, it was like the reaper''s call.

    "then you can die too."

    he felt nothing. even as his head spun through the air, the dust was too thick for him to even see his headless body in his final moments.

 Chapter 2483 Retreat

    chapter 2483 retreat

    cidra couldn''t have imagined that leonel and the others would attack without her. even when leonel went off, she assumed that he was just an arrogant brat who knew that support would be coming one way or another.

    she was obviously biased toward miel, so when she saw leonel pulled his daughter out like that, she had felt no small part of dissatisfaction in her heart, it was just that it wasn''t her place to say anything.

    so, although she hadn''t purposely slowed down given the situation was already urgent, she still made sure that everything was meticulously in place before heading off. in her opinion, it was impossible for leonel to even open the hangar doors on his own, so what good would it do him to get there first even if he had the intention of attacking on his own?

    she was wrong. oh so wrong.

    by the time she caught up, there was a flood of light coming down from above, and with that light came thick clouds of dust that obscured her vision as well.

    she tried to use her internal sight, but what she saw with it made her eyes widen.

    absolute carnage.

    it should have been aimed toward leonel and his people, and yet she wasn''t even sure if a single one of them had been injured.

    leonel was completely controlling the flow of the battle. every time one tried to organize the situation and reform the attack, he''d target their weakness, crushing them before they could even gather up momentum.

    his small squadron of barely over ten walked around the battlefield like they owned it. every second, hundreds died.

    what shocked her most was miel''s daughter. she had strength that made her heart palpitate. if she appeared for even a moment, a head would fly into the skies without fail.

    at the same time, her blood roses rotated in the skies above everyone''s perception, unleashing a rain of carnage on the seventh dimensional experts as well. this made the troops in the distance who wanted to come over to support not even have a chance to approach.

    to make matters worse for the enemy, every time she attacked another eighth dimensional expert would fall. how would they organize themselves if all of their commanders were dropping like flies? there simply wasn''t anyone to pull the army back together.

    she stood there in shock.

    leonel was very tempted to use his king''s might lineage factor, but he restrained himself. he remembered his grandfather''s words well.

    although there were some humans that should know he had it due to their infiltration of the dimensional verse, what was more important was making sure that this news didn''t become common knowledge to the point it spread to the rest of the powers in existence. that definitely couldn''t be allowed.

    leonel looked to the side. ''about time.''

    a roar came from the side and another hangar door several kilometers to the side opened up and miel charged out with his own army. although he was clearly shocked as well, he didn''t pause, immediately cutting into the army.

    ''this should be over now.''

    leonel''s arms never stopped, but his mind had control over the entire battlefield.

    mere minutes later, aina and blackstar began their return. as for the head commander, he couldn''t have been more dead if he tried.

    the army didn''t even realize their head commander had fallen. they continued to get slaughtered by the dozens, some barely managing to fight back.

    "retreat!"

    "retreat!"

    leonel''s lip curled. it seemed they finally noticed.

    he waved a hand and stopped his brothers from chasing. it wasn''t worth it.

    "why are you chasing?" cidra frowned.

    leonel sent a glance toward her. originally, this woman looked to be in too much of a daze to do anything, but she eventually got herself together and led a charge.

    "are you serious?" leonel asked, somewhat speechless.

    cidra frowned. she didn''t like this boy''s tone at all, who did he think he was talking to?

 Chapter 2484 Forget It

    chapter 2484 forget it

    leonel put a hand to his forehead. he didn''t really understand how incompetent an organization to have someone so incompetent leading a sixth of their armies. did they not have anyone better?

    "you realize that this is only a fraction of a fraction of the godlen''s strength, right? they didn''t even send decent eighth dimensional experts," leonel finally said. "on top of that, the demons are probably watching their every move."

    "an enemy of an enemy is a friend." cidra''s frown deepened.

    leonel looked at this simple woman. he would have put a hand to her forehead to see if she had a fever or something if not for the fact they had no familiarity with one another.

    "that saying only makes sense when you have the strength to back it up. to the demons, what use are you? even the godlens didn''t take you seriously enough to send some real firepower at you.

    "your strongest expert is my father-in-law, and that man''s not even in the ninth dimension. the fact you''ve survived until now is purely based on the fact you were too troublesome to deal with, not because you held any real strength of your own.

    "the further out from here we are, the more difficult it will be for me to control the situation, the higher the chance the godlens will send reinforcements, the greater the odds the demons will try to take advantage of the situation.

    "you want to chase with your armies in this situation? we should take this small victory, retreat, and decide whether it''s better to bolster defenses or pack up and find a new place to call home." nove1b1n

    leonel''s words fell like the rain. cidra didn''t understand just how lucky she was that leonel was explaining anything at all, but she still clenched her fists.

    leonel''s words were obviously logical, but she didn''t feel like they had killed nearly enough.

    king used to be the former head of the dream pavilion; he knew that. in addition, back in the vast bubble, or the cataclysm zone, the dream pavilion had had a huge sway in the treasures he could exchange for. they had been so mysterious, and yet so powerful at the same time.

    however, for leonel, the dream pavilion was the most dangerous place he could try to visit. a place flooded with dream force experts would be the worst sort of counter to him.

    ''i''ll have to be at least fourth dimensional before i try it. anything less and i''ll just be looking for death.''

    his grandfather''s words had been hard to decipher, and he probably shouldn''t take them at face value, just like with this slayer legion. it could mean too many things. so he couldn''t just throw his life away on a bet.

    little blackstar landed on leonel''s shoulder, and aina by his side.

    "what now?" joel asked. he was used to being the leader when leonel wasn''t around, so he had analyzed the situation just the same. it didn''t feel like this area was safe any longer; should they try to escape to a new region?

    leonel fell into silence. this was incredibly difficult. down below, there were plenty of old and young, not to mention fragile and weak. it was an entire city with a population in the hundreds of thousands.

    leonel had no idea why a rebel army would foolishly take in so many liabilities. at this point, they weren''t even providing them a good life; they were mostly just living in slums.

    but after seeing cidra''s near outburst, he realized that these people had been led by emotion for too long, and now it was coming back to bite them. they must have really believed that the godlens would never find them.

    they were lucky that leonel had a solution, that obviously being anastasia and the segmented cube. but he wasn''t sure if he should do this.

    the leonel of the past would have jumped at the chance, filled with childish ideals and wishes of grandeur, but now... now he was much more realistic.

    ''forget it,'' leonel shook his head. ''since gramps dumped this on my lap, i guess i have no choice.''

 Chapter 2485 Talented Couple

    chapter 2485 talented couple

    "what do you think?"

    on a far-off mountain, a distance so far away that it was impossible to fathom how, a group of demons stood, observing the battle below.

    the one that spoke was a gorgeous woman with skin that looked as though it was painted with silver. her hair was like a waterfall of white, and her armor was a black-steel color, glowing with a majestic light.

    to her side, there was a young man, just as handsome as she was beautiful. his hair was a bed of flowing flames, and his skin looked painted with bronze and brass.

    one had eyeballs that looked carefully shaped from a white pearl. the other looked as though a ruby was polished and placed into his skull.

    neither had pupils, and both exuded an aura of majesty.

    the two were not alone. behind them, there were three teams of demons.

    one was a group of five bull demons. they had skin shaded a fierce red and a pair of horns on their foreheads, something that both the males and females shared. regardless of who it was, they dressed with scant beast skins, and their physiques were simply on an entirely different level, brimming with muscles.

    the second group was one that leonel had never come across before, at least not in these numbers. they had humanoid bodies and cobra-shaped heads, their hoods flickering with gorgeous patterns as though adorned with ancient and obscure runes. nove1b1n

    they weren''t a uniform color like the bull demons, but regardless of what shades their scales were dominated by, they were absolutely beautiful creatures. each individual scale shone like a polished gem.

    if leonel and aina had been here, they would have recognized these two. the male was none other than larkan, and the woman was, of course, oriza. these were two of the four bull demons that leonel and aina had fought in the in-between world.

    "speak," khelgis said calmly.

    "i believe i recognize the aura of the blood force user?"

    "you do?" khelgis raised an eyebrow, though it looked no different from a line of flames dancing on his forehead.

    "yes. in the in-between world, we reported the potential existence of species of demons that managed to survive after millennia of entrapment. two of our squad of four died at her hands."

    "you''re saying that they were in-between world, in cult territory, and are now here, in godlen territory."

    "to the best of my knowledge, yes."

    "and you reported that they were having sex?"

    a giggle came from the lust demons. they had originally been blamed for this matter, but even they had more restraint than that. that said, they respected it. they suddenly wanted to meet this couple very much.

    khelgis'' gaze flickered. the reason the sex was important wasn''t that he was a pervert, but rather because in his world, a woman of such talent couldn''t possibly pair with anyone other than someone of equivalent talent. this was how things worked among the sun and moon demons. trying to marry a woman who was beyond you would just get you killed.

    then, in all likelihood, unless there was somehow another astounding talent related to this group, the dream force genius was a man and more than likely the woman''s partner.

    it was an interesting piece of information... he could use this.

 Chapter 2486 [Bonus] Fairytale

    chapter 2486 [bonus] fairytale

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (1/6) -- novж┼lb1n

    "unacceptable."

    these were the first words miel said in regard to leonel''s proposed plan. the idea of trusting leonel to carry everyone out of here was grating on his nerves. it might be in one part due to the fact it was leonel, but it was mostly due to the fact that he was the one who was tasked with protecting these people in the first place. the fact that he was now being asked to rely on a young man a fraction of his age to do what he should have been able to do was more of a blow to his ego than he was willing to take.

    of course, miel, much like anyone else, had an ego, but it was deeper than just that as well. his admission that his ego played a role was him trying to check himself and truly come to understand where all the root of this was coming from. but the main truth was that...

    he simply didn''t trust leonel.

    it wasn''t just about leonel''s incompetence. he just didn''t like leonel''s character, and he didn''t believe that this was a young man good enough for his daughter, let alone to lead them all out of here and take on the weight of thousands of lives.

    leonel claimed to love his daughter, but he had also dared to say those cruel words to her back then. he had seen leonel''s gaze back then, a gaze so cold and detached from everything in the world, a gaze that looked as though it was gazing upon not a woman pouring out his heart to him, but rather an annoying fly he wanted to swat out of his way.

    he didn''t care about what reasons leonel might have had. he didn''t believe that any man should act like that toward a woman he had even a modicum of respect toward. it shouldn''t have been within the fiber of his being to even think of doing such a thing.

    "you have the heart of a demon. you supposedly believe you''re the only chance for these people to live, and yet your aren''t even willing to say more than a sentence. one day my daughter will realize the kind of person you really are and leave you."

    miel didn''t say words to convince his daughter to leave leonel.

    how many times had he heard similar words from his own parents? they had begged, they had pleaded, they had warned and advised, but had it mattered?

    love wasn''t something you could force someone to change. you could only hope to give them the tools to realize on their own.

    as far as he saw it, his daughter was much more powerful than leonel anyway. at the very least, she wasn''t being forced to stay. if she was, even if it meant killing leonel, he would have already attacked with lethal intent.

    leonel turned back and met miel''s gaze. he didn''t seem enraged by the claims, and was instead very calm.

    "let me lay out something very clearly so that you understand. i''m a fan of explaining things, so take this as a special event triggered just for you. just now, do you have any idea how much danger i put myself in just to appear and battle on your behalf?"

    miel stood stone-faced, clearly not planning to answer.

    "there are probably people who''ve taken note of my existence already, people who''ve taken note of aina as well. and for what? to save a group of people who''re rotting away their existence in a city that hasn''t allowed them to see the light of day in years? you probably don''t know this," leonel continued, "but one of the fissures between me and your daughter to begin with was because i kept constantly putting myself in the line of danger in order to save people unrelated to me. don''t you find it very ironic that her father is now asking me to do exactly that?"

    leonel continued to meet miel''s gaze, completely unwavering.

    "in just a handful of months, i''ve already dealt the human alliance more losses than your slayer legion has in decades. their farming project? destroyed by me. the future of the godlens? in my hands. and just now, if not for my actions, your little underground city would have already been wiped off the map. you want me to save people? i already did. i''m not going to overextend myself for the sake of your ego or your fairytale."

 Chapter 2487 [Bonus] Own Person

    chapter 2487 [bonus] own person

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (2/6)

    leonel sat on a stone in silence, looking out into the ocean. every part of anastasia''s world-well, almost all of it-was absolutely beautiful. but he wasn''t able to enjoy the beauty of it at all in this moment.

    it wasn''t like he wanted to have conflict with aina''s father, it was just that he couldn''t see eye to eye with the man. it only made it worse that it was almost impossible to win an argument against leonel. by the time you thought of one rebuttal, he had had a thousand.

    it was hard to see how that could be a problem with leonel, but when an argument was so one-sided, and yet the other party still felt like they were in the right, it made it impossible to come to a true common ground.

    the only way would be if leonel purposely held back and allowed aina''s father some concessions, but he didn''t want to do that. maybe that was a hint of his selfishness coming up, maybe it was his unwillingness to lose, but he truly meant those words he said to aina.

    he was willing to lay down and take a loss to her, but not for anyone else.

    leonel knew there wasn''t really anyone wrong in this situation.

    he felt that he was still rightfully mad at aina back then. she didn''t like his reckless actions, but he always had 100% confidence in himself. the idea that his woman wouldn''t have the same unfettered belief in him not only hurt his own ego, but something deeper than that.

    it had taken him a long time to understand what really bothered him about that moment back then, but as he came to understand more about himself, the more clarity he had about that day.

    he had always imagined his relationship with aina to be some perfect fairy tale. or maybe it was that he always had an ideal of her in his mind, an ideal that shattered that day he watched her kill someone for the first time.

    his feelings for aina came from a power beyond him, probably much like his self-confidence. in the beginning, he didn''t even really know why he liked her, so he filled in the gaps with fantasies instead.

    he could feel aina changing. he could feel that her trust in him was becoming just as unconditional as her love, it may even have very well reached that point already.

    but the context behind his unhappiness, the fact that he hadn''t even known who she truly was, the fact he tried to fill in so much of her personality on his own as though she wasn''t her own person... that made him wrong as well.

    and then there was her father, who had no obligation to him at all. he was a father, of course his allegiances would be to his daughter and her happiness. what could he even say about that?

    and all of that led to this moment, a situation where two men refused to back down and the lives of tens of thousands were in the balance as a result.

    leonel continued to stare out into the ocean, not moving.

    being smart enough to figure something out was one matter. there were plenty of people who knew that they had flaws, but that didn''t mean that dealing with them came with any sort of ease. leonel just happened to be in a very far-off percentile in the case.

    a hand suddenly pressed down on leonel''s head and ruffled his hair wildly.

    "you''re not very good at sneaking around," leonel muttered. he didn''t need to look to know it was james.

    "sneaking around? i would never. how could i bear to hide this handsome mug of mine?"

    "handsome my ass."

    "hey, hey, we can''t all be shameless enough to dye our hair purple. even the contacts, man? have some shame."

    "this hair and these eyes are just as real as the money you spent on your last whore."

    james laughed into the skies. "if you pay for them, you won''t have father-in-law drama to deal with."

    he put up an energy barrier the moment he finished speaking. good thing too, because leonel''s elbow stopped right above his crotch.

 Chapter 2488 Defector

    chapter 2488 defector

    "hey, hey, hey, watch it. those are the money makers," james leapt back, coughing lightly.

    leonel sent him a side glance, but rather than shrinking back, james laughed.

    "this is too funny."

    james plopped down on a nearby piece of grass, having a good ''ol time all to himself. he had never really seen leonel get angry about anything.

    no, it was more accurate to say that nothing really got to leonel in the usual sense. usually, if you made leonel mad, you were just screwed. but this time leonel wasn''t just mad, but he didn''t have a counter punch to throw. he seemed so human for the first time.

    it wasn''t like he could continue crossing that line and humiliating his father-in-law. if he did so, he would be screwed to live a life of misery. who knew, it might even end in him losing aina.

    miel was aina''s only family remaining; leonel couldn''t just ostracize him. if he was a bad father, that would be one matter. but he was a man who had done his best. eviscerating him would feel good for a moment, and then cause years of distress afterward.

    the only answer to the problem seemed to be for leonel to take a step back, but in his mind, that was tantamount to losing. he didn''t want to do that.

    "just using aina to deliver a letter was enough to piss him off even though it had been his idea. let alone this."

    "i''m glad you''re having a great time," leonel mumbled.

    "really?" james replied cheerily. "it doesn''t sound like you really are. say it again if it''s true."

    this, unsurprisingly, earned james another glare. to which, he, of course, laughed again.

    "it''s not all bad, you know. it could be worse."

    "and how''s that exactly?"

    the next few days were hectic. however, the process of actually convincing everyone wasn''t as bad as it seemed.

    these people had no real loyalty to the land they lived in. if there was any reluctance at all, it was toward the idea that the place where they were going would be even worse. after all, even in this relatively "stable" city, the living conditions were horrible. they barely got enough food and water, and the streets were rife with crime and underhand dealings.

    but all of this went out the window after they actually saw the land they were moving into.

    anastasia''s world was truly a paradise, and they almost couldn''t believe that they had the luck to receive such an upgrade.

    leonel watched all of this without saying a word, but he knew that things would only remain simple for only so long.

    humans were humans, after all. maybe soon, the peace would give way to hierarchies, to entitlement, to troubling political stratospheres and class divisions.

    they would probably even start now, not from the people themselves, but rather the higher ups that ruled them.

    in the beginning, the slayer legion upper management might feel even a hint of gratitude toward leonel for providing this opportunity, but it would only last for so long.

    these people got into this rebel army for the sake of their ideals, but too long had passed since then. they had now gotten used to being at the top and wielding power.

    what power could they wield if their citizens were under leonel''s control?

    there were six slayer generals, and cidra and miel were just two of them. there were still four others. plus, leonel knew nothing about miel''s character, for all he knew, miel would be the first to stir trouble.

    leonel felt a pat on his shoulder.

    "regardless of our differences, thank you for this, leonel."

    a man who looked to be in about his fifties patted leonel''s shoulder. he had a large belly and, quite frankly, if leonel dressed him up in red and rosed his cheeks a bit, he would be the perfect santa claus.

    even so, there was a lot of heft and weight to his pat. his body was extraordinarily powerful.

    leonel knew him as slayer general yonku, a defector of the three fingers cult.

 Chapter 2489 Opportunity

    chapter 2489 opportunity

    "just doing me part," leonel said lightly.

    yonku laughed. "don''t get too down, kid. who doesn''t have father-in-law trouble? it''s a natural path of all men. miel is a good man, just protective of his daughter. soon enough i''m sure you two will be perfectly chummy."

    leonel smiled. "you call him miel. did he change his name?"

    "ah, you didn''t know this. see?" yonku looked back toward cidra who was wearing a stone-face of her own. "don''t mind her either, everyone knows she''s in love with miel though she thinks that she hides it well."

    "watch your word, yonku."

    a flickering light force appeared in cidra''s eyes. leonel took note of it but didn''t think very much of it. light force was rare, but not rare to the point no one would have it.

    "haha!" yonku laughed uproariously, his belly rolling. "sorry, sorry, pretend like i didn''t say anything."

    cidra, though, had already ignored yonku and was looking right at leonel.

    "i do not."

    leonel blinked, looking at this serious woman with shortcut hair. he hadn''t really taken it seriously before, but since she was being so serious about it, it was obvious that yonku wasn''t blowing hot air.

    as for why cidra wanted to make sure that leonel didn''t believe the nonsense, it was obviously so that he didn''t turn around and tell aina about it. that would be her worst nightmare.

    she couldn''t even get miel to pay attention to her; how would she fare if she suddenly had to deal with the scrutiny of a potential step-daughter at the same time?

    he felt no loyalty to the human alliance. they didn''t treat his life or that of his friends and family as equal to their own.

    he didn''t know if he felt loyalty to the slayer legion either. honestly speaking, his grandfather''s ways could be just as cruel as the human alliance''s ways. he didn''t seem to be on the side of "good" either, and his main purpose seemed to be to resurrect the fawkes family to their former glory.

    leonel didn''t even know if he was on the side of good either. at the very least, because of his own ego, he would have left these people behind.

    he couldn''t help but smile. ''so we''re all scumbags just trying to survive, huh? how depressing.''

    the last of the citizens were escorted into the segmented cube under leonel''s watchful gaze and the banter of the slayer generals.

    with a wave of his hand, the segmented cube''s portal closed and it slid onto leonel''s finger. he didn''t mind the slightly uncomfortable gazes of the slayer generals when they saw this, it was inevitable given the circumstances. it didn''t suddenly mean that they would definitely cause issues for him. at least not yet.

    "now, we should decide what we''re going to do from here on out. i wouldn''t mind allowing you slayer generals into the segmented cube as well, but i''m sure that''s not what you want, right?"

    the slayer generals looked toward one another. it was clear that leonel hit the nail on the head, but what was the other option? to flee like rats? but then what?

    was this the end of the slayer legion, just like that? they were obviously unwilling.

    the first time they faced a true attack and they folded so easily? it was both embarrassing and unacceptable.

    "you have an idea?" tidus asked leonel.

    in truth, he had been eyeing leonel for a long time. since there was an opportunity to interact, he might as well. he was very interested in this boy.

    "well, your enemies have no idea that you have a method to suddenly take everyone away and vanish in a blink. they think you''re basically trapped and they can deal with you at their own pace.

    "isn''t that a good opportunity to deal another blow to them?"

 Chapter 2490 Billions

    chapter 2490 billions

    vivak''s desk flew across the room, shattering against the wall in thousands of flying splinters of wood.

    these days, his temper was not good, not in the slightest. he wasn''t known as a leader who was in his position for his smarts, but he was a man who was known for one, his strength, and two, his temperament.

    he was very good at managing people, delegating tasks, and knowing when to take his hands off the controls and let the people he put in place do their jobs.

    unsurprisingly, then, he was likewise known as a person with a mellow and calm personality.

    all of that had gone out of the window now. every single last bit of his patience was being tried again and again, and this most recent incident with the slayer legion was just another example.

    it wasn''t even all that big a deal, objectively speaking. they had only sent a fraction of a fraction of their strength, but it was supposed to be an easy victory, a nice win to tuck into their belts and help bolster morale.

    who would have thought that it would just end up being another slap to the face?

    at that moment, the door to vivak''s office opened. vivak almost snapped again, but when he saw that it was his wife, he took a breath and turned around, looking out the window so as not to show her such an embarrassing side of him.

    amynta stepped to her husband''s side. she just stood there silently as he slowly regained his calm, not saying anything. sometimes a man just needed his wife by his side and things would feel just a little bit better. amynta understood that, at least for right now, vivak didn''t need her advice.

    the time ticked by, and vivak eventually exhaled a final time, looking toward his wife with a hint of gratefulness in his eyes.

    "amynta, you look beautiful today. did you do something with your hair?"

    amynta smiled. her usual demeanor was quite cold and detached, so it almost looked out of place. vivak, though, was quite used to his wife''s personality and he was content to feel that only he and her brother could see this side of her.

    "you say that every day."

    "and i''ll keep saying it until our last days."

    amynta leaned into her husband''s arm, resting her cheek on his shoulders.

    and now that protection was gone, and in its place, there were a great number of humans who couldn''t even wield decent strength.

    they went from the ants of existence to the envoys of the god beasts, to falling from grace and then rising again to be as strong as any race beneath the god race...

    only to backstab their only backer and end up right back at square one.

    so much infighting, so much death and destruction. they only had a single life state level warrior, and he died ironically at the hands of a human they were trying to suppress and control.

    what a fucking joke.

    "you know that i''ve never agreed with the farm project. the problem isn''t that it''s too cruel, the problem is that it''s too cruel and yet there''s little return on the investment.

    "you also know what i think we should do. even if it means tainting the godlen family bloodline, we should resurrect the constellation families using our own.

    "the only way to fight back against near extinction is to have the power of the stars at our back. without them, we don''t stand a chance."

    it was clear that they had already had this conversation before, and vivak had said no.

    the reason was obvious. the pushback would be enormous.

    the godlen family had their own pride, but doing this would be akin to wiping out their own bloodline to take in another''s. it was two parts humiliating and one part a slap to the face of their ancestors.

    "okay." vivak finally said.

    he was a leader who knew how to adapt and he knew that his wife was correct.

    the only hope they had was the resurrection of the constellation families.

    "good." amynta smiled again, but this time it seemed to light up the room.

    "and how do we-"

    amynta handed vivak a ring. "this ring has enough blood to convert billions if need be."

    vivak suddenly felt a cold shudder ride up his spine.

 Chapter 2491 [Bonus] One Year

    chapter 2491 [bonus] one year

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (3/6)

    the previous words of his wife echoed in vivak''s ears again.

    "the problem isn''t that it''s too cruel, the problem is that it''s too cruel and yet there''s little return on the investment."

    looking at the spatial ring, holding it in his hands, and finally sending his senses in, he finally understood what she meant by that.

    being cruel wasn''t the problem... being needlessly cruel and not getting enough out of it was.

    "this is..."

    "you know what it is, there''s no need to ask me."

    vivak took a breath and exhaled. "is this everything?"

    "i thought about keeping some talents alive because they could truly thrive in this sort of environment, but the risk was not worth it."

    vivak nodded.

    "how long will this take?"

    "so long as the method is followed, only as long as it takes to inject everyone. it would be easy to form an army of billions if need be in just a few days. what will take some time is them getting in tune with their constellations and learning to use them as one. there might be some slight regressions in their strength for a few weeks, but there should be explosive growth afterward."

    the number of individuals, though, given the sheer size and span of the pavilion was minimal. it practically looked like for every one of these awe-inspiring temples, there was just one person to live in and manage them.

    this was the dream pavilion, a place where the dream force experts of the world gathered. and yet, their number was pitifully few, counted in the several dozens quite comfortably. one would be hard-pressed to say that they surpassed a population of 100 by anything that could be described as "far".

    if leonel could see this, he would be able to understand quite well that "sneaking" into this place was nigh impossible. how could you sneak in when everyone knew everyone else by first and last name? it was too ridiculous. even if they weren''t dream force experts, it would be difficult, let alone the fact that they were.

    it was in this place that clarence sat. his expression seemed to be undergoing a number of changes, at least that was what it seemed like at first. but if one looked closely, it was more like ghosts trapped within his body were trying to force their way out. every time one was suppressed, another one would appear.

    in the brief instances of time ghosts weren''t trying to rip their way out of clarence''s face, you could catch a glimpse of the calm man underneath.

    suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he looked down.

    he sat on a prayer mat at the bottom of a wide set of stairs embroidered in complex gold and red. at the top of this set of stairs, a treasure box lay, but it looked almost as though no one had ever opened it to see what was inside.

    a hint of wariness flashed in clarence''s gaze before he sighed. he knew that this day was coming, he couldn''t hide this matter for very long. they would eventually find out.

    the treasure box shook for a moment before it settled back down. its many runes began to light up one after another until the silhouette of a figure painted in violet fog appeared. judging by the shape of their head, it was clear this person wore the same turbans as the other members of the dream pavilion. however, likewise judging by the situation... it didn''t seem that this person was a physical member of the dream pavilion either...

    at least not in the most obvious sense.

    "i''ve sensed the death of arrelious regalis. a countdown sequence has been initiated. a new pavilion head will be appointed within a year. if there is no new life state expert created by your pavilion in that time, its rights will be revoked, its ranking will be revoked, and its connection with the dream pavilion will be shattered."

    the voice spoke and didn''t seem to really look at clarence himself even a single time.

    then, without the slightest word, it vanished.

    clarence clenched his fists, sitting in silence.

 Chapter 2492 [Bonus] Challenge Sequence

    chapter 2492 [bonus] challenge sequence

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (4/6)

    clarence sat in silence, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.

    the reality was that the dream pavilion was just one of many, and the only reason their numbers were so few was that there was no one else among the humans worthy of joining... well, aside from that old witch of the cult and...

    clarence''s mind landed on leonel once again. he had forgotten just how many times he had thought of this young man in the last few weeks. but now it seemed that it was nothing more than a foolish dream of his.

    a single year?

    he laughed bitterly. he knew they were doing it on purpose. it was a slap to their faces that the mighty dream pavilion had such a stain on their record, it was just that they didn''t have any other formal rules of kicking a pavilion out of the structured alliance... until king''s death gave them the excuse they needed.

    it was truly a great joke. the mighty dream pavilion, rather than finding out who had killed one of their pavilion heads, actually moved on and pretended as though it hadn''t happened at all, instead using it as an excuse to wipe this stain from their record entirely.

    it wasn''t too much of an oddity for a pavilion head position to remain empty for a decade or more. how could the matter of a new pavilion head position be chosen so casually?

    it had to be understood that to these behemoths, a year of time might as well have been the blink of an eye. it wasn''t an exaggeration that a year of time to them was the equivalent of a handful of hours to a mortal. continue reading on no_velbin

    they probably would have made the time shorter if it wouldn''t be too obvious what they were doing. how could they possibly raise a life state expert in that time? especially in a force as difficult to grasp as dream force?

    but who asked them to be so weak?

    those bastards. they actually increased the difficulty!

    there were nine steps, and in the past he had been able to make it to the fourth step quite comfortably. he knew it was foolish to even try to climb it again, but he was desperate and hoped his extra will power would help.

    he didn''t expect that he wouldn''t even be able to take the second step this time.

    there was no doubt, they were trying to close off all potential paths. they really wanted the human race to be entirely wiped out.

    clarence grit his teeth so hard that a few of them actually cracked beneath the pressure. he barely managed to use this pain to awaken himself and stop the ghosts from trying to claw their way out again.

    he exhaled. there was only one chance remaining to them.

    "i, deputy pavilion head clarence regalis, hereby use my authority to activate the challenge sequence."

    at that moment, in a far-off place, a stone stele standing in the depths of what looked like a world of dreams trembled.

    there was a list of exactly 9999 marked on its body, and a name in the 123rd position trembled.

    vast dream pavilion.

    this name shone wildly until it reached a fever pitch. then, it quickly plummeted. from 123rd, it fell at an astonishing speed, not stopping until it fell to the 9999th position.

    in a single instant of time, clarence traded in millions of years worth of merits without the slightest hesitation.

    the vast dream pavilion rumbled, and the other ninth dimensional experts rushed toward clarence''s temple.

    but it was already too late.

 Chapter 2493 [Bonus] A Final F*ck You

    chapter 2493 [bonus] a final f*ck you

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (5/6)

    "clarence!"

    the roar came from an old man with a beard that draped down to his waist. he didn''t look far off from a wizened old wizard that had just stepped out of a fairytale in all but the furious expression.

    clarence looked back calmly, having already expected this sort of result.

    the dream pavilion had a solid position amongst the human alliance despite their small numbers because it had by far the largest number of ninth dimensional existences. in fact, they had almost three dozen such experts, a number that could match up against almost the whole human alliance on their own.

    due to that, though, despite the fact clarence was, indeed, technically their head, and he also definitely had the authority to do what he had just done, he was also in a far worse off position because he had done so.

    just now, clarence activated what was probably the last hope of the vast dream pavilion, but in return, he had essentially given up all the glory it had once held.

    their dream pavilion was currently ranked 123rd, or maybe, by now, it had already fallen to the bottom... but that previous rank had little to do with the current pavilion.

    in the past, they were ranked number one without a doubt. their sheer number of wise star orders alone was enough to suppress all the other pavilions, even if they combined their might. in fact, the dream pavilion system was created by the humans to begin with. or, more accurately, the envoys of the god beasts of creation.

    in a year''s time, all of their merits would be voided anyway as a new round of battle began for a new race or power to claim the dream pavilion. meaning, in another year, it would all be wasted regardless.

    the most important reason wasn''t out of pettiness, though. instead, it was to give himself and the others a chance.

    with the merits of 123rd, they should be able to open at least the 3rd tier of that place. that tier was the absolute perfect spot for anyone who had hopes of reaching the life state early.

    this was his last gamble.

    that world was known as the dream plane... the real dream plane. not an ethereal place in the second dimension your mind went to, but rather a real and tangible place created by the god beasts of creation long ago.

    the god beasts of creation, for reasons unknown to the world, placed a great deal of effort toward strengthening existence''s comprehension of dream force. in the past, dream force had been even rarer than it is now, and it was only thanks to them and the real dream plane that things changed.

    if clarence wanted a chance to enter the life state and stop the last bastion of hope for the humans from crumbling at the altar of the schemes of those bastards, this was the last chance that he had.

    he didn''t believe they wouldn''t take the bait.

    those pavilions in the top 100 wouldn''t care enough to take action, but there would definitely be pavilions in the top 1000 pooling their resources together to match the vast pavilion. what better chance could they have than right now to rise up the rankings? this was their chance to make it big.

    at the same time, this was clarence''s pride. even as the other ninth dimensional experts clamored around him, his sneer was proud and his gaze didn''t back down. all the while, his eyes never left that treasure just nine steps above him.

    he would show them the pride of the human race. even if he died, he would do so with a weapon in his hands and his bones broken, his lacerated flesh unable to help him stand any longer.

    this was the last fuck you he had in him. if he could kill one or two of those sanctimonious bastards, he would die with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 2494 [Bonus] Stars

    chapter 2494 [bonus] stars

    [bonus chappy thanks to mr. ham <3 (6/6)]

    leonel looked up, frowning. he sensed quite a powerful wave of dream force just now, and it caught him off guard.

    his first assumption was that the dream pavilion was using a method beyond his understanding to look for him. after all, mo''lexi hadn''t been the only one that showed up that day; there was another dream force user as well, and he seemed to be very interested in him.

    however, just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished.

    ''that wasn''t normal,'' was the only thing leonel could think. but he didn''t have enough information to make a conclusion about it; he just felt an itch within him that was pointing toward that direction.

    he had said he should wait until he was in the fourth dimension to go to the dream pavilion, but should he wait that long? he wasn''t sure anymore.

    "hm?"

    leonel turned back and realized that there were still people talking to him. he had actually gotten so distracted that he forgot to split his attention. but in his defense, he had thought an attempt had just been made on his life; he didn''t have the presence of mind to spend on anything else at that point.

    "... it should all be ready now. i think it''s right," goggles finished.

    leonel looked up and scanned the empty city. then he nodded.

    "alright, good enough then, i guess."

    goggles hesitated for a moment.

    "just speak your mind," leonel smiled.

    "here," leonel handed goggles a familiar booklet. it was this very booklet that held the foundation of [dimensional cleanse] within it.

    this was the same booklet that leonel had exchanged after completing his very first zone, the very one that he had first cracked open in the joan zone and the technique his uncle had recommended for him.

    he had kept it with him all this time mostly because there wasn''t really a reason to get rid of it. plus, it had some sentimental value.

    "i guess the first place would be comprehending this technique. see what you can do and how many stars you can form. try to form at least one star of soul force. if you can do that, i should probably be correct about your dream force affinity."

    leonel actually wasn''t sure how others would fare when using this technique. however, what he did know was that he had yet to meet anyone who could form nine stars, let alone ten like he had.

    in fact, he didn''t know a single person who had succeeded in forming even three of them.

    he wasn''t sure if it was just that the talent of the incomplete world was so inferior, or if there was another reason. but regardless, goggles would be a good yardstick so that he could measure his expectations for everyone else.

    "thank you!" goggles said, feeling a hint of excitement.

    leonel smiled and let goggles return to the segmented cube.

    soon, his smile faded, and he frowned as he looked up in the sky. he didn''t know why, but he felt uncomfortable.

    ''just what was that?''

    leonel hopped up to the top of a building teeming with pipes and then left through an emergency hatch. now, the city was completely empty below and was the perfect rat trap. it seemed that he would just have to wait for their enemies to fall into it.

    even so, his mind was still completely focused on the feeling from earlier.

    ''i have to go... but first...''

    first he needed to deal with this situation.

 Chapter 2495 Awake

    chapter 2495 awake

    as leonel was lost in thought, a soft feeling suddenly slid onto his thighs before a delicate fragrance tickled his nose. a smile spread across his face. "not mad at me anymore?"

    he wrapped an arm around aina''s waist, pulling her deeper into his lap. "first rule of pleasing your girlfriend is not bringing up times when she was mad before," aina pulled away, not letting leonel feel her up too much in feigned defiance.

    "is that really the first rule? could have sworn it was ''she''s always right''."

    "that too," aina nodded confidently. "there are multiple first rules?"

    "refer back to rule number one, please."

    leonel laughed, pulling aina back in closer and giving her a kiss. he didn''t even know what he was worried about anymore, whatever it was, he had thrown it far away.

    unfortunately for him, when a peck became a make-out session, and a make-out session was about to progress into something more, leonel found himself stonewalled again. aina slapped his hand away from slithering up her shirt. "nope. not until you make good with my dad."

    leonel coughed, looking down at his crotch. he was already at full mast, what did he do to deserve this hardship? how was he supposed to make good with that stubborn old goat, was he supposed to be celibate for the rest of his life now?

    aina giggled. how could she want to see her father and her future husband at loggerheads? but she had already promised leonel not to interfere too much, so she could only stand on the sidelines right now.

    "hey, what do you think about your father remarrying?" leonel suddenly asked.

    aina was caught off guard by the question, but she eventually answered seriously. "no one should spend their lives alone."

    leonel somewhat expected this answer. he had mostly asked it because he thought of cidra again and found it amusing, but he didn''t want to make a joke of it unless he knew aina''s stance on it first. now he knew he was clear to make his jokes, but what he didn''t know was how he felt about the answer. he forgot to consider how much that question was also relevant to him. wasn''t his mother in the same situation right now?

    "that woman spends a lot of time in..."

    aina''s voice trailed off. she didn''t want to make too many judgments about a person she didn''t actually know, but it was hard to believe that a woman would spend so much time in those areas and not be involved somehow.

    "forget it," aina shook her head. "i probably shouldn''t interfere in their matters too much. if she really does end up with my dad, we might end up like you and my dad now."

    leonel grinned. "right, right. forget the love affair of others; we should focus on our own."

    he tried to lean forward for a kiss, but aina slipped away. "nice try."

    leonel could only watch as aina vanished into the distance. he sighed and leaned back.

    it had already been three days since he set up that trap in the underground city, but nothing had come of it.

    three days actually wasn''t much, and it made sense that the godlens would be cautious about trying something like that again. if they were too eager, they might end up suffering again.

    however, leonel felt that it was something else. so, he took the risk and asked anastasia to look into it, and it had only made him worry more.

    the godlens had gone into a complete lockdown. they activated their formation and hunkered down, and they seemed to be working on something big.

    unfortunately, it was impossible for anastasia to breach the formation and take a look at what was going on inside, at least not without alerting them.

    now, leonel was in limbo. his enemies didn''t look like they were going to fall into the trap, so he was just floating without aim.

    ''it seems like i should go to that collapsed ninth dimensional mine then. the godlens have already pulled back into their city, and the main dangers over there are demons who are just patrolling the area now. i still don''t know where i''ll get ninth dimensional evolution ore, but at the very least, we can cover this base...''

    "leonel, emery, noah, and jessica are awake."

 Chapter 2496 Sure?

    chapter 2496 sure?

    leonel made his way to noah, his thoughts still filled with many things.

    ninth dimensional urbe ore was still manageable. but in this world, there were literally no other ninth dimensional ores.

    urbe ore was a foundational ore, an ore that was ubiquitous in its usage and it could be said that it was the most abundant in the world. and yet, the godlens only had one of them.

    their next best mine was an eighth dimensional one that seemed to have fire elemental ores of some kind. leonel didn''t even look into it much.

    in the wider existence, according to anastasia, people used reinforced urbe ore as the currency of choice. unfortunately for the godlens, that meant that even with a ninth dimensional urbe ore mine, they still used seventh dimensional reinforced urbe ore as their baseline currency. they would be paupers if they went anywhere else.

    this was all to say that this was the mine of the greatest value the godlens had, and yet it was the most common in wider existence.

    just in general, ninth dimensional evolution ore was impossibly rare. this was an ore capable of upgrading ninth dimensional ores, which were already at the very pinnacle of existence.

    the more leonel thought about it, the more he thought his dad just rolled out of bed and decided to mess with him. if things were already this wild now, what would it take to enter the fifth dimension? beyond that?

    leonel shook his head as he came to a cabin in the woods. he raised his hand to knock on the door, but noah opened it first, a complicated look in his eyes.

    leonel grinned. "you look like you''re doing much better, that''s good."

    "you saved me again."

    "eh..." leonel scratched his head. "... honestly, you were only in so much danger to begin with because of me. things wouldn''t have gone left so quickly if i never appeared. i should have trusted you to have things in hand."

    indeed, back then leonel had only allowed himself to be captured because he was worried about noah. if he had trusted noah to protect himself, things wouldn''t have gone so poorly.

    noah blinked. "... you''ve changed."

    "why does everyone keep saying that?"

    noah blushed a bit, leaving leonel not knowing how to react. this cousin of his sure embarrassed easily.

    "then probably not. i''m not a fan of losing, and i don''t have a habit of losing to people i''ve already defeated."

    "it doesn''t look like you''d stand much of a chance right."

    "want to give it a try?"

    amery''s wooden sword flashed, and its tip stopped just an inch in front of leonel''s nose. leonel himself didn''t even flinch, his arms remaining crossed.

    with a flicker, the sword vanished again, and amery started to diligently swing it again.

    "good talk," leonel laughed, turning to disappear into the distance.

    neither felt that it was necessary to say much more than that.

    ...

    leonel stepped out into the world again, taking a deep breath.

    the segmented cube unfolded and entered its shuttle form. he stepped into it and shot off into the distance. it wouldn''t take him more than a few minutes to reach his destination.

    his mind was still consumed by thoughts of how he''d get his hands on that much evolution ore, but soon that was swept away by that flash of dream force in the distance. it was taking everything he had to not go in that direction instead.

    he wasn''t ready to go, plus it also didn''t help that doing so would mean entering the territory of the four great families. there was probably a reason his grandfather said they were not to be trusted even though he would naturally already know that.

    ''i need to go. this feeling isn''t here for no reason.''

    when leonel got close to the region of the ninth dimensional urbe ore mine, he stepped out of the shuttle. although he could definitely out-speed any demons in the area, it wasn''t like he could do the same while he was digging into the ground. he had no choice but to approach more stealthily.

    ...

    "are you sure?" the moon demon asked.

    "sure? no. but with the godlens turtling up, this is our best shot at catching another fish."

    the sun demon smiled, looking toward the ruins of a crumbled mine.

 Chapter 2497 Someone

    chapter 2497 someone

    ''hm?''

    leonel''s eyes narrowed. he could feel some uncomfortable pressures forming around him.

    being a dream sovereign allowed him more than just access to the dream plane before entering the life state. or, maybe more accurately than that, the dream plane had much more to offer than what it seemed.

    usually, with internal sight, one could only sense what was within their range. however, when one transcended beyond this and began to use the dream plane as their main mode of sensory information, it was possible to begin to get a feel for what was outside of your range.

    this wasn''t to say that leonel could see things clearly outside of said range, but he could feel various things, things like intent, will, and powerful presences. the more intention such existences had toward him, the easier it was to feel.

    the power of dream force, especially at these high levels, wasn''t to be underestimated. it was for this reason that leonel''s father and grandfather had to be so cautious with how much they told him.

    the only drawback was that these feelings were incredibly subtle and easy to ignore if leonel wasn''t paying careful attention. this was especially so since he didn''t have the luxury of having someone else to guide him and could only make his path forward on his own.

    however, at this moment, he was in an incredibly focused state. he knew that he was walking into danger, so how could he not be on high alert?

    he frowned, looking around. but he didn''t sense anything, and he was even more hesitant to allow anastasia to check things out for him. who knew who was lingering in the shadows? the fact the feeling was so subtle meant that whoever it was likely hadn''t quite sensed him yet.

    ''how far am i from the mine? maybe three or so kilometers?''

    leonel thought to himself, his mind churning. he looked toward the ground, hesitating.

    ''shit.'' leonel cursed.

    ...

    ''hm?''

    a lust demon looked up, her large violet eyes blinking. she had sensed something weird just now.

    lust demons weren''t known for their bodily strength like many other demons, or their elemental affinities like the cobra demons. they were experts in the senses, in illusions, and in control. they might not be dream force masters, but all of them were soul force masters, and they had powerful methods of protecting their minds and boosting their senses as well.

    "alysa?"

    a bull demon with a raging hard-on noticed the lust demon''s weird reaction immediately. he was tired of being teased by this woman and was ready to pounce, but she had actually pulled back just now.

    in truth, he expected this sort of thing. lust demons, especially their women, were very conniving and loved being teases, but they rarely casually bedded anyone. and even when you did manage to con your way into their bed, it was more likely that you were the one to have been conned instead.

    of course, this wasn''t to say that these women were prudes or protective of their chastity. this was far from the case. it was rather that if they were going to drain someone, it would be of their chastity.

    it was said that they could only grow powerful by taking down men with strong wills. the men who were so easily swayed by their bouncing breasts and swaying hips were exactly the kind they disdained the most.

    how would they grow stronger if they only drained these average men?

    alysa ignored the bull demon, the palm she had pressed to his chest suddenly gaining a great amount of strength. no matter how hard the bull demon tried to close the distance, he couldn''t take even a single step.

    "someone is here." alysa flipped a fair, violet palm and pulled out a communication treasure.

    "young master, the dream force expert is here but i couldn''t pinpoint his location."

 Chapter 2498 Digging

    chapter 2498 digging

    eonel shook his head. he knew that this would happen, but this was unexpected.

    according to anastasia, only those with life state dream force should be able to sense her, but her comprehension of forces were only limited to their uses in raw form. this was why leonel had always been so cautious with how he used her, especially since he noticed how limited her mental faculties were. explore the genesis of this content at nov@lbin

    she was probably correct, but the problem was that there were techniques like [domain], [universe], and [finality] out there. the godlens weren''t the only ones to have such broken techniques, and techniques didn''t necessarily need to be so powerful to give forces such unexpected effects either.

    of course, this wasn''t to say that these techniques gave his enemies the power of a life state technique. if that was possible, the humans wouldn''t be in such a sorry state.

    rather, it was that techniques allowed a shortcut for weaker forces to display abilities usually only allowed by more powerful forces. this alysa character definitely didn''t have dream force anywhere near the life state. in fact, she only had half-step impetus state soul force from what leonel could tell.

    and yet, this was the situation.

    ''the human alliance is actually so pathetic. a seventh dimensional demon is doing something their ninth dimensional powerhouses couldn''t...''

    there was good news, though. her weak force showed. at the very least, she couldn''t track the source of the senses that just washed over her.

    the question was whether leonel could allow anastasia to go all out and get him a full lay of the land, or if he should pull back.

    "go all out," leonel said.

    soon, the images in leonel''s mind continued to flicker by faster and faster.

    of the lust demons, only alysa sensed him. of the bull demons, none did. of the cobra demons, there were actually two. however, the cobra demons didn''t seem to sense him due to a powerful force. instead, their tongues slithered in and out of their mouths as though tasting the air. then, they suddenly stood straighter, their slit eyes becoming wary.

    leonel took note of this and slotted it in the back of his mind. and finally, he saw them.

    ''no, it can only be the ground.''

    khelgis'' eyes flashed, and a searing heat rose. and then, he peered directly toward the ground below.

    his senses passed right through the earth, digging deeper and deeper.

    everyone knew that sweeping your senses through the ground was much harder than through the air. earth force was finicky for more existences than just earth force users. however, that didn''t mean it was impossible.

    at first, khelgis saw nothing until he froze.

    there was a path of earth his senses swept through much more easily than the rest of it, as though it was loosely packed dirt instead of solid ground.

    his aura flared. he knew it; leonel was actually underground.

    with a flash, he began to move, picking a direction and rushing toward it.

    he didn''t find leonel, but he found the next best thing: an entrance.

    "larkan."

    "yes!" a familiar bull demon rushed forward.

    "start digging."

    larkan was taken off guard, but he didn''t hesitate. how could he dare to ignore the orders of a sun demon?

    he punched at the ground, but to his surprise, it actually split apart with great ease. usually, the earth was incredibly hard, especially here where the high-level urbe ore had a great influence.

    throwing that to the back of his mind, he continued to tunnel downward. in a single breath, he had already entered the earth by more than 20 meters and was more than halfway down.

 Chapter 2499 Deviation

    chapter 2499 deviation

    explore the genesis of this content at nov@lbin

    the group of demons rushed into the earth, moving so quickly through the paths that leonel had left behind that they were already seconds from catching up with him.

    however, when they got to the end of the path, they found nothing. leonel seemed to have vanished into thin air.

    khelgis frowned. he was certain that someone had just followed this path, but the problem was that leonel seemed to have vanished into thin air.

    there wasn''t anywhere else that he could have possibly gone. there were no other patches of soft earth.

    was it a diversion? no, that didn''t make sense. if he had the time to set aside and make a tunnel to distract them, why would it have just a single path? at the very least, he should give it some branching pathways so they would be distracted for longer than a few seconds, or make it so that they would split up and be easier to pick off.

    however, none of that was happening here, and it was more confusing than anything. if leonel could suddenly vanish into the earth, then why had he made this tunnel to begin with?

    khelgis'' eyebrows flared with dancing flames. he didn''t like this feeling at all. no one could lead him by the nose.

    ...

    leonel sat in a small crevice. little blackstar lay on his lap, panting for breath.

    he could only shake his head, what a close call. but it seemed that little blackstar had given everything he had just to get them to this point.

    in the final moment, when leonel was struggling to make it through, he asked anastasia to scan the rubble to see if there were any nearby pockets of air. luckily there were, and he relied on little blackstar to get to them.

    el''rion had been born with a body so powerful he not only looked like an adult, but even leonel''s improved starships had only left him with a few scratches.

    this was all to say that force manipulation was just one standard by which to measure a person. their intrinsic gifts, what they were born with, the blood running through their veins, was another huge aspect.

    even if leonel had the same level or even force manipulation surpassing el''rion right this moment, he still didn''t stand a chance against the man.

    this was the difference.

    and now he was keenly feeling that weight right this moment. khelgis and adru were on another level.

    however, leonel didn''t feel helpless. his caution should never be mistaken for cowardice.

    ultimately, he knew that the fact his body was still in the third dimension was actually weakening his current greatest strength: his force manipulation. his body had become its own sort of bottleneck.

    ''annoying, but manageable.''

    "hey, what do you think the best path for my metal body is?"

    leonel had been focused on moving through the dimensions so much, he had forgotten that retreating back to this stage was an opportunity to lay out his entire foundation again. this interaction had reminded him that your dimension might have some importance, but it was only one pillar of many.

    since his father had a plan for his dimensions, would he like not have a plan for this as well?

    but leonel was surprised when he got his answer.

    [you''ve deviated from the original plan. the only information i can give you is to absorb mine sources rather than just ores]

 Chapter 2500 Cheat Code

    chapter 2500 cheat code

    leonel felt the response echo in his mind again and again.

    he had deviated? that wasn''t in regard to not following his father''s previous plan, so it must refer to the mutation in his lineage factor? but hadn''t his father known about the constellation? so how could he not know about this?

    leonel''s brows shot up as he remembered something. wasn''t the midas family''s portion of the lineage about swallowing flames? is that what his father meant?

    according to what he knew, the midas family could swallow flames to heal themselves and restore their vitality, something that was perfectly analogous to the morales family''s abilities, albeit somewhat muted.

    was he supposed to swallow flames to make it part of his metal body? or would it be a metal fire body at that point?

    in truth, leonel never really thought about that ability of the midas. he just threw all three portions of the lineage factor into the same box and summarized them as "increasing his vitality". but was that true?

    the radix could give life to inorganic material. the florer could give character to organic material, even incorporating it into their bodies and making them part of their strength, almost like vitality-sharing. and the midas could absorb flames to add to their vitality.

    they were all vaguely related to vitality in some way, with some subtle differences between them. but the reason leonel could realize that these abilities were closely related to the former metal synergy lineage factor was precisely the same reason that they all blended together in his mind.

    another person might not have seen that they were connected at all. but because leonel had, it had actually been holding him back until now. or was it?

    it was all a bit confusing because in the past, they had indeed been separate lineage factors. but weren''t they all one now? and the worst part was that this same lineage factor, before he could get a feel for what it was, had also fused with the corrupted spear domain lineage factor.

    it was no wonder, then, that leonel was flying a bit blind.

    unfortunately, leonel hesitated.

    his father''s ai had just told him that these core essences were important to him. but then again... was it even possible for him to absorb a seventh dimension mine core?

    he was getting ahead of himself. just because his progression method required all these excessive resources, didn''t mean his body did as well. he was still in the third dimension, wasn''t he insane if he thought about absorbing something so far above him?

    the reason his father''s progression method required so many resources was that he was literally creating a world within himself. that was completely different from forming his metal body again.

    his quantity might be different from others, but the quality should be far more manageable.

    leonel used his father''s ai to double-check his hypothesis and it seemed that he was correct. he should be looking for fourth dimensional mines right now; the seventh and the ninth dimension were far beyond him.

    for once, leonel sighed a breath of relief.

    after some thought, he finally relaxed and just allowed tolliver to devour to his heart''s content. when the little guy was ready, he''d give him the evolution ore mine core.

    although it was a bit unfortunate because this meant that anastasia wouldn''t be able to mass-produce seventh dimension evolution ore, it was obvious that little tolly was the more important investment.

    leonel settled down and sent his mind into the silver tablet. he wasn''t worried about being found in this location. even if he was, if they attempted to dig their way in, he''d be alerted long before.

    if tolly managed to take that final step, they might even be able to dig their way out of here easily as well.

    soon, leonel stood before his unnamed lineage factor''s force art. in the past, it had truly hurt him just to stare at it; it was on a level beyond even goggle''s ability index.

    now, though it wasn''t easy, he could at least begin to analyze it.

    he had almost forgotten that he had a cheat code. if he wanted to understand his lineage factor, he just had to use it.

 Chapter 2501 Dream Clone

    chapter 2501 dream clone

    leonel stared at the force art for a long while, but the longer he looked, the more complex and winding the secrets seemed to become.

    the end result was ultimately obvious. if this was a lineage factor the demoness was willing to put so much effort into creating, how could it be a simple matter?

    there were many oddities about the demoness that leonel had never really understood, and even the simplest portions of the story were hard to wrap his head around.

    for one, his father and everyone else he interacted with seemed to be quite certain that this demon was his grandmother, but he didn''t even understand how that could be possible.

    setting aside the oddity that such a powerful woman would have to bed a man from an incomplete world just to fulfill some ingenious plot that spanned countless millennia, how had she even gotten there to begin with?

    there seemed to be a great pressure on his father, and this pressure ultimately sealed his death. it was implied that this was all due to the demoness, so why was it that she could come to the incomplete world to, ostensibly, have a child with his paternal grandfather, and yet be unable to come back and finish her work?

    plus, there was another obvious elephant in the room. obviously, it would be the demoness carrying the child and not his paternal grandfather. and not just once, but twice over considering his uncle and father were not twins, as far as leonel knew anyway.

    then there was the way his father talked about her.

    on the one hand, this was a woman that had forced his father into such a corner that he chose to go all out to kill king rather than be a puppet on her string.

    but on the other hand... leonel never really felt his father''s fury about that matter.

    for example, back when he first learned his grandfather''s way of spear, he used dream class to create an archetype for a word like ''swift'', then he would use dream clone to force his body to embody that word for an instant, giving his attacks a character they never had before.

    this time, leonel was doing the reverse.

    he would use his own body as the template for a dream clone, rather than an external source. then he would use dream class to forge the archetype hidden within his body, that of the unnamed lineage factor.

    once he succeeded and the archetype existed within his dream world, he would be able to use dream simulation to test the aspects of his unnamed lineage factor one by one.

    this seemed like a lot of work to do to produce something already right before him. after all, the force art was the embodiment of the archetype he was trying to form right now.

    but there was a subtle difference.

    he couldn''t absorb this force art, and it was too complex to draw in his own dream world. as such, he could only study it the long and arduous way.

    but if he used this method, he would have a roundabout method of getting it into his world of simulations, and then he could use trial and error rather than raw deductions to understand what he was working with.

    leonel immediately got lost in his own world. the complex force art became an archetype in his mind, and then that archetype began a large series of logic gates, simplified into ''yes'' or ''no'' statements that formed a mountain before him.

    these logic gates essentially broke down the once complex force art into thousands of tiny steps. for example, if you wanted to take a step, you could imagine the physiological function broken down into the energy needed, and then the mechanical movement of your core, hip, thighs, knees, and feet all in unison, even the swing of your arms would play a part.

    even with something as simple as walking, if you tried to program it, it could easily become hundreds of lines of code. and leonel had essentially done that for an entire lineage factor.

    now, he probably understood it better than even the demoness herself.

 Chapter 2502 Logic Gates

    chapter 2502 logic gates

    leonel looked toward the towering mountain of logic gates before him and grinned. he hadn''t used logic gates like this since he was in the academy, but to think the topic would become so useful here.

    he took note that there were likely other aspects of earth''s science and technology that could benefit him in some way. the fact that drake was embarking on the path of heated weapons was also something that fascinated him, but for now, he could only shelve that matter.

    he started at the very bottom row.

    the structure of the logic gates here were separated into four main branches. sometimes they would intersect, but they were mostly separate. however, the point at which they did intersect was another clue.

    ''this strips down the lineage factor a bit too much. let''s see if we can fuse some of them...''

    leonel began to arrange the series of logic gates again, fusing many of them until the mountain was only about half its original size-a huge change.

    ''perfect... now, analysis.''

    leonel looked toward one of the four sections, and after some thought, a ball of fire appeared in his hand.

    it was made of the most rudimentary form of fire force, one without structure or even a name.

    if there really was a pure fire force out there, it might very well surpass leonel''s scarlet star force as number one on the rankings. in this case, this fire force was more so the equivalent of neutral force.

    neutral force was the most common force there was, and it was an amalgamation of all forces. fire force was similar, but just for the fire elements.

    although leonel was advised to use fourth dimensional ores and mine cores to improve his body, what his father''s ai hadn''t said was...

    how much?

    back when he first began practicing metal body, he had a limit. he couldn''t just endlessly devour ores. if he did so, he would implode.

    but this was clearly very different from that. he was on an entirely different level. it was like his stomach had become a blackhole.

    and yet, that was just one aspect of the lineage factor.

    as much as he could take, he could likewise give. the midas and morales aspects could devour, the radix and florer aspects could give.

    it wasn''t just that he could give life to inanimate objects like the radix had somewhat done with these cubes, or the florer family had done when they incorporated plants into their bodies. it was more like he could break their natural function, peeling away their own natural "personality" and making it more in tune with himself.

    it was fundamentally changing what made a force itself, without actually weakening it at all.

    this was the greatest discovery that leonel had made and it was absolutely shocking. that was because this was clearly an application of breaking force.

    what was maybe a little bit more interesting than even this, though, was how the spear domain lineage factor played a role in all of this. or maybe more accurately, how the spear and bow domain lineage factors combined to influence it.

    spear domain allowed him to spread the influence of his devouring or his giving into a ranged domain as well. he didn''t need to physically ingest things as per usual, he could do it from a distance.

    what was truly special at this was how bow domain was implemented. the highest level of the bow domain lineage factor even allowed the eyes, or rather what one''s gaze could land on, to be directly influenced by one''s force.

    due to that, leonel could give and take away with his eyes alone.

    it was hard to tell exactly how this would be applied until leonel thought of the matter of his earth force again.

 Chapter 2503 Avalanche

    chapter 2503 avalanche

    leonel''s eyes sparkled. after some thought, he pressed a hand into the walls around him. he pulled himself out of his dream world and returned to a dark crevice of the collapsed mine.

    at that moment, a bronze-violet aura came from him and seemed to invade the earth around him, turning it from a dense blackness to walls that gave off a healthy, gentle glow.

    then leonel pushed some of the intention of his mind forward.

    to both his surprise and expectation, the earth around him began to shift and move to his will, shifting out of the way.

    leonel leaned back in surprise. it had always been so hard to make use of earth force in the past, but now it was suddenly so easy? he had moved it even more easily than little tolly had, and it had hardly taken much effort on his part at all.

    this wasn''t just land influenced by the ninth dimensional mine, but it truly was the ninth dimensional urbe ore mine. although it wasn''t quite the ore itself yet, in a few decades there was no doubt that the area he was sitting in right this moment would turn into more urbe ore of the ninth dimensional variety. even though, right now, it was just normal earth, it was already far stronger than the reinforced sixth dimensional ore he had had before.

    ''wow...''

    suddenly, leonel understood everything. it hit him like a flashbang and everything seemed to slide into place.

    why was it so hard to use earth force on the physical earth itself? why was it that only those with ability indexes like raj could form it and manipulate it so easily?

    until now, the best application of leonel''s earth force was his gravity domain, but even that was something that he only used sparingly. he couldn''t even scale it well enough to use it on the enemies that he was facing.

    well, rather than answering that question, leonel asked himself something else entirely.

    why was it that incomplete worlds were formed of such small bits of land scattered across the vastness of the universe, whereas complete worlds were just a single, solid block of earth formed into a cohesive whole? almost as though all the smaller planets that would have made it up were fused into one?

    ''the irony... the irony that the representation of human ingenuity, the kernel of creation that kick-started human invention... would be replaced by the incarnation of destruction...''

    it wasn''t just that the pinnacle of fire force was represented by destruction, but also that it was made up of light force and star force as well.

    light force would always be stereotypically on the side of good. star force was the driving force behind creation itself.

    and yet all three forces-light, fire and star-had come together to destroy?

    the wild thoughts consumed leonel. so much so that he didn''t even notice as things began to change around him.

    his earth force reached the peak of the impetus state.

    his scarlet star force reached the peak of the impetus state.

    his vital star force reached the peak of the impetus state.

    his constellation entered a common level of understanding.

    his destruction sovereignty became true destruction sovereignty.

    it was an avalanche of clashing comprehensions that only seemed to steamroll as they reached toward the end, building up higher and higher until it seemed that leonel might explode with insight.

    ''the god beasts of creation created so much that it led to destruction...''

    boom.

    leonel''s scarlet star force comprehension entered the life state.

 Chapter 2504 Hollow

    explore the genesis of this content at nov@lbin

    chapter 2504 hollow

    leonel''s eyes opened with a flash, his presence causing the surrounding region to tremble mightily. however, the frown on his face hadn''t vanished.

    he could feel the weight of a life state level of comprehension, and it was heavy. heavier than he expected.

    it wasn''t that he felt like he was burning from the inside out. in fact, his innate nodes felt more in control than they ever had, and he even felt like he could finally begin using some of their true power.

    it was more so that it was like a veil on the world had been lifted and he could feel some of that helplessness that his future self should have felt. he could finally see the top of the mountain, or at the very least, one of them. and yet, it felt so... hollow.

    it should have been an amazing accomplishment. he had done something that only a select few had ever done, and he was probably the first human since king, at least in these bubble worlds, to have succeeded in such a thing.

    there were probably humans scattered across other bubbles who lived lives mostly as slaves to much more powerful races. to such races, if a servant couldn''t have at least this level of strength, they weren''t worth much of anything at all.

    but aside from those poor souls, it could be said that leonel''s accomplishments were the highest of any other human in the lane of comprehension.

    it was, indeed, something to be proud about. it was just that he didn''t feel that way.

    all this time, he had consciously associated his scarlet star force innate node with his destruction sovereignty. but the truth was that while they were related, they were two separate existences. meaning, the existence of one didn''t necessitate that of the other.

    it was instead better to look at them like two wells of power that could form waves, waves that easily fused into one and doubled their sizes or more as a result.

    ''and if you use them together...'' leonel''s other hand descended onto the spear''s shaft. a light of silver and gold fused with the ruby and gold.

    the spear went from two meters long to almost two and a half. its power doubled and space itself trembled around it.

    when his scarlet star force and his emulation spatial force were used together, one carrying the intention of the world and the other carrying the intention of leonel himself, their power was far more than just the sum of their parts... and it was in the power of creation that the strongest destruction came.

    never would leonel have thought that his scarlet star force was meant to be used in this way. but now that he did, it just felt so natural.

    even then, this was probably just the simplest and most straightforward way to make use of it. the fundamental ability of his scarlet star force could be described in a single word... potential.

    the thing was that as much as it could use potential to fuel itself and create something beautiful... in doing so it would be stripping potential away from something else.

    when that potential came from leonel, he could control it, rein it in. it was his innate nodes after all, it was his power. within certain limits, it could no longer harm him.

    however, when that potential was snatched from others... leonel pointed a finger up and the sturdy ground was ripped to shreds as a pillar of ruby-gold flames shot into the skies like a beacon. it tore through over 50 meters of hard earth as though it was absolutely nothing.

    with a step, leonel appeared on the surface once again, his expression calm as he sensed the demons rushing toward his location.

    his spear swept across the ground and countless stones of earth erupted upward. each one was easily over 20 meters tall and flickering with flames that could make the heart tremble.

    the tip of leonel''s spear vibrated and he thrust it forward.

    the walls of earth suddenly shot down from the skies like streaking meteors.

 Chapter 2505 Target Dummies

    chapter 2505 target dummies

    the bull demons in the vicinity felt a sense of danger they hadn''t felt in a very long time. no, it was the kind of danger they had only ever sensed from the sun and moon demons that they could only follow. their fear didn''t change anything. their bodies exploded one after another, the heat of the flames so high that many of them directly burned to death even before the meteors of earth even landed.

    leonel''s spear spun in his hand. it snapped into place in his palms and curved in a graceful arc. a concentrated scythe of spear force, attached with a hint of something otherworldly, took shape and rushed forward.

    the instant the meteors landed, they were all sliced in half, anyone lost in an explosive retreat unable to react. they lost their lives without even truly understanding what had happened.

    boom.

    amidst the explosions, khelgis and adru landed, along with alysa, oriza, and larkan.

    their eyes opened wide, unable to understand this sheer level of destruction. it had to be understood that even their ninth dimensional experts couldn''t cause so much devastation to the land. complete worlds were far too sturdy, and even cracking the earth was incomparably difficult.

    but leonel had cut slabs out of the ground and even used them as weapons. and yet, at the same time, they were absolutely certain that his power output was less than that of a ninth dimensional expert by quite a large margin.

    how could both things be true?

    boom.

    the second halves of the sliced meteors crashed into the ground, kicking up a wall of wind that blew their hair back.

    leonel''s spear rested before him, pointed slightly toward the ground and hanging loosely from his hand.

    leonel''s flame wasn''t just in the palm of his hands. his flames were potential itself, his potential. there wasn''t a single part of him that could be attacked without facing their wrath.

    attacking his mind was like throwing herself into the fire of her own accord. whatever thoughts she had of subduing a strong-willed man, quite literally, went up in flames.

    "alysa!"

    a roar came from a male lust demon. unlike the others, he had a pair of horns growing out of his head and seemed to be birthed from the union of a lust and bull demon. it was hard to tell how he was treated as a result of that, but at the very least, he seemed to be a fusion of raw power and mental strength.

    it didn''t matter.

    leonel''s spear cut across the air and a scythe of spear force vanished across space, appearing before the lust demon in an instant.

    his roar had barely left his throat when he was bisected along a diagonal line.

    and then there were two.

    leonel hadn''t left khelgis and adru alone because he feared them. even before his breakthrough, he hadn''t feared them. he had escaped a city surrounded by ninth dimensional experts and a formation that even said experts themselves couldn''t hope to break through.

    what right did they have to make him feel fear?

    no, he left them until last because this way, he could fight to his heart''s content without worry about outside interference.

    by now, khelgis seemed to have calmed down, but the orbs of red that were his eyes smoldered with a little something extra. at the same time, a chilly wind came from adru, a bluish fog coming from her.

    "come on."

    leonel pointed his spear at the two.

 Chapter 2506 Beautiful. Regal. Powerful.

    chapter 2506 beautiful. regal. powerful.

    leonel''s spear steadied itself. even given its heft, its body was completely still, almost like a pool of calm waters. and then the dance began.

    khelgis'' and adru''s eyes opened wide. a keen sense of danger took hold of their hearts, gripping them so tightly that it felt as though a hand had ripped into their chests and squeezed down.

    "defend!" khelgis roared.

    his palms slammed into adrus''. a large combustion of bronze-brass and silver energies took form, shaping into a sphere that rotated like a marble of yin and yang.

    leonel''s first spear exploded on its surface, and yet it blew the two back. the two thought that it was over, but it was just the beginning.

    leonel''s spear danced in his palms, a large amount of universal force descending. it even felt like with every swipe of the blade through the air, the world itself was being pulled in the directions leonel willed.

    if one looked outside the well of leonel''s influence, a larger and larger vacuum was being formed, a region where force''s concentration seemed to plummet.

    then came the stars.

    the first appeared on the tip of the blade, gliding across the air like a shooting star. it was a delicate streak of silver, buffeted by the oppressive spear of red, gold, and silver it was born from.

    leonel''s stance changed, and the star lingered in the air as a new one was given the spark of life. explore the genesis of this content at nov@lbin

    it was gorgeous.

    one star after another, gliding through the air and forming a pattern that stunned the mind and froze the soul.

    it was akin to a star map of the universe. the sun in the skies seemed to dim, and darkness descended onto the region. every streak was more powerful than the last, and every swing of the blade pushed khelgis and adru further and further back.

    bang. bang. bang!

    the sphere of yin and yang began to crack. if not for the large amount of force the both of them were pouring into it, it would have already collapsed after the first few strikes.

    bang. bang. bang.

    streaks of spear force filled the skies. it looked as though countless rockets were being launched from leonel''s half of the battlefield. he completely controlled the situation, his mighty oppression suppressing the pair of sun and moon demons.

    sometimes his blade was swift, sometimes it was heavy, at other times, it reminded one of a mountain that stood the test of time, and at other times it was like a wild forest fire that burned bright, but only for a short time.

    he had half a mind to let them do so just so he could watch them lose their minds to dream force, but clarence knew that even if these experts of the sun and moon demons died, the gap between them and the human race was so large that the ending would still be the same.

    meaning, if they enraged these demon races, they would just die faster. it was better if they maintained this odd limbo for a bit longer.

    just when he was about to say something, all of their expressions changed.

    "master! save us!" a roar came as a portal was torn open.

    it was like a large wheel of spatial force had appeared in the skies, and through it, a pair of sun and moon demon lovers quickly flew through. but the fear in their eyes didn''t vanish in the slightest.

    a tingling sense of danger filled the hearts of all of them as they saw the spear strike.

    beautiful. regal.

    powerful.

    the sun demon that had just been sneering took action immediately, a spear appearing in his hands as he swung down.

    "[finality]."

    the words were soft and yet they reached all of their ears with the ease of a gentle breeze.

    the sun demon was pushed back, his spear splintering as though it was made of cheap wood. his body was enveloped by the strike before anyone could even react.

    the portal closed, but not before everyone caught the glimpse of an arrogant young man wielding a spear of ruby, silver, and gold.

    his spear slowly lowered as he met each one of their gazes, especially that of anselma brazinger.

    when he vanished, their gazes trembled as they landed on the sun demon.

    half of his upper body was gone, his beating heart clearly visible from the gaping wound on his side.

    he could barely stay in the skies, coughing and wheezing as blood drizzled down his chin.

    flames licked at his wounds, trying to char him to ash. if not for his powerful vitality, he would have already died.

    khelgis looked at this scene, the horror of his expression clear for all to see. how had his mighty master ended up in such a state at the hands of a mere fifth dimensional expert?

    violet blood drizzled to the ground, each drop playing on their hearts.

 Chapter 2507 Scram

    chapter 2507 scram

    xagu was a man that had stood at the pinnacle of sun demon society for hundreds of years. he had an unblemished record and it could be said that he was a meteoric star from the time he was born. the only man to ever outshine him was the current patriarch of their race, urlgan-a man that hadn''t even cared enough about the proceedings to appear on this day.

    and yet, here he was, floating in a half-dead state. it was hard to tell if, even with his overwhelming vitality, he''d live or die.

    the demons were a bit late to react, but another ninth dimensional expert eventually rushed forward in an attempt to help, but he was blasted backward.

    "don''t touch me!" xagu growled.

    the sun demon steadied himself somewhat embarrassedly, but he also didn''t dare to show any discontent either. even in this state, the place xagu held in their hearts was far too high.

    xagu suddenly unleashed a roar and a large amount of blood spurted out in all directions. this blood carried with it small tufts of flame that fell into the city below. the carnage it caused was not small, and the human experts frowned as it was their own people suffering now. but they had to maintain this defensive barrier or else who knew what might happen?

    xagu hacked and wheezed, his body swaying in the air. of all those here, he was the one who could least believe what had just happened to him. although he was a bit careless, it shouldn''t have mattered even if he was snoring before a fifth dimensional expert, how could they possibly harm a hair on his head? the only ones that could do such a thing were the children of gods, and that bastard most definitely not one.

    coughing, hacking and wheezing, xagu barely managed to stabilize himself after several minutes. but the red orbs that were his eyes were blazing with fury.

    he was a man of flames, and yet flames had harmed him. he was an expert of the spear, and yet a spear had almost killed him.

    this was the greatest humiliation that he had ever faced in his lifetime.

    after xagu left here, he would go heal himself. then he would go all out in his assaults and become their living nightmare. worst yet, he would go all out to kill leonel.

    there were times to take a step back, and then there were times to move forward without hesitation. this was one of those times.

    "clarence!" gemmes roared.

    hearing this familiar agitated voice, clarence didn''t even react. instead, he grabbed khelgis and adru, both of whom had been under xagu''s protection.

    "i suggest the rest of you scram, now. or else i''ll kill these two right here. i wonder how your mighty patriarch would react to the death of his son and daughter-in-law?"

    the sun and moon demons froze, feeling a cold chill warp their spines.

    they knew that they couldn''t allow this. if xagu and khelgis died, even if the human race did suffer later, it would be they who suffered first. but at the same time, if they allowed khelgis to be captured, would their punishment be any different?

    clarence suddenly squeezed adru''s throat. she began to struggle, her face turning white, then blue. her legs kicked at the air and her body began to shudder.

    an expert like her could last quite a while without air, but her brain couldn''t surface without a flow of blood and force. the longer she stayed like this, the worse it would become.

    when this didn''t make the experts scram, clarence sneered and began to do the same with khelgis.

    the group of sun and moon demons shuddered before rushing toward the distance. they didn''t stop until they were outside of city limits, but they didn''t take their eyes off of clarence, their gazes burning with a fiery hatred.

    they knew that no matter what, some of them would suffer for this. the question was... which of them was going to return to inform urlgan of this news?

 Chapter 2508 Selfish

    chapter 2508 selfish

    when clarence finally looked back, he found the full brunt of the human race bearing down on him. they were, unsurprisingly, enraged. however, his expression was just the same.

    he had already resigned himself to death the moment he submitted the vast dream pavilion for the challenge. he acted without scruples, and while he wouldn''t harm the human race on purpose, he also wouldn''t needlessly hold back due to cowardice either.

    "do you have any idea what you''ve just done, clarence?" gemmes'' eyes were entirely red. it seemed that he was using all the self-control he had to not attack this man he had known for centuries.

    clarence sneered. "why does it seem like you''re more mad at me than you''ve ever been at those demons? why are you trying to hold yourself back so much now? you seemed to be so calm just minutes ago while they were spitting in our faces."

    "you-!"

    "oh, i get it. you''re not holding back because of me at all; it''s because of these little kiddies in my hand, right? even now, you give more respect to these children than you do your own race. how about some self-reflection, coward!"

    clarence''s dream force ripped through the atmosphere, and his calm expression gave way to his own fury.

    "you''re still so selfish."

    the words came from a calm woman with a head of green hair and sparkling green eyes. she spoke quite softly.

    this woman was of the crudus family and of the same status as imperatress anselma: ymesmai crudus.

    clarence shuddered slightly when he heard this woman''s words. but after giving her a glance, he didn''t say anything else and simply took a step and vanished.

    "perfect, now i just somehow have to figure out how to do the same for the evolution ore... anastasia, throw this ore into the ocean for me."

    "got it."

    leonel had gotten into a habit of doing this with all the ore he got from this world. he had a feeling that not all ore was created equal. depending on the world it came from, it could be tainted. that was why some bronze grade weapons were far stronger than others, though part of that was also a craftsman''s skill.

    anastasia, though, would be his great equalizer. he didn''t have to worry about low-quality ores because of her cleansing waters.

    by the time he was ready to use the reinforced urbe ore, it would be on the same level as reinforced urbe ore that came from exceptionally high-level worlds.

    "anastasia, i feel that i can protect myself to some extent now. ignore all restrictions except for those in the demon bubbles. i need you to find me as many fourth dimensional mine cores as possible. i want a map of them all. i''ll make a plan starting from there."

    leonel heard anastasia hum her understanding.

    it wasn''t that leonel felt that he could defeat a ninth dimensional expert. while khelgis and adru had been held back by his spear dance, a real ninth dimensional expert, or even an eighth dimensional one, could have closed in the distance long before he finished it.

    however, given the tools he had in his arsenal, he was confident in his ability to escape, or at least keep enough of a distance so that anastasia could ramp up to her top speed.

    in that situation, leonel felt he could be a bit more reckless with alerting others.

    ''that strike would have definitely been able to outright kill a human expert. they are lucky that a sun demon took it on for them.''

    leonel sneered. he felt that the time he would get back at these people for what they had put him through wasn''t far off at all.

    "i have a map ready here," anastasia''s voice came a few hours later.

 Chapter 2509 Golden Force and Death Force

    chapter 2509 golden force and death force

    given what leonel knew about his unnamed lineage factor, he also knew that his metal body would no longer be the exact same, and neither would his divine armors, for that matter.

    he had an idea of where he would take his divine armor, but he still needed some time to refine it. he also wasn''t sure if he had the skill necessary to execute it just yet either, but that wouldn''t stop him from implementing his plan for his metal body either.

    ultimately, it was wrong to still call it his metal body. leonel felt that a more accurate representation of what it was would be a vital body, or maybe a nature''s body? regardless, he definitely wasn''t limited to just ores, and it also wasn''t just flames either.

    if he wanted, he could be a lot like the florer family and absorb high-level force herbs, or ancient trees, anything of the sort.

    honestly, this wasn''t too surprising for leonel. the reality was that his metal body had already been quite flexible already if he thought about it.

    ores were the foundation for all sorts of elements. ultimately, earth force was just the foundation that allowed them to flourish, but there were wind type ores, fire type ores, lightning type ores, all sorts of elements and variables existed.

    when leonel thought about this, he felt a bit silly that he didn''t recognize just how special earth force was in the past. it was the foundation that allowed everything to exist. there was a reason that in the depths of space, there was force at all. while stars, they could only produce star force. this was a fuel that allowed for life, but it wasn''t life itself.

    earth force couldn''t be said to be life either, but it was special nonetheless.

    that was why leonel chose to look at it a different way.

    it wasn''t that he had suddenly gained the ability to absorb all sorts of new elements; he had always been able to. it could even be said that his metal body was never really a metal body at all; it was just a vessel that could accept any and all things.

    leonel already had an advantage others didn''t have. because he had both halves, when he activated them at the same time, they were already hard to recognize. he didn''t know if there were any other envoys that had ever managed to fuse the two in the past, because the side of creation and the side of destruction should have been at loggerheads.

    however, there was no harm in being a little extra cautious, especially when he was on his own in this world.

    the death pulse deer used death force, dark force and star force.

    the golden tiger used golden force, light force and star force.

    if leonel had been there when a certain spirituals prince stole his father''s innate node, he would have recognized it to be the very same golden force that the golden tiger used.

    it was known as the strongest piercing force in the world, a fusion of light force, spatial force, star force and variant earth force. this variant earth force was the purest form of metal there was.

    death force had a lot of overlap with his destruction sovereignty and the abilities of his father''s technique [final destruction].

    likewise, golden force had a lot of overlap with his weapon forces.

    the question was how to use them both in a way where they didn''t clash or become redundant, but rather amplified one another and played to one another''s strengths.

    and then, he had to take those ideas and distill them down into a form that could be used to amplify his body.

    he looked through the map again and again. although this was a weak world, all things told. when it came to the selection of fourth dimensional materials, it shouldn''t be much weaker than any other world.

    ''i think i''ve got it...'' leonel thought.explore the genesis of this content at nov@lbin

 Chapter 2510 [Bonus] Enough

    chapter 2510 [bonus] enough

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 1/6]

    clarence rose to the skies and entered the realm of the dream pavilion again. he casually threw khelgis and adru to the side. quite frankly, he doubted it would matter whether he killed these two now or not, but in the territory of the dream pavilion, they wouldn''t be able to do much of anything.

    the dream force here was so dense that it was practically a debuff for anyone who stepped onto these clouds. if you couldn''t protect your mind, you could even end up dying. it seemed that these two youngsters knew that well, or at the very least, they had figured it out. because the moment they sensed the assault of dream force, they forgot everything else and entered a state of deep meditation.

    for most people, unless you had a life state force or another method of protecting your mind, stepping into the dream pavilion was as good as being forced into a permanent unconsciousness for the rest of your life.

    this was part of the reason that clarence had acted without hesitation.

    of course, the odds that urlgan had a life state force was probably quite high. but this passive dream force was just the least of what the dream pavilion had to protect itself.

    if not for the fact that most people who stepped in here would turn into vegetables, the dream pavilion would be the perfect place to host what remained of the human race.

    ''now, it seems that waiting is all we have left to do...'' clarence stood before a small floating cloud that had countless dots spread across it. these dots were the teleportation platforms he had spread, or more accurately, activated.

    these teleportation platforms had been around for a very long time and could be said to be a hallmark of the former glory of the human race.

    they had been shut down many generations ago because the number of dream force experts, and the number of people who could protect themselves from the dream pavilion''s domain, had dwindled to the point that they no longer mattered.

    now, however, he had activated this system once again. all that was left was to wait.

    anselma''s crimson gaze flared up again, but she managed to control herself when she felt that the gazes of the three surrounding her were truly all the same.

    now that she thought about it, all four that had gone at that time should be just as heavily injured as her, but she was the only one running around while sporting all these injuries. the other three had focused on recuperating, even sending these three as representatives of them.

    in this situation, she was at a clear disadvantage.

    she had always seen the four great families as one unit, which was why she didn''t really have her guard up. although there was a lot of infighting, especially between the brazingers and the adurnas, it never crossed that line.

    but there was something about the expressions of these three that made her feel like this might be in the past.

    "are you three trying to gang up on me?"

    "no."

    this time, it was ymesmai who spoke. clearly, she wanted to cut the adurna man off before he made the situation worse.

    "however, anselma, we need to make something clear. a lot of the ongoings have been pulled along by you and king. we do not care who you sleep with, and i can understand if adam renier''s-"

    "don''t you dare say that name in front of me!" anselma snapped. the dangerous light in her eyes had returned and she was truly like a caged animal by this point.

    "-if his betrayal led you into a tailspin. however, enough time has passed and it''s time for you to let go."

    "are you all crazy? you think any of this still has to do with him?!"

    "of course it does. would you have fallen so deeply for king if not because of these matters? you let a dream force expert manipulate you so thoroughly, so much so that you forgot what our four families exist for in the first place."

 Chapter 2511 [Bonus] Prophecies

    chapter 2511 [bonus] prophecies

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 2/6]

    anselma was finding it harder and harder to control her emotions. they were quickly spiraling out of control.

    she knew at this point that it was her bloodline influencing her the most. the madness of the brazinger family was something that was well documented, and she knew well of the trouble it could bring. but these people were making it very hard.

    "our three families are very unhappy with you, is the bottom line, anselma. because of you, we threw away our own experts-"

    "how was i supposed to know that he was so powerful?! did i not go and risk myself as well?!"

    "and that''s the only reason we haven''t turned on you. it''s obvious to us all that you were manipulated. at worst, that man was a variable we all had to take into account, but the only person he truly threatened was king. what''s the difference between one king or one velasco ruling over our heads? is it not the same?

    "it''s only because your man feared for his life that he sent us down to deal with him, and look at the result.

    "four of our best experts are heavily injured and we lost two of the best protectors humanity had on top of that when we could have made due with just the loss of one."

    "that''s enough!" anselma snapped.

    "no. it''s not." ymesmai continued just as calmly. "i will remind you why our families exist. it''s not to be the pawns of the humans, or whatever demons might be lurking behind them and pulling their puppet strings. our one goal has been and will always be to survive. that it is. nothing more, nothing less. even if it means sacrificing the rest of the human race to do so, we must survive.

    "now this entire situation is spiraling out of control and you''re at the center of it.

    "none of us know why that young man is so powerful, but what we do know is that you''ve made him our enemy not because of a logical decision, but because you shared a bed with the wrong person. you put us in this compromised position, and you need to remember that before you go around trying to show off your strength everywhere you go."

    who was a man without an heir? even though he was the hand that held up the skies for both the sun and moon demons, every man was aware of their mortality. unless he could one day reach that legendary level, he would one day perish one way or another.

    "where is xagu?" urlgan said calmly.

    this question didn''t seem to make sense given he had just been given a report of what happened. but the sun and moon demons looked toward one another.

    "he has begun to gather," one said slowly.

    "how many years?" urlgan asked again.

    "at this pace, if your majesty is unwilling to help him, it will take about 200 years before he is resurrected."

    "wastrel," urlgan said coldly. "give his essence to a worthy eighth dimensional expert."

    the sun and moon demons shuddered. this was essentially cosigning xagu to a true death, but did they dare to levy a rebuttal?

    it had to be remembered that upon reaching the ninth dimension, true death could only be prematurely triggered by an act of a regulator or one surpassing a regulator.

    clarence had clearly not done either, which meant that given enough time, xagu would come back to life.

    but urlgan said that the second most powerful expert of the sun demons was a wastrel, so much so that he would rather give his essence to someone who couldn''t break into the ninth dimension on their own than allow the man to resurrect.

    if it took xagu over 200 years to come back, he would be beyond his prime and progressing would be incredibly difficult, but he would still have a chance. he was already so close to the life state to begin with.

    plus, weren''t xagu and urlgan childhood friends? how could he be so callous?

    in the end, the mighty xagu, who could rule a cardinal direction in his prime, lost his last chance at life just like this. maybe even in his death, he could have never imagined that it would be his closest friend who would toss him to the side like trash.

 Chapter 2512 [Bonus] Obey

    chapter 2512 [bonus] obey

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 3/6]

    ''a fifth dimensional expert who can strike to kill the likes of xagu.''

    the thoughts of urlgan were much different than what his actions dictated. he was calm and calculating. as for why he had sacrificed xagu, it was because he didn''t have the patience to deal with the matter.

    if he gave up a substantial amount of resources, he might be able to shorten the time to just 10 years, but what good was that?

    the amount would be substantial and would put a dent in the coffers of the empire. the more powerful the ninth dimensional expert was, the more expensive it would be.

    he was unwilling to pay that price just for the sake of one xagu. but if he let xagu resurrect the slow and normal way, a few things would happen.

    for one, his people would think him cheap. or, they would think the empire to be poor. these were two things he wouldn''t allow. he could deal with a loss of an expert, but not a loss to his prestige.

    the demon race was a race of savages. they only respected the strong and weakness would not be allowed. he might be the strongest now, but that didn''t mean that he would be forever, and it didn''t mean his lineage would be able to maintain its strong hold on the empire either.

    it was a better investment to use xagu as a tool to strike fear. this was the greatest worth he had to urlgan.

    as for leonel''s existence, he didn''t take it lightly at all. much like everyone else, he thought the same thing.

    a god''s child. either that, or his was a god childe. there didn''t seem to be any other explanation outside of this.

    ''in this time of crisis, the humans have produced a god childe? but he has yet to mature. i''ll need to approach this with caution.''

    if urlgan knew how much effort it took for leonel to output that level of power, he wouldn''t hesitate to set out right this moment.

    for the golden tiger, it was known as the slaughter domain. for the death pulse deer, it was known as the pulse domain.

    both were ironically perfect killing formations. both sides, whether light or dark, focused on the art of slaying the enemy.

    it was a lot. a lot of new abilities, a lot of new thoughts on how to use them, and ultimately, it was too much.

    then, leonel remembered what his greatest weakness was right now. what was holding him back wasn''t just his dimension, it was the fundamental weakness of the human race.

    why was it that he was so powerful when he activated his dream asura lineage factor? it was because his body was no longer that of a human. all of the previous limitations were lifted and raised to a level he couldn''t fathom.

    something similar happened when he transformed into a snowy star owl, or a starry tailed fox, or... a death pulse deer and a golden tiger.

    so his goal was simple.

    forget the domains. forget the forces. forget the techniques and complicated methods of using them. forget the need for comprehension and the time and pain that would come with doing so.

    if his unnamed lineage factor could even force the unruly earth to listen to his commands, why could he not do so with his own body?

    if his ability index could impose its will onto his body and exhibit perfect control, why not use it?

    why use the northern star lineage factor the way it was meant to be used at all? why not use it to forcefully raise the level of his talent? forcefully raise the ceiling of what his body could handle at every level?

    and he already had the perfect pairing of partners to execute that wish.

    the unnamed lineage factor on one hand.

    his control ability index on the other hand.

    it was his body. it was about time it obeyed him.

 Chapter 2513 [Bonus] His Will

    chapter 2513 [bonus] his will

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 4/6]

    so that was what leonel did.

    he used his ability index to take stock of his body, understanding it to the deepest and darkest depths. then, he used his unnamed lineage factor to take control of those depths, forcing them to accept a breadth of outside power.

    they became like a vessel for his strength to leap forward by leaps and bounds.

    in a way, he was "devouring" his own body, its potential. using it as a conduit to cause his basic strength to soar.

    he didn''t care what it was. so long as it was a mine core with some sort of light, dark, star, or any related force to both sides of his northern star lineage factor, he devoured it.

    all he could think about as he moved was el''rion.

    he could remember the sheer magnitude of his bodily strength. a single drop of his blood could destroy a void beast corpse he could hardly put a dent in. his body was so sacred that it refused to bleed even when he lost an arm. his vitality was so powerful that his language alone sounded like the roars of dragons and lions, and the claps of thunder and the strikes of lightning.

    that was the body he wanted. he didn''t know how far from it he was, but he wanted it.

    he could feel that his body was like a bottomless well. it could take more, imposing his will on more, make more his own.

    just the unnamed lineage factor alone was like an insatiable black hole. when the golden tiger and the death pulse deer were added to the mix, leonel''s body was truly akin to a brewing storm in a bottle. lightning alone couldn''t crack it.

    every time he swallowed another mine core, his body would thrum with excitement. his blood would move faster, his heart thump louder.

    the air began to shudder and quake around him as though his body alone had gained a will that imposed itself onto the world.

    more. more. more.

    at that moment, leonel exuded the truest aura of a destruction sovereign.

    the days ticked by, and he became like a maddened beast, zipping around from location to location and moving with a purpose that caused space itself to ripple.

    if the ninth dimensional experts of the human alliance could see him now, what they would feel the most deeply was fear.

    738,928.

    that was the number he reached before he felt that his body could no longer take anymore.

    it was a perfectly even number, each half being presented to one portion of his northern star lineage factor.

    he found a place and fell into a deep state of meditation. he suppressed the power within him, making it not just an external power-up or one that would dissipate with time but one that was truly his and his alone.

    when every breath he took, the thumping of his heart grew more soothing, more controlled, less wild and destructive.

    the rushing blood within his veins slowly became a calming stream once more.

    he pulled it all in.

    it was under his control, not the other way around. much like he had gained perfect control of the dream asura lineage factor after purging the influence of the demoness, he would do the same here. but this time, he would be suppressing the influence of the golden tiger and the death pulse deer.

    his body wasn''t a place where it could rampage about as it pleased. his body would always be under his control, never under anyone else''s.

    his eyes opened with a flash.

    bang.

    a crater of several hundred meters appeared around him. this sort of destruction was the kind that even ninth dimensional experts couldn''t impose onto this world. however, his will trumped all.

    ''it''s time to go to the dream pavilion.''

 Chapter 2514 [Bonus] Oliidark

    chapter 2514 [bonus] oliidark

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 5/6]

    leonel hadn''t known what to expect when he came here, but a sea of people was most definitely not one of them.

    he had heard clarence''s call to action, but he knew that there were certainly not this number of people with dream force affinity.

    plus, clarence had said three days. since then, it had already been over a month. leonel wouldn''t come until he was fully ready, but there were still this number of people? wasn''t that a bit too ridiculous?

    this should have been the central city of the vast bubble. it was a place only the elites of the elites could step into. the population definitely shouldn''t be so dense.

    the only explanation was that this was the doing of clarence.

    did he really want this number of people to show up, though?

    leonel didn''t know much about the dream pavilion, but he knew of the dangers of dream force. just logically speaking, it was impossible that these people wouldn''t be left in a state adjacent to death after being foolish enough to come here.

    "look at this. i told you it was getting too ridiculous. even some fifth star brat showed up here. it''s making my eyes water just looking at these people."

    hearing this, leonel was speechless.

    he hadn''t bothered to hide his identity when he came here, it was useless to do such things before dream force experts. he was mostly ready to rely on himself to find out what was going on. he had some contingency plans and he was semi-confident in escaping if he had to.

    well, he was about 70% confident. but it was important enough to him that he was willing to come here on such low odds.

    but now he was being looked down upon by some nobody. it almost made him want to laugh.

    if he wasn''t qualified, then no one else here could possibly be qualified.

    when she came back and found that leonel was actually gone, she had nearly wiped out the oliidark family in a fit of rage.

    once again, it was only because of her husband and son-in-law that the family managed to be stabilized and changed.

    mistress oliidark couldn''t help but feel a well of rage when she saw leonel again. but it was actually her granddaughter that reacted first.

    "it''s you!" athrae suddenly called out. "daddy, kill him! he''s the one that caused us all that trouble!"

    leonel''s steps paused. he had suddenly remembered something.

    he looked back toward the family. in the midst of the crowd, there should have been endless commotion. and yet, the world seemed to fall into silence.

    remembering how willful this little girl was, he also remembered how far the family was willing to go. he had been willing to let go of the fact they enslaved him, but a memory flashed in his mind.

    leonel raised a hand and mistress oliidark flew into his hands so fast that no one was able to react.

    her throat was being clamped down so tightly that in an instant, her old, wrinkled face had turned blue.

    "chef lucca. carra. amerie." leonel said slowly.

    the more names he said, the more confused mistress oliidark was. she couldn''t even remember what he was talking about.

    "you killed them, didn''t you? the esteemed oliidark family couldn''t possibly be caught going to such an establishment."

    it was only when he said this that mistress oliidark''s eyes widened.

    "wait-"

    crack.

    leonel shattered her throat and spine with a single squeeze.

 Chapter 2515 [Bonus] You, you...

    chapter 2515 [bonus] you, you...

    [bonus chapter courtesy of firemonster <3 6/6]

    "grandma!"

    "mother-in-law!"

    the roars came at the same time, but leonel never took his own eyes off of the despair in mistress oliidark''s eyes.

    it was hard to tell how many people she had callously killed in her life. he wanted to make sure that she could see his indifference, how little he cared about her life, how he killed her not because he had to, but because it could, because it was convenient to him.

    you are worthless.

    those were the meanings his eyes conveyed, and they were the last things mistress oliidark could think about herself as her consciousness faded and her body went limp.

    no one could believe what they had just seen. someone had just killed, in broad daylight, in four great family and dream pavilion territory, and in front of so many spectators at that.

    it was such a shocking realization that no one could even have the time to register that it was a fifth star that had just killed a seventh star as though she was a strung up chicken, not worth more than the feathers on her body.

    leonel flung mistress oliidark''s body to the side without a care and looked up. to his surprise, the remaining two men hadn''t attacked yet. the oldest of them, the man he assumed was mistress oliidark''s husband, looked at him with red eyes, but the rest of his expression was as calm as they came.

    "i hope that this has calmed the young sir''s anger. my oliidark family will take this loss, we have no intention of pursuing this matter."

    leonel looked at the old man deeply, then at his son-in-law and his granddaughter. then, without a word, he turned to leave.

    he was the center of attention now, but quite frankly, that was exactly what he wanted. he had come here without hiding his identity, so he had planned for things to devolve like this one way or another.

    however, it was snuffed out even before it could take proper shape.

    at that moment, high in the skies, gemmes descended. his long white beard fluttered and leonel agreed... he really did look like a fairy tale wizard. it was too bad his adorable appearance was matched with a terrible character.

    gemmes'' gaze swept through the region. when it landed on leonel, his pupils constricted. he barely managed to stop himself from calling out in surprise.

    immediately, his arrogant aura was restrained several fold and he focused his attention on the various powers beneath him.

    "why did you all come here to waste our time?"

    ophelia, who thought that leonel might finally be getting what was coming to him, was struck dumb. was she being reprimanded right now? when mistress oliidark''s corpse hadn''t even gone cold yet? what was going on here?

    the pavilion head of the sacred light pavilion stepped forward solemnly.

    "esteemed dream master, we''ve only brought forward the disciples we feel have the best chance. some of them have displayed some skill in dream force, but lack the proper guidance. since the dream pavilion is providing such an opportunity, we thought to allow them the chance."

    it made sense. thaela, for example, had been a disciple of the eternal twilight pavilion, but hadn''t she had an emulation spatial force innate node? the fact she had a dream force-related innate node made her quite the catch. it was just that many like her felt that they had other talents as well, so it was hard to just focus on dream force alone.

    but all of their elders realized just how special this opportunity was, so how could they not come?

    gemmes nodded somewhat stiffly, taking a glance at leonel again before looking away quickly.

    "follow me. you, you, you..."

    gemmes pointed out a few dozen, including leonel. but the number didn''t surpass 50. to leonel''s surprise, though, ophelia seemed to be among the number trying to participate, as was the eternal dream pavilion head and the other heads.

    were they going to abandon their pavilions?

    leonel could feel ophelia''s glare on him, but his smile only became brighter.

 Chapter 2516 What Happened Here?

    chapter 2516 what happened here?

    leonel looked around. the dream pavilion was indeed a place of great beauty. plus, their uniforms were, indeed, quite cool. he liked the turban look, especially the range of colors between a deep black to light blues and violets. he felt that it matched him quite well.

    he sent a gaze toward those that had followed in and found himself feeling quite amused. if they were struggling so much to enter this place, why were they trying so hard to do so?

    what leonel didn''t know was that even for the current deputy pavilion heads, or even the best geniuses of the dream pavilion in recent times and into the past, the first trip into the dream pavilion was always a difficult one. the fact they could walk around without going straight into a state of meditation like khelgis and adru had was a testament that they indeed had some talent.

    the main problem was that the vast dream pavilion was a pavilion ranked near the top 100, and yet it didn''t have nearly the talent to uphold that ranking. as a result, its environment was far more lush and vibrant than the norm.

    usually, when you were approaching the top 100, the pavilion heads would have dream force already surpassing the lower life state, many would be beyond the middle life state as well. the environment, as a result, was something that could suffocate you if your dream force affinity was only average, and if it was too weak, you could directly collapse.

    gemmes, who was paying attention to leonel the entire time, felt his eyes widen. from the start, leonel didn''t even waver. he took the step as though he was going from one sunny breeze to a slightly cloudy one, there was hardly a change at all. in fact, he was looking around and admiring the scenery.

    by comparison, the others were already slightly stiff in their movements. they didn''t even have the presence of mind to notice how much easier leonel was taking it because they were focused on themselves. if they lost their sense of self now, they might lose their minds forever.

    their basic assumption was that everyone was struggling just like they were. unfortunately, they were very wrong.

    gemmes shook his head and looked away. in his heart, though, the waves had yet to cease. clarence was very correct about this young man, but would it be enough?

    "this is the vast dream pavilion," gemmes said in a booming voice. "the pressure you feel on your mind now is nothing but the ambient dream force concentration in the air. if you want a chance to make it to the real dream pavilion, you''ll need to walk through this path-"

    leonel walked by gemmes with a flicker and vanished.

    "you''re quite confident," clarence said with a smile.

    "confident? no. but some things are necessary," leonel said calmly.

    "so the dream force called to you?" clarence said knowingly.

    "isn''t that what you wanted?"

    "no," clarence surprisingly said. "when i activated the challenge, i did so out of spite. i was painted into a corner and had no other choice. my original hope was to raise you into a new king to stabilize the pavilion, but you chose the cult instead. which is ironic... because that''s the same choice the late king made."

    leonel blinked. he didn''t understand what that meant, king chose the cult?

    well, that probably made sense... king was said to be a founder of the cult-him, the demoness, and the silver emperor. but here, he was known as the pavilion head of the dream pavilion.

    it was odd that both would be true, and yet the powers would seem so independent here.

    "what is happening here, exactly? what is the challenge?"

    clarence looked at leonel deeply. instead of answering, he beckoned him into the empty temple. inside, there was a familiar set of nine steps, a prayer mat, and a treasure box.

    "that treasure box is both the greatest humiliation and the greatest chance of the pavilion. if you want to improve your dream force in the shortest time possible, try your hand at walking up them."

    "oh?" leonel''s eyes narrowed, but in the end, he agreed.

    what clarence didn''t expect was that he would take the first step so steadily.

 Chapter 2517 Ninth

    chapter 2517 ninth

    leonel placed his foot down, feeling a bit odd. there was a rush of pressure, but as though his body was a mesh, it rippled right through, unable to press down on him.

    he took a second step.

    this time, clarence''s eyes widened. after they increased the difficulty yet again, this was clarence''s limit. but why was it that leonel wasn''t blown off like he was?

    it had to be known that clarence had peak impetus state dream force, much like mo''''lexi. even if leonel was a talent, he should have left him far behind.

    clarence was correct. his dream force was stronger than leonel''s. unfortunately...

    leonel was also a dream sovereign.

    he took a third step.

    leonel felt a bit hesitant. looking at the treasure above, it didn''t seem so far away. he felt that he could leap to it immediately and it wouldn''t even stop him. nothing here could stop his steps. but, should he?

    he didn''t even know what he was getting himself into by coming here. something had called him, true enough. but he didn''t know what it was.

    at the same time, he could feel that this dream pavilion was beyond him. the moment he stepped foot into it, he felt that it had secrets that could crush the demon race invaders with ease if it was given the chance to.

    so why hadn''t they?

    it was that question that made leonel come in. he felt that there should be a reason holding them back, maybe even a sheer inability to do so. so he felt that it was still a worthwhile risk even if his odds of survival had fallen from 70% to not even 30%.

    but now, he was really playing with fire. what was up there?

    he took a fourth step.

    the only way to ignore the pressure was if you had far surpassed that or if...

    clarence''s eyes widened, and tears began to fall down his cheeks. he wasn''t crying because of sadness, and not out of happiness either. he was crying because of pure bitterness.

    leonel took the seventh step.

    the voice had said that according to the rules, only someone with life state dream force could be a pavilion head, but that was a new rule added recently.

    in the past, there was no rule at all. the strongest dream force expert in the pavilion would be the pavilion head, it was that simple.

    however... there was a method of circumventing all of that.

    one who wasn''t necessarily the strongest could gain the blessing of the pavilion by being just one particular thing....

    a dream sovereign.

    clarence''s tears spilled forth with even greater fervor. it was a joke, one big joke.

    leonel took the eighth step.

    he never had to trigger the challenge at all, but now they were finished. fate was playing a cruel joke on him.

    had he known leonel was a dream sovereign, he would have directly promoted him to pavilion head, they wouldn''t have had to go through any of this at all.

    but now it was too late. the fates were spitting in his face, laughing at his incompetence. and now, he had pulled leonel into this mess as well. because the moment he took that final step, there would no longer be any hiding it. all of those bastards would know.

    leonel took the final step, and the world lost its color.

    the treasure box vibrated and a pillar of light rose out from the temple.

    a cascade of raining force descended from the clouds, the entire vast bubble being enveloped in a whirlwind of blessings.

    the lid of the treasure box shook and began to rise up, a flood of light blinding leonel.

 Chapter 2518 Piss Off

    chapter 2518 piss off

    leonel shook his head furiously because he could finally get a good look at what was inside.

    his eyes widened.

    it was a tablet, but it was completely unlike his silver tablet. it was carved of a crystal clear crystalline gem that radiated an assortment of rainbow colors. it had a presence that far surpassed anything he had ever felt before.

    leonel knew that there were two categories of tablets. there was one category that he mentally referred to as the wise tablets. these tablets were the ones with inner worlds that likewise came with an exchange. he could use them to control certain things about the world and likewise use them to gain a deeper understanding of the world around him as well.

    then there were what he called the legacy tablets. they were tablets that had odd words written upon their surfaces, denoting things that leonel couldn''t really understand. and within them, there were lineage factors hidden that could be used to unlock and use abilities you were compatible with, but were not both with.

    this tablet here... was very clearly a wise tablet. it was the very kind of tablet he had in his possession, and it was the same tablet that mo''''lexi had in her possession.

    leonel had guessed that there were higher level wise tablets much like there were clearly tiers of legacy tablets, but he hadn''t even started maximizing his silver tablet before this... life tablet? appeared before him.

    there were so many more secrets he had yet to unearth, and-

    bang.

    the life tablet suddenly shot out of the treasure box and right into leonel''s forehead. he only had time to widen his eyes for a moment before it collided with him.

    he was sent flying back, but the life tablet was no longer present. instead, it had fused into his ethereal glabella, taking up a large amount of space all to itself. it stood in the very position that his stars had once done because they were transferred to his destruction world.

    at that moment, his mage core, a lush tree of rainbow leaves and an ability he had all but forgotten about, was suddenly subject to a rain of colors. rather than wilting, though, it flourished and grew. expanding again and again.

    the next silhouette was blown to pieces and none appeared after that.

    leonel sucked in a large amount of air.

    after he had gained the florer family''s lineage factor, every intentional breath of his could already kick up hurricanes and tsunamis, but now that he had really been pushed to his limit, if it wasn''t for the sturdy construction of the temple, it would have been blown off its foundation.

    clarence, who was at the end of his rope, was even blown away like a leaf in the wind, the wild beating of leonel''s heart sounding like the raging of war drums in his ears.

    it took several minutes before leonel finally began to calm down, but he was still pissed on the inside.

    he didn''t know much about the dream pavilion or who these people were, but he knew basic etiquette. you couldn''t just sweep your senses into someone''s home just because you felt like it.

    whether they were pressuring him on purpose or not, it pissed him off. who were they to casually step by like this was a common market and not the last bastion of the human race?

    each one of them had had a different shape and form, but he recognized them by this alone.

    the extra floating hands of the nomads, the ethereal presence of the spirituals, and then there came races that he could even understand or fathom, races that exuded might not much different from el''rion or shan''rae.

    leonel stood to his full height, finally having the strength to pull his back straight. his gaze was filled with a burning light.

    even without understanding the whole situation, he felt clarence''s rage already. he had actually been so heavily injured by a few glances. even now, with his vital star force, he had only recovered to about 50%. he would need a few more minutes before he could recover completely.

    he seemed to understand why clarence would take this path.

    he raised his head, and at that moment, a flood of information entered his mind.

    its origin? the pulsing life tablet.

 Chapter 2519 Easier

    chapter 2519 easier

    the flood of information came in such fierce waves that leonel''s mind nearly collapsed. if it wasn''t for the fact he had experience with becoming a dream asura, and the extra flood of information and sensory overload that came with it, it might have truly happened.

    he had no choice but to hunker down and hope that clarence didn''t use the opportunity to attack him. but the truth was that the current dream force affinity around him was so dense that someone trying to approach might just directly lose their mind as well. clarence couldn''t get close even if he wanted to.

    it wasn''t until three days later that the flood of information finally stopped, and leonel was able to open up a haggard pair of eyes. it looked as though he hadn''t slept in years; his mind had really gone through what felt like centuries of living just now. it wasn''t the kind of thing he wanted to experience again in a short time.

    luckily, aside from his experience as his enlightened self, he was also a dream sovereign and had strengthened his body considerably, allowing him to access more of the true strength of his dream force.

    as for the information he had received, it was unsurprisingly... a lot.

    for one, there was a bunch of information about the vast dream pavilion and its history. he learned that he had somehow become the de facto pavilion head and all this responsibility he had wanted to avoid in the first place had suddenly been thrown onto his shoulders.

    just earlier, he had wanted to create his own organization; he was already cycling between different cool uniform ideas and equally as cool names, and now he was strapped with this?

    the truth was that if leonel could take the benefits and avoid the hassle, he would. the trouble was that with that information had also come a great deal of context.

    one could see, then, how this would put humans at a great disadvantage.

    dream force was freest when it was separated from the body. even for leonel''s control ability index, he could only use his dream world as a proxy to impose order onto his body.

    humans who entered the true dream plane would find themselves fighting back against a great amount of cognitive dissonance. when that was layered with their already relatively weak dream force to begin with, it was a nightmare.

    luckily, leonel didn''t have this problem, and there were many other things he would be able to take advantage of in that situation, especially when the life tablet was on his side and given the fact he was a dream sovereign.

    there wasn''t much else left to do than prepare.

    he turned his attention to clarence. the latter had already recovered and seemed to have been watching over him. there was a tinge of regret in his eyes, but also a hint of helplessness.

    hindsight was 20-20. if he had known everything in advance, he would have never triggered the challenge sequence. but what was done was done. at this point, he could only say that they were lucky that leonel had taken so long to appear. thanks to that, their opponents were already locked in.

    if the higher-ranked dream pavilions had known of leonel''s existence, or the life tablet had been claimed earlier, they would have definitely entered this challenge as well.

    however, just because they couldn''t enter any longer, didn''t mean that they wouldn''t be able to influence the situation. there was no doubt that they were already moving in the shadows.

    and leonel''s arrogance, even to the point of kicking them all out so forcefully...

    well, it definitely wouldn''t make things any easier.

 Chapter 2520 Cute

    chapter 2520 cute

    leonel slowly rose to his feet, stretching out his back.

    right now, they were in a lull period. the opponents had been set, and the challenger now had the right to pick the time and date. the only rule was that it had to be within a year.

    the smart thing seemed to be to drag it out for as long as you could, but leonel knew that this was the exact wrong move. he had already thought of what clarence had. there were a great deal of moves being made in the shadows right now, and he had already wasted three days. he couldn''t waste any more time.

    however, it wasn''t all bad.

    existence was impossibly vast, and the dream pavilions were scattered all across it. even with the greatest means, it could easily take years to move from point a to point b, and that was even taking into account large-scale teleportation platforms and things of the like.

    if he gave him a year, they might really find a whole host of ways to make his life a living nightmare.

    but there was no way he''d do that.

    without speaking to clarence, leonel waved a hand and set the time. when clarence got the notification, his eyes widened, but he didn''t say anything in the end.

    ''this boy...'' clarence looked at leonel deeply.

    he had been there when leonel escaped from the clutches of the godlens. it might be because he was arrogant that he chose to do things like this, but clarence didn''t believe that to be the case.

    he felt that leonel was bold, but only in the right areas. even so, he was surprised that leonel had set the date for just a single day from now. in fact, it wasn''t even a full 24 hours.

    "the godlens sent a representative," clarence suddenly said.

    "oh?" leonel smiled. "i guess news spreads fast."

    as he spoke these words, the calmness in his voice didn''t transfer to the rest of his face. his expression carried a deep sneer.

    mere humans dared to use his gem dream pavilion as a stepping stone?

    ...

    the crafted dream pavilion.

    at the top of a wide set of stairs quite familiar to the likes of leonel and clarence, a woman wearing a flowing dress of pink diamond sat. two wings, more white than a subtle pink, spread to her back, looking as though each feather had been delicately carved by a white-gold leaf of metal.

    this was a woman that truly looked as though she had been plucked out of the sky from a world of deities. everything but her hawk-like eyes and fierce brows were truly perfect.

    this was the pavilion head of the crafted dream pavilion. the gem pavilion was ranked 947th, while they were ranked 529th. it could be said that the gem pavilion only swept in to fill the numbers because between the 529th ranked crafted dream pavilion and the 491st ranked breeze dream pavilion, most of the contribution points had already been matched.

    one could see, then, how large the gap between the top echelons and the bottom rung was. the vast pavilion had to double their contribution points just to rise up 20-odd spots, while these three pavilions, despite being much lower ranked, were able to pool their resources together to match them.

    this wasn''t too surprising, though. there was a line of demarcation every 1000 spots. all those ranked between 100 and 1000 were about the same. upon entering the top 100, though, there was a significant gap with every 10 spots you moved up...

    despite the fact there was a higher ranked dream pavilion partaking, though... it could be said that the crafted dream pavilion was by far the most dangerous.

    they weren''t ruled by the nomad race like the gem dream pavilion, nor the spirituals like the breeze dream pavilion.

    no, they were ruled by a demi-god race. a race of men and women descended from the once mighty minerva race...

    the owlan race... also known as the sages.

    the woman on the throne curled her beautiful lips into a smile.

    "cute," she said softly. this was truly amusing to her.

 Chapter 2521 Belief

    chapter 2521 belief

    leonel planted a kiss on aina''s forehead, cupping her cheeks with a smile on his face. though she smiled during the action, she frowned soon afterward.

    "what are you going to do this time?"

    leonel grinned. "just wreak a little havoc, nothing too big."

    "you''re a terrible liar."

    leonel laughed. "objectively, i''m the perfect liar. if there was a competition of liars across the world, i would probably be number one. i''m captain liar, king liar, emperor liar-"

    aina scrunched up her little nose, the adorable action causing leonel to stop and laugh.

    "you''re beautiful, you know that?"

    aina blushed at the sudden words. "what are you talking about all of a sudden? are you trying to sweet talk your way into my bed? keep going, it might work."

    leonel''s smile bloomed even brighter. he felt that he was really lucky to have a woman like this. although they hadn''t had the smoothest path to getting here, he felt that every moment was worth it.

    "just know, aina. nothing can keep me from returning, i promise."

    those pair of radiant golden eyes stared up at him, carrying a hint of something leonel hadn''t seen before.

    it was belief.

    it wasn''t shrouded by sadness, darkness, or even the slightest hint of doubt. she just believed in him. and for some reason, that made leonel feel stronger than he ever had before. goosebumps raced across his skin and he was suddenly intoxicated by the gaze of this woman in his arms.

    she was as tense as she could have been, and yet leonel only continued to play with her one breast, ignoring the other and the rest of her. the sensation of heat and anxiety overwhelmed her, and suddenly a faint drizzle of a sparkling liquid dripped down her inner thigh.

    aina didn''t notice it, but leonel most definitely did.

    a smile spread across his face. "do you want to go inside?"

    aina nodded, her voice not working.

    "are you sure?"

    she nodded again, but for some reason she seemed to forget what a nod of yes and a shake of no. her head hesitated, and then she did the latter, before changing and going to the former, and then second guessing herself once again and going for the latter once more.

    leonel''s smile deepened, his head lowering and kissing her delicate lips.

    aina shuddered as she moaned beside herself. she couldn''t even control it, and didn''t have the time to feel embarrassed that she had entered such a state from a mere peck on the lips.

    leonel''s hand left her breast, trailing down her toned torso and grabbing her thigh with a strong palm. the current aina was standing on her tippy toes, too uncomfortable to place her feet on the ground... or maybe it was just that she really wanted leonel to kiss her again.

    the strong hand, though, made her knees feel weak. if not for how tense she was, she might have already collapsed.

    leonel looked into her eyes. those golden irises darted back and forth, somewhat wanting to focus on leonel, but also scanning the forest to make sure that no one was coming. her heart only beat faster and faster.

    and just when her anxiety had reached a peak, she suddenly felt leonel''s hand slip between her thighs.

    her hands shot downward, grabbing leonel''s forearm with both hands. however, when she felt its size, the pulsing vascularity on it, the fact her own hands couldn''t even wrap halfway around his hulking mass, she looked into his eyes again. she had simply never been so attracted to any other man before. even his forearms were perfect, what flaw did he have?

    a finger gently glided down her other set of pink lips and her mind went blank. if not for leonel''s kiss, she might have alerted anastasia''s entire world...

    and she wouldn''t have given a damn as the pleasure came in waves.

 Chapter 2522 37th

    chapter 2522 37th

    leonel tightly wrapped the last band across his forearm and made sure that his turban was in place. he looked like quite the arabian prince right now if he did say so himself.

    according to the system of the dream pavilion, the different colors of turbans represented different things, but truthfully he couldn''t be bothered to give a damn. he had suddenly become the pavilion head and none of that other stuff mattered, so he just took a black turban for himself.

    his wrists and ankles were tied by matching black fabric, and there was also another matching piece of fabric in the form of a cloth belt around his waist.

    other than that, his clothing was quite loose. a set of white linen that felt so light that it truly might have been made out of clouds. there were some faded images of clouds floating across it, but leonel had chosen a far more subtle option.

    with that done, leonel stepped out from the temple. however, down below, there was only clarence and no one else, causing leonel to sneer.

    "the challenge was something that leonel didn''t really have a choice but to participate in as the pavilion head. this was the case even though the decision had been made without his consent.

    however, to everyone else, there was technically nothing forcing them to go. although leonel could make them with his powers, they probably thought he didn''t dare to.

    truthfully, leonel just didn''t care to. what good were these burdens to him? he had stronger dream force than everyone but clarence, and even then his dream force was stronger than clarence''s in this case because of his dream sovereignty and the life tablet.

    clarence sighed helplessly. ''i tried, but...''

    ''we don''t need useless members,'' leonel said with a wave of his hand.

    what he didn''t say was that if not for a certain rule, he would have kicked them all out directly. unfortunately, the dream pavilion not only needed a pavilion head, but they also needed a certain number of members to continue being a pavilion.

    however, leonel would have a method of dealing with gemmes and the others very soon.

    and then it looked at leonel.

    leonel had his eyes closed. even when the figure appeared, and he clearly sensed it, he didn''t open his eyes.

    ''the void dream pavilion is willing to take up this challenge on behalf of the vast dream pavilion in exchange for the life tablet.''

    leonel''s eyes slowly opened.

    ''do you know shan''rae?''

    the sudden question took everyone off guard, even the shadowy figure itself.

    ''shan''rae. 37th in line for the void throne. unmatured.''

    ''mm,'' leonel nodded. ''when you go back, be sure to tell her that i remember her quite clearly. in the future, she won''t be so arrogant.''

    silence fell.

    the fact that the figure knew shan''rae at all was a truly shocking matter. this meant that this junior had an exceptionally high status. although there were very few god children to begin with, why would someone of high status bother to remember them all unless they were important?

    37th in line for the void throne was even more shocking. this meant that this junior was the 37th most talented of the void race, regardless of generation. so long as you weren''t of the eldest generation, you were qualified to be on this list... even if you had just been born.

    this held even more weight than just remembering her name.

    but then how could leonel possibly know her?

    ''you can go now,'' leonel said calmly. then, without waiting for any other interruptions, leonel pressed a foot down and dream force erupted.

    the challenge had begun.

 Chapter 2523 A Child

    chapter 2523 a child

    no one expected leonel to begin the proceedings so abruptly, least of all clarence. but at the end of the day, he realized that being subservient at this point would do them no good. it would only kill their own momentum for little to no reason. the more mysterious and all-knowing leonel seemed, the more they would benefit.

    he could already sense the shift in the gazes of the participants, some of them even sporting frowns. seeds of caution sprouted in their hearts as they all vanished.

    ...

    void dream pavilion.

    a man with skin that looked like reflective glass, displaying the stars and galaxies within, slowly opened his eyes.

    he didn''t seem enraged, but the expression of such a race was hard to read to begin with. if one really wanted to know, all they had to gaze upon were the rising number of supernovas dotted across his body.

    but soon, even those calmed.

    according to the rules, dream pavilions in the top ten had special privileges, one of them being replacing a willing party in a challenge event. he had chosen to take action on this matter.

    he wasn''t the only one to think of it, but he was the fastest to react. the time leonel left them was indeed too small to affect the situation on any sort of wide scale.

    he wanted to call shan''rae here, but unfortunately, he couldn''t just casually do so. she was a junior, but she wasn''t a junior he could order around as he pleased. her status was too high, but his status wasn''t anything to sneeze at either even though dream force wasn''t a strong suit of the void race.

    ''hm?''

    leonel immediately leapt back.

    his body, right now, was shrouded in a willowy cloak of white and gold fog, his previous clothing having seemingly covered up. above his head, there was a crown that hovered about three inches from his scalp, releasing the same foggy energy.

    beneath this cloak and crown, the clothes he remembered wearing were underneath, but even they felt slightly ethereal. the feeling was odd, almost as though he was controlling his soul to move around in his head instead of controlling his body directly.

    as for why he had leapt back, it was because a willowy wisp of a creature had suddenly attacked.

    it was exuding similar foggy colors, but much more muted. it took the form of a small little fox of barely three quarters of a meter tall, three tails waving around to its back.

    ''starry tailed fox? a child?''

    yip!

    the starry tailed fox attacked again, this time even swifter and faster. leonel felt a suppression around him. this creature might be small, but much like the god races, the power it exuded was incredible despite its youth. it didn''t even make sense to check for its dimension; what made the most sense was checking for its threat level.

    and that was high.

    however, it was greatly restrained here as well. its main force was dream force and dream force alone. the golden lights it was giving off were nothing more than a mirage.

    ''down,'' leonel thought, and a wave of dream force manifested like any other. the world was twisted and controlled, bending to his might and slamming the little fox to the ground as though a gravity domain had just been activated.

    leonel reached forward and picked it up by one of its tails.

 Chapter 2524 Advantage

    chapter 2524 advantage

    these were the dream creatures of the true dream plane.

    upon entering, they were all sent to random locations, and even clarence wasn''t by his side any longer. the purpose of these dream creatures was both as a challenge and an opportunity.

    you were meant to kill them and take the bundle of dream force they left behind. this dream force was unique in that it gave you access to two paths.

    the first path was the path of the creature itself and the second was your own.

    to make a complicated matter simple, you could either use the kernel of dream force as a conduit to use the abilities of the creature in question, or to access one of your own.

    however, there were obviously tradeoffs.

    if you chose the first path, you might not be used to the abilities of the starry tailed fox.

    however, if you chose the latter, the starry tailed fox might not be used to your abilities, and as a result, it would be limited in how much of said abilities it could help you to access.

    without these creatures, the only force one could use here was dream force.

    manipulating dream force in this world was akin to manipulating wind force or any other ambient force in the outside world. you could quite literally use it like a bludgeon, a blade, or anything of the sort. in fact, maybe the best way to think about it was akin to a telekinetic ability that only worked in this place.

    the higher your dream force comprehension, the more dream force you could mobilize in a single instant of time, and as a result the stronger you would be in this world.

    the problem, then, was obvious.

    but what was in the cards was...

    "where''s all the good stuff?" leonel asked with a grin.

    there was one goal more important than anything else here. this challenge obviously wouldn''t just end with the death of all but one group; that would be too bloody. in fact, a death here wouldn''t be a true death unless someone was exceptionally sinister and wiped out every drop of your dream force.

    of course, leonel wouldn''t be banking on the kindness of his enemies to save his life. considering the angst everyone had against humans, how could they not kill him? that aside, how would they get the life tablet that had fused with him if not by killing him? it could be said that everyone could live but him.

    this was all to say that the goal of this challenge wasn''t killing.

    those mountains in the distance, all child''s play. there was only one mountain they needed to pay real attention to, at least when it came to victory: and that was dream mountain.

    it was the largest, located on the highest cloud and disappearing into the skies above.

    the goal was to be the first to reach it, but doing so was easier said than done. if one casually stepped onto it, your dream force could be snuffed out instantaneously and you would suffer a true death.

    the main goal was to gather enough treasures that you could force your own anchor, sacrificing those anchors instead of your true body.

    it sounded complicated but the short of it was that they needed to create a shield that would weather the storm for them.

    creatures like this starry tailed fox were one way, but there were also various treasures hidden in mountains.

    it would usually take time to find these treasures, and the creatures themselves weren''t exactly easy to find either. leonel had just gotten a bit lucky that one attacked him immediately.

    however, if leonel could use these creatures to point him in the direction instead, these creatures that spent year ''round in this true dream plane, wouldn''t his advantage be huge?

    yip! yip!

 Chapter 2525 Gem Force

    chapter 2525 gem force

    the little fox shot off and began to lead leonel down a trail.

    ''i have maybe five more minutes before i''m tapped out. i hope this place is close or else i''ll have to call it.''

    luckily, it was. or, more accurately, leonel realized that he could move through this world quite fast. he didn''t just have to use dream force like a weapon; he could use it as an auxiliary amplifier to his real body as well and almost swim through the air instead of running.

    when he realized this, he picked up the little fox and shot through the air. it seemed that escape and maneuvering would have to be something he focused on in this round.

    soon, he spotted what the little fox was pointing him toward. then, forming up a large concentration of force, he trapped the little fox in a box and shot toward the distance.

    the fox would only listen to him for as long as the life tablet''s suppression stuck around. any longer than that and it would become a danger to him. he thought about just killing it directly, but it was hard to tell when he''d find such an easy to control guide again.

    leonel glided to a stop, shrouding himself in dream force to hide his presence.

    on his way here, he had noticed several things about this world, the most important of which was that internal sight didn''t work the normal way either.

    one''s internal sight became more like echo location than a secondary extension of your senses like it should have been. as a result, what others were sensing wasn''t your body, but rather the interaction of your body with the dream force around you.

    if you shrouded it well enough, you could become like the rapax: entirely immune to detection through internal sight.

    leonel burst forward with a great amount of dream force and smashed the barrier around the treasure, grabbing the scepter.

    a surge of force came from the touch. leonel felt that the scepter increased his dream force control, or rather the amount he could control, but around 20%. it wasn''t anything huge, but it was worthwhile.

    the white stone elephants raised their trunks, their slightly illusory bodies trembling as they trumpeted into the skies.

    the clouds wobbled as they rushed for leonel. their bodies were instantly coated by a sparkling, gem-like force.

    leonel had skipped over the white stone elephant, but he knew that it had a strong earth force under its belt, and that must be it.

    earth force wasn''t very useful in the general sense in this place, but if he could use it for added defense, it would be invaluable.

    leonel rose high into the skies until the elephants had no hope of reaching him. dream force surrounded him and kept him afloat as he waved the scepter, unleashing a barrage of blows below.

    like invisible hammers, they collided against the bodies of the elephants, causing their gem force to break apart beneath the pressure and crushing their bodies.

    leonel controlled the pieces of broken off gem force with a natural ease, then he used the life tablet to suppress the mind of the elephants, causing their reaction time to lag just a touch.

    if he could control the little fox, of course, he could do this as well. he didn''t need to spend all that dream force if he could use it as a cheat to quickly win the battle.

    the gem force crystals of the elephants tore into their skulls.

    just as they were about to dissipate and a large amount of their dream force was going to be wasted, the life tablet trembled and all of it shot toward leonel, entering his body.

 Chapter 2526 Tier One

    chapter 2526 tier one

    ''i need a method of measuring strength in this place, my previous attempt was too crude. i''ll go back to my roots.''

    leonel smiled to himself. he remembered the first time he had stepped into this world of blood and carnage, his days back in the mayan temple. he had thought his ability index was just purely sensory due to the ascension empire''s watch. so, he had tried to maximize it in the best ways he could. one method was assigning enemies he saw various stats. he had built that database off of what he knew about human limits and the like, and it had worked well until overpowered ability indexes and forces began to play a larger and larger role.

    he eventually abandoned that model because it wasn''t worth his while to keep tabs on it. though, he still had a natural ability to read a person''s ability, see through their weaknesses and strengths, and act accordingly.

    ''there''s no need to use such an elaborate system as i''ll only need it for the length of this challenge. let''s go with a simple tier one to tier nine system for threat levels. i''ll place my initial level at tier one for when i just entered this world and tier nine is probably the power you''d need to reach the top of the mountain. i''ll put a threat like the little fox at tier zero as they aren''t any threat to me at all...

    ''i''d guess that the likes of clarence would probably be a tier two threat to me the moment he stepped into this world. from what i can tell about the other, the highest threat upon just entering this world would be that woman, she''s at least at tier five even without gathering any treasures and the like. her entourage is only a half step below her as well, both of them could likely be considered tier five as well. most are at tier three, with only a few stragglers being at tier two like clarence, but they''re the minority. there should also be another minority at tier four as well.

    ''after absorbing the two elephants, i''d say that i''m about halfway to a tier two threat. with the scepter, i''m about 60% of the way there. just taking advantage of my added flexibility in using dream force compared to others, i am probably comparable to a tier two threat already.''

    leonel nodded to himself, feeling comfortable with his new system. he had to work faster than others because he wasn''t the only person who could improve in this place. his greatest advantages lay in one, his flexibility, and two, in the knowledge he could gather.

    one was for a sword, and the other was for a pair of boots.

    he ignored the sword because it was of little use to him. he didn''t kill the creatures around it either because even though it would benefit him, it might also let someone else take cheap advantage of the situation-though he was fairly certain that there was no one else in this mountain range but himself.

    the boots, however, had another problem, and that was that he would need at least tier three strength before trying to claim it. that was because it was perched at the top of a large crystalline tree embedded into the side of the mountain range, a tree that was guarded by a snowy star owl.

    the tree was easily over 200 meters tall, and the owl that called it home was easily over five. that owl was the first tier four threat that leonel had run into.

    still, none of this stopped leonel from quickly reaching tier two.

    even at this stage, the scepter still gave the same 20% boost. it seemed that the strength these weapons and treasures gave were consistent and didn''t change.

    by this point, leonel had gathered a cloak, a belt, and a necklace.

    their boosts didn''t stack or multiply; they were instead additive. the scepter and belt gave a 20% boost, while the cloak and necklace both gave 10% boosts. in total, leonel''s dream force abilities were amplified by 50% total.

    although it should have been 60%, it seemed that there was a drawback to the treasures after all.

 Chapter 2527 You

    chapter 2527 you

    from what leonel could tell, the scepter and belt were on the same level and as such didn''t restrain one another. however, they took precedence over the cloak and necklace, suppressing their strength by half. leonel realized, then, that he would have to likely balance his treasures out in the future. even if he ran into a treasure that gave a large boost, he might have to abandon it depending on what effect it had on his weaker treasures.

    seeing the hidden layers of complexities of the challenge, leonel noted them and didn''t mind them too much. even with this drawback, he was still only a hair away from tier three, and not even an hour had passed. unless one was of much greater strength than himself, it was impossible to move so quickly. but the gaps between tiers were also harder and harder to bridge with the creatures he was targeting right now.

    leonel killed another and finally felt that he had closed the gap on tier three. it was time to target that tier four snowy star owl. he let the little fox go. he already knew the general location of the other treasures it wanted to point him toward-that being the ones in other mountain ranges. and, since killing it wouldn''t do him any good, there was no need to do so.

    although he was pretty sure that these creatures weren''t actually real, and were instead just echoes of dream force, it still didn''t feel good to kill such an adorable little guy even if it wanted to bite his head off every time his suppression over it loosened.

    leonel chuckled to himself as he neared the region. he was still flying, soaring through the miasma of dream force as though he was swimming through the deep sea.

    he wasn''t filtering it through some other concept or understanding. no, he was powering it directly with his will, a step beyond what his grandfather had managed to accomplish. the arrows collided with the wings of the owl just as it wanted to rise and surge toward him. many shattered off of its body, but they continued falling, hitting the same spots over and over again as leonel closed the distance.

    the first few could only delay the owl, but the next few made it feel real pain until the following few finally tore through its hard exterior. just in time for leonel to close in with his spear.

    man and bird erupted into battle, harsh winds threatening to slice leonel apart and blow him back all at once. he wielded dream force, sending the wind sifting around him as though he had begun an aerodynamic machine. at the same time, he took advantage of this split to thrust forward, a spear dance erupting.

    bang. bang. bang! he was only half the size of the bird, but his dream force moved so flexibly and beautifully that one would have thought that he was the giant in this situation. it wasn''t just using dream force like a blunt weapon, but it rather became an extension of himself, a conduit of his will.

    slowly, a much larger shadow of leonel began to appear around him, almost like an avatar of his will and an arbiter of his desire. he began to suppress the owl, his gaze blazing with his intent. a wide smile spread across his face, suddenly realizing why it was he had always felt so in tune with dream force.

    it wasn''t just because he had dream asura blood running through his veins, or that he was a wise star order, or even that he was born with the perfect ability index... it was because it was the only force that didn''t influence you, the only force where you were the influence.

    leonel''s laughter boomed as he shredded the owl to pieces. his dream force reached the peak impetus state.

 Chapter 2528 Blown into the Wind

    chapter 2528 blown into the wind

    the moment leonel''s dream force progressed, his foundational strength rose from tier one to tier two. at the same time, he went from having barely entered tier three to already being a large part of the way toward tier four.

    the life tablet rumbled and wisps of the snowy star owl condensed and rushed into leonel''s body. in that instant, leonel was over 70% of the way to tier four. another two or three creatures on this level and he would definitely reach that point. however, he wasn''t thinking about that for the moment, or even the boots that the owl had been protecting. it was instead that he had forgotten the most valuable part of this challenge.

    why was it that clarence, when his back was against the wall, had chosen to do this? well, it was in one part a "fuck you" to all the masterminds in the background trying to suppress the last bastion of the human race, but there was a deeper reason.

    he wanted to use this as a chance to reach the life state. he felt that it was his last chance to do so, and it was his last opportunity to save the pavilion from falling into the hands of another race. this was a low tier challenge zone. however, even the lowest tier, which this wasn''t, gave one help toward the insights of dream force that no other place could. if there was any place to use to progress your dream force, it was, without a doubt, this place.

    he made a move toward another mountain range, his internal sight spread out far and wide. he wasn''t in fear of being found anymore. in fact, just following the odds, he hoped that he would be found. his speed of progress was definitely far beyond everyone else''s. that meant that the only threats to him right now, logically speaking, were probably those owlans and the pavilion heads of the other two pavilions as well as a few of the top brass.

    it was a numbers game, and he felt that he would benefit from eliminating some competition right now. although it seemed smarter to bide his time and wait until he was tier seven or higher to rush and kill everyone, this challenge had too many variables.

    while it was true anyone else would need ten times more resources to advance as far as him, they could also challenge much stronger beasts and claim much stronger treasures as well. right now, they were still getting used to the lay of the land and trying to find those advantages. if just say back, they could make up for their deficit against him just based on pure strength.

    he couldn''t allow that. however, what leonel found first was completely out of his expectations. he froze, standing in place. looking up, he found a haggard figure impaled by several small tree branches. these miniature crystalline trees became like barbed wires in the man''s flesh.

    this was a world where they hadn''t even entered with their real bodies, they were just projections. to go through all this trouble to not directly kill a person, but to instead make them suffer such long, grueling, and agonizing pain... just why?

    he had just been thinking about this man, just been thinking about how close the human race was to ascending if they could just survive this one plight, if they could make it over this one hill. and yet, here he was now, breathing his last breaths. clarence''s dream force formed wisps in the air, disappearing like smoke blown into the wind.

    leonel stood in silence.

 Chapter 2529 [Bonus] Huge Role

    chapter 2529 [bonus] huge role

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 1/6]

    leonel didn''t move for a long while. if one observed his expression, it would be hard to tell that he could feel anything at all, let alone what he was feeling.

    sometimes his analytical abilities were a bit of a curse. the human response would be to rush forward. he didn''t know clarence very well, but he had done more for the actual sake of humans than anyone else leonel had ever met.

    it wasn''t that fake, pompous, uppity path those powers tried to take, sacrificing those they thought to be lesser than them and trying to herd them like animals. he had put himself on the line, like a true man of humanity should have, like a true leader should have.

    compared to the likes of vivak, or mo''''lexi, or any one of the great families, he was leagues beyond.

    in the end, the dream pavilion hadn''t been under his control. the decisions that they had made earlier had all been kings, and the decisions made afterward could only be jointly decided by the several deputy pavilion heads even if clarence was the strongest of them all.

    he was a man worthy of respect, even though he hadn''t immediately had all of leonel''s trust.

    however, leonel didn''t run to what was left of him. his mind knew why.

    clarence would be gone in 4.7 seconds. it would take him, even at his fastest speed, 5.2 seconds to reach him. in that last 0.5 seconds, it would feel like an eternity, such a small segment of time to a third dimensional existence might as well have been an impossibly vast chasm to someone with his strength, and only made worse by his speed of thought.

    there was no reaching him. there was nothing he could do even if he did.

    from start to finish, his expression didn''t change even the slightest, a mask of the deepest indifference taking hold of his every feature.

    but he was angry.

    without a word, he moved, climbing up the mountain.

    he found a tier two creature quickly, a much weaker snowy star owl. this was exactly what he needed. a flying creature like the owl would be able to reach areas it wasn''t necessarily supposed to reach, and it was weak enough that leonel wouldn''t have to drain a large amount of dream force in order to control it to direct him.

    with its help, he quickly found three tier threes in quick succession, two of them being around treasures with 20% boosts. after the suppression of the boots, that raised his abilities by 80% total. even though his base dream force wasn''t enough to reach tier four, the addition of the new treasures was enough to hit that point.

    however, it wasn''t enough. he needed enough strength to reach the top of the mountains.

    he had been too focused on increasing strength that would vanish the moment he stepped out of this world, and not enough on things that could give him a great deal of help in the immediate and afterward.

    his breakthrough to peak impetus state had reminded him of that, and instead of arranging his dreamscape to focus on things that would speed up his victory, he changed its parameters just a little bit.

    the information that the life tablet had given him was too vast. much like when he entered his enlightened state, much of it slipped through the crack. but unlike when he was in his enlightened state, the information didn''t just vanish because it was part of the life tablet itself.

    due to this, leonel could only access information he directly focused on, so he used one of the very first abilities he had carved from his ability index: dreamscape.

    dreamscape could essentially think for him, connecting dots it would usually take him time to connect. it had been a great help to him over the years.

    and now it would play a huge role again.

 Chapter 2530 [Bonus] Dominant

    chapter 2530 [bonus] dominant

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 2/6]

    from focusing on the speed of victory, leonel shifted the task of his dreamscape to dominant victory. he would take no hostages in this game, and he no longer gave a damn about how deeply offended the enemies of the human race would become.

    since he had come here, he was already a thorny rose in their otherwise well-trimmed gardens. since that was the case, he might as well poison the bouquet at the same time.

    the true dream plane had nine total states that it could be in. with each state you went up, the dangers would be greater, but the rewards would likewise be all the more appetizing as well.

    the point of the challenge was never to kill, much like leonel had said previously. it was created as a friendly ground to exchange pointers. as for why contribution points were necessary to open it, it was because of how expensive the true dream plane was to open and run. everything here needed a great deal of energy and it couldn''t be opened just because one felt like it.

    this was all to say that the main point of the true dream plane was improvement, not battle, not revenge, and certainly not killing.

    the reason leonel was focused on the speed of victory before was one, for clarence''s sake, and two because if he allowed this to drag out for too long, the advantages he had in the beginning could be quickly whittled away.

    although he had made a nice little tiered system for himself, and it seemed that if he worked hard enough, he''d be able to touch tier nine eventually, the harsh truth was that the only reason he was on a level playing field with these behemoths was because of his sovereignty.

    plus, he also hadn''t forgotten that these powers had definitely come with trump cards of their own. he wasn''t the only one who might have an advantage of some sort.

    using the snowy star owl, leonel quickly upped his kill count until he was truly at tier four. this wasted an extra two hours, but this was work he would have done anyway. he also managed to find some treasures to put him at 100% amplification.

    then, he abandoned the snowy star owl and shot up the mountain. he moved low to the ground, not even running on his feet, but instead flying low. he controlled the dream force around him, his goal being the top of the mountain.

    what he didn''t expect was that after all this preparation, he''d find the tier six beast that he was preparing to deal with in a heated battle with something else.

    leonel''s gaze flashed with a gold-like.

    it was a starry tailed fox, one that stood proudly at almost five meters tall and had three tails that rose into the skies and seemed to stir the clouds.

    the opponent opposite it was a nomad, and he was surprisingly able to fight it although he was clearly at a disadvantage.

    ''they''re at this strength already? that''s impossible.''

    no one should be able to match leonel''s skill, not with all the simulations he had run. that meant there was a variable that was out of his control.

    he used his eyes to scan for anything he was missing until he noticed an oddity in the man''s forehead.

    all nomads had ethereal glabellas so large that they peeked out from their foreheads. it gave them an almost otherworldly appearance, if their two pairs of floating hands didn''t already do that.

    inside, leonel could faintly see the scene of shimmering runes that caged what looked like a white stone elephant.

    his eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 2531 [Bonus] Forgetful

    chapter 2531 [bonus] forgetful

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 3/6]

    leonel would be lying if he said that he wasn''t surprised by this. rather than killing the creature, this man used his ethereal glabella to somehow trap it, and it was a shortcut of sorts to solidifying the connection with his real body.

    ''it should be related to those runes. that''s definitely not a natural ability, or my studies would have stumbled upon it. in that case, it''s definitely a treasure they used some special means to bring in.''

    but leonel could also tell that this treasure had its limitations.

    that white stone elephant should be a tier five threat, and that was around the same threat level the man was exuding as well. as for the man''s original threat level, it should have been tier four.

    this was to say that this man only had to capture one beast to immediately shoot up that level. even for leonel, if he had to calculate how many tier five beasts it would take him to go from tier four to tier five, it would probably be at least a dozen.

    unfortunately, the cost for each tier was just heavier. it would have taken him longer to reach tier four if not for the fact his dream force had improved.

    but with those benefits came clear drawbacks.

    this man could obviously only capture one creature at a time, and he was probably trying to defeat this tier six so that he could swap it out and replace his tier five one. if he did so, he would be even more dangerous.

    the forgetful orbs was a masterful piece of engineering, and an application of dream force so far beyond leonel that even though he felt like his ability index should be able to replicate it, he had no idea how... at least not without at least experiencing it for himself first.

    by stripping him of the context of his comprehension, he would enter a state of limbo of sorts. however, because his force manipulation would remain intact, he would be able to easily reform the connections.

    these connections, though, would be unlikely to be perfect.

    it was almost like writing an essay you already had once before. the ideas were already fresh in your mind, and you already somewhat knew how you had structured them the first time, and now you could rewrite it faster and likely even better than the first time.

    if you went through this process enough times, your comprehension would inevitably deepen.

    there was no better way to check if you had a good grasp on a subject than having to explain it to someone else. and in this context, it would be like you were explaining it to yourself once again.

    according to the life tablet, this application of dream force was so high level that it had never been replicated before. it was probably one of the reasons the god races insisted on having at least one pavilion to themselves. if not for how expensive it was to enter true dream planes that had forgetful orbs that could work on their true powerhouses, they would have probably tried to monopolize them all.

    since they were the de facto leaders of the dream pavilions now, they couldn''t just use contribution points to blind themselves. obviously, the contribution points had to represent something, and they were the ones shelling out the funds.

    leonel shot forward, swimming low through the clouds of dream force. he didn''t even look toward the battle anymore, quickly closing in on his target.

    his control over his own dream force was perfect. he was completely undetectable unless one of the two laid their real eyes on him, and which one would be looking at a random point on the ground in the middle of such a heated battle?

    he appeared before the orb and no longer bothered to hide himself, mostly because he couldn''t. a random point in the ground was one thing, the treasure everyone was after was a completely different one.

    he plucked it off the altar before their gazes.

 Chapter 2532 [Bonus] Karma

    chapter 2532 [bonus] karma

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 4/6]

    the nomad''s eyes opened wide. he didn''t expect such a thing to happen, and he definitely didn''t expect that if it should that the culprit would be leonel of all people.

    in truth, he had thought that the humans had come in with some huge trump card. they had moved quite a bit to deal with them. these runes floating before his forehead weren''t even the start of it. in reality, the games had begun even before leonel activated it all.

    they had wasted a great deal of contribution points on a treasure that could allow them to avoid random teleportation. as a result, they had all appeared in the same mountain range.

    clarence had ended up being quite unlucky as a result. he didn''t lose his life at the hands of just a single nomad, but rather over a dozen of them.

    eventually, they had chosen to spread out after their leader helped each one of them catch a tier five to bolster their strengths immediately, thus solidifying their advantage.

    their task now was to each claim a tier six while their leader went off to fight a tier seven. then, they would regroup using a similar method to what they used previously and steam roll the competition.

    everything was going smoothly, and though he seemed to be at a disadvantage now, that was already to be expected. he was just about ready to launch his counter attack...

    and then leonel appeared.

    in truth, they had originally entered just for the contribution points. it was a large amount and they wanted them. so long as they were at least second place, they would recoup their bet and then some.

    however, when leonel appeared, that focus had shifted, but not as much as one might think.

    they knew that wielding the life tablet was beyond them and their main goal was still pretty much the same. according to their leader, they were only to deal with leonel if the opportunity presented itself.

    to think it would present itself like this.

    leonel asked this with a smile, but for some reason ovrian just felt chillier and chillier.

    "you know, i don''t really care about the differences between races. to me, a life is a life. you probably think i''m speaking nonsense, but i''ve given up real, tangible benefits before because of those beliefs, and i''d do it again."

    ovrian didn''t know why the words of this young man were striking him so close to heart, to his soul. he wasn''t being moved by them. rather, he just couldn''t feel anything other than fear. real, tangible, unbridled fear.

    and then it struck him.

    dream force.

    how was the ability of his young man to impose his will on the world so powerful already?

    leonel landed on the ground.

    "but every one of you keeps provoking me."

    "it wasn''t me!" ovrian suddenly squeezed out.

    "oh? but i never mentioned anything," leonel laughed. "what wasn''t "you", exactly?"

    "i... i..."

    the dream force in the surroundings rippled beneath leonel''s landing.

    "it''s fine, i''ve already guessed most of it. this mountain range has so few existences of a truly powerful tier. it took me two hours just to find enough to reach this level. that beast in your forehead probably isn''t the only one your group caught, huh?"

    leonel''s smile faded, a deep indifference returning.

    "i hope you aren''t reincarnated as a human in your next life. wouldn''t that make karma too on the nose?"

    ovrian died screaming.

 Chapter 2533 [Bonus] Life

    chapter 2533 [bonus] life

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 5/6]

    leonel waved a hand and let the dream force dissipate. he didn''t seem to care very much about what he had just done and had already moved to focus on other things. he knew that there were probably several pairs of eyes on him, but whether he did things this way or another, nothing would change.

    he caught something in the air and then looked up. he had left the starry tailed fox behind and had taken a bit of a quick path down the mountain, but there was no telling if it would try to follow after him.

    as for what he had caught in his hand, it was none other than the net of runes the nomad race was using to skyrocket their strength in a short time.

    leonel observed it for a moment and shook his head. observing force arts that were so far beyond him in skill was annoying enough without it also being drawn in a language he had never seen before. he wasn''t even sure how to use it, or if he should use it at all for that matter.

    there was a clear tradeoff with its use and it wasn''t necessarily worth it, not if you were alone now like leonel. if you were in a huge group and could make use of it to elevate the whole in a short time, it was definitely worthwhile.

    ''it is a bit annoying though...''

    he was used to grasping everything crafting and force arts related instantly, but now he felt like the same kid he had been back then when he first started to learn about these matters.

    it made sense. his father was far beyond the rest of the dimensional verse in skill, and under his tutelage, everything leonel learned laid a foundation that made seeing through everything else as easy as breathing.

    unfortunately, while the foundation his father had laid for him was still solid, leonel wasn''t far away from completing the training regimen. in another couple of years, he felt that he would catch up to his father in crafting skill, and by then he would be on his own for the first time.

    breaking apart, analyzing, rebuilding, these were things the life tablet was there to assist wise star orders with.

    the moment leonel broke the orb and targeted his dream force, he felt that he was in limbo and there were constant attacks on his mind. "forgetting" the context of your dream force in a world where you relied on your dream force to stay alive was masochistic, without a doubt. but leonel did so without hesitation.

    it was just that he trusted the life tablet, or that he trusted his talent either, it was instead that he had a clear view of what had triggered his sovereignty.

    he remembered the imposing might mo''''lexi had released back then, the world of endless blood and carnage... how it had made him feel.

    the reality of it was that he felt as though a mirror had been put up to his face, like he was forced to confront every one of his actions.

    he felt the visceral and disgusting feelings one should have to what true destruction was, and it was that moment that crafted his dream sovereignty, not because it was related to destruction, but rather because he didn''t want to have anything to do with it.

    that single, pulsing will had cleared the blood lake of his mind and released the large portion of his soul steeped in the blood of demons from its shackles, and he gained...

    tranquility.

    the forgetful orb could erase the context of his force comprehension, but it couldn''t erase the context of his sovereignty, the kernel that gave his dream force true life.

    as a result, it took leonel mere minutes to begin to reconstruct the web of his dream force once more. he could feel every line, intimately understand every hidden truth. it became stronger, more robust, and when it finally came together again, he felt the world around him slowly changing.

    he opened his eyes, a deep violet light pulsing within. in reality, though, it was a pulse of silver that matched well with his irises, using them as a filter to manifest itself to the world.

    leonel looked down at himself. ''quasi life state, and so easily at that... that took maybe a few minutes.''

    he gripped his fists, feeling the strength of tier five very clearly.

 Chapter 2534 [Bonus] Example

    chapter 2534 [bonus] example

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. ham <3 6/6]

    the quasi life state was worth so much more to leonel. because of his sovereignty, it was as good as a true life state. it was akin to two halves coming together to make a whole.

    according to what el''rion had said back then, sovereignty was the representation of the life state. it allowed much lower-level forces to display some of the strength of the life state ahead of time.

    it could also be said that a force that was both in the life state and maintained a sovereign air was on an entirely different level than both. the truest strength of sovereignty wouldn''t be seen until one entered the life state and maintained it.

    thanks to this, leonel skipped over tier four entirely and gained tier five strength, catching up with the foundation of the owlans. it had not even been a quarter of the day, but he didn''t feel complacent at all.

    remembering how much progress the nomad race had been able to make so quickly, he understood that he couldn''t afford to get complacent.

    he looked down at the net of runes before him.

    ''hm... this could be useful even if i don''t fuse it with myself.''

    leonel picked it up and shot into the distance. his tier five status plus his 100% booster was showing its strength right now and he shot right back up the mountain to where a certain tier six beast was still rampaging.

    the moment it spotted leonel, it lunged at him, but just as quickly, it was suppressed by the life tablet.

    leonel didn''t want to control the creature for information. ironically, precisely because it was the strongest creature of this mountain, it knew the least about the surrounding areas. that was because it never left the forgetful orb.

    leonel moved his intention a bit and the tier five creature inside of the net of runes was released. it was quickly killed by the tier six starry tailed fox, and leonel used the life tablet to absorb all of its strength.

    right now, the reason it was taking a minute wasn''t that it was difficult to control the beasts, but because of how much dream force he had to pour into the net of runes, and how carefully he had to control it.

    luckily, controlling the beast and fueling the net of runes relied on two completely different sources of dream force, one on his real body and one on this fake body.

    but ultimately the annoyance was that he didn''t perfectly understand the force arts. they were too complicated and beyond him. he could only use it in this crude way.

    even so, that was enough.

    a sneer spread across leonel''s face as he bolted down the mountain and headed toward the previous one he had been on.

    now he had an easier method of hunting down the kings of these peaks, and if he was correct, there should be quite a number of nomads focused on their battles right now as well.

    he would make an example out of them.

    by the time he was done, the gem dream pavilion would have no one. he would make certain of that.

    and that was exactly what he did.

    leonel moved from mountain to mountain, hunting down nomads and tier six creatures alike. at the same time, he conveniently pocketed forgetful orbs.

    he realized after cracking open his second one that it would take more than one more forgetful orb to enter the life state truly, so he set aside that matter for the moment.

    if he spent too long meditating, many of the nomads would succeed and by then, dealing with them would be much more difficult. if they had tier six power, even if he set all his tier six captives at them in a trap, they would still be likely to escape.

    the world watched as a seemingly pitiful human, the weakest ant they had maybe ever seen, massacred a race of beings supposedly so much better than his own.

    and they could do nothing about it.

 Chapter 2535 Spotted

    chapter 2535 spotted

    "human!"

    the roar was filled with rage and fury. and yet, the response it received in kind was the complete opposite.

    "that''s not my name, you know?"

    arrows blanketed the skies, and yet the nomad could do nothing to deal with them directly as a tier six threat bore down on him. he was suffocated from all sides, the pressure reaching a level that stifled him entirely.

    he could only die with grievances, staring toward leonel with a furious look in his eyes, a furious look that only lasted until he realized that there was a strong grip on his dream force.

    he thought that, at worst, he would return to his body having been booted from the world...

    never did he think that leonel would actually dare to kill him directly.

    the worst part was that leonel didn''t even pay attention to his death, having landed beside another forgetful orb and pocketing it. then, he suddenly moved.

    before the tier six threats could react, he appeared behind their necks. just as his dream force was about to run out, his spear ripped through their spines and out of their throats.

    the life tablet trembled, and two tier six existences were absorbed by leonel.

    this was feasible and it was his path to a dominant victory.

    he reached forward and picked up the net of runes the nomad had stored. this one had already managed to kill and snatch a tier six existence, but leonel had still been confident in defeating him thanks to the 200% boost and the fact he was so close to tier six to begin with.

    this ability of the nomads to immediately jump to the strength of the beast they captured was excellent, but the drawbacks were also considerable. it was impossible for them to capture more than one beast at a time, and it was also impossible for them to use treasures.

    ''the fact this man succeeded means that there''s definitely another aspect of this net of runes that i''m not familiar with. i think i have the confidence to observe the next one for a bit longer now.''

    every time he caught one of these fights ahead of time, the nomad seemed to be biding their time in order to unleash something to catch the much stronger enemy off guard.

    it had to be remembered that their pavilion head only helped them to capture tier fives, and then they went off to battle tier sixes on their own. why did they have so much confidence against an enemy so much stronger?

    leonel targeted the next mountain range, moving even faster than he had before. by now, he had a total of nine rune nets. all but two were empty, though.

    the tier sixes had been more valuable for raising his own strength, especially since he could only easily control one at a time anyway. storing them away when he could only make use of one at a time in most situations would be an egregious oversight on his part.

    however, now that he was tier six, he should be able to control a tier seven for just long enough to make it work. he would just have to find one first.

    he had yet to see even a single tier seven or above. they were likely in the stronger mountain ranges.

    but if he went over there, the odds of him running into stronger enemies would likewise increase.

    ''for now... it''s only a matter of time before they feel that they''ve leveled enough and conclude that a "fifth dimensional" expert like me will probably be stalling in these weaker areas.''

    as leonel finished his thoughts, he appeared on a new mountain range once more and soon spotted another nomad.

 Chapter 2536 Yes.

    chapter 2536 yes.

    the nomads had made it too easy on him. each one had spread out in the mountain ranges immediately around the location he had found clarence''s corpse in. leonel didn''t even need to waste a lot of time looking for them; he didn''t even need to capture a guide anymore. he simply followed the chain of mountains one by one.

    clearly, after killing clarence, they thought that he wasn''t a threat, and they could have never imagined that leonel was just in the mountain range one over from their original starting position.

    this time, the nomad in question was battling a white stone elephant. now that leonel thought about it, he had yet to see any creature ranked over a starry tailed fox. it might be that this dream plane was too low ranked, or maybe they would only appear at tier seven or higher.

    this dream plane, of nine, was ranked third overall. not too high, and probably not too low either depending on one''s perspective.

    the battle was raged on for a long while with the man barely holding on.

    leonel frowned. he felt confident enough to stick around, but he didn''t want to waste so much time watching this battle.

    almost half a day had passed since the challenge began, now that leonel thought about it. and yet, every one of the nomads he had run into, except for the last one, had been in the middle of battle. but clarence had died long ago.

    ''whatever it is they''re trying to do, it takes a lot of time... hm, maybe...?''

    according to leonel simulations, and some information he''d gathered from observing earlier battles, there was a better than 50% probability that the nomad''s were waiting for an opening to launch a one-strike sure-kill sort of attack.

    this was the best explanation. they weren''t setting up anything else, and their bodies hadn''t had any other treasures on them.

    ''in that case, why not make the opening for him?'' leonel''s lip curled.

    his life tablet trembled, and he took control of the elephant. the nomad frowned as though feeling something odd, but in the end, the battle was too intense for him to take note of anything else, especially when the fluctuations he had sensed were immediately replaced by the swinging trunk of an elephant coated in an indestructible, gem-like earth force.

    however, the elephant overextended itself. he was just barely able to dodge it, and the moment he did, his expression seemed to light up with glee.

    finally!

    just as the net of runes was about to return to the nomad, he caught it. right now, without the net of runes, the nomad had returned to tier four. its speed in this world was too far inferior to leonel''s own.

    "you..." the nomad was speechless for a moment before he regained his bearings. he immediately dismissed leonel, thinking that he had only not managed to sense him earlier because he was too focused on battle.

    the nomad''s eyes narrowed when he saw the net of runes in leonel''s palm.

    "return what isn''t yours and i can let you leave here alive."

    leonel gave the man a glance. raising a finger, leonel pointed to his own forehead.

    "your race''s forehead is so large, blinding, even... so why are you all so stupid?"

    the nomad''s eyes widened. "what did you just say to me?!"

    bang.

    the nomad froze, looking toward one of his arms, only to find that even the shoulder it had been connected to was gone, let alone the arm itself.

    a simple concentrated blast of dream force left him in this state?

    how was that possible?

    fear began to creep up in his heart. that blow just now didn''t just injure him, it eviscerated all of that dream force as well. if it hit his head, wouldn''t he...?

    "really think about what you''re doing," he said slowly. "do you want to offend-"

    "yes." leonels said with a smile.

    bang.

    the nomad''s head vanished.

 Chapter 2537 How Best?

    chapter 2537 how best?

    leonel tossed the net of runes in his hands and then chose a direction. he needed to test this thing first. he wasn''t a fan of jumping into things without information.

    soon, he found a tier five to target as it would take heading to a new mountain range to find another tier six, and he had already run out of lower tier mountains to take advantage of. the next few were all guarded by tier sevens at the peak at worst.

    it was more awkward than he expected, but he finally got the hang of it. plus, it was also much faster. it only took about 20 or so seconds now to get it to work, whereas before it had taken over a minute.

    on top of that, he had dialed in the power.

    essentially, it could explode forward one time with a strength just one and a half tiers above the creature trapped within it. if the target was in a vulnerable position and exactly one tier above the creature within, then it was almost certainly a sure-fire kill every time.

    with leonel''s control abilities, he should almost certainly never lose in that bet.

    the only drawback was that it seemed to take about an hour or so for it to be able to repeat this feat. but that was, once again, not a problem for leonel.

    didn''t he now have ten nets of runes?

    well, he had nine now, with one on cooldown. and of them, only two had actual creatures within any longer, with the third one he had just used only having a tier five within it now. but this was still a huge advantage for him.

    according to leonel''s calculations, because he was in tier six, he could already control a tier nine creature for just under 20 seconds. that was just shy of what he needed to succeed, but even if there was a tier nine in front of him right now anyway, he would still need a tier eight creature that he had previously trapped in order to take it out.

    "why are you trying to hide it? i know your breeze dream pavilion has a method of tracking all of your other members. why don''t you tell me how many of them are left?"

    regnier didn''t respond, mostly because using that treasure required his concentration. if he diverted his attention now, then he might suffer.

    ...

    from a long distance away, leonel watched this scene. he had already captured one tier seven, and he had the support of now three tier sixes on top of that. he had come here to capture yet another tier seven, swapping them out for his current tier sixes. but he didn''t expect to run into a battle of pavilion heads.

    it was obvious to him that regnier couldn''t immediately dismiss burul''s words because he hadn''t actually been able to check whatever that treasure was.

    as for burul, he believed that his fellow nomads were still alive and that all of them had the strength of tier sixes by now, so he was confident that in a battle between the nomads and spirituals, he would come out on top.

    in truth, he would have been right... had leonel not already killed all of them.

    unfortunately, the tier seven that leonel had just caught was still on cooldown. it would still take more than 50 minutes before he could use it to attack, and that left him out of his depth in the battle that was going on below.

    but the tracking device on the regnier really intrigued him.

    in this battle, there was a better than 80% probability that burul would be the victor. it was definitely a victory the latter was looking forward to as the breeze dream pavilion was ranked above his own.

    but now leonel was thinking about how best to take advantage of this without actually having the strength to do so.

    ''hm...''

 Chapter 2538 None

    chapter 2538 none

    leonel took stock of what he had, and ultimately he felt that his odds of success were too low. however, he had a different idea.

    he focused his attention on the spiritual regnier.

    regnier was clearly a wind spiritual. although his innate node hadn''t come in with him, leonel could very clearly feel that he had one just by the way he manipulated the dream force around him.

    the spiritual pavilion head was using a method that many others had used before the. it was too much of a waste of resources to use the dream force one got from killing the creatures to establish a firmer connection with your real body for the sake of using forces you were more used to.

    so instead of doing that, a novel sort of martial art was created with dream force as an outlet and your favorite force as the foundation.

    essentially, rather than forming a connection with their original force, they used dream force like they would have used their original force.

    although this made their dream force manipulation slightly weaker as a result, the benefits they gained from the experience and ease made up for it in spades.

    to make a complicated matter simple, regnier was essentially using dream force now no differently than he would use his wind force.

    some forces were better used in this manner than others, and wind force was clearly one of them. they didn''t rely on explosive power like a fire force might, and were instead more used to pulling and pushing at things, a more ideal way of using this dream force.

    due to this, though, regnier was a bit dangerous to deal with although he was at a very, very slight disadvantage against burul.

    burul was very clearly using palm force, a rare variation of a weapon force not much different from fist force. however, because it was so close to him, it was even more effective than leonel''s bow and spear force were in this world.

    he had to run.

    he turned to do so but his heart jumped. when had this child appeared behind him?

    leonel didn''t hesitate and took the initiative. in fact, the attack was already before regnier before he could react.

    regnier didn''t even get the chance to register the fact the attack wasn''t a threat to him before it landed. because he was so high strung, he treated it as a real and tangible threat, retreating to get out of the way.

    dream force pooled around him like hurricane-force winds, ready to shred apart leonel''s attack.

    but at that moment, leonel reacted as though nothing was there. he stepped through the dream force as though it wasn''t there.

    no, it was there, but when it entered leonel''s sphere of influence, it turned silent.

    regnier''s eyes widened as leonel''s spear flickered. this time, it wasn''t a scepter turned spear, but rather a real spear, flickering with a silvery light.

    the speed, the skill... it tore regnier''s clothing apart and left cuts all over his ethereal body.

    the avalanche of shock left him frozen, and he only barely managed to register that leonel was also somehow slowing down his speed of thought. no, he was suffocating the link between his real body and this projection, making his thoughts run much more like a mortal than the mighty expert he was.

    but then it clicked.

    leonel was great, a genius even...

    but he was doing no damage.

 Chapter 2539 Go to Hell

    chapter 2539 go to hell

    this thought snapped regnier back into focus. he abandoned using dream force like the wind. it was causing the dream force around him to fall into leonel''s sphere of control; how could a junior possibly pull away a force he had been using for longer than leonel had even been born?

    however, the instant he did so, leonel suddenly retreated.

    regnier frowned, wanting to follow. but the moment his thoughts started to move with their normal fluidity, he thought of many things all at once and remembered that there was an even larger threat to his back.

    he could only keep burul at bay when he used his force like the wind, but if he used it like the wind, leonel would suffocate him.

    he had to extricate himself as quickly as possible.

    the feeling of danger already enveloped him to his back as he sensed that burul was already gearing up to attack again. remembering the power of that heart-shuddering attack, his own almost stopped beating entirely.

    it seemed to him that burul had to be close for it to work out, so he had to keep his distance no matter what.

    and that was when it happened.

    a beam of blinding light came from leonel''s direction. the feeling and essence of it were exactly the same as what had come from burul. this time, the speed of thought regnier had regained was to his detriment.

    he could feel every inch of that beam, and each movement, every breath, even the runes that flickered into existence through the air, were exactly the same. he couldn''t find even a single exception aside from the fact that it was weaker by a tier.

    ''dammit!''

    regnier lost his cool and switched back to using dream force like the wind. if he didn''t, although he was sure he wouldn''t die, he would be injured enough that it would affect his clashes with any other pavilion heads.

    he couldn''t allow that.

    on the other side, burul wasn''t sure what was happening. his vision had been obstructed by his own attack, and all his internal sight picked up was regnier fighting with... air?

    his conclusion was that it must be a creature of high enough level to conceal itself within the dream force, and that had to be at least a tier eight threat.

    the world of dream pavilions watched as two powerhouses stood around, baffled about what had just happened.

    it was hard to tell what these experts were thinking; they were too good at hiding their thoughts. regnier had been much like them before this incident caused rage to build up across his face.

    "boy!" regnier roared.

    burul was even more taken aback. boy? who was he talking about?

    "you''ve gone senile, old bastard?" burul asked with a sneer.

    regnier looked down toward burul, his green eyes sparking with a furious crimson. but when he remembered something, he actually sneered as well. the contempt in his expression was practically palpable.

    "do you know who that was just now?"

    burul frowned.

    "i''m sure you saw them using your little invention, no? you were probably very proud of that. too bad it landed in the hands of a human brat."

    "impossible!" burul''s voice boomed.

    however, regnier''s sneer only deepened.

    "i wonder how many of your nomads he''s killed?"

    regnier had no way of knowing if it was more than one or not, but he still made sure to pour salt into the wound, repaying burul tenfold.

    "you son of a bitch!" burul roared, launching an attack.

    "you fucking idiot!" regnier barked. "we have to go and capture him!"

    "go to hell! you think i''ll believe you?!"

    leonel chuckled, twirling a familiar thin-chained necklace on his forefinger. that had worked better than he thought.

    now it was time to hunt some spirituals.

 Chapter 2540 Threat

    chapter 2540 threat

    leonel''s spear flickered, driving through the chest of another spiritual. unlike with the nomads, he let these people live, but it wasn''t out of the kindness of his heart.

    for one, he had his own bottom line, but deeper than that, as much as he really wanted to offend everyone under the sun, he couldn''t do that. he had basically crippled the gem dream pavilion already, and burul was still on his kill list. if he crippled three dream pavilions, those bastards might find a reason to deal with him.

    of course, another reason was that they weren''t involved in clarence''s death. however, this wasn''t really enough of a reason for leonel to spare them. the first reasons definitely weighed heavier.

    who knew if they wouldn''t have treated clarence the same way if they had a chance? plus, it was clear and obvious to him that even if they were benevolent enough to let clarence live, they still definitely wanted his head.

    he wasn''t a fan of sparing people who wanted to kill him, but some sacrifices ultimately had to be made. of course, if they pissed him off enough, he wouldn''t mind wiping them off the face of existence.

    but that was unnecessary... for now.

    this was the sixth spiritual that leonel had killed, and he had already turned his attention toward the seventh. he knew that burul and regnier were likely trying their best to find him by now. although burul was a hothead that was easy to goad, that sort of provocation wouldn''t last forever. he ultimately wasn''t a fool.

    from the six spirituals he had "killed," he had managed to gain some more information about their communication method, mostly through the treasures they left behind.

    the necklaces worked both ways. that essentially meant that if regnier managed to find at least one of his spiritual brethren, then leonel could be found through their methods.

    the drawback was that they wouldn''t know exactly who was who and could only do so randomly, with the exception of the king necklace, of course. a necklace that was in regnier''s hands until it fell into leonel''s.

    this essentially meant that if regnier found one of his people, leonel would definitely be caught, flaw or not.

    but this disadvantage also gave leonel an advantage. that was because as long as regnier didn''t find his people, to the spirituals, all they knew was that a group of their own was gathering around their leader.

    over two hours later, a figure appeared where leonel had been, only to find that only a tier six creature remained.

    the woman looked from the necklace in her hand, then toward the creature, and then smiled.

    "it seems like someone else was hunting spirituals too. they managed to get regnier? that shouldn''t be the case... regnier is much smarter than burul, and there doesn''t seem anyone else who could do it.

    "was it the miss? but that''s impossible as well. she wouldn''t abandon the necklaces. she would welcome them with open arms..."

    the only explanation seemed to be the humans, but...

    that felt ridiculous as well.

    "hm, if seven spirituals have been dealt with, i guess that''s enough. the miss said to forget all the hunting and just go to the main mountain. i guess i should do that now. i should be able to complete the final breakthrough on my way there..."

    the beautiful woman casually threw the necklace in her hand at the creature. she seemed to know that it would have some use, but didn''t care to follow through on it at all as though it was meaningless.

    and why wouldn''t it be? ultimately, the owlans would win.

    bang.

    the creature exploded.

    one would have expected the necklaces leonel had thought to be indestructible to be left behind, but there was nothing left at all...

    the woman didn''t even bother to absorb the dream force.

    if leonel was there, he would be certain of only one thing...

    tier eight threat.

 Chapter 2541 How?

    chapter 2541 how?

    leonel didn''t regret his decision. although he didn''t know of the appearance of the owlan woman, he wasn''t surprised in the slightest. right now, because he had chosen the dominant victory route over the speed victory route, this was bound to happen.

    but he was ready for it.

    by the end of the first day, leonel finally hit tier seven. at this point, the forgetful orbs were looking extremely enticing to him, and he had collected 22 of them. this was definitely more than enough to reach the lower life state. as for the middle life state, he wasn''t too sure; it might even be unlikely.

    this true dream plane was on the lower end, so while it was acceptable for clarence to want to use it to enter the life state, anything beyond was asking for too much.

    plus, his dream force was actually a second priority to him right now in comparison to reaching tier nine. what he wanted most was this victory.

    progressing through the life state was something everything else found to be such a daunting task, but it was hard for leonel to feel the same when he had casually accomplished the same after a random bout of meditation.

    this wasn''t to say that he was arrogant about it, but instead rightfully confident. these orbs were also of great value to his people as well. since there was no guarantee of reaching the middle life state, wouldn''t it be better to save them?

    with a forgetful orb of this tear, he could definitely help several reach the impetus state and catch up to him quite swiftly.

    who said they could only be used on dream force?

    leonel exhaled a breath, putting away his 23rd forgetful orb.

    the rune nets were good, but they could only be used so much. if he wanted to actually have a chance to absorb the dream force the creatures released and improve, he couldn''t use the rune nets because the default setting on them was to absorb the creature they attacked.

    leonel''s figure flashed, and he suddenly blocked someone''s path.

    regnier''s pupils constricted. he had been looking for leonel everywhere, high and low. the last three to four hours had been entirely spent on that pursuit, and his progression had slowed considerably.

    he honestly didn''t think it was a big deal because around this tier was where everyone slowed down. the last push to tier eight and nine were very difficult.

    of course, the tiers were leonel''s own self-created system. but everyone had their own divisions in their minds that worked similarly.

    leonel smiled. "looking for me?"

    regnier had long since regained his calm. he wasn''t brash, and that had simply been a momentary lapse. after he escaped burul''s rampage, he had long since returned to his normal baseline.

    that was why when he first saw leonel, his first thought wasn''t rage, but rather caution.

    how had leonel found him so easily? how could he always appear without him being any wiser?

    all signs pointed to the life tablet. but he had to admit that he didn''t think that it would truly be this much of an advantage.

    he was wrong, of course. he couldn''t use dream force normally in this world, but that didn''t mean leonel couldn''t. what weighed heaviest now was nothing but leonel''s dream sovereignty. he could naturally use dream force in ways regnier couldn''t fathom as he was stuck using it as a wind force.

    "you must be wondering how i found you?" leonel asked with a smile.

    regnier''s eyes narrowed.

    leonel shrugged. "you''re too predictable. you and burul both. at this point, i''ve yet to come across a single owlan, and that''s not because of their low numbers, it''s because they''re focused on actually winning. whereas you two are focused on killing me.

    "how many humanoids do you think are still around these mountains?"

 Chapter 2542 Another Aura

    chapter 2542 another aura

    regnier didn''t respond, immediately launching into an assault.

    leonel chuckled and glided backward, slipping out of the grip of regnier''s whirlwind of dream force turned wind force as though it wasn''t there.

    "if you want to win, you''re going to have to stop disrespecting dream force like that. are you really a pavilion head?"

    regnier didn''t respond. he could feel that this young man was trying to humiliate him on purpose. he had little care for his face, for his status, and it was annoying, more annoying than anything burul had ever said to him.

    it caused him to use dream force as wind force for maybe much longer than he should have. logically, he had already fought leonel before; he should know that using dream force like this in front of him was useless. but the words poked at a clear sore spot, causing the supposedly calm pavilion head to feel a bit defiant.

    leonel suddenly stopped running, and his spear flickered through the air. a 200% amplification rolled off of him in waves, suddenly forming organized lines of spear force that twisted through the air.

    the battle erupted, and in an instant, regnier''s body was filled with bloody wounds.

    the spiritual''s eyes widened, but leonel had already stopped his strikes.

    "is that all you have? show me something, spiritual."

    leonel''s spear spun in his palms before snapping into place, the blade pointing right at regnier''s nose. a battle intent blazed from leonel, a swirling mass of golden dream force becoming countless arrows fueled by bow force in the skies.

    regnier''s green irises shimmered. the strength of leonel''s spear was a tier beyond what it had been before. when they first met, they could only leave light scratches, but now...

    his breathing became a hint erratic, his azure hair fluttering in the wind.

    the spiritual rushed forward suddenly, his speed even faster than before. a sword appeared in his hands, pulled from his back and shimmering with the markings of a treasure of this world. however, it was clear to leonel that sword force wasn''t something the man had comprehended, at least not in the traditional sense.

    not many understood what made the humans so special. there were countless demi-god races that could fall into the same categories; there were even some god races capable of similar things, though many of them were said to have reached the peak of potential.

    there was something special about humans, and that was rooted in how typically un-special they were. ironically, it was often all the talent other races had that weighed down their potential.

    they were the simplest of the humanoid races, the most insignificant...

    and that made those that could finally break free of this mold exceptionally dangerous.

    regnier could only see the sharp glimmer in leonel''s eyes. he realized that this boy didn''t come here with some special trump card or with a willingness to be subservient and lose either.

    he came here to win.

    he came here to dominate.

    regnier quickly put up a hand, but his instincts kicked in as the strike was too fast. he subconsciously used muscle memory ingrained into his very bones and used dream force like it was the wind.

    his palm was torn through by the blade. with a twist, his entire hand came with it.

    pain shuddered through regnier''s body, but he continued his retreat.

    leonel pulled back his spear, a volley of arrows continuing around him. regnier did a much better job of deflecting these, but the only point of the arrows was to keep him as occupied as possible.

    suddenly, a roar shook regnier''s heart. he turned some of his senses to his back and found a tier eight white stone elephant to his back.

    how had they gotten here? why had they not run into any other beasts to deviate their path?!

    his expression changed again as he sensed another aura.

    burul?!

 Chapter 2543 Enjoy

    chapter 2543 enjoy

    leonel sneered. what was he confused about? hadn''t he already told him that he and burul were too predictable?

    their battle had just passed through at least three mountain ranges. regnier didn''t even realize that he had been led here because he hadn''t been led at all. in fact, it was more accurate to say that he had been pushed here.

    due to that, he didn''t even realize that he had been led by the nose all the while.

    this was the very same mountain range he had found the original tier eight on. what he didn''t expect was that burul would show up so soon, but this was fine as well.

    "boy!"

    burul''s fury was towering. by now, he had scoured every mountain range he could find, even killing a few spirituals, but he hadn''t found even a single nomad.

    it was obvious what happened. regnier hadn''t been lying. leonel had, indeed, killed his people.

    regnier was a bit taken aback by burul''s level of rage. he was a hothead, but not to this extent. he was still scheming and intelligent, he knew where to pick his spots.

    back then, regnier had only exaggerated leonel''s feats a little. after all, he could only confirm that one rune net had been stolen, and he wasn''t even sure if one had to be killed first to have it snatched. hadn''t leonel taken his necklace without him dying?

    but this...

    regnier didn''t have the right to be distracted. the flurry of strikes from leonel was absolutely relentless. burul was coming in from the side and the spiritual pavilion head was immediately on guard against him; although burul seemed to be focused on leonel, who knew what this conniving bastard might do? then there was the tier eight threat to worry about on top of that.

    regnier felt like he was being overloaded with sensory information and the grin on leonel''s face was only becoming brighter.

    "die!" burul swept in from leonel''s side, a palm force capable of shaking the mountain descending.

    leonel pulled back his spear. spinning it in his hands, several scythe-like blades formed and shot in the direction of the two pavilion heads.

    leonel''s spear force and bow force were beyond that of burul''s palm force. he shredded the latter apart as though it didn''t even exist.

    "your comprehension of weapon forces is weak, old sack of shit."

    "what did you just say to me?!"

    "i don''t like repeating myself for the mentally disabled."

    leonel didn''t even give burul a glance as his entire focus was given to regnier instantaneously. he had already brought out another dream net, ready to use it on the spiritual.

    regnier''s eyes widened at the sudden change, but he quickly calmed down. if he would have to take that step here, then he would just have to do so.

    he clicked a button on an inconspicuous belt he wore on his waist. it lashed out, wrapping quickly around his wrist and forearm before forming a shield.

    regnier had already seen through everything. that dream net leonel had just used was only enough to kill burul because the latter fell back down to tier four as his activated dream net was in the process of assimilating the tier eight.

    the only reason he had brought out the shield was in case leonel managed to get his hands on the dream net that was currently falling through the skies... but how could he allow that?

    the shield sent a pulse of dream force right at leonel that caused his eyes to widen. that concentrated blast of dream force was on the level of a tier eight!

    seeing leonel''s first change in expression, regnier couldn''t help but sneer. he had to thank this brat for both killing burul for him and handing this treasure to him at the same time.

    regnier shot for the falling dream net that had now lost its owner. but as he was about to grab it, a sense of danger overwhelmed his senses.

    he looked back to find that leonel''s shock had been turned into a sneer.

    bang!

    a blinding light enveloped regnier.

    why had he kept a tier five dream net on him all this while? it was precisely for this moment.

    a tier five was enough to kill a tier six. for an existence like burul who had fallen back to tier four, it was even overkill. to regnier, though, it was fodder to underestimate leonel.

    he thought that a tier eight''s blast would be enough to push leonel back, not realizing that the tier seven dream net leonel had was a half step above in strength, capable of one shooting a tier eight beast under the right circumstances.

    leonel landed on the ground, the tier eight dream net fell into his palm as the last wisps of regnier''s consciousness began to return to his body. the spiritual looked deep at leonel, his green eyes turning no small hint of crimson.

    leonel, though, had already stopped paying attention to him. waving a hand, burul shot into his hands before he could dissipate completely.

    he held the battered man by his neck, looking right into his eyes.

    "you..."

    "i think you''ve done enough talking for a lifetime," leonel said calmly. "enjoy the afterlife."

    his hands squeezed down.

    burul, pavilion head of the gem dream pavilion, had fallen.

 Chapter 2544 Boom.

    chapter 2544 boom.

    leonel exhaled a breath, shaking his head as he tossed around the dream net in his palms. it would take an hour for it to come down from its cooldown, and then he would need to find a tier nine creature to take down to maximize it.

    his mind had already moved on from this situation and he was already thinking about how to deal with what was next. the fact he had just dealt with two pavilion heads, thoroughly killing one of them, didn''t seem to fill him with any sort of pride at all. it just felt... natural.

    this time, it wasn''t a confidence that came from some mysterious force from the future, but rather one that was all his own. these were victories that he had claimed for himself and they weren''t tainted by things that hadn''t happened yet or might not happen at all for that matter.

    he was the perfect image of calm and collected.

    ''the owlans...''

    leonel''s gaze narrowed. this would be an extremely troublesome matter. he only needed one thing to confirm this for him: the fact they had dared to enter with only three people.

    in truth, it wasn''t as though you could come in with an unlimited number. after a certain cap, you''d have to pay extra contribution points for the right of entry. that was variable depending on how many contribution points the challenge triggerers used and what tier of true dream plane was going to be opened.

    obviously, this time, the limit was around a dozen or so, which was why the numbers of spirituals and nomads had been so close this time around.

    it made sense that clarence and leonel had entered on their own, there was no one else who had the guts to come. but the owlans definitely had more people...

    leonel felt that this was closer to the truth. during their one on one fight, regnier had been firmly on the losing end and had only survived for so long because leonel needed bait for burul. under such circumstances, stealing a weapon he didn''t know how to use wouldn''t help regnier in the slightest. he would need something else to deal with leonel.

    taking another step back, the fact regnier used that pulse attack would also lull leonel into a false sense of security, not much unlike what leonel had done to regnier.

    even now, didn''t he still mostly assume that there was nothing else special about the shield? what if regnier suddenly burst out with a counterattack he wasn''t expecting?

    of course, that wouldn''t work leonel considering he had already deduced that there had to be something else hidden within it. but the point was still a valid one.

    leonel sighed. he felt like a broken record, but these force arts were really too complex. at least with king''s formation, if he had enough time he might have been able to find something to take advantage of. but here?

    ''then we''ll just have to do it the crude way. pour force into it and hope something that doesn''t kill you happens.''

    leonel strapped the shield to his left arm and then began to pour his dream force in slowly.

    he came across the first bottleneck and pushed through.

    a pulse echoed. it was much weaker than the tier eight strike that regnier had unleashed earlier, but leonel didn''t mind that. he was looking for something else.

    he eventually came across a second bottleneck and his frown deepened. at his slow pace, this one was much harder to pass through.

    boom.

    the belt wrapped around leonel''s forearm suddenly shot into his chest, ripping a hole through his heart.

 Chapter 2545 Time

    chapter 2545 time

    leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, his pupils constricting. he felt that he was on the verge of dying. his dream force was quickly dissipating, and though he wouldn''t die a true death, he would lose without having even ascended the mountain, and that would be a different form of death. even if he didn''t die immediately, the human race would certainly be finished.

    however, leonel managed to maintain his tranquility.

    his first thought was that he had accidentally triggered something he shouldn''t have, maybe a failsafe of sorts. when you were using a treasure like this and using trial and error instead of raw comprehension, it was inevitable that you might accidentally stumble into such a thing.

    however, after seeing that the shield wasn''t actually trying to kill him, leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    he paid close attention to what was really happening, and when he figured it out, his eyes widened.

    he retrieved his dream force and coughed up another mouthful of blood as the belt was ripped out of his chest.

    his dream force was still quickly dissipating, but he used the life tablet to keep it intact. then, he rushed down the mountain, looking for a target. when he found a tier six, he swiftly killed it then continued to find another, and then another.

    eventually, his dream force finally stabilized.

    he took deep heaving breaths. that was really close. if not for the life tablet, it would have all been over because of his recklessness.

    he didn''t usually think of himself as a reckless person, but he couldn''t really describe what had just happened as anything but reckless. he had made a mistake and it had almost cost him.

    but this mistake hadn''t come without its benefits.

    ''reach tier eight.''

    so that was what leonel did. he ignored everything else and began hunting tier eights. he was much more cautious, knowing that the owlans were likely nearby.

    but to his surprise, or maybe his expectations... they never appeared before him.

    the more leonel killed, the deeper his sneer became. this sneer didn''t appear on his face, but the contempt in his heart was rolling like waves.

    he knew why the owlans were doing this; they were arrogant. they probably weren''t waiting for him in specific; they were waiting for whoever it was killed him in the end.

    ultimately, there was only one way out of this place, and it was up that mountain.

    they would sit there, prim and proper, beautiful and unblemished, ready for their rewards to be delivered to their laps.

    however, he would make them regret that choice. maybe if they pressed him, tried to suffocate his advantage, they''d have a chance to win. in fact, the reason leonel had originally chosen the speed win aspect of things was that he felt that too many people would be hunting him.

    but if they wanted to shoot themselves in the foot, he wouldn''t stop them. they were just laying out the path for his dominant victory.

    all of the pavilion heads would fall into his hands.

    leonel''s aura flourished, and he entered tier eight.

    ''it''s time.''

    he quickly found a secluded region, ready to break into the life state for the second time.

 Chapter 2546 [Bonus] Oh...

    chapter 2546 [bonus] oh...

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 1/6]

    leonel looked at his haul. he had over 50 forgetful orbs now. he felt that he would at most need 20 to reach the life state, and that was if things went horribly. he should be guaranteed to succeed now.

    he crushed the first one, and that familiar feeling of forgetfulness came back. it was like that moment just after you woke up in a new place... what was familiar had suddenly been replaced by something else, and you lay there confused for a moment, wondering what had happened to the world around you.

    even so, the confusion wasn''t deep enough that you felt fear or trepidation. you were sure that there was a reason you were in this unfamiliar world, a reason for these soft bed sheets that were just a tad different from what you were used to... a reason why you were staring at a door when usually you would be staring at a window... why the shading and lighting wasn''t exactly what you were used to despite the fact your internal clock told you that you should have woken up at around the same time.

    leonel basked in that feeling, and then he caught onto something new. it was actually a hint of fear.

    this fear didn''t come from his situation, but rather that feeling of loss that came with much of the context of his dream force being stripped from him.

    his dream force wasn''t just an external force; it was him, and its rise in strength was the anchor that allowed him to find himself... his true self.

    to him, dream force wasn''t just a means to an end; it was the ends, and the context around how he had reached this stage wasn''t just a casual enlightenment here and there... it was him, his true self.

    every step he had taken carried with it the weight of the person he was now, and there was a certain beauty to that. but it was likewise the reason he suddenly felt a hint of fear using this forgetful orb.

    what if he couldn''t bring it back? what if it would be lost to him forever if he took one too many? what if he would lose a piece or twist one far beyond recognition that he would lose a part of himself?

    what was the difference between destruction sovereignty and dream sovereignty? was there a dividing line between them?

    he had just described his destruction sovereignty as something attached to his scarlet star force, connected, but still ultimately separate.

    however, could he describe his dream force in that way? how many other sovereignties were like his destruction sovereignty?

    shadow sovereignty seemed to fall into that category, but was it really separate? or was it just another name for darkness? he didn''t feel that it was the same thing?

    going through the list of sovereignties, destruction sovereignty seemed to be the only one like that... was that why he had felt less resistance when he raised himself to the life state the first time?

    or maybe... what if it was related to el''rion''s warning again.

    an innate node was probably a shortcut to grasping a sovereignty, though that was oversimplifying it. regardless, the reason he had wanted to find a vital star force innate node in the first place was that he could access a hint of the life state with it as well, that way he could save aina right away instead of waiting.

    the understanding settled in for leonel. so it was because existence tended to set up barriers when one was trying to enter the life state more than once, those barriers were even more stringent when you were trying to keep your sovereignty at the same time.

    ''oh... so that''s why...''

    when leonel understood the reason for the fear, and grasped that it wasn''t something coming from himself, he smiled.

    ''in that case, piss off.''

    if this mysterious force wanted to use fear to stall him, it was going to have to do a better job than that.

    his dream force was his sense of self, it couldn''t be so casually swayed, not now, and hopefully never again.

 Chapter 2547 [Bonus] Break

    chapter 2547 [bonus] break

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 2/6]

    leonel felt his strength soaring by leaps and bounds, large amounts of dream force gathering around him as though it had a mind of its own. akin to mother nature amidst a flock of birds, the plumes of golden and silver clouds gathered around him.

    his crown glowed stronger, the robes that were draped over his shoulders becoming more prominent and detailed.

    the strength of a tier nine flooded through him.

    leonel had thought that it might take 20 to breakthrough, but he hadn''t thought that he would succeed after just a single one.

    still, he felt that there was a hint of serendipity involved. that was the result of a sudden rush of insight coming together with a helpful outside sort.

    the moment he felt his sovereignty slipping away, he actually felt that he could break through. but that odd fear had helped him back, making him wonder just what was happening and why exactly it was happening.

    if he had broken through back then, due to the fear, he might have let his sovereignty slip away, and unlike his weapon forces, he wasn''t nearly as confident in getting his dream force sovereignty back if it were to slip away. it was something that he could feel consciously... as though weapon forces were in a separate category of their own.

    and that made sense. if it had been any other force type, would the godlens have been able to form a quasi-true version of it?

    when leonel really thought about it, he didn''t think that it was possible for any other kind of sovereignty. there was something special about weapon forces, and that was probably how flexible it was. two spear sovereigns might have two completely different interpretations of it and paths they could take.

    would he have to watch them all die again?

    he really wanted to say no, absolutely not, that confident surge from his dream force sovereignty shining like a bright beacon...

    but he ignored it.

    it had been there before, and it had been able to change nothing. what good was a steady rain of confidence if it couldn''t change anything?

    he suddenly remembered a class he had had back in the royal blue academy, a random one on psychology. it described stress as an evolutionary necessity, it was related to fight or flight and it put a person in a state to take swift and immediate action.

    his sovereignty was so natural and soothing, it came to him instantaneously. it was as natural as breathing to him.

    when he met a stressor, he reacted with confidence to deal with the situation.

    if he took another step back, what had triggered his stepping into dream sovereignty in the first place? wasn''t it mo''''lexi''s name and that land of carnage? the stress she placed on everyone back then was so great that many of them directly died, their hearts and minds unable to take it...

    and yet he had shrugged it off like it didn''t matter.

    he looked down at his hands, really trying to understand himself. he was good at reading the emotions of others and even deducing why they might feel that way, but did he really understand why...

    ''is my dream sovereignty not really the core of my being? is it influencing me as well? i don''t think i want it...''

    leonel felt something break inside of him.

 Chapter 2548 [Bonus] Respect and Persistence

    chapter 2548 [bonus] respect and persistence

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 3/6]

    leonel continued to sit there, staring into space. he didn''t really feel depressed; he just felt a bit empty. and then, the anxiety came.

    what was he doing? facing off against ninth dimensional experts like he was on the same playing field as them? was he insane?

    these weren''t even normal ninth dimensional experts either; these were ninth dimensional experts that could take someone like clarence and turn him into a prop-up toy to be skewered and humiliated before the masses.

    the moment leonel had this thought, he felt disgust. this wasn''t him. but why did the lines feel so blurred?

    the immediate assumption was that his dream force was turning him into someone he was not, but this was clearly not the case. he wanted to be confident; he wanted to face off against enemies who scorned him and make them eat their words. that sort of anxiety wasn''t something he would have normally.

    even when the influence of his future self was muted, and he had yet to enter the dimensional verse, he had always been the same. he hated to lose; he was willing to suffer for a victory, and he hated the idea of others controlling him.

    he didn''t even necessarily hate football back then; he loved the sport, even if he might have lied to himself and others in saying that he didn''t.

    he loved the control it gave him, that feeling of combat and war...

    he suddenly remembered the first time he had stepped onto a real battlefield, back in the camelot zone. he had felt his blood boiling and the excitement spilled over into his actions. he had rushed headfirst into that army of demons as though they weren''t fantastical creatures he had never laid eyes on before.

    he had loved every second of it.

    that was true... that was another aspect of himself... he loved battle...

    no, what he loved was competition. the more thrilling it was, the better.

    it was likely that by now, those watching were madly cackling at his misfortune, but leonel didn''t seem to notice at all, his mind focused on other things.

    he no longer felt calm; his heart was racing, and his skin was slightly flushed. his mind was filled with thoughts of the owlans, how powerful they were, how difficult the coming battle would be, how unprepared he was...

    hints of red began to appear in his irises as he continued to stare forward.

    he basked in that feeling of anxiety, of sweaty palms, of an agitation deep within him.

    he felt that potential hidden so deeply within his body was being pulled out one after another, potential that even his control ability index hadn''t been able to sense before.

    and why would it? it was fueled by his dream force, and it felt that he had everything in hand, so why even bother?

    he didn''t just want his dream force to be based on confidence and tranquility. peace wouldn''t give him the pressure he needed to improve.

    he had almost died at the hands of that shield, and yet other than a slight skip of his heart, he never really felt the weight of it, as though he had already had everything in hand...

    but he knew the truth. that had never been the case; so many things were out of his control...

    and he wanted to feel that.

    he didn''t need confidence; he needed bravery; he needed...

    respect and persistence.

    the images of his father''s face made leonel''s eyes involuntarily water, the agitation in his heart growing.

    he needed to respect his enemies.

    he needed the persistence to drive his spear through them anyway.

    the world suddenly lost its color.

 Chapter 2549 [Bonus] A Shame

    chapter 2549 [bonus] a shame

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 4/6]

    leonel''s crown returned even larger than before. the surrounding dream force swirled so violently that the mountain range he was within, and the surrounding mountain ranges, all trembled, being stripped of their dream force one valiant step after another.

    it all gathered into his robes. if the current version and the one of the past were to be compared, it would be akin to a rough drawing versus something an artist had spent countless, grueling weeks on.

    his underlying power increased from tier eight to tier nine once again, but it felt like something faintly beyond that.

    tier nine was just a casual name that leonel had given to the strength that would be needed to climb up the main mountain, but that didn''t mean that it was the ultimate strength one could have in this world, though it was very difficult to scale beyond it due to the nature of improvement. you''d probably have to swallow hundreds of tier nine threats to go beyond that level.

    leonel didn''t feel that he had stepped beyond tier nine, but at the very least, he didn''t feel like a normal tier nine either.

    he stood to his feet. his eyes didn''t carry a familiar coolness or calmness. instead, there was a hint of vibrancy, as though he felt...

    alive.

    he landed.

    by this point, his robes were so long that they fell like a waterfall to his back, blending into the puffs of clouds. his violet hair seemed to be dancing between corporeal and incorporeal, moving back and forth between the two as though it was both a wispy fog and strong filaments of amethyst light.

    "honestly, i don''t think there''s really a need to fight you. my pavilion does not want your life tablet because we are in our own precarious situation. that treasure of yours, though, is something that we cannot do without.

    "you might be able to guess that the minerva race is very near and dear to us. though being related to them has caused us no shortage of problems, they are our ancestors, after all. we cannot abandon them."

    leonel''s eyes narrowed. they were obviously talking about the segmented cube. he had no idea how they would know about that; it wasn''t like he could take the segmented cube in with him.

    plus... the segmented cube wasn''t just the segmented cube; it was anastasia, someone who had been by his father''s side for much of his life, and then had been by his own for closing in on a decade now.

    this wasn''t someone he would casually hand over to another, and she wasn''t a "something".

    in fact, the last people that leonel would give anastasia to would be these owlans. their ancestors ruined anastasia''s life, taking her from her home, and then stripping her of the flexibility of her mind all so that they could have their perfect little treasure.

    they were disgusting.

    leonel had been quite calm when he came here. other than the fiery will for battle, his mind had a level of unprecedented clarity right now.

    "no."

    leonel''s reply was simple. he didn''t embellish it at all, but the dream force in his surroundings reacted to him on his own, causing his voice to echo with a boom.

    "oh..." minerva looked disappointed. it really didn''t look like an act. most would feel the need to protect her if they ever saw this sort of expression. "... i thought that we could be friends. seraphina, you do it."

    the blue dress-wearing owlan took a step and suddenly vanished.

 Chapter 2550 [Bonus] Enough?

    chapter 2550 [bonus] enough?

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 5/6]

    a tiny fist appeared before leonel''s chest in a flash, and he didn''t even seem capable of reacting in time.

    the fist collided, that slender form packing the strength of a meteor''s explosion. it didn''t even seem certain that seraphina''s strong suit was the fist, but it didn''t seem to matter...

    until she realized that leonel hadn''t moved.

    "don''t use dream force like that," leonel said lightly, "you''ll only embarrass yourself."

    seraphina blinked and then suddenly smiled a beautiful smile. "you''re saying such harsh words to a beauty, don''t you feel bad?"

    "you''re not nearly as beautiful as my wife. you''d be better off being a vulture with those wings of yours."

    seraphina was stunned into silence. she had never heard anyone talk to her like that before; she didn''t even know how to react...

    until the rage came.

    her white-gold arcs gained a tinge of pink as her anger flared up. she stopped using dream force like fist force; she hadn''t even comprehended fist force in the past, she just thought that it would be more than enough to deal with leonel.

    her wings spread out. as though embroidered in golden leaf metals, they shimmered, slashing down with menace and murderous intent.

    leonel''s spear, still aimed toward the ground, suddenly flickered.

    bang! bang!

    seraphina''s two wings were deflected as a shield suddenly appeared on leonel''s left arm. it swung down with its own undisguised menace, bashing against seraphina''s head and distorting her beautiful face into an assortment of flying teeth, blood, and a severely broken nose.

    she shot backward, barely stabilizing herself after 20 or so meters due to her flapping wings.

    leonel vanished, appearing before seraphina so fast that she accidentally inhaled some of the blood that was pooling into her mouth.

    her wings flapped hard, doing double duty, both helping her escape and slowing leonel''s approach.

    but under leonel''s control, the dream force separated and became his speed instead. he closed the distance even faster, his spear appearing before her throat.

    seraphina''s eyes widened, not understanding how this could be happening. she had entered tier nine as well, so why was it that she felt so outmatched right now?

    unfortunately for her, her ninth dimensional strength was meaningless here. the only thing that mattered was her dream force.

    in the past, leonel had been lagging quite far behind. but now, he had not only affirmed his sovereignty, but he was in the life state as well.

    even if seraphina had a middle life state dream force, she was absolutely no match for him without a sovereignty of her own.

    if she tried to use dream force as another force, it would be stripped of her control entirely. if she tried to use dream force as dream force, she would be outmatched in terms of both ingenuity and raw power.

    leonel''s spear flickered, drawing a line of silver across the air and swiping at seraphina''s throat.

    just when he was about to succeed, he sensed danger. the violet dress-wearing owlan, octavia, appeared on his right side, the side opposite to his shield. he had to admit that it was a clever choice...

    though a predictable one.

    a dream net appeared, and a tier nine creature''s strength was unleashed like the roar of a dragon.

    leonel didn''t even look at her, his spear flicking upward and taking seraphina''s head.

    the momentum of his body carried him forward, and as though he wasn''t satisfied, a blooming dream force took shape as he shield-bashed seraphina''s body, blowing it to pieces.

    at the same time, octavia was forced to wrap her body in her wings, pushing forth with a large amount of dream force to protect herself, but that didn''t stop her from being sent flying into the distance, covering several kilometers before she could finally stop.

    leonel landed on the ground, his battle intent still flaring.

    he hardly paused for a moment before he exploded toward minerva.

 Chapter 2551 [Bonus] Far More

    chapter 2551 [bonus] far more

    [bonus chapter courtesy of mr. mostert <3 6/6]

    the world resonated with leonel, his movements quicker, faster, and more agile than anything he had ever experienced before. he imagined that if he could see a future projection of what it would be like for him to enter the ninth dimension, it would feel exactly like this one.

    minerva''s expression still remained calm. she didn''t seem to react to seraphina''s death either, or octavia''s somewhat unknown fate for that matter.

    when it seemed that she had run out of time to react properly, her palms suddenly moved.

    leonel felt a large gathering of dream force being stripped from his control. she had only moved so casually, and yet there was a huge war that erupted between them, each one fighting for supremacy over the space.

    and leonel felt like he was losing.

    bang!

    leonel''s momentum stopped, and he was forced to take a heavy step back beneath minerva''s strength. she was a true powerhouse, there was no doubt about it. at the very least, she was somewhat worthy of her arrogance. if she had access to her full array of skills, leonel wouldn''t last even a single glance from her.

    leonel grinned. he could feel his heart pumping, and he felt more alive now than he ever had before.

    the dichotomy between his pumping blood and his calm mind became like the push and pull of a steady bass drum and a heart-stopping melody. they played off one another to absolute perfection, and when leonel moved again, his spear truly danced.

    the flurry of strikes was met by minerva''s nonchalant palms. she seemed to move just once for every ten attempts leonel made, and her feet didn''t even shift the slightest inch, yet she weathered the storm all while pushing leonel back.

    but at that moment, she frowned.

    the gathering streams of starlight around leonel felt like he was gathering something up. she couldn''t quite understand what it was, but she actually felt something in her heart stir.

    worry? that was ridiculous.

    her palm pushed forward with far more force, and she expected that leonel would at least be blown off balance, but instead, leonel''s shield suddenly lit up, erupting with tier nine strength suddenly and forcefully.

    if it was just this, it wouldn''t have been a problem, but leonel had angled the shield, applying pressure in an unexpected way. it turned minerva''s strike into a glancing blow, and leonel''s spear dance didn''t pause for even a moment.

    boom.

    in the instant before all of his forces were stripped from him, the shield''s straps pierced right into his heart.

    the spear dance he was completing here was nothing but a cover. in fact, his real body had already completed it. it could even be said that he was making an attempt to layer two spear dances into one.

    the first spear dance suddenly resonated with the second, the two solidifying one another and resisting minerva for a moment.

    if minerva hadn''t been so arrogant, she would have noticed that something was wrong almost immediately. if she hadn''t been so arrogant, she would have likely been able to react.

    but her mind had been influenced by leonel on her watch.

    leonel''s spear gained a hint of something different.

    universal force descended.

    [domain] activated.

    [universe] activated.

    [finality] activated.

    scarlet star force bloomed.

    a spear blade tore right through minerva''s chest.

    she was still standing there arrogantly, her arms crossed over her chest and her wings spread out wide. she seemed to think that she had already won.

    when she looked down slowly to find flames dancing in the new hole that went through her, her eyes could only widen in shock.

    "like i said. my wife is definitely far more beautiful," leonel spoke, blood leaking from his lips.

    he didn''t even watch as minerva fell. he turned and dashed toward octavia, rushing at his fastest speed as he could feel death closing in.

    he had to be fast.

 Chapter 2552 World Stage

    chapter 2552 world stage

    leonel felt a ticking timer in his mind. while he could rush off to capture some beasts to stabilize his situation, if he did that right now, it could give octavia the chance to rush up the mountain. at that point, all this would be for naught.

    although it would be cowardly for her to do so, and clearly a slap to the faces of the owlan race as a whole, a win was a win. leonel didn''t want second place after everything he had been through.

    his speed was fast, faster than anything he had displayed until now.

    he appeared around octavia in an instant just as the latter was stuck in a daze. she had just seen minerva lose for the first time in her entire life. when she thought about what would likely happen when they returned, her heart shuddered.

    when her gaze landed on leonel, she analyzed the situation quite quickly. unlike leonel, these ninth dimensional experts were extremely experienced. the instant she saw the hole through leonel''s chest, she spent an extra second to observe the runes on the shield, and her pupils constricted with understanding.

    seeing this, leonel understood immediately why regnier had really hidden the shield for so long. he was still stuck in the mindset that he was the best crafter around, so much so that he didn''t consider the fact just because he couldn''t see through something with a glance, it didn''t mean that others couldn''t if they paid a little extra attention.

    if the owlans weren''t so arrogant, they would have paid closer attention to his shield and might have been prepared for him to trigger this trump card.

    leonel internalized this mistake deeply. he knew that this was because of the path of confidence his dream force had taken before; he still believed himself to be the best in everything, and it had been a detriment instead.

    he didn''t suffer for it this time, but who knew when he would in the future?

    he wouldn''t allow it to happen again.

    his gaze blazed as he felt octavia''s intention to retreat. she obviously planned to wait out the duration until he fell dead. and unfortunately, leonel wasn''t immediately prepared for this outcome.

    the world bent to his will, and he could feel king alexandre''s ability index more clearly now than he ever had before.

    in the past, he was arrogant, his dream force shunning the world because it was confident in itself. but now, he could really feel the world. he had opened himself up, and the world had likewise embraced him as a result.

    when he spoke, it listened... and in that moment, his dream force and spear force seemed to truly become one existence, causing their strength to explode forth with a majesty even beyond the spear strike that eliminated minerva.

    the world split in two.

    leonel stood there, huffing deep breaths as he stared at octavia''s frozen figure. she shuddered for a moment, and then fell into two pieces. her wings simply couldn''t protect her from all sides. when she wrapped them around herself, it would reveal the space between her shoulder blades. she could only blame herself for trying to run away earlier.

    he met her gaze in those last moments before they disappeared and grinned.

    his laughter boomed into the skies, large amounts of dream force shooting forward from the surroundings and pooling into his battle.

    this felt good. it felt better than any victory.

    his blood pumped through his veins as though gasoline lit ablaze. every reverberating thump echoed through the skies, his vitality rushing into the surroundings in waves.

    as he laughed, the true dream plane seemed to resonate with him, shimmering and shining beneath his jubilation as though it, too, was happy for him.

    a dominant victory, a truly dominant victory. if there was one part of him that hadn''t changed at all, it was the love of this sweet taste. he almost forgot that there was a hole in his chest at all as he basked in the light.

    it only made it feel all the better that it was his dad''s spear that guided him.

    "take this as the return of the human race to the world stage!"

 Chapter 2553 Top 100

    chapter 2553 top 100

    leonel rushed to capture some creatures to stabilize his situation, and once he was done, he didn''t rush up the mountain yet. instead, he went to every mountain he missed, plucking away every forgetful orb that he could find.

    between the ones he took away from the corpses of deputy pavilion and pavilion heads, and the mountain ranges he had yet to visit, he gathered over 300 of them. this number was a huge boon to him. he could help a large number of people progress through the impetus state.

    aina didn''t really need it. just with her soul clairvoyance alone, she could probably walk through the impetus state blind and with her limbs bound. the real question was the others. leonel was worried about how long they might take to catch up.

    he gave them as much help as he could, and it wasn''t like they were slow compared to everyone else, but it just wasn''t enough.

    he didn''t have the time to allow them to slowly grow. they needed strength now, and this was the only way to ensure that it could happen. he almost wished the true dream plane was harder so that he''d be able to gather more.

    however, he pushed down this thought. this was too dangerous. if minerva had a different sort of temperament, or he didn''t succeed in his breakthrough, or any number of other little things didn''t go just right, he wouldn''t have been able to succeed like this.

    when leonel was finally done, he met the tall mountain with a smile on his face. then, he began to walk up it.

    the pressure of the dream force washed over him. it felt not too dissimilar to the stairs he had to walk up to reach the life tablet, but this time, it didn''t seem to care that he was a sovereign.

    the gap between 123rd and 100th was indeed so wide, but no one thought that the vast dream pavilion would take such a commanding victory. even if leonel had been first, if there had been a second, third, and fourth place, the challenge points would have been distributed in a tier system. fourth place would probably still fall out of the top 1000, but it wouldn''t be a problem for the rest to remain.

    in that case, leonel would have at best moved up five to ten spots. but this time...

    this was a huge deal. the divisions in the rankings were as follows. there was a dividing tier for every 1000 spots where both the strength and contribution points leapt forward considerably. then, there was the 100-999 tier. following this, there was an enormous chasm and then came the top 100.

    there were special benefits provided to the top 100, and there was a further large leap for every ten spots you moved up.

    even so, there was no doubt that the top 100 was made up of true powerhouses...

    because this was the stage where creation state experts began to appear.

    there was no doubt that leonel had truly poked a hornet''s nest this time. but he wasn''t thinking about any of this right now as he had been ushered into a world that felt eerily similar to the world of rewards he used to enter after clearing zones back in the dimensional verse.

    clarence had said that the dream pavilion had a great number of contribution points that they couldn''t even use because the higher-ups kept making new rules about who could trade for what in a deliberate attempt to suppress them.

    but following a challenge victory, depending on the tier of true dream plane, and the thoroughness of victory, there was a whole world of things opened up to leonel that the higher-ups couldn''t stop him from taking at all.

    leonel grinned.

 Chapter 2554 [Bonus] Anything

    chapter 2554 [bonus] anything

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 1/6]

    leonel knew that this was his one chance, but he was also limited in what he could take. the rules were overly complex for seemingly no reason, but it seemed to be that this was how dream force users liked to operate.

    he was beginning to understand that certain groups of people had certain personalities not decided by their race, but rather what forces they chose to use. in an irony of ironies, it could be said that his thoughts about how light force and dark force weren''t necessarily good or evil were somewhat incorrect, though not entirely so.

    clearly, by the personal choice he had made with his dream force, it was possible to deviate that path somewhat using sovereignty. but, just as obviously, not everyone could grasp sovereignty.

    this was all to say that the rules of the dream pavilions were overly verbose and filled with caveats and sub-sections for sub-sections. the rules themselves would take a lifetime for a mortal to read, and they might not even make it part of the way through.

    even for the current leonel, it was impossible for him to grasp them all. much like a lawyer, he could only focus on certain sub-sections of the rules at a time. but also much like a lawyer, he wasn''t very worried about this.

    let alone leonel, most members of the dream pavilion were just as obtuse about the scale and scope of the rules; they could only pick and choose their spots as well. that meant that it would be harder to take advantage of leonel, especially since he had a database of the rules in his mind right this moment, something the others couldn''t boast.

    if the time came where he had to defend himself based on some arbitrary rule, he was sure he could do it. though it made him feel uncomfortable that he wouldn''t likely be able to prepare for it ahead of time, at this point he didn''t really have much of a choice.

    the question was, with this one loophole he had left to take advantage of...

    he laughed to himself. if he adjusted everyone based on aina, would he start calling every woman he came across ugly now?

    jokes aside, the woman, even on that scale, would be considered average.

    leonel was quite biased when it came to aina, but the objective truth was that she was a woman with beauty beyond compare, especially after her brush with death. her body had been entirely reformed, and she seemed to have taken the opportunity to refine everything to perfection.

    honestly, he didn''t think that aina had done it on purpose, though it was possible. it was just that her body clairvoyance had reached an entirely new level, and she couldn''t help edging toward perfection even if she didn''t consciously want to.

    so for this woman to be average on such a scale, that was certainly saying something.

    her hair was actually a rainbow of colors, looking more like motes of light than filaments of hair. her nose was small and pointed, much like her ears. she had rosy cheeks and freckles that added to her charm. she was the type of woman one wanted to protect.

    ''pointed ears?'' leonel blinked. he knew that this was a spiritual, but why''d she look like an elf from those tales of earth?

    leonel''s mind shifted, and he found some information.

    ''pure-blooded spirituals? what does that even mean? how can you be pure-blooded anything when you''re born a soul?''

    leonel looked toward the woman again, his mind drifting through the information he had just read. these pure-blooded spirituals were apparently as close you could get to being a demi-god without actually descending from a god.

    "hello," she finally spoke in a sweet tone. "please tell me what you would like to exchange from. with your performance, you can have anything."

    leonel frowned when he heard the suggestion in her last words.

 Chapter 2555 [Bonus] Honey Trap

    chapter 2555 [bonus] honey trap

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 2/6]

    ''a honey trap?'' leonel almost wanted to laugh. truthfully, sending a pure-blooded spiritual was quite "sincere" of them. most of these people thought that humans were scourges to existence itself, trying to lure him with a pure-blooded spiritual meant that at least some of them weren''t so set in their ways.

    a pure-blooded spiritual couldn''t be created in the traditional sense. in fact, a pure-blooded spiritual could be born even from a pair of parents without the pure-blooded title. in this way, they were completely analogous to the chaos demons, and they were creatures on the same exact level.

    with that sort of comparison, one could imagine how highly regarded they were. regnier was probably seething that his people were actually trying to do this after he was so publicly destroyed.

    unfortunately, even if this woman was more beautiful -which she wasn''t-it wouldn''t be able to change even a single thing. l--b1n.

    of course, leonel was likewise reading a lot into the simple action. the words were benign enough, and the woman was dressed quite conservatively, not even her shoulders were exposed, and her sleeves even covered much of the back of her hand.

    it was just that leonel''s dream force was on a completely different level now than it had been in the past, and they had sent a girl that was of the junior generation for obvious reasons. from his probes, she was only the seventh dimension and hadn''t even formed a life state force yet.

    how could she hide her intentions from him?

    since the girl wasn''t too overt with it, leonel felt that there was no reason to be too rude to her, but he also didn''t play into it.

    leonel planned to give the young woman a glance before he left without a word, but the mention of a gathering caught his intention.

    he went through his information and he frowned.

    this gathering was known as the gathering of kingdoms. it was a weird name considering only a small fraction of those participating could actually be considered as such, but it was one steeped in tradition so no one changed it.

    the first gathering of kingdoms had been held by the god beasts many years ago, and their purpose was for the sake of finding the subjects they wanted to take in to pass on their bloodlines to other creatures. this had, of course, created the northern star lineage factors.

    these days, it was a method of balancing power. the so-called "kingdoms" were being powers not ruled by gods or demi-gods.

    everyone knew that existence was running on a finite clock and many were taking steps to try and manage that.

    to take a complicated list of rules and make them simple, the harsh truth was: those that lost this gathering had their bubbles destroyed and turned into energy that dispersed into the wider world. this chance would also give those beneath demi-gods to forge demi-god-level worlds, and thus evolve their race.

    essentially, the largest hurdle to a race becoming one of the gods could be boiled down to the environment. god bubbles were simply on a completely different level.

    of course, this wasn''t the only thing that was needed, and there were a few powers with demi-god worlds that weren''t ruled by demi-gods at all. that said... all demi-gods were created from demi-god worlds even if not all demi-god worlds had demi-gods.

    all of this said, the human race was actually immune. the dream pavilion was like a badge of protection, and they didn''t need to partake in this... culling. it could be said that this was the only reason they had survived for so long.

    however...

    leonel''s eyes narrowed as he vanished without a word.

 Chapter 2556 [Bonus] Fallen

    chapter 2556 [bonus] fallen

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 3/6]

    lyra sighed when leonel vanished. she was a noble pure blood, and when had she fallen to trying to seduce a man into her bed? those noble ladies who spent most of their time gossiping and spreading rumors would probably get a kick out of this. former "pure blood" throws herself like a dog in heat at a human of all people.

    lyra didn''t really look down on humans, but that didn''t mean she had tender feelings toward them either. she was like most people; she took a moderate position while a minority with heavily skewed beliefs took the reins. but often, due to this, her inaction was seen as a tacit acceptance of all that was happening.

    that was just the way of the world, and she didn''t have enough of a bleeding heart to make her life uncomfortable for the sake of a race that wasn''t her own.

    it was just ironic that things had somehow ended up like this anyway.

    it seemed that talent was talent, no matter what you look like. and for the pure-blooded spirituals who had been "just a step away" from demi-godhood for who knew how many generations now, this seemed like a good gamble to take.

    still, throwing her at a man with a wife was really too crude.

    she knew the real reason why they did it.

    in leonel''s opinion, throwing her at him when he had just insulted an owlan''s beauty to her face was foolish. but there was another way to look at it as well.

    if the man who rejected the owlans, a race of beings known for their beauty even more so than the spirituals themselves, how much would that elevate the status of lyra and her people?

    ''not just one life state... but two... and he disregarded his sovereignty and reformed another one as though it was a casual matter... the life tablet definitely can''t do that...''

    a genius.

    leonel took a breath then exhaled. he looked up, and only managed to feel a slight hint of satisfaction from the fact the nomads were in the same state. that was exactly what they deserved.

    his gaze swept over the owlans and the spirituals. obviously by now, regnier had found out that most of his people had been killed by leonel as well, and looking at the state of the nomads, only one thing could have happened.

    regnier, though, could have never imagined that leonel would defeat even minerva.

    leonel was about to make a snarky comment about enjoying 9999th place before leaving with clarence''s corpse, but at that moment a shuddering might descended.

    he didn''t seem surprised by this at all. in fact, he had expected it. well, he might not have expected them to be so eager, but who knew. maybe gods knew how to act on an opportunity too.

    this time, though, it wasn''t the gods at all.

    the pure bloods were relying on the indifference of the gods, so would they really be so involved in this matter?

    but that was a confusing statement to make. if not the gods changing around these rules so often, then who?

    the truth was that the so-called "higher ups" were just various dream pavilions dotted across the top 100. unlike the gods who treated the dream pavilions as just a matter of status, this was a matter of life and death for many of them.

    as a result, the weight something like the life tablet could hold was inconceivable.

    according to the rules, only 50% of the top 100 needed to agree to something, while the top three had veto powers. unfortunately, the gods didn''t care enough to use these veto powers for the sake of the humans.

    and that was when the ruling was passed down.

    there were two subjects, but only one really caught leonel''s attention.

    [rule revision: the existence of a dream pavilion can no longer provide immunity to participation in the gathering of the kingdoms]

 Chapter 2557 [Bonus] A Different Sort of Death

    chapter 2557 [bonus] a different sort of death

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 4/6]

    leonel''s sneering grin practically split his face. in fact, he even began to laugh. l--b1n.

    most couldn''t even react to these two messages quickly enough, but he was practically splitting his gut laughing.

    how could he not find it funny?

    he had spent a long time at the bottom of the dimensional verse, but when he finally broke free of most of his constraints, did he spend his time bullying the weak? did he go back to those organizations that used to bully the valiant heart zone and teach them a lesson? did he go and destroy those planets that had attacked earth in their time of vulnerability?

    even when he took out his rage on the common people of those that had led their armies into the human domain, although it wasn''t something he was proud of, he had still killed them all straightforwardly with a single snap of his fingers.

    but what was this?

    50%. half of the top 100, over 90% of which was made up by demi-gods or gods, had come together in a collective effort to do all of this, and for what, exactly? for a fleeting chance at the life tablet?

    why were they sinking so low? wasn''t it just because they couldn''t lay hands on it themselves?

    on the one hand, they were afraid of upsetting various god factions.

    like el''rion had said, there were many of them. passivism was apparently the majority; they wanted to leave the humans be and let them whittle their way out of existence on their own. there was a small contingent that wanted humans wiped out entirely, but again, they were a small minority.

    but considering the culling of the gathering of kingdoms existed, then even if it was small, didn''t it have a clear influence as well? how was destroying worlds for the sake of slowing the end of existence considered "passive", otherwise?

    but for now, they were a good cover... until he could find two more deputies and a worthy disciple to take in.

    luckily, leonel already had two deputies in mind. he wasn''t so helpless anymore, not with so many forgetful orbs in his possession.

    the only trouble was that forgetful orbs were only as good as the level you had originally reached. on the one hand, you needed more the stronger your force manipulation was, but on the other, too little force manipulation would hamper you.

    the first person he thought of, goggles, had just started training his dream force. if he had reached the unfolded states already, leonel would be greatly impressed.

    the second person, though, eamon... he was sharp and intelligent. he was a bit cowardly, but that was more a product of his upbringing than anything. he was certain if he gave eamon a forgetful orb, he''d be able to reach the impetus state.

    leonel thought about aina. her soul clairvoyance was a clearly broken ability, but it was hard to tell if she had natural affinity with dream force or not, or if she could just cheat her way into gaining it.

    quite frankly, leonel never asked aina about the full extent of her abilities. he didn''t usually find it necessary, and though they were always together, when they really had time to talk, they''d prefer to relax over anything else.

    he felt that he should probably ask now.

    ''hm, that''s right. i do have two captives...''

    leonel sent his senses out and he found khelgis and adru, the pair of sun and moon demons, still stuck in meditation. they weren''t even chained because it was unnecessary. stuck in this environment, they couldn''t focus on anything other than protecting their mind, or else they would falter.

    obviously, their dream force affinity wasn''t up to snuff. so the idea of using them as convenient prisoners went out the window as well.

    leonel sighed, looking into the skies.

    he had just completed a feat no human had in countless generations, and yet there was a single human here to congratulate him.

    it was kind of sad. it felt that the race might as well have been wiped out already; what was the difference between this and death anyway?

 Chapter 2558 [Bonus] Aina...?

    chapter 2558 [bonus] aina...?

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 5/6]

    leonel had a lot of work to do and a lot of things on his mind. usually, he would probably go tick off those boxes one by one. one would think that a tranquil confidence would make you ignore much of everything, and sometimes it worked like that for leonel... and at other times, it made him somewhat of a stoic workaholic.

    his laziness often came into play when he didn''t have direction. but when he did, he could likewise easily lose himself until he grasped something entirely.

    at a time like this, where he could so clearly see the list before him...

    give forgetful orbs to eamon and goggles...check on his brothers...break into the fourth dimension with his newfound evolution ores...finish up the last of his father''s lessons on crafting and finally comprehend this world a bit more...

    ... he would usually jump right into that list of things, maybe losing himself for months as though he hadn''t just come out of a true instance of life and death.

    it was an unhealthy sort of expression of focus, the kind that he didn''t really want in his life anymore.

    there was no "end goal" here. it constantly felt that with every step he took, another domino would fall and another challenge would rear its ugly head.

    it was the humans, then it was the demons, then it was the other races, then it was the demi-gods, then it was the gods, then it was the god beasts, then it was existence itself literally blinking like a ticking time bomb.

    when would it stop?

    the answer was that it probably never would. in that meandering sort of tranquility, he laser-focused on one task after another, not minding how long they went for or even how difficult they were. he just needed that next high, that next victory...

    but then what kind of life would he be living? if the end goal was the end of existence itself, if it was so likely that he would ultimately fail in the end, then what was he wasting his time doing?

    but that was why it was up to leonel''s mom to force him to wear something more prim and proper because aina certainly wouldn''t do it.

    except for that time they entered the heir wars together. she had to admit that that was nice.

    "you know, if you''re going to compliment a woman, you should at least be a little clever about it. pick something that makes sense," aina suddenly said.

    "my wife is trying to train me on how to pick up other women?" leonel asked in mock shock.

    "you wouldn''t dare." aina''s gaze narrowed with a dangerous light.

    leonel put up his hands. "never."

    aina smiled. "why are you standing so far away? come over here."

    leonel strolled forward, plopping down and laying his head on her smooth thighs. it seemed that aina had chosen a shorts option today, and he very much approved.

    aina smiled and didn''t seem to mind.

    "you look like you have a lot on your mind."

    "the exact opposite," leonel said with a grin.

    "is that so?"

    "definitely. years ago i told you that if the choice was between the world and you, i would choose you.

    "today, i mean it even more.

    "what do you say, aina? will you marry me?"n?00vАl--?1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

 Chapter 2559 [Bonus] Rings

    chapter 2559 [bonus] rings

    [bonus chapter courtesy of fire2112 (aka firemonster) <3 6/6]

    aina felt as though time had come to a stop. she had waited so long to hear these words, and they had come so unexpectedly that they hit her like a speeding truck.

    her golden eyes misted over, and her lips trembled. it was taking everything she had to not start an ugly sort of sobbing fit. she didn''t want leonel to see that.

    but the longer she tried not to cry, the more time the silence lingered.

    and yet, leonel just lay there on her lap, a bright smile on his face.

    he had thought about waiting for a grand occasion, maybe after he had accomplished some amazing feat or maybe after he had eliminated some powerful enemy.

    but when he really thought about it, it felt like that tranquil confidence taking control again. he was confident that aina would always stay by his side, so why rush? he was confident that he''d be at the center of grand feat after grand feat, so why be in a hurry to choose which one of them to propose in?

    his mind could think millions of thoughts a second. the number of venues, variations, methods he had thought of just to ask this seemingly simple question were endless. n?00vАl--?1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

    he could probably construct the marriage proposal heard around the world if he really wanted to. but he had thought of thousands of ways to do exactly that.

    he was too obsessed with showy displays, and when that was matched with obsessing over being in control of every detail of every little thing, it manifested in the worst of ways.

    he threw himself into life and death situations he should have had no part in; he confessed to the woman he liked in front of wide stairs in front of as many eyes as possible, and he ignored his best friend''s plight and decided on cracked ribs instead of throwing a game that was ultimately meaningless to him.

    so this time... he threw all of that out of the window.

    "yes..."

    "yes, ma''am!"

    their clothes became nothing but a distant memory. they intertwined in every way they could, their hands, their tongues, even aina''s legs around his waist.

    it was maybe the simplest sex position they had used in a long while, and yet neither of them seemed eager to try something new.

    they simply felt every inch of one another, basked in every scent, every sensation. they didn''t even want to come up for air.

    aina''s soul seemed to move on its own.

    leonel''s own consciousness was blurry and he wasn''t sure what was happening, and knowing aina''s ability, she probably wasn''t conscious of it either. she was lost in her own world... no, their world, feeling leonel slowly rub every inch there was inside of her.

    even so, leonel opened himself up to aina entirely. and in that moment, they were connected not just in body but in soul.

    wise star order had told leonel long ago about what it felt like to be so intertwined with a spiritual. he had said sex with the soul was the greatest feeling, so much so that the normal thing might never feel the same again.

    but while this was common for a pair of spirituals, for humans, it was much less casual and far more dangerous.

    however, when it was between a pair of people with all the mutual trust in the world, none of it seemed to matter.

    leonel ignored the calculations, ignored the memories aside from this one right here, ignored thoughts on what this might mean.

    his hands, his tongue, his cock... his soul, were all bonded with the only woman he had ever loved... the only woman he would ever love...

    and it was the sort of feeling that was better than any victory he had ever claimed, any enemy he had ever conquered.

    at that moment, they seemed to lock into one.

    their left hands suddenly began to radiate a gentle light.

    delicate runes were slowly engraved on their fourth fingers... aina''s like a vine of roses and leonel''s like a ring of black and red.

 Chapter 2560 Closer

    chapter 2560 closer

    "leonel..."

    aina spoke between panting breaths, only pulling away for small spurts to barely just get out the words she wanted to say.

    "... it feels too good... i think i''m losing my mind..."

    as the wholesomeness of the atmosphere faded, it was replaced by a burning heat that seemed to want to scorch her body. even so, aina didn''t feel like she was exaggerating. whether or not leonel''s seed would put a baby in her was entirely dependent on her choice, and her mind was so foggy right now that she was another half inch from saying consequences be damned.

    leonel suddenly thrust deep inside her. he had learned to vary his strokes so well, building up her anticipation and reading her mood as though she was an open book.

    slow, deliberate, short strokes... she knew he could reach deeper, she knew that he could practically pierce right through her if he wanted, and yet he didn''t, teasing her entrance open again and again, as though forcing her to relieve the first entry repeatedly.

    and then when she felt like she couldn''t handle it anymore, he slowly pushed in so deep that their hips ground against one another.

    "oh god..."

    aina didn''t feel like she talked much during sex. except for some teasing interludes, she found that her mind was usually in another space and time entirely.

    but now her lips and thoughts moved on their own. the entire world was a blur to her as her eyes seemed another few centimeters from permanently rolling into the back of her head.

    aina held onto him so tightly that he thought that she might imprint herself into him. the feeling of her soft breasts against his hard chest was like heaven, her ass felt like a silky water in his hands and her writhing insides were like the finest, fragrant oils.

    a chalice of the gods poured its ambrosia over the tip of his cock, making every stroke feel as though he was ascending into another world.

    aina''s tongue wrapped around his. it was so delicate and he could almost feel its unblemished pink color. it rolled around so smoothly, matching an expertise that matched her body clairvoyance and countless hours of practice with this very man in her arms.

    leonel felt a pair of fingers dig into his back, but even those spikes of what should have been pain in this situation rang like the bells of pleasure.

    he and aina both pulled back from their kiss at the same time. she could seem to sense how close leonel was, and she herself had lost count of how many times she had been driven over that mountain.

    she wanted to see the pleasure in his eyes as he finished inside of her. she wanted him to use her every way he wanted, any way he could think of. she wanted to be his in every sense of the word.

    without leonel''s lips blocking hers, her moans became more feverish. her intense gaze met leonel''s, their forehead pressed against one another and their hot breaths blowing against each other''s cheeks.

    "yes... yes..."

    it seemed to be the only word she could say, repeating it again and again. it was hard to say if she was reconfirming her answer from earlier, if she was talking about leonel''s cock, or maybe she was urging on what was most definitely coming.

    she squeezed down around him tighter. every time his arms lowered her to the base, a warmth would spark around her clit at just the slightest touch. her body felt like it was on fire and there only seemed one thing that could possibly give her what she wanted...

    there was only one way to be closer.

    looking into leonel''s eyes, she felt him convulse inside of her. he could see those sparks of love in his eyes, the willingness to do anything for her, protect her from anything, shield her from the world itself if he had to.

    and then like a rushing stream, she felt a feeling more perfect than anything she had ever experienced before.

 Chapter 2561 Little Vixen

    chapter 2561 little vixen

    one would have thought that after such a wild level of stimulus, the two might have calmed down. but that was far from the case.

    aina felt like her mind had been overloaded, but leonel''s vital star force had plans of their own and aina''s soul, intertwined with his own, didn''t want him to stop until he had vented everything. she practically did everything but speak out the words: "use me".

    the pleasure she derived from it was like riding on an endless high. nothing could seem to knock her down from it. and in the end, she just wanted more and more of it.

    it was hard to tell how much time had passed. it might have been days, maybe even weeks. the two hadn''t bothered to care. even now, while soaking in the lake of cleansing waters, they were pressed against one another, aina''s back against leonel''s chest and his cock still pressed between her.

    aina''s eyes were barely clear anymore, but sensing just the slightest hint of desire from leonel, she reached down, cradling the head of his cock in slender fingers, pressing them against her delicate pink folds and sliding it inside of her.

    she released a heart-shuddering moan, enjoying the feeling of leonel''s hands rolling over her breasts. the two didn''t move nearly as fast as they had during the earlier rounds; it was hard to tell that they were moving at all aside from a subtle grinding.

    at this point, it seemed to be less about reaching a peak and enjoying the slow, steady waves that came before it.

    leonel bent forward, pressing his cheek against aina''s. she reached back with a palm, pressing against his other cheek. her eyes were misty but filled with love and affection.

    feeling leonel delicately play with her pink nipples, her body felt like it was in an elevated state. he was hardly moving his cock, but it only made every subtle movement hit ten times harder.

    "can this count as a honeymoon?" aina asked in a sultry and somewhat amused voice.

    leonel could feel the coercion in aina''s voice. he knew that she could hardly control herself right now; even the coolness of the waters they waded in was unable to bring down her heat, but he was still somewhat surprised that it was so powerful.

    aina had awoken a coercion ability long ago in valiant heart mountain, the day her curse was cured. but after learning to control and restrain it, she never really used it again, except during that combination attack they had created together in the void palace.

    now that she was somewhat absentminded, lost in the feeling of being one with leonel, that ability came back in full force. if not for leonel''s dream force being in the life state, he might have lost his mind and started railing his wife with everything he had.

    of course, she wouldn''t mind it. but he quite liked their current slow pace. it allowed him to admire every inch of her.

    she pressed her ass a little more firmly against leonel, grinding down.

    she bent forward a little, a cute little pink dot staring back up at leonel. clearly, she wanted him to take it.

    "why does that sound like exactly what you want?" leonel asked, his hands grasping aina''s waist so firmly that she squirmed with excitement.

    leonel was actually very tempted to take what she wanted to give him, but he felt that doing so while aina wasn''t quite in her right mind would be irresponsible of him.

    that said, he also didn''t want to ruin the mood with his sudden bout of morality, so he grinned instead.

    "i don''t know what you mean, mr. morales," aina said innocently, her ass wiggling back on him.

    slap.

    aina squealed, a slight giggle of delight coming from her cherry lips.

    she reached back from her leaning position, wanting to give her wrists to leonel so he could really rail her. but what she didn''t expect was for leonel to take her wrist and suddenly pull her off of him and onto her knees. with the height of the water, her nipples only faintly peeked over the waterline.

    her misty eyes glittered with excitement as they landed on the veiny rod before her, its heat slapping against her forehead.

    "you can''t give little vixens what they want," leonel said righteously.

    aina was caught between making another quippy remark and really wanting to take his cock into her mouth.

    the latter won out.

    her body shuddered with pleasure as her soft lips wrapped around him. one would have thought that she was pleasuring herself.

    she grabbed leonel''s hips, her eyes watering even more as she pushed her down as far as she could go.

    leonel watched speechlessly. this wife of his had really lost her mind...

    he grinned. he liked that.

 Chapter 2562 "Most"

    chapter 2562 "most"

    leonel and aina held each other close, the latter resting her head on his chest.

    the two had truly taken their time to enjoy one another''s company. the days ticked maybe, weeks even, without the slightest care in the world. they knew that this sort of thing was probably the closest thing to a honeymoon that they''d get, but they really wouldn''t have it any other way. when they lived lives like they did, there was little appeal in going on vacation to see new and amazing sights. by this point, what hadn''t they seen? plus, could there be a world more beautiful than anastasia''s? and even if there was one, could they have sex in the middle of it without being interrupted?

    they both had a tacit understanding, then, that this was what they wanted. neither would even mind wasting an entire year in this state of limbo. this was the kind of happiness people searched for their entire lives; there was nothing out there that was better.

    the two fell into a deep sleep. from time to time, one would wake before the other, and seeing that their partner in life was still resting, they''d comfortably go back to sleep as well.

    a long while later, they both awoke, feeling refreshed and full of life, but they continued to lay there in silence, listening to the soft rustling of the trees and enjoying the softness of the grass against their bodies.

    leonel took a look at his left ring finger and smiled. he hadn''t expected for some mysterious energy to etch a wedding ring right into his finger, but he guessed the tradition had to come from somewhere.

    he always thought that some guy had randomly chosen it at some point. some people said that it was the finger closest to the heart, but that didn''t even make any sense. in that case, instead of a ring, why didn''t everything just walk around with pendants swinging over their chests? it was a hell of a lot more noticeable than trying to check for a ring on a constantly moving hand.

    sometimes the world didn''t like logic, though.

    even now, he didn''t know why this finger was chosen, but he liked it. it was like a piece of aina tattooed into him, in the least morbid way possible. if you took a step like this, you couldn''t even pretend not to be married even if you wanted to.

    leonel was glad for aina''s clairvoyance. he didn''t know about the exact process on how to do such a thing, or even that it was possible. it might even be the case that this tattoo could have been engraved anywhere, but because aina was a woman of earth, she chose the place she was the most familiar with. either way, he liked it.

    "there''s a minimum threshold i have to keep so that they can''t target the pavilion, unfortunately. or else i would have lopped their heads off already."

    "mm," aina nodded.

    "but there are some other troublesome things coming down. those pricks didn''t really like my performance, so they made some more annoying rule changes. well, most of them didn''t like it."

    "rule changes?"

    "yeah. there''s one thing that''s unavoidable, but they sent down two ''decrees''. i almost forgot about the second one, but it doesn''t matter much."

    "whenever you say that it''s almost guaranteed to be a big deal."

    leonel laughed. "they didn''t like the fact i basically wiped out a dream pavilion, killing all their members. they used that as a pretense to ding my contribution points. the vast dream pavilion fell from 100th place to 101st."

    "is that a huge deal?" aina asked.

    "there are definitely a large amount of special privileges i lost because of that, but i wasn''t banking on them either. i expected them to do this already, which was why i never made plans based on that ranking. they even dinged the gem dream pavilion as well to avoid looking too biased, but it only made them look more pathetic."

    "then what did you mean by only ''most'' were made? some were happy?"

    "ehh..." leonel drew out his hesitation. "they may or may not have sent some spiritual-elf women to try and seduce your husband. can you believe it? the nerve of them."

    a dangerous aura came spurting out from aina in waves.

    leonel grinned. "but, i have an idea for you to get back at them. wanna hear it?"

 Chapter 2563 Peace

    chapter 2563 peace

    aina pouted and laid back down on leonel''s chest. she was clearly very unhappy. if she had known this would happen, she would have gone too. although she could only use soul force, surely dream force wasn''t that hard to learn, right?

    honestly, for aina, she rarely used forces other than various weapon force and blood force not because she couldn''t, but because she didn''t like putting her eggs in too many baskets. spreading the wealth was good practice in most cases, but not when your task was becoming as strong as humanly possible. in fact, even her weapon forces were purely used in accessory to her ax force. so really, she only used two forces mainly.

    however, with her clairvoyance, learning other forces was not very difficult at all.

    for example, the lightning force she gained access to in her demon form, it progressed along easily even though she rarely practiced it much.

    it could be said that her blood force and ax force were already at an extreme level. it was just that she was much like leonel, unable to bring out their full strength due to the limitation of her dimensional level.

    right now, she was working on her own unique methods of pulling out more potential from herself. unlike others, the fact she had progressed her dimensions too quickly honestly didn''t bother her too much. she didn''t need to return to the third dimension like leonel had because she had perfect control over her body and soul.

    separately, the wise tablets could only rate aina''s clairvoyance skills as gold grade...

    but what if both were in the same body?

    that was a different matter entirely.

    "how?" aina finally grumbled.

    "well, i could participate in the gathering of kingdoms personally. but i had a much better idea."

    "and that is?"

    leonel almost felt bad.

    almost.

    the gathering of kingdoms focused purely on the younger generation for obvious reasons. they wanted to test the potential of worlds. there would be no ninth dimension monsters this time around, and the strongest would be in the seventh dimension, aina''s dimension.

    of course, the handicap of not being able to use her blood sovereignty to the greatest degree, not to mention the fact she was born and raised in an incomplete world, would weigh heavily on aina. but leonel was quite confident that she''d bash quite a few heads in.

    those poor honey traps wouldn''t even see what was coming.

    after talking about these things, leonel and aina forgot about the world again and sank into their own fantasies.

    sometimes they would talk and laugh, sometimes they would have soft vanilla sex, and sometimes they might jump off the deep end, mostly led by aina''s drunk antics.

    leonel found it amusing how "drunk" his little wife got whenever they had sex with their souls. she lost her filter; her words would make a sailor seem prim and proper, and she always seemed to "forget" what happened.

    of course, leonel knew she never forgot. with their souls so close, he could practically feel all of her memories. she remembered quite clearly; she just chose to conveniently not say a thing.

    leonel silently filed away this perfect sort of blackmail material, loving every second of it.

    he couldn''t find himself tiring of calling her his wife, and this time really meant it. well, he had always meant it, but there was a deep resonance with his soul this time, one that made him smile from ear to ear like a made man.

    his soul felt firmer than it ever had before, and the feeling of knowing where she was, what she was feeling, what she wanted, no matter how far apart they were or how much time passed was more reassuring than he could have ever known.

    this sort of peace, he wanted it to last forever. the idea of a struggle that would last for a lifetime had truly begun to piss leonel off somewhat.

    he would do whatever he could to ensure that one day... at least for his family in this little corner of the world... peace would be all they knew.

 Chapter 2564 God

    chapter 2564 god

    leonel stretched and tried to move, but aina was still wrapped around him like some sort of cross between an octopus and a koala bear.

    "you''re so clingy, wife."

    "are you complaining, husband?" aina sneered, not opening her eyes.

    leonel''s face almost split with a wide smile. that was the first time aina had called him that, and it felt sweeter than he had thought it would.

    aina opened an eye when she didn''t hear leonel respond, only to see a smile that she could only return in kind.

    "i''m not done with you yet," aina said after closing her eyes. "be an obedient hunk of a pillow, please."

    leonel chuckled. "alright."

    he pushed himself up and shifted aina''s position, letting her curl up in his lap and arms as he pulled himself into a meditative position.

    whether she was here or not wouldn''t really affect much. in fact, it made him calmer and his thoughts and force only seemed to move more smoothly.

    he had already gathered up all the resources he needed to enter the fourth dimension, but he was still missing a few things on the comprehension side.

    his forces weren''t the problem. he had already succeeded in elevating them all to the middle impetus state and then some. what still remained on the list was comprehending true destruction sovereignty, tempering his body with sixth dimensional pure ores, and raising his constellation realm comprehension from rudimentary to common.

    luckily, that sudden breakthrough while he was running from khelgis and adru had covered a lot of those bases as well.

    this time, the change was even more violent than last time, but he took it much better. sweat beaded down his brows and his body tensed, but at the very least, he wasn''t curled up in a ball and hiding in a corner somewhere.

    he felt that a large reason for this was his dream force. as much as he wanted to say it was because of aina''s soft body pressing into his, that was only really a cherry on top.

    his mind right now gained an almost flexibility to it that it hadn''t had in the past.

    absolute confidence sounded nice, and it was also very strong, but it was also very brittle. if it was bent beyond a certain point, it would snap apart and break.

    leonel had gone beyond that point several times and the outcomes were never pretty.

    but the flexibility he had now made his body more receptive to change.

    he watched as the spheres of his destruction world grew larger, increasing in size and truly flourishing.

    anastasia''s cleansing waters was able to raise the quality of ores to their peak. leonel didn''t have to refine anything out and could just bask in their perfection.

    as his body elevated to a new dimension, he felt a tirade of strength that had seemed to be blocked behind a dam rushing out of him.

    his forces, especially, began to truly flourish. even without a single other breakthrough, he had truly become like a new person.

    when dimensions were first introduced to him, they were described as the difference between mortals and gods. crossing that dividing line should be akin to raising to a completely new state.

    as leonel grew more powerful, he began to care for this explanation less and less. it was just too easy for him to jump across dimensions and crush people who should, supposedly, be gods to him.

    but feeling the changes in his body, his heart began to thump as those previous thoughts surfaced once again.

    at the very least... if he was comparing his current self to his former self...

    he had truly become a god.

 Chapter 2565 Peace

    Chapter 2565 Peace

    Aina pouted and laid back down on Leonel''s chest. She was clearly very unhappy. If she had known this would happen, she would have gone too. Although she could only use Soul Force, surely Dream Force wasn''t that hard to learn, right? Honestly for Aina, she rarely used Forces other than various Weapon Force and Blood Force not because she couldn''t, but because she didn''t like putting her eggs in too many baskets. Spreading the wealth was good practice in most cases, but not when your task was becoming as strong as humanly possible. In fact, even her Weapon Forces were purely used in accessory to her Ax Force. So really, she only used two Forces mainly. However, with her Clairvoyance, learning other Forces was not very difficult at all. For example, the lightning Force she gained access to in her demon form, it progressed along easily even though she rarely practiced it much. It could be said that her Blood Force and Ax Force were already at an extreme level. It was just that she was much like Leonel, unable to bring out their full strength due to the limitation of her Dimensional level. Right now, she was working on her own unique methods of pulling out more potential from herself. Unlike others, the fact she had progressed her Dimensions too quickly honestly didn''t bother her too much. She didn''t need to return to the Third Dimension like Leonel had because she had perfect control over her body and soul. Separately, the Wise Tablets could only rate Aina''s Clairvoyance skills as Gold Grade... But what if both were in the same body? That was a different matter entirely. "How?" Aina finally grumbled. "Well, I could participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms personally. But I had a much better idea."

    "And that is?"

    "Well, you don''t really need to say as much, but they''ll connect the dots themselves. And honestly, even if they think you to be a human, I don''t think it''ll change much. "Plus, I don''t want you using your Blood Sovereignty in front of all of those people. I don''t know if Invalids appear in the same form in this world because I haven''t actually done much research on it. But I''m sure they exist. "There''s also one other thing to mention. Winning isn''t necessary. The culling is only for the bottom rung, we just need to make it far enough to not be among them. Then, you can withdraw.

    "I''m sure they''ll try some underhanded methods, but nothing we can''t handle. They''ll be preparing for me anyway. When they get you, they''ll get a huge wake up call."

    "Okay," Aina said with a smile. It didn''t matter if Aina participated as a demon or not because as things went, their "world" was now formed of six Bubble Words now that had fused into one. When Leonel thought about it, it might even be that the Demons were eager to charge into this land precisely so that they could get the protection of the Dream Pavilion, only to realize that they wouldn''t have a chance at it any longer. They probably even thought that they were already safe. Leonel almost felt bad. Almost. The Gathering of Kingdoms focused purely on the younger generation for obvious reasons. They wanted to test the potential of worlds. There would be no Ninth Dimension monsters this time around and the strongest would be in the Seventh Dimension, Aina''s Dimension. Of course, the handicap of not being able to use her Blood Sovereignty to the greatest degree, not to mention the fact she was born and raised in an Incomplete World, would weigh heavily on Aina. But Leonel was quite confident that she''d bash quite a few heads in. Those poor honey traps wouldn''t even see what was coming. After talking about these things, Leonel and Aina forgot about the world again and sank into their own fantasies. Sometimes they would talk and laugh, sometimes they would have soft vanilla sex and sometimes they might jump off the deep end, mostly led by Aina''s drunk antics. Leonel found it amusing how "drunk" his little wife got whenever they had sex with their souls. She lost her filter, her words would make a sailor seem prim and proper, and she always seemed to "forget" what happened. Of course, Leonel knew she never forgot. With their souls so close, he could practically feel all of her memories. She remembered quite clearly, she just chose to conveniently not say a thing. Leonel silently filed away this perfect sort of blackmail material, loving every second of it. He could''t find himself tiring of calling her his wife, and this time really meant it. Well, he had always meant it, but there was a deep resonance with his soul this time, one that made him smile from ear to ear like a made man. His soul felt firmer than it ever had before, and the feeling of knowing where she was, what she was feeling, what she wanted, no matter how far apart they were or how much time passed was more reassuring than he could have ever known. This sort of peace, he wanted it to last forever. The idea of a struggle that would last for a lifetime had truly begun to piss Leonel off somewhat. He would do whatever he could to ensure that one day... at least for his family in this little corner of the world... peace would be all they knew.

 Chapter 2566 God

    Chapter 2566 God

    This essence is securely nested within the heart of N?vАl??nбя

    Leonel chuckled. "Alright."

    He pushed himself up and shifted Aina''s position, letting her curl up in his lap and arms as he pulled himself into a meditative position. Whether she was here or not wouldn''t really affect much. In fact, it made him calmer and his thoughts and Force only seemed to move more smoothly. He had already gathered up all the resources he needed to enter the Fourth Dimension, but he was still missing a few things on the comprehension side. His Forces weren''t the problem. He had already succeeded in elevating them all to the Middle Impetus State and then some. What still remained on the list was comprehending True Destruction Sovereignty, tempering his body with Sixth Dimensional Pure Ores, and raising his Constellation Realm comprehension from Rudimentary to Common. Luckily, that sudden breakthrough while he was running from Khelgis and Adru had covered a lot of those bases as well. His Destruction Sovereignty had now entered the True State, melding what he was born with what he had comprehended. His Constellation Realm Comprehension had reached Common. As for his Metal Body, the situation had changed. Due to Leonel''s deviation, he believed that what he had done was actually better than tempering himself with Sixth Dimensional Pure Ores. Like his father had said, he had deviated from the original path, and thanks to the earlier mentioned breakthroughs, he began to use his Northern Star Lineage Factor as a conduit for his body''s improvement. Soon, there would come a day where his body was almost the perfect reflection of a God Beasts and the weakness of his human body would no longer be a limiter. And better yet, he would far surpass the demon body hidden within him. A quarter of Leonel''s blood might be that of a Demon, but in this state it benefited him little to none. Aside from the boost he gained to his Dream Force affinity as a result, he was free of those chains... and he liked it that way. Although he wasn''t filled with as much rage as he had experienced back then, he was still Leonel and he was still stubborn about many things. That woman had forced him to watch his wife die right in front of him... He would never rely on that power again. Instead, he would wait until that power was nothing more than a pawn in his palms. When that day came, he would assimilate it as another extension of himself. Nothing more, nothing less. With all of those checkmarks met, and the True Dream Plane''s rewards having given him full access to a mature Evolution Ore Mine, Leonel had everything he needed to break through. All he needed to do was convert the 1 000 000 000 kilograms of Ninth Dimensional Evolution Ore to 100 000 000 kilograms mutated to match his Forces. Luckily, he had Anastasia to handle that and it was all already prepared. The materials appeared around him, teleporting from various regions of the Segmented Cube''s world. Then, holding his wife in his arms, and without a care in the world, he began to absorb the materials. He remembered the first time he had made changes to his Destruction World, it felt like his sense of self was being crushed bit by bit. This time, the change was even more violent than last time, but he took it much better. Sweat beaded down his brows and his body tensed, but at the very least, he wasn''t curled up in a ball and hiding in a corner somewhere. He felt that a large reason for this was his Dream Force. As much as he wanted to say it was because of Aina''s soft body pressing into his, that was only really a cherry on top. His mind right now gained an almost flexibility to it that it hadn''t had in the past. Absolute confidence sounded nice, and it was also very strong, but it was also very brittle. If it was bent beyond a certain point, it would snap apart and break. Leonel had gone beyond that point several times and the outcomes were never pretty. But the flexibility he had now made his body more receptive to change. He watched as the spheres of his Destruction World grew larger, increasing in size and truly flourishing. Anastasia''s Cleansing Waters was able to raise the quality of Ores to their peak. Leonel didn''t have to refine anything out and could just bask in their perfection. As his body elevated to a new Dimension, he felt a tirade of strength that had seemed to be blocked behind a dam rushing out of him. His Forces, especially, began to truly flourish. Even without a single other breakthrough, he had truly become like a new person. When Dimensions were first introduced to him, they were described as the difference between mortals and Gods. Crossing that dividing line should be akin to raising to a completely new state. As Leonel grew more powerful, he began to care for this explanation less and less. It was just too easy for him to jump across Dimensions and crush people who should, supposedly, be Gods to him. But feeling the changes in his body, his heart began to thump as those previous thoughts surfaced once again. At the very least... if he was comparing his current self to his former self... He had truly become a God.

 Chapter 2567 Broken

    Chapter 2567 Broken

    Leonel released a shuddering breath. His bronzed skin shimmered, reflecting like metal beneath the son, and yet still being soft beneath Aina''s touch. Well, the skin was soft. The muscle beneath was anything but. Between his Vital Star Force, his Metal Body and his various Lineage Factors, his body was a cut machine. His muscles were compressed to the absolute extreme, giving him a somewhat lean silhouette. But his chest was broad and his shoulders were akin to boulders. Remembering a certain anime his dad really liked back on Earth, his own back could be said to have a demon face of its own, the sunlight getting lost in its deep crevices. It wasn''t just his upper body either. Even the slightest twitch of his legs revealed striations and cut seperations of his quads, while his abs would have descended into infinity if not for his crotch. However, it was one thing to look like this, but the power he felt rolling through his veins was on a completely different level. Right now, he felt that he could crush the likes of Khelgis and his companion with a single fist. He wouldn''t even need to take out his spear, and he had yet to even forge his Divine Armor. Leonel smiled down at the woman in his arms. He kissed head, taking in that familiar scent that was so reminiscent of apple cider. "Finished?" Aina asked. "Yeah, I am. For now," Leonel said. "For now, huh? You want to ruin my honeymoon." She said in a pouty and willful voice, but it was clear she wasn''t very serious. Leonel laughed. "We can stay here for as long as you want. Worse comes to worst, we can just leave the human Bubbles behind and go traveling. Who needs a Dream Pavilion?" Discover, Devour, Delight: N?vж┼lB?n.

    "...My Blood Force is almost at the Middle Life State, my Ax Force is at the Lower Life State. The black lightning Force I use sometimes is only at the Peak Impetus State. Those should be my main Forces and the ones I use the most. "The weird thing, though, is that other ones appeared suddenly. I didn''t understand until I realized it was actually you."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. She just gained an extra to Life State Forces just like that? Wasn''t this ability a little too broken? But he didn''t realize that she wasn''t even done. "I can even feel your Sovereignties as well. Dream Sovereignty is actually very useful. My Soul Clairvoyance made it easy to protect my mind already, but with the two, I feel like I''m unlocking other abilities I didn''t even know I had. "I don''t really need Spear or Bow Sovereignty, but Destruction Sovereignty is very useful too..."

 Chapter 2568 Steps

    2568 Steps

    Aina giggled. "Don''t look at me like that. This is what they call ''taking responsibility''."

    Leonel laughed. He guessed that could be considered better than any dowry or gift to the family. But it wasn''t like it was completely thanks to him that Aina was able to gain this.

    Without her Soul Clairvoyance, a clearly broken ability, she would have never been able to do it. Now, she was probably even more powerful than she had been in the past.

    But this was also good in Leonel''s views. One of them would never have to worry about falling behind the other. They''d always be able to keep up with each other like this, especially since...

    "Don''t pout so much, this means I can help you a lot too. I can feel the recipes for a lot of Force Pills you need floating around in my mind."

    "Like?" Leonel asked.

    "Well, I can see that you want to use your Death Pulse Deer and Golden Tiger Lineage Factors as sacrifices to make your body stronger. You''re relying on your comprehension to do that, using your understanding of Earth Force, Constellation Force, and your Scarlet Star Force to succeed.

    "But I can see that you''re still losing a lot of its potential. I would imagine that the true Golden Tiger and Death Pulse Deer are exceptionally powerful creatures and their strength, even in the Fourth Dimension, wouldn''t be so limited.

    "I can create a series of Pills that make the Lineage Factors, um, I guess you could say more in line with your goals for them?"

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    "Well, right now the purpose of those two Lineage Factors isn''t exactly what you want them to be. Though they have portions of themselves that do enhance the body, especially during a beast transformation, they''re actually more focused on Force and Force usage.

    "Trying to transfer potential to use Force into pure bodily strength isn''t an easy one-to-one transition. I''d say you''re losing out on probably... 90% of the potential, at the very least? The issue is mostly in how your Lineage Factor is manifesting itself.

    "Lineage Factors appear in all sorts of different ways. Some appear as new organelles within your cells, some create new tissue, mutating existing organs or creating new ones entirely, some focus on the blood cells creating new or different types, some change the folds of your brain... the number of paths is endless.

    "In this particular case, there are a few changes to consider, but they mostly occur in your mind, between your soul and your brain. There''s a heavy emphasis on these Lineage Factors increasing your capacity and affinity for certain Forces over making physical changes to your body, and that''s why they''re so hard to convert.

    Aina scoffed. "When you say it like that, you make it sound like you thought I was stupid."

    "No?" Leonel grinned, earning him a pinch.

    "You''re getting a little too glib, Mr. Morales."

    "I liked husband better, let me hear it again."

    "Hmph," Aina turned away, pretending to be mad.

    "If you''re too stubborn, I might have to punish you again," Leonel said with an evil smile.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Aina''s shoulder trembled. "I have no idea what you''re talking about."

    "Oh? Is that so? Miss ''all my holes are yours''?"

    Aina gasped. "I did not say it like that!"

    "So you remember after all!" Leonel''s grin became wider. "What do you say? Still willing to let me take it?"

    Leonel lightly patted Aina''s perky bottom.

    "Sure," she said a little too quickly before she raised up a palm. A surge of Earth Force gathered on her palm, forming a tower that looked a little too familiar for Leonel''s liking.

    He looked down at his crotch.

    "So long as you let me get a turn," she spoke between a fit of giggles, pushing Leonel down.

 Chapter 2569 Wealth

    2569 Wealth

    2569 Wealth

    Leonel managed to protect his backside, albeit just barely. Giving Aina access to Earth Force though... Very bad idea.

    Aina ended up giving him a list of things she would need to make the first batch of pills and they actually weren''t so bad. It would be a simple matter to trade for those things through the Dream Pavilion. Even with all those ridiculous restrictions they placed to suppress the Vast Dream Pavilion, there was still a great deal of advantage you could get from them if you knew how to make use of those chances.

    Leonel knew, though, that out of respect for Aina, they would definitely have to go and see her father.

    She probably thought that he would forget, which was why she was still clinging to him and was being a bit defiant about letting him go.

    It was one thing to not inform her father about who she was dating and sharing a bed with. But Leonel was her husband now. The weight of the two things was completely different even if to many it just felt like a small change in title.

    Leonel had always... well, almost always treated her well. At the very least, when they took the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend, he had never done anything to hurt her and he often put her own happiness far ahead of his own.

    They had both loved each other for a long time and that feeling had never changed but...

    There was just something about that step that they had taken together that made the world''s colors seemed brighter, made their feelings feel sweeter...

    The way his eyes lit up when she called him husband, and the way her smile brightened when he called her wife...

    Even without anything changing, it somehow felt like everything had changed.

    This was her man, her life partner, her other half.

    There was simply no way she couldn''t tell her father about this. Even if Leonel didn''t get his approval ahead of time, they owed him a conversation afterward.

    Luckily, Aina knew that Leonel wouldn''t forget about such a thing. So she patiently waited with a sweet smile on her face, clinging to him as he practiced his techniques. There was a deep peace in her heart that wasn''t going anywhere, and would likely never go anywhere.

    To be considered to have entered Tier 1, he would have to establish a connection with 10% of his cells, so on and so forth until 90% for Tier 9. He would then have to hit 100% to be qualified to make an attempt to enter the Fifth Dimension.

    He was essentially making his entire body a Nodal Pathway. He would be able to eject Force from any cell of his body.

    Leonel couldn''t help but wonder if this would impact Aina''s plans for him. After all, she talked about changing his Gene expression and this might change that as well, especially when he got into the details of what his father wanted him to do.

    "... This really might complicate things," Aina fell into her thoughts. "It will be hard to tell unless I can feel the changes."

    "You don''t have to try and seduce me like this. I am at your service," Leonel said righteously.

    Aina laughed. Technically, their souls were always connected now so they didn''t need to go so far, but she had no intention of correcting him.

    "Try it with one cell first, I might be able to feel it."

    Leonel sighed. "My old man is really a glutton for punishment, just that he likes punishing me instead of himself.

    "I''ll need a ton of resources to do this too, I''ll need one complete Essence of Pure Ninth Dimensional Reinforced Urbe Ore per cell. He''s trying to kill me."

    Aina''s eyes widened.

    One Essence Reinforced Urbe Ore, especially Ninth Dimensional, was heavy. It wasn''t a single kilogram, it was a thousand.

    A normal human body of Earth had over 30 trillion cells in it.

    As for Leonel, he had over a hundred times that.

    Just to enter the Fifth Dimension, he''d need the wealth of world that probably rivaled a Demi-God World!

 Chapter 2570 Requirements

    2570 Requirements

    2570 Requirements

    The worst part of all of this was the fact that this was just the requirement to make it to the Peak of the Fourth Dimension; this wasn''t the list of requirements to enter the Fifth Dimension, as that was its own can of worms. Leonel was actually worried to check.

    A thousand kilograms of Pure Reinforced Urbe Ore per cell for over 300 trillion of them. That was so many zeroes Leonel didn''t even want to count them out.

    Even so, without a choice, he looked at the requirements for entering the Fifth Dimension and he almost facepalmed.

    [Elevate all Forces to the Half-Step Life State]Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    [Comprehend Black Constellation Realm]

    [Comprehend Black True Destruction Sovereignty]

    [Comprehend Dream Sovereignty]

    [Swallow World Spirit of Demi-God World]

    [Forge self-created Natural Force Art]

    [Elicit Auspicious Air]

    Leonel released an audible groan.

    The list was fine for the most part. He was making good headway on all of them. They even made sense. They weren''t asking him to make excessive changes to his body like the others had.

    This made sense. The Fifth Dimension was all about elevating one''s state of mind, breaking free of prior restrictions and reaching a higher level.

    The fact that all the requirements seemed to be related to his mind were all in line with this.

    However, what were the last two supposed to be about? How was he going to do that?

    Setting aside the clearly suicidal implications of the second to last option, the last one made his head spin.

    Thinking to this point, Leonel knew that there was no wiggling out of it.

    He sighed.

    His reaction this time had been much more fierce than the other times. He had a much more joking air in the past as though he was bantering with his father again, but he never really doubted that he could do it.

    But this time...

    There were positives to the choices he had made with his Dream Force, but there were also drawbacks.

    But he would Persist.

    ''I bet there''s World Spirits for sale in the Dream Pavilion, even ones that high up. Those people have no shame.''

    Demi-God Worlds were more in number than actual Demi-God powers. The Pure Bloods were a perfect example.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m He''d just have to find a way to get his hands on one.

    Still, dealing with the power behind it was one thing, but what about the World Spirit itself? Anastasia directly avoided contact with other World Spirits due to the danger, so would it be different here? What if they could destroy him with a wave of their hands?

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. He settled himself down, feeling his heartbeat slow beat by beat.

    He could do this. With his wife''s hand in his, what couldn''t he do?

    He opened his eyes. "Should we go visit a certain father-in-law now?" He suddenly said.

    Aina smiled. "Why does that make it sound like there''s more than one?"

    "Who knows? Does pops swing that way?"

    Aina rolled her eyes, but the happiness in her eyes was as clear as the fluttering butterflies of nervousness in her gut.

    She hoped this would go well.

 Chapter 2571 Trust

    Chapter 2571 Trust

    2571 Trust

    Leonel and Aina stepped out hand in hand. Leonel didn''t seem worried about whether or not Aina could handle the Dream Force as well. Even if she hadn''t benefited from his comprehension, just the fact she had Soul Clairvoyance would have made it a simple matter for her to deal with, even if Dream Force was bombarded at her.

    "This place is beautiful," she said with a smile.

    "And empty."

    Aina giggled at the slight annoyance in Leonel''s voice. She knew that he probably really wanted to round up those bastards and teach them a lesson, but they weren''t in a position to do so. At least not yet.

    On the way out, Leonel had conveniently given Eamon and Goggles the Forgetful Orbs. He needed two more Deacons and one disciple.

    Luckily, Aina had just become a master herself, one worthy of becoming a Pavilion Head, even. So now, he just needed one more Deacon and one Disciple.

    He believed that Eamon would be able to reach the threshold for Deacon soon, and Goggles would be a worthy disciple to take in.

    Leonel had met Eamon in the mutated Evolution Ore Mine. He had proven himself to be meticulous and sharp, albeit extremely cautious to maybe even his own detriment.

    Could Leonel trust him? Probably not as much as Goggles. After all, although Goggles'' memory had been wiped of their time together, he knew and understood Goggle''s temperament while he only knew a little about Eamon.

    Goggles was a man who seemed cowardly, but was willing to put his life on the line for his friends, ultimately. He had been right there alongside them all as King Alexandre killed them one by one. It was a failure that Leonel still remembered clearly to this day.

    Eamon was a person that Leonel could feel was kind and genuine, but there was only so much you could tell by normal means. His Dream Force did help with that, though.

    Regardless, there was no doubt that he trusted Goggles far more.

    Leonel sighed.

    "What''s on your mind?" Aina asked. "He''s really not so bad, you know. He has a stern face, but he''s just a big teddy bear."

    In kind, he wanted to be the same sort of emotional support for Aina. He would choose her over the world itself, so why couldn''t she reciprocate with trust?

    Those were his raw emotions about the matter and the reason he and Aina had reached this point was because their ability to support one another on an almost spiritual level was perfect.

    Aina never tried to excuse her actions of back then. In fact, she had stayed silently by his side until he was ready to be over it.

    In his view, Miel was a third party who had a clear and understandable bias, but would only serve to tip the scales and ruin something that was otherwise perfect.

    Leonel felt a light squeeze on his palms from Aina''s hand. He looked over and met her gaze.

    "We can wait longer if you want," she said softly.

    "Aina, how much do you think about what happened back then? Does it still bother you? That I could be so callous? Do you worry that I could do that to you again in the future?"

    Aina fell silent.

    "... I trust you, Leonel."

    These were all the words he needed to hear, and they were much deeper than what he had wanted them to mean.

    To him, trust had just meant that she looked up to him like some fantastical action hero who didn''t bleed or fear.

    To her, trust meant placing her heart in his possession. If he wanted, he could tear it to shreds and leave it beaten and battered with bruises.

    But he wouldn''t.

    Leonel smiled. "Let''s go."

    That smile vanished when he stepped out of the Dream Pavilion.

 Chapter 2572 Weak

    Chapter 2572 Weak

    2572 WeakFollow current novels at novelhall.com)

    Leonel hadn''t really been paying attention. Quite frankly, until their honeymoon officially ended, he couldn''t gather the care to give a damn about what was happening in the outside world.

    The only reason he was stepping into the outside world in the first place was because Miel wasn''t among the number he had taken into the Segmented Cube. In fact, none of the Slayer Legion Generals were. So, he planned to take Aina out to find her father. With Anastasia''s abilities, it wouldn''t be too complicated. But...

    He didn''t expect that the entire Vast Bubble would be in a state of complete collapse.

    He would have thought that it was the Vast City alone, but beyond the burning buildings, the screams of terror, and the foul acts taking place in dark alleys they believed no one would see, it felt like the entire Vast Bubble was in a similar state.

    The protective, fortified cities that acted as barriers to the Demon Worlds were overrun.

    At first, Leonel thought that this was because the demons had launched an all-out offensive. But there simply weren''t enough demons around.

    Although the fortified cities were being overrun, it was by those unranked demons that had managed to cross before the real merger. This definitely wasn''t the actions of the Sun and Moon Demons.

    And then he looked into the skies.

    His eyes widened because there was something even his Internal Sight had picked up. It was a floating, cube-shaped stele. It was so large that there was no doubt that it was visible from across the Bubble. In fact, Leonel could vaguely feel that this Stele was visible across every world below the God Realms.

    It was simple. It was an introduction to the Gathering of Kingdoms, and the reason the world was in chaos was because they had learned that, for the first time, they would have to participate.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    There were only three ways to avoid the culling: the first was to have over 20% of your younger generation perform to an acceptable standard, meaning passing the Preliminaries; you had to have at least 100 who reached the Penultimate Round, or one who reached the Finals.

    The Finals... it was a round where only 100 would make it across all participating worlds. Just what did it mean to be in the top 100 of trillions upon trillions of geniuses?

    "Oh no, they''ll say I married for money," Aina spoke in mock horror.

    "That''s only because they''ll never see me in bed."

    Aina''s laughter peeled through the skies. In the middle of the world''s end, the couple didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    Miel looked up into the skies solemnly. The Stele had been a great source of worry for him in the last few days. He had immediately gone to find his daughter as what he had worried about was actually happening.

    If things had gone according to his plan, none of this would have ever happened. Aina would have been mistaken as a Half-Spiritual and then whisked away. But now, the Stele had already locked onto all of their auras. Everyone, including the Demons, was roped into this.

    They probably thought that they''d be safe from the culling, but they never imagined that they would make things world.

    Their six Bubble Worlds now counted as one, which meant the ratio of talented Demon geniuses had plummeted even further than before. Their actions in invading cosigned them to their deaths.

    Miel''s last-ditch effort was the Brazinger family. For the sake of his daughter, he was willing to do something his pride wouldn''t allow of him, but he hadn''t managed to find Aina in time.

    According to his information, Leonel had actually entered the Dream Pavilion and they had triggered a Challenge.

    The idea that Leonel had probably brought his daughter into the jaws of death filled him with fury, but that fury quickly became anxiety when the Four Great Families vanished into thin air before he could find a way to weather the Dream Pavilion''s storm of Dream Force.

    ''Why am I so weak?!''

    He grit his teeth hard. If only he had his former level of power, none of this would have happened.

    It was then, as he watched the world fall into the pits of despair, he laid eyes on the one woman he wanted to see most.

    Tears fell from his eyes as he saw Aina and Leonel walking toward him hand in hand.

 Chapter 2573 Tears

    Chapter 2573 Tears

    Miel''s happiness was overwhelming and he forgot about everything as he wrapped his arms tightly around his daughter. He rarely showed this much outward affection, but this time he had truly moved without thinking.

    Leonel smiled as he watched from the side.

    "Dad, we have something to tell you," Aina said after the two pulled apart.

    Miel blinked, his mind regaining his focus as he looked from Leonel to Aina. His mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario and he actually looked at Aina''s belly first.

    Aina smiled bitterly and Leonel did his best not to crack a joke. He was going to say: "Even if you stare for that long, old man, it''ll take months before she starts showing". But he had to maintain some level of decorum for today.

    This was a matter of Aina''s happiness and he couldn''t be cracking jokes that could quickly take this matter left.

    "That''s not what it is, I''m not pregnant," Aina said.

    Miel sighed and almost to visible sigh of relief. It was hard to tell if that was because he really didn''t want such a permanent tie between Leonel and Aina, or if it was that he couldn''t fathom them raising a child under these circumstances.

    The end of the world wasn''t exactly ideal for family planning.

    Miel''s frown returned after a moment. He suddenly remembered that in this situation, these two would have no choice but to participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms. Their auras had likely already been marked by the Stele, there was no way to pretend like they came from a different world now.

    Of course, they could still flee, there was no one that was going to stop them. Normally, those that would have thoughts to flee wouldn''t even have the methods to do so.

    After all, the only way to truly be safe was to go to a world with a guarantee of survival and to do so before the Gathering was triggered.

    But first, traveling through Existence was exceptionally difficult. Even those Demi-Gods that wanted to cause trouble for Leonel couldn''t do so fast enough, which was why he had triggered the Challenge Sequence so quickly.

    Leonel retracted his hand. "Aina and I came here today to tell you that we''ve gotten married."

    Miel''s pupils constricted into pinholes. He immediately had a visceral reaction and his mind jumped to all sorts of conclusions, most of which were perfectly justifiable.

    He wouldn''t think that they fused their souls, that wasn''t something most even thought was possible. His first assumption would be that Leonel had conned his daughter into holding a wedding without even her father present just so that he wouldn''t reject... he would see it as a power play.

    "I know what you''re thinking," Leonel said, "but it''s not like that."

    Leonel held up his left hand and faced it toward his father-in-law. Something told him that Miel would recognize it.

    Miel''s eyes widened, his crimson irises trembling wildly as he grabbed Leonel''s wrist. Tears began to form in his eyes, and a stoic man who rarely showed emotion started balling his eyes out.

    He didn''t make a single sound, but his tears fell like a pair of waterfalls.

    Even Leonel didn''t expect this sort of fierce reaction. He somewhat expected Miel to recognize it, but it was more of a hunch than anything else.

    Miel knew what it meant, maybe more than even Leonel and Aina. That band could only appear through a link of absolute trust between two parties who were deeply in love.

    He had never imagined that his daughter''s affections were actually so deep, nor that Leonel actually cared so much about her either.

    It was impossible for such a thing to succeed if it was as one-sided as he thought their relationship to be.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that Aina''s Soul Clairvoyance came from somewhere. He assumed that Aina was a Spark because it was a Lineage Factor, and it obviously wasn''t a Lineage Factor that was shared by the rest of the Brazinger family...

    But the real reason it wasn''t shared by the rest of the Brazinger family was because it was started by this man right before him, and it was precisely because of that that Miel knew the weight of what he was seeing... because he had once formed one himself.

    Leonel''s gaze landed on the hand that gripped his wrist. There on Miel''s fourth finger was a band of scorched skin that looked as though it had suffered third degree burns in the past.

 Chapter 2574 Happy

    Chapter 2574 Happy

    Leonel was intelligent. At that moment, it clicked. Ability Indexes weren''t inheritable, but Lineage Factors were designed to be passed down. Because he knew about Sparks, he thought that Aina had just created her own and it seemed to make sense that such a thing would birth from her Body Clairvoyance Lineage Factor.

    But this... this also made sense. In fact, it made much more sense.

    Miel released Leonel''s hand and looked into the distant skies, trying to regain his composure. The two men stood there in silence for a long while as he regained his composure, but Leonel didn''t seem to be in a hurry.

    "... You make my daughter happy."

    It was hard to tell immediately if it was a question or not. He seemed to already have the answers he wanted from the wedding band, but it was hard to remove his distaste for Leonel in a single bound.

    Even so, it didn''t change Leonel''s answer in the slightest.

    "Between the world and Aina, I choose Aina."

    Miel''s gaze flashed and his eyes landed on Leonel like lightning. His crimson irises held wave after wave of emotion.

    There was a lot of surprise, some reminiscence, some guilt, some... disdain? But it didn''t seem to be aimed at Leonel at all, which only made it odder.

    Miel sighed. "Stop using your Dream Force on me. You can''t see what I don''t want you to see."

    Leonel''s own gaze flashed, but then he looked toward the man skeptically. Miel was only in the Eight Dimension, and he obviously wasn''t that kind of super genius, or else he would have wiped out the human alliance he hated so much already.

    Was it because of Soul Clairvoyance? That probably made sense, Aina had perfect control over her mind.

    "It''s not because of Soul Clairvoyance," Miel explained simply.

    Leonel smiled. "Is this where my father-in-law establishes his dominance?"

    "We can participate," Leonel suddenly said. "In fact, I plan to have Aina participate alone."

    Miel frowned, but the reaction wasn''t as violent as Leonel was expecting, so at the very least, they could have a normal conversation about it.

    Rather than saying more, though, Leonel waved a palm and Scarlet Star Force manifested. Then, his Dream Force flourished, a crown appearing above his head and robes adorning his body in wisps of silver and gold fog.

    Miel''s pupils constricted. "Life State!"

    He could feel that there was something elevated about Leonel''s existence, but it was hard to scan a Dream Force expert. It wasn''t just this that made it hard to get a grasp on Leonel, but also the fact he seemed to be in the Fifth Dimension, but was actually in the fourth.

    "I think you know how it works, Aina''s insights into her own Forces were already comparable to my own, but now she''s gained mine well."

    Outside of Leonel''s expectations, Miel was actually surprised by this.

    Then Leonel remembered something... Ability Indexes were separated into five tiers, but they weren''t the only abilities with tiers to them.

    Not everyone with the Northern Star Lineage Factor could form a connection with the Golden Tiger or Death Pulse Deer like Leonel could, and the concept was the same here.

    Clearly, Miel didn''t expect his daughter to already be at this stage.

    But eventually, he shook his head.

    "It''s not enough. Your Force Comprehension is exceptional, but talent weighs very heavily in Existence. Someone with much weaker comprehension than your own can make up for it by their sheer body constitution. The only way to equalize that somewhat is to reach the Ninth Dimension, but even then if the gap in talent is too large, it would be hard to make up for."

    Leonel smiled. "Good thing, then, that Aina doesn''t just have Soul Clairvoyance, she had Body Clairvoyance as well as an Ability Index."

    Miel''s eyes opened wide and he seemed to really look at Leonel for the first time.

    "Bring me to my daughter," he suddenly said.

 Chapter 2575 Hurt

    Chapter 2575 Hurt

    She exhaled a breath of relief quite quickly, though, feeling that things between them shouldn''t be so bad if her father came in when he had so vehemently refused to previously.

    "Aina, give me your hand," Miel suddenly said, reaching forward.

    Though confused, Aina did as she was told. Miel stayed silent for a long while as he held his daughter''s palm, but there was a continuous wave of emotions passing through his eyes as the time ticked by.

    Just when Aina was about to ask what he was doing, he pulled his hand back. He looked toward his daughter with no small hint of shock in his eyes.

    Aina could feel that her father was probing her, but she had little resistance against it. She, obviously, wouldn''t put up any guardrails against her own father.

    "You''ve actually progressed so far..." he said softly.

    Aina smiled. "Not enough."

    Miel sighed. He knew what his daughter meant by that. Obviously, she wanted to wipe the Brazinger family off of the map, but that was a more complicated ordeal than he knew.

    Quite frankly, Miel wanted to tell his daughter to just target those that were responsible. But he didn''t have the heart to say it.

    He had lost his wife, the love of his life, and his daughter had to suffer that same pain, except she was far less experienced, far less mature, and didn''t even have him by her side while she dealt with most of it.

    As for why her mind immediately went to that woman, there could have only been one. It was too obvious the moment her father said it. There was only one person who seemed to hate her more than anyone else.

    "Your mother never knew until the end. It''s all my fault. I was a selfish man and I never intended to fall in love with your mother. I was throwing a tantrum and wanted to harm that woman as much as possible.

    "Your mother was the kindest soul I ever knew. I originally never intended to take things so far with her. The guilt was killing me, but in the end I was a weak man.

    "I told myself a countless series of lies, that everything would be fine, that we would grow together and I would break things off with that woman.

    "I did do the latter, but I was too arrogant. I should have waited until I was stronger, I should have tried to hide it better, but my overblown sense of pride put your mother directly in the line of fire and she died in the worst way possible... and I could only watch it happen."

    Miel gathered his courage to look into Aina''s eyes. The humiliation he felt toward having to tell his daughter this story was unimaginable, but he felt that he owed her these words.

    In the past, he was the only family she had. She was already so alone in the world, he couldn''t allow her to hate his guts. If she only knew hate in this world, maybe she would become as twisted as that woman. He couldn''t allow her to go down such a path.

    But now, he could rest assured.

    Even if his daughter hated him now, it was fine... because she had a husband who would support her now, a family of her own aside from him.

    He could feel the emotions churning in Aina''s eyes as her tears fell. Her memories of that sweet and caring woman were so clear in her mind, and to think that she was just a pawn of her father to get back at that worthless woman...

    It hurt, it really hurt.

    Aina broke down, but Leonel was there to catch her. She sobbed into his arms, holding onto him tightly.

 Chapter 2576 Moral Obligation

    Chapter 2576 Moral Obligation

    After some thought, he took something out of a spatial device and put it down. After that, he looked up and felt his body relax. He had said what he needed to say. If he was scorned by his daughter, so be it.

    They said that it was the role of a father to be hated, and only long after their children had grown up would they understand his sacrifices.

    Miel didn''t believe that he deserved any description so great. He wasn''t a martyr, he was a selfish man who used a good woman and made her suffer endless pain for the crime of loving him. Even if Aina always hated him, he deserved it.

    In this life, his only role left was his ambition to set the Brazinger family on the right path once again. Everything else would have to wait.

    Then, he vanished.

    Leonel held Aina in his arms, looking toward where Miel had disappeared. He could only sigh as well, he hadn''t expected that things would end up this way. Updated from

    He could imagine the guilt Miel was feeling. If Leonel was correct, he probably never wanted to marry Anselma in the first place.

    He understood how those four families worked, they were obsessed with bloodline and perfectly controlling every aspect. The idea that they would carefully select one another''s marriage partners wasn''t all that surprising. In fact, he would be more surprised if they didn''t.

    He could believe that Aina''s mother was his first true love. But he also knew that sometimes intentions were more important than the ultimate end result.

    He might have come to love Aina''s mother, but the reality was that he had tried to use her at first. She was an innocent woman, a mortal of Earth, and yet she was embroiled in this matter because she had been charmed by the wrong man.

    There was also the matter of how she likely had little choice. Miel was a man from another world, wielding untold power, having knowledge completely beyond that of Earth. Any normal woman would find it difficult to resist his charms. Aina''s mother might have felt that she had found her dream man, Aina''s father would have been so much further beyond any other man she had ever interacted with.

    And why had Miel chosen her in specific?

    "... Leonel... what should I do?" She asked softly.

    "Whatever you want to do." Leonel answered without hesitation.

    If she wanted to hate Miel, he wouldn''t try to change her mind. If she wanted to forgive him, he likewise wouldn''t stand in her way.

    "I really hate her... Am I a bad person?" She asked softly.

    The her Aina was referring to was definitely Anselma.

    Leonel understood Aina''s sentiment as well. If she lost him, maybe her actions would be just as unhinged. She loved Leonel so much, she couldn''t imagine losing him to another woman. She felt a crazy raging jealousy in her heart just thinking about it.

    But at the same time, she would never forgive Anselma, it was impossible, there wasn''t even a single fiber of her being that wanted to.

    "..." Leonel sighed, the question was too complicated. His initial reaction was obvious. Even if Anselma was hurt, it wasn''t her right to take it out on an innocent woman who knew nothing. But the more Leonel thought about what was wrong and what was right, the more difficult it was for him to reconcile an objective morality.

    Was the culling of the Gathering of Kingdoms bad?

    On the one hand, you would massacre trillions of people, but on the other hand... wouldn''t you allow for the life of many more than that?

    What was right? What was wrong?

    Leonel kissed Aina''s forehead.

    "Don''t let your thoughts be dragged down by such thoughts," he said after a while. "Your only moral obligation is to yourself and those you love, anyone who steps in the way of that will have to pay a price for it."

    Aina''s grip around Leonel tightened as they stood there in silence.

 Chapter 2577 Morality

    Chapter 2577 Morality

    Even on Earth, where there was relative peace, no one could come to a perfect conclusion on it. Was there an objective morality? Was it relative, based on the situation or maybe the opinion of the majority? Was it based on religion or was it anti-religion? Were there some cases where the opinion of the majority should be overruled by a more well-informed minority?

    Each discipline had their own fancy name, written by people who spent their entire lives studying philosophy, and yet none of them could come to a consensus.

    There were too many variables, too many different cultures, too many differing life experiences.

    Sometimes Leonel wondered how their views on morality might change in a world like this one. Would it scale up with the strengths individuals held and not change much at all? Or would their thoughts have to be overhauled for the sake of aligning with a new truth?

    Leonel didn''t know.

    For quite a long while, he had been tugged around by those questions of morality, torn between what would satisfy his mind versus what would do him the most good.

    He had come to feel in the end that most of it was bullshit. In a world like this one, created just to end one day, what good was there in some objective morality? Trying to find one had ended up causing him more heartache than anything else, and for what, exactly?

    He could remember the feelings of his future self quite well. That endless void of loneliness, that gut sinking guilt, it was endless and vast.

    If that was what chasing morality got him, he truly didn''t want it.

    But at the same time, that didn''t mean that they would do nothing. The trouble was whether he was doing it for the right reasons or not.

    His morality was originally based on logic. He couldn''t understand what could objectively decide the worth of a life, so he didn''t. Instead, he treated everyone equally and even believed that since he was granted talent, it was his duty to help to elevate everyone else.

    Now, he understood himself a bit better than that.

    Leonel chuckled. "So eager?"

    Aina''s little nose wrinkled. "I really want to bash some faces in. Who are they to try and seduce my husband?"

    Leonel laughed uproariously, picking Aina up in a bear hug and swinging her around.

    The two smiled and the chilled atmosphere gained its own bits of warmth.

    "Are you going to tell me why you really want me to participate now?" Aina asked.

    "Can''t I just want to show off my wife? I think that''s valiant enough."

    "Maybe, but I doubt that''s why," she replied with a sweet smile.

    She knew Leonel too well. Showing her off was probably the last thing on his mind. He''d probably prefer to lock her in a basement somewhere only he could admire her.

    "Hey, hey, what are you thinking right now?" Leonel said defensively. "Am I such a person?"

    Aina blinked innocently, pretending as though she had no idea what he was talking about.

    Leonel grinned. "It''s just a little gamble on a snotty nosed brat."

    Aina raised a brow in confusion, not quite understanding. Leonel also didn''t necessarily have to hide things from her anymore either considering the recent breakthroughs, but he seemed to still have the habit.

    Leonel looked to the side and found the distraction he was looking for. With a wave of his hand, the item Miel left behind flew up and he tossed it at Aina.

    She caught it with a flickering light of complexity in her eyes, but ultimately, Miel was her father. So, she opened the ring up to see what was inside.

 Chapter 2578 Fourth

    Chapter 2578 Fourth

    Leonel could tell immediately that there was something inscribed within it, but he let Aina sink her mind into it first.

    Several hours later, she came back up with a frown on her delicate brow.

    "It''s a technique called [Soul Reincarnation]. It feels like a very high level Spiritual technique, but humans shouldn''t be able to execute it, unless..."

    "Unless they have Soul Clairvoyance?" Leonel guessed.

    Aina smiled and tossed the technique at him. He unceremoniously took a look at it as well, but unlike Aina, it only took him a few minutes to go through all of it.

    When he pulled his mind out, he too had a frown on his face.

    "Show off," Aina scoffed, causing him to laugh.

    The technique allowed one to do exactly as it said, reincarnate the soul and return to a weaker state. But it was also highly dangerous. In fact, it could be said that only Aina and her father would have any sort of confidence in succeeding, and that was despite the fact it was a Spiritual technique.

    What he was frowning about wasn''t the danger, he felt that Aina had a near 100% certainty of succeeding. What really had him frowning was the fact it felt so similar to...

    Leonel''s hummed, feeling his mind churning something together.

    This technique was basically a chance at a redo, returning to a weaker state to reforge your path while carrying the understandings you already had. But there were drawbacks even beyond the difficulty in succeeding without Soul Clairvoyance.

    For one, Leonel clearly remembered all of his comprehensions, none of them had been forgotten. There were some other minor differences, but none were as important as this one alone.

    ''Are they unrelated? Is it just a coincidence? Maybe the methods are derivative of each other? But why did I have to be unconscious for one while the other is actively practiced? Weird...''

    Leonel couldn''t really understand it, but what he did know was that he and Miel weren''t the only ones to have regressed in strength. His grandfather had almost certainly experienced the same.

    Then Leonel thought about something else...

    The one Lineage Factor that had yet to come back after he began to progress and entered the Fourth Dimension was his King''s Might Lineage Factor.

    Could it be related?

    King''s Might gave him so much control over the souls of others, could it be...?

    It hit Leonel like a bolt of lightning, the simulations rampaging in his mind until he came up with one that had a better than 80% chance of being true.

    If he was correct, that either Miel or his grandfather had spent a great deal of time in the Spirituals world, ending up with this technique.

    One way or another, his grandfather got his hands on it and used it as a framework to create what could only be described as the fourth crown techniques of the Lineage Factor.

    If in the past [Breathe], [Assimilate] and [Arise] had been alone at the top, he was willing to give this new method a seat along with them.

    It was no wonder it wasn''t in the Golden Tablet, his grandfather had created it.

    It seemed that the old man was more impressive than Leonel gave him credit for.

 Chapter 2579 Together

    Chapter 2579 Together

    But... it was also because he was a Fawkes that certain plans had better odds of success than others did.

    "Should I?" Aina asked.

    She did really want to practice the method, but the trouble was that the Gathering of Kingdoms was just on the horizon. If she bit off more than she could chew, she wouldn''t have enough strength to win.

    But at the same time, rebuilding her foundations through the use of her Body Clairvoyance was difficult. Updated from

    "I actually think that you could manage it in a much shorter time than pops can," Leonel said.

    "Are you going to keep calling him that?" Aina said with a roll of her eyes. The first time she thought it was just a joke, but it was obviously a pattern now.

    Leonel laughed. "Do you want me to shun him? We can do that too. Whatever my lovely little wife wants."

    Leonel had always called his father "old man" or "dad", he would never use such names for Miel because as much as he respected the man, there was no one he respected more than his father.

    However, Miel was also family now. He didn''t feel it was right to call the man by his first name, and since Aina had built the bridge between them this time, it seemed that it was Leonel''s turn to try and build a bridge in kind.

    "Call him whatever you want," Aina said with a pout.

    Leonel smiled. He could sense Aina''s complicated feelings on the matter, but he could also tell that there was a part of her that felt happy Leonel and her father were at least on decent terms now.

    Other than around the edges here and there, and maybe to hide some of her real strength during the tournament, she probably wouldn''t use his comprehensions much.

    "And it''s also because... I have a pretty good feeling that you''re a God Childe."

    "A God Childe?" Aina blinked in confusion.

    Leonel explained what El''Rion had told him and Aina''s eyes flashed with recognition.

    "So that''s why...?"

    That voice that was always in her head only finally disappeared after she was revived. And honestly, it could be said that part of the reason she always had a sheer masochistic form of training was because it was the only thing that quieted that voice somewhat.

    "Yes," Leonel nodded. "I think that right now, whether it''s your Body Clairvoyance or Soul Clairvoyance, they''re actually much more substantial in weight than they would be in anyone else. Almost as though you''ve unlocked a sixth tier of them beyond the Savant Tier."

    Aina blinked, lost in thought for a while before she smiled.

    "Okay then, then how about together?"

    "Together?" Leonel asked.

    "Why train separately?" Aina continued. "There''s nothing stopping us from doing it together, it''ll be our own unique honeymoon."

    Leonel smiled. "Okay, then let''s make like newly weds and spend a ridiculous amount of money. Just a pair of sugar daddy and woman who married for money."

    Aina laughed as they vanished, their destination the Dream Pavilion.

 Chapter 2580 Prestige and Access

    Chapter 2580 Prestige and Access

    Leonel doubted they''d have the balls to come back for years, and that was only if one of them had a particularly potent daredevil side to them. For all they knew, the Pavilion had already been taken over by another Race and they just couldn''t be bothered to deal with the humans below. In fact, now that he thought about it, they probably assumed that the Gathering of Kingdoms was precisely that method to "deal with them".

    The Human Race had been immune to the Gathering of Kingdoms since its inception. Considering how far they had fallen from grace, there likely weren''t even legends or folktales remaining.

    Plus, even if they did come back, this was Leonel''s domain. He could crush even the Sun Demon Emperor if he was stupid enough to step into this place.

    Leonel led Aina by the hand into the very same Pavilion he had taken the Life Tablet from. Soon, they had entered a familiar world of white with a glass counter that extended toward both sides into infinity. This time, however, there was no honey trap-there wasn''t even a person on the other side.

    With a wave of the hand, a long list of materials appeared and a ranking appeared above.

    [Vast Dream Pavilion] [Rank: 101] [Prestige: 0.1]

    Leonel smirked.

    The Prestige ranking was a multiplier that ranged from 0.0 to 1.0 most often. Though, there were some that could go above 1.0 and some that were in the negatives.

    Unsurprisingly, the Vast Dream Pavilion got the short end of the stick. Even after this recent success, half of their points were still earned countless generations ago, causing the graph at 0.1 to not even look like it was moving at all, it just looked like a flat line infinitely close to 0 Access on the y-axis.

    But that wasn''t the only thing plugged into the formula. The list was so long and convoluted that Leonel couldn''t be bothered to go through them all, but there were even things like number of disciples, how talented said disciples were, then there was a plugin for current strength of disciples versus potential strength, then there was yet another just for current strength.

    Each one was yet another ding that caused the unique graph of the Vast Dream Pavilion to be by far the worst maybe in the existence of this system.

    Essentially, if Leonel were to summarize, "Prestige" was just a surface number while the real important metric was "Access" which went from 0 to 9.

    And right now, the Vast Dream Pavilion''s Access wasn''t even 0.1, and as a result what they could trade for was frighteningly limited.

    There was also one other thing to mention, and that was the fact that Prestige was also a multiplier for the worth of your Contribution Points. Having 0.1 Prestige meant that everything they bought would cost ten times more than it should.

    Quite frankly, Leonel was surprised they didn''t go with something even more exaggerated than this, but it was probably because they felt the rest of it was enough of a kick to the balls.

    Still, Leonel looked at the obscenely long formula with a sneer on his face.

    The thing about exponential graphs was that you didn''t need to go very far before your returns were suddenly far more than you bargained for, but that was a thought for another day.

    It didn''t matter much to Leonel. He could trade for the lower level Mortal items, and then use Anastasia''s Cleansing Waters to raise them to God items. Although he couldn''t trade for any elaborate, high level stuff right now, raw resources wouldn''t be a problem at all.

 Chapter 2581 Simulation

    Chapter 2581 Simulation

    "For you, I-"

    "Nah, I mean for you. If there''s something you need to complete your first Reincarnation and I can''t trade for it, it would be bad. There shouldn''t be a problem, but better safe than sorry."

    Aina blinked and suddenly smiled meaningfully.

    "What?" Leonel asked, confused.

    "You''re underestimating me a little too much."

    "What happened to ''you believe in me so much?''" Leonel said in the best Aina impression he could muster. Considering his Ability Index and Dream Force, he might as well have been her in those first few seconds.

    Aina rolled her eyes. "My methods work on a higher level than that, I can even find unconventional paths where others wouldn''t see them. I react to the resources that are on hand, not the other way around. So long as there''s a decent enough selection, there won''t be any roadblocks."

    "Oh? So why did it sound like you had a perfect plan laid out for me already?"

    "Because I do. But what''s important isn''t necessarily the resources themselves, but rather the steps. I can think of a hundred different ways to achieve the same goal."

    Leonel''s eyes brightened with understanding. It was an extremely powerful ability, the only drawback was that Aina needed to be in the moment.

    "That way, you can use your current comprehension to concoct your Force Pills instead of having to rebuild them back up first. Let alone a few days, you could reforge your path in just a few hours."

    Aina''s eyes lit up.

    Indeed, Force Pill Crafting was another discipline that required a large amount of comprehension. If she was relying on her comprehension as a Third Dimensional existence, it would take time and any number of variables could crop up.

    However, with this method, she could use her current comprehension to elevate her much weaker self, lay out a perfect plan first, and only then would she Reincarnate.

    By then, she''d have a perfect slate of pills waiting for her to pop into her mouth one after the other. The only variable of time at that point would be how long it took her to digest and integrate the pills into herself, and then how long it would take her to reforge her comprehensions.

    However, the higher her Dimensions, the stronger her soul, and the sharper her Soul Clairvoyance would be. By the time she returned to the Seventh Dimension, it would only take her maybe minutes at worst to compile everything once again.

    "No..." Aina said, almost talking to herself. "... if I infuse my Force Pills with my comprehensions, timing it with the perfect moments of enlightenment, then I won''t need to waste even that bit of time."

    Aina was already lost in her thoughts, and she had already thought of the first pill she needed.

    She listed off some ingredients and Leonel found them quickly. She entered a state of meditation and then began to concoct, her Blood Force flying about like rippling tides in the air.

    They didn''t bother to stop as Aina finished off one pill after another, adjusting to Leonel''s Simulations and taking the perfect step every single time.

    After barely an hour, an array of Force Pills lay before them, a total of six. Each one seemed to contain a world of its own and the skill made Leonel shake his head. He really needed to get back into Force Crafting or else this little wife of his would leave him far behind.

    After giving Leonel an excited look and a bright smile, Aina sunk into another state of meditation.

    Soon, her aura began to plummet. From the Seventh Dimension to the Sixth, from the Sixth to the Fifth and then finally way down to the Third once more.

 Chapter 2582 Blood Sovereign Path

    Chapter 2582 Blood Sovereign Path

    The locations of her Force Nodes stayed pretty similar, but with his senses he could feel that they were just a little skewed and their size was just a little bit bigger. It was a slight change, but there was no doubt that it would continue to roll forward.

    What shocked him, though, was that when Aina entered the Fourth Dimension, something interesting happened. This was definitely something that she hadn''t done during the first time around. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    She didn''t make new Nodal Pathways at all, or at least not in the normal sense. Instead, she hijacked her circulatory system, blood and all, then expanded it.

    Her Innate Nodes became flooded with her rich blood and the two systems became one and the same.

    Leonel''s eyes widened. He could tell from the feelings that were coming off of Aina in waves that she had wanted to do this for a long while, it was a huge relief to her to take this step. Regrets she had harbored in the past disappeared into the wind and she truly relaxed, her Blood Force becoming even more potent.

    At the same time, the strength of her body increased by leaps and bounds. With just a single pill, she had returned to the peak of the Fourth Dimension.

    She reached forward without opening her eyes and popped the second one into her mouth.

    BOOM.

    Waves of pressure came from her as the Nodal Pathways, or Blood Vessels, or maybe just both, began to worm their way into her brain.

    Thick veins and arteries began to take shape in her brain, but they were so cleverly folded and precisely controlled that rather than her actual brain matter shrinking, it actually multiplied several times over.

    She popped a third pill in her mouth as the effects of the second were just beginning to calm.

    BOOM!

    What distinguished the Convention Path and the God Path was that the latter relied heavily on comprehension. Leonel would say that what would decide the strength of the path most was how much it relied on comprehension versus everything else.

    The ideal ratio seemed to be 50-50.

    His father''s [Final Destruction] was a perfect example. It required him to take in a large number of resources, much like the Conventional Path, but there was also a heavy emphasis on Comprehension.

    From Leonel''s views, it was actually harder to gather the resources he needed than to meet the comprehension marks. So the ratio of [Final Destruction] was probably like 25-75, with 25 being comprehension.

    However, what closed in that gap was [Dimensional Cleanse], which was pretty much all Comprehension.

    The two were made perfectly to be used with one another and reached a perfect balance.

    Aina''s path was extremely unique. It relied on the highest form of Comprehension, that being Sovereignty, but it also seemed to play fast and loose with the terms.

    Blood Force was a unique Force in that its strength didn''t necessarily come from itself, but rather the Life Force it interacted with. Blood Force was a vessel through which Life Force could exude a great amount of power and influence.

    That was to say, to build a Path based on Blood Sovereignty was to both rely on comprehension, while also making yourself a vessel for resources at the same time.

    The best way to describe it was like Aina took the Venn diagram for Comprehension and Resources and pushed them together until there was a perfect overlap between the two.

    Aina popped the last two pills into her mouth.

    Delicate runes of blood red began to etch themselves into her skin, giving her an ethereal temperament that radiated out in all directions.

    She reached the peak of the Sixth Dimension and then broke through in a single bound.

    BOOM.

 Chapter 2583 Excited

    Chapter 2583 Excited

    The first time Leonel saw her break free of her curse, Aina''s hair had grown to the point it was practically a river of its own, long to the point it graced the ground.

    Quite frankly, Leonel really liked Aina''s long hair, though she herself preferred it short mostly for maintaining peak efficiency in combat. Even so, she had always kept it long thanks to him, though not as long as previously.

    Right now, her hair reached the small of her back, but that was still more than enough for it to be akin to a sea as it was carried around by the wind like that.

    Soon, her aura settled down and she exhaled a breath. She opened her eyes and a blinding flash of gold rippled before it too settled down.

    "How is it?" Leonel asked, observing Aina. Obviously, she had succeeded in the technique, but he wanted to know the details. Updated from

    When Leonel first gained his ability to simulate, they weren''t perfect. Sometimes, he would only have barely 50% accuracy, sometimes even less. Although it was still a great help to him even in those situations, he knew that it could be much better.

    By this point, he was no longer the Leonel of the past, and as such, his Dream Simulations were truly top tier. It was even more so when all the variables in question were just the single person before him rather than some wide ranging event with countless variables.

    However, it was truly impossible to form a Dream Simulation with 100% accuracy. Doing so would be akin to him reading the future or predicting it. Although Goggles could do some of that, it wasn''t perfect either, and even if it was, it wasn''t Leonel''s ability anyway.

    That said, there was definitely a higher than 99% accuracy, followed by a long string of 9''s for this particular Simulation. However, those tiny errors on the edges could cause steamrolling effects if they weren''t handled.

    It could be said that the real reason Leonel was okay with taking this risk was because the Reincarnation wasn''t meant to be perfect to begin with. In fact, its strength lay in the slightly different paths you''d take after each "reset". So, even if Aina''s attempt was a little imperfect, it wouldn''t ruin her.

    After a long while, Aina nodded.

    Aina looked toward Leonel, hoping that he would understand. And of course, he did.

    This was why Aina had to create one Force Pill, wait for Leonel to adjust the simulation, and then create the next.

    It was very easy for her Clairvoyance to see one step ahead, two steps even, but the further she got from her baseline, the fuzzier the lines became.

    At the same time, the further ahead she moved, the better she was able to recontextualize all the efforts she had made until then.

    The reason Aina wanted to wait was because the changes she had made to her Path just now were all things it had taken her years to gather up and deduce. While a second Reincarnation would benefit her, without those years of momentum behind it she would be wasting her potential.

    It was better to allow her current strength to sit and stew for a while longer as she continued to improve herself at the margins. Then, when she felt a sudden flash of inspiration about a next step to take, then she could jump in with both feet.

    Leonel nodded. "Your Path is very interesting. I''m not sure if you can think of something that tops it or matches it in the future, but at least for now I agree with you. I already felt that you were strong enough to reach the top 100, by this point it''s already overkill but that''s not bad either."

    Aina smiled. "I think there''s some potential for keeping your soul fused with your body. Evolution does make mistakes, though. So we''ll see how far I can take it. It feels good for now."

    Leonel supported it, honestly. Who knew, maybe one day Aina''s methods would become something the entire Human Race could use to rise again.

    "It''s your turn now, right?" Aina said, rubbing her hands together.

    "... Why do you look so excited?"

    "Can''t a wife want to help her husband?"

    Soon, Leonel''s screams filled the Pavilion.

 Chapter 2584 Head

    Chapter 2584 Head

    Most of his screaming was just for the theatrics; he had gotten used to pain like this, but that didn''t change the fact it really did hurt like hell.

    "That was just to 30%?" Leonel asked, huffing out a breath.

    "Yup," Aina said, a little too cheerily.

    Aina had said that he could only bring out 10% of his Northern Star Lineage Factor''s strength because the way he wanted to use it wasn''t really compatible with what it was designed to do.

    Essentially, the Northern Star Lineage Factor was designed to elevate the mind and grant affinity for powerful Forces. The amplification of the body was secondary to those effects, so the fact that Leonel was trying to use it to purely do that was like trying to ask the sun to cool something down.

    Technically it could just by moving away further, but that wasn''t what it was really designed to do.

    Either way, Leonel had managed to triple the strength of his body in a short time. Well... somewhat. He still needed to absorb the resources he would need to fill in those gaps. He had only absorbed enough for 10%, now he needed enough for 30%.

    That was fine, though. With Aina''s strength and his own, they didn''t even have to trade for the resources from the Dream Pavilion. Whether it was the Human Bubbles or the Demon Bubbles, they assaulted them all until Leonel was filled to the brim with Fourth Dimensional Mine Cores once again.

    The two bounced ideas off of one another and improved by leaps and bounds for what felt like every second. While the world was practically imploding around them, they moved about without a care.

    Then, the two returned to the Segmented Cube and broke the news to everyone. There was an eruption of cheers and celebration, and they seemed to forget about their own training for the sake of hanging around and partying.

    ''Genocide, huh... I would call you all cowards, but at this point even the Gods themselves are cowards, so how can the mortals be blamed?''

    Leonel looked up into the skies lost in thought while Aina reclined in his arms. They both wore white like a true pair of newlyweds, basking in everyone''s happiness as they did their own.

    "Hey, wife. What do you say to killing a few demons as a warm-up?"

    Aina, who didn''t even open her eyes, grinned.

    "I thought you''d never ask."

    Leonel didn''t react as Aina suddenly vanished. He kept leaning on the tree, looking up at the beautiful blue skies and listening to the jokes and jeers of his brothers.

    In a pit of mud not too far away, Milan and Arnold were locked in a very tight skinship... well, they called it wrestling but if you closed your eyes and listened to the grunting, it sounded like something very much different.

    Leonel laughed to himself. "Kiss already!"

    "Fuck you, cap!" Milan grunted as he was suddenly swept off his feet and his back careened into the muddied ground.

    The laughing and jeering continued without a word until a beauty suddenly returned, descending from the skies not much unlike a fairy would. The only difference was that she held a bloodied head in her hand.

    Somehow, that head, even within how grotesque it was outside of the dripping blood, didn''t take away from her grace at all.

    She just threw it to the side and returned to her husband''s arms.

    As for the head... it was none other than Urlgan''s... The Sun Demon Emperor.Visit  for the best novel reading experience

 Chapter 2585 The Best

    Chapter 2585 The Best

    After Aina killed Urlgan, Leonel hadn''t really bothered to check on the situation, and since Anastasia hadn''t said anything about it, he assumed that nothing of real importance had happened either.

    And honestly, what could they do? They probably sat there, despairing their outcome.

    Aina had killed Urlgan quite publicly, or else it would have never stopped the tirade of the demons. Most didn''t even know who she was as Leonel had been at the forefront of pretty much everything until now.

    As for the humans, they hadn''t even been present at the time, so all they knew was that an extremely powerful woman suddenly descended and put a stop to the chaos.

    At that point, they could only sit there and hope that things would be different.

    The timer continued to tick down while Leonel and Aina rose into the skies. From the looks of it, it really did seem that they were the only group with any intention of entering while everyone else was hoping for a miracle.

    Or so it seemed.

    At the very least, one ship came flying in from a distance, stopping not too far away. Out from within it, a familiar old woman stepped out.

    Mo''''Lexi.

    Her gaze landed on Leonel, a flicker of emotion dancing through her old eyes.

    Leonel himself raised an eyebrow. There was an age limit for the Gathering of Kingdoms, and she certainly didn''t meet it. If she tried, she could end up getting minced to pieces as she stepped through the portal, so he didn''t really understand why she had come at all.

    "So it was you..." she looked at Leonel, and then shifted her gaze to Aina. "... And you didn''t die."

    She looked toward Aina somewhat weakly, remembering those reports of what happened to Urlgan.

    It was her greatest shame, but it was something that she had swallowed and accepted because she felt that there was no other way. If there weren''t enough deaths before that timer hit zero, there would be no chance of them surviving this culling. So, she turned a blind eye, hoping that the Demons would do the dirty work for them...

    Until a woman wearing a dress of white appeared and decapitated him in a single blow before his vast armies.

    By now, she was fairly certain that that woman was Aina.

    She lowered her head as the two began to float away. Long after they entered the portal above, she still just stood there, her eyes somewhat lost.

    The weight of everything was crashing down around her, and she couldn''t even manage to be happy that they actually had a chance to survive.

    Just what was the point of everything she had done?

    She thought of her name, the sheer carnage she carried around with herself all the time. That heaviness played on her soul and threatened to rip out her heart.

    Her body subconsciously drifted upward, and by the time she realized what she was doing, she was already hovering within arm''s reach of the portal.

    ''I guess this is for the best...'' she thought to herself. ''I have no more role to play in this world.''

    She drifted into the portal and in a single instant of time, she was shredded to pieces.

    Her ship fell out of the skies and not even a single rag or drop of blood remained from her.

    However, there was a familiar Black Tablet that was suddenly spit out, falling through the skies like a meteor and yet crashing down below with hardly a hiss.

    The world fell into an eerie silence until a shadowy figure swept by and picked it up, looking around before vanishing into the night.

 Chapter 2586 Blood and Gore

    Chapter 2586 Blood and Gore

    People were concentrated in certain areas and they weren''t really interacting with the city much at all. It was more like they had all been randomly spawned here and were instead trying to reconfigure their bearings. The result was a "bustling" city that was instead filled with people looking around and observing one another.

    It seemed that this made sense. After all, they were indeed randomly spawned here. Leonel still found the choice a bit weird, though.

    There was no separation from people of different realms and such, they were just thrown into a hodgepodge and forced to co-mingle, something that was highly dangerous given the circumstances.

    Aside from those Demi-God Worlds that were pretty much certain to pass, everyone else was on edge. Unless you had a good margin against reaching that 10% number, there was no way that you could be relaxed in this sort of environment. Even those that felt like they had a great chance were still on edge because things weren''t entirely under your control.

    The only way to guarantee that there would be no issues was to have a genius capable of reaching the top 100, something most of the worlds did not have considering the concentration of strength in the hands of a minority of worlds.

    And, of course... Leonel and Aina were pretty much the only humans here. At the very least, whether it was with his eyes or his Internal Sight, he didn''t catch a whiff of any of them.

    Of course, that made sense. There were definitely humans outside of the human alliance, spread out across Existence. But these people likely lived ignoble existences that Leonel wouldn''t wish on anyone. Slavery was probably the pinnacle of what they could hope for.

    This, though, likewise made Leonel and Aina stick out like a sore thumb. In the midst of this sea of Nomads, Spirituals, Demons, Clouds, and even Beast Race members, they were particularly...

    Ordinary. Visit  for the best novel reading experience

    Leonel flicked his wrist and the lion Beast suddenly found an uncontrollable force pushing its paw up.

    It stumbled backward, its three other limbs stabilizing it as its paw remained in the air.

    Leonel turned back as he lowered his hand. His palm reached forward, facing the ground as he seemed to make a reverse come here motion, his fingers tapping toward the ground.

    The lion Beast was somewhat confused as it stumbled back and couldn''t even react to the change.

    Suddenly, the fire that made up its mane flared up and became as heavy as a mountain.

    BOOM.

    The head of the lion Beast crashed into the ground. It would have been a truly comical sight in any other situation, its ass still waving in the air while it roared, trying to wring its hand free. But maybe it was too stupid to realize just yet that freeing itself would be shredding apart its own head.

    The eyes of many of the spectators widened, not sure what exactly they were seeing. However, they didn''t have long to react before the roars of the lion Beast were muffled as its flames covered its entire head, covering it in a smooth surface of red that was barely transparent... just enough to allow one to see its expression of roaring agony.

    At that moment, Leonel''s fingers flickered across the air again and the flame on the beast''s tail flared up, becoming solid as well as it grew into a tower at least a meter tall and a half meter thick.

    Then, everyone looked away as the tail rushed down, driving into the lion''s back side.

    Blood and gore filled the skies.

 Chapter 2587 Weakness

    Chapter 2587 Weakness

    Beast Races didn''t have human forms, at least not in the normal sense. Though they could take human form, it was more like an avatar. It could exude some of their strength, but only a fraction of it. While executing more complex tasks, like... copulating, for example, was impossible while in such a form.

    The image didn''t really need to be painted, then. One could imagine what would happen to the human female slaves that this lion beast took in.

    The most disgusting part to Leonel was that the Beast didn''t even seem to be particularly sinister. It was still trying to act chummy with him as though what it was doing was just a natural course of nature, not something to get mad about. New novel chapters are published on

    And maybe that was truly the case. Ever since he had left Earth, he had learned more and more everyday of how much of a dog eat dog world he was in. There would be no one coming to save you... no one coming to save the Human Race.

    So as the lion Beast lay there suffocating, a heart rending pain tearing through its body while most of its backside was nothing more than a rain of blood, Leonel had no remorse to give in his heart.

    What made the situation worse was that as he listened to the fear-induced murmurings of those in the surroundings, none of them believed that he and Aina were human. Instead, they believed that they must have sensed something wrong, that the couple they were seeing were actually a pair of Half-Spirituals. They were certainly beautiful and handsome enough.

    Leonel''s ability to steal control over a flame the lion Beast had been nurturing since its youth only solidified this. Who could have more control of the elements than the Spirituals?

    Leonel waved a hand and relinquished his control over the flames, prepared to walk away.

    "Halt!"

    A booming voice came from a separate location.

    "What happened here?" One of them growled toward another lion Beast.

    The lion Beast''s eyes narrowed in clear rage. Just because they didn''t get their way, didn''t mean that they would be so free with how they talked to everyone.

    If they were so mad, they should have just directly attacked Leonel. There were no rules, after all.

    But, obviously, since they didn''t see the proceedings, they didn''t dare to. Somehow, between the sound of the first roar and by the time they got here, the lion Beast genius had fallen.

    Although he wasn''t strong enough to enter the Finals, how many of them were? There were trillions of them and only a hundred would make it.

    However, they could see enough to know that the lion Beast was of decent strength. It would at least make it past the preliminaries.

    In the end, the two Half Spirituals got their answers as not everyone dared to be so flippant in responding to their inquiries.

    "We''ll report this matter," one of the Half Spirituals said. "It was said that there would be a powerful Human, we should have just run into him."

    "And the woman by his side?"

    "It was said he had a wife."

    The two both had a flash of rage spark in their eyes. That was because they were privy to their higher echelons trying to marry the best of their Race to this human. How could they not be infuriated?

    "Since he brought her, then that means he brought a weakness. He''ll only be easier to deal with."

 Chapter 2588 Me?

    Chapter 2588 Me?

    Humans getting bullied was probably the norm. In fact, calling it "bullying" was too much of a disservice to what the Human Race had suffered since the fall of the God Beasts.

    But he had plenty of rage to go around if these people kept wanting to test him, council or not. He had his own methods of dealing with these things.

    A giggle suddenly came from Aina.

    "What''s so funny?"

    Aina laughed harder, causing Leonel to smile and shake his head. He could guess what she was laughing about. What he had just to the lion Beast was eerily similar to what Aina had joked about doing to him. The difference was that he had actually done it.

    But only this woman could laugh about such a gory scene. This was, indeed, his wife. Cute, adorable, and a little too bloodthirsty.

    Leonel was about to make a joke when his head suddenly snapped up.

    "Hm?"

    Aina noticed a moment after him and her eyes widened.

    "Yuri! Savahn!"

    Aina''s eyes reddened with excitement as she flashed forward, practically hopping onto the two women. She was so fast that those two couldn''t even react. They didn''t even realize who was hugging them until they saw the familiar Leonel and it clicked for them.

    Inwardly, watching this scene of the three women hugging and crying in each other''s arms, Leonel actually sighed out a breath of relief.

    There was only so much that Leonel could do as Aina''s husband. Although they were also each other''s best friends, there were sometimes Aina might want to spend some time with someone other than him.

    The Half Spiritual gave him a knowing glare as though he could see right through him, causing the one who started it to blush with some hints of shame and unwillingness.

    "Anyway, it''s nice to meet you two. My name is Zephyr. This is my idiot kid brother, Silvanus. Don''t mind him, he hasn''t seen much of the world and his mouth speaks before his brain thinks."

    Aina gave him a glance before turning back to Yuri and Savahn. Clearly, she was a bit irritated. She would have probably preferred to kill Silvanus, but now she couldn''t. He could consider himself lucky.

    Leonel smiled in her stead, shaking the man''s hand.

    "Leonel Morales."

    Zephyr''s eyes widened. "You...!?"

    "Me?" Leonel laughed.

    Zephyr looked back toward the two women, the astonishment still clear in his eyes. They had mentioned a chance that Leonel might be someone they knew, but how vast was Existence? The odds of two people sharing the same name wasn''t just common, it was practically a certainty.

    The only people who could get away with this were those who had names in Ancient Languages like those of the Gods, or those like Mo''''Lexi who had Dream Force strong enough to give their name real character that couldn''t easily be replicated.

    Leonel had obviously done no such thing to his name. There were probably all kinds of Leonel Morales out there, whether the same literally or at least phonetically.

    Toward Zephyr''s gaze, Yuri just gave a bitter smile. She had been somewhat expecting this, but she was still surprised as well.

    Then, her happiness was hit by waves of worry. Weren''t Leonel and Aina still humans? Didn''t that mean if they didn''t enter the Finals, their lives would end up in the hands of others?

    "Aina, we need to do something about this immediately, we can''t let you two-"

    GONG! GONG!

    Their expressions changed. Wasn''t that the council bell? Why was it ringing so early?

 Chapter 2589 Council Keys

    Chapter 2589 Council Keys

    Aina followed after him, and Savahn and Yuri kept up as well, leaving the pair of Zephyr and Silvanus lagging behind.

    "What the hell was that supposed to be?" Silvanus snapped at his elder brother with a deep hiss. "What happened to a united front? Am I even your brother? What are you choosing outsiders over me for? I didn''t even say anything that bad?"

    Zephyr pinched his brows. "Nothing that bad? If someone had said that about you and your woman, what would you have done?"

    "So what? Can''t men fight?"

    "You''re so naive. Fight? Some people would prefer to kill over words."

    "Who would do something that ridiculous?!"

    "People who''ve gotten used to having to scratch and claw for everything, instead of being born a pompous little prince like a certain someone."

    Zephyr gave his brother a pointed glare.

    Silvanus snarled. "And so what if he had the intention to kill? Would it make much of a difference? Don''t tell me you actually believe all those rumors."

    "You think Demi-Gods make up lies just for the heck of it?" Zephyr raised an eyebrow.

    "Even then, it was in a world they could only use Dream Force in, their talents were useless. You can''t seriously believe that he''s a threat in the outside world. He''s only here because he has no other choice, and if he wants to survive, he''s going to have to rely on one of our families to do so.

    "Do you think they''re going to allow his wife to just strut around by his side?"

    But that was to be expected. There was no way Miel would send his daughter and adoptive daughter to a place that wasn''t mostly safe.

    Either way, Leonel was more interested in those GONGs.

    Soon, they have come to a public square, filled to the brim with all sorts of people and races. Some even sat atop of buildings, and it was quite clear that those people above had a level of status above those below.

    Some who tried to casually stand on a building themselves found themselves kicked down.

    Usually, Leonel would probably immediately start fighting for a spot himself, but he found that his temperament was much more mellow these days... not that his run-in with the lion Beast was any indication.

    More than these people reclining and lounging atop of buildings, though, Leonel''s gaze landed on ten figures who were all standing atop of ten pillars that took up the center of the public square.

    In their hands, each held out a key as though they were unlocking an invisible lock. Their wrists twisted as Leonel''s disdain deepened.

    Ten portals opened up in front of them before rushing forward and fusing with one another. Then a huge almost water-like bubble took shape, opening up and expanding to reveal what looked like a senate house within.

    "The council has been formed, the rules will now be decided upon. So long as you are within the bounds of this city, these rules must always be followed. The punishment for failing to meet this criteria will be banishment from participating in the Gathering of Kingdoms."

    Shocked gasps spread through the crowd. There was no way a council of brats would have that much authority, right? Things definitely didn''t work this way in previous years.

    At worst, the council could enforce their rules with jail time, but even then a person would have to be released for the sake of participating in their matches.

    Something like being able to banish people for not following the rules was like putting the life and death of countless worlds at the whims of a few. That was unacceptable.

    Technically, there were no limits on what kind of rules the council could enforce so long as they were unanimously decided upon.

    What if they decided that no men could be in the city and got rid of half of everyone immediately?!

    And then the rules began.

 Chapter 2590 Rules

    Chapter 2590 Rules

    In the past, even with rules there, with the only real punishment being confinement, many terrible people would flout them and accept the jail time. Considering they would be released for their matches, and would obviously be released after the Gathering ended, why should they care?

    There were a fair share of the weak that had been directly killed for offending the wrong people or even looking at them the wrong way. The worst part was that often the people they had offended wouldn''t even act themselves. Instead, they would pay someone else to do it and take the jail time for them. Sometimes it was life-changing money on the table, so who wouldn''t jump at the chance if the only punishment was staring at four walls for a bit?

    By the time they got to their level of strength, something like solitary confinement wasn''t worth too much in the grand scheme.

    By the time most of the rules had been read, the crowd actually relaxed and began to feel that this was a good thing. The only people that didn''t really like it were those who were looking forward to flouting these very rules.

    No combat outside of designated areas. No killing regardless of region. Property damage wouldn''t be tolerated, and unless one could pay the fee for repair, they would find themselves banished. Coercion or attempts at it were strictly prohibited. Grudges couldn''t be taken outside of the arena....

    They were all normal rules... and yet Leonel could hardly stop himself from sneering as he listened to them. Even before the other foot dropped, he could find a million loopholes to these rules.

    "Property Damage" had to be paid for? If two people were fighting, who would decide who had damaged what?

    Coercion was banned? Who was looking? What kind of case could you even bring forward in such a case? Or if you did bring forward a good case, would you be accused of "taking grudges outside the arena"? What a vague and mind-numbingly useless rule. It could be applied so broadly and it was based almost entirely on the personal judgment of whoever was doing the judging.

    But this was to be expected. It had all been a farce from the very beginning, right from the moment they took out those keys.

    Those keys were what gave them the right to become members of the council. They were supposed to be so well hidden that it should have taken weeks for them all to be found. Leonel hadn''t even thought to look for them because the moment he appeared, he was beset by that damned lion, and then they met Yuri and Savahn seconds later. Then the GONGs went off. There wasn''t any time to do a thing even if he wanted to.

    "As you all know, the need for privacy is a must in the city as there will often be much improvement between rounds as participants are forced to their very limits.

    "As a proud user of Dream Force, I will willfully take a step back and allow a universal suppression of Dream Force within city limits."

    He was known as Caspian.

    When he was finished, yet another spoke. This man was clearly a Spiritual, one that radiated a wild and boundless might. He also happened to be a man that Leonel had seen but couldn''t be bothered to give a second glance. In Leonel''s eyes, since he had appeared here, he was as good as dead.

    He was the very Spiritual that stole his own father''s Innate Node.

    Rhangyl.

    "For the sake of more fairness," Rhangyl began, "wagers will be removed. No longer will one be able to exchange for items and such from the outside world to do trade within the city.

    "Instead, we will be implementing a social currency based on your merit and your merit alone. Everything will be decided on this form of credit.

    "Starting from the first Tier of the Sixth Dimension, one will receive one credit, doubling until the peak of the Seventh Dimension.

    "If you want to increase your credit, or gain them, simply wager your current credits, betting on yourself, others, testing yourselves against the various training facilities of the city, so on and so forth.

    "Fair warning, though. Social credit cannot be traded amongst individuals. Once your credit hits zero, you will be out of luck and be forced to live off of what the city provides for free."

    It was a cute little rule that left Leonel with exactly zero credits and apparently no way out of it.

 Chapter 2591 Finished?

    Chapter 2591 Finished?

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    "Finished?"

    The sudden voice that wasn''t amongst the ten Council Members caught many off guard. It wasn''t like there was a rule against speaking, but at this point, the only people that they weren''t allowed to offend were these ten, or else they would be playing with the lives of not just themselves, but their families, their friends, their entire worlds...

    "Good." Leonel nodded when he didn''t receive a response aside from sneers and gazes of derision.

    Then, he suddenly vanished.

    The ten Council Members couldn''t react before Rhangyl''s throat was suddenly in Leonel''s palms.

    BOOM!

    Leonel drove the Spiritual Prince back with such speed and ferocity that lines of buildings were destroyed and a deep trench was dug into the hard, cobblestoned roads.

    The eyes of several individuals widened considerably, but at this point, the only thing most could see was Leonel''s tall back as he ripped something out of Rhangyl''s hands.

    Rhangyl''s expression was entirely ice-cold. If Leonel could hand the man anything, it was the man''s calmness. However, if it was a competition of stoicism, he was far outside his depth. And nothing in that cold gaze was able to stop Leonel from taking the key from his hands.

    Leonel had simply moved too fast. It wasn''t just that he moved so quickly, but also that his Dream Force warped their senses, making them think he was still standing still when he very much wasn''t.

    The rule on the restriction of Dream Force had just been explained and had yet to be enforced, and it had cost them.

    "Taking the key will do nothing for you," Rhangyl said coldly as he stood to his feet.

    Leonel twirled the key in his fingers.

    "Show me something more," Leonel said calmly. "You were so strong and mighty when I wasn''t there, what is the mighty Spiritual Prince going to do now?"

    Despite the blow to his gut, Rhangyl''s body reacted much more like metal than flesh and bone. His fair skin, radiating hints of gold, looked far more like a metal that had just been tempered by steel than flesh that had just been burnt.

    Rhangyl coughed again, slowly standing.

    He looked back toward the Council Members who had only sent out a superficial attack until just now and didn''t seem eager to do much of anything else.

    The reason he had said that Leonel could do nothing was that the rules were already set in stone the moment they had spoken them. In order to change any rules, you needed the same stamp of approval that the rule itself had initially gotten. Meaning... unanimous.

    So, unless Leonel was planning on fighting ten of the strongest geniuses beneath the Demi-God level all alone, it was a pipe dream.

    Even if he had the strength, whether he could actually accomplish it was up in the air because there was no way he''d have to just fight the ten of them, not to mention the variable of the keys itself.

    He knew why Leonel had taken the Key. Without the resonance of all ten, the enforcement of the rules was impossible. So, despite the fact he had clearly already broken several rules, they still couldn''t kick him out yet.

    This left them in a stalemate, one that could easily be fixed by a few orders from each one of them.

    And yet they didn''t do it.

    Rhangyl obviously didn''t have the same level of station as the others, and even Leonel seemed to be more toying with him than taking him seriously. Leonel wanted him to be steeped in humiliation and die with shame, much the same as he had once done to the Morales.

    With a look of indifference, Rhangyl met Leonel''s tranquil gaze. Despite being targeted by so many large powers, the man didn''t seem moved in the slightest. Against the entire world, he was equally as unmoved.

    "I''m going to enjoy killing you," Rhangyl finally said something different from his usual indifference, the elements in the sky shaking as though in reverence of someone...

    That someone being Rhangyl himself.

    Ten points of light shone from beneath his skin.

 Chapter 2592 Faster

    Chapter 2592 Faster

    Rhangyl was an anomaly. The man had ten Innate Nodes, and that alone was enough to put him into a class all his own, especially since he was naturally born with them and didn''t have to manufacture them or form them after birth.

    He had two Fire, three Wind, two Water, and three Earth Force Innate Nodes. They formed a perfect balance in his body.

    In truth, the fact that he had once had three Wind Force Innate Nodes and just two of everything else had thrown off his progress and actually slowed him down. The moment he gained the balance he was looking for, allowing Wind to counter Earth and Fire to counter Water, his strength had soared by leaps and bounds.

    By the time he had been taken in by the Spirituals and acclimated to these worlds with far more complete Forces, he improved by leaps and bounds in single instants.

    Rather than being like Leonel and Aina who had to slowly rebuild their foundations, he was a Spiritual. He directly abandoned his old body, allowed his Innate Nodes to swap in far more powerful Forces, and then rebuilt this new body.

    He would show Leonel the power of a true Spiritual.

    His Forces roared and he pulled out his body. They coalesced into a single point and formed a rainbow arrow that sparkled beneath the sun. Then, he released the winding metallic bowstring with a TWANG!

    BOOM!

    The air exploded and shattered as though space had become as fragile as glass. The arrow appeared before Leonel in an instant of time, but he didn''t even move, watching as it pierced through his chest.

    Rhangyl''s pupils constricted.

    "I would suggest you bring out another weapon," Leonel said lightly.

    In that moment, his Dream Sovereignty, Spear Sovereignty, and Bow Sovereignty suddenly took shape.

    His white robes were covered in flowing fog of gold and silver and barely emitted the faint wisps of ancient runes.

    However, Leonel treated them like air. His wrist flickered again and again until Rhangyl suddenly roared, finally regaining control of himself and bursting forward.

    Leonel was even faster.

    Rhangyl didn''t even know when the fist appeared at his gut, driving into his steel-hard skin as though it was a puff of clouds instead.

    His eyes bulged and spittle flew from his mouth as he rocketed backward, his body crashing through building after building.

    "Without your bow, you''re kind of weak," Leonel''s voice echoed again. "It can''t be that a human is better with the bow than the mighty Spiritual Prince, right? Come, use it again. Maybe it''ll work this time."

    By this point, many had locked auras onto Leonel. They could see plain as day that he was only in the Fifth Dimension, and many of them were able to put two and two together after sensing this.

    Every time Rhangyl got up, Leonel would swing his spear down again, and then again.

    Everything was slow and methodical, almost as though he was taking a stroll through a park.

    His blade flickered three times and three silver streaks arced through the air, pincering around Rhangyl before driving through the same point in his stomach.

    PCHU!

    Blood flew from Rhangyl''s lips as his lower belly was nearly cut in two, almost bisecting him at the waist.

    "Enough!" Rhangyl roared, his composure vanishing as a bloodthirsty light pooled out from him.

    His soul seemed like it was on fire, pools of Force forming around him into whirlpools of rainbow in the skies. They began to rain down with arrows, each one swirling with massive amounts of power.

    PCHU!

    Rhangyl''s eyes widened, suddenly finding his stomach skewered on the end of Leonel''s blade. His feet lifted from the ground and his hands flailed, barely grabbing onto the pole arm with a weak grip.

    At that moment, someone suddenly appeared by Leonel''s side, grabbing his arm.

 Chapter 2593 Unwarranted Confidence

    Chapter 2593 Unwarranted Confidence

    It was a man-a Demon, rather. But he looked quite human aside from the purple scale on his forehead and the horns on his head. Even with this, though, he looked absolutely immaculate, reminding Leonel a lot of Elthor in that way. Neither were human, but both seemed to meet the aesthetic in ways human men could not.

    Leonel looked down at the slender fingers grabbing his arm. The grip was light if it could be called a grip at all. It was more like a pat.

    "Do you need something?" Leonel asked.

    The Demon smiled, "my name is Thorne."

    "You didn''t answer my question," Leonel replied.

    Thorne chuckled. "I think this has gone on for long enough, don''t you think? You''ve already vented your anger."

    "Have I?" Leonel asked, a smile spreading across his face.

    "You know, in the world I come from, they always said Demons were vicious creatures without morality. I didn''t think I''d meet such a soft one."

    Thorne laughed even louder. "Don''t all Races have their lessers? I''ve always heard that Humans are weak and fragile, are you the same?"

    The question was rhetorical.

    "A temporary ailment," Leonel replied without missing a beat.

    Thorne''s eyes narrowed. "The implications of those words are quite dangerous, you know."

    Then he cut out another, then another. By the time he was finished, Rhangyl wasn''t even recognizable. He was more a pile of goop and metal than a humanoid of any kind.

    His soul seemed trapped within his body. Without a real death, he couldn''t separate easily, especially not while his pain receptors were firing so wildly.

    "I hope it was worth it," Thorne said lightly. "The world isn''t a place you can be as willful as you please. You''ve cost your entire Race."

    Leonel looked over. "You''re an annoyance. Piss off."

    His spear slashed down and Rhangyl''s voice suddenly came to a frightening stop as his body, or what was left of it, fell into two pieces.

    Leonel turned and walked back without a word, passing through the square and appearing before his wife and the others. He gave Silvanus a glance, but the man seemed to have lost all blood, his face a ghostly sheen of white.

    Leonel didn''t give the man another glance before he gave Aina a kiss on the forehead and handed the Council Key to her.

    "I''m gonna go take a nap," Leonel yawned then vanished into the Segmented Cube.

    Aina shook her head, catching the finger sleeve before it fell to the ground and slipping it on one of hers.

    At that moment, the Council Key trembled and they finally enforced the rules.

    [Participant Leonel Morales has been banished due to violation of the rules]

    The words appeared high in the skies and everyone looked toward Aina to see if there would be some sort of reaction. But she didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    This made their eyes narrow. Just what was going on here and where was their confidence coming from?

    Also, had Leonel been vanquished? But why were the words still high in the skies then? The only explanation was that he had yet to be caught...

    But how was that possible?

 Chapter 2594 The Self (1)

    Chapter 2594 The Self (1)

    He made his way to the lab setting and sat at his workbench, his hands mindlessly roaming through its pits and valleys. Although he had a plan, he was still a little reckless today. He hadn''t exactly ruined that plan, but he didn''t help it much either.

    At this point, though, his patience was very limited for such things. Seeing a man who had wiped out the Morales family made him feel that such a person shouldn''t have the right to continue living, so he killed him. It was really that simple.

    In truth, he really had no intention of wasting time bending to their whims, sleeping outside the city in tents, and being unable to trade even for his own food... as "great" as that sounded. Updated from

    His honeymoon just ended and he was already annoyed with the world, fantastic.

    *Bloop

    Little Tolly flashed around Leonel''s arm, pulsing with a gentle light that seemed to make him feel better.

    "Yeah, we should Craft..."

    Since he was feeling annoyed, why not focus on something that could help? The fact his Crafting was falling so far behind everything he was running into these days was another source of annoyance. If he could catch up and get rid of those bits of annoyance, then maybe he would feel better at least by a small margin.

    Understanding Crafting better would also allow him to conjure up a stronger spear. Right now, he was relying too much on the strength of Scarlet Star Force and not enough on his own comprehension. Well, at least no comprehension of Crafting itself, that is.

    He placed the glasses down where they could see his hands and then he turned back to the dictionary. Finally, his mind looked toward the final three lessons.

    [The Value of Complexity]

    [The Value of Simplicity]

    [The Value of the Self]

    He listened to each one of these lessons carefully, taking his time to meet the requirements they asked of him, checking every box, before finally moving on to the next.

    He moved through them quickly, almost too quickly. Or rather, he felt that it was much too quick because he would have preferred to listen for just a little longer. It wasn''t that the lessons would disappear, they would still be there. It was instead that with his mind, the moment he went over something, it would practically cease to be.

    It would become a perfect memory in his mind, one that was identical to the original in every way, shape, and form.

    After he was finished, he would no longer be able to form new memories about his father. Unlike a normal human, he couldn''t just wait until enough time passed, hoping that he would forget enough of it that watching it again would feel new.

    This was it. This was all that there would be left of his father in this world. The last impact he could make.

    Leonel listened and watched as his father cracked jokes and doled out knowledge, alternating between a quirky man and an iron-fisted general seamlessly and without losing the slightest hint of his dignity all the while.

    "... I only faintly touched this level, but I believe it exists as a whole all to itself. If the Life Grade represents giving a treasure life, then the Self Grade represents giving a treasure life rooted in not itself, but you.

    "It sounds like a regression, but life is unpredictable. You cannot control what something you''ve created can become or what it chooses to be. What was once created can never truly be recreated, it can only exist as its own thing..."

 Chapter 2595 The Self (2)

    Chapter 2595 The Self (2)

    It was a set of words, a phrase, a sentence... a knife through Leonel''s heart.

    He could vaguely feel what his father was trying to say. The path of Self Crafting might be as much his father''s enlightenment as it was a lesson.

    Maybe if his Dream Force was just the same he might have dismissed it. But right now, it felt like a final nail was being driven into a coffin. Whether it was his own or his father''s, Leonel barely had the wherewithal to tell the difference.

    Did the difference even matter?

    It shouldn''t be true.

    How could life not be reproducible? Couldn''t Anastasia copy his methods and remake perfect treasures based on his template every time? Couldn''t he do the same with just an extra bit of effort?

    But he knew it was bullshit. He knew his own thoughts were ridiculous.

    Every time he picked up an ore, it would have a different set of characteristics. Part of the skill of a Life Crafter was that they could read and react to any materials they had, breathing life into them.

    But no two Life Grade treasures could ever be identical. Every time one was created, it would have its own unique existence, its own unique path to follow. Even if it was just a minor deviation, it was a deviation nonetheless.

    His father took a new route, diverting from the usual path of Life and creating the path of Self Crafting, one where the Crafter imposed their Will onto a treasure and forced it to mold into their chosen path.

    It was a stroke of genius, one no less fantastic than the creation of [Final Destruction]. And yet, Leonel could hardly see the beauty in it.

    But he was still very much human... so why not be human?

    Leonel''s eyes opened, slightly red, but more focused.

    ''The Self... imposing your Will onto the world... I quite like that. However, that''s a matter for another day. First, complexity...''

    Leonel''s mind shifted from thoughts of dread toward a focus on making his father''s path shine. If he wanted to truly grasp The Self, then he would first have to understand the extremities of Complexity.

    The Complexity referred to an incredible depth of Crafting, one where one controlled the parameters of their Craft even down to the very molecular structure. Rather than relying on the macro, one would get very micro.

    This was the level the key to the Dimensional Cleanse Verse had been on. However, even that key had just been a small inkling into this world of complexity.

    From the start of Crafting, Leonel had learned the more parts a Craft had, the better it was. This was just taking this philosophy and stretching it to the extreme.

    Reaching a deep level of understanding in this phase would allow him to create the Divine Armor he had in mind, but only in part.

    However, The Self was something that struck Leonel with awe. That was because it matched with his thoughts so incredibly well that he felt like his father was even reading his mind.

    The Divine Armor he wanted to create was something he wanted to feel much more like an extension of himself, it was living, breathing. But the Life Grade alone wasn''t enough to accomplish this. He needed something deeper.

    And now the answer was right before him.

    Leonel started with a piece of what looked like brushed steel. He closed his eyes and his fingers began to move with lightning quickness as Tolliver moved to envelop it.

    If one could see the molecular structure of the piece of metal, they would be greatly awed. That was because Leonel was using atoms themselves to draw Force Arts.

 Chapter 2596 Trust

    Chapter 2596 Trust

    There were very few here in the know about what happened in the True Dream Plane. However, those that did understood who Aina was immediately. The trouble was that... they still didn''t understand why.

    Leonel wasn''t a fool, or at the very least, he shouldn''t be. Could his success in the True Dream Plane really be luck? No one would believe that. Could it be, then, that some of their other hypotheses were actually correct?

    Many thought that there was simply no way for Leonel to succeed the way he did. They watched the event from start to end, but something felt off. Leonel had too much control over the situation, he seemed to get too lucky, his decision making was too perfect.

    They wondered if there were some hidden mechanisms of the Life Tablet that they weren''t aware of, or maybe if Leonel had brought in a long forgotten treasure of the Creation God Beasts from the Pavilion to ensure their win.

    These possibilities were very much possible, and they were much more willing to believe this than anything else.

    Looking at Aina now, she was truly extraordinarily beautiful, on the same level as the best of the Pure Blooded Spirituals. In fact, they could even faintly see what Leonel was so boldly snubbing an Owlan for her.

    However, nothing else seemed to be special. She was in the Seventh Dimension, but so was pretty much everyone here. In fact, from what they could sense, given the special fluctuations she was giving off, her soul was even tethered to her body.

    This wasn''t a surprise, this was the case for all humans. The problem was that the humans that managed to break free of that mold all managed to separate the two at some point or another. Even Leonel clearly had, but his wife hadn''t?

    Would she even be able to make it through the Preliminaries?

    The more they observed her, the more confused they became... until they saw the tattoo around her finger and they suddenly understood...

    Leonel had lost his mind.

    "What is going on?!" Yuri was doing everything she could not to panic, but she felt like her hair was on fire.

    It would have been fairly easy to slip Leonel and Aina under their umbrella before-or so she thought-but now there was simply no way. It was like they had thrown themselves into a fire pit.

    Aina smiled. "You don''t need to worry so much. Have you ever seen Leonel fail?"

    Yuri opened her mouth to respond, but then she frowned. A part of her wanted to say that that was the Dimensional Verse, but this was the real world... However, she didn''t have the stomach to do it.

    Back then, she had thought the things he did were just as impossible. The Dimensional Verse she looked down on now was her whole world back then. Even if she had a new frame of reference now, that didn''t make the things of back then any less impressive.

    "But Aina... you died..." Yuri said, holding onto Aina''s hands so tightly they might lose all blood circulation.

    Aina smiled both a bit bitterly and understandingly.

    "I died... because I didn''t listen to him," she said softly.

    Aina could still remember the sheer fury in Leonel''s eyes back then. He told her to come back but she didn''t listen. She could feel that back then, he had almost said words that he might have regretted for an entire lifetime, that was how enraged he had been about her decision.

    Leonel and her had gone through many ups and downs, but he had never truly been mad at her. Even after their breakup, his cruel words hadn''t been out of spite, they had been out of indifference.

    But that day, he had truly been mad at her.

    She could feel it almost viscerally. It wasn''t her decision that enraged him, but the reason why... because she thought she could protect him, but on a deeper level than that...

    Because she didn''t trust him.

    Right now... She chose to trust.

 Chapter 2597 Two Forfeits

    Chapter 2597 Two Forfeits

    They were all aware that Leonel was still here in some capacity, and whatever method he was using to avoid being banished would definitely work again on the key. As for those that felt they were powerful enough to face Leonel, they didn''t care about whose hands the tenth key was in. As far as they were concerned, the Council was just a glorified paper tiger and they had already accomplished the wishes of their various families, empires and powers. The rest would sort itself out very shortly as the Preliminaries were already soon to be underway.

    When the day came, the teleportations began in batches.

    The tournament would be projected in the skies of the city, as well as from the large Stele that teleported them all here in the first place. The participants wouldn''t have to go anywhere and they would be plucked out of the city on a whim. When it was their turn to go, they would be alerted and a few seconds would pass before they were forcefully teleported to the arena.

    As it was the preliminaries and there were quite literally trillions of participants, there would be many battles going on at once.

    As much as these powers would like it to be different, the Gathering of Kingdoms remained as objective as possible. Rather than matches with convoluted rules and things of the like, there would instead be simple battles.

    In the preliminaries, one would have three battles. It was only necessary to win one to make it through to the next round.

    Those that won on their first or second battle would have no need for a second or third battle and would be considered to have successfully passed.

    Even by this point, Yuri had yet to calm down. To her, Aina''s words about how she had only died because she didn''t listen to Leonel sounded borderline psychotic. However, when Aina told her she was going to lose her first two matches on purpose, she almost fainted.

    "Why would you do that?!"

    "Because it decides seeding," Aina said as though it was only a matter of course.

    "That''s why you should try to win as soon as possible!"

    "But then I''ll face opponents that are too weak. What would be the fun in that?"

    Yuri almost pulled her hair out. This was a tournament that would decide which worlds were effectively genocided, this wasn''t a time for leisure and fun.

    "Savahn, please try!" Yuri felt like she was losing her mind.

    The Gathering of Kingdoms was originally meant to be a friendly gathering, so it was, of course, the case that there were many rules for mercy and things of the like baked in.

    One could forfeit simply by saying that they wanted to, and if one was pushed out of the arena, the match would also end. Though, the arena for battles of this scale was measured on the order of hundreds of kilometers.

    Even so, none of this made what Aina was doing make any more sense. The higher ups were even more confused. Why do all of this just to forfeit?

    And then Aina''s third match came.

    She stood on the arena grounds, the large white tiles that made it up making her look particularly dainty and small despite the fact she was a woman who stood at over six feet tall.

    Across from her, an opponent appeared. It was a member of the Beast Race. In fact, it was coincidentally a lion as well.

    It was smaller than the one Leonel had killed, standing at only around three meters tall or so. But it looked more slender and much faster.

    The lion Beast thought that maybe it was in luck. Everyone had seen by now that Aina had forfeited not just once but twice. Its world was one where should they get a little unlucky, they might be a hair or two beneath the 10% mark. He would definitely take an easy victory if he could get one.

    But even after an illusory judge gave the signal for the match to begin, Aina didn''t move, neither did she say anything. She just stood there, seemingly waiting for something.

    The lion Beast realized then that there would be no easy victory. For some reason, this woman had suddenly decided that she wanted to fight.

    He crouched and a low growl came from his maw as he bared his teeth.

    BANG.

    He suddenly accelerated forward, lightning streaks roaring as he appeared before Aina in an instant.

    The battle seemed over, and yet Aina suddenly reached out a hand, grabbing the snout of the lion Beast and suddenly driving him right into the ground.

    BOOM.

    The indestructible tiles cracked and the lion''s skull was blended into a pile of mush.

 Chapter 2598 Hm?

    Chapter 2598 Hm?

    There was a dense sort of silence that took hold of those that were watching. They had somewhat expected that such a thing would have to happen, but they didn''t expect it to end up like this.

    There were a fair share of weak participants as there would have to be in this sort of situation. The trouble was that the lion Beasts were most definitely not one of them.

    The one that Aina fought in particular was only on his second battle after running into a particularly tough opponent the first time around. Although he probably wouldn''t have made it much further than the second round, there was no doubt that he had the strength to pass the Preliminaries at the very least.

    And yet, it took just a single strike. It was hard to even call it a strike. It had looked more like a pat on the head, a single swift downward slant of the palm... and then the battle was over.

    There were other battles that had ended in just a single strike as well. But the fact Aina had forfeited twice, seemingly on purpose, only to now erupt with such strength.

    It felt like a message. No, it was yet another message, one that layered atop of what Leonel had already done as though they had come here not to bow and scrape for the hope of saving the last bastion of the Human Race, but rather to be that last bastion themselves.

    Someone with a soul fused with their body was able to deal with someone with a separated soul with nothing more than overwhelming force.

    She didn''t use Forces, she didn''t use a technique, she didn''t even seem to have gone all out.

    It was just a single, overwhelming, and crushing victory.

    In a secluded room, a group of nine gathered. It wasn''t too hard to guess that these nine were those that remained of the original ten Council Members.

    Orion leaned back and many had a flash of rage toward his words. However, they were reasonable and there was little they could say as a rebuttal.

    And so, the conversation was dropped and the days began to tick by... until the next round began.

    Aina stretched, raising her hands to the skies. Although Yuri and Savahn''s worry hadn''t faded, they had at least settled down somewhat. At the very least, Aina''s victory had given them some hope to latch onto.

    A ticker appeared before her and she smiled. It seemed that she would get to battle again. Hopefully, whoever this was, would be able to give her a better battle.

    Aina vanished and appeared within an arena. Across from her, there was a hooded figure, practically dripping in black. They were lanky and tall, standing at over seven feet tall. Hidden within the hood of their cloak, one could sometimes catch the faint glare of two sparkling green eyes.

    The figure suddenly swayed and seemed to vanish.

    ''Hm?'' Aina''s brow raised.

    Leonel sat over his workbench, beads of sweat falling down his brow as he focused on just a single piece of ore.

    Changing an ore on a molecular level was easy. The trouble was having it maintain its form afterward.

    Just logically, an object''s chemical structure decided everything about its properties. Casually changing it without regard for maintaining its original integrity, or compensating for it somehow, was as good as destroying the materials he had on hand.

    What was even more interesting than that was the fact it felt that there were actually two ways to approach this after learning his father''s methods...

    The Life Path and the Self Path.

 Chapter 2599 Overwhelmed

    Chapter 2599 Overwhelmed

    Aina was immediately wary. She could feel an odd Force tugging at the air, and it felt like it was Fate itself being toyed with.

    Time Force?

    She had seen something similar from the likes of Hutch''s grandson. This felt like a similar, yet different application all the same. This opponent was a dangerous one.

    The existence of people like this were probably precisely why the Council Members didn''t dare to guarantee a top 100 finish.

    This was only the second Time Force user that Aina had met in her lifetime, and the first one that she was actually battling with herself.

    Suddenly, just as the fist was about to land on Aina, she moved as it accelerated. She slipped out of its path, her golden irises flickering with an interesting light.

    She was fascinated by the battle style. The strike just now was probably the third best the figure could do. During the jerky motion of his attack, Aina had distinctly sensed two more than were much stronger, each one double the strength of the last.

    Aina''s Soul Clairvoyance was tugging at her and she seemed to faintly grasp onto something.

    ...

    "That figure," Caspian said, frowning. "That''s the Luck of the Draw Ability Index. When''s the last time that Ability Index appeared?"

    "Who cares?" Lumina sneered, her beautiful features seemingly distorting more and more these days. "It looks like she''s going to lose. I didn''t expect this farce to come to an end so quickly. Maybe if she hadn''t insisted on trying to be something greater than she was, she could have lasted a bit longer."

    "Says who?"

    "Did you not see her earlier battle? She''s a brute. Against a brute, that sort of unpredictable Ability Index is the greatest counter."

    "Oh..." Aina suddenly said, a glow appeared around her as strands of her hair danced in the wind, many of them breaking free like broken leaves.

    A slightly red mark appeared on her cheek, but no blood was drawn... at least not immediately.

    Aina held out a hand to her side and a battle ax appeared. It glistened with red and gold, causing space to bend and twist beneath its presence. It reacted to her Weapon Force, roaring with life.

    Her wrist twisted and the battle ax spun, its pole arm bending beneath her might as she cut clean through the tiles beneath her feet and up toward the man''s chin.

    The speed was variable and jerky, shaking through the air much like the man''s. It was hard to tell if this was Aina''s own doing, or if it was the impact of the man''s Ability Index.

    The man arched his back, pulling away as fast as he could.

    His chin was barely nicked and a spurt of blood flew into the air like a sharp line splitting the skies.

    He recovered quickly, ''rolling the dice'' again and using it to recover. Then, he unleashed an even more feverish assault.

    The two fought back and forth with the man mostly dodging as best he could.

    Aina seemed leisurely, wielding her ax with just a single hand. However, if one looked inside her body, her blood itself was pulsing like a heart, changing pressures on a whim and shifting between degrees of Life Force. She controlled her body in more ways than just choosing a location to strike and then executing.

    Slowly, the style became more and more fluid, moving at a faster and faster speed.

    The man was completely overwhelmed. He pulled out all the stops, even maintaining a distance and firing his fists with nothing more than his peak powers.

    Somehow, Aina was completely countering his Ability Index and her movements had lost the jerkiness entirely.

    Suddenly, the man froze as he lost his footing.

    He slipped, falling out of the arena.

 Chapter 2600 Malleable

    Chapter 2600 Malleable

    But this man actually forgot that they were in the middle of an arena. She had even just been using one hand in an attempt to prolong the fight as she had definitely just made years of progress in a few seconds just now. It would be hard to replicate these circumstances elsewhere.

    She shook her head and vanished, leaving the world in silence.

    ...

    The entire matter was recontextualized in their minds. They realized that Aina didn''t seem to have struggled even from the very beginning. Other than a superficial use, she didn''t really rely on her on Battle Ax Force either. In fact, it had only been barely enough for them to realize that she was a Sovereign.

    The group looked toward one another. Even Orion, the Cloud Race youth, opened a single eye, taking a peek at what was happening above. Then, a hint of solemnness appeared between his brows.

    That... was definitely not normal.

    They were certain that the man''s Ability Index was influencing Aina as well, so where was the jerkiness? Why did she seem unaffected? Was she a Time Force user as well? Had she used it to counter it?

    A Sovereign of a Weapon Force and a Time Force user? And on top of that, carrying that absolutely ridiculous physical strength?

    The silence somehow became deeper.

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    She had used a sword, a spear, even a silk scarf as a weapon before. There probably wasn''t a single weapon type that she hadn''t tried out, some for longer periods of time than others.

    Even so, it had been a while since the last time she had experienced such a compulsion. She thought it was because she had already gone past the limit through which other weapons could help her improve. After all, she had already used all of them.

    Unless.... Her Clairvoyance wanted her to lean into that even more. Not just using her understanding of other weapons to shore up her weaknesses, but also making them strengths.

    She was still swinging her ax with a single hand, carrying its mountain-sized weight as though it was nothing at all.

    Suddenly, she imagined that it was a thin sword and her casual swing seemed to become even faster and more agile.

    She imagined a spear and it became rigid and territorial, forming a Domain that others couldn''t cross into without fear of death.

    She imagined a silk scarf and the pole arm seemed to lose all sense of rigidity it had just gained. It was nothing more than an illusion, and yet it was undeniable that the pole arm moved with greatest fluidity, attacking at angles that shouldn''t have been possible.

    Aina didn''t seem to realize that there were others watching her at all. Her Battle Ax Force surged, climbing to the Middle Life State and then the Higher Life State.

    She had come to understand the same thing Leonel had, but on an even deeper level.

    Weapon Forces were just the extensions of the people who created them. What she wanted her ax to be... it would be.

    Blade marks erupted and covered the room, and yet didn''t leave even a single mark anywhere to be seen.

    She slammed the butt of her Battle Ax into the ground, a gentle smile on her face.

 Chapter 2601 Language and Chemicals

    Chapter 2601 Language and Chemicals

    It was all completely contradictory. How could you change the molecular structure of an object, and yet have it work in the same exact way? It didn''t even make sense.

    Oftentimes, when things took certain shapes, it was because it was the most optimal. Pulling it out of said shape would destabilize it or weaken it. It made otherwise strong materials brittle.

    When Force was taken into account, the matter was even worse than just that. That was because one wrong move and an otherwise inner metal could, quite literally, blow up in your face, taking a hand and a layer of your skull with it.

    Leonel realized that there was something that he was missing, but he couldn''t find what it was immediately. All the explanations in the world couldn''t substitute a certain feel a Crafter had to have for his Craft, and he wasn''t quite getting it.

    He felt that a portion of the reason was actually his education on Earth. His understanding of chemical bones, atoms and the like were built and shaped on Earth. Even when he learned about Force later, he just kind of retrofitted it into the things he already knew and understood.

    Now, it was hard to unsee it. It was like an optical illusion casting a shadow over his mind, and it was also a feeling that he was completely... unused to. Updated from

    With his Ability Index, he had perfect control of his mind. Something like casting a thought away or shifting his perspective was easy.

    For others, saying "think outside the box" was easier said that done, but Leonel could, quite literally, do it.

    Except in this case for some reason.

    Every time he tried to cast away his foundational knowledge about atoms and their interactions with one another, he would begin tinkering with the Ores and he would end up deducing it again.

    It was almost like he was using a Forgetful Orb and reaffirming the same comprehension again and again rather than learning something new.

    In that case... why did he restrict himself to a Force Art language at all? In fact, he bet his father didn''t use the Morales Force Art language either, at least not as it was constructed.

    It could be the case that a large part of his slow progress in this world was because he was restricted to an Incomplete World''s Force Art Language. Or, more accurately, he had restricted himself to it.

    What if he could change his Force Art language depending on the material he was working with?

    And a step further than that, he was so obsessed with chemical structures, but he had missed the forest for the trees.

    What decided the outward appearance of Ores wasn''t just the structure...

    What decided whether Carbon atoms formed graphite versus diamond? Wasn''t it just temperature and pressure?

    In wider Existence, the added element of Force meant that there were other material forces outside of the norm that could influence the structure of a bond.

    If he fused these two concepts together...

    ''I can master Complexity in less than three days...'' Leonel''s eyes blazed with a light of excitement. At this level, he would be able to crush King.

    ...

    Aina''s victories came in continuous avalanches. She didn''t find an opponent that intrigued her like the Luck of the Draw Ability Index user had, so she always ended her battles in a single strike, and oftentimes her opponent wouldn''t even have the luxury of surviving. In fact, she never even pulled out her Battle Ax again.

    Very quickly, her long, flowing black hair and piercing golden eyes seemed to be ingrained within the hearts of all those spectating.

    She was on a level all her own.

 Chapter 2602 Method

    Chapter 2602 Method

    Every time Aina battled, she would find herself becoming more and more annoyed. The obvious death that should have happened wasn''t happening at all. In fact, Aina had started off as the center of attention, and was only becoming more so.

    Not a single person she had faced seemed capable of lasting more than a single exchange against her. The only exception was the Luck of the Draw Ability Index user, who probably should have become the center of attention himself. And yet, even in this case, it was quite clear to everyone that she hadn''t truly been on the edge of life and death.

    They thought that she was just interested in a good battle, but even after running into more opponents with quirky abilities that even seemed to counter her directly, it didn''t seem to matter.

    Those that led with strength were ruthlessly crushed, and even those that seemed to have greater skill or finesse were ruthlessly crushed much the same. There simply didn''t seem to be a method of stopping her because they couldn''t even find what her bottom line was.

    It didn''t make any sense. For the humans to produce one Leonel, it was already exaggerated enough. Why was there now a second Aina? And what were the odds that they were also a couple?

    If it wasn''t for the sake of her face and maintaining her dignified aura, let alone asking this question, she would have long since erupted.

    Octavia and Seraphina stood down below, their eyes glued to the ground. However, there was something off about them immediately. Whether it was Octavia or Seraphina... both only had a single wing.

    Before the two could answer, the doors to the Dream Pavilion were suddenly opened and a man strolled in with bold strides. He flashed Minerva a grin and even gave both Octavia and Seraphina crisp slaps on the ass. He didn''t seem to care for their reactions at all.

    Minerva''s gaze sharpened and her barely controlled rage almost bubbled over.

    "Elrik, this isn''t the place for the likes of you," Minerva said in a low tone.

    "Is that a way to speak to your husband?"

    "Did I ever agree to such a thing?" Minerva practically bared her teeth, gripping her throne''s armrests so hard that they cracked. Her wings flared out to her back, forming a wind so strong that Octavia and Seraphina were both sent flying back.

    Elrik spoke of returning to Godhood, but he was doing nothing more than blowing hot air. None of them, no one of the Owlan Race really wanted that.

    They were all cowards, all weak, self-important men who thought themselves greater than they were, but they lost out in courage to a "mere" woman like herself.

    She clenched her fists.

    Her gaze glanced over toward yet another Aina battle, her eyes transfixed on that finger sleeve. She practically craved it. She needed it.

    Slowly, she calmed down and looked toward Octavia and Seraphina.

    "Your Wings. Heal them." She said coldly.

    The two women, still scrambling to their feet, looked up with excitement and then bowed several times. With just one wing, they felt so incomplete.

    "The exact coordinates of the human world, have you found it?"

    "It''s difficult, Mistress. The Dream Pavilion protects it from the usual forms of detection and there''s been a recent surge of activity consistent with the fusion of Bubble Worlds that have muddied the waters further."

    "That''s not what I asked," Minerva said coldly.

    The two looked down.

    "N-not yet."

    "Then forget it. We will have to use another method."

    Her eyes glinted with a sharp light.

 Chapter 2603 Empress

    Chapter 2603 Empress

    "We will issue a Challenge Sequence," Minerva declared.

    Octavia and Seraphina looked toward one another. They had just undergone a Challenge Sequence, and it had not gone well. Plus, even if they issued one, it didn''t mean that the Vast Dream Pavilion had to accept. They could just sit on their hands.

    In addition, they had fallen to the 9999th rank, sharing that rank with two others. They didn''t even have the points necessary to trigger one in the first place. Even the middling Dream Pavilions had more to give than they did.

    "I will give the two of you until the penultimate round starts. I want you to complete enough missions to return to the top 1000. Immediately.

    "By the end of the Gathering of Kingdoms, we will be entering the top 100. We''ve done enough time biding.

    "With the status of the top 100, I will be able to project my soul directly into their Pavilion and find their general location."

    The two women bit their tongues. Hadn''t Minerva heard about how Leonel booted everyone out before? They would have a better chance of just asking one of the top 100 Dream Pavilions for that general location... but even that would be a gamble.

    It was doubtful that those Pavilions were paying attention that closely. If the top 100 was capable of this, and yet the Human Bubbles were still fine, the reason for that was obvious: they couldn''t, or rather, wouldn''t act so willfully.

    The humans were an insignificant remnant to them, and it wasn''t worth pissing off the Gods of the neutral factions, a faction that made up the majority to begin with. Updated from inerva was playing with fire by doing this. Not only would she be making an enemy out of the 100th ranked Pavilion, but she was potentially going to become a thorn in the side of the Gods.

    But it was a calculated risk on her part at the same time.

    However, that disgust was quickly suppressed by an even greater rage, one that painted the picture of Elrik''s visage.

    Her chest began to heave again before she could slowly rein it in.

    She was above it, she was above it all. A mere human couldn''t stop her steps.

    However, the likes of Elrik had no right to make her act like this.

    She was a Queen. No, she was an Empress that should be indifferent to the world around her. She could take things in calmly, observe them in silence, and then act decisively.

    She was free to look toward her enemies with disdain, but only after she understood them thoroughly.

    That was her balance, her own unique perspective on the world.

    When she reached that conclusion, she felt a calmness overwhelm her... a tranquility.

    Her Dream Force shimmered and rose. From the Higher Life State, it rose to the Quasi Creation State and even took a peek into the true Creation State before rebounding back.

    However, from start to end, much like the Regal Empress that she was, the fluctuations were subtle and imperceptible.

    Her temperament became more refined, and her grace returned. Her previous demeanor, calm and soothing, came back on another level entirely.

    Even so, she only basked in the change for but a moment. This was what she deserved; it was only a matter of course that she would have such a breakthrough.

    Her mind turned to the remnants of the Gem Dream Pavilion.

    "They can be used," she said lightly, a smile tugging at her pink lips.

 Chapter 2604 More

    Chapter 2604 More

    And now, he felt that that feeling would only grow all the more. With this new view of Crafting, it felt like every Crafting project was another puzzle to sort out. Not only would he need to think about which Ores to use-something that he would normally need to do anyway-but he would have to think about not only how they interacted with one another, but also what Force Arts he would use and how said Force Art would change the way they interacted with one another. On top of that, he would need to think of a method of conveying his thoughts through said Force Art, essentially creating a new Force Art language every time he Crafted something, maybe even a new language multiple times for a given Craft.

    It just felt so mentally stimulating.

    He realized now how silly it was that it had taken him so long to realize he was a Wise Star Order. It was so obvious now thinking retrospectively.

    Most things he did in his life until he learned about Crafting were purely out of his competitive instinct. Even Crafting had somewhat started like that; he just wanted to one-up his dad. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    But it quickly became something different; it was like an endless well of knowledge he could constantly be curious about. Even when he thought he reached the end of it, there would always be more.

    And he loved that.

    Leonel was already eager to move on from Complexity to Simplicity, but he took a step back.

    He had already been in the Lab Setting for a while and he hadn''t seen anyone for a long time. The old him would have gotten lost in this feeling for even longer, likely not coming out until he had already grasped the Self Path.

    Who knows how long that would have taken? By his calculations, probably a few months at least, between three months to half a year.

    All things considered, that was a very short amount of time, and it was a testament to the current strength of his Dream Force and Dream Sovereignty.

    But he had other things to do.

    He crossed into the Abode Setting. He then stumbled across a couple he had basically forgotten about.

    In the distance, Simona and Eduardo sat shoulder to shoulder, leaning against one another. Sensing the fluctuations of their souls, they felt quite a bit of peace, but also a lot of trepidation for the future.

    Leonel could remember spending long periods of time with Rollan and his wife, even living under the same roof.

    But now, they were practically strangers.

    The best he could do was try to be there for them when he could. He would help them grow more powerful, and hopefully, they would grow close again one day.

    At the very least... he wasn''t alone. He had a wife of his own now, and he also had his brothers.

    Leonel took another step and vanished, appearing before a group of sparring men.

    He plopped down between Joel and Allan, wrapping his arms around their shoulders.

    "Hey Joel, guess who I found."

    "Hm?" Joel was stunned by Leonel''s sudden appearance but immediately drawn in by the question.

    Leonel''s grin widened. "A certain sandy-haired blond."

    Joel froze. "Did you? Did you really?"

    Leonel''s laughter boomed.

    "I didn''t just find a sandy-haired blond, but I also found a certain sadistic Half-Spiritual too."

    Raj, who was taking his turn at wrestling Arnold, was instantly swept off his feet, hitting the ground so hard he saw stars.

    Leonel''s laughter continued to echo. He couldn''t even believe that he didn''t come to tell them this immediately. It felt good to change his ways.

    "Since we''re going to do this, we might as well do it right," Leonel said with a grin. "This world needs more little babies crawling around."

 Chapter 2605 Brighter

    Chapter 2605 Brighter

    Updated from

    The Force Arts the Gathering of Kingdoms worked on were far beyond what level King had been on, and before his recent breakthrough, King had practically been a suffocating influence to Leonel.

    So, it wasn''t Leonel''s place to make large deductions about how everything worked. For all he knew, if he projected his voice to the outside world, then it would register Anastasia''s world as part of the Gathering of Kingdoms and try to take hold of it.

    While the Segmented Cube was the greatest treasure ever created by the best Crafting Race to ever exist, the Gathering of Kingdoms was literally created by the God Beasts of Creation. They still couldn''t be compared.

    This was to say that there was no guarantee that the Gathering of Kingdoms Stele couldn''t integrate Anastasia if it wanted to. So Leonel had to tiptoe around the topic, at least for now.

    As for Aina, he wasn''t worried about her in the slightest. He didn''t need to watch her battles to know that she was absolutely crushing it.

    And crushing it Aina was. She made it into the Penultimate round without even breaking a sweat. This was a round if 100 of your world''s people made it into, your world would survive.

    To go from such a large percentage of a population of tens of billions at worst, to just 100 to meet a quota, one could imagine just how difficult it was to make it to this stage.

    Now, there was just this final hurdle between Aina and the final round.

    The Penultimate Round was scored differently from the others.

    Everyone would fight ten battles. This battle would be scored on how long it took to finish and then weighted against how well your opponent did against others.

    The number of desperate people in this round were far fewer, because the odds that one could make the Penultimate Round and not have a world strong enough to reach the percentage threshold in the Preliminaries was slim to none.

    Of course, there was a slight difference...

    Their seeding had been excellent from the very beginning, while Aina''s had been near the bottom of the barrel. As the rest of the competition was weeded out, she had slowly gained the worst seeding among them all.

    Thorne slowly pulled out an elegant thin sword. He pulled a hand before his back, standing like a handsome prince. This wasn''t a sign of disrespect, but rather the exact opposite. It was just that his sword was a one-handed sword, so this was his usual fighting stance.

    Aina, though... didn''t bother to pull out her battle ax.

    Thorne''s smile didn''t fade. In fact, it became brighter.

    To him, teaching this woman a lesson would be as good as getting Leonel back for his arrogant words.

    He suddenly moved, his sword flickering through the air and appearing before Aina''s throat in an instant.

    CLANG!

    Thorne''s eyes widened as he took a step back. His hair fluttered, pieces of it slowly falling to the ground as he looked at Aina.

    She had a single finger held up, one wrapped in strong Forces. She stood there without even taking a single step back.

    Thorne''s wrist twisted and he shot out with several attacks in quick succession, but one after another, Aina deflected them with nothing more than a finger.

    Suddenly, her feet moved for the first time and she pressed a finger to Thorne''s chest best he could react.

    BANG!

    It started as a small hole, smaller than even the thickness of her finger. But when the Forces came out the back of Thorne''s back, it erupted into a rushing dome of energy, drawing a long, wide, and deep trench in the arena.

 Chapter 2606 Beyond

    Chapter 2606 Beyond

    It was hard to understand Aina''s level of skill when you were just watching another person do battle with her. Nothing she did felt special and she was often so bland and... human.

    But facing her now, she was like an unshakeable mountain. Her moves felt bland and simple only because she seemed capable of cutting to the root of a battle in an instant. She found his weakness and shredded it apart in an instant. She didn''t need to couch her battle style in a rain of fancy movements and the like, and her Forces were often concentrated into her body so her actual power was deceptive and hard to gauge without standing across from her.

    Thorne coughed again and blood fell from his lips in a stream, but he still managed to stay on his feet despite the fact there was a huge gaping hole in his back. If one looked at him from that vantage point, it wouldn''t have been a stretch to assume that he was already dead. Updated from

    However, right then, his flesh began to wiggle about and slowly mend itself, and the blood he was coughing up dried up as well.

    From start to finish, Aina didn''t press her advantage. She was observing him silently, her eyes filled with a certain light that was hard to read.

    Thorne definitely wasn''t as vulnerable as he had just seemed. But that was only part of the reason she didn''t attack.

    This man had angered her husband, and that was enough for her to teach him a lesson that he would remember.

    A quick victory was nice. A dominating victory would be better.

    Thorne took a breath and stabilized himself.

    "You''re going to regret that," he said lightly.

    His body began to morph and change. Violet scales erupted across his body and his shallow horn became larger and more prominent.

    A heartbeat that sounded like the roar of a violent beast spread out into the surroundings and another energy took shape in the air... ''Dream Force?'' Aina thought. Even so, she remained entirely unmoved.

    Thorne began to walk as his body slowly grew to three meters tall. He circled around Aina, every step he took separating out another clone of him, each one seemingly just as physically real and substantial as the last.

    She wondered where Myghelle was. He, too, used a thin sword until he was pushed to the edge by Leonel, only to swap to a great sword.

    They hadn''t heard any word of him in a while and she knew that Leonel had taken a liking to them.

    She shook her head and punched out.

    BANG!

    Thorne froze, his great sword pausing in the air until he fell over, slowly.

    Another eruption of blood came out his back, but this time, there was no slow progress. There was just a barrel-sized hole, and though his body was already attempting to mend itself, his consciousness had fallen into darkness.

    The arena flashed and Aina''s victory was set in stone.

    She looked up as she stepped out of the arena, a smile on her face. Making it to the Finals now was pretty much guaranteed, though there had never really been a doubt.

    She gazed at Savahn and Yuri who were looking at her with their mouths open. Of them all, the only two that had made it to the Penultimate Round were Aina and Zephyr, whether it was Savahn, Yuri, or Silvanus, all of them had failed to make it to this stage.

    But looking at it now, it seemed that they were all shocked by this outcome as well.

    "Didn''t I tell you that there was nothing to worry about?"

    Savahn and Yuri looked toward one another and smiled bitterly.

    This couple, both Leonel and Aina, that was... why couldn''t they be normal? This didn''t even make any sense. How could she grow so powerful, so quickly?

    By this point, Silvanus didn''t even dare to look Aina in the eye. Let alone being scared of Leonel, he should be scared of this woman.

    How a woman could be so beautiful and yet so... savage was beyond him.

    At that moment, the door to their common room suddenly opened and a Spiritual walked in.

 Chapter 2607 Desperation

    Chapter 2607 Desperation

    He was known as Rowan Frostwind, a Pure Blooded Spiritual.

    In truth, his talent and strength were beyond that of Lyra Emberheart. As for why Lyra was given the rights to become a Council Member while he was not, this was more related to Leonel than it was to any internal strife or unfairness.

    According to the original plan, the Council was going to put pressure on Leonel and that was something the Spirituals alone couldn''t fix. But Lyra was going to become the lynchpin for relieving some of the pressure on Leonel, giving him a path to survival.

    That plan, though, was obviously tossed out the moment Leonel acted and killed one of the Council Members. There was nothing Lyra could even do at that point to change things, making her key effectively useless.

    Rowan swept a gaze through the surroundings before his gaze landed on Aina.

    "I''ve come to warn you about something." Updated from

    Aina raised an eyebrow, but her indifference remained. She already knew what this was about, for Leonel predicting this sort of outcome was as easy as breathing.

    "They''re already getting antsy it seems," she spoke more to herself than anyone else.

    Rowan fell into silence. Considering Aina wasn''t eager to ask what was happening, it seemed that the couple had already thought of this.

    For them to go through all of this and come out on top at every turn, it meant that these two weren''t fools. They had an understanding of what was happening around them and acted accordingly.

    Aina met Rowan''s eyes after organizing her thoughts.

    "I understand. But I''m more concerned with why the Spirituals are so eager to help me and my husband out so much?"

    Rowan shook his head. "Don''t think of the Spirituals as a monolith. We are not the Spirituals, we are the Ma''at Spiritual Bubble, the way we do things is different from others."

    Aina nodded. "But that still doesn''t answer my question."

    "We are one of the few who haven''t forgotten the value of a Wise Star Order," Rowan responded plainly.

    "It''s fine. Unless they organize into an army, the numbers are irrelevant. There''s only so many attacks that can flood in at once, most will counter and clash against one another, they''ll be forced to attack in smaller numbers. By then, they''ll just be trying to tire me out, and we both know how that will go."

    "But..."

    Tears began to form in Yuri''s eyes.

    Under normal circumstances, this was true. More enemies just meant more blood for Aina to make use of and her well of stamina would be endless.

    But Aina was purposely leaving out something Yuri had already noticed.

    She couldn''t use her Blood Sovereignty. It was the one thing Leonel had told her she couldn''t use. The trouble it would cause would far outweigh any benefit they could get.

    If things went the way Aina said, then she would probably spend every waking moment in battle. How could she face off against trillions on her own without a simple method of replenishing herself?

    Aina smiled. "Didn''t I tell you before not to worry? Wasn''t I right before? I''ll be right this time too. Hurry and go before you two are caught up in this mess too."

    Aina eventually coaxed Yuri and Savahn into leaving before her gaze became frighteningly cold. She sat in the empty home in silence, a deep mask of indifference on her expression.

    BOOM!

    The home shattered into countless pieces. Volatile Force rushed about in a torrent, but not a single piece got within three meters of Aina without crumbling to ash and falling helplessly to the ground.

    The walls collapsed and Aina''s sitting form, akin to an Empress on a Throne, was revealed before swaths of people.

    They filled the streets, the skies, the ground. As far as the eye could see, red-eyed individuals with only one purpose in mind appeared.

    Then, Aina spotted him. That familiar cloaked figure.

    He hid himself well, but Aina spotted him with ease.

    Her eyes narrowed. If Luck of the Draw was fused with this crowd of people...

    Roars filled the skies as they gave themselves courage to charge.

    Then all hell broke loose.

 Chapter 2608 Empress and Her Peasants

    Chapter 2608 Empress and Her Peasants

    It had been a very long time since she experienced this sort of thing. Even with all the danger they had been in during recent months to even years, Leonel usually took the brunt of it. For better or for worse, he was always her shield.

    Recently, though, Leonel had undergone a huge change, and it might very well be the reason he had decided to trust her with this.

    And she would prove his trust to be placed correctly.

    The skies rumbled as Aina crossed one leg over the other. A light smile tugged at her soft, pink lips. With her back straight, her chest proud, and her hair gently laying around her, she looked dignified and untouchable in her regality.

    The roar of the crowd seemed to be considerably dulled at this moment. Like peasants before an Empress, they felt each one of their hearts constrict, their momentum akin to a doused flame.

    Even as they continued to charge forward, their feet faltered, their Force winking in and out of existence.

    Each Sovereignty had their own kernel of truth, their own refined presence crafted by the hand of their owner.

    Leonel''s Spear and Bow Forces carried an air of Creation. His Destruction Sovereignty carried an air of the exact opposite. As for his Dream Sovereignty, it was now a dichotomy of Respect and Persistence.

    As for Aina''s...

    A dense Battle Lust filled the skies. It was suffocating and all-pervading that it seemed to form very real and tangible tendrils of Will in the skies. At the same time, her mental coercion, something she usually kept under lock and key, spread out with even more fervor.

    She continued to sit there, her legs crossed and her chest tall. Her curves were proudly on display, and yet not a single person seemed capable of looking her in the eye, let alone observing such a thing.

    The charge came to a grinding halt. They stumbled atop one another, falling and grappling for position as they skidded to a stop. Many were trampled beneath the feet of one another, and there was no hope for a quick death. Their bodies were simply too sturdy.

    They could feel every one of those heavy feet stomping above them, crushing their fingers, flexing their skulls, shattering their rib cages.

    The world became a chaotic mess. It became akin to entertainment for an Empress, peasants scratching and clawing for a hope at survival, until it all suddenly came to a stop.

    The city fell into silence, the slight swing of Aina''s leg the only real sign of movement.

    "Is that all?"

    Her voice was the most beautiful voice they had ever heard. Their hearts ached at the three words, so much so that they hardly felt the disdain behind it.

    Their eyes turned red and they looked at Aina with longing. Some who were exceptionally weak of heart and spirit fell to their knees, slamming their heads against the ground so hard in a kowtow that they shattered their own skulls.

    Aina seemed unfazed by the scenes of murder and carnage, the same light smile tugging at her lips.

    And being forced to watch his body collapse like this without pain distracting his thoughts was almost worse than experiencing the pain itself. It was almost like he was watching with a clear mind as his death date approached, almost like there was a constant ticker to his inevitable death right in front of him.

    It was horrifying.

    Soon, he was nothing more than a stump, his chin pressed against the ground as he tried to look up toward the woman that occupied his heart. And yet, he was entirely unable to.

    He suddenly felt the weight of Aina''s ax on the back of his neck.

    "When do you think you''ll die?" She asked.

    The words drifted into his ears as though they were dripping with ambrosia.

    The weight of the ax slowly increased, soon reaching the point the chin he was trying to prop himself up with shattered beneath the pressure.

    Blood pooled from his lips as shards of bone dug into his skin. And yet, once again...

    He felt nothing.

    It was mortifying. Step by step, he felt his skull break into fragments, his spine snapping before it began to crumble to dust as well.

    And yet, the only thing he had in his mind was praise for Aina. How could such a delicate woman carry such a heavy weapon?

    He was certain that Aina was pressing down, she wasn''t even putting in any effort. If anything, she was only slowly releasing her grip. And it filled him with awe... Until he died.

    Aina pulled back her ax, resting it on her shoulder. She could almost feel the world''s silence as her hair danced in the wind. Then she flashed and vanished, returning to the city.

    Almost the instant she appeared, the skies were filled with attacks. Arrows, blades, balls of flame, bolts of lightning. They didn''t take any more chances, erupting with their full strength instantly.

    At the same time, there was a jerkiness to their movement as their strength quickly increased and just as quickly fell. Aina took silent note of this as she slowly sat back down on her throne, crossing her legs and straightening her back as she gazed toward her subjects. Then, the attacks descended and battle erupted.

    ...

    Leonel''s connection to Aina was fainter when it had it travel across worlds, but he could still feel some of what was happening.

    Sitting in his lab, his gaze was frighteningly cold, but he took a hold of himself so that he wouldn''t go out. This was something he had left up to Aina and he felt that she was more than equipped to handle it.

    What fuelled him right now wasn''t worry, it was fury.

    "The only way I can truly make them pay is by focusing on this."

    He turned his attention back to the next chapter of his father''s teachings.

    The Penultimate chapter.

 Chapter 2609 Simplicity

    Chapter 2609 Simplicity

    The silver disk dictionary was a good example of Simplicity in action. It was a simple, smooth disk. And its internal components didn''t look much different from a watch''s internal construction.

    "To a mortal, a watch might seem excessively complicated, especially when more complex movements were taken into account. However, on the scale of the Dimensional Verse, even watches that could track time, date and orbits couldn''t compare to the most complicated Craft even a mere Bronze Crafter could accomplish, let alone at Leonel''s current level."

    Considering the things the dictionary could do, the mere fact that it was made up of such a simple and straightforward setup with barely a few dozen components, could be considered the very pinnacle of Simplicity. And that was what Leonel was chasing after now. The trouble was that it wasn''t so simple at all.

    "In order to grasp Complexity, Leonel was working on the level of atoms themselves. But what was odd here was that, technically speaking, weren''t the components of the silver dictionary also made up of countless atoms as well?"

    "So what made the former Complexity and the latter Simplicity? This was where the lines blurred considerably."

    "Complexity didn''t necessarily have to deal with molecules and their structures, it was just that this was the hardest application of it. If one could succeed on that stage, then on larger scales, it wasn''t a problem to do the same."

    "In regard to Simplicity, the difference lay in the fact Complexity required Leonel to make active changes on the smallest of scales if he wanted to have a device with so few components. However, with Simplicity, the changes on the smallest scales could be triggered even without Leonel''s active participation."

    "The simplest analogy was boiling water." Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    "There were two ways Leonel could create gaseous water vapor. He could go in and personally separate the water molecules, adding energy to them and allowing them to dissipate into the air."

    "Scarlet Star Force was exactly the same way. Except it was at such an extreme of Fire Force that it had been mistaken for a Force of pure Destruction when from the very beginning, it had been a Force of pure Creation..."

    "It was just that much like its fire, its Creation abilities were so strong that it spilled over into Destruction."

    "''But these are all just symbolic... syllogisms rather than real, tangible changes. Creation is still the root of Scarlet Star Force, even if it''s at such an extreme that it destroys instead, much like the Cobra Demon never actually used Fire Force either, it just wanted to use my Fire Force to bolster its cold Forces..."

    "''Then does that mean that Simplicity is still, at its core, just a higher form of Complexity...?''"

    Leonel sat in thought, not immediately trying to brute force his way to an explanation. He felt that his thought process wasn''t quite right.

    "Those things were Forces, but this was a discipline of sorts..."

    "''A discipline? Is that even the right way to think about it...? Hm, maybe it is. Dad''s lessons haven''t taught me exactly how to Craft since the very first lessons. Those techniques on exactly how to process materials, how to fuse ores, how to communicate with your Metal Spirit... I haven''t used them so strictly since I was 18, I deviated from them a long time ago. I can''t remember the last time I actually named one of the Crafting techniques I used."

    "''Crafting feels more like a philosophy you follow... and now, even the strictness of which Force Art Language to use has been loosened to the point I have to create a new language every time I Craft...''"

    The thoughts churned in Leonel''s head and he felt that he was close to something.

    "Then it suddenly clicked."

    "''This Simplicity... it''s the pinnacle of the Life Grade, that''s what it means. Evolution, the world... life itself is so endlessly complicated, but does it ever look complicated? It''s Complexity couched in Simplicity...''"

 Chapter 2610 Exhilarating

    New novel chapters are published on

    Chapter 2610 Exhilarating

    That was the beauty of the Life Grade, a seamless creation... one that reflected real life itself.

    That was also how he had to think of Simplicity. He had been so close, and yet so far at the same time.

    "This is why how you comprehend something is more important than that you''ve comprehended it... I was already aware that the dictionary used something about the environment to elicit changes to its structure and deliver its responses, but it never really slid into place until now..."

    The dictionary was akin to a world. This world had the influence of evolution pressing it down from all sides.

    "The way evolution works is that the weak fall to the wayside and the stronger, or rather, stronger, survive and continue to breed, passing down their mutations until it''s ubiquitous among a population and the population becomes strong as a whole...

    "A similar principle is being applied here. The Craft is structured and enclosed within an atmosphere that has certain parameters dialed in to force certain responses.

    "Evolution is very flexible. The kind of evolution that occurs is entirely dependent on the atmosphere in question. Cold-blooded animals wouldn''t survive in the cold. White creatures wouldn''t survive in dense forests of green and brown...

    "I have to essentially create an environment with my ore choices, my Force Art choices, and my Force choices in general that elicit a specific response in my Crafts.

    "But that''s just the first part. The core layer, the "creature" that''s responding to the environment itself, also has to be carefully chosen.

    "Even if I wanted to create a creature capable of handling the pressure of the oceans thousands of kilometers below, it would be stupid of me to throw a leopard down there, no amount of evolution is going to turn a big cat into a fish..."

    Leonel''s thoughts churned and he slotted in his new understanding piece by piece.

    The deeper his understanding became, the brighter his thoughts became. And for the first time, he could see a narrow path toward Crafting the dictionary he had relied on all this time.

    "It was still far beyond him, and he was certain that it had many applications of the Self Path in it. But he already had thoughts on how he might even go about creating an AI of his own."

    "Leonel grinned."

    "''It worked.''"

    "It was hard to see the ''environment'' when it was a sword and not an enclosed mechanism like the dictionary was. But that was the beauty of Simplicity."

    "The environment or atmosphere didn''t have to be so elaborate. Just something as simple as the interaction between the Forces and Force Arts he chose could have this sort of effect."

    "Just now, he designed the sword with Ores with strong repellent Forces. Then, he formed Force Arts that contained the repulsion, rebounding it and forcing the Ores to repel it again."

    "This feedback loop would continue until the sword pierced through what it was trying to repel away or it collapsed like it just did."

    "The Complexity came in the obvious pitfalls of this sort of path. If the Ores were designed to repel everything, then why didn''t it just bounce off the floor instead of piercing through it and repelling the sides instead?"

    "That was where Leonel''s creativity and flexibility came into play. How he diverted the Forces, how he forced the sword to ''adapt'' and ''evolve'' with the environment around it, was all now part of his Crafting process."

    "And it felt... Exhilarating."

    "He gripped his fists, his eyes glowing with a fierce light."

    "Aina took a breath and exhaled slowly. The number of corpses around her could pile into a mountain while her face had a slight hint of paleness to it."

    "A ticker appeared before her for the fourth time. It seemed that it was time to battle again."

    "As Forces rose into the skies to launch an attack at her again, she vanished."

    "When she appeared, a familiar lazy Cloud Race youth was standing 20 meters from her."

    "Yet another Council Member."

 Chapter 2611 Tough

    Chapter 2611 Tough

    Across from her, Orion stretched. He had just awoken from a nap, and though he was a bit surprised to see Aina here, it wasn''t too much. It was bound to happen.

    His lip curled into a smile as he watched her trying to catch her breath.

    "Unfortunate. I asked them not to put such a beauty through hardship, but there was only so much I could do," he shrugged his shoulders. "Those guys are pretty heartless. Well, I think one of them is just acting out of jealousy. Maybe you''ll meet her, though it seems unlikely at this point. Lumina is her name. No need to thank me." Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    As Orion spoke, he suddenly moved.

    In truth, he wasn''t too worried about wasting enough time for Aina to completely recover. An expert on Aina''s level, to be tired to the point she was heaving for breath, needed to have been pushed far beyond the point a few seconds of rest would be helpful.

    That was the way of the world. The stronger your body was, the harder it was to injure it, but when you injured, it was also far harder to heal it with external items.

    And in this case, when you were tired...

    Orion appeared before Aina, a bright smile on his face, a strong punch suddenly coming from him. Aina almost didn''t get a chance to read where it was coming from. Orion didn''t seem to be using Dream Force, and yet his ability to obscure vision and trick the mind was on a level that Aina had only seen from Leonel.

    Aina reacted quickly, smashing her polearm into the ground in the path of Orion''s fist.

    Just as the two, fist and polearm, were about to collide, Orion''s arm suddenly came to a grinding halt.

    He laughed, gliding backward. The sudden burst of action made Aina''s breathing even heavier. Even such a subtle action seemed to have pushed her over an edge.

    Saying such words while wearing the face of some who looked ready to commit murder felt out of place. Even his voice itself was laced with the same coldness, suddenly mimicking Leonel''s to perfection.

    Orion moved again and spear shadows filled the skies. But they quickly lost their form, becoming akin to slithering snakes and lashing whips.

    Aina raised her ax to block, withstanding the barrage with the smallest movements possible. Some lashed against her body and cut like a flexible blade.

    "Hoho, your skin is tough. No, that''s only part of it, huh? That weird outfit you''re wearing is pretty sturdy."

    Leonel''s voice echoed as Orion continued to mimic him. He could also feel Aina''s rage, and the palpable pulsing of it was like the greatest tonic.

    "The fabric of Aina''s military outfit was, indeed, tough. It had been personally woven by Leonel himself. But the skill of Leonel''s Crafting wasn''t at his current level back then, and compared to his usual Crafting, his familiarity with weaving and disciplines of the like was comparatively weaker."

    "It was clear to Aina that Orion was a master of the whip. If he wasn''t restricting himself to a spear to keep up this fun little game of his, the situation would be much worse."

    "Tears began to appear across her shoulders and legs, but her defense was tight, protecting her vital organs perfectly. Behind her spinning blade and heavy breaths, her gaze was only becoming colder and colder."

    "Every time Orion laughed in Leonel''s voice, spoke in Leonel''s voice, quipped in Leonel''s voice, she felt a deeper and deeper rage bubbling up inside of her."

    "''Alright, I think that''s enough fun,'' Orion suddenly said in Leonel''s voice. ''You can either die, or you can give up. But you should probably think about it reeeaaallly carefully. You''re the last human and you can''t really afford to not make the Finals. Who knows if this one loss will keep you out, right?''"

    "His laughter echoed as the spear in his hand disappeared, becoming a metallic whip linked like the scales of a silver dragon."

    "He cracked it once, causing a booming thunder that suddenly shattered the entire arena."

    "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

 Chapter 2612 Stead

    Chapter 2612 Stead

    The second came even faster, slashing against an opening in her stomach.

    Battle Ax Force bloomed and spiraled, forming a protective barrier. But that just sapped at more of Aina''s stores, both her Force and her mind and focus.

    Even then, it didn''t work well.

    The barrier shattered, slashing against her abs and leaving her military garb tattered and almost torn through entirely.

    Her body flew out and she landed heavily on the ground, barely managing to resist falling to a knee as the third strike came.

    "You can always give up, lady," a laughter echoed with an eerie coldness, "so long as you''re willing to take the risk, that is."

    If Aina lost a match, she would have to win the others in dominant fashion to have a chance. If she dragged out the battles like this, she would just have points deducted instead. By then, even if she managed to eke out nine total victories, there was no way the Stele would judge her as being worthy of the Finals.

    Nothing outside of this arena would be taken into account. As far as Orion and everyone else was concerned...

    This was over.

    The third strike landed, and blood pooled at the edge of Aina''s lip. Even with the arena entirely cracked, she could feel her heels reaching the very edge of it.

    Suddenly, somehow standing in the air, Orion appeared before her.

    "Haha, you didn''t think I would just let you fall out, right?"

    Orion''s whip lashed out, and in that instant, Aina''s aura flared.

    She turned around like she was wrapped in lightning, reaching out with a hand and grabbing the whip out of the air.

    Before Orion could react, Aina pulled down forcefully.

    There was Leonel''s comprehension of Vital Star Force, for one. It would synergize with her as well.

    But she also couldn''t perform too well. If she looked like she was having an easy time, who knew what else they would pull out?

    She had to force herself to toe the line, and not allow her emotions to dictate her actions.

    A lot like Leonel, she had her own battles with the tug Forces put on her. Right now, she was stewing in that rage.

    It was hard to tell exactly where her coercion abilities came from. Her Ability Index and Lineage Factors synergized too well. From an outsider''s perspective, it was hard to tell what was what.

    But she knew well.

    Her coercion didn''t come from her Ability Index, nor was it her Soul Clairvoyance or Blood Sovereignty, though both were a huge amplifier of it.

    The root of the ability came from the Berserk War God Lineage Factor. That was why it had appeared only after she fully got rid of her curse, a curse that specifically targeted this Lineage Factor of hers to begin with, did she finally unleash it.

    The coercion of Berserk War God was a display of mental superiority. However, with that came its own drawbacks.

    It was rooted in an endless desire for battle, a fiendish pursuit of blood and carnage, a will forged through iron and war that affected not only those around you...

    But yourself as well.

    That was why Brazingers had many mental issues. Their coercion ate away at not only those around them, but themselves as well.

    Aina had kept her coercion suppressed for all this time because she was well aware of this. But now that she had become a God Childe, she thought that she was in a better position to use it.

    She didn''t expect, though, that it would be strong enough to influence even her Clairvoyance.

    However, as she felt this feeling... she realized that it wasn''t entirely negative either.

    She looked up, finding the skies had already long since filled with Force-fueled attacks.

    ''He could do it if he was in my place...'' Aina thought to herself, her golden irises flashing with red that quickly blinked in and out of existence. ''... I will do it in his stead.''

 Chapter 2613 Necessary

    Chapter 2613 Necessary

    And by the same token, it didn''t feel like there was a ceiling to Complexity either.

    At some point, the two melded into one and he shifted from one discipline to the other depending on the circumstances. At the same time, his view of the world began to subtly change in unexpected ways, namely in the methods by which he used and applied Force.

    Just in general, there was nothing about Crafting that shouldn''t necessarily be applicable to combat. It was a bit harder to see those paths, but it wasn''t impossible either.

    It was trickier to, say, come up with the perfect Force Art to use in the middle of combat. When you were Crafting, you had essentially all the time in the world to think of little quirks and take into account several possible factors.

    In battle, though, the situation changed many times a minute even if you were in the Third Dimension, let alone at Leonel''s current Realm of strength.

    By this point, Leonel''s current opponents made the thinking speed he had one been extremely proud of back in the Dimensional Verse seem like nothing more than a joke.

    Of course, he had likewise left that level behind long ago, but it was a fact that as of now, the situation of a battle could change hundreds, thousands of times a second, even.

    Leonel was confident that most of the enemies on his level couldn''t match his speed of thought, not even remotely.

    The main issue was that he needed to be even faster than that if he wanted to use it in combat. Either that, or he would need to start applying his Simulation abilities in combat and reading what would likely happen instead of reacting to it.

    Unfortunately, that was also easier said than done.

    All that said, the matter of combat was actually quite far from Leonel''s mind at the moment. He was completely immersed in the world of Crafting.

    This was clearly something he had done on purpose. The less he spent thinking about other things, the less often his mind would drift to Aina and what she was likely going through right this moment.

    If he was completely unrelated to that Race, he wouldn''t believe it.

    But the worst part was that Thorne was just an ant. Leonel could tell that his bloodline was incredibly thin, and yet he could stand near the very pinnacle of this tournament.

    That only really meant one thing... Thorne was a lot like Lumina who was an Owlan, but so distant from their main bloodlines that she couldn''t even count as a Demi-God.

    And that meant that, quite clearly, the Demoness was a Demi-God at worst.

    And in the worst case scenario for him, she might very well be a God.

    Unlike the Brazingers, Leonel didn''t dare to try and learn too much information about that Race. He had broken free from the woman, but if he learned too much about her, gathering up too much information, deduced too well... that connection between them could very well be re-established.

    And this time, he wouldn''t be a world away, he wouldn''t be able to hide behind the shield of an Incomplete World and an angry Regulator.

    This time he would be directly in her line of fire.

    The matter of the True Dream Plane was something he couldn''t change. He had to act or else the Human Bubbles would be finished. In all likelihood, she was already aware of him.

    However, being aware wasn''t the problem. She had likely been alerted the moment he broke their connection.

    What he couldn''t allow was another connection to be formed. By then, he wouldn''t be able to do anything without a pair of eyes looming over his shoulder.

    CRACK.

    A Craft shattered in Leonel''s hand, the fragile glass falling into fragments that were unable to pierce his skin.

    He took a breath and exhaled.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

 Chapter 2614 Stimulating

    Chapter 2614 Stimulating

    He didn''t feel it when he first stepped onto a battlefield, he didn''t feel it when he was thrust into the Dimensional Verse for the first time, he didn''t even feel it when half a dozen Races invaded the Human Domain with thoughts of murder.

    In fact, when he entered his first Sub-Dimensional Zone, he never feared the Mayans. His thoughts were entirely consumed by the guilt of killing. He never really feared the event itself. He hadn''t even hesitated to jump into that unknown Zone on his own.

    Now, though, it seemed he actually had to deal with those emotions. And quite frankly... he found it to be highly annoying.

    He took a few moments to calm his thoughts and exhale a few breaths.

    The Respect aspect of his Dream Force Sovereignty forced him to look at this objectively from the perspective of a mere Fourth Dimensional expert. In his current position, he had no right to face off against such an enemy, and it kept drilling that into his mind again and again, and again.

    "If the Demoness was really some sort of God, then in her eyes the current Leonel was just a little plaything. Even if she was ''only'' a Demi-God, he had seen the kind of power Minerva wielded. If not for her personality, Leonel would have had no path to survival in that battle."

    His mind was so good at analyzing things, and now it was holding up a mirror to his nose, forcing him to look at his inferiority right in the face.

    He hated it.

    It felt like he was deviating from a path designed for him in favor of one that wasn''t very compatible with him at all.

    ''Is that even true...?''

    "Elthor didn''t say anything, but he knew that it wasn''t just the Morales family that died that day. The Oryx who had put their trust in him, a small race of beings with barely a few thousand to their heritage, had been entirely wiped out, leaving just a single Elthor behind."

    "It was easy for him to focus on the success, easy for him to shield himself from his failure and inject that endless pride into his blood, using it to fuel his next tirade."

    "But then what would be left?"

    "Would he be that soul, left all alone staring at a star that could neither kill him, nor could he kill it? Would he be alone, his brothers gone, his parents gone, his wife gone?"

    Leonel found himself having these same exact thoughts more and more often.

    "But they were what kept him sane, what reminded him of the reason he chose this path instead of sticking with the one he was on."

    "He didn''t just want to read and react to situations anymore. He didn''t want to be the pawn in someone else''s game."

    "He wanted to be ready for anything that might happen long before it did. He wanted to be prepared."

    ''Ready for anything that might happen long before it did...''

    As the pieces of glass began to float, Leonel''s gaze became brighter and sharper. He seemed to have understood something and his perspective shifted somewhat-not a perspective toward his Dream Force, but rather his Crafting.

    "It was funny, he had just had thoughts of Simulating battles so that he could read and react to the changes faster rather than waiting for them to happen first, but he had completely glossed over that thought... until now."

    "Why wasn''t he incorporating his Simulation abilities into his Crafts? How much better would he grasp Simplicity if he did so?"

    The thought was so stimulating that it felt as though his mind had imploded.

 Chapter 2615 Cut

    Chapter 2615 Cut

    While it was true that most of his Crafts would be used in battle, and as such have to read and react to numerous variables that he maybe wouldn''t otherwise think of, the beauty of a Craft was that he didn''t have to account for all possibilities.

    He didn''t need to break down whether two blades met at 20 degree angles or 30. He didn''t need to make a guess as to whether the enemy was using Water or Fire Force, or whether they were at the Lower Impetus State or the Higher, or whether they were using 10% of their abilities over a wide range or 80% over a concentrated range.

    No, he could simplify it greatly.

    "The first sword I created was the perfect example. It didn''t care what angle it hit the ground. All it knew was that anything it came in contact with, it would repel. That was it, that was all... In that case..."

    Leonel didn''t need to worry about every case, he could just impose his will onto the battle.

    His mind drifted to the Evolution Ore mine he had stumbled into, and how the moment one stepped into it, you could feel its greed, its desire for improvement, its will to evolve.

    "That''s it..."

    The thoughts hit Leonel like an endless stream and he made one connection after another.

    It was a fusion of two paths. On the one hand, there was Simulation, accounting for very specific outcomes and creating predictable results. This would limit the number of variables his Craft had to deal with. And on the other, there was the truest essence of the Life Grade, a level whereupon you could begin to change the environment.

    "What was the Life Grade if not creating items that already existed in nature? The only reason you didn''t call Evolution Ores Life Grade materials was because it was redundant."

    The glass shards suddenly came together beneath Leonel''s glowing eyes. A small strand of Little Tolly danced between them, quickly forming a new Craft in the form of a small flying knife.

    Without even looking, Leonel flicked a finger off to the side.

    The dagger didn''t even fly particularly fast, but its will was almost palpable as it rushed through the air.

    Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut.

    The words echoed again and again, perfectly translated beneath Leonel''s Dream Force as though it was a real person speaking a real language.

    Orion chuckled. "I don''t think that''s what she was referring to. Plus, she''s right. That woman is eating herself up from the inside out, her entire body is practically undergoing autophagy."

    "Call me a human again and I''ll cut your tail off."

    Silvan reacted as though someone had stepped onto that very tail. The tail of the White Spectral Tiger race, even though he was just the dregs of their bloodline, was their greatest pride. He would rather sever his teeth than give up his tail.

    "Watch your mouth, human."

    Lumina''s illusory wings flared up and the hurricane force winds seemed to triple in speed.

    Silvan snorted. "Since you cowardly humans won''t do anything, I will go."

    Silvan roared and space shook and cracked. With a step, he had already vanished, appearing in the midst of the battlefield without a care for Aina''s rage-filled eyes.

    Aina suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, her internal injuries worsening beneath the sudden pressure. Silvan had bent and twisted space so much that even gravity was affected, making her feel like her body weight had just increased by tens of thousands of times.

    Aina suddenly roared, pulling in more of her reserves. Her cheeks sunk in further and her body seemed to be sapped of strength.

    She was ready to face the tail that was coming right for her when a dagger suddenly manifested from her finger.

    The instant it appeared, everything seemed to cut through. Their Forces, the wind, even space itself.

    Silvan couldn''t even react before his tail was cut in two.

    ROAR!

    A ticker appeared before them both and they soon vanished... only to appear on the same arena.

    Silvan''s enraged roars continued to echo like claps of thunder, he couldn''t quite understand how this had just happened.

    But Aina''s ax was already descending.

    As for the outside world... the appearance of the dagger brought nothing but carnage.

 Chapter 2616 Growl

    Chapter 2616 Growl

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    Large swaths of the surrounding army died. They thought themselves to have just gained some reprieve from Aina, only to be thrown toward another hellish nightmare.

    Fear and inferiority colored their hearts as they rushed to get out of the way, until...

    BANG!

    The dagger collided with one of the pillars of the Council, its tail wagging so hard that it seemed like it might break it as well.

    A clash of epic proportions was unveiled. Space and time seemed to fissure like glass, rippling outside like strikes of dispersing lightning.

    The dagger seemed truly about to pierce even through this pillar until its body gave way beneath the pressure, shattering and falling to the wayside.

    The Council Members in the distance watched on with constricted pupils.

    They had seen it for themselves. As much as Silvan loved to be overprotective of his tail was just about as strong as it was. That thing was wrapped in so many layers of space that if you were too weak, just trying to grab it would probably kill you.

    And yet, it was severed as though it wasn''t even there, sliced apart and strewn onto the ground as though it was any other useless, hacked off limb.

    But what shocked them even more than that was the clash of the pillars.

    The Gathering of Kingdoms had many facilities that hadn''t been tended to by the God Beasts of Creation in countless generations. They were all too young to even know the number of Gatherings that had taken place since the last God Beast died.

    The White Spectral Tiger appeared before Aina in a blur. This race of beasts was too well known for their speed and attack power. He was like a whirlwind of space, cutting through like a drilling bit and cutting across the large distance as though it was nothing more than a single step.

    Aina swung her ax to meet the wild charge and her arms trembled the moment they did. Her blade couldn''t reach the creature and her swing was stopped by a formless air.

    She used the momentum to glide back, but the tiger suddenly accelerated again the moment her feet left the ground, closing in with such speed that she could hardly react as it bit down on her leg.

    Aina should have screamed out in pain and horror, but she didn''t seem to feel the jaws around her thigh at all. Her gaze was filled with a blood thirsty light as the spatial storm began twisting and raging through her defenses, trying to break free of the final lines of Force she had up on her body.

    The teeth tore into her leg, making it down to the bone. The beast gnawed and twisted its head, and tried to rip it off in one go.

    Aina choked up on her Battle Ax, the savage light in her eyes growing as she began to madly punch it down. Her hands alternated, one driving down a fist and another the blade of her ax.

    CRACK!

    She made it through the layer of space protecting the beasts, her fist, wrists and forearm shredding to pieces.

    But she didn''t seem to feel it at all.

    Her flesh nearly fell off the bone as she attacked again and again.

    Silvan should have just driven her off the stage, he should have just tossed her out and claimed the victory if he could. But he was too consumed by fury.

    He wanted her leg, he wanted to make her suffer the same fate he had, to lose a limb that was no different from life and death to her.

    A guttural growl came from his throat as he bit into bone, wrenching to the side.

 Chapter 2617 Reap

    Chapter 2617 Reap

    Even so, she didn''t seem to notice at all, her fist suddenly smashing through the tiger beast''s eye, grabbing and then pulling. Her other hand followed and drove the ax blade down, cutting into the other eye. By the time it retracted, a second fist was ready, driving even deeper into the crushed eye and pulling out more flesh and blood.

    The skies were dyed red and Aina completely lost herself in the carnage.

    The blade drove deeper into the first wound it created as her fist became a claw. She wrenched at the wound, using her ax as a lever and pulling them apart with all her might.

    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

    The pain it was suffering seemed to finally get through to the beast, it ripped its head to the side, taking Aina''s leg and sending her flying into the distance.

    The White Spectral Tiger writhed wildly, not just due to the pain, but also because Aina''s blood seemed to have gained a mind of its own, rooting into the tiger''s body and eating it alive from the inside out.

    Aina landed on the ground with her one remaining foot and pressed off again so hard that the entire arena collapsed.

    She moved so fast that she seemed even faster than the tiger itself.

    Blinded and roaring with pain, the tiger beast couldn''t even react as a bloody ax was driven through its gaping wounds, slicing the top off its head and shredding it to pieces beneath a whirlwind of Battle Ax Force.

    Aina stood there, her gaze a fiery shade of red. Her hair danced and flickers of crimson took hold of their black strands.

    Blood dripped from her severed legs, the droplets of blood falling so heavily that they BOOMED against the arena floor.

    Part of becoming a God was having an idol to worship. The Gods of the Dimensional Verse had never needed to raise a finger to spread their religion because just the manner of their existence imposed their will onto the world, allowing those with particularly sensitive proclivities to sense them and become their Apostles, spreading their word to others.

    In order to form an Idol, one had to first form a Dharma, an accumulating form of one''s being, one''s moral code, one''s beliefs.

    When manifested, a Dharma was something that stood above even Sovereignties, a true manifestation of suffocating superiority.

    It shouldn''t be possible for a human to form a Dharma, and certainly not possible before reaching the Creation State.

    But why... did that manifestation feel so much like one?

    He shivered as the world collapsed and the clouds above dispersed to reveal an Aina with blazing red hair and eyes formed of orbs of ruby.

    The Aina on the ground was still very much with-one-leg. However, the Aina that stood as tall as the skies themselves was perfection incarnate... and when she swung her hand, the entire world fell to destruction.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    A savage glint lit in Aina''s eyes, her blood boiling to the point of evaporating. The droplets from her legs became heavy mists of crimson in the air and her skin reddened considerably.

    She jumped up, twisting her torso and unleashing a screeching swing that shattered space.

    It tore across the ground, leveling the fleeing warriors one after another. It seemed unstoppable, untouchable.

    Streaks of crimson painted the skies red.

    As though a Goddess among mortals, she reaped their lives.

 Chapter 2618 Happy

    Chapter 2618 Happy

    This wasn''t a woman, this was a human-shaped monster.

    Every time they thought that she was on her last legs, she would pull out something more, some deeper.

    Her breaths were already heavy enough to disperse the clouds, the amount of blood she had lost was enough to fill an ocean, her wounds were ghastly, each one more severe than the last.

    And yet, somehow, she was still standing.

    The tenacity was an indelible mark on their hearts. The rest of Existence couldn''t watch what was happening in the city, and for some reason, these two felt that it was almost a shame to miss the rise of such a legend.

    And yet, the moment they had this thought, their hearts were stricken with fear. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    They had made an enemy of this woman.

    Suddenly, a ticker appeared before Lumina. Her heart fell like a weight to the bottom of the ocean when she saw that one appeared before Aina as well.

    ''Please no, please no...''

    Her elegance as an Owlan descendent had been completely stripped away.

    The two vanished at the same time.

    When Lumina''s eyes cleared, her heart dropped even further than before.

    "I GIVE UP!"

    She shrieked out these words instantly, the oppressive might calling her to fall backward before Aina could even move.

    High above, a list of those that had made the Finals appeared. And at the very top of the list, there was a bold name.

    Aina Morales.

    For the first time in months, she smiled. It was a gorgeous smile, akin to the blooming of flowers and carrying the sweetness of a spring breeze.

    It wasn''t because she had made the Finals, though. Her eyes turned a hint whimsical and there was a slight longing hidden deep within them.

    This was the sight of a woman who wasn''t used to seeing her husband''s name by her own, but when she did see it, especially when it was acknowledged by another, it carried the same hints of surprise as an unexpected gift.

    She wasn''t smiling because she had made the Finals, she was already determined to do so, and she was likewise determined to win all 99 battles of it as well.

    She was smiling because she was the wife of Leonel Morales.

    When she first came here, no one knew her name. They took her to be a woman that just happened to be more beautiful than most other humans, but that was all. Some men might lust after her, but they would never take a woman as an official wife based on beauty alone, and certainly not a human.

    The only value she gained from her Race was that she would be easier to corral, or so they thought.

    But now, the situation had completely changed.

    She wasn''t just a beauty. She was Aina Morales, the woman who had fought all of the geniuses of the Gathering of Kingdoms for almost three months without falling.

    She had lost a leg, nearly lost her head on several occasions, she had been continuously assaulted by individuals who weren''t even worthy to carry her shoes.

    In the end, it was she who stood victorious, she who stood as the last among them all.

    And yet... her pride wasn''t directed toward herself, nor was her happiness.

    Never again would they say that she was unworthy of her husband.

    And that made her happy.

 Chapter 2619 A Bridge

    Chapter 2619 A Bridge

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    Oddly enough, he didn''t really feel like he had learned anything new. Rather, it felt like he was just connecting things he never had before, binding them together in new and exciting ways.

    And that shed light on something that he would need very soon... A Natural Force Art.

    There was a great amount of overlap between creating a Force Art capable of triggering certain factors in the environment and one that could elicit Auspicious Air.

    The only real bridge he had to form was turning the environments he was creating for his Crafts into a Craft that wasn''t acting against the world, but instead... with it.

    And honestly, that was easier said than done.

    "What did it mean to create such a Force Art? Did he have to grasp all the Forces in the world? Did he only have to grasp one? And in the case that it was just one, how powerful would it have to be?"

    "It felt like a Force Art of that level would have to at least be at the stage of the Creation State. How else would it force the creation of Auspicious Air?"

    "But that also didn''t make sense to Leonel."

    "The first Natural Force Art he had come across had been in the Camelot Zone, created by a man named Merlin. It had been greatly beneficial to him in the past, but it was ultimately just of the Fourth Dimension, so he had left it far behind over time."

    "It was hard for him to believe that a Fourth Dimensional anything could be formed of a Creation State Force. It was wholly incompatible and didn''t make sense."

    "Beyond that, he had gained a lot of understanding of the world since then. He knew that the Force Art wasn''t built based off of just a single Force, but it was something deeper than that, something more magical."

    "''And what does this have to do with space...?''"

    "It was said that Spatial Force users were extremely dangerous. They were the only specific Force type that all powers actively guarded against."

    "The ban on Dream Force that Caspian tried to trigger was something all too common to Spatial Force users. Something that was interesting because Dream Force was just as dangerous, and even more so in many ways."

    "The difference between the two, though, was that Dream Force manipulation on a high enough scale couldn''t be stopped, and yet, at the same time... it was the easiest to stop."

    "Anyone could put up defenses against Dream Force if their Force Manipulation was high enough, but no one could stop a mass murderer from suddenly teleporting into your home unless you were likewise a Force Art expert."

    "And then Leonel suddenly remembered."

    "''Dream Force is rooted in the Second Dimension because it represents not life itself, but the impetus of it, the chance at life, the potential for it...''"

    "He had forgotten something that was extremely key to all of this..."

    "In a lot of ways, Dream Force was all Forces, just in a different form. It wasn''t the Forces themselves, but rather the idea of them, almost like a bookmark of their definitions, ready to be spread out into the wider world..."

    "In that case, if Neutral Force was only the amalgamation of many Forces and not necessarily them all... and Dream Force was almost the rolodex or library of Forces and what they were or could become..."

    "Then why did Emulation Spatial Force need Spatial Force at all?"

    "''As a bridge...'' Leonel suddenly thought."

    "A bridge from the Second Dimension to the higher Dimensions? Maybe... or was it even more general than that, a simple root to reality itself... laying claim to what Dream Force could not alone..."

 Chapter 2620 His Own Form

    Chapter 2620 His Own Form

    He shouldn''t think of Emulation Spatial Force as Space and Dream, but rather just as Emulation Spatial Force... Updated from

    And yet, he always seemed to make breakthroughs when he separated them.

    His Scarlet Star Force was the perfect example of this. It wasn''t until he realized that-whether it was Star Force, Light Force or Fire Force-it was made up of Forces decided to create and shed light did he come to understand that this Force had been misunderstood for a very long time.

    ''I''ve been too focused on just one path. It isn''t that thinking of them separately is wrong, but rather that thinking of them solely in that way will lead me astray...

    ''If I focus too much on the individual strands and not the collective whole, then it would be wrong. But... if I consider them both... not just what Dream and Spatial Force do alone, but also what they''re meant to do together, then...''

    BOOM!

    Sitting there, his eyes closed and lost in thought, wild tendrils of silver and gold floated around Leonel, forming a beautiful canvas his Force seemed to paint on.

    His Emulation Spatial Force stepped from the Half-Step Life State to the Lower Life State, but he didn''t seem to notice at all, his mind occupied with the next step.

    What his Natural Force Art had to pull at wasn''t some existing force of nature, nor did he have to understand everything there was... he just had to tap into everything there was.

    This sounded impossible, but he had already done it. Every time his mind connected with the Dream World, he was doing exactly that... even when he wasn''t conscious of being connected to that world, he was... everything was, even if it wasn''t in a true tangible form.

    All that was, all that had been, all that ever would be could find its roots in that world...

    The Second Dimension... the Impetus of Life.

    That was only the first time he had done so... because he had also done it during another attempt as well... and that was when he had created his Destruction World...

    Then there was a third...

    He had already fully comprehended the Visualization of [Dimensional Cleanse], he had just been lacking in the method. But now he had that as well.

    Then what was his father looking for?

    Was there a difference between forming a Natural Force Art yourself versus another?

    He wanted to reach for the dictionary to ask, but he felt that his mind was on a roll, like he just barely tasted it.

    Then his eyes suddenly snapped open. ''Aina...''

    Leonel''s aura rippled out in all directions, Auspicious Air suddenly forming in waves. The flood was so potent that an ancient bronze energy began to shake in the air, almost like the faded image of a rusted bell.

    He was thinking of his wife not just because he missed her, though that was part of it. But rather because of her path.

    Aina had fused her soul with herself, when all convention seemed to say that this was the opposite of what she should want to do. If it wasn''t because Leonel knew how her ability worked, even he would have advised her against it.

    In fact, his father believed so as well. Or else... why would one of the first requirements he had of Leonel be to separate his soul? It wouldn''t make sense...

    But then he thought of something else. Wasn''t his soul just the same as the Dream Force of Emulation Spatial Force? It was the potential that dictated everything else, and allowing it to be free in the Second Dimension, rather than spread out through all the Dimensions he took his body through, was the perfect way to allow it to shine the way it was meant to.

    In that case... what did it mean for your soul to be fused with you instead? Wasn''t it greatly weakened...?

    Or, was it that instead of allowing the soul you were born with to dictate all of your talent... bringing this soul firmly into your own Dimension gave you control over your path that others couldn''t fathom?

    WHOOSH!

    This was a path that took both steps into consideration... On the one hand, he rooted his soul in the Second Dimension and allowed it to exhibit its greatest strength, and on the other...

    He used this Natural Force Art to bridge its existence to his current self, giving him unprecedented control over himself...

    His own form of Clairvoyance.

 Chapter 2621 No Surrender

    Chapter 2621 No Surrender

    His mind worked so much faster, scarily so. He felt that if he tried to Simulate things now, not only would he succeed... but it would be easy.

    He still didn''t dare to say that he could do so with 100% certainty, but he knew there would be a long string of 9''s be after 99% if he were to calculate it. It was so much more perfect than it had been in the past that it was hard to even measure.

    His hair seemed to float on the air, his entire body feeling as light as air.

    ''What would it be like to battle like this...''

    It was hard to explain, but it felt like his soul, the very reason for his existence, was closer to him than it had ever been before. It was odd considering he had been born with it fused into his body, but he had never truly.... Felt it.

    He understood why that was. This was different from one''s soul stretching out across Dimensions.

    Essentially, when one began their journey up the Dimensions, one would leave tiny pieces of them at every level. From the Third Dimension to the Ninth, every step would stretch out the soul just a little bit more until it was unrecognizable.

    This was why other Races had so much of an advantage over humans. As humans grew stronger, their talent was diluted by their progress. But because other Races had their souls separated, they could feel a clear sense of it all the way throughout.

    However, other Races still suffered from this dilution as well, just on a smaller scale.

    The further they got from the Second Dimension, the harder it was for them to sense the root of their strength. However, unlike humans, their souls weren''t stretched. Meaning, by mastering Impetus State Forces, they could bring their souls back into focus by becoming more in tune with how Forces worked on that level.

    This was why the Impetus State was the minimum requirement for entering the Ninth Dimension. Visit  for the best novel reading experience

    But now, Leonel, and likely Aina as well, felt that there souls were neither stretched, nor a long distance away. In fact, it was even more exaggerated for Leonel who was only in the Fourth Dimension currently.

    Many had glossed over the fact, in awe of her strength. But the rest of Existence, especially those of the highest echelon that understood these matters on a deeper level, were entirely shaken.

    The Gathering Stele hadn''t just rewarded Aina, but it had done so even before the Finals began, let alone ended as was the custom.

    To put this matter into its proper contextual significance, just getting a treasure from the Gathering Stele had become akin to climbing the tallest of mountains as a mere mortal. It had already been calculated that the Gathering Stele was raising its standards again and again because it was running out of energy and treasures. Every year that passed was another notch in its belt, weakening it further, and thus raising its standards higher.

    For the Gathering Stele, in such a state, to make the choice to reward Aina ahead of time by such a margin...

    Just how much potential did she have?

    The last person to receive the Gathering Steles favor of the Gathering Stele was Crystalis Evergreen, a woman who had already elevated her world to the Demi-God status and had even formed a Rudimentary Idol.

    For Aina to be the one to do so next, and under such circumstances at that...

    Just what did it mean?

    The last battle of the Finals came. Aina only appeared for a moment. Across from her, there was a Pure Blooded Spiritual, one she actually recognized.

    This woman didn''t voice her surrender. Instead, she slipped into a martial arts stance and held out her palms somewhat loosely toward Aina''s direction.

    She was ready for combat.

    It was hard for Aina to go through Leonel''s memories not only because of trust, but also because there were just so many of them. He could process things in seconds that it would take her minutes to maybe upwards of an hour to.

    However, she had gone out of her way to learn this woman''s face.

    That of Lyra Emberheart''s.

 Chapter 2622 Lost?

    Chapter 2622 Lost?

    Lyra was fighting her because of proposed marriage, but it was for Leonel, per se. Lyra was fighting for herself. All this time, she had been forced to face the comparison between herself and Aina. It had already been months of that spiraling inferiority welling up inside of her. She felt that if she didn''t fight now, maybe she would never have the will to fight again for the rest of her life... and maybe her journey as a genius would end right here... She was entirely unwilling. Even if that meant dying here.

    Lyra suddenly moved, a cyclone of flames forming around her like ribbons dancing in the skies. Her flames seemed to be of one heart, as though they were forged into silky fabrics that moved along with her will. When she appeared before Aina and struck out a palm her flames moved with her.

    Aina flicked a wrist and her pole arm slapped against Lyra''s palm. The palm was repelled, but the ribbons of fire snaked up her Battle Ax, pulling at it hard and suddenly as though to wrest it out of her control.

    Aina''s grip was much too strong. She pulled her pole arm back and the ribbons shattered, forming dancing balls of flickering flames in the skies that surrounded the two and blocked off Aina''s bath of retreat.

    Lyra''s hair fluttered and her palms danced in the wind, seemingly fusing with it as her strikes were layered one after another. In a split second, she had sent out hundreds of strikes, each one filled with a light and delicate sort of aura, one that masked their true danger.

    Aina raised an eyebrow and her Battle Ax spun in her hands. A vortex of Battle Ax Force clashed against the palms, sending sparks flying in all directions and only adding to the candle-like flames hovering in the surroundings.

    The more the two exchanged blows, the more these flames multiplied, growing and growing until the point Fire Force seemed to be the only detectable Force in the surroundings.

    Lyra''s hair continued to flutter, their dancing rainbow array of colors beginning to influence the flames in the skies until suddenly, they went from a reddish almost pink color, to an eruption of rainbow as well.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    But she also didn''t want to just give up like that. If Aina wanted to defeat her, she would have to either kick her off the arena or kill her. The words "I give" wouldn''t come from her.

    Aina observed Lyra in silence for a long while as the latter tried to catch her breath.

    Honestly, Aina wanted to kill her. She didn''t like the idea of anyone trying to get close to her husband, even if it wasn''t Lyra''s idea. At the end of the day, Lyra had known she existed and still tried to get close to Leonel anyway.

    Aina could imagine that it wasn''t necessarily Lyra''s choice, but if things had gone differently, would Lyra have shown mercy in that regard?

    Lyra wouldn''t be likely to act to kill Aina directly, but if it came down to it and Leonel really was such a fickle man, she would have obviously snatched him up. And in a lot of ways, that was as good as death to Aina.

    Ultimately, she had her reasons to very much dislike and even hate Lyra. But...

    The woman had some guts.

    That was just a peripheral reason, though, if she was honest with herself. This particular Spiritual Bubble, the Ma''at Bubble, had been the only one to not kick them while they were down.

    She and Leonel had made enough enemies in this place, there was no need to unnecessarily make another.

    Lyra suddenly froze, finding her vision going blank. Her last thoughts were ones of speechlessness...

    When had she lost?

 Chapter 2623 Gift

    Chapter 2623 Gift

    The Gathering Stele flickered and one hundred names were quickly arranged. At the very top, the name Aina Morales stood alone.

    A human.

    Everyone could remember the last time the Gathering Stele gave an award, but no one could remember the last time a human had placed in the top 100, let alone number one.

    This name alone held a great amount of weight, a weight that most couldn''t quite fathom, and a weight that even Aina herself wasn''t sure of...

    She wasn''t sure what kind of storms this would kick up, but she was confident that Leonel had a plan.

    They didn''t have much of a choice but to place in the Finals. If not, there was no other path for them to save the Human Bubbles. But if there was anyone who could take advantage of a situation like this one... it was her husband.

    All around the city, portals began to appear.

    Aina looked over toward the distance and found Yuri and Savahn looking toward her with longing in their eyes. They had ultimately just spent a few days together, and for the rest of it, they could only watch Aina from a distance, too weak to partake. They knew if they tried they would just get in her way, but it was really killing them on the inside being unable to do anything.

    And now, they were going to be separated again. The Gathering Stele would only return them to their homes. There was little they could do.

    Aina smiled brightly so as to assure them. They would see each other again soon, that she was certain of.

    With a step, she vanished and returned to the Human Bubbles. Or, more accurately, the Vast Bubble.

    ...

    Aina smiled, pulling back and giving Leonel''s nose a peck.

    "Does it matter? That beast''s dead."

    The gloominess in Leonel''s eyes didn''t disappear. He had gone out of his way not to check on Aina because he didn''t trust himself to not interfere. That dagger he sent out hadn''t even been on purpose, it just happened to work out that way. He didn''t even know what kind of commotion it had caused.

    But it was in moments like these that he didn''t like the sharpness of his mind. Looking at the wounds, or at least, former wounds on Aina''s body, even without looking into her soul and looking through her memories, he could piece together most of what happened.

    Seeing Leonel''s reaction, Aina''s smile grew sweeter.

    "Okay, okay, grumpy man. Don''t we still have things to do?"

    "We..." Leonel blew out a breath, a hint of annoyance wrinkling his brows. The feeling in his chest right now was very uncomfortable, but he had already been ready for this to happen.

    He sighed. "So everything went well enough?"

    "They did. I also received a gift from the Gathering Stele, it''s very interesting."

    "A gift?"

    Leonel checked the memories of the Life Tablet. He had a better ability to integrate them now after his recent breakthrough, but it still wasn''t quite enough to integrate them all at once. He still needed to check things like this.

    When he understood that the Gathering Stele did indeed, rarely, give out some gifts, he became curious.

    "And what gift was that?"

    "It seems to be... an Dimensional Ascension method perfectly tailored for humans."

 Chapter 2624 Crimson Tattoos

    Chapter 2624 Crimson Tattoos

    After a few seconds, Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "It... created this," Leonel suddenly said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

    "Created?"

    "Yes. I don''t believe that this technique was just floating around in there. I believe the reason the Gathering Stele so rarely hands things out nowadays isn''t because it''s running out of treasures to give, but rather because it''s running out of energy to create these treasures in the first place.

    "If this technique already existed, there was no way it would only come to light now... I mean, unless it was severely suppressed by the ''Gods.''

    "If I''m correct, it probably used you as a template to create this technique. You''ve opened up the path for this on your own.

    "The Gather Stele treasures are always perfectly tailored to the people they''re given to, and in this case, this is another perfect example of that. But it''s also a shame..."

    Aina smiled, understanding what Leonel meant. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    This treasure was designed for the elevation of humanity as a whole. All things considered, it was very useful for Aina herself. If anything, it was quite useless to her.

    In this way, it was a bit of a shame. But honestly, Aina didn''t mind. She really couldn''t think of a treasure that she would bend over backwards for, unless it was one that could allow her to use her Blood Sovereignty freely without being exposed.

    Leonel looked down at the carnage below and sighed.

    "Alright, we do have a few things to do."

    "Make babies?" Aina asked with a bright smile.

    "Hey, hey, what are you doing poking around in my brain?"

    Aina laughed. "I think we should wait until everyone is united. Wouldn''t it be nice to have children at the same time?"

    Spectral Minor Bubble. A World of Beasts.

    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

    There was a dense gloominess in the atmosphere. Roars filled the skies as a familiar white tiger lay as nothing more than a corpse before them.

    The fury was palpable, and at the forefront, there was an old white tiger, a looming presence with a ghastly scar cut across one eye and a gash in low maw that hadn''t properly healed in centuries.

    Silvan was their best talent in a long while, and he died like a dog instead of the mighty tiger king he was.

    Alaric, the old white tiger, was the only one that hadn''t joined into the roars. But space flashed around him and his tail as though streaks of silver lightning, crackling with menace.

    Suddenly, the old tiger''s head snapped up as the wind kicked in.

    BANG!

    A finger descended from the skies, one that made the mournful tigers fall into silence in an instance. It was a giant man, standing at three meters tall alone and having a belly as solid and round as an iron wok. Despite his obesity, his muscles bulged like tendrils of steel, rippling beneath his skin with a monstrous air.

    However, what was the most stand-out about him were two things... the first of which being the fierce red tattoos that covered him. If Leonel had been here, it would have most definitely reminded him of the most tribal and impactful Samoan tattoos he had ever seen.

    The giant man bent down and under the astonished gazes of the tigers, actually pulled Silvan''s corpse in two by the jaw, shredding the dead beast apart as though strips of chicken.

    The tigers watched on in horror, but none of them dared to make a sound.

    The giant man pulled out a half digested left from the dead tiger''s belly... or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, the leg itself was mostly fine. Instead, it was the tiger''s flesh that had melted and rotted around it, not to mention the other undigested food within, giving the leg a grotesque and disgusting appearance.

    Even so, the giant man sniffed again, causing the raging wind from before to kick up with even more fervor.

    There was an intoxicated expression on his face, one filled with the illest sorts of perversions.

    He unleashed a billow into the skies, his crimson tattoos lighting up as the Forces of the world seemed to boil beneath his presence.

    The tiger corpse he had neglected beneath him shattered into a rain of blood and gore, but he didn''t seem to care in the slightest...

    And maybe that was because his second notable feature were the white orbs of his eyes.

 Chapter 2625 Humanoids Vs Beasts

    Chapter 2625 Humanoids Vs Beasts

    Leonel laughed. "Why are you so sure I have anything planned? Let''s just wing it."

    Aina rolled her eyes. This guy was too unbelievable. If you wanted to lie, at least make it a realistic lie.

    "Come," Leonel pulled Aina along with a smile on his face. The two strolled through beautiful clouds of pink, violet and blue until they stood on a particular peak.

    "I''m going to make you a new outfit, I can''t let dregs damage it so easily again." Leonel shook his head, some of his gloominess returning. But he pushed it down. There was a limited amount of time remaining and he wasn''t exactly sure when the other foot would drop, but there would be quite a bit of chaos soon. He was certain of that.

    The trouble was that he could only weave fabrics by using beast pelts, and trading for such things was a bit more... difficult. Beasts weren''t just animals in this world, they were a powerful force of their own, including Demi-Gods and Gods.

    There was a dividing line between humanoids and beasts, that was certain. However, regardless of his dividing line, there was a tentative peace between the two sides.

    Much of these things were just fuzzy understandings to Leonel. There was a lot of history written and marked down in the Life Tablet, something that made sense.

    The Wise Star Orders were responsible for keeping records, and among those records, aside from techniques, abilities and Lineage Factors, history was most definitely among the most important as well.

    However, there was no objective history, especially when in the case of the God Beasts, the saying that "victors write history" didn''t exactly apply.

    The God Beasts were almost... painstakingly neutral. They took into account every detail, accounted for every potential spark and motive... it made for a reading of history that wasn''t only bogged down, but even more complex than even the rules of the Dream Pavilion.

    This was all to say that even Leonel found it hard to summarize the clash of beasts and humanoids. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Little Tolly slithered off of Leonel''s left arm and flashed into the skies. It formed a sleek knife and cutting into the soaring tail. It moved like it was fileting a fish, and in an instant, a perfect pelt was left behind. It was layered in white fur and black scales, exuding a strong spatial fluctuation.

    However, Leonel noticed instantly that compared to the bone hidden deep within the floating tail of flesh, the pelt itself was a far cry away.

    ''Interesting...''

    Little Tolly flashed again suddenly, the bone was perfectly cut out as well. It didn''t have a single scratch on it, nor did it have any blood or flesh remaining.

    Runes danced across its surface, Runes that reminded Leonel a lot of the ones that floated in his very own Innate Nodes.

    ''How mysterious.''

    His smile widened and his fingers began to move like he was striking the cords of the universe itself.

    Tolliver responded in kind, separating into several pieces and slithering through the skies.

    Leonel separated the fur and the skin beneath, processing the former into a tough leather and weaving the latter into a silk-like material.

    Something like chaining short strands of fur into a much more substantial fabric was something that took careful control, but for the current Leonel, it felt as easy as breathing.

    At the same time, he gutted the bone of its marrow and dried it, condensing the Forces around it until it shimmered like a glorious chain-whip.

    Leonel separated the tail into its numerous smaller bones, and then he began to refine them into even smaller, condensed pieces.

    Tolliver and Leonel coordinated, their movements so perfect that the world seemed to resonate along with them.

    Aina stood to the side, looking in awe. However, she spent most of the time looking at Leonel''s side profile, her gaze filled with an enamored light.

 Chapter 2626 Who Needed a Shirt?

    Chapter 2626 Who Needed a Shirt?

    New novel chapters are published on

    Finally, there came the bone. Leonel refined them into shoulder guards, shin guards, elbow guards, a subtle breast plate, and a hidden gauntlet that covered just the back of her hand and some of her forearm.

    Soon, it was completed and it trembled as it floated in the air. Leonel nodded to himself, feeling that he had done a good job.

    This time, the Force Arts he used came entirely from the Runes of the Tiger''s bone, skin, and furs. It was an interesting feeling. Not being able to control the Force Arts all on his own made it a challenge.

    However, because he had gained the flexibility that came from Complexity and Simplicity, he was able to adapt. Compared to creating a new Force Art language for every Craft, this was actually a little bit easier. He just had to be mindful of the Runes of the White Spectral Tiger Race and how it moved and adapted.

    "Try it," Leonel grinned.

    Aina rolled her eyes. This guy just wanted to see her strip, but in the end, she obliged with a smile.

    Leonel watched as Aina got rid of her tattered military uniform for his new Craft instead.

    She almost moaned in satisfaction as she slipped it on. The silky fabric was so soft against her skin that it felt like she was being caressed by a cloud.

    The hidden breastplate perfectly cupped her chest so that she didn''t even need to wear an uncomfortable bra, and even the shin and arm guards she thought might restrict her movement somehow formed to her shape perfectly.

    What surprised her the most, though, were the boots.

    Honestly, of her usual outfit, military boots were often what she disliked the most. She mostly wore them because she didn''t want her feet to be on the ground and they were the only things sturdy enough to take her strength.

    Even back on Earth because she had entered the Fourth Dimension, her strength had already been particularly tyrannical. Normal shoes simply couldn''t take her power.

    But these boots... not only were they incredibly sturdy, but they made her feel as though they weren''t even there. Not only that, but even her weight itself seemed to be cut in half.

    "Almost certainly," Leonel nodded. "But the problem isn''t really others knowing you''re a Blood Sovereign, it''s how many know. If any Invalids find out, it will be by coincidence and they will almost certainly hoard this information to themselves."

    Aina nodded, understanding. There was a difference between a few knowing and countless worlds knowing. If it was the latter, how would they even fight back against it? They weren''t ready for such scrutiny.

    "It seems like they''re here," Leonel suddenly said, looking up into the skies.

    Aina frowned. "Who?"

    "Whoever''s closest," Leonel smiled with a mysterious light in his eyes.

    Aina rolled her eyes. "How are you still gatekeeping even now?"

    Leonel laughed. "I''m not gatekeeping, I really don''t know."

    He reached out a hand and the wind suddenly howled.

    Scarlet Star Force and Emulation Spatial Force surged as a glorious spear was formed.

    Leonel grabbed it out of the air with one hand and grabbed Aina''s hand in the other.

    With a flick of his wrist, his spear descended and the skies were split in two.

    By his side, his wife wore a radiant white military outfit accented in black. As for him... well, he just wore a pair of sweats and hadn''t bothered to put a shirt on.

    But who needed a shirt when you had Divine Armor?

    BOOM!

    Half of the Bubble cracked and fissured as a group broke their way through.

 Chapter 2627 A Pair of Demons

    Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Chapter 2627 A Pair of Demons

    "Oh?"

    Leonel had thought about who it might be, but he didn''t think that it would actually be members of the Nomad Race.

    Their Ethereal Glabellas shimmered on their foreheads and their extra hands danced with weapons or twisted into special seals as though they were casting spells.

    Leonel had already expected for this to happen.

    After the Gathering of Kingdoms ended, Existence would enter a frenzied state. It was less accurate to say that they were being personally targeted, and much more accurate to say that these people were desperate and looking for any rope they could hold onto to pull them to shore.

    The goal of these people was quite obvious. They were trying to pre-emptively find a world to save themselves. Soon, they would all be destroyed. The only chance they had to survive was to find a world that had managed to survive the culling.

    It could be said that this Gathering of Kingdoms had not just one layer, but two of cruelness. Not only was there the morality of doing such a culling to begin with, but then there was the inevitable carnage that would follow suit.

    Even if you managed to survive by the skin of your teeth, you''d find yourself assaulted from all sides by worlds who didn''t make the cut, and among them, there just might be worlds stronger than your own that just happened to get a little unlucky.

    This was obviously tacitly approved by those overlords overlooking this matter. The culling alone wasn''t enough, the death and carnage that followed were what they were really looking for.

    However, it could be said that these people were both lucky and unlucky.

    They were lucky in the fact that they had one, stumbled upon a world that had survived the culling and was extraordinarily weak, and two, this world also happened to have both Leonel and Aina, two people many wanted to know the location of. There was no doubt that this information was worth a great deal and might even be enough to save their entire world.

    As for why Leonel put up this gateway, it was because he knew this wasn''t over. The moment the Nomads realized their people had died, or that they hadn''t come back in a while, their first thought would begin to investigate this region. Quite quickly, they would realize that this was a world worth coming to.

    If Leonel wanted to stop this, he and Aina had to take action and kill more than just the ones aiming for their world. They had to kill until the Nomads felt there were only gateways to hell consuming them from all sides.

    "Aina," Leonel said lightly.

    She nodded and suddenly, her aura flared. The military outfit morphed around her as wings sprung from the small of her back. Horns grew on her forehead and her skin turned from its usual rich tanned color, a stay over from her years of training beneath the sun, to a milky white as black lightning flashed.

    Her Blood Sovereignty wasn''t the only thing she hadn''t used during the tournament... her Demon Form was also on that list.

    CLINK. DOOM.

    Leonel''s appearance was suddenly obscured by an armor that looked as though it was formed out of Liquid Metal rather than normal ores. It slithered across his skin and obscured his vision.

    Soon, the couple was entirely unrecognizable.

    Since they were about to go on a killing spree, why not let them believe that Demons were to blame?

    Morality? They didn''t really think about it.

    Their only duty was to themselves, their people...

    Their happiness.

    With a flash, they disappeared into the gateway.

 Chapter 2628 Wicked

    Chapter 2628 Wicked

    ...

    "Control yourselves!" a voice barked.

    Compared to the Nomads who were usually quite tall, lanky, and willowy, this man was a tank. He wore nothing but a pair of loose linen pants along with loose wrapping around his forehead and head, only leaving space for the Ethereal Glabella that shone through.

    His two extra pairs of floating hands clamped around his thick forearms as he crossed his arms. His roar was capable of ripping out the souls of the soldiers trembling with agitation before him.

    The disdain in his fiery gaze was thick. Seeing his mighty Nomad Race react like this in the face of almost certain death filled him with disgust.

    They were the Nomad Race; their adaptability was second to none. They were designed to be placed into a crucible and come out the other side even stronger than before.

    They shouldn''t shy away from this sort of trial by fire; they should be willing to face off against the dangers instead. And yet...

    Grimm''s gaze shifted and landed on a particular young man. Amidst the panicked and shifty gazes, he was one of the few who managed to keep their wits about them.

    If Leonel was here, or if Rhangyl hadn''t died, they would recognize this young man quite easily. He was none other than Wicked Rhismet, the Nomad young the two had come across during the selection.

    It seemed that compared to Rhangyl, Wicked was less lucky, ending up in a weaker world. However, his strength had likewise increased by leaps and bounds the moment he stepped foot into a Complete World.

    There were many geniuses of the Incomplete Worlds that truly soared after shedding the weakness of their former worlds.

    Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Wicked made the choice not to participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms. As for the people of the Nomads, they didn''t care to force him either. In their opinion, what could a brat from an Incomplete World do?

    Creation to Destruction. Life to Death.

    The Life Force, as though fueled by the Anarchic Force in the surroundings, suddenly roared out and expanded. The very energy of their fallen companions shredded them apart, leaving their army even more decimated.

    Grimm''s eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets. The man''s movements were far too fast and only a split moment had passed. He didn''t even have the time to respond before what felt like half of his army was blown to bits.

    "BASTARD!" He roared.

    He stomped the ground hard, fissuring the black land. To do such a feat to earth tempered for so long by Anarchic Force, the power of this man could be imagined. Even the laser beams of light hadn''t been able to cut into the ground just now.

    Grimm appeared before the man in an instant, the aura of a Tier 1 Ninth Dimensional expert rolling out in waves.

    The Anarchic Force in the surroundings was dispelled like a shadow beneath a sun''s rays.

    Grimm unfurled his arms and his six hands flashed through the skies, four floating in the air and two rumbling beneath the power of his arms.

    However, it was right then that the figure suddenly took a step forward.

    [Universe].

    Grimm found himself slowing considerably while the figure suddenly vanished, appearing to his back and beginning another all-out slaughter on his fellow Nomads.

    The tendrils of Liquid Metal rolled like waves through the skies. Every time one lightly plucked at the air, a Force Art would be born into the world, each one different, each one perfect for the situation at hand.

    The Nomads finally began to organize and fight back, but it seemed entirely useless. Beneath [Universe], it was as though they couldn''t control their bodies properly at all while the man was able to float around like swordfish through water.

    He knifed and cut, casually blocked and parried, and all while not even lifting a single hand.

    Then, he suddenly appeared before Wicked Rhismet.

 Chapter 2629 Grimm and Wicked

    Chapter 2629 Grimm and Wicked

    Leonel didn''t expect to see this face before him. But as he stood there, he didn''t attack immediately. He felt something weird coming from Wicked, a great strength that made him feel more threatened than even Grimm.

    He had purposely avoided Grimm because he was unable to face off against such a person head to head just yet. He could only wait until he was the last person standing and then drown him in schemes and battle tactics.

    What he didn''t expect was that there would be a second interesting character right here.

    With his memory, of course he recognized Wicked. There were many of that Incomplete World trial that had caught his attention.

    Aside from Wicked, there was still that tall and beautiful brown-skinned lady, the pink-eyed little woman, and of course there was also Alpha Clown and Alpha Bluestar.

    Three of those were humans, and it was hard to tell if they had managed to survive the carnage. If they did, they would definitely be a great asset to the Human Race and he had thoughts of helping them out despite the fact he had clashed with a lot of them.

    There was also Rhangyl, but he had already personally killed the man.

    What he didn''t expect was that Wicked would end up being the largest variable of them all.

    Leonel grinned. The mask of Liquid Metal on his face danced, forming a replica of his grinning interior that could shake the soul.

    "Interesting."

    Wicked frowned. He had been ready to counter and catch Leonel off guard with a sudden killing intent, but he didn''t expect for Leonel to come to a sudden stop even with Grimm bearing down on him from behind.

    Just what was he thinking?

    Leonel tapped a foot and vanished.

    BOOM!

    Beneath [Domain], even Grimm could hardly use his Force properly. Although Grimm was powerful, his best Force was only in the Impetus State, could he fight back against a [Domain] fueled by not just one but several Life State Forces?

    Grimm and Wicked alike found themselves wholly suppressed.

    If an enemy had no Impetus State Forces and Leonel used [Domain] with all of his Forces, even with how restricted his Forces were now, he was able to strip away their ability to use Force entirely.

    Against Grimm who only had two Impetus State Forces, only one of which was at the Peak Impetus State, even with his Life State Force severely weakened in their use, Leonel could still suppress him by more than 50%.

    Under such a level of strength, the two could only watch as their fellow Nomads were slaughtered one after another. They couldn''t even rise into the air with any sort of ease, how could they face off against him?

    BOOM!

    Leonel landed on the ground with a heavy thud, walking forward toward the last two remaining Nomads. By this point, the gateway to the Nomad Bubble had been shattered and there was no way back for these two.

    Leonel swept his spear to the ground, a large swath of the ground suddenly being cut in two. The earth that Grimm found it difficult just to leave a crack in lifted up beneath his command, filling the skies with rumbling boulders.

    Earth Force sprung free of Leonel, pooling into the surroundings and ground.

    It was said that Earth Force was maybe the weakest of the elements. It was too difficult to use to the scale it was meant to be used at, it was simply too difficult to rip control of the earth away from its World Spirit, and even further than that, in a world of Anarchic Force like this, it was steeped in a Force designed to shred all others apart.

    But now, this hard to manipulate Force suddenly bent and twisted beneath Leonel''s will, forming flaming meteors that blazed in the skies like stars.

    Now, it was just the three of them.

    Leonel grinned, an eerie warp slithering through the liquid armor.

    He had a lot of frustration building up inside of him, this world seemed to love to piss him off. He had to let Aina go and fight alone, but that didn''t mean he liked it for even a single moment.

    And he had just found two great targets to vent on.

    BOOM!

    He moved like the wind.

 Chapter 2630 Fairness

    Chapter 2630 Fairness

    Leonel held his hands out and the earth rolling in the skies fell like a rain of meteors. Fire wrapped around them like a vortex and suddenly the dark and gloomy in-between world became lit ablaze.

    Grimm unleashed a roar, three glaives appearing in his hands. The one he used with his main body was the largest, having a polearm of over two meters and a curved blade of an entire meter on its own.

    The ones his floating hands held were smaller, but only relatively so. They moved with an added nimbleness, dancing through the air with the agility of an assassin''s short sword.

    He seemed to form a formation all by himself, a rolling wave of glaive blades filling the skies and crisscrossing with menace as they faced off against the falling meteors.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    A rain of rock fell. Grimm''s entire body felt like it was on fire, the effort it had taken was beyond what it should have. He didn''t understand how earth that was so tough could be so easily controlled by someone like this...

    His eyes suddenly widened.

    Leonel appeared before the man like a ghost, his spear dancing through the wind as though gliding upon its coattails. And much like the wind, it felt ubiquitous and omnipresent, appearing exactly where it was needed and suffocating all those that wanted to avoid it.

    Grimm''s eyes practically glazed over, his heart skipping several beats. It was the most beautiful spear he had ever seen.

    Leonel had spent a long time as a layman of the spear. There was even a point in his life where even Amery dared to say that he didn''t deserve to wield a spear at all.

    "Run. This isn''t a battle you can partake in."

    He had seen some oddities surrounding Wicked, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn''t see an excessive amount of strength coming from this youth. Staying here would do him no good.

    He didn''t know how Wicked could survive now that the gateways were gone, did he even have the strength to break through another Bubble? But staying here was certain death...

    Wicked didn''t even look at Grimm, his brows tightened into a frown.

    Suddenly Wicked vanished and before Grimm could react, his heart had been pulled out from the back. The latter didn''t even get a chance to see who had done it before his gaze dimmed.

    Grimm''s body broke down and he collapsed in a pool of his own blood. Soon, the wisps of Anarchic Force had swallowed him up.

    Unfortunately... unless you had a Creation State Force, death in an in-between world was a true death even for a Ninth Dimensional expert. Grimm probably never expected that he would fall like this.

    Leonel stood and watched this scene without much of a care, his spear resting on his shoulders and the smaller rocks that had once been his meteors floating around him. He looked toward Wicked, trying to understand what this man''s ploy was.

    If Wicked had wanted, there should have been a good chance to reach the Finals and save his Bubble like Aina had. It wasn''t guaranteed as Aina was on a completely different level than this man, but Leonel could say that there was a good 30% chance at the very least. That was better than most could hope for.

    "There''s no need for us to fight, right?" Wicked said with a smile.

    Leonel didn''t respond. He had no intention of letting this man go, he was too much of a variable. Who knew what he would be capable of?

    Wicked sighed. "Ai, the young are always so unruly. Where''s the fairness?"

    Wicked suddenly vanished.

 Chapter 2631 Fascinating

    Chapter 2631 Fascinating

    Wicked still looked like a child of barely a few years old, but he didn''t move like one at all. Nor did he speak like one.

    The last time Leonel met him, he was already 93 years old, an age that didn''t mean much in this world and was still considered to be firmly of the younger generation. And yet, he seemed to be able to tell that Leonel was young. At the very least, younger than him. Updated from

    This tidbit made Leonel even more confused. He knew that Leonel was younger than him and had this strength, but he was still attacking like this?

    From Wicked''s perspective, he should definitely come from a Bubble World of great power that also easily cleared the Gathering of Kingdoms requirements.

    Though attacking Leonel and trying to kill him as quickly as possible still made sense, there was something else about his reactions and temperament that weren''t quite... right.

    Leonel took a step back, the small figure of Wicked swiping at the air. A line of claw marks appeared in space, the fissures erupting with power.

    Wicked attacked like something between a rampaging beast and a younger sibling chasing after his elder brother for bullying him.

    The sight made Leonel even more speechless. What the hell was going on here?

    Wicked gave him such a weird feeling, but when he actually attacked... he was so weak?

    Leonel wasn''t fond of not understanding things. The fact his Crafting had lagged behind had annoyed him for a very long time, and now this felt similar.

    He didn''t feel like his feelings were wrong, but the evidence before him pointed toward that end.

    Suddenly, Leonel had a thought.

    ''Dream Force? Am I sensing something coming from him? Or someone manipulating him in the background?''

    The thought was like a bolt of lightning and he seemed to put two and two together.

    But there were many layers of oddities.

    Leonel''s gaze looked toward the corpse. Could it be?

    What if the fall of the Bubble was exactly what he wanted?

    There were several reasons Leonel could think of for why, but now that he felt he had most of the story, he didn''t feel that it was all that necessary to get the exact details. That was...

    Until Wicked''s body suddenly flashed and his body ballooned, black fur erupting around him until he suddenly became a large panda with black and dark gold fur.

    ''Aurora Black Panda?''

    Leonel was speechless. It felt like he was making wild discovery after wild discovery.

    How was a non-human using the Lineage Factor that the Human Race was despised for? If every Race could use it, what need would there be to despise humans in specific?

    "HAHA! You probably don''t know what this is, right?! Take your questions to the grave!"

    Leonel shook his head. This would have, under normal circumstances, been a great battle. But this idiot actually exposed such a thing unnecessarily.

    The Life Tablet suddenly flashed in Leonel''s mind and without being able to resist...

    BANG!

    Wicked was slammed into the ground with such force that the black lands cracked.

    He was suppressed to the point he couldn''t even budge a single finger.

    Leonel took a step and kneeled by Wicked who was still struggling wildly.

    "Fascinating," Leonel muttered.

    An anomaly even the God Beasts didn''t account for...

    Or did they?

 Chapter 2632 Zoltene

    Chapter 2632 Zoltene

    Wicked tried to move and writhe, but the suppression of the Life Tablet was so firm that he could hardly budge at all. Aside from some incoherent sounds that sounded not much different from baby babble, he wasn''t able to do anything else. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Leonel reached down and pulled his head up, looking into Wicked''s ferocious eyes and seeing something else that was interesting.

    ''Could it be the reason he''s a little... slow isn''t because of a matter of age, but a matter of this instead?''

    Wicked''s eyes were filled with fury right now, and that wasn''t too surprising given the situation. But the main issue wasn''t that. Instead, it seemed that it was a bit... too much, almost as though it would be less accurate to say that he was furious and more accurate to say that he was... Feral.

    There was a thin dividing line between the two, but looking at the foam coming from Wicked''s mouth, it was clear that it was closer to the latter.

    Leonel''s thoughts bounced from idea to idea, but he couldn''t seem to figure out exactly what was going on.

    ''Logically speaking, there''s no reason for the Three Finger Cult to have only tried to influence the Dimensional Verse, they definitely had their hands in multiple pots.

    ''Even the Three Finger Cult of the Human Bubbles should just be a facade, or else it wouldn''t be worthy of that Demoness. I''ve already had Anastasia scan their region and she found nothing of interest... at least nothing of interest outside the fact all of their Invalids have already vanished.

    ''But this... Is he a failed experiment, then? But for this to be a failure... the drawbacks don''t seem too bad.''

    Having difficulty controlling yourself was considered to be quite a substantial problem. But, all things considered, it was quite minor depending on your perspective.

    A wave of Force surged out, smashing against Leonel and sending him flying.

    Leonel coughed out a mouthful of blood, his gaze flickering with a fierce light. If not for his Divine Armor, that blow would have directly killed him. Although he would have managed to protect his soul, the amount of energy he would have needed to rebuild his body would have been astronomical.

    The value of his body now was far more than it had been in the past, especially since his body was also the anchor for his World of Destruction. If his body was destroyed, all of his progress in [Final Destruction] would be wasted.

    The worst part of such an outcome was that he would lose his Innate Nodes and Stars in an endless void. Although they should technically be somewhere, just how impossible would it be to find them and tether them to himself again?

    As though that wasn''t bad enough, because this would happen, whenever he did manage to rebuild his body, he would immediately return to the Fourth Dimension and be unable to rebuild it from scratch.

    Leonel coughed, struggling to get up as his Vital Star Force rushed to mend his internal wounds.

    ''Zoltene... Zoltene...''

    He had heard that name before as well. Back when he was clearing the enemies of Earth and paving a path for them to conquer the entirety of their territory, one of the religions he had to wipe out was the Zoltene Religion, the Evergreen Religion had been another one.

    Leonel felt that he had accidentally stepped into another web. No... it wasn''t an accidental thing. Rather, he was already being wound in another''s trap and he didn''t even realize it.

    These matters were far larger than he knew and it seemed that there were already Gods involved.

    It wasn''t a coincidence. The fact that Wicked was both a devout follower of Zoltene and likewise an Envoy of Destruction? It was absolutely impossible for these two things to not be related...

    And if it was somehow the case that they were, it would be the largest coincidence in the world.

 Chapter 2633 Worst Case Scenario

    Chapter 2633 Worst Case Scenario

    After a while, Leonel''s injuries were finally in a semi-decent state.

    He had been caught off guard earlier, and he actually felt that he could potentially do something to deal with the situation this time around. At the very least, the Life Tablet might be capable of being a helping hand. But... New novel chapters are published on

    Gods weren''t something he wanted to touch with a ten foot pole right now. If he was too willful and he brought their ire down, wouldn''t he be screwed?

    There was a difference between Demi-God Races and actual Gods. It was a matter of comprehension and personal strength.

    Without forming a Dharma, one couldn''t even exhibit the abilities of a God. And, without forming an Idol, one couldn''t be a True God.

    He didn''t know which of these categories that Evergreen or Zoltene fell into, but regardless of what it was, it was impossible to form either one without a Creation State Force.

    Well... unless you were his wife, but that was a bit of a special situation.

    Aina hadn''t formed a Dharma nor an Idol. Rather, she had formed a Quasi-Dharma, something that most couldn''t hope to form.

    The only reason this was possible was because of her Berserk God Lineage Factor. Leonel even had a feeling that the word "God" in that title was purposely chosen.

    One of the greatest techniques of the Four Great Families was the capability of forming a Manifestation. Aina had managed to unlock it after witnessing it for the first time during the Cloud Race''s attack on Earth, but since then, she hadn''t used it.

    It seemed that the reason for that was because she was trying to learn how to use it in a better way, and in the end, she clearly succeeded.

    Of course, these were matters that Leonel just naturally came to understand from Aina''s memory.

    This was all to say that even if they were only from Demi-God Races or even Mortal Races below them, Evergreen and Zoltene had already shed whatever limitations their original Races had once had.

    Leonel didn''t know what Evergreen''s Race was, but he knew with certainty that Zoltene was a Nomad. The connection was clear and it seemed to make the schemes he was trying to parse apart even more complex... or much simpler the way he thought about it.

    "Anastasia, if I put him in your world, will it cause problems?"

    "No," Anastasia replied simply.

    Leonel fell into silence for a long while, not sure how to reply.

    "... Potentially. It would depend. I''m thinking in terms of the worst case scenario, but we''ll have to be more prepared. First, I want to go to the Three Finger Cult and check their situation personally. I''ll need to use my lovely wife as a shield."

    Aina smiled but didn''t say much.

    Taking her hand, the two vanished. No one of the Human Bubble seemed to be aware that a young couple had saved them from yet another calamity.

    ...

    The Cult Bubble.

    After the fusion of the six Bubbles into one, the Cult Bubble had ended up in the worst situation. This was an unfortunate reality caused by the fact they were the vanguard of the three Human Bubbles to begin with. To make matters even worse, much of their territory was occupied by the large scale formation that was formed in preparation for the plot of the Human Bubble.

    Due to this, the Cult Bubble had faced the largest scale attacks. However...

    The Cult Bubble was also the only Human Bubble practically forged for war. It was the cruelest of the Bubbles and everyone born here was tempered through blood and fire. As a result, even though they were in the worst situation, their outcome was also better than the others.

    When Leonel and Aina appeared in the region, though, he frowned.

    ''Mo''''Lexi... she''s not here?''

    "Anastasia, where is she?"

    "She..." Anastasia fell silent for a moment before she seemed surprised by something. "... I can''t find her anywhere, but her flight vessel seems to have been randomly abandoned. There are a few people who scavenged for things within it, but other than that, she seems to have disappeared."

    Leonel frowned, not sure what to make of this. He thought of the possibility that someone had killed her, but....

    Something felt fishy.

    What happened to her Black Tablet?

    "Halt! This is the territory of-!"

    Leonel and Aina glided by, ignoring the sudden influx of warriors.

 Chapter 2634 Annoyed

    Chapter 2634 Annoyed

    Leonel strolled off and Aina split off from him, starting a battle of her own. He couldn''t help but smile to himself, he had to admit that relying on Aina when he was certain she wouldn''t end up injured or harmed gave him a unique sort of feeling.

    He appeared inside the Three Finger Cult compound and frowned. Most who tried to lock onto him were quickly dealt with by Aina and even his clothing wasn''t ruffled in the end.

    The compound itself was still akin to a large airplane hangar, but the dense and stacked boxes were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were markings on the ground, etchings that had likely been hidden beneath the crates.

    Leonel walked to the end of the large hangar, but found nothing.

    ''Hm... cute.''

    Leonel suddenly tapped a foot and a flood of Dream Force rushed through the etchings on the ground, and in a sudden flash, he vanished.

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself in a world all too similar to an Inbetween World. However... not quite.

    Instead of rolling waves of darkness, there was a lot of rock that seemed carved out of obsidian. But rather than being glass-like, Leonel felt that even if he attacked with all of his strength, it wouldn''t do any good.

    He frowned for a moment and his Earth Force rolled out in a foggy wave, but soon his brows shot up.

    ''I can control the earth in an Inbetween World, but not here?''

    Leonel looked around more seriously. There was a faint suppression around him, but he shrugged it off with ease. The gravity was heavy and the air felt even heavier. Moving felt as though he was trying to swim through crude oil.

    "Who?!"

    A booming voice echoed and a young man descended from the skies with a heavy BOOM.

    Leonel''s head tilted to the side, looking toward the tail that swayed behind the young man. It was a tail of shadowy black, sometimes it would split into two, three or even more forms, but ultimately it would return to a single form of oneness.

    The young man had an imposing might and he seemed ready to throw a punch at Leonel, but almost instantly he fell to a knee so hard the ground quaked once more. Updated from

    A shimmering dot of rainbow came from Leonel''s forehead before it slowly faded.

    The young man, who had been prepared to battle, was suddenly trembling in fear. Leonel, however, was frowning.

    [Common: 3 379 382 297 475]

    Even after all this time, Leonel had only increased from an Apprentice to a Novice, but it seemed that this Drakkar didn''t have a ranking at all.

    Apprentice, Novice, Acolyte, Initiate, Disciple, Adept, Ascendent, Demi-God and God. These were the clearance levels, each one allowing a far greater store of techniques and abilities to be opened.

    The largest change was honestly that his Bronze Contributions had ticked up by one. From Leonel''s understanding, this increase of one actually didn''t even come from the Council Members, but rather the Time Force user, interestingly enough.

    Leonel had come to realize that Contributions above Black were incredibly rare, and that really put into perspective what both Aina and Goggles'' talents represented.

    He didn''t even have to put in much effort. So long as his Dream Force could suppress the target, the Life Tablet could automatically pick these abilities and Lineage Factors up, something that was much more convenient than the way the Silver Tablet worked.

    It was unfortunate that he didn''t get to use it the same way against the participants of the True Dream World for obvious reasons.

    Either way, if what this young man said was true, it seemed that even being titled an Apprentice was a shocking matter.

    Suddenly, there was a shifting in the world around them and several figures began to appear, each one with a shadowy tail of their own.

    To Leonel''s surprise, he immediately recognized two of them.

    The first was Radlis, the young man of the Umbra family. But Leonel found this far more acceptable than the second person he saw....

    Seltin. She was Radlis'' aunt and a woman that Leonel had personally killed with his own hands. Back then, she had tried to keep the Bronze Tablet he had given them as a sign of friendship and he didn''t have the patience to deal with traitors, so he directly killed her, then took the Bronze Tablet away.

    He had had the ability to revive her back then, but why should he have? She thought herself to be above him and at that point in his life, to say that he had little patience for people with such attitudes was nothing short of an understatement.

    Leonel could immediately see their rage when their eyes landed on him, but his gaze had already shifted toward the third person he recognized.

    ''These people really do treat life and death too casually. Why is it that everyone I can''t be bothered to give a damn about keeps returning?''

    Standing high in the skies, a woman with beauty beyond words stood with a long head of fluttering white hair.

    It was none other than Anya, someone that Leonel was also absolutely certain he had slaughtered.

    ''What a shit show.''

    Leonel couldn''t help but be slightly annoyed.

 Chapter 2635 Succubus

    Updated from

    Chapter 2635 Succubus

    Leonel closed his eyes. It was worse than just annoyance, he actually felt quite angry right now. It wasn''t rational, but these sort of things never tended to be.

    What right did these people have to come back to life when he had still not found a way to do the same for his father?

    He took deep breaths, the wind in the surroundings swirling widely. ''Breathe.''

    Leonel suddenly sensed several maleficent intents bearing down on him.

    His eyes opened and the Life Tablet trembled. Most before him fell to a knee, completely unable to resist the sudden change.

    He put a hand on his forehead and walked away. If he stayed here, he really would end up killing these people.

    Of them, maybe only Anya deserved it. Although he was very dissatisfied with Seltin as well, he had mellowed out since then. Her offense wasn''t truly worthy of death either.

    But if these people started poking and prodding at his temper when he was already in a poor state, he''d probably end up doing something he regretted.

    His grandfather''s words were that the Cult was useful. How could they be useful if they were dead?

    So he walked away, ignoring the kneeling people entirely as he began to walk through the world itself, trying to see what was so special about it.

    As the minutes ticked by, his annoyance slowly faded and he shook his head. A sigh left his lips as he looked up.

    He was unwilling to give up. He was unwilling to give up on his father, unwilling to resign his mother to a fate of being alone, unwilling to allow the rules of this world to dictate his actions...

    Everything he learned seemed to make his wishes harder and harder, impossible, even. Seeing these people alive hit him in a place he didn''t even want to consider before. In a way, the fact he had killed them himself was the worst sort of slap to the face.

    Those he wanted to stay dead would be alive.

    Those he wanted to be alive would stay dead.

    "Hm?"

    "I met a Nomad that took part in the selection, and somehow he had a Lineage Factor only humans should be able to unlock. Then, I found out he had ties with a God.

    "That said Lineage Factor is the very one the people the Three Finger Cult use, and it was supposedly founded by the Demoness, King and the Silver Emperor.

    "But at least two of those founders don''t make any sense given what we know. So I have a feeling that the story told to appease the Dimensional Verse likely isn''t the true story, and it might be the case that there were two other founders we aren''t aware of, or it might be the case that the "three" in their name refers to something entirely different.

    "There''s also the chance that Nomad and Zoltene have nothing to do with the Three Finger Cult at all and there are instead multiple forces at play.

    "Ultimately, it''s all nonsense. More multi-layered, historical crap that means next to nothing."

    Aina smiled, knowing that Leonel''s frustration had nothing to do with trying to figure all of this out. She knew her husband well, what he liked to do the most was figure out things... especially when that happened to be something no one else could figure out.

    She leaned her head into his shoulder as she listened to his rant.

    Eventually, he exhaled.

    "The reality is that there are probably multiple factions at play here, multiple people who want to take what remains of the Envoys and forge them into their own image, and humans just happen to be a convenient pawn toward that end.

    "Did you find any Invalids?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    "No. I didn''t see any of them."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. Could it be that there had only been one and he killed it in that explosion? Or was there a pipeline that sent Invalids out of here. Or more accurately, Variant Invalids.

    "There''s no one around," Aina said, blinking innocently.

    Leonel blinked. "Are you trying to seduce me while we''re in the middle of war?"

    "Yes." Aina nodded seriously.

    "Succubus, indeed."

    Leonel grinned and swept his vampire-succubus up.

 Chapter 2636 Human Incubators

    Chapter 2636 Human Incubators

    It was a few hours before Leonel and Aina returned to the kneeling people. Now that he was looking more deeply, he noticed a few things.

    There were less than a hundred of them. Only three of them were in the Ninth Dimension, but there wasn''t even a single Eighth Dimensional expert. The second tier of strength started at Anya who was in the Seventh.

    There was still more to explore in this world, but Leonel felt that he shouldn''t for now. Like he had said, these waters were deeper than he knew, and that Shadow Tail statue was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

    Well, it was funny to say that considering what they had just done under that statue. But that was neither here nor there.

    Leonel smiled beside himself, his gloomy mood having vanished into the wind. Standing with Aina''s hand in his own, he couldn''t be bothered to give a damn about anything else any longer. These people were irrelevant to him, and they were only as useful to meet his ends.

    Nothing more, nothing less.

    He swept a glance and his gaze landed on Anya and Seltin.

    "You two, come forward."

    Anya, compared to Seltin, was far more obedient. There was a graceful expression on her face and her demeanor was just as Leonel remembered it. Even after being forced to kneel for so long, she didn''t lose any of that bearing at all.

    Seltin, however, was greatly reluctant. There was a large amount of humiliation hidden deep within her eyes, and it seemed that even now, she felt that she should be above Leonel.

    Those were eyes that Leonel remembered quite clearly. Their falling out didn''t have to be so terrible, but whether it was Seltin or Leonel, both were endlessly prideful and unwilling to take any losses.

    "Why are there so few of you," Leonel asked Anya.

    Anya''s hands clasped in front of her, gently resting just below her waist. She wore a familiar veil, but her dress was black, in sharp contrast to her flowing white hair.

    It was hard to associate this woman with a demon at all. In fact, much like Aina, it was hard to associate her with humans either. They both looked far more like Spirituals.

    Anya didn''t hesitate to respond, seemingly not feeling any sort of hatred for Leonel personally killing her.

    Leonel nodded. The Umbra family was indeed much larger than this. But now, there were less than a hundred people here in total.

    He reached forward and suddenly grabbed Seltin''s wrist. She tried to resist, but even without his Life Tablet, she was no match for him. His grip was like a vice and it had no give at all as she tried to pull away.

    Leonel ignored the woman''s struggle, trying to see something.

    Then he noticed it... the wounds.

    They were hidden, and almost undetectable. But that was because they had long since healed. Even so, his senses could pick them up.

    ''Why do her inner organs have so much scar tissue?''

    Leonel released her and took Anya''s wrist. Unlike Seltin, she didn''t resist at all. What was the point?

    ''Interesting... Anya doesn''t have the same scarring at all...''

    Leonel went through everyone and checked one by one, and to his shock, Anya and the Ninth Dimensional experts were the only ones who were unscathed.

    His Dream World organized the scars and their parameters and he felt like he understood.

    ''Bits and pieces of them were cut out and regrown as though someone was taking samples of them. Then why were Anya and those three spared?''

    Leonel felt that he understood this as well. They were more valuable.

    If these people wanted to use the Human Race as a scapegoat to hide their actions in the future, how could every member of the supposed "Cult" be a weakling?

    No, they needed people who were worthy of carrying their sins, and as such they couldn''t afford to kill them or experiment on them.

    These people had practically been human incubators, reborn for no other reason than to supply their own inner organs.

    And why?

    Well, that felt obvious too... Wasn''t it so that the likes of Wicked could gain a Lineage Factor he had no business having?

    The saddest part is that Seltin and the others didn''t even seem aware.

 Chapter 2637 One

    Chapter 2637 One

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while. Suddenly, he felt that these people were quite pitiful. New novel chapters are published on

    ''They''re the ticking time bomb these people left in the Human Race, huh...?''

    Although Leonel could think of other reasons they might have been left behind like this, he felt that this one had a greater than a 60% chance that this was correct.

    ''If what I''m thinking is true, then there''s probably also a better than 60% chance that this is related to the God Factions who want Humans wiped off the face of Existence...''

    Leonel''s thoughts jumped from place to place, mostly incoherently. Maybe only the greatest Dream Force users in existence could possibly follow his thought process.

    In the end, he jumped through so many possibilities that statistically speaking, he had at best a one to two percentage chance of actually being correct.

    "Alright. You, you, you and you..."

    Leonel pointed out several people then threw the rest into the Segmented Cube.

    "Follow me."

    Among the people Leonel called forth, there was Anya and Seltin, as well as one of the Ninth Dimensional experts and Drakkar.

    He could feel that these people had strong enough souls to withstand the Dream Pavilion and their existence would make things more convenient for him. Anya, in specific, would be a great boon to help shift the ratios a little bit and maybe open up more options down the line.

    Quite soon, Leonel had returned to the Dream Pavilion. He also brought both Goggles and Eamon, allowing them to take full advantage of the Dream Pavilion''s environment.

    "From now on, you''re members of the Dream Pavilion. I''m sure you understand that using your Northern Star Lineage Factor here is a no-go," Leonel spoke to the Cult members after sending Goggles and Eamon away. "Raise your Dream Force comprehension, make something decent of your circumstances, and maybe you can make something of yourselves as well."

    The Ninth Dimensional expert couldn''t hold back his confusion.

    "... Elder, isn''t this the Dream Pavilion? How...?"

    "How? I''m the Pavilion Head, that''s how."

    The Ninth Dimensional expert''s eyes opened wide, not being able to compute what he just heard.

    Leonel went about his business as Anastasia began her scan. It should be faster in these Complete Worlds as there was less empty space to move through compared to Incomplete Worlds.

    As expected, it only took a few hours for Anastasia to come back with an answer.

    "There are 1273 of the first time, 13 of the second, and one of the last."

    Leonel froze. "That many?"

    What he was the most surprised about was that there was actually a person with 80% of his talent. Well, 80% of his talent in Dream Force. That was absolutely ridiculous.

    "Show me them," Leonel said.

    He didn''t need to worry about the gap between himself and Anastasia in terms of mental capacity at this point, because a number of just over a thousand wasn''t enough to shake him.

    He took it in with absolute ease, but he was surprised when he saw who this person with 80% of his Dream Force talent was...

    It was a woman, and a woman that he had met already at that. It was none other than Cindra, one of the Slayer Legion Generals and the woman who seemed a little too interested in Aina''s father.

    ''But she doesn''t use Dream Force at all...''

    It was then Leonel understood.

    Even he, who had a great Dream Force affinity, started off using Soul Force alone. It wasn''t until he went to a recruiting city of Valiant Heart Mountain that he was able to swap his Soul Force for Dream Force...

    But how many dared to do so? Unless you had another Dream Force expert to check your talent without the potential risk, who would gamble with losing their minds to check their Dream Force affinity.

    Plus, considering there were trillions of humans, wasn''t this number actually pitifully few?

    ''That woman used Light Force as well if I recall correctly... Is that a coincidence?''

    A smile spread across Leonel''s lips. This was much better news. If his conjecture was correct, this would be very useful.

    "Anastasia, scan the Demons as well. They''re already stuck in the same boat as us, might as well make use of it."

    "Gotcha."

    Leonel shot into the distance. It seemed it was time for him to do some more kidnappi-recruiting.

 Chapter 2638 Odd

    Chapter 2638 Odd

    Cindra frowned when she saw the crystal Leonel was handing to her.

    First, she was in shock that this boy found her at all. After the Slayer Legion dispersed, the commanders were the only ones who hadn''t followed into the Segmented Cube along with Leonel. Obviously, this was because they didn''t really want to put their lives in the hands of Leonel.

    This left Cindra feeling a bit... conflicted. It was a cop-out, honestly. They were willing to trust him with the lives of all of those people, but not their own? It went to show that the Slayer Legion had already become too used to leading... it was a familiar symptom of power. Eventually, the corruption would seep in.

    Of course, things weren''t so exaggerated. But if there really came a day where the Slayer Legion was victorious, wouldn''t things go very wrong, very quickly?

    "I''m not a Dream Force expert," she said lightly.

    "You just don''t think you are. But I can sense it in you."

    Now that he was looking for it, not to mention the fact his Dream Force had raised to a new level, Leonel was certain that Anastasia was correct.

    His "80%" metric was a bit crude, and it would be hard to tell for a while if Cindra really had that amount of potential or not. But what was certain was that her talent in Dream Force was extraordinary.

    She hesitated for a moment. She felt that Leonel likely wasn''t lying to her... but she found it difficult to just trust him.

    Just the fact he had found her in this vast world meant that they had never really left his range of influence. Could it be the reason he never cared to stop them was because he knew that he could find them again whenever he needed to? That was quite a scary thought.

    Leonel tilted his head to the side before retracting his hand.

    Cindra frowned. "What-?"

    "Let''s spar," Leonel suddenly said.

    Leonel''s own aura erupted, and just as Cindra''s own was about to reach a new realm, he placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into the Segmented Cube.

    Cindra was too distracted to fight back against the sudden change. Much like Leonel in the past, memories of her entire life surfaced one after another, from the day she was born to the present. She didn''t have any wherewithal about her because her mind was entirely pulled in by these thoughts and memories.

    Then, at that moment, high in the skies, the outline of a familiar owl formed, a call that sounded akin to the phoenix''s of myth and legend peeling across the skies like a bright spark of lightning.

    Leonel exhaled a breath and shook his head. That was close... too close.

    He just hadn''t expected for the awakening of Cindra''s Lineage Factor to be so... violent.

    Honestly, it was hard to remember his own because he had been lost in meditation at the time as well.

    Clearly, though, this was on a completely different level.

    In the Dimensional Verse, the Snowy Star Owl was just a "mere" Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor. But clearly, in Complete Worlds, this title held much more weight than it seemed.

    This made sense. The Forces in these Complete Worlds were on an entirely different level and the Dimensions held entirely different weights.

    Wasn''t even El''Rion just in the Fifth Dimension? But how much strength did he have? Clearly, a Dimension could mean vastly different things to vastly different people.

    But it wasn''t just that... Cindra''s Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor felt different from his own. It was still about its completeness, but it also felt more... natural than his own. Almost as though she was naturally born to wield this Lineage Factor while he was not.

    ''That''s odd...'' Leonel thought. ''I bet the Life Tablet will have an explanation for that-''

    As Leonel was about to send his mind into the Life Tablet to unearth the answers he wanted, Cindra''s gaze slowly cleared. When she looked around and realized she didn''t recognize her surroundings, she immediately looked toward Leonel with an accusatory glance.

    "You-"

    She was speaking when she suddenly attacked.

 Chapter 2639 Lesser

    Chapter 2639 Lesser

    Leonel was speechless. This woman was so crafty, but did she have to be so paranoid at the same time? He could understand her feelings. He had taken her into the Segmented Cube in order to hide the manifestation of her Lineage Factor. It was impossible to tell what kind of trouble it would cause if this commotion was sensed by someone who knew what it actually meant. But from her perspective, it looked like he had taken advantage of her distraction to bring her into the very world she had been trying to avoid all this time.

    ''Fast,'' Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    His thoughts immediately went to using Anastasia to suppress this woman. It would be easy. In this world, he was invincible so long as Anastasia stood on his side.

    Even if he didn''t use Anastasia, as a person with the Northern Star Lineage Factor, it should be easy for Leonel to use the Life Tablet to subdue her as well.

    But he didn''t for two reasons.

    The lesser of the two reasons was that he didn''t want to sour their relationship. Obviously, using such means would make her think the worst of him.

    However, this was the lesser for a reason. He felt that if he restrained her, he could explain what was happening quite simply and she was smart enough to accept it.

    The real reason he didn''t stop her was because he was fascinated. She had only just awakened the Lineage and she didn''t even have the supporting techniques for it... So how come she was suddenly so much more powerful?

    Her fist appeared before Leonel in a blur of Light Force. It was so fast that it felt like she had cut through space itself, bending the laws of causality and bearing down on him.

    Cindra''s thought process was quite simple. She knew that Leonel likely had great control over this world, so she wanted to catch him off guard and restrain him so that she would gain the upper hand again.

    Unfortunately for her, Leonel''s thinking speed was still far beyond her own, at least for now. He had already thought through her intentions and the only reason she was still standing was because of his curiosity.

    This time, when she pressed off against the water, the ocean seemed to separate in two and she appeared before Leonel so fast that rather than a teleportation, it felt more like the very world had shrunk at her command.

    An idea came to Leonel''s mind as a strike of lightning linked in his Dreamscape.

    His own Light Force flourished, several mirrors appearing in the skies under the might of his Emulation Spatial Force.

    The world whined and buckled as Leonel vanished.

    BANG!

    In Leonel''s place, a mirror was shattered beneath Cindra''s fist, but he had already appeared in another high in the skies, a wide smile on his face.

    Cindra tried to move toward the new Leonel, but he had already appeared in another mirror, smashing a fist against her back.

    Cindra moved, aiming for where the last Leonel had been, but he had already appeared to her back again, smashing out another fist.

    The barrages were continuous and came from all sides. Cindra couldn''t even read or react, her mind becoming overwhelmed by the influx of information as though Leonel''s speed alone was suppressing her thoughts.

    She suddenly unleashed a roar, finally catching a hold of Leonel. She watched as his fist came toward her, her eyes locked onto him.

    She erupted with all her might, wanting to severely injure him...

    When a tap suddenly came to her back.

    Cindra froze, feeling the hand on her shoulder. Her strike obliterated the mirror, but once again, there was no Leonel.

    A chuckle came from behind her. "Alright, that was fun, but I think that''s enough, right?"

 Chapter 2640 Relativity

    Chapter 2640 Relativity

    Cindra trembled. She had no idea when he got behind her like that.

    "You... how did you do that?"

    She had studied Light Force with everything she had all her life. Even amongst Ninth Dimensional experts, she had never seen someone with better mastery over it than her.

    It was ironic for her to say this considering her Light Force wasn''t in the Impetus State yet, but she really felt that everyone else was too inferior...

    Until now.

    What Leonel had done just now was clearly an exceptionally high level of application to Life Force, and somehow... she also felt that he had just done it on a whim, like it was something he had just come up with.

    She didn''t know where that feeling was coming from at first, but then she suddenly got it. It was her Dream Force... her Dream Force was helping her read some of Leonel''s intentions. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    But how was her Dream Force state so high already? Hadn''t she just awakened it?

    "I have you to thank, actually. Your application of Light Force is quite unique, it gave me some ideas. I can give you the method if you want, but I cheated a bit. Though it''s possible to do what I just did with Light Force alone, I made it easier on myself by using Emulation Spatial Force as well."

    "Ah, can you please tell me?"

    Cindra''s eyes suddenly lit up and Leonel chuckled. She was, indeed, a lot like Eamon. The main difference was that Eamon acted this way toward Crafting and she, instead, seemed obsessed with Light Force.

    At the same time, though, Leonel found her to be fascinating. Her Light Force was, indeed, not in the Impetus State. But for some reason, her application of it dwarfed his own.

    Of course, technically speaking, Leonel never grew his Light Force to the Life State. Instead, he had grown his Scarlet Star Force to the Life State.

    Even so, it had to be remembered that while Scarlet Star Force was a top one Fire Force, it was likewise was a top three Light Force and a top ten Star Force. That meant there was no way it was just normal for Cindra to be beyond him in this way.

    Well... at least she had been until Leonel took a bit of advantage from her and raised his usage creativity to a new level.

    "Sure. It''s just a matter of relativity. Light is the most unique thing in the world as it can force even Time to be relative. The faster you move, the slower time around you is in relation to everyone else."

    BOOM!

    Leonel laughed. The only other person he had ever seen capable of having so many consecutive breakthroughs, other than himself, was Aina. It seemed they had really found a diamond in the rough.

    ''In that case, shouldn''t I ask Anastasia to try and find some greater talents in general-''

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly narrowed as a message came from Anastasia.

    "Anastasia, please do me a favor and explain to Cindra what''s going on."

    "Okay," a sweet voice replied.

    Leonel left the Segmented Cube to find that the Bubble World had shattered again.

    Aina zipped by and landed next to him.

    "How did it go?" Leonel asked.

    "A lot of them were happy to get out of their situations," Aina said. "They''ve lost a lot in the chaos. And you?"

    "Cindra was a bit harder to convince, but I think it''s fine now."

    "Is this what you were waiting for?" Aina asked, changing the subject.

    Leonel looked up. The Gathering Stele was finally beginning to fade away and that seemed to signal it.

    BANG!

    Leonel exhaled. "I guess so."

    High in the skies, a furious Nomad appeared. They were five meters tall and their floating hands were each ten meters from palm to finger. He looked like a true deity.

    These Nomads were clearly on an entirely different level, and that was because they had a Dream Pavilion. In fact, it was a Dream Pavilion Leonel recognized quite well...

    The Gem Dream Pavilion. The fourth participant of the True Dream World Challenge Sequence.

    It seems they had come to collect the debt Leonel owed them for slaughtering all of their experts.

 Chapter 2641 Point

    Chapter 2641 Point

    "Jeez..." Leonel exhaled a breath.

    No matter how you looked at it, that thing in the skies really looked like a God. Was all of this necessary? He was just a little human, isn''t that what they always said? So why were they going so hard all of a sudden?

    Aina was about to spring forward when Leonel tightened his grip on her hand.

    She looked back with a questioning gaze, not quite understanding. That sort of enemy was definitely not one that Leonel could fight.

    That giant Nomad very clearly had Noah''s Ability Index, the ability to not only perfectly control his own size but also his density and weight.

    The Morphing Ability Index.

    According to Leonel''s Life Tablet, it was a Black Grade ability, but as with all things, it was highly dependent on the user. Even a Black Grade Ability Index could be exceptional if it was properly controlled.

    Leonel''s own Ability Index wasn''t very highly ranked either. At the very least, it was firmly beneath Aina''s. But how far had he been able to bring it?

    For someone with the special quirks of the Nomads, this Ability Index was truly... troublesome.

    Aina knew all of this, and she could also feel that this Nomad''s strength was exceptional. Leonel simply wasn''t able to fight such a person. So she wasn''t sure why he would stop her like this. She should be the one to go.

    "Hey, hey," Leonel chuckled, "don''t you think you''ve done enough fighting?"

    "But-"

    Leonel''s grin widened and Aina fell into silence.

    "And yet, there you were. Not only were you there, but when you found Deputy Pavilion Head Clarence, you strung him up and tortured him to death as though he was some sort of animal.

    "Those kinds of actions don''t make any sense whatsoever. I may have personally said some things you found offensive, but going so far is a fool''s errand for a world as weak as yours.

    "The world may hate the Human Race, but we''re still here, and it''s certainly not because of a little formation even I was able to shatter with a few tricks. That barrier could at best hold back those weak Demon Races.

    "No one dares to touch us because they don''t want to offend the Pluto Race or the neutral Faction that backs them. So why is a little middling world like yours so aggressive? Hm?"

    The world around the Nomad trembled fiercely, his weight increasing to the point gravity bent and whined, space shrinking, collapsing and distorting around him.

    "No answer?" Leonel asked with a smile. "I wonder, how long does it take to rush here from your world? Probably took many months, huh? When did you leave? You can''t see the Gathering Stele from the Inbetween Worlds, now can you?"

    "ENOUGH!" The Nomad roared. "I am the mighty Kaelan, do you think the likes of the Human Race has the right to speak to me this way?!"

    Leonel picked at his ears. "And yet, you still haven''t attacked me yet. I''m right here. Do it, big man. Be gentle if you can, I scare easy."

    Kaelan''s eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. Leonel was barely a hundred meters from him, a nigh insignificant distance. Even if Leonel had been kilometers away, it would have been absolutely meaningless.

    He was so infuriated by Leonel''s nonchalance he felt like his heart was about to implode. He still didn''t understand how Leonel could possibly be so calm.

    It was all a bluff, it had to be. But after what happened to the Nomads in the True Dream World... could it still be considered that?

    Kaelan then had another thought. None of this made sense. If Leonel was trying to goad him into attacking, why spend all this time talking? So long as Leonel appeared, he would have attacked. So what was the point of making the trap so obvious that he didn''t dare to step into it?

    It had to be a bluff, that was the only thing that made any sort of sense.

    Plus, the moment the Human Race lost its protection rights, didn''t that mean that anyone could attack and kill them? This was the culling! He was justified!

    Leonel smiled then suddenly pointed up.

 Chapter 2642 Annoying

    Chapter 2642 Annoying

    Kaelan froze.

    1. Aina Morales.

    That last name, he didn''t recognize it. He could tell with ease that that was the name Leonel was pointing at.

    It was impossible for him to not recognize a last name on the rankings, especially not if it was first place. They all should come from the most prominent families below the Demi-God Realms. So how was it that-

    He froze. Wasn''t this human''s name Leonel Morales?

    "Surprised? Don''t be. I tried to tell you all that my wife is amazing. Not my fault none of you wanted to listen."

    "You..."

    "Are you going to attack, or not? I''m getting quite bored. You came here all boisterous, beating your chest like an ape. But where''s the follow through?"

    Kaelan''s eyes were completely red.

    The boy was confusing him. He suddenly couldn''t tell left from right, or right from left anymore. He felt like-

    Kaelan froze. He suddenly remembered... Why would this boy be speaking so much? Wasn''t it to attack his mind? Wasn''t he a Dream Force expert? Could it be that his mind was already being infiltrated? Was everything around him fake?

    Kaelan erupted with a roar that shook the world, streams of Earth Force coming out from him in waves.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood as he was sent blasting into the distance. Kaelan''s Earth Force was clearly in the Life State, and unlike Leonel, he had access to the full brunt of it as a Ninth Dimensional powerhouse. He was on an entirely different level. Whether it was Leonel or Aina, they stood no chance against this sort of enemy.

    Another mouthful of blood came from Leonel. He wiped his lips with a forearm then spit to the side, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. The waters of Existence were truly deep.

    Even the experts of such "weak" worlds were so powerful, let alone the true behemoths.

    "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME?!" Kaelan roared, the world shaking beneath his mind. The earth whined and split as mountains collapsed.

    His four floating palms were held up into the air and the entire world seemed to elevate. The sea level descended and the cracked and floating rocks rose.

    El''Rion frowned when he saw that Leonel wasn''t surprised to see him. It only appeared for a moment, though, before it vanished.

    He shook his head. He was used to being silent and stoic, but Leonel seemed to have a way of getting to him.

    ''He''s changed...'' El''Rion suddenly thought.

    Leonel had, indeed, changed. But somehow, he was just as annoying. It left the Pluto youth without the words to describe him. How''d he manage to change almost everything about himself except this one thing?

    He had an urge to tell Leonel to go back to the drawing board.

    El''Rion''s gaze turned toward the trembling Nomad and he waved a hand.

    BANG!

    Kaelan''s head exploded, waves of blood falling through the skies.

    "Satisfied?" El''Rion asked.

    "Why are you asking me that question like I ordered you around?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    El''Rion wasn''t sure how to respond.

    "Isn''t it obvious you knew this would happen?"

    "You''re not very good at lying, El''Rion," Leonel said with a chuckle. "You definitely thought I''d be surprised."

    El''Rion''s nose scrunched up but his demeanor went back to normal.

    He stretched out a hand and clawed space, his short, curled nailed ripping into the stream of time and rewinding the events.

    He watched the scene in silence and then waved a hand for them to disappear.

    "Why did you antagonize him so much?"

    "His face annoyed me."

    El''Rion, once again, didn''t know how to respond.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

 Chapter 2643 A Stage

    Chapter 2643 A Stage

    El''Rion looked at Leonel deeply and decided to give up. He was never going to win a war of words with this man.

    At that moment, Aina appeared by Leonel''s side, looking at El''Rion curiously for a moment.

    "Is this supposed to be the ''snotty nosed brat''?" Aina asked.

    Leonel burst into laughter and El''Rion''s expression became sour again. Watching the young boy try to control himself again and again was probably Leonel''s most amusing pass-time at this point.

    "Alright, we can stop teasing him now. I''m sure you have something important to tell me?" Leonel said.

    "... Yes. This is a special circumstance. It''s impossible for me to do this-"

    Leonel waved a hand and shook his head. "Never expected that."

    El''Rion fell into silence again. He really didn''t know how to deal with this man. Leonel seemed very eager to let him know that he wasn''t relying on him, but if he knew that he was coming, didn''t that mean that he already was?

    "... Like I was saying, this situation is extraordinarily unique. The Gathering of Kingdoms just ended and your world successfully defended itself. In addition, you''ve been the constant sufferer of several schemes until now.

    "If our Faction did not take action, it would mean allowing the others to trample on our authority, and that could not be allowed."

    The meaning was clear. If in the past the Gathering Stele was the representation of the God Beasts of Creation, now it was the representation of the Plutos. Its rules were upheld by them and controlled as such.

    At the same time, the Gathering of Kingdoms was a treaty of sorts. It was a balance taken between the neutral faction and the factions who wanted to wipe out all other Races.

    Obviously, the latter group wanted to minimize how the resources of Existence were used up by getting rid of countless worlds, believing themselves to be the ones meant to replace the God Beasts of Destruction.

    However, the majority neutral factions wanted the status quo to remain. It was trying to mess with the balance in the first place that led to all of this, so trying to actively change things again just felt foolish.

    The Gathering of Kingdoms was a compromise. New novel chapters are published on

    Then, it hit him.

    Did Leonel need to? Wasn''t the fact Minerva had such a name to begin with paint the picture clearly enough?

    How could a race trying their best to separate themselves from their past possibly give birth to a talent of Minerva''s level and give her such a name?

    Minerva might not be the strongest of the Owlans, not even close. But in terms of talents, she was top three without the slightest doubt, and her background was exceptional within her Race as well.

    "You..."

    El''Rion''s assessment of Leonel had taken a complete 180 after he returned from a battle with a Shadow Tail. He didn''t even know he should explain this matter to anyone, it was far too unbelievable.

    He should have known that the way Leonel saw things was far different from the way others did. The plane his mind worked on could already be compared to the best of the Gods.

    And it made no sense to him.

    "But there''s no way they''d attack so soon... The Gathering of Kingdoms-"

    "They have a viable reason to attack. I have their Race''s ''treasure''. They''ll have all the excuses they need."

    "Why are you being so casual about this? You do realize that even if it''s only Minerva, she is capable of crushing defeating even me as I am now? There is a huge gap between Mortal and Demi-God Races."

    "Well then," Leonel smiled. "Shouldn''t you do something about that?"

    El''Rion was rendered speechless once again. Didn''t this man just say he didn''t need him?

    "I''ve already said, I can''t-"

    "Not like that," Leonel said. "I''ll crush them on my own. If there''s anything you''re right about, it is that they''ll have to wait a while. I don''t fear these people.

    "What I need from you is something different.

    "I need a stage to be a Wise Star Order without losing my head."

 Chapter 2644 [Bonus] Plan A

    Chapter 2644 [Bonus] Plan A

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (1/6)]

    El''Rion''s brows furrowed, but Leonel looked back at him with quite an unreadable expression. It felt like what he had said was just natural.

    By now, many people had already guessed that Leonel was a Wise Star Order. It could be said that the reason the ire of countless Gods hadn''t descended on him yet was because the Life Tablet couldn''t grant Lineage Factors. At best, many believed that it had just acknowledged his Wise Star Order status.

    Of the Orders, Wise Star Order was the only one not tied to the Northern Star Lineage Factor by necessity. In fact, it could be said that the purpose of the Wise Star Order''s existence to begin with was to restrain and maintain.

    There was a reason why Leonel could suppress and overpower those with the Northern Star Lineage Factor, an ability he had gained the moment he awoke to his status as a Wise Star Order.

    Naturally, for those that didn''t want to see the rise of the Northern Star Lineage Factor again, Leonel''s existence wasn''t entirely a bad thing...

    If he could be controlled, that is. New novel chapters are published on

    This matter, though, was quickly becoming a web of complexities. Setting aside the existence of Wicked, what it meant, and the members of the Cult that had been left behind, there were too many other things pulling Leonel in all directions. Right now, all he could do was take steps to fix that.

    The first step was Aina. Aina''s existence was crucial, not just because she had helped them to survive the culling, but because of what she represented.

    She was a human, separate from the Northern Star Lineage Factor, who carried a great strength all to herself.

    This seemed meaningless. Why would it be important for the humans to come off as strong, aside from surviving, that is?

    Ironically, the humans were in a situation similar to the Owlan Race. They were tied to a version of themselves that many were wary of, and many more had a difficult time disassociating from their current selves.

    This third problem was multi-facets and multi-layered. Although Aina had won the Gathering of Kingdoms, that wasn''t nearly enough.

    Not only was she just one person, her feats were actually objectively less impressive than Leonel''s own, and there was an argument to be made that she was only so powerful because of Leonel in the first place.

    After all, it was a Wise Star Order''s duty to guide and direct, as well as gathering information. There was a reason the help of the God Beasts hadn''t just created the Envoys, but numerous powerful families like the Fawkes and the Constellation families.

    This was where things became tricky. Because if Leonel was the one guiding everyone, then it might be impossible to ever completely separate from that level of scrutiny...

    Unless he could display his abilities as a Wise Star Order on a much larger scale.

    If he leaned into the role of a Wise Star Order, gathering knowledge and passing it on, even helping those of other Races, slowly but surely, the events of the past could be overwritten.

    But if Leonel wanted to take even the first step toward that wider plan of his, he needed an anchor. That anchor couldn''t come from himself, and it certainly couldn''t come from the God Beasts of Creation either.

    They needed to come from the most powerful God Race in existence.

    The Plutos.

    He didn''t need them to be looking over his shoulder, nor did he need them to actively protect him either. He just needed a small path he could walk down.

    As for the rest of it, he could handle himself.

    If El''Rion had no ability to do this, he would have to use his Plan B. But honestly, he didn''t really want to do that...

    Because if he went down that route, a lot of people would die...

    And he would make an enemy out of the whole of Existence.

 Chapter 2645 [Bonus] Minds

    Chapter 2645 [Bonus] Minds

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (2/6)]

    Leonel wasn''t ready to make an enemy out of so many monsters. Maybe if he was able to return to the Seventh Dimension, he would be willing to take such an outrageous gamble. But at least for now, he wanted to take the smarter approach if he could.

    It was all in the hands of the little boy that was just a little bit too big for his age.

    When El''Rion looked into Leonel''s eyes, he understood much more of what he was seeing now. It felt like Leonel wasn''t asking him anything. Instead... he was giving him a choice.

    A choice to let Existence stay in peace for a little while longer, or if he would let chaos reign.

    It didn''t make sense to him again. But it also didn''t make sense for Leonel to survive against that Shadow Tail. It also didn''t make sense for him to survive in the True Dream World. And it also didn''t make sense for him to have planned for his appearance either.

    Nothing this man did seemed to make any sense whatsoever.

    "What do you expect from me?"

    Leonel shrugged. "That would be up to you."

    El''Rion''s gaze narrowed.

    "... Following the Gathering of Kingdoms, an exchange of martial arts, there is the Gathering of Minds. This is a historical event and one that hasn''t been held since the collapse of the Minerva Race as there hasn''t been anyone else worthy of it..."

    Right now, her husband had access to a mountain of wealth. He could have used any number of resources to trade for an outfit for her. But instead of trading for a treasure that might very well have been made at the hands of a Demi-God, Leonel preferred to Craft her military uniform himself.

    This was Leonel''s subtlest form of arrogance, and yet when one thought about it... it was also the one that shone the fiercest.

    "..."

    El''Rion''s lips parted, but his words stopped again. This man was really too much.

    "Also, since you''re kind enough to do such a thing, I have a different suggestion.

    "You can start the Gathering of Minds, request for the Owlan Race to be the host. Separate it into two portions, one that is a healthy exchange of thoughts and ideas, the second of which is a challenge section where one can challenge another when two treasures of equal value are put on the line.

    "Is that alright?"

    El''Rion took a breath. Leonel explained it simply, but his thoughts were layered in complexity.

    For one, requesting the Owlans to host basically cut off the idea of any God participating. What God would join an event hosted by a mere Demi-God? And El''Rion nor Leonel would have to ban them in so many words.

    Second, the Owlans hosting would make the Pluto Race''s neutrality shine through.

    What happened here today couldn''t be hidden. People would soon find out that El''Rion had taken action for the Human Race.

    However, if soon afterward, he announced the Gathering of Minds hosted by the Owlan Race that clearly had a grudge with Leonel, it would be the perfect balancing act.

    Third, the challenge section would make the Owlans all too eager. Wasn''t this their chance to make Leonel put Anastasia on the line so that they could finally get the treasure of the Minerva Race back?

    Fourth, the healthy exchange that would start the Gathering of Minds would be akin to a soothing massage after the death and destruction of the Gathering of Kingdoms.

 Chapter 2646 [Bonus] Alike

    Chapter 2646 [Bonus] Alike

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (3/6)]

    El''Rion felt that he had been bamboozled again. Leonel told him to do whatever he pleased, and then happened to have the perfect plan for the exact option he did?

    He almost thought that Leonel was using Dream Force to control him, but how could such a thing work against a Pluto? He could be an infant and Dream Force would still be useless against him.

    Even so, he couldn''t help but feel that Leonel had managed to surprise him again.

    This plan not only covered for Leonel''s future, but it also covered El''Rion''s own ass.

    The Pluto Race had been taking a lot of heat recently. First it was the fact they were declining in general. Though they were still by far the best of the best, their enemies were like sharks in blood-infested waters.

    Then there was the help they had given the Fawkes. Not the fact they had helped out Humans to begin with, but instead the fact they had done so with the help of so many Incomplete Worlds. That was unacceptable to many God Races.

    If El''Rion was too willful, he could end up putting even more pressure on his family. That was precisely why he had immediately told Leonel that he couldn''t just do this all the time.

    But it seemed that Leonel had already considered this more than he had.

    "Alright," El''Rion nodded. "We''ll do as you say. In that case, farewell."

    "Whoa, whoa," Leonel called out. "You don''t want to stay for dinner or something?" Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    El''Rion''s steps paused, not quite understanding the invitation until he translated it to himself and tried to find the right words for it.

    However, in his language, the best he could do was the word "gift", and the idea of anyone gifting him anything struck a chord with his Pluto Pride. It felt like Leonel was looking down on him.

    But he could also tell from Leonel''s tone that that wasn''t what he meant.

    "You should really taste my wife''s cooking. I bet you the whole of Existence doesn''t have a better chef."

    Aina smiled, seemingly not minding the fact Leonel was offering her services.

    "Um... alright..." El''Rion finally said slowly.

    "Indeed," Leonel opened a palm and Tolliver formed a gorgeous array of flickering liquid silver before forming into several tiny lives. "Watch and learn, wife."

    A flurry of slices echoed through the kitchen. Vegetables flew about, and neither Force Herbs nor powerful beast meat could escape his clutches. He even ground fresh spikes and dispersed the air of tear-inducing vapors all at once.

    He was simply a machine.

    Aina clapped to the side, feeding her man''s ego.

    The atmosphere could only be described as happy and harmonious.

    ...

    In an unknown location, voices echoed, their intentions laced with schemes and multi-layered hidden meanings.

    "It''s coming, like you said. This will be a perfect opportunity to take advantage of."

    "But can you guarantee my safety?"

    "Did I not already promise you all the riches in the world? What can the measly Human Race do for you? Are you not aware that the most powerful Humans in Existence have never stepped foot into the Human Bubbles? They are all born and raised in other worlds.

    "Do you want to be the big fish in a small pond? Or swim in the vast ocean? In fact, in this case, you wouldn''t even be a big fish, you would always be under his thumb. I don''t think you understand what it means to be a Wise Star Order."

    "I came to you, not the other way around. You don''t need to remind me of the benefits, I''ve long since become aware. I just want to make sure that you will keep up your end of the deal."

    "Can I hide from your abilities?" The voice chuckled. "Just the fact you could contact me in the first place has astonished me. You''ll do well here."

    "There are many things in this world that I do not understand," the other voice replied plainly.

    Another chuckle came. "Continue to be humble, it will bring you far. I''ll trust you to do as you''ve said, and you can trust me. It isn''t like you''ll be in danger."

    "Maybe..."

    The voices fell into silence, and it seemed at some unknown time, they had disconnected from one another. Just like that, silent and without fanfare.

    The second voice sat in silence, shadows moving over their figure as they sat in an unknown location. In their hands, a familiar Black Tablet was rolled back and forth, their fingers gliding over the etchings as though fascinated by the fact such an unimaginative item could hold such power.

    "You and I are a lot alike," they said with a silent chuckle.

 Chapter 2647 [Bonus] Wildfire

    Chapter 2647 [Bonus] Wildfire

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (4/6)] Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Leonel entered the Dream Pavilion with his mind ironically in the clouds. He paused, remembering something, then chose to do a check. He wanted to understand why Cindra was so powerful. Soon, he figured it out.

    He should have realized it earlier. But this was the first time he was actually meeting such a person in the flesh so it hadn''t really sunk in.

    Of course, Cindra was a Snow Star Order. Well, that was Leonel''s guess, but he was fairly certain that he was actually correct because nothing else made sense.

    But this wasn''t the only interesting thing he had learned.

    Snow Star Order. Stone Star Order. Starry Star Order. Twinkling Star Order. And Golden Star Order.

    The names of these Orders were fairly self-explanatory. These were people who had a natural advantage in the control of Lineage Factors related to the Snowy Star Owl, White Stone Elephant, Starry Tailed Fox, Twinkling Light Bear, and the Golden Tiger.

    The only reason the Luxnix family only knew of the Snow Star Order was, obviously, because they had only ever unlocked the Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor. Even if they had had one of the other Orders, they wouldn''t have even been aware.

    There was also the fact Wise Star Order had manipulated the history of the Luxnix as well. And now that that man had disappeared, Leonel had no way of telling what parts of it were real and what parts were fake.

    What he did know, though, was that Orders of this kind were very special.

    In Leonel''s worldview, the Snowy Star Owl was just a Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor. However, in the visions, the Snowy Star Owl was a creature that could cross a universe with a single flap of its wings.

    The first was Tolliver. He still didn''t quite understand what changes the little Metal Spirit had undergone, but they certainly weren''t normal by any stretch of the imagination. He felt that he would have to try and find a way to hide Tolliver''s specialness.

    The second was, obviously, Anastasia. He didn''t like the idea of using her like some sort of bartering chip, but he also knew that he had no other choice... Not only was this important for baiting and dealing with the Minerva Race, and at least making sure that they wouldn''t come and attack him before he was ready, but also...

    How else could he possibly get his hands on a Demi-God World Spirit if not by doing this?

    Demi-Gods were well beyond him, let alone their World Spirits. If he didn''t get one like this, would he be stuck in the Fourth Dimension for the reset of his life?

    Either that, or he would have to raise one of the Human Bubbles up to that standard, but that was a whole headache in and of itself.

    This was the only choice he had left to complete his father''s mad science experiment.

    Leonel sighed. He slid his hands into his pockets and stared into the beautiful skies.

    He smiled.

    He was beginning to see this cruel world in a different sort of light. It was no different from another 9-5 job to him. If he was on Earth and still in the Third Dimension, it wasn''t like his life would be all sunshine and rainbows either. He''d be dealing with problems that would feel probably just as existential as all of this did.

    As he stood there, news of the Gathering of Minds began to spread like wildfire.

    All across Existence, the best Crafters of the younger generation seemed to have had a fire lit under their bellies.

    However, it wasn''t just them, but the Force Pill Crafters as well. Who said that the Gathering of Minds was just about Crafting?

    A different sort of fervor rushed through the Bubbles of Existence.

 Chapter 2648 [Bonus] Order Standards

    Chapter 2648 [Bonus] Order Standards

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (5/6)]

    Leonel chuckled to himself. Unfortunately, Aina''s Force Pill Crafting methods relied on her Blood Sovereignty to Force Pill Craft.

    ''Well, knowing her, she could probably take another first place after creating an entirely different method. But I can''t let them covet my wife too much, she''s all mine.''

    Leonel ducked instinctually, only recovering when he realized there wasn''t a frying pan coming for his head.

    He cleared his throat, clamped his hand behind his back, and continued his stroll.

    ...

    Owlan Race.

    Minerva sat in silence, reading over the mandate again and again.

    Of course, this matter had been accepted by the Owlan Race on behalf of her. It was almost an amusing joke. Almost.

    Elrik had been here not too long ago telling her that her only place was in bed with a big belly. And now, the entire Race was expecting her to lead the charge for their glory.

    What a bunch of sick bastards.

    As the Pavilion Head, she was nowhere near the strongest Owlan, but she was certainly the best Crafter.

    That wasn''t just because of her Dream Force, but it was also because she was among the very few who embraced her Minerva Race roots. She had been basking in this profession for all her life.

    Of course, she was far above the cut-off age for this event. It would have to be her juniors that participated. However... this was all too useful to her.

    The Order Standards were a measurement of Crafting skill created by the Minerva Race. The particular standards that Minerva herself was referring to were the Demi-God versions.

    There were simply too many variables to a Crafter''s prowess. There was their Spirit, their Dream or Soul Force strength, and then there was their actual ingenuity and skill.

    Depending on these matters, it could vary widely.

    The reason why the Black to Life system Leonel was used to didn''t work was because what could be considered Black or Bronze and above varied widely in a given world. There were some worlds where a Black Grade treasure could shatter a Life Grade one with ease.

    Leonel had experienced the fluidity of these rankings personally after his Life Grade breakthrough. Back then, he had gained the ability to Craft "Black Grade" items that were really of the Life Grade.

    These problems were things that everyone across Existence faced, so the Order Standards were introduced.

    An Order Standard was the average of one''s skill in multiple categories.

    The first was Control. This referred to how well you could communicate with your Spirit and how well it responded to your commands. This also baked in skills like Finger Designations and dexterity.

    The second was Knowledge. The sheer amount of information a Crafter had to take in was excessive, and how much of it one grasped would inevitably decide how effectively you could Craft in the first place.

    The third was stamina and Dream Force. Even if you had all the Control and Knowledge in the world, if your Dream Force or Soul Force was too weak, and you lacked stamina in using them, you would never be able to finish a Craft.

    At lower levels, you could just set aside a Craft and return to it later, but when the Life Grade was concerned, everything had to be done in one go, or how else would you guarantee the creation of a new "life"?

    The fourth and final category was Ingenuity and Adaptability. It was a fluid category that was more difficult to measure than most, and yet it was maybe the most important of them.

    A First Order Standard actually meant more than it seemed. A person who had reached this standard was considered a true Crafter in the eyes of even the Demi-Gods and they had quite some value.

    A Fourth Order Standard was highly sought after, an individual capable of making forging treasures that could even harm Ninth Dimensional experts who had one Force in the Lower Life State.

    At the Seventh Order... one could make treasures that even the Gods wouldn''t snub their noses at.

    The average for geniuses of the younger generation, even accounting for the Demi-God Race, was Third Order. And yet...

    Celestia was at the Sixth.

 Chapter 2649 [Bonus] Part Two

    Chapter 2649 [Bonus] Part Two

    [Thanks to Ian <3 (6/6)]

    "HAHA! My stage has come!"

    A boisterous laughter that should probably come from a War Lord instead of a Crafter echoed.

    A young man wearing beast skins kicked a door open with a foot and brought half the house down as a result.

    "Talon! You son of a bitch! Didn''t I tell you-"

    The laughter drowned out the rest of the spiel. Talon couldn''t be bothered to listen, his laughter causing what remained of the home to shake on its foundations as though it might collapse at any moment.

    Talon was huge. He stood at over two meters tall, had boulders for shoulders and a round belly that seemed made of iron. Despite his round belly, when he breathed, one could see the visible striations of his abs.

    His entire body was coated in crimson runes that took the shape of tiger stripes, and every time he roared with laughter, they would greedily suck up the Force in the surroundings.

    This young man was a member of the Barbarian Race. They were a Race of beings who couldn''t form their own Nodes or Nodal Pathways. In fact, they didn''t have an Ethereal Glabella either, and some speculated that they didn''t even have souls in the natural sense.

    It was hard to guarantee such things because the Barbarian Race wasn''t one to experiment. They didn''t care about the details. All they knew was that the more they ate and fought, the stronger they got.

    And that was indeed how it worked.

    The Barbarian Race might not have any Nodes, but that was because all the Force they absorbed went directly into their flesh and blood.

    The purest of the Barbarian Race were essentially walking wrecking balls.

    If Leonel had been here, he would have been endlessly fascinated by this race... because in effect, they seemed to be large Neutral Force Crystals. If they tweaked their ratios properly...

    Wouldn''t they be immune to any and all Forces?

    And this was precisely why they were a Race of Demi-Gods. Only existences of such strength were worth such a title. And this was also why the largest concentration of Destruction Sovereigns were found in this very Race.

    And yet, it was this young man who was excited by the Gathering of Mi

    Orion sat in silence. The humiliation of his battle with Aina played in his head again for maybe the fourth time that day already. It had already been a while since that battle, but he thought of that woman every day.

    He could tell if it was out of fear or some sick, twisted love fantasy that would never come to fruition.

    When he heard about the Gathering of Minds, he didn''t even react much, and that was despite the fact he was a rare genius capable of placing well in both events. He didn''t even have the heart to go.

    He sat in silence for a long while until he suddenly remembered something.

    That Leonel Morales... wasn''t he a Dream Force user...? Was he a Crafter too, then?

    There wasn''t a one-to-one relation between the two, but there was a good chance.

    Maybe... if he beat that man he could...

    ''What am I thinking... the Owlan Race is hosting and he offended them thoroughly. What are the odds he''ll show up even if he is one? What a waste of my thoughts...''

    He reclined in a hammock, ready to continue his lazy streak when he heard footsteps.

    Orion cursed. These old bastards were definitely going to make him participate. Where was the justice?

    **

    Leonel lay in silence, a naked Aina in his arms as he looked through a glass roof toward the starry skies.

    In these few days, he hadn''t made any progress on the Self Path, but that was mostly because he didn''t even try to. He would never allow those people to see his father''s core inheritance.

    Instead, he had focused most of his intention on fun, a small bit of his mind on the matters of Complexity and Simplicity.

    It seemed it would be time to cut loose again soon.

    Part one of Plan A had worked out.

    It was time for part two.

 Chapter 2650 Goading Trouble

    Chapter 2650 Goading Trouble

    "You''re going to wear that?" Aina asked, blinking.

    "No way. You give a woman a ring and she''s suddenly treating you like your mother," Leonel mumbled.

    "What was that?"

    "What was what?" Leonel smiled innocently.

    Aina rolled her eyes. She didn''t really care very much about what Leonel wore. She, herself, wasn''t really fond of dressing up either. But she could see that this man was goading trouble.

    This was an event that a lot of people were taking seriously and he was trying to go in sweatpants. Where was the propriety?

    "You''re just trying to poke and prod people into finding trouble with you."

    "Guilty," Leonel grinned.

    Aina smiled and chose to drop the matter. She was just trying to see something, and judging by Leonel''s response, she understood his intentions.

    Was it about trying to goad people into targeting him? Maybe a little bit, but that wasn''t the whole of it.

    Leonel understood how to read people and social situations very well. He knew when he had to dress well and well he didn''t. He wasn''t clueless. The fact he had chosen to do this meant that there was a reason for it.

    In that case, his intentions were quite clear.

    Leonel wanted to appear as the representative of the Human Race... but only in spirit.

    He appeared at the Heir Wars like an Emperor with his Empress by his side, but he didn''t want to give off the impression of a mature man with a good head on his shoulders right now. He wanted to embrace the arrogant young master role to its fullest degree.

    Their sun was a pale violet color that looked identical to Leonel''s own hair.

    Their rivers sparkled like small gems of flowing diamonds and their Force Herbs and greenery looked as though they had been carved of emeralds.

    It was a world without poverty and hardship, an unmatched paradise.

    These were the feelings of all those that stepped into this heavenly place. The Owlan Race didn''t usually allow outsiders into their home. There was a 99.99% population of Sages in the Owlan Bubble and it could be said that other than the Sages themselves, no one else had seen this world in its full glory.

    Experiencing it for the first time, the youths who touched down felt absolutely shaken. Even given the long line and wait they had to experience in order to enter the hosting city didn''t seem to be much of a bother anymore. All they wanted to do was slowly take in the world around them just a little bit more. Only that way would they feel satisfied.

    The Gathering of Minds worked differently from the Gathering of Kingdoms. There wasn''t the Gathering Stele to facilitate things, so instead, in the last month or so the Pluto Race and Owlan Race had collaborated to create a network of teleportation hubs. Or, more accurately, they commandeered a network that already existed for the sake of the event, covering the outrageous fees and providing maintenance to areas that needed it.

    Thanks to this, everyone was given three months to make their way over before the festivities could begin, and yet the line was already so large the moment the teleportation channels had opened. It was clear that this event would be much larger than anyone could have anticipated... and that was because the prizes were simply too enticing.

    The Owlan Race had put up several blueprints as prizes, blueprints of Life Grade treasures personally created by their ancestors.

    These were the greatest enticements to Crafters and it lit a fire under the participants...

    But that was only the very beginning.

    If one made it into the top 1000, they would receive a Mind Splitting Rune, one capable of doubling the capacity of one''s speed of thought.

    If one reached the top 100, they would receive Spirit Elevating Force Herb, one capable of doubling the potential of one''s Spirit Companion.

    If one made it into the top 10, they would not only receive a Creation Grade Ore, but also one Eighth Order Standard Blueprint.

    If one made it into the top 3, they would receive one Ninth Order Standard Blueprint and a Ninth Order Workbench personally forged by Minerva herself.

    However, it was the top 1 prize that truly shook the soul.

 Chapter 2651 Top One

    Chapter 2651 Top One

    The top 1 prize of the event was truly heart stirring.

    There were many Spirits in the world. Fire Spirits, Wind Spirits, Metal Spirits... each one had their own unique path of Crafting, but there was no doubt that in order to be a Crafter, one had to have one of these Companions by their sides.

    There were some Crafters who had more than one, some who combined multiple paths or chose to have more than one of the same kind. But this was still the inevitable truth of them all.

    Morphing and forging Ores without the help of Spirits was possible, but without being in the Creation State, it was hard to give your creations any sort of life without them.

    Of the normal Spirits, there was no doubt that the Metal Spirit was probably the most highly sought after, and also the most dangerous to work with. However...

    There were Spirits above this level.

    The Minerva Race was known for a great number of feats during their existence, but it could be said that of their best, one would be remiss if not to mention the Minerva Spirit.

    The Minerva Spirit was the only humanoid Spirit in existence. It looked like a small doll, always sitting beautifully on the shoulder of its master... But within that small body, there were a myriad of changes and it housed the mysteries of the universe.

    The Minerva Spirit, being a humanoid Spirit, was a blank slate. It was capable of practicing and growing affinities for Forces much like other Races could, and as such, it was considered to be the absolute pinnacle of Spirithood.

    Having a Minerva Spirit was akin to having a growth-type Spirit capable of becoming any one of the others. If you wanted to behave like a Metal Spirit, it would. If you wanted it to become a Fire Spirit, it could. If you wanted to fuse the paths down a unique and personal adventure of yours... it could do that as well.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    The Minerva Spirit, even in comparison to the Spirits used by various God Races, was known as the beast of them all...

    If Leonel just started hopping from teleportation pad to teleportation pad like everyone else, the result could be imagined. The Minerva Race would easily be able to trace it back to his exact location.

    So, Leonel had taken a different approach.

    There were really two ways to approach this. The first was going out of his way to travel through the Inbetween Worlds for as long as possible, distancing himself as best as possible.

    The trouble was that he wouldn''t get very far.

    Anastasia''s speed was based on the Force in the surroundings and Anarchic Force wasn''t something she could absorb. So unless Leonel had great treasures to feed her, it was a pipe dream to do so.

    Even if he mined the Force Crystals in the bubble worlds, their quality was so inferior that they would at best give him the speed of a Human Ninth Dimensional expert, and what good would that do him?

    If he moved at that speed, he wouldn''t get very far even if he used all three months. It would still be a small enough search radius for Minerva to pin him down.

    Luckily, there was a second approach.

    Leonel smiled when he laid eyes on the teleportation pad for the first time.

    Just like he expected, it was well within his wheelhouse.

    This world was a Cloud Race World nearby the Human Bubbles. It was known as the Fleeting Bubble. And the reason Leonel was smiling right now was because the Crafting skill of this world was very clearly inferior to his.

    It seemed that he could really have some fun.

 Chapter 2652 Here

    Chapter 2652 Here

    Leonel pulled Aina''s hand and the two stepped into the teleportation circle.

    "Uh, I would suggest the rest of you wait three days before using this thing again. Just to be... safe."

    Leonel grinned and the Cloud Race elder running the teleportation pad trembled. Even if Leonel was just joking, he took it very seriously. In fact, he planned to close the whole thing down for the next week at the very least.

    WHOOSH!

    In that moment, Leonel''s mind trembled and his gaze sharpened. The teleportation pad lit up, but across several Bubble Worlds, this happened as well. In fact, people who had just been about to step into their own rushed away, fear coloring their expressions as they weren''t certain of what was happening.

    BOOM!

    The teleportation pad seemed to implode after Leonel and Aina vanished, a rush of light piercing into the skies.

    The Cloud Race elder put a hand to his chest, wondering why his heart was betraying his thoughts and trying to rush out of his throat.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    ...

    Leonel and Aina repeated this exact same action three more times until they found themselves in a world with pink clouds.

    SHIIING!

    To the side, several winged Knights brandished spears, pointing them toward Leonel and Aina. They hadn''t personally activated the teleportation platform, nor had they gotten any signal that someone was coming from the other side. Their immediate reaction was to go on the defensive.

    But the moment they brandished their spears, Leonel smiled and tapped at the air.

    Suddenly, the spears in their hands crumbled to ash, taking them aback.

    Spear Sovereign?!

    Their hearts trembled.

    "And in which stream?"

    "We''ll both be taking part in the Crafter stream."

    "Alright," the old man nodded. "Here are your registration tokens, they also double as a GPS to bring you to your assigned lodgings. Feel free to enjoy the accommodations and events prepared for in the city. The exchange will begin in two and a half months."

    Leonel smiled and nodded, taking Aina''s hand and leaving.

    Watching him disappear, the older man''s gaze darkened.

    "Lyric, is that all you''re going to do?"

    An older woman appeared in a flicker. She too was dressed like a winged knight. While Lyric was in charge of administrative matters, this woman, Aurora, was in charge of the winged knights.

    "No one dares to say this in front of the miss, but this child forced her to suffer a loss. We can''t unilaterally act on our own. I truly didn''t expect him to actually appear, but clearly this young man''s arrogance knows no bounds...

    "Or maybe it''s just confidence. He''s good and he knows it. Unless he steps out of line, dealing with him in untoward ways will just ruin our reputation. Remember that it is the Pluto Race that gave us the right to host this event. Although we are the acting host, it''s only by proxy of their grace.

    "We can''t do anything that infringes upon our own reputation because it will infringe upon theirs. Be mindful of your actions, or else the Owlans will cease to be."

    Aurora fell into silence, not responding. But her gaze did flash with a cold light as she glanced toward the direction Leonel had gone.

    ...

    Leonel and Aina began to enjoy the city sites. They enjoyed foods they had never tasted before and even found some interesting entertainment to pass the time with.

    They didn''t seem to notice that they were being watched in everything they did, nor did they seem to care.

    Soon, the Crafting Geniuses who hadn''t participated in the Gathering of Kingdoms quickly came to know of them as well.

    "Oh, they''re here. Want to go see them?" Leonel asked Aina.

    It seemed that Yuri and Savahn had made an appearance as well.

 Chapter 2653 You Are?

    Chapter 2653 You Are?

    Leonel allowed the three women to have their fun. He was a bit curious about which stream Savahn and Yuri had chosen, but not enough to interrogate them about it. He''d find out soon enough.

    He kept a part of his mind focused on them in case anything went wrong, but honestly, he knew that he was just being paranoid. Even so, better paranoid now than regret later. There were some things that simply couldn''t be reversed after they were done, and he wouldn''t play such games of probability with his wife''s life.

    The rest of Leonel''s mind, though, paid closer attention to the city than he had before.

    Truthfully, he wasn''t planning some great scheme, he was just truly taking a look at the city planning and learning quite a lot as he did so.

    The city was a delicate balance of advancement and nature, but what was odd was that it didn''t feel like there was very much "nature" at all.

    There weren''t trees or grass, and yet just the smells alone made him feel like he was in the depth of a forest of purity.

    As Leonel observed, he realized that the entire city was arranged into something that almost felt like a Natural Force Art, but wasn''t quite. That single half-step it was missing was a huge chasm that was nigh impossible for most to cross.

    So you can plan a city like this, huh... I wonder what would happen if I filled in that half step? Would I create a city beyond this one?

    This was probably one of if not the best city of the Owlans. Just by virtue of this, it was bound to be one of the best cities in existence beneath God Cities.

    It definitely opened up Leonel''s eyes to certain things... he had always thought of Force Arts like runes drawn of Dream Force... but that wasn''t exactly entirely true.

    The Magic System of Camelot drew Force Arts with other Forces and formed them into spells. That was another branch of Force Art usage.

    Then there was the Luxnix Force Art Language that could form constructs that looked like real, living, breathing beings.

    It wasn''t just Force Art Languages themselves that he could tweak and create at will... but couldn''t he also decide the medium the Force Art was formed from as well?

    Leonel felt like something exploded in his mind, a whirlwind of Force spiraling around him as he walked down the busy streets.

    Several people were alerted instantly, but he didn''t seem to notice at all. The buildings were so sturdy that even their glass hardly flexed beneath the Force of a mere Fourth Dimensional existence like Leonel, so he didn''t even worry about being blamed for damage. His mind was entirely occupied by his thoughts.

    He finally understood why this city felt so special.

    It wasn''t just the buildings or the streets and their patterns, but rather what their position did to the Force in the air. It was the way they forced the Force to move and flow that gave the city its hints of specialness.

    In that way, it was very much like an application of Simplicity, but on an entirely different level than what Leonel was capable of... or had been capable of... Until now.

    Leonel''s lip curled. "Thanks for the lesson," he said in a soft voice.

    The flow of Force...

    Leonel changed the arrangement of his Natural Force Art and it seemed to evolve into an entirely different level. At the same time, he could feel that his Constellation Realm had inexplicably entered the Black Grade due to a breakthrough that seemed entirely unrelated.

    But how could they ever be truly unrelated? If they weren''t, then why were they part of the same list of requirements his father had for him?

    Leonel looked up to find that several people were looking at him, but he just smiled. He continued walking until he found a shadow blocking his path.

    He looked up... or, rather, a little less than down. It was weird, this man cast such a large shadow, but he was actually an inch or two shorter than he was.

    This man was none other than Talon of the Barbarian Race. He was looking at Leonel as though he was a juicy piece of meat, Leonel could almost swear he saw some drool coming from the corner of his lips.

    "And you are?" Leonel asked with a smile.

 Chapter 2654 Replace

    Chapter 2654 Replace

    Talon''s head tilted to the side. He wasn''t used to looking up at people, he was even less used to people dressing as casually as himself, and, even less than that, he was very much not used to people being able to maintain eye contact with him.

    As a Demi-God, Talon obviously didn''t participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms, and he had also paid little attention to it. But even if he had, it wasn''t like anyone had seen Leonel fight. And even if he had seen Aina fight, and came to know that Aina was his wife, he still wouldn''t have cared.

    He couldn''t really take anyone beneath Demi-God status seriously... but he sensed something odd from Leonel.

    Talon sniffed. "... You''re a Destruction Sovereign."

    "Oh?" Leonel chuckled. "What''s it to you?"

    Talon''s brows shot up. Did Leonel not know who he was? Even a Demi-God youth would do an about face if they saw him walking down the same street. It was well known that the Barbarian Race was among the last you should dare to offend.

    "Interesting!" Talon really spoke this time. Rather than just mumbling out his thoughts, he boomed out with his real voice. The sound was like a roaring beast and the wind pressure alone sent Leonel''s hair wildly fluttering.

    Leonel showed a strand of surprise.

    Talon''s brows shot up. Did Leonel not know who he was? Even a Demi-God youth would do an about face if they saw him walking down the same street. It was well known that the Barbarian Race was among the last you should dare to offend.

    "Interesting!" Talon really spoke this time. Rather than just mumbling out his thoughts, he boomed out with his real voice. The sound was like a roaring beast and the wind pressure alone sent Leonel''s hair wildly fluttering.

    Leonel showed a strand of surprise.Updated from

    Talon laughed boisterously. "Finally realize how strong I am?"

    Leonel blinked, confused for a moment before he suddenly understood and shook his head.

    "No, I''m just surprised your breath doesn''t smell like a pile of shit."

    Those in the surroundings froze. What was this boy saying?

    He hadn''t even been here for long but he had already caused so much trouble.

    First, he destroyed ten Fourth Order Spears. That was just a drop in the bucket for the Owlans, but having to do the paperwork to replace them had fallen on Lyric''s shoulders. How could she feel happy about her husband having to do more work just because of a brat''s whims?

    Second, he ate a ridiculous amount. All of the accommodations were free, and watching Leonel eat piles of gourmet meals really felt like a knife in her gut.

    That alone was fine, but when he ordered this ridiculous amount of food he actually had his wife improve them as though they weren''t good enough alone.

    Third there was the sudden breakthrough in the streets. As far as their reports knew, he was just randomly strolling and then had an epiphany. There was nothing more impossibly annoying than seeing an arrogant bastard succeed. It made her teeth itch.

    And finally all of that was capped off with his interaction with Talon.

    It felt like he was leaping off their backs to improve his prestige. In all this time, she hadn''t even heard of a single person refer to him as "human". It was like they had all subconsciously erased that tidbit from their memories.

    She felt like she was stifling a belly full of anger and she had nowhere to vent it.

    She took a breath and exhaled. She was already an old lady but she had actually let a brat piss her off to this extent. If Leonel didn''t disrespect her winged knights, she wouldn''t even hate him so much. But the moment he appeared, it was like the first thing he had done was slap her across the face.

    She was practically watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to slip up so that she could bring the hammer down. But the man was just too good at toeing the line.

    Aurora slowly calmed down. The Sage Minerva had yet to do or say anything, so why should she? This wasn''t the stage to deal with Leonel. Not yet.

    Leonel seemed to waste his days away until the three month period was finally up. As the date approached, the cheeriness and awe of the environment seemed to float away, replaced by a sinking heaviness instead.

    Although they weren''t fighting for the survival of their worlds, this was a different battlefield entirely and there was a lot riding on this matter... whether that be tangibly, in terms of the rewards, or more intangibly...

    Many had their own speculations as to why the Pluto Race had chosen to do this, and it felt like yet another clue that the descendants of the Minerva Race were coopted for this duty.

    Not many talked about why the Minerva Race was destroyed, but everyone knew the open secret...

    What did it mean for the Pluto Race to try and raise up the descendants of the Race that tried to replace the Infinity Beast?

 Chapter 2655 Holding Back Laughter

    Chapter 2655 Holding Back Laughter

    Leonel walked into a grand arena that was oddly silent.

    He followed along with a group of participants, Aina, Savahn and Yuri following behind him along with one guest... Lyra Emberheart.

    Lyra had only appeared today and had hardly said a word outside of a light greeting.New novel chapters are published on

    There was another interesting guest as well, though she wasn''t a part of Leonel''s group. In fact, she was doing her best to stay the largest distance away possible.

    This person was none other than Lumina, an Owlan with blood too impure to be considered a Demi-God. She was also the very same woman who cried out in defeat before she and Aina had exchanged even a single move.

    It seemed that while there wasn''t good overlap between Crafting and battle geniuses, there were still some among them that could do both.

    Even so, most beneath the Demi-God level were seen as only here to fill in the numbers, and that counted those with only trace amounts of Demi-God blood.

    There was a surprisingly low number of Demi-God participants, though... which was something Leonel took note of.

    It seemed that every Race had only brought forward a single representative, and that included the Owlans. It looked as though they had some sort of tacit understanding with one another. But what that tacit understanding was, Leonel wasn''t sure.

    Aside from Talon, the member of the Barbarian Race, there was of course Celestia of the Owlans, there was a flaming bird that seemed to lack any sort of corporeal body aside from golden run etched bones that could be vaguely seen through their flaming feathers, and finally, there was a Demon.

    The flaming bird was a female beast known as Verma. Despite the fact she was a literal ball of flames, the heat she exuded was quite gentle, and though she held her head up proudly, she didn''t exude an air of haughtiness.

    This race of beasts was known as the Celestial Ember Race.

    As for the Demon...

    Then... there was the fact that the Demi-God Races who cared enough to participate only sent one representative each.

    Leonel wondered if that was a soft warning of sorts to not do exactly that...

    The crowd separated into two streams, one for the Crafting aspect and another for the Force Pill Crafting aspect. However, just as they did so, they were stopped.

    Minerva raised up a hand from high above, looking down on the participants below like a lofty queen.

    "This year''s Gathering of Minds will be different. We would like to start a new tradition.

    "Our goal is different from that of the Gathering of Kingdoms. We are not here to fight, and though we may compete, it is out of friendly intentions only. There doesn''t need to be just a single winner, it''s very possible for us all to come out as winners on this day.

    "As such, today, the two Streams will be combined into one.

    "I will give you all one hour to hone your collaboration skills and add a new third round. During this round, you will mingle and get to know your fellow Crafters. After this round is finished, you must pick a partner of the opposing stream to pair up with yourself.

    "This partner will be with you through the round of debates and challenges, so pick wisely. You will only go as far as your partner is capable.

    "Good luck to you all."

    Whether by coincidence or not, Minerva''s gaze swept over Leonel. However, when she expected to see a frown, some despair, anything...

    She found a man desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

    Leonel rolled his lips over themselves, not making a sound. But his eyes told a tale of a thousand stories.

    ''You fucking idiot.''

 Chapter 2656 Fifteen Minutes

    Chapter 2656 Fifteen Minutes

    Objectively speaking, it wasn''t a bad plan. All things considered, the fact that Minerva went so far as to do this was actually a net negative for Leonel. This meant that she was no longer choosing to be as arrogant as she was in the past and taking him more seriously.

    Honestly speaking, this was bad news for Leonel. Minerva was someone he had only managed to defeat because of her lack of wariness and her overall arrogance. She failed to take Leonel seriously, so she had only brought three people and in the end, she had lowered her guard so far that he was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

    Now that she was actually taking precautions, this meant that the villain he was ready to face off against had changed her deck of cards...

    It was just unfortunate she didn''t have nearly enough information to play such tricks on him.

    He actually didn''t want to expose Aina''s abilities, as that was yet another net negative for him. However, all things considered, if he were to rank the list of worst outcomes to the best, this was ranked somewhere in the middle.

    Of course, the best outcome was that Minerva would still be arrogant enough to not make any contingencies whatsoever. In the worst case, though, she filled the competition with abstruse lingo only well known and understood in circles who had been formally trained in the Complete Worlds.

    Even in the worst case, Leonel wouldn''t be completely helpful. He didn''t need to understand terms if he could understand the intention of those speaking them through the fluctuations of their Dream Force.

    However, if the one explaining the matters was Minerva who had Dream Force far above his own, then there wasn''t really much he could do if she hid her intentions.

    This was still a problem he might face. However, unless Minerva was an existence who had reached the extreme of both Crafting and Force Pill Crafting, Leonel felt that he would be just fine.

    As far as he was concerned, she was the only one who Leonel felt could hide her Dream Force fluctuations from him.

    Even though he knew that this wasn''t a killing mistake on Minerva''s part, and he knew that the game had only just begun, he felt alive.

    Crafting with these kids wasn''t going to stimulate him in the slightest. However, this game of chess with a woman a half-step from the Creation State...

    Now that was stimulating.

    Seeing the devious grin on his face, Aina couldn''t help but pinch him a little harder until he yelped.

    The exchange had already begun, but Aina, Leonel and their cohort hadn''t even moved. In fact, the couple were clearly busy flirting while those who hadn''t expected the new rules were running around like headless chickens. How were they supposed to vet thousands of people in just an hour? At best, they could just throw a dart at the wall and hope for the best.

    Unsurprisingly, the Demi-Gods paired up the quickest.

    The Dream Asura, Somnus, paired up with the Barbarian, Talon.

    The Owlan and Minerva''s disciple, Celestia, paired up with the flaming bird Celestial Ember, Verma.

    It suddenly made sense why they had sent just a single representative each. They didn''t want to make the bias anymore obvious... now did they?

    Orion, a member of the Cloud Race, paired up with Lumina, the branch descendent of the Owlans.

    And to Leonel''s surprise, Lyra Emberheart seemed to have found a Dwarven Sparrow to pair with... a young man named Aerin.

    As for Savahn and Yuri, Leonel wasn''t even sure what skills they had. But what he did know was that they had chosen to pair together.

    "Excellent," Minerva spoke with a gentle cadence. Her inner thoughts were completely unreadable. "In order to decide the seeding for the debates-"

    Minerva waved a hand and a large board appeared before everyone. At the same time, a thick and magnificent pillar rose up from the middle of the arena.

    "This is our Owlan Race''s Pillar of Truth. It is imbued with the wisdom of our ancestors and has the ability to see through the profundities of the word. Thanks to the grace of the mighty Pluto Race, it has been restored to its former glory. It will be an unbiased arbitrator of the round of debates.

    "You have 15 minutes. Converse with your partner and converge on an answer to submit for this question."

    Leonel looked up at the large board and frowned.

 Chapter 2657 Stick in the Ass

    Chapter 2657 Stick in the Ass

    "The line that separates Force Pill Crafting and Crafting is a fine one. In her scholarly writing, Lythariel Seeker, noted three particular points of this interweaving tapestry. These points came to be known as the Convergences, an overlapping set of principles that both disciplines rely upon.

    "These three Convergences are the Point of Life, Point of Dimension, and the Point of Creation.

    "According to the analysis of you and your partner, are these Convergences comprehensive? Are there too many or too little of them? If they are perfect, what does this mean for the disciplines? Is there hope of them one day becoming one under a unified banner?"

    Leonel looked up at the ridiculous question and felt like he was back in school again. Which stick-up-the-ass professor concocted this nonsense?

    Lythariel Seeker? Who was that? Point of Life? Point of Dimension? Point of Creation? What even were those things? He had not a single clue.

    Looking at the general confusion in the region, it seemed that he wasn''t alone either.

    He shook his head, having already predicted much of this. This was the worst-case scenario for the path Minerva could have taken, it was just a bit annoying to watch it play out.

    But the issue with this wasn''t just that the question was steeped in countless years of ironic academia speak, but rather that it did so while forcing the fusion of two disciplines.

    If it was just about Crafting or just about Force Pill Crafting, it could still be acceptable. But because it was a nigh esoteric question that touched upon both disciplines made it cross over from the realms of just difficult to outright sinister.

    If it was just related to Crafting, Leonel could likely deduce what the meaning of all of these things were. However, there were multiple reasons he couldn''t do the same as easily now.

    For one, he needed the context of a Force Pill Crafter to do the same. Second, the words hadn''t been spoken. Instead, they were just put up on a message board and read. It had already been muddied by so many fluctuations of Dream Force that there was nothing for Leonel to take advantage of.

    Third, while he had the Life Tablet, it didn''t just give him random tidbits of information on any and everything. It had important documents related to history and it also had the rules of the Dream Pavilion spelled out in detail, but it didn''t have academic papers on the philosophy of Crafting lying around.

    Leonel looked up at this question for a full three seconds before he looked away, a time interval that might as well have been an eternity to him.

    In the end, he shrugged. ''Well played.''New novel chapters are published on

    Going as far as to set up this message board was truly a clever move, he couldn''t deny it. It seemed that Minerva was being far more cautious than she even needed to be.

    Leonel sent a glance toward the other youths, but he almost immediately felt a suppression on his Dream Force. It wasn''t just him, but it happened to everybody.

    Minerva didn''t say a word, but everyone understood. In a gathering of Dream Force experts, cheating could be abound if there were no precautions taken. On the surface, this seemed like a helpful nudge for the lower rungs-after all, if the Demi-Gods wanted to cheat, how could they stop them? But Leonel knew that this was clearly targeted at him.

    Demi-God or not, who could resist his Dream Force at this point?

    Leonel smiled.

    Aina felt a pulse in her mind that made her blush. She gave Leonel a glare, but she ultimately didn''t resist. This was all really too embarrassing.

    Leonel chuckled. Brushing up against Aina''s soul might as well have been like caressing her naked body. If you added that on top of this fact his wife was clearly an exhibitionist adjacent, then her reaction was all but expected.

    Suddenly, the Life Tablet that wasn''t responding to Leonel before began to do so. A smirk curled his lips, but he immediately focused on the task at hand.

    According to what he understood, the tablets like the Blood Sovereign Tablets weren''t created by the God Beasts of Creation like the Wise and Legacy Tablets. Instead, they were created by Wise Star Orders after the fact in homage to the Infinity Beasts.

    However, the Wise Star Orders of that time were on a completely different level and still had access to the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    What was more important than that, though, was that the task of documenting events and passing on knowledge that all Wise Star Orders were tasked with was entirely focused on the cream of the crop.

    This was to say that if Lythariel appeared in Aina''s tablet, she almost certainly appeared in the Life Tablet.

    Soon, Leonel found the information he wanted.

    ''Lythariel ... Van''''Wellia?'' Leonel didn''t expect to see that second name, but he continued to skim.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t find any direct information about this topic. Instead, it was all focused on her feats and things of the sort. Those two women were mentioned together a lot, mostly due to blood and carnage.

    However, as Leonel continued to read, he began to pick up on tidbits of information here and there that helped him build up the context he needed.

    ''Hm...''

    ''Did you find it?'' Aina asked.

    ''Maybe like 20% of it? But we''ll need to actually collaborate if I want to understand the rest of it. Lay it on me, wife. I''m at your mercy."

    Aina shook her head and laughed. Then, she latched on to Leonel''s understanding and started to try and fill in gaps of her own.

    In Leonel''s mind, he constructed a new Dreamscape, one built around finding the answer to this question in specific so that Aina wouldn''t be overwhelmed by his other thoughts and deductions.

    Slowly, they started to build up their understanding until a voice suddenly rang out.

    "The fifteen minutes are up," Minerva said lightly. She waved a hand and several wooden tablets descended from the skies. "These are Dream Impression Tablets for those of you unfamiliar. This will be another part of your challenge. I will give you three minutes to imprint your answers."

    Leonel caught the flying tablet and chuckled. It seemed that they were really intent on making this as difficult as possible, huh?

    If he was correct, over 80% here wouldn''t even be able to submit an answer.

 Chapter 2658 Games

    Chapter 2658 Games

    Dream Impression Tablets had much of their abilities inscribed in their very name. You were meant to use your Dream Force to etch the information onto it, but this was more complex than it sounded.

    Most didn''t have the ability to project their Dream Force out of their bodies. The vast majority of Dream Force related abilities were restricted to within one''s body, and only when one was at the level of a Savant, or had a very rare Ability Index was it possible to project it.

    That meant that using this tablet for most didn''t come naturally.

    This was just one of the issues. Using Dream Force was one matter, but controlling Dream Force to convey a particular idea was an entirely different can of worms.

    Dream Force was the culmination of one''s very being. Stripping it down so that it could convey one thought at a time was nigh impossible unless you had a special method to do so. There was a reason those without Dream Force affinity found themselves lost in their memories if they should absorb the Force. It represented everything they were and had once been.

    However, these weren''t the main problems at all.

    It had to be remembered that the region was Dream Force locked. No one could use the Force in the first place. So how were they supposed to etch anything onto a tablet like this one?

    The answer to this problem alone was yet another thing that both Crafter and Force Pill Crafter had to fix together, because if Leonel was right, it was only possible with the combination of both...

    Under normal circumstances, that is.

    Leonel tapped a finger and Little Tolly allowed a small strand of itself to seep into the wood block. In an instant, it was done and Leonel flicked his wrist, sending the tablet crashing toward the Pillar of Truth.

    However, the moment it looked like the two were going to crash, the wooden tablet zipped right into it.

    Minerva clenched her jaw, and her disciple, Celestia, watched with a furrowed brow. This wasn''t supposed to be what happened. They weren''t even supposed to use the Pillar of Truth this round because the question was too profound and her teacher had never expected anyone to come up with satisfactory answers.

    Then she realized it... Leonel had done it on purpose. He had likely learned about the Pillar of Truth from the... No, that was impossible. Her teacher''s restrictions made it so that he shouldn''t be able to reference it. In that case, did he just deduce its use? Or did he guess it?

    A world of pressure seemed to fall on Celestia''s shoulders and Leonel didn''t even look toward her direction even once.

    It was Verma who plucked the wooden tablet out of her quivering hands with her beak and tossed it at the pillar.

    The pillar flashed, 36 Runes quickly lighting up, before a thunderous boom echoed and a 37th formed.

    Leonel smiled and didn''t say a word. He didn''t seem to mind this in the slightest, because he already knew why. Obviously, these were prepared answers, and it was no wonder why they didn''t originally have the intention of using the Pillar of Truth.

    However, he didn''t mind it... mostly because he hadn''t given the full breadth of the response he could have.

    Talon sent his response forward and the Pillar of Truth lit up again, once again forming the same 37 runes.

    Many of the groups could only watch pale-faced. Many of them had never come up with an answer in the first place, but there was also an not too insignificant portion that had an answer, but simply couldn''t write it down no matter how hard they tried.

    They could only watch as the timer ticked down and finally hit zero, the despair setting in.

    Of the thousands that came, in the end, not even a hundred were left, leaving just under 50 teams remaining.

    Yuri and Savahn hadn''t managed to cross over that final barrier, but they didn''t seem to mind. They had only come to see Aina in the first place.

    ''Let''s see what other games you have in store...''

 Chapter 2659 Fourth

    Chapter 2659 Fourth

    Yuri and Savahn gave the two a worried glance as they moved away to the spectators'' stands.

    On the one hand, it was a good thing that they had managed to place, and even though they had lost, it was very close... But on the other hand, they had lost.

    However, after a while, they exhaled. What were they so worried about? This wasn''t the Gathering of Kingdoms, there was no genocide on the line...

    Right?

    Leonel grinned and gave them a wink, taking Aina''s hand and pulling her toward a set of pillars that were slowly coming out from the ground.

    One another another, the 50 or so remaining groups each took up a seat on a pillar surrounding the Pillar of Truth.

    Minerva watched Leonel from start to finish, an uneasy feeling in her heart. How could she not tell that Aina and Leonel were communicating? The problem was that she couldn''t tell how.

    She knew their souls were bound, but there was a suppression on that so it couldn''t be. In that case, it must be a treasure of some sort, that was the logical answer. But... why was he so casual about the loss? He didn''t seem like the type to take such a thing in stride.

    Her eyes narrowed, but ultimately, she maintained her composure.

    While it wasn''t an existential matter that fuelled her desire to take home a victory, she wanted this victory for the Owlans. This would mean their rise back to the status they deserved.

    "During this spar of words, you will be rewarded points for every successful rebuttal. Every hour, the seeding will change based on these accumulated points, and thus the silencing rights will also shift.

    "After three days have come to an end, the round of debates will come to a close. From then, we will move on to the round of challenges. However, as you might expect, the higher your seed, the better chances you will have when it comes to these rounds as well.

    "No, as the two tied for first seed, you two may decide amongst yourselves who will kick off this round of debates with their opening statements."

    "HAHA!" Talon laughed boisterously. "As the saying goes, ladies first, no? Any disagreement, Somnus?"

    "None," Somnus replied with a light smile.

    Verma gently flapped her wings and sparkling embers of gold filled the skies as though she was speaking in agreement.

    Celestia took this matter in stride and effortlessly parted her lips. In that moment, she looked like an Empress who was born to rule.

    "I will keep this opening statement light and brief. The Convergences, that of the Point of Dimension, the Point of Life and the Point of Creation, has long been a widely accepted theory.

    "However, I personally believe that it has many faults that our predecessors have yet to take into account.

    "Verma here has posited the existence of a fourth Convergence, however we are just laymen and juniors in the face of the true masters so we can only posit what this fourth Convergence might be.

    "It has to be something that both Crafting and Force Pill Crafting share, but also something fundamental enough to lay the foundation of life itself.

    "I will open the floor for you all to convey your own personal ideas. What could this fourth Convergence be?"

 Chapter 2660 Statistics

    Chapter 2660 Statistics

    Leonel was a bit surprised. He hadn''t thought that they''d take this approach. It was much more nuanced. He had expected them to back the theory in its entirety. But this... He cast a glance toward Minerva, then smiled.

    Leonel took a seat on the pillar and Aina sat by his side. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his thigh, seemingly forgetting about the rest of the world. If Leonel needed her, she''d be here. But for now... It didn''t seem necessary.

    "How about you define what the three Convergences mean to you first?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Celestia cast a glance toward Leonel. Quite frankly, with all the training she received, she felt this young man was beneath her. Dream Force expertise did not a Crafter make. And even then, her Dream Force was also in the Life State... she just wasn''t a Sovereign.

    "That''s not an appropriate question, don''t you think?"

    "Isn''t it?" Leonel chuckled. "You just asked what we thought the fourth Convergence was but you want to keep all your cards hidden? That''s not the magnanimity a first seed should have, right?"

    Celestia''s eyes narrowed. This wasn''t something that she could easily rebut. She had, indeed, been the first one to ask a question, but she hadn''t really cared about the answers of the others. She just wanted to start to gather her first points.

    "Hey-"

    Celestia held up a hand and stopped him. She didn''t use her silencing ability, but she also didn''t want this man to fight her battles for her.

    "In that case, I will begin."

    Leonel''s pillar trembled and a flickering character for the number "one" appeared. Celestia cast a glance at it but didn''t mind it. The pillars wouldn''t just take into account things that happened during the debate, but also things outside. So long as it was a spar of words, the winner would come out with a point.

    "I can only provide my humble understanding.

    "To me the Point of Life and the Point of Creation very clearly refer to the Second and Third Dimensions, the first being where the potential for Life resides and the second being where that potential becomes life itself, thus being Creation.

    "Some might believe that the Points of Creation actually refers to the First Dimension, but I don''t believe that to be the case. Humanoid and Beast Races alike are entirely unable to access the First Dimension. Even the majestic experts of the Creation State can only tap into an infinitesimally small piece of it, and yet it''s capable of granting them so much power.

    "Therein lies the trouble. Because without the assumption that the Point of Creation is the First Dimension, then the Point of Dimension seems to lose its meaning.

    "It seems that the logical procession of matters should be the Points of Creation, Life and Dimension referring to the First, Second and Third Dimensions respectively.

    "However, I believe the Point of Dimension is far more fluid, much like our own prowess can be. It represents the body of the treasure or the pill, and as such can exist in all Dimensions from the Fourth to the Ninth.

    "Are you sure you want to play this game?" Leonel asked with a grin. "I can give you a chance to back down now."

    "I would like to see your evidence," Celestia said calmly.

    To the side, Lumina sneered as though this was her own personal victory. As for Talon and Somnus, they watched on with great interest.

    "Alright, if you say so," Leonel shrugged. "Are you aware of how the Pillar of Truth works?"

    "Of course I am," Celestia said with a frown.

    "Then you should know how impossible it is to get 37 runes to light up."

    Celestia couldn''t help but scoff despite her usual calm demeanor. "That''s your evidence? Did you not light up 36? Are you saying you cheated as well?"

    Leonel chuckled. "You''re not getting it. The runes on the pillar light up in sets of nine and subsections of three. Lighting up just one extra requires being an infinitesimally small amount better than the one before. It''s almost like filling a cup past its brim and then hoping surface tension helps stop it from spilling over. But rather than getting to the point drop by drop, you''re pouring in a whole bottle of water and hoping for the same result.

    "The default setting of the pillar is sets of three or nine, to light up 37 is highly improbable."

    "So what-" Celestia froze as her pupils constricted.

    Leonel''s lip curled. "Alone, the probability of you doing it is incredibly low. The probability of not just one, but two groups doing it," Leonel looked toward Talon, "and both of them just so happened to be Demi-Gods who chose their partners immediately and without conversation...

    "If my calculations are right, the odds of that are less than one in a trillion."

    Celestia quickly recovered. "Those are just statistics, not proof."

    Leonel''s sneer deepened. "Statistics are the weapon of true scientists and intelligent minds. Those on the cutting edge of research only deal in theories with great backing and high probabilities of being correct, they don''t deal in absolutes.

    "Do you disagree?"

    Celestia''s lip quivered. "I..."

    Their pillars suddenly lit up.

    Celestia froze. She had no idea that Leonel could have gotten 37 as well. In fact, according to his calculations, that was exactly what he would have gotten had he not dialed his answer back a bit.

    But he didn''t precisely so that he could spring this trap.

 Chapter 2661 Robot

    Chapter 2661 Robot

    From the very beginning, it never mattered whether they had actually cheated or not. Leonel truly had no proof, but that was never really the point.

    Just like Minerva had said, at a certain realm, the objective truth wasn''t all that mattered...

    But Leonel did feel that she was wrong about something... even on the lowest levels, objective truth was hardly ever what was most important either.

    The idea that truth alone should reign supreme were the ideals of an idealistic and naive individual. Truth was only as important as the way it was packaged, and the way it was packaged was dependent on era, on culture, on the immediate climate...

    If one couldn''t accept this, you only really needed to look at the historical trends.

    By definition, every time the majority changed their minds and accepted another path as their reality, it required convincing.

    But how many could truly understand the science that proved the Earth was round and not flat? How many understood the nuance of evolution? How many could read Einstein''s paper on relativity and actually come to understand what he was talking about?

    And yet most accepted this as the objective truth.

    Why?

    It was because they had been convinced of it. It was because at a certain point, enough people had been pushed off their current course that it became natural to accept it as the truth.

    It wasn''t the first time it happened, and it wouldn''t be the last by any stretch.

    Even further than that, how many times were discoveries ignored for years before they were accepted? How many different scientists had come to prove the same matter, only for just one of them to get the credit for presenting it the best way first?

    He pinched the bridge of his nose. That saying about fearing bone-headed teammates was really ringing true right now.

    Leonel smiled, but his gaze seemed to be particularly cold when it flashed over Orion. Mimicking him during a fight against his wife already signed this man''s death warrant. The Cloud Race member was just very lucky that Leonel wasn''t in a position to kill him outright right here and now.

    But even so, he could do something else.

    Beneath his smile, as expected, Lumina spoke first as Orion was too shaken to stop her.

    "You''ve been doing a lot of questioning and accusing, but you''ve yet to contribute anything. Have you forgotten what this exchange is all about? This isn''t a sparring match."

    "Oh?" Leonel smiled. "I don''t mind, but that''s precisely what it is. Sparring of the minds. Do you disagree?"

    "Semantics." Lumina spat. "I used the word sparring to point toward your needless aggression. What your statistics don''t account for is the relative upbringing of those here. It is natural that they might have the same answers because they have systematic training that are of relative similarity. The fact that they might draw the same deductions is only natural."

    "Ah, so you mean to say that they''re robots incapable of self-thought. An interesting summary."

    Lumina was flustered for only a moment before she recovered.

    "There goes the aggression and ad hominem attacks again. You seem incapable of engaging with the topic and want to constantly obfuscate and hide the truth. We can all see through you.

    "First you forced Celestia to answer a question for your own personal gain, and then you don''t show any sincerity by providing your own perspective. Instead, you just launched another attack.

    "How can such a petty, narrow minded person possibly achieve great things? You''ll always be stuck in the same mindset, and ironically you''ll form your own barriers and make yourself into your own robot."

 Chapter 2662 Trap

    Chapter 2662 Trap

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade as their pillars began to tremble once again. The challenge in Lumina''s words was clear. It was almost like if he did give his opinion now, he would be admitting that she was right and thus lose out on the round. But if he didn''t answer, he would also be proving her right by being the "petty" man she claimed him to be, and thus lose anyway.

    The only way forward was to thread the needle and get her to move off of her position. However, Leonel didn''t seem to be in a hurry to do so.

    "I heard that you two were part of the cohort who attacked my wife?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    "Don''t try and change the subject," Lumina growled. "Answer the question like you''ve made everyone else before you do."

    Leonel chuckled. "The pillar has yet to give its decision yet, so who are you to decide whether I''m changing the subject or not? You''ve been doing a lot of talking for others, is your favorite position that of an obedient doggy?"

    Lumina''s eyes opened wide, her fury almost getting the best of her before she just laughed with a tone filled with mirth and derision.

    "You''ve heard him, everyone. This is the response of a man who has no shred of intelligence of his own. It''s ironic you call me a dog when all you know how to do is bark and bite back. Did you miss the part where this was a conversation of intellectuals?"

    "Mm, so I guess your answer is that you''re mad that the pillar hasn''t granted you victory yet?"

    Leonel shifted the focus right back to the pillars that were still the process of glowing. He uncaringly stirred the conversation back to the topic he wanted to focus on, and it left Lumina not knowing how to respond for a moment.

    "Well, you can choose to not answer the question. But I believe that the pillar might take that as a loss on your part."

    Leonel''s smile deepened and Lumina suddenly realized something.

    Clearly, the pillar felt that Leonel''s line of questioning was in line with their current debate. Did that mean that Leonel was trying to force her to confess to her crimes with the pillar as support?

    She only had a few seconds to respond and time was running out. On top of that, Leonel had a silence that he could use on them. If she waited until the last minute, she would never get a chance at all.

    She could say that Leonel didn''t have any evidence, but hadn''t he crushed Celestia even without any evidence to speak of?

    Was she really going to have to admit it? If she did, she wouldn''t just be implicating herself, but the Owlans. If Minerva was enraged, her family was finished. She could wipe them all out on her own.

    Orion, who was standing beside her, didn''t have nearly as much riding on this. But it felt that Leonel, sitting there, stroking his wife''s hair, was akin to a slumbering dragon.

    Every step they took in his layer was like another weight on their hearts, and the pressure was growing so great that he was suffocating.

    Of all the ways he had expected this matter to go, never had he thought that things would end like this.

    His Cloud Race already had a bad reputation among the Races and they were only able to maintain their prestige through plausible deniability and their overall strength. If he was roped into this...

    Watching the two being suffocated like this, many began to wonder if this truly wasn''t a battle. The populations of Existence had suddenly never felt that a debate could be so entertaining. The stakes felt so high that it was as though they were standing on the precipice of a cliff themselves.

    And that was the entirety of Leonel''s mastery. The information, the fact that his wife had been treated like someone to suppress and crush, hardly mattered. Most of those watching probably felt that it was only natural for a human to suffer in such a way.

    But if he packaged it like this instead...

    Orion suddenly steeled himself and spoke in a booming voice.

    "I did hear that your wife was attacked. In fact, I saw it with my own two eyes. However, saying that we were part of the cohort is going a little far, don''t you think? My Cloud Race has its quirks, but you shouldn''t be reacting like this because I almost defeated your wife in battle, right?"

 Chapter 2663 Smile

    Chapter 2663 Smile

    There was no other choice. They had to fight it out with Leonel on the grounds that they did nothing outside the norm.

    He could already see Leonel''s intentions. Lumina had accused him of being a brute who only knew how to bark and bite, and now he was asking them what role they played.

    "Really? Is that so?" Leonel asked with a smile. "Are you sure that you don''t want to retract that statement?"

    Orion clenched his jaw.

    Leonel suddenly pointed up and an image played.

    "Unfortunate," an image of Orion chuckled. "I asked them not to put such a beauty through hardship, there was only so much I could do," Orion shrugged his shoulders in the image. "Those guys are pretty heartless. Well, I think one of them is just acting out of jealousy. Maybe you''ll meet her, though it seems unlikely at this point. Lumina is her name. No need to thank me."

    The real Orion suddenly turned a ghastly sheen of white. At the same time, his Cloud Figure shook and trembled, the runes in his Cloud Figure looked as though they were about to collapse entirely.

    He cursed at himself internally. The worst part about this image was that he hadn''t even turned into Leonel at that point in the body, so it was even more difficult for him to deal with the situation.

    Just as Lumina glared at him and was about to rage at his sheer incompetence and stupidity. He gave her a pointed glare.

    At that moment, they realized that if Lumina suddenly snapped at him, it would be tantamount to admitting her guilt as well.

    "Are you aware that this is a debate of the minds? Not a place for your theatrics? There are any number of ways to fake such an image. To form such a perfect one at that? One that so perfect encapsulates my guilt? Do you take the spectators for idiots?"Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    It was shameless, unmistakingly so. However, none of that mattered right now, not in the slightest. This was a debate where the truth was less important than its presentation.

    There were certainly people in the audience who would have watched that battle. There were also most certainly people smart enough to realize that Aina was definitely being ganged up on.

    He waved a hand and the image in the skies suddenly concentrated into an orb of light. With a flick of his wrist, at astonishing speed, the orb of light suddenly rushed toward the Pillar of Truth.

    Orion and Lumina blanched. They had never thought that this would happen. If the Pillar of Truth confirmed that it was a proper recollection of events then-

    A figure suddenly flashed in front of the pillar. It was a familiar old woman, one with a proud pair of wings and a dazzling set of armor.

    The head of a division of the winged knights, Aurora.

    She caught the orb and shook her head.

    "I would advise against participant Leonel Morales from doing this in the future. This is not just the first time, but the second time you''ve attempted to use the Pillar of Truth without permission. The first time, we allowed it, but let the record show that this was not our intention.

    "The Pillar of Truth is very fragile and is considered to be an ancient relic that was restored under the great effort of the Pluto Race. It can only be used under the expressed consent of Pavilion Head Minerva. It cannot be used to settle petty squabbles about events unrelated to the Gathering of Minds."

    Minerva smiled from high above as Aurora did her dirty work for her.

    Was the explanation perfect? Of course not. But it didn''t need to be. Plus, no one could deny how special the Pillar of Truth was, and they also couldn''t deny that they let Leonel use it freely the first time even when doing so was the reason he was able to gather his first three points in the first place.

    Orion and Lumina also both released a breath they hadn''t even known they were holding.

    However, when everyone''s gaze fell on Leonel...

    The smile was just the same.

    The confusion hit them in waves.

    What the hell could he have to be smiling about?!

 Chapter 2664 Idiot

    Chapter 2664 Idiot

    Suddenly, the orb in Aurora''s palm shattered, catching her off guard. She was thrust into a state of confusion, not quite understanding. She had only caught it with enough pressure to maintain control, she hadn''t put in nearly enough effort to crush it. Just considering the speeds the orb had withstood just to fly over here in the first place, it would take hundreds of times more strength than she applied to crush it like this.

    Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat. Could it be? Aurora panicked and her aura flared out. She entrapped the bits and pieces of the orb that she could, and she directly destroyed the ones she couldn''t.

    Obviously, she thought that Leonel had expected this to happen. So, he set the orb to detonate as a way to get around her defenses and make it to the Pillar of Truth anyway. If those pieces touched the pillar, then her stopping it wouldn''t matter anyway.

    But unfortunately, she miscalculated.

    That was never Leonel''s intention at all.

    Instead, the world watched as a supposed elite Owlan panicked at the thought of the shards touching the pillars and rushed to stop them.

    Was the Pillar of Truth really so fragile that it couldn''t stand such a thing? Why were the Owlans trying so hard to stop it?

    Aurora blanched when she realized how bad the optics of what she had just done were. She stood frozen, unsure of what to do. However, when she looked up at Leonel, his smile had never faded.

    "If this was such a problem, you could have just said so. Why did-"

    Leonel was silenced and his lips seemed to be pressed close under some mysterious power. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    It would have been perfect if Celestia had done it, but the Owlans weren''t such fools. Instead, it was Talon and the Dream Asura who had taken action.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem fazed in the slightest as he turned his smile toward them.

    Talon frowned and looked toward Lumina with a quick side glance before focusing on Leonel once again.

    "Your thoughts on the world are so twisted," Somnus suddenly spoke. "I find it both sad and unfortunate."

    The Dream Asura shook his head, sighing deeply. When he spoke, the world seemed to resonate and listen. His voice was gentle, yet masculine, soothing, yet commanding.

    It was clear coercion.

    "Please, do explain," Leonel replied.

    "What you should be looking toward here is not a matter of Race, but a matter of Class. It is not because we are Demi-Gods, but rather because we have well-established families within our Race that gave us certain advantages in our upbringing.

    "To reduce it to a matter of Race is laughable. There are many of our Races who are entirely incapable of performing as well as you can.

    "To make matters worse than that, not only did you reduce such a complicated matter in such a rudimentary fashion, but you also took it a step further and disparaged them as well.

    "Don''t you find this to be too unacceptable?"

    The pillar of Talon and Somnus glowed even brighter.

    Leonel''s smile deepened.

    "Idiot."

    The fact Leonel would choose to say this word now of all times, especially when he was being accused of being crass, was shocking to them.

    But the confidence in his gaze made them waver.

 Chapter 2665 Lying Through His Teeth

    Chapter 2665 Lying Through His Teeth

    "I am the absolute best of the Human Race. I am unmatched by no one other than my lovely wife. I am the Pavilion Head of a Dream Pavilion. I am a Wise Star Order and the wielder of the Life Tablet-"

    Somnus seemed to understand what Leonel meant almost immediately, but unfortunately, they didn''t have another silence to use, and if Celestia used hers here, the point of Talon intervening on their behalf in the first place would become moot.

    "-Now you tell me... why was my answer lesser than yours despite my Class being unmatched within my Race?"

    The Dream Asura fell into silence. He felt like everything kept going back to this issue, this one mistake, and no matter how hard they tried to pull themselves out of the quagmire, they couldn''t do so. He almost felt that Leonel had done all of this on purpose, even going as far as to weaken his answer just to get this very result...

    But he had no proof, nor did he have a good argument to make it sound plausible either.

    "Also, don''t you think you''re a little bit too stupid?" Leonel asked, still stroking Aina''s hair. "By definition, just to be capable of coming here, we all have to be of exceptionally high Class.

    "One, we had to survive the culling-I''m sorry, I mean the Gathering of Kingdoms. You might not find it to be a big deal since you didn''t have to participate, but I''ll gladly paint the picture for you.

    "Two, we had to have enough resources to practice these two streams of Crafting. Not only did we have to have the resources, but we had to have a teacher that was willing to pass down such knowledge to them, an individual who''s likely worth far more than the resources we used to get here in the first place.

    "Then, on top of all of that, we had to be the cream of the crop to even show our faces, let alone get to this debate round where there''s less than a hundred of us left total.

    Orion and Lumina panicked as they seemed to realize something.

    Then, in that instant, the pillars trembled and erupted with a blinding light.

    Leonel and Aina''s points moved up from three points, all the way to ten.

    A silence fell on the arena, a smiling young man sitting there as though the weight of the world didn''t seem to matter much to him at all.

    He took a casual glance toward Minerva and a casual sneer tugged at the corner of his lips. He had to admit that this little game was almost as fun as Crafting.

    Almost.

    ...

    El''Rion watched this scene in a garden that was much of a garden... at least not in the natural sense. Rather than being filled with beautiful greenery and a delicate fragrance, it was instead filled with carnivorous plants that put beasts to shame.

    Of course, he had been watching Leonel''s performance and he couldn''t help but shake his head. He knew what Leonel''s goal was, so he could see countless underlying tricks he was playing that others couldn''t. That line about how he alone couldn''t raise the entirety of the Human Race was especially potent. But what made it even more potent to him was the fact that even though Leonel said all of this...

    He didn''t believe it at all.

    El''Rion felt he knew Leonel well enough to know that that man believed that he could do what even Gods had failed to do.

    He was lying through his teeth and yet doing so with a bright smile on his face.

 Chapter 2666 Ridiculous

    Chapter 2666 Ridiculous

    The first hour came to an end and it seemed that there was absolutely nothing they could do against Leonel. In fact, many were scared to engage with him at all, worrying that if they did so, he would veer the conversation back in a direction that they didn''t want it to go.

    Leonel hadn''t gotten the case slammed shut victory he wanted, after all, he hadn''t been able to force them to admit to what they had done, but that was fine. He never really expected to. Things had gone pretty much exactly how he had expected them to.

    A large part of why he had been able to be successful, though, was thanks to Aina. Thanks to her, he could use the Life Tablet even under the suppression, and as such, he could understand things on a deeper level.

    Of course, these things weren''t related to the actual debate, but rather how far he could push the pillars themselves.

    It was very important to his goals that he could bend the conversations in the direction he wanted, but doing it too much or to too great of an extent could backfire on him instead.

    He couldn''t just hop into a conversation about fire and make it about water, or else he would get dinged for it. He had to make them at least tangentially related.

    It seemed that the Celestia and the others knew this as well, which was why they veered the conversation away from Leonel and made it purely about the Convergences, which was what started all of this to begin with.

    After another hour passed, Leonel was still firmly in the lead, with Talon and Somnus, as well as Celestia and Verma, having gained three points each. The rest of the top ten had best one point each, and there was a clear gap between them and everyone else.

    By the time the third hour had passed, they had closed it in by another three for a total of six points, while Aerin and Lyra had managed to move up to a cumulative total of four, placing them in fourth place ahead of Orion and Lumina.

    However, once again, she found a smiling Leonel. No, it was more accurate to say that he was grinning.

    All this while, he had just been flirting with his wife. That much was obvious by the way Aina smiled from time to time even with her eyes closed.

    However, he suddenly looked active again.

    "Finally caught up?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Celestia didn''t take the bait. In fact, she wanted to ignore Leonel entirely. Getting into the mud with him would just give him another opportunity to sling some more at her. She wouldn''t allow that.

    She opened her mouth, ready to move on as though she hadn''t heard him, but she didn''t expect Leonel to continue first.

    "Since the kiddies are done fooling around, I guess I should finally give my stance, hm? Simply put, you''re all wrong.

    "The Point of Life is the Second Dimension. The Point of Creation is the First Dimension. The Point of Dimension is indeed variable... if you want to describe it in such layman''s terms. In reality what it represents is the Seed of Growth and potential.

    "Not that any of that matters, considering even Lythariel was wrong anyway."

    "That... is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."

    In the end, Celestia couldn''t help herself.

 Chapter 2667 Almost No Difference

    Chapter 2667 Almost No Difference

    "Oh?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Celestia was put off by the casualness, but she shrugged it off immediately afterward. This wasn''t a debate about random subjects, this was something she understood intimately. It was impossible for Leonel to pull one over on her, especially when this was something she had been drilled about.

    Many of her ideas weren''t her own, they were Minerva''s. Of course, she would never admit this, nor did she need to. She had already taken the optics loss on this point, so going forward it wasn''t as though Leonel could try and ding her for the same matter once more.

    Thinking to this point, she felt like a burden had been flung from her shoulders and she unleashed her inner pride. Since Leonel dared to meet her on this sort of battlefront, she would crush him.

    "You may not be aware of this, but the word Creation in this case isn''t translated from the same Creation that represents the First Dimension.

    "If you truly get into the weeds, the latter form of Creation doesn''t refer to Creation itself at all, it''s rather a spark, akin to the Big Bang. It didn''t create anything, it just set the stage for Creation to happen.

    "On the other hand, the former form of Creation, the one referred to as the Convergences, is translated from the original Minerva language as actual Creation, more akin to childbirth rather than child conception.

    "Just because of this alone, it can''t possibly refer to the First Dimension as there aren''t any living entities in the First Dimension to begin with, there is only a force of nature that guides the laws as we know them.

    "To make your statement even worse, you confused the true definition of Point of Creation and assigned it to the Point of Dimension instead. Then, you topped it off by saying that Master Lythariel was wrong when you misinterpreted her definitions to begin with. How can you even assign correctness and falsities when you''re incapable of understanding the underlying argument to begin with?"

    Celestia''s words were clearly much sharper than they usually were, and she was severalfold harsher. However, no one really blamed her. Leonel had clearly come in, guns blazing, once again.

    "Do you see the issue here, now?

    "You''re using the correct definition of Creation... if Lythariel wrote her words in the era you''re referring to. Unfortunately for you, she didn''t.

    "So why are you lecturing me on something you have little understanding of?"

    Leonel tilted his head to the side as though he was really waiting for an answer, one that would probably never come.

    Celestia''s lips parted, but she had no rebuttal.

    The pillars trembled and Leonel''s points moved up from 10 to 11.

    Let alone Celestia, even Minerva frowned. Was what Leonel said true? She had no easy way of confirming. She didn''t have an encyclopedia of history in her head like Leonel did.

    The history of the Gods was so long and winding that the "end period" Leonel referred to could have easily covered tens of thousands of years. Lythariel definitely existed before then, so the odds that the definition had changed were quite high and plausible...

    Celestia gritted her teeth. Verma wanted to tell her to calm down first, but Celestia had already begun to speak.

    "You said the entirety of the theory is false, anyway. Prove it. No one here has dared to say such a thing, even those far above myself have never made such a claim."

    "Sure, why not?" Leonel chuckled. "My main gripe with the theory is that it treats Crafting and Force Pill Crafting like they''re truly two separate existences that can only overlap at these "Convergences". That isn''t true at all.

    "The truth is that there''s almost no difference between the two at all, and that''s precisely what makes the world of difference."

 Chapter 2668 A Statement

    Chapter 2668 A Statement

    Celestia froze, not understanding what these words meant. She would have normally called Leonel out for speaking nonsense, but she no longer dared to. Was what he had just said truly too profound for her to understand?

    She didn''t want to believe it.

    "People believe the main difference between the two disciplines is that one provides external support while the other relies on internal support. A sword is an external item, and a Force Pill that can raise your Dimension is an internal one. But this is hardly true.

    "I can create armors that are a personal and direct increase to my personal stats, they can even go as far as to change my affinities or enhance them. Is that not an internal support?

    "On the other hand, my lovely wife could easily create a Force Pill that could explode on contact with water, having no other purpose but to store a ton of Force that causes a violent chain reaction when the requirements are met. Wouldn''t that technically be an external support?"

    Celestia frowned. "No. The armor you create almost certainly relies on a Lineage Factor, that I''m sure of. It isn''t the armor itself, but rather the interaction it has with a third-party force, that''s hardly the same thing.

    "As for the exploding Force Pill, how a pill reacts to its environment is precisely the point. The fact that you mentioned it would need an external mechanism to trigger its activation tells you everything you need to know.

    "If you made a bomb as a Craft instead, it wouldn''t need an external mechanism to activate. You could do it based on time, you could have an external trigger if you wanted, but it would be necessary. You could even have it explode immediately and it wouldn''t cause any problems at all.

    "You can''t play a game of semantics to try and draw lines of parallel similarity where there aren''t any." Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    To Celestia''s surprise, Leonel actually agreed.

    "But that''s exactly my point," Leonel said. "In fact, I believe the Convergences aren''t Convergences at all. The Points are locations where the two disciplines come together. Instead, they''re the points at which they diverge. I would call them Divergences instead.

    And as for the second reason...

    "You claimed to be so humble and in the dark," Lumina''s almost shrill voice came to the side, "but now you''re speaking as though you''re a master on the topic. Are you sure you don''t want to retract what you''ve said before? Admit you were being a bastard the entire time."

    Her voice was tinged with hints of madness. They had taken so many losses until now, and it seemed like they had lost their chance at the top four. She couldn''t believe that she was about to lose a damned Sparrow, it took everything in her to not spew out all the hatred in her heart.

    The moment she caught onto a hint of Leonel''s weakness, she grabbed it with both hands and refused to let go.

    If Leonel could accumulate points from past debates, then why couldn''t she? If he was so boldly contradicting himself, then why couldn''t she capitalize on it?

    Orion almost fainted. He couldn''t believe he had shackled himself to this idiotic woman. He had only come here because he was forced to in the first place and now he was dealing with wave after wave of bullshit.

    What did he do to deserve this?

    Leonel smiled. "Are you sure you don''t want to retract that statement? I''ll give you another chance, just like last time."

    "I don''t need your damned chance!" Lumina screamed. "You''re a fucking crass hairless monkey, do you think these people can''t see through you?! No one believes that you actually want to be charitable, I fucking hate your kind-"

    BANG!

    Lumina''s head exploded.

    Leonel didn''t even make a move, neither did Aina. In fact, neither of them even flinched aside from Leonel''s grin growing wider.

    "The debate portion will come to an end now, please take a day''s rest, everyone," Minerva said lightly. "I will issue a statement on participant Lumina''s death shortly."

 Chapter 2669 Stifling

    Chapter 2669 Stifling

    Not long later, the Owlans issued a statement. It held all of what one might expect. Lumina was lambasted as a divisive individual who hadn''t understood the spirit of the debate. However, the worst sin was the fact that she had disparaged one of the participants without rhyme or reason. Of course, the language was far more flowery than this, and the argumentation was actually quite excellent, but Leonel just couldn''t be bothered to get anything more than the cliff notes.

    He touched his ears, a cold smile curling his lip. His earlobe had been split in two, and it certainly wasn''t his own doing. He hadn''t reacted to it back then, or more accurately, he hadn''t reacted to the sudden pain at all even when he registered it. When it came to Minerva''s attack itself, his body couldn''t have moved fast enough to get out of the way even if he wanted to.

    Aina had moved, but because his hand was on her head the entire time, she got the message to not move as well.

    "Cute," Leonel said lightly.

    His Vital Star Qi couldn''t heal the wound at all. No matter how hard he tried, it stayed just the same, as though no amount of Force he could form could heal it.

    "I''m participating," Aina said coldly. Her golden eyes glowed with a murderous intent as she seemed to want to burn the world down.

    At the moment, the two were in their hotel room as Leonel''s ear continued to bleed without signs of stopping. It seemed that his blood couldn''t even coagulate and dry to stem it at all.

    Leonel looked toward Aina and didn''t answer immediately.

    Their goal was obviously to hide Aina''s skill. The reality was that Aina''s Force Pill Crafting was on a level all to its own. Even if it was filtered through Leonel and lost more than 90% of its usual potency, it would still be enough for victory.

    The value of the highest echelon of Force Pill Crafter was much higher than a top flight Crafter. A Crafter could protect you... but a Force Pill Crafter could give you the strength to protect yourself.

    These were two entirely different things, and the rarity of the latter was much greater.

    Leonel assumed that this difference would disappear and even overlap once he got to the truest highest echelon of Crafting, but ultimately, as with most things, it wasn''t just about truth all the time, but rather... perspective.

    If Aina''s skill in Force Pill Crafting was revealing, it would lead to a different kind of trouble compared to her Blood Sovereignty, but it would be a problem that came with the same level of trouble nonetheless. In fact, it might be more complicated to deal with.

    "Oh? And what would be enough?"

    Aina kissed him. "Take them for all they''re worth."

    "Extorting people?" Leonel''s laughter boomed. "That''s what I do best."

    The couple was quickly lost in their own world.

    ***

    The day came and went. With the conclusion round of debates, the four teams that made it through were expected.

    Leonel and Aina.

    Celestia and Verma.

    Talon and Somnus.

    Aerin and Lyra.

    Each of the teams stood on their own pillars. Today, Aina didn''t look last at all. In fact, her killing intent had returned and it made the atmosphere quite heavy.

    Leonel could only smile bitterly, but he didn''t try to police his wife''s actions. She could be just as stubborn as he could sometimes.

    Talon kept looking over at Aina, his red, Samoan-like runes pulsing from time to time before calming down. He had to keep reminding himself that he was a Crafter here, not a Barbarian. If not, he would have already jumped out to attack.

    Even until now, Leonel''s ear still hadn''t stopped bleeding. He had no choice but to Craft an earring for himself that had the sole purpose of catching and storing the falling blood.

    And that only made Aina angrier. She could fix it, but doing so would reveal too many things.

    It was too stifling.

 Chapter 2670 Logically

    Chapter 2670 Logically

    "Welcome to the challenge round. You have all made it to the top four and should be proud," Minerva said lightly. "According to tradition, this challenge round wouldn''t normally end in a ranking. Often, it was an arena to settle unresolved differences between Craftsmen from the round of debates, and also a method of exchanging treasures.

    "In order to accommodate a ranking, we will make some changes, the first of which is introducing a baseline of treasure.

    "Right now, the four of you have earned your top ten placement. As a reminder, this means that you all have earned the Mind Splitting Rune of the top 1000, the Spirit Elevating Force Herb of the top 100, and the Creation Grade Ore and Eighth Order Standard Blueprint of the top 10.

    "The lowest tier prize will represent one point, the second will represent three points, and the final two will represent five.

    "Any treasures you all bring forward will be ranked on this same scale as well, however you will all start with a total of 28 points. Of course, you will not actually place these treasures on the line, they will be more like vouchers. However, any additional treasures you bring forward will be put on the line. Updated from

    "As you know, the top three reward, the Ninth Order Standard Blueprint and the Ninth Order Workbench, personally forged by me, is exactly that... a reward reserved for the top three. However, there are four groups of you, so if you would like it, or the top one prize beyond it... it will be dependent on your efforts.

    "Now, for the nitty gritty.

    "One, even if you have more points than the person in question, you cannot force them to match your points. If you enter a challenge sequence with a higher ranked treasure and you don''t want to stoop to the level of your opponent, you will be at your own risk.

    "Two, likewise, you cannot force a person with a higher ranked treasure to come down to your level either."

    Leonel''s lip curled when he heard these rules. He found it amusing because there was definitely a scheme at play here.

    But from their perspective, it was the exact opposite.

    They probably expected that they would have to take their time and goad Leonel out of his hiding spot. They didn''t think that he would be willing to bring out the treasures he had immediately, so they thought that they could take advantage of him with these rules.

    "The Fourth Rule is that you all must complete at least three challenges before you can bow out. In addition, a challenge can be refused, but you cannot refuse two in a row.

    "With that said, the last seed will have the right of first challenge."

    Minerva''s gaze swept over Aerin and Lyra who were quite shocked to receive this opportunity.

    Leonel, though, was again, not surprised in the slightest. If they had a chance to take an advantage away from him, why shouldn''t they?

    Aerin and Lyra looked toward one another. The two were an unlikely partnership, a member of the Dwarven Race-the bottom of the barrel in terms of Mortal Races outside of the Human Race themselves-and the pinnacle of the Mortal Races, the Pure Blooded Spiritual.

    But they had done well for themselves until now, finally making it to this stage.

    For Aerin, the difference between a top ten reward and the top three was enormous. The Dwarven Race didn''t have a single Ninth Order Standard Blueprint... well, at least not one that wasn''t akin to a carefully laid trap or rooted to the earth.

    This, though, he believed would be a chance to change all of that. They might be able to shortchange him, but could they do the same to Lyra.

    Lyra gave him a smile that made his heart skip a beat. He blushed and shook his head furiously. He was here for his entire Race, not to chase women that would get him killed.

    He took a breath. Scanning through the participants, his eyes eventually landed on Leonel. But, he hesitated.

    Logically, Leonel and Aina were the obvious target, the other four were Demi-Gods. But no matter how he looked at them... he couldn''t help but feel they were the most dangerous couple here.

 Chapter 2671 Temper

    Chapter 2671 Temper

    Maybe it was because they were known as the cowardly Race, but Aerin and his people had always had a keen sense of danger.

    Truth be told, Leonel wasn''t actually looking at him with the same menace in his eyes. His smile seemed far more genuine and he almost seemed to be encouraging him.

    Compared to the arrogant young man that had been here for the last few days, it felt almost out of place... Almost.

    However, when Aerin looked at the earring on Leonel''s earlobe, he couldn''t help but feel his heart tremble.

    Most hadn''t noticed this detail, but he had. He hadn''t missed it at all.

    Realizing the kind of troubled waters Leonel was fishing in, Aerin knew that he couldn''t get involved. And the best way to not get involved... Was to challenge him.

    Aerin cleared his throat. "I will challenge master Leonel and his Aina. I will start with a one point challenge. As for the stream, I will pick the Force Pill Crafting stream."

    Leonel''s smile didn''t change, he had expected this, and he could practically read all of Aerin''s emotions on his face even without the aid of Dream Force. Then, his lips parted.

    "I refuse."

    Aerin seemed to deflate, not out of disappointment, but instead relief. For a moment there, he sensed that Leonel wanted to accept, not out of hate or angst, but because he felt that any challenge should be met head on. In that brief instant, Aerin had felt suffocated, like he was standing on a battlefield instead of a Crafting arena.

    He exhaled a breath and shook his head. Why had he been so worried anyway? He picked the Force Pill Crafting stream, which was Lyra''s expertise, not his own. And it shouldn''t be Leonel''s either from what he understood.

    Even so...

    With that, Talon and Somnus were up next and Leonel suddenly grinned. He looked at them first before they looked at him, the air rippling and writhing.

    "Hurry up." Leonel said. New novel chapters are published on

    "Tal-"

    From the beginning, the barrier was at its lowest setting, ready to be taken down for the sake of allowing them to actually Craft. The restrictions were going to be set instead to block off senses from crossing over into other pillars to protect whatever Crafting secrets they had, but Leonel''s own had suddenly shattered as though he didn''t care whether others sensed him or not...

    But no one was focused on this at all.

    Instead, their gazes were all focused on the item that Leonel had just slammed into the pillar, an item so tough and extraordinary that even the pillars of the Minerva Race couldn''t withstand a collision with it.

    The Life Tablet.

    "You want to Craft against me? Then bring out something worthwhile. 28 points? What worth do you think that has to me?"

    Talon''s gaze constricted into pinholes.

    Technically speaking, Talon was the challenger and Leonel couldn''t just change the challenge points because he felt like it. But in this case, Talon had called Leonel out first, and if he chose to back out now, he would be humiliating himself.

    The problem was...

    Did even the Gods have a treasure comparable to the Life Tablet? It was well known to be the greatest invention of the God Beasts. In this sort of situation, what should he do?

    A cold sweat formed on his back.

    "Coward." Leonel sneered.

    Talon''s temper raged and his red tattoos glowed, his fury causing a cyclone of Force to form.

    A clash of red and violet shook the skies as the pillars swayed back and forth.

    "Tell you what, since you''re all so poor, I''ll do you one better."

    Leonel flicked a wrist and a list of items appeared.

    "You want to battle for my Life Tablet? Bring out any three of these treasures and I''ll welcome any and all challengers.

    "Whether Demi-God or not, in the field of Crafting, not a single one of you is my match."

    He would let these people know that his temper wasn''t for show. When he raged, even Gods would suffer.

 Chapter 2672 Unacceptable

    Chapter 2672 Unacceptable

    Leonel''s list was enough to even make Talon''s eyes pop wide open with shock. The fact that they would have to bring forward three of these treasures just for a chance at the Life Tablet was even worse.

    It had everything from entire mines that were strategic resources even on his world, all the way up God level World Spirits. And yet, it was impossible for Talon to refuse that the Life Tablet was, indeed, worthy of this.

    How long had the various races been trying to get their hands on it? And yet, despite knowing exactly where it was, none of them had dared to do much of anything about it. This was the weight of the God Beasts even so long after they had vanished.

    Even Minerva had never expected Leonel to do this. She was so hyper fixated on the Segmented Cube that she didn''t even hazard a chance at getting their hands on the Life Tablet.

    Then, she "understood". Could it be that Leonel thought that this was what they were after all this time?

    If she took a step back, it was possible that Leonel simply didn''t understand the taboo around the Life Tablet. It wasn''t like he had ever tried to hide it, and he had even announced to the world that he was a Wise Star Order.

    In a situation like this one, it was very possible that he never thought that they would be after the lesser treasure.

    ''It can''t be...''

    Minerva suddenly had a thought that struck with so much fear that her hand trembled.

    Could it be that Leonel was doing all of this purpose? Could he be purposely feigning ignorance? Could it be that he wanted to use the Owlans as a shield to obfuscate what he was doing?

    Minerva''s heart trembled so violently that she couldn''t calm down for a long time. Her thoughts were so consumed by this that she couldn''t even divert her attention toward doing something to stop Leonel from taking over the entire situation.

    The Owlans seemed to be in a much better situation than the humans were... but were they?

    They too were heavily tied with the God Beasts of Creation. They too had flown too close to the sun and gotten nearly burnt to ash for it.

    In their eyes, he probably looked like a youth who was lashing out at the injustice of it all while in reality, he was throwing Minerva and her people so far into the spotlight that he could slink away into the shadows.

    Minerva''s murderous intent flared like a raging torrent, but just as quickly, it was doused in a water so cold it made her bones shiver.

    She couldn''t kill him. It was impossible for her to kill him. If she did, or if anything happened to him on the way back to his world for that matter, what would the world assume?

    Obviously, she had killed him and taken the Life Tablet.

    Her name was even Minerva.

    It was like she had seen a trap and taken a dive into it with both feet, not even testing the waters with a toe first.

    ''No. No, it''s impossible for anyone to think that far ahead...''

    She couldn''t believe. For the sake of her own sanity, she couldn''t believe. It was a necessity, or maybe it was the exact opposite of whatever that was.

    In order to set up such a scheme, Leonel had to have a grasp on politics, and even more importantly, her own psyche to the level that he could accomplish this.

    But this was only the surface level, because on a deeper level...

    No, she really didn''t want to believe it...

    The Pluto Race was in such a bad position right now. She had only gotten faint inklings of the ongoings.

    It was impossible for them to willfully plunge into such troubled waters...

    Unless Leonel had manipulated them into doing so.

    And that was the most unacceptable fact of them all.

 Chapter 2673 Fingerprints

    Chapter 2673 Fingerprints

    Ultimately, none of this would have as much weight as it seemed if not for Pluto Race. They had sponsored this event, they had rebuilt the Minerva Pillars, they had their stamp all over this. If not for them, maybe even the Owlans would be too small and insignificant for the Gods to give a damn about. But this... and now... No. She couldn''t accept it. Had she really been so tunnel-visioned on the Segmented Cube that she missed all of this?

    Talon stood frozen, looking at the long list. Leonel seemed to have been prepared for all of this. He couldn''t help but look toward his partner, Somnus. But in a rare moment, he found that Somnus'' expression was actually incredibly solemn. In all his days, Talon had never seen Somnus take anyone seriously. This was a man who could chuckle and laugh through everything, and even when he seemed to have on a "serious" expression, it was usually nothing more of a facade to lure his competitors into a false sense of security before he unveiled his trap.

    Everyone knew the Dream Asura Race. Among the Demi-Gods, they were probably the most dangerous race. They seemed to keep to themselves, but they had hands in many pots. It was impossible to tell just how many things below the God Realms that were actually under their control. It wasn''t a surprise that they had sent a participant for this Gathering of Minds, but it also had to be understood that the Clan of Demons wasn''t exactly united.

    Somnus'' actions in coming here were actually for his own goals. As for what those were, even Talon didn''t know. Even so, Talon could never guess that the reason that Somnus was reacting like this now was because someone had warned him against coming.

    "Somnus, I told you once before. I know you won''t listen to me, but the Gathering of Minds is something you should avoid at all costs this time around. It''s troubled waters and you could end up stuck in the turbulence. Why do you think most Demi-God Races have politely declined? We''re powerful enough to reject the invitation of the Minerva, so take advantage of that and let one of the other worms get caught up instead."

    Talon chuckled. "Dear sister, don''t you know that fishing in chaos is how you catch whales and sharks? This place is too boring, I hope you''re right."

    Talon''s elder sister looked at him deeply for a moment and then went back to not caring. She didn''t seem to care much one way or another as she yawned. As far as she was concerned, she had already done her duty.

    "Alright, just don''t bring that shit back here. If-no, when what I say happens, know that you''re banished from the Clan. You''re on your own."

    Talon blinked in surprise, but then he smiled. Banished? Did he care? No, not really. There was really no comradery among the Dream Asuras. Everyone was always plotting and scheming. He might as well have been alone to begin with. In fact, he felt that this "warning" was just another one of his sister''s schemes. Maybe she wanted to place one of her own people there instead.

    "But why did he sense so much of Leonel''s as well?"

    "Suddenly, he spoke."

    "If you don''t want to take the 28 point challenge, just say so. And what do you mean you''ll accept if three of these treasures are brought forth? If you recall, you''ve already given up one challenge, you can''t reject another one without losing all right to participate."

    "Minerva''s expression changed and she suddenly wanted to scold Somnus for speaking like this. Leonel obviously knew this as well, so why would he say this?"

    "That was obviously because he knew that right now, the only legitimate way for them to claim his things was through a Crafting challenge. If it was any other way, or any time after today, they would be dropping a rock on their foot."

    "If Leonel used the excuse of a second refusal to participate as a reason to withdraw, it would all really be over."

    "The Owlans would take this loss and not even get the Segmented Cube back out of it."

    "Was this what Somnus wanted?"

    "Indeed... because he realized that Leonel''s withdrawal was the only way for him to get out of this unscathed."

    "Unfortunately for him, Leonel wasn''t going to play to his tune."

    "That familiar smile returned."

 Chapter 2674 [Bonus] His Stage

    Chapter 2674 [Bonus] His Stage

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (1/6)]

    Leonel gave Somnus a look, then his gaze landed back on Talon, his smile quirking into a sneer. He didn''t say a word. He didn''t have to.

    Unfortunately for them, Minerva had chosen to do this in partners, which meant that one person couldn''t unilaterally decide to do anything.

    "Shut up, Somnus!" Talon roared, fuming.

    He was shocked by the list, but his fury didn''t disappear in the slightest. In fact, he felt that the only way to crush Leonel''s pride was to take this Life Tablet. It was just that...

    "Fuck!" Talon roared, whipping out an orb.

    "What is it you-"

    "Shut the hell up!" Talon roared again, shutting the voice on the other side up. "Send me a Demi-God World Spirit and two top class Mine Cores, now."

    "What the hell-"

    "NOW!" Talon roared.

    "You know what, I really don''t appreciate the way you''re talking to me right now."

    "Woman, I will rail you into next Sunday if you don''t hurry the fuck up."

    "Is that a promise?"

    Talon was furious by the flippant replies, but before he could say anything else, the orb popped and a spatial ring was left in its place.

    He took the ring and slammed it down into the pillar so hard that it quaked.

    "It''s here. Now fight me, damned coward."

    Leonel laughed. These people truly were rich. He just commanded someone casually and it had appeared just like this? Maybe he had underestimated these worlds far too much.

    Leonel smiled. "Okay, now you can go."

    "We will Craft braces. We will only use three Ores, Urbe Ore, Elastic Flash Ore and Sparking Rose Ore. Half an hour time limit. Do you dare?"

    Leonel chuckled. "You don''t need to try and goad me anyway. I''ve already said it... none of you are my match."

    The pillars trembled and the Ores appeared before them.

    "Atlas! Come!"

    There was a flash of lightning in the skies that sparked and landed right in hand. After a blinding, crackling bottle vanished, there remained a hammer of silver and bronze in Talon''s hand. From time to time, it would sparkle with both an ancient light and arcs of lightning.

    "Oh?" Leonel was a bit surprised. He had never seen a spirit like this before. But, he was also amused.

    It looked like Talon had summoned his Spirit from the skies, but in reality he had just pulled it out from his spatial device. As for the bolt of lightning, it was caused by the Spirit becoming akin to a lightning rod.

    He had to admit that it was still very cool, though.

    Originally, he thought that it was a Lightning Spirit, but that wasn''t the case. It was an Earthen Lightning Spirit, it had both characteristics of Earth and Lightning Force. It was a path of Crafting Leonel had never seen before.

    With another flash, Talon''s workbench appeared and he smashed his hammer down on it, looking toward Minerva with a fervent gaze.

    "You all... may begin," she said lightly.

    At this point, she had no choice but to continue pretending to be calm. Whether or not things would fall completely out of her control was still up in the air. She would wait to see how things fell.

    BOOM!

    Talon almost immediately began to work. Every time he struck his hammer down, the skies would rumble and descend with a bolt while the ground would quake to stabilize its energy.

    He forgot about everything else and fell into a rhythm. He didn''t even notice that Leonel hadn''t started. And quite frankly, he wouldn''t have cared in the slightest.

    This was his stage.

 Chapter 2675 [Bonus] Earthen Lightning

    Chapter 2675 [Bonus] Earthen Lightning

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (2/6)]

    As far as Talon was concerned, if Leonel wanted to act arrogant and piss away his chances at keeping the Life Tablet, then it would be on him. All he was here to do was prove that there was more to being a Barbarian than being a barbarian.

    And no one would stand in his way. Not Minerva, not Somnus, and certainly not Leonel.

    Leonel picked up the ores and rolled them between his fingers, seemingly lost in thought. For the first time, he wasn''t actually wasting his time away, nor was he chatting with Aina. He was just silently observing, his own thoughts roaming a bit before snapping back into focus.

    Things were going well, but he still had to thread a proper needle. Should he go all out? Should he hold back? Even potentially losing this round on purpose was on the table.

    People probably didn''t understand just how much control he had over the Life Tablet right now. It was his to command. Even if he let Talon have it for, it would practically be like a loan he took interest on.

    At the same time, if he let Talon have it, then killed him and took it back later, how much trouble would the Minerva Race be in? Everyone would obviously blame him.

    Defeating a Barbarian in Crafting was one thing, but defeating them in battle was impossible. If the Dream Asuras were the most dangerous, the Barbarians were the strongest of the Demi-Gods. Talon was probably able to hold back from fighting him earlier because he felt it wouldn''t be a challenge at all. Who would believe that Leonel had been the one to kill him?

    It was a plan that might work, actually. Because while Minerva seemed to have thought of it, and Somnus seemed to have realized it as well, while Talon was intelligent, he wasn''t on that level.

    ''He might not be on that level, but he''s smarter than he seems. No Crafter of this level could possibly be a fool.''

    Leonel looked up and watched Talon for a long while. Every one of his downward strokes took on a masterful level of control. But even further than that, it was the way he simultaneously controlled the lightning.

    It wouldn''t make a material like rubber, but it was very good at using its net of rubber to transfer Force impacts from a singular location across many. If it was properly applied, that is.

    Then there was Sparking Rose Ore. It was a Fire Force imbued Ore and it was interesting because it could take a small spark and make it bloom, thus its name. It was likewise a Vein Type Ore, but it was designed to amplify.

    One could see the trouble, then. One had a dampening effect and the other had an amplifying effect.

    While the former was good for a brace that would often be used defensively or help one''s wrist to absorb high velocity impact, the latter seemed like an absolutely terrible choice to do the same.

    That was why Leonel praised Talon''s choice. It was well in line with the spirit of the Gathering of Minds and it would definitely elicit a great deal of discussion from the Crafters of the world... if Talon''s skill hadn''t already done so.

    And it was precisely because of this choice that Leonel decided that he wouldn''t throw the match.

    Every time he interacted with these people, he learned a little bit more about them. Everything he learned, he threw into his Simulations and made decisions on them.

    Talon was much more meticulous than he looked. And such a simple plan... wouldn''t work on such a man.

    It would be better if he crushed him entirely.

    Having made his choice, Leonel closed his eyes and sat down. After a single breath, his eyes opened once again as his wife leaned her head against his shoulder.

    The world seemed to still, and in Leonel''s region, the thoughts and actions of others seemed to have disappeared.

    The moment Leonel''s arms raised just the slightest bit, the sleeve of silver and gold on his left arm thrummed to life.

 Chapter 2676 [Bonus] All Talk?

    Chapter 2676 [Bonus] All Talk?

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (3/6)]

    With a tap of fingers, ripples echoed into the world.

    Many were shocked. Was Leonel not going to take out a workbench?

    In truth, Leonel had never really gotten used to using a workbench. Though, this was mostly his fault. Many of the situations he ended up Crafting in were open spaces like this one. Although he could have brought out his workbench, he never needed to.

    He only used his workbench when he needed to completely focus on a task, one that stretched his abilities to the absolute limit. For example, he had never forged any one of his Divine Armors without the help of his workbench.

    However... he felt that it was wholly unnecessary in this situation.

    The workbench personally crafted by the Minerva Race had no reason to make an appearance here.

    *Bloop

    Little Tolly started off with such an innocent sound, and yet in a single instant it rose up like a roaring Eastern dragon, spiraling into the skies.

    Leonel didn''t ask the little guy to do this, but it seemed it had been provoked by Talon''s display. It didn''t interfere with Talon''s lightning because it felt that this would ruin the spirit of the battle, but that didn''t stop its head from growing so large that it looked as though it could swallow the city whole.

    ROAR!

    The Ores of Owlan Race''s Bubble all shook. Mines rose and collapsed, the city walls cracking as though he would shatter a moment later.

    Then, Leonel tapped another finger.

    One that could pen the world.

    For a moment, it felt like he was wielding a spear instead of a quill. Every one of his strokes rang through the world like Spear Dance, as though a Natural Force Art was being birthed just by virtue of the fact he was Crafting.

    And that was exactly what was happening.

    He didn''t even summon his own Natural Force Art, but another was being formed. Every stroke resonated with the Forces, ringing through the Ores and elevating them to a new level.

    The golden veins and crimson veins of the Elastic Flash and Sparking Rose Ore formed a network with one another. Sometimes they would branch off from one another, sometimes they would have jumps and skins within that would alternate from gold to red, and at other times they would be directly fused into one another, forming a gorgeous mesh...

    And one that looked as though it had every right to explode right in Leonel''s face.

    However, mesmerized by his technique, most didn''t have the mental capacity left remaining to realize that what he was doing didn''t seem to make any sense at all. He seemed to be combining the ores into something new, but when they had opposing effects, could that even be possible?

    However, when Leonel started using the impure lumps of coal he had just purified them off in his Craft, they couldn''t ignore it any longer. It felt like their worlds were spinning on their head, what the hell was going on?

    Leonel didn''t even seem to notice the shift as he began to incorporate the final Urbe Ore, building around the vein patterns. It was like he had forgotten that it was a foundational ore and he was instead almost using it like an accessory.

    Even so, waves continued to billow in the hearts of the spectators. Whether it was Minerva or Celestia, or any one of the others...

    He wasn''t all talk?

    It was the only thought they could have as the brace was completed, falling into Leonel''s hands in a pair.

    They could have sworn he had just completed one, where had the other come from?

    The world was filled with silence and the sound of Talon''s hammer.

 Chapter 2677 [Bonus] Lacking Creativity

    Chapter 2677 [Bonus] Lacking Creativity

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (4/6)]

    The oppressive aura around Leonel vanished and his smile returned as Tolliver slipped back onto his own arm, disappearing from everyone''s presence as though it was never around to begin with. It was only now they realized how they hadn''t noticed the Metal Spirit earlier...

    And then something else clicked.

    Leonel was constantly walking around with a Metal Spirit attached to him like that?!

    The waves in their hearts that had been doused by Leonel''s odd Crafting choices seemed to have returned in even greater force now.

    This was on another level compared to Leonel''s uncle always wearing his armor everywhere. It wasn''t just a physical toll, but a mental one on top of that.

    Who didn''t know how voracious Metal Spirits were? With just a single roar, it felt as though Tolliver would swallow up the whole planet.

    In fact, back when Tolliver had roared like that, the winged knights were all activated as though a great battle was coming...

    And yet this was the Spirit that was so well under Leonel''s control?

    BANG!

    Talon''s final hammer strikes fell and a shimmering silver brace with red and gold veins. He grinned with a swelling pride and looked up, only to find Leonel''s wife kissing him on the cheek.

    "What, am I very handsome?" Leonel asked with a laugh.

    Aina smiled and didn''t refute. It was just unfortunate that there were too many people here.

    Talon''s grin became somewhat ferocious. He had decided that he wouldn''t bash Leonel''s face in, but taking his Tablet and disappointing his woman...

    Wouldn''t this be akin to a victory all to itself?

    When he saw that Leonel had created two braces, his sneer deepened further. They had only been given enough material to make a single high-quality one. If he made two, both would be inferior products.

    Once again, 12 runes lit and he smiled, taking it back.

    Talon gripped his Earthen Lightning Spirit so hard that the skies shook as though another flash of lightning might descend.

    How was this possible?

    "Alright, next. Who are you challenging?" Leonel asked, looking at Celestia with an almost bored gaze.

    At that moment, Talon could see the disappointment he had just felt reflected in Leonel''s eyes. Except this time, Leonel actually had all the right in the world.

    The shocking disparity rocked their souls.

    "Explain." Talon suddenly said.

    Leonel sent him a glance, his boredom deepening. He didn''t know why he should. Was he here to give people lessons? He had much better things to do.

    "This is an exchange, you''re obligated to do so!" Talon said, his voice booming.

    Leonel shook his head. Talon was correct, but that didn''t mean he had to like it. Since this Barbarian asked to be dressed down, he didn''t mind.

    "Is it very difficult? You managed to create a Life Grade treasure that isn''t even really at the Life Grade. Isn''t the point of the Life Grade to create something new, to make it a single existence that is unrecognizable from the original pieces used to form it?

    "You spent so much time trying to keep the Ores separate that you were bound to fail."

    "That''s not true." Talon frowned. "I was mindful of their differences, but I created a whole item. If I didn''t, the pillar wouldn''t even light up, let alone form six runes."

    "Sure, if you want to call it that," Leonel shook his head again.

    "I-"

    Leonel waved a hand. "I know exactly what you did. You used the sparking characteristics of the Sparking Rose Ore and diffused it within the Elastic Flash Ore, creating a brace that could absorb attacks flexibly and reflect them back in a stronger capacity.

    "That''s something even a child could think of. I''m not even sure why you thought it was so impressive. That shit-eating grin you were wearing made you look so great and superior, when in reality I have more creativity in a single pinky finger than you do in your whole body."

 Chapter 2678 [Bonus] Enemies of Everyone

    Chapter 2678 [Bonus] Enemies of Everyone

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (5/6)]New novel chapters are published on

    Talon kept glaring at Leonel fiercely, making the latter have to use all his willpower to not roll his eyes. Clearly, Talon wasn''t going to give in until Leonel explained how he had done it.

    "Annoying..." Leonel muttered. His mind was occupied by other things right now. He was still trying to thread a needle, and this bastard was obsessed with something he had done casually. For a moment, he almost wished that he had just given him the victory. But then he might have had to listen to the man''s drivel.

    "Your thinking is far too rigid. You''re obsessed with bringing out the best qualities in both and making sure that they balance, when that''s not necessary at all. The point isn''t to create the purest treasure; purity is subjective and changes based on the observer. I''m sure there are some cultures who would lambast you for daring to think of touching a woman''s hand before marriage, and others that will look down on you for not having a harem of them.

    "Crafting is just a reflection of real life. When you start with three separate ores, purifying them to 100% and then trying to Craft with them is like pulling out a rubber band and extending it to infinity while expecting it not to snap.

    "The Elastic Flash Ore has its own tendencies, as does the Sparking Rose Ore, and even though everyone just thinks of it as a foundation layer, so does Urbe Ore.

    "Your job as a Crafter should have been to mute some of the clashing characteristics and let the others shine.

    "The Elastic Flash Ore has a great ability to disperse attacks, forming tracks for Forces to run along. The Sparking Rose Ore is excellent at forcing the Forces to converge onto a single point, while amplifying it.

    "The latter works more so with capillary action while the former relies on the principle of flowing from areas of higher concentration to lower.

    "If you formed a network of them instead, alternating between whether they converge and where they diverge, taking advantage of their properties, muting them in certain locations and amplifying them in others, rather than forming a treasure that could only act defensively like yours, you could create one that could be used both offensively.

    "I don''t just need to sit here and wait to be attacked like an idiot, I could flood my brace with my own Force and use it to launch an assault. Likewise, I can flood my Force through in a different pattern to amplify my defenses instead.

    "The other problem with your braces is not only the fact that it relies on getting hit first, but it also wastes way too much. It relies too heavily on the fact Sparking Rose can only take on Force from a single point at a time. So while it seems like it''s "amplifying" an attack, in reality, it''s only amplifying a small portion of it.

    She found herself getting lost in Leonel''s rhythm. There was only one way forward. They had to win an astonishing victory, and it had to be through the Force Pill Crafting stream.

    "We-"

    "Just going to tell you in advance, if you challenge me in Force Pill Crafting... I''m going to give up."

    Leonel''s laughter erupted while Aina shook her head and smiled.

    Celestia froze. Indeed, Leonel had just accepted a challenge; he had the right to reject now.

    Celestia subconsciously looked up toward her master, not sure of what to do.

    "Your master''s not going to be able to help you out here," Leonel said, continuing to laugh.

    Every one of his words was more lethal than the last.

    Celestia''s eyes snapped back, but that only made her look more guilty.

    "If I might say something," Somnus suddenly spoke lightly, intervening. "Quite frankly, I think you''d misunderstood something, Leonel, right? We are not your enemies here. Contrarily, you''ve been doing your best to antagonize everyone since the start of this Gathering of Minds.

    "Master Minerva gave us all points to begin with, and Talon only mentioned putting up 28 of those, so why are you insistent on using the Life Tablet? No one ever asked you to bring it forward in the first place."

    Leonel''s laughter faded away, his gaze narrowing as he looked toward Somnus.

 Chapter 2679 [Bonus] Dream Asuras Scheme

    Chapter 2679 [Bonus] Dream Asura''s Scheme

    [Thanks to Mr. Ham (6/6)]

    It could be said that Somnus'' words were excellently timed. He had given up on trying to deal with Leonel in a head-on confrontation. If they played a game at Leonel''s pace, they would end up losing.

    "I don''t believe that you''re acting with good faith, nor are you in line with the spirit of the Gathering of Minds. If it was just a matter of your abrasiveness, I could let it go. But commandeering the rules of the event in order to avoid exchanging ideas about what amounts to half of our purpose for being here... are you looking down on Force Pill Crafters?"

    It was an accusation that held a lot of weight, and one that had the potential to be extremely dangerous depending on the situation. Who didn''t know that Force Pill Crafters were far rarer, but also held far more influence as a result?

    "If I might make a suggestion to help get things back on track to avoid turning this into a farce..."

    Somnus looked toward Aerin and Lyra, both of whom almost immediately paled. "Please challenge him in the alchemy stream after he takes his turn. It is a bit unfair, but I believe this was your original intention, correct? This way, you get to force him into the challenge you wanted originally."

    Somnus'' plot was quite clever, and unavoidable.

    It was distasteful to use his status to pressure Aerin, but as he had said, Aerin had tried to challenge Leonel in the Force Pill Crafting Stream before, that was his first choice. Somnus was just giving him an opportunity to do it again.

    So, instead of looking like he was pressuring Aerin and Lyra, it actually looked like he was helping them.

    But that was just the first layer. Once this round was finished, it would be Talon and Somnus'' turn again. Leonel could turn that down, but then it would be Celestia''s turn once more. At that point, what could he do?New novel chapters are published on

    There was a hole in this plan... or so it seemed.

    According to the rules, Leonel didn''t have to participate anymore after completing three challenges. He had already completed one, his turn was coming up now and that could be the second, and finally Aerin and Lyra would be the third.

    After that point, Leonel could just pat the dust off of him and leave. And because of Talon''s loss, he would have accumulated far more points than anyone else. A Demi-God World Spirit was too valuable to even scale properly, it would probably be hundreds of points at worst. That was more than enough for Leonel to be number one.

    But there was an obvious flaw to that line of thinking as well...

    Whoever Leonel challenged had to actually accept his challenge. If they just rejected him outright, it obviously wouldn''t count as a challenge and following his "battle" with Aerin and Lyra, he would still need to complete one more challenge.

    It was an excellent plan. Truly an excellent one.

    The only flaw were Aerin and Lyra... but would any of them choose to stand on Leonel''s side at the risk of offending four Demi-God Races?

    Of course not.

    "Is there a problem?" Leonel replied.

    "Yes. There is. The first round was a judge of collaboration abilities. If your wife is just there for show, it means that you would have been disqualified before the round of debates even began. Of course, if your wife is the Force Pill Crafter, then I would have nothing to say."

    "Just for show, you say?" Leonel asked in a light voice.

    "Is there something wrong with what I said?"

    "Once this Gathering of Minds is over, it will cost you your head."

    Somnus'' gaze narrowed as a pressure from Minerva descended upon Leonel, almost making his bones shatter to pieces.

    "This is a Gathering of Minds. I will not allow any threats, veiled or otherwise. Should Somnus die following this meeting, you will officially be an enemy of the Owlans and I will personally hunt you down."

    Leonel swallowed a mouthful of blood that was moments from coming out from his mouth.

    The pressure vanished and he nearly collapsed.

    A murderous intent suddenly pervaded the skies, dyeing the wind crimson as Aina made a move to stand, but Leonel grabbed her wrist.

    Minerva sneered. "Now, begin the round."

    Leonel sat behind Aina, pressing a hand to her back. It seemed as though he would be guiding her, but Somnus said nothing about this, finding it amusing.

    The round ended in resounding defeat. The Force Pill that Lyra picked, to her credit, was one that even novice Force Pill Crafters could concoct, but it was still too much.

    Being controlled through Leonel, Aina''s actions looked clumsy and unpracticed. The lag in Dream Force to action was too much, and it was clear that Leonel''s knowledge of Force Pill Crafting wasn''t very profound in the slightest.

    It took two attempts just to finish the simple pill, and the two almost went over the time limit.

    In the end, they lost the one point that Aerin and Lyra had wagered.

    Blood leaked from Leonel''s lips and he wiped it away for what felt like the umpteenth time, his emotionless gaze landing on Talon and Somnus.

    The ending of this matter seemed to be all too obvious.

 Chapter 2680 Mock Defeat

    Chapter 2680 Mock Defeat

    Somnus smiled lightly, giving Leonel a look. He had to say that he was somewhat impressed. Leonel had yet to throw a tantrum. Though, he assumed that if looks could kill, he would have likely died ten times over. If thoughts could slaughter, he would have been skewered until his own mother wouldn''t have recognized him.

    Unfortunately for Leonel, it would take more than that to make him give a damn. He was a Dream Asura, there was probably someone, somewhere, cursing him at any given point in the day. In fact, he was selling himself short. Really, there was definitely more than just one person doing so at any given point.

    Rather than being put off by it, he relished in the feeling. It made him feel alive.

    "We challenge you in the Force Pill Crafting stream."

    Somnus waved his hand through the air as though he was brushing through water. There were even slight ripples that echoed through the air as he suddenly reached into space and pulled something out.

    He was a Dream Asura. He couldn''t trust even his own family members, so it wasn''t surprising that he had his own unique methods of hiding his things. Plus, he had come knowing that things might very well go very wrong, so he had taken much of his stolen-accumulated wealth with him.

    With a pluck, he pulled out three rings.

    "You said you need three items on your little list to accept a challenge, right? Well, I put forward our 28 points, and these items. Each one houses three items on your little list. The first will be a wager for the three treasures you took from my partner, the second three will be a wager for your Life Tablet, and the third third... well, that will be up to you...

    "If you dare."

    Somnus'' smile was gentle. He didn''t look like a demon at all, with otherworldly looks and an inviting gaze that made one feel at peace. It was this sort of dichotomy that made his words all the more piercing, though.

    On the one hand, one''s instinct seemed to be to trust him with your life. But on the other, there was a bubbling rage that made you want to skin him alive.

    Of course, these people controlled many such Bubbles, dozens at worst. But trying to cobble together ten times that was asinine. It could be said that Somnus found this amusing because he obviously felt that Leonel had picked out this number because he felt that no one would actually bring forward such stakes...

    And he found that to be very naive.

    The comparisons he had just given were for "normal" Demi-God Races, or Demi-God Bubbles under the control of Mortal Races that had yet to ascend to that next tier of level.

    However, the Owlans were a very special case. Being the descendants of the Minerva Race already put them on a different tier compared to other Demi-Gods. But when their Crafting skill was taken into account, it was a different beast entirely.

    Somnus put his hands up in mock defeat.

    "Unfortunate, unfortunate. I''m not so rich. I''ll have to lower my bid, then. Just the 28 points and the one ring of three items to try and get my partner''s stuff back, what do you say?"

    "I refuse." Leonel said lightly, causing Somnus to laugh uproariously as though he had already expected it.

    Much like he had thought, one way or another, he won.

    If Leonel withdrew after Celestia challenged him, then he would avoid getting drawn into this mess.

    If Leonel accepted the challenge, Somnus was certain that she wouldn''t be foolish enough to ask for the Life Tablet. Instead, she''d ask for the Segmented Cube he went out of his way not to mention. That would, once again, allow him to dodge this mess.

    Either way, victory was his.

    As expected, Celestia parted her lips to speak...

    Only to be interrupted.

 Chapter 2681 Blasphemous Creation

    Chapter 2681 Blasphemous Creation

    "We challenge you," Verma''s gentle voice echoed. She flapped her gorgeous red-gold wings, and the world was filled with a whirlwind of delicate feathers that looked like the embers of creation.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, wild sparks of lightning threatening to bring his Dreamscape crumbling down, but he controlled it, the slight change to his expression after such a long spurt of emotionlessness.

    However, despite his indifference on the surface, he was grinning so wide on the inside that Aina had to bite her own lip to the point of drawing blood to keep herself neutral. To outside observers, it looked as though Aina was having trouble controlling herself again while Leonel was running up to the end of his rope.

    Verma pecked her beak at the air, but rather than pulling something out from a hidden void like Somnus had, there was a sonorous call that suddenly filled the skies.

    Minerva frowned. ''What the hell was going on?'' She hadn''t really thought much of Verma speaking. After all, if they were challenging in the Force Pill Crafting stream, then it was Verma''s right. She was the Force Pill Crafter of their group. But she didn''t like this.

    "My apologies, Master Minerva," Verma bowed toward Minerva. "I am but a beast, and my methods aren''t as sophisticated as Sir Talon or Sir Somnus. I can only use these crude methods."

    A Celestial Ember Race elder with wings that blotted out the skies and could envelop the entire city suddenly appeared in the air. With a tap of its claws, the world shook, and Minerva paled. This elder was far stronger than her; she would have to call the real Ancestors of the Owlan Race here to deal with this, but this matter was being completely under her control. This came completely out of left field.

    Luckily, with a flap of its enormous wings, the elder Celestial Ember vanished, piercing through the Bubble veil as though it wasn''t there at all.

    Verma flapped her wings, and the ring that fell from the skies gently came to a stop in the air before being pushed toward Leonel.

    "Please check the contents and ensure that they''re to your satisfaction."

    This was a challenge that only the utmost geniuses could take up. To turn three poisons into a healing pill... and even giving them a chance to pick with poisons they wanted... That latter move could be seen as kindness only if you were a naive layman. By not giving Aina and Leonel the three poisons she would use herself, they had to guess from an array of billions of types on their own. Rather than knowing that there was definitely a solution somewhere, they were going in entirely blind.

    The worst part was that Leonel had no choice but to accept. Not only had he just used his challenge refusal, but he had also set the parameters for what treasures would equate to his Life Tablet and Segmented Cube himself. He no longer had the grounds to refuse based on not having adequate points.

    As expected, when the round began, it took Leonel and Aina upwards of an hour just to pick out three poisons to try out.

    And when they began actually concocting, Leonel, who was already injured, ended up poisoning himself. The whole experience was like watching an angel that had just been soaring high in the skies have their wings clipped.

    He protected his wife from the same fate, but the longer they went, the more discolored and shameful Leonel''s appearance seemed to become.

    The reversal was far too shocking. The arrogant Leonel plummeted right back to earth. It was clear he had a little bit of skill in Force Pill Crafting, but compared to his Crafting talent it was so inferior that they couldn''t even be mentioned in the same breath.

    And then the 12 hours were up.

    Verma tossed her Force Pill to the pillar, causing it to tremble and suddenly erupt with an entire nine runes, better than any of the Crafters before but Leonel himself.

    And then, the green-veined Leonel did the same.

    But nothing happened.

    Leonel and Aina''s pill crumbled, blowing into ash riding the wind.

    The Pillar of Truth didn''t react to them. In fact, it had destroyed their Force Pill as though it was a blasphemous creation.

 Chapter 2682 Sex-Ed

    Chapter 2682 Sex-Ed

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. He pulled the finger sleeve off of his hand and placed it on top of the Life Tablet that stood as tall as his waist, sparkling with its array of rainbow-colored light blues, pinks, and violets. He swept a gaze over everyone and took his wife''s hand.

    Aina still seemed too angry to move, but Leonel smiled lightly and pinched her cheeks.

    "It''s alright," he said lightly.

    Aina lowered her head, looking at the ground. She really didn''t want to leave like this, but they had no points remaining and nothing left to give. There wasn''t any other option.

    Leonel took Aina''s hand and left without a word. He didn''t gaze at Minerva, nor did he give the other geniuses another look. He didn''t have to.

    Those that saw what happened here today would understand what happened, and those that didn''t just didn''t care to in the first place.

    Minerva frowned. She hadn''t expected Leonel to leave without a word. She even had intentions of forcing him to stay to watch the rest of it. There were many losers of previous rounds here too, so she had more than enough precedent to do so. However, for some reason, she hesitated long enough that he completely vanished.

    It felt like he had suddenly gone from antagonistic anti-hero to sympathetic figure, and if she took action again then it would only play into the latter even more.

    But then she looked at the Life Tablet and her gaze was mixed with shades of worry and anticipation. Not because of the Tablet itself, that thing was a ticking time bomb in this situation.

    When she had joined the Challenge Sequence, she had planned to claim it. But those were under completely different circumstances. After all, there was a mad scramble at the time and there was blame to be spread around. In addition, the Owlans had been out of the spotlight for a long while...

    A spotlight that Leonel had just thrust that back in.

    No. Since the Celestial Embers had taken action, they clearly wanted it, and she would let them have it. Only the-

    The Life Tablet trembled, and the spatial ring and Segmented Cube on its surface were suddenly sucked into it.

    Minerva frowned. What just happened?

    She immediately thought of Leonel, but he had already left and severed his connection to the Tablet. She wasn''t a fool; she could see such things.

    She shook her head. For now, it didn''t matter. All things in due time. Acting rash would get her in trouble.

    That said, she still sent a message. It wasn''t the right time to kill Leonel just yet, especially since he had so much sympathy on his side now. However... that didn''t mean they couldn''t monitor him.

    He had a fun time obscuring his journey here, but doing so on the way back was impossible. The Force Arts of the Owlans were on a completely different level.

    Her lip curled and for the first time, she relaxed, enjoying the spectacle below.

    ...

    At the moment, Leonel with Aina by his side in the middle of an Inbetween World.

    "Three days..." Leonel said lightly.

    "Stop counting the time," Aina said with exasperation.

    "What would you like me to do instead?"

    "How about me?" Aina said with an innocent blink.

    Leonel looked at her seriously, then looked her up and down before sighing.

    "I''m not in the mood."

    "Huuu, gasp!" Aina said with a laugh. "I heard about erectile dysfunction, but I didn''t think I would suffer such a fate as a young wife."

    She pressed the back of her hand against her forehead and fainted into Leonel''s lap.

    Leonel grinned. "You know, I''ve been meaning to bring that up. You really call yourself a Five Star Health Professional?"

    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Aina pouted.

    "Well, aside from the fact no Health Professional would make fun of their patient for such a sensitive matter, shouldn''t you also know about other things?"

    Aina blinked in genuine confusion. "What other things?"

    Leonel grinned. This felt like an "I''m on my period" or "I need condoms" situation all over again, when Aina knew damn well she didn''t get periods like normal women, nor would she get pregnant without her own will to.

    "You think I don''t know?" Leonel cleared his throat. "The Feminine Illusion, written by Celeste Aubrey, co-authored by Aria Mauve. Page 121, line three.

    "''...If we are talking a matter of statistics, the female body is far more likely to reach orgasm through anal penetration as opposed to vaginal penetration...''."

    Aina was speechless for a moment before she burst into a fit of laughter.

    She couldn''t believe Leonel had just quoted something from their sex-ed textbook. She hadn''t thought of that book since she was fifteen years old.

    The couple laughed, seemingly forgetting about everything else for a moment.

    Indeed. The world could be collapsing around them and it wouldn''t matter in the slightest.

 Chapter 2683 Wait a Moment

    Chapter 2683 Wait a Moment

    As Aina and Leonel were rolling and tumbling in the midst of an Inbetween World, oblivious to the fact that they were probably one of the very few couples who dared to do this, and more than once at that, the proceedings were slowly coming to a close and an award ceremony began.

    Minerva and the rest of the Owlans were incredibly gracious. They tried to pretend to not notice the drop in viewership and continued with things as promised.

    Though, Minerva was still a bit annoyed. Not at the drop in viewership, though that was its own problem. Rather, she was annoyed that her people had actually failed to stop Leonel from leaving.

    ''No matter,'' she thought to herself. ''It should be an easy matter to track him now, Lyric should already be on it.''

    She also had another reason to smile as well. Technically, Leonel should be fourth place, and that had earned him a lot of reward, but because he had let his pride get the best of him, even to the point of leaving first, he had not only lost everything, but he got nothing.

    Minerva chuckled to herself and suddenly wondered why she even had to put in so much effort to kill Leonel in the first place. She had the Segmented Cube now, so everything else was meaningless. Plus, Leonel had suffered for his arrogance greatly.

    In Minerva''s opinion, a large reason for Leonel''s Crafting skill should be the Segmented Cube as well. Now that it wasn''t with him anymore, soon enough, her disciple would surpass him and the last worry would vanish.

    Leonel would fall in obscurity just like the rest of the Human Race and become a footnote in history. No, that was probably more than he deserved.

    Minerva smiled a gorgeous smile, one that seemed to light up the world as she handed her disciple the Minerva Spirit she had prepared. It was a gorgeous little fairy, with the chubby cheeks of a six year old and the childish grace of a 13 year old. All around, it broke the cuteness scale, flying around somewhat clumsily, but also endearingly.

    With that, the competition came to a close.

    ...

    ...

    The atmosphere was quite cordial.

    Verma and her Ancestor sat across from Celestia and Minerva. Clearly, the latter Celestial Ember had the ability to shrink her size considerably, or else fitting into such a space with what she displayed before would have been entirely impossible.

    "... No, of course not. There''s no problem here," Minerva said with a light smile. "It''s because of Little Verma''s efforts that the Life Tablet was procured in the first place, we will not fight for this. We only want the treasure of our Ancestors."

    "Good, good..." the Celestial Ember Ancestor chuckled, a sweet sound that tickled the ears. Whether it was her or Verma, they both had voices that could rock the most irritable of babies to sleep. "In that case, we can proceed."

    The two experts sat around the Life Tablet and began to check it. They assumed that it had to have an inner world of sorts to have taken the spatial devices into it, so they just had to form a connection with this world.

    However, even after several minutes, they realized they couldn''t.

    Minerva''s brows furrowed and a bad feeling began to form a sinking feeling in her gut.

    Could it be that only a Wise Star Order could access that inner space?

    Minerva was beginning to feel that this was more and more of the case. Could this Life Tablet be nothing more than a brick without being a Wise Star Order?

    No, that wasn''t true. According to the records, it should have the abilities of resurrection even without it... so why...

    Minerva stood to her feet. "Esteemed guests, if you could wait a moment. I will have the human youth return and we will have this situation dealt with shortly."

    The Ancestor Celestial Ember nodded with a smile.

 Chapter 2684 Find Him!

    Chapter 2684 Find Him!

    Things were quickly not going as planned. After receiving a report from Lyric, Minerva realized that the situation was far more complex than she had thought.

    It was impossible. How could Leonel possibly evade her detection? The teleportation platforms of the Owlans were far beyond anything the lesser worlds would have. It felt like a joke to try and compare them.

    She had seen Leonel''s Crafting skill. It was impressive, but only insofar as his age and generation was taken into account. She still felt that she had nothing to fear from him on that front. Personally, she could like up at least 18 runes on the pillar.

    As she was getting lost in her frustration, there was a rush and Aurora suddenly came into view. New novel chapters are published on

    "Master," she bowed low. Despite the fact Aurora looked older than Minerva, Minerva was actually the more senior of the two parties. In addition, she was by far the more powerful on top of that.

    "What is it?" Minerva asked with a hint of expectation and irritability. She hoped that there was good news, but considering Aurora''s expression... it didn''t seem to be so.

    "P-please follow me."

    Aurora didn''t dare to talk about this matter in public, so she took Minerva along with her.

    When Minerva realized where they were going, she frowned. Wasn''t this where they had stored the Pillar of Truth after the competition? What''s going on?

    Indeed, moments later, they entered a vast, well-kept underground space. At the center, there was the pillar of their ancestors.

    "Why did you bring me here?"

    Aurora''s lips trembled, but ultimately she felt that showing would be better than telling here. She took out two braces that made Minerva furrowed her brows. Weren''t those the ones Leonel had crafted? Didn''t he take them with him? Why were they here?

    Aurora tossed them at the pillar and there was a sudden blinding flash.

    BOOM!

    With a flap of her wings, the Ancestor seemed to pretend as though the walls were even there, appearing high in the skies without leaving the slightest hint of damage... aside from the melted walls, that is.

    Minerva clenched her jaw so hard she almost shattered her teeth.

    Did she believe the Celestial Ember? She wanted to, but there was no guarantee. If they managed to open up the world first, and then found out the secrets of the treasure, would they just pretend they had never succeeded at all, pocketing both treasures?

    This was why she hadn''t wanted them to leave in the first place, but there was nothing she could do now. Although she could call her own Ancestors, if they forced her to remain here, wouldn''t it cause war?

    Plus, she was one of the very few who cared about that treasure so much. Everyone else thought it was a hot potato.

    There was a reason she was the only high profile Owlan to show their face. It was plausible deniability. Should things go wrong, she would be the perfect scapegoat.

    And yet now...

    "FIND HIM!" Minerva roared, her chest heaving.

    She would not be someone''s convenient baby-making machine. She was an Empress, someone above it all.

    This wouldn''t be where her steps faltered.

    ...

    Somnus'' vision slowly cleared, but he frowned almost immediately.

    The endless black, the cavernous trenches and pointed peaks, the rolling fog and the puddles and rivers of darkness...

    The Inbetween Worlds? What was he doing here? Teleportation stations did malfunction from time to time, but certainly not so silently, and definitely not in the territory of a Clan as prestigious as the Owlans.

    And then he saw them.

    A pair of husband and wife, looking at him indifferently.

    Leonel and Aina.

 Chapter 2685 Both

    Chapter 2685 Both

    Somnus'' eyes widened. He was in a genuine state of shock.

    His first and the most reasonable conclusion was that the teleportation device had malfunctioned for them too, so of course they were here.... New novel chapters are published on

    But then where was everyone else?

    And why weren''t they surprised as well? Shouldn''t they feel fear seeing him, a Demi-God, standing in their presence without anyone to check or regulate him?

    And then he watched as Leonel slowly pulled out a spear. It flashed out from a depth of nothingness before his body was covered in an amorphous armor with neither shape nor form outside of something vaguely humanoid.

    Leonel didn''t speak a word, but the previous words echoed in Somnus'' mind nonetheless.

    He had said that his words would cost him his life, and here he was to collect.

    Somnus suddenly began to laugh. "Is this what I look like to other people? Overly confident? Overly brash? Prideful to a fault?

    "You have no idea the gap between mere Mortals and Demi-Gods, but you came here to flaunt your insignificant wealth?"

    Leonel''s spear tip trembled, every downward stroke causing a ripple of flames to spark.

    As he walked forward, Aina stood in silence, crossing her arms and not saying a word. The current Somnus was beyond Leonel right now, she knew that. But the measure by which Leonel won wasn''t based on raw strength nor the common senses either.

    Regardless of what the raw stats said... she felt that he had a 100% chance of victory.

    So she stood there, her hair silently blowing in the wind as her husband continued to walk forward, his gait slow but steady. Every step looked precise, the same amount of distance apart, the same level of pressure, the same time from raise of foot to its descent.

    And with every step he took, it seemed a new ability flourished.

    First it was a rumbling air of bronze that came from his Auspicious Air...

    Step.

    Second came the slit eyes of his amorphous armor and their soles beginning to pop and sizzle with strands of smoking embers... His Destruction Sovereignty.

    Somnus'' scales split and the Scarlet Star Force licked at his body, corroding away his Force and crushing his defenses... well, the amount of Forces he could use in the first place under [Domain]''s influence.

    Leonel had control over so many Life State Forces at this point that he could even suppress the likes of Somnus by over 20%.

    The worst part was that Leonel''s Dream Force was so far beyond Somnus'' with the addition of his Sovereignty that the latter couldn''t even muster up his greatest strength.

    Leonel kicked out, landing a sole right on Somnus'' chest and sending him catapulting into the distance.

    He lowered his spear, dragging it along the ground and leaving a line of fire that seemed willing to burn even the Anarchic Force in the surroundings.

    "I would suggest you get off your high horse," Leonel said lightly. "I''ve heard that Dream Asuras like to play games, so how about we play one?

    "I''m wondering, how many times will I have to kick your ass for you to finally bring out your full strength? Is it going to take one kick to the chest?" Leonel asked. "A slap to the face?"

    The flat of Leonel''s spear suddenly slapped out, crossing the void and appearing by Somnus before he could react.

    The resounding slap sent his head reeling to one side.

    "No? Maybe it''s castration?"

    Leonel''s spear flickered and his body vanished. The Anarchic force rolled and Somnus prepared to defend his crotch when two tendrils of silver suddenly appeared inches from his eyes.

    He realized in an instant that Leonel had just lied to him, but it was already too late.

    The two Force Arts took shame and two, roaring lasers of gold slammed into him.

    Somnus felt the air get knocked out of him as he spiraled into the distance. He coughed, but still managed to land on his feet, his gaze suddenly becoming frighteningly calm.

    "Cute..." He said calmly.

    However, when he met Leonel''s gaze, the latter seemed unperturbed by his lack of injury.

    "You don''t seem to know very much about Dream Asuras," Somnus said.

    "I know more than you think. Enough to know a dumbass pretending to be calm when I see one. But whether it''s you, or the Owlans, you''ll both see a crushing defeat very soon."

    Leonel raised his spear and pointed the blade right at Somnus.

 Chapter 2686 Dream Finality

    Chapter 2686 Dream Finality

    Somnus didn''t immediately reply to the words. But soon enough, his handsome face split into a shit-eating grin that quickly became uproarious laughter. His laughter boomed so far and wide that it caused ripples in the Anarchic Force.

    "You speak more boldly than anyone I have ever met. Do you really think yourself to be so great even after all that''s happened?"

    Somnus'' reply was a spear, one that caught him off guard. He was almost completely certain that he could pull Leonel into a chat, but he didn''t receive what he wanted at all, nor did he even manage to gain the information he wanted either.

    Leonel was definitely correct. He was pretending to be calm. And condescending to his opponent wasn''t something ingrained into his personality either. Rather, he just thought it was the best approach to use against Leonel.

    Unfortunately, he was incorrect.

    Leonel spoke when he wanted to; no one could goad him into speaking. And for that matter, no one could goad him into anything.

    When he moved, even if his enemies thought he had fallen into their trap...

    It was more than likely the very opposite.

    The strokes Leonel left in the air stunned Somnus. As he fell on his back foot, retreating, he couldn''t help but feel that Leonel''s spear was too beautiful. It almost felt like he was drawing constellations through the darkness, each stroke a line so profound that it could connect the stars...

    It dawned on Somnus in that moment that he had truly never seen such a perfect spear technique before, something that made his heart skip a beat.

    How could that be possible?

    Unfortunately for Leonel, though... the strikes were simply far too weak.

    Somnus'' back foot planted, and he was prepared to explode forth, when Leonel''s spear suddenly rotated in his palms as he sidestepped.

    The butt of Leonel''s spear parried the strike to the side, its spin continuing in one fluid motion that slashed out a strike from bottom to top across Somnus'' torso.

    [Finality].

    Had a human really left him in such a state? No... this strength definitely wasn''t Leonel''s own, what are these techniques? Why are they so powerful? Why were they so much better than his own?

    [Domain] suppressed him. [Universe] suppressed him even further, even to the point of breaking the laws of physics. And then [Finality] was like the nail in the coffin.

    It was his fault for not really taking Leonel seriously, but it still didn''t make any sense. Even if he stood still and let a Fifth Dimensional expert like Leonel attack him with all of their strength, he shouldn''t even be able to feel it, let alone end up in such a state.

    How could he know that Leonel had been storing up strikes for [Finality] for months already? He had diverted one of his minds to that task permanently, and he was even storing up more than just one Force at a time as well.

    With Scarlet Star Force, because he had not just one, but two Innate Nodes, he could fill a new one every few seconds.

    The only limitation was that every new fill required a new [Finality] Force Art to be formed and maintained...

    But was that difficult?

    Not at all. Leonel had simply created a new ability he called Dream Finality that did all the work in the background for him.

    This was the might of the Control Ability Index.

    Right now, he could easily maintain just over a thousand Finalities at once, and every time he used up one, it would be filled in instantly.

    At his current pace of battle, even if he could withstand more, there was simply no need to...

    He would never run out of Finalities.

    Somnus suddenly punched out at the approaching Leonel, causing him to raise an eyebrow and slip out of the way, vanishing into thin air.

    "Seems he finally wants to take this seriously now. Wife! It''s your turn."

    Somnus froze.

 Chapter 2687 Seconds

    Chapter 2687 Seconds

    Somnus had never been so humiliated in his life. He thought that the moment he started to bring out his full strength, it would all be over-that was why he had never panicked despite his shock.

    But the truth was beyond his expectations.

    Leonel suddenly took a step back and became a support while his wife took the vanguard. One wielded a ruby battle ax and the latter formed a bow from thin air.

    The worst part was that the Domain was still effective.

    One after another, Leonel unleashed a barrage of arrows that Aina herself didn''t seem to have to slow or care for in the slightest. She fought all out, and from what he could tell, she didn''t slow her speed or change her cadence in the slightest. There were even several moments where she would erupt with jerky, unpredictable motions and sudden changes in battle philosophy or approach, and yet it never seemed to faze Leonel at all.

    He hung in there, hoping that Leonel would eventually slip up and end up injuring his own wife...

    But that moment never came.

    In fact, the two only seemed to grow stronger, especially when Leonel did something inexplicable and began fusing his [Finality] strikes into one.

    The vast majority of Leonel''s [Finality] Force Arts were formed of Scarlet Star Force... but who said those were the only ones he had formed?

    A twin pair of Force Arts began to take shape before his bow every time he pulled back a new arrow, spinning in opposite directions like ancient magic circles.

    At that moment, the immovable earth of the Inbetween World became akin to clay beneath his will, forming chilly black arrows that were quickly wrapped in flames.

    Beneath the simultaneous barrage of Aina and Leonel, Somnus simply couldn''t hold up. Even after growing to almost five meters tall, Aina''s Dharma manifestation made an appearance, causing his eyes to open wide with shock.

    At that point, he tried to run, turning tail and disregarding any dignity as a Demi-God that he might have thought he had.

    Unfortunately, it was worthless.

    One of Leonel''s arrows shot through the back of his knee, pinning him into the ground as Aina appeared behind him, slashing across the other leg and bisecting it cleanly from the rest of his body.

    In just a few hours, the mighty Dream Asura had wilted, falling to the ground, unable to muster up any more strength.

    But clearly he wasn''t 100% certain, or else he wouldn''t have mentioned his treasures afterward.

    Leonel smiled. "If you wanted to protect your treasures, you shouldn''t have shown me how to open your hidden world in the first place."

    Somnus sneered. As if he would believe that.

    "One minute..." Leonel suddenly said, looking up.

    Aina rolled her eyes. This man was really still counting.

    Somnus, however, was very much confused. What was he talking about?

    But Leonel didn''t seem eager to divulge, crouching down and maintaining his silence as though nothing else in the world mattered but the ticking timer.

    "Thirty seconds..."

    Suddenly, the Inbetween World began to tremble.

    "Twenty seconds."

    Leonel looked off toward the distance, a smile tugging at his expression.

    "Ten seconds."

    BOOM!

    A streak of rainbow appeared on the horizon and Leonel opened his hand toward it.

    BANG!

    The Life Tablet landed with a boom and Somnus'' eyes opened wide. Was that...

 Chapter 2688 Another Path

    Chapter 2688 Another Path

    Leonel grabbed at what looked like empty air and pulled out the Segmented Cube and a familiar ring, chuckling to himself. He found all of this to be very amusing.

    Watching her husband giggle like a little boy on Christmas morning, Aina couldn''t help but smile to herself.

    They both knew that somewhere, out there, there were some people who were very, very mad.

    And unfortunately for them, while they were lost in their fury, they would miss the forest for the trees, falling further into Leonel''s web. By the time they understood what was happening, it would be far too late.

    Leonel pressed a hand onto Somnus'' body as the Life Tablet disappeared into his glabella once more. Somnus was then sent into the Segmented Cube.

    Leonel felt some resistance come from the man. Obviously, bringing someone into a spatial device required their acquiescence. Unfortunately, his resistance was futile purely because... he didn''t have enough strength left to resist in the first place.

    Leonel and Aina slipped into the Segmented Cube to find a glaring Anastasia.

    Leonel coughed. "Oh, Anastasia. You''re looking very cute today, did you know that? Look at those adorable cheeks, I could just pinch them for day-"

    "Shut up! Do that again, and I''ll never talk to you again!" Anastasia snapped.

    "Ah... yes, ma''am!" Leonel stood at attention.

    Anastasia was a huge part of the plan.

    The Tablets didn''t have inner spaces, not in the conventional sense. Even when Leonel entered the Wise Star Order Libraries, only his mind did so, his body was still very much on the outside. So, obviously, the Segmented Cube and the ring couldn''t have just vanished into it...

    He could only make it look like it had, and that relied on Anastasia.

    Touching a World Spirit through normal means should have been impossible, so when Anastasia suddenly felt Leonel''s gentle touch, she lost it. It was the first time she had ever been touched by anyone this way.

    The floating cloud of blue that made up her lower body darkened and began to rain with its own tears.

    "I''m sorry," Leonel said softly. "I swear I won''t do it again..."

    Leonel thought back to when both Anastasia and Aina had been angry with him. Back then, he had sent Aina on a "date" with that disciple of the Three Finger Cult for the sake of luring them away and dealing a death blow to the Human Alliance.

    Anastasia had been even more angry than even Aina back then, and he could even tell that she was holding more of a grudge as well. A huge part of the reason Aina had stayed mad for so long was because of Anastasia in the first place...

    Now, he felt like he understood.

    It felt like he was abandoning Aina back then, and Anastasia really didn''t like it. And now, this most recent plan made her feel like he was abandoning her, and it hit even harder.

    In the past, Leonel''s pride wouldn''t have allowed him to even try these plans, he''d rather try something else entirely. But he was trying to change himself, trying to become someone who could not just survive in this world alone, but with everyone else he cared for surviving as well...

    So he bent his own desires and will, sullying them for the sake of picking the plans with the highest chance of survival... And the result was that this was the second time already he had hurt those he cared for.

    He looked toward Aina... or was this the third? The fourth?

    The Gathering of Kingdoms, he made Aina fight alone... The Gathering of Minds... he didn''t allow her to fight at all.

    He held Anastasia''s little body tighter, stroking her hair gently as his eyes flashed with a cold light.

    There was another path. If he changed himself once, he could do it again.

    He wouldn''t put those he cared about through this again.

 Chapter 2689 No Flavor

    Chapter 2689 No Flavor

    "Ancestor," Verma spoke after they left the range of Owlan territory, a hint of excitement in her voice. Compared to her usual gentle demeanor, she seemed to hardly be able to contain herself at the moment, as though she might burst out at the seams any second now.

    The elder Celestial Ember chuckled. "Calm your heart, young one. We have yet to benefit as much as you might presume."

    Verma''s gaze dimmed somewhat when she heard this. But soon, the warmth of her Ancestor''s wings made her smile bloom once again. What was there to fear?

    Her Ancestor was chuckling, so the situation couldn''t be bad. Since when did the Beast Empire fear hard work? If that was all it took, soon enough they would rise again.

    "What do you need me to do, Ancestor?" She asked.

    "You''ve already done more than enough, little Verma. It''s time we old bones carry some of the burden."

    "Can I know what our plans are?"

    The Ancestor Celestial Ember fell into silence, each flap of her wings taking her across several bubble worlds. Just the shadow of her form in the skies was enough to paint the tales of countless legends for years to come. The imprint of what seemed like the feats of a god were difficult to erase from the hearts of the masses that witnessed them.

    Verma lowered her head. "I''m sorry, Ancestor. I''ve overstepped my bounds."

    The Ancestor Celestial Ember chuckled. "It''s good to be eager, but trying to bite off more than you can chew will only harm you. Even so, you''ve done a great service for our Beast Empires this time, and soon enough, you will have a seat beside me.

    "What I can tell you is that even if we gain nothing from this Life Tablet, it will be of great use to us.

    "The Demi-Gods and Mortals have long since forgotten the power the Gods of Creation wielded. They were the mighty harbingers of Beast Empire''s pride. We, as their descendants, have yet to become worthy to understand the full scope of their being.

    "All we can do is take the steps to one day return as their descendants to our destined glory."

    Verma listened in silence, her gaze glowing. The gentle flaps of her Ancestor''s wings that could take them across worlds was nothing more than a soothing warm breeze across her feathers.

    "In that case, Ancestor... Does this mean we will be using the Owlans?"

    Everyone knew why he was acting like this. He really wanted the woman attached to the rest of that leg he had found. After eating that leg, nothing else could seem to soothe his appetite.

    He kept killing one beast after another, eating up their legs in hope for the same delicious taste, but nothing could measure up.

    "Bring me humans!" He barked. "It''s not tender enough! Not flavorful enough! None of you beasts are enough!"

    His roar was so powerful that a cyclone formed high in the skies above, his opaque eyeballs reflecting with a light of savagery and indecency.

    The tiger beasts looked toward one another, their hearts trembling. There was only one human bubble left, and they had no idea where it was. And humans that could survive, even as slaves, in other worlds were both incredibly powerful, and would also have... unique statuses.

    Trying to hunt down humans for this... creature to eat would be like antagonizing the other Mortal Races a step far too early.

    Even so, they had to do it or else they would suffer his wrath...

    Or so they thought before a message suddenly descended.

    "Hm?" The Variant Invalid frowned. "Fuck!"

    He stood and kicked away the pile of grotesque corpses and vomit before standing and suddenly vanishing.

    The moment his oppressive aura vanished, the tigers collapsed, gasping for breath. In that moment, they had completely forgotten about the rage they felt toward the death of one of their own. All they cared about was the fact that the menace had finally disappeared.

    -----

    The Variant Invalid flashed, crossing several worlds in a blur.

    It was a journey that took over a day...

    And when everything sharpened once more, he stood in a world of Demi-God Beasts

 Chapter 2690 Beast Empire

    Chapter 2690 Beast Empire

    "Apex, you''re finally here," the gentle voice of the Celestial Ember Ancestor echoed before she frowned. "I can smell beast blood on you."

    "And what of it, old hag?"

    BANG!

    Apex was sent flying so fast that the entire front layer of his skin was burnt off from the initial impact, while the back was torn away by the sheer flight speed of his backward ascent.

    BOOM!

    He collided in a mountain range that quickly erupted into a pillar of flames.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    The gentle Celestial Ember Ancestor rose to her full height, her wings opening up wide and flapping with a world-ending majesty. Embers in the shape of feathers descended from the skies in a delicate rain, and yet whenever they touched an object, whether organic or inorganic, they would erupt into a rain of undeniable flames.

    "Calm your fury, Nova," a voice that was just as gentle as the Ancestor Celestial Ember''s own echoed, but this time it came from a creature that was somehow even more majestic. Despite this, from its voice, it was also clear that it was a male.

    If Leonel was present, the first thought that would roar to the forefront of his mind was: Dragon. But the more you looked, the more... different the creature seemed.

    It did have four limbs, it did have a pair of wings that could blot out the skies, and when it hummed the world seemed to listen to it as though it was truly speaking in the mythology''s strongest magic... Dragon Tongue.

    However, this was where the comparisons seemed to end.

    Apex climbed out of the pillar of fire. Walking back toward them, laughing into the skies, he truly looked no different from a zombie.

    Charred flesh hung from his bones, what skin was left flapping in the wind as though a piece of fabric rather than a person''s flesh. His bone was clearly visible in most places, his organs half hanging out, half functioning normally.

    Even so, he walked as though nothing had happened, still laughing into the skies. And the worst part of it all was that with every step he took, illusory crimson tattoos that hung around him began to converge one after another, healing him so quickly that it almost looked like time was reversing.

    By the time he stood beneath the four hulking beasts, he was back to normal as though nothing at all had happened, his laughter still echoing.

    Of course, there was a fourth beast among them, the final pillar of the so-called Beast Empire... or so it seemed.

    However, this fourth beast was hard to call a beast at all. It wasn''t in the shape of any known creature, but it was rather a mountain. This wasn''t a description of its size or anything else but its true appearance.

    Its head was unseen, the mountain hiding the scope of the four, leathery legs that hung beneath it. It was a creature that was more a force of nature than a living being itself.

    It had yet to speak a single word, but if one paid close attention, it would be possible to see that it didn''t chill beneath Astral Wind''s words, nor did its surroundings heat up beneath Nova''s rampage. In fact, the space around it didn''t even tremble beneath Nebulafrost''s whimpering and whining space either.

    This was a creature that seemed capable of stabilizing Existence itself, a mighty beast that withstood the test of time and despite Astral Wind''s wisdom, seemed to outshine him in that facet as well...

    They were known as the Celestial Terra Race... but that was only a name they had taken up recently due to unknown reasons.

    Once, in a lofty past long since gone...

    They were known as the Primordial Terrors.

 Chapter 2691 No.

    Chapter 2691 No.

    Even with the weight of four consciousnesses far beyond his own bearing down on him, Apex didn''t seem to care in the slightest. As for the pain? He relished in it. It fueled something deep within him, likely stoking from the Barbarian Race he was meant to be born into.

    But as with all things, Existence had forsaken him and he had ended up as a Variant Invalid instead. As far as he was concerned, there was no pain greater than that. What could these mere beasts do to him?

    "Why have you summoned me here, hag?"

    "You are to bring the news back," Nova said without much emotion and hardly any gentleness. "We have managed to procure the Life Tablet."

    "Life Tablet?" Apex raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Isn''t that thing in the hands of a human brat?"Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    "No longer," Nova replied shortly, not planning to give any further explanation.

    "Then give it to me. I will take it to my master."

    "No," Nova replied just as evenly.

    She had no obligation to do such a thing. They weren''t here in a subservient position. If so, what would be the point in everything they were doing? What purpose would all of this serve?

    Apex laughed. "Stingy old hag. How absolutely ridiculous. I don''t see the point in all of this posturing. You need us, not the other way around."

    BOOM!

    A mighty tempest of space descended from the skies and Apex was forced to his knees with such momentum that his knees dislocated, his upper legs driving into the ground and shearing away from the muscle and skin that connected them to his lower legs.

    It was a truly ghastly sight, and even Nova and Astral Winds were frowning. However, they said nothing. It was hard to expect Apex to keep getting away with snubbing their noses in his careless disrespect. He spoke as though he was his master, but he wasn''t. Ultimately, he was just a junior, an ant in their eyes.

    The others were shocked hearing Nova curse like this, it wasn''t something she ever did. But even so, it didn''t seem like she was mad.

    "Old Terror," Nova asked softly, looking toward the Celestial Terra Ancestor. "This won''t change anything, will it?"

    "No."

    The voice was as old as time itself. When he spoke, rustling leaves fell to silence and loose rocks and boulders raised up from the ground. When his voice finally stopped echoing, the rocks and boulders fell, causing avalanches all around the realm.

    Nova nodded, looking toward the others.

    "The only hole to our plan will be if the boy exposes the fact he has taken the Life Tablet back. It will be best to try and kill to silence him, but he has also proven that he knows how to bide his time when it is necessary.

    "In my opinion, his death is a lower priority matter, though something that is most definitely on the list just for the sake of tying up loose ends.

    "Right now, though, our main focus should be forcing the Owlans into the light while we grapple from the shadows. While they are basking in all the pressure, we will take the reins and ascend to Godhood once more in a single bound.

    "The question is, my brothers... are you prepared?"

    Roars filled the skies.

    "Go, boy. Report this matter to your master."

    Nova swiped a wing and Apex was blown thousands of kilometers away.

    ...

    In the Segmented Cube, Leonel sat in silence, a ticker of time continuously echoing in his mind.

 Chapter 2692 Never Again

    Chapter 2692 Never Again

    "It''s not your fault, you know," Aina''s voice suddenly called out as she plopped by Leonel''s side. She leaned her cheek against his shoulder with a smile, pulling his hand into a sandwich between her palms.

    She could feel Leonel''s thoughts more clearly now than ever before. She knew that he was wrestling with himself, a battle between the man he naturally was and the man he wanted to be.

    She could still remember that scowl of rage Leonel had on his face when he sent her to deliver that letter back in the Three Finger Cult. She could feel that he was suppressing what he wanted to do with what he thought the smartest choice was.

    When there were no other variables, Leonel felt that he could take all the risks in the world and still come out on top. But when it was a matter of the safety of everyone around him...

    He had no ability to guarantee that.

    If he were to describe it cruelly, there were added variables that he couldn''t account for. Trying to make sure that everything was dialed in on his part was difficult enough without also having to deal with an array of people that wouldn''t act predictably.

    That was how Leonel had always seen it. Or, rather, it was the way he had tried to pretend as though he didn''t see it, while knowing full well that this was how his mind worked.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    It seemed though... that even now his future self, though having disappeared, was still influencing him.

    Even before he changed the path of his Dream Force, the back of his mind was still churning with ways of changing himself, of destroying what seemed to be an inevitable future and swapping it for something better.

    What he had done to Aina had felt like that first step. It made him greatly uncomfortable, and it also struck right at his pride, but he still forced himself to do it nonetheless.

    And now there was the matter with Anastasia... but that was still just one part of it all.

    "Alright, alright, mister brains," Aina giggled and squeezed his hand between hers more tightly. "We can carry this burden together."

    Leonel looked down at Aina. His heart wanted to say yes, but...

    No, that wasn''t true at all. It was his heart that wanted to say no. He didn''t like it. He didn''t want to have to share the burden.

    Part of it was his ego again, and the other part was not wanting to put them through this.

    Wasn''t it precisely sharing the burden that had ended up with Anastasia in tears?

    Aina smiled. It was a soft smile, one filled with meaning and double understandings.

    "Anastasia is just a child, Leonel," she said in a gentle voice. "Although she''s lived for much longer than we have, her mental state is still naive and immature. We have to protect her, but that doesn''t mean you also have to protect me. We are stronger together."

    Leonel fell into silence and Aina smiled a bit bitterly. She knew that her husband could be stubborn... and the problem was that anything she could say, he had probably thought of a million different ways in a few seconds.

    But she wanted him to hear her nonetheless.

    Eventually, Leonel smiled as well, pulling his wife into an embrace.

    "You don''t have to worry, I''m not going to do anything stupid. But... I''ll also never give those people a chance to ever say anything bad about you again."

 Chapter 2693 The Best

    Chapter 2693 The Best

    Aina blinked in surprise. She didn''t expect to suddenly be pulled into Leonel''s lap like that. But soon her bitter smile became a genuine one.

    "Good. I''m not doing all this training just to get left on the sidelines," she remarked.

    Leonel laughed. "Didn''t we just beat up a certain foul-mouthed Dream Asura? I bet he''s been trying to find a way to escape for ages now. Do you think he''s despaired enough yet?"

    Aina shook her head, unable to hold back a grin. "So that''s why you''ve just been ignoring him?"

    "I doubt a person like that''s going to give up so easily. But that''s also why it''s good that it took us so long to beat him. It was a systematic crushing of his usual value system, one that was anything but a fluke. The only thing that would have been better was if either one of us could defeat him instantly. But that would also require him actually going all out first, something he was clearly not inclined to do."

    "By now, though, he should have realized that he''s entirely powerless in Anastasia''s world. He can''t do a thing. Let''s go check on the puppet."

    Aina squealed a bit as she was swept up into Leonel''s arms. In a flash, they appeared by the Dream Asura.

    Somnus hung in midair, his body wrists and ankles seemingly tied up by invisible ropes that stretched him out wide.

    In this time, he hadn''t even been able to move, let alone figure out a path to escape. Seeing the couple appear before him in such ridiculous fashion, he couldn''t help but scowl. It felt like they were taunting him.

    He sneered. "Oh? The useless Force Pill Crafter can''t even walk on her own now?"

    Aina blinked before laughing.

    "I think at this point we should call this place the Segmented Prison. How many idiots have you trapped in here?"

    "Too many by this point," Leonel shook his head. "But at least the others know not to talk. Anastasia, it seems he doesn''t need his right arm anymore."

    The sound was sickening. Breaking bone and tearing flesh, a rain of blood that splattered against the gorgeous green grass, it all painted a symphony of torture.

    "Going through all those steps was bound to accrue some loss. However, in this way, we can even use your Dream Force affinity to make them stronger than they otherwise would be.

    "Well... the easiest way would actually be to," Aina looked at Leonel and shook her head.

    She knew how stubborn her husband was. Since he said he would use his own Dream Asura Lineage Factor until the Demoness was dead, he meant it with every fiber of his being, and she didn''t blame him.

    It wasn''t just a matter of pettiness, but also a function of survival as well. Leonel felt that he had broken free of the Demoness, but was anything really so easy? How could he allow a stronger connection for her to take advantage of?

    Because she could turn the Lineage Factor on and off as she pleased, Leonel was entirely at her mercy and that was unacceptable.

    But now that Aina was speaking about how the Dream Asuras could use Dream Force to strengthen themselves, didn''t that also mean that the reverse was possible as well? Especially if it was someone much stronger than you?

    It was no wonder the Demoness could turn it on and off as she pleased.

    "Alright, let''s do that, then."

    Aina nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before her aura changed.

    At that moment, Somnus experienced something he never thought he would in his life. Aina didn''t even seem to be trying, but every stroke was genius, and every set was meticulous.

    He was a Force Pill Crafter himself, and seeing this scene, he was completely ashen...

    It was only then he realized just how much they had been played.

    A useless Force Pill Crafter? What a joke...

    Aina was the best Force Pill Crafter he had ever seen in his entire life.

 Chapter 2694 [Bonus] Open Up

    Chapter 2694 [Bonus] Open Up

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (1/6)]

    Somnus had no words to speak left after the pill was complete. He was certain that if it was brought before the Pillar of Truth, let alone nine runes, it might light up double that, maybe more.

    He was just guessing and he had no way of being sure, but what he did know was that Verma was certainly not a match for Aina by any stretch of the imagination.

    And to make matters worse than that... she was a Blood Sovereign?!

    Somnus seemed to finally understand just how fearsome this couple was, and despite how Leonel acted, he was far more calculating and careful with how he did things than it seemed. Before anyone realized what was happening, they would have already fallen into his trap.

    No... hadn''t he already fallen?

    If it was just one Leonel, it could be ignored. But such a young and powerful Force Pill Crafter, matched with the youth that was already crowned the beast Crafter of their generation...

    Would they still dare to say that the Human Race couldn''t rise again?

    Somnus suddenly began to struggle, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t move.

    He sent out signals and flares, but where could any of them go under Anastasia''s control? This world was completely isolated, a blank canvas that Leonel could do whatever he pleased with.

    Leonel and Aina didn''t even look toward the struggling Dream Asura. The pill landed in Leonel''s hand and he looked at it for a moment.

    "Is this the strongest you can make?" Leonel asked.

    Aina smiled. "What? Doubting me? It''s not up to the lofty standards of the King?"

    Leonel laughed. "Not what I meant. I''m more so referring to the fact this is only one of his arms. What''s the pill compared to what you could have done with his whole body?"

    He hadn''t thought about it in a while because he thought he had already found the culprits, that being the demons under the Sun and Moon Demon banner.

    But had he?

    Leonel''s brows furrowed, spinning the pill in his fingers.

    Was he being played? But anyone who wanted to do so wouldn''t be stupid enough to leave a clue like that behind? Or was it that they assumed he would make the wrong assumption about what was going on? After all, he had already forgotten it for a long while now...

    "Alright, I will take this for now. I know that you''ve wanted to break into the Eighth Dimension for a while now. We should have all the materials we need for everything here, so take whatever you need."

    Aina nodded. They had already done all of the simulations, and she had a clear path ahead.

    Soon, it was just Leonel and Somnus left, the latter of which had seemed to have lost all light of hope.

    Leonel yawned. "There''s really no need to pretend to be so distraught. Even if I lowered my guard to the abyss of hell, there''d still be no way for you to get out of here.

    "Well, actually. I can think of a few ways. It''s just that I doubt you could, and even if you by some miracle did, you could never execute them."

    Leonel smiled and Somnus felt a shiver down his spine that was something other than pain for the first time in a long while.

    If Leonel just said there was no way, he wouldn''t believe him for a moment. But this...

    "Now, shall we rob you thoroughly?" Leonel grinned.

    "Anastasia, open up the world he''s carrying around with him for me please."

    At that moment, a tear in space took shape. Then, one after another, precious and not so precious items began to fall out.

 Chapter 2695 [Bonus]

    Chapter 2695 [Bonus]

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (2/6)]

    Much of it was expected.

    In the not so precious pile, there were large amounts of clothing... both male and female. Leonel didn''t really have to think very hard for why that might be. At least, that was until he found mounds of makeup as well.

    Leonel chuckled, picking them up. "I didn''t expect that the mighty Dream Asura would be fond of cosplay and cross-dressing."

    He gave Somnus an amused look, but the latter didn''t seem embarrassed, nor did Leonel plan to care enough to tease him for it either.

    If he was being more serious, it was less likely that Somnus liked to cross-dress, and more likely that he sometimes found pretending to be a woman to be more useful than being a man.

    That idea, though, was even more amusing to Leonel. That was because rather than just cross-dressing, he was probably out there seducing people and...

    Leonel picked up a pair of fake breasts and almost burst into a fit of laughter.

    "Hey, hey. These almost feel like the real deal."

    Leonel squeezed and pressed a bit. At first, he found it funny, but quickly he found it to be very impressive.

    The only reason he could tell that these were fake was because he was exceptionally in tune with his own senses. If he was a normal mortal, then the difference would have been far too subtle for him to even tell. He could imagine this being the greatest invention for the mind of a teenage boy and lonely male. Back on Earth, he would have been made a billionaire overnight if he invented this thing.

    "... You can''t be serious..."

    Leonel reached over and picked up a tube. Well, he was going to pick it up, then smartly chose to use his Earth Force to control the metal casing it was in.

    This time, there was a faint blush on Somnus'' face, but even Leonel had a hard time picking it up, especially through all the blood.

    "You know what," Leonel let them drop to the ground and began to clap, "I respect it. Going so far for your craft, I''m sure you''ve made a killing. I wonder, how many people, businesses and worlds have you pulled into your grasp with these tactics? This will be very useful..."

    Even if this world was isolated, there was no way it was perfectly isolated. Someone as powerful as their Ancestor, for example, even if she couldn''t enter without Anastasia''s permission, would definitely still be able to pry into Somnus'' mind if she was still so inclined.

    Aside from the fact that it wasn''t even certain if Anastasia could stop a deity on the level of the Demoness from entering in the first place, as a Dream Force expert, Leonel should be aware of this. So why was he allowing it?

    Leonel chuckled.

    The reason he wasn''t worrying about it was because who ever said his plans stopped with the Owlans and those beasts? That woman liked to play games, right? Then they would play games.

    But also, in such a frayed state of mind... how could Somnus protect his own?

    Almost instantly, his mind was like an open book to Leonel, spilling faint connections and intricate lines between matters that Leonel should have known nothing about.

    "You lied to me!" Somnus roared, realizing what happened immediately.

    "If you''re a fool, why blame me? You were enjoying playing tricks and scheming against me, weren''t you? Did you get some great sort of satisfaction out of that? Well I''m going to make sure to play you to death. Whether in body or in soul, you''ll not have a day of peace for as long as I don''t will it."

    Somnus seemed to finally collapse, blood leaking from wounds he couldn''t even register as his head fell limply, his gaze dim.

    He didn''t have the will to fight anymore.

    Leonel sneered.

    Now, if anyone looked into Somnus'' mind, they would think that Leonel had lied just now because that was what Somnus believed.

    Looking into another person''s mind was a double-edged sword. It wasn''t always clear and defined what they were thinking, and if they believed something that was wrong, it could easily come off as fact in the eyes of an observer.

    And that was perfect for Leonel''s needs.

    ''Now, let''s see what other useful stuff you have on you...''

 Chapter 2696 [Bonus] Asura Force

    Chapter 2696 [Bonus] Asura Force

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (3/6)]

    Leonel had asked for a large list of things from the Celestial Embers, so in terms of raw resources, he wasn''t actually looking forward to what Somnus had all that much. Instead, he was looking for things that might be unique or beyond his expectations. He also didn''t expect a single person to be carrying around such a large amount of raw resources to begin with.

    But he was actually pleasantly surprised. Somnus had clearly been lying. Not only had he had enough to match far more than what was on Leonel''s list, he was wealthier than what the Celestial Embers had provided.

    Leonel chuckled. ''I guess this man was hiding himself a bit too.''

    The issue was that Somnus'' wealth wasn''t in raw resources. Well, they were, just not in the normal sense. It was just that there were piles and piles of Ninth Dimensional Urbe Ore. The amount of wealth was obscene and it made Leonel grin ear to ear.

    He had gotten a total of three Demi-God level Ninth Dimensional Urbe Ore mines from the Celestial Embers, but if he could save those and use them to start up a whole network of mines under Anastasia''s supervision, how much more valuable would they be? Then, he could use Somnus'' wealth to temper his body instead.

    "Anastasia, please help me dump these in the ocean, and let me know when they''re perfectly purified."

    The large piles of Urbe Ore vanished.

    The next thing Leonel found was actually a whole collection of World Spirits. They were separated into orbs, each one with a different sort of affinity, clearly crafted from worlds that had unique environments.

    ''There''s something interesting about this... When I asked for a Demi-God World Spirit, I thought I was shooting for the stars, but not only did Talon produce one, Verma produced one, and even this Somnus produced one...

    ''There''s clearly something going on here for all these top echelon people to have World Spirits at their disposal.''

    The array of World Spirits were mostly Mortal. However, there were two of the Demi-God variety, one of which had a strong water affinity and the other of which seemed to be streaking with bolts of lightning.

    ''Hm?'' Leonel''s brows shot up. ''[Spirit Refinement Sutra]... Interesting...''

    It seemed that Aina was right about the unique Dream Force of Dream Asuras. Known as Asura Force, it was a combination of Life and Dream Force, connecting the two together.

    What was interesting about the Force, to Leonel at least, was that it seemed to be a unique tether between the body and soul, almost in a very human-like way, but not quite because the souls of Dream Asuras were very much separate from their bodies.

    Leonel couldn''t help but wonder... if it was because of these similarities that the Demoness had chosen to have children with his grandfather. Maybe she was looking to capitalize on potential synergistic effects...

    Regardless, this method of the Dream Asuras was bone chillingly similar to his Divine Armor and Metal Body... except they used World Spirits and Spirits instead.

    Their Asura Force was capable of devouring World Spirits and taking on their characteristics for themselves. Well, in theory.

    The trouble was that it was very difficult to get a 100% success rate, and unlike with Ores that had many of a single kind, World Spirits were extremely unique in their variability.

    Due to this, Dream Asuras often spent most of their time trying to collect an array of World Spirits that would perfectly suit them. In the end, this Sutra usually wasn''t even used until they reached the Ninth Dimension.

    It could be said that all of these nest eggs were just Somnus'' attempt at gearing up for his inevitable breakthrough in the distant future.

    "I see... so I was right, you did run away from your Clan..."

    Leonel had been fairly certain, but only now did he fully confirm it. It didn''t make sense for Somnus to have a technique he couldn''t use for a long while others.

    ''Now, what else is here...''

 Chapter 2697 [Bonus] Spirit and World Spirit

    Chapter 2697 [Bonus] Spirit and World Spirit

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (4/6)]

    They''re actually all methods to use World Spirits? Leonel was taken aback. He had expected something different, and maybe he could find something like [Domain], [Universe] or [Finality] that could take his combat prowess to another level. But... it was outside his expectations that it would all be like this.

    There was one method that taught of how to subdue World Spirits, there was another that taught of how to use a World Spirit as a sacrifice to save your life in a pinch, there was another that taught of how to use a World Spirit under your control to corrupt another...

    The methods seemed endless, and some of them read more like scientific literature and theory than actual applicable methods.

    And yet, Leonel was completely enraptured. For the first time, he forgot about the ticking timer in his head and engrossed himself in reading.

    The more he did so, the more he felt that he wasn''t just reading about methods to help himself, but more importantly... Anastasia.

    There was too little he grasped about World Spirits and their usage.

    It seemed that World Spirits took much longer to mature than other living creatures, and as a result, they were probably both some of the most dangerous and also most susceptible creatures in existence.

    But what was more interesting than that was the fact that Spirits like Little Tolly and others were more interconnected with World Spirits than Leonel had previously come to understand. In fact, it could even be right to go as far as to say that they were the same Race.

    They shared the name Spirit, but Leonel had never really thought much about it before because it felt irrelevant. The word Spirit could evoke so many things...

    But now that he thought about it, even across languages, the word was the exact same. It made sense to dismiss it in English, but when every other culture was likewise the same...

    ''I neglected something so obvious... Okay, we''re making a change. I need to cross reference my intelligence not just in English like I''ve been doing, but also in other languages. I have a feeling that''ll allow me far more breakthroughs as well...''

    Leonel made a mental note of it and slotted it into the back of his mind. He didn''t create a new ability, but rather evolved and mutated Dreamscape into something new.

    By now, Leonel had gathered more than enough information to be better than 70% sure that the beast hidden in the Dimensional Cleanse Trial World''s Vital Star was the legendary Infinity Beast... the God Beast of Creation.

    How his future self got his hands on a living member of their species, he had no idea, and he was even less inclined to think about what that might mean.

    But what was certain was that these combinations of factors would weigh extremely heavy when the time came to take advantage of them.

    After some thought, he took out the World Spirits in the Celestial Ember Race''s rings.

    He laughed when he noticed that there was a protection on it. It seems that they had been more cautious than he gave them credit for...

    Too bad it was useless.

    With Anastasia''s help and his guidance, he shattered it as though it wasn''t even there and took out a World Spirit bathed in flames.

    ''Indeed...'' Leonel thought. ''... I''ve yet to run into anyone else who uses Scarlet Star Force... but the Celestial Embers come frighteningly close... The Emberhearts... the Celestial Embers... Emberheart Force... And this World Spirit...''

    Leonel smiled.

    If feeding a Spirit a World Spirit would automatically grant it its abilities, everyone would have already figured this out long ago. At best, some people probably knew the connection, but the next step was elusive. The end result was using World Spirits as a power up, but nothing more.

    Those people, though... didn''t have an Infinity Metal Spirit at their beck and call.

    Who needed a Minerva Spirit when you had a God Beast of Creation?

    Tolliver swallowed the Emberheart World Spirit and roared into the skies.

 Chapter 2698 [Bonus] Sigh

    Chapter 2698 [Bonus] Sigh

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (5/6)]

    Tolliver''s silver exterior, dancing with golden runes, quickly became lit ablaze as though it had been set on fire.

    Leonel could sense the struggle of the World Spirit beneath it and he wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

    World Spirits didn''t have Dimensional grades like humans or beasts did, but that was because they were technically all at that Ninth Dimension. They were birthed at the peak potential of the world they governed.

    In this sort of situation, it was like Tolliver was trying to swallow a Ninth Dimensional Demi-God, and that sort of task spoke for itself.

    Leonel believed that Tolliver''s potential would win out, which was why he chose to take the risk anyway. But that didn''t stop him from worrying.

    Luckily... it didn''t seem that Tolliver would leave him to worry for long.

    Very quickly, the struggles of the World Spirit became faint whispers and eventually, all that was left was the kernel of its being, one that was quickly swallowed up and devoured by Tolliver whole.

    Leonel grasped out with a hand and the enormous tsunami of molten metal that Little Tolly had become was soon restricted into an arm sleeve attached to his skin once more.

    Leonel sucked in a cold breath, feeling a hint of stinging pain.

    Tolliver had finally broken into the Seventh Dimension and there were a great number of changes that had just taken place. The golden runes on its silver body had gained tinges of red, and from time to time, a strong pulse would come from his arm as though Tolliver was trying to swallow him whole.

    It was quite painful if Leonel was honest with himself. It felt like he had gone right back to square one in terms of how difficult it was to stop the little Metal Spirit from eating him alive.

    Luckily... Leonel''s Fire Force affinity was off the charts and nigh impossible to measure. Slowly, he got the hang of it, and once he did, that stinging pain vanished.

    A timer suddenly went off in Leonel''s head again. Then, he smiled. ''Excellent...''

    He looked down at the pill in his hands. If he took this, he''d be able to veer his Northern Star Lineage Factor down a new path and truly be able to take advantage of both his mind and body.

    When the day came that he crushed the Demoness and unleashed his Dream Asura Lineage Factor in full force, the foundation that this laid would allow him to shoot ahead by leaps and bounds.

    ''All of my Forces are at least in the Half-Step Life State... I''ve comprehended the Black Constellation Realm... I''ve comprehended Dream Sovereignty... I have a World Spirit of a Demi-God World to swallow now... and I''ve formed a Natural Force Art under my own strength...''

    ''The only thing I have yet to do is comprehend Black True Destruction Sovereignty... Once I do that, I will be able to enter the Fifth Dimension...''

    ''But before that... shouldn''t I complete the Fourth Dimension first?''

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smile.

    All this time, he had been in the 1st Tier of the Fourth Dimension. Since he was going to wreak some havoc soon, why not eke out a little bit more of his potential?

    It would be a shame if he couldn''t see the faces of the Owlans as their world crumbled down around them.

    ...

    El''Rion appeared in a vast void, then stepped out and entered an Inbetween World. When he appeared, nothing seemed to be there... everything left would be eaten away by the Anarchic Force, it was truly the best place to kill someone.

    And yet, when he reached out a hand, he still managed to pick out a piece of mangled flesh.

    Looking at it, he sighed.

 Chapter 2699 [Bonus] Olden Days

    Chapter 2699 [Bonus] Olden Days

    [Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (6/6)]

    By now, El''Rion was quite aware that he had been used. Well... used was either a term that either far too well-meaning, or far too severe depending on how you looked at it. On a spectrum, it was either Leonel had led him by the nose like a bumbling fool, or he had given him an opportunity.

    There was no doubt that this mess could only be catalyzed by Leonel because of the Plutos involvement. If not for this, the Gods wouldn''t give a damn.

    As much disdain as other Mortal Races had for humans, Demi-Gods held even more so toward the Mortal Races, and the Gods above them disdained their ilk even more. New novel chapters are published on

    This was the way of the world, and they couldn''t be bothered to care about ants.

    The Pluto Race, however... That was a different matter entirely.

    The troubling matter was that El''Rion had quite literally just told Leonel that the Plutos couldn''t afford to get thrust into such a storm... but he also couldn''t be mad either, because whatever ire their enemies brought down upon this world would be entirely concentrated on these lesser Races. If anything, they would divert their attention away from the real plans of the Pluto.

    And that was why it was so bitter sweet. On the one hand, Leonel was helping him. And on the other, he was manipulating him.

    At that moment, El''Rion stood at a crossroads that most of Leonel''s brothers had stood on in the past.

    Down one path, there was acceptance that Leonel did things differently than others did, and that if you were going to be close to him, it was likely that more than once in your life, you would find yourself being manipulated by him. Of course, it would be to your benefit, but it would be a form of manipulation nonetheless.

    And on the other path... there was the choice to sever relationships with him entirely.

    Those that could even realize they were standing at such a fork were few and far between. To even notice that you were being manipulated to begin was a huge matter. But when you did...

    El''Rion held the piece of flesh in his hands for a moment before tossing it aside.

    He was a Pluto.

    Minerva sat on her throne, feeling agitated. More than two days had passed now, and there was still no sign of Leonel anywhere. It was suffocating.

    She had even led the search personally, but her interference changed nothing at all.

    "I... yes, yes I will do so."

    Minerva made her attempts, but unfortunately, the result was as expected. Let alone trying to convince the Ancestor, her attempts at communication didn''t even make it through.

    Drae''Von stood there in silence for a long while as Minerva became paler and paler.

    "Good... good..." Drae''Von said slowly.

    This was what he had expected.

    Before, he had no plans to force the Owlans to hand the Life Tablet over. The Gods knew far more about it, and he knew it would be useless in his hands even if he got it. In addition, even though he was the head of the Void Race''s Dream Pavilion, much like Minerva, he didn''t have the full backing of his Race. They didn''t give a damn about any of this.

    But now... things were very different. Not only had the Life Tablet appeared, but the Plutos were involved and now it had fallen into the hands of fallen God Beasts?

    That was something that his Void Race could not allow.

    The rise of the God Beasts? The rise of the Owlans? The rise of them together?

    That was entirely unacceptable.

    It suddenly hit Minerva right then. She was stuck so far in the weeds that she hadn''t been able to see the whole picture.

    In her mind, it was she alone who was trying to get the Owlans to rise again, while her entire Race seemed to want to pull her down.

    But what did outsiders see?

    They saw a Race using a useless Dream Pavilion Head as a sacrificial lamb so that they could return to the olden days...

    A day where God Beasts were the de facto rulers and the closest to rekindling their light were the Minervas.

    Minerva fell to her knees, tears of blood flowing from her eyes out of sheer fury.

 Chapter 2700 Own Creation

    Chapter 2700 Own Creation

    Leonel sat in the middle of the Cleansing Waters of the ocean, surrounded by Pure Ninth Dimensional Reinforced Urbe Ore. Updated from

    According to his father''s technique, he needed one Essence per cell. But before he took action on this front... he swallowed the pill that Aina had created.

    Almost instantly, his body superheated as though he had become the core of his own world. His veins lit on fire, becoming molten streams of crimson that threatened to burn him up from the inside out.

    During these last few months, Leonel had been thinking a lot about the soul and the benefits of having it separated versus being a part of his body. Those thoughts had, obviously, been triggered by Aina''s own path.

    That said, Leonel didn''t actually believe that his father was wrong. Rather... he felt that he was looking at things the wrong way the entire time.

    It was one thing to follow the path a technique set out for you... but understanding what that path was and why each step was as it was was a different matter entirely.

    The best example of this was actually [Dimensional Cleanse]. The difference between whether you could share that technique or not was entirely based on whether you understood its various layers. For a long while, Leonel had been able to use the technique, but he was unable to share it with Aina or his brothers because he didn''t really understand it.

    These thoughts had led him to realize that he had never really understood his father''s intentions behind each step either.

    He shuddered every time he saw the number of resources he needed just to progress a single step forward, but he had never stopped to think... Why?

    The establishment of [Final Destruction] seemed to be the creation of a Destruction World. Secondary to that, it was turning the body into an anchor for this world. And in the end, the soul seemed to be an afterthought in this equation...

    Or was it?

    If he took a step back, if his soul was still using his body as an anchor through the Dimensions, then how would his Destruction World be able to do the same? In the end, wouldn''t his soul and Destruction World end up clashing against one another?

    It seemed, then, the reason he had to separate his soul from his body was precisely to avoid this sort of outcome.

    His body became more perfect, his muscles more proportioned, his skin more resplendent in their bronze hue, even his face gained subtle hints of improvement-not obvious enough to make him look like a completely different person, and yet still enough to take him from a handsome man, to one that was blindingly so. Whatever gap there had been between himself and Somnus vanished into thin air, at least in the looks department.

    Leonel seemed to glow, every one of his cells shimmering and multiplying.

    Leonel originally had more than a hundred times the usual 30 trillion cells of a human. Now, he seemed to have gained another hundred times atop of that, the dense perfection he was exuding thrumming with its own resonance.

    And then, without taking a break, he began to absorb the Essences of the Urbe Ore around him.

    His mind split millions of ways, tempering each individual cell at the same time.

    He grew explosively, his aura condensing and his very pores spilling over with Force.

    His entire body had become his Nodal Pathway. He could pull in Force from any direction, and expel it from any direction just the same.

    At the same time, the aura of Destruction pulsing around him was both vicious and undeniable. Just a single move of his intention could crush anyone in his path.

    The rise of a towering might continued to tremble around him until it reached a tempest that exploded forth.

    A solid pillar of water shot out from the surface that was easily hundreds of kilometers above him.

    Despite the violence, it was perfectly smooth and controlled, rising so high into the skies that it could be seen from countless kilometers around.

    Ten Stars shone within Leonel''s body and the bounds of space and time bent and twisted. In that moment, Leonel felt as though he had truly become the center of his own world...

    A World Spirit of his own Creation.

 Chapter 2701 Ridiculous Asks

    Chapter 2701 Ridiculous Asks

    20%... 30%... 50%... 65%... 80%... 95%... 99%... 100%.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura exploded forth and the world seemed to bend to his whim. Acrid smoke billowed from the corner of his eyes and the soles of his feet, as he suddenly shot into the skies, standing within them without the help of any other might.

    Leonel looked down at his hands, somewhat in shock. In Complete Worlds. The only existences that could fly were Ninth Dimensional, and even then, it was dependent on their personal strength and the strength of the worlds they were in.

    In terms of worlds, Anastasia''s own should be the cream of the crop, likely only a small bit shy of God Realms. As for why she was shy of them, that was because the foolish Crafters of the Minerva Race had whittled away her potential with their foolish ambitions.

    However, even so... flying in the Fourth Dimension? Even if it was the Peak of the Fourth... In fact, he could be considered a Quasi Fifth Dimensional expert now... but even so, wasn''t it too ridiculous?

    Leonel punched out and the world seemed to collapse around him. He could feel as though there was a push and pull between the World inside of him and the World his body was within. That push and pull reminded him a lot of [Domain] and [Universe], almost as though his Force was pressing its Will down into the world and imposing his might.

    But this time, instead of targeting specific people or persons... it was the world itself.

    ''Wow...''

    Leonel had only just had the idea of giving Tolliver a Destruction affinity. But did he even need to anymore? It felt like his father had thought of it long before he did.

    His very will was Destruction itself now. If managed to comprehend the Self, then all of his Crafts would naturally have such characteristics as well.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s head suddenly snapped in a certain direction before a grin spread across his face. The pillar that shot into the skies was a bloody red, fueled by a Blood Force so dense that the world seemed awash in its aura.

    He didn''t need to look to know that it was his wife breaking into the Eighth Dimension.

    [Comprehend Silver True Dream Sovereignty]

    [Refine a World with God Realm Potential using your Natural Force Art]

    ''...''

    Leonel rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure he was seeing correctly.

    He had already become numb to the ridiculous asks of his comprehension, so he didn''t even look at them, just focusing on the last line.

    What in the hell did that mean?

    His father wasn''t even asking for World Spirits anymore, but actual entire worlds?

    Leonel rubbed his temples.

    ''Okay, that''s the second time the word "potential" was used. I assume that''s on purpose or else it wouldn''t be there. Does that mean there is a difference? But I thought World Spirits were all born at their peak potential?''

    Leonel fell into his thoughts, trying to ignore the fact his father wanted him to swallow up a world like he was some sort of Void Beast.

    If he really did that, and he was caught, it wasn''t just a matter of himself anymore, the entire Human Race would definitely be finished.

    The difficulty wasn''t just in the task itself, but the implications behind it as well. There was no way that the world would allow a World-swallowing monster to roam free, especially since there was no real confirmation that this was the last time he would have to do it.

    ''Maybe it''s related to the fact that some worlds can become Demi-God or even God while their inhabitants are still Mortals or Demi-Gods? In that case, maybe there is a path for World Spirits to evolve... it''s just not as obvious.

    ''It seems I''ll need to learn that as well... There was definitely a clue in the research papers Somnus brought along with him, I just have to rearrange the info and...''

    Leonel''s eyes glowed with a twin pair of lanterns.

 Chapter 2702 Blood Streaks

    Chapter 2702 Blood Streaks

    Minerva was practically catatonic. She seemed to have completely forgotten that the Void Race Pavilion Head was still here. Even now, she couldn''t believe that she had fallen so far.

    The reason these tears of blood were falling from her eyes wasn''t due to despair, that emotion had vanished as soon as it appeared. Instead, it was rage and fury.

    Anger toward the fact that this had happened.

    Anger toward the fact she had been outplayed by a mere child.

    Anger toward the realization of what had to happen now.

    She took a breath, the voice of Drae''Von flickering into and out of attention for her. She seemed to have almost entirely tuned out the man, if not for his power, maybe she wouldn''t have heard anything at all.

    Slowly, her gaze became more and more focused, a sparking ember dancing within.

    Soon, she took a breath and looked up.

    "Esteemed Elder, please give us a chance. I understand how this matter might look, but this was never the intention of my Race. With your might, you should be able to tell whether I am lying or not, I have not stepped into the Realms of Creation with my Dream Force."

    Minerva already knew the response to this. In the eyes of the Void Race Elder, she was a mere pawn. Of course she wouldn''t know anything, the truth would be in the hands of her Ancestors.

    But that was the thing about a conversation between Dream Force experts. Their minds worked quickly, and anything that could have fooled them before, so long as a small corner of it was unveiled, would expose the rest of it.

    If Drae''Von felt that Minerva was ignorant to the matters before, he should have also concluded that she had "figured" all of this out by his own reactions.

    In such a situation, he would assume that Minerva''s response was in one part related to her wanting to confirm whether or not her Ancestors had truly betrayed the current Gods or not.

    "You are aware that I will not allow you to leave."

    "Esteemed Elder, I do not ask for this. I only ask for two things. One to inform my elders of your presence, and two that you also apply this same pressure to the Celestial Embers. Whether Elder believes my words or not, or believes that my Owlan Race has done anything untoward, I hope you would understand that I saw the Ancestor of the Celestial Ember take away the tablet with my very own eyes. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    "This is the truth."

    Drae''Von looked at her, the galaxies and stars across his body pulsing in silence.

    "Have I? I believe you have a certain little boy to blame far more than myself."

    "I promise you that I will kill you both with my own two hands."

    "Is that so?" Nova chortled. "I welcome it. But know that this is an opportunity for you, not a failure. You get the chance to rise up like you always have."

    Minerva frowned. "What are you-"

    "You''ve chosen to call yourself Minerva. Do you believe that anyone would believe you?"

    Minerva fell into the silence. She was not the one who had chosen her name contrary to popular belief, and her parents had chosen the name during a completely different environment.

    "Run along, now. I would suggest you inform your Ancestors as quickly as possible as this matter is beyond your ability to withstand."

    "And what will you do?"

    "Me? I will, of course, support my allies."

    With that, Nova softly whistled and the void portal gently closed, leaving Minerva standing in silence.

    After a long while, she plucked a feather from her wings, bringing its tip to her face.

    She sliced into her skin, following the streaking lines of blood without the slightest change to her expression.

    Blood flowed even faster, but her hands didn''t pause, even to the point of cutting down to the bone.

    Three streaks... five... seven...

    Her beautiful face was completely ruined.

    Without another word, she turned and left the Dream Pavilion, locking it down before she disappeared into the distance. As for her destination, it was none other than the core regions of the Owlan Race.

    War was coming whether they liked it or not.

 Chapter 2703 Tread Lightly

    Chapter 2703 Tread Lightly

    Minerva at the bottom of a large mountain of crystal. High above, meditating Ancestors sat on clouds of pink, their eyes closed and the postures filled with a disgusting sort of superiority and feigned indifference. Under normal circumstances, Minerva should have waited for their acknowledgment to speak. Even now, they hadn''t even cast a single glance toward her. But at the moment, she couldn''t be bothered to give a damn.

    "The Void Race will likely send someone to wipe us all out soon," she said lightly.

    Dozens of eyes flashed open at once, their gazes landing on Minerva in unison, an unbridled pressure that could crush a Mortal in an instant rippling out from them in all directions.

    The words Minerva had just spoken were far too ridiculous, far too shocking. It sounded like a joke, but it also didn''t make any sense for it to be one.

    Minerva blandly explained everything that had happened. The shock of the Ancestors grew one after another, and when she finished, a frightening pressure blasted her away.

    Minerva rolled away, only using her wings to stabilize herself after she had flown past what must have been at least several kilometers. But to experts on their level, this might as well have been no distance at all.

    A man stood from his pink cloud, his gaze fuming. His wings even began to pulse with red runes as though he might burn the world down at any moment.

    "Calm yourself, Solarius. Killing her will lose us control over the Dream Pavilion, she remains our strongest Dream Force user and right now access to it is one of our greatest trump cards currently," a female Ancestor spoke.

    Minerva wasn''t surprised by this response.

    Ancestor Solarius was the great grandfather of Elrik. There was nothing more he wanted to see than her swollen of foot and big bellied. But now it seemed that she had thrust them into the eye of the storm.

    There were probably no small number of these so-called "experts" who thought that she had done all of this on purpose.

    In the past, Minerva''s parents had been among this group. They were exceptionally young, all things considered. But they were still among the Ancestors of their Race, and they were likewise Dream Force experts.

    Unfortunately, they had died too soon via methods that Minerva was still uncertain of... ultimately destroying what remained of her backing in this family.

    What was left was entirely built up in her hands.

    "And the intentions of the Pluto?" Elysium asked.

    Minerva looked down. "I have no way of knowing."

    Elysium nodded, expecting this.

    There was no doubt that the strongest catalyst here wasn''t the Life Tablet, it was the stamp of approval from the Pluto.

    They were closer to the Gods than most other Races. They were standing near the peak and they had insights most others didn''t... especially since they had Gods amongst their ranks as well.

    "Elysium, we can''t allow this. We-"

    "That''s enough," Elysium waved a hand. "The situation is untenable. Sacrificing Minerva will do nothing but weaken us. They won''t accept such a concession because in their views, she was always set up to be a scapegoat in the first place.

    "Even if they smell something fishy, they would rather kill an innocent than let the guilty off. They will crush us for no other reason than to deal a blow to the Pluto and stop any attempt at rising back up.

    "This is clearly something the Fallen God Beasts know. Their history is not much unlike our own, even changing their names to the banner of Celestials.

    "There is no avoiding this. The Beasts want to regain their title, and the Humanoids won''t allow it. This will be a war that will soon sweep up much of Existence.

    "If for no other reason, the members of the culling factions will take advantage of this to whittle down worlds in order to ease the presence of the Northern Star.

    "You all need to understand this as clearly as possible. Focus on the task at hand and don''t turn your blades inward. The first person to do so will be killed by me personally, that I promise.

    "And much like the God Races, I would rather kill the innocent than let a guilty party escape.

    "Tread lightly."

 Chapter 2704 Forgotten

    Chapter 2704 Forgotten

    The story of the God Beasts seemed to be one written by just two Races alone, but the reality was that it was much deeper. It could be said that for much of history, the humanoid Races were beneath the beasts, and there were many more God Beasts than just the Infinity and Void Beasts.

    After the fall of the God Beasts of Creation and Destruction, there were still other God Beasts remaining, and it could be said that it wasn''t just the Minerva Race who tried to replace them.

    Ultimately, though, the closest creature to success were the Borne Banes... a Race of white tigers who were steeped in so much murderous intention that they seemed to embody a new form of Destruction.

    The rise of the Plutos was actually built off the backs of the eradication of the Borne Banes, and was proceeded by the fall of the remaining God Beasts.

    In addition, the so-called Fallen God Beasts were the work of the Plutos. Rather than outright killing what remained of the Beast Empire, they instead chose to suppress and banish them.

    At the time, this was an incredibly unpopular move, especially by the other humanoid God Races who felt that much of the burden on Existence could be lightened the less of them there were.

    But by this stage, the Plutos had already come to feel that a stance on neutrality was the best.

    The overindulgence of the Void Beasts had led to the overcorrection of the Infinity Beasts, and in the end it had all resulted in a vicious cycle that seemed impossible to stop... until they both ultimately destroyed one another.

    However, one could imagine that while this was an acceptable answer, it didn''t mean that everyone believed it wholeheartedly.

    There were many to this day who thought that the Fallen God Beasts were simply pawns of Plutos, a convenient side bet in case others tried to snap at their heels and retake their position.

    While there might be some resentment amongst the Fallen God Beasts, they were ultimately alive because the Plutos had shown mercy. Who didn''t know that it was well within the power of the Plutos to wipe them out to the last beast? The Borne Banes were the perfect examples of this...

    Now, of the Borne Bane lineage, none remained. Instead, they had been slowly replaced by another, separate lineage of white tiger that focused instead on wielding space as a weapon.

    This was why among the Fallen God Beasts... only the White Spectral Tigers did not share the Celestial moniker because they were the only ones that never had to change their names.

    And now... it seemed that all these seeds of pasts long gone had come to bear fruit.

    At any moment, they could unshackle themselves and return to Godhood. At that point, they wouldn''t just be a middling God Race, but among the top echelon along with the Pluto and Void.

    The problem was... they wouldn''t do that. And why would they?

    There was a reason worlds were ranked as they were. Much like entering an Incomplete World had brought the ire of a Regulator, so too would doing so when entering a world beneath yourself.

    The difference was that there were different restrictions.

    In the Dimensional Verse, the restriction was just solely of the Ninth Dimension.

    In a Complete World, it was multi-variable and difficult to access with ease. It was a function of both your Race, your Race level, and your actual Dimension.

    For example, no matter how powerful a Human, a Human Bubble would never reject him or her. However, a Human that was fine in a Human Bubble, might find themselves rejected by the same level of Cloud Bubble.

    Of course, if you were strong enough, many of these restrictions could be ignored... but only up to a certain point.

    Even the most powerful would be restricted in some way. Even Shan''Rae''s Ancestor could only stave off the Regulator for a period of time before he, too, was forced to leave.

    And that was the Regulator of an Incomplete World. The standards here were even sharper.

    For now, until the former Beast Empire decided to unshackle their worlds and promote to the next tier, the members of the Void Race''s faction would have to send those powerful enough to do damage, but weak enough that the Regulators wouldn''t lash out against them.

    Even so, Drae''Von wasn''t worried in the slightest.

    A near spread across his lips, a set of pearly white teeth trembling with Star Force appearing in the depths of black.

    "It seems the world has forgotten the terror of the Gods. It''s time to remind them."

 Chapter 2705 Rewarding

    Chapter 2705 Rewarding

    Leonel''s feet touched down, feeling the cool water beneath the soles of his feet. The power emitting from him seemed somehow both foreign and yet so intimately familiar. He knew that this feeling had to be a product of his ability to exert control over the very world around him.

    On the one hand, he had suddenly gained a large boost to his strength, but on the other, because it was built into each one of his cells, and woven into the very fiber of his will, it somehow felt that all this new power was as easy to control as a single thought was for him.

    He realized now just how well [Final Destruction] synergized with his Control Ability Index, but it wasn''t just Control...

    It was the opposite as well.

    Especially when his will was to destroy.

    "Silence."

    Leonel spoke these words lightly and the gentle waves of the ocean seemed to cease. He could still see them, but other than visual cues, it was as though all other interactions with the world had ceased to be.

    He realized then that his speculations were correct. Somehow, his father''s technique was perfectly tailored for both his Ability Index, and the opposite side of its coin as well.

    He could not only more perfectly exert control over himself, but the world around him as well, and weren''t these precisely the push and pull of his Ability Index and that of King Alexandre''s?

    Leonel clenched his fists and then slowly released them.

    ''Good.''

    He nodded.

    The greatest downside was the fact that it was likely to alienate El''Rion. But honestly...

    Leonel couldn''t say he really cared all that much.

    He had an appreciation for El''Rion and his Race''s plight. He knew that they were in a slightly precarious situation and they were on the downswing of their long reign.

    He just couldn''t muster the sympathy for it.

    The Pluto had reigned for so long and yet nothing had changed. Maybe they had already resigned themselves to the fate of the end of everything there was, and Leonel would be lying if he said that he had no inkling of such feelings as well, but he couldn''t simultaneously feel pity for it at the same time.

    If the Pluto had some grand master plan to save all of Existence, maybe he would. But just sitting there and waiting for death, wanting to be hands off while it was the likes of Leonel, his friends and his family that suffered the schemes of behemoth Race after behemoth Race...

    Leonel didn''t have the patience for it.

    The only shame was that he knew it wasn''t El''Rion''s fault. The large Pluto might have looked big, but he was just a kid. He had more sway than most of his generation, but it wasn''t to the point of truly affecting change.

    But if Leonel had to choose between hurting El''Rion''s feelings and actually giving himself and his family a chance to survive, the choice was obvious to him.

    Now, the only real question that lay before him was what to do from here. As he had said, he stood at a crossroads.

    On the one hand, there was the exit plan he had been forming in his mind. He now had a whole host of worlds that Somnus had been manipulating in the background to dip his toes into, one of which even had a Dream Pavilion.

    On the other... he could try to fish in troubled waters and keep tabs on this war.

    One was far more dangerous than the other... and likewise potentially far more rewarding...

 Chapter 2706 Interesting

    Chapter 2706 Interesting

    It was a hard decision to make and even Leonel hadn''t quite been able to lock down a decision. He was leaning toward the latter, but that was because before Somnus provided him such an opportunity, it was his original plan to begin with.

    But that didn''t mean it was a smart plan. It was just born out of necessity and a lack of options.

    He needed resources, and a lot of them. The multipliers and hidden traps in the Dream Pavilion''s contribution point system left his hands strapped, while his father''s asks were getting wilder by the day. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    Taking advantage of the smaller worlds was safer and more viable, but the reward was potentially much less as well. While taking the latter option was much the opposite.

    At that moment, a sudden flicker of red landed by Leonel.

    Aina''s hair slowly rescinded from a crimson hue and returned to its usual black, as did her eyes, though they returned to a golden brilliance.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow at this change, but didn''t say much.

    "Are we going?" Aina asked.

    "... I think that if I had a real breakdown of exactly what to target and where, it would be worthwhile. But in this situation, it''s hard. We''d basically be moving around like headless chickens, trying to find something that caught our attention. And even if we did find something that did, whether or not we could snatch it is a different matter entirely."

    Leonel was imagining finding some great weapon or some hidden strategic resource, only for it to be guarded day and night by some elite of the Ninth Dimension.

    "In that case, let''s return," Aina said firmly.

    "You''re right," Leonel said with a sigh.

    Aina giggled. "You look like someone ripped your heart out. Is it not enough?"

    "No!" Leonel said with righteousness spilling out of his voice.

    Aina laughed harder.

    The more he learned about these murky waters, the more sense it made that Emperor Fawkes was being so cautious with his reappearance.

    And that made Leonel want to learn even more about them.

    He needed a more holistic view of the picture. He had gotten lucky this time that things fell in line so perfectly, but there was only so much reading history could do for him. Eventually, he would need the real deal.

    "Okay," Aina said with a smile, not exposing Leonel. She knew of his intentions, but did it matter much? When you had as many minds as her husband, in many ways, you were always focusing on something other than leisure in small ways. She had learned to deal with it.

    With that, they set off.

    Somnus'' elder sister, Flaura, read a report in silence. Her casual smile was nowhere to be seen, nor was too overly serious either. She just seemed to be entirely indifferent, as though learning of her brother''s death didn''t mean much to her at all.

    ''And so it''s come to that finally, huh... I guess there really was no avoiding it, it was inevitable. Anything with so much of Ancestor''s fingerprints on it was bound to end up like this... the last time she took action, the Fawkes family fell... but what is she playing at this time...?''

    Flaura shook her head. She wasn''t her brother, she wouldn''t meddle in such things, nor would she get an unnecessarily large head. Her goal was very different.

    She would nibble around the edges until she was satisfied.

    Her fingers flickered and an image of Lyra and Aerin appeared.

    ''A pair of lovebirds separated by fate and tragedy, what a shame, what a shame...''

    Her fingers flickered again and the teleportation routes of Lyra and Aerin appeared in full view of her.

    ''A Pure Blooded Spiritual and a Sparrow... Both Bubbles have Dream Pavilions... Interesting, interesting...''

    Flaura closed her eyes and leaned back, Auspicious Air trembling around her.

    She had spotted a weakness, now it was just a matter of seizing it. The Ma''at Bubble, should she succeed, would become her newest shiny toy and her strongest pawn.

 Chapter 2707 MaтАЩat Bubble

    Chapter 2707 Ma''at Bubble

    The Ma''at Bubble wasn''t as beautiful as the Owlan Bubble, but it carried an elegance of its own, especially at a time like this where the mood was festive and inviting.

    From Leonel''s perspective, the Gathering of Minds had ended in humiliation, but how could it be the same for Lyra Emberheart, who had become the pride of her Race in a single bound?

    The victory that she secured was akin to the best in recent history for the Spirituals and even Pure Blooded Spirituals. Her name was already being written into the annals of history.

    Although she and Aerin were only third place, they had placed behind two groups of Demi-Gods. This effectively meant that in terms of Mortal talent, she was at the very top. How could the Spirituals not take pride in this?

    This was the sort of festive environment that Leonel and Aina stepped into.

    Quite frankly, Leonel had expected that entering such a Bubble would have been much harder. But it seemed that with the festivities, everything had become far more lax.

    There was also the network of teleportation platforms that had been connected. Because of the Owlans'' current situation, they weren''t exactly in the position to retract their previous order. So it could be said that Existence was more connected now than it had ever been before. New novel chapters are published on

    Leonel and Aina walked through the streets, both of them wearing masks in the fashion of a masquerade ball to fit in.

    By now, their faces were too famous between the Gathering of Kingdoms events and the Gathering of Minds. So this was the best option for them now.

    They spent a few hours moving through a crowded bazaar and buying cute little trinkets that Aina found cute.

    Hours ago, Leonel had brought out his brothers as well. Among them, he had also coaxed Kira out to have some fun as well.

    The girl had spent too long with her head buried, studying and improving with the corpse of the Shadow Tail. If Leonel had forgotten himself for a half year, she had forgotten herself for even more time than that.

    As the sun began to wane, Leonel looked toward Aina.

    It had been years since the last time they were together, and it wasn''t as though they were husband and wife. Back on Earth, such a separation would effectively mean a break up. The expectation of staying together was... naive at best.

    As for Raj, he was a nervous wreck. His relationship with Yuri was best described as a glass canon. The first few times they interacted it was filled with vitriol and they had both said some wildly cruel things to one another. In fact, the first time they hooked up... Raj didn''t even know what happened.

    One second they were yelling at each other, the next they were making out, and in the next they were sharing a bed.

    "... she took my innocence, I''m a victim," Raj mumbled beneath his breath shamelessly.

    The boys looked at him, unable to find the words to speak.

    Raj looked up, realizing he said that out loud. "Dammit, can''t you super human fucks pretend you didn''t hear anything?!"

    Laughter echoed as the group stepped into the Elysium Fields.

    Grasslands and farmlands as far as the eye could see stretched out. Unlike the city, they were thrust into the hub of agriculture now, and the air smelled even more sweet.

    ''Hm?''

    Hundreds of kilometers away, Leonel''s senses locked onto something.

    It was a small troop of warriors, though it was hard to describe them like that. They were more like the heralds and drummers of an army. Only one of them seemed to be a warrior of some kind, and he clearly had the highest authority.

    At the moment, he was moving toward their destination with a scroll in hand.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 2708 Aggressive

    Chapter 2708 Aggressive

    Leonel looked away. If he could help it, there was no need to get involved. He was here for a vacation.

    ''Right, right. Vacation,'' Leonel nodded to himself as though he really believed it.

    Then, he led the group forward until they had entered a small city.

    Though it was described as such, this small city still housed upward of 100,000 people. It was just that in worlds like this one, this was, indeed, a small number. In fact, even back on Earth this would likely be considered a city that was on the smaller side.

    Thanks to this, though, the streets and architecture were much more homely. There was a lot more nature sporadically spread through the streets and it wasn''t rare to find a home or shop built right into an ancient tree.

    Even with this being the case, it didn''t really feel like a countryside village either. There just enough of a modern touch to it that one could still feel the aura of a city around them, and once one was inside, it was easy to forget that this place was "small" at all.

    Aina was quickly able to lead them toward one of these homes in a tree, but they were surprised to find that it wasn''t just Savahn and Yuri present, but also another small group of Spirituals and Half Spirituals. They actually seemed to be having a small get together.

    Leonel and Aina hadn''t informed them ahead of time, so they were mostly dropping by in surprise. And while Aina knew where they lived, they hadn''t had any method of communication anyway.

    While they were surprised, though, the people who took part in the gathering were not, at least not for the same reasons. Rather than being surprised more people had shown up, they were actually instead astonished by the fact there were so many humans.

    Although this province was the most inclusive of them all, that didn''t mean its human population was high. In fact, in this whole city, there might only be a few hundred total, if that.

    Leonel''s gaze looked through the gathering for a moment before he nodded to himself. Of those here, he only recognized Zephyr and Silvanus, the duo of brothers. He wasn''t surprised by their appearance as they had clearly had a decent relationship with the two girls. If there was a party being held, it was only natural that they were present.

    With a step, Leonel and the others leapt into the tree house.

    Leonel looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist.

    "You should trust a married man like me and hurry on now. I bet you if you take more than five seconds to go, you''ll be apologizing for it for the next three days. And that''s if you''re lucky."

    Raj was still confused when Milan gave him a kick to the ass that sent him sprawling forward. He barely managed to stop himself from falling on his face, but when he realized what everyone was getting at, he suddenly felt nervous.

    "Dammit, why am I afraid of her?!"

    Raj stood up straight to a wave of laughter and was about to go forward with a feigned confidence when a frowning man stopped him.

    Zephyr stood before Raj and blocked him with a raised hand, his brows furrowed. He didn''t really understand what was going on, but he didn''t know who these people were and they were speaking in a language that his device had taken quite some time to translate. Because of that, he had only managed to catch the end of their words and still didn''t quite understand what was happening, but he still stepped forward.

    These people were unknowns and suddenly strolled in. He had assumed they had been invited by Yuri and Savahn which was why he wanted to greet them first, but then Yuri had reacted like that.

    From his perspective, it looked like Yuri was afraid of them. In that case, shouldn''t he be stepping up to stop them?

    Raj blinked. "What are you doing? Get out of my way."

    Unsurprisingly, Raj''s temper wasn''t the best, and after Leonel''s five second comment, he felt like he was a frog in a frying pan. He was about this close to losing it.

    If not for his temper, why would he and Yuri get into so many arguments?

    Zephyr frowned, not understanding why this guy was being so aggressive.New novel chapters are published on

 Chapter 2709 Recognize You

    Chapter 2709 Recognize You

    Raj tried to move directly past Zephyr, feeling that the time was about to hit zero.

    "Hey," Zephyr reached out and put a firm hand on Raj''s shoulder, his frown turning more dangerous. "I said to stop. That''s my woman in there, who do you think you are?"

    Raj froze, blinking once, then a second time.

    The anxiousness in his gaze dimmed, and in the end all that was left was irritation.

    He didn''t like the feeling at all. His heart sunk to the pits of his stomach and his mind felt like it was whirring. He didn''t even know what the emotion was, it was mixed in with too many things.

    It was rage, but not quite rage. Sadness, but not quite sadness. Even embarrassment, though not quite that either. He had come here with his brothers, just to find out the girl he thought about more than he wanted to admit was with another man?

    Was that why she had reacted like that? It wasn''t his face at all, but rather that she was embarrassed to be caught in a situation like this?

    No, what would she have to be embarrassed about? The two of them were so stubborn that they never really put any official labels on their relationship, and how long had it been since they saw each other?

    But he had thought that things would stay the same... hadn''t it stayed the same last time?

    He had literally died in a war and disappeared for decades from Yuri''s perspective, but after they met again she acted like nothing had happened at all and that they were still together.

    He had thought that that meant that she was his ride or die. He never said it, but how could he not be a bit jealous about what Leonel and Aina had going on? A lot of times he would prefer to hang out with his wife than them, and Raj couldn''t really blame him.

    And now, Raj stood in confusion, a stranger''s hand on his shoulder, and a great deal of hostility surrounding him.

    Why could she wait decades before, but now barely more than a year was too much? Was it because before she was surrounded by humans she always looked down on, and now she was surrounded by people she thought were on her level so she could really cut loose?

    Sure, he could kick Zephyr''s ass for Raj... but would Raj even want that? Even if he didn''t say anything like he normally wouldn''t, that didn''t mean it wouldn''t eat him up inside.

    Raj was his left tackle, the man who had protected his blindside for his whole football career. He took pride in that.

    But these days, he wasn''t able to protect anything.

    That said, when he was pushed too far...

    BANG!

    Raj suddenly moved, striking a palm at Zephyr''s chest and pulling on the hand the latter had placed on his shoulder.

    Zephyr felt the world turn upside down around him and his vision blurred.

    Milan whistled, but it sounded like he was reffing a game rather than cheering Raj on. And his next words only confirmed that.

    "Flag on the play! Textbook holding call! You can''t pull on his arm like that, tubby!"

    The group fell into a laughter that was doused in their own inside joke. There was no way the people who weren''t of Earth would recognize it, but that wasn''t a martial arts move nor was it a technique of this world. That was a move only an offensive lineman would make. It seemed to teleport them all back to the field.

    Zephyr was a hint disoriented. He thought he had perfect control over Raj and didn''t expect to land on his ass like this.

    "Get the fuck up. I''m going to beat you until your mother doesn''t recognize you, then I''m going fuck her up too."

    Zephyr was still disoriented, but when he heard this, his eyes flashed with rage.

    The surroundings Spirituals and Half-Spirituals were about to take action when they felt several dangerous auras lock onto them. In that moment, they felt as though they had been drenched by their own sweat.

 Chapter 2710 *Huff*

    Chapter 2710 *Huff*

    Raj and Zephyr were sent flying out into the courtyard and the grassy lands that surrounded the tree house, or so it seemed. It was hard to tell who was flying whom because the way they hand clenched around one another''s necks made it impossible to do so.

    They crashed with a boom, separating suddenly as Zephyr pulled out a blade. Raj''s aura rippled and the world around them seemed to darken.

    Zephyr''s heart skipped a beat, but by then, four palms of Chaotic Particle Force had appeared in the air. It looked like silvery black beads of polished sand had come together to form the incarnations of a devil''s hands. Almost instantly, they crashed down.

    Raj saw red.

    "You son of a bitch, you think you can cuck me? I''m going to rip you a new asshole! Let''s see if she still likes you after your face is a meat patty!"

    Zephyr quickly brandished a blade, Water Force pooling around him spirals as he began a dance. Unfortunately, whatever dance he had prepared was completely stifled.

    Two of the palms grabbed onto the snaking rivers of water and ripped them apart, sending a rain of benign water into the surroundings. At the same time, the remaining two surged forward, one slamming against the ground with a BANG! and the other slapping at Zephyr. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    The world rolled and whined, wind being moved about with such speed and forcefulness and the air pressure alone left deep trenches in the ground.

    Raj''s two palms of Earth Force collided at the same time.

    Zephyr''s balance was thrown off by the shaking ground, and that left him unable to do much else other than leap backward, hoping to mitigate some of the damage.

    He couldn''t.

    His blade shattered and inner organs trembled, blood pooling out from his lips as his back slammed against the thick hide of a tree.

    His body shuddered as he slipped down, barely managing to catch a glimpse of Raj coating himself in an armor of sparkling silver-black particles as he gave him a leaping kick into the chest.

    "Damn, I didn''t know he could be so graceful," Franco commented.

    "That was damn near a perfect split, huh?"

    "Looking like an Oompa Loompa turned ballerina out there."

    Raj froze, then coughed. "Ah, misunderstanding, misunderstanding..."

    Yuri looked down at Zephyr, then back up toward Raj.

    "You..."

    "Ah, ah, ah, ah!" Raj rushed forward, stepping over Zephyr and covering her lips with a palm. "Don''t do it, if you say what you want to say, then I''m gonna have to have a quippy come back, and then it''s going to start an argument that goes on for the next week, so let''s just pretend I didn''t say anything, okay? Okay!"

    Yuri suddenly bit down on Raj''s palm.

    "You bastard!" She yelled after she got her lips free. "What do you take me for-"

    Since a palm didn''t work, Raj used his lips instead.

    Milan whistled and James broke out into cheers that were much too lewd for the occasion.

    As for Yuri, her eyes widened, then her anger dimmed a bit, but then it flared back up. Sensing that, Raj pushed his tongue into her mouth and it was like her flame had been doused again.

    Raj was just about to succeed when he felt his lungs screaming.

    He came up for air, putting his hands on his knees.

    "Dammit... huff... Gimme a sec... huff... This bastard was... huff... no shame... huff..."

    Yuri snapped back to reality and she was about to unleash another torrent of curses beneath the jeering laughter of everyone, but this time it wasn''t the heaving Raj that interrupted her.

    There was a rumble and then there was an approach of guards.

    Leonel frowned as he looked over.

    The small squadron pushed their way through the gates, their leader frowning as well when they saw Zephyr crumpled into a pile with a pair of lovebirds standing over him.

 Chapter 2711 Real Reason

    Chapter 2711 Real Reason

    Leonel didn''t react immediately. Technically speaking, this wasn''t his home, and he also wasn''t 100% certain of the ongoing situation. Plus, he and Aina had come here wearing masks, so their intentions to stay out of the spotlight were both clear and obvious.

    He didn''t want to get into any trouble if he didn''t have to.

    Although he hadn''t checked the rules of the city, this was the greater world where the power of an average person could probably level a home without too much effort. In this sort of situation, one couldn''t expect the rules to be the same as Earth.

    That was to say that Leonel didn''t believe that they had come here because of the fighting, especially since everything had taken place on private property. It was likely that they had already planned on coming to this home from the very beginning for whatever reason, and just so happened to run into this situation.

    ''Warriors like them shouldn''t blink an eye to such a childish thing, but why are they frowning so hard?''

    For a moment, Leonel thought that it was because of Zephyr, but Yuri was a Half Spiritual as well, and when she wasn''t scowling, she had the same beautiful countenance that most of Spiritual descent had. Raj seemed a bit out of place, but it wasn''t to the point they should be this shocked.

    ''Am I overthinking things? Or is there something I missed?''

    The herald of the group, one that Leonel had picked out from afar long before they even stepped into the city, unfurled his scroll as though double-checking something. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    ''What the hell are their methods so primitive...'' Leonel shook his head. He found himself getting annoyed, not because of the situation per se, but because of an odd, foulness hanging in the air that he didn''t like one bit. He was fairly certain that this was related to Dream Force, but this was the world of Spirituals. Getting a reading on people was much more difficult here.

    The Spirituals had a grasp on the soul and Soul Force, and sometimes by extension Dream Force, that could rival Demi-Gods. They were, without a doubt, the Race closest to Demi-God status and they had produced several God figures in their history.

    Even the common of them had great protections against others prying into their minds, let alone seasoned warriors like this group. Even for Leonel, it was difficult to get a read on them and he could only mostly follow his instinct.

    He had a fondness for Savahn that went back a long way.

    When they first met, she was the more aggressive party, taking on Yuri''s current role. It was funny now that he thought about it because considering how calm and gentle she was now, it was all the more obvious how calculating her previous actions had been.

    While Yuri''s antagonism was almost entirely based on emotional outbursts, Savahn was smart and protective. She had acted like an overprotective best friend because she felt like she needed to, not because it was just in her nature to do so. And that gave her personality interesting wrinkles that fascinated Leonel.

    Of course... this was only a very small part of the reason Leonel took action. The truth was that these were his wife''s friends, and she treated them like sisters. Much like he had known his brothers for life, she had grown up with Yuri and Savahn, the former of which was her literal adoptive sister.

    As far as he was concerned, their problems were his problems.

    With the scroll in hand, Leonel saw through the restrictions with ease and a light of curiosity lit deep within his irises.

    Indeed, it was just a list of humans and their living accommodations. It was basically just a summary census of just a singular group of people. But there was no other explanation as to why.

    By the time Leonel finished reading and memorizing everything, the sound of a sword unsheathing echoed in his ears. But he didn''t seem to react to it much at all.

    He cast a gaze over and tossed the scroll back. However, this didn''t make the leading guard who had barged in and frowned in the first place lower his guard.

    But that was fine too... because Leonel didn''t want him to.

    "You''re not explaining, but you all probably know the real reason, right?"

 Chapter 2712 To Go or Not?

    Chapter 2712 To Go or Not?

    Leonel didn''t receive an answer. Instead, he got a slash of a sword. However, he acted as though he hadn''t even seen it.

    Aina suddenly took a step forward and threw out a punch. The blade light shattered like glass in the air, raining with the echo of slashing swords.

    The guard''s pupils constricted. He was in the Eighth Dimension, but he was already in Tier 4. He didn''t understand how what looked to be a human could possibly block that blow so casually.

    Aina hadn''t used anything other than her physical strength, but the blade light didn''t even reach her knuckles, instead shattering beneath the air pressure alone.

    She took another step, movements not slowing in the slightest. Once again, it was just her physical prowess, and yet she moved like the wind, blurring and warping light around her until she appeared before the guard in an instant.

    BANG!

    The sight was shocking enough to send the others reeling. Aina didn''t punch, she didn''t kick, she didn''t even bring out a weapon. She simply went from an extraordinarily fast speed to a stop on the dime. The wind pressure from the sudden jolt alone sent the guards and herald flying, flailing through the air like headless chickens.

    However, other than a slight shock, they seemed completely fine... though, that was entirely the point. Leonel and Aina had never wanted to kill them in the first place.

    Aina waved out a hand and Emulation Spatial Force converged into a palm, wrapping around the entire group and holding them up.

    Even being a bit clumsy with the novel Force, they simply weren''t a match for her. They might have been in the Eighth Dimension, but as people tasked with going door to door to deliver messages, how could they possibly be even close to the upper echelon of this society?

    Of course, Leonel knew the real reason why they were going door to door like this.

    The Emberheart Lord could have easily sent out a Bubble-wide message heard by everyone. So why were they using such primitive methods...?

    If he just swept them away and locked them up for their own "safety" again, would they appreciate it?

    He was suffocating them. They were their own people too, entitled to make their own decisions even if he felt his own were best.

    ''So the Ma''at Bubble is going to be visited by the Kairos Bubble, another group of elite Spirituals, and they want to prove the viability of their path...? It sounds like a children''s game...''

    The Ma''at Bubble and Kairos Bubble were the two most powerful Spiritual Bubbles in Existence. There were others, but these two had the strongest Pure Bloods and they stood near the top.

    He didn''t know much about their history, but just listening to the words of the guards, it seemed that both Bubbles felt they had a great chance to rise to the Demi-God Realms if they combined, but the Kairos Bubble felt that the Ma''at were pissing away their chances because they kept intermarrying with "lesser Races".

    The Ma''at disagreed, believing that the mutations possible through intermarriages could give them the spark they were looking for to take the next step. After all, they had many Half Spirituals who were just as powerful as their Spiritual counterparts.

    The Kairos argued that their strongest geniuses were Pure Bloods for a reason, and if they combined their lineages, there would be great hope for a breakthrough within a generation or two.

    Funny enough, Leonel actually agreed with the Kairos. But what was weird here was the fact that the Ma''at were calling forward their Humans and Half-Spirituals to prove themselves to the Kairos? That sounded ridiculous.

    ''Someone is playing games in the shadows, maybe?''

    Leonel wasn''t sure, he had no evidence whatsoever. The only reason he had even thought so was that he had seen Somnus'' rolodex of worlds. It made him realize just the scale the powerful played on... even if they were among the younger generation.

    And it was also because of this thought that Leonel was hesitating.

    To go? Or not to go?

 Chapter 2713 Two Halves

    Chapter 2713 Two Halves

    Lyra Emberheart had been the subject of great discussion these days. After placing third, she secured a great honor for the Spirituals, but while everyone else was celebrating her success, she seemed to be the only one who couldn''t.Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    Sitting by her windowsill, her chin resting on her palm and her gaze looking out into the world, her breath came out in a steady, slow stream. The wind caught her gauze-like curtains and fluttered her pink nightgown as the sun set.

    Her victory was a good thing for the Spirituals, but the ultimate result was that it had emboldened a lot of people.

    Despite the clear gap that had been displayed, maybe used the excuse of Aerin as a reason. They felt that if she had paired up with a Spiritual instead, maybe instead of third place, she could have secured at least second, or maybe, she would have made it far closer than it seemed.

    The funny part was that Lyra didn''t believe they were actually wrong; the trouble was that they blamed the wrong things.

    In terms of skill and talent in Force Pill Crafting, she didn''t believe herself to be inferior to anyone beneath the Gods. She had seen the geniuses of the Demi-Gods now and she wasn''t impressed.

    The gap between them lay not in their talent, but rather the breadth of their knowledge. If one had all the talent in the world but no method to apply it, then what good was it?

    But that was why her rewards were so good. She had received an Eighth and Ninth Order Standard Force Pill Recipe. If she took her time to study them, she could close the gap...

    Just a little bit.

    She sighed.

    How many blueprints could Celestia study whenever she wanted? What about Verma?

    There were just some gaps that couldn''t be closed so easily.

    Her mind flickered toward Aerin, but the image was immediately overlaid by Leonel, and she sighed an even deeper sigh.

    He was so talented, but even he ended up losing everything.

    She was smarter than most. How could she not see that the rules had targeted Leonel? And even then, he would have still come out on top had he not had this one, weakness.

    His brows furrowed.

    Unlike Lyra''s situation, he was in a great one. His Dwarves Race was also celebrating, and he was at the core of the celebrations, but his mood had suddenly plummeted.

    Because he knew that he couldn''t fall into such a trap.

    What could he do even if he went?

    The Spirituals wanted to hold a ceremony to show how strong their humans were to prove a point? What place would he have in such a thing?

    Aerin crushed the letter and burned it to ash, his gaze flickering.

    "Dammit!"

    Wind lashed out against the walls of his chambers, his gaze becoming gloomy.

    In the end, Leonel chose to go to the capital. His curiosity was sufficiently stoked and he wanted to see just what might be in store for them. In the worst-case scenario, he felt that he and Aina had a better than 80% chance of retreating unscathed.

    When they stepped into the capital, he immediately felt that the atmosphere was different.

    Masks were no longer an option, so he and Aina settled for using Emulation Spatial Force to change their faces, hoping that they wouldn''t run into anyone capable of seeing through it, at least not until they could feel out the situation.

    However, they could already feel the glances, not toward their faces, but instead toward their group in general. And it was clear and obvious that this was due to their status as humans.

    There wasn''t any actual hostility, but it was clear that everyone was curious about what might be going on.

    Soon, they made it to their accommodations and the night passed. The next day came and they were all escorted to an arena that seemed divided in two, not physically, but culturally.

    On one side, those Ma''at Bubble elders sat, and on the other, there were those of the Kairos.

 Chapter 2714 Rounds Passed

    Chapter 2714 Rounds Passed

    The Emberheart Lord stood from his seat. By his side, there was another throne, one of a man who looked almost identical to him. However, this man wasn''t an Emberheart, but instead a Moonstone, lord of the Kairo Bubble. Their similar looks were the first thing Leonel took note of, because he hadn''t actually expected that they would be related. From everything he had heard, he thought that they...

    ''Wait. Spirituals construct their own bodies, don''t they? So could it be a coincidence? Or did they both use similar methods of construction...? Or, did they do it on purpose? But why?"

    Behind the Emberheart Lord there was Lyra. She sat there in silence, not saying a word. And, behind the Moonstone Lord, there was a young man who was equally as silent.

    It was hard to grasp anything from these people, but he heard from the chatter of the crowd that the young man''s name was Thalion Moonstone.

    Leonel didn''t pay much attention to the Gathering of Kingdoms, but with his memory, when he saw something it was hard to forget... unless it was as densely packed as the information in the Life Tablet, that is.

    He remembered that Thalion''s name was on the final top 100 rankings. Lyra was barely in the top 30, just edging in. But Thalion had been just outside the top 10. In fact, he and Rowan had been neck and neck.

    This was actually a great feat.

    Although the rankings seemed to be for Mortal Races alone, given the fact existences like the White Spectral Tiger and Owlan Descendants had participated, it was obvious that the Demi-Gods participated as well at least in name.

    Of course, those participants had such thin bloodlines that they were considered to be Mortals as well. But that didn''t stop them from dominating much of the top 100.

    These Pure Blooded Spirituals, however, were truly Mortal, and as such, ranking so high underlined an exceptional level of genius and hard work.

    Thalion was without a doubt amongst this group.

    Of course, in terms of sheer value, it was hard to say who was better between the two of them. That was because Lyra, obviously, spent a lot of her time on Force Pill Crafting. It was only natural her combat prowess lagged behind.

    "Hello, everyone," the Emberheart Lord smiled, his handsome, beard countenance warming the hearts of the audience. "I welcome you all. I will keep my statement brief.

    "I know that there are many of you wondering what is going on here, worry not. I only want to show off a bit as the Lord of this small world of ours. We have lived in harmony regardless of Race for a very long time now, and I want to display our finer qualities to our visitors today.

    But just the same, that idea never made sense to begin with. If they knew where all the humans were located, why not just send assassins?

    Even if a world was prejudiced, they wouldn''t just outright kill a large group of people by their Race alone. That wouldn''t sit right with anyone and that would make them look weak.

    Leonel leaned back, reclining a bit in seats that were quite expensive. By his side, there was Aina and his brothers. Well... aside from Joel who had gone down there.

    No one seemed to notice that their numbers had a plus one. Either that, or they didn''t care.

    Joel, Savahn, and the other humans lined up.

    Alderian''s voice boomed and another line of Half-Spirituals appeared.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. Where had they come from? And why form a census of humans, but not extend the same toward the Half-Spirituals. Yuri obviously wasn''t down there, she was sitting beside Aina.

    The two women looked nervous, because much like Leonel, they had their own questions.

    None of this made sense. If they wanted to hold an exchange of Humans and Spirituals to show the harmony of the world, why pick untrained humans?

    ''Are they untrained?'' Leonel thought, his eyes narrowing. ''If they have such detailed censuses, then they surely know Savahn participated in the Gathering of Kingdoms, and though she didn''t make it anywhere near the Penultimate Round or Finals, she still passed the Preliminaries.

    ''Could it be that they didn''t just pick out youngish experts, but also ones that performed well in the Gathering of Kingdoms?''

    Leonel''s brows shot up.

    "Arion. Passed the Preliminary Round of the Gathering of Kingdoms on his second bout. Come forward."

    A young man with a stern face stepped forward, his face still steeped in confusion much like the rest.

 Chapter 2715 Kids Being Kids

    Chapter 2715 Kids Being Kids

    Arion looked toward the old Lord Guard, but the latter had already begun to speak again.

    "Faelon. Passed the Preliminary Round of the Gathering of Kingdoms on his second bout. Forward."

    The Preliminary Round had given everyone three chances to win a single battle. So long as they won one, they could make it to the next round. To say that one had passed on their second bout meant that they had lost one before making it to the next.

    The fact that both seemed to have the same record painted the picture that the Ma''at Bubble was at least not forming an unfair pairing and it should be a fair battle.

    "You two will be sparring. The winner will be based on a tag system and your weapons, should you need them, will be provided, as they will be blunt. A tag will be based on my count and every battle will last one minute total.

    "Now, what weapons, if any, do you need?"

    The Half-Spiritual spoke first. "I''ll take a saber."

    The old Lord Guard looked toward Arion. "I... will take a spear."

    "Good."

    Soon, the two had their blunt weapons and faced off against one another.

    "Begin."

    The two shot forward.

    A minute sounded like a short time, but in reality, for Seventh Dimensional existences of their caliber, it was enough to exchange several hundred moves and even decide a winner if one was superior enough.

    A clash of spear and saber resounded. The weapons had a clear heft to them, and every time they collapsed into one another, their bodies would bow and bend as the wind clapped like thunder.

    In a rush, the two unleashed a barrage of assaults, forgetting almost instantly about the time they were allotted.

    Arion seemed like a clear battle junky, his gaze even becoming somewhat blurred as he lost himself.

    By the time 300 bouts had been fought, the Half-Spirituals had won almost 200 of them, and of those 300, there were 11 humans that had stepped out of line.

    Every battle was close without fail, usually within 50 tags, and even that upper bound only occurred when the duo was strong enough to exchange at least 500 blows in the minute of time.

    However, Leonel had already understood what was happening after the very first one.

    He just sat back and watched in silence, not saying a single word while his expression was unreadable.

    Had he paid attention to the Gathering of Kingdoms, he would have realized what was happening before the first strikes were even exchanged, and that was because he was fairly certain that the records of the Half-Spirituals, at the very least, were nothing more than a farce.

    It wasn''t even difficult to make it up either. It was even possible that these Half-Spirituals never participated in the Gathering of Kingdoms to begin with just to ensure there were no slip ups.

    They were very good, honestly. They were even wrapped in hidden runes and Force Arts that could limit their power so that it wouldn''t be obvious. But there was no doubt in Leonel''s mind that every Half-Spiritual that stepped forward was actually far more powerful than their opponent.

    Who could possibly memorize trillions of faces, let alone which rounds they performed in? Everyone here had to take the word of the Spirituals for it. Even Lyra just assumed that she was being told the truth.

    And what was the purpose? To make humans look like barbarians who couldn''t even follow simple rules.

    "Savahn. Accumulated a total of 47 victories, failed to reach the Penultimate Round. Forward please."

    A hint of irritation was in the old Lord Guards words by this point, and his cadence was far more biting.

    "Caladon. Accumulated 44 total victories, failed to reach Penultimate Round. Forward please.

    "You both have one minute. The next time someone steps outside of that, don''t blame me for being impolite, you Lordship."

    The Emberheart Lord chuckled and waved a hand.

    "They''re just kids being kids."

    "Begin!" Alderian shouted.

 Chapter 2716 Barbarianism

    Chapter 2716 Barbarianism

    Savahn steadied herself, lowering her waist into a stance that looked like a martial art Leonel had seen in many movies before. Her palms faced her opponent and her gaze looked tranquil.

    Leonel realized at that moment that he had never bothered to learn much about Savahn''s fighting style, he didn''t even know what her Ability Index was. Though, honestly speaking, he didn''t really know Yuri''s either. Everything he did know was thrust upon him at some random time or another, while Savahn had been lost to them for a very long time after the Metamorphosis.

    He always wondered how this girl had survived.

    Much like Leonel, after she saw Aina kill someone with an arm through the chest, Savahn had alienated herself from Aina and Yuri.

    Unlike Leonel, rather than coming back in just a few days to what was basically the same baseline, it took Savahn years to truly get over it. In fact, if not for experiencing the hardships she had, it was unlikely that she would have ever gotten over it.

    It took realigning her views on the world and understanding that living in this sort of environment meant that murder was no longer an objective wrong...

    The battle began and Savahn''s arms moved. A delicate wisp of air seemed to move with her, following the tips of her fingers and leaving trails of a foggy energy everywhere she moved.

    Her arms left afterimages in the air despite their slow pace, and when she suddenly accelerated, she seemed to magically bypass the spear of the Half-Spiritual and strike against his chest.

    The Half-Spiritual stumbled back a step, a bit surprised, but his spear wasn''t slow, dancing in an attempt to counter, but its blunt tip passed right through Savahn''s arm and leg as though they were just illusions and a second palm landed right in the same place.

    Savahn and the young man should have been on equal footing, but it quickly became obvious that for whatever reason, the young man was no match for her.

    Leonel, who was high above, realized the problem instantaneously.

    ''What an interesting Ability Index... it should be unique... She should be similar to Emna...''

    The martial arts style that Savahn was using was very much like kung fu, it was fluid and it also didn''t look as though it held much strength or not. In practice, at least on Earth, only a layman would claim that kung fu was a deadly art to begin with.

    "Did Savahn practice martial arts?" Leonel asked Aina.

    Although he asked, he already knew that answer was no. If Savahn had practiced martial arts in her youth, kung fu would have been the last she chose as the foundation of her combat.

    "No," Aina shook her head.

    Leonel nodded. That was what he expected.

    "Are you alright?" Joel turned toward Savahn who was smiling bitterly. She looked into his eyes and somehow felt both happy and helpless at the same time.

    Leonel stood up, ready to leave the arena. He knew what was happening, but he had no intentions of doing anything to stop it.

    This plan of theirs probably had multiple stages and this was likely just one in a long list of many that had already occurred and were likely to occur in the future.

    Right now, he had no intention of getting involved.

    The Moonstone Lord stood to his feet, and shook his head just as Leonel did so.

    "I think that''s enough, Brother Omeron. I''ve seen it already. If you think this is the path forward, I''ll just say that my Bubble won''t be able to condone it."

    The Emberheart Lord frowned. "This... you can''t be truly angry at what''s just a little scuffle, right? There''s no need to discuss this matter here, let''s go back and-"

    The Moonstone Lord waved a hand. "Nono, that''s perfectly alright. I had already seen their true faces by the barbarianism of their number one ranked. I don''t want to be involved in this matter any longer."

    Leonel''s steps paused.

    He didn''t look back immediately, probably trying to control his impulses.

    He shouldn''t be here. He shouldn''t get involved. It probably wasn''t smart to do so and it wasn''t his place to do so.

    He still didn''t know what the purpose of all of this was. There was a chance that it could be a larger plan set in motion to target humans in general, but he had little evidence of that.

    "I should really ignore it."

    In the silent atmosphere, even though Leonel whispered, many in his section heard him.

    "I really should..." he whispered again.

    The Emberheart Lord frowned. "Number one ranked?" Suddenly, his eyes lit up in realization. "Brother, your words are too-"

    "I won''t discuss this matter any further."

    Leonel''s head slowly turned back, a murderous glint reflecting within them.

 Chapter 2717 Every. Fucking. Time.

    Chapter 2717 Every. Fucking. Time.

    What was the smart thing to do?

    That was obvious.

    Turn around. Pretend he hadn''t heard anything.

    Assume that the Lords up there meant something other than calling his wife a barbarian.

    All were good options.

    But he had been doing the smart thing for too long already.

    It was smart to send his wife to ask another man on a date. It was smart to make her fight alone at the Gathering of Kingdoms. It was smart to feign ignorance and incompetence at the Gathering of Minds.

    All of these things were smart, they had progressed his journey further, they had minimized casualties and the only people to suffer were either those he didn''t give a damn about or his enemies.

    All smart. All very, very smart.

    Leonel felt a hand grab onto his. He looked down to find Aina looking at him, smiling reassuringly. She wasn''t bothered by the comment at all, she didn''t really care.

    What she had cared about was when people said she wasn''t worthy of being Leonel''s wife, but they certainly weren''t saying that now. As for everything else, it was just fluff and unimportant.

    As for the Gathering of Minds matter, she didn''t really care about that either. The only reason she had wanted to participate was purely to get back at Minerva for what she was doing to her husband. As for the spotlight itself, she didn''t care for it and never would.

    The Lords'' expressions changed, but it was already too late.

    The arrow was so fast, and it arched through the air with such beauty, that its lethality didn''t truly set in until it landed.

    BANG!

    Thalion''s head exploded into a rain of blood and gore.

    Leonel''s hair danced beneath the billowing might of his Force, his fury practically taking on tangible form. His Dream Force was so powerful that those in his immediate surroundings felt their eyes going red as well, almost as though Leonel''s fury was their own.

    "Every. Fucking. Time."

    Leonel''s voice echoed through the arena, a smoldering maleficence within them. The smoke coming from his feet and corner of his eyes sparked and danced with hidden flames, the layers of space around him sparking as well as though they might collapse at any moment.

    Lyra''s eyes opened wide. She didn''t recognize this man, even his voice had changed, but for some reason, she was almost 100% certain of it. She felt that she was looking right at the man that could only be Leonel Morales.

    Leonel took a step and landed on the arena. It was a distance of kilometers, and yet he made it look as though it was entirely a breeze.

    The shock of everyone in the surroundings was so palpable that not even the Lords knew how to react, let alone the people in the vicinity. They just watched as he razed a clawed hand and suddenly swiped it down, tearing into the hard stone.

    Leonel''s back and arm flexed as he pulled up violently.

    "Stop him!" The Emberheart Lord seemed to finally come back to reality, but it was already too late.

    The arena grounds were sheared apart, revealing a pulsing Force Art beneath that reeked of blood.

 Chapter 2718 KNEEL.

    Chapter 2718 KNEEL.

    For a Force Art to be well hidden was one matter. But for it to be capable of targeting one specific subset of people and not another was a whole other matter altogether.

    In Leonel''s estimation, the best chance to do this was with the weapons they handed out. But then what would they do with those like Savahn who didn''t need them? If the Force Art was hidden in the arena, though, it was a problem. In a battle, who could guarantee who would stand where? And even when you started off in one location, you could easily end up in another. New novel chapters are published on

    That meant that the size or location of the Force Art couldn''t be the answer either. The best way seemed to be to use a targeted method, one where an expert of Dream Force would intentionally push and prod at the human combatants to make them step over the line.

    However, this was very difficult. Toying with someone''s Dream Force was a tall task, and it required knowing and understanding said person intimately. You also couldn''t just make a person who was naturally reserved and controlled like Savahn, suddenly snap for no reason as well. For something like that, you would need a far more permanent method like Leonel''s King''s Might, for example.

    But that was obviously not what was happening here either. And that left this. Below, there were streams of blood, moving through channels that overall formed the face of a Force Art. It was a shocking sight, and one that filled the air with a foul stench.

    And it was almost entirely human blood, that Leonel was certain of. He had never heard of such a method, but theoretically it was possible, especially with a Force Art Language created specifically for this purpose.

    It was a Force Art tagged with human blood, resulting in its effects only being useful against humans. And just like that, without the dampening effect of the arena''s stone present, all the human combatants, and the ones in the stands for that matter, all began to shake. Their eyes turned red and murderous intent shot out from them in all directions. Many even lost control of their Forces, lashing out at the air and those around them.

    Leonel slammed the slab of stone down with such force that even though it fit right back into its original location, cracks spread out wildly in all directions. He was entirely unaffected by the stream of blood Force Art, no one here was worthy of attacking his mind, let alone influencing it. However, he didn''t need it to be absolutely furious.

    The aura of that blood was clear to all that sensed it. It was human blood. This wasn''t Earth where the thoughts of people were slow. If any of the most ordinary people here were taken and plopped on Earth, even if they had their strength sealed, they would be akin to the greatest minds to ever exist.

    Leonel didn''t need to say anything. The truth was clear enough. It really was endless. The bullshit was just continuous.

    At that moment, Dream Force erupted around him, the visage of a demon ghost appearing to peel itself out from within his face and roar at the old Lord Guard.

    The demon pulsed with a crimson hue, forming horns and hovering before Leonel''s face almost like a mask.

    King Alexandre''s Ability Index and a technique he had taken from Somnus fused into one almost with his burgeoning World Spirit aura.

    In the instant the word came out from his mouth, space cracked like glass, the old Lord Guard falling to his knees so heavily he may very well have shattered his kneecaps.

    The demon mask slowly faded from Leonel''s face and he looked up.

    With a wave of his hand, what remained of Thalion''s body shot into his palm.

    Leonel punched and Thalion''s heart was ripped out... or so it seemed. Instead, the soul of a Spiritual Prince who had just lost his body lay there, sputtering and quaking.

    "I''m only going to ask you this one time," Leonel said coldly, a chilly wind pervading the arena, so much so that the temperature plummeted. "Who told you to slander the Human Race?"

    Leonel didn''t have to explain what he meant by one time.

    Speak any falsities, and his life would end right here and now, all his potential snuffed out at the hands of a man he didn''t even know.

 Chapter 2719 No... No...

    Chapter 2719 No... No...

    Leonel stood with waves of Force billowing off of him, Thalion''s life and death hanging in the balance at his whim.

    After seeing Thalion''s head explode like that, even his own father was in a stunned state and had assumed him dead, let alone everyone else. No one would have expected that Leonel was somehow able to control his Force to the extent that he would actually live for this moment, but even more importantly than that, he had no idea how Leonel had managed to deal with the old Lord Guard.

    The Lord Guard was obviously in the Ninth Dimension, or else he couldn''t have such standing to begin with. Their obvious assumption was that Leonel had to be at this level as well, but they couldn''t see through his Dimension at all as though it was being obscured by something.

    But this didn''t make sense. A human with a treasure that could obscure the senses of Spirituals? That made no sense at all.

    Beneath the Demi-God Rank, the senses of Spirituals were unmatched, that was part of the reason Leonel didn''t need to explain anything after unveiling what was beneath the arena.

    But even further than that, even compared to some Demi-Gods, they were better in this regard.

    It didn''t make any sense.

    Thalion''s soul trembled, the fear seeping into his very bones. Without the protection of his body, the influence of Leonel''s Dream Force over him skyrocketed to a new level entirely, and he could hardly formulate thoughts without feeling a great fear wipe them out to a clean white slate.

    He couldn''t answer the question even if he wanted to.

    "Release my son!" The Moonstone Lord''s countenance finally became malevolent, a pressure rushing toward Leonel like a tide.

    However, in that moment, Leonel''s palm squeezed down and Thalion released a horrible screech. The latter''s soul was cracked like glass, just moments away from dissipating forever.

    "The next time you speak out of turn, I will crush your son-"

    "I said unhand hi-!"

    BANG!

    Even if there was no intent other than to slander his wife, Leonel would have still taken action. He had allowed Aina to suffer enough for the sake of what was smart.

    However, when the true maliciousness of what they Spirituals were trying to do settled in, it was even more impossible for him to let it go.

    Let it go and then what? Wait for the armies to come knocking at the last remaining Bubble World? Wait for the sparse populations of humans scattered across Existence to be genocided one after another under a banner of "morality"? Wait until he was one day forced into a corner and had to present his head on a platter for all of these people to spit at and kick around?

    "I''ll bury you all, raze you to the ground, and if you''re lucky, something new might sprout in your place. If not, that''s fine too. You deserve to rot in hell."

    BOOM!

    The aura of Leonel''s Destruction Sovereignty skyrocketed, peeling waves of smoky wisps rising from his body and cracking the foundations of the world around him.

    An orb appeared in Leonel''s palm and he crushed it, the World Spirit inside being shredded to pieces by his aura of Destruction.

    As the waves of Force billowed out from him in all directions.

    BANG!

    Suddenly, a sphere of nothingness appeared around Leonel. Everything that touched seemed to vanish, leaving a perfectly smooth surface as though the destruction had been machined.

    Below him was a crater that formed in the arena. Above him, there was a vacuum of both air and Force.

    The pressuring wave that the Moonstone Lord tried to throw at him was akin to a pebble falling to the depths of the ocean as Leonel broke from the pinnacle of the Fourth Dimension into the Fifth.

    His aura multiplied countless times over, and once again, his Life State Forces gained a huge boost.

    Leonel pulled at the air and Little Tolly thrummed.

 Chapter 2720 Slander

    Chapter 2720 Slander

    Leonel''s Divine Armor half formed, tendrils of silvery gold coming from the arm Tolliver coated and formed into a bow.

    His Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes spun to life and two Stars appeared behind him.

    The moment they did, the world seemed to be forcefully commandeered by Leonel''s might, and as he drew his bow back, this world seemed to take a breath along with him.

    The arrow was wreathed in flames and silvery-gold space, however, even deeper than that, there seemed to be Dream Force. The world trembled and then solidified, forming a lane for his arrow as a final Force erupted. A streak of golden Bow Force.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel unleashed a torrent of arrows. In that moment, an inverted umbrella of streaks of Force seemed to fill the skies, converging onto a single point.

    The Moonstone Lord froze, not expecting this level of attack. He still couldn''t see through Leonel''s Dimension, but what he could feel were the rain of Life State Forces coming toward him. His mouth went dry.

    How could a single person comprehend so many Forces of the Life State? How could they all be under such a level of control?

    The Spiritual Lord barely had time to form a wheel of water. A bluish, marble stone took shape, a ring of water surrounding it. Every time it rotated and shifted into a new position, the world trembled and a waterfall of Water Force would descend, collapsing the space itself.

    The arrows and the wheel clashed, a cascade of cacophonous booms filling the skies.

    The Emberheart Lord''s eyes opened wide, not just because of the level of strength, and not even just because he had never seen a human so powerful, but also because this was the absolute worst situation for such a battle to erupt in.

    As expected, the screams began instantaneously. New novel chapters are published on

    Leonel''s control was exceptional. Somehow, not even a single one of the reverberating plumes of Force was able to harm the arena or the humans that stood on it. However, the same could not be said for the Spirituals in the surroundings. They were quickly finding themselves enveloped by the aftershocks, and many had already died in just a few exchanges.

    "STOP! STOP!" The Emberheart Lord roared.

    The Emberheart Lord''s expression changed.

    The people that were here were among the most influential of the whole the Ma''at Bubble and Kairo Bubble. If not, what would have been the point of this spectacle to begin with?

    Leonel''s words might as well have been like a stone thrown into a calm lake, sending waves of ripples out in every which direction.

    Such words practically sealed his fate unless he did something to change it.

    The Emberheart Lord realized then what kind of hole Leonel was pushing him into.

    On one hand, he stuck by his brother''s side and they lost everything as one.

    But on the other hand, he dissented and tried to draw a line between them.

    He looked up and saw the helplessness and fury in the Moonstone Lord''s gaze. They looked toward one another and realized that they had somehow been pushed to this point by a single human.

    They had no choice but to take a step back. They would make Leonel pay for this a hundredfold once he couldn''t use a stadium full of people as hostages.

    "Please stop! I will give you an explanation, I swear on my honor as the Emberheart Lord."

    Leonel didn''t even look at him, his arrows firing faster and faster.

    What was the word of this piece of trash worth?

    The Spiritual Lord grit his teeth and boomed out his next words.

    "I am greatly disappointed by the actions of the Moonstone Lord. The Ma''at Bubble had no part in the slander of the Human Race!"

 Chapter 2721 Could Not Come to Know

    Chapter 2721 Could Not Come to Know

    BANG!

    Almost the instant the Emberheart Lord returned to his Palace, it felt as though all hell broke loose. If not for the protective formations around everything, it was likely that the palace would have been razed to the ground at that very moment.

    He couldn''t even believe what had just happened. Everything was in hand in one moment, and in the next, it had all slipped through their fingers.

    How did the humans have such a hidden expert? And why were they just magically present?

    "Shut down all the teleportation platforms. I don''t want a single fly escaping the Ma''at Bubble today."

    The Emberheart Lord took a breath and forced himself to calm down. He strolled into his royal bedroom and sent his wife away before he pulled out a communication orb and contacted the Moonstone Lord who he had already "expelled" from this world.

    The Moonstone Lord responded instantly, a brewing fury practically coming out in palpable waves, but despite what had happened, neither of them were actually enraged toward one another.

    Obviously, they were brothers in the truest of senses, and the Moonstone Lord knew that if the Emberheart Lord hadn''t acted like he did, they would have both been pulled down from their positions. At that point, the situation would be unsalvageable.

    "We will avenge Thalion, brother. I already have the Bubble locked down, he won''t be able to go anywhere."

    The Moonstone Lord grit his teeth, but eventually took a breath and exhaled in an attempt to control his emotions.

    "Do not do anything rash, even if it means letting this person escape, it''s better to do that than to bring you into this mess.

    "The people aren''t fools. Most will suspect how I was somehow able to hide such a large formation from you and build it under your nose. Even if they believe it, they might think you incompetent. If you also force the issue and kill him on my behalf, it will cause problems."

    "It will be difficult now. Before, we had a good excuse to meld our two Bubbles together, but without the Humans as a catalyst, it will be difficult."

    The Emberheart Lord sighed. "This is all because of our Ancestors, we should have been brothers long ago if they didn''t insist on separating us like this."

    "It was a necessity. Only by creating two independent Pure Bloodlines could we then benefit from melding them together. If we grew together, it''s hard to say if we''d even have the chance."

    "Yes, but the process of keeping us separate has alienated our people from one another and it has made the integration difficult. If we integrate too forcefully now, it will lead to internal conflict and trouble. If the tensions are too high, then it will have the opposite effect and rather than the population intermarrying like we would hope, they might draw even fiercer lines of division.

    "Today''s gaff makes that worse. I don''t even know if we''ll have another opportunity for another several hundred years."

    "There''s still a chance," the Moonstone Lord said softly. "If we play our cards right, we can reverse the situation and blame everything on the human from today. We can highlight my sacrifice and save ourselves while pushing the responsibility onto his shoulders.

    "But we need to first capture him in an above board manner.

    "We might also need to contact that person."

    The Emberheart Lord paused for a moment and then nodded. This was, indeed, a chance.

    The two Lords clenched their fists.

    This was what they had to do to erase the past...

    The world could not come to know that the Spirituals had descended from Humans.

 Chapter 2722 Corporate

    Chapter 2722 Corporate

    Leonel sat in silence, his gaze filled with a gloomy light.

    He had been forced to let the matter go for the moment, but he was still inwardly seething. Unfortunately, he wasn''t strong enough, and he was unwilling to let Aina expose her true strength at the moment. If he did so, not only would it put her in even more danger, but wouldn''t that defeat the purpose?

    He was feeling so unsatisfied right now because he constantly put her in the line of fire again, and again, and again. If he were to do it one more time, wouldn''t the outcome be the same as every other time?

    The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He closed his eyes, taking a breath and slowly calming himself down.

    He had made use of his anger to improve his Destruction Sovereignty and enter the Fifth Dimension, and that had also come with a great boost to his strength. But he had also let it take hold of his mind in order to succeed.

    It was a give and take, as with everything else. If he let himself sink into that depravity too much, he much end up right back at square one, suffering the same endless fury he had for so long after his father''s death.

    Honestly, right now, that was exactly the fury he wanted to tap into. He had let them off too easily and he didn''t believe they deserved the mercy he had shown them, but what else could he do?

    He had been able to match the Moonstone Lord for a short time, but he was a pathetic warrior in Leonel''s eyes especially after what he had seen from observing Demi-Gods, let alone Gods.

    The Moonstone Lord was at the 1st Tier of the Ninth Dimension, he had one Life State Force which was likely that odd Earth and Water Force he had used to block his arrows, and probably one or two powerful Impetus State Forces.

    Then there was, of course, his Race to consider as the baseline talent was also of great importance to a person''s individual strength. Leonel had seen this personally after he managed to take advantage of his Northern Star Lineage Factors.

    Right now, Leonel''s body had the talent of a Demi-God, and the increase to his strength was astonishing. He had managed to cross four Dimensions to do battle with the Moonstone Lord.

    But it wasn''t nearly enough.

    Aina smiled a bit bitterly, looking toward Leonel''s back. She then looked at his brothers, and they too, while sending glances at him from time to time, didn''t choose to bother him.

    After a bit, Aina chuckled.

    "Don''t worry so much about him. What he''s thinking of right now is how best to screw them all over. He''s only unhappy because he hasn''t thought of the perfect method yet, and he only hasn''t thought of the perfect method because we''re still lacking information."

    Yuri scoffed. "You sound love sick."

    Aina laughed. "I can read his mind, you know. It''s quite an amazing thing. Now, when are you and Raj having babies?"

    Yuri''s eyes suddenly began to dart around as though a deer in headlights. She wanted to scurry away like a frightened rabbit, but Savahn was too busy cuddling in Joel''s arms to help her out.

    "W-we... we''re not at the same stage as you and Leonel yet," she looked down and away, before quickly covering Aina''s mouth, stopping her from saying anything else. "They all have superhuman hearing, why do you have to talk about this here?!" She hissed.

    Raj, who was trying to pretend as though he wasn''t paying attention, suddenly coughed, choking on his drink a bit.

    Aina laughed through her palm before whisking Yuri away. She really wanted to know the answers to these questions.

    At that moment, James plopped down by Leonel and put an arm around him, burping into the night skies. It seemed the alcohol was starting to get to him a bit because his eyes were already hazy.

    "You went corporate on me, bud. What''s with all this hesitation?"

    James'' laughter rang through the air as Leonel''s gaze sharpened.

 Chapter 2723 Next Tier

    Chapter 2723 Next Tier

    Leonel entered the Lab Setting.

    "Anastasia, cover the whole world. I want information on everything that''s happening at any given time. Specifically, any conversations between anyone at the Ninth Dimension or higher. If they mention humans, they''re top priority. Second priority is the Cloud Race. Third priority is Demi-God status. Fourth priority is... Dwarven Race.

    "Also, map out the entire world. Tell me where the Dream Pavilion of their world is, and also how many experts of this caliber they have."

    "You''re not worried about them sensing me?" Anastasia asked. She had difficulty deducing and thinking for herself, but that didn''t mean that she was a complete dullard. She remembered that the reason Leonel usually restricted her actions was because he didn''t want others to sense her.

    Although most couldn''t feel a thing, at the Ninth Dimension, most would be able to, and considering they were in a world of Spirituals, this was even more so.

    "In this situation, them sensing it would be even better. I''d like to see how they deal with a situation where their people feel like they''re being spied on. As for those that would know it''s us... so what?

    "They already know where I am and don''t dare to act. I want to see how patient they are, and I also want to see how they''re going to make plans when they feel like every step they take is being watched."

    "Okay," Anastasia said in a sweet and almost cutsie voice.

    Leonel laughed. "What with that voice?"

    "What voice?" Anastasia feigned ignorance, pretending like she didn''t know what he was talking about.

    Leonel smiled. Though she didn''t answer, he somewhat knew why.

    Anastasia had broken down into tears after being sent on a mission by Leonel, but that wasn''t because she didn''t want to help him, it was because she was scared and because she was worried about what might happen if she failed.

    James was right. He was still tiptoeing around things.

    In a situation where there wasn''t enough information, and his opponents seemed capable of making an infinite number of moves, there was another path outside of just sitting and waiting...

    And that was to force their hand, to suppress them until they were suffocated, until there were only a small number of moves they could even begin to make in retaliation.

    And when they were only left with those few moves, that would be when he would strike.

    ''It''s time to make my Fifth Dimensional Divine Armor. But first...''

    With a thought, large piles of Mine Cores began to appear around Leonel. On his list, there were several lines that asked for what amounted to millions of Mine Cores of various kinds for the sake of tempering his Metal Body.

    Mine Cores, luckily, while valuable, were overall less so than whole mines. Even if one had a Mine Core, it would take generations for a fully fledged Mine to be born from it, and there were often times when these Mine Cores would have only just been birthed and had yet to have the time to form a mine around them to begin with.

    In the latter case, families and organizations with powerful abilities were able to find these Mine Cores ahead of time, and move them to optimal locations. Most often, these Mine Cores would be stored away as a method of controlling resources. This was because there were only so many Mine Cores that a World Spirit could support at a time, and there was great benefit in concentrating its focus on a few at a time.

    It was even easier to collect these when the Mine Cores he had asked for started at the Fourth Dimension.

    Leonel had absorbed 738 928 Fourth Dimensional Mine Cores to reach the peak of his physical potential. But since then, his potential had greatly increased once more.

    He would need to reaffirm the foundation of his Fourth Dimensional Metal Body before breaking through to his Fifth Dimensional Metal body as well.

    Then, he would forge the next tier of his Divine Armor.

 Chapter 2724 Saturation

    Chapter 2724 Saturation

    Leonel''s thoughts were consumed by the consumption of Mine Cores. Every one he swallowed didn''t seem like enough, and his consumption quickly crossed the seven figure mark and rapidly approached eight figures. He left behind his previous capacity by so far that his power practically became its own engine, thrumming with power and energy so much so that the air around him trembled.

    Leonel realized that he had been too neglectful before. He had been obsessed with improving his Dimension, but he had forgotten that this wasn''t the only path to improving himself.

    No... it wasn''t that he had forgotten. It was probably impossible for him to forget most things. The main issue was that he only had so much time in the day and everything he had to do was so draining and all-consuming. He had come to enjoy the time he spent with his wife instead and he didn''t want to spend all the time in the world consumed by improvement.

    So, though he knew the room he had to improve his Metal Body was there, the idea of sitting down and swallowing up millions of Mine Cores, especially when it wouldn''t help him destroy the enemies he really wanted to destroy, just felt like something he could put off until later.

    But now, feeling the vast difference, it was akin to a new sky opening up.

    From over 700,000, he shot over a million, then two, then four, he didn''t even begin to see his potential limits until after he had crossed 6,000,000, and even then he showed no signs of slowing down until over eight.

    The problem was that even though he could split his mind, there was only so much energy his body could consume at once. With his skin, it was easy because it was external, but if he was targeting individual cells inside his body, he had no choice but to use more roundabout methods...

    Until something suddenly clicked.

    After consuming so many Mine Cores, it felt to Leonel as though he had sensed something different. He opened himself up to that new feeling and he felt his Destruction World layer on top of the world around him.

    In that moment, the Mine Cores around him shattered like glass, being crushed beneath the pressure.

    While it was true that [Final Destruction] was a Dimension strengthening and improvement method... who said that the foundation it laid couldn''t help him to improve his Metal Body as well?

    After this thought, Leonel''s approach completely changed and the Mine Core Essence around him split into countless tiny streams, tempering each one of his cells individually and forming a comprehensive Metal Body that was on an entirely different level.

    To Leonel''s surprise, he didn''t need more Mine Cores to do this. In fact, he needed less.

    As he did so, the other streams of wasted Mine Core Essence were pulled out and used to temper his cells individually until Leonel''s body practically glistened.

    Flashes of gold and dark gold danced across his body, the light gliding off his bronzed skin as though he had become a glass fixture in a room of bright rays.

    His strength increased by leaps and bounds and he realized that his father was, indeed, a Morales.

    Velasco seemed to have separated himself from the normal path of his lineages, but that didn''t mean that he didn''t pull from them in some way.

    When he created [Final Destruction], he would have kept in mind its compatibility with methods that Leonel was already practicing.

    And in that sort of situation, how could they not play into one another hand in hand.

    Leonel''s Metal Body began to form a balance with his Destruction World, stabilizing and anchoring to a greater degree.

    Finally, his Fourth Dimension Metal Body reached a point of absolute saturation.

 Chapter 2725 Human Skin

    Chapter 2725 Human Skin

    Leonel''s body exploded with power, every movement causing space to shudder.

    He remembered the feeling of being in control of El''Rion''s body. For a Pluto, even a single drop of blood could pierce through a Void Beast''s corpse as though it was made of nothing more than wet paper. That had taught him just how powerful the Race was, and it was what made him certain that he was still far away from that stage.

    However, even while acknowledging this, Leonel had come to understand something else.

    Every step forward he took was enormous, and the changes to himself weren''t to be underestimated just because they didn''t match up to the greatest standard of bodily strength here was.

    In terms of sheer body strength, at least in comparison to any other Fourth Dimensional existence Leonel could come across, he believed that there was no Demi-God that was a match for him. And even that was likely selling himself short.

    The changes to Leonel''s body couldn''t just be measured in terms of his strength alone. That was because every improvement he made to his body was tied to his Northern Star Lineage Factor and his Morales Lineage Factor. By extension, that made them related to his Light, Dark, Star and Earth Force, which were well into the Life State by now.

    This was to say because everything was so wrapped up into one, it was hard to distinguish between what was purely Leonel''s bodily strength and what was related to his comprehension and use of Force. The two couldn''t be divorced.

    As a result, while Leonel''s body was "only" at a Demi-God standard, a Fourth Dimensional Demi-God wouldn''t be able to withstand a single punch from him even if he only used his body strength and nothing else. In fact, even a Fifth Dimensional one would be no match for him in this regard. It would take one on the verge of entering the Sixth Dimension to match up to his raw physical strength alone.

    And he had yet to even form his Fifth Dimensional Metal Body.

    Leonel didn''t hesitate. Now that the time he needed to accomplish this had been shortened considerably, he didn''t feel the need to shirk the effort and simply went all out.

    His Destruction World needed his body as an anchor... his body needed his soul as an anchor... and now, his soul, with his King''s Might as a conduit, needed his Destruction World as an anchor!

    It was hard for Leonel to tell immediately if this was a good or a bad thing.

    On the one hand, it sounded exceptional. This would give him way more control over his world, and he could imagine the synergy it would have with [Domain], [Universe], and [Finality]. In fact, Leonel had already been having some thoughts about how his Destruction World could even improve these already overpowered techniques and make them even more powerful.

    But the trouble was that he seemed to have cut himself off from one of the strongest benefits of King''s Might...

    People.

    Even if Leonel could by some miracle allow people into his Destruction World, would they even be able to survive? How would he even be able to pull from them to strengthen himself? Didn''t this mean that his King''s Might, at least in this regard, was permanently neutered?

    He shrugged it off. By now, he had already given up on becoming some great King of the people, so even if that was the case, it didn''t change much for him. Also, he didn''t have the mind to investigate it right now because he was completely focused on increasing the strength of his Metal Body.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Every echo of Leonel''s heartbeat caused the air to shudder. Veins bulged across his body, not out of pain, but because his blood was rushing around so fast and so furiously that they dilated, and in order to make sure that his body wasn''t dealing with large, bloodless gaps, it was forced to produce more and more.

    Leonel had practically become a beast in human skin.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

 Chapter 2726 Picked Up

    Chapter 2726 Picked Up

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open, flashing of purple lightning sparking through him as his hair danced beneath wind of his own making. His Force rushed about so furiously that cyclones formed and roared around him, seemingly wanting to slice apart reality itself.

    He took a breath and everything rushed back into him, the world becoming still.

    His gaze was sharp and everything he looked at seemed to quiver on the verge of collapsing before he spared them another glance.

    He exhaled slowly, the wind pressure causing small claps of thunder all on their own as though even his breath had broken the sound barrier.

    Leonel stood and walked to his Workbench, his mind accelerating through several thoughts.

    His plan for his Divine Armor was just the same. The fusion of Little Tolly and himself was perfect and he believed it to be the truest manifestation of the Life State, a level of Craftsmanship that stood on a level all to its own.

    But at the same time, it was a path with endless amounts of flexibility and likewise one that could evolve with him one he truly grasped the Self State.

    Since Leonel had created the Fourth Dimensional Divine Armor, several things had changed, though.

    First and most obvious there was his Destruction World''s improvement.

    Second was his comprehension breakthrough in the Owlan Race''s Bubble, namely their use of Natural Force Arts in their city planning. Or, more accurately... a close approximation of this.

    The third was just his increase in strength in general. These thoughts seemed to be jumbled, but they worked well together in Leonel''s mind.

    ''I''m starting to see the path...''

    Leonel had already begun seeing how his path could truly fuse into one, but the further along this path he walked, the clearer it became and closer he seemed to mirror Aina.

    Of course, this wasn''t in terms of strength, but rather in how his abilities blended into one another and how it wasn''t obvious where one stopped and another one started.

    This was only made more obvious by the fact Leonel felt that these three changes could come together into one.

    If he treated his Destruction World like an Owlan City, how much more powerful would his Destruction be? And if he incorporated this as an aspect of his Divine Armor, how much more powerful would its strength become?

    The gentle look in Leonel''s eyes didn''t give way to rage. Instead, it was determination that came, and with that, the wisps of smoke at the corners of his eyes and the soles of his feet billowed out in waves.

    His Destruction Sovereignty didn''t need to be fueled by hatred anymore.

    He would raze them down in order to allow something else to grow... why did he need rage for that?

    Not long after Leonel''s Destruction Sovereignty had entered the Black Realm, he entered the Bronze.

    With a thought, the wisps of Destruction vanished and he stepped out of the Lab Setting and stepped into a pod. He rested, allowing his mind to recover.

    When he stepped out, his eyes were practically flashing with their own light.

    "Anything, Anastasia?"

    "No," Anastasia replied. "I believe they''ve taken drastic measures, even going off-world to communicate."

    "And the result?"

    "There are a lot of people who are feeling restless, but those powerful enough to sense me haven''t done anything yet."

    Leonel nodded. "I expected as much. If they''re that powerful, then they''re likely also smart enough to know that if anyone dares to do this, they''re powerful enough to get away with it. However, the longer this goes on for, the more discontent they will feel."

    "Oh, there''s someone coming," Anastasia suddenly said. "I think? I''m not sure. Ah! They suddenly picked up the Segmented Cube!" She spoke in a panic.

    Leonel chuckled.

    He had expected this too. He hadn''t asked Anastasia to monitor anyone coming in his direction because he knew she would have a hard time deciphering a person''s intentions, especially since they couldn''t send an army after him in this situation.

    All they could do was send one or a few powerhouses.

    And it seemed one had finally appeared.

 Chapter 2727 Bite

    Chapter 2727 Bite

    Zornoir was a Lord Guard elite sent here by the Emberheart Lord. Despite his status, though, he wore simple black robes and even covered his face with a mask. It was clear that by every observable metric, the last thing the Emberhearts wanted was another scandal.

    What he hadn''t expected was that the moment he came here, he managed to find the Segmented Cube just sitting without a care in the world. He couldn''t see through the treasure, but he was fairly certain that since the probe covering the Bubble was coming from it, that it should mean that this Segmented Cube that looked like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, should be a treasure capable of housing life. In that case, didn''t that mean if he brought it back this would all be over? In fact, if he tossed it into a spatial ring, Leonel and the others would be unable to step out even if they wanted to.

    Most spatial devices couldn''t house living things, so without the barrier of the Segmented Cube, they wouldn''t dare to step out. It would be effectively jailing them.

    However, before he did so, he had to make sure that they were actually inside of it. Wouldn''t it be too embarrassing if he brought back an empty vessel? Or if he had misjudged the item and it was actually a treasure designed to scan?

    However, just as he did so, his expression changed.

    "Oh my, I''m blushing," Leonel''s chuckle startled the Spiritual into reeling back. But when he realized that he still had his hand in Leonel''s palm, he had no choice but to let go, a cold sweat permeating his back.

    Zornoir found Leonel standing where the Segmented Cube had been.

    Just now, the Segmented Cube was replaced by Leonel''s hand and became a finger sleeve on his forefinger.

    Zornoir''s eyes narrowed. He hadn''t thought that it would be possible for Leonel to come out, not with his Soul Force coating the Segmented Cube. There shouldn''t have been a lane or channel for him to do so. According to his understanding of spatial devices that could house living things, Leonel shouldn''t even be here.

    Looking at the cold smile on the human boy''s face, though, Zornoir felt a cold shiver down his spine as he remembered something.

    Just now, subconsciously when he retreated, he had still been holding onto Leonel''s hand. So when he pulled Leonel should have come with him.

    But why was it that Leonel was still standing there, unmoved? With how explosively he had retreated, was such a thing even possible?

    Leonel raised a hand and grabbed at the air, forming a bow that stood three meters from tip to tip. The aura it radiated was so fierce that Zornoir''s heart palpitated. This shouldn''t be... why did he feel so much more powerful?

    In the moment, it looked like a bucket of cold water had been poured over Zornoir''s head.

    There was an important factor to consider when [Domain] was activated aside from the obvious... and that was the difference in quality of Forces.

    Two people, both using [Domain], both with the same level of Force State, and both with the same Dimension, but using different quality of Forces would display vastly different levels of suppression.

    Zornoir wasn''t an Emberheart Force user, he used a much lower ranked flame and was clearly not a Pure Blood. But even if he had been...

    What was a top 10 Fire Force to the number one Fire Force in all of existence.

    "Hey, hey. Even if you''re going to lose, you still have to put up a fight or else all of this will be for naught."

    [Universe].

    Zornoir felt gravity reverse around him and he was suddenly propelled into the air, so high that everyone across the city could see him.

    His eyes were set ablaze with fear, the confusion fueling his helplessness and making the turmoil in his heart worse.

    Leonel grinned. They sent one person, pretending as though they wanted to keep this hush, but their plot was so obvious Leonel felt like he had read it in an open book.

    If they really wanted to keep things hush, shouldn''t they have sent one of their powerful Ancestors? Why would they send someone even weaker than Moonstone, what was the point?

    Obviously, it was bait. So he would take a bite.

    BANG!

 Chapter 2728 Another Letter

    Chapter 2728 Another Letter

    Flaura swirled a glass of wine in her hand, reading the report she held up with her other.

    After a long while, a smile surfaced on her face.

    "Interesting... the humans have such a powerful existence? Unknown Dimension, strong Dream Force user, bowman...?"

    Her mind flashed with Leonel.

    Leonel had only used his Bow Force in public one other place, and that was during his battle in the Challenge Sequence against Minerva and the other Dream Pavilion Heads.

    But Flaura felt that the odds were low.

    "I''ll put it at... 5% for now. It''s more likely that the humans have hidden experts rather than a youth like him already being capable of battling against the Moonstone Lord.

    "However, I can''t outright dismiss it. There are several factors to consider.

    "For one, the Moonstone Lord couldn''t go all out because there were too many quasi hostages in the situation. Even while holding back, too many of his people were dying. His level of control was weaker than this human.

    "The second matter to consider is the fact that this human acted only after disparaging remarks were made about Aina Morales. This is a weaker point because it''s hard to tell if he planned to act regardless. After all, he shouldn''t have been 100% confident in killing Thalion without the Moonstone and Emberheart Lord being quite a few paces for him, so he had to wait for just the right time.

    "Hm... I''ll downgrade this thought for now... the first point increases the odds to probably 11%, this reduces it back down to around 9%...

    "Then I have to consider the fact that it''s unheard of for such a perfect disguise method to exist... at the very least, they''re too rare and would have to be built on a special Force of some sort, but this Leonel already had Sovereign Spear and Bow Force, along with Dream Sovereignty and Destruction Sovereignty... how many more Forces could he have?"

    There were too many factors at play. In the end, after weighing everything, Flaura landed on 3% odds.

    It simply made more sense that it was another expert of the humans.

    "The next thing to consider is... does it matter? Whether it is Leonel or someone else..."

    Flaura tapped her armrest, her mind swirling with thoughts.

    The letter was seemingly penned by Lyra again. He could sense the bittersweetness within it. She was in one part disappointed that he didn''t come and she had to be saved by another, and another part relieved that she didn''t have to marry someone she didn''t like...

    But then she spoke about how the relationship between the humans was fissured, and how her situation was a bit different now.

    Then she spoke about how much gratitude she had for the man who killed her fiance?, and how she could finally be free.

    She said that she respected his decision and that she was sorry for overstepping her bounds and asking for his help. She should have known better and understood his precarious situation.

    She wished him the best and hoped that he wouldn''t reject her letters when she sent them from time to time.

    It was just a simple letter. He should have been certain that it wasn''t Lyra, but he felt his faith in that verdict wavering... especially when he read about the gratitude she had toward the human that saved her.

    When he pieced that together with the fact the relationship between the Humans and Spirituals were fissured, he felt as though a knife was digging into his chest.

    And then the waves of guilt came.

    It was just a simple letter, why was he reading so much into it? Why was he making so many assumptions?

    Tears of frustration pooled in his eyes and threatened to fall.

    The mind of a Dream Force expert was far beyond what most could imagine. When they began on a line of thought, it was hard to extricate themselves until they saw it through to the end.

    He could feel that Lyra was pulling away from him somewhat through this letter...

    And he could see a future where, in order to reforge the broken relationship between the two Races... that Lyra might marry this man who saved her.

    And unlike the first time...

    She seemed far more open to the idea.

    It felt like his heart was being torn off his chest.

 Chapter 2729 Trio

    Chapter 2729 Trio

    Leonel''s arrow tore through the skies with such speeds that booming concentric circles of volatile air formed an enormous cone around it, rippling out in all directions.

    Each one would start as small as the tip of the arrow and then bloom outward so far that it seemed that all the glass windows in the entire city were blown out in an instant of time.

    The first wave broke them into pieces. The second wave crushed them even further. The third turned them into volatile particles in the air so small that they could be breathed in. And the fourth turned them to nothing. This chapter is updated by

    When the arrow finally reached Zornoir, he exploded the instant the tip of the arrow touched him.

    [Finality].

    Leonel exploded with over 10 times his strength in an instant, causing a firework of blood and gore to rain down from the skies before they were vaporized by the fifth pulse.

    It was truly an arrow to end all arrows.

    Leonel grinned, grabbing at the air and pulling Zornoir''s soul down and into the palm of his hand. Even with all that destruction, he was perfectly intact, painting the perfect picture of Leonel''s level of control.

    He had forgotten how fun it was to use the bow. By default, he always brought out his spear, partly because of his Lineage Factor and partly because back then, his White Lion Bow had fallen behind considerably in strength compared to what he could take out from the Spear Domain Ring.

    But now that he could create his own weapon, and his Lineage Factor had evolved, he felt he shouldn''t neglect his bow as much.

    The main problem was honestly his Constellation. It was clearly better suited to boosting his spear and his Divine Armor. If he changed it too much, it would begin impacting the other Morales.

    He hadn''t forgotten about them, it was just that... he felt it was difficult to face them.

    They had lost their friends, their family, and he, their Patriarch, wasn''t there when they needed him most.

    It wasn''t his fault, and he even held some resentment toward his grandfather for pulling him away like that without a word, but he had done all he could already.

    Emperor Fawkes likely didn''t have much of a choice, and without the chance to reform his foundation like this, how could he exhibit the strength he was now?

    Even his father knew that this was an inevitable outcome for the Morales, that was why he knew that Leonel would be able to comprehend the Constellation Realm ahead of time. The Demoness would have never allowed them to continue as constructed, it would constitute too many unwanted variables.

    Leonel clenched his fists and exhaled. He released his grip when he was just about to crush Zornoir and calmed himself.

    Aerin''s expression suddenly changed.

    Could it be?

    ''No, I need to leave. Now.''

    Aerin turned away, ready to rush out when a sudden gust of wind blew his cloak''s hood off and shattered his mask in a single blow.

    A vicious gust of wind swirled in the air. Hurricane force winds seemed prepared to collapse reality itself, tsunamis forming in the oceans and mountains collapsing...

    Just beneath a breath.

    A trio of Void Race youths stood in the skies.

    "This air smells like shit."

    "Then don''t take in so much of it, fool."

    The three bantered like they weren''t stepping into a war-torn world.

    "I can''t believe they sent us here. Who''s fighting already anyway?"

    "They probably sent the Impures," another responded.

    The so-called Impures were to the Gods what Lumina had been to the Owlans... descendants with such impure blood that they couldn''t be quite classified as Gods, but they were better than probably most Demi-Gods by virtue of their lineage.

    "Even those ants should be enough to deal with them, why did they have to send us?"

    "There should be some goodies here. It''s a Demi-God World, after all. It''s not like we get the real resources back home anyway."

    "We should hurry too... I heard Shan''Rae might come. Some mortal pissed her off and she jumped at the chance..."

    The three shivered.

 Chapter 2730 Assimilate

    Chapter 2730 Assimilate

    Leonel took a step and appeared high in the skies. In one hand, he held Zornoir''s soul, and in the other, there was his bow. He continued looking at the soul as though he couldn''t sense the trembling rage around him from the surging Spirituals. His mind truly seemed lost in thought...

    And then he grinned. This chapter is updated by

    He suddenly nocked Zornoir''s soul onto his bow, causing the eyes of the Spirituals in the surroundings to widen in shock.

    "You want a villain? I''ll play the villain role for you nicely."

    [Star Fusion: King''s Might].

    [Assimilate].

    At that moment, Zornoir''s soul let out endless howls as he was fused into an arrow of world-shuddering proportions. All the strength of a once mighty warrior was infused into a single weapon, pulled and stretched by the will of Leonel''s King''s Might and his Crafter''s touch.

    He manipulated the Force Arts until they were perfect for Zornoir, bringing out his full potential.

    There was no doubt that King''s Might was the biggest nightmare for Ninth Dimensional experts...

    Once it was used, they had no chance at a rebirth. Their comprehension, their strength, was no longer their own. Instead, it became Leonel''s.

    What right did they have to use it to come back in that case?

    Like Leonel had said, since they wanted a villain, he would give them one. Not only would he give them one, but on this day...

    The Fawkes family would return.

    BANG!

    The arrow was so fast the air shattered the moment it left his bowstring, a long tail of rippling space being left in its wake.

    The approaching troops of Spirituals felt their hearts freeze over. A single thought dominated their minds, forcing their hearts into submission.

    Without King''s Might, not only would Leonel still be battling, he would have already been heavily injured. As powerful as he had become, it wasn''t enough for him to treat the pinnacle of the Mortal Races with impunity, especially when they were in the Ninth Dimension.

    But did he need to now?

    He had already made his decision. Since he was using a separate identity this time, and he was seen as a mysterious human that had come out of nowhere, he would give them some real pressure.

    The Fawkes family had been feared enough in the not too distant past that not only had their own fellow humans acted against them, but it also had to be remembered that they were goaded into doing so by much higher Races. The Demi-Gods were certainly involved, and if Leonel was correct, even the Gods might have given a nudge or two here and there.

    In that case, the Fawkes was the perfect role for him to step into.

    He wanted to see how far they would try to push him. His King''s Might Lineage Factor, paired with his Dream Force, was the perfect weapon to use against enemies much more powerful than himself. At the same time, the display of might he had just shown would make them think thrice before they came to deal with him.

    Would it create more pressure as well? Almost certainly so. But so what?

    He had a feeling that this would only help him, not harm him.

    ''There are some holes in my identity. The first and most obvious is Savahn and Yuri. What are the odds that they would both be close to myself and Aina, as well as this new Fawkes character?''

    Leonel smiled, seemingly not worried at all.

    The truth was that the devil was in the details, and where not all flaws were weaknesses... they were also opportunities, and sometimes, when flaws were too obvious, intelligent people might overlook them because they wouldn''t assume him to make such a stupid mistake.

    This was the sort of game and flow that Leonel liked the most. He felt like someone was trying to put him on their chessboard, and quite frankly...

    He found it to be amusing because he could tell that this person wasn''t an absolute expert like the Demoness.

    They were fallible, and probably thought themselves to be much greater than they were.

    And he would crush them because of that.

    "There''s something, Leonel," Anastasia called out.

 Chapter 2731 Choke Point

    Chapter 2731 Choke Point

    "What happened?" Leonel asked, standing in the skies and looking toward the horizon.

    "Odd movements related to Dwarven Race. There was a report that someone intercepted a prince."

    "Got it."

    Leonel took a step, prepared to leave the Bubble.

    There was a reason that he had asked Anastasia to pay attention to the Dwarven Race. He had several ideas about how this might go, and it seemed that he was correct.

    The truth of the matter was that the Aeritha Bubble, the home of the Dwarven Race, was one on Somnus'' list. In fact, it was the exact same Bubble that Leonel planned to target after he left here because it had a Dream Pavilion. The use of conquering a world with one, or at the very least having it as a chess piece, couldn''t be understated.

    So, from the very beginning, Leonel had been paying attention to such things.

    But what was more interesting than that was how strategic the location of the Aeritha Bubble was. It was positioned in such a way that it was a choke point between the Ma''at and Kairo Bubbles, and it was an unmistakably important location as a result of it.

    Most tended to ignore it, but the reality was that it was the perfect springboard to attack either one of these Bubbles, and as a result, it was undeniably important and couldn''t be ignored for these very reasons.

    However, even this was just surface-level analysis. Anyone could think of this, and Leonel knew even without exposing himself to the reality of it that there was no way that whoever was playing around in the background would take such a simple approach to what was happening here.

    Then, he thought a level deeper.

    What was the world thinking about everything that had happened at the Gathering of Minds?

    There was no doubt that Aerin was the most important piece of the Dwarven Race. His talent in Crafting was exceptional, and he had the potential to become their next God.

    While the Spirituals were vying for a spot to Demi-Godhood, the Dwarven Race just wanted to be more comfortable and survive.

    With every culling, they felt that they came closer and closer to suffering as well, and they had to speed ahead to remain ahead of the curve... Aerin was their hope to do that and live out the next few generations in peace.

    Now what happened when a Bubble World in a strategic location, with so much political freedom riding on the life of a single young man, fell in love with the princess of another world that was riding on the end of a thin, sharp blade?

    If one wrong move was made, everything might collapse and the world would quickly become embroiled in chaos.

    This was a pressure point. If it was pressed down upon, moved, and manipulated correctly, the right person could end up with not just both, but all three worlds in the palm of their hands.

    And not only that... but three Dream Pavilions for the price of none.

    Even with all of this said, Leonel went one layer deeper than even this.

    He was almost certain that a Dream Asura was responsible for all of this after seeing the detailed scheming that Somnus was a part of. He also knew that Somnus had been expelled from his Clan after the matters of the Gathering of Minds.

    Was it a coincidence that so soon after Somnus'' life and death was in the balance that one of the Bubble Worlds he had so much information about had become the key chess piece in the games of another Dream Asura?

    Most definitely not.

    As such, he was certain that not only was it a Dream Asura, but it was a Dream Asura with incredibly close ties to Somnus himself.

 Chapter 2732 Won

    Chapter 2732 Won

    Leonel landed in the mountain range his own arrow had just destroyed. Nothing he did was without purpose, even if it was showing off. Or so he liked to think.

    He grinned to himself, sensing the volatile plumes of creation, strands of destruction, and more importantly than any of that, the wild fluctuations of space in the surroundings.

    Just now, he used [Assimilate] to fuse a Ninth Dimensional warrior into his arrow of Scarlet Star Force and Emulation Spatial Force. Seeing such potential for creation, his Scarlet Star Force quickly gobbled it up, and the pure Dream and Soul Force coming from the soul bolstered his Emulation Spatial Force considerably.

    On top of that, because of his Destruction World''s influence, he had been able to force the Craft into a Quasi Self Grade state. And as a result of that, all the potential for creation was quickly forced into a state of complete and utter Destruction.

    This was all to say that the arrow wasn''t just a little powerful... it was so strong that it was likely capable of lighting up more than 27 Runes on the Truth Pillar, a number that was nine better than the best Leonel or Minerva could do.

    [Assimilate] was one of the three most powerful techniques of Emperor''s Might. It was designed to allow you to fuse the souls with objects that could raise and elevate its status to another level, but it could also do the reverse.

    It was thanks to [Assimilate] that Tolliver had managed to gain the talent of an Infinity Beast, and when it was done in reverse, Leonel''s arrows gained the strength of a Ninth Dimensional expert.

    No, it wasn''t accurate to say it like this. It was more like the Life Force of such an existence, all their potential and everything they had once been or would have ever been exploded all at once. And that was all without even considering the Scarlet Star Force it was fueling.

    It wasn''t just a Ninth Dimensional level of strength; explaining it that way was too simple... and its power proved that.

    This time, though, that wasn''t the point of Leonel''s current escapade.

    The eruption of his arrow had provided him with a good opportunity. The space here was highly unstable, and the gap between it and the in-between world was shrinking and expanding rapidly, fluctuating back and forth.

    If he timed it correctly...

    But unfortunately, reality was cruel. The moment he stepped out, he found himself stuck in this game of cat and mouse between himself and an existence he had never laid his eyes on before.

    Using his Geomag Force, he pushed his senses to the limit, sensing pulsing through the earth and space to locate who had suddenly attacked him...

    And that only let him smell his death coming a split second before anyone else. Just a small split moment... not enough for him to do a single thing with, and certainly not enough to save his life.

    The sudden attack seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It bore down on him with such force that his body froze before it even landed. In that moment, he felt like those Spirituals who had just faced Leonel''s arrow.

    Then it appeared before his eyes, a whirlwind of strength looking to bore a hole through his forehead.

    It was then a figure appeared before him, standing tall and proud, he extended out a hand.

    "Well, shit, this attack is more powerful than I thought it was," the figure mumbled.

    Aerin almost fainted when he heard this. Why act so confidently if this was going to be the end result anyway!?

    "Blackstar!" The figure chuckled as though he could hear Aerin''s thoughts before calling out to the empty void of space.

    At that moment, Aerin felt his vision go black and when it cleared up again, he felt himself shiver. He looked back and found a long, cone-shape trench extending behind him. The city was half destroyed and everything left in its wake had crumbled to ash.

    "Welp, looks like they won this round," the figure clicked his tongue.

    Aerin''s face warped in confusion. What did that mean?

 Chapter 2733 27%

    Chapter 2733 27%

    Leonel looked back to face Aerin, but it was clear that the latter didn''t recognize him. Though, that much was obvious; if even Aerin could see through his disguise then he might as well not be wearing it at all.

    "Let''s go," Leonel said.

    "Who are you?"

    "Not the place to be asking questions."

    Aerin frowned, not understanding what this person was trying to get at.

    "I''m not taking you with me, I''m just sending you back to your home world. I assume you were lured here due to something related to Lyra? Well, you don''t need to worry about it, let''s go."

    Leonel placed a hand on Aerin''s shoulder and whisked him away. At this point, Leonel''s strength was too great for Aerin to resist even if he wanted to, but that only made him all the more wary.

    Aerin couldn''t help but wonder if all of this was a ruse set up by Leonel... the question was for what, though? Was it to get him to trust him?

    Leonel chuckled. "There are much easier ways for me to deal with your Bubble, trust me. I wouldn''t have the patience to wait for you to grow up and take it all over. Wouldn''t I be dead and decrepit by then?"

    Aerin frowned and didn''t say much. He would just feel out the situation as he went.

    But to his astonishment, Leonel actually sent him back to his world... and then directly left as though there was nothing of importance going on with him.

    No strings, no communication, there was absolutely nothing.

    ''... What did he mean by "they won this round"?''

    Aerin frowned, feeling an uncomfortable feeling welling up in his chest. He thought he was only a pawn in one game of chess, but it seemed that there were two masters going at it.

    She had heard rumors that the Fawkes cashed in a favor from the Pluto to just barely survive that catastrophe from all those years ago. But from her understanding, it couldn''t have been more than a handful of them that made it through.

    To think that from that small minority, such a genius had risen up.

    ''But why expose themselves like this? What are they getting at? Are they a fool who overestimates themselves? That can''t be the case because he saw through my plot, so it has to have a purpose.''

    Blaring warning signs echoed in Flaura''s head as it all pointed to one truth: why announce this if he wasn''t trying to hide another identity? Could he really be Leonel Morales?

    But then how did he mimic the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor without being a Fawkes?

    The odds that were at 3% began to tick upward...

    Flaura hadn''t put much thought into it in the past, but if it was the case that he was Leonel, what would that mean?

    ''The Fawkes have quite a well-hidden history. The humans don''t talk about it because it''s a shame, and the others certainly won''t talk about how they had to gang up and scheme to deal with a human family.

    ''But, Leonel Morales has the Life Tablet, or... had the Tablet. It should document histories, in which case, learning about the Fawkes wouldn''t be difficult at all.

    ''As for why he''s pretending, it''s likely because he''s using this opportunity to step out of the spotlight. He already failed at the Gathering of Minds, and there was even a war triggered as a result of it. There would be no better chance than to step out of the spotlight.

    ''Unfortunately, he was pulled back into it because the Moonlight Lord targeted his wife, and effectively the Human Race as a whole.

    ''The Fawkes is an interesting angle to take because they are part of the Human Race, and yet also separate at the same time. Because they were betrayed, it''s easy to think of them as two separate identities...

    ''With that sort of framing, I''d say it''s gone from just a 3% chance to 27%...''

    Flaura took a sip of her wine, wondering if this would be useful. But first, she needed more information.

    She called forward a steward and asked for some very specific things.

 Chapter 2734 Threat

    Chapter 2734 Threat

    Soon, the reports she wanted were on her lap. She went through them all one by one until she found what seemed to be a true smoking gun.

    ''Savahn and Yuri...''

    She narrowed her eyes.

    What were the odds that both this Fawkes and Leonel knew and were close to the same people? Almost zero, especially since she could find any information on Savahn and Yuri dating more than a handful of years back.

    ''Oh...? Fascinating...''

    As she flipped through the report, Flaura got to a portion that intrigued her.

    It turned out that years ago, the Human Bubbles took the initiative to ship out several Races back to their homes. They should have been grown and raised in those Incomplete Worlds. The Human Race was scared of being targeted because they controlled Races that were clearly above them, so they took preventative measures.

    If this report was correct, Savahn and Yuri appeared around the same time, as did many other unexpected geniuses.

    Further than that, one of the geniuses of the Spirituals, a Spiritual sent in by the Kairo Bubble, in fact, was personally killed by Leonel during the Gathering of Kingdoms. In fact, it was because of this that Leonel wasn''t able to participate and he had his wife do so in his stead.

    Could it be a coincidence?

    Why would Leonel have a grudge with this Spiritual he should have never met?

    "Leonel Morales is not only a Human, but a Human of an Incomplete World?"

    Flaura let out a bell-like laughter. ''Fascinating, fascinating, far too fascinating...''

    She would have never guessed such a thing. She made a mental note that she should go down any interesting lines of investigation, even if it felt that there was only a 3% chance.

    By now, that 27% chance had ballooned to 42%. It was practically 50-50 on whether this man was truly Leonel or a Fawkes.

    But that left other questions. What ability did Leonel use to mimic Emperor''s Might? Could it have nothing to do with Emperor''s Might and she was being led by the nose by his words?

    In the end, this person didn''t even say whether they wanted him to win or not, they just wanted him to send the challenge. As for who he was challenging? It wanted him to challenge the Kairo Bubble.

    ''This person really is playing with fire.''

    Leonel felt that the intentions were quite obvious.

    If he challenged the Kairo Bubble, several things would happen in quick succession.

    First, he would be back in the spotlight he had taken such care to get out of.

    Of course, this wasn''t too bad because the spotlight wouldn''t be too bright, and it would even play into his whole arrogant, can''t be bothered persona. They would think that this was his attempt at snatching back some of the pride he had lost at the Gathering of Minds.

    If this was where it stopped, he might consider doing it for no other reason than the fact it actually helped him in the long run. If he really just faded into the shadows without a word, some might be suspicious.

    But that wasn''t where it stopped.

    Leonel smirked and pulled up a list.

    102nd - Vast Dream Pavilion

    183rd - Ma''at Dream Pavilion

    211th - Khafra Dream Pavilion

    Seeing this, Leonel''s sneer deepened. He had to admit, this person was a good schemer, indeed.

    The Khafra Dream Pavilion was a Nomad Race Dream Pavilion. It seemed that he was correct.

    This person was tied to Wicked and God Zoltene.

    And clearly, they thought themselves to be more clever than they really were.

 Chapter 2735 Writhe

    Chapter 2735 Writhe

    The plan wasn''t obvious on the surface, and honestly Leonel was being a bit unfair to the Dream Asura pulling strings in the background. However, when you were dancing on a tightrope like they were, any flaws could be taken advantage of. It was honestly just a question of who among them would be the first to reveal a fatal flaw.

    To Flaura, it seemed that that person was Leonel, and there was honestly nothing wrong with her thought process. Even Leonel had to admit that it was quite good... if it wasn''t for the fact he had revealed such a flaw on purpose... at least in part. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    The reality was that whether he drew the line between the Fawkes and him at this point or not, it was inevitable that it would come out.

    The line of logic that Flaura had used, connecting the Incomplete Worlds to Savahn and Yuri, and then to Leonel and the Fawkes, was something that anyone with the information on hand could attest to.

    Of course, "anyone" was actually a much smaller piece of the pie than it seemed. That was because this person not only had to know about the exchange between the Pluto and Fawkes, they also had to be aware of a covert action taken by the Human Bubbles who practically no one paid attention to, and finally they had to be able to gather information from a segment of the Gathering of Kingdoms that wasn''t broadcasted to everyone.

    All three of these hurdles were enormous, but the first was especially large. How many could claim to know about the motives and actions of the Pluto?

    As far as Leonel was concerned, though, this was a confirmation of things. It seemed like he was the one backed into a corner, but Flaura had shown off her dragon''s tail.

    Now that he knew that she could piece such information together, it meant that the person he was dealing with wasn''t normal in the slightest and he went from a barely 60% assurance that he was dealing with a Dream Asura, to over 97% certain.

    And at the same time, he had caught onto Flaura''s weakness.

    The Vast Dream Pavilion had fallen from 100th place the day they won the Challenge Sequence, but since then the Owlans had made their move to return to the top 100 as well, pushing them down yet another spot.

    But that wasn''t what was of note here. What made Leonel sneer was the existence of the Khafra Dream Pavilion.

    As he had said, the Khafra Dream Pavilion was a Nomad Pavilion. However, there were large numbers of Nomad Pavilions. Although they weren''t as prolific as Spirituals in terms of Soul Force and Dream Force, they weren''t too far behind either. In fact, they and the Cloud Race were neck and neck for second place.

    No, that matter would most definitely go under the radar.

    However, she couldn''t just have them leap to the top 100, it was easier to take it slow. If they were suddenly challenged out of the blue by a fiery tempered youth like Leonel or an embarrassed world like the Ma''at Bubble, wouldn''t it be natural for them to enter the top 200?

    The point gap between the higher ranks was so large that even if Leonel ended up winning this challenge, it would at most return to the 100th spot, where he would quickly be kicked down again.

    At which point Flaura would make him issue another challenge, this time to the Khafra Dream Pavilion.

    If it was the Ma''at Dream Pavilion that won, it would be even easier. Flaura would just make him lose to the Khafra on purpose and then have the Ma''at lose subsequently.

    Either way, she would be able to get her pawn into the top 100, and who knew what she would do from there.

    The Dream Asuras almost certainly had a top 100 Dream Pavilion already, but was it under Flaura''s control?

    Of course, there was another even simpler reason Leonel was certain of all of this.

    According to the Life Tablet... Khafra was God Zoltene''s homeworld.

    ''These are the games Dream Asuras like to play, huh...?''

    Leonel didn''t find himself being angry. In fact... he felt faint hints of excitement as something stirred inside of him.

    A vile thought crept up from within his soul.

    Wouldn''t it be fun to watch this person writhe in despair?

 Chapter 2736 Third

    Chapter 2736 Third

    Leonel fell into his thoughts, spun the tip of the letter on his finger before he burnt it to ash. The smile on his face was still there.

    The question was... how best to use this?

    "Let''s return to the Human Bubble," Leonel suddenly said.

    "Why?" Anastasia frowned. She didn''t understand what was happening, but she had read the letter. There was nothing but bad that could come from it. Why was Leonel smiling? And wasn''t returning to the Human Bubble exactly what Flaura wanted? It wasn''t like Leonel to fall into the schemes of others so easily.

    "Don''t worry your pretty little head, Anastasia. Have I ever taken a loss?"

    "Yes." Anastasia pouted. "Pretty little what? Who do you think you''re talking to? I''m older than your great, great, great, great, great, great-!"

    Anastasia kept adding greats because it seemed that no amount could sufficiently satisfy her, and the funny part was that she was correct, especially due to the time dilation between Earth and the rest of Existence.

    Leonel chuckled.

    Had he taken losses before? Sure, but they never had to do with intelligence. He would crush this Dream Asura at their own game, and he''d feel good doing it.

    Soon, he had used yet another method to step away from the Ma''at Bubble. The suffocating, more quasi or pseudo pressure of Anastasia''s constant vigilance over their land faded away, but not soon afterward, they were shocked by a sudden challenge.

    Everything seemed to be going wrong, and his usually even and controlled temper had been fluctuating wildly for the last few days.

    This was practically the straw that broke the camel''s back.

    He looked toward his wife with a steely gaze. She was a beautiful woman with only the slightest hints of age on her countenance, that being the barely perceptible crows feet at the corners of her eyes. But even with this, she carried the usual grace and elegance of a Spiritual Empress.

    She was actually much older than the Emberheart Lord. When he was born, she had already long since entered the Ninth Dimension and reigned supreme for a long time. If not for her status as the Emberheart Lord''s wife, she would have already been listed among the elders of the family, though weaker than their true Overlords or Ancestors. Even so, he had pursued her feverishly and in the end, the Emberheart Lady had taken a liking to him and chose to birth a child for him, that being Lyra.

    In the end, her choice was correct. The Emberheart Lord was on a trajectory to the peak and he had become their Lord at such a young age. Right now, his potential was only weaker than maybe two or three of their old monsters. He was even said to have a better than 20% chance of becoming a God in the future-though no one would ever dare to guarantee such a thing.

    "Do you have confidence?" The Emberheart Lord asked.

    She didn''t answer immediately, but this was what the Emberheart Lord loved about her. Even though he could feel that she was angry as well, she remained calm and she weighed her options just the same.

    "I believe it shouldn''t be a problem. The variable is how much he has improved. I watched his Challenge Sequence earlier, and the reason he performed so well was because of the Life Tablet. And even then, it was thanks to others severely underestimating him that he was able to flourish like he did. His final battle with the Owlans was the biggest testament to this.

    "First, he no longer has the Life Tablet, and that''s the biggest knock. Second, I will not underestimate him and I will mobilize as many of our Dream Pavilion members as is allowed.

    "Third, and most importantly, I believe this is a chance we cannot miss. Publicize the letter and use it as the lightning rod we missed out on."

 Chapter 2737 Use That

    Chapter 2737 Use That

    The Emberheart Lady spoke calmly and in the end, her husband couldn''t refute anything she said.

    Inwardly, though, they both felt complicated about this matter. Nothing in Leonel''s letter was wrong. They had disparaged his wife, and they had raised the status of Lyra.

    The latter choice was because Lyra''s marriage to Thalion was meant to be the catalyst they needed in order to move forward with the next steps of their plan.

    Part of their mixed feelings was exactly because of this. They had put their daughter directly in the line of fire not just once, but twice now. Although the world didn''t know, how could they not know that they had tried to marry her off to Leonel first.

    These matters built up frustration in layers and they felt like they were being painted into a box. But ultimately, they never had a choice...

    Until now.

    Finally, they could take some of the brunt of the pressure away from their daughter and bear it themselves as her parents. The Emberheart Lady didn''t even plan to have Lyra on the participating roster. She would do this for her child... as Lyra''s mother.

    They accepted Leonel''s challenge.

    By doing so, they felt that they could better paint the humans as the villains and their plan, which had stalled, could roll forward once more.

    ...

    What the couple didn''t know was that this wasn''t their choice at all.

    Leonel stood on the high clouds of the Dream Pavilion, taking in the beautiful array of blues, pinks and violets. It was truly gorgeous in ways that couldn''t be described.

    He had seen a lot of the world now, but he was hard pressed to think of a sight that was better.

    Of course, he could have made the letter even more vicious, but he didn''t, and that was because he wanted them to publicize it. He wanted them to use it as the lightning rod they were looking for.

    That was exactly why he didn''t mention the fact they had tried to marry Lyra to them. If he had, there was no way they''d go the extra step of publicizing it, and thus they had played right into his hands.

    He didn''t know if he was ready for this.

    Leonel grinned. "You know what your greatest weakness is, Eamon?"

    Eamon blinked, blushing down his collarbone.

    "You''re too unsure of yourself. But I''m sure you know this already. Telling you about it won''t change much, I can only throw you into enough situations that you learn to be confident.

    "Also, you don''t need to worry, even if you lose, I can pick up the slack. Don''t take this as life or death, take it as a training exercise."

    Only after he heard this did Eamon exhale a breath of relief.

    "Okay," he nodded. "I''ll do my best."

    Leonel smiled and gave Goggles some reassuring words as well before he turned and left.

    His words to Eamon had only been half truths. The reality was that although he could "pick up the slack", it was graded on a curve and thus the points he accumulated for Goggles or Eamon would be limited.

    Essentially, the other Pavilion had to defeat all three of them. But there was a potential situation on the table where Leonel alone covered for all of their weaknesses, and yet still didn''t accumulate enough points to win.

    However, Leonel didn''t really have a choice in this matter. The minimum number for such a Challenge was three, unlike the other Challenge Sequence where any number could be sent in.

    He couldn''t use Aina''s future step mother for obvious reasons. Not only was she not familiar with using Dream Force yet, but if she did her Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor could be exposed. He had to hide her for as long as possible.

    Plus, there was a great chance.

    During the challenges, aside from the Pavilion Heads, it was Dimension to Dimension. Meaning, they would have to send out people at Goggles'' and Eamon''s level.

    ''I can use that...'' Leonel smiled, his scheme brewing.

 Chapter 2738 Victory

    Chapter 2738 Victory

    "You look like you''re scheming something evil. All you''re missing is a pitchfork, some horns, and a tail," Aina said, looking at Leonel with a chuckle.

    The sudden voice appeared by Leonel''s side. He was somewhat caught off guard because Aina had stepped right out from the Segmented Cube, but when he registered what she said he couldn''t help but chuckle, reaching over and giving her a pinch she scurried away from.

    "It seems like someone has forgotten which between the two of us is the Demon."

    Aina blinked innocently. "Both of us?"

    Leonel paused. Damn, she was right. But he didn''t need to accept such a loss.

    Aina giggled, feeling superior. It was hard to win a war of words with Leonel, his thinking speed was too fast. You just had to wait for him to put his foot in his mouth first. Well, that and be able to read his mind like she could.

    Instead of trying to find a way to wiggle out of the hole he just buried himself in, Leonel scooped Aina up and rushed away, her squeals of delight filling him with much the same feelings.

    **

    The days passed quickly and soon there was a tremble that shook the Dream Pavilion.

    The Clouds separated and an illusionary projection of the Ma''at Bubble took shape high in the skies. It looked as though the two Dream Pavilions were on a path toward a head-on collision, both rushing toward one another.

    But at the final moment, they came to an abrupt stop.

    Leonel stood with a smile on his face, looking out toward the approaching Dream Pavilion. His eyes landed on the Emberheart Lady, and he couldn''t help but have quite a bit of praise for her inwardly.

    Despite the crudeness of his challenge, she didn''t seem to have the slightest bit of anger in her heart. In fact, she looked to be completely normal as though this was just another day.

    The Emberheart Lady''s gaze flashed. Was this young man really so unruly? Who didn''t know that the Deputy Pavilion Head was dead? Did Leonel plan to bring his corpse in?

    "Let''s go," Leonel didn''t wait any longer.

    The Emberheart Lady looked over to an older woman by her side.

    "Vanama, we''ll be going."

    The older woman nodded and the gazes of every single one of the Spirituals flashed. If the Emberheart Lady was their number one, then Vanama was most definitely their number. And even then, Vanama had willingly abdicated to allow the Emberheart Lady to take her place.

    In terms of experience, it could be said that Vanama was actually beyond the empress, and in terms of power... it was hard to tell.

    Leonel grinned and didn''t mind it. With a step, he entered all alone. There was no need to take Clarence''s corpse with him. He wouldn''t be disrespectful to that extent, even if he was playing a character.

    The world fell into silence as the two entered, and a harrowing battle began to play out. Most knew that Leonel had lost the Life Tablet, so they hadn''t thought that he would be able to put up much of a fight, but the result was astonishing to them.

    They were neck and neck, and even with Leonel losing out on points because Clarence counted as an automatic loss, he scratched and clawed and gave them hell.

    The battle in the Dream Pavilion raged on for months and each step felt just as perilous as the last.

    But in the end, there could only be one winner.

    By the skin of their teeth...

    The Ma''at Bubble took their victory.

 Chapter 2739 The Most

    Chapter 2739 The Most

    Leonel stepped out with a huffing breath, the image of the Ma''at Bubble fading. He could feel the stares of thousands of Spirituals on him as his gaze flickered with an unwillingness. But once they vanished, he rolled his shoulders and settled in.

    ''Damn, what an annoyance...'' he mumbled beneath his breath.

    In truth, he had, indeed, gone all out. But without the help of the Life Tablet which he had purposely not used, actually winning was a tall, tall task.

    He was just barely better than the two. The problem was that he lost points because of Clarence, and in the end, he had taken a loss as a result.

    As he had said previously, the challenge sequence in this format was different. Rather than an open world, there were more one on one challenges, and there was more variety in what could or couldn''t happen. Even he wasn''t certain of exactly what would happen.

    What was ultimately true though was the fact that making up for lost points when you had bad teammates or not teammates at all in Leonel''s case was impossible. It was made worse by the fact that he had no rest whatsoever.

    He didn''t have to fake how tired he was because he truly was at the end of his rope. The only way he could have won was if he could take advantage of the Life Tablet. But if he did that... then what would all his previous plans have been for? He would have been finished and the war happening in the Owlan Bubble right now could come back and fall right on top of his head.

    He had to avoid that outcome at all costs.

    However, he wasn''t helpless. Although he hadn''t lost on purpose in the most obvious sense, in a general sense, he still had.

    He didn''t need teammates that would definitely win, he just needed teammates that would at least accumulate some points.

    As for why he had lost on "purpose", that was obviously because he wanted to be the one to fight against the Nomad Race Bubble. If it wasn''t him, then what would be the point?

    ''I''ll need to find a way to make it feel more realistic, though. I''m a genius, aren''t I? It''s about time my Dream Force breakthrough.''

    Leonel grinned.

    It wasn''t like he had gained nothing from this battle other than a loss, and he hadn''t wasted months just to force them into a pyrrhic victory either.

    He had gained quite a lot from the exchange. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    At that exact moment, he felt a vibration. A message was trying to get through to his Dream Pavilion, but it couldn''t.

    Leonel chuckled. "Cute."

    With a thought, the letter on the outside was burnt to ash without being able to enter.

    But the process itself not only told him of what the letter said, but also alerted him to the thinly veiled threat. Obviously, whoever this Dream Asura was happened to be using this opportunity to let him know that they knew exactly where the Vast Dream Pavilion was now.

    Leonel didn''t take it seriously. After he was done with them, they wouldn''t have the luxury to care about the Human Bubble.

    ''As expected...'' Leonel smiled. The letter was telling him to challenge the Khafra Dream Pavilion. And she even wanted him to do it right this moment.

    Flaura was feeling confident. She had seen through the limits of Leonel''s talent already, and if his fatigue was factored in on top of that, they would have no chance whatsoever.

    When it was likewise considered that the members of the Khafra Dream Pavilion were certainly hiding their true strength, she felt that this victory was in the bag. Taking advantage of Leonel''s hot-headedness was just the cherry on top.

    No one would be thinking about the Khafra Dream Pavilion, they''ll just be thinking about the fallen genius that was Leonel Morales.

    And it filled her with pleasure.

    Watching people writhe beneath her schemes, unable to carve a path out...

    She loved it the most.

    Leonel took a moment to collect himself, his mind already churning with plans and strategies. He couldn''t afford to dwell on his recent loss; there were bigger battles on the horizon.

    Turning to Aina, he flashed her a reassuring smile. "I''m ready. Let''s see what this Khafra Dream Pavilion is made of."

    With renewed determination, Leonel prepared to face his next challenge head-on. The stakes were higher than ever, but he was resolved to emerge victorious, no matter the obstacles in his path. The game was far from over, and Leonel Morales was ready to play his part in shaping its outcome.

 Chapter 2740 Opposite

    Chapter 2740 Opposite

    Leonel''s immediate challenge to the Khafra Dream Pavilion was received about as well as you might expect.

    While the Dream Pavilion Challenge Sequences weren''t accessible to the world, they were still projected to all Dream Pavilions and could be watched by all Dream Force masters who were part of this network of organizations.

    As such, while the whole of Existence didn''t experience his first loss, a large segment of them certainly had. It also didn''t help that the Ma''at Bubble wanted to use this point to bolster their claim to their Bubble, so they made great strides to ensure that as many of their people were aware of it, even projecting the images to the Bubble as a whole.

    Things didn''t go as well as they expected because it was a long and drawn out battle that didn''t paint them in the best of lights. But there was no choice. Once they began to project the battle, taking it down midway would only make them look worse and it was something that had to be avoided at all costs. They were already walking a tightrope; they couldn''t make things worse for themselves.

    The fact that Leonel had kept the battle so close despite it being a one on two confrontation dimmed their light quite considerably.

    Luckily, they didn''t need to feel too superior. Their message was never that Spirituals were superior to humans; that much was already well acknowledged and accepted. What they wanted was to paint the humans as a barbaric race who lashed out at any opportunity.

    As for why Flaura wanted them to do this, that was something maybe only she knew. All the Spirituals knew was that this would help them finally integrate and become Demi-Gods after so long.

    What none of them expected, though, was that Leonel would give them another gift on a silver platter... The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    The Emberheart Lady returned to the Ma''at Dream Pavilion with a sunken, pale face. She had truly gone all out, and it could be said that in the matters of Dream Force... Sovereigns were truly scary.

    Leonel was so far beneath her in experience and Dream Force, and yet it took a numbers advantage to win.

    Luckily, it had been a win, or else it would be hard to decipher what would have happened otherwise. The consequences weren''t something that she could withstand.

    She took a step, trying to stabilize her shaky condition. It had been a long time since she had gone all out, let alone pushing so hard for so long. She didn''t even know how Leonel had managed to do it because unlike the two of them, he got no rest!

    She couldn''t imagine the level of pain and suffering they must be enduring to watch the world jeer and jostle their son around like this.

    A soft breath came from the Emberheart Lady''s mouth as she slowly opened her eyes. The tranquility had returned and the cadence of her breath was even and perfectly spaced.

    How she felt about Leonel''s plight was one matter, but how she would act on it was a different matter altogether. She still had her own family to worry about, her own daughter.

    Somehow, they had to find a way out from underneath the thumb of this mysterious existence. Accepting their demands into perpetuity wasn''t a solution, and in the end, it would cost them all their lives.

    The only way out was to become a Demi-God.

    After so long, she felt that she could finally breakthrough into the Peak Life State. Then, the Creation Life State would just be one step away.

    This one step might as well have been an enormous chasm, one that couldn''t be crossed by others even if given a lifetime. For the Emberheart Lady, she was more aware of this than anyone else. How many years had it taken her just to make it to this point?

    She had lost count...

    However, what much of the world didn''t know was that the Spirituals were a unique case.

    Much of the world thought that Force comprehension, especially related to the elements and the soul, came with ease to them...

    But this wasn''t true at all.

    In fact, it was the opposite.

 Chapter 2741 Pure Blood

    Chapter 2741 Pure Blood

    The Spirituals actually had a very hard time progressing their Forces. The trouble was that it was a matter of relativity.

    The Spirituals had exceptionally high affinity, but in comparison, their progress was slow. Due to this, while they seemed to be much faster than other Mortal Races, if this ratio was taken into account, they were actually quite a bit slower.

    Leonel''s progress was the perfect benchmark for this. It had only been three years at most since he learned about Force Manipulation and the levels of Forces, and yet in that time he had gone from an Unfurled State, through the Impetus States, and now had a hoard of Life State Forces at his beck and call.

    Of course, not every Spiritual had an affinity as high as Leonel''s own; that was ridiculous. However, at least in some aspects, they were certainly his match.

    Earth Force was likely the best example of this. Leonel''s Earth Force affinity was high, but not as exaggerated as his Fire Force or Dream Force affinity. Yet, after he grasped some understanding of it, it rocketed to the Peak of the Impetus State and entered the Life State not long afterward.

    Comparatively speaking, the number of Earth Force Life State experts in the whole of the Spirituals Empire could be counted. While it wasn''t a small number, it certainly wouldn''t exceed the hundreds.

    Why were the Spirituals so limited compared to their true potential? It all came down to their existence itself. Updated from

    Spirituals were born as souls and could only construct their bodies after birth. Everyone seemed to be well aware of the benefits of having a separated soul, but no one mentioned the obvious other side of that coin.

    Having a powerful body was just as important as having a separated soul.

    While it seemed like Spirituals hit the jackpot, their greatest weakness was still their bodies. It wasn''t easy to just construct a body that had perfect compatibility with your soul, and even if you did, the connection between them would still be a problem.

    The soul was the connection to the Second Dimension, but the body was what anchored a person in this world. Without good communication between the two, you would inevitably suffer.

    The only way for a Spiritual to shed this weakness was by creating a perfect body...

    Once one became a God, they had to ascend to the God Worlds and leave their Race behind. There would also be a pact of non-interference signed.

    It was learned long ago that a God''s intervention in Mortal matters actually sped up the descent of the Northern Star. This was a large part of why the culling wasn''t acted upon by the Gods personally and also why a Neutral Faction existed among the Gods. If not for this reality, it was more likely that most Gods would be in favor of a culling.

    However, there was a buffer period between when one became a God and when one had no choice but to ascend. In that time, one could set their affairs in order...

    And it was exactly this buffer that the Emberheart Lady wanted to take advantage of...

    No, it was the one she would take advantage of. Whoever was scheming in the dark would pay a price for all of this.

    Without a word, the Emberheart Lady took a step and vanished, choosing to enter a period of focused seclusion.

    ...

    Leonel stood with his eyes closed, his breathing even.

    He suddenly opened them and looked toward Eamon and Goggles with a grin.

    "Ready?"

    The two of them were aware of what happened after the first challenge and couldn''t help but feel nervous. They didn''t really understand why Leonel was doing this, but their Dream Force was also far too weak for Leonel to explain anything to them. He barely got used to telling things to his wife, let alone them.

    "Let''s go. It''ll be fun."

    Eamon felt sweat beading across his forehead. Why was this man always so eager about life and death situations?

 Chapter 2742 Khafra

    Chapter 2742 Khafra

    The man looked like a mummified statue. His skin was an unnatural shade of grey, and his body was as skinny as a willowy wisp. His joints almost seemed sharper than blades, his bones sticking out against his frail skin as though they might rip their way through at the slightest of movements. Updated from

    And yet, despite all of this... the man seemed... healthy...

    His Ethereal Glabella glittered with the radiance of a starry sky, and his expression was calm and impassive. When he opened his eyes, it looked like all his Life Force had converged onto just those two points, a great amount of vitality exuding from him.

    This man was known as Patriarch Khafra of the Khafra family, and was also the current Pavilion Head of the Khafra Dream Pavilion.

    When he received the notice of Leonel''s challenge, he wasn''t surprised. Why should he be surprised? Everything was going according to plan. All that was left to do was to secure two victories and enter the top 100. After that, the real games would begin.

    With everyone''s attention diverted to the Demi-God war, hardly anyone would notice the shift; they would dismiss it as a Pavilion asserting dominance after someone beneath them issued a challenge. Most might even assume that they''d fall out of the top 100 soon enough, much like Leonel''s Vast Dream Pavilion had, or the former 100th place after Minerva took action.

    However, what was missing in all of this was a why...

    Just one top 100 Dream Pavilion wouldn''t change much of the situation, and if they started trying to sneak in larger numbers of Dream Pavilions, no matter how well obscured their schemes, someone would take notice.

    Patriarch Khafra took from his meditative position. He moved much more vigorously than a man who was mostly skin and bone should have. His strides were long and powerful, but he somehow seemed unhurried at the same time.

    He soon stood before a statue of God Zoltene and gave it a deep bow. Only then did he exit his own Dream Pavilion.

    Which was probably what made the fact no one could see Patriarch Khafra''s floating hands all the odder... a point only made all the more peculiar by the fact even this first man seemed to have an endless flood of reverence for him.

    As for the second standout amongst the crowd of gathered, it wasn''t because he had the Hands of God. Instead, it was because he was someone that Leonel would recognize had he been there.

    He was someone who held a deep-seated hatred for Leonel, a man who would rot in hell just for the chance to see him crushed and annihilated.

    Prince Gregwyn of the Dimensional Verse''s Nomad Domain.

    The last time Leonel had seen him, he had been nothing more than a mangled mess. In fact, his neck had been in Leonel''s palm.

    Ultimately, Leonel had been forced to leave due to the approaching Wicked. At the time, he hadn''t been strong enough to deal with Rhangyl and Wicked at the same time, but that was the reason Gregwyn was still alive.

    It ultimately boiled down to the fact that Leonel had let him live. Regardless of what he said about being uncaring or unfeeling about wiping out almost the whole Nomad Domain, in the end, he had spared Gregwyn.

    It was a subconscious weight on his scale. He had let Gregwyn survive once after trying to kill him... that simply meant that the next time around, he wouldn''t get such a chance again.

    At that moment, the Dream Pavilions began to tremble, and their projections shot across the bounds of Existence.

    Soon, the Vast Dream Pavilion was in their sights, but what they saw was a smiling Leonel.

    When he saw Leonel, Gregwyn''s eyes went completely red.

 Chapter 2743 Take Your Place

    Chapter 2743 Take Your Place

    Leonel stood with Eamon and Goggles by his side, the former of whom was at the Seventh Dimension and the latter of whom was still at the Fourth.

    Goggles was taking his time, reaffirming his foundation. With the resources that Leonel had given him, he could have certainly entered the Fifth Dimension already. But Leonel himself was the perfect example of why Dimension wasn''t everything. He had taken it upon himself to comprehend every step of [Dimensional Cleanse] himself before even thinking about moving on, and he was also putting quite some effort into comprehending his Dream Force. Despite being in the Fourth Dimension, he was already at the Quasi Impetus State. Who knew, maybe he might even breakthrough soon. In that way, he was a trump card.

    As expected, when the Nomads saw that Leonel had a Fourth Dimensional and Seventh Dimensional existence by his sides, they couldn''t help but narrow their eyes. This was... Unexpected.

    The Khafra Patriarch was taken off guard as well, his thoughts moving like lightning as he thought through the Fourth Dimensional existences they could send up. The unfortunate truth was that the list was small. Not only that, but they were all children as well. Some of them were as young as six or seven years old. Were they really going to throw them into battle like this?

    Looking at the smile on Leonel''s face, they frowned. On the one hand, someone who was so old and yet still in the Fourth Dimension wasn''t a threat. Under normal circumstances, they would find it to be hilarious, actually. But the problem was that they had Leonel as a blueprint. Could it be that there was another genius like Leonel amongst the humans?

    As troublesome as Goggles was to find an opponent for, Eamon almost had the opposite problem. There were so many Seventh Dimensional geniuses amongst them that it was hard to pick one to participate. This might even end up in some internal conflict before the battle even began. Had Leonel done this on purpose?

    They thought that he was hot-headed. But if he was, shouldn''t he make it a two-person battle again? Why had he made such a... smart decision?

    ''Something is wrong,'' Patriarch Khafra thought to himself. ''I should-''

    ''Continue.''

    He, too, was in the Seventh Dimension. He didn''t want to miss this opportunity. He had to participate no matter what.

    Patriarch Khafra frowned. This was exactly the situation he wanted to avoid, and yet it had still happened anyway.

    He waved a hand, a force pressing down on Gregwyn and silencing him. Now wasn''t the time to allow such dissent.

    Ferrouge glanced at Gregwyn and his heart trembled. There was a tremendous amount of rage coming off of him in waves. Even Patriarch Khafra, who had just turned away, frowned once more, looking back. Gregwyn''s floating hands were pulsing with a vicious light, veins of red pulsing into and out of existence as they bulged and shrunk in rapid succession. He looked like a rabid dog, turning all his aggro toward Patriarch Khafra. He couldn''t stand this man for blocking his path forward like this. The skies above their Dream Pavilion trembled and the Pavilions quaked.

    Suddenly... BANG! Gregwyn''s floating palms explosively increased in size, his own body growing from under two meters tall to over three in that very instant.

    Patriarch Khafra''s suppression of him shattered, but he didn''t react as one might have thought to this situation. Instead, his gaze glowed, a fascinated expression appearing on his face.

    He looked at Gregwyn deeply as many of the weaker Nomads shied away, unable to withstand the sudden change.

    "Interesting, interesting," Patriarch Khafra spoke to himself.

    Then, he nodded. "Ferrouge, you''ll step down. For this battle, Gregwyn will take your place."

 Chapter 2744 Fatigue?

    Chapter 2744 Fatigue?

    ''Oh?''

    Leonel looked at Gregwyn, his thoughts flickering. He took note of this, but when he looked at the veins of red, he vaguely remembered something else.

    ''That''s odd, how could those two things be related?''

    He slotted these things into the back of his mind as he did with everything. In this world, it didn''t seem that there was such a thing as useless information. He had lost count of the number of times he had connected seemingly unrelated matters.

    "Let''s begin." Leonel''s voice boomed.

    He noticed that Eamon was practically shaking, but he could only smile bitterly.

    Gregwyn''s maleficent aura was, indeed, probably the worst sort of outcome for Eamon. He was already nervous, facing off against a person with such a great amount of hatred and animosity was, well...

    Leonel put a hand on his shoulder. "Don''t worry, victory is certain. Just do your best, I''m not asking for anything more."

    Eamon nodded shakily.

    Leonel sent a glance toward Goggles and the latter looked serious. Seeing this, Leonel smiled inwardly. That was the Goggles he remembered.

    The man was outwardly a coward, but when it came time to put his foot to the gas, he did so without hesitation.

    He was a person whose character Leonel could trust. No matter how he acted, Leonel with certainty.

    They would win this.

    The pair of trios vanished, appearing in a familiar courtroom-like environment.

    This meant that in addition to picking the challenges, Patriarch Khafra had to be cautious about what Twists might appear. If he chose a challenge that he wasn''t proficient in just to throw Leonel off, a Twist might appear that would make him suffer.

    However, if he chose a challenge he was confident in, then even if a Twist appeared, he would still be ready to deal with it regardless.

    This was the balancing act he would have to play. It was akin to a game of chess within a game of chess.

    To the surprise of the spectators, though, Patriarch Khafra didn''t take his time to analyze each one of these options. He immediately chose the one on one battle against Dream Beasts, and he also immediately made it a battle of Dream Pavilion Heads.

    Leonel smiled. "Confident, are we?"

    The Patriarch''s reasoning was clear to Leonel. He wanted a swift and decisive victory, one that would demoralize Leonel and his partners.

    The two vanished from the gathering court and appeared on the top of a mountain. Each one stood on their own mountain, separated by over a hundred kilometers and yet still capable of seeing one another with absolute ease.

    Both of these mountains had flat tops, smooth and almost as reflective as marble. The shimmering golds and whites of the True Dream World were just as vibrant as always, painting the image of a paradise.

    At that moment, there was a golden Force Art that appeared high in the skies above both mountains. They rapidly expanded until they blotted out the skies, spinning like a pair of gorgeous magic circles.

    Then, a beam of light came from their center striking down onto the flat-topped mountains.

    When the beam faded, the flickering image of a beast took shape and then solidified. At that moment, the two immediately launched themselves into action.

    The Challenge Sequence had begun and a bright grin spread across Leonel''s face.

    The world couldn''t help but think...

    Where was his fatigue?

 Chapter 2745 Split in Two

    Chapter 2745 Split in Two

    A bird''s cry resonated through the skies and feathers flourished.

    A Snowy Star Owl appeared, a gorgeous creature to be sure. It had snowy white tufts around his neck, its feathers a gleaming white with veins of delicate gold. Every time it flapped its wings, a snowy rain of feathers would fall.

    Compared to the first time Leonel had entered a Challenge Sequence, these creatures were on another level. This Snowy Start Owl alone had a wingspan of almost four meters, and when it bore down on him from above, it felt like it could decide his life and death with a thought.

    It could truly begin to exude some of the majesty of a true Envoy of Creation, a beast that wasn''t just a Sixth Dimensional Lineage Factor, but one that had been a God Beast amongst Gods.

    Leonel met its gaze and he grinned. His Dream Force flourished and his robes and crown of silvery gold took shape around him.

    His crown hovered above his head like a halo and his pale violet hair danced more like strands of light rather than tangible filaments.

    He reached out with a hand and a rain of Force Arts took shape around him, an Auspicious Air that could resonate with the most ancient of bells blooming forth.

    Natural Force Arts began to take shape and descended from the skies not much unlike the feathers of the bird above him. At the same time, the aura of a Wise Star Order flourished and he seemed to stand above the masses.

    "What are you doing up there?" Leonel spoke, his spear finally solidifying in his palm only to become an arrow on the bow that formed in his other. "Don''t you think you''re a bit too arrogant?"

    Leonel grinned, pointing his spear-bow at the skies.

    BANG!

    Unbeknownst to those watching, at that moment, all the accumulating Dream Force in the region had come together, wrapping around Leonel''s spear tip in a spiral that almost made it look more like a lance than his usual pole arm of choice.

    The claw of the Snowy Star Owl was obliterated and a rain of Snow Force fell. The Snowy Star Owl''s coat of feathers glowed and it seemed to be protected by a coat of crystals in an instant. But by then, it had already lost the use of a wing and a claw, its balance was thrown completely off and there didn''t seem to be anything that it could do as Leonel bore down on it again, the wild grin on his face only growing larger and larger.

    He could remember the Owlan city vividly. Every street, every building was so meticulously planned and sculpted that even while just standing there, they allowed the flow of Force to dance to the rhythm of the world.

    This unique rhythm, this resonance, it called out to Leonel. The Dream Force whispered in his ear and for the first time in a long while, his Mage Core responded to the call.

    The long forgotten Natural Force Art he had claimed from the Merlin Trials, the very one that wrapped around the base of his Mage Core turned vibrant, ancient tree thrummed.

    Every Natural Force Art Leonel formed became like another tonic for it and the individual leaves of his Mage Core danced.

    At that point, his influence had flourished so far and wide that even the Dream Force a hundred kilometers away on Patriarch Khafra''s mountain peak was being stripped away.

    Leonel''s hearty laughter filled the skies.

    He kept having to suppress himself, kept having to tiptoe around these people, how could he not be frustrated?

    But at least for today and the coming weeks...

    He would let his beast run wild.

    His hair danced and his spear struck, splitting the world in two.

 Chapter 2746 Chain

    Chapter 2746 Chain

    Leonel''s spear tore through the head of the Snowy Star Owl before Patriarch Khafra could even react. The latter had been biding his time, having already adjusted his strength to be marginally superior to the Emberheart Lady''s. He had watched every second of that battle, so he knew exactly how much he needed to defeat them all.

    But when Leonel suddenly erupted with strength that was far beyond his calculations, he realized that something had gone awry.

    Although he could just quickly raise his strength and kill this Snowy Star Owl before him in the blink of an eye, if he did so what would those watching think? It was best if he pretended to be caught off guard and shocked, and only then would he raise his strength to deal a blow. At least at that point, it would seem more natural. This chapter is updated by

    However, when he was looking over to see the situation and get a more accurate gauge of Leonel''s strength, he found a sneering young man looking back at him, almost as though Leonel could see through his thoughts and was begging him to take action.

    Leonel flicked his wrist and the body of the Snowy Star Owl shattered.

    He sauntered over to the middle of his flat mountain peak and picked up the orb that was his reward for victory before vanishing.

    When he appeared once more, Eamon and Goggles.

    "See what I mean? There''s nothing big or scary about these people," Leonel gave Eamon a pat on the back.

    Eamon exhaled a breath, feeling more confident as well. It wasn''t because he felt that he was as good as Leonel, but because he felt that Leonel wasn''t lying when he said that he was good enough to win on his own.

    He had watched the last battle and he knew that the reason Leonel lost was because of a technicality and points total, not to mention penalties.

    At that moment, another set of three challenges appeared and it was up to the Khafra Patriarch to choose again. Once again, they were an array of balanced options. However, this time, the Patriarch chose a three on three battle very similar to the earlier maze challenge. However, this one was far more complex, not in terms of the rules, but rather in terms of what it required for the two Dream Pavilion Heads.

    The challenge was known as a chain type challenge. This was because it required a series of orders to go down a chain of command, whereupon the situation could change at any time.

    Leonel would be controlling one of his subordinates, while the latter would be controlling the other, forming a chain.

    In this situation, Leonel would be relaying orders to Eamon. Eamon would be in front of an ever-changing Force Art that would decide Goggles'' situation. The real catch, though, was that Leonel could only be able to see one situation at a time, whether that was Goggles or Eamon, but never both at the same time. While Goggles and Eamon would only be able to see their own situations.

    As soon as the Challenge was chosen, Goggles and Eamon disappeared, along with Little Fox and Gregwyn. This led the two Pavilion Heads.

    Leonel had already stopped paying attention to the Patriarch as a screen appeared before him.

    First, he checked on Eamon.

    Eamon was in a control-center type region as well, but it was on a path of sorts, moving forward. This path diverted into many further along, some of which were filled with danger, some of which weren''t. Eamon had control of a Force Art within his control center that could decide the paths he followed, but while he could see the Force Art, he couldn''t see the situation outside.

    Then, he checked on Goggles.

    Goggles was in a maze, however he was immobile, stuck in a rolling ball. It reminded Leonel of a game he had played back on Earth. He had to tilt the maze to help Goggles roll out of the dungeon. Or, more accurately, Eamon had to change the Force Art before him, and Goggles had to react appropriately.

 Chapter 2747 Long Way to Go

    Chapter 2747 Long Way to Go

    Leonel got an overlook of the situation in an instant and then turned to Eamon. He had already memorized Goggles'' position and a large portion of the maze. As expected with most things related to Dream Force experts, even Leonel couldn''t memorize the whole maze at once, nor did he want to waste the time he would need to do so.

    Eamon was already moving forward, and there was only a split second left for him to decide his coming path. This was obviously done on purpose to not let them rest for too long.

    The thing was that if he gave Eamon a directive that helped Goggles, he would go down a more dangerous path. But if he chose the safer path for Eamon, then Goggles would roll further away from the exit.

    This was obviously a different thing to balance especially when this challenge had a Twist. Leonel already saw through it.

    There was a second Force Art in Eamon''s control center that shouldn''t have been there. After analyzing it, Leonel realized that it was a teleportation platform.

    Under the usual challenge, if Eamon went down the wrong path, the control center would be buffeted by Dream Force, weakening its defenses. The more danger Leonel put Eamon in, the more the Dream Force would weaken the control center''s defenses until it crumbled entirely.

    If this happened, it would be their loss and they''d be teleported out.

    However, clearly the Twist in this one was that Eamon would have to face off against the Dream Beasts personally. That teleportation platform should allow the beasts to enter the control center.

    Once that happened, the path that Eamon was on would pause and Leonel wouldn''t be able to affect change for Goggles until Eamon defeated the beast.

    From what Leonel could tell, though, he could help Eamon fight against the beast, it just had to be through changes in the Force Art. And, once again, he could only relay orders.

    ''Interesting... there''s a ton of variables to consider, and each layer makes it more complex.''

    If he helped Eamon too much, Goggles would roll further and further away from the exit. But if he didn''t, then Eamon would have to fight battles he might not be prepared for.

    The last hidden layer of complexity was that not all threats were created equal. There was a wide range of beasts of different power levels that were present on the paths.

    "Get ready Eamon, first one is coming."

    Because of Little Tolly, when Leonel activated his Divine Armor, it was like his entire body had become a talisman, and his drawn Force Arts were on an entirely different level.

    He quite literally had an Infinity Beast by his side, he could casually create as many "teleportation platforms" from thin air as he wanted.

    But again, Eamon and others didn''t have such abilities....

    Normally, that was.

    Leonel wanted to open Eamon up to an entirely new world. Talismans were great, but they were ultimately single or finite use items that would eventually wear away. What would Eamon do if he ever ran out?

    As for whether he would be able to take that step... well, it would be up to him.

    Eamon''s eyes lit up as he pressed a foot down.

    "Wow!"

    Gorgeous runes danced and the golden Force Art seemed to become three dimensional.

    Quickly, countless runes coated Eamon''s body, forming an armor that protected him. By the time he was finished, the Starry Tailed Fox had already lunged at his throat.

    It bit down on a flustered Eamon, but it ended up shattering its teeth on the defenses.

    Leonel watched this matter speechlessly. If Eamon had just directed those runes at the Starry Tailed Fox, it would have never gotten the chance to attack him.

    He rubbed his temples. It seemed that Eamon still had a long way to go.

    A chuckle left Leonel''s lips.

 Chapter 2748 Life and Afterlife

    Chapter 2748 Life and Afterlife

    Minerva coughed up a mouthful of blood, but her steps remained steady. She walked back into her Dream Pavilion.

    How many had that been already?

    The Dream Pavilion was, unsurprisingly, a main target of the invading God Descendants. It was a strategic choke point, and powerful Bubbles would ensure that this remained the case.

    A Pavilion Head would have a great amount of control over the area, and as such it allowed Minerva to exhibit strength no less than that of her Ancestors within its borders.

    Unfortunately, such an advantage could only go so far, especially when they were hellbent on making certain that it didn''t stand for long.

    The Owlan Race had lost their heritage and there were only a small number of Dream Force experts, comparatively speaking. In the past, as much as half their Race would have such an affinity, but now their 3-5% was already more than most could bolster.

    Because of that, there were fewer that could fight on the battlefield that was the Dream Pavilion and much of this fell on her shoulders.

    Although if you were powerful, you could ignore the Dream Force so long as the Pavilion Head wasn''t actively using it to target you, there would still be a drop off in combat power that came from diverting some Force to protect your mind.

    Due to this, if you didn''t have an excellent Dream Force affinity, fighting on this battlefield was useless, and that didn''t even measure the fact that many of that three to five percent were far too weak to participate in such a battle to begin with. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    However, even through the bloody streaks on Minerva''s once beautiful face, one could see nothing but a towering indifference.

    Every battle, she felt her Dream Force inch forward.

    Who would dare to provoke the Owlan Race in the past? Even with their inheritance severed, they were still among the best Crafters amongst the Demi-Gods, and that didn''t even mention their Lineage Factor or personal strength.

    Even now, it took the descent of literal Gods for them to be put into this situation.

    This was all to say that in her entire life, Minerva had never truly fought an all out battle. She had always been beyond her peers, and friendly matches couldn''t match this sort of intensity.

    The Minerva Race had never been one that was well known for their battle strength, they had always used their Crafting to make up for that gap.

    But somehow, the Owlans not only managed to maintain the talent for Crafting, but they had also birthed a great talent for combat that underlied it.

    The fact they hadn''t focused on Crafting for generations had allowed them to evolve down another path, and now the Void Race and other members of their faction were taking the brunt of it.

    "Something is wrong with this picture. Did they do it on purpose?"

    "It feels that way. They''ve been trying to distance themselves from the Minerva name for so long, what if it was all a ploy?"

    They all fell into silence. They didn''t really want to have to risk their lives in this battle, but it seemed that they might not have a choice.

    One of them suddenly laughed, a toothy grin spreading across their face. Their skin of galaxies and nebulas split.

    After one of them grinned, the others followed suit, a deep battle lust practically oozing from them.

    Death? They were the mighty Void Race, when had they ever feared death? Did the Owlans think they were the only ones who could toe that line of life and afterlife?

    Suddenly, all three stretched out their palms and layered them on top of one another.

    "Ha, I get to pick first. I want the Dream Pavilion lady."

    The other two clicked their tongues, retracting their palms.

    "Fine, then I get the Beast Dream Pavilion. A bunch of animals trying to be enlightened, I''ll knock them down a peg."

    "Fuck you both," the last cursed. It seemed that he was going to be in a no-man''s land. Hopefully something interesting came up.

 Chapter 2749 Skirmishes

    Chapter 2749 Skirmishes

    The two Void Race youths laughed and shot out in two different directions, leaving the last still grumbling.

    ...

    Elo''Ray appeared high above the Dream Pavilion. He stood in the skies despite merely being at the Seventh Dimension, the laws of this world completely unable to constrain him. If he wanted to step onto the clouds, he would do so. Who were these worms to tell him what he could and couldn''t do?

    "Little Owlan, how about you come out and play?" He announced his arrival with a booming cadence. Universes that painted his skin flickered wildly with light, a trio of blackholes appearing to his back the moment he clenched his fists. In that moment, he seemed to have the power to wipe out all of existence.

    Down below, there were several ongoing skirmishes. Void Race descendants fought against Owlans of all shapes and sizes, but he couldn''t seem to be bothered with these battles at all. He didn''t even try to influence them.

    These fools had finally managed to get his blood boiling a little bit, he wouldn''t ruin his own fun by wasting his time on trivial matters.

    Minerva slowly walked out of the Head Dream Pavilion, her steps slow and her wings dragging on the ground. Her dress was torn and shorn, covered in blood that painted an array of colors as though she had killed all sorts of Races.

    Her wings were broken in many places, but she suddenly flexed them, snapping them back into place with a single thought.

    Her expression didn''t even change in the slightest as she flapped them once, soaring into the skies like a striking meteor.

    BANG!

    She came to a sudden and forceful stop, clouds of pink, violet and sky blues shredding apart beneath the violent wings.

    At that moment, her steps, too, stepped on the empty air as though she was walking on solid land. If she wanted to step on the clouds, no one could stop her either.

    He didn''t even really understand the risks back then, or maybe he wouldn''t have been so bold either. After all, if you flooded your mind with Dream Force and didn''t have an affinity, you could get lost in an endless spiral of memories and be unable to extricate yourself. You would effectively become a vegetable.

    Patriarch Khafra had thought that Gregwyn''s combat prowess would have been an asset in this case, but because of the Twist, what would have likely been a marginal victory for them had become a loss instead.

    Gregwyn''s expression was quite unsightly to behold as they took a step out, but Patriarch Khafra seemed unbothered. He had already realized that there was a possibility for this to happen, that was why he had originally not picked Gregwyn. He changed his mind in the end under Gregwyn''s pleading, but obviously, Gregwyn''s words alone weren''t enough for him to take such a step.

    Obviously, he had other reasons for making such a decision.

    It had taken an entire half month for that round to conclude. Some challenges would take far longer than others, and this wasn''t too surprising.

    That said, longer trials also provided more points. Due to this, they had already filled up a fifth of their bars, and due to this, the marginal victory from round one had almost been snuffed out. To the untrained eye, they almost looked neck and neck.

    However, Leonel was likewise unbothered, feeling that this matter was only just getting good.

    Three more challenges appeared, and Patriarch Khafra only glanced at them for a moment before choosing one.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed and Eamon paled.

    This was another one on one challenge, and this time, Patriarch Khafra had set the challengers to be the two Seventh Dimensional existence.

    It seemed that he had used the first two challenges to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Leonel''s team.

    Now the counterattack would begin.

 Chapter 2750 Die.

    Chapter 2750 Die.

    "Keep your head up. Don''t be afraid to resign if need be," Leonel smiled and patted Eamon on the back. "As you can see, when we''re together, they don''t stand a chance against us."

    Resigning wasn''t a simple matter. After doing so, there were two options that could be taken. The first was for the Dream Pavilion Head to replace them, and the second was to give up all points entirely. There was a third option, but that had to be triggered through a series of "coincidences" and it also required some extra effort.

    This third option was to replace the candidate with someone other than the Pavilion Head, but this required two things. The first was to sacrifice some of your points and the second was that the replacement had to fit the criteria of the one they were replacing.

    When a Dream Pavilion Head replaced a participant, their point total would be nerfed. However, so long as the normal replacement shared the Dimension of the person in question, the only point sacrifice would be the initial loss.

    As expected with the matters of the Dream Pavilion, this matter was overly verbose on purpose. It forced the participants to calculate many things and weigh the pros and cons of each action.

    The short of it was that if Eamon chose to give up, they could either give up the round entirely, replace him with Leonel in exchange for a nerf on points, or replace him with another Seventh Dimensional existence in exchange for a set number of points. Updated from

    Essentially, it was a round Leonel felt that he could crush the opponent in, it was better to take the nerf on points even if it was substantial.

    But, if it was a close round like the first or second round, it might be better to hand over a set number of points in exchange for replacing Eamon with someone else.

    The problem with this second option, though, was that Eamon would be permanently replaced for the remainder of the Challenge Sequence and wouldn''t be able to be brought back even through another replacement sequence.

    So, when Leonel told Eamon to give up if he really wanted to, he was essentially only thinking of personally replacing him.

    They didn''t have anyone else to swap in for Eamon or Goggles, for that matter. It was just the three of them.

    A cold shiver rose up Eamon''s spine, but he gripped his fists tighter, circulating the Dream Force around him and trying to form quasi talismans as quickly as possible. The longer he managed to last, the more points they would get. He didn''t have to win, he just needed to not completely give up the win.

    These sort of direct one on one battles would gave the largest potential for point disparity. If one side lost quickly, it could open up a huge gap. He had to hold on for as long as possible to make sure the gap stayed as small as possible.

    Gregwyn actually laughed when he saw that Eamon dared to stay.

    "Do you know why I hate Leonel Morales so much?" Gregwyn''s eyes turned red, his black hair dancing in the air as he looked right into Eamon''s eyes. "He massacred my people. Warriors, commoners... men, women... adults, children... He didn''t give a damn, he slaughtered every single last one of them.

    "The man you respect so much is nothing more than a Demon incarnate in human skin. He has no bottom line, no morals, and yet you fight for him?"

    Eamon''s pupils trembled. He didn''t know what Gregwyn was talking about, but he didn''t seem to be lying. Even so, at the same time, he could sense an oppressive Dream Force attacking his psyche again and again, if he was too casual, he might lose without understanding what happened.

    "For the crime of following such a despicable man, you deserve no less punishment. If I let you live, won''t you help in his future sins? You deserve death."

    As Gregwyn''s words fell, his four floating hands, each four meters from palm to the tips of his middle fingers clenched at the air.

    Large javelins formed as the tightened their grips, a surge of Dream Force being ripped out of Eamon''s control as Gregwyn raised his hand to the skies and then pointed down.

    "Die."

    Eamon''s heart stopped beating entirely.

 Chapter 2751 Loss

    Chapter 2751 Loss

    Eamon felt as though all his paths to retreat were sealed off. No matter where he looked, it felt as though the word death was being written into the skies just for his viewing pleasure.

    Except there was no pleasure at all.

    Shaken, he quickly solidified the talismans he had been forming. This time, under Leonel''s tutelage, he had learned that sometimes offense was the best defense. He couldn''t always turtle himself up and expect the best results. He had to do more than that.

    Half his talismans were diverted to his defense while the other rushed out... forming shields.

    Leonel didn''t know what to say when he saw this, but it wasn''t his place to try and force Eamon to change too much. In the end. If he couldn''t take the steps he needed to himself, then all that was left would be death.

    The falling javelins shattered the shields apart. It was hard to even say if they were delayed at all, a rain of silver and gold flooding the area.

    Eamon unleashed a low roar that almost sounded much more high pitched than he likely wished for. Even so, it didn''t slow his movements.

    His hands expanded beneath the power of his talismans. An illusory cloak of palms covering his own until they matched the ones in the sky.

    ...

    Leonel''s gaze flickered before a wild grin spread across his face. And for the first time, shock radiated out from the Khafra Patriarch.

    Eamon was imitating the runes on Gregwyn''s palms!

    ''I knew it!'' Leonel''s eyes shone like torches.

    How horrible was the environment Eamon was raised in? Setting aside just the living conditions themselves and focusing on Crafting alone, who was there to teach him? Who was there to guide him? How had he even awakened to Dream Force in the first place? Who allowed him to take such a risk.

    The answer was obvious: it was Eamon and Eamon alone.

    Blood flew from Eamon''s mouth, but his talismans barely managed to keep his body from turning into a meaty pile of flesh and shattered bone.

    He tried to push himself up, but the palm didn''t retract, pushing him down with even greater force.

    One after another, the talismans on his body began to crack. If things continued like this, he would truly become flat.

    His mind raced as he tried to come up with new ideas, novel thoughts, anything that could help him turn the tide.

    But there was nothing.

    He was too weak.

    Gregwyn bent down and wrenched Eamon''s head up with such force he nearly snapped it. Because the large palm was still pressing down on him, it looked like that was exactly what Gregwyn had wanted to do.

    Gregwyn''s face twisted with disgust. He couldn''t understand how anyone could try so hard for a disgusting example of a man. He couldn''t stand the look on Eamon''s face, he truly deserved death.

    He raised a palm up, ready to cut him down. He didn''t plan to allow Eamon even the chance to speak and concede.

    But at that moment, a talisman flickered high above, so far that Gregwyn hadn''t even noticed it, or else he would have sent his own hands to destroy them.

    "I concede."

    The talisman spoke with Eamon''s voice, and at that moment, the grip Gregwyn had on his hair vanished as he disappeared.

    Eamon appeared back in the courtroom-like space, coughing and wheezing out blood.

    Leonel caught him, shaking his head. Ultimately, Eamon still had far too little combat experience and he hadn''t spent enough time by Leonel''s side for that to suddenly change. The reality was that he was lucky to be alive. He was a bit too stubborn and tried to hold on for longer than he should have.

    Leonel looked up at the point totals and the close lead flipped as the Khafra Dream Pavilion pulled again.

 Chapter 2752 Weak

    Chapter 2752 Weak

    By this point, they were already over the halfway point. There would likely be two or three more challenges between now and the end.

    Of course, there could be more, but that was dependent on how short they were.

    The challenges like the one where Patriarch Khafra faced off against Leonel provided the least amount of points. The long ones like the three on three between both teams provided the most points. While challenges like the one where Eamon almost lost his life provided the most disparity in points. It could be said that after this round, Leonel and the others had fallen much further behind.

    But they were still in striking distance. One challenge loss wasn''t enough to change everything, or else what would be the point in holding this combat to begin with.

    Leonel helped Eamon stabilize his situation. He had broken an arm and practically all of his ribs.

    Unfortunately, there were no items that Leonel could bring in, so he couldn''t help him out either. This was a bit of a troublesome matter... for most people. Updated from

    While it was true that he couldn''t bring in any other items, the same wasn''t true of Force. At least in this courtroom, he could use Forces outside of Dream Force, and because of that, he had his Vital Star Force.

    He poured it into Eamon, and soon the latter''s situation not only stabilized, it skyrocketed upward for the better.

    Leonel looked up and the first thing he saw was Gregwyn''s maleficent gaze, but he was having a hard time taking the man seriously.

    "Take this as a lesson," Leonel said, looking toward Eamon. "Strength is very important in this world. The weak can only prattle on about justice and morality."

    "LEONEL!" Gregwyn was furious. How could he not know that Leonel was speaking about him?

    Leonel didn''t even bother to respond. Gregwyn was good at loading his words, speaking of women and children, but he had never faced off against women and children, looked them in the eye, and then slaughter them.

    Did he kill them? Yes. But he had done so no differently than what would have happened to the Human Domain had the invasion of Gregwyn''s Nomad Race succeeded.

    In a blink, Leonel and Patriarch Khafra had vanished, the two of them appearing in separate towers.

    The Force Art Tower challenge was likely the most important challenge to appear. It was the golden goose, so to speak.

    While you couldn''t win with a single challenge, and all challenges were created equal, this was the one exception to the rule.

    Winning it in one go still wasn''t possible, however, this was certainly the most important challenge, and a decisive victory here was certainly enough to open a gap no less than Gregwyn''s victory.

    It wasn''t just this, but it would also be a long challenge, meaning that it would also provide a large amount of points.

    It was likely that after this, there would only be one challenge remaining.

    This challenge was "simple". The Tower had nine floors and each floor had an environment. This environment would, in reality, be a hidden Force Art. The world itself was akin to a Force Art.

    To this day, it was still widely accepted that other than the Life Tablet and Gathering of Kingdoms Stele, this was the greatest Craft in all of existence.

    To make a world out of Force Arts... just what kind of concept was this? It was beyond normal Realms of understanding.

    And it was precisely this sort of world that Leonel appeared in. Everything looked so real, so lively.

    Greenery surrounded him, a massive carnivorous plant loomed overhead, looking much more like an unbloomed lily with jagged rows of teeth on each petal.

    The green was only interrupted by hints of blues and reds, sometimes yellows and purples.

    It was truly a gorgeous world.

 Chapter 2753 Joke

    Chapter 2753 Joke

    Leonel took a breath, feeling that the air almost smelt... bright.

    It was an odd feeling, but he almost instantly dismissed it, his gaze sharpening.

    There was only one way forward right now, and that was to crush Patriarch Khafra so thoroughly that the current point gap could be made up for.

    This time, he would go all out.

    Leonel reached forward and touched a leaf. At that same instant, the dormant carnivorous plant suddenly awakened, biting down toward him with full force.

    The task of this challenge was to make it out of this floor, obviously, and the method to do so was by comprehending the Force Art, undoing it, and clearing the floor. However, that didn''t mean that there would be no danger in doing so. In fact, you could very well lose your life in this challenge. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    However, Leonel was frighteningly calm even as the carnivorous plant seemed ready to swallow him whole, thick globules of acid dripping from its maw.

    His Mage Core was an interesting part of his talent. Its usefulness seemed to ebb and flow. Sometimes it was a huge part of his combat strength and at other times, he easily forgot about it.

    Leonel never truly forgot it, but the main problem he faced was that much like with everything else, it was hard to actually make use of something if you didn''t have the techniques for it.

    Why was King''s Might so powerful? Sure, it was an amazing Lineage Factor, but without [Assimilate], [Breathe], and [Arise], it wouldn''t be nearly so fear-inducing. In fact, Leonel had had the Lineage Factor for years before he got the Golden Tablet, and all he could use it for was a boost to his Dream Force affinity and some help toward supplementing his Spear Force.

    At that moment, Leonel felt that creating Natural Force Arts was so easy that they even seemed to be creating themselves... and that was practically exactly what was happening.

    Leonel had long since realized that his Mage Core scaled with his Force comprehension. But what he didn''t realize was that there was a feedback loop formed between the world and himself. It wasn''t just him taking from the world, but it was also the world giving to him. And it wasn''t just the world giving, but also him reciprocating.

    That push and pull that formed not only allowed him to control the Force around him without having to take it into his body, but it also allowed that Force to communicate with him and almost whisper its thoughts into his mind.

    The first shocking thing about this change was that his Forces... were much stronger. No, they weren''t stronger. Rather, they were able to exhibit a larger power of their real strength instead of being limited by his Dimension. In fact, Leonel felt that if he could perfect this fledgling ability, he could ignore the limits of his Dimension entirely and exhibit the strength of Force purely based on his Comprehension, something that even Gods couldn''t do.

    The second shocking thing was that he didn''t need to put as much effort into analyzing the world before forming Natural Force Arts. In fact, through his Mage Core, he could even create an ability with his Control Ability Index to passively create Natural Force Arts on a whim.

    Both of these matters felt more abstract than real, especially since they were tied into one another. That was because Leonel felt that in order to free his Forces of the restriction of his Dimensions, he had to do so through Natural Force Arts.

    At the same time, though... what did it even mean to casually create Natural Force Arts from thin air...?

    The carnivorous plan continued to bite down toward Leonel, a savage light emitting from it as acid continued to drip. And then, it chomped down on Leonel whole.

    BANG!

    Suddenly, the entire world of green became a landscape of white that stretched into infinity. In the whole region, only Leonel stood unblemished. However, soon, a bronze Natural Force Art expanded beneath his feet, moving so fast that soon it too seemed to extend into infinity.

    ... It meant that this challenge had suddenly become nothing more than a joke.

 Chapter 2754 Should Be

    Chapter 2754 Should Be

    Patriarch Khafra smiled when he entered the first floor. It was identical to Leonel''s, filled with carnivorous plants hidden within the beauty.

    On his practically mummified face, such a smile was nothing short of eerie. His bones rattled and four swirling portals of space rippled behind him, but in the end, he settled them down. No, it still wasn''t necessary to go so far.

    Leonel was definitely a surprise, but his strength wasn''t to the point that it was unfathomable.

    During the first battle, he had gone at about 10% or so. 20% should be enough to crush Leonel, but there wasn''t much room for error anymore.

    ''I''ll go at 30%. In this environment, it''s easier to explain it away.''

    Even if he cleared this Tower with exceptional speed, it could be explained away with the fact that he was just particularly good at analyzing and clearing Force Arts. Plus, this was the one recurring challenge that many prepared for and trained with. There was even a Pavilion in every Dream Pavilion that could replicate some of this challenge''s effects.

    In that case, this was the perfect chance for him to exhibit some of his strength without seeming too suspicious.

    30% was already far more than what Leonel deserved.

    A carnivorous plant tried to swallow him whole from above, but Patriarch Khafra suddenly waved a hand, causing it to disappear into motes of light. However, when one looked closer, these motes of light had several runes dancing within them.

    ''The secret to clearing these Realms fast is to find the core of the world, decipher it, then diffuse it akin to a bomb... the core should be...''

    Patriarch Khafra''s gaze flickered toward where the core was. He had already found it; this was the first floor after all. But he waited a few seconds, fighting back against a swarm of carnivorous beasts before he flashed and appeared near the core.

    The region was quite swampy. It was a lake, but it was covered in so many leaves and lily pads that it looked almost like solid ground.

    He observed it for a moment before he nodded.

    Patriarch Khafra moved with great speed. If much of the world''s attention wasn''t diverted away by the battle of the Owlans and Voice Race descendants, he would have certainly impressed a large segment of the population. Who knew that the Nomads had such an expert amongst them? It was a shocking matter without a doubt.

    What he didn''t know was that his two subordinates were frozen.

    As Patriarch Khafra cleared the fifth floor, Leonel had already long since appeared back in the courtroom. In fact, he had appeared the moment Patriarch Khafra entered the third floor.

    The comparisons were odious. It weighed so heavily on them that they couldn''t even fathom what was going on.

    Little Fox held a teddy bear in his arms, squeezing it tightly as he looked toward Leonel. Leonel met the adorable little boy''s gaze with a grin.

    "How did you do that?" Little Fox asked in a voice so tender and innocent it was hard for anyone to reject him.

    "How?" Leonel chuckled, his grin widened. "Because I''m strong."

    The words echoed and Gregwyn felt like a hammer had struck him.

    The first round was still acceptable because it was clear that Patriarch Khafra just didn''t expect Leonel to explode with so much potential. But this round...

    What was the explanation?

    They looked up and witnessed their Patriarch slowly making his way forward. He was meticulous and impressive by any metric you wanted to use. And yet, every time he cleared a floor, it was like another slap to their faces.

    Watching him earnestly press forward, and even hold back as though he was certain he was in the lead, they felt their hearts twisting as though a dagger had been plunged into it and wrenched out again, and again, and again.

    All the while, Leonel stood there with a bright smile on his face as though he had just done the most normal thing in the world. He didn''t mind the glances or Gregwyn''s despair.

    This was how all things should be.

 Chapter 2755 Unwilling

    Chapter 2755 Unwilling

    Leonel grinned, observing Little Fox curiously.

    "Tell me, how many lives have you lived?"

    Little Fox''s expression changed before he quickly covered it up.

    "What is mister talking about?"

    "Don''t you feel a little sick to your stomach pretending to be a little boy? You don''t need to hide it, no one is watching the courtroom, while the challenges are ongoing they can only see the challenges themselves. Why don''t you let this mister know? I won''t hurt you."

    A sinister light flashed in Little Fox''s eyes.

    "My parents told me not to trust strangers."

    "I''ll be sure to swing by your neighborhood with a white van and some candy. I bet you won''t be able to resist then."

    Little Fox''s gaze flashed with confusion, but he was ultimately a Dream Force master. He could feel the intention of Leonel''s words even if he didn''t understand the terminology. And when he did, he felt furious.

    However, he slowly calmed himself down. He would wait and see how long Leonel would be able to prance around for. Even if they lost this, did Leonel really think that things would come to an end here? Of course not. If anything, he would just put himself in a different line of fire.

    At that moment, Patriarch Khafra stepped out, feeling pleased with himself. But when he saw Leonel, a baleful aura suddenly erupted from him.

    It only appeared for a brief instant, and it vanished an instant afterward. But it was still more than enough for Eamon and Gregwyn to sway on their feet, almost collapsing entirely.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade, his gaze not leaving Little Fox for even an instant. By the time the "little boy" remembered that he should have been scared, it was too late to pretend now. Even if his thinking speed was on another level and he would have still had time to fool a normal person, he knew that it was useless before Leonel.

    The points were tabulated and then the bars fluctuated. Soon, Leonel and his Vast Dream Pavilion reclaimed first place and by a decent margin at that. It was clear that there was barely enough room for one more challenge.

    The first requirement for a win was to fill your bar up entirely. If you did so and the other party failed to do so, the challenge would end and your Dream Pavilion would win.

    "I won''t be participating anymore."

    Before Leonel could respond, Goggles had already disappeared.

    Eamon was shocked. Let alone him, even Gregwyn was shocked. He didn''t understand what had just happened.

    Gregwyn let out a hollow laugh that quickly became uproarious. He was like a drowning man that finally found a life raft.

    The Dream Pavilion Head could never force others to participate on his behalf, at least not without external force. That was why only Clarence and Leonel had participated in the first Challenge Sequence, they had no ability to force everyone else to participate without threatening their lives on the outside.

    But since Goggles dared to do this, would he even be in the Dream Pavilion anymore by the time Leonel returned? And Leonel obviously couldn''t leave now, or else it wouldn''t just be himself who was giving up, but the entire Vast Dream Pavilion.

    The worst part was that even if Goggles had joined the challenge and then given up right after, they still would have won. But because he had given up without even entering, the penalty was far harsher.

    Leonel didn''t even have a Fourth Dimensional expert to replace him!

    "You reap what you sow!" Gregwyn said between bouts of manic laughter. "Even your own people can''t stand you!"

    Leonel stood in silence, staring at the location Goggles had just been standing in.

    The Goggles he knew would have never done this. The Goggles he knew would have stood by his side to the end, even if it meant death. The Goggles he knew had already given up his life for his sake once before and would have been willing to do it again.

    It didn''t make sense, none of it made sense...

    Except it did.

    Leonel knew the answer in his heart, he was just unwilling to admit it... he was unwilling to accept what it meant for Goggles to betray him right here and right now.

    A tear fell from Leonel''s eye, streaking down his cheek.

 Chapter 2756 Nature versus Nurture

    Chapter 2756 Nature versus Nurture

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while. He tuned out the world, lost in a bit of a daze.

    Whatever nonsense Gregwyn was talking about reaping what you sow wasn''t even worth listening to. Goggles'' actions had nothing to do with Gregwyn or his words. Just logically speaking, that was a foolish conclusion to draw.

    If Goggles was stupid enough to believe the words of a scorned fool, then he wouldn''t have been nearly as close to Leonel as he was. Originally, he was Leonel''s trusted aid. Because of his Ability Index, he almost had no choice but to be intelligent.

    The more information Goggles had on hand, the better he could predict the future.

    Honestly speaking, Leonel could understand if someone drew the conclusion. Technically, Goggles would be able to grasp that Gregwyn was technically telling the truth with his Ability Index.

    But the fact Goggles only chose to withdraw now was the final nail in the coffin.

    He wasn''t leaving because he felt that Leonel wasn''t worth following due to Gregwyn''s words, he was leaving because he had already made an assessment. In fact, he had likely already made the choice to betray Leonel before he even stepped foot into this place, and he had always known that he would be able to protect his life.

    From the very beginning, this was what he wanted to do.

    Nature versus Nurture.

    It was a line of thought that Leonel had wanted to ignore, that he had forced himself to ignore, that he had stuffed away into the recesses of his mind.

    He was too intelligent not to see it, he just didn''t want to see it.

    Was a person''s personality set from birth? Would they almost certainly become one way or another? Or were they shaped by their environment?

    Almost anyone would tell you that it was a combination of both, it had to be both... whether that was for the world to make sense or for you to keep your own sanity.

    The betrayal was only the first layer, but the festering wound he had ripped open was the true reason for Leonel''s reaction.

    If even Goggles could change so much, what about his father? If he somehow twisted fate and reversed reality, bringing his father back from the dead when it should have very well been impossible...

    Would Velasco even be Velasco anymore?

    Would he still be his father? Or would he have done all of that to bring back a man who shared the same flesh as his father, but none of the same mind, none of the same soul... none of the same heart?

    Standing there, watching Goggles leave, it was like Leonel was watching his father die again.

    The final strands of hope he had been holding onto drifted away and something in his chest seemed to break.

    The pain came in relentless waves until streaks of black came from his eyes.

    There was so much darkness, so much grief.

    Flickering lines of smoke came from his eyes as the black streaks drizzled down his cheek, forming droplets that dripped downward.

    BANG!

    They landed on the floor with a resounding boom.

    The killing intent that filled the air was so violent that Eamon, who had been worried for Leonel''s safety, lost consciousness, his eyes turning red and then rolling to the back of his head.

    The crown of Dream Sovereignty appeared above his head, but it flickered. From a radiant gold and silver color, it danced between that and a dark black and maroon as though a demon emperor had descended.

 Chapter 2757 Sigh

    Chapter 2757 Sigh

    Goggles appeared outside, landing in the Dream Pavilion. He cast a glance toward the shadow of the Khafra Dream Pavilion before he shook his head.

    With long strides, he left the region. He didn''t have much time, and he didn''t stand much of a chance against Leonel.

    According to his understanding of Leonel, even if it seemed impossible, he would still try to find a way. So that should give him time. But humans tended to be unpredictable, especially when emotions got involved. That was why he could only rely on him.

    This Flaura person provided him a better opportunity, and when the time came to betray her, he would do it without hesitation as well.

    However, that was a matter for the future. The first thing he needed to do was to quickly find a way off of the Human Bubble, and for someone as weak as him, that was easier said than done. But luckily, he had his own plans. He wouldn''t trust Flaura to help preserve his life.

    Although hiding in the Bubbles seemed like an option he knew that Leonel would be able to find him much too easily. The only answer was to get out of here as quickly as possible, only then could he protect his life properly.

    Leaving the Dream Pavilion was easy, entering it was the true problem. Luckily, he obviously didn''t have to worry about the latter problem.

    The moment he left, he entered the chaos that was now the Human Bubbles. They had still yet to be stabilized, and since this had been the territory of the Four Great Families, the situation was even worse here because of their disappearance.

    Goggles walked by a building and at that moment, a shadow strolled out of it. If anyone was observing, they''d be shocked to find that there were two Goggles, not just one... at least that was what it was for a short time before they casually slapped their palms together and fused into one.

    Goggles continued forward, his steps never pausing. He slid into another abandoned building and wiped some dust off of a teleportation platform before stepping into it and disappearing.

    Soon after he was gone, the teleportation platform crumbled and the abandoned building shattered after it. Everything that had happened here was buried beneath the rubble.

    ...

    Goggles appeared in a familiar place not long afterward. It was none other than the ruins of the Cult.

    He rubbed a ring on his finger, his gaze flickering. After some hesitation, he took out a familiar Tablet.

    ...

    Life was complex. It was something that most couldn''t hope to comprehend, and even those with the strength to catch its faintest edges ended up being the most confused of them all.

    Leonel trusted Goggles not because of his recent actions, but because of a past action that they had already long deviated from.

    Because Leonel returned to Valiant Heart Mountain with so much more power, he didn''t need to struggle for every victory like he didn''t originally... and because of that, Goggles never got to meet Rollan, and because he never met Rollan, he never met his wife and could therefore never fall in love with Rollan''s wife.

    Many of the actions of the Goggles Leonel had known were done because he had fallen for the woman of another man.

    By this point, he had already met Rollan''s wife. But the circumstances were completely different. She was pregnant with Rollan''s child, and living an entirely different life. Whatever it was that made Rollan fall for her the first time simply wasn''t there anymore.

    It was just a small change, and yet it changed everything.

    In an unknown location, Nilrem reclined in silence. There was a reason he had allowed the Valiant Heart Mountain to reform, the very same reason he had allowed Leonel to find it.

    Leonel needed to know that life wasn''t so cheap.

    Even if you could seemingly toy with it as you pleased...

    There was always a price to pay.

    A sigh echoed through Existence.

    -----

    Erdiul''s Note: Nilrem = Merlin = Wise Star Order = Leonel''s future teacher/master. Also RIP googles, bro can predict the future depending on how much information he has, guess he didn''t have much information on his future death LMAO. Imagine thinking betraying someone like Leonel would be one of the best options available for you, these ''''smart'''' characters always end up not being particularly bright.

 Chapter 2758 No Choice

    Chapter 2758 No Choice

    Leonel''s aura seemed to carry with it a towering, unsuppressable fury. The veins beneath his skin twitched wildly as he stood in silence, trying to rein in his temper.

    Plumes of black and dark violets rose and fell around him, his Dream Sovereign crown flickering with pulses of demonic light.

    Let alone Eamon, even the three Nomads felt shaken. Their own minds seemed to be corroding away under Leonel''s might, and the world seemed to be slowly swaying toward shades of red.

    Somewhere deep inside, Leonel had always felt that it was possible. No matter what the world said, no matter what logic said, he had always felt like he was above it all. Even after he changed his Dream Force path, the truest core of his nature had never changed.

    There was a reason he had always tended toward absolute confidence. He never measured himself by what others could or couldn''t do, and the only person he had ever truly respected to the depths of his heart was his father. As for anyone else, what they could or couldn''t do was irrelevant to him.

    And it was this very father that had given him a chance to break free of the Demoness, this father that had taught him everything he knew, this father that was the reason for the strength he held today.

    His father had given up so much, so wasn''t it only right that he be able to accomplish all things? Wasn''t it only right that he could play with the lives of a Demi-God World on a whim? Wasn''t it only right that he didn''t care very much that his Fawkes identity had been exposed even if that meant becoming the enemy of the world?

    Who cared if he was the enemy of the world? He would just win anyway.

    There was nothing that could stop him, nothing that should be able to stop him... because his father had paved the path to invincibility for him...

    So wouldn''t he be letting him down by letting something as foolish as the limitations of others hinder him?

    So he had held onto that hope, clung onto something he knew didn''t make sense.

    Until it all came crumbling down today. Updated from

    None of them could understand what kind of monster was standing before them.

    On the one hand, he seemed to be a normal human. But in their minds... he seemed to project out as large as an entire world, as though he was a looming Void Beast rather than a simple boy.

    Just when it seemed like the courtroom would truly crumble, a figure stepped out from the Segmented Cube.

    Aina appeared in the midst of Leonel''s aura, pressing a hand to his cheek. She couldn''t seem to feel the stream of blood running down the back of her hand as she looked into his eyes.

    Leonel met her gaze, his own flashing with a towering hatred and helplessness. He truly hated the world, and for a moment, he felt like it should just all burn down.

    He had never felt so much hatred in his life.

    Hatred for the Four Great Families. Hatred for the Demoness. Hatred for the Regulators. Hatred for Existence.

    Aina smiled weakly and slipped into his arms. She pressed her ear to his chest, listening to the thunderous booms and echoing war drums.

    Somehow, her warmth felt separate from the heat rising in his body.

    Leonel''s breathing slowly calmed down. He subconsciously wrapped his arms around her until his beating heart returned to a steady, slow rhythm. At this pace, it only thrummed once every several minutes.

    He wasn''t the only one that had lost people. His wife had lost her mother, his brothers had lost their parents, there were people who lost loved ones every day.

    The difference between him and them is that they had already accepted it, but he never had.

    And today, he had no choice but to do so.

 Chapter 2759 Repay the Favor

    Chapter 2759 Repay the Favor

    Patriarch Khafra''s gaze sharpened.

    "It''s been long enough," he said coldly.

    There wasn''t a strict time limit on sending in participants, but that didn''t mean that they were perfectly lax. There were methods of pressure that Patriarch Khafra could use, and some of those even included losing even more points.

    All of this was just a formality at this point. Whether Leonel sent someone in or not didn''t matter. He had only really spoken for the sake of regaining face. The rest of it was irrelevant to him.

    He had all the time in the world. So long as Leonel stalled for any longer, he would just deduct more of his points.

    This was just the first step of their plan and they weren''t on a timeline crunch... yet.

    Leonel completely ignored him, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. The entire rest of the world was meaningless to him; he felt at peace so long as he could feel Aina in his arms.

    His violent aura slowly receded further and the world returned to peace. Finally, the tears of blood that ran down his cheeks were burnt into a falling rain of ash. The last to recede was his crown of black and violet, his robes leaving just a moment before.

    Soon, there was truly a peaceful quiet.

    "-Hurry up!"

    The first thing Leonel heard when he started paying attention to the world once again was Gregwyn''s incessant chattering. He seemed to be even more pissed off than Patriarch Khafra that he had felt so much fear just now.

    He was eager to watch Leonel fall, and his previous complacent laughter had been muffled by his unhappiness.

    Once again, Leonel ignored him.

    He was painted into a corner? What complete and utter fools. He had never been painted into a corner in his entire life, and he doubted it would start now.

    If he wanted to lose on purpose, then he would lose.

    If he wanted to win, no one could stop him from doing so.

    He was willing to accept that he couldn''t bring his father back not just because of Goggles action, but because of the deep and profound respect he had for the man who had raised him. Recreating that man was nothing more than a spit to the face of everything his father had always meant to him.

    The core of the Self Path was understanding the uniqueness of a person, a uniqueness that couldn''t be replicated. Only by understanding how special you, yourself, were, could you impose that Will onto the outside world and force the various treasures of the world to abide by your thoughts and your whims...

    Only that way could you suppress the natures of the Forces of the world and force only your own nature to shine through the brightest.

    If he never truly accepted his father''s death...

    He would have never comprehended the Self Path.

    "You..."

    Leonel closed his eyes, directly ignoring Patriarch Khafra. However, he didn''t see darkness when he opened them. Instead, he saw a world of grey and black.

    It was a maze and the goal was to make it to the end before the enemy did. However, not only were there other dangers here, but he could directly meet Little Fox as well.

    Aina gave over full control of her body over to Leonel. Honestly speaking, just by virtue of their connection, Aina had enough comprehension of Dream Force to pull out this victory.

    But Leonel didn''t just want a victory. He wanted to crush their spirits.

    Aina had been forced to regress to the Fourth Dimension before she had been enlightened. This meant that it wouldn''t be a flash to return to the Eighth Dimension like it had been in the past. These people had not only cost Aina one of her precious regressions, but they had handicapped Leonel of his strongest fighter.

    More than all of that, they had made him feel a pain that was worse than death, forced him to face a reality that he hadn''t wanted to face.

    In that case, he would repay the favor.

    Aina shot forward under the control of Leonel''s senses. They zoomed through the maze with such speed that it seemed as though they knew where every trap lay, and where every turn curved.

    In a flash, they suddenly blocked Little Fox''s path.

    The little boy''s eyes widened. How had Aina found him so quickly?

    "Die," Aina said lightly, slapping out with a palm.

    The world seemed to go dark.

 Chapter 2760 Victory

    Chapter 2760 Victory

    The momentum of Aina''s palm was suffocating. Little Fox was taken off guard by her appearance alone, let alone the fierceness of the attack. It felt like, for a moment, death was standing right before him. There was no way to dodge, no way to evade, no way to...

    "Mental attack!"

    Little Fox quickly snapped out of it. If he was truly a little boy, his life would have ended right then and there, but his actual experience was far beyond his age.

    None of them could have expected that this would happen. They assumed that there was nothing that Leonel was still hiding, but to think that Aina was such a Dream Force expert.

    Even so, there was no time to regret it now. Leonel hadn''t given them any time to assess what happened. The only thing left to do was fight.

    So long as he could hold on and reach the end of the maze, it didn''t matter what Aina did, the victory would be theirs.

    Little Fox quickly clasped his hands together and protected himself with a shield of Dream Force.

    BANG!

    His vision went black as the palm landed. The disparity was far greater than he could have ever imagined.

    Just now, he thought he had a firm handle on Aina''s strength. The palm was powerful, but the Dream Force control was poor and lacking. This made sense, it seemed that Aina was a lot more like Gregwyn in this respect, relying on great talent but lacking in experience.

    However, when the palm actually landed, Little Fox felt as though he was nothing more than an ant facing off against an elephant.

    He had no idea how Aina had done it, but despite the simplicity of her attack, the hidden complexities within were on another level entirely.

    It clicked for Little Fox the moment his consciousness faded back into focus.

    ''She knew there was a beast here?!''

    Little Fox''s heart was practically beating out his chest.

    This maze was so complex. Although he knew there were patterns, the idea of actually capitalizing on them in such a life and death situation was the furthest thing from his mind.

    It didn''t make sense for Aina to be able to both focus on hiding the true extent of her Dream Force abilities, while also calculating everything else in advance as well.

    "No!"

    Aina''s palm struck down again, ignoring Little Fox''s final plea. The little boy teleported his hands toward him in the final moment, but four of his palms barely managed to deal with Aina, not that he had to divert them toward separate attacks, he stood not the slightest chance.

    His body was shattered into a rain of blood and gore, and the world fell silent.

    Aina reached out and grabbed the four palms that remained, gazing toward them curiously before turning away and leaving.

    It was a maze that should have taken weeks to navigate your way out of. Between the dangers, the traps, and the attacks on the mind, not to mention the changing to the maze over time, this was already a great time.

    Yet, not only had Aina found Little Fox in barely a few hours, she left the maze in less than a day.

    When Aina completed the maze, Leonel''s eyes slowly opened, his gaze calm as his wife appeared by his side.

    What remained of Little Fox''s body were pulled to their side, but his palms stayed with Aina.

    The bars of points rolled forward and a disadvantageous situation was turned around. In a single breath of time, the Vast Dream Pavilion took their victory, rising up to the 163rd position on the leaderboard.

    Victory was theirs.

 Chapter 2761 Havoc

    Chapter 2761 Havoc

    Leonel gave Patriarch Khafra a glance and then left without a word. He didn''t need to say anything, not right now. He didn''t feel like speaking at all. His thoughts were consumed with crushing this person until they had absolutely nothing left to give.

    Soon, Leonel could see the gorgeous clouds of the Dream Pavilion once more. He looked up and into the skies in silence, his mind drifting elsewhere.

    "Are you alright? We don''t have to do any of this, you know," Aina said softly.

    They really didn''t need to, she was right. With their capabilities, they could probably just hide away in a place in silence. They didn''t need to be at the center of every storm. While it was true that some things that had happened had forced their hand, by now they didn''t need to pay attention to such things anymore.

    They needed the Challenge Sequence to protect the Dream Pavilion. Without it, the Human Domains would be far too vulnerable.

    They needed the Gathering of Kingdoms to prevent the world from having the right to wipe them all from existence.

    They needed the Gathering of Minds because it was the only way to divert attention from themselves. Because of the Challenge Sequence and the Gathering of Kingdoms, they were right in the middle of the spotlight and they needed a method of cleansing themselves of that responsibility.

    But what about now?

    The next Gathering of Kingdoms would be for generations. The Gathering of Minds had successfully turned everyone''s attention to the Owlans. The Dream Pavilion was protected for the foreseeable future and unless the upper echelon went entirely mask-off, there was no legitimate way of taking it away from Leonel either.

    It had to be remembered that even without the Life Tablet, Leonel had met the requirements to be a Pavilion Head on his own the moment his Dream Force entered the Life State.

    He didn''t need the word of anyone else anymore.

    All of the immediate problems were fixed, they''d done their duty to the Human Race, they had the Segmented Cube and could vanish into some obscure corner of the world and not deal with any of this anymore until they had grown strong enough. And even then it would still be their choice.

    Right now, they were at least strong enough to make that choice.

    Sure, if they left there would be no one left to protect the Human Race. Sure, the Dream Asura would almost certainly come for revenge, and the Owlans, and the Spirituals...

    Suddenly, someone cleared their throat.

    Leonel and Aina looked toward Eamon at the same time. The poor fellow had been awkwardly standing there for the entire time, but he had to interrupt lest he feel like he was intruding on something any more intimate than this already was.

    "Um... do you need me anymore?"

    "Of course I need you!" Leonel replied. "As for what we''re going to do now, it''s obviously to get revenge. But first, we''ll be going to a certain Dwarven Bubble. I''m sure there''ll be interesting things over there."

    The Dream Asuras plans were interesting. For some reason, they had tried to rope in the Dwarven Race. The position of the Bubbles was the most obvious answer, but Leonel was certain that that wasn''t all.

    He wondered. What would they get out of Aerin coming to the Spirituals and, likely, being harmed or killed?

    In a narrow view of focus, this seemed to be just a smokescreen. But from a larger...

    Demonizing humans, riling up the Dwarven Race, roping in the Nomad Race, forcing the Spirituals into becoming a pawn.

    There were so many large players of several Races involved, all happening while the Gods had conveniently descended to wreak havoc on the Demi-Gods.

    And on top of all of that... wasn''t the culling still ongoing?

    It was absolute chaos, and someone was thriving in it.

    A smile crept onto Leonel''s face.

    Even Somnus was expelled from his Clan, and he hadn''t even taken personal action to do anything wrong. What would happen to this person if their actions were exposed?

    "Alright, wife, let''s go wreak some havoc."

    Aina looked at Leonel with an excited glint in her eyes and Eamon suddenly felt like the third wheel again.

 Chapter 2762 Miscalculation

    Chapter 2762 Miscalculation

    Flaura slowly closed the book in her hand. Her cherry lips shone particularly bright in the dim lights, and her expression was entirely unreadable. Not many knew Flaura intimately, but it could be said that it was quite rare for her to not be smiling, and even rarer for minutes to tick by without her taking a sip of wine.

    A miscalculation.

    She never told Leonel to lose on purpose, much like she didn''t tell him to win or lose against the Ma''at Bubble.

    For the challenge against the Ma''at Bubble, who won or lost didn''t matter. She had thought that regardless of the situation, the end result would be the same. If she went too far in giving direction, she would just end up exposing her plans, and that was something she didn''t want to do.

    What she didn''t know was that even before she told Leonel to challenge the Khafra Bubble, he had already known that she would. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    But that was exactly why the current situation was so perfect. Flaura had no idea that Leonel had already seen through her. All she could tell was that Leonel''s improvement speed was far too fast, and that he had more cards up his sleeves than logic would dictate to be possible.

    Flaura waved a hand and the images of Aina''s combat appeared.

    As expected, every use of Dream Force was so crude and unrefined. It seemed that Aina had a large Dream Force affinity, maybe one she had only recently come into contact with. This made sense considering the two were from an Incomplete World, she couldn''t find any flaws, at least not without being there to witness it personally. Ultimately, these were just projections, they couldn''t grasp the whole picture.

    "Some of this is still salvageable. This Aina killed a child in full view of the public, it would only make it easier to demonize them. A few will be able to tell that Little Fox isn''t really a toddler, but the vast majority won''t think so far."

    Flaura organized her thoughts and slotted many other things into place. Even so, she couldn''t quite feel satisfied, as though she was missing something.

    Should she take action personally?

    No, that was far too dangerous. The tradeoff wouldn''t be worth it, and it would leave too much of a trial for those with sinister intentions to follow.

    Plus, now that the Khafra Bubble had been dealt such a blow, things would be even more troublesome now.

    That was two now. Two slippery fish had escaped from her palms.

    Leonel appeared in the Dwarven Bubble with Aina by his side.

    Of course, he knew that Aina killing Little Fox was terrible optics, but there wasn''t another choice. The only way to ensure victory was to not only complete the maze very quickly, but to also ensure that Little Fox could not.

    It could be said that while he had won, he had paid the price. Not only was Aina stuck in the Fourth Dimension for the foreseeable future, but now there were very troublesome problems lurking in the wing.

    But he didn''t plan on just sitting on his hands and hoping for the best either. He would have to make his own opportunities, starting with what was going on here.

    The Dwarven Bubble wasn''t open to outsiders. So, in order to step into it, Leonel actually had to make use of a very special method. It could be said that this was repayment for saving Aerin.

    Aerin was precisely the key he had used to enter. Or, more accurately, Leonel had replicated a special key that Aerin had on his person.

    This special key needed to be used for any teleportation platform connected to the Dwarven Bubble to work, and Leonel wondered if this was also part of what the Dream Asura wanted to gain by killing Aerin.

    These keys were, obviously, only in the hands of a select few, and Aerin happened to be one of them.

    Of course, appearing using this key had its own share of problems because what did it mean for a teleportation platform that was rarely used to suddenly be used by two people at once?

    But Leonel was already prepared.

    When they were just about to touch down, his Dream Force spread and his Emulation Spatial Force acted.

    By the time the Dwarven warriors rushed to the teleportation pad, there was no one there.

 Chapter 2763 Conversation

    Chapter 2763 Conversation

    The Dwarven Bubble was in a bit of an uproar, but the culprits had vanished into thin air, unbeknownst to anyone else.

    Much of the Dwarven Race lived underground, their culture not much different from what Leonel had seen in the Incomplete Worlds. Their societies were couched in winding tunnels and quasi darkness.

    Of course, there were some beads of light here and there, mostly lining their walls and ceilings, but it was nothing like the sun could provide. In fact, a normal human from Earth might find it hard to even see very much further than a couple meters ahead of themselves.

    One would think that a race of people like this would feel depressed all the time, but even from just being here a few minutes, Leonel found a sweet sort of ambience hanging in the air.

    After the improvement to his Dream Force, the Dream Force of others practically felt tangible to his eyes. This world was filled with peace and prosperity.

    Who was he to tell these people what would make them happy? Just because a human would feel stuffy and depressed being stuck underground for such a long time, couldn''t the Pixies and Sparrows feel different?

    The Dwarven Race felt at once with the earth. They had evolved as a weak Race that needed to protect themselves, and over time, they grew to accept their underground worlds with open arms. Rather than a form of oppression, it became a source of peace and prosperity for them.

    It was this world that Leonel and Aina entered. Disguising themselves as a Pixie and Sparrow wasn''t too difficult. With the improvement to his Dream Force, although his Emulation Spatial Force hadn''t been brought along, Leonel still felt like he could control it with greater precision.

    At this point, unless an expert had mastered a Creation State Force, seeing through his disguises would be almost impossible. The only other way was to have a Quasi Creation State Dream or Soul Force.

    While it wasn''t impossible for the Dwarven Race to have such an expert lingering around, Leonel didn''t plan on running into them any time soon.

    "I''ll need to just observe this world for a while. Let''s try part two of our vacation now," Leonel said with a chuckle.

    "You''re right. Even if they don''t take offense, they''ll take it as a sign of weakness and use it as an opportunity to oppress us. The rewards Prince Aerin brought back this time are too extraordinary, and there are a lot of people eyeing us now. I think the ambassadors are just a pretext to "exchange" goods, and it won''t be long before the knowledge they want to exchange ends up being those high Order Blueprints."

    The two Sparrows clicked their tongue, lamenting about the state of their world.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    It had to be remembered that Internal Sight was an extension of all five senses, whether it was sight or touch or smell, it didn''t matter.

    Right now, Leonel had stripped down his Internal Sight of everything but his hearing sense. It made it easier for him to control and stop others from detecting. So even though he was walking leisurely and even chatting with Aina, his actual senses were spreading across hundreds of kilometers.

    Unfortunately, Anastasia couldn''t control her senses like this, so it was best for Leonel to do it.

    His Ability Index directly filtered out useless conversations and narrowed in on the ones that triggered any sparks in his Dreamscape, and this one was particularly fascinating, especially since the situation on the outside didn''t reflect their thoughts.

    The outside world was completely enamored with Lyra, they weren''t talking about Aerin at all. So was this just a coincidence? Or did it reflect something deeper?

    With how isolated the Dwarven Bubble was, it could easily be an either/or type of situation. But wasn''t it precisely because they were so isolated that their situation was so easy to predict?

    ''No. I don''t believe that the Dwarven Race''s higher ups are foolish enough to not pay attention to the outside world at all... Wait-''

    The conversation continued and Leonel picked up on something that made his eyes narrow.Updated from

 Chapter 2764 Ear to Ear

    Chapter 2764 Ear to Ear

    "The Nomads and Cloud Race are especially pushy. But there''s just no way we can let the Cloud Race in, what kind of commotion would that cause? Once you let them in, you''ll never be able to kick them out. We''ll have rats scurrying around our world again and again."

    ''Cloud and Nomad?'' Leonel''s thoughts sped through several deductions. ''Are the Cloud Race related? No, unlikely. I don''t believe that this Dream Asura can just puppeteer so many Races at the same time, it''s too much. Updated from

    ''If they did control so many Races, what would even be the point in slinking around like this? They could just directly declare war.

    ''The only explanation is that they either only control strategic populations of these Races and are ready to use them to change the situation at any time, or they''re taking advantage of the Cloud Race''s character to act as a smokescreen for their real intentions.''

    Leonel''s gaze flashed. ''... Aerin is in trouble. His disappearance could still work against him, even now.''

    Leonel jumped from thought to thought, his deductions hard to follow for anyone on the outside looking in, but the more he thought, the more assured he felt about certain things until his thought process landed on one thing.

    Didn''t that Cloud Race genius pair up with an Owlan descendent during the Gathering of Minds?

    A flash of lightning sparked through Leonel''s mind and a strong impulse suddenly fuelled him. He realized something interesting at that point.

    Did he really force the Owlans into their current situation? Or was it that he just moved their plans up and caught them off balance a bit?

    ''I only have 12% assurance in that deduction. I need more information.''

    Leonel switched off his thoughts before they spilled over with Auspicious Air. That wouldn''t help with his attempt to stay incognito.

    Soon, he and Aina reached their hotel room and slipped inside.

    Aina went to take a shower and Leonel checked around the place with particular focus on the Force Arts that protected it.

    And then the fur... could obviously only be the Beast Race. In fact, when he looked closer, it was a fur almost identical to the fur Leonel had used to make Aina''s military uniform... it was just on an even higher level.

    Leonel let out a hollow laugh that quickly came from his belly. He couldn''t imagine that they would make such a stupid mistake.

    But then he understood.

    Little Fox hadn''t brought out these changes to his hands originally, he only wanted to protect his life. Aina''s strength, or rather Aina under the control of Leonel, was so powerful that he had no choice but to bring out these trump cards.

    Leonel''s thoughts flickered toward Wicked and he felt that he pieced it all together.

    Now he was absolutely certain. The participants in this war were the Owlans, the Beasts and the Dream Asuras.

    Wicked had been able to add to his path just by regressing to a younger age, and wasn''t that the same ability Little Fox had displayed?

    How could a small Nomad Race member possibly come into contact with not just one, but two Demi-God Races? Now, it should be three! This beast fur was most definitely from a Demi-God Beast on a higher level than the tiger that made up Aina''s military uniform.

    At that moment, Aina suddenly came out from the bathroom. A towel wrapped around her, and though to the outside world she was a Pixie, how could Leonel''s own disguise be hidden from his eyes? He could see her in her full glory.

    Aina gave Leonel a weird look because he was holding a dead man''s hands and laughing like a maniac, but before she could react, he tossed the hands to the side like they were trash and reached a hand out to grab her.

    Aina dodged backward, but a sly grin on Leonel''s face made her realize she had misjudged something.

    Leonel''s hand caught her towel and pulled it toward himself, revealing a gorgeous figure.

    Leonel grinned ear to ear.

 Chapter 2765 Innocence

    Chapter 2765 Innocence

    Leonel pinned Aina beneath him, wrapping an arm around her waist and intertwining his free hand in one of hers.

    It had been a long while since the two had sex on an actual bed, even though this one was only barely large enough for their heights.

    Leonel was just over 6''9" and Aina was easily over 6''2". It could be said that the beds meant for the Dwarven Race were very much not designed for them.

    Even so, they made do, forgetting the world and having a sweet sort of moment together that strayed from their usual wild antics.

    By the time either one actually came up for breath, they were flushed. Aina''s skin seemed painted in red, looking so thin and delicate that even her beating heart could be seen between her large breasts.

    Leonel flipped her on top of him and wrapped around her waist tighter, his hands sinking into her soft skin. Their hearts beat as one and their movements were slow and deliberate, almost as though they weren''t chasing any sort of climax, but rather wanted to enjoy every stroke and every moment.

    They wasted the day away, not minding anything else until they fell into one another''s embrace.

    "Are you going to tell me what happened now?" Aina asked, pinching Leonel''s waist. This guy took advantage of her. Had she still been in the Eighth Dimension, there was no way she would have made that mistake earlier.

    "Who asked you to take a shower? Clearly, you were seducing me," Leonel said righteously.

    Aina rolled her eyes. "I''m so sorry, mighty king. Next time I want to groom myself I''ll ask for your permission first."

    Leonel''s hand reached down as squeezed a cheek, feeling endlessly satisfied.

    "As long as you know the error of your ways."

    Aina giggled and rolled her eyes again. "Now, quickly, tell me."

    "This makes it easier to parse through the noise and understand exactly what they want to do. We can, mostly, ignore the Cloud Race and focus our attention on the Nomads. In fact, we can even maybe use the Cloud Race not much unlike they are."

    "Then what do you want to do?"

    "Well, first... I think it''s about time the Pavilion Head of the Dwarven Race''s Dream Pavilion changes," Leonel said with a grin.

    "You are...?"

    "If I was this Dream Asura, after the Khafra Dream Pavilion fell out of the top 300, I''d have them challenge the Dwarven Dream Pavilion for their spot back.

    "This would cause two things. Not only would this let the Khafra Bubble rise back up, but it would also be a signal to the world that the Dwarven Race is vulnerable. By then, the artificial pressure would increase and give them a chance to strike.

    "The more pressure the Dwarven Race is under, the more chances there would be. If something happens to Aerin at just the right time, it could truly spark the flames of war."

    "So you want to hand the Khafra Bubble their second loss in a row."

    Leonel grinned. "I haven''t had enough fun crushing those bastards yet. In fact, I think it''s about time Patriarch Khafra dies."

    Aina''s gaze flickered. Sensing the determination from Leonel, she suddenly felt something inside of her heating up again. This time, it was her turn to pounce.

    "Ah, my innocence!" Leonel called out.

    "Shh, shh, don''t struggle," Aina whispered into his ear, her coercion leaking and making goosebumps rise up all across his skin. "It''ll hurt at first, but then it''ll feel good."

    Leonel was aghast, what kind of role-play was this? Where was the morality? What happened to their little cute romance? Where was the justice? Why wasn''t she putting it inside her yet?

    Leonel''s face looked like it was painted in horror, but his body didn''t resist in the slightest, making Aina let out a bell-like laughter.

 Chapter 2766 Sensitive

    Chapter 2766 Sensitive

    Through some roundabout methods, Leonel managed to find the location of the Dwarven Bubble''s Dream Pavilion. He changed his appearance again and let Aina enter the Segmented Cube. At the moment, he looked like a Sprite of average appearance, standing around five feet tall with a pair of translucent wings and skin that was just barely the faintest touch of green.

    Was it a bit ballsy to go to the heart of a Dream Force capital with a disguise formed by Dream Force?

    Of course.

    Did he care?

    Not at all.

    Travel between the cities of the Dwarven Bubble was especially lax and the security was even more so. In fact, by the time Leonel got to the city that held the Dream Pavilion, he had realized that it wouldn''t be difficult to join at all. All he had to do was take a small test that only had the requirement of reaching the necessary bar for affinity.

    The test for Dream Force in Complete Worlds, or more accurately ones that met a necessary standard of quality, were quite benign. They had special formations designed to pull those with improper Dream Force affinity out of a helpless state before they fell into an endless spiral of their own memories.

    The prerequisite for this formation to work, though, was for the user to have adequate Soul Force affinity.

    For Leonel, this test was obviously easy and he didn''t waste any time entering the Dream Pavilion. He didn''t have the time to waste even if he wanted to.

    He had to find a way to either become the new Dream Pavilion Head, or secure himself a spot on the roster to contend against the Nomads, or else all of this would be for naught.

    Logically, there was no reason for a Dream Pavilion to pick him out of the numerous seasoned disciples, so he had to carve out his own path, and for that he had his own ideas.

    He had already released the bait, he just had to wait for a bite.

    A Sprite he didn''t recognize blocked his path on the road toward the main Pavilion. Most greeted him warmly, and he thought that this was yet another until they stepped in front of him.

    Aerin blinked and frowned. It couldn''t be said that the Dwarven Race was perfectly harmonious, no Race or even power could claim such a thing. However, they were still more cohesive than most.

    While he couldn''t sense any hostility from this Sprite, he clearly wasn''t as respectful or endearing as the other either. But what was oddest was that Aerin felt that he couldn''t read his Dream Force at all. When had someone like this appeared? The only people he struggled to do this with were old and wizened.

    "Hello, may I help you?"

    "Yes, you could," Leonel said with a smile. "I can see that you''re in a rush, but I do have something very important to tell the prince. I believe you owe me a favor, no?"

    Aerin''s pupils constricted. He could tell exactly what Leonel was referring to. This was the man who saved him back then, but who was he? He still didn''t know for certain.

    Almost immediately, a cold sweat permeated Aerin''s back, could it really be that this was the ploy the whole time, to infiltrate the Dream Pavilion? But then why would he expose himself like this? Unless there was a plan in motion already that was far too late to stop?

    The more Aerin thought, the more he spiraled into feelings of guilt.

    Leonel didn''t explain, this wasn''t the place to do so.

    "Come with me," Leonel said, "it''s a bit sensitive."

    Some of the Dwarven Race members saw this scene and raised an eyebrow, but they didn''t think much of it.

    As Aerin had said, they were mostly harmonious. Aerin was also a kind prince that had given many of them pointers before, so it wasn''t too weird for someone else to ask for his help. Those who were part of the Dream Pavilion were a small population to begin with.

 Chapter 2767 Imprison

    Chapter 2767 Imprison

    "Who are you?" Aerin asked coldly, furiously pressing down his anxiety.

    "I would tell you... but honestly I don''t trust your brain to stay your brain," Leonel said with a laugh.

    Aerin frowned. It had always been him gatekeeping information because he was worried about the Dream Force of others, when had it become the other way around?

    Although there was a proponent of Force Manipulation level when it came to protecting one''s mind, affinity was although a huge aspect. If one had a high enough Dream Force Affinity, even if the attacker was in the Creation State, there was a chance you could pick up on the manipulation ahead of time.

    Aerin was only in the Impetus State with his Dream Force, but his affinity was so high that he felt confident in protecting himself against most people. He only really had to start worrying if the upper echelon of Demi-Gods started to get involved, but even then they would have to take a slow and winding path to deal with him.

    "You don''t have to worry too much about it. Doesn''t the fact I''m exposing myself to you count for anything?"

    Aerin hesitated. This man had saved him, and had come to him first. All the anxiety of what might be going on had been crushed down to a single point. At the very least, he could monitor this man by staying by his side.

    "What do you want, then?" Aerin asked.

    "It''s simple really, just want your Dream Pavilion to follow my orders for a little bit."

    "And if we don''t?"

    "Well, let''s see," Leonel began raising up his fingers one by one, "first you''ll be embroiled in war, your sacrifices will be used to enrich others, you''ll likely end up helping another Mortal Race reach Demi-Godhood before yourselves, your lineage will be wiped out... need I go on?"

    Aerin frowned. It didn''t sound like Leonel was threatening him with these matters, but rather that this would be the inevitable fallout for what was to come.

    Slowly, Aerin began to regain his breath and his beating heart settled down.

    Originally, he had thought Leonel was trying to treat him like a child. The amount of control a Pavilion Head had over a Dream Pavilion was exceptional, practically no one could threaten them here. But if there was a Life Tablet, Leonel wasn''t exaggerating by saying that he could do it by force if he wanted to. By then, he would have carved out a place in the Dwarven Bubble that Pixies and Sparrows couldn''t even step into.

    However, even with all of this said, it was still too difficult to trust Leonel, while Leonel wasn''t willing to tell Aerin too much.

    In reality, the easiest thing to do would be to forcefully cease this Dream Pavilion. It had been so easy getting here that even the Human Bubble had more protections.

    The reason he didn''t was because this news would almost certainly leak to that Dream Asura, and if they were half as smart as Leonel thought they were, they would link it back to him. He couldn''t allow that, not just yet.

    "Tell you what," Leonel suddenly said. "If you''re willing to be trapped by me for the time it takes for this to blow over, I will tell you everything."

    Aerin immediately recoiled.

    Leonel didn''t say a word, letting him think through it. And, as expected, after several seconds, Aerin nodded solemnly.

    At some point, being overly cautious would only harm him. Several times now Leonel had exposed bits and pieces of his plan that would have worked out far better if Aerin was in the dark about them. If Aerin didn''t take any risks himself, how much sincerity could he be said to have?

    They were both smart people, and Aerin couldn''t think of a reason why Leonel would go through all of this when he could have captured him back then. After all, Leonel''s strength was far beyond his own.

    "Good, in that case, I will tell you everything. Then, you must help me claim the Pavilion Head position before being ''imprisoned''."

    Aerin took a breath and nodded again. He listened intently to Leonel''s words, and the more he heard, the more his eyes widened.

 Chapter 2768 Portal

    Chapter 2768 Portal

    "Old Bastian, I need to talk to you," Aerin bowed respectfully at the entrance of a Dream Pavilion. He didn''t need to be so polite, but Old Bastian was still his elder. That said, the fact he called him Old Bastian at all went to show how close their relationship was.

    "Come in, come in," an aged but cheery voice came from the inside.

    Aerin smiled a hint bitterly and then entered.

    "How many times do I have to tell you there''s no need for such formalities, little prince? You''ve already done more for the Dwarven Race than I''ve done in my entire lifetime. If anything, I should be bowing to you."

    An aged Sparrow with a head of white hair and a face full of wrinkles beckoned Aerin forward, urging him to sit on the prayer mat by his side.

    The older Sparrows grew, the larger their wings became. In fact, some of them even showed mutations that allowed them to grow multiple.

    Old Bastian had two pairs of wings that looked like they had been plucked from a dragonfly''s back. Usually, for the average Sparrow, a wing that was more than a foot long was already a huge boon. But Old Bastian''s wings were almost as long as he was tall, spreading out to over four feet.

    Though the man looked aged, the one thing that never lagged behind for Sparrows were their wings. He was more agile now than maybe any other person in the Dwarven Kingdom.

    "You''re flattering me again, Old Bastian," Aerin said a bit sheepishly.

    "Only what you deserve, only what you deserve. Now tell me, what''ve you come here for today?" Old Bastian said with a jovial smile. "I can tell there''s something weighing heavily on you."

    Aerin took a deep breath. Even though he took a seat on the prayer mat, he had a hard time looking Old Bastian in the eye.

    "Old Bastian, will you hate me if I ask you for something unreasonable?"

    The old Sparrow looked at Aerin deeply before giving him a meaningful smile.

    "You wear your heart on your sleeve too much, little prince. That is why you''re so easily manipulated. I''ve spoken to your father about letting you explore the world, but it seems that you''ve gone off and done it on your own, hm?"

    Aerin''s heart jumped.

    Old Bastian chuckled. "If you want to sneak away, you need to be sharper than that. And let me guess, the report that was marked false wasn''t you, correct? Meaning there''s a spy somewhere in our world now?"

    "Temporarily."

    "I doubt that," Old Bastian chuckled. Even if Leonel kept to his word and abdicated, would their Race ever truly be free of him? Or would they end up in his clutches?

    Leonel didn''t refute, there was no point in doing so.

    With a grunt, Old Bastian slowly stood to his feet.

    "If you want it, then show me you''re worthy. If you cannot defeat me, what would be the point?"

    Leonel chuckled. "Alright, why not?"

    Leonel quite liked this old man. He reminded him of coach and Old Hutch. Though his mouth wasn''t as foul as either, his temper was surely there.

    "What would you like to play?" Old Bastian asked.

    "Feel free to choose, or else you won''t be convinced, right?" Leonel replied.

    "Good. Then we will play a round of portal."

    Portal was a game not much unlike Go of Earth. The difference was that the board was constructed of teleportation Force Arts, thus the namesake. Not only did you play your normal pieces, but you also moved the Force Arts around, changing the landscape of the board by either triggering or blocking teleportations.

    It was essentially a game within a game.

    Because the teleportation Force Arts were incomplete, it relied both heavily on intelligence and knowledge of the game of Go.

    Honestly, Leonel had never played Go before, so he was a layman...

    But his Force Art comprehension was so far beyond Old Bastian''s that it didn''t matter. He didn''t even bother considering where to put down his pieces, directly bulldozing the old man and teleporting all his pieces away.

    In the end, Old Bastian didn''t even last a few minutes before he conceded.

 Chapter 2769 Pacifism

    Chapter 2769 Pacifism

    Leonel grinned as the Go board disappeared. It seemed that Old Bastian had a bit of a temper, though that much should have been obvious after their first interaction.

    Truthfully, he was a little embarrassed. The reality was that he planned on giving Leonel a chance even if he lost. That was because he couldn''t even remember the last time he lost in a game of Portal. Winning or losing didn''t necessarily mean that Leonel was inferior to him, he was just making things a bit difficult on Leonel on purpose.

    The reason for this was because the most important aspect of the game, the portals themselves, were meant to be created at random. The issue was that there was no one skilled enough to make them. The game was extraordinarily complex.

    As such, usually when you wanted to play with a new person, you would have to buy a board from the Dream Pavilion exchange. Most, though, would have dedicated boards that they used with certain people so that they could maintain a level of fairness. Updated from

    Every board had a random assortment of portals, and these portals would change and morph over time depending on the moves made, keeping the game fresh. In fact, the number of variations were so numerous that if you only ever planned to play with just one person, you would likely never need to buy another.

    This was where Old Bastian''s sneakiness came into play. He had several dedicated boards, but this one in particular was the one he always used to play a different number of wide ranging opponents.

    Because it had seen several play styles over the years, it was somewhere in the middle-that meaning that Old Bastian was somewhat familiar with its portals, but not to the extent he would have been had he played the same person again and again.

    This was all to say that from the beginning, Leonel was playing with a handicap, and yet Old Bastian still lost. It was only right that he was a bit peeved and embarrassed.

    Even so, Leonel found it quite adorable. He didn''t have much interaction with his own grandfather, but he liked to imagine that Gervaise wouldn''t be too dissimilar to this in the event that he lost. Though, it was also difficult for Leonel to imagine that man losing in the first place.

    At that moment, there was a sudden tremble and a letter of challenge, wreathed in silvery white fog appeared before Old Bastian.

    This was honestly the worst timing. He was already pissed off, and seeing this he almost shattered it with a palm.

    Leonel had already expected for them to go with two. Not only would it limit the variables further, they would be able to draw attention to Little Fox''s death all the more so. To these people, every one of their actions was meticulously chosen so that they could maximize their benefits.

    And this was the game Leonel liked to play the most.

    "Don''t stop trusting me at the most crucial point, old man. If you''re going to bet, don''t half ass it. Go all in."

    "... You''re definitely going to pull my Dwarven Race into a war, aren''t you?"

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade, but he had to admit that this man was sharp. Instead of answering directly, he swiped a hand over his face and suddenly, he looked exactly like Aerin. There wasn''t even a single strand of hair that was out of place.

    "Does this answer your question?"

    Old Bastian''s heart trembled. If Leonel really did something wild while using Aerin''s face, just what kind of storm would that cause?

    "Alright, into the Segmented Cube you go, Aerin."

    Aerin could only watch as Leonel clasped a hand over his shoulder. Looking into his own face was surreal, but frightening at the same time. He already understood exactly what Leonel wanted to do.

    Once Aerin was gone, Leonel looked right into Old Bastian''s eyes, trying to read him.

    "When you do things, you have to do them thoroughly. There are enemies knocking on your Dwarven Race''s door as we speak, they''re pressuring you to hand over treasures your prince fought for, they already tried to kill that very prince once before and they''ll do it again.

    "Pacifism won''t help you, it will only hinder you. Now isn''t the time to cower."

 Chapter 2770 Aerin and...

    Chapter 2770 Aerin and...

    The words rung in Old Bastian''s heart like a bell. It almost felt like Leonel was attacking his soul with his Dream Force, and maybe he was... but Old Bastian had the clarity nonetheless to realize that he was correct.

    They were already in a passive position. If they didn''t take action now, when would they? They were already looking for an excuse to target them anyway... so let them come.

    At that moment, Old Bastian had the momentum to make a unilateral decision for the whole of the Dwarven Race.

    In reality, he had the prestige to do so... but in practice, he knew that he shouldn''t.

    He was most definitely one of the top three experts of the Race, and due to his position as the head of the Dream Pavilion, he was even faintly beyond the other two. But it wasn''t to the point that he could unilaterally suppress them. In fact, in a true battle where he didn''t have the support of the Dream Pavilion, he would lose to them both. Dream Force simply didn''t translate well to battle for most.

    However, when it came to intelligence, they took his word for most things and his thoughts definitely weighed the heaviest.

    The camaraderie of the Dwarven Race went all the way to the very top. He saw those two as his siblings and he wouldn''t have it any other way.

    There was no time to consult them even if he wanted to. The challenge would start very soon, and even if he did have the speed to inform them... would they have the time to have a deep back and forth? What would even be the point in a half-assed conversation?

    There was really only one choice to make.

    He exhaled slowly. Updated from

    "I''ll trust you in this matter for now."

    Leonel nodded. When he turned away, vanishing, his expression was incredibly solemn. He barely registered the Pavilion Head position being transferred over to him.

    What he was solemn about wasn''t the coming battle. Even if it was a tall mountain, he would climb it if it meant crushing the Nomads.

    His solemnity had everything to do with Old Bastian''s decision. He knew that it wasn''t easy to make such a decision, and it made his respect for the man reach as deep as it could.

    It wasn''t that he didn''t think it was potentially a disguise, but he simply couldn''t see any flaws.

    But it was too late to retract the command now. They were going in.

    ...

    Soon, their gazes flashed and they entered the courtroom-like region. The whole time, Leonel wasn''t paying to Patriarch Khafra at all because his focus was trained on the second man.

    This second man was the very same one that had been waiting outside of Patriarch Khafra''s pavilion the first time. His Hands of Gods were larger than his three meter tall finger, intertwining their fingers into what looked like a blooming flower of digits.

    Leonel found him interesting because he felt no less dangerous than Patriarch Khafra... just in a different sort of way.

    Right then, three floating challenge balls appeared... and it was Leonel''s right to choose.

    ...

    At that moment, the entire world was in an uproar... or, rather, all those paying attention were. And for the Dwarven Race, that could pretty much be considered to be the all. And when the Spirituals learned of it, they too were in shock.

    The Emberheart Lord personally rushed to his daughter''s living quarters, and when he found Lyra''s confused face looking back at him, he was completely stunned. In fact, for a moment, he thought his own daughter was the fake one so he brought her to his wife to be checked, only to find out that the Emberheart Lady had entered a state of strict meditation.

    Even so, Lyra was eventually able to prove to her father that it was, indeed, her... but that only shocked them further.

    How could there be such a perfect disguise technique in this world?

    How could they know that Leonel had long treated Emulation Spatial Force like a layman''s Infinity Force? On top of that, he not only had immaculate control over both his and Aina''s body due to his Ability Index and their marriage bond, but he also had Little Tolly on top of that.

    There was simply no seeing through him.

 Chapter 2771 Paralysis

    Chapter 2771 Paralysis

    The Emberheart Lord wasn''t sure of what to do, this was horrible. What would that person do if they believed this? No, was that person stupid enough to do so? They could easily check the internal workings of the Spirituals and find out such a large secret, they certainly wouldn''t make such a mistake. If they "fell for it", they would do so on purpose. Updated from

    Did the Dwarven Race know that? No, how could the Dwarven Race even do this in the first place? Were they enraged that the world wasn''t giving them the credit they deserved for the Gathering of Minds? But this didn''t seem to be in-line with their character.

    ''Wait, was this done by that person?''

    A cold sweat poured down the Emberheart Lord''s back.

    While it was true that the slandering of the Human Race was ordered by that person, using it as an excuse to bring the two Pure Blood Bloodlines together and finally become a Demi-God Race was their idea alone.

    Was this the means that person was using to counter this? After all, Lyra''s marriage to the Moonstone Lord''s son was a fairly large part of the original plan as well.

    Was the Dream Asura onto them? Were they dissatisfied with their actions?

    The thoughts paralyzed the Emberheart Lord and he didn''t know what to do.

    If he went out into the world and told everyone that this Lyra was fake, would he be offending that person? And if they did so, could they even bear the consequences?

    And even if this wasn''t the case, wouldn''t this outright offend the Dwarven Race?

    This didn''t seem to matter because this was clearly an open sign of provocation on their part...

    But was it?

    Who was to say that the Dwarven Race wasn''t being tricked by someone else? He had gotten news that the Cloud Race was pressuring the Dwarven Race a great deal for the sake of their Blueprints. Was this part of their plan?

    The number of thoughts truly paralyzed the Emberheart Lord.

    Sometimes, being too intelligent was a handicap of its own. He had thought of many things most wouldn''t even see through on the surface, and he had no idea that he was playing right into Leonel''s palms by doing so.

    With a flash, Aina disappeared into a one on one challenge and Leonel took a seat and closed his eyes in meditation, ignoring the Patriarch.

    ...

    Aina appeared on a large translucent game board. It looked like a constellation, somewhat, and every cross was filled with a complex partial array.

    It was a half-complete game of Portal.

    This was certainly the twist of the challenge. Originally, it should have just been a game, but it turned into a game that had already started. Depending on several factors, that could easily leave them either at an advantage or a severe disadvantage.

    The two were on opposite sides of the board. Aina was given the white pieces and the man with blooming hands was given the back. Almost immediately, the two began checking over the board, but what the man didn''t expect was that Aina would move almost instantly.

    She landed on a point and the portal swirled to life. The pieces moved and shifted, and the man found himself moving out of his control.

    Aina continued to move, her movements quick and agile. From an outsider''s perspective, you would have never thought that she was being controlled by someone else, her understanding of her own body was simply immaculate.

    She moved again and again, seemingly never needing the man to make a move of his own first.

    And that was the fearsome part about Portal. Who went next was based on the relative number of pieces on the board. Whoever had less pieces would go.

    That meant that if you could control the portals to carefully sacrifice your own and the opponent''s at the same time, while maintaining a tailing position, you could continuously move, putting yourself in a more and more advantageous situation.

    Usually, this couldn''t happen until mid-game. But because the game was partially completed, Aina and Leonel could immediately take advantage.

    The man swiftly felt a sense of helplessness. He simply couldn''t calculate fast enough.

    He could only kill.

    His aura soared.

 Chapter 2772 Shredded

    Chapter 2772 Shredded

    Morgok balled up his fists and attacked with a furious momentum. His Hands of God fell down like a rain of meteors, suffocating Aina from all sides.

    Aina didn''t even look up. Just as they were about to land, she activated another portal and vanished.

    The Hands of God landed with a furious momentum, but right then there was an equally as furious backlash. They were almost shredded to pieces and Morgok was forced to teleport them back toward him through space, displaying an ability he hadn''t wanted to show so early on practically immediately.

    His face twisted with displeasure, but there was nothing he could do. He turned his attention toward his Hands of God, seeing that they were in a sorry state. On one of them, he could see as deep as bone. The others were still fine because the first was enough of a lesson for him to retreat with the others.

    He already knew that the Portal board wouldn''t just allow him to attack it, there would certainly be a price to pay as a result. It was just that he thought he could crush Lyra, or rather Aina, before that happened.

    He had no idea how he was so wrong.

    He knew the limits of Lyra''s skill, so when had she become such a problem?

    Aina didn''t even look up, she had absolute confidence in Leonel. It was a confidence that had taken them many years of hardship to build between one another, the likes of the Gods couldn''t break that trust apart, let alone the Nomads.

    The situation on the board kept rapidly changing. Pieces disappeared and separated again and again, sometimes they would change location, and sometimes they would be sent to the graveyard of sorts, sacrificed for the sake of it remaining Aina''s turn.

    The more this occurred, the more Morgok''s expression changed. He didn''t really understand what was going on.

    There was only so much that Aina could accomplish by doing this. Sure, she was getting a larger and larger advantage, but the fewer pieces there were on the board, the more chances that Morgok would have to reverse the situation.

    The game of Go ended when both players consecutively gave up on a turn. In Portal, the rules were the exact same. Essentially, if there were still places to play, then the game would continue. And just by virtue of what Aina was doing, she was constantly creating more and more spaces to play. You could never end the game using this strategy.

    If she made the losing move just to protect herself... well, it would be the losing move. On top of that, it was just a delay tactic. The next turn, she would be right back in the same exact situation, and this time her hand would be forced.

    As expected, Aina seemed to see through this. This was the only chance she had.

    She quickly made the winning move and Morgok flashed an ugly grin.

    His Hands of God had returned to their blossoming form before, but now they exploded into action, appearing above Aina and smashing down.

    There was nowhere left to go and their pieces were even. Unless she survived this, she was finished.

    But that was when something absolutely shocking happened.

    A spatial fluctuation made Morgok''s expression change. The last thing he saw was Aina''s indifferent expression. She didn''t even gaze at the hand above her, looking at him as though she was staring at an ant.

    Was this really the Spiritual Princess?

    This was the last thought he had before he was shredded to pieces, leaving mere droplets of blood where there had once been a whole person.

    The world fell into silence.

    One moment, they were playing a game, and in the next, one of them had died a terrible death. How the hell had this happened?

    Patriarch Khafra''s expression turned the ugliest shade of purple, his aura rippling out in waves.

 Chapter 2773 Pieces

    Chapter 2773 Pieces

    Lyra, or rather Aina, appeared by Aerin''s, or Leonel''s side. They looked forward without a word, seemingly having already expected this outcome.

    When Patriarch Khafra finally deduced what happened, he stumbled back. Was the Spiritual Race''s Princess always such a monster? That was impossible.

    He realized what happened now.

    Aina, or rather Leonel, didn''t set up the board for the sake of victory. The entire time, he was manipulating combinations of Force Arts to get his desired effect.

    But first he needed to run a test, and that test was precisely Morgok''s first attack. Everything had hinged on the Nomad Race''s ability to teleport their Hands of God through space. Who would have thought that this ability the strongest of them took pride in, would be used against them like this? The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

    Ultimately, in order to be able to create an instant teleportation like this, there was a constant connection that needed to be maintained between the floating hands and the person using them.

    Space was a very dangerous thing. If there was an error in a teleportation platform, not only could you not make it to the other side, but you could ended up stretched across millions of miles, your body crushed into atoms.

    Leonel''s idea was simple. What if he put the teleportation of Morgok''s hands and the Portals in conflict? Just the slightest tug on either side could end up destroying everything, including Morgok.

    But this was far easier said than done.

    For one, he had to lock onto the exact frequency of Morgok''s personal spatial control. Then, he needed to not only create a Portal that could perfectly counter that, but he had to do so in a way that not only forced Morgok to attack a particular square, but hid his real intentions while it seemed like he was just playing the game normally.

    Just nailing one of these factors was impossibly difficult. Nailing all of them at once was more than just a stroke of genius, it was impossibly monstrous, to the point that Patriarch Khafra thought he was dreaming.

    Could he even do this?

    No matter how he spun the problem in his mind... he knew that he couldn''t.

    Deciphering what the two had done was one thing, but actually doing it was a different matter entirely. Back on Earth, there were thousands of people that could dissect a game of chess, but there were only a few dozen who could play a game of the highest caliber.

    Patriarch Khafra felt his heart beating out of his chest. Did they make a mistake here? What was happening?

    Unfortunately for him, it was already too late. Leonel didn''t even give him a chance to consider his option. He directly chose the next challenge and they both vanished.

    Patriarch Khafra and Leonel stood across from one another. The latter was calm, but the Patriarch, on the other hand, still hadn''t quite recovered.

    From his experience, he knew that he had to calm down. With his mind in this state, it was too easy for a Dream Force expert to take advantage of him.

    He didn''t know why the thought came to his mind. He was so much stronger than these creatures, this Dwarven Prince was no match for him.

    He tried to comfort himself, saying that it had to be that the Spirituals were just hiding a genius, it couldn''t be that they would both have such a shocking performance, right? That was impossible.

    DING!

    DING!

    DING!

    The despair truly set in. That was the ninth. Aerin had won.

    DING!Patriarch Khafra''s eyes opened wide. He could feel his mind collapsing. He felt that he had offended someone he shouldn''t have, but he couldn''t remember who it was, he couldn''t grasp it.

    He had killed too many people, ruined the lives of too many families, he couldn''t possibly remember them all.

    DING!

    DING!

    DING!

    The sounds kept getting closer and closer until he saw those eyes.

    18 beasts stood around him, bearing down with menace.

    It was when he looked into that gaze that his mind truly collapsed.

    Even if the face was different, he remembered those eyes.

    The entire time Lyra was inside the challenge, he had had his eyes closed. Wasn''t that identical to how Leonel had been acting when Aina appeared?

    He looked down toward Aerin''s finger, looking for a marriage bond.

    But he was out of luck.

    Patriarch Khafra was shredded to pieces.

 Chapter 2774 Decision

    Chapter 2774 Decision

    Leonel stepped out of the challenge with a smile on his face. But because he was still keeping up appearances, rather than a cocky smile, it looked like a relieved one. He swept Aina into his arms and gave her a huge bear hug, causing her to chuckle.

    "You''re much more adorable when you''re pretending to be Aerin," Aina spoke into Leonel''s soul. "If you were being yourself, you''d already be taking advantage of me."

    Leonel scoffed. "Are you saying you like another man?"

    He pretended to be offended, though he could tell Aina''s true intentions with ease. With their souls fused, how could he not tell what she actually meant?

    Aina giggled. "No, I prefer when you''re aggressive-"

    She cut off her thoughts, suddenly blushing down to her collarbone.

    The outside world could have never guessed what they were talking about. To them, it seemed that the relationship between the two was so innocent that even a hug made Lyra react like this, and that made the two all the more endearing... and shocking!

    Leonel tried his best not to burst into a fit of laughter, but his soul was convulsing. He might as well have been inwardly dying.

    He knew that Aina was a masochist. A man that coddled her feelings too much wasn''t what she wanted, though she also didn''t want a man that ignored her feelings. It could be said that Leonel was and always would be the perfect man for her. She had only been teasing him.

    However, him knowing was one thing, but her saying it out loud was something she had never done before.

    That was the thing with communicating with your soul, your true thoughts spilled down usually before you could filter them. This time, she couldn''t escape at all.

    Leonel suddenly really wanted to take her to bed again, but unfortunately, they had things to do.

    Unlike the Life Tablet, in order for Leonel to display the prowess of the Silver Tablet, he had to quite literally take out the Silver Tablet. Of course, that was exactly what he wanted them to see. If he hadn''t taken it out, then he might have shot himself in the foot.

    From the perspective of others, the only thing they had ever seen to display such abilities was the Life Tablet. If they assumed Aerin had a Life Tablet due to their ignorance, it would be a disaster, especially if Flaura uncovered the fact he was Leonel.

    But bringing out the Silver Tablet left no room for confusion.

    All of this was terrible.

    If she just replaced Patriarch Khafra now, even laymen would start questioning what was going on. The Nomads were strong, but not to the point that they could just casually pull out so many high-level Life State Dream Force users on a whim.

    By then, the entire point of remaining stealthy would be crushed. At that point, wouldn''t all of her plans be ruined?

    The only option seemed to be to stall for a few decades and hope it blew over. By then, she hoped that the war with the Owlans and Void Race descendants would still be ongoing. That way, she could fly under the radar again.

    But now, there were suddenly too many variables involved.

    Everything was ruined. Absolutely everything was ruined.

    "Who is playing on my board?!" She shrieked.

    Flaura took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

    Since all of this had fallen through, there was only one thing to do.

    She would ruin Leonel''s life and expose him. The world would come to know that he was a Fawkes.

 Chapter 2775 Information

    Chapter 2775 Information

    Leonel appeared outside the courtroom as the Khafra Dream Pavilion''s projection vanished. He found Old Bastian standing before him, his expression somewhere halfway between relief and rage.

    He could see the kind of storm that Leonel had embroiled them in, there was simply no escaping it now. However, to his back, the rest of everyone else was looking toward Leonel, or rather Aerin, with worship in their eyes. They were even looking at Lyra like she was already their Queen, their gazes sparkling.

    At this point, even if Old Bastian wanted to, he couldn''t reprimand Leonel. Not only would it ruin everything, but it wouldn''t change the outcome.

    "Come with me," Old Bastian finally said, sighing and releasing what felt like a pent-up breath.

    The skies rumbled and Old Bastian shook his head as he looked up. It seemed that what would come would come.

    Leonel sent Aina back into the Segmented Cube and pulled Aerin out before he changed his own appearance to that of a normal looking Sparrow.

    Just as he finished, two auras descended and entered the Dream Pavilion.

    They were both about the same age as Old Bastion. One was an old Sparrow with three pairs of translucent dragonfly wings to Old Bastion''s two. The second, however, was an old Pixie.

    If Sparrow''s wings grew larger in their old age, then for Pixie''s, it could be said that their souls became larger. In fact, her eyes practically seemed to sparkle, carrying the youthful vigor of a teenage girl despite the fact she had the features of a woman well into her sixties.

    It could be said that these were the main flaws of the Dwarven Race. They unlocked exceptional talents in their old age, but by then, they were already past their physical prime and had a problem with taking true advantage of them. This was just the reality of their lives.

    "Avlauren, Spector," Old Bastian greeted with a smile.

    Despite the Pavilion Head''s politeness, the two old fogies didn''t seem to be very happy. Their eyes landed like daggers on Aerin who immediately went pale.

    "Do you want to hand it over?"

    The words of the two were caught in their throats. How could they be willing?

    "I can help you crush all of these people."

    "Why should we trust you? You''re not even a member of the Dwarven Race, are you?" Specter looked at Leonel. Although he couldn''t see through the disguise, the way Leonel talked about them clearly drew a line between them. He even called Aerin "your" Prince.

    "Because I have information on all of you that could completely cripple your empire, do you believe me?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    This time, even Old Bastian frowned. Leonel hadn''t mentioned this before, so why was he suddenly doing so now? What was he playing at?

    Was he just using different tactics for different people?

    "I can tell you what''s going to happen right now. For now, there''s a great number of people who are in awe and worshiping your Prince, but very soon there will be many dissatisfied voices.

    "They''ll be asking why their Prince is marrying outside of his race, they''ll question the motives of the Spirituals and try to drive a wedge between you all.

    "No Race is perfect, and as harmonious as you all seem on the surface, it just makes you all the more susceptible to such ploys.

    "And you know why this will work, right? Probably because you all know that there''s a certain Pixie noble that''s already madly in love with Aerin, no?"

    Leonel''s lip curled.

    Somnus had done so much of the legwork collecting all of this information for him; wouldn''t it be a shame if he didn''t use it?Updated from

 Chapter 2776 Lumielle

    Chapter 2776 Lumielle

    The two older Pixie and Sparrow looked embarrassed after Leonel said as much. That was because the young Pixie they were referring to was actually their granddaughter.

    The two of them, Specter and Avlauren, were actually husband and wife, and they had given birth to many great talents of the Race. It could be said that this was their greatest contribution, funny enough.

    As a result, though... it was impossible for all of their descendants to be perfect examples of piety and patience.

    This unruly granddaughter of theirs was one such example. It could be said that if Aerin was the greatest Crafting talent in the Race, then Lumielle was the best combat-focused talent of their race.

    Due to this, many had shipped the two of them together, believing that they would be the glue that helped their Race to rise to another level.

    Lumielle wasn''t particularly in love with Aerin, at least not in the beginning. But after hearing so many people talk about how good them being together would be, since she never really took a fancy to other men, she began to fantasize as any other young woman was.

    As Aerin and she grew up, she began to take a real liking to his character as well, and eventually she wasn''t so resistant to the idea.

    This wasn''t entirely her fault. It could be said that the reason the two old fogies looked so embarrassed was because this was exactly what they expected would happen.

    They knew that their granddaughter was a bit unruly so they chipped away at her slowly over time. It wasn''t something that they were too proud about, but in their minds, it was quite a benign action.

    The second being her strength.

    Lumielle was younger than Aerin, but comparatively speaking, her strength was on another level. In fact, while the world now thought that their Race''s secret weapon was the Silver Tablet, the reality was that their real secret weapons were Aerin and Lumielle.

    Aerin had been able to shroud his genius before with the shroud of Lyra taking cover from him. And now, with blueprints in hand, he would be able to exploit his talent to the greatest extreme.

    However, Lumielle didn''t even participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms. The Dwarven Race focused on reaching the 10% standard of the Preliminaries and ignored everything else.

    Lumielle was already in the Eight Dimension, and not only that, but she had comprehended a Quasi Creation State Force in her young age. This was something that only the best Demi-God geniuses of her age could accomplish, and it was also information that even Aerin wasn''t privy to!

    It could be said that Lumielle spent all her time training under the tutelage of her grandparents, and when she wasn''t, she was dreaming about the family she would build with Aerin.

    Even if she wasn''t yet the strongest of the Dwarven Race, she wasn''t very far from it already.

    The second issue was her character. When Avlauren and Spector said that she was unruly, that was their assessment as grandparents, filtered through years of love and watching their baby girl grow up.

    To an outsider''s perspective, she was a little she-demon.

    If she wanted to wreak havoc, she would do so.

 Chapter 2777 Dearly

    Chapter 2777 Dearly

    The problem wasn''t that Lumielle was a loose cannon that might attack to kill Aerin. But she would attack to kill Lyra, that was well within her degrees of tolerance.

    The first problem with that was what it meant for her to kill Lyra in the first place. She would certainly leave the Dwarven Bubble, and certainly expose herself. Then she would be putting herself directly in the line of danger on top of that, where the Spirituals would have full rights to kill her if it ever came to that.

    But that was only the first problem. What kind of strife would this cause to the Dwarven Race?

    Even if Aerin didn''t know the extent of Lumielle''s true power, he did know how important she was to the Race. Everyone placed both of them on the same level.

    If she ended up rampaging because of this, many would take her side. And if she ended up dying because of Aerin''s actions, the result would be even worse. It would cause a fissure in the Race that couldn''t be solved.

    In fact, this might have been part of Flaura''s plan as well. If Aerin died after going out to pursue Lyra, the situation would be the same but in reverse.

    It was just that Leonel''s plan was even more sinister.

    If Aerin had been the one to die, the fissure would appear, but it wouldn''t be that severe. After all, the main culprit was already dead, so who were they rallying around to be mad at?

    However, if Lumielle died, it was a completely different can of worms. In this case, the main culprit-Aerin-would still be alive and well, and presumably still pursuing a relationship with a woman outside of his Race.

    That was a powder keg waiting to happen.

    This wasn''t him realizing that he, too, was in love with Lumielle, or at the very least, it wasn''t so obvious to him now. The main problem was that he truly cared for the Pixie, and realizing that he might have unintentionally hurt her hit him like a truck. It was like countless small needles were picking away at his heart.

    "I... I need to see her-"

    Aerin panicked and began to fidget.

    When the old couple saw this, their expressions were even worse. From beginning to end, Aerin didn''t blame anyone, not even Leonel who knew of this from the beginning and still went along with this plan anyway.

    All he was thinking about was the role he played in it all and how he could have acted to make sure it didn''t happen.

    He took it all on his shoulders like he usually did. In fact, even if it meant ignoring his love for Lyra, so long as he could make Lumielle feel better, he would marry her right now.

    Although he had fallen for Lyra, how could that compare to someone he had known his whole life? If he had to make a decision, there was only one to make.

    Just like he had chosen to cut Lyra off the first time, he could do it again.

    Leonel''s hand suddenly firmed up. "Relax for a bit," he chuckled, "the end of the world hasn''t come just yet. If my information is correct, the odds that she''s seen the Dream Pavilion battle is close to none, correct?"

    He looked toward the old couple who seemed even more shaken now. Just how much did Ryu know, exactly?

    "If we''re going to do this, then we need to do this right. If you all listen to me, we''ll come out on top and make a certain someone pay dearly."

 Chapter 2778 Crass, Hairless Monkey

    Chapter 2778 Crass, Hairless Monkey

    Flaura sat back in her chair. Her temper had cooled somewhat and she felt better. After sending off a wild stream of information to her agents to spread, she was confident that Leonel''s life would be ruined. There was no longer a need to be worried about anything else. On this day, she would be the victor. She would lick her wounds, and when the time came once more, she would counter attack.

    What she didn''t expect was that she would only just settle down when her butler rushed in with another message. He looked somewhat flustered, so he only handed Flaura the information and then bolted away at his fastest speed.

    This was a very rude action on his part. According to etiquette, he could wait until Flaura had read the letter and for him to be dismissed. Only then should he leave.

    But at the moment, he didn''t seem to care and it didn''t matter if Flaura was enraged because soon she wouldn''t have much power over him anyway. This was how the Dream Asura worked. They moved only for benefits, and so long as there was the slightest problem, they would jump ship.

    Why would he give Flaura the chance to kill him? The fact he had stepped into the room in the first place was already the greatest sign of respect he could show. Otherwise, he would have sent something like a messenger bird instead.

    Flaura frowned, realizing the problem immediately. But instead of chasing the butler, her hand trembled with the letter in her hands. What could have happened?

    She opened it slowly, and what she saw inside would have made her pass out if it wasn''t for the fact the shriek of a banshee came from her red lips a moment later.

    She was so enraged that all the glass in the room shattered at once, her fury reaching a towering pedestal that seemed to dwarf her entire living abode.

    Many of the Race looked over indifferently. It was just a new day, another one of their own falling beneath the weight of their schemes. It wasn''t too much of a surprise.

    A legion of black armored Dream Asuras walked in a unit. Their destination?Flaura''s home.

    This only happened when one was about to be forcefully expelled from the Clan.

    First it was news that the Lyra they had all seen on the screen wasn''t Lyra at all, it was instead just a disguising technique. But how could there be such a good disguising technique?

    This immediately made people think of the Cloud Race. How else could it fool so many Dream Force experts if not like this?

    Then came the information that seemed to suggest that Aerin was fake as well.

    At that point, people began to put two and two together, feeling that after all the pressure the Cloud Race had been putting on them in recent months, that the Dwarven Race''s defenses had finally cracked.

    But then the world had a question. Why was the Cloud Race doing this? Why did they want the world to think that the Dwarven Race was so powerful?

    That was when another shocking bit of speculation was leaked.

    Didn''t the Cloud Race genius team up with the descendant of the Owlan Race during the Gathering of Minds?

    This tidbit of information was like a bomb, especially when others remembered why Lumina was killed.

    The world began to circulate with her last words.

    "You''re a fucking crass, hairless monkey!"

    Every time Orion watched the video, the more his heart sank.

    The world started to put puzzle pieces together all on its own and the situation only got worse with every passing hour.

 Chapter 2779 Coincidence

    Chapter 2779 Coincidence

    The information seemed to spread as though it had legs of its own, and no one could seem to understand where it started from at all, and that was because they had no right to know.

    After awakening his Fawkes Lineage Factor once more, the options available to Leonel were on an entirely different level. While it seemed that he was lazing around after he fought the Moonstone Lord, this wasn''t the case at all. In fact, he had already forcefully turned several, turning them into useful puppets that did his bidding.

    These people had already died after the 24 hour period was up, and it had already been weeks since then. It could be said that Leonel was on an entirely different level.

    You couldn''t just casually spread news and expect for it to catch on, it took time and patience. He had gotten this plan moving long in advance so that it was ready to explode forth this very moment.

    After the oddity of the Spirituals targeting the Humans during their ceremony, there were many intelligent people who had their brows furrowed. Not everyone could be led by the nose so casually, and that allowed them to be just susceptible enough that Leonel''s methods spread like wildfire.

    However, this alone wasn''t enough. Or rather, it could be said that this was just the first leg of Leonel''s plans. Relying on just one, vastly variable method was difficult. Even for him, it was impossible to account for every single variable at once.

    So that was where the Dream Pavilion came into play.

    The Life Tablet had more control over the Dream Pavilions than any other treasure. Even if Leonel stepped into the territory of another Dream Pavilion, he would likely wield more power than even their Pavilion Head, whether by actively taking strength of his own or suppressing that of others.

    But that didn''t mean that this was all he could use it for.

    The projection abilities of the Dream Pavilions, the capability of spreading information far and wide and nigh instantaneously was maybe the most underrated of the Dream Pavilion''s abilities. But it wasn''t just this alone... it was the method through which this information was spread...

    However, even all of this was just the beginning. It wasn''t the nail that drilled into Flaura''s coffin. Not just yet.

    In fact, that nail came not from an expected source, but rather the fact that Leonel had revealed himself to be a Fawkes.

    The moment he did, Leonel knew that Flaura would almost certainly try to lash out with this information. But like he had said, sometimes you had to reveal a weakness to force your enemy to overextend themselves.

    Information about Leonel being a Fawkes began to circulate not long ago, triggered by Flaura''s intentions. The problem with that was that the man who "revealed" himself as a Fawkes in the Spiritual world was a man who was distinctly not Leonel. And yet, despite so many Spiritual experts being around, no one could see through his disguise?

    Were they supposed to believe that on top of being a Spear and Bow Sovereign, and a Destruction Sovereign and Dream Sovereign, Leonel had yet another shocking level of Force control that allowed him to display such might?

    Plus, who didn''t know that the Fawkes had golden hair and green eyes? Even when he used the supposed Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor, it had a purple aura and not the usual green aura.

    Normally, this might still be acceptable. Though rare, it wasn''t impossible for Lineage Factors to mutate. With how many people there were per given family, it was bound to happen once in a while.

    But there were too many issues.

    One, the Fawkes had been wiped out. Even if there were some stragglers, wouldn''t that also mean the odds of the Lineage Factor mutating plummeted to an already near zero chance to near impossible?

    Second, why would such a weak Fawkes randomly expose himself? If he was going to, shouldn''t there be some incoming wave of Fawkes as well? Where were they? Or was it just one idiot?

    Third, wasn''t this sort of timing too coincidental? It just so happened to appear all at the same time?

 Chapter 2780 Drown

    Chapter 2780 Drown

    Calling a human a Fawkes was probably the next worst thing you could call them adjacent to an Envoy of Creation or Destruction. The Fawkes were hated by even many of the Gods. Their abilities were legendary and the fear they struck in many was great. There was a reason they were betrayed by even their own people in the end before they were systematically wiped out by everyone else.

    So they were supposed to believe that a Fawkes just happened to appear around the same time all of this other stuff was happening?

    Why had the Cloud Race chosen to impersonate Lyra in specific? Wasn''t pretending to be a Dwarven Race member enough? Why go the extra step?

    And why did this "Fawkes" just so happen to appear in Spiritual Race territory as well?

    It felt like someone was trying to frame the Spirituals and Dwarven Race at the same time.

    And that was when Flaura''s tail was caught.

    Leonel understood intimately the way the Dream Asuras did things after studying the methods Somnus left before. It was because of this that he learned of how Flaura was sending her letters and was able to expose her in this way.

    As he had found out through Wicked, the Nomads somehow gained the capability of using the Dark half of the Northern Star Lineage Factor. This almost certainly related to their God.

    After seeing Little Fox''s hands, he was able to put two and two together.

    The hand of an Owlan, a beast, a Dream Asura and what was, supposedly, a human.

    These hands were obviously the result of Little Fox mingling with these Races and fusing his own path with their unique abilities. But how?

    The answer was obvious: the four of them had been working together all along. He had stumbled into maybe the largest conspiracy in all of Existence, and this was likely a coalition of Races and powers readying themselves to battle with the Gods themselves.

    They expelled her from the Clan, and unlike everyone else, they didn''t even allow her the chance to take her valuables. She was completely shunned and ostracized, her name stricken from all records.

    As for her life and death, they didn''t care. Everyone knew that this was the policy of the Dream Asuras, and maybe were dissatisfied about it, but they didn''t dare to do anything.

    The Dream Asuras were too strong. They were the Demi-God Race that had formed the most number of Gods and their strength was constantly shrouded by mystery due to their scheming.

    Even if the public wanted them to punish the wrongdoers more, what could they do? They had no right to force the Dream Asuras to do a single thing.

    ...

    Beaten and ragged from fighting back to no avail, Flaura stood in the midst of the swirling madness of the Inbetween Worlds. She had known that fighting back would do nothing, but she had mostly done it out of pride.

    How many times had she watched others be kicked out? She had even warned her own little brother against it, but she never thought that she would be one of them. She thought she was above it all, that she was untouchable by the standards of the masses.

    And yet, she had messed with the wrong person. Now, everything that she had built had come crumbling down. She was forced to watch it all slip through her fingers, and no matter how hard she grabbed out, she couldn''t grasp any of it at all.

    Soon, there would likely be people who came to hunt her down. Some of them might even be Gods.

    If she went to the Human Bubble now, she would only be making herself a live target. That was probably one of the first places they might check for her because they knew she''d have a grudge.

    She wanted to go anyway, she wanted to vent her hatred, but in the end, she laughed.

    She raised her head high into the skies, her violet hair dancing and her cherry lips parting as her laughter echoed.

 Chapter 2781 Popping

    Chapter 2781 Popping

    Leonel sat back lazily, reclining against a tree. He didn''t even bother to go and check what was happening in the outside world. He knew that it was chaos, but it also had nothing to do with him.

    For the first time in a while, he could actually relax. Well, the last time he had tried to relax he had gotten thrown into the midst of such a wild plot, but hopefully this time, that wouldn''t happen again.

    He had ended up helping the Spiritual Race out more than he desired. Flaura almost certainly had some dirt on them that he wasn''t aware of, and because of him, they had wiggled out of that and even came out stronger as a result.

    He didn''t like it for the sheer reason they had slandered his wife. He didn''t care about their reasons, but he would have to wait a while before he made them give him an explanation for that.

    For that, it was fine to just lie here and recline, listening to the water wash against the store.

    The air smelt of spring, though it always did. It didn''t have the particular saltiness of an ocean, but instead it was like an enormous fresh lake. It was almost like an office fresh paper smell, but not quite.

    Leonel laughed to himself. He didn''t know why he had suddenly thought of such a thing, he could admit that he was a bit weird in that respect. He had always loved the smell of books and freshly printed paper. It was just that Earth had moved away from that technology long ago and it was impossibly rare to get a chance to smell such a thing.

    ''I wonder...'' Leonel''s thought drifted.

    There were still two main mysteries that he hadn''t quite dealt with just now.

    Aside from the Spiritual Race''s secret, it was the hand problem. He felt that there was definitely some undercurrent related to it. Anastasia said it was a human hand, and he believed her, but it just felt... off.

    Unfortunately, the anatomy between even people of the same race differed too much. Like, if a doctor of Earth were to cut Leonel open now, they would assume him to be an alien of some sort. His heart was too large, it had extra chambers. He was made up of way too many cells, and his cells themselves had organelles not native to humans. Plus, there was a whole extra circulatory system inside of him that wasn''t normal at all: that being his Nodal Pathways and Nodes.

    When you factored in Lineage Factors, or different and odd techniques that different people might practice, or Ability Indexes, the variability even within a Race was far too much.

    This was why Leonel couldn''t just like at a hand and make assumptions about what Race it was mimicking. He hadn''t studied enough bodies.

    Aina might be able to tell with better certainty, but even she hadn''t studied many humans to begin with. She might be able to help the owner of the hand improve before she could even get to the point of understanding what their Race was.

    "Okay, I''m in," Leonel hopped up, stretching.

    "You''re not allowed to play."

    "Eh-" Leonel didn''t know what to say.

    "You''re too competitive."

    "Says who-"

    "Says me. This is the little kiddie''s first time, they have to love the game, not fear it. It''s not time for you to appear yet. You''re only allowed to coach."

    Leonel shook his head. "Fine, fine."

    James laughed and wrapped an arm around Leonel''s neck, pulling him away.

    The time was more fun than Leonel expected it to be. At first, he was disappointed that he didn''t get to play, but soon he was so lost in the moment that he was grinning ear to ear.

    Without the gap between men and women closed thanks to Force and Ability Indexes, the boys and girls played without restraint, and the variability that different abilities gave forced them to create new rules on the spot and even widen the range of the field by as much as a hundred times.

    There was far more to leading a group of people than to just lord over them and provide them the chance to grow stronger. Leonel quickly realized that this was Joel''s way of telling him that they needed to do things like this more often. Who else would be able to see through these things if not his right hand man?

    Aina and her friends sat high in the stands created from Leonel''s Earth Force, watching with happy smiles on their faces.

    "So," Aina looked toward Yuri and Savahn, "when are you two going to start popping out babies?"

    She blinked innocently while Yuri and Savahn looked like their tails had just been stepped on.

 Chapter 2782 Remember

    Chapter 2782 Remember

    Leonel spent the next few weeks seemingly wasting his life away, but it was honestly the most fun that he had had in a long while. He didn''t think about Flaura, or Goggles, or any number of things that he still had to do.

    The world had essentially forgotten about him. There was too much going on.

    The Dwarven Race was under a lot of scrutiny, the Cloud Race was facing suppression from all sides, Flaura''s whereabouts were unknown, the war of the Owlans and Void Race was only ramping up even further as more and more factions became embroiled in the conflict...

    And yet the young man that had triggered it all was lying down with his head in his wife''s lap without a care in the world.

    From time to time he would laugh about her grumbling and scheming to get her best friends pregnant. In fact, she had created three separate Force Pill formulas in just the last week to help them along.

    One was able to improve their chances of getting pregnant to almost 100%.

    The second was able to reduce the pain of birth to near negligible levels. In fact, it wasn''t even a pain nullifier, it worked by loosening the muscles and flesh during birth and giving the baby a wide canal to just slip and slide down as they pleased. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    The third was able to nurture their babies, maximizing their talents in the womb and ensuring that they grew up strong and prepared for the harsh world around them.

    Unsurprisingly, Yuri and Savahn ran away with their tails between their legs.

    The second pill especially felt like it was plucked right out of a horror movie. Too many embarrassing things could happen if everything just went loose down there. How could they even guarantee that it would all snap back as it should naturally?

    Aina tried to assure them that it would. In fact, because there would be no rips or tears, the body would go back to normal with even greater ease. But the poor girl didn''t seem to realize that this was just an excuse for her friends to escape her.

    Leonel had a great time listening to and observing all this "conflict". Aina was practically in despair, watching her dreams crumble right before her eyes. Wouldn''t this have been a cheat to an enormous family, how could this happen?

    Leonel was almost certain that it wasn''t that everyone was normal, but rather that Anastasia couldn''t deduce what was wrong. But once again, he found them to be too low on his priority list to check personally.

    The barrier that they had up now was no longer able to stop him after his Crafting breakthrough, anything created by King looked like a joke in his eyes now. But the question was if that was all they had.

    The Cult had surprised Leonel. The Four Great Families had surprised him by somehow vanishing from thin air. The Godlens had also already surprised him once before just by virtue of the existence of [Finality], [Universe], and [Domain] as well.

    Who knew if they had anything else in store for him this time around.

    Leonel took a step out of the Segmented Cube and into the Vast Dream Pavilion.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel looked to the side to find Eamon. The latter had buried his head in a book and he was furiously reading it.

    Leonel never thought that he would use such an adverb to describe reading, but that was exactly what was happening.

    The young man''s Dream Force was spiraling about wildly and even though he wasn''t reading a real book, but rather a crystal that projected on, Leonel could practically hear the page turns. Every time, it was like a slap of wind was echoing through the world.

    Leonel hesitated for a moment, but when Goggles'' image came to mind, he pushed it down and stepped forward.

    Eamon was startled away and looked up with red eyes.

    "What''s wrong?" Leonel asked.

    Eamon smiled bitterly. "... Is it wrong to love someone who loves someone else?"

 Chapter 2783 521

    Chapter 2783 521

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    It wasn''t a question that should have moved him very far from his original baseline at all. He should have been able to read from Eamon''s expressions that it was something like this.

    However, the problem was that this situation was too familiar.

    In love with someone he shouldn''t be? Wasn''t that the woman he jokingly called Aina''s mother-in-law all the time?

    Leonel might not interact much with Eamon, but he had seen plenty from afar. He knew how much he cared about Cindra. But he also knew how much Cindra cared about Miel.

    Much like he had ignored the oddities surrounding Goggles, he had ignored this one as well... because it was simply too uncanny. Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

    Goggles had truly been in love with Rollan''s wife back then. Something that probably came off as mostly a joke to everyone else was quite serious to him, or else he wouldn''t have risked so much and even practically changed himself for her. Even if it meant that he wouldn''t actually get to be with her.

    And now Eamon was in love with someone that Leonel effectively thought of as Miel''s woman. In some ways, he even thought of her as a quasi mother-in-law already.

    Leonel forced himself to calm down.

    He truly didn''t care much about Goggles at all. The reason he had such a visceral reaction the first time, and now this time, was because Goggles was a representation of his father in his eyes. Not in type, and certainly not in ability, but he was a mirror that forced Leonel to look into it.

    He could only logic his way out of the uncomfortable feelings.

    First, Goggles had met Rollan''s wife while she was already married, but Miel and Cindra had yet to even have a date together, let alone marry. Being able to see their feelings for one another because of Dream Force was a completely different beast compared to them actually acting on it. He couldn''t expect that Eamon would be as sharp as he was, which was why he had taken so long to realize what was happening and that he had already lost the woman he loved.

    Second, their reactions to this information was entirely different. Goggles always used to joke about it to the point that even Leonel didn''t realize he was being serious until it was far too late. This caused Leonel to misjudge a character he thought he knew quite well.

    Eamon was speechless.

    "She ran away every time and never gave me an answer. Then when I finally saw her again after the Metamorphosis descended, the first thing that girl did was rip the heart out of some guy''s chest.

    "I was under the impression this whole time that she was some shy girl who couldn''t even say "NO" clearly. Come to find out she''s some murdering psycho."

    Eamon coughed, and before he could stop it, he burst into a fit of laughter. Leonel thought he would stop after a while, but he just kept going... and going... and going.

    "Hey, hey. Don''t you think you''re laughing a little too hard?" Leonel asked, feeling somewhat aggrieved. He was really going through it back then, it felt like his whole world was flipped upside down.

    Eamon snorted and wheezed as he tried to stifle his laughter, but it was nigh impossible. Nothing he did seemed to work.

    Eventually, he managed to calm down and take deep breaths.

    "... I really can''t imagine it," Eamon said with a chuckle.

    He really couldn''t. Leonel looked good at everything, what do you mean confessing to the same woman 521 times? Didn''t he know how to take a hint?

    "You see why I can''t give you advice now? I stumbled around with this stuff just like you, how am I supposed to tell?

    "What I can tell you, though, is this... don''t waste time on a woman who doesn''t love you, and don''t hurt a woman who does. Do you understand?"

    After his and Aina''s breakup, Leonel learned that first lesson well, but the second... it took some maturing before he put some other things before his ego.

    Aina had hurt him so he used logic as a shield to hurt her back. That was the crux of the issue. If not for how mature Aina had been about that situation, maybe they wouldn''t even be together now...

 Chapter 2784 Stand

    Chapter 2784 Stand

    "No relationship can work one-sidedly. You can follow your heart, but not to your detriment or to the detriment of the person willing to give you theirs," Leonel said with a solemn tone, his words hanging in the air.

    Eamon fell into silence and nodded slowly.

    The two just sat there in silence, and at some point tears began to flow from Eamon''s eyes, but Leonel didn''t leave.

    The two sat there for a long while until Eamon''s tears dried.

    He wiped his cheeks and took a shuddering breath.

    "... I know that I shouldn''t like Cindra, or at least that''s what she''s told me. She said that she was forced to do a great many things to survive and get to where she is today, she''s also much older than me, much wiser as well. In some ways she even raised me even though she was never my mother in a real sense.

    "I knew that it was uncomfortable for her to see someone she had known as a little boy suddenly begin to pursue her like I did, and it was selfish on my part, I know that.

    "... I will apologize to her and close this chapter. Maybe in another life."

    Leonel smiled and patted Eamon''s shoulder.

    "Come with me, we''re going somewhere cool."

    Eamon blinked in surprise, not quite understanding what cool thing they were going to see. But when he finally laid eyes on it, he was truly speechless this time. It could be said that Leonel was one of a kind in the worst and best of senses.

    To think his idea of somewhere cool was strolling into Godlen territory.

    ...

    The two stood high above Godlen City, both standing on a platform formed by Leonel''s Emulation Spatial Force.

    Down below, people scurried about and did their business, but they couldn''t seem to spot them at all. And this wasn''t because of Leonel''s actions.

    "Interesting," Leonel said. "Do you see what the problem is?"

    CRACK.

    CHIII.

    It was a sight akin to sparkling wine and fragmented glass. The shards of formation fell from the skies, raining down and startling the citizens below. They all looked up at once to find Leonel and Eamon lording over them.

    Eamon was suddenly frozen after being ogled by so many, while Leonel laughed, patting him on the back as though to say get used to it.

    "LEONEL!"

    The familiar roar echoed over the city and a streaking beam of light cut through the air.

    Leonel simply pointed his spear forward.

    At that moment, Patriarch Godlen felt as though he had been locked onto by a beast. If he kept rushing up to collide with Leonel like he wanted to, he would end up skewered through.

    He had gotten complacent in these last few days. The family was progressing well, there was relative peace, and no one had been able to bother them.

    They had been worried about the Gathering of Kingdoms, but that oddly seemed to fizzle out without much change at all.

    The only last worry on his chest was his daughter. He knew that she was still alive, but that was no real consolation. Who knew what she was going through?

    The moment the man responsible appeared before him, his towering fury got the best of him. But Leonel''s actual appearance made him feel as though a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over his head.

    How had he grown so powerful in such a short time? Why was his aura so oppressive? And how had he destroyed a formation this powerful in a single strike?

    Had Leonel used more than one, they would have sensed it. The fact he broke in so suddenly could only mean they never stood a chance in the first place.

    Patriarch Godlen ground to a halt.

    Did he even have the right to stand before this young man anymore?

 Chapter 2785 Farce

    Chapter 2785 Farce

    Patriarch Godlen didn''t know what to think or what to say. The family had grown so fast in recent years that he didn''t think that Leonel would be a worry. His only personal hope was that he could save his daughter one day, but he also knew that it wasn''t yet time to leave.

    What he never expected was that there''d be a day when Leoenl actually came to him instead of the other way around.

    "Oh? Not fighting anymore?" Leonel blinked innocently.

    The rage in the Patriarch''s chest almost bubbled over. That toying expression reminded him of what Leonel had done to them the last time they saw him. Not only had he managed to steal their most important techniques, but he had even escaped right from under their noses as though their defenses were worth nothing at all.

    They had been led by the nose by a mere Fifth Dimensional...

    Patriarch Godlen froze. Why was Leonel still in the Fifth Dimension? No, it felt so much deeper despite the fact he was still in Tier 1... it didn''t make any sense.

    How could he know that the Leonel he knew was actually in the Third Dimension, not the Fifth? While this was truly the Fifth Dimension for Leonel...

    The shock was enough to leave him crippled for a moment.

    "Alright, since you don''t want to fight, we don''t have to. If I''m honest, I''m not really in a fighting sort of mood right now, and you''re also not really worth my spear," Leonel spoke candidly. "I''m here for one reason and one reason only.

    "Your Godlen family is a convenient jump off point. The human race is a collection of loose sand right now and I, quite frankly, don''t have the patience to organize it all. The Cult is finished, the Four Great Families are gone, the Dream Pavilion is under my control. The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    "So honestly speaking, there''s just you left."

    Leonel raised his spear and rested it on his shoulder, his tone remaining casual.

    Leonel''s frown deepened. He ignored everyone else and continued staring intently at this woman.

    No, she wasn''t a Wise Star Order, but she was something similar, almost like Cindra who was a Snow Star Order, but she wasn''t that either.

    In fact, Leonel didn''t feel that she was part of the Northern Star Lineage Factor at all, but part of something else entirely.

    ''Something else?''

    Leonel''s gaze flashed as he suddenly recalled something. The Constellation Families.

    As a layman, Leonel didn''t understand what was special about the Constellation Families. Other than finding it weird that the Morales took so long to form one when much weaker families already had them, he didn''t really give it a second thought.

    But after seeing much more of the world, if he went back and tried to retrofit those beliefs into this world... they didn''t coincide at all.

    He had yet to see a single other Race or family with a Constellation... so was it really so normal? Or was it the other way around?

    If the Fawkes went to the Incomplete World to survive, then could it be that there were others like them, looking for the same chance at survival?

    Was that what he was missing this entire time? Was it a mistake to give them such an opportunity to grow?

    Leonel''s lip curled. He raised his spear from his shoulder, and pointed it not toward Patriarch Godlen, but his wife.

    "If I beat the strongest person here, we can skip this farce, right?"

 Chapter 2786 Black.

    Chapter 2786 Black.

    Amynta''s eyes narrowed. Her brother, Mauve, stepped forward.

    "Kid, you''re only arrogant more and more arrogant by the-"

    Leonel''s spear swung down, and for a moment the world seemed to be split in two.

    Touching upon the Self State didn''t just increase the strength of his created spears considerably, but it also brought his spear skill to an entirely different level.

    There was already a thin veil between his path of the spear and his Crafting to begin with. Now, they were practically one, having reached an impossible to fathom level for most of those present.

    Mauve''s eyes widened. It felt like Leonel had already marked him for death, and the skies themselves had accepted. He could practically see the Northern Star looming over Leonel''s shoulder.

    Death.

    That was all that was in store for him if this spear descended, and no one could react to it.

    It was then that a light sigh rang out.

    BANG!

    A violet blade met the wave of silver, gold and red. They clashed in the skies, and most were sent flying in all directions, unable to maintain their footing in the air. The only one who seemed perfectly fine was Eamon who stood behind and to the left of Leonel. It was clear who had the upper hand in that strike, but it was hard to draw any real conclusions. Amynta had reacted later and was clearly reluctant to do so.

    At that moment, the Pyius family Matriarch held a beautiful violet blade in her hands. The crafting could only be said to be absolutely exquisite and even Leonel was drawn to it immediately.

    It wasn''t a sword nor a saber, but it was rather a scythe with a blade that curled almost like a scorpion''s tail.

    The pole arm was a bit irregular, crafted from what looked like amethysts and diamonds. Without the blade, it would have looked reminiscent of a mage''s staff. With the blade, it completed an otherworldly presence.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. This scythe was made by an exceptional craftsman. He had to admit that even he couldn''t create such a good weapon, not right now.

    But it wasn''t just that.

    There was a mysterious blade Force hanging in the air, one that was unique to the point this was the first time Leonel had ever sensed it.

    He could only call it Scythe Force, but it was tinged with hints of a dense corrosive aura that seemed both with and against it. It was like Amynta had only half fused two different Forces into one.

    Leonel shook his head and sighed.

    ''Fine.''

    She could use [Universe]. She could use [Domain]. She could even use [Finality].

    But did she have as many Life State Forces as he did?

    BANG!

    The scythe blades shattered as a golden Spear Force erupted from Leonel''s blade tip and his Dream Sovereignty robes descended. An aura of Destruction trembled and in that instant, Amynta found herself suppressed from all sides.

    Leonel took a step forward and the space beneath his feet rippled as though he had just stepped onto a still lake. His aura continued to rise as the Stars within him roared to life.

    Plumes of smoke came from the soles of his feet and the corners of his eyes, a fiendish grin spreading across his face.

    Suddenly, his spear thrust out.

    For a moment, his blade seemed to be the center of the world. Beautiful, untouchable. It was a stroke that left those that saw it both in awe and in fear.

    Amynta felt her body tighten. She was truly restrained in every aspect. No matter what she did, she couldn''t move a single inch.

    Leonel had spoken, and he wanted her dead.

    And that alone was enough for the universe.

    The spear tip appeared before her throat and that was when she roared out.

    Her robes burst and a tight, sleeveless bodysuit appeared. Her back was exposed to the world and the tattoo of a vicious black and violet scorpion was revealed.

    Her wildly fluttering hair tied itself up into a tight and long ponytail that descended down her back. Its tip glistened with a silvery blade and it looked like she could use it to attack whenever she so pleased. And the fact its length had become over two meters confirmed that point.

    However, Leonel hardly paid attention to any of this.

    He was looking at the sky that had turned almost entirely black.

 Chapter 2787 Balance

    Chapter 2787 Balance

    There, high in the skies, the only points of light were flickering stars. It was a gorgeous sight that only became more so after the silvery points of light became an array of violet instead.

    They connected, one after another, the contrast of the black skies against the violet making the lights almost seem piercing, as though every time one star connected to the next, and then the next, it was another dagger right through the heart. And yet, rather than pain, it was akin to a resonant bell through the body, like your very soul was acknowledging the beauty of what was being seen.

    And then the shape solidified.

    A sculpture of transparent, violet starlight trembled in the skies, taking the shape of a scorpion.

    A pillar of light descended from the skies, falling atop of Amynta''s head and pushing Leonel even further away.

    Leonel watched this scene silently, a frown creeping up on his face. He had never seen a Constellation used like this, at least not to this extent. It should be a technique, one that wasn''t in the Godlen library but rather kept by Amynta personally. And it seemed like compared to her mastery of [Universe], [Domain] or [Finality], her understanding of this method was on a completely different level.

    When the pillar of light vanished, Amynta''s hair and eyes seemed to become several shades lighter, giving off their own light. Her long ponytail seemed to be dancing in the wind at first glance, but upon second inspection it was rather that it was wildly swaying, an abrupt, violent, yet controlled movement.

    With a BANG! she shot forward, her scythe sweeping out from one direction and her tail piercing from another.

    The attack left Leonel without any choice but to retreat. However, the moment he took a step back, there was a second attack, then a third. Pincer and scythe moved as one until suddenly Amynta''s eyes became nothing more than orbs of violet. There were no pupils, no sclera, no distinct irises, just a smooth orb that pierced into the soul.

    Leonel quickly realized that this wasn''t a trick of the mind. It was an ocular technique of some sort, and it seemed to attack his Dream Force, pressuring it and beginning to eat at the edges. It dulled his senses and some of his mental sharpness, and as time passed, it only became faster and faster. Updated from

    It was clearly poison, but it was poison on a level beyond anything that Leonel had even considered in the past. It wasn''t just capable of attacking the tangible, but its seeped through the Dimensions, even beginning to impact Leonel''s real soul, amorphously and seemingly without meeting the slightest bit of resistance.

    And then by another half.

    And then by half again.

    The space around the once enormous meteors shook and quaked as the force to compress them became larger and larger.

    Amynta''s gaze trembled, or as much as they could in its current condition. She didn''t understand how anyone could have this much control over Earth Force, and she feared what the result of such an action would be even more.

    Auspicious Air suddenly bloomed from Leonel. Deep within his Ethereal Glabella, a poisonous Force tried to assault the core of his mind, but a fluttering wind caused his Mana Core to glow.

    The bronze leaves on the glorious tree shone brighter and brighter until the meteors compressed once more. From over 50 meters in diameter, the meteors had become not even half a meter. They looked as black as the night sky above them and yet still stood out in the darkness, shaking the space around them.

    Leonel took a single step back, dodging out of the way of the coming pincer of Amynta''s hair and parrying her scythe with a swift motion.

    And then the two once-meteors rocketed forward. The followed the trajectory of Leonel''s spear, somehow both blunt and sharp at once.

    By this point, Leonel''s spear was littered with nicks and cuts. If not for continuously reforming it, it would have long since collapsed, but when the meteors descended, everything changed.

    One of the meteors began to glow a fierce white light and the other glowed a dull black. They balanced into a form of yin and yang, the Auspicious Air around Leonel doubling and then doubling once more.

    When the ball of black finally descended, everything that was in its path was severed and Amynta was blown back so fast and hard that her body caught fire.

 Chapter 2788 Two New

    Chapter 2788 Two New

    Leonel stood high in the skies, his Auspicious Air emanating stronger and stronger waves as a white and black ball circulated around him. In that moment, it looked as though the skies had become painted in bronze, almost erasing the darkness brought by the Constellation that was high up above them all. Leonel''s expression was calm.

    Quite frankly, what he had just done was entirely on a whim, but the flexibility that came with the Mage Core in his Ethereal Glabella in combination with his ability to create Natural Force Arts could only be said to be on an entirely different level.

    He had tapped into the Earth Force of his Mage Core and synced it with the formation of a Natural Force Art that played on his own body. At this moment, his body was a perfect fusion of the Dark and Light halves of the Northern Star Lineage Factor, and as such, it could be said to only exist because it was likewise in perfect balance.

    When he condensed so much earth and baptized it beneath this unique Force Art, it was like he was molding it into an entirely separate existence.

    The push and pull of yin and yang could almost be used like a perpetual motion machine, explosively increasing his own strength and lowering the strength of his enemy at the same time.

    "Interesting..."

    Quite frankly, Leonel didn''t think too much about it. He had only taken some inspiration from the way Cindra used Light Force and began to think about these matters more from the perspective of someone from Earth.

    The result was outside his expectations.

    He ignored the beaten and ragged Amynta, raising a palm and allowing the two orbs to hover over his hand. They orbited around one another. He could feel a strong pulling attraction coming from the black orb, and from the white, he felt a strong repelling force.

    Right now, they were restrained, but if he nudged them with his Earth Force a bit...

    "The power is mine to wield."

    BOOM!

    The ground beneath Ryu''s feet suddenly exploded, a pit that reached into a depth of over a hundred meters forming and the building that had once been there was flattened to nothingness.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. All he had done was activate the white orb a bit and direct the repelling force downward, and yet this was what happened.

    If he had used the black orb instead, did that mean that the building would have rushed at him instead?

    Amynta was strong, sure... but she was only strong in comparison to a Human.

    In her defense, her strength actually wasn''t very far from the Emberheart and Moonstone Lords... if it was taken into account that she was still in the Eighth Dimension, that is.

    If she broke into the Ninth Dimension, she may be able to give them a good battle. But in practice, she was still inferior to them, and Leonel for that matter.

    However, this wasn''t to say that she was helpless.

    From what Leonel could tell, Amynta had sacrificed a lot to achieve this. She had spent a long time in the Incomplete Worlds and had likely ruined her greatest potential.

    As for the reason why... Leonel could already see it.

    The Constellation Family Bloodlines.

    During their battle, he had been using his Internal Sight to thoroughly check the city and he quickly found out why it was that everything seemed normal.

    That was because the largest changes weren''t external, they were internal.

    He could sense that many had gained the Bloodlines of the 12 Constellation Families, and they were slowly growing used to their new power.

    Amynta was never meant to be their figurehead. She had given up this right so that she could plant seeds.

    In the future, so long as the children Leonel was observing grew up...

    "They will be formidable."

    They would become far more powerful than even Amynta.

    However, Leonel was also smart enough to understand exactly how all of this happened.

    "Now... Can you tell me how many lives you sacrificed to make this possible?"

 Chapter 2789 Revenge

    Chapter 2789 Revenge

    Amynta''s heart lurched when she heard this, but her lips were sealed, both by design and by her will. However, Leonel didn''t really need to hear the answer, he already knew it. In this regard, Amynta and his grandfather weren''t all that different.

    Leonel had many thoughts about where his grandfather might be and what he was doing now. There was no reason for him to have been gone so long, it didn''t make any sense, especially considering the time dilation between the regions.

    However, seeing how far Amynta had gone to revive the Constellation Families, he had a guess.

    When Leonel left, the Fawkes family barely had any members. Other than himself, who was already barely considered a Fawkes to begin with, there were only his grandfather, his mother and his uncle.

    Whatever was causing his grandfather to drag his feet so much almost certainly had to do with the revival of the Fawkes. And as for how he would do it... would it be much different than what Amynta had done?

    Leonel had known for a long time what kind of man his grandfather was. Emperor Gervaise Fawkes would take the path that suited him best.

    He had personally handpicked Leonel''s grandmother to be his wife for reasons that likely weren''t purely out of love... if there was any love to begin with.

    He hadn''t hesitated to all the deaths of billions of his own citizens to ensure that Earth wasn''t overrun by Invalids.

    He had no qualms about manipulating his own grandsons to do his bidding, throwing them directly into the line of fire as he sat back on his throne.

    And yet, Leonel couldn''t say that he hated his grandfather very much anymore. In fact, as time passed, Leonel found himself cozying up to the old man, thinking of him as a real grandfather rather than the caricature of one.

    Part of that was because he no longer had the right or the moral high ground to denounce his grandfather''s actions. He was no longer that naive teenage boy.

    Another part was the fact he could feel that though his grandfather''s actions were cruel in the eyes of many, in a lot of ways he wasn''t unlike Leonel...

    Morality was too subjective. There were too many moving parts, too many differing opinions, so the two men, grandfather and grandson, did the only thing they could do...

    Strength weighed too heavily in a world like this one, and Amynta was the wife of their Patriarch to begin with. It was easy to accept her.

    Like this, they began to make plans to corral the rest of the human population under one banner and Leonel got the chance to be lazy again.

    After a couple weeks, Leonel realized that things would stabilize, so he had a meeting with Amynta and Vivak once more.

    Standing in the Godlen Patriarch''s office, Leonel waved a hand and burst into a fit of laughter.

    Simona and Eduardo appeared, their lips locked together. They were so passionate that they didn''t even realize the scenery changed at first.

    When they both looked up because of Leonel''s outburst, they flushed as red as tomatoes.

    Leonel had had Anastasia double check to make sure the two were decent, and when she told him about their current state, he chose to play a little prank.

    Watching their faces twist in horror, especially when Eduardo realized both Simona''s mother and father were here, Leonel was having the time of his life.

    Eamon, who stood to the side, covered his mouth to stop himself as well. He had been shadowing Leonel for the past month or so and had learned a lot, both in terms of Crafting and more neutrally in terms of Leonel''s personality.

    He was hard to get a read on most times, but from time to time he would do something like this that would make him want to grin ear to ear.

    "Mother, father!" Simona spoke after clearing her throat, sending several glares toward Leonel. If she could eat him alive, she would.

    Amynta had a light smile on her face while Vivak''s expression was rapidly changing colors.

    Regardless, their lack of response left her feeling like a piece of meat on a hot skillet.

    "Woo, that''s funny. Consider this to be my last bit of revenge, Vivak," Leonel said after wiping the tears from his eyes.

 Chapter 2790 Shut Up

    Chapter 2790 Shut Up

    Vivak had tried to kill Leonel and his cousin in the past. That wasn''t something that could be easily forgiven, but this time, Leonel had chosen to let things slide.

    After the change to his Dream Force Path, Leonel was always making conscious efforts to find a balance between doing what was smart and what was right.

    Throwing his wife in the line of fire for him was a step too far, however him taking an insult on the chin was not.

    He had to Respect the world he was in and realize that he couldn''t do everything alone. He had to lean on others when given the opportunity to.

    If he acted on impulse and just slaughtered the entire upper echelon of the Godlen family, what then?

    Well, he''d have to find people to replace those leaders, or he''d have to do it himself. He wouldn''t have the heart of the people and who knew how many would choose to act like Goggles did? And what could the remaining Godlens who chose to bury a grudge deep within their hearts, waiting for the perfect time to strike?

    Acting as he pleased felt good in the moment, but it was ultimately never the best thing to do.

    He would have to settle for making this father uncomfortable and forcing him to sit with his inferiority. As for the rest, it would come in due time.

    Sometimes, it was enough to take a win at face value and not chase for more.

    "Alright, let''s go Eamon. You''ve been working hard, you should take a rest."

    Eamon smiled. "All of this is fun. I''ve never cared about much other than Crafting, and since I''ve decided to move on from other things, this will always be what''s more important to me."

    Leonel looked over toward him and nodded.

    It was good to have a purpose in life, it could help drive you. But he had seen enough from his future self to know that that alone wasn''t nearly enough.

    Leonel stepped out of the Segmented Cube, finding faces that were both familiar and unfamiliar in the skies.

    Among them, there was a particularly wizard-like man, one that Leonel remembered pointing out.

    Gemmes.

    These were none other than the Dream Force experts that had escaped when the Challenge Sequence began, feeling that it would be a hopeless cause.

    These cowards had actually taken more than two years to muster up the courage to come back, something that was amusing in and of itself. But it was even funnier when you realized that if not for all the large movements the Godlens were making, they still wouldn''t have dared to come.

    In the minds of these cowards, it was so far out of the possibility of reason for Leonel to have won, that there was almost certainly something they were missing. Most probably thought the Dream Pavilion had already been taken over by another Race, it was just that this Race didn''t care enough to interact with the rest of the Human Worlds, and why would they? The Dream Pavilion alone was practically a whole world. They didn''t need to step outside.

    At most, the fact there was no news only made them wonder, but not enough to actually risk themselves by coming back.

    But then the Gathering of Kingdoms happened and there was oddly still no culling waiting for them. That was a second oddity that made them pause.

    And then, finally, there was the Gathering of Minds and the actions of the Godlens. Only then did they finally gather up their balls and return.

    To their surprise, there really was no one but humans here, many of whom they didn''t recognize because Leonel had only recently recruited them, but this was still firmly a human stronghold.

    Gemmes was the first to notice Leonel''s arrival. He stood high in the air above Leonel and frowned. He still didn''t understand what was going on here.

    "Who is the current-"

    Leonel picked at his ears. "Shut up."

 Chapter 2791 Hammer

    Chapter 2791 Hammer

    Gemmes was immediately caught off guard by Leonel''s interruption. He was asking for who the current Pavilion Head was, how dare Leonel treat him like this?

    There wasn''t a single fiber of his being that believed that all of this was done by Leonel. In fact, he was more inclined to believe that Clarence''s mad plan had succeeded and he managed to enter the Life State.

    He had seen Leonel in the Gathering of Minds, but the scope of these people''s understanding was far too limited. They feared the other Races, but they didn''t know to what extent they should fear them. To them, Leonel was just facing off against other members of the younger generation, wouldn''t they be able to defeat them just the same? The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    And because they had escaped from the Dream Pavilion, they hadn''t been able to watch the Challenge Sequence, so they had no idea what happened in this respect.

    They had spent their entire lives protected by a formation, how could they know the extent to which that formation had protected them? How could they know that even the younger generation of the Mortal Races could slaughter them, let alone the younger generation of Demi-Gods or above.

    When Gemmes saw Leonel, he still acted with the demeanor of an elder, and because he knew Leonel had lost the Life Tablet, he was even more confident.

    What chance did Leonel stand against him without it? He was still a member of the Dream Pavilion, a Deputy at that. He could certainly mobilize much more of its strength than Leonel could. It could be said that this was a guaranteed victory in his eyes.

    Thinking to this point, he pressed down his fury and maintained his elder-like demeanor.

    "I will give you one more chance. Where-"

    BANG!

    Leonel slapped out with a palm and rather than being sent flying, a wave of Dream Force took shape and slammed Gemmes into the ground.

    The old wizard-looking man coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling as though all the bones in his body had been shattered at a single given time.

    The other Deputies and lesser members froze. What had they just seen?

    Leonel took a step forward and appeared before Gemmes. He squatted down and picked up the old man by his hair, forcing him to look into his eyes.

    They were not only incredibly selfish, but they were so controlled by their own fear that they couldn''t even make rational decisions...

    This was a reason Leonel didn''t plan on letting them live, but there was another reason as well...

    And that was because he suddenly had a very big distaste for betrayals. He had always known that betrayal was bad, but not in his eyes it wasn''t just bad...

    It was the worst sort of sin, and these people deserved to pay dearly for it.

    Their bodies exploded one after another and Leonel never bothered to blink even a single time. He didn''t give a damn.

    They fell to their knees, pleading, hoping, praying, and it still changed nothing.

    In just a brief instant of time that must have felt like an eternity to them as their lives played out before their eyes, Leonel killed them all, grabbing hold of their souls and controlling each and every one.

    With a wave of his hand, the blood disappeared as though it had never been there and Leonel entered the Segmented Cube once again.

    Quiet fell on the Dream Pavilion.

    ...

    Leonel walked through the Segmented Cube''s world, his steps light as he entered the region of his Fifth cousin''s territory.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLINK!

    Leonel soon laid eyes on Ramon laboring over a flame. He wasn''t using his Metal Spirit to Craft, but was instead forging like an olden days'' blacksmith, something that Leonel didn''t expect to see.

    He lived in a simple cabin, but he had turned its entire surroundings in a forge. The heat was so great that it seemed that the forest would be burnt to ash.

    Standing over an anvil, he hammered away.

 Chapter 2792 All Roads Lead to Rome

    Chapter 2792 All Roads Lead to Rome

    ''Interesting...'' Leonel thought.

    The Morales obviously had their own ways of teaching forging, but Leonel didn''t believe that this was one of them. This should be something that Ramon had come up with on his own. New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com Leonel''s understanding, in their generation, Ramon''s talent in forging was only beneath his own. And even then, he could close the gap much more if he had had the training of Leonel''s father.

    However, unlike Eamon, he still had much less room to grow. After all, Eamon was self-taught, but even if Ramon''s teachings weren''t as good as Leonel''s own, he still had the Morales family.

    The issue was, obviously, that the standard of the Morales family was beneath even the Human Bubbles, let alone the rest of Existence.

    Leonel watched silently and didn''t interrupt Rowan. He continued to hammer away at what looked like the tip of a blade, a spear blade to be most accurate.

    It was glowing a fiery red beneath the heat, and with each strike, incremental changes would be made.

    Leonel couldn''t help but recall the Barbarian Race youth. Was this part of what Rowan was trying to tap into?

    Rowan wasn''t ignoring Leonel. Instead, he truly seemed so engrossed that he had forgotten everything else. From the raise of the hammer, to the swift downward stroke, to the recalibration for the next blow, it was all perfect.

    Rowan suddenly picked up the blade with a pair of tongs and rushed it to a tempering station, dipping it in and taking it out. He squinted, looking for warps in the blade.

    After a while, he shook his head and tossed the blade away. It was only then that Leonel noticed a scrap pile filled with seemingly identical blades.

    Rowan turned to return to his cabin, maybe for a short rest, but when he saw Leonel he was startled for a moment before nodding in greeting.

    As per usual, the young man was quiet and reserved.

    "What are you trying to accomplish?" Leonel asked.

    "Crafting spears is a good method of understanding the. Here," Leonel took off his Spear Domain Ring and tossed it to Rowan. "Whenever you can construct a spear without it being destroyed by this ring, you know that you would have taken the first step."

    Leonel had long since been keeping the Spear Domain Ring out of pure habit. In practice, it was now completely worthless to him. In fact, he had been having some thoughts about improving it...

    But he was saving it for the construction of his Sixth Dimensional Divine Armor.

    Rowan caught the ring, his eyes sparkling.

    Leonel ignored him for a moment, observing the spear blade for a long while in silence. Rowan was actually already close, but Leonel realized the reason he had yet to take that final step was actually because he was trying to accomplish something far greater.

    Each one of these spear blades was made from a slightly different material, but Rowan was trying to hammer them all the same way.

    This path was incredibly profound. He was trying to find his own true spear... if he succeeded, he would become a Spear Sovereign without a doubt, and one that was even more powerful than Leonel''s own.

    Leonel hadn''t put nearly as much thought into his path of the Spear, but Rowan had given him inspiration.

    Essentially, Rowan was picking slightly different materials every time and trying to construct the exact same spear...

    Didn''t this sound familiar?

    Rather than relying on the materials to dictate the product, he was forcing the materials to conform...

    Wasn''t this the Self Path?

    Of course, it was precisely because he was so ambitious that he couldn''t take that step. But it was admirable nonetheless.

    He felt his combat talent was lacking, so he was using what he was talented in to improve in other areas.

    ''All roads lead to Rome,'' Leonel thought silently. Suddenly, he could feel his Forces being elevated by a mysterious force, almost as though they all wanted to break through at once.

 Chapter 2793 Decided

    Chapter 2793 Decided

    Leonel calmed the restlessness in his body. It wasn''t that he didn''t feel that this was an interesting path, it was just more so that he didn''t feel it was appropriate for all of his Forces to follow it.

    If he stripped away his Forces of what made them unique and forced them all to conform to his own thoughts, then would they even still be the Forces he had come to know?

    That said, this path... it was perfect for a Weapon Force you had to mold into your own image. The catch was that Leonel still wasn''t sure of exactly that path he wanted to take.

    Right now, whether it was his Bow Force or Spear Force, they were more amorphous than not. But that was the nature of the path he had taken to improve them.

    Being able to use artistic conception to bolster the strength of his Weapon Forces was excellent, but that also made them lack an identity at the same time. It could be said that the only reason they were Sovereign Forces to him was because he had great talent and... because they were still at the Life State. The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    Fifth Nova made him realize something. If his Weapon Forces stayed the same as they were now, would they still be able to remain Sovereign Forces when he entered the Creation State?

    That still wasn''t certain, and that was a problem.

    Ramon, though, seemed to understand his path quite well. It was just that he couldn''t take that last step just yet.

    Even so, he had managed to find a method of honing himself that even Leonel was impressed by.

    Ramon had promised himself to not be weak anymore. The next time he had to protect someone he cared about, he wouldn''t have to stand behind them any longer. He would be able to protect them instead.

    And he took that extremely seriously.

    Leonel only spoke to Ramon for a short time before he slowly strolled away. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to spend more time with this cousin of his, but rather that he felt it was inappropriate to do so.

    He could feel that Ramon was still a bit withdrawn. If he tried to force a relationship just because he wanted to, it would have the opposite effect.

    Plus... his thoughts were swimming with Ramon''s Spear Force.

    But what about himself? What had he done for Leonel Morales?

    As in all things, there had to be balance in life. But if he couldn''t change his Dream Force Sovereignty, then what should he do?

    Leonel walked aimlessly, raising a palm to face the sky and allowing golden strands of Bow and Spear Force to circulate in the air. They chased around one another like wisps of wind, growing faster and faster.

    He had never really thought about why he was so good at using Bow Force, but now that he understood so much about Weapon Forces, it seemed almost too obvious.

    What was the job of a bowman?

    In olden Earth, they probably just relied on numbers, sending out large volleys into enemy ranks and just hoping that they''d hit something...

    But what about in this world?

    A bowman sat back, they analyzed, they targeted threats and they controlled the battlefield from a bird''s eye view. It was the kind of Weapon Force that was perfectly in line with Leonel''s character, the loftiness, the precision, the intelligence required...

    The Dominance that was necessary.

    An odd pulse began to take form on Leonel''s wrists. Soon, they both became bands of gold, but it was the ornament in the center that was special.

    One had a perfect spear ready to pierce through the skies.

    The other had a curved bow ready to shoot down stars.

    They looked like a pair of illusory bracelets on Leonel''s wrists, and if he was paying attention, he would have noticed that they were enhanced versions of the Domain Rings.

    He had decided what his path would be.

 Chapter 2794 Matters

    Chapter 2794 Matters

    His Dream Force would dictate his state of mind, it would be the intelligence that guided his actions and it would protect him from overextending himself and making foolish decisions.

    However, when his Dream Force had decided that it was time to battle, that there was no other option but to cut down his enemy, another part of his would make itself known.

    A Sovereignty amongst Sovereignties.

    An air of otherworldly confidence to have a spear that could pierce through anything, a bow that could shoot down anything.

    The golden bracelets around Leonel''s wrists grew to the point they looked like halos hovering around his arms. At the same time, they began to gain small freckles of violet as though they had been tainted by Leonel''s King''s Might.

    The world shook and vibrated wildly as Leonel Spear and Bow Force skyrocketed, taking one step forward after another until the both of them were firmly at the Quasi Creation State.

    And with the auras of their Sovereignty...

    BANG! CRACK!

    The world fissured and shattered around Leonel. His will was so strong that even the appearance of his Bow and Spear Force seemed to want to collapse everything.

    Anastasia suddenly appeared above Leonel, her face in a panic. But when she saw that it was Leonel, she relaxed somewhat.

    She wasn''t sure what to do. If this continued, it would be pretty back. But at the same time, Leonel was in a bit of a daze and he didn''t seem to realize what he was doing.

    Just as she was about to make a decision, Aina appeared in a flash of black lightning as well. She had sensed something odd going on as well. She even thought that Leonel was in danger.

    When she saw the halo-like bracelets around his wrists, her gaze couldn''t help but flicker. What powerful Weapon Forces... but they were also mixed in with something else.

    It was like they had suffered the brunt of Leonel''s frustration and were forced to endure it even though they were on the verge of completely collapsing.

    This piece of land silently floated through the outer reaches of Existence.

    ...

    Leonel roared, a wild sphere of Bow and Spear Force forming around him. They seemed to clash, his body becoming a battlefield.

    "Pipe down!" He roared.

    The bracelets on his wrists cracked, only to be quickly filled by more violet. His will forcefully suppressed them, pulling them into submission as his aura continued to soar.

    Flaura coughed up a mouthful of blood, wiping it with a sleeve. A dangerous light flashed in her gaze as she stepped over a corpse, vanishing into the distance.

    Every time she dealt with a situation like this, a great amount of rage would billow up. Just to survive, she was being forced to progress much faster than she wanted, scaling the Dimensions without solidifying her foundation like she wanted.

    This was the worst sort of sin to her. This would almost certainly limit her future potential, but if she was dead, there would be no future in the first place.

    ''It should be here,'' she thought to herself.

    At that moment, an Invalid appeared before Flaura, but she showed not the slightest hint of fear.

    "I have information you might be interested in."

    The Invalid stared blankly, not responding. But Flaura expected this. Even Variant Invalids were all fools, let alone an Invalid.

    "Take it and give it to someone who matters."

    She handed something over and then vanished.

 Chapter 2795 Vague

    Chapter 2795 Vague

    Leonel didn''t know what was going on. It was in one part because he didn''t understand, and another part because it was difficult to think at all.

    "He rarely found his mind being overloaded by anything, but at the moment it felt like that was truly what was happening. There were too many sensations, so many sparks going off in his mind that he couldn''t do anything but stand there. He didn''t have the mental capacity left to even control his body, let alone pay attention to any sensory information coming in from his surroundings."

    "He didn''t hear Anastasia''s voice or his wife''s. He found it difficult to pay attention to anything but the Big Bang echoing through his mind."

    "He felt like his body was being stretched through both the past, the present and the future, as though he was forming a will that surpassed it all."

    "He didn''t know how long it lasted, but all he could think of as he came down from that high was how disappointed he was. He felt like he had opened a gate to unprecedented power, and yet instead of being able to take advantage of it, it was locked away in his body because his Dimension was far too weak."

    "It was a good thing. If the true extent of this power remained while he lacked the ability to withstand its might, his body would implode."

    "However, he still didn''t like it. It was hard seeing power you had rightfully earned slip away from you."

    "Leonel''s eyes slowly came into focus. He went from a person who was all of paralyzed, blind and deaf to someone whose senses nearly overloaded him in the next instant."

    "The world felt so bright, so clear... so malleable."

    "He vaguely saw the bracelets around his arm and wrists before they slowly faded away, and his first thought was much like Aina''s. They looked identical to the Spear and Bow Domain rings."

    "They were partially complete rings, almost as though someone had cut a small piece of them. In that missing portion, there was the hovering piece of a weapon. It was a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship that only seemed stronger in this form."

    "Even though they were slowly fading, Leonel found that even as they did so, lifting his arms was actually so difficult, almost as though succeeding in doing so would allow him the ability to destroy the world."

    "If he could barely lift his arms in this state, then what about when they were fully formed before? How had he even managed to stay on his two legs?"

    "Leonel frowned. It seemed that he would have to have another talk with the Godlen family."

    "But if Aina was correct about the rest of it, didn''t that mean that it was a Dharma of some kind?"

    "They said that when one entered the Creation State, there was nothing beyond. However, there were levels of refinement within."

    "A normal Creation State was already excellent. But, a Creation State that formed a Dharma was on another level. A Creation State that formed an Idol was even beyond that."

    "Leonel didn''t know many details outside of this as he had only vaguely heard it in passing thanks to Anastasia. But he was certain that there were also other matters to consider as well. He just didn''t know what those matters were just yet."

    "All Leonel knew was that he had really gotten screwed over this time."

    "He didn''t actually believe that the main strain on his body was the fact he had apparently awakened a Dharma or whatever it was. The main issue was that he had awakened two."

    "His Bow and Spear Force didn''t seem to want to coexist anymore, and they were trying to force him to pick one or the other."

    "This had never happened before and he wasn''t sure why... The only explanation he had was that it had to do with his path."

    "He had chosen a path of absolute Supremacy... so how could there be two absolute Supremacies in the same body? Wasn''t that a contradiction you couldn''t ignore?"

    "However, Leonel had still managed to force them into submission."

    "He didn''t care what they thought. The Supremacy in his body wasn''t the Forces, it was himself. They were just conduits through which he could exhibit his might, not his might itself."

    "That seemed to have forced his Weapon Forces into a more quiet state. But this seemed to only be a temporary solution."

    "As for why that was... Leonel had only a vague guess about this as well."New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

 Chapter 2796 Idol

    Chapter 2796 Idol

    "If Leonel was correct, then the reason this was only a temporary solution was that his control wasn''t there yet. The ability he had awakened was so powerful that it wasn''t yet his place to truly control them. It could be said that he was only strong enough to give it a temporary patch.

    However, the main problem should just be using both of them at the same time. That wasn''t something that he did too rarely, but it also wasn''t something that his entire battle style relied on. So long as he avoided it, he shouldn''t end up in the same situation again.

    Regardless, this should mostly be a good thing. Whatever breakthrough he had had just now, even if it caused problems in the future, would only help him.

    Eventually, Leonel had enough strength to get up and Aina finally allowed him to do so as well. Then, he made his way to the Godlens. He had some questions.

    Vivak and Amynta didn''t expect Leonel to suddenly visit so soon after the last time. A part of them was still worried that everything would come crumbling down once again, but they were thinking too much.

    When Leonel asked his question, they were taken aback and looked toward one another.

    Where did the symbol for the Domain Ring come from?

    Now that they thought about it, Leonel was indeed from an Incomplete World. There were many things that powerhouses of even their worlds didn''t know about, let alone someone like Leonel.

    "... I don''t have the full story either," Vivak said. "I can only say that in the past, beasts ruled everything. They were more powerful in all aspects and far more adept at Force Manipulation.

    "While humanoids understood Force Manipulation to some extent, beasts were born with innate understandings and instincts that humans couldn''t replicate on a large scale.

    "If you took 100 people from a human family and 100 beasts from a single clan, the curve for a human''s Force Manipulation would be a normal distribution, but for a beast clan, it would be highly skewed.

    "Of course, when the entire beast population was taken into account, that was still a normal distribution. But when you were talking about individual bloodlines and bloodline types, this was where it changed.

    "If one had to give just one reason the humanoids were able to supplant the God Beasts, it was because of this.

    "Make no mistake about it. Even after the God Beasts of Creation and the God Beasts of Destruction fell, humanoids were still absolutely no match for the other God Beasts until this change allowed them."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. This was interesting for a very specific reason...

    The Pluto didn''t seem like the type of Race to use Weapon Forces at all. Their bodies were so powerful, their blood so precious, that it seemed a waste for them to rely on weapons at all...

    But then again, wouldn''t Fist Force and other things of the like fall firmly into this category as well?

    He didn''t have the whole picture just yet, of course. So it was hard to tell how true his statement was.

    ''Interesting...''

    "That''s a nice story, but you still haven''t told me where the symbol comes from," Leonel replied.

    Vivak nodded. "After the creation of Weapon Forces, there eventually came to be those who reached the Impetus State, then the Life State, then the Creation State... and eventually: they formed Idols.

    "I only know this from reading our records, but Idols are meant to be unique existences. Even if two people form an Idol from the same Force, the path cannot be the same.

    "The main problem is that with Weapon Forces in specific... there''s some clashing that can occur because of this.

    "Weapon Forces are both innately unique and innately universal at the same time. So when an Idol is challenged, it holds a completely different weight.

    "At any given time, there can only be one Idol of a Weapon at a time... and every few generations there will be a battle to decide the outcome."

 Chapter 2797 Fury

    Chapter 2797 Fury

    Leonel''s didn''t expect this kind of response. A battle to decide who would become the Idol of a generation? But if this was the explanation, then... why did he already feel like he was one?

    It felt odd...

    What Leonel didn''t know was that the Phenomena he caused was sensed by the Gods.

    The Idol Battlefield was a location that moved without rhyme or reason, and it was impossible to keep tabs on it in the long term.

    It could be said that the only reason this battle only took place once every few generations was because all the time in between was spent finding exactly where it was.

    It was hard for even the Gods to understand exactly what the Idol Battlefield was all about and why it was formed in the first place. The stories were so old and had grown so muddled that it was difficult to place a finger on exactly where their origins lay and what was truth from fiction.

    All they knew was that the Idol Battlefield always disappeared after its winners were crowned and it only appeared again when there were a sufficient number of candidates prepared to do battle once more.

    But even now, the Idol Battlefield seemed far more agitated than usual. It was much too far away from the normal reaches of Existence for anyone other than the most powerful to feasibly travel to it, and yet it was making such a commotion.

    This was the first time they had found the battlefield before it was within their range. It traveled through a vast nothingness, the regions of Existence that the Northern Star had already rendered to not even a memory.

    For it to suddenly throw such a tantrum...

    What could have happened?

    Even without understanding, many Weapon Masters began to sharpen their weapons, readying themselves for a battle of ages.

    According to its former speed, the Idol Battlefield should have taken hundreds more years to reach them once again. But with how agitated it was now, would its speed still be the same?

    In as little as a decade at most, or even sooner, it was very likely that it would rear its head once more and the bloodshed would be legendary.

    With this anomaly happening, who dared to say that this event would be the same as the others? Who was to say that there wasn''t some added specialness to this event this time around?

    BOOM!

    Leonel left booming concentric circles in the air as he ripped through the wind that stood in his path. His foot steps were so powerful that even the steps that he formed from his Emulation Spatial Force shattered as he rumbled forward.

    By the time he was approaching his destination, his eyes were a fiery shade of red.

    He descended from the skies.

    Without even a single word, he fell like a meteor, a spear appearing in his hands.

    BOOM!

    When he hit the ground, the earth rippled out in waves. Large numbers of enemies were wiped out left and right, leaving nothing but motes of light in their wake as they were wiped from the face of the world.

    There was only one Race of beings that would cause such a thing upon their deaths.

    Invalids.

    A large crack had appeared in the Human Bubble. Out from the Inbetween World, large numbers of Invalids surged out.

    The mindless Zombies stumbled out. Many of them seemed even weaker than the first Invalids to appear on Earth, but many more reminded Leonel of the B-, A-, and S-grade Invalids that he had used to fear so much. Except this time, they were an existence that could threaten even his current self.

    There was a reason Leonel was so absolutely furious.

    There was only one reason these Invalids were here, and their target couldn''t be anyone other than his wife.

    Someone was targeting him and he had a pretty good idea of who it was.

    It seemed that they had taken his mercy as kindness, not realizing that they had just moved their death date up.

    Leonel roared, billowing smoke of destruction coming from the soles of his feet and the corner of his eyes.

 Chapter 2798 Now?

    Chapter 2798 Now?

    Leonel''s spear moved like the wind. Suddenly, billowing tendrils of foggy silver-blue light came off of him in waves. From certain angles, it even seemed as though he was a blue star letting off waves of solar flares, his furious momentum rising to another level.

    [Star Fusion].

    He became even faster, his lungs expanding and the beats of his heart sending rippling waves through space. Just his heartbeat alone sounded like a war drum, echoing through the air and even sending the weaker Invalids flying while directly shattering the even weaker once to nothing but motes of light.

    Every time one of these Invalids came after his wife, he was reminded of that day back on Earth. By that point in their relationship, Leonel had already accepted that the Aina he knew and Aina he had come to know after the Metamorphosis weren''t really his wife. Instead, they were a combination of the two.

    His wife could be very shy sometimes, but she could also be very demanding. She could be very soft spoken, but she could also be a mass murderer.

    However, the one thing that she never was... was fearful.

    That was an emotion he had never sensed from her until the Puppet Master appeared. That day, she was paralyzed, not just by his power, but also by an attack on her heart and her psyche.

    He understood his wife maybe even better than he understood himself, no... he almost certainly did.

    Family was something deeply personal to her.

    Battle was something also deeply personal to her.

    And yet, the Puppet Master had wanted to take away both.

    He had the ability to freeze her body, ripping away her ability to defend herself, and all the training that she had put her heart and soul into had become worthless in a single instant of time.

    She wanted a family. She had been stripped of that right by the Brazinger family, so she had always promised herself that when things settled down and she could find a man that she trusted, she hoped to build a large family with him, five, ten, even twenty kids if it came to it... The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    He tapped into his Spear Domain Lineage Factor, or rather its mutated form, for the first time in a long while. And this time, they erupted with strength that was unprecedented in the past.

    Time and space distorted beneath his blade. Even without the slightest hint of Spear Force fused into his attack, his skill had reached an entirely different level, so much so that Auspicious Air began to form and gather on its own, resonating with his spear stances and blessing his attack.

    A foggy air of dense, ancient bronze began to dance with the dense billowing blue and the smokey black coming from his Destruction Sovereignty.

    He was simply a lethal killing machine, no thing could stop him as he stepped out into the Inbetween World, his fury agitating even the liquid Anarchic Force in the region.

    Leonel unleashed a roar and his hair danced in its violet hues.

    [Star Fusion: Combustion].

    The beautiful blues became a furious red. His body emitted waves of steam as he swept his spear cross.

    Time and space couldn''t limit him in the slightest, it seemed that enemies fell even before his blade swept by them and even more fell long after it had already passed.

    The devastation knew no bounds. Somehow, rather than calming after entering the Inbetween World, it was as though another hidden beast within him had been released.

    If it wasn''t for the fact that Invalids left no skin and bone behind when they died, it could be said that they would have already been swimming in an ocean of blood.

    None of them understood the kind of a fury a husband could tap into when protecting his wife. Not a single one of them understood that they hadn''t just touched on Leonel''s reverse scale, but instead on the very core of his existence.

    When he was merely an ant of the Dimensional Verse, he had dropped a city from the sky in rage.

    What did they think he was going to do now?

 Chapter 2799 Bull, Peacock, Apex

    Chapter 2799 Bull, Peacock, Apex

    In the far-off distance, a trio of gazes flickered, not quite understanding what they were witnessing. They stood near the back of the Invalid army, but they could clearly feel every change.

    In truth, the formation of Invalids only ever came from Incomplete Worlds. Complete Worlds didn''t have to contest with Sub-Dimensional Zones or Metamorphosises, so it could be said that any Invalids that were here were the product of Incomplete Worlds that hadn''t managed to get rid of them in time and had thus been taken over by them.

    There were actually quite a number of such worlds, and over the years, these Invalids had spread out and claimed Complete Worlds for themselves as well.

    Variant Invalids were extremely talented existences, no less so than Sparks, and on the highest end they were comparable even to God Childes.

    Even so, they had to remain low-key because there were too few of them...

    The problem was that a Blood Sovereign was too great of a strategic resource. They were far too rare and even in the entire Invalid Empire, there were only a handful. The number didn''t even reach double digits.

    It was impossible, then, for them to give up this sort of opportunity. So, in a rare moment, they had actually brought out a decent number of warriors.

    In truth, they had thought that it was far too much. Did they even need this much for a mere Human Bubble? This could be said to be the most convenient Blood Sovereign they would ever pick up, right?

    So what was this situation?

    Leonel seemed to be single-handedly crushing their army of tens of thousands. Granted, most of them were weaklings. After all, Invalids were Invalids for a reason, they were made up of people who failed to awaken their Ability Indexes. It wasn''t until they became Variant Invalids that they were a true danger to the world. The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    But even so, the weakest was in the Seventh Dimension. How could a Fifth Dimensional existence like Leonel possibly destroy so many of them and with such ease? Was he truly such an outrageous monster?

    Among these three was a familiar figure...

    Apex.

    He also happened to be the unhappiest of the bunch. He was the one who found Aina''s leg, he was the one searching for the location of the Human Bubble all this time, and this should have been his to benefit from alone.

    Peacock''s white orbs flashed with rage. Bull''s play on his name never failed to fill him with fury.

    Suddenly, the tattoos on his back glowed and a feather whipped out at Bull''s back, sending him flying overhead and toward the battlefield.

    "YOU BASTARD!" Bull roared out.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t fly. In fact, even though that could fly would have a hard time of it in the Inbetween Worlds to begin with.

    Without a choice, he could only continue on his trajectory.

    Leonel looked up.

    The depths of his eyes looked like a bottomless abyss. They should have been a beautiful pair of irises, one painted by delicate lines of pale violet, like the explosion of a star concentrated into a dot.

    And yet, that beauty seemed nothing short of maleficent at this very moment.

    Looking at the man barreling through the skies, the behemoth that stood at nearly three meters tall and had a body formed from a mountain of metals, he looked entirely unmoved.

    Meeting this gaze in close proximity for the first time, Bull felt his heart freeze over.

    The was a Variant Invalid. He didn''t feel emotions. The only thing that drove him was a fierce need for survival, a constant drive to evolve.

    And at the moment, it was like all of that had vanished.

    He just wanted to run.

    And that was when the spear thrust out.

 Chapter 2800 Die

    Chapter 2800 Die

    Bull punched out. He had no choice. Fear or not, if he wanted to survive there was no other choice.

    CLANG! BANG!

    The result was out of Bull''s expectations. Despite the heart-shuddering amounts of fear he had felt, the clash was fairly even. He managed to protect himself, falling back and maintaining his balance.

    But then it crashed into him all at once.

    [Domain].

    [Universe].

    Leonel expressionlessly took a step forward, his aura skyrocketing.

    His spear thrust out again as beneath the weight of the two combined Domains, the Invalids in the surroundings were crushed.

    For dozens of kilometers, the only one who seemed capable of withstanding Leonel''s pressure was Bull himself.

    And even then, it was only barely.

    "Die," Leonel said lightly.

    The world shifted and twisted. In that moment, Bull could have sworn that he saw the Anarchic Force grow even more agitated.

    A spear more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life appeared before his brows.

    He tried to protect himself. But it was worthless.

    [Finality].

    PCHU!

    The spear split his skull.

    Bull opened his mouth to say something, but with a twist of his wrist, Leonel shattered his head into a rain of blood and gore that quickly became motes of light.

    **

    Minerva stood high in the skies. Blood dripped from her in waves, she had lost an arm and a leg on opposite sides of her body and her wings barely looked recognizable beneath the torn flesh and rain of crimson.

    But none of that mattered to her.

    Beneath her feet was the unrecognizable body of a Void Race member. A true Void Race member.

    The battle had been waged for months, and it could be said that the two had long since forgotten what they were fighting for and even whose side they were on.

    None of that mattered to them, the only thing that did was the opponent right before their eyes.

    And in the end, it was Minerva who came out on top.

    She lifted her head to the skies and unleashed a mighty roar. There was nothing delicate about it at all.

    Her Dream Force shattered the barrier to the Creation State and her aura continued to grow. Her wounds were visibly sealing beneath the might and soon the naked body of a woman with beauty beyond words had appeared high in the skies. Even the scars on her face had vanished, while her clothes had long since been ravaged to nothing by the long, drawn-out battle.

    Even with the support of the Dream Pavilion, and being two Dimensions above this Void Race genius, it had actually taken so much to claim victory.

    However, just the same, her hands moved to her face and she viciously claws downward, destroying her countenance once more.

    This time, she didn''t stop there, raking her fingers over her skin and shredding herself apart until she was almost unrecognizable.

    These wounds were nothing more than flesh wounds, completely unable to impede her battle prowess. If anything they made her feel good.

    Her beauty had been nothing more than annoyance all her life.

    But from today forth, they wouldn''t know her as Minerva, the gorgeous empress, they would know her as Minerva, the Warrior Empress.

    She wasn''t an Owlan, she was a Minerva. She had met a God and slayed one. She had trampled one beneath her feet and she would do it again, and again, as many times as she needed to finally return her Race to the pinnacle it deserved.

    Her aura flourished and a wild change occurred once more...

    But this time inside of her.

 Chapter 2801 Spear God

    Chapter 2801 Spear God

    ...

    "He shouldn''t be this strong," Peacock said softly. He could feel the pressure of Leonel''s steps and none of this was like what the reports said it would be.The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    Like he had said earlier, they already felt that sending this many was overkill. It was just that to compensate for any error in judgment, plus taking into account that they might hide away in the Dream Pavilion, the Invalids had decided that it was best to send a large army.

    What they didn''t expect was that not only would Leonel not huddle up and hide in the Dream Pavilion like they assumed he would, but he would come to match their might in a relentless fury...

    All on his own.

    Or so it seemed.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Little Blackstar suddenly appeared on Leonel''s shoulder. Leonel hadn''t called him out, but the little guy had sensed the agitation and chose to make an appearance.

    Without even the need to exchange a word between the two of them, they seemed to have already formed a tacit understanding and they suddenly split into two.

    Leonel flickered toward Apex and Peacock while Blackstar dove into the army.

    The carnage of the two of them combined seemed multiplicative of what Leonel was capable of alone. Their tacit understanding allowed all variables to be handled ahead of time, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, Leonel had already appeared before the two Variant Invalids.

    "You go handle the beast, I''ll deal with him," Peacock spoke.

    "Don''t order me around." Apex said indifferently.

    Leonel had already attacked.

    Leonel was shorter than the both of them despite being just over 6''9", and yet, at that moment, he might as well have been a looming giant.

    Crimson plumes of fog billowed off of him in waves and his spear blade became like the connecting lines of a constellation. Every stroke was immaculate and beautiful in its purpose.

    The Auspicious Air in the surroundings had grown to the point that it didn''t even look like they stood in an Inbetween World any longer. Rather, it looked as though they were standing in the middle of a bronze and crimson sun, solar flares echoing out in all directions and filling the surroundings in a blanket of ancient light.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Peacock stumbled backward as Leonel''s spear tip split into three. They divided themselves across time and space, and in that moment it looked as though he was about to hit three different locations at once, two aimed at Apex and the last aimed at the flailing Peacock.

    Apex had no choice but to defend himself, feeling that this situation was quickly getting out of hand. Leonel didn''t even allow them the opportunity to catch their breath. He seemed to be both everywhere and nowhere, his shadow was impossible to trace.

    And then it happened.

    The three blades, once aimed toward different locations, suddenly converged. They formed a line of blades in the air, vanishing from their originally intended targets and appearing before Peacock''s forehead all at once.

    The Variant Invalid''s eyes opened wide but it was already too late.

    PCHU!

    PCHU!

    PCHU!

    His forehead was pierced three times so quickly that it almost sounded like a single hit. Each successive blow opened the wound larger until the last blew his head into a rain of blood and gore.

    Leonel swept his spear out and destroyed what remained of Peacock''s body, blowing it into a fine mist of crimson before it could even turn to motes of light.

 Chapter 2802 Worth

    Chapter 2802 Worth

    Apex''s eyes opened wide.

    Bull''s death hadn''t hit him very hard. He was objectively the weakest of them, and they were also sharp enough to see that Leonel had used what looked like a once-use technique to deal with him quickly, especially since right afterward Leonel''s aura seemed to plummet.

    However, what he didn''t expect was that Leonel didn''t even need to use that technique to deal with them.The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    The suppression around him doubled the instant Peacock died and he realized just the sheer level of terror that Leonel was able to inflict.

    He wasn''t even sure how such a Domain could be possible.

    Even so, fear wasn''t Apex''s immediate emotion. He couldn''t see the wounds on his body and when he looked at Leonel, there was a deep light that seemed to exude an inhumane air.

    What was the most shocking about Leonel was that his Spear seemed to be so strong... and yet Apex only realized now that he hadn''t sensed any Spear Force even a single time.

    "You are strong."

    Leonel responded with nothing more than a spear. He never paused even a single time, and his hatred had yet to be vented. His spear danced once more, another relentless barrage erupting around Apex like firecrackers.

    There was just one left and victory should have been easy. He should have been able to take Apex down even easier than he had Bull. He already understood his combat style and by now, his Control Ability Index had a predictive model for the Variant Invalid that was more than 99% accurate.

    And yet, after a trio of exchanges, Leonel realized that something was wrong.

    Apex was still holding up. His situation wasn''t much better than when he had been fighting alongside Peacock, but it wasn''t any worse either.

    Leonel realized this instantly. Most would have taken several more exchanges, but the moment Leonel got to three, he indifferently changed his tactics.

    Apex had the very same tattoos as the Barbarian Race, this was the first thing that Leonel had realized the moment he saw this man.

    Apex''s predictive ability without Peacock in the picture had actually increased. Now he didn''t need to predict the actions of two people at once, but rather just a single one.

    It could be said that Apex was the perfect counter for Leonel. Leonel''s battle style had always been built off the back of forcing his enemy to make a mistake and then capitalizing, but Apex seemed to be able to allow the smaller mistakes and avoid the large ones outright.

    How do you counter someone who could see the future?

    Honestly, at the moment, Leonel was truly infuriated. He wanted nothing more than to wipe all of these Invalids out and he didn''t want even a single piece of their power. They were all worthless to him and he wanted nothing to do with them.

    But right now, he could no longer justify it.

    "Elorin."

    Leonel couldn''t keep his rage out of his voice, but it didn''t seem to matter at the moment. He and Elorin were not close to begin with.

    "Kill him and you''ll improve."

    Leonel turned and began to walk away. But before he vanished, he paused.

    "If you can''t kill him and you let him escape, there''s no need for you to return."

    Elorin didn''t say a word as Leonel vanished. He knew that Leonel wasn''t mad at him currently, but he also knew that Leonel didn''t have a very good impression of him to begin with. How could he have one of a person who would kill his own grandfather?

    These were still things that Elorin didn''t regret, and it could be said that he and Leonel stood on opposite sides of things. But that didn''t mean that they couldn''t use one another.

    Elorin had been under Anastasia''s teachings all the while, and if Leonel and Aina were first in resource consumption, it wouldn''t be a surprise to say that he was third.

    If he couldn''t defeat this level of opponent by now even after how much Leonel had done for him.

    It really wasn''t worth it for him to return.

 Chapter 2803 Brewing Storm

    Chapter 2803 Brewing Storm

    Leonel tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down. His mood wasn''t the best right now, and that was because he knew that there was much more to come.

    What he needed was a method of dealing with all of this swiftly and decisively.

    Because of his previous plan, he ended up having to rope in the Cloud Race and forced them to face the ire that the Nomads should have. But as a result, the Nomad Race was still scot-free right this moment.

    He had been waiting for the Nomad Race to eventually make a move, but what he didn''t expect was that the Invalids would suddenly appear like this.

    Of course, Aina and he had already spoken about her leg and the issues that it might bring, however it could be said that this moment was probably the most inconvenient of them all for such a thing to happen.

    According to his calculations, there was only a small likelihood to begin with that this would come back to bite them, and yet here they were.

    Leonel''s steps came to a pause and he closed his eyes.

    The crimson fog around him slowly receded and the rushing rivers of his blood slowed down. The wave of fatigue hit him soon afterward, but after several deep breaths, his body recovered quickly, eventually shimmering as though he had just woken up from a deep rest.

    His current strength was greater than even he expected. He was reluctant to take out his Spear Force just now, but what he didn''t know was that even without his, his skill in the spear could be said to have touched upon a new realm entirely.

    He was already used to battling those with greater strength than his own to begin with. Apex and the other Variant Invalids were probably around the Demi-God level in terms of raw talent, and they were two Dimensions above him, but he was still able to crush them.

    In terms of raw strength, he was beneath them, but even then it wasn''t far off. In terms of skill, though, he existed on a plane all to himself. They couldn''t even be mentioned in the same sentence.

    After his recent breakthrough, Leonel had already reached the Demi-God level in terms of raw talent as well. When it came to comprehension and raw skill, he was capable of leaping two Dimensions to do battle against other geniuses at the Demi-God level.

    If it was a weak Demi-God, one of poor talent compared to the rest of their Race, he could probably kill and Eighth Dimensional one with the same level of ease.

    Leonel''s thoughts wandered to the technique that Aina had gained from the Gathering of Kingdoms Stele.

    Recalling the details of that technique, and how well it could change the fate of the Human Race, he felt that his deductions were quite accurate.

    Footsteps suddenly echoed from behind Leonel. He didn''t look back, but eventually a bloodied Elorin stood to his side in silence, his usual white tracksuit practically pasted onto his body by the crimson liquid.

    "You were faster than I thought you''d be," Leonel said, his tone less forceful than before.

    "It took three days," he replied.

    Leonel pursed his lips and then nodded. It had only been three hours in Leonel''s estimation, but he doubted that Elorin would lie about this. It seemed that either he was being vaguely philosophical about how he saw time versus others, or his Time Force had become far stronger.

    "And your gains?" Leonel asked.

    "I will need some time to digest them, but the change is fairly large. I feel less restrictions on my Ability Index."

    Leonel nodded again. Finding a Variant Invalid with the perfect pairing ability for yourself was probably more beneficial than even using the help of the Tablets. At the very least, it took more effort and time to get the same results from the Tablets.

    "Alright, you can go back. We''ll likely have to go to battle soon and you''ll have more opportunities to get stronger."

    Elorin didn''t say anything more and simply entered the Segmented Cube. His life was consumed by training these days and he wouldn''t have it any other way.

    Leonel closed his eyes again and stood there.

    What kind of backlash would wiping out this Invalid army bring? He couldn''t just sit on his hands and hope for this problem to go away.

 Chapter 2804 Dangerous

    Chapter 2804 Dangerous

    ''The only path forward seems to be to take drastic measures,'' Leonel thought to himself.

    Right now, he still couldn''t reveal that he had the Life Tablet. He also couldn''t reveal that he had the Silver Tablet or else that would cause problems of its own.

    The former he couldn''t reveal because doing so would be as good as admitting that he had triggered a war Gods were involved in.

    The latter he couldn''t reveal for much the same reason. According to the world, it was the Wise Tablet of the Cloud Race, and they were currently facing assaults from all sides because of it.

    Did he feel bad about using the same trick twice?

    Absolutely not.

    If it wasn''t broken, why bother to fix it?

    But that did put him in a bit of a bind.

    The first thought he had was to raise the Dream Pavilion to the top 100. If he did so, then all this nonsense would be irrelevant because the ratios and formula would begin to tilt to his side. By then, he could finally use the large swaths of contribution points he had to exchange for another large-scale protective formation.

    That way, the Human Race could hunker down and be safe for at least a short while.

    Unfortunately, this idea had its problems.

    For one, trading for such a barrier would almost certainly drain the rest of the Contribution Points that the Vast Dream Pavilion had.

    Aina smiled, but didn''t respond.

    "How is it?" Leonel asked.

    "Slow. It''s harder to look at the world and grasp it at a lower Dimension. My Ability Index is weaker, so I can''t see the complete picture as easily as I should be able to."

    Leonel nodded. This was the real loss they had suffered after the Flaura drama. Without her Eighth Dimensional strength, it was ironically difficult to tell when Aina would make it back to her true strength.

    That said, there was something else they gained other than Flaura''s defeat, and that was proof that Somnus'' information was truly potent.

    "I think we''re going to have to step it up a bit," Leonel said after a while.

    "In what way?"

    "Well, there are two ways to get the Bubble what it needs. The first is to enter the top 100, but there is another method."

    "The Dream Force experts?" Aina asked.

    "Yes. They''ve been under us for a while, but we''ve never had them officially join the Dream Pavilion despite them training beneath its influence. I''m going to speed up their growth a bit."

    "We''ll use the Forgetful Orbs and if my experiment goes well, I''ll assassinate a few top level Dream Force experts to use my King''s Might on."

    "Isn''t that..."

    "Dangerous? Yeah. But I think it''s about time the Human Race has more than just you and me."

 Chapter 2805 Now We Wait

    Chapter 2805 Now We Wait

    Leonel appeared in a world of ice. He wore a fluttering cloak of white that would have looked perfect for an assassin if not for its bright shade. Every time the wind rebuffed against it, it would radiate a delicate sky blue light that made it look absolutely magical.

    He was still experimenting with "cool" uniforms and he had to admit that he quite liked this one, especially when the white gloves and snowboarding goggles matched with it.

    ''Seven out of ten,'' Leonel thought to himself. ''We can still do better. Much better.''

    All this said, he didn''t just wear this outfit for the sake of the looks. It was truly cold in this world.

    This place was under the control of the Nomad Race, a special variant of them with skin that looked drained of all blood. They were especially lanky, and it looked as though they were in a constant state of hibernation.

    This wasn''t much different from Patriarch Khafra, but whereas the latter''s situation was almost certainly caused by a technique of some sort, for the former, they were naturally born this way.

    Leonel had come here for a very specific reason, and that was obviously to kill.

    He had used Somnus'' information to pinpoint a few likely locations where the Nomads were involved in Flaura''s plot. Though he wasn''t here just for revenge.

    As he had said to Aina, he needed to speed up everyone''s growth a bit.

    "What weighed the most heavily on the Dream Pavilion''s scale were Impetus State Dream Force users."

    "Well, this wasn''t actually true. Obviously, Life and Creation State users were even more important. But it wasn''t realistic for Leonel to suddenly come out with a bunch of them, and even if he could, it would be foolish to do so."

    "However, if Leonel could create a few hundred or maybe even thousand Impetus State Dream Force experts, that would be a game changer and shift the Vast Dream Pavilion''s formula enough that he could finally purchase some top of the line stuff."

    "In order to do that, he had used the souls of Gemmes and the other Deputy Heads in an experiment that worked better than anything he expected."

    "The Nomad was taken aback by the sudden attack, but he reacted fast, looking for a place to dodge to, only to realize that Leonel''s rain of arrows seemed to have an almost mysterious quality to them, as though they were both separate and together at once, as though they were the cogs in a machine rather than a random burst of attacks."

    "Beautiful."

    "It was the one word he could use to summarize it."

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    "The Nomad had no choice but to take the attacks head on, a frosty energy coming from him as he surged to prepare for a counterattack."

    "What he didn''t expect was for Leonel to suddenly appear behind him even amid his large Hands of God."

    "Leonel had already swapped his bow for a spear, thrusting toward the Nomad''s back with a swift momentum."

    "The Nomad didn''t understand what was happening. There was a strong spatial force around all of his Hands of God, suddenly teleporting by him shouldn''t have been possible, and even in the case it was he should have at least sensed it before it was too late."

    "An eruption of Water Force blanketed the region and a shimmering ice armor that almost looked like it was carved of diamond appeared on the Nomad''s back."

    BANG! BANG!

    "The Nomad was sent flying forward as Leonel''s spear bent into a crescent moon."

    BOOM! BOOM!

    "Plowing through the mountain range, the Nomad was beaten like a rag doll. He tried to stand to his feet quickly to escape, only to run the spear blade that appeared before him right through his own forehead."

 Chapter 2806 You?

    Chapter 2806 You?

    Leonel grabbed out at the air, pulling the Nomads soul into his grasp. After a quick look around, he vanished.

    He was really tempted to ask Anastasia to blanket the world and find any good resources for him, but in the end, he stifled it.

    Although he had just killed their Dream Pavilion Head, there were other Dream Force experts here. Anastasia couldn''t even hide from human Ninth Dimensional experts, let alone this level of expert.The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    If he started leaving a hallmark of a strong sense sweeping over a world right after a Dream Pavilion Head died, then it would end up eventually coming back to bite him.

    He thought about maybe using it to pretend to be some great, untouchable expert. But in the end, he shelved that idea as well.

    Minerva likely knew enough about the Segmented Cube to draw the distinction, and unlike the rest of the world, she likely knew by now that the Segmented Cube was certainly in his possession once more.

    ''Next target.''

    News of Dream Pavilion Heads falling spread quickly. It wasn''t something that could be hidden, and by the time Leonel had killed half a dozen, his seventh target was already on high alert.

    Unfortunately, he had to keep going. This wasn''t nearly enough. He would need to kill three dozen at the very least before he was satisfied.

    So he switched his targets from the Nomads to the Cloud Race.

    There were simply too many Dream Pavilions, 9999 in total, and each one of them needed at least one Life State Dream Force expert or else they would end up in the same state the Vast Dream Pavilion had been in the past where they would have to give up ownership.

    This gave Leonel a large population to pick from, and with Somnus'' information, he was able to find the location of their Bubbles with ease.

    Just when everyone felt that only Dream Pavilion Heads were dying, Leonel switched his style again and targeted more powerful Dream Pavilions with more than one Life State expert on their roster.

    He moved through the Bubbles with a precise ease, and no one seemed capable of catching his shadow.

    Even when there were ambushes set up, it didn''t matter in the slightest.

    Without knowing what his grandfather was doing, Leonel couldn''t casually risk the futures of all the Dream Force experts of the Human Race just for the sake of short-term gains.

    This was why he needed to get Life State souls. By using the powerful comprehension and then "dumbing" it down to the Impetus State, he could get the benefits of both worlds.

    That way, if there were any capable of comprehending a Sovereignty in the future, they wouldn''t find themselves strapped by their foundation.

    Essentially, he was using more than he needed to in exchange for a lesser result, so that he could help these fellows out in the future.

    Rather than ruining their futures, he was actually giving them a sudden boost right at the start.

    ''This has promise,'' Leonel thought to himself.

    The location was unknown even to most currently present.

    A man with a belly that reflected like polished brass beneath the light sat on a throne. His skin was as golden as the metal and the tattoos that covered his body were a crimson contrast. He looked like what a Buddha and gangster might look like if they fused into one, but his aura was much less amusing than his description...

    Especially the opaque white orbs that were his eyes.

    He looked down as he listened to the report. The world trembled around him even though he said not a single word.

    "My disciple is dead?"

    He put almost no force into his words, and yet it sounded like an avalanche, his bellow akin to meteors falling from the skies.

    He didn''t seem to have much of a reaction to these words. Instead, he looked to the side.

    "You were the one who said that Apex must seal himself, correct?"

    An elder by the side suddenly trembled.

 Chapter 2807 The Right?

    Chapter 2807 The Right?

    The elder fell to his knees, his sparse white hair falling loosely from his age speckled scalp. The wrinkles on his face told a tale just as old, but it was those pale white orbs that, murky and milky in their depths, painted the image of a man long past his prime.

    Even so, the one emotion that pulled all Invalids together was the fear of death. They felt for nothing and wanted for nothing than constant improvement and survival.

    When Apex''s master turned his gaze to this old man, all of that carnal sort of need came rushing forth and he acted in the only way he thought might save his life.

    Apex had been suppressed, but it was necessary. The actions of the Invalids this time around were risky. They were the public enemy of the world, maybe even more so than the Envoys of Creation and Destruction, or at the worst on equal footing.

    To make such a large move without preparation was foolhardy, and this elder was right to make his suggestion. This seal had helped them reduce their odds of being exposed.

    Unfortunately, the cost seemed to outweigh the gains.

    They had lost not just one Variant Invalid, but three. Worse than that, they had lost several seedlings with good odds of taking their next step of evolution.

    Somehow, not a single one of them had survived.

    Apex''s master looked away from the kneeling man as though he wasn''t there. His mood was unreadable, his expression the picture of indifference. Without the irises and pupils of a human, there was no humanity to grasp onto.

    "What is the situation with the war? Is it time yet?"

    Apex''s master moved on without giving a verdict.

    The various ministers and Variant Invalids beneath him scrambled to give their reports, detailing of battles across Existence. The scope seemed wide and all-consuming. The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    "... the battle is in a stalemate, your lordship. However, there is a report that Minerva has succeeded in killing a Void Race member. This will escalate the conflict to new realms."

    Apex''s master looked up and found that his entire cabinet had been frozen in time. His senses, however, told him a different tale.

    They hadn''t been frozen, his sense of time had instead been distorted to such a profound extent that it only seemed to be so.

    But this wasn''t an application of Time Force, it was one of Dream Force. An application so profound it was hard to say if there was another in the world capable of it.

    "Demoness."

    The words sent a shudder through the world. Existence seemed to fear this title as though it might corrupt and destroy everything.

    Existence was already tending toward Destruction, but only insofar as it would allow it all to be reborn once more. Another Big Bang, another existential impetus to bring light to an all new world.

    The reason Existence feared this woman was because she seemed primed to be rid of this cycle, uprooting and shattering it from its very core.

    A woman with beauty beyond words appeared as a shimmering mirage in the skies. Her eyes were a bright purple that looked as though a star had exploded within them. Her nose was a delicate slope and her lips looked as though nature''s brightest cherries had been graced by her gentle kiss.

    The woman''s hair flickered between a pink and violet color, a twin pair of horns curving up and back on her head more like a pair of horns than a Demon''s pride and joy.

    What was odd was that while her face was as clear as day, her body was obscured, almost like it was too obscene and blood boiling to be casually shown.

    This was a woman who stood at the pinnacle of the world both in beauty and power... This was a Goddess.

    She looked down at Apex''s master, a gentle smile on her face that could melt one''s bones. Pride exuded from her every orifice, and even while looking at the leader of the Variant Invalids, and even with a face carrying such a gentle caress to the eyes, it still felt like she was gazing upon an ant.

    "Little Zephy... who gave you the right to kill my descendants?"

 Chapter 2808 Two

    Chapter 2808 Two

    Maybe the only person in Existence who dared to call him such a thing was this woman right here.

    His name was Zephyrion, he was a mighty warrior, a man who struck fear in the hearts of even the Gods.

    And yet this was also a woman he didn''t dare to offend so lightly, either.

    Only a fool would believe that the Demoness was here for the sake of protecting her descendant. She almost certainly had ulterior motives, and what those were remained unknown.

    The Demoness continued to smile when Zephyrion didn''t reply. Instead, she spoke herself once more.

    "Know your place, Little Zephy. It wouldn''t be nice for us to have a falling out."

    Without another word, the Demoness vanished and the Variant Invalid Emperor''s grasp on time returned.

    He didn''t believe that the Demoness had ever displayed this sort of power before. Even if she was scheming, she would do so in a way where many wouldn''t understand her bottom line. If you thought yourself to have seen the true strength of the Demoness, assume it was 20% and you''d have a far better outcome.

    This display of power, though... it was completely unlike her. Almost as though this time it wasn''t a ploy or trick, as though this time she was truly enraged.

    Zephyrion fell into silence and turned a deaf ear to his surrounding cabinet members. He wasn''t sure what to make of this.

    "Leave the Dream Asura be," he finally said many hours later. He didn''t bother to check if his cabinet realized he was referring to something from over half a day ago by now and simply vanished.

    **

    Leonel watched as the various Dream Force experts of the Human Race took his new creations.

    Some of them were orphans, some were heads of households, some had been gangsters and others nuns. He had taken them all in, not giving them a choice one way or another.

    Cindra''s aura began to wane, and Leonel shook his head. It seemed that she wouldn''t take that step.

    He should have known. She was a Snow Star Order, not a Wise Star Order. Her use was rooted in battle, something that she was a skilled expert in.

    Not all Dream Force experts were weak in combat, but most experts in combat did not have Dream Force for a reason. The two weren''t mutually exclusive, but there also wasn''t significant overlap.

    ''This is fine. Her gains are huge anyway-''

    BANG!

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he turned his attention to Eamon.

    To his shock, Eamon hadn''t formed a Sovereignty, but he had broken into the Life State. This was out of Leonel''s expectations. He hadn''t expected anyone to take that step.

    Eamon must have received a bout of inspiration from somewhere. This last step was taken by him alone. The Forgetful Orb didn''t have the juice for such a change.

    And yet, Eamon wasn''t finished.

    A flickering crown came into and out of existence atop his head. It was nowhere near as resplendent as Leonel''s own, but it was no doubt the hallmark of a Sovereignty.

    ''Is this related to his Ability Index?''

    Eamon had an analytical Ability Index not much different from Leonel''s own. The trouble was that it was a lower level and rather than granting perfect Control over one''s body; it granted limited control over one''s soul.

    Even so, it gave Eamon the ability to draw connections and conclusions that most would be unable to.

    This was an excellent pairing ability with his Talismans, but Leonel didn''t expect that it would suddenly help him to make such a great breakthrough.

    A grin appeared on Leonel''s face. It seemed their Vast Dream Pavilion would have two Sovereigns from now on.

 Chapter 2809 Three Years

    Chapter 2809 Three Years

    Eamon slowly opened his eyes. The shock within their depths no less than Leonel''s had been a moment ago. Soon, this shock was replaced by pleasure and excitement. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest, and his teeth were practically chattering as though he was cold rather than just trembling from his exhilaration.

    Leonel smiled, genuinely happy for him and the Dream Pavilion both. Another Life State Sovereign was huge for tilting the balance of the formula. In fact, this might be enough, and the drastic measures he had planned wouldn''t be necessary.

    It almost made him want to stir more trouble just to gather more Forgetful Orbs. He had used them all up in this endeavor and the outcomes weren''t bad at all.

    There were a total of 1287 talents that Leonel had picked up, not including Eamon.

    Of course, over a thousand had reached the Lower Impetus State, over 150 had reached the Middle, and there were still a few dozen who had reached the Higher.

    Cindra and Eamon were the only ones to reached the Quasi Impetus State, though Eamon had obviously superseded that, leaving Cindra as the only one at that level.

    But beneath them, there were still three others that managed to make it to the Peak Impetus State.

    Although their overall numbers were still far lower than more than half the Dream Pavilions in Existence, when it came to the raw number of those in the Impetus State, they had comparable numbers to as many as 80% of the Dream Pavilions.

    The only Dream Pavilions in the top one to two thousand would have more Impetus State experts, but where they really tipped the scale was with the addition of Leonel, Aina, and Eamon. Updated from on was at the Lower Life State now. Aina could match Leonel''s comprehension and was at the Higher Life State.

    In addition, Eamon was a Sovereign, which was an additional boost.

    As for Aina, she could copy Leonel''s comprehension, but from their experienced they had realized that her actively using Leonel''s Sovereignties was a detriment to her.

    A Sovereignty was like a fingerprint, a unique path taken on by each individual expert. Taking on Leonel''s Sovereignty would be like Aina changing the person she was. Even if she was willing, it would have an overall negative impact on her overall strength unless she was just willing to be a perfect mirror of Leonel.

    That was something neither of them wanted.

    Like this, the Vast Dream Pavilion had three Life State experts and two Sovereigns.

    Of course, Leonel had had another trick in his back pocket, and that was to use captives from the Cult to make up the numbers. He was actually quite confident that he could bring a few of them to the Life State if it came down to it.

    ''Perfect. This should be enough.''

    Leonel left everyone to their tasks and entered the main Pavilion. Soon, he was before the exchange.

    He had already calculated everything, but with how complex everything was, he still preferred to check with his own eyes.

    Only then did he exhale a breath of relief.

    "Good. Now, before those bastards change anything."

    Leonel went all out and spent 80% of his remaining funds on a barrier.

    It was hard to look at the long string of numbers and gain anything out of their meaning. At some point, the digits surpassed a point of human comprehension.

    Instead, Leonel looked at it another way.

    Even 1% of these funds could easily fund Leonel''s current consumption for a century. He had essentially just given up 80 centuries of prosperity for a barrier that would be unlikely to last for more than a year.

    But he needed to do it.

    Time wasn''t his friend right now, and if he could buy some, it was the best thing to do.

    And yet, he wasn''t done spending yet.

    With another 20%, Leonel bought information.

    It was about time to pave the path to the Sixth Dimension.

    This world wasn''t waiting around for him, so he would have to give it a huge surprise.

    ''There''s just three years'' worth of points left. That''s how much time I have left.''

 Chapter 2810 Refine God Realm

    Chapter 2810 Refine God Realm

    Leonel clenched the orb of information in his hands. For it to be worth as much as 20% of their available funds, a fourth of the price to protect six fused Bubbles, one could imagine how valuable this information was.

    It didn''t guarantee success, but after scanning through his options, Leonel felt that there was no better path for him to take.

    [Refine a World with God Realm Potential using your Natural Force Art]

    This was what his father asked of him to reach the Sixth Dimension, and it was a tall task. The more he understood about the world, the more difficult he found that this task was.

    Not only did he need to find a world capable of becoming a God World, but he also had to elevate his Natural Force Art to the point of being able to resonate with the entire world and then consume it.

    What he had done during the Challenge Sequence, specifically in clearing the Force Art Tower, was a mirror of what his father was asking for. The trouble was that it was on a much smaller scale.

    The trials in the Force Art Tower were specifically tailored so that they could be deciphered in this way. The world itself was formed of Force Arts, they weren''t real to begin with. However, the world that Leonel would have to find wouldn''t be fake. It would be real in every sense of the word.

    That meant that he wouldn''t just have to analyze Force Arts, he would be forced to analyze the world itself and interact with Forces that he had no concept or affinity with.

    It was a fundamentally different ask and a task so impossibly difficult that it was hard to imagine how it could possibly be only the Sixth Dimensional requirement.

    He was worried to even check what the Seventh Dimension asked of him, but much like with every other time, his father refused to allow him to even see it until he had completed the previous tasks.

    This information that Leonel had gotten was related to this task. However, it wasn''t one might expect at all...

    It was information related to an Incomplete World. The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    This didn''t make any sense on its face. An Incomplete World was, quite literally, the furthest thing from a God World. Even the Human Bubbles were better than it.

    However, Leonel had remembered hearing something quite important when he first met El''Rion...

    This was the next thought that Leonel had, but this ended up clicking into place as well. The point was the blank canvas.

    While mending such a world, its laws could be tweaked to meet the exact specifications of the God in question.

    Imagine for a moment a world perfectly conducive to [Dimensional Cleanse], one that could practically replace all the layers of the technique for Leonel. If such a world was in his possession, did it mean that it could progress for him? Maybe it would create a new Race of beings perfectly in tune with the method, and over millions to billions of years of evolution, he could even see uses for the technique he could never imagine himself.

    This was just one aspect, though, the blank canvas aspect.

    But there was another, and that was "potential".

    His father''s dictionary had said very clearly that he didn''t need a God Realm. He needed one with the potential of one.

    What did this mean?

    A Complete World was set in its potential. Improving it was highly difficult, and that was why even Gods of a lower Race had to transcend and enter the God Realms instead of just creating a new God Realm for themselves.

    An Incomplete World was like a child in the womb, malleable and full of potential, not yet set in its ways.

    In this situation, even an Incomplete World with poor potential could still be adjusted somewhat, bringing it to a new level.

    It just depended on how much you were willing to invest.

    What Leonel had just bought were the coordinates to an unclaimed Inbetween World? Its potential was rated as the absolute lowest. Meaning, even if it had succeeded in becoming a Complete World, it would have been no more than a Mortal Realm.

    But this was all Leonel could afford.

    If he wanted to use it to enter the Sixth Dimension, he had a lot of work ahead of him... and just three years to do it.

 Chapter 2811 Pick Your Poison

    Chapter 2811 Pick Your Poison

    Now, everything was set. It was time for him to go.

    Of course, he would be bringing his wife along. He couldn''t bear to separate with her. But that wasn''t the case for everyone else.

    Leonel brought them all in for a meeting and smiled.

    "Everyone, I''ll be leaving for the next three years. It might be longer, but I will do my best to ensure that this doesn''t happen because we don''t have such breathing room.

    "According to my calculations, the barrier should last at least that long. In that time, I hope that the Human Bubbles will gain some cohesiveness to it.

    "If there''s a need for you to go outside the barrier, you''re all adults and I won''t stop you. If that''s the way you choose to train and progress, I will respect your decision.

    "At the very least, in the next three years, there won''t be any issues with resources or things of the like."

    Leonel bid everyone farewell and then set off with Aina. The rest would be up to them.

    This was the only path for him to get stronger. If he didn''t take it, everything would be for naught.

    Unless he gained the strength to fight with Gods soon, nothing would change.

    **

    Aina exhaled a breath after hearing Leonel''s plans. The two walked hand in hand through a desert plane, their destination a Nomad Race teleportation platform that would bring them closer to their destination. As for the way afterward, that would have to rely on Anastasia. The trouble was that since traveling through the void had no Force for Anastasia to pull on, they would have to fund it themselves. The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    "What happened to the other Incomplete Worlds, though? Weren''t they under the control of the humans? We could just take one of them."

    Leonel nodded. "I considered that as well, but there are a few problems with that.

    There were two people in total.

    This wasn''t the only issue he would face, either. Leonel had the body of a Demi-God now, he was no longer technically a Mortal. Even if he was only in the Fifth Dimension, just because of this, he would face suppression from the Incomplete World''s Regulator.

    It wasn''t to the point of killing him like it had his father, but it wouldn''t be pretty either. Every moment he spent in this world would likely be agonizing.

    He wished that this was all he had to worry about, but unfortunately, his mind was sharper than that.

    He had spent a ridiculous amount of money on information that others couldn''t easily access. So, the question was obvious.

    Who else would dare to do this?

    Wasn''t the answer obvious?

    If he was lucky, it was a Demi-God. If he was unlucky, it was a God. A real God.

    The trouble was that even if it was a Demi-God, Demi-Gods weren''t even remotely on the same level as Gods. Weaker Demi-Gods couldn''t afford to spend any amount of money on these endeavors.

    That meant that if it was a Demi-God that had taken action, they were almost certainly in the Ninth Dimension. In fact, Leonel would go as far as to say that it was a guarantee.

    If it was a member of the younger generation, then it would almost certainly be a God.

    Of course, those of the Ninth Dimension couldn''t step into an Incomplete World to begin with, so if it was a Demi-God they would be sending in weaker individuals to monitor the situation.

    But if it was a God, they would almost certainly be entering themselves.

    It was a pick your poison sort of situation.

    One way or another, his life would almost certainly be on the line. There was no escaping it.

 Chapter 2812 Another

    Chapter 2812 Another

    "Another bought it."

    The voice was a bit gloomy, but it was difficult for it not to be in the situation. They already didn''t have much room to maneuver and had been preparing for so long, but now there was another obstacle in their path. New n0vel chapters are published on

    "Who?"

    "Don''t ask stupid questions. You know we can''t see that."

    If Leonel was here, he would lament that he was right too often. Sometimes, it was nice to be wrong, especially in a situation like this one. But it seemed that he wouldn''t be so lucky.

    Both speakers were members of the Demi-God Barbarian Race, and both of them were Ninth Dimensional monsters with presences that could have caused the surrounding air to tremble.

    Luckily for Leonel, the surrounding air was only reacting so fiercely because they were two Demi-Gods standing in a Mortal Realm. In fact, they were in the very same desert world that Aina and Leonel had just walked through.

    Unluckily for Leonel, this didn''t change the fact both were obscenely powerful.

    "You already know that this transaction is locked on both sides. Maybe only the top three Dream Pavilions could take a look at who it was, but if we could ask them for help, would we be in this situation?"

    The shorter Barbarian leapt up and slapped the much taller on the back of the head, feeling irritated.

    The bigger Barbarian didn''t even fight back, seemingly used to this sort of treatment.

    "There''s no other choice than to just move forward with the original plan. We have a few years'' advantage. It''ll be hard for any outsiders to get a leg up on us."

    The truth was that they had found this world before it was even listed on the Dream Pavilion exchange. However, when they noticed the fact it had been listed, they had no choice but to buy it first, hoping it would be a deterrent to others.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t.

    Even taking a breath couldn''t bring him any solace when there was no air to breathe in to begin with.

    With a look of determination, Leonel pressed forward, and the duo eventually reached a barrier. This was a good sign. At the very least, this barrier was "something", it was tangible, and it wasn''t the void. This meant the Incomplete World they were aiming for should be on the other side.

    Now, they just had to withstand the ire of the Regulator.

    The couple pressed forward, holding one another''s hands tightly as they began to force their way through.

    Instantly, a chain lashed against Leonel''s body. A searing pain made his eyes go red, but it wasn''t just because of the pain itself, but what it reminded him of.

    Was this the pain his father had experienced?

    No, it was likely far worse than just this alone.

    Feeling the chains digging into his skin, lacerating it and drawing on his blood, he remembered his father''s final moments.

    Those thoughts spurred him on.

    He couldn''t allow this to happen again. The next time someone came for his family, he would be strong. Strong enough to block and wind and rain, to palm the skies with a hand and split the earth with a stomp.

    He pulled Aina into his arms, protecting her from the rage of the Regulator. Deep in his eyes, a cool indifference smoldered like an undying ember. His heart shone brightly and his Dream Force flickered, his mind becoming sharper and sharper.

    His determination formed into the point of an arrow and pierced through the shadows, and soon he had walked out from the fog.

    Standing at the edge of an unknown universe, he suppressed the roar he wanted to unleash within himself.

    Three years. In three years, this world would be his.

 Chapter 2813 Simple and Not

    Chapter 2813 Simple and Not

    Leonel took a breath and looked at Aina to check her condition. All things considered, she was doing far better than he was. She was only in the Fourth Dimension right now and that was a huge plus. The Regulator didn''t lash out much at all, other than being a little pale, she was doing fine.

    He, however... well, it was hard to find a single location on his body that wasn''t injured, and that was just on the surface. The chains of the Regulator had no sense of space or distance, they could appear whenever they needed.

    The wounds that could be seen with the naked eye were only the most obvious. The lacerations on his inner organs were where it got particularly bad. He had been skewered like Swiss cheese and there was hardly a part of his body, whether inner or outer, that was safe.

    The worst part was that the chains had not vanished. They were still flickering into and out of existence.

    ''I need to deal with this.'' Updated from

    Aina was checking Leonel at the same time she checked her, and unlike Leonel, she didn''t sigh in relief. If anything, her mood got worse. Leonel looked absolutely horrible. It was as though he might collapse any moment now.

    "I''ll be fine," Leonel said with a smile.

    "You don''t look like you''re going to be fine. We don''t have to do this, we can find another way. If I break through again, I can start focusing on Force Pill Crafting again. Maybe I can concoct a pill that can replace what you need."

    Leonel smiled. In the world, Aina was probably only one of a select few who dared to say something like that. What kind of pill could replace the refinement of an entire world?

    "Have you noticed?" Leonel asked.

    "Noticed what?"

    "You''re in the Fourth Dimension, so it seems the Regulator didn''t target you much, but it isn''t as though I''m some sort of powerhouse. I''m only in the Fifth Dimension. So why is the gap between what the two of us experienced so large?"

    Aina blinked in confusion before her eyes widened.

    "Yeah," Leonel nodded. "I''m pretty sure there''s a method of weakening the assault or obscuring the eyes of the Regulator. Remember, the Four Great Families managed to enter somehow.

    "Yet, everything in history seemed to say that Ninth Dimensional Experts couldn''t enter at all."

    There were two examples of Ninth Dimensional existences succeeding in entering Incomplete Worlds.

    "That said, this is only because I have a worse than superficial understanding of this world. This is just a stopgap measure so that these chains stop ripping me apart.

    "The more I understand about this world, the weaker the suppression will get, and the closer to my previous strength I''ll approach.

    "Still, it shouldn''t be too much of a problem to defend ourselves."

    The strongest existences in this place should be just Eighth Dimensional. There were surely geniuses that could match those of Complete Worlds, but they should be few and far between.

    Aina exhaled. "Alright, what do you want to do?"

    "There are a few thoughts I have about how to get this world to God Realm potential, but we''ll have to get a lay of the land first."

    This was what Aina was most worried about. How was it even possible to allow such a weak world to reach such capabilities? She didn''t even know where to start.

    Then there was the fact that even if they succeeded, who was to say the fruit of their labor wouldn''t be plucked by someone else?

    Leonel grinned. "It''s either simple or difficult. It depends on how you want to look at it."

    Aina looked at him skeptically once again.

    "What''s with that look? Don''t you know your husband''s a genius?"

    Leonel''s grin widened.

    "If we want to raise the standard of this world, we just have to fix all of its faults. When you look at it like that, isn''t it obvious?

    "What do Incomplete Worlds have that Complete Worlds do not?"

    Aina''s brows shot up. "Sub-Dimensional Zones."

    Leonel beamed. "Simple, really. We just have to clear them all... including the ones that mutated and swallowed up entire worlds.

    "Then we''ll take it from there."

 Chapter 2814 Show Me

    Chapter 2814 Show Me

    Leonel and Aina ran into their first awkward situation quite quickly. Almost comically so.

    Neither had any way of knowing much information about the Incomplete World until they stepped into it. The problem was that while the Dream Pavilion provided the coordinates and the orbiting formula, they provided nothing else.

    The coordinates were, of course, the exact location it had originally been found at. The orbiting formula was one calculated based on the unique characteristics of every world, whether Complete or Incomplete. Essentially, it allowed you to pinpoint its location as a function of time.

    Though an orbiting formula could change-or more accurately, certainly would over the course of a world''s life-such changes only occurred over the course of millions to billions of years. For now, Leonel had no worries about the formula being incorrect any time soon.

    This aside, while they had such information, what they didn''t have was any knowledge of what was going on inside. So, they didn''t realize that they had ended up in a non-human Domain until they touched down on a planet and found themselves surrounded by Oryx.

    The Race itself was a surprise as well. That was because from Leonel''s understanding, the Oryx were a very niche and uncommon Race. He had happened to stumble onto a small population of them on Valiant Heart Mountain, and Elthor, their prince, had even become a huge part of his people''s combat strength, but it wasn''t the kind of race he expected to find elsewhere.

    As far as he knew, there were no Oryx in Complete Worlds, at least not ones born there naturally.

    ''Interesting...''

    This was the first thought Leonel had when he and Aina were surrounded. Well, surrounded was a bit much. There were only three Oryx, and they were in the middle of the wilderness with no backup to speak of. Plus, the strongest of them was only in the Sixth Dimension, while the two weakest were in the Fifth.

    Leonel could imagine why they were so confident, considering Aina was only in the Fourth and he was in the Fifth. But he didn''t really take them seriously at all.

    The scent the trio gave off was, expectedly, quite suffocating. Elthor usually suppressed his pheromones because he knew humans didn''t like it. But usually, the stronger the scent, the more talented the Oryx.

    Leonel had studied them for quite a while, so he knew that these three weren''t very talented at all. Since this was a Sixth Dimensional fold of reality, though, they were likely among the strongest talents there were. New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Leonel shook his head, realizing they were mad because he was ignoring them.

    ''My Dream Force didn''t translate immediately... seems I have to b more deliberate.''

    "ROAR! ... get down human or I will cut you at the waist!"

    Leonel pursed his lips.

    This threat was actually quite a big deal to Oryx. Their lower bodies were covered in fur and could be considered quite bestial, but their upper bodies were mostly human, aside from their third eye and horns.

    When they entered their monstrous beast form, their lower halves "consumed" the rest of their bodies, so it could be said that it was the most important to their combat... at least until they awakened the abilities of their third eye.

    This wasn''t all either, and likely not the main reason the insult was so potent.

    Their strong pheromones came from the fur in their lower extremities. Although some of it came from their hair as well, their fur was the best at trapping it. Telling a male Oryx you were going to cut them at the waist was no different from telling a human you''d castrate them.

    With their strong vitality, the Oryx just might survive being cut at the waist, but then they wouldn''t be able to attract women. At that point, they might as well die.

    If this Oryx was using this insult, it could be said that he was very upset already, and Leonel found it a bit amusing.

    With a thought, a wooden spear appeared in Leonel''s palms. He smiled lightly and a confident sort of sharpness exuded from his body.

    "Let''s dance, then. Show me what that ax can do."

 Chapter 2815 No

    Chapter 2815 No

    Leonel took a step forward and struck out with the wooden spear. He used just a single arm, but the blade still seemed to sing.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m It had been a while since he used a wooden spear, and somehow it felt to resonate more with him. A spear from his Emulation Spatial Force and Scarlet Star Force was powerful, but it was precisely because of that it lost the most integral parts of what it meant to be a spear.

    His strike didn''t have to be perfect, his Emulation Spatial Force made the blade sharp enough to cut through anything. It didn''t have to be powerful. His Scarlet Star Force could blaze through anything.

    But now, with a simple, unadorned spear in his hand, a white cloth fluttering around where the polearm and blade met, if he wasn''t perfect, he really would be cut at the waist.

    The Oryx had never felt something like this before. It was just a simple strike, but it somehow felt like there was no perfect response to it. He couldn''t dodge it, he couldn''t block it, he couldn''t counter... there was no perfect response.

    In the last moment, the Oryx unleashed a roar and lashed out. It wasn''t like the warrior of the Oryx to simply bow down and accept death. If he couldn''t find a counter rooted in skill, he would just have to brute force his way to victory.

    ''Oh?''

    The digitigrade legs of the Oryx seemed firmly rooted into the ground, almost as though he had become an ancient tree. Earth Force fuelled his attack, and he swung down with all his might, borrowing momentum from the planet they stood on.

    If the strike hit, Leonel''s spear would indeed be blasted to smithereens. He didn''t dare to use his Spear Force so casually anymore, so the wooden spear had no protections aside from the simple wood it was cast from.

    Of course, this was from a tree in Anastasia''s world, so it was Ninth Dimensional in character. But it had no other sorts of special qualities to it. Even if it wasn''t shattered, it would definitely be heavily damaged.

    But Leonel''s reaction wasn''t so fierce at all. His wrist tilted just the slightest bit, and the Oryx missed his spear by a hair.

    Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal.

    Leonel wrist tilted once more and the Oryx''s ax was sent flying overhead. At the same time, his spear blade pierced through the Oryx''s tough outer skin, slipping between two ribs with ease.

    "What are the other Domains?" Leonel asked. "Who rules them?"

    The leader frowned, but he still answered once more.

    "The Rapax Race and the Sea Gods."

    Leonel blinked. Sea Gods? What was that?

    Once again, these people had different words for their Races, but his Dream Force had still translated those terms into Rapax and Oryx, so the fact he had said Sea God couldn''t have been a mistake.

    He truly meant Sea God.

    "Which of you three is the strongest?"

    The Oryx leader roared. He would have even beat his chest if not for the fact there was a spear sticking out of it.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "So the Sea Gods."

    The leader froze, and hints of embarrassment and defiance appeared on his face. In the end, though, he didn''t refute.

    ''Interesting... two new Mortal Races, each substantial enough to own an entire Domain to themselves... And there are no humans in this world? But why?''

    "There''s no Human Domain?" Leonel asked. "But why did you recognize us?"

    "There is no Human Domain, but there is a small Human Empire. It has managed to hang on, though it''s hard to say if this will last for long..."

 Chapter 2816 The Hard Part

    Chapter 2816 The Hard Part

    Leonel raised an eyebrow at this information and soon got the information he wanted.

    It seemed that there had once been a Human Domain in this Dimensional Verse, or rather the Sea God Verse as they called it, but it had been invaded and, unlike in Leonel''s world, they hadn''t managed to withstand the blow.

    Unsurprisingly, many of the great powers had retreated to their territories in hopes of protecting their foundations instead of going all out to meet the enemy together. This happened in Leonel''s world as well. The difference was that this Sea God Verse didn''t have a Leonel Morales or his father to pick up the slack. So, the stupidity of the humans ended with their powers being wiped out systematically, one after another, until now there was just one bastion of the Human Race left.

    In truth, Leonel and Aina''s appearance wasn''t all that surprising because many humans had fled their Domain.

    Ultimately, if they had to make the choice between the Rapax, Sea Gods and Oryx, the Oryx were the best choice. The Sea Gods were too cruel, and the Rapax had a culture that was difficult for humans to grow used to. The latter couldn''t necessarily be considered "cruel", but the end result of their actions wasn''t too far off.

    The Sea Gods enslaved humans and treated them little differently than cattle, but the Rapax had a military and battle culture that placed a great deal of pressure on their own citizens, let alone humans.

    In the end, the Oryx were the best choice, but the Oryx Domain also wouldn''t allow a large number of refugees to suddenly swarm their lands and start taking up their resources, either. That was why the leader had become hostile the moment he saw Leonel and Aina.

    Their worlds were obviously the ones most targeted by humans. The weak humans wouldn''t dare to casually step into the Eighth Dimensional Fold of Reality of the Oryx, so they obviously spread themselves across the weaker ones to try to get a foothold. The Oryx armies couldn''t possibly deal with them all.

    In the end, this was the result.

    ''Interesting... and kind of bad news at the same time.''

    Leonel mulled it over, realizing that this situation wasn''t the best for him.

    If a new Race like the Sea Gods had managed to rise up in this Dimensional Verse, it could only mean that this Verse was very conducive to their growth.

    Well... the problem with that was in the Race''s name.

    Leonel forced them into the Segmented Cube. He couldn''t leave behind any traces, so he had to wipe their memories first.

    The Emperor''s Might Tablet had a method of doing this, but Leonel had never used it before, so it was a bit difficult to manage. The best he could do was rely on Anastasia to stabilize some things for him and suppress these three so that he could work.

    Soon, he sent the three Oryx back and changed his sights toward what remained of the Human Bubble.

    It would have been easy to find the direction with Anastasia, he could just ask her to scan the whole Verse. The trouble was that it would certainly be sensed by the wrong people now that there were members of the Complete Worlds around.

    He could only use the brute force method and get himself some maps.

    Leonel ended up spending the next few days planet hopping, stacking maps like ladders, always relying on lower-quality maps to find his way to stronger planets where he could get himself higher quality ones.

    Soon, he had made his way to this world''s Ancient Battlefield.

    ''This is where the hard part starts.''

    Beyond this location was the Human Domain, but only in part. Much of it had been swallowed up, so there were definitely far more Sea Gods than there were Humans over there. He had to find a way to find the location of this last bastion of human life discretely.

    ''Shit,'' Leonel cursed.

    Sneaking into this Ancient Battlefield was too difficult. It had the most security of all locations across worlds.

    It seemed he had been found.

    Or, more accurately, he had been tracked from the beginning.

 Chapter 2817 Careful

    Chapter 2817 Careful

    Leonel had already sensed the presence of these people. It was just that there wasn''t much he could do. He wasn''t Little Blackstar, unfortunately, and he also didn''t dare to take the little guy out so casually in this world, either.

    Blackstar and Kira had been spending all their time near the Void Beast corpse. It could be said that of Leonel''s subordinates

    , if Elorin cost the most money, these two had the greatest improvement. A close second to that would probably be Emna, who spent much of her time refining her blade again and again.

    The trouble with that was that they had reached a Demi-God standard even before Leonel had. Their path of growth was clear, and the Void Beast corpse had more than they could study in a lifetime.

    The only Race that even had Void Beast corpses on hand were the Gods, and unless you had standing equal to Shan''Rae or better, it was a pipe dream to hope that you could spend your time studying one.

    On top of that, Blackstar was at the Seventh Dimension. The backlash he would face would probably be even harsher than Leonel''s own.New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

    There was some leeway to this, but it was mostly just speculation on Leonel''s part.

    The Regulator worked using Anarchic Force, the very Force that Little Blackstar was quickly growing more and more proficient in. So there was a chance that Blackstar could withstand the backlash even better than Leonel, even if it was worse for him.

    But Leonel had long treated Blackstar like a little brother and a cherished pet. If he didn''t have to make him suffer at all, that was for the best.

    As for his wife, she would probably kill him if he said anything remotely similar to her, so he could only let her bear the brunt after accessing the risks.

    This was all to say that there was simply no avoiding all of this... especially since their actions were so curious in the first place.

    They had noticed Leonel already, their Ancient Battlefield protected by an organization not too different from the Void Palace that Leonel was used to.

    But they didn''t attack him immediately. It was as though they were waiting and biding their time for something. It wasn''t until it looked like Leonel would escape into the distance that they took action.

    "What can I say? I''ve gotten used to being pampered." Aina blinked innocently.

    The Oryx didn''t understand what they were saying because neither used Dream Force to project their intentions. Not wanting to take the risk, the white-furred Oryx signaled for an attack.

    The three red-furred Oryx shot forward simultaneously. Each one wielded a halberd just as crimson as their fur, but what was interesting were the runes that rotated around their tips, making them look particularly sharp and striking.

    Leonel protected Aina to his back and readied his spear. His gaze flashed with a dangerous light as he took a step forward.

    Compared to the first Oryx he had fought in this world, these six were on another level. Not only were they part of a Void Palace-equivalent place, making them absolute geniuses, but their Dimensions were also far higher.

    Also, from what Leonel could see, there was a special aura radiating from their third eyes that made him think.

    In the Dimensional Verse, to become a member of the Void Palace, you had to follow the God Path. Could it be that these Oryx were following a similar path? One tailored for their third eye?

    He had to be careful of that.

    Leonel thrust out his spear thrice in quick succession, meeting the exact tips of their halberds for a brief instant every time.

    The deviations in their weapons were precise and delicate. Leonel seemed to barely move them off course a centimeter or two, but by the time their momentum carried them over to Leonel''s body, their halberds slipped by him as though they had missed on purpose.

    One crashed into the ground between his legs, and the last two crisscrossed over his shoulders, missing his throat by a hair''s breadth.

    Leonel didn''t even flinch at the near-death experience, his leg lifting and kicking downward at the halberd that had been pierced into the ground.

    The strength caught the Oryx off guard, causing him to lose control of his weapon.

 Chapter 2818 Interesting

    Chapter 2818 Interesting

    The red-furred Oryx saw his life flash before his eyes. The moment he lost control of his halberd, he understood that he had lost all rights to protect himself.

    If he tried to hold on to it, he would basically be presenting his neck to Leonel. If he let go of it, he would have nothing to use to protect himself.

    No matter how he looked at it, he was truly finished. The other Oryx were shocked by the result, but the three red-furred Oryx had all surrounded Leonel from the front, and both sides. There was no easy path for them to interfere with what was happening.

    The two red-furred Oryx that had missed over Leonel''s shoulders could only pull their halberd''s back with as much speed as they could muster, trying to hook their blades around Leonel''s neck and cut his head off from the back. Although they were meant to capture him alive. It was better for this human dead than their companion.

    Unfortunately for them, Leonel was entirely unmoved. He pulled a hand away from the shaft of his spear and struck a palm upward, colliding with the exact location the two halberds crisscrossed. They were both sent upward at the same time, the blades leaving a sharp wind up the back of Leonel''s skull, but missing entirely nonetheless.

    At the same time, the hand that remained on his spear wasn''t slow in the slightest. It pierced right through the final red-furred Oryx''s chest, leaving him clutching at his heart and falling back. The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    Right then, the two red-furred Oryx found their halberds intertwining in the air. The hook of their blades latched onto one another, and because they had been pulling so hard, they ended up fighting against one another. Their strength was too even, and not expecting the sudden reverberating force, they''re not only lost control of their weapons in the air, but they both stumbled forward.

    Leonel pulled his spear out of the heart of the fallen Oryx, bracing it against his hip and sweeping it out in a wide arc. From a third party''s perspective, it looked as though the final two red-furred Oryx had stumbled into his blade all on their own, disemboweling themselves. Three Oryx fell to the ground in quick succession.

    From start to end, Leonel hardly moved his feet. The only time he did was to stomp down in the middle Oryx''s halberd. Other than that, he was perfectly still, as though nothing could faze him at all. Perfectly at peace, perfectly unbothered.

    "Come."

    The three Oryx let out a furious roar.

    Leonel stomped a foot, sending the three dying red-furred Oryx flying out of his way. One of the halberds was kicked up and Leonel lashed out with a leg, his foot colliding with its butt and sending it flying forward at tremendous speeds. The halberd seemed to blink through space, appearing before the white-furred Oryx in the blink of an eye.

    The black-furred Oryx didn''t expect their leader to suddenly be delayed, but that didn''t slow their own attacks. Both of them raised up a pair of heavy sabers.

    Leonel was finding that sabers were rarer than he thought. The only person he knew who used one was Noah, and though Emna somewhat used a saber as well, there was a subtle difference between Blade Force and Saber Force.

    However, these two Oryx were quite proficient. The both of them seemed to have reached the Third Layered State and had Seventh Dimensional Saber Force. This was quite a surprise. That meant that if they had kept their Saber Force at the Sixth Dimension, it would have been in the Fourth Layer, just a step away from the Impetus State, which was the minimum requirement to enter the Ninth Dimension.

    The fact they were in the Third Layer and had a Saber Force that was beyond their Quasi Seventh Dimensional Realm meant that they weren''t suppressing themselves. They were exceptional geniuses.

    Even Leonel''s own Spear Force was still in the Seventh Dimension. Though, he was obviously far ahead of them in Force Manipulation nonetheless, being at the Quasi Creation State. Still, for an Incomplete World, this was excellent...

    ''Interesting...''

 Chapter 2819 A Woman Called...

    Chapter 2819 A Woman Called...

    Leonel couldn''t deal with these two as casually as the first, and the white-furred Oryx was already prepared to parry away his first assault.

    ''Hm...''

    Leonel grabbed out with his Earth Force and suddenly slightly changed the direction of the halberd flying toward the white-furred Oryx. The man was taken aback, realizing his fist was about the miss the mark.

    At the same time, Leonel took another step forward.

    The two black-furred Oryx were relying on absolute strength to overwhelm them, a fury fuelled by their hatred of him for what he had done to their companion. New n0vel chapters are published on

    It was harder to deal with such a thing without exhibiting some more of his strength.

    He had some leeway because it was doubtful than anyone would be coming to support these six in short order. If Leonel was correct, this outpost was theirs to manage, and they probably wouldn''t have thought it necessary to send a message back.

    In that case, he could take a less forceful and speedy approach to the situation.

    His spear danced, using three or four attacks to counter just one Oryx. Light Force wrapped around him and several clones began to appear around him. In that moment, mirrors of gold filled the Ancient Battlefield and Leonel seemed to enter and vanish from one, instantly appearing in another without any time passing by at all.

    This was the technique he had been playing around with after his spar with Cindra. In this world, it was probably better to use less of his true calling cards.

    The world knew him best for his Dream Sovereignty. After that, his Destruction, Spear and Bow Sovereignty were close seconds.

    This didn''t mean that Leonel wouldn''t use them if he absolutely had to, but there was no point in doing so against opponents this weak.

    It wasn''t yet time to go all out, and he certainly wouldn''t expose himself as Leonel Morales just yet if he could help it.

    Luckily... he had plenty of abilities.

    So Leonel hooked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward the dying Oryx.

    "Tell you what. You tell me why, and I''ll save you and your companions. They don''t really have much time left, you know. It''s probably best if you hurry up. If they die first, I can''t really help you anymore, now can I?"

    Struggle appeared in the depths of the white-furred Oryx''s eyes, but soon it became resolve. If he did this to save his companions, then he would be tarnishing their honor. At that point, they would rather die anyway, so what would be the point?

    Leonel chuckled. He could have expected this as well.

    "Seems I don''t have a choice."

    Leonel reached down and killed the white-furred Oryx. He would have preferred to not do this, but there was no other choice.

    [Arise].

    Soon, Leonel had a group of 24-hour minions, and he came to understand the situation.

    It seemed that the humans weren''t just resting on their hands. They were actively trying to find ways to survive rather than sitting on their hands.

    It turned out this final human empire was known as the Fleeting Cloud Empire. They were an odd mutation of offspring between humans and the last remnants of the Cloud Race that had been wiped out from this world many generations ago.

    As such, they had a few abilities in the Cloud Race as well, though not as perfect. They were using those abilities to infiltrate and wreak havoc, trying to find a path out for themselves.

    Ultimately, they had assumed that Leonel was one of these people, and they wanted to see what his intentions were.

    None of this was what was most interesting to Leonel, though... what truly caught his attention was when his Oryx summons mentioned a leader of the Sea Gods in passing.

    A woman they called Wise Sea Order.

 Chapter 2820 Reminded

    Chapter 2820 Reminded

    Leonel wasn''t sure what to believe when he heard this name. It felt like it could both be a coincidence, and yet too coincidental at the same time.

    If it had been a name like Wise Sea God, or Intelligent Sea Order, it would have been fine. But the simple swapping of Star for Sea made him pause... especially when it was his Dream Force doing the translating right now.

    If he could speak the language of the Oryx and this was just a quirk on their part, it was one thing. But for his Dream Force to translate it in this way and elicit such emotion in him, it could one mean that these two titles were truly mirrors of one another.

    But the question was... why?

    Were there tablets in this world as well? He guessed that could be possible. There was no reason for the Dimensional Verse to be the only Incomplete World the Cult and the other envoys were dabbling in.

    Wise Star Order was an anomaly Leonel still hadn''t figured out. Of course, this time he was referring not to the title, but rather to the man.

    He had just upped and disappeared, somehow slinking past Leonel''s safeguards and even out of Anastasia''s world without any of them realizing. On top of that, he had taken away two Savants with him as well.

    Candle and Vice were huge parts of Leonel''s trump cards. If he had the Life Tablet and two Savants under his belt, just how much more powerful could he make the two of them?

    But that much was beside the point. The core of it was that because of Wise Star Order''s existence alone, there might even be an organization that was the antithesis of the Cult.

    How else could the Silver Tablet appear in Valiant Heart Mountain? Or a Bronze Tablet appear in the Luxnix?

    Outside the final capital of the Fleeting Cloud Empire, there was an army... no, it was armies. There didn''t seem to be a single old soul in sight, as though the Sea Gods had chosen to unleash their children on this last bastion of humanity.

    And maybe they had such a right, because the title of Sea God Race didn''t seem to be empty... at least if their appearances were everything one should go by.

    The shortest of them were two meters tall. But they had such immature and doughy-eyed features that it was clear that they were teenagers at best.

    The tallest of them cleared three meters, but this was hardly the most imposing part of this Race. In reality, there were many larger, many who were taller, many who looked more imposing from just a silhouette alone...

    But they were beyond this.

    Their skin was tinted a slight greenish blue, ranging from pale greens to pale sky blues. Beneath their eyes, along their forearms and down their shins for those where it could be seen, there were gorgeous, polished scales. On first look, these scales seemed to look like refined emeralds or glistening sapphires. But when you took a deeper look, you could find whole worlds within them, seas of green and blue rising up to form tsunami-like waves or gently bobbing in the wind.

    Their ears were pointed like elves, long and angular, and their eyes seemed slit but not quite. Rather than looking sharp, their pupils looked like small pills of black, their irises reminding one of exploding stars of green and blue, while their hair wasn''t much unlike this at all.

    They didn''t look like a Mortal Race at all. It seemed as though they had been plucked out from the God realm and then deposited here.

    When Leonel laid eyes on them for the first time, he couldn''t help but feel a strong feeling of danger in his heart, a feeling that shouldn''t come from a Mortal Race, especially not only of an Incomplete World...

    They reminded him of the Pluto.

 Chapter 2821 Sneak In

    Chapter 2821 Sneak In

    People would likely call Leonel ridiculous if they knew what he was thinking. But this was what he felt from the bottom of his heart.

    The Sea Gods weren''t as imposing, and their blood certainly wasn''t as potent, but the feeling and momentum they gave him was similar to a miniature Pluto Race.

    It wasn''t just because they shared the same blue-tinted skin, but it was something deeper.

    Even though they were just standing there and talking, their presences alone exuded a great deal of might. Leonel could hear their heartbeats synchronizing like waves, the thrumming enough to make a Third Dimensional existence''s eardrums burst.

    ''They didn''t send their powerhouses, but it honestly doesn''t seem like they need to. This sort of status quo had remained for a long while. I wonder why the Sea Gods haven''t just ended it. The humans almost certainly have something that''s making them hesitant. Either that or they''re trying to bait out something else.''

    Now Leonel was wondering how to get in.

    Right now, the land was in an odd situation.

    At the center of the several armies there was a city. The trouble was that the city took up practically a tenth the size of the entire planet. It was absolutely huge.

    ''Well, it takes up ten percent now...''

    Usually a capital city of a Domain would take up an entire planet, if not an entire solar system or network of planets. It wasn''t normal for one to be so... reserved.

    Obviously, they had been forced to retreat back to this point.

    The good news was that the city walls were tall, and the protective Force Arts were excellent by the metrics that Leonel had seen of this world at least, but that was pretty much where all the good news stopped.

    It seemed the Sea Gods almost wanted humans to be able to sneak back to this location.

    Was it as simple as a trap to deal with them all at once? Or was it related to what he had learned about their partial Cloud Race ancestry?

    Leonel stood in a tree in the far off distance, the salty waters lapping at its trunk. He closed his eyes for a moment, wondering how best to go about this.

    There were too many variables in this Incomplete World. Without laying his eyes on the situation, it was impossible to plan ahead of time. And even now that he could see it, he knew it wasn''t the whole picture, so that was its own problem. He was so worried about this that he had no choice but to place Aina in the Segmented Cube.

    ''Alright. First, I''ll just have to sneak into the city. Then we can take it from there.''

    He was tempted to hide in the waters, but if he was correct, this was the worst option available to him. The Sea Gods should have a huge advantage in detecting things in the water.

    So he took an unconventional approach, avoiding the waters entirely.

    Emulation Spatial Force sparkled around him, but more was a deterrence. The main character became his Light Force.

    He refracted the surrounding light at a quick pace.

    The trouble with using Light Force or Emulation Spatial Force to hide yourself was that there were too many perspectives to consider. So long as you were a bit off in the eyes of just one person, it might be enough for you to investigate.

    Second, Leonel didn''t want to impersonate the Sea Gods for now. For one, this was supposedly something the humans were capable of, so they would be on guard and have prepared measures against it. And second, how would he justify sneaking into the city if he was one of them?

    Like this, Leonel inched closer to the city walls. Now, he had another problem to face.

 Chapter 2822 Talk

    Chapter 2822 Talk

    The path forward was easy. Once again, the Sea Gods didn''t seem to have any fail-safes, nor were they vigilant. They seemed to almost be inviting him to enter the city.

    Now the trouble was exactly how should he do that?

    The Force Art was comically easy for Leonel to decipher, and he had already found several weak points. But there was a difference between breaking a Force Art, entering without anyone knowing, and even further entering without compromising it.

    These were three levels of difficulty, with the last being the most difficult.

    Entering without alerting anyone and also leaving the Force art in the same state he had gotten it in took a bit of time. But Leonel was prepared enough to do this.

    He leapt up and onto the city walls, latching onto locations that deftly dodged the detection modules. Finding the flaw he was targeting, he pressed a hand against it. His Emulation Spatial Force spread and soon the Force Art was subtly changed.

    He slipped right through.

    At the moment, Leonel covered the planet in his Internal Sight. Although there was a risk that there was someone from the Demi-Gods or Gods hidden in the army, he felt the risk was worth it.

    For one, covering a single planet with Internal Sight wasn''t impossible in an Incomplete World and they wouldn''t necessarily assume he had come from elsewhere. After all, Anastasia could cover the entire universe.

    Second, the information that he could get back from doing this was far more important. Plus, this was why he had waited to slip into the city first.

    ''No one noticed.'' Leonel said after a while.

    This should have been obvious to him, but for some reason, the Sea Gods just made him feel like there was more to them than met the eyes.

    ''Am I being too cautious?''

    Leonel silently observed the city for three days. He wasn''t in a rush to make a move because if he was correct, this place would have to be where his campaign started from.

    Right now, he wasn''t in competition with this world, he was in competition with the two that bought the information before him.

    According to his estimates, if one wanted the best way to conquer this Incomplete World, that would obviously be to turn the Sea Gods into a puppet.

    If Leonel tried to do the same, he would find himself on his back foot without room to maneuver. There was a good chance that the two groups had already taken a piece of that pie. If he tried to triple dip, he would end up getting exposed and crushed.

    That was exactly why he had to do exactly what no one could expect. He would turn the humans of this world into its overlords.

    And this time, he wouldn''t disappear halfway through.

    The weight of what happened to the Morales still loomed heavy on his conscience. He wouldn''t allow it to happen again.

    ...

    Leonel''s figure flickered, slipping into what could only be described as an imperial chamber. It was lavish and well furnished, and in the center of it all, an old man slept in the midst of silk pillows and covers of lavender.

    The emperor tossed and turned, sleep not coming to him. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, only to find Leonel sitting in a chair at the foot of his bed.

    The emperor''s heart practically beat out of his chest as he stood on the bed, ready for battle. But the soft pliability of the mattress made it difficult to get a firm base.

    His breathing slowed as he regained his wits, staring at Leonel deeply. If this man wanted to kill him, he would surely be dead already.

    "Calm now?" Leonel asked. "Good. We have some stuff to talk about."

 Chapter 2823 Frog

    Chapter 2823 Frog

    "Who are you?"

    Emperor Fleeting Cloud didn''t relax his guard entirely. He didn''t bother to raise the alarm. Something told him that not only would he fail, but even if, by some miracle, it all worked out, the Human Race would just end up suffering even more devastating losses.

    What surprised him the most was that this boy seemed to also be a human as well. But this ironically put him more on edge.

    If the Human Race had someone so powerful, would they even be in this situation?

    Leonel smiled and didn''t rush the Emperor. However, he also didn''t seem to have any intention of explaining himself so swiftly either.

    In Leonel''s views, although he was quite sure that the two parties that arrived before him were likely involved with the Sea God Race, or at least one of the other two Races that weren''t on the verge of collapse, it wasn''t a 100% certain.

    It was also possible that this Emperor was a spy set by another party, placed here to make the wrong choices at the right times to speed up the collapse of the empire.

    Of course, this was a slim possibility, which was why Leonel had appeared so boldly, anyway. But that didn''t mean that he would be casual about everything else.

    Right now, the two parties knew that a third party had bought the information as well, but they didn''t know who had done so.

    The fact Leonel was a human could act as a nice smokescreen at the right time if it turned out that this man was a spy for another party.

    This was also why Leonel didn''t just directly kill him and turn him into a puppet. That might alert an enemy of his plans.

    That said, he had observed this Empire in silence for three days. He was being overly cautious only because he only had this one chance and couldn''t afford to mess it up, but he was still fairly certain that the Emperor was trustworthy.

    At the end of the day, the Emperor was a man that had ruled over trillions at one point in his life. Though his empire had crumbled, he had lived a long life and was more well-adjusted than most.

    In the end, he calmed and took a step down from his bed. At the very least, he could have more solid footing like this.

    "Good." Leonel smiled. "I have a question for you, then. How much do you want this empire of yours to survive?"

    Emperor Fleeting Cloud''s pupils constricted into pinholes. They trembled like a faint light in the void.

    "Who are you?" He couldn''t help but ask this question once again.

    Leonel grinned. "Just a human."

    "I don''t believe you."

    "Well, you don''t really have much of a choice, now do you?"

    "I''ve already said it. I would rather-."

    "Die, then."

    Leonel sat there, smiling. He reclined in the chair, but an overwhelming suppression descended. His King''s Might took shape and a fluttering violet fog became the long, winding body of a dragon.

    It wrapped around Leonel''s body, a powerful head leaning over his shoulder.

    It opened its mouth and roared.

    To the world, it was entirely silent, but to the Emperor, it felt like he was caught in a storm, a beast descending from a swirling cloud of lightning to open its maw right in his face.

    He felt small. Like a human looking up to the surface from the bottom of the ocean, like a man staring at the stars in the depths of space, like a child seeing the wider world for the first time.

    Fear gripped him to an existential level, and he fell to his knees.

    Tears of blood began to fall from his eyes as veins popped across his face.

    The difference between himself and Leonel couldn''t have been clearer at that moment.

    What the old man didn''t know was that until Leonel flung himself free of a bit more of the Regulator''s suppression, a battle with an Eighth Dimensional Overlord like this old man would take quite a bit of effort though he felt he would win in the end.

    However, this Emperor no longer felt this way.

    Right now, he was a frog at the bottom of a well.

 Chapter 2824 Disturbance

    Chapter 2824 Disturbance

    Emperor Fleeting Cloud gasped for breath like a fish out of water. The instant the suppression vanished, his muscles loosened. If not for a last bout of strength, and the fact his body was exceptionally clean as an Eighth Dimensional expert, he might have even lost control of his bowels.

    After awakening his King''s Might Lineage Factor once more, Leonel had begun finding other ways to maximize it.

    It had to be remembered that [Arise], [Breathe], and [Assimilate] were just the three most powerful and feared methods of the Lineage Factor. There were still dozens of other methods, including [Emperor''s Gaze] which Leonel had used quite often in the past, and this much more powerful method.

    Leonel''s own mother''s Emperor''s Might manifested like a Dragon. In the past, Leonel had assumed that this was just Alienor''s preference.

    What he didn''t know was that the Dragon''s Might in legend was actually a bastardization of Emperor''s Might. The mythologies of Earth had twisted the true origins.

    In reality, [Emperor''s Might], the technique, not the Lineage Factor, was placed among the second tier abilities of Emperor''s Might. It was created by observing the Celestial Storm Race, a powerhouse amongst God Beasts.

    The thing was that the Celestial Storm Race didn''t have "Dragon''s Might". It was a conception created by the Fawkes for a beast that seemed capable of ruling the skies.The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    This legend then became lost in translation, and Dragon''s Might eventually became something that human fantasy writers often used as a foundational ability of the mythical creature... when in reality it was something manifested by the Fawkes alone.

    This wasn''t the only technique created based on the God Beasts. In fact, there were four in total. Although the Fawkes never managed to replicate anything for the Void Beasts or Infinity Beasts, they had done so for the four Celestial God Beasts.

    And this was just one of them.

    "Not killing yourself?" Leonel asked curiously.

    He gazed down at the man that had fallen to his knees. The Emperor was heaving as though trying to empty his stomach, but there was nothing left in there. He hadn''t been in an eating mood in the last several weeks, so he hacked and wheezed nothing but stomach acid and air.

    It took him a long while before he managed to calm down.

    The dragon around Leonel dissipated and vanished into plumes of violet smoke.

    The best part of these abilities weren''t their strength, but rather the fact that according to what he had come to understand about their history, unless you were well informed in the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor, these four Celestial abilities wouldn''t be recognizable.

    Shaking his head, he took out a talisman and tore it. A portal appeared before him that he stepped into.

    When he appeared on the other side, he saw one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life.

    She was enormous, at five meters tall, but that didn''t stop the Barbarian Race youth''s eyes from almost popping out of his sockets.

    He pursed his lips together, whistling. She was a big woman, but that also made that soft mounds of delicate blue pop out all the more.

    Her long gown clung to her waist and down her thighs, looking almost like a mermaid''s tail.

    At that moment, the Sea Goddess looked down at Talon, her gaze calm. She didn''t seem to notice Talon''s heated gaze at all, but Talon himself frowned.

    Where was this pressure coming from? Why would he feel pressure from an Incomplete World Race?

    He had been sent here, but he really didn''t know much about what was going on. At this point, he might as well be a child being directed by his elders.

    "Alright lady, I was sent here to help you. What do you want me to do?"

    The Sea Goddess didn''t reply immediately, her sharp ears twitching. She took a graceful step and returned to her throne, taking a seat and looking down at Talon.

    "There''s an odd disturbance in the waters." She said softly.

    Talon''s heart skipped a beat. Was this a Sea Goddess, or a siren? How could a voice be so beautiful?

    "I believe there is someone interfering with the fate of the humans. Go and ensure that they fall."

    Only then did Talon understand. "Disturbance in the waters" should be a saying of the Sea Gods.

    But what disturbance could she be referring to?

 Chapter 2825 Shit Shit Shit

    Chapter 2825 Shit Shit Shit

    Leonel''s approach to war hadn''t changed much over the years, only because he never officially learned battle tactics. What he was good at was understanding people and guessing how they would react before even they were aware.

    In a situation like this one, where he had limited understanding of the parties involved and the environments the battle would take place on, relying on cleverness was a hard pass.

    Rather than spending time wracking his brain to find clever schemes, the best path forward was absolute power.

    But that was a problem in and of itself.

    Not only was his power limited due to the Regulator, even if it wasn''t, he didn''t have the luxury of just suddenly going all out to defend the Sea Gods, because that would expose him much earlier than he wanted.

    To make matters worse, he couldn''t rely on the humans either because they were much too weak. If they had absolute power to rely on, they would have used it already and they wouldn''t be in this situation to begin with.

    This meant one thing: Leonel not only had to find a method of using strength to overwhelm his enemies, at least the very least until he had gathered enough information to use cleverness. He also had to somehow do so while keeping it within an acceptable range.

    If he pushed it too far, it would be obvious that one of the participants in this race to claim the Sea God Incomplete World had taken the side of the humans.

    And if he didn''t go hard enough... well, that result was obvious. The humans would be finished.

    Threading this needle would probably be one of the hardest things that Leonel had ever done, but there was really only one path forward.

    He had to rely on the strengths the humans did have, maximize them, and ride the wave to victory.

    By the time his enemies realized he was here, it would be too late.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that his oddity had been sensed before he even had a chance to do anything.

    He hadn''t realized that the reason the Sea Gods were so lax wasn''t because they were baiting the humans to return. Even if he was on his way back the security would have been just as easy to get through.

    The real reason they were so relaxed was because they had an infallible confidence in Wise Sea Order.

    The young Sea God''s eye twitched.

    ''You fucking bitch. Why don''t you go confess to someone you like and see how confident you are then?''

    Even after he had this thought, he didn''t look toward the fierce Sea Goddess. Knowing her, rather than confessing, she''d probably drag him out of bed by the balls. So maybe that wasn''t the best example.

    The young Sea God cleared his throat again and looked toward Sashae for an answer.

    "Okay."

    To his surprise, the young Sea Goddess stood and walked toward him.

    Soon, they were walking away. Let alone the ladies, even the young Sea God''s friends, were in shock. Their ruckus had died down, and they watched them disappear with open mouths.

    Even the young Sea God himself felt like he was watching all this happen from the sky. His soul had left his body, and he was completely on autopilot.

    He almost didn''t realize that it was Sashae who was following him until they had long left the encampment.

    "Are you going to make me walk much further?"

    There seemed to be a hint of a smile in her voice that almost made him faint.

    The young Sea God froze and finally remembered that he was the man in this situation. No, he was the one who invited her, but he hadn''t thought he''d get this far. He knew nothing about this planet. Where the hell was he even going?

    He quickly looked around, and his heart leapt into his throat.

    There was nothing romantic about this place at all, and the sun was still too high in the skies for the atmosphere to be ambiguous. It just felt...

    Awkward.

    ''Shit, shit, shit. What the hell do I say?''

 Chapter 2826 Freshwater

    Chapter 2826 Freshwater

    "You are Rae, correct?" Sashae asked.

    Rae felt like collapsing. He was such an idiot, he actually let her speak first. Now she feels like she needs to help carry him through a conversation. What a nightmare.

    "Yes, thanks for remem-I mean, I''m happy you remembered, not that you have a bad memory-"

    Rae stopped talking. What the hell was he saying? Did he forget how language worked? Why wasn''t his brain cooperating with him?

    He was in the Sixth dimension. His thought speed should be enough to keep things flowing. So why did it feel like he spent an eternity thinking of absolutely nothing?

    Just say something! Anything!

    "Our names end in the same characters!" Rae suddenly sputtered out.

    He slapped a hand to his forehead. What the hell was that?!

    Sashae raised a hand to her soft lips and giggled. It was the first time Rae had heard her laugh, and it left him in a complete daze.

    Enough that he didn''t react at all when her arm suddenly went through his chest.

    Rae''s eyes opened wide, not expecting this at all. He couldn''t believe it. He had such a bright future, but he lost it all by chasing a girl?

    The feelings of betrayal didn''t even have a chance to settle in. By the time he would have thought of it, his consciousness had long faded.

    Sashae watched indifferently as his body collapsed.

    She saw the last look in his eyes as well, and it only made her more indifferent. There was shock, but there was no pain, that sort of heart wrenching pain that one might experience when a loved one stabbed you in the back.

    Clearly, he was just like the rest, lusting after her beauty and wanting to take her as their own without having a single inkling about the real her.

    It was not only pathetic, it was insulting.

    Killing such a man, she wouldn''t feel any guilt at all. He wasn''t worthy of such a thing.

    "What? I''m just acting." Talon said righteously.

    "Don''t." Sashae let go of his wrist and continued to walk forward. "I am a reserved woman. Suddenly coming back with a man I hardly know in such a touchy matter will raise more suspicion than not. You may remain beside me. You may also speak to me in an attempt to draw more of my attention, but you may not touch me.

    "Do not ruin the plan, or else it won''t be me you''re answering to."

    Talon shook his head.

    He was a mighty Demi-God and now a Mortal was lecturing him. He swore that when he got a hold of those uncles of his and his Dimension reached theirs, he would be sure to teach them all a lesson.

    "I better be getting paid well for this," he grumbled.

    The duo returned to the large encampment, and many questioning gazes landed on them. When these gazes saw Sashae bring Rae back to her group, they grew wide.

    "Son of a bitch. No way he did it..."

    Leonel wasn''t aware of what had just happened. He hadn''t been using his Internal Sight to scan the Sea God army much for fear that they might have spies from Complete Worlds within it that could detect him.

    Ironically, he had been proven correct this time.

    But that didn''t change what he needed to do.

    The first and most obvious thing he could take advantage of was the Force Art that controlled the city, so he did that.

    He didn''t increase its power by much. Instead, he changed its function slightly.

    The Sea Gods wanted to flood this world with water for some reason, so he had to stop them from doing that.

    He reversed the function of the large formation and helped it quickly turn the water that touched it into water vapor.

    The trouble with this was that it would soon begin to rain, and quite heavily at that.

    But that was precisely where the second part of Leonel''s plan kicked in.

    Why were the Sea Gods more fond of salt water than freshwater?

 Chapter 2827 Water

    Chapter 2827 Water

    Leonel had noticed the peculiarity of the salt water in the region instantly. However, he originally thought that it was just a method of warfare.

    Even so, this explanation wasn''t enough.

    Salting the land seemed to be a bridge too far. Ostensibly, if the Sea Gods wanted to kill off the Human Race, they wouldn''t be doing so just for the sake of it. Unless they were genocidal maniacs, there had to be a purpose.

    That purpose should be their land, or else what was the point? But then why would they destroy this land at the same time?

    If Leonel took a step back, then he might be able to assign the blame to this method to whoever might or might not be controlling the Sea Gods in the shadows. Maybe they were more interested in going scorched earth just to deal with this matter.

    But that didn''t feel like it made sense either.

    The point of using an Incomplete World as currency was the resources you could gain from it. Taking an Eighth Dimensional world like this one and just running one of its best planets into the ground simply didn''t make any sense, even if they were trying to capitalize on some fast money.

    When you thought about the fact the Sea Gods certainly had the capital to just brute force their way in and destroy what remained of the Human Race, it made even less sense.

    Why take this slow, methodical approach if they didn''t have to? Especially when everything else was taken into account.

    There was no Water Force in existence that was naturally salty either, so it made even less sense.

    Back when Leonel was still living in the Dimensional Verse, he had made a great breakthrough in his Earth Force, one that helped him link some of his comprehension with Life Force as well. In fact, even to this day, it helped him quite a bit with strengthening his Metal Body.

    That breakthrough, of course, was related to the minerals in his body, the realization that things like sodium, or magnesium, or potassium, or any other of the various chemicals and minerals the body used to stay in its top condition, were just different applications of Earth Force.

    Leonel didn''t know much about marine biology, but what he did know was that while there was a Venn diagram of creatures that needed water to survive, and there was some overlap as a result, the diagram certainly wasn''t a circle.

    Simply put, not all freshwater creatures could survive in saltwater. And likewise, there were many saltwater creatures that would die if transferred to freshwater.

    What was interesting, though, was that after gaining control of Force and evolving through the Dimensions, such limitations shouldn''t impact even regular fish, let alone a race as mighty as the Sea Gods.

    So why?

    Truthfully, Leonel didn''t have an answer. But he would find out soon enough.

    In the meantime, he''d just have to brute force it.

    ...

    Thunder rolled through the skies, and the Sea Gods looked up.

    Sashae couldn''t help but frown.

    Rain was a natural occurrence and it shouldn''t have drawn any attention whatsoever. They were all in the Fifth Dimension at worst. Even if they were in the Fourth, it wouldn''t be a huge matter.

    But the problem was that it didn''t make sense for rain to appear here.

    All the moisture should be under their control, pumping these lands full of salty water until soon the entire planet would be submerged.

    For it to be raining now didn''t make any sense.

    While Leonel expected them to eventually feel that something was wrong, he hadn''t expected one of them to pick up on it so quickly. It could only be said that Sashae was quite sharp.

    But that was the good thing about a brute force method...

    Well, his looks were one thing. His strength, however, was another.

    Leonel felt that he was stronger than the Emperor, which was good. But he didn''t give him nearly the same pressure the Sea Gods did.

    "This is him?" Leonel asked, looking toward the Emperor.

    "Yes. This is my best commander, General Mayweather."

    General Mayweather looked a bit confused, not sure of what was going on. But when he saw Leonel suddenly morph before him to become a mirror image of him.

    "Give me your armor."

    "What?" A dangerous aura began to emit from the General, but it was the Emperor that held up a hand.

    "Enough."

    "Your Imperial Majesty, this..."

    "This is our last chance. Just do as he says."

    General Mayweather had no idea what was going on, and he was even less inclined to follow through with Emperor Fleeting Cloud''s commands.

    Even though he was respectful to the Emperor, who didn''t know that he didn''t have to be? He was the strongest expert of their Empire, a true Overlord. Why would he-?

    ROAR!

    A familiar dragon appeared, coiling around Mayweather''s body. The difference was that, unlike the Emperor, the man didn''t collapse.

    Mayweather had seen too many battles while the Emperor was long past his prime. Plus, the Emperor''s mind had been chipped away as the stress of the fall of his Empire weighed heavily on his soul.

    However, that didn''t mean that it had no effect.

    The General felt his body stiffen and his Force flow freeze. His mind went blank for a moment, and by the time it recovered, he realized that he would have died ten times over on a real battlefield.

    "Enough of the bullshit. There''s no time for this. Hurry up."

    Every one of Leonel''s words reverberated in the General''s very bones and he found himself stripping down his armor before he realized it.

    Leonel took the armor and shook his head. He would have preferred to build an identical one himself, but there was no time. It could be said that whoever was leading the Sea Gods was decisive enough.

    "You will remain here."

    BOOM!

    The city suddenly began to quake.

    The Sea Gods had just begun their assault, but they were quickly finding that the Force Art they thought they could easily crush had become far sturdier than they expected.

    What they didn''t know was that they had the heavy minerals in their "water" to thank for that.

    Leonel strolled out with heavy steps, a serious glint in his eye.

    He didn''t feel happy about the success of his formation. This situation just felt that it was getting trickier and trickier by the minute.

 Chapter 2828 Alone

    Chapter 2828 Alone

    Leonel walked across the city walls. Heavy rain pelted down like an aggravated assault. It rebounded off of his golden armor, shattering in the air almost like tiny orbs of glass.

    The moment the Sea Gods began their attack, he no longer bothered to hide the purpose of the formation.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m The minerals and salts were quickly soaked into the Force Art, strengthening it. At the same time, the rain above became so heavy that the world was practically wreathed in darkness. It felt like there was hardly a difference between standing in this rain and being submerged in the depths of the ocean.Thi/s chapter is updated by

    Quickly, the waters that were soaked up from the ground were replenished by an even heavier rain. All at once, the formations of the Sea Gods were co-opted and aggressively commandeered.

    The application of Crafting that Leonel was using here was far beyond the imagination of even most Demi-God Crafters. It was likely that only hidden masters of the Owlans and Dream Asuras could match up to him in terms of raw theory and creativity.

    Of course, they most definitely had far greater strength and the capability to Craft far stronger Crafts as a result. Unfortunately, Leonel couldn''t yet fully divorce what he could Craft from his own strength or that of Little Tolliver''s.

    Essentially, to make an overly complicated matter simple, he had begun to use the protective Force Arts of the Fleeting Cloud Empire like a human''s body.

    The minerals were being used up, and the water was being consumed and expelled. It was an application of the Self Path that was truly extraordinary. He had managed to change many of the fundamental tenets that helped the Force Art to run without actually changing its foundation at all.

    However, it wasn''t enough... not just yet.

    For one, in this rain, his greatest strength, his Fire Force, was handicapped. The concentration of Water Force in the region was so high that the use of practically any other element was nigh impossible. Even if it was a Lightning Force, with how heavy the rain was, unless your control was excellent, you''d likely end up electrocuting your own companions.

    That said, Leonel couldn''t use his hallmark Forces in this place, not unless he could be sure to kill anyone who saw it. So this wasn''t as big of a deal to him.

    The larger issue was something else entirely.

    Not only were the Sea Gods still fiercely attacking the formation and seemed capable of breaking it-at least in part-very soon, Leonel had yet to see any obvious effects of his plan.

    ''Was I wrong?'' Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he scanned the battlefield. ''No, I can''t be wrong.''

    Leonel didn''t conclude this because he was so overconfident in himself. The real reason he was certain was because the best proof was right before him.

    How could it be so coincidental? Would the Sea Gods really attack the instant it started raining just because?

    Logically, the odds of that were much lower. It just meant that the benefits weren''t as obvious just yet.

    But that made sense. If the weakness of the Sea Gods was so blatantly obvious, then it would have been used against them long ago.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    "Commander! What should we do?!"

    Leonel looked over. "Is the army prepared?"

    "Yes, I''ve done as you said. Everyone is organized behind the city gates, but-."

    Leonel waved a hand. "Follow me."

    He knew what his lieutenant wanted to say. Leonel had had them all gather up behind just a single city gate. In fact, he had cleared out large portions of the city, turning this northern face into a battleground. He had gone as far to even level several buildings in the region.

    But in the minds of others, this was a foolish decision. Unfortunately for them, that was because they didn''t understand the changes Leonel had made to the Force Art.

    They were disorganized, having prepared themselves for another siege after the Force Art fell. How could they expect the humans to suddenly have such a weird-acting formation, and to even give up their best advantage so quickly?

    Even Talon had never seen a formation that acted like this one, let alone the others.

    It just didn''t make sense. A Force Art was built upon each fundamental rune used to build it. When one shattered, the whole thing should.

    How had...

    It didn''t matter.

    With a single sweep of his halberd, Leonel had already killed as many as three dozen.

    The valiance of his actions seemed to be the only tonic the warriors of the Fleeting Cloud Empire needed to forget their doubts and charge after them.

    "HOLD THE LINE!" Leonel roared again.

    His voice resonated like a bell, echoing even beneath the harsh pitter-patter of the rain.

    Since he couldn''t find the leader through normal means, he would either have to force them out or force them to retreat.

    The tip of his halberd trembled, and droplets of rain seemed to freeze around it.

    He thrust out dozens of times in quick succession, forming an impenetrable barrier that covered the large hole in the formation. In that moment, he seemed to have become the new body of the Force Art.

    He never hesitated once, though he was using an unfamiliar weapon. His time with the Spear Domain Ring had taught him that the form of a spear simply didn''t matter.

    It could be the crooked branch that became his first spear. It could be the double headed Duality Spear that he missed even to this day. It could even be a trident that wore the scales of a sapphire dragon, a spear he had used many times before.

    In his hands, anything could be a spear so long as he willed it to be so.

    And beneath his will, anything could be his Domain.

    The rain suddenly froze around Leonel in a sphere as his avalanche of spear strikes descended.

    One strike.

    One kill.

    Droplets of rain became as lethal as heavenly blades, slicing apart the tough, gigantic bodies of the Sea Gods as though they weren''t there at all.

    His body thrummed with life, and he seemed to comprehend something.

    No, it was something that he had always had but had not truly understood until this moment.

    The answer had been right in front of him. The Domains of the Spears changed so frequently, without limitations or purpose. He had dealt with spears that could change the laws of physics to ones that wielded water as though it were a God.

    Did he have to comprehend Water Force to refine this Realm?

    Or could he rely on his Spear alone?

 Chapter 2829 Shook

    Chapter 2829 Shook

    "Who is this man?"

    Talon''s gaze sharpened. Such halberd skills shouldn''t appear in this world. But then again, the Sea Gods were far more powerful than they should be as well. Was this why his uncles were so obsessed with this place? There had to be something special about it.

    Sashae''s eyes narrowed as well. What Leonel was doing now was something that a single Sea God should have been able to do to the human army. Instead, there was an odd reversal where a mere human Overlord was capable of all of this?

    Even she felt palpitations looking at the strokes of that halberd. There didn''t seem to be any Halberd Force on it, and yet it was more masterful than any other halberd master she had seen.

    The people of her Race were all tyrannically large. The number that wielded halberds wasn''t small in the slightest, so she had seen her fair share... but this...

    ...

    Every step forward, Leonel took reaped another three lives. His halberd seemed to teleport, warping space and time and elevating beyond normal realms of reasoning.

    Just as blood would spurt from the throat of one Sea God and another would be watching in shock, the latter would suddenly find a hole in the middle of their foreheads, completely oblivious to how it had happened, even to the moment of their deaths.

    Life seemed like nothing but a pawn in Leonel''s palm. He swept and thrust, cut and slashed. His movements were without the slightest wasted energy, simple in their beauty and unadorned in their splendor. And yet it was precisely this that made it all so beautiful.

    Light radiated off of him in waves. In the darkness and the heavy rain, only he seemed to exist.

    And the soldiers to his back fed off of his energy.

    With Leonel taking the bulk of the pressure, they challenged the Sea Gods in pairs of two and three, ripping their armies apart.

    ...

    "This can''t continue. I''m going."

    "Stop, we-."

    "That''s enough."

    "If you had chosen to use your fists, you might stand a chance. In a battle of Crafting? Even if a God descended, they would lose."

    ~

    Recalling those words, Talon''s fury erupted like a volcano. His aura alone forced Sashae a step back.

    His legs bent and he launched himself into the air.

    It looked as though he was soaring through the air until he suddenly started to plummet.

    Thunder clapped in the skies and a twin pair of hammers appeared in Talon''s hand. One was recognizable as his Crafting hammer, but the second was obscenely large, having a hand that was half the size of a normal adult male and a pole arm that stood at two meters.

    Both weapons expanded instantly to accommodate his new size.

    The moment Leonel saw the first hammer, his heart skipped a beat.

    Even in disguise, he knew who this person was immediately. It was a simple flaw, and probably one Talon didn''t even consider as one, but how could Leonel miss it? Even if it was just the expanding hammers alone, Leonel would have still picked up on it.

    Still falling through the air, Talon''s body bent like a bow, stretching both of his hammers backward as he unleashed a mighty roar.

    Thunder clapped in the skies, and bolts of lightning descended, striking his hammers.

    One long, the other short, they formed an odd rhythm between the two of them that shook the world.

    "DIE!"

    Leonel''s pupils constricted. His halberd shook in his hand, glowing a fiercer golden light. He took that opportunity to flood it Emulation Spatial Force that was entirely imperceptible. The Dream Force aspect was far too good at concealing.

    He thrust upward, his gaze sharpening to the max.

    BOOM!

    The world shook, the planet feeling as though it would collapse on itself.

 Chapter 2830 Recognize

    Chapter 2830 Recognize

    Two spheres fought fiercely in the air, one from below and the other from above. Arcs of lightning radiated from the latter and a cool, blue bombardment of rain came from the former.

    Both armies were blasted apart, and the hole within the formation cracked further beneath the might of their reverberation. The two felt their arms tremble into a retreat.

    Leonel took a step back that shattered the land and nearly caused the foundation of the city walls to crumble.

    Talon''s hammers nearly flew from his hands and he was forced to flip through the air backward, landing so heavily that the Sea God army was forced into another round of retreat. Neither seemed willing to let this pause last for long. They took a beeline right for one another, one wreathed in lightning and the other dancing with mother nature''s tears.

    Leonel''s halberd arched through the air, his expression unmoved and his gaze ice cold. He looked right into Talon''s eyes, and despite the height difference, they seemed to be on equal footing.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Their blows were furious, their arms moving in a blur and their bodies shifting through the space as though it wasn''t an obstacle, as though they could bend, twist, and shorten it to their hearts'' content. That was until Leonel suddenly did the opposite. His Domain seemed to solidify, and Talon needed twice as much effort to travel just as far.

    Talon retaliated, his will expanding and his hammers glowing with the might of a blunt Weapon Force. He shattered much of the strength of Leonel''s Domain, rushing in with a rain of lightning. Arcs of gold sparked and danced, turning the ground to ash everywhere it touched.

    The world around them seemed like one painted by a master. Bolts cut right through harsh hails of water, and droplets sparkled beneath their luminescence. Leonel felt this the most clearly. His heart thrummed and his halberd hummed. He grasped the imagery and made it his own, and at that moment, his halberd seemed to embody the image.

    Storm.

    ''Clairvoyance? Omnipotence? A bastardization of both?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    ''In that case.''

    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

    The dragons no longer hid themselves. They descended, their bodies sending sparking waves of lightning in all directions. In contrast to their golden bodies, their eyes were like polished sapphire gems. In that moment, Leonel combined his King''s Might, aspects of the Luxnix family Force Arts, and his Spear Domain all into one.

    The Sea God army collapsed to their knees and Talon felt himself being completely suppressed. Leonel raised his halberd and pointed it at him. The rage bubbling in Talon''s heart boiled over. Did this human really think that he was his better? If it wasn''t because he couldn''t reveal his Barbarian heritage just yet. The fury rose to Talon''s head, and he was just about to go all out when a graceful figure appeared.

    Sashae''s silhouette swayed, and the world trembled. Leonel felt like his dragons might collapse any moment now, but none of that was more shocking than what he saw next. A tablet appeared in Sashae''s hand, radiating a golden color. A pulse came from it and Leonel''s Domain was directly blown apart. He took a step back and his heart lurched before he suppressed it.

    Sashae took a step forward, her aura continuing to grow. With every step, the pressure on Leonel increased further and further until it seemed that he was the one who would be forced to his knees. His thoughts were spinning, trying to understand who this person was and what their relationship to Talon might be, when his mind went entirely blank. This wasn''t because of Sashae''s strength, but rather because of her first words to him.

    "Do you think that I cannot recognize an Envoy of the God Beasts when I see one?"

    BOOM!VIsit  for the best novel reading experience

 Chapter 2831 Protect Me

    Chapter 2831 Protect Me

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed as he took a stabilizing step backward. His expression remained indifferent, as though he hadn''t registered Sashae''s words at all. Taking a moment, he focused his senses on the inside of his body, trying to understand what was happening. Then it clicked.

    After he realized the danger his Northern Star Lineage Factors posed, Leonel had changed his approach to using them. From abilities that were largely soul based, he changed them to pure physical abilities.

    It was thanks to this that he was able to raise the standard of his being to Demi-God so quickly. Without it, his evolution might have not happened at all.

    Through his process, he had gotten Aina''s help. His own methods were too crude, so she created a line of pills that could help to systematically change his body and increase the power of its foundation.

    He still hadn''t completed this process yet, but he was already at the standard of a Demi-God. So it could be said that there was still quite some room for improvement in the future.

    However, this left an obvious problem he hadn''t considered.

    Wasn''t making the Northern Star Lineage Factor more in line with his body than his soul make him more beast than human? And if that was the case, then didn''t that mean that the Wise Tablets could be used to suppress him much the same way he used them to suppress the beasts in the Challenge Sequence? VIsit  for the best novel reading experience

    All of this was beside the point. Because even in comparison to a suppression like this, wasn''t the fact this woman had a Golden Tablet the most pressing matter here?

    He had suspected something from the moment he heard the name Wise Sea Order. Because he was using translation through his Dream Force, it was a sequence of words that hit much harder. The only way it could be translated like that in his mind was if the connection between the two was incredibly strong.

    But he still didn''t expect a Golden Tablet.

    He had already gotten his own Silver Tablet through mysterious means. Golden Tablets were incredibly rare as only one Life Tablet existed for each stream.

    The idea that a random race in an incomplete world could have one...

    But then again, hadn''t his own Silver Tablet appeared randomly? He still didn''t know how it had found its way into that zone.

    Even now, Leonel had no idea that Nilrem had purposely implanted the Silver Tablet into the Valiant Heart Zone to teach Leonel the value of life.

    Leonel didn''t even need to expose one of his own tablets at all, while Sashae''s mistake had already resulted in her Dream Force being drained to the final drop.

    In this state, her mind was woozy and she couldn''t even stand up straight, let alone battle.

    This wasn''t even the worst part. She had speculations, but she had no proof.

    Even if an Envoy managed to find some roundabout method of taking a human form, how would they possibly be as skillful with a weapon as Leonel was?

    Weapon Forces weren''t Forces that beasts could wield.

    On its face, her conclusion was ridiculous.

    However, Leonel didn''t make fun of her for it. Now, he was certain that this was the decisive woman behind the actions of the Sea Gods.

    And as expected, just as he was about to make a move to end this battle after his body was wrestled back into his control, Sashae made yet another decisive decision.

    "RETREAT!"

    She turned to Talon. "Protect me."

    The sudden command took the Sea Gods off guard, but Leonel realized why she made this choice.

    This could be considered to be a complete loss.

    However, would Leonel let them leave so easily?

    His halberd trembled and the dragons in the sky roared once more.

 Chapter 2832 Seal

    Chapter 2832 Seal

    The carnage that Leonel unleashed wasn''t small in the slightest. The Sea Gods fell by the dozens and showed not the slightest bit of prejudice.

    The young Sea Gods that had come thinking that this would be an easy method to flex their strength and enrich themselves were horrified.

    They quickly fled to their flying ships, but could only look horrified when Leonel took a step into the air. Dragons followed the flow of his halberd and he destroyed them all, one after another. The devastating war machines that could destroy even planets found itself suppressed.

    Leonel didn''t even have to overwhelm it with power. He targeted their weaknesses one after another.

    When he was killing the youths, his halberd was tyrannical, wide-sweeping and seemingly endless.

    When he targeted the ships, it became pinpoint, sliding between flaws in their Force Arts and panels in their metal bodies. Then, they would explode, out.

    The humans couldn''t even follow Leonel.

    From start to finish, Leonel didn''t try to stop Talon and Sashae.

    For one, he was sure that he couldn''t, at least not without revealing more than he wanted to just yet.

    Second, Sashae definitely had trump cards remaining.

    The fact she decisively ordered a retreat even though she knew it would cost her devastating losses spoke volumes.

    Leonel couldn''t help but recall the fact they had only sent their younger generation forward. They were clearly planning something deeper.

    That said, Leonel was also certain that he had found a counter for them. If not for the rain, he didn''t believe that Sashae would have given up so soon.

    It was just that for now, he wasn''t sure exactly what that weakness was.

    Sashae had left so decisively that he didn''t get a chance to find out... and something told him that even if he captured a few Sea Gods to experiment on, it would be useless.

    This woman had proven herself to be intelligent. If it would be exposed one way or another, why retreat?

    Even if she wanted to minimize casualties, retreating like this was the antithesis of that. She should have done so more systematically rather than basically throwing everyone to the wolves.

    Though he thought this, Leonel still captured several Sea God youths.

    Accounting for how smart someone was happened to be easy, in his opinion.

    "Why?"

    "I cannot tell you that."

    "Don''t test my patience."

    Talon''s deep growl reverberated through the ship and it seemed even more dangerous than his earlier, much louder roar.

    Sashae trembled, but she forced herself to calm down once more.

    "Even if you threaten me, I cannot tell you. I have a seal on me. If I try to speak about such matters, I will die. If you want to know, ask my mother. But I am not certain that she could tell you either. She may be sealed as well, though I have never asked."

    Talon''s eyes narrowed. He could tell that Sashae wasn''t lying.

    "Then how do you know in the first place if you assume everyone is sealed?"

    "I understand innately. I cannot say more than that."

    Talon shifted his gaze to the ring on her finger.

    "That tablet. Where did you get it?"

    "My mother sent it here and said it would be useful. Unfortunately, it failed nonetheless."

    "Is that man really an Envoy?"

    "I..."

    Sashae took a breath and exhaled.

    "I truly do not know. He had no reaction when I spoke, but it didn''t feel like he would have reacted to anything at that moment. He''s a seasoned warrior, and he''s likely trained himself to not listen to anything an opponent says, in case there''s some mental trickery at work. At the same time... the Tablet didn''t respond the way I thought it would... I truly don''t know... Likely, only my mother knows for sure."

    Leonel stood over a table. By his side, Aina was dissecting the corpse of a Sea God. This wasn''t his expertise. He wouldn''t even know where to start. And it was clear that Aina wasn''t very familiar with this process, either.

    But then she said something that shook Leonel to his core.

    Flashes of lightning echoed in his Dreamscape.

    "... So that''s why..."

 Chapter 2833 Counter

    Chapter 2833 Counter

    Leonel honestly didn''t expect himself to just figure it out. If he was that confident, he would have just done this from the very beginning without wasting his time thinking about so many other methods. VIsit  for the best novel reading experience

    However, what he didn''t expect was that he was more intelligent than he assumed himself to be. This was rare for him, honestly. Usually, he erred on the side of overconfidence. Maybe this was part of the changes brought about by his new Dream Force Sovereignty Path.

    But Leonel didn''t think it was so simple. It wasn''t really that he had underestimated himself. Rather, he just happened to have the exact set of information he needed to deduce exactly what was before him.

    In a lot of ways, this was a huge coincidence.

    If he were to describe the weak of the Sea Gods in a single line, it would be as follows.

    They were trying to replace the function of Earth Force and had failed to do so perfectly.

    As such, they had a weakness that they carried around with them. Ironically, it was a weakness that hurt the absolute strongest of them the most.

    When Leonel first broke through to the Life State with his Dream Force, it was because he had comprehended the function Earth Force served on all worlds.

    It was an anchor, an existence that allowed all other surrounding Forces to gather and use its stability as a foundation to lean on.

    This was never more obvious than it was in Incomplete Worlds.

    Why was the vastness of space bereft of Force? Why did Force only accumulate on Planets?

    This was an open secret that not many could deduce. Even Leonel had taken many years before he finally put two and two together. And it was only after succeeding that he could finally use Earth Force to its full potential.

    The only unfortunate part was that Leonel didn''t have any methods of maximizing his use of Earth Force right now, aside from his Metal Body. When it came to actually using and executing with Earth Force, it was crude at best, which was why it had sat on the back burner for many of his battles.

    To make a complicated matter simple, while they had succeeded in replicating the function Earth Force served on planets, they had failed to replicate an identical function.

    The way Forces interacted when dissolved into Water was much different from the way it reacted naturally in the air.

    They had cultivated methods to produce good effects when in the presence of saltwater, but by extension they lost the ability to do the same in a normal environment.

    There was an obvious reason, too.

    Earth Force acted as an anchor for other Forces, true. But these other Forces weren''t diffused into the earth. Instead, they just settled down across its surface.

    The method the Sea Gods used obviously required the Force to be inside the water, or else how would they remain underwater? It was completely necessary.

    In the end, they ended up handicapping themselves.

    This was a huge weakness, almost inconceivably so. That meant that without saltwater, the strongest of the Sea Gods couldn''t even begin to exhibit their true strength.

    They would have to attempt to terraform a planet like they did here, or they would have to carry around large reserves that they could immediately deploy into a Domain of some sort.

    But this only made Leonel grin. That was because the other reason he had figured this out so quickly was precisely because of his first major breakthrough in Earth Force. That breakthrough being the importance of Earth Force in the body, and its relation to minerals and vital metals that kept one in good health.

    Wasn''t the sea of the Sea Gods a perfect one-to-one relationship with this concept?

    The salt was only part of the equation. In all likelihood, the ocean was pumped full of all sorts of other minerals as well.

    So what would happen if Leonel countered it with his Earth Force?

 Chapter 2834 Easy

    Chapter 2834 Easy

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m When Leonel had this thought, he almost visibly relaxed. Everything in this Incomplete World had felt like another mystery ready to take a bite out of his neck. He had been prepared to face off against Gods if need be, but running into the Sea Gods was ironically a blow.

    It felt like this Incomplete World was far larger than he knew. Even with all his preparation, he had come into this assuming that the natives of this world would be the easy part, come to find out they were a variable in and of themselves.

    But now, not only had he found a devastating weakness of the strongest of them, he had also exposed one of the parties as well.

    The Barbarian Race.

    He hadn''t said anything, but how could he not recognize Talon? Talon likely didn''t expect that he was standing across from Leonel, or else he wouldn''t have so casually taken out such an identifying weapon.Updated from

    As for the fact that Sashae had pegged him as an Envoy, he wasn''t worried in the slightest.

    First, this might actually be a positive thing, not a negative. The deeper they thought his waters ran, the more chances he would have to take advantage of their ignorance. When the time came, he could even directly counter Sashae''s tablet at just the right time to deal a death blow. After all, how could the Golden Tablet suppress him while he was in possession of the Life Tablet?

    Second, he was fairly certain that Sashae was just taking a shot in the dark. She had no certainty whatsoever.

    Basically, whether she believed it or not, Leonel would have the leg up. After all, they had never seen his face and had no idea who he was. Even Emperor Fleeting Cloud had no idea. He would never take the risk of exposing his real face to such a man.

    That said... that didn''t mean that Leonel didn''t still have issues to deal with.

    The first was the most obvious, and that was how the hell did they get their hands on a Golden Tablet?

    The second was also fairly close to the forefront of his mind, and that was that if the Barbarian Race was the second party involved in this world, who was the third?

    And the third issue was a problem he would have to deal with right now.

    He had repelled the enemy for now, so what should he do with the Fleeting Cloud Empire? What should his next steps be?

    The best part was that the Sea Gods gave him further inspiration.

    Using concepts he had grasped from their unique sea water, he was able to create a Force Art that drew Force toward it and acted as an anchor as well.

    As such, the more time passed, the stronger the Force Art would become.

    Even after this, Leonel still wasn''t finished with the scraps of the fallen flying ships.

    He reconstructed them, creating many much smaller and countless times more powerful ships. With his current skill in Crafting, he wasn''t even very worried about the Barbarian Race on this front.

    The Barbarian Race wasn''t a Race of Crafters. It could be said that Talon was a complete anomaly, and even he wasn''t a match for Leonel almost a year ago now, let alone currently. Leonel had stepped into the threshold of the Self Path. Truthfully, if they were restricted to Crafting something of the same Dimension, even Minerva couldn''t match up to him.

    In just three days, Leonel revamped the entire Empire until it was completely unrecognizable.

    He did nothing about their forms of government or things of the like because he didn''t care. He didn''t come here to rule these people. He needed their warriors and nothing else.

    This was where Anastasia took center stage.

    After creating a blueprint, the little World Spirit had a field day. He mass produced millions of armors and weapons that could counter the strength of the Sea Gods.

    When he was satisfied, Leonel took his fleet of ships and went on the attack.

    The goal?

    To return the entire Human Domain to its rightful owners.

    And quite frankly, it was almost too easy.

    Not even half a month later, all invaders had been expelled and forced to retreat to the Ancient Battlefield.

 Chapter 2835 Interesting

    Chapter 2835 Interesting

    It was too easy. So much so that it was difficult to take pride in any of it at all.And Leonel didn''t feel that he should.

    The people of these Incomplete Worlds were too inferior to what Leonel had already experienced in the outside world. The fact they didn''t stand a chance didn''t surprise him.His Crafts were orders of magnitude stronger than their own. His strength was even more exaggerated by comparison. His schemes were somehow even more suffocating that than for no other reason than the fact he found manipulating their Dream Force to be far too easy.

    The only worry Leonel had was that this sort of speedy reversal was practically putting a target on his forehead, screaming to the mountain tops that he was likely one of the three who had bought the information.

    But after doing a cost-benefit analysis, he felt that biding his time too much would only be a detriment to him.He only had three years, and a month of that was already gone.

    Not only did he need to deal with his enemies, but he also needed to comprehend the foundations of this world and even beyond that, he needed to find a method of raising it to the God Realm.He had a pretty good idea that clearing all its Zones would give him the outcome he needed. But he had to give himself enough buffer to actually check if that was true or not.

    Plus, even with his strength clearing so many Zones would take a very long time.

    This also didn''t consider a very specific anomaly that occurred when a Zone failed to be cleared.Leonel had never run into these Zones back in the Dimensional Zone, but he had always been warned that if a Zone wasn''t cleared, it could swallow a world up.

    What he didn''t know was what would happen once that occurred. The Dimensional Verse didn''t seem to have any documented events of the like. But that didn''t mean that this world didn''t.

    If a Sub-Dimensional Zone ended up swallowing a world up, or even multiple Zones, who knew what might happen?

    At that point, it wouldn''t be smart of Leonel to continue to be complacent. These mutated Zones were likely to be dangerous even to him.

    But it was necessary for him to close them if he wanted hope of his Incomplete World reaching his standards.

    This aside, there was another reason that Leonel wasn''t too worried about exposing himself, and that was because of Sashae and her words.

    Leonel wasn''t making this conclusion just based on his own personal experience, but also the records of the Human Race.

    That said, this wasn''t really enough to suddenly abandon the Human Domain and come here. There was another reason for that.

    And it was linked to the hatred the Human Race had for the Cloud Race.

    After reading their history, Leonel found out that the Cloud Race that had once existence in this Incomplete World was incredibly cruel. The current Human Domain was once the Cloud Domain, and the latter Race had enslaved the former.

    Many of the humans only reluctantly had Cloud Race genes in their blood because their parents had had their wills crushed and their innocences forcefully taken.

    They had all descended from bastard children of slaves. Now, they had to live with their unique quirks. So instead of claiming them as Cloud Race features, they claimed them to be Human.

    Leonel understood the sentiment, and he quite respected them for it.

    That said, it sounded like a fairytale.

    The Human Race was far weaker than the Cloud Race, and the history showed that quite well. So how was it that the Human Race had not only managed to rise up from their oppression, but even destroy them and establish their own Empires as a replacement?

    There was something missing here.

    Of course, there was always a chance that their fanciful tales of heroes and heroines were true. But the odds were so slim that Leonel wouldn''t have been on it.

    That was when he stumbled onto an interesting tidbit.

 Chapter 2836 Historian

    Chapter 2836 Historian

    It was a story by a particular great human historian, one that had written several books on the topic. In fact, many of the books that Leonel had read that told tales of those heroes and heroines were written by this man. This should have made Leonel take him less seriously. But even in a pile of trash, there was still some treasure to be gained by someone at some point.

    The interesting thing about this particular book was that it talked of both a savior and the Cloud Race''s own role in their demise. The way the story was woven made Leonel realize something quite profound.

    Someone had definitely interfered.

    But who? And why?

    And how could they have taken part in this for so long?

    What exactly was the purpose of crushing the Cloud Race and allowing the Human Race to survive and thrive in their stead?

    When Leonel had this thought, he couldn''t help but recall the Oryx.

    The Oryx definitely had an odd origin as well. They had no business being a main Race of this world. Their populations, when they appeared in other Incomplete Worlds, were usually small and unassuming.

    It didn''t really make much sense that they would suddenly explode out in a boom like this.

    And by extension, the Sea Gods were the same. Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if there were small pockets of Sea Gods in other Incomplete Worlds as well. He had just never seen them in the Dimensional Verse.

    That made him wonder. Would he be able to find information about the sudden rise of the Oryx and their savior as well?

    Unsurprisingly, it took not even a few days for Leonel to find exactly that.

    As it turned out, the Oryx did start as a small Race. They couldn''t expand, not because of their talent, but because their fertility rates were too low.

    Then, generations ago, much like the humans, there was a sudden change that allowed them to explode forth with maximal strength.

    Was it a coincidence?

    ''Someone has been interfering in this Incomplete World for a very long time. Is it a fourth person, or...''

    Leonel thought about what he would do if he had been in this person''s position.

    The question, then, was... who was the second?

    It had to be a Race of people confident enough in their abilities to target this location even when someone else had already bought this information.

    Leonel had already partially understood before, but this almost certainly meant that they had to be a Demi-God Race or greater.

    And...

    Leonel''s gaze turned toward the Rapax Domain.

    ... They were almost certainly reining in control of the Rapax Race right this moment.

    Leonel might not know who they were, but he knew that he would find out if he stepped into the Rapax Race.

    It was time to find out.

    ...

    Just days after entering the Oryx Race, Leonel left once again and entered the Rapax Domain.

    He didn''t try to disguise himself, remaining as a human. The only difference was that his hair had returned to its original brown to dirty blond color, and his eyes were once again a hazel.

    He softened some of his features and made himself a bit chubbier. He also lowered his height of almost 6''10" to just barely 6'' tall.

    With the gruff beast skins he wore, he looked like a war-torn warrior.

    The reason he had made this choice was because of the conversation he had had with the first Oryx he met in this place. Thanks to that, he knew that humans had been fleeing to Oryx territory for a long time, but that didn''t mean that they weren''t fleeing to Rapax territory as well. It was just less frequent.

    The Rapax were crueler in terms of culture, so they were avoided.

    But that was exactly why Leonel picked his current appearance.

    This was the perfect disguise for his goals.

 Chapter 2837 Event

    Chapter 2837 Event

    Although the Human Domain had been liberated, not enough time had passed for the Human Race to fully return. News hadn''t even quite spread anywhere but the highest echelons of the various races. It was perfectly natural for some humans to still think that their lives were hanging on by a thread.

    As Leonel entered the dark region, his thoughts were spinning with one thought that he had yet to resolve. If the Barbarian Race had helped the Human Race rise up, why let them be destroyed? Why even participate in their destruction? And if their destruction was important to their plan, why let Leonel reclaim so much territory so easily?

    Sashae and Talon hadn''t even appeared again after their first disappearance.

    That belied another question, and that was why were they propping up the humans, Oryx and Sea Gods all at once? What had they done that managed to create Barbarian Invalids?

    Were they participating in the war as well? Were they on the side of the Fallen God Beasts and Owlans?

    Leonel felt that the answer to these last few questions was no, but that also meant that these waters were far murkier than he assumed.

    ''This should be the product of the pressure the Gods are placing on the lesser races. How could there be no resentment at all? Sure, for now the Culling doesn''t involve the Demi-Gods, but what about when they ran out of Mortal Races to kill? Wouldn''t they move on to the Demi-Gods before they looked to themselves?

    ''If the Demi-Gods were smart, they would certainly be trying to find methods of saving themselves for the future. If the path toward Godhood meant experimenting with Invalids, then that was what they would do even if Invalids were far more hated than even the Fawkes had been.''

    This explanation made sense to Leonel, and he felt there was a better than 90% chance that it was correct.

    But this meant that he had started the fuse on something much larger than he expected.

    If things continued like this... wouldn''t the whole of Existence be embroiled in war soon?

    Leonel''s gaze became serious. It was even more important that he become as strong as possible as quickly as possible.Updated from

    ...

    A city appeared before Leonel, if it could be called that.

    This was no longer a limitation to Leonel because he could sense and feel the Dream Plane. So the Rapax couldn''t escape his senses anymore even if they wanted to.

    But he had always been curious about this ability. It was an interesting chance to study this potentially.

    After entering the city, Leonel didn''t really have an aim. He just came to the largest city of the Rapax Domain in hopes of looking for some clues.

    But since he had already entered with a bang, he should probably leave some impression of a powerful human.

    The easy thing to do was envelop the city in his Internal Sight, then check on all the people who weren''t immune in the same way.

    But he wasn''t quite sure if he should go so far just yet. Even if he wanted to play the role of arrogant Overlord, he needed at least some foundation first.

    What he wanted to know was if he shone fiercely enough... would the power hidden in the dark approach him?

    ''Unlikely. I doubt a Demi-God, or God if I''m really unlucky, would feel the need to approach a weak human like me. Hm, I guess the best option is to see if there were any odd movements.

    ''News of what happened to the Human Domain should spread quite quickly. This will be the best chance to see how the Rapax read and react to this.

    ''From the perspective of this hidden party, this should be a clash between two of their competitors. Will they try to gang up on the Sea Gods along with me? Will they try to gear the Rapax for war and sit back? Will they maybe attack the more vulnerable humans and team up with the Sea Gods instead?''

    The last one was probably the most likely, and Leonel had to be ready for that potential outcome.

    ''Oh?''

    Leonel felt the ground rumbling, but it wasn''t an earthquake. There was a ruckus coming from a coliseum of bone.

    There seemed to be an event going on.

 Chapter 2838 Joke

    Chapter 2838 Joke

    Leonel entered the event quite smoothly and found that the ruckus was being caused by a tournament of some sort. The shaking was from all the cheering in the surroundings... if you could call it that.

    The Rapax had some of the most grating language Leonel had ever heard. Although the language of the Pluto was quite fierce, it felt more... cohesive, in a way.

    The Pluto''s language was like the roar of a dragon, but the language of the Rapax was like if an entire forest of animals began going at it at the same time.

    It was a mixture of growls, shouts, and clicks. When it filled a stadium like this, it felt more like Leonel was in the middle of the wilds instead of an established society.

    Leonel walked down the stairs, tuning out the ruckus until he got to a railing. The railing was stuffed full of Rapax wrestling for better position, but he directly pushed past, the strength of his body knocking them away and clearing space.

    Finally, he got a clear look at the battle below, and to his surprise, it was actually a Rapax and a Sea God?

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    He had already walked around the city for a while. He had seen a lot of Rapax, but he hadn''t seen a single existence that wasn''t of their Race. Though he hadn''t reacted much to it, he had been a bit worried about what that would mean for his own existence. But he still didn''t panic.

    Just judging from the reaction of the other Rapax to him, he knew that it wasn''t a huge issue. Some looked at him curiously, but there was nothing else.

    What Leonel didn''t expect was that he would run into a Sea God here of all places.

    ''Interesting... is it an attempted infiltration? A coincidence? Something else?''

    Viewing a race as a monolith would be a mistake. Leonel didn''t want to overextend himself with false assumptions.

    Not all members of the Sea Gods would be part of some grand master plot.

    The battle below was intense.

    The Rapax was a master of close combat, like most were. Its legs, arms and tail were all lethal weapons, each one creating a whirlwind of furious assaults.

    Leonel continued to watch as the battle continued.

    Eventually, the Sea God lost, and another battle began.

    Once again, it was a Sea God and a Rapax.

    It couldn''t have been clearer that this was an exchange of some sort.

    All the battles were close, and every time, it would come down to the last few moves.

    The crowd was completely enamored by the spectacle.

    Leonel continued to watch as the Rapax jostled around him. But he was like an immovable mountain. His feet were firmly rooted, and his arms were crossed over his chest.

    Everyone that hit against him was sent stumbling the other direction, and eventually, there was a small, impenetrable circle formed around him as though the Rapax had all decided that he couldn''t be messed with in any way.

    His expression remained unreadable even at the point the climax of the battle began.

    For the first time in the history of the coliseum, a pair of Overlords descended into battle.

    Compared to the previous battles, they clearly weren''t going all out, but the crowd was still excited beyond belief.

    How often could they see such a thing? Even pinnacle Seventh Dimensional existences rarely appeared. Ordinary Eighth Dimensional experts were even more recluse. Where could they possibly have the chance to see such a battle? Even if they were holding back, it was a huge opportunity.

    The battle continued for about ten minutes or so before the two came to a stop. They bowed respectfully and the crowd''s cheers reached their pinnacle.

    It was at this moment a voice echoed, one that seemed to suppress all the other voices in an instant, despite being gentle and soft.

    "Is this a joke?"

 Chapter 2839 Fake

    Chapter 2839 Fake

    Leonel''s voice echoed with hues of disappointment. The number of eyes and senses that landed on him all at once felt endless, but he seemed unmoved by it all.

    He stared down at the Overlords below and then the nobles above.

    "I was told that the Rapax were a Race of warriors. When did they become so pathetic?"

    Seas of eyes widened.

    However, not all reacted in this way. The Rapax weren''t a Race that liked to talk things out. Someone who was infuriated by Leonel''s side immediately attacked.

    Their tail snapped over in a fury, piercing through the air so fast that it left a whistle in its wake.

    Without even looking at it, Leonel caught the tail by its shimmering blade as though he wasn''t scared of it piercing his skin.

    And he truly wasn''t afraid.

    The blade couldn''t even leave a mark on his skin.

    With a tug, the tail was ripped from its body.

    In one swift motion, Leonel''s wrist flicked out, and the blade soared.

    Unlike the original attack, it didn''t make a single sound, and yet it appeared before the Rapax in a single blink. In another, it tore its pill-shaped head in two.

    The air seemed to freeze and solidify. Those that had been about to attack before hesitated.

    The Rapax that Leonel had just killed wasn''t particularly powerful, only in the Sixth Dimension. Even so, it felt like Leonel''s methods were suffocating them. There was a deterrence in the air that they couldn''t quite describe, like a solidified killing intent that formed a barrier they didn''t dare to cross.

    "I didn''t expect the Rapax of all Races to set up this kind of farce."

    The fact Leonel was speaking in their language made the words all the more clear, and that was despite the fact they didn''t understand what he was trying to get at.

    Its tail lashed out, but Leonel had already moved, taking a step back.

    The tail slammed into the ground, shattering the entire bleacher area. Half the coliseum fell by a foot and would have collapsed if not for a peculiar coincidence.

    "You can''t even attack like you mean it," Leonel continued to sneer.

    "Uncle, please stop for a moment." The noble above spoke again before turning his attention to the back of Leonel''s head once more. "You''ve impugned on the dignity of the Rapax Race. Shouldn''t you explain yourself?

    "Although it is not the Rapax way to gang up on a single person, it is also not the Rapax way to allow our honor to be smeared. We take are always willing to take on the full consequences of our actions. You''re powerful, so I''m sure you''re smart enough to understand what I mean."

    The noble was surprisingly eloquent, and, of course, Leonel understood.

    Essentially, he was saying that ganging up wasn''t what they wanted to do, but they also had a culture of taking responsibility for both their actions and words. This latter culture was the reason why no one harmed Leonel after he killed the gate guard, or why no one seemed angry. He had just killed another Rapax.

    The two that Leonel had killed were taking on the responsibility for their actions.

    In this case, Leonel had insulted an entire Race. So, it was his responsibility to take on. It wasn''t their fault that he had insulted so many of them at once. Since he wanted to talk so much, he would have to face all of their wrath. It was that simple.

    "Show me your wrath, then. Do you think I''m afraid of a hoard of cowards?"

    This time, even the noble frowned. It was hard to distinguish the expressions of a Rapax, but an excellent sign was the swaying of their tale and the subtle lengthening of their metal claws-both on their feet and hands.

    The noble took a breath and exhaled slowly.

    "I only want to ask you one thing. Why?"

    The atmosphere seemed primed, so Leonel finally looked back toward the noble''s box. When he saw the tight frown on the Sea God''s face, his lip curled.

    "Wasn''t it clear to you? You''re all warriors with thousands of battles under your belt. You wouldn''t have entered the Fourth Dimension otherwise. You''ve been bathed in blood since birth.

    "And none of you can recognize a faked battle when you see one?"Updated from

 Chapter 2840 Confusion

    Chapter 2840 Confusion

    The eloquent noble Rapax, Xenothrall, looked at Leonel with narrowed eyes.

    "The warriors of the Rapax do not fake battles."

    "Is that so?" Leonel sneered. He raised a finger and then pointed down toward the Overlord Sea God.

    Just when everyone thought he was going to threaten the Sea Gods as well, several Force Arts appeared around him in quick succession. At that moment, the Sea Gods from the previous battles all appeared, one after another.

    They looked around in confusion, not quite understanding how they had suddenly appeared here.

    BANG!

    Leonel leapt up and landed in the arena below.

    "You. Fight me," Leonel said coldly.

    He pointed at the Sixth Dimensional Sea God that fought in the first battle. He was indifferent and his tone didn''t seem to assume it was a suggestion.

    Xenothrall''s frown deepened.

    The Sea God noble by his side seemed to finally understand what was going to happen. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was then Leonel suddenly looked at him, his gaze flashing with a hidden purple light beneath the deep hazel.

    "This isn''t your place to speak. So I would suggest you shut your mouth, or I will kill you."

    At that moment, the Sea God Overlord took this chance to take action. Insulting his liege was more than enough of a sin, and no one would look down on him for doing so.

    Leonel grinned. These people were so easy to manipulate.

    A pitch black spear suddenly appeared in Leonel''s palm. When this spear appeared, the entire Rapax Domain seemed to tremble.

    Sparks flew and rippling waves cut across the sand of the coliseum.

    The surrounding youth of the Sea Gods were forced to unleash their strength to protect themselves. If they didn''t, all of them would die.

    Even so, many of the weaker ones were still shattered into a rain of blood.

    The Overlord''s expression became bloodshot when he saw this. He had definitely constrained his strength. He wouldn''t be foolish enough to put the lives of these youths in danger. But Leonel''s skills were beyond his expectation.

    He could tell Leonel had done it on purpose, but there was nothing he could do about it except yell, retreat, and attack again.

    Blasts continued to echo, and the duo left a trail of booms in their wake.

    However, when Leonel saw that his point had been proven, he pulled out a little more strength.

    His blade snuck through the gaps in the Overlord''s defenses, striking through his chest.

    BANG!

    Both of them landed heavily on the ground. Leonel stood above him, a foot placed on his chest and his blade running through his chest.

    He was calm and collected, his strength ringing true.

    "Many years ago, I was given a great favor by an elder of your Rapax. He acknowledged my talent and chose to grant me his most precious possession. This spear has saved my life more than once.

    "Today, I came here to finally repay that kindness. But the sights I''ve seen have greatly disappointed me. The Rapax shouldn''t show weakness just for the chance to ally with others."

    Confusion colored the faces of the Rapax. They wanted to believe Leonel, but how had he proven anything?

    That was when Leonel pointed at the young Sea God geniuses and their eyes widened.

 Chapter 2841 What to Do?

    Chapter 2841 What to Do?

    The Rapax were a simple-minded race, but they weren''t fools. Many of them understood immediately. Ultimately, they had still made quite a bit of progress through the Dimensions.

    The first to understand was Xenothrall, and his expression became ugly. Once again, his claws lengthened and his tail left slicing winds through the air. The wind pressure alone could have cut someone in two.

    It all settled in for them at once, and those that didn''t understand learned from those beside them.

    Down below, that was a clash of Overlords just now. With the strength the Sea Gods had displayed earlier, none of them should have survived this assault.

    They had all seen it. They hadn''t used any protective treasures, but rather relied on their own strength because there wasn''t time to pull such things out.

    And yet, while some had died, the majority had survived.

    How was that possible with the strength they had displayed earlier? Could it be that they were really holding back earlier and had only come to put on a show? How was this acceptable?

    The Rapax began to howl in agitation.

    What they didn''t know was that Leonel had purposely controlled the shockwaves to a level that the young geniuses could handle.

    Originally, he wanted to fight them one by one, but he knew that the Sea Gods would never allow this, so he pivoted to another plan.

    In this situation, there was nothing more important than optics, and he had won that game.

    All he had to do was keep the shockwaves to a level that they could just barely handle, and make it fast enough that they didn''t have time to bring out anything else to protect themselves.

    The moment he landed, he already expected everything that had happened, and from start to finish, they had played into his hands.

    Geniuses or not, there was no way these Sixth and Seventh Dimension "geniuses" could survive the clash of Overlords had Leonel not allowed it.

    And the worst part was that it was the perfect scheme.

    Even if the Overlord noticed, what could he do? Forcefully kill them himself?

    Not only would Leonel not allow him such a chance, how could he have the stomach do so such a thing?

    That was the final straw.

    Xenothrall attacked. His trembling tail became focused, and he pierced out.

    The blade of his tail was only a few centimetres from the Sea God''s throat, and yet the speed it exploded with in an instant was mind numbing.

    The Sea God''s expression became ugly, but he wasn''t slow to react.

    A shield of Water Force appeared around him.

    BOOM!

    The elevated noble region exploded, and a battle erupted in the skies.

    Leonel watched all of this from below, trying to figure out the best next step to take.

    He had done all of this on a whim because there was no better chance to turn this around. He had succeeded, but that also left him flying blind.

    Should he help openly or in secret? Should he help at all?

    Leonel''s wrist trembled and the blade of his jet black spear ripped the Overlord beneath him to shreds.

    With another sweep of his spear, every one of the Sea God geniuses was shredded to pieces.

    The obvious answer seemed to be to help. But the problem was that he had just used the pride of the Rapax to instigate this situation. If he helped Xenothrall out, he would be stomping on that very same pride.

    But at the same time, Xenothrall was an important cog in all of this.

    There was certainly someone else behind all of this happening. If Xenothrall died, which is what looked would happen, then Leonel had no idea what the fallout might be. In fact, that might even help whoever was in the background.

    Now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

    What to do?

 Chapter 2842 You...

    Chapter 2842 You...

    Leonel still wasn''t sure of exactly what to do. It was a troublesome position to be in. But ultimately, there was no other way to go about this.

    At the very least, this current position was still better than what would have happened had he just stood to the side and did nothing. At that point, the Rapax and Sea Gods would become allies and then he would be screwed.

    ''Hm... something is still odd here.''

    While he was certain that the Rapax had to be being controlled by someone, where were they?

    Also, Xenothrall''s actions didn''t seem like he was getting marching orders from someone else. He reacted much the same way any other Rapax would. If he was being led by someone else, why not take this step?

    Could it be that whoever was in the background was aware of the stubbornness of Rapax and decided to take this approach? Or was it that Leonel was wrong from the beginning and this olive branch the Sea Gods were extending was actually a method for the Barbarians to take control of both Races?

    Leonel had just spent quite a bit of time in the Oryx Domain, but other than a minor breakdown of history, there was nothing else to see.

    Because of that, it only seemed logical that the last of the three participants would be taking the Rapax as their refuge.

    There was another reason Leonel felt this way, too.

    The Sea Gods were an odd existence, the Human were an odd existence, and the Oryx were an odd existence. All three of these Races seemed to have the fingerprints of the Barbarians all over them, and it was this worry that had made Leonel so cautious to begin with.

    The Rapax seemed like the only option for anyone looking to take things over.

    The battle in the skies were quickly reaching its climax. Xenothrall was very obviously on his back foot, though it was unlikely that the Rapax present could tell the different. Those two Overlords were simply moving too fast. The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    Leonel looked down from the skies, and toward the scattered remains of the Overlord he had just killed. He hadn''t allowed his soul to dissipate just yet.

    This black spear was, certainly, excellent by Incomplete World standards. But there was a reason that Leonel hadn''t made use of it in a long time.

    He was able to casually conjure a spear that was far better with this one on a whim, and there were even several spears in the Spear Domain Ring that were superior. But Leonel had abandoned even that ring.

    It didn''t make sense for a Rapax of a Complete World to care so much.

    Rapax wasn''t excellent Crafters, per se. But that was because they only specialized in the creation of one type of Craft: weapons. They also didn''t even use conventional methods.

    If Leonel walked into a Rapax''s workshop right now, it would look more like a blacksmith''s shop from 1500 AD Earth.

    Even so, their weapons were some of the most sought after, and yet unpurchasable, items in Existence. That was because they treated their weapons so sacredly that they would never sell them for money.

    They only gave it to those they deemed worthy.

    The eyes of the Rapax told another story as well.

    There was confusion, hesitancy, some killing intent, and then it went back to confusion.

    After staring at the weapon for a long while, it seemed to have realized something, and then it looked at Leonel.

    "You..." he spoke in a forced human tongue that sounded a bit gravelly and uncomfortable for him. "... You are Leonel Morales?"

    Leonel froze, and if not for his sheer control over his body, he would have collapsed.

    He realized who this Rapax must be now, but he also wanted to slap a palm to his forehead.

 Chapter 2843 Third Purchaser

    Chapter 2843 Third Purchaser

    Leonel sighed inwardly. He had no plans to admit such a thing so publicly, but this was a huge issue.

    Denying it wasn''t enough when he was playing on a chessboard with so many intelligent people pulling their own strings.

    He played his part and looked at the green runed Rapax with a deadpan expression that underlined his confusion. But his mind was already whirling at a thousand miles a second.

    Soon, it was likely that his identity would be exposed, and he never thought for a second that it would happen this way.

    If he was caught between a rock and a hard place before, right now he might as well have a meteor falling from above as well.

    This was a terrible situation caused by the innocent words of a young Rapax.

    This Rapax was, obviously, the very same one that Leonel had saved all those years ago. Back then, he could have absorbed his egg and gained a second Ability Index, but he hadn''t because he chose to value the Rapax''s life no differently than he would a human''s life.

    In Leonel''s opinion, absorbing that egg would have been no different from killing a baby in its cradle just for a little of extra power. That was unacceptable to him.

    Even now, after many of his views on morality had changed, he still wouldn''t do such a thing. His morals might have changed, but his bottom line remained the exact same.

    What Leonel didn''t expect was that this moment of mercy and grace would come back to bite him like this.

    Obviously, this was also the reason the young Rapax recognized the spear in his hand. This was the very same spear Leonel had received for saving him in the first place. The Rapax had respected his actions, and reciprocated in kind.

    He let go of a string of curses in his mind, but he simply continued to stare are the Rapax without a word.

    "... Maybe I am mistaken." The young Rapax shook his head.

    Leonel sighed. This young Rapax prince was absolutely terrible at lying.

    It was clear that though he hadn''t said as much, the blue runed Rapax was infuriated by the actions of the Sea Gods as well.

    Clearly, they had a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the Rapax did things. All of this was unacceptable to them, and it crossed their bottom line.

    The Sea God had no choice but to disappear into the horizon, realizing that if he did stay, he would be finished.

    The blue runed Rapax then looked toward Leonel and Xenothrall.

    "You two, come with me."

    After saying this, he turned and flickered into the distance. The young Rapax gave Leonel a look and then flashed after him as well.

    Xenothrall picked himself up and suppressed his injuries before following as well. Leonel was the last left. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he followed too. This could easily go south, but it was also the best chance he had to turn things around. Risk or not, it seemed that he would just have to rely on his spear.

    ...

    Soon, the four were deep in a Rapax castle. Once again, it was entirely formed of bone, but what was more impressive was that it seemed to be the carcass of just a single, enormous beast.

    It was likely that the first Rapax emperor of this world had slain this beast and thus built this castle as a memorial to their achievement.

    It was in the basement of this castle that they met.

    The blue runed Rapax ignored Xenothrall for a moment and looked right at Leonel.

    "You are the third purchaser."

    Leonel resisted the urge to give the green runed Rapax a glance. He still couldn''t believe that he had been exposed like this, of all things.

 Chapter 2844 Simpleminded

    Chapter 2844 Simpleminded

    Leonel didn''t respond, looking at the blue runed Rapax deeply.

    "Third purchaser?" He asked.

    "You don''t need to try to hide it. My race is a bit simpleminded, but we aren''t stupid. I can clearly see what sort you are."

    Leonel''s lip curled, and his body form changed. He grew ten inches and his features smoothed out, becoming more handsome. Not that it made a difference to the Rapax. To them, his change might as well have been a fox changing the tinge of their fur a bit. The Rapax were probably the only humanoid Race not obsessed with the actual human form. In a lot of ways, they were far more like beasts than they were like humanoids.

    "No, you don''t know what sort I am."

    "Then why did you just expose yourself?"

    "Because I felt like it. If you really knew something, it wouldn''t take a kid''s slip up to get you to question me."

    The young Rapax blushed. Well, his runes lit up a bit and flickered as he turned away. But same difference.

    "That''s not a really good enough reason." The blue runed Rapax replied, sending a glance at the young Rapax. He had never seen Shadowclaw react like this to anything. "How do you know Shadowclaw?"

    "I don''t," Leonel shrugged.

    "Is there a need to lie at this point?" The blue runed Rapax felt a bit annoyed by Leonel''s condor at this point. Ultimately, he was in the Seventh Dimension. In fact, he was in Tier 7, the higher stratosphere of the Dimension. Leonel, on the other hand, was just in the Fifth Dimension.

    In the Rapax culture, strength was respected above all, but Leonel had yet to do anything that made the blue runed Rapax respect him to that level. As far as he was concerned, the people of his Incomplete World were ants.

    In line with that, from start to end, he didn''t even look at Xenothrall. And by the same extension, Xenothrall kept his head lowered in deference to his strength.

    This was how things worked, but Leonel didn''t seem to understand that.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade as he extended a hand.

    "How about we introduce ourselves first, then? My name is Leonel Morales. What''s yours?"

    The blue runed Rapax looked at the hand and eventually extended one of his own. Barbed in sharp blade-like claws, it latched onto Leonel''s. But not an ounce of blood was shed.

    BANG!

    The air around their hands exploded, and ripples spread out in all directions. Xenothrall was forced several steps back, his body barely stabilizing when he was already over a hundred meters away.

    "..."

    The blue runed Rapax was stunned. He had expected to at least slice into Leonel''s hand, but nothing of the sort happened.

    "My name is Dreadmaw!" His voice boomed.

    He finally seemed to relax. In a twist of irony, when Leonel displayed his strength, he felt more instead of less at ease.

    He retracted his hand and gave Shadowclaw a glance.

    "We came here because of a disturbance. Some of our plans have to be accelerated because we need to be prepared for the Idol Battlefield. It is the most important ritual of our race and we have saved for generations for this moment. This is only our first step.

    "Somewhere in this Incomplete World, there is an anomaly. It is a mutated Sub-Dimensional Zone that we''ve decided is very important for Shadowclaw''s growth. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly where it is..."

    As Dreadmaw continued to speak, Leonel was truly speechless.

    This Rapax Race... weren''t they a little too trusting and simpleminded?

 Chapter 2845 Oracle

    Chapter 2845 Oracle

    Leonel found it all to be so amusing. Rather than distrusting him because of his strength, Dreadmaw actually trusted him more. It was so paradoxical. But this was exactly how Rapax were.

    It didn''t take much effort at all, and suddenly Dreadmaw was telling Leonel about plans he should have kept close to his vest.

    It was almost certain that only the highest echelons of the Rapax knew of this information, yet here he was spilling it all.

    After getting over the amusement, though, Leonel realized something else.

    This was all triggered by the Idol Battlefield? Then didn''t that mean that it was his fault that the Rapax were involved in this at all?

    No one knew even to this day that Leonel was at fault for its early appearance. In fact, until Leonel heard of information circulating about it, he hadn''t been aware of what he had done either.

    But in the end, how could he not put two and two together?

    He had felt his Spear and Bow Forces communicating with a distant plane, even though he had mostly been out of it during that time.

    How could he not understand that it was his fault at that point?

    Was this a good thing? Or a bad thing?

    It was hard to say. Who knew if the zone Dreadmaw was speaking of wasn''t something that he''d be very interested in as well? If it was something that could help Shadowclaw progress, then how could it not help him as well?

    At the same time, it would be difficult to get the Rapax to actually help him fight against the Barbarian Race because they might see it as "ganging up".

    Plus, they had come here without any intention of clashing with the Barbarian Race at all. So even if they didn''t have such a culture, they might reject it anyway, just purely because of the difficult position it would put their Race in.

    Alliances might have worked had they also been a Demi-God Race, but how could they be willing to go up against one as a mere Mortal Race themselves?

    This put Leonel in another tough situation. How could he best take advantage of the Rapax when all the matters he needed them for were likewise things they weren''t willing to do?

    In the end, he didn''t have enough information.

    "First, how about I settle for a reading of the Rapax''s historical records?"

    Until now, he had only managed to read the history from the Human Race''s perspective. As for the Oryx, he obviously hadn''t been able to. Much of the information he had gathered over there was built from eavesdropping and speculation.

    If he could get another piece of the puzzle, maybe it would be more obvious what he was dealing with.

    There were too many actions taken by the Barbarian Race that he didn''t quite understand.

    Dreadmaw gave him a confused look, but in the end, there was no reason for him to refuse.

    Soon, Leonel was going through the records of the Rapax, if they could even be called that. They felt quite bare bones, but this had its benefits as well.

    The Rapax were bound by their honour and culture, so they rarely, if ever, embellished tales. They always told it exactly like how it was, even if it made them look bad.

    As Leonel began to cross-reference what he had learned from the Human Race with this recounting, he found that several pieces of the puzzle were being swiftly filled.

    That was when he stumbled onto something that made his eyes narrow.

    The "Oracle".

    That was something referenced in this history again and again. It told of a woman of the Sea Gods capable of seeing the future and how she not only single-handedly allowed them to rise, but was also capable of passing down her ability...

    Just how similar was that to the Barbarian Race''s abilities?

 Chapter 2846 If

    Chapter 2846 If

    The word "Oracle" in the Rapax language was not quite a noun. It was more like a cross between one and a verb, being used to refer to action just as much as it did a noun.

    Many words in the Rapax language were like this, making it quite confusing to read. It was like constantly describing people by what they could do rather than who they were. Like always calling a person a "soccer player" because they played soccer, as though they didn''t have a name of their own.

    But this was natural in their culture. That was because they respected what you did far more than who you were or who you might be related to.

    As such, they never referred to this person by name, but it was clear and obvious who they were referring to.

    At the same time, it also made one thing stand out to Leonel... and that was that this title was being passed along again and again. In that case, could it be that what they called Oracle was their translated version of Wise Sea Order?

    When Leonel pieced this together, he also came to understand something else.

    He had already concluded that the Barbarians were almost certainly acting for the sake of raising their station in Existence to Godhood.

    In that case, was it a coincidence that the Sea Gods happened to share one of the core abilities of the Barbarians in that case?

    Not just this, but it would also explain several other things.

    Why did the Sea Gods suddenly attack before his rain plan could take full effect? How was Sashae so decisive? How had the Sea Gods appeared here in the Rapax Domain right before he had been set to arrive?The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

    He had already learned from Dreadmaw that their arrival was not even more than three days ago. They had all this time to establish a connection with the Rapax and only just managed to capitalize on it?

    Could it be that his feeling was correct? That feeling of being watched, or at least that he was being outmaneuvered on several fronts?

    He even began to wonder if the arrival of Shadowclaw was also within this "Oracle''s" plans for no other reason than to expose his real identity.

    Maybe that was a bridge too far, but Leonel didn''t dismiss the possibility. In this sort of situation, he couldn''t afford to ignore any possibility.

    Anastasia was surprised by this command, especially since Leonel had put so much effort into telling her just how careful they had to be. But now he had done a complete 180.

    Even so, she followed through.

    "It will take a couple of days."

    Leonel nodded. He already knew as much. Last time, when he had been trying to find a Vital Star Force Innate Node to help Aina, it had also taken a while.

    Even the Rapax, who certainly had Gods among their ranks, didn''t have a method of quickly finding the mutated Zone they were looking for. If there was one thing that Incomplete Worlds were, it was impossibly vast, filled with endless empty space.

    It wasn''t easy to find everything in them. And in this regard, Leonel had an advantage.

    He had been hiding this advantage for the sake of his identity, and also the fact that exposing it might also reveal that he still had the Segmented Cube, which would in turn reveal that he likely still had the Life Tablet as well.

    But since they wanted to play games, he would play games with them.

    There was no gain without loss. He had already taken a huge risk by coming here. If he allowed it to slip from his fingers now, there would be no going back.

    As expected, there were several forces hidden in the Incomplete World that sensed this all-encompassing sweep, but since Leonel didn''t care, neither did Anastasia.

    Leonel walked out of the library, having read everything.

    His mind had already shifted to the next topic. And that was whether he should tell the Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw where the Zone they were looking for was when Anastasia inevitably found it.

    He had already saved Shadowclaw''s life once. He didn''t owe the young Rapax anything more.

    If this Zone was useful to him, he would take it without hesitation.

 Chapter 2847 Resonating

    Chapter 2847 Resonating

    "I''m going to spend the next few days here," Leonel said to Dreadmaw.

    Dreadmaw didn''t react much to these words. He didn''t care very much at all. Instead, he was focused on the powerful sense that was constantly washing over them.Thi/s chapter is updated by

    When he finally looked at Leonel, he seemed to be frowning.

    "Are you related to this?" Dreadmaw asked.

    Leonel looked up and then shrugged before walking away.

    Dreadmaw blinked as Leonel vanished into the castle, presumably just randomly taking up a room for him. He wasn''t sure how to react to that answer. Leonel didn''t confirm it or deny it, which actually left him even more confused.

    Unfortunately for Dreadmaw, he wasn''t nearly as good at reading human mannerisms as Leonel was at reading Rapax habits. So to him, Leonel''s shrug was no different from nothing at all.

    Obviously, Leonel knew this and took advantage.

    In the end, they weren''t partners, and if the situation warranted it, they would likely clash. Leonel couldn''t hope to rely on Shadowclaw''s favor to win over the entire Rapax Race. That would be foolish.

    He had to do this on his own.

    ...

    Entering the room of bone, Leonel chuckled.

    The Rapax "beds" weren''t mattresses at all. Instead, they were pods that looked like crystal clear pods. Inside, there was a goo thicker than oil, but not quite as dense as jello. When they slept, they would be enveloped within it.

    Leonel didn''t mind, and actually leapt into it. Feeling the cool liquid envelop him, he actually let out a visible sigh of comfort.

    He didn''t feel wet, and the odd liquid didn''t even block his ability to breathe normally. It just felt like he was covered in a slightly cool to the touch material that pulled his body temperature down to the perfect level for sleep.

    He would definitely have to try out the different methods of the various races, because this was certainly far better than a mattress.

    The fact it took Leonel of all people a full day to fully grasp this, this was obviously easier said than done. But at this point, there was little choice left in this matter.

    ''In that case, let''s try something out.''

    "Anastasia, have you finished a map of the Rapax Domain?"

    "Yes," her reply came swiftly.

    "Give me the location of all active Zones at and above the Fifth Dimension and above. Give Aina all the ones at the Fourth Dimension. We''re setting out."

    "Okay."

    Leonel didn''t want to test the Regulator too much, so he wouldn''t break the rules. He would stick to the Zones he was allowed to enter.

    As for their entry limits and such... did he still need to be concerned with any of that?

    So long as there were no surprises, he might be finished before Anastasia was done mapping out the entire Incomplete World.

    Leonel set off and began to clear the Zones one after another. Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw probably weren''t even aware that he had left.

    He didn''t concern himself with this.

    The sudden closing of so many Zones was peculiar to the Rapax, but as a simple-minded Race, most didn''t notice that anything was wrong yet. They just assumed that one of their own had done it.

    Surprisingly, Leonel also found that completing these Zones deepened his understanding of the world around him as well.

    He got to see so many different types of techniques and methods molded by the laws of this world that he was quickly building an array of understanding in his mind.

    When he stepped out of a Zone, the number of which he hadn''t bothered to count, Anastasia''s voice rang in his ears.

    "Finished."

 Chapter 2848 Danger

    Chapter 2848 Danger

    Leonel''s eyes lit up. This was excellent timing. He was almost finished with the Zones, but he also didn''t want to completely clear them just yet.

    As he had gone about clearing them, Leonel had realized something unfortunate... that being that clearing these Zones wasn''t going to be enough to raise the potential of this world to the standard that he needed.

    Not only would he need to clear them, but it seemed that he would need to continue until all the worlds were raised to at least the Eighth Dimension.

    Thanks to his comprehension of what it meant to resonate with the world, he was beginning to get a deeper understanding of how the world around him changed as he exerted influence on it.

    Thanks to that, at least in the Rapax Domain, he could tangibly feel the shifts in its potential as he cleared the Zones one after another.

    This was yet another problem that he would have no choice but to face. He wasn''t even sure where to begin.

    It had to be remembered that not all planets had Eighth Dimensional potential. The reason Earth was so valuable in the Dimensional Verse was precisely because it was the first planet of the Human Domain born with such potential.

    But that didn''t mean that it was helpless either.Thi/s chapter is updated by

    Back then, thanks to the birth of their Constellation, the Morales territory had also risen to the Eighth Dimension despite originally being a territory with only a Seventh Dimensional ceiling.

    This meant that while his task had gotten even harder, it still wasn''t impossible quite yet. In fact, Leonel had two solid potential paths that he could take, and he was beginning to understand that there was at least a method to his father''s madness.

    The first was to pick the only Eighth Dimensional world of the Rapax Domain and force it to swallow and raise the potential of the other Folds of Reality in its vicinity. Once that was finished, he could then focus on the individual worlds.

    With the help of the Eighth Dimensional world, it should be easier to raise their standards as well.

    The second path was to focus on each world individually, raising each one of them to the Eighth Dimension independently.

    Leonel really didn''t want to know what entering the Seventh Dimension would entail if this was how difficult it was to clear the Sixth already. He hadn''t even quite begun to move through the Fifth Dimension yet because he needed to absorb World Spirits with God-level potential to do that.

    It was all a great headache.

    But it was undeniably the kind of power that came with it.

    Leonel had a feeling that once he succeeded, maybe his body would no longer even be of a Demi-God standard. Even if he didn''t quite reach the standard of a God in the end, he should certainly reach the pinnacle of Demi-Godhood.

    At that point, his only competition would be the geniuses of the God Races.

    As it should be.

    The map that Anastasia created began to project in Leonel''s mind and he got quite the lay of the land. He had the location of each Zone in the region, and soon he spotted the mutated anomaly that Dreadmaw was speaking of.

    But what was curious was that there wasn''t just one, there were three.

    "Anastasia, did you analyze the Zones?"

    "Yes, I did."

    "The three large mutated ones that almost look like Domains themselves. What are they?"

    Anastasia hesitated a bit, but Leonel was patient, wondering what made her react like this.

    "... They''re very dangerous... I don''t know what happened, but they''ve been touched by Gods."

 Chapter 2849 Clash

    Chapter 2849 Clash

    Leonel''s pupils constricted when he heard this. What sense did this make?

    "You mean that it''s a God-level challenge?"

    "Not exactly... but unlike the normal Zones here... I wouldn''t trust that only Races of this world would appear."

    "Show me their objectives."

    "Okay."

    -

    [Name: Fleeting Cloud]

    [Entry Limit: -]

    [Clear Requirements: Resurrect the Cloud Race]

    [Side Quest: Raise Cloud Race to the standard of True Mortal Race]

    [Side Quest: Find mutated issue with Cloud Figure and fix it]

    [Hidden Quest: Create new race of the Demi-God standard]

    [Objective: The history of the Cloud Race is a long and storied one. However, under mysterious circumstances, they were destroyed by the people of this world. Time tells of a hidden force that obstructed their hope and blinded their light. Eradicate this blight on their history and help them to recover to their previous peak]

    -

    Leonel blinked after reading the first.

    He was used to the first few lines. Entry limit, the quests and hidden quests were all normal. But this objective was something different and must have been something that Anastasia added herself.

    While the words were shocking themselves, what annoyed Leonel the most was that these "objectives" would have been very useful back in the days he actually needed them.

    Unfortunately, Anastasia was mostly asleep during those days. She couldn''t have helped him, even if she wanted to.

    Regardless, the words themselves were shocking.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m The Cloud Race? Raising to the standard of a true Mortal Race? Creating a new Race?

    [Side Quest: Grasp the secrets to the omnipotence of the Sea Gods]

    [Hidden Quest: Create new race of the Demi-God standard]

    [Objective: The Sea Gods are a mysterious Race that has never existed before and may never exist again. Legends say that they were once part of a mighty Race, distilled down and mutated to the point of non-recognition. Be wary, as the power lurking in the depths of their soul is not to be trifled with. They are existences that rule the Seas, and might one day rule the lands as well.]

    -

    After reading through the last, Leonel received exactly the confirmation he was looking for.

    One after another, it painted the picture clear as day.

    Weren''t these three Zones representing the three Races that the Barbarians were using to break into Godhood? And in that case, were they using these Zones much like the Zones of the Void Palace had been used in the Dimensional Verse? As places to harvest and test out their gains?

    Leonel was slowly starting to get a picture of what was happening.

    Experimenting on the current Races was good, but it was hard to test and retest your results.

    However, if you set a standard in a world, and then slowly tweaked the initial conditions to your liking... and then you allowed Zones to be formed that acted almost like a freeze frame of time...

    How much more progress could you make like this?

    It was just like the Dwarven Zone back in the Void Palace. They were able to clear it over and over and over again, using it for training. Leonel had even been able to get an understanding of the Dwarven Race''s Force Arts by entering that Zone.

    If he had wanted to use it for experimentation, couldn''t he had done exactly that?

    "Anastasia, show me an image of the correct situation of those three Zones."

    "Okay."

    The images were projected into Leonel''s mind, and he nodded. It was as he expected.

    Anastasia had left out some key details, like the fact those three locations were all being heavily guarded.

    It seemed to be under the supervision of multiple different Races, but Leonel wasn''t a fool. He bet that there were several disguised Barbarians among them, and they had a vested interest in ensuring that not a single person entered.

    Leonel suddenly grinning ear to ear.

    Of course, that wasn''t because his task had suddenly gotten so much more difficult. It was because the Rapax were wrong.

    They would have to clash with the Barbarians whether they wanted to or not.

 Chapter 2850 Blow

    Chapter 2850 Blow

    The Rapax had come with the assumption that their goal wouldn''t interfere with everyone else''s, but in the end, it seemed that only Leonel''s goal was completely different. That said, whether Leonel liked it or not, he would definitely have to clear those three Zones if he wanted a shot at raising the standard of this Incomplete world to a decent level. These three Zones were probably the biggest obstacle.

    They were so large that they took up entire Domains. It was no wonder this world only had four Domains while Leonel''s own Incomplete world had had several more. The question, then, was how best to take advantage of this.

    He already knew that the Rapax didn''t like to team up with others to accomplish their goals, but how stubborn would they be? And also, what if he didn''t make his own involvement obvious?

    There was another problem as well.

    Leonel simply didn''t trust the Rapax to perfectly clear the Zones.

    What Leonel needed wasn''t just for the Zones to be gone, but he needed even their Hidden Quests to be perfectly cleared. Only that way would the issues in the Folds of Reality be perfectly smoothed out and give them the best chance.

    The Rapax presumably only wanted to enter for a very specific purpose, so it was unknown if they would go all out to clear the Zones properly, like he would. So he also couldn''t justify letting them enter alone.

    What was interesting was that these Zones were so warped and mutated that there was no entry limit at all.

    That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how he looked at it.

    On the one hand, it was unlikely that anyone could stop him from entering the Zone based on that alone.

    But on the other, it meant that he couldn''t do that either. After he entered, there would be nothing stopping others from doing so as well.

    Although Zones had a bit of a timer that would allow them to slowly close even if the limit wasn''t hit, with how powerful the Barbarian Race was, how could such a slow timer impede them?

    There was another matter that probably was the most difficult to deal with, and that was the gateways and treasures the Barbarian Race was using to keep the Zones stable. It was similar to what the Void Palace had used back in the Dimensional Verse, but far more elaborate, and obviously much larger as well.

    The problem wasn''t the gateways themselves, but rather what they represented.

    If the Barbarians wanted to use the Zones for experiments, it obviously meant that they wanted to enter and leave as they pleased. What did this mean? It meant that even if the objectives were cleared, the Zones wouldn''t necessarily close down.

    "You should listen first, because the details aren''t what you''re going to like. You were wrong about your goal being different in the third part. In fact, there are three Zones like the one you describe, and each one of them is being guarded by them."

    "You know who this third party is?" Dreadmaw suddenly asked.

    "I might. But that''s not information I would necessarily give you, now is it?"

    "But you''re giving us information about the location of the Zone we''re looking for?"

    "Well, I''ve told you I know where it is, but I haven''t told you exactly where it is. Also, you should know my words are true, or else how would you have still not found it after all this time? They''re clearly taking steps to hide it on top of guarding it with some of their strongest."

    Indeed. The Zones were as large as entire Domains, they were practically impossible to spot. Clearly, the Barbarian Race was using special methods to hide them. Leonel just hadn''t quite looked into it yet. Whatever they were, it clearly hadn''t bothered Anastasia even the slightest bit.

    "... And you want us to fight these people?"

    "Well, to be clear, you would have to fight them, regardless. Unless, of course, you''re willing to throw away all the money you spent getting this information in the first place. Are you willing?"

    Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw looked toward one another. They truly weren''t. That was the accumulated wealth of countless generations. They hadn''t touched any of that money since the last time the Idol Battlefield appeared.

    Shadowclaw was far from the only one they were investing in, but it was certainly a heavy investment, nonetheless.

    "What do you want to do?" Dreadmaw asked slowly. "The Rapax are not cowards who gang up on others."

    Leonel chuckled. "I just want to blow up some stuff."

    It was time he flipped the table.

    It was absolute madness, but that was exactly what he wanted.

    He wanted to fuse all three Zones together.

 Chapter 2851 Path

    Chapter 2851 Path

    These last few days had allowed Leonel to comprehend and calculate a lot of things.

    Though fusing the Zones into one was the move of an absolute maniac, it was also one that he felt like, after some calculation, was also a viable path to take.

    There was one very obvious problem in his path to perfect this Incomplete World by clearing all of its Zones...

    And that was the problem of what had happened to Zones that had already long since failed?

    Just looking at those three enormous mutated Zones that had swallowed up three entire Domains, had they not already bent and twisted this world beyond recognition?

    Could just clearing Zones that had already swallowed up so much of this world''s potential be enough?

    The more Leonel thought about it, and the more he learned, the more unlikely he felt that it was.

    If he wanted to do something unprecedented, like raise this world to one with the potential to become a God Realm in the future, then he would have to do something equally as unprecedented.

    Back in the Dimensional Verse, Leonel had entered a Zone that allowed him to even take over the body of a real God like El''Rion.

    Now that he thought about it, this was absolutely unprecedented and shocking.

    He had truly felt what it was like to have the body of a God, and because of his Ability Index, he could perfectly recall this experience.

    What was shocking, though, was that every time he did so, it felt like he was trying to recall memories from his Enlightened Self. The memories were so numerous and detailed that it was still too much, even for his current self to go through.

    As such, it could only sit there, useless in his psyche. It was also a reminder of just how large the gap between his current self and real Gods were, even if they were just a child like El''Rion.

    Leonel shook his head. This was disappointing, but not the end of the world.

    "We will need to secure the Ancient Battlefield first, one way or another. I will mobilize the Human Race. You must do the same for the Rapax."

    "Why?"

    "Because, as I told you, the Zones have mutated so far that they take up entire Domains. But you must have been to the Ancient Battlefield already, right? Have you thought about why there only seem to be four entrances and exists? The Ancient Battlefield should have a path to all Domains, so why doesn''t one existence for any of these three?"

    Dreadmaw''s gaze flicker and Leonel nodded before continuing.

    "This third party has clearly set up some sort of elaborate ruse or protective formation. We''ll need to secure the Ancient Battlefield so that we can actually find the location of these paths to begin with. Only then can we take action."

    Leonel explained a rough outline of his plans before leaving.

    "Anastasia, give me a detailed few of those gateways."

    Leonel wanted to fully analyze the treasures suppressing the Zones from growing any larger and stabilizing them.

    He needed a plan, a perfect plan. One that could deal with a woman that could supposedly see the future.

    Leonel didn''t believe that there existed such an infallible ability. Even Aina''s clairvoyance of her own body had its limits. An ability that could supposedly see through the future of so many wide-ranging things was bound to be imperfect.

    He just had to find where the crack was and force his knife in with a twist.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed.

    He could see a path toward making this Incomplete World his own.

 Chapter 2852 Surpassed

    Chapter 2852 Surpassed

    Leonel entered his workshop, his mind racing. It was hard to tell exactly what he needed, but the possibilities felt endless. Unfortunately, sometimes, having too many paths to take was as good as having none.

    What he needed were a few good paths so that he could focus all of his attention on them.

    His gaze flickered as he took a breath.

    Since things had already reached this point, he would go all out.

    The Human Domain couldn''t be considered to have returned to its height. The time that had passed had been too short, and the turmoil had yet to return to a state of rest.

    However, Leonel had already said it once before.

    He hadn''t come here to play King. He had a very specific purpose, and the stability of the Human Race had nothing to do with him.

    He had already saved them once. Without his existence, they would have already been wiped out by the Sea Gods.

    As such, he didn''t hesitate for even a moment as he mobilized them in full force and began marching toward the Ancient Battlefield.

    The blood of the humans boiled. They had been suppressed for years. The idea that they could have their revenge like this, and so quickly, was something that moved them all.

    Very few had the insight to see that this wasn''t the smartest thing to do. And even if they did, they could only sigh and keep their thoughts to themselves.

    The reality was that even these intelligent scholars had no way to explain how it was that Leonel had been able to accomplish what he already had. Who were they to say that he wouldn''t be able to do this as well?

    Who could have ever guessed that the Humans would ever come back like this?

    The sigh echoed across the whole of the Oryx Domain, and as though hearing a call, several female Oryx rushed in. Each one held a piece of armor.

    They appeared before the Oryx Emperor as he stood to his feet.

    He didn''t move again, but the maids stripped him of his clothing and clicked his armor into place, one after another.

    After they were done, it all looked comical. The armor was far too big for the hunched old man and it even looked more like a cosplay gone wrong than anything else.

    But it was at that moment that the old man swapped his cane for a great sword, one with a blade tall and thicker than his body.

    The sigh echoing through the Oryx Domain suddenly became a roar and the old Oryx'' body expanded. His horns grew polished and vibrant and his skin smoothed out. White fur erupted across his body and soon he stood at more than five meters tall.

    He almost lazily slung the great sword over his shoulder and began to walk.

    Reality shattered before him as though opening up a portal and he continued to move forward, crossing entire worlds as though he were taking a stroll.

    As he moved, his aura continued to grow. Leaping before the Seventh Dimension and then entering the Eighth.

    Even without trying, his strength permeated an entire Domain, his power shaking the bounds of the Incomplete World and almost shattering it entirely.

    And yet, he seemed somehow capable of staying just beneath what the Regulator was willing to allow.

    Leonel stood not far from the entrance to the Ancient Battlefield, looking up with a pensive expression.

    To think that the Oryx would have someone who surpassed the bounds of Overlord.

 Chapter 2853 Third

    Chapter 2853 Third

    Leonel closed his eyes.

    The only person he had ever seen to exhibit this level of power while under the constraints of being born and raised in an Incomplete World was his father. When he sensed it, he almost found himself getting annoyed, but he was able to remain quite calm in the end.

    This Oryx Emperor wasn''t nearly as powerful as his father was. But since he had chosen to be the lapdog of the Sea Gods and Barbarian Race, this would only end in one way.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed open. "We''ll end this as swiftly as possible."

    BANG!

    The ground beneath his exploded, and war erupted.

    Leonel appeared high above the Ancient Battlefield. He had never seen it from this perspective before, but standing there, and watching the armies swarm beneath him, he felt a mysterious feeling in his heart.

    He could practically sense the thoughts of the Regulator and how it didn''t want this to happen. It was something that Leonel never thought would happen.

    The Regulator didn''t have emotions, it functioned solely based on instincts, instincts that should tend toward helping their world to evolve. It was clear that the Regulator felt that this was a detriment to the overall situation, and yet it could do nothing about it at all because most of the involved parties were members of its world.

    If the Regulators were infallible, then even the Gods wouldn''t be able to do anything about their existence. The fact that they were used as currency exchange was more than enough to paint the picture of the true reality.

    Leonel slotted this into the back of his mind, not sure if it would be useless or not in the future, but still willing to take note of it, nonetheless.

    BANG!

    Leonel descended and landed amidst a sea of Oryx warriors. He calmly took out the black spear, its black fog radiating out in all directions.

    When he said that he would end this early, he meant it with every fiber of his being. Folloow current novE?ls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)

    Of his three-year time period, two months had already been eaten up, and he felt like the guillotine was about to be dropped on his neck.

    He seemed to have a great deal of time, but how could the Barbarian Race be easy to deal with? Even if they were, how long would it take to clear the monstrosity of a fused Zone he was about to create? And even if that was easy, how long would it take him to refine the world to the level he wanted for it?

    At that moment, his spear flickered.

    The separating Sword Force was suddenly forced into a single point before it pierced ahead, appearing before the Oryx Emperor in the blink of an eye.

    The old Oryx was caught off guard, neither expecting his Sword Force to be dealt with so easily, nor for it to be stripped from him and used against him.

    How was that even possible? How could you use Sword Force as Spear Force? And why did it feel even stronger than his own?

    BANG!

    The Oryx Emperor quickly blocked before his chest, his heels digging into the ground as he slid back hard.

    Leonel watched this calmly. He had actually managed to block a blow.

    Although Leonel didn''t display it, he knew that his Spear Force had reached a new level even after entering this Incomplete World. He was barely a fraction of the way away from the Creation State.

    Of course, he hadn''t used his Spear Force just now. But it was still more than this Oryx Emperor should have been able to deal with.

    The cheers of the humans came from his back as the Oryx Emperor looked solemn.

    He looked up, his murky eyes meeting Leonel''s gaze.

    At that moment, he realized that he couldn''t hold back.

    Slowly, his third eye began to open up, and the world froze.

    A violent swirl of Time Force took shape, and the battlefield froze, even the cheers of the humans falling on deaf ears as even sound failed to travel.

    The third eye was just as murky as the other two.

    But the power it held was on another level.

 Chapter 2854 No Longer

    Chapter 2854 No Longer

    Of all the Forces in the world, Time Force was the one that Leonel ran into the most rarely. In fact, he had never even truly battled one himself.

    Old Hutch''s grandson was defeated by James, while that mysterious participant of the Gathering of Kingdoms was defeated by Aina. Leonel himself couldn''t remember ever facing such a person.

    What he was wondering now was if this was an Ability Index or a Lineage Factor. If it was the latter, he would have to change his approach because there would certainly be more than one of them. And it became clear a moment later that it was the former.

    A beam of light came from the Oryx Emperor''s forehead and appeared before Leonel in the blink of an eye.

    It was entirely undodgeable, even for Leonel, who was far above the standards of this world. It was clear that it was relying on Time Force.

    Although there should have been a lag between when the technique was activated and when it landed on Leonel, it was instead like it had happened instantly.

    Leonel immediately felt himself slow immediately. Even his Absolute Domain couldn''t seem to block it. Time Force seemed to be beyond his ability to assimilate and strip away from an opponent.

    The Oryx Emperor charged toward him, and it suddenly felt to Leonel like he had returned to the Valiant Heart Zone and was facing Normand the Speedster once again.

    The difference in their speed was so great that it felt like in the next second, he would be split in two.

    But much like he had when he faced off against Normand, Leonel used the exact same trick.

    Just as the Oryx Emperor raised a foot to continue his stride, a rock subtly appeared right in the path of his foot. Updated from

    He didn''t even notice it.

    Controlling Earth Force was almost impossible under normal circumstances. Controlling Earth Force in the midst of all of this Anarchic Force was definitely impossible.

    Even with all his battle experience, the Oryx Emperor never expected for such a thing to happen.

    Leonel pressed a palm against the Oryx Emperor''s forehead and forced him to kneel.

    The old Oryx felt its body crumbling from the inside out. The power of Destruction Sovereignty was even more potent in an Incomplete World where the world''s laws had no ability to stabilize what was happening.

    This also made the chains around Leonel suddenly tighten as the Regulator grew agitated. Clearly, it was scared that he might destroy the entire world.

    But Leonel now had a deeper understanding of the Regulator now than he ever had before.

    It worked on instinct and a strict set of laws... but it was also somewhat like a child. It had emotions, or rather thoughts, that could be misconstrued as emotions, and it could be... coaxed.

    The Dream World and the Regulator both exist in the Second Dimension, and by using his access to the Dream World as a medium to communicate with the Regulator, Leonel could actually calm its agitation and reassure it.

    Of course, if he truly crossed the Regulator''s bottom line, it wouldn''t hesitate to destroy him. This was why, while the Regulator could be said to have something that was adjacent to emotions, it still wasn''t quite like this.

    However, Leonel was beginning to learn how to weaken the suppression he faced, and by extension, he was gaining more and more access to his true strength.

    He even had a feeling that methods the others used to deal with the Regulator and break its rules worked similarly to this. This should explain how the Four Great Families had been able to descend as Ninth Dimensional existences.

    If it was truly related to Dream Force as well, it might also explain why the Barbarians didn''t have methods that were as good... especially if the Four Great Families were remnants experiments of the God Beasts of Creation.

    If things continued like this, Leonel might be able to regain all of his strength.

    By then, he would really have a chance to ensure his victory.

    A BOOM! echoed through the Ancient Battlefield.

    Seems they can''t wait any longer.

 Chapter 2855 No Longer (2)

    Chapter 2855 No Longer (2)

    Leonel finished suppressing the Oryx Emperor and sent him into the Segmented Cube. Time Force had always been interesting to him, and the evolution of the Oryx of this plane was equally as interesting. At the very least, the Barbarian Race had succeeded far better than Leonel ever had.

    In this regard, it was actually a bit embarrassing. That was because, unlike the Oryx in this world, the Oryx of the Dimensional Verse were in a state of Hyper Evolution. That meant it should have been even easier for Leonel.

    In truth, if the Barbarian Race knew that Leonel had a hoard of Oryx in a state of Hyper Evolution, they''d be champing at the bit to take them away from him.

    It was definitely important for Leonel to get Aina to see what she could glean from the Oryx Emperor, who was clearly the biggest success story of this race.

    After seeing what Aina managed to do with the Sea Gods, Leonel had more confidence in this. Plus, he didn''t forget that one of the Quests of the Oryx Sub-Dimensional Zone was related to Hyper Evolution.

    Once the three Zones fused, it was hard to tell what might happen. So, Leonel had to give himself as much advantage as possible on this front.

    Leonel looked up to find a sea of eyes in triplets. The fury of the Oryx had begun to boil over, but he directly ignored them. Looking off into the distance and seen a sea of Sea Gods rushing into the battlefield.

    ''Finally. Now I can really do this.''

    Leonel took a step and appeared high in the air. Taking a breath, it felt like all the Anarchic Force in the region was suddenly forcefully dispersed. In its place, purified air rushed into Leonel''s lung.

    The longer he spent on the Ancient Battlefield, the clearer his understanding of the Regulator became, and the more of his original power that he recovered.

    Filling himself up to the brim, his spear tip suddenly trembled.

    Emulation Spatial Force caused the black tip of his blade to glow silver-gold and he suddenly pierced out just a single time.

    The scene could only be described as Armageddon. Streaks of spear light filled the skies and dispersed like an umbrella, pooling downward and killing the armies below in waves of thousands.

    The earth trapped them from below, and the spear reaped their lives from above.

    Leonel''s black spear spun once more, a blade appearing on its butt and forming a dual scythe that twisting around his waist.

    A cyclone shot out with him as the center and the four Sea Gods were shredded to pieces.

    From start to finish, everything was so smooth and unbothered. Leonel didn''t even use his Forces even a single time.

    He really listened and felt, trying to understand exactly what this world wanted.

    Ironically, as he listened and became more in tune with the world, the Regulator released its pressure even without him coaxing it.

    When his comprehension and his control over the Dream World layered atop of one another, he had already regained more than 50% of his true strength.

    Against this kind of power, those of this world didn''t stand even a single chance.

    The roar of the humans deafened the battlefield as Leonel closed his eyes.

    In the far off distance, Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw''s gazes were filled with shock. Shadowclaw reacted first because he was quite used to Leonel''s feats, but Dreadmaw had a difficult time reconciling.

    They had vision unlike those here. They could see things they couldn''t as well. How could they not feel that the Regulator was slowly beginning to accept Leonel?

    What level of comprehension was this?

    Leonel slowly opened his eyes, and a crown of Dream Force formed above his head. At that point, although he wasn''t truly back, he felt like he could use much of his methods once again.

    With a step, the ground rumbled and three enormous hidden Force Arts were revealed, shocking everyone.

    They could no longer hide from Leonel.

 Chapter 2856 Leonel Morales

    Chapter 2856 Leonel Morales

    The first time Leonel came to the Ancient Battlefield, he hadn''t sensed these Force Arts at all. All this time he had been wondering one very simple thing...

    Why?

    He didn''t think himself to be infallible, but when it came to matters of Crafting and Force Arts, at least below the God level, there shouldn''t be enough of a gap for him to be completely fooled.

    At first, he thought that it was because he was suppressed. This was a good explanation, especially given what he was feeling now. The weaker the Regulator''s suppression became, the more he felt that he could sense.

    Even so... he felt that this wasn''t good enough.

    His Dream Force was simply too powerful, and those with Dream Force stronger than his own couldn''t enter this world, even if they wanted to.

    So how could his vision be obscured?

    The only answer to this question was that the Barbarians were ahead of him. They had managed to change three entire Domains because they had comprehended them so perfectly that they were capable of fundamentally changing it.

    That was when Leonel realized that he wasn''t the only one capable of comprehending an incomplete world, and it was na?беve of him to expect that he would be the only one to ever have such intentions.

    This essentially meant that compared to the Barbarian Race, he was even lacking in this matter as well.

    Essentially, to make a complicated matter simple, he hadn''t noticed the Force Arts because, to his senses, they were no different from a part of the world. It was akin to a Natural Force Art, but on an elevated level.

    If Leonel didn''t have Anastasia to tell him that there were definitely three enormous Sub-Dimensional Zones, he would have likely had the wool pulled over his eyes for a long while.

    But since he knew they were certainly there, how could they continue to hide from him? Thanks to this, Leonel was finally able to understand.

    It was a reminder to him that he might feel himself to be on the same level as Demi-God Crafters, but there were such a broad range of disciplines and applications of said disciplines that he wasn''t nearly experienced enough to say that he was infallible.

    He slotted these things to the back of his mind and then grinned. New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

    Although the Sea Gods were still on the battlefield, much like the Oryx, they were watching in confusion. They clearly had no idea what was happening, either. The information about all of this clearly hadn''t spread.

    Leonel suddenly smiled.

    BOOM! A powerful aura erupted.

    Talon, or rather the Sea God he was pretending to be, tore a path forward.

    When he saw Leonel, his eyes widened in shock before he became absolutely furious.

    He unleashed a barrage of attacks toward the Races beneath him, but Leonel''s aura flickered along with his spear, dispersing them all.

    "Just as weak as last time." Leonel commented indifferently.

    Talon''s eyes bulged, his small and large hammer appearing in his hands as he rushed toward Leonel.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! The duo exchanged several blows, but Talon was forced back again and again, unable to withstand the changes. While Leonel had gained more of his strength, Talon''s improvement by comparison was much slower.

    This was a different in Dream Force and comprehension. This was the difference between a Wise Star Order and a normal man.

    It was in his bones to document, to learn, to assimilate.

    What could a Barbarian do about that?

    BANG! Talon was sent flying back, crashing into the ground and leaving a crater that nearly split the Ancient Battlefield in two.

    "LEONEL MORALES!"

    The roar filled the skies as Talon''s disguise was ripped apart.

    Finally, the true Barbarian had made his appearance.

 Chapter 2857 Sorry

    Chapter 2857 Sorry

    Leonel looked down at Talon and then smiled.

    "You''ve lost weight," he said with a chuckle.

    Talon''s gaze flashed with red.

    He truly had. He had been a burly man, proud of iron belly and rippling muscles. But right now, he looked like a skeleton painted in loose skin. Chains flashed in and out of existence on him, and his own blood pooled down his body every time he tried to pull on more and more of his true strength.

    He had been in the Incomplete World for too short a time and his comprehension couldn''t compare to Leonel''s, on top of the fact his Demi-God constitution and Dimensional level were above the latter''s as well.

    Even so, despite the smile on his face, Leonel still felt like he was staring into the maw of a giant.

    This would be his first battle with a true Demi-God, and he could already feel the pressure.

    Red tattoos flashed over Talon''s body, and his hammers flashed with lightning.

    One hammer was long and had a head as large as his body. It seemed to have grown in size once again. Wild arcs of lightning bolted around it.

    The second was smaller and was the very one he used to Craft.

    Standing there, despite the weakness of his body, he truly seemed to be the reincarnation of a war god risen from the dead.

    His red runes flashed again, and he vanished.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed. ''Fast.''

    He side stepped, not reacting to Talon''s burst of action, but rather its precursors. If he waited for Talon to move first, he would be too slow.

    He could feel the aura of a Tier 4 from Talon, the radiant suppression of a Seventh Dimension existence blooming forth.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel met fierceness with skill, his wrists trembling after every attack, but the smile slowly fading from his eyes as his mind began to churn.

    He parried one hammer and closed the distance. Taking advantage of the range, he flashed a palm toward Talon''s chest.

    Unfortunately, Talon had one weapon with an exceptionally long pole arm, and another with a short.

    The battlefield seemed to flip. For every ten strikes of Leonel''s that hit air or were blocked by Talon, one slipped through, nicking across his skin and lacerating his flesh.

    "... in a battle of Crafting, you stand no chance at all..."

    Leonel''s voice echoed once more.

    His spear flashed, leaving shadows in the air that blotted out the skies. His blade seemed to be everywhere, a single strike seemingly capable of appearing in three places at once and piercing flesh just as many times.

    It was truly beautiful, especially as flashes of lightning dispersed and sparkled in sparks of gold and yellow.

    "... you didn''t believe me, and were crushed nonetheless..."

    Talon felt his blood boiling, but there was nothing he could do. He felt like history was repeating itself.

    Leonel was improving so quickly in battle that it didn''t make any sense, and seeing the beauty of his spear''s dance, Talon couldn''t help but wonder if the path of the Barbarian Race was truly wrong.

    "... But I want to apologize to you..."

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, slamming down.

    BANG!

    Talon''s hammer slammed into the ground and nearly cracked the Ancient Battlefield in half.

    Fragments spreading for hundreds of kilometers and the Barbarian fell to a knee.

    "... I told you that if it was a battle, you might actually stand a chance..."

    Leonel''s spear flickered once more and one of Talon''s arm flew into the air along with his other hammer.

    Blood sparkled a translucent ruby color as it arched amidst the dreary darkness of the Ancient Battlefield.

    Leonel had to admit that it was the most beautiful blood he had ever seen.

    "... But I lied. It seems you never stood a chance in either."

    Leonel''s spear pierced through Talon''s chest, pinning him to the ground.

    A rumbling echoed through his body as his foggy silver gold robes fluttered.

 Chapter 2858 Complacency

    Chapter 2858 Complacency

    Every one of Leonel''s words was like another knife through Talon''s heart. The Barbarian knew that Leonel was only speaking so much precisely to attack his psyche, but did it matter when it was true?

    He still remembered Leonel''s words from back then, and right now, he was being forced to face them again without even a chance to refute.

    He couldn''t even feel the pain in his chest. It wasn''t greater than what the Regulator had done to him. And even if it had been, it wouldn''t overcome what was in his heart.

    His psyche had taken a great blow and his gaze became a bit vacant.

    The vitality of a Barbarian Race existence was massive, probably even more than Leonel and his Life State Vital Star Force, even when his Northern Star Lineage Factor was taken into account.

    As such, definitely the blade through his chest, Talon wasn''t even close to dying, but did it matter?

    BANG!

    At that moment, the first of the enormous Force Arts shattered to pieces. Clearly, though their battle felt fast to the two of them, it had lasted quite a while.

    At the same time, Dreadmaw didn''t even quite know what he was looking at.

    Did a human... just beat a Barbarian? Since when was such a thing possible?

    Even for the geniuses amongst geniuses of the Mortal Races, existences that managed to become Gods in the end, such a feat was too impossibly rare.

    It was one thing if it was a normal Barbarian, but for such a thing to happen to a clear genius like Talon? The Rapax couldn''t even wrap his head around it.

    However, these thoughts couldn''t occupy his mind for long because a rush of energy began to fill the Ancient Battlefield.

    A surge of Force rushed in and Anarchic Force began to clash against it to hold it back.

    It had to be remembered the Zones were known as huge attractions to Invalids. Back on Earth, soon after the Metamorphosis, Leonel and Aina often had to fight off hoards of them in order to access Zones.

    This was precisely because of the Force they radiated.

    Sensing it now, and on such a large scale, it wasn''t just Dreadmaw who was in awe, but Leonel as well.

    Leonel especially began to gain a different outlook of Zones. It wasn''t just that they were gathering Force, they were quite literally expelling it on an enormous scale.

    Sub-Dimensional Zones might, quite literally, create Force!

    If he wanted this victory, he wouldn''t have to just force Talon to take a loss...

    He would have to force the Barbarian Race itself into submission.

    And the kind of task that was could only be said to be on another level entirely. In fact, it might very well be asking for death.

    Leonel slowly exhaled.

    BANG!

    The last of the Natural Force Arts shattered, and yet there was no movement at all.

    Leonel watched calmly, but even after several seconds, the Barbarian Race didn''t seem to have realized that their protective measures had been destroyed.

    Was this possible?

    Of course not. They should have known from the very moment he began to attack them.

    In that case, it could only mean that they either didn''t care to act, or didn''t feel that it was necessary.

    Taking a step back, Leonel understood why immediately. If he was in the shoes of the Barbarian Race, at first he would be worried. To them, the likelihood that the other two parties were Gods was high. Even if they were other Demi-Gods, they would have to surely be wary.

    But now, one party had been exposed as Leonel, and the other was almost certain that Rapax.

    Between these two, how could they be worried at all?

    A pair of Mortal Races wanted to compete with them? Was that a joke?

    It only made it worse that the Barbarian Race had a huge advantage after having found this Incomplete World long before anyone else.

    It was natural that they were a bit complacent.

    But was it truly complacency? Or was it something else entirely?

    Leonel''s lip quirked into a smirk.

    Taking another deep breath, an odd aura started to emit from him. Deep within him, the Life tablet stirred.

    Since he was stepping onto center stage, he would have to show the Barbarian Race that he didn''t fear even the Gods, let alone Demi-Gods.

 Chapter 2859 Where?

    Chapter 2859 Where?

    Leonel hadn''t been there when Nilrem created the Merlin Trial Sub-Dimensional Zone. He had no idea what the Tablets had been capable of in the past.

    But in the time that Leonel had had them in his possession, how could he not put a great deal of effort into studying them?

    While he wasn''t taking advantage of the most obvious abilities, this wasn''t because he was a fool.

    To Leonel, the techniques of the Tablets meant less to him after receiving the Godlen''s Inheritance.

    He had already had a huge issue with consolidating his talents. He couldn''t stretch himself so thin by learning so many different kinds of techniques, so he had ignored them for now.

    As for the ability to fuse and improve Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes, Leonel had already given his brothers and allies more than enough to chew on for several years. And for himself, he had yet to run into any Ability Indexes or Lineage Factors that moved him, so he likewise didn''t feel the need to use it on himself.

    For a long while, the most useful abilities of the Silver and Life Tablets to Leonel were their abilities in Challenge Sequences, and also their usefulness in terms of the history they held. Without the former, he would have been screwed over several times over and maybe even lost his life. Without the latter, he''d be flying blind a lot of the time.

    As a man born in an Incomplete World, it wasn''t exactly easy to learn about the history of so many families and organizations across countless universes.

    Even so, once again, that didn''t mean that Leonel had stopped analyzing the Tablets, and it was while researching that he noticed something curious.

    The Second Dimension was the holder of many important things.

    It was where the Regulator resided. It was where worlds like the Dream World or the Shadow World resided. It was where the impetus of life and consciousness resided... the location of where Dream Force bloomed.

    What was interesting about this tidbit of information was that the Tablets seemed to be able to exert a great deal of influence on the Second Dimension. Wasn''t that precisely why it was so useful during the Challenge Sequences? Wasn''t that why it could fuse and change Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes? Wasn''t it why it could copy those very same abilities from others, just from the faintest contact?

    All of this could be brushed away until Leonel had a flash of inspiration.

    What was a Sub-Dimensional Zone, exactly? New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

    But he didn''t enter either one of them.

    "Fuse."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and the pressure he exerted reached its peak.

    ...

    On the other side of the Force Arts, the Barbarian Race had already taken off their disguises.

    Honestly, they were a bit bored. After realizing they were just facing Mortal Races, there was nothing to even get worked up about.

    They had already been dissatisfied with the higher ups making them wait around and hide like scurrying rats. Even if it were Gods on the other side, they would have wanted the chance to battle.

    Of course, this would have been a stupid decision had there actually been Gods on the other side. But no one ever accused the Barbarian Race of being intelligent. That was why Talon''s existence was such an anomaly for them.

    One of the Barbarian Race commanders yawned.

    He was known as Ratine and he was probably one of the stronger existences here. He was in Tier 7 of the Seventh Dimension, and though less talented than Talon, he had already acclimated and had gained much of his weight back.

    "Fury, are we just going to stand here? They already broke down the barrier. Why not go wipe them out already?"

    Fury, a Barbarian Race member with a head of fiery red hair, stood in silence. Suddenly, he frowned.

    Where was this feeling coming from?

    BOOM!

 Chapter 2860 Analysis

    Chapter 2860 Analysis

    Leonel stood in the skies with his hands spread wide. He looked focused, but his mind was actually reeling in shock.

    There was a great amount of pressure being placed on him, but what surprised him the most was how truly... easy it all was.

    Yes, even his own mind was being overloaded. Even so, this wasn''t necessarily because he was fusing the Zones into one. In fact, felt that he could actually do this with a thought and then let the Tablet handle the rest.

    The overload of his mind was coming from all the options the tablet was giving him.

    He realized at that point that while his deductions were correct... they weren''t nearly correct enough. It was almost to the point of irony.

    Not only could he fuse these Zones, he could change and tweak aspects of them, change variables, warp the personalities of those within...

    The list felt endless, and it was precisely because of this that he was being so thoroughly overwhelmed. New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

    It was like the Life Tablet was treating the Zones like a blank slate to be drawn on. It hardly even considered the people inside to be real at all.

    That was when the realization hit Leonel.

    The Valiant Heart Zone... its people... hadn''t the Silver Tablet treated them so casually as well? Hadn''t they treated lives so cheaply that they could be directly resurrected when he so pleased just in exchange for a little bit of energy?

    Did that also mean that a Wise Star Order had created the Valiant Heart Zone? Why? And for what purpose?

    He thought about everything the Zone had taught him...

    It was its existence that made him find purpose and decide to be a King... before then; he was just aimlessly meandering through life because the influence of his future self was far too strong.

    But it was also because of this Zone that he had realized that life wasn''t so cheap. He couldn''t casually bring people back to life, because in a lot of ways, after dying once, the person he had come to know was already gone.

    He spiralled, ready to grit his teeth and just follow through, not the plan he had to begin with when he froze.

    "Anastasia, analyze this for me!"

    Before the little World Spirit could respond, Leonel began to pass on a great deal of information to her.

    As he did so, he began to rapid fire several parameters he wanted her to focus on.

    "... Focus on the Forces that most align with this Incomplete World to your understanding... Prioritize evolution, Hyper Evolution preferably... diagnose whether Water Force is a natural powerhouse of this Zone or not. If so, focus on it. If not, reject it outright... The Cloud Race... Ignore the Human Race... Find what other Races might have been superior here and focus on them..."

    The string of thoughts came out of Leonel''s mouth faster than most could understand. It even sounded like he was rambling.

    Even so, for Anastasia, it was almost too easy.

    Leonel was nowhere near being capable of mapping out a whole Incomplete World in just three days, but it was a simple task for Anastasia and she never seem overloaded.

    On top of that, Anastasia had always been capable of grasping far more details with his Internal Sight than Leonel''s mind could withstand. That was why he always had her dumb it down.

    And now, he had realized maybe a bit too late that she was the perfect analytical tool.

    "... Double check all the Zones you''ve mapped. If they are useful, let me know and I will fuse them..."

    Leonel finished giving his orders out in not even a second, and he felt that the world was about to collapse.

    The Barbarian Race was coming.

    Unfortunately for them, Anastasia had already begun to give him a string of information.

    The Life Tablet trembled and Leonel''s gaze burned bright.

 Chapter 2861 Mistake

    Chapter 2861 Mistake

    BOOM!

    The entire world seemed to explode forth.

    In a single instant of time, three entire Domains fused into one. The Incomplete World shuddered on its foundations and in those last moments, Leonel sent a glance toward Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw. From here on out, it would be up to them if they wanted a chance to accomplish their goals.

    Then, the entire battlefield was swallowed up by a blinding light.

    Leonel had known from the beginning that his odds of destroying the gateways one by one were a nigh impossible task. The Barbarian Race was too powerful, and he didn''t think himself to be infallible. That had already been proven once since he entered this world.

    Instead, that was just what he had told the Rapax duo. He had already felt back then that this had a good chance to succeed.

    Now, everyone would be on the same playing field. Whoever stood on top at the end of this Zone would be the one to claim victory.

    And Leonel had already stacked the deck in his favor.

    ***

    The Ancient Battlefield fell into silence as the enormous Sub-Dimensional that now took up half the Incomplete World stabilized.

    A familiar Sea God beauty suddenly appeared on the battlefield, but her expression wasn''t nearly so calm. A deep frown was etched into her gorgeous features as hesitation flickered in her gaze.

    Sashae appeared by her mother''s side, a golden tablet pressed into her bosom as she folded her arms over it.

    Without a word, her mother stretched out a hand, and Sashae handed the golden tablet over.Thi/s chapter is updated by

    However, after a few seconds passed, nothing happened.

    This made the Sea God Empress tremble.

    There was only one reason her golden tablet couldn''t influence the situation of this Zone.

    Life Tablet.

    But that was when Leonel cursed under his breath.

    Finally, he realized why it was that he was squinting. There was a torch placed right before his eyes while the rest of the room he was in was pitch black. Without the torch, he likely wouldn''t have been able to see his hand even if he placed it right before his face.

    What was worse than this was the fact that he was completely naked and his arms and legs were spread out wide by chains. He hung from a wall and his wrists were already chaffing.

    As for the torch before him, it was some interrogator barking at him in a language he hadn''t translated quite yet.

    "... What are you smirking about?!"

    BANG!

    A fist drove its way into Leonel''s gut and he blinked speechlessly. It ached a little, and it was clear that this person hadn''t held back. But he had already mobilized his Force properly when he saw it coming.

    The real reason he was speechless was that he hadn''t even considered that this would happen.

    He had accounted for so many variables, but he focused on only the most important things. He thought that whatever situation he came across, he would be able to deal with easily enough.

    And while that was true, he didn''t expect to be transferred into the body of a weak Human Race youth who seemed to barely be 12 years old.

    Leonel almost wanted to laugh. In fact, he did laugh, ignoring the ravings of the man before him.

    This was actually a joke. He should have accounted for this. He had once been transferred into the body of a person in a Zone before. It was just that he assumed it was an anomaly.

    That was a mistake, clearly.

    ''Still making mistakes.''

    Leonel clicked his tongue.

    This body might be weak, but his Force Manipulation was still there.

    In addition, this wasn''t a bad thing in the slightest. In fact, he wanted to laugh about how good this was.

 Chapter 2862 Wall of Text

    Chapter 2862 Wall of Text

    The situation was so good that Leonel couldn''t believe he had lucked into it instead of thinking of it himself.

    If he was someone else''s body, that meant that so was everyone else. He didn''t particularly care for or fear the Rapax, but the Barbarians especially, if they were stripped of their powerful bodies, what chance did they stand against him? This was the perfect win-win-win.

    Back when he, his mother, and Aina had entered a Zone like this, all three of them had been transferred into the bodies of others. This made Leonel fairly confident that everyone was dealing with the exact same situation.

    In that case, what did he have to fear?

    The only worry was what would happen once he left the Zone. But while he was in this Zone, wouldn''t it be his playground?

    "How dare you?!"

    A rain of fists landed on Leonel, but he directly ignored them again. Instead, he pulled on the Life Tablet and began to pay attention to exactly what the goal of this Zone was.

    This was only one of his advantages, and he would be sure to take advantage of every single one of them.

    Not only that, but he would end all of this as quickly as possible, because it was the only way he could secure victory before the Barbarian Race had time to react.Updated from e: Plight of the Sea Gods]

    [Entry Limit: -]

    [Clear Requirements: Return the Sea God Verse back to its original state]

    [Side Quest: Raise up the Cloud Race]

    But what truly caught his attention was this mysterious figure that, for some reason, deposited a golden tablet within this world.

    Why?

    Did that mean that there was truly a fourth party involved in all of this? Was it the same party who left a Silver Tablet in the Dimensional Verse? Or was he someone else?

    As he was deep in thought, a bucket of frigid water was dunked over his head.

    Leonel shook his head and looked up for the first time in a while.

    Before him stood a burly Cloud Race member with a tummy so large that it looked like it might burst out of the leather straps that a covered him.

    "Alright, that''s about enough." Leonel suddenly said.

    "What did you-"

    CRACK!

    Leonel flexed his wrists, and the surrounding chains crumbled to pieces. He pulled at his ankles too and they too cracked and shattered.

    "You-!"

    Leonel punched, and the head of the guard shattered.

    "[Arise]."

    Leonel didn''t waste any time at all, pulling the torturer''s soul out of his body. He felt no need to have any sympathy for a man who would torture a child like this.

 Chapter 2863 Ten Years

    Chapter 2863 Ten Years

    Leonel grilled the man and quickly got the information he wanted. He really wanted to know what the purpose of capturing a 12-year-old child was, least of all a human.

    It turned out that he had a constitution that the Cloud Race decided was perfect breeding, and that just left Leonel sickened. Stealing children for the sake of breeding?

    However, remembering the words of the Life Tablet, Leonel was fairly certain that this was a culture spurned on by the Barbarian race. Even so, that didn''t mean he had to forgive the Cloud Race for doing such a thing.

    He took a breath and shook his head. He was apparently also supposed to help the Cloud Race out, so he wasn''t exactly in a position to wipe them all out.

    Many races had done horrible things over the history of Existence. This was something Leonel knew intimately after studying the Life Tablet for so long. There were no objective good or bad Races, so there was no need to waste his time and ruin his future trying to get petty revenge in a Zone of all things.

    It was best he focused on the task at hand. ReAd latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

    In the end, it seemed that the reason they were torturing him rather than pampering him was because they wanted to corral and curb his sense of self. They wanted him to be a breeding animal, not a lover. It was more efficient to "breed" with several Cloud Race women than it was to impregnate one Human Race woman at a time, so this was why little human boys were chosen instead.

    Leonel found this quite interesting. It went to show just how much of a choke hold the Barbarian Race had over the Cloud Race in this place. It also made Leonel realize that he had to be wary.

    Although he might be lucky that the other Barbarian Race members were in other bodies now, that didn''t mean he was necessarily in the clear.

    Who was to say that there weren''t a few Barbarian Race members who were native to this Zone monitoring things from the shadow?

    As for why he felt that the Barbarian Race would likely have strong control over what was happening here, that was because Races across time and space were usually fiercely protective of their women.

    To use them like this to give birth to children outside of their Race was quite novel given the historical context.

    ''What should I do now?''

    He changed their sentiments slowly, mostly using his Dream Force to influence them over long stretches of time.

    Leonel already realized that the time ratio of this Zone was ten to one. So, for every ten years he spent here, just one would pass in the outside world, and it took him precisely that long.

    He had no choice but to take so much time. He didn''t want the Barbarian Race individuals who were certainly hidden in the weeds to expose him, and since their "breeding" project was continuing, they didn''t care to pay much attention to the little details of how daily life in the Cloud Race proceeded.

    Like this, over time, "breeding" became intermarrying and intermarrying became love in matrimony.

    By now, it was certain that the Barbarian Race members who had become stuck in this Zone along with him were starting to grow antsy. Ten years had passed and yet they hadn''t seen a sign of Leonel.

    In fact, contrary to this, Leonel actually used their existences to help him as he found each one of them.

    It was impossible for them to hide from the Life Tablet. Leonel picked them all out with ease every time he came across them, and yet they had no idea what was happening around them.

    The best part was that forcefully breaking out of this Zone would only ruin their years of work. In the end, as Leonel had said, they could only help him.

    However, it was also clear that their understanding of exactly what was happening in this Zone was limited. Their usual detection methods weren''t working on this Zone and they had to use more conventional means.

    That was when Leonel got information about how many of them had given up and had begun to set up a large-scale formation to completely shatter this world.

    ''Seems the easy mode I''ve been playing on couldn''t last forever.''

    Leonel grinned.

    But that was fine too.

    Giving him ten years to prepare? They were asking for a loss.

 Chapter 2864 Show Me

    Chapter 2864 Show Me

    Leonel now had the body of a 20-year-old.

    These years, he had made unexpected leaps in his comprehension, and if not for the fact it was much slower than when he was in the outside world, he would wonder why it was everyone didn''t take advantage of this.

    Unfortunately, the laws of Incomplete Worlds were exactly that, incomplete. As such, even with far more time, it was difficult to make advancements.

    That said... this Zone wasn''t normal by any means. When Leonel first entered it, it gave him a great deal of pressure.

    After some time, he realized that part of that was because he had been in the body of a child. Still, that didn''t mean that this world couldn''t exhibit a great deal of influence and power, and that likewise made its laws very interesting to study.

    In the end, while Leonel didn''t make as much progress as he would have in the outside world in the same 10-year span, he had made about three years'' worth of progress.

    Essentially, that meant that Leonel had exchanged a single year for three, a huge boon.

    Likewise, as one might expect, his strength had exploded forth.

    The only shame was that his original body was already too weak to display all of his Force Manipulation, and this body was even less capable of doing so...

    But did it matter? Foll0w current novE?ls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)

    Holding an ordinary wooden spear in his hands, a light smile played Leonel''s features.

    ''Three days should be enough... Three days to bring this to a close.''

    ...

    Leonel moved through the world, crossing large distances as the ground shrunk beneath his feet.

    He seemed to be at complete peace. If there was anything that made him sad, it was the fact he hadn''t seen his wife in so long.

    Even a few days was too much, but a decade?

    If not for his strong mental fortitude, he would have already given up on this Zone.

    The Barbarian Race man in the body of a Sea God couldn''t even react.

    His glabella was pierced through, his eyes opening wide before they slowly dimmed.

    As Leonel had said... he had made a great deal of progress.

    He couldn''t advance his Dimension, nor his body, and he couldn''t fully access his Force Manipulation either...

    But if he made three years of progress with Forces...

    Then he had made ten with his spear.

    His spear mastery was already on a level that most would never be able to fathom in a lifetime.

    Trapped in the body that wasn''t their own.

    These Barbarian Race members didn''t stand a single chance.

    Leonel took a step off of the cliff, but it looked as though he was still walking on flat ground.

    The raging waters beneath him were forced into a state of calm, the tsunami-like waves being suppressed into a steady and cool surface.

    Barbarian Race members disguised as various Races began to surge out of the waters, but every time one appeared, Leonel simply struck out a single time.

    The black waters were quickly becoming dyed in red.

    "This is very disappointing," Leonel''s voice boomed. "Don''t tell me I spent all of that time preparing for no reason.

    "Show me the strength of a Demi-God Race!"

    Beneath Leonel''s roar, an invisible sphere pushed a crescent shape out of the water, forming a crater that extended for miles.

    At that moment, Leonel spotted a bright red light streaking out from below.

 Chapter 2865 Dilemma

    Chapter 2865 Dilemma

    BANG!

    Fury burst through the surface of the water, looking toward Leonel seriously.

    "Who are you?"

    Leonel''s response was a spear strike.

    Fury''s pupils constricted into pinholes, his body seizing. It felt like he was facing the simplest spear he had in his entire life, and yet it had blocked off all his paths of retreat.

    He couldn''t fathom how anyone could have such skill in the spear.

    The Barbarian Race wasn''t known for their skill to begin with. They focused on overwhelming power and used their omniscience to make up the gap.

    However, that didn''t mean they couldn''t understand skill when they saw it..

    And it also didn''t mean that barbarianism wasn''t its own type of skill... just in a different form.

    Fury knew that he couldn''t meet this strike. He immediately accelerated into a retreat.

    Leonel''s spear came to a stop just a meter from him, but blood still split his forehead in two, a shallow wound cracking open.

    Leonel shook his head.

    In truth, Leonel knew that his largest disadvantage in this world was the short time he had spent practicing.

    Even back in the Dimensional Verse, he was always playing catch-up. Again and again, he came across people who had far more experience than himself.

    He had only entered this world when he was 18 years old and it had been less than 10 years since then... at least in real time spent outside of Zones.

    However, now he had suddenly clawed back 10 years and had spent much of the time diligently polishing his fundamentals.

    On top of that, it had to be remembered that he was quite aimless for much of the time. His father hadn''t given him [Final Destruction] until after his death, so he had been flying blind on his own.

    So Leonel not only regained so much time, but he had done so with a better understanding of how to progress and what this world expected of him.

    When these two things came to a head...

    It could only be said that he had truly become a monster.

    His wrist flickered again, and then again.

    He had randomly thought once before that the Spirituals and Human Race were far too similar. The difference only seemed to be a matter of soul, and it was also in large part because of this that he didn''t dare to confirm what race Fox''s fourth hand came from.

    But he didn''t expect that he was actually right.

    Reviving the Spirituals only required helping the humans to evolve. In fact, the two could be spoken of interchangeably.

    When Leonel learned this, he also realized that this must be how Flaura controlled the Spiritual Race.

    And for Leonel, who had personal experience in how to separate the soul from the body and use it as his strength, this Side Quest was even easier.

    The Clear Requirement was just to return the Sea God Verse back to its original state, so clearing the Side and Hidden Quests would be enough to meet that bar.

    This meant that there was just one task left for Leonel.

    Birth the Oracle and a Wise Sea Order.

    Leonel had been thinking for a long time about this Hidden Quest. Even the Life Tablet couldn''t seem to give him a real answer. Well, at least not one with an answer as definitive as he had received for the others.

    However, there was still a clue.

    Much like the objective had said, there had never been a Water based God Beast.

    Among the Northern Star Lineage Factors, there were Spatial Forces, Dark Forces, a few variant Forces...

    But none of them were water.

    Though Leonel thought of this, there was little he could do about it. It wasn''t like he could just create a new Envoy-level beast. If he could, wouldn''t he already be invincible?

    In the end, there only really seemed to be one way to do this.

    [Hidden Quest: Birth the Oracle and Wise Sea Order]

    The answer seemed obvious. It was in its name. He had to have a child and pass on his Lineage Factor the normal way.

    There didn''t seem to be any other way, and it left Leonel in a dilemma.

    Passing this Zone was the only way for him to gain the strength to protect his family and his friends. There was simply no other way. He couldn''t afford to waste these points he had spent, and he had no ability to protect this Incomplete World for an extended period of time without first refining it into himself...

    But he also had no will to betray his wife.

    But how could he birth a Wise Sea Order without impregnating a Sea God?

 Chapter 2866 Sea

    Chapter 2866 Sea

    This dilemma had stalled Leonel for a long while. No matter what, he didn''t even think of taking the easy way out.

    With 20 years left, even if he didn''t force a Sea Goddess to lie in his bed, it still wouldn''t be difficult, not to mention leave with enough time to still try several times to birth the child that he needed.

    There were certainly plenty of men who would have done it. No one ever accused Sea God women of not being exceptionally beautiful, but Leonel simply had no interest in taking such a step.

    In his opinion, part of protecting his wife meant protecting her heart. That was just as important as anything else. It was the very same reason he was so enraged every time someone slighted her, even in the smallest way.

    Even if he was willing to force his wife to take on such a burden, what would happen to his child? Could he just leave them in the Zone, using them like a one-way ticket to strengthen himself? What kind of man would he be then? Wouldn''t this child likewise be part of his family?

    There were multiple things wrong with this path.

    Knowing that this path would bear no fruit, Leonel thought of many other things.

    Maybe attempting to pass on his Bloodline, maybe studying his body to try to replicate the Lineage Factor, he even thought of using the replication abilities of the Cloud Race to attempt to reverse engineer the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    But each of these paths took more time and expertise than he had.

    Maybe if he had Aina by his side, he could rely on her to make the attempt. But he didn''t.

    It was difficult enough to create a systematic method of helping the humans separate their souls from their bodies-at least one that didn''t require being eaten alive like he had.

    Doing this felt like a bridge much too far.

    That was when Leonel realized something.

    The option to impregnate a Sea Goddess only appeared because he had the Northern Star Lineage Factor to begin with. So what would someone else have done?Visit nov3lb!n(.)com for new novels

    It had to be remembered that Hidden Quests didn''t have to be cleared. In fact, neither did Side Quests.

    So, technically speaking, a person wouldn''t have to do anything to clear this Zone.

    Why Earth and Water? Why not Fire? Why not Wind? Why not any one of the other Forces in existence?

    And what was so important about Water that it deserved to be granted a Star Order title?

    The Wise Star Order name was called as such, not Wise Earth Order, so why was Wise Sea Order so important?

    However, what was interesting was maybe the simplest thing. Something so simple that Leonel had neglected it for a long time.

    The word Sea didn''t just mean water. It was perfectly defined as a body of salted water.

    How did oceans and seas become salty? Wasn''t it because of run-off from the Earth?

    In this case, could it be that this entire time, Water Force was just a smoke screen? Could it be that this entire time, from the very start, Wise Sea Order referred to both Earth and Water?

    Then what was the purpose? Why trying to create a mirror of Wise Star Order in this way?

    When Leonel thought about it, the answer to this seemed obvious as well...

    If the Northern Star would be the death of Existence.

    Then shouldn''t life be the counter to this?

    He had been wondering who it was tossed a Golden Tablet in this world... it seemed that for once, this person didn''t have sinister intentions.

    Instead, they were seeking a path to survival for not just themselves, but the entire world.

    In that case, Leonel would oblige them.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s eyes shot open, and the oceans began to churn wildly.

 Chapter 2867 Mana Core

    Chapter 2867 Mana Core

    The key to this change was the title of Wise Star Order. Leonel thought a lot about it. In fact, he had spent an entire ten years on exactly this problem.

    What did it mean to be a Star Order? What did it mean to be a Wise Star Order?

    Leonel had his answer.

    The light in Leonel''s eyes glowed even brighter.

    When Leonel first awakened his Star Order, officially becoming a Wise Star Order, he had felt it more clearly than he ever had before.

    However, it was only thanks to Aina that he was truly able to understand.

    The protocol that Aina created to allow his Lineage Factor to rely more on his soul than his body was precisely what he needed.

    The core of a Wise Star Order was in their soul. In these years, Leonel had realized that precisely the difference between Star Orders and those who just carried the Northern Star Lineage Factor was how much their soul was involved in their strength.

    Those in the latter group were existences who could only strengthen their bodies, pulling on the affinities granted to them to power themselves.

    However, the former used their soul and bodies, reaching into a state and level the latter couldn''t match up against.

    This was why Star Orders were able to pull on much more power even from the weaker levels of the hierarchy... it was because they were able to access far more of the Envoy''s power!

    In that case, this meant that the key for Leonel to be able to become a Wise Sea Order resided in his heart.

    He had not a single idea how to do this until he realized that he had the perfect medium...

    His Mana Core.

    From the beginning, the existence of the Mana Core had always been a bit of an anomaly to Leonel. He went through waves of using it heavily and then ignoring it because sometimes he would think of great methods to put it into action, and at other times his personal strength would long surpass those methods, making it difficult for him to do much of anything with it. In the latter cases, using it at all would have been more a waste of his time than anything else.

    Using it to communicate with the world around him, his Mana Core began to changes.

    Leaves of fire and space and darkness began to fall as though summer had just ended.

    In their place, gorgeous leaves of bronze and sparkling sapphire began to grow.

    The trunk was the same.

    Its main body looked as though it had been carved out from brass, shimmering like gold, and on its body complex runes of radiant blue were carved in step by step.

    Leonel could feel it clearly.

    If before he could only speculate what it meant to be an Oracle, now it was all but certain.

    What did it mean to be a Wise Sea Order?

    You needed the foundation of a Wise Star Order to build upon.

    It was the communication between the Star and the Sea that became the power of a Wise Sea Order.

    If in one breath you could gaze into the Stars and in another, you could ground it in reality...

    What part of the world would you not understand? What couldn''t be in your grasp? What could your mind not control and what could you possibly not see through?

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s Dream Force tore through the barrier of the Creation State with such forcefulness that the world was nearly torn apart.

    Slowly, the Zone began to crumble into motes of light as the Hidden Quest was cleared.

 Chapter 2868 Refine

    Chapter 2868 Refine

    Leonel completely ignored the crumbling world around him. The moment he sensed the Zone had been cleared, he shed the body he had been using all the while and pulled his wife out from the Segmented Cube.

    Aina didn''t even have a chance to react before Leonel wrapped his arms around her tightly.

    He breathed in her scent and only now did he finally feel at peace. He didn''t even really care about his success, nor did he care to pay attention to the changes in his surroundings.

    It had been ten years since he saw his wife. A day was too long, let alone so much time.

    Aina bit back the words she was going to say and hugged Leonel back, burying her head in his chest. She could feel his emotions clearly.

    This last year had been hard on her, but how could it match up to the ten years of Leonel?

    Not being able to sense whether he was dead or alive was probably the hardest. She just kept staring at the tattoo of her finger, wondering if it would disappear in the next second.

    Leonel took a deep breath and smiled.

    "You didn''t go and find another husband, did you?"

    Aina pinched his waist, and Leonel winced.

    He coughed. "You''ve grown stronger."

    Aina smiled, cheek still buried in his chest.

    "Of course."Read latest chapters at novelhall.com

    Leonel grinned. Aina had returned to the Eighth Dimension.

    Unlike Leonel, Aina had been in Anastasia''s world, a perfect world equivalent to a God Realm. With so much time to meditate and focus on her progress, she had managed to find a new breakthrough path and had finally stepped out of the Fourth Dimension, returning to the Eighth.

    Not only that, but she was several times more powerful than the last time, as expected, thanks to her rebirth method.

    "Okay, stay right here," Leonel said.

    "You''re leaving again?" Aina frowned.

    "Hell no. I just want eye candy while I change the world."

    Aina smiled, but that didn''t stop her from giving Leonel another pinch.

    Leonel took a sharp breath, half in pain and half in focused meditation.

    At that moment, the Sea God Verse rumbled.

    As the motes of light descended, Leonel could feel it transcending, and quickly, it reached his standards.

    His Mana Core trembled, and the light of the world seemed to concentrate on him.

    However, right now, Leonel was killing two birds with a single stone.

    World Spirit orbs began to appear around him, one after another. At the same time, World Spirits from the Sea God Verse surged toward him, fusing and improving them.

    Tier 2.

    He absorbed the first.

    Tier 3.

    A second.

    Tier 4.

    A third.

    His power surged, improving by leaps and bounds.

    The more his strength soared, the more access to his Forces he gained.

    Slowly, he was beginning to feel the true power of the Life State and he realized just how much he had been being screwed over.

    Tier 7.

    Tier 8.

    Tier 9.

    Leonel raised his head to the skies and roared.

    At that moment, the connecting Stars all converged with him as the center as though he had become the centerpiece of his own Constellation.

    Leonel''s Constellation Realm entered the Silver Grade.

    His True Dream Sovereignty reached the Silver Grade.

    His True Destruction Sovereignty reached the Silver Grade.

    Leonel''s aura blazed so brightly it seemed that he had truly become a star of his own creation.

    Standing in the center of the world with his wife in his arms, he truly felt invincible.

    And that was when he poked a hole right through the Sixth Dimension.

    His aura skyrocketed once again, his violet hair fluctuating wildly.

    The Sea God Verse completely converged, fusing into Leonel''s body.

    The couple found themselves standing out in the expanse of the void, two Barbarian Race Ninth Dimensional experts staring at them in shock.

 Chapter 2869 A Little Longer

    Chapter 2869 A Little Longer

    "Oh, hello."

    Leonel looked at the two Barbarians and smiled. They were completely taken aback by his reaction.

    Leonel didn''t even look like he understood who they were. He was just holding onto his wife and grinning at them.

    In an instant, Leonel had already seen through these two. Not only could he use the Life Tablet to understand their Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes, but he could also very clearly feel their Force Manipulation level.

    Both only had Quasi Creation State Forces. He wouldn''t have taken them very seriously even before he broke into the Sixth Dimension, let alone now.

    What was curious, though, was their Ability Index.

    The two seemed to be twins and had a rare Ability Index that linked the two of them together. This amplified their strength and allowed their battle capabilities to increase exponentially.

    As such, it would be inappropriate to look at them simply by their Quasi Creation State Forces. Together, they were no weaker than a Ninth Dimensional expert with a true Creation State Force.

    But this was just one aspect of their strength. The increase to their Force Manipulation was only one matter.

    Whether it was their Lineage Factor, techniques, or anything else, they were all amplified several times over.

    It could be said that they were approaching the strength of the Ancestors of the Barbarian Race.

    Of course, they were still quite a distance away from that level. But they were certainly established elders.

    Leonel was able to see through all of this in a single glance, and he didn''t even have to exchange a single fist.

    This was due to a combination of his new Wise Sea Order status and the Life Tablet. The world was his oyster.

    "... You are Leonel Morales."

    "I am."

    Leonel nodded. There was no point in trying to hide it since things had reached this point.

    "Are you aware of what you''ve done?"

    "Do I look like a fool to you?"

    "Yes!" The burly Barbarian roared.

    And yet, the two couldn''t take their eyes off of it.

    Aina pouted. "You''re not going to let me fight? It''s been so long."

    "You want to?" Leonel asked. "I don''t really mind. If anything, I''ve been doing too much fighting, though they were a bit weak."

    "No, you go," Aina said after a while, a mysterious smile spreading across her face.

    Seeing the look in her eye, Leonel''s blood boiled.

    Ten years... the only way that Leonel could describe it was that his balls were truly too heavy right now.

    He looked away. It wouldn''t be a good look if he entered battle with a raging boner.

    "Old grannies! Piles of shit! Cradle-robbing Ancestors who target babies of their Race!"

    Leonel began to chant, and if at first, the Barbarian Race men were confused, the last line completely infuriated them.

    "I''ll kill him!"

    The burly uncle rushed toward Leonel. He didn''t even pull out a weapon, punching out with a momentum that could shatter the world.

    Leonel smiled and pierced out just a single time.

    Fist and blade tip met, but there was no sound at all.

    Aside from a puff of wind, everything was silent. It was like the both of them were just sparring and had had no plans to harm each other at all.

    Suddenly, the burly Barbarian hurriedly retreated.

    He looked at his fist in shock.

    There was nothing on it but a small dot of blood, but it was precisely this that shocked him so much.

    "You... how..."

    A Sixth Dimensional expert had done this to him? How was such a thing even possible?

    Leonel swung out his spear and tapped it at the air, causing ripples to spread out like a once calm lake.

    "Come together. Don''t waste my time."

 Chapter 2870 Overplayed

    Chapter 2870 Overplayed

    "How dare you?!"

    Both brothers roared. This time, even Talon''s skinny uncle couldn''t withhold his fury. He felt that he was going to explode just the same.

    But Leonel stood tall and proud. His spear was slightly pointed toward the ground, his gaze carrying the weight of an entire universe.

    "Show me what a Demi-God is capable of."

    BANG! BANG!

    Leonel pierced out twice, and the two brothers hurried to block. Their power multiplied atop of one another and a shield of Earth Force took shape.

    However, to their surprise, the sharp air of Leonel''s spear spun and twisted, pulling their Earth Force into a spiral and stripping it of its strength.

    Their expressions changed, and they hurried to retreat even further.

    A line of blood formed on both of their forearms, their arms trembling.

    "How was that?" Leonel asked, looking back at Aina.

    "It was alright."

    "Just alright?"

    Aina smiled sweetly. "9.63 out of 10."

    "Ah, a generous score."

    "I''m giving you a handicap."

    "Why''s that?"

    "My bed''s a bit cold."

    Leonel''s pupils constricted, and something moved beneath his waistline. He hurriedly looked away, beginning a familiar chant.

    "... Cradle robbing Ancestors!"

    Leonel and the Barbarian Race men clashed once again.

    A hearty laughter filled the skies as Leonel''s spear danced and Aina''s marks became higher and higher.

    The twins had long since realized that they had to take this battle seriously, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn''t seem to bridge the gap.

    Leonel didn''t seem to be using any Forces at all, yet he suppressed them from every feel and angle. It was so natural that...

    "Creation!"

    The two roared at once, the realization shattering their world view.

    The Creation State wasn''t just a level of stronger Force Manipulation, it was a complete change of state. The Creation State was located in the First Dimension, a Realm even Regulators could not touch.

    Someone with a Force of this level could feel and see all things. Someone with a Dream Force of this level...

    Was an untouchable monster.

    Fear gripped their hearts, and their arms trembled.

    "Calm down."

    "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Leonel called out. "Are you trying to embarrass your husband?!"

    Aina appeared by Leonel''s side in a fragrant breeze. She clasped her hands behind her back and almost cutely looked downward, a charming smile on her lips.

    Leonel covered his crotch. "Behave."

    Aina giggled and let Leonel go. She knew that if Leonel wanted, stopping her would be easy. Didn''t he, too, have a Creation State Force? In fact, it was one that happened to synergize with his Control Ability Index, which granted him perfect dominion over his mind and body.

    "Understand now?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    "Indeed."

    The sudden voice made Leonel''s eyes narrow, but his smile didn''t vanish. This person wasn''t here at all. Rather, only their voice and presence were.

    When one had a Creation State voice, distance was almost meaningless, so long as you had something to lock onto. The First Dimension was inappropriately described as the simplest of the Dimensions in Earth''s physics, but this wasn''t entirely wrong either.

    It was the simplest, but that was because it could hold the whole of Existence in a single dot without latitude or longitude.

    In the First Dimension, distance was meaningless.

    If not for the limitations of his body, Leonel could certainly project his mind to anywhere in Existence he so pleased. This was the power of the Creation State.

    But even though he couldn''t, that didn''t mean that he feared this person. Since he dared to act, he also dared to execute. And now that he had a Creation State Dream Force, he didn''t fear anyone beneath the God Realm finding his location if he didn''t want them to.

    "You must be Annalysia." Leonel said.

    "... It''s been a long time since a junior has dared to call me by my name."

    "I heard that you''re quite fond of juniors, though," Leonel blinked innocently as though he didn''t understand he was insulting her.

    The two Barbarians were flushed in cold sweat, holding that Annalysia didn''t assume it was they who gave him this information.

    "You''ve misunderstood," Annalysia said calmly. "My husband''s reincarnation could hardly be considered robbing the cradle, now could it?"

    The two Barbarians were even more shocked. They wanted to call out and ask Annalysia why she was telling an outsider this, but did they dare to question this woman?

    "Well, there could be much philosophical debate about that one," Leonel said with a chuckle.

    "Oh? Do tell."

    "It''s just human race trivialities," Leonel said with a wave of a hand. "When society grows too peaceful, people love to debate worthless matters."

    "Now I am even more interested," Annalysia said with a chuckle.

    "Well, alright." Leonel obliged. "If Talon is truly your husband''s reincarnation, is he considered the same person or a different person now? Is a person their memories? Their souls? The sum of their experiences? Just their bodies?

    "Even if he was your husband in a past life, should he still be considered your husband now? Is he even his own person anymore if you''ve already forced an old identity onto him? Have you not ruined the point of his reincarnation?"

    The two Barbarian Race men held their breath, trying to pretend like they weren''t thinking about what Leonel was saying.

    After a while, Annalysia chuckled.

    "Talon did say that you were quite annoying. I don''t believe that you care very much about this at all. You''re only doing so to attack my mind. I have to say, your open schemes are quite conniving because they work.

    "You are a diligent young man with a bright future ahead of you. You are arrogant, but it seems to be quite warranted. I have to say that I am greatly impressed by you.

    "But, you have still overplayed your hand. I wonder what the world would think once they realize you''re the one who triggered a war of Gods and Demi-Gods?"

    Leonel''s pupils constricted into pinholes.

 Chapter 2871 Him

    Chapter 2871 Him

    Leonel didn''t reply. In fact, after a while, he seemed to have returned to a perfect state of calm. He stood there, waiting for Annalysia to speak again.

    He could almost sense Annalysia''s frown. His reaction was too calm from her, and she didn''t quite seem to like it.

    But what did that have to do with Leonel? He was overplaying her hand? It more so seemed like she had, playing this card way too early in these negotiations.

    "Pretending to be calm only works if the enemy doesn''t have your weakness," Annalysia said indifferently.

    "Your voice doesn''t sound as playful anymore," Leonel replied just as indifferently.

    "Neither do you."Visit  for latest novels

    "The difference between us is that on the one hand, your indifference is because of anger. Mine is because of disappointment. I thought the moniker of Barbarian was just a misnomer. I didn''t expect it to actually come with the expected stupidity."

    Annalysia''s tone became icy. "You''re playing with fire, boy."

    "Am I? I think you''ve forgotten that your husband is in my hands, first of all. Second, why would you be threatening me with something that everyone could find out? The only explanation is that you''ve found out using a method that only you''re aware of. That only leaves one explanation: The Sea Gods and their Golden Tablet.

    "Although there''s a chance everyone is aware and you''re actually just subtly offering protection... one, I don''t believe the Barbarian Race would be so bold to offend Gods so openly, and two... do you take me for an idiot?

    "You think I called you out to give you the reins? Do you not understand who has the power here?

    "If I dare to force even Gods into a war, what the hell can a few Demi-Gods do to me?"

    The frigid cold in Leonel''s voice only seemed to grow. He had wanted to do this the amicable way, but it seemed that the only way these God and Demi-Gods understood was the way of force.

    As he had said, since he dared to play with Gods, he dared to play with Demi-Gods.

    How would the Barbarians even prove what had happened without Wise Sea Order here? How could they have guessed that Leonel would refine an entire Incomplete World himself?

    Even if they could retrieve Wise Sea Order, would they be willing to expose to the world that they had a Golden Tablet? Not only that they had one, but that they were even capable of using it? Whether it was the first, and definitely the latter, how could they be alright with such a thing?

    Then let''s say that everything went perfectly and the Barbarian Race was willing to take such a risk, would the Void Race admit that they had been led by the nose by a kid? A human, of all things?

    At worst, Leonel would have to deal with some situations in the dark, but even then the Void Race would have to be wary of entering Demi-God and lower Mortal Realms, and the suppression that they''d experience once they did.

    Then, once again, even if everything went perfectly until that point, would the war just end at the drop of a dime?

    It was clear to Leonel from the beginning that the Fallen God Beasts had been looking for a reason to trigger this war, and after it became clear he realized that the Owlans weren''t as cowardly as he assumed and many of them had wanted this war too.

    Of course, there was no doubt that once this information came out, the Human Race would face an extinction level event again...

    But that was then, and this was now.

    Back then, the humans had been caught off guard, betrayed by their own, and surrounded by enemies. They had never thought that things would end up going this way.

    Leonel had seen all of that history personally, and he knew it like the back of his hand. Both what was mentioned in the Tablet and what wasn''t...

    But now, not only would they be prepared...

    They also had him.

 Chapter 2872 Stalling?

    Chapter 2872 Stalling?

    The imposing aura Leonel was releasing was resonating and suffocating. Even from such a far-off distance, Annalysia could feel it with impossible clarity.

    He realized that no matter how young they were, underestimating a Creation State Dream Master was a fool''s errand.

    When she had received the information from Wise Sea Order, she had thought that it was a joke. The implication was absolutely ridiculous, and even going back to review the footage of the Gathering of Minds, she still had no idea how Leonel had managed to pull it off.

    What it also proved to her was that Leonel wasn''t nearly as impulsive as he had made himself seem. In fact, it was almost too obvious that his recklessness was just a persona he used to lower the guards of others.

    He had been forced to defend the Vast Dream Pavilion or else the Human Race would lose its last line of protection, and this proved to be fruitful as it was only because of the Dream Pavilion that the last Human Bubble was currently under heavy protection.

    But had he not been forced into the spotlight like this... what would have happened? How would he have grown? Would any of them even be able to react by the time he could already stand tall on his own?Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

    No... that was the wrong way to think about it because he was already standing tall.

    Wasn''t that exactly what he was doing here?

    A Creation State Force... at not even 30 years old...

    There were no more than five such individuals that she knew of who could accomplish such a thing, and every one of them was a Demi-God. Such existences didn''t have the right to appear in Mortal Races. As for those above the Demi-God Races, Annalysia simply didn''t have the right to know.

    "Then how about we let cooler minds prevail?" Annalysia said after a long while. The edge to her voice wasn''t completely gone, but the two Barbarian Race men were taken aback that she had actually taken the initiative to yield slightly.

    Leonel sneered inwardly, but a smile still surfaced on his face.

    "This is, of course, what I would prefer as well. There''s no need for us to be at loggerheads."

    "Then will you return the Incomplete World and my husband to us?"

    But it was one he was willing to take.

    Because he had the capital to do so now.

    "... Let''s say I believe you. Why would we go through all this trouble?"

    "For one, it''s hardly trouble. It would take me at most a year to do this for you. Plus, like I said, I''m better than your Wise Sea Order. Let alone putting it back in the same state, I can make it better. Or..."

    "Or?" Annalysia frowned.

    Leonel grinned. "Or we don''t have to waste our time with any of this shit. If I''m the greatest Crafting talent in Existence, then my wife is the best Force Pill Crafting Talent Existence.

    "If you give her two years, she can raise the constitution of your husband to the God Realms. Then we can revisit this."

    The pupils of the two Barbarian Race men shrank and Annalysia''s consciousness clearly shuddered.

    "... You''re stalling."

    Who hadn''t seen Aina''s poor Force Pill Crafting performance? It sounded like Leonel was just trying to stall for two years.

    However, considering her tone, it was already obvious to Leonel that she believed it, or else she wouldn''t sound so unsure.

    "Wife, it seems like they want to see something," Leonel looked toward Aina with a grin.

    Aina rolled her eyes but still stretched out a hand. The globules and mists of blood that had spread from the two men suddenly surged toward her.

    They formed a rotating rose that slowly closed its petals. After just a few seconds, the layers of the rose began to unfurl.

    In a beautiful display, a pill took shape at the center, glistening with runes as the rest of the rose wilted to ash.

 Chapter 2873 Mutation

    Chapter 2873 Mutation

    Leonel held Aina''s hand as they walked through the void. The meeting with the Barbarian Race had already ended, and Leonel had managed to buy himself the remaining two years.

    Originally, he didn''t want to take this step. He had no desire to help out the Barbarian Race so much. But two things had changed this situation.

    First, what Annalysia revealed about Talon and second, Aina''s strength.

    Leonel hadn''t been thinking much about it, but he should have known that he wouldn''t be the only one improving during this time.

    Right now, it was hard to tell which among the two of them was stronger, and that was precisely enough for Leonel to take this sort of step.

    Together, the two of them could handle this.

    But more importantly than that... Talon was a weakness.

    Talon didn''t say that Annalysia was his wife, but only because he wasn''t yet aware of this. All he knew was that this Ancestor was very fond of him. He had yet to reawaken his previous skill and memories.

    It seemed like a foolish mistake for Annalysia to reveal this, but Leonel understood. Wasn''t it just love? Would he take any chances if Aina were in the same situation? Would Aina if it was the vice versa?

    It was also a subtle warning to Leonel as well to not do anything to Talon that was beyond the point of no return, or else nothing would be able to stop her view.

    As strong as Leonel had become, he wasn''t yet prepared to deal with such an Ancestor level character. Such existences often had high level Creation State Forces, and a rare few might even have Dharmas, only a few steps from forming Idols and becoming real Gods.

    The fact that Talon was important to her already couldn''t be hidden. Leaving no doubt about the degree to which he was could only help her at that point.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m When Leonel considered these things, he realized something.

    The ability to find and change Incomplete Worlds was even more important to them now than Aina''s Force Pill Crafting.

    That was because there had been a huge change inside of Leonel...DiScover new stories at novelhall.com

    When he was breaking into the Sixth Dimension, he had chosen to take the World Spirits of the Sea God Verse to complete the Fifth Dimension.

    It had to be remembered that the requirement for the Fifth Dimension was to absorb a World Spirit with God Realm potential per tier.

    Leonel had skipped that by making use of the World Spirits of the Sea God Verse after he had perfected them, thinking the result would be the same.

    The good news was that he was correct in part. He was definitely in the Sixth Dimension right now.

    The last time he "revealed" something he shouldn''t have, he forced a certain Dream Asura into a dead end. Even now, she was either dead or still running for her life.

    How could he slip up?

    The best part about all of this wasn''t just that he had his wife''s hand in his own and he felt as light as air...

    But what he had seen when for the requirements to enter the Seventh Dimension of [Final Destruction].

    He had been worried, especially since he mutated the technique. Who knew what he would have to do now?

    But it was so simple he couldn''t help but laugh.

    [Elevate all Forces to the Higher Life State]

    [Comprehend Gold Constellation Realm]

    [Comprehend Gold True Destruction Sovereignty]

    [Comprehend Gold True Dream Sovereignty]

    [Good luck gathering enough energy, Seed]

    Leonel chuckled and shook his head. Good luck, indeed. He probably needed an astronomical amount of energy now to step forward even one Tier. If he absorbed more Incomplete Worlds, it would only get worse.

    But he should have known.

    Everyone up to the Sixth Dimension was laying a foundation and in the Sixth, that was when you would choose your Path. That was how things had worked back in the Void Palace, and though he hadn''t double-checked in this world, it should be how things worked here as well.

    After reaching the Sixth Dimension, his father didn''t have any other ridiculous requirements for him outside of Comprehension, and that was a huge sigh of relief.

    Now, he could finally press his foot to the gas.

    "We''re here," Leonel suddenly said. He looked down below and smiled. "Traveling through the void sure is convenient."

    Down below, there wasn''t an Incomplete World. No, this was a very familiar Spiritual Bubble.

    He wouldn''t be Leonel Morales if he didn''t take advantage of the fact he now knew the secret of the Spirituals, now would he?

 Chapter 2874 Good

    Chapter 2874 Good

    Leonel was hit by a wave of nostalgia when he entered the Ma''at Bubble for the first time in so long. Even if it wasn''t for the fact it had been 10 years inside the Zone, it had still been over a year in the outside world.

    But with that realization came a reminder of a memory that still filled him with fury.

    He hadn''t forgotten how the Spirituals had tried to use his wife as the fall-guy for their issues.

    He wasn''t sure what had happened since then...

    But he also didn''t give a damn.

    This time, he didn''t hide his presence. Instead, he strolled into Spiritual territory boldly.

    BANG!

    Leonel stretched out a foot and shattered the gates to the Spiritual Race palace.

    He was too fast, and his actions were too sudden. No one could have expected that a human would appear here and cause trouble to this level and fashion.

    Although it had been a year, too many knew the fact of Leonel and Aina. When they understood who it was had appeared, they were even more shocked.

    "HALT!"

    Leonel didn''t even bring out his spear. He punched out several times and a silence fell. There were no whistling winds, no claps of thunder. It was like his fist wind had suddenly teleported across space, appearing before the chests of the Spirituals and shattering their chests.

    The guards fell one after another, not a single one managing to withstand even a single fist.

    Emberheart City was thrown into chaos. No one could have expected for something like this to happen.

    The Spiritual Race was unlike the secluded Dwarven Race. They were so confident in their power that they didn''t put up barriers to anyone coming to their worlds and usually there was only a minor check for fierce criminals, but nothing else.

    How could they expect a terrorist to suddenly appear like this?

    BANG!

    This time, there was a sound. It didn''t come from Leonel, but rather from the collision. To his surprise, the old man had managed to fight back a bit...

    Sort of.

    The old warrior was sent flying into the distance, his armor shattering and blood erupting from him like a geyser.

    Leonel shook his head and indifferently continued to move forward.

    As expected, it was only a matter of time before the truly powerful existences were alerted. And Leonel finally came across the existence he most wanted to see.

    "Leonel Morales?!"

    Lord Emberheart stood in the air, his eyes flickering with shock.

    He couldn''t believe that it was actually Leonel. Although he knew that he had offended Leonel, he never really took it seriously, especially after his wife had already defeated Leonel in the Challenge Sequence.

    Even if there would be consequences, it certainly wouldn''t be so soon. How long had it been? A little over a year?

    Lord Emberheart''s expression became malevolent after he understood what was going on. He looked toward the half-crippled knights and his expression flickered, but he still felt it was acceptable. Leonel had already proven his talent as a Crafter.

    However, whether his actual power could live up to that was another matter entirely.

    "Good." Leonel suddenly said.

    Lord Emberheart didn''t know why, but when he heard this word, he trembled from his head to the tip of his toes.

    Looking into Leonel''s eyes, he saw the rage of a man who had been suppressing himself for far too long.

    Leonel took a step into the air, patting his wife''s shoulder and leaving her on the ground. Golden steps bloomed beneath his feet and soon he stood on the same level as the Emberheart Lord.

 Chapter 2875 I Dont Care

    Chapter 2875 I Don''t Care

    Leonel had done a great deal of things he hadn''t wanted to, purely for the sake of survival.

    He had his wife participate in the Gathering of Kingdoms alone. He had lost the Gathering of Minds on purpose. He lost against the Spirituals on purpose and had even been forced to help the Spirituals out of their predicament afterward.

    The first he had done for the sake of hiding the true extent of his talent. The second he had done to pitch the Owlans into a despair of their own causing. The third he had done so that he could face off against the Nomads and stop Somnus'' sisters'' plans... and the last he had done to deal a final blow to her.

    Each one of these things were matters he hadn''t wanted to do, and that last one especially left the most sour taste in his mouth because it was also the one that had happened the most recently, and it was also the one that had enraged him the most.

    The Spirituals had tried to humiliate his wife, and in the end, for the sake of dealing with Flaura, he had had no choice but to help save them.

    This sort of grudge had been brewing in his heart for a long while.

    He bet that they had been living very comfortable lives this last more than year. Their greatest threat was gone, and even if she came back, she would be more focused on dealing with him rather than them.

    "What-."

    Leonel punched out.

    The expression of the Emberheart Lord changed, and he hurried to block, but he was sent flying through the skies.The source of this content no/v(el)bi((n))

    Leonel kept moving. With every step he took, he sent out another punch.

    Anyone paying attention could tell that he was clearly using less strength than he had against the formations, holding back because he could.

    He didn''t just want to crush the Emberheart Lord, he wanted to absolutely humiliate him.

    The Spirituals liked making spectacles of people and humiliating them in public, right? In that case, he would give them a taste of their own medicine.

    Leonel didn''t care about anything in this world aside from his friends and family.

    Everything else could take a backseat.

    At the moment Leonel''s voice descended, a surge of light came from inside the palace and a familiar figure appeared in a blur by the Emberheart Lord''s side.

    It was none other than the Emberheart Lady.

    Leonel didn''t stop the wife from checking on her husband.

    Slowly, the Emberheart Lady stood. She gracefully walked to the edge of the top of the palace''s wide set of stairs. She looked up at Leonel and her expression seemed calm, but there was a hardly disguised fury in the depths of her eyes.

    Flames danced down her long hair and in that moment, she seemed to be two decades younger.

    The last time Leonel had seen her, she already had faint lines of age. But it was clear that since then, she had had some great improvement.

    Leonel clearly sensed the aura of the Creation State.

    Not just the Creation State, but the Middle Creation State.

    He couldn''t help but chuckle. "It seems the Spirituals have more secrets than I knew."

    Lady Emberheart''s pupils constricted, but she had no idea what Leonel was referring to. How could she know that Leonel had seen through her Force Manipulation standards before she had even released it?

    "... I am willing to let this go if you turn and leave now," Lady Emberheart finally said lightly.

    She could understand Leonel''s fury, and she had even said that they were in the wrong for this matter before. However, between the feelings of one man and his wife, versus the survival of an entire Race, the choice was obvious.

    Now that things had already come so far, she had no intention of allowing Leonel to trample all over her Ma''at Bubble. Things would have to come to an end right here and now.

    Leonel flipped a palm, and a wooden spear appeared in his hand.

    Nothing else seemed to change but this, and yet the air was still and even the echo of Lady Emberheart''s voice was completely suppressed.

    "Stop talking. Today, the world will know that no matter what reasons you might have, the Morales name isn''t something you try to stain."

 Chapter 2876 Eaten Up

    Chapter 2876 Eaten Up

    Lady Emberheart''s gaze lost all emotion. Her robes fluttered just before she vanished. When she appeared again, her palm had struck out.

    Leonel saw this and left his spear to the side. Pulling a fist back, he punched.

    Pat.

    It was a soft, unadorned attack. His knuckles met her palm.

    Lady Emberheart''s eyes opened up wide before she was suddenly sent flying back.

    BANG!

    The Emberheart Palace nearly crumbled on its foundation as Leonel took a step through the air.

    "Bring out all the strength you have," Leonel said uncaringly. "It''s because you take my Human Race so lightly that you thought you afford to offend us, but not the Dream Asuras.

    "Today, I''ll show you that you should have picked someone else."

    Leonel''s aura surged as he watched Lady Emberheart use her body to protect her injured husband from the rubble. A device on her fair arm vibrated, and he sucked in as she struggled to her feet, pushing the piles of debris off of her.

    This time, her indifferent gaze was filled with hints of trepidation and coldness.

    With a flutter, a ribbon around her waist extended, wrapping around her arms and coiling around her.

    Suddenly, it snapped out, and Leonel''s gaze finally sharpened.

    It was about time.

    His spear twisted in his palm, and he struck out to meet it.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Lady Emberheart didn''t move from her location, but she forced Leonel into the skies, moving him further and further from the city.

    Leonel knew that there was something odd going on with Lady Emberheart. The last time he had seen her, she wasn''t even at the Peak of the Life State, but now she was suddenly at the Middle Creation State?

    It didn''t feel like she was facing the spear, but rather the world itself. How was it possible to display this kind of strength without calling forth Spear Force?

    It was likely Leonel had grown detached from the need to use the Force at all. He had returned to a state only the Ancestors of Weapon Forces knew, one where strength was dictated by skill and not the Force itself.

    It was skill that birthed Weapon Forces. Not Weapon Forces that birthed skill.

    And in this lane...

    Leonel had skill in spades.

    Lady Emberheart''s ribbon quickly formed a rotating drill before her, meeting the strike head on.

    But her pupils constricted when she sensed that Leonel had already appeared to her right... and her left... and above her... and below.

    Her eyes widened, but her reaction wasn''t slow.

    Her chest began to glow, and a fiery eruption of Emberheart Force surged.

    Its Force Manipulation began to soar, quickly crossing into the Creation State. Her power seemed to increase ten times over, and in a single sweep, her ribbon fluttered, forming a protective vortex around her that danced with flickering flames.

    Leonel hadn''t expected such a change to take place and his spear was repelled again and again, his Light Force mirrors shattering as he was sent flying back.

    Leonel felt his inner organs shake and rattle, his bones nearly collapsing. The heat licked against his skin and would have already swallowed him whole had he not been a wielder of two Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes.

    ''Her Middle Creation State Force is definitely not Emberheart Force. She has two Creation State Forces?''

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed.

    Until now, he had never met an enemy with more than one Force at their highest State. Even the geniuses were no different.

    ''... This is no different either. I understand. Her Emberheart Force is only at the Peak Life State. Even this is shocking because it definitely wasn''t so powerful when I last met her, either.

    ''But Emberheart Force is a Fire Force that feeds on emotions. She''s using her Dream Force Path to bolster and enhance this aspect. That means that when she broke into the Creation State with her Dream Force... in reality, she gained two for the price of one.''

    This was out of Leonel''s expectations, and it was a form of Force Manipulation that he had never seen executed before. It could only be said that Lady Emberheart was a true genius. If not for the weakness of the Spiritual Race, she would''ve long since formed a Dharma.

    Leonel looked down at his spear as its body crumbled to ash, eaten up by the flames.

 Chapter 2877 Amazing

    Chapter 2877 Amazing

    This was the second time in Leonel''s life that he had lost a spear like this. Each one came from a memory that he would always remember, and both times were due to his negligence.

    This wooden spear wasn''t a powerful spear. It wasn''t even of the Black Grade. But it had followed him for ten years and had seen a great many things. It was actually the spear that had followed him for the longest time of them all.

    Leonel wasn''t a sentimental person, he just didn''t like the feeling of losing something he hadn''t wanted to lose.

    He didn''t move as the spear burned away. It was as though he couldn''t sense Lady Emberheart accumulating power.

    Suddenly, he took a breath and sighed.

    The world fell into silence as he grabbed out.

    Scarlet Star Force and Emulation Spatial Force took shape.

    A magnificent spear was born into the world. The winds howled, and the sun seemed to shine even brighter than normal.

    Runes began to appear like dancing butterflies and fairies.

    When Leonel clutched it, a spear howl filled the skies.

    Leonel spun his spear just a single time, and the flames in the surroundings vanished like a wisp of smoke.

    Lady Emberheart was instantly exposed. Amidst the ribbons and flames, she met Leonel''s gaze, and a cold shiver sprung up her spine.

    Leonel vanished and appeared before her. Lady Emberheart felt the sharpness of the spear before it even landed. It felt like a knife was already pressing against her throat.

    She tried to mobilize her Emberheart Force, but it didn''t listen.

    She pulled on her Dream Force, but a Crown appeared above Leonel''s head and it was as though she was forced to bow her head before a Sovereign.

    They suddenly exploded into a flurry of exchanges. Every one of Leonel''s strikes felt like it was aimed at a vital point, and every step along the way, Lady Emberheart felt like a single mistake would end her life.

    Leonel thrust out his spear thrice, and Lady Emberheart''s ribbons rushed to meet them. But in a twist of time, they seemed to fuse into one, becoming a sweep instead.

    Lady Emberheart''s ribbons were swept to the side as a fourth thrust appeared before her throat.

    Then he thrust out just a single time.

    His spear blade pierced through the first magic circle and that was when those watching saw a scene they would never forget.

    It started as a small trickle, but then it passed through the second Force Art and became larger... then the third and became even larger.

    Suddenly, the beam accelerated, and it passed through each subsequent magic circle like a gushing geyser.

    Lady Emberheart looked up as she fell and her heart turned hollow.

    The golden beam of light had grown so large that it could swallow up an entire city.

    There was nowhere to dodge, nowhere to evade. The only saving grace was that the battle had moved far enough that they were no longer above the city.

    Her body was swallowed up whole.

    BOOM!

    Leonel stood in the skies, taking deep breaths.

    He had completely suppressed her, but that was because he relied on his Ability Index, and he happened to perfectly counter her. Her flames were almost useless against him and her strongest Force, Dream Force, was also worthless to him as well. Everything was under his control from start to finish.

    But that belied the effort it had taken.

    If he was honest, he truly hadn''t expected for the Spirituals to have such a powerful existence. Well, at least not one that was outside their known Ancestors.

    The beam of light slowly cleared and Lady Emberheart lay in a crater, beaten and battered, with not the strength even to raise a hand.

    Leonel could sense several auras rushing at him from the distance, but he just waved a hand.

    Lady Emberheart''s throat practically teleported into his hand.

    Standing here in the skies, spear in one hand and Creation State Ninth Dimensional existence in another, he seemed lofty and untouchable.

    Leonel raised his head and laughed to the skies. He had been suppressing himself for far too long.

    This felt amazing.

 Chapter 2878 Good

    Chapter 2878 Good

    Leonel stood high in the skies, laughing so loudly his voice boomed across the Ma''at Bubble. He could sense the auras coming, but he didn''t seem to care in the slightest. It was as though he had no limits.

    But then he suddenly cleared his throat.

    "Wife!"

    Those watching from the sidelines couldn''t help but be speechless. What happened to his imposing bearing? What happened to the arrogance that rose to the skies? What happened to the will to pierce through all things?Upptodated from

    Aina suddenly appeared by Leonel''s side, barely stifling a laugh.

    Leonel wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned on her. His Divine Armor disappeared, and he touched the back of his hand to his forehead.

    "I don''t think I''m going to make it," Leonel said exaggeratedly. "Let me put a baby in your first so that you''ll always remember me."

    Aina''s laughter couldn''t be held back at this point.

    Down below, there were a few poor souls that had tried to surround her to threaten Leonel. Half of them were dead, as Aina clearly wasn''t nearly as merciful as Leonel was.

    In truth, they could have been considered to have gotten off lucky. Had Leonel had the bandwidth to pay attention, just for their intention alone, he would have done something far worse than just slaughter them.

    It had to be remembered that all of this started only because the Spirituals dared to slander Leonel. What would he have done if he had seen this?

    Although he was tired, he wasn''t tired to the point of being helpless. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

    If he had to, let alone just heavily injuring the Emberheart Lord and Lady, he could directly kill them.

    BANG!

    The air exploded as several elders appeared in the skies.

    Leonel''s gaze narrowed when he saw them.

    Leonel grabbed at the air, and wisps of Spear Force began to form. They were just small arcs of light, looking like fireflies fluttering in the day, and yet the entire Ma''at Bubble began to tremble.

    A large golden bracelet began to take shape around Leonel''s wrists as his hair whipped around wildly in the air.

    Fear began to grip the hearts of the Spiritual elders.

    "Mercy?" Leonel asked.

    He suddenly clenched his fist, and space shattered. A wild array of fragmented pieces of void took shape around Leonel. It seemed that the closer the Spear Force got to forming, the more destruction there was in the surroundings. It felt that if Leonel went as far as to fully form it, the entire Ma''at Bubble would shatter.

    At that moment, Lady Emberheart, who was still struggling on the ground, felt a fear grip her heart. Her expressions changed when she realized that it wasn''t coming from her, but from the World Spirit of their world.

    This fear and trepidation gripped the hearts. It seemed that Leonel could really destroy their Bubble whenever he wanted.

    A Bubble was the foundation of a Race. Its World Spirit was perfectly curated to their Race and their path. There were probably very few Bubbles that were worthy of helping one to progress along the Emberheart Path.

    Even if Leonel didn''t kill anyone else, just destroying their Bubble alone would be far too great a blow. Plus, how could destroying a Bubble not come with drastic consequences? More than 99% of their population wouldn''t survive such a thing.

    The closer the Spear Force came to condensing, the more devastating the feeling of despair and destruction became. The elders felt that they couldn''t even get close without being shredded to pieces.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m How could they even fight back against this sort of Force? Was this a legendary Dharma? Wasn''t that the only explanation for what they were seeing here?

    "Wait! Wait!" The second elder called out in a panic. "Our Ma''at Bubble will formally apologize to the Human Race and the Morales family for our folly!"

    The feeling suddenly vanished and the wisps of Spear Force flickered into the distance, destroying mountains and razing down land for hundreds of kilometers.

    The World Spirit of their world groaned and cried out in pain, a reality that shocked them to their core. A normal amount of destruction could never cause the World Spirit to react like this.

    Their hearts trembled in terror as they looked at Leonel. How could one young man be such a monster?

    "Good." Leonel pulled his hand back, concealing its trembling and pain. "Why didn''t you just say so from the beginning?"

 Chapter 2879 True Monsters

    Chapter 2879 True Monsters

    The elder with the wispy beard almost lashed out when he heard Leonel say this, but he just barely managed to restrain himself. If he really went so far after what he had seen, he would practically be cosigning the entire Ma''at Bubble to death.

    How could they know that it was mostly just a bluff?

    ''It''s still so difficult...''

    Leonel shook his head inwardly. It seemed that he would really have to find a second Incomplete World, maybe even a third before he could use his Weapon Forces without feeling like the world was collapsing.

    The truth was that the aftereffects of this world crumbling were just a product of poor control. Of course, just having poor control wouldn''t lead to this, or else all Forces would be so dangerous.Gett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    Instead, it was clear that this was only possible because of how strong the Spear Force was to begin with.

    Honestly, it was a bit annoying to Leonel. How could he comprehend something that he couldn''t control?

    In the past, it made sense because his Innate Node wasn''t something that he had personally comprehended, and unlike others, his had been taken at birth so he hadn''t been able to grow acclimated to it.

    But this time, the issue was that his body was far too weak to withstand it at all.

    This wasn''t entirely the fault of the Force. Even so many years later, his Spear Force was still greatly unsatisfied that Leonel had forced it to make room for his Bow Force at the same time.

    It was the clashing of these two that had led to this problem and ultimately shot himself in the foot like he had.

    There wasn''t much that Leonel could do about this until he had the body to withstand it all.

    Of course, he could still forcefully summon it if he really went all out. But the question was how long he could sustain it for and what kind of backlash his body would face without it.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m But now that all of his Forces were at the Quasi Creation State, and his Dream Force was at the Creation State itself, it was only a matter of time.

    This was why Lady Emberheart was able to reach the Middle Creation State in just a year.

    Just like Lady Emberheart had said, the moment she managed to reach the Quasi Creation State was the moment she would truly flourish. She had confidence in becoming a God within ten years.

    Leonel hadn''t been there when she said such a thing, obviously, because she had only thought it to herself.

    But after just a few moments, he had deduced it all on his own.

    All of this said, it was also clear that not all Spirituals would be able to soar to Godhood the moment they touched the border of the Creation State. There were still clearly striations in talent and they weren''t all so perfect.

    However, those that could touch this level at a relatively young age and still have potential left over like Lady Emberheart were practically guaranteed to form a Dharma.

    This was the secret of the Spiritual Race, and it was something that made Leonel''s eyes twinkle because even he didn''t expect such a thing.

    As of now, what was clear was that the strongest of the Spirituals only had Higher Creation State Forces. Lady Emberheart should be the first God they could produce in a while. Her husband would likely be the second so long as he lived up to his potential, but he was still centuries away.

    The trouble was that what divided the upper echelon of the Spirituals wasn''t just Force Manipulation, but rather the quantity.

    These three elders following after Leonel only had one Higher Creation State Force.

    However, deep within their territory, Leonel had already sensed two slumbering monsters.

    Both of them had two Higher Creation State Forces. Dream Force and Emberheart Force.

    Not only this, but if the technique Lady Emberheart used to bolster her Emberheart Force was used by them, it was likely that they could display power exceeding this level and comparable to the Peak Creation State.

    Indeed, the Spirituals were hiding a few true monsters.

 Chapter 2880 Coward?

    Chapter 2880 Coward?

    All of these auras were alerted the moment two humans entered their sacred land.

    Leonel stood there with his wife by his side, looking forward calmly.

    The world was truly gorgeous. It seemed reminiscent of the pink, blue and violet worlds of the Dream Planes, but it wasn''t exactly like this either.

    The Ma''at Bubble Spirituals seemed to prefer gold and red, painting their world in this color and forming an exquisite sight.

    Lady Emberheart weakly made her way forward, suddenly barring Leonel''s path.

    Leonel had noticed her long ago, but he didn''t do anything to stop her. If this helped them feel better, that was fine by him. He didn''t need to enter to do what he needed to do, he just needed a place where outsiders wouldn''t overhear them.

    He looked Lady Emberheart in the eyes and said something that made the world freeze over.

    "I''ve figured out something quite interesting in the last year. Who would have thought that the Spirituals descended from us humans?"

    Lady Emberheart''s chest shook so violently that she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

    How had another person found out about their greatest secret? How did they keep getting exposed in this way?

    When she thought about how Leonel knew this from the very beginning, and still decided to threaten them with his strength instead, they all felt a grave bitterness in their hearts.

    He had clearly done all of this purpose.

    He could have made it this far with just this secret alone, but now that he had showed them his strength, would they still dare to have such designs on him?

    Even Flaura didn''t dare to appear here so openly, instead choosing to suppress them from afar.

    But Leonel was standing right here, boldly proclaiming their weakness to their faces. How could this be so easy to accept?All latest novels at novelhall.com

    "You see, normally, I wouldn''t mind this. Everyone has their secrets. But throwing your own Race under the bus is a bit disgusting, don''t you think?"

    "... We had no other choice," Lady Emberheart said coldly, blood leaking from her lips.

    "If you take a ratio between your affinities and the benefits you get out of it, the gap is quite large, huh?"

    BANG! BANG!

    Two figures suddenly appeared and landed before Leonel and Aina with such quick speeds that most wouldn''t even have been able to see how they arrived.

    One was an old woman, and the other was an equally as old man. They both looked like they already had a foot in the grave, and yet the shaking of the earth beneath those very feet painted a completely different picture.

    Leonel didn''t seem to care about their arrival, spinning the orb on his finger as though it wasn''t valuable.

    He had long since given this Dimensional Method to his brothers and friends. He had also begun to subtly spread it to some trustworthy individuals as well.

    But it wasn''t until he arrived here that he realized that he had far more leverage than he was even aware of.

    If he allowed the Spirituals to study this technique, they would even be able to fix their weaknesses. Once they did, they would be no weaker than a Demi-God Race even before they finished their evolution. And once they did complete this evolution, they would instantly become one of the strongest of the Demi-God Races.

    This was only really for the future... but what about what it could do right now?

    If these old fogies had this technique, would they maybe find a way to break past their bottlenecks?

    They were all already at the Ninth Dimension. There were only two ways to add to their lifespans. The first was to breakthrough in Tier, but they had already reached those limits long ago...

    The second was a breakthrough in Force Manipulation. Such a thing would allow them to steal more from the universe and extend their lives as well.

    Wasn''t what Leonel was holding now as good as a ticket to life for half of them in here?

    Leonel snapped his fingers and caught the orb out of the air.

    "Now, there''s really only one question to ask."

    Leonel grinned.

    "Are you going to continue to be cowards? Or are you going to grow some balls?"

 Chapter 2881 Impulsive

    Chapter 2881 Impulsive

    Leonel''s smile almost felt like the smile of a devil in their eyes. It felt like they were staring into the maw of the abyss, his presence making their hearts unwittingly palpitate.

    Staring into his eyes, it felt that from the very start, he had their hopes and dreams in the palms of his hand.Gett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    It didn''t make sense for him to be so calm and unhurried, for him to carelessly come into the location they were the absolute strongest in just to snub their noses. And yet, feeling his confidence, they realized without taking action that there was little they could do to change things, even if they wanted to.

    They realized that this boy had already grasped onto their weakness, and the situation was entirely under their control.

    "What do you want?"

    This time, it wasn''t Lady Emberheart who spoke. It was the old lady of the two Ancestors.

    There were many things about this that they didn''t understand, especially since they were hardly the only Spiritual Race Bubble.

    Even if they didn''t go to the Moonstone Bubble because of the dead prince, wouldn''t it be easier to help one of the weaker Spiritual Bubbles to rise up?

    The Emberheart and Moonstone families were the two strongest of the Spiritual Race. They were likewise the most difficult to control as a result.

    If Leonel had gone to a Spiritual Bubble with only one or two Creation State experts, with such a technique in hand, couldn''t he help them to rise up quickly and hold all the cards in his hands at the same time?

    By the time anyone realized what was happening, the situation would already be far too late to change.

    Of course, they had no idea that Leonel was the one to kill the Moonstone Prince, even to this day. They didn''t even know that Leonel was the one who helped the Dwarven Race impersonate the Emberheart little Princess.

    At most, they had some guesses that they couldn''t confirm.

    Even so, the rest was still a problem.

    Was Leonel really so confident in keeping them in line?

    When they remembered the power he had been about to display earlier, they couldn''t help but shudder. Was that really so farfetched?

    How would the Ma''at Bubble react to suddenly knowing that Leonel was their leader?

    Would this impulsive boy have any propriety when it came to this? Or would he just start killing anyone who ignored his words and authority?

    And even if Leonel really did change, once again, how would cooperation work? Once they got their hands on the technique, if Leonel could only lead them from the shadows, what reason would he have to trust them?

    They certainly wouldn''t trust someone else in this way, and they knew Leonel was smart enough not to, either.

    No matter how you spun and flipped this matter, it didn''t make sense from any angle. It was as though Leonel was just messing around once again.

    Plus... they had their own reasons for hiding their identity as humans, reasons that ran deeper than just wanting to avoid the ire of the world.

    How could it be that no one knew that the Spirituals had such a past? What had it taken to obscure such a thing? And in the case of those who knew, how was it that they had kept them silent?

    This matter wasn''t as simple as it seemed on the surface, and it only made them think that Leonel was all the more ignorant and naA? ?ve to suggest such a thing.

    He was ultimately too young and too impulsive... just as the old Ancestor had said.

    However, Leonel only gave her a glance.

    "Impulsive?"

    Leonel stretched out a hand and they all froze, thinking that something bad was about to happen. They were already used to Leonel lashing out.

    But what happened instead made their eyes open wide.

    A tablet, radiating with pink, violet and sky blue diamonds, appeared, exuding an ancient aura that played on their hearts.

    Leonel didn''t need to say another word.

    The appearance of the Life Tablet spoke volumes.

 Chapter 2882 Two Reasons

    Chapter 2882 Two Reasons

    It struck them all like a bolt of lightning. The only reason the Life Tablet would be here was if...

    "You..."

    Leonel flipped another palm, and a Silver Tablet appeared.

    The surrounding Spirituals felt their worlds crumbling apart.

    Impulsive?

    Leonel was the most fearsome character they had ever seen in their lives.

    They only realized now that Leonel had to have lost to Lady Emberheart on purpose. How could he have lost if the battle was so close, even without him using the Life Tablet?

    They only now realized that Flaura had been single-handedly devastated by Leonel''s scheme, that her entire life was shredded apart because she dared to offend him. The only reason they weren''t on the losing end was because he made them a convenient pawn of their game.

    They only now realized that... a war of Demi-Gods and Gods had been triggered by this young man before them alone.

    "The world doesn''t know it yet," Leonel began with a smile as he put his tablets away, "but I''m the last person who you would want to be the enemy of. Even when I''m impulsive, I win."

    **Gett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    News of the Ma''at Bubbles'' apology spread like wildfire, and soon the details began to be understood as well.

    No one knew of the exact strength of Lady Emberheart, but the fact that at the Sixth Dimension Leonel could defeat both her and her husband handedly spoke volumes about his current strength.

    He seemed to have disappeared for more than a year, but when he came back, he did so with a swift vengeance that swept through the Mortal Bubbles once again.

    However, the war still ruled the world of Demi-Gods.

    And it was at that moment that an existence that had been delayed for far too long appeared.

    Shan''Rae.

    ...

    The young Void Race stepped out into the world. Her body shook uncomfortably, a frown marring her features, or so it seemed. In reality, when a Void Race member frowned, the galaxies that formed up their bodies blinked in and out of existence as though their slight malcontent could wipe out worlds.

    The battle continued to rage on, but she was truly entirely uninterested.

    Shan''Rae spread her hands, and her aura surged.

    In a blink, thousands of miniature black holes appeared across the battlefield. They tried to dodge, but it was as though it had locked onto them all.

    The black holes only rotated slightly as they all froze.

    When they disappeared, their heads had disappeared along with them.

    Their bodies went limp and they fell to the ground in an uncontrollable heap.

    At the same time, the Void Race combatants had all kneeled at some unknown time, not daring to raise their heads. They didn''t have the answer either, as they didn''t even know who Leonel Morales was. They didn''t dare to believe that kinship would stop Shan''Rae from killing them.

    Shan''Rae snorted in discontent, but she didn''t kill anymore.

    She had been so delayed because of the sudden appearance of the Idol Battlefield. There had been a great debate about whether they should be participating in this war at all now.

    It had to be remembered that the Idol Battlefield was the opportunity of the humanoids. Beasts had no part in it. Its appearance also signified the rise of the humanoids.

    Knowing this, it seemed silly to continue fighting it out with losers who stood no chance.

    It was clear that the Fallen God Beasts hadn''t expected such a change either, or else they would have never started the battle now either.

    But in the end, they chose to continue for two important reasons.

    The first was their prestige. How could the God Races be so casually offended?

    The second was in recognition of the sort of desperate state this would put the Fallen God Beasts in.

    If before they were willing to drag this battle out, very soon, they would be making a decisive strike.

    If they couldn''t return to being Gods before the Idol Battlefield descended, they would never have another chance.

    It could be said that, once again, Leonel''s actions had turned the world upside down. It was just that this time, no one was aware.

    In the end, Shan''Rae and three others had been sent to deal a decisive blow before the Fallen God Beasts could make their decision.

    But first... Shan''Rae wanted to kill a particularly annoying ant.

    "Young miss, I think I might know where you can look," a voice called out hesitantly.

 Chapter 2883 Cold

    Chapter 2883 Cold

    Leonel''s steps suddenly paused, and his eyes narrowed.

    "What''s wrong?" Aina asked.

    "Someone is targeting me," Leonel spoke after a long while.

    Aina''s gaze narrowed as well. There were plenty of people likely talking about Leonel all the time, many of whom had killing intent. For Leonel to care enough to bring it up now...

    Before Leonel had entered the Creation State, he already had vague inklings when things were going to happen. But nothing could compare to now.

    Was this how Dream Force experts felt? No, was this how the likes of the Demoness felt?

    It wasn''t just the Creation State Force that was helping, but his Wise Sea Order status.

    He could feel a palpable killing intent.

    Leonel stopped walking and closed his eyes.

    Aina didn''t say anything and just waited patiently.

    ...Gett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    "Speak," Shan''Rae said, looking toward the kneeling Void Race member.

    "Leonel Morales, as far as I''m aware, is a Human. He would not be in the Demi-God worlds, but rather the Mortal worlds."

    Shan''Rae frowned.

    She didn''t like the sound of that at all.

    As someone who spent most of her life in the God Realms, she never really considered the lower worlds at all, nor did she really know the difference. They were all the same to her.

    Well, if Leonel knew of her thoughts, he wouldn''t call her ignorant, he would just call her a foolish woman with a few screws loose.

    How could you descend into an Incomplete World without knowing the difference between tiers of worlds? Clearly, she was all brawn and no brain. He might even say that her chest took up all her brain mass, but with how Void Race women looked, it was hard to tell if they had any curves at all.

    Of course, the Void Race members here didn''t dare to say such a thing. In fact, they all thought her to be amazing for having such thoughts.

    The Void Race man blinked in confusion, looking around before he hurriedly bowed, trembling.

    Not receiving an answer, Shan''Rae was absolutely livid.

    "The location! Now!"

    The shivering Void Race man only seemed to now realize that Shan''Rae was speaking to him.

    "Location? Young miss, I''m not sure what you''re talking about. Please, mercy!"

    Shan''Rae shrieked and the Void Race man''s head exploded.

    "Someone! Give me the location! Now!"

    However, every single one of the Void Race members seemed to be entirely confused by what she was talking about.

    It was only now that Shan''Rae realized that this had to be Leonel''s doing.

    If this information had been spread by the Dream Asura, how could they not know? No... how had the one who was aware of the location to begin with suddenly be entirely confused about what she was speaking about?

    What level had Leonel''s Dream Force usage reached? How was this possible?

    ...

    Leonel''s lips trembled, his face paled. He shook his head, taking deep breaths.

    His Dream Force worlds began to rotate, quickly replenishing him.

    The method he had used was within the Emperor''s Might tablet. It was an advanced form of [Emperor''s Edict].

    Obviously, using it on such a large scale had taken a great deal out of him. Honestly, if not for the support of the Life Tablet and his Wise Star and Wise Sea Order status, he wouldn''t have been able to do it.

    When he recovered, his gaze flickered with a dense cold.

    He was already beginning to think about how he would deal with this situation before Shan''Rae even appeared.

    He had an understanding of the world now that he didn''t have in the past, so he knew what kind of changes his triggering the Idol Battlefield would cause.

    Time and time again, the Void Race seemed to stand opposing to him. In that case, he would hand them a loss they finally couldn''t afford to swallow.

 Chapter 2884 Possible

    Chapter 2884 Possible

    Leonel fell into his thoughts. He would have to adjust his plans. Honestly, he didn''t expect that Shan''Rae would feel the need to go so far. He even found it quite amusing, honestly. Well, as amusing as it could be, considering it was now bringing trouble to his front door.

    That said, this wasn''t necessarily that troublesome either. Because one way or another, he would have to do this. It was convenient for him to have used the descendants of the Minerva and Fallen God Beasts to reverse the troublesome situation that the humans were in. But what would he do after the war ended?

    Once the smoke settled down, his role in all of this would never be able to be hidden. It might take a few years, maybe a few decades, but it would eventually come out. If Leonel got caught with his pants down at the wrong time, it would become an issue for him. So why not take some initiative?

    The question was... how?

    "Hm..."

    Leonel smiled.

    Aina shook her head when she saw that look on Leonel''s face. It seemed that someone was going to suffer again. But after not seeing him for so long, she felt that it was too nostalgic. She suddenly wanted to start a war just for the hell of it. She liked it when Leonel was being domineering, maybe a little too much.

    The expressions of both husband and wife became quite a sight to behold. It seemed that neither would be comfortable if there was no trouble.

    ...

    "Not this one either."

    "Not going?" Aina asked.

    Leonel shook his head.

    Shadowclaw and Dreadmaw were still in the Incomplete World, and Leonel had no intention of taking them out. As he had said, he had already done Shadowclaw more than enough of a favor in the past. Right now, he wasn''t the one who owed the kid... well, maybe he wasn''t much of a kid anymore.

    Right now, Leonel had to focus on maximizing their chances of survival, and for that he needed another Incomplete World that he could perfect and absorb. The fewer people knew what he did, the better. Once things had calmed once again, then he could care about returning them.

    "To the next we go."

    Leonel continued to travel around, but the six-month deadline was already quickly approaching without him finding what he needed. As the fourth month came and went, he was starting to think that he might actually have to go to the battlefield without the improvement he hoped for. He actually found something interesting.

    "This one is no good too-," Leonel''s words suddenly came to a stop. "Hm? Maybe...?"

    This Incomplete World seemed to be ruled by a race of Lightning Spirituals. It had next to nothing to do with Leonel''s path, and it was once again something useless to him. He also had no intention of learning yet another Force.

    However, there was a flash in his Dreamscape and his thoughts flickered to Talon, who was likewise trapped by him. His thoughts began to churn, and he was quickly forming new connections and thoughts that just might be quite interesting.

    "Hm... Let''s take a look. This could potentially be interesting, depending on a few things. If this doesn''t work out, let''s just head to the battlefield early. It''ll be more troublesome, but it''s still possible."

 Chapter 2885 Announcement

    Chapter 2885 Announcement

    Leonel was thinking of something very curious as he crossed into the Incomplete World. This time, though, the Regulator didn''t seem to sense Leonel at all. It was like he had never entered.

    Quickly, Leonel adjusted, and in the blink of an eye, he seemed to be perfectly in tune with the world.

    If outsiders could see this scene now, they would be absolutely shocked, not just because Leonel had adjusted so quickly, but also because he seemed able to protect even his wife as well.

    "This world doesn''t seem right for you," Aina said.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

    "You''re right, but I''m looking at something else."

    It was weird Leonel said this because they had come across worlds that specialized in Fire and even one that specialized in Earth, but none of them caught Leonel''s fancy.

    That was when Leonel realized something.

    The path was probably more important than the Force alone.

    By all rights, the Sea God Verse was a Water Force Incomplete World, but hadn''t it ended up being perfect for him?

    In that case, what he needed to look for wasn''t just a world with the appropriate Forces, but one that could align with him properly.

    And this world... it might have been related to Lightning Force, but it was domineering and kingly in a way that seemed to perfectly align with his two Weapon Forces.

    However, this was just the first layer of it all. What also interested Leonel was the Spirituals, and it was related to why he had thought of Talon.

    Talon had a very unique method of Crafting. He used a Lightning Spirit... but it wasn''t that simple. If Leonel recalled correctly, it was the Earthen Lightning Spirit.

    It was a Spirit that Leonel had never seen before, but he also didn''t think much about it. But when he saw this Incomplete World, it all clicked.

    **

    A silence hung over the room like a heavy veil. The Owlans didn''t speak a single word, neither did the Fallen God Beasts.

    The appearance of Shan''Rae had seemingly turned the entire battle situation upside down. From a war that had been relatively even, they were quickly losing ground. On just the first day alone, they lost over a thousand experts with at least Middle Life State Forces. This was a blow too devastating to ignore.

    They had known that no war with the Gods could possibly end so easily, but how could they think that just a junior alone would be able to change it all? It was as though they had never taken them seriously.

    Elysium, their leader, seemed to be the only one who was truly indifferent. It was clear he never thought that dealing with the Gods would be so easy.

    As for the Fallen God Beasts, the ones that were here were only collateral. Had it been the real Celestials, they, too, would be just as calm.

    "Hey, hey, hey, why the glum atmosphere?"

    Elysium''s pupils constricted, and he looked up. It was the first time he had shown such a violent reaction.

    Minerva''s reaction was just as fierce, but for a completely different reason. Seething hatred rampaged through her body.

    "I see that you all are in a bit of a tough predicament, so I thought I''d help out. I''ll kill that Shan''Rae for you, but it''ll take a bit and I''ll have to prepare first. I''ll be coming to your world in a couple of days, so keep a seat warm for me.

    "No need to thank me. I''m doing this out of the kindness of my heart."

    After these words were said, the voice faded.

    Silence fell once again and the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts didn''t even know what to think.

    What they didn''t know was that Shan''Rae had gotten a similar message... though several times more taunting.

    It seemed that Leonel was announcing to the world that he was coming to the realm of Demi-Gods.

 Chapter 2886 Sudden Change

    Chapter 2886 Sudden Change

    "What are you doing?" Aina asked, barely stifling a laugh.T0pp novel updates at novelhall.com

    Leonel stood before her, cupping her breasts and stopping her from getting dressed. It looked like he was trying to use his palms as scales, and it left her speechless.

    "Measuring, measuring," Leonel said almost a little too seriously, "they''ve gotten bigger, I swear. But a little less dense, peculiarly enough. I need to make some adjustments."

    Aina gave Leonel a playful pat on the forehead with a palm.

    "Be serious. We have war to go to."

    She seemed to be excited. Now that her desires had been vented, the only thing left was battle lust, but Leonel was still delaying. How could she not feel anxious?

    "Relax, relax..." Leonel continued to mutter.

    Then he took out the uniform he had given her, formed from the white tiger''s tail and began to make adjustments.

    As he did so, he shook his head. This material was really no good anymore. It was far too weak for Aina''s current strength.

    Still, by the time Leonel finished, that didn''t stop the white and black military uniform and boots from shimmering with a gorgeous light.

    Even with inferior materials, it radiated an aura of absolute majesty. By this point, it would surely light up far more than 18 runes on the Truth Pillars. But Leonel didn''t seem to be satisfied.

    "We''ll have to slaughter some of the other beasts on the way."

    Aina giggled and shook her head. "Fine, fine, fine. Okay, let''s go!"

    Aina didn''t ask why Leonel had said that.

    Weren''t they supposed to be on the side of the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts? Why were they killing the beasts for their pelts now?

    If the Void Race knew that Leonel had come to ruin their days while wearing this, what would they even think?

    Leonel''s eyes opened. "Let''s go."

    A wild grin spread across his face.

    ...

    Leontius gloomily stood on the battlefield, his large, bestial body shuddering with spatial fluctuations.

    The Spectral White Tiger Race could be said to be the most gloomy in this war. The Void Race made their control over space look ridiculous, and in the end, they could only rely on their powerful bodies.

    With the support of the Owlans, it wasn''t so bad. But when Shan''Rae appeared on this battlefield two weeks ago, she destroyed all the Quasi Creation State experts on the battlefield and even the Lower Creation State commander overseeing things.

    Then, before their reinforcements could get here, she vanished.

    This was already the third time she had done this and her actions this time left Leontius without the usual support he would have.

    His body was littered with wounds and he didn''t even bother to waste the Force to hold up his spatial barrier any longer. The Void Race members seemed to always be able to ignore it.

    The most humiliating thing was that they weren''t even strong to the Void Race. Most of them were Void Race descendants born in the God Realm, but could only be said to have Demi-God bodies. There were a few among them with real God bodies, barely a dozen, but even the strongest of them were only in the lower Tiers of the Seventh Dimension.

    It was humiliation. Outright humiliation.

    Leontius could feel that this strength was slipping away. He would likely die soon. In a few more hours, he would be done.

    It was just unfortunate. For the first time, he lamented having such a strong body. If he had a body as weak as the humans, he would have left this torture behind long ago.

    It was then that there was a sudden change on the battlefield.

 Chapter 2887 Single Bound

    Chapter 2887 Single Bound

    Leonel stood so high in the skies that no one could see him, but Aina had already charged. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched in silence, his gaze dancing with a thousand thoughts a second.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

    With a flicker and a leap, Aina appeared on the frontline and swept out her battle ax just a single time.

    Under the astonished gazes of Owlan, Beast, and Void Races alike, more than three dozen members of the Void Race died all at once.

    The battlefield fell into silence.

    From the very start, no one had been able to kill the descended God Race with so much impunity.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m What they expected even less was that Aina didn''t seem to care and had already flickered forward again, swiping out once more.

    Blood rose from the ground and danced like stars. Feeling the blood of the God Race for the first time, Aina truly felt that it was magical. It filled her with so much power that she felt like she could even pluck the sun out of the skies.

    Dozens of roses bloomed in the skies, and clones of Aina appeared out of each one. They didn''t have legs, but they wielded the flower petals around them no differently from how they would a battle ax.

    Before anyone could even react, Aina had killed hundreds.

    All of this happened in a few blinks of the eye, making it look as though the battlefield had become a meat grinder.

    Across the battlefield, the leisurely Gods suddenly stood.

    "Ven''Ora, you go deal with her."

    "You''re giving up on a Blood Sovereign?"

    "I feel like a powerful Dream Force expert just appeared. We can''t be careless."

    When these words were said, the expression of them all changed. Even Ven''Ora, who had been joking around, had a complete change in demeanor as well.

    Before a single exchange, the Void Race youths had decided to get serious.

    BANG!

    The scythe drew a line down the battlefield, splitting the land for hundreds of kilometers, and yet completely untouched by Aina herself.

    Aina''s ax spun in her hands and sliced upward, cutting the chest and head of Ven''Ora in two.

    More stars blinked out of existence on Ven''Ora''s body and what should have been a fatal wound healed instantly.

    She roared and vortexes appeared around her and the skies.

    The battle erupted once more. Then once again. And then again.

    Aina looked like a butcher skewering meat. Ven''Ora was cut in two in more ways than she could fathom, and every time she was forced to sacrifice more and more stars.

    Many felt their hearts shuddering. Was this what it meant to be a God? Were they truly immortal?

    Even if there were some that noticed the stars winking out, there must have been millions on her body at worst. What did this mean? Over the course of a battle, could she replenish herself millions of times over?

    The Void Race youths frowned. Going to help would be humiliating, and at the same time, they were worried about the Dream Force expert mentioned by Uld''Lo.

    However, by the time they resolved themselves, it was too late.

    Bored, Aina''s speed suddenly accelerated. Her battle ax left lines in the skies as though she had become a budding rose herself.

    The dance was no less beautiful than Leonel''s spear dance and even seemed to take inspiration from it. In fact, unlike Aina, Leonel wasn''t a peerless beauty, so the effect on the psyche of those around her was even more devastating.

    In a blink, Ven''Ora froze, and in the next instant, her body was sliced into thousands of ribbon-thin pieces.

    Just when she wanted to use her stars to reform herself, Aina''s Blood Sovereignty trembled and ripped every last drop out of her.

    Aina absorbed it all and her aura began to skyrocket.

    In a single bound, she shed her Demi-God status and became a God.

 Chapter 2888 Ramping

    Chapter 2888 Ramping

    The change was absolutely shocking and the Regulator of the world seemed to be alerted. However, it faded away after a moment.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

    Descending from a world was one thing. But ascending from a lower station to a higher one was a completely separate matter. Because Aina had the foundation of a Mortal, she gained much more leeway from Regulators. This was why Leonel hadn''t felt any trouble entering the Ma''at Bubble despite it being a Mortal World.

    As for why Incomplete Worlds still targeted them, it was because there was a dividing line between the two states of Complete and Incomplete. In addition, there was more being targeted than just their constitutions as well.

    Incomplete Worlds couldn''t withstand the Ninth Dimension, nor could they withstand Forces surpassing the Impetus State as well. So even if Leonel and Aina managed in one fashion, it was difficult to manage in others.

    Incomplete Worlds were also the only worlds that would target even their own kind. That was why Leonel''s father had ended up losing his life.

    This was a matter of life and death for Incomplete Worlds. They were teetering on the edge of creation and destruction to begin with, and their fragile states could grant them death at any time.

    In comparison, Complete Worlds were far more robust and could afford to withstand much more strength. As such, their Regulators only rarely stepped in and the effects were usually less violent.

    Even so, Aina''s expression twisted with a hint of distaste, her nose wrinkling.

    She pressed a hand to her chest and pulled. The blood she had just absorbed was taken out, and she tossed it to the side to create another rotating bud of roses, this one far more powerful than the others and more than ten times the size.

    Her aura plummeted back down to Demi-God''s status, but those with sharp senses could tell that it had become far more refined.

    Their hearts shook.

    Who was this woman? She could just casually change her constitution at will? Was this the majesty of Blood Sovereigns?

    Those with Blood Force affinity were just as rare as Dream Force experts, and the existence of a Blood Sovereign was a heart-shuddering matter.

    Even so, it was said that the inheritance of the Blood Sovereign had been lost long ago and much of the strength they could display was only superficial and limited to boosts in strength.

    Even in the God Realm, the Void Race stood at the pinnacle. They were only beneath the Pluto Race and on par with a few others.

    There was quite literally no one in Existence that dared to humiliate them like this. Even the Pluto Race hadn''t said anything when their Ancestor had brutally injured El''Rion.

    Even during this war, the Owlans and Fallen Gods Beasts were careful with the steps they took for fear of how the Void Race might retaliate. They wanted them to underestimate them for as long as possible.

    But this voice... didn''t seem to have any sort of propriety.

    "Ah, look at that. I tried to warn you, but you didn''t listen."

    Uld''Lo''s expression changed and nebulae exploded across his body as he locked eyes into the distance.

    A river of blood was wrapping around Aina''s body as though strips of silk ribbon. However, every time they came into contact with the scythe-wielding Void Race members, they cut stronger than blades, piercing into their bodies and taking more of their blood.

    Suddenly, she seemed to grow annoyed and let out a low shout.

    The river of blood ribbons violently expanded and shredded them apart like a blender. Their flesh and bones dyed the skies and fell to the ground like meteors.

    "As you can see, my wife has suppressed her battle lust for too long. She was really looking forward to this battle with the Gods, but you all actually came to disappoint her.

    "I tried my best to help, but what happens from here is out of my hands."

    Uld''Lo could practically hear Leonel''s sarcastic shrug through his voice.

    But what wasn''t sarcastic was the violent upsurge that suddenly exploded around his wife.

    It had only been a few minutes, but Aina had already taken out a tenth of the army.

    And she seemed to only be ramping up.

 Chapter 2889 Fill

    Chapter 2889 Fill

    Uld''Lo was shaken by the sudden death. The fact that Leonel was taunting him the entire time only made it worse. When had the Void Race ever been humiliated like this?

    "Angry?" Leonel chuckled. "Well, it''s probably a bit too late, but you could at least try to send a real Calvary this time. Though I can''t help but wonder why your Void Race is so arrogant."

    Leonel waved a hand, and one of their scythes shot up to him in the sky. It was only now that Uld''Lo realized that Leonel had been high above them the entire time. Except he had scanned that area several times and couldn''t even find a lick of him.

    "Such shoddy workmanship. You guys must have pretty low standing in the Void Race to be wielding this kind of trash."

    Leonel flicked at the scythe several times and it suddenly shattered into exactly 18 pieces. The shocking part was that if a Crafting expert had been here, they would have realized that Leonel had perfectly targeted the fault-lines of the treasure every single time.

    Leonel shook his head. "Arrogant, indeed."

    Uld''Lo''s gaze turned malevolent. Even if their standing in the Void Race was low, it wasn''t Leonel''s place to comment on such a thing. However, when he saw what happened to the scythe, his heart shook.

    He had heard faintly that Leonel was the best Crafter of his generation, but he never took it seriously. That title was something earned with Demi-Gods being the strongest participants, not to mention the fact that only a few Demi-God geniuses participated to begin with.

    But seeing this now, he suddenly felt that those rumors weren''t exaggerated enough. Especially when Leonel''s arm suddenly rippled as a Metal Spirit appeared, exuding an air of majesty that seemed capable of swallowing the world.

    Little Tolly had broken into the Seventh Dimension years ago and hadn''t been able to enter the Eighth since. However, its foundation was unshakeably sturdy.

    The moment it took action, the pieces of the scythe seemed to almost instantly become resplendent arrows.

    Exactly eighteen of them.

    No more.

    No less.

    Leonel drew an arc through the skies with two fingers, and a bow appeared in its path. He plucked one of the hovering arrows out of the air and knocked it.

    The entire battlefield froze.

    ''Domain!''

    But after several seconds, he realized one thing...

    The Void Race was simply far too arrogant.

    It seemed that they believed that sending just one Shan''Rae was enough to change everything.

    At the same time, the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts were far too conservative. They probably feared retaliation and didn''t want to take things too far.

    In the ideal future for the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts, the Void Race would accept that they were too troublesome to deal with and eventually just let them do as they pleased.

    After all, wasn''t it just another few weaklings? Even if they became Gods, they wouldn''t be able to change much.

    Leonel wouldn''t say that their thoughts were exactly wrong. The Void race had many things to deal with in the God Realms and sending this amount of troops was probably at least 50% of their limit. If they sent much more than double this, it would begin to impact their more important efforts in the God Realm.

    Leonel''s main problem with the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts was that they weren''t taking nearly enough advantage of this.

    When you spotted your enemy''s weakness, you had to ruthlessly dig out their hearts and take a bite.

    If you weren''t willing to do that, to take risks, then you would never gain anything.

    As for Leonel...

    He never feared taking a bite out of anyone''s heart.

    He nocked a final arrow, and the wind whistled and howled, not because of the arrow being loosed, but because of its presence alone. Leonel hadn''t even released the bowstring yet.

    There weren''t anymore Void Race members remaining, and no one had any idea what Leonel was doing.

    Until he released the final arrow and it shattered the head of the large white tiger.

    With a wave of his hand, the corpse soared up and Leonel held it by the scruff of its neck as though it were a kitten instead of a mountain of fur the size of a large hill.

    "Let''s go, wife! Battle is calling! I haven''t had my fill of killing Gods yet!"

 Chapter 2890 Slay

    Chapter 2890 Slay

    Leonel and Aina left the battlefield after sweeping up all the Void Race corpses that were left. Well... if you could call them corpses at all.

    In reality, Aina had ground their flesh and compressed it into several pills. One would have thought that they were convenient energy boosters rather than true Gods.

    Of course, the couple had no qualms.

    Back when they first entered the "Cataclysm Zone", that ended up being the Vast Bubble, they had seen the benefit of consuming Demon Force Pills.

    Compared to those Pills, the body of a God was on a completely different level.

    It wasn''t just this, but though Leonel had lambasted their shoddy Craftsmanship, the actual materials they used were fascinating.

    The reason they couldn''t even heal after a blow from his arrows was because their weapons were wrapped in a violent, chaotic aura that was a lot like Anarchic Force, but not quite.

    If Leonel was correct, the Void Race wielded what was known as Blackhole Force, the number one ranked Spatial Force and the number one ranked Darkness Force in all of existence.

    This was unlike Void Star Force, which was the number one ranked Water Force, top three in Darkness Forces and top ten in Star Forces.

    Blackhole Force was even above Leonel''s own Scarlet Star Force, which was similarly ranked with Void Star Force.

    This was how Leonel knew that he was in a completely different league now. He had never even come across someone that wielded a Force as powerful as his own before. Well, unless he counted Amery and Elthor.

    But even then, Elthor was relying on an Ability Index, which was weaker than Leonel who had an Innate Node. While Amery, who did have two Innate Nodes, was lagging far behind in terms of Force Manipulation. At least he had been the last time Leonel bothered to check.

    The Void Race members that they had just come across couldn''t use Blackhole Force at all, instead they seemed to be relying on derivatives bolstered by special techniques unique to their Race, taking advantage of their unique Constitutions.

    However, Shan''Rae was almost certainly different.

    It couldn''t be helped. Shan''Rae might be powerful, but she was no Dream Force expert. Gathering intel, finding locations and executing plans for her took time, whereas Leonel might as well have been a one man artillery unit... if you could use such a thing to describe an intelligent network.

    Then the two calmly disappeared.

    ...

    Leonel had Aina send the Void Race Force Pills to Little Blackstar, knowing that very soon they would have a third helper.

    Leonel didn''t want this matter to involve too many, but he knew that Little Blackstar''s abilities would be very useful. He would be exactly the counter to Shan''Rae they needed when she appeared, and likely play an even more important role when the Void Race realized that their descendants and the rest of the rabble they had sent weren''t enough.

    Leonel quickly finished Aina''s new military outfit. It took him no more than half a day, and it looked identical to the first.

    It was a military outfit of black and white. It was silky soft to the touch and radiant in its perfection. However, even though it looked identical, the aura it exuded was manifold different.

    To Aina''s shock, she found that her strength with it on had at least doubled, if not more so.

    Considering how strong she already was, her gaze couldn''t help but flicker.

    Just what level had her husband''s Craftsmanship reached to display such abilities?

    What he said next astonished her even more, though.

    "I had a lot of time, and I completed a blueprint for some epic uniforms finally. But we''ll need to kill a lot of Fallen God Beasts. Each one requires four."

    Leonel grinned wildly.

    "Let''s go slay some Dragons."

 Chapter 2891 Slain

    Chapter 2891 Slain

    "They call themselves Celestial Storms, you know," Aina said, as they made their way across the skies.

    "Yeah, yeah, yeah. They''re Dragons."

    "They don''t have scales, though. Their skin is just leather that looks like scales."

    "Definitely Dragons."

    "They don''t breathe fire, they control the weather."

    "Sounds like an Eastern Azure Dragon to me."

    "You''re hopeless."

    "A hopeless romantic."

    "What''s romantic about slaying Dragons?"

    "What? My little vampire doesn''t agree?"

    Aina blinked innocently, but then couldn''t hold back her smile. Indeed.

    Maybe slaying Dragons could be romantic.

    BANG!

    Aina and Leonel soared in Celestial Ember territory.

    No one could have possibly thought that after causing all of that commotion in the Owlan Bubbles, they would directly ignore them and soar all the way across the world.

    No one could also expect them to be so fast.

    By now, all teleportation platforms had been shut down and restrictions had been lit to stop teleportation.

    Powerful worlds of this level all had the ability to stop forceful teleportation into their ranks.

    It had to be remembered that even back in the Dimensional Verse, all organizations and families were wary of Spatial Force users. Since the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts dared to battle it out with the Void Race, how could they not also be ready to counter some of their most fearsome abilities?

    As such, in this war, movement from location to location was almost impossible.

    Yet, not only had Leonel and Aina crossed three worlds in less than a day, not even a day later, they had already crossed the Demi-God worlds to reach the territory of the Fallen God Beasts.

    "SCRAM!" Leonel roared.

    This was his chance to slay a Dragon.

    The Void Race man was assaulted by a wave of Dream Force that made his mind go blank.

    Leonel turned back and raised two fists high into the air, appearing above the reeling Celestial Storm.

    Storm clouds suddenly flashed in the air, but Leonel didn''t seem to notice them at all, slamming down with full force.

    BOOM!

    The fists came with a clap of thunder. The mind of the Celestial Storm clouded and its consciousness wavered.

    It couldn''t stop itself from plummeting to the ground.

    The earth became no different from a raging sea. It cracked and split apart, large earthen tsunamis roaring into the skies and wiping out armies for hundreds of kilometers.

    Lightning bolts and slicing, cutting wind whipped out at Leonel, but his body flickered with runes and the lightning seemed to become part of his strength.

    Leonel flicked a hand, and a strong surge of earth formed a sword. Lightning wrapped around it as his eyes shone with a fierce violet light.

    Aina''s gaze blinked in confusion, not quite understanding why Leonel had chosen the form of a sword, but not questioning it either.

    All she could see was a strike that split the skies in two.

    The storm clouds above dispersed and even the Void Race member behind him was cut in half.

    The head of the Celestial Storm flew into the skies and silver blood poured down and rippled through the cracks in the earth like roaring rivers.

    Leonel took a breath and seemed to only now calm down a bit.

    ''Dad would have loved to see this.''

    His father had always loved anime and manga. One of his favorite characters was Zoro, precisely because of his Ancestor. His dad had once said Zoro should have been One Piece''s main character.

    Recalling the memory, Leonel laughed into the skies.

    He knew the reason his dad loved Zoro so much was because of the one-shot manga that came before One Piece, one where Zoro''s Ancestor had slain a Dragon with a single blade.

    Today, he had done the same thing.

 Chapter 2892 Back (1)

    Chapter 2892 Back (1)

    Leonel descended. He had been a bit willful just now, but that much was fine. Just like he had said, he needed a Celestial Storm corpse to begin with. He put the corpse away while Aina took what was left of the Void Race.

    The two of them shot away, vanishing before anyone could return to check what had happened here.

    ...

    It felt like a repeat of an all too known scene. The Beast Domains were turned upside down, and it felt like several battlefields were being forcefully rebalanced.

    But what was the most confusing was that Leonel never allowed one to come out better than the other. It was like he was taking a pound of flesh from both armies.

    He and his wife moved between battlefields so quickly that no one could find their shadows, and he seemed to be dealing with both sides as though he wanted to see both parties destroyed.

    **

    "This is absolutely ridiculous! We can''t allow this to continue!"

    "We''ve lost several powerful Commanders, and not even at the hands of the Void Race. This is absolutely unacceptable."

    Elysium watched this in silence. He didn''t say anything as the elders rampaged.

    The hours ticked by, and when they were finally out of breath from all their yelling, his lips finally parted.

    "Pathetic."

    He slowly stood to his feet.

    This was the first time he had moved in all these months. The war had been ongoing for more than a year, and yet he had never shifted from his seated position until this very moment.

    He was the strongest expert of the Owlans for a reason. He wouldn''t easily make a move. And yet, he was so deeply disappointed at this moment that he had to stand to his feet.

    He had personally watched these same elders fall deeper and deeper into despair. There were many times in the last six months where several of their important figures had fallen, but they had never dared to scream out and be so bold.

    Why?

    Even though it could be said that Leonel was the one who pushed Minerva over the brink, for most of her life, it was Solarius'' family line that had caused her the most trouble.

    And for what? Because she was beautiful? Because her family held wealth they coveted? Because she had a heritage and lineage they wanted to consume?

    She recalled those sick, twisted words Elrik had spoken to her over the years. That her only worth was to birth his children, that he would be the wife he pressed beneath his thumb, that he would conquer her as though she was some object and a living, breathing being.

    Elrik had always been far weaker than herself. Alone, he would never dare to do such things.

    And yet, it was also his actions that slowed her steps every step of the way.

    If not for this, how could she not have known long ago that her parents were still alive? That she wasn''t the only one who remembered the glory of the Minerva Race? With her talent, how could she have not long since stepped into the Creation State?

    It was this family that had taken everything from her, all because of their arrogance, their greed.

    Standing over this Ancestor Solarius that had dictated so much of her life until now, she felt a boundless fury in her heart for but a moment before what remained of it floated off into the wind.

    Solarius finally seemed to snap out of it as he realized it was Minerva standing over him.

    Immediately, he felt rage.

    "Little girl, how dare you disrespect me like this-!"

    PA!

    Minerva''s palm carelessly swung out. Half of Solarius'' face collapsed as blood and shattered teeth flew across the air.

    Slowly, Minerva walked toward him, but her steps seemed to cover large swaths of land with every pacing gait.

    Before Solarius could even scramble to his feet, Minerva had already appeared before him again and stretched a hand out. Her throat seemed to pull itself into her palm and he found himself froze.

    Spittle and blood flew from his mouth as he wildly cursed, but Minerva didn''t feel the need to waste anymore words on him.

    With a simple squeeze of her palm, she ended his life.

 Chapter 2893 Back (2)

    Chapter 2893 Back (2)

    Minerva carelessly threw the corpse to the side as the other discarded Ancestors watched on in horror.

    The last of her grievances vanished, and at that moment, her aura flourished. She took a deep breath and her presence soared, her Dream Force leaving the Lower Creation State behind and entered the Middle Creation State.

    At the same time, a crown of silvery-pink appeared above her head. Her gorgeous wings shone resplendently and the scars that marred her face ugly faded away.

    When she opened her eyes once again, her crown still seemed to have not faded... or rather, it seemed to not want to fade.

    She had said it many times before.

    She was an Empress.

    This was what she deserved, and she would take it with her own hands.

    With light steps, she returned to her parents'' side, a pair of Owlans she had thought had died long ago. But what she hadn''t known was that the erasure of her lineage, at least in part, was out of necessity.

    Leonel had guessed right.

    Many of the Owlans wanted to distance themselves from the Minervas so as not to enrage the Gods... but not all of them were cowards.

    It just wasn''t yet time.

    And in an irony of all ironies, it wasn''t a God forcing their hand now, but rather a child of the Human Race.

    The rest of the Ancestors were herded away. Although they were far weaker than this secret legion, they were still all Ninth Dimensional, Creation State existences that couldn''t be underestimated.

    Elysium had allowed Minerva to kill Solarius and his family line in one part because he was truly disgusted by his actions, and in second part because he knew that this would be the final barrier Minerva needed to breakdown to reach a new level.

    There were three pillars of strength in this world. Force Manipulation, Dimension, and Constitution.

    The last was the most complex, as it incorporated everything from Race to Race Grade, and even perfect variations of talent within.

    But it could also be said to be the one that held the greatest weight when all else was equal.

    Among them there were several more powerful than Minerva.

    Leonel sat in silence, sparks flying through his Dreamscape.

    ''Is that what they want to do...?''

    Leonel found that he was unable to probe deeply into Owlan territory anymore. The only explanation for this was that Dream Force experts far more powerful than himself had appeared, and that alone was fearsome enough.

    This was to say that he couldn''t even begin to eavesdrop on the conversation that had just happened, but he had already guessed that a scenario like this might happen.

    The moment he realized that Minerva''s name was picked for a reason, the rest fell into place.

    No, what Leonel had really been doing all this time was traveling across these lands to see if there was anything special he could find about them.

    He couldn''t seem to find anything at all, but then he had a thought.

    Wasn''t it odd that the Fallen God Beasts and Owlans were working with the Variant Invalids?

    That alone was weird enough. Working with the one Race that everyone across Existence absolutely hated was a ... choice, to be certain.

    The reality was that if the Gods found out about this, it might not just be the Void Race attacking right now.

    What would make such a risk worth it?

    When he thought about it that way, the answer was all too obvious.

    Incomplete Worlds.

    He had been too focused on the Bubbles, and not enough on what Incomplete Worlds might be around.

    When he took a step back, entered the void, and saw the scale of it all, his gaze couldn''t help but flicker wildly.

    ''It seems the Minerva Race is back.''

    What he saw now, even he wasn''t capable of just yet.

    Only the strongest Crafting Race of the Humanoids could possibly think of something like this.

 Chapter 2894 A Pound Isnt Enough

    Chapter 2894 A Pound Isn''t Enough

    Looking at the array of worlds, Leonel couldn''t help but admit something to himself.

    If not for his Wise Sea Order breakthrough, and its fusion with his Wise Star Order status, it would have been impossible for him to see through this.

    The goal of the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts was clear and obvious to him now.

    They wanted to form an array between their worlds, completing and filling their weaknesses with several Incomplete Worlds, to finally step across the final barrier to form a God Realm of their own.

    Such a plan would have taken generations to lay out. He could see their painstaking, step-by-step efforts. And quite frankly, he was greatly impressed.

    Just this sight alone showed their grit, their determination. It was something that he couldn''t ignore even if he wanted to.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m Leonel was very rarely impressed. But at the moment, he couldn''t help but be.

    It was a reminder that he couldn''t underestimate the people of this world, even if they weren''t Gods... and especially in the case where they had once been Gods in the past.

    ''However, it''s not prepared yet. If I''m correct, it seems that it isn''t the Incomplete Worlds that are the problem, but rather they''re Complete Worlds. Some of their World Spirits still need more refining, but the method they''re using...''

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    Back in the Dimensional Verse, there were things called Folds of Reality. It wasn''t that Folds of Reality didn''t exist in these Complete Worlds, but rather that they weren''t so obvious. In fact, Bubbles were precisely Folds of Reality. That was why they could fuse into one another and separate. They represented wrinkles in the Dimensions, not just worlds.

    That aside, Folds of Reality could expand and swallow others in the Dimensional Verse. Worlds started at the Third Dimension, had a set potential, and could grow depending on how well they cleared their Sub-Dimensional Zones. The faster they were cleared, and the more perfectly this was done, the faster worlds could grow to their full potential.

    It was because Leonel was intimately aware of this that he also knew that he might benefit from clearing the Zones properly, and this was what allowed him to evolve his Incomplete World into a Complete World with God Realm potential.

    However, that same Incomplete World was still a long distance away from the God Realm. In fact, it was still faintly weaker than weaker Mortal Realms.

    The moment their plan succeeded, it was likely that a new war would break out on the God Realm. But he was equally certain that this war wouldn''t last long.

    The Void Race would use this as an opportunity to retreat because losing to Gods was no longer the same thing as losing to Demi-Gods. It would no longer be a matter of face for them.

    As such, once they understood the strength of the God Beasts, or rather, the current Fallen God Beasts that would soon become God Beasts once more, they would find a convenient time to withdraw.

    Once that happened, Leonel would obviously become a target once again. They definitely wouldn''t be able to come after him immediately, but it would only be a matter of time.

    On the other hand, it was still unlikely that they would be able to turn all their attention to him... especially since they would have raised a tiger and let them into their den.

    That tiger was, obviously, the Invalids.

    Because not only would this be a new God Realm, it would also be the first God Realm that Invalids were allowed to enter.

    And that was absolutely unacceptable to Leonel.

    The reason he had stopped having Aina hide her Blood Sovereignty was because he knew that it had already been exposed to the one crowd of people he feared the most for her sake. In that case, there was simply no point in having her hold back her strength any longer.

    But to Leonel, the fact that this group of people was working with Invalids was absolutely unacceptable.

    Even if he didn''t have the intention of stopping their plans completely... he would certainly take a pound of flesh.

    "A pound isn''t enough," Leonel said, his gaze flashing with coldness.

    Leonel slowly stood, a plan slowly formulating in his mind.

    Now that he knew what he was working with, he could finally complete the final stretch.

 Chapter 2895 Coats, Bone, and Tendons

    Chapter 2895 Coats, Bone, and Tendons

    Leonel entered the Segmented Cube. Before him, the corpses of four Fallen God Beasts lay.

    He looked toward the Celestial Terra with a solemn expression.

    He and Aina had split up for the sake of efficiency, but to his surprise, Aina came back injured from her battle with this Celestial Terra.

    Although she had obviously won in the end, Leonel had no choice but to force down hints of wariness and rage.

    There was no way that Aina had failed to pick an opponent appropriate for her, and this shouldn''t be an Ancestor level character. According to Aina, it only had a Quasi Creation State Dao.

    To make matters worse, considering Aina''s healing factor at this point, especially that she wasn''t hiding her Blood Sovereignty any longer, the fact that she returned to Leonel injured meant that there was likely a point in time where she had been severely injured.

    He knew his wife''s temperament well. If she could hide her burdens from him, she would do so. He was fairly certain that she had been closer to death than she let on.

    ''Celestial Terras... Celestial Terrors...''

    Leonel liked joking around about Celestial Storms really being Dragons, but this wasn''t exactly wrong either. Much like the apartment buildings he had seen in the Golden City, many of Earth''s myths, legends and cultures descended from more established empires of wider Existence.

    However, it was clear that this legend wasn''t accurate. No... it was more like it was obscured.

    In Earth''s legend, there were some tales of four creatures: a Dragon, a Vermillion Bird, a White Tiger and a Black Turtle.

    However, compared to the legends of the Dragon alone, those myths were lacking. In fact, it wasn''t rare to hear of legends where Dragons superseded the other three by far.

    However, what the Life Tablet made clear to Leonel was that these so-called Dragons weren''t the real threat. Instead, the real slumbering monsters were these world-sized tortoises, existences that controlled the Earth element to a degree that even Leonel couldn''t fathom.

    Aina''s struggle made this clear.

    When Leonel saw the situation, he immediately reached out with his Dream Force, and as expected, the death of a Celestial Terra sent wild waves through the Fallen God Beasts. They were more enraged now than at any other point.

    And that was when he caught onto one important tidbit of information.

    In that instant, four streams of blood connected at one and a violent rush surged into the air.

    lightsжнж╧vж┼l ?ж╧m There were four techniques in the Emperor''s Might Golden Tablet that existed beneath the strongest three. One of them clearly took the shape of a Dragon.

    As one might expect, the second took the shape of a bird. The second took the shape of a tiger. The last took the shape of a tortoise.

    It was clear to Leonel that these four techniques were created based on the Fallen God Beasts... the Celestials.

    Leonel wanted to use his Fawkes Family Lineage Factor, but he had to be wary of flying too close to the sun. He was confident, but not confident enough just yet to ignore all things.

    But, with this method, he could not only use all four techniques, but likewise hide their presence with the help of his Divine Armor.

    It wasn''t just this, but he was certain that he could amplify them.

    Sensing the changes caused by the Natural Force Art formed of blood, Leonel nodded. It seemed that his deduction was correct.

    "Let''s go, Tolliver. It''s time for some fun."

    Leonel took a step and appeared by the bloodless corpses. Tolliver flickered and as one, master and Metal Spirit began to dissect corpses.

    Leonel separated their coats, their bones, and their tendons, throwing away everything else.

    The meat was useless to him, so he just gave them to Aina to see if she was curious about how they would taste.

    It had been a while since he had eaten anything, so he might as well see what Celestial meat tasted like.

    There was one part that stood out from the rest, though.

    It was an enormous shell, shaped like a mountainous range.

    It was the shell of the Celestial Terra and it would be the main piece to his new Divine Armor.

    ''... 60% chance of success. Let''s see how far my Crafting has really gotten...''

 Chapter 2896 Four Techniques

    Chapter 2896 Four Techniques

    As Leonel had said, the inspiration for this form of Crafting had come from Talon.

    Talon was capable of using his Earthen Lightning Spirit to trigger changes in the world that could help him to Craft.

    When Leonel saw this, he was struck by a thought.

    What if he could use the world to surpass the limits of his body?

    Leonel''s Crafting talent and knowledge had always been beyond what his body and Little Tolliver were capable of. The issue was that they were ultimately too weak to always execute on Leonel''s thoughts. So, it could be said that during his entire Crafting journey, what Leonel could Craft had always been handicapped.

    This was precisely why he felt he only had a 60% chance of success now. What he was attempting to do was to use external methods to reach his theoretical limit, allowing his skill in Crafting to meet his Comprehension.

    And all of that starts with these body parts.

    The technique formed with the conceptualization of the Celestial Storm God Beast was known as [Dragon''s Might]. As Leonel had said, the Celestial Storm Race didn''t have Dragon''s Might. It was instead a conceptualization of their majesty.

    The weakest version of this technique was capable of doing what Leonel already could, and that was pressuring the minds of others. However, at the highest level, it could borrow power from a world to do the same, acting like a Quasi-Regulator of sorts, but nowhere near as all-encompassing or powerful. Even so, it was a shocking technique.

    It gained this artistic conception by visualizing the majesty of Celestial Storms in the sky, creatures that were capable of commanding wind and rain, forming clouds of thunder and dispersing them with a thought.

    The second technique, formed from the Celestial Embers, was known as [To Ashes. To Dust].

    Despite the cryptically somber name, [To Ashes. To Dust] wasn''t an attacking method at all. Instead, it was a method of rejuvenation... though not exactly that either.

    The technique born from them was known as [Borne Bane].

    The reason the Celestial Banes had such a moniker was because they were well known to be the Bane of all Forces, the only Race with Force so sharp that they were capable of cutting through and biting through anything.

    What most didn''t know was that this was because the Celestial Banes didn''t wield any Force at all, and were rather bottomless, empty voids of space.

    They relied on Blackhole Force much like the Void Race, and while this might sound like a contradiction, it wasn''t. That was because they didn''t truly wield it. Rather, its mysteries were etched into their claws, their teeth and their bones.

    Rather than Innate Nodes, they had Innate Bodies, capable of canceling out any Force they came across with their sheer majesty alone.

    No one was capable of replicating their feat then, nor since. And Leonel had a pretty good feeling that the reason they were wiped out was because the Void Race found them to be intolerable.

    And yet... at the same time, Leonel had an equal conviction that this was only because the Celestial Terras were too good at keeping a low profile...

    Or rather, the Primordial Terrors, the one existence amongst the Celestials that existed before all of them, a Race with history to the beginnings of the universe...

    The very first God Beasts of Destruction.

    The last part was pure speculation on Leonel''s part, but his mind was nothing like it had been in the past. While he still couldn''t assimilate all the knowledge in the Life Tablets, he could hold much more at a time than he could before, and that opened him up to understanding and potentially deducing a great many things.

    As such, the last technique was aptly named...

    [Primordial Terror].

 Chapter 2897 Terror

    Chapter 2897 Terror

    What made this Race so fearsome?

    It was the fact they carried a world on their backs. They were literally as large as worlds, and when they grew up, this was even more so.

    What Leonel could only do through a technique and Incomplete Worlds, the Primordial Terrors could do naturally. Their worlds were their bodies, their bodies were worlds.

    This was part of the reason the Void Race was so fearsome as well. After all, their bodies were constructed and Stars, galaxies and nebulae. In fact, Leonel had seen an Ancestor Void Race member before as well, and his size had been enough to swallow up an entire Incomplete World, which was far larger than any Complete World.

    But there was only one thing that Leonel could say to this...

    They were wholly inferior.

    The Void Race swallowed Incomplete Worlds to add to their collection of stars and galaxies, but the Celestial Terras WERE a world.

    The difference was akin to night and day and couldn''t be underestimated in the slightest.

    Many of these things were only things that clicked after Leonel saw Aina come back so injured. It made him realize that the most fearsome characters in all of this were ironically the most docile of the creatures.

    For whatever reason, though, the Primordial Terrors of the past chose to become the Celestial Terras, leaving behind their original moniker and seemingly much of their strength as well.

    Then, when they fell from God Beast to Fallen God Beast, the problem became even clearer and they lost even more of their strength.

    And yet, somehow, they gathered such strength.

    [Primordial Terror] was the most shocking of the techniques to Leonel, not because of its strength, but because it built off the back of a method of Earth Force usage that Leonel had independently deduced.

    Back when Leonel first entered the Impetus State with his Dream Force, it was because he came to understand that the reason Earth Force was so difficult to control was because it acted as the anchor to all Force. It was the reason Force could collect and concentrate on worlds, instead of being widely dispersed through Existence.

    When this technique was activated, it constantly stole from the earth, increasing the capacity of the soul over the course of a battle and stealing more from a world''s World Spirit.

    With it, if everyone else tired over the course of battle, then one with [Primordial Terror] activated would only strengthen.

    And as with [To Ashes. To Dust], the only requirement was an external Force. But this time, it was Earth Force...

    With bonus points for Destruction Sovereignty.

    These four techniques were what Leonel was creating his Divine Armor based on. Together, they would form the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

    The problem was that Leonel couldn''t refine them the way he wanted to, so he had to create a mass Natural Force Art, one built from their blood.

    But he was missing the Celestial Bane, only having a White Spectral Tiger to work with. As such, there were two things working against his success. One being the difficulty, and the second being that the materials weren''t perfect.

    However, when he began to Craft, he seemed to forget all things.

    Standing in the middle of the Force Art, the world thrummed around him and every movement caused a stream of rainbow colors to follow the arc of his arms.

    He seemed unprecedentedly focused.

    It had been a very long time since Leonel sweated the making of any Craft.

    But at this moment, he poured his heart and soul into it, giving it absolutely everything he had.

    He was so perfectly in tune with his body that his bones seemed to sing like the bows of a violin as his muscles vibrated.

    Auspicious Air billowed off of him in waves. Anastasia''s world beginning to tremble as an unprecedented Divine Armor slowly began to take shape.

 Chapter 2898 Heartbeat

    Chapter 2898 Heartbeat

    He carefully pulled the marrow out from the bone and dried them. He turned the tough leather hide of the Celestial Storms into a true aether, and the flaming feathers of the Celestial Embers into carefully outlined runes.

    His Force Crafting Quill danced in the air, simple and unadorned, but radiating with the rainbow color of the surrounding formations.

    His free hand tapped at the air with the majesty of an elite pianist, but with a speed that far surpassed it.

    Every finger stroke was like a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning, a tsunami of earth and a hurricane of blades. Despite the short distance they moved, the booming echo flew through the air and shattered space like fragmenting glass. Sometimes, these fragments would even bombard against Leonel''s own body, blood leaking between his nails and the joints of his digits.

    But he didn''t seem to notice at all as veins popped across him, his focus reaching an absolutely unprecedented state.

    Tolliver weaved in and out of the materials, sometimes crushing them like a hammer, sometimes molding them with the expert care of a clay master, and sometimes sewing them together beneath some mysterious power.

    Leonel''s face continued to pale as blood drained from his body, but the light in his eyes only glowed brighter and brighter.

    "You will give them life..." he said softly.

    A roar suddenly filled the skies.

    Tolliver soared up like a Dragon piercing the clouds, then soared like a Phoenix who could cross worlds with a single flap of its wings...

    The Metal Spirit twisted in the air and plunged downward, its body arching and becoming a leaping tiger prepared to tear its prey apart.

    Just as it was about to collide with the ground, it expanded wildly, its body becoming a towering mountain as a tortoise landed on the ground.

    BOOM!

    A flash of silver filled the world, and a pillar connected the earth to the skies.

    Leonel''s second Incomplete World thrummed to life and runes suddenly began to appear all across his body.

    An ill-suppressed void appeared around Leonel, and it felt like reality might crumble at any moment.

    His hair suddenly grew out and became several times paler, so much so that it looked almost entirely white under most circumstances.

    A pair of sweats appeared on his body, rolled up to his calves, and having a waistline that spilled over with tufts of gorgeous, soft white fur.

    Braces appeared on his wrists and forearms in a flickering red-gold flame, and a necklace of blackened tiger teeth manifested around his neck.

    A halo appeared parallel to his back, and large enough to swallow his body whole. It was perfectly smooth, and polished to an extreme, but it radiated a deathly sort of Force that made it seem much darker than the bright silver that it was.

    Braces appeared around his ankles at the same time, matching the ones on his wrist, but much looser. Every time his legs shifted, they hovered and rattled against one another, sending out a pulse of flames that wiped out everything in the vicinity.

    At that moment, the enormous, mountain of a shell that had protected the Celestial Terror trembled.

    Leonel weakly raised a bloodied hand and then clenched it.

    The world''s laws obeyed.

    The enormous mountainous shell was compressed in an instant, forming such a small pebble that the pressure made it erupt in flames as well until it shimmered like Existence''s most resplendent diamond.

    With his head still lowered, the polished diamond floated toward Leonel as though it weighed as light as a feather and pressed against his forehead.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura erupted, a suffocating presence spreading out with him as the center.

    His wounds healed so rapidly that broken flesh fell from his body and dried blood flew into the air like ash.

    Standing there, head lowered and the weight of a world on his body, Leonel''s heart thrummed again.

    And this time, the whole of Existence seemed to hear it.

 Chapter 2899 More Money (1)

    Chapter 2899 More Money (1)

    Leonel seemed to slowly awaken from his odd state.

    The Self State...

    No matter how magical or amazing an armor of metal was, even when it was capable of fusing into his body, it was an external item.

    Leonel had been trying to fix this issue, but then he remembered something.

    His father, even at the end of his life, never used a Divine Armor.

    Was it really the case that he had completely abandoned the path of the Morales?

    He knew that his father was stubborn, but he wasn''t stubborn to the point of doing foolish things just for the sake of it.

    That was when it clicked for Leonel.

    The ultimate Divine Armor was likely completely unlike an Armor at all. In fact, the ultimate Divine Armor probably reflected in the body not much different from how a Lineage Factor would appear.

    It was a part of the body.

    And now, Leonel had taken the first step down that path. In fact, he had taken a better first step than even his father, because right now his Divine Armor was the amalgamation of four Fallen God Beasts and a young Infinity Beast.

    It had almost destroyed his body in the end, but in the end, he had been able to withstand it and his strength had taken another huge leap forward.

    Finally, he gained the strength to look up, and his eyes flashed with a treacherous light. The space before his gaze cracked and fragmented, but Anastasia was luckily there to stabilize it.

    "Stop destroying my world!" Anastasia grumbled.

    Leonel chuckled and patted the little girl''s head. He pulled her into his arms before she could react and gave her a big kiss on the forehead before vanishing.

    "YOU-!"

    Leonel had already vanished, and the little muddle-headed World Spirit didn''t seem to remember that she could teleport anywhere she wanted in an instant.

    "It doesn''t feel like it''s my power, like it''s missing something, and though it''s powerful, it takes up too much energy precisely because it doesn''t feel like mine. But the methods of the Celestial Terra felt like there was a hint of enlightenment for me in them. Especially the injuries it left."

    "The injuries?" Leonel''s eyes narrowed.

    "It felt like it made my own body its battlefield. I was fighting both an external and internal battle. It was the first time I had ever experienced such a thing. Honestly, part of the reason I was so heavily injured was because I wanted to extend the battle to sense it more."

    "Okay, I see." Leonel nodded. "Do you know what you''ll need for your next breakthrough?"

    If it was just an Incomplete World, it wasn''t even that much of an issue anymore. Leonel could find it with ease.

    "I''m not exactly sure, honestly. But I think the secret is creating my own World of Blood. And if it''s about that, I''ll need Blood... high-quality Blood... and a lot of it."

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. "What exactly is ''high quality'' and ''a lot'' in your book?"

    Aina cleared her throat. "I definitely need God Blood."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. "And by God Blood you mean..."

    "None of the ones we''ve come across until now are enough. Their quality is too inferior."

    Leonel let out a hollow chuckle. He had a feeling that that would be the case.

    "As for how much... well, enough to fill a Bubble World to the brim..."

    Leonel coughed.

    And here he thought that he was the money guzzler, when in reality he had forgotten that a man''s duty was to please his wife with his wallet.

    Unfortunately, this time, he had no idea how he was going to do that.

    He had to kill enough Gods not for their corpses to fill up a world, but their blood itself.

    How many billions was that?!

 Chapter 2900 More Money (2)

    Chapter 2900 More Money (2)

    Leonel took a breath and shook his head.

    "You''re messing with me, right?" He laughed.

    "Maybe a little." Aina grinned.

    The both of them knew that Aina wasn''t actually lying. She truly did need so much. It was just that they could both come up with methods of making up for it.

    For example, what if they caught Gods alive and then continuously bled them? That way, you could get a lot more out of a single body rather than having to kill continuously.

    Of course, it would take resources to keep them healed up and producing, but it was still far easier than just killing them.

    At the same time, as for quality, there were many methods of improving on the quality of blood. Leonel wasn''t aware of them, but wasn''t this precisely Aina''s expertise?

    Even if it was Leonel alone, he would just take the crude path of forcefully raising someone''s constitution to the God Realms and then taking it from there.

    "You can stay here, then," Leonel said.

    "Where are you going?" Aina asked, feeling a bit hesitant. She wanted to fight by his side as well. She just didn''t expect this to suddenly happen. This was her best chance to grasp the inspiration she had.

    Unlike Leonel, she couldn''t just revert back to a previous mental state even with her Clairvoyance. She had to grasp it here and now.

    "It''s about time I start unleashing some true carnage," Leonel said softly, looking into the distance. "Plus, my wife needs to be fed. I need to go on a little bit of a spree."

    Aina frowned away her laugh, trying to be serious.

    "It''s going to be dangerous. I could tell immediately that they don''t like the fact I killed a Celestial Terra. Their reaction was... not normal."

    Leonel nodded and turned away to leave.

    "You don''t need to mind it. They should be more worried about what my reaction will be."

    The pressure Leonel felt from this Celestial Storm was no less than what he would feel if he had been up against a Creation State expert. These Fallen God Beasts were truly no joke. At the very least, they were better than the Owlans in this regard.

    With a single flick of its tail, the white, leather-skinned creature had already crossed dozens of kilometers. Leonel could already smell its acrid breath and the descent of its mighty pressure.

    Leonel took a step forward, and a spear swirled to life in a cyclone of flames. He clasped it in his palms and then struck out a single time.

    BANG!

    A vacuum was torn through the world and the Fire Force sang. Leonel could feel the searing heat of his kidneys, but rather than being a painful experience like it had been in the past, it felt more like he had just taken a shot of vodka, the heat spreading through his bloodstream like rushing waters.

    A whirlwind of wind pressure tore into the Celestial Storm''s eye, rotating so fast that its eyeball was shredded to pieces the same instant a hole was torn out the back of its skull.

    Its roar was still echoing in the air as it descended, unable to control its body.

    BOOM!

    It crashed beneath the suffocating might of Leonel''s presence, skidding through the ground and leaving a long trench in its wake.

    Leonel tossed the corpse into the Segmented Cube without a care.

    He already had a pretty good idea of how he''d help his wife.

    The situation wasn''t quite bad enough yet for him to use his King''s Might out in the open. But that didn''t stop him from using King''s Might in the Segmented Cube.

    He could kill these beasts, capture them, and resurrect them. Once these worlds were ready to evolve, he could bring them out and they would all evolve to have God Constitutions all at once.

    By then, it would be an easy matter to bleed them.

    And at the center of it all, he wouldn''t mind having a few Owlans and a certain... Void Race member.

    The cry of a sonorous bird shook the skies.

    Leonel looked up, clenching his spear.

 Chapter 2901 Wake Up

    Chapter 2901 Wake Up

    Leonel could feel the thrumming of his heart.

    In this world, the strongest creatures were, without a doubt, the Celestial Embers. It was only natural. This was their world.

    But it seemed that it was time to show them that before Scarlet Star Force, all other Fire Forces had no choice but to bow down.

    Leonel took a step forward, and Blackstar leapt into the air. With a roar, the little mink suddenly erupted with a dense black fog. In an instant of time, he had become a looming beast.

    Leonel took another step and appeared on Blackstar''s back. His Force rolled around him in waves.

    In the distance, three Celestial Embers opened their beaks, and their throats suddenly pulsed.

    In that moment, three lasers of golden red peeled across the skies with such speed they seemed to be bolts of lightning.

    In a moment, they had already torn across several kilometers, appearing before Leonel in the blink of an eye.

    Leonel took a breath, and the air around him solidified.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    His arm moved in a blur, and he slashed against the three lasers. Sparks flew and a rain of fire fell from the skies. But a dome of protection seemed to have been perfectly formed around Leonel.

    His heart was clear, and his goal was even clearer.

    His spear spun in his arms and, with a sweep, the world was split horizontally in two.

    A scythe cut through the air and solidified even more than the lasers. In fact, in that moment, the flying laser sparks were sucked into it as though it was a void, powering it and accelerating it forward.

    In one moment, Leonel had just slashed out, and in the next, the three Celestial Embers froze in the skies before mournful cries echoed.

    Their bodies split in two, blood raining down.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with a dense coldness. He was going to cover this realm in blood.

    "Not this time, Blackstar. I''m going hunting alone."

    Leonel took a step and appeared high in the air. Despite how high he was, his feet were just barely above the eye level of the Seventh Dimensional Celestial Terra.

    The creature looked as though it was carrying a mountain on its back... no, even that didn''t quite do it justice. It was more like it was carrying an entire mountain range.

    Its face was hard to spot because it looked like a mountain of rock as well.

    But when it opened its eyes, Leonel saw the most beautiful swirls of brown he ever had in his entire life. It was like an artist had perfectly curated every masterful stroke. The different shades of brown from the palest tan to the deepest bronzes started from its pupils and stretched out, writhing almost like a group of serpents dancing.

    And yet these beautiful brown eyes carried a bone-chilling coldness.

    At that moment, plumes of smoke began to come from the soles of Leonel''s feet and the corners of his eyes. Tattoos roared to life across his body and a pair of sweats with tufts of fur poking out from its waistband took shape.

    Golden braces of fire flickered to life around his ankles and wrists, the former rattling with clear DINGING sounds as they swayed in the wind.

    A chain of blackened tiger teeth appeared around his neck, swaying just as violently.

    Then the world thrummed, a heartbeat echoing out that made the Celestial Terra''s pupils constrict into pinholes, its brown irises spinning like a cyclone.

    A diamond slowly manifested out from Leonel''s forehead and suddenly pulsed.

    The world stilled as Leonel raised his spear.

    "It seems that even after all of this, they don''t take me seriously. In that case, let your death be the sacrifice that wakes them up."

    Leonel''s spear descended, and its blade connected the earth and the skies.

    Without a word, he retracted his spear and turned to leave before the strike even landed.

    The Celestial Terra stood frozen there for a long while.

    It wasn''t until the next day that it slowly fell into two pieces, a mournful shuddering filling the skies.

 Chapter 2902 I Understand

    Chapter 2902 I Understand

    BOOM! A furious aura soared into the skies in a hidden Holy Land. It felt like the world was collapsing for a moment.

    Until now, Leonel had taken all the corpses of those he had killed, causing them to vanish from the world. But this time, he had left it behind on purpose despite the value of the corpse.

    He was making a very clear point. Unless they started to take him seriously, they were only bound to suffer an even more tragic fate.

    He was Leonel Morales, a name that they had ignored until now, but could no longer dismiss.

    Nova, a familiar Ancestor Celestial Ember, stood stoically. A powerful pressure coming from her. This was her territory, and yet Leonel was running so rampantly.

    What was this child''s goal? Just to unleash carnage? He didn''t even seem to be targeting the Void Race as much as he had in the past.T/his chapter is updated by

    She never expected that things would come to this. Back when she stole the Life Tablet from Leonel, she had never even considered what sort of backlash could come with it.

    When she found out that she had actually failed in that endeavor, she had only then started to take Leonel with a hint of seriousness. But even then, she just found it a little interesting, feeling that there were certain things that a Wise Star Order could do that were outside her purview, but that still wasn''t enough for her to take a Human seriously.

    An existence like Leonel appearing was somewhat interesting, but everyone knew that if he soared too close to the sun, he was only a few moments away from a real God descending to take his life.

    Even if Leonel didn''t awaken the Northern Star Lineage Factor yet, the fact he was a Wise Star Order meant that he could do so at any moment.

    This wasn''t something that the Gods would want to see. Their reaction to this would be even fiercer than how they''d react to the return of the Fawkes.

    As such, although things had seemed somewhat peaceful for Leonel, so long as he truly showed signs of becoming a God, there would be people who would be quick to slap him right back down.

    This was why she still hadn''t taken Leonel seriously. The moment he displayed power than could truly get him in trouble, it would likewise mean his death.

    "Let your elders shield you once more. I will not lose any one of you. You are too important... because you''re the only ones that can crush the geniuses of the Idol Battlefield when the time comes."

    ...

    Astral Winds swam through the clouds with the same imposing might as Nova and eventually gave out the same orders and the same speech, once again holding back their juniors.

    ...

    Again, in another world, Nebulafrost roared into the skies, a furious, murderous intent echoing from him as he stood high in the skies, his claws raking through space and causing them to spark like a fork was being drawn across steel.

    ...

    The only group to remain silent were the Celestial Terrors. It seemed that they had fallen completely dormant despite the death of their genius. It was unknown what Old Terror was thinking.

    ...

    "He''s in the Beast Domains?" Minerva said coldly. "I will go. If Shan''Rae is lured there by him, I will also conveniently kill her."

    She stood gracefully.

    "Do not underestimate the Gods." Minerva''s mother said lightly, but without the intention of stopping her daughter.

    "You have become a God now, but you have yet to adjust to your power, and your foundation was built upon Demi-God concepts. You are a long way from being as strong as a Ninth Dimensional God," her father added. "You will need time to refine yourself in a true God Realm."

    "I understand." Minerva said plainly.

    Her parents could only sigh as she vanished.

 Chapter 2903 Together

    Chapter 2903 Together

    Leonel sat in silence, the beads of sweat around him falling with even greater fervor. Even so, he seemed to be at peace.

    Leonel opened his eyes and chuckled.

    "You want to take that form?"

    "Yip! Yip!"

    "Okay. Let''s see what you can do then."

    Leonel didn''t seem to sense the powerful auras headed in his direction at all. Instead, he smiled as he stood to his feet.

    Little Blackstar unleashed a roar and suddenly became an enormous tortoise. His shell billowed with smoke, and when he opened his maw, black fog spilled out, drenching the crimson lands.

    With a step, Leonel appeared on Blackstar''s back. But his gaze couldn''t help but flicker with surprise. He sensed that the enormous mountain range that reminded him so much of the Void Palace''s mountains carried the aura of the Shadow World.

    Leonel''s surprise became a wild grin.

    Blackstar''s progress was beyond his imagining. In an instant, he had already managed to incorporate the abilities of the Celestial Terra and turn it into his own.

    At this moment, the Shadow World was projected out into the real world. In flashes, Leonel could be corporeal and incorporeal with a slight intention from Blackstar.

    "Let''s unleash some real carnage, then. They still seem to be taking us too lightly."

    Leonel''s voice echoed through the skies as a boom echoed.

    A group of Celestial Embers, Celestial Storms, and White Spectral Tigers appeared. There were only nine of them, but each one had a powerful, imposing aura. It seemed like even a single one of them could cause the collapse of an entire world.

    "We-."

    His gaze radiated an unprecedented cold. He didn''t seem to react as arcs of blood flew from his body, cuts appearing on him. However, maybe that was because as quickly as they appeared, they were just as swiftly healed, as though he was radiating an endless amount of vitality.

    "[Star Fusion]."

    He spoke his first words since the start of the body, and it felt like a gorgeous blue nebula had just exploded with Leonel as the center.

    The beautiful sky blue wisp of Stars mixed into his hair and eyes, causing his power to explosively increase once again.

    At that moment, the silent Blackstar took action, and the world was instantly swallowed by darkness.

    The elders were all experienced people. They knew the mimicry path when they saw it. But they hadn''t taken it seriously because how could any old mimicry path beast possibly mimic the Celestial Terra Race?

    This was also their own personal bias against contracted beasts as well. They felt that it was a humiliation to their Beast Race that Blackstar even existed, and had planned to deal with him once Leonel was dead.

    What they didn''t know was that allowing Blackstar to accumulate strength like this might very well be the last mistake they made.

    These elders were all exceptionally powerful. Even with their powers suppressed back down to the Demi-God Realms, many of them had Higher Creation State Forces.

    Fighting one on one, Leonel might be able to defeat them. But together, he had no chance.

    Even though he looked valiant now, that was because he was heavily relying on his Ability Index to keep himself safe, which was working. But if his goal was to actually kill them, that was a pipe dream.

    Now, however... he wasn''t alone.

    When he said that he and Blackstar would unleash carnage together, he meant it.

    The halo to Leonel''s back trembled wildly and suddenly expanded. In an instant, it had swallowed up the entire world.

    Two worlds layered atop of one another and fused. One of Darkness.

    And the other of Destruction.

 Chapter 2904 Madmen of the Morales

    Chapter 2904 Madmen of the Morales

    Leonel had never paid as much attention to his connection with Blackstar as he should have. But after his change, he realized that a contract formed between man and beast wasn''t so simple at all.

    An intertwining of the soul was naturally an astonishing matter, as Leonel and Aina''s union had shown them more than one time before. And it was precisely because of his experience in marriage that Leonel came to understand that his connection with Blackstar wasn''t so simple, either.

    It could be said that the reason he had never noticed before wasn''t because he was too neglectful, but rather because Blackstar was far too unruly. A troublemaker in the truest sense.

    In their relationship, Blackstar wasn''t the beast, but was rather the man. Back then, Leonel didn''t even know how to contract beasts, so the reality of their relationship was that Blackstar was the one in the superior position.

    As such, there were certain things about their relationship that Blackstar could instinctually understand, but wasn''t able to communicate with Leonel at all.

    It wasn''t until Leonel became a Wise Sea Order and gained the capability of seeing through most things that he was able to grasp what Blackstar had never been able to communicate to him.

    It could be said that the closeness between him and this little mink was no less than that of the connection between him and his wife.

    And in some ways, it was even more exaggerated than that.

    Because they could truly battle as one.

    It could be said that the moment the Shadow World appeared, it was like Leonel had formed his Divine Armor not of just four beasts, but five.

    And one of those beasts happened to have the inheritance of the Void Beast and was a Shadow Sovereign of the ages.

    In that moment, billowing plumes of smoke came from the soles of Leonel''s feet and the corners of his eyes.

    The silver-gold tattoos across his body darkened and even the [Star Fusion] rushing out from seemed to blacken as well.

    Leonel pointed his spear outside, and the roar of four beasts came from him.

    A laser of Fire Force appeared before him in the blink of an eye, seemingly moving at the speed of light, but it went through his body as though he wasn''t there at all.

    He appeared before the Celestial Ember and slashed out.

    The Vital Star Force around him grew and gained a slight violet tinge that vanished in an instant.

    [Primordial Terror] activated, and the world rotated around his spear. It felt, for a moment, that the orbit of the entire Bubble World had changed.

    "Die."

    The word was just three letters, a single syllable, spoken in a language the Celestials had never even heard before.

    They could have never expected that this was the language of English. A simple language, one used by humans on a small blue planet with an unadorned name.

    And when he spoke this word, the aura around his spear completely changed.

    It felt like a reaper''s scythe rather than a man''s spear.

    And when it descended, the world listened.

    Behind Leonel, the shadows of the father, his grandfather, and his uncle seemed to be behind him at this moment.

    He had long come to understand during his ten years of tempering that his spear wasn''t his alone.

    He would show the world the inheritance of the spear that stood above all others.

    The inheritance of the madmen of the Morales.

    His spear descended, and the world paled in comparison.

    The head of a White Spectral Tiger flew into the air.

    A single fatal mistake, a single death.

    The first elder had fallen.

 Chapter 2905 Three

    Chapter 2905 Three

    Leonel''s momentum was undying and extended into infinity.

    After he killed the first elder, it was like his spear began to tremble with hunger and greed. Having tasted the blood of a supreme expert once, it wanted to taste it again.

    The pressure on him plummeted at first, but then it seemed to multiply. This wasn''t only because these old fossils suddenly felt a true threat to their life, but also because of the logistics of the battle.

    Leonel''s size, when compared to them, was quite literally an ant to a human. They were too large.

    Trying to fight in the skies like this when Leonel was just a small target was part of the reason Leonel had been able to continuously find flaws in their battle style.

    The moment one of them fell, not only did their fury rise and their sense of seriousness become heightened, but it was also one less large body in the skies to contend again.

    Leonel sensed the pressure on him increase, but it was as though he hadn''t noticed at all.

    The cold sharpness in his gaze remained. Wounds continuously appeared on his body and blood mixed with his sweat, falling to the ground like meteors.

    And yet, his bearing only seemed to grow more and more profound.

    "Die."

    The word resonated with the world once again. It slashed across the world and the skies darkened as though even Blackstar''s black fog wasn''t menacing enough.

    A Celestial Ember was split in two, a mournful cry echoing through the skies.

    The pressure increased on Leonel once again, and roars bombarded him.

    An invisible sphere of influence formed around him, repelling the furious sound waves. He stood high in the skies, and as his spear drew across the clouds, the power of worlds seemed to fuse into him.

    If one were to speak of the plant that had had the most philosophical discussion surrounding it in Earth''s history, it wouldn''t be a plant at all, but rather a seed.

    The mustard seed.

    It was one of the smallest seeds in the world, yet capable of growing far beyond its station.

    Forming a Creation State Force wasn''t just about gaining a powerful external card. There was a reason that even without eliciting the help of their Forces, Creation State Ninth Dimensional existences were a level above Life State Ninth Dimensional existences.

    It was a complete change in foundation, as though the body was being risen to another level.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s two Incomplete Worlds were nowhere near enough to display the power of his Forces, but it also didn''t seem to matter in the slightest.

    At that moment, a powerful slash came over, slicing through his Absolute Domain and into his chest.

    Blood flew and a cut as deep as bone appeared as crimson fell like the rain.

    The furious slash of the White Spectral Tiger had nearly taken Leonel''s life in a single blow, and yet Leonel didn''t seem to have noticed at all. In fact, his bones were completely untouched.

    "Three..."

    He spoke lightly.

    Another slash came and a bombardment rained down from all sides.

    His left arm was almost taken off his body. He lost a part of his right leg from the foot down. He even seemed to have been blinded in an eye.

    But he didn''t move...

    "Two."

    Because he couldn''t move.

    The rampaging of his Bow and Spear Force was so fierce that there was nothing he could do but stand there, focusing all his attention on suppressing them.

    "One."

    And that was when his final word descended.

    Beaten bloodied, he slowly raised his spear once again.

    "Zero."

 Chapter 2906 Die

    Chapter 2906 Die

    Leonel''s momentum suddenly erupted.

    The next strike flew through his body as though he wasn''t even there. He became incorporeal one second and was instantly not the next, swiping out with a spear.

    The world was divided in two, but without the appearance of Spear Force, it looked as though he had simply cut into the void with a single strike.

    A Celestial Ember elder flapped backward with great speed as the scythe-like fissure erupted near it, but Leonel had already moved on to another target.

    His power was slowly rumbling inside him. His injuries were too severe for his Quasi Creation State Vital Star Force to heal, but he still moved as though he were completely healthy.

    His vitals roared, and his inner organs churned.

    In that moment, he activated his Innate Nodes.

    His Quasi Creation State Scarlet Star Force was amplified to the Creation State.

    His Quasi Creation State Emulation Spatial Force was amplified to the Creation State.

    In that moment, he became akin to a walking Demon amongst mere Mortals. The power of four Creation State Forces threatened to rip his body apart, and yet his will seemed to keep himself together.

    Before he fell, he would take them with him.

    Leonel took a step and space distorted all around him. Illusion and reality folded onto one another, forming a third world on top of the worlds of Shadow and Destruction.

    At that moment, the elders found it difficult to tell up from down and left from right, as though Leonel''s Emulation Spatial Force was re-writing the laws of physics.

    It only took them half a second to break through this illusion because Leonel''s application of it all was far too crude.

    And yet by the time they did, they only had time enough to notice a spear piercing through the brows of a Celestial Storm.

    BANG!

    A head as large as a mountain shattered into a rain of bone and blood, bathing Leonel in its grotesque shards.

    He moved unhindered. Like a kun swimming through raging waters, he left destruction in his wake.

    When it concentrated to just the edge of his blade, the world lost all its color.

    The philosophy of a mustard seed... it was both profound, yet easy to understand.

    Nurturing the growth of a world from just the smallest dot that encompassed all its truth.

    And when Leonel could concentrate his world-changing strength to just the tip of his blade...

    Time and space didn''t seem to matter anymore.

    Leonel slashed out, and a White Spectral Tiger was sent reeling. He slashed out again and blood flew from the neck of a Celestial Storm as its entire head was almost taken off.

    At that moment, Blackstar reached his limit, and the Shadow World faltered.

    To what would have been the shock of all the people in the world, all five remaining Fallen God Beasts turned tail and fled.

    And yet, Leonel stood there, doing nothing more than raising his spear as though he had no intention of stopping them.

    Time didn''t matter.

    Space didn''t matter.

    This was the true Absolute Domain.

    At that moment, the aura on the tip of Leonel''s blade vanished, and it was as though his Absolute Spear Domain had ceased to be.

    Then he pierced his spear out just a single time.

    "Die."

    Five pillars of spear light descended from the skies like a judgment from the Gods.

 Chapter 2907 Only Such

    Chapter 2907 Only Such

    The Fallen God Beasts had scattered, running in five different directions. In the blink of an eye, they had already crossed over a hundred kilometers, and with a sway of their tail, a flap of their wings or a slash from their claws, they were prepared to cross another hundred in an instant.

    But that was when the skies and the earth connected.

    Their bodies froze, and the devastation below them erupted before it was even clear what had happened to them.

    Above them, the clouds dispersed in a whirlwind of spiraling whites.

    Below them, a hole as smooth as ice had appeared, as though it had been perfectly sculpted by an artisan rather than the result of a spear strike.

    And then blood rained.

    The strike was exactly the same for all five. A spear descended, running right through their skulls and exiting out the bottom of their jaws.

    Even long after the spear had vanished, space around the region cracked and distorted as though a black hole had been formed. If one got too close, it would even feel as though time was being dilated and your body was quickly entering an event horizon.

    The beasts collapsed to the ground, and the world released a mournful wail.

    Leonel took long, heaving breaths.

    Just now, he had struck out horizontally, yet his blade came down from above. He only struck out once, yet five thrusts had manifested. He pierced out in one instant, yet his strike seemed to have landed at the exact same time.

    If this wasn''t the pinnacle of spearmanship, it was close. And there were likely only a few people in all of Existence who could strike as beautifully.

    Leonel lowered his spear and casually swung it to the side. The ground below him had a curving arc drawn through it, and his aura seemed to deflate at that moment.

    He hadn''t expected to get so severely injured, and certainly not by his own Forces. But it seemed that there was no way to escape that sort of fate.

    It seemed that his Weapon Forces had become even more unruly.

    Right now, his Spear and Bow practically followed the same path, and he found it incredibly easy to translate the understanding of one to the other.

    The reason his Bow Force had broken through at the same time wasn''t just because it was unsatisfied with being left behind. It was because this application of Absolute Domain worked just the same for it as well.

    The creation of the Morales was thanks to the Demoness, wasn''t it? It seemed that every aspect of his life was just one big experiment to this woman.

    However, his father had broken that mold.

    Leonel''s Divine Armor this time wasn''t a true God Armament, that''s because God Armaments had to also be Ninth Dimensional and, obviously... Gods.

    That said... it was effectively a God Armament. And this was the strength of the Self Path.

    With a sweep of his hand, he put all the corpses away.

    Like he had said, this Divine Armor of his would be the official uniform of his people. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to withstand one as powerful as his, and he wouldn''t make them spears, but having one would elevate their bodies to another level.

    It was just that it was only now that he knew that he was effectively creating God Armaments for them all.

    And that was fine, too.

    Leonel grinned.

    In this world, there were probably only a few dozen characters capable of creating God Armaments.

    And he was one of them.

    Leonel''s aura faded, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood. It seemed he had to hurry and heal up.

    Just as he was about to make a move, his pupils constricted and he spun around.

    Standing there, barely three meters from him, Minerva stood with her hands clasped behind her back.

    Only such a Dream Force expert could possibly sneak up on him like this.

    Looking at the crown of Dream Sovereignty above her head, Leonel''s gaze couldn''t help but narrow.

    Not only was her Dream Force a level above his own, she was in the Ninth Dimension and was a Sovereign.

 Chapter 2908 Fully Drawn Bow

    Chapter 2908 Fully Drawn Bow

    The two didn''t speak immediately, nor did Leonel''s expression waver. He just looked at her for a long time, feeling that her timing was pretty awful... or far too good, depending on how one looked at it.

    Leonel hadn''t expected to end up as injured as he had during the first battle. He planned to use the trio of beasts as a whetstone, but had ultimately ended up suffering from success.

    The result was that Blackstar had used up all of his stamina and Leonel could only send him into the Segmented Cube, and now even Leonel himself had to retract his Divine Armor.

    It had been a very long time since Leonel''s Divine Armors had a stamina drain on him, but it also had to be remembered that one of his uncle''s go-to methods of training was perpetually keeping his Divine Armor active.

    Leonel had seen this once before, and his uncle had ended up taking it off just so he could see the avalanche of sweat beneath.

    This was all to say that activating Divine Armor was certainly a sort of attack on the body, and it wasn''t an easy thing to withstand.

    Unfortunately, in this case, it was even more exaggerated because Leonel had created an unprecedented Divine Armor, one that pulled on everything he had just to sustain it.

    There was a reason he had ended up half-dead just attempting to fuse with it.

    So, it could be said that Minerva''s timing truly was horrible.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem to notice that, or her relative closeness.

    With Minerva''s strength, even hundreds of meters of separation would have been far too close. But the fact that she was only three meters away seemed to be her making a point.

    She could get this close without him noticing anything, and yet she didn''t even take advantage, just standing there quietly.

    The scariest part was that Leonel had no way of confirming exactly how long she had been standing there unless he had something like El''Rion''s reverse time ability to watch the sequence of events. For all he knew, she could have been behind him for hours.

    It certainly wasn''t so exaggerated, because in the end, Leonel had still sensed her.

    But all of this still told Leonel something very important.

    She felt subtle ripples of space in the surroundings, and though her wings easily canceled them out, just the act of doing so exposed her position.

    Emulation Spatial Force, the perfect fusion of Dream Force and Spatial Force, and it was at the Quasi Creation State.

    No, there was an Innate Node involved, so it was no weaker than a Force at the true Creation State.

    This meant that Leonel had at least two Forces at that level.

    A shocking matter indeed.

    "Nothing to say?" Minerva suddenly asked.

    "What?" Leonel asked in an even tone. "You want to hear that you''re still not as beautiful as my wife?"

    Minerva looked at Leonel curiously. He was speaking just the same as in the past, but the hints of playfulness were all gone.

    It made her realize something.

    Maybe... she had truly never fought against a serious Leonel.

    And she was right.

    Leonel had been infuriated many times since coming to the Complete Worlds, and many more dangerous situations. But the last time he had truly taken things seriously was during the Heir Wars.

    Since then, no one had been able to push him to the brink, and he seemed to always easily have enough power to overcome all obstacles.

    Even Demi-Gods and real Gods were no strangers to his puppet strings. He even had to force himself to respect people by changing the path of his Dream Force.

    But right now, he seemed to be like a fully drawn bow, like a spear piercing through the skies.

 Chapter 2909 Mistake

    Chapter 2909 Mistake

    Minerva should have been enraged by this realization, but she wasn''t. Her state of mind had completely changed and her crown only shone more resplendently.

    Because from the start, she too had never taken Leonel seriously, and it had caused her to suffer not just one loss, but two.

    It was humiliating that a junior dared to treat her so casually, but she also didn''t have the right to complain. Hadn''t she been the one to take the losses?

    In that case, let her crush him at his very peak.

    With a wave of her hand, a holy light descended and a strong surge of light came down.

    Leonel didn''t dodge it, nor did his expression change.

    A golden feather danced, pinned into Minerva''s flowing pink diamond hair, and soon Leonel was back to peak condition.

    Even if this treasure wasn''t a God Armament, it likely wasn''t far off. And as the descendants of the Minerva... Leonel wouldn''t be surprised if they had true God Armaments waiting in the wings to be deployed.

    "That was a mistake," Leonel said coolly.

    Minerva didn''t respond immediately, drawing a line through the air with two fingers. The golden feather in her hair fluttered out and fell into the embrace of her fingers with a delicate touch.

    "This golden feather is known as the Ambrosia Feather. It can fully heal a person from even a state of near death, but it takes time to charge. It uses the number one Light Force in all of existence, Holy Force."

    She waved the feather in her hand and it grew, sharpening into an elegant sword, three fingers wide and just over a meter long if the handle wasn''t included.

    With just a gentle swing, it cut through space as though through butter.

    "For much of my life, I ignored all my other affinities because my one obsession was with the Minerva Race. I tossed away everything else, even ignoring my own Holy Force Innate Node for the sake of progressing my Dream Force, which I have a far weaker affinity in.

    "Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately for you, that means my Holy Force is only at the Higher Life State right now and still needs much more time to progress.

    "My Sword Force is also lacking for the same reason. I''ve heard that Golden Force supposedly has the strongest piercing power of all the Light Forces. But..."

    And yet, the entire focus of the world seemed to be on his outstretched arm.

    In it, a bow slowly manifested from his palm.

    On both ends, it had the golden-red feather of a Celestial Ember. Its body was made of a gorgeous white leather that could have only been from a Celestial Storm, and its handle was carved out from the finest diamond crystal, reflecting a rainbow of colors.

    Despite only being three meters apart, Leonel casually raised the bow and aimed it at Minerva.

    The twin Celestial Ember feathers flexed and a sudden curve of flames became the bow''s bowstring.

    Leonel gently placed a finger on the bowstring and pulled back.

    Space fractured, and an arrow seemed to be carved out of it. The blackened tooth of a White Spectral Tiger became its tip.

    Minerva''s eyes narrowed.

    "Bringing out a bow when we are so close? You really don''t fear death."

    She had never heard of Leonel using a bow. This was the very first time.

    It was like Leonel had brought it out on purpose to make fun of her earlier words without saying a thing about them.

    She originally believed that he was still as immature as before, more worried about optics than anything else.

    But then she felt that aura lock onto her.

    The scent of death loomed in the air.

    "I told you already..." Leonel spoke lightly for the third time in their exchange. "... That was a mistake."

    Leonel loosed his arrow.

 Chapter 2910 Waveform

    Chapter 2910 Waveform

    The arrow left a tail of split space in its wake, moving with such conviction and speed that even the laws of the World Spirit couldn''t keep up and mend it all.

    Minerva reacted instantly. With how close they were, there was no time to do anything else but swing her sword upward.

    Her power exploded forth, and she met the arrow. But to her surprise, she couldn''t seem to finish the arc of her swing.

    Her sword froze and the angle of the arrow mysteriously changed, meeting her blade head on, perfectly perpendicular.

    The force pressed down, and suddenly an overwhelming strength pushed her back.

    Minerva had soared an entire 20 meters back before she managed to flap her wings once, withstanding the great pressure to shatter the arrow, but by that point, Leonel had already pulled on his bowstring again.

    He stood in the skies, high and dignified. The entire Bubble world seemed to be in his purview. Even hiding to the edges of the world couldn''t hide any one of his targets from his sights.

    Distance simply didn''t matter. Vissit  for updates

    They could be just three meters from him.

    They could be thousands of kilometers away.

    Or they could be just 20 meters away.

    PENG!

    This time, the tail of space was even more exaggerated. It looked like a speedboat shooting through a calm lake, splitting everything in its path apart.

    PENG! PENG!

    Leonel erupted, one arrow after another taking shape from seemingly empty air, and each and every one carried world-shaking power.

    Minerva realized quickly that her Domain was worthless. Leonel wasn''t even using Bow Force, so what was there to suppress? In fact, it was her Force that was being suppressed beneath the strength of the Borne Bane''s teeth.

    Her Holy Force was also exceptionally good at shattering its way through Force. It was known for its ability to purify and dispel. As such, while Golden Force was known as the strongest piercing Force, that was only because Holy Force didn''t technically do just this alone.

    Golden Force had gained this title because all it could do was penetrate.

    But if one took into account Holy Force''s ability to dispel Forces, functionally, it had even stronger piercing power than Golden Force.

    But when he released his bowstring, the skies were filled with a rain of arrows.

    Friction. Velocity. Momentum. Waveforming. Folding.

    All five levels of [Universe] seemed to be like play putty in Leonel''s'' palms.

    Some arrows used Friction to accelerate.

    Some used Momentum and Velocity to suddenly change direction in the air, shooting high up into the skies and suddenly beaming downward like a laser of silver from a Sun God.

    Some approached Minerva straight forwardly, seemingly blinking across vast distances with a snap of the fingers. In one moment, they were by Leonel''s side, and in the next, they were right in front of her.

    But just as Minerva swung, they used Waveform, phasing right through her sword as though it wasn''t even there at all and appearing before her vital organs.

    The last batch ignored all laws of reality. Fueled by [Finality], they blinked across space as though they didn''t travel at all, but rather like space had been folded to accommodate them.

    They each carried the violent aura of Destruction and the endless fire of Scarlet Star Force.

    Leonel seemed to be a Bow God descending into the world. He controlled countless variables at once and he alone seemed to be akin to an entire army.

    Minerva was instantly assaulted from all sides, blood flying as she failed to block many of them.

    Arrows tore into her body and her sword failed to stop much more than just about 20% of them.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel stood high, never lowering his bow as he pulled again. The deathly cold in his gaze only seemed to become more frigid. He had not the slightest intention of giving Minerva even the smallest room to breathe.

    As he had said.

    She made a mistake.

    Maybe if he was still injured, she would stand a chance.

    Minerva coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then suddenly grinned a maddened smile.

    "Good."

 Chapter 2911 Golden

    Chapter 2911 Golden

    Minerva had been stuck in a perpetual state of battle for over a year now. She had slayed Gods and waded through rivers of blood. At this point, the sight of her own blood was like the air she breathed and the food she ate. It fuelled her, making her body stand at attention and her hair flow wildly in the air.

    At that moment, she released a delicate roar as Leonel unleashed another arrow.

    Her sword formation exploded and suddenly several more golden feathers came from her sword.

    In fact, just saying that they were just several more didn''t do the gorgeous scene justice.

    It was as though thousands of golden-winged angels had fluttered their wings, spare feathers falling down from the skies like a touch of a golden sun''s dew.

    Nine sets of 108 golden feathers bloomed in the skies, each one forming a formation of their own before coming together to form an enormous magic circle of twinkling feather swords.

    By this point, the golden sword in Minerva''s palm had become nothing more than a thin needle, and yet the aura it gave off felt countless times more oppressive.

    The arrow that Leonel released was shattered by a rain of sword light before it could even get close.

    Minerva rose high into the skies, her wings only gently flapping, and yet the strength of its winds leaving long trenches in the tough ground below.

    Beneath the high concentration of Fire Force in the region, the wind fueled forest fires and entire mountains were melted down.

    Standing there, she didn''t even bother to wipe the blood from the corners of her mouth, let alone the rest of her body. She didn''t seem to care that her carefully selected dress was riddled with holes.

    Her gaze sharpened as she met Leonel''s gaze.

    The Minerva Lineage Factor was known as Touch of Creation. It could be said that the Minerva were destroyed because they flew too close to the sun, trying to replace the hole left behind by the God Beasts of Creation.

    And one of the pillars of that destruction was the very same Touch of Creation being used here.

    However, two of these Stars were entirely different from the rest, looking as though they had entire worlds contained within them.

    Leonel couldn''t remember the last time he had summoned his Stars, but the moment he did so this time, power flooded his body and his Forces took another massive leap forward.

    His Scarlet Star Force roared, springing to life as he pulled his bow back again.

    Universal Force descended from the skies at the same time, wrapping him in white silver light.

    The arrow took shape, having a tip of blackened teeth, a body wrapped in gorgeous white leather, and a spiralling spring of red-gold flames quickly flashing around it.

    A low, deep rumble came from Leonel''s chest as his large heart beat just a single time.

    BOOM.

    It sounded as though a giant as suddenly awoken from his slumber and the world was torn apart as his arrow was released.

    The enormous sword-shaped formation of golden feathers met the spiralling arrow.

    The sight was both glorious and gorgeous, yet simultaneously fear-inducing and shocking.

    Gold, red and silver flew in all directions, and a battle for the ages rocked the skies.

    Leonel released arrow after arrow, and Minerva, as elegant as ever, almost carelessly drew her golden needle sword across the skies.

    Both of them seemed to look as though they were the pinnacle of indifference, and yet their strikes were capable of flattening worlds.

    Mountains collapsed and rivers dried up, their auras continuing to grow stronger and stronger.

 Chapter 2912 Title

    Chapter 2912 Title

    A violent whirlwind of golden blades suddenly appeared around Leonel and shredded into his shoulders and torso.

    He indifferently blinked away, his body stepping around the void and continuing his rain of arrows.

    On Minerva''s side, an arrow cut into her cheek as she tilted her head to the side, but she remained unmoved.

    Their cold gazes met, and lightning seemed to spark.

    At that moment, Leonel made a bold move. Moving across space, he continuously fired arrows, each one capable of razing mountains to the ground.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    He released three world-ending arrows, each one targeting a specific location of the formation of swords.

    In that moment, Minerva''s expression changed because she felt the Natural Force Art suddenly let out a wild jolt of energy and she lost control for a brief instant.

    In that brief moment, Leonel had already stepped across the skies and released another arrow.

    It appeared before her in the blink of an eye, and she had no choice but to wave her sword to block it. However, that action caused her own formation to go even more wildly out of control.

    The golden feathers scattered and Minerva realized it would take her at least three seconds to fuse them back into a formation. That was only a few blinks to mortals, but to existences like them, she could die dozens of times over in that span.

    Without a choice, she could only abandon the formation for now and begin a slow and impassioned defense while she brought the feathers back in line. At this pace, it would take her at least ten seconds.

    But Leonel was relentless.Vissit  for updates

    First, he had proven to her that he could just as easily match her with a bow.

    And now he reminded her that in terms of Crafting...

    He was by far her superior.

    How dare she assume that her formation would be enough to stop his steps?

    PENG! PENG! PENG!

    A sword flashed by, cutting half of his neck. Had he not moved slightly, his entire head would have been lopped off and sent high into the skies.

    In just a few moments, Leonel was in an injured state, even worse than what he had experienced at the hands of the elder Fallen God Beasts.

    However, his expression remained cold all the same.

    And then his lips suddenly parted.

    "Disperse."

    The moment the words came from his lips, the world froze, and an ancient rune came from his mouth.

    The strength of a second Ability Index took root and the world of pink mist was forcefully ruptured and shredded apart.

    At that moment, the number of golden feather swords plummeted back down to less than a thousand and Leonel''s aura pierced into the skies like a spear.

    Leonel grabbed at the air, already readying his bow with the other hand.

    He stood there, beaten and bloodied, the only indifferent part of him his heart shuddering gaze. They stood like two reflective marbles amidst the carnage, polished smooth and radiating a chilly pale violet light.

    "Today, your Title will be... Swift."

    A rune formed in Leonel''s palm and he pressed it into his bow.

    The bow trembled and sparks of lightning took shape in the skies as though the World Spirit was infuriated, and maybe it should have been. Leonel had just forcefully taken a portion of its power.

    Even though his face paled, his back stood straight. Even though his arms were injured, he still pulled back the bowstring. Even though his head seemed it might fall from his shoulders at any time, he held it high.

    "Die."

    The words were spoken softly, but the moment they descended, the world around Leonel shattered like fragmenting glass, reality fissuring, and the laws of this world rupturing.

    He released the bowstring and time stopped while space seemed to cease mattering.

    The arrow moved so swiftly that its tip had already pierced Minerva before she could react.

 Chapter 2913 TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

    Chapter 2913 TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

    The arrow embodied the word. It didn''t have to fold space or shatter its way into the void. It was speed in its truest essence, velocity in its sharpest definition.

    It moved so quickly that it truly did seem to do all of those things, and yet both Leonel and Minerva, with their sharp Dream Force, knew that this wasn''t the case at all.

    There was no curve, no tricks, no distortions. It felt like it was ancient in its creed and almost arrogant in its directness.

    And in that instant, it pierced right through Minerva''s body, ripping into her chest before she could even think to move to the side.

    TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

    The sound came long afterward, a grating noise that made it feel as though the air was a pot and the arrow was a fork scraping along its bottom. The arrow seemed to have forced the world into submission, forcing it to remain steady to allow it to display its mighty speed, and it was only then that a trail of fire and fragmented space appeared in its wake.

    It was faster than even the world could react to.

    It was the embodiment of true, unbridled, unabashed speed.

    And it was because of that it ripped through Minerva''s body before she even felt anything.

    She stood there, frozen, still wondering what had happened. Like a person who had been shot but had yet to realize because of the adrenaline, she stood there stunned.

    Her senses told her what had happened, but she still didn''t dare to believe it.

    On the other side of the battlefield, Leonel was stunned as well, but for a completely different reason.

    ''I missed?''Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

    The arrow had certainly ripped through Minerva''s body, but not in the location he was aiming for. It missed her heart and went right through her lung, just centimeters from his intended target.

    Someone else might feel it was just unfortunate, but for Leonel... this left him shocked to the point he lacked the words to describe them.

    No, it really was ridiculous.

    If it wasn''t for the situation, he wouldn''t have laughed at himself.

    However, just when he thought he was going to have to burst into action on another long, drawn-out round of this battle, Minerva violently coughed up mouthfuls of blood, her body shuddering.

    Leonel watched this in silence and almost couldn''t help but laugh at himself again.

    He had missed, sure... but it was only by a few centimeters.

    For him, this was a devastating matter and entirely unacceptable. He had exceptionally high standards for himself, and he had projected his perceived failure onto the battle.

    However, was it the same for Minerva?

    The strength of Leonel''s normal arrows could already shatter worlds. If he was in an Incomplete World, a single one of his arrows could probably run through a gauntlet of planets and shatter their star in one sweep, eradicating a solar system. Every single one of his arrows ripped and tore open space...

    So how could his arrow pass through the body of a person and leave them unscathed?

    Whatever carnage this Bubble World had to suffer every time he released an arrow, wouldn''t Minerva also have to suffer just the same? Except this time... it was within her own body, and so close to her heart at that.

    Even though she wasn''t dead like Leonel wanted, she was probably in no fighting condition. And unfortunately for her, the healing method she had as a trump card had been used on Leonel and had yet to replenish itself.

    It could be said that she had lifted a mountain, only to drop it onto her own foot. But that was her pride.

    Looking at her, Leonel couldn''t help but remember himself.

    If he hadn''t changed his Dream Force Path, would he have ended up like this?

    Maybe he wouldn''t have experienced personal failure, but wouldn''t the death of his friends and family be another sort of heartbreak?

    Leonel''s pupils suddenly constricted as a figure appeared by Minerva''s side.

 Chapter 2914 One Chance

    Chapter 2914 One Chance

    Leonel hadn''t sensed the appearance of this person at all. It was as though, in one instant, they were just there, as though they had always been there, as though they had never not been there.

    This person was powerful.

    He was a man, handsome beyond reason, and having a head of pink hair not much unlike Minerva. However, unlike Minerva, his wings were a frightening gold that reflected all light. No, it wasn''t that they reflected all light, but rather that they reflected the light so fiercely that each ray that bounced off felt as sharp as the light of a sword. It felt like if he wanted, he could cleave a world in two with a single flap.

    The man was valiant beyond reason and exuded an otherworldly temperament that made it seem like he wasn''t of this world, that even the Gods themselves couldn''t have personally sculpted him.

    And it was when Leonel had this thought that he frowned and shook himself awake. A cold sweat broke out on his back and he felt that there was something particularly odd about this man.

    It was times like this that he wished he had kept the original path of his Dream Force. But right now, he was being forced to respect this man...

    No, it was his choice to respect this man, he reminded himself.

    ''Is his Dream Force so tangible that he can affect even my mind so easily? No, it''s not that... is this what a true Dharma feels like? But not quite...''

    Leonel''s Wise Sea and Star Order status acted to quickly dissect the aspects of this man he could understand and put them together, and soon he felt he had a grasp.

    This man was only a step away from becoming a true God. The feeling of awe and reverence came almost entirely from this feeling, but it was also a wake-up call.

    The strength of some at the Peak of the Creation State was on a completely different level.

    The strength of someone who had a Quasi-Dharma was even more exaggerated. It felt like a world apart. The separation between the two tiers was devastating, so much so that it was difficult for Leonel to even gather up the fighting intent right now.

    However, Leonel seemed to feel that his mind was being forcefully tempered by his resistance.

    Elysium.

    "You may live only because you have some use. Your actions are your attempt at survival, and they''re pleasing enough to me. However, the Segmented Cube and the Life Tablet, those aren''t things that the likes of you can hold."

    Leonel continued to look at this man.

    After Elysium finished speaking, he just stood there as though he were waiting for Leonel to hand them over of his own accord. He didn''t seem to think that he would need to take action at all.

    Leonel felt flickers of rage raise up within him that were suddenly doused by a dense cold. The cold seemed to come from Elysium, who was giving him a silent warning...

    But there was something else within Leonel radiating an even deeper cold.

    It was the remaining strands of his previous Dream Force Path. He almost subconsciously reached out toward them, wanting to return to the path of absolute confidence without the slightest regard for anything.

    Who was this man to try to trample over his dignity? Who was he to speak to him so casually? To look at him with that gaze? The only person who deserved to look down on people in this way was him, the only man to ever outlive Existence itself.

    Leonel suddenly closed his eyes, taking a shaky breath.

    From an outsider''s perspective, it truly looked as though he had lost his mind to fear.

    However, his words were anything but.

    "I will give you one chance to scram. Or else we both won''t like the result."

    His voice was low, emotionless, and seemed to be layered with an unapproachable majesty.

 Chapter 2915 Generations

    Chapter 2915 Generations

    Leonel didn''t look at Elysium, his gaze dark and aimed toward the ground as though he was still trying to control an impulse. His heart was thrumming wildly and his fury was threatening to spill over. He took deep breaths and eventually even closed his eyes. It was almost a level of disregard that took Elysium aback for the first time, but then he shook his head.

    No matter how he looked at it, it seemed as though Leonel was just truly afraid. In the world, there was a fine line between bravery, ignorance and stupidity. To be brave meant to understand the threat, you were under and face it valiantly, nonetheless. To be ignorant was to face off against challenges you had no knowledge or understanding of, simply because it fed your ego. To be stupid was to understand your situation, know you had another choice, and yet choose the path of most resistance because of, once again, your ego.

    In Elysium''s opinion, the fear that Leonel felt was real. He should see the gap between the two of them and his reaction was only natural. This was just the normal reaction of prey meeting their apex predator.

    Elysium was the perfect counter to Leonel, not only just because he was extremely powerful but also because he had comprehended Dream Force to an extreme extent as well. Any advantages that a Dream Force user might have had against another powerful opponent were useless against him. He did not fear Dream Force because he, too, wielded it.

    In the end, that meant to him that Leonel was only speaking such idiotic words because he was unwilling. In fact, now that Elysium thought about it, when had Leonel ever taken a step back? He had seemed sensible during the Gathering of Minds, but wasn''t that just him throwing another tantrum? He had said that he would give up the Life Tablet and Segmented Cube if he lost, but he ended up stealing it back.

    Elysium had never really thought about these things before because a character as small as Leonel wasn''t worth so much effort to think about in normal circumstances. If not for the situation now, he wouldn''t have even bothered. But now that he had thought of them, he couldn''t help but feel a sliver of disdain for him even though he only looked at Leonel as an elder would a child.

    A man who couldn''t even keep his own word... a man who treated the words he spoke and said as though they were air to be passed through the world and ignored... Wasn''t a man at all. Any potential he might have felt that Leonel had was directly ignored by him. He already felt that no one he had already surpassed could ever catch up to his steps, but now he didn''t even feel that Leonel had the right to chase him.

    Minerva shuddered. All the while, she had been silent and couldn''t even look at Leonel. But right now, how could she not feel this oppressive aura? It was as though she might be swallowed up at any moment.

    "You know, I''ve found that I really hate when people look down on me. It''s probably a character flaw, and I should fix it. The opinions of the insignificant shouldn''t be worth anything at all. I still remember when I was just a teenager... I didn''t think that kneeling was a big deal. I was raised in an Empire and practically worshipping the annoying old man that turned out to be grandfather was commonplace, so when I met a certain King Arthur, I thought it was only natural that I showed him the same respect... Until, that is... he tried to weaponise it against me."

    Leonel spoke slowly as more of his life seemed to leave his body, and yet he remained entirely indifferent to it all.

    "I guess you can say that that''s when it started. I have a particular distaste for people who think too much of themselves, which is ironic considering my opinion of myself... But the difference is that you are not me."

    Leonel looked away from Elysium and toward the world around him.

    "You tell me, oh mighty Patriarch of the Minerva... If your little formation of worlds was suddenly missing one... What would happen to your generations of planning?"

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2916 Who Really?

    Chapter 2916 Who Really?

    Hearing these words, Elysium''s heart couldn''t help but skip a beat.

    When a man like him lost control of his emotions, the skies changed color and the earth seemed to flip. The entirely artistic conception of the world was flipped on its head as though it had been plunged into a world of nightmares.

    Swirls of chaos began to appear in space like the canvas of a Van Gogh painting. A rainbow of dark colors slathered themselves across the skies, and part of the earth below seemed to act both as careless currents of water and the hardest diamond.

    It was a casual use of strength and power that Leonel had never seen before, one that should have rocked him to the very core, and yet the indifference in his eyes only deepened to the point that it gave way to disdain, as though he had just broken through another one of the nine levels of Hell.

    So bold, so arrogant, so uncaring, and dismissive of the world in one moment, and yet the instant he came across the slightest obstruction, this was his reaction.

    And he called himself an expert?

    Elysium had probably lived a life that was carefree and easy. He probably thought that he had had it hard, having to raise up a Race back to Godhood...

    Poor him. It must have been extremely difficult being raised in one of the wealthiest Demi-God Races in existence, being handed his Patriarch position, and then sitting on the sidelines while everyone else fought his battles.

    He had no idea the kind of trials and tribulations that Leonel had been through, so much so that he actually dismissed Leonel''s heroic reversals, distilling them down to...

    Going back on his word?

    Elysium certainly had no idea just how much of his thoughts that Leonel could see right through. Wise Sea Order alone was already enough to be hailed as an Oracle by the people of the Incomplete World. When it was layered with Wise Sea order, the reality of it all was that Leonel couldn''t just be said to be a Dream Force Sovereign anymore... he was something far beyond that.

    Even the combination of a Sovereignty and an Innate Node stacked atop of one another was inferior to the boost that he had to his Dream Force right now.

    In that moment, his Dream Force soared, entering the Middle Creation State in a single bound. The flickering crown above his head solidified and a bit of the paleness on his face seemed to have recovered.

    Not all paths of most resistance chosen were done out of stupidity. Some of them were chosen out of principle, out of love, out of conviction.

    If Leonel destroyed this world, it would mean that the plan of the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts would fail. Once that happened, the ire of the world would be likely to fall on him.

    Even if they suffered greatly, the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts would certainly come after him, not to mention the Variant Invalids.

    At the same time, once the Void Race found out the true ins and outs of the situation, because they would no longer have to weigh their options and deal with the appearance of a new God Realm, they could certainly come after him as well.

    It could be said that regardless of whether it was Leonel or Elysium, the both of them would lose a lot the moment this world was destroyed.

    And yet, this was still the choice that Leonel chose to take. He would rather take this path than use the blood of that woman.

    He had sworn it before and he would never hesitate to say it again.

    Until she died beneath the palm of his hands, he would never use his Dream Asura Lineage Factor again.

    And that was the dividing the line between these two men.

    On one side, there was a man blinded by his arrogance and still unwilling to give up, even now.

    And on the other there was a man staunch in his convictions and resilient in his thoughts.

    Between the two of them... who really was the stupid one?

 Chapter 2917 Gruesome

    Chapter 2917 Gruesome

    Elysium didn''t say a single word. He just stood there, and his expression had already returned to calm. It was just unfortunate that the changes to the world never seemed to stop, so no matter what his face looked like, it was worthless.

    Just like Leonel had said.

    He was an open book.

    Then, to Leonel''s surprise, Elysium vanished without a word. He might have thought that it was for an attempted attack if it wasn''t for the fact that he also took Minerva with him.

    Even after several moments, there were no other movements, and even the change to the world slowly faded away.

    ''It seems I''ve made a powerful enemy again.''

    Leonel said these words almost carelessly, as though he didn''t care.

    In truth, he knew that Elysium might try it if it hadn''t been for his Dream Force Breakthrough. But after that, it had become several times more difficult to outmaneuver Leonel.

    This was because Elysium''s main Force certainly wasn''t Dream Force, and though his Dream Force was definitely in the Creation State as well, it wasn''t his Sovereignty. The combination of his Dimension and his constitution made his Dream Force extend far further than Leonel''s did. But in the end, Leonel was confident in bridging that gap with his Wise Star and Sea Order status.

    It wouldn''t be enough to overwhelm them, or even truly be equal, but it would be enough for him to protect himself long enough to destroy this world.

    When he realized that, Elysium reacted as only a man so arrogant would.

    Rather than trying to threaten or persuade Leonel, he directly left. That was because he felt that Leonel should know himself the kind of enemy he had just made. There was no need to inform him that was that was arrogance of the Minerva Race Head.

    If before he had been fine with giving Leonel a path to live, when the time was ripe, Leonel would be the first head he took.

    Leonel''s lip curled into a sneer, but soon afterward, his Bow Force dispersed and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. He couldn''t help but glare at the fading halo-like bracelets.

    To think that his own Forces would still be so unruly.

    It should be that the Fallen God Beasts were sufficiently infuriated now. And now, Elysium was aware that he was aware of their plan.

    The level of hatred they would have toward him would certainly be at an all-time high now, and almost all of his pieces had been perfectly set on the board.

    In the end, arrogant or not, he''d be the one who got the last life.

    "Oop, better run."

    Leonel went from a frigid cold to a spry rabbit in the blink of an eye. Barely minutes after he had vanished, red-gold feathers fell from the skies as an Ancestor Celestial Ember appeared.

    Nova looked down with narrowed eyes. The carnage was palpable, but.... Blood. She could see it, and Leonel hadn''t bothered to clean it up.

    The life signatures of nine distinct existences were down there. And now all of them were gone.

    Just the fact that Leonel could draw blood from all nine of them was something that was shocking enough, but what did it mean that they were gone now...

    They were dead.

    It was a thought Nova didn''t want to believe, but it was one she had to.

    A single human boy had fought nine elders of their Fallen God Beast lineage alone and actually won?

    No, it even seemed that he had another battle afterward with an... Owlan? Minerva? And he seemed to have won that battle as well.

    Nova drew a line across the skies with her wing and the volatile space in the region seemed to retrace a particularly valiant arrow, one that made her pupils constrict into fiery pinholes.

    She flapped her wings once and soared across the world.

    "Leonel Morales. You will die a gruesome death."

    It was a gentle voice, but it shook the world.Vissit  for updates

 Chapter 2918 Unbeatable

    Chapter 2918 Unbeatable

    Leonel heard the voice, and he burst into a laughter, uncaring for the state of his body. Every rumbling chuckle seems to cause another rain of blood to fall from him, but he was at complete peace even with his body being ravaged to this extent.

    That interaction with Elysium had truly pissed him off. Even making him back off like that wasn''t enough, because it was clear the man was still as arrogant as ever.

    The only way Leonel would feel satisfied is if he truly made them suffer.

    All of them.

    The Variant Invalids tried to steal his wife right from under his nose.

    The Celestial Embers had cooperated with the Owlans to try to steal his Life Tablet and Anastasia.

    Minerva had tried to kill him more than once, humiliating him several times, and in the end, he could only let her get away because he didn''t have the strength to stop Elysium.

    The frustration was boiling over to the point he had almost returned to his old ways.

    But it was fine.

    If he couldn''t crush them with his fists, then he would take advantage with his blade when he could, and then crush them with his mind.

    His laughter echoed throughout the world, and yet the Celestial Ember that was able to cross an entire world with just a single flap of her wings couldn''t seem to find him at all. It was like he had truly vanished.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

    ...

    At that moment, in another corner of the battlefield, a familiar Void Race member appeared in a cosmic swirl of black and violet. She frowned, her senses spreading, and almost instantly, she retreated into the portal again.

    The fury of Nova was palpable, and it had spread across the entire world. As arrogant as Shan''Rae was, she knew that she was no match for an Ancestor level character.

    Ironically, the moment she stepped into the world, he had been forced to vanish once again.

    ...

    ''An entire percentage point? Can I replicate that? Is it because my state of injury was just that bad? Or is it something else?''

    Leonel looked deeper and found that he had actually moved along in the stages of progress that Aina had mentioned all that time ago.

    Right now, he had reached 30% integration. As Aina had said back then, to push it past 30%, they needed to take drastic measure, forming a feedback loop between his body, brain, Ethereal Glabella and Soul.

    But just now, it felt like [Instant Recovery] had done that all on its own.

    Leonel suddenly wanted to run and tell his wife, but he couldn''t do that. She was in the middle of having a breakthrough of her own.

    ''That much is fine. I don''t need a huge boost in my strength right now. Now that I''m certain that [Instant Recovery] holds a secret to elevating my body to a new level, I can do it any time. Right now, my mind is more important, and this is just secondary.

    ''That said...''

    Leonel did a few more tests, trying to figure something out.

    Then he had a thought.

    If [Instant Recovery] still worked, then the Dark Northern Lineage Factor reciprocal, their life steal ability, should likewise work.

    ''Hm...''

    Leonel walked to one of the many Fallen God Beast corpses he had accumulated and placed a hand on one. Then, he used [Life Steal].

    His eyes opened wide immediately as he felt the changes to his body.

    ''Holy shit...''

    Once again, there was a feedback between the world and the technique that amplified their abilities. And, on top of that, the amplification only seemed to increase because of the modifications he had made to the Lineage Factor.

    ''If only I could use these techniques openly... I would be an unbeatable monster...''

 Chapter 2919 Couldnt Afford

    Chapter 2919 Couldn''t Afford

    Leonel realized something shocking. The same bodily improvements that [Instant Recovery] allowed him appeared in [Life Steal], but it was even more straightforward. In fact, it felt more complex than that.

    He could even feel that he could make changes to his Divine Armor through this method, using the blood of stronger beasts to strengthen it further and make it run smoother.

    These elder beasts would have been impossible to kill without his Divine Armor, but it seemed that now he could accept the fruits of his labor.

    ''Not quite. It''s more complex than that. If I absorb the blood of a Celestial Ember, I would throw the balance off. I would need to use it on all four at the same time, but I can''t do that since I can only cast the technique once...''

    It seemed that, once again, he would need to wait for his wife. Only her Blood Sovereignty could help him get past this barrier.

    However, if he ignored his Divine Armor for the moment, he could directly improve his body. It felt like a soothing tonic was running right through him.

    ''Hm? I can do that too?''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. He realized that he could pass on this refined energy to his Incomplete Worlds. And then, when he needed them, he could take them out.

    Didn''t that mean that he could secure healing for himself in a stealthy way? Did he find a method to use it in public?

    But once again, Leonel was disappointed. There were two problems with this approach.

    The first issue was the fact that his worlds were technically worlds of Destruction now. No, more accurately, they were fueling and amplifying his Destruction World into a real world.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

    The aspects of Destruction were still there, so over time, the energy was depleted and crushed.

    He could store the energy inside the Incomplete Worlds themselves, that seemed to be just fine, but then it would be no different from storing it in a spatial ring or something of the sort.

    The moment he took it out, the aura of the [Life Steal] technique would leak and then it would make no different that he hadn''t used it directly.

    The number of elders they were losing was starting to hurt their bottom line.

    There was no denying it. If too many of these old monsters died, then even if they succeeded in rising to the God Realm, it wouldn''t matter at all. That''s because without enough of a foundation, what good would it be? They would just be massacred.

    Although these elders weren''t their true trump cards, much of their potential would be unearthed by returning to God Realms as well. By then, they wouldn''t be a strong enough deterrent force to stop the Gods from launching another war against them, and this was what they least wanted to see.

    However, no matter what they did, it didn''t seem to matter. It was as though they couldn''t catch traces of Leonel anymore. Even the Peak Creation State experts they sent couldn''t do anything.

    After Leonel''s Dream Force breakthrough, only the like of Elysium and the other monsters of the Fallen God Beasts could possibly catch him unawares.

    But what was even worse was that it seemed that Leonel only seemed to be getting stronger with every exchange.

    The battles became shorter and shorter.

    Soon, they weren''t even getting information about battles anymore. They were only confirming deaths by disappearances.

    And worse than that, they had confirmed that Leonel almost certainly had a method of traveling between worlds exceptionally quickly, but that left them stunned. They had sealed all these worlds, and the only thing that should be capable of this was Spatial Force.

    And yet...

    ...

    Elysium sat in silence, his expression the same picture of indifference. He listened to the reports one another without a word.

    At this rate, someone of his caliber would really have to step out... The problem was that the Fallen God Beasts didn''t have the mastery over Dream Force necessary to counter Leonel''s escapes.

    But where would he put his face if he had to act again, and what would they do about Leonel''s threat to destroy the worlds?

    In the end, it looked like he had gone and provoked someone he couldn''t afford to.

 Chapter 2920 My Path

    Chapter 2920 My Path

    Elysium would never think such thoughts, of course. He even felt that Leonel''s actions were very stupid and only proved that he was far too weak. Why else would he be throwing such a tantrum?

    In Elysium''s opinion, Leonel had certainly felt threatened by his leaving without a word, and this was how he was venting his hatred. It was made only clearer by the fact he was only targeting the Owlans now, when before he had been slaughtering the Fallen God Beasts.

    Maybe knowing that he was going to die anyway, he decided to try to deal the Owlans a blow in any way he could.

    It was working, because unfortunately there was little Elysium could do. Even if he went, they would just end up in the same stalemate. Then would he have to leave without a word again? And then what?

    The easy way to deal with this was to force Leonel''s hand by targeting the Human Bubble. But he had received reports that it was being protected by a formation exchanged for from the Dream Pavilion. Its level of strength wasn''t something that could be underestimated, and it would likely take someone as strong as him personally moving to even begin to harm it. And even then, by his calculations, it would take him several days to shatter his way through.

    There didn''t seem to be a road to turn to.

    Even if he was willing to swallow his pride and go, what kind of carnage could Leonel unleash in three days? Did he even care about the humans that much? No one had ever seen him care very much for anyone other than his wife and his own personal interests.

    And in the case that he did care for them, what was he going to do? Hold them hostage?

    He certainly couldn''t kill them all, or else what would he do if Leonel lost himself in fury and truly did destroy one of their worlds?

    At this point, the trouble was rooted in something Elysium had tried to ignore.

    How could an ant have the power to destroy a Demi-God World? He had tried to convince himself that it was some sort of external method, but in the end he had landed on it being a special sacrificial technique Leonel had exchanged for in the Life Tablet.

    It seemed that even Elysium couldn''t quite feel what it was that Leonel had been about to bring out. That was because this time, Leonel had even less control over forming it. The erratic energy was so disjointed and fragmented that even Elysium couldn''t entirely see through it. Though, Dream Force also wasn''t his strongest Force.

    In the end, it seemed that there was only one path to take.

    "It''s okay to hate," her mother continued. "To hate us, or to hate him."

    "I don''t hate him," Minerva suddenly spoke, "not anymore."

    The "him" she spoke of was obviously Leonel.

    Her mother was taken aback by the clarification, and didn''t know what to say that she spoke out for her enemy, but not her own parents.

    But what Minerva said next shocked her even more.

    "In fact, I think I might love him."

    Silence fell over the room and at this point, Minerva''s mother, who had experienced millennia of life, didn''t even know what to say to such a thing. This was the first time she had heard of a woman falling in love in such a way.

    "But I still must kill him." Minerva continued, just as indifferently. "He is the only man to truly defeat me in all aspects, but I''m destined to not be with him, both because of his own feelings and my own ambitions. I long severed the path of love. It is not for me... In any sense of the word."

    **

    As the mother and daughter spoke, a deep, churning undercurrent was beginning to swell.

    The skies were overturned as several Incomplete Worlds began to tremble.

    Soon, armies of Invalids began to move out, churning through the skies.

    The movement was so large that it was impossible to miss.

    For the first time in nine generations, an Invalid Tide had been triggered and the whole of the Mortal Realm was alerted.

 Chapter 2921 Why Not?

    Chapter 2921 Why Not?

    Leonel sat cross legged in the void, leaning his head on a hand while his spear was in between his legs.

    His gaze looked calm and somehow also reflected the world, and at some unknown point, his lip curled into a smirk.

    ''That was easier than I thought. That Elysium character is actually so retarded.''

    The moment Leonel saw Elysium''s arrogance, he knew that it could be taken advantage of. He had no idea how someone with such a temperament had made it so far. But as Leonel had said, Elysium mistook his patience for hardship.

    Between the two of them, Leonel was the only one that had to teeter on life and death to make it this far. Elysium just sat cozily in the back of the Owlan family, waiting for his time to come.

    Maybe he had done something, proven himself at some point, or taken on some of the burden. But it was destined to be nothing compared to Leonel.

    And now Leonel had gotten exactly what he wanted.

    Because the moment the Invalids appeared like this, they exposed their location to him.

    Slowly, Leonel stood, his gaze blazing. He swept his spear out once, and a spark of light seemed to dance across it, lighting like a flame and flickering with wildness.

    BANG!

    Leonel shot out.

    ...

    Soon, Leonel had appeared over an Incomplete World. He unceremoniously slashed out, cutting his way in.

    The Regulator reacted fiercely, but in a blink of an eye, it was as though it had never been there at all.

    He could sense the scent of Death in this world. It wasn''t true Death, not like he had felt from Death Force before. But rather a kind of helpless indifference, one of someone whose life had hit rock bottom, and yet they had no intention of picking themselves up.

    So this was what happened to Incomplete Worlds that couldn''t fight off their Invalids.

    It was almost decaying in plain sight, but what was interesting was that this decaying almost felt... stable.

    Watching it, Leonel felt endlessly fascinating because it was like watching a cycle of Creation and Destruction where Destruction had won... and it was the first time he had ever laid his eyes on such a thing.

    All this time, his Destruction Sovereignty and his Scarlet Star Force seemed to have been linked as one, but were they?

    Why was he not a Fire Sovereign? But instead a Destruction Sovereign? And why was it that his Scarlet Star Force didn''t truly show many characteristics of Destruction Sovereignty other than being personally destructive?

    In these days, he had run into a lot of characters.

    He had always been used to having superior Forces to those around him, not in terms of comprehension-though he was superior in that aspect as well-but rather in the quality of Force itself.

    But now, he was running into characters that could firmly suppress his Scarlet Star Force.

    It was quite funny. He didn''t often use his Scarlet Star Force or their Innate Nodes, saving them as a trump card.

    But now, they felt useless at that and he also felt that he should just take them out as soon as possible to try to end the battle ahead of time.

    But what if he was approaching this the wrong way all along?

    He already knew what he should do, but he was in a daze, trying to figure it out.

    He had to create a cycle, forming a wheel between his Scarlet Star Force and his Destruction Sovereignty.

    Down one path, his Scarlet Star Force would become the extreme of Creation, that would lead to the truest Destruction in his Destruction Sovereignty.

    Down the other path, his Scarlet Star Force would reach past the extreme of Creation, entering a state of Destruction, while his Destruction Sovereignty would reach past the extreme of Destruction, becoming Creation.

    It felt like a subtle difference, but it was akin to night and day for Leonel to see as far ahead as he could.

    Because depending on the road he took...

    He could lean into the truest state of Destruction in all facets.

    Or the truest state of Creation in all facets.

    ''In that case... Why not both?''

    BOOM!

 Chapter 2922 Balance

    Chapter 2922 Balance

    Leonel''s body shuddered, and at that moment, his Destruction Sovereignty became layered in two, reaching beyond the Gold Grade and entering the Life Grade. Soaring past that, then entering a new Grade altogether.

    One that Leonel could only call the Self Grade.

    It was a road of his own choosing, one that allowed both paths of a Sovereignty to exist as one.

    And as for why he could do that...

    Wasn''t it because he had two perfect and whole Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes?

    BOOM!

    Fire Sovereignty poured out from Leonel in waves. His red-gold flames became a solid, striking gold without the slightest hints of impurities.

    Once again, it was two complete forms.

    The both of them soared upward, and a dazzling crown appeared above Leonel''s head.

    At that moment, Leonel had perfectly formed four Sovereignties, and yet unlike his Spear and Bow Force, they were in perfect balance with one another.

    With one wave, he would create a world.

    With another, he could wipe it out.

    The world shook and quaked around him, and by this point, the strongest experts of the world had long been alerted that there was something wrong.

    Leonel raised his head slowly, feeling the power coursing through his body.

    He felt somewhat blotted, but in a particularly full kind of way, rather than a stuffed sort of way.

    It was like he had reached the limit of his humanity, but hadn''t gone even a step further. If he consumed any more, it was either he would need a breakthrough, or he would die and his soul would shatter and scatter like ash in the wind.

    However, it was a feeling that made him feel endlessly comfortable, nonetheless.

    This must be what it means to reach your truest limit.

    He could feel the push and pull of the world, a struggle that superseded what could be seen with the naked eye and existed on a plane that even the Gods couldn''t fight on.

    One that existed in the First Dimension.

    It was the reality of a fight in the darkness, one between life and death, and creation and destruction.

    The Invalids might represent Destruction, but when they died, what they left behind... wasn''t it the truest kernel of creation?

    It was the only Force in existence that could be freely consumed to strengthen oneself at no cost at all, or any backlash and hidden troubles.

    In the past, Leonel had wondered why it was that Existence provided Ability Indexes. In all the powers of the world, it seemed to be the most out of place and the most inexplicable.

    It could be entirely unrelated to your affinities, your Lineage Factors, or your preferences. You could be born into a family of spear wielders and yet be meant to use your fists for the rest of your life.

    It wasn''t until today that Leonel got his answer.

    Balance.

    Ability Indexes were Existence''s way of reshuffling the board, stopping from one family or power from monopolizing everything, while also bringing a counterbalance to creation in the destruction path of the Invalids.

    It was a single move that expended energy to regain a myriad of rewards in return. It was the kind of mindlessly cruel matter that only a lofty God above all could choose to do... all because, in the end, it would counterbalance the bad from becoming worse.

    When Leonel understood this, he looked toward the Invalids in a different light.

    Unfortunately, that wouldn''t change his actions.

    His moral compass had long since been set to a different cadence. He knew that for the greater good, Invalids had to exist and would continue to.

    He just didn''t give a damn.

    All threats to his wife deserved death.

    He suddenly grasped out with a hand, and his Path of Creation churned.

    All at once, the motes of light surged toward him.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

 Chapter 2923 Creation

    Chapter 2923 Creation

    Feeling the creation that came from it, Leonel took a breath, and it was like the entire world had been sucked into his body. He wasn''t using the motes of light to strengthen himself, though he could have. Rather, he was using them to listen to the voice of Creation.

    Right now, although he had two Destruction Sovereignties, it might even be more accurate to separate them, calling one Destruction Sovereignty, and the other... Creation Sovereignty. He knew well enough what Destruction Sovereignty could do, or so he thought. Usually, he just used it to amplify his attack power.

    But what about Creation Sovereignty? Or on a deeper layer of complexity, Destruction Sovereignty following the path of Creation?

    He could feel his Innate Nodes churning, their runes lighting up as his Fire Sovereignty rolled. It was truly the perfect conduit. Fire was an object that could bring wealth, fuel ingenuity, and maybe learning how to spark it was the most important discovery in human history.

    But it was also destructive, relentless, fuelled by oxygen it could swallow everything in its path and burn worlds to the ground. In a lot of ways, it was the purest essence of chaos, wasting much of its power in crackling lights and erratic wisps of flickering flames.

    Leonel looked up almost lazily, but the truth was that his mind was surrounded by insights, incorporating everything that he had learned in the last ten years and forming it all together in a single burst of potential. He thrust out with his spear again, but this time it looked simple and unadorned, hardly holding any strength or power at all.

    But then his lips parted.

    But Leonel seemed to be the perfect counter to them, his presence suffocating and his four Sovereignties ripping them apart one after another. Even wading through armies of billions upon billions, he was relentless. The Variant Invalids were all stunned, not quite knowing what to do. Some tried to close in and surround Leonel, but it seemed that they were either repelled away or directly killed every time.

    The worst part was that their entire world seemed to have become the battlefield and there was nowhere to escape. It wasn''t so easy to break through and out of an Incomplete world. It was the reason that most in Incomplete Worlds felt that their universes were infinite. That was because without the strength or understanding, it functionally was. Those of their worlds with the means to leave had already done so to unleash their carnage onto the world.

    Who would have thought that Leonel would truly take this chance to come here and wipe them out? The horrifying part about him was that they wouldn''t have even known that Leonel was here if not for his breakthrough. Didn''t that mean that he could have just gone to their planets one by one and killed them all if not for this?

    And yet, the fact they had all gathered up together seemed to be irrelevant. The laws of an Incomplete World were like paper. That was why their Regulators had no choice but to suppress powerful existences. But what happened when you were not only in a world with such fragile laws, but could also easily ignore its restrictions... and then suddenly gain the ability to speak your thoughts to reality, creating with every step you took?

    What kind of devastation would that cause? One would assume that it would look a lot like a singular young man facing off against an army of trillions and cutting them down by the millions, moving unfettered and without care or restraint. How many years of accumulation had it taken them to form a world where they could live? Was it all going to be taken down in a single day?

    Leonel didn''t seem to feel their plight at all. In fact, his control was becoming more focused, more streamlined. At some point, instead of having to visualize exactly what he wanted to happen every time, he created Dreamscapes of them. Then, he used Dream Clone, an ability he hadn''t in a long time, and built models of them.

    In that instant, Leonel''s efficiency skyrocketed, his gaze glowing. He was going to enjoy the downfall of the Owlans, this time even better than the last.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

 Chapter 2924 Zephy

    Chapter 2924 Zephy

    Leonel took a breath. Even with his increased rate of killing, it was still a heavy task to kill so many. Had he not had such a breakthrough, it would have been much easier because no one would have sensed him and he could have taken his time to go planet to planet. But since he had, there was no avoiding the large-scale battle.

    ''Such a shame.''

    Leonel looked around and couldn''t help but shake his head. This Invalid warped world was actually perfect for him to absorb. The Creation and Destruction aspects were exactly what he needed. But he couldn''t.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

    This world was part of the formation of worlds. If he absorbed it, he would break the formation, and that wasn''t what he wanted. It would affect him just as much as it would those that planned all of this out. He could only leave them.

    As for whether he might get a chance in the future, that would have to depend on whether these things worked out.

    ''Next.''

    After regaining his breath, Leonel''s gaze flashed with a coldness. With the power he had just gained, he was even more confident in the next steps. He proceeded from world of Invalids to world of Invalids, unleashing a slaughter for the ages. He was no less than a reaper Death God. All along the way, the number of Invalids he absorbed likewise skyrocketed, and through this battle, he was actually becoming more and more powerful.

    If Leonel stepped into it, there would be no telling if he''d have any advantages at all. If there were no advantages, and there was a world-shaking powerhouse on the inside, then he would just be a moth to a flame. In the end, he made the right decision.

    That was because within this world, a man the Demoness had once called Zephy looked up, a light of curiosity in his eyes as though he had just sensed something vague and illusory, but had ultimately missed out. In the end, even he couldn''t just casually see through the veil of a world. Maybe he could have done so if it was a normal Incomplete World, but Leonel had saved his own life by not crossing the barrier.

    What would be extremely shocking to the man, though... was that while he couldn''t see through the veil, Leonel had somehow sensed the danger without ever stepping foot inside. And unbeknownst to him, over 90% of his armies had been wiped out.

    He had thought that he was being clever, sending out a trickle to wreak carnage on the Mortal Worlds while keeping the bulk of his fighting strength on the back line. What he didn''t know was that his actions had revealed the exact locations of his worlds to Leonel.

    While Leonel had known that there were Incomplete Worlds that had to make up the formation, the scope of his Dream Force and his abilities weren''t nearly deep enough to find them all. In the end, this alliance had picked up a boulder, only to drop it onto their own foot. And even more unfortunately for them, Leonel was only just getting started. Because when Little Zephy learned of what happened to his worlds.

    That was when the real games would begin. Leonel vanished into the distance, never once looking back.

    Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 2925 Solemnity

    Chapter 2925 Solemnity

    The Mortal Realms were thrown into complete chaos. The appearance of so many Invalids after such a long dormancy caught almost them all off guard...

    With the exception of a few.

    The Human Bubble. The Ma''at Bubble. And a certain Dwarven Bubble.

    By extension, the Bubble of the Moonstones were also alerted. It wasn''t exactly what Leonel wanted, but there were also some objective sacrifices he had to make if he truly wanted to align with the Spirituals.

    In the end, all four Bubbles were protected by formations the moment they received Leonel''s signal, wasting away their generations of Dream Pavilion points for this single moment, and precisely because they knew that there wasn''t another choice to be made.

    However, that didn''t stop them from feeling shock and awe about the accuracy of Leonel''s prediction. In the end, things had really ended up like this.

    ...

    Lady Emberheart looked out, a solemn air pinched between her furrowed brows. Her husband was by her side, wearing a very similar expression. They could feel the bombardment of the formation that covered their world, and it left them feeling suffocated.

    At this rate, the formation would only hold up for a few more months at most. In fact, they''d be lucky to get more than two.

    There were simply too many Invalids, and they were led by exceptionally powerful Variant Invalids that struck fear into their own hearts as well.

    If even a single one of those Variant Invalids made their way in, they''d have no choice but to call out the Ancestors.

    But the issue was that even if they did so, they had no guarantee of winning. Even from so far away, they could sense the strength of these Invalids clearly.

    Leonel said that everything would be resolved before it came to that, but they had a hard time believing it...

    How could such a thing be resolved by a single young man?

    Although Leonel had shared a method for the Spirituals to break free of their shackles with them, it had only been a few weeks since then. It was impossible to change their fate so quickly.

    But now she was pissed off.

    Because of their surprise, the old couple didn''t get a chance to explain before their granddaughter spoke first.

    "Why are we just standing here like caged rats? Open up the formation! Let me out!"

    Her body was small, but both her tone and volume were enormous. She looked like she was ready to cleave everything in her path.

    Seeing this, the old couple exhaled, feeling much better. They thought that she was about to blow her top about Aerin, but it seemed she either didn''t know yet, or had found something else to be mad about.

    "We cannot. They are too powerful. Just sit here and wait." Spector said sternly.

    "Ridiculous!" Lumielle seemed to grow more enraged when she heard this.

    "Calm down, Lumielle. Let us explain."

    The Pixie''s chest heaved, but eventually, she listened. Inwardly, she wanted to charge out already. She was tired of the Dwarven Race always taking the passive position.

    "This is necessary. Not only are they too powerful, but there''s a plan in place." They began to explain patiently.

    "What kind of plan requires the Invalids to overrun our world?!"

    The two smiled bitterly once again. Maybe they had truly spoiled their granddaughter too much, but it was hard not to. She was such a talent, and she was equally as hardworking. Or in this environment, she would have never made it so far, Forgetful Orb or not.

    "Give us some time to explain," Avlauren said a bit bitterly. "Trust us, there''s a good reason for all of this."

    Lumielle eventually calmed enough to listen, and as she listened, her understanding deepened... but she soon had a solemn expression just like her grandparents did.

    Was this really possible?

 Chapter 2926 Might

    Chapter 2926 Might

    Leonel walked through the void, his steps slow and steady. He was unhurried, his mind churning.

    He could see through this path forward from the very beginning. He knew that once things had reached this stage, they would eventually force the Invalids to take action. And there was a very good reason for that.

    The Gods.

    Or more accurately, in this case, Gods that had ascended from Mortal Races.

    Under normal circumstances, the likes of the Void Race and others of their stature would be happy to ignore this situation for a while, allowing the Invalids to run rampant and clear out more Mortal Realms to allow Existence''s burden to lessen and slow the approach of the Northern Star.

    However, this wouldn''t be so easy to do.

    The God Realms had their own laws, and the Invalids were well known to be the enemies of Existence. They were hated even more than the Fawkes of the past.

    Everyone was meant to take up arms to wipe out the Invalids. Something like using them just for the sake of convenience would be going against their own doctrines.

    Of course, rules were dead, and the powerful decided everything. And that was where the Gods of the Mortal Races came into play.

    How could these Existences just sit back and do nothing as their descendants were slaughtered?

    They would certainly pressure the other God Races to make a decision on the matter, and even if the God Races dragged their feet, these Gods would be well within their right to take personal action. After all, it would no longer be breaking the rules of the God Courts.

    Leonel understood this, and so did the Owlans, Fallen God Beasts, and most certainly the Variant Invalids who had been hiding away from the God Realms all this time.

    So why did the Invalids take such action?

    Obviously, this was part of their plan from the beginning. An opening up of a passage from the God Realm to the lower Realms on a large scale would only make it easier for them to succeed.

    But this was also obviously a method of targeting Leonel.

    The truth was that even if the Mortal Race Gods pressured the God Court to make a decision, it was still something that would take years.

    Leonel watched all of this from above, the glow of the formation beneath his feet and his gaze flickering with a cold light.

    He didn''t take action immediately. First, he wanted to get a feel for not only the army but also how his new comprehensions interacted with the world around him.

    The Inbetween Worlds and their Anarchic Force... would they clash or help his Destruction Sovereignty comprehensions? Was Anarchic Force a path of Creation, Destruction, or neither?

    The answer seemed to obviously be Destruction, but Leonel''s way of viewing the world was no longer so binary.

    Even so, that was a secondary matter. Because after observing the army for a while, he realized that he was correct...

    This wouldn''t be easy at all.

    These Invalids were truly powerful, and without the advantage of being in an Incomplete World, if he threw himself at this army, he''d be lucky to cut down a few hundred thousand before he died.

    Leonel pursed his lips a bit, nodding. Then they curled into a sneer.

    Without a sound, he sunk into the barrier, appearing in the Human Bubble for the first time in almost two years. Well, that was how long it had been to them. To him, it had already been more than 10 years.

    With a step, he appeared around Godlen Territory. Now wasn''t the time for reminiscing, unfortunately.

    His own power, at least in its raw form, wasn''t enough for this.

    So it was a good thing he already knew what to do.

    He would show the world the might of a God Armament Crafter.

    ...

    Deep in the Inbetween World, the disturbance caught a ragged Flaura sat in silence.

    At that moment, she looked up. Her violet eyes glowing.

 Chapter 2927 Split

    Chapter 2927 Split

    Leonel strolled through the skies slowly. It looked as though he couldn''t tell that there was a devastating danger waiting for him outside of the Human Bubble.

    However, this slow, casual walk by Leonel went on for an entire month.

    It looked as though he was just casually taking in the scenery, and it felt as though his feet had touched every inch of the world.

    By this point, the world around him looked like fragile glass that could shatter with the touch of a single finger. The Invalids had caused great damage to the formation, so much so that it couldn''t be hidden even from the eyes of normal individuals any longer.

    However, even so, Leonel neither sped up nor slowed down his pace.

    When the month was over, he strolled into the Dream Pavilion, still without any intention of meeting his brothers. It felt as though he had forgotten about their existences entirely, but only he knew just how focused he was right now.

    Almost as though the rest of his body was on autopilot while his brain underwent countless deductions, Leonel slipped into the Dream Pavilion Exchange and then sold information about the location of an Incomplete World.

    Then he walked out as though nothing at all had happened.

    Once again, he began to walk around the world. But this time, his pace was much faster. With a single step, he crossed hundreds of kilometers as though they were only a foot apart.

    His pace still seemed to be leisurely, but the result was entirely different.

    From time to time, he would come to a stop at various natural phenomena... tall mountains, raging rivers, forests perpetually rolling in thunder and lightning, and even more fantastical sights that seemed to be right out of a fairy tale.

    An entire month later, he returned to the Dream Pavilion to see that the coordinates he had given had been confirmed and a large sum of points had been returned to him. In fact, the number of points he received was more than ten times what he had paid for the Sea God Incomplete World.

    Leonel smirked.

    The verification process of Incomplete Worlds was not done in person, but rather confirmed by the Dream Pavilion itself. This was a rule put in place by the Creation God Beasts and it was one that those annoying higher-ups wouldn''t easily change because it would ruin things for them as well.

    In fact, the more he moved, the more valiant his aura seemed to become.

    Swirls of Auspicious Air were beginning to accumulate around him, and the fierceness in his eyes only grew with every passing second.

    By the third day in his third expedition across the world, his body seemed to be as towering as a giant despite not having changed its size at all.

    ...

    On the outside of the Human Bubble''s formation, a certain Variant Invalid who was known as Sunshine stood.

    He was three meters tall and had a shimmering bald head that reflected with bronze lights. But it was hard to tell if this was where his name came from... but then again, it certainly couldn''t come from his bright and adoring personality.

    His face was practically a brick wall of emotion, and it was only when it looked like the formation was about to collapse did he slowly seem to begin "waking" up.

    His body coursed with golden lines of veins pumping across him.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The relentless barrage of the Invalids fell like Armageddon. By this point, all the humans had been alerted to what was happening, and Leonel''s brothers and friends stared out solemnly, not knowing what was happening.

    In these last two months, Leonel simply couldn''t spare any time. If he wasted even a second, it was possible that he wouldn''t make it.

    And it was precisely because of that that the moment the barrier collapsed and an enormous, fragmented hole that looked like a fissure in reality appeared, that a new one rose up.

    The entire world trembled and was suddenly split into twelve.

    The bright skies darkened, and an unprecedented power descended upon the world.

 Chapter 2928 Thirteen Pieces

    Chapter 2928 Thirteen Pieces

    Joel and the others looked into the skies, only to find that Leonel was already there. He stood in the simplest clothes imaginable, without shoes or even a shirt. Nothing but a pair of sweats adorned his body, and yet it somehow didn''t seem out of place. Instead, it felt natural and all-encompassing, almost as though these garbs were the most sacred in all of existence.

    The skies blackened and lines of silver split it into twelve. The clouds vanished, and the blackness became dotted with sparkles of lights.

    Soon, those sparks coalesced and began to form maybe the most beautiful sight they had ever seen in their lives.

    The first, bright and imposing, formed a long chain of a body, curling into a point. It formed claws, and a carapace that looked as though it could within the wear and tear of ages.

    Scorpius.

    The second formed a balance in the air, one weighing a feather and the other a heart. Those that laid eyes on it trembled as though they could feel judgment being cast on them, their entire lives being seen through in a single breath.

    Libra.

    The third was a beautiful maiden, wielding a large leaf in one hand and a quiver of arrows in the other. She looked out of place, and yet so in tune with everything around her, embodying a childish naivete that was protected by the stars in the sky.

    Virgo.

    The first thing one saw when gazing upon the fourth was a valiant mane and a pair of bestial eyes. The aura of a King billowed out in waves, suffocating all those that saw it. Staring at it too long made a roar reverberate in your heart, and if you weren''t careful, your flesh just might be rended to pieces.

    Leo.

    The fifth had a body not too dissimilar from Scorpius, but rather than being incisive and poisonous, this one exuded far more poise and patience, while hiding an even keener sharpness.

    Cancer.

    The sixth was a pair of warriors standing in the skies, backs pressed against one another. One wielded a bow and the other a spear and shield. They seemed to carry the momentum of an entire battlefield on their own, standing up to the masses and displaying a might of valiants that stood the test of time.

    Gemini.

    The seventh was the second beast. But rather than a mane and bestial eyes, the first thing one saw was a pair of horns that could pierce through the stormiest of clouds and disperse the heaviest of rains.

    It had to be remembered that the current Human Bubble was only named as such because it had been formed by the fusion of six. And then, on top of that, several Demon Bubbles were added to it as well.

    As such, this Human Bubble had almost 10 World Spirits vying for supremacy.

    And Leonel just felt that it was about time he brought them into one, and while he was at it...

    He might as well wipe out an army of scum.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open. His hair fluttered wildly, veins popping up all across his body.

    That was when a 13th Constellation appeared.

    Standing high in the skies, it was a man adorned in gorgeous armor formed of silver-blue starlight. He wielded a spear in one hand and a bow was strapped across his back.

    With a valiant air, he seemed capable of suppressing all the others.

    Leonel pressed two fingers together and drew them through the skies in a curved arc. A bow formed from his thoughts.

    He reached out a second hand and plucked an arrow from Virgo''s quiver.

    At the same time, the bow from Gemini fused into his creation.

    His aura skyrocketed once again and at that moment, he seemed to be more energy than man, his hair, his eyes, and even his limbs billowing out with a foggy, almost dust-like bronze energy.

    His gaze descended and landed on the army of Invalids. At that moment, they didn''t look like normal eyes at all but were rather like three brass-cast spheres, shimmering with dense lights.

    He nocked Virgo''s arrow and pulled back slowly. The further he pulled, the clearer a pair of halo bracelets around his wrists became.

    At that moment, a Bow Force that shocked the world appeared.

 Chapter 2929 PENG!

    Chapter 2929 PENG!

    Leonel felt like an explosion had suddenly gone off in his mind, but rather than pain, it felt like he was a blind man that could now finally see. Using the formation to finally be able to feel the full brunt of his own Force, his body roared with life and his cells shimmered like their own individual stars.

    The halo bracelets around his arms solidified, and the world shuddered. The World Spirits, that had been somewhat fighting against Leonel''s actions before, fell into complete silence and their fusion was completed without the slightest hindrance.

    The halo bracelets, hovering around Leonel''s wrists with a silent majesty, looked absolutely gorgeous. The sight was truly without equal. They were simple, just an unclosed, smooth loop of gold, pinching a bow in its one gap. It felt like one could reach out and pluck these weapons, completing the might of a true God.

    At that moment, a crown appeared above Leonel''s head. Bits and pieces of armor descended from the void, clasping themselves onto his body in woven tapestries of gold and gorgeous browns. All of this happened in an instant, but with Leonel''s thinking speed, he had grasped it all in a single blink. And it was a change that made him quite shocked...

    Because he wasn''t the one who had created this armor.

    It was like Existence was resonating with him, taking reference from all the most famous Bowmen to ever exist, and forming their armor for him. If it wasn''t for the situation, Leonel wouldn''t be able to help shouting out how cool the uniform was. Even so, his eyes glowed with a fierce light, as though his gaze carried the shimmering shine of blinding stars.

    He was covered in milky brown leather armor embroidered with leaflets of gold. His arms were braced with golden braces, and his hands had been covered in gloves with small plate armor on the backs of his hands that almost looked like the scales of a dragon.

    A brown cloak fluttered behind him and its hood covered his head, casting his face in a deep darkness that only allowed his violet irises to shimmer with just the same brightness out from within the blackness. The contrast of bright gold and warm browns made him look like an Emperor Archer, a God of the Bow that could strike down entire armies with just a single stroke.

    And that was when a quiver took shape on his back. It was then that the world truly fell into silence. It just hovered there, not attached to him, and yet looming over everything. Despite having already drawn an arrow, Leonel still subconsciously reached back, taking an arrow from this quiver.

    Leonel''s fingers released. The world remained silent. It was as though he had never attacked at all. And unlike the devastating strikes he levied against Minerva, the world remained perfectly intact, as though it couldn''t sense this arrow at all...

    As though this arrow truly only existed in Leonel''s heart.

    Unfortunately for the Invalids charging into the world, they weren''t nearly so lucky. The single arrow wiped them out in droves. As though the God of Death had descended, one after another, they were devastated.

    In a single sweep, over a million had died. It was a level of carnage that made little sense, and one that should have certainly not come from a Sixth Dimensional existence.

    Leonel reached back once again, and the trembling of the constellations grew fiercer. However, his heart was as still as a calm lake. His Force Manipulation hadn''t increased, but he felt that he had found a way to resolve the conflict in his Forces.

    If the Bow was guided by his heart...

    How dare it not listen to him?

    A large spiral of golden Force appeared around this second arrow, growing so large that it looked as though he was about to shoot a lance rather than an arrow. With every breath, the arrow grew larger and larger, swelling as though pushing itself to the limit to what Leonel''s heart could handle.

    Veins of violet began to appear across it and Leonel suddenly felt a shocking synergy with his King''s Might.

    PENG!

 Chapter 2930 Luck

    Chapter 2930 Luck

    It was a sonorous, beautiful sound. It was just the twang of a bow, and yet it sounded more like the string of a harp.

    Commander Sunshine was frozen in shock. Logically, he knew that the arrow wasn''t coming toward him, and yet it felt that way nonetheless. In fact, his feelings were much the same as everyone else''s. The range of the arrow was clearly enormous, and yet it felt like each and every one of them was being targeted individually.

    There was simply no escape.

    Invalids began being wiped out one after another long before the arrow even descended. The shocking scene was enough to pull one''s soul out of their bodies.

    How could such a terrifying arrow exist?

    It sucked up all the energy of the formation in the blink of an eye. Two months of work in exchange for two arrows. Leonel couldn''t remember ever having such a power return on investment before. It was only made worse by the fact he had pretty much spent all of his accumulated points to finish setting up this formation as well.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel originally made ten times more than what he paid for the Incomplete World in the past. Yet, all of that was gone for the sake of two arrows.

    But they didn''t disappoint in the slightest.

    Not a single Invalid seemed capable of resisting. One after another, they were mowed down, most not even having the right to fight against the arrow directly and could only watch in horror as it passed by and their bodies crumbled to ash.

    Commander Sunshine roared, his body''s temperature rising to the point he looked like a burning sun, and yet he was also ironically the moth to the flame. The devastation was unending and unyielding. Even the Anarchic Force of the Inbetween Worlds couldn''t seem to stop the arrows, and by the time they disappeared into the distance...

    There were hardly a few thousand Invalids left.

    On the ground, Leonel''s brothers, who had been ready to fight out a battle of life and death for the sake of the human race, stood stunned. They had been working hard in these last near two years, and they had been given all sorts of resources by Leonel. In fact, they had even taken the risk to go to the outside world several times as well, tempering themselves in other worlds and exploring the dangers Existence had to offer.

    And yet, they seemed to have only fallen even further behind.

    "I think I hate that guy," James finally said, shaking his head. "What an annoying prick."

    He had pushed his mind to the limit in these last two months, then he had to exert himself even further to not only summon such a strong Bow Force, but to likewise control such a large-scale formation. None of these things could come without a price, and it was exceptionally heavy.

    His entire body felt drained.

    But, at the same time, he felt that if he could find the time to replenish himself, the benefits would be likewise unimaginable. It was very rare for Leonel to run out of mental stamina. And before, that peculiar state of his cells all shining at once made him feel unprecedented changes taking place, as though his foundation was being entirely reformed from the ground up.

    At the same time, his mind was occupied by something else.

    His Bow Force, when fully summoned, manifested an armor... was that a coincidence?

    He looked up to the fading Morales family Constitution. A Weapon Force summoning an armor from the void. Leonel had never heard of such a thing before, and it couldn''t help but remind him of a certain Constellation and Lineage Factor.

    Just how much of this was planned by the Demoness?

    Leonel took deep breaths, trying to calm his rushing heart rate, but at that moment, his expression suddenly changed.

    He looked down.

    By this point, the cracks to the Human Bubble were quickly mending beneath the increased power of the fused World Spirit. It was likely that after all of this settled down, the Human Bubble would even be on the verge of entering the Demi-God ranks.

    However, it seemed that Leonel''s luck wasn''t so good.

    In that moment, he sensed the appearance of a figure that made his gaze sharpen.

    A Dream Asura.

    Flaura.Vissit  for updates

 Chapter 2931 A...

    Chapter 2931 A...

    Seeing this woman, Leonel almost couldn''t help but chuckle. Her timing was, indeed, quite good. One could even call it quite shameless.

    But then again, considering how much suffering he had put her through these last few years, she would probably do anything just to take a bite out of him.

    Let alone this, she was willing to do far more.

    Unfortunately, Leonel didn''t see Goggles with her, which was a bit disappointing.

    Having had this thought, he couldn''t help but laugh to himself again. He was completely spent, but it seemed that he was happy that Flaura had delivered herself to him.

    This sort of enemy was the most annoying when they were skulking around in the darkness. But now, she was here. So what if he was at the end of his rope? He would find a way to deal with her right here, right now. Once and for all.

    Leonel took a shaky breath and felt his body whining and creaking as though an old engine running on fumes.

    Even so, his back was straight.

    He could feel it vaguely... this feeling of confidence was coming from his Bow Force. He had built it on unbridled, untouchable confidence. And it was precisely because of this that he had reacted in such a way.

    ''Guided by my heart, huh... It seems that this is a double-edged sword. While it is true that my arrows will be far stronger, and strike far truer... in the end, my heart yearns to be uncaring and approach all things with dauntless confidence.

    ''But it was precisely this mentality that I wanted to leave behind... a mentality that seems to want to worm its way back into my life...''

    Leonel slowly clenched his fist and the bow in his hand shattered. The lingering Bow Force in the air still influenced him, a world-shaking power lingered in the air.

    She was lucky to at least have some decent Dream Force control herself, or else all of her plans and her location would have long been exposed before Leonel.

    However, Leonel couldn''t complain too much about this. It was also because this was possible that he could protect himself from his so-called grandmother. If not, he would have been firmly controlled by the Demoness long ago.

    But now, Flaura wanted to put an end to it all. She would find a way to rebuild what she had lost, whether in wealth, status, or foundation, in the future.

    Right now, however...

    Leonel deserved nothing short of death.

    Just when Leonel thought that she was going to attack, she pulled out a bottle of wine and took a large swig. The once elegant woman didn''t seem to care about finding a nice, clear glass to use, and instead chugged it directly from the bottle.

    After she was finished, she wiped away the lingering, fragrant crimson with the back of her hand. Her blood surged and her body expanded.

    Holding a wine bottle in one hand, and a whip in another, she suddenly became over three meters tall.

    Her body was covered in violet scales, and a pair of horns twisted into the skies. Her ragged clothing couldn''t even accommodate the expansion of her size and were almost ripped to shreds. Tidbits of straps and rags here and there covered some of her decency, but still left barely anything to the imagination.

    What did seem to accommodate her size, though, was the wine bottle that seemed to have almost doubled in size much like she had.

    She took another long swig and her gaze flashed with contempt for the world, the first sign of emotion she had displayed since this all began.

    "A Human... A Wise Star Order... A Fawkes... A Dream Asura..."

    It turned out that what truly made Flaura react like this was because the moment she saw Leonel, she could actually sense hints of familiarity... familiarity that could only come from two people who shared the same Bloodline.

 Chapter 2932 Only Path

    Chapter 2932 Only Path

    It could only be said that Flaura was even sharper than her brother. And as for her comments about the Fawkes, Leonel was already aware that she knew. It was just unfortunate for her that the world no longer believed her words anymore. So unless she could find concrete evidence, it wouldn''t matter in the slightest.

    And very soon... Leonel wouldn''t even care if the world knew at all. Because soon, he would have offended so many that the difference between whether they knew or not simply wouldn''t matter.

    Leonel grasped at the air, his Innate Nodes churning and forming a spear that radiated a bright light.

    At that moment, the strength of Innate Nodes shone through. Despite having been drained, he still had something to pull on.

    But to Leonel''s surprise, before he could take action, his brothers moved without a single word.

    Leonel''s expression changed. He had been so focused on other things that he didn''t even notice their intentions. Though it also didn''t help that his mind was completely spent. He truly hadn''t had the energy to waste on other things.

    Seeing them move without informing him, he understood immediately.

    His brothers had their own pride, and though they had been joking before, all jokes had kernels of truth in them.

    After some hesitation, Leonel slowly lowered his spear and took a shaky breath.

    In that moment, they looked more like moths to a flame. However, they carried an undeniable determination.

    Flaura''s reaction was understandably disdainful. She didn''t take Humans seriously at all. Other than Leonel and Aina, they had no one else.

    As expected, her advantage was immediately crushing. But she couldn''t help but narrow her eyes when she couldn''t kill them immediately.

    Wielding a whip in one hand and a wine bottle in the other, she drank and attacked all at once. A domain of snaking shadows filled the air and the world shuddered, space shaking beneath her might.

    PA! PA! PA! PA! PA!

    James'' shields shattered one after another, but to his back, Drake held out a pair of pistols, firing continuously to support.

    The others moved at once, Gil leaving streaks of lightning in the air. The pieces of metal on him were all accelerated forward at once at the hands of Allan and he landed a punch on Flaura''s gut before she could react.

    Lightning sparked and Flaura shivered, her body freezing for just a brief instant.

    Franco and Drake unleashed a barrage in that brief instant, the former with fists and the latter with a sniper rifle. Drake had put away his pistols, pulling out a gun with a barrel as long as a meter and a violent black aura.

    BOOM!

    Flaura felt her bones shatter and blood flew from her mouth.

    That was when Arnold attacked. The palm descended with an undying majesty and he seemed to recall the 13 constellations he had seen earlier and was about to undergo an unprecedented change. Unfortunately, he couldn''t take that step in the end.

    However, that didn''t stop his strike from firmly grasping a level of power it had never touched before.

    BANG!

    Flaura fell to a knee. Unwillingness and helplessness on her face... but it was soon replaced by a malevolent rage. She deserved more, so much more.

    But unfortunately, she had spent too many years scheming. How much effort had she ever put into her actual combat prowess? Almost none at all.

    And even worse than that, was Leonel really the only one at the end of his rope? She had been on the run for two years. Her mind and body had long been brought to their limits.

    Under this situation, even in the face of these supposed "Mortals"...

    Her only path was death.

    Joel appeared before her, his brown eyes carrying a frightening chill.

    The blade of his polearm descended and pierced right through her chest.

 Chapter 2933 True Destruction

    Chapter 2933 True Destruction

    Flaura coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to her knees. She never thought that things would end like this. From the very beginning, everything had been under her control, everything had gone exactly how she expected them to.

    But she never thought that after meeting Leonel, she would be met with failure after failure. Even when she won a move against Leonel, it was as though he was capable of just taking it on the chin and moving on as though she hadn''t done anything at all. It was the most unfortunate thing that she had ever seen.

    Now, as her life faded away, she didn''t even get to see Leonel. He had already left as though he felt that he never had to take action at all. It was the greatest form of humiliation she had ever experienced in her lifetime.

    She was unwilling...

    So very unwilling...

    However, there didn''t seem to be anything that she could do to stop her vision from dimming.

    ...

    Leonel had entered the Segmented Cube not to ignore Flaura, but rather for the sake of using the pods to recover as quickly as possible.

    He truly didn''t know whether his brothers had the strength to win or not. The reason for that was because his mind was too spent to scan them, so he could only hope that they could hold on for 15 minutes.

    Just a day. That was all he needed. And the pod could shrink down that time to a span of 15 minutes for him.

    He threw away all other thoughts and focused entirely on his recovery, pulling out everything he had in terms of resources to replenish his body.

    He could feel his cells greedily swallowing up everything they could, but at that moment, he truly felt like a bottomless pit. It was like his body had become a bottomless hole, and that was when Leonel remembered.

    He had not just one Incomplete World, but two in his body right now. The idea of him being spent was vastly different for him compared to most people.

    Just the fact he was fatigued meant that he had practically drained entire worlds of energy.

    The moment Leonel had the thought, he looked up to find ten Stars slowly orbiting one another and rotating on their own as well.

    Their addition made the world seem more fantastical and almost unreal, especially as they shimmered against the backdrop of endless darkness.

    Leonel clenched a fist and a wisp of Destruction passed by him. It didn''t harm him in the slightest, and yet it still made his soul quake.

    Dangerous...

    It was the most dangerous aura he had ever felt.

    Was this true Destruction? Why was it that he hadn''t sensed such a thing before?

    That was when Leonel understood.

    All Sovereignties had a Path, but what was the Path of his Destruction Sovereignty? Before his recent breakthrough, it had been built from his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node... But was that true Sovereignty?

    Of course not. He had learned long ago that his Scarlet Star Force wasn''t the embodiment of Destruction, but was rather Creation taken to an absolute extreme.

    Even so, it was a completely different sort of Destruction.

    This energy... this destructive wisp he had just sensed...

    That was true Destruction.

    And it could wipe out anything in its path.

    Just as Leonel was lost in thought, his mind shuddered and his eyes widened. He left the pod before he was fully recovered and rushed out of the Segmented Cube, his heart hammering out of his chest.

 Chapter 2934 Not Very Nice

    Chapter 2934 Not Very Nice

    Leonel rushed out, only to find a scene that left him floored. His heart sank to the bottom of an endless abyss, beating so fast that it thrummed like thunder in the air.

    The bodies of his brothers lay scattered, splintered, and strewn across distances hundreds of kilometers apart.

    Deep trenches and collapsed mountains lay in their wake, and looking at them now, it was hard to tell if they were even dead or alive. They were missing many limbs, their blood formed long lines in the dirt and grass, and their consciousnesses seemed to have long since collapsed.

    Even if they weren''t dead, it seemed that they weren''t far off from it. What happened? He had only been gone for a few minutes at worst, and he had given his everything to recovering.

    Even if his brothers weren''t a match for Flaura, things shouldn''t have ended this way. They most certainly should have been able to hold out, or else he wouldn''t have dared to even step foot into the Segmented Cube in the first place.

    His worry before had been because he hated the lack of control he had over the situation, but it wasn''t to the point of feeling despair for them.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

    But now...

    Leonel''s head turned, and he looked toward where he sensed Flaura, but his pupils trembled.

    She stood with a broken blade in her chest. In one hand, there was a whip, and in the other, there was a broken wine bottle.

    It looked as though she was finished, and yet she continued to stand there as though she could continue to do so into infinity.

    That was when she looked up.

    The first thing Leonel saw were her eyes, and almost the same instant he did, he felt as though a blade was running through his chest instead.

    Because he would never forget those eyes.

    Those weren''t Flaura''s eyes.

    Those were the eyes he had seen when he had to watch his wife be brutally ripped to shreds right in front of his face.

    Those were the eyes of the Demoness.

    And this time, he didn''t hold back his King''s Might in the slightest. The violence in his chest was all concentrated into a single point. Everywhere it passed, it ripped everything to shreds. Before an attack of this level, even the likes of Minerva would lose her life to a single stroke.

    And yet, wielding Flaura''s body, the Demoness just continued to smile.

    She reached out with the broken wine bottle as though wanting to use it as a weapon. But then she only flicked her wrist.

    A droplet of liquid came out from it and soared forward, colliding with the tip of Leonel''s spear perfectly.

    In that brief instant, Leonel felt as though he was facing against an entire ocean rather than a droplet of wine. The power was relentless and endless in its pursuit, whittling away at his powers of destruction with the most brute force method: quantity.

    He felt a shuddering impact in his wrist, and his body quaked. He was sent flying backward even faster than he came, his Star Fusion almost blinking out entirely.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood and rammed into a mountain. It collapsed onto him, and the Human Bubble shook as though it would fall apart at the seams.

    His fury hadn''t abated in the slightest. If anything, he could feel more and more wisps of Destruction coming from his Destruction World, and soon, the mountain began to crumble to ash.

    He roared into the skies, and they changed color, being painted in red.

    "That''s not a very nice way to greet your grandmother," Flaura said in a sweet voice that could melt bones. "You don''t want to talk to me first, Little Lion? I have plenty of stories and wisdom to share with you. Don''t you think you should take this opportunity to learn from your elder?"

    Little Lion?

    Leonel''s mind went blank.

    No, not blank, but it seemed as though every aspect of his mind had been consumed by the want to destroy everything.

    Flames billowed out from him, and a crown of blackness appeared above his head.

    How dare she call him by the same name his mother did?

    Even if it was a wisp of a soul, he would do everything he could to kill this woman.

 Chapter 2935 I. Want. You. Dead.

    Chapter 2935 I. Want. You. Dead.

    The red and violet in Leonel''s eyes mixed into a single, uniform color that swirled like a nebula. When he roared, the skies shook and quaked.

    At that moment, hundreds of Fallen God Beast corpses appeared around Leonel.

    He grabbed at the air and souls, barely lingering and holding on, were ripped out of their bodies.

    He held his spear out and the fierceness of his aura grew several times over.

    At that moment, Leonel seemed to have returned to a state he had long since forgotten, a state of boundless fury, a state of uncaring lust for battle and blood that painted the skies above and shattered the earth below.

    Assimilate.

    The hundreds of souls surged into Leonel''s spear and its aura grew again and again. Every split second seemed to come with a doubling of strength.

    The world split at the seams, the healed fractures shattering once again.

    The mountain that had collapsed around Leonel fell into a rain of ash and he burst into the skies in a pillar of blackened violet. Runes that exuded the air of untold majesty and ancient ancestry swirled on its surface.

    And then focused.

    The pillar shattered, its energy surging into Leonel''s spear.

    At that moment, a pair of dark gold halo-bracelets appeared around Leonel''s wrists. Rather than shimmering with the beautiful gold of a Sovereignty, it had become a dense dark gold instead, thrumming with darkness and violence.

    Then a rush of wind passed by and the world fell into silence.

    The fissures remained on the world, but they no longer quaked.

    Even Leonel''s hair had settled down. The only changes were to the pulsing crimson cracks that scattered across his body.

    When his eyes focused, the cracks coming out the side of his eyes extended and glowed with a fiercer light.

    When simplicity reached its extreme, it could easily become complexity once again.

    Leonel''s spear seemed to evolve once again, every strike carrying with it waves of Auspicious Air. It was as though he wasn''t just eliciting concepts as simple as Swiftness or Heaviness any longer, but rather like every stroke contained an entire world.

    The harshness of a snowy plain.

    The vision of a mountain soaked in flames.

    Meteors falling from the skies and the death of stars.

    Every time he thrust out, the complexity of his spear grew until it even seemed to embody life and death.

    He focused so much on the woman before him that the rest of the world seemed to fade away.

    He wanted her dead maybe more than he had wanted anything else in his life.

    This was the woman who took his father away from him, who left his mother without a husband. She had forced his wife to a dead end, pushing her to a death that could only be reversed with the help of his future self. She had treated his life like a puppet on her strings, controlling his entire family line.

    The relationship between his father and uncle, the life of his grandfather, the very own twists and turns in his life.

    Every time he thought of one of these things his spear seemed to become sharper and more radiant. And every time, she carried the same twinkling eyes and gorgeous smile. Almost as though he was doing her proud rather than infuriating her.

    "I. Want. You. Dead."

    Leonel''s voice carried an abyssal hatred that sounded like the rumbling of a demon in the darkest depths.

    His Spear Force burst forth and out from the void, a skin-tight bodysuit took shape. Countless tiny scales reflected on its surface, however Leonel didn''t feel like it had elevated his defense much at all. Instead, it made his body feel as light as a feather and as resilient as a boulder.

    He wielded the spear. Everything in his range was his Absolute Domain.

    He didn''t need defense.

    His battle intent erupted.

 Chapter 2936 Blinding

    Chapter 2936 Blinding

    Leonel took a step forward and the earth shattered. A mountain appeared high in the skies above him as he struck out. The laws of reality bent and twisted, and it seemed that for a moment that it wasn''t his spear descending, but the mountain behind him.

    The Demoness caused Flaura''s wrist to flick out again, and then again. She was as steady and unmoving as a titanic ship in raging waves. Every one of her movements flowed like water, but Leonel seemed to be improving at breakneck speeds. His heart shone forth like a guiding beacon and he had never wanted anything more in his life.

    His spear underwent a myriad of changes, even warping time and space around it. However, these warps in time didn''t seem to affect the Demoness at all. She stepped through blades that appeared to her back, slid out of the way of blades that pincered her from the sides, and stepped through attacks from her front with a flick of her wrist.

    Everything was seamless, everything was unhurried, everything was almost...

    Careless.

    And it was exactly this that pissed Leonel off all the more. Even when she was playing with the lives of people, she didn''t seem to care in the slightest, as though it was all just another game to her. The more he felt that way, the deeper the cold settled in, and the hotter his Innate Nodes burned.

    His Scarlet Star Force seemed to catch fire and the roar of beasts came from his body.

    Again, again and again, he unleashed strikes that would make even Ancestors of Demi-Gods feel trepidation and seriousness, each one landing like a clap of thunder. Above every strike, the dome of the sky would shatter like fragile glass, and below it, craters the size of meteors would appear.

    And every time, Leonel''s power only seemed to grow sharper, swifter, more violent.

    Every strike carried the roar of a thousand beasts spearheaded by the heart of a man infuriated enough to want to watch the world burn to the ground. Even as his body was being spent to its last drop, he didn''t seem to care in the slightest, pulling on more and more until he saw a sea of blood red.

    The second attack shattered its body.

    The third pierced through its handle and destroyed it from the inside out, causing an explosion of Force to burst out from Flaura''s palm.

    There should have been a rain of blood and bone, but somehow she seemed to be just fine. And yet, Leonel almost didn''t notice as he continued a relentless barrage. The Demoness began to control Flaura''s body to retreat step after step. Leonel seemed capable of cutting through every and anything. Worse than the Borne Banes, it was like he was created for nothing short of Destruction.

    Every step he took turned the ground beneath him to ash. Every stride across the skies caused the clouds above him to become greyed and worn. The world seemed to wither around him, and in his relentless barrage, he forgot any and everything but the woman before him.

    With a swipe of his spear, the broken wine bottle was shattered to pieces.

    With another swipe, an arm was sent flying into the skies.

    With another, the tendons of her knees were cut and she fell to the ground.

    With yet another, a blade was drawn across her neck.

    Leonel forgot it all, every strike still coming fiercer and fiercer, his blood overheating to the point it became a crimson vapor emitting from his pores. Even his heart seemed to only be pumping half gas, half liquid.

    His spear pierced into her mouth and shredded her tongue to pieces and a hole out the back of her skull. He pulled back then drew a line right across those infuriating eyes, blinding them forever.

 Chapter 2937 Trap

    Chapter 2937 Trap

    The roars of the beasts were relentless, and the echo of Leonel''s heartbeat even more so.

    It wasn''t enough, it wasn''t enough.

    He wanted her dead, truly dead. But he could still feel that arrogant pair of eyes, that annoying smile, that chuckle that seemed to say that she had everything under control.

    It was so infuriating, it was so... Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    Leonel''s mind swam and his heart seemed to have run to the end of its rope. He trembled once and then fell backward, his gaze dimming.

    He had run into his limits and then pushed past them again and again, all before he had even managed to fully recover from the first time.

    He simply didn''t have the energy to do anything else.

    He collapsed with a thud and the pair of eyes in his Destruction World slowly vanished.

    The fissures across Leonel''s body began to fade... but only in part. If before they looked like glowing lines of jagged red, they were instead more like true wounds, bubbling as though they were infected, when in reality it was because his blood was still truly running so hot. Even his blood itself was evaporating into the air.

    His consciousness faded and he ran to the truest ends of his limit.

    The last thought he had was that not only was this not nearly as satisfying as he wanted it to be...

    Something was telling him that he had played right into her hands.

    What he didn''t know was that years ago, the Demoness had visited a certain Emperor of the Variant Invalids to stop him from killing Flaura... just so that she could have this very moment.

    As for what her purpose was, only she knew. Even Leonel was completely in the dark, brewing in his frustration and fury without anywhere to vent it.

    The death of Flaura meant absolutely nothing to him.

    He just wanted her death... just her...

    **

    The female Sylvan spoke lightly.

    "This Incomplete World should be worth thousands of times what we paid."

    If the world heard these words, they would be shocked beyond compare. It had to be known that Leonel had already made an outrageous amount of money just for selling the information, enough that he was even able to lay a formation that changed the landscape of the entire Human Bubble.

    And yet, according to Bracken, it was still not even a single percent of what he should have received.

    The female, Willowyn, nodded in agreement without any pushback.

    "There should be great danger inside, causing the price to be lowered. The Dream Pavilions automate everything, it should be able to calculate this as well."

    "How could the person who found this Incomplete World possibly sell such information so casually?"

    "There are only really two explanations."

    "Both of which have the same ending."

    "It''s a trap."

    "Either it''s a trap for us."

    "Or it''s a trap for whoever''s on the inside."

    The two spoke seamlessly and without a care. They flowed from one deduction to the next without the slightest hiccup as though they were looking back in time rather than trying to deduce something that they hadn''t been a first-party witness to.

    "What would you like to do about it?" Willowyn asked.

    "My assumption is that whoever is inside is likely responsible for the evolution of this Incomplete World. In which case, there''s a very short list of who could possibly do this."

    "Mm. Either the Fallen God Beast and Owlan Alliance."

    "One of the God Races."

    "Or the Variant Invalids."

 Chapter 2938 A Pair of Eyes

    Chapter 2938 A Pair of Eyes

    "It''s unlikely to be one of the God Races. The God Realm has been in too great a state of peace for this to happen."

    "That leaves two."

    The two didn''t even discuss the original conclusion because they already implicitly understood the logic.

    They were known as the wisest of all the Races in Existence, so they obviously had an understanding of the situation of the God Realm that few could match.

    They had already concluded that this was a trap. So if it was really related to one of the God Races, that would mean that a relationship between two factions should have deteriorated to the point of bloodshed.

    But there were simply no grudges that were this bad yet.

    Of course, the Pluto Race was being suppressed by many, but they were still firmly the top dog of the God Realm. It didn''t make sense to expect anyone to take such drastic measures to deal a blow to a competitor in this way.

    Obviously, they had also tacitly come to understand that this was more of a trap for whoever was on the inside than whoever was on their way here.

    "We do not have enough information about the happenings in the lower Realms to make a proper conclusion."

    "Agreed."

    "Would you like to investigate?"

    "Regardless of what the answer is, this world is too valuable and there has already been a second buyer of this information, most likely another God Race as well. It is doubtful that a Demi-God Race would have enough liquidity to take such a risk."

    "It may potentially be a risk for us as well. If it is the Alliance, then it can be handled to some extent, but it will still be troublesome. If it is the Variant Invalids... it will be many times more difficult."

    "I will go to gather more information about the happenings of this world. You remain here, observe the situation and see what happens when the second of the Gods arrives."

    Willowyn nodded and didn''t say anything else as Bracken vanished into the distance.

    ...

    Both Beastmen stood boldly in the void, their chests rippling with dense hair and dancing, vascular muscles. Their manes were braided down the length of their heads and jaws, and then adorned with various trinkets that seemed to be spoils of battle. The combination made them look particularly tribal.

    However, what neither Willowyn nor the Beastmen expected was that before the latter could take the vanguard and enter, the world would lose its color.

    The change didn''t come from the Incomplete World, but rather the entirety of Existence itself.

    At that moment, it seemed as though a pair of looming eyes had appeared over every horizon. No matter where you looked, so long as it was into the distance, it would strike fear into one''s very heart. Even the Sylvans and Beastmen were no different.

    They had felt this before...

    It was the feeling of staring at a Void Beast.

    Their hearts sunk to the bottom of an abyss and sweat coated their bodies. Many who looked at this scene with far too much ferocity and carelessness fainted. If not for the fact that the sight was mostly illusory, they would have directly lost their lives without the slightest suspense.

    The image persisted for a short while before it slowly faded...

    However, even though it was only a short while, it sent the entire God Realm into a wild upheaval.

    The appearance of those eyes could only mean one thing.

    The Northern Star Lineage Factor had once again birthed a Void Beast.

    Dream Force experts of all shapes and creeds raised their methods to the limits as they scoured Existence for this person. Even the Dharmas moved out.

    But what they didn''t expect was that it would be far easier than any of them could ever expect.

    They all found him at once.

    A boy, beaten and broken, laying in a pool of his own blood in a mere Mortal Realm.

    Leonel Morales.

 Chapter 2939 Die

    Chapter 2939 Die

    Existence seemed to be set ablaze. If there were any existences that they hated with an absolute passion, the first was likely to be the Variant Invalids, and it was then a race for second between the Fawkes and the remnants of the God Beasts of Creation and Destruction.

    It could be said, then, that the humans firmly occupied two of those top three spots, a great irony for a supposedly weak Race. And yet, no one knew who this young man was... or so they thought until a great deal of information began to be disseminated in full force.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    The abilities of these monstrous Dream Force experts could only be said to be frightening. If Leonel had the abilities to ignore space, transporting his mind across countless light years to appear in a location where his name had been mentioned, then these existences could ignore even time itself.

    It was a matter of great ease for them to watch all of Leonel''s deeds as though it was nothing more than a snap of the finger.

    Going through the past, combing through the locations he had made his imprint, and watching them all again as though they had been spectators nearby all the while came as easily to them as flipping over a hand. And when the target was an existence that would normally never even appear on their radar, it was even more shockingly easy than normal.

    That was when they began to piece together things that no existence otherwise could have, things that Leonel had hidden so perfectly all along, shocking matters that left them furrowing their brows.

    But what was most shocking to these existences was that there were actually some things that they couldn''t see. Anything related to Anastasia seemed to be wiped clean.

    Anastasia was a World Spirit of a true God Realm, and she had been created by the hands of the Minerva. While she might have her faults and flaws, she was still an existence that couldn''t be underestimated. If any one of them entered her world, then even these shocking existences could only bow their heads.

    If this was all, maybe it would still be acceptable, but it felt that after Leonel got the Life Tablet, they were looking at his life through a peephole. There were some things that were out of their range to see, and things beyond the foreground that felt obscured.

    However, it was also precisely because of this that the time Leonel spent without the Life Tablet was all the more blatant.

    That aside, it was clear that the situation was much different now, and much more difficult to ignore.

    Despite the fact that there were no God Races that specialized in Dream Force any longer, all of them had at least one behemoth capable of scrolling through time with their Dream Force in this way. And when they reported their findings, the turmoil in Existence only grew.

    Leonel''s current location might as well have been an open book to them, and discussions about what to do in this situation were abound.

    The moment Leonel woke up, it would certainly be far more difficult to find him.

    There was a second location that was difficult for these old fogies to read, and that was in the Inbetween Worlds.

    There was a very good reason for that: Anarchic Force.

    The Void Beast wielded this Force and was the natural embodiment of nothingness. It was likely that had Leonel been awake, none of this would be possible. If they didn''t hurry, it would be impossible to say if the situation would change or not.

    There were also concerns about potential remnants making a move. No one believed that the Envoys had truly entirely been wiped out, so wouldn''t they take action?

    However, everyone had come to a single conclusion.

    Leonel had to die.

 Chapter 2940 Because Of.

    Chapter 2940 Because Of.

    El''Rion sat in silent meditation. The world around him could only be described as fantastical, not because it was beautiful or sinister, but because it truly made one question life by making one feel exceptionally small. The room felt like a space filled with mirrors and spatial fissures. Bits and pieces of reality were strewn about, and by reaching out and plucking one, one could end up in just one of what felt like trillions of worlds. Small. Insignificant. A mere speck of dust...

    These were the feelings that this room elicited, and it was precisely this sort of room that the elites of the Pluto Race trained in. For El''Rion, given his standing, he had been granted such treatment long ago. But with the decline of the Pluto Race, at least until recently, very few other than the oldest of monsters were given the right to frequent this place.

    Of course, the reason that this was only until recently was because things had changed the moment the Idol Battlefield had appeared. If there was one thing the Pluto Race was exceptional at, it was seizing an opportunity. There was a reason that they had reigned since the fall of the God Beasts. Their decline had little to do with outside interference and entirely to do with a matter far more difficult to combat...Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

    The Cycle of Life.

    No one could remain alive forever, and much the same, no family or organization could ever exist into perpetuity. The Pluto were declining for no other reason than the fact they had already been the strongest for too long. With the ebbs and flows of Time, those that were once on top were bound to fall as well, ushering a new age that came in behind them. Before, it had been the God Beasts, and now it seemed that it would be their turn...

    Or it would have had it not been for the appearance of the Idol Battlefield. With its appearance, the chance for the Pluto to rise again had appeared before them, and as a result, they had already gone all out. El''Rion had already been experiencing excellent treatment, but even his own had been elevated in recent months. The Pluto took out everything they planned to hold in reserve and pushed all their chips to the middle of the table.

    It was under these circumstances that the storm that had taken hold of Existence also reached the Pluto.

    El''Rion opened his eyes, sensing the disturbance long before it came to him. If the Dream Force experts could ignore time, then the Pluto were the one and only Race that passed down an Inheritance of time, and the only ones since the beginning of Existence itself to have a Lineage Factor related to the rare Force.

    They knew that El''Rion already had the strength to kill this boy; he had had the strength long ago. So what kind of revenge was he seeking?

    El''Rion shook his head.

    "My starting point and his are different. Acting against him now wouldn''t change that I suffered a loss at his hands. But I also know that I am not as intelligent as he is either.

    "So, I can only settle the score with my fists when he has had ample opportunity to catch up."

    The elders fell into silence and didn''t reply for a long while... until it was El''Rion''s father who spoke.

    "There is news that will soon bring this commotion to another level."

    El''Rion frowned because he heard a hint of solemnity in his father''s voice, something that was impossibly rare.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    "The Idol Battlefield has descended because of the boy."

 Chapter 2941 Himself

    Chapter 2941 Himself

    This information was like a second detonation through Existence.

    The number of people who could see through this was too few. It had to be remembered that when the Idol Battlefield descended, many had already made their attempts at finding out what happened. It was clear and obvious to them that someone had triggered it, but they couldn''t find out who that someone was.

    The reason for this was that Leonel''s Weapon Forces, especially their awakening process, had become a form of protection itself. They couldn''t be seen through by these existences, at least not from so far away. It also didn''t help that no one could have possibly guessed that the culprit was located in the Mortal Realm at the time.

    Even now, the number that could put this together were far too few. The Pluto were among the very few who could; even the Void Race didn''t know. Because of this, this matter would have normally remained a secret.

    But unfortunately, the Sylvan Race was among the second group to learn of this information. Trying to scour Existence for Leonel without knowing he was the culprit was impossible. However, because everyone was investigating just Leonel alone for so long, it was impossible for them to not put something together. When the puzzle pieces fit together, they were entirely floored.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    The Pluto wouldn''t sell this information, but the information networks of the God Realm were under the control of the Sylvans. And because there were several Races that weren''t very proficient in Dream Force, the Sylvans saw this as an opportunity to make a killing. They separated the information into tiers, with the highest tier containing this information.

    There wasn''t a single God Faction that wouldn''t buy this information. It would most definitely be related to a storm that would sweep through the entirety of Existence, so how could they be the only ones in the dark? As a result, soon, a great number of individuals learned of something that Leonel had managed to hide by a fluke. And suddenly, the importance of Leonel and the danger he posed rose to an entirely different level.

    A single young man, and yet, after less than ten years of practice, he had three Creation State Forces, one of which was already in the Middle Creation State on top of being a Sovereignty.

    And yet, those few seconds were already enough for almost everything about Leonel to be exposed to the world.

    Aina stood worriedly over Leonel. She didn''t know what was happening in the outside world, but she felt a great uneasiness welling up in her heart. And she was very much right to feel that way.

    That was because it was no longer just the Owlans and the Fallen God Beasts that had placed him on their hit list. It could be said that the entirety of Existence wanted his head on a platter, and there were just as many who took action.

    The location of the Human Bubble was exposed to the world, and countless figures were making their way forward.

    At the same time, Anastasia could sense that there was something wrong, but she didn''t quite know how to put it into words, or exactly what to check on. She felt frustrated as she hovered in the skies, her little brows furrowed. The worry in her heart was only growing, but she didn''t have the intelligence to figure out where it was coming from. It was more instinct than anything else, and in the end, she couldn''t grasp what it was.

    And due to that, they would lose the chance they had to escape.

    At the same time, the Pluto Race was making a decision. Though, it was hard to say that this was the case at all. That was because it didn''t take them much time to come to a nonchalant conclusion.

    The debt they owed the Fawkes had already been repaid. They had no obligation to save Leonel. His fate would be left up to himself.

 Chapter 2942 Who Cared?

    Chapter 2942 Who Cared?

    Leonel''s mind was in a state of turmoil. His memories had become fragmented. Thoughts that he hadn''t had in years, memories he hadn''t touched in even longer, floated around in pieces of broken glass akin to fissures in space.

    It felt like his entire mind had completely collapsed under a power he had little to no understanding of. And the worst part seemed to be that he couldn''t quite think his way out of it too.

    He was stuck in limbo, his thoughts just as fragmented as his memories. It was impossible to deduce anything if he couldn''t complete a single sentence.

    All he could see was that single pair of lingering eyes, but the irony was that while everyone else was thinking about the eyes of the Void Beast, Leonel was thinking about a completely different pair of eyes.

    The eyes of that woman, the eyes of the person he hated more than anyone else in this world, the eyes that he had wanted to slash apart, and yet found staring at him even more intently as a result.

    It was like everything that his father had done to give him a chance to break free of her had been worthless. He was right back at square one. No, he was in an even worse spot than square one, a place where the Demoness had more control over his life, his thoughts, his existence now than she had ever had before.

    Then there was the rage.

    It was just as omnipresent as the eyes, lurking in every corner of his mind. Everything seemed to only enrage him further and the glass and mirror fragments of his memories became tinted with red at their edges.

    The shade of red was all too familiar. It was a red that had followed him for years, a red that had been with him ever since he awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    But now it felt even more potent than before, and it fed off his rage, growing larger and more substantial.

    Kill. Kill. Kill.

    The word echoed in his mind again and again, and for a moment, he felt that he had been transported back to the first time he had heard Mo''Lexi''s name... that woman that seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

    He couldn''t help but feel saddened.

    What was the worth of a life?

    It was the answer to this question that had left him so shaken and confused for so many years. It led him to treasuring every life, then to a pursuit of Kinghood, and then to a complete disregard for life entirely.

    It could be said that this one question and his varying changing answers to it had dictated more of his life than almost anything else.

    Sometimes, the destruction of a life could truly be so fleeting and unimpressive. In fact, it often was.

    The annoying part about the answer to the question was that there probably wasn''t one... or worse than that, that the answer changed based on the situation.

    To a mother, the life of her baby was worth more than the world itself.

    To a meteor falling from the skies... a tsunami hitting a coastline... a hurricane sweeping through the ocean...

    A life wasn''t worth very much at all, now was it?

    So fleeting, so fragile, so tragic...

    Maybe when you reached a certain level of power, this was always bound to happen.

    Who cared about lives when you could crush Stars in your palm?

 Chapter 2943 Him.

    Chapter 2943 Him.

    The thoughts came in a whirlwind, moving faster and faster, and at some unknown time, Leonel''s thoughts began to flow. It was like the thoughts of his heart had helped him to focus, trying to find a central kernel of truth that was Leonel Morales.

    For a long time, he had been lost. T/his chapter is updated by

    In the first portion of his life, he had been led by his future self, led by the nose and controlled by a man who he had yet to become... a man he wasn''t even sure if he wanted to be.

    Not long ago, he had broken free of those constraints, but it left him confused. His personality seemed to sway with the wind, confused and aimless, as though he had no sense of self or being at all... and the one thing that was truly him, the singular kernel that he was undoubtedly certain was Leonel Morales, also happened to be the one thing that he was just as certain would harm him.

    Now, his mind was cracked and fissured, and the only thing that could seem to fix it was understanding himself...

    But he didn''t even know who he was even after all this time.... And he couldn''t help but wonder if anyone ever truly understood themselves.

    Thankfully, Mo''Lexi''s memory seemed to have awakened something within him. He had felt feelings just now that he hadn''t experienced in years...

    It wasn''t just that it was sadness, he had been capable of feeling that long ago, especially whenever he recalled his father.

    What he was truly feeling now was guilt... sympathy... a moral compass that he had thought that he had long since forgotten.

    A part of him, a part that was buried extraordinarily deep, hidden beneath layers of logic and indifference... wanted to reach out and help Mo''Lexi.

    It was a shocking feeling. He thought he had long since gotten over his savior complex. But, he had only ever been looking at things a single way.

    Much like when he had given up all the people of the Valiant Heart Zone in exchange for his brothers, he had made his own assessment of life and acted on it without the slightest care in the world.

    He passed judgment, valued life, and weighed the hearts of people for no other reason than he could. When it suited him, he was even willing to flout and ignore his own so-called logic.

    It wasn''t until now that he realized that he had let himself down the most.

    That youthful vibrance that had been within him had been jaded by the world to the point that he had ignored it... to the point he even thought that it wasn''t him at all.

    When he thought about things in this way, it was almost amusing, and maybe it would have been had it not cost so many their lives. It was difficult to even reconcile with the fact now.

    As his mind seemed to come together once more, the red aura only seemed to have less and less of an effect on Leonel.

    What was interesting about this current situation was that it was only possible thanks to his breakthrough in Weapon Force. Without the ability to lead his thoughts with his heart, he would have fallen completely, becoming a true creature of Destruction.

    At that point, maybe the fears of a certain Anya would have come true. And maybe that was the goal, or at least one of the goals of the Demoness. Maybe since she could no longer control him, she preferred to destroy him. Or maybe watching him descend into madness was precisely what she needed to finish the last leg of her experiments.

    But at this moment, Leonel''s heart was unprecedentedly clear.

    He finally knew who he was.

    And the moment he did, his eyes suddenly opened.

 Chapter 2944 Remind

    Chapter 2944 Remind

    The first thing Leonel felt was the wave of pain. He used [Instant Recovery] immediately, feeling that his situation would be bad if he didn''t.

    It wasn''t just that he was injured; that didn''t do it justice. His entire body was fractured, his inner organs filled with lacerations, and his blood pooling into parts of his body it had no business being in.

    However, his expression couldn''t help but change when it didn''t work.

    There was some change, and a pillar definitely fell from the skies, but it was as though it was rebuffed. Barely a small percentage of it actually entered his body while the rest was whisked away into another land and time.

    Leonel was stunned and the stinging pain came back even swifter than before.

    He struggled to try and sit up, not understanding what was happening to him. It was only then that he saw that Aina was by his side, her face filled with panic. She seemed to have been slow to react to the fact that he was actually awake now.

    However, before Leonel could say anything, his expression changed once again.

    His Dream Force had broken through again, twice in just a few days, and had entered the Higher Creation State. But that wasn''t why he was shocked.

    The trouble was what he could feel now that he was awake. His body might have been in a mess, but his soul and mind had already reached an unprecedented level of peace and elevated tranquility.

    So, he immediately saw through several things in a single instant of time and his eyes couldn''t help but sharpen. Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

    The wave of panic came for only a short while before he snuffed it out like it was an insignificant flame.

    It wasn''t Aina or Anastasia''s fault. He learned long ago that Anastasia had some troubling issues that she was struggling to deal with. She had more power than most could fathom, at least within this world, but she was likewise at a loss in how to actually use it.

    As for Aina, she might have access to his Dream Force affinity, but she didn''t have any true idea on how to use it. Her might was also so occupied by his life and death that she didn''t have the time to consider anything else. How could she have the mind to understand the storm that was erupting in the outside world right this moment?

    Even so, Leonel seemed to have shrugged it all off almost too easily, almost as though it wasn''t worth much of anything to him at all.

    "Where are the boys?" Leonel asked in a hoarse voice.

    He hadn''t forgotten that his brothers were in a bad situation before he lost his mind to fury. Rather than mentioning what happened in the outside world, this was what he was the most concerned about.

    "... I''ve stabilized their situations. Their lives shouldn''t be in any danger. They''re doing fine."

    Then Leonel remembered that the Void Beast wasn''t the first God Beast of Destruction... At according to his speculation...

    Wasn''t that the Celestial Terra? The Primordial Terror?

    Had he become a God of Destruction on his own?

    So where the hell was his power?

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood and wiped his lips with the back of his hand as he struggled to stand.

    "No! You have to rest," Aina said sternly, holding him. She had been racking her brain trying to figure out a way to cure Leonel, only to realize that she truly had no idea. Her Force Pill Crafting skill actually wasn''t enough.

    Leonel smiled bitterly. "We unfortunately don''t have time for that. How long has it been since I''ve been out?"

    Aina frowned. "A few hours."

    "Normally, I would be out for months with this kind of injury. I''m up right now because I forced myself to wake up. Losing hours already means we''re getting painted into a corner right now."

    "What happened?"

    Leonel stood all the way to his feet, wincing as scabs began to peel across his body.

    "The details don''t really matter right now, but it seems your husband''s currently the enemy of the world.

    "They think I''m some sort of easy prey. In that case, I''ll just have to show them how much I''ve been holding back."

    In truth, Leonel was being a bit unfair. That was because considering how many had been mobilized, they were certainly taking him far more seriously than anyone would expect. These were Gods, after all, taking action. Whether it was directly or not, it was a fact that they were taking him seriously, and at the moment, even Leonel feeling some of that pressure.

    However, that wouldn''t change his true feelings on the matter at all. Respect first... then Persistence. It was just that he chose to bend the definition of Persistence just a tiny bit.

    They hated him because they mistook his breakthrough for being related to the Northern Star Lineage Factor...

    Wait until they learned he was a Fawkes.

    It was about time to remind the world why this family was feared so much.

 Chapter 2945 True Sovereignty

    Chapter 2945 True Sovereignty

    The more Leonel walked, despite his ginger steps, the more his pain faded and the colder his eyes became. The reveal of the location of the Variant Invalid''s stronghold was still a huge deal. No matter how much the God Realm hated the Northern Star Lineage Factor, they had even greater hatred for the Variant Invalids. This was just a matter of nature.

    No matter how against the Northern Star Lineage Factor they were, it wasn''t comparable to the Variant Invalids who followed a completely different path. It wasn''t until Leonel had truly grasped Destruction that he knew where this difference lay.

    Although it sounded somewhat exaggerated, it could even be said that the threat of the Variant Invalids was comparable to the Northern Star.

    As for why that was, it was a matter of their Path. It could be said that the Variant Invalids were more of a conduit for Destruction than even the Northern Star itself, or more accurately, they were the vessel through which the universe spread Destruction.

    There had been something that Leonel had been neglecting all of this time.

    Force Manipulation followed a set path. It unfolded the Forces to the state of Impetus, and then it compacted them, trying to help them to reach the First Dimension.

    What was all of this a product of? Wasn''t it all following a Path of Creation?

    The Impetus State referred to the Impetus of Life.

    The Life State was where the kernel for potential of Life lay.

    The Creation State was where the kernel for potential of Life began, the location that gave Existence the tendency to move toward Life in the first place.

    Each and every one of these steps was best described as a type of Creation, where Creation itself was the pinnacle.

    Even when one formed a Dharma and even further, an Idol, this was just a process of taking the burden of Creation away from Existence and placing it within yourself, forming your Godhood.

    Every step along the way, this was a measure of Creation.

    Then in that case... where did Destruction fit into all of this?

    Aina walked by Leonel''s side, not sure what he was doing. He had made it sound like they were in a great deal of trouble, so why was he just strolling around now as though nothing at all was happening?

    However, soon, her eyes narrowed as she realized that they had appeared in the valley that housed a beast that made her heart shake.

    She had seen it once before, a Void Beast corpse. It was a menacing creature that felt difficult to understand the shape and form of, but it was a shocking jolt to the senses nonetheless.

    Leonel gave Kira a smile and then suddenly pressed his palm on the beast.

    [Life Steal].

    A drop of blood from the Void Beast was forcefully ripped out of its body and entered Leonel.

    He grit his teeth, veins of black suddenly appearing all across him. However, he was frighteningly calm.

    ''How interesting... that even in the end, you weren''t the true God Beast of Destruction at all, now were you?''

    Leonel looked down at this beast that everyone feared, his mind in an unprecedented state of calm.

    ''No... more accurately, only some of you were...''

    The Void Beasts could use Anarchic Force, but just like Leonel had said, Anarchic Force was just another form of Creation just like every other Force in existence.

    Much like his Scarlet Star Force, it was just a convenient conduit for these creatures to use Destruction Sovereignty through.

    However, being a True God of Destruction was far deeper than that, something far greater and far beyond measure.

    Leonel''s injuries began to quickly heal and his heart suddenly released a beat that shattered the scales of the Void Beast.

 Chapter 2946 Pikes

    Chapter 2946 Pikes

    Leonel raised his head and took a deep breath. Black, spiderweb-like veins pulsed up his neck and across his sharp jawline. He had only absorbed a single drop of blood, and yet it seemed like it was going to consume his own body. At this point, even Aina was feeling worried.

    At the same time, though, Tolliver seemed to have been triggered by something. All along, the little guy had been wrapped around Leonel''s left arm like a sleeve tattoo, silent and unassuming. But at that very moment, it too began to pulse wildly.

    All at once, veins of black and gold began to fight for supremacy in Leonel''s body, but the calmness in his eyes never faded for a single instant.

    However, what the world didn''t know was that by this point, Leonel was no longer paying attention to it. Instead, he was standing within the world of the Life Tablet.

    He looked up at the enormous library, no longer in shock and awe about its size, but rather focusing all of his attention on something.

    Wise Star Order.

    Wise Sea Order.

    The names no longer mattered to Leonel, because what he cared the most about was what they represented.

    The first sought out the stars, seeking to understand the universe and all of its mysteries. Ability Indexes, Lineage Factors, fantastical abilities that couldn''t be fathomed by man in a time long since passed. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    The second sought out the seas. Down to earth, focused on earth and water, the two substances that probably had the most to do with keeping the frailest of creatures alive.

    It focused on understanding the self and the living beings of the world. Free from the shackles of Existence and its pressure to evolve and grow, it focused on the purest definition of what it meant to live and breathe.

    One shot for the Stars in an irony of ironies, and the other was grounded.

    Together, they formed a perfect and whole image of the world, one that went beyond just being an Oracle... it felt like the mysteries of the universe were all laid out before him, and the mysteries of his own body might as well have been an open book.

    Through their union, he could feel the Northern Star Lineage Factors within himself more clearly than ever before, and the moment they sensed some stimulation, he was able to grasp them in his hands and force them back into focus.

    In the past, he had sacrificed his Lineage Factors for the sake of elevating his constitution and rising above his Mortal coil.

    However, it had never truly vanished precisely because of that.

    And now, he was going to do what Wise Orders did best... pass on knowledge.

    However, this time, he was going to do something absolutely unprecedented.

    Slowly, the transformation began to come to a stop.

    And in the end, Leonel stood firmly at the pinnacle of what was possible for Demi-Gods.

    Every one of his movements made the world shudder.

    When his eyes finally regained their focus and he paid attention to the world again, he exhaled slowly.

    His heartbeat echoed just once, causing the world around him to fragment once again.

    He clenched his fists.

    ''No. I have more to take... This is just a foundation that''s given to me by two worlds. If I absorb more, the difference will be even more exaggerated... In that case...''

    Leonel''s aura seemed to plummet, and at that moment, he did exactly what Aina had before, but to a far more exaggerated extent.

    In that moment, he became a Mortal once again. And yet, when he shifted his steps just the slightest before, an enormous crater was formed beneath him.

    He exhaled and his hair returned to its pale violet color, as did his eyes.

    "It''s time to go," Leonel said.

    "Go where?" Aina asked.

    "You just stay here and look pretty."

    Aina rolled her eyes, but when she was about to say something, Leonel spoke first.

    "I know you haven''t finished your breakthrough yet. Do that first. Eventually, I''m going to need you...

    "But not yet."

    "... Where are you going?"

    "To put a few God heads on pikes."

 Chapter 2947 You Tell Me...

    Chapter 2947 You Tell Me...

    Leonel walked out of the world, his bearing calm... or so it seemed.

    With every step he took, the temperature seemed to plummet. It wasn''t that he was exuding a frostiness, but rather that heat, or what allowed heat to exist, was being stripped from reality around him. Vibrating molecules fell into a dormant state, the sun''s rays couldn''t seem to shine properly, and the laws of the world collapsed.

    Leonel walked out of the bubble as though it was a gateway. Standing out in the Inbetween World, he let his rage bubble over. But this time, it was far more constrained than it was in the past.

    Despite what he had told Aina, this time the trouble was truly large, bigger than he knew if he could handle. It wasn''t that he feared for his life. He was always confident in protecting it. But in the interim, before he truly became powerful enough to snub the faces of the Gods with impunity, what would he do?

    Was it even possible for him to stop the Human Race from being eradicated down to their last man?

    The only reason the Human Bubble hadn''t already been attacked was likely because of the hole he had poked through the plans of the Variant Invalids. No matter how much they hated the Humans, they wouldn''t hate them as much as those scourges.

    But that thin paper defense would only last for so long, and even if he took the initiative to unleash unholy hell, there was only so far that he would be able to make it before the God Realms started ignoring the consequences and sending down the real powerhouses.

    Right now, Leonel wasn''t even confident in wiping out the Demi-Gods, let alone full armies of Gods.

    The waters of these powers ran far too deep, and even now he felt that he had only seen the tip of the iceberg.

    That was why his plan was never to destroy them but to take advantage of their weaknesses instead to make them work for him against their will. But...

    What were the weaknesses of the Gods? He simply didn''t know.

    Maybe if Bracken was in a real world, Leonel wouldn''t have been able to sense him... but in this expanse of Anarchic Force, he stuck out like a sore thumb in Leonel''s mind.

    Leonel''s sensitivity to the dichotomy of Creation versus Destruction was all too potent at the moment. And though he had already concluded that Anarchic Force was just another form of creation, just now he had been using his Destruction Sovereignty to influence it to see if he might be able to gain some sort of advantage by battling in Inbetween Worlds.

    On that front, he had been half correct and also ended up finding the Sylvan who was a very clear branch of Creation trying to hide in a sea of Destruction.

    He couldn''t have made himself more obvious to Leonel even if he tried.

    "Stop! What are you doing?!"

    The Sylvan barked and his voice seemed to carry the vicissitudes of life.

    "I hear that the Sylvans like to buy and sell information about people."

    Leonel said something seemingly completely unrelated to the question being asked of him.

    "You''re only in the Sixth Dimension... but to get here so quickly, I bet that you were already here before information about my awakening spread, right? That probably means you came for the Variant Invalid Incomplete World, and it probably also means that your standing in the Sylvan Race probably isn''t too low, huh?"

    Leonel continued to talk nonchalantly, almost as though he was thinking to himself rather than speaking to a God.

    However, the more he spoke like this, the chillier Bracken seemed to feel. His heart leapt into his throat and his branches and roots trembled.

    "You tell me... would your Race buy information about your life and death?"

 Chapter 2948 Miracle

    Chapter 2948 Miracle

    If not for the Sylvans, much of the information about Leonel wouldn''t have already spread so far. They were the only ones capable of seeing through him so easily, and it had only made Leonel''s situation all the worse.

    Now, there was one camping outside of his world as though he was eager to capitalize on his situation even more.T/his chapter is updated by

    Leonel was already pissed off to an extreme. Seeing this, he was even more infuriated.

    He remembered words he had said a long time ago... there would come a time when people heard the Morales name and quaked in fear...

    In that case, he would kill, and kill, and kill... not until they feared, but until he alone was satisfied.

    Bracken''s screams rang out as he tried to rip himself out of the ground, but it was already too late. The moment he appeared before Leonel in such a precarious situation, he was already finished. He had no one but himself to blame for underestimating the human race so much.

    BANG!

    The Sylvan''s heart exploded, and Leonel''s gaze blazed with a fierce violet light.

    "[Arise]!"

    He felt his own soul shudder when he grasped Bracken''s soul. There was actually a layer of protection left there.

    Almost the moment he began his attempt, an infuriated roar echoed.

    "FAWKES SCUM!"

    A tree with bark of blackened ash rose up and out of Bracken''s body. It carried an aura no less heart-shuddering than the Ancestor that Leonel had seen come and protect Shan''Rae. But clearly, this time, they were here to protect Bracken instead.

    Leonel only took a moment to understand. It seemed that all the most powerful existences of the God Race had protections against this sort of Lineage Factor. Not just that, but they used it as a method of tracking the Fawkes at the first instant.

    He could feel the infuriated aura of the True God. Just a single wisp could wipe him out ten times over...

    But so what?

    Even so, it was hard to not feel some sort of discontent. It was simply humanoid nature to blame a complicated problem on a single thing instead of taking in the whole picture and accepting part of the blame or passing it on to others that deserved it.

    However, though the elders felt this way, they still took a breath and calmed themselves.

    They knew it wasn''t Leonel''s fault. At the very least, this Invalid attack would have come one way or another. But being exposed as Leonel''s partners just after he had been exposed to be related to the Northern Star Lineage Factor had truly left them shaken.

    It was only now that they had no choice but to finally tell Lumielle the whole truth about what was happening.

    The rampaging girl couldn''t help but frown when she heard all of this.

    However, before she could even reconcile with this matter...

    CRACK. CHIII!

    Their protective formation finally couldn''t hold up any longer.

    The Dwarven Race looked ahead with a solemn expression. Their world looked like a shattered snow globe, the fractures in reality allowing the Invalids to pool forward.

    Lumielle, who had been pent up for too long already, unleashed a roar as she wanted to charge, but her grandparents held onto her shoulder and stopped her.

    At that moment, an array of Force Arts lit up and their mountains became like artillery weapons.

    In the end, the Dwarven Race had always survived because of their ingenuity, not their combat prowess. As much as Lumielle wanted to fight... now was not the time.

    By this point, the entire Dwarven Race had already been evacuated underground. It wasn''t even particularly difficult as they had always preferred this style of living. That left the entire surface world as a place of combat.

    If they wanted to hold on for another half year even, they were confident in doing so. They could only hope that the situation would change in that time.

    They took deep breaths, trying to calm their agitated hearts.

    They could only hope that there would be some sort of miracle...

    Otherwise, the Dwarven Race would be finished.

 Chapter 2949 Sylvan Heart

    Chapter 2949 Sylvan Heart

    The world shook and groaned as Force Arts filled the skies. Supported by the mountains they were built upon, they wiped out Invalids in droves, and yet for every one they killed, there seemed to always be ten more lying in wait.

    However, it wasn''t the numbers that made the Dwarven Race so solemn. It was the idea that the powerhouses of the Invalids had still yet to take any action at all. They treated the lives of their fellow Invalids so casually and without the slightest care. They were more than willing to let them whittle down the strength of the opposition like moths to a flame. Ultimately, if you gathered enough of them up, even the most eternal of flames would be snuffed out.

    By this point in the battle, after having been raging for an entire two months, armies of Mortal Races had been organized and deployed. There were even many Demi-God armies that had descended from the Demi-God Realms to help out.

    However, in all of this, the two powers that had been shown to have links to Leonel were completely ignored, and by contrast, the Invalids seemed to focus on them all the more.

    These two facts led to a situation where the Dwarven and Spiritual Race Bubbles that Leonel had once been to were both in the worst situations and seemed like they might be on the verge of collapsing at any time.

    To make matters worse than that, they understood that even if they managed to survive by some miracle... what would be waiting for them on the other side.

    Right now, the world was letting the Invalids deal with them. But what about when the world itself decided to turn their blades on them?

    ...

    Deep in the Invalid army stood two Variant Invalids who wore black armor and seemed to breathe and exhale acidic black fog. They looked more ghoul than anything else, their eyes sunken and wrapped in a band of black. Their skin was incredibly pale, their posture was terrible, and they had a bony lankiness to them that made one uncomfortable to even stare at them for too long.

    However, those familiar with this pair of commanders knew that even compared to the usual, their gloom now was on another level. This wasn''t because of the deaths of their Invalids, they couldn''t care less about such a thing. The problem was the news they had gotten from their headquarters...Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    Not only had their headquarters been found, but at some unknown point, their reserves had been massacred to the last man.

    ...

    Leonel appeared in the Inbetween World, stepping out of the void with Bracken obediently standing to his back.

    He observed the situation for a moment, feeling that the problems he had to deal with now were truly far too large and all-consuming.

    Just ten years ago, he was worried about asking the girl he liked out and playing in a high school football game, wondering what going pro would feel like.

    Now, he was standing above the universe, watching a world be besieged from all sides and basking in the fragmented reality of a shattering world order.

    After finding his true self, locked away in his body and hidden beneath layers of fury and hurt, it all felt all the more surreal now than it ever had before.

    He reached out with a hand and a spear appeared. He looked at it silently, not moving immediately.

    This spear was one that he had created in a rage, a spear that carried the accumulated souls of hundreds of Fallen God Beasts. Just sitting there in his palm, even the Anarchic Force in the surroundings seemed to want to stay away from it, fearing what would happen if it got too close.

    Tattoos began to appear across Leonel''s body, his sweatpants gaining tufts of white fur and a halo appearing to his back. Golden red braces, rattling in a violent wind, appeared around his ankles and wrists, a necklace of blackened tiger teeth fluttering even more wildly around his neck.

    He waved another hand and a heart appeared. It was a true heart, one presumably ripped out of the chest of a living, breathing creature. Even so, it continued to pump, every shallow shudder causing a ring of gold to ripple into the surroundings.

    This heart was known as the Sylvan Heart, one of the most valuable treasures in the entire world... and an enormous taboo that couldn''t be encroached upon lest you bring down the fury of the entire Sylvan God Race.

 Chapter 2950 Another to Fear

    Chapter 2950 Another to Fear

    Leonel brought this heart out without a care in the world. In fact, looking at it now, it didn''t even seem like he was staring at something that had once been part of a living being at all. The Sylvans were known as the Race with the greatest vitality in the world, and it could be said that the reason for this was their Sylvan Heart. Or, maybe... their Sylvan Heart was a product of this truth.

    When one reached the level of such a Race, such a chicken vs the egg situation was common. Their impact on reality made their legends be reality, while their reality were legends. This was a very profound thought, and yet it came to Leonel as smooth as flowing water.

    It was said that even a drop of Sylvan Heart Blood that could only come from the Sylvan Heart was enough to bring even Gods back from the brink of death. In fact, even if one was already dead, it could make your corpse seem as though it was in a deep sleep rather than an eternal slumber, allowing your body to continue to work without true life. However, this was only the simplest function of the heart. The most ancient and mythical function was described in a single line.

    The Meaning of Life.

    This sounded like an abstract and high philosophical ability, but in reality, it was actually quite straightforward and it was tied to the second matter the Sylvans were so well known for.

    Wisdom.

    With the Sylvan Heart, things with vitality couldn''t help but bring out their truest nature, and when they did, it allowed much greater ease in understanding them. The golden ring that echoed every time this Sylvan Heart pumped was a domain of sorts. When a living entity entered its range, it would exude the aura of its truest self, making it as easy to read as an open book.

    Near a Force Herb, Leonel would be able to tell all of its functions with a glance. Near a person, Leonel would be able to see through all of their abilities on the one hand, and even understand how best to improve them on the other. The possibilities felt truly endless, and maybe it was the case that they were... only limited by the strength of the Sylvan Heart itself.

    However, Leonel didn''t feel like he needed any of this at all. He only wanted the Sylvan Heart for a single reason alone.

    "[Life Steal]."

    BANG!

    Leonel looked up into the skies with a cold glint in his eyes as though he could see that pair of condescending, flirtatious irises.

    ... He would kill her with his own hands soon enough.

    BOOM!

    A golden Force Art appeared on Leonel''s chest, and his aura spilled over in wild waves. At that moment, the Sylvan Heart, once entirely made of flesh, began to grow bark. Quickly, this bark grew and extended until a small tree was formed. Then, it shrank down, forming a ring on Leonel''s finger.

    This was none other than the Florer family''s ability, to take plants and form them into weapons. The Sylvans were technically a humanoid Race and not a plant Race... But clearly, this didn''t matter to Leonel.

    The world feared the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    They feared the Fawkes.

    Now, he would give them something else to fear.

    The simple wooden ring on Leonel''s finger pierced into his skin, and a vitality that could dwarf Stars erupted from him.

    "[Star Fusion]..."

    He took a breath, and the world inhaled with him.

    "... [King''s Might]."

 Chapter 2951 Now

    Chapter 2951 Now

    Leonel''s aura felt towering and unapproachable. As though a nebula had exploded out with an array of violet and gold, he stood high in the depths of the Inbetween World, his hair fluttering as roars came from his spear.

    He looked down and made eye contact with the pair of ghoul look-alikes.

    Invalids didn''t feel fear. It was as though it was a part of them that had been cut away, replaced instead by an instinctive desire to survive.

    Variant Invalids were slightly more advanced, but all of their actions were still tinged with the same desire to do and have more. It could be said that while they might feel fear in a certain sense, it was always tinged with a particular corruption of greed.

    Staring at Leonel now, they couldn''t help but feel their hearts skip a beat.

    He was like a star in the skies, the life vein of a world. His presence alone seemed like it could both feed populations and wipe them out in the same instant.

    And then he moved.

    The ghoul Variant Invalids were immediately on their guard.

    They didn''t fear anyone. They were a pair of Ancestor-level characters and they hadn''t believed that they would come to face any sort of pushback or harm when facing off against the likes of the Dwarven Race.

    However, at this moment, they felt their blood run cold. Findd new stories at novelhall.com

    It was then their auras surged, realizing that this was an assault of the mind. It wasn''t that Leonel was truly so fear-inducing, but his Dream Force was so powerful that his confident air was infecting their minds.

    There wasn''t a single part of Leonel who thought of anything but winning and crushing his enemies in revenge, and as such they began to subconsciously feel like this must be the truth.

    Unfortunately, their thoughts were too simple.

    Two things could be true.

    And the one question that they should have asked themselves was...

    The ghouls sensed the trouble coming immediately, and if before they had dismissed their fear, it now came back in full force.

    Without a second of hesitation, the ghouls pressing his hands to the back of the other suddenly forcefully pushed harder. But instead of this sending the first ghoul flying toward Leonel, the two instead seemed to fuse into one.

    They formed into a cancerous creature with grotesque lumps growing all across their body. They seemed to have both become one, and yet were separate at the same time, two heads popping out from their now black and veiny necks.

    At the same time, their bodies became amorphous, losing a lot of form, but not any function. Instead, it looked as though they could control their sizes freely.

    Just like that, they raised a hand that extended into an enormous sledgehammer. It pierced down from the skies above, the momentum already enough to shatter a person and scatter their bones from the wind pressure alone. In the vacuum it quickly formed, it was hard even to breathe.

    Leonel felt the sense of danger well up in his heart as well. The moment they survived his first strike, he knew that these two weren''t simple. That was why he brought out his Destruction Sovereignty immediately as well.

    However, the pang of danger only lasted for a moment before it was replaced by a bone-chilling coldness.

    The entire world seemed to be reflected in Leonel''s eyes and Anarchic Force trembled around him.

    He took a casual step forward, breaking out of the suction vacuum formed by the attack with almost too much ease.

    BOOM!

    Before, the ground had only splintered. But this time, an enormous crater was left behind, one that still seemed to be spreading even now.

    The wave quickly caught up with Leonel and seemed to want to swallow him whole, but his entire demeanor remained relaxed.

    He continued to walk, his steps almost carelessly dodging shards of rock that would break apart the bodies of even Ninth Dimensional existences.

    Leonel raised his spear and the blade trembled just the slightest bit.

    Then he thrust it forward. Crimson, violet, gold, and black all swirled around each other.

 Chapter 2952 [Abyssal Rise]

    Chapter 2952 [Abyssal Rise]

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel dodged and exchanged blows, the swiftness of his attacks and decision-making turning the ghoul Variant Invalid into a target for practice.

    He was clearly weaker, and yet he always seemed to be ten steps ahead. He moved the moment he sensed a twitch of the muscle, and planned based on mere intentions of the mind and instinctual reactions he calculated.

    It was like he could truly see the future, and that was because he somewhat could.

    He now had a Higher Creation State Dream Force, and with his Sovereignty it wasn''t much weaker than the usual Peak Creation State Dream Force. At this point, his Dream Force was firmly rooted in the First Dimension, and as such, things like distance and even time began to matter less and less to him.

    The world to most people was a vast chasm of Existence, extending into infinity.

    But to Leonel, it might as well have been just a single dimension, just a dot with no longitude, latitude, or depth... a place where even time seemed meaningless.

    If his simulations weren''t 100% yet, they were about as close to 100% as you could get.

    Blade strikes began to litter the fused ghoul''s body. It was an array of strikes beautiful in their execution and simple in their make.

    Leonel''s blade seemed to be everywhere and every-time. Like a cascading net falling like a waterfall, the array of colors was omnipresent and all-knowing.

    The Variant Invalid was being suffocated at every turn.

    Leonel''s spearmanship had already lost the beauty that made one look at it in awe. The flashiness had been entirely stripped from its existence, and yet it still reeled the minds and thoughts of people into it.

    It was like watching the laminar flow of water. There wasn''t a single droplet out of place, not one wasted. All of his strength was concentrated to the tip of his spear and it exploded out all at once.

    The Variant Invalid had seen many spear experts in its life, it had even seen Gods of the Spear before... And yet, right now, no matter how it wracked its brains, it felt like Leonel was on a level all to his own.

    Every strike was simply too perfect, and perfect in its simplicity. It compressed a complex Artistic Conception not just into a single strike, but also onto a single point of his spear.

    It thought that all this while it was doing a good job in defending against Leonel''s Dream Force, when in reality that was only what Leonel wanted it to think.

    From the very beginning, it would have never lasted three days. But it had just given Leonel the exact vulnerability he needed to deal a death blow.

    Now that Leonel could finally freely use his Dream Force outside of his body... none of these battles would be the same.

    Leonel''s spear snaked forward and a head was lopped into the air.

    The fused ghoul shattered in a rain of light that quickly coalesced into an enormous mote that shined like a star. It was simply the largest that Leonel had ever seen, and yet he didn''t seem to react much to it at all.

    He grabbed out and looked at it.

    Variant Invalids didn''t have souls and their path wasn''t one of Creation, but rather one of Destruction.

    Due to this, King''s Might didn''t work on them. Or, rather... it shouldn''t work on them.

    However, Leonel was different.

    His Destruction World thrummed and the crimson cracks along his body began to shine.

    He stared at the large mote of light as though he was trying to deduce something, his mind spinning.

    What the world didn''t know was that Leonel was currently in the middle of deducing what would come to be known as the fourth Emperor Ability of the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor. And in all likelihood, he would be the only one capable of using it.

    The powers of his Destruction World were barely known to him, but before getting familiar he chose to take things a different route.

    "I''ll call you... [Abyssal Rise]."

    The mote of light shuddered.

 Chapter 2953 Root

    Chapter 2953 Root

    The mote of light shuddered and, at that moment, it was like the entire world had shifted on its head. A Domain the likes of which these Invalids had simply never seen before took shape. Just by touching it, they felt endless comfort... until they suddenly shattered into a realm they only came to know too late was Death.

    However, Leonel wasn''t focused on them at all. His entire attention was trained on the ghouls he had just killed. Like he had said, Variant Invalids didn''t have souls. If he wanted to use them as puppets, the approach he took couldn''t be the same as usual. There was no soul to lock onto. So, instead, he had to root it in something else: the Ability Index.

    The root of all these problems was the Ability Index. It was only because Invalids had failed to awaken their own that they ended up in such a state. In the end, their Ability Indexes consumed their lives, and their humanity vanished along with it. There was no way to escape this Fate for them.

    The reason their thoughts were consumed with power and evolution was precisely because this was the kernel of what an Ability Index represented. On one hand, it granted an evolution, unprecedented power in the hands of a few. But on the other, it was likewise the cold side of evolution, survival of the fittest. It tore apart families, consumed dreams, and left many without recourse.

    When an Invalid became a Variant Invalid, it was the result of consuming enough of those who had succeeded, reforming a soul in a sense... but it wasn''t quite a soul either. Rather than being rooted in an Ethereal Glabella, it was rooted in their Ability Index.

    In a way, humans had their souls fused with their bodies, higher races had their souls separated from themselves, and Invalids were the mirror of humans, having their souls fused into their very own Ability Indexes. But this was precisely why it could be said that even Variant Invalids didn''t have souls. The Ability Index was bestowed by Existence. It wasn''t hereditary and couldn''t be passed down. This was all to say that... it wasn''t you. It could never be you.

    In a sense, the Variant Invalids would always be slaves to power because that was the foundation of their being. And if Leonel wanted to use them as his pawns, he had to strip away the control Existence and the Northern Star had over these Variant Invalids and root them in his own world instead.

    However, there was no denying that doing this was far more difficult than using the main three techniques. It was only made worse by the fact he had to continuously supply some of his stamina to his Destruction World in order to upkeep his new summon.

    However...

    BOOM!

    The moment his intention moved, the ghoul jumped out from his Destruction World and began to wreak complete and total havoc. In fact, every time it moved and swallowed up an Invalid, it seemed to become a little bit stronger at the same time.

    As Leonel watched, he realized just how fierce his new technique was. It was essentially like having death sworn fighting by his side that not only followed each and every one of his commands but were also far easier to improve as well.

    For his normal summons, not only would they only last 24 hours, but if he wanted to make them last longer than that, he had to use [Assimilate] and [Breathe] to fuse them into an object valuable enough to reflect their talent. And once he did that, they would be even more difficult to control, and even harder than that to help improve without them stagnating.

    But now, just this summon alone would exist for as long as his stamina could sustain it and his Destruction World continued to exist. At the same time, it could improve all on its own, or in the case that he found another Ability Index suitable for it... far more easily than any of his other summons before.

    It was truly time to make the world fear. They wouldn''t come after him because he was a Fawkes, or because he was a Wise Star Order, but because he was Leonel Morales.

 Chapter 2954 Bracken and the Ghoul

    Chapter 2954 Bracken and the Ghoul

    The next scenes could only be described as absolute carnage. Leonel just sat in peace, quickly trying to accumulate his stamina once more as Bracken and the ghoul unleashed unholy hell.

    Leonel didn''t even have to lift a finger, and the Dwarven Race could only watch in stunned amazement. Most couldn''t even see what was happening clearly, but those who could felt like their conceptions of the world were being flipped on their head.

    Without the ghouls heading the charge, the Invalids were scrambling. At first, they still managed to maintain some order because the ghouls weren''t the only Variant Invalids present, though they were the Head Commander. However, as Leonel sent his summons out to target them and wipe them out systematically, the issue only became worse and worse.

    Some of the Invalids ended up scrambling and skirting out of enemy lines, diving deep into Dwarven Race territory, only to be picked off one by one by their protective formations. But many more of them simply began to fight amongst themselves.

    Invalids were only driven by a will to evolve, and there were only two things that could control them. The first was a large source of Force. If there was one around, they would ignore even one another to try and make it to it. The second were Variant Invalids who understood how to control them. Though, now, it could be said that there was a third in Leonel himself.

    However, there were no great pulls of Force now, and the control of the Variant Invalids had slackened to the point of being exaggerated.

    At that moment, it was like they saw a feast around them after starving for years. How could they not partake?

    The army began to shred themselves apart, and that only made it easier for Bracken and the ghoul to shred them to pieces.

    As for Leonel himself, he continued to sit in silence. The Invalids couldn''t even get close without being shredded to pieces by his Destruction World.

    This could be said to be the most foundational ability of his Destruction World, to Destroy. When it was deployed, most things in its path would be shredded to nothingness, and on their way to him, they would find their power greatly weakened even if they could survive the initial barrier.

    However, this was only the weakest of the abilities, and it was passive in a way that Leonel didn''t even feel much pressure in deploying it. He could sense many more, it was just that his focus simply wasn''t on this right now.

    That was not because he had sensed danger, but rather because... the entire army of Invalids had been wiped out. There didn''t seem to be anything else to do here.

    "Return," Leonel called over.

    Whether it was Bracken or the ghoul, they both seemed to be in a mess.

    Bracken''s violet armor, conjured up by his King''s Might, was broken and cracking in several places while his golden orbs for eyes seemed even more dim than usual.

    As for the ghoul, it hadn''t formed an armor when Leonel summoned him, but it was instead filled with cracked lines of crimson much like Leonel. Leonel saw that this actually gave it some Destruction Sovereignty that made its attacks more lethal.

    But it was actually still missing an arm and a leg. Even its head was half ripped off, making it look far more ghoul-like than it had before, as though its original state wasn''t enough.

    However, Leonel also noticed that after the ghoul entered his Destruction World, it began to quickly heal, while Leonel himself felt some of his stamina being sapped away.

    As for Bracken, it was the opposite. His situation became worse, but he was also so devoutly loyal to Leonel that he didn''t seem to realize as he continued to kneel.

    Leonel nodded as he thought of something, then waved a hand and sent Bracken into one of his Incomplete Worlds. Only then did Bracken begin to show signs of healing.

    After that, he pulled the ghoul into his Destruction World where it seemed to begin healing even faster than before.

    With that done, Leonel didn''t have the time to stay and chat with the Dwarven Race as he shot into the distance. There was still more to do, far more.

    The elders and Lumielle could only watch him vanish as their worlds slowly began to heal.

 Chapter 2955 Void

    Chapter 2955 Void

    Lumielle watched Leonel disappear with a complex light rippling in her eyes.

    Was this young man really younger than even she was? Had he just wiped out an entire army by himself? She had lost count of the number of elders who had cursed and spurned him in the last few days. She, herself, preferred to take action personally, so she didn''t like the idea of having to clean up the mess that someone else had made.

    But Leonel was so focused on the number of problems he had to deal with that he didn''t even stop by for more than the time it took him to wipe out the army. By the time they even had the intention to take action themselves, he was already gone.

    A casual gift from this man had allowed her to take a step that had held her back for so long.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

    And now, she could finally see why that was.

    Leonel didn''t leave to be rude, nor because he could guess what they had likely been saying about him. Well, in reality, he could guess. It was just that he didn''t have the mind to care about it for now. He only planned to deal with one situation at a time.

    The Dwarven Race was in a weaker position than the Spirituals, so he had chosen to take action there first, but it had taken him an entire three days to clear out that army. By this point, the situation on the Spirituals'' side might be even worse than how things had started off for the Dwarven Race.

    As for the Radix family''s ability to breathe Life into inanimate minerals and such... he had already tapped into that a bit the moment he made Little Tolly a part of his Divine Armor the first time. But it had far more potential than just that. What was holding him back was his comprehension of Life Force. But now, with Bracken''s Sylvan Heart, that just might change.

    Leonel raised a foot to take another step, but the moment he did, he suddenly froze. He came to a stop and lowered his leg, his eyes flashing with lightning.

    "Are all Gods such cowards? You''re already the second I''ve found slinking around in the dark."

    There was a biting cold in Leonel''s words, but there wasn''t any surprise. He had been forced to spend three days in combat. If in that time someone didn''t catch up to him, or at least find his whereabouts, they would be too foolish. This was part of the reason why he had chosen to leave. The location of the Human Bubble was only so well known because it was tied to his appearance. But once he moved, and especially after he woke up and could begin to protect his mind better, it would be much more difficult to do so.

    At that moment, a humanoid woman with a body formed of brownish-green vines appeared. She had the silhouette of a woman and was no doubt one, even having the charming, smooth face of a beauty as well. However, the dull, unpolished orbs of gold that were her eyes made her seem more lifeless and cold than she probably was.

    Willowyn.

    Of course, to Leonel, all he saw was yet another Sylvan. It seemed that this annoying Race truly was the best at finding him. She had managed to do so even in the dead of the void. And this time, she wasn''t in the weakened state Bracken had been in.

 Chapter 2956 Unfamiliar Feeling

    Chapter 2956 Unfamiliar Feeling

    "Where is Bracken?" the woman asked.

    "Where?" Leonel held up a hand. The smooth wood had begun to form veins that seemed both a part of and not a part of his arm at the same time.

    Willowyn''s expression shook when she saw this. She didn''t understand what she was looking at immediately, but that aura, although slightly different, was all too familiar to her.

    "You..."

    She didn''t know what to say for a long time.

    In the history of the Sylvans... how long had it been since someone dared to take their Hearts? She was sure that, logically speaking, some had done so in the dark...

    But to not only do it and then brazenly flaunt it around as though he didn''t understand the implications...

    Did he not understand the kind of power the Sylvans held? Of the God Races, if the Pluto were the number one most were unwilling to offend, then even though they weren''t second in combat power, the Sylvans were certainly number two.

    Some might argue the Beastmen simply because when they acted, they had no sense of propriety for anything.

    Some might argue the Void Race because their Destruction capabilities were second to none. Offending them would probably bring your entire world down with you...Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

    But even so, most had the consensus that this was the Sylvans.

    They wielded too much information. A single word from them could bring down empires and cripple entire organizations. If they wanted to know something about you, it was almost certain that they could find it out, and they wouldn''t even need to lift a finger to crush you.

    In terms of intelligence and wisdom... they were truly second to none.

    A single tweak to your ecosystem might cause your world to stop producing resources.

    A single nudge could cause a civilization stronger than you to declare war.

    If you were just a single person like Leonel was, there were so many paths to destruction that it was hard even to fathom properly.

    To say that Leonel was playing with fire was an understatement.

    But it was also precisely because of this that Willowyn didn''t know how to react for a long time.

    The Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    Stealing and harvesting a Sylvan Heart...

    A member of the Fawkes...

    Any one of these things could get you killed... no, any one of those things was enough to wipe out your entire family lineage.

    And yet...

    Leonel took a step forward and suddenly thrust out. Cracked lines of crimson appeared across his body, fragmenting and fracturing his tattoos as a halo appeared behind him, reflecting his Mana Core in a reflective image.

    Willowyn was in stunned silence and didn''t seem to notice the danger at all.

    When she looked up, the spear had already appeared before her.

    She stared at it, the tip reflecting in her dull golden eyes.

    It really was rage. She didn''t know what the emotion was because she had simply never felt it. Or maybe ever since she grew past the point of feeling anger about insignificant things because she was no longer a child... she had forgotten what it felt like. Even for her, it took a while to realize what it was that was stirring inside of her.

    At that moment, her hair began to whip around like mighty vines, each one clapping like thunder as they shredded apart the sound barrier several times over...

    Or, they would have had they not been in the void. But that reality only made them even faster.

    Just when the spear was about to pierce through her chest, they whipped out all at once.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Each one was precise, each one landing in the same exact spot and expelling the danger of the spear in a single sweep.

    Leonel felt his wrist shake and his shoulder almost rip out of its socket. His senses could grasp five whips, but his body only seemed to feel a single, layered strike.

    His spear was blown back, and vines and roots began to spread out of Willowyn''s body in a mighty tempest.

    "DIE!" she shrieked.

 Chapter 2957 Abyssal

    Chapter 2957 Abyssal

    It felt like danger was descending from all sides. No matter where Leonel''s senses locked onto, he realized that there was no escape. It was suffocating, as though his mind itself was being forced to bow in the face of a power far greater than his own.

    Even in a Mortal World, and restrained so much... a God couldn''t be blasphemed against.

    And yet, in the face of all of this, Leonel''s gaze was frighteningly cold.

    He met Willowyn''s dull golden gaze. In fact, they were no longer dull, having begun to glow with such a bright vitality it looked as though the Ambrosia of Gods was combusting.

    The vines lashed out, each one with a force capable of destroying planets and sundering stars. If it hadn''t been for the fact they stood in the void, reality itself would have been lacerated to pieces.

    Leonel took a step forward as though stepping into the embrace of a demon. His Destruction World superimposed with reality, and the void trembled and solidified.

    At that moment, his Destruction World was easily ten times more powerful than it was usually. Rather than having to displace the laws of another world, or combat the corruption of Anarchic Force, it could just exist.

    In that moment, the strength of the vines Willowyn deployed plummeted.

    His spear struck out just a single time, the Mage Core to his back blooming as the cracks along his skin grew fiercer and more sinister.

    The stroke of his spear carried a wisp of foggy red Destruction and in that instant, split into countless pieces.

    Swift.

    Like stars streaking across the skies, his spear ignored time and space, parrying all of the vines in a single instant.

    His spear didn''t collide with them head-on, gliding against their bodies and flicking them up, to the side, and toward the ground.

    PA! PA! PA! PA! PA!

    Finally, sound seemed to travel normally, and reality began to bend and warp in Leonel''s Destruction World.

    Even so, it was odd. It didn''t quite feel... right. Rather than fighting back against being destroyed, the Destruction World seemed to relish in the feeling.

    Willowyn''s aura erupted and her body grew from over three meters tall to easily over five.

    At that moment, two Worlds clashed, one of creation and vitality, and the other of Destruction.

    Leonel''s spear never stopped, and he didn''t seem to notice the change at all.

    From the beginning, Willowyn had looked down on him, only using physical attacks to lash out. They said that the Sylvans were the most wise, and yet all Leonel seemed to see... was a Race of Gods that was just as arrogant as all the others.

    Treating humans like ants, disregarding their lives, and yet in the same breath fearing them enough to cross Existence to hunt them down.

    Leonel truly... looked down on them from the bottom of his heart.

    The world seemed to react to his disdain and a thrum of vitality pulsed, crushing Willowyn''s in a single bound before she could even build up momentum.

    Trying to make your own world within his own... using her Dream Force to give it a kernel of Life...

    She stood not a single chance. In fact, it felt as though she was the one who had provoked a God instead of the other way around.

    The Sylvan''s expression changed, coughing up a mouthful of blood. Since the start of the battle, regardless of how much power Leonel had displayed, or how shocked she had been, this was the first she had truly been injured.

    She felt in that moment that had she not cut off her world early, her Sylvan Heart would have ruptured and exploded.

    Leonel took another step forward, blood lightning crackling around him. He thrust out thrice, three lances of crimson bolts taking shape and ripping through the cascade of vines.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Three holes of massive proportion were blown through Willowyn''s rainfall of whipped roots, almost making it to her main body.

    At that moment, the smoldering smoke that came out from the corners of Leonel''s eyes and his feet seemed to catch fire.

    With his feet and eyes blazing, he looked like a Demon that had just taken a step out of the abyss of hell.

 Chapter 2958 Cost

    Chapter 2958 Cost

    The ashen land of blood that had formed beneath their feet trembled, and ten Stars appeared behind Leonel.

    Every time he attacked, he seemed to have made another breakthrough, and another surge of power followed it up.

    It was suffocating to the point that Willowyn couldn''t help but remember that pair of eyes that had shaken up the entirety of Existence.

    There was a reason she had reacted so fiercely to those streaks of crimson lightning. That was because she recognized them well, though she had never seen them personally.

    It was said that beyond everything, beyond the Northern Star, and beyond even those limits, there was nothing but a land of Destruction where primordial chaos reigned.

    In that region, there was a hierarchy of energy, one that started from the lowest forms of Destruction and rose up to the very highest.

    The lowest form was a smoldering wisp of smoke that looked like the dying embers of a flame.

    The next form was a crimson fog, one that looked almost like paprika dancing into the wind after being blown away.

    The next form beyond that was the very same Crimson Lightning that she had just seen, a form of Destruction so severe and heart-rending that it was the first of its kind that couldn''t be sampled.

    There were samples of the smoldering smoke and the crimson fog in the Sylvan Race''s stores. But as far as Willowyn knew, no one but the Pluto had managed to catch a wisp of this blood lightning.

    And now, she was seeing it right before her eyes, a form of Destruction that only the rarest of Void Beasts should have been able to use.

    But worse than that, barely after she had gotten over its form, she saw the next.

    When the crimson fog and the smoldering smoke made themselves a match in Heaven and were then sparked by the crimson lightning, they formed the first level of Destruction... or rather... the first level that had a true name that wasn''t just formed from its form and color.

    Prometheus Flames.

    And when their voices began to echo, a Natural Force Art appeared before Leonel just as his spear thrust right through it.

    It pierced through the air, through space, through time.

    The spear strike didn''t seem to have even finished just yet when a hole was torn through Willowyn''s forehead.

    At that moment, a violent aura came from her once more and it seemed like yet another Ancestor was about to take shape.

    But this time, Leonel was ready.

    "Piss off."

    His Destruction World trembled and the connection that was trying to be formed from the outside world was severed.

    In a distant world, an Ancestor of the Sylvans suffered backlash, shocking the entire Race. And yet, it had nothing to do with Leonel at all.

    He grabbed out at the air and Willowyn''s body surged toward him.

    His arm pierced through her chest as he looked her in the eyes, his own dancing with smoldering flames.

    Then, he ripped her heart out.

    Willowyn''s expression was painted with shock. Never in her wildest imaginations did she think that this would be the place she died... never did she think that she would lose her life to a human of all things... and never did she think he would do so with such candor... such indifference... as though she was insignificant and her background meant nothing at all to him.

    She realized in those final moments that she had made a mistake, not just in where she had chosen to ambush Leonel, but also not taking him seriously enough to prepare like she would have with an enemy that she actually respected.

    And it cost her her life.

 Chapter 2959 Halves

    Chapter 2959 Halves

    Leonel reached a hand forward and the world twisted.

    "[Arise]."

    He ripped Willowyn''s soul out from her body, and this time, thanks to his World, her Ancestor couldn''t even try to appear. In fact, they wouldn''t even sense what happened here until he turned it off and left this region. By then, it would be far too late for them to do much of anything at all.

    But even with her soul out of her body, Leonel didn''t let her body off either. With a grab at the air, her heart was ripped out of her chest and appeared in his palm.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    He took a breath and a familiar scene replayed itself. Slowly, but surely, a second ring took form on his other hand and the amount of vitality pumping through him skyrocketed.

    Bracken and Willowyn were both on the same level, and with their vitality working in tandem to rage through his body, Leonel felt that his clear view of Life Force had reached an entirely new level.

    Maybe soon, he would finally have a breakthrough that allowed him to push his Vital Star Force to the Creation State. However, he didn''t have the time to waste on sitting around and waiting for that moment.

    His Destruction World vanished and a wave of fatigue hit him. Quickly, his two rings pulsed through him, churning out waves of vitality.

    The two Sylvans had basically begun to make his body their territory, and by now, it was probably impossible for anyone to sense them unless Leonel allowed them to.

    Essentially, the very same methods that Willowyn had used to hide herself from the Beastmen, and the method that Bracken had tried to use to hide from Leonel, was playing out right here and now.

    Due to this, Leonel had the Domains of two Sylvans concentrated on his body, which was allowing an even fiercer flow of Life Force to concentrate onto him.

    So the question was... what had they brought? And was it because Willowyn was too arrogant that she hadn''t used them before she died? Or was it because they were difficult to set up normally?

    After scanning their rings, Leonel found several interesting things, many of which were quite expensive, but none of them truly called out to him.

    Yes, it was clear that these were the items of Gods. But it wasn''t to the point that he would salivate over them.

    Leonel alone had his fair share of wealth. After all, he had seen the best treasures in all of existence, and right now, he had two of them on hand, one being his Life Tablet and the other being the Segmented Cube.

    Plus, he was now a God Armament Crafter. It was impossible for normal treasures to catch his attention because even in comparison to what a Sixth Dimensional God would wield...

    He was already confident in making better treasures for himself.

    However, after shifting through all the stuff he found relatively useless, and deciding how he would distribute them to those that needed them more than he did, he finally found what he was looking for.

    With narrowed eyes, he took out a pair of keys. They seemed inconspicuous and he had almost overlooked them entirely. But his senses weren''t so easy to fool.

    These keys had a strong pulse of spatial energy to them. But it was ironically because this pulse was so strong that they were easy to ignore. That was because it felt like they were displaced through space and hovering in a sort of limbo that was external to their world. As such, they were easy to overlook... almost like a fly buzzing around dozens of kilometers from you.

    But when they were in his palms like this, he could feel their heft. In fact, he realized that if he pulled them out of the spatial fluctuations they were hiding in, their size would dwarf his body.

    What was more interesting than this was that the two halves of the keys were separated between their spatial rings. Willowyn had one and Bracken had had the other. And now that they were both present, they seemed eager to slam together. If not for Leonel''s control, they would have already.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed and he stopped holding them back.

 Chapter 2960 Answer

    Chapter 2960 Answer

    BANG!

    The halves of the key slammed together, and suddenly Leonel felt as though the world had been enveloped in a seal.

    He was taken aback for a moment before his eyes blazed with realization. This was... truly too convenient.

    This key couldn''t be considered to be a God Armament. A God Armament was not only a classification of powerful weapons but also a sub-class of treasures that allowed themselves to fuse with flesh and blood.

    Of course, The Hourglass was also capable of this. It was just that El''Rion hadn''t reached this step yet, and it was also quite dangerous to form such synergy with it.

    But that was also why it had the weight of a world in Leonel''s hands, but had been as light as a feather in El''Rion''s.

    Under this sort of classification, this enormous golden key that rose up like a pillar into the skies certainly wasn''t a God Armament. However, despite not being one, if Leonel was correct, it would light up at least 50 runes on the Truth Pillar. And that was a conservative estimate.

    This golden key was capable of forming its own world within a world. It had its own World Spirit, and in this way, it was a lot like Anastasia, but far less sentient and only designed to do a single thing.

    Anastasia was far more flexible, and though she had her flaws, she was more like a true human than any World Spirit Leonel had ever seen before.

    But this golden key''s World Spirit was pretty much a hollow husk. It was only designed to form a Domain within a world that could act as its own personal space.

    Why was it that Leonel was so excited about this treasure? It was because it was exactly what he needed.

    If he was correct, the Sylvans definitely had more than one of this treasure, and likely had many. That meant it was probably common enough that members of the God Race would recognize it and understand its weaknesses.

    The reason he made this deduction was that they had sent two youths with this treasure, and their standing in their Clan wasn''t nearly as high as El''Rion''s to his.

    In addition, it had to be remembered that when El''Rion wielded The Hourglass, he was doing it at the behest of the entire Pluto Race. The Pluto Race had only appeared on Earth to repay a favor they owed the Fawkes.

    In that case, it made much more sense for him to have such a valuable treasure on him, especially since an Ancestor of the Void Race eventually got involved.

    That was all to say that while he might be able to gamble that the Demi-Gods wouldn''t see through the weakness of this treasure, the Gods certainly would.

    That only left one option for him.

    He had to modify this treasure to suit him.

    Leonel was worried about doing this at all. The most valuable part of this treasure was the World Spirit itself. Its existence was what allowed it to function the way it did. Though the ores used to form it were likewise incredibly valuable God Grade materials, they were secondary.

    He was confident that with his current level of skill, he could modify this treasure. It would just take him time.

    One might wonder, then, what would happen to the Spirituals in the meantime. And quite frankly... Leonel didn''t care.

    That wasn''t because he was cruel... but rather because he was certain he knew who had betrayed his location.

    There was only one way Willowyn could have intercepted him like this, and that answer lay with the Spirituals.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

 Chapter 2961 Feel Good

    Chapter 2961 Feel Good

    Leonel walked forward slowly, but his steps seemed to take him across the cosmos. When he entered the range of the Spiritual''s home, he slowed down.

    The region was exceptionally quiet. It should have been ravaged by enemies from all sides, but it looked as though nothing happening in the outside world had anything to do with them. In fact, it was like they were completely at peace.

    Leonel didn''t react much to this information. He seemed calm and indifferent, his thoughts smooth and his breathing even.

    He took a step forward and entered the bubble. He didn''t do anything special, simply walking high in the skies as though nothing could affect him. In that moment, he seemed to be just as much at peace as the world around him.

    Down below, there were Spiritual children talking and laughing, couples lost in their romance, and some of the elderly who were enjoying their old age. It was a true paradise. They lived in harmony with nature, and there didn''t seem to be any worries on their hearts.

    Leonel walked around and tried to find the dark side of things, but it truly seemed as though the Ma''at Bubble had no such thing. If he didn''t know better, he would have thought that this was the true God Realm, the place that everyone should want to ascend to.

    As he experienced these things, he grew calmer and calmer. He thought about the situation the Human Bubble was in, teetering on life and death. He thought about how his life in the Incomplete Bubble had been thrown on its head and toward greater and greater chaos. He thought about how the Dwarven Bubble had just been seconds away from collapsing entirely.

    Indeed. Compared to those situations, the land of the Spirituals was truly impossibly peaceful.

    For every smile he saw, those thoughts only seemed to bang against the cage of his mind and his heart all the more. It was a violent change that seemed to want to grip and take control of him.

    And yet, he seemed to bask in it calmly. His eyes never flickered or changed, his killing intent was restrained and unnoticeable, and even as he walked from city to city, he not only didn''t kill a single person, but he only seemed to grow calmer.

    By the time he had strolled to the central castle of the Ma''at Bubble, a place he had just been a couple of months ago, his aura was so restrained that even if one looked at him, it would feel as though they were looking right through him toward something behind. Even if someone swept their Internal Sight over, there would be absolutely nothing to see, as though everything that was him had been stripped away from the world.

    He had made such a mistake once before. He wouldn''t make it again. While it would give him some satisfaction to destroy the Ma''at Bubble, it was precisely because he had once destroyed the Beast Domain and Nomad Domain of the Dimensional Verse that he had restrained himself from doing so.

    Only by basking in this feeling and still choosing to take the path most wouldn''t, would he really feel like he had settled that piece of him down and reconciled with it.

    As he stepped forward, the doors to the Ma''at Palace opened on their own. The world listened to the call and intention of his heart, and he stood calmly atop it all. Even as he strolled in, no one seemed to notice him until it was far too late.

    He stood in the depths of Ma''at territory, staring high into the skies as though he had reached some sort of enlightenment. The rage in his heart was blown away by a gentle wind. He stood before the throne of the Ma''at Spirituals, a place that was sacred beyond compare. He looked down from the skylight above and gazed at the gaudy display. Then, he suddenly vanished, disappearing from the world entirely.

    In the place he had just stood, there were a pair of footprints that had seared into the ground, the only sign that Leonel had been there before. By the time the Spirituals sensed something and came rushing in, he was long gone.

 Chapter 2962 Violet Winds

    Chapter 2962 Violet Winds

    Lady Emberheart burst into the throne room, her heart beating out of her chest and cold sweat running down her back. She gripped her ribbon tightly as though prepared for the fight of her life.

    Soon afterward, a pair of elders followed her. These two were none other than the Ancestors of the Ma''at. Though their reaction wasn''t as fierce as Lady Emberheart''s, the seriousness in the pinch of their brows couldn''t be underestimated in the slightest.

    But when they burst in, they found that nothing at all was waiting for them. Their hearts seized as they felt that there was no way they had misinterpreted those sorts of signs. Someone powerful had been here, so where did they go? Or more importantly, what had they done while they weren''t paying attention?

    Their hearts leapt into their throats as they looked around, checking every tile until they spotted a pair of footprints.

    Their hearts beat fast, nearly rushing out of their bodies. Sweat poured off of them in waterfalls.

    The throne room of the Spirituals was an exceptionally sacred place. Not many knew, but no one sat on this throne, not even Lord Emberheart. The reason was that this Throne wasn''t made for them.

    Generations ago, before the Spirituals branched off from the Human Race, they were just known to be more talented forms of humans. They were still born as souls, but the difference was that just as they were about to be birthed, their mothers would have to consume a great deal of resources to form fleshly bodies for them.

    The difference between that time and now was that Spirituals were fully born as souls and then constructed their own bodies themselves.

    It was thanks to this that the connection between Spirituals and humans was hidden. Most didn''t know if one was born a Spiritual or not because the entire process was hidden within their mother''s wombs. Often, even the mother wouldn''t be aware of what was happening until she approached her due date and began to inexplicably lose weight in an unhealthy fashion.

    Of course, this loss of weight was a result of her baby stripping her of the resources it needed to construct its body. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    For a long time, the Human Race thought that these babies were just supremely talented geniuses that needed more support to be born. And technically, they weren''t wrong.

    It wasn''t until a large enough population of these meta-humans began to be born that everyone began to research into this matter and realized the uniqueness of the Spirituals.

    They had used the Human Race to achieve their own goals, and they knew that once they were gone, the Human Race might truly be finished. As such, they made a way out for the Human Race...

    What many didn''t know was that the prophecies of the tablets didn''t come until long after they were first created...

    And, some legends said that they weren''t written by the Infinity Beasts at all. In fact, the Life Grade Legacy Tablet told of a blade that crossed through space and time, carving itself into the indestructible metals that formed the Tablet.

    The Violet Winds Rise North.

    It was said that once this person appeared, the Spirituals would likewise return to the Human Race. Then, this Violet Wind would point his blade northward toward what could only be one thing...

    The Northern Star.

    This Throne was a reminder of that. It was always pointed North, and if one sat on it and looked at the skylight above, it would be possible to stare right into the maw of the approaching Northern Star.

    It was an ownerless Throne, one that should be impossible even to approach. Even for them, the aura of the Throne was so great that they were still over two hundred meters from it and couldn''t approach closer even if they tried.

    And yet...

    There was a pair of footprints right before the throne, burning into a metal that should have been indestructible to Mortals and Demi-Gods alike.

    And these pair of feet were pointed south.

    Something about that sight made their hearts turn to ash, a guilty, clawing feeling gnawing at their hearts and their souls.

    Just what... Just what had they done?

 Chapter 2963 True Peace

    Chapter 2963 True Peace

    Lady Emberheart was having a hard time calming the harsh beating of her heart. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t seem to take her eyes off the pair of footprints as though they were being seared into her ground as well as her thoughts.

    Somehow, even without laying eyes on him, she knew exactly who had been here. But if she was correct, this was terrible. Worse than she could even imagine.

    It was clear that the two Ancestors by her side had realized the same thing, and seemed to only now understand just how close to death they had been.

    The killing intent permeating through the air was suffocating. Maybe under usual circumstances, they might be able to approach at least 100 meters. But now, even double that was difficult.

    It was like they were teetering on the edge of a blade, and they had been let off in the face of a storm. They had just been one thought away from their peaceful lives being destroyed down to the very last of them.

    If Leonel had come here, there was only one explanation: he had either defeated or maybe even killed a God.

    Willowyn alone had been able to solve their predicament. That was why there were no Invalids in this region, or any Spiritual Bubble for that matter.

    What did it mean for Leonel to be able to defeat her?

    Now, they found themselves standing on pins and needles... just wondering when the other foot was going to drop.

    **

    Leonel sat before his workbench, his mind calm. In the end, he had ended up visiting the Spirituals before he could even start on modifying the enormous spatial key, and that was because he really couldn''t hold back his fury.

    In the end, he took it to be an opportunity.

    That state of tranquility had allowed him to break free of the Demoness'' hold, and his soul, which had been entrenched in rivers of blood, broke free from their chains as well.

    Although his Dream Force didn''t break through and enter the Peak Creation State, he felt that its foundation had grown both denser and wider. It thickened and he felt that it stretched further than it ever had before.

    Now, when he sat down before his workbench, allowing his fingers to glide across the wells that stood before him, he was truly calm.

    He could feel true peace.

    "Let''s go, Tolliver."

    BLOOP

    There was a surge and a tsunami-like wave of silver and gold liquid rushed forward.

    The key was formed of two halves, and as far as Leonel saw it, this was a flaw as well. The moment the two halves were fused, and the reason they had to be kept separate, was because the moment they touched, the treasure would activate.

    In Leonel''s eyes, this was a clear and obvious lack of control, and an even more obviously janky solution to what should have otherwise been an extremely elegant treasure.

    It reminded him a lot of what the Minerva had put Anastasia through. The reason the Sylvans had to take such a roundabout path was because they couldn''t properly control the World Spirit hidden in this treasure. They could only suppress it and then channel its power outward.

    With every step in Crafting that Leonel took, he had Anastasia in mind. That was because ever since he realized that her thought processes were flawed, he wanted to fix the mistakes the Minerva had left behind.

    In terms of research into this particular field, while he didn''t dare to say that he was truly number one in this regard, with his current skill he wasn''t far off.

    But unlike with Anastasia, he didn''t care about this World Spirit''s quality of life. So his range of options was much wider.

 Chapter 2964 Superfluous

    Chapter 2964 Superfluous

    Half a month later, Leonel opened his eyes, a newfound sharpness gleaming in them. With a wave of his hand, a hovering key fell into his palm, now whole and perfect. A swirl of ash appeared in his hands, and the key vanished, entering his Destruction World. With a step, he too vanished. It was about time he unleashed some real carnage.

    ...

    Leonel appeared high above the skies of the Dwarven Race. News that the army had been destroyed had likely already circulated, so he had come back to ensure that their side was still holding up. However, he found no army waiting for him. He scanned the region, his eyes narrowing.

    "Interesting."

    Leonel took a step and vanished into the void once again.

    ...

    Leonel''s steps were slow and deliberate. This time, he didn''t seem to be speeding himself up with spatial laws at all. Rather, he was calm, collected, and indifferent to everything. He strolled through the world as though he wasn''t the most wanted criminal in Existence. His almost frank casualness was ingrained into the minds of all those who saw him.

    It had been a while since he was such a wanted man. He still remembered when Shield Cross Stars wanted to hunt him down. But in truth, he had never really experienced what that felt like. They didn''t have the ability to lock onto him from countless light-years away, and so he didn''t even have to disguise himself to slip from their jurisdiction. He literally just had to enter a new star system.

    This time, escape wasn''t nearly so easy. There was likely not a single region in all of Existence that could house him. If his Dream Force didn''t become powerful enough, any Ancestor-level figure with a Dream Force Dharma could find him with enough time unless he kept constant guard and vigilance or spent the rest of his life in the Segmented Cube.

    But right now, he wasn''t even bothering to hide himself. Not only that, but he was in the Demi-God Realm, where even Gods were far less suppressed than they would be otherwise. In fact, even his aura was leaking out in waves.

    Everywhere he passed by, the flowers and plants wilted, the ground seemed to be sucked of all its moisture, and space trembled and cracked. But Leonel himself didn''t seem to be infuriated.

    He was so calm that it was frightening, so calm that there was nothing more than a tranquil lake in the depths of his eyes, so calm that his emotions were unreadable even by the most powerful of Dream Force experts.

    Then another appeared moments later, and they were slaughtered as well.

    Leonel could tell what they were doing. They were sacrificing themselves to make sure he stayed here, trying to delay him to ensure that Shan''Rae would have the time she needed to arrive.

    What they didn''t know was that Leonel had come here precisely to kill Shan''Rae.

    The deaths of the two Sylvans weren''t enough to satisfy him. He wanted the God Realm to fear him, to think twice about sending anyone down here at all. He wanted to suffocate them and infuriate them to the point they couldn''t even raise their heads before a little human like him.

    BANG!

    The air exploded, and a valiant woman whose skin painted the sights of the cosmos appeared. On her head, a foggy, dreamlike blackness whipped around wildly like hair, and her gaze, a depth of endless white, was sharp and menacing.

    When she locked eyes with Leonel, her killing intent exploded. It seemed that she hadn''t even noticed that all her armies had been wiped out. Or, maybe... she simply didn''t care.

    She waved a hand, and a scythe appeared in it. It had a blade that looked like a jagged cut in space rather than one that had been forged by the hands of living beings. And it was almost comically large.

    She alone stood at three meters tall, but the polearm of her scythe was double that, and its curved blade was at least that long.

    "DIE!"

    She didn''t say any superfluous words. She felt that this human had lived long enough.

    Leonel calmly met her gaze and then stamped his key into the ground.

    The world seemed to quake at that moment.

 Chapter 2965 Indifferent

    Chapter 2965 Indifferent

    The moment the key stamped into the ground, it was as though the skies were overturned. A rush of gold spread out in all directions, and it felt like the two were instantly cut off from the rest of the world, enveloped by a dome of dark gold.

    With a rush of violent air, the two were transported to a land with soil dyed with blood and skies as black as ink.

    Shan''Rae''s slash continued and seemed to want to cut this world in two, but Leonel calmly stretched out a hand, tattoos erupting around his body as a spear that roared with the echoing Will of hundreds of Fallen God Beasts appeared in his hand.

    With a single tremble, rather than the tear in space caused by the scythe closing, it ripped apart even more violently and became so chaotic that Shan''Rae felt as though her weapon was slipping out of her control. Her Scythe Force slipped away from her, and her wrists nearly shattered beneath the impact.

    Leonel took a step and seemed to walk through the rift in space as though it wasn''t even there, as though he thrived in the chaos and destruction.

    Before Shan''Rae could react, his spear was at her chest. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

    It pierced right through, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood, her eyes widening in shock.

    "I didn''t expect... that the Void Race would be so pathetic."

    Leonel''s voice sounded almost apathetic. He stared into Shan''Rae''s eyes, and she felt her pierced heart shudder, a process that only caused her to cough up another mouthful of blood.

    She stood far taller than Leonel, and yet at that moment, it didn''t seem to matter in the slightest. She was the child, and he was the towering mountain. His presence alone in her senses felt as large as multiple worlds, as though this world and its will were his own...

    And that was precisely the case.

    Just as the scythe was about to take his head off, a finger lightly raised and tapped down on the polearm of his spear.

    Once again, space grew so volatile that Shan''Rae''s scythe was almost entirely ripped out of her control. At first, there was a clear line between herself and Leonel''s neck. But suddenly that space became a wild net of winding paths, and before she realized what happened, she missed, her scythe soaring over Leonel''s head and not even taking a piece of his hair.

    Having cut through nothing, Shan''Rae stumbled back a half step. It wasn''t a good feeling to pull all your strength into a move, only to have the chair ripped out from under you.

    She recovered quickly, and it was just a minor step, and yet, in a battle of experts, that was truly all that was needed.

    Leonel appeared before her. She had yet to fully regain her balance, and it was clear that he had moved first because he knew this would happen.

    Shock melted across her face as she found herself staring at her own headless corpse.

    She had... lost her head??

    Leonel''s wrist flickered, and his spear cut across the world hundreds of times in an instant.

    The world fell silent before there was an explosion of blades.

    In less than a breath, Shan''Rae''s body was severed into just as many pieces, collapsing into a rain of blood that fell like heavy meteors.

    Leonel watched from start to end... completely indifferent.

 Chapter 2966 Destruction Sovereignty

    Chapter 2966 Destruction Sovereignty

    Leonel continued to watch, his mind calm. He didn''t feel any sense of satisfaction killing Shan''Rae. He had long since forgotten his grievances with this woman as it seemed so very insignificant in the grand scheme.

    But even if he had still taken such grievances seriously, he still wouldn''t feel pride toward such a thing. He had never seen himself as beneath the Gods, so why would he feel pride about being on par or surpassing them?

    In truth, he couldn''t ever remember feeling pride after a victory. Maybe satisfaction, maybe he liked the feeling... but pride? The only person who could have made him feel pride after defeating him was already dead.

    As for how he had defeated Shan''Rae, it was quite simple. After he learned of what the Lineage Factor and abilities of the Void Race were from the Life Tablet, he already understood exactly how to defeat them.

    Their control over space was truly second to none. With a thought, they could cross worlds, shrink a city to the size of a palm, or even call the skies down to them. They could use it fluidly to attack, defend, or move. Space was akin to an extension of their very being, a resonance of their senses.

    It could even be said that when a member of the Void Race stepped into a region, their bodies were already manipulating the space.

    Their bodies were similar to planets but on another level entirely. Their weight was obscene, and they carried all the heft of every one of the worlds that they had ever absorbed.

    Because of this, space naturally warped and bent around them. And from birth, the members of the Void Race were taught how to coddle this space and make it their own. That was why a world wasn''t destroyed every time a member of the True Void Race took a step, and it was also why the space around them was so easily controlled as well. It might as well have been called weight manipulation rather than spatial manipulation.

    All of that said, the difference didn''t particularly matter to Leonel, because whether it was true spatial manipulation or not, the counter was the exact same.

    Leonel didn''t need to stifle or stop their spatial manipulation. In fact, he could allow them to enhance it as much as they wanted, and he wouldn''t even bother to stop them or feel fear.

    The reason for that was because this level of spatial manipulation required a great deal of control and expert fine-tuning. So, when something that required so much control was thrown in a land of chaos... Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    How could they still control it so well?

    He created a Natural Force Art aligned with the space of this region, and then baptized it in his Destruction Sovereignty. And that had had precisely the effects he thought it would.

    The original Natural Force Art would have allowed him the ability to manipulate space freely and smoothly...

    But his Chaotic Natural Force Art allowed him the ability to manipulate how others saw and interacted with the space.

    He realized now that his Destruction Sovereignty was actually a path that was unprecedented.

    If normal Force Manipulation tended toward Order, surging toward the First Dimension...

    Then what about Force Manipulation tinted by Destruction Sovereignty?

    Leonel rested his spear on his shoulder, and the muscles and veins of his body rippled.

    At that moment, the bits and pieces of Shan''Rae''s body shuddered, and her head, which had flown high into the skies, echoed out with a banshee-like screech.

    This time, she was truly infuriated.

    Her Ability Index activated, and to Leonel''s slight surprise, he couldn''t suppress it like he had with Willowyn''s.

    BOOM!

    "DEATH COUNTER!"

 Chapter 2967 Death Lord

    Chapter 2967 Death Lord

    Leonel looked forward without a word. Death Counter... sounded interesting. It reminded him a lot of his own Dream Counter. But the difference was that Dream Counter only activated when he was about to die and his real body wouldn''t react in time. As such, it triggered a reflexive response. But this Death Counter... well, for all intents and purposes, Shan''Rae was dead. And then she reversed it.

    These were two wholly different things. And Leonel also couldn''t be bothered to remember the last time he had to use Dream Counter in the first place because... it had been too long since he needed to rely on such a thing.

    Still, that didn''t stop him from admitting that this method was far more profound. One delayed or stopped death, and the other completely reversed it. They were on two completely different levels, but that much should have been obvious by the fact Shan''Rae''s Ability Index couldn''t be stopped by his world.

    ''So that''s what it is, huh?''

    Leonel used the Life Tablet to take a look and he saw what Shan''Rae''s Ability Index was in an instant.

    It was an Ability that gave her Death Force affinity, one known as Death Lord. It quite literally allowed her to lord over death. But what was odd about this ability was that one had to become intimately familiar with death first.

    Meaning... Leonel seemed to have helped Shan''Rae out. If he hadn''t been in such a foul mood these past recent days, he certainly would have laughed. It was too amusing.

    Shan''Rae had probably never truly faced death in her life. So as a result, she was only capable of superficially using Death Force. In the end, she mostly ignored her Ability Index and relied on her Lineage Factor and her Blackhole Force.

    This was a smart choice. Death Force was in a weird category of its own, much like Life Force, and it was difficult to use without a medium. As such, Death Force affinity alone was difficult to use. Unless it was something like Vital Star Force, which combined Star Force and Life Force, or Blood Force, which allowed one to use Life Force freely while having Blood as a medium, it was too hard.

    Shan''Rae''s choice, for all intents and purposes, was actually quite intelligent and it made sense.

    However, all Leonel could see was a coward.

    He moved, and his spear erupted with him. The Mage Core Tree fluttering beautifully in the reflective mirror of his halo shuddered, and Force Arts began to appear one after another in the way of his spear.

    His blade pierced right through them and met Shan''Rae''s scythe.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The two vanished and erupted with a great amount of power. Their skills weren''t visible to the naked eye, their bodies akin to wisps of wind in a violent hurricane.

    The only proof that they were still continuing to fight at all were the resonating clashes that boomed across the air. Ironically, if not for the golden key that Leonel had laid, this Demi-God World would have already begun to fall apart at its seams, the strength far too menacing and overpowering for it to be withstood.

    At that moment, Leonel''s Earth Force moved and the crimson soil that was beneath their feet shifted as well.

    With a thought, mountain ranges and valleys began to appear one after another. And as they did so, the strength that Leonel was capable of displaying was increasing with every passing second.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Shan''Rae''s expression sharpened. She realized at that moment that Leonel''s understanding of formations and Force Arts was more profound than anyone she had ever faced in the younger generation. He was actually changing the landscape around them to help Force flood more smoothly to his spear and restricting her at the same time. She could even feel that while her control over Death Force was increasing by leaps and bounds with every second, Leonel was weakening it by the same measure.

    In just a few minutes, she had already gone from the Unfurled State to the Higher Impetus State... Peak Impetus State...

    And yet, it felt like she was still wielding the very same power.

    The Force within her thrummed, and stars shone in her eyes.

 Chapter 2968 Meaningless

    Chapter 2968 Meaningless

    A twin pair of wings that looked like cracked space and severed reality appeared on Shan''Rae''s back. At the same time, her scythe shrank but became more deadly all at once. Her attacks became swifter, space began to suppress and form a Domain around Leonel, all while the scent of death lingered more and more fiercely.

    Leonel indifferently countered everything, his spear moving with the fluidity of a swordfish in the sea. Every strike was firm and precise, and while the air seemed to implode where their blades collided, Leonel was never the reason. His blade was controlled too precisely, too perfectly.

    "[Resonate Hum]." Shan''Rae''s voice echoed as a pair of silvery-black spinning cyclones appeared behind her wings.

    Large amounts of Force began to hammer toward her as though they couldn''t rush forward fast enough, and Leonel was even beginning to sense the barrier the golden key had put up wavering as it was forced to allow this Force in.

    At the same time, he felt that every time the air exploded, Shan''Rae took that borrowed force, fed it into those silvery-black cyclones, and then fed it into her own attack.

    The longer the battle went on, the more energy she gathered, and the more her strength increased.

    It was such a profound level of spatial control that even Leonel felt impressed. If things continued like this, he would find that even if his will wanted to continue, his arms would no longer be able to hold themselves up.

    He wasn''t surprised in the slightest.

    The Void Race''s heritage should be deeper than any he had ever come in contact with. Whatever abilities they had would certainly be amplified to the greatest extent with their techniques, and this [Resonate Hum] was just one of them.

    Her power continued to increase, and Leonel found his wrists shaking and quaking so much that he was having a hard time maintaining his control. If he took the time to re-establish his hold, by then, Shan''Rae''s next attack would come. But if he didn''t take time to stabilize his blade, then his next attack would be duller and less precise.

    The scythe''s strikes came in a relentless avalanche. It was clear that Shan''Rae had already realized that she was no match for Leonel in terms of weapon control and skill. So she abandoned any thought of trying to compete with him in that realm, instead choosing the most violent and brute force approach she could.

    And at this point, with the strength of her body and the potency of her Forces, it was working.

    Until Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened.

    Swift.

    His spear''s speed suddenly doubled, and the world whined and shook.

    Her expression changed and she hesitated, not sure whether to pull down her defenses or to keep them up to weather the storm.

    However, that was when it struck her.

    He hadn''t disappeared.

    He was everywhere.

    He was everything.

    One spear to connect the earth and the skies...

    The line didn''t represent a growth in his blade. It encompassed the artistic concept of a single attack being capable of going anywhere, doing anything. A single two-meter-long spear could touch both the Earth and the Heavens at the very same time.

    What did that represent?

    It meant that her defenses, her senses, her readiness...

    Were all meaningless.

    BANG!

    A single spear pierced through the top of Shan''Rae''s head and cut her body in two.

    Her heart would have leapt into her throat, had it not been for the fact it was now cut in two as well.

    Leonel landed on the ground, huffing for breath and blood leaking out of the corners of his lips.

    He raised a hand to his throat and pulled his fingers back to look at the crimson liquid dripping from it.

    He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

 Chapter 2969 Carnage

    Chapter 2969 Carnage

    Leonel looked at the line of blood dripping down his fingers. He had the ultimate advantage, and yet he had still ended up suffering a blow like this. Any deeper, and the blow would have cut his windpipe. Of course, even if it had cut through half his neck, with his current vitality, that still wouldn''t be enough to kill him. He had been eaten alive before, it was far more difficult to kill him than it would be for a normal human. That was probably also part of why it had been so long since he had used Dream Counter.

    At the same time, it made him realize that the Void Race truly weren''t to be looked down upon.

    If Shan''Rae wasn''t such a coward and had faced death at an earlier date, she would have been far more in tune with her Death Lord Ability Index, and in the end, it would have been enough for her to be a true monster. At that point, Leonel wouldn''t have been able to hold back in his battle against her at all. He would have truly had to go all out, and it was hard to say if he would be able to come out on top in this situation.

    However, now, that no longer mattered. Since her character was so lacking, he would just have to reform it into something completely different.

    Leonel took a step forward and reached out a hand. His Dream Force surged and the world around him churned.

    He could feel a great pull on his soul, a level of weight he had never experienced before.

    Leonel was used to his King''s Might Lineage Factor working even against those several Dimensions above him. But this was the first time he had felt such a struggle while using it against someone who was at the same Dimension as himself.

    Shan''Rae''s weight seemed to be transferred over to her soul itself. It wasn''t just her body that weighed as heavy as universes, but her soul as well. Pulling it out felt like he was grabbing at stars and galaxies, his muscles flexing and his veins popping as he attempted to exert himself.

    The two wooden rings on Leonel''s fingers pumped with vitality, a roaring might coming from them.

    "[Arise]!"

    Leonel''s voice boomed, the diamond on his forehead pulsing with light as the laws of the world twisted around him. The Mage Core tree in the halo that floated behind him whipped about wildly in an ephemeral wind, swaying back and forth as though responding to a powerful call of energy.

    "My King!"

    She roared, her voice echoing with such fearsomeness that it seemed that the world might collapse at any moment.

    Leonel, coated in sweat and blood that fell from his neck and lips, looked down with an indifferent expression.

    He realized now that the weight of resurrecting Shan''Rae wasn''t just a matter of her weight and that of her soul, but rather also the heft of her Ability Index.

    The Death Lord Ability Index was ranked shockingly high in the Life Tablet. Before she awakened it, it was only at the Gold Grade. But now, it was in the Life Grade. It was the highest form of Ability Index that one could receive.

    But what was interesting about this was that now, Shan''Rae felt even more in tune with that power. That was because if awakening this Ability Index required experiencing death... then what did it mean to use it while you were truly dead?

    Leonel had thought that after awakening Shan''Rae like this, he would have to put in a great deal of effort to find the resources he needed so as to not waste her. After all, if he was careless, she would disappear within 24 hours.

    However, he could sense that Shan''Rae was resisting this 24-hour time limit due to the existence of her Ability Index alone.

    Even if he didn''t find something he could use for [Assimilate] and [Breathe] to work on her, she could last several days on her own. In fact, it should be several weeks.

    ''In that case, let''s not waste any time.''

    Until now, in all these battles, Leonel hadn''t brought out his King Summons to battle with him.

    But now, it was about time he unleashed true carnage.

 Chapter 2970 Yet To

    Chapter 2970 Yet To

    "What happened?"

    Elysium''s eyes opened slowly, a hidden sharpness within them.

    "This..."

    The elders looked toward one another. When they had received the report, they didn''t believe it either. But this matter... they didn''t know how to deal with it, and things were also far past the point where it could be brushed off.

    "Patriarch, the situation is bad. We don''t know how, but it seems like Shan''Rae has gained the ability to appear in different worlds seamlessly. She''s moving too fast for us to keep up, and the carnage she''s unleashing is tenfold what it has been in the past."

    It had to be remembered that unlike Leonel, Shan''Rae could only slowly move from one world to another. That was because she didn''t have the ability or the senses to travel through the void. That was true of most people.

    With his evolved Wise Star Order status, this was nothing more than a breeze for Leonel. This was why he was able to go from world to world so quickly even with the teleportation channels shut down and space locked.

    This measure had obviously been done as a counter to the Void Race, who were a race of Spatial Force users. But it had also helped them to counter anyone who might want to take advantage of things in the shadows.

    But somehow, Leonel had been able to ignore this matter with ease.

    Even so, back then, that was still acceptable because they all knew that Leonel had to rely on them to get out of his predicament as well. Plus, Leonel had been killing both sides with equal fervor, and truthfully, the amount of disaster he could cause on his own was very much limited.

    But the consequences of Shan''Rae being able to do the same thing... This was a matter that could no longer be as easily ignored.

    They all had the same thought.

    Could it be that Shan''Rae had finally succeeded in killing Leonel? That seemed to be the only explanation for all of this.

    If the Void Race had sent someone with such an ability, why would they possibly wait so long?

    That seemed to point to the idea that Shan''Rae had killed Leonel and taken whatever treasure or ability he had and was now replicating his feats.

    Elysium''s focus seemed to concentrate on his brows.

    If Shan''Rae managed to take everything that Leonel owned, and she had the backing of the Void Race, this War was practically over.

    Elysium really didn''t want to have to kill Shan''Rae. That sort of enmity wasn''t something that their newly risen Minerva Race could possibly bear.

    All this time, they had been hoping to stall her, letting her nibble at their edges while hiding the true core of their power.

    But once again, Leonel had ruined all of their plans. And this time, he had done it by being far too useless.

    Why couldn''t he hide? Why couldn''t he bide his time? With the attention of so many people split, and with his intelligence, couldn''t he just patiently wait a few more months? That was all they needed.

    But now, they would be forced to take drastic actions, and what would have been a surefire win had become layered in difficulty and unlikelihood.

    Elysium''s gaze flashed with rage, but he quickly calmed down.

    They needed a new plan.

    "Summon everyone," he said slowly, his gaze focusing once more.

    "This will be our final push. Either we live here, or we die here."

    ...

    What they didn''t know was that Leonel was very much alive. Though, to be fair to them, even the Void Race members that were recruited by Shan''Rae to enter "her" Segmented Cube had no idea that Shan''Rae wasn''t the one in charge at all.

    And, what they also didn''t know was that after unleashing a killing spree with his new army of Void Race members, Leonel had vanished from the Demi-God Realms once again.

    As for what his target this time was, it was none other than the Nomad Race.

    There were very few things that could be hidden from him. By this point, he could see the net of secrets and web of lies being spun before him.

    There was another layer of hidden powers at work here, and if they thought they could just hide in the shadows and reap the benefits...

    They had yet to meet him, Leonel Morales.

 Chapter 2971 Palm

    Chapter 2971 Palm

    The Void Race descended on the Nomads. It was such a lopsided affair that it could hardly be called a war. Even hundreds of Nomads weren''t a match for a single Void Race member, so how could these worlds match up to such a large number of them?

    The world that had challenged him to Challenge Sequence, the very same one being puppeted by Flaura, found themselves being burnt to the ground, unable to withstand the change.

    They had just been "fighting" against Invalids, or more accurately, pretending to do so, but now they were being crushed.

    And the reason for all of this hadn''t even shown himself. Leonel just sat in the Segmented Cube in silent meditation, letting Shan''Rae handle it all by herself.

    There was no way that he could control an army of so many Gods on his own. Getting Shan''Rae alone was difficult enough.

    Of course, these Void Race members couldn''t possibly match up to Shan''Rae. But the issue was that there were too many of them, and they still had the same protections as Shan''Rae.

    Then there was also the matter of weight on his soul.

    He had never had such trouble before, but after gaining three God Race Summons, and a Variant Invalid with great power, Leonel began to realize that there was indeed stress involved in supporting so many Summons at once.

    Of course, he was still a long distance away from feeling that he had to calm down and slow it down. He felt that he could easily withstand two or three dozen Shan''Rae''s. But it was also a wake-up call nonetheless.

    As such, he could only use Shan''Rae as a proxy to control these Void Race members, but he didn''t lose out in the slightest. Shan''Rae''s prestige was so high that they didn''t even hesitate to follow her orders, and that was mostly because this was what Shan''Rae should have been doing from the very beginning anyway, but she had been too obsessed with finding and killing Leonel.

    But now that they thought she had succeeded, it only made sense that she would begin to do her duty properly.

    Instead, what he was doing was focusing on the members of the Nomads that were precisely a part of these plans. Every time he attacked one, while he didn''t find information on exactly what he needed, he still managed to find several connections to others.

    Like this, he had Shan''Rae march through the void, attacking these worlds so swiftly that they couldn''t even react. Some battles despite the size of the worlds didn''t even last more than a few minutes. The difference between Mortals and Gods was simply impossibly large.

    It became clear to Leonel after dealing with the Spirituals that Races were divided into many thoughts and philosophies of their own. The Ma''at Bubble was the pinnacle of the Spirituals, but there were many other Spiritual Races with far weaker lineages and bearings.

    As such, he knew that it was impossible to try and blame the entire Race, it would be nothing more than foolishness.

    But he was still shocked to see just how deeply this ran. Even after destroying a dozen worlds, it seemed that the rabbit hole only became deeper and deeper, and the web spread further and wider.

    Eventually, it would be impossible to hide what he was doing. These existences lurking in the dark would never allow him to run so rampant for so long. They definitely had their own plans.

    And soon, that other foot dropped.

    A mighty existence descended from above. The palm alone seemed to blot out the skies and the world shuddered beneath its presence. Everything about it was suffocating to an extreme.

    And yet, when it appeared, Leonel''s lip curled into a sneer.

    It was about damn time.

    BOOM!

 Chapter 2972 Break Through

    Chapter 2972 Break Through

    Leonel reclined in the Segmented Cube and watched the events unfold. He didn''t even make a move. All he did was tell Shan''Rae to prepare to escape, and that was all.

    The instant the palm appeared high above and began to press down, it was like the world was being compressed. An imprint perfectly formed to the hand had already appeared on the ground even while the palm was still among the clouds. It was the greatest form of energy control that Leonel had ever seen.

    And then the destruction was wrought.

    The hand was still several kilometers high above when the first of the Void Race members could no longer handle it and exploded into rains of blood.

    Leonel smiled from within the Segmented Cube, almost carelessly collecting the blood for the sake of his wife and never looking back even a single time.

    When the palm was a kilometer above, he signaled for Shan''Rae, who had been "fighting" against it, to run. Then, the Segmented Cube entered its shuttle form and shot into the distance.

    BOOM!

    Behind them, the world collapsed and over half of the Void Race army crumbled.

    Leonel almost couldn''t stop himself from laughing. This was excellent, almost too good. He had already expected for this to happen, but for some reason, unlike his usual cold indifference when his calculations bore fruit... he just felt happy this time.

    He realized what it was soon after.

    His heart was lighter. Although he had just been through a lot, he hadn''t lost anyone. If anything, there was just more pressure on his shoulders, and it was a weight that he had to bear alone.

    He didn''t realize it in the past, but this weight almost always had an effect on his mood, and that was because there was some cognitive dissonance going on in his mind.

    If he was really so confident about everything, then why did he feel pressure? Why did he feel the weight at all? Shouldn''t he be casual and unbothered by everything?

    He often pretended that he was unbothered, but was this truly the case?

    The obvious answer was no. He felt that weight every time; it was just that he put up a facade, a barrier to protect himself, a false seed ingrained into his very mind that made him feel more superior than he really experienced on the inside.

    But now, he truly felt like himself. He truly felt like Leonel Morales, the man his father had raised him to be and the man he was meant to be.

    There had been some gloom, some rage about his so-called grandmother, and fury toward the actions of the Gods, all of whom were obsessed with suppressing a "little" human like him.

    At the same time as all of this was going on, organizations hidden in the darkness of the Mortal and Demi-God Realms had no choice but to take action as well. All of their plans had been moved up just like the Owlans'' and Fallen God Beasts'' plans had been.

    All the while, the God Races sent several squadrons of people downward, all with one goal: to eliminate Leonel.

    However, what they didn''t expect was that when they descended, rather than finding themselves in a battle with Leonel, they found themselves in an even more heated battle with the Owlans.

    Because of Leonel''s attacks with Shan''Rae on their people, the Alliance had been thrown into chaos. When they saw so many Gods taking action, battle sparked practically immediately. There was simply no escaping it.

    As such, the storm seemed to only be growing larger and larger while Leonel was having fun annoying his wife.

    ...

    "... Mm... I was just about to break through!"

    "Break through something else..." Leonel murmured without thinking very much.

    He suddenly felt a hand slide down his back in response.

    "Hey! Hey! That''s not what I meant!" Leonel jumped in horror.

    Aina''s giggles echoed.

    "Heh, you think you''re a comedian, huh?"

    Leonel grinned evilly and flipped his wife around.

    Aina was shocked as she thought Leonel was about to do something insane.

    She sighed a breath of relief and then moaned when he slid into the right hole.

    But then her eyes widened and her legs curled when a thumb slid in where it shouldn''t.

    Her entire world was overturned, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

 Chapter 2973 Embarassing Breakthrough

    Chapter 2973 Embarassing Breakthrough

    Leonel sprinted away at his fastest possible speed, dodging through trees, twisting around branches, and leaping over mountains.

    "Get back here!"

    Leonel made a yikes expression as he dove over a valley that appeared beneath his feet. He landed on the other side and accelerated again, becoming a beam of light that raced into the distance.

    The moment he hit the ocean waters, he left a trail in his wake, a deep trench splitting the waters behind him.

    "LEONEL MORALES, YOU GET BACK OVER HERE!"

    Leonel sensed his hair stand on end and his Divine Armor took shape. He accelerated again, but feeling as though it wasn''t enough, he took out a bow and arrow and loosed it.

    Space split and he ran in behind it, his speed hitting an all-new gear as a hand appeared just behind him, barely missing his hair with a swipe at the air.

    Leonel sucked in a cold breath, but he couldn''t help but look down. Running this hard while you were naked was really difficult. He had no idea how the Greeks had done it. One wrong slap against his thigh and he would be keeling over in pain.

    BANG!

    Just as he was a bit distracted, a palm appeared before him. One caught the arrow out of the air, and the other slammed against his chest.

    Leonel felt his ribcage bend and whine as though it might crack at any moment. He was sent flying back, his feet flailing in the air as he landed in the trench of water he had created, only for the waves to swallow him up.

    Before he could escape down below, another hand reached down and picked him out of it.

    Leonel coughed, looking at the beauty before him with an innocent expression.

    "Oh, wife. Was that you calling me just now? I could have sworn it was an enemy. I was just trying my best to run to you so that we could fight them together. How embarrassing."

    At this moment, Aina''s golden eyes were shining so bright that it was difficult to even look at her directly. Her hair emitted a mass of bloody energy and Leonel even felt his pores dilate as though his own blood might start pooling out of his own body any time now.

    "Yes, wife. Anything for you, wife."

    "If it''s anything for me, then let''s do it again." Aina''s eyes sparkled, a mischievous light in them.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened as though he had just met a worthy adversary.

    This wife of his always seemed to be on her last legs when they took things so far, but this time, just when he had thought that he had conquered her, she ended up chasing him down across the Segmented Cube''s World.

    This time, it seemed that he would have to well and truly teach her a lesson. She had too much energy.

    Of course, there was another reason that Aina was so embarrassed by all of this, and that was because in that moment, she had broken through the final line of defense and finally comprehended what she needed to in order to complete her next Rebirth.

    For it to take such a situation, and yet she couldn''t accomplish her own breakthrough on her own, she didn''t even know what to say.

    However, this was a matter that she just might very well have to take to the grave. She couldn''t allow Leonel to have this information.

    "For every finger you stick in there, I''m sticking two in you," Aina suddenly said.

    Leonel was speechless. Didn''t she just say that she wanted to go again? It seemed that she wanted to keep things vanilla.

    Inwardly, though, he chuckled.

    Her mouth was saying one thing. Her soul was saying something completely different.

    Round two began, and just when Aina was feeling disappointed thinking that Leonel really took her too literally, it came when she least expected it.

    She completely forgot what happened afterward, her thoughts lost in a whirlwind. The changes in the outside world seemed to have nothing to do with them, when the reality of it all was that it was precisely because of them that things had reached this stage in the first place.

    The God Realm seemed to implode with conflict.

 Chapter 2974 Time

    Chapter 2974 Time

    In a world of smokey whiteness, a Nomad giant stood, his expression furious. He must have been at least 20 meters tall, and it made all the peaks and crevices of his ugly expression all the more obvious.

    He knew that the moment he attacked, there was no going back. But he also couldn''t allow his people to be wiped out to the last man like that. So the moment he did take action, he had already signaled to everybody else. This bloody war would have to start now.ViiSiit  for latest novels

    Just like Leonel had thought, there was simply no way that everyone would be so casual about the actions of the Gods... in particular, those in favor of the culling. They too had become Gods, wading through piles and miles of corpses just for the chance to sit at this height and then what... to watch as their people were massacred year after year just so that those at the top could continue to sit pretty and unperturbed? How could they be willing?

    Of course, this was just the surface reason for all of this as there was a secondary reason for it all as well... Though, for many, this "secondary" reason was likely to be the main reason. If their people were wiped out, who would worship their Dharmas and Idols? Who would give them strength and power through the Dimensions?

    In a way, it seemed like the Gods were just acting for the greater good of humanity and Existence at large, but in truth, they were killing two birds with a single stone. On the one hand, they were lessening the load on Existence by killing the useless. But on the other, they were also weakening the influence of the Gods that had risen up from the Mortal Realms and would eventually have all the right to target the Gods that rose up from the Demi-God Worlds as well.

    This was the cycle of life and the impact of greed. The turnover among Gods wasn''t high in the normal sense, but it was well known that no reign could last forever.

    The Pluto were already on the verge of reaching the end of their rope. Before them, the God Beasts of Destruction and Creation fell. And before them, the Celestial Terras, or the Primordial Terrors, fell before even them.

    History didn''t seem to reach back far enough to know if there was an existence that came before even the Primordial Terrors. This was also part of the reason that they had the word Primordial in their names, representing the beginning and origin... but even if there was something that came before them, who was to say that this was ridiculous or not?

    This was simply the way of the world and it was something that nothing could escape. It was just that this time, these Gods had a convenient method of slowing this process down and stopping others from rising up. They crushed the Fawkes before they could rise up and become the next overlords, and now they were even preemptively doing the same with Mortal Races, all under the guise of helping Existence as a whole.

    It seemed that even compared to breaking such an ironclad rule, Zoltene was seen as the far more dangerous party.

    "I would advise that you all return," Zoltene said lightly. "Unless you come with your true bodies, you have no right to speak to me. And even in the case that you do..."

    Zoltene reached out and an Ancestor God let out a horrible scream. The skies became colored with a crimson-gold as rain fell down from above.

    "... I would still advise you all that you be cautious..."

    In that moment, all of the senses vanished at once, and in their place, several more auras appeared instead. But this time, they were existences that Zoltene didn''t have any antagonism toward.

    If Leonel had been here, he would immediately recognize two auras...

    Goddess Evergreen.

    And...

    The Demoness.

 Chapter 2975 Masochist

    Chapter 2975 Masochist

    "You had a breakthrough?" Leonel asked.

    Aina blushed down to her collarbone. She had tried to be subtle about it, but Leonel had still seen through her instantly. What happened to all that nonsense she read about husbands being dopes? How''d she get stuck with the husband that picked up on every little detail? Here, women were complaining that their haircuts weren''t noticed, and now she had Sherlock Holmes over here picking up on her slightest emotions.

    She reached out and pinched Leonel''s waist, causing him to jump with fright. He couldn''t help but be speechless. What had he done this time?

    "Get me the blood already," she said in a huff before vanishing in a twirl of blood.

    ''Oh? What an interesting movement technique. She turned her entire body into blood... but it looks like she destroyed herself first... how... masochistic...''

    Aina didn''t even seem to register the pain at all, but Leonel couldn''t help but cringe for his wife. In order to activate that sort of technique, she would have needed to grind her flesh and bone into a liquefied mist. Of course, it all happened in an instant... but an instant to warriors of their caliber and an instant to normal humans were two different concepts.

    With Aina''s thinking speed, especially since she was the one actually controlling the technique, she should have felt every single little second of it. And yet, she did it without hesitation to escape in such a needless situation.

    On the one hand, that made him realize just how mentally tough his wife was. But on the other, he couldn''t help but feel for her. She had definitely gone through a lot on her own and in ways that he couldn''t see.

    ...

    Aina needed a great amount of blood to finish her breakthrough, but she had yet to take that final step. Neither of them had been too obsessive about it because they also realized that Aina wasn''t quite ready yet.

    However, Leonel had still been gathering up a large amount of blood just for her. And thanks to a certain Nomad God, he had finally been able to take that final step and gather the rest of what he needed. Of course, he also had a practical ocean''s worth of blood thanks to Shan''Rae as well. After all, he was in control of her soul, not her body. Her body itself still had more blood in it than he could imagine. The body of a Void Race member was truly a treasure. It wasn''t just their skin that was a universe of its own, but their insides as well. Their Nodal Pathways might as well have been starry star paths, roads of infinite length and even more shocking depths.

    Their blood vessels were even more exaggerated. Their bodies alone could be considered a Lineage Factor in and of themselves, and it would likely be fair to consider them like this as well.

    However, just Shan''Rae alone wasn''t enough for what Aina needed. Which was why they were lucky to have the corpses of so many dead Void Race members to take advantage of at the same time.

    Leonel appeared before Aina with his arms crossed about his chest. His playful expression vanished and he looked ahead with the utmost seriousness.

    By now, she had already vanished into layer after layer of bloody roses. By this point, the blood rose was so large that it covered at least a quarter of the surface of the ocean. If this thing was in the outside world, it could be seen from thousands of kilometers away with ease, so large that even after days of walking toward it, it would feel like you hadn''t made any progress at all.

    It was already shocking enough that Aina could even control this amount of blood in the first place, but to control it so perfectly, smoothly, and even to the point that the waters of the ocean had become perfectly still... It was a level of control that was on another level.

    And she had yet to make her breakthrough.

 Chapter 2976 So Badly?

    Chapter 2976 So Badly?

    Leonel watched in silence. The longer he stared at the bloody roses, the more he felt something stirring inside him. Or maybe... it was something on his finger.

    The two pairs of Sylvan Hearts that he had taken were making their presence known and they seemed to be moved by this display. Leonel couldn''t help but wonder if he should give them to Aina, but in the end, he shook his head. That didn''t make much sense.

    For one, she didn''t have the same Lineage Factor as him. And second, she didn''t need the boost to Life Force affinity because even compared to these two Sylvans that he had killed, she was probably still on a level all to herself. Leonel had yet to run into a character with a stronger Life Force affinity than his wife, and it would probably take going to the God Realm to find one.

    Even so, he was fascinated by the movements of the Sylvan Heart. It certainly had its own reasons for reacting like this, and soon he seemed to understand.

    ''The bark...'' Blood Force was attractive to Life Force because it was the best vessel for Life Force. Alone, there wasn''t much that Life Force could do, but when it was attached to Blood Force, it gained a conduit to exert a great deal of power.

    The bark of the Sylvan Race was similar, but it seemed to be a level inferior to Blood Force. However, as a tradeoff, it was likewise easier to control. Blood Force was ultimately a liquid, but Sylvan Bark was a solid; it could be used as a whip, and it was an extension of a Sylvan''s body, naturally making it easier to control. The Sylvan Bark should be excited to see this Blood Force because they could do quite a lot together.

    However, it would only be a hindrance to Aina. As for Leonel, he had no interest in such things either. He only wanted the Sylvan Hearts as a boost to his vitality; he had yet to even use them to attack.

    But then he had an idea.

    ''Aina can make blood clones... I wonder... if we attached Sylvan Hearts to those blood clones, they would be far more powerful... now wouldn''t they?''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    He had already decided to move down the route of quality over quantity for his Summons. The value of Shan''Rae alone was far beyond any of his others. Though, to be fair to them, Leonel had yet to truly use them in battle because it wasn''t time yet.

    But, if he could mass-produce Sylvan Bark, then the blood clones that Aina created would have an extra layer of strength to them. Aina''s blood clones had two main weaknesses. The first was that they had to be within a certain range of the one whose blood they were created from, and second, they were weak and had basically no power at all. Well, the blood clones that she created from herself didn''t have such weaknesses, but that was a separate matter.

    ''It''s a decent idea, but not worth putting so much effort into for now. It would be hard to scale, and I''m not sure if Sylvan Bark would grow without the presence of Sylvan Heart. I''ll need more of those idiots to throw themselves to their deaths before I can 100% confirm this.''

    ''Damn...'' Leonel thought to himself. ''... My wife is kind of badass.''

    ...

    In a hidden world, yet another storm began to brew as a woman with otherworldly beauty opened her eyes.

    She looked over toward a young man who was seated not far, but he seemed to have opened his eyes long ago, staring at her with a hint of fanaticism, but restrained ego.

    "It seems that it''s time," she said lightly. "There will be no better chance."

    She rose to her feet, walking out slowly.

    "This will work," the young man said. "But by then, you''ll have to keep your promise."

    The woman looked toward him. Then, she unexpectedly smiled. The young man was taken aback. She had never seen this woman do such a thing, and it shook him down to his very core.

    "Do you really want me so badly?"

    "YES!" he said without hesitation.

    "Mm... If you could have killed that man, then maybe. Unfortunately, no one else has the opportunity to do so... And his son is yet to give me the same level of pressure..."

    The young man''s expression changed several times, but he grit his teeth, following after.

    These two were none other than Goggles and the Scorned Queen Beauty.

 Chapter 2977 Immortality

    Chapter 2977 Immortality

    Leonel couldn''t stop staring at Aina. Now probably wasn''t the time... but he honestly wondered if it would be possible to make time. She truly looked too perfect, too great, too...

    Aina''s eyes suddenly regained their focus, and she looked at Leonel. With a happy smile, she vanished and appeared before him in a blink. She was so fast that if his Dream Force wasn''t so powerful already, there was simply no way that he''d be able to track her. And yet, even in that case, he had still almost lost her.

    When he replayed the sequence in his mind, he realized why that was. It was because she had truly vanished. She quite literally erased herself from existence in one place and then rebirthed herself in another. It was the most shocking technique that Leonel had ever seen, and he was the man who had faced off against an Envoy all on his own.

    He was very rarely impressed by anything, but this...

    At the same time, the fact that Aina could do this was yet another testament to how much work she had put in. As masochistic as the earlier movement technique was, this was on another level entirely. It could be said that in a sense, she had literally just killed herself. Then, she coopted the Life Force energy in a new region to reconstruct her very being.

    If this was what she meant by forming her own world of Blood, then it was too exaggerated. This was something even more shocking than what a Spatial Force user could ever be capable of.

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more shocked he became. That was because moments later, he realized something else.

    The First Dimension held the Impetus of Creation, and the Second held the Impetus of Life. One sparked the ability for the world to create, and the second sparked the ability for that creation to actually become life, thus leading to the Third Dimension where the first true beings existed.

    A Dharma was considered to be an embryonic Idol, it was the kernel of belief someone had in themselves, the quintessence of their ego and their practice until that point. But it wasn''t until a Dharma became an Idol that it could surpass the influence of the First Dimension. Or, more accurately, it was only then that a person could take a piece of the world to truly be in charge of themselves.

    When facing such an expert, even Aina''s abilities would be meaningless because they could just cut off her connection to the First Dimension and take her life like that. After all, wherever an Idol was, all Dimensions from the First to the Ninth were under the purview of this God.

    After coming to this conclusion, Leonel was the happiest of the two of them. He gripped his wife''s hips with both hands and almost tossed her high into the air. A happy smile spread across his face, a grin that could have lit up the world if he cared for anyone other than this woman to see him.

    If things were like this, would he even need to worry about his wife?

    This wasn''t even her strongest state. If she summoned her Manifestation, then it could be said that she would have a Quasi Dharma to rely on. In that situation, even a God with an Idol would have trouble stopping her from resurrecting if she wanted to do so.

    At that point, one would have to be a God with an Idol crafted with Dream Force. Only that way could you target Aina''s soul...

    But as soon as Leonel had this thought, he realized that even that would be useless.

    That was because Aina''s soul wasn''t like that of others... It was fused with her body! She had taken the purest human path.

    It could be said that unless it was by old age, there was simply no one capable of taking his wife''s life unless she, herself, wanted to die. However, with the support of Leonel''s soul, and the affinity he could grant her with his own Dream Force, not to mention her Clairvoyance and perfect understanding of herself, how could anyone easily mess with his wife''s mental state?

 Chapter 2978 Mental State

    Chapter 2978 Mental State

    Leonel put Aina down and hugged her tightly. At that moment, silently, a burden that he had been holding onto for a long while was put down. He didn''t even sense that his wife was naked, and there wasn''t the slightest bit of lewd thoughts in his mind anymore.

    The last lingering influence of his future self vanished like wisps in the air, and all of the guilt that wasn''t his own to bear disappeared along with it.

    He would never again be faced with losing his wife in this life.

    He held onto her tightly, listening to her breathing, feeling the beat of her heart, the warmth of her skin.

    Aina could feel Leonel''s emotion and her eyes couldn''t help but tear up. She silently laid on his chest, her breathing even and at peace.

    She could also sense that the last lingering darkness in Leonel''s heart had vanished.

    Leonel''s mental state was contradictory a lot of the time, but this was just how the human mind worked. He loved his father, but he had never felt as much guilt toward his death as compared to Aina''s. That was because his father was his idol, a man he felt was above all things. If his father died, it was because he wanted to.

    That idolization was a double-edged sword.

    On the one hand, it made Leonel take his death hard, so much so that he had practically become an entirely different person.

    But on the other hand, it helped him avoid the fate of falling into an endless pit of despair, facing off guilt because he hadn''t been able to help his father in those final moments.

    Sure, there were some feelings of inadequacy, but they were ultimately drowned out by that feeling of despair and unwillingness.

    Aina, however... she was his other half, his woman, his first and only love, his wife...

    Her death was different to him. Protecting her was his responsibility and no one else''s. Failing to do so had always hit him hard.

    Leonel took a deep breath, breathing in his wife''s scent and feeling his heart hit a rhythm of complete peace.

    At that moment, his Spear and Bow Forces seemed to have been suppressed by something. His mental state evolved, and deep within him, a figure sitting within a clear lake trembled slightly.

    "I''m going to just hide behind you from now on," Leonel said with a grin. "You''ll be my vanguard; I''ll be a nice and obedient house husband."

    Aina smiled. "Yes. I''ll fight, you take care of the babies."

    "Yes, ma''am!"

    Leonel took Aina''s hand and they stepped out of the Segmented Cube. They found that Shan''Rae was still on the run. Leonel had only told her to run, so even though the danger was gone, she had just kept going and Leonel had just somewhat forgotten about her.

    "My King!" Shan''Rae rushed into a bow.

    Aina blinked, feeling a great pressure coming from Shan''Rae. It seemed that while she was away... Leonel had done quite a great deal.

    "Let''s go."

    "Where are we going this time?" Aina asked.

    "Well, it would be a shame if we left them hanging like this. They think that I''m dead, how could I let them worry like this?"

    Aina blinked before she covered her mouth in a laugh.

    With a wave of her hand, she was once more wearing a valiant military outfit. A shuddering red aura perpetually hung around her, shredding the air to pieces, and yet mending it in the same breath.

    The shuttle surged forward and rushed again. Under Shan''Rae''s control, they appeared in the Demi-God Realm once again, and they immediately felt the weight of the pressure around them.

    The scent of blood was so thick that it reached even this location.

    When Leonel saw it, he grinned. He knew that his plan had worked.

    It was absolute chaos.

 Chapter 2979 Revenge

    Chapter 2979 Revenge

    Leonel could see everything reflected in his mind. Ever since he reached this calm state of tranquility, while his Dream Force didn''t improve, it felt like its effectiveness had reached a new level entirely. The entire world was his oyster and fit into the very palm of his hands. Nothing could stop him.

    But it was precisely because of this that he was overwhelmed at first. He didn''t quite know where to start. He felt a calmness now that he had never had in his life before, but he also knew that his situation hadn''t changed much. He, the Human Race, and his wife were all now in a situation of life and death, and if he didn''t handle this right, they would all be wiped out.

    He had been lucky enough that no one had gone back to target the Human Bubble, but that was also because he was causing too much trouble on his own in these front lines. Now, the question was how to keep his foot on the pedal in this situation... or did he even need to do anything at all?

    More Gods were descending from the God Realm, the Owlans had brought out their real guns, the Beastman Race seemed to still be trying to pull one over on the Invalids, but they seemed to have also suffered quite a deal of losses as a result of their greed.

    It was all difficult to fathom in a single spurt.

    When he did see it all though, Leonel almost couldn''t help but laugh.

    Wasn''t he too good at sowing chaos? All he had done was pull a few tricks here and there, but the world looked like it was about to crumble.

    However, he also knew that he couldn''t take full credit for this. After all, this powder keg had been ready to blow for who knew how long?

    "There''s only one player in this arena who still hasn''t made themselves known... Aren''t you all a little too comfortable?"

    A sneer spread across Leonel''s face.

    "Wife, how would you feel about getting some revenge-"

    SHIIIING!

    Leonel had hardly finished speaking when a two-meter-long battle ax appeared in Aina''s hand. Her eyes blazed and she looked around as though fiendishly searching for the target Leonel was speaking about.

    In fact, it could be said that Leonel hadn''t personally found this world at all. It was just that after his Dream Force improved, he was able to personally analyze the formation of worlds and realized there was an empty spot where there otherwise should have been a node.

    As such, he deduced that there had to be a hidden world in precisely this location, and since the Celestial Terras were the only Race he hadn''t managed to find just yet, he concluded that this could only be their world.

    And he was correct.

    Maybe too correct.

    Because the moment he appeared, the entire world began to rumble and quake. Locations that Leonel could have sworn had only been mountains before rose up and became creatures so large that their blinks could kick up hurricanes.

    It was the first time that Leonel had ever seen such a thing, and it truly shocked him to his core.

    However, he couldn''t help but grin.

    "See that, wife? Don''t say that I''ve never done anything for you."

    Leonel gave her a pat on the butt as though encouraging a player onto the field.

    Aina rolled her eyes speechlessly, but when she made eye contact with all these powerful sparring partners, her eyes couldn''t help but light up like lanterns.

    Her fighting intent blazed and she suddenly raised her battle ax high into the air.

    Leonel chuckled and almost casually took out a bow to play with. If he was alone, he wouldn''t dare to come here.

    But now... things were different.

 Chapter 2980 Damn

    Chapter 2980 Damn

    The Celestial Terras didn''t get to say anything. Leonel could see a dullness in their eyes, an unhurried, almost lackadaisical style that came from years of not fighting. It was like their entire race was covered in a shell and sealed away.

    However, he could see that hidden deep within that dullness was something exceptionally frightening, something so frightening that even with Aina''s strength, had they already awakened to it, he still wouldn''t dare to come here.

    This was a truly frightening race... Which was why it was also a shame that they were just sitting on the sidelines right now.

    "Why not come out and have some fun?"

    Leonel''s own battle intent blazed. A halo appeared to his back, tattoos appeared across his body, and the clouds above rolled and tumbled.

    Without Water Force, the clouds could only be said to be clouds of soot and dirt, but it was also because of that that they responded to Leonel''s call much more fiercely than anything else could have.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Swift. Swift. Swift.

    Leonel''s arrows whistled forward so quickly that they seemed to teleport. They passed by Aina''s cheeks and neck, but she continued to raise up her ax as though she hadn''t sensed anything at all.

    The combination of husband and wife had always been lethal. They both had absolute trust in one another, and it never wavered.

    However, since then, many things had changed.

    First, they truly got married, allowing their souls to merge. Let alone predicting one another''s movements and calculating them, they could feel them, and even express them before their partner got a chance to.

    Leonel expected the Celestial Terra to be crippled, to maybe lose another eye, or maybe suffer bad enough brain damage that it had to retreat.

    What he didn''t expect was what actually happened.

    The moment the Celestial Terra lost track of Aina, it was over. The strongest Blade strike that Leonel had ever seen personally descended. It cut down the body of the Celestial Terra and the world seemed to split in two.

    Silence fell, and the Ancestor Celestial Terra trembled once before falling into two halves.

    Leonel had a fourth arrow nocked, but he couldn''t help but blink a few times to make sure that his eyes were seeing right.

    It had to be remembered that before, Aina had struggled with a Celestial Terra. And he had ended up in an all-out battle with a Seventh Dimensional one. These creatures were exceptionally powerful, and even though they had lost much of their strength as Fallen Gods, they were an existence that couldn''t be easily dealt with.

    But Aina... had cut one in half, shell and all. And this one was not only the same level of talent as the Seventh Dimensional one that Leonel had fought back then, but it was also an Ancestor of the Ninth Dimension. The power of the two couldn''t even be properly compared.

    She stood in the skies and howls of rage filled it. But she only took a deep breath, causing a swarm of bronze-brown blood to fly toward her. As it was pulled into her control, the bronze-brown became a rusty, red-gold-ish color, and then became perfectly crimson.

    "Well... damn..."

    Leonel muttered for a moment before releasing his fourth arrow. Since this was the case... They could really cause some damage.

    At that moment, the ground trembled and Leonel''s arrow soared toward that precise location. But before it could land, it was shattered by a mysterious force.

    "It seems they''re more deeply hidden than I thought..."

 Chapter 2981 Respect

    Chapter 2981 Respect

    Leonel''s lip curled. When he came here, he already expected this.

    "Wife, it seems we''ve got competition."

    Aina didn''t reply, but her eyes blazed with battle intent.

    "We''ll kill one of them then swagger off," Leonel said as though it was just a matter of fact.ViiSiit  for latest novels

    Aina didn''t reply again, but her movement was all the acknowledgment that Leonel needed. With a roaring moment, she took a step. The world shook and Life Force seemed to pierce through the waves of Earth.

    Leonel raised his hand and the skies trembled along with it. Wisps of Bow Force pulsed, and although it didn''t take full form, space shuddered nonetheless. He drew a finger across the air and formed an arrow. It only carried small wisps of Bow Force, and yet that small change was enough for the world to nearly splinter beneath its presence.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s speed suddenly accelerated, his arms leaving blurs in the air as he drew arrow after arrow. In that moment, it looked more like there were dozens of clones of him all acting at once. His arrows took beautiful arcs through the air, piercing right through shields of Force, and gathering it together as though it was its own to control.

    That was when the Celestial Terra that was rising out of the ground felt that something was off, and its expression couldn''t help but become a hint more serious.

    The curving arcs of Leonel''s arrows actually carried a particular rhythm to them, rising through the air, drawing lines across the skies, and forming a hidden formation of sorts that caused them all to link together and form a net of Natural Force Arts that made them far more powerful than they seemed initially.

    It was a Bow Dance, but this time on a completely different level. In fact, it was a Bow Dance that Leonel was able to complete in just a single instant of time.

    "Time to hightail it out of here."

    Leonel gave Aina a grin, took her hand, and then began their escape. The world shuddered and Leonel looked back to find an enormous brown eye that looked like an explosion of swirling tans, browns, and blacks had appeared out of the ground. In fact, from this vantage point, it looked as though the world itself was the body of the creature.

    Leonel felt all his hair stand on end. These Celestial Terras... Just how deep did their waters run, exactly?

    At that moment, there was a Force that locked down Leonel and Aina, and both of them were frozen in place. Leonel clicked his tongue, feeling endlessly impressed. However, although he could feel the danger of the situation, for some reason... he just felt calm.

    Respect and Persistence...

    When he had first stepped onto this path, often, Respecting something came with it waves of fear and apprehension. It was this that drove him to be sharper, to be better, or else he just might lose his life in the next instant.

    However, right now, he didn''t feel fear. He could feel the strength of the Celestial Terras, he respected it... but it was still unable to slow down his steps.

    When he decided that he would do something, he would do it. Respect didn''t have to mean that he feared something.

    And just like that, the reason he hated this Path the most vanished into thin air like thin wisps of smoke.

    Leonel''s throat echoed with a low rumble, and a smile spread across his face.

    "Sorry, big guy. My wife and I used this place as a small get-away vacation, but we''ve already had our fun. So, we''ll be leaving now."

 Chapter 2982 Return

    Chapter 2982 Return

    Leonel''s heart thrummed and his King''s Might surged. With a rush of power, his body shook once and Ten Stars appeared to his back as a small plot of crimson land appeared beneath his feet.

    Leonel looked down at his so-called "Destruction World" speechlessly. Before, it had stretched for kilometers. Even when he fought against Shan''Rae, it had stretched for at least a few hundred meters.

    But right now, it was so small that he barely had space for his own two feet. It was only after holding onto Aina''s waist and taking her into his arms, not to mention allowing her to stand on his feet, that he was finally able to squeeze them both inside.

    Leonel coughed, clearing his throat. "It''s just a little shy."

    Aina looked down at the small piece of land, rolling her lips over themselves as she tried to hold back a laugh.

    "It''s okay," she squeezed out, "it''s completely normal."

    The moment she said these words, she couldn''t hold it back anymore and burst into a fit of laughter. She laughed so hard that tears began to streak down her face and coat Leonel''s chest.

    Leonel was speechless.

    "Aren''t you laughing a little bit too hard? It just has a little performance anxiety, dammit."

    This only made Aina laugh harder. Her voice echoed through the world and one wouldn''t have guessed that they were in the middle of a life and death situation at all.

    Leonel cleared his throat again before waving to the Celestial Terra world.

    "Okay, as you were! Bye-bye!"

    Using his Destruction World to break free of the pressure of the Celestial Terra, Leonel and Aina vanished from the world, entering the void again.

    So long as you gave Leonel time to escape and enter the void, you would lose him. The only way to counter this was by making sure that you stayed on his tail the entire time, but even then... would you dare to?

    If you killed Leonel in the void, how would you get back? Even the likes of Willowyn had to pick a place to ambush Leonel because it was the only location she was confident in returning from.

    "Then what do we do?"

    "Our location has been exposed, and I have a feeling that this youth only wanted to draw us out. Then we should oblige."

    "What? We can''t do what he wants, won''t that be a loss?"

    "There is no other choice. If we do not go, then he will just return with a far more sinister plan."

    "Then let him return. We weren''t ready this time, but if he dares to take a step-"

    "No. He is too intelligent for that. When I say that he will return, I do not mean literally. All he has to do to ruin things for us is to expose the location of this world.

    "It''s impossible for him to have used his senses to find this world. That means that he has to be aware of the formation we have set up, and he also knows the purpose of it. That is why he dares to do this. He is essentially using us."

    The Celestial Terras fell into silence. They knew that once they added their world to this formation, their perfect hiding spot would have a weakness to be exploited. But what they didn''t expect was that the first to see through this would be a human brat and not the enemies that they had been preparing for all this time.

    "It seems that our Celestial Terra Race has been silent for too long. Awaken your sharpness, brothers and sisters."

    "Is it time?"

    "Yes. Unseal yourselves. Today, the world will be reminded of our might. And in the future, they will remember the names of the Primordial Terrors."

 Chapter 2983 A New Puppet Master (1)

    Chapter 2983 A New Puppet Master (1)

    Leonel exhaled a breath after he and Aina managed to escape. The Celestial Terras were truly a monstrous race, but that was precisely why he had to take the risk. Only if they participated in the chaos could enough happen that he could take advantage of the situation and escape this problem they were all facing.

    He just needed time to grow, he needed time to be stalled enough that he could finally reach his full potential. When that time came, would it still be necessary to deal with all of this nonsense?

    He could fill his wife''s belly with kids, chat and laugh with his brothers all day, and recline in his chair. As for the end of existence? Who cared. Was anyone meant to live forever anyway? These Gods who were all obsessed with extending their lives were pathetic. Those that were more obsessed with benefiting from the world now and leaving the trouble to their descendants were even more pathetic.

    Although Leonel said this, it was just a casual thought. He hadn''t truly ever been worried about the Northern Star and the end of existence in the first place. But maybe that was because it was hard to care about that when there were a million things trying to take your life every day.

    In addition, he was young. Even though he said he was fine with death, he probably still felt like he could live forever. When he was aging, would he still feel the same? It was hard to say.

    But in a rare instance, Leonel didn''t really care about his thoughts, and he didn''t tie them down with logic either. It was as though he was finally free. He didn''t have to take out a balance to consider every little thing.

    "Where to now?"

    Aina''s battle intent was still flaring up, but Leonel only laughed.

    "My little succubus warrior, there are no enemies around. Put the weapon down."

    Aina glared at Leonel, but she still blushed a bit. Maybe she was truly too eager. It was just that while Leonel was out having all the fun, she was stuck meditating for days on end. It was infuriating and frustrating, but she also knew that between the two of them, she had the fastest path to improvement because her path was less complex and she also wasn''t fighting it out with her inner demons.

    As much as Leonel wanted to protect her, didn''t she want to protect him?

    Leonel chuckled.

    He wasn''t even sure how he would explain this matter at all.

    On the one hand, he was far too prideful to try and quickly explain now that Leonel must have been the one responsible. That wasn''t just because of his pride either, but rather because he was smart enough to know what would happen now.

    Now that the Void Race had gone so far, they wouldn''t just leave now. They would use this moment to wipe out the Owlans as well. After all, they didn''t want another power to rise into the God Realm either.

    So what would happen if he quickly explained that it was Leonel now? Not only would he harm the momentum of the Owlans, but it wouldn''t save them from this situation either.

    In that case, there was only one choice that a smart and astute leader would make.

    Not only could he not explain, but he had to take credit for it as well. That way, he would show the Owlans to his back that they had nothing to fear even in the face of such monsters.

    They had already taken a step beyond the point of no return. There was only one way forward now.

    Either their Owlans would rise up and succeed in ways they never had before...

    Or they would have their legacy truly wiped out here and now.

    Elysium raised a hand, and the sound of a sword howl pierced the skies. A golden blade landed in his hand and his wings flapped once, sending a spatial storm out in all directions.

    "The Minerva do not need to consult the Void Race when they kill."

    BOOM!

 Chapter 2984 A New Puppet Master (2)

    Chapter 2984 A New Puppet Master (2)

    Across the Demi-God Realms, similar scenes were playing out. Once again, they had played right into Leonel''s hands. No matter how enraged they were, they knew that there was no return.

    Ancestor Nova slapped her mighty wings, delicate feathers of red and gold falling from the skies, gliding across the land, and scoring the ground below. She faced off against a towering Void Race member as well, but she spoke words not too dissimilar from the Owlan Race''s head. In fact, she was even more overbearing.

    Her gaze was sharp, and her voice even sharper. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

    "Since when did the God Beasts need to ask the Void Race for permission?! DIE!"

    A beam of concentrated Fire Force left her beak, and it was as though it had become the center of the world. No matter where you looked from, it felt like time and space had warped, making it seem as though the beam was coming right for you.

    Those that looked at it directly and were the enemies of the Celestial Embers found their eyes burning. Before they could react, their brains were charred to ash.

    As for those that were the allies of the Celestial Embers, they found themselves being fueled and bolstered, their hearts filling with pride and their strength soaring to a new height.

    Today, the truest Ember Force would return.

    Before its fall, it could be said that it had been the number one Fire Force there was. But it had always been tied to the Dimensions of the Celestial Embers. With their fall, it too fell.

    Soon, it mutated, becoming the Emberheart Force that was well known as a top 10 Fire Force, but was nothing compared to the former Ember Force.

    It seemed that the Celestial Terra weren''t the only ones with seals on their strength.

    Being faced with a blockage during these last steps, the Celestial Ember Ancestor chose to no longer hold back.

    It was time for the God Beasts to return. They would erase the Fallen Curse from their heritage.

    ...

    It seemed that he was going to have to get his ankles muddied in these turbulent waters as well.

    The kid was even more vicious than a Dream Asura, but he would surely remember this.

    ...

    The entirety of the Demi-God Realm seemed to be playing to Leonel''s tune, but what they didn''t know was that Leonel was far from being finished.

    While he was spending some quality alone time with his wife as he looked for his third Incomplete World, there were also changes taking place in the Barbarian Race''s territory as well.

    There was a reason that Leonel had managed to stay away from the Human Bubble and not get too involved. It wasn''t just because he was using himself as a distraction, but also because he had the Barbarian Race on a string.

    Soon, it would be revealed that the Patriarch of the Variant Invalids was a Barbarian Race Invalid, something that should have been absolutely impossible.

    In that case, just what would they be able to do?

    It was in their best interest that this Variant Invalid die before others found out, but they had also been entirely unable to find him. He had slipped out of their control long ago.

    But now... Leonel had that location.

    If the Barbarian Race wanted it, didn''t they have to be obedient?

    Now, all of a sudden, what should have been an equal partnership had become completely lopsided, and there was nothing at all that they could use against Leonel.

    After all, Leonel was already being hunted down by the entire world...

    What information could they possibly release that would harm him?

 Chapter 2985 Until Now

    Chapter 2985 Until Now

    Leonel crossed the cosmos with Aina, his thoughts unknown to all but him. However, his mouth seemed to be in another world entirely, talking flows of continuous nonsense with his wife as though the entire world didn''t want him dead.

    Aina could tell that Leonel had something on his mind, but she was also gratified that he didn''t seem to be weighed down by it. His calm wasn''t faked, and that left her feeling at ease. She had long since reached the point of pure, absolute confidence in this husband of hers. There was no need to worry about anything else when he was around.

    Days passed like this, but they still didn''t find what Leonel was looking for. In the end, Leonel actually returned to the Segmented Cube. As for his reason why... it was his brothers. They were awake now.

    ...

    Leonel sat in front of them. The rock formation here was quite cryptic, but it was peaceful as well. The ancient stones were covered in moss, making them comfortable to sit on. And at the moment, there were the exact number of them that were needed. It was like this region was created specifically for them.

    "How do you all feel?" Leonel asked with a smile. He met each one of their gazes, and he could guess what they were thinking, but he didn''t expose them.

    How could they be happy? In the past, they used to be able to stand on the same battlefield as Leonel. But now, it felt like they weren''t even worthy of that.

    They had been carrying this burden for a long time. Every time they seemed to see Leonel''s steps ahead of them, they were slapped back down to reality just like this.

    They hadn''t slacked even a single moment, but Leonel simply improved far too fast.

    Looking at the bright smile on Leonel''s face, though... for some reason, they felt at peace.

    Usually, after they got slapped around like this, Leonel would come with a face full of guilt and heaviness. But this time, the situation seemed to be entirely different.

    James clicked his tongue.

    "At least one of us is happy."

    It was hard to accept it, but even with the 10 years he had lost in the Sea God Zone, he was still younger than them all.

    This world had separated them time and time again, but that much was fine... what hurt the most was that even when they were together, they couldn''t truly be together. They were divided not by time and space, but by strength and status.

    And that was the worst sort of fate for a friendship.

    Joel was taken aback by the tears in Leonel''s eyes. Although they didn''t fall, he felt his heart shake.

    Had he made a mistake? Was their decision just another form of abandoning Leonel?

    However, just as he wanted to say something, anything, Leonel smiled through his tears.

    "No. It really is my fault. I''m so useless that I couldn''t come up with a method in all this time."

    Their expressions shook. What had happened to Leonel?

    "Can you not? You''re making me feel like a sopping mess," James spoke with red eyes. "Fatty, say something."

    He slapped Raj''s back to urge him, but that just caused the bottled up sobs in Raj''s body to spill out. Tears fell like a waterfall and he turned a vicious eye toward James.

    "You blond-haired gigolo. I won''t forgive you for this!"

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh through his unshed tears.

    "Let me finish first. I was unable to... until now."

 Chapter 2986 Wasted

    Chapter 2986 Wasted

    Leonel''s brothers looked toward him, but as expected, they were still a bit hesitant. They really didn''t want Leonel to waste so much on them again. It just felt like a perpetual cycle that always led to failure.

    First, they would end up in trouble that only Leonel could fix. He would then save them, then promise to make them stronger. Then they would be left behind him again because despite the number of resources he spent on them, it was all useless... they couldn''t keep up with him.

    Then, they would end up in trouble once again and could only wait to be saved.

    This was the plight that they had to suffer through, and it was something they couldn''t escape even when they wanted to.

    Leonel shook his head, rising to his feet.

    "This time... will truly be different."

    His tears seemed to be burned away by a fiery heat.

    "Let''s go. Joel, you''re up first."

    They all exited the Segmented Cube at the same time.

    When they appeared, they stood in an endless void. They couldn''t see or feel anything.

    "Holy trippy, what the fuck, Cap. Did you drug us or something?" Franco looked at his hands, feeling disoriented, but it somehow felt like they were a world away even though they were right in front of him.

    Leonel smiled.

    "They call this place the void. The laws of physics are shot here, so it''s difficult to tell which way is up and down. Even if you try to walk forward, you might end up walking to the side by accident."

    Joel blinked, looking ahead with squinted eyes.

    "What is that?"

    "An incomplete World," Leonel said with a smile. ViiSiit  for latest novels

    They were taken aback again. Just what level of power had Leonel reached to be able to casually find something like this?

    "Follow me."

    Leonel brought them all inside, and almost instantly, they were attacked by the Regulator. The chains shattered before they could even take shape on Leonel''s body, but when it came to his brothers, they were unable to fight back against such a thing.

    A crown of gold and violet appeared above Leonel''s head. At the same time, fluttering violet winds appeared. Sometimes they would appear like gusts of wind, but at other times, they would morph into butterflies, dragonflies, and motes of light.

    It was the picture of beauty.

    Veins popped up all across Joel''s body and he felt like a universe had exploded in his mind.

    A single star appeared to Joel''s back, and it even had rings like Saturn. However, these rings echoed with the sound of sharpening blades, slicing apart space as though it was a worthless sheet of paper.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Joel''s aura skyrocketed and he entered the Ninth Dimension in a single bound.

    It took several dozen minutes before the commotion calmed down. In the end, the group appeared back in the void, and Joel stood there, his eyes closed.

    The aura he was giving off made the others shudder. It felt like they were watching the form of a slumbering beast.

    And then this beast suddenly opened his eyes.

    A sharp blade light soared through the void, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

    Joel looked down at his body in astonishment, feeling as though he had just experienced something that was entirely unreal. None of it made any sense at all.

    Leonel grinned. It had worked.

    [Dimensional Cleanse] was the perfect foundation for [Final Destruction]. However, who said that Destruction was the sole and only foundation that you could use to practice this method?

    Normally, there would be no way to take such a shortcut, but didn''t Leonel have [Assimilate]? This absolute powerhouse ability of the Fawkes had even allowed him to give Tolliver the potential of an Infinity Beast... so why couldn''t he use it to help his brothers reach a new level as well?

    The trouble was that Tolliver was able to do that because it had the foundation necessary, not to mention the help of an entire Vital Star. But his brothers wouldn''t usually... except for the fact that [Dimensional Cleanse] existed.

    And then there was the final cherry on top...

    Because he was a Wise Sea Order now, he could not only travel through the void, but he could find the perfect Incomplete Worlds for his brothers.

    He hadn''t been able to find what he needed... but that didn''t mean that these last few months were wasted.

    -----

    Erdiul''s Note: Idk, feels kinda wasted to me...LOL. I just can''t take his ''''brothers'''' seriously, feels like even if they were not in the story or not, it wouldn''t matter. But that''s just my thoughts, maybe it will change, but after all this time I kinda doubt it. Maybe though.... Maybe.

 Chapter 2987 New Field

    Chapter 2987 New Field

    This time, Leonel wouldn''t be leaving even a single one of his brothers behind. He had already decided that even if he had to carry them up the steps one by one, putting them on his back, he would do so.

    Leonel didn''t actually believe that his brothers were untalented. Among them, there were several geniuses. Arnold was a genius of Universal Force. He had mastered higher levels long before Leonel did, and the only difference between the two of them was that Arnold had gone off on a wrong path because of a lack of guidance, while Leonel had been lucky to unlock it during his battle with Lionel.

    Back then, Arnold didn''t know that you could have a ubiquitous form of Universal Force because no one talked about it. As such, he always focused his Universal Force on his palms until Leonel taught him that another route could be taken. It was only after that that he managed to start following the right path.

    Then there was Allan. He had always been ranked number one in their class despite the fact both Aina and Leonel were in that class. Of course, Leonel and Aina had always been focused on other things... Leonel couldn''t bring study material back to the Paradise Islands, while Aina had been obsessively training since she was young. But this didn''t diminish Leonel''s views of Allan in the slightest.

    That was because if they were focused on other things, couldn''t Allan also be? Allan had always been obsessed with working out and being meticulously dressed. Those sorts of things took up a lot of his day, and under normal circumstances, they would take precedence over anything else.

    Even if he had spent more time on schoolwork than Leonel and Aina did, his intelligence wasn''t very far from their own at all.

    Drake was literally creating his own Weapon Force, pioneering a path that was unprecedented and had simply never appeared before.

    Raj''s Ability Index allowed him to create anywhere from the weakest Earth Forces to the absolute strongest.

    James had literally created his own Lineage Factor.

    No matter where you looked among his brothers, you could find monsters. The trouble was that in the end, when they had to be compared to Leonel and Aina, not only were they lacking in luck, but they were still lacking in talent as well.

    He didn''t know.

    But what he did know was that if he was going to die, it would be on a battlefield with his brothers. If he was going to despair, he was going to do it with them by his side. If he was ever going to give up... it was going to be when all of them breathed their last together.

    That was his conviction, and from now on, it would burn the path he took forward.

    Just like that, Leonel began to go from Incomplete World to Incomplete World. All of them had been marked by him in the last several months, and each one was absolutely perfect for the brother he chose.

    Every time they fused with one, they entered the Ninth Dimension in a single bound, but it wasn''t just that either. Their constitutions... They evolved to a new level as well.

    It was hard to tell with a glance whether they were Mortal, Demi-God, or God... only Leonel knew that they were very much still Mortal. In fact, it could even be said that their Constitution had regressed.

    But when the time came, and Leonel began to pour resources into their worlds and they tended toward Completion as well, their strength would reach an entirely new Realm at once.

    When that happened, he and his brothers would be able to walk through the world completely unhindered. The Royal Blue team would be back.

    In the past, every time they stepped foot onto the field together, the other team would shudder. Now, it would be the same.

    It was just that the field had changed a bit...

    This time, it would be a bloody battlefield.

 Chapter 2988 Oblige

    Chapter 2988 Oblige

    Leonel lived up to his word. His brothers couldn''t even believe the kind of strength that was coursing through their veins. But it wasn''t as simple as that. Leonel didn''t even particularly add to them; it was as though he had framed their potential and made them see just how much of it they had locked away within them, only limited by their upbringing and lingering issues that had remained from their youth.

    There were three major things each one of them gained when they fused with the Incomplete World.

    The first was a new foundation. Leonel didn''t add to their strength; he used [Assimilate] to refine their foundations, forcing them to unearth their fullest potential. With [Assimilate] and [Dimensional Cleanse] as a foundation, he basically reforged everything that they had already accomplished on their own, improving it. As such, they felt like barely anything had changed, and yet like everything had changed.

    The second was enlightenment. Through the Force Art and the consciousnesses of the humans, or other races, within the Incomplete World, it felt like their brains were constantly firing synapses. They were just subconsciously linking together things that they had never thought to combine in the past, and it made them truly shocked. This was simple for Leonel. All he needed was access to the Dream Plane of the world and the methods of the Forgetful Orb.

    When he connected the Stars of the Incomplete World and formed the Natural Force Art that refined it into power, he always added something special to the core of that Natural Force Art. That something special allowed his brothers to connect with all the minds of the living species in the Incomplete World and then use a Forgetful Orb on their insights to make it feel like their own.

    The insights of a single person in an Incomplete World were lacking and could be quite weak. In a lot of cases, they might even steer you down the wrong path. But there was a phenomenon in psychology that noted that if enough people acted together to make a decision-without being influenced by one another-the majority usually ruled in favor of the correct path.

    Of course, in a world like this one, it was impossible for the beings to not have influence over one another. After all, they were all using pretty much the same advancement methods and the same Paths. But the difference was that they were separated by so many worlds, Domains, quadrants, galaxies, and things of the like, that when they all came together, it was effectively the same thing as being uninfluenced.

    Plus, because of the actions of the Forgetful Orb, the insights didn''t feel like the insights of other people. Instead, it felt like the insights of his own brothers. As such, they wouldn''t accept something that was completely contradictory to their former thoughts unless there was very good reason for it. In the end, they ended up having several breakthroughs in their Forces even as they traveled around.

    Then the guns began to appear.

    Two .50 caliber desert eagle-like guns appeared on his hips, a long, sniper rifle appeared on his back, and then came the body armor, plates of black that covered his chest, one of his shoulders, his knees and his shin. A golden swirl of light surrounded him and a violent tempest of Force skyrocketed.

    Then, it happened.

    It was a pair of eyes that made Leonel''s heart shake and shudder. He had never seen one before, but he was somehow certain of what it was nonetheless. An Idol. Drake had become a God.

    "Fucking hell," Leonel cursed. "I think I did a bit too well."

    Drake skipping over the Creation State and Dharma State to form an Idol was one thing. How the Gods would react to a God being on the lower Plane and from the Human Race at that was a completely different one.

    Even so, Leonel burst into laughter, his booming cadence somehow matching the momentum of Drake''s breakthrough. Who cared? Hadn''t he already pissed the world off anyway?

    He would be glad to oblige some more.

 Chapter 2989 Familiar

    Chapter 2989 Familiar

    Drake looked down at himself, stunned. He didn''t expect that such a thing would happen either, and quite frankly, he had always thought that he would be the last to reach Godhood, if he reached it at all.

    Honestly speaking, Drake had always had a small bit of an inferiority complex. He had been with these guys for years, but always as Leonel''s backup. He only got in games when it was an all-out blowout, and he would never get the right to start until Leonel graduated first.

    However, before he could even get the chance to shine on his own, the Metamorphosis descended right after Leonel''s last game, so he had never gotten a chance to see his own true potential.

    That said, Drake had never harbored any resentment for that. He had always felt safe and secure by Leonel''s side. If not, he would have transferred to another school where he could have gotten playing time instead of chasing after Leonel every step of the way.

    It had been years of patience, years of living in Leonel''s shadow, and now he had suddenly bloomed in a way he had never expected before.

    Looking down at his body, he felt like he had the strength to destroy a world with a casual glance if he so wanted. Recalling various memories, everyone that he had ever feared or didn''t dare to battle suddenly became as insignificant as ants in his eyes.

    It was well and truly the first time that he had ever experienced something like this. And yet, rather than laughing to himself, he immediately spun around and gave Leonel a huge hug.

    Leonel coughed in surprise, all the air in his body flooding out in a torrent.

    "Goddamn, rookie. You''re gonna kill me."

    Drake laughed but didn''t let up. In fact, he laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face.

    Leonel smiled and patted him on the back. He had never had a disciple before, but quite frankly, Drake would probably be the closest thing. It was funny because Leonel was only a bit older-an age gap that was meaningless now that Drake had actually experienced more life than him.

    Even so, he was happy that Drake was happy.

    The true fear of the Umbryx was seen when they left those floating masks of theirs. They were creatures without substance and form. Reality couldn''t seem to hold them and they slipped in and out of the Dimensions with ease. They were the only Race in existence that the Regulators couldn''t seem to detect.

    However, Leonel could only think of them in one way... The lapdogs of the Void Race.

    The truth was that as powerful as the Umbryx Race sounded, they were existences that were incredibly frail. In that way, they were a lot more like Savants than God Childes.

    The Umbryx were incredibly sensitive to Star Force, so much so that it could be considered a fatal weakness. Second, without an anchor, they couldn''t live more than a few days at best. That anchor, being, of course, their masks.

    Third, they couldn''t fight physical battles. They were known as the silent killers, but that was only because all of their battles occurred within your Ethereal Glabellas, so it would seem as though you died silently, when in reality it was anything but.

    Fourth, they couldn''t use Forces that weren''t granted to them by their anchors. The only exception was if they were in your Ethereal Glabella. Then, they would be capable of snatching your affinities and using them for themselves.

    These creatures that the world feared so much... it could be said that they were the one creature that Leonel feared the least.

    The decree flared and shook. Then, a beam of light descended toward Drake too fast for anyone to react. It was clear that he was about to be branded.

    But Leonel suddenly raised a hand and light pulsed from him.

    BANG!

    The pillar vanished and raging red Runes spread. Leonel didn''t seem to notice them at all because he was still thinking about something from earlier...

    Why did that edict look so similar to the ability of his Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor?

 Chapter 2990 Also

    Chapter 2990 Also

    It wasn''t just the form that was the problem. There were scrolls of all kinds, everywhere. Leonel obviously wouldn''t make such a superficial observation.

    The real issue was that the look, the feel, the runes... everything about it was basically identical. It was like they had copy and pasted the ability right from the Golden Tablet of Emperor''s Might.

    One of the strongest abilities of Leonel''s Fawkes Lineage Factor was [Emperor''s Edict]. He could use it to set a law or a rule in a certain region and force everyone within range of the ability to obey it.

    He hadn''t used the technique in a very long time for two main reasons. The first was that he had been trying to hide his [King''s Might] Lineage Factor and obviously couldn''t use its abilities out in the open. But the second reason was far more important now that he was no longer wasting his time and attempting to hide it...

    He had more useful abilities.

    [Emperor''s Edict] was great, but most of the laws he would change could be more easily changed when he used [Universe]. After all, that technique allowed him to change the fundamental laws of the surrounding world with ease, and it had more flexibility because rather than target an entire region, he could target just himself, just an opponent, or even just an attack or a defensive measure.

    The beauty of [Universe] was that it relied on Universal Force and his comprehension of the Constellation Realm to activate. So, it required far less stamina on his part, whereas for [Emperor''s Edict] he usually needed to use up a large amount of Dream Force.

    Of course, that didn''t mean that [Emperor''s Edict] was useless. Ultimately, [Universe] only has five main abilities: Friction, Velocity, Momentum, Waveform, and Folding. [Emperor''s Edict] had no such limits. Even if he wanted to ban the color red, he could easily do so.

    However, it was just ultimately that [Universe] was the far more convenient technique to deploy consistently.

    ''Hm, actually... the stamina of [Emperor''s Edict] might be far less if I use it to synergize with my Destruction World... it might be worth exploring again if the circumstances are right...''

    Leonel shook his head and refocused his thoughts. He was still facing something quite interesting right now.

    Could it be that the Gods were making use of the Fawkes family''s abilities? Or was it that this was yet another example of the Fawkes family creating a technique by observing something else?

    Leonel wasn''t quite sure what it was because it felt like it could be either. But his intuition told him that the answer to this question was actually quite... interesting.

    The red runes in the skies continued to spread, but Leonel took a breath and his Destruction World formed. His brothers immediately felt like they were supported by something that could uphold the skies, but Leonel couldn''t help but curse about how "heavy" Drake was.

    His experience in the Celestial Terra World had told him that there were definitely existences that could suppress his Destruction World, but even without trying to resist it Drake''s existence alone made Leonel feel like his Destruction World was about to collapse... and that was despite the fact they were standing in the void right now.

    James pressed a hand to his chest. "Mine? Gaslighting doesn''t look good on you."

    Leonel sneered. "With how many holes you''ve run through, who knows if you''ve gotten bored of women and want to try something new?"

    This time, it was James'' turn to choke.

    Laughter erupted and it wasn''t until a long while later that the banter finally came to a stop.

    "I do have one more thing, though." Leonel nodded seriously.

    James pressed his hands against his ass as though to protect something.

    Leonel sent a kick flying at him, but a barrier blocked it.

    "You should have asked for payment first. Now you can''t control me anymore," James said with a sneer. Unfortunately, his words didn''t last long before he was sent flying.

    "DAMMIT LEONEL!"

    Leonel laughed. "I had already prepared the last thing, but we can''t possibly not match our little bro, now can we?"

    Leonel threw out the idea he had. This time, they would have to go in matching sets with Drake.

    "It''s time for some cool uniforms."

    ...

    At the very same time, news of this was relayed back to the God Realm, stirring up another storm. It had been generations since the last time someone had managed to avoid the edict. In fact, the last time it had happened was...

    Also a human.

 Chapter 2991 Earnest

    Chapter 2991 Earnest

    The sound of cloth being rushed into place echoed, then came the clang of black steel.

    Leonel stood in black military garb, his feet adorned with heavy black boots, his chest, a single shoulder, his wrists, and knees covered in black steel, and a set of what looked like night vision goggles hanging around his neck.

    On his hips, one could find a pair of Desert Eagles, and on his back, there was a long sniper rifle that looked eerily similar to Drake''s.

    With a pulse, the uniform seemed to come together, and an echo of strength rippled as the pieces of black steel seemed to resonate with one another. At that moment, despite the fact that there were only a few pieces scattered across the uniform, it felt like it had formed a whole plate armor.

    Every one of his brothers was wearing the same uniform... with minor changes here and there.

    Joel''s sniper rifle was replaced by a glaive. James'' and Milan''s were both replaced by heavy shields. Allan''s had metallic disks plated in sets of six and various sizes...

    The variations were numerous, but the cohesiveness couldn''t be underestimated... especially when the ripples of the uniforms connected and seemed to form a Domain between them all.

    "To war!" James'' voice completely broke the somber atmosphere.

    "Not cool at all," Raj gave him a glare, only to run into a shield. "Hey, hey. Do you think you''re Cap or something?"

    Raj winced, feeling like his leg was on fire. James had reflected his whole attack strength back, and it nearly popped his knee out of place.

    "You blond-haired bastard."

    "Your insults are losing their edge, Raj." James clicked his tongue. "Sounds like a certain lady drained you for all you''re worth."

    Raj coughed, embarrassed by his own insult as well.

    Laughter erupted.

    "Look at him, he''s in love."

    That was to say that Gun Force, now their exclusive property, was practically the easiest Force that they would manipulate in their entire lives.

    From the start, they were already at Life State levels of manipulation without the slightest bit of effort, and that was only because Drake wasn''t quite used to his newfound power just yet.

    As time went on, Gun Force would establish itself more, and Drake''s Faith would grow. Then, being prioritized by him would bring an even more exaggerated boost.

    But that wasn''t all either...

    The uniforms that Leonel created this time were based on something that he had been working on for a long time. It was a set of uniforms that could fuse the combined efforts of several people into one.

    Ever since he saw those blueprints back when the Cataclysm Zone first descended, he had always set one or a few of his minds to work on this issue. That was because he knew that in the future, the importance of such a thing couldn''t be underestimated.

    The Void Race army sent here didn''t use such things, but that was also because they were arrogant and were probably not the best the Void Race had to offer.

    But what about when they decided to finally take things seriously? There would be no way for Leonel to just sweep through their armies like they were nothing in that case because he would be forced to battle their combined power.

    Drake''s breakthrough allowed his own breakthrough. He had had a simple thought when he saw those pair of eyes...

    If he used Drake''s Idol as the core of their formation, just how powerful would they be able to make it?

    The fact that they could use Gun Force was just the first aspect. There were many more to come.

    Leonel grinned. "James is right. Let''s go unleash unholy hell on a battlefield."

    The boys howled into the air and vanished from the void, surging toward the epicenter of chaos in Existence.

    There was something poetic about bringing sniper rifles and Desert Eagles to the battlefield.

    They would be representing Earth in earnest.

 Chapter 2992 My Little Friend

    Chapter 2992 My Little Friend

    The battlefield was truly a chaotic one.

    Elysium roared with devilish intent, his sword and golden wings slashing and clawing through reality as he faced off against a behemoth of a God.

    The Void Race figure he was facing was a true monster, an existence of the Eighth Dimension who was mighty beyond compare.

    It was said that the true strength of the Void Race''s methods wouldn''t be able to be seen until they reached the Seventh Dimension, and this much was true. Until this point, their bodies were too frail, and as such, quite comparable to humans in size. At most, they might be three or four meters in size. But compared to their Ancestors who were as large as galaxies and had eyes as large as quadrants, they were far inferior.

    These limitations began to be shed the moment they entered the Seventh Dimension, and usually, quite straightforwardly, one could tell the strength of a Void Race member purely by looking at their size.

    Before the Seventh Dimension, all of the power of the universes they had swallowed was suppressed and could only be released incrementally. However, as they shed this weakness and grew in size, they would exhibit more and more of this power in singular bursts.

    When they grew to the size where they could swallow Incomplete Worlds with an open maw, and crush worlds with a single breath, one would know that they were true, unbridled monsters.

    Mir''Kael was one such existence. Although he was far from swallowing worlds, his size couldn''t be compared to the others.

    As for the army he led, there were several Void Race members with sizes upwards of 20 meters, and each one of their actions, and every swing of a scythe, seemed capable of bringing the world down to their knees.

    Mir''Kael was a little taken aback that Elysium could fight him head-on at all, but what was more surprising than that was the fact the Owlans were also holding their own. It seemed that these existences had hidden far more deeply than he could have ever guessed.

    What was interesting was that this wasn''t the last of the surprises either. That was because he could tell that not just Elysium, but all the others were just barely on the verge of becoming true Gods. If they could just step onto the God Realm, they would truly take that step.

    This wasn''t just a matter of forming an Idol, but a change in Constitution from its very foundation. It was hard to tell which was more impressive, but they both had about the same level of difficulty... though of different kinds.

    Forming an Idol required a great amount of comprehension, while changing one''s Constitution required a great amount of resources, luck, and talent.

    But this Elysium seemed to be on the verge of forming a Dharma, and he was likewise on the verge of forming a God Constitution. They were certainly a great danger.

    Leonel''s laughter boomed through the skies and he suddenly vanished.

    He appeared amidst the army of Void Race members, guns blazing. He flickered before a Void Race member, blasting a hole through their chest with one point of the gun. He brought his second gun over, crossing his arms and firing a second bullet through the head of another.

    His figure flashed and vanished once more.

    He appeared beneath the neck of a five-meter-tall Void Race member and blew her top off, then appeared above the head of another and blew it down.

    He hadn''t had this amount of fun in so long that he seemed to twirl through the battlefield. Every shot was one shot, one kill.

    The destructiveness of Gun Force was unlike anything that Leonel had ever seen from a Weapon Force. That was because it had a certain explosiveness that could only be matched by modern weapons, but now it had been amplified to another degree entirely.

    Leonel spartan kicked a Void Race member away from him, leaning back and out of the way of a sweeping scythe. His arms spread out as he blasted a hole through the heads of two approaching him from the side. Then, he brought his hands together and blasted two through the chest of the Void Race member he had just kicked away.

    Every one of his movements was smooth and unhurried. He didn''t even have to worry about aiming for lethal locations, and for Leonel, who was already such a heart-shuddering marksman... it was like giving wings to a tiger.

    Leonel vanished again and appeared high in the skies. He holstered his two desert eagles then pulled the rifle out of his back.

    A 20-meter-tall Void Race member had already closed the distance and was ready to swipe him out of existence.

    But then, he grinned.

    The sniper rifle snapped into place and the Gun Force seemed to form a plane for him to lie on.

    BOOM!

    The world was split in two by a beam of gold and a mighty Void Race head was blasted into a rain of stars and blood.

 Chapter 2993 No One

    Chapter 2993 No One

    Leonel let out a low whistle, finding it all to be quite shocking. Indeed, Gun Force was... something else entirely. Most Weapon Forces only had penetrative force, but Gun Force seemed like it was willing to release a chain reaction the moment it pierced into a body.

    Leonel had only used it for a few seconds, but he was certain that this Weapon Force was the strongest in terms of pure destructive might. It was so perfect for his Destruction World that he felt a little regretful. Maybe he should have put in more effort into helping Drake perfect Gun Force years ago.

    This was something that Drake had been working on forever because he had the Marksman Ability Index, but he didn''t have the supplementary strength to become a bowman. Ultimately, no matter how good his marksmanship, he would always be limited by how powerful a bow he could draw. In addition, he didn''t seem to have the natural affinity for Bow Force that Leonel did either.

    But with Gun Force, he saw hope to fixing his weakness. It would fix all of his offensive prowess problems in a single bound, and then rather than being a backline ranged unit, he could even take the vanguard.

    But Leonel could also tell that the weapons he had created to make use of Drake''s Idol were actually limiting it, not helping it. This wasn''t because Leonel''s Crafts were too weak. The problem was that what he had created were too limited.

    It was only after using Gun Force that Leonel realized something shocking. What Drake had created wasn''t Gun Force, per se... but it would probably be more appropriate to call it something like Gun Powder Force. He focused on the explosive elements of modern weapons so that it could easily be translated from form factor to form factor. Whether it was a gun, a sniper rifle, a machine gun, or a rocket launcher... Gun Force could be applied to them all.

    Allan and Raj faced off against enemies back to back, one a chiseled mass of a man and the other just... a mass of a man. And yet, their lethality was just the same.

    The silver plates attached to Allan''s back were controlled by his electromagnetism Ability Index and spun off in different directions, slicing heads off in droves. He raised up his desert eagles, unleashing a rain of bullets. Many Void Race members tried to dodge, but they found pulses of magnetism coming from the silver disks that suddenly altered the paths of the bullets, and sometimes caused them to explode ahead of time. His path of combat was completely unpredictable, and sometimes Void Race members far off in the backline who thought they were safe would suddenly find their heads exploding.

    At the same time, Raj''s combat style was far more straightforward... but arguably even more lethal. The ground broke off into pieces around him, forming dense bullets of some of the hardest metals known to man. They floated around him, and from time to time he would bump out the clip from his gun and they would float in. He snapped the clips back into place and unleashed a hail of bullets that often cut through three or four Void Race members at once before they finally ran out of juice.

    Gil was speeding through the battlefield just like Leonel was. He left a trail of bloody crimson lightning in his wake, moving so fast that others couldn''t even keep up with their eyes. He was a speedster in the truest sense, and everywhere he left streaks of lightning, there would be explosions in their wake.

    Milan and James stood back to back, both forming a domain of unapproachable defenses, but by the same token, they shredded apart defenses as though they weren''t there. Somehow, they have mutated their Ability Index to the point that they weren''t just able to put up some of the world''s strongest defenses, but they were also capable of shutting down the formations of others and picking out their weaknesses as a whole. At some point, they even seemed to infect these formations like a virus, and it was precisely because of them that the Void Race members couldn''t combine their efforts at all.

    Leonel and his brothers weren''t working together in the slightest and even seemed to be putting their lives at risk by separating like this... And yet, no one could stop them.

 Chapter 2994 Warning

    Chapter 2994 Warning

    It was absolute carnage.

    And Leonel loved it.

    He hadn''t felt this good on a battlefield in so long.

    "Boys! Let''s wrap it up!"

    Their laughter rang through the air and they suddenly appeared in the skies. They appeared in a flash, and it seemed that they were still to disappear in a flash as well. They had gotten exactly what they wanted.

    Leonel didn''t want to make things too easy on the Owlans. He had helped them clean up the battlefield a bit, conveniently gathered up some powerful Void Race corpses, and now he would be headed out again.

    "Good luck on your fight, little birdie." Leonel waved to Elysium, who was still locked in combat with Mir''Kael. "Maybe if you ask nicely, he''ll forgive you for killing their little genius. Or maybe not."

    Elysium''s eyes flared with rage.

    The first time he met Leonel, he had suffered a loss. The second time he met Leonel, he was suffering yet another. It seemed that no matter what his accomplishments were, or what kind of power he held, he was doomed to suffer at the hands of Leonel no matter what.

    At that moment, a furious aura came from the distance and Leonel looked over to see that it was actually Minerva. Her pink-diamond wings cut through space as she surged forward, rushing toward him. However, he just chuckled.

    "Be obedient, ugly woman. You survived last time because the little birdie intervened, but don''t think you''ll get another chance like that so easily. You''re lucky that I''m in a good mood today."

    "Damn, ugly woman?" James blinked, looking at Minerva. No matter how he looked at it, Minerva was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, definitely on par with the likes of Aina. "Since you don''t want her, can I have her?"

    "Fuck you," Milan interjected. "Do you really think every woman in the world is destined for you? Maybe she wanted a real man." Milan patted his round belly.

    "If you can get her, fatty, I''ll bow down to you."

    "That''s a bet."

    "What''ll you give me in return?" James grinned.

    The shirt suddenly burnt to ash.

    James looked down and shook his head with a sigh.

    "How unfortunate... It''s a good thing I have another."

    James calmly took out another vacuum-sealed baggie.

    "Please! Stop! I can''t laugh any harder!"

    The entire battlefield seemed to have become a complete mockery.

    The Gods and the Demi-Gods alike had never experienced something like this before. The Human Race, maybe aside from the Dwarven Race, was the most looked down upon in the whole of existence. When had they ever seen a group of humans behaving so brazenly?

    Even those among the Human Race who were amongst the Gods of the God Realm had to tuck their tails and be obedient. And soon, those Human Gods would probably all die out before long as well.

    But now, while they were fighting for their lives, these humans were laughing above them as though they weren''t worth much of anything at all.

    They had thought that the Human Race only had Leonel and Aina... But it seemed that this wasn''t the case at all. In fact, this seemed to be a statement.

    This wasn''t just a battle; it was a reminder and a warning all at once. The Human Race was the most looked down upon? Then why did so much of their fear stem from the Human Race? Why did it seem like they had to suppress the Human Race at all turns if they truly weren''t fearsome?

    This moment was like a slap to all of their faces. The Human Race was here to stay, and very soon they would have to deal with the consequences of infuriating them.

    Leonel looked back toward the battlefield and gave them a wink. Then, he waved a hand and made a move to enter the void with his brothers.

    It was right then that the situation seemed to change once again.

    The skies exploded...

    But this time, it wasn''t just this Owlan world that suffered...

    The entire canopy of the Demi-God Realm was blown apart, and it seemed prepared to fuse with the God Realm.

 Chapter 2995 Sinister

    Chapter 2995 Sinister

    Leonel was immediately taken off guard. This was obviously not something that he had planned, and as he watched the scene unfold, his eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    The shattering of the barrier between the God Realm and Demi-God Realms could be seen as both a good thing... or an absolutely terrible thing.

    The good news was that he could already sense the laws of the Gods encroaching. He could sense the Forces clearer, he could feel himself improving with much greater speed, he could even feel that the suppression on Drake had already loosened considerably and would only continue to do so as time continued to pass.

    In addition to this, the plan of the Owlans and the others could be cut short. That was because they no longer had to power up for the sake of cracking the barrier, because the barrier was already cracked. As such, their preparations until now were more than good enough to get a handle on the situation and move their worlds up. It could be said that the ones to benefit the greatest from this was them and their alliance... at least on the surface.

    As for the issues... there were too many to count.

    If there was no longer a barrier between the worlds, then Leonel''s plan to use the Owlans and the others as his backdrop had to be thrown into the trash.

    Initially, Leonel wanted to distract the God Realm with the rise of the Owlans and the Fallen God Beasts. That was because their existences wouldn''t be casually accepted on the God Realm.

    The Gods were obsessed with holding onto power, and they were especially stingy with how they chose to do things. Just the fact that the edict had appeared before Drake said everything that needed to be said.

    Normally, someone who formed a Dharma would have a few months, at the very least, to set their affairs in order and prepare to ascend. But because Drake had formed an Idol from the very onset, the God Realm lacked patience at all to let him do anything. As such, they basically ordered him to come within the next few days. Though, of course, Leonel had ignored this.

    At that moment, a flash sparked through Leonel''s mind and his heart shook.

    Could that have been the purpose all along? Was he the only intelligent person in existence? How could that possibly be true?

    If he could see it, there were certainly others that could see it as well, and if there were others that could see it, but they weren''t pushing back very hard...

    ''The majority faction in the God Realm, according to El''Rion, is the neutral faction that just wants to wait things out. And yet, even with the neutral faction being the majority, the culling was still approved.

    ''In the past, I thought that this was because they had to force a compromise. After all, killing off a few worlds every few hundred years was far better than just massacring the entire lower planes in a single sweep.

    ''But... what if the neutral faction isn''t so neutral after all? What if they just wanted a better reason to cull? Or maybe... they have other plans that I''ve yet to see through.''

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more he realized that this was likely to be the case. This was what the God Realm wanted, a surge to the God Realm so that they could justifiably kill large swaths of people and extend the life of Existence by weakening the burden on the Northern Star. By the same token, if their enemies came to them instead of the other way around, then they would not only not have to face the suppression of the lower Realms, but they wouldn''t have to invest very much at all...

    And in this sort of situation, they seemed to be getting exactly what they wanted.

    ''Truly sinister...'' Leonel thought.

    Unfortunately, this was still very much only the first and second problems.

 Chapter 2996 Crack.

    Chapter 2996 Crack.

    And that was because the Void Beasts were nothing more than a facade. They were never the true God Beasts of Destruction at all, they were just a convenient pawn raised up by the Celestial Terras... No... Raised up by the Primordial Terrors. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The skies darkened and the skies swam. The line between worlds seemed to blur, and the masses of Bubbles seemed to pop and then fuse one after another. At the same time, dense Anarchic Force surged in all directions, seeping into the worlds and corrupting them. World Spirits screamed out in horror and pain, but there was nothing that they could do to change things. The worlds were moving on their own, as though someone was taking advantage of the laws of the world to force Existence to harm itself. There was simply no stopping it. Leonel continued to stare into the distance... he could only watch as the Northern Star became larger and larger in his eyes. It was then that calm steps could be heard, echoing through the void. One after another, figures draped in dark cloaks appeared high in the skies, three bloody claw marks forming a crescent on their chests. The Three Finger Cult. And in their midst, there was a woman with eyes that Leonel would recognize even if they were burnt to ash. The Demoness.

 Chapter 2997 Distance

    Chapter 2997 Distance

    The Demoness was a woman with beauty that was difficult to describe. She didn''t dress as provocatively as one might expect for a woman with such a name, but it also didn''t seem to matter in the slightest.

    Her cherry lips accented her violet eyes beautifully. Her hair was like a cascade of maroon with lavender highlights. And her dress, black as the night, danced slowly in the wind as though replaying the shadows of her swaying hips.

    She was an objectively perfect woman in physical form, as though Existence had personally carved her. There wasn''t a spot of age on her face, and she looked to be a woman that had just hit her truest prime, not being a day over the age of 25.

    Although she wasn''t standing at the center of the group, she was still the center of attention, especially when one considered the hint of demonic aura she exuded from those curling horns on her head that looked more like carefully carved jade braids, to the wisps of darkness that sung around her. Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    Her cherry lips parted into a smile, and at that moment, the darkness in the skies seemed to brighten.

    She looked down on Leonel almost dotingly, as though she had seen her favorite little pawn and wanted to give it a little reward. If Leonel didn''t realize what happened by now, he would be too much of a fool. The act of enraging him through the use of Fiora''s body was obviously all for this moment.

    The actions of the Gods after that moment, continuously sending their senses over, sending over probes and armies, was precisely what destabilized the barrier enough that there was no chance of holding back the God Realm any longer.

    As for her gameboard? Her only strength over him was the fact that she had started the game long before him. He was quite literally born onto her chessboard. There was nothing he could have done to escape fully, and if not for the sacrifice of his father, he wouldn''t have even had the right to start his own game in the first place, no matter how small it was.

    But now, she had exposed her entire hand to him. At that point... was there anything left to fear? Did he need to care about such things? She would have no choice but to start a new game now if she wanted to face off against him, and this time, there would be no advantages to be had.

    Seeing Leonel''s calm reaction, there was a flicker of surprise in the Demoness'' eyes, but then that doting in her eyes became deeper. She stared at him like she was looking at an adorable little puppy, and she felt the sudden need to pinch his cheeks, while another intent brewed inside her.

    She was the mother of the Dream Asura Race. There was no one in this world capable of matching her in intelligence, not the Sylvans, not the God Beasts of Creation, there wasn''t even a single existence comparable.

    It had been a long time since she had felt any sort of pressure facing off against anyone. This little grandson of hers still didn''t have such ability, but she could see a little bit of a budding seedling within. Or was it a seedling? It was hard to tell if it had grown out of her expectations or not, but that left her with even more excitement.

    Unfortunately, that excitement didn''t last long as she exhaled a sigh.

    BOOM!

    The eyes of the Primordial Terrors appeared in the distance.

 Chapter 2998 Delicious

Chapter 2998 Delicious

    Leonel stood there as his brothers and Aina looked on in horror. With a bloody hole in his chest, he grinned a crimson grin. "Check my belly while you''re at it. They were quite delicious."

    [Disclaimer below]

 Chapter 2999 YIP!

    Chapter 2999 YIP!

    A harsh silence fell. It was as though the entire world had its air sucked away. And yet, at the center of it all, Leonel stood with a sneering face and a bleeding chest.

    In a battlefield of Gods, he was truly out of place at the moment. And yet, somehow, his momentum didn''t seem to lose out to any one of them.

    [Life Steal].

    Leonel brought out a chunk of meat from the Segmented Cube, one that was even larger than his body. It exuded an aura so familiar that many couldn''t help but feel a tingling sensation rush up their spine.

    In an instant, the bloody chunk of meat fell into a pile of billowing ash, and the hole in Leonel''s chest, that should have been impossible to reverse with his current power, vanished, leaving nothing but a dripping mess of blood.

    The fact that Leonel had spoken such words was one thing, but to use the corpses of the Primordial Terror Race as though they were resources rather than the former companions of this monstrous beast was on another level.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem to have realized what he had done. He just grabbed at the air, his black military gear rippling once and then mending itself as though nothing had happened.

    At the same time, white embroidery began to surface on it, taking the same shape as Leonel''s Divine Armor tattoos.

    He stood there, his hair billowing in the wind and a crown appearing above his head. Calm and steady.

    Aina didn''t say a word, but she stood shoulder to shoulder with Leonel. There was a fury billowing deep within her eyes. This damned turtle had tried to kill her husband right in front of her. If it wasn''t for the volatility of the situation forcing her to calm her rage, she would have already snapped.

    However, even while holding back, her momentum was no less than Leonel''s...

    And then there were his brothers.

    Not only was each one of them exceptionally powerful now, but there was also Drake.

    Drake wasn''t a normal God. He was a God that had established his own Force.

    It could be said that while most Idols were False Idols, mimicking the creation of new Forces rather than actually being a new Force, Drake had formed a True Idol, introducing an all-new Force into the world.

    Drake''s existence was so rare that most present didn''t even recognize how special he was. Though, that was also because he had yet to summon his Idol.

    The weakness of Drake was the fact that he had only reached the 1st Tier of the Ninth Dimension. Compared to these existences that had been in the Ninth Dimension for much of their lives, he was very much lacking.

    A little Blackstar suddenly appeared on Leonel''s shoulder, looking out into the world with fierce, black-marble eyes.

    "You see that overgrown oaf over there?" Leonel suddenly spoke to Blackstar. After all, he was the one that had called the little guy out.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    "He''s what they call a Celestial Terra."

    "Yip!"

    "Mm, he used to be called a Primordial Terror. But you see, in the past, they had to tuck their tails and run, they even changed their own names."

    "Yip! Yip!" Blackstar''s face twisted with disdain.

    "Right? Truly shameless. They hid their family names like they were ashamed of it, even let someone else take their mantle."

    "Yip!" Blackstar drew a claw through the air.

    "You want to kick them out of the Beast Races?"

    "Yip!"

    Leonel nodded seriously. "I understand. Honestly, they''ve already lost the right to be God Beasts of Destruction at this point. I think someone else should take up that mantle."

    "Yip! Yip! Yip!"

    Blackstar rose up to his hind legs and patted his chest as though to say: "Me! Me! Me!"

    Leonel laughed a booming laughter, one that echoed across the skies like thunder.

    "I definitely agree. Mhm. You know, this guy casually appeared in front of me despite knowing I have the Life Tablet. He''s a bit too arrogant, don''t you think? How about we knock him down a peg?"

    "Yip!"

    A trembling aura roared out of Blackstar.

 Chapter 3000 Until Now

    Chapter 3000 Until Now

    The moment the Primordial Terror appeared, Leonel had already transcribed its Lineage Factor and Ability Index into the Life Tablet. What surprised him was that he actually felt some resistance. Usually, both were transcribed immediately, and there was nothing to think about. However, Leonel faintly realized that if not for his new Wise Sea Order standing, he would have actually failed to copy the abilities of this beast.

    However, that much was fine... because it simply no longer mattered now that he had succeeded.

    In these years, Blackstar had done nothing but train and train. He was only in the Seventh Dimension, but his foundation compared to others was vastly different.

    If Leonel had to pick out the ones that were closest in talent to himself and Aina, there was Elorin, who was under Anastasia''s tutelage, Emna, who was well on her way to forming her own blade lineage, and then there was Blackstar.

    The problem was that Blackstar had been facing a veil that he couldn''t poke through no matter how hard he tried. He had the corpse of a Shadow Tail and a Void Beast to meditate on, and he made progress every day, but compared to his goal, that progress was relatively slow...

    Until now.

    A Force Art appeared, formed from the energy drained from the Celestial Terra that Aina had cut in half just days ago.

    The Primordial Terror suddenly opened its eyes.

    Unfortunately, it was already too late.

    Leonel pressed the Force Art into Blackstar''s body, and the latter trembled.

    ROAR!

    A dense redness swam in the depths of Leonel''s violet eyes, and the world around him trembled. Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    At that moment, a large slab of red land dyed by blood appeared, and flames danced beneath Leonel''s feet and out of the corners of his eyes.

    The top buttons of his black military outfit blew apart, revealing a chain of blackened teeth that whipped about around his neck. His military boots caught fire and were burned to ash, revealing his feet burning in an inferno.

    At the same time, Blackstar''s roar seemed to cause the skies to pale.

    This time, he didn''t transform into any other creature. Instead, he remained on Leonel''s shoulder, and his Shadow World bloomed, layering on top of Leonel''s Destruction World.

    This time, there was no impotent Destruction World to be seen. It was as though Leonel had completely shed it of its weakness, and as for the reason...

    An enormous blackhole appeared high in the skies, trembling with a mighty might.

    His mind was clear and fresh. He wasn''t affected by thoughts of rage, nor did he feel the need to suddenly go on a rampage.

    He was in full and complete control of his mind.

    And under that pressure, his Ability Index broke through a final thin layer, and the world became his oyster.

    "Didn''t you hear what the old turtle said? Come kill me. What are you all just standing there for?"

    Leonel took a breath, and the whole world howled.

    Nobody moved.

    Leonel shook his head. "See that, wife? They look down on your husband, but then when it''s time to act, they''re as timid as mice. What is a man to do?"

    Aina covered her lips and smiled. She was trying to be serious and angry. Could this man not joke around for once?

    BANG!

    Suddenly, someone moved. It seemed to be a subordinate of Zoltene. He appeared so fast that most couldn''t even track him, and in an instant, he had appeared in range of the Destruction World, just about to step onto it.

    However, the moment his foot stepped onto it, everyone''s expression changed.

    The man was still running forward, but first, he lost his clothes, then his skin, then his flesh.

    A rattling skeleton fell... And the most fearsome part was that from start to finish...

    He didn''t even seem to notice.

    Before Leonel could make another quippy remark, though... the situation changed once again.

    BOOM!

    The skies split, and another party of people appeared.

    When Leonel saw who it was, his eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    The Four Great Families.

 Chapter 3001 Battle Ax

    Chapter 3001 Battle Ax

    Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

    Leonel looked up into the skies, resting his spear on one shoulder while Little Blackstar sat on his other. Ships that looked eerily similar to the battleships of the Dimensional Zone appeared in a group of four. At their helms, existences that Leonel had simply never seen before appeared... He recognized not even one of them.

    However, what he did recognize was their flowing hair.

    Green hair and green eyes.

    Golden hair and golden eyes.

    Blue hair and blue eyes.

    Red hair and red eyes.

    There was only one group of families that they could have possibly been.

    Still, Leonel didn''t seem too surprised by their appearance, as though this was just to be expected. There had always been something fishy about the Four Great Families. They had depths that he couldn''t see through, and held secrets that were hard to fathom.

    But when they appeared, he could feel the Life Tablet tremble. This trembling wasn''t out of fear, but rather because it had sensed something that it recognized. And that could only be the second Life Tablet, the Legacy Life Tablet.

    Leonel had realized that there was something weird about the Four Great Families long ago... that was because they had too many treasures that the rest of the world seemed to ignore.

    For example, the Emperor''s Might Tablet, the Blood Sovereign Tablet... both of these things were endlessly valuable.

    The Human Race had been regulated so far that they were forced into hiding behind a formation for years of their lives, and yet no one remembered that these things existed? No one wanted to take them for themselves?

    Even if it was for the sake of not allowing the Fawkes to return, the Emperor''s Might Tablet should have certainly been at least confiscated. And the Blood Sovereign Tablet was useless to anyone without Blood Force affinity and should be especially enticing to those with Blood Sovereignty.

    He could still calmly smile.

    BOOM!

    The Manifestations of the Great Families began to appear one after another.

    The Brazinger family, led by a man with a stoic face, was the first to act. His aura rose into the skies and an image of him appeared above, high and mighty.

    At first, it seemed to be just a hollow Manifestation, but then God Runes began to rush into it one after another.

    Under the shocked gazes of those present, a normal Ninth Dimensional expert became a Dharma wielder in a flash.

    But he wasn''t the only one.

    One after another... man, woman, child... Dharmas took shape. Thousands of them at once.

    At this point, even the Gods that had descended could no longer remain calm. These were still Dharmas and not Idols. However, even amongst the God Races... would a single Race even have this many Dharma experts?

    Reaching Godhood didn''t suddenly become easy because you were a member of the God Race. In fact, the higher the talent, the more difficult it was. That was because distilling everything you knew and could do into a Dharma, and then subsequently an Idol, was far too difficult.

    But the Four Great Families seemed to have a built-in shortcut.

    And yet, it wasn''t over.

    Just as the bearded Brazinger at the helm seemed to be about to take action to breakthrough once more, he seemed to sense something.

    ''Hm?''

    He looked down and met Aina''s gaze. Then, with a wave of his hand, Aina''s battle ax was ripped out of her control.

 Chapter 3002 Meals

    Chapter 3002 Meals

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, but he pulled on Aina''s hand to stop her from running after it. Even so, when he looked at his wife''s bloodied hand, and then back to the bearded man... he had already decided his death.

    Aina''s battle ax soared through the air so quickly that others couldn''t catch it even if they wanted to. It soared through a distance that would have covered several Bubble Worlds in the past and landed in the man''s hand with a resounding BOOM!

    "HAHAHAHA!" His laughter echoed through the skies. "My Brazinger family will rise today! The Heirloom of the Battle God has returned!"

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    At that moment, the man''s Dharma raised a hand and grabbed out at the void. Streaks of crimson lightning flashed and reality tore apart.

    The shock of such a matter couldn''t be measured in words. With so many God Runes descending, the world was impossibly more sturdy. Even in his Destruction World, Leonel felt that his knees were creaking as his body was forcefully suppressed to the ground. The pressure of the God Realm was unlike anything that he had ever experienced before, and Leonel thought that he was already used to stepping into higher worlds by now.

    That was when the hand of the bearded man... or rather the hand of his manifestation, reached into the void. No, it wasn''t the void. Leonel could sense something on the other side calling out to him, something that was particularly... Destructive.

    That was when Leonel recalled the words of Willowyn and her mention of the different stages of Destruction and the forms they took. Leonel understood, then. This was the edge of the world that existed beyond the void. It was the Destruction Barrier that existed beyond the Northern Star.

    Leonel coughed and looked around a bit awkwardly. It seemed that he wouldn''t be the one causing trouble this time, but he was still going to have to clean up the mess. As expected, Aina''s hand suddenly grabbed at the void and then...

    CRACK.

    A second portal in space aimed toward the very same location appeared. And now, everyone suddenly had two places to target. Unfortunately, compared to the Brazingers who not only had a large battle station and thousands of Dharma experts, there were just the twelve of them here.

    Leonel sighed again. Who asked him to be a good husband?

    "Let''s go, boys. It seems we have some battling to do."

    "Sis, I need at least three meals for this!" Raj called out.

    "I need four!" Milan spoke out.

    Remembering Aina''s cooking, even Arnold couldn''t help but rub his nose and sheepishly raise his hand, wanting a piece too.

    Leonel grinned wildly, let go of Aina''s hand and then rushed ahead. His Destruction World would be their anchor, Blackstar would be their spirit, and their blades would be their hearts.

    A tide of Gods rushed toward them and the twelve of them faced off against the world.

 Chapter 3003 Palpable

    Chapter 3003 Palpable

    Leonel took a breath and his smile vanished. There was a sharpness that thrummed through him at that moment that couldn''t be denied from shining forth.

    He took a breath and he waved a hand, his spear vanishing in favor of a bow.

    With every step he took forward, his momentum continued to roar forth. His halo appeared behind him once again, reflecting the colors of his Mage Core. But this time, in its midst, his Life Tablet had risen above it.

    Fluttering butterflies and motes of violet light loomed around Leonel and the last bits of his smile faded from his eyes, being replaced with a deep, dark chill.

    At that moment, whether they wanted to admit it or not, those on the battlefield felt like the temperature had just plummeted by a few degrees.

    Leonel''s brothers surged forward and his own Bow Force exploded forth.

    Two halo-like bracelets appeared, hovering around Leonel''s wrists. The God Runes in the surroundings churned and Leonel''s Bow Force seemed to grow stronger and stronger along with it.

    A Natural Force Art suddenly took shape before Leonel''s arrow. It happened so quickly that it looked like golden motes of light racing through a maze in one instant, but in the next, it reflected a gorgeous gold that carried the complexities of a lifetime.

    Leonel sucked in a breath and the God that had died on his Destruction World was suddenly pulled toward him. Or rather... his soul was.

    It looked as though nothing at all was left.

    But how could a soul vanish before Leonel''s eyes?

    Under normal circumstances, this existence was simply far too powerful for Leonel to do anything about. But when he said he would show them fear...

    He meant it with every fiber of his being.

    The Life Tablet thrummed and the soul was forced into a corporeal state. And then, Leonel opened his mouth and spoke words that the God Realm had hoped it would never have to hear again.

    "[Assimilate]."

    BOOM!

    The arrow in Leonel''s hand suddenly became so large that it seemed more lance than arrow. One of his arms was completely overshadowed by it, and yet he didn''t seem to notice.

    The power of Leonel''s arrow wasn''t just because of [Assimilate], he had the backing of Drake''s Gun Force, and more importantly... Blackstar''s Destruction Idol.

    When he used [Assimilate], the souls were already destroyed almost beyond repair, and this was ironically what allowed him to [Assimilate] them so easily.

    And yet, he managed to keep more than half of the power that would have otherwise been lost to him.

    One Shot. One Kill.

    One Kill. One True Death.

    Before anyone could even react, Leonel had already loosed a second arrow. The coldness in his eyes this time was even more piercing. He didn''t speak a single word as he killed another God.

    It was only at this moment that the world seemed to react.

    Fawkes!

    It was a name that sprouted the root of fear in most. The ones with the fiercest reaction were surprisingly not the Gods, but the Four Great Families themselves.

    Leonel stood with his hair billowing in the wind, flames echoing out from his feet and the corner of his eyes. His blazing intent seemed to mark the world for death as he took another breath, reaping a third soul.

    [Assimilate].

    SHUUUM.

    A third lance-arrow formed and suddenly Leonel became an existence that couldn''t be ignored.

    His smile had vanished, and they had all reached the point where they wanted it to come back. It was only now that the playful Leonel was gone that they understood just how good they had had it just now.

    Chunks of Celestial Terra meat appeared around Leonel and he cast [Life Steal]. In an instant, his body thrummed with life and vitality once more as he released a third arrow.

    He didn''t speak, he didn''t taunt, he didn''t joke. He was just a lethal killing machine, killing with every step he took.

    His brothers hadn''t even managed to reach the front line yet, but the entire forefront of the enemy had been shredded to pieces.

    Goggles watched this scene with a slight tremble in his pupils.

 Chapter 3004 Know Fear

    Chapter 3004 Know Fear

    Leonel''s Destruction World moved and Ten Stars rotated high in the skies, revolving with various colors. As his brothers ran, the land moved with them and soon...

    BOOM! for new novels

    The Destruction World and the frontline of the armies crashed. Leonel seemed to have ignored everyone else, not aiming for the weakest enemies, but rather, the strongest. The very Gods that had descended from above, who were the cause of all of this, were the very ones that he targeted right from the beginning.

    His brothers unleashed their might and their uniforms connected with one another, amplifying their power. The sounds of guns fired, but they were almost immediately surrounded. It was too difficult for them to kill in one shot like Leonel could... But that didn''t mean that they could do nothing.

    Drake was the only one that stayed behind with Leonel. He slowly pulled his sniper rifle from his back and exhaled a slow, turbid breath. Then he squeezed the trigger. Arrow and bullet flew through the air in a beautiful symphony and suddenly two heads exploded at once.

    The pressure on James, Joel, and the others lessened considerably and they found that the movements of the Gods were becoming easier to predict. As powerful as they had become, it was hard to match the combat effectiveness of Gods that had lived hundreds of times longer than they had. But with the support of Leonel and Drake, the movements of the Gods were too restricted and there was little they could do.

    If this was possible, how could the Fawkes have ever been eliminated?! This time, it was all [Dimensional Cleanse]. The power of the Stars had been within Leonel''s body for many years, but he had only used [Dimensional Cleanse] to improve the speed of his recovery and nothing else. But that had all changed when he thought of a simple question. Why did his number of Stars correspond to his number of Nodes? Why did his father use these nodes as the foundation for [Final Destruction]? They were obviously meant to be centers to solve the largest problem with his current stage of [Final Destruction]... energy accumulation!

    A normal person, even if they could gather up the resources necessary to move forward from here, would be entirely unable to absorb it without millennia or more. How could Leonel possibly wait thousands of years just to reach the Seventh Dimension? And who knows how much longer to reach the Eighth and Ninth beyond that? Would his lifespan even be long enough for that? But this changed his perspective on things, and it also opened up another path to him.

    Right now, Shan''Rae was just at the Sixth Dimension, but the energy stores within her weren''t necessarily less than any top tier Void Race member. In fact, it might be even more. The problem was that her body was too weak to expel it all at the same time. But now, with Leonel extracting it...

    Shan''Rae''s dimming body suddenly thrummed with life again and several more galaxies and stars appeared to replace the ones that had vanished. ... She was the perfect battery pack. Now, the real fun would begin.

    Leonel drew another arrow and a lance formed once again. The lance of gold suddenly flared up and became a dense den of black flames that drew a line across the world. He hadn''t forgotten. Today, it wasn''t just the Fawkes that would shine, but also his grandfather''s path. Before this woman his grandfather had once given his life to... Leonel would display the might of a Morales man.

    His lips parted for the first time since his onslaught began and he spoke two words.

    "Know Fear."

 Chapter 3005 He Would Be

    Chapter 3005 He Would Be

    Leonel released his arrow and it was as though the entire world was painted in black. He recalled the painting that he had seen thanks to Mo''''Lexi.

    He and everyone else had stood there, witnessing the tragic horror of war. The rivers of blood, the mountains of flesh. Everything seemed to be a reminder that life was too fleeting, that spending time on a battlefield wasn''t glorious, but rather left tragedy in one''s wake.

    But there was a deeper level to this painting as well. It was one that told of determination.

    It depicted the strewn-about corpses of more humans than Leonel could count. There were more dreams, more goals and aspirations, more hopes than he could ever hope to understand or fathom... all dyed in red.

    There was no glory, no grand achievement waiting on the other end, there was just death and more death.

    Leonel remembered how immature he had once been in the past. In that immature state, he wanted to change the world, to usher in a new order where even the weak could be protected.

    As he grew strong and suffered himself, he forgot those dreams and aspirations. Even after he walked out of that shadow, he didn''t return to his former self.

    He had seen too much. He had done too much. Experienced too much evil and been too evil himself.

    However, that day he stood before the Spirituals'' Throne, he had felt something odd.

    Every fiber of his being had wanted to wipe the Spirituals out down to their last man, woman, and child.

    What right did they have to enjoy life while the Human Race was living on pins and needles? What right did they have to smile, to laugh, to experience joy, when it came at the cost of sacrificing everyone else?

    He had wanted to uproot them all, to show them what true despair was, to force them to experience what his wife would have had their plans succeeded this time.

    But in the end...

    BANG!

    The arrow cut through the world and Gods fell by the dozens. Their powers were mowed down, and without even a second to breathe, Leonel began to cast [Arise] again and again.

    In what felt like a single blink of the eye, Shan''Rae had been considerably drained, and Leonel''s side had gone from barely under a dozen to just over a hundred.

    But what was more fearsome than that was that Leonel''s crown was only growing larger. And when he spoke, the world listened.

    His Summons were all brought forth wearing violet armor. This violet armor was not only a manifestation of Leonel''s King''s Might, it was what kept their souls in a solid state and capable of interacting with the world, and most importantly...

    It was completely under Leonel''s control.

    So when the armors were formed this time, they were linked by a mysterious Natural Force Art and the world''s energies thrummed around them.

    Under the command of Leonel''s mind, they began to work together seamlessly. And just like that, the battlefield that had already been separated into countless armies gained yet another, all at the behest of a single young man.

    When Leonel''s army had grown to 200, Shan''Rae finally collapsed.

    "Farewell, my King!" She shouted out boldly as though she was afraid that the world wouldn''t know that she had once served Leonel. "Long live King Morales!"

    The roar echoed across the battlefield, but Leonel seemed to have not heard it at all.

    Sweat beaded down his forehead and a world-collapsing battle seemed to have shaken everything.

    Leonel took a breath, his heart rate steadying into a calm rhythm. No matter how heavy the burden was, no matter how devastating the pain.

    He would carry it.

    He would be a King.

 Chapter 3006 His Own

    Chapter 3006 His Own

    "LEONEL MORALES!" The furious roar of Mir''Kael split the skies. The final chains that had been suppressing the man were unleashed, but he also no longer dared to fight Elysium. The latter had grown too powerful. Due to this, Mir''Kael had retreated from the battlefield, taking advantage of Elysium''s breakthrough to hightail it out of there. After all, Mir''Kael was only in the Eighth Dimension and didn''t yet even have a Dharma. It wasn''t his place to fight Elysium who now had an Idol and was near the pinnacle of the Ninth Dimension. However, when he saw Shan''Rae fall like this, and was even so proudly proclaiming her allegiance to Leonel even in her death, he was furious. When he saw that Leonel didn''t even acknowledge her existence, he was so angry that supernovae dotted across his body, high-volatility solar flares raging out of his body and incinerating everything near him, including even his own members of the Void Race. However, Leonel completely ignored him. This sort of ant wasn''t even qualified to participate in this battle. How dare he call out his name? Leonel''s crown thrummed and he pulled back his bowstring once again. However, just as he was about to loose an arrow, his heart skipped a beat. Leonel''s head leaned to the side and an arrow whistled by him, shooting off into the distance. It was so fast that his eyes still couldn''t track it, and even his Dream Force was slow to react. The only reason he had been able to notice it was because the moment it streaked through the Domain of his Destruction World, he could feel it. Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he looked in a certain direction, only to find a woman with beauty beyond words sitting in a lotus formed of wooden hands. Goddess Evergreen. "You have the smell of my followers on you," she said lightly. It seemed that Leonel''s actions had finally brought out a true powerhouse. If not for his Destruction World, a single arrow would have killed him. Let alone him, even Blackstar and Drake hadn''t been able to react, but it was impossible to blame them. The two of them had only just broken through. Compared to these monsters that had had their Idols for tens of thousands of years at worst, they were too inferior. It also had to be remembered that Force Manipulation wasn''t everything. There was still the matter of Dimensions to consider as well. Blackstar had only just entered the Eighth Dimension, and Drake was only at Tier 1 of the Ninth. Comparatively speaking, Goddess Evergreen was at Tier 5 of the Ninth Dimension. She wasn''t an existence that any one of them could compare to, and for very good reason at that. Of course, not all Tier 5s were created equal. There had even been members of the Human Race who had entered the Ninth Dimension and could be considered to be at the fifth Tier as well. The difference was a matter of foundation, Dimensional Method, and constitution. All things considered, Goddess Evergreen was still considered to be a young God and had a lot of room to grow. And, even with that considered, her Dimensional Tier was actually higher than most True Gods. Still, Leonel found her words to be ridiculous. He was someone who dared to tell the Primordial Terror to check his belly, why would he care about having killed Evergreen''s subordinates way back in the Dimensional Verse? In fact, he had already long since forgotten that he had actually done such a thing. He remembered being warned that killing Evergreen''s apostles would lead to problems. But even after that, he had wiped out their lineage. He had done so much killing afterward that he couldn''t be bothered to care. And right now, Leonel wasn''t in the mood for quippy remarks. He had come to kill. Leonel raised up his bow and it vanished into a spear. The Ten Stars to his back trembled and the flames out of the corners of Leonel''s eyes and the bottoms of his feet reached a fiery inferno level of blaze. The Ten Stars rearranged themselves and then suddenly burst into light. "[Star Fusion]..." for new novels

    The miniature motes of light, formed from the shattered and scattered stars of his [Dimensional Cleanse] foundation, formed countless miniature Natural Force Arts. These Natural Force Arts came together to form the Morales Constellation and a cycle of Creation and Destruction were formed before them all. Leonel raised up his spear and the Constellation above reacted the same. Goddess Evergreen couldn''t help but frown. It definitely wasn''t a Dharma, but the power that it could bring down even surpassed one. In terms of sheer quantity, it was more than she had ever seen. But what was truly shocking wasn''t the shape or the technique... it was the fact that it was calling down Universal Force through a conduit. Universal Force was known for one thing and one thing only...

    Allowing one to transcend the Dimensions and battle with those far above you in Tiers. Leonel had studied Aina''s manifestation for a long time, and their minds were even connected as one. Having simulated her progress for her many times before, how could he not understand the technique inside and out? Unfortunately, this wasn''t enough. He was lacking something the Four Great Families had, so even when he tried to replicate it, he couldn''t. So instead... he scrapped the entire idea. Since he couldn''t copy theirs, he would just make his own. Leonel raised up his spear, his battle intent peeling through the skies like a bolt of lightning.

 Chapter 3007 Thrust Forward

    Chapter 3007 Thrust Forward

    for new novels

    Leonel took a step, and his figure seemed to encompass the world for a moment. Behind him was his wife, fighting a battle that he couldn''t help her with. Before him were his brothers, holding off the frontline and blocking off all the rabble. He only had one job: deal with all those that they couldn''t deal with. He took another step and suddenly vanished. The eyes of Evergreen flashed with a dense green color that was much less emerald-like than his mother''s. It was dark, but not in a sinister way. Instead, it was more of a deep, floral green, one that one would see in a dense Amazonian forest. Wood Force soared through the air, and countless arms and palms descended. Leonel''s gaze flashed. He immediately noticed something that made his heart palpitate. The attacks of a God, even the simplest ones, all carried an air of mystery that most could never see through. It held a cadence that fused with the Laws of the world, humming along with them, hiding their intentions within their folds, and only breaking free of those restraints when it suited them. It was a hodgepodge of laws he recognized and ones that Evergreen had created herself. It was a sort of magical martial art that couldn''t be explained in just a few words. But if Leonel had to, it was as though they had incorporated Natural Force Arts into their very combat style. Against such existences, if you tried to have a normal battle, you could be crushed. Luckily, Leonel wasn''t normal. Even his own Dream Force wasn''t able to see through such a combat style. It was still at the Higher Creation State, after all. It wasn''t prepared to see through an Idol-supported battle style, Sovereign or not. However, Leonel wasn''t alone. He had the Life Tablet. It only took a single move of his intention for the Life Tablet to imprint this Natural Force Art. Its mysteries reflected in Leonel''s mind, and he expelled all other distracting thoughts. In one moment, it had felt like there was simply nowhere to dodge. In the next, Leonel''s spear flickered as he cut along the side of one of the many arms, slightly delaying its descent and splitting it in two. He weaved out of the way and struck out with his spear again. His body and his spear seemed to have formed a single unit. When his feet glided, so too did his spear. When his head swerved to the side, it would come with a slicing arc that left a trailing wake of flames, gold, and blackness in its wake. Afterimages of himself were left in series, and suddenly, there seemed to be just as many Leonels as there were palms in the skies. His mind didn''t seem overloaded in the slightest, and even with the pressure of the computation that was necessary, he still seemed capable of reading dozens of moves ahead, even against such a God. He realized by the thousandth exchange that precisely because of the battle style of the Gods, his Control Ability Index in combination with the Life Tablet was nothing short of their bane. TSSS. Leonel suddenly appeared high in the skies, swiping out his spear a single time, and yet causing thousands of slashing blades to erupt in a spherical storm. All the blade lights that he had released in the previous exchange seemed to linger in the air and then explode out at once, causing countless splintering strands of wood to blast apart. Leonel stood high in the skies, his hair billowing and his eyes carrying a fierce intent. Spear Dance. It seemed that he had already touched the threshold of Godhood long ago. Spear Dance was precisely a rudimentary method of how the Gods battled. It used a Force Art to gather together strands of Spear Force and erupt with a Force Manipulation level beyond his limits. However, Leonel hadn''t realized just how amazing it was for him to have thought of such a thing until this moment. And now, Spear Dance would play a completely different role. His spear tip trembled and then became completely still. He remembered just how steady his father''s blade always was, how it could face off against the Stars and the Laws of the World without shaking even the slightest bit. No matter how much power, no matter what the odds. Thrust forward. Two halo-bracelets appeared around Leonel''s wrists and suddenly expanded violently. Nothing would stop his blade. He pierced forward, and all the world''s spears seemed to howl in unison. God or not, the moment Leonel''s spear manifested, their own veered out of control, no longer listening to their commands. In this space, there could only be one spear master. SHUUUU! SHIIIIIIING! The spear light was too fast. It appeared before Goddess Evergreen in the blink of an eye, and she felt her heart skip a beat. She had put up several defenses, but they were either slow or torn apart like cheap pieces of paper. It was only when the spear light was already in front of her that she realized that Leonel had somehow reverse-engineered her battle style and struck forward with what she could only call an anti-Natural Force Art. One wreathed in Destruction. It could be said that in the entire world, this spear was the one thing that she couldn''t properly fight back against. She unleashed a delicate shout, and she realized that skill wasn''t going to cut it. If she couldn''t overwhelm Leonel through normal means, she could only use raw power. A twin pair of lotuses appeared in each one of her eyes, both rotating in opposite directions. A wooden lotus of hand appeared above and another appeared below her. One was formed of a heavy, hard, dark wood that looked almost black. The other was formed of a delicate soft wood that seemed to almost be a pale gold. The moment they appeared, a grinding energy rocked the world, and Evergreen struck out.

 Chapter 3008 Nature

    Chapter 3008 Nature

    "Only Nature is Eternal."

    She spoke these words in a voice as sweet as honey and as delicate as dew. And yet, the God Runes that were still merging into the Demi-God Realm reacted just as fiercely nonetheless.

    BANG!

    Evergreen''s palm struck out and met Leonel''s spear. There was a slight struggle before the spear light was shredded to pieces.

    A yin and yang sort of energy became like pestle and mortar, grinding down against all the energies of the world.

    Evergreen sat in a lotus position in the middle of these two floating wooden structures.

    These two were the halves of her Idol, a rare Dual Idol.

    The lotuses in her eyes suddenly stopped rotating as though they had just snapped into place. At the same time, a great amount of hair-raising danger flooded Leonel''s senses, but his reaction seemed as though he didn''t notice at all.

    The Constellation high in the skies above him suddenly moved. It stretched out a hand and plucked at the stars, drawing two fingers, pressed together, in an arc that formed the body of a bow. Its second hand moved toward the middle of the bow''s body and the strings of the universe played a heavenly tune that formed the bowstring.

    A lance-arrow was drawn that focused its attention on Evergreen.

    Leonel didn''t want a long, drawn-out battle. He had come here for victory.

    God or not.

    She would have to fall beneath his blade.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Reality exploded and the void seemed to pierce into it, spreading out its tendrils as the half-formed God Realm Runes were slow to repair space.

    Leonel moved and his spear arched through the air.

    A battle the likes of which could sunder the skies and shatter the earth erupted. Leonel''s spear moved with the grace of someone who had experienced thousands of battles, and the palms of Evergreen seemed as endless as Nature itself, ever-present, ever-existing, ever-changing.

    Leonel seemed to have already seen through this, using the momentum of the parry to glide his body to the side and make his target small.

    Evergreen''s palm passed by him and ripped a gash through his military wear and chest with just the wind pressure alone, but Leonel didn''t seem to notice as he carried his momentum forward, driving a knee right into her chest.

    She actually dared to remain seated when she was facing off against him, and she paid the price for it.

    His knee exploded with Gun Force and what must have once been a beautiful chest was minced to pieces.

    Evergreen was blown away, but Leonel had already taken a step forward, swinging down his blade with all the force that he could muster.

    It truly felt as though the weight of an entire world concentrated onto its tip. Everything happened so fast that others didn''t even have time to react to the fact that Leonel was thoroughly beating a God who was already well known for her talent.

    Whether it was insight, sharpness, or deduction... she had lost in all aspects but raw power.

    However, Evergreen was a ruthless character herself. Despite her injuries, there wasn''t the slightest fluctuation in her eyes. Her hands suddenly pressed together in a seal as Leonel''s blade was about to cut her in two.

    In order to attack her like this, Leonel had to come in between her Dual Idol... and there was a reason that most did not dare.

    A grinding force appeared above and below Leonel and his skin instantly erupted into shredded pieces of flesh, in the next instant, it would be his body.

    But at that moment, his Spear Dance erupted for the second time in battle, countering the grinding force.

    His eyes, even dripping with blood, carried the same coldness.

    His spear exploded with strength and drove into Evergreen''s head.

    This battle was over.

    PCHU!

    Leonel froze as a bowl-sized hole appeared through his chest.

    Evergreen fell toward his Destruction World below, her beautiful head cut in two.

    "That''s enough." Two more Gods, exuding auras even more powerful than Evergreen, appeared on either side of the spinning lotuses.

 Chapter 3009 Fusing

    Chapter 3009 Fusing

    Leonel took a breath only to find that he didn''t have the lungs to breathe with. Aches and pain wracked his body, as though despite the fact he hadn''t taken many injuries during his battle with Evergreen, his body was still reminding him that he was way out of his league.

    He took another breath and hacked up blood, but the coldness in his eyes didn''t fade. He never lost his focus for even a moment and he had already taken out several lumps of Celestial Terra meat.

    The two Gods, Zoltene and another that Leonel didn''t recognize, surged forward. This second God was none other than Solaraan, but whatever his name was didn''t matter much to Leonel. It made no difference at all.

    No matter who stood before him, he would cut them down. That was the promise he had made to himself.

    It didn''t matter how much his body broke down. It didn''t matter what the odds were. It didn''t matter that they were existences that had ruled over lands and even time itself for countless years.

    None of it mattered.

    The halos around Leonel''s wrists trembled and his Spear Force surged.

    These very same Gods who so many feared were doing their best to ensure that he couldn''t heal himself. They were going out of their way to stop him.

    They had felt what fear was, but they hadn''t let it settle in yet. They still dared to raise their blades, they still dared to attack him, they still dared to insult the dignity of a King.

    [Life Steal].

    BANG!

    Leonel''s Spear Force broke into the Middle Creation State and his aura thrummed. Scarlet Star Force thrummed in his kidneys and rampaged throughout his body, fusing with the Universal Force within him to create something new.

    Universal Force had always been something that couldn''t be incorporated into the body, but when it came to fusing with Forces, it did so with absolute ease. There wasn''t a Force in existence that it wasn''t compatible with, and now that it was in Leonel''s body, it was being forced to follow the path of Leonel''s Forces as well.

    There was a hand that carried the essence of shadows, hidden and discreet, impossible to track and even more difficult to spot.

    The last hand was completely and utterly normal. It could have come from a Nomad, or a Human, or a Cloud Race member. It looked so completely and utterly normal, and yet it also seemed to carry the most mysteries.

    When these two sets of four palms appeared, Leonel didn''t seem to have anywhere to escape to. There was only death awaiting him.

    But then his Spear Dance descended.

    The lotuses of Evergreen seemed to have been co-opted, beginning to follow a law that was much higher than their own. Who cared about the cycle of nature when the cycle of creation was right before them all?

    The lotuses rotated out of instinct and shredded the attacks of Zoltene and Solaraan apart.

    Leonel gasped for breath, but he had already taken another step forward. Blood dripped from him in waves, and the only part of him that didn''t seem injured were those eyes.

    Deep and unfathomable, unwavering and unmoved in their conviction.

    He moved against the Gods with the confidence of a man who stood above the world.

    His Mana Core tree rippled behind him, reflecting with his halo, and the Life Tablet shone with a bright light.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s spear descended and the world seemed to fall into a whirlwind of chaos. There was nowhere to escape to.

    It was like even with all these Gods here, Leonel alone controlled life and death.

    SHUUUU!

    The eight palms in the skies hurriedly overlaid one another, and it was at that moment that down below, Evergreen''s split head finished fusing.

 Chapter 3010 Button Nose

    Chapter 3010 Button Nose

    Leonel felt like the lotuses were about to be stripped from his control. Just as he was about to deal a death blow, Evergreen awoke and her Idol shook. She didn''t manage to rip the control back from Leonel immediately, but the slight change was enough for Leonel to be thrown off and for the backlash to cause his inner organs to rupture once again.

    Zoltene and Solaraan weren''t slow to take advantage. Two of their four palms, each, whistled forward. Even before they reached Leonel, the pressure alone was like a mountain descending from the skies.

    Gravity twisted and time stopped. Space compressed and reality folded.

    Half of Leonel''s body was destroyed in a single instant of time, and it seemed that in the next instant, he would be churned into minced meat.

    Taking advantage of Leonel''s sudden faltering and the subsequent backlash, Evergreen ripped her lotuses back under her control entirely and then began to grind them downward. Facing attacks from the front, the back, above, and below, there was simply no escape.

    BANG!

    There was no suspense. Leonel was crushed to ash. Even his blood was minced and compressed at such high pressure that there was nothing but wisps of charcoal remaining, fluttering through the air.

    Aina faltered slightly in the skies. She knew how much Leonel and the others were fighting for her, and that because of this she had to do her best to claim victory as quickly as possible, but it was also because of this that she couldn''t focus.

    "LEONEL!" She roared.

    Aina suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood in agitation and rage as the Brazinger family''s Heirloom was wrestled almost completely out of her control.

    But the moment she sensed this, her fury seemed to have reached a completely different level.

    "GIVE IT TO ME!"

    Aina''s roar dyed the skies red and this time it was the bearded Brazinger who found himself flying back.

    The Brazinger family''s Lineage Factor was triggered by Aina''s fury and for the first time in a long while, she found herself losing herself to a boiling lust for blood.

    And now, she suddenly chose to release them.

    Howls filled the air as the Brazinger family Heirloom zipped through it, slapping into Aina''s palm with a resonant, thunderous BOOM!

    At the same time, a shadowy spirit in the form of the Heirloom pulled itself out from the crack in space, ripping through reality and entering the Heirloom at the same time.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    "DIE!"

    Aina raised her ax high, and then a shocking scene occurred.

    Space rippled and the hook of the battle ax seemed to catch it. Almost like a pin in a blanket, Aina punctured the veil and then ripped it down.

    God Runes flooded the surroundings and an ax blade that sundered reality itself peeled down from above, aiming right at Evergreen.

    Evergreen''s expression changed and chaos reigned on the battlefield.

    And yet... as though there weren''t enough surprises today, another figure suddenly appeared high in the skies.

    It was a young woman with long blue hair and striking blue eyes. She would have been inconspicuous if not for her adorable, button-nosed appearance. She should have been in her twenties, yet she could easily pass off as a naive high school girl still growing into her own.

    That was when, before this woman, another crack similar to the one that had just closed on Aina''s end appeared.

    No one noticed this woman until it was too late and the Adurna were caught off guard.

    When Leonel''s brothers, beaten and bloodied, looked into the skies, they were caught off guard as well.

    Little Nana?

 Chapter 3011 Overwhelming

    Chapter 3011  Overwhelming

    The moment Little Nana appeared, it seemed obvious what her goal was. She caught the Adurna family off guard, and piggybacking off Aina''s moment, she reached in and grabbed at the spirit of a shield.

    The shield was truly beautiful. It was completely transparent, reflecting various shades of blue as though one was looking at clear ocean waters rather than a treasure. Though... this sort of sight was a treasure in its own right.

    "STOP!" The head of the Adurna family brought out the physical shield, and her hair whipped wildly in the air as she tried to fight back.

    Little Nana paled as she felt the spirit of the weapon almost slip out of her control. It was clear that the affinity she had for the weapon wasn''t nearly as high as Aina''s. Or, to speak more conservatively, the gap between herself and the head of the Adurna was far smaller than the gap between Aina and the Brazinger head.

    Little Nana''s face turned red once more with exertion. She had a look of determination in her eyes, but it was hard for her not to feel despair.

    She had come out at the perfect moment, done everything right, but in the end, it felt as though her blood just wasn''t pure enough. Fiind updated novels on

    This was what hurt the most. She hated the way the Great Families did things, obsessed with their bloodlines, obsessed with their purity. The number of people that they had hurt because of such things was far greater than just Aina alone. She had to watch her own brother being treated as inferior only because he was born with weaker talent than her own.

    She wanted to prove them wrong, she wanted to do what Aina had done and slap their faces by having yet another one of their weapons land in the hands of someone with "weak" blood. But now, it looked as though she would fail, and that frustrated her to the point that tears pooled in her eyes.

    She grit her teeth and pulled hard, using everything she had in her body, even her very soul and lifespan, but it just didn''t seem to budge.

    ...

    In the madness, this word alone was enough and pierced right into Evergreen''s heart.

    Aina''s coercive voice had returned. It clapped like thunder and collapsed the mind and spirit. Evergreen realized too late that she could do nothing at all as the blade appeared before her.

    It was right then that the Primordial Terror slowly looked over. It was highly dissatisfied. These subordinates were absolutely worthless drivel.

    It snorted just a single time, and all of Aina''s momentum dispersed at once. The river of blood vanished, the skeletons, ghouls, and zombies were blown to ash, and Aina''s Heirloom bent back so far that it almost flew out of her hands.

    Aina''s body froze, not out of fear, but because she felt as though she had met an immovable wall. Veins popped up across her forehead and arms as she tried to press past this wall, but no amount of strength seemed to be enough.

    She was right there, just one more step forward. But the power of the Primordial Terror was like an unfathomable chasm.

    Right then, as though to pour salt into a wound, the call of a majestic bird pierced through the skies, followed by the roars of a tiger and the thunderous cadence of a dragon.

    The Fallen God Beasts were no longer fallen.

    They appeared across the horizon, their bodies as large as worlds and their wills no less imposing.

    It seemed to be the period at the end of a story, a cap on the skies themselves, and the final swan song of Existence.

    Their power was too overwhelming.

 Chapter 3012 Why Not?

    Chapter 3012  Why Not?

    Aina was finally blown back, unable to withstand the carnage. Up above, Nana seemed to have finally lost her battle. The portal had slipped away into a sliver and was moments from closing. At the same time, Drake tried his best to support James, Joel, and the others, but the tide of enemies was too large. It was even to the point that most of the powerhouses were directly ignoring them, lazily allowing their subordinates to take aim.

    There were a lot of sayings for what one would experience when the end of their lives came. But there were a lot fewer when it was about the end of the world.

    There might have been a song or two, but nothing as profound or daunting as the real thing. There was nothing as beautiful as seeing one''s life in a final spurt of consciousness, there was just nothing but endless suffering and pain.

    It was hard to tell what these people even wanted. Sure, maybe the Primordial Terror truly wanted to see the end of everything. As the true Beast of Destruction, that was all it wanted. But what about everyone else?

    The irony was that most of them were just selfishly pining after their own desires.

    The Four Great Families had just wanted to survive. They did it at the cost of betraying their own Race.

    Evergreen was the truest devout follower of nature and the course of it. In her eyes, death and destruction could only give way to life. That was the way things had always been, and that was the way it would always be. The actions of the Gods to try to extend their lives beyond reason had always disgusted her.

    The God Beasts wanted a return to their former glory and power... they had been knocked down from their pedestal, so how dare anyone else have the right to rise above them...

    Some only wanted short-term gain... some only wanted revenge... some were chasing after something much larger at the expense of everyone else.

    But regardless of what it was, the reality was laid out before them all. There was no fighting against this.

    They were too weak.

    Aina coughed up several mouthfuls of blood so scarlet it hurt to look at. She rolled across the ground and felt as though every bone in her body had just shattered. And yet, she didn''t seem to feel the pain. She could only wonder if there was something more that she could have done.

    Aina looked up, recognizing the voice and the skill, but it was hard for her to feel very happy. It didn''t seem to change much at all. But at the very least, she could see her husband''s face again.

    At least, that was what she thought until the voice rang out again.

    Leonel, who had been ice-cold these last few hours, suddenly chuckled.

    "Wife, what''d I say about believing in me?"

    Aina looked up and suddenly felt the urge to roll her eyes. These odds weren''t normal odds, alright? How about cutting her a little slack?

    Leonel still hadn''t appeared. It was as though he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

    But right at this moment, there was a certain Variant Invalid who was completely infuriated, watching all of his hard work vanish before his eyes.

    Before, despite the fact they were perfect for him, Leonel had left the Incomplete Worlds of the Invalids and the worlds of the Fallen God Beasts alone. That was because their worlds were part of the grand plan of breaking through the barrier of the God Realm, and that was precisely what Leonel needed to happen so that the target that was on his back could weaken a bit. If they failed, he would definitely be screwed.

    It was ironic. In this cascade of selfish actors, Leonel was definitely one of them, and in the end, he had fed into the plans of the Demoness and the Primordial Terror just like everyone else.

    Unlike them, though, he planned to fix it.

    Across the Demi-God Realm, Force Arts began to appear one after another.

    Leonel needed eight more Incomplete Worlds and he happened to have already analyzed these ones...

    So why not take them?

 Chapter 3013 Die

    Chapter 3013  Die

    If Leonel was being honest with himself, the situation wasn''t ideal. Of these eight Incomplete Worlds, he would only really like three of them.

    The first was the most obvious: the Incomplete World of the Invalids. This was their strongest world, one that was already comparable to a God Realm.

    The reason this was perfect for him was precisely related to the last large breakthrough he had had in his comprehension of Destruction and Creation. That had allowed him to gain four Sovereignties, two Destruction Sovereignties, and two Creation Sovereignties. The two formed a cycle with one another, splitting into pairs and occupying one of his Innate Nodes each.

    One of his Innate Nodes represented Creation taken to an extreme and ultimately leading to Destruction.

    The other of his Innate Nodes represented Destruction taken to an extreme and ultimately leading to Creation.

    The differences were subtle, but with both having taken on the character of two Sovereignties, the power of his Innate Nodes had reached another level entirely. Right now, even if there were higher Forces on the rankings, Leonel didn''t believe that he would ever swap out his Scarlet Star Force for any one of them.

    The remaining two Incomplete Worlds were attached to the Fallen God Beasts and the Owlans respectively. These worlds were obscure and not even used by these two Races as anything more than a countermeasure and a backup plan. However, they were key to the plan as they were conduits to allow communication between the Incomplete Worlds of the Invalids and the Complete Worlds of the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts.

    The Fallen God Beast Incomplete World was perfect for Leonel''s physique. He had already sacrificed his Northern Star Lineage Factor for the sake of increasing his constitution, and this Incomplete World perfectly filled in that role.

    The Owlans World was, unsurprisingly, perfect for his Crafting. Of course, it wasn''t as simple as the world representing Crafting. The umbrella of Crafting encompassed too many things for a single Incomplete World to be able to cover them all. Instead, it was more accurate to say that if the Invalids'' worlds represented Destruction, then this world represented a special type of Creation, one that could breathe life into the influence of the mind.

    It was a world that heavily favored Dream Force, and where the Dream Plane practically became a blank piece of paper where one could draw whatever they wanted into existence.

    He abandoned his body, fused his soul into the Dream Plane, and contacted all of the planes at the same time.

    The strength of a Life State Dream Force was already capable of communicating with the Dream Plane in these worlds. However, most wouldn''t, especially not when it left your soul so vulnerable.

    It could be said that Leonel suddenly entering the Dream Plane in the midst of so many Gods took balls heavier than Stars themselves. Yet, not only had he done it, he had expanded his soul across worlds, communicating with them all...

    And then refining them.

    The moment he spoke the words the Gods hadn''t heard in generations, a humanoid figure that seemed large enough to match the Primordial Terror appeared high in the skies.

    His body thrummed with lights of gold, and for a moment... he seemed to be an Idol in and of himself.

    Leonel could feel the power of his Stars being drummed up to another level entirely, and though the Incomplete Worlds that he had chosen weren''t perfect in every way, there was no denying their power.

    His body shook, and it was then that everyone seemed to notice that Leonel''s Destruction World had never vanished. It stood there, tall and proud, protecting his brothers and his wife...

    Before it suddenly violently expanded.

    From a few dozen meters, to a few hundred meters. Then from a few hundred meters, to several kilometers.

    The true strength of Final Destruction bloomed and it no longer seemed to care about the suppression of Gods in the slightest.

    If before, the flood of power from Blackstar and Drake had been filtered through a tiny hole, the real floodgates had suddenly opened. Now, he could use their true power. "Die."

 Chapter 3014 Synonymous

    Chapter 3014  Synonymous

    Leonel''s voice suddenly became frighteningly cold. His body hadn''t even fully reformed yet as God Runes soared through the air and implanted themselves within him. [Instant Recovery] was being pushed to the very limits, and that was precisely Leonel''s intention.

    The purpose of [Instant Recovery] was to return to one''s peak condition, but its actions and execution were variable. The first variable was the level of the Northern Star Lineage Factor that you had reached. Back then, because Leonel had only reached the Snowy Star Owl level, it was difficult for him to heal from an injury like the one Amery had left on him.

    However, now, Leonel had not only integrated with the perfect Northern Star Lineage Factor but also had the support of Tolliver. In the grinding and destruction of his body, he had hidden Tolliver''s soul in his Ethereal Glabella. Both of their bodies had been destroyed at once, but that didn''t stop them from piggybacking off of one another to maximize the use of this [Instant Recovery].

    And the second variable was, of course, what did peak condition mean? Obviously, that should refer to whatever Leonel''s peak state was. But what if he was in the middle of a breakthrough and used [Instant Recovery]? For every second that passed, the definition of Leonel''s "peak condition" changed, and due to that, [Instant Recovery] had to continuously add more and more energy to make up for it.

    Leonel was essentially using [Instant Recovery] as a cheat to quickly gather up vast stores of energy, and he was relying on his Stars to incorporate with and withstand that large influx of energy. His body was quickly becoming more and more perfect, but he struck down with impunity.

    BANG!

    He had unlocked an infinite energy glitch in reality itself, and he was going to use it.

    Evergreen, Zoltene, and Solaraan were enveloped by a palm. They all let out roars, but Leonel''s strength was easily tens of times what it had been before. Before anyone could react, the palm landed and silence rose into the skies. When everyone saw the result, they felt their hearts tremble.

    Solaraan was dead.

    Evergreen was so badly mutilated that it was hard to tell she had ever been a person to begin with.

    Zoltene barely managed to prop himself up, but his previous calm indifference had vanished into the wind. It felt like he was experiencing the greatest humiliation of his life.

    "[Arise]," Leonel said coldly.

    [Instant Recovery] pulled in even more vast stores of energy in an attempt to keep Leonel''s mind from being instantly drained. This time, he was trying to make a real God into his puppet. The amount of energy required couldn''t be explained in just a few words.

    BANG!

    The answer seemed to be that Leonel had just acted too fast... but was that really true when you were talking about an existence of this caliber? No matter how much "infinite energy" Leonel felt that he had, he still knew it was nothing in the face of this behemoth.

    Leonel knew the truth.

    The Primordial Terror didn''t stop him because it couldn''t. This concentration of pure Creation was precisely what it couldn''t stand the most.

    Leonel grabbed at the air, three beast corpses the size of worlds appearing in his grasp.

    His other hand moved, and he ripped the souls from their bodies.

    "[Assimilate]."

    Three arrows formed, one wrapped in raging green storms, the second wrapped in violent spatial tears, and the last blazing with crimson gold flames.

    The corpses vanished, and he nocked all three arrows at once, his breathing perfectly in tune with the world.

    Every single one of them aimed at the Adurna family battleship.

    "Who told you that you could bully one of my own?" Leonel asked, his voice as cold as ice.

    The Adurna family head felt her soul leave her body.

    In that fleeting second of horror, Nana, who was still doing her very best, managed to squeeze the crevice that was about to close back open again.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with a cold light, and he released all three arrows at once.

    He had said it already. He didn''t care what the odds were; he would find a way.

    Today, the name Leonel Morales would be synonymous with fear.

 Chapter 3015 Three Arrows

    Chapter 3015  Three Arrows

    Leonel''s arrows didn''t even seem like normal attacks anymore. Instead, they seemed to be like natural disasters. Ree?ad latest novels at

    One carried the essence of a storm, blowing and shredding apart everything in its path.

    Another carried blades of space that distorted everything they came across, crushing and grinding it to dust.

    The last was like a blazing inferno, scorching everything and carrying a hidden heart of fury. Despite the power of the first two, this one still somehow seemed to be the most powerful despite also being the simplest.

    The Ember Force of the Celestial Embers was like play putty in Leonel''s palms, bending to his will and accepting his grace as though he was the one and only true overlord of flames.

    The panic in the eyes of the Adurna family was palpable. The defenses of their battleship were quickly pulled up and a large amount of Force poured in from all directions.

    BANG!

    The first Celestial Storm arrow landed. It clanged against the defensive shields, whipping winds convulsing as strikes of lightning came down from above in a booming cadence.

    The shield shook and quaked, but eventually managed to remain firm. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning.

    The White Spectral Tiger arrow came afterward with an instant ferocity. Although it was an arrow, when one looked at it, it felt as though they were staring into the maw of a roaring tiger or watching as a mighty claw descended from the skies.

    Although it was just an illusion, it felt like no matter what they did, it would be entirely impossible for them to ever block such a blow. Just the artistic conception alone felt too perfect... as though they weren''t even staring at the White Spectral Tiger any longer, but rather the Borne Banes of the past.

    They realized too late that this artistic conception was so perfect precisely because of the existence of King''s Might.

    BOOM!

    The third arrow landed.

    People expected a huge commotion; maybe sparks would fly like before, or maybe it would trigger an area of effect cascade that enveloped the entire shield in flames and burnt it to ash.

    However, this wasn''t what happened.

    The blazing inferno of the arrow suddenly concentrated into a single line, so concentrated that it no longer looked like an arrow of fire, but rather a perfectly polished ruby that had taken the shape of an arrow. It looked so gorgeous that it felt more appropriate for it to be on display in a case or an auction rather than being used to attack. Even the sharpest bowman in the world would feel hesitant to fire such a beautiful arrow.

    And it was precisely this arrow that pierced right through the shield as though it wasn''t there, leaving behind a hole so tiny that even with all these experts around, many had to squint just to see it...

    But that squinting wouldn''t take place now... because they were too focused on where the arrow appeared.

    It whizzed through the air so fast that if one blinked even a single time, they would miss it. And even if you kept your eyes peeled, your strength might not be great enough to deserve to witness its strike.

    In that instant, it had already appeared before the eyes of the Adurna family head.

    Her eyes widened, and her heart plunged down to the depths of hell.

    She had no choice but to erupt with her greatest strength, bringing out the Adurna shield to block in front of her at the same time her skin became a reflective, gem-like consistency. It looked as though she had coated herself in perfectly sculpted glass-like scales in the shape of delicate ovals. And yet, despite how delicate it seemed, the strength they exuded was on another level entirely.

    BOOM!

    The arrow collided against the shield, and she was sent flying backward. She moved back so fast that she seemed to be a streaking meteor, slaughtering hundreds of Adurna who were unlucky enough to be in the way.

 Chapter 3016 Come!

    Chapter 3016  Come!

    Little Nana realized that this was an opportunity that Leonel had grasped for her, and she unleashed a delicate roar. With a rush of energy, the spirit of the Adurna shield was wrestled back into her control. The split in space opened wide, and she reached out her little hands, grasping the spirit and pressing it against her chest. Little Nana felt a sharp pain, but she gritted her teeth as blood seeped through them. The spirit rampaged through her Nodal Pathways as though trying to find room for itself and then rushed upward, spiraling through her spinal cord, digging into her brain, and plunging into her Ethereal Glabella. Tears of crimson fell from Little Nana''s eyes, and she seemed about to die at any moment. It was ultimately too much for her. However, she continued to grit her teeth. Even though she knew that she would die, she would definitely take this spirit with her. Although it couldn''t be destroyed, she could fling it somewhere the Adurna would never be able to find without millions more years of effort. At the very least, then, she would have done her part. The Four Spirits were weapon souls; this much was obvious enough. But this didn''t do justice to the kind of shocking reality this was. The Life Grade was known as the pinnacle of craftsmanship, and it was a process of melding ingredients so perfectly that a treasure could act much like a novel Force of its own, having its own tendencies and personality. However, these so-called tendencies and personalities were just illusions, much the same for Forces. A long while ago, Leonel had stumbled onto a mine that had sucked an entire region dry of its resources because of its so-called "personality." However, was the Force a real living thing? Absolutely not. Rather, it was more like a law of the universe, and it had instincts that followed those laws. The weapons of the Life Grade were much the same. Not one of Leonel''s Crafts was going to just get up and start talking to him any time soon. These Spirits, however... well, they still weren''t true living existences and were just bundles of instinct. The difference was that they didn''t rely on materials but were self-sufficient. They were a weapon that existed at the very pinnacle of the Life Grade because rather than gaining their instinct through the fusion of several already existing Forces and Ores, they gained them through... Idols. The Four Spirits of the Four Great Families were Inherited Idols Crafted into weapons, and by virtue of this, they were an existence that stood on a level all their own when it came to other Life Grade weapons. Although they weren''t considered God Armaments because they didn''t necessarily meet the requirements outside of special circumstances, they were no weaker than the top God Armaments on the list, and maybe even more powerful than them. And, what was most shocking was that as Idols, they were capable of giving one access to the power of an Idol, but there was a weakness... The so-called special circumstance needed for them to be used as God Armaments relied on bloodline purity. Part of the reason the Four Great Families were so obsessed with purity was because this was the only way to make use of the Armaments. Unfortunately for Little Nana, the Spirit was dissatisfied with her Bloodline Purity. But it was only a bundle of instincts. Since it was dissatisfied, it could only make room for itself the only way it knew, and that had led to Little Nana''s body reaching a half-dead state. Leonel saw this and wanted to help, but before he could even think of a method, he was already being besieged. Several battleship cannons aimed toward him, and the feeling of danger spiked. If these battleships scaled anything like the starships of the Dimensional Verse, the danger didn''t need to be explained. If just one of these cannons landed squarely, a God like Evergreen would be easily blasted to smithereens. Plus, he was such a large target right now. Leonel''s gaze became cold. He would just have to trust Little Nana to take the next steps on her own. However, he did say something first. "Don''t let a lifeless shell dictate what you can and can''t do." Leonel''s voice penetrated into Little Nana''s mind as he suddenly slammed his palms together. The world thrummed and shook as an enormous golden key appeared and slammed down before him. Just when it seemed like Leonel was about to use this key to set up a Domain, he actually slammed out a palm and shattered it. Right now, he was too large to use his usual weapons... so he would just have to make a new one. He grabbed at the air, and Tolliver, who had been dormant, hiding away in his Ethereal Glabella, suddenly thrummed with life. From deep within Owlan territory, the two Truth Pillars seemed to have sensed something and soared into the skies. ... On the ground, Aina''s gaze was slowly solidifying. She looked at the enormous golden figure in the skies that was her husband. Fluttering white feathers with an aura of gold cascaded around him, and despite being the weakest of Dimension on this entire battlefield, he still managed to be the center of attention. She coughed and wiped the last bit of blood from her body, her state already returning to over 90%. In that case, she would have to stop moping around and do her part. Her heart thrummed, and her manifestation appeared high in the skies once again. But this time... it, too, was holding the Brazinger battle ax. Aina''s aura soared to a new level entirely, and she took a step forward. She really wanted to see if the Primordial Terror would still dare to stop her from killing. ... Leonel''s gaze blazed with battle intent, and he waved a hand, the World Spirit of the golden key being wrestled into his control as bits and pieces of its former form whipped about. "Come!" He roared. At that moment, the two Pillars of Truth rushed toward him.REaad updated stories at

 Chapter 3017 I Guess I Am

    Chapter 3017  I Guess I Am

    T/his chapter is updated by ! BOOM! Minerva''s eyes opened wide. The moment the carnage and destruction began, she had been forcefully taken away by her parents. Although she had completely formed her God Constitution now, she was still much too weak to participate in a battle of this level.

    In the end, she could only grit her teeth and watch from afar. However, when the Pillars of Truth appeared, her pupils couldn''t help but tremble. Those pillars were the treasure of their Minerva Race. They had been passed down for generations, but they had never reacted like this at all.

    It was just unfortunate for Minerva that she wasn''t aware of the history. And those Owlans that did... well, their gazes could only become incredibly solemn... even Elysium. And yet, not a single one of them did anything about it because they knew that it was entirely useless.

    What was the purpose of the Pillars of Truth? The obvious answer was that they could test the grades of crafts, but that was surface level to their abilities, a history that Leonel was well aware of.

    The Pillars of Truth had a far more important purpose, or else it would be impossible to spend so much effort on two treasures. Just think about it for a moment. Master Crafters wouldn''t be Master Crafters if they couldn''t analyze the good and the bad of their own Crafts. If they couldn''t do at least that, they might as well give up on the profession entirely. In fact, even lower class Crafters had this ability so long as the treasure was within striking distance of them.

    Pouring so many resources into a pillar just to tell you things that you already knew was the pinnacle of foolishness. Still, rich people tended to spend their money on foolish things. Who was to say the Minerva hadn''t created it just because they could?

    But the real reason was much deeper. The first was surface level again. The 99 leaves of the pillars represented the pinnacle of Minerva innovation. The existence of the pillar was like telling others that this was a height that they could never achieve. Since the Minerva could create a treasure to sense this grade, it also meant that they could easily create a treasure of such a grade.

    The second reason... was to pick the Head of the Minerva Race. Only by surpassing all other Crafters would you be worthy. Or, most accurately... only by increasing the standards of the pillar.

    99 runes had always been the peak, but what the peak meant changed with every passing generation. The Minerva had a very strong culture, and they were also very strict. Crafters of new generations had an advantage over the old because they had an additional pair of shoulders to stand on. As a result, only by surpassing the old could you be worthy of being at least comparable to them.

    This was all to say that... Anastasia had all the protocols necessary to control the treasures of the Pillar of Truth, and there was no one in the Owlans good enough to override her. So...

    If Anastasia said Leonel was an Owlan, well...

    Leonel grinned.

    "I guess I''m an Owlan."

    BOOM!

    Leonel reached out and the Pillars of Truth slammed into his palms. Energies swirled and Little Tolly thrummed with life, growing so large and expansive that it even compared to Leonel in size.

    Leonel took a breath as the beams of light came to him and soon a beautiful spear had formed in his large hands.

    It had runes that looked like delicate leaves running up the side of its body and a head of gold. The blade shone menacingly in the light and it gathered up all the truth in the world, responding to Leonel''s call.

    Leonel took a step forward and an armor swirled around his body.

    The Pillar lit up and in an instant, over 50 runes shone down on the skies and the laws of the world bowed to Leonel.

 Chapter 3018 The Reason

    Chapter 3018  The Reason

    Leonel swung his spear down just a single time and the world roared. He barely had to put much effort in at all. The Pillars of Truth were the closest thing to all-encompassing Idols. They worked by reading the laws of the world and capitalizing on them to read the potential of the treasures in front of them.

    As such, the Pillars of Truth were Regulators in some senses and a Force of their own in others.

    They weren''t quite like the weapons of the Four Great Families and they weren''t designed to be weapons in the first place. But...

    They were close enough.

    Leonel''s Crafting skill was on display for the world to see. If he had had a few days... no, even a few hours, just how many runes would have lit up? How much more powerful would the spear he was wielding be?

    And yet, in just a few seconds...

    BOOM!

    The beams of light shattered apart. Those with sharp vision could see that it had almost nothing to do with Leonel''s strength. It was like the laws of the world had acted on their own, shredding it apart.

    These people had surely overestimated Leonel. He hadn''t just thought of this on the spot. He had had this design in mind for a long time already, but he was missing the pieces he needed.

    Who knew that Willowyn would deliver them to him with open arms?

    The golden key''s ability to stabilize and form a world of its own was exactly the bridge connection the Pillars of Truth needed to go from treasures that just read the laws to treasures that acted with and controlled the laws.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The destructive laws rushed along the beams and back toward the battleships. They thrummed and shook before flames erupted across their bodies.

    Screams filled the skies and the Four Great Families were filled with horror as they witnessed a massacre.

    But Leonel had already turned his attention away from them, his gaze looking down and across to meet the deep brown gaze of the Primordial Terror.

    Leonel had known from the very beginning that unless this Primordial Terror was dealt with, there would be no peace today. He could kill as much as he wanted, he could devastate the Four Great Families and the Gods that followed along with this farce. But unless the head of this turtle was put into a jar...

    ROAR!

    Dense darkness matched with peerless light as Leonel raised a spear.

    He, himself, looked incorporeal, as though motes of gold light had come together to form him.

    Blackstar''s roar seemed to have completely shed the last bits of his childish innocence.

    "Die."

    Leonel''s voice rumbled, carrying the cadence of the world. The power of Alexandre''s Ability Index shook the world.

    It was just a single word but it carried everything that Leonel had in him.

    In a single bound, he appeared before the Primordial Terror and slashed down. He gave it everything he had and he would never give it anything less in a battle of this caliber.

    This thing was the root of all the evil in the world, it was the root of every horrible thing that he had experienced in his life, it was the reason that the world would inevitably come to an end.

    It was the reason his uncle was nowhere to be seen, the reason his father had died, the reason his wife had been so heavily injured.

    It was the reason he had once almost lost his mind, the reason his life was nothing but fighting and bloodshed, the reason he couldn''t start a family with his wife.

    The violet winds blew even harsher around Leonel, crashing wills of Creation and Destruction forming a contradictory storm.

    "So it''s you," the Primordial Terror suddenly spoke and the world lost its momentum as though it had just been erased. "That makes things easy, then."

    Leonel couldn''t react.

    The spear he had just created was shattered into a rain of pieces. The treasure of the Minerva could stand up to a single blow, and neither could he.

    His figure was blown back, the motes of light shattering and the violet winds dispersing as though they had never been there.

    Finally, his crown winked out of existence.

 Chapter 3019 Peace

    Chapter 3019 Peace

    Leonel felt his consciousness nearly blink out of existence. If not for the fact that [Instant Recovery] was still active, maybe it truly would have. He felt, facing this force, that his own Destruction was far too lacking.

    His Destruction World cracked and nearly crumbled. He barely managed to hold it together with a strand of consciousness. He knew that the moment it disappeared, his brothers would lose one of their main supports. Anything could happen to him, but he refused to allow anything to happen to them.

    He had promised... He had promised...

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, or rather, he thought that that was what happened. But everyone saw something completely different. It was like bits and pieces of his soul were being expelled. He barely managed to keep it together when his mouth was closed, but the moment it was forced out, Runes of Destruction flashed and burnt those pieces to ash.

    Just a single casual motion from the Primordial Terror had almost destroyed him down to his very essence. Even [Instant Recovery] couldn''t seem to keep up. As fast as he was recovering, his soul was trying to dissipate at double the speed. It didn''t even seem like he was being attacked, but rather that his soul was taking the initiative to disperse on its own, unwilling to remain in the world.

    Leonel landed on the ground heavily, the shards of the Pillar of Truth scattering across the wall and falling like meteors. The destruction was grand, but they had little to do with him at all. Aina''s eyes widened in the distance. Her instinct was to run over, but her feet were rooted in place by the logical voice in her mind. Nana faltered for only a moment as tears of blood fell from her eyes. The strain was great, but as great as it was, she knew that she couldn''t give up now. Leonel''s last words still rang in her ears. No matter what... she had to take the shield.

    The eyes of Leonel''s brothers turned bloodshot. Their weapons cut with greater ferocity and they unloaded their guns without the slightest intention of conserving their strength. If only they could kill faster, if only they could wipe this army out fast enough, maybe they would be able to help in some small way.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of soul once again and his weakness was practically palpable. His large golden avatar collapsed and the silver wings formed by Tolliver wilted. He weakly tried to communicate with his Metal Spirit, but there was no response from Tolliver at all.

    "Why bet on a person as foolish as you? The Northern Star granted you everything, but what did it give me?

    "I see nothing but endless abysses. My mind plays the Destruction of worlds and the collapse of everything I know. I feel the urge to kill my brothers, my siblings, my wives, my parents, my family.

    "And I can''t control any of it."

    Every word spoken was perfectly spaced, almost as though they were just as perfectly picked. Not a single one was out of place and it seemed like these words had been beating in the Primordial Terror''s heart for eons.

    "Do you know why that is? Violet Winds?" The Primordial Terror continued calmly. "It''s because Existence needs balance. So that you can be happy, I must suffer. So you can be powerful, I must be weak.

    "You enjoy laughter and jokes, do you not? Surely, you should laugh at such a thing. It''s a joke that the Northern Star plays on you as well.

    "I exist to make you suffer so that you can push through and evolve. Don''t mistake its favor toward you for goodwill. It will never allow you to break its rules, as it won''t allow me to break them either.

    "So I have played their game to this point, and today, I will lay the final steps of my plan. Since I was created to destroy, I will do exactly that.

    "Very soon, the world will cease to be in its entirety. And when that time comes, I will finally be at peace."

 Chapter 3020 You Win

    Chapter 3020 You Win

    The Primordial Terror was nothing but a hamster that had grown strong enough to step out of its wheel. It saw the world for what it truly was, and it was because it did that it knew that there was no escape. It thought by becoming strong enough, it would be able to escape its fate, only to realize that it had bound itself even more firmly to it. Now, the Northern Star took him to be the only arbitrator of Destruction, the main cog. Even if he wanted to die, he couldn''t. The thoughts never stopped, and they only grew stronger. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Leonel looked up into the skies because it was the only thing he could look at. He coughed again and his soul dispersed some more. By this point, he had already tried several times to get up, but nothing he did worked. His body was broken down to practically ash. [Instant Recovery] was rumbling, but it was too diluted, focused on trying to recover a soul that couldn''t seem to be recovered no matter how hard it tried. I promised...

    The words echoed in his ears again and again, and he couldn''t seem to hear the words of the Primordial Terror at all. He didn''t care about its sob story. He didn''t care whether the Northern Star had picked him or not. He just wanted to get up. He just wanted to do what he said he would do.

    Tears fell from Aina''s cheeks in droplets. Each one seemed to contain a hidden, reflective crimson that vanished the instant you stared too closely. She could feel Leonel''s thoughts more clearly than anyone else. Although he had shut out all distracting thoughts in order to focus and didn''t feel hers as clearly, she had no such qualms. Every single attempt to get up was like another dagger through her. She covered her mouth with a hand, trying to prevent herself from convulsing into a mess. Even the three God corpses that were littered around her didn''t make her feel even the slightest bit better. Even if it had been the corpses of the Brazinger family laying around her, it wouldn''t have mattered. She had realized the moment she took Leonel''s last name that nothing mattered to her more than he did. She had once said that she would only change her name the moment the Brazingers most wanted her to keep it. But she forgot all about it the moment Leonel proposed. It was like anything she went through would be fine so long as she was by his side. Their problems of the past felt so insignificant, and there were many decisions that she had made then that she would never make now. But now, none of it seemed to matter. She bit her lip so hard that more blood fell, rolling down her chin and falling to the ground. Her gaze was entirely crimson and she seemed to have sworn something in her heart. If Leonel died, then there was nothing else that mattered anyway.

    Leonel coughed again. What must have been at least half his soul was gone. He wasn''t used to his soul feeling so weak. It was his greatest strength. And yet...

    "You need me."

    The voice echoed in Leonel''s head, but it certainly wasn''t the Primordial Terror this time. Leonel continued looking into the skies as though he hadn''t heard it at all. The sound of rattling chains echoed in his mind and a hidden crimson reflected in his pupils. NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

    "Then what about your little wife? The moment you die, she''s definitely going to lose her mind. But she doesn''t have the necessary strength either. She''s the only one even remotely close to as talented as you, but you didn''t give her the chance to grow either. "She was right, you know. You keep jumping into danger. And somehow, you''ve regressed back to your old self. You want to play hero and hold back with your current strength? Who do you think you are? "I guess when you''re dead, you won''t have to be there to witness your little wife become a breeding tool for the Invalids. I''m sure they''ll treat her well and pamper her more than you ever have."

    The skies turned entirely crimson in Leonel''s eyes. At the moment, his expression was as calm as water.

    "I guess I haven''t changed at all, huh...?" he said to himself.

    "Alright, you win."

    His voice echoed with even more reverberating power than the Primordial Terror. However... it didn''t seem like he was speaking to the earlier voice at all. At that moment, the chains rattling in Leonel''s ear shattered.

    BOOM!

    A strong violet Force rushed out in all directions. Leonel''s aura began to soar by leaps and bounds, his collapsing soul solidifying in a single instant. A roar filled the skies. The last time this aura appeared, Leonel had wiped out three races of beings. Today, he was going to show the Primordial Terror what true Destruction was.

    The aura of a Dream Asura rose in a violent vortex, shattering the dome of the skies.

 Chapter 3021 CLATTER. CLATTER. DOOM.

    Chapter 3021 CLATTER. CLATTER. DOOM.

    The world seemed to be overturned. The clouds became rolling waves, the winds rose and fell like tsunamis, and a violent violet aura painted it all, masking it in a majesty that made few want to oppose it.

    The enormous golden figure of Leonel began to shrink. The gold condensed into a purple-gold that reflected the lights of the world. However, it didn''t look like anything remotely human. Though it was humanoid, there was nothing else...

    The only ones who understood what was going on were those with sharp enough visions. They understood that the reason Leonel looked more like a solid violet-gold statue than a human right now was because [Instant Recovery] had suddenly reached a new level at the same time that the requirements for Leonel''s body had skyrocketed.

    Leonel''s constitution had reached a new tier entirely, and because of that, the energy required had touched a truly unfathomable level... A level only possible for the greatest geniuses to ever step foot into the world.

    The first time Leonel''s Dream Asura constitution awakened, he cleared floors the best Seventh Dimensional powerhouses of the Void Tower should have been capable of as a mere Fifth Dimensional existence.

    The second time Leonel''s Dream Asura constitution awakened, he was only in the Sixth Dimension, but he wiped out entire Domains of people with casual waves of his hand. By that point, despite the fact his foundation was shoddy, that he had only been born in an Incomplete World, he had a strength that could match the Ninth Dimensional experts of true Complete Worlds.

    Now, Leonel was entirely different. He seemed to still be in the Sixth Dimension, but comparing the him of then to the him of now would be nothing short of foolish. Even if there were trillions of his past self, all working together, they wouldn''t stand a single battle with his current self.

    The power he had displayed back then was without a single Impetus State Force, it was without a single Incomplete World fused, it was without his Destruction World, without his father''s [Final Destruction] technique, without an adequate comprehension of [Dimensional Cleanse], and most importantly...

    Without the capability of even accessing the full range of his abilities.

    Every time Leonel used his Dream Asura constitution in the past, he had an inability to remember what happened because his non-enlightened self didn''t have the mental capacity to keep up with even a fraction of a second of thought from his enlightened self.

    BANG!

    The fragments flew out in all directions in an uncontrolled spiral, revealing Leonel''s form beneath.

    A hollow wind swept by and the world turned to silence.

    Leonel stood there without a word. Standing at over five meters tall, his muscles rippled with a dense air. Every time his heart beat, an echo would rock the space nearly to the point of shattering.

    Violet scales dotted his body and a pair of horns that pierced toward the skies graced his forehead.

    Leonel had always been a somewhat handsome man, but he had never been handsome to the point of turning heads and entrapping women... at least not when his temperament and arrogance were ignored.

    But right now, it could only be said that he had climbed to the top of what it meant to be an ideal man. Every muscle was perfectly placed, his jaw was sharp, his eyes were lofty... and the demonic air around him was simply suffocating to an extreme.

    A long river of violet hair danced to his back and his pale violet eyes had darkened considerably, almost looking like deep, amethyst gems sparkling and reflecting light.

    However, other than this, nothing else seemed to have changed at all. He was still in the Sixth Dimension, his Divine Armor was still the same, he didn''t have any new insights or breakthroughs...

    There didn''t seem to be anything separating him from any other absolute genius of the God Realm who was also in the Sixth Dimension. In the eyes of many, maybe this was only enough to place him among the top three talents of each individual God Race.

    How could this change anything?

 Chapter 3022 Dangerous

    Chapter 3022 Dangerous

    Leonel stood there, looking down at the Primordial Terror. He waved a hand, and particles of light seemed to gather, forming a casual pair of sweatpants to protect his decency.

    He seemed unhurried and unbothered by anything, but under everyone''s eyes, the cracked Destruction World below healed itself and solidified.

    The Primordial Terror''s eyes narrowed, but he truly couldn''t feel any threat coming from Leonel. Leonel had definitely grown more powerful, but he had also lost the support of the infinite energy that [Instant Recovery] provided to him. On top of that, it seemed like Blackstar and Drake were all out of gas. They had been supporting him for too long, and right now, they found that supporting the current Leonel took too much out of them for them to continue.

    Blackstar had appeared in Aina''s arms at some unknown time, and Drake, pale-faced and gritting his teeth, could only do his best to continue supporting Joel and the others.

    It was difficult to see how anything had changed at all.

    And yet, no one had moved even until now. Instincts honed through countless years of battle had been ingrained into their very souls. Right now, even the likes of the arrogant Elysium felt himself walking a tightrope, gripping his sword hard.

    Why did this Leonel feel so... Dangerous.

    Leonel suddenly took his first breath. The wind whistled, the trees that had managed to survive the carnage swayed, and even the four battleships in the distance shook in the air, rumbling from side to side as though they might collapse from the skies at any moment.

    Then, Leonel waved a hand. At that moment, a corpse that seemed formed out of countless shadowy tails appeared, dangling in the skies.

    He looked at it casually. This was none other than the Shadow Tail that he had used the destruction of the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world to kill.

    It had been a great springboard for Blackstar and Kira in their training. But by now, it was already useless. It was entirely lifeless and contained nothing special within it at all.

    "This thing is pretty special to you, isn''t it?" Leonel asked, but it wasn''t entirely clear who he was talking to. "You wanted to create something that could relieve you of your burdens and take up the mantle of Destruction for you, but you actually used such a stupid method.

    "Passing down your essence to these creatures, creating the Envoys of Destruction and the Void Beast... You just ended up making yourself their Deity. This method would have never freed you."

    The eyes of the Primordial Terror shook violently. Space cracked like streaks of black lightning around him, and several individuals in its own camp died directly, unable to withstand the pressure.

    Leonel had only said a few casual words, and yet they had gotten down to the very root of his problem. It was a problem that even the Primordial Terror hadn''t seen through. It had just ended up wallowing in its own misery.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The Scorned Queen Beauty''s expression changed and she opened her mouth to say something, but it was entirely drowned out.

    Even she was an insignificant ant. No... she had always been.

    One after another, the Envoys of Destruction began to appear in the skies.

    The Shadow Tails.

    The Dusky Steel Bats.

    The Aurora Black Pandas.

    The Crimson Clawed Apes.

    The Death Pulse Deers.

    There weren''t many of them. The Shadow Tails had the largest contingent at about a dozen or so, but there were only three Death Pulse Deers.

    "You know," Leonel said lightly, "in the past, I was hunted down by the ants of Evergreen because I killed one of her apostles. Do you know why Gods are so protective of them? I''ll give you a hint. It''s certainly not just a matter of face."

    The Primordial Terror''s expression changed, and for the first time, there was a hint of panic in its eyes.

    "You''re quite slow. I''ll give you another hint... there''s a reason why only the weakest Gods use such methods. It''s because tying others, especially such weaklings, to your Idol...

    "Is a recipe for disaster."

    Leonel stood loftily in the skies.

    "[Emperor''s Edict]... Die."

    The Life Tablet fluttered with life. With its appearance, the Envoys couldn''t resist even if they wanted to.

 Chapter 3023 Nothing More. Nothing Less.

    Chapter 3023 Nothing More. Nothing Less.

    The world bowed to Leonel''s words. The Envoys felt their hearts convulse and then explode one after another. They tried to struggle, realizing that they hadn''t been called here by a friend, but it was already too late. Leonel''s mandate was like that of an Overlord God. Under the influence of Emperor''s Edict and the Life Tablet, they folded.

    Leonel took a step through the skies... or so it seemed. In reality, it looked as though the world moved around him the moment he raised up his foot.

    "[Arise]."

    In one motion he killed them, and in the next, he forced them to rise. Their life and death danced in the palm of his hands. The stores of his Dream Force were so vast and omnipresent now that something that would have been impossible in the past had become as easy as flipping over a hand to him.

    Let alone a single Shan''Rae, he could have resurrected thousands of them. And these Envoys... they were nothing more than his playthings with the Life Tablet active.

    Violet armored beasts began to appear one after another, and just as Leonel came to a stop, a Death Pulse Deer''s head had just risen to meet his landing.

    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! The risen beasts roared to the skies, or so it seemed... But no matter which one it was, their eyes were locked onto Leonel with a look of absolute reverence. Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

    The hearts of those in the surroundings overturned. They felt like they were watching a true monster rise up. Know Fear... Whether they liked it or not, that fear had already wormed into all of their hearts.

    Cynthia trembled. Leonel''s eyes were so bright, and yet they felt so dark, so cold. It was like she was staring into the maw of an apex predator.

    A Crimson Clawed Ape by Leonel''s side suddenly moved. It raised up a bent finger as though it was trying to casually point something out. And yet, by the time they reacted, it was already too late.

    "No!" Goggles dove in the way before the Crimson Clawed Ape even finished. But it was precisely because he acted first that he even managed to react at all.

    The beam of red was completely silent. Space didn''t even so much as quiver, and yet reality bent around it. From a certain vantage point, although the ape had never moved, it was like it had just reached out and touched Goggles. And yet there was still the beam of red. It was something that those without enough strength couldn''t even fathom.

    Despite the power disparity between Goggles and the ape, it only left a small hole in his head, one that didn''t even exit out the other side. It could only be said that this Crimson Clawed Ape''s Force control was on another level entirely.

    Goggles collapsed to the ground, and Leonel didn''t seem to be surprised by the result at all.

    He gave Cynthia a glance and then ignored her. Someone else would be coming to kill her. As for why Leonel wanted that, only he knew.

    His glance, though, made it obvious to Cynthia that he had only aimed for her because he knew that Goggles would take action. Leonel didn''t even see it fit to take personal action against such a person.

    As far as he was concerned, Goggles'' only use was for his own enlightenment, nothing more, nothing less.

 Chapter 3024 Proud

    Chapter 3024 Proud

    Goggles'' existence had awakened him to the reality of the world. Even if you could manage to control things perfectly and bring back a soul just the same, it was impossible for you to curate and control every single one of their experiences.

    Goggles had always been a person who fell in love with those he shouldn''t and devoted his whole heart to them. He had done it with the wife of another man, and now Cynthia managed to take advantage of it. The issue wasn''t the flaw itself, but how it manifested. Goggles was almost practically the same person, and yet his experiences had caused him to go from the best of friends to the worst of enemies... and that was in the case that his soul actually survived. Leonel''s father''s soul hadn''t survived. If Leonel wanted him back, he would have to reconstruct it entirely. At that point, how could this person even still be his father even if Leonel perfectly formed and curated every aspect? It didn''t matter how much effort he put in, how powerful he was, or how dedicated he was. His father would never return. And he had accepted that. Velasco Morales had passed a torch to him, entrusting him with the future. That was the true heaviest burden he carried. So it was about time he took it up properly. The Envoys of Destruction suddenly moved and the armies in all directions were mowed down like grass. Leonel stood in the skies without the slightest care. Every time someone died, he casually spoke the words that sent a shudder down their very souls.

    The Primordial Terror found itself getting weaker and weaker, but it couldn''t even take action. Its mind was practically crumbling, and everything that it thought it wanted, everything it thought was real, was no longer.

    Leonel clasped his hand behind his back, his gaze absent-minded. It didn''t even seem like he cared about the result of the battle below. Aina found herself standing limbo, his brothers gasped for breath, but there were no longer any enemies around him. Even Nana found that the pressure coming from her fusion had almost vanished as she gritted her teeth to finish the last leg.

    He was simply unbridled and entirely undefeatable. He didn''t even lift a single finger, but the entire world was overturned by him. Soon, the army beneath him grew from dozens to hundreds, from dozens to thousands, from thousands to millions.

    Know Fear. The strength the Emperor''s Might Lineage Factor had never reached such a level. It was already something that the entire God Realm had feared, but now...

    "You''ve done grandma proud," she said in a soft, sweet voice.

    Leonel didn''t respond, his gaze just as indifferent. The Demoness smiled. "Aren''t you going to set your Envoys on me?"

    Leonel once again didn''t respond. Was there a point? The second Life Tablet of the Four Great Families was certainly with her. After having planned all of this out, this woman who had the entirety of Existence in her palms wouldn''t possibly falter here.

    The smile of the Demoness grew more gentle.

    "Maybe in another life," she said softly. Her eyes watered slightly before they dried up, a subtle water vapor vanishing into the ether.

    Her arm reached out and pierced through Leonel''s chest. Slowly, she pulled out a heart larger than even her head. Without the cavity of Leonel''s chest to protect it, every pump of this heart bent and twisted the space around it, shattering it into pieces. The tears in reality were so fierce that even the God Runes couldn''t repair them.

    The Demoness looked up at Leonel''s indifferent face one more time. She rose up, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and then vanished.

    Leonel stood there for a long while until the world began to swim. His scales faded, his body shrank, and he collapsed, falling like a meteor from above. His Dream Asura Bloodline had been completely stripped from him.

 Chapter 3025 Im Sorry

    Chapter 3025 I''m Sorry

    "Leonel!"

    Aina''s eyes opened wide, and she rushed forward. The distance between herself and Leonel was far too large. Even though it had felt like they were just within arm''s reach before, the scale of the battle had been far too large. What was just a step for a God before was still far too much for the current Aina. She still had a lot of room for growth.

    She could only watch as her husband hit the ground, an enormous dust cloud rising up into the skies as though a nuke had just been set off.

    She rushed through the torrent of spinning, twisting dust clouds that battered against her skin like knives as though she couldn''t feel them at all, rushing to Leonel''s side.

    By this point, the battlefield was filled with far too much trepidation to even move. The amount of fear that Leonel had burrowed into their very bone marrow was difficult for them to deal with. It was as though their feet were rooted in place and their bodies were out of their control as their souls fled.

    Watching Leonel get his heart taken out of his chest didn''t change any of that feeling at all. In fact, they were still under the impression that he could just stand up whenever he wanted.

    It was only Aina, who was the most worried for him compared to anyone else, who immediately treated him no differently from any other human.

    But it was also because of this fear and this feeling that Leonel was a monster that allowed him to escape the fate of others taking advantage of his situation... at least for now.

    Aina skidded along the ground on her knees, coming to a stop by Leonel''s side and hurriedly picking his neck up from the floor. Tears fell from her cheeks in a torrent, battering the ground with almost the same incessant pestering of rainfall.

    She reached for the hole in his chest but didn''t dare to touch it, her eyes flickering between a torrent of sadness and a fury that couldn''t be suppressed. She was having a hard time suppressing her impulse to shatter and kill everything in sight.

    Unfortunately, he hadn''t been able to see it until it was far... far too late.

    However, Leonel didn''t feel angry. As he felt his life slipping away, he held onto his wife''s hand. At the very least, she would be safe. He knew she would be... because now that the Demoness was gone, they should be coming soon.

    This time, he would die first. But that was fine. The other path... the one where he held on out of stubbornness, even at the cost of their lives... that wasn''t a life worth living.

    He believed in his wife, in his brothers. He had helped them lay a foundation, and in the future, they would be able to take those final steps themselves.

    He didn''t know what the plans of the Demoness were, but now... he would just have to rely on them to get it done.

    "I''m sorry, Aina..." he said softly. "... This time, I didn''t win."

    He spoke in a soft voice, using what remained of his strength to squeeze her hand.

    Aina felt like she heard the sound of her heart shattering into countless pieces.

    "No, no, no..." her voice was even softer than Leonel''s as though she was afraid that speaking too loudly would awaken him.

    It was right then that everyone seemed to realize that Leonel was truly finished this time.

    Cynthia''s gaze flashed with a malevolent light. "ATTACK!"

 Chapter 3026 His Name Had Been...

    Chapter 3026 His Name Had Been...

    The skies rumbled, and the battleships suddenly began to charge up. Aina collapsed onto Leonel''s chest, her mournful sobs still soft, but the shaking of her body couldn''t be hidden. The eyes of Joel and the others turned red. James clenched his fist hard, remembering the night of their last football game. ~Why couldn''t you just lose this one time?!~ He remembered roaring those words, feeling every syllable of them. He had been tired of Leonel''s antics, knowing that he needed to lose that game, and yet he still insisted on winning it anyway. Leonel had always been obsessed with victory, with winning, with coming out on top. He hated it when others got one over on him, and he was certainly the last person who would run headfirst into a trap that he could see coming. But this time... Tears rolled down James'' cheeks. Why couldn''t he be selfish just one more time? He had saved them enough times. They had experienced death before; they could just do it again. So what if they were in the Ninth Dimension now? The Life Tablet could revive them. It didn''t have the same limits as the others. "Why..." His voice cracked. They all stood there in silence as the Force in the skies roared and rumbled. It was as though they couldn''t sense that the world was bearing down on them once again. In the end, even after all the promises, they were still too weak once again. They said that the tears of men didn''t fall so easily, but staring at the light smile on Leonel''s face, even though he didn''t have the strength to look at them, they couldn''t even begin to control theirs. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The four battleships roared, and beams of light descended. They crossed light years of space in a blink, appearing before them with nothing more than a flash of light. James and the others took a breath, their gazes turning malevolent. "Respect the game. Persist to the end." They whispered these words at the same time, clutching their weapons. Their hearts roared with life as they faced off against the world. "WHO DARES TOUCH MY SON?!" The furious howl of a mother echoed through the skies. It came with so much force that the air rippled in waves. The call seemed too weak to even shatter space, and yet when the soundwaves came in contact with the four beams of light, they crumbled. The sight was unlike anything that they had ever seen before. The concentrated beams of Force shattered from the inside out, crumbling as though they were truly made of glass and falling apart. It looked entirely fake until the bits and pieces crumbled to the earth, wreaking devastation everywhere they landed. At that moment, as the dust cleared and the volatile Force weakened, a woman wearing green draconic armor appeared. Fury burned so brightly in her green eyes that they seemed more like a pair of flickering flames. Her golden hair flowed like a river, whipping about wildly, and tears had practically soaked her cheeks through. She looked down to see the state of Leonel. Her own heart shattered, and her world felt as though it was crumbling right before her eyes. She had lost her husband... and now, her son had breathed his last. The grief of a mother soared through the clouds above, her will becoming so tangible that winds of green spiraled, forming several eastern dragons with scales like shimmering emeralds. Alienor unleashed a shriek that shattered the skies. "All of you... deserve death." She had tried so hard to make it through. Everything had been so perfectly planned. They should have appeared days ago, just in time for this battle. But it felt like they ran into one roadblock after another, like someone was pulling their puppet strings from behind the scene. She had already felt like this twice in her life before. The first time she was forced to watch her husband die, and now her own flesh and blood, before she could even get to know her son like she wanted to, had died just the same. At that moment, Cynthia realized what the problem was, and further than that, recognizing Alienor, her battle intent soared to the skies. "I will stop her! The rest of you make sure that he is dead!" Her own roar raised up into the skies to Alienor''s, and there was a clash of green and silver in the air. Cynthia suddenly appeared before Alienor. ... The skies overturned, and to the astonishment of the Owlans, the Four Great Families, and the Fallen God Beasts, one monstrous battleship after another began to appear. Each one carried the mark of the Ascension Empire on their vessels, but to the people of the world, this marking meant something completely different... The Fawkes Family! Their hearts leapt into their throats. Hadn''t the Fawkes family been wiped out already? How could they be... That was when their eyes all landed on the man that stood at the helm of the largest ship. He wore dragon imperial robes. His should white-gold hair barely shifted in the wind, and his piercing green eyes seemed to carry slits in them that faded into and out of existence. That was the only sign there was that this man had any sort of fluctuating emotions at all. This man... Their hearts shook once again. It was said that many generations ago, there was a genius of the Fawkes family born. It was said that the Fawkes had always been a thorn in the side of the Gods as they were too powerful, but it wasn''t until the birth of this young boy that everyone realized that it was no longer possible to contain this. This young boy, at just the age of seven years, managed to do something entirely unprecedented... Not only did he comprehend the three strongest techniques of the Fawkes by that age, but... He combined them into a single phrase with the help of [Emperor''s Edict] to form an unprecedented Idol. At just seven years old, he became a True God simply by speaking it into existence. And now, that young boy had grown up. If they remembered correctly, his name had been... Gervaise Fawkes. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only

 Chapter 3027 You Cannot

    Chapter 3027 You Cannot

    The abilities of the Fawkes were fearsome enough without also having such a change occur. If the Fawkes could become Gods so young, or if they could even just form Idols by speaking it into existence, just what kind of power would they grow into? This was unacceptable to many, and in the end, this was the ultimate result... the death and destruction of the family. Back then, the Four Great Families had gotten a whiff of what was going on, and they themselves had been targeted because their Heirloom Treasures were too powerful as well. Whoever received acknowledgment from these treasures could also instantly wield power that they had no business controlling. In order to take the heat off themselves, the Four Great Families struck a deal. They would retreat from the God Realm and live out in peace in the lower Realms so long as they were given enough God Realm Incomplete Worlds. In exchange, they would help deal a crippling blow to the Fawkes. Ultimately, the Fawkes were the far greater danger, and the Four Great Families were just appetizers, so they accepted. The reality was that no one wanted to get into an all-out war with the Fawkes because once they did, they would quickly find their own being turned into cannon fodder against them. The losses would easily become substantial. However, if they had an inside man for the job, then it was very likely that they would be able to deal a swift and decisive blow before the Fawkes could properly retaliate. In the end, that was exactly what had happened... but no one expected the boy from back then to still be alive... Even the Pluto had no idea that their repaid favor would go back to helping this boy in particular, or else maybe even they would be hesitant to repay it. But who would have known that the players of back then would be incompetent to the point of letting the one target they should have surely killed escape? Just how had this happened? BOOM! Everyone''s attention was rapidly ripped away to find Cynthia soaring through the skies. She was pounded into the ground with such ferocity that it felt like even this God Rune infused world would split in two. Bubbles of green popped all around Alienor, and she was truly no different from an enraged lioness. She dove down from above, grabbing at Cynthia''s throat. The latter tried to fight it off, but it was of no help. Cynthia slapped out a palm to block, but a whipped draconic green wind slapped it out of the way in return. She turned to the side to avoid Alienor''s palm, and the ground beneath her was raked by a claw. Even though Cynthia thought she had dodged it, bloody marks appeared across her cheek, leaving her feeling a stinging pain. Alienor ripped her hand back, a chunk of earth coming with it. For a moment, it even seemed as though the land was being ripped upward until the rock finally broke free and away. Cynthia kicked out at Alienor''s chest, colliding with it steadily, but Alienor didn''t even seem to notice. The strength completely dispersed by some mysterious power and expelled into the outward. A cone-shaped rip in space appeared behind Alienor''s torso, but her real body was completely unharmed. Finally, Alienor managed to grab Cynthia''s corpse. Staring at this incomparably beautiful countenance, Cynthia still somehow felt the greatest fear she had in her entire lifetime. It didn''t feel like a beautiful woman at all, but rather a roaring dragon. Alienor grabbed Cynthia''s arm and tore it off. Blood spilled and Cynthia let out a heart-rending screech. Her body shook and convulsed, only for Alienor to suddenly squeeze down on her throat. All the sounds that Cynthia had been making were crippled and became muffled. The skies were dyed in red as Alienor suddenly let go of Cynthia''s throat, erupting with three quick palms that resonated louder than even claps of thunder. Alienor unleashed every ounce of pent-up rage she had in her soul. Cynthia was supposed to be a great God Child, she had been nurtured and raised by the Four Great Families, living out her life in leisure while Leonel was outside fighting for his life every waking moment. All the while, she had been plotting and scheming, waiting to deal a death blow to this family that she hated so much. And yet, in the end, to a furious Alienor, she looked like nothing more than an inconsequential plaything. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    "You cannot breed. You cannot think. You cannot want for anything."

    Every word came with another bubble, and everything that made Cynthia human was hollowed out until she was left with nothing at all. Alienor trembled, looking toward her son.

 Chapter 3028 My Little Lion

    Chapter 3028 My Little Lion

    Alienor appeared by Aina''s side and fell to her knees. By this point, even Anastasia had appeared, and she was already a sobbing mess. She was trying her best to wipe her tears away with her little arms, but she couldn''t seem to move them fast enough.

    There was a peaceful smile on Leonel''s face as though he had already done everything that he could do and he was content with the outcome. There wasn''t even the slightest unwillingness remaining in him.

    "I''m sorry, Aina," Alienor said softly, knocking the young girl out with a palm strike. She then suppressed Anastasia into the Segmented Cube and sent Aina in with her along with Leonel''s brothers.

    Tears fell from Alienor''s eyes as she picked up her son, holding him close to her chest. Worrying that her armor would harm him, she put it away, not caring about the blood that soaked her through. She cradled Leonel''s head, her sobs choking her breath.

    "I''m such a terrible mother..." she said between her sobs. "... To make you do this for me... I''m such a terrible mother..."

    Alienor wasn''t a fool. She was far smarter than Cynthia, who was already known as an exceptional genius. It was easy to say that at least half of Leonel''s flexibility of mind came from her.

    Why would Cynthia even be alive now? Why did Leonel leave her alive despite knowing how conniving this woman was? It was because he knew that the moment the Demoness vanished, his mother would appear...

    Cynthia was nothing more than a distraction.

    Most would stop thinking here. They''d think that Leonel left his mother a target to vent on to help her feel a little better. But Leonel knew better than that.

    He wanted to distract his mother with a threat for long enough that he would die before she could do anything about it. He didn''t want to give her a chance to save him.

    What Leonel didn''t calculate was that his mother had grown far stronger than he knew. Alienor''s talent was no weaker than her father''s. The difference was that while Gervaise had been born into the God Realm, she was born on Earth and a pitiful little Incomplete World.

    However, the moment Gervaise succeeded in turning the Dimensional Verse into a God Realm, and with her being able to take advantage of their time dilation, right now... it could be said that Alienor may very well be one of, if not the strongest, combatants in the entirety of Existence.

    The chasm that left behind wasn''t something that Emperor''s Might could fill, and Leonel knew that. Even such a powerful Lineage Factor and the Life Tablet had its limits. If they didn''t... Velasco wouldn''t still be dead to this day.

    So, he had planned ahead. He already knew that he was going to die, and he already knew that his mother would appear soon afterward. He knew that his grandfather was stonehearted enough to stand to the side, but he couldn''t trust his mother to let him make this sacrifice.

    In the end... he had miscalculated again.

    "... I''m sorry, Little Lion. Your mother already watched your father die, I''m not strong enough to watch you die, too..."

    Alienor chuckled a bitter chuckle that turned into another round of tears.

    "I''m such a bad mother... even now, I can only think of how nice it would be to reunite with your father."

    Alienor stroked Leonel''s hair, kissing him on the forehead.

    "Mother was never there when she needed to be. But I hope that you know how much mom loves you, how much mom will always love you."

    Alienor took out a clean handkerchief and began to wipe away the mess she had left on Leonel''s face. She was so soft and meticulous that one would have thought that she was caring for a delicate vase. But to her, her son was more valuable than any antique.

    When Leonel was clean, she pressed her forehead to his.

    "Live well, my Little Lion... Mom has never been good to you, so there''s no need to feel sad... In fact, mom is very happy right now... I can finally do something for you... and I can finally go accompany my love... Farewell, my Little Lion..."

    Alienor''s energy surged, and the skies turned a delicate golden-green.

    By the time it had all settled down, Alienor was gone. And all that was left was a sleeping Leonel.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

 Chapter 3029 Now

    Chapter 3029 Now

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open.

    He didn''t even bother to look around, he just stared at the ceiling above. It was a simple ceiling, a white one he could see through the mesh that was the canopy of his bed.

    It wasn''t particularly interesting. At least, it wasn''t interesting for much other than what it represented.

    It represented that he could see, that when he breathed, air came in and his lungs expanded, that he was alive.

    Leonel didn''t need anyone to tell him what that meant. He didn''t need to be there to see how the war ended, or what it meant for him to be lying here completely intact.

    He had no idea where he was, but it felt like that didn''t matter at all. That was absolutely worthless information and there was nothing worth learning about it. He didn''t even care about the fact there was a familiar figure leaning on the window sill of an enormous opening.

    Cool wind blew in and the light curtains shifted from side to side.

    "Seems the brat is finally awake," the figure spoke.

    Leonel didn''t respond, not even looking over. He just stared at the ceiling. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, or if he was even thinking at all.

    In truth, he felt that his speed of thought was far slower than what it had been in the past. His mind wasn''t nearly as nimble, and he almost felt a bit... stupid.

    It was amusing because he could still feel his Dream Force being at the Peak Creation State, his Wise Star and Sea Order status were still there, as was his Ability Index. But it felt that something that was core to keeping them together was gone.

    No... it wasn''t something that had kept them together, but rather something that had allowed them to work together. It was a subtle difference, but it was only now that it was gone that Leonel could truly feel it.

    Then again, one of the strongest abilities of the Wise Tablet, that being controlling the Envoys, was useless now. What good was it when they were all dead?

    The figure by the window moved and looked back. With a few steps, it picked up a stool and plopped it beside Leonel''s bed.

    "So tell me, kid..."

    The last thing Leonel felt were his Innate Nodes. They were still there, but he could already feel a burning sensation. His body wasn''t nearly as strong as it had been in the past, but he had already evolved his Innate Nodes to the point that they were true monsters.

    Each one was even larger than his original kidneys had been, making them likely larger than any other Innate Node on the God Realm. But now, he didn''t have a body or constitution strong enough to let them circulate through his body despite how exceptional his Force Manipulation had already become.

    Was his talent really so high? So high that even his mother''s sacrifice could only bring him back in such a pitiful state?

    Leonel''s eyes never left the ceiling. It seemed like he could see his mother''s reflection on it.

    "... When are we gonna flip the world upside down?"

    The words echoed in the room almost as though it was empty. They penetrated down into Leonel''s heart, and he finally looked over at the figure.

    It was the very same man who had disappeared inexplicably all those years ago.

    Nilrem. Wise Star Order.

    Leonel stared at him for a long while, his eyes as deep as an abyss and yet as bright as Amethysts. It felt like one was staring into the deepest pool of water to ever exist.

    "Now." He said as he slowly got up.

 Chapter 3030 Silk Boxers

    Chapter 3030 Silk Boxers

    Leonel pushed himself up and off from the bed, his gaze having become especially bright. The shadow that should have been over his features wasn''t there, replaced with a bone-deep determination.

    "You''re not going to ask me any questions?" Nilrem asked.

    "What would I ask?" Leonel spoke, getting used to his body.

    Right now, he felt as though he truly had been reborn. The issue was that it wasn''t an advancement.

    Still, getting used to his sudden weakness was a necessity as well. If he tried to do something based on his previous understanding of his body, and ended up injuring himself or worse, then he would have no one to cry to.

    "Who I am? How I disappeared? Why I only appeared now?"

    "Don''t care." Leonel replied.

    "Damn," Nilrem clicked his tongue. "Somehow, you skipped through centuries of maturity and jumped right to being that annoying prick I remember. Is this progress or regression?"

    "It''s whatever you want to call it."

    Leonel punched out at a wall with his full force.

    There was a sharp wind as his form was perfect, but upon feeling the collision, his eyes couldn''t help but narrow.

    He actually felt pain.

    He was a Crafter. He could see through these materials with a single glance, slower mind or not. It was a strong material, especially for the mere wall of a bedroom. But it wasn''t strong to the point that he would feel pain from hitting it, even if he considered the God Runes in this place.

    He didn''t even leave a dent on the wall.

    Still, he just nodded casually. It seemed that he would have to re-practice his metal body... basically his entire Constitution had been reset. Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

    "Fine, fine. I''ll tell you." Nilrem spread his arms as though he was being magnanimous. "Have you ever tried to spell my name backward? Hm? Hm?"

    In that case, he would just ask his grandfather to give him what he needed. It was about time the old man did what grandfathers should, instead of him always being the one bailing out Earth.

    After making this choice, Leonel donned a robe by the bedside, didn''t even bother to do it up, and strolled out in his silky white boxers and fluffy slippers.

    "... I was unfortunately obstructed like everyone else. You''ve really got a bitch of a grandmother, you know that? If you want, I can give you some tips for how to deal with her. Have I told you the story about how I pissed on an Empire''s banner? That''s definitely a good one. And there''s also the time I pissed onбкhey, where are you going?"

    Nilrem rushed after Leonel, feeling exasperated.

    This was the only timeline where Leonel actually just outright ignored him like this? Where was the shock and awe?

    And what was this kid doing? Didn''t he know that he was in the heart of the Fawkes Clan Empire right now? Did he know how many important officials there were around here? What was he doing just strutting around like that?

    "Hey kid, you keep walking around like that and one of these old cougars is gonna eat you up in your sleep."

    "I never expected that the Merlin I had heard about growing up would swing that way. Do you mean the cougars, or you?"

    Leonel''s sudden response after so long of nothing took Nilrem off guard. He didn''t even know how to respond to the accusation.

    "... Fuck you, kid! My name is MerбкI mean Nilrem!"

    "Do you even care that much? I''m pretty sure you forgot your real name at some point."

    "How do you even know that?!"

    As they walked through the empire, they came across several people, most of whom gave Leonel weird glances.

    ''Hm... I don''t recognize any of these people. What was that old man up to?''

    "Halt!"

    Leonel ignored the words. He was about to kick up the Throne Room doors, but then he remembered how weak he was and settled for pressing his palms against them, pressing hard until they finally slowly creaked open.

    The silence was so palpable that a pin drop could have been heard.

    Leonel strolled in under thousands of gazes.

 Chapter 3031 Changes (1)

    Chapter 3031 Changes (1)

    It wasn''t a surprise that Leonel seemed completely out of place. His violet-black silk robes danced behind him as he moved, his boxers on full display. His bare feet were probably the first of their kind to grace these floors. After seeing this scene, Leonel understood something: the time dilation.

    Having been to other Incomplete Worlds, Leonel knew that time dilation wasn''t a normal factor. It was only the case in the Dimensional Verse, and maybe the other Verses that were part of their group. The difference was obvious: The Pluto. Why had El''Rion been sent with such a valuable treasure? It was obviously for the sake of giving his grandfather the time dilation he needed to set everything up. Leonel had been gone for maybe half a decade at most if he didn''t include his own time dilation escapades. If he calculated based on what he knew about the Dimensional Verse''s time dilation, what would have likely been trillions upon trillions of years had passed. But he doubted that it was that long. If he was correct, then the time dilation likely weakened the stronger the Incomplete Worlds became. If it didn''t, then time dilation would probably be far more common in the higher Realms. In that case, it was likely a few hundred or a thousand years that had passed from his grandfather''s, grandmother''s, and mother''s perspectives. When he framed it like this, everything made perfect sense. Gervaise had wanted an opportunity to rebuild and reconstruct the Fawkes family. After Leonel left and became the vanguard of the Empire, they received the time they needed to do exactly that. Most of these people were probably distantly related to him in some way or another. At least 60% or so of this panel of nobles had Fawkes blood. Even with his senses considerably dulled, Peak Creation State Dream Force was still Peak Creation State Dream Force. The others were likely other powers of Earth that had risen up in that time. He was unlikely to recognize them at a glance, but there were some that he did. For example, the Dove family. He remembered that they were the Prime Minister equivalents of the Empire back when Leonel was around. He also remembered having some interaction with their Heir back then. Though, by now, he was probably a large figureбк

    Just as he had this thought, Leonel found him in the crowd and gave him a casual smile. "Damn, why the hell is this walkway so long," Leonel muttered. He had already been here for half a minute, but he wasn''t even halfway to the throne that was ahead. His grandfather really liked to put on airs. He tried to use his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node, but expectedly, that failed. Any empire worth their salt even in the Mortal Realms would have protections against Spatial Force, let alone one that could stand in the God Realm. Nilrem rushed in after Leonel, conveniently brushing off his knuckles after having dealt with a few guards. He waved like they were a pair of rockstars greeting their fans. Neither one of them seemed very bothered by the silence at all. For Leonel, it still made a little sense because he had no idea how important this meeting was. But for Nilrem, who knew exactly what it was, and still didn''t care... well, that was a completely different matter entirely. Still, Nilrem didn''t bother to explain. He knew that even if he did, Leonel wouldn''t give a damn. In that case, why not enjoy a good show? The philosophical differences of this grandfather-grandson duo would be an interesting clash to watch, indeed. Eventually, Leonel made it to the bottom of the stairs and looked up with his hands on his hips. Gervaise looked down, his expression unreadable. It was hard to tell that he was looking at his grandson at all, but Leonel didn''t mind it. He knew that this was the type of person his grandfather was. He took his position of Emperor very seriously and always put the Empire above all else. He might smile and joke with Leonel while they were alone, but he certainly wouldn''t do it right now. "Hey, Merlin. What''s my noble title?"

    Nilrem cleared his throat. "Nilrem."

    "The question, Merlin?"

    Nilrem rolled his eyes. "Imperial Prince?"

    "That''s it?" Leonel asked.

    "Well, I can''t think of any other reason so many would still be sitting in their seats and silently observing when I walked in."

    "You think they should bow?"

    "Isn''t that only right when in the face of their savior?"

    "Ah, I thought you meant they should bow because of your Noble Title."

    "Well, that too. But I''m not a fan of relying on things my parents gave me."

    "Is that so? But didn''t you come here to extortбкI mean ask your grandfather for some things?"

    "I said parents, Merlin. Keep up. Grandparents are in a different category."

    Nilrem stifled a chuckle, but a few others weren''t as good at disguising it as him. The sudden snorts were loud in the mostly silent room. It seemed that while there were a few people dissatisfied with Leonel''s current actions, not everyone had a stick up their ass.

 Chapter 3032 Changes (2)

    Chapter 3032 Changes (2)

    Leonel was about to open his mouth to say more, but Gervaise flicked a finger and a badge of some sort landed on him. Before Leonel could react, he was teleported away. "I''ll remember this, old man!"

    Nilrem found himself standing alone at the bottom of the throne. He coughed lightly. "Pleasant weather we''re having today, aren''t we?"

    Silence.

    "Hehe, I''ll take my leave, then. Don''t mind that disciple of mine, everybody. He''s a kind soul at heart." Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

    Several gazes flashed when they heard this. When had Leonel become Nilrem''s disciple? Since when had Nilrem ever been close to anyone? All this guy did all day was chase skirts, but they also knew just how much of a powerhouse he was.

    The process of establishing their Empire on the God Realm wasn''t easy; several battles had been fought. But the moment this man appeared, it was like everything was solved within moments. Several armies retreated without doing anything, and those that dared to stay suffered terrible losses.

    Afterward, there were many sideline powers who agreed to let the humans through so long as Leonel was handed back. These powers included the Sylvans who were enraged by Leonel''s use of their geniuses for resources. But in the end, even those far more powerful powers were sent away with their tails tucked between their legs.

    Many of these people knew next to nothing about Nilrem other than the fact he was a powerhouse. It had been a while since they settled down, and many thought to use this opportunity to get closer to him.

    Getting closer to the Emperor was like climbing beyond the skies; it was next to impossible. But Nilrem seemed to be just as strong, and yet far more open to interacting with people. They had thought it would be easy to get close to him... only to find out that the man''s shamelessness knew no bounds.

    **

    By this point, Leonel was standing in an unfamiliar region. It took him a bit to adjust himself and understand where he was. His mind was in a very dizzy state for a few seconds before he understood.

    ''Oh, not bad. I guess you''re less of an asshole than I thought.''

    Leonel and his grandfather had never truly seen eye to eye on anything. Their approaches to life were vastly different.

    But what Leonel knew was that he wasn''t entirely stone cold either. He did have the capacity to love, albeit a bit selfishly. The heart and care Gervaise had had for his mother was real and true, and at least in some part, that transferred to Leonel. In the end, though, Gervaise was the most interested in investing in those descendants that could give the most returns.

    Still, there was no denying how much Leonel had done for the Empire, and Gervaise wasn''t yet to the point of cutting ties just because he felt Leonel wasn''t nearly as useful as he had been in the past. In the end, Leonel was still his grandson.

    If Leonel wanted to waste away the rest of his life in peace on his grandfather''s dollar, Gervaise was fine with that. But, today, Leonel''s words had made it clear that he was very much not. Obviously, this was to say that this was the real reason Leonel hadn''t been given such a Title or responsibility. Gervaise wasn''t sure what kind of mental state Leonel would be in when he awoke.

    But now he knew.

    As for where Leonel had been sent, it was none other than the treasure room of the Fawkes Empire.

    It was time to make out like a bandit.

 Chapter 3033 Yes

    Chapter 3033 Yes

    Leonel stored away any complex feelings that threatened to bubble up, making his way forward. Right now, he didn''t have the luxury to wallow in his own thoughts or be disappointed. There was only one thing that should be on his mind. Winning.

    It seemed that the world thought that he was mostly finished. If they didn''t, it was almost impossible for them to have let him go so easily. Though, that was definitely related to the strength of Nilrem and his grandfather as well.

    Leonel had stirred up a great deal of conflict, offended even more powers, and the amount of things concentrated onto him were difficult to put into just a few words.

    However, many of the things that had made him so scary and fearsome had been taken away by the Demoness. At the very least, using [Emperor''s Might] to revive Gods three Dimensional Realms above his own had now most definitely become impossible.

    All things considered, Gervaise was now the highest priority target, and if they couldn''t kill him, then there was little reason to kill Leonel.

    In truth, Leonel hadn''t been there for these things, but that didn''t matter in the slightest. His mind might have slowed, but he hadn''t become a fool. He knew that for him to wake up on a comfy bed instead of in a cell, or worse yet, not wake up at all, there had to have been a lot of things done while he was out of it.

    As disappointed as he might or might not be with what he had seen in the newly minted Ascension Empire, it didn''t matter since in the end, they were the reason he could still be here... and they were the reason that he would be able to cause the new storm that was coming next.

    Right now, he was a discarded pawn, a piece that the Demoness had already gotten rid of. And while this seemed to have come with a whole host of problems, it had also come with something else that was very important... He could finally be sure that he had completely stepped off of her board. Maybe she didn''t even care to pay attention to him any longer.

    This time, Leonel would be the one coming... and maybe not necessarily from the shadows either.

    Leonel knew that in order for his master and his grandfather to be delayed in arriving to the battlefield, there had to have been a host of individuals who took action.

    But the problem was that Leonel didn''t have the patience for even the slightest of slights right now. Anyone who bothered him or did things that weren''t exactly how he wanted them was wasting his time, delaying his progress, and thus worthy of his anger.

    If he had had the strength, he might have directly killed them.

    Nilrem continued to look at Leonel as he returned to calm, opening the vault up with the badge that he had been given.

    Leonel was certainly far more calm now than when his father had died, and he could also tell that that wasn''t because he didn''t care nearly as much for his mother. It was instead because he had matured and had learned how to focus his rage in ways that made much more sense.

    However, that didn''t mean that there wasn''t something that he was suppressing. And every time someone tried to stall his steps, or impede his progress, he would likely lash out with that very same suppressed emotion.

    This time, however, Nilrem didn''t believe that there was anything wrong with it. That was because he could feel that this wasn''t the same out-of-control rage. It was tempered... and it made even him somewhat fearful of this disciple of his.

    He knew what Leonel could have had the potential to become in the future with his original talent... but now that he didn''t have it anymore, could he still do it?

    Nilrem wasn''t entirely sure before, but now he felt that there could only be one answer to this question.

    Yes.

    It could only be yes.

    He strolled into the vault after Leonel.

 Chapter 3034 Diabolical

    Chapter 3034 Diabolical

    The treasury of the Fawkes family was more than Leonel expected, but after he thought about it, he felt that it only made sense. Gervaise had been preparing for a return to the God Realm all this time, and the methods that he had used couldn''t possibly be normal. From the start, his intention was to be no weaker than any other God Race.

    Of course, this was difficult in two ways.

    First, the Ascension Empire was still lacking in population numbers. Right now, they had a population that could be counted in the tens of billions, and that much was good enough for the God Realm especially since birth rates were quite low here. But the main issue was that this population had yet to be refined down to the point where only the truest talents were left.

    The Fawkes had only had one line remaining, so though Leonel''s grandfather and grandmother had had more children, it was still difficult to truly proliferate.

    While the usual issues with incest weren''t a problem with beings of this level, Gervaise had watched the Four Great Families stall due to their methods. Then he had watched an "impure" like Aina become such a powerhouse, while his own grandson had become a monster due to the mixing and breeding of different bloodlines.

    He had realized then that mixing wasn''t a weakness, it was actually a strength. It could help to shore up what was missing from certain bloodlines with others, and though there would be a lot of misses when taking this route, it wouldn''t necessarily be any different if they took the more... diabolical route.

    As such, Gervaise had allowed his new sons and daughters to marry as they pleased, and he watched what happened from the sidelines. After all, he and his wife were still young and spry all things considered. They could still have many more children.

    It was just that Leonel''s grandmother hadn''t been in the mood for such things recently, and honestly speaking, neither was Gervaise. She wasn''t the only one that had lost a daughter.

    This was all to say that the Empire was technically still in an experimental phase. The only reason it hadn''t been touched was because Gervaise was too powerful, and there were a few more powerhouses locked away as their trump cards.

    The second was foundation.

    Although this treasury looked shocking to Leonel, that was because he had never seen a true God Race''s means. That wasn''t to say that the treasure vault of the Fawkes weren''t still shocking, but they would still be ranked near the bottom of the truly fearsome characters. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    They lacked enough Crafters, enough inheritances, enough time.

    ''The Crafters are decent, I guess. But this standard isn''t good enough.''

    Leonel spent an entire three days just walking around the treasury. By then, news of his appearance had already spread like wildfire and a great deal of changes began to take place whether overtly or covertly.

    However, for now, none of these things seemed to have anything to do with him.

    ...

    "Kid, how long are you going to make me follow you around like this for?" Nilrem began to grumble.

    Nilrem seemed completely unaffected by Leonel''s aura. He collapsed to the ground, laughing his ass off.

    "Hey, hey!" Nilrem wiped tears from his eyes. "Kid, please don''t kill the messenger. What does this have to do with me? Plus, with your wife''s strength, what are you even worried about?"

    "What happened?" Leonel asked, his unhappiness not fading in the slightest.

    "Who asked for your wife to be so beautiful? In fact, kid, give me some pickup tips? How''d you do it? Let an old man know."

    Leonel turned up his nose in disgust and some of his aura seemed to fade somewhat.

    "Stop messing around and tell me what happened."

    Nilrem sat up and wiped the last tears from his eyes. After a shrug, he finally gave a straight answer.

    "The Fawkes family has become a bit obsessed with procreating thanks to a few policies. Any woman of ''good stock'' is a target, especially if she hasn''t birthed a child before... even if she''s married. Though, technically, because you died, your soul link shattered. Right now, your wife is single," Nilrem chuckled through the darkening of Leonel''s expression again. "A few little princes want to hop into your wife''s bed, and she hasn''t killed any of them yet because this is your family. Isn''t she sweet?"

    A dangerous light continuously flashed in Leonel''s eyes.

    "Oh. And it also doesn''t help that there''s a new update to the God Realm''s beauty ranking. Number one and two are both yours, aren''t you excited?"

    "Number two?" Leonel frowned, ignoring number one as though he already knew that it could only be his wife.

    Nilrem began another round of hearty laughter.

    "A certain little girl named Minerva. I heard that she was being pestered and said that she only loved one man."

    He cleared his throat and put on a high-pitched voice as though he was trying to imitate her perfectly.

    "''The man I love is Leonel Morales. Kill him and I''ll give you a chance to speak with me.''"

    Leonel was left completely and utterly speechless. What the hell was this? A tactic to get him killed? Wasn''t it too low-class?

    And why the hell did the God Realm have a beauty ranking? Didn''t they have anything better to do?

    Suddenly, his gaze flashed. ''The Sylvans...''

 Chapter 3035 This is the Path for Me.

    Chapter 3035 This is the Path for Me.

    If there was any race that hated Leonel to an extreme, it was the Sylvans. And if there was any race that was well known for their intelligence, well... it was also the Sylvans. Leonel had to admit that if he was correct and this was just another plot, it was a good one. There was rarely anything more than young men with too much energy liked to do than impress women. In truth, he was precisely one of these very young men that he was disparaging right now. The only difference was that he didn''t give a damn about any woman but his own wife. In the past, just how much trouble had he gone through trying to court Aina? He would have waded through hell and high water to get to her, and back then, she wasn''t even considered to be some great beauty. Leonel still remembered that for much of the time he knew Aina, he didn''t even know her true face; he only knew the mask she wore. It wasn''t until after that it was revealed to him that her face was scarred beyond repair, but even then, he knew that behind the scars was a rarely seen beauty. Regardless, he was willing to wade through a great deal to be with Aina. These young geniuses with the full backing of their families had nothing better to do than chase after beauty. It might even be a mandate given to them by their families and encouraged by their elders as well. By now, Aina''s status as a Blood Sovereign had been revealed. She was a rare breed of woman not only in talent, but she could also perfectly control her pregnancies. Even the seedless Invalids could have children with her. One could imagine the kind of children she could have with true talents. And this was all before she had even revealed her Life Grade Force Pill Crafting to the world. It could be said that even under normal circumstances, Aina would be highly sought after, let alone with the Sylvans fanning the flames. Leonel had always thought his wife was most beautiful no matter what state she was in, but the standards of the God Realm were so widely variable. A Void Race woman, a Beastman woman, a Sylvan woman... all of these different races have their own tastes and preferences. So... What were the odds that two women who looked as human as humanly possible would be ranked at the very top? And that both of them would have some ties to him? Of course, Aina and Minerva were certainly city-toppling beauties. If Leonel wasn''t so biased, he would have to admit that Minerva was no less beautiful than Aina. But there were plenty of beauties of this same exact standard in the God Realm, and many of them were far more established than Aina and Minerva as well. The fact that two human-like beauties would be ranked at the top, both of them would have connections to him, and both of them would be completely new additions... Who were the Sylvans trying to fool here? Obviously, it was a method of targeting him. It was an open scheme that someone with the slightest bit of intelligence could see through. Surely, Minerva was smart enough to see through it too, and that was likely why she had said what she said. "At least they''re smart, putting my wife number one." Leonel nodded. "Your wife is number two."

    "I''m going to kill them all."

    Leonel''s dangerous aura shook the world again. The Sylvans weren''t only intelligent; they were very clearly shameless. Logically, if they wanted to put him in the most amount of danger, placing Aina number one would be far more effective. He couldn''t think of this as anything other than something they had done on purpose for no other reason than to piss him off. Nilrem burst into another fit of laughter. Was this what they called an open scheme? He knew what it was, but he jumped right in anyway. Ah, to be young and in love. Beautiful indeed. Leonel''s figure flickered, and he began to collect the things he needed one after another. He didn''t hold back in the slightest, but as Nilrem watched him, his expression only became weirder and weirder. "What are you trying to do, exactly? This is nothing like your last path."

    "Do I look like I can follow my last path?"

    "Is this how you treat your master? Do you know how many people want to be taught by me?" Nilrem asked, aghast. "Speaking of which, what happened to Candle and Vice?"

    "What? You want to make use of my hard work? At least take me to dinner first before you try to fuck me."

    "You know, you make a lot of sexual jokes around someone you call a kid. You have something to tell me?" Leonel gave him a glance for the first time in a while. Nilrem was left speechless. This kid... could really anger someone to death. Silence fell as Nilrem''s tongue was rendered immobile. An hour later, Leonel finally seemed to be finished, and Nilrem looked at him with a stern gaze different from what he had done before. "Are you sure?"

    "When am I ever not sure?" Leonel responded. "Want me to list them?"

    Leonel shook his head and chuckled. "This is the path for me. No one will be able to take what''s mine again... not before my spear and bow."

 Chapter 3036 Tackle

    Chapter 3036 Tackle

    Leonel''s intentions were clear. He would build around the one thing that could never be taken away from him, his Spear and Bow Sovereignty.

    No matter what machinations there were, no matter what schemes, as long as his spear could pierce through them and his arrow could shoot through them, there would never be anything to worry about.

    They would become the foundation of his strength, and everything else would only be extras to their flourishing.

    In truth, he would have to thank the Demoness. The Dream Asura bloodline in him was like a stench that he could not remove without harming himself. Now that it had been done for him, he would never have to consider it again.

    When his foundation was reaffirmed and rebuilt, he would then be able to use it as the new core of his being and rebuild himself back up to his former talent.

    It could be said that only the Dream Asura Bloodline was taken from him, but the problem was that it was the mesh that had allowed all his other talents to work together and multiply the effort of the other talents around it.

    Without it, he had lost the core of his being, and now his talents were just as scattered as they had been in the past. No... it was even worse now because his Dream Force talent was no longer as potent as it had been in the past.

    Before, even when his methods were scattered and unfocused, he was still able to use his mind a great deal. Of course, it was still far weaker than when his Dream Asura bloodline was activated, but it was still much stronger than it was now.

    Now, though, that wasn''t possible. He would have to rebuild a new center of his power, and without the former potency of his Dream Force and his weakened body, it would be even more difficult.

    His Spear and Bow Force were already unruly before, not allowing him to properly control them. Now, it would certainly be worse.

    But that was when Leonel had a thought. What if, instead of taking this as a bad thing... he chose to treat it as a good thing instead?

    He would use the clash of his Bow and Spear Sovereignties to refine his body, and it would become the new foundation of his Metal Body.

    The benefits of taking such a path were obvious.

    If rather than using Metal, he used Weapon Forces, he would be able to heal himself just by gathering more Weapon Forces from the surroundings. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

    "Alright. If that''s your choice, show me the technique you''re working on and I''ll help you refine it. You''re still a little too simple-minded to do this on your own. I can imagine all the mistakes already."

    Leonel rolled his eyes, but he didn''t reject it. He might as well put this man to work for something. His insights shouldn''t be too bad either.

    The two walked out, ignoring the cold sweat of the guards.

    "Where''s my wife?" Leonel asked. He had long since noticed that the Segmented Cube wasn''t with him. He didn''t believe for a moment that his grandfather had taken it, so it should be in Aina''s hands.

    "Where do you think? On a battlefield somewhere."

    "Fighting against who?"

    "The Four Great Families, of course."

    Leonel nodded.

    "She''s probably already on her way back, but that''ll make a lot of people angry."

    "Why''s that?" "Well, she''s kind of the core of her army right now."

    "Makes sense," Leonel chuckled.

    The master-disciple duo were casually chatting until they were suddenly blocked by three figures. They had entered a garden and were following along the walkway back to Leonel''s living quarters. Leonel himself was already thinking about his next steps after he finished this first refinement when these people appeared.

    Though he didn''t know who they were, the gold hair and green eyes told the entire story.

    However, just as they were about to speak, there was a blur of red that suddenly passed by.

    Leonel couldn''t even react before a delicate fragrance assaulted his nose and a familiar beauty tackled him.

 Chapter 3037 "Me"

    Chapter 3037 "Me"

    "Oof..."

    Leonel stumbled backward and almost fell over before catching himself. Or rather, he thought he caught himself before a sneaky foot hit the back of his heel and he was sent tumbling over.

    He didn''t have the chance to give Nilrem a glare before he hit the ground. However, the beauty in his arms didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    Aina didn''t say anything, and her sobs were mostly silent, but Leonel didn''t need to hear them to feel them. She hugged him so tightly that he thought he might suffocate, but he really couldn''t bring himself to say anything about it. He could only hold her waist and rub her back, slowly controlling his own emotions.

    He wasn''t the only one who had lost people, and his death would have hit Aina no less than what Leonel was experiencing right now.

    All things considered, he didn''t really care very much about how he, himself, was feeling. He had already decided to be the bedrock that would hold up the skies, so that was what he would be... especially for his own wife.

    "Don''t you three know that it''s rude to stare?" Nilrem asked the three gentlemen that had come to block Leonel''s path.

    Well, it was hard to look at them like gentlemen at all. That was because, due to how fast Aina had blown by them, they had mostly ended up sprawled on the ground.

    They had only barely managed to pick themselves up and were already sporting ugly expressions when Nilrem spoke.

    Looking at the man who was sneaking glances at Leonel and Aina as though he was enjoying the show as well, they couldn''t help but feel incomparably aggrieved on the inside. But they still didn''t dare to say anything to this man.

    Instead, they all politely greeted him, storing away their dissatisfaction in the depths of their hearts.

    "Senior, I''m Alric Fawkes. Pleased to meet you. I hope you''ll forgive me for my earlier rudeness."

    "I''m Cian Fawkes, please accept my apologies."

    "Are you here to waste my time with worthless questions?"

    "No." Alric said plainly. "We didn''t come here to waste time with you at all. Commander Aina deserted her post and came here. We were only on our way to reprimand her when we saw you."

    "Alright, you''ve been seen. You can go now."

    Alric''s gaze flashed with a malevolent light.

    "It seems that you are very new to the Fawkes and how we do things. Here, we work only on what can be done and what you''ve done lately. Right now, you are as useless asбк"

    "Finished?" Leonel asked, still feeling bored.

    However, Alric didn''t seem to care as he continued. "No. As your cousin, I''ll advise you that there are some things that are better left to a clean break. The sooner you cut them off, the better. Or else it will only lead to further heartache in the future.

    "The Fawkes shouldn''t allow the useless to reproduce with geniuses. You are wasting her prime years, and if you waste her womb as well, there''ll be a place for you in the blasphemers of the bloodline."

    "Oh? And who would be better?"

    "Me."

    All three of them spoke at the same time and then glared toward one another. They were nothing if not confident.

    Leonel nodded slowly, meeting each one of their gazes.

    "Kill them."

    Before they could be surprised, Aina had already moved.

 Chapter 3038 Real Demons

    Chapter 3038 Real Demons

    Three heads flew into the skies. Each one of their faces was marred with shock as though they couldn''t even believe what had just happened.

    They couldn''t even last a single exchange with Aina. The gap between them was so impossibly large that it couldn''t be fathomed. Plus, they weren''t close-range experts to begin with. The Fawkes were all Dream Force experts.

    But that was what made it all the more amusing. They were Dream Force experts, and yet they couldn''t sense Leonel''s killing intent.

    Maybe it was fine if they couldn''t sense Leonel''s. In fact, maybe they had sensed it and just ignored it because they couldn''t be bothered to care about a "weakling" like him.

    But to be unable to react to Aina''s movement just went to show how ridiculous they were.

    They couldn''t hold a candle to her whether that be in strength or prying away her love, and yet they wanted to steal her from him? What kind of sick joke was that? Who did they think they were?

    Plop. Plop. Plop.

    The three dull sounds of heads hitting the pavement and blood spurting echoed in the silence.

    Nilrem sighed. "You shouldn''t have done that."

    Aina had already returned to Leonel''s side as though nothing had happened. In fact, she would be fine with the skies falling if it meant that she could be with Leonel.

    The only reason she hadn''t killed these people before was because they were Leonel''s family. But if Leonel didn''t care about this, then why should she? She didn''t even hesitate, and she was swift and ruthless.

    As for the battlefield, she cared even less. The only reason she had joined in the first place was because sitting by Leonel''s side, anxiously waiting for him to wake up, wasn''t helping her at all. Plus, it was a chance to vent her hatred onto the Four Great Families, so why not take the opportunity?

    But now that Leonel was awake, none of that mattered anymore. She had already decided long ago that Leonel was more important to her than revenge. If Leonel didn''t want her to go to the battlefield, she wouldn''t. It was that simple to her.

    "Why not?" Leonel asked casually.

    Leonel grinned and pointed to a finger sleeve on his wife''s finger.

    "I hear the Segmented Cube is nice and cozy. Why don''t you have a look?"

    "You little shit..." Nilrem was speechless.

    Leonel''s laughter echoed, but it sounded like the bells of a demon in Nilrem''s ears.

    ...

    Leonel placed the last head on a pike, then pulled out a thin piece of rotting wood that was about two or so meters in length.

    A flame appeared on his fingers, then he began to write.

    Aina stood to the side, covering her mouth and trying not to laugh any harder than she already was.

    After Leonel was finished, he took a few steps back then began to admire his handiwork.

    He nodded to himself. "Not bad. Not bad."

    The sign read:

    ''Here lie three scum of the Earth. Known for their dirty deeds and attempts at wife stealing, the Heavens have decided to punish them. I can only say that I, Merlin, am as broad as the Heavens and magnanimous as the clouds. Do not thank me for my actions; you may worship me instead.''

    The pair of husband and wife stood there laughing together. It should have been an eerie sight, three heads pierced through their fleshly necks. And yet, the two didn''t seem to mind it or the scent of blood.

    From a third party''s viewing angle, they truly did seem to be the real Demons in this situation.

 Chapter 3039 Do You?

    Chapter 3039 Do You?

    "Is this enough of an answer?" Leonel spoke with a grin, whispering into Aina''s ear. Unfortunately, she couldn''t answer between the pants.

    They had left the scene of the heads on pikes long ago. Aina wanted to talk about how Leonel was feeling, and Leonel showed her in his own way. Weakened or not, at least on this battlefield, he was still number one.

    Still panting, Aina grabbed the sides of Leonel''s face, looking into his eyes. It was like she was trying to check if he really was okay, but all she could see was a warm smile looking back at her.

    Inexplicably, she couldn''t help but tear up again. Leonel didn''t seem to be faking it or holding anything back, but that only made her cry harder.

    "Hey, hey, hey, don''t cry. People are going to think I''m bullying you."

    Leonel laughed. The last thing he wanted was for a woman to be crying while he was inside her. The misunderstandings would lose him his head.

    "Didn''t you hear? The whole God Realm wants to marry my wife now. If they find out I made you cry, they''ll chop me limb from limb."

    Aina laughed between her tears, then suddenly recalled something. She looked at her left hand and pouted, a hint of disappointment blooming in her eye.

    Leonel looked over at it and smiled, pressing his hand to hers.

    On her ring finger, where their soul bond should have been, there was what looked like a burn mark. That moment must have been incredibly painful for Aina, but she was more focused on grieving for his death than worrying about her own suffering.

    This was what happened when a soul bond was broken. It was a pain that one felt not just to the flesh, but to the very soul. One could only make a single one in their lifetime, and now that it was burned away, that piece of Aina''s soul was gone.

    Leonel looked at the burnt soul bond. His smile was still there, but there was a flickering light in his eyes that was hard to ignore.

    He knew that the former him would already have a solution. He could practically feel it, as though it was on the tip of his tongue. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn''t figure it out.

    "I''m afraid of what any man would do after seeing a man balls deep in his daughter."

    Aina pinched Leonel''s waist from both sides hard.

    "What are you saying!? I didn''t mean he was here right now!" Aina said exasperatedly.

    Leonel laughed. "So you mean that he was with the old man all this time?"

    "Yes," Aina nodded.

    "Why''d you bring him up? You want me to come with you to go see him?"

    Aina nodded again.

    "Okay," Leonel replied with a smile. "You sounded so serious, I thought it was something bad. If you just want me to bully him a bit, leave it to me."

    Aina playfully hit his chest, shaking her head. This guy could never be serious.

    Her feelings about her own father were quite complicated after learning the truth behind his history with her mother. It was honestly very difficult for her to forgive him.

    But... after what happened with Nilrem taking the fall this time, she felt that she and Leonel needed another backer, someone who could protect them if things ever truly went bad.

    For Leonel''s sake... she felt that this was the best way to help him. Plus, she really did want a real family...

    She looked up to meet Leonel''s eyes and felt as though he had seen right through her.

    "Do you want a baby?" he asked softly.

 Chapter 3040 Something to Fight For

    Chapter 3040 Something to Fight For

    Aina was stunned by the question. Then there was such a sudden rapid fire of emotion on her face that even Leonel was having a hard time keeping up. There was shock, then excitement, then worry, then more excitement, and then apprehension, then there was guilt.

    "Leonel, Iбк"

    Leonel shook his head, stopping her. He knew what she wanted to say.

    They had agreed to have children a long while ago, but there was always some tacit understanding between them to always delay it. Aina had even said that she wanted to wait until her friends were at that point in their relationship as well.

    But both of them were smart. They knew that it would be a foolish decision to do such a thing, so they had always found good reasons.

    But when Leonel thought about it... really thought about it, he couldn''t help but wonder. Would it ever not be foolish? Or was he always overthinking things?

    It was funny. Now that his mind was slower, not overrun by logic all the time, he felt far freer.

    No matter how he looked at it, there would maybe never be a right time to have children. Even in some potential future where he finally killed the Demoness and had his revenge, the Northern Star was still a looming problem that wasn''t going anywhere.

    After the actions of the Primordial Terror, Existence''s time had been shortened to just a few thousand years at best. The situation had been mitigated somewhat after its death, and some balance had been returned, but Existence still wouldn''t have much more than ten thousand or so years left.

    To the wider world, this kind of timeline might as well have been a single blink.

    So what would he say then? That he couldn''t have children until the impossible task of reversing the flow of the Northern Star was accomplished?

    Wouldn''t he then have spent his entire life fighting? Having spent every waking moment fighting against some monster or shadow in the distance? How could that be considered a life at all?

    Leonel and Aina had been born on Earth. Even with the advancements in technology, they had only expected to ever live a few hundred years at most.

    Now, they had several thousand to work with. Wasn''t that something worth cherishing? Why should they waste it?

    Sure, they loved to battle... but that shouldn''t be all they did.

    He wanted to build a family with his wife... and he was willing to stand tall and have a blade prepared for anyone who wanted to stop it.

    "... We''ve waited long enough," Leonel said with a smile.

    ...

    The smile from Leonel''s expression vanished into a deathly sort of determination. The cold coming from his gaze was so frigid that the air seemed to shudder.

    He entered the Segmented Cube and reacted just in time for a little girl to rush into his arms.

    His coldness dimmed a bit as he smiled, patting Anastasia''s head.

    "What are you crying about? Aren''t I here?"

    Anastasia used his shirt to wipe away her tears, sniffling as she tried to regain her bearings.

    Leonel''s sternness returned. "Anastasia, I need a strong time warp, one stronger than the pods. You can get rid of them if that''s what it takes. I need a space to temper my body."

    "How long?" Anastasia asked.

    "Just give me a method to contact you when I''m finished."

    "Okay."

    Leonel stripped himself down as Aina prepared.

    The method he was going to use now took time, more time than he was willing to give it. Normally, time dilation couldn''t be used for training because it would distort Forces. Unless you had exceptionally high Time Force affinity, it was impossible.

    But Leonel wasn''t training his comprehension. All he wanted was a space to put himself under the greatest pain he had likely ever endured in his life.

    At that moment, he had a flashback... it was the day he first awakened his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor.

    He had almost given up beneath the pain and his soul nearly collapsed. But he had managed to pull through.

    Since then, he had experienced a great deal of things... and now he had much more to fight for than the kid who cared about no one other than himself.

    This time, he would truly be going all out.

    It was time to see the power of the Weapon Forces that had called down the Idol Battlefield.

 Chapter 3041 Time

    Chapter 3041 Time

    Leonel sat in silence. The room he was in, if it could even be called that, was made of a grey fog. There was no obvious ceiling or walls, or even ground for that matter. It felt like he was stuck inside a rain cloud with no way to get out.

    But this was exactly what he wanted.

    In truth, this was probably the most difficult thing that he would have to do in his entire life. That was because the time dilation in this place was so great that even if he called for Anastasia now and she reacted immediately, it might still be a difference of several months.

    But this was exactly the sort of time dilation he needed.

    As he had said, he didn''t have the time to waste on hoping that things would eventually work out like he might have done in the past, and this time, he only needed to suffer through pain.

    "Show me what you have..." Leonel spoke lightly.

    At that moment, he stopped suppressing his Spear and Bow Force. As expected, in that same instant, he was hit with a wave of pain.

    If it had felt like getting hit by a truck as a mortal, he might have preferred that. But it was very different. Instead, it felt like his body was filled with a countless number of blades that were slowly tearing him apart.

    His pores opened up, only for golden needles sharp enough to pierce through space to come rushing out as though they were beads of sweat.

    A single tear streaked down Leonel''s cheek before it erupted into a blade light. The droplet left a blade mark down his face, but he didn''t react to it in the slightest.

    It continued to drill through his body again and again, and he lost track of time.

    Minutes became hours, which became days. Days became weeks, and weeks became months, finally years.

    In the outside world, maybe not even a few minutes had passed, and yet Leonel was suffering untold horrors.

    Until now, he still hadn''t brought out any of the materials that he had traded for. He was forcing his body to experience these horrors, forcing it to try and heal itself, all without relying on anything else.

    This method was crude and violent, and it would take decades to show any sort of substantial improvement, all while undergoing the cruelest of tortures imaginable. On top of that, it would leave countless lingering issues behind. There would eventually come a point where his body would simply break down, unable to take even a single step forward any longer.

    However, Leonel was more than willing to do this. He and Nilrem had both decided that this foundational process was necessary. It wasn''t just about building tolerance, it was also about making the Weapon Force so ubiquitous in one''s body that every subsequent step was possible.

    On an unknown day, decades later, Leonel finally opened his murky eyes. They weren''t murky due to fatigue, but because they had been completely blinded. At some point 20 years ago, his eyes could no longer keep up with the grueling torment. The flesh within them had practically corroded as though they were metal, no longer sending signals.

    In fact, his eyes were the least of his problems. His organs were shutting down, his lower half didn''t even work anymore, and his mind was beginning to display signs of Alzheimer''s. None of this was due to age, but rather the grueling torment.

    Having to constantly heal itself like this made Leonel, who should have still had many more years to live, look no different from an old man.

    ''It''s time.''

 Chapter 3042 CRACK.

    Chapter 3042 CRACK.

    Leonel separated his soul from his body. Right now, he couldn''t trust his mind, not in the state that it was in. It was more taxing to rely on the soul alone without fleshly support, but it would have to be enough.

    His soul had likewise aged like milk, but its robustness was still beyond that of his body despite having lost its core.

    Leonel finally began to bring out the materials that he had prepared. But what was shocking was the fact that not a single one of them was designed to heal. It was as though he was planning on throwing his body away completely...

    But although Nilrem had called him crazy, both of them decided that this was the only right path. Everything else was meaningless. Only if this succeeded would this be an appropriate path.

    According to Nilrem, there could only be a 20% chance of success... However, Leonel had never acted with anything less than 100% assurance. If he didn''t, how could he ever have left his wife with-child? Why would he do such a thing just to come here to die?

    He would succeed. He wouldn''t allow even the reaper itself to stop him. Even if a Death God descended to take his body away, he would pierce its brows with his spear.

    A trembling might came off of Leonel''s frail body. It looked as though he had lost much of his strength, and yet the sound of sharpening blades and whistling arrows echoed across the space. It sounded as though his Weapon Forces were stronger than they had ever been, despite the fact he couldn''t comprehend in this space at all.

    Leonel''s plan was simple.

    Weapon Forces were constructed of the most foundational laws in all of existence. Things like sharpness, swiftness, heaviness... these simple Forces were often neglected, but it was they that came together to form the Weapon Forces that so many humanoids used.

    These small laws were everywhere.

    Unlike other Forces, Weapon Forces didn''t come from within one''s body most of the time. Instead, it was a push of intention that caused those many smaller laws and Forces to come together to form these Weapon Forces in real time. Essentially, using Weapon Forces of any kind was almost always an external endeavor.

    He didn''t flinch in the slightest, but what happened next was even more shocking.

    CRACK.

    He shattered it. Some mysterious power erupted, and his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node practically crumbled to pieces.

    But that still wasn''t the end of it.

    At the very same time, his Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes manifested as well.

    CRACK.

    It shattered to pieces at the same time.

    Emulation Spatial Force... it had been by Leonel''s side for a long while. To Leonel, it had been known as an inferior Infinity Force all the while; it had potential, but it wasn''t good enough.

    Scarlet Star Force... it was one of the most powerful Forces in all of existence, but it was still one that could be trumped and superseded.

    The shattered remnants of his Innate Nodes fluttered in the grey space, finally giving it the smallest hints of color as the hidden runes within began to move about in a pleasing rhythm.

    One was the little brother to the strongest Force in all of existence, the other was such a strong Creation Force that it became known for its Destruction...

    And now Leonel would use them to create something new.

 Chapter 3043 Condense

    Chapter 3043 Condense

    There had never been a Weapon Force Innate Node before, but Leonel didn''t just want to simply create one; he wanted his entire foundation to be rebuilt with his Weapon Forces as the core.

    Even if he lost his strong Dream Force, even if his body was broken and shattered, even if his soul was ripped out of his body, he wanted to have access and control over his Weapon Forces.

    No matter the situation, no matter the circumstances, he wanted to have the utmost control... control that no one could take from him.

    This wasn''t just a process of creating a new Innate Node; it was a process of making his Weapon Forces so synonymous with himself that even his Ability Index could control them as freely as he did his own body.

    This was why he had put his body through so much torture. Right now, it was unlikely for anyone to be able to easily tell where his body stopped and his Weapon Forces began. Even his tears had become shimmering blades, let alone the rest of him.

    His Weapon Forces had infiltrated his cells, learning how to coexist with them on an individual level. In fact, in that way, it could almost be said that not only was he creating an Innate Node and mutating his Ability Index, but with the changes to his body, he was building a new Lineage Factor as well.

    This sort of blurred line between constitutions and where they originated from was exactly what Leonel was missing now. It was precisely this core and foundation of his very being that he needed to rebuild.

    In the past, it had been his Dream Asura Bloodline, it was just that he hadn''t been aware of it. It was what allowed all of his skills to consolidate and build up, maybe the greatest talent to be born in all of existence.

    Even when he did realize that this was its role in his body, he had been entirely unwilling to use it because he knew that it was the machinations of that woman at play.

    But now, things had changed. This time, he would be building his own foundational core. And though it wouldn''t be nearly as strong as the core that the Demoness had managed to build after countless generations of planning on top of the destruction of more lives than he could count...

    His Weapon Forces were so ubiquitous in his body now that his Ability Index could already control them as though they were an extension of his body. It wasn''t yet perfect... but that was what the remainder of his plan would be.

    "Condense."

    King Alexandre''s Ability Index thrummed, and Leonel''s command took hold of the laws in this space.

    The six Sovereignties were compressed, and then compressed again, being forced together into a condensed space.

    They shrank down, bringing the Runes from his Innate Nodes with them. If at the start, they were like miniature exploded supernovae, right now they were trying to return to their usual size, forming two perfect Innate Nodes.

    Things seemed to be going smoothly until Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood.

    The backlash was sudden and forceful, so much so that Leonel, who had planned everything out, wasn''t ready for it.

    His Weapon Forces were even more unruly than he thought they would be, and they had already begun rampaging around. At the same time, his body was too weak...

    It seemed that that was the main problem. The plan would work if he was in top condition, but if he was in top condition, he wouldn''t have been able to initiate things at all.

    Even if he had brought healing treasures with him, that would have only reset all his progress. He needed his body to be in this state, and healing treasures would just expel what they thought were foreign from his body. That would have made him lose an entire near-century of work; how could he do that?

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood again, but this time, it came out in a way he had never seen before.

    There were chunks of black as though he had just vomited instead, and as though that wasn''t enough, the back end of his cough came out as a fog of crimson. His blood had actually evaporated.

 Chapter 3044 DUDOOM.

    Chapter 3044 DUDOOM.

    The pain that Leonel had experienced in the last few decades had dulled considerably. His nerves were so fried that it was hard even to carry pain signals back to his brain.

    However, right now, it seemed that he had returned to his first few years here. That much would have still been fine... if it wasn''t for the fact that his body was in far worse condition than it had been back then.

    Even so, the light of almost madness in Leonel''s eyes didn''t fade.

    He had lost count of the number of times these same memories had flashed in his head. Every time he wanted to give in, to give up...

    But he also realized that what he was trying to do right now couldn''t be accomplished with determination alone. It just... wasn''t enough.

    A malevolent light flickered in Leonel''s eyes. He didn''t know if it was an illusion or a trick of the mind, but he could see a fluttering black robe suddenly appear before him.

    The robe was riddled with holes, and when he craned his neck, he could see a bony skeletal hand holding a scythe to his neck.

    Those empty eye sockets looked down at him, as though waiting patiently for those last few seconds to finally tick by.

    Leonel''s gaze spat fire at this figure. He clenched his mouth shut tightly, but the same crimson fog began coming from his nostrils.

    His body was giving up on him. He had put it through too much, and the fact that it had lasted this long was already a miracle in and of itself. He simply couldn''t take much more.

    Bloody fog began to emit from Leonel''s eyes, but veins didn''t even pop across his body like they should. His body simply wasn''t hydrated enough... or more accurately, no matter how much water he drank, his body simply didn''t have the capacity to absorb it.

    Leonel could feel his life wavering like a flickering candle. He weakly pulled an arm up to push the reaper''s scythe away, but he passed through air, falling to the side.

    Sparse, dry, white hair fell before his vision, but he couldn''t even see it with his blind, murky eyes. This was the first time he had laid down in decades, and he simply wasn''t sure if he had it in himself to get up.

    ''I do...'' His thoughts were far stronger than his body.

    Now, these two kernels were exactly in that state, waiting to be regrown. But it would only work if they were given the perfect environment... and after these decades of pain, Leonel''s body was precisely in that perfect state.

    He weakly inhaled, still feeling like his body was about to collapse into a pile of ash. Then, the resources he had brought began to be inhaled by him one after another.

    His organs began to explode; several pieces of his body lost what flesh they had remaining, revealing the cracked bones beneath, but he continued to hold on.

    Resource after resource flew into his body, or... what was left of it.

    He was forced to use his Destruction and Creation Sovereignties to grind them down and then force them into his body.

    At that moment, the strands of Spear and Bow Force that littered his body began to truly become one with him. Under the influence of the Innate Node seeds, it was like they had found a law of movement.

    DUDOOM. DUDOOM. Leonel''s heart suddenly began to beat.

    His two Innate Node seeds traveled through his body, following through his veins, through the remnants of his organs, until they suddenly met at his heart and clashed.

    The first clash echoed with the first heartbeat before they separated and began to roam through his body again, through his brain, his nervous system, even his Ethereal Glabella.

    DUDOOM. DUDOOM. They clashed again before separating.

    This time, they roamed deeper, entering the Dream Plane, then the Destruction World, and even soaring through his Inner World.

    DUDOOM. DUDOOM. BOOM! This time, they stuck together forcefully, and Leonel''s entire chest exploded. He lay there blankly, his cracked lips slowly parting.

    "Anas... tasia..."

    He spoke softly as his eyes dimmed.

    He managed to speak out these words... but how many months would pass before the time dilation was broken?Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com

 Chapter 3045 Together

    Chapter 3045 Together

    Discover new chapters at novelhall.com

    Leonel''s body lay there, his chest cavity blasted open and his gaze vacant. It looked like he had completely died and was left with nothing more than a husk. However, deep within his Ethereal Glabella, there was a change occurring. His Mage Core had been completely overhauled. After Leonel died and his mother was forced to resurrect him with her own life as an exchange, there were many things that he had to give up. His Incomplete Worlds remained because they weren''t technically physically tethered to his body but were rather in the separate Destruction World that he and his father had created. Logically, if there was another Destruction Sovereign and they too comprehended how to use a Destruction World, they would be able to connect with Leonel''s Destruction World much like all Shadow Sovereigns were connected. This was all to say that, at least for this foundational method, Leonel was able to reconnect and re-establish his dominance over them and his Stars quite easily. The only thing he was lacking was a strong enough foundation and body to commune with them, as he had pretty much lost everything he had done to prepare for the use of [Final Destruction]. When it came to things like his Mage Core, however, they were gone. To make matters worse, his tree-shaped Mage Core had been created by his enlightened self, and he didn''t have nearly the mental capacity now that was necessary to reconstruct it in the same way. Luckily... he had no desire to do so. Ever since he learned that the way of the Human Race was to take advantage of their fused soul, Leonel had been thinking about it. He never acted on these thoughts because his father''s technique required their separation, and he would obviously follow the path his father had laid out for him. But right now, he had actually gained a path toward doing both. The Weapon Force Innate Nodes that he was creating would be the first of their kind, so why not create an Ethereal Glabella that was also the first of its kind? SHIIIIING! SHIIIIING! SHIIIIIING! Blade auras began to whistle about. They cut the air apart as though they were as tangible as stone and as fragile as paper. And then a beautiful scene began to take place. The golden blade lights organized themselves into a coordinated dance. At first, this dance didn''t seem to have a purpose, but then a Natural Force Art began to flow. Leonel''s mental capacity was far too weak right now, he knew that. Once he completed his new foundation and began to use his Weapon Forces to bring together and control his Dream Force talents under a single umbrella, it would get better, but it still wouldn''t be as excellent as his true peak, the peak that only the schemes of the Demoness had allowed him to reach. However, right now, they didn''t need to be. He had spent almost an entire century entirely immersed in the pain of his Weapon Forces. Comprehending outside Forces was impossible in a Time dilation, but that didn''t mean that he couldn''t further comprehend himself and what he stood for. He understood his Weapon Forces so clearly and utterly now that they were truly no different from an extension of himself... that was the entire purpose of the pain that he had experienced. Right now, even his individual cells were bursting with the golden Sovereignty. And now, as he completed the Spear Dance and Bow Dance he had formed so many times before, it was so much more fluid, so much more sharp... The golden blade lights began to form gorgeous lotuses in the air, the others formed fluttering butterflies and soaring birds, while the last few formed an endless golden lake. Soon, they began to be tinted by a touch of violet. It was only a hint, but the contrast between the pale lavender color and the gold made the entire scene feel not only just beautiful but also regal and holy. DUDOOM! FOOOOOM! There was a heart-stopping echo and then the rushing formation of a vacuum. A gorgeous violet-gold Force Art took shape in the bottom of the violet-gold sea, and then another one took shape high in the skies. They formed a vacuum between one another and then a tree almost exploded into existence. It looked like an ancient cherry blossom, but this time its blossoms weren''t cherry or pink at all. Instead, they were the very same golden-violet color. When this took shape, everything in the world fell into silence. The Weapon Force... it was a unique Force that could only be convened with form the outside world. It took shape based on the will of the soul and appeared only when it was needed most. Leonel could see the obvious cycle more clearly now than maybe ever before... The human soul was locked within the body and formed an anchor through the Dimensions. While many took it as a weakness, the technique that Leonel had scanned through several times over made him realize that it was actually a great strength as well. So what would happen now that a Weapon Force that was meant to only find its roots in the outside was suddenly rooted into the body instead? What would happen if that same Weapon Force was following a unique Sovereignty that was the representation of its owner''s core being? That was the crux of Leonel''s path forward. His soul would remain separated from his body, as that was what was necessary for his father''s magnum opus to shock the world. However... His Weapon Forces, their Sovereignties, and the new foundation of his talent would be rooted into his body, taking the place of the soul that no longer was. And together, they would form a cycle not much unlike his Creation and Destruction Sovereignties. His soul had once been rooted in his body and was no longer. His Weapon Forces had once been rooted in the universe and were no longer. And together...

 Chapter 3046 Back

    Chapter 3046 Back

    Upstodatee from n(0)/ve/lbIn/.(co/m

    DUDOOM! The perfect balance was struck, and right then, the carcass that seemed to encompass what remained of Leonel suddenly convulsed. A spurt of blood shot out in all directions, but it was clear at a glance that this blood was only of the most foul sort. Blood continued to be pushed and rushed out of Leonel''s body, but every time this happened, his dull expression became ruddier, fuller, more healthy. Runes began to swirl about, and it was then that the two seeds appeared once more. Rather than taking shape in Leonel''s kidneys like before, they took root in where his heart had once been. It was then that the resources Leonel had swallowed finally began to play their largest role. They rolled in from the surroundings, being poured into Leonel''s body one step after another. Leonel should have been overwhelmed; he should have been crushed beneath the might of all the energy that he was consuming. But with every DUDOOM! It felt as though his slowly forming heart was taking all the volatile energy, shredding it apart into its simplest laws, and then sending it spiraling toward the rest of his weak body. When these resources ran into his cells, the blade forces within would shred them apart even further, then take some for themselves before distributing it to the rest of the cell. This process was recycled again and again, and there didn''t seem to be an ounce of energy being wasted. With every heartbeat, his body seemed to begin to reanimate itself. And that was when it happened. It was maybe the largest Innate Node that had ever taken shape in the world. It was the size of two fists and it appeared right in the middle of Leonel''s chest. But as though that wasn''t enough... it began to spread out veins and arteries, even replacing Leonel''s Nodal Pathways with a network of runes. It shimmered with a beautiful golden-violet color as it continued to greedily suck up the resources in the surroundings. DUDOOM! DUDOOM! DUDOOM! This time, every time a heartbeat shook the world, Spear and Bow Force would casually manifest as though hearing the call of their master. Sometimes this Spear and Bow Force would have a slight tinge of red, destroying everything in its path. Sometimes it would be gold then red, leaving beautiful trails in its wake that healed the world. Sometimes it would have a slightly silver-black tinge, causing space to react unpredictably, and sometimes it would have a violet hue that lorded over all the rest. These different Weapon Forces had characteristics that shouldn''t be natural at all. They didn''t even seem like just Spear Force or Bow Force any longer, but four completely new and different types of Forces. This was the difference between a Weapon Force gathered from the surroundings and one that was curated by your very own self. Leonel''s body convulsed once again and two braces appeared on his arm. His cells shimmered, and then thin points of light began to manifest from them. These points of light formed a shield of skin that covered Leonel. It seemed to want to do more, but there was no one directing it. As it slowly faded away, Leonel''s eyes suddenly regained their light with a sharp pulse of their own. His pale-violet eyes had gained a ring of dark gold within them. He took his first breath and the time-dilated world around him almost collapsed. SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! SHIIING! Just Leonel''s gaze alone shredded apart space. It was as though he had casually created one of the world''s strongest ocular techniques, and yet it was just a byproduct of his new body. Leonel had used the foundation his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor had left behind and overhauled it, twisting and turning it until it could learn to use his Weapon Forces as the new foundation for his strength. However, he didn''t lose the characteristics of his Morales Lineage Factor either. He could still reforge his Metal Body and Divine Armor in the future, and that was because, as was seen earlier, his Weapon Forces had gained the ability to fuse with and assimilate new Forces with ease. This had been possible in the past. Leonel had once fused his Scarlet Star Force and Spear Force before. That was a foundation that the Spear Domain Lineage Factor allowed him. Well, that and his grandfather''s teachings. But now it wasn''t a simple fusion, nor did it need him to put in nearly as much effort as he would have in the past. The reason fusion was so easy in the past was counterintuitively because his Force Manipulation was so weak. The less of the Force''s true self he understood, the easier it was to force them to weaken and combine. But now, he wasn''t just fusing... he was creating. And destroying. DUDOOM! The last of Leonel''s chest finally closed up and he stood slowly. His height wasn''t as overbearing as it had been in the past. He had gone from a man that was almost 6''10" to a man that stood at "only" 6''6", but he felt good. That additional height had surely come from his Demon side as they tended to be quite large. Many of them were even four or five meters tall, which was also why he grew so much in his enlightened form. But now, he was completely and 100% human... And he had never felt better. Leonel unleashed a roar just as the time dilation field dispersed. It had been months since he called for Anastasia, but that was fine. He had calculated it precisely for this moment. A cyclone of Weapon Forces rose into the air and his individual cells shone with a golden light. When his pores opened up and tiny strands of violet-gold Force manifested from them to form a skin, it looked as though small blades were swimming across his body. The ring of gold in his pale violet eyes shone with the brightness of a star and his blood surged. He was back.

 Chapter 3047 Cunts

    Chapter 3047 Cunts

    Leonel clenched his fists and his eyes practically pierced the clouds above. He exhaled slowly, tears that were threatening to form being sliced into countless pieces before they could even take shape. At that moment, his brothers appeared. He didn''t even get a chance to react before he was dogpiled. "Shit!" "FUCK!" "WHAT THE HELL!" The lot of them were all riddled with holes. If Leonel didn''t pull back at the last moment, they really would have been completely skewered through. This new Spear-Bow Body of his was deadly not just in defense, but it was an offensive constitution the likes of which had rarely been seen. Leonel smiled. "That''s what all you bastards deserve. What if I had been in the middle of a crucial breakthrough?" "Fuck your breakthrough, I want reparations. Oh my god, my handsome face!" James, who had been among the first to pounce, was stuck closest to Leonel and couldn''t pull away even if he wanted to. The laughter echoed, and they all seemed to be relieved that Leonel wasn''t in the same state he had been after his father died. Even if he wasn''t laughing and joking now, just his roar from earlier was enough to make that clear. "You guys need to be more mature. Don''t you know you''re going to be uncles soon?" "Huh?" "What?!" "When''d this happen?!" The reaction was fiercer than what Leonel expected, and he was hounded with questions. "Fuck me, and here I thought you have bullets hidden down there." Milan clicked his tongue. "Turns out it''s all Aina. You better not be shooting blanks, Cap, or else it''ll be obvious which of you is the problem." Leonel''s lip twitched. What happened to the camaraderie? How did he end up being attacked like this? He ended up changing the topic and asking them about the battle. He knew that they wouldn''t let Aina fight on her own, so since they had all been in the Segmented Cube, he knew that they must have been fighting the Four Great Families as well. "They''re fucking cunts. Do you know how they escaped?" James asked. Leonel''s gaze flickered. Now that he thought about it, Aina had taken the Brazinger family''s Heirloom, and Nana should have succeeded in taking the Adurna family''s Heirloom; his enlightened self had certainly ensured that that happened. All things considered, the Four Great Families should have been significantly weakened without these two treasures, and his gramps should have been on the edge of being absolutely furious with his mother''s death. If the Fawkes saw their enemies right before them, what were the odds that they''d just let them go? Of course, it was possible that the price to pay was too high, but that didn''t make logical sense to Leonel either. That was because if the Fawkes dared to return to the God Realm, how could they fear the Four Great Families who had also been forced to go into hiding? That said, the Four Great Families did also dare to return as well. So it was possible that they had shored up their strength much like the Fawkes had. All things considered, Leonel still felt that it was impossible for Gervaise to let them leave without facing any harm, especially after they lost two powerful Heirlooms. Leonel was once again assured in his deductive abilities because his mind had not only returned to the state it had been without his Dream Asura Bloodline activated, it was even marginally better now. All he had needed was a foundation to rely upon, and this was almost as good as any. Although he was still leagues away from his enlightened self, the fact that he was already better than him with his Asura blood suppressed said loads about how much potential his Path had. Right now, his Weapon Forces had only barely entered the Creation State. As they improved, this foundation of his would only grow better and the potential he could pull out from the rest of his body would only improve. Of course, without his Dream Asura Bloodline, he would still be missing a pillar that had made his Dream Force so powerful to begin with... But Leonel was already considering these matters seriously. ''One step at a time.'' "Those bastards," James gritted his teeth. "They''re so completely and utterly shameless. They relied on the Void Race." "The Void Race?" This answer surprised Leonel. He listened intently and finally understood the rest of the situation. It seemed that the Four Great Families had shackled up with the Void Race somehow. From James'' words, Leonel''s speculation was that they had always been together. ''Maybe...'' Sparks of lightning flew through Leonel''s eyes. It seemed that the realization of his Dreamscape was even more violent now. His eyes were like a window into his Ethereal Glabella, and his Ethereal Glabella was where his soul resided. Now, his Ability Index had become so powerful that it was beginning to affect the outside world even though it wasn''t designed to do this at all. He had just realized something profound. It was highly likely that the Void Race was part of these plots and schemes that had been going on in the background. The only reason they hadn''t appeared in full force was because their role was different. There was a reason the Pluto Race or many others hadn''t appeared for such an important matter. The Void Race was definitely tipping the scales. Ironically, the Void Race had lost along with the Primordial Terror and the real winner in the end was the Demoness... However, according to his brothers, she had vanished from Existence as though she never existed, and there was simply no one capable of finding her or understanding what her intentions for all of this were. All everyone knew was that Existence didn''t have many years left, and the Void Race was forced to pick a side or be the public enemy of everyone. To everyone''s surprise, they began to flex a level of strength they shouldn''t have had. Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

 Chapter 3048 Weak

    Chapter 3048 Weak

    Leonel left the Segmented Cube to find Aina laying in bed with her palms over her belly, lost in thought. Leonel''s sudden appearance startled her for a bit, but then she smiled. It was a sweet smile, almost careless in its formation, but deep and filled with love nonetheless. It left Leonel in a daze for a long moment. The way her hair spilled out onto the bed beneath her, the rosiness of her cheeks, the redness of her lips... even the way her nose scrunched up as though she was trying to tease him a bit with that smile of hers, as though she was well aware of just how beautiful she was. Leonel didn''t know what to say, and he was at a complete loss for words. It was Aina who spoke first as though she knew he was stunned. "You''ve gotten shorter." Leonel blinked. "What? You want to divorce me now? Ai, the heart of a woman is so cruel." Aina giggled. "Have you decided?" Leonel asked, his meaning clear as he looked at her hand-covered belly. "It''s a surprise!" Aina said with a brighter smile. She hadn''t even truly become a mother yet, but she was so bright-eyed and happy that Leonel almost melted all over again. At the same time, he was kicking himself for withholding her from such a right for so long. Just seeing this smile made whatever hardships came later more than worth it. "Okay, keep your little secrets, then." Leonel chuckled and sat by her side, placing a much larger hand over hers. The two sat in silent peace, feeling one another''s warmth. Leonel slowly traced his thumb over Aina''s ring finger, feeling the burnt marks left behind by his soul brand. Even now, he couldn''t quite figure out how he could fix this... But he had an idea. As for the baby in his wife''s belly, it didn''t matter to him. Boy or girl, it wouldn''t make a difference so long as it was healthy and his wife was happy. "How long do you think?" Leonel asked. Under normal circumstances, it should take nine months; they were human after all. But the problem was that the two had long mutated away from normal humans. Aina''s talent spoke for itself. As for Leonel, although he had seemed completely weak and fragile, other than his Dream Asura Bloodline, his seed should have carried everything else. In truth, he wasn''t even 100% certain if his entire Dream Asura Bloodline was gone. After all, just logically speaking, his bone marrow hadn''t been dug out and his genes hadn''t been altered. Just because Leonel couldn''t sense it anymore didn''t mean that it wasn''t buried deep within him in some shape or form. Even though his own bloodlines had been without a foundation, with Aina handpicking the perfect embryo to use, this obviously wouldn''t be a problem. This was why Leonel didn''t care whether Aina became pregnant before or after his transformation. Either way, what mutations were caused by their union would supersede anything regardless. Plus, what Leonel had done to himself was more like a technique than a change to his talent. If his children wanted to follow this path, he would easily be able to help them do so. His only role right now was to grow stronger. To grow strong to the point Aina could have all the children she wanted and it would change absolutely nothing. "I could speed it up... but I don''t think that''s best," Aina said softly. "Depending on the situation, two or three years, I think, is a good time." Leonel nodded. That wasn''t a long time at all, not with the current span of their lives. "If you need any resources, let me know. I will get them all for youбк." Leonel''s gaze suddenly sharpened and he pressed a foot down on his living quarters. BOOM! The structure began to sway and shake, but Leonel had not only activated the protective formations, he bolstered them in the blink of an eye. Leonel Morales was back. All the Force Arts in the world were practically playdough in his hands. "Stay here." Leonel said softly. Aina was already trying to get up, but she could only pout when he spoke. However, her pout vanished when she could feel the life growing in her belly. Other mothers would need at least a baby bump before they could feel something, but Aina could practically feel every cell''s movement. Although she still liked to fight, that was voided by her will to be a mother ten times over. She didn''t even mind it and had already forgotten the commotion. Her husband could handle it. ... Leonel walked out slowly. He looked up to find a dome of swirling runes above his head. Beyond this dome, there was a woman with long green hair that flapped about wildly in the wind. She was unlikely to be a Fawkes and had likely married into the family from one of the powerful emerging bloodlines of Earth. Earth had always been exceptionally talented, so with so many years of growth, many such lineages were bound to awaken. Not only that, but the Sparks that lit their Lineage Factors were very likely to still be alive as well. "RETURN MY SON TO ME!" Her screech caused a violent uprising of Force in the region. But it suddenly froze when Leonel appeared before her. At some unknown time, he had pressed five fingers to her chest, looking down on her indifferently. The green-haired woman froze in place. Didn''t they say that Leonel was impossibly weak now? Even if he wasn''t, wasn''t he only in the Sixth Dimension? How... How could he be so strong? BANG! The woman was sent flying. "Weak." Leonel said lightly. These people were so sheltered, living lives of leisure while plotting the downfall of others. He didn''t believe that his grandfather was so incompetent as to raise a family of complete fools. He knew Gervaise''s tactics, and it was definitely almost a certainty that he had fabricated enemies for them even when there were none, forcing them to be tempered through blood and fire. If not, how could they stand tall here? But it was also clear... that there were many among them that had managed to escape this fate. She came here to flex her muscle... and yet couldn''t withstand a single strike. At that moment, several powerful auras descended from the surroundings as Leonel''s pale violet hair danced in the wind. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com

 Chapter 3049 Bear

    Chapter 3049 Bear

    Leonel stood tall in the skies.

    He had been particularly heavy-handed against this woman, and it wasn''t just because of her words or who her son was.

    Just now, she had attacked with the intent to blow everything apart, without a care for who was inside, or how many of them she killed in her tirade. In fact, she was probably hoping that she would kill several people.

    Even if it was just Ailsa alone, Leonel would have already been furious to an extreme. But now that she had a baby in her belly, this woman had just tried to wipe out his entire family in a single strike.

    What did she deserve if not a heavy hand? In fact...

    Leonel raised his hand again, his eyes glowing with a deadly light. Then, he lightly drew a finger across the air.

    Die.

    "Milady! WATCH OUT!"

    A guard rushed out to block, but that was when something completely astonishing happened.

    Their sword had blade-blocked the scythe of Spear Force when he froze. His body convulsed and then he erupted into a rain of blood and gore.

    The spray of crimson liquids and meat landed all over the lady, and her face was stricken with horror.

    Leonel stood indifferently in the skies, ready to draw another scythe.

    The bridge between his Weapon Forces and his Ability Index wasn''t a normal one. Allowing his Control Ability Index to wield his Weapon Forces like an extension of his body was already shocking enough, but it wasn''t just his Control Ability Index that got the boost.

    The bridge between the tangible and intangible, the opposite sides of his Ability Index and King Alexandre''s, had allowed Leonel to gain even greater control over the latter Ability Index as well.

    The first explanation was that it was a personality problem. She had the talent and bloodline, but not the work ethic to do much with it. Still, she was good enough to pump out children from time to time.

    The second explanation was that she had a background of sorts that would only help the Third Imperial Prince to solidify his standing in the family.

    Leonel, though, was less interested in this and far more interested in who was trying to pluck strings behind the scenes. That was because he had a feeling that it was all three.

    With a single move, they could probe him, pull him into a trap, and get rid of the woman they didn''t like.

    Leonel''s sneer was clear and wide, his disdain practically becoming tangible.

    He just... didn''t care.

    Die.

    The scythe he was drawing finished at the same time all his deductions concluded.

    The guards tried to block the attack again, cold sweat matting their backs as they stood on the flesh of their companion.

    But the spear light just flickered and vanished. They didn''t even have the time to react before the head of their mistress was sent flying into the air.

    There was no quarter to be had here. He hadn''t hesitated to kill his own cousins, let alone this woman he had no blood relation to at all.

    There was only one path for those that stood in his way now.

    His heart wasn''t as dark as it had been after his father''s death. In fact, it was clearer than crystal and shimmered brighter than stars.

    He drew a clear line of what was right and wrong by his own standards and no one else''s.

    With one breath, he would protect the life of the masses and put his heart on the line for them.

    In another, those that crossed him would bear his wrath.

 Chapter 3050 Legion and Grand Prime Minister

    Chapter 3050 Legion and Grand Prime Minister

    No one knew what to do.

    Nilrem was right. This was the first time something like this had happened in the Fawkes family. There had always been a push and pull of dark and light, but no one dared to break the bottom line.

    But even if they hadn''t personally seen Leonel kill them, after he killed one of their mothers with such careless disregard, how could they not just make the assumption that he had killed the three others as well?

    Only a child would fall for "Nilrem''s" confession, and it seemed like Leonel clearly didn''t care if they believed it or not.

    He seemed to be showing them that there was a door he was willing to open and walk through that they were not.

    He was not a cripple, not someone they could just trample over; he was a Morales. And they all happened to be madmen.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    High in the skies, a legion of golden-armored guards appeared. These ones, Leonel recognized. That was because they were the same bastards that had always given him a headache every time he visited the Ascension Palace.

    They were the guards that had been guarding the stairs and the entrance, and now, it seemed that they were no longer hiding their true power... or their true numbers.

    Their head captain began to speak about a whole bunch of political jargon that Leonel couldn''t be bothered to pay close attention to.

    The "too long; didn''t read" was that he had violated laws of the Empire and was under arrest pending the start of a trial.

    Leonel ignored it all and walked back into his house.

    "Go find someone else''s time to waste," he said with his back facing them. "You have one of two choices. Fight or scram. If you want to hold a court proceeding, we can do that, but I''m not going to be detained and wait for your chain of bureaucracy to kick in."

    Click.

    In the end, they sighed. They were supposed to be cold arbitrators of justice. But even for these hardened men and women, they had watched Leonel grow up with their own eyes... from a young man arguing with his grandfather about killing too many people, to the young man who practically conquered the whole Dimensional Verse before his grandfather took him away.

    Just as they were about to take action, though... another aura descended.

    This one made even the legion reserved.

    He was a man wearing a judge''s garb. Black robes were layered with a heavy stole embroidered by gold and founded by its emerald green color.

    This man was not only one of the most powerful existences in the Empire, but his position was truly shocking as well.

    Grand Prime Minister. More accurately, he was Grand Prime Minister Dove, someone who was just as familiar with Leonel''s feats as compared to everyone else.

    "We will hold the court proceedings here in three days'' time. Everyone disperse."

    The eyes of the spectators went wide.

    This sort of favoritism... wasn''t it too blatant?

    The legion didn''t hesitate. With a bow, they vanished.

    Grand Prime Minister Dove cast a complicated glance toward the home. Was it really possible for Leonel to return to his former glory? Or had their Ascension Empire truly lost two geniuses instead of just one?

    He was about to leave when his gaze flickered again. He looked at the formation that covered the home and his frown deepened until a sudden smile appeared in the depths of his eyes.

    It seemed that even if Leonel''s talent was gone, there was one that still remained.

    Crafting.

    The Fawkes had some of the best Crafters in existence right now. He wondered if Leonel would be able to make a name for himself amongst them. If he could do that, maybe they wouldn''t have anything to worry about after all...

 Chapter 3051 Disdain

    Chapter 3051 Disdain

    "Is everything alright?" Aina asked with a tinge of worry.

    Leonel grinned. "It''s just fine."

    "Are you sure?"

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh. Aina wouldn''t usually be worried about such trivial things. It seemed that she was starting to see the world differently already.

    "Okay, I promise to let you come with me from now on. So long as you stay a step behind, of course."

    Aina rolled her eyes. "What is this, the 1900s?"

    "I seem to remember someone quite liked pretending it was the 1900s in bed."

    Aina looked aghast. "Not with the baby listening!"

    Leonel was left speechless before he erupted into another fit of laughter. The baby didn''t even have ears yet, let alone comprehend language.

    Given that Aina was taking the slow route with them, they would take even longer to develop. It probably wouldn''t be until two years later that there was an even visible baby bump on Aina.

    But maybe this was the crucible all fathers must go through. It seemed that enjoying his wife would be a struggle from now on.

    "Don''t worry, we''ll get the baby little ear muffs. The little guy won''t hear anything, I promise."

    Aina sputtered as though thinking of her wearing ear muffs on her belly all the time.

    "Tsk, what do you take me for?" Leonel asked, practically reading her thoughts. "Only the best for my baby."

    He pointed a finger and then lightly touched Aina''s belly. At that moment, her entire uterus was surrounded by a soundproof barrier of Force Arts. In fact, he made three layers.

    "Hm... Let''s go in here for a second."

    On the way, Aina had been telling Leonel a lot about her army and the situation on the battlefield. Obviously, for Leonel, this was his next stop. But he still had to prepare some other things first.

    First, he wasn''t yet happy with his current combat strength. He was only taking a small break because he had quite literally just tortured himself for almost a century.

    If he wanted to complete it, he would need to first build a new Divine Armor, rebuild his Weapon-Metal Body, and likely form at least one Dharma.

    He had already cleaned out the treasure stores of the Fawkes once already. As willful as he was, he knew that Gervaise wouldn''t allow him to do this continuously.

    The reason he could play this political game with ease was because he knew how to take advantage of the rules, and he also knew when not to push his luck.

    What had happened today and how things had ended were well within his expectations, but he could only ride on his olden days glory for so long before that rope ran out.

    Leonel looked down at his wrist to find an impossibly small band of silver resting there. It was dormant and didn''t seem to have the capability to awaken.

    He would do something first... and then he would clear out the treasure stores of the Fawkes for a second time.

    That was true capitalism.

    Leonel laughed to himself as Aina gave him a weird look. This husband of hers was about to cause some trouble again, wasn''t he?

    The building they entered looked like an ancient academy. It felt like the cross between a castle and a prestigious college.

    It was the Crafting Guild of the Fawkes, and there were already a large number of orders moving in and out as the Fawkes were no doubt rushing to embed themselves into the businesses of the God Realm.

    Since the God Realm had expanded now to include even the Demi-God Realms, this was actually much easier than it sounded.

    Leonel gained several frowns as he entered as it was clear and obvious that not everyone knew his face all that well, but those that tried to stop him were unceremoniously kicked away until he eventually made it to a basement pulsing with heat.

    That was where Leonel''s nose wrinkled with disdain.

 Chapter 3052 Last Gift

    Chapter 3052 Last Gift

    There was a clear mass production line pumping out weapons at astonishing rates. It was clear that they had taken much of their inspiration from the industrial revolution of Earth and then transferred that power to Crafters to maximize their skill.

    If there was anything he would praise his grandfather for, it was for waiting, watching, and biding his time as Earth progressed along its own unique path.

    Gervaise didn''t act early to establish his Ascension Empire because that would ruin much of Earth''s personal potential. Instead, he only stepped in when the path of Earth was set, and even then, he remained mostly hands off.

    Thanks to this, the Ascension Empire had a beautiful mix of wider Existence methods, mixed in with evolution driven by Earth''s methods alone. This led to a mix of the two.

    However, this...

    ''Trash.''

    Truthfully, Leonel was being harsh. All things considered, these mass-produced items were very good.

    They were all at a God Realm standard. The Bronze Grade weapons here could shatter the Life Grade weapons of the former Dimensional Verse with a single touch, let alone a swing.

    However, to Leonel''s eye, they were too inferior.

    There was too much variation between them, the Runes were weakened on purpose for the sake of making mass production easier, and there were actually three Crafters working on a single weapon at a time.

    Of course, they also finished this weapon in just a few seconds. But this was still an unacceptable use of their time. Every second they spent here was a second less actively improving... because there was certainly no Crafter that would improve in a place like this.

    Leonel picked up a sword from a bin. Even though it had dimmed from its previous red glow, it was still scalding hot and should have melted his hand to ash. But he didn''t seem to notice at all.

    He looked at the Bronze Grade item for a moment and then flicked a finger.

    The last time he had used something like that was during the Heir Wars, which was a bit amusing considering how useful the ability was.

    However, Leonel had no intention of pawning his Segmented Cube off to the Fawkes for their own personal use. He would take a much different approach instead.

    He would create his own path forward.

    Leonel had already promised Anastasia that he would fix her weaknesses. He still wasn''t as skilled as the Minerva had been, but if he couldn''t even replicate a small bit of their strength now, he might as well end it all right now.

    Taking a breath, Leonel''s mind flickered with calculations. Then, his Dream Force suddenly began to manifest, projecting his Dream World into the outside world. It was an ability that only Savants should have had, but Leonel had actually broken through that barrier even though his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node was gone.

    This was, of course, because of the changes to his Ability Index... but these matters weren''t important for now.

    He scanned every inch of this place until he finally took out the last piece his mother had left behind for him.

    Leonel looked at the World Spirit in his hands with a complicated gaze.

    His mother was obviously the champion of Earth, so its World Spirit had always been in her hands.

    The World Spirit had chosen his mother when it was still immature and nothing but a bundle of instincts, so right now, it even took on her appearance.

    It slept soundly in his arms as though it was confident that nothing bad would ever happen to it as long as it was with him.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    The only reason he hadn''t just cut ties and left the Fawkes even after everything that had happened, even though he knew that he and his grandfather would likely never see eye to eye... was because of his mother.

    In that case, he would use her World Spirit in the best way possible...

    Elevating the Fawkes.

 Chapter 3053 Soar

    Chapter 3053 Soar

    Leonel''s sadness vanished as his gaze became sharp. He lightly pushed the little World Spirit into the air and then pressed his palms together.

    A strong flow of energy spread and then [Emperor''s Edict] began to appear one after another. The laws of the world were bent and twisted and soon it felt as though the entire factory had become a separate world in and of itself.

    At that moment, there were several powerhouses that sensed what was happening and came over. Their expressions changed, but they weren''t sure of what was happening, and if they interfered now, they could end up destroying their strongest World Spirit.

    The miniature Alienor yawned and awoke with a slightly confused look on her little face. She looked around, still not quite understanding. But when she saw Leonel, she smiled brightly as though she had found her home. At that moment, nothing else seemed to matter so long as Leonel was there. So she obediently stood in place, waiting for Leonel to finish.

    She was an intelligent little World Spirit, and though she couldn''t speak or emote like Anastasia could, she was smarter than probably most humanoids were. Understanding Leonel''s intentions wasn''t very difficult.

    "It''s time to wake up... Tolliver."

    **Bloop**

    It was weaker than Leonel remembered hearing it before, but it was the sound of Tolliver nonetheless. The little guy had been ravaged, having faced death not just once, but twice.

    Back then, Leonel had to store it away in his Ethereal Glabella the first time he "died" and relied on [Instant Recovery] to come back. And the second time was obviously when the Demoness had acted.

    But it was also just as obvious that Tolliver hadn''t quite recovered from their first bout of trouble. There were still some lingering effects that Leonel hadn''t been able to deal with before everything went down.

    Now, it was about time they fixed that situation. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

    BANG!

    The entire building exploded. And yet, not a single person was hurt.

    Everyone watched in shock and awe as the bricks, piping, and various inner fixtures of the building were taken apart as though they were Legos.

    What shocked them the most wasn''t even just Leonel having this ability, but the fact that he treated the Force Arts that protected this building as though they were papier-ma?che?. How much better than their experts did he have to be to do this?

    The building was one of the most important in the Fawkes Empire. It housed the greatest source of their wealth, or at least one of the two greatest sources. As such, it was heavily protected, so much so that normal Ninth Dimensional experts with Dharmas would take several moments before being able to take it down. Although they would eventually succeed, it would definitely take a few hits at the very least.

    But this very protective formation... was shredded apart as though it wasn''t even there.

    The world began to move in accordance with Leonel''s mind. He could feel every material down to the very last, and it was with this that he began to reconstruct everything.

    Those that had been in the building either left on their own or were carried out by a mysterious energy. Then, the only ones left were Leonel, Aina, the little World Spirit, and Tolliver.

    Force Arts began to be pressed into the skies as though written into reality itself. Leonel no longer needed a Force Quill as a medium to add permanence to his Force Arts because his mind was now capable of acting on reality itself. With the Mage Core on top of that, even with the alterations, it was like his blade was carving into the belly of Existence.

    The Crafters watched in shock and awe as Force Arts more complex than they could fathom appeared. They sank into individual bricks and even down to wood shavings. By the time they could analyze just a single one, hundreds more had appeared, leaving them feeling completely overwhelmed.

    Beads of sweat began to appear on Leonel''s brows. It was clear at a glance that he was straining himself a great deal, but his wife appeared by his side, dabbing his forehead dry with a beautiful smile on her face.

    Leonel''s heart thrummed and shook. His Creation Sovereignty rose into the air, a cycle of yin and yang forming as a heart-shuddering aura tore across the skies.

 Chapter 3054 Seven Orifices

    Chapter 3054 Seven Orifices

    CLIP. CLIP. CLIP.

    The sounds of the building coming back together echoed faster than their eyes could keep up with.

    The closer it got to completion, the more it seemed that Leonel hadn''t changed anything at all... but who could possibly believe such a thing?

    Just looking at the building, it felt like it was just a few dozen meters in front of them, and yet, somehow, it still felt a world away. Somehow they got the feeling that if Leonel didn''t want them to enter, either a powerhouse would have to take action, or they would be stuck outside for the rest of their lives.

    At that moment, the last roof shingle was pressed into place and a resonating hum filled the skies.

    Echoes of gold and violet spread, and though at first they were worried about being harmed by it, when it rushed by them, all they felt was an endless sense of comfort.

    Before anyone could react, Leonel walked out a bit pale-faced. Tolliver had formed an arm sleeve on his left hand once again, swirling with silvers and golds... and what seemed to be hints of violet. However, the little World Spirit was nowhere to be seen.

    At least it seemed until a wisp of something suddenly manifested on Leonel''s shoulder.

    The adorable little World Spirit looked just like what his mother might have looked like when she was far younger. Maybe even ten to eleven years old at best.

    It happily wobbled around, tugging on Leonel''s ears from time to time as though to point out something cool in the distance.

    Secretary Marquiesette Leo of the Leo family, a middle-aged woman with the charm of a prowling cougar and the edge of an enraged lioness, also bled from seven orifices, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and fainted.

    This event confused most people. It made sense for the Head of the Greens to end up in this state because he was a Crafter. But Secretary Marquiesette Leo was a Force Pill Crafter. Why did she have such a fierce reaction as well?

    Very quickly... the news as to why spread.

    The factory that Leonel had created wasn''t only capable of perfectly replicating any Craft he forged, but it was also capable of replicating any Force Pill Aina concocted as well.

    Secretary Marquiesette Leo and Grand Prime Minister Green had been working so closely together these last several years that countless rumors about a love affair spread far and wide. But in reality, they had been working on a method of taking these factory methods and replicating them with Force Pills as well.

    If the Fawkes family had a way of mass-producing weapons and pills, they would be able to stifle the market and take control of the reins... even if they mass-produced pills and weapons that were inferior.

    What no one expected was that Leonel would succeed in a single afternoon, and not only that... but the result of his process was akin to something they had never seen before in their lives.

    Leonel and Aina had only left the blueprints behind for simple weapons and the most ubiquitous Force Pills, and yet... they were better than even Force Pills and Force Weapons personally hand-crafted by the best Crafters of their family.

    This was especially so for the bows and spears that the factory produced. They were so amazing that many felt their hearts shudder at the thought of their enemies wielding such weapons. Could they really sell such things?

    But this wasn''t even close to the most amazing part... That was because the most shocking part of all of this was the fact that not a single human laborer was needed.

    Instead, the factory became almost like a university hall where Crafters jostled for position just to get a better look at their teacher''s lesson.

    This sort of uproar was able to pierce a hole through the veil of the skies.

 Chapter 3055 My Aina

    Chapter 3055 My Aina

    The uproar in the Fawkes family didn''t seem to have anything to do with Leonel at all. He had already gone back to his courtyard and was busy spending time with his wife.

    She insisted on keeping her secrets, so his Dream World became a hub for housing both girl and boy names. The very same Dream World that was practically a nightmare for his enemies became a useful dream projection for his wife to cross off names she didn''t like and add ones that she did.

    Leonel didn''t even get an input. Inside, he just sat smiling to the side as her beautiful face was scrunched up with seriousness.

    "None of these feel unique enough."

    "Oh god, no," Leonel said with a chuckle.

    "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "You don''t want to name our baby something stupid like ''X Marks the Spot,'' do you?"

    Aina sputtered. "What the hell are you talking about?"

    "Do you think we can count as celebrities now?" Leonel suddenly asked, seemingly changing the topic.

    "... I guess so?" Aina blinked, not quite understanding. They were certainly well-known enough. The only difference was that rather than being known for entertainment, they were known for other things like their talent and combat skill.

    Well, actually, Leonel might be known a little bit for his entertainment. She had seen his taunts toward the world and their powerhouses go viral more than once even though he didn''t seem to pay much attention to it.

    And technically, if she was going to add him, she counted as well, considering she was on several rankings for her beauty alone.

    When she looked at things that way, it was hard to say that they were anything other than celebrities... just in a different time.

    Leonel grinned. "I''ve heard celebrities catch this unavoidable disease."

    "Huh?"

    "It''s a disease where they name their kids ridiculously, scarring them for life."

    "Oh, that." Aina''s smile returned. "It''s not a big deal. My body strength comes from using my Blood Force as a vessel for a lot of Life Force. I''ve directed most of that to the baby now."

    Leonel stared at Aina seriously and then he nodded.

    Aina had already told him that she would likely be weak for a while, but he didn''t expect it to be this soon. He thought it would be much further down the line.

    It was only now that he realized that this wasn''t a matter of the pregnancy at all, but rather Aina''s personal choice. She could very well still tap into her greatest strength, but she didn''t want to because of the baby in her belly. She was already giving everything to it.

    Leonel stroked her hair gently, feeling somewhat bad for his earlier words.

    "Are you going soft on me?" Aina asked with a giggle.

    "You aren''t any other woman, you''re my Aina, my wife," Leonel replied. It was hard to see how this was a direct reply to her question, but in Leonel''s mind, he couldn''t have been more direct.

    He wrapped his arms around her. Aina was a bit stunned, but the look in her eyes quickly softened as she nestled her head into his embrace.

    "You don''t need to worry so much," Aina said softly. "I know you have a lot on your plate. You''re right, half the population can carry a baby, and I''m better equipped than 99% of them."

    Leonel didn''t respond, so Aina continued.

    "That said, I am your wife, so I will be taking my privileges as such. I will complain, and you will wait on me hand and foot."

    Leonel finally chuckled a bit. "Yes, ma''am."

    The two wasted the day away, and then the following days after that as well. They took their time enjoying one another''s company, and that of their friends.

    They only had one life to live, and there was no need to waste it away stressing about the world''s end every waking moment.

    A few thousand years was short in the span of Existence itself... but wasn''t it still incredibly long to them?

    Soon, though, the day of Leonel''s trial came.

    ---

 Chapter 3056 Farce

    Chapter 3056 Farce

    Leonel walked out of his courtyard casually on the day of to find that an enormous number of people had already gathered. Up in the skies, there were even three Grand Prime Ministers, two of which Leonel had some relation to, and one of which he had never seen before.

    These two were Grand Prime Ministers Green and Dove, while the last was an unknown man with a sharp, twirled mustache that somehow didn''t look comical on him. In fact, it suited him quite well.

    This man was Grand Prime Minister Ji, and he would be the third ruling over this court.

    Aside from these three, there were many more, including a group that was very clearly the family of the Third Imperial Prince. They were all wearing mourning attire, especially two women at the front dressed in black gowns who had gazes just as black for Leonel and Leonel alone. They looked as though they wanted to rip him to shreds.

    These two were likely the mothers of the other two he had killed. And it was likely that one of them had been the one to scheme against the one he had killed just three days ago. Upstodatee from

    ''Well, it''s also possible that it was someone else...'' Leonel thought as he scanned the rest of the family.

    Amongst those that he had initially ignored, there was a young woman who seemed to be giving off a great deal of pressure. It was surprising because her gaze of killing intent wasn''t the first that he had sensed from them, yet it was certainly the most intense.

    ''Interesting. Her ability to conceal herself is quite deep.''

    Unfortunately, it couldn''t escape Leonel.

    What Leonel didn''t know, though, was that this young woman was another cousin of his, a certain Little Princess Popsy.

    In reality, the reason she was the most furious was because she had lost both a mother and a brother to Leonel''s hands. And it was clear that unlike her mother or brother, she was far more talented... and far sharper.

    Leonel suddenly gave her a bright smile, taking her aback.

    "You''re as useless as the rest of your family is. If you keep provoking me... I will kill you."

    Leonel''s sudden killing intent made Popsy''s look like child''s play. In fact, there was likely not a single person in the Empire, not even Gervaise himself, who had killing intent comparable to Leonel''s own.

    He had walked through a river of blood every step he took here. He wasn''t an Emperor, he was a King. He didn''t direct the battlefield from a throne, he took the vanguard.

    The bloodthirstiness in his bones wasn''t something this young cousin of his could even begin to compare to, and even though his Dream Force wasn''t at the level of his enlightened self, it had already surpassed his previous self.

    In these last few days, he and Aina had talked about their child''s name and he gave her an idea. Instead of trying to force all the uniqueness of their child''s name into a few syllables, why not do what Mo''''Lexi had done with hers?

    After that, Leonel spent some time teaching Aina how she might go about projecting her Dream Force onto a name and intention like that, something that was a bit more difficult for her since their souls were no longer linked.

    In fact, that was what she was busy doing right this moment and it was the only reason she wasn''t here.

    But that lesson had also given Leonel another path of attack.

    He had yet to form his Dream Force Dharma, but he was mind-numbingly close to it, and his strength, at least in Dream Force, wasn''t something that these young cousins of his could ever hope to match up to.

    So when he fueled his Dream World with his Destruction Sovereignty and his willingness to watch the world burn rather than let a single hair on his wife''s pretty little head be harmed... Popsy wasn''t the only one that felt it.

    The entire Fawkes family felt it and they realized the price for enraging Leonel.

    He wouldn''t even let his own family off.

    "Let''s begin this farce," Leonel said coldly, ignoring Popsy who had fallen onto her ass.

    ---

 Chapter 3057 Fuck Off

    Chapter 3057 Fuck Off

    Grand Prime Ministers Ji, Dove, and Green settled the atmosphere down. Everyone already knew the bias the court had for Leonel. The fact that this sort of proceeding was happening at all was a testament to that. But Leonel himself didn''t seem to be very appreciative of it. If this had been just two days ago, it would have caused a great deal of dissatisfaction. But now everyone already knew how this would end. After what Leonel had done for their weapon and pill industries, everyone understood that he couldn''t be touched. Useless? Riding on past valor? Taking advantage of connections? Who could even dare to say such a thing anymore? What no one knew was that Leonel hadn''t even planned this out. He had only been on a walk with his wife when he saw the ridiculous state of their Crafters. He chose to take action for the sake of his mother and Anastasia. The former because he wanted to do something for the Fawkes family since that was what she would want, and the latter because he needed practice using World Spirits as the foundation for his Crafts. Although there was still a little adorable fairy on his shoulder right now, he had still succeeded. This was the same way Anastasia could still appear anywhere while her Segmented Cube still completed its daily tasks. This wasn''t just because a World Spirit could split its attention so many ways, though that was true as well. Rather, it was a layer more complex than that. Leonel had used the World Spirit as a proxy for controlling the laws of the world. He was essentially using the World Spirit to gain permission from the world to use its energy as he pleased. This accomplished several things. First, the energy would be taken from the surroundings and didn''t have to be replenished. Second, much of the computational load would be handled by the laws of the world that worked on the simplest evolutionary principles. And third, this left Leonel only having to leave a guiding hand. This was a level of Crafting that left Grand Prime Minister Green in so much awe that he passed out trying to comprehend it. And the crux of this matter was certainly about to become very important... very soon. "Leonel Morales," Grand Prime Minister Ji began with a calm cadence. "Unranked Imperial Prince, son to the late First Imperial Princess, may she rest in peace." Grand Prime Minister Ji had a clear solemness to him that made it evident how much he respected Alienor. It was hard for anyone not to respect such a woman. "Toбк" "And Velasco Morales," Leonel interjected, his gaze calm. Grand Prime Minister Ji''s gaze flickered, but he still nodded in the end. "Toбк" "And Velasco Morales," Leonel repeated. This time, Grand Prime Minister Ji couldn''t help but frown. Leonel''s intentions were clear: he wanted him to say the words. "... And Velasco Morales." Leonel couldn''t help but notice that he didn''t call out his mother''s name and only referred to her by her title. There wasn''t much to say about this, but if he planned on skipping over his father as well, that wouldn''t be allowed. Since they were introducing him, they might as well remember that he was a Morales. His mother''s name was Alienor Morales, not Fawkes. His father''s name was Velasco Morales, not Fawkes. His name was Leonel Morales, not Fawkes. His wife''s name wouldn''t be Fawkes, and their child''s name wouldn''t be Fawkes. "... Has been accused of killing members of the Imperial Family and committing fratricide. Would you like to refute these claims?" Leonel tilted his head to the side. Was this guy trying to sweep them up into one group? "Depends on which one you''re talking about," Leonel said with a smile. "I''ve heard several have died in the last few days. A shame, really." Grand Prime Minister Ji froze, and the Third Imperial Prince''s family shook with rage. "... There are four counts of each for eight total." "Interesting, but I only killed one person," Leonel said with innocent, blinking eyes. This time, Grand Prime Minister Ji maintained his calm. "So you reject six counts?" "Well, I reject all eight. I was just curious about why there would be eight in the first place," Leonel replied calmly. He was truly not taking this seriously. "Imperial Prince, if you insist on making a farce out of these proceedings, we will hold you in contempt. We will lock you up for six months." Leonel almost yawned. If he had been tired, he might have really gone that far. This was all a waste of his time, too much of a waste of his time. Unless he was training or spending time with his wife, it just wasn''t worth it to him. "Listen... whoever you are," Leonel''s gaze became cold. "I''ll say this once and once only. I''m only allowing this because of my mother. If not, not only would I not even be here right now, but I wouldn''t have the patience for any one of you. "So let''s speed run to the end, shall we? I didn''t kill those three utterly worthless idiots. I did kill one of their mothers, but only after she attacked my courtyard first. Both my wife and I were in that house, and she attacked to kill, so I counter-killed. "I hope that''s enough for your little proceedings. You can fuck off now." Leonel turned and really walked straight back into his courtyard. "HALT!" Grand Prime Minister Ji completely lost his temper, his aura erupting like a volcano. Before he could do anything, though, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. This time, it was Grand Prime Minister Green who stepped forward. "I understand the arrogance of the young, and you have indeed contributed more to this Empire in a single day than we old men have in a lifetime, but there are rules that an Empire must abide by. If you want to act as you please, then a price must be paid."

 Chapter 3058 Stretched too Thin

    Chapter 3058 Stretched too Thin

    Leonel''s steps paused for a moment, and then he began laughing uproariously. The laughter was so piercing that it practically formed a spear that thrust through the skies above. In fact, that was exactly what it did. Leonel''s Spear Force was at the point where it could move even without his conscious effort, rising into the skies with a momentum that could sunder the dome of Existence itself. He could understand what Prime Minister Green was playing for without even going through the farce of a back and forth. He wanted the method of recreating what Leonel had. And he likely knew that he would fail, so he was secondarily angling for the little World Spirit on Leonel''s shoulder. Regardless of which it was, Leonel would be infuriated. But to have intentions on the latter was enough for something far worse. "Wash your neck, old man."

    The command came down like thunder, and it was executed upon swiftly. What no one expected was that it would take the Legion an entire half day to break down the formation. And by the time they entered, there was nothing to be found within the courtyard at all. The inner circle of the Empire was in an uproar, and no one knew what to do. Even the Grand Prime Ministers began to feel some reluctance. Had they sent in stronger warriors, then maybe the formation would have been cut down with much greater speed. However, it wasn''t just that the Slayer Legion wasn''t strong. The reality was that many of them were just reluctant to act. When they saw that Leonel wasn''t even present, they even breathed out sighs of relief. However, while Leonel wasn''t there, there was a very clear message left for all of them. Any talks of his wife, attempts at his wife, or wishes to be with his wife, would be met with the cruelest of deaths. What no one knew was that Leonel hadn''t left at all. He was in the Segmented Cube, still within his courtyard, and too lazy to leave just yet. He had war to prepare for. ...

    Leonel''s grandmother sat in silence with tears streaming down her cheeks. From time to time, she would wipe them away, but more would come back in to fill their place just seconds later. She wasn''t Aina; she had never wanted such a big family, maybe because she had already seen how family could fall apart with the Luxnix... A person could only have so many strong relationships with so many people before even their grandchildren became like vague recollections in their memories. What was even crueler was that with their memories and strength, it was easy to remember everything... and yet it was too difficult to care about them all equally. Gervaise had never taken a second woman, so all of the Imperial Princes and Princesses were her children... and all three of the princes Leonel had killed were considered to be her grandsons. The mother that had died was her daughter-in-law. And yet, she couldn''t help but be wracked with guilt because she didn''t care nearly as much as she should. It was like her emotional bandwidth had been stretched so far and thin she couldn''t give them all the loving care and affection that she wanted to. Leonel''s grandmother rubbed her belly. And now, yet another child was on the way... all to make her husband happy. She felt her heart shuddering, and the pain of the moment was becoming too much to bear. Her soul seemed to flee her body as her heart convulsed. She pressed a hand to her chest, a shred of panic coming to her as she collapsed. Her thoughts were too out of order, and now she felt that her consciousness was fading into something.

    At that moment, in a flash, Gervaise suddenly appeared, hurriedly catching her before she could fall.

 Chapter 3059 False Idol

    Chapter 3059 False Idol

    Gervaise''s frown only grew deeper the more he observed his wife. If the problem had been with her body, that would be fine. But... it most definitely was not.

    The body of a Ninth Dimensional expert wasn''t so easy to harm. A normal woman''s body might break down after giving birth to so many children. Putting themselves through so many changes continuously was bound to have an effect.

    However, not only was a Ninth Dimensional expert''s body far more powerful, their lifespans were such that this was also much less of a worry.

    If a mortal wanted to have 16 children and work on her 17th like Leonel''s grandmother, Roesia, was, they would likely need to start having children as early as possible, and they would have to be pregnant every year of their physical peak. Otherwise, their bodies would become too weak to have children by the time they got to their late 40s and beyond.

    Roesia, however, could easily take breaks as long as ten years between children and still be in her physical prime.

    Sometimes, she wouldn''t even have a choice but to take so long because it was extremely difficult for powerful people to have children usually. Aina and other Life Force experts were just an exception to this rule.

    This 17th child had taken a particularly long time to conceive, mostly because in the last hundred years or so, Gervaise had been completely focused on raising his strength. This meant he had less time, on top of having a body too strong to conceive by normal means.

    In the end, it had been over a hundred years since the last time Roesia had had a child, giving her more than enough time to recover amply.

    No... the issue with Leonel''s grandmother now wasn''t her body, it was her mind, her soul.

    Forming an Idol made a person incredibly powerful, but it also made you vulnerable in other ways. The Ancestor Primordial Terror was the perfect example of this. It was because he had an Idol that he could be schemed against by the Demoness for so long and not even be any wiser to what was happening.

    Now, she couldn''t even find the tears to shed for her own grandchildren. What kind of mother was she? What kind of grandmother was she?

    She was supposed to be this great talent, the hallowed Northern Star Order. But what had that meant in the end?

    "Roesia, you must get a hold of yourself, or else you will die."

    The frown that knitted Gervaise''s forehead deepened. Every thought he had for what to do was thrown out immediately. Casual interference in the formation of a False Idol could make the situation far worse.

    Gervaise was in a better position because he had a soul bind with his wife, one that he hid beneath a wedding ring because an enemy would easily see such a thing as a weakness of his to be exploited, but even he didn''t dare to do this casually.

    Leonel''s grandmother lay in her husband''s arms, her breathing shallow, her face deathly pale, and her eyes half closed. It was clear that she hadn''t heard a single word Gervaise just said.

    ...

    At the moment, Leonel was having idle chatter with his boys when he frowned. He looked toward the little World Spirit on his shoulders before he suddenly stood to his feet.

    "I''ll be back."

    Their expressions changed. Wasn''t it a shit show outside right now? What was he about to do?

    Leonel didn''t have time to explain anything, and he vanished in an instant, appearing outside in his courtyard. Much of everyone had already long dispersed; there were only a few idle people in the very far-off distance, and it could be said that Leonel''s reappearance caused its own small storm.

    Leonel didn''t have the time to mind them. He drew two fingers across the air and cut space apart like tofu before shooting forward.

 Chapter 3060 CLING!

    Chapter 3060 CLING!

    Leonel slammed against a barrier.

    ''Dammit.'' He cursed beneath his breath.

    Up ahead, there was a lofty palace that floated on golden clouds. There was a single staircase from the bottom to the top, and not only could he not fly, he had been blocked from spatial transportation.

    In truth, the entire Empire should have these barriers. The only reason Leonel was able to come so far was because he used the help of the World Spirit. But even the World Spirit of Earth wasn''t able to completely overcome all of the protections.

    Clearly, this palace had the strongest protections, blocking Leonel from the outside.

    There was only one way up.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed, and he took a step forward. A great amount of pressure fell on him, but it was as though he didn''t notice.

    His speed only seemed to increase beneath it. He unleashed a roar, and his body turned into a line of Spear Force, charging up like a thrusting blade.

    He split the pressure in two, and it was at that moment that the guards seemed to react.

    The members of the Slayer Legion who overlooked the palace were without a doubt the strongest there was. The instant they moved, the skies darkened.

    They were shocked when they realized that it was Leonel, but by this point, their patience had already begun to wear thin. There was only so much that they could allow.

    This was the most sacred ground of the Ascension Empire. The only people allowed into this region were the dead of the Fawkes, the First Imperial Prince and First Imperial Princess, and finally, the Emperor and Empress.

    The only exception made to this rule was after the Empress gave birth, but when the child turned 16 years of age, they would, too, be escorted out of the Ascension Palace.

    This couldn''t be allowed.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    A rain of attacks fell from the skies above.

    ...

    At that moment, Mordred and a familiar figure were entangled with one another in bed. The two women seemed to be extremely familiar with one another''s bodies. They shifted positions like perfectly matched puzzle pieces and almost seemed to treat sex like it was a sparring session.

    But the both of them froze at the same time.

    Leonel spoke this word, and the world was forced to obey.

    He shot up, forgoing any nimbleness and agility for straight-line speed.

    He reached the top of the stairs in a blink; however...

    WHOOOSH!

    A pillar of fire pierced through the skies.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed. A real powerhouse had appeared.

    How could real powerhouses be assigned the task of guarding a palace most wouldn''t even dare to look at for too long?

    But even Leonel couldn''t help but be surprised when he saw this woman. He hadn''t thought about her in so long he had completely forgotten.

    But then again... she had been a Supreme of the Slayer Legion before they rejoined the Empire. It only made sense that she was here.

    "Do you have any idea what you''re doing rightбк?!"

    Leonel''s spear was her only answer. Monet was caught off guard, not expecting Leonel to do this. However, when she felt the support of Blackstar''s Idol, her expression changed once again.

    A pair of fiery wings appeared on her back, and she hurriedly retreated as a ribbon appeared in her hand.

    Leonel''s wrist twisted, and his blade seemed to leave a net in the skies. Monet was instantly overwhelmed by his skill. If before, Leonel could already be said to be one of the greatest spearmen in existence, right now, he was on another level in comparison to his previous self.

    None of his attacks seemed to be capable of causing life-ending injury to Monet, and yet she felt like her body was instantly covered in a cold sweat. If Leonel was any more powerful, she would die in a single strike.

    His spear seemed to meld into the laws of the world, shredding apart the foundation of her Idol and piercing right into her soul.

    By the time her gaze cleared, Leonel actually wasn''t even in front of her anymore.

    CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING!

    The sound of blade marks echoing across her armor sounded, and her expression became ugly.

    Not a single one of those strikes could even make it through her armor, but she had actually thought she was about to die.

    "LEONEL!"

    She rushed after him.

    1650547bd2cc3f068e0ba09f140e08e7baccfecf06972d857c815271d53b23cb6e01c2dbbe66573b2a1d5d6dc1ec9fca2a1ae5c817bf2412850536706150fdd0

 Chapter 3061 Everything (1)

    Chapter 3061 Everything (1)

    Leonel didn''t even look back at Monet, his speed only increasing. He pierced through everything as he rushed ahead, Blackstar''s Destruction Idol only amplifying his power to an extreme.

    Because of the rules of the palace, no one was even allowed to step foot into it. That meant that all the halls were empty, and there were no obstructions other than formations, but Leonel ripped through them as though they weren''t there at all.

    BANG!

    Suddenly, Leonel ran into a wall he couldn''t push through at all. Even with his body as a spear and his blade as Blackstar''s Destruction Idol, it didn''t matter. He practically shattered his skull ramming into it so hard.

    "DAMMIT!"

    Leonel pounded on the barrier. "OLD MAN, LET ME IN!"

    Leonel pounded the barrier again and again. He didn''t believe that Gervaise didn''t see what was going on yet.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that his grandfather was truly out of it. He wasn''t paying attention to anything other than his wife and had shut himself out from the rest of the world.

    Leonel was correct about his grandfather in a lot of ways. But he had miscalculated in one aspect... how much Gervaise actually cared for his grandmother.

    In Leonel''s opinion, Gervaise had only chosen his grandmother because of her bloodline and talent. He even felt quite bad for his grandmother because of it, but he had never said anything because, one, he wasn''t that close to his grandmother in the first place; two, she likely already knewбкshe wasn''t a fool, after all; and, three... if she really didn''t know, then ignorance was bliss.

    Leonel wasn''t the same naive child he was back on Earth. In reality, he had likely never been naive enough to believe that honesty was always the best policy.

    If his grandmother believed that his grandfather loved her, then that was for the best, especially since he treated her well enough that it wasn''t a problem.

    Informing her that he never really loved her at all would just be making her life needlessly more dark. The woman had already lost her daughter, been ostracized from her own family for decades, and taken on a weight no woman should have to bear alone.

    Letting her have her love life was the least he could do.

    The only time he had ever said anything remotely akin to "exposing" his grandfather was when he told his grandmother to come to him if she was ever bullied. And obviously, Leonel thought that that was exactly what was going on right now.

    His grandmother was clearly at her breaking point, and if not for the World Spirit to sense the odd changes, he wouldn''t have even been aware.

    BANG!

    Blood began to ooze down Leonel''s nose. Every time he yelled "break," he was pulling on the other half of his Ability Index. But even if he commanded it, his grandfather''s Edict was too powerful.

    Trying to command something that wasn''t possible caused an endless wave of backlash onto himself, forcing his soul into a weaker and weaker position and shredding it apart. The only reason he hadn''t fallen already was because he was using the World Spirit to bolster his command over the world. And yet, it still wasn''t enough.

    If he continued, he would certainly die... again.

    "BREAK!!"

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s roar shredded his throat apart, and by this point, Monet had already appeared right behind him, lashing out with her ribbon of fire to swallow him whole and complete his imprisonment.

    And yet, Leonel didn''t seem to notice.

    "I said... BREAK!!!"

    BOOM! BOOM!

    Despair threatened to root in Leonel''s gaze once again as he saw that this strike barely caused the barrier to tremble.

    Blood began to leak from his eyes and ears as he stumbled backward, his knees weakening to the point he almost fell to the ground.

    However, that despair was stamped down by an even greater fury. The blood streaming down his cheeks only increased.

    "WEREN''T YOU TWO SO ARROGANT!? WHERE IS YOUR ARROGANCE NOW?!"

    Leonel seemed to have completely lost his mind, speaking to none other than his Weapon Forces. They were so arrogant that they didn''t even want to share his body before, but now they couldn''t even take down a single, measly barrier... what was their use?!

    He should be able to pierce through anything, cut through anything. How dare they have such an overinflated sense of self when they couldn''t even do this much?!

    Monet''s ribbon descended and caught Leonel.

 Chapter 3062 Everything (2)

    Chapter 3062 Everything (2)

    Leonel''s eyes went bloodshot, his body shaking as though he couldn''t sense his sizzling skin.

    "STOP!" Monet roared. "You''ve done enough!"

    Leonel completely ignored her. His muscles flexed, and the flames shattered into scattered pieces.

    Monet''s eyes widened, but then they filled with a determined light.

    "I''m trying not to hurt you! But since you don''t want my kindness, fine!"

    The scorching heat behind Leonel increased severalfold. It was so powerful that Leonel felt himself catching on fire.

    Leonel''s fury peaked as he finally looked back.

    Monet felt a shock to her soul. It was like something had driven a spear right into it, and fear crept up her spine, almost collapsing her to the ground.

    It was at that moment that a second streaking light appeared. Or, rather... a streaking darkness.

    "STOP! STOP!"

    Mordred appeared between Leonel and Monet, stopping things before they truly became bad. However, the towering rage in Leonel''s heart only seemed to burn brighter.

    "BREAK! BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!"

    Leonel turned back toward the barrier, unleashing barrage after barrage. Nothing seemed capable of making the barrier do much more than tremble slightly, even with the World Spirit, even with Blackstar''s helpбкit was all worthless.

    Nothing was enough.

    Leonel''s soul was quickly dissipating, and an eerily familiar scene was playing out once again. His soul was quickly slipping away, and no matter how hard he tried, it just wasn''t enough.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel continued to form spear after spear, not caring about the shattering of his wrists or weapons, or the backlash to his soul.

    All he had was a spear. All he had was his bow. But they weren''t enough.

    "NOT AGAIN!"

    BANG!

    Leonel''s arm snapped back with so much force that his entire shoulder dislocated. In fact, his flesh had grown so sparse and fragile that the skin nearly tore along with it. The tiniest strand of flesh seemed to remain, barely holding it in place.

    He cocked his other arm back and swung again, but this time, his wrist was caughtбкnot by Monet, but by Mordred.

    Tears streamed down Mordred''s face as she kept muttering an apology, but she realized that Monet was right. Leonel wasn''t getting anywhere; he was just going to kill himself if he kept it up.

    "GET OFF OF ME!"

    An unexpected power thrummed through Leonel''s body and forced Mordred back. Her eyes couldn''t help but widen in shock, not understanding how Leonel''s body could possibly still have enough strength to do that. Even if he had been in tip-top shape, he shouldn''t have been able to blow her back like that.

    Violet plumes of smoke exuded from the edges of Leonel''s eyes and came smoldering out from his feet.

    His body churned and whined.

    "BREAK!"

    He pierced out again, but the scene was just the same. In fact, it was worse.

    This arm didn''t survive, being ripped out of its socket from the force of the backlash.

    Shattered bits of spear and a hollowed arm went flying into the distance, crashing against the wall.

    Leonel''s heaving breaths were the only things that could be heard outside of the reverberating boom of his previous strikes.

    He lifted up his one lanky remaining arm. Grabbing at the air, the previous injury only began healing enough to pop his arm back into place.

    There was a certain devastation in Leonel''s eyes, an unwillingness to allow anything to stand in his way.

    He unleashed a roar and struck down again with everything he had.

 Chapter 3063 BREAK!

    Chapter 3063 BREAK!

    Gervaise''s clenched jaw loosened and his expression became ice cold, but the tightness with which he clenched his wife seemed to tell a different story. He held her close. He could see the slightest hint of relaxation on her face when she snuggled into his embrace, breathing in his scent. They sat there in silence as Roesia''s life force slowly drained away. It was a peaceful sort of path to death, one that didn''t stir up any waves or destroy much of anything in the world at all. But that was also because Gervaise was taking on all of the damage himself. The destruction of an Idol was far from a simple process. It could cause reality to warp and bend, shattering the laws of even the God Realm. But right now... there was nothing but peace. He rocked Roesia in his arms, his eyes becoming colder and colder as her body did as well. His hands moved almost absentmindedly, stroking her white-gold hair and caressing her cheek. His breathing became more even and a trembling aura exuded from him in a suffocating might. It made the space more solid, and the barrier on the outside only grew stronger as a result of it. He had no idea that his grandson was doing everything he could to make it through right now, he had no idea that he was only making it more difficult. He only had eyes for the woman in his arms as his heart slowly became emptier. When she was gone, his last weakness would be gone with her. When that time came, no one would be able to stop the Ascension Empire. He used a thumb to gently wipe a tear falling from her eyes. Her lips moved, seemingly trying to say something. Gervaise didn''t need to hear it to understand. He knew his wife well. She was apologizing, like she always did. Even now that she was dying, her first thought was that she was leaving him to carry this burden alone. But... he felt that things just might be better this way. At least this way, he would be able to properly atone. BOOM!

    A dull boom suddenly made Gervaise look up. Then there was the faintest, muffled echo of a roar.

 Chapter 3064 You... Cant...

    Chapter 3064 You... Can''t...

    There was no suspense.

    Leonel''s spear shattered against the barrier, but this time, the force of the reverberating impact was so great that the rest of his arm went with it, fragmented apart like it was metal rather than flesh and blood.

    The impact didn''t stop, traveling up Leonel''s arm and taking out a large part of his chest.

    He collapsed backward, breathing haggard breaths. His body didn''t even look human anymore. It was cracked and fragmented, almost like he had become a mummified corpse.

    And yet, when Leonel hit the ground, he tried to stand again with what little energy he had left.

    Mordred and Monet couldn''t help but feel their heart shake.

    They had known Leonel for a long time, but they had never been aware of what kind of will power he had. In fact, they never knew it was possible for someone to even have this sort of will power at all. It didn''t seem human in the slightest...

    What they didn''t know was that this same Leonel was a person who had once shed tears over a mere awakening of his own Lineage Factor. Since then, he had been through too much, seen too much.

    And it was precisely why he needed to get up.

    ''Get up...''

    Leonel coughed, but no blood came out. Still, he rose to his feet, carrying forward.

    He tried to wave a hand, trying to form another spear, but the world wasn''t listening to him anymore. Not only that... but he didn''t even have his arms anymore. for new novels

    He looked to his shoulder and felt his heart aching. Not because of his missing arm, but because of something entirely different.

    The little World Spirit had grown pale and passed out long ago. Maybe that strike had been nothing but himself to begin with.

    Gervaise sounded confused. It was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

    "I swear to God, Gervaise Fawkes. There''s going to come a day where I pull you off that fucking throne, you incompetent piece of shit. Move!"

    Leonel stomped forward and tried to shoulder check his grandfather out of the way, but even if he was in his optimal state, that wouldn''t have worked... least of all now. However, Leonel didn''t care, using what remained of his stamina to form small Edicts that lifted her out of Gervaise''s arms.

    "Grandma! Listen to me! I just got rid of a few useless grandchildren for you, it''ll all be fine! Let''s not get into the semantics! You''re not allowed to die on me yet because you haven''t made amends!"

    The words Leonel was saying almost made Gervaise want to slap him to death. How was this helping at all? He was just picking at all of his grandmother''s insecurities one after another.

    "Get it together, woman! You know this old man is useless without you. He had no heart and no soul, all he knows how to do is use that thing swinging between his legs to create more meat shields for him to throw at the world!"

    Gervaise''s lip twitched. What the hell?

    "Have you ever seen this useless prick on the battlefield? His greatest achievement is making me use up 217 strikes to finally get in here, and all that did was almost cause his wife to die! Can you believe this bastard?!"

    The more foul words Leonel spoke, the calmer Gervaise seemed to become. He was slowly understanding something...

    However, he also didn''t believe that Leonel was telling even a single lie. At the very least, Leonel didn''t believe that he was lying. If anything, he felt that he wasn''t going hard enough.

    His words only began to escalate until even Gervaise''s thick face was having a hard time remaining completely indifferent.

    "Don''t go, grandma! This shameless old man definitely wants to build a harem! The moment you''re gone, this palace is going to be flooded with beauties! Each one of them inferior to you! Using up your beauty products! Frequenting places you loved to frequent! Trying to cozy up to the Emperor so that their child has an inside track to the crown!"

    Gervaise coughed.

    At that moment, Roesia''s eyes finally fluttered. She coughed as well, but hers was far more out of weakness.

    "Little... Lion... you can''t... say... such things... about... about your... grandfather..."

 Chapter 3065 Breakthrough

    Chapter 3065 Breakthrough

    he wasn''t nearly so little anymore. She rubbed her belly, sensing if her new child was still okay. After that, she completely relaxed. Maybe this son or daughter would face the same fate as all the rest, maybe not... However, she felt that it was still her duty to do her best. "Gervy..." Only Roesia could get away with calling the Emperor such a thing. "... I don''t want to have anymore children after this."

 Chapter 3066 Sorry Ass Crafters

    Chapter 3066 Sorry Ass Crafters

    Gervaise''s eyes flashed.

    "If you would like to continue expanding the kingdom and want to have concubines, I will not mind. I know of your heart and of your ambitions, and I know that you act for reasons much larger than yourself. I have held you back enough."

    Roesia gave Gervaise a delicate smile. She didn''t seem to mind at all, but it was that sort of selfless smile that could make a man willing to give up anything for a woman. Gervaise looked at his wife for a long while. Just moments ago, he was preparing himself to lose her.

    Had he gone too far?

    "We... can consider these matters another time." A rare hint of hesitation sparked in his words.

    Roesia didn''t mind it, but that was when Leonel''s voice rang out.

    "Gervy? What a cute nickname. I''ll be sure to use it."

    Gervaise''s expression froze, and Roesia covered her lips in a light laugh before fixing Leonel''s hair.

    "You''ve yet to be punished for what you''ve done, but you''ve gone and broken several more rules. Do you think my Ascension Empire is your playground?"

    "Yes, actually." Leonel nodded seriously as he pushed himself up. "But that aside, this isn''t like you, old man. You look flustered. What was that retort? Not nearly as sharp and witty as usual."

    The usual Gervaise would never show his hand like that, and certainly not without already having a plan of action. He was clearly only mentioning such a thing in order to avoid embarrassment, but Leonel wasn''t going to let such an opportunity slide that easily.

    "This matter isn''t a joke, Leonel." Gervaise replied calmly.

    There was only one way out of such a thing, and that was to either not push Leonel at all, or to cleverly plan this punishment so that in the case Leonel were to kill again, it would be far easier to manage.

    "These people are still your family, Leonel." Gervaise replied just as calmly.

    "This can''t be considered a family, it is a cabal of people you brought together for benefits. I haven''t been here for long, but just the fact that people would be willing to go after the wife of their own cousin or nephew says enough, don''t you think?"

    "I''m aware. These things are still under my control." Gervaise said calmly.

    "What are you going to do? Drop a few islands on their heads too when things go out of control?" Leonel sneered, still referring back to the Paradise Island incident.

    "I thought you had grown up."

    "I did." Leonel said. "And now I''ll kill those who stand in my way and help those that don''t. Simple enough to understand, right?"

    Gervaise''s gaze finally had a hint of a flicker in them.

    There was a silence that fell over them all before he slowly began to speak again.

    "You will be taking over a battlefield. You''ll serve for either a hundred years or until the war is over."

    Leonel yawned. A boring punishment indeed, but still something that was more than manageable. If he killed again, Gervaise would just extend the time and make him battle more.

    Clearly, Gervaise didn''t believe that the war against the Four Great Families was going to end any time soon, especially considering the fact other God Realm existences were using them as a proxy to pressure the Ascension Empire.

    However, Leonel didn''t mind it at all because it was also a flexible punishment. Who was going to oversee the fact he remained on the battlefield? And with the Segmented Cube, wouldn''t he be able to go on vacation whenever he wanted?

    "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, let''s get down to business. Where are my rewards for saving your sorry ass Crafters?"

 Chapter 3067 Im In

    Chapter 3067  I''m In

    "Your punishment was lightened due to your contributions," Gervaise replied lightly.

    "Oh? Is that so, Gervy? It seems that I''m going to have to steal it on my own, then."

    Gervaise didn''t reply to these words at all. It was as though he was fine with it one way or another... or, he was already prepared to take action if Leonel should really go so far.

    Grandfather and grandson looked toward one another, one smiling and the other indifferent.

    Roesia looked between the two and sighed. The both of them were too hardheaded. She could already feel it... sometime in the future, the differences between these two would boil over.

    But she wasn''t as worried as she should have been about it. That was because after today... she was ironically very confident that neither would go too far even if such a battle were to happen. Vi?Sit no(v)3lb/!n(.)com for new novels

    The question was... if after this battle was over... if the one who lost would still be the same. Which of these two arrogant men would be willing to accept such losses?

    In some ways, such a loss would be more dangerous than even death.

    However...

    Roesia still found that she was calm.

    If her husband couldn''t live on anymore, she would just die.

    If her grandson couldn''t live on anymore... she would just die.

    She had already lived for far too long anyway. No mother should outlive their child.

    **

    Leonel walked out casually, strutting around as though nothing had happened. His steps were quite light and the smile on his face was bright.

    He would have asked his grandmother to take a walk with him. After all, she would be like the greatest protection badge he could have. But in the end, he decided that that would probably be a bit too unfair.

    No matter how he felt about it, he had still killed her grandchildren. Asking her to then walk around with the murderer of those grandchildren, even if said murderer was also her grandson, was still a bit too willful.

    Leonel still had some propriety in these matters, but clearly not enough. That was because he strolled out of the Palace having forgotten one very important thing...

    He was still a wanted man.

    "Hello, everyone." Nilrem finally smiled at the crowd. "Nice day we''re having, hm?"

    "..."

    "..."

    "..."

    The saying like father, like son was one they all knew. What they didn''t know was that like master, like disciple would be what they actually witnessed today.

    "Fuck, what''s with this reaction."

    Nilrem spoke again, but while everyone was in a daze he had also suddenly put his clothes on at some unknown time.

    "No one likes a shitty sequel," Leonel chimed in.

    Nilrem was confused at first before it set in.

    "What did I do to deserve such a terrible disciple."

    "I don''t know, Merlin. How about we get out of here?"

    "My name is Nilrem!"

    "Let''s go rob the Empire."

    "I''m in!" Nilrem did a complete 180 and the two suddenly vanished.

    A commotion was kicked up across the Empire and Gervaise''s lip could only twitch. Leonel alone was enough of a headache, but when it was matched with Nilrem''s personal brand of shamelessness, they were impossible to handle.

    Gervaise should have known that when Leonel said he would steal he didn''t mean alone.

    Now, two murderers were running around his Empire and making a mockery of everything.

    Luckily, his prestige was built up so high that most of these things wouldn''t harm him in the slightest. Most wouldn''t even think that he was tacitly allowing it. He would just let Leonel take the brunt of the pressure.

    Then, he sent out his first son to deal with the rest.

    Three days later, it was Noah''s father, Galaeron, who brought down the orders that Leonel would be sent to the battlefield.

 Chapter 3068 Black Sea

    Chapter 3068  Black Sea

    "Shouldn''t you be preparing? Overlooking the battlefield? Something other than harassing the mother of your child?"

    Leonel put on a shocked expression. "Harassment? This is just your husband tax. Are you not going to pay?"

    "I''m paying in rearing your child."

    "Ai, this never stops. You''ll be using that for the rest of our lives, aren''t you."

    Aina giggled and snuggled up into Leonel''s arms. These days, she couldn''t stop smiling, she had even forgotten that she was supposed to take Leonel to go and see her father.

    It wasn''t on purpose, she had truly forgotten. Maybe this truth would hurt Miel more than anything else could. But the kind of hurt that Aina had experienced back when she learned the truth wasn''t something that could be explained in a few words either.

    Knowing that the mother she loved so much was originally just a tool for her own father''s revenge was a hard pill to swallow. And to think that being used as such a pawn would cost her more than just her life...

    If her mother had just died, Aina would be distraught, but she would still be able to understand it. That was the cruelty of this world.

    But the torture her mother suffered wasn''t something that could just be accepted in the same way. It was inhumane, and it was a torture that Brazingers obviously used quite frequently. The hatred Aina had built up over this couldn''t be understated.

    To know that her mother had suffered such a thing, that she herself had been cursed to suffer for years on top of that...

    It was too difficult to accept... too difficult. R/e?/Ad lateSt ch/a/pters at  Only

    She understood that her father hadn''t had such intentions when he started, and he probably didn''t expect that things would go so far.

    But in the end, he still bore some responsibility.

    They didn''t like that he had taken two of their kind? What would they do when he started killing more?

    A cold light flashed in Leonel''s gaze.

    ...

    The battlefield was located in the Inbetween World... Or rather, a place that had the feel of one, but was in practice much different.

    A black sea spread out for as far as one could see. It wasn''t water, but rather had the thickness of crude oil. From time to time, there would be a solid mass floating with it that could make one''s heart shudder.

    This sea was none other than a concentrated mass of Anarchic Force. The solid masses were the greatest concentration of Anarchic Force in existence, capable of rendering even the strongest Ninth Dimensional experts helpless.

    The battlefield was one fought on these waters, and the various battles actually occurred on makeshift landmasses crafted

    by the two parties. Often, these landmasses would be temporary, being destroyed beneath the overbearing Anarchic Force within just a few days. The people that had once called that land mass "home" would then have to weather the storm themselves as they built a new one.

    It could be said that this was probably the most grueling battlefield in Existence... aside from just a single other place.

    Leonel''s face became more gloomy when he saw this. According to Anastasia, he had been out of it for three years. That meant that his wife had actually been fighting on this battlefield all this time.

    His overprotectiveness nearly began to boil over and he wanted to find those Four Great Family bastards right this moment to teach them a lesson.

    But in the end, he pressed it down. This wasn''t what he was here for.

    Before he took the next step in his plan, he needed to find where they were getting help from, how this help was being provided, and to what extent they would provide this help.

    Once he did, his revenge would begin.

 Chapter 3069 Escort

    Chapter 3069  Escort

    Leonel touched down with his "escort." The location was obviously one of the temporary islands of the Ascension Empire, and he was quickly escorted to the Commander of this region. When he saw this person, he couldn''t help but chuckle. His grandfather sure had a twisted sense of humor. Was he really so eager for him to kill one of his sons?

    ''I swear, that old man just wants to see the world burn, and he''s so sexist too, tsk.''

    Gervaise only cared about his daughters. As for his sons, they might as well fight it out in a bloody coliseum for all he cared. This was clear from the different treatment that Alienor received compared to Galaeron.

    Those thoughts seemed to also transfer to his grandsons because he and Noah had certainly been through fire and rain together.

    ''I''ll definitely have to teach that old man a lesson. Just wait. The moment I''m strong enough, I''m beating you into the ground.''

    Leonel was still a bit annoyed that it had taken him so much effort to penetrate that old man''s barrier. In fact, he hadn''t even made it through in the end; he just barely managed to cause enough commotion that Gervaise actually noticed someone was trying to break through.

    And that was despite the fact he had the support of Blackstar at the same time.

    Of course, that was because Gervaise had written a powerful Edict over his Ascension Palace that didn''t allow external powers, so even Idols were greatly weakened. But the fact that he could do that at all just went to show how much stronger he was than the current Blackstar.

    Back then, Leonel hadn''t even been able to summon his Destruction World or his Constellation. All that energy had been stopped outside the palace.

    ''Old bastard. You''ve just got a few more years on me, that''s all.''

    As Leonel was lost in his thoughts, the "Commander" was only growing more infuriated. However, he seemed to be far more patient than his sons, sitting in silence as his pressure continued to grow slowly.

    By now, it was obvious who this man was. This was none other than the Third Imperial Prince and the father of the three goons Aina had killed. Well, Leonel had also killed his wife.

    Even until now, the emotions of the man weren''t clear, and other than a slight, understandable gloominess, there was nothing else.

    Finally, he spoke.

    "This battlefield will use you as it sees fit. For now, you will be part of the Crafting support. Help streamline the process and guide the Crafters. We will let you know if you are ever needed in battle. You may go."

    Leonel gave the man a look and then turned and left.

    The response wasn''t an answer, but it also wasn''t the worst case scenario either. As for what the man was really thinking... Leonel couldn''t be bothered to care for now.

    After Leonel left, the Third Imperial Prince Fawkes slowly rose to his feet, his blackened armor thrumming with life and vitality.

    "General Green, you will see to the fact that he follows his orders. Everyone else, we have important matters to discuss. We will deal a decisive blow to the Four Great Families this month."

    Leonel walked out of the tent, his expression pensive but his thoughts unknown.

    At that moment, a familiar man walked up behind him.

    "I will escort you to the temporary factory."

    This man should be the General Green the Third Imperial Prince mentioned. It probably also wasn''t a coincidence that he shared a last name with a certain Grand Prime Minister Green.

    That man was part of the initiative that created the automated Crafting factories to begin with, and this General Green should be one of his descendants.

    Leonel shook his head. It seemed that his grandfather was using him again.

 Chapter 3070 Who is Guiding?

    Chapter 3070  Who is Guiding?

    It didn''t take Leonel more than half a day to change the situation of the factory. As for teaching the Crafters? Guiding them? He had no patience for such a thing.

    He vanished from General Green''s surveillance and the man didn''t even notice until an entire half an hour later.

    By the time he was put on high alert, Leonel was nowhere to be found.

    ...

    Leonel rushed across the endless black sea, his gaze flashing. He had already forgotten about the matters earlier in the day; he was entirely focused on scouting out the region.

    "How is it, Anastasia?"

    "It''s taking more time than usual."

    Leonel nodded. This only made sense. Not only was this the God Realm, but it was also a region thick with Anarchic Force. That didn''t even mention what sort of protections his enemies might have against this sort of thing.

    He had asked Anastasia to map out the entire region for him to see what would happen. He didn''t care about Anastasia''s actions being hidden at all. They were in the middle of war, first off. And second, even if they weren''t, Leonel didn''t fear anyone right now. If he ran into someone he couldn''t defeat, he would just throw out his handy dandy trump card.

    He''d beat the living shit out of his enemies and get a free comedy show at the same time. What was there to hesitate about?

    However, Nilrem alone obviously couldn''t win this battle. In fact, after the first time, Nilrem had already warned him that he would likely bring him more trouble than help.

    Nilrem had been around the God Realm, breaking all sorts of rules, for centuries already. His number of enemies wasn''t just great, but they were all extremely powerful. Anyone who still dared to call him an enemy these days either had a great background or was their own great background.

    Of course... Leonel didn''t give a damn about all of this.

    He might not be as powerful as Nilrem so they likely wouldn''t take him as seriously, and many of them probably thought he was a useless cripple now, but he definitely had more enemies than Nilrem, not less.

    That said, he would still have to be semi-cautious nonetheless. He couldn''t paint Nilrem into a corner because part of the reason he was able to survive so long wasn''t just his power, but also the fact he was hard to find.

    Using Nilrem would have to wait for situations where the enemy was certain to die and was likewise unable to send back any information.

    "It''s called observing my surroundings. It says more about you than it does me that you thought I was trying to be poetic."

    "Class A gaslighting. Ten out of ten."

    "Fuck you, Raj."

    Leonel grinned, a spear appearing in his hands.

    "We''re not letting a single one of those fuckers off." Leonel spoke, his voice booming. He locked eyes with the blue-haired Adurna in the distance and an almost draconic light flickered in his eyes.

    "Not a single one!"

    "KILL!"

    A small group suddenly appeared on the battlefield unexpectedly, but the moment they collided, the world overturned.

    "A GOD!"

    "RUN! THE SITUATION HAS CHANGED!"

    Leonel''s spear flickered and danced, ripping through the defensive Lineage Factor of the Adurna as though it wasn''t there at all.

    A single spear, a single death.

    He didn''t even use any energy outside of his physical stamina. The world''s Spear Force gathered all on its own, resonating with the hum of his blade.

    Everywhere he passed, death came in droves.

    But it wasn''t enough.

    ''Faster. Faster. All of you deserve death.''

    A violent glow lit in his gaze.

 Chapter 3071 All (1)

    3071  All (1)

    Leonel''s spear became akin to a reaper''s scythe. The Anarchic Force beneath him churned, and that was when a shocking sight began to take place.

    A cancerous golden energy spread out from Leonel, pouring into the thick black waters and turning it golden as well.

    The dark gold liquid rose up, rotating around Leonel''s body as it was pulled into his Spear Dance.

    Suddenly, his attacking strength reached a new level entirely.

    TSS! TSS! TSS! TSS! TSS!

    Spiraling tendrils of sharp dark gold liquid danced around Leonel''s blade and suddenly his range of attack skyrocketed.

    "ANOTHER GOD! ANOTHER GOD!"

    Leonel filtered out their words, the malevolence in his gaze reaching a new level. Every bit of rage he had pent up in his heart poured out at once.

    He flickered and vanished, appearing before an Adurna commander. His Spear swept out once and the waters beneath the latter''s feet reacted, tearing him to shreds.

    Leonel vanished once again, taking a step and becoming nothing more than a beam of golden light.

    Rip. Shred. Tear.

    His spear seemed to be both everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Existences that had long entered the Ninth Dimension couldn''t withstand even a single strike, making their supposed God Constitutions look like nothing more than a joke.

    He spun in the air, a rippling Absolute Domain jetting out from the tip of his spear to his body.

    The fragmented laws of the Inbetween World responded in kind, being forcefully pressed together to form chaotic pools of Spear Force.

    They didn''t even notice that it was Leonel''s Dream Force suffocating them. A true Demon had awoken, and it was triggered ironically because his Demon Bloodline was taken away.

    At that moment, Leonel didn''t look like a normal human boy to them. He looked like a giant who held the skies up with his demonic horns and solidified the murky ground with his furious stomps.

    A misty blood hung around Leonel, and under everyone''s eyes, more shocking things continued to occur.

    The Blood Force and Life Force were shredded apart into their component laws, and then these laws reformed, creating the Spear Force that Leonel needed.

    He grinded his enemies down, ripping them apart into the fundamental laws of nature, and then reconstructing them into the energy he needed to kill more of their companions.

    At some point, Leonel''s brothers and the Ascension Empire had stopped fighting entirely. Some of them felt real fear, not even knowing who Leonel was. But this sort of cruelty...

    Did even they hate the Four Great Families so much?

    It wasn''t just this. The main problem was... how was he doing this?

    This level of application of Creation and Destruction was simply something they had never seen before. It didn''t seem to matter what kind of Force it was, Leonel was able to turn it into what he needed.

    His stamina seemed endless and his power was heart shuddering... No, it wasn''t even that his power was so great. In fact, he didn''t even seem like he was nearly the strongest person on the battlefield.

    It was instead that he was far too sharp, far too skilled, far too capable.

    Even after the battle was won, he simply wasn''t satisfied. He killed, and he killed, and he killed... and maybe the most heart shuddering part was that his expression hardly changed. His eyes radiated a cool violent color that seemed to be looking down on the battlefield from an indifferent third-party perspective, as though he wasn''t the one doing the killing at all.

    These indifferent eyes could see everything and yet felt nothing at all.

    Leonel stood over the last member of the army at some unknown point, staring down at the kneeling, listless man with a gaze that penetrated into his very soul.

    The man seemed to finally realize that Leonel was standing above him and he looked up with a pleading expression, but he was met with a swift blade.

 Chapter 3072 All (2)

    3072  All (2) Leonel walked back to the Ascension Empire army. Waving a hand, the spear he had formed vanished along with the blood that had been on it. Slowly, the dark gold glow of the Anarchic Force beneath him also faded until the water was just as dark as it was before.

    "бн Welcome back Murder Hobo," James eventually broke the silence. "How''s it feel to be a mass murderer? They used to make documentaries about your kind, I didn''t expect one to be in our midst."

    "Feels about as good as fucking a Cloud Race whore in a back alley. So you tell me. You still itching down there?"

    James froze.

    A burst of laughter came from the others. The change caused a bubble the others didn''t know they were sitting on to burst. Of course, this didn''t refer to Leonel''s brothers, they were mostly indifferent to it all from the very beginning as they were the most familiar with Leonel.

    They were already too familiar with the kind of person Leonel was, so this was only a natural outcome to them. Even when Leonel seemed just fine, more often than not, there was a storm getting ready to explode.

    бн

    Leonel rubbed Little Nana''s head, a bright smile on his face.

    "It looks like you managed to succeed."

    "I did, thanks to you," Nana replied with an equally bright smile. Her eyes even seemed to be a bit misty as though she might cry at any time.

    She had wanted to succeed so badly, just to prove to the Adurna that bloodline wasn''t everything. But in the end, she had to rely on Leonel to succeed. Even though logically how things ended weren''t her fault, she felt that she was completely useless.

    "Who told you to use a sword?" Leonel asked.

    Nana blinked in surprise, then looking down at her waist. She had been trying to get used to this thing for a while, but it was difficult. She had never used a weapon like it before, but she thought that a short sword was probably the best thing to pair with her shield.

    "What do you mean?" Nana blinked in confusion. "No one."

    "No one?" Leonel raised an eyebrow. He didn''t quite believe that. "No one even suggested it?"

    "Umбн" Nana frowned, trying to consider something, but clearly failing. In the end, she shook her head no.

    "Is that soбн"

    Leonel suddenly sneered and grabbed out at the air. Before Nana could react, the shield on her back flew into Leonel''s palm.

    BANG!

    There was a sudden reverberating impact. Leonel felt as though all the bones in his arms had suddenly shattered, but there was also a clear whine that came from the shield as well.

    Ignoring his injuries, Leonel struck out again, and then again.

    Nana watched on in shock, not quite understanding what she was seeing. She didn''t believe that Leonel was stealing her shield even after she saw him forcefully take it, and this pretty much confirmed that. But it also made her more confused.

    He struck out again. Every time he acted, flickering flames would collide with the shield, penetrating into the core and echoing through the Dream Plane.

    "[Emperor''s Edict]."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and violet flames began to smolder out from the corner of his eyes.

    He realized the problem immediately. Someone had planted a suggestion in Nana''s mind and she was too weak to realize what was happening. The only person, or rather thing, close enough to do that was this shield.

    When he thought of the possibility that Aina''s battle ax could have some suggestion on it as well, he was immediately furious.  S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The spirits of these weapons shouldn''t be so intelligent, and if they were, and were so eager to stop the likes of Nana from controlling them in the first place, then why would they agree to be controlled in the first place?

    It was more likely that this suggestion had been placed or at least triggered by someone else using the shield as a proxy.

    And now, Leonel was burning all of that away.

    "SCRAM!"

    His voice thundered and the shield shook and almost collapsed.

    Leonel caught it out of the air and handed it to Nana. But before he explained anything, he waved a hand and Aina''s battle ax appeared before him. He scanned it, but in the end, his expression slowly relaxed.

    It was either Aina had already gotten rid of the suggestion herself, or there had never been on her Heirloom to begin with.

    "It should all be fine now," Leonel looked at Nana with a smile. "Your skill doesn''t lie in close combat, don''t waste your time maximizing what isn''t good for you."

    Nana blinked. "Someone?"

    She wasn''t stupid, she could guess some things after Leonel took such violent action.

    "Yes, but it should all be handled now."

    At that moment, Aina appeared. After her battle ax disappeared, she knew that it was Leonel, but she couldn''t help her curiosity.

    However, the moment she appeared, the atmosphere completely changed.

    Leonel had been just fine until now, but his rage boiled over in an instant. All the color drained from Nana''s face and she fell back, almost collapsing to the ground.

    Veins of crimson spread across Leonel''s face and body, his jaw clenching so tight that his teeth actually cracked and fractured in several locations. However, he didn''t seem to feel the pain at all.

    His gaze was locked onto Aina''s belly and his rage had consumed even his breath, constricting his lungs and his heart alike. He couldn''t even take a breath without feeling like he was inhaling scorching magma.

    ''I''ll kill themбн I''ll kill them allбн''

    Leonel''s thoughts were barely coherent as he reached a hand forward, too fast for anyone to react.

    He pressed his fingers against Aina''s belly and pulled, his fingers flickering with dense violet flames.

    His thoughts went completely black, and at that moment, the waves of the Inbetween World began to roll and surge, forming tsunamis that towered into the skies.

 Chapter 3073 Wrath

    3073  Wrath Leonel had been angry many times in his life before. He had even thought that he had reached the pinnacle of what was possible for him. He had watched his father die, his own mother had died for him, his world was destroyed, his life was played at the hands of his own grandmother, he had even watched his own wife die before him once before.

    He had been through so much, experienced so much, but nothing could have prepared him for this moment.

    Many said that it was impossible to understand the breadth of a parent''s heart or what they were willing to do for their child.

    The baby wasn''t even a tangible idea in Leonel''s heart just yet. He didn''t know its gender, what it would grow up to be, what kind of quirks and personality it might haveбн he knew none of that.

    He had always thought himself to be a rational person to a fault. Was it even possible for him to love something that he didn''t know or understand yet? To be pulled by the whims of evolution and instinct instead of the control of his own mind?

    But right this moment, all of those thoughts went out the window. He felt rage to the point that it was almost irrational, as though he would crawl across a bed of rusted nails with nothing more than his teeth to pull him forward if he could just take a single bite out of the perpetrator''s flesh. He wanted to boil their blood and stew their bones, dig out their eyes and pull their brains out through their noses.

    The rage was so palpable that even Anarchic Force seemed to tremble, unable to come close to the savagery being exuded from Leonel''s mind alone.

    There was no one that sensed this aura that didn''t feel a dense sense of fear. The only person that saw it as something else was his wife herself.

    Her face paled, but not because of Leonel''s aura. It was instead because he had pressed a hand to her belly and that could only mean one thing.

    Her babyбн what happened to her baby?

    Aina almost delicately grabbed onto Leonel''s wrist as though she didn''t have any strength left in her body at all. She trembled all over, anxiously waiting for Leonel to finish and not daring to speak a single word.

    She went back to her usual habit, biting her lip so hard that she drew blood.

    Despite his rage, Leonel was in a state of unprecedented focus. If anything, his rage only focused him more. If his enemies thought that they could make him lose his mind like this, they were sorely mistaken.

    They would regret this day. He would make sure they did. He would make every one of them feel his wrath.

    He wasn''t just infuriated with them either. He was infuriated with himself, for not noticing earlier, for allowing his child, no matter how immature, to suffer even the slightest inconvenience.

    If not for running across Nana, he might have only noticed when it was far too late.

    He had been trying to respect Aina''s wishes. She didn''t want him to know what gender she had chosen, so he hadn''t been checking. He let her control everything.

    Of course, at this stage, he wouldn''t be able to tell a gender with just a look either, not unless he looked down closely into his child''s very cells. But he had kept it as a nice little secret for his wife to be happy about.

    He didn''t expect that this would be the opening his enemies needed.

    The suggestion that had been on the Battle Ax Heirloom simply didn''t work on Aina. With her Clairvoyance, even though their Soul Bind was no longer there, her ability to combat Dream Force, especially the subtle kind, was too high. She was too clear on her own thoughts, so any stray thoughts could be easily ignored by her. "Suggestion" simply didn''t work on her.

    However, who would have expected that upon realizing this, the suggestion would actually turn to a new target?  S~ea??h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Their baby''s soul was too fresh and new. It could be said that right this moment, it would never be easier to affect its mind and its path.

    It was simply unforgivable.

    Leonel didn''t know what their plan was exactly. Maybe they wanted to use their baby as a trump card, maybe they wanted to use their child as a hostage, maybe they wanted to turn their child against them in the future.

    Every potential route Leonel thought of just added to his fury, all the ways this could have gone, all the paths their lives could have taken.

    The two of them just wanted to be happy. They had both lost so much in their lives, the world itself didn''t even seem to have much time left at all, and yet these people still insisted on targeting his bottom line again and again.

    Leonel''s irises turned entirely red his fury reaching its absolute peak.

    The Dream Plane of the God Realm seemed to be thrown into complete upheaval. A venomous fury spread all across the land as though a monument to Leonel''s anger was being built.

    It rose higher and higher until it couldn''t be ignored by even the strongest Dream Force experts.

    Leonel didn''t care for the changes one bit, his focus entirely on the baby in his wife''s belly.

    She continued to hold onto his wrist, the two of them standing there together. Their reactions were completely different, but there was a clear solidarity between the husband and wife at that moment.

    It was then that the Soul Bind that had been destroyed began to be forcefully etched back into place. Their baby formed a bridge between the two of them, a pactбн an oath that the two of them would be the hands that held up the skies for their child.

    Whoever had done this would suffer their wrath.

 Chapter 3074 Bestowment

    3074  Bestowment Leonel pulled his hand back, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself. He didn''t have a target to vent on right now; he had already killed all of the Adurna family''s army. And, now that he was finished, he didn''t have anything else to focus his anger on.

    "Leonelбн" Aina said softly, looking up at him with a pleading expression.  sea??h thз╫ N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel felt his heart breaking when he saw how fragile she looked. She was one of the strongest women he knew, and yet they had made her end up in such a state.

    Aina had been carrying a burden all alone since she was a child. His journey had only started days before his 18th birthday, but she had been pushing herself hard since she was a mere toddler.

    Every step of the way, she took it with a grit of her teeth and hardly a falter. Part of what made her so fragile in the face of the Puppet Master was precisely because he took away the one aspect of her life that she could control completely and wholly: her own body.

    But now, this strong woman looked as though she might collapse with the slightest breeze. She was teetering on the edge, waiting for Leonel''s words. She didn''t even have the presence of mind to realize their souls had been connected once again. She could easily read Leonel''s mind if she wanted to.

    Leonel pulled her into his arms, pressing her head to his chest with a gentle hand.

    "It''s all okay. The baby is safe," he said softly.

    Aina trembled when she heard this and tears began to fall. Her sobs reverberated through his chest and every tremble made Leonel feel as though another piece of his heart was falling away.

    In the end, he still wasn''t strong enough. Part of the reason he wanted to avoid having children for now was because he didn''t want Aina to have to deal with this very problem right here.

    Leonel gently stroked her hair, the rage in his eyes slowly cooling into a heart-shuddering indifference. All that anger was suppressed into a small kernel in the depths of his mind, seemingly ready to explode at any given moment.

    It took a few minutes for Aina to regain her bearings, her sniffling slowing down.

    Little Nana stood to the side, her own eyes red. She wasn''t exactly sure what happened, but her guesses painted enough of a picture. Still, she didn''t interrupt the two.

    "бн I''ll, go back now," Aina said softly, pulling away from Leonel''s chest.

    Leonel cupped her cheek, looking down at her as he wiped her tears away with a thumb.

    "I''ll kill them all. I promise." He spoke softly, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

    Aina closed her eyes, seemingly basking in the tenderness of his lips. Slowly, her shaky breath calmed.

    She suppressed her own fury, not wanting to affect the baby. She didn''t know how Leonel had done it, but their Soul Bind was back. Now, there was no way any Dream Force would slip by her.

    She had never had any interest in training Dream Force in the past because she didn''t need it. But now she would make it her sole focus. She would never allow someone to target her baby like that again.

    Soon, she vanished into the Segmented Cube.

    Leonel closed his own eyes after she vanished. Digging deep, he could feel that suppressed fury. His mind was hard to control at this point and he wanted nothing more than to rush off and find who was responsible immediately.

    08:09

    But he knew that this wasn''t possible. Whoever was strong enough to do this was more than likely one of the highest echelon members of the Four Great Families. They would certainly be under a great deal of protection.

    There was even a chance that they weren''t the only ones that were involved. After all, back then, the Four Great Families had to abandon their weapons for a reason. This would give another power all the chance in the world to tamper. Or, it could be the case that the Four Great Families were truly willing to collude with their masters to this extent.

    Leonel wouldn''t put anything past those worthless dogs.

    Organizing his thoughts took more time than Leonel would usually think. After a long while, he managed to open his eyes again, looking toward Little Nana.

    "Little Nana, from now on, follow your natural path and progression."

    "Leonel, is everythingбн"

    Leonel shook his head. "It''s fine. Things worked out and they will pay for what they tried to do."

    "бн I seeбн I think I wasted three years, then," Nana said with a bitter smile.

    She had put her everything into training the sword in these years, and her progress was less than satisfactoryбн and that was probably exactly what her opponents wanted. They didn''t want her to have the chance to bring out the full potential of the shield.

    She had thought that maybe it was because she was too useless before, but now, even though she knew it was because of external interference, she still couldn''t feel at ease. Was it already too late to fix things?

    Leonel walked toward her and then pressed a finger to her forehead.

    Dream Path.

    It was a skill that Leonel hadn''t used in a very long time. Back in the Dimensional Verse, it was this skill of his Ability Index that he used to help his brothers progress more quickly by illuminating the path ahead of them.

    But back then, his Simulation abilities were imperfect, and though he did help them greatly, it couldn''t be said that he had given them their perfect path.

    Now, however, things were different. His Ability Index had reached an unprecedented level and his Simulation abilities were perfect within reason. If his target was singular and the variables were limited, it was a simple matterбн especially now that he had the other half of his Ability Index and Emperor''s Might on top that. Not only was he capable of elucidating such a path, but he could bestow Titles much like King Alexandre had.

    The difference between himself and King Alexandre, thoughбн was that his bestowments were far beyond just mere Titles.

    C

 Chapter 3075 Thank You

    Chapter 3075  Thank You Just now, what Leonel had done seemed easy, but it required entering the world of the Adurna family''s Heirloom.

    The Lineage Factor of the Adurna family was quite simple. It was defensive and was designed to, as one might expect, increase defenses. It was a coating of a special concentrated Force that formed a crystalline skeleton over their bodies.

    The weakest version of the Lineage Factor, and the one Leonel was most familiar with, was just a coating of skin. But it could increase to the point that it coated bones and even the inner lining of organs. At the highest levels, not only would you be able to control this Force to express itself into the air or attach itself onto other Forces, but it was also possible to extend its abilities beyond simple applications of defense.

    After seeing through the depth of the Adurna family Heirloom, all of these thoughts coalesced and came together for Leonel quite clearly.  Sз╫ar?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He was able to see Nana''s truest potential even more clearly than he could see his own thanks to this. And as a resultбн it only took a single point.

    "Are you ready for your Title, Nana?" Leonel asked softly.

    Nana nodded seriously.

    Leonel smiled. It was a bit of a sad smile since the previous occurrences hadn''t been completely cleared from his mind, but it was still a sincere smile nonetheless, like an older brother hoping his little sister would soar.

    "We are all people of Earthбн"

    "Butбн" Nana hesitated. She was only somewhat a citizen of Earth. Though she was born there, she was technically a traitor.

    Leonel''s smile didn''t fade, shaking his head.

    "We are all people of Earthбн"

    Nana''s large blue eyes brimmed with tears, but she just barely managed to stop them from falling.

    "бн In that case, I will give you a Title that reflects the people of Earth. Their stories, their myths, their hopes and dreamsбн

    "I''ll bestow you the Title of Athena."

    There was a sudden strong surge of Dream Force as the world quaked.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that in order for Earth to make it to the God Realm, they, and the Dimensional Verse as a whole, had to go through a great dealбн the most powerful Sub-Dimensional Zone reflected legends that Leonel could only dream of as a child.

    The Greek Gods and Athena were among them, and there were many times that Earth had sent groups that were entirely wiped out due to those Gods alone.

    After finally clearing this Sub-Dimensional Zone, Earth also gained their Inheritances. Right now, some of the most powerful non-ruling families of Earth relied on these Inheritances.

    The Green Prime Grand Minister Family, for example, gained the Inheritance of Demeter.

    There were real Gods in existence that represented this role, and though they weren''t nearly as strong as Gervaise, they were powerhouses in their own right. To try and bestow someone else their Title, it would certainly require a feat, and they would also most definitely sense it.

    But at the same time, this very thing allowed the Title to hold all the more power.

    BOOM!

    A mental block within Nana seemed to have been completely ripped apart. It was like she finally realized that she was capable of things that she had always been capable ofбн but had never had enough belief to follow through on.

    Her strength didn''t seem to have changed at all, and yet its comprehensive, cohesion, and fluidity had reached a whole other level.

    At the same time, she felt that her improvement into the future would onlyбн

    BOOM!

    Nana''s hair began to whip about wildly, an enormous manifestation rising up behind her. It reflected herself in all its perfection.

    But then, it began to change.

    In one hand, she raised up a shield, gorgeous and resplendent in its crystalline light. In the other, she raised up not a weapon, but an owl. This owl exuded a pressure of wisdom, carrying the hidden intent of Nana''s Ability Index. It commanded the world not with its strength, but with its wisdom. Everywhere its gaze passed by, the world seemed to freeze.

    Beautiful in its simplicity, harrowing in its presence. The dichotomy played off of one another until it solidified into a single aura, one of a Goddess that looked down upon the world from above.

    It took a long while before Nana''s aura settled down. She had just formed a Dharma, and she felt like she was just one step away from completing her own Idol. Her power had risen to an entirely new level, one that she found hard to put into words.

    Leonel nodded with satisfaction.

    Guiding someone in Force Manipulation, especially when the last few stages required personal thought and breakthroughs, was incredibly difficult. If he wasn''t careful, he could cut off Nana''s path to improvement entirely.

    But now, his Dream Force control was on a completely different level. He was able to use a combination of suggestion and tangible change to the world and mind state to make a person believe that they had comprehended it all on their ownбн when technically they had.

    The end result was just a single step shy of what his grandfather had accomplishedбн but arguably far more impressive.

    His grandfather used Emperor''s Might to create his own Idol at just seven years old, but Leonel used his own to help someone else reach the state of Dharma. Both of these things were extremely difficult to do, but the latter was certainly on the higher end of difficultyбн if one ignored age, that is.

    That said, in Leonel''s defense, unlike his grandfather, he hadn''t been born in a perfect environment.

    Nonetheless, it seemed that only time would tell whose abilities were superior.

    Nana snapped out of her daze and a light of excitement lit her large blue eyes. Leonel had basically just helped her recover her wasted three years and then some. Even if she had followed her true path from the start, she wouldn''t have made it so far so quickly.

    "Thank you, Leonel!"

 Chapter 3076 So What?

    Chapter 3076  So What? "Finished?" Leonel spoke to Anastasia.  sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It had been over a week since Leonel''s last battle, and he had been forced to sit with his rage for a long while. But he knew that he didn''t have much of a choice.

    Being too eager right now would have the opposite effect. His killing intent had already leaked into the Dream Plane, and it could be said that most Dream Force experts were waiting for the other shoe to drop. But the number that knew it was him should be zero.

    Leonel was no longer the same vulnerable young man he was in the past. Although he had yet to form a Dharma, his Dream Force had already reached the very limits of the Creation State. There didn''t exist anyone in the world that could manipulate or see through his mind as they pleasedбн at least not without him noticing.

    One shouldn''t misunderstand what a Dharma and Idol were. Technically, the Peak of the Creation State was already the extreme of Force control, there was nothing beyond it. Rather than being a type of Force comprehension, one''s Dharma or Idol were just extensions of oneself and one''s understanding of oneself.

    If the Creation State was the pinnacle of understanding the world, the Idol was the pinnacle of understanding oneself and carving out a place in the world that even Existence couldn''t ignore.

    This was all to say that Leonel''s Dream Force comprehension right now might not be unmatched in power, but in terms of understanding the ins and outs of the Force, there was no one who was beyond him.

    "Yes, but a lot has changed. It took too long. By the time I got to the end, the beginning had changedбн" Anastasia replied, feeling a bit guilty.

    The Inbetween World was too volatile, and temporary islands didn''t last for long. It took Anastasia over a week to finish, so it was to be expected that much of the original landscape had already changed.

    "That''s okay, I expected as much already. Send it to my mind."

    Even if there was a change, there would be a pattern to take advantage of. If one''s temporary island was destroyed, the likelihood they would create another in the vicinity was high.

    In addition, construction on an island definitely started long before one collapsed. So there would even be clues to where the next one might be even if they weren''t so lazy.

    "Are you sure?" Anastasia was taken aback. Usually, she had to filter out what she was seeing so that she wouldn''t overwhelm Leonel''s mind. But now it seemed he was asking for all of it.

    Leonel smiled lightly. "Don''t worry. My mind now is no longer the same as in the past."

    "бн Okay."

    Though hesitant, Anastasia ended up complying. Ultimately, she still had some blind faith in Leonel. Because of her mental limitations, she didn''t even think to start slow just in case, she just did as she was told.

    Leonel hadn''t wasted his hundred years of torture. That much was obvious considering his new strength, but an unexpected boon of that time were the changes to his mind.

    His soul underwent constant tempering. He was forced to breakthrough in his own willpower again and again, and that directly translated to his Dream Forceбн

    Respect and Persistence.

    It was perfectly in line with his Dream Force Path. Although he wasn''t able to comprehend a Dharma, that was one, because he hadn''t been at the pinnacle of the Creation State at the time to begin with, and two, because of the Time Warp.

    After Leonel left, not to mention triggered his Persistence again after battering against his grandfather''s barrier, he broke into the Peak Creation State and all of those locked insights came flooding out at once.

    It was a different sort of accumulation, and it could be said that Leonel was a bit lucky that his Dream Force could be progressed in this way, otherwise it would have been easy for his insights to become twisted by the time warp.

    In the end, his Dream Force couldn''t be described simply at allбн in fact, this actually made it much harder for him to form a Dharma in the future because his Dream Force had simply become too powerful.

    But it was also this power that gave him the capability to finally withstand Anastasia''s computational ability.

    Leonel sat in silence for a long time, his eyes almost dull. For a moment, Anastasia was actually worried that his soul had been obliterated.

    But soon, Leonel''s gaze brightened up and a powerful aura exuded from him.

    This powerful aura was tempered and restrained quickly as he slowly stood to his feet.

    With a step, Leonel began to gather up his brothers.

    "We''re going on a mission, boys," Leonel said.

    "Doesn''t sound like a normal mission."

    Leonel grinned. "It isn''t."

    With a wave of his hand, he was once again wearing their uniforms, a sniper rifle appearing on his back and thick black military gear bathing him from head to toe.

    "Haha!" Raj laughed to the skies. "Put me in, coach!"

    "Those bastards dared to touch my little nephewбн" Arnold surprisingly spoke, catching everyone off guard. Then, everyone burst into laughter at once.

    "Arnold, dammit, you don''t even know what the gender is yet."

    Miland gave Arnold, who was already embarrassed about his little slip up, a heavy slap on the back. The big guy could only rub his nose.

    "Look at him, to think the Russian mob boss would be looking forward to being an uncle. This is adorable," James spoke between bellies of laughter.

    Leonel smiled, hints of warmth and coldness flashing through his eyes.

    It was the same for all of his brothers. They seemed to be laughing now, but they were truly all truly infuriated.

    The enemies they were facing had no morals, no bottom line, no sense of humanity. In that case, why should they care at all?

    Leonel was a man who would rather save a child than give himself great power. He always had lines he would never crossбн

    But since they had taken things so far, so what if they all became Demons?

 Chapter 3077 Hazy Memories

    Chapter 3077  Hazy Memories "What?" The news of the complete wipeout of an Adurna troop took their upper echelon off guard. It wasn''t a particularly powerful troop, but the problem were the plans that were based around them.

    Obviously, ever since the loss of their Heirloom, one of their main targets was Nana. The problem was that the opponent wasn''t stupid, how could they not know this as well?

    At the start, Nana was nowhere near the battlefield, having become a highly protected asset by the Ascension Empire. Even getting to her was a nightmare, let alone finding a method to take their Heirloom back.

    But that was when they were approached by a party and something was suggested.

    At first, they were infuriated. That was because this party all but admitted to tampering with their Heirloom in advance.

    That was right, the suggestion left on the Heirlooms wasn''t the fault of the Four Great Families at all, but rather an existence working in the background. As for exactly who that existence was, even the Four Great Families weren''t 100% certain yet, and the reason for that uncertainty was becauseбн there were too many people who wanted the Fawkes dead and gone.

    Until now, they had received help, whether directly or indirectly, from the Sylvans, the Void Race, and even the Beastman Race. Those were just the large figures as well. There was still subtle hints of help coming from the newly risen God Races such as the Owlansбкor rather the Minerva as they now called themselvesбкand even the Barbarian Race.

    This shadowy figure seemed to be lurking and unwilling to reveal their identity, so this seemed to likewise point to the fact that they weren''t among these few. Butбн that would be thinking that was too rigid.

    Maybe it was precisely because their Race was already overtly helping the Four Great Families that they thought being covert now would help cover up their identity all the more.

    After all, who would suspect that this hidden figure was actually part of those other Races already? Why expose themselves then, but hide themselves now?

    Did they fear the Four Great Families? That was possible. Tampering with the Heirlooms was obviously crossing a bottomline. But there was something off about itбн

    Why did they need to reveal the fact it had been tampered with in the first place? Wouldn''t that just give the Four Great Families the runway they needed to ensure that they had a countermeasure in the future?

    It was all too confusing, and it made them feel as though there was a larger web at play here.

    But larger web or not, it was all irrelevantбн not when their plans had suddenly taken a hit.

    Thanks to the suggestion, they had been able to slowly coax Nana into both following the wrong path and into the battlefield. The unfortunate part was that she was still in a fair protected region and there were too many layers of formations and armies between herself. So it was hard to send their very best at her.

    They chose to take the slower route instead, carefully chiseling away at her psyche. They had been gearing up until the time was ripe to both strike and force Nana into making a tactical error. It would be a year at most before they had her in their clutches.

    For an army to suddenly be wiped out in combat with her suggested that something had gone wrong. There shouldn''t be anyone powerful enough in that region to do such a thing, and they should know because they kept close tabs on one another.

    As restricted as the Adurna were in moving their armies, the Fawkes army was likewise just as restricted. They were essentially in a game of tug of war.

    Now receiving this news, the head of the Adurna family, Nysa, couldn''t help but have a gloomy expression on her face.

    "I have a speculation, Headбн I don''t know if you''d care to hear it?" A man deep into his middle-ages spoke, his blue hair looking far lighter than the others, a sign of aging in their Four Great Families. Thoughбн it could also be a sign of strength.

    "Speak, Anemos."

    "Our spies have reported that Leonel Morales has woken up and caused a great deal of commotion in the Ascension Empire. Soon after, he killed three of his cousins and his aunt. Following this, he was punished with a hundred years of military service and was shipped to this battlefield."  Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Nysa frowned. She had heard that Leonel Morales had woken up. Most believed that his talent was dead in the water after what the Demoness did to him. Many of their memories of exactly what occurred back then were hazy because it had been a battle of two supreme Dream Force users, even they couldn''t escape their fuzzy thoughts.

    But the broad strokes were sharp enough to conclude a few things.

    First, Leonel was crippled. Two, the Demoness had managed to survive as the only lasting member of the Primordial Terrors faction. Three, the Celestial Terras had been suppressed within the confines of the Four God Beast Territories as it seemed that the other three God Beast factions were not happy with them for one reason or another.

    As for the other details, such as the familial tie between Leonel and the Demoness, or Leonel revealing that the Demoness had been responsible for everything from start to finishбн well, they had no idea.

    The only person who remembered such things was Leonel himself. As for his grandfather, he hadn''t even been present for that matter so he had no ability to force himself to remember.

    Though there were certainly other Dream Force experts in existence strong enough to forcefully remember something the Demoness wanted them to forget, none of them had been physically present at the scene, and as such, it was impossible for them to recall something they didn''t witness in the first placeбн

    "What does this have to do with anything?" Nysa asked.

 Chapter 3078 Cripple

    Chapter 3078  Cripple Anemos had already expected this kind of response. There was a lot of anger toward Leonel, but they were also well aware of his strength.

    Back then, he had taken advantage of several factors in order to strengthen himself, many of the details of which were incredibly hazy. However, it was enough for them to know that his power back then wasn''t natural at all.

    And that was when he had access to his full array of talents. What about now that he was a cripple?

    One might wonder why the Demoness would even want people to know this. If others knew she had taken Leonel''s talent, then it might be possible for clever individuals with powerful Dream Force to be able to reverse engineer what had happened back then.

    There was also the Pluto who were still shocking powerhouses. Even El''Rion had been able to reverse time in the Dream Plane to experience what had happened in his absenceбн so what could the strongest members of the Pluto Race do?

    There were several factors to this.

    First, the Demoness was far more powerful than anyone knew. Simply putбн she saw the entirety of existence as her chess board, and her pieces didn''t avoid the Pluto Race. She actively used them when it suited her needs. She feared no one.

    And secondбн this wasn''t her intention in the first place.

    The reason Leonel could be known as a cripple now was because he had survived when he shouldn''t have. Not only that, but his survival was tied to the death of one of the three strongest existences of the Ascension Empire.

    This was all to say that it was impossible to make hazy the memory of Leonel becoming a cripple because him being alive was evidence enough, and the people the Ascension Empire could never forget their First Imperial Princess.

    The moment they wondered why it was their shining beacon had died, they would remember that it was in order to save her son, and they would, by extension understand that Leonel was a cripple as a result.

    The reason this was so important was because this was also the lynchpin that Leonel was using to recall everything as well.

    No matter how powerful the Demoness'' Dream Force, it was impossible for her to make Leonel forget his own motherбн and so long as he remembered that smiling face, there would come a day he got his revenge.

    By extension of all of these matters, the world knew as well.

    Ironically, this was also even more important for Leonel''s survival. It was because this idea of him being a cripple pervaded that the God Races had never truly gone all out to crush him.

    With this background, it was clear why Nya and many of the other elders that were present couldn''t help but look toward Anemos with a weird glint in their eyes.

    Anemos looked around and sighed. None of the Four Great Families specialized in Dream Force, all of their skills were combat oriented. Originally, they were meant to be secondary protectors of the Human Race, following after the Envoys. As such, they were warriors.

    As such, it was difficult for the few among them who did have a strong understanding of Dream Force to explain such matters. Anemos was even partly convinced that from the very beginning, the Four Great Families were too susceptible to manipulation precisely because of this great weakness.  Sear?h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "I want to say that I do not think that it is a coincidence that this matter occurred mere hours after Leonel was scheduled to arrive on the battlefield.

    "Even if you take this boy as a cripple, his intelligence cannot be underestimated. All things considered, he stood on a battlefield of Gods at the mere Sixth Dimension. Even if he''s become weaker nowбн"

    "As far as I know, his crippling extends to his mind. Without his foundation of Dream Force talents to rely on, even the Life Tablet is useless in his hands." Another elder interjected.

    A fiery discussion suddenly sparked before Nysa put a hand up.

    "That''s enough. Finish what you want to say Anemos. Let''s say I accept that this was the fault of Leonel Morales. What would you have us do?"

    "We need to start tracking odd occurrences. Assuming that it is Leonel Morales, we can conclude that he has a very rare spatial treasure capable of transporting large numbers of living beings in an instant.

    "I was confused as to why the Fawkes did not take it from him as it would be an invaluable war weapon, but it is very likely that it has made an appearance.

    "We need to find a way to track his movement patterns and kill him swiftly."

    In an Inbetween World of this caliber, most spatial devices didn''t work properly. Those that were powerful enough tended to only be capable of carrying inanimate, non-living objects.

    It also had to be remembered that just in order to carry a single Ninth Dimensional existence in the first place, a spatial device would have to both be capable of carrying living things, and be extraordinarily powerful.

    Without this, it would be impossible for them to be of any use.

    It could be said that the Segmented Cube was the only treasure in existence capable of doing such a thing. It was worthy of being the Magnum Opus of the Fallen Minerva Race even if it was a failed product in Leonel''s eyes.

    When Anemos said this, far more people accepted it. If it wasn''t Leonel, but rather Leonel''s treasure doing all of this, it would make far more sense.

    "Lay out your plan in more detail." Nysa spoke again.

    "Yesбн"

    Anemos began to lay out everything as he saw it and their eyes became brighter and brighter.

    Just as Nysa was about to adjourn the meeting so that they could go execute, a cold, shadowy aura suddenly appeared.

    Nysa''s eyes sharpened as he recognized it. This was the aura of the mysterious figure.

    "Things have changed," a raspy voice spoke out. "My suggestion has been destroyed."

    Nysa''s eyes opened wide.

 Chapter 3079 A Cripple?

    Chapter 3079  A Cripple? The shock was palpable.

    No one here was a fool. In order for them to even listen to such a mysterious figure in the first place, they had to have displayed an adequate level of power, one that made the Four Great Families wary at the very least.

    They dared to make an enemy of Gervaise, and that was enough to speak about their level of overall power. For them to choose to team up with someone who had tampered with their Heirlooms instead of going all out to eradicate them, one could imagine the level of strength this shadowy figure had to have displayed.

    How could such a person''s suggestion be overridden so easily?

    That was just the first problem. A far more shocking thing was the implication that, in order to destroy the suggestion in the first place, it had to be found. That was a whole other layer of difficulty.

    Was it even possible for a person to do such a thing? The Heirlooms were the most important items in all the Four Great Families and yet they had no idea that they had been tampered with; how could someone else figure it out before they did?

    The only explanation seemed to be that there was some internal struggle going on within the power this shadowy figure was from, but why would they go so far as to destroy something like this? This didn''t seem to help them either. Wouldn''t it be better to take advantage of such a carefully laid plan?

    That was when the shadowy figure continued to speak and their eyes opened wide.

    "It was Leonel Morales."

    They didn''t know how to take this information, but it was no doubt the truth since this shadowy figure had no reason to lie to them, or to make such a bold statement.

    Still, Nysa had no choice but to ask.

    "How do you know this?"

    "You don''t need to know. All you need to do is understand your target, their weaknesses, and take advantage accordingly."

    With a flick of their hands, an object fell and landed in Nysa''s palm.

    "Use this." The shadowy figure continued to speak. "His Dream Force level is far beyond yours. Without this, you will suffer greatly."

    After saying these things, the figure vanished.

    The figure had only ever admitted to tampering with the Adurna family''s Heirloom. None of them knew that they had actually tampered with all four of them.  Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Of course, the other families had still done their own checks after finding out about this matter, but they hadn''t been able to find anything. If they were aware of this, the so-called Four Great Families would be even more shocked by Leonel''s feat.

    By now, with this said, it was obvious why it was that the figure was able to figure out that it was Leonel. That wasn''t because they had sensed Leonel, but rather because the suggestion on Leonel''s child had disappeared around the same time that all-pervading killing intent spread through the Dream Plane.

    There was no doubt that that killing intent was aimed toward this shadowy figure and the Four Great Families. And after sensing it, the figure couldn''t help but feel a frighteningly cold chill pervade their spine.

    They had never sensed such unbridled fury before, and this was in the case that Leonel''s child had come out unharmed.

    What would have happened had they fully succeeded? For the first time, the shadowy figure felt hints of relief that their plan didn''t work out as expected. Otherwiseбн

    It was hard to tell just what might have happened to the landscape of the God Realm.

    What others didn''t know was that Leonel had only lost to the Demoness for a single reason: she started planning long before he did, and he had lived decades of his life without even knowing of her existence.

    But now, after his first true death, he had already been expended as a piece on her chess board. There was no one in existence left that was capable of reining him in.

    ''It should be enough,'' the shadowy figure thought, looking back toward the Four Great Families, thinking of the item they had left behind.

    Dream Force experts were on the scale of the God Realm were truly fearsome. In fact, it was a very good thing that there were no official God Races that specialized in Dream Force any longer. Otherwise, it would likely be extremely difficult for any other powers to rise in their presence, at least not without being manipulated in ways they couldn''t fathom.

    The Fawkes Family was still much too small, while the Dream Asuras, whether by design or not, was still very much a Demi-God Race unless the other Demi-Gods who almost all took the opportunity to take that final step.

    Still, while there were no Races on a large enough scale that specialized in this Force, there were still extraordinary experts. Much like how the dangers of Spatial Force were contended against with various formations and counters, powerful families and powers all had the capability of combating the worst Dream Force had to offer.

    Some methods were more potent than others, and likewise, some cost a pretty penny just to put into action.

    Given that this environment was an Inbetween World, the difficulty of countering Dream Force was exceptionally high because the cost of using Dream Force in the first place was extremely high.

    It could be said that Leonel had only been able to succeed so easily in countering the suggestion precisely because they were in the Inbetween World. However, this was still what shocked the shadowy figure the most and caused them to make such a sacrifice.

    So long as Leonel dared to rely on his Dream Force to start forcing large scale changes, he would be ensnared and pinned down. At that point, the shadowy figure would take personal action.

    A cripple? Even if Leonel was that, he was too dangerous to allow to live for a moment longer.

 Chapter 3080 Chaos

    Chapter 3080  Chaos Leonel stood in silence, overlooking an island. Moments ago, this island couldn''t be said to be vibrant, but it had been bustling with life. Now, however, it was burning in an inferno of flames, slowly sinking into the thick black waters below. There was a light of indifference in his eyes, one that looked down on the world as though no amount of death or destruction could faze him. And yet, that was in direct contrast to the beautiful fluttering violet lights around him.

    In his hundred years of seclusion, Leonel had only really been able to focus on himself. The pain of constantly tempering his body with Weapon Forces was obvious enough, but what it taught him a lot about was the state of his body. What was interesting about this approach was that it came with an ingenuity and understanding of his current condition that only those with Clairvoyance could matchбн

    But it also made Leonel realize that his Control Ability Index was exactly that but a step beyond. Clairvoyance was to understand what your body needed and when. But his Control Ability Index, when taken to its logical extreme, was about shifting the state of the body to suit the needs of himself at any given time.

    Aina was following along the path most suitable for herself, but Leonel was able to take the reins and shift courses when it was necessary. The difference between Leonel and Aina was that even before her death, her Ability Index was incredibly potent. After her death, her Ability Index became mind-numbingly strong.

    In just the three years Leonel had spent out, she had already progressed to her seventh Rebirth, having stepped into the Ninth Dimension while he was unconscious. Her current strength, if not for the baby, was certainly enough to strike fear, and there was no doubt that her name had come with quite a bit of terror whenever it was spoken these days.

    Leonel, howeverбн well, his Ability Index, he was now realizing, was never actually his strong suit. It had only become extremely powerful over the course of his journey thanks to the techniques he created for it, and most importantly, his natural Dream Force talent.

    It had to be remembered that all Ability Indexes came in five stages, with the fifth being exclusive to Savants. Some people automatically awakened theirs to the fourth stage. If you were a Savant, you would automatically awaken it to the fifth.

    But now that Leonel thought backбн his Ability Index awoke at the first stage. He had taken the C-Grade that the Ascension Empire''s watch had given him to be a joke or a mistake, especially since not long afterward, his Ability Index began to display more and more powerful skills.

    But now that he had recontextualized everything, and especially knowing everything his grandfather would have known about the extended Dimensional Verse and beyondбн How could Gervaise have made such a mistake?

    It could be said that if Leonel was born with his Ability Index alone, without any of his other supporting Dream Force talents, his Dream Force affinity would be classified as middling or even worse than that.

    However, because he had the Northern Star Lineage Factor, because he had Dream Asura Blood, because he was a Wise Star Order, because he had King''s Might, because he had both Dream Asura Lineage Factorsбн His Dream Force talent overruled what Existence gifted him in an Ability Index, allowing it to soar, quickly moving from the first stage, to the second, and eventually the very pinnacle of the fourth.

    It was quite funny when he thought about itбн it had actually taken him so long to figure that out mostly because of his own personal arrogance.

    But the question wasбн why was all that important now? What did it even have to do with the current situation?

    The reality was that Leonel could be said to be the first person in history to become a Savant by forceful means. His Dream Force talent was so high, and he pushed against the fourth stage''s ceiling so hard, that he eventually broke right through.

    When he did so, he gained a vision that allowed him to see the other side of the coin, the opposing party to his Control Ability Index, King Alexandre''sбн

    However, this still didn''t explain why this was important now.

    Leonel looked at the violet lights fluttering around him. For the first time, he really looked at them.

    All his life, there had been two forces pushing and pulling at him. One of them was a dense crimson energy that seemed to want to destroy all thingsбн the other was a beautiful violet energy that wanted to nurture and heal.

    Leonel never really understood what they were. He thought the crimson energy only came from his near failed attempt to awaken his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, while the violet came from a mutation in his King''s Might.

    What was funny was thatбн he was right. That was exactly where these energies came from. Happenstance and the gambling of nature.

    And because of that gamble, he was able to  Sear?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    see things, feel things, understand things that most could never dream of.

    From the very beginning, the strength he needed to jump off the Demoness'' chess board was right in front of him, two complete variables that she had never considered before.

    Leonel still remembered the small light of surprise in the Demoness'' eyes when she fought him in Flaura''s body. Back then, he had been too enraged to even care and thought it was related to the fact he had touched upon True Destruction back then.

    But after those hundred grueling years, Leonel realized that this wasn''t the case.

    He was a unique combination of Destruction and Creation forced into a single bodyбн He had always been. And because of that, he could touch onto a concept that hadn''t been seen since the beginning of time.

    Chaos.

    The improbability of life, the chance for predictions to veer so wildly off course that even the sharpest minds couldn''t keep up, a complete wild card.

    Being this wildcard was what allowed him to break the rule of the fourth stageбн And he was only getting started with breaking rules.

    The first was his Weapon Force Constitution.

    The second was his Weapon Force Innate Node, the very first of its kind.

    The third was his now God Childe-level Ability Index.

    The fourth was controlling Anarchic Force to fuse with his own Forces in battle.

    And the fifthбн

    Well, it was going to give his enemies a very bad time.

    Protections against Dream Force? What a joke.

 Chapter 3081 Heirlooms

    Chapter 3081  Heirlooms The number of military encampments that Leonel and his brothers destroyed was only growing. Every time they acted, it was swift and decisive, and their advantage couldn''t be described in just a few words. Of course, that had to be the case; a squad of barely more than ten was continuously taking down armies numbered in the thousands at worst, so there had to be a secret to it.

    Obviously, that secret was twofoldбн

    First, Leonel had a God Beast of Destruction by his side. This world was practically Blackstar''s oyster.

    And secondбн he knew how to pick his targets. Why would he go to a place he wasn''t sure he could wipe out just yet? He didn''t care how weak they were, whether they were a distraction or a vanguard, he didn''t even care if they were forcefully enlisted from the ranks of the Four Great Families.

    He killed them all.

    By the time they got support, Leonel and his brothers were already long gone and no information seemed capable of reaching the ears of his enemies.

    Until now, they were still under the impression that Leonel was leading large armies for the Fawkes, swiftly killing them all with overwhelming numbers. Never could they have realized that all Leonel was doing was with nothing more than a few brothers of his own.

    A week later, they returned to Nana''s army.

    бн

    "Do the scan again," Leonel said while speaking with Anastasia. They had no choice but to return because the last few islands they visited were too off the mark. So obviously, Anastasia''s previous scan had become outdated. But that was fine.

    This was also well within Leonel''s expectations.

    "How is it?" Leonel moved to Nana''s side after ensuring that Anastasia had everything under control.

    In this last week, she had had the time to get used to the Dream Path and make some progress. Leonel was already eyeing an Incomplete World for her to absorb, but getting to it was going to take an extra bit of effort.

    For now, it would at least be another week or two.

    "Great!" Nana said with a hint of cheer in her voice. "I feel like I''ve made more progress in seven days than I''ve made in the last ten years."

    Leonel smiled. "Show me."

    Nana nodded seriously, beads of sweat still running down her forehead. It was clear that she had been doing everything in her power to not disappoint Leonel.

    After having received so much help from him, if she couldn''t at least hold up her end of the bargain, wouldn''t she be too useless?

    She pressed two fingers together and held them up before her chest. The Adurna shield flew from her back and suddenly vibrated before separating into hundreds of clones at once.

    Nana flew into the skies with a slow cadence, her petite frame looking like a little ladybug caught in a windstorm. And yet, she was firm as all the power accumulated around her.

    Leonel''s pupils constricted.

    Those hundreds of shields formed a honeycomb pattern and covered hundreds of kilometers both left, right, above, and below.

    Can she really defend such a large area all on her own?

    Leonel''s gaze flickered for a moment and then he threw out a punch.

    BANG!

    The fist energy rebounded against the wall.  Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel nodded once, flipped a palm to reveal a spear of energy, and then struck out casually.

    BANG!

    The energy rebounded again.

    Now, Leonel was a hint serious. He was targeting not the core of the formation of shields, but rather the edges. Theoretically, they should be the weakest, and yet they hardly shifted.

    His grip on his spear tightened just a little bit more as his gaze flashed.

    He took a step forward and thrust out again, a valiant momentum surging around him.

    BOOM!

    The array of shields shook, but in the end, they maintained their state.

    Leonel''s eyes couldn''t help but brighten. These Heirloomsбн they were stronger than he expected. If they could increase Nana''s strength by this much, it was truly shocking.

    Nana was barely a talent better than his own brothers before he gave them Incomplete Worlds to devour the insight of. She was good enough to get some attention from the branch levels of the Adurna family, but she ultimately came from an "Impure" line and didn''t have the greatest talent.

    Compared to Leonel and Aina, she was far inferior.

    For her to block his attention like that when the power was dispersed over such a large region, it was truly shocking. But what happened afterward was more shocking.

    Nana''s blue hair began to dance in the wind and her bright blue eyes only became brighter.

    "Bind."

    Her delicate voice spread over a long region, and one of the many shields blinked out of existence.

    Leonel felt a pressure descend onto him, and his body was frozen in place.

    His Dream Force shook and shattered it apart, but then Nana spoke again.

    This time, several more shields moved out, layering Leonel in Bind after Bind as though the laws of the world were moving to the whims of Nana''s words.

    Leonel was still able to bear it at three, and even at nine, he could still forcefully shatter it apart with just a little bit more effort.

    But the more they layered, the more he realized that he was slowly facing off against an insurmountable mountain.

    ''Fascinatingбн so this is a Path of Crafting as well, that''s where these treasures get all their power fromбн''

    Leonel felt waves of enlightenment hitting him as he stood in a bit of a daze.

    Up in the skies, Nana became flustered, feeling that she might have accidentally harmed Leonel. She hurried to disperse her shields, rushing to his side to see if there was anything that she could do to fix things.

    But when she got close, she somehow felt that Leonel was a

    world away, as though he was untouchable to her even though he stood right there.

    Suddenly, Leonel''s eyes brightened.

 Chapter 3082 Law Spirit

    Chapter 3082  Law Spirit Leonel understood something after seeing the true Adurna shield in action. Before, Nana had been just using it like a normal shield, albeit an extremely powerful one. She attached it to her arm and used it to directly block blows from enemies.

    Honestly speaking, even while being used like this, the Heirloom was extremely powerful. It could absorb blows far beyond Nana''s strength, allowing her the sturdiness to not even need to take a step back.

    However, this wasn''t where the true strength of the Heirloom lay.

    It all clicked for Leonel when he remembered one very important thing: the spirit.

    It could be said that the outer appearance of the Heirlooms was just a shell. It could practically be anything so long as it was sturdy enough.

    But what really shocked Leonel was that the spirits were almost like the embodiment of a law, more complicated than an Edict, less potent and lacking in depth compared to a World Spirit.

    The spirit of these weapons was essentially capable of exerting an influence of its own rules onto the world, and when you learned to communicate and convene with this Law Spirit, you could then begin exhibiting the truest strength of the treasure.

    The Adurna family''s Law Spirit seemed only capable of doing one thing: Defending. But this wasn''t exactly the correct way to describe it. Rather, one needed to take a step back and realize that whether it was Force or the body of its wielder, the Law Spirit always had to be attached to something.

    Rather than saying it practiced the Law of Defense, it would be more accurate to say that it practiced the Law of Reinforcement.

    It could reinforce the skin, the bone, the inner organsбн even one''s Force.

    Just like the Adurna family Lineage Factor! In fact, the two were extensions of one another!

    ''It''s almost like an Idol concentrated into a weaponбн it''s a beautiful feat of Craftingбн''

    What Nana had realized was that this Law Spirit was likewise highly compatible with her Ability Index.

    Nana''s Bind Ability Index was a form of Reinforcement as well. It convened with the laws of the world and her words in order to bind her opponents, reinforcing the world around them until they couldn''t move. If anything, her Bind Ability Index was just a higher form of Reinforcement, capable of more flexibility and applicationбн

    That was because she couldn''t just bind people to stand in a single spot; she could bind the laws themselves, limiting access to certain Forces, restraining Ability Indexes, and even Lineage Factors.

    When the two came together, she was able to display a great deal of power, the likes of which the Adurna family Heirloom had never been able to experience before.

    The irony was that this was all because of her Ability Index, something that was inherently non-hereditary. The Four Great Families could breed themselves until the end of the world and still have no guarantee of displaying this sort of compatibility.

    In the distant past, Leonel had always wondered about Ability Indexes; they had no rhyme or reason, and even when family members shared some characteristics of them, it was purely coincidental.

    However, he had come to the conclusion that Ability Indexes were like Existence pressing its weight on the scale of evolution, giving other powers chances to rise up and shifting the balance of the world.

    Now, that was only all the more clear.  Sз╫ar?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel''s bright gaze looked toward Nana. "I see you''re focused on large-scale defense?"

    Nana nodded, lowering her head.

    "I can see your intentions, but don''t focus too much on that stuff. If the power of the spirit wasn''t so dispersed, your strength would be several times greater. Even if you want to help a large amount of people, you need to first be able to protect yourself."

    Leonel smiled, rubbing her head. It was an action he couldn''t help but do. She was far older than him by now, but he really couldn''t look at her as anything other than the little girl from back then.

    She had been carrying a burden for a long time, ever since she was a child. But now she was worried about worrying about the wrong things.

    The reason those people wanted her to go down the wrong path was because she was the danger. If she spent too much time trying to protect a large amount of people, it would be slightly better, but still worse off than she could be.

    What she needed right now was the strongest power in her hand.

    "You''ve seen for yourself how compatible your Ability Index is with the Adurna shield. You''re best suited for it. Take that to heart and display its fullest potential."

    After Leonel finished speaking, he flipped a palm and the Brazinger Heirloom appeared in his hand.

    "Watch." He said lightly.

    He stared at the ax for a long while. Slowly, his eyes began to turn a fierce shade of red, crimson veins rushing up his arms in eerie patterns that looked as though he had been poisoned.

    Leonel had realized that if the Adurna shield had such a Law Spirit, then the Brazinger ax certainly did as well.

    He had been wondering what it was. Destruction, maybe? But no, that wasn''t it. If it was he would have noticed this long ago. It was something else entirelyбн something more complex.

    Rather than a Law of the Body like one might expect, it was actually a Law of the Mind.

    To fight without Limits. Noбн to fight without a care for tomorrow.

    The Law Spirit of the Brazinger Family Heirloom could only be the strongest in Aina''s hands, that was because much like Blood Force, it took control of your Life Force, expelling it out all at once rather than in increments and over time.

    It broke the protective limitations of your mind, giving you the greatest powerбн But if it was applied to a Weapon Force.

    A raging intent stormed out of the blade and Leonel began to laugh.

    "If I say you''re a spear, then you''re a spear."

 Chapter 3083 You Win

    Chapter 3083  You Win **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

    There was a certain violence to the battle ax at the moment, something that seemed to seep into the world around it and savagely break apart everything.

    Leonel casually swung it and cracks of crimson appeared across space everywhere it passed.

    After seeing Nana in action, he realized something else. As good as Nana''s Heirloom was for her own Ability Index, the Brazinger Heirloom might be even better for his own.

    "Silence."

    Leonel spoke lightly as suddenly a span of thousands of kilometers was blanketed by a stretch of jagged crimson runes. All at once, the sounds of the world fell to silence, and when Nana gasped in shock, fear struck her when she realized she couldn''t hear her own words.

    The result was as expected.

    Much like the body had limits, so too did the world. A planet in an Incomplete World had limited lifespans, so too did stars. In Complete Worlds, those lifespans were far longer, but they existed as well.

    World Spirits and Regulators existed as a form of regulation for worlds much the same as Blood Force did for humans. They were all filters to stop a world or a body from rushing to expend all its Life Force at once.

    In fact, it could be said that this was even more important for a world because it had even more to manage.

    The people born in a world had to be given an equal amount of potential, and when they died their potential had to be taken back from the world.

    There needed to be a balance of Force Herbs born and powerful landscapes created. It could even be said that if there wasn''t any regulation, there would be nowhere people could even live because the landscapes would be too powerful.

    Because of these protections, worlds were exceptionally resistant to change.

    They protected their Earth Force stringently, making Earth Force one of the most difficult Forces to make use of. And that only made sense. After all, Earth Force was what laid the foundation that allowed Forces to remain bound to a world.

    And by extension of this, whenever Leonel cast an Edict or tried to influence a world with his Dream Force, he was fighting against the world itself.

    With their regulations in place, how could a world allow him to change it so easily?

    And that was where the Brazinger family Heirloom came into play. If he used it to influence a world, breaking its hold on the Life Force around, it would be far easier to manipulate it as he pleased.

    What Leonel had never imagined was that this was even possible to begin with.

    ''The Selfбн I seeбн''

    The Self Path was self-created by his father, it was something that shouldn''t exist in this world at all.

    However, it seemed that whoever Crafted these Heirlooms had reached such an extreme of the Life Path that they were able to cross over and touch the edges of his father''s Self Path.

    The Self Path was the only thing that could allow this. No matter how great a Life Grade Weapon, it was something that was in line with the laws of the world, it couldn''t create its own world or its own laws, it had to rely on what already existed.

    This also meant something elseбн

    Leonel didn''t have to reach the level of skill of this Crafter just yet in order to replicate the feat on a smaller scale. Even if the scale wouldn''t be the same, the power surely wouldn''t be able to be ignored.

    If Leonel applied this properly, his Crafts would take another enormous leap forward.

    As for the battle axбн well, since his wife wasn''t fighting any battles for now, he might as well borrow it for a bit.

    He wasn''t worried about its shape. If there was anything the Spear Domain Ring had taught him, it was that a spear had too many forms it could take.

    He had seen "spears" that were more like crooked branches, ones that looked more like glaives, double-headed ones, ones that even extended from chainsбн

    They were too numerous in shape and size.

    What decided whether something was a spear or not wasn''t the form, it was how it was wielded and the heart of its wielder.

    **SHIIIING!**

    A ring appeared around the base of the blade, a golden light getting out in between the double blades to form a point. Suddenly, it looked more like a halberd than a spear.

    Leonel casually thrust out andбн

    **BANG!**

    The net of crimson that covered thousands of miles shattered to pieces, motes of light falling high from the skies.

    Leonel pulled back and rested the ax on his shoulder.

    "Well, what''s mine is hers and what''s hers is mine anyway." Leonel said with a grin.

    "That''s not how it works," Aina''s voice echoed in his head. "It''s what''s yours is mine and what''s mine is mine. I can see you''ve never had a wife before."

    Leonel scoffed. "Would you want me to have?"  Sear?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You wouldn''t dare."

    He could practically hear Aina''s scowl in her words.

    "I dunno, maybe she would be less selfish."

    "I can be as selfish as I want. It''s hard carrying a child."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. They weren''t even through month one just yet and Aina was really milking this.

    Funny enough, it probably wasn''t her fault. Other mothers wouldn''t feel any drain for at least a few months. Well, other than some sickness from time to time.

    But then there was Aina who was practically giving all of her Life Force to their child from the very start.

    "Fine, fine, you win."

    Leonel could already see the rest of his life flash before his eyes. He might never win another argument again.

    But that was fine. So long as his child was born plump and healthyбн

    And for that, some heads would have to roll. They had already long since touched his bottom lineбн so he was going to eviscerate theirs.

 Chapter 3084 Rendezvous

    Chapter 3084  Rendezvous "There."

    Leonel and his brothers stood shrouded in darkness, having been pulled into Blackstar''s Shadow World together. In these last few weeks, Leonel had sent out a ton of probing strikes. But as he had said, his main goal wasn''t to win this war, at least not yet. As much as he wanted to, that just wasn''t possible. The opponents he was facing was too powerful, and presumably, whoever was helping them in the backgrond was even more powerful. He had destroyed so many islands and troops by now, but not only had he only been able to target the Adurna family, but he had hardly left a dent in their forces. His ten-person squad wasn''t enough.

    His main goal, first and foremost, was to find out who was helping them behind the scenes, and if he wanted to do thatбн he would have to apply a lot more pressure than this. Well, the matter of who was less important than the matter of how. The who was obvious. It would be some combination of the Sylvans, the Void Race, and maybe even the Minerva. However, the howбн that was what was really spurring Leonel on. The Four Great Families seemed to have an ability to react to the greatest of dangers with swift and decisive action. Three times now the Fawkes had had the chance to wipe them out, but every time they managed to pull something at the last minute. Leonel had a pretty good idea how that could be possible. But he would love to confirm it personally for reason that would likely be clear very soon. бн

    Ahead of them, as the group stood there, it seemed that they were staring out into an endless darkness. They all stood there in silence, not speaking a word and not having their usual banter. For the first time in their battle, Drake was present. Until now, they hadn''t been using him, mostly because the aura of a God was unmistakeable and he didn''t have the ability to hide himself that Blackstar did. If they were too casual with using him, he would be detected too far ahead of time. But nowбн it seemed that Leonel didn''t mind it. That was only made more obvious by the fact that Nana was with them as well. At that moment, the silent blackness rippled. Leonel''s eyes seemed to light up as though a slumbering beast was waking up. The Brazinger Heirloom on his shoulder trembled and red, jagged veins began to grow down the length of his arm. But he still didn''t move. The ripples became greater until two figures stepped out, one with green hair and eyes, the other with golden hair and eyes. The former was a man while the latter was a woman, and the two of them had a very obvious hint of rosiness to their cheeks. Though their clothing was immaculate, and there was nothing out of place, Leonel could tell immediately what he was seeing. A secret rendezvous. The man pinched the woman''s ass and she slapped his hand away before the two shot in different directions. There was a reason such a relationship had to be secret. The Four Great Families were obsessed with pure bloodlines, but that also included one another. In fact, probably the greatest taboo, even worse than bearing a child outside of the families, was to bear one from one another. If such a relationship was found out, the both of them would be killed. And the irony wasбн this relationship would do a far greater harm to their cause than just a child out of wedlock. Leonel took a step forward after they were gone and his brothers quickly followed. They appeared where the ripple had opened up, but there didn''t seem to be anything here at allбн Seem was the operative word. The Heirloom left Leonel''s shoulder and he suddenly thrust forward. Before, it would have taken him quite some effort to do this, but after learning the secret of the Heirloom. "Open."

    His voice was gruff and filled with a dense murderous intent as though he hadn''t spoken in years. Jagged red runes filled the darkness and suddenly the ripple opened up once more. The group stepped through, and when their vision cleared, they found themselves in the middle of nowhere. There was an endless desert plain in all directions. However, Leonel had already expected this. If they immediately transported into enemy territory, those two lovers wouldn''t have had such rosy faces. Otherwise, they would have long since been caught. This place was a world of the Four Great Families. In order for there to be a battle in the Inbetween Worlds, there obviously had to be a way to get there. However, the power of God Realms made this more complicated than it seemed. That said, this complication made it easier to protect their worlds. The Ascension Empire hadn''t been able to bring the battle to their doorstep just yet because they couldn''t find a gateway inside. But Leonel had. After analyzing three different maps created by Anastasia, he had deduced where it had to be. "Go, Anastasia. Let them know we''ve arrived."

    Anastasia''s powerful senses immediately flared out and covered the entire world. Unlike the Inbetween World that took her a week to scan completely, she finished in a single instant this time. All at once, the information was projected into Leonel''s brain and deduced everything. A savage grin spread across Leonel''s face, his fury reaching higher and higher until it practically became tangible. The Sylvans. Leonel stomped a foot and shot off in a certain direction.

    At that moment, in a far off distance, an ancient tree was standing tall and proud. All the nutrients in the region seemed to be sucked up by it, leaving most of the surrounding land desolate. It had been in a calm meditation, ignoring the world, when it suddenly sensed a powerful sense sweep over it. ''Not good.''  Sз╫ar?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The Sylvan immediately began the process of uprooting itself, knowing it would be vulnerable in this state. But Leonel had already appeared over the horizon, a bloody pillar of light jetting out from him.

 Chapter 3085 About

    ?Chapter 3085 AboutDrake suddenly came to a stop in the air, raising up his sniper rifle high and firing three shots.

    They whizzed forward with a pace almost akin to teleportation, slicing by Leonel''s figure with a close shave that practically exuded endless confidence.

    Before Leonel could even arrive before the large Sylvan doing its best to unroot itself, the strikes got there first.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The three bullets drilled into the body of the Sylvan, exploding with the force of bombs and gouging out large pieces of its bark.

    A roar of rage and pain filled the skies. Many birds that had perched in the Sylvan''s canopy fluttered, shooting into the skies. However, while many of them seemed to be meaningless, Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    Suddenly, the character of his Spear Force changed, becoming a dense collection of silvery light. Star Force and Spatial Force came together, and high in the skies, a Constellation formed, casting the world in darkness as the figure of the Morales stood tall and powerful.

    SHHUUU! PUCHI!

    Leonel''s body suddenly changed directions, shooting up into the skies. He seemed to become a blade of silvery gold light. With a flash, he cut into space, vanishing and appearing several kilometers into the skies in a single instant.

    One of the birds in the skies was bissected, falling down in a rain of blood.

    The roar of pain became layered, increasing in volume.

    Without Leonel saying a single thing, his brothers got the message. They flared out and Drake repositioned his sniper rifle.

    Disks of metal flew from Allan''s back as he unholstered two desert eagles. With a click, he aimed them both forward as those disks of metal shredded several birds apart.

    BANG! BANG!

    He unleashed a rain of fire. The birds tried to dodge, but the metal plates exuded an electromagnetic field, pulling the bullets in a curve according to Allan''s will and ripping their skulls apart.

    Raj shot into the air on a surface diamond. He slapped his belly once and a reverberating echo roared through the world. In that instant, the earth that the Sylvan was trying to pull itself out of solidified, becoming harder and harder, and eventually starting to constrict its very flow of energy.

    Crimson lightning sparked around Gil. He unleashed the pace of a Speedster, pulling out a single desert eagle. He didn''t even bother to aim and shoot, he cut through space as though it wasn''t even there, appearing beneath a bird and blasting a hole through the bottom of its beak and out the top of its head.

    Milan and James roared at the same time. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they slammed out a fist toward one another. The instant their knuckles met, a surging energy covered the battlefield. The skies were suddenly covered in a dome of reflective gold, and it was then that Little Nana seemed to realize that this was her turn.

    She also let out a delicate shout, the Adurna shield on her back vibrating as the dome Milan and James formed became honeycombed.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Several birds trying to escape crashed right into this enormous barrier, exploding by the force of their own escape.

    A rain of blood fell from the skies as Joel, Arnold, and Franco all appeared by the trunk of the Sylvan. They all unleashed their attacks at once. Joel slashing out with his glaive, Arnold slapping out with his palms, and Franco unleashing a furious whip of a hammer.

    It seemed that Franco had finally decided to take advantage of his strength Ability Index, carrying around a hammer so large that the flat of its head alone was larger than even his body.

    The three took the vanguard of the attack, unleashing a furious rain of attacks that suffocated the roaring Sylvan.

    High in the skies, Leonel''s spear continued to dance. Everywhere he appeared, a shriek echoed soon after.

    He was absolutely relentless.

    Each one of these birds had the power of the Eighth Dimension at worst, many of them were at the Ninth, and yet it was like they had no combat power at all... because that was precisely the case.

    The moment Leonel laid eyes on them, he realized what they were.

    A contingency plan.

    The Sylvan had hidden it carefully, but it couldn''t possibly hide from Leonel.

    The Sylvans knew about their own greatest weakness, so how could they not be prepared for it? These birds were an extension of what Leonel assumed was the Sylvan''s Ability Index. He had managed to fuse it with a Lineage Factor and a personally created technique to split his soul into several beings.

    Every time Leonel killed one of these birds, he was killing another piece of the Sylvan.

    "THIS SON OF A BITCH IS ABOUT TO BREAK FREE!" Raj roared out.

    He wasn''t yet a God like Drake was. The fact that he had held out for so long just went to show how much improvement he had made. But if things continued like this, the Sylvan would break free and begin to exhibit its true combat power. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The look in Leonel''s gaze, however, was still a calm icy coldness hiding a smoldering fire of fury.

    He appeared high above the Sylvan, ignoring the birds for now. With a point of his arm, the Brazinger Heirloom suddenly began to tremble.

    Veins of red appeared, spreading across the ground like a cancerous tumor.

    "Sink." Leonel said coldly.

    BOOM!

    The Sylvan''s body, which had been about to pull itself out of the earth, almost lost all of its height. It was forced into the ground, its canopy, once high in the skies, almost being crushed against the sandy dunes it had created.

    Earth Force swirled around Leonel and he grasped onto Raj''s hardened earth.

    "Harden."

    "Solidify:

    "Constrain."

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    ROAR!

    The Sylvan roared like a madman, but it was entirely unable to do even a single thing.

    Leonel''s spear spun in his hands, his Dream Force flaring. Then, he thrust out.

 Chapter 3086 Too Late

    Chapter 3086  Too Late BANG! Leonel''s spear pierced through the heart of the Sylvan. Its body writhed and shook, its fury palpable.

    "I know this isn''t enough to kill you," a savage grin spread across Leonel''s indifferent features. "You''re probably thinking about your revenge, is that it? You think you''re too powerful, too untouchable, maybe this isn''t even your main body?"  Sз╫arch* The N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel twisted his spear and the screams became worse.

    "Nono, I think they''re all your main bodies. Is that it?"

    Leonel couldn''t even see the face of the Sylvan while it was in this form. Its true body was probably somewhere deep within this monstrosity, but it had no ability to separate itself from this situation. It was already far too late for that.

    The reason the Sylvans were so vulnerable in this state was because it was the state they entered when they wanted to either monitor a large area to deduce something, or absorb a large amount of energy. Usually, it was a combination of both that varied depending on the situation.

    In order to do this, they were essentially extending their Life Force into the world around them, then forming a bridge between themselves and the world.

    On the one hand, that put everything that happened in a world in their purview. They were probably even better than Anastasia in this regard because rather than scanning everything one by one, for all intents and purposes, the world was them and they were the world.

    This was the fearsomeness of Sylvans.

    And yet, on the other hand, it also left them extremely vulnerable.

    The only reason this Sylvan dared to do this here was because it was confident in how well hidden this world was, and it was also confident that the Four Great Families wouldn''t dare to touch him.

    What he couldn''t have ever expected was that their Dream Force countermeasures would be worthless against Leonel.

    While they thought that they had properly restrained him, he had been observing them all the while, and he found the perfect time to strike out and crush them all.

    "You Sylvans truly overestimate yourselves. You had no reason to get involved in this conflict. You could have let someone else take the brunt of my wrath for you.

    "Yet, you insisted on dipping your toes into these hellish waters. You tell me. Was it worth it?"

    Violet smoke billowed from Leonel''s feet and the corners of his eyes. At the same time, his destructive aura skyrocketed, the Constellation high in the skies only growing in strength.

    "Nana, come here." Leonel suddenly said, not caring or wanting to hear the words the Sylvan might have to say."

    Nana rushed over, beads of sweat falling down her little face. She was a bit confused about what Leonel might want, but what happened next shocked her.

    Veins of red began to surge across the bark of the Sylvan and the screams that had just died down erupted once again.

    "I originally wanted to find a way in to get you the perfect world. There would be no better world than an Incomplete World from the Adurnas, but this fool took all the energy first, turning this place into a barren land.

    "So, insteadбн I''m going to give you its heart."

    "LEONEL MORALES!" The infuriated roar of the Sylvan filled the skies as it spoke for the first time.

    "YOU WILL NOT HAVE A GOOD DEATH! MY SYLVAN RACE WILLбк."

    "Shut up." Leonel spoke lightly, and yet the voice of the Sylvan was completely cut off.

    "Take this as the last bit of mercy I''m giving you. Because I promise had you threatened my family in any way, what I have in store for you would only get worse."

    The entire Sylvan shivered in horror, feeling its life being stripped from it step by step.

    Usually, Emperor''s Might could only be used on the dead. Yet, Leonel seemed to be breaking this rule, forcefully taking control of his body.

    At the same time, Leonel used the Brazinger Heirloom to counter the laws he needed, then he reverse engineered it all, creating the Natural Force Art he needed to allow Nana to absorb it all.

    Since the Brazinger Heirloom was designed to break laws, why not use it as a method of more quickly comprehending the world around him?

    The commotion that happened here had certainly alerted others. He didn''t have the time to waste slowly comprehending it all. This was made worse by the fact the Sylvan had definitely absorbed more than one world, so it was too much of a jumbled mess.

    But nowбн

    The last of the red veins enveloped the Sylvan and Leonel''s eyes glowed with a fierce light.

    "Assimilate."

    What kind of pain did one experience being Assimilated while they were alive? If the Sylvan had to describe it, it was like every bit of his flesh was being compressed into his heart, almost like walls were slowly pressurizing him from all directions.

    If before his shrieks had been mostly to let Leonel lower his guards so that he would have a chance to escape, this timeбн it was truly the most horrifying thing he had experienced.

    The worst part was that Leonel seemed to slow it down on purpose, his cold eyes piercing through his bark and staring right into the very depths of his soul as though his shrieking pain was a tonic for his fury.

    And yetбн Leonel didn''t seem to be satisfied with this alone. The Sylvan was already experiencing hell on earth, but this wasn''t enough for Leonel.

    The Sylvan could finally see it, the madness of a man whose bottom line had been crossed.

    There were two types of people in the world. One would allow themselves to be trampled over, or they might feel like no harm was done so the punishment didn''t have to go so far.

    And then there was anotherбн the kind of person who would raze your life to the ground for even daring to think of standing against them.

    Too late the Sylvan had realized which one Leonel was.

 Chapter 3087 Silver Platter

    Chapter 3087  Silver Platter Soon, there was nothing but a Sylvan Heart remaining. However, the cold in Leonel''s eyes still hadn''t vanished.

    One after another, his brothers landed, having killed all the birds in the skies. There was a light sheen of sweat on them. This matter certainly wasn''t as easy as it seemed. It was just a good thing that they were very good at working together.

    The moment Leonel saw through the problem, the battle was already over.

    Had they failed to kill the birds, the Sylvan would have been able to use a technique to displace its Life Force and reform its body elsewhere in an instant.

    However, because Leonel hadбн

    The result spoke for itself.

    "Absorb it." Leonel handed the Sylvan Heart to Nana.

    The moment he handed it over, Leonel had already looked into the distance, feeling that the powerful auras he had already expected to appear were on their way.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel''s wrist flexed and his grip around the Brazinger Heirloom tightened.

    A surge of murderous intent poured across the skies and a small troop of a few dozen appeared. With a single glance, it was clear that they were mostly of the Laevis and Crudus family.

    At that moment, Nana''s aura was skyrocketing by leaps and bounds.

    Nana lacked the foundation of [Dimensional Cleanse] that the others day. As such, it could even be said that she had lucked out by having the Sylvan process all of this energy for her. If not for this, Leonel would have either had to find a way to get her to start [Dimensional Cleanse] as a secondary Dimensional Method, or found another roundabout method.

    This Sylvan, however, in death, had ironically become the exact thing she needed to make all of this several levels easier.

    Her aura suddenly grew to the point the Four Great Family warriors couldn''t even approach any closer, their gazes becoming incredibly solemn.

    "The Adurna Heirloom!" A young man with flowing gold hair suddenly shouted out.

    It was only at this point that they all understood the seriousness of the situation. And that shock only became greater as they looked through the carnage and devastation.

    Wasn''t that where the Sylvan was supposed to be? Where had it gone?

    They couldn''t be blamed for not realizing immediately. The enormous body of the Sylvan was no longer anywhere to be seen, having all been shrunken down into the form of its Sylvan Heart. They hadn''t noticed because there was nothing to notice.

    This part of the desert had gone from the core of the entire world, to a wasteland of sand, flesh, and blood.

    Leonel''s gaze landed on the young man who spoke, his eyes narrowed when he saw a bow strapped across his body. There was something strange about it.

    The bow itself was beautiful. It had a golden body with what looked like a twin pair of eastern dragons etched in diamond twisting around one another in opposite directions. The two heads of the dragons formed the heads of the bow itself, their maws opening wide with a roar out what seemed to be the thinnest bowstring Leonel had ever seen.

    Even if you had the strength to pull such a bow, if your body''s defenses were too low, or you didn''t wear special protective gear, you would slice through your entire hand.

    However, this wasn''t what was so magical about the bow. Its auraбн

    It felt identical to the spear in his hand and the shield on Nana''s back.

    "Brazinger Heirloom!"

    Another shocked voice echoed out from another young man. This one had green hair and eyes, wearing armor that seemed formed of bark. However, if one didn''t look closely, it seemed to be gorgeous elven-inspired armor, formed of leather and nature''s vines.

    It, too, had the aura of an Heirloom.

    Leonel couldn''t help but find himself to be a bit stunnedбн

    Were these Four Great Families truly so stupid? To allow their Heirlooms to fall into his hands just like this?

    ''These Heirlooms, thoughбн they''re missing their spirits. Is that their contingency plan?''

    Leonel was correct.

    The Heirlooms of the Four Great Families weren''t just weapons, they were also opportunities. The secret depths of their Lineage Factors, depths that only the strongest of their Ancestors had touched upon, were hidden within these weapons.

    As such, using the weapons to try to convene and commune with their Lineage Factors was a shortcut to maybe touching this hidden past.  sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But it was difficult, and not all of them would succeed in doing so. As such, the Heirloom was usually passed around and touched the hands of the most promising descendants of their families.

    To protect against any problems that might arise, the Heirloom was separated from its Spirit. This made it more difficult to sense the intricacies, but this was a necessary evil. After all, they wouldn''t have the tears to shed if someone took advantage and snatched away their Heirloom and its Spirit alikeбн Something that the Adurna and Brazinger were learning about in real-time.

    So long as the Spirit was still in possession of the family Head, the weapon would be able to be summoned across time and space without issue, making it worthless to steal.

    Plus, this could act as an additional test for their future family Heads. If they could reach the pinnacle of their Lineage Factors without the Spirit, then it was only right that they would be even more powerful when they finally did gain it.

    These two, Munk of the Crudus family, and Endrick of the Laevis family, were the current holders of the Heirlooms, and probably the de facto leaders of this current troop.

    In all likelihood, they had already reported what happened here and reinforcements were on the way. Howeverбн Leonel didn''t care about any of this.

    He had come here only as the start of his revenge, not the end of it. He just didn''t expect that his enemies would give him such a chance on a silver platter.

 Chapter 3088 Five Minutes

    Chapter 3088  Five Minutes Nana''s aura began to slowly settle down, but the brightness in her blue eyes was on another level still. She seemed to be constantly having insights with every passing moment.

    Despite hardly doing anything, the barrier that she, Milan and James had put up together was even growing stronger with every passing second. Let alone her aura, they didn''t even have a chance to break through this barrier.

    Endrick''s expression turned fierce as he pulled the bow from his back, firing an arrow that looked more like a beam of light. Howeverбн

    PENG!

    It rebounded off of the barrier, barely leaving a small nick.

    His expression became ugly, not having expected such a thing. Although he didn''t have the bow''s Spirit, he should be far stronger than Nana. It was nothing more than a joke to them that she had gotten her hands on an Heirloom, and it was a humiliation they made sure the Adurna felt. But none of them actually believed she would ever be able to use it properly.

    Most of the Four Great Families didn''t even know that Nana had been manipulatedбн and they certainly didn''t know that she had not only broken free of that suggestion, but she had grown far more powerful as a result.

    However, at that moment, something unexpected happened.

    Leonel raised a hand and placed it on Nana''s shoulder.

    "This isn''t your fight, not now. Just digest what you need to digest."

    Then, with a wave of a hand, a young man appeared.

    He was seated in meditation, and even after he felt the shift around him, it was a few seconds before he slowly opened his eyes.

    His skin was a delicate brown, his eyes looking like a blue star had exploded within them.

    However, as elegant as his appearance was, his clothing was no less simple than Leonel''s, wearing his favorite white tracksuit as always.

    Elorin Hutch. Old Hutch''s grandson.

    "You''ve been eating my food and swallowing up my resources for a while, it''s about time you be a little useless, don''t you think?" Leonel asked with a cold smile.

    Elorin looked at Leonel, then up at those in the skies.

    "Take them." Leonel said lightly.

    Elorin nodded, slowly raised a hand. His gaze flickered and he swiped down.

    His hand seemed to multiply in the air. Despite moving slowly, it left countless afterimages in its wake. Only those with the sharpest of gazes could see them as the ripples in time that they were.

    Then, Elorin''s hand suddenly stopped before moving toward Leonel and handing him something. Or, ratherбн two things.

    Raj''s lip twitched and Milan''s mouth was practically hanging open. They rubbed their eyes, trying to make sure they had seen properly.

    Was that what they thought it was?

    Endrick''s hand was empty, and Munk was almost naked.

    Instead, the former''s bow, and the latter''s armor, were now being held by Elorin''s hands.

    Instead, the former''s bow, and the latter''s armor, were now being held by Elorin''s hands.

    Leonel pursed his lips. "Not bad."

    He took the bow and tossed the armor into the Segmented Cube.

    Truthfully speaking, he was actually quite looking forward to the armor as well.

    He had mutated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, gaining the ability to take plants and control them. The thing was that he never used it.

    He had gotten a taste of it with the Sylvan Hearts before, but that had ended up destroyed during his battle against those Gods. He felt that it would be interesting to study it again.

    Of course, his entire Lineage Factor had changed, and a lot of factors had been changed along with it.

    His Metal Synergy, for example, wasn''t quite that anymore. It was difficult for him to pinpoint exactly what was the same and what was differentбн but that was only to be expected after the core that combined them all was taken away.

    However, he was sure that he could find something interesting from it.

    As for this bowбн

    Leonel flipped it on his palm. Even when he slammed its head into the ground, it was taller than even himself. Cool to the touch, it felt so smooth in his palm that it might just slip out at any moment.

    "Not bad." Leonel said lightly.

    Leonel touched the bowstring and it cut into his finger just as expected.

    "Be obedient." Leonel spoke lightly, Bow Force flaring in his eyes. His heart churned and the bow trembled in his presence.

    He touched the bowstring again, and this time, it was impossibly silky smooth. Even if he tried to cut himself again, he would certainly fail.

    He raised the bow and pulled back the string.

    All the Light Force in the region seemed to rush toward him. Soon, a blazing arrow had formed. However, unlike Endrick''s, it soon solidified into a solid mass, swirling with gold and violet colors.

    "Lower the barrier." Leonel said lightly.

    Endrick and Munk''s eyes were already bulging with rage, the former having replaced the bow with another and the latter having put on a new set of armor.

    These words were like music to their earsбн

    Until it actually happened.

    The barrier vanished and suddenly the arrow disappeared from its bowstring.

    PENG!

    Endrick''s eyes opened wide, his head rocking backward. No one saw what happened until it bobbed forward once againбн it was only then that a small, bloody hole was clear for them all to see.

    BANG!

    Endrick''s head exploded, the residual force blowing him apart.

    "Mmбн" Leonel nodded. It had been a while since he had had such a powerful bow. He had almost forgotten how important of a role it played too. "бн Not bad, indeed."

    Leonel lowered the bow, seemingly having already had his fun. He put it away, storing it in the Segmented Cube as well.

    "Elorin, you have 5 minutes."

    "I don''t need that much time." Elorin said lightly, taking a step down from his meditating hover position.

    Then he suddenly vanished.  Sз╫ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The air seemed filled with afterimages of Elorin. Many tried to swipe at them, only to hit nothing but empty air and lose their lives in the next instant.

    23647fc342a7aacc7f1cf4e583e70f5269656b1a55d5a13b6038baeb0cb2c889b2b774d89b8aab04bd4105cb944b881e674ae205fb52951a15cd54415d39f331

 Chapter 3089 Lifespan

    Chapter 3089  Lifespan Elorin''s movements and stances were practically impossible to keep up with. He didn''t seem to have much functional skill in combat, but when it came to the use of his Ability Index, he was simply on another level.

    Leonel thought that maybe he should train Elorin in a Weapon Force, or maybe teach him some martial arts, but after a moment, he scrapped the idea. In fact, he felt that things were just fine like this.

    During all these years, Elorin had been basically being trained by Anastasia. Anastasia''s understanding of Time Force was probably comparable to even the most ancient ancestors of the Pluto Race. However, because of the failure of the Minerva in "creating" her, her thought processes and flexibility were limiting in combat.

    At first, Leonel had been a bit worried about what that would mean for Elorin, but not enough for him to truly care. That was because he still didn''t like Elorin all that much anyway. The only reason he was still keeping him around was because he felt that he owed Old Hutch at least that much, and because he felt that he might be useful in the future.

    Although Elorin had been the one to kill his own grandfather, if his mother was anything to go by, he was more than willing. In fact, he had already deduced that the infamous Hacker Hutch had allowed himself to die so that he wouldn''t have to choose between his duty and his grandson.

    However, from what he could see here, Elorin had mostly used Anastasia as a springboard, learning what he could from her and the dense Time Force she could provide, and doing the rest on his own.

    Although his actual skill in combat was limited, his actual battle sense was exceptionally high. He simply didn''t need to be able to wield a sword as beautifully as Amery, or a spear as deftly as Leonel, to be able to take this step.

    In fact, if they paired him together with Drake''s Gun Force, he would truly become a force to be reckoned with.

    ''I need to invest more in my people, I guessбн very soon, how strong they are will make or break a lot of things.''

    There were many people training in the Segmented Cube.

    There was his cousin, Fifth Novaбн There was Kira who was doing her best to keep up with Blackstar''s footsteps and now had many more Envoy corpses to analyzeбн There was Emna who was maybe the most shocking talent of them all, her potential was exceptional and she had a chance to stand on Leonel and Aina''s level.. There was Amery who seemed to have forgotten about everything but his sword these days. In fact, it was like the man had forgotten that he had two Innate Nodes as well.

    Of course, Leonel hadn''t forgotten about Elthor. Butбн Elthor and the other Oryx were in a bit of an odd situation.

    Lifespan.

    Leonel had noticed it quite a bit ago, but he didn''t quite know how to deal with it.

    Back when he first became a Wise Star Order and saw through the true use of the Tablets, Elthor had been among the few he helped upgrade. His affinity for Chaotic Particle Force and Raj''s Ability Index both played off of one another well.

    However, since then, Leonel hadn''t done much other than speak with Elthor from time to time.

    These days, Elthor, who had once been a great talent, was only growing weaker. And the problem was because he was aging too fast.  Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    At first, Leonel thought that the problem was because Elthor came from that Sub-Dimensional Zone. However, he dismissed that idea when he realized that the others, like The Pure Speedster or his former good friend, were just fine.

    They were living out happy lives and most of them had no idea that they were even "trapped" at all. To them, they were just in a normal world, and as more generations were born, even those that were aware had mostly forgotten.

    That was when Leonel realized what the problem was: Hyper Evolution.

    He had always thought that Hyper Evolution was a great thing, but clearly it had its drawbacks as well. For Elthor who was maybe the greatest beneficiary of it, he was bound to suffer the most.

    In the end, he hadn''t been able to bring out much of his potential at all.

    Honestly, Leonel felt that he had let Elthor down.

    For one, he gave up most of Elthor''s family and Race for the sake of saving his brothers the first time. Back then, he had been self-obsessed and incredibly selfish.

    Although he had been lucky enough to enter that Zone again and rectify those mistakes, the burden of that guilt was still there, especially since he hadn''t bothered to care for Elthor''s feelings at all.

    Ironically, it was due to that that though Elthor had been by his side for so long, and was also highly compatible with their friend group, Leonel found it hard to truly treat him as one of his brothers.

    Leonel planned to take steps to fix that, but if he wanted to, he would definitely have to fix Elthor''s troubles first.

    ''Waitбн''

    A flash of enlightenment sparked through Leonel''s mind.

    That was rightбн he had gotten a second chance to revive the people of that Zoneбн but, that had come at a cost.

    He lost Goggles, his good friend looked at him as nothing more than a stranger, most of the warriors he had been able to grow and depend on during their battles were too fearful to even look him straight in the eyes these days.

    Howeverбн wasn''t Elthor a part of that Zone? If he got a second chance at it, what happened to Elthor himself?

    Was it really Hyper Evolution that caused this? Or was it because a piece of Elthor had been taken away, a piece he hadn''t noticed until now?

    Leonel''s gaze flashed with realization.

 Chapter 3090 Result

    Chapter 3090  Result His mind continued to whir as he looked back toward the Silver Tablet for the first time in a long while. Ever since he got the Life Tablet, the Silver Tablet felt a bit redundant. Other than that time he used it to trick the world into thinking he was someone else, he hadn''t had a need for it at all.

    But right now the Silver Tablet was invaluable because it was the tablet that housed the souls of the people here.

    ''It really is hereбн''

    Leonel shook his head and sighed.

    It was just a sliver, and it was easy to miss, but there was a piece of Elthor''s soul right there.

    It was no wonder his lifespan was hindered. This should be why the other Oryx were experiencing this as well because some of them had been resurrected the first time along with Elthor as well.

    ''I''m actually so incompetent.''

    Leonel shook his head.

    He wasn''t the same as the past.  Sear?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He remembered the first time he came across these Tabletsбн he thought they shouldn''t exist, that they made life feel cheap, and he had even gone into a bit of an existential crisis about it.

    But now he understood far more. Life wasn''t just about the intrinsic value of a soul or a body itself, but rather the culmination of experiencesбн a mix of nature and nurture that couldn''t be replicated.

    Maybe there really would be some way he could revive his dad in the future, but the man he knew would already be dead because the culmination of things that had made his father, his father, were simply no longer there.

    Goggles had been the biggest wake-up call and he learned that these Silver Tablets weren''t a way to cheat death, they were just death by another formбн

    He couldn''t treat them as carelessly as he had in the past.

    ''I will help Elthor recover properly, thenбн but there''s still more people. There''s the little Rapax still in my world, there are the Sea Gods as wellбн''

    Ever since he formed his Inner World, he hadn''t had the time to care for those matters. All of those people were very much still there and it had already been almost four years or so.

    ''It''s about time I put some real effort into growing this little Kingdom.''

    Leonel was so lost in his thoughts that he didn''t even pay attention as Elorin killed the last of them.

    Elorin returned to the ground in his tracksuit, his eyes seemingly still blazing with a fighting intent that slowly waned. This was the first time he''d gotten to fight in a long while.

    "Anastasia." Leonel suddenly said lightly.

    At that moment, an adorable little girl with a lower body of floating clouds appeared. She smiled brightly, seemingly still happy that Leonel had finally gotten up.

    After taking a deep breath, Leonel summoned Aina as well.

    Aina looked around in a bit of confusion, but sensing the hints of seriousness coming from Leonel''s soul, she focused herself quite quickly.

    "What''s wrong?" she asked.

    Leonel gave Aina a reassuring smile and then looked at Elorin.

    "As early as the Heir Warsбн" Leonel said slowly, his gaze far more stern now. "бнI could have brought your grandfather back from the dead."

    Elorin''s pupils trembled fiercely when he heard this. Although he quickly regained his calm, this wasn''t something that could escape Leonel''s notice.

    It was only after he felt Elorin''s reaction to this information that he continued.

    "And your parents."

    Elorin was far more prepared this time, so his face remained placid. However, Leonel could still see the blood draining from his face.

    His parents were the reason he had a falling out with his grandfather at all. He couldn''t accept the fact that the Fawkes had just let them die on those Paradise Islands when they knew exactly what would be coming. It was simply unacceptable.

    "However, I didn''t." Leonel continued. "And do you know why?"

    Elorin''s heart rate slowly calmed down as he waited for Leonel to continue.

    "It''s because I didn''t want my wife to know that it would have been possible for her to revive her mother as wellбн had she not entered the Seventh Dimension."

    Aina''s eyes widened, her own heart shaking. She gripped onto Leonel''s hands fiercely, trying to keep herself stable.

    It hurt. It definitely hurt. She had been striving to get stronger to avenge her mother all this timeбн only to find out that her pursuit of that strength was the very thing that stopped her from seeing the woman that she wanted to with her entire heart and soulбн

    It was devastating.

    The worst part was back thenбн she had only just entered the Seventh Dimension. Just a few days shy and maybe she would be holding her mother right this moment.

    A flash of rage lit Elorin''s eyes. To know the reality of it all now, and that Leonel had simply not wanted to upset his wife so he let him wallow in his own pityбн well, how could he not be infuriated?

    But, he managed to calm himself once again. It would make sense if Leonel simply wanted to hurt himбн but why would he do that at the expense of his wife? Why summon her?

    Plus, if he wanted to do that, why wait until after he had given him all this power and room to improve? Was Leonel truly still so confident that he could defeat him?

    "However, things have changed. I have the Life Tablet now, and between your ingenuity for Time Force, and Anastasia''s power, it''s possible to go through the stream of time to revive them.

    "But, I will only ask you this once. Is it really what you want?"

    Leonel let the words hang in the air.

    He could feel Aina''s hand tightening around him to the point her arms were trembling. However, he couldn''t do anything to help fix her internal turmoil. As much as it hurt, he could only allow her to make the decision herselfбн

    Even though he knew exactly what the result would be.

 Chapter 3091 A Chance

    Chapter 3091  A Chance Back when Anastasia offered to help revive Elorin''s parents, it was because she, too, knew the kind of danger he would be. Even with her simple thought processes, she thought that it would be easier to control Elorin in the future if he was very grateful to Leonel.

    It was a good idea, but the simple-minded little World Spirit had never connected the fact that this might help Aina''s parents as well. At the very least, if she had brought up the idea earlier, it would have been possible. But she only brought up the idea right after Aina had just become a Seventh Dimensional existence.

    According to Anastasia, the problem with Aina''s Dimension being too high was that now the link to her mother was being weighed down.  Sear?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    With the Silver Tablet, back then, Leonel could revive up to the Seventh Dimension. With Anastasia''s ability to reverse the flow and peek into the stream of time itself, it would work.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t just the Silver Tablet that was limited, but Anastasia herself. This was why even after getting the Life Tablet, Leonel never thought to do this.

    However, Anastasia''s limitations could be mitigated by Elorin.

    Anastasia had the raw power, and when it came to executing the in-built functions of the Segmented Cube, she was practically second to none. This was why if the Segmented Cube wanted to hide, no one would be able to find it, and it was also why Leonel even had the option to turn a couple of hours of the outside world into an over century for himself!

    However, for a task that was outside of her purview, her control was limited.

    That was where Elorin could step in. His raw Time Force was completely inferior compared to Anastasia, but when it came to controlбн well, Leonel had just seen it personally.

    Elorin was still only the Sixth Dimension, but he had just taken out a group of Eighth and Ninth Dimensional individuals with God Constitutions as though they were worthless.

    Even Leonel couldn''t do such a thing so easily.

    "Iбн" Aina''s lip trembled.

    Leonel was looking down at her with caring eyes. While Elorin felt enraged about all of this, Aina only felt guilty and warm at the same time.

    This demonic couple had never had a normal moral compass to begin with. Aina didn''t particularly care about Elorin''s feelings on the topic. All she could see was Leonel''s care for her feelings even though having a trump card like Elorin would have made so many things far easier on him.

    Elorin had become a true powerhouse long ago and could have definitely taken on a great deal of the burden along with him. But because Leonel couldn''t trust him, he kept him on the back burner.

    He had had a trump card to force Elorin into submission for a long time now, but he hadn''t used it for her sake. It was hard for her to feel anything but warmthбн and hints of guilt at the same time.

    Now, Leonel was giving her a choice.

    His words were clear. The result of this might be outside of her expectations. He was no longer nearly as naive as he was in the past and he likewise knew that playing with life could end poorly for them all.

    But he was still giving her this choice.

    She was a grown woman, the mother of his child, the love of his life. She had the right to make this decision for herself instead of him making it for her.

    "I will do it," Elorin said plainly.

    Leonel faintly nodded, but his gaze didn''t leave Aina''s.

    Aina thought about all the dreams she had of her mother suddenly reviving one day, of her coming back and their lives being all the better for it.

    But then, for the first timeбн she thought of what the worst of it might be.

    What would her mother be like if she came back with memories of that torturous death she experienced? Her mother was nothing but a mortal, which was why this was even possible at all to begin withбн could a normal person''s mind even hold up after such a thing?

    And what if she did manage to hold up, what would happen to their lives after that? What about when her mother found out that her husband had only gotten close to her as a tool for revenge? That it was because of Miel''s selfishness that she had ended up suffering like she had?

    How would she feel about the fact her daughter killed without blinking an eye and consumed blood for pleasure? Would she be able to adapt to this new world at all? Would she still be the same loving mother, perfect and flawless in her memories?

    It was the first time Aina had ever thought about anything going so wrong. She had seen Leonel break down several times every moment he ran into a roadblock in reviving his fatherбн and now he didn''t even think much about it at all, having already realized that it would simply be an impossibility.

    Aina''s eyes dimmed a bit and she leaned her cheek into Leonel''s chest, using the rhythmic flow of his blood to calm herself down both for the sake of her own sanity and the health of their baby.

    How nice would it be if she had her mother''s help in raising their childбн

    "Is it okay if Iбн watch first?" Aina asked softly.

    Leonel stroked her hair. "Of course. You can change your mind whenever you want."

    Smiling lightly, Leonel continued to reassure her.

    "Even if you want me to go pluck out some stars from the sky for you, I''ll do that."

    Aina smiled, chuckling softly.

    "Anastasia. Let''s retreat first, then do this."

    "Okay," Anastasia nodded.

    бн

    Soon, the group had retreatedбн but they didn''t leave the world. Instead, using Anastasia''s ability to hide in space and time, they hid deep within the endless sand dunes.

    Then, they began.

 Chapter 3092 Fourth Dimension

    Chapter 3092  Fourth Dimension Leonel stood in silence as Anastasia and Elorin began to form a resonance between them. He had always been fascinated by Time Force, and though it was a bit hard to care to focus on it when he was still comforting his wife, he couldn''t help but throw out a few more glances.

    His Weapon Forces always had a tendency to touch onto Space and Time Forces when it reached an extreme, though in limited applications.

    However, the stronger his Weapon Forces became, the more obvious the overlaps became and the more he realized the kind of direction the pinnacle Weapon Forces went toward.

    There was something unexpected that reinforced this idea, howeverбн and that was his former Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node, now turned his heart.

    Emulation Spatial Force was a combination Node of Dream and Space. But what was more interesting than that was how Leonel had deduced that it sat as an inferior version of Infinity Force, the all-encompassing Force that could be or represent all things.

    The reason this was interesting was because of the very fact Emulation Spatial Force was made of Dream and Spatial Force in the first place. It was like a hintбн

    The fabric of all things was divided into consciousness and the tangible result of it. This was the soul and body. When you had these two things, it was only natural that you could create anything.

    But it was still missing somethingбн

    Time.

    Could it be that the true Infinity Force was a fusion of Dream, Space, and Time instead of the amalgamation of all Forces like many claimed it to be?

    The world had no meaning, no structure, without time. Even if you could think of anything and force it into being, what kind of substance would it have if time was ignored?

    There was already an amalgamation of all Forcesбн it was Neutral Force.

    Back then, Leonel had thought that the difference was that Infinity Force was perfectly balanced in all Forces, while there were a ton of impurities in normal neutral Force, but now he wasn''t so sureбн

    And the reason for that was precisely his Weapon Forces.

    Weapon Forces were also a kind of creation. It was the consciousness of a person that forced it into being.

    The fact this was true, and how it seemed to be able to control Time and Space to an extent at its extremes, seemed to point toward there being something much more deeply hidden in all of this.

    And now, observing how Anastasia and Elorin were weaving their Time Force together to pull at the stream, he felt endlessly fascinatedбн especially because they were using the core of Elorin''s being to succeed.

    They weren''t just aimlessly searching through time, they were using Elorin as an anchor and looking back through his past to find his parents and grandfather.

    And this was what sparked a small moment of enlightenment for Leonel.

    Weapon Forces started coming off of him like slow solar flares, arcing and slowly separating into a resonant ring.

    Aina sensed the change, but she remained perfectly still, nestled up in his arms without a desire to disturb him. Plusбн she was endlessly comfortable here.  sea??h thз╫ novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    PENG!

    Leonel''s Weapon Forces broke into the Higher Creation State.

    PENG!

    They broke into the Peak Creation State mere moments later.

    There was a calmness to his gaze even though he was looking forward in a daze.

    Time wasn''t just something that stretched through the infinite bounds of space, but it was represented in one''s consciousness as well.

    His Dream Force shook.

    A memory, if clear enough, was almost like a pocket of a past enough, a return to a previous timelineбн

    Suddenly, Leonel had touched upon a comprehension level of Dream Force that only the Demoness ever had.

    When the Demoness appeared in the lair of the Invalids and all time seemed to stopбн this had never been an application of Time Force.

    It was an application of Dream Force that only she had ever comprehended.

    Until now.

    Control.

    That was Leonel''s Ability Index, but he had thought of it in far too limited a capacity.

    The Dream Plane existed in the Second Dimension, and his Dream Force Comprehension had reached down into the first, making lower-case dimensions feel worthless. It was why he could sense it when someone spoke about him even from countless worlds away.

    But he had forgottenбн the dimensions weren''t just threeбн they were fourбн and the fourth was Time.

    To have Control over one''s mind, to truly control it, meant not just controlling himself in this present space in this present timeбн it meant controlling himself across all iterations, across all timelines, across all events.

    A bomb seemed to have echoed through Leonel''s mind and his aura began to change rapidly, not necessarily growing stronger. Sometimes, it would grow infinitely weaker, but then explode forth with a great amount of strength.

    Sometimes it would begin at an impossible to fathom height, only to drop down to an abyss of weakness.

    He didn''t know how long he spent in this state, but when he awoke, he found that the souls of Old Hutch and Elorin''s parents had already been pulled out.

    He slowly regained his bearings, the pressure he was giving off slowly receding.

    Elorin''s looked toward Leonel with wild flickers in his eyes, seemingly only now understanding why Leonel had never

    cared about antagonizing himбн

    Leonel simply didn''t fear him. His opponents were the True Gods of this Plane.

    Leonel waved a hand and a surge of energy flooded into the Life Tablet. He ignored Hutch for the moment and poured it all into Elorin''s parents.

    Before his eyes, they became more tangible and slowly regained their human forms.

    Elorin finally couldn''t hold his emotions back anymore. They were real. They were here. These were his parents.

    He rushed forward and hugged them both before they understood what was happening, tears flooding down his cheeks.

    Leonel watched this in silence, not saying anything even as he watched the whites of Elorin''s parents'' eyes suddenly consume their irises and pupils.

    SKRI!

    Elorin''s parents chomped down on his neck at the same time.

 Chapter 3093 To His Knees

    Chapter 3093  To His Knees Elorin froze.

    He was too powerful by this point; their teeth couldn''t even penetrate his skin. In fact, his father ended up shattering his own, seemingly having awakened a kind of broken strength Ability Index.

    However, his father, the man he thought about almost every day without rest or pause, didn''t seem to notice this pain. It was a pain that should have put even elite warriors at bay, and yet he didn''t even pause before he moved to chomp down again.

    The second one hurt. Not to Elorin''s father, or even in terms of physically for Elorin, but rather to the very depths of the latter''s soul.

    There was no humanity left. Even pain wasn''t any sort of barrier. All his father wanted to do was to shred him apart and use him as a step ladder to increase his evolution.

    And then there was his mother. She didn''t awaken any sort of strength at all, and seemingly not knowing how to use her Ability Index, she instead began to scratch and claw at him, gnawing into his skin for any hope of breaking free or just the slightest taste of blood.

    Aina looked away, burying her head into Leonel''s chest and silently sobbing.

    She had thought of so many things, but she didn''t even consider this route. She didn''t even think of the possibility of what ifбн her mother wasn''t even able to make it through the Metamorphosis in the first place.  S~ea??h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Her mother was just a normal woman. Until the end, she probably didn''t even have a full appreciation for the kind of man her husband was, or the woman her daughter would be able to become in the future.

    She didn''t even come from a particularly powerful family and could only stay on the Paradise Islands along with everyone else. Ironically, had Aina not been an orphan who gained a scholarship to go to Royal Blue Academy and stay on their campus, she would have been on those Paradise Islands too.

    In all these years, she never even considered the fact that she might have lost her mother long ago one way or another, and right nowбн she had no willingness to find out.

    She could practically see Elorin''s heart breaking through his eyes. Even now, he continued to hold his parents in place, hugging them tightly as they tried to rip him to pieces.

    Aina didn''t know what would happen to her mind or psyche if she ever were to see her mother in such a state. She simply couldn''t do it.

    At that moment, Leonel''s words seemed to have a different sort of connotation to them, a different sort of weight, and it formed a lump in her chest that just sat there, unwilling to move.

    Leonel sighed inwardly, gently stroking Aina''s hair. He held her close, giving her the only comfort that he could.

    As for Elorin, he seemed frozen in his own time. It didn''t seem like he had any ability to move at all. The daze in his eyes was deep.

    But eventually, he simply broke down, unable to hold it in any longer.

    Tears streamed down his face and pooled toward the ground. His heart thumped madly as he knew what he would have to do.

    He unleashed a roar of agony and suddenly squeezed down on his last hug to both of his parents.

    They shattered beneath his strength, becoming motes of light that descended and entered his body.

    By this point, the strength that such Invalids could give him was next to nothing at all. It hardly even gave him any warmth. In fact, they felt almost shockingly cold and his body couldn''t help but shiver on impact.

    With red eyes, he stared down toward the ground, his lips trembling.

    He knew that his grandfather had already known about all of this. There was a reason that his grandfather had taken him away from that Paradise Island, but made no attempt to do the same for his parents.

    They had already deduced what would happen and his grandfather had saved him from this fate.

    The worst part was that his grandfather had already explained all of this to him, but he just didn''t believe it. Even now, he didn''t want to believe it.

    There was no blood left, no bones, not even the faintest wisp of a scent. The irony was that the only thing that was left was the saliva his parents had left on his neck while trying to bite through it. It was such a pitiful remnant that he almost laughed like a maniac.

    He had done all of this. It was all his fault. His grandfather had been right from the very start, but he had ended up killing his only family remaining with his own hands.

    His grandfather hadn''t even fought back, letting him do it. Not once did he blame him, not once did he show the slightest hint of unwillingness. All there wasбн was a hope that Elorin would one day find what he needed.

    Elorin fell to his knees, practically burying his head into the ground as he sobbed like a weeping child.

    Not once during the course of these years did he regret what he had done to his grandfather. He thought that old man was brainwashed, forced into duty and indoctrinated until he could think for no one other than Gervaise Fawkes.

    He had hated everyone in the Fawkes family to the bone, and had sworn that he would one day rip them down from the throne and destroy them to the last man, woman, and child.

    But now he knew that he had been fishing for nothing more than fool''s gold. He was the fool in this situation, and he had lost everything.

    Aina''s shoulders quaked as well, feeling at just as much of a loss. Her heart shattered into countless pieces and she didn''t even know if she could pick them back up again.

    In the end, these weren''t things that anyone else could help them through.

 Chapter 3094 Oh! Oh!

    Chapter 3094  Oh! Oh! It was a long while before Elorin reached any sort of semblance of calm. With red eyes, he looked up to Leonel to find him staring back at him indifferently, his wife in his arms.

    Elorin took a shaky breath and nodded only once.

    There were no words that needed to be exchanged. Leonel already knew that he wanted to revive his grandfather.

    When Aina thought of reviving her mother, she had come to think of several issues as well, things about her current life that her mother simply wouldn''t be able to accept.

    Could her mortal mother accept that she killed as easily as breathing now? That her daughter used blood to strengthen herself?

    What if her mother transferred some of the blame of the torture she experienced onto Aina herself and their relationship was never the same? It was impossible to tell what someone who had gone through such trauma might think or feel, and it was even more impossible to take back words that had already been spoken.

    No matter how lenient or forgiving Aina would want to be in such a situation, once some lines were crossed, there was simply no going backбн especially now that Aina was even more sensitive about certain things with their first baby on the way.

    Would she still be able to forgive her mother if she said something about their child?

    All of that was all before she even considered the fact that her mother might not even come back human at allбн

    Invalids might have been living creatures in some sense, but they were the antithesis to the living in others. Pawns of Existence, they were designed only to do one thing: destroy.

    Their souls were corrupted and they simply weren''t the kind of beings that could be "saved".

    As much as some might want to talk about extending an olive branch, or treating all the sameбн Leonel was willing to do such things when it came to all Races under the sun. But Invalids didn''t fall into such a category.

    Invalids could come from practically any Race to begin with and they represented the underbelly of Existence, the Yin to the Yang that was life, the Destruction to the Creation of the world.

    Even when they broke free of those violent instincts and evolved into Variant Invalids, those tendencies only became more twisted and sinister in nature, backed by an intelligence no less than any other creature that only made them all the more dangerous.

    Invalids weren''t people. They were the representation of a Force of Natureбн A Force that Leonel had no ability to reverse or fix.

    Elorin obviously knew this, or else he wouldn''t have killed his parents with his own hands. And part of the reason he had sobbed so much was because he too had begun to realize some of the things that Aina had.

    Even if his parents weren''t Invalids, what would he do if his parents despised him for killing his grandfather? Would they even be able to look at him the same?

    Now, he was facing the same issue with his grandfather. They had already been growing distant after the Metamorphosis descended, but what would happen now?

    Howeverбн this time, Elorin was ready. Even if his grandfather hated him down to his guts, he would still revive him.

    That sort of punishment was precisely what he deserved, and his grandfather deserved to live life.

    Elorin took a deep breath and stood to his feet before he began working with Anastasia again.

    It was much harder to commune with Hutch because his Dimension had already been in the Seventh when he died. Luckily, that Seventh Dimensional cap was decided by an Incomplete World which made it somewhat easier. But that didn''t stop beads of sweat from falling down Elorin''s brow. Controlling this much Time Force was still beyond him.

    However, he grit his teeth and pressed on.

    His grandfather deserved a chance at life. He knew how much his grandfather loved to battle. He had been waiting to step out into this world for the longest time, a time where he would finally be able to test his blade against the world and see how his Machete Arts stacked up against the geniuses of the rest of the world.

    But his own grandson had robbed him of that opportunity. Maybe even worse, Elorin had abandoned the Machete Arts his grandfather had passed down to him, wanting to distance himself from the man as much as he could.

    Knowing his grandfather, this was probably an even crueler torture than just outright killing him.

    ''I''ll make up for all of it, I swearбн even if you hate me to the boneбн even if you never want to speak to me anymoreбн''

    Blood began to seep from the corner of Elorin''s mouth but the staunchness in his eyes only grew deeper.

    At that moment, a flickering Dharma began to appear to his back.

    This time, it was Leonel''s turn to be a bit shockedбн because the Dharma was actually in the shape of a Silver Machete. No, it wasn''t just a single Macheteбн it fanned out forming twoбн threeбн nineбн twelveбн

    The number seemed to keep expanding until the layers of machetes fanned out like a fan, so numerous that it was impossible to see the individual ones.

    ''This isбн''

    Leonel''s expression flickered as he came to grasp something.

    These machetes, each one, represented a time Elorin could have chosen to practice the machete but ignored it.

    He was using his Causality Ability Index to go back and rewrite this causality for this one event. But as he did so, he was giving up his Time Force control in equal parts.

    Leonel didn''t stop him although he felt like it was a waste. Instead, he looked at Anastasia and gave her a message. If he didn''t say anything, this little dolt wouldn''t have realized.

    "Oh! Oh!" she said in a cute cadence, giggling as she understood something.

    And at that momentбн

    BOOM! sea??h thз╫ N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3095 Old Hutch

    Chapter 3095  Old Hutch There was a sudden rush and eventually Leonel waved a hand, pulling a soul out of the stream of time and stuffing it into the Life Tablet.

    Elorin collapsed into a daze, his aura still growing as he gasped for breath.

    He was quite lucky, honestly. If not for Anastasia''s intervention, all of his Time Force training would have turned into machete training and he would have been back to square one with his Ability Index.

    Truthfully, just from an objective point of view, this would have made him weaker. His Ability Index had shocking versatility, versatility that a blade couldn''t match up to.

    That said, if he managed to grasp the same comprehension of Weapon Forces that Leonel had, then maybe he could have regained his Time Force comprehension in a more roundabout way.

    However, Leonel''s current ability to see through people and what was a good path for them and what wasn''t had risen considerably after his new Dream Force breakthrough.

    By this point, although Leonel was technically still at the Peak of the Creation State, it would be difficult to find even an Idol Dream Force master with better Dream Force comprehension, usage, and execution than him.

    That was why he could tell at a glance that as much as Elorin wanted to pay homage to his grandfather, making the machete his main skill and focus would be ruining his future.

    Instead, if he wanted to use it, it should be a supplemental addition to his strength.

    Luckily, there was Anastasia. By helping to bolster the amount of Time Force he had in those moments, rather than having to make a tradeoff between his knowledge, he was able to keep both.  S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Of course, there was another price to payбн

    Elorin looked much older now than he did before. He seemed to be a man in his mid-thirties, and considering his strength, that meant that he had lost a considerable amount of years.

    However, Leonel was pretty confident that that could be reversed. He just needed to go up in Dimension again.

    After Elorin seemed like he was about to regain his bearings, Leonel finally poured the energy into the Life Tablet and Old Hutch''s figure began to slowly manifest.

    There was a slight moment of silence.

    Leonel''s brothers had a dear fondness for Old Hutch as well. It was he and their coach that had helped them during Leonel''s two-decade-long disappearance, helping them train into the men that they were today.

    They had a great hatred for Elorin because of what he had done now as well. But they also knew that it was impossible for any one of them to replace Elorin in the old man''s heart. After all, no matter what, Elorin was his grandson.

    As such... It wasn''t their place to decide whether to forgive him or not.

    Old Hutch''s eyes slowly cleared.

    He looked much younger than when Leonel first met him. He still had wispy hair that left much of his scalp exposed, but now it was much more grey-black than it was white. His beard was just as wild, and his skin was a healthy, deep bronzed color. His had a brown richness to him that made it feel like he had worked on farm fields all his lifeбн it gave him a youthful exuberance despite the rest of his appearance.

    The old man, though, was in a rare daze. The first person he saw was obviously his grandson, and it left him confusedбн had he died? Had his grandson come with him?

    He couldn''t help but sigh.

    He had somewhat known that Elorin''s revenge would end in failure, but it still hurt to see the result himself. He couldn''t help but blame himselfбк

    Elorin suddenly hugged Hutch tightly, causing the old man''s eyes to open wide.

    When was the last time his grandson had hugged him? Years? Ever since he became a teenager, he had become too "grown" to do that. And after he learned about the fate of his parents, their distance only grew further apart.

    The hug was one thing, but when he felt Elorin''s sobs, Hutch''s eyes couldn''t help but tear up and turn red.

    Was he dreaming? Why did it all feel so real, then?

    "I''m sorryбн I''m sorryбн It''s all my faultбн" Elorin squeezed these words out, holding onto his grandfather with a firmer and firmer grip, almost as though trying to make sure he wouldn''t disappear again.

    Old Hutch didn''t even know what to say to these words.

    Aina slowly wiped her tears, releasing shuddering breaths in Leonel''s embrace.

    "бн I want to see my dadбн" she said so softly only Leonel could hear her.

    "Okay." Leonel nodded.

    Would it be easy to see Aina''s father right now? Absolutely not. He had been basically banished from the Fawkes Empire and he was certainly in their midst. Doing so would either require ignoring his grandfather''s words and bringing down an even harsher punishment onto himself, or actually finishing off this war.

    But he didn''t care. Since his wife wanted something, he would make it happen. It was really that simple to him.

    So long as she could get herself out of this rut, it would be well worth it.

    He had been too naive in the past about how life worked. From the very beginningбн it was never so fragile.

    For every one case there was with Old Hutch, there were a million other failures.

    It took a long while, but when Old Hutch finally realized that everything around him was real, he also broke down into tears.

    Then, something that left Leonel speechless began to happen.

    His aura skyrocketed, his Blade Force practically piercing the skies.

    Leonel shook his head. Old Hutch was his first teacher in this wild world, the man who always said you should listen to your blade.

    Back then, Leonel had said that that was absolutely ridiculous. But now he was seeing it in real time.

    Now that the one regret in his life had vanishedбн

    Old Hutch had torn the final layer holding him back.

 Chapter 3096 No Choice

    Chapter 3096  No Choice "You''ve finally finished crying, old man?" Leonel asked with a laugh.

    Old Hutch only seemed to finally realize that Leonel was behind him at that moment. He blinked for a moment and then his eyes brightened.  Sear?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Don''t make fun of me, brat. I''ve been making my enemies shed tears since before you were a thought in your father''s sack. It was about damn time I shed a few."

    Leonel laughed. The old man was still the same, it seemed. Well, the same in some aspectsбн and very different in others.

    The old man''s Dimension remained the same, but his Blade Forceбн that was very much different. Even Leonel could feel some pressure coming from it.

    That man really had an obsession with his machete.

    "Tell you what, old man. I''m kidnapping."

    "Hm?" Old Hutch asked in confusion.

    "Technically, you''re supposed to be a warrior of the Slayer Legion, but we''re not doing that anymore. You''re coming under me."

    Old Hutch was speechless. Was this the sort of unilateral decision you could even make?

    The old man had always been a person of duty. He didn''t even allow his grandson''s hatred to get in the way.

    But now Leonel wasбн

    "Nope. You don''t get to refuse. Do you know why?"

    Old Hutch was confused again before he suddenly realized what was going on.

    "бн You think you''ve grown some hair on your balls finally and think you''re stronger than me? Is that it?"

    "Think?" Leonel burst into a fit of laughter, his booming cadence filling the skies.

    Leonel patted Aina on the back and pulled her behind him. Then, he grabbed at the air, causing the Brazinger Heirloom to appear.

    Then, with another wave of his hand, he tossed over a familiar rusted blade over to Hutch.

    Leonel looked at the Brazinger Heirloom and after a long while, he shook his head and pierced it into the ground.

    "That''s too much. I don''t want to scare the old man."

    Old Hutch''s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "Heheбн"

    It was all he said but a bloodthirstiness was already coming from him.

    Leonel grabbed at the air again, but this time a long branch broke free of a tall tree. With a surge, his Spear Force rushed into it and it began to glow a bright golden light until a blade grew out from its tip.

    "Come on, you old bag of bones. I''ll show you that listening to your weapon nonsense you were spewing was all bullshit."

    Veins bulged from Old Hutch''s forehead.

    "I''m going to spank you like the good ''ol days, brat."

    BANG!

    The two suddenly vanished at once. A shockwave spread out from between them, however, it was clear in a single glance who was superior although neither took a single step back.

    High in the skies, Leonel thrust out his spear with a single arm, the tip matched with the blade edge.

    Hutch tried to twist his wrist and continue his attack, but every time, Leonel only lightly flicked his wrist, sending them back to the starting position.

    "Hohoбн it seems you really have grown a bit. In that caseбн I can stop holding back."

    BANG!

    A violent red aura seeped out from Hutch and his eyes went crimson.

    He suddenly pulled back his machete and unleashed a violent rain of attacks.

    Leonel took a single step back, his wrist elegantly flickering. His arm hardly moved, but every time the blades clashed, Old Hutch''s machete would be parried to the side.

    But what surprised Leonel was that with every strike, Old Hutch would seem to adjust, and then adjust again.

    He wasn''t becoming faster or stronger, but he was becoming sharper.

    The lines of his attacks were becoming more simplified, more to the point, and yet they carried a myriad of mysteries deep within that all pointed to one directionбн

    Kill.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Leonel became a hint more serious, his second hand finding its way to the shaft of his spear. His aura changed and a suffocating spear dance erupted from him without the slightest change to his expression or his foot position.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    His wrist twisted and parried the machete upward, but Old Hutch had already bailed into a spin, moving toward Leonel''s spear and shifting slightly, causing the blade to just barely miss cutting into the back of his neck.

    His torso tensed and he continued his spin, forcing down his parried machete right toward Leonel''s throat. He had closed the distance too much for Leonel to pull back his blade in time.

    And yet, Leonel was completely indifferent to it all. He pulled his arms up and changed his stance slightly.

    BANG!

    The machete''s blade met the shaft of Leonel''s spear just before it could decapitate him.

    Old Hutch was just as savage as ever, immediately twisting his wrist and sliding his blade down the shaft to cut Leonel''s fingers into minced meat.

    But Leonel only pushed upward, throwing Old Hutch who was still in a half spin off balance.

    Taking advantage, he erupted with a quick three-piece combination, thrusting toward Old Hutch''s head, heart, and crotch seemingly all at the same time.

    Old Hutch was still off balance and hurried to block, but it was clear that he was pressed into a sorry state.

    He stumbled backward and almost fell after the first thrust, but the second was already coming toward his heart. He barely managed to twist out of the way, but that left his crotch wide open to a slash.

    By this point, he had barely managed to recover his machete blade and thrust it downward to block.

    CLANG!

    "Not bad, old man," Leonel said with a laugh. But this time it was his turn to twist his wrist.

    Old Hutch''s expression changed as he found that his own blade was being pressed toward his crotch. If this continued, his own precious blade would castrate him.

    However, just as this was going to happen, Leonel suddenly stopped.

    The loss of a force to fight against caused the old man to stumble and almost fall out of the air.

    Leonel grinned, catching his old teacher by the shoulder.

    "See? You have no choice."

 Chapter 3097 Monstrous

    Chapter 3097  Monstrous Hutch was speechless. This wasn''t a joke; you couldn''t just do this.

    "The situation has changed a lot since you died, old man. I''ll let others fill you in, but I want to make it clear that I''m not giving you a choice."

    Leonel gave the old man a level glance.

    Old Hutch shook his head. He could feel that there were two secrets hidden within Leonel''s gaze.

    The first was more happy and cheery, the interpretation he wanted to take while ignoring the other. And that was that Leonel was forcing his hand so that he didn''t feel guilt about abandoning his position. After all, if Leonel was the one forcing him to stay by his grandson''s side, it wasn''t really his choice, right?

    But Old Hutch was a veteran, a man of many battles who had seen countless things. He knew that this kid before him now was the same child he had known back then.

    Maybe the youthful Leonel he had met all those years ago would have been like this. But that Leonel would have also let him leave if he insisted on it.

    Howeverбн

    The more dreary side of Leonel''s current tone was that he was truly not allowing Old Hutch to reject. If Hutch resisted, he would find out quickly just how much Leonel had held back.

    Right now, Leonel had kicked the ball into his court, letting him know that whether their relationship stayed so cordial or truly became one of master and servant was entirely up to his reaction to Leonel''s words.

    Old Hutch couldn''t help but sigh, feeling a bit uncomfortable in his heart. He wasn''t used to doing such things. Something like swallowing his own feelings on a matter and burying the thoughts of his heart just weren''t in his nature. Howeverбн

    He looked toward his grandson.

    For too long, he had neglected him. There was a reason he had never blamed Elorin, and that was because it was his job as his grandfather to raise him right since his parents weren''t around.

    He had neglected his grandson, too obsessed with going back to his glory days, too obsessed with being Hacker Hutch again, to even see how much his grandson was hurting.

    Now he was being given an opportunity to right that wrong, to stay by his side this timeбн how could he not take it? How could he make the same mistake twice?

    Old Hutch sighed. "I don''t know what happened to you, kidбн but you''re becoming a lot more like your grandfather."

    "Don''t compare me to that old fogie. I''m much more handsome."

    Old Hutch was speechless, but in the end, he could only chuckle.

    Inwardly, he was also feeling for Leonel. What did Leonel have to go through to become this version of himself? He would have never thought that Leonel had it in himself to strong-arm him like this.

    Although Leonel''s ultimatum was a bit cruel, there was a reason Old Hutch was so loyal to Gervaise. Sometimes, a leader had to have that sort of edge to them or else, rather than a little bit of discomfort now, it would be their people suffering for it in the future.

    In the past, Leonel would mitigate this by taking on the entire burden himself, suffering the pain himself so that others wouldn''t have to.

    But he had matured enough now to know that there was certainly a sort of middle ground to take. Even if he was going to take on the burden himself, he had to put more effort into raising everyone around him up.

    He descended from the skies and wrapped an arm around his wife. Aina still felt a bit fragile now, but he could see that there was some color returning to her face.

    "We''re going to need a lot of Force Pills very soon; do you think you''re up to it?"  Sз╫ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Aina''s eyes brightened somewhat, and she nodded. Something to distract her, and something to do while she couldn''t battleбн that was exactly what she needed right now.

    "I just need blood," she said softly.

    Usually, she would use her own blood to concoct pills. But she couldn''t for obvious reasons now. She was directing much of her Life Force to the baby and wouldn''t misdirect it for this purpose.

    However, that didn''t mean that she couldn''t pull the same Life Force from others. Even though she had never done that before, she was quite confident in it.

    In fact, doing things that way would probably be even more efficient. After all, she wouldn''t have to worry about overdrafting if it was someone else''s blood. She could just focus on directing the Blood and Life Force. She would probably even be more efficient like this.

    "Don''t worry about that. You''ll have plenty of blood soon." Leonel grinned. "Hey, old man, show me your Ability Index."

    "You finally realized how much I was holding back? Is that it?" Old Hutch sneered, still a bit dissatisfied.

    After he finished speaking, there was a sudden rush through the air and Leonel felt like he was frozen in place. It wasn''t just him, but it felt like everyone was experiencing it all at once.

    Old Hutch crossed his arms over his chest, laughing to the skies.

    "How is it?"

    Leonel would have blinked in surprise if he could. This was clearly an application of Spatial Force, and though it seemed to function like Nana''s Bind Ability Index, he felt that it was completely different.

    It was such a strong application of space that it actually crossed over to influence time as well.

    He was solidifying the three Dimensions to such an extent that even Time Force itself couldn''t move freely, effectively causing a result that was akin to Time Stop without quite being Time Stop.

    Leonel''s body trembled slightly and his Weapon Force tore the constraints around him apart, causing Old Hutch''s lip to twitch.

    However, none of this stopped Leonel''s eyes from brightening into two suns.

    The combination of grandson and grandfather would be monstrous.

 Chapter 3098 Four Dimensions

    Chapter 3098  Four Dimensions Leonel felt that just by observing these two, his comprehension of Time Force was only increasing. But what left him truly speechless was the fact that Old Hutch was the perfect opposite of his grandson.

    Elorin was almost entirely focused on his Ability Index, many would say too focused.

    But by comparison, Old Hutch ignored his too much. He had such a powerful Ability Index, but his mastery over it was clearly lacking.

    And yet, despite that, Old Hutch''s Ability Index was practically as close to the Fifth Tier as you could get without being a Savant. He was basically born with his Ability Index at the absolute extreme.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. In just a few seconds, he had thought of thousands of uses for Old Hutch''s Ability Index. But even when he directly dismissed all those that would help directly with his machete, he was still feeling quite shocked.

    Right now, Old Hutch was a Dimensional expert to the standards of Old Earth. Meaningбн he was far too weak.

    If Leonel had wanted to, he could have defeated the old man in a single strike. It was just that he wanted the man to know that he had surpassed him in skill as well, so he weakened himself considerably.

    If Old Hutch wanted to be of use, he would need to improve in two massive ways. First his foundation had to be reforged, and that would be easy enough given Aina''s abilities and Leonel''s own.

    And second, he had to start using his Ability Index properly.

    "Old man, how much do you know about your Ability Index?"

    Old Hutch shrugged. "It''s just a parlor trick you can use against weak people. My blade is still best."

    Leonel almost coughed up a mouthful of blood. He looked toward his brothers, and many of them were also feeling aggrieved.

    The one of Leonel''s talents that had started off incredibly weak was his Ability Index. He had put in a great amount of effort to get it to this level, and this damned old man was wasting such good stuff.

    Sometimes Leonel felt jealous. If he had been born with Elorin''s Ability Index, or Old Hutch''sбн heck, even if he had been born with James'', his strength right now would be far more exaggerated.

    Of course, it was stupid of him to complain about this. It was like an already rich man crying about not being richer.

    Leonel shook his head and then waved a hand. At that moment, his Dream Force rippled and they entered his Dream World. Grid lines of blue filled the white space, making it look as though they had entered a matrix of some sort.

    "Watch." Leonel said.

    He grabbed at the air and a machete manifested from his Dream Force. Then, everyone froze in place.

    It was like Hutch''s frozen domain had descended once again, but this time more subtle and hints more powerful.

    Leonel swung down and Hutch''s eyes widened.

    He was certain. Leonel wasn''t swinging the machete very fast at all. And yet, it was so fast that there was simply no time to react at all.

    By the time Hutch finished these thoughts, the machete was already resting against his neck.

    "Do you see?" Leonel asked.

    "бн"

    Hutch''s eyes brightened into saucers. He took his blade and rushed off into the distance, only to hit the edge of Leonel''s barrier and choosing to stay there and swing his blade again and again.

    Leonel was speechless. This first teacher of his was a little bitбн stupid. But his talent and instinct were on another level.

    The reason Hutch had always said to "listen" to his blade was because that was all he understood how to do. He didn''t think through things because he never had to. If Leonel explained the science of what he had just done, Hutch''s brain would probably implode.

    He had deduced it all thanks to Anastasia and Elorinбн

    There were four small-d dimensions that acted on the world. And according to a certain theory of relativity, they were all acting in conjunction.

    Hutch''s Spatial Ability Index was powerful to the point that it could influence time. Changing and warping space, how much of it you were moving through, and thus tweaking your acceleration through it, could influence time.

    If Hutch mastered this, he could take his Ability Index to an entirely new level.

    Right now, he could only make people freeze in time. But there was no reason why he couldn''t make time accelerate around himself like Leonel had just done.

    If this was layered with his grandson''s ability, the duo would be able to control all four dimensions with ease and their power together would be greatly exaggerated.

    At that point, had Leonel not only comprehended his own path to mastery over Time and Space, he would have no confidence in defeating these two at all.

    "Perfect."

    This here was his foundation. Before he died, he had already decided to truly begin to form his faction, even to the point of having created the first iteration of their uniforms.

    Now that he was back, he had not only not changed his mind, but he was planning on pouring even more into it.

    He flicked a finger and used Dream Path on Hutch while he was lost in his own thoughts, madly swinging his blade. After that, Leonel could practically see the enlightenment in his eyes.  Sз╫ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You''re all going to have to work a lot harder," Leonel said with a grin to his brothers. "Otherwise the old man is going to surpass you in a few days."

    "Fuck that!" Milan roared. "Give me drugs!"

    He looked toward Aina with a feverish light, causing her to burst into a fit of laughter.

    "Let''s stay here for a while. I''ll have Anastasia deduce a few things for me and soon we''ll do another round of Incomplete World absorption. Aina, you just help Hutch fix his foundation. As for meбн I''ll be back in a bit. I have a certain swordsman to visit."

    Leonel hadn''t seen Amery in a long while. He wondered how much improvement the man had made.

    As Leonel moved, though, he was thinking about something else. The new Time Force capabilities of his Dream Force... they just might allow him to give the opportunity his grandfather had given to him to everyone else. If he completed this new technique of his Ability Index well... he could allow everyone the chance to return to the Third Dimension again.

 Chapter 3099 A Former Weakness

    Chapter 3099  A Former Weakness Amery was in the same exact state that Leonel remembered him being in: sweating buckets and swinging the very same wooden sword. In fact, the only thing that had changed was that he was using a different hand, but Leonel was pretty sure that was a coincidence.

    Amery had always been a dual sword wielder, so it wasn''t a surprise that he would use both hands. In fact, part of the reason for that was because his Innate Nodes were in his hands.

    He probably wasn''t born ambidextrous, but had instead learned it. That said, it was clear that he had a proclivity toward it nonetheless.

    The reason it would be easier for him to learn to use his off-hand compared to others was precisely because of that Innate Node in his left hand. It made certain that the Nodal Pathways in his arm were just as robust as the Nodal Pathways in his dominant arm. Thus, so long as he trained his muscle memory, the skill would come naturally.

    Seeing Amery still working at it, Leonel felt a slight hint of admiration. It was something that he wouldn''t usually feel toward others. In fact, the only man who had ever elicited such awe in him was his father.

    However, maybe because he was in a bit of a charitable mood, he had projected some of that onto Amery.

    However, it wasn''t truly because he felt that what Amery was doing was impressive, but rather because of a certain empathy.

    The only difference between himself and Amery in regard to this training was that Leonel had timed it in a time-warped zone, while Amery had been drilling himself in this clearing, in the same spot, to the point he was already standing in a crater of his own making.

    What made it more shocking was that this crater wasn''t due to a sudden and abrupt use of power. It only appeared because he had been grinding at the same region with his feet again, and again, and again, tirelessly for years on end.

    Leonel could tell with a glance that the man hadn''t even eaten anything in all these years. His entire focus was on the sword and he replaced any of his nutritional needs with Force.

    In fact, Leonel was pretty sure that he wasn''t even absorbing energy from the surroundings at all. Instead, he was relying entirely on his two Innate Nodes.

    From what Leonel knew, Amery had one Dark Force Innate Node and a second Gaia Force Innate Node.

    Gaia Force was a truly shocking and rare Force that was a fusion of Water, Earth, and Life Forces. It allowed the user to borrow power from both land and water to bolster their strength considerably.

    With such a setup, it could be said that Amery was a unit no matter what battlefield he stepped onto, the only exception being the vacuum of space itself. But in that case, everyone took a hit. After all, there was no Force for anyone in space.

    Leonel didn''t say anything for a long while as he simply observed Amery.

    Right now, he wasn''t in a rush. He had already taught the Sylvan who dared to lay a hand on his child a severe lesson.

    Although it was up in the air if that Sylvan was still alive in another form or not, Leonel knew that rushing wouldn''t get him anywhere right now.

    The Four Great Families were definitely antsy and could easily overextend themselves right now. They knew that someone had infiltrated their world, but they had no idea where this person was.

    Leonel planned on letting them stew in that discomfort for much longer before he struck again, and in that time, he would build up the coalition that he should have long ago.

    When he appeared in the world once again, there would be an entirely different Legion to worry about.

    Amery had certainly noticed Leonel''s appearance already, but since he didn''t say anything, he just continued to swing, and swing, and swing.

    "You''ve hit a wall."

    This was what Leonel said after an entire three hours of observing Amery in silence.

    The truth was that it had taken Leonel this long to fully analyze Amery''s state. Although his Dream Force was on another level now, Amery''s skill was also no joke.

    Trying to use Dream Path for a swordsman when he had no affinity for swords, and said swordsman was nearing him in skill, was incredibly difficult.

    However, in the end, he was still a step beyond Amery in terms of Weapon Force mastery. So he knew where Amery had to go and about where he was.  sea??h thз╫ N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Amery''s sword stopped and he looked toward Leonel with a level gaze, his chest heaving in an oddly slow rhythm as sweat beaded down his body.

    "You''re ironically too obsessed with the sword and it''s not letting you see what''s beyond it."

    Amery''s brows furrowed.

    "If you can answer this question, you''ll make it through," Leonel continued calmly. "Ask yourselfбн do you want a sword that lords over all things, or a sword that is all things?"

    Amery''s eyes flashed like a bright pair of torches.

    In truth, when it came to his Weapon Force, Leonel felt that Amery stood on the same level as him. The difference between them was that Leonel had a Dream Force affinity that was off the charts, one that allowed him to see his Weapon Forces from a different sort of perspective, a perspective Amery couldn''t see.

    At the same time, Leonel had those ten years in the Sea God Zone to blow Amery out of the water. Though, he didn''t really count those because Amery had started training far younger than he had as well.

    All things considered, they should be at about the same levelбн but they weren''t. And the reason for that was ironically the one thing Leonel had always seen as a weaknessбн

    He had too many affinities.

    Now that he had reached this point, he realized that could be an asset as well.

 Chapter 3100 Too Long

    Chapter 3100  Too Long Amery had many affinities as well, as made obvious by his several Innate Nodes. But he had only ever allowed the sword to guide him. He let everything fall into the backdrop and it became his one obsession.

    At the same time, he didn''t have another Force like Dream Force to give him insights on the plane most Weapon Forces existed on.

    In the end, he ended up spinning his wheels. He couldn''t see what lay beyond.

    Ironically, in terms of raw Weapon Force mastery, until just about a few hours ago, the two were on the same exact level.

    However, Leonel had broken through the plane and seen through the mystery of Weapon Forces, allowing him to touch onto a comprehension of Space and Time Forces through his Weapon Forces.

    By comparison, Amery was still stuck, and from his progress, he would have continued to be stuck for several more years, even decades to come.

    Leonel could have just directly told him about Space and Time Force. He was sure that Amery was sharp enough to understand it. So long as he was told and guided, it would be a matter of a few seconds.

    Butбн Leonel decided to take another approach.

    Who was to say that his way was the only way and the certainly correct way?

    He could forcefully guide someone who was lacking in talent, but if he did that with someone as sharp and powerful as Amery, he would instead be holding him back.

    He spoke a lot about how Emna had about the same level of talent as himself and Aina, but what he didn''t speak nearly enough about was thatбн Amery had such potential as well.

    The problem was that Amery was chained down by his systematic training. Since he was young, he had been the apple in the eyes of his family, given a sword from practically birth and taught exactly how to wield it.

    By comparison, whether it was Aina, Leonel, or Emna, they were all mostly on their own. Even for Emna who had been given guidance from a small organization, she had to break free of them quite early because they were simply too weak.

    Now, Amery had a chance to shed all of that.

    So Leonel gave him a choiceбн  sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Did he want to follow his pathбн? Or did he want to forge another?

    Leonel didn''t even tell him which path he had followed so as not to bias Amery, but the irony was that the result was expected.

    "A sword that stands above all things."

    A howling sword light came from Amery and pierced into the skies above.

    Leonel''s lip couldn''t help but curl.

    This was the path exactly opposite to him.

    Leonel had chosen a Spear and Bow that were all things. That was why his spear could warp time and space, even swallowing his Scarlet Star Force, or evolving to the point that it could become his body.

    Right now, his Weapon Forces were the foundation of his talent, and as such, they were everything to him.

    However, even without knowing any of this, Amery still chose the opposite path to himself.

    Amery didn''t want a sword that could become Time and Space. He wanted a sword that stood above Time and Space.

    It was a subtle difference, and many could probably argue until the last rays of the Northern Star set which path was superiorбн

    But to Leonel, it didn''t really matter.

    Maybe in someone else''s hands, the path he had chosen would be weaker than Amery''s. But in hisбн?

    How could it ever be?

    Streaks of gold rolled through Amery''s wooden sword like veins before they broke apart, leaving a golden sword behind.

    At that moment, even though he was still casually leaning against a tree, Leonel could feel all the hairs on his body stand up as goosebumps raced across his skin.

    This was exactly what he expected. A sword that lorded above all things could cut through all things.

    He had a feeling that no matter the defense, no matter the preparation, it simply wouldn''t matter before this blade.

    It was a blade that could sever the laws of reality themselves, a sword that could cut without a single swing, a sword that moved with the intention of one man alone.

    Leonel grinned, his blood suddenly beginning to boil. For some reason, he really wanted to battle Amery right nowбн Not just a casual sparбн

    But to the death.

    It didn''t take him long to understand why. His Weapon Forces were being provoked and their Path of Supremacy was being challenged. They even somewhat felt dissatisfied with Leonel choosing for them to be all things rather than lording over all things.

    Howeverбн

    The current Leonel wasn''t the Leonel of the past.

    ''Silence.''

    The moment he spoke, his Weapon Forces cowered into the depths of his body. They were no longer in position to dictate his state or his actions. He moved as he pleased and did as he pleased.

    Very soon, they would know why he had chosen such a path.

    Amery felt his hair stand on end as well. Just now he had felt a fiendish killing intent lock onto him that covered his already dripping body with another layer of cold sweat.

    Luckily, it vanished just as quickly as it appeared, but he still couldn''t help but look toward Leonel with a wary gaze.

    However, Leonel only pushed himself up from the tree he was leaning on and reached out a hand toward Amery.

    Amery looked at the hand for a moment before reaching out his own as well.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Sharp blades of gold swirled through the air as ring-halos appeared around their wrists.

    A clash of spear and sword shook the skies and tore the bounds of the laws around them apart, but neither seemed to be particularly trying for this to happen.

    "How long has it been since your sword had tasted blood?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Amery looked him in the eyes.

    "Too long."

 Chapter 3101 A General

    Chapter 3101  A General Leonel left Amery''s side with a bright smile on his face. Looking down at his hand, he could still feel some of the dissatisfaction of his Weapon Forces, but he didn''t feel any regret at allбн

    That was because he knew that he had taken the right path.

    Although many might argue, Leonel knew that Amery''s path was technically superior. If one was going after the strongest Weapon Force possible, mixing it with other things, using it to control other things, or generally pushing it out of its comfort zone, wasn''t the right way.

    Like with all things, if you tried to choose all paths, you might as well not choose one at all. This was why for much of his life, the greatest challenge of Leonel''s life was the fact he had too much talent. It was hard for him to focus on one thing at a time and it put him in a difficult position.

    However, this time, he was certain it was the right path. He had spent over a century on thisбн how could he be wrong?

    He needed his Weapon Forces to become the binding agent that held him together. This was the path they had to take.

    When the results became clear in the future, everyone would know that he had made the right choice as well.

    In truth, even Nilrem was hesitant about it all. That was why he had asked Leonel if he was sure because he entered his long-term seclusion. However, in the end, Nilrem had chosen to trust Leonel''s judgment.

    ''Not only will I be right, but if the Idol Battlefield dares to try and reject me because of this, I''ll have to flip the world of Weapon Forces on its head.''

    A grin spread across Leonel''s face, a sinister light in his eyes.

    His future plans surrounded the Idol Battlefield. He wouldn''t accept anything less than the best. Not only that, but he would bring a horde of the best with him.

    He would take the spear.

    Amery would take the sword.

    Aina would take the ax.

    Arnold would take the palm.

    Drake would form a new legacy.

    It could be said that they had a chance to monopolize almost half of the Idol Battlefield.

    Now, the question wasбн between Hutch and Emnaбн who would take the saber?

    The saber was a catch-all term for blades. The machete and Emna''s blades both fell into this category.

    ''There''s also Noah as well, I guessбн he''s the truest saber master of the three, but he is wholly inferior to Emna and Hutch nonethelessбн''

    Leonel was also not mentioning Joel, who had now become a glaive master. But unfortunately, Joel''s talent was lacking in this aspect as well. He wasn''t sure if he could raise those that lacked the prerequisite skill up high enough for them to achieve such things.  Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    ''Hm, I almost forgot, Kira is also a saber wielderбн a dual saber wielder. So is Elthorбн Seems there''ll be quite a bit of competition.''

    Leonel chuckled to himself, but he also knew that Kira''s focus had stopped being the saber long ago.

    With a step, Leonel appeared in Elthor''s territory.

    The Oryx was in a deep sleep, trying to regain some energy.

    He weakly opened his eyes to find Leonel sitting by his bedside.

    "Oh, Leoбн" Elthor tried to sit up, but Leonel pressed him down, pouring the other segments of his lost soul into his body.

    Elthor suddenly felt a great deal of energy pump through him and his eyes couldn''t help but widen. At first, he thought it was another temporary measure that Leonel was taking, but to his shockбн he could subconsciously feel that there was much more to this.

    "Leo, youбн"

    Leonel sighed and informed Elthor about the problem.

    The Oryx prince slowly let things settle in. It wasn''t nice to hear that Leonel had chosen his others over the life and death of his own people, but that didn''t mean that he couldn''t understand it.

    Leonel also had no reason to come clean with him either, but he had this time.

    Leonel stood, patting his shoulder.

    "Take your time to get healed up. Very soon, we''ll have a lot of battles to fight."

    Elthor''s eyes flickered. He could feel that Leonel had changed.

    In the past, Leonel might have asked him if he was still willing to fight for him. After his father''s death, he probably wouldn''t have told him that he had done such a thing to him and his family at all. But now, this current Leonel seemed to be a perfect fusion of the twoбн

    Soft-hearted enough to tell himбн hard-hearted enough to not give him a choice anyway.

    Elthor couldn''t help but laugh as Leonel walked away. This Leonel was certainly less likableбн butбн this Leonel was also one that would be highly unlikely to lose.

    Elthor had never wanted to be a King even though his father had pushed him to do so again and again. There was only one thing he wanted to be, one thing he would always want to be.

    A General.

    He wanted to stand on a battlefield with a saber twice the size of his body in hand. He wanted to unleash his bestial instincts and roar to the skies as the blood of his enemies bathed him from head to toeбн

    And the only way he was going to get such an opportunity was if he was under a King that was equally as bloodthirsty.

    The first Leonel he met was too soft-hearted.

    The second Leonel he met was too thirsty for the blood that should rightfully be his. Rather than sending him out for battle, Leonel would be more likely to bathe himself in the blood that Elthor himself wanted.

    But this Leonelбн

    Elthor slowly pushed himself up from his bed, a wild grin spreading across his face as his body began to increase in size. White fur sprang all across him, his horns becoming sharper and more prominent.

    бн This was the Leonel that would give him what he wanted.

 Chapter 3102 Womanizer

    Chapter 3102  Womanizer Leonel appeared on the top of a tall mountain. Ahead, there was a beautiful woman. She had short-cut crimson hair and a body that rippled with the lithe muscles of a fit female.

    Her figure was slender, but it almost exuded a sharpness that seemed to pierce through the air again and again with just the slightest of movements.

    At the moment, she wore probably the skimpiest things she could get away with: a cloth band across her chest and a pair of shorts with pant-holes so loose that her sharp movements exposed the simple black panties beneath.

    It was a truly beautiful sightбн one marred by the lecherous man standing not far from her.

    Leonel''s lip twitched when he saw Nilrem "guiding" Emna. This old man really left him speechless sometimes.

    There were many women in this world, many of whom came from the human settlements that Leonel had taken in. So when he caught Nilrem having sex, he wasn''t too surprised.

    But now he was suddenly hoping that that woman hadn''t been Emna.

    This obviously wasn''t because of jealousy. Leonel only had eyes for one woman, and he could care less about what others did with their timeбн or rather, most others.

    Emna had a special place in Leonel''s heart because she was the first person he had seen after he decided to be a King that he was deadset on making his General. Even Elthor hadn''t been given such treatment from him.

    Back then, he and Aina had been with Valiant Heart Mountain to enter an exchange with a few other organizations in the region. Emna had been a member of the Crimson Hall.

    The moment he saw her, he had seen her talent. And having just exited the Valiant Heart Zone where he decided he definitely wanted to be a King, he had had it on his mind to start building the foundation of his Kingdom as well.

    In fact, Leonel had never stopped helping Emna. Of everyone, he probably supported her growth the most even though he had yet to use her in combat.

    Ever since he met Raylion and took over the organization the latter had created for him, he had been pouring a ton of resources into her.

    If this shameless master of his ruined everything, he would throw him off a cliff.

    But it was hard to neglect the fact that Emna had definitely improved greatly under Nilrem''s tutelage. The old man was lecherous, but at the very least he was helpful.

    Unfortunately, as lecherous as the old man was, Leonel also clearly remembered the first impression he had of him.

    Nilrem, or rather Wise Star Order back then, was definitely the most handsome man he had ever seen. And that made him too good at fooling innocent women into his bed.

    It would have been better if he really was an ugly old man with sparse hair.

    He couldn''t let Emna be one of his victims. If his general became useless because of a broken heart, he''d definitely have to deal with this old man.

    "What do you think you''re doing to my General, old man?" Leonel hopped down and landed near them.

    Emna blinked, having only just noticed Leonel''s appearance. She gave him a nod and then continued her boxing routine without missing a beat.

    "What''s that supposed to mean, brat? Can''t you see I''m guiding her progress?" Nilrem scoffed.

    "My Generals are off-limits, lewd bastard. You''re not allowed to lay a hand on her."

    "Hohoho, are you making her part of your harem? My bad, my bad."

    Emna almost tripped and fell when she heard this. She was usually a stoic woman, but how could she not react to such a thing?  Sз╫arch* The n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She turned back, giving the both of them wary looks. But Emna was still Emna, even with such a suggestive conversation going on, she didn''t seem to realize how suggestive her form of dress was.

    "I only have one wife and will always have one wife," Leonel shook his head.

    "Then stop being so stingy, shooshoo."

    Emna''s sharp gaze landed on Nilrem. At that moment, there was a hole cut through the lower half of his robes.

    "Hey! Hey!" Nilrem hopped out of the way. "Little beauty, you''ve been training for too long. If you don''t learn of the other pleasures of life, you''ll never get over your bottleneck."

    Emna gave Nilrem a glance and then ignored him again, continuing her combat routine.

    Leonel laughed.

    Technically, Nilrem was right. Emna was facing much the same problem as Amery, but she was also more flexible than Amery was.

    Seeing her now, Leonel realized that he was being too obtuse by labeling her as a saber wielder. She didn''t even have a blade in her hand right now; she was only using her body.

    However, battle was all she had ever known. Sometimes looking at the world from a different perspective could help greatly.

    Emna''s path was far more complicated than Amery''s. Leonel couldn''t just guide her with a few words, and she had to rely on herself. That saidбн

    "He is right, you know." Leonel said with a laugh. "How about it, Emna? Do you have a boy you like? I can pretty much play God in this place."

    Emna faltered again, this time glaring at Leonel and forcing him to hop out of the way before a blade sliced at him too.

    Leonel laughed. "I can set you up on a blind date. I have someone in mind. Well, he technically has a fiancижe, but I doubt she''s in the picture anymore. Your kids would be little monsters."

    "Really, you can be with anyone but this womanizer here," he hooked a thumb toward Nilrem.

    Emna rolled her eyes and ignored the two, continuing her combat routine.

    "Seems your charms are dulling, old man," Leonel said with a laugh.

    "More like you didn''t manage to trick the little beauty into your bed. Maybe I should tell your wife about this."

    "You wouldn''t dare," Leonel said with narrowed eyes.

    Nilrem laughed into the skies. He had finally found Leonel''s weakness. It should have been obvious long ago.

    However, he didn''t get to laugh for long before he was suddenly sent flying off the mountain.

    "You forgot I''m God here, old man! Have a nice fall!"

    Leonel exhaled a breath and smiled, turning back to Emna.

    "Ready to battle?" Leonel asked.

    "Any time," she replied coolly.

    "Good."

 Chapter 3103 Kiras Smile

    Chapter 3103  Kira''s Smile Leonel appeared in yet another mountain range, if it could be called that. At this point, it looked like the world of the dead, and this entire region of land had pretty much become cursed.

    Before, it was just because there were the bodies of Void Beasts and the Shadow Tail here. But now, there were all six Envoys of Destruction including the Void Beast.

    On top of that, there was another addition.

    Primordial Terror.

    It could be said that this region was the densest concentration of Destruction in the world and it was almost a shame that Leonel didn''t frequent it much.  S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It was just thatбн Leonel didn''t feel like he needed to.

    "Yip! Yip!"

    Blackstar suddenly appeared in a swirl of spiraling black, popping out of the air like it was a curtain the moment he sensed Leonel.

    He landed on the latter''s shoulder, swiping at his ears a few times with a playful claw.

    Clearly, the little guy was happy to see him.

    By this point, Blackstar already had the mature thinking processes of a truly powerful person. He was no less sophisticated in how he saw the world even if he did act a little childishly sometimes.

    As far as Leonel was concerned, the two of them were brothers as well.

    Blackstar had been by his side ever since the little guy was an infant. And back then, although Leonel had been older, it truly wasn''t by as large a measure as he had thought.

    He was just 18 years old back when this little guy first tried to take his head off in some sort of sick game. Now, it had been over a decade since then, a lot more than that if he counted all the time warp shenanigansбн

    The two had come a long way.

    He could feel that Blackstar was a lot more powerful now than when he first awakened his Idol. It had been an entire three years since then and the little guy had always been a shocking talent.

    Ironically enough, Leonel had only ever really done one thing for Blackstar, and that was choosing the Path of Mimicry for him way back when he first met Uncle Montez.

    Now, that proved to be the best choice imaginable precisely because Blackstar had so many powerful beasts to study.

    At this point, Blackstar was already no weaker than a true Envoy of Destruction, and maybe in another few decades, he would stand on the same level as the Primordial Terror.

    Leonel gave Blackstar a few scratches as he walked forward, the smile on his face not fading. At the very least, he was experiencing a bit of calmness and beauty to offset the deep discomfort that had been in him these last few weeks.

    Ever since he knew someone targeted his child, he wanted blood, and he still wanted it now. But at the very least, it was a controlled fury.

    Soon, he laid eyes on a young woman with delicate brown skin and bobcut hair not much unlike Emna.

    Kira.

    Ever since the loss of her family, Kira had been working harder than maybe anyone else. Even the likes of Amery and Fifth Nova could only be on par with her. They had really driven themselves over the edge in service of repaying their debts and growing stronger.

    While some of the Humans in this world had already forgotten the real reason they were here, these few had really pushed themselves to the limit, taking advantage of the resources Leonel gave them and the fact that this world was truly no weaker than any God Realm.

    Kira looked up to see Leonel, a smoldering darkness in her gaze.

    Inwardly, Leonel could only sigh.

    He remembered when he first met this little girl. She was so cheery and lively. But nowбн

    He couldn''t help but wonder if it was a mistake to allow her to stay here with no one but Blackstar to keep her company.

    For long stretches of time, Leonel neglected even his own brothers, even his own cousin, in factбн it was only natural that he ended up ignoring Kira who he, objectively, had quite a minimal relationship with.

    However, he still felt like he held some responsibility for the things that happened even though he was fairly certain that they likely wouldn''t have changed.

    His grandfather, Gervaise, seemed to act with impunity, but when Leonel assessed his actions from an objective point of view, he quickly found that Gervaise usually ended up making the correct decision.

    It was just thatбн the correct decision wasn''t always the right decision.

    The way the world was now, there might not even be a world in another few thousand years or so. Making decisions purely based on logic alone no longer made sense to him.

    It was the reason he chose to make his wife happy and they were having their first baby togetherбн

    And it was also the reason, although he understood his grandfather, he also couldn''t accept everything he had done.

    Back then, Leonel had been well on his way to conquering the entire Human Domain, but then his grandfather whisked him away and used some unique method to regress his Dimension back to the Third.

    Due to that, the Morales ended up collapsing and so many people suffered as a direct result because he was no longer there to hold up the sky.

    Kira was just one of those victims, and in a lot of ways, he wouldn''t blame them if they blamed him.

    But Kira and Fifth Nova hadn''t taken such a route. They were both practically running their bodies into the ground for a chance at revenge.

    So Leonel felt that it was only right he give them such an opportunity.

    "It''s about time, no?" Leonel asked lightly.

    For the first time in a while, he saw Kira''s cherry lips curl into something that looked like a smile.

    But it was far more sinister than just that.

 Chapter 3104 Ramon Force

    Chapter 3104  Ramon Force Leonel only had one more visit to complete.

    Ramon. Fifth Nova.

    The last time Leonel had come to visit Ramon, he had been forging a spear. That was the time Leonel had given him the Spear Domain Ring since it was utterly useless to him by that point.

    The Spear Domain Ring had been a great treasure in the past, but Leonel could already forge spears far stronger than the ones that rested on the tallest peak. So there was no need for him to keep it.

    By comparison, the ring had been invaluable to Ramon.

    Back then, Ramon had been trying to find his way of the spear the only way he knew howбн Crafting.

    After his fiancижe, Valorie, died, he had been in shambles. She had always been his protective guard, the muscle of their duo, while he focused on Crafting instead.

    He blamed himself for not being strong enough, wondering why it was him that had been born with both Morales Lineage Factors instead of her. He had even selfishly wasted it, using most of his time on the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor rather than the Spear Domain one.  sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel remembered being shocked by his method. That was because the path of using forging to comprehend one''s own path was like a reversal of the Self Path his father had created.

    It had to be remembered that the Life Path, usually known as the pinnacle of Crafting, was the process of taking many materials and creating a treasure that stood as a single existence of its own. It was essentially like granting Ores new life in a body they could truly be one in.

    By comparison, the Self Path diverted away from what the Ores and Forces might want, melding them down a new path that better suited the creator.

    By forging in order to find his own path, Ramon was essentially doing this in reverse. He was finding the Self Path through himself.

    Unlike Leonel who just used his father''s teaching, Ramon had stumbled his way onto the path on his own.

    Leonel was rarely impressed, but he had certainly been back then. In fact, he had been certain that once Ramon succeeded, he would create a Path of Weapon Forces stronger than his own.

    It was that experience that catalyzed him to pick a new Weapon Force Path that ultimately ended in triggering the Idol Battlefield and his years-long struggle to actually control themбн

    Until he eventually did.

    This time when he came to Ramon''s cottage in the middle of the forest, he heard the very same clanging of metalбн or so it seemed.

    Every swing of the hammer was like another resonant hum through the world. In fact, when Leonel got close, he was shocked by what he found.

    That was because Ramon had a clear Sovereign Spear Force, that much was obvious enoughбн but even more obvious than that was the Sovereign Hammer Force that suppressed it and continued to forge it.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    He was the only person he knew that had two Sovereign Weapon Forces. He couldn''t remember ever meeting another person. Even if an uber-talented wife only had a single one. Thoughбн that was because she never tried to have another.

    Aina was surely talented enough. There was a time in her training where she would test out other weapons and it was obvious enough through that.

    But this was on another level.

    That was because he could sense that there was a subtle fusing of the two happening here.

    Leonel looked around only to find that the forest had become a graveyard of powerful weapons. In fact, he could even see the Spear Domain Ring casually resting on a tree trunk. It was clear that Ramon had already graduated past the need to use it at all.

    Howeverбн what was most shocking was that these graveyards of weapons, though they started off as spears, began to gradually shift toward another direction.

    A polearm hybrid of the hammer and the spearбн a lucerne hammerбн? A mutated halberd?

    The weapons were meticulously crafted and each one was gorgeous beyond words. When Leonel entered the weapon''s factory of the Fawkes, he felt nothing but disdain. But when he entered this workshop of Ramon''s, he realized that while the latter might not be a more talented Crafter than himself overall, when it came to this one particular weaponбн

    He was leagues beyond what Leonel could craft right now.

    Leonel could sense it. In another half decade, Ramon would succeed in creating this new hybrid Hammer-Spear Force, or rather, Lucerne Force. Or maybe he should call it Ramon Force.

    At that point, he would stand on the same level as Drake, having created his own Weapon Force and causing the Idol Battlefield to react once again.

    But what was most shocking was that unlike Drake who wasn''t a Crafter, Ramon was. That meant that if he succeeded, and Leonel gave him his own legion to command, one of people who had also comprehended Ramon Forceбн

    Just how much more powerful would such an army be?

    No matter how great Leonel''s Crafting Skill was, he couldn''t be a master of all. He had created amazing weapons for himself and his brothers, or guns, rather, but unless he spent more time studying Gun Force, it was impossible for him to create a weapon as powerful as what Ramon could.

    In fact, if Ramon succeeded, the Lucerne Hammers he could forge would be even beyond the Spears and Bows that Leonel could currently forgeбн

    Because they would have the stamp of a God.

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more anticipation he had in his heart.

    ''In that caseбн''

    Leonel stood there in silence. He observed Ramon for an hourбн then a dayбн quickly, a day became a week and a week became a month.

    Leonel knew that Ramon would succeed in five years or so, and that was already quite fast.

    But why do later what could be done now?

    Leonel''s eyes suddenly shone as bright as torches and his Dream World deployed out from his body.

 Chapter 3105 She Will Be

    Chapter 3105  She Will Be Leonel put the entire effort of his mind into analyzing Ramon''s new Force.

    Lucerne Force, Hammer-Spear Force, Ramon Force, or whatever he would like to call it in the future, was truly unique. And it was a route that Leonel had never expected a Morales to take.

    The reason for that was obvious enough. Ramon wasn''t a normal Crafter in the first place. He had a Metal Spirit just like Leonel did. Using a hammer to forge weapons wasn''t exactly the most efficient way for them to do things.

    There was no need to use hammers when their Metal Spirits could temper out impurities and refine metals to the perfect degree just by swallowing it for a bit.

    However, Ramon seemed to have switched over, and Leonel could understand it somewhat.

    He was still using his Metal Spirit. The hammer in his hand had his Metal Spirit running all the way through it and seemed to be a fusion of a Craft and a living being, a true beautiful representation of the pinnacle of the Life Grade.

    However, he had wanted to truly feel the changes himself. So he had swapped over to a heavier-handed method.

    At the same time, by using a hammer, he could temper his body as well.

    He wanted to find a method to transfer his Crafting talent into battle talent that he had never had. The only way to do that was to put his body through a ridiculous amount of pressure.

    He had managed to find a way to refine his Crafting and his body at the same time.

    At that moment, he stood in the middle of the woods, each strike sending a rain of scalding sweat spiraling through the air. His back rippled with a dense pack of muscles and had vascularity that could make the Gods shrink.

    Every time he swung, his entire body moved. Leonel could feel every muscle fiber constricting at once. But what was even more shocking than that was that he forced his body to absorb all of the shockwaves afterward as well.

    With his current strength, a single swing of the hammer would wipe all the trees out just from the sheer wind pressure alone, let alone the actual strike.

    However, Ramon had also learned to tune the hum and resonance of his body to absorb all the reverberating impact himself.

    Thanks to this, his attack and defensive power had reached a perfect equilibrium, and every time one increased, the other would follow suit.

    Clearly, he had created this new technique on his own and Leonel couldn''t help but be impressed. He had even found a method of improving it in this time, but he ignored those stray thoughts, focusing instead on Ramon''s Force.

    Right now, he was trying to combine Spear Force and Hammer Force, but it wasn''t so simple.

    If Leonel had to describe it, he was actually trying to fuse three different concepts into one, not just two.

    He was using the Spear Force as a pure destructive Force, one that he wanted to use to kill all enemies that lay before him.

    However, his Hammer Force came with two concepts, which was also why Leonel felt that it was stronger.

    On the one hand, it had a concept within it that mirrored the Spear Force, wanting to destroy everything it came into contact with. But at the same timeбн there was a subtle Crafting aspect to it as well.

    He was using this Hammer Force to create as well, not just the spear-hammer hybrids he was forging, but also in the tempering of his body.

    As such, Ramon was chasing attack power, but once again, his strongest aspect was in his nurturing and Crafting ability.

    According to Leonel''s simulation, Ramon would eventually realize this in the next few years and make the decision to abandon Crafting entirely, ultimately succeeding and becoming a True God.

    However, Leonel didn''t want him to take such a path. He had had a fondness in his heart for Crafting ever since he first learned how to do itбн how could he allow such a talented Crafter to abandon their path?

    Luckily, he had already thought of a solution.

    This path that Ramon was chasing afterбн wasn''t it very similar to his own?

    He had fused together two Creation Sovereignties and two Destruction Sovereignties. Eventually, those four Sovereignties became the foundation of his new and improved Heart, or Innate Node Heart.

    This was eerily similar.

    Two attacking paths. Two nurturing pathsбн  sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It was less complex than Leonel''s path, but it was a shocking path nonetheless.

    The question was how to give the Spear Force a nurturing aspect to counterbalance everything and have it reach a perfect equilibrium.

    Leonel thought of several possibilities but soon enough, he had landed on the one aspect it could be.

    Finally, over a month later, he walked forward.

    Ramon only seemed to finally notice Leonel''s presence now. Unlike the others, he was so engrossed he hadn''t even known Leonel was there at all.

    However, Leonel signaled for him to keep swinging.

    "Do you know why you keep swinging like that?" Leonel asked softly, his voice resonating with the hum of the hammer.

    Ramon''s eyes blazed. Of course he did. His fiancижeбн his wifeбн the love of his lifeбн she had died because he was too weak.

    That was why he had to shred everyone who stood in his path apart.

    At that moment, he realized the weakness of his Force and was about to destroy the nurturing aspect, but Leonel''s next words made him freeze.

    "It''s because you wanted to protect."

    Ramon''s hammer froze in the air, a trembling Force resonating through the air. It felt like the world didn''t want him to hammer it down.

    Veins bulged across his arms, his eyes pulsing with red veins.

    Protectбн that was rightбн he didn''t just want to shred his enemies apart, he wanted his Valorie to be there, standing at his back.

    "And she will be." Leonel promised.

    BOOM!

 Chapter 3106 Valor Force

    Chapter 3106  Valor Force Ramon unleashed a roar and his hammer smashed through the barrier.

    A spiraling golden Force ripped through the air.

    At that moment, it all condensed, forming an enormous Idol that pierced through the skies.

    It was a truly gorgeous weapon. It had a long body embroidered with thorned vines and roses. It had a hammer on one side, a cone-shaped weight to counterbalance it on the other, and at its head, a tall spear blade almost as long and proportioned as what one might expect from a short sword stood at its helm.

    The weapon released a pulse that hummed across the world.

    Ramon''s power skyrocketed and his body grew another half a meter in height. At that moment, he looked like a forged Giant, a tattoo that crossed a hammer and a spear appearing on his back.

    It didn''t take Leonel long to understand. Ramon hadn''t just created his own body refinement method, but he had used it to directly mutate Metal Body as well.

    Essentially, every time he absorbed the strike of his hammer, he was tempering his own body exactly like how he might an ore. That meant that in a roundabout way, his body had also become an extension of his Weapon Forces much like Leonel''s had.

    Ramon was a true genius. He had figured out many of the things Leonel had with a far weaker capability to analyze large amounts of data.

    And nowбн his power reflected that.

    He surpassed Drake in a single bound, the power he was exuding feeling far more holistic and whole.

    He roared to the skies as though giving vent to all his agony. There simply wasn''t a single person in the entirety of Anastasia''s world that couldn''t hear him.

    Leonel looked up with a flickering gazeбн and then he suddenly grinned.

    BOOM!

    Ramon landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his body standing almost a meter taller than Leonel. It didn''t feel like he was even looking at a human anymore, but rather a Barbarian. All he was lacking was the crimson tattoos.

    The Idol slowly faded.

    Ramon clenched his fist and the hammer in his hand shattered. His Metal Spirit squirmed out of it, surging up his skin before etching itself into the tattoo of crossing spear and hammer on his back.

    When it succeeded, there was a resonant hum that echoed through the world and his power seemed to hit yet another tier.

    SHOOM!

    There was a sudden ripple beside Leonel and a familiar perverted old man appeared out of thin air.

    Nilrem looked up at Ramon with a twitch at the corner of his lips.

    "How is it, Merlin? My army isn''t shaping up too bad, huh?"

    Nilrem was too shocked to even care about Leonel getting his name wrong. Wasn''t this the second self-created Idol in Leonel''s team? How was that even possible?

    It had to be known that there was no one alive in the world right now that had witnessed the last created Weapon Force. The Primordial Terror might have been an exceptionбн except for the fact it was dead now too.

    He could barely accept it happening once.

    But twice?

    That was just ridiculous.

    "бн Do you think this is normal?" Nilrem said after a long while, looking toward Leonel with a solemn gaze.

    Leonel shrugged.

    He could guess Nilrem''s worries. The only reason such things were happening was because the end of the world was truly over the horizon. Certain things that would have been hard "no''s" in the past had suddenly loosened up their standards and now some things were easier to accomplish than others.

    However, Nilrem shook his head.

    "This isn''t what you think it is. This is entirely related to you, and that means you''re more fucked than I thought."

    This time, it was Leonel''s lips'' turn to twitch. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

    But then he remembered the words the Primordial Terror had said to him before it attacked.

    He had spoken like he finally recognized Leonel, and Leonel had no idea what that could even mean.

    Was that related to this?

    "The Violet Winds blow Northбн" Nilrem muttered beneath his breath. "What a load of hogwash. Which blind bastard gave this idiot so much power?"

    "Haven''t you heard the saying that the students reflect the teacher?"

    "That''s not a saying."

    "It is now."

    "Leonelбн" Ramon''s sudden interruption cut off their banter. The man was looking at him with almost feverish eyes.

    Leonel smiled, guessing what he wanted to say.

    "Before that, shouldn''t you name your new Force?"

    Ramon''s eyes flickered. "бн Valor Force."

    Leonel paused for a moment and then nodded.

    His wife''s name was Valorie. Maybe he should have guessed that he would take such a route.

    BOOM!

    The world responded to Ramon''s naming of his Force and the clouds swirled.

    In the worlds across Existence, a new Force began to circulate, allowing itself to be comprehended by the masses.  S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Come with me," Leonel said. "I guess that since we''ve reached this point, it''s about time the Morales family made a returnбн"

    If he wanted to give Ramon a legion, it would take time. These people would need to comprehend an entirely new Force, and though it would be far easier with the God of said Force overseeing them, it was still time he wasn''t willing to waste.

    The best way to circumvent this problem was by selecting people that would have high affinity for such a Forceбн

    And what better collection of people would that be outside of the Morales?

    What better family of people to master a Weapon Force of destruction and creation outside of the Crafting family of Spearmen?

    He had won the position of Patriarch with his own two hands, but that responsibility had been ripped from him because of the Four Great Families.

    They destroyed his wife''s childhood, killed his family and Clan, and even targeted his child.

    He had sworn long ago to destroy them for the sake of Ainaбн but now he would truly relish it.

 Chapter 3107 Automate

    Chapter 3107  Automate [A very happy birthday goes out to princebanzz. I know your birthday is on the 7th, but I don''t upload in time tomorrow so happy early birthday, loool]

    Ramon hugged a confused Valorie with all of his might.

    By now, the man had gone from a somewhat lanky scholar to a hulking mass of a man. He was tall and bulging with muscles, and his wife, who had once been even somewhat bulkier than him, now looked like a dainty maiden in comparison.

    However, he didn''t seem to care as he balled his eyes out, holding onto her so tightly Leonel was even a bit worried that he would crush her to death.

    Even so, Leonel couldn''t help but smile, feeling his own emotions stirring. If he had gone through what Ramon had, he probably wouldn''t react much differently.

    Well, at least the current version of him would.

    As for the past version of him, when he saw Aina die before him, he practically lost all humanity he had left in him.

    Luckily, his future self had been able to change the Fate of at least one thingбн sort of.

    In reality, by now Leonel understood that there were just certain deaths you could reverse and others that were impossible no matter how much you wanted them to be so.

    In the past, he had treated reviving people from death as an indictment on the sanctity of life. But he had only been a layman in regard to these things in the past.

    Now he understood that sometimesбн being able to revive someone actually increased the value of it allбн especially when it was contrasted with those you simply couldn''t do the same for.

    He had seen many come back to life over the course of his own, but no matter what he did, he would never have his father back. And his motherбн

    Leonel pressed a silent hand to his chest.

    The irony was that for every breath he breathed, he was replacing one that should have been for her.

    He looked over toward Elrion and couldn''t help but chuckle. He was gasping for breath.

    By now, he had only managed to help Anastasia revive a couple dozen Morales family members. But it was a huge toll on his mind.

    All of this was only possible if he and Anastasia worked in tandem, but obviously, it wasn''t so easy.

    By Elrion''s side, his old man was barking orders at him and suddenly Leonel understood why Elrion felt closer to his parents than he did his grandfather despite having spent far more time with the latter.

    Old Hutch was practically more of a drill sergeant than a grandfather. Yet, the slight smile at the corner of Elrion''s lips told a different story entirely.

    "Hey, Old Hutch. You knew we have recovery pods. Toss him in, then wheel him out."

    Old Hutch''s eyes lit up and Elrion''s lip twitched.

    This was really going to be the end of him.

    The cycle continued. Elrion had all of his stamina wrung out of him, then he was tossed into a recovery pod for 15 minutes, only to be dragged out to repeat it all again.

    Slowly, the number of Morales that were being revived was steadily increasing in number.

    However, at this pace, it was simply impossible to revive them all.

    It took Elrion and Anastasia about half a minute to pull out one Morales from the stream of time, and then Leonel would trap their soul into the Life Tablet and help them recover.

    That was all fine and dandyбн except for the fact there were trillions of Morales.

    Even if they focused on only the most core members, not only would such a thing be unfair and entirely un-Patriarch-like, they still constituted billions.

    At this pace, they wouldn''t even finish by the time Existence came to an end.

    Elrion was starting to get sharper and faster with the more hands-on training, but even if they reached a point where they could do one a second, it would still take far too long. Especially considering Elrion would certainly never reach a point where he could continue indefinitely without pause.

    A billion seconds was already almost 32 years, and that wouldn''t even cover the core members of the Morales.

    If they needed trillionsбн well, the time necessary would only grow more exaggerated.

    Leonel had already seen through this problem, but finding a solution wasn''t easy. And on the back end, dealing with the revival of so many people even with this world in his back pocket also wouldn''t be easy.

    It had to be remembered that Leonel was trying to drum up a solution that would allow everyone to return to the Third Dimension and reforge their foundations with greater ease.

    He was basically finished with his deductions and felt like he could do it. But the problem was that he would then run into the same issue as Elrion at that point.

    Time and stamina.

    He needed a method that would automate both processes. But he also wasn''t an omnipotent God. The likelihood he could do this with his current skill was next to nil.

    So he just stood there and observed, his mind churning.

    At that moment, he got a message from Aina.

    ''Finished?'' his soul reached out to hers.

    ''Yup.''

    Leonel nodded.

    As for what Aina had finished, it should be their first large batch of pills. These would be what they would need if they were going to return everyone to the Third Dimension. Otherwise, they would be wasting too much time.

    The plan was simple. Leonel would use Dream Path to comprehend someone''s optimal path. Then, he would use Dream Class, an ability he hadn''t used in a while, to mimic this Path.

    Aina would then use her Clairvoyance and the connection between their souls to feel out this path and work out the kinks. Then, she would create a slate of pills to help them not only quickly recover their strength but swiftly enter the Ninth Dimension as well.

    With these two things working in conjunction, they would quickly build up the army that they should have long ago. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3108 Dream Reverse

    Chapter 3108  Dream Reverse Dream Class was an ability Leonel had created back when he felt that he had too many paths to follow. He split his skills into archetypes to raise his efficiency in battle.

    He had created a Sniper Archer and Explosive Archer Class, a Strong Spearman and Flexible Spearman Class, a Mixed Fighter and Speed Fighter Classбн so on and so forth. Then, he assigned them all stats.

    The goal was meant to allow him to track his progress and be more ruthlessly efficient in battle. Because he was such a calculative fighter, it took a toll on his mind to eliminate all the abilities he shouldn''t use and hone in on the ones he should.

    This Dream Class ability was meant to cut all of that out by choosing the archetype that would best counter an opponent in a situation.

    Essentially, it was practically like swapping characters mid-game.

    It was a good idea, but Leonel had ended up abandoning it, not because it was a waste of time, but because too much happened around that time. Not long after he created this ability, he ended up stuck in the Cataclysm Zone and things only went downhill from there.

    Now, he had revived the use of the ability, but this time for his people.

    Thanks to their baby, Leonel and Aina had been able to re-establish the connection of their souls, which meant that Aina could share his insights once again.

    That meant that if he used Dream Class nowбн

    Technically everyone would have Clairvoyance.

    Now, it was just a matter of returning them to the Third Dimension.

    And that was going to rely on his Dream Force.

    бн

    Leonel stood before James, a half grin on his face.

    "You''re gonna be my guinea pig."

    James gave him a weird look and took a step back. "I don''t think I like the sound of that."  S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You like rolling the dice anyway, don''t you?"

    "Stop bringing up that prostitute!"

    Leonel blinked innocently. "Prostitute? I don''t remember mentioning such a thing. Did you guys hear me say something?"

    The boys snickered and James fumed, but that was enough of a distraction for Leonel to press his palm against his forehead, causing James to shudder.

    The human body was extraordinarily unique. Unlike the other Races who seemed to evolve toward separating their souls from their bodies, they remained fused.

    This seemed like a terrible thing. Even Leonel''s father had thought so, or else he wouldn''t have taken the path of separating the soul from the body as well.

    Well, it was possible he thought otherwise and had just ended up stumbling on the perfect technique that required separating the soul, but the truth didn''t matter much one way or another.

    What was important was that this seeming weakness was something that Aina had made a powerful strength. And right now, Leonel was fairly certain that he could make it yet another.

    The trouble with having the soul fused with the body was that as one trekked through the Dimensions, one''s soul would end up pulled along and stretched through the Dimensions as well.

    The soul''s main place was the Dream Plane, which was located in the Second Dimension. So if you had your soul fused with your body, each step forward would elongate and pull your soul like an elastic band through the Dimensional layers.

    By the time you got to the Ninth Dimension, if you could manage that at all, your soul would be stretched so thin that comprehending much of anything would be endlessly difficult.

    Butбн the Gathering Stele that the God Beasts of Creation left behind seemed to disagree. They left behind a perfect Dimensional Method designed for the Human Race.

    Still, that wasn''t what Leonel wanted to take advantage of now.

    Instead, he planned to use the Time Force characteristics his Dream Force had gained to forcefully rewind the state of his brothers'' souls.

    Because humans had unique constitutions, if he could succeed, theoretically, their bodies would all revert to the Third Dimension as well while actually keeping some of their current strength.

    When all of this came together, they would be able to practice [Dimensional Cleanse] and pair it with the [Human Dimensional Method] of the Gathering Stele, laying a foundation far more powerful than anything they had ever had before.

    At that point, their strength would hit a new tier entirely.

    Though Leonel was joking around, he would never do this if he felt like there was a large risk of failure. But whenever you were trying something new, there would inevitably be some risk involved.

    Howeverбн

    Leonel wouldn''t accept no for an answer this time.

    He would drag his brothers along to keep up with his steps no matter what this time.

    He would build the Kingdom he wanted to see, a place where his children would be able to flourish in happiness, where the Human Race, and all Races for that matter, would have their own piece of the world to live out these final days.

    Leonel''s gaze flared and his aura pierced the skies.

    Dream Reverse.

    James'' body shuddered and his aura began to rapidly decline. The life seemed to be stripped from his eyes and he fainted soon afterward. However, there seemed to be a mysterious suction force on Leonel''s palm that kept him standing upright, not allowing him to fall even when his body went limp.

    The world overturned and churned.

    Leonel grit his teeth, his jaw set. His eyes glowed brighter and brighter.

    Pierce through!

    BANG!

    James'' body convulsed and the skies above began to swirl.

    Leonel''s mind shook at the same time, Violet Winds soaring through him as his Creation Sovereignties melded into his Dream Force.

    He could feel itбн that final barrierбн

    "Reverse."

    He spoke out the word lightly and the world fell into silence.

    For countless miles, the leaves didn''t rustle, nor did the wind blow.

    It was then that Leonel knew he had succeeded.

    James'' body collapsed to the soft grass and time slowly sped up once again.

    Beads of cold sweat poured down Leonel''s brows.

    ---

 Chapter 3109 The Sea Gods

    Chapter 3109  The Sea Gods James'' eyes fluttered open only days later. But the first thing he saw was a bare ass that suddenly rippled.

    At first, he thought it was a woman; it was just that he didn''t know when his tastes had become soбн heavy. Just how drunk was he this time?

    But when the fart hit his faceбн his eyes widened with realization and he shouted.

    "FUCK! Raj, you fat fuck!"

    Soon, his yells woke everyone upбн only for the realization to dawn on them all.

    They were all naked, cuddled up together on soft grass.

    They looked toward one another and their eyes all spoke the same silent words.

    We tell no one.

    Unfortunately, that was when a wheezing laughter came from not too far.

    Joel and Leonel stood together, trying to hold back their laughter but finding it harder and harder to do so.

    "Dammit!" Raj cursed when he saw the shirts the two had on. It was of all of them lying together naked in a deep sleep.

    James'' face was buried into Raj''s ass, Milan and Arnold were locked in a bear hug, even Gil and Franco were locked in a less than holy union.

    "Ah, revenge is a dish best served cold," Leonel said between laughs.

    Back then, he and Joel had gotten drunk and ended up hugging each other to go to sleep. They had been dealing with those damned shirts for too long. Now, years later, they finally got their revenge.

    Despite the murderous glares, the two couldn''t stop wheezing. They collapsed to the ground, tears coming from their eyes as they laughed and laughed.

    **

    Leonel was still wiping the tears from his eyes as his brothers began their charge back to the Ninth Dimension.

    The reason he had gotten such an opportunity was that they were all out for about a week or so. Much like him, they had lost consciousness for a long while.

    In that time, Anastasia and Elrion had managed to revive several thousand members of the Morales.

    In fact, as he began to help them reforge their foundations as well, the pace of this only accelerated.

    With each one that came back, Leonel found that his unilateral control over the Morales Constellation was slipping.

    By extension, he was weakening. Howeverбн overall, the Constellation itself was slowly becoming more powerful.

    In fact, as he began to help them reforge their foundations as well, the pace of this only accelerated.

    The Morales family Lineage Factor had changed and mutated. It was no longer separated into two halves, and now they all had both.

    As a result, each one was absolutely perfect to learn Ramon''s Valor Force. They had both the aspects of Crafting and Spearmanship that they needed.

    The trouble was that Metal Spirits were too rare.

    Only a few hundred to a thousand of the Morales had them to begin with. And obviously, since they had been revived, they hadn''t been able to bring their companions along with them.

    As such, their highest and best potentials weren''t being brought out.

    Leonel made a mental note to see what he could do about this in the future.

    Unfortunately, even after all this time, he hadn''t thought of a better method to automate the process. In the end, he could only take things one at a time.

    **

    Leonel vanished and appeared within a familiar world. Or, rather, a part of his soul did. It was all too easy for him to do such a thing now.

    This world was none other than one of his Inner Worlds.

    Soon, he had appeared in the territory of the Sea Gods.

    He strolled through the palaces and grounds as though he owned the placeбн

    Because he truly did.

    He had been ignoring the people in his Inner World because he didn''t care very much about them. As long as he got the energy from the worlds, what they could and couldn''t do didn''t matter much to him.

    He was effectively the God of this world and could do as he pleased with it.  Sear?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Butбн wouldn''t it be a shame if such a rare race with so much potential wasn''t properly used?

    After testing out his method of Dream Reverse, he knew that he would be more than capable of finding a method that worked on non-humans as well, and that suddenly made this endeavor worthwhile.

    He made a casual sweep with his eyes and then looked up.

    The Sea Goddess.

    She sat on the throne with a wary gaze. With her abilities, she would usually be able to understand what was happening right now. But at the moment, she was completely in the dark.

    This man was practically a black hole and he had come here without the slightest effort.

    He was far scarier than anyone the Barbarians had ever sent.

    Leonel waved a hand and a projection of Talon appeared.

    Talon was none other than the Barbarian Race''s young heir and apparently the reincarnated husband of their Ancestor.

    He was quite important to the Barbarian Race, and he was certain that they were probably doing their best to eventually get him back.

    But unfortunately for them, getting him back was easier said than doneбн especially after what they had chosen to do after the war.

    It was an interesting choice, to be sure. But that likely meant that the "ancestor" he had spoken to didn''t have full and complete control over the entire Race.

    That left her husband in a no-man''s land.

    "You recognize this guy, right?"

    Talon was in a deep sleep, but he was still incredibly lanky, his bulging muscles and round belly nowhere to be seen.

    In a way, he was in an even worse state than a certain Dream Asura that was under Leonel''s control.

    The Sea Goddess'' pupils constricted, but she didn''t reply.

    "I''ve heard the Barbarians say that you''re the path to their evolution. I''m going to take you guys out of here. This time, you''ll be your own path to evolution.

    "Be useful to me, and you''ll prosper.

    "Betray me, andбн well, that''s not really possible."

    Leonel''s lip curled. He was curious to see how the Sea Gods would progress with an endless well of Cleansing Waters at their fingertips.

    He wondered if he could fix their weakness.

 Chapter 3110 Create His Own

    3110  Create His Own  Sear?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.Leonel stood on the shore of a seemingly endless sea, watching as the palace of the Sea Gods slowly sank into its depths.

    This ocean was within the Segmented Cube and he had already displaced them all. In fact, he had also brought out all the Oryx within that world as well. These Oryx would add a substantial amount to his current Oryx population and likewise give Elthor the army he had always wanted to command.

    As he watched this scene, his thoughts churned and became more and more difficult to read.

    Wise Sea Order. It was the missing piece to his Dream Force that had allowed him to make so much progress in such a short time.

    In a lot of ways, Wise Sea Order was to his Wise Star Order what his Creation Sovereignties were to one another. Or what his Destruction Sovereignties were to one another for that matter.

    To make a complicated matter simple, they fed off of one another and formed a cycle. One allowed him great understanding of the Stars and the other allowed him great understanding of the Earth. Together, they gave him a holistic grasp of the world that few could match.

    Of course, this didn''t refer to the Star and Earth in the normal sense. Rather, they referred to Stars as the representation of the Impetus of Life, and the Earth as the representation of the sustainer of Life.

    Without the Stars, no worlds would ever be born.

    Without Earth, no worlds would ever be sustained.

    Wise Sea Order represented the latter, and this was why it had seemed like the Sea Gods could see the future. Or rather, why their Sea Goddess had seemed to have such abilities.

    Outside of the Sea Goddess, though, the other Sea Gods were very interesting because they had a bit of a problem.

    The type of water they had the greatest control over was salted water, pumped full of minerals. In fact, normal fresh water was more likely to make them weaker than not.

    Due to this great weakness, they had to terraform most of the lands they sought to conquer. And technically speakingбн

    Cleansing Waters were the ultimate fresh water source. By having them move here, it even seemed like Leonel was taking a roundabout method to killing them all.

    However, he continued to stand there undaunted. Even when the screams of the Sea Gods began to stir, he used Anastasia''s power to keep them sealed down below.

    Then, he walked away.

    If they could leap over this hurdleбн

    Good.

    If notбн

    They would have been useless to him anyway.

    If things worked out as he expected, he wouldn''t need to reforge their foundations at all because the Cleansing Waters would have done it for him.

    Soon, he would either have billions of dead Sea Gods on his hands.

    Orбн

    The strongest naval army in the world.

    There were many types of Races across the world, but there were no overlords of Water Force.

    The reason for that was obvious. Force didn''t usually diffuse well in the oceans, and it was anchored by Earth, not water. That meant that many Races that started off in the oceans either transported themselves to land at some point in their evolutions or their progress stalled.

    The most powerful existences of Water Force tended to either be born with an Ability Index or Innate Node serendipitously, or they were brainless oceanic beasts without much room for evolution.

    The golden koi fish was a good example of this. There was a reason it was so obsessed with attacking land; it had wanted to leave the waters and continue its evolution elsewhere.

    As for the tentacle womb, it wouldn''t have been able to even begin showing its full potential unless Leonel started to help it evolve.

    Of course, these two creatures were also things that Leonel had ignored for a long while now. But since he was taking such stepsбн

    It was about time they entered the fold once more.

    He appeared in a certain space and the sound of rattling chains echoed.

    "Let me go, you son of a bitch!"

    By this point, Somnus, Flaura''s brother and Dream Asura, couldn''t keep his composure any longer.

    He had been continuously bled for the last month, and it now seemed that Leonel didn''t care whether he lived or died.

    "Don''t be like that," Leonel said with a smile. "You''re about to be the foundation of my army of Dream Force masters. Shouldn''t you be happy? What''s with the long face?"

    Somnus shuddered.

    Over the time he knew Leonel, the latter had only become more and more like a Dream Asuraбн and that was only bad news for him.

    "Dammit! I can help you capture other Dream Asuras! Why me!"

    Leonel blinked as though he was really considering it. It gave Somnus a small light of hope before it came crashing down.

    "You''re the most useful, unfortunately, because your blood is the most compatible with your sister''s corpse."

    Somnus shuddered from head to toe, goosebumps flying across his skin.

    What he didn''t know was that Leonel''s plans were far more sinister than just this alone.

    He was about to push the Tentacle Womb to its very limits and it might not even survive the process.

    Wellбн actually, his wife was handling all of this. He didn''t know nearly enough about Blood Force or dissecting corpses, but ever since the first time she had done the latter, Aina had been looking for an opportunity to do it again.

    And now she had it.

    She had two Dream Asuras and dozens of Envoys of Destruction as a foundation.

    Now, they had practically unlimited resources and Leonel was in need of an army that could at least somewhat keep up with his Dream Force.

    Dream Force users were too rare, and unless he planned to snatch up the Fawkes Empire right here and now, he had no easy way to get them.

    Soбн

    He would have to create his own.

    Since the Demoness had managed to use his Dream Asura Blood as a foundation for all of her shenanigans, he would just take a play out of her playbookбн

    And create an army of Destruction Asuras.

    Leonel turned and left, leaving the rest to his wife and not particularly caring whether she succeeded or notбн because in the end, unless he was powerful enough, none of this would make a single lick of difference.

    Leonel waved a hand and a spear appeared. He swung it casually a few times, leaving long trenches in the land with the air pressure alone.

    What was the most efficient way for him to reach the level he needed to?

 Chapter 3111 Enjoy It

    3111  Enjoy It Leonel''s situation was a bitбн complicated.

    Before, he only needed one thing to progress: an obscene amount of energy. But now, it was a little more tricky.

    Unfortunately, he still needed a ridiculous amount of energy. There was simply no getting around that. But the irony was that getting this large amount had become several fold easier.

    In the past, he was on his own. But now, he didn''t mind stealing from his grandfather if he had to. And, in fact, he already had.

    Before they left the Fawkes Empire, Leonel and Nilrem had done a nice little raid on the Fawkes treasure houseбн again.

    But therein lay the problem.

    He had resources in spades now. But his body situation was different.

    The first and most important point was that the foundation of his body had become his new, still unnamed Innate Node.

    This Innate Node took up residence in his heart, directly replacing it, in fact. And, it was this Innate Node that became the first Weapon Force Innate Node in all of existence.

    Leonel was certain that this was the right path, but it made other things many times more tricky.

    For example, his Metal Body. It wasn''t exactly a Metal Body anymore and had instead become a Weapon Force Body. On the one hand, it was great because Leonel''s body was essentially an extension of his weapons, he could gather more Weapon Force per any given action, and he could even assimilate a much wider range of Forces into his body now compared to before.

    Because his Innate Node was a concentration of both of his Weapon Force Sovereignties, and all four of his Creation and Destruction Sovereignties, it was unique in the sense that it could help his Weapon Forces to become anything.

    And by extension, it allowed his "Metal Body" to absorb anything.

    Unfortunately, as great as that sounded, it would be truly stupid to just start swallowing any and everything.

    Leonel had spent too long in his journey battling out with having too many diverging paths of talent to fall back into the same cesspool.

    Then there was his Divine Armor.

    He already had a decent idea of how he wanted to create his next Divine Armors. Once again, he found himself in a situation where he could start from scratch, applying everything that he had come to learn over the course of this journey into action.

    The obvious choice was to recreate Heirlooms turned God Armaments that could stand head to head with either.

    But even Leonel somewhat felt he was overestimating himself with the ideas he had come up with. He wasn''t some omnipotent God of Craftingбн yet. And even the Fawkes treasure stores would start taking a hit if he really did do what he wanted to do.

    And yet, there were still more problems yet.

    The aspects of his talent left in the greatest shambles were his Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    Without the Dream Force foundation of his Dream Asura Bloodline to anchor it, it had practically gone awry.

    Although he had pretty much sacrificed it all for the sake of improving his Constitution, he had lost all of that after his rebirth. And even if he hadn''t, he would have replaced it all with his Weapon Forces anyway.  Sз╫arch* The N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    This meant that the Northern Star Lineage Factor was like a loose end wiggling about in his body with no start and no end. Without being organized, it could easily trigger a disaster for him in the future or waste his potential in the present.

    It was hard to tell which would be the case.

    With all of this laid out, it was no wonder Leonel didn''t even know where to look first. He had been very certain of the first step before he started, but now he was flying like a headless chickenбн or in other words, flailing around on the ground in a pool of his own neck blood.

    PENG!

    At that moment, Leonel''s spear was suddenly stopped by the pinch of two fingers.

    He blinked in slight surprise before looking up and seeing Nilrem, who had a funny little grin on his face.

    "It seems it''s time for me to shine."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding. Although this man called himself his master, he had never really done anything of the sort. In fact, Nilrem had tried to kill him many times and hadn''t even been there during the most important moments of his life.

    Howeverбн

    Leonel had never had any hostility for Nilrem. That was because he could see that his intentions were pure even though he was nigh impossible to readбн

    It was a clearly contradictory statement, yet it seemed to make perfect sense to Leonel.

    "Your time to shine? In case you haven''t noticed, I''m not a mentally fragile teenage girl. Isn''t that your usual M.O.?"

    Nilrem looked aghast. "The number of sophisticated older women this esteemed gentleman has bedded is beyond your imagination!"

    "Not denying the fact you''ve targeted fragile little girls is aбн choice, sure." Leonel said with a raised eyebrow.

    "Don''t try to get me caught in your word salad, brat. I only bed women who are of age!"

    "Of age for what? Potty training?"

    The banter of the two filled the forest until Nilrem seemed to realize something and grinned sinisterly.

    He grabbed Leonel''s shoulders and hurled him into the air.

    Leonel didn''t even know what to say as he spun through the skies. What was this damned old man doing?

    "Do you know how many reincarnations you''ve put me through? How many times you''ve made me suffer through the same timelines again and again? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I''VE DIED, BRAT?!"

    Leonel didn''t even know what to say to this.

    "Well, I''ve got thousands of those lives in my head, each one representing a different path you took completely without my consent or guidance.

    "And now I''m about to drill you with them all.

    "And enjoy it."

 Chapter 3112 Better

    3112  Better Leonel didn''t even know what to say to all of this. Nilrem didn''t even explain anything as he began ripping his body to what was effectively shreds.

    Unfortunately for the wizened wizard turned torture masterбн it was extremely difficult to torture the current Leonel.

    Leonel didn''t even scream out, and his gaze was almost uninterested in everything that was happening. In fact, rather than uninterested, it was more accurate to say that he was focused internally, making it look as though he wasn''t paying attention to the outside world at all.

    He had just spent almost a century in complete and utter agony, his body being eaten from the inside out. And he had done it all even without relying on Dream Sense to dull it all because he thought that that might affect the process.

    But now, he had no such qualms. The combination of Dream Sense and his forged will made Nilrem''s attempt to make him scream out in pain a fool''s gambit.

    That said, it didn''t change the fact that Leonel was truly shocked by what was happening. It was just that Nilrem was quickly finding that he had no tears to shed. Why did he have to have such a monster for a disciple?

    In reality, Nilrem''s entire existence as a master, ever since the first timeline ended, was to be ready for this moment.

    After Leonel finalized his own personal choice for this timeline, he had been waiting for the right time to step in, and that time had finally come.

    Every time Leonel reset the timeline, there were some things that were bound to shift and change. The result of that was always a slightly different approach to reaching the pinnacle.

    However, what was undeniable about every one of these changes was that it would, without fail, be stronger than the last.

    The reason for this was because the ultimate change would always come after Leonel had grasped the truest pinnacle of Dream Force, a Dream Force that existed outside the bounds of time.

    As Leonel became more used to this Dream Force, he would be able to catch tidbits from timelines that had already been erased. He would then create a new ability for his Ability Index similar to Dreamscape that would help to consolidate things and make them easier to sense and parse.

    Ultimately, he would create something even better.

    However, this timeline seemed to have deviated. This time, Leonel chose his path before he grasped a Dream Force that transcended time.

    This seemed bad. After all, didn''t this mean that Leonel wouldn''t necessarily create something better than he had in his other lives?

    However, whether it was future Leonel or Nilremбн they knew that this wouldn''t necessarily be the case for two main reasons.

    First, this choice that Leonel made would be free of the influences of his previous selves, and by extensionбн

    It would be free of the Demoness.

    And second, now that the choice was set and couldn''t be changed, the aspects of his other choices could finally be incorporated into his body and bring his strength forward to a new stage.

    This wasn''t to say that Leonel would be taking it all in. Instead, Nilrem was helping him assimilate what matched his current path, and the more he worked, the brighter Leonel''s eyes shone as though he was grasping everything in real time.

    It was an entire six months before Nilrem finally came to a stop.

    бн

    Leonel landed on the ground and rolled his neck from side to side, feeling a bit odd. But soon that feeling vanished as well.

    "You don''t already?"

    Nilrem covered his face with a palm. "Don''t talk to me. I''m still in mourning."

    Leonel smiled, flexing his fists.

    His Dimension hadn''t changed, and his body practically felt the same. And yetбн everything had changed.

    He could feel it clear through his Control Ability Index. What Nilrem had done wasn''t as hands-on as one might expect. Instead, he rearranged the foundation that Leonel had to pave a smooth path to the future.

    For one, his mutated "Metal Body" now only needed to absorb one thing and one thing only to progress.

    Star Force.

    His Divine Armor was still a "problem," but not in an aspect that one would expect. It was just that Leonel''s ideas had become even wilder now, and they would be even more difficult to execute on.

    Third, his Innate Node was pulsing with a wide amount of vitality. In fact, it couldn''t even be said that it was just his heart alone. The crystal case of the Innate Node had covered all his veins, arteries, and blood vessels, making his entire body a network of the energy.

    Fourth, his Dream Force felt like an impossibly deep well. It was no weaker now than when he was his enlightened self in terms of quantity. Though it wasn''t as potent, the stamina was off the charts. He could practically use both halves of his Ability Index with impunity now.  Sз╫ar?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Fifth, the shackles on his Wise Star Order and Wise Sea Order constitutions seemed to have completely vanishedбн shackles he hadn''t even known were there in the first place.

    And, whether it was four or five, they were both made possible only because of sixбн

    His Northern Star Lineage Factor seemed to have been stripped down completely and torn out of his body.

    This seemed counterproductive. How could it help?

    And the secret to that was none other than Blackstar and Tolliver.

    Using a timeline where Leonel had chosen to use Soul Clones to solve his issue with having too many talents, he formed a link between his Metal Spirit and Beast Companion, forming them up and creating a loop between his soul and theirs.

    Then, through the Dream Plane, he could gain the benefits of their Lineage Factor without any of the hassle, while in the same breath advancing the strength of both by a substantial margin as they also gained the support of his Wise Star and Sea Order status.

    However, even this was still just the beginning.

 Chapter 3113 Flexibility

    3113  Flexibility There were a shocking number of changes in Leonel''s body, so much so that it was difficult to wrap his head around them all even though he had been paying attention for every second of it.

    The truth was that many of what he had noted first were just the largest changes. But there were many smaller ones, things he assumed must have been like fringe techniques or abilities of his previous Dimensional Methods that weren''t fully compatible with his current self, but were still worthy of being a part of his process at least in part nonetheless.

    However, these fringe changes to his body were still important, forming a network and a foundation that allowed the rest of him to function properly.

    What made Leonel truly curious, though, was how [Final Destruction] and [Dimensional Cleanse] fit into all of this.

    From what he understood, no matter which iteration he was talking about, he would undoubtedly use these two methods.

    However, they were also incredibly flexible nonetheless. When he formed his Innate Node, he didn''t experience any rejection from them at all.

    Since things had reached this point, Leonel decided to start with step one and just work his way forward.  Sз╫ar?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    His Metal Bodyбн what did it mean to absorb Star Force?

    Leonel knew well, though it hadn''t always started off that way.

    Star Force was the engine that made the entire universe go. Without Star Force, there would be nothing.

    Even as a mortal of Earth, Leonel had a great understanding of this. After all, without the sun, there would be no "Earth" in the first place. It would just be a meaningless blob of rock in the middle of nowhere.

    It was because of this uniqueness that Star Force often seemed to just be an addition to already powerful Forces. There were many Forces that seemed to have Star Force tacked onto the end of it as though it was a careless addition. But the reality was that having Star Force as a part of a Force gave it its own driving power. Forces with Star Force, rather than relying on others, could make their own impact on the world and it was why such Forces tended to have hidden characters to them that transcended just the element they represented alone.

    Scarlet Star Force, for example, was Creation at an Extreme.

    Leonel had a theory that it wasn''t the only powerful Star Force-infused element that had such a hidden history to it. He bet that they all did.

    This wasn''t the first time Leonel had made use of the power of Star Force, either. The moment he realized the kind of boosting power it had, he created a technique that was with him even to this day.

    [Star Fusion].

    The shocking thing about this technique was that Leonel had never really had to make many changes to it, and it was one of the few things that had followed him along in his journey without being left behind.

    And yetбн

    He was still only using the technique to a minuscule level compared to its true potential.

    For one, he was relying on Vital Star Force, a Star Force that he didn''t really have much affinity with in the first place, and one he wouldn''t have even learned had his future self not gone to find a path to allow him to save his wife.

    However, now, Leonel would be able to directly absorb Vital Star Force. As a result, his affinity for Vital Star Force would hit an absolute peak and he would be capable of using [Star Fusion] to an entirely new level.

    But even that was still just the surface because that wouldn''t change much. He would still only be using the technique at only a small corner of its true potential.

    And that was where the power of this method came into play.

    Star Forceбн It was the power of the universeбн and with this method, Leonel could use it to directly power his Ability Indexes, increasing their power several fold.

    Star Force was endlessly versatile and it was the only Force that could be freely added to any other, but there was also no one with a "Star Force" affinity by the same token.

    It seemed that in this timeline, Leonel figured out why that was, and the reasons were ironically similar to why Weapon Force Innate Nodes didn''t exist.

    The moment he had this thought, he realized why these two paths synergized so well.

    His Innate Node would provide him a large amount of control over the Spear and Bow Forces of the world, and his Star Force would allow him to spike that advantage, fueling it to another levelбн

    And then came [Star Fusion].

    The reason Leonel liked using the Brazinger family Heirloom so much was because it could super-charge his control over the world, making his words carry far more weight.

    But nowбн Leonel could do that directly himself without the need to rely on an external item in the first place.

    And if he added [Star Fusion] on top of that, especially [Star Fusion: King''s Might]бн

    He might well and truly become a God without even having formed his Dharma in the first place, let alone his Idol.

    And all of that was still just the first aspect of his new changes and it only touched upon one life, a life where he had taken [Star Fusion] and created a foundation that stood above the world.

    The next aspect was a bit more complex, or a lot simpler depending on the way he looked at it.

    Because of the change to his Metal Body, his Divine Armor technique would likewise have to change. However, because of the added flexibility, it was able to finally perfectly incorporate the other aspects of the Morales Lineage Factor.

    This meant that for the first time, his Divine Armor would be able to take full advantage of not only Oresбн but Force Herbs and Flames alikeбн

    All thanks to the Flexibility of Star Force.

 Chapter 3114 Just the Two of Them

    Chapter 3114  Just the Two of Them It had to be remembered that the complete Morales Lineage Factor was formed into four parts, one that was the original Metal Synergy, and the last three came from the Radix, Midas, and Florer families.

    The Radix had the ability to pour life into their metals, making Radix Cubes that were a lot like the Morales Divine Armors but almost organic in the way they moved and worked.

    The Midas were able to swallow flames and use them to strengthen themselves much like how the Morales could consume Ores.

    The Florer were similar to the Radix in that they could pour "life" into Force Herbs and use them as extensions of their own personal strength.

    What was interesting was that the Lineage Factor as a whole seemed to be separated into two aspects rather than four. One that allowed one to use Breaking Force to manipulate the life or un-life of a material, and the second that allowed one to incorporate said materials into the body to change, diversify, or improve it.

    A large question in Leonel''s mind was why the Demoness had gone through so much trouble to not even take it in the end. But it was very much likely that whatever changes she needed to trigger in his Dream Asura Bloodline had already been successfully executed. The power of the actual Morales Lineage Factor was useless in her eyesбн

    But not in Leonel''s.

    He had already seen the power that the Florer aspect of the Lineage Factor could give him. In fact, it was the reason Sylvans hated him so much.

    But now he would really be able to see just how far he could take thingsбн

    If he had some reliance on his wife, that is.

    Leonel was a Crafter. But his Divine Armor would now require an understanding of biology he simply didn''t have.

    However, not only did he have a genius Force Pill Crafter for a wife, their souls were also melded into one. Meaning, Ailsa could perfectly understand his intentions and make it work without much explanation or input from him.

    She wouldn''t just be able to shore up his weaknesses, but she would also be able to synergize with him, helping him to forge a new, never-before-seen path.

    When the time came, this armor would even be able toбн

    Leonel froze.

    If one looked into his eyes, it would be possible to see a cascading rain of wild flares of lightning. He was connecting so many insights, so quickly, that the synapses of his brain practically fired off like real firecrackers.

    He had finally done it.

    He understood how to break Anastasia free of her shackles and fix the mistakes of the Minerva.

    ''To think that the solution wasn''t Crafting aloneбн''  Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Indeed. If you were going to fix life, you would have to reach a standard of Crafting that allowed you to create Life itself.

    Leonel was confident in himself, and maybe one day he would truly reach such a standard of Crafting. But that day wasn''t today, and it certainly wouldn''t be tomorrow. Maybe it would take centuries or longer. Even if he was lucky and had some large leaps in insight, it would likely still take a few decades.

    However, if he had an equally genius wife by his side whose comprehension of Force Pill Crafting was no weaker than his understanding of Force Crafting, then they could form a bridge between one another that would have shocking results.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    ''My plans. I have to change them all. Nothing is more important than this right now.''

    Leonel abandoned his thoughts of improving further. He had already improved enough. If he ran into someone he couldn''t defeat, he would throw his master at them.

    бн

    Leonel suddenly appeared by his wife''s side.

    It had been a whole six months, more than nine total if one included the time before. As such, by now, Aina''s belly was already showing, though only a small bit.

    Seeing her sit in silence as blood shining like rubies swirled around her, he couldn''t help but feel that this was the most beautiful he had ever seen his wife.

    He didn''t seem to care about whether the batch of pills ended up ruined or not as he sat behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

    Given her skill, Aina didn''t so much as falter, just smiling and leaning into him. She felt at peaceбн truly happy. There were few things she had ever experienced that were better than the feeling of Leonel so gently rubbing her belly.

    Leonel was so lost in the warm silence that he forgot that he had actually come here for something important. As lost as Aina was, so was he. The feeling of her back leaning into his chest wasбн everything.

    He had been in the hands of his sadistic master for half a year, so it had been a while since he had touched his wife, though she had come to see him many times during the process.

    It was only a few hours later that Aina finished her batch of pills and Leonel seemed to remember why he had come here.

    His eyes slowly opened and he blinked, feeling well-rested and full of energy.

    A smile bloomed across his face.

    "Want to rule the world with me?"

    "Of course, my king."

    Leonel felt his blood boil as he heard the soft, sultry voice. Her coercion was getting so strong that it accidentally leaked. It seemed that while she was diverting most of her strength to the babyбн she had been improving by leaps and bounds in other things.

    Her new focus on Dream Force was showing. And it was already so scary. It could already impact even his mind. How would others fare?

    But in the end, he controlled himself and explained his thoughts.

    "бн You''re right," Aina said after a long while. "We are probably the only ones in the world that can do this."

    Leonel''s plan not only required two existences at the pinnacle of their Fields in Crafting and Force Pill Craftingбн

    But they also had to be husband and wife, entrusting their souls to one another.

    Andбн one of them had to have Clairvoyance to perfectly understand the intentions of the other.

    In the entirety of Existence.

    Only the two of them could do what they were about to.

 Chapter 3115 Anastasia (1)

    ?3115 Anastasia (1)Leonel and Aina spent the next month in secluded discussion. Unfortunately, this wasn''t a euphemism for something more spicy. Fortunately, there was much more to gain out of it than just the satisfaction of carnal desire.

    Well, maybe there was a little carnal desire.

    "I think we have this pinned down properly now," Leonel said, feeling satisfied with the blueprint they had drawn out.

    In reality, although Leonel''s father had left him behind several lessons on blueprints, how to read them, and how to construct them, this was the first time that he had ever truly bothered to do such a thing.

    But this just went to show how important he found it all.

    This wasn''t just another Craft; this was for Anastasia.

    Anastasia had been by his side for a long while. She almost never complained, and she did everything he asked without question.

    The one time she had shown even the slightest inkling of dissent was when he had sent her off to the Celestial Embers, but that was something that he had no choice but to take full responsibility for.

    Anastasia might have lived longer than any of them combined, but she was still a child at heart. Her appearance might not be a coincidence, but maybe she looked like a little girl because that was what she truly was.

    He should have never put her in such a situation, and when he had sworn to pull her out from her darkness, he had meant it with every fiber of his being.

    In truth, Leonel and Aina had had the solution they needed within a day, but then they spent the rest of the month refining it and perfecting it all. It was only now that they were semi-satisfied with how things were, and even then, their minds were still churning with more thoughts.

    To the two of them, Anastasia might as well have been their first child, and her place in their hearts was no less profound.

    The problem Anastasia faced was easy enough to diagnose after you had been made aware of it, but the solution was far more difficult.

    Anastasia was a World Spirit, and though World Spirits were living beings, they would be more so classified with a semi-sentience as opposed to a true one.

    World Spirits were far more intelligent than their other humanoid counterparts, but their "personalities" were muted by the laws that bound them. In fact, it would be

    speak.

    World Spirits, in a lot of ways, were extensions of Regulators. They existed only to uphold the laws of a world and help it to prosper.

    What made the situation odd was that World Spirits did have the capacity to be more human-like... they just weren''t.

    The Minerva had picked up on this, and they wondered what would happen if they could take a World Spirit and break it free of the shackles of the world''s laws and make it follow their own laws?

    There were already some examples of this, like Leonel''s mother. But the trouble was twofold.

    First, a World Spirit was too intelligent to be "tricked." You couldn''t just feed World Spirits candy and lure them into a van to be taken away. Whatever you could think of, the World Spirit could as well. On top of that, they could normally observe everything in their world perfectly, so they had already seen all the faces that humanoids had to offer and had a perfect understanding of them.

    This meant that if you wanted to become the champion of a World Spirit, they had to choose you of their own volition, and that would defeat much of the purpose.

    And second, even when a World Spirit chose you and gave you special authority over their world, it wasn''t unilateral authority and was still highly limited.

    The World Spirit would never let you do what Anastasia could do, for example. Warping time, accelerating the growth rate of plants and ore deposits, etc.... that was because all of these abilities, abilities that every World Spirit had, couldn''t be done without harming the foundation of a world.

    If you wanted to use such a world for a few thousand generations, billions upon billions of years even, it would be fine.

    But a World Spirit was only interested in having their worlds survive for the longest period of time possible, and time periods of time couldn''t be described in terms any less than the trillions.

    As a result, if you wanted to do any such thing with a World Spirit, you would have to take drastic measures to change the laws of the world itself.

    Although Leonel had harsh words for the Minerva, there was no denying that what they had done was truly impressive.

    In order to circumvent the limitations of the world, they first had to form a vessel capable of holding a world in the first place.

    It had already been described just how rare treasures like the Segmented Cube that could hold so many living beings were in the first place. One could imagine that a vessel that could go a step further and encapsulate an entire world was even more

    It could be said that the Minerva hadn''t created a vessel for storing people... they had created a vessel for storing entire worlds! Sз╫arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Not only did they manage to do this, but step one of accomplishing this meant separating their worlds from their Regulators.

    This was something that even [Final Destruction] hadn''t been able to do. Leonel''s worlds weren''t even "technically" in his body. Rather, he had just formed a connection with them through his Destruction World and could return to their coordinates whenever he wanted by traveling through the Second Dimension-or, once again, his Destruction World.

    Just these two things alone were highly impressive, but to the Minerva, this was just the start of their ambition.

    Next came changing the laws.

 Chapter 3116 Anastasia (2)

    ?3116 Anastasia (2)When Leonel refined his Incomplete Worlds, he didn''t change their Laws; he understood them.

    Well, at least he hadn''t changed their Laws away from what came naturally to them. It could technically be said that what he had done in the Sea God World could count as changing the Laws, but in reality, he was just helping the world reach its fullest. potential, which was different from fundamentally changing its laws.

    The Minerva, though, once again took it even a step further than he did.

    They stripped down the laws of the world and reconstructed their own.

    Their goals could be summarized in a few lines.

    First, they wanted to create a World Spirit whose intelligence could be used for their own purposes. No matter how powerful the Dream Force of a humanoid, it would never be able to match up to the raw computational ability of a World Spirit.

    If they could have a World Spirit that could offload much of the computational rigor of constructing complex Crafts, they would be able to take their creations to a whole other level.

    And second, they wanted a World Spirit that would disregard the health and safety of a world if it meant helping them to achieve their goals.

    The first goal required giving the World Spirit a "personality." Only like this would it be able to think for itself and make suggestions. While the second goal, when paired with the first, would create a true monster.

    Leonel couldn''t help but think that taking such an approach was even more dangerous than those Al movies back on Earth. If you gave a World Spirit such power and it awakened a personality that was dangerous rather than helpful, you would truly be out of luck.

    World Spirits were so heavily regulated by Existence because if they weren''t, the Pluto wouldn''t even have a chance of sitting as the most powerful Race in Existence.

    World Spirits with their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions would be so far and away the most superior of all the Races that everyone else would only be capable of being enslaved to them.

    And maybe this worry was part of what ended up holding the Minerva back from reaching their fullest potential.

    At first, Leonel had thought that maybe the Minerva were just incompetent. But the more he and Aina analyzed things, the more respect they came to gain for the Minerva and the more they realized that this Race might just truly want to have their cake and eat it too.

    They didn''t just want to create a super weapon. They wanted to create a super weapon that they could control.

    As such, keeping Anastasia a bit dull and naive was precisely what they had likely wanted.

    Unfortunately, taking this approach had also led to their Segmented Cube not being able to reach its fullest potential.

    Even so, Leonel had no choice but to respect it... and be impressed on top of that. Did he hate them for what they had done to Anastasia? Of course. Arguably, this was even worse than what he had thought happened before.

    Before, he just blamed them for their incompetence. But now, he was fairly certain that they had turned Anastasia into a puppet on purpose, which was even more blood-boiling even if he understood why they had to take such measures. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The question, then... was how do they fix all of this?

    And the short of the answer was to change the world.

    However, this was easier said than done for several reasons.

    First, they lacked the power. Aina was still pregnant and unwilling to divert her energy to other things for even a moment. Even the blood she used to concoct these days didn''t come from her at all. And even if she was at 100%, her Dream Force wasn''t nearly as deep as Leonel''s.

    As for Leonel, he wasn''t to the point of being able to do something so exaggerated just yet.

    Second, if they relied on directing Anastasia to do it, not only could things go terribly wrong, but the failsafes the Minerva had baked into the Segmented Cube to keep her in check would also activate. At that point, the entire Segmented Cube might self-destruct and leave them out of luck again.

    It was on the first day that the couple had thought of the solution.

    Leonel''s Destruction World.

    The Destruction World was Leonel''s own to begin with. He had, quite literally, built it from scratch, and it was a highly unique existence as a result of that.

    For all intents and purposes...

    He was the Regulator of it.

    Using it as a foundation, he would be able to not only use its Destruction capabilities to erode the laws of Anastasia''s world that he didn''t like, but he would even be able to form a bridge between the two and maybe benefit from the existence of this world as well.

    the other for Creation.

    The trouble was that this was just the simple explanation. The details of this matter had kept them in this room for an entire month for a reason...

    But now they were ready.

    The two called Anastasia into their room, and while she was confused, they comforted her.

    "Soon, you''ll be free," Leonel said with a smile. "Just try not to resist, and if you feel anything about to happen to your world, let us know."

    Anastasia blinked, still confused. Her large eyes seemed almost watery in this light,

    exuding an innocence that belied her true age.

    But in the end, if she didn''t trust Leonel and Aina... who would she trust?

    Leonel and Aina looked toward one another and nodded.

    Anastasia''s world suddenly began to shake.

    Nilrem looked up when things began, and he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow. What

    was that snot-nosed brat up to now?

    He took a step and began to roam around the world, analyzing the changes that

    occurred over the next few days.

    But the more he observed, the more the shock in his heart solidified.

 Chapter 3117 Monsters

    ?3117 Monsters"... These little monsters..."

    Nilrem was much like his disciple. He was rarely impressed by anything.

    He was a man who had managed to climb to this height all on his own. He had no family behind him, no friends, his own wife had stabbed him in the back... but now he stood tall in the God Realm, pissing over the gates of bastards who pissed him off and stealing their women.

    It was hard for such a man to be fazed by anything.

    But sensing the synergy between Leonel and Aina now, he couldn''t help but be shocked.

    This level of Crafting...

    There was no doubt.

    It was the best in Existence right now.

    When he came to this conclusion, he was completely floored. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    One had to understand what this meant. There were monsters that had dedicated their entire lives to Crafting, lives that spanned across millions of years in some cases. They lived and breathed this.

    Not only this, but these monsters tended to build their understanding and

    comprehension on the backs of those that had come before them... the giants whose shoulders they stood on had also been monsters who dedicated millions of years to their Crafts.

    But not only were Aina and Leonel a mere fraction of their age, but they didn''t have a background nearly as profound. Most of what they knew now they had either learned on their own, or...

    "That man... maybe he''s the real monster...''

    How could Nilrem not be interested in the father of his disciple? How many iterations had he been forced to live because of Leonel''s pursuit of resurrecting his father?

    It was funny, actually. The first time he met Leonel''s father in this iteration, he had actually been out-maneuvered by the man. He had been trying to "take over" Leonel''s body and Velasco''s protection triggered.

    With this context, it seemed like Nilrem had allowed this to happen on purpose, but that wasn''t exactly the case. Well, it hadn''t been the first time it happened, that is.

    He remembered during the second and third Iterations, his ego had been triggered so he tried to circumvent it on purpose... only to end up suffering anyway.

    for almost succeeding.

    By comparison, the Velasco of this iteration let him live because he thought that he would be a good grindstone for his son.

    Nilrem still felt a cold sweat when he thought about those days. It would have been far too embarrassing to die to a man that had never stepped out of an Incomplete World before.

    Nilrem shook his head. ''A true monster... but...''

    He suppressed his thoughts. Even he didn''t dare to casually think about the Demoness. Maybe the only person in the world who dared to do such a thing right now was Leonel.

    The elephant in the room was obvious.

    Since Nilrem had been through so many iterations... did he know what the true purpose of the Demoness was?

    Given how intelligent Leonel was, he would have obviously thought of such a question. So why hadn''t he ever bothered to ask Nilrem about it?

    The answer was simple.

    That was because Nilrem didn''t know.

    Nilrem was so powerful that even when Leonel sent his mind back in time to try different methods of saving his father, he had been aware of it. He was one of the very

    few existences in, well... Existence that could boast such a thing.

    Though, part of the reason he could was because Leonel had allowed him to while hiding it from most.

    However, no matter which iteration it was, the Demoness never appeared. It was like she had vanished from Existence, which was impossible.

    That only meant one thing...

    The Demoness hadn''t disappeared at all. Instead...

    She was completely unaffected by future Leonel''s time reversals and stood above and outside of them.

    What did this mean? It meant that she was waiting for Leonel to finish playing his little games before she executed her real plan.

    However, matters still weren''t this simple... that was because future Leonel had mentioned having already crushed the Demoness...

    So why was Nilrem unaware of all of this?

    The simple answer seemed to be that Nilrem had died first. However...

    This woman was the true bane of his existence and likely to be the strongest expert to ever be born.

    Maybe even the Northern Star couldn''t hold her down.

    Nilrem''s eyes became more solemn the more he thought about it.

    ''Seems I will need to leave for a while. Otherwise, she might begin to affect me. I need

    a cleansing...''

    Nilrem hadn''t wanted to think about such things, but they came in a cascade. There was no such thing as being too cautious in the face of such a powerful Dream Force

    expert.

    He left a message for Leonel in the air and then vanished. He stepped out of the Segmented Cube even without Anastasia''s input as though it was never capable of

    trapping him in the first place.

    Leonel saw the message in the first instant, but he was deep in a state of concentration with Aina and didn''t have the time to mind it.

    He already had a guess as to what had happened, and it made his eyes flicker with malevolence.

    One day... he would crush that woman.

    The refinement process continued. The months ticked by and the changes were quickly becoming more and more obvious until, suddenly.

    CRACK.

    The skies split like an egg''s shell.

    Beads of sweat fell from Leonel and Aina''s brows. They knew that this was the most

    crucial part. If they failed, this world would likely fall apart completely.

    But if they succeeded...

    They would gain the greatest God Armament in Existence.

    Not only that, but this God Armament would become the foundation of their Kingdom, where they would not only stand as King and Queen, but their children would live a

    life of prosperity.

    The two roared at the same time.

 Chapter 3118 Far Enough

    ?3118 Far EnoughAt that moment, Leonel''s Destruction World cracked apart as well. The land of crimson fragmented, the Stars that hovered above it almost collapsing.

    What would the greatest weakness of Anastasia be after this was completed? Wouldn''t it be that she would soak up the vitality of her world too fast?

    But where did the vitality of a world come from...? Wasn''t it the Stars?

    Everything shifted around Leonel. The world faded, and he found himself buried deep within piles of sand, the Segmented Cube pressed against his chest.

    He had been expelled from the Segmented Cube, and this could be considered the most dangerous part of the operation. That was because he was now exposed to the world and couldn''t use Anastasia''s abilities to hide any longer.

    Even if the Four Great Families had stopped their search, they would certainly sense such a commotion. But this was the only way to finish the rest of the process.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Echoing, thunderous drums reverberated through Leonel''s body, and the skies looked as though they might collapse. Beneath the might of Anastasia''s momentum, the world itself cracked, and its World Spirit, which had already been waning in strength due to the actions of the Sylvan, only grew weaker.

    "Solidify."

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood the moment he said these words. Trying to control such unruly laws was going to be the death of him if he wasn''t careful. However, he still spoke again.

    This time, he activated [Star Fusion: King''s Might]. His Violet Winds, Vital Star Force, and his Dream Force layered onto one another.

    This was the first time that Leonel had ever done this, and it happened entirely subconsciously, but when he felt the result, his eyes couldn''t help but open wide. ''Is that...'' S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He didn''t have the time to think about it. His body was rattling as though it might collapse at any moment, his bones snapping and crackling, and even his Ethereal Glabella had begun to have fine-line fractures on its surface.

    The pain was unbearable. Leonel had never experienced such a thing before. This was the first time his Ethereal Glabella had ever suffered like this.

    He could feel the gates of death opening up to him, and even compared to the hundred years he had experienced, this was even worse.

    Rut

    Leonel''s jaw set, his mind calm, and his expression even calmer.

    There was only one path forward after he reached this point.

    Success.

    He wouldn''t settle for anything less, and there was nothing that would be able to pause his steps.

    A violet melding of energies around him fluttered and glided, soaring and growing stronger and stronger until it suddenly pierced through the skies.

    "SOLIDIFY!"

    His roar came with a mist of blood, but the blood condensed into a complex array of runes that seemed to be an advanced application of Blood Force.

    This was one of Aina''s additions. And though Leonel''s Blood Force affinity was nigh non-existent, his Ability Index gave him perfect control over his body, while Star Fusion used Vital Star Force, giving him a large amount of Life Force.

    When he added that with the power his words gave him, this mist of blood that carried a large amount of Life Force suddenly became an anchor.

    The blood-red characters were infused into the world, and a large amount of billowing violet smoke came from Leonel''s body.

    At the same time, his Innate Node thrummed with life, auras of Creation and Destruction swirling through the world.

    ROAR!

    All of the Force in the world was suddenly sapped away in an instant.

    BOOM!

    It shattered apart at its seams, blasting apart into the Inbetween Worlds.

    At that moment, the hidden portals of the Four Great Families fragmented and shattered apart, revealing all of their locations at once.

    It was too late to do anything. Although they had been on their way, they were still a step too late. They didn''t even have the time to get eyes on Leonel before everything went south.

    Leonel didn''t even have time to mind it as his body was thrown into a wave of chaos. Being bombarded from all sides, his injuries only became worse and worse, but his focus didn''t waver, until...

    ''Success.

    Leonel roared and a stabilizing force projected out from his body. All of a sudden, he seemed to have stepped out of time and space. Despite all the chaos around him, it

    couldn''t make it through Or rather it went right through him as though he wasn''t

    Wasn''t this Blackstar''s ability?

    Only in part. Blackstar hid in the shadows, but in a lot of ways, Leonel was taking it a step further than this. In this state...

    He didn''t even age.

    And apparently he couldn''t breathe either because despite huffing for it, there was no oxygen whatsoever.

    Luckily, he had several inner worlds he could pull it from.

    Leonel slowly calmed down, his gaze flickering.

    Had he really succeeded? This one was a true razor''s edge.

    After all that preparation, they still almost failed. He had to say that he had definitely underestimated the Minerva. But in the end...

    He and his wife together had surpassed them. And one day, they would even surpass the God Beasts of Creation that came before them.

    Leonel clenched his fists, his eyes blazing.

    Now, it was time to find out what had changed.

    His body flickered and vanished. All that was left was a Segmented Cube where he had

    been. But soon... even that disappeared.

    The world fell into silence, leaving behind nothing but Destruction.

    In several other locations, though, old Ancestors began to stir.

    Deep within this Pluto''s world, several opened their eyes. Their gazes were unfathomable as they all looked in the same exact direction. If a clear line was drawn between them and where they looked... it would no doubt pass right through where

    Leonel had vanished.

    The ancestors began to commune with one another and realized something.

    "The debt to the Fawkes has already been repaid."

    "Agreed."

    "Yes. This is far enough."

 Chapter 3119 Sentience

    Chapter 3119  Sentience Leonel appeared within the Segmented Cube once again and immediately returned to his and Aina''s living quarters to find Anastasia staring out into blank space.

    The little World Spirit seemed to be in a daze, not quite understanding what was going on around her.

    Leonel didn''t do anything but stand there. He didn''t even talk to Aina, not wanting to disturb Anastasia.

    Regardless of what he thought the success or not was, it all wouldn''t matter unless Anastasia could see it through to the other side.

    The harsh reality was that Leonel knew this was a risk. There was no guarantee that the Anastasia he knew would still be the same Anastasia after all of this.

    Once success was confirmed, Anastasia would no longer be a normal existence. All things considered, she might even be classified as a new Race.

    To get into the more nitty-grittyбн Anastasia''s mental capacity would be so great that it would be more than possible for her to "revisit" every aspect of her life before this and recontextualize it all.

    Right now she was probably in a daze because that was precisely what she was doing.

    If Leonel had done this for a normal human, a mortal even, not much would change immediately. After all, the mental capacity it would take to do what Anastasia was doing now was something only those like Leonel and those with Dream Force on par with himself could do.

    But even thenбн Leonel had only experienced a bit more than a dozen decades of life or so. While Anastasiaбн

    Her life had to be calculated in the millions at least, no? And even that was being conservative.

    To recontextualize all of that life, in as little as a few seconds, the results would be out.

    Either she would be the same person or she would become someone completely different.

    However, Leonel had made a promise.

    Anastasia had always been important to his father although he didn''t know the details of their time together.

    His father was unwilling to allow Anastasia to sacrifice herself. It could be said that if Anastasia had just repeated what she had done before, sacrificing her Grade to protect his father from the Regulator, he would still be here.

    Leonel had deduced all of this long ago, but he never blamed Anastasia for it.

    She was family.

    If his father treated her like that, he would. And on top of that, she had already carved out her own individual place in his heart.

    Suddenly, Anastasia looked up and met Leonel''s gaze.

    Leonel could immediately feel that it was different. He wasn''t just staring at Anastasia anymore, he was staring at an almighty being that had lived for millions of years.

    He sighed inwardly. It seemed that the answer was quite obvious.

    It was impossible to recontextualize millions of years of life and come out the same.

    He had already run the simulations. The odds weren''t even part of a millionth of a percent. It was an unfathomably small probability.

    His simulations were more accurate now than they had ever been. He had known that he wouldn''t be wrong, but he couldn''t help but feel a little bit disappointed anyway.

    At that moment, Anastasia''s expression changed again and she blinked. Right then, she looked no different from the old Anastasia, and she was about to speak, but Leonel smiled and shook his head.  Sз╫ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "The fact you have that intention is fine enough by me," Leonel said with a grin. "You don''t have to have it, I know that would just kill you. I did this to set you free, not trap you in another cage.

    "I want to learn about the real Anastasia."

    Anastasia blinked in surprise but then she shook her head as though lamenting something. It seemed that she should have known that fooling Leonel wouldn''t be so easy.

    If she had wanted a chance, then she should have probably hidden the depth of her eyes from the start. But maybe she had subconsciously let it slip because she wanted to hear these exact words from Leonel.

    "How do you feel?" Leonel asked.

    "бн Burdenedбн"

    Anastasia''s voice sounded slightly deeper than usual. Not like she had become a man, but rather like a more mature woman. Though, her form hadn''t changed very much.

    World Spirits could look however they want. So the fact Anastasia was still in this form just meant that it was the one she was most comfortable with, and there was no reason for her not to be.

    "What''s wrong?" Leonel asked. Though, from the look in his eyes, it seemed he already had an answer.

    "бн I don''t think World Spirits were meant to have suchбн awarenessбн" she said softly.

    Her eyes dimmed a bit.

    Being a tool in the cog of Existence''s wheel was a nice place to be if you had no personality, no desires, no aspirations. But what happened when you suddenly had them?

    And what happened when you recontextualized all your life to the point you felt like you had just relived it all?

    All of that lonelinessбн just the sheer pointless nature of it all.

    It was hard to accept. Maybe it wasn''t just that ignorance was bliss, but being able to avoid this sort of painбн wouldn''t it have been better?

    "I thought of this as well," Leonel replied with a touch of gentleness to his voice. "If you truly want to go back to how things were, I won''t stop you."

    Anastasia was a hint surprised by Leonel''s words. He was essentially accepting the possibility of giving up maybe the strongest treasure in all of Existence right now.

    The things she could do now were simply incomparable to the past.

    "Or," Leonel continued, "you can forge a new life for yourself. Sentience is a burden. After all, a tree doesn''t fear for its life, and there''s a certain peace to thatбн

    "But a tree also can''t experience happiness. Would you like to find out how?"

 Chapter 3120 Instead?

    Chapter 3120  Instead? This was something that even Leonel and Aina were still trying to figure out, let alone Anastasia who had only just truly gained her full sentience.

    The husband-wife pair had spent most of their life chasing after "peace" so that they could finally have happiness. But it wasn''t until recently that they realized that they had to carve out their own happiness.

    With the end of the world bearing down on them all, it didn''t make much sense for them to be having a child now. But they had still chosen to do so.

    Sentience was, indeed, a burden. But it could be a blessing if you used it right as well.

    "бн How?" Anastasia asked curiously.

    She had just recontextualized all her life just now. More owners than she cared to count, more experience than she cared to recallбн too much heartbreak.

    If there had been an answer, she would have certainly found it in there. But it wasn''t. No matter how she looked, she found herself missing her old self.  Sз╫ar?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She didn''t believe that Leonel was just saying this for a chance to keep her current self by his side. She knew him more deeply than that.

    He truly saw her as family. He might be willing to force the hand of his new Generals, trading off being an asshole in exchange for the greater good. But he wouldn''t be willing to do such a thing for his own people. He would never.

    That meantбн

    He really had a way?

    Part of her wanted to believe it. Butбн

    "Well, for startersбн" Leonel smiled, looking to Aina who seemed to have already read his thoughts. She was also smiling, a sweet and bright smile. "бн Would you like to be the baby''s godmother?"

    Anastasia''s eyes widened.

    Of all the things she thought Leonel would say, this was the very last on the list.

    However, it was then that a wave of unfamiliar emotions swept over her.

    That was rightбн

    She came to a realization. Even if she recontextualized her life, she couldn''t insert all the emotions that she would have felt back then had she had true sentience.

    And right now, there were a whole host that she had never felt before.

    Confusion, nervousnessбн

    Sweetness, anticipationбн

    Happiness, embarrassmentбн

    The colors of her eyes rapidly changed and eventually, she started crying. Almost like a baby that had been too overstimulated, she covered her eyes with her small hands, trying to hide herself from the embarrassment.

    But it was then she felt two warm bodies wrap around hers. She barely registered the fact that Leonel and Aina were hugging her because she only had the energy to cry even harder.

    "I think that''s a yes." Leonel said.

    Aina laughed in response.

    **

    Leonel stood in silence, his gaze flickering.

    There were too many paths he could take right now, so many choices that it was overwhelming for him.

    Having too many ideas was a problem too.

    Anastasia was a World Spirit. It was in her bones to help creatures evolve and create.

    Focusing on using her help to complete his Demon Army would be extremely helpful.

    But then there was armor creation. As expected, the Morales were improving by leaps and bounds under Ramon''s tutelage. Having a God direct you in their self-created Force was definitely a feeling of ease that was hard to find elsewhere.

    Using Anastasia to mass-produce these armors would instantly raise their attacking prowess to another level. And because they were Morales, they would be very receptive to the new types of armor that Leonel and Aina could create together. After all, their Divine Armors were already semi-organic.

    But then there was his own personal improvement. He couldn''t neglect that as well.

    Luckily, Nilrem had helped him reaffirm some things. But he still hadn''t progressed his actual Dimension in too long.

    ''Am I overthinking it?''

    This was a World Spirit he was talking about. They could manage an entire world, let alone several tasks at once.

    He was still thinking about Anastasia like he had to direct every one of her actions, which was why he had been thinking that he had to choose just one. But maybe he shouldn''t be worried about it so much?

    If he was going to trust Anastasia, then he should trust her completely.

    Anastasia suddenly appeared by Leonel''s side. Before Leonel could speak, she spoke first.

    "You''re doing severalбн not very efficient things right now. You can just leave them to me."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow.

    "The reason evolution is slow in real life is because World Spirits are conserving resources and want only those that display the most talent over the longest period of time to have a chance to stand at the top.

    "But I can trigger evolution whenever I want. I can force the same Hyper Evolution state of the Oryx on the Sea Gods, or yourбн Dream Demons, if you want to call them that."

    Leonel chuckled. "What''s wrong with my Demons?"

    "A lot. They are a Race that would never make it in the real world.

    "Your idea isn''t bad, and Aina''s support makes it workable. But the problem is that it''s something you''d see in a comic book. You can''t just slap two concepts that seem like they work together and hope for the best. It will inevitably cause problems."

    "Oh?" Leonel blinked.

    He thought that using the Dream Asuras as a foundation, and bolstering them with the Destruction Envoys, was the perfect plan.

    But then Anastasia said something that hit him like a truck.

    "There''s a reason the God Beasts of Creation only managed to successfully infuse humans with their Envoys."

    Leonel''s gaze flashed like lightning. That was right, how could he neglect such an obvious thing?

    If it was so easy to fuse people''s bodies with Envoy blood, there would be far more than just what remained of the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    The combination of he and Aina was amazing, and it could likely look down on all current Crafters, but it wasn''t at the point of being superior to the God Beasts of Creation.

    "I seeбн then what do you want to do instead?"

 Chapter 3121 Better

    Chapter 3121  Better "It''s, umбн Wellбн"

    Anastasia seemed to be mulling something over.

    Leonel realized that it wasn''t that she was trying to figure out what to say, but rather if she should be saying it at all. Right now, Anastasia wasn''t just weighing how to help Leonel, but she was also considering her own moral values and compass.

    There were certain things that had changed between them, but there were also some things that remained the same.

    She wanted to help Leonel, but now she had her own thoughts about such things. And unfortunately for her, she wasn''t quite used to hiding her thoughts and picking and choosing things.

    She was high on intelligence and deductive reasoning, but her emotional intelligence was much lower by comparison.

    It made her very easy for Leonel to read, even if she would likely feel unfathomable to most people.  Sз╫ar?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Soon, Leonel realized why it was that she was struggling like this.

    "The simplest thing to do would just be to resurrect the Envoysбн" she finally said as though someone was pulling her teeth.

    Leonel smiled, finally understanding.

    It seemed that she was very much against the resurrection of the Destruction Envoys.

    He could tell why. They were the antithesis of World Spirits who wanted to see the flourishing of the world. Creating it would make her feel quite disgusted with herself even if the target wasn''t her own world.

    At the same time, it wasn''t particularly easy. It would ironically be easier for her to resurrect a God Beast of Creation as opposed to an Envoy of Destruction despite the former being far superior.

    God Beasts of Destruction were beasts of Creation that eventually veered down another path. They weren''t normally created from scratch but earned their Titles through life or had them passed down through blood.

    If Anastasia did this, she would probably be the first World Spirit in all of history to create a God Beast of Destruction herself.

    Leonel chuckled. "And you don''t want to do that?"

    Anastasia pouted. "They''re disgusting."

    "Oh man, don''t let Blackstar hear you."

    "Blackstar and Kira are exceptions!"

    Leonel laughed harder. "And why''s that?"

    "Iбн"

    Anastasia''s eyes rolled in their sockets as she tried to find an answer. But truthfully, she didn''t know.

    "You''re bullying me again!"

    Leonel would have spit up his drink if he had one. This little girl was learning too fast. She had definitely picked that one up from Aina.

    When you''re losing an argument, just play the guilt trip card.

    Leonel couldn''t even get a word out in front of Aina these days. The moment he tried, the baby would be brought up. It was an endless cycle and one he''d never be able to escape for the rest of his life.

    In the end, he could only laugh. Who asked him to be a soon-to-be father?

    "And what are you thinking about instead, then?"

    "If your goal is just to create a force of Dream Force masters, it would be better to target humans who already have a small affinity and use the Envoys of Destruction to bolster them. We already have plenty here."

    "Better?" Leonel asked with a smile.

    Anastasia blushed again. It definitely wouldn''t be better. Having Envoys they could control would be a thousand times better than trying to raise an army of humans to do the same.

    However, she really didn''t want those icky beasts around.

    Just when Leonel was about to tease her again, her eyes lit up as though she had just realized something.

    "It really would be better."

    "Oh?" Leonel didn''t refute this time. He assumed that she had thought of something amazing.

    "Yes. I can copy your Ability Index and return them all to the Third Dimension with ease. In fact, I can revert them all the way back to children pretty easily, but that''s beside the point."

    Leonel''s eyes lit up. All this time he had been looking for a way to automate his new Dream ability. It took up too much stamina.

    But he had forgotten.

    Anastasia wasn''t just a master of Time Force; that just happened to be one of the most useful Forces of this world. She was adept at the use of all Forces. In fact, saying that she was adept was even doing her a disservice.

    There wasn''t a Force in the world that she couldn''t use within her world.

    Including Dream Force.

    But what surprised Leonel was the fact that she could copy his Ability Index. If he had known that, he would have guessed this long ago.

    In fact, if he was correct, there probably also wasn''t an Ability Index in the world that Anastasia couldn''t use. Or more accurately, any Ability Index that stepped foot into her world was in her purview. And, further than thatбн

    Any Ability Index that was in the Life Tablet.

    "If I revert them to an early enough state, I can even change their Ability Index. I can also make them very malleable and allow them to accept the changes of new Lineage Factors with much greater ease. We can easily recreate the pinnacle of the Human Race because I have you as a template.

    "It''s easy to reverse engineer the success of the God Beasts of Creation. And with my skill as a World Spirit, I can make it even better."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. It seemed that even when he overestimated Anastasia, he was still underestimating her.

    Saying that Anastasia just might be the strongest treasure in existence wasn''t an exaggeration any longer.

    "In fact, your idea isn''t all bad. Because the Human Race is so malleable, we can use the Dream Asura blood to bolster their foundational Dream Force ability and then layer the blood of the Envoys on top of thatбн"

    Anastasia''s understanding of these matters was much deeper than even Leonel expected, so much so that she said something that caught him off guard in the end.

    "An even better template for all of this would be the Spirituals."

 Chapter 3122 Baring

    Chapter 3122  Baring Leonel''s eyes narrowed. The Spiritualsбн

    He hadn''t really thought about them since the time he left. He had only glanced at their throne and then left directly.

    Honestly speaking, they were very lucky he hadn''t just wiped all of them out. He had been wanting to turn over a new leaf. The old him would have definitely razed them to the ground.

    Now that Anastasia mentioned them, he realized that she was correct. They would definitely be the best for all of this. After allбн they were also human.

    But, given how sensitive he was about such things right now, he couldn''t guarantee that he wouldn''t wipe them all out if they pissed him off again.

    He still had a belly of anger that he was currently suppressing. These months had helped him to mellow out a bit. But as their baby''s due date was swiftly approaching, he really didn''t have patience for nonsense.

    Then again, he wouldn''t be surprised if the situation of the Human Race was quite terrible right now.

    ''If for no other reason than the Dwarven Race, I''ll have to return no matter whatбн I''ll see what the situation is then.''

    "Okay. I''ll think about it. For now, how are things going with the Sea Gods?"

    Anastasia frowned.

    "Not good?" Leonel followed up.

    "бн The problem with the Sea Gods is that they aren''t a naturally selected Race by evolution. There''s a reason for that.

    "As powerful as they seem, their flaws are larger.

    "If you wanted to save a few nice seedlings from them, they could be useful. But I believe you want to use them to rule the seas, right? Wellбн that''s a lot more difficult."

    "Mm," Leonel nodded. "Go on."

    "The bulk of it is that Water Force isn''t a good foundation for a Race. There''s been no real path before. The Sea Gods are just ultimately like any other Race with extra steps. That''s why they need to pump their water full of so many minerals.

    "Ultimately, they''re reliant on Earth Force just like everyone else."  Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "And what''s the problem with that?"

    "Their existence is antithetical to reality. You''d have an easier time reversing all their evolution and turning them into land creatures."

    Leonel was still having a hard time wrapping his head around it. Sometimes when he was speaking to the new Anastasia, she felt simple and easy to tease. But times like these where even he was lost were becoming more and more frequent.

    He still didn''t quite understand what the problem was.

    "Remember, the Sea Gods were part of the creation of the Barbarian Race. Or rather, they at least helped them to evolve.

    "According to the first path that Incomplete World would take, the Sea Gods would be phased out. It was the Barbarian Race that interfered and helped them to become superior.

    "The reason for that is that the Barbarian Race wanted to bolster their own natural Clairvoyance. The Barbarian Race is very in tune with the Earth and they have a passive sort of Clairvoyance ability that can be considered to be a bastardized version of Aina''s.

    "However, because it''s spread across an entire race, it obviously makes them extremely talented on average.

    "What they wanted to do was create a version of their Clairvoyance that was a lot closer to the real thing. But Earth is rigid and very difficult to progress.

    "That was when they came across the Golden Tablet and realized that Wise Star Orders were sort of the opposite of what they wanted. So they decided to use it as a template."

    Leonel was getting more surprised the more Anastasia spoke. That was because he had deduced a lot of this, but not to this level of detail. Anastasia had only been passively observing everything before, but she still figured out far more about it than he had.

    But that made senseбн she understood more about the underlying mechanisms for these things than basically anyone else would.

    She could pick up on things he couldn''t connect.

    "It can be said that the ''flaw'' of the Sea Gods was done on purpose by the Barbarians because this was their method of making Earth more malleable. However, it was basically poison to the Sea Gods.

    "A Race that needs to terraform their enemies to invade is inherently a weak Race. The seas you would want to target would all be special waters, ones that had high concentrations of very specific Water Forces and wouldn''t easily allow the Sea Gods to terraform.

    "The only way to give them a chance would be to reverse what the Barbarians did to them, which is why your Cleansing Waters idea isn''t badбн

    "The issue is that even if you succeed, you would just be destroying their greatest strength in exchange. The end result would be a mediocre race, one Existence should have already phased out."

    Leonel vaguely understood what Anastasia was trying to say, though it was still a bit over his head. It seemed that he needed to study Force Pill Crafting more. Just how many deductions was he missing out on because of this lack of knowledge?

    "Do you have a solution?"

    "Uhбн yes. But the solution might as well not be one at all, because it could practically be the solution to everything."

    "And that is?"

    "Help them gain a high affinity for Creation. If they can gain that, they can self-correct a lot of their own weaknesses. But there''s a reason most Races, families, and Lineage Factors are founded on the simplest Forces in Existence.

    "Building a Race with high affinity for an equally high Path would not only burn a ridiculous amount of resources, there would also be a large number of ''duds'' among them. Their own Lineage Factors would be unlikely to awaken among their kind, effectively making it just as rare as usual."

    Leonel''s lip twitched. This really is a worthless solution.

    Were the Sea Gods just screwed, then?

    As Leonel was about to fall into his thoughts once more, Anastasia suddenly looked off into the distance.

    "Not goodбн"

    "What happened?" Leonel looked up.

    "The Pluto just declared war on the Void Race."

    Leonel''s heart skipped a beat.

    This sounded like something that didn''t have anything to do with him, but his heart was suddenly doing cartwheels.

    This was the worst-case scenario.

    The Pluto were baring their fangs.

 Chapter 3123 Question

    Chapter 3123  Question Leonel still didn''t know what exactly the Pluto owed the Fawkes, but he somehow subconsciously knew that the fact they were acting now meant that they felt that debt had been paid.

    That was an odd thing for him to deduce considering they were attacking the Void Race and now the Fawkes, but the flexibility of Leonel''s mind right now was something that even most True God Dream Force experts couldn''t fathom.

    Because of his new understanding of Time Force, he understood why the Pluto took their Favors so easily.

    If he had to guess, the Pluto had very strict laws about how they might use their abilities. After all, if every one of them was as impudent as Leonel, trying to play chess with the timelines to force an outcome in the future that best suited him, the entire world would be in a mess.

    Of course, this wasn''t to say that the Pluto were some holier-than-thou, saint of a Race. Rather, he had a feeling that there were definitely some very severe balancing acts that needed to happen whenever one person played with the timeline so much.

    Leonel didn''t know if his future self managed to transcend those issues or notбн or maybe he was suffering from that counterbalance already. That would explain why he never seemed to get any rest.

    But regardless of what was true, in order for a Race of Time Force to exist so long, they had to have measures in place to avoid such counterbalancing.

    Even with all their efforts, the Pluto Race was still in a slight decline. So it could be imagined just how difficult this was.

    If they were taking action nowбн they just might be like the Minerva of old, making a final spurt, a last push to reverse the aging of her Raceбн

    And Leonel had a feeling that they would succeed.

    The Void Race had gotten cocky. They and their allies thought that they could just bully the Pluto Race into the shadows, not realizing that the Pluto were just biding their time.

    Now that it was time to explode, the Pluto would reaffirm their positions as the top dog. And given how little time there was for Existence to, wellбн exist, they would likely remain there until the very end.

    But why was this a problem? It wasn''t as though Leonel had ever had any real problems with the Pluto. Well, at least not any large ones. At worst, he had offended El''Rion by a small measure, but it wasn''t to the point of life and death.

    The reason that Leonel was worried was because he doubted that it would stop with the Void Race.

    And even if the Pluto didn''t declare war on the entire God Realm, they would certainly throw their weight around. That would cause unwanted variables to appear, and in this sort of chaosбн

    The Demoness thrived.

    What he also didn''t want to think about was the potential worst-case scenarioбн a situation where the Pluto would, indeed, choose to target the Fawkes.

    He needed to find out what this debt was all about sooner rather than later.

    "Is that everything you know?"

    "I only caught a glimpse of what was happening because of a commotion in the Dream Plane. I don''t have any details other than thatбн

    "But I can say that the Pluto Race are violently spreading their influence, not just through this war, but they seem to have sent out their current and younger generations without a care if they get killed or not, almost as though they''re trying to bait people into attacking them."

    Leonel''s gaze flickered. This sort of tacticбн

    Weeding out the weak.

    Of course, the weak he referred to were members of the Pluto Race themselves.

    First, the Pluto made a big move like attacking a sovereign Race, and then they exposed the most vulnerable of them to being hunted down.

    On the one hand, the world would now obviously know that the Pluto were making a push to re-establish themselves firmly at the top.

    And on the other, they were letting the world know that this was their last chance to take the spot from them.

    If they passed this storm with enough of their younger and current generation intactбн

    The world would never know a ruler other than the Pluto.

    It was a double-edged decision, but it was a powerful one nonethelessбн one that exuded a great deal of confidenceбн

    Suddenly, Leonel understood something.

    His grandfatherбн there was absolutely no way he would give up such a chance.

    When he saw through this, he realized why it was that the Pluto might have wanted the debt to be cleared first.

    Gervaise would almost certainly make an enemy of the Pluto very soon. As for why, that was obvious.

    He wanted to rule the God Realm just as much as the Pluto wanted to, and they were now giving him such a chance.

    The war with the Four Great Families wasn''t even over, but he knew his grandfather well enoughбн in fact, maybe the reason Gervaise had yet to personally step out and the Fawkes Empire was still in relative peace was because he was waiting for a moment like this one.

    Leonel took a breath and sighed.

    The end of the world was on its way, but these powers were actually more interested in being the last standing than anything else.

    And maybe he couldn''t blame them.

    Wasn''t that what he was trying to do as well?

    But this was troublesome to him for other reasons.

    His grandfather might have been willing to deal with his antics before, but he certainly wouldn''t accept such a thing now.  Sз╫arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Very soon, he would receive an ultimatum.

    Either he stood with the Fawkes or he didn''t.

    Right now, he was only so free because he was breaking military law, and probably several more laws on top of that.

    The question wasбн what should he do?

    He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 Chapter 3124 Two Paths

    Chapter 3124  Two Paths Leonel honestly wasn''t sure.

    He wasn''t even close to finishing. He was so far from filling up and building out his army that he could only feel a bit helpless about it.

    The Sea Gods were still useless, the Oryx had yet to reach their full potential, the Morales hadn''t even all been resurrected yetбкthough, Anastasia was making that much faster.

    He, himself, was still in the Sixth Dimension and an impossibly long way from the Seventh. His master had just disappeared and would be unlikely to be back any time soon. His brothers had only just regressed back to the Third Dimension and were still working their way back upбн

    His wife would likely be in labor in another year or so!

    This was the absolute worst time for him to be given such an ultimatum.

    Leonel stood in silence, staring off into the distance. It was like the universe was telling him that now wasn''t his time to be a King, and maybe he would never have such a chance again.

    After a long while, he took a breath and sighed.

    On one path, he would have to break off from his grandfather much earlier than he expected to, and that would cause more strain on his grandmother. They had just barely repaired their relationship somewhat, and she was still in a fragile state.

    Although she was certainly more than intelligent enough to know that such a thing was coming in the future, she probably didn''t expect that it would happen so soon either.

    And on the other, he would be pretty much stifling his own progress.

    ''Let''s take this one step at a time.''

    "Anastasia, I trust you. The protocol right now is simple.

    "I want the Sea Gods to reach their fullest potential. I want as many Morales to return and be placed under Ramon''s command. Help them get used to their new Lineage Factor and Constellation.

    "There are many talented humans in here who just have not received any systematic training. They''ll be the next priority.

    "Right now, I''ll be going to the Spirituals and the Dwarven Race and will take them into the fold as well."

    "And what aboutбн" Anastasia began.

    "My brothers will be directed by me personally. They''ve already made great progress in the current situation. I will help fast-track them."

    "Okay."

    His brothers, the likes of Amery, Elorin and Old Hutch, Elthor, Emna and the othersбн

    They would be the core of his power in the future. No matter what path he was forced to take in the future, he wanted to help them progress as quickly as possible.

    Leonel''s figure flashed and he appeared in his living quarters again. His wife was sitting with a smile on her face, once again concocting pills as she hummed a tune.

    Aina wasn''t much of a singer, but that wasn''t because she couldn''t. Her voice, especially when she stopped restraining it.

    Aina''s voice always had a strong coercive character to it, something that Leonel still didn''t quite understand until now. But it was something that Aina likely understood, and that was enough.

    However, ever since she awakened it, she had suppressed itбн That was because when she used it properly, it was like she was trying to seduce everyone around her.

    She didn''t like that feeling for one, and it also leaned too much into the vampire/succubus aspects of her being that she tended to want to avoid.

    Leonel never really pressed her one way or another, but he had to admit that her real voice was so sultry, so seductive, soбн  Sз╫ar?h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel shook his head, waking himself. He was on serious business now.

    "What''s the matter?" Aina asked with a smile, seemingly seeing through Leonel''s lewd thoughts with a giggle.

    "Your friends, how do you want me to do with them?"

    Yuri and Savahn were here, and they had been for a while. But Aina never seemed to want to put much effort into helping them to grow stronger.

    Aina fell into silence, her gaze flickering.

    "бн Not everyone in the world wants to become strong," she suddenly said.

    Leonel blinked and then nodded.

    Indeed, not everyone had the ambition to grow strong. But it was a shame.

    They didn''t want to grow strong, but they also didn''t want to have children because they felt the world was in too much chaos.

    Not everyone was designed for greatness. The fact his brothers had lagged so far behind him was proof of that. If he didn''t make a concerted effort to pull them up with him, they would only fall further behind.

    But they were different. They had practically been warriors on a battlefield together since they were young. Following him to war was ingrained into their very bones.

    But Yuri and Savahnбн they didn''t have such ambition and the weight of the events was probably sitting heavily on their hearts.

    They had been through a lot and Leonel could understandбн that they were just tired.

    Now, the chessboard was far too large and they just felt like pawns.

    "But what do you think?" Leonel asked.

    Aina smiled bitterly. This husband of hers was growing more overbearing every day.

    If he thought it would make her happy, he wouldn''t give the two of them a choice.

    Aina loved battle; it was just that she loved the idea of having children even more. Because of that, she had given up the former for the latter. But her friends didn''t want to follow her in either. It would inevitably leave her feeling a bit lonely.

    Leonel wanted his wife to experience nothing but happiness. If that meant dragging her friends along, he would do that. He still had a few bones to pick with Yuri anyway.

    "It''s not what you think. They just don''t want to be a burden and it makes them feel extremely uncomfortable when I try to help them too much."

    Leonel paused. "I see. Okay, I''ll figure something out."

    As for what he had figured out, that was obvious enough. Since it couldn''t come from him and Aina, it would just have to come from Raj and Joel.

    But he wouldn''t put too much energy into this. He had things to do.

 Chapter 3125 Throne

    Chapter 3125  Throne Leonel appeared high in the skies.

    Coming to the Mortal Realms after so much time in Demi-God and God Realms feltбн odd. There was a pressure on his body as though the world was trying to expel him. But luckily, his Dimension was low enough, and his Dimensional Method was odd enough, that he wasn''t directly expelled.

    He had already been by the Dwarven Race.

    As expected, he didn''t give them much of a choice and just directly took them away. He was only short of refining their world and turning it into one of his own.

    Of course, he wouldn''t go so far. But he had no interest in a back-and-forth.

    The Dwarven Race had almost died under the assault of the Invalids. Luckily for them, Leonel had appeared to deal with the situation, and soon after the battle on the Demi-God Realm turned God Realm ended, the Invalids seemed to have vanished into thin air.

    Though, Leonel was pretty sure they were hiding away somewhere on the God Realms, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. If there was anyone who didn''t fear the fall of Existence, it was the Invalids who prayed for its downfall every day anyway.

    But now here was the world of Spirituals.

    There was an odd atmosphere in the air as he stood above it all.

    They hadn''t been attacked, but for some reason, Leonel felt that the world was gloomier than it should be.  S~ea??h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The last time he came here, they were filled with happiness and cheer while he was off the battlefield after they stabbed him in the back.

    But he had yet to even target them, and yetбн

    Suddenly, the skies shuddered and several figures appeared.

    There was Lady Emberheart and her husband, along with the old male-female elder pair he had met before.

    But he didn''t even get a chance to say much as they fell to their knees in the air. Leonel could basically see their bodies trembling. He would have been able to see it even if his senses weren''t so sharp.

    They seemed to have a great amount of fear in the depths of their souls.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow but he didn''t say much at first, just silently observing them. However, the longer he stared, the less inclined they were to raise their heads.

    Lady Emberheart had grown extremely powerful, and from what Leonel could tell, she had already successfully formed a Dharma and wasn''t far from forming an Idol.

    She was the most powerful of them here, but she was shaking the most fiercely as though she likewise understood the situation better than all the rest of them.

    Wellбн she was right.

    As powerful as they were, they were mere mortals. Honestly speaking, even if Leonel couldn''t defeat her through straightforward and easy means, he still had a million and one ways to crush her.

    Still, he didn''t feel like this was the reason they were acting like this.

    Finally, he began to speak, and the information he got later only made his eyebrows raise higher.

    "Show me this Throne."

    бн

    Leonel stood in front of this Throne for the second time, his gaze flickering.

    Something about this Throne felt odd.

    When he listened to the stories of the Spirituals, he was even more taken aback.

    The prophecies of the tablets were written after the fact? By a blade that transcended time, coming from an unknown future to etch them?

    Leonel looked down at his hand. Was it a coincidence?

    Spear Force flared in his palm and suddenly, the Time around it began to warp.

    If it was before, he wouldn''t think much of it. But now it felt like too much of a coincidence. He had only just given his Weapon Forces the character needed to control time and space. Noбн even his Dream Force had only just gained such characteristics as well.

    Could it be that he was only meant to come here now?

    It seemed that his future self had a sense of humor, and a ridiculous ego too. But he had to admit, this was a crazy flex.

    Going back in time with your blade to write prophecies about yourself.

    It, in one part, made the "chosen one" narrative ridiculous. He had fooled even the Primordial Terror into thinking he was someone great when really he was just putting himself on a pedestal.

    But on the other hand, he found it hilarious. At least he hadn''t lost his sense of humor after he lost everything.

    The sound of Leonel chuckling made the hearts of the Spirituals quake. They didn''t quite understand what he was trying to get at.

    "You say that when the person who''s meant to sit on this Throne does so you''ll return to the Human Race?" Leonel asked.

    "Yes!" Lady Emberheart replied with conviction.

    "And the reason you tried to kill me is because of that?"

    "бн Weбк."

    "Just answer the question, I don''t biteбн most of the time."

    Lady Emberheart''s heart fluttered. But she still grit her teeth in the end and nodded.

    "Yes."

    "Mmбн"

    Leonel nodded. He could understand it. If they put so much hope into this Throne, the fact that he tried to pull them back into the fold early would be a huge red flag to them.

    Returning to the Human Race before the Throne was claimed was unacceptable to them. That wasn''t something that they could allow.

    Since Leonel hadn''t shown signs of being that person, they chose to kill him.

    What they didn''t expect was that Leonel had just not fully awakened yet.

    Suddenly, Leonel turned and plopped down onto the Throne.

    The world shook and overturned, a beam of light cutting through the sunlight above as though the Northern Star itself was reacting.

    Leonel felt his body hit by a great force. His bones creaked and his inner organs whined.

    Howeverбн

    He could feel that his Dimensional Level was suddenly accelerating forward.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed, a violet energy surging through him.

    Violet Force.

 Chapter 3126 Take a Step Back

    Chapter 3126  Take a Step Back It was no wonder Leonel was somewhat taken aback. Violet Force was the Force of the Viola Family, a weak little family he hadn''t thought about in years, and why would he?

    Rychard wasn''t even on his radar when he almost married Aina, let alone now.

    Of course, the circumstances back then had been completely different. He would mince Rychard into pieces if he tried to pull such a thing again. But that was beside the point right now.

    Violet Force was flooding through his body and it was accelerating his Dimension Level by leaps and bounds.

    He needed an obscene amount of energy just to progress a single step due to his Inner Worlds, but right nowбн it was like he was shooting through all of them one after another.

    How could he not be stunned?

    ''Soбн it wasn''t an illusionбн''

    During the final moments in him assuring Anastasia made it through, Leonel had layered [Star Fusion: King''s Might] with several abilities. His Violet Winds, his Vital Star Force, and his Dream Force all came together to make a final push.

    At that moment, he had been stunned for a moment. Because he thought he sensed something familiar.

    But he hadn''t been able to focus on it. That was because the time was too sensitive.

    After that, he became worried about Anastasia''s changes, and then was wrapped up by his duties again. By the time he tried it again, he couldn''t grasp the same feeling. So he thought he had just imagined it.

    It had to be remembered that because of his Ability Index, Leonel was able to revert his body to any particular state it had been in before. He also had perfect recall.

    So to him, the fact he couldn''t grasp this feeling again meant that he had basically imagined it. It wasn''t impossible considering how many things his mind had been juggling back then. Even he was almost overwhelmed.

    But nowбн he realized that this wasn''t the case at all.

    Leonel was truly stunned this time.

    It seemed that he had created a Force of his own. In fact, he had already created it in this life as well.

    The combination of his Violet Winds, Vital Star Force, and his Dream Forceбн

    That was Violet Force.

    His Violet Winds were a mutation of his Destruction fog. It was such an extreme of Destruction that it became Creationбкthe opposite of his Scarlet Star Force.

    His Vital Star Force spoke for itself, it was Life, especially in the body.

    Then his Dream Force had recently gained a Time Force character to it, and it allowed his Ability Index to branch out and sense the movements and changes of other timelines and such. It made his simulation ability far sharper.

    ''No, this is still only a part of itбн this isn''t a Forceбн

    ''It''s my Idol.''

    Leonel finally grasped it. The Idol of his first life, the Idol of his Future self.

    It wasn''t just Violet Winds, Vital Star Force, and Dream Force.

    It incorporated his Ability Index. It was because of his control over his body that he could use the others to shift and change things.

    But it was also his King''s Might Lineage Factor. It was because of its existence that he could extend that control to his very soul. Well, that in conjunction with his Dream Force.

    It was also his Scarlet Star Force because it was the foundation of Creation that he needed.

    No matter where he looked, it was a perfect melding of it all.

    It was nothing short of his Idol.

    And if he was correct, he was likely the only person in all of Existence that could use this Force to its fullest potential.

    Rychard had called this Force a curseбн and that was pretty much what it would be to anyone not named Leonel Morales.

    Violet Force did just one thing: break the laws of physics.

    If you could swing your arm with 100 pounds of strength, it would give you 120 pounds of strength.

    If you could normally run 10 miles an hour, it would allow you to run at 12.

    If you could have jumped 10 meters in a single bound, it would allow you to jump 12.

    The numbers weren''t what was important. What was important was that it was the only thing in Existence that could create things from thin air.

    At no cost to its owner, it boosted everything they could do.

    It could even take 10 years of training and unceremoniously make it 12.

    This was exactly what Leonel was experiencing now. It was taking all of his training and boosting it as though he had been pushing for many more years than he actually had been.

    The affinity for this Force that the Viola Family had was simply far too low. They turned what should have been sure success into a gamble. As such, they ended up losing large portions of their lifespan.

    Howeverбн

    Leonel was the God of this Force.

    BOOM!

    Leonel looked up to see an enormous crown of violet and gold appearing above his head.

    The Spiritual all across the world were forced to the ground, their bodies practically sinking into the soil. It looked as though they were about to become the fertilizer for Leonel''s power.

    Leonel, however, didn''t seem to notice. He knew that they weren''t in any actual danger, but more importantly than thatбн  Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Did he want this Idol?

    He thought about it for a moment, his thoughts churning for a long while. Then, he spoke.

    "Violet Force is a stupid name. The Viola family is filled with nothing but fools. From now on, you will be King Force, the Force I use to rule the land.

    "However, even you will have to take a step back beneath my will.

    "You won''t be my Idol. You will only be a part of it.

    "Take a step back. You will be my first Dharma."

    BOOM!

    The skies shook and split. The Spiritual''s world couldn''t withstand the might and it cracked apart.

 Chapter 3127 Not Too Different

    Chapter 3127  Not Too Different A crown of violet and gold rotated high above Leonel, its aura growing sharper, stronger, more full with each and every passing second.

    However, Leonel himself continued to sit in silence, his gaze almost dull in a way.

    Of course, this wasn''t a dullness that referred to lifelessness, but rather a dullness that came from Leonel''s indifference to it allбн almost as though such a powerful breakthrough was only natural for him.

    All of his accumulation, the breadth of his foundation, the convergence of countless timelinesбн

    It was all for today.

    A Dharma was meant to represent one''s life, a measure of the path one had taken.

    An Idol was a step beyond that. It didn''t just represent one''s life, but it represented a refined essence of the core of one''s being, so refined, in fact, that it was worthy of being worshipped by others.

    There wasn''t a clear and obvious dividing line between the two. And as one would know by now, there were countless variations and striated levels of differentiation between Idols alone.

    If one extended their senses to the Dharma Realms, it was even harder to differentiate. Sometimes, Dharmas were more powerful than even some Idols. But sometimes, Dharmas might not even be more powerful than some Peak Creation State existences.

    Leonel''s Dream Force was the perfect example of this. It was already stronger than most Dream Force experts with Dharmas, and many who had Idols.

    Right now, however, things were changing with a particular sort of oddity. That was because Leonel had most definitely comprehended an Idol just now.

    The creation of a new Force, no matter what it was, always warranted an Idol.

    And yet, Leonel was forcing it to be his Dharma.

    The tug, push, and pull of these Forces was particularly violent. It was like Leonel was trying to focus the blessings of Existence and the Northern Star itself into a much smaller box than it was meant to fit into.

    And he was unrelentingly stubborn about it. So much so that the world he was simply sitting in was splitting apart at the seams.

    However, he didn''t show any hesitation at all.

    Although Violet Force was powerful, extremely so, he had other ideas for where to take his Idol this time.

    That said, Violet Force was too good for him to give up, and he had to admit that he was a genius for creating it if he could toot his own horn for a moment.

    As such, he came up with this sort of compromise.

    Ironically, Violet Force was precisely the Force that he would need to break such rules. After all, Violet Force was probably the strongest application of Breaking Force in the entire world. What it did best was break the rules of the world.

    However, the issue was that there was a bit of cyclical logic happening here.

    Violet Force was what would allow him to break rules in the future, being even more compatible with him than the Brazinger Heirloom could ever hope to be.

    But if it was the reason he could break rules, then could he use it on itself? It felt cyclical in logic and difficult to pin down properly. It felt like it was something that shouldn''t be possible.

    However, Leonel didn''t seem to realize the flaw in his logic at all. Instead, he just kept pressing, forcing it down.

    At the same time, there were a great number of changes taking place in his body. And most accuratelyбн to his King''s Might.

    The blood vessels in Leonel''s brain seemed overrun by pulsing violet. They began to crystallize, and then soon after, they ran into his Ethereal Glabella, forming solid pathways between them all.

    His eyes had always been a pale violet ever since they changed from their original greenish hazel color. It was so pale that it almost looked pink and white in some lighting.

    His hair was the same, though it carried a sort of crystalline character to it. His hair had also been basically uncuttable ever since he entered this world of Dimensions and the like as well.

    But nowбн

    A dense light began to pulse out from his eyes. At the same time, his hair became more ethereal.

    By the same token as all of this, Leonel had always been a decently handsome man. But his sort of handsomeness could only be mentioned as a few steps above average. He might get an extra look walking down the street, but it wouldn''t be neck-breaking and it certainly wouldn''t be to the point of speechlessness.

    This changed somewhat after he completed his ascent into Godhood. He had become more perfect and his handsomeness became more defined and obvious.

    However, once again, lost in a sea of people with God constitutions, it was basically meaningless. He was back to the same old above-average handsome man.  Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But nowбн

    Something seemed to have fundamentally changed.

    His hair danced, gaining a darker, richer violet to it. His eyes were the same, emitting their own light that seemed to pierce into the very depths of the soul of anyone who saw them.

    His features became perfect to the point of stopping hearts, a refined sort of elegance exuding from him.

    His skin became smoother, reflecting like glass. It had a rich bronzed hue to it, yet looked so delicate that one couldn''t help but want to stretch out a finger to touch it.

    At the same time as his actual features were growing to such heights, his aura was accelerating even faster.

    The Spirituals prostrated on the ground felt like they were looking at a True God, and yet their senses confirmed that Leonel was still very much in the Sixth Dimensionбн

    CRACK.

    Seventh Dimension.

    It didn''t make any sense.

    It was like he had broken the mold of the entire world, overturning it and forcing it into submission as though it was just another one of his Crafts.

    And maybeбн Just maybeбн

    It wasn''t too different from one at all.

 Chapter 3128 Dont You Think...

    Chapter 3128  Don''t You Think... Lady Emberheart looked up with shaky eyes, her heart trembling.

    The dichotomy between the casualness of Leonel''s style of dress and the aura he was exuding was simply too much. She had never felt so inferior in her entire life.

    The crown solidified on Leonel''s head and a pulse of light rippled to the outside world.

    Lady Emberheart trembled again.

    He had actually succeeded.

    A Dharma should have been in the shape of a human. Or, more accurately, it should have been in the shape of the Race that created it. This was the simplest sort of manifestation to form because it was just a projection of oneself.

    Idols, however, could take many forms. They could be a humanoid, but they could also be weapons or things of the like.

    Leonel''s King Force Dharma was in the shape of a crown, very clearly the shape that it would have taken had it continued to become an Idol.

    However, Leonel had forced it into the state of a Dharma.

    The main difference wasn''t in power. In fact, it might even be argued that his King Force Dharma was even more powerful than his King Force Idol would have been. This was because his King Force Dharma was ironically more in line with the true power of King Force, doing things as it pleased and going around breaking the rules of the world.

    The real main difference, however, was that Leonel''s aura still had a malleability to it that those who had successfully formed Idols wouldn''t.

    One was only allowed to form one Idol in their lifetime. This was a hard rule. And after it was formed, one''s path was set and it was difficult to defect to another.

    Forming an Idol also made it far more difficult even just to comprehend other things. It was like one gained a one-track mind that couldn''t be deviated from its path.

    Ironically, in a lot of ways, forming an Idol was like becoming some version of the past Anastasia. You might have all the intelligence in the world, but your thoughts would become rigid and inflexible, set down a certain path like you were wearing blinders.

    That said, although this made Idols sound bad, that wasn''t the case at all.

    Usually, one would spend an entire lifetime refining themselves to reach the point where they could form an Idol in the first place. An Idol, by definition, would already be a combination of everything you had already learned. Technically speaking, once you formed one, you would never need to comprehend another path in the first place.

    But that was why those who saw Leonel could only shed their own tears in silence.

    Only a man like this one would actually dare to so carelessly give up the right to form an Idolбн and such a powerful one at that.

    Howeverбн his breakthrough had unfortunately left their world in shambles. She couldn''t help but wonder just how many had died in such a commotion.

    Leonel was still sitting there in silence, looking up and into the skies as though he was lost in thought.

    He opened his mouth suddenly and spoke a single word.

    "Reverse."

    The shattered world of Spirituals trembled, and all of a sudden, the breaks and fissures reformed one after another. But it wasn''t just thatбн even the dead Spirituals seemed to have come back to life.

    Leonel stood to his feet, his heart almost solid in the dense light they exuded.

    "Gather everyone up. Your people will be coming with me."

    Lady Emberheart''s pupils constricted. Butбн she didn''t dare to refute.

    Whether it was for the prophecy or Leonel''s individual strengthбн how could they dare?

    This was what their Ancestors had been waiting for all this time, and even if they were unwilling, what could they do against a man who could destroy a world with a breakthrough and reform it with a word?

    However, as Lady Emberheart began to act, she was even more shocked.

    She realized that Leonel hadn''t just repaired the world; he had revived everyone.

    Was this the power of someone who was in the Seventh Dimension?

    How could she even begin to accept such a thing?

    бн

    Leonel stood high in the skies, still lost in his thoughts.

    He had used his King Force just now to accelerate his breakthrough. It wasn''t as simple as adding energy to him. Instead, his King Force had analyzed his entire body and then retroactively optimized all of the training he had done in the last several decades he had experienced, practically doubling its efficiency in one go.  Sз╫arch* The N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    That was to say that his King Force had made it seem like he had trained for double the time he really didбн

    And yet, he had only progressed from the Sixth Dimension to the Seventh.

    Just how large were the leaps between his Dimensional Tiers? It seemed that breaking through would be even more troublesome than he thought.

    But first, he would have to do something about his Inner Worlds. Right now, they were in a configuration he didn''t like at all, especially since he had been forced to absorb so many Invalid Worlds back then.

    ''One step at a time,'' Leonel thought to himself, looking off into the distance. He could feel that he likely wouldn''t have the time to do all of this. ''I''ll finish with a trip to the Rapax world and then return as quickly as possible. I have a bad feeling about all of thisбн''

    бн

    Lady Emberheart stood with her hands trembling. She still couldn''t seem to calm down. The more she thought about what happened, the harder it was for her to accept, and the more confused she was about it all.

    "What is wrong?"

    Lord Emberheart caught his wife''s hands, stopping them from shaking so much.

    "Iбн" Lady Emberheart didn''t want to say it; it was too shocking. However, beneath the pressing of her husband, she eventually spoke the words from her heart.

    "Don''t you thinkбн don''t you think that he looks and feels too much like a Spiritual now?"

 Chapter 3129 Good

    Chapter 3129  Good "Don''t you thinkбн don''t you think that he looks and feels too much like a Spiritual now?"

    Lord Emberheart''s eyes widened. His head subconsciously snapped toward Leonel, who stood in the far-off distance, high in the skies like a deity overlooking the world.

    The more he looked, the more his heart trembled. Soon, his hands were shaking not much unlike his wife''s.

    None of them would care if Leonel was a Spiritual or not. It wouldn''t make much of a difference, and if there was a difference at all, it would be the fact that it would make their people much easier to convince in the future. After all, they had spent years spreading propaganda against humans despite the fact that they were actually humans themselves as well.

    The problem, as per always, was the underlying truth that would likewise have to be true if this was the reality. As the saying wentбн the devil was in the details.

    There was something especially odd about Leonel''s aura. They knew that he was a human; that was undeniable. But how had his aura so spontaneously changed like that?

    According to their history, the first Spirituals only appeared after there were odd birthing occurrences where mothers started to face near-death experiences as their babies gathered large amounts of energy for the sake of forming their bodies.

    There shouldn''t be any accounts of Spirituals spontaneously forming like this. And yetбн

    The more they looked at Leonel, the more they felt like this was exactly what they were experiencing.

    But what did that mean?

    Back when the energy had descended onto Leonel, it was like a blade was being drawn from the future to the past. However, that bladeбн

    Its aura was identical to Leonel''s own. If they weren''t so against the idea, they would have thought that Leonel himself had struck out with such an attack, taking matters into his own hands.

    But how could that be possible.

    Suddenly, Leonel turned his head, looking toward them with indifferent eyes.  Sз╫arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    They felt their souls freeze over, their bodies almost collapsing to the ground. It was just a gaze, but it felt as though they were about to lose their lives in a single instant.

    They remembered a time when Leonel could only run before them. Then there was the time he rampaged in their world and they could do nothing even as he humiliated them. And nowбн

    They didn''t even dare to look at him.

    **

    Leonel crossed the universe, moving with the swiftness of a man on a mission.

    Soon, he had reached his destination, a world of Rapax.

    With a thought, he pulled out a familiar pair of Rapax from his Inner World.

    Dreadmaw and Shadowclaw.

    The two were taken aback. After years of being stuck in Leonel''s Incomplete Worlds, they thought that they would spend their lives stuck in this place.

    "You!"

    Dreadmaw didn''t hesitate to attack, but he had barely started moving when he froze in place. This wasn''t because Leonel had done anythingбн in fact, all Leonel did was look at him.

    And in that moment, Dreadmaw felt as though his entire body had been thrown into an ice cellar. He shivered from head to toe, suddenly feeling completely naked.

    The Rapax had complete immunity to Internal Sight and had natural protections against Dream Force by extension. The most powerful of them couldn''t even be locked onto by powerful Dream Force experts, and their souls couldn''t be found in the Dream Plane.

    They were the perfect warriors. They could put everything into their physical attributes, but they wouldn''t have to worry about the drawbacks that came with it at all.

    However, at that moment, Dreadmaw suddenly felt that it was all absolutely useless against Leonel.

    Internal Sight, Dream Force, even his soul itself, all of it locked onto him.

    It was a feeling that he, as a Rapax, was completely unfamiliar with and it shook him down to the depths of his soul.

    They were so unused to it, in fact, that if Leonel wanted to make them kill themselves, it would take nothing more than a single nudge.

    The fear made Dreadmaw feel as though he had a guillotine hanging over his head, like his death was nothing more than a hop and a skip away. There was absolutely nothing that he could doбн

    If Leonel wanted him dead, he would be dead.

    At that moment, it was Shadowclaw who suddenly blocked in front of Dreadmaw. When he sensed the same pressure that Dreadmaw did, he even began to hiss, a guttural rumbling coming from his throat.

    It was an odd reaction for Shadowclaw, who was usually so calm and docile. But Leonel knew that any warrior that the Rapax were willing to invest so much in wouldn''t be a coward.

    The Rapax represented strength and battle merit far more than potential. If you were a coward, you wouldn''t be worth anything to them in the first place.

    Leonel''s aura pressed down on Shadowclaw, and the latter felt his body shaking, but he didn''t back down.

    It was only when Shadowclaw was about to collapse from exhaustion that Leonel retracted his Dream Force and Dreadmaw calmed the young Rapax.

    "I won''t explain myself to you two. The Rapax were my competitors, so I dealt with you as I would competitors. Now, I''ll give your Race two choices.

    "Either follow me, or die. Which will it be?"

    Leonel looked toward Shadowclaw, his eyes glowing. Even though he wasn''t using his Internal Sight any longer, Shadowclaw still felt a great pressure on his spirit.

    Although Leonel had been in a time warp, his Incomplete Worlds hadn''t experienced that time. So to them, it had only been a handful of years since they saw him last.

    They didn''t understand how someone could grow so powerful in a short time.

    Surprisingly, it was Shadowclaw who spoke first.

    "The Rapax only follow the strong."

    Leonel looked at him, then nodded.

    "Good. I''ll lead you to the best battlefields in the world."

 Chapter 3130 Come

    Chapter 3130  Come Leonel didn''t need to question anything else. Wouldn''t doing so be questioning whether he was among the strong or not? There was no need to even consider it.

    Over the next hour, he subdued the Rapax world and forcefully pulled them into his Segmented Cube.

    Like this, he had the Dwarven Race, the Rapax Race, and the Spirituals Race.

    Of course, he hadn''t taken all of the Races. He only took them from one Mortal World. The rest of the Mortal Realm was still filled with other examples of these Races, but he had his hands full with these three worlds alone, let alone the others.

    However, he was still content.

    First, these worlds were the ones with the strongest potential to begin with. They had produced the most Gods in the past and had the best chance of producing the next wave of Demi-Gods.

    Second, his resources were limited. He was already having a great deal of trouble dealing with the Morales alone. Thankfully, Anastasia had taken over the burden of resurrecting the Morales for him, but even she was having her own fair share of issues.

    Of course, her "issues" still allowed her to be much faster than Leonel. In these last few days, she had already resurrected millions. Compared to the hundreds that Leonel could have managed in that time, she was clearly on an entirely different level.

    Plus, he was less interested in numbers versus quality.

    The main reason he took in the Rapax was because of Shadowclaw. And the main reason he took in the Dwarven Race was because of Lumielle.

    On their own, these two would have likely become Gods in the future. At the very least, they would have formed Dharmas.

    But now, he would make them true monsters. Their talent made them more than great enough to be among his Generals, especially Shadowclaw.

    He hadn''t observed the combat genius of the Dwarven Race enough, but he knew that Shadowclaw was particularly special. If he could reach his potential, he just might stand on the same level as Emna and Elorin.

    Now, Leonel felt that he had the foundation he needed for the future.

    The only question wasбн

    Would he get the chance to solidify it before the other foot dropped?

    **

    The encampment was filled with the clang of weapons and the roar of warriors. The Third Imperial Prince stood in the middle of the battlefield, his green eyes glowing with a fiendish light as his golden hair danced in the air.

    Large manifestations that looked like spiraling dragons wrapped around him. Every time he punched out, one would drill through a large number of enemies, leaving nothing but blood and bone in its wake.

    Stronger members of the Four Great Families began to encircle him, but it was clear that they were no match for him alone.

    "Just obediently bow down, Fawkes scum," a Brazinger laughed uproariously, his halberd screaming through the air with every swing.

    Green and red flashed through the air.

    The Third Imperial Prince didn''t reply, his eyes focused and his killing aura dense.

    The Four Great Families had suddenly inexplicably changed their tactics a few days ago.

    The war had mostly entered a bit of a lull, but then they all of a sudden started sending out full assaults, catching them off guard.

    On top of that, Nana''s disappearance left a gap in their defenses, making it even easier for such a thing to happen.

    However, the Third Imperial Prince was still scanning the region. There were nothing but ants surrounding him; he didn''t even care to pay much attention to the taunts of the man in front of him. Under normal circumstances, this man wouldn''t even have the right to speak to him.

    The only reason he was even in this battle at all was the fact that his side looked like a beast had just taken an enormous bite out of it.

    High in the skies, hidden in the darkness, a man with a fiendish golden aura and a bow stood. The fury between his brows was clear.

    This man was an elder of the Laevis family. After their Heirloom had been stolen, how could he not be absolutely infuriated?

    He had managed a sneak attack on the Third Imperial Prince, heavily injuring him. But the damned bastard refused to fall, and even worse, the senses of Fawkes elite warriors were too sharp. After the first sneak attack, he wasn''t sure if he couldбк

    PCHU!

    The elder froze, slowly looking down at his chest.

    Whenбн

    When had a hand appeared thereбн?

    He turned back with the only strength he had left in his body.

    The last sight he saw was a young man, handsome beyond words. His hair seemed a combination of wisps of energy and crystalline strands of violet, but his eyesбн they carried such shocking depth to them that even though the elder was already dying, he still felt real fear, as though he wanted to use the final moments of his life to runбн  Sear?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel Morales.

    At that moment, the battlefield fell into silence as a man descended from the skies, the bleeding body of an expert on his arm.

    Leonel looked down indifferently as the Laevis elder''s corpse fell from his wrist and forearm, plummeting to the thick Anarchic Force waters below.

    With a wave of his hand, a familiar bow appeared.

    He had already noticed long ago that the Laevis Heirloom was missing its Weapon Spirit. However, even without it, it was a truly powerful weaponбн

    But who said that he had to continue to be without it?

    "Come."

    It was only a single word, but the skies seemed to split open because of it.

    As he stretched out the bowstring, it seemed to be slowly coming to life until it shone with such a bright light that Leonel looked like a golden twelve-pointed star in the skies.

    And thenбн

    A rain of gold fell from above. The carnage was so devastating that the Four Great Families could only look up in despair.

 Chapter 3131 Timeless Radiance. Infinite Radiance.

    ?Chapter 3131 Timeless Radiance. Infinite Radiance.The skies split open and the world overturned. For a moment, the Inbetween World gained light. Violet rained down, and the flames that smoldered at the end of all things made themselves known. An enormous portal took shape, and a spirit on the other side began to struggle.

    Leonel was already raining down arrows as though he didn''t care whether the Weapon Spirit listened to him or not. However, slowly but surely, with every pluck of the bowstring, a resounding TWANG! echoed, and the Weapon Spirit was pulled closer and closer.

    In truth, this wasn''t fake. Leonel didn''t care very much about the Weapon Spirit. As far as he was concerned, he and his wife could create a stronger weapon given enough time and the proper resources. Though, the latter would be harder to find than he gave it credit for.

    However, it was also because of this that he wanted this Weapon Spirit now as a stopgap measure. It had been a long time since he had wielded a truly powerful bow. Remembering how it had felt to use the White Lion Bow initially, he felt his blood boil.

    He wanted that feeling again.

    Ile had always had the greatest affinity for Bow Force, even above that of his Spear Force, despite the fact he had only been born with a Lineage Factor for the latter but not the former.

    However, now he felt like he truly understood why that was. Or... maybe he always had, in a way.

    The answer had always been on the tip of his tongue.

    Control.

    There was no other weapon that could control a battlefield to the same level as a bow. He found that he didn''t even prefer a gun nearly as much.

    One might think that a gun was superior... but he had never agreed with that either. There was a reason he had stopped crafting sniper rifles. It wasn''t as though he lost the skill to do so along the

    way.

    There was a certain flexibility and added control that came with using a bow and arrow that he simply couldn''t replicate with a gun. Even if he could add a bit of crafting magic to replicate that sort of control, it would never be the same... because whatever he could add to a sniper rifle, he could add to a bow and bolster the control he already had over it even further.

    About the only thing that was superior to a bow was the overt and oppressive power a gun could unveil in a single brief instant. However, in exchange for control....

    Leonel would trade that away ten out of ten times.

    The bow was the ultimate form of who he was. person who wanted to not just control his own body perfectly, but even the world around him.

    When his Dream World bloomed and covered the battlefield in full force, the Weapon Spirit finally couldn''t seem to protect itself any longer.

    It was ripped away from its location and tore a path through time and space, drilling into the beautiful golden bow.

    ROAR!

    The roar peeled through the skies like a clap of thunder.

    All of a sudden, the bow blazed with life.

    Leonel, who had already become what looked like a twelve-pointed star in the skies, became even larger as though a true sun was descending from above.

    He didn''t even need to prep himself or take a breath, almost as though he had been waiting for this exact moment his entire life.

    The world overturned, and the rain of arrows accelerated.

    A profound understanding overwhelmed Leonel, and he realized just how much power this bow had. The theory of relativity was complex. It could be explained simply enough on its surface, but the deeper you went, the more of a genius you realized Einstein was.

    Every day, you could learn tidbits about the spacetime continuum through this theory that could shake you to the core.

    And one of those things for Leonel was a secret of photons of light.

    The simple fact of it was that light was constant in its speed. The closer you got to the speed of light, the heavier you became, and the slower time moved for you relation to everything else.

    Of course, as Leonel moved into wider existence, he had learned many ways of bending and breaking the laws of special relativity. But what he had learned nonetheless was just how close to the truth Einstein had been... at least when you weren''t using your Force to forcefully rewrite those laws and shatter them.

    When the world was intact... special relativity was correct.

    And that meant, when you took it to its logical extreme, held up as well.

    What did it really mean that you approached infinite mass when you closed in on the speed of light? What did it really mean that time became infinitely slower in relation to everything around you as you approached the speed of light?

    The logical conclusion, and something that had excited young Leonel, was a simple thought... The thought that photons of light were the only things in existence that never aged. Even further, that photons of light were in the very same state they had been since the beginning of time, from the instant they had been created. And even further than that, that photons of light were trapped in a single instant of time..

    Leonel had already deduced this long ago. It wasn''t like he was the first, but he had at least come to realize it without reading it in a book first, extrapolating the obvious conclusion from the information in front of him.

    This memory came bubbling up the moment the World Spirit entered the bow because he understood what it could do... and he understood even further just how much it would bolster his strength.

    If one listened to the twang of the bowstring, they would come to notice something shocking. An arrow would leave and strike its target all before the sound even echoed.

    In fact, there was seemingly no lag between the disappearance of the arrow and the death of an unfortunate foc. Not a single bit of time passed.

    It was instantaneous.

    One shot. One kill.

    And his targets didn''t even have the right to ready themselves.

    The Laevis members in the army felt their hearts leap into their throats. They understood exactly what this was. This was the absolute highest state one could reach with their Heirloom, a state that

    hadn''t been reached in countless generations, one that hadn''t even appeared since the fall of the Creation Beasts.

    The reason they allowed their youth to try out the bow in turns was because they were trying to train this level of mastery to appear again. What none of them could have ever expected was that an outsider would grasp it...

    Timeless Radiance.

    Run.

    There was nothing else to do. Such a person appearing on a battlefield meant death for them all.

    However...

    BOOM!

    An arrow landed and exploded an entire island.

    Despair colored the expressions of the Laevis family members. The others of the Four Great Families seemed to pick up on what was happening late, but when they did, their despair was no less.

    Infinite Radiance.

    To think that an outsider would comprehend not just one, but both of their greatest states. Sз╫arch* The ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Not only was he using them, but he was using them continuously as though they didn''t mean much to

    him at all.

    Timeless Radiance was able to strike with an instantaneous arrow. There was no lag between the pluck of the bowstring and the death of the target.

    It was faster-faster than even the laws of the world themselves-so much so that they didn''t have the speed to act on the arrow.

    But even so, that was only the first of their two shocking abilities.

    Infinite Radiance was a strike that carried infinite mass. No matter what it crashed into, it would be heavier, denser, more destructive.

    It was even more shocking than Timeless Radiance because light shouldn''t have any mass. It represented a level of law-breaking that exceeded Timeless Radiance by a step.

    The bow seemed born to be in Leonel''s hands. He was killing so fast that the Fawkes warriors found themselves standing around without enemies to face off against.

    The Third Imperial Prince stood gasping for breath, a hint of paleness on his face from the earlier injury. He realized that if the elder who sneak-attacked him had such an ability, let alone standing here trying to catch his breath, he would be a dead man.

    He couldn''t even track the arrows at all.

    The only saving grace was that the Timeless Radiance arrows didn''t carry enough punch to rip

    through his defenses... But what about Infinite Radiance?

    It seemed that Infinite Radiance was at least slow enough for him to react to, but...

    Something told him that Leonel was still holding back.

    To him, this was only the beginning.

 Chapter 3132 See

    ?3132 SeeLeonel slowly lowered the Laevis Bow, his expression calm and his movement unhurried.

    After reaching the Seventh Dimension, he felt that even most Ninth Dimensional experts simply weren''t a match for him, God Constitution or not.

    Maybe only those with Dharmas could put up a fight, but if it was a weak Dharma, they would quickly find themselves on the other end of death.

    And if they were sneak attacked like that Laevis elder from earlier, they would die even quicker.

    As far as he was concerned, the only ones with a real chance to kill him now were either absolute geniuses of at least the Eighth Dimension.

    Such individuals were incredibly rare, and even for a super powerhouse Race like the Pluto, there might only be a handful sprinkled through each generation.

    Of course, there might be someone out there that could surprise him and be capable of fighting him at the same Dimension. But...

    He believed that now he firmly stood atop what was possible talent-wise.

    Even if there existed someone who could fight him at the same Dimension, that individual would certainly be several Tiers above him.

    And that included his wife.

    He had always said that he would be able to beat Aina ten out of ten times even if she was stronger than him, and he was firm in that resolve. But now, he believed his talent had surpassed hers even as a God Childe.

    The power of his Violet Force Dharma was unlike anything he had seen in the world just yet. And the combination of it with his father''s technique and his own [Dimensional Cleanse] standing at the Seventh Dimension was enough to make the stars weep.

    Leonel couldn''t help but smile to himself a small measure.

    He only realized a small fact now...

    He had finally returned to his peak and taken a step beyond. How long had it been since his grandfather used mysterious means to send him back to the Third Dimension?

    It had certainly been a long trek back.

    But it was well worth it.

    His power spoke for itself.

    With a thought, Leonel descended, strapping the bow to his back as though he couldn''t bear to part with it for even a moment. But this action placed a great deal of pressure on the world around him.

    When he appeared before the Third Imperial Prince, the latter felt for a moment like he was facing off against his father. It was a feeling that even Alienor had only been able to replicate in part. But right now... Leonel had captured almost the entire essence of it.

    They looked different from one another, and their temperaments couldn''t be further apart, yet the Third Imperial Prince was even more sure of his assessment.

    1/3

    It was no wonder the Emperor had always shown such favoritism to this grandson of his.

    Emperor Fawkes had never made it a secret that he preferred some descendants over others. The Third Imperial Prince had always been jealous of Alienor and the First Imperial Prince, but there were likewise other Princes and Princesses that were jealous of him.

    However, none of them could have expected that it was a brat born long before them in an ironic twist of fate that would actually be the most favored...

    And yet also the most hated.

    The Third Imperial Prince relaxed when he had this thought, and a hint of his dignified air returned.

    Ironically, it might precisely be because Emperor Fawkes favored Leonel too much that they had a falling out.

    A mountain couldn''t house two tigers.

    "Round everyone up. We''re returning," Leonel said.

    The Third Imperial Prince frowned when he heard this, but Leonel had already vanished. Sз╫arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Everyone looked toward him to see what he would do. Technically speaking, Leonel was a prisoner here. He had even less of a right to command as a result, let alone the fact that he couldn''t just end the war with the Four Great Families because he felt like

    it.

    Yet, to everyone''s shock, the Third Imperial Prince echoed Leonel''s words.

    They all seemed to realize at that moment that something big must have happened.

    The Third Imperial Prince was speculating that it must be related to the odd change in the attack pattern of the Four Great Families, but he wasn''t sure what it was. Since Leonel dared to say these things, he was smart enough to know that there had to be a reason.

    Returning now was most important.

    There was a flood of retreat from the Inbetween World as the Fawkes gave up valuable progress.

    Things went about as Leonel had expected. This uncle of his was smart. Between smart people, there wasn''t a need to explain much, especially when Leonel didn''t ever really feel like it anyway.

    If Leonel was correct, news of the Pluto''s actions was only just being disseminated now. The Sylvans were helping out the Four Great Families, so it made sense that they would react in time. But news wouldn''t necessarily make it everywhere else as quickly.

    In the end, the Sylvans were still the top dogs of information in the God Realm. They would certainly be the first to know of any information.

    This time around, Leonel had technically been the first, but only thanks to Anastasia.

    Because of these changes, the battle against the Four Great Families felt small and insignificant. Or at the very least, it couldn''t be fought in the same way.

    There would be an easier opportunity to wipe them out in the chaos, and that was when he would strike to pull them up by their roots.

    As for the details of it all, he didn''t care one way or another. He still needed to bide time for his own army to be up and running. And in that case, he would spend time doing something that he had already promised his wife he would do long ago...

    See her father.

    The return to the Ascension Empire was swift.

 Chapter 3133 Not Much

    ?3133 Not MuchLeonel sipped at some tea, looking between father and daughter with a mischievous look in his eye.

    Honestly speaking, he should be more serious at a time like this. But seeing Miel''s reaction to finally seeing his daughter for the first time in a while, with a noticeable baby bump at that... well, his subterfuge couldn''t help but bubble up to the forefront. After all, he had had a bit of a feud with this father-in-law of his for a long while.

    Was it mature to take this as a victory for himself?

    Absolutely not.

    Did it feel good anyway?

    100%, yes. Yes. And then yes again.

    He was laughing like a little child on the inside, then sparing some thoughts toward his curiosity about the baby''s gender, before he went back to sipping his tea.

    Miel''s eyes were flickering with all sorts of complex emotions, but ultimately, he was more than accepting of this. After all, in his eyes, Leonel and Aina were already married even if there was no ceremony. The vows that they had made to one another, and the level of trust they shared, was something that any father would dream of for their daughter. Sз╫ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The binding of souls was something that existed beyond anything a little piece of paper or a ceremony for the eyes of others could possibly ever match.

    So that wasn''t his problem with the situation at all. It was only natural that a husband and wife have their first child.

    He was really only concerned about two things: the first being the timing of their choice, and the second being... well, the fact that he only learned of the situation so late into the process. As much as he understood why Aina would want to keep him at arm''s length, it didn''t change the fact that it hurt down to the depths of his soul. However...

    He took a deep breath and smiled a genuine smile.

    "I''m going to be a grandfather?"

    Aina nodded with tears in her eyes, subconsciously grabbing at Leonel''s wrist for support despite the fact they were sitting.

    "This is great news."

    Aina nodded again, but the depths of her eyes seemed to be waiting for her father to say something else.

    looked at his daughter, his mouth slightly opening before closing again. He didn''t know what he should say, or even if he was allowed to say it.

    Leonel was half content to let the man flounder, but then his mature side kicked in, before it quite literally kicked out, landing a solid blow on the man''s shin.

    Miel''s gaze flickered slightly, though he didn''t look at Leonel. He hesitated to open his mouth again, but as he was about to close it, a swifter, sharper kick came. This time, he barely stopped himself from wincing, and the words tumbled out.

    "... But is this really the wisest choice right now? You''ll have to move and stay with me. The world is in chaos right now, and it''s not safe to have a little baby running around -"

    He stopped himself as he was about to continue. But then he realized what he was saying and felt embarrassed.

    He didn''t want to say these words initially because he didn''t believe he had the right to say them. After everything that had happened, could he still be a father?

    This was why he had waited until after Aina found someone she could fully depend on to explain his past to her. When he sensed Aina was married to Leonel, there was nothing more to hold back.

    But now...

    The tears that Aina had been holding back fell in a rain, and Miel thought that he had well and truly done something wrong.

    Watching the man squirm, Leonel actually began to feel somewhat bad.

    "Don''t worry, old man. Reprimand her more. If you didn''t know, your daughter''s a bit of a ma-."

    There was a sudden mighty pinch to Leonel''s side, more powerful than any strength Aina had exhibited in the last several months. She seemed to have dug deep and unlocked her mom strength ahead of time, or else the pinching pain in his side wouldn''t be so great.

    In fact, Leonel even felt that she had twisted the blood in his side at the same time, enhancing the pain.

    Suddenly, both father and son-in-law were wincing in pain.

    "I yield..." Leonel wheezed out.

    He really had almost gone a bit too far in teasing this father-in-law of his; maybe they should finally bury the hatchet.

    "I was jooooking! I was going to say magnet for punishment! You thought I was going

    to eau masochist?! Get your head out of the mitter! Pervert!"

    Leonel half laughed and half groveled.

    He really wasn''t going to say masochist, but he knew that Aina would stop him even before he got out what he wanted to say, which made it even funnier to him. He would never say something like that in front of her father, no matter how much he wanted to torture him.

    Aina pouted and ignored him. Even though she knew he was telling the truth, she wanted him firmly placed in the doghouse for at least a business day. How dare he ruin such a good moment?

    And yet, the smile on her face seemed to paint a different tale entirely.

    Leonel had been right. She wanted her father to simply be a father, something that he rarely was. She didn''t care whether he agreed with her decision or not; that decision had already been made.

    Maybe only adults that had experienced so much life might one day miss the times their parents were hard on them...

    Even with the world collapsing around them, she was happy. Happier than she had been in a very long while. She wasn''t pining for anything, hoping or praying for anything... she was just... content.

    With her father looking after her safety, a baby in her belly, and her husband begging

    for her forgiveness... what better life could she hope for?

    At that moment, Leonel''s gaze sharpened as he swiped a hand out at the air, catching

    a sharp envelope of gold.

    It trembled in his hands and then burst apart.

    ''A summon from the old man, huh... seems I won''t have much time after all...''

 Chapter 3134 Take Care

    ?Chapter 3134 Take CareLeonel strolled into a familiar courtroom. The first time he had been here, he had been in a pair of silk boxers and robes. One would think that he would be better prepared this time, and

    unfortunately, that was only technically true... the best kind of true...

    He still wasn''t wearing any shoes or any shirt. But he was at least wearing pants this time. A comfortable pair of sweatpants that made him feel nice and cozy.

    Once again, he was the center of attention. But this time, the atmosphere was much less... inviting, if it could be said to ever have been.

    The pressure was powerful, especially from Emperor Fawkes himself. The difference might as well have been night and day. As expected and as he had deduced, his grandfather was no longer in a joking sort of mood.

    This matter would decide the fate of the Empire and whether the Human Race would be washed away or rise to the top once again.

    Gervaise simply didn''t have the patience for Leonel''s antics right now, and Leonel didn''t really blame him.

    It was just that for these things... they would be standing on opposite sides of history. That was all. Nothing more, nothing less. Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    So, his smile remained just the same. And when he noticed that his grandmother wasn''t present, he realized what sort of choice she had made as well.

    She wanted nothing to do with this.

    Leonel eventually found a scat and partially reclined, waiting for the meeting to start.

    He could already feel several gazes on him, likely infuriated that he hadn''t shown at least some sort of decorum before his grandfather and the Emperor, but he didn''t mind it. It was as though he couldn''t sense anything but the beautiful dreams in his own thoughts.

    Dreams that would likely be coming crumbling down very soon.

    And that they did.

    The actual meeting was a blur. Gervaise didn''t allow anyone else to speak and simply handed out. order after order.

    This took aback even several officials. Usually, there would be some discussion, and only in rare instances would Gervaise step in to make the final decision for them all, and that would usually be when they couldn''t decide on their own. But now, it seemed that he wasn''t allowing any room for dissent.

    Everyone realized this and remained silent.

    Leonel left the Imperial Court with an expected result. For now, he had been assigned to work in the Crafting Factories.

    That was objectively the smart choice. But he also knew that it was a temporary one.

    That was because, quite frankly speaking, he was the best of the Fawkes younger generation. Honestly, he was saying that with maybe too much confidence because he simply hadn''t met many of his cousins. Maybe there were some of them that were truly amazing.

    But the reason he said it was because he was doubtful if even the Pluto had anyone who could face

    him right now.

    Then again, the Pluto were on the decline, so it was natural that their younger generation was a bit weaker.

    As for their Ancestors and the pillars that held their Race up? Well... they spoke for themselves. Leonel''s steps came to a pause. He looked up to see Noah standing before him with a weapon on his back. Well, it was only a weapon because Leonel recognized it. At first glance to practically anyone else, it would have looked more like a flat blue tower shield.

    This "shield" was, of course, Noah''s saber. Due to his Ability Index, Noah had always been fond of the obscenely large weapon.

    Unlike Leonel, Noah had been assigned to be among those of the Fawkes younger generation that went out to challenge the others.

    The actions of the Pluto had caused many Races to begin large-scale skirmishes on a "small" scale. This might sound contradictory, but all it really meant was that there was a free-for-all between the youths of various Races for now, and everyone was trying to kill everyone else.

    The Ancestors clashed in the dark, and the youths clashed in the light.

    Honestly speaking, Leonel believed that his grandfather was practically sending Noah out to die.

    Noah had always been more a part of the Ascension Empire than Leonel had ever been, so after Leonel disappeared for three years due to his coma, Noah had ingratiated himself back into Ascension Empire life quite easily.

    He took up his former duties, got married to the young heiress of the Grand Prime Minister family, and was now quite well known as an Imperial Prince.

    But he was behind the eight ball, and he could only be considered to be a mid-ranged talent among this third generation of Fawkes.

    He wasn''t necessarily wrong or right to leave Leonel''s side, and as far as Leonel was concerned, he was his one true cousin, so he wouldn''t hold any sort of petty grudge about such a thing.

    How could he expect a grown man to put his life on pause for him? That would be ridiculous.

    Noah smiled when he saw Leonel.

    "I''m glad you''re alright!"

    Leonel chuckled. "You make it sound like I was terminally ill.

    "You were worse than terminally ill," Noah replied seriously.

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh harder. This cousin of his wasn''t much of a joker. He was a lot like Arnold or Allan in that respect.

    But he was right. Dead was technically worse than terminally ill.

    Leonel hesitated for a moment before he shook his head.

    "Take care of yourself, Noah!

    Noah''s gaze flickered, and he seemed to hesitate as well.

    "Honestly, I would prefer to follow you. I realized long ago that I had to temper my ambitions. Life doesn''t always go like you want it to."

    The two cousins looked into one another''s eyes for a moment in silence before they both nodded and went their separate ways.

    Leonel looked into the skies, suddenly feeling like life was a bit too fragile and meaningless.

 Chapter 3135 Respect

    Chapter 3135  Respect Leonel made a few more casual upgrades to the Crafting Factories based on his new insights before kicking his feet up, still lost in thought.

    He didn''t like how things were going at all, but he also wasn''t powerful enough to stop his grandfather from taking action like this.

    This wasn''t to say that the Fawkes weren''t prepared for such a thing. They had spent a very long time on Earth building up and perfecting their talent. Right now, the talents of the Fawkes were probably no worse than many of the other God Races, and they had been tempering themselves against the Four Great Families for the last couple of years as well.

    It could be said that they were very much ready for this.

    Part of Leonel just wanted to be out there. But then he really thought about itбн

    What would that change?

    Sure, he could lead a bunch of Fawkes on a killing spree against the Void Race, the Pluto Race, and especially against those Sylvan bastards, but would that change the underlying problem?

    The world was about to end, and all these people were worried about was rushing to gather up more power for themselves. It was hard not to look at that and feel like it was ridiculous on its face.

    ''What to doбн''

    He had all this Dream Force at his fingertips, all this intelligence, yet he felt like he was running into a brick wall again and again.  Sear?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The funny part wasбн even if he did have the power he wanted, would he be much different?

    Noбн he would probably be vying for power as well, believing that his way was the best way along with everyone else.

    As Leonel was lost in thought, billowing smoke and heat around him as the factory worked in overdrive, a pair of man and woman walked in.

    They both had flowing golden hair and piercing green eyes. No doubt Fawkes through and through.

    He vaguely recognized them, though he didn''t acknowledge their presence.

    The woman was known as Honey, an odd but adorable name for a woman who was anything but. This wasn''t because she was more beautiful than she was cute, but rather because there was a biting cold to her eyes that seemed to freeze everywhere she looked.

    She was the eldest daughter of the Second Imperial Prince, and she had a very rare mutation that caused her Emperor''s Might to have a frosty air to it. In fact, her passive gaze could cause a bluish-green ice to cover anything she looked at if she wasn''t careful.

    The other was the "eldest" son of the First Imperial Prince.

    The reason "eldest" was in quotations was that the eldest son was technically Noah. However, because of time-wimey nonsense, his younger brother ended up far older than him.

    He was known simply as Ji Fawkes.

    The both of them stopped within five meters of Leonel and simply stood and waited there.

    This actually surprised Leonel more than not as he looked over.

    They were patiently waiting? What a surprise.

    "Do you need something from me?"

    "Elder cousin, if it isn''t too much trouble, we''d like to ask you to create a set of custom weapons for us."

    "Oh?" Leonel''s gaze flickered.

    Maybe he had become too jaded these days. The sign of actual politeness somewhat threw him off, and he was almost embarrassed that he had dismissed them.

    Almost.

    The truth was that he was too lost in his own thoughts to spare the senses to read their intentions ahead of time. Otherwise, he would have known they hadn''t come with hostility.

    Leonel hopped to his feet. "Sure, why not?"

    The two seemed equally surprised by Leonel''s candor, only to find that he had wrapped an arm around the both of them.

    "You know, my wife says she really wants a big family, but I''ve never seen the fascination in it all. This is kinda cute, though, don''t you think?"

    Ji and Honey were both used to being quite stoic and had no idea how to deal with Leonel''s enthusiasm.

    They had originally come here with quite some reluctance because, in the eyes of many of them, Leonel was a murderous freak who would kill even his own family.

    But nowбн they were one part uncomfortable and another part relieved to have him on their side.

    It didn''t even take Leonel a few minutes to finish their orders.

    At first, they were disappointed because they felt they had been connedбн until they actually touched them.

    He made them both a set of armor and weapons.

    Honey''s armor had a single metal pauldron on her left shoulder while the rest was a tight-fitting green leather embroidered with gold.

    Her weapon was a bow that looked like a curved stack of green and gold vines wrapping around one another and carried so much power her fingers shivered when she pulled at the bowstring.

    Ji preferred a full set of heavy armor and shield, along with a heavy spiked mace. When he saw it at first, even he thought that it might be too heavy for him.

    However, all of that changed when he put it on.

    The two seemed to forget that Leonel was even there, their eyes lighting up like children on Christmas morning as they checked every nook and cranny of their new items.

    They really couldn''t believe that Leonel had managed to craft something so amazing in just a few minutes.

    A long while later, they finally snapped out of it.

    "Elder cousinбн" Ji began hesitantly. "бн Could we?"

    Leonel waved a hand. "I don''t have anything else to do. So long as they''re respectful, I don''t mind."

    Ji''s eyes lit up and he gave Leonel a bow before quickly leaving.

    When he first came, he had been respectful only because he felt like it was the smartest thing to do. But now he felt like it was only natural.

    In front of such an expert, how could you be anything other than respectful?

 Chapter 3136 In That Case...

    ?Chapter 3136 In That Case...Leonel continued to make armors and weapons for those that came to him. There was something about the monotony that made him feel at peace.

    He had always liked Crafting. Well, ever since it was introduced to him by his father. There was something about the process that always made him feel like he was... winning. And there was nothing he liked more than winning.

    Every step in Crafting was like hand-to-hand combat with the laws of the world, and every tweak and change was like a master move on a chessboard.

    This was the first time that he had spent time Crafting what others wanted. Generally speaking, he had always been Crafting what he wanted, or what he thought others needed. Regardless of which of the two it was, it was always something that he personally deduced.

    But this time, his cousins were coming to him with their own prepared materials and their own visions for what they wanted. And, it was up to Leonel to forge what they envisioned while also ensuring that they received the best version possible.

    It was a different sort of challenge, but he found himself settling into the groove quite easily. And for a moment, he almost forgot that he was trying to come up with a solution...

    It was when another unexpected visitor came that it finally clicked for Leonel...

    The Third Imperial Prince walked into the Crafting Factory to find Leonel staring off into space again. The latter suddenly looked his way and they fell into silence for a long while.

    The Third Imperial Prince was one of the few who knew just how powerful Leonel was. Many probably still thought that he was a cripple with great Crafting talent, but the results on the battlefield said something completely different.

    He, himself, had been quite surprised that the Emperor had chosen to assign Leonel here. But it wasn''t long before news spread and he understood exactly why that was.

    It might even be said that Leonel''s Crafting talent was even beyond his combat talent. And it seemed that every time his combat strength took a huge leap forward, the result for his Crafting was a mirror of that increase.

    It wasn''t hard to tell why. Often, an increase to Leonel''s power came with an increase to his Dream Force, so it was only natural.

    "If you''re free, I would like to ask if you could work on my gauntlets for me!

    Leonel looked at the spatial ring his uncle held in his hands and surprisingly just nodded. "Sure."

    The Third Imperial Prince was taken aback that it was truly so easy, and a part of him even began to worry if Leonel just wanted to sabotage them. But then... Leonel began to mutter to himself and even speak.

    The easiest things for Leonel to forge were armors, spears, and bows. He had the absolute most familiarity with them, and it came naturally.

    This was ironic considering in the past, he couldn''t even touch unacknowledged spears, let alone forge them. But he had obviously left that version of himself well behind. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Gauntlets like this one for a fist master like his uncle were trickier.

    This wasn''t in the sense that he couldn''t do them, because he could. With ease, even.

    The problem was that they weren''t up to his standards, and he didn''t like that.

    He could create a top-class bow like the one he made for Honey in just a few minutes. Even without much effort, it would definitely light up at least 45 runes on the Truth Pillar of the Minerva. However, if he had the same casualness for his uncle''s gauntlets, it would barely light up like 27. That was still excellent, of course. But only relatively so, and definitely not enough for an expert of his uncle''s level either.

    The good news this time was that these gauntlets already had the foundation here. That made it. somewhat easier. Improving on a design was much easier than creating one from scratch. But it could get complicated if he misunderstood the intentions of the original Crafter. By then, he just might have to redo all of it, which would be beside the point.

    ''Going with the flow, huh...''

    It was something that he had been doing these last few days.

    In truth, he was just biding time for Anastasia to finish helping him build his army. He also didn''t want to be caught up in a battle while his wife was giving birth. Even if she would be safe in the Segmented Cube, he wanted to actually be there himself.

    So, he had just been allowing himself to sway with the wind, taking in the tasks that came to him and then staring off into the distance when they didn''t.

    His thoughts moved so freely, and his heart was at case these days. It didn''t even seem like he had to make much effort for his Crafting skill to continuously improve.

    ''The flow...''

    A Dream World cube formed around the gauntlet. It looked like a matrix grid line that quickly took shape, analyzing everything.

    Suddenly, with the addition of Time Force, Leonel could see the past and the potential simulated futures of where he could take the gauntlet. But then, he paused...

    "This isn''t the Self Path...

    If he followed the flow, he could take the Life Path to an absolute extreme. He could probably become the best Crafter in Existence this instant if he did such a thing. In fact, technically he just might already be just by virtue of realizing he could use his Simulation abilities like this.

    But there was something else missing in the equation.

    The Life Path was all about maximizing the paths of the Ores you used and allowing them to display their greatest strengths and abilities as a part of a new whole.

    But the Self Path was about forcing change onto an Ore, suppressing some aspects of it and increasing others until you gained a completely new product.

    ''In that case..."

 Chapter 3137 Blueprint

    ?Chapter 3137 BlueprintA Union of Light and Darkness Will Reveal the Twelve-Pointed Star...

    The words came to mind for reasons that Leonel couldn''t quite understand now. But the effect was profound nonetheless. It felt as though he had suddenly grasped something fleeting, and yet powerful.

    His mind seemed to whirl with thoughts of a life he might have spent as a fist expert, one where he ignored his talent with the bow and the call of the spear... maybe even one where he was too unlucky to find a weapon to make use of and had ended up having to rely on his body instead.

    His Dream Force simulation whirred to life and for a moment he seemed to radiate the air of a master of the spear.

    Violet Force trickled in from the surroundings, slowly, but enough for the Third Imperial Prince to sense it and feel like his heart was shaking.

    This Force... just what was it? S~ea??h the novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Suddenly, Leonel began to craft, losing himself in the flow of time.

    Half an hour later, he awoke with a flicker in his eyes.

    Little Tolly weakly crawled back to his arm and practically pasted himself onto his skin, exhausted.

    This was the very first time that Leonel had ever seen the Metal Spirit feel tired. He couldn''t even quite understand how that would be possible. Technically, for Little Tolly, just the act of Crafting replenished strength, but this time...

    ''I understand...''

    Tolliver was suffering a bit because Leonel had just used Violet Force to complete the Craft.

    Re-simulating his whole life to pretend as though he was a Fist Master for a moment was impossible without the addition of Violet Force. And bringing those simulations from thoughts to reality was even more impossible without Tolliver to act as a bridge from his mind to action.

    But, becoming that bridge was a huge toll on Tolliver.

    The problem with Violet Force was that Leonel was the only one in the world that could use it without consequences. To practically anyone else, it was a death sentence. Or, rather... a slow death

    sentence.

    It would slowly pinch off your lifespan until you had nothing more to give.

    That said, Leonel wasn''t actually worried about Tolliver''s lifespan. Not to mention the fact that the fatigue wasn''t from a loss of lifespan, the fact Tolliver was a Metal Spirit and had fused with a God Beast of Creation was enough that even if Leonel did exchange his lifespan for Crafts, it would hardly leave a dent.

    Tolliver would certainly have no issues living for several million years. And even that might be an understatement.

    ''Not bad...''

    Leonel tossed the gauntlets around in his hands a few times.

    These would definitely light up around 63 Runes. For a casual Craft, it wasn''t bad at all.

    ''A balance of light and darkness, huh...

    Leonel almost forgot his uncle was even present, his mind lost in its own race.

    He felt like he had touched upon a newer, higher level of Crafting. But he couldn''t just grasp it. It was

    just out of his range, and his comprehension wasn''t deep enough to succeed.

    But more important than that, maybe... was that he knew what he had to do.

    Going with the flow had to be counterbalanced with something else. There was a balance that existed for all things in the world, and unless he knew and took proper advantage of it, he would be the one that ended up on the losing end.

    Sure, being stuck in this Crafting Factory might allow him to bide his time, but from another perspective, it also allowed his grandfather to keep him within arm''s reach and under control.

    By the time he was ready to act, it just might be too late. In which case...

    He would have to forge his own path, one where going with the flow would force better outcomes

    for him.

    He needed to find a way to quickly raise his Dimension, and just sitting around on his hands waiting for that opportunity to come to him wasn''t going to cut it.

    After a long while, he tossed the gauntlets back to his uncle.

    "Tell the others that I''ll be resting for a couple of days."

    The Third Imperial Prince hesitated for a moment before nodding,

    It was only natural. He could see how tired both Leonel and his Metal Spirit were.

    After saying this, Leonel disappeared into the Segmented Cube that hovered in the Crafting Factory as though it wasn''t worried that anyone would take it.

    The Third Imperial Prince gave the item a complicated glance before turning and leaving,

    Leonel stood over a table with a long strip of beast leather. A Force Quill trembled in his hands as he hovered over it, his thoughts spinning.

    He felt that he had made a breakthrough, so it was about time he reforged his armor. And this time... he hoped it would be the last time he ever had to.

    ''Metal... fire... herbs... plants...''

    The ideas he bounced off of his wife came to mind in waves, but he still hesitated to begin with the first stroke.

    Suddenly, Leonel burst into action. Every quiver of the Force Quill etched another piece of the blueprint. It looked as though a printer was etching into it, almost like Leonel was more machine than man.

    The lines were beautiful in their curves when they had to be and sharp in their corners when not. It took Leonel an entire day just to finish the blueprint. Then, he handed it off to his wife, who studied it for a few hours before she began to make her own adjustments.

    Only then did Leonel receive it once more before spending yet another day making adjustments and changes.

    Finally, they were left with a result that they were both happy with. An armor to end all armors to be

    sure...

    However, as long as it had taken to complete its blueprint, it would take even longer to forge, and maybe even longer to find the materials he needed.

    First thing on the docket...

    A True God Sylvan Corpse.

 Chapter 3138 Ruthless

    ?Chapter 3138 RuthlessLeonel exited the Segmented Cube with an ironically satisfied yawn. He stretched for a moment, only to freeze.

    His lip twitched.

    ''What the hell is this?"

    There was a long line that had formed in front of his Segmented Cube, one long enough to truly

    leave him speechless. He had no idea what happened while he was gone, but maybe news had spread a bit too quickly.

    He really wasn''t in the mood to Craft for so many people, but in the end, he shook his head and chuckled.

    At the end of the day, the Fawkes were his family as well. At least his interaction with Honey and Ji was positive enough for him to start to care a bit.

    He had a bias toward the Morales because he had been pining after their Heir role for what seemed like most of his life at this point. Plus, it was his last name and how he had identified himself all his life.

    However, he owed the Fawkes if for no other reason than his mother. She wouldn''t have wanted to see them fall by the wayside as she too had given up much of her life for their sake.

    His mother''s side of the family deserved no less affection from him even if he had to butt heads with his grandfather eventually.

    Life felt too fleeting. He might as well do what he wanted to do.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow as what felt like his millionth guest finally came through. It was none other than Mordred and her seemingly now wife, Monet.

    Monet''s lip was continuously twitching, but Mordred was practically dragging her.

    "Well, well, well..."

    "I''m leaving." Monet''s temper flared.

    Mordred couldn''t help but chuckle as she caught her fleeing wife.

    "Can''t you tell that he''s doing it on purpose? He doesn''t actually care all that much!

    "No, no, no, I really do care!" Leonel nodded assuredly as though he was scared that Monet''s scrunched-up face would unscrunch.

    Mordred rolled her eyes. "Ielp this one out a bit, would you, deary?"

    "That depends"

    "On what?" Mordred blinked innocently.

    "Don''t let him make any demands. Em. I told you, I don''t need it!"

    "Stop being so stubborn. If you don''t have this weapon, you''ll fall behind!" S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "My baby probably needs a God Mother, too," Leonel said with a smile. "Not this one though; she can go away!"

    Monet was only seconds from a wave of guilt before it all came crashing down. She really wanted to wring this little bastard''s neck.

    Leonel continued to spend his days crafting as though he was waiting for something in silence. He knew that he couldn''t just leave and act on his own like he usually did; the stakes were different, so those around him would act differently as well.

    It was on the third month of this monotony that Grand Prime Minister Green came to visit. At first, it seemed like a routine matter.

    Grand Prime Minister Green was a Crafter himself, and he was also the one that originally built the factories to begin with. It wasn''t too much of a surprise that he would eventually lay down his pride to come only after so long.

    Leonel didn''t think much of it. He assumed that even if the man didn''t need a weapon, he would come anyway if for no other reason than to have a piece of Leonel''s work to observe and study.

    However, even Leonel was a bit taken aback when the man suddenly attacked just as he was handing the treasure over.

    Leonel had some of the sharpest senses in all of Existence right now. For him to be taken aback by something, even calling it rare, would be too much of an understatement.

    Even though he was taken aback, though, his reactions were as lightning-quick as one might expect. And even if they weren''t, he still had Dream Counter.

    He hadn''t had to use Dream Counter in a very long while. It was an ability that only activated when his conscious mind couldn''t act fast enough to evade death. Only then would a pre-designed program effectively take control of his body and make it move on its own.

    This time, he wasn''t close enough to death for it to activate, but he wasn''t far enough from it that he could come out unscathed either.

    Everything made him believe that this Grand Prime Minister Green actually knew far more about his abilities than he should have.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed.

    His hands were occupied; the palm was almost at his chest, and there didn''t seem to be any time to circulate any Forces.

    Fast, ruthless, and seemingly suicidal.

    There were too many people here to witness this. And even if there weren''t, it was impossible that his grandfather wouldn''t learn of what happened later. It was like he had sent himself here for no other reason than to die.

    ''Ruthless indeed...''

    BANG!

    The palm landed against Leonel''s chest under countless astonished gazes. The reverberating boom was enough to make one''s skin crawl.

    As terrible as the sound of the bones of a mortal breaking was, when it was the bones of a powerful existence like Leonel, it was many times worse. The tremendous amount of strength and pressure it took to push his current bones beyond the bounds of their limits came with an equally as tremendous sound.

    It felt like the normal grating feeling of a bone snapping was dialed up to the ninth degree, and it was only made worse by the fact that the atmosphere was quiet due to their respect for Leonel''s crafting to begin with.

    Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood and was sent flying back like a meteor shot out of a cannon, but the light of surprise in Grand Prime Minister Green''s eyes was great.

    All of those calculations, just to fail anyway? Leonel didn''t even seem like he had tried to dodge at all. He should have at least twitched.

    But from start to finish, he only looked him right in the eye.

 Chapter 3139 Babye

    ?Chapter 3139 BabyeLeonel''s entire chest collapsed as a gloominess sparked between his brows. There was something off about this; he could feel it. Well, he could feel something other than the pain wrecking his body right

    now.

    However, he had long since transcended the point where pain alone could affect his thoughts, and his mind was even sharper now after experiencing his almost hundred years of torture.

    This time, though, it was his Innate Node that saved his life.

    His heart was no longer a normal heart. Though it had never really been one, especially when his Dream Asura Bloodline was activated, it was especially so now.

    His heart was no longer even made out of inorganic material and didn''t pump in the normal sense either. Rather, it was constructed of the Laws of Existence.

    He didn''t form his new heart himself. Rather, it was because Existence acknowledged the creation of his new Innate Node that his heart was successfully formed.

    A blow that should have crushed his heart reverberated through his Innate Node instead and was swallowed up as though it had entered a black hole.

    But that only confused Leonel more. This person seemed to know so much about him, even about techniques he had never explained or bothered to explain to anyone.

    And yet he didn''t know such an important part?

    Could it be because he had recently incorporated his King''s Force into his Innate Node as well? It wasn''t on purpose, which was why he hadn''t thought of it at first. After he comprehended his King''s Force, he had flooded it into every aspect of his body, and his Innate Node was naturally no exception.

    The reality was that his Innate Node didn''t stop at his heart. It could even be said that, in a way, his Innate Node was now his entire body.

    Though the main body of his Innate Node was his heart, his entire Nodal Pathway had been covered in the same material, including his Nodes.

    His Nodes didn''t have the same potency as his Innate Node, but they all carried the same character, and they could all withstand Weapon Force tearing through his veins.

    This was the real power of his body. But somehow, this person who knew about an ability as obscure as his Dream Counter-an ability that he hadn''t even activated in the face of the Demoness and, in fact, couldn''t remember having activated since he was still in the Dimensional Verse-didn''t know about this?

    The only explanation had to be his Violet Force.

    It was beyond the realms of calculation.

    It was beyond what his conspirators could account for.

    Leonel landed heavily against the wall of the factory, another mouthful of blood coming out. And yet, when he slid down, he landed solidly on his feet.

    He looked down at the dent in his chest almost as though he was looking at someone else''s body. He was calm, unperturbed, and didn''t even have the slightest fluctuation in his gaze.

    "Pluto," he eventually said.

    Grand Prime Minister Green''s pupils constricted.

    "You know, I thought it was only the Cloud Race that tucked their tails and pretended to be others. I didn''t expect that the Pluto Race would do such a thing. How the mighty have fallen, huh? But I guess that''s why you''re all doing this, right?"

    The more Leonel spoke, the calmer Grand Prime Minister Green became.

    Then, under the astonished gazes of those present, he began to morph and change.

    Soon, a Pluto, standing at five meters tall, appeared within the factory. Skin a steely blue, body a lean mass of muscle, the claws of a dragon, and the momentum of an emperor.

    Even after practically calling him a pathetic coward, Leonel couldn''t help but admit that the

    momentum of the Pluto Race was completely unique.

    They were powerful and regal to the point that even someone Leonel thought to be pathetic actually had such a presence.

    Of course, Leonel wasn''t serious. All was fair in love and war, especially since he had had a plan or two that might count as despicable in his lifetime.

    But those words were still enough to get the Pluto to expose him. Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The Pluto was clearly enraged. His body seemed to swell, and his steely blue eyes looked at Leonel as though he was staring at a dead man.

    "Oh... you also punch like a little bitch! Leonel said with a smile.

    The eyes of the Pluto constricted with fury as he suddenly punched out.

    The fist carried the momentum of the world, and as the current owner of the World Spirit of this space, Leonel could clearly feel his control being stripped away.

    ''Powerful, indeed!

    This Pluto was in the Eighth Dimension only, and Leonel was fairly sure that his status wasn''t very high, and yet here he was executing such a powerful blow.

    Unfortunately...

    Leonel reached out a hand.

    PA.

    The fist landed on his palm, echoing with an almost dull slap. The wind in the surroundings fell into silence for a moment before a hailstorm erupted in all directions, shredding the building apart.

    And yet, Leonel continued to stand in silence, unmoved.

    "See what happens when it isn''t a sneak attack? Is this all you have? Leonel asked indifferently. The pupils of the Pluto constricted for completely different reasons now. He felt as though his understanding of the world was being overturned. What had he just seen?

    At the same time as he was in a daze, Leonel''s deformed chest began to heal at a visible rate. This was practically the straw that broke the camel''s back for the Pluto.

    "Who are you?!"

    "Ugh..." Leonel shook his head with disgust. "Why''d you have to tee me up like that? I almost said something only someone as corny as Merlin would say"

    Any combination of "your maker," "your death" or "your reaper'' was definitely something Nilrem would say, and Leonel wanted no parts of it.

    "You already know who I am, Leonel said with a grin. "On the one hand, you''re smart for making me

    a high-priority target. On the other hand, you''re stupid for being someone else''s pawn.

    "Babye."

 Chapter 3140 My King!

    ?Chapter 3140 My King!The Pluto was forced a step back by a light push of Leonel''s palm, and at that moment, all the control the Pluto had over the world was stripped away.

    He barely had time to realize what was happening and to be shocked about it when Leonel''s palm continued forward, smashing into his chest.

    The wind fell into silence once again. But this time, it was even more exaggerated. There seemed to be a lull of a full three seconds as though Leonel was allowing the Pluto to understand that these were the final moments of his life.

    BANG!

    A sudden cyclone of energy ripped its way out of the Pluto''s back, so forceful and so fast that the wound lagged behind it. Only after the booming explosion did a gaping hole appear in his chest.

    Leonel smiled, waving as the Pluto''s gaze dimmed.

    To the credit of the Pluto, he died standing. Even the force wasn''t able to blow him off his feet as though his legs were filled with lead.

    However, Leonel wasn''t inclined to give anyone who wanted to kill him credit.

    ''A time-based simulation ability, huh? So that''s how..."

    Leonel had an idea before, but now he was certain. This man had a Time affinity like most of the geniuses of the Pluto did. But they all manifested in different ways.

    This man had a more auxiliary ability. It was similar to Elorin''s ability, but without the ability to pick and choose causalities. Instead, he could only peer into them ahead of time and take contingencies based on them.

    The fact that this person would choose to sneak around made sense. After all, preparation and scheming was the best way to make use of his abilities. But in the end, he had suffered for it.

    Well, he had just targeted the wrong person. The World Spirit of this world was under his control. The Pluto thought that he had already factored this into his calculations, but he had underestimated just how much control Leonel had because he could not fundamentally account for King Force...

    But honestly speaking, King Force was only a small aspect of what happened here. The real reason he couldn''t comprehend it was because of the way the World Spirit listened to him as if it had naturally chosen him when he hadn''t.

    The Pluto had no way of knowing that his mother could pass on her legacy to him in this way, and the result was that he had suffered for it.

    ''But that was interesting. Do the Pluto have a natural ability to do that?''

    There was no reason the Pluto should have been able to control the world like that. It was almost like they had a natural instinct to do what the Brazinger family Heirloom. "They''re more powerful than I thought, it seems!

    Leonel suddenly grinned as he raised a hand. "[Arise]" Sз╫arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He spoke the words casually, but they alone were like a bomb being set off in the minds of those that heard it. And soon, it was like a bomb had shaken the entire God Realm.

    There was no surprise that a Pluto would have protections against the Fawkes Lineage Factor... but so what?

    A crown appeared above Leonel''s head and his now deep violet hair whipped about wildly.

    Deep within the Ascension Empire, Gervaise slowly opened his eyes, a deep emerald glow flashing within them.

    One of his fingers twitched, but then for an inexplicable reason, he looked over to his beautiful wife. She was busy, knitting away at what must have been the thousandth set of clothes.

    These weren''t just for the baby in her belly, but also for her future grandchild as well. She had no idea what its gender would be, but she seemed content to make sets for both. Regardless, it was a way to spend the day.

    She had no interest in increasing her strength any longer, and yet she smiled more now than ever before. She was well and truly content.

    Gervaise watched her for a long while, and she seemed entirely oblivious to his gaze. After a long while, his finger lowered and he closed his eyes, returning to his meditation.

    Leonel''s aura continued to climb until it reached a peak. In that moment, he seemed like a man of energy, like the Father of Spirituals.

    His hair became a foggy violet light, his eyes didn''t seem to have separations between their whites, pupils, and irises, and his body seemed to glow with an enigmatic light.

    King Force surged, and the world shook.

    Leonel suddenly felt as though a powerful gaze had landed on him. However, his lip just curled.

    He already knew people would interfere. In fact, he even had thoughts that his own grandfather might.

    "Scram."

    BANG!

    The aura shattered apart.

    There were very few people left in this world that could stand up to Leonel''s Dream Force... trying to stop him from afar on top of that?

    They were overestimating themselves.

    A Pluto soul was stripped out of his body, and Leonel almost tilted forward.

    There was a great force coming from the soul. It wasn''t that there was another hidden protective mechanism, but rather that...

    It was just so heavy.

    Leonel never thought that he would describe a soul this way. It was almost like it was trying to sink him into an abyss.

    Still, Leonel''s smile didn''t fade as he unleashed a roar and pulled up.

    The rest of the soul was ripped up, his crown shining bright and brighter.

    And then, the soul solidified.

    Wreathed in an armor of solid violet, the Pluto fell to a knee.

    Existence shook as though it was witnessing something unnatural, and at that moment, Leonel''s King Force seemed to become several times more powerful.

    The Pluto respectfully bowed its head, a slight struggle flashing for only a moment before it was ruthlessly suppressed.

    Then, he crossed an arm over his chest, and his voice echoed like a thunderous boom.

    "My King!"

 Chapter 3141 The Pluto.

    ?Chapter 3141 The Pluto.The Fawkes in the factory were stunned into silence.

    The irony of it all was that Leonel might be incredibly talented in using King''s Might, but his understanding of the overall Lineage Factor was limited. He didn''t know how he stacked up against the other Fawkes. He just happened to feel that he was likely the very best.

    If there was anyone who could stand up to him in this regard, it would be his grandfather. And honestly, at this point, Leonel felt that even Gervaise might be inferior. Sз╫ar?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Of course, he had no way to confirm for sure.

    However... the rest of the Fawkes family wasn''t as in the dark as he was. They instead felt as though they were witnessing a complete and utter miracle.

    The truth of the matter was that most Fawkes could only forcefully summon those beneath them in cultivation. Only a very few could do it for those at their Dimension, and they were already considered to be the cream of the crop and incredibly rare at that.

    By comparison, not only had Leonel targeted someone a Dimension above him, he had bypassed protections left by someone who had presumably already formed a Dharma at the very least, and as though that wasn''t shocking enough, it was a Pluto.

    Sure, anyone could target someone from a weak Race and claim a soul higher than them in Realm. Well, theoretically speaking. But what good would that do?

    The fact it was a Pluto left them all in abject shock.

    And soon after the shock came the horror.

    Just what did it mean for a Pluto to be blasphemed like this? They didn''t even want to think about it.

    The sacredness of the Pluto was something that was told in legend. The first time Leonel met El''Rion, despite him having lost an arm, he only bled a single drop of blood.

    That single drop of blood from a mere Fifth Dimensional existence tore through the body of a ship forged by the corpse of a Void Beast. And not only that, but when he regained control of his body, that singular drop of blood returned to his body as though even the loss of an arm wasn''t worthy of making him shed blood.

    This had been something Leonel found to be shocking at the time, but he wasn''t really in the mental state back then to actually care all that much. He didn''t particularly care how powerful El''Rion was or how enigmatic his Race, the only thing he cared about. back then was finding a way to revive his father.

    Although he hadn''t forgotten about that matter, it was such a far-off recollection that he didn''t recall it... until he saw the state of this Pluto''s body.

    There was a hole blasted right through his chest, a hole that had been formed with nothing more than pure physical power. There was no Force, and certainly no Fire Force involved. Logically speaking, he could be bleeding...

    But he wasn''t.

    And everyone here seemed to know why but Leonel.

    The history written in the Life Tablets only accounted for what occurred before and during the reign of the God Beasts of Creation.

    Although the Pluto''s time overlapped with this somewhat, they had yet to reach their peak, obviously. As such, the legends that, well, made them legends, were unknown to Leonel.

    And by extension, the reason they would owe a family like the Fawkes a favor was likewise baffling.

    However, this truth was something the upper echelon of the Fawkes did know. And that number happened to include all those with the standing to even come to ask Leonel to complete a Craft for them in the first place.

    And, maybe by happenstance, or maybe because this was the only way that things could ever be, the current legend that was the Pluto was inextricably linked to the Fawkes.

    What many people outside of the Fawkes didn''t know was that the Pluto weren''t always the Gods of Time. Before, they had been known as something else....

    The Gods of Death.

    Of course, back then, they could hardly be considered Gods either. They were instead more accurately known as Demi-Gods. However, they were extremely powerful even back then nonetheless.

    Unfortunately for them, with the existence of the Fawkes, it was impossible for them to transcend from Demi-Gods of Death to Gods of Death. How could they have more control over death than the family who could literally bring the dead back to life?

    Becoming a God Race wasn''t a simple matter. There was a reason why some Mortal Race and Demi-God Race geniuses could become True Gods, and yet the station of their Races never changed.

    Not only did you need a proper foundation to become a God Race, a prerequisite level of talent, but you also needed something akin to a Constellation, a comprehension the entire Race shared to elevate them all to another level.

    One would think that the Human Race''s, back when they could be considered Gods as

    Race''s was built on something quite special, but it also piggybacked off of the God Beasts of Creation as this was who granted their power. As such, they weren''t truly of their own making.

    However, despite this, the presence of the Fawkes was such that even though the Human Race didn''t have a special carve out of their own, the Pluto were unable to take the final step.

    At that point in time, the Fawkes were still having trouble solidifying their rule and having powerful subordinate forces would be a great boon to them. So, they chose to

    help.

    Providing aid in such a situation wasn''t exactly straightforward. It wasn''t as though the Fawkes could just speak to the Northern Star and say they were fine with the Pluto encroaching on their territory.

    However, the help that the Fawkes did provide resulted in a mutation more shocking than anyone could have guessed.

    The birth of the first Race of Time...

    The Pluto.

 Chapter 3142 Sacred

    ?Chapter 3142 SacredThe help of the Fawkes was quite complex. It required a level of manipulation that was only possible thanks to the God Beasts of Creation.

    Of course, the God Beasts of Creation didn''t act directly, or else the favor wouldn''t be owed to the Fawkes in the first place.

    Instead, it was rather related to the God Beasts of Creation by proxy due to the uniqueness of IIumans.

    It had to be remembered that before choosing the Human Race, the God Beasts of Creation had tried to create Envoys of Creation with all sorts of other, seemingly much more powerful Races.

    However, in the end, they failed every time.

    It was simply impossible to get another Race to take on the strength of the Beast Envoys, let alone they as Gods of Creation themselves.

    That was when an Ancestor of the God Beasts of Creation chose to think outside of the box. Why start with an already powerful Race when they were granting them power anyway? In such a case, wouldn''t it be best to just pick the most malleable Race?

    As one might expect, the most malleable of the Races was the one Race that didn''t seem to have a single talent shared across their people.

    This made the Human Race perfect.

    The method the Fawkes used to help the Pluto was simple when this was understood. All they needed to do was to share some of their malleability with the Pluto. As for how they did that, it was reliant on what was none other than the most feared Lineage Factor in Existence.

    Emperor''s Might.

    Or more accurately: [Assimilate].

    Leonel personally knew the power of [Assimilate]. After all, it was thanks to [Assimilate] that he was able to fuse the corpse of a God Beast of Creation into Little Tolly, thus raising his Crafting to another level.

    Honestly speaking, Leonel felt that he was still not using Tolliver adequately. He hadn''t studied how to maximize his new powers nearly enough.

    As of now, Tolliver''s extra abilities were just glorified mass producing. As explained before, he could create Ores he had seen before, and he could fuse two or more Ores of different characteristics to create a new one, essentially leaping over the hardest parts of forging a Life Grade treasure.

    But whether he was using Tolliver to the best degree or not was a matter for a different time. What was most important now was the power of [Assimilate], a power that couldn''t be denied.

    The Fawkes essentially used the bodies of their Ancestors to give the core members of the Pluto a chance to peek into what it would feel like to be Human.

    But what none of them expected was the change that would occur after the fact.

    Before the interference of the Fawkes, the Path of Death the Pluto followed was a bit unique. Rather than being Gods of Death, they were more like reapers along the stream of Death. They could guide it, accelerate it, slow it down, but they didn''t actually control Death itself. It just seemed like they did by proxy.

    For example, it was impossible for them to do what Shan Rae had done, essentially coming back from the dead. But that was also why they were Demi-Gods and not Gods just yet.

    This was also why their bodies were so shockingly powerful. A lot of their strength came from borrowing from their lifespans, and manipulating their death dates. It was a lot like how Aina''s Blood Force, or even Blood Sovereigns in general, worked.

    The Pluto believed that once they broke into the God Realms, they would finally be able to exhibit. the kind of control over Death they had always longed for.

    But they didn''t expect to run into an even better mutation of it all. Or maybe they should have...

    It turned out that the foundation for their mastery over Death had never been Death Force itself, but rather an extremely rudimentary form of Time Force.

    When everything came to a head, a legend was born and their Time Force flourished, but that also led to something else.

    Their bodies had grown robust due to the constant manipulation of their Life Force. Unlike Aina, who had flexible Blood Force and could add and subtract from her Life Force whenever she wanted, the Pluto hadn''t had the ability to do this. They had to rely on external items to supplement themselves, and often when they went too far, they would simply die.

    This was why they had evolved to grow so powerful. Because only a powerful body could possibly withstand the wild fluctuations of Life Force they had to endure without the foundation of Blood Force affinity. Sear?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    When their Death control became Time control, though, their strength of body didn''t regress but instead reached another level entirely.

    Now they weren''t just capable of withstanding the ravages of Death-or the fluctuations in Life Force in this case-but they were also capable of withstanding the ravages of time.

    It was said that the bodies of Pluto simply never decayed. And the moment they stepped into Godhood, they reached a level of sacredness and sanctity that couldn''t be touched.

    However, as with everything, there was a give and a take.

    Their bodies were only so powerful now because they were bound by the Laws of Time, and the Laws of Time had its own rules that needed to be followed.

    Things like Karma and Fate bound them inextricably, and though they had suddenly become a Race so supremely powerful that most well-established Gods feared them, they could not forget or hope to forget the debt they owed to the Fawkes.

    However, there were some things left unsaid that didn''t need to be stated so explicitly... but one only need think about it for a moment to understand.

    If the Pluto were so good at repaying their debts, how could it ever be the case that the Fawkes would fall in the first place?

 Chapter 3143 Didnt Care

    ?Chapter 3143 Didn''t CareAll of this information were things that Leonel wasn''t in the know about. And honestly speaking, he probably wouldn''t care very much.

    It was just unfortunate that killing and defaming a Pluto after death like he had weighed much more substantially than he currently knew.

    The Pluto''s body was unbothered even by Time itself.

    This seemed unimportant other than the strength provided. But this was the very key to everything.

    After the death of a Pluto, its body was sacred precisely because it was unaffected by time. The Pluto could return their kind to their tombs and incorporate them into a network that would help to further strengthen their Race into the future.

    In the past, this was only a matter that would impact the Pluto and no one would care. But now... it. was related to a secret that was woven into the very fabric of Existence itself.

    What much of the world didn''t know was that Existence was much closer to destruction than any of them knew. The real reason the Northern Star had yet to descend and destroy everything was because of the Pluto.

    Every time a Pluto died, their bodies were preserved and sent back, being incorporated into the formation. This would increase the longevity of Existence by piggybacking off of the timelessness of the Pluto Race themselves.

    It was only after this ritual began that the Pluto Race''s body went from just sacred to them and their kind, to reaching realms where they were Sacred to everybody.

    Of course, this sort of respect didn''t stop the likes of the Void Race from targeting them. And this was because the Pluto had no need to be the overlord Race in order for their corpses to be used in

    such a way.

    However, killing them was one thing... snatching away their bodies and stopping them from being used in this ritual was a completely different matter. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And that was exactly what Leonel had just done.

    Most didn''t understand the underlying secrets of these matters. But everyone grasped the sacred nature of a Pluto''s corpse.

    Leonel''s actions were tantamount to infuriating not just the Pluto Race, but every power in Existence.

    And the thing was, even if he did know... it would only mean two things to him.

    The first was that he would feel as though this was the real reason why everyone was so nonchalant about the end of Existence. They were probably waiting for the Pluto to make this very move here so that they''d have a chance to kill them in droves and add to this formation.

    And second...

    Ile still didn''t give a damn.

    The Pluto and the powers of Existence had no right to dictate to him what he would do.

    They couldn''t stop him even if they wanted to, nor would he allow them to stop him.

    Leonel took a glance at the kneeling Pluto that was still more than half a body taller than him.

    A smile tugged at his lip as he found a chair and sat. He reclined, clasping his hands behind his head and putting his feet up.

    This was precisely the change he was waiting for. Now, it was just time to take advantage.

    All across Existence, Pluto looked into the skies as though feeling like they had just had a part of themselves stripped away.

    It was an odd feeling that most of them had never felt before. In fact, there wasn''t a single living member of the Pluto that had.

    However, the sharpest of them were able to guess what it was that happened. And when they did.... They were absolutely furious.

    "Who died?"

    The language of the Pluto sounded like rumbling thunder and roaring dragons. It was the kind of domineering cadence that could only be spoken by those with bodies as powerful as theirs. The last time Leonel had tried to speak their language, his throat was shredded to pieces. In fact, back then, it was a lot worse than that. His head had almost imploded under the pressure.

    Ger''Ain stood with a fierce expression, his gaze flickering with a deadly momentum.

    By his side, El Rion stood, his emotions unreadable. But then again... for this guy, it had always been the case.

    "No need to check. It''s certainly Jones!"

    There was a rumbling cold to El''Rion''s voice.

    "Impossible," Ger''Ain said. "They wouldn''t dare!

    "He would dare, El''Rion replied just as indifferently.

    El Rion had warned them about Leonel, but it was better if he hadn''t said anything at all.

    Instead, they chose to take it as a challenge. Jo''Anes had always had an inferiority complex and didn''t like the fact that someone younger than him was warning him out of kind intentions, and this was the ultimate result.

    Now, this matter would be blown out of proportion. He even had a small feeling that someone with Dream Force had manipulated Jo''Anes.

    The Pluto had Dream Force experts, but honestly they were far more like the Rapax than they were like the Fawkes. In terms of Dream Force, they were mostly immune and it took someone extremely

    powerful in this Force to do anything to them.

    However, they could easily be susceptible to it.

    Only a Pluto would know that though they were extremely powerful, ironically their great power came with equally large amounts of responsibility.

    The rules that bound them were more than any other Race, and because of that, they were

    vulnerable in many ways.

    Of course, El''Rion had no proof. It could just as easily be that Jo''Anes'' inferiority had kicked in again. But if it was someone in the background, they had certainly succeeded.

    Because the Pluto were pissed now.

    Leonel didn''t even move. In fact, after he began to recline, he actually started to nap as though he

    wasn''t worried about the time limit of Jo''Anes'' summon at all. He didn''t seem to find subduing a Pluto to be shocking or worthy of extra thought.

    Right then, the skies began to rumble. With his eyes still closed, Leonel''s lip curled.

 Chapter 3144 Inferiority

    ?Chapter 3144 InferiorityLeonel could feel his blood boiling for some reason.

    Although he continued to sit there in silence, there was a violent sort of pressure radiating out from him. Other than Jo''Anes, who continued to kneel before him, everyone else felt themselves shivering from head to toe.

    For a moment, they thought they were in the presence of Gervaise and not his grandson... somehow, their momentum felt practically the same in volume and strength.

    Leonel, however, wasn''t paying attention to his Fawkes family at all. Instead, still reclining, his head was angled to the skies almost as though he was cloud gazing.

    The roof of the factory had already been shredded apart and much of the factory was a mess due to the clash between him and Jo''Anes. And yet, he seemed to be perfectly at home.

    Three Pluto appeared from different directions, each one using their powerful bodies to step through the stream of time and shatter the formations that would have otherwise bound them. One was in the Seventh Dimension, and the two remaining were in the Eighth.

    Their expressions were hard to read, but their auras carried their fury. Leonel could easily see through it with his Dream Force control.

    In the same instant, they all locked onto Leonel. When they saw a member of their race kneeling before someone else, their minds almost exploded with shock and abject rage.

    Leonel slowly stood. With a wave of his hand, a bow appeared.

    "Don''t ruin my fun!" Leonel said casually as the Fawkes seemed to be about to interfere. But in reality, he was speaking to Jo''Anes, who had begun to stand in order to protect his King.

    What made the Fawkes'' methods so shocking compared to other necromancy-like abilities was the intelligence of the summon. They carried all the skills, talent, and smarts they had when they were alive. There was only one thing that changed...

    Their absolute loyalty.

    Leonel rose into the skies, his Lacvis Bow trembling somewhat with excitement. It seemed to have completely forgotten that it had a family to serve. After the first time Leonel had used it, it had been itching for more.

    How long had it been since the full extent of its power was used?

    "How-"

    The rumbling cadence of the Pluto''s language began before it was ruthlessly cut out.

    "Save it," Leonel said.

    He didn''t bother to speak the Pluto''s language, although he was more than capable of doing so now. "You three came here to kill me, right? I want to see if all Pluto are so pathetic!"

    "I''m sorry for my inferiority, master!" Jo''Anes lowered his head even further as though Leonel was scolding him.

    The eyes of the three Pluto practically popped out of their sockets when they saw this. Veins bulged across their bodies and their shocking bodily prowess caused space to twist and whine.

    The fact that such a thing was possible in the God Realm went to show just how shocking their body strength was.

    "Honestly speaking, Leonel continued as though he hadn''t heard Jo''Anes at all, "I need the bones of a Ninth Dimensional Pluto. But I doubt any of you would come, right? They''re probably busy fighting the Void Race right about now..."

    The Sylvan Heart of a True God was only one aspect of his Divine Armor. He just didn''t expect that Plutos would come to him so soon.

    In reality, he had actually planned to use the bones of a God Beast instead. But he felt that this worked even better.

    "Say, you," Leonel called out.

    "Yes, master!"

    "Why do the Pluto owe the Fawkes a favor? I''ve always been curious!

    "Because-.

    "Jo''Anes! Have you no shame?!"

    "-the Fawkes are the reason we were able to grasp Time Force and become a God Race! "Oh?" Leonel blinked, finding this a bit surprising. So you all came to attack your benefactors?" "The debt has long since been repaid, one of the Eighth Dimensional Pluto growled. Leonel began to laugh, its cadence booming across the skies with even more vigor and shocking radiance than the language of the Pluto.

    It became clear to them in an instant that if Leonel wanted, he could easily speak their language. In fact, he could speak a language far more shocking than that... the language of Existence itself.

    When he spoke, the world listened. Sз╫ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You have the reasoning of a five-year-old child. What was your method of repaying the Fawkes? Giving them an Incomplete World? And standing on the sidelines while everyone attacked them? Do you think any one of these things is actually valuable?''

    "Do you know-?!"

    "How valuable an Incomplete World with such potential is? Is that what you wanted to say? I can find another within three days. I have one in my body right now. You''re apparently the strongest Race in Existence and that was the best you could do?"

    Leonel raised his bow.

    "I''ve realized for a while now that your Pluto Race isn''t so impressive. You three have been standing there, so infuriated and enraged, and yet neither one of you has dared to attack just yet. Are you waiting? Hoping that more Pluto will arrive?

    "Didn''t I tell you that your Time Force is useless to me? You three were able to enter because I allowed you to. The backup you''re waiting for will only arrive after you''re dead. So how about we have some fun?"

    The bow trembled as Leonel pulled its string back.

    Suddenly, with a single pluck, a rain of arrows shot through the skies.

    In the far-off distance, Honey watched with a fierce glow in her eyes. She hadn''t known that Leonel was also a bow expert. The moment she saw him with a bow in his hands, she felt as though her entire world was being overturned.

    Could such a powerful bowman appear in this world?

    And that was all before he even fired a single shot.

    The moment he did that, her gaze lost focus.

 Chapter 3145 Normal Way

    ?Chapter 3145 Normal WayLeonel''s arrows curved through the skies and there was a bright smile on his face all of a sudden. IIe didn''t even use his greatest strength at first, as though he was trying to probe the limits of the Pluto first.

    The reason the Time Force of the Pluto was useless against him was because he could see through time manipulation with ease with his Dream Force, a consequence, or rather benefit, of his Dream Force transcending the limits of space and touching upon time.

    When that was paired with his absolute control over his body, hoping to confuse him or manipulate time around him would either require direct force or someone far stronger than these few.

    The reason their friends couldn''t enter was that they were using their Time Force to bypass the protections of the Ascension Empire. But with Leonel in control of the world''s World Spirit and his Time Force compatible Dream Force...

    If he didn''t want them to enter, they would either have to send a True God or wait outside patiently. One of the Pluto seemed to finally realize their situation. They had been lured here by Leonel on purpose as though he wanted to pick them off one by one.

    He was either looking to replace quality with quantity by taking in their bones or he was hoping to lure the quality he was looking for here.

    Either way, they had to fight here or they would die.

    The moment they had this thought, a switch seemed to flip.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel''s eyes lit up. This was it.

    His arm suddenly became faster, a blur being left in the air as he met power with speed and quantity.

    The power of the Pluto was so exaggerated that he could feel his bones rumbling even from a distance. Every arrow seemed connected to his heart, and every strike reverberated back to him in an endless feedback loop.

    A Pluto suddenly vanished, crossing an impossible distance in a blink and appearing by Leonel''s side. He punched out, drilling forward with menace.

    However, he found that although he was punching with his greatest might, his fist wasn''t getting any closer to Leonel. It was as though he had fallen into a quagmire, an endless quicksand in the middle of the air.

    "I already told you. Your Time Force won''t work.

    The man''s image vanished. When he appeared again, he was in the same spot he had originally been in.

    He stumbled back as though he had swung at nothing but air, only to find a trio of arrows at his chest before he could even stabilize himself.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The arrows didn''t even break skin, but it felt like he had just been hit with a trio of sledgehammers. His heart did flips and his inner organs roared and rattled.

    The echo of thunderous booms played across the skies as Leonel began to walk forward slowly. Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    One after another, he unleashed rain after rain of arrows. Every time the Pluto tried to slip free, they found themselves back where they first started, only to be battered by arrows once more.

    By the third time it happened, they seemed to finally understand that their Time Force wasn''t working for reasons they couldn''t quite comprehend.

    It was like every time they had the intention to use Time Force, they were cut off from the world around them and any action they committed to was reversed.

    What they didn''t know was that Leonel''s Time Force was technically on a higher plane than their

    Own.

    His Time Force originated from his Dream Force, which rooted itself in the Second Dimension. Although the comprehension of these Pluto was already at the Life State, meaning they were at the Second Dimension at the very least as well, because they couldn''t as easily communicate with the Second Dimension as Leonel could, their control might as well have been stripped away.

    The longer the battle went on, the more bored Leonel became, the excitement fading. After a while, he just shook his head.

    He lowered his bow and waved his hand. At that moment, Elorin appeared.

    "Have fun," Leonel said, yawning.

    He had come so excited, but these guys were the definition of foolish. They didn''t even try to find another method of getting around him.

    Of course, part of the problem was that the World Spirit was helping Leonel. But that little guy was as overprotective as his mother. Even when he told it to not interfere, it didn''t listen.

    So in that case, he might as well give Elorin an opportunity.

    Elorin was confused at first, but when he saw the Pluto, his eyes couldn''t help but widen, his heart trembling.

    The Fawkes still watching from a distance felt some solidarity with the young man. This was the normal reaction someone should have in the face of the Pluto. Calling them cowards and blaspheming their dead was something only someone like Leonel would even dare to do. However, Elorin quickly settled down, a silver machete appearing in his hand. It was a short blade, not even a foot and a half in length, but his aura solidified when he felt it, almost as though it was reassuring him.

    BANG!

    Elorin launched himself forward.

    The Pluto split, two moving toward Leonel while the last moved to block Elorin.

    However, to their astonishment, blades that seemed to transcend time appeared before each one of them. Elorin only slashed out once, but they were all blocked.

    Elorin coughed up a mouthful of blood as he took a step back, the reverberating impact of three blocks sending him stumbling. However, he stabilized himself quickly, his aura growing.

    Time Force experts... he had never fought one before. He wondered what he could learn in this battle.

    Down below, Leonel had already stopped paying attention.

    "Right, don''t you people need treasures Crafted? Line up!"

    The Fawkes looked toward Leonel, not knowing what to say. Couldn''t this man do anything the normal way?

 Chapter 3146 Who Else?

    ?Chapter 3146 Who Else?Elorin''s focus grew more and more intense as the battle went on. His body split into several iterations, and the Fawkes watched in horror as each one was split apart.

    Rains of blood fell from the skies, but every time, Florin seemed to successfully avoid the iteration that led to death.

    At the same time, he seemed to be quickly grasping the methods of using Time Force.

    Elorin, if he had a master, it would no doubt be Anastasia. However, for a long while, Anastasia was only able to give him a foundational understanding of Time Force. By the time her mind was fixed and she could have more complex thoughts, she was distracted by Leonel''s asks of her and couldn''t give Florin more guidance than that.

    However, as the battle went on, Elorin was quickly finding that the foundation that Anastasia gave him was invaluable.

    It was as though he had been given all the tools and formulas already; he just had to learn how to apply them.

    Every time he saw a technique that the Pluto used, he was able to take it on himself and grasp it. He was like a dry sponge, soaking up everything he came across.

    As Leonel Crafted down below, he spared one part of his mind to pay attention, and he couldn''t help but be surprised.

    Back when Elorin formed his Dharma, a fan of silver machetes that carried the aura of Time, it had been mostly on a whim and in acknowledgment of the sacrifices his grandfather had made for him. But the problem was that he had wanted to use all the training he had done in Time Force and exchange it for training in Blade Force instead.

    Leonel had felt that that would be a shame, so he enlisted Anastasia''s help so that he could keep both.

    The reason this was important now wasn''t just because Elorin''s Time Force and Blade Force were now both on a shockingly high level, or even that they were both likewise improving a great deal...

    But instead how much that reminded him of Violet Force.

    He, of course, hadn''t been able to put two and two together before because he only awakened King Force after the Florin fiasco took place. But now, this sort of exchange for time or substance for something else... it felt like an inferior version of his King Force.

    There was a question that had been bothering Leonel all this while, and it was why or how did his King Force appear in the Viola Family to begin with?

    It was a Force that only he could use, and logically speaking, there was no reason for it to appear in such a place.

    The only real answer seemed to be that it was related to his master, Nilrem. After all, the Viola Family and the Luxnix shared a corner of space together. If Nilrem wanted to do it, it might be possible if he wanted to experiment a bit.

    But that didn''t explain why.

    The Viola were gone. He hadn''t seen any sign of them in the Ascension Empire''s new stomping grounds, which meant that they had truly been wiped out... though, most of that had been done by Leonel''s own hands.

    It was odd... odd indeed.

    ''Unless...''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered, a bad feeling welling up in his heart. S~ea??h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Now that he thought about it, Rychard hadn''t been able to make even subtle use of his ''Violet'' Force until he came back from the Cataclysm Zone.

    The "Cataclysm Zone, though, was already something that Leonel knew to be the Complete World of the Humans, and the very place he had ended up after leaving the Dimensional Verse.

    Before that, the Violet Force of Rychard could have been mistaken for a heaviness Force that added weight to his attacks.

    Although Rychard said it was mostly to fool people and hide the true strength of their Lineage Factor, that was nothing but hogwash. If they could have used it properly, the Violet. Family would have never fallen so easily.

    ''Lineage Factor! Time Force!''

    The thoughts steamrolled through Leonel''s mind, and a cold sweat matted his back. Sparks of lightning rampaged through his mind.

    He was that close... that close...

    He thought he had already jumped off of her chessboard with his death, but to think that he was still entrapped in her web.

    But how had she done it?

    Leonel''s thoughts seemed to ramble, feeling a bit incoherent.

    Elorin''s battle had made him realize something profound.

    The way Rychard explained his Violet Force, and the way Leonel used his King Force, were completely different.

    Rychard described exchanging time for something else. But Leonel just took what he wanted; he didn''t really consider the mechanisms.

    It was odd because it was a Force that he created himself. It was almost like an athlete trying to describe exactly how they caught a ball or threw a pass. The foundational mechanics could easily become murky given the right circumstances.

    Leonel had assumed, then, that his Force and that of the Viola family''s were one and the same. What he hadn''t considered was that maybe someone had tweaked the latter just a slight bit. Violet Force could only be used by him, but what if there was a workaround for it? What if someone knew that he wouldn''t form his Idol in this life with his King Force, but instead suppress it to a Dharma, thus weakening his overall control and dominance over the Force while birthing it into the world nonetheless?

    And what if this same person managed to find a method of generating the use of Violet Force through the sacrifice of an entire family of people?

    And, what if even on top of all of this, this person managed to trick even his master into doing their bidding for them, making it so that Leonel didn''t question the appearance of this Force, and his master wouldn''t even bring it up?

    Who else could it be if not the Demoness?

 Chapter 3147 Become...

    ?Chapter 3147 Become...Suddenly, Leonel understood how it was that the Demoness managed to stay out of his way and his timeline. She was always above the timeline... she had always been.

    The scale of her game was unfathomable, and it was hard to tell if Leonel had even grasped it all. Today, he was lucky that he was observing Florin fight, or else the link between Time Force and his King Force wouldn''t have clicked in the way it had.

    Had he made a mistake not making his King Force his Idol? Was he being too greedy? Too arrogant? Suddenly, Leonel''s playful expression completely disappeared. After all of his improvements, a bit of his former arrogance had begun to appear.

    He had forgotten that it was in his very nature to be confident and unbothered by everything. He had purposely chosen a route of Dream Force that was opposing to this so that he didn''t make the same mistakes as in the past, but he had still almost fallen down the same rabbit hole again...

    A rabbit hole where he had even begun to underestimate the woman who had the entirety of Existence in the palm of her hands.

    Even if he hated her, he had no right to look down on her. And in the most extreme of cases, he had no choice but to respect her.

    A light glowed between Leonel''s brows as he refocused himself.

    He knew what the problem was. He had successfully formed his Innate Node which incorporated his Sovereign Weapon Forces. And that had left a gap in his mind that could be exploited.

    His Sovereign Weapon Forces were just as arrogant as his Dream Force of old, and he had allowed them to begin to influence him back to his old path again.

    The path to change was a long one, and it was one you would likely have to spend fighting along for the rest of your life.

    People didn''t just change in one instant and remain that way forever. It was a constant trudge of work and effort.

    The solemnness of Leonel''s aura deepened as he reached a state of calm.

    ''I can''t allow this to happen again!

    He looked up into the air to find that Elorin was slowly beginning to turn the tides of battle. His thoughts were hidden behind the placidness in his eyes, a radiant sort of calmness coming from him.

    He had to make a change. If he couldn''t flip the chessboard he was on completely, there was no telling what might happen.

    The trouble was that there was no way that the Demoness didn''t know this would happen. The sudden and final attempt to rise of the Pluto should most definitely be within her plans.

    In that case, using it to leapfrog and change the situation was almost impossible.

    He needed something deeper, something more shocking, something that could overturn the understanding of the world.

    Leonel looked off into the distance, seemingly locking eyes with something that most couldn''t even begin to see.

    The Idol Battlefield.

    He didn''t want to do this so soon. He was too weak right now. Being at just the Seventh Dimension wasn''t enough.

    He could easily be trounced and die if he wasn''t careful. And the other problem was that his wife was soon about to give birth. It wouldn''t be more than another few months at most, and the Idol Battlefield trials would certainly last even longer than that. Sз╫ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    However... the Idol Battlefield was his only option.

    Not only was it the only way for him to even hope to reach the Ninth Dimension as quickly as possible...

    It was the only way for him to change this situation.

    Doing it so quickly and so suddenly was exactly what he needed... he needed to move so fast that even he, himself, was taken off guard, let alone the Demoness.

    This was the only way forward, and he would have to take it.

    When he made this decision, he calmed to the point his mind reached an unprecedented state of peace.

    A risk? Certainly.

    One that he was willing to take?

    This was even more true.

    Leonel finished the Craft in his hand and tossed it over. Then, ignoring Elorin and even whether he would live or die, he vanished into the Segmented Cube to find his wife.

    Aina rested on Leonel''s lap, her head against his chest. He had already explained everything to her, and she understood his decision. Looking down at her still growing belly, she couldn''t help but wonder if she had been too willful with this choice.

    Maybe Leonel was right to want to avoid having children all this time.

    However, just as she was having these thoughts, Leonel''s large palm rested on her belly, feeling the strong kicks that were coming. The soothing feeling made them both smile.

    "Don''t do anything foolish like entering a time warp. Even after you give birth, you can''t leave our baby''s side, okay?"

    Aina smiled bitterly. Leonel really knew how to read her thoughts.

    But she had already decided that she could do that. Unless she also wanted their baby to grow in a time warp as well, it didn''t make sense to suddenly give birth and then hand their baby off to someone else.

    "I will try to be back before the birth. There''s no place I would rather be, Leonel said softly.

    Aina placed a hand on Leonel''s and they both felt the kicking together.

    The Demoness had ruled so much of their lives, dictating too much. There was so much pain and suffering related to her directly or by proxy.

    Even Leonel''s death didn''t seem to be enough to jump from the board, and when he met her again, she might very well be using the one Force that was his absolute strongest.

    She was a true monster. And if Leonel wanted to surpass her, he would have to be even greater, even more indomitable, even more of a monster...

    He would have to become the King he always wanted to be.

 Chapter 3148 Not an Option

    ?Chapter 3148 Not an OptionLeonel gave himself three days. Being caught off guard didn''t mean that he had to completely fly in blind.

    He arranged everything he could first, giving Anastasia an action plan for moving forward. He hoped that by the time he returned from the Idol Battlefield, he would already be at a point where he would have a real army to lead.

    With Anastasia''s abilities, he believed that it would happen.

    He also couldn''t leave his brothers behind, nor his Generals. Despite how dangerous the Idol Battlefield would be, especially while they were still working on returning to the Ninth Dimension after being suppressed back down to the Third, it was a necessary danger.

    Leonel wouldn''t be able to do what came in the future alone. If not for the fact Aina was pregnant, he would take her along as well. The best way for his wife to protect herself would be to be strong as well.

    However... while he was taking everyone along, Leonel was already prepared for the worst-case

    scenario.

    At the end of the day, none of this would matter in the slightest unless he, himself, was strong enough.

    Only then would he be able to hold up the skies with a palm and suppress his enemies with another...

    Only then would his wife and child be able to live out the life of leisure and happiness he wanted for them.

    After everything was done, Leonel looked up into the skies and then suddenly vanished.

    When he appeared again, he was standing on the bottom of a set of wide steps. It was none other than the path to the Ascension Palace.

    He walked up the steps, but for some reason, this time, the guards didn''t stop him.

    The truth was that they couldn''t even see him.

    His Dream Force had wrapped all the way around him, and his body was in a state where he existed, and where their senses saw, were displaced through time.

    Essentially, they could only see the location Leonel was standing in as it was a few seconds ago. So, they missed Leonel entirely.

    Leonel called this new ability Dream Displacement. It was a combination of his Control Ability Index and its opposite... Though, it was only possible thanks to the small incorporation of Time Force into his Dream Force.

    He strolled up and through the completely oblivious guards and entered the palace as though nothing at all had happened.

    Soon, he was standing before a familiar barrier. He remembered this barrier well. It was one that, even with all his efforts, he couldn''t even begin to deal with.

    Even now, he had no ability to forcefully destroy it. His grandfather was truly a powerhouse amongst powerhouses. Sear?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    However... last time, the reason he succeeded in saving his grandmother was because he just barely managed to get a small strand of energy through.

    And this time... he could do that with even greater ease.

    Ile suddenly struck out with a palm. Afterimages layered through the air and then...

    DONG!

    The sound of a chime practically echoed through the entire palace.

    Gervaise looked up from his meditation and his wife seemed to notice something as well. However, while he frowned, she just chuckled.

    Gervaise waved a hand and soon Leonel was standing right before him. He seemed curious about how Leonel had managed to make it through his guards, only for his eyes to narrow.

    This grandson of his truly improved by leaps and bounds. Every time he saw him, he had already taken another huge step forward in his strength and power.

    That said, Gervaise wasn''t surprised.

    He had already said it back when Velasco died. Neither father nor son could be measured by common sense. And if he took a step back...

    He, as his grandfather, couldn''t be measured by common sense either.

    "Why have you come today?" Gervaise asked, in a rare showing of actually speaking first. Leonel''s grandmother noticed this as well and couldn''t help but give her husband a second look before looking at her grandson. She smiled, a light of pride in her eyes as though she was happy to see this scene... which was odd considering such a scene also meant that the clash between the two was only coming sooner.

    "I plan to trigger the Idol Battlefield now. I wanted to tell you in advance!

    Gervaise''s eyes narrowed.

    Leonel was probably the only person in the world who dared to say such a thing.

    Everyone else was just patiently waiting for the Idol Battlefield to descend, but he said that he could make it come down now.

    Gervaise was intelligent, more intelligent than most could even fathom. He already understood why Leonel would want to do such a dangerous thing.

    He stared at his grandson for a long while before waving a hand.

    "Here!"

    The green light was fast. So fast that the last time Leonel came here, he would have had no choice but to allow it to shatter his head even if his senses could keep up.

    But this time, he simply just clasped his fingers down, catching it smoothly.

    Leonel rotated the object in his hand before he realized that it was something that could only be analyzed with Dream Force.

    When he did, he found an astonishing amount of information within.

    "Your Life Tablet won''t have much information about the Idol Battlefield within. This will," Gervaise

    said casually.

    Leonel pulled his mind out of the item. "This is more than just a little bit. It looks like you''re targeting the Idol Battlefield as well?''

    "Maybe in the past. But I simply don''t need it now!"

    This time, it was Leonel''s turn to narrow his eyes.

    Just how strong was his grandfather that he snubbed his nose at the Idol Battlefield? It seemed that

    he had still underestimated the old man.

    However, in the end, he chuckled.

    He turned and walked over to give his grandmother a hug, feeling her own belly for a bit before leaving with confident strides.

    He never considered failure for a moment.

 Chapter 3149 Provoked

    ?Chapter 3149 ProvokedLeonel stood in silence, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared up into the skies of the Segmented Cube. Sear?h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He had always found these skies more beautiful than any other, but much more grim at the same time.

    On the one hand, they were a truly gorgeous sight to behold. But on the other, he was more keenly aware here that there was nothing beyond it than he was anywhere else.

    This Segmented Cube was a world artificially put into a box. Although it felt just as large, if not larger than any other, the idea that there was nothing beyond it was enough to make any man wonder if any of it was worth it.

    Then Leonel remembered that Existence was just a slightly larger box and the Northern Star formed its barriers.

    Did life have to be infinite for it to have meaning? Probably not. But the idea that the world wasn''t infinite left an odd, sour taste in his mouth.

    Leonel could recall all of the iteration memories now. Not all at once as the capacity he would need would be much greater, but he knew enough now to remember that his future self had once checked beyond the bounds of the Northern Star... only to find nothing at all.

    Then, he had sat down on a small piece of rock, looking out to the star and having a final drink before he allowed his life to slip away.

    Maybe infinite life would only have a purpose if there were infinite things to experience. Otherwise, what would be the point?

    If the world was finite, then why have an infinite life?

    And by the same token... if you could explore all there was in this finite world, how could you allow yourself to die?

    Leonel looked down at his hands, the steady beating of his heart like a delicate pitter-patter of rain in his ears.

    The cadence of his heart should have been enough to drown seas and collapse mountains... but to him, it was soft and controlled.

    Suddenly, one by one, Leonel''s brothers began to appear around him. Blackstar appeared on his shoulder, his little claws flashing with a silvery-black light. Then came Emna and Kira.

    Kira''s spirits were much brighter these days. Second Nova, Auran, had returned, so how could she not be?

    Unfortunately, the Auran of now was much different than the Auran she remembered. IIe had always been a man who worked in the shadows, but he had a delicate and caring side to him, not to mention a selfless side.

    However, not all reincarnations could go about perfectly.

    The way Auran died had left a shadow on his heart that he couldn''t overcome.

    Kira recognized this, and she seemed to understand the implications of it as well. Life and death couldn''t be played around with so casually.

    But she was still happy nonetheless.

    Even if it meant spending her life to help Auran climb out from under that shadow, she would do so.

    All of them stood in silence for a long while as though waiting for Leonel to adjust himself. The silence wasn''t awkward, but was instead quite peaceful. The only thing they could feel was the flowing wind...

    At that moment, Fifth Nova appeared, holding his Lucerne Hammer.

    Leonel didn''t respond to his appearance.

    Originally, he had wanted Ramon to stay behind. He was the only one that could help the Morales quickly learn Valor Force. Without it, their progress would plummet, and that would inevitably make Leonel''s army weaker than they could be.

    In this case, Anastasia couldn''t help out nearly as much as Ramon could.

    However, Leonel understood his decision. Ramon had sworn to himself to personally become stronger, and stepping onto the Idol Battlefield as the creator of a Weapon Force was practically a cheat code to becoming a shocking powerhouse.

    He didn''t want to miss this opportunity.

    Elthor appeared soon after, resting a saber on his shoulder. He had already abandoned his human form, a mass of white hair fluttering over his body as black-silver chains were linked all around him, formed by his Chaotic Particle Force.

    It wasn''t long after that Elorin and Hutch appeared as well.

    Leonel had warned them all about the dangers, but they had insisted on being here.

    These people... they would be his Generals.

    With a step, Leonel vanished from the Segmented Cube and appeared high in the air. He took a breath before his heart began to pulse with a mighty light.

    When he had first formed his new Bow and Spear Force, the Idol Battlefield had reacted, coming much closer all of a sudden.

    An external observer might think that this was because it was acknowledging him, but the sharper Leonel''s senses became, the more he knew what the truth was...

    The Idol Battlefield had been provoked.

    His Weapon Forces were too arrogant, claiming to stand above not just their own kind, but all kind. When the Idol Battlefield sensed their creation, it had infuriated the entire battlefield and all the spirits of the predecessors that came before him.

    When Leonel came to realize this, he was no longer in a rush to enter the battlefield. He would likely just be sending himself off to his death if he went too early. But now...

    He had no choice whatsoever.

    Maybe it was even the case that the Demoness felt he wouldn''t dare to do this precisely because it would mean poking at a bear he couldn''t afford to be even near.

    But...

    Leonel grabbed at the air. A surging color poured through his veins as his Innate Node pulsed, flooding his body with its energy.

    A spear formed in one hand, howling to the skies above.

    But then, he grabbed out again. His fingers seemed to be traveling through a river of time as the air rippled, forming a bow.

    Halos shone to life on Leonel''s wrists and a crown appeared above his head, his King Force roaring

    to the skies.

    The entirety of Existence turned dark.

 Chapter 3150 Might

    ?Chapter 3150 MightEveryone looked to the skies. It wasn''t something they had a choice about. When the entire world turned dark and there was just a single point of light left, it was impossible not to look up.

    But then, they were soon distracted from the sight by the stirring in their bodies.

    Almost every warrior in the God Realm had some Weapon Force, whether it was a true weapon like Sword Force or the like, or the Ancient Weapon Forces, that being the Fist or Palm; most had it in some form.

    The word Weapon had gone through many changes throughout the years. In ancient times, it didn''t refer to a tool at all, at least not in the normal sense.

    Instead, it referred to utility itself, and in this case, anything that could be utilized to attack. It wasn''t until weapons became more mainstream and the first Weapon Forces were created that the meaning of the word came to change.

    These days, far more people used conventional Weapon Forces as opposed to the so-called Ancient Weapon Forces... Fist Force, Palm Force, Kicking Force, Finger Force...

    That said, there were still corners of the world where this still existed, and there would never be a time where their presence was more obvious than when the Idol Battlefield descended. Sз╫arch* The N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    At that moment, in a corner of the world, a monk with a shaved head looked up to the skies. Hints of surprise flickered in his eyes.

    If others who knew this man saw his reaction, they would be astonished. This man had not shown a single hint of emotion in millennia. For him to show even the slightest hint showed just how shocked he was about the changes.

    What the monk didn''t know was that this was exactly what Leonel wanted. If he couldn''t even trick this monk, how would he catch the Demoness off guard?

    The monk slowly stood to his feet, his loose brown robes hanging from him like tied-up curtains. Yet they didn''t seem to obstruct his steps in the slightest.

    Ile slid open the doors of what looked like a traditional Japanese home, and he walked out to the fluttering snow in the darkness.

    Sensing this man''s movement, the sound of sliding doors echoed until several men and women faced one another in the enclosure.

    "Bodhi. Tenzin. Mirae. You three!"

    The monk spoke lightly.

    Bodhi was a man with smooth dark skin. His skin didn''t seem to have even the slightest imperfection, and that was despite the fact it was sunken to his skin.

    He stood at almost three meters tall, but his stomach continuously growled for food, sucked into his body so far that his ribs looked to be gasping for breath.

    How he could look so malnourished, and yet have such healthy skin at the same time was a mystery in and of itself.

    But it was his feet that seemed to catch the most attention... they were large, larger than normal, and they seemed to be the only part of him that didn''t look as though it had lost all the fat beneath him.

    He took a light step forward when he heard his name, but the wooden floorboards beneath him cracked and shattered.

    He looked down and shook his head. He had been in such deep meditation for so long that it seemed that he had forgotten how to walk.

    Tenzin might as well have been the polar opposite of Bodhi. His skin was so white that it practically shone with its own light even in the darkness, and he had a belly round enough that it poked out of his robes. On top of that, he was the shortest of the three, standing at what was maybe 5''7" at the most.

    When he took a step forward, there was no sudden cracking of the wooden floorboards beneath him. But when he reached up his hand to scratch his belly, wondering if he was going to get any good food this time around, the ripple his palm caused the air to clap like thunder.

    He looked down and blinked with surprise before sheepishly smiling.

    Mirae was the last of them. She was a woman, soft and demure, silent and graceful. No matter how you looked at her, she just looked like a normal woman, albeit somewhat beautiful, though not world-shakingly so. Though this might be because she was bald just like the rest of her brothers and sisters. Maybe if she grew her hair out, she would be a world-toppling beauty herself.

    Ilowever, it was clear that she didn''t care about this in the slightest.

    The flow of the curtain-like robes allowed her small breasts to flow naturally as she took a step forward, and unlike her two brother monks, there didn''t seem to be a change to the world when she moved.

    However...

    If one looked closely, it would be possible to see that every one of her fingers was adorned with a ring, something that looked completely out of place for such a minimalistic monk.

    When her fingers moved slightly, veins that could shake the world pulsed through them before vanishing after she settled down, realizing that she was using too much strength.

    These three were an odd trio, but what was especially odd was the fact that they didn''t seem to radiate a Dimensional level at all... it was like all three of them were still mortals.

    And as though that wasn''t weird enough... all three of them didn''t have the hallmarks of other Races at all... they looked....

    Human.

    "The rest of you..." the monk said lightly before pausing and shaking his head. This was too sudden. If not, then maybe he would be able to set at least another three. But maybe this was just fate.

    The other monks didn''t show the slightest change in expression at all as though they weren''t disappointed that they had just wasted millennia of their life.

    "Go! The monk said. "Show the world the might of the Human Race!"

 Chapter 3151 Choice

    ?Chapter 3151 ChoiceDeep in the Beastman Race, the scene was much less calm. Roars, growls, and other bestial noises echoed continuously and without pause.

    The Beastman Race was an odd one. It was said that they were an attempt at experimentation by the God Beasts of Creation that ultimately ended in "failure" But this failure led to one of the strongest Races in all of Existence.

    They had the nimbleness of mind of humanoid Races and the strength of body of beasts. Of course, it wasn''t so exaggerated.

    The Beastmen were still known for their slow-wittedness and lack of intelligence. However, where this "nimbleness" of mind truly played out was in the comprehension of Forces.

    Beasts could only rely on their instincts and slowly increase their Dimension grade by grade to reach greater heights. The only exceptions to this were in situations like Blackstar''s case, where he had a direct example to rely on, and he also followed a path that allowed Mimicry, putting him in a unique situation to observe and learn in the first place.

    However, because of this odd combination, despite how ubiquitous Weapon Forces were, Beastmen rarely used them. In this case, they were a lot like their Beast counterparts, and they didn''t seem to have much affinity for the path at all.

    That said... rarity didn''t imply that there were none of them at all who did so, and this was precisely the reason why there was such a battle ongoing now.

    The Beastmen seemed to be split into two factions, one of which wanted to send their best to the Idol Battlefield, and the other of which didn''t want to at all.

    And honestly... both sides had their points.

    Those that were opposed felt that this was an opportunity for the Beastmen to gain an advantage on the ground. Why send their most talented when they would be at a disadvantage anyway? It was best. to keep them here, press their advantage, and deal with the fallout that came afterward. Those that were for sending them to the battlefield pointed out that this "fallout" certainly wouldn''t be easy to handle. After all, the Idol Battlefield was the greatest opportunity available in Existence. Those that returned alive would have a huge boost to their power and would usually have enough strength to affect the outcomes of entire Races by then.

    To miss the opportunity didn''t make any sense.

    However, those opposing argued that they would just be sending their geniuses to die anyway. Plus, returning from the battlefield didn''t mean that they would be invincible. There were plenty in their Race that were simply uninterested in the Battlefield because it was no longer capable of increasing their power.

    The truth was that the Idol Battlefield was capable of descending with enough of a challenge to kill anyone in Existence. The reason many weren''t interested wasn''t because they wouldn''t find a challenge waiting for them, but rather because the risk-to-reward ratio wasn''t worth it.

    After many cycles and many years of experimentation, many were able to figure out that the battlefield was probably best entered by those on the verge of forming a Dharma and freshly promoted True Gods.

    This was a sweet spot of sorts, though it also described a wide range of people.

    Those who were still far from forming their Dharmas wouldn''t be able to understand the profundities of the Idol Battlefield and would just end up throwing their lives away.

    Those that had been promoted to True God and were well established were too powerful and had already reached the limits of their potential, so the odds that they could use the Idol Battlefield challenges to promote some more and strengthen themselves were next to zero.

    All of these things came to a head together, the natural flow of reality making it a battlefield mostly for those who had formed Dharmas...

    However, there was no doubt that every single individual who left the battlefield would have done so with the formation of an Idol.

    As the Beastmen Ancestors were locked in a heated argument, they suddenly froze and looked in a certain direction.

    "Dammit! Azhgar, come back here!"

    "HAHAHA! SEE YA LATER, OLD MAN!"

    A young man with the head of a furious red dragon leapt into the air. His wings, though filled with holes torn from battle, seemed capable of carrying the weight of the world as he streaked across the skies.

    His dragon head was adorned with horns and a mighty presence. Every time he spoke, heating air sparked and flashed.

    "If he''s going, I''m going:

    A young man with the head of a white tiger vanished after him.

    "What Fist and Palin Force? I''m going to show the world the might of Claw Force!" Azhgar''s roars filled the skies.

    "If you want to brag, at least finish forming it first, the white tiger young man said indifferently. "I WILL!" Azhgar didn''t seem mad at all. In fact, he only laughed more loudly.

    The young man who followed after, Vaclgor, was much calmer, a massive great sword hanging from his back that was even taller than himself, who stood at over five meters.

    He had always intended to go, but since Azhgar couldn''t be bothered to wait for the elders... why should he?

    With a flash, these two geniuses of the Beastmen disappeared before their Ancestors could react. The Beastmen looked toward one another and shook their heads. They could only hope that these two would come back alive.

    The Beastmen weren''t the only ones having arguments about whether or not to send people. Among this number were two familiar parties... the Sylvans and... Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The Barbarian Race.

    In the end, it wasn''t so clear what the Sylvans chose to do. It seemed they had obstructed views of their decision using a special, unknown method.

    However, the choice of the Barbarian Race was quite an interesting one, especially given their current situation. But maybe it was only natural they live up to their name.

 Chapter 3152 Amusing Choice

    ?Chapter 3152 Amusing ChoiceThe Barbarian Race had been keeping a very low profile in recent years, so much so that no one knew what they were up to.

    Unlike the Beastmen who lived up to their names, the Barbarian Race was far more calm and calculating than most gave them credit for.

    If they weren''t, how could they allow Leonel to hold their reincarnated king in his possession for so long? After they became Gods, they should have been arrogant to the point of at least making a demand.

    But there was none of that at all. In fact, even the Sylvans had no idea just how the Barbarian Race had evolved after successfully becoming a God Race.

    Everyone was so distracted by Leonel, the Fawkes, and the addition of the Four Great Families, not to mention the comeback of the Humans, that none of them had the time to mind the Barbarian Race.

    By the time anyone was even considering looking into them a bit, the Pluto made their move, and now the Idol Battlefield was descending centuries ahead of time for seemingly no reason at all.

    Who had the time to mind this newly formed God Race? Especially since they weren''t the only Race that had elevated in this time. After all, not only had the Minerva returned, so too had the Fallen God Beasts... though, no longer Fallen.

    However, if Leonel were here to see who had been sent, he would have been truly shocked.

    That was because the man leading the small group of Barbarians was none other than Talon, the very man who should be scaled away in the Segmented Cube.

    However, this Talon seemed very much different from the one Leonel knew. He wasn''t as boisterous, and though he was still arrogant, and his belly was as solid and round as ever, there was a maturity that seemed to temper all of it.

    His red tattoos seemed deeper now, almost looking like burn marks rather than just ink dotted across his skin. He was taller, standing at almost three meters, and there were odd fluctuations of the world around him.

    Everyone was worried about the comeback of the Pluto, or the attempt of the Void Race to replace them as the overlord race, but no one was paying attention to the powerhouses lurking in the shadows. Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Those of the Barbarian Race, after basking in the changes that came to their bodies, felt like there was no one other than themselves who were worthy of taking the next step to become the overlord Race of Existence.

    Their mutation from Demi-God to God...

    Was no less shocking than the mutation of the Pluto had been.

    And soon, the world would know.

    Talon looked off toward his wife, the memories of his past life having finally returned to him. He gave her a slight nod before vanishing, a group of Barbarian Race youths following after him.

    The Pluto youths scattered across the world looked up toward the Idol Battlefield with silent expressions.

    They all seemed to realize that this was an opportunity for them. They had all stepped out of their

    comfortable lives, ready to risk death for the sake of seeing their Races rise once again. They knew that there might never be a day when they returned to how things had once been.

    But now they suddenly felt like the world was helping them.

    For the Idol Battlefield to descend now...

    The Northern Star must want them to rise again.

    They didn''t care about whether they were strong enough to meet the threshold or not.

    Every single one of them leapt into the air, streaking forward.

    There were no Ancestors to stop them or decide who should and shouldn''t go. In that case, they would take matters into their own hands.

    Either they died and left a mark on this world, or they lived and became true powerhouses.

    At that moment, the Constellation of the Pluto Race trembled, a scythe of time pulsing high in the skies as the hope of one race flared up like a pillar piercing through the skies.

    In another corner of the world, the Four Great Families and what remained of the Three Finger Cult sat in silence.

    They had lost all four of their Heirlooms. Their greatest trump card, the Envoys of Destruction, had been taken by Leonel and killed unceremoniously, and now it seemed like all they could do was sit here and wait for their death.

    It seemed that after everything, they could only sit here and wait for their deaths.

    At that moment, there was a ripple and a young woman with beauty beyond words appeared.

    Anya.

    The last time Leonel had seen Anya, he took her from the remains of the Three Finger Cult and made her a part of his Dream Pavilion. But it had been a very long time since Leonel had gone back to the Human world in the Mortal Realms, and quite frankly, he didn''t care enough about it to give it another thought.

    The fact that Anya was still alive after he killed her the first time also didn''t really faze him. He had already come to terms with how life and death worked in this dark, twisted world.

    If he was here to see Anya, though, he would likely find it amusing.

    He had given her a chance to live, a chance to thrive in a Dream Pavilion and work for the Human Race once more, but here she was.

    Maybe even she realized that she could only do this because Leonel simply didn''t care about her existence any longer. Or maybe she was ignorant enough to believe that she had pulled the wool

    over his eyes.

    Whatever the case was, in her delicate hand was a scythe that looked like it was carved out of smooth, white marble. Well, at least the polearm was. The blade alternated into a gorgeous black marble with streaks of white through it.

    The weapon rested on her shoulder as she looked forward.

 Chapter 3153 Piss Off

    ?Chapter 3153 Piss OffThe Void Race was facing a unique problem of their own. They had too many geniuses that were worthy of being sent, but in this trying time, they couldn''t afford to put all their eggs in one basket. If they were targeted for some reason and lost all of their geniuses, then it would be a loss that they couldn''t swallow.

    The fact that they had the highest chance to replace the Pluto wasn''t lost on those in the world.

    So, they made a hard decision.

    Their geniuses were separated into three Tiers for them. There were their Supreme Geniuses, existences that only appeared once a generation and dominated all the others. Of these, they had three, each one of which had dominated a generation of their own and fell into the proper window for entry into the Idol Battlefield.

    Beneath these were their Classic Geniuses. There weren''t more than ten to a generation. And then their Elites, of which there would be no more than a thousand or so a generation.

    They chose to send the youngest of the Supreme Geniuses, three of the Classic Geniuses, and several hundred elites from across various generations.

    As for why they sent the youngest of the Supreme Geniuses... there were two reasons.

    The first was selfish. Because he was the youngest, he was also the one they had invested the least into and could afford to lose the most. Although... it would certainly hurt to lose him nonetheless. And the second was because he insisted.

    Lui''Shae was Shan''Rae''s elder brother. As for why he would insist on entering the battlefield, it was because he was sure that someone else would be there. And while he was there... there would be no Gervaise Fawkes to protect him.

    Lui''Shae stood in a shroud of darkness, his body thrumming with power as a scythe blinked into and out of existence in his palm.

    The world seemed to revolve around him as he stood larger than even a moon. With a swipe of a hand, he could wipe out an entire solar system if he so pleased.

    There was nothing in this world that could stop him, and a mere Leonel Morales certainly wouldn''t be able to do so.

    To not only kill his sister but to turn her into a puppet for the remainder of her life...

    He would never forgive this man.

    And when he stepped out of the Idol Battlefield, he would bury the Ascension Empire with him.

    This was his chance to overturn the situation of Existence.

    The more powerful you grew, the slower your progression. He had already formed a Dharma, and it would take time before he affirmed his understanding and completed his Idol. But now...

    A shortcut was waiting for him.

    His revenge would just be the cherry on top.

    With a step, he vanished as well.

    The world seemed to all be making their decisions in droves, and the Minerva were certainly no different.

    Though they tried to stop her, Minerva herself seemed to vanish in the night, a sword resting in her palm.

    For some reason or another, the Spear and Bow Force wielders of Existence were particularly agitated.

    They seemed to be split into two groups, the first of which was the very reason why there were so few of them entering.

    The first group felt such an overwhelming fear that they couldn''t even look at their weapons. Their Weapon Forces collapsed, and those that claimed to have Sovereignties even found their comprehensions shattering.

    The second group, however... felt a burning desire erupt from the depths of their bones, a hunger that awakened from their bloodlines.

    One after another, surging breakthroughs took place across Existence.

    Until now, only the God Races seemed worthy of taking part. But as the Spear and Bow Force users of the world grew more agitated, those that met an unknown threshold found themselves uncontrollably shooting toward the skies.

    The Cloud Race, the Dwarven Race, the Spiritual Race...

    There were suddenly no exceptions at all, as though the entire world was waiting for the appearance of these people all along.

    Their Forces surged by leaps and bounds and all of these Chosen formed Dharmas in an instant. As though all their accumulated foundations had burst forth, their auras skyrocketed and crowns appeared above their heads.

    Among these was a member of a particularly infamous Race... Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    After the appearance of the Demoness and her actions, the Dream Asura had been forced into hiding, scattered across the world without a place to call home.

    Because of their abilities, many were able to slink away into society without being detected by others. But there was an inevitable majority of them that were unceremoniously hunted down and crushed.

    The population was at risk of becoming extinct, but their strongest pillar, the Demoness, was nowhere to be found.

    Among these Dream Asura was a young man who sat in the depths of a pool of Anarchic Force, hiding away in an Inbetween world with a spear on his lap.

    The spear pulsed with a Dark Gold light, a sort of Sovereignty the world had maybe never seen before.

    He didn''t seem to notice the changes around him at all. Instead, he parted his lips slightly.

    "... I do not need your help.... piss off..."

    The pulse of power coming from the Idol Battlefield was shattered apart by him, and his aura suddenly soared.

    A darkness pervaded all around him as he slowly rose.

    Anarchic Force liquid drizzled down his body and his violet scales, a spear as black as night hanging almost loosely from his fingers as his head appeared.

    His wrist only flickered once and enemies all around him were shredded to pieces until there was

    not a single one left.

    This young man was known simply as Rylan. He had no last name; he was an orphan as far as he knew, and this name of his was given to him by a random old lady he had already forgotten the face

    of.

    "If I want my spear to improve, I need to find whoever is agitating it... and kill him!

    However, if Leonel was here, this Rylan would seem to be a much different person to him. In fact, he would call him Uncle.

    Uncle Montez.

    With a step, Rylan vanished.

 Chapter 3154 Targeted

    Chapter 3154  Targeted Leonel felt like he was spinning around in a blender of chaos. The world around him was threatening to collapse in ten different ways. His body was battered and drummed.

    All the while, he had his eyes closed, knowing that this wasn''t natural. He was being targeted, not by people, but rather the aura of the Idol Battlefield itself.

    The Idol Battlefield represented the hope of the humanoids. It was created when they rose up against the beasts, acting as the foundation for the first created Forces in Existence, the Weapon Forces.

    They started as the simplest forms, the fists, etc. But quickly, it began to evolve to the spear and sword.

    However, there was one thing they all had in common.

    Defiance.

    Even if arrogance and confidence weren''t the foundation of their Paths, because of the origin of the battlefield, unless you had at least aspects of this to your Path, it was impossible for you to even stand in this place.

    Even if they felt that Leonel''s Path was stronger than their own, something they would never concede, they would still fight back violently and savagely. They would give it everything they had to ensure that he never came out on top.

    Leonel had known that this was already a risk even before he provoked it again. But now, it was even more exaggerated than it was meant to be originally.

    BANG!

    He collided with something hard, and he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

    It felt like every bone in his body had been shattered apart. But what made him sigh inwardly was the fact that this was perfectly controlled.

    The Idol Battlefield would never kill him on the way in because that would be too unfair. But leaving him on the brink of what it thought was death was just fine by it.

    The Idol Battlefield, according to the information his grandfather had given him, was run by a World Spirit as well, but a unique World Spirit/Regulator hybrid created by the efforts of all the warriors across time and generations.

    The reason this hybrid was important was because Regulators were like the muscle of worlds while World Spirits were more about just maintaining.

    The fact that they were fused into one now meant that when Leonel pissed them off, they had the ability to act and put him in his place.

    What he experienced just now wasn''t much different from the first time he stepped into an Incomplete World after leaving the Dimensional Verse. The only difference was that instead of chains wrapping around his body, he was beaten and battered to the point he couldn''t even stand up properly.

    And yet, the moment he landed, he had no choice but to throw himself to the side.

    A spear and arrow landed on the ground at the same time. Their tips seemed to fuse into one, just barely missing Leonel''s head. He was hardly able to save himself from the fate of being impaled in a single exchange.

    Leonel sighed again. He hadn''t even been able to analyze his surroundings just yet because the Idol Battlefield was particularly "slow" with unveiling his senses for him.

    How bad was this targeting going to be, exactly? If not for the fact he was incredibly sensitive to Spear and Bow Force, he would have already died.

    Leonel rolled again as the world became clearer to him.

    He quickly found that he was in a forest. All around him, shadows of what looked like monkeys wielding spears and bows hopped around endlessly.

    Leonel leaned against the trunk of a tree, but that didn''t last long before he had to roll to the side again.

    A thick arrow ripped through the tree trunk he was relying on.

    ''Alright, note to selfбн cover is notбн wellбн coverбн''

    Leonel was trying to gather Spear and Bow Force from the surroundings to quickly heal himself. This was much more efficient for him than using Light Force these days. In fact, his Light Force could be said to be one of his most lagging comprehensions now.

    But it was like the Forces had chains on them. It was usually as easy as breathing for him to do this, but right now it was like he was pulling teeth.

    Leonel frowned.

    He abandoned the thought, his Innate Node churning instead. The Bow and Spear Force poured into his body and his wounds were being quickly healed as he moved about, but soon, he felt a suppression on that as well.

    The monkeys in the surrounding trees multiplied and suddenly the spearmen stopped hiding as they rushed for Leonel.

    They appeared all around, moving agilely and making howling monkey noises that were irritating to an extreme.

    Leonel''s body was only at 20% by now, if that. But the power of these monkeys was easily all at the Dharma level.

    Leonel took a spear to the shoulder, and another one to the thigh.

    He caught both while still on the ground, but there were only more coming.

    He twisted his wrists and flung the monkeys at their oncoming allies, but then he suffered two more strikes from a pair of monkeys he hadn''t been able to stop.

    The pain shot through his body once again.

    Leonel''s frustration was beginning to bubble forth. It was like everything he did was suppressed one way or another. Even if the Idol Battlefield was pissed off, there had to be a limit to it, right?

    One of the monkeys appeared behind Leonel as he tried to stand. A sinister light flashed in its eyes as its spear aimed right for his ass.

    The moment Leonel saw this, the frustration he had been keeping at bay erupted.

    "ENOUGH!"

    A raging aura of violet and gold spiraled out from Leonel. A crown appeared above his head and two halos appeared around his wrists, one adorned with a spear and the other with a bow.  Sз╫ar?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Arrows from the distance rebounded against the roaring shockwave, sending them spiraling into the distance.

 Chapter 3155 Infuriated

    Chapter 3155  Infuriated Leonel was truly infuriated this time.

    He hadn''t come here for fun. He had come here because he had no other choice. He was here for no other reason than to give his family a chance to continue to live a life of peace and leisure; he was here to give himself a chance to truly leave the shadow of the Demoness'' schemes.

    Anyone who stood in that way, even if it was an ancient existence that had lived since time immemorial, would feel his wrath.

    He grabbed at the air, and a spear formed of Spear Force and his Scarlet Star Force took shape.  Sear?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He already realized that he wouldn''t be able to pull out a real weapon. At the very least, this time, it wasn''t because he was being targeted, but rather a true part of the first leg of this trial.

    However, he had long since not needed such a thing.

    His spear grew to three meters long and carried a wild sort of flexibility to it. In practically anyone else''s hands, the blade wouldn''t even stay steady. And yet, in Leonel''sбн

    Leonel swiped out once, and another rain of arrows was shattered apart.

    He kicked out, and the monkey that had been forced to stumble back beneath his aura had its head explode into a rain of gore.

    His spear swept out, knocking back another charging mass of monkeys before his strikes suddenly became deadly and shockingly precise.

    He took a step and began to pierce out. Every time he acted, the tip of the vibrating spear would seem to flash uncontrollably, wobbling so vigorously that it should have been completely out of his control.

    And yet, it struck true every single time.

    Throats were ripped apart, heads were split in two, hearts were puncturedбн

    Every strike was lethal beyond belief and precise beyond measure.

    The wobbling of the spear only became an asset rather than a detriment. The monkeys didn''t know how to dodge because it moved so unpredictably.

    Leonel countered their erratic movement with erratic movement of his own, moving with such sharpness and fluidity that he seemed to have forgotten to heal himself.

    The pain was like a tonic to him, tempering his fury and forcing him to calm down. If he didn''t, he would raze this entire forest to the ground.

    He felt agitated, his heart thrumming with a pressure that suppressed all things in his surroundings.

    In one part, he knew that it was because of the actions of the World Spirit-Regulator. And on the other, he knew that it was because he could feel his lives converging all at once, all of those failures coming to a head.

    He could feel the frustration of several lives stacking onto one another, pulling against their puppet strings in unison until they realized that maybe their lives had never been their own to control in the first place.

    Leonel''s aura flared to another level, and his power erupted.

    ''Die. Die. Die.''

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    The forest was filled with a rain of Spear Force. It curved around trees and branches, curling down from the skies and up from the earth.

    There didn''t even seem to be a rhyme or reason to it. It was like Leonel was just targeting the monkeys that were the most displeasing to the eye at the time.

    But those paying attention would see that he was attacking in the same order that they had attacked him. And when he caught up with that order, he attacked in order of the next one to have the intention of attacking him.

    He was shredding them apart with the ease of a lion among newborns, and somehow, his fury only seemed to be climbing.

    Smoke came from the bottoms of his feet, and the smolder only increased out of the corner of his eyes.

    He ripped everything in his path apart, and from a bird''s eye view, his Absolute Domain seemed to cover an entire ten kilometers.

    It was said that the spear was the king of the battlefield, a weapon of control within a medium range, the kind of weapon a General would wield to charge ahead of his army and protect them from behind.

    This Absolute Domain was something that Leonel had long since cultivated and concentrated into the very edge of his blade.

    However, as with all things in this world, there seemed to be a cycle to it all.

    First he formed his Domain, then he concentrated it to the edge of his blade, and then just the tip, and then suddenlyбн

    It exploded forth in a blooming range much larger than anything it had ever displayed before. One would have thought that Leonel was wielding a bow instead of a spear, and maybe that was the case.

    Some of his Bow Force seemed to leak, and his sharp Spear Force became even more incisive and more controlled.

    SHUU! SHUU! SHUU!

    CRUNCH.

    Leonel stamped down and shattered the head of a monkey; he hadn''t bothered to attack with his spear, his attacks coming in a faster and faster rain as though he still wasn''t satisfied with the carnage that he was unleashing.

    He roared, and his crown flared. At that moment, the slow Weapon Force in the air was ripped back from the Idol Battlefield''s control and into Leonel''s.

    The Forces flooded into his body, and his injuries began to heal at the speed of the naked eye.

    His strength skyrocketed, and his spear only became faster.

    Dozens died with every step forward he took, his spear moving almost like a whip as it wobbled in his hands.

    PUCHI! PUCHI! PUCHI!

    Suddenly, Leonel''s spear came to a stop. There was nothing else around him, and the only sound was that of his wobbling spear and his almost dragon-like breathing.

    The leaves rustled wildly beneath the force of his breath, and the clouds high above shook in agitation.

    He slowly lowered his spear, not the slightest hint of blood drizzling from it.

 Chapter 3156 Respect and Persistence.

    ?Chapter 3156 Respect and Persistence.The fury in Leonel''s eyes was still smoldering, but he loosened his grip on his spear a bit, allowing his agitated heart to calm.

    He rolled a thumb over his engraved wedding ring, allowing the habit to calm him further.

    He had to control what he could control. His own emotions were certainly one of them. He couldn''t. allow himself to fly off the handle at the slightest hint of a provocation.

    This time, it was a combination of two factors: the weight of the events and the timing, along with the agitation to his Weapon Forces.

    He could feel keenly that just triggering this battlefield alone wasn''t enough to slip the hands of the Demoness. She had planned for so long, and she had already seen his Weapon Forces before. It was more than likely that she had some sort of contingency plan for this.

    The same grace was the fact that the odds that this plan was as perfect as all her others were minimal. In which case, whether he could succeed in breaking free would be dependent on how he performed.

    Due to this, he could feel the accumulated efforts of several lifetimes coming together, and the weight of it all made the frustrating targeting of this Battlefield''s Regulator all the more infuriating. The second issue was his Weapon Forces.

    He had already noticed while outside of this world that he had been slipping back into his old habits. The same arrogance, the same casual disregard for everything, the very same attitude that had caused him to be the only one standing in the end. It wasn''t the attitude he should have if he actually expected to have loved ones by his side.

    But in this world, it was amped up to the highest degree. That was because his Weapon Forces could feel the Idol Battlefield''s targeting, and it was trying to assert its dominance in response.

    In the end, this was only the natural progression of things. There was simply no way that anything else could have happened but his furious lashout.

    Leonel took a breath and closed his eyes.

    He had felt this sort of pressure on his shoulders before.

    That day, in the Valiant Heart Zone, as his Generals died one by one around him, it was the first time he had felt this sort of weight.

    Back then, he thought that he was ready for it. He had accepted the crown and thought that he would be a King, leading his people to the lives that they deserved.

    It was the first time he had felt true loss, true helplessness...

    It was the first time he had lost.

    He could still remember King Alexandre''s lofty strength. He had no ability to stand against that man and could only watch as the people he called friends collapsed one by one.

    It was something that he had sworn never to experience again. And yet, had he lived up to his word? By now, he knew what happened.

    When he saw that he could revive them, the conviction that he had borne then wavered and cracked. It was still there, so he hadn''t noticed just how compromised it was. But as time went on, he began to slowly chip away at it.

    He gave up on those people he had once called brothers, he abandoned his road to Kingship, he wasn''t there when the family he had fought to become the Patriarch of needed him the most...

    He had failed time and time again, following his own selfish whims and carelessly making promises that he couldn''t even keep himself.

    It was pathetic.

    Worse than pathetic.

    He had tried to take on a burden he wasn''t nearly mature enough to take on. His arrogance and bravado, although he hadn''t admitted it to himself back then, made him feel like he was the only one worthy to do such a thing. sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Maybe he was right that he was the only one. But that you knew something wasn''t as important as how you came to know it.

    Why was he the only one? Could he describe that in so many words? Or did he just think that his talent made him superior to everyone else and thus it could only be him?

    Ironically, for much of his life, that answer had been the latter.

    He had wanted to become a King because he felt that all life was equal. And yet it was because he thought he was superior that he believed that he should be King.

    It was almost embarrassing that the contradiction didn''t come to mind until now.

    He was a pathetic excuse for a King... a King who took on a burden just to set it down when he pleased because it wasn''t making him happy anymore.

    Now, he had lost his father... his mother... he almost lost his grandmother... how many more did he plan to lose before he got his act together? Or was it that he was content with watching the world burn around him so long as he could keep his ego intact?

    Leonel stood in silence for a long while, experiencing that burden on his shoulders again for the first time in a long time.

    He could feel his feet sinking into the ground, his knees bucking against the weight. His shoulders sank, and his breathing felt constricted.

    One could practically see the mountain on his shoulders, tall and proud, unfettered and oppressive. It wanted him to collapse beneath it. Or pretend it didn''t exist and shrug it off.

    That was what he had done before. However, not acknowledging it was as good as failing once again.

    Respect and Persistence.

    Could you be brave if you never felt fear? Could you know happiness if you never knew sadness? Could you be a king if you didn''t truly understand the burden?

    They were simple questions, and ones that Leonel had ignored for maybe too long.

    But more real than ever, he understood...

    You couldn''t Persist if you couldn''t Respect the challenge you faced.

 Chapter 3157 Challenge of Innate Nodes

    ?Chapter 3157 Challenge of Innate NodesLeonel exhaled a slow breath, his back straightening and his knees locking out. His muscles flexed, and his gaze flashed.

    He didn''t ignore the weight, nor did he shrug it off.

    This time, he understood the importance of it. It might slow his steps, but it would also make his fists heavier. When he swung, his enemies would feel the weight of everything he carried.

    His palms squeezed down, and the spear in his hand shattered.

    ''You fight for yourself. I fight for everyone.

    The crown above Leonel''s head flickered before it slowly faded along with the halos around his wrists.

    With a step, he continued forward.

    The first leg of the Idol Battlefield was a checkpoint of sorts. Only those that could pass it would enter the true challenge of the Idol Battlefield.

    This forest of monkeys was precisely that. They might have the Spear Force and Bow Force of the Dharma level, but it was hollow, and their overall physical attributes were limited.

    For those that couldn''t form their own weapons, it would be a bit of a challenge, as one would have limited avenues to attack. But Leonel''s other Forces weren''t limited at all. As such, using his Scarlet Star Force to forge his spear, like he had done in the past, was very easy.

    But... right now, he was just walking in silence, quietly observing the forest as though he wasn''t in a rush at all.

    Because of his fury, he had already killed all the monkeys. The entire forest had already been cleared, and not a single tree, other than the one a monkey had sent an arrow through, had been harmed. Walking to the end of the forest would lead him to an exit, and that was what he was currently doing. It was just odd that he was moving so slowly.

    Well, there wasn''t a need to move quickly. Time wasn''t much of a factor on the Idol Battlefield usually. Everyone''s destination, if they made it far enough, would be the same.

    Still, the real reason Leonel was taking his time wasn''t just for the sake of resting.

    He suddenly paused, stopping by a tree and reaching up for a leaf. Ile almost caressed the leaf, his gaze flickering for a long while before he continued.

    He did this several times as though he was looking for something or analyzing something.

    ''Interesting...''

    The Idol Battlefield reminded him a lot of his Innate Node, which was why Leonel was so interested in it. He had seen something interesting in his grandfather''s information about it.

    According to the information, everything on this Idol Battlefield functioned through the fundamental laws of the world, the very same fundamental laws that came together to form Weapon Forces.

    That meant that the Idol Battlefield might be exceptionally dangerous, but it was also the easiest location there was to feel, sense, and even improve one''s Weapon Forces.

    By now, his Spear and Bow Forces had already reached the extremities of the Creation State, but

    reaching beyond was a bit more complicated for him because of one reason...

    His Innate Node.

    Much like El''Rion had said, if the Pluto wanted, they could have given him ten Innate Nodes. The reason they didn''t wasn''t clear to Leonel back then, but he had had many guesses since.

    Now that he was on the verge of reaching the Dharma Realms, he could feel it much more clearly. Innate Nodes worked by communing with Existence to make the manifestation and creation of some Forces far easier.

    But the formation of a Dharma, to a lesser degree, and a Dharma especially, meant carving out your own path forward.

    How could you both rely on Existence and forge off on your own at the same time?

    Because of this disparity, even if one was naturally born with an Innate Node, it was usually a bit more difficult to reach this level.

    If you added one after the fact, it was even harder.

    However, Leonel was a particularly special case.

    His Innate Node was one that had never appeared before, and it gave him a unique jurisdiction over a particular set of laws.

    But that was also just a fancy way of saying that Existence gave him practically free reign over Spear and Bow Force in a lot of ways. And because of that... he was uniquely screwed as a result.

    It would be even harder for him than others with Innate Nodes to do this, even if it was self-created. Leonel wasn''t particularly worried about this before. He felt he had time. In fact, he had forced his King Force to become a Dharma instead of an Idol so that he could slowly raise all of his Forces to the proper Dharma level and then fuse them all together to form the ultimate Idol.

    But now... he was suddenly on a time crunch, and he felt that he wasn''t improving nearly fast enough.

    And this was the second reason he had entered the Idol Battlefield.

    He was here not just to try and throw the plans of the Demoness off, but to also find an opportunity to improve quickly...

    And everything here was exactly that sort of opportunity.

    Energy was something that he could always accumulate. If he really went all out, he could just make more enemies to gather the Forces he needed to make it to the Ninth Dimension. He already had all the necessary comprehension.

    But if he couldn''t form his Idol, he would never be a match for the Demoness regardless of what his Dimension was.

    ''It really is a treasure well... This Idol Battlefield is perfect for me. The key to my Idol will be Creation and Destruction, but that means if I want my Weapon Forces to reach the Dharma Realm, they''ll need to gain that character on their own first...

    ''A world like this, created with the same building blocks as what''s used to form Weapon Forces, is exactly what I need to study... Sз╫ar?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    ''And if I add my knowledge of Sub-Dimensional Zones on top of that...

    Leonel''s aura began to subtly change as he walked slowly through the forest.

 Chapter 3158 Why?

    ?Chapter 3158 Why? Leonel walked around in silence, observing everything he could as though he was building a rolodex in his mind. When he felt that he had reached the end of what he could observe, he shook his head.

    This really was going to be quite difficult. The fog ahead of him, in a figurative sense, was truly tough to see through.

    Figuring out how to take this next step of his was going to be difficult, especially since he didn''t want to give up certain things.

    Shedding the complexity of his Spear Force and Bow Force, or even dulling its edge a bit, would be hugely beneficial to a breakthrough.

    For example, if he stopped them from being so overbearing and forced them to be more accepting, they would weaken, but it would also make a breakthrough simpler.

    Or in a more tangible aspect, if he reduced their control over Time Force, that was an easy, surefire way to lessen the troubles he would have to face in a breakthrough. Though, of course, the easiest way to shed all these difficulties was just to abandon his unique Innate Node, and he had not the slightest intention of doing such a thing.

    If it was just about making a breakthrough, maybe he would consider it. But the problem was that he needed strength. If he wasn''t strong enough, then all of this wouldn''t matter.

    The only way forward was for him to grow strong enough to stand at the peak of the world and carry this burden on his shoulders.

    But... he wasn''t going to do that in a single step.

    Leonel looked up, finding that he was standing at the end of the forest. A portal sat here in silence, and without much hesitation, he walked right through it. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    When Leonel''s vision cleared, he found himself in a hall that made his heart skip a beat.

    He felt like he had been here before. Although he had read a description in his grandfather''s information, seeing it for himself made him realize what he was truly looking at.

    It was a long corridor, with shockingly tall ceilings and statues that depicted powerful men and women.

    The statues were so tall that Leonel couldn''t even make it halfway up the soles of their feet, let alone their ankles. They must have been at least several hundred meters tall, and it was enough to make a man feel small and insignificant.

    Each one of them wielded a spear, standing tall and straight while they had a familiar halo around their heads.

    This halo was the very same depiction of Leonel''s Spear Domain Ring, or rather, his former Spear Domain Ring. And also the same halos that appeared around his wrists when he truly activated his Spear Force in full force.

    However, these details weren''t what distracted Leonel so much. Instead... he was thinking about just how much this space reminded him of the Valiant Heart Zone.

    It had to be remembered that although he most often thought of the Valiant Heart Zone as the world on the inside, one depicting a war between the Humans led by King Alexandre and the Oryx led by Elthor''s father, this wasn''t the only aspect.

    Leonel and Aina had entered the Valiant Heart Zone together, and at that point, they had ended up in a corridor exactly like this one.

    It was only after the fact, thanks in part to an inconspicuous ring that Leonel had found on Planet Valiant Heart, that he was able to enter this secret region.

    However, during the two years he was stuck inside the Zone, Aina had spent that time stuck in a corridor exactly like this one along with the other geniuses of the Valiant Heart Zone.

    "Why?"

    Leonel was confused.

    He knew by now that Nilrem had created the Merlin Zone, but this Zone in specific was still quite a mystery to him... especially after he found it randomly reset.

    While he had a guess that Nilrem had reset it in order to teach him a valuable lesson about the value of life, he wasn''t sure if Nilrem had actually created it or not.

    All he was certain of was two things: the fact that Nilrem was definitely involved in the resetting, and that Nilrem was likely responsible for the ring that had led him to the core of the world.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    He and his master never exchanged words about stuff like this. It was like they both subconsciously understood that Leonel would deduce it when the time came, and that speaking about such things before their time could lead to more trouble than not. After all, they were in the midst of playing around with timelines, and they were also facing off against a woman who was likely the strongest Dream Force expert to ever exist.

    In such a situation, if Leonel learned things that were too important too quickly, it could give the Demoness time to prepare.

    By now, Leonel was no longer arrogant enough to feel that he could perfectly protect his mind from the Demoness. It was best to take things one step at a time, and it seemed that soon... it would be time for him to learn about this.

    Leonel finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked through the world around him.

    Far ahead, he could see people of all sorts of races. They were trying to get further ahead, much like the corridor of the Valiant Heart Zone had been.

    However, they were coming across a great deal of danger as well.

    Further ahead, Leonel could already see that there were corpses accumulating along the ground. The number of dead increased every time they passed by one of the statues. This was where the real challenge of the battlefield began.

    Leonel reached out at the air, and a spear formed, surging ahead with a beautiful arc as he took a step forward.

    He swiped out casually, parrying a Spear Force that appeared from thin air before his vision swam.

 Chapter 3159 Above the Rest

    ?Chapter 3159 Above the Rest Leonel''s vision cleared, and he found a woman standing before him. She was taller than him by almost two heads, and she had a set of muscular abs that seemed chiseled out of stone. She didn''t wear much, but her aura made her difficult to ogle at all.

    It was like her gaze had magnets that sucked one into them. It was impossible to look anywhere but those fierce eyes of hers.

    Leonel, though, felt like he was in a daze as violent sparks of lightning flashed through his Dreamscape.

    Suddenly, he understood what he had to do.

    His wrist shook, and the shape of his spear changed. In the blink of an eye, it had perfectly mimicked the muscular woman''s spear.

    It now had an angled, serrated edge to its blade. It would thrust smoothly, but as it ripped out of flesh, it would definitely take large chunks with it.

    This sort of blade was incredibly dangerous to use in battle because should it get caught, one might lose their weapon. Although it would deal a great deal of damage when used successfully, there were simply better ways to go about it.

    After all, why risk getting your weapon stuck in an enemy''s body when you could just. explode your Force inside their body instead?

    If Leonel wanted to follow the path of this woman, he would definitely change it. But then again, not everyone could freely incorporate other Forces into their Spear Force like he could...

    Originally, he thought that this was a quirk of his Spear Sovereignty. But afterward, he realized that it was more his Lineage Factor than not. Most couldn''t casually incorporate other Forces into their Weapon Force, or else there wouldn''t be a need to create a separate Weapon Force like Gun Force.

    But now, he realized that it was one step deeper than even that....

    The gaze of the woman flashed when she saw the change to Leonel''s spear. However, both of them still shot out at the same time.

    Leonel felt a strong magnetic pull from the woman''s spear. It was like her stances, attacks, and Forces were all drawing him in.

    Every time she shifted and moved, he was forced to meet her head to head.

    This woman would be the bane of all speed and agility spearmen. She looked like a brute, but she wasn''t relying on her Spear Force alone; her footwork was also immaculate. She knew how to bait and switch, to make him think one thing before she executed another.

    They unleashed a flurry of exchanges between them, but Leonel was on his back foot. She was overwhelming him with her power. Every time he was forced to meet her

    power head-on, his wrists would shake and quake, his inner organs feeling as though they were going to rattle out of place.

    However, by the dozenth exchange, there seemed to be a slight change.

    There was a shift. From Leonel''s spear being attracted to her blows, she was instead being sucked into his rhythm.

    However, the power disparity between them was still too large for there to be a change in the outcome. Every time Leonel forcefully met her blow, he was shaken back and had to work to get back on top once more.

    Then there was yet another shift.

    As though Leonel''s power had grown explosively, it was the woman who started being forced to take steps back, allowing him to press his advantage.

    But as a spear expert, the woman realized what was happening to her. Leonel was still using her methods, but instead of meeting her at the apex of her power, when her strikes had already gathered up all of the necessary momentum, he was instead forcing their clashes before her power had accumulated.

    The arc of her spear couldn''t find a path to gather up the maximum strength. It felt like she was constantly sending out one-inch punches, without the ability to use her truest strength.

    Then, Leonel''s spear suddenly accelerated and pierced right through her throat.

    The woman froze and then slowly lowered her spear. She gazed upon Leonel deeply, and her mouth opened to speak silent words. Sear?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Your spear is too greedy" she mouthed.

    Leonel, who had been indifferent all the while, suddenly turned his lip up in a curve.

    "It''s no wonder why you''re first up. You''re a petty loser."

    His wrist flickered, and her head shot up into the air.

    In a flash, Leonel had appeared outside.

    An oppressive aura landed on his shoulders all at once, but he stood unmoved beneath the woman''s statue. He didn''t even give her a second glance.

    The reason she said those words was that she had watched him swallow up her spear technique and make it better right before her eyes.

    She didn''t like the fact that this young man had taken her life''s work and made it his own in just a few hundred exchanges.

    But... Leonel didn''t give a damn how she felt. This battlefield already hated him; he might as well give it a real reason to hate him. He didn''t want to have to spend so much time on small fry like her.

    He realized the moment he entered that world that he had been going about things the

    wrong way. The Creation aspect that his Spear Force needed for it to reach another level had nothing to do with general Creation... it had to be Creation tailored to his Weapon Force itself.

    To carry a myriad of techniques in a single spear strike... wasn''t that exactly what he needed?

    Although he had called her a small fry, the reality was that this woman had been an idol on the Path of the Spear. And there were thousands more here, just waiting for him to do the same with.

    He would swallow every one of their techniques, make them better, then defeat them in their own field.

    When he made it out, his spear would shine above the rest.

 Chapter 3160 Realization

    ?Chapter 3160 RealizationLeonel continued to walk forward, his steps steady, his breathing deep and even. He seemed to forget that there were other people around him completely; he didn''t have eyes for them.

    His own goal was to make it from one statue to the next, conserving as much energy as he could while accomplishing his objectives.

    His path forward wasn''t something anyone else could understand, nor did he need them to.

    The heaviness of his steps and the weight his shoulders bore; he would use it to make his spear heavier.

    Leonel faced off against a man who used lightness to counter heaviness. Every time his spear seemed to strike once, it would actually do so three times over, layering the power on top of one another, countering his force, and then capitalizing.

    It wasn''t long before Leonel realized that he was making use of not speed, per se, but instead exceptionally good technique.

    Ile wasn''t attacking and then pulling his arm back for another attack. No matter how fast he was, he wasn''t fast enough to do such a thing.

    Instead, he was using a drumming technique Leonel had seen once on Earth before.

    When a drummer wanted to speed roll, rather than tightening their grips on their sticks, they would actually loosen them, allowing the drumstick to almost vibrate in their palms. This would give the illusion that they were drumming much faster than they were.

    It was a loose sort of control, but it was control nonetheless. Doing so in battle like this was incredibly difficult and also required incredible wrist and finger strength as well.

    After all, holding a spear so loosely in the middle of battle was a recipe to lose it. But the man managed to use the technique in such a way that every strike made Leonel feel as though he was the one keeping it in his head with the angle of his strikes.

    But to Leonel... it was yet another faulty path.

    Why use such a technique when he could layer his spear strikes through time, combining causal paths to strengthen his blow?

    There was no need to hold his spear so lightly, giving up a great deal of power in exchange for speed.

    However, he didn''t abandon or change the man''s path completely. If he did that, it would defeat the purpose.

    So instead, he began to slowly tweak it.

    The man used his backhand as the guide, while it was his forehand that executed much of the technique. However, Leonel began to experiment with using both.

    The man''s spear was incredibly flexible, so Leonel messed around with the strengths of his holds, tweaking them until...

    DING! DING! DING! DING!

    Four rings echoed out, and the man''s spear almost flew from his hand.

    Before, every one of the strikes only had three layered strikes.

    DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

    It only took another exchange before Leonel''s became layered with five, and then another before it was six.

    By the time there were seven layered strikes, the man''s spear flew out of his hands, and Leonel cut his neck in eight fluid strikes so fast they seemed to layer into one.

    The man''s eyes only had time to open wide once before he collapsed.

    The next opponent. Leonel faced used an illusory blade that left trails of afterimages in its wake. It was an application of Light Force that Leonel hadn''t used in a very long time, and Leonel was tempted to see if he could apply the temporal abilities of a certain Great Family Bow to his spear. But he didn''t, sticking with the path of the man in front of him until he crushed it like all the rest.

    The opponent following this was a woman whose speed was just as good as her ability to attack blind spots. She seemed particularly good at setting up her attacks like a chess match, distracting Leonel from one side before overwhelming him from another.

    Although this path seemed even simpler than the others, it was far more effective. Leonel felt his life flash before his eyes three times, and he accumulated his first wounds.

    It took several exchanges before he grasped the pattern of the woman''s steps, and it was that there was no pattern at all.

    She was mirroring his steps, using his movements to dictate her own. It made sense. If not for this, how could she possibly target his weaknesses?

    When Leonel noticed this, he began to mirror her steps as well, and the two entered a stalemate of clashing blades, their bodies flashing around.

    However, Leonel was still at a great disadvantage. She was too much faster than him. Unless he used Time Force or his own Path of the Spear to accelerate his blade, something he refused to do, he would lose.

    As the wounds continued to accumulate along his body, he began to slowly make her footwork more efficient. Taking shortcuts as though he was leapfrogging pieces on a checkerboard, he began to corner her more and more often until his spear almost pierced her chest.

    Although he could have killed her, Leonel chose not to. He didn''t believe he had mastered her path enough. He was relying too much on his computational abilities and not enough on a comprehension of Spear Force.

    When he was certain that he could protect his life, he entered the battle with the now irritated woman again. She could clearly tell she was being used as a whetstone, and her attacks became more furious as a result. S~ea??h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    However, Leonel calmly met her pointed blade. Sparks flew between their edges, and the two became akin to phantoms as their blood began to dye the ground.

    BANG! BANG! CHIIII!

    Leonel''s gaze met the woman''s as there was a brief pause before they separated.

    The woman stomped a foot and accelerated forward instantly, but Leonel, who looked like he was going to do the same, suddenly changed his footwork, twisting his hips to the side at the perfect.

    moment.

    The woman''s speed was used against her as she blasted by Leonel. By the time she realized he had entered her blind spot, it was too late.

    Her head flew through the air.

 Chapter 3161 A True

    ?Chapter 3161 A TrueLeonel appeared in the outside world, yet another great pressure falling on his shoulders as he took deep breaths. Blood dripped down his body, but he continued to step forward calmly.

    He began another slow walk forward, his spear held lightly in his hands. He was already focused on the next battle, his Spear Force swirling around him in an odd Domain that seemed to both be one with the world and want to shred it apart at the same time.

    Suddenly, he came to a stop.

    He looked up to find that his path ahead was blocked.

    Indeed, much like in the Valiant Heart Zone, there was nothing stopping those taking part in this trial from attacking one another directly. After all, it was free reign and true chaos here.

    It was just that everyone here was focused on trying to get to the end.

    Who didn''t know that they would likely be stuck here for years? Without at least that much effort, how could they hope to make it to the end of this nigh-endless corridor?

    Rather than a rule, it was more like a self-enforced restriction. Who would want to waste energy on internal conflict now?

    Plus, this was the best training arena that they could ever ask for. It would be a shame if you lost your life before you had to.

    However, Leonel barely had time to register the fact that the opponent before him was actually a Cloud Race existence before he realized something else.

    ''Huh? There''s an odd fluctuation here. Don''t tell me...''

    The Cloud Race spearman shot forward, his Cloud Figure waving behind him in a clouded mist. His spear flickered and seemed to vanish.

    Leonel had already been through dozens of statues by now. He had created several Ability Index abilities to read through spear techniques, and he understood this man''s in an instant.

    He was using a change of speed. He started his attack with one gear before he accelerated, hitting another in an instant.

    That sudden acceleration would catch most opponents off guard, and the result would be almost as good as an attack from the blind side.

    But...

    PUCHI!

    The light sound of Leonel''s footsteps echoed as he walked by the man. It wasn''t until he had already disappeared into the next statue that the Cloud Race man collapsed to the ground.

    Leonel stepped out of the statue, his breathing a bit uneven.

    Many hours later, he found yet another person blocking his path. This time, he was able to truly confirm what was happening.

    The Idol Battlefield was actually exchanging a chance to skip ahead of statues for his head. It would have been amusing if it wasn''t so completely ridiculous and irritating.

    The reason Leonel could tell this was because there was an odd energy around the people that came to block him, something that looked like a partial teleportation.

    These people were actually behind him, by far, but they had been suddenly placed ahead of him and then forced to fight him.

    It was foolish.

    Leonel believed that the Idol Battlefield was actually quite cruel. The people coming from behind him had no chance against him.

    Even the people ahead were mostly only ahead because he had taken his sweet time analyzing the forest they had originally been transported to. In addition, now, he was also taking his time to analyze every spearman he came across and incorporating their techniques into his own while bettering them. This made him much slower than others who simply relied on their own techniques as well. Sз╫arch* The novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    This was to say that if you were ahead of him, you likely didn''t have much of a chance anyway. But if you were behind him even with such a handicap, you stood no chance at all.

    Now, he was being blocked by a Nomad.

    Honestly, he was surprised by this as well, because he didn''t think that there would be Mortal Races here either.

    What Leonel didn''t know was that the Idol Battlefield had given a great deal of Spear and Bow experts a chance to come, accelerating their progress, all because of him.

    The irony was that these people only had this chance because of him, but now they were also throwing their lives away because of him.

    A head was lopped into the air, clattering to the ground in a splatter as Leonel made his way past. The fatigue was beginning to accumulate on Leonel''s body, but his steps remained just as determined. He wouldn''t allow a single thing to slow his footsteps. Not one.

    Slowly and steadily, he made his way forward.

    Every time he defeated another great of the past, the color in his eyes seemed to grow deeper. The violet hues around him grew darker, not in a sinister way, but in a fuller, rounder sense.

    The pressure he faced every time also increased, not just in the skill of the spearman, but also the aftereffects.

    Without fail, every time he defeated one of them, a pressure would descend from the statues as though they wanted to force him to his knees.

    The further he got from the statues, the weaker the pressure became, but as he came across stronger and stronger statues, the distance from which they could pressure him likewise increased. Because of that, it became harder and harder to keep a steady rhythm to his movement, and his body seemed to want to collapse at any moment.

    Yet, as the blood continued to accumulate along his body, he didn''t even frown in the slightest. His expression didn''t change as he faced off against one expert after another.

    Cool and in control, his Spear Force flourished.

    His hair began to flutter in the air even without the slightest hint of wind, releasing plumes of gorgeous violet light.

    Every time his heart beat, an echo of Spear Force would rotate in the air.

    The surging might around him continued to grow until he found yet another existence blocking his

    path.

    But this time...

    It was a Beastman. A True God Race.

    The growling head of a Bear Beastman stared Leonel down.

 Chapter 3162 Bear Beastman

    Chapter 3162 Bear BeastmanBlood dripped down Leonel''s body, mixing with his sweat and the blood of his previous enemies. The spear in his hand fluctuated between different forms, seemingly all on its own. Sometimes it was highly flexible, reaching a length of over three meters. But at other times, it was stocky and solid, so rigid at two meters that it could hold up a mountain without bending in the slightest. Sometimes, it was even so short that it looked as though it should only be in the hands of a child.

    The Bear Beastman looked at the spear, his gaze narrowing as his whiskers whipped back and forth beneath his hot breath.

    The Beastman was still surprised that it had been sent here for the sake of a human.

    As a God Race, when had they ever taken Humans seriously? So why was the Idol Battlefield doing so?

    However, seeing that fluctuating spear, the Beastman felt danger. His animalistic instincts made his hair stand on end, and his five-meter-tall body crouched slightly.

    Given his already ridiculous height, he towered over Leonel. And though he had bent over now, the increase to the volume of his fur made him somehow seem even larger.

    A heavy spear rested in his thick hands, veins pulsing with semi-golden blood running up the back of his hands and his forearm.

    Although he was a bear man, much of his lower half seemed human. It was just that he was covered in dense hair that made it seem like he had fur.

    Leonel, however, never paused his steps.

    Even when he noticed the Beastman, he continued to move forward, his spear fluctuating between its various states as though he was trying to decide which path to take.

    Then he suddenly vanished.

    The Beastman reacted quickly, swinging down his spear at the same time. S~ea??h the novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    BANG!

    Leonel found his knees almost collapsing beneath him. The strength of a Beastman wasn''t to be underestimated. The strength of one that was in a hyper state of focus and attentiveness was on a level even higher than just that.

    However, their spears only met for a brief instant before Leonel''s spear struck out in the same spot another nine consecutive times with a wrist vibration so fast that it looked like he had never changed his stance at all.

    From a dominant position, the Beastman felt as though Leonel slowly overwhelmed his power, and then suddenly, the Beastman was on his back foot, his spear shooting into the air almost over his head.

    However, at the same time, Leonel was still forced to take a step back, his arms and wrists trembling.

    Leonel''s foot planted itself into the ground, and he shot forward again.

    A battle erupted between the two, and Leonel''s style seemed to change time and time again.

    Suddenly, the Beastman felt as though he was being sucked into a vortex of footwork. His spear became like a magnet against Leonel''s, but every time he wanted to overwhelm the latter with power, his spear would vibrate, and he would suddenly find himself repelled.

    Had the Beastman done more than overwhelm his opponents with a shocking amount of power, he would have already noticed that Leonel was subtly beginning to fuse together the aspects of the previous challenges.

    But when the Beastman had faced off against those statues earlier, he had killed them in a single strike. He didn''t have the time to analyze what they were doing, and as such, he didn''t understand the kind of shocking prowess and comprehension that Leonel was displaying.

    Leonel''s steps suddenly became lighter. He moved like the wind, his spear leaving afterimages in the air as he crossed from one side of the bear man to the other and then back again.

    The Beastman, to his credit, was extremely sharp. He wasn''t just a man of raw strength; otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to make it so far.

    Despite his overwhelming power, his strikes were precise and controlled. None of his power leaked out, and while there should have been reverberating BANGS and shattering winds, the collision of their weapons was highly muted.

    Leonel hadn''t originally felt the need to take anything from this Bear Beastman, but he subconsciously began to, as though his mind could seek out and find the worthy spear techniques all on its own.

    The muscle control, the precision, the solidified, unleakable aura.

    Leonel''s steps began even after as though he didn''t know fatigue. His ability to control the muscle fibers of his body was far better than this Beastman could even begin to fathom.

    The moment he analyzed and took the man''s spear technique, it was as though he had suddenly taken an enormous leap in power.

    Leonel was obsessed with controlling his Forces better, manipulating them to a greater extent, but how much time and effort had he put into the raw, explosive power of his body? Its flexibility, its dexterity, its speed, and agility?

    Almost none at all.

    The extent to which he used his body was when he practiced Metal Body, and that was purely for the sake of increasing his personal defenses and strength.

    Maybe he wasn''t particularly wrong to take such a path. After all, the importance of Forces far outweighed practically anything else in this world.

    When one started to be able to control the Force in the atmosphere, the body became even less important than that. After all, there was hardly a need to use one''s internal Nodal Pathways at that point.

    Even with an Innate Node, it was far easier to use it as a conduit to pull in more Force from the atmosphere than to use the Force from it directly.

    However, fighting this Beastman, Leonel seemed to comprehend something...

    His speed accelerated once again. He was practically a hurricane spinning around the man, his spear jetting out akin to the scythe of a reaper.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! SIIIIIIING!

    With a sudden flare, Leonel cut the Bear Beastman''s head off, landing on the ground behind him.

 Chapter 3163 Short Spears

    ?Chapter 3163 Short SpearsPLOP.

    Blood spurted and rained down upon Leonel as his almost foggy violet hair danced. The blood that landed on his head was burnt to ash, but those that fell down his shoulders and body began to cake, falling in a rain of their own.

    Leonel took deep breaths, not looking back a single time before he continued forward.

    Even in the face of the blood running down his own, his eyes shone like bright torches. sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel continued to pass through one statue after another, but his battles were becoming longer and longer, especially when, from time to time, existences of powerful Races would suddenly block his path.

    Since the Beastman, no other God Race had appeared, but several Demi-Gods had.

    Leonel wasn''t too surprised by this. The Beastman had a very unique makeup, and the number of them who used weapons was quite low comparatively speaking. As such, it was far more common for them to use fists, claws, and other techniques. So the odds they would be on this Spear Path was low. When it came to pure Spear Force comprehension, although the Beastman was stronger than the opponents he faced next, he was weaker in terms of spear technique.

    It could be said that the Beastman''s ''technique" was more just body control, which wasn''t really a spear method at all.

    It was no wonder why the Idol Battlefield sent him in earlier. But ironically, that made the opponents Leonel faced next even easier to handle and deal with.

    None of them could even begin to give him the same challenge that the Beastman had.

    But, by the same token, the statues were becoming progressively more difficult. The more stubborn Leonel was about using their own techniques to defeat them, the more he suffered as a result.

    The wounds that accumulated along his body were only growing more exaggerated, and it seemed like he might truly collapse at any moment.

    Leonel entered a new statue, his breathing somewhat haggard.

    ''Im?''

    Across from him, there was a man. He was quite small and skinny in stature, standing at only 5''6" or so and being quite lanky at the same time.

    No, it was lankiness, but his body was extremely compact. He was probably not more than 120 or 130 pounds in total, with most of his mass being made up of lean muscle fiber.

    However, what was odd wasn''t his looks. He just looked like a normal humanoid, albeit with odd greyish skin.

    No, what was truly odd was the fact he was wielding two short spears. And as though those spears weren''t enough for him, his back held a holster that fanned out what looked like six more of them. Leonel blinked for a moment before the spear in his hand flickered and split into two as well. Soon, he too had a fan of six short spears on his back.

    The spears were maybe four feet or so long, quite short for a spear. At the same time, their blades made up a third of their bodies, making Leonel wonder why this man didn''t just use swords instead. The idea of dual wielding spears was stupid to Leonel. Dual wielding required a flexibility that Spear Force didn''t usually have.

    Even when you were wielding a hyper-flexible spear, the main tenets of Spear Force remained. As much as he didn''t understand dual wielding, he understood the need for extra spears even less. Was he planning on losing his spears mid-battle? Or did he plan on throwing them?

    Leonel wouldn''t mind the latter. As high as his affinity with the Bow was, his affinity for throwing weapons was even higher than that. It was just that the tradeoff in battle wasn''t usually worth it for him, so he stuck with the bow.

    Suddenly, the man attacked.

    ''Fast...''

    The spear appeared before Leonel''s throat in an instant, but his gaze couldn''t help but flicker with disdain. He really was wielding the spear like it was a sword.

    The moment Leonel had this thought, he ruthlessly stamped it out.

    Respect and Persistence.

    Leonel''s focus returned, and he took a step back, parrying the spear to the side with the flat of one of his short spears. However, the short man''s second spear quickly followed up.

    The battle quickly became awkward for Leonel. He had perfect control of both of his hands, and he was ambidextrous in that way. But he still wasn''t used to using two weapons like this.

    Coordinating them into a single rhythm wasn''t easy, especially when he was trying to copy an opponent whose style he didn''t understand.

    If he was just relying on himself, he would have figured it out already. After all, with how many ways

    he could split his mind, controlling two weapons was as easy as pie.

    But the style of the man wasn''t something he could grasp. It wasn''t changing constantly, but its rhythm was just... off.

    No matter how much he looked at it, it didn''t feel like this man was a Spear Force master. It was like he was a Sword Force master who forced himself to use the spear.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered as a short sword cut across his shoulder. He pivoted to the side and decided to change tactics. Maybe he could get a better understanding of the man''s rhythm if he forced him into a defensive posture first.

    He spun to the side and thrust a spear right at the man''s liver.

    To his surprise, the man was even more agile than he expected, leaping into the air barely a half foot and doing a pirouette that caused his blades to clash against Leonel''s own not just once, but twice. He landed on the ground lightly and slashed out at Leonel''s now completely open chest. Leonel quickly brought up his second short spear but could only block one, despite the fact he had calculated the blocking of both.

    However, midair, the man''s blades clashed with themselves, changing their trajectory.

 Chapter 3164 Because

    ?Chapter 3164 BecauseLeonel blocked one blade, and the second cut into his chest deeply, lodging itself into his ribcage and almost ripping down and all the way through. S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    A flicker of surprise flashed through the man''s eyes. The blow hadn''t been blocked by Leonel''s bones, but rather his heart. This was the first time he had ever seen something so astonishing.

    The pain shot through Leonel''s body like a spike. He had actually been outmaneuvered.

    Sure, it was because he was trying to grasp a style he had never seen before instead of using his own techniques, but it made his rage flare up again.

    ''What is wrong with me? Focus!''

    Though Leonel said this, he knew what the problem was. He was becoming irritable because of his fatigue.

    The constant interference by the Idol Battlefield was really pissing him off, but he had nowhere to vent it. It wasn''t really the fault of the people targeting him. Most of them didn''t even know what they were getting themselves into. And it wasn''t even really the fault of these legends of the past either.

    The head of the person he really wanted to take was the one who had forced him into this situation in the first place, but he was still so far away from her, and now he was struggling with these small fry she could probably kill with a snap of her finger.

    Of course he was frustrated. And the more frustrated he was, the more he leaned on the truest part of himself, the part that wanted to rip through all of these figures with his own techniques, the part that felt that his way was the best way and there was no need at all to learn from these losers, the part that wanted to look down on the world with arrogance and impunity.

    That was when it clicked for Leonel.

    He had already grasped it before, but he didn''t truly understand it until now.

    The more he attempted to increase his Spear Force''s strength, the more it would begin to impact his psyche.

    He had reached this conclusion already, but he had taken it too lightly.

    Right now, he wasn''t just in a battle against the Demoness; he wasn''t just in a battle with the Idol Battlefield; he also wasn''t just in a battle with these statues or the fools that targeted him outside...

    He was in a battle with himself.

    Leonel''s hand flashed, and his short spear knocked the man''s blade out of his body. He ignored the pain and the gaping wound in his chest, heaving deep breaths as blood leaked down his chin.

    He wouldn''t allow himself to fall like this.

    These words weren''t aimed toward the short man or the danger he posed. Instead, it was aimed toward himself, his own psyche, his own mind...

    His own flaws.

    Part of the burden on his shoulders was himself, and he had to acknowledge that.

    Ie looked down at his spears for a moment before his gaze flashed.

    "I hate your path. But I''m going to swallow it anyway!

    Leonel spoke with blazing intent in his eyes, his violet hair fluttering wildly.

    With a step, he shot forward, and the two began to clash once again.

    They fought across kilometers in the blank white space, forgetting everything as they became one another''s whetstone.

    Leonel kept pushing. He knew that he hadn''t brought out this man''s full strength in the slightest bit. Even now, he didn''t quite understand the path at all... and it was a long while before he understood just how impossible it was.

    This man really wasn''t a Spearman. He was a Swordsman.

    He was a Swordsman that had taken his sword to the limits of Dharma, and then for an inexplicable reason, switched to Spearmanship.

    ''I understand!

    When Leonel''s Ability Index finished constructing the man''s past, he grasped what it was.

    The reason he couldn''t grasp the man''s technique was because there was no technique. His path was unpredictability. The more chaos there was in his strikes, the stronger he was. He had even managed to catch Leonel off guard several times in battle.

    Leonel had never seen someone clash their weapons against themselves on purpose just to land a hit, and if not for his Innate Node Heart, he would have suffered a lethal wound in that first exchange. And that wasn''t the last time in their battle he had faced such a thing.

    It was no wonder he had such a hard time with this man. Leonel''s battle style had always been based on calculations and deductions. There was very little chaos to his style at all.

    The fact that this man would even go so far as to abandon the sword entirely...

    After some thought, Leonel made a decision. He shut his Ability Index off, and his eyes seemed to almost become dull, almost as though a lid had been placed on a flickering flame.

    This was dangerous, and he knew it.

    It wasn''t just that his Ability Index was key to analyzing and understanding his opponent''s battle style, or the fact he wouldn''t be able to rely on Dream Counter to save his life now, but it was also that if his Dream Force wasn''t active....

    There was nothing to suppress the Path of his Weapon Forces any longer. They would consume him.

    At that moment, a new fire lit in Leonel''s eyes, and the man was taken aback. The short man felt like he was facing off against a completely different person, a man with arrogance that sank down to his very bones, a man who would stand even above the Northern Star if he was given the chance to and not lost a wink of sleep about it.

    The wounds Leonel suffered began to increase explosively, but the chaos of his attacks also increased.

    He dug deep, trying to truly understand what this chaos was. He should be able to grasp it better than this man ever could.

    Why?

    Because he was Leonel Morales.

 Chapter 3165 Profound

    ?Chapter 3165 ProfoundBANG! BANG! BANG!

    Twin spears danced through the air, clashing with one another and each other as often as they did the opponent. Sometimes, it was hard to even tell if they were fighting themselves or an enemy. Sometimes it even looked as though the two spearmen had teamed up to face off against an invisible enemy.

    Leonel''s spears slowly became faster, sharper, and more incisive. He picked his spots with greater case, and he began to mix in order into the chaos in a way that the short man had never seen before.

    Staring into those deep violet eyes, the heart of the man couldn''t help but shudder, especially when a crown began to manifest atop Leonel''s head all on its own.

    Suddenly, the man spun again, and one of his spears was launched from his back. While he was still in the air, he kicked out, his foot landing on the butt of the spear and sending it flying forward like a meteor.

    There had been barely three meters separating the two, and the sudden action caught even the arrogant Leonel off guard.

    He twisted to the side, but the spear still drilled into his shoulder.

    The short man landed on the ground once before launching himself into another pirouette, kicking out once again.

    A second spear shot out with shocking speed, but this time Leonel parried it to the side, repeating the actions of the man in quick succession.

    However, when Leonel landed on the ground, the spear he had dodged came spiraling toward his back while the one lodged in his shoulder was forcefully ripped out.

    The sensory overload was perfect timing, and the spear coming from behind managed to dig into his hamstring at the same moment the one that had been lodged in his shoulder slashed down at his neck.

    A new spear dance seemed to erupt as the man kicked out one spear after another, controlling them through mysterious means.

    Leonel had never seen Spear Force used like this... Spear Force being used almost as if it were Bow Force...

    This man didn''t seem to follow any of the rules of Weapon Forces, bending and twisting them as he pleased. But it was odd that he was even seen as a spearman in the first place. It almost felt like he should be put in his own category.

    The wounds Leonel was suffering accumulated, but he found himself liking this sort of battle even more than the first phase.

    The variables accumulated and short spears flew around.

    He was having trouble adapting his Spear Force to control spears at a distance like he might his Bow Force without, well... using Bow Force.

    He knew that the moment he used Bow Force in this place, the Idol Battlefield would use it as an excuse to target him once again. But his Spear Force was much too arrogant to be used like Bow Force in the first place.

    It seemed like much of the disdain he had for this man was coming directly from his Spear Force,

    and his Bow Force seemed particularly unhappy that it wasn''t being used at all.

    Leonel continuously weathered the storm, facing off against the barrage of attacks as he slowly forced his Spear Force into submission.

    Ie tapped into that odd state of fluctuation his Spear Force had been in when he fought against the Bear Beastman, trying to get it to focus on the flexibility of use and the chaos of it all.

    And that was when it finally clicked for him.

    His eyes lit up once more, and his Dream Force came back in full force.

    "I understand. I understand... I understand..."

    Leonel''s mumbling didn''t slow the speed of his spear, though it didn''t speed it up either. However, that wasn''t what the short man felt like.

    The sudden burst in skill might as well have made it feel like Leonel was accelerating the rate of his attack. The fluidity of his motions suffocated the man, and despite being fluid, they were ironically and contradictorily impossible to track as well. S~ea??h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    With fluidity should have come order, not chaos. It was why the man''s style was erratic to begin with.

    But what he didn''t know was that Leonel was a man who was now steeped in chaos. His very being itself was fueled by the existence of chaos. And chaos was his only path to outdoing the woman who had ruled his life for so long.

    The short spears that Leonel was having trouble controlling before became strong and solid, zipping with speed and precision.

    They all clattered in the air just once before they split into countless paths, slipping by the counters the short man formed with his own.

    Fear flickered in the short man''s eyes as he realized all of Leonel''s short spears could now target him. But he was still a man of many battles.

    The short man changed tactics, sending the spears that missed Leonel toward him instead. Since they were going to both attack, they might as well go down together.

    What the short man didn''t expect was for Leonel to tap the ground once in a motion that was nigh identical to the man''s.

    His body pirouetted past the first and second, landing on the ground just in time to be above the third and below the fourth. Then, he parried the fifth and sixth with the short spears in his hands. The short man could only watch in horror, not understanding how Leonel had read through the chaos of his tactics with such unbridled ease.

    But he only had the chance to think about it for a moment before he was skewered from all sides. Leonel stood in silence, deep, gashing wounds covering him from head to toe as he looked down toward the ground. One would have thought that he had reached his last legs, and if he was honest with himself, he had.

    He had made it so far, but this battle was too difficult, and the rest would only be tougher than this. However, if one looked into his eyes, they were only shining brighter and brighter as he slowly pieced together something profound.

 Chapter 3166 Ground Them

    ?Chapter 3166 Ground ThemLeonel thought about his experience. Even with the pain wrecking his body, it was entirely unable to make him lose his focus. He had experienced worse pain during those decades of seclusion, and he had long since learned to focus through it even before then.

    He had come a long way from the young man who almost gave up while awakening his Lineage Factor. Every decision he made after that built upon it perfectly.

    Every time he didn''t give up, every time he took the harder, less traveled path, every time he faced off against death and laughed in its face...

    It had built up into the man that could stand here today, covered in blood and deep wounds, suffering from ruptured organs and fragmented bones...

    And yet still having a back that stood as straight as a javelin despite the weight that was pressed onto

    it.

    Chaos...

    It was the thought that had been consuming him for a long while now. He knew that he was an anomaly, and deep within him held a key to overturning the plans of the Demoness. But the feeling was still vague within him.

    The combination of his Path of Creation and Destruction was giving him the power he needed ... it was the source of his Chaos.

    But how to harness it, how to use it effectively, these were still things that were eluding him.

    Leonel had always had a problem with how many paths he had to follow. He was talented in too many aspects, and it was hard to bring them all together in a way that maximized them all.

    If he were to abandon some things, everything would work out naturally. But if he did that, he would also be giving up on his maximal potential as well.

    Ile didn''t want to do that.

    Unfortunately, that was just what happened from time to time.

    He had been so focused on his Weapon Forces recently, for example, that he hadn''t honed his Light Force in ages... even his Scarlet Star Force seemed to have been forgotten.

    Of course, this wasn''t entirely true. He had incorporated them into his Innate Node and could add them to his Weapon Forces whenever he wanted, but this alone wasn''t enough.

    It was like he was on the precipice of something great, but he just couldn''t take the final step.

    He was sure that he was right in making his Weapon Forces the center of his being, but he didn''t know how to mesh all of the rest of it together...

    But now, he felt like he had gotten an inkling.

    A Spear Force that was birthed from Sword Force...

    It was something that would make Amery lose his mind if he ever saw. That man was so obsessed with the sword and even now was quite invested in the rivalry between the Morales and Suiard families.

    If he saw one of his own abandon the sword just moments from reaching the peak, he would probably attack him to kill much the same way he had attacked Leonel in belief that the latter was wasting his Spear Domain Ring''s potential.

    This time, Leonel would have to agree with the uptight bastard. But it wasn''t because of the sword per se. He would feel the same way no matter what path the short man had taken. Much like the other spearman that Leonel had come across until now, he felt that this man hadn''t taken the absolute best path that he could have. In the end, he was still missing something.

    Changing all of his Sword Force comprehension to Spear Force comprehension before taking that last and final step was a stroke of genius and ingenuity... but it simply wasn''t as good as what Leonel could do.

    ''I would call this birthing chaos within chaos. He made a chaotic decision in choosing Spear Force over his long-used Sword Force at the last moment. But that is exactly what causes his path to lack the necessary balance, and it''s also what''s held him back from reaching a truly astonishing level...'' There was a reason the man was only about halfway through this seemingly endless corridor of spear masters.

    All things considered, this was highly impressive. But it just wasn''t good enough in Leonel''s book. He had to succeed in this place... succeed to the point that even the last of the spear masters couldn''t stop him.

    According to his grandfather, making it all the way to the end of the corridor wasn''t the goal. If they really had to defeat all of the best spearmen in history, maybe only one or two people, if that, would manage to do it per generation.

    In fact, it was more likely for none to succeed.

    Instead, the goal of his corridor was to allow the refinement of one''s path of the spear. Success was decided by a metric forged according to your own standards.

    That was to say that for Leonel to constantly be using the paths of others to fight instead of his own, he was practically guaranteeing that he would never be shipped out of here even if, by some miracle, he managed to make it to the end.

    But this time, it was worth it.

    ''Chaos birthed within chaos isn''t the path. The true path is birthing chaos from a set of order. And my order must come from my Spear Force, a balance of true Creation and Destruction...

    ''Only when Creation and Destruction come together in harmony can there be order. But order is only the other side of the coin to chaos...

    ''Define it...''

    The more Leonel fleshed out his thoughts, the sharper they became and the more his aura flourished.

    The beating of his heart sent ripples into the surroundings and a beautiful array of gorgeous colors bloomed.

    He had two sets of Creation Sovereignties and two sets of Destruction Sovereignties. Both formed cycles with one another...

    And now he was finally about to ground them.

    sea??h thз╫ n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3167 Failed

    ?Chapter 3167 FailedBOOM!

    The violent upsurge of Leonel''s aura threatened to blow everything around him apart.

    His blood continued to trickle down his body, but in the chaos, it might as well have not been there at all.

    His body was instead in perfect harmony with the world.

    Creation so powerful it cycled into Destruction and Destruction so great it formed Creation. Destruction so powerful it allowed Creation and Creation so great it formed Destruction.

    A Creation that took more than it could give back and a Creation that rose from the ashes of Destruction.

    A Destruction so gentle it allowed for rebirth and a Destruction that capitalized on the greed of the sin of too much... Sз╫ar?h the novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The differences between the two were incredibly subtle, and yet in Leonel''s mind, the distinction was clear.

    A gentle Destruction and a Creation that rose from the ashes...

    Order.

    An overbearing Creation and a sinful Destruction...

    Chaos.

    And yet the two could just as easily be flipped in his mind.

    The chaos as defined by Leonel didn''t refer to a darkness. It referred instead to a chance at life, the improbability of breath, a chance to roll the dice again...

    And order... it wasn''t necessarily good...

    He had watched order destroy his life. It was because of rules and regulations that his father was no longer by his side, that his mother had to give up her life for him, that he had lost so much in his life...

    The interchangeability of it, the dance of probability and chance, the relationship between Creation and Destruction and the balance the Northern Star sought for them all...

    This was where real power lay.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s body shuddered and his Innate Node glowed brighter and brighter, reaching a fever pitch so great that his Spear Force began to howl almost like a beast.

    It was all very simple, was it not?

    The key to all of this was finding chaos within order... The short man had been so close to something so profound.

    ''He gave up his Sword Force for the sake of Spear Force, triggering the chaos he needed... However, I will not give up my Spear Force... nor will I give up my Bow Force...

    I''ll find the chaos within their order and give my chaos the structure it needs as a result.

    ''Chaos is unpredictable and unruly. If I want to control it, I need to be the one to set the rules and parameters that it follows...

    ''Much like the way the Northern Star can guide life along the path of proper evolution even with the presence of chaos, I too must become its guiding rails...''

    Evolution was inherently chaos. It was a series of random mutations chosen by nothing more than chance and circumstance.

    However, over a long enough period of time, these random mutations would begin to show patterns as well.

    Those that were strong and useful would remain.

    Those that were weak and detrimental would be destroyed in the annals of time and history, forgotten and never to be remembered again.

    That was possible because the world had its own set of rules about what was possible and what was not...

    Order.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s wild fluctuations became oddly more controlled. And then from more controlled, they became muted.

    It looked as though a Dharma was trying to be formed above his head, but it had no form, no substance.

    But if one looked closely, it would be possible to see that this wasn''t because Leonel couldn''t manage it, but it was rather because he didn''t want to just yet.

    He had the foundation of the idea, and he felt that he could succeed in forming his Dharma

    whenever he wanted.

    But it wasn''t quite perfect just yet...

    That said...

    Leonel''s eyes snapped open.

    Ahead of him, just outside of his wildly fluctuating aura, there was another person blocking his path. But this one... was surprisingly an Owlan. Or rather, a Minerva as they called themselves now.

    He was quite a handsome man, with a pair of white wings that spread boldly from his back. The spear in his hands looked to be carved out of gorgeous white marble, and all things considered, he was practically like an archangel descended from above to hand out punishment.

    The man gave Leonel a sharp look, his aura powerful and his momentum not waning in the face of Leonel''s own.

    If he could have attacked by now, he would have. Unfortunately, since this corridor was designed for comprehension, those present received a lot of protection.

    But equally as unfortunately for the man, he had underestimated the level of animosity the Idol Battlefield had for Leonel. Leonel received no such protections; it just seemed like he did because the momentum of his breakthrough was so great.

    It was only when the man realized that Leonel''s momentum was waning that he realized his mistake.

    Ile took a step forward and shot ahead without a word, menace in his eyes.

    It was clear and obvious that unlike the others, he had some deep-seated hatred for Leonel already baked in.

    It didn''t take much to realize why that might be. Minerva had announced her love for Leonel to the

    world. That had pissed off not just many of the other God Race youths but many of the hidden geniuses of the Minerva as well.

    After all, a woman who was a goddess in their eyes falling for a human was simply unacceptable.

    And now that Leonel had failed his Dharma breakthrough, there was no better time to deal with him

    than right now.

    Everyone knew that a Dharma failure, especially for a Weapon Force, would lead to untold consequences, and the fact Leonel wasn''t moving at all only seemed to enforce that.

    The man''s spear appeared at Leonel''s throat moments later, and there was a surge as he flapped his wings once, accelerating past Leonel.

    The man landed behind Leonel stably and on his feet. But soon, it became clear he was frozen in place as his head fell from his neck.

 Chapter 3168 Only One

    ?Chapter 3168 Only OneLeonel didn''t even look back at the man as he continued his way forward. If someone was watching, it would have been hardly possible to see the trajectory of his spear at all. That was because he had just used Timeless Radiance.

    The incorporation of an ability of a bow that wasn''t even in his hand into a spear that was casually created from thin air was enough to say that Leonel''s Dharma creation "failure" wasn''t what others might expect.

    When others failed Dharmas, it was a blow to their psyche, both intangibly and tangibly.

    On the one hand, they felt like their paths had been ruined, and the confidence they had in them took a hit.

    But on the other hand, there was a much more tangible restriction that took place afterward as well. Failing to form a Dharma was a lot like having an Innate Node. The failure to do it once would make it much more difficult to do in the future and would even come with a hit to one''s Force

    Manipulation.

    This was because, despite the failure, the connection with Existence would have already been made. Or rather, the severance of one''s connection with Existence.

    The first step to forming a Dharma was going from relying on the world around you to yourself to forge, manipulate, and create your own Forces.

    But contradictorily, you would also need Existence''s help to finish the creation of a Dharma as well. After all, part of forming a Dharma was acknowledgment by the Northern Star that you had a path worthy of investing in.

    But how could you do that when your connection with Existence was already severed?

    Leonel, however, didn''t seem to worry about it at all.

    The reason he had cut off his Dharma creation was twofold.

    First, he wanted to go through all of these spear experts. He wanted to see how far these experts went and what kind of monsters the spearmen of history had.

    And second... his Dharma had to also include his Bow Force.

    Leonel began to go through the experts one after another.

    His speed in doing so now was on a whole other level, but it wasn''t because he had changed tactics.

    He was still swallowing up the techniques of his opponents... it was just that he was doing it with much greater speed now than ever before.

    The chaos of his spear shone forth. It had a fluidity now that it never did before.

    He didn''t need to rely solely on his Ability Index to analyze the paths of his opponents. The arrogance of his spear now contained a flexible character to it.

    It was one of the rules of order that Leonel had set. He hadn''t changed the arrogance of his spear, but instead, he challenged it.

    It wanted to be the number one Spear Force to ever exist? Sure. Then prove it by swallowing every Spear Force you came into contact with.

    Leonel''s Spear Force path changed again and again, fluid and almost ethereal in its presence.

    IIis own Spear Path seemed hidden away like a slumbering dragon, curled away in its cave and waiting to make its presence known.

    However, for now, no one could make him show it at all.

    Everything he came across was blown away. One fluid strike after another, endless and sharp in their cadence.

    Every time Leonel walked out of a statue, rather than being more injured like before, he only seemed to be getting better and better.

    These spearmen couldn''t pressure him any longer, and his body''s natural healing factors were kicking in, especially with all of the Spear Force in the air.

    And now that he could swallow any Spear path, it was like his enemies were presenting him with the Force he needed to heal himself.

    Again and again, almost to the point of monotony, he crushed those in his path.

    He was beginning to think that entering this Idol Battlefield was the smartest decision that he had ever made in his life. This sort of improvement was simply not something that he could have made in the outside world.

    Only under these continuous grindstones could he manage to make it so far, only with this sort of pressure, only with this focused sort of attention on the task at hand.

    Nothing could shake him from his focus...

    Until he reached the second to last statue.

    Leonel entered with the same careless disregard as ever to find a man standing across from him. He had a head of flowing bronze hair, deep amber eyes that shone like stars, and a pair of glasses to hide them behind.

    He stood tall and straight, and yet his aura almost seemed casual and weightless in a way, almost as though he had yet to come across anyone that could force even a modicum of seriousness at him. In fact, looking at him felt a lot like watching a dragon in deep slumber... an ironic picture considering Leonel felt that that was precisely the image his own suppressed Spear Force was experiencing.

    The man met his gaze, looking at him without much of a change in expression.

    The spear in his hand was as unadorned as that expression of his. A simple wooden spear with a blade that looked almost hand-sharpened. Sear?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The only sound that could be heard in the room of endless white was the breathing of the two men, slow and steady as though nothing could move them from their peace.

    And yet, one of them at least had tears falling from his eyes.

    Leonel looked at the form of his father, his chest in turmoil and a deep rage he had always been trying to keep suppressed was continually trying to bubble its way back up.

    If it had still been there, he couldn''t have guaranteed that his soul wouldn''t have been steeped in blood once again as the bloodthirstiness hidden within began to pool forth.

    There was only one man who could make him feel this way.

    Velasco Morales.

 Chapter 3169 True State

    ?Chapter 3169 True StateThe fury bubbling up in Leonel''s heart practically took a tangible form. And soon, that was exactly what it did.

    His feet smoldered, the corners of his eyes billowing with thick tendrils of smoke.

    He wanted nothing more than to find someone to vent this frustration on, but there was no one but his father here before him.

    And the worst part?

    It wasn''t even truly his father.

    He had already realized it during his battle with the others, but while they might have their personalities and their quirks, they didn''t have their memories, and they certainly never spoke. They might as well have been mindless husks that only knew how to swing their spears around. But this was a step too far. Much too far.

    Ever since his first outburst, he had controlled himself well. He didn''t mind it when the Idol Battlefield continuously targeted him again and again; he had even been willing to allow it, using it as a whetstone to sharpen himself against.

    It didn''t matter to him when it didn''t protect him during his breakthrough. It didn''t matter to him that it kept sending people to target him. It didn''t matter to him when the statues of these so-called heroes of the path pressured him from above, making his steps heavier and draining away his stamina piece by piece.

    But this...

    "I swear..." Leonel said slowly, his voice rumbling like low brewing thunder. "... I will destroy this Idol Battlefield."

    The white space sparked and clouds appeared high above.

    A strike of lightning came, but Leonel''s wrist only flickered once, shattering it to pieces.

    His eyes blazed with fury.

    The statues should represent the people who had come to the Idol Battlefield before and had made a name for themselves.

    His father had never stepped foot out of the Dimensional Verse; he had never had a chance for his name to resonate. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And yet, this Idol Battlefield was using his likeness for what? A dig at him? A way to try and attack his mental state?

    He would make its World Spirit pay in the cruelest of ways.

    Leonel''s wrist trembled once before he exhaled a breath.

    His tears lit on fire, leaving streaks of embers rolling down his face that flaked away slowly. Red-gold flame mixed into his violet hair, his skin practically beginning to shine as though it had become sparkling crystal.

    IIis trembling spear blade steadied, becoming no less stable than his father''s.

    He raised his spear. Its body had changed, looking to have become a simple wooden spear no different from his father''s.

    He wasn''t the same man he was back in the Dimensional Verse. He had accepted the burdens that

    now rested on his shoulders, and he would carry them no matter what...

    Even if that meant fighting his own father.

    Velasco raised his spear almost lazily. Leonel could hardly catch his movements at all, but before he knew it, the spear was at his throat.

    Leonel''s gaze flickered as he took a step back. He flicked the body of his spear upward, colliding with the polearm of his father''s and sending the blow to the side and up over his shoulder.

    He shifted his head to the side, sliding his steps and pivoting around his parry.

    His blade surged in a wide arc, aiming to slice his father in two.

    However, as he was performing this fluid action, he felt a spike of pain that ripped through his neck and shoulder.

    His neck was half severed, and his arm was almost separated from his body. The blade he thought he had dodged seemed to have an edge to it that even he couldn''t sense.

    Blood spurted as he was blown backward by the sudden force. His spin missed his father''s torso as a result, and he was sent into the distance.

    Leonel landed on the ground heavily, his eyes half vacant. A large amount of blood was leaking from him, and worst of all, there was a difficult-to-manage corrosive force that wanted to swallow him whole.

    He couldn''t seem to stifle the bleeding at all, and he felt his life slipping away.

    He grit his teeth as a great amount of determination surged out from him.

    If he was going to fall, it certainly wouldn''t be because of pain.

    His Spear Force surged into his wounds and formed a delicate web of restrictions and protections that stifled the bleeding.

    He was his Weapon Forces, and his Weapon Forces were him.

    His body flickered and vanished from the spot it was lying in, becoming a streak of Spear Force that dodged out of the way of a follow-up strike.

    He stood in the air, Spear Force swirling around his body.

    The number of things his father had left behind for him were numerous. But among them, not one spoke of the spear, despite the fact he knew his father had to be an absolute master of the craft.

    He had never understood why that was and could only wave it away with perfunctory guesses. After all, his father didn''t follow the path set out by his grandfather or the Morales, choosing to make his own way forward. Maybe he felt Leonel wasn''t compatible with his methods, or maybe he thought that the best path was precisely what Leonel was doing right now...

    Forging his own.

    And if he was going to do that, he was going to have to swallow even his father''s.

    After that exchange, he felt like he had only grasped the faintest corner of it, but it was profound nonetheless.

    It was no wonder his father''s spear never looked like anything special. It was all about perspective. An odd glint reflected in Leonel''s eyes, and the casual aura his father seemed to have vanished. The phantom of a demon appeared around him, a dragon''s body coiled around one arm, and a roaring tiger seemed to come out of another.

    Above his head, a crown of Destruction flickered with a wild radiance, and his simple spear was

    14:23

    twice as thick, its blade three times as large, so much so it looked more like the jagged edges of a glaive than a spear.

    This was his father''s true battle state.

    The battle state he hid within his Destruction World.

    2/3

 Chapter 3170 Kill. Kill. Kill.

    ?Chapter 3170 Kill. Kill. Kill.Leonel was someone who was rarely impressed. But if there was anyone who had experienced his appreciation several times, it was his father. And this time was truly no different.

    One of Blackstar''s abilities was to flicker in and out of his Shadow World. This allowed him to maintain some form in the outside world while also being incorporeal to it.

    If one was fighting him, this was a true nightmare. The fact he could choose when someone could even be allowed to land a blow on him and not was shocking enough.

    When Blackstar really wanted to give an opponent a headache, though, he could disappear into his Shadow World completely, only popping out randomly in a swirl of darkness whenever he wanted. This sort of shifting was the most difficult to deal with because unless you had a high enough Darkness affinity, it couldn''t be sensed in the slightest.

    Leonel had seen how powerful these abilities were, but he had never considered the possibility of using his Destruction World similarly. That was because the foundations of Darkness and Destruction were too different.

    The Shadow World was exactly that, a world in the Shadows. The characteristics of Darkness were well in line with allowing the abilities that Blackstar showed.

    Although it looked like an application of space, in reality it was a method of using the absence of light to one''s advantage. The opening of an entire world only made it more exaggerated.

    But here, Leonel''s father was hiding all of his destructive might in his Destruction World. What Leonel didn''t understand was where those illusory images were coming from.

    The tiger, what looked like a dragon, those constructs in general... were they created via some method? Were they distilled from real creatures? Or was it something else?

    Leonel still wouldn''t be sure.

    What he was certain of was the fact his father''s blade couldn''t be trusted. No matter what it looked like in the outside world, he had to pay attention to the variations and changes in the Destruction World as well.

    Someone else would be out of luck. After all, there were only two people in the entirety of Existence with access to the Destruction World. Or, technically... just one because this was nothing more than a projection of his father.

    Without it, Leonel wouldn''t have been able to see what was hiding away on the other side.

    Leonel wiped away the blood from his lips as he understood.

    His father''s spear style was highly refined, and its foundation was the sturdiest he had ever seen. It was the style of a man who had practiced the very same spear stances again and again without fail.

    Even without his Destruction World, just measuring up to this level of foundation would be incredibly difficult. Sз╫ar?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    However, when he added in the variations hidden within his Destruction World...

    Both men vanished at once, and their clashes began to echo.

    The battle looked quite odd. Leonel was dodging out of the way of the spear blade what looked like several feet sometimes, when usually he would just dodge by a few millimeters.

    The action was forcefully putting him at a disadvantage. The further he was from his father, the harder it was for him to counterattack.

    But only he knew that this was exactly what he had to do.

    The size of his father''s blade changed freely, but the speed and swiftness didn''t change in the slightest. It was a fundamental breaking of the laws of physics, and yet it was precisely because he had a World to himself that he was able to do this.

    PA! PA! PA!

    Velasco suddenly pierced out three times in quick succession, and the tiger wrapping around one of his arms roared.

    The echo spread through the Destruction World, and Leonel''s expression changed as he hurried to accelerate backward.

    But even though he reacted quickly, he found that a layer of his skin had been turned to ash. His expression changed again as he rolled to the side.

    At some unknown point, his father had appeared to his side, slashing out toward his son''s back.

    But when Leonel thought he had dodged, a snaking energy thrust out almost like the chain from a whip. His father''s spear suddenly became incredibly flexible, but the blade remained eerily stable on its path through the air.

    With a slash downward, Leonel, who thought he had dodged, found a hole ripping right through his abdomen.

    The pain rocked his body, and his inner organs were quickly corroding to the point that he felt flashes of death loom over his head.

    He rolled to the side, but his father had somehow appeared right next to him.

    The forms of his father''s spear were changing too fast, too quickly. And because Leonel still hadn''t figured out how he was forming those phantom constructs, he was still struggling with counterattacking.

    Without the Destruction World''s support, Leonel''s spear was just a normal wooden spear, and there was nothing that it could do in the face of such monstrous power at all.

    Leonel couldn''t help but unleash a chuckle as he was sent flying away again, another hole ripping through his body.

    His skin was turning a sickly ashen grey around his wound, his flesh flaking away like ash as it fluttered through the air like grey snowflakes.

    Leonel landed on his feet, coughing violently without the blood to give. Any blood that he would have spilled was instead turned directly to ash.

    His father''s comprehension of Destruction made his own seem like child''s play.

    He was too busy messing around with profound meanings and truths, trying to connect them with Creation, Chaos, and Order, but he had forgotten to actually delve into the true meaning of Destruction itself.

    His father clearly didn''t have this problem. He didn''t overcomplicate his Path of the Spear. Or at the very least, the foundation he built it on couldn''t have been simpler.

    Kill. Kill, Kill.

    Just this and nothing else.

 Chapter 3171 Two Sides

    ?Chapter 3171 Two SidesLeonel wiped his mouth with a sleeve out of habit even though there was no blood. His father was already coming, but Leonel''s Ability Index had activated. Time slowed to a crawl as his thinking speed accelerated.

    Come to think of it, everything he knew about Destruction was built on Creation. It was no wonder his comprehension of Destruction was shallower than his father''s.

    His original foundation for his Destruction comprehension was his Scarlet Star Force. But as he had already deduced, Scarlet Star Force was actually just a strong Force of Creation, one taken too far to become Destruction.

    Leonel was supposed to be a Destruction Sovereign, but those aspects of himself only came out when he was angry... his feet began to smolder, and the corners of his eyes billowed with smoke... but did he truly understand Destruction?

    Why couldn''t he just blast enemies to ash like his father did? Why wasn''t his blade nearly as Corrosive?

    Leonel''s eyes brightened with enlightenment. Or, rather, they were brightening when his father suddenly slashed down.

    Leonel felt an attack right against his psyche as his father somehow tore through his own thoughts. His expression couldn''t help but change as he hurried to block. But the shock in his heart couldn''t be hidden as he was sent rocketing backward again.

    That was possible too?

    Leonel''s Dream Force had Time Force characteristics now. This meant that his already exceptional thinking speed could be accelerated even further just by twisting the time in his head. He didn''t have to try to influence the surroundings at all.

    But his father had cut off his thinking time with a slash that seemed to supersede Time and Space. Leonel''s eyes widened as he rolled to the side again. He hopped up, trying to round to his father''s back, but Velasco''s fundamentals were too solid. He only pivoted his foot slightly, his steady blade remaining pointed at his son''s throat from start to finish.

    The concentration in Leonel''s gaze practically solidified as he bent his body backward, just barely watching as the blade soared over his nose.

    A burning sensation touched the first layer of his skin, and even without being able to see it, Leonel almost felt as though he had just gotten an acid peel. Just being this close to his father''s spear had actually caused him so much damage.

    He somersaulted backward, leaping out of the way further.

    The echo of his heartbeat thrummed through his chest, and the world slowed down around him again.

    He could feel his father''s slash coming again, ready to pierce it all in two, but the calmness in his expression didn''t change.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura suddenly changed, and for the first time, cracks appeared in the floors beneath him.

    This endless room of white had always seemed to be both endless and indestructible. And yet, for the first time, there was real damage done to it. And it was caused by nothing more than an aura release from Leonel.

    Leonel didn''t have to completely overhaul his understanding. All he had to do was realize that he needed a shift in the way he looked at things. Only by shifting the way he viewed Destruction could he tap into the truest layer of his strength.

    He had already been standing on the edge of the cliff for so long... his only problem was that he had focused too much on Creation.

    It wasn''t truly his fault. After all, he realized at that moment that he was never born a Destruction Sovereign... Instead, he had been born a Creation Sovereign so powerful that most people mistook it for Destruction Sovereignty.

    The true natural, inborn Destruction Sovereign was his father. Between the two of them, he had always been the only true Destruction Sovereign.

    When Leonel understood this, everything seemed to make sense, and his views of the world changed.

    The plumes of smoke that came from his feet and the corners of his eyes settled down into a gentle stream of violet. Butterflies, songbirds, and motes of light fluttered around Leonel.

    But very quickly, they became more substantial.

    The butterflies morphed, becoming phoenixes that cried to the skies above.

    The songbirds shifted and changed, metamorphosing into dragons.

    The motes of light burst apart, becoming a large shell that seemed to want to blot out the skies.

    Deep within Leonel''s eyes, a roaring tiger could be seen, and when he opened his mouth, that sound echoed through the world in a booming cadence.

    One after another, these constructs wrapped around his body, vanishing into his World of

    Destruction that was also shifting and changing.

    All of a sudden, it felt like the weight of a world was stabilizing Leonel''s blade. No matter how he shifted and moved his spear, his blade always remained steady.

    And for the first time, he seemed to truly be the mirror image of his father.

    In that moment, Leonel could swear he saw the shoulders of his father relax. But it was only for a moment before Velasco accelerated forward.

    His strength now felt dozens of times heavier. It was like Leonel was fighting it out against an entirely new man.

    From an outsider''s perspective, their clashes were inexplicable.

    Their blades wouldn''t even touch, and yet an invisible force would repel them.

    Every time they clashed, the world in the surroundings would shudder and collapse. Sз╫ar?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Father and son spun around one another in a sharp spear dance that balanced on the edge of life and death.

    As they fought, both of them were improving at a shocking pace. It was like a race between a pair of geniuses, each one learning something new with every strike they levied, making it stronger and

    more shocking.

    BOOM!

    Their spears froze in the air, a violent crack in space separating the two. Fissures appeared in reality, and a black hole threatened to form beneath the pressure of their might.

    14:24

    On one side, there was a man wreathed in gorgeous violet.

    On the other, there was one wrapped in a dense red-black.

    2/3

 Chapter 3172 Again

    ?Chapter 3172 AgainBOOM!

    The two separated, and they landed on the ground heavily. The world of white shattered apart beneath them.

    Both bent their knees at the same time, ready to accelerate forward. However, the weight they carried on their shoulders was far too much. Just the act of sinking themselves down in preparation for an acceleration was far too much.

    The world of white finally couldn''t hold up anymore, and it collapsed.

    Feeling the world failing around him, the two men came to a stop, staring at one another from a distance.

    Velasco raised a hand to his glasses and adjusted them. Then, he gave Leonel a cheeky smile. "Got you again!

    Leonel''s eyes widened.

    However, those were the last words he heard before his father disappeared into wisps of smoke.

    Leonel found himself standing outside, a deep laughter beginning to rumble through his chest before it collapsed into sobs.

    He knew what his dad meant. That man always loved his pranks. His favorite sort of prank was his voicemail joke, pretending that he was there on the other line... when in reality, he wasn''t.

    When Leonel saw his father adjust his glasses, he had felt his heart leap into his throat. He had really wanted to believe.

    But those words at the end...

    They were just like him.

    Leonel leaned on his spear, his tears falling like a torrential rainfall.

    IIe raised his head to the skies and roared a furious bellow.

    The statues that came before were shattered one after another, unable to withstand his rage. In that moment, it felt as though the whole of Existence could hear him. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    His fury, his unwillingness... the last of his grief.

    And yet, all the while, even while leaning on his spear his father gave him, his back remained straight.

    He wouldn''t place down the burden on his back this time. He refused to allow it to collapse for even the slightest moment.

    He had felt it in the weight of his father''s blows. The invisible aura that he carried around wasn''t just a matter of Destruction and its constructs... it was also about the responsibility of a man.

    All his life, Velasco had carried those burdens silently and without complaints, joking around with everyone he came across and living a carefree life.

    Maybe before he met his mother, he had never had any intention of marrying at all. He knew what sort of life he would have to face and didn''t want to have to burden anyone with missing him.

    Life was odd in that way, that disgusting mixture of emotion that made it impossible for anyone to place their feelings in a neat and tidy little box.

    Leonel could imagine the thoughts of his father were similar... both feeling thankful that he had such

    a family and regretful that he had forced them to experience such a thing.

    In some way, Leonel should probably be thankful to the Idol Battlefield for using his father like this, thankful that he had had an opportunity to receive the last of his father''s legacy, thankful that he could see his father''s smile one last time.

    But he wasn''t thankful.

    He was filled with a belly full of rage that he couldn''t settle down no matter how hard he tried. The weight on his back was only becoming heavier and heavier, as he looked up.

    Ilis father''s statue was the only one that deserved to be here.

    If this Idol Battlefield wanted to use him, it was free to have him.

    Leonel slowly raised his head, every one of his movements seeming to carry the weight of the world. Even with a casual raise of his head like this, it was like the world was shuddering to accommodate him.

    His gaze landed on the final statue, the rage flickering deep within his eyes.

    He took a step and vanished.

    When he appeared again, he found an old man sitting cross-legged with a spear across his lap. He wore white, blemishless robes and his head of sparse white hair danced in the wind.

    However, there was no wind to speak of in this place at all. The man''s aura was simply that thick. He slowly opened his eyes, staring at Leonel with an amiable smile.

    "You have a lot of rage-!

    Leonel slashed down.

    The old man blinked, but his reaction wasn''t slow. In one moment, he was sitting in peaceful meditation, and in the next he was already on his feet, the large sleeves of his robes fluttering as he pierced out to meet Leonel''s strike.

    His spear didn''t have any fancy tricks to it at all. There didn''t seem like there was anything to learn. Maybe this man was the progenitor of the spear itself, the man who forged the Spear Force and allowed everyone after him to use it.

    It was no wonder he was the first statuc.

    The two clashed, and the flicker of Leonel''s spear began to match his cadence. He swallowed up the man''s spear, and his movements became faster.

    A violent aura burst around Leonel, and the beauty of his spear dance seemed to return.

    In the past, his Spear Dance had been gorgeous, but then it had slowly become simpler and more refined until he could complete the Spear Dance in just a single strike.

    And now... he could still complete it in a single strike, but the slice across the air was absolutely mesmerizing.

    The man seemed to easily sense the blade hidden within Leonel''s Creation World, but. Leonel didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    The old man showed some surprise by the third exchange, and by the fourth, he was completely serious.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel suddenly seemed to pierce through a veil. His body flickered and vanished, and for the first time, the old man''s spear seemed both hurried and flustered.

    13-96

    213

    PUCHI!

    The old man''s head flew into the skies, the light of shock still in his gaze.

    "Who gave you the right to be ranked ahead of my father?"

 Chapter 3173 Ancient

    Chapter 3173 AncientLeonel''s smoldering fury still flickered in his eyes. He gave a look toward the old man''s statue and swung out once, destroying it.

    The Idol Battlefield shook with rage and indignation, but Leonel didn''t even bother to dignify it with a response.

    Now, in this long corridor, there was only one statue.

    Velasco stood tall and proud with a pair of glasses on his face, his expression haughty enough to look down on the world.

    It was the expression he deserved to have, one that Leonel had always hoped for him. Had his father been allowed to step onto the world stage, just how powerful would he have been able to become? What Leonel didn''t know was that he wasn''t supposed to kill that old man. He was very different from the other spirits as he was part of a man who was very much still living and breathing.

    Of course, that wasn''t the man''s true body... but he had had a lot to tell Leonel, a lot to tell him about things that could very well be quite important.

    But now...

    In a deep corner of the Idol Battlefield, an old man opened his eyes with a flicker of rage. However, he shook his head and sighed soon afterward. He was getting too old for this.

    "You''re awake, Old Spear? What happened?"

    A voice echoed out into the endless darkness.

    "I don''t want to talk about it! Old Spear grumbled.

    "Hohoho, you lost? Let me see, let me see!

    There was a pause before an uproarious laughter echoed. The laughter continued for such a long time that Old Spear''s suppressed rage was starting to come back. But before he could even try and settle it down again, it became a chorus as several more voices joined in.

    Clearly, they had all been awoken by the commotion and started to rewind time to watch as well.

    They had never seen Old Spear suffer such a loss, and it wasn''t a surprise that it was Old Sword that was laughing the hardest.

    "I can''t breathe, Gods!" Old Sword was practically popping a lung,

    Old Spear sneered. "Laugh now, but have you forgotten what the last phase of the Idol Battlefield is?"

    The laughter slowly waned. Indeed, this was a huge problem.

    Old Sword eventually snorted. "It won''t be a problem. The child has truly enraged the Regulator now. Whether or not he can even make it to cause me problems is still up in the air!"

    "The child is truly a bit too unruly! The voice of an old woman echoed. She was Old Dagger. "There isn''t much we can do now that he''s already on this path. And there are many things he doesn''t know!''

    "He should have been a saber wielder. I like him!" Old Saber guffawed.

    "This is why all your chosen die!"

    "Fuck you, Old Glaive!

    The banter of the old-timers continued for a while. It seemed that they had all missed having an excuse to talk like this.

    The most silent among them was Old Spear. He could feel the seriousness of the matter.

    "... The end of Existence is coming and the Ancient Humans have appeared once again. It was they who set the path of the Northern Star, and now it is much too late to reverse. They will certainly monopolize a great deal of treasures.

    "Still harping on these matters. What good is it? It''s all irrelevant by now. Just let the Northern Star come down and destroy everything. Let the world be born anew on the other side. I''ve grown tired of being changed here like some sort of dog!

    The old-timers were indeed the progenitors of the strongest Weapon Forces in Existence... but what no one knew was that after their deaths, they didn''t pass on like everyone else.

    Instead, they were captured by the Regulator of the Idol Battlefield...

    And what was even less known was the fact that the creation of the Idol Battlefield was thanks to the so-called Ancient Humans.

    Many would likely be shocked to find out that the Spirituals were descendants of the Human Race. The Human Race was so simple and they lacked any sort of real talent when it came down to it. The idea that a Mortal Race with such potential would come from them would shock the world. There was a reason they had managed to keep it a secret for so long.

    Everyone knew that if the Spirituals were given enough time, they would definitely make it to Demi-Godhood and eventually true Godhood; their potential was just that great.

    The only reason they had tried to microwave their success was because the pressure of the God Realm was becoming too strong. With the Cullings becoming more frequent and deadly, even the Demi-Gods were starting to feel like they might be targeted next, let alone the Mortal Races.

    The Spiritual Race felt, then, that they didn''t have the time to grow slowly like every other God Race had.

    In the end, they ended up offending Leonel because of their attempts at speeding up their progress. But maybe this was a good thing for them. There were certainly a great number of people who didn''t want to see the Spirituals rise up at all. More competition wasn''t something that these people were a fan of.

    However... if you asked these old-timers here, not a single one of them would be shocked. That was because all of them were Human. The Progenitors of each one of the Weapon Forces on the Idol Battlefield was precisely that.

    When the Idol Battlefield was said to be a matter for "humanoids, that was simply a whitewashing of the truth of events. The reality was that it was built by humans, for humans. And that would always

    be the case.

    It was just that, somehow, every time the Idol Battlefield closed... this fact would be forgotten by those that partook in it.

    But that was hardly the most shocking part...

    Another reason they wouldn''t be so surprised was because it wasn''t just the Spirituals descended from humans...

    Almost every single Humanoid God Race in Existence right this moment could trace their lineage Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    back to the Human Race.....

    The Ancient Humans.

    The Ancient Humans.

 Chapter 3174 Swallowed

    Chapter 3174 SwallowedLeonel took deep breaths.

    He had been able to ignore his fatigue carlier because he was pissed off, but that battle against his father had taken its toll on him. The main trouble, of course, were those spears that had gone through him.

    He was lucky his father hadn''t used his Destruction on the first spear that went through both his shoulder and neck. But judging by his final words, maybe he had done that on purpose. If not, Leonel would probably be dead right about now.

    However, that didn''t change the fact the rest of his body was riddled with holes pooling with

    Destruction energy.

    Luckily, he could restrain that quite well. At the very least, he was far more equipped to do so than anyone else with his Creation Sovereignty,

    But it was hard to reverse damage that was already done, and even harder to unwind the stamina he would use up to deal with the situation as well.

    There was a heaviness to his body now that went beyond just the illusory weight on his shoulders. If he was too casual about it, he could end up suffering greatly.

    However...

    Leonel vanished.

    When he appeared again, instead of appearing at the next phase, he found himself standing at the beginning of a very long corridor once again.

    The only difference between this one and the spear trial was that the statues wielded bows. Leonel looked ahead in silence for a moment before a fiendish grin spread across his face.

    Did the Idol Battlefield think that this would break him?

    Maybe if he had struggled so much with Bow Force first and then he was sent off to face the same challenge of Spear Force he would feel a heaviness to the situation, maybe even a little bit of despair that he would have to temper down.

    But this Idol Battlefield had underestimated him far too much.

    Between his Spear Force and Bow Force... his Bow Force talent had always been on a level all to itself.

    Even if he had to start from square one again, building up his Bow Force from nothing, he would still perform far better in this long corridor...

    Let alone the fact that he had no need of doing such a thing.

    The insights that he had gained from his Spear Force could be translated at least in part to his Bow Force as well.

    When his talent and this foundation was brought together into one...

    What chances did this corridor even stand?

    A hint of pride threatened to spill forth from Leonel''s brow again. But this time, he didn''t do much to try and suppress it. Suppressing it wasn''t the way to deal with this pride of his.

    If he kept suppressing it like he always had, he would just end up dulling his own blade, and over the long run, he might even end up weakening his Forces overall.

    Instead, the image of his father''s smile flashed in his mind. He was a man who had a great deal of pride himself, but it never stopped him from sacrificing. There was nothing that could stop him from taking the steps he needed to protect his family.

    He was completely unlike Leonel''s future self who had just watched as his friends and family died one after another. Eventually, he held all the power in the world...

    But who did he have to share it with?

    Leonel clenched his fist and the spear in his hand shattered. Motes of light fluttered around it as his Scarlet Star Force surged along with his Violet Winds.

    Soon, a red, violet, and gold bow took shape.

    Leonel''s aura thrummed with a valiant light as he took a step forward and entered the first statue. Not even three seconds later, he appeared outside once again and moved on to the second. Ie tore through the line of Bow Force experts like they were ants on his cutting board; one after another, he plowed through them, making the experts of Existence look like toddlers.

    The eyes he had for Bow Force couldn''t be compared to others. He seemed to be able to sense their Paths with a glance and swallow them up with a slight intent.

    Bowmen that focused on speed, power, trickery... it didn''t matter. He seemed to adapt to them all with great ease. In fact, many of these paths were things that he had thought of personally before in the past and incorporated in some way into his Bowmanship.

    It wasn''t until he was over 90% of the way through that he found anything of interest at all, and yet these still only took a fleeting moment to grasp.

    Bow Paths on the same level as Infinite Radiance and Timeless Radiance were like cookies on a platter to Leonel.

    One female bowman had an arrow path of space that ignored barriers to attack vital points directly. There was another arrow that echoed through time, striking down an opponent across several iterations, so no matter how they dodged, they would be struck.

    There was yet another that concentrated a singularity into the point of an arrow. Not only did it have the near-infinite weight of Infinite Radiance, but it sucked an opponent in, making it impossible for them to dodge as well.

    The second to last bowman, a man who took up the same level of strength in the Path of the Bow as Leonel''s father did to the Path of the Spear, had a Bow that could attack across dimensions.

    He could use an arrow even to sever one''s connection to the Dream Plane, killing a person silently without them ever knowing.

    But this also meant that by attacking through the Second Dimension, he could ignore distance. There was nowhere in Existence that someone could hide from his arrow.

    He blurred the line between physical reality and intangible will, even capable of cutting off the connection people had between their affinities and themselves.

    And yet... he too was swallowed up by Leonel. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3175 Fault

    ?Chapter 3175 FaultLeonel exhaled a breath, steadying his heaving chest.

    The last Bowman was truly something. His path was fascinating, and if Leonel was honest, he had never considered using the bow like this.

    It was something that the bow was uniquely suited to. It was the controller of a battlefield, regardless of distance. If you manipulated the way you defined "distance" a bit, it was easy to incorporate Dimensions and their folds into it.

    No matter the time or era, the most skilled archers always had the job of targeting the most high-value targets. They were meant to act to sever the lifeblood of an army, sucking them dry of the very foundation that upheld them.

    To sever... to cut off the lifeblood...

    This archer took this personally, placing the matter as their top priority and taking it to an extreme. They were certainly worthy of being one of the greatest talents of the bow to ever exist.

    Leonel took a step and appeared in the final statue, only to find an old woman sitting with a bow across her lap.

    He raised an eyebrow.

    This was odd. The woman was wearing the same exact robes as the old man from earlier. Was that a coincidence?

    Definitely not.

    Until now, every one of the experts he came across were just wearing things they had during their lives. There was no rhyme or reason linking them at all except that old man and this old woman.

    The old woman''s eyes opened slowly and she unveiled an amiable smile. Though, deep in her eyes, there was a hint of surprise there.

    Leonel thought that surprise was because he was the first to make it here in a while, but Old Bow felt. different. It wasn''t because he had made it here; it was because he had already made it to Old Spear, and on top of that, he had even managed to do so with such incredible speed.

    Leonel must have used barely a week? Whereas the spear corridor had taken up an entire three months of time.

    And somehow, he looked even less injured than he was before. That meant that he was actually using the time to recover as though the Bowman couldn''t provide him any sort of challenge at all. It was definitely a shocking matter.

    "You aren''t going to take my head?" Old Bow asked with a smile.

    If Leonel was speculating before, after hearing these words, he was certain now. That old man and this old woman were definitely related.

    It seemed that he was a bit too enraged before. Maybe they didn''t place his father second, but rather had a default number one that couldn''t be changed.

    Then again, he knew himself. Even if he had known it at the time, he would probably still react the same way.

    But judging by the woman''s smile, it was unlikely that the old man he had "killed" before was truly dead.

    None of those Old spirits had expected that Leonel would actually be such a master in two Weapon Sз╫arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Forces.

    Leonel lowered his readied bow, looking at the old woman for a long while without saying anything, Old Bow chuckled, shaking her head. "I can see that you''re holding up a lot on your shoulders, you''re not in the mood for small talk. This old woman won''t talk your ears off, then. I will only tell you what you need to know.

    "We old folk are not against you. However, what you''ve stepped into this time is very complicated. The Regulator of this battlefield is also not under our control.

    "I will give you the same opportunity that everyone who has reached this point has received. It is good for you anyway since it seems that your bow affinity is much greater than your spear affinity regardless.

    "Had you accepted this challenge for your spear, if I am honest, I believe you would have likely died." Leonel raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, he wanted to go back, but it didn''t seem like this woman would let him.

    Old Bow chuckled, seemingly reading Leonel''s mind.

    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m talking nonsense again. Pretend I said nothing about that. I''m sure you''d give us another surprise. But you do not need to worry. This is an experience you only need once!"

    Old Bow raised an aged hand and pressed forward. There was a ripple in the air and Leonel''s mind suddenly felt like it was trapped in a river of time.

    "Hm?" Old Bow blinked in surprise. "I see..."

    She was completely shocked.

    The process required sending one''s soul back through the stream of time, but Leonel''s Dream Force had actually comprehended and broken into the stream of time on its own.

    Others would be in a daze when this occurred, but Leonel was actually fully lucid. In the end, he didn''t need to pass out like the others did. He could observe it all like he was watching a movie.

    The reason you needed strong Weapon Force to do this was because only those with exceptional Weapon Force could pull themselves out of the illusion in the end. But it seemed that they had truly underestimated Leonel.

    Even if he had no Weapon Forces to speak of at all, he would have been able to pull himself out. In fact, Leonel didn''t need much time to read through everything.

    Others would have needed to experience it piece by piece at a slow and steady pace. They might have even spent an entire year in meditation in order to experience the worth of a few decades. However, it all accelerated around Leonel to the point where in just the blink of an eye, he had seen everything he needed to see.

    And yet, after pulling himself out on his own, he didn''t move, standing in a bit of a daze for a long while.

    Just what had he seen just now?

    The end of Existence... was it the fault of the Human Race?

 Chapter 3176 Die

    ?Chapter 3176 DieLeonel digested this information in silence.

    He found it hard to accept mostly because it didn''t make any sense. But it was even sadder when he came to understand the reason. The fact that it was related to Weapon Forces only made it more ridiculous.

    At the beginning of all things, there were only Humans and the Beasts. The battle between the two had experienced a push and pull several times across their long history, with both sides coming out on top at some point or another, but neither being able to do so for long, while much of the time was spent in a stalemate.

    In the beginning, Beasts had the upper hand. They had stronger bodies and a huge advantage as a result.

    But then Humans began to flip the narrative with their intelligence. They created tools, weapons, and the like, suppressing Beasts until they came out on top.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t last for long. After a long time of being suppressed, the Force Manipulation began to become mainstream and both Races started to feel their way through this complicated process.

    Unsurprisingly, this process came easier to Beasts because they could rely on their instincts while Humans could not.

    As the Beasts increased their Force Manipulation, the advantage Humans had in intelligence plummeted off a cliff, and soon enough, there was little to no difference between the intelligence of the two parties. But worse than that was the fact that now Beasts were just as intelligent and several times more powerful at the same time.

    At this point, the Human Race was at a crossroads. They were having too much trouble catching up to the Beasts.

    Although they began to slowly create Dimensional Methods over the years, bridging the gap felt impossible. They could never match up to the natural affinity that the Beasts had.

    The main problem was that the Human Race wasn''t designed to have one particular affinity. They could be good at a great number of things, and from time to time truly exceptional geniuses would be born suddenly and be able to carve out paths for themselves. But...

    They weren''t like the Humanoid Races of today, like the Void Race that was born with great Spatial affinity, or the Pluto who were born with shocking bodies and Time affinity. In a lot of ways, the Humanoid Races of today were like the Beasts of the past. They had natural affinities that placed them so far beyond normal I Iumans that they had all forgotten their roots.

    This was the crossroads that the Human Race reached. They needed to change something; otherwise, they would be crushed by the Beasts in due time.

    They no longer had the advantage of intelligence, and their talent was also lacking now.

    This was the birth of three Paths.

    The Crafting Path.

    The Hyper Evolution Path.

    The Weapon Force Path.

    The first of the three was quite unique comparatively speaking. Although Beasts had caught up in intelligence, their thinking was still quite rigid and they preferred using their own bodies to attack.

    1/2

    In addition, their cultures made it more natural for them to absorb Force Herbs directly. As they were one with Nature, they never thought about shifting and changing it. So they left many things as the status quo.

    By comparison, Humans had been creating tools since their inception. They were much more attuned with manipulating nature for their own benefit.

    This created a faction of Humans who wanted to go all in on Crafting, hoping that if they created powerful enough treasures and Force Pills, they could forcefully bridge the gap.

    The second of the Paths was the Hyper Evolution Path... the Oryx weren''t the first to experience such a state, and they certainly wouldn''t be the last.

    Sensing the plight of the Humans, Existence gave them a chance to trigger Hyper Evolution. As a result, in a short time, the Human Race began to display several mutations that made them more powerful than normal and brought them closer to the Beasts.

    This was the time where the first iterations of the Humanoid Races began to appear. They still looked very much human, but they were gaining features that weren''t the norm very quickly. Given a few more generations, they would become entirely different.

    And then came the last Path... the Path of the Weapon Forces...

    The biggest weakness of the Human Races was their affinities. Innate Nodes appeared too randomly, and Lineage Factors could only be so great in a Human Race that didn''t have other special characteristics.

    No matter how strong a Lineage Factor made you, a Human would never be as powerful as a Pluto. Their biology had a limit. Unless they became something that was no longer human, they would never bridge this gap.

    And many were unwilling to take that step.

    Watching their Humans mutate around them, becoming "things" that they could only see as abominable creatures, they couldn''t sit idly by.

    The bridge between humans was widening, cracking at its foundations. Many felt that people were abandoning their Ancestors, becoming something far more bestial than they were meant to.

    This led to them breaking free, going all in on a Path that they had been warned about long before... The Path of Weapon Forces.

    This Path was no longer about waiting for Existence to hand them things; they were going to take it themselves.

    They forcefully used the state of Hyper Evolution to forge a connection with the Laws of the World. After all, what was the state of Hyper Evolution if not a stronger attunement with the world? One that allowed efficient evolution in a short period of time?

    Why not use it to allow a connection with the more fundamental, creating an opening that allowed the Human Race to manipulate the foundational Laws of the world, twisting and forming them into the Weapon Forces that they knew and loved today...

    But as with all things, there was a consequence to pay.

    Existence began to dic.

    Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3177 Hand in Hand

    ?Chapter 3177 Hand in HandLeonel wasn''t sure how he felt about this. It wasn''t exactly the fault of the people. There was no way that Existence could last forever no matter what. It was the natural progression of the world to eventually fall into a silence, destroying itself before being reborn anew.

    This was the cycle he had always known.

    At worst, Existence''s fall had been accelerated. But...

    Even with this acceleration, it had been trillions upon trillions of years since then. Existence had still managed to continue for so long. If the Ancient Humans hadn''t made this choice, would the result have been much different?

    Well, at least right now, Leonel wouldn''t be facing the end of the world. But even then, it didn''t seem to change much about his life at all.

    It was a shame, though, that Crafting wasn''t the Path they chose to stick with.

    Ultimately, the Weapon Force Path worked well for a short while and reversed the situation once again, but it was the Beasts who they thought would ignore Paths of Creation that ended up picking up the Path of Crafting, eventually becoming the God Beasts of Creation who lorded over the whole world for a long while.

    In an irony of ironies, the God Beasts of Creation became harbingers of peace and allowed the world to live in harmony. As a result, the clashes between the Humans and Beasts came to a stop, and the Ancient Humans who chose the Path of the Weapon Forces were forced to cull their ambitions.

    They were neither strong enough to make much of a difference, and even when they did try, they were ruthlessly suppressed by all parties.

    Eventually, they were forced into hiding, and this resulted in the normal humans that remained being oppressed as well.

    The Beasts had grown to become overlords. The Humanoids had forged out their place in the world, becoming powerhouses in their own right, leaving Humans without much room for growth.

    That was when the God Beasts of Destruction appeared, forcefully striking a balance.

    It seemed that the Path of Crafting had its own issues. When it was taken to an extreme, it too was taking from Existence in a way that was too violent. In the end, the Infinity Beasts had to be countered by the Void Beasts.

    This gave Humans a chance to rise up again. The Ancient Humans had vanished, but their descendants were taken in by the God Beasts of Creation, eventually becoming the Envoys of Light. and Darkness, and the Fawkes and Four Great Families.

    All the while, the Ancient Families were in the shadows...

    Until they succeeded in creating their utopia.

    The Idol Battlefield.

    This occurred during the great war between the Infinity Beasts and Vold Beasts. The Ancient Humans thought it was the best chance to reverse their circumstances, and they were right. Using the corpses of Infinity Beasts, they built the foundation of this Idol Battlefield. In the end, the Ancestors of the Weapon Forces were tied to this Battlefield, pulled back from the dead and restrained onto this land.

    They had no input into the plans of their descendants, and by now the Idol Battlefield was practically a minefield of its own, functioning with a rogue Regulator that only wanted to pump out more and 16:47 O

    more powerful Weapon Forces no matter what it had to do.

    Ironically enough, their descendants still hadn''t seen the problem. Maybe they thought that if they brought their Weapon Forces to a high enough level, they could control the Laws of Existence well enough to reverse everything.

    But in all these years, no one had been able to reach such a level, and it was nothing but a foolish dream to do so as well.

    How could you ever reverse the situation with just one Weapon Force? If you wanted to undo the damage to Existence, you would need to control ALL of the Laws, not just a few of them.

    That meant you would need every iteration here to find a successor capable of reaching a level beyond anything anyone in Existence''s past had.

    It was an absolutely ridiculous ask.

    Even if Leonel had such a chance, it would only be with his Spear and Bow. And even then, it was likely only his Bow that might have a small chance at reaching such a level.

    Wanting to do this was like asking the world to produce dozens of Leonels, each one as talented in their own Weapon Force as Leonel was with the Bow.

    It was foolish.

    At this point, it was maybe even beyond foolish. They weren''t thinking straight and just accelerating everyone to their deaths.

    But maybe this was everyone....

    The Ancient Humans were obsessed with bringing Humans back to the top of the world through the Weapon Forces they trusted so much...

    The Infinity Beasts had been obsessed with Crafting, thinking that they could create enough to forge the perfect world through their Path of Crafting...

    And look at the Pluto now, they were trying to force themselves back into a state of Hyper Evolution, dancing on the edge of life and death in hopes that they could reverse the decline of their Race in these final moments.

    No matter where you looked, of all three Paths, each one had ended in abject failure, and yet every one of them that still lived was scrambling for a chance to give it one more go. Sз╫ar?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Looking at it from a third party''s perspective, Leonel realized just how ridiculous it all was.

    They said that the definition of insanity was attempting the same thing over and over again while hoping for a different result...

    Ironically, some of the strongest existences to ever step foot in reality were exactly like this.

    However, there was something even more profound here, something that made Leonel chuckle bitterly.

    If everyone was making the same mistake... was it really a mistake?

    What Existence wanted most was for its children to evolve, and what were the Pluto, the Ancient. Humans, and the Infinity Beasts of the past doing... if not trying to evolve?

    But it was precisely this drive to evolve that was leading to the end of the world.

    They came hand in hand, and there was no escaping it.

    From the very start, this was always meant to be the natural progression of things, and maybe this exact scenario had already played out countless times before.

    1/3

    The end of the world was coming, and every attempt to stop it only made it come faster.

 Chapter 3178 Always

    ?Chapter 3178 AlwaysLeonel stood in silence for a while, digesting everything he read. It was a long while before he looked up to meet Old Bow''s eyes once again.

    Honestly, he was a bit confused. What about this was an opportunity?

    Was the opportunity just knowing that the world was going to end? He already knew that.

    Was the opportunity to know why the world was ending? Who cared about that?

    Old Bow chuckled as though she could see through Leonel''s thoughts.

    The opportunity was actually to feel Time Force and learn how to incorporate it into your Weapon Force. Those that could pull themselves out from the illusion would always come back with this understanding, and if they could refine it well enough before the end of the battlefield, then they could leave here with their knowledge intact.

    Otherwise, the Regulator of the Idol Battlefield would be able to erase their memories, much like they had done with everyone that came before them, and the end result would just continue to be more of the same.

    Old Bow didn''t explain because she knew that Leonel would be able to figure this out on his own. And Leonel''s next question proved that.

    "Then why is the Regulator obsessed with erasing the memories of those that enter here? What am I missing?"

    It didn''t make sense to Leonel even after some thought. The Regulator was birthed through the efforts of the Ancient Humans, fine. But the Regulator obviously didn''t listen to these Ancient Humans, or else there would be a very clear path to succeeding here.

    Someone like Leonel, who had two such powerful Weapon Forces, should be treated like a VIP if the Regulator was listening to the Ancient Humans.

    Not only was Leonel a true Human, but he had exactly the potential in both Spear and Bow Force to succeed where they had failed in the past. He should be exactly the sort of candidate that they should be propping up.

    This was all to say that the Idol Battlefield wasn''t on the side of the Ancient Humans unless these Ancient Humans also didn''t consider him a true Human, which Leonel doubted was the case.

    That meant that the Idol Battlefield shouldn''t have a vested interest in protecting the Ancient Humans from the rage of the world.

    The only reason Leonel could think of for why the Idol Battlefield would erase the memories of those that came here of these events was to stop another wave of mass genocide against the Humans. But as had already been established, this Idol Battlefield didn''t give a damn about the Human Race or the Ancient Humans.

    That left practically no explanations as to why they would go so far. Leonel realized that he must be lacking some information, or else why would the Idol Battlefield go so far?

    Unless...

    "The Idol Battlefield may not be on the side of the Ancient Humans any more than anyone else, but it does have a vested interest in preserving the Path of the Weapon. If everyone found out that no longer using Weapon Forces would help Existence to last longer, what do you think would happen?" Leonel shook his head, looking off into the distance.

    It was as he expected. This world was designed to fail. Not the Idol Battlefield, but Existence itself.

    Creation was the opposite side of the coin of Destruction. One couldn''t exist without the other, and there would be perpetual Creation for only as long as Destruction didn''t take over.

    Then there would be a period of Destruction before Creation returned again. But by then, all those living wouldn''t have a place in the world anymore.

    There was simply no circumventing this. Leonel''s future self had seen it personally. So long as there was one shred of Creation left remaining, the Northern Star could never truly reset the world and start anew. It wasn''t until he died in this future that the universe could begin its final Destruction before sprouting life once again.

    By then, there would be no point to anything. Everything they had known or had known would be gone, leaving nothing more than an empty carcass of a world for the next round of Races to raze to the ground before the cycle started all over again.

    There was no escaping it. It was inevitable.

    If even World Spirits and Regulators were susceptible to driving the world into a ditch, then what good was it to fight against it?

    Leonel shook his head and sighed.

    Indeed. The world did feel like one big practical joke. It really made a man wonder... why?

    However, after his sigh, his lip curled a bit.

    Old Bow, who was watching his expression like a hawk, couldn''t help but be taken aback. The sigh was pretty common, albeit much more muted of a response than she had received from everyone else.

    She assumed that this was because unlike the others, Leonel and the talents that had entered the Idol Battlefield this time around were dancing on the edge of the end of Existence. Compared to the other talents who still felt like the end of the world was an impossible distance away, this was a very different situation to be sure.

    It was only natural, then, that Leonel would take it more in stride. Sз╫arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But that smile... it was completely out of place.

    As for Leonel, he wasn''t thinking about any of the matters that weighed Old Bow down. He was smiling because he felt that he had made the right choice to allow his wife to experience happiness.

    If the world''s end was inevitable, what was the point of holding out hope, waiting for everything to settle down before they could finally chase after their happiness?

    In this case, they might as well do their best to grasp what strands of jovial memories they could before they faced off against the inevitable.

    Who knew? Maybe this obsession with improvement, of delaying, of finding a solution...

    Had always been the problem.

 Chapter 3179 No Bounds

    3179  No Bounds Leonel seemed particularly relaxed as he looked back toward the old woman, raising his bow once again.

    "Shall we?"

    The old woman blinked for a long while before she smiled, standing to her feet.

    "My logic tells me that there is no point. But my pride is telling a very different tale."

    When she stood to her full height, Leonel realized that she was much taller than he thought. In fact, she was a half head taller than even he was.

    Although Leonel had shrunken in size after losing his Demon Bloodline, he was still of decently tall stature for a Human, standing at around 6''4 or so. And yet, Old Bow was about an inch taller than him.

    Her legs were slender and her arms were long. In a way, she almost looked like the curve of a bow herself.

    In her youth, she must have been quite the beauty. Even now in her old age, there were hints of rouge on her cheeks and an elegant flare to her actions that made her still hold those hints of enticement.

    Her bow was long, over three meters from tip to tip. And yet, it fit her perfectly.

    The world fell into silence as her fingers clasped onto her bowstring.

    At that moment, it became clearer to Leonel than ever that he was facing off against the Ancestor of the Bow, the originator, the creator.

    However, as soon as that reverence appeared in his heart, it was ruthlessly stamped out.

    The light smile on Old Bow''s face faded as a sharpness tore the murkiness of her gaze apart.

    "I can see now why the Idol Battlefield hates you so much."

    Leonel raised his bow. Unlike Old Bow, his smile didn''t fade. His mood, after taking a downturn thanks to the Spear corridor, was now in quite a good state.

    "Jealousy doesn''t look very good on you, Old Bow," Leonel said with a chuckle.

    "I disagree. As the Old Bow, the Ancestor of the weapon you hold in your hands, my arrogance is warranted. And as the archer of the battlefieldбн of all battlefieldsбн

    "My greed knows no bounds."

    Leonel felt his heart tremble. There was a profoundness to those words that he just barely caught onto the faintest edges of.

    The truth was that the Spear and Bow Corridors were all curated. Dimension was taken out of the equation and it became a battle of pure Weapon Force skill and might.

    22:44

    The truth was that the Spear and Bow Corridors were all curated. Dimension was taken out of the equation and it became a battle of pure Weapon Force skill and might.

    If Leonel had fought any one of these experts of the past at their full capacity, his head might not still be on his shoulders.

    But it was also because of that, that he was able to get true insights into the rawness of their abilities.

    This woman was truly an existence that was worthy of lording over all other Bowmanбн

    Except for him.

    The twang of their bows echoed at the same time and a rain of attacks opened between the two.

    They stood just 20 meters apart, a distance that was incredibly short even for a mortal archer, let alone two practical Gods like them.

    And yet their reactions were unmatched.

    They pushed one another, their arrows colliding tip to tip with perfect precision every time, no matter how they curved through the air, no matter how they exploded with speed.

    They said that to an archer, distance didn''t matter. But what many meant when they spoke these words was a longer distanceбн

    What about shorter ones?

    How many archers in existence would find themselves helpless if the enemy was too close? How many of those same archers would pride themselves on how many kilometers away they could snipe a target down from?

    **BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**

    Their arms moved faster as they took a step forward, and then another.

    Leonel released a wild grin and the sharpness in Old Bow''s eyes only grew more condensed. He could sense how prideful she was, how she refused to lose.

    Neither of them used any fancy tricks. No Ability Indexes, no Lineage Factors, they didn''t even use Bow Force itself very much.

    It was like they had returned to the days before Old Bow created Bow Force, relying on nothing more than the sharpness of their eyes, the steadiness of their hands, the twangs of their bows.

    **BANG! BANG!**

    Leonel suddenly accelerated. His hand speed was the same, but he began nocking two arrows at once, and then three.

    Even without his Ability Index, his feel for the bow was like a man against the world.

    Feeling provoked, Old Bow did the same. Her arrows began to twist through the air with a more vicious momentum.

    At this point, the two were only separated by ten meters. Their arrows continuously rebounded against one another only to be destroyed on impact.

    Rains of shards of wood and Force descended from the skies, but they still took a step forward, and then another.

    Old Bow suddenly nocked four arrows at the same time. When she released, they diverted along two paths, twisting and winding around one another.

    At that instant, two sets of two arrows matched against one of Leonel''s arrows each, blasting through them and shattering the stalemate.

    The fiendish glow in Leonel''s eyes grew to another degree.

    Rather than matching Old Bow''s quantity, he only nocked two arrows. They flew separately in the air, meeting Old Bow''s quadruple rain in an instant.

    His arrows split the twin arrows of Old Bow apart, parrying one downward and the other upward and off course.

    However, his arrows didn''t stop, borrowing the twisting momentum that Old Bow had given hers and inexplicably accelerating forward.

    Old Bow hadn''t expected this and was actually preparing a follow-up attack. By the time she realized that she had to toss her calculations out of the window, she also realized that she and Leonel were too close together now.  Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    If they had been 10 meters apart, she could still manage. But now at just fiveбн

    Old Bow released a sigh.

 Chapter 3180 Heart

    3180  Heart **TA. TA.**

    The two arrows whizzed into Old Bow''s chest. She looked down and shook her head. She had lost. She had truly lost in bow fundamentals to a youth who didn''t seem to have even experienced a few hundred years of life.

    She couldn''t help but feel disappointed.

    "Thank you," Leonel said with a smile.

    "You don''t need to make me feel better," Old Bow said a bit bitterly as she began to fade away.

    "I mean it," Leonel said.

    Old Bow''s gaze flickered, but she was already disappearing before she could say anything more. Soon, there was nothing but silence once again.

    Leonel stood there in silence, resisting the Idol Battlefield''s expulsion so he could immerse himself in his thoughts more.

    His gaze continuously flickered, his mind feeling like it was breaking free of a cocoon of some sort.

    ''My greed knows no boundsбн''

    He understood what Old Bow was referring to. It was the job of an elite archer on a battlefield to take out high-value targets. The stronger the target, the better. The more elite the archer, the stronger the target they would go afterбн regardless of distanceбн regardless of riskбн regardless of the strength of the target themselves.

    "Regardless of distance" didn''t need to be explained other than to say that all distances had to be factored inбн whether that was much furtherбн or, much closer.

    "Regardless of risk" also explained itself. An archer with great feats beneath their belt was bound to be targeted by other elite archers and powerful Generals of the like. The more of their skill they showed, the more likely they would also become one of the very same high-priority targets that they sought after.

    And then "regardless of strength"бн  Sear?h the novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Greedбн

    Leonel wonderedбн

    Was that something that he had ever had?

    He had always loved to win, but was that Greed?

    No. In fact, his younger self didn''t even like to show his sharpness all that much. Only when he was in the right situation or he was provoked would he act out.

    22:46

    If there was a competition to win, and he happened to already be a part of it, then his Pride would kick in, and he would definitely do everything he could to have his cake and eat it too.

    However, if there wasn''t anything driving him, he didn''t mind sitting back and reclining. He had never been a person who sought out attention or the adoration of others.

    Back in the Dimensional Verse, this was truly a flaw of his. His overall laziness in regard to improving and bettering himself stemmed from the same careless disregard of much of everything around him.

    Even the very foundation of his dreams and aspirations was built on selflessness.

    He wanted to become a King not because of the power, but instead to help forge a world that everyone could be equal inбн a world everyone could experience happiness in.

    If it was up to him, he would just find somewhere to sit back and recline.

    It could be said that the concept of greed wasn''t very well ingrained in Leonel''s psyche at all. If anything, it was antithetical to the person he was.

    The only time he had ever truly displayed greed was when he was willing to burn the world for just a chance to resurrect his father and see him once more.

    But not only had he snapped out of that, he was even fearful of returning to that version of himself.

    He began to suppress all aspects of himself that he didn''t like, forcing himself to grow as a person so that he could keep more of his family and friends around him. Greed was always something that he saw as a bad thing.

    But there was something about Old Bow''s words that enlightened him to something else.

    Why was it that the overly confident version of himself, the lazy man of great talent that ended up sitting at the top of the world all alone, a problemбн?

    Leonel had always believed that the answer was because he was too selfish. He was too obsessed with winning, so he had neglected everything else.

    But when was that ever the case? Didn''t that version of himself still love Aina with all his heart? Didn''t he still love his mother? His brothers? His friends? His father?

    Maybe the real problem with that version of himself wasn''t that he was selfish, but rather that he too was selfless.

    That confident version of future Leonel always found plans that worked. But the problem with those plans was that they all had a 100% certainty of working out for him. He picked them because he thought it would give him the greatest odds for survival, and he was right.

    But what if he was also wrong?

    What if instead of picking the plan that had a 100% chance of success every timeбн he picked a plan with 90% success that could also save the life of someone he cared for should he succeed? What if he picked the plan with an 80% chance of success that might allow two people he cared for to succeed?

    What if he picked the plan with a 30% chance of success that would give him everything he wanted in the end?

    His future self had ended up losing everything because he continuously made the perfect decision despite knowing that it might lead to some casualties.

    But maybe the perfect, robotic decision wasn''t what he needed all the time. Maybe he needed to take some risk, maybe he needed to risk bruising his prideбн

    Not the pride of himself, but rather his Dream Force.

    He felt like he understood something he hadn''t before. His pride came from his Dream Force, and his Dream Force was what helped him to analyze all of these plans. How could it sit idly by as he chose a path that was less ideal for selfish reasons?

    But why always rely on his mind when sometimes the heart was more worth following?

    A Valiant Heart.

 Chapter 3181 I Want...

    ?Chapter 3181 I Want... Leonel''s aura began to surge.

    The moment he released the reins, he was expelled from Old Bow''s statue.

    The instant this happened, his power boiled over, and the fluctuations caused the Idol Battlefield to almost flip on its head.

    Leonel, though, didn''t seem to notice. As the wisps of his hair grew a deeper violet,

    and his exposed chest rippled with the rays of light coming from his heart, he stood in silence, gazing off into the distance.

    A Valiant Heart.

    He felt as though a second piece of the puzzle had come and infused into his body. Leonel had been jaded by this world, but at the core of his being, he was a man who cared... maybe too much.

    He had almost died in his first Sub-Dimensional Zone because he felt bad for the teenage girl who thought being sacrificed would be the only thing to bring her family salvation.

    During the first parts of his journey, he had diligently counted every single one of the people who fell by his hands, regardless of whether they deserved it or were innocent bystanders swept up into his matters by the orders of their superiors.

    He had let the guilt of his talent being greater in comparison to many others weigh him down practically every step of the way, and he had dedicated his life to making the world a better place, not just once, but twice... Sз╫arch* The Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    At the cost of both his own happiness and that of his wife''s.

    But it was still deeper than just that.

    He had practically built his life for the sake of his father. Whether it was his pursuit of reviving him in his first life, or the building of his Dream Force on his concepts of Respect and Persistence in this one.

    It could be said that even the path that dictated his mind itself wasn''t his own.

    When Leonel really thought back, he couldn''t help but wonder...

    Was his decision to have a baby with his wife the first time he had made one as his own man?

    Did that even count? After all, although he wanted a child, he had ultimately done so for the sake of his wife.

    Even that decision couldn''t truly be considered to be... for him.

    What did he want?

    He wanted his friends and family to be happy.

    Another cop-out of an answer.

    He wanted the world to live in peace and harmony.

    Yet another floundering answer.

    He really couldn''t think of anything so clearly. Who Leonel Morales was ended up being wrapped up in the thoughts and opinions of so many others that unraveling them one by one to get to the very core of his being just felt impossible.

    After he shed them all away, there was nothing left but a mindless husk. He might as well have been an Invalid at that point.

    But that was when it clicked for Leonel.

    Being his own person didn''t mean selfishly pursuing everything he wanted to do. Selfishness could also encompass what he thought was good as well... It was all a matter of perspective.

    He wouldn''t be Leonel without his friends and family, so how could he try to divorce them from himself when they were the existences that made Leonel... well, Leonel. ''What do I want...''

    Leonel looked into the skies, his heart shining brighter as his Dharma began to form above his head again.

    ''I want the Demoness dead...''

    His eyes glowed brighter, and the echoing sounds of weapons sharpening resonated through the air.

    **SHIIIING! SHIIIING! SHIIIING!**

    Leonel continued to stare absentmindedly into the distance, his heart continuing to glow with a fiercer light.

    He seemed to have broken through one layer, but he wasn''t there yet. There was

    more.

    ''I want Existence to survive...''

    **RUMBLE.**

    The Idol Battlefield shook to its very core. It was a profound set of words, and yet Leonel still continued to stare off in a daze.

    The Demoness was maybe the strongest power in all of Existence.

    Existence itself encompassed everything there was or ever had been.

    And yet, thoughts about these two just seemed to be the first few layers of Leonel''s true inner heart. It was like somewhere deep inside, too deep for any of his Forces to

    11:11 -

    seriously at all...

    Almost like it was inevitable...

    ''I want my friends and family to live the lives they have happily...''

    **DUDOOM. DUDOOM.**

    The echo of Leonel''s heartbeat shattered the space around him. Bow and Spear Force formed spontaneously, fusing out of the Forces that lingered in the air and ripping the rules of the Idol Battlefield apart.

    No Force other than Bow Force should have been able to appear in this corridor, and yet Leonel did it with ease.

    The layers of his heart peeled away one after another.

    ''I want to be happy...''

    **RUMBLE. RUMBLE.**

    Clouds began to form above the Idol Battlefield as the world whined and groaned. Existence itself seemed to be witnessing the birth of something that it couldn''t quite fathom or understand.

    The shaking went as far as to cause cracks to appear at the edges of the battlefield, and some of the long-used Trials almost collapsed in on themselves as a result. It felt like everything was revolving around one young man and his realization of himself.

    And yet, there was still another layer to peel away.

    As Leonel''s heart shimmered like a beacon, he felt that there was something else sitting on the tip of his tongue.

    He remembered his days in the Royal Blue Academy, the fun he had between classes, how nice it was sitting behind Aina and watching her cute mannerisms, how fun it was being able to just chat and joke around with his brothers every day, and then return to jeer his father at night.

    It was a carefree life, maybe one he yearned for so much he became purposely lazy when that wasn''t really the type of person he was.

    "... I want to be Free."

    Something solidified above Leonel''s head.

 Chapter 3182 More Complex

    ?Chapter 3182 More ComplexLeonel looked up toward the ceiling of the corridor. It was so tall that it might as well have been a sky itself, and above that was a glass dome that reflected the moon and the stars.

    He didn''t seem aware of the changes taking place in his body at all. It was more like he was just looking around, observing the world for the very first time.

    His breathing was calm and even, his thoughts flowing smoothly.

    Was it really freedom? Was that all he wanted? The right to be lazy when he wanted, to tease his wife when he wanted, to joke around with his brothers when he wanted...

    That would be a nice life, indeed.

    Maybe it was something everyone wanted deep down. No matter how ambitious, no matter how timid, no matter how pitiful, in the end, it all boiled down to these same words.

    The only difference between him and others was how it manifested.

    Wanting freedom was nothing new. It was almost a lackluster dream... and yet, what was always most important wasn''t what the conclusion was, but rather how it had come about.

    Leonel took a breath and finally seemed to turn his attention to what was above his head. He didn''t seem to care about the formation of the Dharma in the slightest.

    It was quite simple, at least to him. If others saw it, they would feel like it was fathomless, carrying a depth that even most Idols simply didn''t have. And more shockingly than that... it was the second Dharma that Leonel had formed.

    It wasn''t unheard of to have more than one Dharma. The hard rule for Idols was only for exactly that, Idols. There were other geniuses who would try to form multiple Dharmas and then fuse them into an Idol when they were ready.

    But the problem with Leonel''s Dharma was that it was already a fusion of

    several Dharmas... and yet it was still just a Dharma.

    The formation of a second Dharma was already something only 10% of people with a Dharma in the first place could accomplish.

    To put that matter into perspective, saying that only 1% of people who reached the Ninth Dimension could form a Dharma was a fast underestimation of the difficulty.

    It was actually more accurate to say that only 1% of people who reached the Ninth Dimension could form a Life Realm Force.

    And further than that, only 1% of people who could successfully form a Life State Force could ever form a Creation State Force.

    Of that 1%, only another 1% of that could form a Middle Creation State Force, and that pattern continued until barely 0.1% of those who formed Peak Creation State Forces could ever form a Dharma.

    By this point, the percentage was so small that it was unfathomable.

    It could be said, then, that a leap to 10%, while seemingly large, when the context was taken into consideration, was only natural.

    Still, there was an explanation for why only 0.1% of Peak Creation State users could form Dharmas, but 10% of Dharma formers could create a second, and that was because the vast majority of Idols were formed from two or more Dharmas.

    Those that stepped into the Dharma Realms already had a strong idea of what they wanted their Idol to be, so they had already made all of the necessary preparations.

    It could be said, then, that given that context, the 10% figure was even more shocking than the 0.1% figure. To be prepared, a clear genius, and yet still fail at such a rate was astonishing.

    The number of those that could form three Dharmas, though, was shockingly low. It was such a low number, in fact, that across all of Existence, there were only a few hundred people.

    As for those that created four, there were only a handful. Not even one dozen.

    This was why Leonel''s Dharma was such an anomaly.

    His first Dharma, his Crown, was technically only constructed from one Force... but was it?

    Violet Force was a self-creation that took into account several Sovereignties and Forces into one. His Dream Force, Vital Star Force, his Creation Sovereignties... the list felt endless.

    It might look like a single Dharma, but it was the culmination of many. After all, it too had once been an Idol that Leonel forcefully suppressed into a

    Dharma.

    However, for his second Dharma, it was even more obvious. That was because this Dharma hadn''t originally been an Idol, so it wasn''t nearly as cohesive. As a result, there were several obvious standouts within.

    His first Dharma looked like a Crown, but this one looked like a Royal Crest. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    At the center of it, there was a bow drawing a spear to be loosed. They were surrounded by a foundation of violet mythical creatures that wrapped around them and seemed to fuse into their bodies, strengthening them. Then, surrounding them, there was a gorgeous array of violet lotuses, fluttering violet butterflies, and motes of violet light.

    Then, surrounding it in a border, there was a solid barrier of red and gold, accenting and offsetting the dense purple and mauve colors.

    Just at a single glance, one could see that it incorporated both Spear and Bow Force into a single Dharma. That was already something that should be near impossible, even for an Idol.

    It wasn''t the first time someone had mastered two Weapon Forces to this

    extent, but they would normally either choose one to abandon the other, or they would choose a different foundation for their Idol and Dharma so that

    they could continue to use both.

    Leonel, however... seemed to skirt these rules entirely.

    But it only got worse when you looked deeper. The border of red and gold was none other than his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node. Then, deep within, the contrasts of his Creation and Destruction Sovereignty layered themselves in as a foundation.

    This Dharma... it was more complex than most Idols in existence.

 Chapter 3183 A Shock

    ?Chapter 3183 A ShockLeonel exhaled as the momentum of his breakthrough finally

    slowed.

    Looking down at himself, he still seemed calm. His body seemed to be in a terrible state on the surface, but he had never felt better... at least mentally.

    On top of that...

    SHUUU! BANG! BANG!

    He tore through barriers in the Seventh Dimension one after another. From Tier 1 to 2, and then from 2 to 3. His momentum didn''t slow until he was already a 7th Tier Seventh Dimensional existence.

    His body rippled with power.

    ''So this is it...''

    The formation of a Dharma came with a strong connection with Existence. During this process, it would allow one a chance to accelerate progress if the opportunity could be grasped.

    Leonel had squandered the opportunity before because he had to put a great deal of effort into suppressing his Crown down from the Idol level to the Dharma level. That had wasted much of the energy he could have taken advantage of for himself.

    Luckily, he had been able to use his King Force to

    reverse-engineer a breakthrough for him, going "back in time" to multiply all of the training he had already done and making it more effective. It was a broken ability; even he had to admit that.

    But this time, the breakthrough was much more straightforward... However, if an outsider was observing this, they would have a very Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    different opinion. That was because it was far too ridiculous for Leonel to form a Dharma of such quality and only move seven Tiers up.

    It wasn''t rare for a genius of Leonel''s caliber to leap ahead an entire Dimension. Of course, that was only if they were around the Seventh Dimension like he was.

    There were several Gods with full Idols that were still stuck in the lower Tiers of the Ninth Dimension because of how difficult it was to progress within it.

    If a genius of Leonel''s caliber was in the Ninth Dimension for some reason when they first formed their Dharma, then moving forward a single tier would already be a miracle.

    However, judging by the fact Leonel had only moved seven Tiers forward, it was clear that even this Dharma wouldn''t allow him to move a single inch if he had been in the Ninth Dimension.

    This was well within Leonel''s expectations. As powerful as his father''s Dimensional Method was, the drawbacks were obvious.

    Not only had he had to climb through hellfires and scale mountains of blades just to make it to the Sixth Dimension, but now, even without such ridiculous requirements to meet, the sheer amount of energy he needed was astronomical.

    This was why he had to come here. This place was the only location where he could progress so fast, and yet... it still wasn''t enough.

    That was because Leonel knew that he would have to improve his father''s [Final Destruction] Dimensional Method very soon.

    Or, rather, "improve" wasn''t really the right word. The Dimensional Method was already shocking enough. When it was matched with his [Dimensional Cleanse], it was like a tiger had gained wings.

    There was no doubt in Leonel''s mind, after he had come to the God Realm, that he practiced the strongest combination method in Existence.

    The trouble was that he wasn''t a Destruction Sovereign like he had always assumed. He was a Creation Sovereign.

    [Final Destruction], as a result, was actually misaligned with his abilities. It was actually weakening him.

    Of course, that was too simple of an explanation. If it was just "weakening" him, he wouldn''t be growing so strong.

    But if there was a hypothetically neutral technique that was just as powerful as [Final Destruction], and he practiced it instead, Leonel calculated that he would be twice as powerful as he was now.

    If he took it a step further, and there was a theoretical [Final Creation] technique instead... let alone twice as powerful, he would be dozens of times stronger than he was now.

    This was what he meant by [Final Destruction] making him weaker.

    That said...

    Leonel finally completely relaxed, exhaling a breath and taking a breath. With just this breath, his wounds began to heal at a visible

    speed.

    He didn''t use [Instant Recovery]; he didn''t have to... If a Destruction Sovereign destroyed, then he created.

    He had spent his entire life thinking that he didn''t have great Life Force affinity. Vital Star Force had come exceptionally hard to him. It was like pulling teeth trying to improve his comprehension of the Force just by a single inch.

    Yet, ironically enough, one of his most powerful self-created

    techniques came precisely from Vital Star Force, a Life Force...

    [Star Fusion].

    How did he square the two?

    The reality was that he had never had poor Life Force affinity. His

    Life Force affinity was exceptional. So shocking that it was no

    longer even considered Life Force.

    It crossed over into new realms, touching upon the Second

    Dimension, and inevitably the First.

    It was just that he never understood how to tap into it. He wasn''t even aware that it existed in the first place.

    Leonel closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled another breath.

    When he opened them once more, there was a vibrancy to his aura that made the stars pale.

    The healthy glow of his skin became fiercer. It was almost as though he had concentrated starlight into his very body.

    His Innate Node began to change, and Star Force descended in

    droves.

    It was said that no one had a Star Force affinity. Most didn''t even understand what that meant. Star Force was a foundational Force, and it was the reason Force could even be disseminated throughout the universe, but it was hard to pin down just exactly what Star Force was.

    As for Leonel, he might not be able to explain it just yet...

    But he could sure as hell use it.

    Leonel''s body flickered and vanished, leaving the corridor.

    When his eyes opened once more, he found himself surrounded by spearmen before his eyes opened wide.

 Chapter 3184 A Flash

    ?Chapter 3184 A FlashLeonel''s senses were too sharp by now. It only took a glance for him to scan the entire room despite how vast it was. And that was exactly why he spotted his uncle in the first instant.

    Montez looked completely different. Leonel wouldn''t say that he was only about 50% similar to the man he had once been. He was far more Dream Asura now than human, and those around him keeping their distance seemed to realize this as well.

    After the Demoness'' actions, the Dream Asuras had gone from a respectable Demi-God Race to a public enemy that was almost placed on the same level as the Invalids.

    Montez sat there, leaning against a wall with the butt of his spear between his legs and its blade resting over his shoulder and against the wall. He looked more like a mercenary than a participant, his body caked in blood.

    Leonel''s jaw set. He would be a fool if he didn''t feel that this was yet another plot of the Demoness.

    But to what end?

    What was the point of turning Montez into an all-out Dream Asura after spending years suppressing him?

    Montez looked up, sensing Leonel''s gaze. The moment Leonel saw the flash in his uncle''s eyes, his worst fears had been realized.

    Either Montez had been compromised, or he didn''t even know who he was.

    Leonel couldn''t decide which was worse.

    Did he hate his uncle wanting to kill him because he didn''t remember him, or because he knew who he was and wanted to kill him anyway?

    The fact that he even had to weigh such options infuriated him. His good mood from just now seemed to have evaporated into smoke. It was like everywhere he turned, the Demoness would be there to sling dirt and shit at his face.

    There was no escaping it, and the foul stench followed him everywhere he went.

    His aura fluctuated around him, only for him to sense several killing auras lock onto him as well.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed like lightning as he finally seemed to care enough to check the rest of the room, only to notice that there were indeed several eyeing him.

    Among them, there were two who especially stood out...

    A Sylvan and a Pluto. Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Even while sitting, it was over two dozen meters tall.

    Despite how much space it took up, it still insisted on resting its spear across its lap. It was no surprise that its spear was proportional to its body, so the space it took up was even more exaggerated.

    This Sylvan wore a mask of bark over his face, but the vines, roots, and structures that made up the rest of his body were much more... fantastical.

    He exuded colors of bronze and gold and almost looked more like a specially carved and curated piece of wood rather than a normal tree.

    The Sylvans were more humanoid than they were tree to begin with, but the mask this particular Sylvan wore painted a completely different image.

    When its two polished brass eyes landed on Leonel, he could feel a great deal of pressure descending from above to crush him. And yet, he still moved his eyes to the Pluto.

    The Pluto were close combat experts. The vast majority of them didn''t use weapons at all, but that didn''t mean that none of them did.

    And those that did... well, it could be said that abandoning the path you were best suited for either meant you were an absolute fool or an absolute genius.

    Considering this man was here, he was almost certainly the latter.

    What Leonel didn''t know just yet was that this man was Ger''Ain. He was none other than the Pluto that had been traveling along with El''Rion. The moment he saw Leonel, he recognized him from the description that El''Rion had given him, though it was no longer an exact one-to-one.

    But as far as Ger''Ain was concerned... there was only one human that could carry the same aura that Leonel was now.

    Leonel only gave him a casual glance before looking away, his thoughts returning to his uncle.

    He had no idea how to handle this situation. Any suggestion or memory loss triggered by the Demoness would certainly not be easy to deal with, and he also had to be cautious with how he approached things as well, or else he would fall into yet another trap.

    No matter how broad-minded a person was, it was enough to drive them mad.

    It felt like no matter how many steps forward he took, the Demoness was always far off into the distance.

    At first, he wanted to blame it on the fact he was born into her plans and was at a disadvantage as a result. But the more stuff like this happened, the more he wondered if it would even matter if they had started on a level playing field.

    flared, and several who were eyeing him felt a stinging pain in their eyes.

    Many of the weaker ones screamed out in terror, their eyeballs bursting into a rain of blood and gore at the same instant.

    Leonel didn''t say a word, but he also didn''t need to. He was pissed.

    Looking into the skies, his rage flashed by his irises before he slowly calmed.

    His rage wasn''t going to get him anywhere.

    He would let it simmer for now. But anyone unlucky enough for it to erupt upon would realize too late there wouldn''t be time for regret.

    Leonel found a corner of the room to sit in, his aura stormy. He was given a wide

    berth and no one got close.

    The time silently ticked away, and those that made it through the corridor began to slowly trickle in.

    Then, what must have been weeks later, there was a flash.

 Chapter 3185 Ancestral Zone

    ?Chapter 3185 Ancestral ZoneLeonel slowly opened his eyes.

    It was starting.

    It could be said that up until now, the Idol Battlefield was mostly just a test. It was necessary to reach a certain threshold to be allowed to reach this next step. Only then would you be allowed to enter the true Idol Battlefield.

    The fact that the corridor was so similar to the Valiant Heart Zone wasn''t lost on Leonel. He felt that these things were definitely related. And if he was correct, then what was on the other side of this was to be expected.

    Of course, he had his grandfather''s descriptions of the battlefield, but while they confirmed his suspicions, what they didn''t do was give the exact method of clearance.

    But... if Leonel was correct, then he knew exactly what he had to do.

    Leonel''s vision cleared and he found himself sitting in a small cottage.

    As expected, he had once more assumed the life of an unknown entity, slipping into their role seamlessly.

    However, his eyes couldn''t help but sharpen when a big-bellied woman suddenly came into the room.

    ''Aina?''

    Leonel looked at the Aina look-alike for a long while before he was stunned to find that it wasn''t just a look-alike.

    He hurriedly stood and caught his wife''s arm. She was laboring to move around these days, and she was as fragile as a true mortal.

    She took nurturing their child very seriously, so she diverted as much of her Blood Force away from herself as she could manage.

    While other mothers who looked this frail would also put the child at risk, it was the opposite for Aina. The more frail she looked, the healthier the baby would be. It could be said that this child was truly getting VIP treatment.

    Despite only being in the Third Dimension, they were receiving the full supply of Blood Force and Life Force from an Eighth Dimensional powerhouse like Aina.

    "Leonel?" Aina asked softly.

    She had just suddenly appeared here, and she found herself carrying around a heavy basket of laundry. She subconsciously walked around until she figured out what was te going on, only to find her husband. Go to Settin

    However, she wasn''t as certain as Leonel that what was before her was real. She was very wary and almost kept him at arm''s length until it clicked for her as well.

    She had put a great deal of effort into her Dream Force in these last several months. After the last time their child was targeted, she refused to allow it to happen again. So though she was slower than Leonel, it wasn''t by much.

    Leonel took the basket of laundry from his wife and took her into his arms.

    "Are you alright?"

    "Yes, I''m fine," Aina said softly. She was a bit dizzy and disoriented, but other than that, she was fine, and most importantly, the baby was fine.

    Leonel held his wife''s head to his chest, a flash of rage sparking in his eyes. This was definitely another machination of the Idol Battlefield. Aina was completely uninvolved, and because she was pregnant, he didn''t want her anywhere near this battle.

    But now, she had been forcefully brought in, and if his thoughts were of any indication, it was impossible for him to send her back.

    Leonel suppressed his rage again, exhaling a calm breath.

    He sat Aina down and scanned the region with his Dream Force.

    He found that he was suppressed to the Third Dimension, but that should be the same for absolutely everyone.

    The details of this leg were vague. According to his grandfather, it would be a Zone that would take place over the course of years with an unknown target. Those that failed would be stuck inside forever, just like a usual Sub-Dimensional Zone, But unlike the usual, there were no devices that could read this one and find its purpose.

    After checking, Leonel realized that even the Life Tablet was incapable of doing so. But it made sense. The Life Tablet was powerful, but it was ultimately just a treasure with its own individual limits.

    By comparison, the Idol Battlefield, though its creation was triggered by the Ancient Humans, was supported by Existence and ruled by a Regulator and World Spirit.

    It was a fundamentally elevated existence because of that.

    However, Leonel already knew exactly what this Zone needed from him.

    A Valiant Heart.

    Leonel stepped out of the small cottage the two shared, going to the well and drawing up some water. After getting Aina a glass to settle her down, he didn''t do much else. In fact, he spent the next few hours with his wife, just talking about things that didn''t sea??h thз╫ Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    matter.

    Much of the time was spent trying to think of baby names. She still insisted on not

    telling him what the gender was, so he could only fumble around, giving suggestions for both. Eventually, he just started giving out unisex names that would work for both.

    No one ever accused him of not being efficient.

    Aina chuckled when she noticed his change, but she didn''t reprimand him. Leaning her cheek to his shoulder, she could feel at peace. So long as Leonel wasn''t worried, why should she?

    It had taken her a long time to get there, but there was no one in this world that she trusted more. She believed that no matter what the situation was... Leonel would win.

    "Alright," Leonel said after a long while, exhaling. He checked his hand for the millionth time to realize that the Segmented Cube really wasn''t with him any longer. He could only hope that Anastasia was alright.

    For Aina to be forcefully taken out of the Segmented Cube, she would certainly have not sat idly by. For the Regulator to succeed anyone could only mean that Anastasia had certainly met her match.

    "What do you want to do?" Aina asked with a smile that said ''Now you can''t get rid of

    me.''

    I chuckled. "Blood, of course. How else am I going to get a Valiant Heart?"

    A Valiant Heart? Leonel had actually already formed it the moment he understood himself intimately. The changes to his Innate Node were hard to describe in a few

    words.

    But now, this Zone was located in Ancient Times, on an Ancient land where Ancestral Humans grew.

    There were no Dimensional Methods, no Force control, and no shocking powerhouses that could overturn the skies with a palm just yet...

    All he had to do was make his mark.

 Chapter 3186 Two Paths

    ?Chapter 3186 Two PathsLeonel stepped out of the cottage, looking out into the world with a calm expression.

    They seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, and there weren''t any landscapes to be found.

    The one thing that this Zone couldn''t suppress was his Dream Force. His Dream Force had reached a Realm where it had stepped outside the bounds of reason.

    It had to be remembered that Zones were entirely constructed from Dream Force. This was something that Leonel had learned during his time in the Void Palace of the Dimensional Verse.

    He had thought that maybe things would be different here, but that didn''t seem to be the case. It was stronger Dream Force, to be sure... but still Dream Force nonetheless. He remembered being highly impressed with the ability of Sub-Dimensional Zones to replicate everything before. But now, he didn''t find it to be very shocking at all. After all, his Ability Index had evolved to the point that he could do the same.

    It just wasn''t worth the stamina drain. Or, rather, he hadn''t come up with a method that would otherwise make it worthwhile.

    There was no doubt that having access to his Dream Force like this gave him a great advantage, but he knew that things wouldn''t be so easy.

    For one, though he did have access to his Dream Force, it still wasn''t to the same level as it had been in the past. It was highly limited, and he could only analyze small regions.

    Second, the Regulator most certainly wouldn''t be happy. With just the smallest uses, he could feel an aura pressing down on him. The result was him using up his stamina at a shocking degree of speed.

    This wasn''t something that Leonel was used to. He practically never considered his mental stamina at all because it was so shocking. But this time around, he would have

    to.

    That said, he had already figured out several things in just a few moments. Who

    needed an analysis device when his own mind was the analysis?

    The first leg of this Zone should be related to awakening Forces.

    The question was how.

    There were two paths that Leonel could see. The first was to essentially take the path of the Ancestors and reforge a Weapon Force.

    Due to the situation of the Zone, this would be much easier than it was in the past. This wasn''t just because any Weapon Force master would be intimately familiar with

    the Weapon Force in question, but also because the Zone seemed to loosen the restrictions on this path somewhat.

    Of course, this was still easier said than done.

    For example, a race car driver might be intimately familiar with their car, and might even be able to do some complex repairs should the situation call for it. However, if you asked them to build a new car from scratch, how many could?

    An even better example might be a huge fan of a novel. They might know the story in and out, and be able to answer any of even the most obscure questions someone might have. But if you asked them to rewrite the story from memory, would they be able to do it? Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    This was the situation they all found themselves in now.

    Although Existence wouldn''t be here to restrict them, reforging their Weapon Forces as though they were the original creators was far easier said than done.

    The worst part was that many would succeed, but only in part. They wouldn''t be able to grasp the essence that made their Weapon Forces so powerful in the first place, so they would be at a disadvantage against those that could understand it to a deeper level.

    This would be what decided the weak and the strong in this world.

    That said, there was also the second path that Leonel had mentioned.

    In this path, one would aim not for a Weapon Force, but a normal Force. However, the Regulator didn''t make it easy.

    If one wanted to succeed, they would need to basically forge the first. Innate Nodes of this era as well.

    Both Paths were extremely difficult, but the second was especially so.

    There were probably several taking part in this Trial who had forged Innate Nodes for themselves before. But how many had done so without a world of resources at their fingertips?

    Even Leonel had only managed to forge his Valiant Heart Innate Node because he raided his grandfather''s treasury. If not for this, it would have taken him decades, if not centuries, to gather up everything he needed.

    Where were you going to find such resources in a Third Dimensional World like this one?

    The answer was that you couldn''t.

    So, you would have to make up for a lack of resources with comprehension, and that would mean taking an even tougher path than the one of Weapon Forces.

    This was clearly meant to only be a secondary path for those especially confident in themselves, an extra method of growing stronger and rising to the top of this world to become the one true Ancestor of their Weapon Force.

    On top of all of that, compared to Weapon Forces that were naturally forged from simpler Forces to combine into something more complex, normal Forces were naturally of one piece. Although they too were forged of many simpler laws, because they normally came as a package deal, teasing apart the intricacies was much more difficult.

    This was why treasures were often relied on, because they could take on the burden themselves.

    In fact, Leonel had cheated even further, using three Innate Nodes that he already had in his body on top of treasures.

    This truly illustrated the sort of tall task the Idol Battlefield was expecting. But even

    SO...

    Leonel''s advantage was still firmly there.

    That was because he wasn''t fumbling around like everyone else, and he already had

    access to his most important Force.

    That only left one question...

    What was a Valiant Heart?

 Chapter 3187 BOOOO!

    ?Chapter 3187 BOOOO!Leonel still wasn''t sure even until this moment. But if he had to describe it... it was akin to a beacon that lit his path, a guiding principle that made his journey smoother. His Forces listened to his call with greater ease, his comprehension flowed with greater speed, and everything about the world felt clearer and sharper.

    This should be the penultimate requirement of this Zone, but he had already completed it. As for the ultimate requirement... it was likely showing that his Valiant Heart was superior to all other Spearmen... and bowmen for that matter.

    He hadn''t forgotten what the Regulator had done to him earlier. It had certainly registered him as both a Spearman and Bowman. That meant that he would have to prove himself twice over.

    But that wasn''t something that he feared in the slightest. It wasn''t something that was capable of moving him in the slightest.

    He pressed a hand to his chest.

    ''A Valiant Heart... It feels a lot like an Idol... and yet not...''

    What Leonel didn''t know was that a Valiant Heart was the foundation needed to form an Idol. It was just that it was such a vague conception that most didn''t know it by name or even know how to separate the existence of an Idol from it.

    As such, the Title of "Idol" ended up swallowing it up when there was actually a line of division between the two.

    However, whether Leonel could slowly tease apart this reality and understand the dividing line between Valiant Heart and Idol would be dependent on him.

    Leonel took a breath. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "This air smells sweet."

    A smile graced his lips.

    A sound caught his attention from the back, and he found his wife pulling out a rocking chair from the inside.

    A look of horror crossed his expression and he rushed inside, taking it from her.

    ''No straining!"

    Aina smiled. "I''m not so fragile!

    ''Shh, Leonel would have no talk back. He held the rocking chair in one hand and Aina in the other. He placed the rocking chair on a bit of flat land outside and helped her sit.

    The two had their souls connected, so she already knew what Leonel was going to do next.

    As expected, Leonel walked to the first line of trees after helping her settle in.

    Rather than going on an adventure into the surroundings, wouldn''t he first need a weapon? The question was... how would he make one?

    There were no weapons around, just a single cottage. His body was as weak as a mortal''s, so he couldn''t just knock down trees with a palm like he would normally be able to. And unlike Aina, who had been forcefully brought in, he had lost his connection with Tolliver. He couldn''t sense his World Spirit at all right now.

    Leonel pressed a palm to the tree, his gaze flickering.

    He could think of many ways to cut down a tree. He could make a few stone tools, he could try making use of friction, or he could just use his hands to dig up one of the much smaller trees by their roots-the soil was certainly soft enough to make an attempt.

    But then what?

    How could he forge a weapon from that alone? This hurdle would probably be the largest to leap

    over.

    The easiest solution would probably be to make a journey away from this cottage.

    If he was correct, everyone probably started in a similar location. There was almost certainly a denser population of people somewhere down this mountain.

    The first challenge was to survive the trek downward, then maybe find a way to get a weapon from a blacksmith. Then they would begin refining their Weapon Forces.

    However, wouldn''t it be too embarrassing to need the help of a blacksmith when he was a Crafter? It was just that he was a Crafter without tools.

    ''There are two possibilities. Either I put some effort into learning some rudimentary Fist, Palm, or Finger Force that I can use to cut these trees down. Or...

    The first possibility wasn''t impossible. Leonel had grasped Fist Force before, though it was a very long time ago. Of course, time meant nothing to Leonel given his memory and the fact he could access timelines he hadn''t even personally lived through now.

    However, Leonel couldn''t help but wonder if it was worth it.

    Was there a better way?

    After some thought, Leonel found a rock and then bashed it against the side of a medium-sized tree

    a few times until there was an unbarked, smooth patch of decent size.

    Then, his fingers flickered.

    His control over his body was exceptional, and although he needed to use all of his strength to carve into this tree, the lines he formed were still steady and perfectly neat.

    Soon, a Force Art had taken shape.

    Leonel had a simple thought. Since the entire world was formed of Dream Force, then that meant that whatever he carved would be treated as a Force Art.

    SHILING! PA. PA. PA.

    A line of energy suddenly cut into the tree before splitting it into several pieces. All of a sudden, there was a pile of perfectly straight, two-and-a-half-meter-long spear bodies laying on the ground. The rest of the wasted material just fell harmlessly to the ground, and in a flash of flames, they turned to ash.

    ''Nice.''

    "BOOOOO!" Aina''s voice came from behind him.

    "What? You didn''t like that?" Leonel turned back to her with a chuckle.

    ''Not at all. I was expecting a lumberjack, stripper show, and I got a little magic trick instead!

    Leonel couldn''t help but laugh. Maybe the Regulator wasn''t so bad after all. It was much less monotonous if he had his wife by his side.

    This Zone would almost certainly last a long while, and danger would be around every corner. Although he feared for his wife''s life, if he was strong enough...

    Would it matter?

    His gaze flashed with determination.

 Chapter 3188 Not Listening

    ?Chapter 3188 Not ListeningLeonel picked up one of the spear bodies and shook his wrist before piercing it out.

    The butt of the spear body struck against a tree''s body.

    Despite only having the strength of a mortal, the bark burst apart and a small dent was formed into the tree.

    Although Leonel kept calling himself a "mortal, in truth, he was probably three to four times stronger than the strongest man on modern Earth would have been.

    His body, though suppressed to the Third Dimension, wasn''t something a normal man of Earth could hope to match.

    Unfortunately, his power had been artificially capped. Otherwise, if he could tap into the strength he had the second time he returned to the Third Dimension, cutting down these trees would have never been an issue in the first place.

    ''Now I just need a blade!"

    Leonel flicked his wrist again, testing the flexibility of the spear body until he was satisfied.

    Even so, he still took off his shirt and tied three other spear bodies to his back with it.

    Aina whistled from the distance. "Finally giving the people what they want:

    Leonel smiled and came to her side several minutes later. He had reworked things, making a large basket he strapped to his back.

    "Come on. Hop in, Mrs. Morales."

    ''Is this what they call luxury?"

    ''Of course. You won''t find better accommodations anywhere else!

    Aina shook her head with a laugh and obediently took a seat in the basket.

    Leonel had made it more than large enough, but she was still worried. Of course, this worry wasn''t for herself, but rather Leonel.

    Usually, her weight wasn''t a problem at all. Leonel had been able to easily carry her for a long time

    now.

    But now, he was a mortal, and a hundred extra pounds was a lot, especially when she was much heavier than that.

    She didn''t say anything because she knew that Leonel would insist on carrying her around like this no matter what. But...

    Leonel hoisted her onto his back, adjusting himself.

    Indeed, she was probably heavier than what he could comfortably carry around right now. His speed was less than half of his usual.

    ''I''ll just have to make up for it.

    Three spear bodies rested in the basket with Aina. To his waist, there was a quiver of arrows that likewise lacked a blade. But he had pointed their tips. In his hand, there was a bow that he had just created.

    In a few moments, Leonel had probably become one of the most equipped people in the Zone. Ironically, Leonel had forgotten one of the main advantages he had.

    He wasn''t the only Crafter among the entries, but he was the only one familiar with Sub-Dimensional Zones and would know how to take advantage of them in this way.

    That was because... he, his uncle, and Aina were the only ones to come from Incomplete Worlds, while he was the only one with high enough Dream Force affinity to have sensed it already. Not only had his uncle had his Dream Force suppressed by the suppression of his Dream Asura Bloodline, but he had also lost all of his memories anyway.

    ''My range is probably only around 30 meters or so with this bow... We''ll see!

    Leonel set up, moving as smoothly as he could to stop Aina from jostling around too much. This used up even more energy, but his breathing remained steady and even.

    He might be suppressed, but his vitality was still through the roof, and the strength of his body spoke for itself.

    It wasn''t even 20 meters into the journey when Leonel''s ears twitched for the first time.

    ''Already?''

    It seemed that the region around the cottage was a safe zone. The moment he journeyed past a certain region, he was targeted.

    He took a step, and his hips pivoted as he raised his bow.

    A fox creature surged toward him, weaving in and out of trees and moving like a flash.

    Still, Leonel calmly exhaled and released his bowstring.

    There wasn''t the usual fierce TWANG he was used to hearing, and the arrow moved at an agonizingly slow pace.

    And yet...

    The fox seemed to present its head right to it.

    Puchi.

    The eye of the fox was pierced right through, the arrow half inserting into its head.

    ''Looks like we found dinner." Leonel said with a smile.

    The cottage was bereft of water and food. With Third Dimensional bodies and no Force control, people would begin to feel the hurt in less than a day. It was the Regulator''s way of forcing them down. Sз╫arch* The N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Although Leonel had taken advantage of a nearby well, after drawing from it once, it had gone completely dry. Clearly, this was on purpose.

    Leonel continued forward after storing the fox with Aina. But soon he realized that this was unnecessary.

    The beasts came so frequently that he was almost certain that this was the action of the Regulator. They started off mostly weak, little foxes that could be killed with a single arrow. He didn''t even worry about running out because every time he ran low, he would just write a new Force Art on a nearby tree and make more.

    But soon, one arrow was no longer enough, and he started to have to fire multiple, especially as the creatures grew from foxes to wild dogs, and then from wild dogs to wolves, and then from wolves to panthers.

    There was another oddity here as well. Bow Force was eluding him, as though it was a faint wisp in the air that didn''t want to acknowledge him. That was something that he had never experienced before.

    Leonel was unlike the others. He could remember the exact formula of Bow Force like the back of his hand. After firing so many arrows, he should have already triggered its appearance.

    Yet, it wasn''t listening to him at all.

    Leonel couldn''t help but sneer inwardly. There was only one reason this would be happening. This Regulator was truly testing his patience.

 Chapter 3189 Blast Through

    ?Chapter 3189 Blast ThroughDespite the issues, Leonel remained calm.

    The main problem with not being able to sense Bow Force wasn''t the skill portion; it was rather the power output. If he could get his hands on his Spear or Bow Force, he wouldn''t have to worry about. the lethality of his weapons. Even if a bear appeared, he would be confident in piercing its skull with a single arrow. He wouldn''t even have to aim for its eyes.

    But now, he would have to be extremely wary of such a beast.

    ''Running out again...''

    Leonel gave the panther that had a blooming bouquet of arrows in its eye a look before walking to a nearby tree and using a trusty rock to repeat the process he had done several times already. Soon, he had several dozen pointed tip arrows in his quiver.

    But he hardly took a step before he frowned again.

    Leonel slowly put his bow away, handing it to Aina. Then he pulled out a spear body.

    Lumbering through the forest ahead was a bear. It was low to the ground, and its fur was a fierce black, yet its eyes were somehow an even darker shade of black.

    Suddenly, it leapt forward, breaking into a sprint.

    Leonel''s gaze gained an eerie calm to it. His suppressed anger smoldered, but everything about his expression was the picture of serenity.

    He took a step to the side at the perfect time, sliding behind a tree.

    The bear burst by, but not before Leonel''s spear shot forward.

    Fierce and steady, it thrust through the air, leaving a whistling, spiraling wind in its wake. BANG!

    His spear collided right into the ribcage of the bear, and an audible snap echoed.

    The spear snapped right at its center, but Leonel''s expression didn''t change in the slightest. Ile only reached up, snatching the broken piece out of the air as it spun wildly.

    He knew that that audible snap came from more than his spear, especially after he heard the horrible cry the bear released.

    Leonel used the force of their collision to take a step back. He wrapped around the tree as the bear fell to the ground, circling to its back and then stabbing down with both broken edges of his spear.

    The splintered edges buried themselves into the hind legs of the bear. It was only an inch or two, but the horrible roars of the creature echoed just as loudly.

    Leonel leapt back with light steps, taking his bow back from Aina and nocking three arrows at the same time.

    ''I have to thank you, Regulator... if you won''t let me take this path, I''ll forge another!

    Leonel fired his arrows.

    At the same time, the bear had whipped its head back in an attempt to snap at him and stop the pain coming from its back, only to find one arrow coming for each of its eyes and the last soaring into its open maw.

    Puchi. Puchi.

    The bear was immediately blinded, and when it snapped down on the arrow that entered its mouth, the roof of its maw was ripped through.

    Blood spurted, and the creature was suffering more than it ever had in its lifetime.

    Leonel drew another two arrows and released them. Then another two. Then another two on top of those.

    Soon, the bear had a bouquet of arrows in both eyes. It shook on the ground, trying to hold onto its last strand of life.

    But then Leonel nocked his last arrow.

    This time... just the faintest wisp of a gold light gathered.

    The sharpness in Leonel''s eyes deepened, and his hand danced in the wind in wisps of violet fog and energy.

    Dic.

    SHUUU! PUCHI.

    This arrow aimed right for the center of the bear''s forehead and ripped right through.

    Leonel slowly lowered his bow, his expression still calm but his thoughts moving wildly.

    This entire world was built on Dream Force. But this was both a benefit and a detriment to the Regulator.

    The good news for it was that it could control everything with absolute precision. The variables of this world were completely under its control.

    The bad news was that because it was Dream Force, it had to rely on templates that already existed. The Regulator wasn''t building all of this from scratch; it was pulling on things that already existed in some shape and form. Only that way was it able to display its true power.

    The reason Leonel couldn''t grasp Bow Force was that the Regulator was stopping the flow of Dream Force forged Bow Force from making it to him. Sз╫ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    If Leonel continued like this, he would either have to put in thousands of times more effort than others to grasp Bow Force, or he might never be able to succeed.

    That was something he couldn''t accept.

    But then he had a sudden bout of enlightenment.

    As he had said earlier, there would be many who created some form of Bow Force that was ultimately inferior to the original. As such, they would be at a disadvantage against those who understood the essence of the true Weapon Force to a much deeper extent.

    If the reverse was possible, why not the vice versa?

    Why not create his own Bow Force and Spear Force from scratch? Forming a Weapon Force the Regulator didn''t have a template for and as such couldn''t suppress from reaching him?

    And why not make it stronger than the originals?

    His understanding of the two Forces had already surpassed that of their Ancestors. He had personally defeated them both at the same level.

    In that case, he would just take it a step forward and truly make them his own.

    Leonel''s gaze glowed fiercely as he looked up. The moon was stretching overhead, and after a day, night had finally fallen.

    He would have to stop and rest soon. But whether the Regulator would allow him any rest was still up in the air.

    All he knew was that it didn''t matter what obstacles were thrown his way. He would blast through them all.

 Chapter 3190 Permanent Residency

    ?Chapter 3190 Permanent ResidencyLeonel walked out of the forest with slow steps. I is back was still straight, but his body was covered in blood.

    The Regulator had truly not wanted to let him off.

    The good news was that at least half of this blood wasn''t his own.

    The bad news was that that meant the other half was.

    There was no escaping it. He was too weak right now, and this world insisted on not allowing him to use his Bow and Spear Force properly.

    He had begun his journey of reforging the Weapon Forces. But that would take time. And it also didn''t help if he had dozens of enemies being thrown at his face again and again.

    By the end there, he almost got stuck in a valley where four different packs of wolves had insisted on attacking him at the same time.

    Between carrying and protecting his wife, and dealing with so many enemies at once, it was a miracle that he was still alive.

    But he had managed to leap over the first hurdle and had cleared the forest. Now, it was just a matter of making it to civilization.

    It shouldn''t be too far away. In fact, after concentrating his Internal Sight into a line, something that he hadn''t had to do since his Dimensional Verse days, he spotted a small city about 40 or so miles ahead.

    Before, his Internal Sight was so overwhelming that he never bothered to concentrate it. Though he could still increase the distance by concentrating it into a line, whatever he spotted would be so far away that it would be a waste of time.

    He rarely needed to look at things so far away.

    Yet look at him now.

    Leonel''s eyes flashed with a confident and murderous glint. Regardless of the challenge, he would trudge forward.

    There was no weight that he was afraid to bear now.

    Hours later, the city was well within his line of sight.

    Honestly speaking, at a decent pace, even with his current body, Leonel could have covered the distance in one or two hours. However, he had taken a full six.

    For one, he didn''t know what dangers the Regulator might try to throw at him again. And second, he needed to recover in case the Regulator didn''t throw anything at him.

    Luckily, it was the latter this time.

    A distance away, he set the wooden box on his back down and helped Aina get out. He discarded his spear bodies and just held onto his bow and quiver of arrows. Then, taking Aina''s hand, they made their way through the last kilometer or so.

    The landscape was relatively flat. There were still some trees and shrubbery around, but as one got closer to the city, it was replaced by what looked like mostly farmland.

    Wheat, corn, and another variety of crops surrounded the south-facing direction.

    Leonel chose to walk around this to the western side just in case. He didn''t want to trigger trouble by being accused of stealing.

    Soon, they had made it to the entrance of the small city.

    It was surrounded by tall wooden logs and looked quite rudimentary. However, all things considered, it was probably the largest plot of civilization around.

    They had two large gates, a radius of 500 meters or so, and tough-looking guards wielding real steel weapons at both entrances.

    There was even a short line of people looking to get in.

    Leonel listened to the conversations these people had with the guards silently until it was their turn.

    "Trade, tourism, asylum, or permanent residency?" the guard asked in a practiced motion, hardly scanning them.

    "Permanent residency" Leonel replied.

    "For how many?"

    Leonel looked at. Aina''s bulging belly. "Two!"

    The guard seemed to notice his hesitancy and looked up as well. A bit of his hard exterior faded when he saw that Aina was pregnant, and he understood Leonel''s pause.

    However, he still had a job to do.

    "What is your use?" he asked directly.

    Leonel was actually moved up the priority list of permanent residency because he already had a wife and soon-to-be child. This made him an ideal candidate.

    What the city didn''t want was a bunch of bachelors with nothing to lose moving in.

    However, Leonel still needed to have some worth. Otherwise, he''d become dead weight to the city one way or another, and that was unacceptable.

    "Blacksmith and hunter, Leonel said calmly.

    "Blacksmith?"

    The man didn''t seem to hear Leonel''s second word at all as his eyes lit up. But then he looked at Leonel skeptically.

    What kind of blacksmith didn''t have any iron weapons? Leonel didn''t even seem to have a hammer either.

    Though... because the arrows were hidden in the quiver, the guard couldn''t see that they were tipless as well; otherwise, he would have been even more skeptical.

    After a while, the guard looked at Aina again, who was just silently standing by Leonel''s side, and decided to put the hard-ass attitude on the back burner for the moment.

    "You will need to pass a test to confirm your skill. If you truly are a blacksmith, you and your wife will be accepted with open arms. But I will warn you, if you are lying, there will be consequences! The guard gave Leonel a look as though to tell him to turn back now if he truly was lying. After all, if he failed, he would implicate his wife as well.

    However, Leonel just nodded, and the guard hoped that that meant he was confident.

    What the guard didn''t know was that Leonel didn''t know the first thing about being a blacksmith. He had never even swung a hammer before. This time, he was completely flying blind.

    Soon, a member of the militia was assigned to Leonel, and he was brought to the blacksmithing quarters of the city. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Sir blacksmith, it gets quite hot in there and the air... it''s not the best to breathe, the militiaman gave a subtle hint toward Aina.

 Chapter 3191 Lie?

    ?Chapter 3191 Lie?Leonel had already expected as much, but he had yet to find a safe place to leave Aina.

    Although Aina wasn''t truly helpless and she could definitely fight if it came down to it, he would very much prefer that she didn''t have to lift a single finger, not with the baby''s delivery date just over the horizon.

    That was when the door to the blacksmith quarters suddenly opened. Or, rather, the flaps.

    It was so hot on the inside that they couldn''t stand to have real doors and used these instead for some ventilation.

    "Who''s there?"

    A middle-aged man with half his hair burnt off looked out. He scanned the area before his eyes landed on Aina, and he seemed to understand the situation.

    "ELAINE!" he suddenly barked out.

    "What the hell are you shouting for!?"

    The sound of a valiant woman came from behind them. They looked over to find a home across the cobbled stone street, and Leonel understood the situation as well.

    Just as the middle-aged blacksmith was about to explain, Elaine caught sight of Aina as well, and she practically rushed over.

    "Come, come, come. We can''t let the baby be around these smelly men."

    Aina was half pulled, half carried away into the home across the street and couldn''t help but chuckle. She gave Leonel a look as though to say good luck before vanishing into the home.

    "Alright, pretty boy. Let''s go."

    Leonel found himself grabbed as well, and soon he was yanked into the forge.

    Leonel stood in the billowing heat, looking around. He saw all sorts of levers to one side, hammers to another, and a line of rusted metal rods and sheets lined across a wall to yet another.

    He didn''t even really know where to start, and the middle-aged man, known as Kammy, wasn''t very patient.

    "Alright, pretty boy. I hope you weren''t lying at the gates, or else even if I want to protect you, there''s probably not much that I can do.

    "You look young. So long as you can manage a fire, I can let it slide. But I would only be doing it because of your wife, and I WILL ride your ass hard for it. You''re a man; don''t put your woman in danger because of your ego or a scam."

    The ranting of Kammy could truly talk someone''s ears off. Suddenly, Leonel understood why it was that the middle-aged couple had been able to communicate without words at all and understand one another''s intentions. They had probably spoken so many words in their first decade of marriage that they had already heard all the possible combinations of them. Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "... Alright, that''s enough chatting. Show me what you can do. The city only has three blacksmiths and eight blacksmith apprentices, but our militia has 300 men. There just isn''t enough to go around, and the area''s getting more volatile..."

    The middle-aged man started ranting again despite saying he had had enough of the chatting. Leonel just tuned him out, scanning the region.

    The forge and its levers were perfectly replicated in his mind, and he began to deduce how to use it.

    Then he looked at the metals by the side, deconstructing their chemical structures and analyzing their melting points.

    Leonel had analyzed far more complicated metals in the past before, and even if his Dream Force was being sapped away quickly by the Regulator, the ease with which the

    deductions came to him offset the amount of stamina he had to use up.

    Simulations began to run in his mind of how he might maximize the use of his hammer, and soon, he felt that he had a decent understanding.

    After all, he had watched Ramon swing his hammer for days. It was hard for someone with an Ability Index like his to watch an expert at work for so long and not pick up a thing or two.

    "... Kid, did you really lie? At least try to make a leaf or something..."

    The ranting continued as Leonel walked to the side and finally picked up a hammer. It had quite some heft to it as it was the largest one here.

    Kammy was taken aback. He had been about to stop Leonel from making what he thought was an obvious mistake, but by then, Leonel had already picked it up.

    The only one in this shop that could pick up that hammer was Kammy himself. Of course, Kammy''s personal hammer was even heavier than that, but he was still shocked nonetheless.

    Leonel swung the hammer around a few times as though he was getting used to it, and for the first time, Kammy seemed to notice the blood that still caked Leonel''s body in

    several places.

    Leonel ignored the world and picked up a rusted metal piece to the side and threw it into the opening of the forge. His feet flashed, and he pressed down on several pedals and cranked some levers.

    In exactly 87 seconds, he pulled the metal out, and Kammy shook his head. That was

    11:15 -

    way too soon; Leonel didn''t have any patience at all.

    !... He didn''t even crank the forge up to the right temperature for that...''

    Kammy''s voice trailed off as Leonel slammed the metal onto an anvil, striking down from above.

    His muscles rippled and sparks flew.

    He gave the metal three rhythmic BANGS before tossing it back into the forge and cranking the levers once again.

    His left foot moved onto the pump and rapidly pressed down. Billowing hot wind was pumped into the forge again, and after another 93 seconds, Leonel pulled it out and

    repeated the process.

    Kammy watched in silence as Leonel did this again and again, and at some unknown point, the forge reached a perfect equilibrium.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The molten metal began to emit a blinding red glow.

    Using the anvil as a guide, Leonel began to sculpt with his blows, curving the metal

    around its horn.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s eyes glowed, and red-gold sparks danced.

 Chapter 3192 Ignore

    ?Chapter 3192 IgnoreLeonel dunked his creation into a vat of water, and a sizzling steam shot into the air. When he pulled it out, it rippled with a slight pull of Force before it vanished.

    ''Not bad. Still need some work!

    One would have thought that Leonel had made a blade he could finally use, but it was actually a brace.

    The moment he picked up the hammer, he had decided to make one. That was because he calculated that if he swung as hard as he wanted to, he would eventually harm his wrist. If he wanted to make progress, he was going to have to find a way to protect his health first; then he could handle the rest. sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Kammy came over from the side and looked at the brace.

    "Why did you waste precious metal on this shit?" He seemed exasperated after breaking free from his shock.

    He had realized somewhere in the process that Leonel was actually quite skilled. He did things in ways that didn''t make sense to Kammy, but he was still a true blacksmith nonetheless.

    The way the metal shined was definitely a clear sign of this, even though it had only happened for a moment.

    It was said in their world that metals refined to perfection would be able to emit a light of their own. Metals that were close would shimmer like that for a moment.

    In their city, there were only three men that had reached this standard before, and Kammy was one of them. Now, Leonel was the fourth.

    The good news was that Leonel definitely hadn''t lied. The bad news was that he had wasted such precious metal like this.

    All of the metal in the forge had to be accounted for. They had a small quota for screw-ups, and Kammy was actually giving up a small portion of his to let Leonel have a go at it. Considering how scared everyone was of the city lord, this was undoubtedly a shocking thing.

    "A waste?" Leonel cocked an eyebrow before smiling. Using the tongs, he slipped the brace onto his wrist.

    "What are you doing?! It''s still hot!"

    Leonel didn''t react to these words and just flexed his wrist.

    Hot? Not at all. This wasn''t because of his Fire Force affinity, but rather because he had forged the metal so that it had properties of both steel and aluminum. It was as tough as the former and as light as the latter. In consequence, it also transferred heat just as fast as the latter as well.

    The brace had long stopped being hot.

    Kammy blinked in confusion when there was no smell of burning flesh. Considering half his baldness was due to fires, he was very intimate with that scent.

    Leonel walked to the side and picked up another metal.

    "Hey! I already let youбк!"

    Leonel tossed the rusted metal into the forge again.

    "You didn''t even let the forge cool first! That metal might look the same, but it''s-."

    Leonel began to crank levers and pump in air.

    "You wait for the forge to cool after every time? You''re wasting coal. The temperature might be too high now, but it will be perfect by the time the metal is ready to reach its melting point."

    Kammy''s lip twitched, being left speechless for the first time in maybe his entire life. He obviously knew that the metals would take time to come up to temperature. But the problem was that it... who could tell?

    The temperature of the forge itself was just a sequence of levers and a ratio of air pumped. But the metal would have a variable range.

    It was often best practice to set a proper temperature for the forge first and then leave the metal in for longer than you had to.

    After all, because of the laws of physics, the metal couldn''t overshoot the temperature the forge was set at. At most it could match it. So it was a safe bet no matter what.

    But Leonel was calculating ahead, measuring not just the forge''s temperature, but the metal''s temperature at the same time.

    How was that even possible?

    Trying to put one''s Internal Sight into that forge would lead to all sorts of problems.

    It had to be remembered that Internal Sight wasn''t just an extension of sight; it was an extension of all five of the senses.

    Sight would be overwhelmed by the bright fire, touch would be burned to hell, smell would give you no proper feedback in return... there was simply nothing to gain.

    And yet...

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel repeated the same process again and again, moving smoothly and assuredly. He brought the metal in and out of the forge, cranking levers and pumping air as though he was controlling the forge as an extension of his own body. Kammy was so distracted that it took him a while to realize that Leonel was swinging the hammer with what should have been at least three times the strength he used previously. He could practically see the metal whining beneath his might.

    "That brace...''

    Kammy''s eyes shone. It was dispersing the impact and weakening the backlash to Leonel''s arm.

    So it wasn''t a wasted craft after all? Just how was a brace alone able to accomplish

    this?

    SHIIIING!

    Kammy hurriedly dodged out of the way of a blade Force that carried itself through

    the air.

    Leonel tossed the metal back into the forge.

    Every time he pulled it out and hammered, another blade would appear, then another,

    and then another.

    They layered on top of each other before...

    BANG!

    A resplendent light shot up and a ripple surged across the room.

    The air overturned, and dancing blade lights descended.

    Kammy''s eyes were pulled to the spearhead, and he practically forced his eyelids more

    open with his fingers and thumb.

    He couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    And because Kammy was so distracted, he didn''t see the sneer on Leonel''s face.

    He had found a way to ignore the Regulator.

 Chapter 3193 Another

    ?Chapter 3193 AnotherThe Regulator was an absolute annoyance. If Leonel could have directly killed it, he would have made the attempt already.

    But he knew those thoughts were foolish.

    If that Regulator could go toe to toe with Anastasia, then he certainly stood no chance. Such thoughts were nothing more than something to help him sleep better at night, not that he was getting much sleep these days.

    Even so, he had his own ways of sticking a middle finger to the Regulator.

    Blacksmithing was definitely a much different profession than Crafting had been for

    him.

    Rather than Finger Designations, he had to replace it with rhythmic swings.

    Rather than communicating with Tolly to deal with impurities, he had to hammer them out or burn them away.

    Rather than fusing metals with a thought, he had to adjust temperatures and melt them into one another, then force their fusion with tempering processes.

    The list of things he had to do felt endless, and it was like he was learning how to Craft all over again...

    But he absolutely loved it.

    Just now, he had managed to touch onto the faintest edges of the Life Grade.

    Normally, this wouldn''t be possible with just this alone. That was because the Life Grade required the formation of an entirely new Force Metal, one that could stand on its own.

    But Leonel was just using normal iron and hadn''t added in anything special... Except for Dream Force. S~ea??h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Everything in this Zone was forged of Dream Force, including these seemingly solid metals. That meant that they could be manipulated in ways normal metals in real life couldn''t.

    Leonel had managed to forge a new path of blacksmithing, one that would only work in this world... and also one that would ignore the Regulator.

    A Regulator was a Regulator for a reason. It could target Leonel, but it could only do so while following its own rules. If not, why would it just target Leonel like this and not directly kill him?

    Leonel''s father, the man he respected the most in the world, had ended up dying at the hands of a Regulator of the mere Dimensional Verse. Compared to that Regulator, the

    Regulator of the Idol Battlefield was most definitely orders of magnitude more powerful.

    Killing the Leonel of now would be as easy as snapping its fingers. But it didn''t.

    It also didn''t send any more beasts after Leonel once he left the forest as well.

    And the reason was the exact same.

    Its rules.

    Making it more difficult for Leonel to communicate with and sense his Spear and Bow Force was still bending the rules within a certain parameter. It was still justifiable. However, after Leonel created a Life Grade Weapon that resonated with Spear Force on its own, this was no longer possible. That was because the weapon in Leonel''s hand now had nothing to do with the challenge of the Zone.

    There was nothing the Zone could do about it.

    Suddenly, Leonel had gained the best of both worlds.

    With a spearhead like this one, he could now access Spear Force, and at the same time, he could continue to forge his own Spear Force Path.

    Of course, there were drawbacks.

    For one, this new Crafting Path he was creating wasn''t perfect just yet. At best, he was accessing a neutral Spear Force, not his Sovereign Spear Force, and certainly not his Dharma Spear Force.

    He would need to refine his methods for much longer before he took this step.

    But the good news was that he already had several ideas. He had yet to carve any Force Arts into the blade, and he had a feeling that he would get many more chances to test out his theories very soon.

    "You... just who are you...?" Kammy looked at Leonel incredulously. "In this entire Bellmount Ridge Region, spanning thousands of miles, there''s only one blacksmith amongst hundreds that can do that..."

    "Oh? There''s another?"

    Kammy was speechless. Why did it sound like Leonel didn''t believe him?

    He was about to reprimand the pretty boy, only to realize that he probably didn''t have the right to.

    Who was he to lecture this man about blacksmithing?

    Plus, that blacksmith he spoke about had been a legend for so long that he had either already died or certainly had a foot in the grave. But Leonel looked like he had barely just turned 20...

    Of course, Leonel was much older than that. In terms of years personally experienced, he was over 150 years old. In terms of his body''s age, he was almost 30 now.

    But in this Third Dimensional World, those that could look so young and be so old at the same time didn''t exist... not yet, anyway.

    At that moment, there was a sudden ruckus at the door, or the flap, and Kammy looked over with a frown.

    A blacksmith apprentice who seemed to be in his 30s rushed in.

    "Master Kammy, the City Guard is here to pick up the order."

    Kammy waved a hand. "It''s all by the door. Just take it."

    "They... they say it''s not enough... Master Elaine is arguing with them..."

    Kammy''s eyes flashed with rage. "Is it Jones?"

    The blacksmith apprentice didn''t dare to speak.

    Jones was the youngest son of the city lord. There were rumors that he was secretly

    selling their work on the private market to enrich himself, but Master Maine had ended up suppressed for bringing this matter to the City Lord, and now no one dared

    to bring it up.

    The amount of weapons Kammy had handed over was certainly enough. The quota never changed, including a certain number of repairs and a certain number of fresh weapons and armor depending on the blacksmith in question.

    The fact Jones was asking for more only meant that he was truly overstepping his bounds this time. He wanted more obviously so that he could skim off the top. He

    wasn''t even trying to hide it anymore.

    With a flash of rage, Kammy stomped out.

    Leonel frowned as well, following. If Elaine was involved, what about Aina?

    He wouldn''t mind starting a massacre regardless of the consequences if even the slightest hair on her head was harmed,

 Chapter 3194 Jones

    ?Chapter 3194 JonesLeonel followed after Kammy calmly, his expression unreadable. Had the middle-aged blacksmith been watching Leonel, he might have realized that it might have been in their best interest if Leonel stayed on the inside...

    But realizing it was one thing. Actually being able to stop Leonel from going to see if his wife was alright was a different matter entirely.

    And maybe Kammy would have understood this as well.

    A man''s love for his wife couldn''t be described in just a few words. A man''s love for his pregnant wife existed in a league all its own.

    To call it a reverse scale simply didn''t do it justice.

    The two walked out from the flaps of the smithy to hear Elaine cursing to the high heavens.

    "We''ve already given you the quota. It never changes, so don''t start your bullshit now. Do I look thin and frail to you? Do you know how many children these hips have birthed? Do you think I would fear a brat so wet behind the ears? Come, come. See if I don''t spin your jaw around your neck!"

    Elaine gripped onto a broom with one hand and a rolling pin in another. Her apron was still caked in flour, and she had just been eager to listen to a few more baking techniques that Aina was teaching her when the commotion triggered.

    When she saw Jones and his men bully the apprentices who didn''t seem to know what to do, her motherly instinct flared up.

    There were eight apprentices across the town, and two of them were her flesh and blood, and the last was a son she had adopted. Kammy had three apprentices here, and they could all be considered to be under the valiant housewife''s protection. How could she not flare up?

    Jones sneered at Elaine''s display. The first time he had seen it, he had actually gotten quite scared. But after coming away unharmed several times, he realized that this housewife only knew how to put up a valiant front; she wasn''t actually all that valiant at all.

    And how could she be? A single poke from one of his guard''s swords and she would be dead.

    Jones had beady little eyes and pale skin that didn''t make sense for most of those in this city. Bronzed or tanned skin was pretty much the norm in this region. For someone to be as pale as Jones, it was either they were incredibly sick or they spent not even the slightest modicum of time working.

    His skinny-fat posture played perfectly into that. He had a somewhat lanky frame but a belly that half spilled over his waistline, giving him a disproportionate and truly disgusting appearance to look at.

    If that wasn''t enough, his oily hair and wretched scent certainly didn''t help at all.

    He ignored Elaine and looked to her back, watching a calm and silent Aina. His eyes lit up, only to be marked by a barely perceptible fury when he saw just how pregnant she

    was.

    One would have thought that Aina was owed to him, as though she had committed some sort of taboo by carrying a child that wasn''t his.

    Maybe in this town, that was precisely the case. In fact, the first time he saw Aina, he was more shocked than anything else.

    He didn''t believe that there was such a beauty around that he had never seen before. He was aware of the existence of every single one of them. How could he have possibly missed the very best of them?

    Even though they could hide her for a while, by the time she grew up, rumors would have spread. Which meant that this woman must have come from outside the town and was very likely a new resident.

    Just as Jones was about to make some inquiries, the valiant housewife blocked his line of sight to Aina. S~ea??h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You better keep those stupid little beady eyes away from my daughter-in-law, you little bastard. Otherwise, I don''t mind castrating you right here and now."

    Aina raised an internal eyebrow, but she didn''t say much. She could guess the woman''s thoughts.

    There was definitely some veil of protection that came with being one of the only three blacksmiths'' wives, so Elaine was trying to extend that protection to Aina as well.

    Unfortunately, she had made a little bit of a slip-up.

    "A daughter-in-law that I''ve never heard of?" Jones finally spoke in a high-pitched, ear-grating voice. "Are you trying to say that one of your sons married outside the village and no one knew about it? Tell me, what is your family conspiring? Don''t tell me that you''re planning to defect to our enemies?"

    Elaine froze, not quite knowing how to respond to this.

    "Detain them, guards. I''ll have to thoroughly investigate this matter. In these troubling times, we can''t let even a single traitor go. This is also a matter of the security of our city, don''t go easy on them just because they''re women or... pregnant."

    There was a distinctive pause before he spoke out the last word.

    Elaine''s brows jumped with fear and horror as she realized the implication. As for

    16:56

    Aina, her reaction was muted. If she hadn''t seen a certain man suddenly step out from the smithy, her reaction alone might have caused Jones to piss his pants. But now that her husband was here, there wasn''t a need for her to lift a finger and potentially cause the baby harm.

    As for the implication of Jones'' words, they were all too obvious. He was a man of many sick fetishes, but pregnant women were not on that list. Wouldn''t it be more convenient if that baby was gone?

    PUCHI! PUCHI!

    Kammy didn''t even get a chance to say anything as the two guards fell with bloody holes in their chests.

    At some unknown time, Leonel had already picked Jones up by his throat, squeezing down so hard that the man''s face became red, then white, then purple.

    BANG!

 Chapter 3195 Tricky

    ?Chapter 3195 TrickyThe brace on Leonel''s wrist vibrated, and all the accumulated tremors of his earlier hammer surged.

    Jones felt the pressure building in his head as the horror set in.

    His skin began to bulge from the blood pressure, his skull deformed soon after as his brain pushed up against its mold, and then his eyes popped out of their sockets in a rain of blood.

    All the while, Jones wasn''t able to make a single sound. He could only scream in his own thoughts, trapped in the cage of his own mind as it became a murky, disgusting mess of gray matter oozing from his nose and ears.

    Then, he couldn''t withstand the pressure anymore, and his head exploded.

    A shocking silence filled the city streets. There had been many spectators that had gathered by now. After all, the Kammy smithy was on a busy street. Their residence was the only one here, while there were many other commercial properties that the people would frequent.

    Seeing Jones stir up trouble again, many wanted to remain uninvolved, but many more wanted to see just how far these matters would go.

    Jones was a true stain on their city. His presence made several things harder on everyone, but no one could say anything.

    In reality, the intelligent amount the city knew the real reason Jones was allowed to run rampant.

    The city was in a bad situation with the marriage alliance between Vener and Vate City. The city lord wanted to increase taxes, but he didn''t want to become the villain himself, so he let his son do it.

    Most of the hatred of the people was directed onto Jones, and the foolish and naive didn''t even realize that many of the things Jones did were done in tacit acceptance of his father.

    Jones thus became a hound. While most of the things he did were just to enrich himself, much of the money he gathered went right into the coffers of the city lord and were sent to bolster their defenses and prepare for the next battles.

    But now...

    He was dead.

    Leonel waved a hand, and Jones'' headless corpse fell to the ground.

    Aina came to his side, shaking her head and gently using the apron she wore to wipe the blood from his face.

    Because they were in the Third Dimension now, it was much more difficult to do certain things, and Leonel was certainly overexerting himself for the sake of both the display and causing their enemies the most amount of pain possible.

    What she didn''t realize was that her casual actions were just as shocking. When had these people ever seen someone they assumed to be a housewife wipe not only blood but gore as well from the face of her husband?

    Why was the action so casual? So unassuming... so natural?

    Aina wiped the last of the blood away and straightened out Leonel''s clothing. She didn''t even bother to take off her now blood-stained apron as though it was only natural that it be like that.

    Everyone else could only focus on the interaction and the corpse that now lay on the street, but the two of them didn''t seem to care in the slightest.

    Kammy and Elaine looked at Jones'' corpse, their expressions somewhat pale. When they gazed up to look at one another, they seemed to have both come to a tacit understanding as well.

    Elaine took a step forward and hurriedly whispered to the two.

    "You two need to leave as quickly as possible. You can''t stay here anymore." S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel didn''t reply. That was because while Aina was still focused on cleaning him up, he was focused on making sure she wasn''t harmed. He was practically scanning every one of her hairs to see if there really was one missing or not.

    As for what he would do if he found something out of place when Jones was already dead, maybe only he was aware of that.

    It was only after he ensured that Aina really was just fine that he looked over to the housewife.

    "Where does the city lord live?" he asked.

    He didn''t really need the answer. He could find it with a thought. Instead, he had asked for a completely different reason.

    The same instant he asked, he scanned the changes in the reactions of everyone around.

    There were quite a number of those who reacted with horror, unfortunately, making him realize that this matter wouldn''t be so simple.

    The city lord was smarter than he thought, and he wasn''t outright hated by his people. Just taking him out wouldn''t be good enough because that would mean he''d have to likely travel with his pregnant wife to another city unless he planned on fighting it out. with the entire militia.

    If he had his normal slate of abilities, he wouldn''t care. But he really couldn''t manage it

    now.

    ''Considering the quota, there should be about 300 or so official men of the military. They would likely be stronger than usual Third Dimensional existences, and I still haven''t confirmed whether this world truly has no one of the Fourth Dimension or not. It would be dangerous to go up against so many people!

    Kammy was shaken. He grabbed Leonel''s wrist and pulled him back.

    "Why are you asking that?! You need to be careful," he hissed.

    "Why? Didn''t you say that this is his son? I have to at least explain my actions to him, no? I''m a blacksmith now. There might be a chance to survive."

    Many people breathed sighs of relief when Leonel said this, but they were the fools of the group, smitten by the trickery of the city lord.

    It was those who had initially reacted with excitement that gave Leonel a second look.

    Indeed, they had seen through Leonel''s intentions as well, and some seemed to appreciate his pull back.

    There was some hope for this city after all, it seemed. However, how the fallout would go was hard to say.

 Chapter 3196 Anesse

    ?Chapter 3196 AnesseRegardless of what the outcome might be, Leonel himself was unprecedentedly calm and unmoved by it all. So long as his wife was safe and healthy, he didn''t care about anything else.

    He took Aina''s hand and began to walk. However, rather than making his way out of the city, he walked toward the city lord''s mansion.

    City lord Anesse was a middle-aged man. But unlike Kammy, he didn''t seem to be tapering off from his prime. He had a robust build, a greying beard that exuded an air of strength and wisdom, and a pair of deep black eyes that seemed to carry an abyss of their own.

    News of what happened was exceptionally slow to travel. There were no methods of instant information transfer. So the man didn''t know of anything that had happened, nor of the loss of his son.

    Instead, he was going over reports, his stoicism growing more somber the more he read. These matters were truly getting complicated and just squeezing his citizens for more wasn''t going to work.

    They needed more warriors, powerful ones. If not, no matter how many resources they handed over, what good would it do for them in the long run? If anything, it would just be giving their enemies more of a lane to take advantage of them. This was unacceptable.

    A knock came from the door.

    He looked up from his desk with a frown. "Come in."

    "City lord, there''s someone here to see you."

    "Who is it?"

    "This man claims to be the fourth blacksmith of the city."

    The city lord''s expression darkened even further.

    If he had been told earlier about such a thing, he might not have let Leonel in at all. For a fourth blacksmith to appear at such a precarious time practically screamed enemy spy. Who knew, maybe they would find out in the middle of battle that their weapons were defective?

    "Hey!"

    The voice was abruptly cut off as they were dragged back. In the doorway appeared a couple, both covered in blood.

    City lord Anesse stood up, his aura surging.

    "Honestly, I think I overestimated you a bit too much," Leonel said almost as though he was talking to himself. "To think that I could just walk in here without much effort at all."

    He had been worried about the number of militiamen and the difficulty he would face as a result, but he didn''t expect that he wouldn''t need to face off against them at all to make it to the city lord.

    Of course, he still couldn''t just kill the city lord due to the reaction he had seen from the citizens. But being able to get here still made things far easier than he ever expected.

    This was the weakness of these small cities. They hardly had proper sanitation, let alone advanced technology.

    This was more like what most Third Dimensional worlds were like. Earth was a true anomaly.

    The amount of advancement that Earth had made without Force was something that should truly be studied.

    "Who are you?" City lord Anesse''s aura flared. He was truly a man used to wielding power. But maybe it was precisely because of this that he didn''t have any true bodyguards by his side.

    Maybe he would have them when he went out. But in the confines of his own home, and given his personal power, he would never believe that he would need them here of all places.

    Leonel walked in with Aina and closed the door behind him.

    There was a pounding that came from the other side, but Leonel only casually took out the blade of the spear he had created. With a flicker of his wrist, a complex pattern was drawn into the door, and all of a sudden, the sound of the pounding vanished and the door no longer even vibrated.

    "I can give you two options," Leonel said casually.

    City lord Anesse''s expression became firm, and he seemed to be preparing for the fight of his life. He even gave a slight glance to Aina before focusing on Leonel. If it came to it, he didn''t believe that Leonel would be so casual with his wife''s life. She would definitely be his weak point.

    Leonel read the city lord''s reaction and changed his mind.

    "I guess there''s no need to give you an option, then."

    PUCHI!

    The city lord reacted quickly, his skin becoming covered in a dense grey stone. Leonel''s finger collided against it. He managed to make it through, but only in part.

    ''Interesting!

    Leonel''s arm stretched over the desk that separated them, his finger thrust at the city lord''s chest, but he couldn''t make it any closer.

    He thought the battle would end in a single strike, quite frankly. It probably would have had he used the blade, but he hadn''t thought it was necessary.

    It seemed, though, that although the city lord wasn''t in the Fourth Dimension, he had awakened an Ability Index.

    That made sense. Even if these humans hadn''t figured out how to create Dimensional Methods yet, Ability Indexes were innate. They would be born with them so long as a world had made it through the Metamorphosis.

    Leonel thought about just using the blade and ending things, but he decided against it. There was something he wanted to see.

    BANG! Sз╫ar?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The city lord took a step back to stabilize himself before exploding forth.

    He kicked at his desk, sending it flying at Leonel as he rushed to the side, picking up a heavy ax.

    Leonel was forced to stop the desk, but the echoes of danger bloomed in his mind. He knew even without his internal sight that the city lord was swinging his ax down at him from the other side, planning to go through both him and the desk.

    Leonel''s palm touched the smoothness of the desk before he grunted, pushing the heavy wood desk down and back.

    The desk collided with the city lord''s lower body, stifling his forward momentum and causing the ax to swing wildly through the air.

 Chapter 3197 Wary

    ?Chapter 3197 WaryThe swing of the ax missed Leonel''s nose by a hair, swiping down, splitting the desk, and then burying itself into the floor.

    Leonel took a step forward, stamping down on the polearm of the ax with a foot and driving it down hard.

    The city lord''s grip almost failed. But though he managed to hold on, his body was sent tilting forward.

    Leonel took advantage, stepping to the side off the polearm and in the same motion, sending a fist right at the city lord''s head.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s hand almost shattered on impact, the jaw of the city lord becoming covered in the very same grey stone, but his expression didn''t change in the slightest. It was as though he didn''t know pain.

    The city lord''s eyes rolled as he nearly lost consciousness. He stumbled, his grip over the ax loosening as he almost collapsed.

    BANG!

    A second fist landed from Leonel, then a third.

    The city lord couldn''t read or react to what was happening at all; his mind wasn''t even clear. It was like he was being attacked by three enemies at once instead of just one. A single miscalculation had left him in a quagmire that he couldn''t pull himself out of. Blood ran down Leonel''s knuckles as his skin was sheared off with every collision.

    In the swirling darkness of his mind, city lord Anesse could only barely see a pair of deep, violet eyes. Despite the fact his knuckles were being stripped down to the bone, the coldness never faded from them.

    Those two orbs were the only thing the city lord could see as the life was practically beaten out of him.

    He couldn''t help but wonder what mistake he had made to end up in this situation... And that was when he caught sight of a second pair of cold orbs. They were golden, and they hovered there with the very same steadiness.

    This was no normal pregnant woman...

    Those were the last thoughts he had before the last of his mind gave way. His brain practically oozed out of his orifices, his blood falling like the rain.

    Leonel exhaled a calm breath.

    He wasn''t originally planning to kill the city lord if he was obedient. But what was with

    these people and targeting his wife? Did they have no shame? Not letting even a pregnant woman go?

    He shook his head almost as though it was regretful that the city lord chose death.

    However, he only did so for a moment before he picked the two halves of the desk up and put them together. He drew a Force Art at their split joint, and it naturally fused together. Quite quickly, it looked as though nothing at all had happened in the office. Leonel picked up the city lord''s corpse and put it on the table.

    Other than the blood oozing out of his orifices, the city lord actually looked perfectly

    fine.

    ''It should be possible...''

    Leonel had been testing something with every punch he levied at the city lord.

    This Sub-Dimensional Zone was entirely focused on Weapon Forces, so doing anything else was quite difficult. Even his Ability Index was suppressed, let alone his Lineage Factor.

    The obvious solution to this problem was to kill the city lord and then use King''s Might to resurrect him to do his bidding. But that was easier said than done, especially with the Regulator targeting his Dream Force in particular.

    However, as Leonel had said many times already, everything in this Zone was constructed from Dream Force.

    Everything.

    That meant that technically speaking, using King''s Might here should be easier than using it anywhere else would be. After all, he had direct and unfettered access to the souls of people.

    But the theory was one matter; the actual execution was another. In reality, he couldn''t even access his King''s Might at all, let alone use it.

    However...

    He had gone through a great deal of trouble to survive the trials of the Emperor''s Might Golden Tablet and unlock the techniques within.

    And if one remembered... the techniques of Emperor''s Might were all drawn as Force Arts.

    So what would happen if he drew the Force Art for [Arise] right onto the body of a dead enemy?

    Leonel''s wrist flickered continuously, drawing out the complex Force Art piece by piece.

    He had needed to test out the city lord''s body to understand its ins and outs.

    Usually, when he cast [Arise], he would be able to directly control it with his Dream Force, shifting and changing some subtleties to make it fit.

    For example, when he faced off against Shan''Rae, he had to put in far more effort because her soul had protections.

    Here, it was even more complicated because he was trying to draw a one-size-fits-all Force Art onto the body of a dead man who didn''t even have a soul in the normal

    meaning.

    However...

    SHUUU!

    The stone skin of the man suddenly lit up and gained a violet tinge. With a twinkle, the man''s eyes suddenly flashed open.

    "My King!"

    City lord Anesse rushed to his feet off of the table and kneeled before Leonel.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, a slight sheen of sweat covering his brows. The complexity of

    the Emperor''s Might techniques certainly weren''t a joke.

    He wasn''t sure he would succeed if the city lord was truly in the Fourth Dimension. The suppression here was too much. But this would be enough.

    Soon, those of the city lord''s mansion saw an odd sight. Their stoic city lord was actually waiting on a young man that had entered quite hostilely moments ago.

    It wasn''t long before news of a fourth blacksmith spread. But what was more shocking than this was that the city lord had taken him in as a true confidant despite the fact he had killed his son. Sз╫arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    This, though, in the eyes of the foolish people of the city, meant that the city lord was truly a magnanimous person who hadn''t known about the actions of his own son. And this made others, especially the spies from other cities, extremely wary of Leonel.

 Chapter 3198 Wash Your Neck

    ?Chapter 3198 Wash Your Neck"Are you certain?"

    A city lord of a nearby town asked with a frown, trying to understand if they truly had a grasp of the situation.

    It was too odd. Jones died, and yet instead of crushing the perpetrator, Anesse befriended him? That didn''t sound like it made much sense at all.

    Even if Anesse was just using his son, his son was still his son, after all. On top of that, given Anesse''s intelligence and the ease with which he manipulated his populace, he would definitely use this as an opportunity to reel in more power.

    The only reason they were having so much trouble dealing with his city in the first place was because of Anesse''s solid understanding of politics and how to guide the feelings and views of the people. Otherwise, he would have found himself crushed beneath their momentum long ago. S~ea??h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Something like the death of a son, even if the majority of the city hated him, could easily be used.

    For example, Anesse could have held a large procession and forced the city into a mourning period.

    As bad as Jones was, he couldn''t have possibly had the time to affect every person of the city. Most would only have heard about him through the proxy of others and would have no personal experience with the matter.

    As the mourning ramped up, many would even begin to doubt whether Jones was truly that bad or not, or if the rumors they had heard were just exaggerated, or even a step further, spread by their enemies to trick them into hating their own people.

    If Anesse drummed this up and ended it with a public execution of Leonel, it would bring everyone in the village together. Though there would be some dissenting voices, they would eventually be drowned out by the general public sentiment until they began to turn even people who called themselves their friends away.

    This was how easy it was to manipulate the human mind. Everyone was susceptible. You didn''t need to convince everyone. Even just 60% of the population being on your side was enough to sway the remaining 40% until they had no choice but to follow.

    This was why Anesse was bold enough to allow his son to run rampant in the first place. He intimately understood this matter...

    Which was why it was so ridiculous that he would make a choice like this.

    The only explanation was that...

    Leonel was dangerous.

    BOOM!

    Just as the city lord was lost in thought, there was a sudden burst at his door, and his messenger''s head flew into the skies.

    The city lord hurriedly stood from his desk, only to find a spear jetting out through his chest.

    "Weak. Weak. Weak. The lot of you. I can''t believe they gave me this stupid human body."

    The spear shook, and the city lord on the end of it vibrated, then shattered apart into a rain of gore.

    "Alright, this city is mine now. Anyone who has anything to say can taste my spear and see how it likes it. Of course, if you happen to be a woman, I have another spear you can taste. Never say I don''t treat the fairer sex well."

    All across this Zone, scenes similar to this one played out. In fact, many of these situations had occurred long before Leonel even arrived at his city.

    Although Leonel was one of the first to forge a weapon and make his way down the mountain, he was also by far the most delayed. The Regulator had thrown so many beasts and challenges at him that those only now taking over their cities were actually on the slower end of the spectrum, while the most powerful of them had already done so long ago.

    However, these newbies were quite impatient. And those that had been there for a while noticed the vulnerability of Leonel''s city as well.

    As their spies came back with news, they realized that Leonel must be one of them, and likely had an ability to manipulate or cast illusions that could trick the people. If he was allowed time to sink his claws into the city, he would be able to control his own far better than they could in a short time.

    In that case, they would take a more hardline approach.

    Battle.

    What better way was there to gain prestige than to perform well in battle? They would be killing two birds with one stone.

    "We will wait a bit..."

    A voice came from a city lord''s office, but it felt far too deep and rumbling to have come from a human.

    However, none of the officials dared to enter to find out why.

    The inside of the office was a mess of beast carcasses. A bearman who stood so tall

    that even in a seated position, his head had to bow to avoid the ceilings, ripped

    through them one after another.

    "My strength... I want my strength... Get this human skin off of me..."

    The more he ate, the more he reverted back to his truest state.

    An oddity that no one had been able to understand was that all Races that entered this Zone had become humans. It didn''t feel like they were stuck in the body of another, but rather like their own bodies had regressed.

    If Leonel were present, it would have been easy enough for him to understand why this was. After all, all humanoids were descendants of humans.

    But to most, they assumed that it was just another test of the Zone, and they were all

    too eager to return to their true bodies.

    And this Bear Beastman was no different.

    Blood leaked from his lips, and his body shuddered with pleasure as strength poured into it once again. He seemed to have gained some sort of PTSD from living in the body of a weak human.

    "Once I''m done here... I''ll find the bastard who dared to kill my brother... I will smell it. on you... Wash your neck..." he spoke between bites.

 Chapter 3199 DONG!

    ?Chapter 3199 DONG!The rhythmic clanging of metal echoed again and again.

    After dealing with the city lord, Leonel seemed to have forgotten about the rest of the world as he went back to forging.

    In truth, he wasn''t very interested in doing this back-and-forth with the experts of this world. Going around, conquering cities, and razing his enemies to the ground wasn''t interesting in the slightest.

    This was the most obvious path to clearing this Zone, but Leonel also knew that it wouldn''t work for him for several reasons.

    First, the Regulator would make it a living hell for him. Trying to follow the conventional path would just give it more chances to do exactly that.

    And second, he already had a Valiant Heart. His goal wasn''t to form one like the others. His goal was to form his Weapon Force on his own.

    These were the two requirements for clearing this Zone.

    However, for obvious reasons, the second would also be a living hell thanks to the Regulator.

    This ironically put Leonel right back at step one. He wasn''t going to succeed in forging his own Weapon Force by meditating in silence. He needed to battle. And that put him right back in the Regulator''s clutches.

    It was a vicious cycle, to be sure. But that didn''t mean he had to follow everything to a tee.

    If he was correct, his enemies should be making their way toward him right this moment, so he would use them as a nice whetstone.

    **CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.**

    Leonel stopped swinging his arm, shaking his head.

    ''Still not good enough!

    He tossed the blade to the side.

    Making a long-standing Weapon Force better was next to impossible. In order for it to be triggered in the first place, it already had to have reached perfection in some aspect. There was nothing to improve.

    The creation of a Weapon Force shouldn''t be looked at like inventing an item. The creation of a Weapon Force was exactly the same as someone creating oxygen. How could you improve oxygen?

    ''No, it''s even more fundamental than oxygen, as I know it is two oxygen molecules

    bonded together. Creating a Weapon Force is no different than piecing together a fundamental atom from its electrons, protons, and the basal elements even more fundamental than them...''

    As stable as oxygen was on its own, trying to add to it or remove from it would immediately destabilize it.

    Ironically, Leonel''s task was even more difficult than what he described precisely because of this.

    It might be easier if he were trying to create an entirely new chemical. But he was trying to mess around with an already stable one, one that had been refined and perfected for countless generations. It was practically like trying to make a noble gas more stable than it already was. There was no room for improvement.

    If not for the machinations of the Regulator, Leonel might not even think to go this route.

    He had already created his own Force before in Violet Force; he didn''t need to do it again to stroke his ego. Even he, deep inside, felt that Spear and Bow Force were already perfect as they were.

    He didn''t have any ideas for how to perfect them even further.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled.

    To the side, Kammy couldn''t understand Leonel''s disappointment at all. He was practically like a child on Christmas Day, going through the blades Leonel created one after another.

    Most of the militiamen used spears. There were a few swordsmen and archers among them, but seeing the quality of these blades, he thought about just forcing them to

    abandon their weapons of choice.

    Even a few casual, unpracticed jabs with these blades would skewer enemies before they knew what happened to them.

    It might be worth the loss in skill.

    Plus, this was a world without Force just yet, so the value of a mortal using a weapon they were familiar with wasn''t nearly as high as it would be otherwise.

    "Can I give these to the militia?" Kammy asked, realizing that it wasn''t ultimately his decision to do this.

    "Hm?" Leonel looked up, then waved a hand. "Sure... but it''s not like they''ll need to use them."

    "What was that?"

    "Nothing." Leonel shook his head as he stood to his feet. sea??h thз╫ N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    -

    He randomly grabbed at the air, and a wooden shaft snapped into his palm.

    ''Well, at least I can do that now!

    He hadn''t remembered the last time he cared about such a thing. With Spear Force came a natural control over spear weapons that could even be seen as a sort of telekinesis that could allow him to retrieve a weapon like this.

    It was this same sort of innate connection with such weapons that had stopped him from forging spears for so long, and also what gave him Dominion over spears as a

    Sovereign.

    Leonel couldn''t remember the last time he had fought a Spear Force master seriously because spears had almost always been useless against him. This Idol Battlefield could very well count as the first time in his life that he had such a chance, the first time he could face off against enemies with Spear Sovereignty strong enough to resist his

    own.

    **DONG! DONG! DONG!**

    Kammy''s expression changed. "Enemy attack!"

    Leonel pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Calm down."

    With another wave of his hand, a random blade Leonel had forged shot up from the pile and onto the tip of his shaft. He took some twine and began to slowly bind the two

    together.

    It was so tight that the wooden shaft even seemed to compress beneath the pressure as veins bulged across Leonel''s forearm.

    "Let''s go," Leonel said calmly.

    The militiamen were quickly gathering at the city''s entrance, but Leonel walked through them, hopping to the top of the city wall and then casually landing on the

    other side.

    Alone.

    No one had the time to react to the shock of the matter before it was too late.

 Chapter 3200 Weak

    ?Chapter 3200 WeakIn the distance, 300 or so men ran forward as a unit. They were led by a human male with particularly jagged teeth at the helm. He held a savage expression on his face that made it almost too clear that he wasn''t human.

    Leonel found this interesting. They''re forced to be humans here, huh? But he seems to be morphing back. I wonder what triggers it, and what about me? Am I still considered human in the sense that this Zone would accept? Is that why my Lineage Factors are so suppressed? Or is it something else?"

    He made a mental note to check this out more in the future. But right now wasn''t the time.

    Clearly, there was a method of reverting back to your best state. He just hadn''t noticed it yet. But if these people could figure it out, he certainly could. sea??h thз╫ N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "LEONEL! COME BACK!" Kammy roared from the other side of the city gates.

    "I''ll handle this on my own," Leonel said with almost a little bit of a yawn, stretching his body from one side to the other.

    Before, he had said that dealing with 300 militiamen would be too troublesome, and that was still true. However, back then, the reason he didn''t want to do it was because of the danger he would put Aina in.

    But now... the city was under control, and he shouldn''t need to worry about Aina''s safety.

    In that case, he could go all out.

    Did he have 100% assurance of winning?

    No.

    But he would do it anyway because if he didn''t put himself to an extreme, he would never grasp what he needed to.

    Just as Leonel was about to take a step forward, a howl came from the man with jagged teeth at the helm.

    By now, Leonel had already made out his aura. With his memory, he had memorized every single man and woman in the Spear Force holding area.

    He knew, then, that this man was actually a Rapax. Considering how rare it was for the Rapax to use weapons, he was either trash or an elite among elites.

    Clearly, since he saw Leonel was alone, he wanted to fight alone as well, the pride of a Rapax taking hold.

    His head seemed to elongate somewhat when he made this choice, giving him an extremely odd appearance, almost like a human man with a head that was a few shades too long.

    Then he appeared before Leonel, his spear thrusting out.

    CLANG!

    Leonel''s wrist flickered, easily parrying the blow to the side and striking out with a palm.

    The Rapax was sent stumbling backward, blood flying from his lips.

    Leonel looked down at his hand and shook his head. He had actually fractured his wrist on that blow. It was just a hairline fracture, but that didn''t stop it from hurting like hell. It would definitely affect his battle.

    With a fluid motion, he swapped the brace protecting his right hand to his left, making a mental note to make a second when the time came.

    By this point, the Rapax had recovered and realized that Leonel was a strong opponent.

    He unleashed another howl and swung down with force.

    Leonel shook his head. "Weak"

    His spear danced. He took a more conservative stance, realizing that he didn''t have the same body he used to have. There was no need to focus on trying to end the battle with style points.

    He shifted from stance to stance, the speed of his spear steady, but its blade sharp. Without what seemed like superhuman abilities, the battle was extremely bland to a layman... but the Rapax was sweating bullets. If not for his ability to overwhelm Leonel with strength, he would have already lost his life once, twice.... thrice....

    CLANG! CHIIII! PUCHI!

    Leonel''s spear ripped through his defenses and pierced right through his heart.

    With a kick, Leonel sent him flying off his spear tip as he took a step forward.

    The army of militiamen was still charging. The battle had had several exchanges, but it had lasted not even half a minute.

    Leonel had never come here for the sake of finding one worthy opponent. In the history of existence, after he defeated Old Spear, there was no one at the same level that could match him in spear technique... with or without Spear Force.

    What he needed was a pressure that could only come from quantity.

    And these men would give him that.

    They would be far weaker than the Rapax, but...

    Leonel took another step forward, and his aura surged. It was far more muted than it was when he had his full array of abilities, and yet... he still felt like a looming presence in the eyes of those who laid eyes on him.

    BANG!

    Leonel crossed his spear across his body and roared, his chest expanding as his feet. rooted themselves into the ground.

    He clashed with the first line of men and held his ground for a full second before he

    was sent flying back.

    But that was all he needed.

    The delay of the three men he clashed with impacted the row behind them, and then that row impacted the row behind them.

    Leonel stabilized his footing, and then his spear snaked forward.

    It moved like a shadow through the air, puncturing three throats in quick succession before the line could even begin to recover.

    PUCHI! PUCHI! PUCHI!

    Blood flew, but Leonel suffered a slash from the side. He didn''t have his usual array of movement methods, and at some point, there were just too many enemies.

    However, the fact there were so many was also a benefit in itself.

    As many as there were, only three or so could attack him at a single time.

    Leonel waded into the deep waters, his eyes glowing with determination.

    For every wound he suffered, he killed three more, and soon blood began to splash

    around him like a dancing array.

    Those on the city walls couldn''t believe what they were seeing.

 Chapter 3201 React

    ?Chapter 3201 ReactLeonel sidestepped a spear and swung out with a blade. He cut an arrow piercing toward him in two, sending just the arrow tip to the ground where a militiaman by the side accidentally stepped on it.

    The roar of pain was abruptly cut off with a head flying into the skies.

    Leonel became like a reaper, his body coated both in his blood and that of his enemies. The army had become such a mess and had lost any semblance of leadership they had, so even when they tried to run, they would find themselves face to face with Leonel, without options to save themselves. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    An arrow pierced into the flesh just above Leonel''s hip, but he only pivoted to the side, causing a spear to miss his torso and slice the arrow away for him instead.

    Finishing his pivot, his spear arched back and up, running the blade through his helper''s throat and up through the back of his skull.

    Every action of Leonel''s seemed to serve two or three actions at once.

    He tried to delve into the mysteries of Spear Force, but he found himself relying more and more on his Ability Index. Every little calculation was well within his means, but the calculations themselves seemed to take up far more stamina than they ever did in the past.

    Leonel found that he was slowly encroaching on the level where instinct and calculation were becoming one, and he was only able to sense it when his Spear Force was no longer restraining him.

    His movements became faster, sharper. Every time he swung out, someone died, and at some unknown point...

    **PUCHI!**

    His spear drilled downward, pinning a militiaman to the ground through his throat with a blade. Leonel gasped for breath, the corpses of over a hundred men lying at his feet as he propped his foot up on one of their chests.

    Despite the shock and awe of those on the city wall, Leonel wasn''t satisfied in the slightest.

    Almost half of the men had managed to run away and escape, for one. But he would have been able to let that slide if he had advanced considerably. Unfortunately... he didn''t feel like he had.

    The fusion of his Ability Index and his spear abilities seemed great, but Leonel didn''t see how this would help him awaken his Spear Force. If anything, it was bringing him further away by muddying the waters again.

    A new Spear Force would have to be purely Spear Force. It wasn''t a Path he was looking for; he already had plenty of those. What he needed was something fundamental, something grounded. Making his Spear Force more complex wasn''t the path to that.

    He had really pushed himself to get everything he could out of this battle, and yet it wasn''t enough. Leonel knew that he had time, but he just wasn''t satisfied with this alone. If he allowed himself to lull into the pace of this battlefield, maybe he would never make the progress he wanted to make at all.

    Huffing for breath, he looked down at the spear in his hand.

    He raised a hand to his hip, ripping out the arrow tip stuck inside and tossing the bloody, flesh-mangled mess to the side.

    He closed his eyes, taking another deep breath before his gaze sharpened.

    A large, looming shadow had appeared over him... a man with the head of a bear and the menacing

    momentum of a beast stood towering over him at more than twice his height.

    The power of his muscles rippled, practically superheating the air around him, causing steam to billow out in waves.

    Leonel looked up calmly, his gaze indifferent and his spear still pierced through the throat of the man he was stepping on.

    Above him, the Bear Beastman had a maw open and dripping with blood and saliva, his teeth littered with bits of ripped flesh.

    ''It''s you!"

    The growl of the bearman caused Leonel''s hair to flutter back.

    ''Die."

    A

    spear descended from above.

    Leonel felt like his body was screaming at him to find some place to rest, but he still raised up a block.

    BANG!

    Leonel had killed quite a number of people on this battlefield, but there was only one beastman that he could recall.

    As for how this man knew it was him, he didn''t know...

    Nor did he care.

    Another whetstone had appeared.

    BANG!

    Leonel fell heavily to a knee, his spear braced above his head.

    The beastman kicked out. There was a slight shift before. After all, he had to retrieve his spear to balance himself while he sent out such a kick. But it was still too fast.

    Leonel could barely block with his own spear before it landed.

    SNAP.

    His spear broke in two and his body was sent tumbling back.

    ROAR!

    The Bear Beastman looked as though he had truly gone berserk. He wanted Leonel to experience pain, to experience horror. However...

    Leonel slowly stood to his feet, his expression still the picture of indifference. He ignored the bearman, looking to his back to find that there was indeed a large number of militiamen coming.

    But rather than the 300 of the first group, there were closer to a thousand this time. It was either this bearman''s city was much larger, or he had already conquered several others already...

    Leonel had a feeling that it was the latter.

    Rather than replying to the man immediately, Leonel closed his eyes and took a breath. Listening to the steady rhythm of his heart, tendrils of calmness surged through his body.

    When he opened his eyes again, he had settled down considerably.

    He looked down at the broken spear in his hand and tossed it to the side.

    With a wave of his hand, a spear a militiaman was holding on the city walls was torn out of his palm and sent flving toward Leonel.

    He had already decided that he would fight. He would fight until he saw the gates of death and fight. his way through them if he had to.

    When he faced off against that line dividing Life and Death...

    He wanted to see how his heart would react.

 Chapter 3202 Weaker

    ?Chapter 3202 WeakerLeonel''s battle intent blazed. Facing off against this bear man who stood so much taller and larger than he was, wielding so much more strength, all while he was heavily injured and outnumbered to top it off...

    It was a situation where most wouldn''t make it out alive.

    And yet, Leonel''s back stood straight and tall. His thoughts didn''t have the slightest intention of backing down, and his heart hummed to a rhythmic cadence.

    So much of his strength was sealed away, but his mind was just the same.

    He held out his spear, and a shocking aura suddenly erupted from him. His hair whipped violently in the winds, but there wasn''t the slightest bit of Force whirling around him. It was like the world itself was resonating to the cadence of his heart.

    SHUU!

    The two shot forward, and their blades raced through the skies. Leonel''s broken ribs and injured body screamed at him all the while, but the intent in his eyes only glowed brighter and brighter. BANG!

    His arm almost shattered beneath just the first impact, but he twisted his wrist to the side, just barely off-loading the strength down through his body, to his feet, and into the ground while parrying the spear to the side.

    The bear man was far swifter than his brother had been, pulling back with sharp speed the same instant Leonel had and slashing out again.

    Leonel found himself protecting himself and his spear from every blow. Himself to avoid the blows themselves, and his spear to stop it from breaking mid-battle.

    His mind was practically overloaded with all sorts of information, and his Dream Force was being wrung out like a wet towel.

    His stamina was seeping away faster and faster while an oppressive air hung over the battlefield. In the distance, the army of a thousand came to a stop. They were perfectly disciplined, standing in perfect rows of straight lines, and looked ahead to the battle in unison.

    A fog came from them as dusk fell, and the air cooled. One could almost hear their heartbeats from a distance drilling into their psyches.

    The militiamen of Leonel''s village had faces colored with despair, lacking the slightest hint of red. Just the thousand-man army alone was enough for them to shake. But the strength of the bear man made them realize something else...

    If Leonel could force 300 men to flee on his own, and the bear man was so much stronger than him... didn''t that mean that they were facing something even worse?

    Were they dead already and just didn''t know it?

    The dichotomy between the momentum of both sides only grew worse the more injuries Leonel suffered, the worse he was beaten back, the more devastating the blows he faced.

    Every spurt of blood, every crackling bone, every slight grunt was like another blow to their morale... because they knew that even if Leonel somehow managed to survive this one, there was an even worse challenge waiting behind him.

    And these disciplined men... didn''t look like they would run the moment something went wrong.

    Leonel could practically feel the pressure on his shoulders increasing. It was an amorphous feeling, one that had been so fleeting to him in the past and yet so clear now.

    Not only could he feel the weight pressing him down, but he felt it clearly as the bear man seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

    The momentum of his side was only increasing while that of Leonel''s was only weakening with every step.

    A valiant heart...

    Leonel''s wrists shook as he suffered another blow, but his gaze flashed at the same time. ''Weaker!

    His eyes locked onto the bear man''s furious expression. The latter''s seething growls and almost feral obsession with making Leonel not just die, but suffer, had been practically tuned out by Leonel entirely.

    Leonel had been entirely focused on this burden on his shoulders, not realizing that this man had completely lost his mind.

    "You are too weak to face me," Leonel suddenly said.

    They were words that didn''t make any sense at all, and yet they also pierced right into the depths of the bear man''s very soul.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! CHIII!

    Leonel withstood two blows back to back entirely head-on this time. His knees buckled, and he almost collapsed, but he held on.

    With a pivot, he took on the third blow. Sparks flew as their blades clashed and then slid along one another.

    Leonel''s wrist forcefully twisted, and the polearm bowed. His blade caught the twine that held the bear man''s blade to his polearm and cut it in two.

    They might not have had a level playing field when it came to raw strength. But... their weapons were a different matter entirely. The only difference was that the one the bear man was wielding was much larger, by almost twice in terms of both length and thickness.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t matter.

    Leonel''s spear swept to the side, hitting the tip of the bear man''s spear with precision that shook the soul. His blade tip couldn''t have been steadier, and for a moment, his back carried shades of his father''s presence.

    It didn''t matter how heavy the burden was.

    He would carry it.

    CHILI! CHII! CHII! CHII!

    The bear man''s blade was almost completely knocked out of the groove it sat in. When he tried to

    strike again, he found that he didn''t even have a straight blade anymore.

    And in that moment of hesitancy and shock...

    PUCHI!

    Leonel''s spear ripped through his throat.

    The bear man froze, and many eyes opened wide in shock.

    Leonel''s earlier words felt like nothing more than a joke. And yet, now...

    It was almost like their sense of the world was crumbling down around them.

    Leonel swiped his spear to the side, ripping it out of the man''s throat. Sз╫ar?h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    His breathing heaved, and his chest shuddered in pain with every breath he took. But even so, his back remained straight.

 Chapter 3203 Trust

    ?Chapter 3203 TrustLeonel took a slow step forward, and then another. His aura continued to grow, the burden on his shoulders solidifying as he faced off against the now somewhat shaken army of a thousand.

    However, though they were shaken for a moment, their discipline ultimately shone through. Their own momentum began to climb, clashing against Leonel''s and almost smothering it down to ash.

    And yet, Leonel still took another step, and then another, before he suddenly broke out into a run.

    His heart shone resplendently, and his momentum wouldn''t be waned by the likes of these people.

    With his spear, he would cut down anything that stood in his way.

    Aina sat on a rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forth. Her mind seemed to be at peace, a far cry from Elaine, who seemed to be losing her mind.

    The middle-aged housewife had noticed that her husband wasn''t here, and rumors were already flying around in the city about a thousand-man army being outside their gates.

    She wasn''t a fool. She knew what happened in situations like this one.

    There would be a forceful conscription.

    Usually, her husband would be out of the age range for such a thing, but if the situation was bad enough, how could they have the time or care for such a thing? Her boys had already gone off, but she wasn''t even allowed to get close to the wall to figure out what was going on... and she certainly had tried... several times by now.

    But they weren''t allowing civilians not part of the conscription to get close to the walls, so she had no idea what was going on, and it was making her lose her mind.

    Her boys... her husband... maybe her boys would have a chance to survive, but that old man, what chance did he stand?

    In her delusional fantasy, she thought that she should be there by his side swinging her rolling pin. Maybe she would be able to stop a few enemies that tried to stab him in the back.

    Elaine rushed to the open pit over and pulled out the third apple pie of the day.

    The house was practically steaming with the scent of fresh baking. This might have only been the third apple pie, but she had lost count of the other baked goods she had made already.

    "You should try cutting the apple slices thinner next time," Aina said lightly. "More cinnamon, less brown sugar. Also, bake the crust ahead of time a little longer..."

    She spoke these words with a casual flair.

    "Right... right..." Elaine nodded, looking down at the pie on the counter as though it held the dreams she was suppressing. "Again... do it again..."

    Elaine listened to Aina''s vague instructions, somewhere in the back of her mind knowing that Aina was doing things like this on purpose.

    After all, if she just told her how to make the perfect apple pic, maybe she wouldn''t have anything to distract her anymore.

    Plus, the variables of the cook changed every time she started. Controlling the flame of an open pit fire was almost as difficult as controlling the forge. Then there was the fact they didn''t have any measuring cups or devices, so everything was by look and feel, increasing the variables all the more.

    This meant that almost no matter what advice Aina gave, so long as she remained so vague, there would always be something for Elaine to improve.

    This sort of distraction was about the only thing Aina could use to try and calm the middle-aged housewife. But it was clear to Aina that she was quickly fraying at the edges. There wasn''t much that could be done other than this.

    Eventually, after the fifth pie, Elaine could only stare at Aina.

    "Why are you... so calm?"

    She had been hesitating about asking this question because it could easily be seen as disrespectful. What if Aina assumed she was saying that she didn''t care about her husband? Any woman who had married for love would take offense to such a thing. And even women who had married for more superficial matters would fight tooth and claw to avoid such labels. How could they so easily admit it?

    In fact, in the latter case, the reaction might be even fiercer because they had something to hide.

    However, Elaine wasn''t a woman who had much of a filter to begin with. So after her mind had been frayed more and more with the ticking time, she could no longer hold back.

    "Hm?" Aina looked up from her thoughts with a smile, rubbing her large belly with one hand and rocking back and forth slowly. She seemed... content.

    "Never mind..." Elaine shook her head, realizing that she might have overstepped.

    Aina''s smile deepened. "I once was worried all the time. But I stopped that a long time ago..."

    Elaine blinked. "... Why?"

    23:41

    "Our situations are different. I do not want to say anything that you might take the wrong way," Aina replied.

    Elaine''s mouth opened to reply before she laughed. It seemed like both of them had been holding back for various reasons.

    "You can speak. I''m not so fragile, and it seems that neither are you."

    Aina chuckled a bit before her eyes became a bit hazy, as though she was reminiscing about something.

    "In the past, I used to harp on all his actions, wondering why he wasn''t doing things the way I wanted, why he wasn''t protecting his life the way he should, why he was

    always making me worry about him...

    "But recently, I stopped doing that."

    "Why''s that?"

    "Because... he earned my trust."

    Elaine''s brows shot up, realizing why it was Aina had been hesitant to say this earlier. Even now, she wasn''t quite sure how to take it.

    "But like I said..." Aina continued. "... Our situations are different. In fact, just a year or

    so ago, he was dead. Maybe I should have stopped trusting him again. But, right now...

    I don''t feel that way at all.

    "In fact, I''m confident that there can only be one outcome to all of this."

    Leonel stood silently in a field littered with corpses, his hair dancing in the wind and two broken spears dripping in blood in his palms. Sз╫ar?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3204 Soon

    ?Chapter 3204 SoonLeonel breathed in and out slowly.

    His body was a complete mess. One of his arms had his entire tricep stripped off. Out from his back, there were at least a half dozen arrows and a broken spear sticking out of him. His face was covered in such a dense drizzle of running blood that one would have thought that it had been raining red earlier.

    Every breath felt like he was inhaling scalding iron, and his body was teetering on the very edge of collapse. And yet, he was still standing.

    In those moments, he had forgotten about everything. Almost like he was the iron being tempered in flames, he allowed the pain to wash over him, suffering countless blows, injuries, and horrors.

    With his normal body, these injuries were nothing. But with a body suppressed to the Third Dimension, it was a miracle that he was even standing at all.

    And yet, he was.

    The silence hung palpably. Even until the end, those of the city didn''t know how to react.

    When had they ever seen a man defeat a thousand on his own?

    In the end, more than half had ended up running away once again, leaving Leonel disappointed in his own performance. But it was hard for those of the city to look at it like that at all.

    Leonel unleashed a shuddering breath as he raised his head to the skies. He couldn''t help but wonder where that line existed, what was holding him back... was it still the Regulator?

    His hands loosened and the broken spears fell from his hands, piercing into the ground.

    He turned back toward the city, walking with slow, steady steps.

    If this one battle wasn''t enough, he would fight another.

    If that wasn''t enough, he would fight a third.

    If that wasn''t enough, he would fight a fourth.

    He wouldn''t allow himself to be stalled here. His steps would continue to trudge forward until he reached the end of this road and the Demoness'' head lay on the ground before him.

    He walked directly into the city and disappeared. From start to finish, no one spoke a single word.

    What could they say?

    In the end, it was City Lord Anesse who took control of the situation and sent people out to clean up the battlefield and burn the dead.

    In a world like this one, allowing the bodies to stay around for too long would end up spreading disease and killing off their city''s population.

    However, even as they did this work, none of them could forget the scene they had just witnessed.

    It was only made more shocking when Leonel did it again the following week.

    And then again the week after that.

    Leonel fell into a boiling vat of water Aina had prepared. They had been in this world for two months already, and at least once a week, there would be a large-scale attack that was triggered.

    Every time, the enemies would be stronger and stronger, and in this most recent battle, the enemy actually had a rudimentary form of Spear Force that seemed almost about to take shape.

    Not only were they getting stronger, but their numbers were growing as well. The bear man had been a bit of an anomaly at first, but now it felt like every time an army appeared, it was a thousand-men strong.

    And every time they came, Leonel would fight them alone.

    Sitting in the wooden tub with his wife behind him, cleaning his wounds, there was a silent peace in the air.

    Leonel didn''t feel his pain at all; he just felt comfortable.

    His injuries were slow to heal in this world, but Aina had managed to find a way to speed it up. After studying the herbs that were around for a week or so, she managed to find combinations of normal Third Dimensional herbs that were excellent at

    stimulating his healing processes.

    By now, Leonel was easily twice as powerful as he was when he first stepped into this world, and somehow he both felt like his Spear Force had advanced by leaps and bounds and that he hadn''t made any progress at all.

    It was an odd feeling, to be sure.

    Being twice as powerful didn''t sound impressive until one thought about how long it would take a mortal to achieve such a thing normally. To be twice as strong as the common man should take at least half a decade to a decade of training for most. But Leonel had accomplished it in less than two months.

    But he didn''t feel like there was anything impressive about it at all. That was because

    23:41

    as others gathered, regained their humanoid forms, and slowly began to access more of their Lineage Factors and Ability Indexes, on top of unlocking their Weapon Forces, Leonel was stuck in a rut the Regulator wouldn''t let him out of.

    From an outsider''s perspective, it seemed only natural that he would eventually run into a wall that he couldn''t surpass. Sз╫ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    When that time came, he would die, and his wife, without the ability to protect herself, just might follow suit.

    How could Aina fight against so many enemies in her current state?

    Leonel even began to wonder if he had made a mistake by not investing in conquering more men.

    In reality, there were many he had defeated that came to the city of their own volition, growing it. By now, their 300-man militia was not only fanatically loyal to him due to his power and strength, but they had more than tripled in size, giving him a thousand-man army as well.

    But he pushed such thoughts down. He knew that this path wasn''t for him.

    For Leonel, building an army and using it to conquer everything would be... too easy.

    No one could outmaneuver him on a battlefield.

    But none of this would help him unlock what he needed.

    He had come to the Idol Battlefield for his own power, not to raise a power that would

    be useless to him outside of these walls.

    "I''m going to give birth soon," Aina suddenly said.

 Chapter 3205 Tomorrow

    ?Chapter 3205 TomorrowLeonel''s gaze flickered, but he eventually calmly nodded. Then, he smiled.

    "When?"

    "Tomorrow."

    "Okay" Leonel beamed.

    High above him, an invisible pressure seemed to grow.

    The weight of a father''s love...

    He had experienced it once before, but now it seemed that he would be on the other side of it.

    A long while after, Aina left the bathroom, leaving Leonel to his own thoughts.

    He ran a hand alongside the tub, lost in thought. They came fast and swift, but disappeared just as quickly.

    Slowly, he stood from the tub, allowing the water to run down his body. The once clear water, radiating an herbal scent, had become a murky mess of crimson and sweat by

    now.

    He found himself in front of a mirror, staring back at the handsome countenance he

    saw.

    He drew a finger across the air and a pair of glasses appeared. They were an exact replica of his father''s. Unfortunately, he couldn''t access the Segmented Cube to pull out the real pair.

    He stared at the clear-framed glasses for a long while.

    Honestly, he didn''t feel like he was worthy of wearing them. The day his mother made them for him was maybe one of the most uncomfortable days of his life. He just hadn''t said anything because he knew that she needed that moment.

    But now, he realized that there would be no delaying it any longer. There were many things in life that you had to do. Without facing them, you would never be ready... and you could never be ready to face them.

    Leonel balanced the glasses on an edge, spinning them on his finger. It felt as light as a feather, and yet he knew that would only last a moment.

    With a flick of his wrist, he slid them onto his face.

    He looked at the face staring back at him, and he could almost feel his shoulders slouch beneath the pressure.

    Was it really getting to him?

    ''It''s just you and me here. Don''t you think you can be honest.?''

    Leonel stared back at himself as though he was looking for answers.

    He stood to his full height, slicking his wet hair back with a hand and exhaling a breath.

    After feeling like he had delayed long enough, he dried himself and walked out. With a motion, he grabbed a wood-body spear from the side.

    "I''ll be back," Leonel said lightly.

    Aina nodded, rocking on a chair that Leonel had crafted for her this time. She had liked the one in Elaine''s house so much that she had to use her wife privileges to get one of her own.

    Leonel headed out of the door, smelling the air as it whipped around him.

    ''About 80%. Better than the usual!

    That was how much he had recovered since his last battle. By now, they happened so frequently that he could smell them coming over the horizon.

    That dense scent of blood, that subtle shaking of the earth, the shift of Force in the air.

    He could feel it all almost... intimately.

    He walked through the city slowly, and a silence seemed to fall. Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Everyone who saw him had the very same gaze of respect in their eyes. Almost out of respect, the city had a moment of silence whenever Leonel went out to battle.

    Though they had never seen him wear glasses before, they all subconsciously felt that there was something that had changed.

    Every step almost seemed to make the ground more solid, almost as though they had gone from walking on soft soil to something as tough as granite.

    By the time Leonel walked to the city gates, the entire city had fallen into this silence. Flags flew on the city wall and the clatter of weapons died down as the last of the militiamen took their posts. They might not be part of this fight, but they appeared every time Leonel moved to the city wall.

    It was their way of showing respect.

    Leonel had never led them personally. He hardly talked to most of them. In fact, they only seemed to receive orders through City Lord Anesse.

    And yet, there was no doubt about who they respected the most.

    Leonel took a seat, allowing his legs to dangle from the city wall. He laid his spear

    across his lap, looking out into the world.

    The approaching army wasn''t even in the line of sight of most. At best, one could see lines of smoke rising into the air. But as they got closer, Leonel realized that this one was going to be a true challenge...

    As though the others weren''t enough already.

    It wasn''t just a single army, but two. Each one had what must have been upward of 2000 men. But the numbers weren''t the real issue. It was the two that led them.

    A Sylvan and a Pluto.

    The Pluto was none other than Ger''Ain, the very young man who had once been by El''Rion''s side. But just the fact that he was a Pluto spoke volumes all by itself.

    And the Sylvan... a man who went by Vaelin. These two were the very same two that had caught Leonel''s attention in their waiting room.

    It seemed that his luck was truly bad, to have not just one, but both of his strongest competitors appear here at the same time... and not even three months into a Zone that was supposedly meant to last for years.

    Was his luck really so bad?

    Obviously not.

    And neither was he meant to have faced enemies so frequently either.

    Under normal circumstances, he shrugged off the machinations of the Regulator. He had managed to control that seething anger, and he hadn''t allowed it to erupt again

    since the first time.

    But he was particularly sensitive today.

    Targeting him like this on the eve of his child''s birth? Was that supposed to be another coincidence?

    A deathly sort of aura began to radiate from Leonel. Sparks of something unknown cracked and popped around him.

 Chapter 3206 A Fathers Fury (1)

    ?Chapter 3206 A Father''s Fury (1)Crackles of air shook around Leonel as he picked up his spear, stepping off of the wall and falling to the ground with what looked almost like a light brush with the soil.

    A minor puff of dust rose up around his feet, but other than this, one would have thought that a feather had fallen from the skies.

    Leonel exhaled a breath, trying to control his temper. But as he walked forward to the coming armies, he was finding it more and more difficult to do so.

    Something rattled around inside of him, his body wanting to erupt. It was tempered by his own several controls and his insights for the future, but like a wild dog bucking against its chain, he could feel that it truly wanted to unleash.

    The two armies came to a stop.

    Vaelin and Ger''Ain stood at their helms, their eyes glowing with murderous intent as they locked onto Leonel...

    And maybe for good reason.

    Vaelin knew that Leonel had touched upon a taboo of the Sylvan Race, taking their Sylvan Hearts and using them for his own personal purposes as though they were truly trees to be lopped down for their lumber.

    On the other side, Ger''Ain knew that one of his own had fallen at the hands of Leonel. Not only had he fallen, but Leonel had even gone as far as to turn him into a puppet. Any Race would be absolutely furious about this. Not a single one of them didn''t have protections and caution against the Fawkes for this precise reason.

    But not only was Leonel a threat because he could do it, he was also a threat because he actually dared to.

    When these two factors were put into the same person, they formed the perfect recipe for an existence that should be wiped out at all costs.

    However...

    The two men looked toward one another, the dangerous light in their eyes still flaring. They almost looked as though they wanted to take one another out first.

    Each one was a prideful man in their own right. They wanted nothing more than to deal with Leonel on their own. Something like teaming up wasn''t on their mind in the slightest.

    As expected, the fact that they had appeared here at the same time was nothing more than a "coincidence." One that was almost surely set up by the Regulator itself. Another flare of anger rose to Leonel''s mind before he forcefully pressed it down.

    He could feel that these were remnants of his flagrant arrogance. He wasn''t just angry because of the danger this put him and his family in, but also that someone else was controlling his life to such an extent.

    Every decision he made, and every attempt he began to try and rein in control of the situation ended up slipping out of his grasp and growing to become a new tool that was instead used to control him.

    He absolutely hated it. He hated it with every fiber of his being.

    Leonel gripped his fist so hard around his spear that the blade tip quivered. Sз╫ar?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He looked down at his once steady blade, realizing that he was truly losing control. This was unacceptable.

    With a slow motion, he held his spear out, watching as the blade tip went from a vibrating metal to a steady statuesque mass that was unmoved by the aura spiraling into the skies and the swaying winds.

    Leonel took a step forward, and then a quick second before he dashed forward. This fury...

    He had to unleash it.

    His body flickered, and he seemed to continuously accelerate, his body growing warm as the aches from the previous battles were suppressed by his adrenaline.

    He appeared before Vaelin, striking out.

    Vaelin frowned, his own arm shaking as a spear formed from his palm. He seemed to grow it out from his own smooth, wooden skin, his glowing brass orb eyes sharpening as he slashed down.

    BANG!

    His strike was swift and simple, but carried an eerie sharpness to it.

    Leonel found that his blade was somehow even steadier than his own, but in a moment, he understood.

    As steady as Leonel''s blade was when he was standing in silence, in battle, there were bound to be some quivers, not just due to his movement, but also the reverberating clashes with an enemy.

    However, a true spearman could easily compensate for this, giving the illusion that the blade remained stable nonetheless.

    Leonel had obviously long since mastered this, but at least in this respect of spear mastery, Vaelin was better....

    And that was for no reason other than the fact his spear was literally grown from his body.

    In terms of overall spear skill, no one could match Leonel. But in terms of spear control, it seemed that this Sylvan was in a tier all his own.

    He could control the very wood of his spear itself as he fought. This was a level of precision that Leonel couldn''t match,

    Leonel hadn''t realized this at first, and his fury was clouding his mind too much. This caused his attempt to parry the Sylvan to fail miserably.

    The Sylvan''s blade suddenly changed inside position with his own, snaking from the outside of Leonel''s parry to the inner blade, reversing the parry and jetting Leonel''s spear off to the side instead.

    Leonel found the blade appearing before his throat in an instant.

    It was a level of countering he had simply never seen before. The Sylvan had actually reversed his parry into one of his own, deflecting Leonel''s blade to the side and still somehow keeping enough curve on his spear to attack in the same fluid motion.

    For a moment, all Leonel could see was that spear tip and those brass orb eyes that looked as though they had calculated everything in advance.

    Thoughts of things ending just like this, so easily, so swiftly, crossed his mind. He wondered how many opponents had died at his hands just like this...

    The weight on his shoulders trembled.

    Leonel''s gaze sharpened and he dropped a knee. The weight he carried around seemed to accelerate his fall downward and to the side. Veins popped across his neck

    as he dodged, rolling out of the way.

    And yet, there was still a spurt of blood that arched through the skies.

    Leonel felt a sharp pain in his neck and trap as deep gashes appeared in both. His

    artery was nearly cut, and he felt his right arm hang limply to the side as its

    connection with his shoulder was nearly entirely severed.

    Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Leonel continued to roll, sliding out of the way of a second strike before somersaulting to his feet.

    Blood poured down a side of Leonel''s body in a rain.

    The Sylvan stood over him, large and imposing. Whether it was Ger''Ain or Vaelin, the both of them were practically twice his height. It might have been even worse had they not been suppressed by the Regulator too.

    And unlike him... There was a flicker of Spear Force on the end of Vaelin''s blade.

    Leonel could feel it rampaging in his flesh, making it near impossible for him to stop

    the bleeding in short order.

    "This is all you have? And you dare to blaspheme the warriors of my race?" Vaelin''s

    voice came out in an almost ancient cadence, as though he was several generations older than he truly was.

    Leonel didn''t respond, slowly rising to his feet and touching the gash on his shoulder

    and neck.

    The wounds were so deep that even an entire finger couldn''t clog it up. His vision was already swimming, and it felt like he could collapse at any moment.

    And yet, he had still forced himself to stand.

    How many months had he been here already? Just two? It felt like so much more than

    that...

    "I''ll take your head here and then feed your corpse at the altar of our young. It''s the only way you can atone for your sins."

    Leonel looked up for the first time, meeting the gaze of the Sylvan.

    He looked like a man who could already be dead. Blood coated his hands, an entire

    side of his body was a shower of his own crimson, and his neck looked as though it had already been an eighth slashed open.

    Practically speaking, for a Third Dimensional existence, he was already a walking

    corpse.

    But for some reason, Vaclin suddenly felt uncomfortable.

    "You know," Leonel began to speak, his voice coming out in a gurgle as blood spurted out from and into places that it shouldn''t. "An Emperor like my grandfather really would be in perfect control of his temper. But I don''t know why I''m wasting my time. All that effort to try and control my emotions, and it''s just making me slower.

    "Why bother?"

    Leonel looked like he was genuinely asking Vaelin for answers.

    "I''m no Emperor. I''m a King. And right now, you''re really pissing me off."

    Leonel''s temper flared.

 Chapter 3207 A Fathers Fury (2)

    ?Chapter 3207 A Father''s Fury (2)Leonel''s words sounded ridiculous, especially when there was blood spurting out of his mouth and his neck like a fountain. It looked as though he would truly die at any time... even his skin was only becoming paler.

    However, Leonel himself didn''t seem to notice the state of his body at all... and neither could Vaelin for reasons he couldn''t describe.

    Leonel looked the same, and yet felt entirely different at the same time. The weight of his world descended from above and the Sylvan just felt... heavier.

    Leonel exhaled a breath and a chilly fog came from his lips.

    Then he took a step forward, thrusting out with his spear.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear almost flew from his hands, the strength of the Sylvan being too much. But Vaelin was still forced to take a step back, being unable to follow up with a counter as fast as he would have usually liked to.

    Vaelin''s gaze flickered with surprise. Why was Leonel''s spear so much heavier now? BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The two crossed blows and exchanged combinations. For a moment, it looked as though neither were experts at all, their attacks feeling somewhat stiff and unpracticed.

    However, the more they fought, the more furious their blows became, the more fluid their strikes looked until they suddenly reverted back to a bland, unsubstantial echo of what they had once been.

    Vaelin felt his heart leaping up in shock every time this happened. For Leonel to make him feel so uncoordinated... was definitely on purpose.

    Leonel was trying to find a counter to his great control, and that was also what made Vaclin realize something else shocking...

    Leonel''s skill in the spear was far beyond his own, by a measure he couldn''t even fathom.

    He was easily three times stronger than Leonel, a gap that, to even experts, let alone mere mortals, was simply impossible to close.

    And yet, Leonel''s spear had not only magically become heavier, but his skill was able to bridge that gap.

    Every time their strikes became uncoordinated, cold sweat would permeate the Sylvan''s back. That was because he could catch sniffs of death.

    But when their strikes became fluid again, he felt even more fear... that was because the danger you couldn''t sense was the most shocking of them all.

    Suddenly Vaelin pierced down from above, snaking through an opening and aiming right for Leonel''s chest.

    Leonel swayed to the side slightly, but while his spear was heavy, his body movements were lacking. As he lost larger and larger amounts of blood, his body function was obviously impaired. He was already injured before the battle even began, let alone

    now.

    However, even when Vaelin thought he would be able to tear through Leonel''s body, his blade only nicked his side, slipping through almost too easily.

    ''Did he...''

    Vaelin''s eyes widened.

    The only way his spear wouldn''t meet much resistance was if he had slipped between Leonel''s ribcage.

    If that was what he was aiming for, he wouldn''t be so surprised. With his control of his spear, he could split a grain of sand in two if he wanted.

    The problem was that he was just aiming for Leonel''s chest in general. The odds he would only hit skin was...

    Nonsense. Sear?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    CHII!

    Vaelin was so concentrated on the opening that he didn''t even realize what Leonel''s spear was doing until he was almost too late.

    A root extended from his foot and forcefully pulled him to the side, but a gash was still cut across his neck.

    Vaelin hurriedly made distance between himself and Leonel, touching at his neck with a look of horror on his face.

    Had he almost died?

    Why did he feel that way?

    The vitality of the Sylvans was hard to describe in a few words, even while suppressed like this. Unless Leonel could find and destroy his Sylvan Heart, he should be able to

    recover from basically any other injury.

    So why... why did he feel this way?

    Fear, rage, and humiliation spilled out of Vaelin, but his brass orb eyes remained cool and almost coldly calculating.

    Leonel stumbled, gasping for breath. His face had turned such a ghastly shade of pale

    ..

    that he practically looked like a ghost. The only good news was that the blood was drying... but every time he moved too vigorously the wound would begin gushing again, causing him to lose even more blood.

    If not for the fact he had strengthened his body somewhat, helping his recovery along, and had some of his wife''s residual herbs still lingering in his bloodstream, death

    would have truly been the only outcome for him.

    Vaelin couldn''t believe that this half-dead man had almost taken his life. However, he didn''t charge forward in a rage.

    He was a Sylvan. Not a brainless brute.

    He looked over toward Ger''Ain.

    "Do you want to kill him, or not?"

    Ger''Ain sneered, his voice coming out in a rumbling cadence. "What is that supposed

    to mean?"

    Vaelin''s gaze flickered and he came up with a plan.

    The Pluto were too prideful to gang up on someone. But it would all depend on how you approached things.

    "He''s too pathetic. Let the armies kill him. Is this a warrior that''s worth fighting in the first place?"

    Ger''Ain''s gaze flickered. Indeed. Seeing Leonel''s weak state made him lose basically all interest. He didn''t want to have such a victory at all. He wanted nothing to do with it,

    quite frankly.

    So long as Leonel died, he didn''t care what else happened. There would be no pride in taking down this kind of opponent.

    As for why Vaelin wanted to send in both their armies, he could guess that as well. Even if Leonel was on his last legs, he could probably take out a decent number. After Leonel was dealt with, they would almost certainly be at one another''s necks, so this

    was Vaclin''s way of evening things out.

    As for what happened afterward, that would be settled by them. It would have nothing

    to do with Leonel.

    "Fine" Ger''Ain said indifferently. "Go kill him."

    The armies rumbled.

    Leonel stood there in silence, gasping for breath as blood gushed out of him. He

    almost looked like a white canvas painted red. Half his body was covered in the

    crimson, while the other half was as pale as a sheet.

    He coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his back remained straight, piercing toward

    the skies above.

    With a raise of his spear, the world fell into silence around him. He didn''t hear the stomping feet or the roaring war cry.

    Everything slowed, but it was hard to tell if he was truly so focused, or if it was because he was about to pass out.

    All he knew was that his wife and child were behind him.

    A flickering image seemed to appear to his back, and deep within his eyes, reflecting

    across his glasses, he could see his own father''s back.

    Leonel took a step forward and clashed with the army.

    His spear danced, ripping out through, severing limbs and puncturing hearts.

    His blade slid through the gaps in rib cages, avoided the bone of limbs to tear through frail ligaments and tendons, even having such precision that it slipped between the disks of their spines while avoiding their armors at the same time.

    There was a steadiness to his blade now that made it feel as though the world itself had said it should be, like the weight of the world was concentrated into its very

    fabric.

    He hardly moved at all, only taking steps from side to side from time to time to conserve what little energy he had left. But even when seemed like he should run out. of it, he dug into a deeper well, and then a deeper one than that.

    His body began to overheat, and then from overheating, it became eerily cold. It was

    just a normal day and the temperature was about at room temperature, and yet a frosty blue began to appear at the tips of Leonel''s fingers and feet.

    His body heat receded into his chest to protect his valuable organs and heart, but it

    didn''t have anything else left to give for everything else.

    And yet, his blade still remained steady.

    His arms seemed to move on their own, his body being pulled along by the strength of something beyond even himself.

    The laws of the world continued to gather around him, the shackles the Regulator had on his Dream Force rattling and quaking as though they might shatter at any time.

    Control.

    Control.

    Control.

    That was true freedom,

    SHIING! SHIING! SHIING!

    Again. Again. Again.

    His spear drilled through the neck of one warrior, twisting until it found the path of

    least resistance out from the side of his throat.

    He arched his spear out of that man''s body and right through the gaps in another''s armor, slipping right through their ribs and puncturing their heart.

    With every kill, Leonel''s presence seemed to become a larger and larger mountain.

 Chapter 3208 A Fathers Fury (3)

    ?Chapter 3208 A Father''s Fury (3)The hours ticked by and Ger''Ain and Vaelin had begun to frown themselves.

    They didn''t care about their armies. Quite frankly, they only had them to stop others from taking advantage of them. In truth, they understood that the true purpose of the trial was to strengthen themselves; they just hadn''t had much time to do it yet as it had only been a handful of months.

    However, they also didn''t want to lose them all.

    Leonel just seemed relentless, and every time they thought he would fall, he dug deeper.

    What they also hadn''t forgotten was that Leonel should have an army of his own. They could see them on the city walls and they weren''t bad themselves.

    Even though they were definitely weaker than their own army, and the numbers were inferior as well, it would at least do something to help. But...

    The more they watched Leonel, the more they felt a fear creep into their hearts.

    He was just a small human, less than half their size, and yet he looked like a mountain looming in the distance.

    There was nothing flashy about his attacks at all, and yet he took each individual down with ruthless efficiency. And because he wasn''t moving much, as the corpses piled on around him, his kills only became easier because their armies had to climb over their companions on uneven footing just to make it to Leonel in the first place. In the end, they even had to start diverting some of their manpower just to move the corpses out of the way, but that dampened morale and only put them at more risk of being killed.

    Stable.

    That was the one word that they could use to describe Leonel... it felt like no matter what happened, he would be a stable mountain standing in their way, never allowing them to gain a single advantage on him.

    After his outburst about being a King, Vaclin was certain that he would find a chance to deal a death blow to Leonel, only to realize that somehow that outburst and that outpouring of fury had somehow only made Leonel even-keeled.

    It was like all his fury had been channeled into his spear, making it heavier, sharper, faster, more controlled.

    Every stroke elevated showed an improvement to his power, which made little sense because with every stroke, he lost more blood and should have only been becoming weaker.

    The anxiety in the hearts of the two men only seemed to be growing and they wanted to step in, but they couldn''t....

    One part because of pride...

    Another part due to something that they couldn''t put into words.

    It was almost as though they wanted to see if it was really possible for a man with nothing left to give could actually make it to the end of the road.

    And what shook them all the more was that Leonel didn''t seem to spare them a single thought or glance. It was almost like they were just another one of the numbers he was facing.

    Who cared if it was 1000 enemies or 1001? Who cared if it was 2000 or 2002?

    They were all the same.

    Threats.

    Threats he would cut down.

    CHII! CHII! CHII!

    The breath coming out from Leonel''s mouth became so hot that it formed tendrils of smoke that curled out from the corners of his mouth, spiraling into the air in plumes of grey.

    It carried a crimson tinge to it as though his blood was being vaporized itself, but the weaker he looked, the stronger his spear became.

    It seemed like his blade was no longer being propelled by his body alone. Ilis limbs, the torque of his torso and the twist of his hips were nothing more than a secondary afterthought.

    Maybe it was a trick of the light, but the Sylvan and Pluto even felt like there was an eerie light that was slowly coming out from the blade as well, almost as though it was also overtaxed and expelling its own steam in fatigue and overheating.

    CHII! CHII! CHII!

    Aina sat on her rocking chair, rubbing her belly and singing a small tune. The happiness on her face was practically palpable. She had a rosiness and life to her that could probably only be experienced by a woman who could feel every aspect of the little one''s life growing within her.

    Her voice was truly beautiful. If anyone other than her child could hear her, it would have brought birds descending from the skies and deer walking out of forests.

    She laughed to herself at the thought. Leonel definitely would have gotten a kick out of that. Maybe he would even start calling her Snow White as an inside joke between themselves.

    No. He wouldn''t pick a nickname like that. He would definitely go with Bambi instead.

    "Your father''s brain works in mysterious ways," Aina said softly.

    She felt a strong kick and her smile deepened.

    It seemed that it was about time now...

    Aina stood slowly, supporting her belly with one hand. But before she could even make it to the door, a familiar middle-aged woman burst through, carrying a large array of

    boxes.

    Aina was a bit speechless but could only laugh as Elain shouted out orders to her sons to get everything sorted and then kicked them all out again.

    Soon, Aina felt that she was surrounded by love. Elaine and her sons'' wives all helped her into a tub.

    Honestly, Aina had been planning on doing this on her own. She didn''t think that it would be a big deal.

    But then again... her original plans were to give birth with her full array of powers. She didn''t expect to be suddenly suppressed like she was now, forced to face this event with a Third Dimensional body.

    That made things quite dangerous because their child was not normal.

    Aina had not only picked the best of her eggs, she had even matched it with the most compatible of Leonel''s seeds. Then, she spent years nurturing their child with all of her Life Force and Dream Force.

    Their child''s body had originally been that of a Spiritual''s, but Aina had constructed their body personally...

    But there was a reason Spirituals were born as souls and only constructed their bodies afterward.

    These were all reasons that this was far from the usual sort of birth. However, Aina

    regretted nothing.

    This life... she wanted it.

    She would hold on for the sake of her husband fighting outside, for the sake of the

    child in her belly, for her own sake...

    She would birth this new little Morales no matter what.

    ...

    Leonel grabbed onto a sword jetting out from his abdomen. He squeezed down, the blade puncturing his skin. But he still ripped it out violently, swinging his spear at the Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    man and sending his head flying into the skies.

    Leonel coughed, mere droplets of blood coming out of him at this point.

    Most of his body had gone from pale to a greyish blue as though it had been completely drained of all the blood it had left. The fact he was still on his feet at all was

    a miracle.

    He took a step forward, his spear dancing.

    He slashed across the Achilles tendon of one man, driving the butt of his spear into his

    nose as he fell to a knee.

    The man couldn''t control his body folding backward in the slightest and could only watch as Leonel''s spear shot through his throat.

    Leonel stabbed the spear further down, feeling for the sensation of the blade going through the earth before leaping upward. He used his spear as a pivot point to spin around quickly, then hid behind its body to block a blow that had come from his back. The spear of the enemy clanged against his own, rebounding back even faster than it

    came.

    Leonel ripped his spear up and out of the ground, taking advantage of the man''s off-balance form to skewer him through the heart.

    He stood in the middle of a battlefield littered with corpses, looking around for a new enemy, only to realize that there was none.

    He sent a glance toward the city, feeling that something on the inside was changing. He didn''t need to think much to know what it was at all...

    Raising a blood-caked hand to his face, he adjusted his glasses, looking toward the

    Sylvan and Pluto.

    By now, he had run through their entire armies, leaving them just five meters from him. Neither had moved a muscle even up until he killed the very last of them.

    As for why that was...

    Leonel didn''t care. The answer wouldn''t make a single ounce of difference to him, and

    what was in their hearts was irrelevant to him.

    Standing there at half their height, he somehow still seemed taller than the both of

    them.

    Slowly, he raised his spear to face them.

    CRACK. CRI! CRI! Leonel looked down at his spear to find that the blade had finally given way.

    A mournful cry filled the air as the lament of the blade echoed. Leonel could feel its

    sadness...

    This normal blade had truly wanted to fight to the end with him, if for no other reason than to witness this final ride.

    "Is that what you want...?" Leonel asked, looking at the cracked blade. "... Okay, then

    we will do this together..."

    The blade never mattered...

    Leonel raised his spear higher as the cracked end of the spear fell off.

    ... Not so long as he could guide his blade with his heart.

    SHUUUUUUU!

 Chapter 3209 A Fathers Fury (4)

    ?Chapter 3209 A Father''s Fury (4)A spiraling aura took shape around Leonel''s cracked blade. His heart thumped and his body''s aura soared to pierce the skies.

    The pressure of the mountain on his back seemed to descend into the world itself.

    Staring at him, one could tell that there was absolutely nothing that would make him lower his spear, nothing that would impact his will, nothing that would dull the blade hidden in his heart.

    His body might have seemed to have lost all life, his Force didn''t seem to respond to him, and his flesh itself had practically begun to atrophy, but the light in his eyes...

    That hadn''t dimmed in the slightest and seemed to have no intention of doing so. Come.

    That was the one word it seemed to roar at the top of its lungs.

    And then Leonel moved.

    His spear danced through the skies, carving what looked like a simple arc but actually targeted both Sylvan and Pluto at the same time.

    He truly treated them no differently from the men he had just faced off against, and he would cut them down no differently.

    Despite his pride, Ger''Ain reacted on instinct, feeling the scent of death kissing at his neck. Before he even knew what was happening, he was locked in a battle, shoulder to shoulder with Vaelin, and had no easy way to extricate himself without suffering a lethal blow.

    I

    The Pluto''s grey-blue skin rippled with an underlying violet light as his eyes flickered with rage.

    Humiliation.

    Undisguised, unabashed humiliation.

    He couldn''t tell if Leonel was doing this on purpose or not, but somehow, the idea that he wasn''t could make him feel more fury.

    The fact that Leonel didn''t have to think to target him like this, to think of attacking his pride, and only doing so as though it was only natural... as though it was only natural for a pitiful, puny human to fight against the lofty Sylvan and Pluto Race all on his own.

    He didn''t second guess it; he didn''t even hesitate in the slightest.

    It was like to Leonel... this was just another battle.

    They were only another road he would cross, mountain he would scale, sky he would pierce.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s spear weighed heavy, but its swiftness was undeniable. He pushed Vaelin to his backfoot before crossing blades with Ger''Ain and taking a step back.

    His feet pivoted as he parried the Pluto''s spear to the side, erupting with a flat foot to the side of Ger''Ain''s knee.

    At this point, Leonel''s smaller size was to his advantage. He was fighting against giants by comparison, but his nimbleness was beyond theirs even if his speed was not.

    Ger''Ain was forced to brace his knee for impact so Leonel couldn''t shatter it at the same moment his spear was sent piercing into the ground, having missed Leonel. Vaclin recovered in that instant, swiping out a blade toward Leonel''s back. However, that was when the angle of Leonel''s "kick" changed, and he used Ger''Ain''s knee as a platform to launch himself upward and over the blade coming for him, leaving Vaelin''s blade about to rip through the Pluto.

    The Sylvan only sneered. As if he would fall for something like that. How great was his intelligence? And how much greater was his spear control?

    His blade came to a steady stop, ready to pierce up toward Leonel, who had not left himself in a vulnerable spot mid-air.

    But Vaelin realized too late that Leonel''s trajectory wasn''t just upward. It was up and back.

    Leonel somersaulted through the air, his feet landing on the body of Vaelin''s spear with a vicious downward momentum.

    Unfortunately, the strength of Leonel''s two opponents wasn''t so simple. Something like withstanding Leonel''s weight on their spears, even while suppressed to the Third Dimension, wasn''t a problem for them. Especially after Leonel had lost so much weight due to his injuries, blood loss, and flesh atrophying.

    Vaelin''s gaze flashed and his arms flexed. Rather than stopping the upward trajectory of his spear, his torso flexed and his feet dug into the ground. With a roar, he lifted

    with all his strength, his intention being to punish Leonel by sending him flying higher into the air.

    And yet... that still seemed to be within Leonel''s calculations.

    Leonel''s feet only lightly touched Vaelin''s spear before they "slipped." S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Vaelin, who had just put all his strength into thrusting his spear and Leonel upward, suddenly found himself off balance.

    It was happening again. Leonel was forcing uncoordinated movements using methods

    the Sylvan had just never prepared for before.

    Suddenly, Leonel had landed on the ground and the Sylvan''s chest was wide open.

    Leonel could feel that Ger''Ain had already recovered to his back, but the angle was far too tight. Leonel was beneath both of Vaelin''s arms, and with the angle Ger''Ain''s spear was pierced into the ground, he wouldn''t have a vantage point to work with.

    So, Leonel didn''t even hesitate.

    The weight of a mountain trembled to his back as he erupted with a spear strike that spiraled the energies of the world to the tip of his blade.

    Even without Force, the laws of reality seemed to bend to his will.

    Leonel didn''t even have the energy to roar... but his spear did for him.

    PUCHI!

    He rocketed forward with so much strength that his spear and arm ripped through the Sylvan''s chest.

    Blood exploded from the large man''s back, golden streaks and runes followed suit as Vaelin froze, his eyes wide.

    He realized too late that Leonel had already seen through all of his abilities. It was why he had run away in the first place, because the scent of death was only getting closer

    and closer.

    With the added variable of Ger''Ain, a man he neither trusted nor was used to working with, he only sped himself closer to death.

    And the fact he didn''t trust Ger''Ain only seemed smarter after Leonel suddenly sensed a blade rip through Vaelin''s body and head right for him.

 Chapter 3210 A Fathers Fury (5)

    ?Chapter 3210 A Father''s Fury (5)Leonel stood with an arm running through the Sylvan. They were more than close; they were practically one body at this point.

    The fact that Ger''Ain''s blade was already here could only mean that the Pluto never planned to spare the Sylvan in the first place. From the start, his fury had erupted, swallowing all his reason.

    Leonel had actually used his body, the body of a noble Pluto...

    As a platform to leap into the air?

    Ger''Ain''s roar filled the skies, and the light of dusk seemed to only pool over the

    horizon faster as a result, almost as though the sun had been sent into a state of shock and fear by his fury.

    Leonel had calculated this possibility, but he knew that even so, there wouldn''t be much that he could do.

    PUCHI!

    The spear ripped through the Sylvan''s side and came right for Leonel.

    Although there wasn''t much Leonel could do... that didn''t mean there was absolutely nothing. At the very least, the fact that the spear had to come through Ger''Ain''s body first slowed it down and reduced its lethality considerably. sea??h thз╫ Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel kicked out with a knee that drove into the side of the Sylvan''s own, then knocked his body over toward Ger''Ain even as the spear came toward him.

    Suddenly, Ger''Ain found his spear''s trajectory being forcefully changed by the fall of the Sylvan''s body.

    He tried to forcefully change it, but that ironically only slowed his blade down further. Trying to twist his wrist and change a blade''s arc abruptly while in the middle of a cut was something any artisan would tell you was a foolish endeavor.

    Leonel stumbled away, almost falling in weakness. Ger''Ain''s blade still managed to nick some of his hair, almost cutting his scalp off from the rest of his body.

    Taking deep breaths, Leonel steadied himself as Ger''Ain flung Vaelin''s corpse to the side. The Pluto seemed to have grown in size, his shoulders bulging with what somehow looked almost like venomous veins and his body pulsing with power.

    He raised his spear into the air and slashed out again and again.

    He had a furious sort of power to him, his spear leaving afterimages in the air that only layered together after meeting Leonel''s own. Then, rippling waves of strikes would erupt all at once.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel blocked the first, and then the second, but the third drove him down to a knee. A pitiful spurt of blood came from the wound on his neck and shoulder before he was forced to block a kick that the Pluto tried to drive into his chest.

    His body was sent sprawling into the distance, and for the first time since the battle with the army began, Leonel found himself on the ground.

    He coughed, trying to get up, only to realize why it was that he had been so focused on not falling all this time.

    It felt like he had no energy left to do so, the whining and groaning of his organs whispering into his ears about shutting down for good. And maybe many of them already had.

    "DIE!"

    Ger''Ain didn''t mince his words, nor did he waste any time. The humiliation bubbling up in his chest was such that he didn''t care about anything other than dealing a death blow to Leonel. He wanted to see him ripped limb from limb, to see his organs spilling out of his body, to see his head on a pike.

    His spear swung down with such ferocity that its polearm bent beneath the pressure, its body curving in the air as its blade accelerated.

    Leonel pulled on whatever strength he had left to roll to the side. But....

    SHILING!

    He hardly felt the pain. His body lacked so much energy that his nerves didn''t even seem to fire properly anymore. Even when he lost his arm, it almost felt like an aged scab was falling away naturally.

    He coughed, but more so due to the impact of such a powerful blade running through his body, while Ger''Ain only felt more infuriated that he still hadn''t been able to kill Leonel with such a blow.

    The Pluto raised his spear even higher and no longer even looked like a spearman at all. He reversed his grip on his spear and plowed it downward like a jackhammer. Leonel tried to roll out of the way again, but he couldn''t. Without an extra arm for leverage, he wasn''t fast enough.

    The blade ran right through his chest, deviating slightly as though it had crashed into something heavy before ending up half in his ribcage and half in his gut.

    But maybe just as bad now was the fact he was pinned to the ground.

    Looking at the blade running through him, Leonel found it hard to believe that it was even there. Had he really pushed himself so far that he couldn''t even feel such a thing? No... somehow... he felt that he still hadn''t pushed himself far enough... it still... wasn''t enough.

    **

    Aina''s consciousness faded in and out. The pool of once clear waters was bathed in blood now.

    She could faintly hear the screams of the women around her, telling her to stay away, to just give it one more push, but they seemed filtered through a mesh like her mind was in too much pain to process any of it at all.

    She had yet to hear what she really wanted to hear... there was neither her husband''s voice nor the cry of her baby...

    Where were they?

    Another shudder of pain barely snapped her awake.

    "ANOTHER TUB, GET ME ANOTHER TUB! I need to see what''s happening!" Elaine

    roared out orders.

    ''No...'' Aina thought to her.... I have to hold on...''

    Her head faintly turned toward Leonel''s direction. They were separated by kilometers,

    and yet they might as well have been side by side. She could feel him... if only she

    could also reach out and touch him.

    Her consciousness faded.

 Chapter 3211 A Fathers Fury (6)

    ?Chapter 3211 A Father''s Fury (6)Ger''Ain''s roars filled the skies as he drove the spear deep into Leonel''s body.

    The last flickering lights deep within Leonel seemed to tremble one last time before his body gave way. Even as his brain fired signal after signal to move, he had pushed himself much too far.

    With so much weight bearing down from above, he couldn''t move even if he wanted to, let alone the fact his body wasn''t responding to him.

    Failure.

    So close... and yet so far...

    In the real world, it didn''t matter how furious you were or how much passion you had. At some point, you would reach the end of your road if you weren''t strong enough. Leonel unleashed shallow breaths because he couldn''t physically breathe deeply anymore. He might not have felt the pain, but there was nothing at all that was good about that.

    Faintly, he could feel his wife''s gaze from the far-off distance, but he couldn''t even turn to look at her. And even if he could... there would be kilometers, a city wall, and countless buildings in their way.

    A fury bubbled up in his chest, writhing out of control like it had before, but it was likewise useless. All it did was sap up what remained of his energy.

    The haggard, enraged breath of Ger''Ain lumbered on from above, pressing down on Leonel''s body and only making him feel more suffocated and disgusted with himself, ''I can''t...''

    Leonel''s gaze flickered like an ember waning or a light overloading its fuse.

    His will was still akin to a towering tempest, so powerful that Ger''Ain could feel it weigh down on himself as well.

    But no amount of will could seem to move his body.

    "You killed... a Pluto... that much is fine, I can accept it... but you... also defiled his body, you ruined his memory..." Ger''Ain gasped between breaths. "... One of my own kind... the sort of pressure we bear for the sake of the world... you cannot imagine... and yet... you disrespect us like this..."

    Ger''Ain''s rumbling words seemed to fuel his fury all the more.

    He ripped his spear up from the ground, taking Leonel''s body along with it. Hanging from the end of the spear, Leonel could hardly do anything but hold onto his own. But because the gap in their size was so large, even if he managed to move his body and swing his spear with any sort of force...

    He wouldn''t even reach Ger''Ain''s neck.

    The Pluto''s spear was simply too long.

    "I will show you what it feels like to be disrespected and defiled! A warrior like you deserves a good death, but I will not give you one! I will trample over your pride and humiliate you even in death! I will nail your tongue to your head and hang your penis from your mouth instead! You will not rest in peace for a single one of your days!"

    The more Ger''Ain caught his breath, the louder his voice became, and more thunderously it boomed across the skies.

    The fury of a Pluto seemed to have spilled forth from him, and Leonel only now finally grasped what Ger''Ain''s path of the spear was.

    It had been hard to grasp, much harder than Vaelin. He had assumed that it was somewhat related to time, which was why it was so muted. Sз╫arch* The n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But the reality was that this wasn''t the case. In fact, part of the reason Ger''Ain was so agitated came from a reason even he couldn''t properly understand for the same reason.

    His spear was filled with the pride of the Pluto race, the pride of a Race that stood atop the world, that bore the weight of humanity''s survival for so long.

    But ultimately...

    How could such a spear show its might before Leonel''s? How could such a prideful spear continue to be when it was so clearly inferior?

    Now, however, this spear seemed to be gaining momentum as it sat skewered through Leonel, as it humiliated the man that once stood above it.

    With dull eyes, Leonel looked down at the spear skewering through him.

    Was this how his father had felt? Dying to someone so inferior to him only because there was someone much more powerful pulling the strings in the background.

    He couldn''t help but wonder what his father''s last thoughts were. Were they of hopelessness? Despair? The unfairness of it all?

    Leonel coughed, another weak spurt of nothing coming from him as his body simply had nothing more to give. The fact he still had the reflex to cough at all was astonishing in its own right.

    "No..."

    Leonel''s voice came out as weak as the flap of a butterfly''s wings. Even Ger''Ain didn''t hear it. Let alone the Pluto, even Leonel couldn''t quite hear it. Though it was hard to tell if that was because he had spoken so softly, or if it was because his ears couldn''t quite pick up sound like they used to.

    As for what he was saying no to, it was his father''s last thoughts...

    He knew what his father was thinking... he had seen that smile on his face... there wasn''t an ounce of despair or helplessness there.

    That was because unlike him, his father had cleared a path for his wife and son... unlike him, his father''s son had already grown into a man ready to carry on the burden himself... unlike him, his father had succeeded.

    Leonel''s arm suddenly moved as the weight on his shoulders grew heavier. He wasn''t just carrying his wife, his unborn child, or the memory of his parents on his back... He was also carrying his father''s burden, his last hopes, his last dreams, his last smile. Leonel held his spear in his teeth and grabbed onto Ger''Ain''s polearm with a hand. Deep within his mind, a tranquility that had been at silent rest stirred.

    Control.

    For the sake of his family, if it was all he had left, he was even willing to become a Demon.

    A bloodthirsty light filled his eyes.

 Chapter 3212 A Fathers Fury (7)

    ?Chapter 3212 A Father''s Fury (7)Ger''Ain looked at Leonel''s vain attempts as though he relished in them. The more Leonel struggled, the more chances he would get to make this man truly regret the things that he had done.

    However...

    SHIIIING!

    Leonel ripped the spear through his body, curving it up and through his collarbone. Ger''Ain stood frozen in shock.

    His spear was more like a glaive than it was a real spear. It only had one truly sharp edge while the other side was blunt, and at the moment, the sharp edge was pointed down to the ground.

    That meant that for Leonel to pull himself off of the spear, he had actually forcefully destroyed large segments of his body with nothing more than the blunt edge of the blade.

    Not only that, but he had basically cut himself in two while doing it.

    He fell to the ground, trying to do so on two feet, only for half of his torso to spill over to one side, pooling out with his blackened, atrophied inner organs.

    A flash of fear lit in Ger''Ain''s eyes, one that he couldn''t immediately suppress like the first one. The Pluto were a Race of warriors with existences that towered over all others...

    But even he couldn''t fathom this sort of matter.

    He was only caught off guard for a brief while, and that fear only stunned him for a split second...

    But it was enough.

    He hadn''t noticed that he had ended up over Vaelin''s corpse. So when Leonel fell down, his torso blooming open with petals of sickly grey-black organs, he landed right onto the Sylvan.

    Leonel released his spear from his mouth and turned his neck, taking a savage bite out of the opening in Vaelin''s chest.

    Ger''Ain''s eyes widened, realizing what was happening a step too late.

    And it was then he noticed something else as well.

    In the open cavity that was Leonel''s chest, there was one pulsing light.

    His heart.

    Ger''Ain remembered that when he pierced down into Leonel''s chest, he had run into

    жг

    something he couldn''t puncture, and his spear ended up deviating. He hadn''t thought. much about it then, but he finally understood what it was.

    He couldn''t pierce Leonel''s heart because his heart and his Innate Node were one and the same.

    Creation taken to an extreme could only be seen as Destruction.

    Leonel ripped his neck to the side, pulling out a large meaty bit of golden flesh from Vaelin''s Sylvan Heart. His earlier spear strike had already destroyed much of it, but there was still quite a bit that remained. And in maybe one of the most savage displays of his life, Leonel tore into it as though it was a steak rather than the corpse of a man who had just been alive.

    Ger''Ain suddenly swung his spear down from above, but the moment Leonel had released his spear from his mouth, his now free hand had caught it.

    A second too late, Ger''Ain realized that Leonel had already thrust his spear up before he even decided where to attack.

    Leonel''s cracked spear blade caught the edge of Ger''Ain''s own and parried it to the side.

    Ger''Ain had attacked with so much force that having his momentum deviated forward like this knocked him off balance somewhat, causing him to be unable to stop his blade at all.

    It missed the side of Leonel''s face and buried itself into Vaelin''s body.

    Spurts of power roared through Leonel''s veins as he kicked upward, golden lines pulsing along his atrophied leg.

    His heel collided with Ger''Ain''s hip perfectly, forcing the Pluto to be flipped over Leonel''s head by his own momentum.

    The two halves of Leonel''s torso tried to mend themselves together using the power of the Sylvan Heart, but the strings of flesh that connected them were too loose, and Leonel didn''t give them any time before he rushed to his feet at the fastest speed he could muster.

    Wielding his spear in one hand, he pierced down at Ger''Ain, who successfully rolled to the side.

    BANG! BANG!

    Ger''Ain was forced to abandon his spear in Vaelin''s body and was sent taking two steps back in quick succession.

    Leonel closed the distance again, his eyes filled with a furious, raging light.

    The fear in Ger''Ain''s heart only grew. The sight of a man fighting with a single arm while his body was both figuratively and literally falling apart was too much.

    Every time Leonel made a vigorous movement, the tendrils of flesh trying to hold his torso together would snap, but it was as though he didn''t notice at all.

    If he didn''t care about the Sylvan blood dripping down his chin, why would he care about this?

    And somehow, his spear strikes were only becoming heavier. It was like he was the one who had insulted Leonel, as though he was the one who deserved to pay for all the things he had done.

    And suddenly, Ger''Ain began to wonder if he truly did deserve death. Should he just accept that his life should be taken away by this blade? Was that what he deserved? Leonel''s spear shot through the air again and again, becoming faster and faster. It didn''t have nearly as much variation as it usually had when he wielded it with two hands, but he seemed to have adapted instantly, pressing Ger''Ain, who could only use the gauntlets on his fists to defend.

    As a Pluto, Ger''Ain was more than comfortable in close combat as well, but he was quickly finding himself overwhelmed.

    PUCHI! PUCHI! PUCHI!

    Lines of blood erupted across his body, the heavy Pluto blood that couldn''t be spilled

    falling in a rain as though to satiate Leonel''s spear.

    Before this spear, the blood of a Pluto was absolutely worthless.

    If there was one man worthy of defiling his Race, it was the man before him.

    Leonel took a step, and he suddenly accelerated in a way a weak body shouldn''t.. Shifting and moving like the wind, he appeared behind Ger''Ain and pierced a hole through his knee.

    In a single motion, Leonel leapt up and drove a crossing knee across Ger''Ain''s temple. The Pluto caught himself with a palm to the ground and tried to use it as leverage for a spinning kick from his upside-down position.

    But Leonel seemed to have seen through it all, sidestepping it and slashing a deep wound across Ger''Ain''s groin through a gap in his arm.

    Faster. sea??h thз╫ N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Faster.

    Faster.

    Leonel howled, his spear leaving trails of deep wounds across Ger''Ain''s body until the man couldn''t even move anymore without a part of his body reminding him that he had long since lost the tendon that connected it to his thoughts.

    Ger''Ain barely managed to prop himself up on his elbows, biting at Leonel''s

    approaching blade as a last effort to stay alive.

    In the end, he was still a Pluto. He would die with-

    Leonel''s spear shifted with a twist of his wrist, under cutting Ger''Ain''s bite and tearing

    into his throat.

    The Pluto''s head was sent soaring into the air, and Leonel''s spear flashed, dancing through the skies in streaks of silvery light that erupted into gold. Leonel roared, and Ger''Ain''s head was split into hundreds of pieces in an instant.

    Leonel raised his head to the skies.

    "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

 Chapter 3213 Precipice

    ?Chapter 3213 PrecipiceLeonel''s aura seemed to rip through the veil of the world itself, towering up with such ferocity that even the clouds were pierced.

    A Royal Crest Dharma appeared in the air once more, but this time it grew more shimmering and resplendent.

    The spear hidden within became flooded by Force as it poured in from all directions. Like a dam that had been breached, the floodwaters barraged their way forward, moving with such momentum that even the Regulator couldn''t hold them back anymore.

    Leonel''s spear howl shot through the air, the cracked blade in his hand shuddering as it underwent a baptism that shocked the world.

    The bow followed suit.

    Leonel had lifted his bow up a single time since coming to this city, and there was a reason for that. He had always been confident in his path forward when it came to the bow. He knew that if he could succeed with his spear, his bow would only naturally follow.

    That was his confidence as a marksman.

    And he was proven correct.

    As Force began to spill over into the bow construct of his Dharma as well, the world trembled to its very core, shaking to the point it seemed that it might collapse.

    In these months, Leonel had had several ideas for how he might reforge the Spear and Bow, but none of them felt perfect.

    Every time he thought of a change, he realized that it was less of something that was appropriate for a Weapon Force and more so something that was more appropriate for a Path.

    However, none of that was good enough. Just making the spear faster, or heavier, or sharper, was useless.

    What made Weapon Forces so special was the underlying fluidity of it all. It was precisely because Spear Force could be used in such a wide variety of ways that it was so special as a Weapon Force. Or, more accurately, it was precisely this that made all Weapon Forces special.

    Changing something so surface-level as weight, or speed, or sharpness, wouldn''t get Leonel the results he was looking for. If anything, it would just box in his Spear Force, get rid of its fluidity, and create something that was much weaker overall.

    But then Leonel had a breakthrough in his thought... a breakthrough triggered by a spear surging into his palm.

    Leonel had always taken his casual control of spears for granted. He could resonate with them, causing them to snap into his palms. It was also this very same mystical connection that allowed his Sovereignty to destroy most other spears he came into contact with.

    In truth, the Idol Battlefield was the first time Leonel had ever actually fought against spear masters. All his life, spears would crumble every time he faced off against them. It was only while fighting the strongest spearman in Existence that things finally changed and he was able to feel what it was like to combat a spear.

    And it was also because of that that he felt the tug, push, and pull of Sovereignties all the more clearly. He couldn''t destroy these spears as easily, but he found that he could apply pressure onto them, suffocate them, even.

    And when he began to analyze these spears, taking what he wanted for himself, he created the foundation of what would be the first change he made to his Bow and Spear Force.

    The Spear had the Absolute Domain, a range of influence that made it invisible in a middle-range distance. It was such a large part of its abilities that the Spear Domain Lineage Factor was even built on this principle.

    The Bow was an even higher level of control than that. From the limited range of the spear... it became rangeless. There was no target it couldn''t track, no general it couldn''t slay.

    And now they would have this foundational concept ingrained even further into their being with... Suppression.

    BOOM!

    The golden Forces became brighter, piercing an even larger hole into the skies as Leonel''s Dharma became more complex.

    Now, the Spear and Bow didn''t just have range. Suppression was a fundamental part of their being. The Suppression of distance, the control of a region, the suffocation of other weapons.

    However, this still felt more like a Path than it did a fundamental change to the Weapon Force. But there was a reason for this... that was because of the next change.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura continued to skyrocket as madness unfurled. Tinges of red seeped into the foundation of his Weapon Forces, fighting and combating the violets that appeared at the same time.

    They roared and raged, tugged and pulled.

    Dream Force.

    Leonel wanted it to become his key to everything. It was what would separate him from others and what caused the fundamental divide between his current Weapon Forces and his Weapon Forces of the past. S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But it was tricky. If he was going to rely on a new Force, then it obviously wouldn''t be a Weapon Force anymore...

    Or was it?

    What were Weapon Forces if not amalgamations of Forces?

    What separated the fundamental laws that constructed a Weapon Force from any other? Why couldn''t you just add Fire Force to Glaive Force and create a new Weapon Force like that?

    The problem stemmed from the same reason you couldn''t just melt together metals and hope they had a good outcome in the end. If you could, there wouldn''t be such a large dividing line between normal Crafts and the Life Grade... or even a larger dividing line between the Life Grade and the Self Grade.

    But that was precisely what Leonel had come to realize.

    These Weapon Forces... all of them were at the Life Grade. They were constructs that many might tweak here and there, but they were fundamentally a Life Grade existence.

    It was Sovereignty that tweaked it further, pushing it toward the Self Grade...

    But it wasn''t nearly enough.

    It was at that moment that a precipice of combat and Crafting came to a head.

 Chapter 3214 A Third

    ?Chapter 3214 A ThirdBOOM!

    Leonel''s roar filled the skies, towering up and above even the pillar of light crupting from him. It traveled far and wide as though letting the world know that he had arrived.

    Everyone used Forces the same way. Through their Ethereal Glabella''s, they communicated with the world around them, and based on their affinities, there were a range of responses.

    Every time, it was the world that granted the right to access Forces, and it was often limited by various factors of the world as well, such as World Spirits, Regulators, and sometimes even the Northern Star itself.

    When you had a Sovereignty, you had the right of priority over these Forces. Your dominion over them became more assured, and the worlds you were in placed fewer restrictions on you compared to others.

    If you had an Innate Node, in some cases, you were even better off. The Force naturally formed within you, so you didn''t have to communicate with or rely on anything other than yourself.

    However...

    The relationship with the world was still there. It was the Northern Star that allowed this sequence to happen. As such, there was hell to pay when it came to forming Dharmas and Idols after the fact, something that Leonel had already personally experienced.

    This was the weight that came with Innate Nodes, and why, though Gods could create them with relative ease, they chose not to.

    The only difference was when one was innately born with an Innate Node. This was the only factor that changed things so considerably that one could have their cake and eat it too, almost like receiving a blessing from the Northern Star.

    What was the main difference? Why did Leonel face so much more resistance with his new Weapon Force Innate Node than he would have ever faced with his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node?

    The Self...

    Leonel realized something profound from that simple action of forcing a spear to soar on its own volition into his palm. Sear?h the novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Dream Force was tied into the Second Dimension, and life sparked in the Third. By the time one got to the Fourth and started using Forces, there were already two degrees of separation that would only grow worse.

    That was when Leonel realized that the reason Innate Nodes one was born with were so much easier to manage and handle was because, from the very spark of one''s birth, one had been experiencing its changes...

    Meaning, the very fabric of the Innate Node was already woven into your Dream Force from birth. How was it that a Spiritual could be naturally given Innate Nodes if they were born as nothing more than a soul? Wasn''t that obviously because someone that was either born with an Innate Node or not could be seen even from the depths of the Second Dimension itself?

    In that case...

    Why not do the reverse?

    Why not take his Weapon Force and change it so fundamentally that it acted as an Innate Node of sorts all on its own? Why not inextricably tie his Weapon Forces to his Dream Force in such a way

    that bloomed with the power of his will and psyche at its very core?

    Leonel had already done this in one direction by forming the very first. Weapon Innate Node to ever exist. However, to do this, he had continuously tempered his body, rooting the Innate Node in the Third Dimension and above, but he had never worked his way backward.

    But now, he would...

    -A Union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star-...

    Light and Dark could mean so many things. It could refer to them literally, it could mean a balance of yin and yang, and in this case... it could mean a cycle.

    The last time Leonel had thought of this prophecy he had been in the middle of Crafting treasures for the Fawkes and he felt that he had grasped onto something faint that would change his perception of Crafting forever.

    But the distraction of the matters that came afterward made him have no choice but to abandon those thoughts before he could delve too deeply into them.

    But now he truly understood as well.

    His Spear and Bow... they were missing the support of his Dream Force. By rooting them in one part of his body and another part of his soul, he could complete the cycle of the Weapon Force, crafting a power that could truly be pushed and pulled by his mind without relying on an external source at all. He was well and truly free.

    And for his Crafting... maybe the Life Grade and the Self Grade weren''t truly striated differences either. But it wasn''t that simple either.

    The Life Grade was the process of using resources and their Paths to create a single Path that all of them would follow together. This holistic approach to Crafting made Treasures orders of magnitude more shocking than normal.

    The Self Grade was the overriding of those preferences, using the more fundamental aspects of Forces and ignoring their overarching "personalities," and instead imposing what you wanted onto them yourself. It was similar to a Path of Sovereignty where you tweaked what a Force could do to match your wants and desires more. The more Leonel thought about it, the more similar these things seemed.

    In the past, Leonel had also thought that the Life Grade was just the upgrade over Gold Grade treasures, only to eventually realize that any Grade treasure could be Life Grade.

    So why couldn''t any Life Grade Treasure be Self Grade?

    Much the same way his Weapon Forces could be rooted in the physical dimensions and the mental ones... why couldn''t his Treasures be the same, striking a balance between what was and what he wanted them to be?

    When he found this stroke, and a perfect balance was struck in his mind, his Dharma began to change once again...

    The Spear and Bow shifted, moving to the side to make room for a third...

    The Force Quill.

 Chapter 3215 Quill

    ?Chapter 3215 QuillBOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The Crest Dharma morphed and changed, swirls of purple, red, and gold surging as it warped from the shape of a royal crest to that of a Twelve Pointed Star.

    Leonel savagely suppressed it from becoming an Idol, but he could feel the power in his body practically overflowing.

    His Innate Node greedily swallowed up three Forces from the surroundings.

    The Spear and Bow Forces were no longer just golden in hue, but carried underlying tones of violet and red as well. As for what this violet and red was... it was none other than Leonel''s soul.

    And the third Force...

    Quill Force.

    This was a Force that had never existed before because it wasn''t seen as necessary to exist. Many, when they used their Force Quill, poured their Dream Force in. That was what allowed them to communicate with the world around them and give their Force Arts power, thus permanently etching whatever abilities they wanted into their Crafts.

    However, if Leonel was going to create Weapon Forces that were rooted not just in the world around him, but within himself...

    Why wouldn''t he do the same for his Force Quill?

    This Quill Force wasn''t just a casual add-on. It maybe embodied the root of what Leonel''s

    breakthrough was all about even more than the Spear Force that had allowed him to comprehend it all in the first place.

    His Quill Force would allow him to bestow the world with the greatest Crafts ever forged and created. At this moment...

    There was not a single doubt in Leonel''s mind that he was the greatest Crafter in Existence.

    He held out his broken spear and carved a line through the air. Quill Force surged in a bright rainbow light that contrasted it from his other Weapon Forces, and in an instant, he seemed to have written into the world itself.

    At that moment, the laws of the Zone were overridden as Leonel took precedent.

    The Force Art before him grew larger and more complex even as his Dharma did the same above his head. Each shone brighter and brighter, and a gorgeous magic circle of dancing runes appeared before Leonel.

    The only question that seemed left in all of this was... how had Leonel done it?

    That tinge of red wasn''t a coincidence.

    The first time Leonel had come across that red it was when he almost failed to awaken his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor. He had been young, and he overextended himself, not preparing properly. Ultimately, he almost suffered for it. sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The second time he came across it, he realized that it was in his own mind. An odd secondary Lineage Factor of the Dream Asuras that he still didn''t quite know much about had been birthed within him. This secondary Lineage Factor manifested his soul into humanoid form, and it was chained and locked up within his body, seeping in a pool of blood.

    This blood had the very same crimson hue to it, a perfectly identical color with not even the slightest

    shade or hue off.

    The third time this crimson appeared was when he began to use his "Destruction Sovereignty" to its greatest extent, and he finally began to learn to use and manage his power properly.

    When he realized that he had actually been a Creation Sovereign all this time, his aura turned to violet and he abandoned the crimson entirely, thinking that this was the right path.

    But it wasn''t until he was in his most desperate need of something, anything, that he recalled this crimson energy...

    Back when he found himself on the other end of Ger''Ain''s spear, he had truly had nothing left to give. He had pushed his body as far as it could go and he literally could not move. It wasn''t a matter of willpower; his brain simply had no more energy to fire his neurons, his muscles didn''t have the ATP it needed to contract, his body had been, for all intents and purposes...

    Dead.

    The only thing keeping him going was his soul and the fact the one thing the Regulator couldn''t suppress was his Dream Force. But even that had become useless.

    In those last moments, the only thing that was able to save him was this crimson energy...

    And he finally knew what it was.

    It was what his Creation Sovereignty became when it overextended itself. It was the dividing line between Creation that Created and Creation that Destroyed.

    And the latter of the two represented taking from what didn''t have anything more to give, forcefully borrowing from a future that was promised and crushing it beneath your feet.

    With this explanation, it was clear then why Leonel had just so suddenly been able to move when he couldn''t move a single inch before, and with that...

    His comprehension of his Creation Sovereignty had soared up, surpassing his Destruction Sovereignty so thoroughly that it could no longer be described in mere terms of Silver or Gold; it stood above all on its own, peering down from the skies with a mighty momentum.

    And it was with that Creation Sovereignty that he would undo this world.

    He buried his fury deep within his heart. He would make that Regulator pay, and dearly at that. However, there was absolutely nothing more important to him than his wife right now, and she was dying because her body was too weak to birth their child.

    Thinking about how the Regulator probably knew this would happen, how it wanted to use his wife''s death to instigate his own death, he could feel that slumbering madness bubble up within him.

    He didn''t try to force it down like he had before; that wasn''t good enough.

    A King didn''t always need to make the rational decision, and they didn''t need to always maintain a level head either.

    However, their madness had to be controlled, their rage had to become their fuel, their fury their war banner.

    SHUUUUUUUMMM!

    Leonel completed the last stroke and the world lit ablaze.

    But he had already vanished.

 Chapter 3216 Help Me

    ?Chapter 3216 Help MeLeonel appeared in the midst of the panic. Elaine and her daughters-in-law were rushing around, doing everything they could, but Aina seemed to have reached the end of her rope.

    Leonel was a mess himself, caked in blood from head to toe. But at the very least, his torso was no longer hanging in two pieces, and he had his arm back.

    One of the many benefits of his Spear and Bow Body was that he could absorb Weapon Forces to heal himself, and just now, he had absorbed plenty of an extremely high caliber, and that was all before he undid the suppression on his Dimension. So he was even easier to heal than normal. However, despite how dirty and caked in blood he was, it didn''t stop him from taking a step forward and carefully propping his wife''s head up.

    It had sagged onto the blood-filled wooden tub, and it seemed like she was completely out. Anyone else who saw such a scene would think her dead, and considering the tears of the women around and how none of them tried to stop him, they probably thought she was already dead as well. Leonel tuned their cries out, trying to loosen the tight clench of his jaw to no avail.

    This was a fury he couldn''t seem to control at all... but he had no choice.

    He gave Aina a light kiss on the forehead, a subtle spark of Dream Force shaking her mind awake. His wife was strong, he knew that. She was holding on with everything she had, and her consciousness was still faintly awake. He could even sense her pelvic muscles contracting, although extremely weakly, just to give their baby even the slightest chance to survive without her.

    Aina looked up to find her blood-caked husband standing over her. Seeing the blood that had dried down his chin, she weakly reached up and touched it. Through that soft touch, she seemed capable of seeing everything that Leonel had been through... how he had been willing to become a demon for the sake of her and their baby.

    She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Leonel''s head as she felt her strength slowly returning to her.

    ''I love you..."

    They spoke at the same time, their words spinning into a mixture of feminine and masculine cadences that still somehow sounded like a single voice.

    The light in Aina''s eyes grew brighter as her strength returned finally. She could feel that Leonel had somehow written over the rules of the Zone, causing it to be unable to suppress her any longer.

    And now that she had her full array of abilities...

    Would there even be trouble any longer?

    Leaning against her husband, Aina began to push once more. This time, she wasn''t focused on just trying to get their child out and having them survive; she even had room to help make the experience more comfortable for them as well.

    She poured her heart and soul into the process as though she was already caressing her child.

    "Catch him for me," Aina said with a light smile.

    ''Him?" S~ea??h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel seemed to have caught a case of idiocy because he was so enraptured by Aina''s words that he forgot the task she had given him.

    When he finally recalled, he scrambled over to the other side of the bloody tub; he almost looked like a bumbling fool.

    Aina released a beautiful laugh as tears fell from her eyes. They weren''t tears of sorrow or pain... just pure, unbridled happiness.

    She had never had a happier day in her life.

    Leonel reached in and brought their child out of the blood waters.

    A cry filled the air, and it was accompanied by a Force that rocked the Zone.

    If the foundations of the Zone were already shaken before, it was even more exaggerated now. Leonel didn''t even have a chance to check if there was an umbilical cord or placenta he had to deal with because their baby began to shine almost as though he was holding a nuclear bomb rather than

    his son.

    His son.

    It was a word that shook him to his very core, so much so that he looked at this bundle of light with a dumbfounded expression. He hadn''t even seen the child''s face yet, and yet he felt a welling up of pride accompanied by an even heavier weight on his shoulders.

    Pillars of light destroyed the roof of the small home, and Leonel had to somewhat absentmindedly destroy the remaining shards so that Elaine and the others, who were stuck in a state of shock, didn''t die warrantless deaths.

    Was this what it felt like to be a father?

    No... he had already felt what it was like. That weight on your shoulders, it would never disappear. But for this little bundle in his arms, he swore with everything he had that he would carry that weight. No, he would carry ten times, a hundred times even, if he had to.

    No one would ever make his boy suffer...

    Other than himself, of course.

    Leonel grinned a silly smile, the tears brimming in his eyes as he still didn''t quite know what to do with himself.

    And that was when his wife dropped another bombshell on him.

    "Catch her too," she said softly.

    Leonel looked up from the bundle of light in his arms for the first time since he caught his baby boy. The light was so bright that most people would be blinded by it, but his own eyes seemed to be able to look right through and see the amused and loving gaze his wife was giving him.

    ''I couldn''t decide..." she said in a cute voice that made Leonel want to marry her all over again. Either that, or maybe they should get started on baby three right away.

    Leonel snapped out of his daze and hurried forward, gently picking out a second little bundle. He held one in each arm, feeling as though his heart was about to explode.

 Chapter 3217 Speechless

    ?Chapter 3217 SpeechlessThe world was practically collapsing around them, but all Leonel could look at were the two bundles in his arms. He couldn''t see them, but he could feel them all too clearly.

    They were slippery, soaked through in water and blood, but they were so soft and supple to the touch, so delicate that he felt that if he pressed on them even a little bit too hard, he might accidentally break them.

    He could feel their little wiggles and their strong heartbeats, their attempts to cry out. that were somewhat suppressed by the Force swirling around them.

    But he could also feel their closeness to him. Their reliance, their inherent trust and security.

    The tears brimmed in Leonel''s eyes, and he found that his heart was overflowing. Seeing her husband in such a state, Aina couldn''t hold back her own tears. They had already been there, but they flowed even faster than before.

    Neither cared very much about what was happening in the outside world, or what kind of commotion their babies were triggering. All they cared about was the fact they had been born spry and healthy, two little cute, adorable bundles of joy that made one feel as though they were gushing with love.

    Elaine and the other wives had to stumble away, the pressure of their babies'' birth being too much for them to handle. This sort of Force momentum was unlike anything a Third Dimensional existence would ever face; even a Fifth Dimensional existence would feel wholly inferior. It was only right that they try to make some distance and separate themselves, lest they accidentally die from one of their babies'' cries. Leonel shook his head, not having the hands left over to wipe his tears away. But he had to force himself to focus.

    He didn''t know exactly what was happening to his babies right now.

    According to his own parents, he had had a phenomenon manifest during his birth, but it was related to his Scarlet Star Innate Node. As far as he was aware, there weren''t any other phenomena related to birth at all.

    But it didn''t feel like it was just an Innate Node being formed either. At the very least, the momentum shouldn''t be so great even if it was one.

    Leonel''s current senses couldn''t be described in just a few words, and after his recent breakthroughs, his ability to see through the world was on another level as well.

    He trusted his judgment. But it still felt murky for now.

    There was definitely something odd happening.

    He could sense Weapon Forces swirling in the air, but as far as he kne that didn''t make sense.

    It wasn''t possible for Innate Nodes to be inherited in the first place. And even if they could be, he had only formed his Weapons Innate Node after he impregnated Aina and entered a century-long seclusion.

    So even if there was something to be inherited, his babies wouldn''t have been able to. But he couldn''t have been more certain about it.

    His son was quickly forming a Spear Force Innate Node.

    His daughter was quickly forming a Bow Force Innate Node.

    He thought that might be the end of it, but then Ax Force descended... and then Fist Force...

    Leonel''s lip twitched. What the hell was going on?

    His son and daughter were forming a full array of Weapon Forces in their bodies, and it was leaving him completely speechless.

    But then he caught a subtle twinge of something in the air that made his gaze sharpen.

    ''So that''s it...''

    His son and daughter wouldn''t just gain his own Lineage Factors, but that of Aina''s as well. But there had been a mutation in the Brazinger family Lineage Factor.

    The Berserk War God Lineage Factor was one that allowed the Brazingers'' natural control over weapons. It was part of the reason, aside from her Ability Index, that Aina was able to seamlessly use so many weapons over the course of her life. Though she always focused on the ax in the end.

    Somehow, Leonel''s breakthrough in the formation of the very first Innate Nodes in Existence had allowed this to happen. Sз╫ar?h the N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    ... Dream Force...''

    Leonel finally understood.

    After what happened to their babies and how the Brazingers almost took over their psyches, Aina had put a lot of effort into nurturing their souls and bolstering her own Dream Force control.

    But around that time was when Leonel grasped King Force and had a breakthrough in his Dream Force.

    The breakthrough in his Dream Force allowed him to surpass timelines, grasping things from lives he hadn''t lived personally and incorporating them into his combat

    strength.

    The breakthrough in King Force had allowed him to gain the ability to rewrite the past with new rules, like how he had used his King Force to break into the Seventh Dimension in a single bound by making it seem like he had always had King Force by his side.

    King Force could rewrite the laws of causality, breaking the rules of the world, tweaking a rule, and then applying it as though it had always been ironclad. When these factors all came together, their babies forged an entirely new path, forming ten Innate Nodes of various weapons and martial forms in a single bound. And then, as though that wasn''t enough, both formed a King Force Innate Node, something that even Leonel didn''t technically have. It took shape right in the place of their Ethereal Glabellas, and the difference between their Ethereal Glabella and the Innate Node was next to nothing... In fact, in a shocking change, they seemed to be one and the same.

    And then the Morales Lineage Factor took root, "Metal" Body triggering all on its own and changing their Constitutions to ones that matched Leonel''s own.

    This should have been enough to end it all.

    But then... they gained their mother''s Soul Clairvoyance Lineage Factor. Although they didn''t gain the Ability Index to match it... did it matter when they had King Force?

 Chapter 3218 Their Father.

    ?Chapter 3218 Their Father.Leonel was truly speechless about what he was sensing. The more he grasped, the more shocked he became.

    He and his wife had always been two of the greatest talents they had ever seen. Even when they came to the God Realm, not much of anything had changed. They were simply on a level all to their own.

    But now, in front of their own children, it felt like those thoughts were more of a joke than anything else.

    Still, all Leonel was happy about was the fact his children wouldn''t have to be weighed down by the Dream Asura blood that once ran through his veins.

    The Demoness had taken it from him and killed him in the process before being the reason his mother was no longer here, but in the end, at least in this instant, she had done him a favor.

    His babies would never have to watch such a guillotine loom over their heads ever, and he couldn''t be happier about it. Even as he was being shocked by his babies, he was still grinning ear to ear.

    He had no idea how his children would make use of so many Weapon Force Innate Nodes, but they would figure it out. He had that sort of belief in them. They were his babies, after all.

    The anticipation in Leonel''s heart grew as the light began to fade. The pressure in the surroundings calmed, and though he was sure that his babies probably had other shocking talents that he hadn''t looked into yet, he couldn''t be bothered to give them any attention right now.

    Ilis babies could have been the worst talents in the world, and he wouldn''t have cared. All he wanted now was to see their little faces.

    Aina was a cheater. She definitely had seen them already. She had been observing their growth all the while, and she had even hid that she was holding twins from him. He would definitely have to teach her a lesson later for that.

    But right now, it was his turn to see them.

    And then he finally could.

    The last of the light faded, and the tears began to fall from his eyes uncontrollably. He tried to do his best to keep them at bay, but he realized quite early on that it was all useless.

    The little bundles of joy were covered in bloody waters, but he could still see their features well. They looked like babies that were already a month into their lives, with large golden eyes that stared up at him curiously, and little strands of wispy violet hair

    that seemed half corporeal and half formed of dancing force.

    They both had little button noses and little plump pink lips that quivered with curiosity.

    His son reached toward him with his chubby little arms. Leonel couldn''t help but reach forward, only for the little guy to forcefully grab his bottom lip and tug with all his might.

    Leonel laughed through his tears as his daughter kicked at his son as though to try to get him to stop. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The two tussled in his arms, their liveliness making Leonel''s heart feel full.

    With a step, Leonel entered the bloody wooden tub with Aina, lowering the babies until they were between them.

    The two cuddled together in silence, ignoring the commotion of the world as they looked at the lives they created together. There had simply never been a happier moment in their lives.

    "Did you decide on their names?" Leonel asked softly.

    Aina smiled, her golden eyes sparkling with a beautiful light that could only come from motherhood.

    "Leo and Leah."

    Leonel found his heart skipping a beat for some reason. He didn''t know why, but the moment he heard their names, he felt even closer to his children.

    The couple sat there, both bloodied for completely different reasons, and yet seemingly not caring at all.

    Their babies splashed around in the water, spending half their time fighting for supremacy and another half trying to gain affection from their parents.

    It was a scene that should have been eerie, the kind that should only appear in a bloody, murderous battlefield. The splashes of blood that flew around anywhere were enough to make almost anyone else feel sick to their stomachs.

    And yet, this family of four felt at peace, as though this was their natural state, as though there wasn''t anything else to consider but this moment right here.

    Leonel couldn''t believe it had taken him so long to agree to have children. This sort of happiness wasn''t something that he could describe in a few words, and even if he had a lifetime, he couldn''t do it.

    At the same time, he felt a welling up of strength in his body that completely overshadowed anything he had ever experienced before. He felt that even if he was asked to sever the Northern Star in two, he could do it.

    There might never be a moment that would be better than this one for him.

    His son and daughter were alive, they were healthy, they were vibrant and lively. They were two bundles of soaring happiness that knew nothing of the world and wouldn''t have to for as long as he could allow them that freedom.

    No... he would allow them that freedom.

    Maybe there would come a day when he would train them hard, where he would push them to extremes so that they could become the best versions of themselves, where he would teach them the value of Respect and Persistence.

    But today wasn''t that day, nor would it be tomorrow.

    This coming battle, he would clear the challenge for them. This enemy would be his own to slay. He didn''t care how talented his son and daughter were... this wasn''t their

    burden to uphold.

    It would be his as their support, their anchor...

    Their father.

    Looking at his children, Leonel''s grin faded into a soft, genuine smile that came from the bottom of his heart.

 Chapter 3219 Own World

    Chapter 3219 Own WorldLeonel didn''t know how long he basked in the moment. But he only snapped out of it when the two little guys started crying.

    Unlike usual new parents, though, Leonel could tell what was wrong immediately. And through him, so could Aina.

    Once Aina started to breastfeed them, their unhappiness went away and they started suckling away madly, their large adorable eyes blinking away as they begged for more. Leonel laughed seeing just how much they were eating. The sort of high-density food Aina could produce would probably put a grown man out of commission for three days just from a single mouthful, but these two demons practically had little bulging bellies by the time they were finished.

    Then, they fell asleep with happy smiles on their faces.

    Leonel and Aina looked toward one another, a gentleness in their eyes. They had had the thought more times than they cared to count by now, but they had truly never been happier.

    Standing to his feet, Leonel helped Aina up. It was probably about time that they get cleaned. Although they didn''t mind all the blood, they couldn''t allow it to continue for too long.

    There was no easy method of getting clean here, and Elaine seemed to realize that as well. But Leonel just waved her away.

    With a step, he vanished with his wife and children.

    When they appeared again, they were in the middle of nowhere, a calm lake lying before them and a line of trees surrounding them from all sides.

    Aina''s body was still a bit frail, especially after Leo and Leah sucked up so much, so Leonel gently held onto her waist, helping her in.

    The two took turns washing one another and then helped their babies get clean.

    "I made so many clothes..." Aina said, feeling somewhat sad.

    Unfortunately, most of them were still in the Segmented Cube and Leonel hadn''t regained access to it just yet.

    "That''s okay."

    Leonel drew a finger through the air, in one part drying his two sleeping children, and another part clothing them in soft fabrics that nurtured their souls and deepened their rest.

    Aina smiled and the two walked out of the lake together. With a slight rush of wind, they were clothed as well.

    Aina now wore a harness that held Leo and Leah to her chest, the giddiness in her eyes practically overflowing. Her gown flowed through the air as she moved, her strength returning to her rapidly as she inhaled the Force around them.

    Leonel took her hand, grabbing at the air and forming a spear that rippled with gold, red, and violet. With his wife and children by his side, he felt that he had an endless supply of jet fuel injected into him.

    Every time he looked over and saw Aina''s happy smile, he would know that he made the right decision.

    Who cared about the end of the world coming?

    No...

    With this sort of strength at his fingertips, why couldn''t he stop the end of that world?

    The world crumbled around them and Leonel slowly shook his head. He knew that this would happen.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t get the chance to see his uncle, but he bet that it wouldn''t be long before he did.

    "Piss off," Leonel growled, rage flaring in his eyes again.

    He could feel that the Regulator was trying to separate him and his wife again.

    His spear slashed out just a single time, and it was like the world was truly split in two. A rippling wave of gold, violet, and red soared forward, shredding everything it came across into nothingness. S~ea??h the N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The invisible hand of the Regulator was minced to pieces and its attempts were thwarted.

    "Hey, you can''t say words like that anymore," Aina said sternly.

    Leonel coughed. "Yes, ma''am"

    Aina nodded in satisfaction before sweetly grabbing onto Leonel''s arm.

    The two took a step forward and when their vision cleared, they found themselves in a familiar hall. Well, at least it was familiar to Leonel who had been here before. This region was none other than the very same place the spear masters had gathered.

    But this time, there were only a small number of them, even compared to before. The number that had entered the Idol Battlefield had already been cut down significantly, to the point where there were only five people present... and that included Leonel, Aina, Leo, and Leah.

    The only other person was none other than Leonel''s uncle. He was the one and sole survivor of the Spearman stream aside from Leonel himself, and quite frankly, Leonel found this shocking.

    Why had so many died?

    He had done a lot of killing, but that was mostly of the existences that had spawned along with the Zone. In terms of actual candidates that Leonel had killed, there were only about 12.

    But now that Leonel thought about it... that was quite a number of those that had been here.

    The only reason he even faced that many to begin with was because the Regulator had been personally targeting him. Now, however, it obviously lacked such an ability. At the very least... Leonel had a lot more capital to protect himself because the Regulator had rules that it, itself, had to abide by.

    Leonel stared at his uncle for a long while. The man looked toward him as well, somewhat confused about why there was a woman with children here. If Aina had been here before, he wouldn''t be confused, but she hadn''t been.

    Also, the Zone had only lasted less than three months, compared to the years it was supposed to take instead.

    For experts like them, it usually took longer to conceive, not less time. It didn''t make sense for two babies to suddenly pop out.

    And why did he feel so uncomfortable looking at those children?

    Confusion colored his face and he didn''t know what to make of it.

    In a shocking showing, though, Leonel didn''t say anything. He found a corner to sit with his wife and they lost themselves in their own world.

 Chapter 3220 Timely

    ?Chapter 3220 TimelyLeonel didn''t seem to notice the time flying by. He assumed that if the Zone was meant to last years, and he had destroyed the Zone so soon, then they would probably have to wait at least that long for everyone else to finish theirs.

    And he didn''t mind one bit.

    Originally, he came here ready to miss the birth of his child and their formative years. But now, he had not only gotten to witness the birth of not just one, but two of them, but he also could watch them grow as well?

    What more could he ask for?

    Every day, though, his babies seemed to surprise him in new ways.

    After they woke up from their first meal, they were already crawling around without any help at all.

    Leonel formed some toys out of thin air and stoked some of their competitive spirit. much to Aina''s dismay. She didn''t want to trigger some sort of sibling war, but Leonel was here for it.

    The two of them found a way to fight one another no matter the circumstances. There was even a time where Leah tried to monopolize both of Aina''s breasts for herself, kicking her older brother away.

    It was a funny sight, watching her little head bob back and forth as she tried to suck on both nipples. Leonel could practically see the gears churning in her noggin as she tried to figure it out.

    Leo came back with a fierce vengeance, and Aina could only helplessly watch as the twins jostled for position when she clearly had more than enough room for both.

    She looked to Leonel for help, only to find that he was laughing his ass off.

    On the third day, the two of them were already walking, and by the second week, they were already running.

    It was amusing to see their little bodies try to complete ridiculous maneuvers time and time again. They seemed to be very good at coordinating their bodies, but the problem was that while their brain and cognitive development was especially fast, their bodies grew at the same rate as other children.

    As such, even if they could walk and "run"--which was actually much more like a fast waddle Leo picked up after snatching Leah''s toy-they didn''t have the body proportions necessary to make it effective.

    Their stubby little legs couldn''t even quite extend properly, and they were very top heavy, causing them to fall back on their bums all too often.

    It was also probably because of this that their first words weren''t until over a month later. Funny enough, they neither said mom nor dad. Instead, they each said one another''s names first.

    Leonel got a real kick out of that one. That was because it was definitely Aina''s fault for calling out to them so often. Those two words were practically the only ones they knew.

    It was hard to describe how it felt to watch them grow day by day. From happiness, it became pressure again soon enough.

    As funny as it was to watch the two lock heads every day, Leonel knew that Aina was right. They couldn''t allow it to go on forever.

    It might be early, but it was probably about time to start teaching them about some matters of discipline and self-control. If their babies were going to grow up so fast, then it was only natural that they push things forward as well.

    Soon, Leonel was basking in the not-so-fun part of being a parent, trying to delicately guide his children down the right path.

    It didn''t take long before he understood his father''s approach to things. Sometimes, even pretending that you didn''t care for your child as much as you did was the most effective.

    However... Leonel and his babies were different.

    Leonel was a person who could have rightfully ended up on the Cloud Province of the Ascension Empire, jailed together with the rest of the Savants because of how his brain worked.

    Because of that, when his father was "cruel" to him, he never really saw it that way. He had always analyzed things from a more rational foundation.

    But that didn''t mean that Leo and Leah would be the same. They might need the warmth and affection that Leonel had never really needed.

    It was hard to get a perfect grasp of their personalities as they were changing every day, but he already knew that his children were different from him.

    They had his desire to win in all things, which was why they clashed so much, but beyond that, they might as well have not been related to him at all.

    However, Leonel and Aina didn''t just start with harsh lessons and reprimands. Instead, they started with stories, fairy tales that they wove from things they had already read and things they had experienced themselves.

    Since they were trapped within these walls, they wanted their babies to experience the world in other ways.

    Sometimes they would fall asleep in the middle of the story as Dream Force wrapped through the air, forming one image after another for them to gasp in shock and awe

    about. But Leonel and Aina didn''t wake them, instead allowing them to rest their minds and digest what they had heard before picking things up later.

    Slowly but surely, the two grew.

    After a year ticked by, Leonel already couldn''t hold back and gave them their first weapons. Now that they understood more about values and morality, it was the right

    time.

    Their bodies were still disproportionate, but the moment Leo got his hands on a spear and Leah touched her first bow, it was like their eyes had come alive.

    "Nope," Leonel shook his head. "Don''t even think about adding your own flare to it

    until you can beat him."

    "But dad! I already beat it!" Leo protested.

    "Lucky shot," Leonel said with a grin.

    Leah laughed from a distance, dancing around as she tried to get used to firing arrows

    off-balance.

    "It was not lucky!" Leo said somewhat embarrassed.

    Leah laughed harder, Leo had only gotten a shot in because mom was scolding dad,

    and dad was too busy flirting.

    In truth, Leonel had allowed Leo to get a win in on purpose. How could he slip up like

    that?

    It was all for this moment.

    Leah was too busy laughing and lost track of her steps. She stumbled over and slipped off of the wall, landing nearly in Montez''s lap. Sз╫ar?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leah froze, looking up at the scary man who had not said a single word in over two

    years.

    Tears brimmed in her eyes as she suddenly didn''t know what to do.

 Chapter 3221 Long Time

    ?Chapter 3221 Long TimeLeah''s lips trembled. She tried to be strong, holding back her tears, but she wasn''t even two years old yet.

    Seeing his daughter like this, Leonel felt his heart breaking. As for Aina, she was already on the verge of tears herself, but both of them remained in their positions, looking toward the situation from a distance.

    Leo seemed to realize something was wrong after his sister stopped laughing. He looked up in shock and didn''t notice the odd reactions of his parents at all.

    "Leah!"

    Leo rushed over without thinking much and was by his sister''s side in a flash, standing defensively in front of her.

    Leonel''s heart warmed when he saw this. They might clash heads, but much like any other siblings, when it came to facing the world, they did it together. He didn''t think that he would be so enamored by such a sight.

    Leah trembled a bit behind her big brother''s back, but when she saw that Leo was trembling as well, she grit her little teeth and tried to stand with him.

    The two of them had never heard this man speak, but every time they accidentally crossed eyes with him, they would feel a pressure that came from him that they didn''t. feel from their parents.

    What the twins didn''t know was that was only because their parents went out of their way to coddle them. Montez, however, did not.

    He stared down at the two, his pressure enveloping them.

    The toddlers couldn''t even breathe. Their minds went blank, and they forgot all semblance of logic. They didn''t even seem to remember that their powerful parents were right behind them and could step in at any time.

    They felt all the things one would in their first battle without even raising their weapons.

    Leah''s hand trembled on her bow, and Leo could hardly hold his spear. Both suddenly felt far too heavy for the both of them as they fought back to stop the tears from dripping from their eyes.

    "Why did you do this?" Montez said slowly, his eyes never leaving the children.

    The two thought he was speaking to them, but Leonel knew that he was speaking to him instead.

    A stubborn light lit in Leo''s eyes. "My sister just stumbled, wh-why are you questioning her like that?"

    An amused light lit in Montez''s eyes before it disappeared.

    "Is that is that?" Montez switched to speaking to Leo as though he had never asked Leonel the question. "Then what will you say if I kill her?"

    Leo''s brows jumped with shock before he was immediately enraged.

    "You won''t!" he more shouted than spoke.

    "Why wouldn''t I?"

    Leo didn''t say anything more as he swung his spear at Montez''s head.

    Montez seemed taken aback, but Leonel was trying his best to hold back his wild grin.

    No speaking, just acting. Like a true Morales.

    Leah seemed to realize what her brother was doing and instantly followed up as well. When they acted, it was as though they had forgotten that they were supposed to be trembling.

    She nocked an arrow and released it. Normally, her parents had already taught her the type of movement she needed to distance herself from an enemy before she did this, but she naively didn''t want to allow her brother to fight on the frontlines all by himself, so she didn''t take a step back, firing an arrow at Montez''s face from point-blank range.

    Although Montez was surprised by the sudden attack, who was he, exactly? They could have attacked him in his sleep and it still wouldn''t matter.

    He caught Leo''s spear blade between two fingers and flicked Leah''s arrow back at her.

    Leah panicked and wanted to roll away, but when she saw that her brother was still caught by the man, she stubbornly stood in place as though she would rather die first.

    Montez was rendered speechless again.

    "Are all Morales so stupid-"

    He had only said the words once when he paused.

    Morales? Who was that? Why did he say that?

    Everything was happening so fast, and the little girl was about to have her head split in two. Montez had originally controlled the speed of the arrow so that she would have time to dodge, but who knew that she wouldn''t?

    And now, Montez was lost in a daze and didn''t have the time to save her. By the time he realized he had lost his train of thought, the arrow was already piercing Leah''s skin and about to enter her brain.

    He panicked slightly, but the time was too short. Even he couldn''t react in time to do anything.

    However, at that moment, Leah and Leo both unleashed a screech.

    Their vocal cords weren''t nearly developed enough to roar, but their raw emotions were obvious enough. Leah thought her brother was going to die, and Leo was panicking seeing his sister''s state.

    The arrow was suddenly gripped from two sides by a mysterious force that rampaged through it, turning it to ash in a race to the middle.

    Montez blinked. ''Destruction...?''

    He suddenly felt Leo''s blade twist in his fingers. He was still too distracted by all the weird thoughts and memories floating around in his mind, so much so that he didn''t even react to the blade appearing at his throat.

    However...

    CLANG!

    The blade rebounded against his seemingly soft flesh, and Leo was sent stumbling several steps back, running into his little sister. They both felt their butts, their faces pale with fatigue from the small instant of time. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And yet, they still seemed ready to stand back up to their feet and battle again. But that was when they felt a shadow over them.

    They looked up, and tears began brimming in their eyes again as they saw their

    father.

    Leonel smiled, picking the two up. They instantly dropped their weapons and threw their arms around his neck, sobbing.

    "I know, I know..." Leonel softly comforted them before looking up toward Montez. "Long time, no see... Uncle Montez."

 Chapter 3222 Quicksand

    ?Chapter 3222 Quicksand"My name isn''t Montez, it''s..."

    Montez''s voice trailed off. He felt like he had suddenly been hit by a truck and sent flying into the distance. His body shook, and his mind was suddenly filled with a splitting pain.

    Leonel didn''t say anything else. He knew that he had already succeeded.

    In the past year, he had spent a lot of time probing into his uncle''s mind and trying to unravel what was holding him back. He used a combination of his Dream Force and even sometimes his words.

    All this time, he didn''t mention the Morales name even a single time. Even Leah and Leo didn''t know their last names just yet. They didn''t even know people had last

    names.

    Leonel didn''t believe that this would stunt their growth very much. If there was anything that would, it was the fact that they had been living off of Force for their entire lives and had yet to have a real taste of food other than their mother''s breast milk. But they had stopped relying on that months ago.

    For the first time, Leonel was actually quite thankful to the Regulator.

    Without the Regulator, he wouldn''t have had the chance to sit so near his uncle for so long. Without all this time, there was simply no way that he could have succeeded in doing all of this.

    Whatever the Demoness had done to his uncle, it ran deep. It couldn''t be broken with raw strength. Even if he was at the same level as the Demoness, he would have never been able to do so. That was how intricate it was.

    Even though Leonel felt that he had now caught up with the Demoness'' Dream Force, she had taken her time to pull his uncle into this abyss, so it had taken him time to pull his uncle out.

    In the end, he had ultimately won out, and his children had been the final straw to break the camel''s back.

    Montez was shuddering from head to toe, looking at Leonel with familiarity, longing... and confusion.

    "My wife..."

    These were the first words out of Montez''s mouth. Where was his wife? He was sure that she had been by his side in the last memories he had. What happened to her? Leonel frowned. He didn''t know the answer to this question at all. As far as he was aware, his aunt wasn''t in the Morales family when disaster struck. She had already left

    to na namauhava kau aurarniith his umala

    to go somewhere far away with his uncle.

    He just didn''t know where that was.

    He thought that after Montez regained his memories, he would have that answer, and then they could reunite the whole family. But the fact he didn''t know wasn''t good.

    Was this a backup plan by the Demoness?

    But. Leonel still didn''t even understand why she had done all of this to begin with. What was the point?

    It couldn''t be that Montez''s wife was so useful. She was a decent talent, but that was only by Dimensional Verse standards. She only awakened the Spear Domain Lineage Factor of the Morales Clan, so she had never been a Heir candidate, and her Ability Index wasn''t anything special either. If Leonel recalled correctly, it was an odd oil Ability Index. She could coat her skin and anything she touched in oil, allowing a frictionless surface to appear.

    It was a simple Ability Index, and though Leonel could think of a great many ways it would be useful in battle in the Dimensional Verse, it was hard to say if things would continue to be so simple in the wider world.

    After all, these days, only half of Leonel''s battles were fought on the ground somewhere. That would eliminate at least half the potential use cases for this Ability Index.

    "I do not know where she is." Leonel shook his head. "I only recently found you. Do you remember what you were doing up until the point you lost your memories?"

    "I..." Montez paused, his frown deepening.

    He was originally exploring the Dimensional Verse. After Velasco died, something weird happened to his body, and it was like a new power was welling up.

    Now, he knew that that power was his Dream Asura Bloodline. He had heard some inkling of this stuff from his elder brother, but Velasco never liked to explain things clearly, mostly so that he could carry the burden all on his own.

    All his life, he had thought that he didn''t have the Bloodline at all, only to find out it had just been dormant.

    He didn''t think it was a coincidence that it appeared only after Velasco died as well. But who knew that those machinations would only just start?

    His wife had insisted on following him, so they did that for a long while until he found a path out of the Dimensional Verse.

    After hesitating, he chose to take it. The only way he was going to get revenge for his brother was by doing things the hard way.

    But he didn''t expect to become a puppet practically the moment he took a step out. It was like the world was out to get him.

    What Montez hadn''t known was how generally hated the Dream Asura were. Normally, Dream Asuras wouldn''t go out easily, and when they did, they would carry all sorts of trump cards with them.

    The result was he and his wife getting into all sorts of trouble, and because their strengths weren''t the best, they were often on the losing side. Their enemies would often come with ample preparation, thinking they were dealing with a real Dream Asura, only to find that Montez was pitifully weak.

    So Montez learned and adapted. He became more like a real Dream Asura, not only growing in power but in scheming ability.

    He deviated from the path that most Morales took as a result of that.

    But in the end, it led to him slipping into a deeper pit of quicksand... one that he hadn''t even noticed. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3223 Scary

    ?Chapter 3223 ScaryAs Montez was trying to piece things together, Leonel could feel his deliberation.

    Trying to ask someone to pinpoint exactly when they fell into the Demoness'' schemes was like trying to ask them what caused the start of the universe. They could probably name the inciting incident, but they had no method of describing to you what could cause something to happen before cause and effect even existed as we know it today.

    The reality was that the Demoness'' schemes were so deep that Montez was practically trapped in the web from the moment of his conception, let alone his birth up to now.

    When Montez started acting more like a Dream Asura, he was just doing exactly what the Demoness wanted. And now his wife was gone, and he had no idea where she was. The unfortunate truth was that Leonel had a guess as to what was happening here; he just didn''t want to say it out loud for fear that it might be true.

    While Montez''s wife would be useless to the Demoness... could a child they shared be the same?

    But then why would she bother to manipulate Montez''s memories like this instead of just killing him? What else was she planning?

    And what could she possibly want with a child?

    Luckily, for now, this was still nothing more than speculation. He hoped that the real reason his aunt wasn''t around was because she had had no choice but to leave Montez''s side.

    After all, if Montez lost his memories, he would be a danger to her, especially if he was acting much more like a Dream Asura should.

    In that case, hopefully, she was living somewhere in seclusion...

    When Leonel left this Idol Battlefield, he would be able to use his Dream Force to find her no matter where she was located... so long as the Demoness hadn''t interfered.

    All this time, he had been looking for Montez, but the distortions were so strong that he could only barely manage to tell that he was alive.

    Now, his Dream Force was strong enough that he felt that even if his aunt was still very weak, he would be able to find her as well.

    "We will find her," Leonel said surely.

    "I..." Montez looked down. At a moment like this one, he didn''t even want to be seen. He didn''t know how he had still ended up useless. He could even remember having thoughts of killing his own nephew.

    He remembered how many times he had clashed with Velasco about relying more on

    those around him. But it was Velasco who had abandoned pretty much all of his bloodlines, all of his talent, that was the far more successful of them.

    While he was busy making it seem like Velasco didn''t take their father''s Path of the spear seriously, he was off doing great things. And then there was him who couldn''t even escape the grasp of that damned mother of his.

    Oh how he so longed to kill her with his own two hands...

    But would he ever have such a chance?

    Looking at his nephew, it seemed that he had been surpassed by him as well. What was his role here? Did he even have a place in this world anymore? What was even the point in living?

    "Daddy, who is that?" Leah asked softly between her sniffles.

    She heard Leonel call him uncle, and she didn''t quite understand. But she could see that her father''s relationship with him wasn''t bad. That only confused her more, though.

    If they knew each other, why did they never speak?

    "Him? He''s your great uncle, my father''s brother. You two just helped him get his memories back."

    Leah blinked her large golden eyes, half hiding in her father''s embrace and half looking to Montez.

    "Really?"

    "Really. You were a big help," Leonel smiled.

    "It was because of Dream Force?" Leah asked.

    "Yes"

    "Dream Force is scary..." she said with a pout.

    Leonel laughed. "That''s why you''ve got to train much harder in Dream Force so that no one can ever do that to you again."

    Leah nodded heavily, but she still seemed somewhat scared of Montez and preferred to remain in her father''s arms.

    Montez looked up when he heard the innocent conversation, For some reason, he found the scene heartwarming in a way that went beyond just the interaction between father and daughter.

    He had watched this young man grow up, and now he was already old enough to not only be a father but to also have enough wisdom to know how to guide his children as well.

    He could remember a Leonel furious with the world after his father''s death, a Leonel that most wouldn''t even really want to be around at all. But even before that, he could remember a Leonel without nearly enough drive and ambition, or a Leonel that allowed his ego to dictate far too many of his actions... Sз╫ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Any one of these iterations of his nephew wasn''t the type of person a good father

    could be.

    And maybe that was the real reason Leonel needed to wait so long to accept this new phase in his life.

    Although he wanted to scold Leonel for having children in such a dangerous environment, a conversation he had had with his wife every time she tried to force him to put a baby in her... he couldn''t bring himself to do it.

    He wondered... had he made a mistake not having children...?

    Or was he just as immature as Leonel had been all those years ago? Unwilling to give up a rivalry with his elder brother... unwilling to abandon his feeling of inferiority... unwilling to give up revenge...

    He didn''t know what he was striving for anymore other than those things.

    When had he ended up less mature than his own nephew?

    Tears brimmed in Montez''s eyes.

    "Dad, he''s crying..." Leo whispered.

    Leonel smiled warmly. "Sometimes that''s alright. What really matters is what you do

    afterward."

    "After..." Montez said softly.

    A burden seemed to be lifted from his heart as a world-shuddering aura erupted.

 Chapter 3224 Free From Comparison

    ?3224 Free From ComparisonAfter... he never thought of after...

    All he thought about was what he could do right now to make himself stronger, how he could strive to reach those heights his brother had that he never could, how he could rip the head from the body of the woman he hated the most in this world.

    But he never thought about what he wanted after, what he desired...

    He had made every aspect of his life a part of his training. He didn''t even give his wife the happiness of a child; he wore his Divine Armor everywhere he went, and there wasn''t a single moment where he wasn''t thinking about how he might refine his spear further.

    But what he didn''t think about was how hollow he would be if he ever accomplished those things.

    Did he really care about them enough for them to become the foundation of this being?

    Leonel had been faced with this question not too long ago as well. He knew that he wanted to kill the Demoness, but was that enough for him to base his entire Valiant Heart on?

    Of course not. If he hinged his entire being on a person he would soon enough kill, then what would he do after? Would he just end his life right then and there?

    He chose Freedom to base his Valiant Heart on precisely because it was so generic. Leonel had never had any grand aspirations or desires. He had never been able to take things seriously because it all came easy to him. What he wanted wasn''t some grand goal; it was just the freedom to do whatever he might desire on a whim...

    The freedom to laze around... the freedom to play around with his kids and flirt with his wife... the freedom to joke around with his brothers.

    As for Montez...

    He could remember the image of his father quite well. That man should have had all the reason in the world to hate the Demoness, but he never said a bad word about her. He was so laid back and casual about things.

    Ishmael was a man who took life in stride. He had only spoken to his sons seriously about the Demoness a single time. Even to this day, Montez could remember that conversation clearly.

    ~"If you want to hate anyone, don''t hate your mother... hate your father, because it''s my fault that I wasn''t strong enough to give her what she needed. How can I be the man of the household when my back wasn''t straight enough and my spear wasn''t strong enough?"-

    Not long afterward, he had died... but that smile was seared into Montez''s mind. Because it had been from the bottom of his father''s heart.

    He had meant every word he said, and yet he had also not let it affect his mood.

    Maybe in terms of raw power, Ishmael wasn''t a match for the top echelon of Gods; none of them ever had been...

    But in terms of heart?

    He was in a league of his own.

    His father liked to claim all the time that there had been a point in their relationship when the Demoness had truly loved him. S~ea??h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    They sounded like the mad ravings of a man who still hadn''t given up on his one true love. But right now, Montez suddenly felt that a father with a heart like his couldn''t have possibly been lying about such a thing.

    Unfortunately... whatever love that was didn''t last long.

    The one thing his father had never said was that the Demoness loved him even now. But he probably never said such words because one, he knew they would be a lie, and two... because he really didn''t want his sons to hate their mother.

    It was just that that was a ship that had set sail long ago.

    There was too much anger to hold onto. These were things that could simply never be forgiven.

    But his father''s carefreeness... where he didn''t think about what others thought and didn''t feel the need to cater to their needs or even to compare himself to them...

    That was what Montez realized he desired most...

    To be free of comparisons... to be allowed to live his own life without the restrictions placed on him by others...

    There was a blossoming in Montez''s heart as his power ripped through several stages. At some time unknown to Leonel, he had long reached the Ninth Dimension. But now, his Forces had finally caught up.

    The silhouette of an aged man with bronzed skin and bright white hair appeared before Montez. He was handsome in a way that made one wonder just how much better he looked when he was younger, and he had a gentle, amiable sort of smile that filled one with warmth.

    This was the first time he had ever seen him... but Leonel was certain in that instant... that this was his grandfather.

    Montez was forming his Idol in the image of his father.

    The bronze eyes of Ishmael''s silhouette sharpened as spear lights radiated from them.

    It was ironic... to build his Valiant Heart on avoiding comparisons, and then forming his Idol in the image of his grandfather... those two things seemed to be directly contradictory.

    But Montez didn''t see it that way. In fact, he would say that the fact he dared to do this now meant that he was clear in his heart about what he wanted.

    In the past, he wouldn''t have been able to draw such a clear distinction...

    But now he could feel it tangibly... that difference between respect and idolization.

    He respected his father to the bottom of his heart. And from this moment on, he would hold his spear up for the sake of both of them.

    "That''s grandpa?" Leah asked.

    Leonel nodded.

    "Leonel."

    "Yes?"

    "I have to go now. I can sense her."

    Leonel looked down toward the soul tie on his uncle''s finger and nodded slowly.

    "If you need anything... just say my name," Leonel said softly, even though he was certain his uncle would do no such thing.

    Montez grinned. "Look at you. You probably don''t even realize how ridiculous that sounds, huh? You and your father, two peas in a pod."

    Just speak his name? From anywhere and he would know?

    It seemed that his nephew had reached a truly shocking stage.

    However, this was something he had to do on his own. With a step, Montez vanished.

 Chapter 3225 Coddle but not Baby

    ?3225 Coddle but not BabyLeonel didn''t say anything more for a long while. It wasn''t until his two children started squirming around in his arms and play-fighting that he snapped back to reality. Sз╫arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The two of them seemed all too comfortable to duke it out in his arms. Seeing them using his head like it was some sort of fortress to hide behind while they launched their attacks left him with a smile on his face.

    On the one hand, his uncle''s actions today had reminded him that this thing was far from over. But on the other hand...

    He felt that even in the gloominess, he could still find his happiness at the same time. He could only hope that his uncle would find his.

    "Look at you two. I''m glad you can be happy now, but what was that? Is that what I taught you about fighting an enemy that is too powerful for you?" Leonel started to scold.

    The twins snapped out of their play session and ducked their heads, trying to use their father to hide away from their father.

    Leonel didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, but he had too much control over his body to let a chuckle slip out now.

    "Having the courage to face someone stronger than you is good. I''m proud of you for that. But throwing your life away isn''t courage, it''s stupidity. You have to find what your strengths are, and most importantly which of those strengths your enemy doesn''t immediately nullify, and capitalize on those."

    Aina listened from the side and didn''t say much.

    Half of her wanted to make fun of Leonel because he too jumped into danger without much thought. But the reality was that the Leonel of back then had never thought that he would die no matter what danger he got himself into.

    Even if logic said he would likely die, he was so absurdly confident in his own intelligence that he thought he would always find a way out no matter what.

    The Leonel of back then heavily relied on his Ability Index to close the gap between his enemies and himself, and he wanted his children to learn how to use their brains just as much as their brawn.

    Leo and Leah were so talented that maybe in 99% of situations, they could get away with only the latter. And with their father around, maybe there would never be danger that truly threatened their lives.

    But Leonel didn''t want to get them used to such a thing, which was why he had had them face their first life and death situation so early on.

    He was proud of the way they reacted, but it needed to be tempered.

    However, he was also cognizant of the fact that his children didn''t have the same methods he had.

    His son didn''t have his Control Ability Index, he had what seemed like a Gravity Ability Index, but was actually an extremely weak form of a Space affinity Ability Index.

    His daughter also didn''t have his Control Ability Index. In fact, Leah''s Ability Index was closer to her mother''s, though not quite the same.

    Leah had a Soul-type Ability Index, one that, for now, seemed to only allow her Internal Sight to be exceptional. In fact, right now, Leah''s Internal Sight was even stronger than Leonel had been back when he was in the Third Dimension.

    However, much like her brother''s, this Ability Index would grow into something substantially more powerful in the future.

    From what Leonel could tell from studying the Force Art formed of it by the Life Tablet, Leah''s Ability Index tended toward the Immortal Soul aspect, but a tier above that..

    Rather than just being immortal, it was more accurate to say that her soul was truly like a second body to her.

    In the future, doing things like splitting it in two to form two perfectly identical and perfectly whole copies of herself would be possible because her soul was simply that flexible. Even if it was heavily injured and harmed, she could replenish it. Even if a tiny sliver was left, she would survive.

    In truth, though, this was only to illustrate the kind of flexibility her soul had. In terms of what sort of potential powerful abilities she could use, the list felt endless to Leonel.

    For example, with a soul like this one, Leonel had even thought of modifying the Human Race Dimensional Method granted to Aina by the Stele.

    Leah could split her soul, leaving one to every Dimension, instead of stretching it through or pulling it along.

    Doing that would have a host of benefits, but just one of them was that one Dimension would no longer be reliant on the last.

    When people usually crossed from the Sixth Dimension to the Seventh, a lot of things were locked in and could no longer be changed, but Leah could casually go back and change her Path at will.

    In fact, she could become the first person ever to form multiple Idols precisely because of this Ability Index. That was the kind of scale and scope this talent of his daughter''s had.

    daughter''s had.

    By comparison, his son''s Spatial Ability Index was much more straightforward. But the fact it manifested as gravity at its very first level meant one very important thing...

    It wasn''t just a spatial ability.

    It was a Spacetime Ability Index.

    Leonel hadn''t told his son that, though. And he also didn''t tell his daughter about the Dimensional Method he was creating for her.

    He wanted to keep them at the Third Dimension for as long as possible so that he could see what ideas they could come up with on their own before he started.

    His own father had taught him the value of Respect and Persistence, but he would have never truly understood it if he hadn''t been forced to travel so far on his own when his father could have handed him everything.

    Would he coddle and love his children? Yes.

    But he wouldn''t baby them.

 Chapter 3226 Outside World

    ?Chapter 3226 Outside WorldThe next year passed by in relative harmony. Leo and Leah seemed to be growing more and more every day, and now their third birthday was approaching.

    However, such times of peace could only last for so long.

    Leonel looked up to the skies, seemingly sensing something before his eyes sharpened. By the time he looked down, his gaze had already softened considerably.

    He gave a look to his wife, and she seemed to understand as well.

    The both of them nodded.

    "Come here, Leo, Leah. It''s about time we get out of this place."

    "Really? Really?" Leah skipped over, abandoning her bow practice immediately and nearly tripping over her own feet.

    Leo rushed over as well, his little chubby face practically brimming with excitement. This large hall was all they had ever known. Their parents would show them the outside world from time to time, but that only made them anticipate it more.

    They also wanted to taste this so-called "food" their parents kept talking about. Sometimes their dad would tease them about how they had never tasted their mother''s cooking before when he had.

    Leo had thrown more than one tantrum about that, but Leonel only laughed harder at his expense.

    Now they finally got to go outside.

    The two obediently stood as their parents helped them get dressed in little violet and gold robes.

    Leonel couldn''t help but admit that he and his wife could truly make some adorable little creatures. The way their checks puffed out and their large golden eyes sparkled with anticipation was a better sight than Leonel felt he had ever seen in his life.

    "Dad, why do we have to wear this?" Leo still couldn''t help but ask.

    "What? What do you want to wear instead?"

    "Sweatpants. They''re so much more comfortable. What is this? Who would wear this?" Leonel burst out into laughter. It seemed that his genes were quite strong.

    "Sometimes, perception matters."

    "But you said to never care what anyone else thinks."

    "True. You shouldn''t care about what anyone else thinks... unless you''ve decided that you should."

    "Hm?" Leo blinked in confusion, and even Leah puffed out her little cheeks, not quite getting it.

    "Do you not care about the opinions of me and your mom?" Leonel asked.

    Leo''s eyes widened. "Oh!"

    Leonel smiled, ruffling his son''s hair before his wife slapped his hand away to fix it. Chuckling, Leonel straightened his son''s robes.

    "Your father is a King. When I step out into the world in my official acting capacity as one, I''m no longer just representing myself, I''m representing everyone who''s put their trust in me. When it''s a time like that, I''ve decided that I care about the perception I give. Do you understand?"

    Leo''s eyes glowed brightly in understanding as his father stood up before him. Suddenly, his dad felt much taller now than he ever remembered him being.

    "Come, come," Aina said, beckoning her son over and taking his little hand along with Leah''s.

    A ripple came from Aina and Leonel, and suddenly they were dressed as well.

    Looking toward one another, they smiled.

    The last time they had worn these gowns, it had been for the Heir Wars. It had been so long since then that it felt like a lifetime ago.

    His father had still been alive... his mother had come to watch him... the Morales family was still standing...

    Since then, it felt like everything had changed.

    But they had built their own happiness this time. They had enjoyed three years of peace and prosperity when most others didn''t have the chance to experience even

    one.

    Looking at his beautiful wife, Leonel''s heart couldn''t help but feel full.

    Her violet and gold embroidered gown wrapped around her curves perfectly, but the radiance and elegance of a mother came from her face. She looked just as young, and yet so much more graceful and mature at the same time.

    The rosiness of her cheeks, the delicate slope of her chin, those warm, inviting, golden eyes...

    Leonel couldn''t help but lean over and kiss her.

    "Ew!" Sз╫ar?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leah giggled as Leo pretended to be disgusted.

    Leonel pulled back from his wife''s softness, giving her a gentle look filled with his heart. Aina''s eyes seemed a bit misty, but she regained her composure quite well,

    unhanding Leo for a moment to smooth his chest.

    Leonel took a breath and felt that the power of a world was welling up inside of him. "Watch closely," Leonel said with a grin, waving a hand out at the air. "Your dad is actually quite badass."

    Aina rolled her eyes, but this time, she chose not to scold Leonel for his word choice.

    A radiant spear appeared in Leonel''s hand. It had a body that looked to be carved out of amethysts, its inner lining and body swimming with roaring golden dragons and soaring red phoenixes.

    Its blade was large, split in two down the middle. It almost looked like a calligraphy pen''s tip from a certain angle, until the light caught it just the right way, and the SHILING! of a powerful sharpness echoed out.

    Leo and Leah''s eyes opened wide, but Leonel had already taken a step out.

    Soon after, Aina followed, pulling their children along.

    When they appeared once again, they stood at the helm of a monument... a spear piercing toward the skies.

    The world around them was a murky grey-black. The skies were dark, the statues were black, and the ground below was grey.

    In this encirclement, one after another, individuals began to appear on their own

    monuments.

    But what was clear was that Leonel was entirely out of place. He was the one and only

    true holder of the Spear Monument.

    The world rumbled to life and the skies began to thunder.

    Leo and Leah hid behind their mother''s skirt, feeling that the outside world was much

    scarier than they were originally led to believe.

    But at that moment, they caught sight of their father''s back... standing tall and straight in the face of the world.

 Chapter 3227 Deserves

    ?Chapter 3227 DeservesLeonel took a breath and closed his eyes. There was a shimmering aura around him, and his body seemed to almost be revving up like the engine of a well-oiled machine. He hadn''t even held a spear in three years, let alone swung it. He spent all his time with his wife and children, not even thinking about battle outside of what he could teach his kids about it.

    But now, stepping foot onto the true Idol Battlefield for the first time, he felt like a piece he was missing had finally come back.

    He never shied away from battle. In fact, he loved it with every fiber of his being. It was just that all the battles he fought felt so high stakes that it would inevitably become suffocating after a certain point...

    But maybe the harsh reality of it all was that it was precisely those high stakes that made it all so worth it. Maybe that was what made his blood boil and his heart bloom.

    Leonel grinned wildly as his eyes snapped open.

    In the far-off distance, he watched as a monument shuddered. It was odd compared to all the ancient airs fluttering around it. This one felt almost too modern by comparison... But that was because it was none other than Drake''s Gun Force. The world shook as Drake established himself.

    The rookie blinked in confusion for a moment before opening his eyes. The first person he saw was also Leonel, and he couldn''t help but smile, before he was shocked by the two little tykes behind him.

    Drake couldn''t help but be speechless, seemingly piecing together the real story here quite quickly. While everyone else was banging their heads against the wall, looking for a way to survive, Leonel had actually been enjoying his new family.

    He knew that Aina was pregnant, they all did. But they all also thought that Leonel was going to miss the birth and first few years of his children''s lives. Sear?h the ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    In the end, Drake just relaxed and smiled. This was a good thing.

    "Son of a bitch! I was working my ass off and this guy was just out frolicking about!" James appeared on the saber monument, with Elthor and Noah not too far behind.

    "Language," Aina said with a frown.

    James'' next words were caught in his throat. "-Yes, ma''am!"

    Leonel''s brothers appeared one after another. Joel to the Glaive monument, Milan and Arnold to the Palm monument, Allan actually appeared on Drake''s Gun monument several hours later...

    Every appearance was like another weight off of Leonel''s shoulders.

    There was another rumble and the earth shook as yet another monument rose into the skies in the form of a machete. On its back, Hutch and Florin appeared.

    While they were appearing, individuals that Leonel didn''t know were appearing as well... including humans.

    When Leonel saw these people appearing on the martial arts monuments, he couldn''t help but give them an extra look. Were these the Ancient Humans that Old Bow was talking about?

    Speaking of Old Bow, though, there were quite a number of people on the Bow monument, many of whom were Sylvans. There seemed to be a much higher concentration of them there, and Leonel could only say they were lucky that he had rejected the Regulator''s teleportation to spend time with his kids.

    Otherwise, they would likely all be dead right now.

    But...

    There were also existences that Leonel didn''t expect... like Anya appearing on the Scythe monument.

    There was also Minerva who appeared on the sword monument, but not before Amery had. There was also Vaelgor of the Beastmen, wielding a silent but deadly sword on his back.

    Anya and Minerva both looked toward Leonel, a swirl of complicated emotions in the depths of their eyes. Leonel didn''t seem to pay much attention to them at all.

    When they crossed eyes with Aina, she only wore the same carefree smile, only giving them a glance before speaking with her children and introducing them to everyone one by one.

    There didn''t need to be large manifesto. Anyone could see with a glance which among the three of them had won... not that it had ever been much of a competition to begin with.

    "Hey, ladies. I''m single, you know!" James called out.

    "Me, too!" Milan roared out, drowning James'' voice. "Look at this belly? How nice would it be to cuddle with every night?"

    "Fuck-I mean, fudge, Milan. There are two of them. How about you take the white-haired one, I''ll go with the pink angel."

    "I like it, I like it." Milan nodded seriously.

    The two women weren''t in the mood for such jokes. Even if their mood had been fine, they wouldn''t have taken kindly to their words.

    A murderous intent flared in their gaze, but before they could do much of anything,

    the world rumbled once again and Leonel''s monument began to shine. At the same time, the Bow monument shone.

    Leonel sneered.

    Even now he was being targeted. But so what?

    What difference did it make?

    He took a step out and Leo and Leah screamed because they thought their father was about to fall to his death...

    Only for him to walk on the air as though it was solid ground.

    "Whoa..." Leo was shocked.

    "Mommy, can we do that too?" Leah asked, her large golden eyes blinking.

    Aina smiled. "In the future, of course."

    Leonel took another step, and then another, a rhythmic cadence blooming with his

    every motion.

    The Bow monument still hadn''t even decided who to send out. They were all powerful experts, there were no weak links to force the hand of.

    "He''s only in the Seventh Dimension. There are no more restrictions here. Let me kill

    him."

    "He deserves to die by my hand."

    "I should go."

    The Sylvans seemed to be the loudest voices.

    This was the final leg of the Idol Battlefield... a battle for supremacy amongst the

    Weapon Forces.

    BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura flared and he suddenly attacked the Bow monument.

 Chapter 3228 Strong

    ?3228 StrongLeo and Leah were shocked again.

    Their father had always taught them not to be reckless, but this seemed to be even beyond that.

    Aina smiled, seemingly seeing through her children''s thoughts.

    "When you are strong, the things others see as reckless are just time-saving measures," she said softly.

    "Dad is really that strong?" Leo asked.

    Despite what Leonel had said, his children were too rational. They didn''t idolize him, and they were even prepared for the possibility of being disappointed.

    Without even realizing it, they trusted their mother''s strength far more than their father''s, funny enough. If it was their mom who had acted like this, they would be far less surprised.

    But in practice...

    The Sylvan who had spoken last had his head cut off, and Leonel took another step forward.

    He felt the Regulator quake.

    "No, no," Leonel said with a booming cadence to his voice. "Since you wanted blood, I''ll give you blood."

    The wild grin on Leonel''s face widened, slicing through the Regulator''s pressure and appearing in the midst of the Bow monument.

    He could feel an oppressive force trying to cut off his Spear Force in this region. This wasn''t the act of the Regulator, but rather a natural action of the monument itself.

    How could Spear Force be allowed to thrive in the domain of the Bow?

    "Because I say so."

    Leonel took a step onto the monument, and it seemed to explode with power, an assaulting presence coming at him from all sides.

    The Bowmen and women were slow at first, but they reacted quickly to the change. Even as Leonel''s robes fluttered down to catch up with his speed and forward momentum, they had already fired their first arrows.

    Leonel''s spear, however, seemed to be on an entirely different level.

    Despite the distance being barely a hundred meters, his wrist flickered and he parried the dozens of arrows with a deft smoothness.

    It didn''t matter how heavy they were or how fast. His spear became akin to a shield before him.

    He treated the arrows of True Gods like playthings.

    The people who still had to rely on the Idol Battlefield to improve themselves... simply weren''t his match any longer. At least not on average.

    Leonel took another step forward and the Bow monument shook.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He suddenly shifted from a parrying flurry. He slashed down on one arrow, causing its forward momentum to stop as it spun in place in the air.

    He swung to the side, repeating the action again, and then again before he swung out the butt of his spear.

    The arrows spinning in place were suddenly sent flying back even faster than they came, piercing through the brows of their owners.

    Leonel took another step forward and a Spear Domain bloomed around him.

    He pierced out one, and three bows snapped in two just as their owners pulled them back into a full draw. The rebound of the bows smashed against their skulls, shattering their own heads to pieces.

    Leonel''s laughter echoed through the battlefield and blood spilled.

    "This Bow monument was never yours."

    The Bow monument had by far the most survivors, and there was only one reason for that.

    Leonel hadn''t been there.

    In addition, while Leonel was clearing the Bow Valiant Heart Hall, the Regulator had truly gone all out in an attempt to stop him. All of those that could have possibly stopped him here...

    Had already fallen beneath his arrows.

    As for those that were left...

    They weren''t even worthy of him pulling out his bow to face them in this field. The only reason he was using his spear at all was because of the Bow monument. If he turned to using his bow, it would be worse than slaughtering chickens.

    Leonel''s spear tore through the chest of a Sylvan and pulled out its golden, pulsing heart. The Sylvan hacked up a mouthful of blood, its eyes locked onto its heart with a widened gaze as though it wanted to quickly stuff it back into its chest in hopes of surviving.

    But with an opening of his mouth, Leonel actually swallowed it directly.

    Fury erupted from the Sylvans on other monuments, but Leonel ruthlessly cut the Sylvan''s head off. With a kick, he sent him soaring off of the platform and toward the ground below.

    A litter of corpses was cleared from the Bow monument.

    But before the Bow could sink back into the earth as the last of its representatives had fallen, Leonel put up a hand.

    "Where do you think you''re going?"

    A world-ending Bow Force towered into the air.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    A spiraling Bow force appeared around Leonel and then grew to the point it wrapped around the Bow monument itself.

    They ripped through the ground like chains and forcefully tore the monument back

    up.

    Leonel''s hand pulsed and a bow appeared in it.

    His aura flared and the bow monument trembled.

    At that moment, a Blessing fell in torrents from above.

    Leonel soared into the Higher Tiers of the Seventh Dimension, then from the 7th to

    the 8th Tier, and then from the 8th to the 9th.

    His Dimension crashed against the barriers of the Eighth Dimension and the

    momentum seemed to be dying down...

    Until the properties of the Sylvan heart he had just swallowed shuddered.

    A blooming golden energy rocketed out from Leonel and he finally shattered the barrier and entered the Eighth Dimension for the first time in his life.

    He raised his head to the skies and unleashed a billowing roar that shook Existence and the Idol Battlefield.

    A Spear Domain, Bow Domain, and Quill Domain rotated around him, the madness of power pouring into him from all sides.

    Leonel''s violet hair danced in the wind, his eyes shimmering with sharpness as a crown he was suppressing flickered into and out of existence on his head.

    When his aura finally solidified, the world fell into silence. But at that moment, there

    wasn''t a single individual who looked at him with anything other than a somberness in

    their eyes...

    Well, other than his wife, who wore a proud smile, and his children, who looked like they were trying to fit whole eggs in their mouths.

 Chapter 3229 Grudges.

    ?Chapter 3229 Grudges.Leonel took a breath, looking up into the skies as an overwhelming amount of power flooded into him.

    This was the real reason he had come to the Idol Battlefield. Though the changes to his Weapon Forces were a pleasant surprise, his first and foremost goal had always been to improve his Dimensional level as quickly as possible.

    The trouble with doing that was that he required far too much energy, more than most could even begin to fathom.

    Just now, he took the entire Blessing of a monument, meant to be split between over a dozen people, all for himself. And yet, he technically only moved up three Tiers. If not for Aina''s calculations and a timely use of a Sylvan Heart, he wouldn''t have been able to break through into the Eighth Dimension.

    Now, he felt that his forward progress had slowed even more substantially. He doubted that he could even reach Tier 2 even if he claimed an entire other monument for himself, and there were a limited number of monuments to begin with.

    Even between the new ones like Drake''s Gun Force, or Ramon''s spear-hammer fusion Force, Valore Force, there were still only just over a dozen monuments here.

    If just one couldn''t even get him to Tier 2, it felt like his hopes of bounding toward the Ninth Dimension through the use of the Idol Battlefield was a hopeless case.

    Plus, he couldn''t also steal blessings from his own brothers. He needed them to be powerful as well. There was only so much that he could do all on his own.

    Leonel exhaled his deep breath, his gaze calm.

    If he was bound to be stuck in the Eighth Dimension anyway... that was fine.

    The fact that he had made it here to begin with meant that whatever sliver of a chance these people had had before no longer remained.

    If he was so powerful at the Seventh Dimension...

    How powerful was he now?

    Leo and Leah were still at a loss for words. By now, they had a great understanding of power and its scaling. They had been training practically ever since they were born. And that was enough to tell them one very important thing...

    They were no match for their father at all.

    Maybe that should have been obvious to them, but maybe due to them gaining some of their father''s bad habits, they were just a little bit too confident in themselves.

    But now they could really feel it. That gap.

    For Leah especially, she felt like the moment Leonel grabbed onto a bow, it was as though hers didn''t even want to listen to her anymore. It was like she was suddenly trying to hold a pencil with her off-hand.

    It looked so much more natural in her father''s hand, as though the bow was always meant to be there. And no matter how hard she looked, she couldn''t quite pick up on what the difference was.

    It was so complex in its simplicity that it left her little head spinning.

    "Wow..." the twins said wide-eyed.

    But then their father ruined it all with a look and a wink.

    The twins were stunned before Leonel started laughing. Maybe his two little kids thought that this was a serious situation that should be treated as such. But for Leonel...

    He didn''t see the Idol Battlefield like that at all.

    This was a place for children, a place his grandfather didn''t even care about enough to show up in, a place he was certain that many others had the very same emotions above.

    He was a father now. How could he play around with children? Wouldn''t that bring him down to their level?

    At that point, he''d have to start asking Leo and Leah to feed him.

    If he struggled in this place, he might as well hand his head over to the Demoness right here and now.

    Leonel took a step and appeared off of the Bow monument.

    The Regulator tried to send down another command, but a fierce Domain had already appeared around Leonel, swirling in colors of violet, red, and gold. Half of him seemed steeped in darkness while the other was so radiant and beautiful that he seemed to become a star of his own in the middle of the skies.

    "A lot of you have grudges against me, but that''s fine." Leonel said with a grin. "I have a lot of grudges against you too. So how about we lay it all out on the table?"

    Leonel''s spear swept to the side as he strapped his bow to his back. The spear tip leveled out at the most powerful of the Sylvans he could find, a woman with a head of flowing branches that almost looked like writhing snakes.

    "I''ve eaten more Sylvan Hearts than I care to count."

    He swept out his spear again, landing in a group of Void Race members. In specific... Lui''Shae, Shan''Rae''s elder brother and supreme genius of the Void Race.

    "I can practically smell the rage on you. Let me guess, are you related to Shan''Rae? Interesting. She was very obedient when she died for my sake."

    Leonel''s wrist flickered and his spear pointed toward a member of the Barbarian Race that he shouldn''t have recognized at all. sea??h thз╫ novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You''ve lost weight, Talon. Did you think I wouldn''t recognize you if your belly wasn''t. spilling over your pants? How was imprisonment? Wasn''t I a good warden?"

    Every word Leonel spoke came with an even more towering aura, as though he was responding to the pressure of being hated by so many.

    The fiendish light in his eyes only grew as his momentum did, his spear landing in a group of Beastmen, and then flickering to land on the group of Ancient Humans.

    "I don''t care much for Beastmen, just stay in your lanes. The spear isn''t the weapon for you. But you Ancient Humans... even if you don''t attack me, I will attack you. I can''t stand any one of you."

    Leonel''s voice grew to the pitch of a roar as his spear finally landed on the final group.

    The Pluto.

    El Rion.

    Comment

 Chapter 3230 Come.

    ?Chapter 3230 Come.Leonel''s grin was wide as his violet hair fluttered in the skies, radiating off plumes of light and fog that made it seem larger than life.

    "Whether you choose to join or not does not matter to me, but I will tell you one thing very clearly. With me here, the Pluto can forget about returning to their status as the number one Race.

    "There will only be one Race when I am finished. The Human race."

    Leonel held out his spear across his body, running a palm down its length. The spear seemed to tremble as it glowed brighter and brighter.

    "Now. Come."

    BOOM!

    Restrictions that had been on the monument seemed to all be shattered at once and a furious torrent of Sylvans were the first to take advantage of the situation.

    To their backs, the young woman, wielding a whip, flicked her wrist.

    Like a dragon tearing through the air, the whip appeared first despite the fact the woman lagged the furthest behind.

    All around Leonel, several Sylvans suddenly entrenched themselves into the ground, forming a Domain that blocked him in all while vicious whipping attacks came from all sides.

    It was clear that the Sylvans had a particular affinity for Whip Force that most others couldn''t compare to, and recalling the level of control the Sylvan Spearman he had fought had, Leonel could see why this was the case...

    Unfortunately, he just didn''t care very much.

    The Sylvans should grow weak when they rooted themselves into the ground like this. But it was a different matter when there were many of them linking up in this way.

    Taking advantage of their leader''s attack, they formed a quick ring around Leonel, digging themselves deeper and deeper until they formed a hollow connection between one another that was steadily growing.

    Leonel took one step back in the face of the whip, his spear flickering to meet it.

    Lena, the Sylvan, sneered, her whip expertly changing directions in the air.

    Leo and Leah gasped in shock, wanting to warn their father, and seemingly too naive to understand that Third Dimensional existences like them shouldn''t even be able to even watch a fight happening at this speed, let alone react to what was happening. The only reason they could was because their father was helping them do so.

    While in the middle of what looked like a heated battle, Leonel was actually filtering everything through his Dream Force and passing it on to his children in tidbits that they could actually grasp and understand, allowing them to understand concepts that would have otherwise gone over their heads.

    And arguably... doing that was far harder than the battle itself.

    BANG!

    The whip Lena thought would slip right by Leonel''s defenses was almost carelessly parried away.

    The Sylvan''s eyes widened, but she sighed a breath of relief at the same moment. That was because her companions had already surrounded Leonel successfully.

    A suffocating Life Force formed and then took control of the realm. Green grass began to grow on the Idol Battlefield and for a moment, the skies even seemed to be somewhat bright.

    But this beautiful sigh was anything but for Leonel who found that he was practically not in a world under the control of the Sylvans. His Weapon Forces weren''t listening to him, and neither were his other Forces.

    When their control and that of the Regulator''s came together, it was like they had more than doubled their strength, displaying a heart-rending might...

    That Leonel only needed to take a step forward to shatter.

    That very step caused another whipping branch to miss Leonel. He took another step and slipped out of the way of another, and then another.

    He walked through the minefield of savage whipping branches that could split planets in two as though he was on a normal stroll.

    And then he suddenly swung his spear.

    A tree froze, only to be cut in two.

    Lena''s eyes opened wide as her aura flared. The Idol she had just formed appeared behind her in a forest of writhing, thorned vines.

    A strong energy burst from her Whip Force as she lashed out with all the strength she could muster.

    Leonel lowered his spear and caught the whip out of the air.

    Before Lena could react, there was a tug of his wrist and she came flying forward, right into the waiting arms of his spear tip.

    The blade ran through her body and right through her bleeding, Sylvan Heart.

    Leonel''s wrist twisted and he cut her heart out of her chest, sending her flying to the ground as though she was worthless garbage.

    He tapped at the air with his now free hand and Tolliver bloomed into action, swallowing up the Sylvan Heart.

    Leonel took a step and then slashed, then took another and slashed once more.

    Every time he did, another Sylvan would fall and their Sylvan Heart would be swallowed up by Tolliver. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Little Tolly''s body grew and grew until it formed the head of a menacing beast roaring to the skies. It seemed that Leonel had completely lost control of the Metal Spirit, having fed it too much in too little time.

    Tendrils of silvery whiteness slashed down and swallowed up the large bodies of the

    Sylvans. It was like the masses of ancient golden trees they had formed weren''t worth

    anything at all.

    Tolliver just wanted to eat more, to have more, and wouldn''t be satisfied until

    everything had been devoured by it.

    Leonel walked through the battlefield almost carelessly, as though he couldn''t see the danger at all, like he hadn''t just unleashed a demon onto the world.

    And it was then that a scythe suddenly appeared behind him, flickering out of the darkness and looking to take his head off.

    The speed was considerable, and the stroke was one of genius... one that only the likes

    of Lui''Shae would possibly be able to execute among the many Scythe Force wielders

    here other than maybe Anya herself...

    But what good was it?

    A spiraling Absolute Domain formed behind Leonel, rebounding against Lui''Shae''s Scythe with a drilling force.

 Chapter 3231 My King!

    ?Chapter 3231 My King!Lui''Shae was sent stumbling several steps back, his wrists shuddering. It didn''t feel like he had collided against a wall of Force. It felt more like he had just run into an impenetrable universe.

    When he felt Leonel look back at him, he felt a cold chill that spiraled down to the very depths of his soul. It didn''t feel like he was looking at a normal human boy at all.

    Lui''Shae was already the size of a planet. He towered so far above the Idol Battlefield that he seemed to have a battlefield on his person itself.

    By comparison, Leonel was only a fraction of his size, not even enough to count as a pebble to him. However, for some reason...

    He felt so very small right now.

    Like he was the insignificant being.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear only flickered once and a hole the size of a moon was torn through Lui''Shae''s body.

    "A shame. If you were more patient, maybe you would have lived a little longer. At the very least, you should have attacked me with everything, but just like the rest of the God Races... you''re far too arrogant.

    "Haven''t you realized which among us is the ant yet?"

    Leonel''s spear shot upward and Lui''Shae was torn in two, the halves of his body coming tumbling down in two pieces.

    Standing above the carnage, Leonel rested his spear on his shoulder and reached out a hand.

    Lui''Shae''s enormous scythe landed in his hand. Despite all the pressure Leonel was putting into an infinitely small section of it in order to hold it up, that scythe didn''t show any signs of wavering at all.

    Then, Leonel carelessly tossed the scythe to Tolliver who swallowed it up with just as much vigor.

    The world fell silent for a moment before the infuriated Void Race members charged. Their bodies weren''t nearly as large as Lui''Shae''s, but it hardly seemed to make a difference at all. If anything, they only suffered more for it.

    By the time they realized that their Void Race should have had shocking healing capabilities, but they weren''t even able to save themselves from a single one of Leonel''s spear strikes, it was too late.

    The first time Leonel met the Void Race, they had been able to sacrifice the galaxies in their bodies to heal even from lethal injuries. Having their heads split shouldn''t have been the end of the road for them...

    But when they were facing off against Leonel, it might as well have been.

    Before Leonel''s spear... they didn''t have the right to heal themselves. Before a

    Sovereign of Creation, why would they believe that they could be in control of their own lives?

    SSKKKRRROOOOOARRRRR!

    Tolliver''s rampage only became more wild until it suddenly couldn''t hold back anymore, leaping onto the Bow monument. Sз╫ar?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The Idol Battlefield began to shake from its very foundations. However, Leonel didn''t even look back as though he didn''t notice what was happening.

    "What? You''ve all turned coward now?"

    The last of the Void Race fell and it was like no one on the Idol Battlefield had the capacity to speak or think properly anymore.

    These weren''t weak existences. The Void Race had held back on a lot of the geniuses they sent, only sending one supreme genius and a bunch of lower-tier geniuses after the fact, but this was still a race of people who were vying with the Pluto for supremacy.

    On average, they might not be as strong as the Pluto... but they weren''t too far off either.

    And yet they were treated like ants, torn and shredded apart as though they might as well have not existed at all.

    And now the man who had done so stood there, taunting and goading them, sneering down at them from above.

    A Human... a normal Human...

    "Since that''s the case... [Arise]"

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and an overwhelming Dream Force poured out from him, overflowing into the world in a tidal wave.

    The Sylvans and Void Race members that had collapsed began to have their spirits forcefully ripped out of them.

    At first, there were strong protections that descended from above, but with a single sneer from Leonel, they shattered to pieces, falling in a rain.

    At this point... there were only two existences that Leonel would give even a sliver of a chance of having Dream Force on the same level as himself...

    His grandfather and the Demoness.

    There was no third.

    No matter what protections these people had.

    It was worthless to him.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The restrictions shattered one after another and they were forcefully resurrected just as fast.

    They quickly fell to a knee, crossing their arms across their chests and lowering their heads toward Leonel.

    "MY KING!"

    Their combined voices shook the Idol Battlefield. The skies overturned and a royal crest that looked eerily similar to Leonel''s Dharma appeared before each and every one of their foreheads.

    The sight of dozens of violet figures kneeling to one man didn''t seem like it should have shaken them to their cores. But when one realized that each one of these individuals was a genius amongst geniuses, an existence that would hold up a piece of the skies all on their own in the future...

    It was something that hit a completely different place in their hearts.

    And to make it worse...

    Leonel didn''t even care to use them. It was as though he was bored and wanted to stretch out his own legs for once, as though he was here to take a stroll and had no desire to have someone else drive the carriage for him.

    At that very moment, two Beastmen appeared before Leonel... one of them was Vaelgor, a white tiger Beastman wielding an enormous white sword...

    And the second was Azhgar, the sole owner of the Claw Force monument. It seemed that the dragon Beastman had succeeded in doing what he set out to do, carving out a new path for him.

 Chapter 3232 Very Cool!

    ?Chapter 3232 Very Cool!Leonel looked at them and their twitching noses. He could tell that they could smell the death of their people on him. He didn''t know how their sense of smell worked, nor did he particularly care. It was an ability that he had no intention of using, nor did he feel the need to circumvent it.

    Maybe in the past, he might have cared enough to find a way to supersede it because he would have to spend more time running away from these God Races than actually fighting them. Sз╫ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But right now...

    What did he have to fear?

    "Coming to throw your lives away like everyone else... not very smart. You aren''t helping the stereotypes," Leonel said indifferently.

    Azhgar grinned a toothy, draconic grin.

    "If I don''t step out, you Humans might actually think you run the place."

    Vaclgor didn''t say anything, but his battle intent was much the same.

    It was clear to Leonel that the more powerful he was, the more likely the Beastmen would be to step out. This battle-hungry Race wanted for nothing more than blood and carnage.

    Leonel didn''t have to point his spear at them for them to take action; they would have done so anyway.

    "You know..." Leonel said, taking a step forward until he was so close to them that their shadows swallowed him up.

    The two Beastmen were easily over four meters tall, and comparatively speaking, after losing his Dream Asura Blood, Leonel wasn''t even half of that height.

    Right now, it looked as though they could reach down and pinch him to death while Leonel himself had to crane his neck vertically just to look them in the eye.

    "... My Divine Armor is missing a few beast pelts. How about you help me out with that?"

    Vaclgor, who had been silent all the while, suddenly grinned as well. In fact, when he lost control of his bloodlust, he seemed even more wild than Azhgar, a wild fluctuation of spatial energies surging around him.

    It all then happened too fast. The white blade was already right above Leonel''s head, ready to pierce down and split his body in two.

    However, at that moment, Leonel''s spear, which had been resting on his shoulder, magically appeared between himself and the blade.

    BANG!

    The air exploded outward and reality almost collapsed in on itself.

    A surge of pressurized air caused Leonel''s robes to flutter wildly.

    "Mm, decent." Leonel said indifferently.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Vaelgor unleashed a barrage before Azhgar appeared to Leonel''s back, swiping down with a vicious claw that tore the world into six segments.

    Leonel''s wrist flexed and Vaclgor''s heavy sword felt as though it had just fallen onto a bed of clouds. The white tiger Beastman had been ready for yet another fierce rebound and was caught off guard.

    The Beastmen weren''t a Race that spent a lot of time with weapons to begin with. In this regard, they were a lot like the Pluto, except for the fact the Pluto at least dabbled in close combat methods and controlled Weapon Forces like Fist Force and the like.

    But Beastmen didn''t even usually have that much.

    This showed the moment the two began to attack. They had a wildness to them that was completely different from the usual systematic methods of Weapon Force users.

    And that actually benefited them.

    Leonel couldn''t see through them in an instant, so they ended up weaving through the skies until he found an opening.

    Vaelgor found himself off balance as Leonel took a step to the side, flicking his spear upward.

    The white great sword met Azhgar''s claw and the two Beastmen were repelled apart by their own strength.

    Leonel''s figure flickered and he appeared before Vaclgor in an instant of time.

    The Beastman hurriedly spun around and slashed out with his sword and tail at the same time, both wreathed in a blackened energy.

    CHI!

    Vaelgor was stunned to feel one of his own legs go limp. He looked down to find that Leonel, who he thought was behind him, was actually to his side, piercing into his leg and tearing its tendons apart. Suddenly, he felt even more off balance in the air.

    CHI! CHI! CHI!

    Leonel''s spear strikes accelerated. As though he was toying with a child, his spear marks were left all across Vaelgor''s body, and by the time Azhgar was back in the picture, the white tiger was already littered with wounds.

    Leonel''s arm struck backward, sending Azhgar flying once again, before he focused on

    Vaelgor once more.

    "I''m still waiting for you to show me the supremacy of your Beastman Race. Patiently waiting. You should be quite honored. Usually, I''m not willing to be so giving."

    Vaelgor didn''t respond. Or, rather, he couldn''t respond. At some unknown time,

    Leonel''s spear had even cut his tongue out.

    "Daddy''s kind of mean." Leah said softly, tugging on her mom''s hand.

    Aina couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "Leah! Mean isn''t the word you''re looking for!" Leonel shouted from a distance. "Cool. That''s the word. Your daddy''s very cool!"

    Leah giggled, but seemed to have no intention of correcting herself.

    As expected of a pair of toddlers born into a river of blood, Leo and Leah didn''t seem

    to care about the bloodshed at all. Somehow, they felt that it was perfectly normal for

    their father to be a mass murderer.

    "Yes! Dad''s very cool!" Leo said.

    "Atta boy."

    "Can I have that big sword?" Leo asked with a burning desire in his eyes.

    Leonel almost coughed out his first mouthful of blood. Was this the real reason his kid

    was complimenting him? Where was the shame?

    "You can use a sword when you can beat me with a spear."

    "That''s not fair!"

    "You know what else isn''t fair? Being born with a Spear Force Innate Node. If you can''t

    do that, what good are you?"

    Leo grit his teeth and seemed to want to run out onto the battlefield with his tiny little legs already just to prove his father wrong.

 Chapter 3233 Have It

    ?Chapter 3233 Have ItAina had to catch Leo before he actually rushed out onto the battlefield. But even as Leonel was speaking, his wrist had already twisted like a writhing dragon through the

    air.

    PUCHI!

    Vaelgor''s head was sent flying into the air.

    Azhgar froze in place, his slit pupils trembling. Maybe he just couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    He had Vaelgor weren''t even of the same bloodline, one being a draconic Beastman and the other being of the white tigers. But they had grown up like brothers, both taking unorthodox paths of their Race, both rising up to become geniuses among geniuses, both stoking one another''s flames for as long as he could remember. "You... killed him..."

    Azhgar''s rumbling, deep voice trembled out in disbelief. I was as though he was trying to make sure that everything was still real, that he wasn''t imagining what was before him.

    Had his brother of a lifetime really fallen right before him like this? And he couldn''t even do anything about it?

    Leonel didn''t even respond, kicking Azhgar''s body toward the rampaging Tolliver. His large body was swallowed up, and it was like nothing more than another resource. A manic roar filled the skies as Azhgar howled toward the darkness above them. With a stomp, Azhgar had already appeared before Leonel, slashing out with a wild claw. It seemed to embody the savagery of the Beastman Race and Leonel actually found that it was more than ten times as powerful as it had been the last time Azhgar used it.

    This wasn''t a strength boost brought on by mere fury. The truth was that this unbridled fury was precisely the last piece Azhgar needed to make his Claw Force work.

    Claw Force simply wasn''t something that normal humans could use well. They didn''t have claws, and it was much more efficient for them to use something like Fist Force or Palm Force.

    Azhgar had been trying to make his Claw Force too much like Fist or Palm Force, when in reality it needed less systematic guardrails, and more wildness.

    And now, thanks to Leonel, he had reached that threshold.

    There was a sudden rush above his head as an already formed Idol became sharper and stronger. If one looked above Azhgar''s head, it would look as though a Dragon''s 10:45-

    claw was descending from the skies themselves, ripping apart the clouds and severing the world beneath it into two. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It was an overbearing Idol that only became even more so.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he took a step back.

    His spear danced as he met Azhgar''s wild attacks.

    DENG! DENG! DENG!

    Sparks flew and Azhgar suddenly clamped down onto Leonel''s blade, his five claws sending hot droplets of molten metal flying out in all directions.

    Azhgar wrenched Leonel''s spear upward, taking a strong step forward and clawing a free hand at his chest.

    Leonel removed a hand from his spear and punched out in retaliation, his spear-wielding hand twisting at the same time.

    The maddened howl of Azhgar filled the skies as he slammed down on Leonel''s fist, looking to shred it to pieces along with the arm and torso behind it.

    The size difference between their hands must have been two times at the very least. This seemed to be all but a sure outcome.

    And yet...

    BANG!

    Leonel''s fist seemed to phase right through Azhgar''s claw and the attack slammed right against the Beastman''s chest.

    The sudden savage attack felt like a meteor falling from the skies. Azhgar felt all the bones in his body shattering at once as the force of Leonel''s power dispersed on purpose rather than tearing a hole through his body.

    CHII!

    Azhgar held onto Leonel''s spear rather than allowing himself to fly away despite knowing that this would only harm him more.

    Leonel might have bypassed his defenses through mysterious means, but now he was in his grasp, so close that his fist was still against the Beastman''s chest.

    There was no escaping now.

    Azhgar''s claw grew a size larger and changed directions mid-air, the sudden and abrupt shift in momentum was so great that the echo of a tendon snapping echoed through the air. It was akin to the twisted steel cords of an anchored chain popping

    out at once.

    He had forcefully injured himself once again just to deal a death blow to Leonel. He cared about nothing other than taking his life.

    Unfortunately...

    His hopes and dreams didn''t matter.

    "Decent."

    The spear that Azhgar had been holding onto all this time was finally twisted out of his control.

    It cut across, severing Azhgar''s neck and down his opposite shoulder, cutting away the very claw he was using to attack Leonel.

    Azhgar froze.

    Deep in his eyes, he seemed to have already foreseen this outcome. He knew that he would die... he just thought he would be able to hold on for just long enough to take

    Leonel with him.

    Unfortunately... he wasn''t so lucky.

    "So... close..."

    "Not even remotely." Leonel said calmly.

    These were the last words Azhgar heard before he was sent flying by another one of Leonel''s kicks.

    Tolliver slapped out with a tendril through the skies and seemed to shatter the sound barrier several times over.

    It slapped down and looked like it would knock Azhgar flying again, but instead, he was swallowed up in a single sweep.

    Leonel stood in the skies, resting his spear on his shoulder again as he looked down

    on the world.

    The Idol Battlefield had fallen into silence once again, and no one seemed willing to fight any longer. The amount of power and strength that Leonel had displayed was too

    great.

    SKKKKRRREEEEEEEE!

    Tolliver howled.

    "Still not enough? Have that one, then." Leonel said indifferently, pointing at the new

    Claw monument.

    It had only existed for a short few minutes, but now it would collapse much like the

    Bow monument had.

    Today, Leonel wouldn''t be satisfied until the Idol Battlefield collapsed.

    But how could the Ancient Humans allow that?

 Chapter 3234 Overwhelming

    ?Chapter 3234 OverwhelmingBodhi...

    His skin was dark and his feet were particularly large. He still stood at three meters tall, a height that was shockingly huge for someone who was a pure-blooded Human. And yet, it only seemed natural on him and his long legs.

    Tenzin...

    His skin was practically the opposite of Bodhi''s, reflecting white light. He was short and his belly seemed built like an iron wok. Every breath he took moved his diaphragm up like a weighted anchor, shaking the space in the surroundings.

    He might have been just 5''7" or so, but his presence was suddenly much larger than anything he had displayed until now... There was nothing fat and jovial about him at this moment.

    Mirae...

    A delicate beauty who looked like she would much rather be sowing something rather than standing on a battlefield. Her fingers were covered in rings, and her temperament was the most reserved of all three. Yet... she felt no less dangerous. All three of these young men and women were bald, their hair shaved down to the point even their follicles were no longer visible. And every one of them radiated the same dangerous aura.

    Leonel slowly lowered his spear. And then, in a sight that no one could quite understand, he put it away.

    "Don''t bother to speak." Leonel stopped them as Bodhi opened his mouth to say something. "I''ve been trying to work on my temper, and I have a feeling if cowards like you and your people start speaking now, I''ll lose control of it. That won''t be a good showing for my kids, now would it? Don''t you think?"

    Leonel shook out his wrists and the large sleeves of his robes flared outward. There was a crackle in the air and it suddenly sounded as though countless firecrackers were going off in Leonel''s body.

    What no one here understood was that Leonel''s body had been a warm engine before. It was revving up... but it was only that. He had still yet to reach his peak.

    After years without battle, the rust was falling off slowly, and the flow of his Force was only growing smoother.

    Plus, one also had to factor in the fact that he had only just now had a great and sudden breakthrough. He still had to get used to the new power that was at his fingertips as well.

    But if there was anyone in the world that could quickly get a hold of their body... it was Leonel Morales.

    Right now, however... he would have much preferred to feel the faces of these people deforming beneath his own knuckles and flesh.

    If he was going to rank a hierarchy of those that had pissed him off the most on this Idol Battlefield, number one would be the Regulator, but a close number two would be the Ancient Humans who had triggered its existence to begin with.

    The fact that these Ancient Humans had also gone off into hiding while the rest of their Race was treated as the shit to scrape off the bottom of every other Race''s shoe all this time only filled Leonel with more fury,

    He was going to subdue this race of Ancient Humans. The Human Race only needed one head.

    And by Human Race...

    He meant every Race in existence.

    Leonel took a step forward, his robes flapping and his hair dancing in the air as he punched out.

    Tenzin frowned and for the first time, an emotion other than carefreeness and stoicism appeared on his face.

    It was rage.

    He had practiced the art of a fist ever since he left his mother''s womb. Seeing Leonel''s punch, he had never felt more insulted in his life.

    This man actually dared to fight him in his own Realm?!

    Tenzin stepped forward before the others could even react.

    BANG!

    Tenzin''s body shook and he was forced to take two heavy steps back before he could stabilize himself.

    Leonel shook out his fist as though he was disgusted by something, and it was Tenzin''s reaction that was the most shocked of the two. It wasn''t just him either, but Mirae and Bodhi couldn''t believe what they were seeing.

    They knew that Tenzin hadn''t gone all out, but which of the two of them didn''t understand just how shocking Tenzin''s grasp of Fist Force was? This didn''t make any

    sense.

    Leonel punched out again before they could even regain their bearings.

    His fist phased through the air and Tenzin missed his counter, suffering a blow right at the chest.

    BANG!

    Tenzin coughed up a mouthful of blood, falling to a knee.

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Am I too strong? Or are you just too weak? The Idol

    Battlefield chose you?"

    Leah blinked in the distance. "Daddy''s being mean again, mommy."

    Aina chuckled.

    This time, Leonel had no choice but to ignore his daughter''s words. The last time was

    too embarrassing.

    In the end, he shook his head. He knew what the problem was here. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    All anyone saw was his usual attack, but what he saw was...

    Another world was wrapped around Leonel. A violet dragon wound its way around his

    fist, hidden from sight, and yet bolstering his fist''s strength nonetheless.

    This was the path of his father, the strength of [Final Destruction]... matched with

    [Final Creation].

    The latter of these two was self-created by Leonel as a mirror to his father''s technique and he had yet to pick apart all the details just yet.

    But the short of it was that he wasn''t overwhelming Tenzin in terms of fist skill. Instead, he was overwhelming him in a way that Leonel had rarely experienced since he left the Dimensional Verse. In fact, even while he was in the Dimensional Verse, he rarely if ever had this feeling.

    Rather than overwhelming his enemy with his intelligence or his skill...

    He was overwhelming them in raw power.

    He hadn''t had to show off his real skills yet... because he was crushing them without relying on it at all.

 Chapter 3235 Truly Arrogant

    ?Chapter 3235 Truly ArrogantThe Ancient Humans reacted quickly. The moment they saw that Tenzin was on his back foot, Mirae attacked with a piercing finger, her forefinger ring vibrating wildly.

    At the same time, Bodhi''s leg had suddenly appeared in a high arc through the air, slamming down toward Leonel''s head.

    Leonel struck out with a forearm toward Bodhi''s shin and slammed out a palm toward Mirae''s finger.

    There was a sudden clash in the air as both were sent tumbling back.

    "Show me what you really have." Leonel said with a sharp glow in his eyes, taking a step forward and then striking out again.

    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel was suddenly surrounded by three sharp martial artists, but his movements were fluid and unhurried. He misdirected, parried, and attacked in the opening he received with a sharpness of his own that made it look like he had always been a martial arts master.

    He slapped down on a fist Tenzin sent at him and calmly ducked under another Bodhi kick to his head.

    Bodhi''s roundhouse kick soared by him, accidentally getting in Mirae''s path and forcing her to pull her own attack back.

    Leonel''s hips shifted and he unleashed a liver shot at Bodhi''s side in the opening he provided. But Bodhi was decent enough to block it with an elbow.

    Unfortunately, the block made his kick spin even more out of control and Mirae was forced to block it with both forearms.

    The demure woman was sent flying by her own partner in crime while Bodhi suddenly found his back facing Leonel. Cold sweat broke out onto the tall, dark, and not so handsome man. The scent of death filled his nostrils and his eyes turned bloodshot as he hurriedly slammed his raised foot to the ground, pivoting his hips to send a heel kick backward.

    However... sea??h thз╫ N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He hit nothing but air.

    By the time Bodhi realized what was happening, Leonel was already standing in front of Tenzin, a fist having been driven into the man''s iron gut.

    Bodhi knew precisely just how powerful Tenzin''s abdominal defenses were. He had unleashed full force kicks at the man''s stomach before, only to feel like he was hitting a steel plate.

    And yet, this very same steel gut deformed beneath Leonel''s attack so severely there was even a bulge out of Tenzin''s back. It looked as though his spine had been snapped out of place, almost like Leonel could have ripped a hole through him completely but decided that he didn''t want to do that.

    Bodhi unleashed a roar, reacting in the only way he could and sending down an ax kick for the top of Leonel''s head.

    Leonel side stepped without even looking back. He drove an elbow backward and right into the flesh of the underside of Bodhi''s knee.

    Bodhi''s straight leg suddenly bent awkwardly halfway through his kick and all his power deflated in a single instant...

    Unfortunately, it was too late for him to do anything else.

    Leonel had already grabbed his leg, now draped over his shoulder, and pulled.

    Bodhi was flipped over Leonel''s head and sent slamming into his Kicking monument.

    BOOM!

    The monument was far too strong to be shattered, but that only made the rebounding force that Bodhi experienced all the worse. Every bone in his body was shattered, and when he hacked, bits and pieces of fleshly organs spewed from his mouth.

    Leonel casually smoothed out his robes as he looked over toward Mirac who had finally recovered. To her credit, she charged for him, not minding her own safety at all.

    With a step, Leonel dodged out of the way of her finger.

    She unleashed a roar, her simple robes fluttering as an Idol of rings appeared high above her.

    Eight bands spread out before her and she struck out with a finger toward Leonel. The finger sent out a strike that passed through one of the floating rings, and all of a sudden, an attack concentrated to a small area became unavoidable, expanding to the point it was even larger than the monuments.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he punched out.

    BANG!

    The Finger Force was shattered to pieces, a rain of volatile energies fluttering around wildly and nearly nicking his robes.

    Mirae sent out another, and then another. Sometimes they would enlarge, sometimes they would become wreathed in flames or descend like a waterfall crashing from

    above.

    Every time, Leonel would just as calmly shatter it.

    "CONSTRAIN!" Mirae roared.

    All of a sudden, the dancing energies in the surroundings reformed into rings that trapped Leonel on the inside, squeezing down to shatter him to pieces. And yet...

    Leonel''s body only shook once.

    The rings shattered once again.

    Taking a step through the mess, Mirae could react before Leonel had already grabbed her throat. She had obscured the battlefield so much through her own attacks that she

    completely lost track of her opponent.

    Leonel raised her up and slammed her down toward the ground.

    BANG!

    Mirae hacked up a mouthful and she unleashed a shudder, her consciousness fading in and out. She couldn''t even see straight anymore and the entire back of her skull was covered in fractures, flattened out to the point she wouldn''t blame anyone for thinking her entire brain was nothing more than mush right now.

    Leonel continued to stand high in the air, his imposing air lofty and indifferent...

    And then he looked down toward El''Rion.

    Sparks seemed to fly through the air, an overwhelming sense of might filling the skies.

    "You''re just as arrogant as any one of them." Leonel shook his head, looking down at El''Rion. He may have grown, but in Leonel''s eyes, El''Rion was still that 14-year-old kid.

    "You think I''m arrogant. But I think you''re the arrogant one."

    The words were just as simple as what El''Rion would usually use. Nothing fancy, just the true reflection of his heart on his sleeve.

    Leonel reached for his back and pulled out his spear.

    "Hurry up then, kid. We''ll see which of us is truly arrogant."

    Comment

 Chapter 3236 It

    ?Chapter 3236 ItBANG!

    Spear and fist met in the skies, a crackling, thunderous might spreading out in all directions.

    However...

    BANG!

    El''Rion was forced to take a step back.

    The Pluto seemed genuinely surprised by the result. He didn''t come here to teach Leonel a lesson. Even after Leonel technically humiliated him in the past, using him for the sake of giving the Human Race a path to survival, El''Rion had never been particularly angry.

    He only wanted Leonel to understand who was superior between the two of them.

    Ever since the first moment he met Leonel, he had always had this loftiness to him that belied his inferiority as a Human. It was like he didn''t understand that Humans were supposed to be a weak Race, and El''Rion could never understand it.

    The cognitive dissonance was something that El''Rion couldn''t quite grapple with. What made it more difficult was his personality and his experiences.

    He had always been respected, even within the Pluto Race itself. People deferred to him just because of his existence; he never needed to prove himself before. Normally, he wouldn''t even care to prove himself.

    He never took much of anyone seriously. Ironically enough, he was just as arrogant as he claimed Leonel to be.

    But something about Leonel made him feel like he had the need to prove him, that he should be the one to set Leonel straight about the differences between the two of them.

    What El''Rion didn''t realize was that the moment he had such thoughts, it was probably already over for him.

    He had arrogantly given Leonel time, saying that he would give Leonel a chance to catch up to him. But at some unknown time... Leonel had already long since done so. And now, looking down at his own fist, El''Rion was surprised by the result.

    A trickle of blood came out, and his body, which refused to bleed even when heavier injured by a Void Race Ancestor, was suddenly leaking like a faucet.

    His blood fell from the skies like meteors, crashing across the Idol Battlefield and leaving craters everywhere one looked.

    The carnage was absolutely devastating, and yet El''Rion could only continue to look at his fist as though he couldn''t believe what was happening.

    Leonel retracted his spear calmly. To him, this wasn''t even the slightest bit troublesome.

    El''Rion had grown, but he was still a baby in Leonel''s eyes. He was already in his twenties now, but he might as well have still been a child.

    Looking up, El''Rion finally seemed to look at Leonel rather than looking through him. And that was when he saw it.

    The Leonel before him now was even larger than himself. He had a towering presence and a mountain so heavy on his back that it seemed to make the burdens of the Pluto seem like nothing more than a joke.

    El''Rion could seem to see Leonel''s Creation World, and he only now realized that every single one of them... had always been in Leonel''s world.

    This matter had been a joke from the very beginning. There wasn''t a single aspect of this battlefield that wasn''t completely under Leonel''s control.

    The gap between him and everyone else was so enormous that El Rion couldn''t even understand how he had done it.

    To say that Leonel was just playing around with them... was a heavy underestimation of what was actually going on.

    He was just putting on a show for his children.

    "... It seems I gave you too much time."

    Leonel raised an eyebrow. "Still so arrogant even while admitting a loss? I told you before... it didn''t matter how strong you were. You never stood a chance against me."

    El''Rion''s gaze flickered as he remembered a Leonel with a mere Incomplete World''s foundation returning with the corpse of a Shadow Tail hanging from his hand.

    However, even with that image... he couldn''t quite accept it.

    "Maybe."

    These were the only words he said before he turned around and left. He didn''t even stay to gain the Blessings of the Fist monument.

    A single strike and the strongest genius of the Pluto decided to give in.

    The gap was so enormous that it couldn''t be put into words.

    It was then that the Idol Battlefield began to rumble.

    "Finally can''t hold back anymore, huh?"

    A malevolent light lit in the depths of Leonel''s eyes. A rage he had been suppressing

    1

    U

    1

    began to seep out into the surroundings, a suffocating presence blanketing the battlefield.

    Those that had already felt a great amount of fear due to Leonel''s earlier display of strength almost pissed themselves now. It was like they had finally realized what

    El''Rion had...

    He was just toying around with them.

    All the while, Leonel had only seen one thing on this Battlefield as an opponent.

    The Regulator.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    High in the skies, a dark figure stretched out a blackened palm that blotted out the Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    skies.

    It descended with a momentum that looked as though it would shred apart the entire world if it had to... so long as Leonel died, it would be satisfied.

    The power was all-encompassing and suffocating. There was simply nowhere to

    hide...

    This wasn''t the power of a person, it was a force of nature.

    Leo and Leah shook, hiding behind their mother''s legs as they looked up in fear. Even

    Aina''s brow furrowed.

    Was her husband really ready to go up against such a thing?

    Leonel unleashed a roar and the world shook around him.

    He took a step forward and he thrust out his spear with all of his might, his power tearing a hole through space and drilling upward with a valiant momentum.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    The spear and palm paused against one another. A shudder ran through the world and Leonel was sent flying backward and toward the ground.

    BANG! BANG!

    He hacked up a mouthful of blood, the furious light in his violet eyes dimming as the

    palm continued to descend from above.

    It wanted blood.

 Chapter 3237 A Sons Fury (1)

    ?Chapter 3237 A Son''s Fury (1)Leonel watched as the palm fell down from above, the intent in his eyes blazing. There was a dance that seemed to be occurring in his mind, one that flitted between wanting to unleash the fury in his heart and not doing so.

    He had to set a good example, one that taught his children that sometimes controlling your emotions was the best outcome for you. Often, venting your frustration wasn''t really going to make you feel any better. That was something that Leonel had learned firsthand after his own father''s death.

    But right now...

    Leonel didn''t seem to care to be the bigger person.

    This Regulator was the one who disrespected his father''s memory, plucking his soul out from whatever stream of consciousness it had been lost in and forcing it to appear here.

    How could his father''s statue have appeared here when he had never been to the Idol Battlefield before? What the Regulator had done was worse than digging up his corpse.

    The only way it could even succeed in doing something like that was by reversing the flow of time and plucking his father out from the stream the moment he died. S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The more Leonel thought about it, the more infuriated he became.

    While he was in a daze over his father''s death, this bastard had actually swooped in and desecrated his body in a way that he had been too weak to realize back then.

    Back then, his father''s corpse had vanished into a rain of ash. There wasn''t even a body for him to go back and see.

    An expert of his father''s caliber, under the laws of the Incomplete Worlds, should have been able to remain in pristine condition for thousands of years with ease, and that was without accounting for other preservation methods.

    Back then, Leonel didn''t think much about it because he thought that his father had just expended every ounce of energy he had, eventually leading to the result.

    But even if that was the case, didn''t his father practice his own form of Metal Body? How could his frame possibly be so fragile?

    It was only after coming to this world and learning of what the Regulator had done that it truly settled in for Leonel what must have happened.

    It wasn''t his father that had used up everything he had... it was this Regulator that had taken anything he had left away.

    BADUM.

    Leonel kept staring at the palm approaching him, his rage like a smoldering flame. It had taken his father''s body from him. It stole away Anastasia. It placed his pregnant. wife in direct way of harm, and then even tried to kill his unborn children.

    Any one of these things could have truly sent Leonel over the edge. The smoldering sort of fury deep within him was bubbling forth and right then...

    Tolliver seemed to have reached its limits as well.

    A spiraling silver-gold form launched itself into the air, forming a pillar that upheld the skies.

    Tolliver''s head began to morph into all sorts of creatures, each one different from the last, and each one feeling just as real.

    Under the pressure of the palm descending from above, Leonel stood slowly... almost too slowly.

    It didn''t seem to make any sense.

    The palm was moving so fast that others couldn''t even react to it, and yet Leonel was moving as though he was on a leisurely stroll, as though his life wasn''t hanging in the balance just above his head.

    And then... he pointed toward his Metal Spirit with his spear and all of a sudden, the rampaging tide of silver formed a line that rushed toward Leonel.

    In a blink, Tolliver had wrapped around the spear and clutched Leonel''s wrist. It winded its way upward, spiraling around Leonel''s body and his robes until he was covered from head to toe in a silvery light that radiated a white-gold.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Time seemed to freeze to a complete stop.

    The Regulator, the spectators, the world itself...

    It looked as though Leonel was the only one moving at all, the calm cadence of his breath being the only sound that hung in the air.

    And then he took a deep one as the last of the silvery flashes coated his skin.

    BOOM!

    Tolliver broke through to the Seventh Dimension and its power continued to skyrocket.

    BOOM!

    Tolliver broke into the Eighth Dimension, a soaring prowess pulsing as it became more furious. Leonel''s body looked as though bubbling masses had begun to explode along its surface, almost as though someone was blowing onto the surface of a lake of

    mercury

    mercury.

    BOOM!

    Tolliver shattered the barrier to the Ninth Dimension and a howl filled the skies. Everything overturned and an aura of creation that made one feel fear to the very depths of their souls spilled out and into the world.

    Tolliver''s momentum continued to grow, becoming so swift and powerful that it had already reached Tier 9 of the Ninth Dimension before anyone could truly understand what was happening...

    And how could they understand anything when the world around them had frozen

    over?

    Fear took over their hearts. Since when did Leonel have the ability to freeze time like

    this?

    What they couldn''t even notice was that even their thoughts were lagging behind. These thoughts that they thought they were having in real time...

    Only fast forwarded after everything was already over.

    Leonel slowly exhaled as Tolliver''s aura reached the peak of all there was.

    And then his Metal Spirit pierced through his skin as though it wouldn''t be satisfied until it devoured even its owner.

    Leonel felt Tolliver sinking into his bloodstream, ripping through his body, and commandeering the paths of his Innate Node before swallowing up even his heart. Leonel fell into a complete and calm silence as the last of Tolliver''s tendrils pierced into his brain, swallowing him up whole.

    The world remained unmoving, and it felt like every second had become an eternity.

 Chapter 3238 A Sons Fury (2)

    ?Chapter 3238 A Son''s Fury (2)Leonel looked like he had died for all intents and purposes. He was unmoving, there were no longer any signs of breathing, and even his powerful heartbeat had come to a complete stop.

    But so too had the rampaging Tolliver.

    And then there was a ripple.

    BADUM.

    Tolliver solidified over Leonel''s body. With a flash, Leonel''s robes, that seemed to have been swallowed up, returned.

    CHI! CHI! CHI! CHI!

    Veins of violet-gold suddenly erupted, racing across the surface of Tolliver''s body. It looked like these jagged lines, running straight up and down, were corrupting the Metal Spirit. But in reality, its aura only seemed to be growing.

    Leonel''s true body shape began to appear once more. With a flap, the folds of his robe took shape and his face was revealed as the silvery hue peeled back.

    Strands of strong silver and floating motes of violet light formed his now long hair, dancing in the wind along with his silver, violet, and gold robes.

    There was a bold pauldron on Leonel''s left shoulder, and a royal band across his forehead. With a flash, his hands were revealed as well as the silver retreated into his sleeves and then finally...

    His eyes opened.

    The whites of Leonel''s eyes had become a power silver. His irises were an even bolder shade of violet, surrounded by a ring of gold instead of black.

    The only hints of black in his eyes now were his pupils, but even deep within them, there was a Royal Crest that seemed to carry the secrets of the world.

    With a pulse, this Royal Crest grew, increasing in size out of his pupils and taking shape within his irises.

    Then it simplified, becoming a simple stroke of a Forceart until it solidified as a golden piece of his irises.

    There was a shudder that ran through the world. At that moment, it felt like the God Beasts of Creation had truly returned.

    The Infinity Beast.

    The one above all.

    U

    The palm that seemed to be descending fast, and yet was somehow still taking its sweet time to arrive, suddenly accelerated, smashing down toward Leonel. The royal robes Leonel wore rippled in the air just a single time before he extended his hand.

    Leonel''s palm met that of the Regulator''s, one moving with a speed that could cross universes in a blink, and the other reaching out in a light pat.

    BANG!

    The moment they touched, a hole was ripped through the palm. SHIIIIIING!

    The howl of a spear echoed through the skies as Leonel''s palm seemed to tear through the arm of the Regulator itself in the blink of an eye.

    The foggy, black palm was torn to shreds, and all one could see left was a Leonel who was calmly looking up toward the skies, an undeniable power coursing through his veins.

    Leonel took a step and he appeared high above everything. His expression looked calm, but the world twisted and bent around him. From time to time, ghosts that looked like they were trying to claw their way back from the other side pressed against the thin film of reality around him.

    It almost looked like they were roaring through sheer fabric, trying to rip the world to shreds.

    The manifestation of Leonel''s fury made the world twisted and unrecognizable. Fear bloomed to the depths of the hearts of the spectators who still couldn''t even lift a finger.

    All they could do was watch as the rippling black aura slowly formed into what looked like a shadowy little boy.

    This little boy, however, was holding onto the one thing that Leonel was looking for. The Segmented Cube.

    He held the thing in his palm, looking at Leonel with black, abyss-like eyes. There wasn''t a single part of his body that wasn''t a foggy mass of darkness... even the chains that hung from him.

    The little boy clenched the Segmented Cube as though he was going to destroy it, but Leonel didn''t react in the slightest.

    That said... seeing the Segmented Cube, Leonel knew how Anastasia had lost now. It wasn''t that Anastasia was weaker than this little boy, it was instead that Anastasia had a prison attached to her that the little boy did not. In addition, being in this Idol Battlefield was to this little boy what being in the Segmented Cube was to Anastasia. As such, the little boy had two degrees of advantage over Anastasia. First the fact that

    he was in control of this world, and second that. Anastasia was trapped in the Segmented Cube.

    Or, most accurately, the boy had trapped Anastasia within the Segmented Cube.

    The only measure Anastasia had lost in was letting Aina be teleported out of the Segmented Cube. But it was likely that she had been caught off guard, not expecting to be targeted in this way.

    She knew that Leonel would be teleporting, so by the time she realized that something had gone wrong, it was already too late.

    All of that said...

    Anastasia was no longer dependent on the Segmented Cube. Destroying the Cube now would definitely harm Leonel. After all, it would kill everyone who was inside, ruining all of his plans and ending the lives of countless numbers of innocent people.

    However...

    It would also release Anastasia. And between the two of Leonel and Anastasia versus

    this Regulator...

    The winner would be obvious.

    Seeing that Leonel didn''t even flinch, the little boy realized that he had been seen

    through. Sз╫ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The Regulator didn''t feel rage. It only felt a distaste for Ryu who was standing in its

    way.

    With a wave of its hand, the Segmented Cube vanished to places unknown.

    The world began to rumble, and all of a sudden, the protections on the monuments truly vanished... including the one Aina and his children stood on.

    And yet, even now, Leonel was frighteningly calm.

    "You are nothing but a bundle of laws. You don''t know what it meant to feel or

    experience much of anything. But today...

    "I will teach you your first emotion.

    "Regret."

    Leonel raised a hand and the flickering image of a bow began to take shape.

    [Author''s Note Below]

 Chapter 3239 Short

    ?Chapter 3239 ShortThe bow forming in Leonel''s hand looked more illusion than reality, almost like he was still dreaming up what structure to give it.

    But then, the veins of violet that covered him pulsed and surged into it.

    BANG!

    The bow exploded into existence as though a star crashing into the world. A blinding light filled the air and soon, the bow made its presence known.

    A resonating light pulsed out in all directions from it.

    The bow had an exaggeratedly narrow handle compared to the rest of its body. The arcs of its body were far thicker, looking like metal plates of silver etched with amethysts and gold.

    Its bowstring was so thin that it couldn''t even be seen with the naked eye. A single touch might cause a weaker person''s fingers to be sliced off entirely, let alone if you were pulling back with your full strength.

    However, Leonel knew that this bow wasn''t complete. That was because I was still missing one thing...

    But he would get it very soon.

    Leonel hadn''t used his bow a single time since he exited. In fact, he hadn''t used his bow in years now. It should have felt foreign to the touch, especially since it was a new weapon that he had never used before. And yet, instead...

    He felt right at home.

    He didn''t say any words after he finished speaking the first time. The word "Regret" just continued to echo in the air until he pulled back his bowstring and trained it on the Regulator.

    The heart of the Regulator skipped a beat as he experienced something he never thought he would.

    What was that feeling?

    Why did it feel so uncomfortable?

    Not liking what it was experiencing, the Regulator attacked first. Chains lashed out at the air with a momentum even more furious than his earlier palm, slashing out at the air again, and then again, and then again.

    Soon, the skies were filled with snaking lines of black chains that clattered and whipped with the air of Whip Force, and yet something far more constraining at the

    same time.

    It was deeper than Anarchic Force, but it was very clearly related at the same time. It was an evolved Force, one likely unique to this Regulator... or maybe it was just that Leonel''s senses were good enough now that he could feel the minor differences that he had never been able to before.

    Leonel''s fingers began to pluck at his bowstring as though he was playing a zither, his arm blurred and arcs of arrows that manifested from thin air bent and twisted.

    The skies were split in two by a silvery light and endless blackness, the cascading destruction akin to the end of the world.

    ...

    At that moment, down below, Aina held Leah''s little hand in one of her own and Leo''s in the other. She watched the scene above calmly, comforting her children.

    But it seemed that she didn''t need to comfort them very much at all. Despite how they teased their father, they were looking up into the skies with their large, blinking eyes filled with awe.

    It was like the two couldn''t believe that it was their dad in the skies like that. Aina couldn''t help but smile a warm smile. She had wanted nothing more than this for a long time, and yet it was still beyond her expectations just how much contentment and joy she would feel from it. It was almost to the point that she wanted to blame Leonel for taking so long to put a baby in her.

    Of course she had to have two, who knew when the next time she would be able to trick Leonel would be?

    Aina looked down from the skies, feeling several gazes land on her. But her smile didn''t fade. Instead, her eyes shifted, landing on the Battle Ax monument.

    She couldn''t really see anyone of note there.

    Well, maybe that was because she never paid much attention to such things in the first place. Though, it also didn''t help that Leonel had killed too many of the geniuses around here already, not leaving much room for anything else.

    "Get out of my way"

    "This is my battle, not yours."

    At that moment, the voices of two women echoed and Aina only now seemed to realize that Anya and Minerva had appeared before the Spear monument. Without the restrictions in the way, movement was far more fluid now than ever before. It was

    only natural that they come to settle scores.

    However, the two of them couldn''t seem to decide which of them should be allowed to attack Aina first, and this led to the current situation.

    Sparks flew.

    "I don''t think they''re interested, Milan." James called out. Sear?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "They''re missing out. Don''t I look like a great cuddle buddy?"

    "That''s one way to look at your fat gut."

    "What''s that chiseled jaw ever gotten you outside of STDs?"

    "Fuck you."

    BOOM!

    The banter of the two men was drowned out by a sudden cacophonous boom.

    Aina''s two children hid behind her skirt as a battle ax with a polearm of over two

    meters long crashed into the ground.

    She held the ax lightly with one hand as her hair danced in the air.

    "Do you think mom is scary too?" Leo whispered to his little sister, thinking their mom couldn''t hear him.

    Leah blinked her large eyes and grabbed onto her brother''s arm.

    "No. Mommy is very cool." She said, her eyes brightening up. Suddenly, she wanted to

    leave the bow behind for a battle ax.

    ra

    Leo shuddered as he looked up to find his mom smiling down at him. He coughed, hurriedly hiding behind his little sister.

    Aina ruffled her son''s hair with a light laugh, looking forward to the two women

    before her.

    "I''m not sure why the two of you want to fight me so eagerly, but I don''t mind obliging.

    My children are waiting for me, so we''ll keep this short.

    "Come together."

 Chapter 3240 Unforgivable

    ?Chapter 3240 UnforgivableAina didn''t give them the chance to refute. She took a step forward and the arc of her blade flashed.

    Anya and Minerva were both forced to raise their defenses as quickly as possible, Anya with a scythe and Minerva with her sword.

    DING! DING! DANG!

    The two were forced to take a step back and they were, rightfully, stunned.

    Aina had no business being so powerful, not after spending so much of her time rearing children and being bedridden with a body too heavy and fragile to get any sort of real training done with.

    But what they didn''t know was that this was precisely the reason why she was so powerful now. In fact, it could be said that Aina had gained more giving birth to Leo and Leah than she ever would have gained from the Idol Battlefield.

    Right now, she was already prepared to complete the last three of her Rebirths, officially entering the final tiers of the Ninth Dimension. All she was lacking was the resources... something she was sure her husband would get for her very soon. As for why she was so powerful now, it was because she had birthed two little Spirituals from her womb. Well, that wasn''t the exact reason... it was because she had birthed two little Spirituals who also happened to have bodies jam-packed with Weapon Force Innate Nodes and their father''s King Force.

    It had to be remembered that Aina had personally constructed their children''s bodies herself.

    Usually, this would be done by the Spiritual after their birth. It was both a training opportunity, and it gave the mother higher odds of survival.

    Spirituals were so supremely talented that if they were birthed the normal way, the mortality rates of mothers would be through the roof, So evolutionarily speaking, it was far more beneficial for the bodies to be formed after the fact.

    But not only had Aina taken the risk to do it, it benefited her greatly.

    Essentially, while her babies were in her body, their souls and their bodies were just extensions of Aina''s own. This meant that Aina''s Soul and Body Clairvoyance abilities applied to her children as well.

    On the one hand, this allowed her to construct their bodies with absolute perfection.

    And on the other, it also allowed her to grasp weapon Forces that she never had before, incorporating them into her own understanding.

    In the past, Aina had used weapons to strengthen her own Weapon Force. She had

    tried the sword, the spear, even unconventional weapons like ribbons and the like. Every time she did so, she would return to her ax just the slightest bit stronger. But this... was on another level entirely.

    She didn''t just dabble in the weapons a small bit. She had helped her children to construct entire Innate Nodes.

    That meant that as many Weapon Force Innate Nodes as her children had, Aina had the Sovereignties to match them all.

    A perfect understanding of them.

    Her daughter had the Battle Ax Force Innate Node in her body. Even if it was just that alone, having the comprehension to craft it from scratch would give Aina a shocking amount of power.

    But in the end...

    Aina had taken the same route her husband had.

    With so many Innate Nodes at her fingertips, why would she only incorporate a single one into her understanding?

    Aina''s aura bloomed and her Manifestation appeared to her back.

    It was a woman, with blood red hair that cascaded like rivers of life and equally as bloody red eyes. She wore an armor that looked worn and torn by the tides of time and in her hand, she held out a weapon that was constantly changing shapes and forms until the weapons vanished entirely, leaving nothing more than a finger pointing down on the world.

    BOOM!

    Aina''s ax flickered and a slash cut across the skies.

    The two women desperately blocked once again, only to find themselves getting blown back even faster.

    "Damn." James mumbled, looking over toward Milan who was staring back at him already. "You think we can comfort them after this loss?"

    "I don''t think sis is gonna let them live."

    "Ai..." James sighed. "... Why''d they try to be home wreckers? They brought this on themselves. You think Leo would bring them back to life?"

    "You want Cap to die an early death?"

    "Sometimes." James nodded after thinking about it for a while.

    With every step Aina took forward, they were blown back again and again. But then,

    che enddanlu stannad

    she suddenly stopped.

    Rotating her wrist, Aina seemed to have felt that she had knocked off enough of her

    rust.

    Her smile bloomed like a rising sun as she raised her ax once more.

    With a flash, she vanished.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    Her every stroke seemed to be predictable that even Minerva, who seemed to be on her backfoot, could react quite well every time.

    And yet...

    PUCHI!

    Blood suddenly spurted out of Minerva''s shoulder, an injury she didn''t understand

    suddenly hindering her.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    PUCHI!

    Another unknown gash appeared in her thigh, then across her chest.

    Aina''s wrist twisted and her ax swung up from below in a wide arc.

    To Minerva''s horror...

    She realized she couldn''t block.

    There wasn''t a single sound. The ax flowed through Minerva''s body so fluidly one would have thought that she was made of nothing but air.

    Unfortunately for her... she wasn''t.

    Minerva froze, not quite understanding even now how she had died so easily.

    She tried to pick up the pieces of her body, but it was all useless as she fell from the

    skies in two pieces.

    Aina looked at her blade, seemingly satisfied that there wasn''t even a hint of blood on Sз╫arch* The novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    it. Then, she looked toward Anya who was holding onto her ax so tightly that her knuckles had turned a pure shade of white.

    "I''ve sensed you eyeing my husband for a long while." Aina said with a blink. "He met you when we were going through a slightly rough patch, right?"

    There was something particularly dark about Aina''s smile right this moment.

    "I don''t like you very much at all. If it was just this, maybe I would give you an easy death... but you''ve allied yourself with the Brazingers. That...

    "Is unforgivable."

 Chapter 3241 Dangerous

    ?Chapter 3241 DangerousAnya felt a great pressure descending onto her, a suffocating aura threatening to rip all the air out of her body.

    Aina only stood there in silence, and yet Anya''s knees creaked and her bones almost collapsed beneath her.

    Anya roared out, gathering what power she had left to burst out in a rain of light and darkness. Her two Sovereignties twisted and danced around one another, trying to form a barrier of momentum to fight against Aina. And yet...

    CRACK.

    BANG!

    Anya was sent flying, her momentum shattering so thoroughly that she was sent spiraling.

    She crashed into the ground below, hacking up mouthfuls of blood.

    A sad smile spread across her lips. "He''s dangerous..." she said to herself. "... He''s too dangerous..."

    Aina looked down indifferently. The words made her ears twitch for a moment, but she didn''t have the time to carefully consider them as she sensed something else.

    She looked up to find that the Four Great Families that had come to support Anya were trying to sneak around her and toward her children.

    Aina frowned.

    Logically, she knew that they stood no chance in doing such a thing. She was too powerful. But her motherly instincts made her feel antsy.

    She didn''t just want her children to be safe, she didn''t want them to come even close to harm.

    Taking a step back, Aina drew her ax across the air. There was a slow ripple before it suddenly exploded in speed, slicing the Four Great Family members in two.

    When her attention turned back to Anya, she found that the woman had already struggled to her feet. Even now, she was still mumbling the same things, but there was a light of confusion in Anya''s eyes as though she couldn''t quite understand what she was saying.

    Aina realized then that Anya was quite the victim herself. Raised in the Three Finger Cult, she only knew one way of life.

    Meaning...

    She had always been a pawn of the Demoness. Unfortunately, she had become a

    worthless pawn. Leonel had grown up too fast at every turn.

    This was the last chance Anya would have had to deal a death blow to Leonel, and yet it had ended up failing this time as well. In fact, she wasn''t even worthy of fighting Leonel himself. She couldn''t even last a single strike against his wife.

    Anya coughed up another mouthful of blood and looked toward Aina with bloodshot

    eyes.

    "You have... no idea... what you''re doing..."

    Aina didn''t respond, continuing to stare at Anya as though she was deciding whether she should feel pity or not.

    It was clear and obvious to her that Anya had feelings for her husband. Why that was, or how they had come to be, she didn''t know, nor did she particularly care.

    What was important was that those feelings had seemingly become twisted by a mass of something else... something weighed down by duty and a twisted sense of control and suffocation.

    Aina had put a great deal of effort into improving her Dream Force in these last few years, ever since she almost lost her babies to the schemes of the Sylvans. But this she felt...

    Was far beyond her paygrade.

    Aina slowly raised her ax.

    There was only one way to deal with this situation, and that was to end it here.

    However, when her ax reached its apex, she hesitated again.

    Leonel had already done this before, hadn''t he? He had killed her already. Aina knew that for sure. sea??h thз╫ N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    So how was she here?

    Someone had brought her back. But for what purpose?

    A Union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star.

    The sudden thought didn''t come from her. It came from Leonel. Their souls were intertwined and when they so chose, they could practically share their minds when they wanted.

    That was when it clicked for Aina.

    Wasn''t Anya a Light and Shadow Sovereign locked away in a single body?

    Could this prophecy have had nothing to do with Leonel or Aina?

    "You have... no idea... what you''re doing..."

    The words repeated like a broken record. Anya''s body shuddered and seemed to split

    in two before they came back together. Then they split again and fused once more.

    A twin pair of versions of herself rippled out into existence time and time again, fusing once more every time.

    Aina''s gaze became sharper as she chose to take a step back. In a flash, she had appeared on the Spear monument once more, protecting her two children with her

    body.

    There was a rumbling that shook the Idol Battlefield to its core and the world seemed to be flipping and overturning right before their eyes.

    The Idol Battlefield pulsed and rippled, delaminating into two much like Anya before snapping back together.

    Every time this happened, there was a cascading force that rippled outward.

    Anya stumbled down below, holding onto her forehead with a palm while her other hand barely held onto her scythe.

    Her confusion was only growing with every passing second. All she could mumble about was how dangerous "he" was, but it wasn''t clear if she was referring to Leonel

    or someone else entirely.

    Logic seemed to dictate that she was speaking of Leonel. Since the first time they had met, she had said that he was a danger.

    But if she meant him... it was odd that she didn''t look toward Leonel a single time, almost as though she couldn''t bear to face him.

    The shaking of the battlefield only grew more feverish, and soon, it felt like the entire world was shaking along with it.

    The grip Anya had on her head only grew stronger until she suddenly pierced skin, her nails digging into her scalp in what seemed like nothing more than an accident.

    "You have... no idea... what you''re doing..."

    The words that had always been directed at Aina seemed now directed at herself.

    "He''s too dangerous... no... I''m too dangerous..."

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

 Chapter 3242 Twelve Pointed Star

    ?Chapter 3242 Twelve Pointed StarScythe Force... It was maybe the oddest of the Weapon Forces, not just because of the uniqueness and rarity of the weapon, but also because of its origins.

    When speaking of other Weapon Forces, its lore had almost no impact on its current reality. No one cared why the first spear was created, and whips, though originally an instrument of torture, didn''t have much of its Force related to these origins either.

    But Scythe Force... it was very different.

    The scythe was originally an instrument for farmers and harvesters. It wasn''t a weapon used for death, but rather to give others new life.

    As time passed, this instrument of life slowly morphed into something else. Ironically enough, what Leonel didn''t know was that the Weapon Force he had the most compatibility with wasn''t the Bow... it was precisely the Scythe.

    Today, the Scythe was primarily known as an instrument of death, the symbolism of reapers. It was used predominantly by the Void Race who, while they were more well known for their spatial abilities, had abilities related to Destruction and the former Void Beasts that made them arbitrators of Death as well.

    However...

    This wasn''t the true face of the Scythe.

    The Scythe had a lot more in common with Leonel than any other weapon in existence... it too was a weapon of Creation that had become so distorted and twisted that it was now only known for its Destruction...

    And this formed the foundation upon which caused everything that was happening

    now.

    Anya had been a Light Sovereign while her twin sister had been a Shadow Sovereign. However, after Leonel killed her sister, the two became one individual, sharing Light and Shadow together and becoming a new person... Or rather, at least Anya gained a new body while overtaking her sister''s mind.

    This matter was simple enough and could mostly be waved away as an odd quirk of this world of Dimensional and supreme powers. But how could it be that casy to describe if such things were happening now?

    Things seemed relatively fine until Anya began to truly focus on her Scythe Force. When Anya first came to a Complete World, she had faced much the same issues as everyone else. The skills that she had once been so proud in plummeted off a cliff, unable to keep up with those around her. The difference between an Incomplete World and a Complete one was too large.

    But her talent still shone through. Slowly, she began to rebuild her foundations until she reached the stage she was at today...

    And the most important of those foundations was her Scythe Force.

    When she formed her Dharma, her two Sovereignties took a back seat to her Scythe Force, allowing her Scythe Force to become the center of her very being.

    What she didn''t expect, though, was to suddenly succeed in forming her Idol right. here and now.

    No... it was almost like someone or some thing was forcing her to succeed, pushing her down a path of no return.

    What was the Twelve Pointed Star if not the visual representation of the Northern Star?

    However, it wasn''t just this alone...

    The Northern Star Lineage Factor, both halves, each had six stages each exactly...

    The Snowy Star Owl... The White Stone Elephant... The Starry Tailed Fox... The Twinkling Light Bear... The Golden Tiger...

    The Infinity Beast.

    The Shadow Tail... the Dusky Steel Bat... The Aurora Black Panda... The Crimson Claw Ape... The Death Pulse Deer...

    The Void Beast.

    Twelve perfect stages. Twelve perfect pieces of the puzzle.

    When the experiments of the Envoys began, the Human Race was the only one who seemed capable of taking on their power and displaying the might of the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

    However... what no one had ever explained was why this Lineage Factor had such a name?

    Why wasn''t it called the Creation Lineage Factor or Destruction Lineage Factor? Or maybe the Infinity and Void Lineage Factor?

    There seemed to be any number of names that were far more appropriate...

    It was question that was lying in plain sight and yet it was one that no one ever answered for reasons that couldn''t be explained...

    Unless one considered one person.

    The Demoness.

    Every time one felt as though they had stepped off of her chessboard, it was as though she was looming over an even larger one, her gaze peering down over the world and

    waiting for the last of everyone to fall into her traps one after another.

    If even the Ancient God Beast of Destruction, the Primordial Terrors, couldn''t escape her schemes...

    Then how could the modern era God Beasts of Destruction and Creation possibly do sea??h thз╫ n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    so?

    Even this Lineage Factor, down to its barest of bones, was personally crafted by the Demoness much like the Morales Lineage Factor and all its parts had been.

    And all of it was for this very moment when the only prophecy that Leonel had yet to truly grasp fell into place.

    The Scythe... a perfect balance of Creation and Destruction.

    It may have started as a weapon of Creation, but it had been given new life as one of Death and Destruction. It was no longer as simple as Creation bleeding over into

    Destruction...

    It was both.

    Light Sovereignty, the pinnacle of life, of healing, of the world everyone could see with their own eyes...

    Shadow Sovereignty... the pinnacle of darkness, of things hidden in the blackness of

    the light...

    When the Scythe formed the center of this, and the two Sovereignties came together,

    it formed a perfected cycle of Creation and Destruction...

    One that allowed the true Northern Star Lineage Factor to appear.

    Anya''s body shuddered and a Twelve Pointed Star burst into existence, blooming from

    her back as her aura continued to soar.

    Existence rumbled, and the Northern Star that seemed to still have several thousand

    more years before it truly descended...

    Trembled as well.

    Suddenly...

    BOOM!

    The Northern Star broke through a veil.

    At that moment, no matter what world you were in, if you looked up, the Northern

    Star felt so close that one could almost reach out and touch it.

    The end of the world was here.

 Chapter 3243 Feel It?

    ?Chapter 3243 Feel It?Anya unleashed a roar that filled the skies. Her body expanding, the light of the Twelve Pointed Star radiating from the depths of her white eyes.

    She drew in size, doubling her height and then doubling it again. Soon, she stood at over six meters tall, but her proportions seemed to still be the exact same... the change to her features, however, was a different matter entirely.

    Two pairs of wings appeared on her back, one set of black and another of white. White horns twisting with black fog grew from her forehead, and tendrils of light shattered her original scythe to form one much larger.

    SHIIIIING!

    A curved blade broke free from the light, sending the golden white motes shattering to the ground below like fine bits of glass.

    PA. PA. PA.

    One after another, golden eyes appeared across the blade. But its body seemed wrapped in a thick black leather.

    Anyone who had experience with the Void Beast and Infinity Beast realized what they were seeing instantly.

    Somehow, Anya had embodied them both, concentrating them into her scythe and causing her power to multiply several times over. Sз╫arch* The ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The more Anya''s aura soared, the deeper Aina''s frown became. Her confidence in defeating her was plummeting by the moment.

    The issue wasn''t her personal power. If Aina had to, she felt that she could at least hold on for a while. But the problem was that she wasn''t confident in protecting her children at the same time.

    For the first time since their birth, Aina began to wonder if she had made a mistake.

    If she could just complete her last three Rebirths, she felt that she would be able to do it all. But right now, she had the comprehension, but not the foundation necessary to make the best use of it.

    Aina looked up into the skies and felt a radiant warmth coming from above. It was filled with confidence and an undeniable will.

    She could barely see her husband''s back with how fast he was moving, but she still found herself calming down.

    DENG. DENG. DENG.

    One after another, Leonel''s brothers, Noah, the Heirs of the Morales, all landed

    around her, facing off against the large monster that Aina had become.

    Indeed... there was a reason her husband wasn''t to become a King. It was for the sake of building a better future for them all.

    They didn''t just have to rely on themselves. They would have the help of those around them as well.

    James grinned. "Don''t worry, we can hold off until the show-off is finished with whatever the hell he''s doing up there. Just focus on protecting the kiddos."

    "Mommy, who''s he?" Leah asked.

    "Kid, learn my name well. I''m your favorite Uncle James."

    "Why would you be the favorite?" Raj snapped. "You two were here flirting with the same girl who wants to kill us all now. What kind of example are you setting?"

    Raj kneeled down to Leah and Leo''s level and opened a palm. Diamond spiraled around his palm, forming a beautiful, sparkling lotus. He handed it to Leah.

    Leah''s eyes brightened as she took it in two hands. Her large golden eyes blinked with giddy happiness, pulling at the flower as though to check how durable it was.

    Raj''s hand flashed again and this time a big sword the length of Leo''s body formed.

    "Shh," he pressed a finger to his lips. "Don''t tell your dad I gave you this. If he finds it, just tell him your favorite Uncle Raj was messing around and I''ll give you another one later."

    Leo''s eyes brightened as well and he almost tipped over taking the big sword. But the wide grin on his little chubby face practically lit up the world.

    "There has to be some sort of rule against this." James protested. It wasn''t his fault he couldn''t conjure things up out of thin air.

    Plus, he was poor. It was too embarrassing if the only things he could give the kids were things their father had given him.

    Well, he was actually more than shameless enough to do it. The main issue was that the moment one of these guys exposed him, he would be finished.

    "Sounds like a skill issue." Raj said with a grin, proudly taking a kiss on the cheek from Leah and a bear hug from Leo.

    Aina smiled at the interaction between her kids and her husband''s friends.

    All of them hadn''t started with the best relationship. In fact, a long while back, it could be said that they all hated her.

    But then again... so too had her friends hated Leonel.

    Since then, they had grown a lot and it could be said that they were no different from one big family now.

    Aina looked up toward the battle in the skies again and exhaled a breath.

    Not once did she seem to bother with the Northern Star looming over the skies.

    As far as she was concerned, even if the world came to an end... she had tasted the happiness she had always wanted.

    These last three years with her children and her husband had been more than she could have ever asked for.

    Taking a knee, she helped her children fix off the wrinkles in their clothing and the messiness of their hair after being ruffled by so many hands.

    She smiled a bright smile.

    "Are we going to be okay, mom?" Leo asked, seemingly sensing that something was

    off.

    Leah''s large eyes began to brim with unshed tears, the worries of her brother seemingly alerting her to something as well.

    Aina''s smile didn''t so much as waver.

    "Do you see that?" She asked, pointing up to their father''s battle high above.

    The two shook their heads. They had been able to watch Leonel''s battles until now, but it seemed that he had lost the bandwidth to simplify things for them. It could only

    mean that he had truly gotten serious.

    Aina''s smile deepened. "But do you feel it?"

    The twins looked at one another, blinking. For some reason... they understood exactly what their mother meant.

 Chapter 3244 Too

    ?Chapter 3244 TooAina smoothed out their hair one final time. S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "So long as you can feel your father above, you two don''t have the slightest thing to worry about. So long as you can feel me in front of you, you never have to waste a single ounce of your thoughts on fear. Your mom and dad will hold up the skies for you if need be."

    Aina stood to her full height once more and her aura valiantly flared out.

    She believed the words with every fiber of her being. Until Leonel died... she didn''t. fear the end of the world because she simply didn''t believe her husband would ever lose.

    ...

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s arrows soared through the skies, each one carrying planet-destroying might that warped the laws around them.

    There didn''t seem to be anything particularly fancy about them, and yet every one countered and even destroyed the chains of the Regulator it faced.

    There was a surging confidence to Leonel, so much so that he didn''t even look down below to check what the situation was.

    By comparison, the little boy found himself growing more and more flustered.

    How could a Regulator have any sort of battle experience? What experience they had was based on the laws they mastered through their Domains.

    Logically speaking, that should give the Regulator the ability to use all weapons with a shocking amount of fluidity, and the fact it had created a new sort of Anarchic Force to wield displayed that quite well.

    However, for some reason, it found itself feeling clumsy in front of Leonel.

    What it had yet to realize was the fact that it was no longer completely standing in its world any longer. Its world and that of Leonel''s Creation World were clashing and fighting for supremacy, causing the laws that the Regulator was used to wielding to deviate and weaken somewhat.

    Leonel was so expertly controlling things that he was outmaneuvering even the Regulator itself. But he was still remaining cautious, inching forward, and displaying a calmness to him that belied his true age.

    He didn''t go on the attack, calmly using his arrows to deflect the snaking chains that continuously tried to take his life.

    The idea of a loss never crossed his mind, not a single time.

    Today, he could only win. For the rest of his life, he could only win.

    And no one, not even the Demoness, would be able to stop him.

    SKKKREREEEEEE!

    The Regulator suddenly unleashed a manic howl as it finally realized what Leonel was doing.

    A great pressure descended onto Leonel''s world, nearly destroying it.

    However... Leonel''s lip only curled up in a smirk.

    By now, it was already far too late for the Regulator, Maybe if it had noticed earlier, it could have done something. But giving Leonel this much time to prepare...

    Could only have one result.

    Leonel took a step forward and his Creation World bloomed into existence. Rather than hiding away in the Second Dimension, Leonel''s Royal Crest bloomed above his head and pulled it into reality.

    BANG!

    A world of violet took shape. But if one looked up, they would find a world of red and black above it.

    The two formed together like two halves of a single whole, and at that moment, a grinding force descended.

    If Goddess Evergreen was still alive, she would have realized the shades of her grinding ability. But this... was on an entirely different level.

    Leonel''s worlds had already sunk their claws into the Idol Battlefield. Shaking him off wouldn''t be so easy anymore.

    He had woven his very worlds into the fabric of this world''s Second Dimension, and because of that...

    BANG!

    The chains all exploded at once under the grinding force of Leonel''s two worlds. He took a step forward, appearing before the Regulator and reaching out with a hand. Before the Regulator could react, it found itself dangling from Leonel''s palm, its short legs struggling to touch the ground. It seemed to have completely forgotten that it could freely control its shape and size.

    But it could hardly be blamed... the only thing it could see were those eyes of Leonel''s, their silvery, violet depths piercing through the depths of its soul.

    "I don''t think this is enough." Leonel said lightly, holding the Regulator up.

    BANG!

    The pressure of the two worlds doubled and the figure of the Regulator twisted as it felt its Idol Battlefield almost collapse beneath it.

    The existence of the Regulator almost blinked out, but it was forcefully stabilized by a

    power.

    Indeed. A Regulator couldn''t face true death so long as its world existed, and destroying a world on the level of the Idol Battlefield wasn''t so simple. It was tied into the very fabric of humanity itself. It was a world woven into reality so deeply that even

    if Leonel did somehow manage to destroy it...

    It would simply return when given enough time.

    So, Leonel wouldn''t destroy it.

    He would take it.

    Leonel''s body rumbled and his Ten Inner Worlds trembled along with it.

    Then, with an inhale, the crumbling body of the Regulator was pulled into his body.

    Violet veins pulsed across Leonel and his belly and chest suddenly grew a size as though he was about to explode from the inside out.

    Leonel felt more powerful than he ever had before, but he knew it wasn''t enough. The Eighth Dimension wouldn''t even be enough for him to stand head to head with his grandfather or his master, let alone the Demoness.

    The only way for him to stand a real chance was by entering the Ninth.

    Even if he was confident in himself to win no matter the circumstances, there was a

    line between foolish confidence and reality.

    He was Leonel Morales. He didn''t need to rely on raw brute strength to make it to the end. He had his mind to rely upon as well...

    Maybe the greatest gift his father had ever given him was his Crafting ability.

    "A Union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star, is it?"

    Leonel smirked.

    "Well... I can do that too."

 Chapter 3245 Ripples in Time

    ?Chapter 3245 Ripples in TimeThe first time Leonel had thought of the prophecy in a long while was when he was helping out the Fawkes with their Crafts. He had felt that he was onto something back then, as though something had finally clicked for him.

    But it wasn''t long after that that the Pluto appeared and he was forced to derail his thoughts, especially after he realized that he needed to really shake things up if he wanted to completely free himself from the schemes of the Demoness.

    Unfortunately, after coming here, he realized that it wasn''t so easy to leave that

    woman behind. If Leonel could think of using the Idol Battlefield, she certainly could as well.

    Of course, there was still something Leonel benefited from.

    The Idol Battlefield had come too early.

    But it was the reason why it had come so early that was important.

    This time, the Idol Battlefield appeared far ahead of schedule because of Leonel''s actions.

    The reason why this wasn''t enough was because technically speaking, the Idol Battlefield would have had time to descend naturally given how much time Existence had left.

    Although everyone was feeling the weight of the world ending, the truth was the "near end" they all feared was still tens of thousands of years.

    The only reason it felt so looming was because such a time frame was nothing more than a blink given the lifespan of a universe, let alone Existence itself.

    This was all to say that the Demoness would surely have contingency plans for the Idol Battlefield. In fact, Anya''s existence was proof of precisely that.

    Anya was only able to reach this step after affirming her Scythe Force Path... and she was only able to do that with the help of the Idol Battlefield.

    Was that a coincidence?

    Whenever it was something related to the Demoness, Leonel felt that it would be foolish for anyone to take things at face value.

    This woman had schemes that ran so deep that they were hard to fathom, and there was one question that Leonel still didn''t have the answer to...

    Well, there were actually multiple.

    But one of the strongest of them all was...

    Why the Three Finger Cult? Why was it necessary?

    And now, it seemed that he had his answer.

    Anya.

    For whatever reason, the Demoness wanted an opportunity to speed up the end of the world, and now she had her wish.

    From tens of thousands of years... Existence had just months left now at best.

    As for why, Leonel still didn''t know. But he was brimming with anticipation.

    The fear that should have been there was, and he had an intent blazing up from the depths of his heart.

    That was because he knew that soon enough...

    He would have this woman''s head on a pike.

    Several times now, this Demoness had taken his efforts, twisted them in her fair hands, and made them her victories. There was no greater example of that than when he personally acted to kill the Primordial Terror, only for her to swoop in at the last moment and claim victory herself...

    Such a feat should have been spoken of for countless years, but no one even seemed to recall that he had defeated a legend with nothing more than his mind,

    And yet, it was practically erased from history.

    He knew why that was. The Demoness didn''t want to be remembered. Even in the minds of the most powerful existences, she was probably nothing more than an afterthought. If one looked through the recollections of these events, she was maybe not mentioned at all or maybe only in passing.

    But...

    Now, it seemed that it was about time Leonel gave her some of her own medicine. Leonel slapped his palms together, his aura rumbling. Sear?h the N?velFire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    A shimmering light bloomed in his heart as his Innate Node shone with a brighter and brighter hue.

    Deep within his body, there were several Incomplete Worlds. But these Worlds were very special...

    They were the worlds of Invalids.

    If there was any other Race of people who wanted to see the world end along with the Demoness, it was none other than the Invalids that seemed to have disappeared after successfully climbing to the God Realm.

    But Leonel, unlike others, hadn''t forgotten.

    Finally, Leonel seemed to understand the purpose of the prophecies he had left behind. They weren''t just methods of informing him of what happened in the future,

    but they were small jumps, tiny distortions in reality that would allow him to trick even himself.

    It was only now that he had reached an adequate level that Leonel realized that he had thought of a real solution long ago.

    Back then, it seemed like he had grabbed onto the Incomplete Invalid Worlds because he had no choice. Even he thought that that was the reason...

    When in reality there was another.

    Leonel hadn''t just been trying to quickly fill up his Nodes for the sake of reaching the end of the Sixth Dimension...

    He was laying his own trap, a trap that had been prepared ever since he formed the perfect cycle between his two Creation Sovereignties and his two Destruction

    Sovereignties.

    Leonel''s aura flared out.

    "A union of Light and Darkness will reveal the Twelve Pointed Star... that''s cute."

    Light and Dark would certainly do it. They were the perfect dichotomies.

    But what could an inferior path of Light and Dark do in the face of Creation and Destruction?

    Leonel''s severed memories came flooding back to him at that moment, and he realized that the Demoness might have taken his Dream Asura Bloodline away because she needed it... but it was also because she feared what he might be able to do with it.

    Light and Dark would always be powerful.

    But how could it match up against Creation and Destruction?

    It seemed that back then, Leonel had already realized that he was a Creation Sovereign, not a Destruction Sovereign. If he wanted to bridge that gap and perfect

    it...

    He would have to step into the shoes of an Invalid.

    The silvers of Leonel''s eyes suddenly became entirely white.

 Chapter 3246 I Am Content

    ?Chapter 3246 I Am ContentLeonel felt vicious thoughts rampaging through his mind.

    Death. Destruction. Hunger.

    He wanted to devour it all...

    And shockingly enough, all of these thoughts didn''t come from him...

    But rather Tolliver.

    The menace that was Spirits was well documented. One of the very first lessons his father taught him was to only feed Tolliver in moderation.

    Leonel had never really had the time to think about why it was Spirits were like this. Why were they so dangerous...

    Ultimately, the answer didn''t have a complicated background like most things he dealt with. Instead, it was quite straightforward.

    Spirits were bundles of instinct. They only existed to improve themselves...

    If Invalids were the counters to humanoids... then Spirits were the counters to Regulators and World Spirits.

    They were existences that only lived to improve themselves, and that was why they were so good at creation. It was ironically because they took so much.

    Spirits were none other than the perfect embodiment of Destruction taken to an extreme to form Creation... They were creatures that lived only to Devour, and yet, they were the greatest tool that Crafters had to forge their creations and shock the world...

    But Tolliver had now swallowed the potential of an Infinity Beast, ironically completing the cycle. By taking on a beast with enough Creation potential to become Destruction, it had formed two halves of a whole.

    Finally, realizing this, Leonel allowed Tolliver to truly lose control, before taking hold and striking the perfect balance that they were looking for.

    And just like that, one half of his intentions was already complete... and then there was the other half.

    Invalids... they were Existences that were designed only to destroy. However, they were also the lifeblood that allowed improvement.

    It had happened so long ago now that it was easy to forget, but one of the main ways Leonel improved before he gained Dimensional Methods was by killing Invalids.

    In the past, when the first Fourth Dimensional world began to appear, Invalids and their deaths were the only way for humanoids to improve. Only by killing them and

    swallowing their energy could they improve.

    This embodied Destruction for the sake of Creation.

    The Invalid Worlds formed the foundation of Leonel''s Destruction World... but where did his Creation World come from?

    That came from none other than himself, his Scarlet Star Force, the embodiment of who he was as a person, and his Innate Node...

    Leonel was a man who had thought himself to be a Destruction Sovereign all his life, only to realize what seemed to be far too late that he was actually a Creation Sovereign.

    He was the end of the Cycle... the Creator who bloomed so greatly that he Destroyed instead...

    Like this, Leonel completed all four legs of the cycle...

    Tolliver and the Infinity Beast...

    His Creation and Destruction World...

    Creation so great it bloomed to Destruction and Destruction so bright it bloomed to Creation...

    Destruction so harrowing it left nothing but Creation behind and Creation so destructive it could only be seen as Destruction by a layman...

    The four pieces of Leonel''s Sovereignties came together, one piece forming his Divine Armor, and the other piece forming his Inner Worlds, while his body formed the anchor that kept them all in place. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel''s aura blossomed as the Idol Battlefield shook apart at its very seams.

    "Do you feel it now?" Leonel said lightly.

    The Regulator shook fiercely, but no matter what it did, it couldn''t get out of Leonel''s grasp.

    "Weapon Forces are a beautiful thing. They''re the first example of Humans taking what they needed from the world around them. The very first instance of Creation leading to Destruction... the Creation of a Weapon for the sake of killing another...

    "It''s a cycle that can only be continuously perpetuated, and the so-called Ancient Humans loved to take credit for such things, no?

    "Today, however... you will become the foundation I need to put an end to this... to everything.

    "My Innate Node is now the center of my body. It''s the Weapon Force Innate Node that shines my path forward and makes me feel secure in the future of myself...

    "And now, your Idol Battlefield will become the center of my worlds of Creation and Destruction. I''ll grind everything you are to dust with my intent."

    Leonel spoke every word slowly and calmly, unmoved by the shaking of the Regulator at all.

    "You see, I don''t usually like to explain myself when I do things. But I feel like for you, I need to make a very special exception... because you seem too foolish to understand it

    on your own.

    "The things you''ve done to me in this world, maybe it''s the case that you were only doing your best to keep up with the status quo. Maybe you felt that you were doing

    what was best for humanity.

    "But... I really don''t give a damn about any of that."

    Leonel suddenly grinned a fiendish grin.

    "Even if the world ended today, and it took all of you with it, I would be perfectly content. I have a wife who loves me. Brothers who are willing to fight by my side. Two little mischievous little munchkins who share my and their mother''s face...

    "What more could I ask for?

    "But it''s selfish people like you who always want for more for reasons I could never understand...

    "All my life I''ve been quite lazy, more than willing to let things come as they may. Maybe the only thing I was ever truly active in was pursuing my wife''s love.

    "And yet, for some reason, there are so many people not content with what they have. Do you think you''re superior to me in some way?"

    A bit of Leonel''s arrogance flared up. It was the only piece of his confident pride that he was unable to fully expunge...

    And he let it bloom.

    "If I, Leonel Morales, King of the Existence, am content with what I have...

    "What right do you have to ask for more?"

    BOOM!

    "Who do you think you are?!"

 Chapter 3247 Only One

    ?Chapter 3247 Only OneBANG!

    The body of the Regulator shattered as Leonel''s aura soared.

    The Idol Battlefield found itself being ground to dust between Leonel''s Creation and Destruction World, the very fabric of its existence being shredded to ash.

    Chaos.

    The unpredictability of Creation and Destruction, the blurring of the lines between them and the rush of improbable events.

    Leonel was an anomaly that stood beyond just Creation and Destruction.

    At that moment, the Northern Star that had formed such a great and solid connection with Anya suddenly felt itself being ripped out of her control.

    In one moment, Anya had been the center of the world... but in the next, it was no one else but Leonel himself who stood at the peak of all things.

    The Northern Star shuddered and if it had an eye, it would seem to have looked over, changing its focus from Anya to Leonel.

    A third and final Dharma began to shimmer into existence above Leonel''s head. The first was his Crown. It sat hovering above his bed of dancing violet hair with the momentum fit for a King. It was simple, almost to the point of looking more like a halo than it did a crown. It wasn''t overbearing, but rather seemed to embrace the world with large arms. Gentle and caring, but sturdy and strong enough to hold up the skies if need be.

    Then there was Leonel''s Royal Crest, his second Dharma.

    A quill, a bow, and a spear crossed one another, fanning out in three directions.

    The outer rim of the crest brimmed with a violet gold color with a subtle underlying silver hue. It took the shape of a badge, its edges sharp in some regions and gently sloping in others.

    It was far larger than the crown halo above Leonel''s head, standing almost like a tower shield in the skies.

    And then came Leonel''s third Dharma...

    A Star.

    A Violet Star.

    It stood opposing the Northern Star, boldly facing it.

    Deep within, the swimming structures of a Void Beast and an Infinity Beast could be seen. They were subtle and almost non-existent... if one tried to look too closely, the star itself could burn one''s very soul, shredding it to pieces in a whirlwind of chaos and destruction.

    However, if one had a will that was bold enough and eyes that were strong enough, it would be possible to see their forms hidden within.

    These weren''t the true creations, but rather simple projections. In fact, their forms were less important than the laws that swirled around them.

    There had been many God Beasts of Destruction in the past... much the same way there had been many God Beasts of Creation...

    What Leonel cared about weren''t their forms, but their power, what they represented, what they were to their truest inner core.

    BOOM!

    The last of the Idol Battlefield was ground to dust. Leonel''s hand squeezed and the Regulator''s head shattered to pieces, only for its bits and pieces to be sucked into his body.

    Opening his arms to the world, Leonel''s silver violet robes fluttered as his aura began to skyrocket.

    From the First Tier of the Eighth Dimension to the Second, and from the Second to the Third...

    His power continuously leapt upward, rocketing through the Dimensions until it reached the Ninth Tier of the Eighth.

    Leonel took a deep breath and his sharpened before he unleashed a roar that was heard across time and space.

    BOOM!

    The barrier to the Ninth Dimension shattered into countless pieces as Leonel''s body unleashed a tremble and splintered the space around him into countless pieces.

    The restlessness of Leonel''s aura finally seemed to slowly settle down only after this.

    The world felt so much brighter to him, as though any and everything was resting in the very palm of his hands.

    "This is it.''

    He spoke these words only to himself as he looked up into the skies. Tolliver''s body slowly sank into his and his Divine Armor vanished along with the trembling cascading

    forms of his Dharmas.

    Leonel clenched his fists.

    The Ninth Dimension.

    For a long time, he could only gaze at it from afar. But then when he came to the

    Dimensional Verse, it almost felt like an insignificant Realm, one that so many had touched upon. But now... it was once again a full circle moment.

    The Ninth Dimension was truly a demarcating line, one that separated the weak from the strong.

    Most who could manage it would slow their progress through the Dimensions for the sake of bolstering their Force Manipulation first, and there were very good reasons for

    this.

    The weight of one''s Dimensions was far heavier when one''s Force Manipulations could keep up. You usually only received one chance at this sort of baptism. sea??h thз╫ n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It could be said that Leonel''s breakthrough into the Ninth Dimension, though... was entirely unprecedented.

    That was because he had waited until he not only had one Dharma, but three of them... And each one of these three Dharmas was more than powerful enough to have been an Idol all on its own. In fact, in the case of his Royal Crest Dharma, it was the equivalent of three Idols, taking up the forms of his Spear, Quill, and Bow Forces into

    one.

    But now, the roadblock to forming an Idol felt impossible to cross. It was like Leonel was staring up at a mountain without a peak. It reached so high into the skies that he couldn''t even see it past the clouds it pierced through.

    But...

    Leonel''s lip curled into a smirk.

    He was very much used to lifting mountains.

    Leonel looked down from the skies to find that after he had dealt with Anya''s greatest strength, the disadvantage his wife and brothers had been in had decreased

    considerably.

    Leonel waved a hand and the Segmented Cube appeared in his palm. Soon, a

    shimmering Anastasia had appeared.

    She opened her mouth to speak.

    "Don''t." Leonel said firmly before smiling and rubbing her head. "This isn''t your fault,

    you don''t have to apologize for anything."

    Anastasia blinked.

    After she had gained her senses back and was no longer restrained by the Segmented Cube, there was a distance between herself and Leonel that was hard to fathom. Unfortunately, it wasn''t something that she could easily fix. She honestly didn''t know how to do so. She didn''t have the emotions of a human. But Leonel''s next words left her in a heap of tears again.

    "What are you standing there for? Don''t you want to meet your godchildren?"

    09:49 -

    Leonel grabbed Anastasia''s little hand and he flickered and vanished, appearing on a floating rock in the depths of space where the two little tykes were currently

    bickering.

    Leah and Leo didn''t know how to react to the little girl that was a sobbing mess before them. Anastasia barely looked any older than them, but they found themselves having

    to comfort her.

    Leonel watched with a smile, especially when Leah offered the pretty little lotus Raj

    had made for her to Anastasia in hopes that would make her feel better. But that only

    made Anastasia cry harder.

    Leonel looked down at the Segmented Cube in his palm. He could feel that Anastasia had never stopped working to help everyone within. In these years, he had made a great number of improvements to the forces under Leonel''s banner.

    ''We''ll be needing these..."

    Leonel was very much focused on the Demoness, but he knew that this wasn''t a battle

    he would be able to win on his own. As powerful as he had grown, he would never underestimate the hidden Ancestors of Existence. Or more accurately... he would never underestimate the Demoness'' ability to manipulate and make use of them. The Ancestors of the Sylvans, the Pluto, and the Void Race would be handled by him and Aina. But they still had countless subordinates under them.

    If he wanted to achieve what he wanted to, he needed an army... and now, he had that. Aina suddenly appeared by Leonel''s side, heaving for breath.

    Leonel looked over and carefully wiped a line of blood away from the corner of her

    mouth.

    "Did you have fun?" He asked with a smile.

    Aina blinked as though surprised by the question for a small while before a gorgeous

    smile spread across her face.

    She nodded like an enthusiastic little girl, the dichotomy between her bright expression and beautiful countenance contrasting with the blood that caked her and

    her battle ax.

    Leonel raised his head to the skies and unleashed a booming laughter.

    "Good. In that case, we will return now."

    The fighting intent within Leonel was blooming as well. He too was eager for battle. It

    was time to put an end to all of this. But first...

    There was something else that he needed to handle.

    The Human Race could only have a single head. There was only room for a single King,

    and that King could only be him.

    It seemed that the match between himself and his grandfather could only happen

    now.

    "Let''s return to the Ascension Empire."

    [Just this one last chapter for today... dkm. Tbh, as DD gets closer to the end, there''ll

    be more one chapter days like this one. They should hopefully be action packed, though. By the end of the year, DD will likely conclude. Happy reading!]

 Chapter 3248 A King and an Emperor (1)

    ?Chapter 3248 A King and an Emperor (1)"Really? I get to be a big sister?"

    Leah excitedly put her little palms onto her great grandmother''s large belly. She seemed to want to pull the baby out right here and now. She was growing tired of Leo always making fun of her for being born just a few seconds earlier.

    Not long ago, Leah had pouted to her mom. With Aina''s control, she could have easily let her be born first.

    Toward her daughter''s dissatisfaction, Aina could only smile bitterly and chuckle while Leah wasn''t looking.

    "So what?" Leo said with a wide grin. "Then I''ll just have two little baby sisters."

    Leah pouted, giving her brother a glare.

    The Empress of the Ascension Empire watched the two siblings squabble with a happy smile on her face. It had been a very long while since she had felt such a simple joy. In this warm little garden, with her great grandchildren around her, and her granddaughter-in-law braiding her hair, she felt at peace.

    Aina had a light smile on her face as well, sitting cross-legged on the soft green grass and listening to the bickering of her children like it was the sweetest joy.

    Neither of the two women looked toward where their husbands likely were.

    Maybe it was because the two had an undisguised confidence in their men. Or maybe it was because they were content no matter what the result was. Or maybe they had truly forgotten about it, choosing to lose themselves in these final moments of peace. Their hearts were settled and their thoughts were unrushed and unhurried.

    They didn''t take even a single second for granted. If the world ended right this moment...

    They would be alright with it.

    ...

    Leonel stood in silence, his hands clasped behind his back as he gazed toward his grandfather.

    A droplet of water fell from on high, rippling down to the ground below and spreading out across the calm surface of the lake of emerald they were in.

    Gervaise, however, sat silently on his throne, seemingly hardly acknowledging his grandson''s appearance.

    The region felt dark with the only light coming from the waters beneath their feet. The lake stretched for seemingly an ungodly distance. Even Leonel''s eyes couldn''t see it

    through to the end.

    This location was in the depths of the Ascension Palace.

    wy www.

    When Leonel arrived here, his grandmother was already waiting in his courtyard. He simply greeted her with a smile, spending some time with her before he climbed the stairs to the Ascension Palace.

    This time, there was simply no one capable of laying a finger on him. Even when Mordred and her wife appeared, it was useless. If before they could stall him, now their weapons weren''t even able to penetrate a domain around Leonel.

    They would have died with a single thought if Leonel so chose it to be so. But he didn''t feel that there was a need.

    In the past, Mordred had been one of his men along with her father, King Arthur.

    But oddly enough, King Arthur hadn''t appeared, while Mordred had.

    That told Leonel something quite profound.

    Mordred''s views had changed. She chose to side with her wife and thus the Ascension Empire.

    Arthur, by comparison... was still not fully under the control of Leonel''s grandfather. The difference was that Gervaise didn''t care. What Emperor could claim absolute loyalty from all of his subordinates? Such a man didn''t exist.

    All that mattered was having the power to keep everything under his control, and Gervaise felt that he had that.

    And much the same way... Leonel didn''t care very much about Mordred''s change in allegiance either.

    Would it matter when he claimed the throne for himself?

    Leonel suddenly smiled.

    "You''re quite confident, old man. I know you could have stopped me from triggering the Pluto like I did, but you didn''t."

    Gervaise looked up and met Leonel''s gaze, his expression still calm.

    "I did that for my wife, not you," he said lightly.

    Leonel''s smile deepened. "And that''s exactly why I''ll let you keep your head. Aren''t I nice?"

    "Is that so?"

    Gervaise slowly rose from his throne.

    As he did so, the world seemed to rumble around him. A violent torrent of Force rose

    to the skies.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    A whirlpool with a depth that sunk into an endless abyss appeared between grandfather and grandson, a clash of emerald green and gorgeous amethyst.

    separating the world into two.

    They were separated by over a kilometer, and yet, given their strengths, they might as

    well have been just a single step from one another.

    "I, however..." Gervaise continued lightly. "... Am not so kind."

    The band that held Gervaise''s white-gold hair together broke apart, causing the strands to dance in the skies like filaments of crystalline energy. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "This Empire is my own, crafted by my calloused hands, my sacrifices, my blood."

    Gervaise waved a hand and a scepter appeared in his palm. It was a meter and a half long, carrying a beautifully polished pearl half the size of his head on the end of it. This pearl swirled with a depth of cotton pinks and sky blues, looking as though it had plucked out the clouds of a Dream Pavilion and sucked them into its marbled surface. Gervaise''s momentum grew so fiercely that the harsh flapping of Leonel''s silver-violet robes made it feel as though the material might be shredded to pieces at any time. And yet, as powerful as it already was, it only seemed to be accelerating its growth as though a slumbering Dragon was awakening right before his eyes.

    A vortex appeared beneath Gervaise''s feet and the roar of a dragon filled the cavernous space, shuddering space until it fragmented into the shapes of the mythical creature''s scales.

    BOOM!

    Gervaise''s aura reached a peak before it suddenly vanished. Like a shredded leaf in the wind, it disappeared in the blink of an eye and the world fell into silence.

    "Who do you think you are? I will have your head today."

 Chapter 3249 A King and an Emperor (2)

    ?Chapter 3249 A King and an Emperor (2)Gervaise waved his scepter and the silent world churned. Palms filled the skies and Leonel was forced to look up to witness their majesty.

    In that moment, he felt like he had been transported back in time, teleported to the day Gervaise used a single palm to swat a ship of Shield Cross Stars out of the skies.

    Leonel remembered that day clearly because for maybe the dozenth time, he found himself facing his own death and mortality. However, just when he thought that his life was finished, Gervaise had swept in from on high.

    He could recall feeling how grand that ability was. Although he had never thought it in so many words, he pined to one day have such strength.

    Watching these palms descend now, his smile couldn''t help but grow wider.

    "If someone else had said that, maybe I would change my mind," Leonel spoke with a booming cadence, his words laced with his laughter and amusement. "But just for you, old man, I''ll let it slide. That said, I won''t be able to spare you from the consequences. I''m putting you right into a retirement home after this battle."

    Leonel''s palms flared out and Tolliver coated his body.

    He took a step as a spear of writhing silver formed in his palm before solidifying into a gorgeous blade that looked half a cross between a spear and a quill.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Leonel''s wrist flickered and the palms in the skies shattered one after another, a rain of emerald shards falling from the skies above.

    The scene was oddly beautiful despite the fact anyone beneath their level of strength would find themselves shredded down to the bone just by standing in the vortex that formed between them.

    Leonel took a step forward and the intent in his eyes blazed.

    Gervaise raised his scepter once more, but he was suddenly forced to bring it down. BOOM!

    Spear and scepter met, the noses of grandson and grandfather so close that their beads of sweat almost fused into one.

    "You blocked. Not bad," Leonel said with a grin before he was sent flying backward.

    Leonel spun in the air, landing on the raging waters heavily.

    He looked up to find a half dozen Force Arts rotating on the surface of the lake. There was no time to react before six eastern dragons rose out from the waters.

    It didn''t seem like Gervaise had prepped the environment ahead of time. It was

    nothing but normal water beneath them, albeit filled with God Realm Force.

    Instead, Gervaise seemed to have incorporated the Living Construct Force Arts of the Luxnix into his battle style.

    Leonel''s steps shifted as he dodged.

    A flood dragon pierced into the location he had just been, only for it to curl through the waters and attack him from below even as the other five surrounded him from all sides.

    Pillars of emerald water shot into the skies and tsunamis that could wipe out what felt like entire universes rose up before crashing down.

    More Force Arts formed on these raging waters, claws that pierced through space ripping through them and toward Leonel.

    It felt like everything the world itself was attacking on behalf of Gervaise.

    Leonel''s laughter peeled through the skies as he weaved his way through the

    destruction and carnage. His robes were already somewhat disheveled, and his inner organs were quaking within his body with every near miss, and yet there was a light of passion within his eyes that howled like a wolf to the full moon.

    "Give me everything you have!"

    Leonel''s spear suddenly vanished from his hand as he appeared high in the skies.

    His bow formed in one hand, and the Laevis Bow appeared in the other.

    He slammed them together, the former devouring the latter and severing the Path of this once Great Family.

    However, it felt like nothing but a footnote to Leonel.

    A pulse of radiant light filled the skies with a golden hue, turning the emerald ambiance into something even more ethereal and magical.

    And then Leonel unleashed a torrent of arrows.

    He shot so fast that his attacks blurred, forming an umbrella of energies over his grandfather''s location.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    A cacophony of erupting destruction tore what calm waters there were left apart.

    Suddenly, Leonel swapped out his bow for his spear once again, hurriedly turning to his back and slashing out with all his might.

    BANG!

    Gervaise had appeared behind him at some unknown time, and both grandson and grandfather took a step back at once. The space beneath their feet shattered and a deep abyss ripped the water even further beneath them apart.

    They ground their heels into the air and shot forward, their weapons blurring as booming concentric circles blasted the region apart.

    Leonel''s spear parried Gervaise''s scepter upward and his blade snaked toward the

    latter''s throat.

    Gervaise pretended as though he hadn''t even seen it at all, his body blurring and doubling. He slipped past Leonel''s blade and it seemed like it ripped through nothing but an afterimage. At the same time, he had closed the gap even further, his palm appearing right above Leonel''s chest.

    Leonel''s reaction was just as swift and indifferent. A Force Art appeared on him like a breastplate, blinking into existence just an inch before one appeared on Gervaise''s palm as well. It was as though Leonel had seen through the Force Art Gervaise was drawing before he had even completed it, drawing a perfect counter in an instant. The two Force Arts clashed and canceled one another out. Gervaise''s palm rebounded back just enough that Leonel could step forward to send out his own palm. Gervaise reacted smoothly, his reflected palm seamlessly switching to an elbow that blocked Leonel''s hit.

    BANG!

    The two were forced to separate, but once again it was for nothing more than a blink

    of an eye before they erupted into another flurry of exchanges.

    They crossed the skies like the air was their lane, their Empire....

    And yet both somehow knew that they were only just getting started. sea??h thз╫ n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    They separated once more and Gervaise unleashed an uncharacteristic roar, Force Arts far more substantial than any he had drawn until now appearing.

    Leonel realized immediately that Gervaise was summoning something.

    With his free hand, Leonel''s palm and fingers formed a seal. His grandfather wasn''t the only one that could summon things.

 Chapter 3250 A King and an Emperor (3)

    ?Chapter 3250 A King and an Emperor (3)The world shook as the clanging of armor echoed through the air.

    Emerald energy became solid in the air, forming gems that stacked onto one another in complicated armor patterns.

    When the armor took shape, a ripple of gorgeous green light spread, and a humanoid formed in each one.

    The Force Arts they formed from collapsed, fusing into their bodies.

    Leonel didn''t recognize their faces, but he could recognize their Races more than easily enough. And when he did, he couldn''t help but burst out into laughter once

    more.

    Plutos. Six of them.

    It was said that the Pluto Race couldn''t be blasphemed, that the world wouldn''t allow it, and yet here were six of them turned into construct puppets, refined for no other purpose than to do his grandfather''s bidding.

    Leonel''s hand danced in the air as the last of his seals took shape. The world pulsed around him as well.

    He had never used seals like this before. However, in this context, it was very much necessary.

    Every shift of his hands seemed to direct his Force to move in very special ways. That was because despite the billions of ways Leonel could split his mind, he had focused them all on the man before him, straining himself to the absolute limit.

    If he could avoid shifting his attention away for even the slightest moment, then he would take it.

    His Dream Seal ability was something that he had prepared specifically to deal with opponents as strong as Gervaise, individuals who needed his full and undivided attention for every second he could spare it.

    Dream Seal was an off-shoot of Dream Counter, Dream Counter was only meant to trigger when Leonel faced death, subverting his reaction time and bypassing his mind to force his body to commit an action ahead of time.

    Dream Seal worked similarly without the need for death. By assigning very specific Force movements to the positions of his fingers, he could trigger these actions without thought.

    And in this case...

    Summon his Destruction Beast.

    ROAR!

    AKIM ann an -mnarro

    Billowing black fog spilled out into the region, pooling into the resplendent green waters and turning it into a murky darkness.

    Blackstar surged out of the billowing fog, taking the shape of a Void Beast, its head akin to a black dragon roaring inches from his grandfather''s face.

    However, that was nothing more than an illusion of shadows that scattered a moment. afterward.

    Leonel had already appeared on the real Blackstar''s back and they shot forward as a single entity.

    A bow appeared in Leonel''s palm.

    Timeless Radiance filled the skies. Arrows moving instantaneously through time and space looked prepped to riddle Gervaise''s summons with holes.

    However, Leonel''s attack just clattered off of their armors as though they had no strength at all.

    Blackstar''s roar filled the skies as he swiped down, a smirk spreading across Leonel''s lips.

    CRACK

    The armors that looked to have been doing just fine suddenly cracked seconds later. Gervaise''s eyes narrowed, raising his scepter only slightly. The fractured armors healed and the Pluto all took a step forward, sending out a punch that looked entirely identical down the line.

    And they were.

    The six fist auras fused into one, appearing before Blackstar in a blink.

    Leonel''s gaze flashed and he pulled his fingers from his bowstring, forming another seal swiftly.

    A surge of waters plowed up from below, a dense Water Force colliding with the fist before it even made it to Blackstar.

    The world was overturned as a shimmering silhouette appeared behind Leonel.

    The Sea Goddess.

    In all her glory, her green-blue skin shimmered beneath the radiance, her body draped in solid violet armor.

    She opened her cherry lips, a chant echoing as the emerald waters around them began to surge again and again.

    Spiraling flood dragons took shape once again and the attacks of the Pluto were shredded apart.

    Leonel, Blackstar, and the Sea Goddess burst through its rain of aura, appearing before Gervaise.

    Blackstar smashed a palm down toward Gervaise while the Sea Goddess controlled the emerald waters once more. It looked like Gervaise was standing over an abyss, but the Sea Goddess caused the waters beneath him to tremble, forming tendrils that wrapped around the Emperor.

    Leonel himself drew his bow, firing out six powerful shots. But not a single one of them were aimed for Gervaise.

    Infinite Radiance.

    Arrows carrying the weight of the world appeared before all of the Pluto, stopping them from helping Gervaise deal with the situation.

    All the while, the Emperor faced the claw of a God Beast of Destruction and the restraint of a Goddess of the Ocean.

    Anarchic Force and a gorgeous Force of Creation filled the skies, swirling together in a mass of Destruction and Creation that melded into a single fuse that sparked and

    exploded.

    Chaos.

    Gervaise looked up calmly. Ever since his last outburst, he seemed to have returned to his usual self, his body, mind, and soul, all moving like a single well-oiled machine.

    He exhaled a light breath and Force Arts bloomed in his eyes. Sз╫arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Just as Leonel''s arrows were about to hit the Pluto, Force Arts appeared on their foreheads and they were directly deconstructed.

    [Assimilation].

    No, it was a higher form, a variation that Leonel had never seen before.

    The Pluto''s essence was sucked into Gervaise''s body and time suddenly froze for Blackstar and the Sea Goddess.

    Leonel, the only one who could still move, was only now recovering from his recently fired arrows and wasn''t prepared for the sudden change.

    Gervaise only waved his scepter lightly and a solid blow collided with Leonel, almost as though the Emperor''s intention had become tangible and attacked him. There wasn''t even the slightest ripple of Force on this Dimensional Plane, it was all hidden

    away in the Second.

    Leonel was sent flying off of Blackstar''s back and his pupils couldn''t help but

    constrict.

    He was certain of it.

    Gervaise had just used not one, but two different Ability Indexes just now.

 Chapter 3251 A King and an Emperor (4)

    ?Chapter 3251 A King and an Emperor (4)The first was a time stop ability. While useless on Leonel, that didn''t mean it was so on his summons.

    The second was a powerful telekinesis ability, one that went beyond just controlling things with his mind, but could take Gervaise''s imagination and force it to become reality.

    Not only were both of these shockingly powerful abilities...

    Both of them were at the Savant Level. Sear?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel had only just had this thought when a third Ability Index came.

    Chains manifested from the depths of the Second Dimension, swirling with auras similar to that of a Regulator.

    Leonel had never seen an Ability Index like this one, but he was truly shocked nonetheless. An Ability Index capable of mimicking a Regulator, just how powerful were the trump cards his grandfather had on hand?

    Leonel had no choice but to be quick on his feet, swapping out his bow for his spear once again. His wrist flickered as he fell back, clanging against the surging chains that threatened to suffocate him from all sides.

    Unfortunately, Blackstar and the Sea Goddess weren''t so lucky.

    Leonel only diverted his attention for the most insignificant of split seconds, and yet there was a fourth Ability Index that almost did him in right then.

    The chains suddenly exploded in weight and density. It was an Ability Index that reminded Leonel of Noah''s, but simply on a completely different level. A normal amount of weight wouldn''t throw Leonel off, but it felt like an entire universe had just been thrown at him.

    He clashed with a chain and spear bent into a ''U'' shape, nearly snapping back on him. A sickening crunch came from Leonel''s arm as he tried to maintain his grip. He succeeded, but at the cost of his forearm bending in the wrong direction.

    The pain didn''t reflect in Leonel''s eyes by much other than a flickering light.

    Someone else would have used the momentum of the blow to try and make some distance, but Leonel had already regained his focus. He realized that this was exactly what Gervaise wanted him to do.

    "Alright." Leonel said lightly. "Since you seem to really want to kill me, if I keep treating this like a joke, you just might think that I''m some sort of pushover, huh, gramps?" Leonel''s liquid divine armor spread over his skin and robes, snapping his forearm back into place. His King Force Dharma took shape above his head, and his body seemed flooded with the Force in an instant.

    His gaze became a deeper hue of purple, and his hair looked as though sparkling amethysts were hidden within.

    His body spun instead of retreating.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

    With his grip on his spear tightening, he unleashed a torrent of cyclical blows that almost shattered the Regulator Chains.

    By this point, Gervaise had already appeared high above the chained Blackstar and Sea Goddess. His hands were rapidly forming their own seals, his scepter floating about them.

    Leonel only needed a glance to know that rather than killing him, Gervaise wanted to take them for himself.

    "Overestimating yourself."

    Leonel''s eyes unleashed a glow, and at that moment, Blackstar and the Sea Goddess broke free of their time freeze and the Regulator Chains.

    Gervaise''s eyes narrowed, realizing that Leonel had just done something quite profound. He was breaking the rules of summons, using his King Force to give them abilities they shouldn''t have.

    With his connection with them, he had linked their Dream Force to his own, allowing him to bestow his abilities onto them...

    This was King Force.

    A Force truly fit for a King and his subjects.

    ROAR!

    Blackstar slashed out.

    Gervaise was still in the middle of his seals and couldn''t easily back out without causing backlash to his Dream Force.

    Leonel thought he had him... when a fifth Ability Index activated.

    Gervaise split into two perfect clones. Blackstar''s claw broke through one of them, shattering him into a rain of blood and showering the now murky emerald waters below.

    However, the second Gervaise didn''t even react.

    ''What?" Leonel was truly speechless this time. He had never seen an Ability Index like this one, something that was suddenly becoming a running theme.

    If he had to call it something, it would be Schrodinger''s Ability Index. The clone

    Gervaise had formed wasn''t a clone at all. It was him. 100% him.

    However, the laws of reality couldn''t decide which one was the true Gervaise, and it wasn''t confirmed until after one of them died.

    But the thing was... Gervaise seemed to have manipulated the scales somehow. With yet another Savant ability, he was able to decide that whichever died was the fake one ahead of time.

    It was an ability that even Leonel had a hard time wrapping his head around. This was beyond just being powerful; it was practically rewriting reality.

    Gervaise raised his scepter high. There was a pulse of light and a huge accumulation of Force gathered, forming an enormous star above his head. He looked like nothing more than a tiny shadow beneath its enormous body.

    Leonel knew that it was yet another Ability Index... one that seemed the simplest of them all, and yet held a profound ability hidden away in the shape it took...

    That of a Star.

    Leonel took a breath and exhaled. He had already said that he would get serious, but even then... he found himself holding back somewhat.

    Somewhere deep inside, he felt that his grandfather was still weaker than the

    Demoness. If he couldn''t defeat him while messing around, the odds that he could

    defeat the Demoness would be next to nothing.

    A mixture of familial ties and a small strand of doubt buried deep within himself mixed together to disrupt his better judgment.

    Leonel looked up to gaze into his grandfather''s emerald eyes.

    This time, he didn''t speak. The light faded from his eyes and he seemed to become a

    cold, calculating machine.

    Slowly, he raised his spear, his Royal Crest Dharma and his Violet Star appearing to finish off the trifecta of his three Dharmas.

    Leonel vanished just as his grandfather sent his attack down in a slow arc.

 Chapter 3252 A King and an Emperor (5)

    ?Chapter 3252 A King and an Emperor (5)Leonel raised a palm to the skies, appearing beneath the star his grandfather sent toward him.

    It looked like a simple Ability Index this time, but it was truly anything but. This Ability Index was capable of causing a perfect Fusion between Star Force and any other Force, thus giving it the ability to accumulate a large amount of Force in a short period of time.

    Stars across Existences were responsible for the existence of Force to begin with. It had to be remembered that Earth Force was only responsible for forming the anchor that Force attached themselves to, it was Stars that truly produced them in large quantities.

    So just what kind of concept was it to be able to form a Star of any Force you already had control over? It was like Gervaise was his own walking generator, having access to an infinite supply of Force.

    But it wasn''t just a matter of quantity, or even just quality either. Both were off the charts, but what was truly shocking was the speed with which Gervaise could accumulate both.

    This scale of attack was simply too shocking. It should take several minutes or even hours to accumulate this much Force. Otherwise, one would have to rely on a large-scale formation or something of the sort instead.

    Yet, all Gervaise had done was casually raise his scepter into the air and he had already accumulated enough energy to feed over ten God Realm Worlds in a single breath.

    There wasn''t a single one of Gervaise''s Ability Indexes that wasn''t broken beyond reason, and Leonel had no reason to believe that these were the last of them.

    He had already come to understand just how his grandfather had done this. This was obviously the product of an evolved form of [Assimilate] where Gervaise was able to take the Ability Indexes of his summons for himself.

    Over the years, Gervaise had secretly accumulated the broken ability of several targets. Back on Earth, he had even had an entire prison of Savants to keep in check. Who was to say that he hadn''t also gotten more abilities from them?

    Indeed... the foundation that Gervaise had built for himself gave him the right to be arrogant, it gave him the right to look down on the world and proclaim himself Emperor, it gave him the right to ask this foolish grandson of his just who he thought he was.

    He was born the genius of a generation... and maybe even that wasn''t enough to describe just what level he stood alone at. He was so feared by the enemies of his 09:52 -

    family for what he might grow to be in the future that they sacrificed billions of lives just to destroy the Fawkes before he had a chance to rise up.

    But now he had.

    He was no longer that little boy who could only watch everything be destroyed in front of him.

    He was Gervaise Fawkes, Emperor of this world.

    And even his grandson didn''t have the right to stand in his way. sea??h thз╫ N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The eyes of both men flashed at once, roars leaving their lips as they clashed.

    Leonel felt an overwhelming might press down on his palms and he was almost instantly sent flying back. But the issue was that the star followed with him, sticking to his hand and suffocating him from above.

    It was so mind-numbingly large that the idea of side-stepping it before was impossible, let alone doing so now.

    However, there remained a blazing intent in Leonel''s eyes, a strong sense of duty, respect, and most of all... unbridled arrogance.

    To form Stars was nice.

    To create them was another matter entirely.

    These seemed to be the same things, but as a Sovereign of Creation...

    Leonel knew the difference well.

    Leonel''s arm pulsed and all at once, a Force Art raced across the body of the Star.

    In one moment, it looked like a Star of emerald flames, and in the next, it was suppressed by a cage of complex violet Runes.

    In an instant, Leonel had drawn a Force Art to cover the body of a star as though it was as easy as flipping over his palm.

    A Natural Force Art.

    No... an anti-Natural Force Art, one that bent Creation to such an extreme that it became no different from Destruction.

    In what felt like a distant past, Leonel had faced off against the Spirituals of the Dimensional Verse, and they had a huge Natural Force Art net over their entire planetary system that had almost cost him his life.

    Back then, he had been fascinated by their methods. They were able to tune their Natural Force Art to the resonance of their solar system, allowing them to gather power from it directly and even help individuals to display more strength than normal.

    And here... Leonel had just done the same.

    His grandfather''s Ability Index was powerful, but it automated too much. The only reason it could work was because it relied so heavily on the Laws of the World and the natural abilities of Star Force. That was precisely where its strength came from.

    But that also meant... that it had the same vulnerabilities of other Stars.

    If you knew what you were doing, then its strength could become your own.

    Leonel swept his spear backward, one hand still on the falling star as his violet hair danced in the wind. The pressure of the gravity threatened to rip him apart, but as far as he was concerned...

    This Star was already his.

    SHIIIIIIIING!

    The howl of Spear Force sang through the air.

    The violet rune-covered star pulsed and then the Violet Star hanging behind Leonel''s

    head rotated just a single time.

    And then...

    SHUUUU!

    Gervaise''s Star suddenly vanished.

    An enormous vacuum appeared in the space it had left behind. For such a large object to suddenly disappear left a black hole-level force of suction in its wake.

    Winds howled and space shattered, collapsing in itself.

    Even Gervaise couldn''t help but also be sucked in, while Leonel himself didn''t fight against the current in the slightest. Instead, he held on to the very spear he had swept backward as his body began to glow even brighter than the Star that had just

    disappeared.

    That was when it all sank in for Gervaise.

    Leonel had taken the power of the Star for himself and he was concentrating it all into

    a single attack... concentrated into a region that wasn''t even fraction the size of the

    original Star.

    Blaring warning signs of danger filled Gervaise''s mind as his aura solidified. His body stabilized in the air as Leonel shot toward him like a rocket out of orbit.

    Gervaise unleashed a roar, his robes shattering to pieces to reveal a body pulsing with

    a shocking vascularity.

    At the same time, the echoes of his heartbeat and the raging blood through his veins began to boom across the air, seemingly having been suppressed earlier by his now

    shattered robes.

    He held out his scepter in his hands and then pulled it back as well as though he was

    getting ready to thrust a spear.

    The head of a dragon wrapped around the pearl, making it look as though the emerald beast was trying to swallow it whole.

    Gervaise''s golden band crown cracked beneath the pressure as the illusory green dragon around his scepter suddenly exploded in size, and then doubled again, and

    then again.

    By the time it doubled once more, Leonel was there.

    Their gazes clashed in the air and space shuddered and cracked.

    The churning waters below had been blown so far apart that one could see clear to

    the bottom of the ocean, and even that wasn''t enough as its moist earth exploded and shattered beneath the pressurized waves of their accumulating attacks. Blackstar and the Sea Goddess vanished just as the two unleashed everything they had, spear and scepter meeting high in the skies.

    The clash was so shocking that their auras met several kilometers apart, so powerful and reverberating that they fought for dominion over large swaths of land.

    However, in the end....

    "You should have spent more effort learning to Craft, old man."

    CRACK.

    Gervaise''s scepter cracked. Its pearl splintered as a fissure appeared on its surface in a

    single instant.

    BANG!

    The dragon head shattered with it and the scepter was blown away.

    Gervaise''s arm snapped backward, a rain of blood bursting from the limb as a

    pressurized wind tore it apart. But that was only the wind itself.

    Soon after, the Force came.

    Gervaise was swallowed up whole and his body seemed to vanish under the enormous

    current of violet energy.

    A silence fell for but a moment before the green waters that had been sent soaring off

    in tsunami-like waves came crashing back, filling the hole left behind by the two. Leonel stood in the air, gasping for breath, a tingling discomfort coming from his mind as he looked up.

 Chapter 3253 A King and an Emperor (6)

    ?Chapter 3253 A King and an Emperor (6)Gervaise stood high in the skies, seemingly half dead. He was missing an arm, and even extended from that, large swaths of skin and flesh had been seared off from his body, making him look like half a skeleton. Even half of his face was gone, leaving nothing but a green eyeball on one side of him.

    And that cycball continued to carry a cold light as it stared down at Leonel.

    Leonel stared back at him, not moving as he took deep breaths. He could feel that there was still a very potent danger coming from Gervaise, as though the man was staring at him now only to try and figure out what method of murder he would like to choose.

    However, Leonel wasn''t someone who would casually lose out in terms of momentum. He too was injured, but his injuries weren''t nearly as severe as his grandfather''s. The one that had come out on top was clear and obvious...

    At least for now.

    A flame suddenly flickered in Gervaise''s eyeball before it expanded and suddenly swallowed up the fleshless parts of his body.

    The green flame danced and Leonel sensed pulses of Dream Force as one summon after another was silently killed.

    In the next moment, the flames vanished, revealing an indifferent and perfectly healed Gervaise. sea??h thз╫ novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel watched silently and still didn''t say or do much of anything. It was as though it didn''t matter to him whether the Emperor healed or not... or maybe he knew that there wasn''t much he could do to stop it in the first place.

    Gervaise grabbed at the air and another scepter appeared.

    "Is this necessary?" Leonel asked indifferently. This time, the amusement in his eyes had long vanished. Or maybe it had already vanished after he realized that Gervaise was truly doing his best to kill him.

    He was accepting of that, it was fine enough. What he wasn''t accepting of was someone that didn''t know when to accept a loss.

    The scepter Gervaise had just brought out was weaker than the last one. And it didn''t even matter that he had been able to heal himself, because the price for doing so was heavier than not.

    Gervaise had definitely sacrificed those Summons. And in order to heal himself from that level of injury, they had to be powerful as well.

    That meant that they had powerful Ability Indexes, which meant that Gervaise had

    also lost a significant portion of his combat prowess as well.

    Without those Ability Indexes, he would be more predictable. Though Leonel had been training all of his senses on his grandfather, he knew that his mental capacity had already surpassed that of Gervaise''s own. If Gervaise had fewer trump cards to pull from, then he would only continuously be outmaneuvered by Leonel.

    To make matters worse, his main weakness, his lack of support from his weapons, would only be exacerbated now that he was being forced to use an inferior weapon. Leonel was already a league beyond him, but now it was even worse.

    In a fight that Leonel had no intention of making life and death, he didn''t want his grandfather to do this.

    This sort of effort, scraping at the bottom of the barrel for the slightest chance of survival when the battle was already decided, was something that you would only do if you felt like you were facing off against a real enemy.

    Was it worth it?

    "Even now... you are still so naive. I thought you would have grown up."

    Gervaise''s voice remained calm and indifferent.

    "You''ve done enough." Leonel said as the anger in his voice could no longer be hidden. "Do you think I don''t have methods of restraining you without killing you? Do you think you have the ability to force me to make a martyr out of you?"

    Leonel felt like he was being insulted. If he was still being treated like a child at this point, then what had he been fighting for all this time? Or could it be that he had just overestimated his grandfather and his mental fortitude?

    Gervaise met Leonel''s gaze calmly, the reverberating beat of his heart still echoing with great force.

    "You can''t always have everything you want in life. The hardest things to control don''t come from yourself"

    Leonel''s pupils trembled.

    As much control as Leonel liked to have, as much power and authority his Ability Index gave him over his own body, it was only that...

    His own body.

    This was the hardest thing for a leader to grasp. Juggling one''s own emotions was hard enough without also having to consider how everyone else felt.

    Goggles had taught Leonel this intimately. Leonel had given him everything, trying to treat him like he was the same Goggles he was when he first met them...

    But a person''s experience shaped as much of who they were as their natural dispositions.

    The Goggles that Leonel knew died that day in the battle against King Alexandre. He was never going to come back.

    The only way he could accept the things that happened back then was by also accepting that the Goggles he was forced to kill was a completely different person.

    You could give a person the world, you could do everything for them, you could even have their best interest in mind every step of the way, but what you could never control was how they reacted to your love.

    Gervaise was a man of great pride. He was an Emperor who had dedicated his life, given every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears he had to reach this stage.

    What was he supposed to do now? Just accept things in stride?

    Would Leonel have just casually accepted it if he had lost? Or would he have fought to his very last breath for the last chance to grasp the fate he wanted more than even his

    own beating heart?

    Leonel wanted to build a world for his family. He wanted his children to be able to frolic through the fields and for his wife to be able to pop out as many of those little munchkins as she wanted.

    He wanted his grandfather and grandmother to live in harmony, for the Fawkes family to bloom the way his grandfather wanted, and for his grandmother to finally find the peace and security in herself that she had always been looking for.

    He wanted his brothers to find the loves of their lives, or marry the ones they had already chosen... he wanted them to grow their own families, to feel what it was like to smile and laugh without a worry in the world.

    He wanted Humans to have their place in the world again, for the Races to live in harmony, to form a world where one''s talent didn''t have to decide the quality of life you would live.

    He had wanted all of these things for so long even though he had never said them in so many words... or maybe he had and they were just often marred by hatred, anger, or even his own insecurities.

    If he thought about it... Would he allow his grandfather to stand in his way if he had lost this battle? Would he truly have been able to accept it in stride?

    Naive, indeed...

    The reality was that Leonel had never considered the possibility of losing, so he hadn''t spared a single thought of it. He could split his mind billions of ways, and yet not one had gone down this line of thought, and maybe neither had his grandfather until they were both forced to face this moment.

    Leonel''s gaze never left his grandfather even as the man raised his scepter.

    At that moment, he could see something that had always been there. The mountain of

    weight that they both shared.

    Large and looming, the mass pressed down onto Gervaise''s back, almost forcing his back to round over and collapse.

    Gervaise seemed to barely be standing at all, but he continued to do so. Until the moment he breathed out his last, he wouldn''t allow this weight to fall.

    Unshed tears accumulated in Leonel''s eyes as he seemed to see the world for the first

    time. The last thin barrier of something he hadn''t even known was holding him back

    broke apart, shattering to pieces.

    The three Dharmas to Leonel''s back cracked apart, falling in a rain of violet.

    The violet condensed, the aura of a forming Idol causing the world to shake and

    rumble.

    A tear fell from Leonel''s eyes as the violet condensed to his forehead. All three of his complex Dharmas formed an Idol so simple that it was hard to believe it had come

    from them.

    It was a single thin band of violet-gold across his forehead. It perfectly mirrored the now cracked green-gold band of his grandfather... except it was whole and complete.

    Leonel raised his spear as his aura seemed to vanish.

    The world could no longer seem to measure him.

    "I understand." He said calmly. "Then, come."

 Chapter 3254 A King and an Emperor (7)

    Gervaise''s attack came swift and heavy, but a flicker of Leonel''s wrist deflected the scepter.

    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The emperor stumbled backward, his wrist shaking beneath the impact, but his gaze remained firm.

    Leonel''s senses picked up something beneath him as a Force Art suddenly appeared. It looked as though the maw of a green dragon had opened up beneath him, trying to swallow him from the bottom up. But this dragon was trapped in a mirror it was just about to soar out of.

    With a single tap of his foot, a counter Force Art was drawn and the dragon''s nose smashed against the glass, shattering it apart.

    The pieces of the mirror fell to the ground as Leonel took a step forward, stabbing out with his spear several times in quick succession.

    Gervaise used a combination of Force Arts and his scepter to block, his stern eyes locked in concentration as streaks of blood began to appear across his body, caused by attacks he couldn''t perfectly block.

    With a wave of his arm, Gervaise''s scepter rippled out with a dense energy and his body seemed to multiply into several mirror images. Each one held out their scepters, drawing a large circle in the air.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel was swallowed up from all sides by strong beams of light, each one capable of seemingly wiping out a universe.

    An image of Gervaise in the back tossed his scepter into the air, slamming his palms together and sending out a shockwave that caused space to crackle and bend.

    It was as though he was already clear on the fact that this wouldn''t be enough to deal with Leonel.

    The cracked crown on his forehead splintered more as he pushed, his aura skyrocketing. A rush of powerful might spread out as a shadow appeared behind Gervaise.

    PUCHI!

    The shadow ripped a hole through the Emperor''s chest, but this wasn''t Leonel at all. That much became clear as the shadow pulled its arm back, slowly unearthing a scythe from the depths of Gervaise''s heart.

    Gervaise hacked up a mouthful of blood, the focus in his eyes only increasing as he unleashed a roar.

    The shadow flickered before vanishing into Gervaise''s own shadow. There was a shudder as Gervaise grabbed his scepter out of the air.

    BOOM!

    At that moment, the beams of light that had assaulted Leonel from all sides shattered.

    CHI! CHI! CHI! CHI!

    Arrows ripped through the air and pierced through each image, the last appearing before Gervaise who now had a hole bleeding black blood right in the middle of his chest.

    However, by that point, Gervaise had already plucked his scepter out of the air. With a ripple, its size expanded, a blade jetting out from its large pearl.

    This blade wasn''t connected to the scepter but instead seemed to hover near it as though they were one object.

    With an arc of his arms, Gervaise split the arrow in two, his white-gold hair becoming a dark gold as tendrils of darkness began to pulse out from the corners of his eyes.

    Death Sovereignty.

    Leonel could feel it quite clearly. It seemed that his grandfather was far from running out of trump cards. But it only seemed natural. If he could steal Ability Indexes, there was no reason that he wouldn''t be able to steal other things as well.

    This one seemed to be particularly special, though. He was so casual with how he had brought out the Pluto, but this Void Race memberбн he was especially cautious, even going as far as to hide it away in the depths of his very body.

    Just summoning this construct required an act of self-mutilation almost on the same level as the time Leonel had been forced to allow himself to be eaten alive.

    Howeverбн

    It just wasn''t enough.

    Gervaise was still in the motion of cutting the arrow when Leonel had already appeared before him.

    To his credit, he reacted quickly, but the death aura of the blade was sliced through by Leonel as though it wasn''t even there.

    A reverberating tempest of blows echoed through the region as Leonel and his grandfather crossed blades. Their tempo was fast and hard to follow, a cascade of sounds that should have been individual resonating and bleeding into one another until it sounded like nothing more than a continuous, long, drawn-out echo.

    But what was clear was that Leonel firmly held the upper hand.

    The scythe was parried and pushed aside at his will, his blade cutting into Gervaise''s body again and again.

    There was a fierce intent to kill that permeated both of their eyes, a bloodlust hanging in the air as they flickered and vanished time and time again.

    Their speed caused the world to warp around them, even to the point that the laws of time seemed to cease to make sense.

    Images of less-injured versions of Gervaise began to meld in with more-injured versions. Sometimes, attacks that should have reverberated several seconds ago were delayed by a minute in both sound and image. And sometimes, clashes from the future would flicker around the duo as they were locked in the present.

    Each time this happened, it was like Gervaise was getting a peek into the inevitability of it all, but his gaze remained firm and unbothered, the chilly coldness hidden in the depths of them neither warming up nor chilling any further.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The two separated and a haggard breath came from Gervaise, contrasting the smooth casualness of Leonel''s own.

    Leonel took a step forward and his bow appeared in his hand. A kilometer separated him and his grandfather, but this sort of distance might as well have been nose to nose at their level.

    His arrows began to rain down again as Gervaise struggled to parry them.

    An arrow ripped through Gervaise''s shoulder, but he didn''t so much as flinch, slashing out to destroy a follow-up arrow only to suffer a similar wound from a third.

    Leonel''s rain of arrows was relentless, each one aiming for a vital spot. His arm blurred in the air and the images of the past, present, and future began to bleed into one another.

    The flicker of his fingers seemed to carry the cadence of a Crafter, his Finger Designation having reached unfathomable levels.

    As though he were drawing his fingers across the keys of a piano, he moved with a careless elegance, and once again, his Bow Force seemed to reach a new height entirely.

    A Force Art was quickly forming before Leonel''s bow, and every time an arrow went through the incomplete Force Art, it seemed to become stronger.

    The more complete the Force Art became, the more trouble Gervaise had in protecting his own life.

    Arrows ripped through Gervaise''s legs and limbs, but in a relentless bid, Gervaise activated another Ability Index and an illusory hand appeared high above his head. The hand flexed and puppet strings attached themselves to Gervaise''s body.

    At that moment, the weakness of Gervaise''s body after tanking so many injuries no longer seemed to matter.

    He slashed down with great might, roaring as a cascade of arrows were ripped to shreds, splintering like wood in a hurricane.

    But then Leonel''s Force Art completed itself.

    Staring at the Force Art, Gervaise found himself frozen.

    It wasn''t out of fear, but rather because he physically couldn''t move. The Force Art seemed to claim dominion over all Dream Force, ripping his puppeteering Ability Index to shreds and leaving behind nothing more than a weak body that could no longer hold up to this sort of pressure.

    But it was deeper than even thatбн

    His very soul was frozen, unable to think properly, unable to formulate a new solution for the trouble he was dealing with now.

    The gazes of King and Emperor met.

    The world fell to silence, the oceans below becoming as calm as the surface of the lake even as the rubberbanding of past and present slowly fused together into one just in time for Gervaise to see one final glance of the futureбн

    One where his body was torn apart, his soul ripped to shreds, and the last vestiges of his will being eliminated under the might of the arrow.

    There was no suspense, there was not even a corpse left. The powerful will of Gervaise didn''t even allow Leonel to show this bit of mercy. When facing a man who was willing to give up everything for his hopes and dreams, there was only one way to deal with himбн and if that man happened to be an all-powerful existence who would continue to battle so long as there was the slightest shred of him left, there was truly only one path forward to take.

    Leonel had no choice but to destroy everything this Emperor had been, once was, or could become.

    Gervaise didn''t waver in the slightest, the light in his eyes making one thing clearбн if Leonel gave him even the slightest opportunityбн he would take it.

    The last light of hope in Leonel''s eyes dimmed as his fingers trembled, releasing the arrow.

    It appeared before the Emperor in a final sweeping might.

    PUCHI!

    It ripped through Gervaise''s forehead, shattering his Ethereal Glabella.

    The remaining force was so powerful that

    it ruptured the rest of his body, sending him blasting out in a rain of blood and gore.

    At that moment, the aftershocks of the future and the present melded into one, the layers fusing and combining into one final, undeniable conclusion.

    The death of an Emperor.

 Chapter 3255 An Emperor

    The last moments of Gervaise''s life seemed to last an eternity. He could feel his life slipping away from him, but all he could do was sigh. It seemed that in the end, he hadn''t been able to accomplish what he had promised.

    He had carried this weight on his shoulders for so long, that guilt.

    He could still remember every moment of the destruction of the Fawkes family, how many people sacrificed their lives just so that he could survive.

    Not a single one of them acted out selfishly. Even though it was all his fault, even though they would have been just fine if he had never been born, they still went above and beyond, sacrificing themselves to the last manбн

    And then he remembered his own father.

    Prometheus Fawkes.

    That broad back, those shoulders that seemed to hold up the skies, and that stoic sort of smile that rarely came out and yet carried with it the grace of an Emperor.

    He was such an arrogant man, a man who deserved to sit atop the world and call it his own, the one man who was actually worthy of ruling Existence like Gervaise hoped toбн

    But that man, who had pride running into the very depths of his bones, had actually lowered his head for the sake of his son.

    The inaction of the Pluto was always something that had filled Gervaise with endless amounts of fury. But it wasn''t their inaction itself that truly made him so filled with wrath. It was the fact his father, the man he respected most in the world, was forced to ask for their help in the end.

    Gervaise knew his father well. If it was only for himself, Prometheus would have preferred death over asking the Pluto for anything, even if the Pluto owed them.

    However, for the sake of finding a path for Gervaise to survive, that prideful man had lowered his head, making a trip to the Pluto.

    Gervaise hadn''t been present, but he knew the ways of the world now that he had long since matured. He could imagine the sorts of humiliation his father had had to face that day, how the Pluto had likely made him feel like he was asking for a handout, how they had debased him and turned their noses up at him.

    His father shouldn''t have had to go through that. But because of him, because of his stupid talent, their lives were completely upended.

    He had really wantedбн to be the one who corrected all of thatбн

    He had really wantedбн to be the man who brought the Fawkes back to the peak of the world, that destroyed the Void Race, and pressed the Pluto beneath his heel for their arrogance. He wanted to wipe the Four Great Families out to their last man, and then face off against the Northern Star with a happy smile on his face.

    Every second of his life, he had pushed himself to the extremesбн but as he neared the end, he realized, ironically enough, that the very talent that had destroyed his family wasn''t enough to help him rise above it all.

    In the end, he wasn''t as good as this grandson of his. And maybe he needed to see it through to the end to finally be accepting of that.

    It was just thatбн he didn''t want to accept that the talent that was the reason for the destruction of his life, his family, his motherбн his fatherбн

    Wasn''t the best there wasбн

    Because thenбн what was the point of it all? They had gone so far, and he couldn''t even justify it to himself like this.

    It only filled him with more anger.

    He had to be the strongest. He had to be the one that lifted up this mountain. He had to be the one who justified both the pain his family had suffered, and the one who pulled them out of it.

    Even facing his death, this will burned so fiercely and strongly that he wanted to find a way to struggleбн

    But it was in vain. There was nothing to hold onto, nothing to push against, nothing for him to even apply pressure on or with for that matter.

    His body was gone. His soul was dispersed. All that was leftбн

    Was death.

    In the end, it wasn''t enough. No amount of will, no amount of rage, no amount of hopeless begging or pleading, would change much of anything. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    As prideful as his father was, he had to lower his head to the Race he hated with every fiber of his being.

    And now, he, Gervaise Fawkes, the Emperor of a Generation, would have to accept his loss much the same way his father had.

    It was just that he had wishedбн that he could have done so with as much purposeful drive as Prometheus had.

    Gervaise found himself frozen again after having this thought. He couldn''t remember having ever had it before, but now, facing his death, he felt that he finally had.

    His words before were right. The one thing that would always be uncontrollable were the thoughts and emotions of others. If you could, then they would no longer be their own person.

    The world had too many variables in it, but it was precisely these variables that allowed the uniqueness of every individual. You couldn''t separate a person''s experiences from who they wereбн

    This was why reviving someone would never be easy. Even if Gervaise could revive his father, what then? Would he make that prideful man live out his life knowing that he failed to sacrifice himself for his son and was instead now only alive thanks to the sacrifices of this child of his?

    Even if Prometheus was happy for a few days, maybe in a few years, the worthlessness of his existence, or at his perceived worthlessness, would turn him into a completely different personбн a man more jaded by life, more filled with hatred, less prideful because thenбн

    What would be the point of everything he had done.

    Life was always a road of assigning arbitrary value to things. This was what Leonel had to realize himselfбн he had to come to an understanding that maybe life itself wasn''t any more special than a rock laying by the side of the road. Maybe life was only valuable because the living said it wasбн

    And that was enough of an answer in itself.

    It was because of this that Leonel had chosen to have children even though it felt like an objectively foolish decision. It was why Aina had abandoned the thought of reviving her mother. And it was why Gervaise was spending the last flickering embers of his life in a daze.

    Prometheus had decided the own value of his life, believing that what gave it worth was allowing his son to live the life he deserved toбн to give his son a chance to be the Emperor of a Worldбн

    Before he died, Prometheus never said a word about revenge. He just wanted his son to live.

    Unlike the challenges Leonel faced, Prometheus hadn''t believed that Gervaise''s clash with the God Realm was inevitable. The Demoness wasn''t avoidable, but Gervaise''s enemies were.

    It was left up to Gervaise to take the position he had and did the things he did. But in doing so, he had lost his purpose along the way.

    Was revenge really all he wanted?

    No. If that was true, then he would be fine with Leonel taking his place so long as it got done.

    Was it the satisfaction of revenge dealt by his own hands?

    Somewhatбн at the very least, this would justify all the pain, suffering, and humiliation he had put his family throughбн

    But that answer in and of itself seemed to prove that there was a deeper underlying reason.

    It wasn''t because he wanted the satisfaction himself, but because he wanted to retroactively justify everything that had happenedбн only by being the best could he justify the pain he had brought to the Fawkes familyбн only by proving their enemies correct about the threat he was could he finally set the weight on his shoulders downбн

    But by virtue of that, from the very beginning, he was chasing after an ending that would allow him to finally shrug this mountain off of his shoulders. He was trying to climb to a mountain peak, not for the ends, but so that the ends would justify the meansбн

    In those last moments of his life, Gervaise found himself asking himself a question he never thought he wouldбн

    Had he ever truly wanted to be an Emperorбн?

    Or did heбн

    Just want his family back?

    The last embers of Gervaise flickered out, his thoughts drifting into the wind on a current into silence and solitudeбн

    Until a hand wreathed in violet suddenly reached out, pulling him out of the darkness.

    Gervaise gasped as though his head had just broken the surface of water.

    The first sight he saw was the pale face of his grandson staring at him with tears streaking down his face.

    "I really hate you, old man. Could you have waited any longer?"

 Chapter 3256 Fruits

    Leonel really wanted to punch his grandfather in the face, but he felt that that might not be appropriate given the moment.

    He had really been about to let the old man go. When you were faced with these sorts of issues, the only person who could choose to live was the person themselves.

    Unless Gervaise could realize that being an Emperor was never something he wanted, but something he had forced, hypnotizing himself into believing he wanted, then there would be no amount of bringing him back that would change anything.

    In the end, if he had revived his grandfather without his input into it, then they would have just ended up locked in battle again and Leonel would have been forced to kill him once more.

    Orбн Gervaise might have accepted his loss and become a twisted version of the man Leonel knew him to be.

    Regardless of which of these happened, it wasn''t something that Leonel wanted to see. At that point, the man he knew would be deadбн so what would be the point in bringing him back?

    This was something that Leonel had accepted long ago.

    What part of a person did you actually value?

    If it was just their fleshy bits and the blood that ran through them, then yes, the younger version of him was rightбн life was worthless.

    He could remember having a crisis when he realized that the Silver Tablet was capable of reviving people from the dead. Back then, he had assigned too much weight to the physical existence of a person, and not nearly enough on the other factors that made them who they were.

    Nowбн he knew far better.

    Leonel didn''t think that there would ever be a point in time that he cried for this grandfather of his. He wasn''t the sort of person who got attached easily, and all things considered, he didn''t know this grandfather of his very wellбн

    Or so he had thought.

    But he realized during their battle, and as he was dying, that he was truly tired of losing people.

    He had lost friends, lost family, and lost countless more things in pain, anguish, and hardship.

    He was so completely and utterly fed up with it all.

    His reaction to his grandmother''s near-death had said it all. He truly didn''t want to lose a single more soulбн

    But it was deeper than just that as well. In fact, it was deeper for two reasons.

    First, this grandfather of his meant more to him than he had realized. He was the man who built the foundation for him to grow into the man he was todayбн in a lot of ways, Fawkes was akin to a second father to Leonel. Just because he hadn''t known him from his youth like he had his real father, didn''t mean that Gervaise was any less impactful.

    Recalling everything he had gone through, from being a refugee of Shield Cross Stars, to being given the chance to reaffirm his Dimensional Foundation from the Third Dimension upwardбн all of these things were matters that his grandfather had helped him accomplish whether from the shadows or actively.

    Even now, Leonel had no idea how his grandfather had managed to allow him to do the impossible and return to the Third Dimension. Thoughбн after their battle, he had a pretty good guess.

    It was almost surely on the long list of broken Ability Indexes that he had.

    Gervaise was still in a bit of a daze, but understanding slowly overcame him. He looked down at the hand Leonel was using to hold him up.

    "How long are you going to hold me by my collar like that?"

    "I don''t know, old bastard. How long are you going to dangle like a toddler? Aren''t you a man? Stand up yourself."

    Leonel let go, but Gervaise, who should have fallen to the waters below, just hovered as though nothing had happened.

    Then, as though nothing had happened at all, he brushed away the wrinkles on his robes as though they weren''t littered with holes and wounds, and then began to walk away.

    Leonel was speechless. That was it? sea??h thз╫ Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Where are you going?"

    "To see my wife." Gervaise replied casually, already over a kilometer away.

    "Don''t you know how to say thank you? How about: "I love you, grandson?". I can also settle for: "You are my lord and savior and I''ll worship you to my final breath."."

    "No."

    These were the only words Gervaise said before he disappeared from Leonel''s sights entirely.

    This time, Leonel was truly without words. He had thought that Nilrem was shameless, but his grandfather truly took the cake.

    Leonel shook his head and then began to laugh, his tears becoming motes of violet light that danced in the surroundings.

    It seemed that there was another way to save people as well.

    ''There''s still much to doбн'' Leonel thought to himself, looking toward the tall ceiling of the underground catacomb as though he could see right through to the skies aboveбн or maybe it was that no matter where you were, it was impossible to miss the Northern Star''s influence no matter where you were.

    That aside, there was indeed much to doбн

    The Four Great Familiesбн The Void Raceбн The Plutoбн The Minervaбн The Sylvansбн

    The Demoness.

    Leonel should be raising war banners and charging out onto the battlefield. But at the momentбн

    He had no desire to do so.

    The matters of the world would come. The end of the world would come. His enemies weren''t going anywhere.

    So why should he rush to deal with them?

    There was no reason to not spend every moment as though it might be their last.

    And that was precisely what Leonel did. He too went to see his wife.

    бн

    It wasn''t until over half a year later that Leonel finally seemed to recall that the world was in chaos and there were things that he finally had to handle.

    He peeled himself out from under his wife''s body, swinging his legs to the side of their bed and standing to his full height.

    Exhaling a breath, the breath of calm in him solidified into a hidden coldness. Putting on his robes, he stood a strong step out, appearing high above Anastasia''s world.

    Seemingly sensing something, Anastasia appeared by his side a moment later, her aura glowing.

    "How is it?" Leonel asked lightly.

    "Everything is prepared."

    "Explain it to me."

    Leonel truly hadn''t been paying any attention this time. He hadn''t wanted to make Anastasia do all the work on her own, but she had insisted. It seemed that she was still feeling guilty about what happened back then. Soбн Leonel took his grandfather''s lessons to heart.

    Controlling the heart of the people wasn''t nearly as easy as controlling his own. And a step further than thatбн he shouldn''t want to control their hearts either. Otherwise, what made them the people he wanted to love and surround himself with would be erased, lost in an endless tide of space and time.

    Anastasia was still carrying around guilt surrounding his father''s death. She knew that in exchange for herself, Velasco very well might still be here today.

    Leonel didn''t want her carrying around extra unnecessary guilt, so he had allowed her to do as she pleased.

    And she truly performed.

    "The Morales have all been fast-tracked properly. Their compatibility with Valor Force is extraordinary and it evolved their Constellation perfectly. The Morales Dimensional Method we created paired well with [Dimensional Cleanse]. The Constellation allowed their Stars to synergize excellently."

    The plan with the Morales was multi-layered, but it built upon functions that they had already come to understand.

    The Spear and Creation halves of their abilities were combined thanks to Valor Force. But the true shocking displays of their abilities came thanks to the synergy between [Dimensional Cleanse] and their Constellation.

    As the creator of [Dimensional Cleanse], Leonel understood it the most intimately. So doing something like tweaking it was excellent. But it was also thanks to Anastasia workshopping a special Morales Dimensional Method that everything came together so well.

    The short of it was that he was able to use [Dimensional Cleanse] to help the Morales form Stars of their own. These Stars would then arrange in a formation when they were activated, and this would in turn form the foundation for the army''s Force Art.

    Ever since Leonel had learned about army syncing in the Cataclysm Zone, he had been playing around with and tweaking it.

    Now, he felt that he had created the strongest army formation in all of existence. Not only was it built into the family''s Constellation, but it also fed off the Idol of a True Godбн Valor Force.

    And all of that was tied together perfectly by the Morales Dimensional Method.

    By now, Leonel understood that the Demoness had created the Morales Lineage Factor for her own whims and wishesбн but now she would face the fruits of her labor herself.

    [Important Announcement Below]

 Chapter 3257 Bunch of Babies

    The drums of war echoed across the God Realm.

    бн

    Four Great Families.

    Imperatress Anselma walked with vigorous strides, the strips of her red gown practically hovering above the marbled ground, fusing into her red-gold hair.

    BANG!

    Her palms slammed the wide double doors of a throne room open.

    Several gazes landed on her at once, but with every step she took, her aura only seemed to grow until she eventually stood like a towering mass.

    The current Head of the Brazinger family looked at her with a frown, but by the time she had placed a foot on the first staircase, he was covered in such a heavy cold sweat that he no longer dared to speak.

    A memory triggered in his mind as Anselma climbed the stairs and his emotions quickly flickered from rage, to shock, then fear, then understanding.

    "Scram." Anselma said coldly.

    Berat was a veteran of war. A man who had bathed both his skin and blades in blood. However, right now, he couldn''t seem to muster up the momentum he needed to do much other than move out of the way.

    Anselma didn''t slow a single time as though she already expected that Berat would move for her.

    Without breaking her stride, she crossed the threshold of the final step and took a seat, facing off against a sea of red eyes staring back at her. Each was colored with some shade of confusion, not understanding what was going on.

    The woman in question herself trembled slightly when she sat on the throne. Memories she had long forgotten whizzed by in her mind one after another. With each new consolidated thought, her aura grew less violent and more solid.

    By the end of it, she seemed to recall just who she was as well.

    "Ha." A single, hollow chuckle came from her lips.

    When she had been walking here, her body had practically been controlled by a mysterious power and she could only watch as a third party as she did something she would have normally never dared to do.

    But now that she understoodбн she felt like it was all just one big joke.

    "I, the Imperatress, actually have a day where I fall so far."

    Losing her temper for a man, torturing mere mortals, being sent fleeing with her tail between her legs by a mere child.

    She had prepared herself to recall her previous life with quite some regrets. With things like this, it was impossible to control every variable.

    She had thought that she might accidentally marry a man who was beneath her status, or maybe humiliate herself in various ways. But this left a taste of disgust even in her mouthбн

    Not because she regretted the actions, but because she regretted the reasons for them.

    If she was going to kill, maim, and humiliate, she should do it for herself.

    A cold sneer spread across her beautiful features.

    Aina Brazinger, was it? Did a woman who took another family''s name deserve to carry their blood?

    "Who are the Brazingers?" Anselma asked, a chilly wind spreading beneath the weight and majesty of her tone.

    The Brazingers, even the most skeptical ones, were compelled to answer by a mysterious power. Their mouths opened at once and the aura in the throne room solidified.

    "WE BLEED."

    A simple two words. Yet, they resonated with an echo that howled across space and time.

    бн

    The Imperatress had returned.

    The weight of the words didn''t seem to settle in for a time. Anselma had carried the title of Imperatress for all her life, and others called her by it naturally as though it was just a fact of life.

    But it wasn''t until today that the meaning was realized.

    And she wasn''t the only one that revived on this day.

    Dreadarch Eryvon of the Laevis supplanted the Head of the Laevis.

    Thronebearer Loryth of the Crudus directly took the Head of the Crudus.

    Regentrix Myxor hung the Head of the Adurna to dry, allowing her to slowly die beneath the sun and the crows.

    The Imperatress. The Thronebearer. The Dreadarch. The Regentrixбн

    Each one had returned. Sз╫arch* The novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But the latter three only had one action they all took when they recovered their memories. Without fail, they all turned to the Brazinger Clan, falling to a knee.

    бн

    Anselma sat on her throne in silence, her eyes closed and her breathing even. The slight movement of her chest was the only proof that she was still alive at all.

    When she sensed the actions of the three, a fiendish grin spread across her face. With her eyes still closed, it looked to be particularly out of place.

    "бн There is only room for one lioness at the top."

    **

    Leonel sat at the top of the Ascension Palace stairs. He looked down toward the sea of warriors below, some looking at him with complicated glances, some with confusion, others with unwillingness.

    "You see that?" Leonel asked his son and daughter.

    Little Leo was standing on the top step Leonel sat upon, half hiding behind his father''s shoulder as though only this gave him the courage to peer over and take a look at the millions looking up at them.

    Leah, though, was sitting on her father''s lap, only barely peeking out from burying her head in his chest.

    "Mhmбн" Leo said, squeezing out his words.

    "Most of them aren''t very happy with me. Whether it be that they''re still very loyal to my grandfather, or the fact that they think the world is ending so there''s no point in scrambling for power right now."

    Leonel''s voice wasn''t very hidden, so many froze when he spoke out such things so candidly.

    "Most of them will probably never put their full effort into the coming battle, some probably have plans of defecting and end rushing off to the middle of nowhere to live out the remainder of what little time they have left. What do you think?" Leonel asked Leo.

    "Bunch of babies." Leo muttered.

    Leonel sputtered with laughter as a spark of rage lit within the army below.

 Chapter 3258 First Blood

    "Oh, you''re angry?" Leonel said between his bouts of laughter. "So what?"

    With those words, Leonel stood to his feet, his aura changing.

    "You know who isn''t worried about the end of the world? The Pluto. The Void Race. The Beastmen. The Minerva. The Sylvans. While you''re here busy sulking, they''re positioning themselves to take everything you''re worth.

    "I can hear your thoughts. I can see through those pitiful expressions. You don''t care. Maybe you think they''re wasting their time. But this is the difference between them and the Human Race.

    "They know how to take what they deserve. All you all know how to do is wait for it to be handed to you.

    "The Creation Beasts granted you power in the past, and when they passed away, you lost it. My grandfather granted you power this time, and now you want to squander it.

    "You have no backbone, no heart, no conviction. It''s no wonder the entire world looks down on the Human Race. What are you worth?"

    Leonel''s voice was powerful, but he didn''t shout. And yet, it felt like each one of their chests were rattling with the vibrations of his words.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Suddenly, to Leonel''s back, one heavily armored existence after another appeared.

    "It seems that all of you have forgotten what it means to be Human. Morales men. Remind them."

    ROAR!

    Leonel took a step as the Morales roared behind him. The aura of the madmen of the Dimensional Verse shook the stars and the skies, and before the Northern Star, they didn''t shrink even the tiniest bit. sea??h thз╫ N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    To his back, his Generals took the stage. From Joel to Elthor, and then from James to Emna.

    The only one that seemed to be missingбн was his wife.

    But if Leonel wasn''t worried about that, then it probably wasn''t anyone else''s place to be.

    Not to mention the factбн it was hard for them to focus on anything other than the steadily building momentum in the skies.

    "I will say this only once." Leonel''s voice became glacially cold. "I do not have the time to slowly win you all over, nor do I have the patience. If you do not fall in line, I will kill until the stars'' cries and the rivers run red.

    "I have the blood of my own cousin on my hands. Don''t think that your relation to me will save you.

    "I do not favor the Morales over you. Both are my family. However, unlike you all, they have a grudge that they have been nursing for many years. While you allбн have gotten soft and complacent. You don''t know war. You don''t know battle.

    "You will either learn how to live in this rain of blood or you will die. There is no other option."

    SHIIIIIIING!

    Leonel reached to his back, his spear unearthing itself from the depths of space.

    He pointed it toward the skies and a spear howled across Existence. At that moment, there wasn''t a single person alive who didn''t hear it.

    Down below, Mordred''s gaze flickered with a complicated light.

    She still remembered the young boy who had a heart that was still too kind for his own good. That young boy helped her rebuild her relationship with her father and her motherбн the young man that took in a world of people who didn''t have a proper place in the world and showed them that they weren''t just words on a page, but rather real people that deserved to be treated as such.

    But now, he was no longer that young boy.

    At least that was what she thought before she felt an image of Leonel winking at her surface in her mind.

    She blinked, wiping her eyes in confusion. But the image was long gone, and the sight of Leonel standing in the skies coldly with his daughter in his arms was firmly imprinted once more.

    "I am no Emperor. I will draw my blade and I will shed blood with you on the battlefield. However, I am likewise unwilling to allow your pettiness and selfishness to go unpunished either. I will give you as much as you give me back.

    "Beneath my charge, not only will the Human Race rise to its previous glory, it will surpass it."

    The skies rippled as Leonel slashed his blade down. The blue seemed to part like the seas, a moon in the far-off distance trembling once before it was split in two.

    "Andбн the cowering rats that only know how to backstab and take advantage of numbers and the weaknesses of others will suffer the fate they always had coming to them."

    The moon fell into two halves, the faint image of it barely perceptible in the bright light of day. However, what was clear was the fleet of ships surging over from a distance.

    Without the moon blocking their line of sight, the Ascension Emperor citizens realized something horrifying.

    Leonel wasn''t just lying to them. He was very much telling the truth.

    Even if they wanted to relax and rest on their laurels until the end of daysбн

    Their enemies wouldn''t allow them such a luxury.

    While they were busy sulking, the rest of the world was scrounging up just the slightest hope.

    The moment they had this collective thought, the sound of glass shattering echoed through the ether.

    бн

    A ship cut through the darkness, wreathed in golden roots and bark. Unlike the others, it seemed to be living and breathing.

    In its depths, an ancient tree swayed in silence, and all seemed right and perfectбн

    Until there was a sudden pulse of red.

    A face appeared in the body of the ancient tree and it coughed out a mouthful of blood.

    The peaceful atmosphere was shredded to pieces.

    "I''m glad you''re on your way here so I don''t have to waste my effort. Trying to use Dream Force to influence my citizensбн? You Sylvans do a great job overestimating yourselves.

    "Let your death be the first blood of this war."

    CHI.

    The ancient tree was split in two.

 Chapter 3259 Overgrown Weeds

    A savage grin spread across Leonel''s face.

    Were the Fawkes really such cowards? Maybe in part, but definitely not to the point that it would be such a systemic problem. Violence and rage were reactions that he was ready for. This pacifism and self-loathing wasn''t part of that equation.

    It made the manipulation almost too obvious.

    There was only one reason they would react like this.

    The Dream Force undercurrents of the Ascension Empire had already been controlled by others.

    But before this plan could even be executed on, Leonel directly shattered it with a few words.

    In this worldбн if he said he was second in Dream Force control, only one person dare to claim being first, while the others were ignorant of their own inferiority.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    A familiar scene played out as the Fawkes snapped awake. They didn''t even have the time to react to the changes properly before their world was entirely surrounded.

    Ships wreathed in golden roots shook to a stop. Howeverбн

    CHI!

    One was suddenly split in two right down the middle.

    What should have been an oppressive rival was cut through just as easily. It was only then that those that thought Leonel was just showing off his power realized that he was, in fact, attacking something they hadn''t even been able to see, let alone attack themselves.

    A gloominess hung in the air, several oppressive Dream Forces descending. Their minds were so powerful that just the fluctuations in their emotions seemed to paint the skies a different color.

    One after another, one Sylvan elite appeared per ship, standing on their backs as though they were one part their body and another part transportation.

    Leonel wasn''t surprised to see this. This method was the one the Sylvans had come up with to deal with one of their greatest weaknesses.

    Their perceptions were the greatest when they were rooted down. But when they were rooted, they were also highly vulnerable.

    Like this, they could have the best of both worlds.

    However, seeing them appear like this, Leonel couldn''t help but raise his head to the sky and unleash a billowing laughter.

    Leah frowned, pouting as she used her little hands to cover her ears.

    "Daddy, you''re too loud."

    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry. It''s just too funny."

    "What''s funny?" Leah asked, confused.

    "Do you know who claims to be the smartest Race in Existence?"

    Leah blinked. "Oh, the Sylvans?"

    "That''s right."

    "But daddy said that they''re just overgrown weeds."

    The gloominess of the Sylvans only deepened.

    Leonel burst into laughter again. "I did say that, true."

    "You also said that in the past, our Ancestors used to use their leaves to wipe theirбк." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel hurriedly covered his daughter''s mouth, a cold sweat matting his back. If she finished that, Aina would definitely have him by the balls later.

    "Yes, yes, I did say that."

    Leah blinked innocently, a smile in her eyes.

    "Alright, three scoops of ice cream."

    Leah held up her chubby little fingers.

    "Alright, fine. Four."

    The giddy little dance his daughter did brought a smile to Leonel''s face. For a moment, he almost forgot that he was in the middle of a battlefield.

    "бн I do not know what Emperor Fawkes was thinking handing his Kingdom over to you, but even though you are clearly lacking in many respects, you at least share your grandfather''s overblown sense of confidence."

    Leonel looked over, seemingly offended. "What do you mean overblown? That bark that covers your body sure makes your skin a bit thick."

    Leah giggled.

    "Eryndal is your name, right?" Leonel asked as though he didn''t already have the answer, but the Sylvan Ancestor fused to the floating vessel couldn''t help but narrow his eyes. His name wasn''t something that most should know. Even if they did, they would know him by his title, not his full name.

    "No need to be surprised," Leonel continued. "Your Race might not be very smart, but what they are is long-living. I read a passage about you in the Life Tablet. You started off as a walking stick forбк."

    "ENOUGH!"

    Eryndal''s roar parted the clouds.

    "бкRhynthia the Gentle, right?" Leonel''s voice cut through as though Eryndal hadn''t spoken. "Quite noble of you to help out others in their old age. It''s quite interesting, though. All of your Races descend from Humans, or so I thought. So why were you a normal block of wood?

    "That confused me for a long while until I understood.

    "The God Beasts of Creation were doing quite a lot of experimentation back then. I wonder how many people ended up dead because of it?

    "If you read history at face value, you might miss a lot of the finer details. Like howбн" a coldness flashed in the depths of Leonel''s gaze. "бн Plants like you grow best with fertilizer."

    The echo of Eryndal''s roar was still hovering over the horizon. But it did nothing to stop Leonel''s words from cutting through.

    Eryndal''s chest heaved and the murderous intent of the other Sylvans only seemed to grow.

    "Thoseбн will be some of the last words you speak." He said coldly.

    "Is that so?" Leonel asked. "In that case, how about I say some more. Have you noticed something odd about what''s happening here?"

    Eryndal frowned, the bronzed orbs that were his eyes practically piercing through Leonel as though trying to see through him.

    "Do you think that your Race is really the smartest there is? You think you got here first, after months of planning, thinking that you''d have the leg up? Did you think that everyone would allow you to fly under the radar because you''re neutral "pacifists"? Who did you think you were fooling here, exactly?"

    Eryndal slowly calmed, his face becoming entirely expressionless.

    His Dream Force reacted in kind, calming until the skies stilled once again, the deformed clouds remaining as the only proof of their previous fury.

    "And what do you mean by that, exactly?"

    A malevolent grin spread across Leonel''s face. "They sent you here to die. You''re nothing but a sacrificial lamb to roast, here to test my bottom line.

    "But they''ll learn quite soon that you''re not worthy of that.

    "Kill them all." Leonel said coldly.

    BANG!

    Leonel''s army shot into the air.

 Chapter 3260 Blood.

    Blood.

    The scent hung heavily in the air, tinting what should have otherwise been a clear atmosphere crimson.

    Aina walked slowly through a plain that didn''t seem very special. It was flat, mostly barren of life, and it didn''t have the slightest bit of character to itбн

    Aside from the large castle right in the middle of it all.

    Aina''s approach couldn''t have been more silent, but it also didn''t look like she was trying to hide her presence at all.

    She was alone, accompanied by nothing more than the ax on her back and the leather armor on her body.

    Her eyes were so emotionless that they were practically dull. They would have been had it not been for the resplendence of their golden hue.

    But her brows remained flat, her lips gently pressed together, her neck proudly straightened, drawing a line right from the back of her head to her planted feet.

    Howeverбн that scent of blood was only becoming more suffocating, more omnipresent, until the blue skies above became purpleбн and then from purple, they became a deep rouge.

    The change was so oppressive that even the sun that hung high in the skies trembled, dimming and becoming painted in crimson as well.

    Despite all of the changesбн one would have never thought that they were related to the beautiful young mother walking calmly across the plain.

    бн

    Anselma''s eyes suddenly snapped open, her pupils constricting.

    There was a slight palpitation in her heart that she ruthlessly suppressed, but the solemness between her brows hadn''t vanished.

    Her head turned and her crimson irises flashed as she seemed to see through the walls of the palace.

    "I seeбн"

    Anselma slowly stood to her feet.

    "This Founder''s Ax has returned home."

    бн

    Aina''s steps didn''t pause for a moment. She felt a gaze land on her, one that she recognized intimately, but it might as well have been nothing more than air.

    Her gait was even, so mechanically precise that it could be measured down to the exact millimeter without a hint of deviation.

    The battle ax trembled on her back, greedily soaking in the bloodlust in the air.

    How many years had it been?

    Aina''s expression finally slowed just the slightest hint of deviation, her head tilting up to the skies.

    She had been not much older than her daughter was now when those matters took place. Being forced to experience the horrible fate of her mother, as she lost her life piece by piece to the sickening torture methods of the Brazingers.

    She had bled more blood than she cared to count for, waiting for this day.

    Memories floated by her thoughts one after anotherбн days she would train until her body was too tired to even sleep properlyбн days she would swing her weapon so many times it felt as though her joints themselves had become callousedбн days she used to shatter her own bones just to grow them back stronger.

    Her training methods had only grown more devastating, more cruelбн more masochistic with every step she took.

    And yet, it never felt like it was enough.

    She always wanted to push further, press harder.

    A light smile spread across Aina''s lips as a fond memory came to mind.

    When she was younger, she used to have a terrible habit of biting her lips whenever she was agitated. She had grown out of that long ago, but it wasn''t because she had forgotten about it.

    Every time she thought about doing so, she remembered words that maybe even Leonel didn''t remember saying.

    "You shouldn''t do thatбн" Aina said softly. "бн You''ll scar your lipбн"

    She hadn''t known what to think back then, and it made her even more afraid to face Leonel with her real face. If he was worried about a scar on her lips, then what would he do when he saw what the Curse the Brazingers had placed on her had done?

    Still, she had, subconsciously or otherwise, stopped biting her lip after that day.

    Aina raised a finger to her bottom lip, a gorgeous smile blooming on her face.

    That short sentence completely recontextualized everything to her when Leonel didn''t care about her scarred face at all.

    The scar wasn''t the problem. He just didn''t want her to be hurt.

    It was a simple thing. So impossibly simple that even Aina felt a little silly that she was thinking about it now of all times.

    But it brought a broad smile to her face.

    Indeedбн she didn''t need to be that woman anymore.

    Aina took another step and a pair of black wings grew from the small of her back. Her eyes became a deep abyss of black, her hair lengthening as a pair of horns formed.

    Her temperament became more regal and overwhelming as a crackle of black lightning peeled across the crimson clouds.

    Okayбн maybe she could be that woman only for a certain man.

    "My babies and husband are waiting for meбн"

    Aina''s blooming smile suddenly became ice cold as she reached out a hand, her battle ax slapping into her palm. In one fluid motion, she didn''t pause a single time as she swung down.

    A scythe of crimson tore into the ground, almost splitting the world in two. It appeared before the gates of the castle in a blink of an eye.

    A ripple of red appeared, an invisible dome flashing into existence.

    Scythe and dome warped around one another, a clash of Force twisting and pulling against one another.

    Shades of red flashed around one another until.

    BANG!

    A bolt of black came from the skies, ripping into the barrier.

    BOOM!

    The barrier flexed like a rubber ball before it shattered completely, unable to withstand the power.

    Alarm bells rang through the Brazinger family compound and a large number of warriors shot into the skies, expecting to find an army that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    But insteadбн

    They only found a single young woman with an ice cold gaze. Sз╫arch* The novз╫lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And even then, it was only for a short moment.

    Before they could react, dozens of heads had been bisected from their necks.

    Blood shot into the skies and formed just as many blooming roses.

    Todayбн she had come here to kill.

 Chapter 3261 Returned

    Aina swept out her battle ax, her blood roses rotating like a garden of blades, blackened lightning forming their thorns and painting the skies across in an array of death, destruction, and oddlyбн

    Life.

    With a step, Aina''s black feathered wings fluttered, her armor pulsing with a bright vitality.

    The amusement drained from her eyes, replaced by a deathly stillness and cold. The Life Force of the world seemed to drain continuously, a whine that came from the depths of the World Spirit''s soul making those that called this place home tremble, a sense of loss overwhelming their hearts.

    BANG!

    Dozens of Brazingers couldn''t hold on. Aina did nothing more than walk toward them, but their blood ripped out from their bodies, unable to hold back under the call of their mistress.

    Without the strength to fight back, their Life Force was almost eager to hand themselves over.

    Their Queen had beckoned them forward.

    How could they not oblige.

    The Brazingers, for their credit, charged ahead. They were warriors down to the depths of their souls, and they didn''t shrink in the face of challenge.

    However, they were little different from moths to a flame. And every time they acted so recklessly, they only added to Aina''s strength.

    One would have thought that the skies would be painted by grief, by pain, that that outpouring of a daughter''s love would rip their psyches to shred.

    But Aina was eerily calm, not like a lake, but rather like a slumbering volcano, a dragon coiled deep within their cave.

    With every step closer she came to Anselma, the deeper that calm seemed to become.

    Her soul was awash with a refreshing dew, her body swaddled in the caring caress of the skies and the tender call of the earth.

    The deaths continued to accumulate, not a single one managing to approach within several dozen meters of Aina. They flew forward like moths to a flame, adding to the garden of blood forming around the Queen.

    Dark clouds rumbled in the skies, blackened lightning an even deeper shade of darkness and brooding than them tearing across their body like dancing shards of electricity.

    A large amount of stamina should have been used up by now, and maybe that was precisely what the higher-ups of the Brazingers were waiting forбн for her to tire, for her to waver.

    However, the smoldering ember seemed to be gently cradled by a pair of fair hands, that ember carrying a hatred she had held in herself since the day her mother suffered on that stake, since the day her face was torn asunder, cursed to suffer to the end of her days by a woman spurned by nothing more than petty jealousy.

    A life upturned, a mother ripped from her daughter, a pain buried years deep.

    But it no longer consumed her, no longer weeded into her soul.

    Instead, it became a gentle fuel no different from any other.

    A fuel meant to burn for an eternity and into infinity.

    Along with the memory of the Brazingers'' fall on this day.

    BANG!

    Aina took a step onto the walls of the Brazinger family compound. Not once had she decreased her pace. All the while, her gait was steady, her expression a lukewarm sort of coldness that chilled the heart and yet somehow calmed the spirit.

    She gently raised her battle ax for the first time. Sз╫arch* The N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The moment she did so, a cascade of powerful auras erupted from the distance.

    The Ancestors of the Brazingers had finally made their move.

    And yet.

    Her blade descended.

    There was nothing more than the slightest ripple in the air. A scythe of Force didn''t take shape. It almost looked like a heat wave passing through the air, distorting nothing more than the image on the other side of it and not much more.

    But this simple swing made the hearts of the Brazinger Ancestors leap into their throats. Fear colored their expressions, and one after another, they summoned their Manifestations.

    Giants of illusion, clad in reds and bejeweled by a bright vitality and a fiery will for battle and victory, appeared.

    And just as quickly, they were torn in two.

    The invisible blade passed right through them and their bodies split of their own accord. Their own blood formed the scythe within them, splitting their bone, their skin, their flesh right down the middle.

    They stood frozen in place, not realizing just what had happened to them until it was far too late.

    PUCHI.

    The sound of wet flesh and split bone echoed through the air. They fell to the ground in two pieces, their bodies flopping in a sickening blend of noise.

    The roses that floated around Aina pulsed with life, her control over Life increasing as the corpses of the Brazinger Ancestors were sucked dry.

    But right when the blood was about to be incorporated into her strength, they froze in the air.

    A woman had appeared.

    Adorned by a fluttering red dress, she and her bright red lips seemed to stand out in the skies no less than the rivers of blood that surfed the wind.

    These rivers, however, stilled, seemingly frozen in time.

    Anselma looked at the blood calmly before turning to Aina. She scanned the young woman''s face and then her eyes landed on the battle ax.

    A light smile tugged at her lips.

    It had been a very long time since she laid eyes on this treasured weapon of hers. It was about time that it returned home.

    She raised her hand and softly beckoned. It seemed like a gentle gesture, but the clouds above almost dispersed beneath the power of the almost careless curl of her fingers.

    A strong, pulsing might came from the battle ax.

    Aina looked down at it as her arm tugged forward, the force so great her shoulder nearly popped out from its socket. She too was calm as she gazed at it.

    Thenбн the Founder''s Ax was ripped out from her hands, whizzing through then snapping into place on Anselma''s with a satisfying slap.

    It had returned home.

 Chapter 3262 Four

    Anselma took a breath, her chest shuddering as she felt a rush of power weave through her. The world shook as though bowing to the return of an Empress.

    The Imperatress.

    "Ah, it has now truly returned home. Now, let''s end this quickly, shall we?"

    Anselma took a step and appeared before Aina in a flash. She swung the ax with a single arm, its unruly and long polearm seemingly not much of a problem to her at all. Although the battle ax''s form was more than a head tall than her, she wielded it like a normal single-handed hand ax.

    Yet, the power behind it was so great that the body bent into a crescent moon, the laws of the world whining and then bending into obedience as well.

    Aina struck out with a palm.

    BANG!

    The wind shattered to pieces, or so it seemed. Volatile currents, spinning, churning, and thrusting in all sorts of directions made it confused, not knowing which ones to follow.

    But soon after this shattering, space quaked along with it.

    The two women, however, were unmoved.

    "Oh?" Anselma blinked.

    She was calm and casual, but her indifferent arrogance caused her to almost miss the fact Aina had followed up on her attack instantly.

    A second palm descended as though Aina didn''t fear the blade meeting her flesh at all.

    With how much she had been through her life, with how many weapons she had gone through, how much pain she had forced herself to endureбн

    How was this worth much of anything?

    Anselma failed to react as a palm drove into her chest. Her ribs rebounded back, being compressed at an awkward angle before she was sent flying back.

    Aina took a step forward, her hips twisting slightly as her wings flapped a single time. All of her momentum transferred to her attacking arm.

    BANG!

    Anselma''s body shot out like a rocket, the air she passed through superheating as concentric circles of shattering wind rippled out. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She tore a line so straight down and through the city one could have easily mistaken the streak of crimson for a laser piercing through the air.

    She crashed into several buildings, not slowing until she was embedded into the central castle.

    The earth rumbled so fiercely the skies quaked along with it. At the same time, the wall beneath Aina''s feet cracked down to its very foundation.

    This wall was one meant to anchor the earlier, large-scale formation. And yet now, it could hardly withstand the might of a single "light" step from Aina.

    Then Aina vanished.

    There was a rumble and the wall collapsed. As though a spherical bomb of energy had been set off, a perfectly smooth section was left behind.

    But Aina herself was nowhere to be seen.

    A beam of light passed through right where she had just been, and her figure itself appeared in the rubble along with Anselma.

    BANG!

    Another sphere.

    BANG!

    Another.

    BANG!

    Yet another.

    Anselma and Aina flickered around the city, their powerful strikes leaving smooth, almost too perfectly controlled pulses of destruction in their wake.

    And every time, Anselma found herself crushed.

    Her battle ax''s blade was blocked, her body was bombarded, her head was snapped to the side, her blood leaked from her lips and her wounds.

    It was a complete, one-sided, utterly contemptuous sort of battle.

    Aina flashed by the swing blade, her fist cutting across the side of Anselma''s face as sending one of her teeth flying into the distance. But before Anselma''s body could even head in that direction, a second fist came even faster, driving into her gut so far Aina almost felt her spine on her knuckles.

    Anselma keeled over before her body accelerated, shooting off into the distance and digging a deep trench into the ground.

    The Imperatress coughed off a mouthful of blood as Aina stood in the skies. The latter''s head turned, looking off into the distance as though she had sensed something. But even now, her expression was shockingly calm.

    Anselma slowly stood to her feet, wiping the blood from her cherry lips. It was an action that should have smeared that bright red lipstick she wore, but somehow, that color seemed infused into her very flesh itself.

    It didn''t fade even the slightest bit. If anything, it only grew brighter, sharper.

    The Imperatress didn''t seem to be distressed. There was a hint of shock in her eyes, but it wasn''t to the point that she had lost herself to despair.

    This was only to be expected. Even with the Founder''s Ax back in her hands, this body was too weak. She had planned to use the next few years to rebuild her foundation and return to her original strength slowly before the final battle, but Aina had come before she could do this.

    If she was honest, she thought it wouldn''t matter. The shadow she was chasing was that of the Demoness, not this child. So she thought that even without much effort, she would win this battleбкespecially after Aina lost her weapon.

    But it seemed that she hadбн underestimated this child.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Three auras appeared, each one just as powerful as the last.

    The Dreadarch Eryvon, a man wreathed in golden light. There was a sharpness to him and his yellowed eyes that exuded the air of a refined blade. Even looking into his gaze seemed to hurt.

    The Thronebearer Loryth, a woman coated in vines and poisoned buds. A crown of thorns wrapped around her head, piercing into her skin and leaving scars as it greedily drank her blood.

    The Regentrix Myxor, a man wearingбн nothing at all. He stood there, almost too confident. He was offensive to the gaze, and yet it didn''t seem to faze him even in the slightest.

    The four didn''t say a single word as they moved.

    Loryth''s vines spread, Eryvon shot into the skies, drawing on air and pulling a bow and arrow from the light, and Myxor shot for Aina.

    All the while, Anselma watched in a calm silence, the gentle pitter patter of her own blood falling to the ground not fazing her in the slightest.

 Chapter 3263 Thronebearer

    Aina found her control of Life Force being constrained by the Thronebearer''s Domain of Thorns. Her own bloodied roses dimmed as a large amount of the blood she had gathered was sucked away in the blink of an eye.

    Before she could handle this situation, though, Loryth''s arrows sealed off her exit routes and Myxor''s fist had flashed before her face, reflecting a subtle crystal bed of scales on their knuckles.

    Aina struck out with a palm in retaliation, but the moment their fists connected, she felt a great deal of her power turned back on her. She arm shot and the bones of her wrists almost shattered.

    BANG! BANG!

    Twin arrows bombarded her from the side and she managed to use her roses to block. But they only lasted a single exchange before they fell in a rain of crimson. Too weakened by the Thronebearer Loryth''s Domain, they were already at a tipping point of fragility.

    And none of this stopped the Regentrix''s second fist.

    Myxor erupted with a combination of attacks, becoming a fierce tanker while taking advantage of the Adurna family''s powerful defenses. Not only was he practically indestructible, but her forced Aina to endure what felt like over 70% of her own power, reflecting it back at her.

    His naked body became coated by reflective scales, finally covering up some of his decency, but they still blinked in and out of existence.

    Aina was on her back foot, forced to retreat again and again. She tried to take advantage of it to make some distance between herself and Eyvon''s arrows, but the Dreadarch didn''t even bother to move from his position in the air. His range wasбн Existence itself.

    What would a few hundred meters do?

    BANG!

    Aina suffered a blow to her chest, her ribs rattling. She had tried to dodge, but Loryth''s Domain bound her feet, slowing her reaction time. By the time her blood roses shredded the restraint apart, the fist was already too close to dodge.

    Butбн

    She grabbed onto Myxor''s wrist. As blood fell from her lips, her inner organs rattling beneath the strain, she released a delicate roar, her wings flapping. A surge of strength pulsed through her body as she raised Myxor up, flipping him through the air and slamming him to the ground.

    Myxor''s body swatted a golden arrow out of the air, the sparks of light spreading across his body like flames dancing across marble.

    Aina raised her foot high in the skies, ready to levy an ax kick right to his head without regard for the damage she would suffer. But the Thronebearer''s bed of thorns sucked the Adurna Head into its soft folds and Aina hit nothing but this bed of thorns that was anything but soft to her.

    Poison thorns pierced into Aina''s foot, ripping through her armor and releasing a pulse that almost sucked her body dry of blood in a single instant.

    It would have worked too had Aina''s Blood Force not been at a practically unachievable level. But, not only did she manage to resist, butбн for as long as she could remember she had always been impervious to poison.

    BANG!

    A large portion of the Thronebearer''s Domain was shredded to pieces.

    Her brows shot up in shock, but she realized what happened instantly. She hadn''t managed to take up a large amount of Aina''s blood, but she did take a few droplets. Just when she thought she would be able to easily refine it, Aina''s control won out.

    Loryth realized then that Aina could have probably stopped her from taking any blood at all, but she didn''t precisely for this opportunity right here and now.

    There wasn''t enough time to rebuild the Domain.

    Aina appeared before Loryth, her eyes flashing a bloody red.

    BANG!

    Vines to Loryth''s back exploded just as she tried to retreat. Her body was sent flinging toward Aina''s fist.

    Aina''s power erupted, her hair dancing in the wind as feathers fell from the skies.

    She drove a fist right through Loryth''s chest, shredding her heart to pieces as she tore through her spine.

    The Thronebearer shook, her body convulsing.

    Several arrows stuck out of Aina''s back and blood leaked from her lips as well. She had tanked several of Eryvon''s arrows just for the sake of this chance, and she had grasped it perfectly.

    Aina coughed, blood coming from her lips, but the sharpness in her eyes was only growing. A deep battle lust erupted from her and her blood began to heat up.

    It seemed thatбн she was only just getting warmed up now. Sз╫arch* The n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    For a long time now, she had been in mother-mode. She had forgotten the thrill of battle, that rush of adrenaline, that love of the feel of an enemy''s blood running through her fingers.

    BANG!

    The situation changed.

    Loryth''s body collapsed into several vines and reformed in the distance. A bloody hole still remained in her chest, and the pain that twisted her gaze was very much real. Howeverбн

    She wasn''t dead.

    A hand suddenly grabbed Aina''s ankle, clamping down on it with great power and shattering it to pieces.

    The Regentrix.

    He had been beneath the bed of vines, but even after Aina destroyed them, he seemed to have buried himself even deeper into the ground.

    Aina fell to the side as she lost her balance.

    An arrow cut through the skies.

    Without a choice, Aina could only ignore Loryth and Myxor, training her attention on the lethal, oncoming arrow.

    At the same time, Loryth summoned her Manifestation.

    However, rather than a humanoid, it was a throne wreathed in wild plant growth.

    Her open wound wiggled and twisted, vines coming out of it and weaving into one another to close it up.

    BANG!

    The arrow pierced through Aina''s forearm, her defenses almost giving way entirely.

    It jetted through her flesh and bone, the tip just barely stopping before it pierced through her throat.

    Myxor pulled hard on her leg, ripping her foot off of her ankle and Achilles. Blood splashed in all directions.

    At that very moment, the Thronebearer finally recovered. Spreading out her arms, the plants of the world writhed.

    This time, she was truly infuriated.

 Chapter 3264 Atone

    Loryth shrieked. The banshee-like fury peeled across the skies like flashes of lightning, the echoes painting the harrowing image of an infuriated wraith.

    The earth burst apart and the foundations of the city were torn as trees, vines, and poisonous buds burst out from the cracked, paved roads.

    A large net of vines wrapped together, spiraling into the skies as they intertwined. They formed a beanstalk that should have only appeared in fairy tales, reaching a peak and then twisting into a mutated, budding lily.

    The lily opened its maw, unleashing a roar that sounded akin to a yodelling whale. Rows of teeth lined its petals and a thick mist of poison spread out from it.

    The moment this behemoth appeared, it was like the plants of the world bowed in obedience, and the Life Force that Aina had managed to maintain a small bit of control over was torn apart. What remained of her blood roses vanished, sucked into the endless river of vines.

    The toothed lily sucked in a strong breath and hurricane-force winds knocked buildings to the ground and stirred the clouds into a spinning vortex.

    And then it closed up. Its throat bulged and the world fell into silence for but a moment before it exploded with a bursting breath of fire.

    The flaming ball fell toward Aina.

    It truly looked like a helpless situation. Her left ankle was nothing more than a stump of pooling blood, her arms were nailed together by an arrow that cut through both of her forearms, and now she was facing off against an attack in what was her worst state since this battle began.

    Anselma watched calmly from a distance, not feeling very surprised. They might not have regained their full strength just yet, but their ability to play off of one another and battle in tandem was second to none.

    In fact, they were only working at about 10% capacity right now. That was becauseбн

    She had yet to join.

    BOOM!

    The attack landed, crashing into Aina''s location and enveloping her completely and totally.

    A strong vacuum force ripped upward, forming a cyclone that spiralled into the air.

    With a calm gaze, Aina watched as a figure appeared before her. Her eyes never seemed to carry any fear or surprise. Even seeing this person didn''t bring her any excitement or happiness.

    Miel swept out his battle ax, standing before his daughter in a protective posture before he slowly looked back.

    "I do not know why you''ve allowed this to happenбн but you can''t expect a father to stand on the sidelines and watch this happen, right?"

    "бн" Aina looked toward her father with a calm gaze, but she eventually parted her lips, speaking out an equally calm set of words. "бн You''ve done it before."

    Miel''s pupils trembled.

    It was clear to him that his daughter was not happy, not happy in the slightest. In fact, she seemed bothered by his appearance.

    He thought that their relationship had taken strides toward the better, he had even met her children and he had taken on the role of grandfather with open arms. He loved those two little babies no less than his own daughter.

    However, right now, the dividing line that still existed between them became clear and obvious to him.

    "бн I am not strong enough yet." Aina continued slowly. "This is my last chance to become so. If you stand in my way now, it will be because of you that he has to stand alone when the time comes. I do not want him to fight alone. Please move."

    Miel understood his daughter better than any Imperatress ever could, though maybe that wasn''t as much of something to be proud of as he thought. Wasn''t it only natural that he be so capable?

    But even though he knew that his daughter had been holding her back, he found it very difficult to wait for the result.

    The fact that his daughter hadn''t even spoken to him before coming here said all that needed to be said. She truly didn''t need his help anymore, and maybe right now, while her emotions were so raw, while the pain of her mother''s death all those years ago was becoming even more of an open, festering woundбн

    She didn''t want his help either.

    Miel seemed to forget that there was danger lurking all around him. He only had eyes for his little girl, his gaze softening considerably. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He was only human. Part of him wanted to scream out that it wasn''t his fault, that he had done all he could, that he couldn''t have possibly known that things would end the way they had.

    But time and time again, he only let this daughter of his down.

    He was the reason her mother was dead. He was the reason Atheleys had ended up the target of a vindictive woman, the reason his daughter was almost forced to marry a man she didn''t love, the reason she had lived a childhood so broken and full of despair that even when she did find the man she lovedбн for a long while, she didn''t even know how to love him right.

    A tear fell from Miel''s eye and Aina felt her heart shake. For a moment, she almost broke out of her state of hyper-focus, buried emotions threatening to bubble back up.

    But before they could, Miel had already turned away.

    "My name is Adam Renier Brazinger." Miel said softly. "This is a name I cast away long ago, but it wasn''t for reasons as noble as you, my daughter. I did not want this name because I was ashamed of it, ashamed of what it had forced me to do, ashamed of what I had done in the name of it.

    "You, my daughter, do not have the same fate. By now, you''ve probably realized that death cannot be reversed so easily. But oftenбн neither can life. Much the same way death cannot be atoned with life, sometimes life can only be atoned with death."

    Aina''s pupils trembled, her lips parting, but no sound came out.

    Miel shook his head. "Don''t speak. Redemption sounds like a nice story, but there are some sins that can''t be taken back no matter how much you wish for it, no matter how much you bleed for it.

    "I cannot give you the life you deserved back. But I can give you a new one."

    A powerful soul pressure rippled from Miel in waves.

 Chapter 3265 Crimson

    Miel''s red hair danced in the wind like a flickering stream of magmaбн

    And then his body burst apart.

    Blood rained, flesh fell, bones tore the air apart like the shrapnel of a bomb.

    Anselma''s pupils constricted. Unlike Aina, who was stuck in a state of shock, she knew exactly what was happening. Unfortunately, it was much too late to stop it.

    бн

    In a silent corner of the world, a woman too weak to take action sat in silence. She looked up, tears falling from her eyes.

    "In the end, you could never set your heart down to choose meбн but I guess if you did choose me over your daughter, you wouldn''t be the man I fell in love withбн"

    She stood to her feet, hugging a sword to her chest.

    Rippling golden light extended from her hair, cascading down her back. Her aura continued to grow as though something had been severed away forward.

    Her tears continued to fall, but they had become akin to golden dew drops, falling from her cheeks and rippling against the tides of space like rain besieging a placid lake.

    With a step, she became a beam of light, appearing high in the skies.

    A great battle was taking place. Clouds shattered like brittle stone, raging air currents leveling mountains and denting worlds. Giants among men wielded plumes of fire and jets of water, bolts of lightning and entire moons of earth.

    It was truly a battle that she was too weak to take part in.

    Since the moment Leonel took her out of the Slayer Legion and gave her the chance to hone and sharpen her Light Force, she had tried her best to improve.

    But in the end, she didn''t have the talent.

    In truth, she didбн

    What she really lacked was the time. Sз╫ar?h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She wasn''t a monster like Leonel or Aina, nor did she receive the same benefits as those close to him as kin. And now, the only man she held on for, the man she hoped would forget his past life and start a new one with herбн

    Had made his decision.

    In this case, what reason did she have to hold back any longer? To hopefully be protected by the efforts of everyone else?

    Cidra looked down at the sword she held to her bosom, her clear tears falling faster.

    Then, she unsheathed it.

    Like a moth to a flame, she charged into the battle.

    She, like many others, would be nothing more than a drop in a vast ocean, drowned out by tsunami-like waves, bent and twisted to the whims of the push and pull of celestial bodies.

    Her death was assured. But she hoped that in these last moments, she would find some use to the world.

    Like the others, she was someone who had a life of her own. She had shed tears and blood, she had had hopes and aspirations, dreams and loves.

    But in the grinding wheel of fate, it hardly held much weight or substance.

    Here, on this battlefield, she chose to be another bit of fodder to their canon, a foot soldier who would throw themselves forward to push the line back just an inch.

    In her last moments, she forgot about her love. Maybe in another life, she would find a man all to herself, a man who made her no less happy and hopeful than he did.

    "Go now, Adamбн" Cidra said softly, her sword blazing in a golden light. "бн Maybe in another life, I will be lucky enough to meet my Mielбн"

    бн

    In place of Miel''s body, a blazing soul stood, wreathed in gold and red light, a powerful, seething sort of intent coming from it.

    "I oweбн too many peopleбн" Miel said lightly.

    Although he didn''t put much force into his tone, it traveled far and wide. In those last moments, it felt as though he could hear Cidra''s last thoughts as clear as if they were whispered into his very ears.

    In life, everyone was given a well of potential. It was up to them to slowly unearth it, pulling it out from the water and using it to irrigate their lives.

    Miel had spent too long pulling from a sieve, wasting his own potential, chasing various matters due to his own insecurities, his own indecision, in his selfish, immature choices.

    In the end, after chasing after those mistakes for so long, he realized that even if he could survive to the very end, even if he could win this battle for his daughter and help her achieve the happy ending she was looking forбн

    Would it ever be enough?

    Aina felt her body shudder and her Manifestation forcefully took shape.

    BOOM!

    An enormous area was cleared out around her. Whether it was the Regentrix, the Dreadarch, or the Thronebearer, they were sent spiraling away even faster than they had come.

    Her power shot up by hundreds of times, and in that moment, the four Heads seemed to understand just what it was Miel was speaking about earlier.

    In that moment, Miel''s soul, as though mimicking the actions of an unrequited love, flew into its own flameбн

    His soul fused into his daughter''s Manifestation.

    Impacting another''s Idol should have been impossible. But there were two reasons that Miel could do so. First because the Manifestation was rooted in the Lineage Factor of the Brazingers, something both he and his daughter shared. And secondбн

    Both he and his daughter had Soul Clairvoyance.

    Not only was he in the perfect position to understand and improve his daughter''s Idol, she was in the perfect position to accept those changes and integrate them.

    At the same time, his flesh and blood began to snap back together, pouring toward his daughter and forcing her Blood Force to respond.

    "I wishбн youбн your husbandбн your childrenбн eternal happiness, my precious daughter, my little girlбн Hopefully, on the other side, I can spend an eternity making it up to your mother.

    "Live well."

    Tears fell from Aina''s eyes, her wings turning a blinding shade of crimson.

 Chapter 3266 Relief

    Aina''s pupils trembled violently, pulses of red peeling out from her.

    She could feel the changes immediately. She didn''t need to think about them, her clairvoyance was already able to pick up on every little thing.

    She had already used all nine of her Rebirths, but the end result wasn''t as great as she wanted. As great as it was to rely on clairvoyance to get through everything, there was a limit to what her Ability Index was capable of. Ultimately, the Life Tablet only rated it as Gold.

    The real reason Aina was so powerful wasn''t because of her clairvoyance, but because she had two forms of it, one for her body and the other for her soul. Together, they were able to fuse and work off of one another, forming a resonance that was akin to something the Life Tablet would rate at the Life Grade.

    This was great.

    In any other era, this would be enough to protect her own little corner of the world.

    Butбн in this eraбн it was far from it. Not if she wanted to stand by her husband''s side, not if she wanted to help him hold up the skies as well.

    It wasn''t enough.

    If she wanted to reach the level those Ancestors stood on, that Gervaise stood on, that Nilrem did, that her husband didбн that the Demoness certainly didбн

    Relying on innate talent wasn''t enough.

    She had to break past it, she had to form her own comprehension or soar beyond what mere intuition could give her.

    But by the time she realized this, it was far too late. Or more accurately, it could be said that all this time, she had no choice but to keep doing things this way. If not for her clairvoyance, how could she have ever kept up with Leonel''s footsteps? She would have been left behind long ago, and the pain of experiencing such a thing would have killed her slowly.

    Now that she stood near that peak, and could feel the enormous gap, she felt that sort of despair once again.

    She knew that her husband had allowed her to come here only because he had perfect control of the situation, because he was confident that should things not go the way she hoped, he would be able to interfere.

    However, that sort of realization only made her feel more helpless and powerless.

    She wanted to really push herself, to give it her all, to break through one final time and reach the same platform as her husbandбн

    But in the end, it was her father that gave her that chance, unwilling to see her suffer one final time to grasp what she needed.

    Shackles that held Aina down shattered one after another. She gained the benefits of her father''s deep, diligently laid out foundation to match with her overwhelming talent.

    As her power swelled, her eyes brimmed with tears that seemed to refuse to fall, almost as though she knew that the moment she shed that first tear, it would mean that he was really gone.

    She had already felt his soul blink out, but maybe denial had set in more fiercely than anything before it. A trepidation, a feeling of guilt that weighed on her soul and made her wonder if she was too cruel.

    But then she felt her father''s smile. It wasn''t one of subterfuge or even just one of kindnessбн it was one of relief.

    The relief of a man who felt that he had given his daughter the final push she needed, the relief of a man who trusted his son-in-law, the relief of a man who was happy to have gotten the opportunity to be a true father at least once in his life.

    If he had waited any longer, he knew his daughter would have found her path to break through on her own. He believed in her more than she knew, and he had watched more of her childhood than she knew as well.

    He knew his daughter had a grit and determination few could match. She had the heart of a lioness and the pride of a Queen, the regal temperament of a Goddess and the grace of a mother.

    His daughter had grown into every bit the woman his wife had once been, stepping into all the potential her mother had once had that he stripped from her. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The last fading of Miel''s consciousness reflected a clear image both daughter and father shared, the image of a woman tied to a stake, her flesh rotting and a pained smile adorning her once gorgeous features.

    Even while experiencing pain a mortal woman like her should never have to endure, she wanted them to live on without her, not for revenge, but to find happiness.

    Even in those last moments, she never blamed a single one of them.

    It was the last flicker of humanity she had left before the pain rotted her mind and consciousness. What happened afterward, Aina never thought about normally.

    But in this moment, she didбн

    She had watched as her mother lost her sense of self, as the pain corroded who she was and corrupted her very being, how her attempts to remain the loving, caring mother and wife crumbled before their eyes as her screams tore through her throat like pale hands clawing up from moistened soil.

    By the time she had died, she was no longer the mother Aina remembered, and that was what was the most unforgivable to her, the most unforgivable to Miel, the one thing neither of the two could ever forget.

    Miel let go, allowing his daughter the grace of this revenge herself. He didn''t deserve it.

    And in the end, Aina stood in silence, her aura dimming down and her hair darkening to its jet black hue, her golden eyes piercing through the veil of space and time with the ferocity of a burning sun.

    Her crimson pair of wings spread out in a sudden flap, feathers cascading down from their wide bodies.

    This little hint of redбн she would hold onto it not for the sake of the Brazingers, but for the sake of her father.

 Chapter 3267 Berserk War Goddess

    The world fell into an eerie lull. Silence clung to its edges and pooled into its core, like sunlight retreating beneath the hues of dusk. The darkness raced against the light, pushing it back and then swallowing it whole.

    The only point of brightness that remained at all was a single young woman staring into the void. The world vanished from her sight and her thoughts became a contradictory vacant mess. Her emotions spiraled akin to static confusion, before, in a suppressed hush, it too was vanquished.

    And then there was nothing at all.

    Nothing but an unbridled fury.

    BOOM!

    A pillar wrapped in blood red and demonic blacks shot into the skies, splitting the clouds into a winding cyclone that sparked with ruby lightning.

    The wings on the small of Aina''s back flared outward, scythes of wind energy splicing space into shards and splitting them into ribbons.

    Force accumulated in the skies, and for a moment, it didn''t feel like it was a young, vulnerable woman standing before them at all. Instead, it was a towering mass, a natural phenomena, a Matriarch that stood even above a woman that would deign to call herself Imperatress.

    Aina moved.

    Space folded before her like layers of fabric, trying to fight back beneath her power and maintain its hold and control over the world.

    It failed.

    The folds shattered, sending mirror-like pieces of space cutting against the wind. The ruby lightning sparked at its edges, grabbing onto the laws of the world and suffocating them into obedience.

    Aina reached out a hand just as she appeared before the Thronebearer once again.

    Loryth''s eyes trembled and an overwhelming sense of danger blossomed from her heart like another one of her treasured plants. The world faded from her senses and all she could feel was the death looming before her right this moment.

    Suffocating, oppressive, a deathly sort of blankness that encapsulated not torture or the fear of pain, but rather the vast nothingness of what death truly wasбн

    An endless abyss, lacking in time and unknown to space.

    She was dead. She felt it even before it came. Like there was nothing she could do with her own power at all to change things.

    Anselma''s gaze sharpened and her grip on her battle ax tightened. She stomped a foot and accelerated forward. The Domain of the Founder''s Ax surged and the laws of the world twisted around both herself and Aina.

    BANG!

    Anselma was sent rocketing back, but Loryth had firmly landed in her palms.

    The two skidded across the earth, the city that had once been their own splintering at the seams and being swallowed up by the vacant depths that Aina had become.

    The world fell into a silent lull once more, the discharge of lightning snaking across the ground echoing as the only sign of life.

    Loryth coughed up a mouthful of blood as they skidded to a stop, her eyes bulging with fear. The moment that acceptance of death disappeared, it was like all the dread, once forced back by the depths that was Aina''s presence, came flooding forth all at once.

    She began to hyperventilate, her Force almost spiraling out of control.

    SLAP.

    Anselma''s palm struck against the Thronebearer''s face.

    "Pull yourself together or get the hell out of my sight."

    The imposing air of an empress stretched across the skies, clashing against the black and red of Aina''s aura with a fierce violet and red of her own.

    The pride of this Imperatress rose into the skies with a dominating posture as she stood to her feet, tossing Loryth to the side.

    Her gaze shifted, landing to the location Miel had died and then upward toward Aina''s Manifestation.

    An indifferent sneer spread across her face.

    "To think that an incarnation of this Imperatress fell in love with such a pathetic excuse for a man. Weakness of the body can be fixed. Weakness of the heart will rot and fester, destroying the roots of even the strongest trees.

    "Youбн will be no different."

    Anselma''s arm swept to the side, a strong scythe of energy emitting from the Founder''s Ax and shattering much of Aina''s aura.

    Her power began to climb as a Myxor and Eryvon drenched in cold sweat rose to her sides, appearing like shadowy warriors in obedience to their empress.

    The clouds above rumbled. In the midst of the battle, it was almost soft, akin to the final groan of a wounded beast.

    And soon came the pitter patter of rain, falling in a melodic rhythm.

    Four auras rose up from them. A crimson Imperatress. A golden Dreadarch. An emerald Thronebearer. A silvery-blue Regentrix.

    Aina stood like a lone tree in a vast desert, buffeted by the winds and the hail of sand. Her hair became drenched beneath the rain, her wings growing heavy.

    But then they suddenly flared out.

    Her wings, arched elegantly and layered in carefully sculpted gem-like red feathers trembled just a single time and the rain on it was flicked off.

    For a moment, the rain around Aina seemed to freeze in place, unable to fall.

    "Prepare yourself." Anselma said coldly.

    She raised the Founder''s Ax as Eryvon, Loryth, and Myxor all called out with their senses at once.

    At that moment, from across worlds, the Founding Treasures of the Four Great Families heeded the call of their masters.

    Whether it was Leonel or Little Nana, they felt their treasures once in their possessions vanish.

    Crossing time and space, the Laevis Bow, the Crudus Armor, the Adurna Shieldбн S~ea??h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    All made their presence known to face against a single woman without even a weapon in hand.

    But then Aina reached toward the skies, her Weapon Forces rotating around her as dragons of ruby lightning descended to her palm.

    She was the Berserk War Goddess.

    She had no need for a weapon.

    Anything, everything, and nothing at all would heed her call.

    BOOM!

    Lightning-wreathed fist and Founding Ax met in a clash akin to a herald''s cry.

 Chapter 3268 The Creator

    Anselma''s arms shook as the veins across her arms bulged. An overwhelming power poured into her like a hydraulic press, the pressure increasing akin to an endless tide.

    Just as she was about to be overwhelmed, vines shot up from the ground and Myxor Adurna appeared to Aina''s side.

    Crackle.

    Lightning whipped against the vines, shattering them to pieces just as Myxor''s shield crashed into her side.

    This seemed expected by the four as they worked seamlessly together. Eryvon had even taken the Laevis Bow into the skies, already prepared to unleash a torrential storm of supporting arrows from above.

    Howeverбн

    BANG!

    Myxor was sent flying back even faster than he came. At some unknown time, Aina''s wing had formed a shield to her side, and with the slightest of flickers, the Adurna Head catapulted around, drawing a line through the rain that made their delicate droplets sting as much as a rain of needles.

    Anselma managed to hold on due to the distraction, but she was still forced a step back, her arms vibrating beneath the strain.

    Taking advantage of the gap, Eryvon unleashed his rain of arrows, each one ignoring time and appearing before Aina in a flash.

    But the moment they entered her Domain, it was like the laws of the world broke. It was said that photons didn''t experience time and had no concept of this fourth dimension, butбн

    That was only a matter of perspective.

    The beams of light slowed considerably and the infinitely heavy arrow hidden within was caught in Aina''s palm.

    With a light squeeze, she shattered it to pieces as her lightning danced across the skies like an endless sea of whips weaving in and out of one another.

    The arrows that slowed within Aina''s domain shattered in a rain of light. There was a brief beauty to it in the expanse of explosions and darkness.

    But brief it was before a savage wind broke it all apart, sending them spiraling into the distance.

    Trees bloomed in the surroundings and a dense poison air filled the skies. Its power was unlike anything that had been seen before, but Aina remained indifferent to it all.

    In the far off distance, the Regentrix arm hung limply even though the Adurna Shield still held strong. His inner organs rattled about within him, and the others seemed to notice just how badly injured he was a step too late.

    They were too used to the Regentrix being the strongest tank amongst them. Never could they have thought that the simple swipe of a wing would leave him in such a state.

    But what they failed to consider was the fact much of the Regentrix''s defenses came from his ability to counter and deflect, it was rooted in his Lineage Factor and his Idol.

    What would he do if the laws of the world he relied on to sustain those things shattered to pieces before his eyes?

    Myxor roared into the skies, the bones in his arms popping back into place as his Manifestation appeared at his back.

    Finally realizing the seriousness of the situation, the four Heads no longer held back. Sear?h the n??el Fire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    One after another, avatars that could hold up the skies appeared, each one dwarfing Aina''s own as though they had been carefully refined time and time againбн

    Because that was precisely the case.

    This wasn''t the first time these four had reincarnated, and it wasn''t the second or third either. Time and time again, they put themselves through these rigors for one reason and one reason only.

    To grow strong for when the time came.

    However, much like Aina, they had reached their own bottlenecks. The only way past this was by layering their Manifestations through each life they experienced, awakening it again, and again, and again.

    Until now, they stood akin to mountains, their feet rooting the earth more firmly than even a world could and their heads becoming the pillars that stirred the clouds, swayed the wind, and held up the skies.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    They drew their weapons and treasures at the same time, a colossal mass of oppressive might descending.

    At that moment, even if there were members of the Brazingers still in the vicinity, they had long since died. Those that were smart had already retreated to a far off distance.

    In this clash of Godsбн mere mortals had no right to hold up their head.

    Aina faced off against this might, her expression unreadable. It was the Force that stirred around her that truly reflected her heart.

    Ruby lightning sparked with a wild intensity, but a steady-handed darkness belied it all, moving slowly, unhurriedly, handling the weight of a life of pain and torture.

    The tall ancient trees in the surroundings finally shuddered to a stop as Eryvon flexed his arm. The damage he had received from Aina''s wing poured out from his body and his injuries vanished in the blink of an eye.

    He struck out with his shield and a beam of silvery-blue light crossed the void and appeared before Aina.

    At the same time, the tall ancient trees swayed a single time, illusory emerald vines taking shape as the sound of a beating heart filled the depths of space.

    The emerald vines bypassed Aina''s lightning, latching onto her bodyбкor so it seemed. Instead, it poured into her soul, restricting and restraining her.

    At the same time, Laevis charged up an attack from above and Anselma did the same. Both were waiting for the same thingбн

    For Myxor''s attack to land and give them the opening they needed while Aina was both restrained and reeling.

    But what they expected to happen didn''t.

    "You''ve allбн forgotten what it means to be humanбн"

    Aina spoke for the first time since her father''s death. Her voice had a gruffness to it, a sultry depth that compelled the world into obedience.

    Her compulsion in her tone bloomed forth with a power the likes of which had never before been seen.

    Tying her soul down with vines?

    She wasn''t like these false humans who did everything in their power to separate their bodies and their soulsбкpitiful existences who were nothing like her husband, the true Ancestor of Spirituals.

    They were nothing but cheap, fake imitations.

    There was no separation between her own body and soul at all.

    CHI.

    The vines snapped and Aina vanished.

    A beam of light passed through where she had just stood, digging up a smooth, deep trench through the ground and vanishing in a winking light that tore through the far off distance.

    A massive depth of black formed in the skies through the space it passed, but none of them could even focus on it.

    Aina stood high above them all, holding a limp Loryth in her hand. With a motion that was almost delicate, she brushed Loryth''s sweat-stained hair from her face and then pressed the Thronebearer''s back against her own tree.

    Ruby lightning flashed and Loryth was pinned to it through her shoulder, and then her other shoulder, through her knees, and finally, through her neck.

    The Crudus Family Head convulsed.

    "I didn''t realize until today that the wood that that took my mother''s life was actually your own creationбн.

    "Black Woodбн that day, my mother was humiliated and stripped, her head was shaved and her naked body was forcefully pressed onto the wood.

    "The only thing separating her and it was a cushion between its effect and her headбн it''s a clever trick, it forced her body to rot as her head stayed intact.

    "But if I just make you experience what she experienced, would that be fair?"

    A voice more beautiful than words could describe hung in the air. It filled one with a sense of calmбн and yet a contradictory dread at the very same time.

 Chapter 3269 No Longer

    Blood red lightning sparked, the nails they formed discharging through Loryth''s body.

    Aina could remember the effects of Black Wood like the back of her hand.

    She was a Force Pill Crafter. Her knowledge of Force Herbs and various natural remedies, both toxic and not, were likely what very few could compare to.

    But even in relation to her usual knowledge, she had come to understand Black Wood more intimately than anything else in her life.

    It was a curse. It would slowly peel into your skin, eating away at you layer by layer. It would burn you slowly, making you sizzle and crack, from each layer of your skin, down to the fat beneath, and the muscle beneath that.

    It would take you down one cell by one cell, eating into your very soul and radiating the pain step by step, until you were nothing more than a husk of bleeding flesh.

    Then it would rip even that flesh apart.

    But the truly sickening ability of Black Wood wasn''t this. Insteadбн it was the scent of rotting flesh.

    This scent served two purposes. Not only did it keep you awake, forcing lucidity, it also maintained one''s life, constantly nourishing the soul and stopping it from dissipating.

    Because it targeted the soul directly, even when one''s nerves had been fried to ash and nothing remained but your bone and the flesh left on your head, you would still feel every hint of pain no less intimately.

    The cushion between the head and the wood was precisely the reason for this.

    While the rest of your body would rot, flaking away in a sickening burning sensation, your head would remain just fine.

    Until the rotting began to slowly creep up your neck.

    By the time everything was done, all that would remain was a flailing string of nerves, a brain, and a skeleton.

    Then, as you experienced your life being weeded out, one would feel the wind sweeping back and forth in an eerie rhythm.

    In that state, you wouldn''t be able to see, nor touch, nor hear, nor smellбн

    That feeling of empty wind would be your everything.

    And then, your body would fail after exactly 99 days.

    Not one moment more.

    Not one moment less.

    This was the horror of Black Wood.

    "The feeling of your body slowly rotting must be terrible. But just 99 daysбн isn''t enoughбн I also don''t think that the pain you experience is nearly enoughбн"

    Crimson lightning flickered.

    The Dreadarch unleashed a roar. "LORYTH!"

    The arrow he had been charging up was loosed, piercing through the air in a veil of gold. It hardly looked like an arrow at all, it was more like a curtain falling from the skies, rippling with a wave of all-encompassing light that seemed descended from the stars.

    BOOM!

    Eryvon''s fingers trembled as his Manifestation moved. Veins popped along his arm and he immediately felt that something was wrong.

    But before he could react, his arm was ripped backward under a mysterious force.

    He had lost control of himself, his blood moving to a rhythm he didn''t dictate.

    And as a resultбн

    He missed an arrow for the first time in his life.

    His bone snapped and his forearm swung the wrong direction. However, his eyes were bulging with far more shock than pain.

    Unfortunately, there was little chance to bask in this shock as another more substantial one took hold of his heart.

    A hand grasped his throat and he froze in place.

    Calmly, Aina took a step through the skies, dragging Eryvon with her.

    PUCHI. PUCHI. PUCHI.

    Lightning nailed him to another tree, his body convulsing wildly.

    The horror on Myxor''s face became palpable. Anselma still seemed to be holding herself together, but it was hard to tell if this was out of true confidence, or if it was nothing more than a false sense of unwarranted pride.

    Aina slowly turned around, standing in the skies as the lone point of light. Her winds radiated with rays of red, surging out with a suffocating might every time they flapped just the slightest bit.

    Anselma gripped the Founder''s Ax so tightly the skin at her knuckles split, blood pooling down her hand and down its length.

    She took a breath, her red hair dancing beneath the strong hurricane-force winds Aina was producing.

    She turned, looking toward Myxor to find that he was already looking toward her. The man looked beaten and haggard. Despite having the most defenses amongst them, he had suffered probably more than all but Loryth.

    Now, he was looking toward her for support, for help, forбн something.

    The pillar of support he was looking for swung out her ax.

    His head flew into the skies and she took a strong breath.

    Pools of blood surged toward her and her foundation deepened. At first it was slow, but then it accelerated faster and faster until her very skin began to glow.

    Beads of sweat began to pour from the Imperatress. And soon, she looked like a vaguely humanoid pool of blood, her body slowly expanding to fit the size of her Manifestation.

    DUDOOM. DUDOOM.

    The world trembled beneath her might and the Founder''s Ax expanded to match her size.

    She had lost a lot before she could even begin to lead the Four Great Families back to their former height.

    All that work, all that effort, all her hopes and aspirations, seemed to be being flushed right before her eyes.

    And now, she had to kill one of her own most important trump cards just for a small chance at surviving.

    She was pissed.

    Her aura flared as she stood to the height of a god, the whipping of her hair leveling buildings and leaving deep trenches in the land that extended further than even the eye could see.

    Aina looked at her calmly, still the same size, and with the very same Manifestation to her back.

    "Is this your strongest state?" Aina asked lightly. "Good. Todayбн I will allow my mother to rest her soul in earnest."

    Aina took a step forward and the world beneath her split in two.

    She was no longer holding back. Sз╫arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 3270 Aina Morales

    Aina appeared before the enlarged Anselma, slamming out a palm. Her momentum was akin to the skiesбкvast and unapproachable. It was impossible to tell where it started or finished, or the exact moment when dusk shifted into a dense night.

    Anselma swung to meet her. She was imposing in her own right, a towering mass that went beyond just her size.

    The clash shattered the world''s concept of sound, a vacuum more vacuous than the depths of space in heart and layers formed, palm and axe blade echoing off one another in pulsing waves.

    The two separated for only a brief moment before they clashed once more. A flurry of exchanges expanded the vacuum, forcing more and more Force into it.

    The world whined against its limits, the tears of the World Spirit falling from above in a torrent of rain that washed the blood beneath and only stung against the Thronebearer''s skin all the more. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    And then it gave way.

    All but the trees. They were instead enveloped by a powerful aura, diverting from Aina and rooting themselves in the depths of space.

    There was a shocking wave of pressure that filled all sides, and in one moment, the world had been there, while in the next, it was vaporized to ash.

    "Diverting your power like this will be your death!" Anselma roared, her Founder''s Axe multiplying its blades in the air as she swung. Time rippled and reality warped.

    Aina didn''t respond.

    In the depths of the void, it was only easier to do such things. There were no World Spirits, no Regulators, no constraints.

    Just violence.

    Aina drew a circle through the air with one palm, a wave of blood following it. Her Clairvoyance seemed to radiate out of her body, and the blood rippled. Force Arts spontaneously bloomed in a cascade of Natural Force.

    BANG!

    Palm and blade met once more, but this time, Anselma''s arm snapped back so hard and fast that it nearly dislocated from its socket. All the power she had built up in that reality-bending strike was countered with a single blow.

    Aina took a step forward. After the last words she had spoken, she hadn''t even so much as parted her cherry lips again. She had said all that needed to be said. All that was left was death.

    Her fist shuttled through the void, a ring of blood appearing around her arm. It sparked with lightning, and clouds formed above, more Natural Force Arts spontaneously taking shape.

    Anselma hurried to defend, but she was too late to bring her Founder''s Axe back. Without a choice, she could only surge out with her own defenses, her blood churning and fusing into the ruby armor that adorned her body.

    CRACK.

    Aina''s fist went right through, pounding against flesh, crunching through blood, ripping out tendons and sinew.

    All the air seemed to have left Anselma''s body as she was sent flying backward. Her body almost shut down entirely, her own blood control countered by wisps of Aina''s own entering her bloodstream.

    Anselma quickly tried to assimilate it all, and when that failed, she pulled on her heart and sent out a violent pulse.

    A surging geyser of blood erupted out of her chest, spewing into the surroundings and fusing into the rain that suddenly began to fall from above, originating from the clouds of crimson above Aina.

    At first, Anselma thought that she was feeling the splashes of her own blood, but very quickly, it became obvious that this was not the case.

    Her eyes widened in horror, but Aina had already appeared high above her.

    Anselma roared, swinging out her Founder''s Axe. Even with all the damage she had taken, she managed to keep it under her control.

    However, what met it was a bolt of crimson lightning from above, a single flap of Aina''s wings sending her flying far out of Anselma''s reach, while the latter was buffeted by winds that felt akin to a thick, steel wall.

    BANG!

    The tears of the World Spirit, Anselma''s blood, and Aina''s own rounded the skies, as Aina almost delicately raised her palm for one final time.

    The rhythm of the world fell to her beck and call as her eyes met that of Anselma''s.

    The Imperatress'' eyes widened further, her heartбкor what was left of itбкskipping a beat as she felt so many things flash before her.

    And then Aina struck.

    Most of her life, the Imperatress thought herself to have sat at the top of the world. She stood at the pinnacle, matched only by those most ancient of Ancestors.

    She thought it was her palm that could call rain and command the skiesбн until she saw a young woman without even a world to call on form it herself.

    The tears of the World Spirit remained not because of the World Spirit. That existence had long since been wiped out, unable to withstand the blow of their battle.

    It remainedбн only because Aina commanded it to be so.

    What could only be described as the blood palm of a World descended from the skies, enveloping Anselma. She didn''t even have the right to resist, her body collapsing practically from the inside out.

    And yet, just when she thought she was dead, and her life was hanging on by nothing more than the faintest of strings, she felt something pull her out.

    But it was no savior.

    It was a calm woman, beautiful beyond compare, and even more unmoved by the world than that.

    Aina pulled Anselma up by her hair, volatile energies that could shatter stars swirling around them as though nothing more than fireflies in the night.

    And then, she slowly crossed the skies, approaching the Black Wood Tree.

    Anselma''s body shook, her pupils trembling.

    "Noбн"

    She struggled, but her tendons were ripped out from her body, her blood had all been drained, and her bones didn''t have a single intact piece left. Even her face had deformed into a flat, grotesque mess.

    "You areбн You are a Brazingerбн You can''t do thisбн to your Ancestorбн"

    Aina didn''t respond, slowly pinning her to the tree. Only when Anselma''s agonizing screams were sealed into her body did Aina speak again.

    "My name is Aina Morales. I haven''t been a Brazinger in a very long time."

 Chapter 3271 Her Babies

    Aina''s movements were almost careful as she pulled Anselma''s body onto the floating piece of Black Wood.

    The ancient trees hung in the depths of the abyss, looking anything but like the torture devices they truly were.

    There were struggles, curses, a hail of insults, but one would have thought that Aina didn''t hear them at all, especially not after she finished hanging Anselma and actually began to hum.

    A beautiful sort of tune spilled into the surroundings, but to Anselma and Loryth''s horror, this tune that could bring down the pleased chirps of birds and the humming wings of butterflies, was actually increasing their pain by several orders of magnitude.

    And yet, not one of them was able to make a single sound. They could only watch as Aina sat cross-legged before them, blood rotating around her as though following the resonance of her hymns. And then, two pills began to take form.

    She took her time on these pills, her song not stopping even for several days.

    She recalled the few memories she had with her mother, and then the few she had with her father. Both were actually quite clear to her given her Clairvoyance, but this was the first time she seemed to realize that her memories with her father weren''t so bad after all.

    Right then, what she recalled the most were the times they ate together. They never said a word, but when she thought about it, the way their elbows used to clash as though they were in the middle of battle and not dinner had always been amusing.

    Her mother was a fairytale in her mind, and her father was very much real. She loved both of them equally for different reasons, and maybe it took losing them both before she could even begin to understand that.

    In the end, the Brazingers also hurt both of them.

    They ripped the innocent life of her mother away from her.

    They suppressed her father, drilling him down with burdens that turned him into a man he couldn''t even look at in the mirror.

    And todayбн she had avenged them both.

    Her pill, or rather two pills, finally took form. Aina''s hum reached a peak, and for a moment, around one, one could see a beautiful woman with long black hair coming out of the hair of a little girl as she hummed her own tune.

    Around the other, one could see a middle-aged man sneakily stealing food from a young teen''s plate as she fought to eat faster.

    There was a ripple through the depths of space as Aina stood to her feet. With a calm wave of her hands, the pills soared through the skies, becoming part of the separation between the Black Wood and the back of the two Brazingers'' heads.

    "Like I saidбн 99 days isn''t enough. Maybe you''ll get lucky and the world will end soonбн but I doubt it. More likely than not, my husband, the reason I am no longer a Brazinger, will be the reason you suffer this torment into the endless spiral of time. Poeticбн don''t you think?" Sз╫arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    After she said these words, the two women tried yelling, tried screaming, but nothing was heard.

    The ancient trees drifted off into the void and Aina turned away, staring off into the skies.

    With a wave of her hand, the Four Heirlooms of the Great Families appeared around her, her gaze calm. Then, she suddenly smiled.

    She missed her babies.

    **

    Leonel squatted down on a mountain peak, his palm stretched out in a clawing motion. The enormous head of a Sylvan Ancestor, its golden mask cracked and fissured, hung from his fingers, its body dangling below, limp and broken.

    "I tried to tell you this would be the end result. People just sent you here to die. But I''m actually quite happy that you presented yourself like this on a silver platter. We really do have important things to discuss."

    The tides of war still boomed and crackled around them. Entire worlds and stars seemed to be wiped out in breaths of time, and yet Leonel was still there, his two children by his side.

    "I really need to know what you all were thinking ranking my wife second on the beauty list."

    "What?" Little Leo''s eyes bulged as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing.

    "You see? Even my son can''t believe his little ears."

    "My ears are not little!"

    Leonel reached back with his free hand and ruffled his hair, obscuring his vision. The little guy had to fight for his life not to fall off his father''s back.

    The Sylvan Ancestor coughed up a mouthful of blood. But maybe because it was too spent, too broken to respond, or maybe because it was already at death''s doorбн it had no reply.

    "Hm?"

    Leonel suddenly looked up, his eyes narrowing. There was a sudden great wave of animosity just now, one suffocating for all the wrong reasons.

    He felt it long before he saw it, and once he did, he deduced exactly what was going on.

    ''Uhбн well, they were bound to come for revenge at some point.''

    There was probably only one group that would get so infuriated at him mentioning that list.

    BOOM!

    Eight pairs of golden wings appeared high in the skies. They seemed to vanish behind the clouds, looking more illusory than real, or like they were still so far away from the world that it was only their sheer size that allowed them to be seen in the first place.

    The world''s Forces seemed stripped and pulled, as though all of it was being sucked toward this construct high above them.

    Leonel shook his head.

    "I''m surrounded by idiotsбк." He quickly looked at his children. "When your mother is back, you didn''t hear that from me."

    Leah only giggled, while Leo seemed to already be plotting his revenge.

    Leonel sighed. Was this the fate of a father?

    Despite his antics, his reactions weren''t slow in the slightest.

    A pulse of vibrant violet came from his life.

    "Where do you get off trying to control the Domain of a King?"

    Chi.

    Something snapped.

 Chapter 3272 A Pawn

    Leonel''s Royal Crest pulsed with a radiant light, a beam of violet piercing right through the skies and shearing apart everything in its path.

    A violent upswell filled the clouds and painted their curving outlines, echoes of radiance splintering the wings that blanketed everything to pieces.

    With a relaxing of his hand, Leonel allowed the Sylvan Ancestor to fall from his hands, its large body tumbling across the rocks in a pathetic sprawl as he stood to his feet.

    His children seemed to understand the assignment, each one using their little hands to grip onto one of his shoulders as he stepped into the skies.

    He waved a hand, a bow appearing in his palm as though he had plucked it right out of his Royal Crest. sea??h thз╫ ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    There was a confident smile on Leonel''s face as he seemed to see the world in a light others couldn''t. There was an anticipation bubbling up in his heart.

    He had done everything right. All that was left was to claim victory just like he had every time before.

    In every iteration, the Demoness tucked her tail and hid. This time, he knew she would appear. This time, he knew that things would reach their final conclusion.

    As for the Minerva?

    They were entirely uninteresting to him.

    His fingers left blurs in the air as he erupted with a barrage. Streaking lights so numerous and suffocating they overshadowed even the sun in the skies pilfered and plundered.

    "There you are."

    Leonel grinned.

    He pulled his bow back, its form vanishing into his Royal Crest. With another wave of his hand, his spear took shape. The skies trembled.

    "HEY!" Leonel roared out.

    James, Milan, and the others, despite the distance separating them, all seemed to grasp Leonel''s words as though they had been spoken right into their ears.

    They didn''t reply with much other than a flare of their auras. Pillars of light cut through the air, and Leonel knew they understood his meaning.

    Very soon, this would no longer be a joke.

    From this moment on, their lives, and those under them, would be up to them to preserve.

    SHUUU!

    "Mommy!" Leah and Leo called out, their eyes lighting up as yet another pillar took shape, a beam of red descending from the skies. It took what remained of the shattered image of wings and turned them to a bloody, crimson mess.

    An angel of a woman descended from on high, a delicate ruby light slowly receding from her hair and wings.

    Soon, she landed in front of her husband.

    Leonel smiled. "Took you long enough. Do you know how much of a headache it is babysitting these munchkins?"

    Leah blinked and patted her dad''s head. "Don''t worry, we took care of him, Mommy."

    Aina''s smile bloomed, and she took her little girl into her arms, and then her son. She bundled them up tightly, hugging them so hard they thought they might never breathe again.

    Leonel''s laughter filled the skies as he took a step forward. He seemed to phase through his wife and soared high into the skies just as roars filled it.

    "GIVE US OUR DAUGHTER BACK!"

    It was absolute chaos. It felt like everything was happening all at once, but the voice had barely echoed when it came to an abrupt halt. Leonel hadn''t even been the one to make a move, but a pair of parents Leonel barely recognized as Xara and LykosбкMinerva''s parentsбкfound themselves frozen in the air.

    A line of blood appeared down each of their foreheads as Leonel strolled by them, a confident light sparking in his eyes. It seemed that his wife''s strength had improved far more than he assumed. Likewiseбн he could also guess why that was.

    Since that was the case, it seemed that he was going to have to vent on her behalf a bit.

    He didn''t care about the Minerva much, but the one thing he would always have the time for was pettiness.

    As the skies cleared, the formation of the Minerva torn to shreds, a man with eight golden wings appeared high above it all, his pupils trembling slightly in an attempt to reaffirm their calm.

    Leonel could remember the last time he met this man. This Head of the Minerva had the entire world in the palm of his hand. Though cornered by the schemes of a young man far younger and weaker than himself, he still wanted to pretend as though everything was under his control.

    A sneer spread across Leonel''s face.

    He really hated that arrogant indifference.

    Raising his spear, tendrils of Spear Force coalesced in the air.

    "How many moves do you think you can last? One?" Leonel asked, taking another step forward. "Half of one?"

    He took another.

    Elysium''s gaze sharpened, a golden sword appearing in his palm.

    "First it was the Sylvans, and then they sent you. You know, I don''t quite understand it. Did you think I was wasting time here so that you could slowly whittle away my forces?"

    Leonel took another step, his spear waving through the air.

    Elysium raised his blade to block, but his sword was cut in two down its length, his hand becoming a bloody stump of pouring blood.

    The Minerva Head''s eyes bulged, and his jaw clenched in a writhing mass of veins.

    "I was actually just waiting for my wife to return."

    Leonel''s spear flickered again, and Elysium''s entire arm soared into the air, the Sword Force of his weapon shattering to pieces beneath the might of his Spear Force.

    "You were a pawn back then, and you''re still one now. The question is, who are you a vanguard to?"

    Leonel appeared before Elysium, his spear tip thrust through the man''s chest. With a flex of his forearm, he lifted him up and shifted him to the side as though it was less effort than tilting his head to look past him.

    "Ah, what a surprise. I thought it was going to be the Invalids again, but they''re still not here, are they? So it''s the Void Race and the Pluto Race, two enemies come to form an alliance just to deal with little ''ol me?"

 Chapter 3273 Enough

    Elysium hacked up a mouthful of blood. He reached up, trying to grab Leonel''s spear, his bloodied fingers grasping at the air, only to fail in the end. He must have been seeing double and triple, the feeling in his chest spreading out uncontrollably until he couldn''t tell the origin of the pain at all.

    Leonel''s wrist flickered, and the man was sent flying.

    The Pluto.

    They were the Race that had ruled over Existence for as long as anyone could remember. Their bodies weren''t as peculiar as the Void Race, nor was their intelligence as prolific as the Sylvans, nor did they have the origins of the God Beasts of Creation like the Minerva.

    But they stood at that peak for countless years nonetheless.

    In a way, maybe it should have been flattering that they were all here. But Leonel found it amusing instead.

    Why were all of these people here in the first place? Why did they all collectively decide that the smartest thing to do when the world was on the line was to target the one Race they had supposedly never respected in the first place?

    There was only one reason. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say just one person was responsible.

    But to Leonelбн

    The outcome didn''t matter.

    BOOM! BOOM!

    Leonel almost couldn''t react to the hand. It appeared before anything elseбкa claw that looked as though it descended from the might of a dragon, a steely blue that looked almost human if not for the curved blade of silver at the end of every finger.

    The shuddering might carried within it reminded one of rushing waters and collapsing mountains.

    Leonel grinned.

    He retracted his spear, his free hand forming a claw that rushed forward. Veins popped across his forearm, the skies changing color beneath his own might as well.

    Natural Force Arts bloomed like sparks dancing off a flint, miniature shooting stars and celestial maps wrapping around Leonel''s body as the world fell into the tune of his attack.

    BOOM!

    Two claws met in the air, one substantially larger than the other.

    Sparks flew, this time not carrying the impetus of life but instead a deep-seated will for destruction. Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

    CRUNCH.

    Leonel squeezed down, and the powerful hand of the Pluto snapped, his fingers breaking in awkward directions.

    "Don''t run now."

    This time, Leonel''s voice sounded like it came from its own abyssal hell.

    Despite the smile on his face, there was a deep impatience that stirred in his chest every time one of these new enemies appeared.

    Did they really think thatбн the Human Race was here for them to knead as they pleased?

    In this case, this Pluto was almost certainly enraged. Leonel could read his soul like an open book.

    A dead child.

    In fact, Leonel knew exactly which child: Ger''Ain. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But did he think that this would make a difference?

    "There is only going to be one Race under the Northern Star after today," Leonel said coldly. His claw strengthened, and he ripped the arm forward.

    An enormous Pluto man with wisps of grey falling down the length of his chin appeared.

    As''Nox.

    A bloody grin spread across the Pluto''s face. Rather than showing fear, he raised his other claw, swiping it down toward Leonel''s head.

    Leonel hardly paused, his spear flickering with life.

    CHI. CHI. CHI.

    His blade left crisscrossing, swirling patterns across the Pluto''s forearm. Blood refused to fall, but as though Leonel didn''t notice, he took a step forward, his blade accelerating until the crisscrossing patterns had run all the way up As''Nox''s limb.

    "The Plutoбн do not bleedбн to the likes of you."

    "Your son sure did," Leonel replied coldly.

    PUCHI!

    Leonel''s spear ran through his chest, and As''Nox froze.

    "Die," Leonel''s cool voice echoed.

    BANG!

    The Pluto''s heart exploded, and all at once, his arm shattered into a rain of blood.

    Leonel kicked at his chest, sending the grieving father falling from the skies in a heap. However, before he fell very far, he was caught out of the air.

    The Pluto that appeared seemed to have come from nowhere, and it felt like no matter where he stood, it was only natural for him to be there.

    He stood far shorter than any other Pluto Leonel had ever seen, and the Void Race member that appeared not long afterward seemed to follow the same logic.

    The two men were only eight feet or so tallбкtall for a human, but practically miniature for their Races given their strength.

    "It''s a shame. A father should really listen to his son," Leonel said calmly, his eyes landing on the Pluto.

    "бн You overestimate yourself and your worth," Xor''Thar spoke slowly.

    "I don''t remember being the one to ask my mortal enemy for aid to face off against someone who''s overestimating themselves."

    "If you believe that''s what''s happening here, you not only overestimate yourself, but you''re also ignorant and not nearly as intelligent as you think."

    Leonel tilted his head and looked past the two men.

    "You two are too weak. Who else did you bring?"

    Xor''Thar''s gaze narrowed.

    "I won''t repeat myself again," Leonel said slowly. "You have three seconds to get out of my sight, or I''ll mail your head to El''Rion in a black box."

    The last of Leonel''s words came out in the thunder of the Pluto''s language, but this time, it couldn''t harm his throat. Instead, it was Xor''Thar who found his ears ringing.

    "One."

    Leonel moved.

    This time, he didn''t bother to count. His patience had reached its limits.

    They believed that his forbearance was a product of his hesitancy.

    They were sorely mistaken.

    Xor''Thar''s pupils constricted as he threw out a punch, pushing Ger''Ain''s father to his back.

    Leonel''s spear ripped through his fist, flaying his forearm in two.

    With a flicker, half of his arm was severed, and with another, the other half was spliced into ribbons.

    Xor''Thar''s other arm was still in a throwing motion, and he couldn''t bring it back fast enough. He could only watch as the blade approached his neck, Leonel''s promise echoing in his ears.

    "Enough."

    Leonel''s spear froze in place, a mysterious strength binding it.

 Chapter 3274 Chessboard

    Leonel''s wrist trembled.

    He had to admit, this was the greatest strength he had come across since his battle with his grandfather.

    It was cute.

    Chi.

    BANG!

    A hole was blasted through Xor''Thar''s chest.

    The Pluto was sent flying backward with such speed he vanished over the horizon in less than a blink.

    Leonel''s hair danced in the wind, his King''s robes flapping as though they had a mind of their own.

    "If you came here today and fail to treat me as an equal, you, and everyone you''ve brought with you, will die.

    "If you came here today to treat me as an equalбн you and everyone you''ve brought with you will die.

    "Only if you came here ready to place your life on the line, and scratch and claw for every advantage you gain, might you have a chance at touching the hems of my robes."

    Leonel''s voice boomed across the battlefield.

    It had only just fallen when an old Pluto appeared before him. The expression of the man was calm, but there was a deathly sort of furious momentum to his presence.

    It only took a glance for Leonel to feel that this was the strongest Pluto he had ever personally faced: the Ancestor of the Plutos, Theos''Ryn.

    This man was so old that he was among the very same group of Plutos that gave the Human Race a chance to escape.

    Unfortunately for him, Leonel didn''t have even the slightest bit of gratitude in his heart. When he looked at the Pluto now, all he saw was a sea of ungrateful has-beens that had a fondness for overestimating themselves.

    The skies fell into silence as a sea of Plutos began to appear one after another.

    A shadow descended from above. A leg of stars, an arm of celestial bodies. They were all larger than life, their scythes carrying the souls of entire worlds.

    There were many stories across history and legends that told of Gods descending onto the world, a single lone man standing before them, carrying the weight of hopes and dreams on his shoulders.

    Leonel had gotten used to that weight long ago. Even staring at this scene now, facing off against the Gods that he had only been able to look up to in the past, his expression was as calm as could be.

    "Noбн" he said softly. "бн I''m trying to recallбн but I really can''t remember a time I ever looked up to any of youбн"

    The words were soft and out of place. But with the strength of those present, it was impossible that they didn''t hear them, these genuine words that came from the depths of his heart.

    "If you are the only one with this level of strength, then it won''t make a difference," Theos''Ryn said coldly.

    Leonel blinked. "I don''t think I ever said that I was? Well, if my wife asks, I can and would beat her ten out of ten times no matter how strong she is. But as far as you''re concerned, there''s at least one other that could punch a hole through your chest."

    "Two is not enough," Theos''Ryn replied just as coldly, the gravelly texture of his voice practically grating across the clouds.

    "Why don''t we just skip to the final part?" Leonel suddenly asked.

    Theos''Ryn''s eyes narrowed. But before he could react, Leonel swiped out with his spear, a line appearing in the depths of space to reveal an eye larger than the world itself.

    Ancestor of the Void Race, Thal''Vren.

    Space trembled and pulled itself apart. Leonel didn''t do much after his swipe, and yet Thal''Vren''s presence seemed to make the space itself scared to repair itself.

    However, Leonel was still shaking his head.

    "I feel like I''m surrounded by idiots all of the time. First, the so-called God Beast of Destruction didn''t realize that he was a pawn, and now two of the strongest Races in existence are still in the dark.

    "You never ask the obvious questions. Why is it that of all the Races, only your Void and Pluto Races use your odd nomenclature? Do you remember when it started? Why it started? Or did you just start naming your sons El''Rion instead of Elrion for fun?"

    It was only when it was facing its death that the Celestial Terror realized that it had been nothing but a victim of the Demoness'' schemes. And now, it felt like history was replaying itself all over again.

    "Do you know what a double-break represents? When I say the nameбн Van''''Welliaбк" Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    An echo of blood filled the air. The skies turned crimson, the ground sloshing about with currents of red. The dense scent of death filled the air, a suffocating aura choking them down to their very souls.

    Van''''Wellia. She was the artist who painted the Last Bloody War, a depiction of the Envoys of Destruction and Creation.

    However, her name itself was anything but the death and destruction that was playing out now. Van''''Wellia''s name, when spoken, was beautiful beyond compare, painting a gorgeous flower known as the Dream Lotusбн

    It was this beauty that somehow gave way to the savagery that hung in the airбн it was the most beautiful of souls that finished the Last Bloody War.

    Beauty becoming ugly. Creation becoming Destruction. A Dream Lotus carrying nothing but nightmares.

    "Is your name really Theos''Ryn?" Leonel looked toward the Pluto Ancestor. "Or is it Theos''''Ryn?"

    The Pluto froze, and Leonel reached forward.

    "Little Lion, is there a need for this?"

    A voice filled with a sultry air danced through the skies, but it was almost as though Leonel hadn''t heard it at all as he tapped the Ancient Pluto''s body.

    Theos''Ryn couldn''t even react to Leonel''s touch.

    "You see that you''re a pawn now, right?" Leonel said lightly. "Unfortunately for you, you''re too much of a fool to realize it in time. So, instead, how about you just die for your sins instead?"

    Theos''Ryn began to crumble before the eyes of everyone present. It wasn''t just him; one powerful Pluto after another fell to ash.

    No one knew how to react. No one knew how to understand what was happening.

    Leonel could summarize it quite well, though.

    He had finally stepped off the Demoness'' chessboard.

 Chapter 3275 I Will Be

    The world watched as some of the strongest existences of all time crumbled to pieces. In truth, even Leonel''s own brothers couldn''t believe it. His wife, the person who believed in him the most in the entire world, couldn''t help but blink a few times as well.

    She had been gearing up for a great battle. This was meant to be their last hurdleбкso long as they made it through, they would finally grasp the peace and happiness they had been chasing after for so long.

    And thenбн Leonel went and did this.

    He just reached out and touched the strongest Pluto, a man who was very well acknowledged as easily amongst the three strongest warriors in all of Existenceбн and he died.

    Leonel retracted his hand as a woman appeared before him. She was just three meters away, a distance that was hardly far for a mortal, let alone Gods that could bury stars with a flip of their hands.

    As black as her heart was, she was a woman with beauty that touched the skies and calmed the winds. Her most striking feature was just how red her lips wereбкit was all too easy to forget that she even had the rest of a face to look at.

    But oddly enoughбн at least right nowбн there didn''t seem to be any Dream Asura aspects to her at all. She looked like a normal human woman in every aspect. Maybe it was a trick of the eyes, but even her eyes weren''t violet; rather, they were the most normal warm brown.

    If one wanted to depict a human womanбкmaybe the pinnacle human womanбкthis would be the sort of example they might choose.

    Usually, she was calm, unbothered, always smiling without hints of dissatisfaction. But right now, despite the fact the same smile was on her face, Leonel could tell the difference.

    She wasn''t happy.

    Not in the slightest.

    Leonel looked at this woman who had made his life a living hell. Every other time he had come across her, he had lost control of his emotions. He felt rage that sunk to the depths of his soul, like the worming, slimy hands of a devil slithering over his heart.

    But right this moment, forcing her to appear for the very first time regardless of iteration, he felt nothing at all.

    The Demoness slowly shook her head. "If you simply ignored it just one more timeбн none of this would be necessaryбн Aren''t you supposed to be kind?"

    One Pluto and Void Race member after another began to collapse and fall. It seemed as though Leonel had knocked down a series of dominoes.

    Leonel looked into the distance, his gaze calm. For some reason, although there was no one there at all, it seemed that he was indeed looking right at a personбн almost like he wanted them to know that he wasn''t hiding from this moment.

    "The first time I committed an act of genocide, I did so out of fury. This time, I do it out of necessity. My conscience is clear."

    "бн"

    The Demoness didn''t reply immediately, her eyes brimming with an odd emotion.

    "You''ve given up on your father."

    "I have."

    "Then you and Iбн will never see eye to eye."

    "We never would have."

    SHIIIING.

    The howl of Leonel''s spear filled the skies.

    бн

    In that far-off distant world, El''Rion stood in silence. He didn''t choose to charge with his family, but standing here, feeling his life slip away from him, it was hard not to feel rage toward that man.

    When he felt Leonel''s gaze, he couldn''t help but recall memoriesбн those words of rage and anger Leonel had spoken back then, words he dismissed as ridiculous.

    бн Do you think I need this power? Do you think it matters if I don''t have a fraction of your strength? бн I swear that I will do these things and I will do so as a human бн

    The words echoed in El''Rion''s ears again and again.

    His powerful body began to break apart, vanishing into the sands of time. He crumbled and collapsed, a guttural chuckle coming from his lips.

    He honestly couldn''t remember the last time he laughed, but it was hard not to right now.

    A Human wiping out the two most powerful Races in Existence with a word and a touch. It was comical, was it not?

    The worst part was that he had said enough to explain how it happened, and yet he still couldn''t understand. Was the gap between himself and Leonel truly so large?

    What happened to giving him time to catch up? When had he even had the time to surpass him, the greatest genius of the Pluto, by such a large margin?

    "Ohбн"

    El''Rion''s voice rumbled one last time.

    And then he laughed again.

    The Pluto gained their power due to a favor, and they lost it all the same way. Maybe that was what they deserved.

    Who would have thought that from the very beginning, they were just set up to be pawns?

    The last of El''Rion''s head vanished into a dusty ash, sprinkling out into the world until there was nothing at all left of him.

    The Void and Pluto Race were no more. sea??h thз╫ N??eFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    бн

    Leonel''s spear continued to howl, so eager for battle it trembled in his palm itself.

    "Why aren''t you doing what you do best yet?" Leonel asked lightly. "My uncle, my master. When are you planning on using them? The Invalids, go ahead and have them charge. The Ancient Humans, I''m sure you have your own plans for them, do you not? Show me what your chessboard has left on it.

    "Because if there''s nothing elseбн I''ll be taking your head right here and now."

    Leonel raised his spear, aiming it at the Demoness'' head. His blade was eerily still right then, so still one would have thought that time came to a complete and utter stop. Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

    And beneath their powerful Dream Forceбн that might as well have been exactly what happened.

    "I thoughtбн that you had come to understandбн" the Demoness said lightly.

    "In this world, there are no Gods. If there were, life would be completely meaningless."

    The pupils of the Demoness shook, and she looked up to meet Leonel''s gaze.

    "Wrong. You just aren''t strong enough. I will be."

    The aura of the Demoness changed.

    For the first time, her smile vanished.

 Chapter 3276 Far Larger

    The words were enough for Leonel to understand the sort of person the Demoness was.

    Maybe in another life, he would have ended up the exact same way. He didn''t know what exactly her story was, or who she was so obsessed with bringing back, but what he did know was that it was a foolish pursuit.

    If there was someone powerful enough to wave a hand and bring back lifeбн then was it truly ever worth much of anything to begin with?

    This was something that Leonel had accepted that the Demoness was entirely unable to.

    And now, this woman, who once had the entire world in the palm of her hands, had begun to show some fluster for the very first time. That was because a key cog in her plan had been entirely crippled by Leonel.

    Suggestion through Dream Forceбн it was something that the world feared greatly. Dream Force Masters were some of the most fearsome existences throughout Worlds, and until now, there were none more powerful than the Demoness.

    The accents in the names of those with '''' in their monikers had always been meant to convey pulses of Dream Force. Oddly enough, all Void Race and Pluto Race members had had these accents as well, but they were always muted, not carrying the same pulse of Dream Force.

    They were easy to forget as a result, just a quirk of their languages. It was only natural that different cultures and dialects had their own way of doing things.

    Even Leonel never second-guessed it. It was something hidden in plain sight that no one would give a second thought to.

    Until Leonel did.

    Those muted accents were there for a purpose. They were a suggestion cast over the entire Race. Both of them.

    The power of them, and the scale, was on a level that was hard to even fathom. But what was even more important was what they representedбн

    The Void Race. The masters of space.

    The Pluto Race. The masters of time.

    Just what did it mean to have absolute control over both Races simultaneously?

    Leonel just decidedбн that he would rather not find out.

    In the entirety of Existence, if there was one person that could stand toe to toe with the Demoness in terms of Dream Force, it was Leonel. If Dream Force was separated into Dimensions of control, the two of them were the only ones standing on their plane.

    And because of that, the Demoness couldn''t protect her plans from Leonel at all. The moment Leonel took action, he was able to exploit the vulnerability the Demoness left behind on purpose to kill every single member of the Void and Pluto Race.

    The Demoness never thought that the backdoor she left behind to control the two Races would be used in this way. But her words also explained that well enough.

    She ultimately thought that in the endбн Leonel would be on her side.

    How many iterations had the two of them been through together? Was it really possible that Leonel could never find her?

    Impossible.

    In the end, it seemed as though Leonel made the same choice every time: to allow the Demoness'' plans to continue unhindered.

    What she never expected was for Leonel to make the complete opposite decision he had in the past.

    Leonel had changed.

    His rage-induced mistake in the Dimensional Verse had once weighed heavily on his heart. He was a man who treated all lives equallyбн for him to erupt with such anger that he wiped out entire Races just for the sake of venting his own frustrations was entirely unlike him.

    That guilt had followed him for a very long time, and it was never quite resolved. It was the same reason even if he had been aware of this backdoor before, no matter the iteration, he never pulled the trigger.

    But what shocked the Demoness even more was that Leonel had truly given up on his father. She had personally witnessed all of the things Leonel had done to try and bring Velasco back, the level of destruction he had wrought.

    For him to change his mind like this all of a sudden was what floored her the absolute most. S~ea??h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She never realized, that all this timeбн she was actually on Leonel''s chessboard. Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

    When Leonel was training with Nilrem, being forced to recall all of the methods of power he had created in previous iterations, he was also recalling every failure, every attempt, every bit of suffering he had caused, only for it all to end in the same exact way.

    That moment when he finally gave up and allowed the Northern Star to take his life was symbolic in more ways than oneбн

    He had already given up then.

    He just needed to live one more life to be reminded of it all.

    Maybe he could bring Velasco back. But he would never be able to bring his father back.

    Thatбн he had accepted.

    Now, it was time to end this.

    The Demoness stared into Leonel''s eyes for a long while before she flipped over a palm.

    An elegant spear appeared, radiating a delicate purple light. But when Leonel saw the stinger on the end of it, his eyes widened, his pupils trembling heavily.

    Sparks of lightning flew across his mind, connections he never thought he would make in his life overwhelming him to the point he nearly took a step back.

    "Youбн"

    It was the second spear that Leonel had ever gained from the Spear Domain Ring, the very one that made him realize that not all the spearmen depicted in the ring were men.

    "I have always been by your side, Little Lion. A parent''s burden isn''t something that you can imagine. Whether you believe it or not, I love you. I love your father. I love your uncleбн" she looked up from the spear. "бн I love your grandfather."

    She pointed her spear forward, her dress fluttering in the wind.

    "The gap between us isn''t something that you can bridge. This chessboard, as you call it, is far larger than you can fathom."

    The Demoness'' spear tip trembled and a hole was ripped right through Leonel''s throat.

 Chapter 3277 Tip of the Iceberg

    The pain ripped through Leonel''s body, sharp and fast. Without his Dream Force prowess, he wouldn''t have even registered it. He had simply never seen a spear so fast.

    But more shockingly than that, it embodied every aspect that it had once taught him. A continuous stream of speedy thrusts, filling the skies, covering all paths of retreat, perfect in its simplicity, endlessly complex in its variations.

    In an instant, Leonel was riddled with holes, an overwhelming sense of inferiority burying itself into the very depths of his soul.

    And yet, he hadn''t ever attempted to move even a single time.

    A pulse of light came from Leonel''s brows, the band of violet-gold running across it radiating out into the world.

    Everything dispelled, and he found himself standing in the same place, the Demoness standing across from him with the same placid expression.

    "Do you feel the gap now?" she said lightly.

    Leonel looked down at his spear and didn''t reply immediately.

    "I have been refining my spear for so many trillions of years I have lost count. When I grew bored of the thrustбн"

    The Demoness'' palm flipped over and a new spear appeared. It looked almost like a glaive, having just a single edge to it. But it was thin, light as a feather, and flutteringly fragile.

    Then, the Demoness swiped out casually. It was a simple sweep, moving from left to right.

    Leonel''s body shuddered, being sliced completely in half. Pain tore through his soul once more, but he hardly registered it when he found himself split into ribbons.

    Cold sweat poured down his brows. He could tell that these were just illusions, but he could also feel that if the Demoness truly chose to strike, the end result just might be the very same.

    A fear was being ingrained into his psyche, pressed and seared into his heart. His Ethereal Glabella itself was being molded and shaped to it. It was a sort of manipulation that was out in the open, and yet nothing at all could be done about it.

    He coughed as he snapped out of the illusion once again, his breathing heavy. Beads of sweat fell down his body, his grip on his own spear tightening.

    "Eventuallyбн I grew bored of the sweep."

    The spear in the Demoness'' hand changed once again, shifting and changing into a heavier blade, one that carried such a heft to it that light bent toward it. A deep darkness exuded toward it as a result, an event horizon just barely forming in its midst.

    The blade descended from above.

    Leonel could do nothing as he was cut in half. It practically felt as though his body had presented itself to be spliced and diced. Once again, he was instantly cut into ribbons, every slight bit of pain was as real as the projections in his mind.

    There was no escaping it. He was made to feel every split in his cells, every shear of his flesh, every break in his bones.

    "бн So I mastered the slash."

    The spear in the Demoness'' hand kept changing. Every time it did, a new spear strike would be the focus. And every time, the end result would be the same.

    By the time the tenth spear vanished from her hand and the original stinger spear appeared, Leonel had fallen to his knees, his breathing heavy and labored.

    It felt like he had just experienced a countless series of deaths, and yet every strike made him very much feel alive, another attack on his mind and psyche that he was forced to experience every waking moment of.

    "With any one of these spears, any one of these attacks, I could end this battle. If I ever cared to use them all in a seamless combat styleбн well, I would never need to do such a thing because there hasn''t been anyone in a very long time that could parry even one of my attacks."

    Leonel didn''t reply, his mind replaying every strike. And yet, no matter how he went through them, he couldn''t find the flaw, he couldn''t find the gap. It wasn''t a matter of his body being unable to keep up like it usually was. In this case, even his mind couldn''t track what was happening.

    He had never experienced such a thing in his entire life. No matter how powerful his opponent, his bottleneck had always been his body. For the first time, he was meeting something his Dream Force simply couldn''t see through.

    Leonel coughed, raising a hand to his mouth subconsciously. His pupils constricted when he saw the blood that coated his palm.

    Dream Force transcending realityбн

    At that moment, he understood something, but it hardly changed his situation. Maybe he had overestimated himself in thinking that his Dream Force had reached the same stage as the Demoness.

    This was a level more unfathomable than even influencing space and time directly. To turn illusion to reality, and for reality to become illusion.

    Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

    The lines blurred, and suddenly his mind couldn''t tell the difference, couldn''t feel the difference, even with his Dream Force Affinity.

    This was beyond a Dharma, beyond an Idol, beyond Existence itself.

    For a moment, he couldn''t help but wonder if she was correct. Was she a God? Were there truly Gods in this world? Not in the sense of an Idol or mere power under their control, but in terms of omnipotence, omnipresenceбн omniscience.

    "Hehбн"

    A flicker of a flame appeared in Leonel''s palm, burning the blood away.

    He slowly stood, looking back onto the chaotic battlefield. It was entirely frozen in place, locked in a frame of time beneath where the two of them stood.

    The battle between grandmother and grandson was on a level the world couldn''t be privy to, and yet, Leonel was sure that the Demoness had already unleashed all of her plans onto his brothers and family.

    "You think too little of me." The Demoness said lightly.

    "I don''t think I''ve ever been inferior to someone in Dream Force in my life," Leonel spoke as though he was talking to himself. "But, I think it''s a little interestingбн I''ve never had anyone to learn from."

    Leonel''s spear trembled.

    "I''ve never been very good at this spear thing."

    Leonel tossed his spear to the side as though he hadn''t built his Idol on it at all.

    He grabbed at the air, and a bow that shook the world appeared.

    If he was going to take the Demoness down, he was going to have to do it at his absolute strongest.

    "It seems you still don''t understand."

    The Demoness'' hair began to wave gently in the air.

    "What I''ve shown youбн is the mere tip of the iceberg." Sз╫arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    A Dream Force, the likes of which could build and topple the world all at once, manifested and Leonel nearly felt his mind collapse on contact.

 Chapter 3278 Control

    Leonel''s mind blurred, his body losing control of itself for a brief instant. It was once again something that he had never experienced before, but this time, he was ready.

    Dream Counter activated.

    He had changed the parameters of his Ability Index skill the moment he experienced his first "death".

    His hands fired without his mind''s input. The disruption to his Dream Force didn''t matter in the slightest, as he unleashed a rain of arrows.

    There was a blankness to his mind right this instant. He had never been so focused in his entire life.

    This was it.

    Everything would come down to this.

    And he had not the slightest intention of losing.

    Leonel''s vision cleared to find the stinger spear at his throat. His gaze didn''t so much as fluctuate.

    The spear vanished, and all of a sudden the Demoness had retreated. As though the image before Leonel had been nothing more than a fake, she appeared dozens of meters away, her spear dancing as she parried one arrow after another.

    Time warped and shifted around them in ways that didn''t make sense to the naked eye. However, to them, the two strongest Dream Force users in the world, this was their stroll in the park, this was their daily meditation.

    For the first time, they were facing off against someone that saw the world in the same way they did, and the result was a battle that caused the bounds of reality to tremble, even the likes of the Northern Star shrinking back in the distance to make more space for them to unleash their might.

    Leonel exhaled a breath with every arrow. He should have been hyperventilating at the speed he was releasing them, and yet he seemed calm and collected.

    The bow was his weapon. When he used it, he never felt more comfortable; he never felt more in control.

    Something warped to Leonel''s side.

    His pupils constricted, a spike of pain tearing into his ribs. A spear slid between his bones, jetting right toward his heart. Explore new worlds at My Virtual Library Empire

    A Natural Force Art bloomed on Leonel''s body, etching itself into reality.

    His body shifted and moved. As though erased from one reality and drawn into another, he appeared out of the range of the blade.

    His King Force bloomed, his arrow appearing drawn at the Demoness in point-blank range. It couldn''t have been more than a half meter between the two.

    He didn''t even get the chance to release it, his arm flying into the air.

    Losing control of his bow, Leonel took a strong step back, his aura surging.

    There was a calmness to him even with just a single arm at his disposal. His King Force bloomed and his missing arm regrew as though it had never been severed; the Vital Star Force aspects pooling a vibrant Life Force into him.

    He struck out with a palm at the same time, blasting his severed arm to pieces. Natural Force Arts bloomed out from it, an array of complex magic circles enveloping one another as Leonel''s bow swapped for a quill.

    He swiped at the air, crossing through the spray of his own blood.

    Clones of bows and arrows crossed the air, spanning hundreds of miles, thousands of them all drawing at once and firing in a rain that descended from the skies.

    The Demoness calmly weaved through them, releasing a single palm from her stinger spear and tapping at the air.

    The arrows all froze in the skies. The Natural Force Art that had bloomed from Leonel''s arm was being reversed by the touch of an Empress.

    Every move Leonel made seemed to be perfectly countered, and she did so with the calmest of countenances. And every time she took action, it seemed like an ancient rust was being knocked off of her. Every flutter of rusted rose gold was akin to another tick up in her strength.

    Leonel could feel it. He was watching the awakening of a slumbering dragon.

    He had never felt so oppressed in his life. In that instant, it was like the looming image of a Goddess was hovering over him.

    "I''m no Goddess." she said lightly. "The choice of the word God was made by you."

    The Demoness'' dress fluttered. A simple strike soared through Leonel''s defenses, and this time, he wasn''t fast enough to knock another arrow, his reaction lagging behind just the slightest bit.

    At that moment, even the likes of Dream Counter were suppressed. She grasped its secrets, and she reacted accordingly, her Dream Force shifting to make her attacks more ethereal, harder to read, and impossible to grasp even for Leonel himself.

    "I am a Demoness."

    PUCHI!

    The spear jetted through Leonel''s heart, piercing right through it and out of the other side.

    BOOM!

    A violent pulse of power, a Force-shaped cone, radiated out from Leonel''s back. As though to paint the picture of just how much strength was coursing through his chest right that moment, it shot out, blinding the world. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    In the far off distance, stars died, worlds collapsed, Regulators cowered and World Spirits shrank.

    And yet, the Demoness'' eyes narrowed when she saw this.

    "Claim as much control over the world as you want." Leonel said calmly, feeling the power coursing through him. "But my body is under my control alone."

    He knew why the Demoness was shocked. As great as the cone of Force was, she had too much control over her spear and attack for such a shocking amount of energy to leak so easily.

    Such flashy displays were only for the weak. She had long left that behind.

    The only explanation was that she had somehow lost control of her blade. But she couldn''t quite understand how that was possible. Even after Leonel stated it so plainly, she didn''t believe it.

    She lost control over her blade in Leonel''s body? If she could lose control of her weapon due to something so trivial, how would she paint the future she wanted?

    Rage flickered through the Demoness'' eyes, and her hair rose from her shoulders, flickers of violet appearing deep within it.

 Chapter 3279 Not Just

    The Demoness pulled back on her spear, ripping a hole out of Leonel''s heart. But there was a pool of Spear and Bow Force that jetted out, the Weapon Forces that forged the very core of his being, sparkling out into the world.

    They latched onto the Demoness'' Spear Force, suppressing and battling against it.

    The Demoness'' gaze flickered, confusion coloring her features. She had just been about to grow the slightest bit serious, but this change caught her off guard.

    She found her Spear Force suddenly difficult to control, and before she could make heads or tails of what was going on, Leonel was already upon her.

    The quill in his hands changed again, and out appeared a spear.

    Once again, the Demoness was taken aback. It didn''t make sense for Leonel to go back to the spear. Didn''t he realize the gap between them already?

    PUCHI!

    A hole ripped through her shoulder.

    Leonel''s spear danced, butterflies and hummingbirds fluttering around him. His gaze had become frighteningly cold, and the Demoness realized at that moment that her grandson had long reached an absolute state of focus. While her emotions were continuously changing, his had been steady from the very beginning.

    She raised her spear up to block, but Leonel slid by it, slicing into her gut.

    His spear twirled in his hands, slashing wound after wound into her body.

    She leaned back in an attempt to dodge, still reeling from what was happening, but Leonel''s blade was absolutely relentless, and in that moment, she saw shadows of herself in him.

    A flash of understanding lit her eyes.

    While she was knocking rust off, there was someone else that was improving right before her. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.nз╫t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Leonel had never had systematic training in his entire life. From the very start, his father had left him to fend for himself. Even when he gained a "master," all Nilrem really did was teach him life lessons, then point him toward techniques that he had created himself in past lives.

    What he did best was improve on his own. And the worst things his enemies could do was give him a template to follow.

    Not only had the Demoness given him a template, she did it all through a Dream Force illusion. And then she had the audacity to run her Spear Force through his Weapon Force Innate Node.

    All of her progress, all of her understandingбн

    Was his own now.

    He wasn''t just Leonel the King.

    He wasn''t just Leonel the Father.

    He wasn''t just Leonel the Husband.

    He wasn''t just Leonel the Son.

    He was also Leonel the Wise Star Order.

    In this world, there was nothing he couldn''t document, nothing he couldn''t see through, nothing he couldn''t grasp when given enough time.

    His spear ran through the Demoness'' chest, and she looked down in abject shock.

    Slowly, her expression almost seemed to fade away. Her emotions were leaking out into the world, melding into her Dream Force, and then diluting to such a large extent that there was almost nothing left of her.

    "Okayбн" she said lightly.

    The spear in her hands changed.

    The Demoness that Leonel had just ripped a hole through slowly faded.

    She appeared in the distance, reality re-written as though she had never suffered the slightest bit of injury. She stood there in silence as her new spear manifested, her thoughts seemingly in a distant place.

    Despite the dilution of her emotions, Leonel could feel all sorts of them coming from her, but they ultimately boiled down to a simple phraseбн

    She was at a crossroads.

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    Standing there, she wasn''t really sure what road to take.

    But oddly enough, it wasn''t that she was hesitant. She had long set off on a particular path, her aim remaining the exact same. And she had no intention of changing.

    Rather, she was considering another matterбн

    How much of her strength did she want to show right now?

    Leonel could feel his Dream Force improving by leaps and bounds every moment he spent in this battle, and because of that, he could feel the deep and unfathomable well remaining within the Demoness.

    But this question she was pondering made his eyes narrow.

    What was she conserving her strength for?

    Leonel looked off into the distance, his gaze landing on the Northern Star that loomed overhead so closely that they could practically reach out and touch it.

    "I seeбн"

    In this ultimate battle, both grandson and grandmother seemed distracted, their thoughts elsewhere.

    And yetбн

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    They continued to stand there, but illusions danced through the air, their every clash just as real as the last.

    They both danced across the line of illusion and reality, the strikes of their spears carrying more power, more control, more mystery with every blow.

    A battle of Dream Force raged through the skies as they lost themselves in their own minds.

    And then they suddenly moved at once.

    As though the iterations of their battles all played out at the same time, their weapons seemed to multiply in the air, a myriad of changes taking place until their blades clashed.

    BOOM!

    There was only the slightest pause before Leonel coughed, taking a heavy step back.

    The new spear of the Demoness had solidified. It was as simple as could be, a wooden spear with a flat, double-edged blade. It carried not the slightest hint of power to it, and yet Leonel could feel the concentration of Auspicious Air.

    It was as though the spear itself was the embodiment of enlightenment.

    Maybe this was payback. He had managed to defeat his grandfather after his inferior weapon gave way. And nowбн

    Leonel looked at his spear manifested from his Dream Force and Idol. Cracks riddled its surface, and it seemed like any moment now, it would completely collapse.

    "So such a path of Force Crafting is possible too. Fascinating."

    Leonel flipped his spear in his palms, Ten Stars appearing to his back. They formed a link and a Constellation took shape.

    "I''ll be taking that too, then."

    A Natural Force Art took shape, the Morales Constellation shimmering bright and powerful.

    Auspicious Air poured down from the skies.

 Chapter 3280 Open Palm

    Leonel pulled on the world itself, his thoughts almost becoming solid. Auspicious Air fell in waves.

    He had never forgotten. How could he? He had created this technique with his own hands.

    [Dimensional Cleanse] had had a built-in array of Natural Force Arts designed for no other reason than to gather Auspicious Air. It was so natural to him that he hardly ever used the ability.

    Leonel had never really fought an opponent he needed Auspicious Air against in the first place. In his estimation, his mind had already been elevated to the point he didn''t need the help of the world around him to think sharper and faster.

    What he never considered was the possibility of using Auspicious Air for something else entirely.

    When he saw the Demoness use it in such a way, it flowed naturally as though it was nothing more than an extension of himself. But not only did he grasp the methods of the Demonessбн

    He took a step beyond.

    His King Force took shape, fusing into the Auspicious Air. At that moment, his Spear Force elevated to another level, the weapon in his hand simplifying on one hand, and blooming to another level on the other.

    The skies shook and blades crossed through the air.

    They danced with the rays of the Northern Star as their backdrop.

    In that moment, they looked like nothing more than a pair of mortals. If it wasn''t for the fact they were crossing the skies and impossible distances in what felt like less than a blink, one would have truly been fooled.

    Their power was so controlled, their attacks so straightforward that they almost looked down to earth.

    Thrusts met thrusts, slashes parrying slices, piercing strikes meeting steady spear bodies.

    Every attack they sent, they both seemed to be improving by leaps and bounds. It seemed as much a competition of their genius as it was their strength.

    They grasped techniques from one another, differing methods, different perspectives on how to view the world.

    And then their strikes began to grow more overbearing, more complex.

    They layered in shifts in time and space, warping reality and twisting the world to mold to their will.

    Down below, the world seemed still frozen in time, unable to read or react to the battle they were witnessing.

    Blood spurted.

    Leonel''s neck was almost severed in two, but a light of violet fused it together back into one.

    He knew that he was at a disadvantage, his improvement lagging just the slightest bit behind the Demoness. The difference was small, but what truly made him apprehensive was the fact that the Demoness was controlling it at such a minor rate on purpose.

    While he was quickly trying to improve, she was not only improving, but also recovering strength she also had. With such a gap, the difference would be obvious.

    Even now, she was trying to win while minimizing the strength she had to use.

    In its own way, this was suffocating for a completely different reason. She was still playing mind games, still trying to fill him with self-doubt and an oppression that went beyond just the blade in her hand.

    She was the true Ancestor of the Dream Asuras.

    However, Leonel didn''t waver in the slightest. She wasn''t the only one that had birthed a Race.

    Blood exploded out from Leonel''s back as a spear jetted through his chest. This time, the Demoness bypassed his heart on purpose, piercing around it and avoiding the loss of control of her Spear Force.

    Or so she thought.

    An unrelenting blast shot out a moment later, leveling more worlds and stars.

    The eyes of the Demoness narrowed, but Leonel had already taken control of his spurts of blood.

    Earlier, he had turned his arm into a Natural Force Art. This wasn''t by coincidence, nor was it something he had done on a whim.

    His wife had taken the true path of Humans, but he was a Spiritual King. The first Spiritual.

    His soul was separate from his body, which meant one very important thingбн

    This flesh sack of his that his soul chose to call home was nothing more than a vessel forged by his hands.

    He could make it anything he wanted it to be.

    He wasn''t a Blood Force user like his wife. But the difference hardly mattered.

    In that moment, the substance of Leonel''s body changed and the Force Arts bloomed around the Demoness'' weapon. Despite her confidence, she lost control of her spear once again and Leonel responded in kind, piercing right through her chest. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

    BANG!

    There was a suffocating presence that bloomed, rebounding against his blade, but he pushed right through, Auspicious Air, his Spear Force, and his King Force blooming into a single mighty tempest.

    A hole shot right through the Demoness'' chest.

    BOOM!

    The two separated, their torsos coupled with ghastly, gaping holes.

    In an instant they were healed, Leonel''s King Force blooming and the Demoness rewriting reality.

    The space beneath their feet rippled as they stomped down.

    "Enough." The Demoness said lightly. sea??h thз╫ N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    In that moment, the slight violet ripples in her hair became solid. Her aura changed, her body growing in size. She had already been slightly taller than Leonel, but now she stood at almost a half meter taller.

    Lavender horns grew from her forehead, curling back and onto her head like a pair of twisting braids. And already a beautiful woman, she seemed to elevate to another level, her warm brown eyes sparkling with an amethyst-like sheen.

    Her subtle increases in power stopped as she took a large leap forward in an instant of time.

    She appeared before Leonel in an instant, the latter having only just stomped at the air. He was too slow to react, and from a third party''s perspective, it almost looked as though he had thrown himself onto her spear.

    However, the Demoness didn''t thrust the blade through his body. Her spear moved so fast that it looked almost as though she had just tapped him several times, barely leaving wounds that were only as deep as paper cuts on his body.

    And then Leonel shattered to pieces, his Ethereal Glabella the only thing remaining.

    Yet, that simply fell into the Demoness'' open palm.

 Chapter 3281 Our

    The Demoness looked down at the crystal in her hand. It was so large, it made her eyes narrow. But the slight tremble that came from it was what made her pupils constrict.

    Her Dream Force pressed down, suppressing the changes.

    High in the skies, the Constellation and Stars of Leonel''s making began to fade, as did the Idol. It was impossible for it to continue to manifest itself like this, not when Leonel was sealed off from the world.

    As great as his body was, what good was it when there was nothing left?

    It was true that she could have ended this battle whenever she wanted. But she really hadn''t wanted to tap into this strength too early.

    Unfortunately, this grandson of hersбн he improved too quickly. If she allowed him the chance to continue keeping it close and rapidly rising, he might leach off her trillions of years of training and catch her off guard before she realized it.

    The first time he managed to control her Spear Force, she shrugged it off. But it was impossible for her to ignore the second time.

    He had proven himself capable of pulling the wool over her eyes time and time again. Truthfully, the very moment he had managed to deduce her plans with the Pluto and Void Race, she should have done exactly this.

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    Butбн she had been a bit too stubborn, maybe a little too prideful... maybe a little too sentimental.

    Now, though, it no longer mattered.

    She hesitated for a moment, looking at the Ethereal Glabella in her palm. After a long while, she shook her head and squeezed.

    CRACK.

    BANG!

    It shattered to pieces.

    There was a slight tremble in her pupils, but she brushed the pieces away, letting them flutter to the ground.

    "Do what you have to do. Now," she said coldly.

    In that moment, an unexpected pairing appeared. Well, one of them was very much expected; it was the second of them that was truly odd.

    Zephyrion, the Emperor of the Invalids, was one. He was a man who had once had a great amount of pride; he had also thought himself equal to the Demoness. But right at that moment, his head was lowered, as though in deference to her presence.

    It seemed that whatever superiority he had thought he had had long since been wiped out.

    But what was truly odd was that Invalidsбкeven Variant Invalidsбкshouldn''t be able to display such emotion. They only knew one thing: Destruction.

    If a Race of beings wanted nothing more than the end of the world, then how could they fear for their lives? And yet, Zephyrion had his head buried so low that one would have thought he was a cowardly rat.

    But once againбн it was the second person that was such a surprise.

    Talon. The reincarnated genius of the Barbarian Race.

    Leonel had learned long ago that Talon was living a second life, having grasped it from his wifeбкa Ninth Dimensional powerhouse that stood on the same level as the strongest existences across, wellбн Existence.

    Now, Talon stood next to the Invalid Emperor, and was somehow much calmer than he was. At the very least, he wasn''t trembling as though he might piss himself any moment.

    In fact, although he didn''t look much different from the last time Leonel had seen him, there was a depth to his eyes that hadn''t been there before.

    "There already isn''t much left to do," Talon said calmly. "While they''ve been distracted, the Mortal and Demi-God Worlds are no more."

    The Demoness didn''t reply directly, looking up at the Northern Star instead.

    If that was the caseбн why didn''t she sense much of a change?

    "It seemsбн we''ve put too much stress on it through all these iterationsбн" she said lightly.

    If there was one existence that knew of everything that was constantly happening, it was the Northern Star. It was beyond the realms of time and space.

    "More," she eventually spoke again.

    "Understood," Talon replied.

    Then he vanished.

    Zephyrion lagged behind, not realizing that Talon had already disappeared because his head hung too low and he didn''t dare to reach out with his senses.

    By the time he realized what was happening and was ready to leave, the Demoness called out.

    "A moment."

    Zephyrion froze.

    "Yes?"

    "My son and his wife," she spoke these words without elaboration.

    "They''ve already been integrated. They are now one of us," Zephyrion replied carefully.

    There was a ripple in the air as though the Demoness was agitated about something, but then she just nodded.

    "Good. Go."

    Zephyrion bowed his head and then vanished.

    The Demoness stood there in silence, time frozen all around her. Looking down at the people she could hardly see as anything more than ants, she was eerily calm. Her emotions dispersed through her Dream Force as usual, her mind so large that it was possible to dodge even her own thoughts if she wanted to.

    Whether time was frozen or moving, it hardly mattered to her. Wasn''t it all the same?

    "Since you''re here, why don''t you show yourself?"

    Nilrem stepped out of the shadows, his gaze on the fluttering pieces of Ethereal Glabella still dispersing through the air.

    "Are you here to try and convince me again?" she asked.

    "I gave up on that a long time ago," Nilrem replied, still not looking at her.

    "Was it after the tenth woman you fucked? Or the millionth?"

    Nilrem''s eye twitched.

    "Iбн don''t think the number is that high."

    "It is. In fact, it''s much higher than that."

    "Opheliaбк"

    "Do not call me by my name. Dare to do that again and your death this time will not be swift. I will make you feel every ounce of pain that I have."

    Nilrem''s mouth opened to reply, gathering the courage to look at the Demoness for the first time.

    But the very face he didn''t want to see was there. Cold, distant, so far away that he couldn''t touch her even though he was within arm''s reach.

    He exhaled slowly.

    "This time, you will lose," he said lightly.

    "Thank you for saying those words," the Demoness replied as she looked toward Nilrem. "Now I have all the motivation that I need." sea??h thз╫ n?vel_Fire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Nilrem smiledбкa genuine, true smile.

    "I look forward to the afterlife with you, if there is one. Our grandson is not so easy to defeat."

    The Demoness''s pupils trembled when Nilrem said the word "our." Then, in a fit of rage, she slapped out with a palm.

    BANG!

    Nilrem was no more. Not even flesh, bone, or soul remained.

 Chapter 3282 Husband

    The Demoness'' hand trembled in the air, but then it suddenly stopped. It dropped to her side, falling into a lull.

    The space her Dream Force took up seemed to expand, and her rippling emotions calmed.

    She looked toward where Leonel''s remains rippled in the air. Then, she took a step and vanished.

    Honestly speaking, she wasn''t sure what Nilrem was speaking of. What was dead would remain dead. If that wasn''t the caseбн why would she have to try so hard to change it?

    **

    Aina stood on the ground, the small hands of her children resting in her palms. She stared up at the skies.

    In one moment, her husband had been there. And in the next, he wasn''t.

    She felt an emptiness in her heart, and tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

    "Mommy?"

    Two tugs came from her arms.

    A smile curled her lips as she looked down, the sadness she had just felt vanishing into the wind as though it had never been there.

    "Yes?"

    Little Leo and Leah blinked. They thought they had felt their mother''s sadness just now, but it didn''t seem like anything was wrong anymore.

    They might have been intelligent, but they were still children. Their minds lacked flexibility, so they quickly forgot, thinking that they had made it up.

    In their short little lives, they had never experienced any sort of true hardship. Certainly, nothing that wasn''t manufactured by their parents.

    They didn''t have the capacity to consider that something truly horrible may have happened.

    For her children, Aina put on a strong face as though she couldn''t feel the vast emptiness. Even the pain of the ring on her finger being burned away didn''t so much as change the look on her face.

    The space before them warped.

    Out from it, a Barbarian walked out. A woman with a bosom so large that it felt like she should tip over appeared, holding a heavy club over her shoulder. Bandages stretched across her chest, loose pants hanging so low on her hips, even they seemed like they might fall at any moment.

    Aina hardly reacted to the appearance of this woman, but she already knew who she was.

    Talon''s wife, the very Barbarian Race woman who had once stopped Leonel outside of the Incomplete World of the Sea Gods.

    She looked toward Aina in silence. Despite her valiant demeanor, and her being quite well aware that these matters were all but over, she didn''t show much arrogance. In fact, her expression was that of pity.

    She, too, had once lost her husband. It took quite a lot to get him back, but the man she knew nowбн

    She found herself absently looking into the distance.

    Maybe her true husband was never coming back. She would just have to learn to love this new man.

    As soon as she had this thought, she fiercely suppressed it. If the Demoness sensed it, she would truly be finished.

    Taking a breath, she looked toward Aina again, opening her mouth to speak.

    She didn''t get the chance to.

    "If you want to live, leave," Aina said lightly. She never let go of the hands of her two children.

    It was quite rare for Aina to show any mercy at all. Between the two of them, she had always been the more bloodthirsty compared to her husband. All this talk of guilt and genocide never faded her. Leonel could kill all the men, women, and children in the world and she still loved him just the same.

    It just never mattered to her.

    But right now, she didn''t want to interact with anyone but her children, and certainly not an enemy.

    The Barbarian woman frowned. The pity she once felt had vanished, and the warrior blood in her pumped... only once, as it was the last time.

    Her head flew into the skies, the very blood thrumming in her body being ripped out of her control. All she felt was her heart beat once, far too heavily, and then a spurt of blood surged for her throat.

    When it reached that location, it sharpened, jetting out like a winding scythe.

    Her head was separated from her shoulders before she even got the chance to speak a single word.

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    бн

    Talon froze. His head snapped back so fast that space crackled and almost snapped apart at the seams.

    A pang echoed through his heart, his palm involuntarily raising to his chest.

    He hadn''t even known until this moment that the woman had so firmly wormed her way into his heart.

    He knew how much she loved him, but the feeling had never burned so furiously in him. At best, he loved the feeling of her body. In this life, he accepted being her husband because she was the best option.

    Sometimes he could see that reflection of pain in her eyes, but he couldn''t change how he felt. So, he just never addressed it.

    At that moment, thoughбн it was like something had been ripped out of him.

    "Sheбн died?"

    His shock almost made him hyperventilate.

    Without the Pluto or Void Race, with the Sylvans neutered and the Ancient Beasts being slaughtered beneath his and the Invalids'' blades right this moment, just how could there be someone left who could kill his wife?

    Let alone so quickly?

    "Those families? No, they were dealt with as well byбн"

    Talon''s eyes danced with a malevolent light.

    He stomped at the air, his rotund body carrying such strength that such a simple movement, even so high up, bounced the world beneath down several light years.

    In an instant, he was gone, his fury towering to the skies.

    бн

    Aina stood in silence for a moment and then kneeled down to her children.

    She calmly brushed their hair with her hands, giving them each a kiss on the forehead. Then, she hugged them tightly.

    The two little ones were overwhelmed by the love they were feeling. Little Leo squirmed a bit, but Leah pinched his cheek, forcing him into obedience.

    A light smile coated her lips.

    Then, she pulled them into the Segmented Cube, suppressing Anastasia''s desire to manifest herself.

    Rising to her feet, she exhaled. S~ea??h the ж╟ovelFire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    A blood-red light coated her from head to toe.

 Chapter 3283 Trust

    A pair of wings appeared, outstretched on the small of Aina''s back. Her hair became a bloody red, her eyes morphing into a pair of sparkling rubies.

    She stood there in silence as the air boomed.

    When Talon appeared, he didn''t say a single word, his fist striking down from the skies above with a fury that could render even stars impotent.

    Aina simply reached out her palm.

    BOOM!

    There was only a brief silence before everything exploded around them. The battle, the war, it all seemed to pale. But deep inside, Aina knew that the battle her husband had just fought and lost was on a level entirely separate from this.

    While they were still affecting reality, Leonel and the Demoness had long transcended beyond that.

    Somehow, that thought only fueled her further.

    The earth beneath her collapsed into a crater so deep that lava began to bubble upward. But she still remained in the air, her palm meeting Talon''s fist with a calmness that belied the sadness and hurt in her heart.

    She wouldn''t allow her tears to fall. Not while her children still needed to rely on her.

    She would be strong for them, for her lost parents, for her husband.

    Her arm lightly shook.

    Talon flipped through the skies, being pushed back and landing in the far-off distance with a heavy thump.

    His pupils had constricted into pinholes. Never did he think that there truly was someone so strong remaining here. Sз╫arch* The N??elFirз╫.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    However, soon, his shock became boiling blood, his surprise fusing into his fury and lighting sparks of lightning across his body.

    The skies clapped with thunder and two hammers appeared in his hands. Like a God of soaring clouds and peeling lightning, he shot upward and slammed down. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

    Aina was about to move when she felt something odd.

    "His abilitiesбн are similar to mine."

    Her mind was in an erratic state. Usually, she moved fluidly, and without thought. But there was something about Talon''s abilities that were restricting her.

    "He hasбн some form of Clairvoyance as well."

    That was when Aina remembered. Wasn''t this the ability of the Barbarian Race? They had the ability to feel out the future in a way that only those with Clairvoyance usually could.

    The realization came to Aina in waves, her thoughts a little slower than usual without Leonel''s Dream Force affinity connected to her any longer.

    She needed her Clairvoyance now more than ever, but to think she would run into an enemy that was such a perfect counter to her just after she lost her husbandбн

    Aina could feel her heart trembling as the hammers descended from the skies, her expression a little lost as though she wasn''t quite sure what to do.

    Still distracted, she almost couldn''t react as the hammers bore down on her.

    BOOM!

    Her wings crossed about her body at the last moment.

    A clash that sounded akin to metal banging against metal resonated, a harsh hum filled the skies as they vibrated against one another, Aina''s knees bending and almost giving way.

    However, the one to feel shock was Talon. Despite Aina clearly being caught off guard, she managed to mostly withstand his strength. Just how much power was her body holding? How was it even possible for someone''s physical prowess to be so high?

    The two separated, but Talon didn''t give Aina a chance to breathe. One swing after another came, one reverberating clang after another came, Aina using a mixture of her wings and palms to reflect them.

    The more the battle went on, and the fierce Talon suppressed Aina, the more shocked he felt. She was matching these weapons, forged with the core of worlds, with nothing more than her body.

    Wasn''t she a battle-axe expert? Did she not even care to bring it out any longer?

    Despite Talon''s thoughts, Aina was struggling a great deal as well. She couldn''t find her footing. Fighting with so much thought involved was completely foreign to her.

    She had known relying so heavily on her Clairvoyance would be a problem, that was why she had gone all out against the Four Great Families in an attempt to find a path to breakthrough. She had managed it, but in the end she still had this glaring weakness.

    With the weight of her husband''s death on her mind, it was even harder to focus than usual. Her thoughts flowed slowly and languidly, lagging in her mind and making her hesitate before every attack several times.

    Talon, a seasoned fighter, took every advantage.

    A hammer whipped against the side of Aina''s head, and she felt her vision go entirely white. Blood flew from her lips, her body almost going limp as she shot out.

    She hadn''t even been able to react to the blow. The gap just kept climbing between them until she couldn''t react at all.

    In the far-off distance, Leonel''s brothers were still fighting their bloody battles. Even when they thought things had ended with the deaths of the Pluto and Void Race, the Invalids came in with numbers more shocking than they could fathom.

    Seeing Aina suddenly suffer such a blow, many of them wanted to rush over, but they simply couldn''t.

    The Sea Gods, the Fawkes, even the Oryx were all tied down. Never once had the war stopped. When Leonel had said they would all be on their own, he had meant it.

    He just had hoped that these words wouldn''t have to apply to his wife as well.

    Unfortunately, he had failed. And the end result was that a scene that had played out many times throughout history was playing through again.

    Aina''s head rung. She could already feel Talon rushing forward. An expert like him wouldn''t possibly give up such a good chance.

    "бн I miss him alreadyбн" she thought softly.

    She didn''t believe it. Her husbandбн he could never loseбн no matter who the opponent was. He could beat her 10 out of 10 times even if she was stronger, he had said so himself. He would never lie to her. She trusted him more than anyone else in the world.

    "I trust himбн"

    A small light of clarity flickered in the depths of Aina''s eyes as she felt something shift within her.

 Chapter 3284 Too Weak

    The world was in an odd limbo, silent and endless. If there was ever true nothingness, this was what it would be. Deeper than the void, blacker than an abyss.

    Lifeless.

    It was the essence of a complete lack of potential, a world that had nothing to give and nothing to be taken.

    Through it, consciousnesses swam. These were the minds too powerful to be snuffed out in an instant, but too distant to ever taste life again.

    This stream existed beyond the Northern Star, a place where the weapons of the Four Great Families had once been hidden. And yet, it was even beyond those deathly destruction flames that Leonel had once tapped into.

    Here these minds drifted. Forgotten and buried, never to return.

    Soon, in this place without time, they would vanish without a sound, not even a puff of smoke or a whisper of wind would beckon them to the forever of nothingness.

    And it was here that a voice unexpectedly spoke.

    "You seem to be doing just fine."

    "Fuck you."

    The second voice was Leonel''s. He was absolutely pissed off.

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    Did that matter to him?

    Not in the slightest.

    He had wanted with his everything to win without having to do this. There was nothing he hated more than putting his wife and children in this situation. But in the end, he still wasn''t strong enough.

    "No need to be so angry. That grandmother of yours," a whistle came, "she is not only smoking hot, but, goddamn, is she powerful. I''ve tried already, believe me."

    "Can you not speak about people I''m related to that way? It''s disgusting. Also, I''m pretty sure you tried something like that on my mother too, don''t you have an ounce of shame?"

    "She''s related to you, not me. How is it my fault you descend from bombshells?"

    "Your daughter-in-law, you mean?!" Leonel''s voice clapped like thunder.

    The other voice didn''t reply for a very long while.

    "Listen, Leonel. I''m sure you already know my answer to that question. In my last moments, is it necessary for us to argue like this? Cut me a little bit of slack. I''ve been fightingбн for so longбн so very longбн"

    It was a tone that Leonel rarely, if ever, heard from this master of his. It was true fatigue, but it was also a deep sadness, an unwillingness as deep as Leonel''s own.

    As much as Leonel didn''t want to put his wife and children in this situation, Nilrem didn''t like to watch his family crumble in front of himбн even when he could never truly see them as his family.

    "I''ve tried every way I can. I''ve tried to be the man your grandmother remembers, but it was never enough. It''s so ironic, so sad. But I accepted a long time ago that not only could I never be that man, but even if I did somehow become him by some shocking sheer twist of fate and serendipity, I doubt that your grandmother would be in the headspace to even acknowledge it as true.

    "This is the truth of it all; she''s long since defeated herself, she just hasn''t accepted it yet."

    These words were enough for Leonel to put the final pieces of the puzzle together. He came to understand, and what anger he did have, dissipated.

    Indeedбн this man wasn''t his grandfather, not really. That man had long died.

    "I know that you understand already, but allow these words from a dying old man. I''ve wanted to speak this to someone for so longбн"

    Leonel couldn''t see Nilrem, but he could feel the tears in his eyes. He didn''t know how he had never noticed that this man had long been broken beyond repair.

    In his life, the only person Leonel had ever truly respected was his father. He didn''t think that in these last momentsбн he would gain the same sort of respect for his grandfather as well.

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    All that pain that he had so perfectly hidden even from Leonel himselfбн just how much heavier had the mountain on his back been?

    "бн in ancient times, your grandmother and I were among the first humans, the first existences to grasp Force. We were talented, so supremely so that we led humans out of the shadows and into the world. But neither of us realized just what we were doing until it was too late.

    "We thought we would live forever, that we would be by one another''s side into infinity, but nothing lasts forever, Leonel. Nothing ever does.

    "We improved too fast, suppressed other races too much, took too much. I''m sure that you''ve heard much of this story already on the Idol Battlefield, so I won''t waste your time again with the details.

    "The short of it is a story that you''ve probably never heard, because the sacrifice I had to make back then required erasing myself from the annals of history, from the bounds of time and the reality of space.

    "This Northern Star that everyone in the world thinks of as a harbinger of doomбн it''s actually what remains of me. It''s all that stands between life and true nothingness."

    Leonel remained silent. Maybe if he had had a body his reaction would have been fierce, but hearing it now, it was the only thing that ever made any sense.

    The Northern Starбн his last and strongest iteration had personally checked what was behind it, going as far as he could into the etherбн only to find that there was nothing at all.

    And that was the very point.

    There was Nothing.

    True Nothingness.

    "I thought that that would be the end of it. I sacrificed my life for the woman I loved and the children we had together, to give them hope to live out the rest of their lives, hope that maybe there was an afterlife we could be together in.

    "Butбн your grandmother was unable to accept it.

    "All of these iterations, all of the versions of me she''s forcefully brought back, all of my failed relationships, run-ins with Empresses that wanted my head or a Matriarch of a wife who treated me without the slightest ounce of respectбн your real grandfatherбн

    "These were all of her attempts to bring back the man she remembers, whom she truly loves.

    "Ironically enough, your grandfather was probably the closestбкthe man who best embodied what I once was.

    "Unfortunately, he had a fatal flawбн"

    Nilrem chuckled.

    "He was too weak."

 Chapter 3285 To Be Loved

    Nilrem''s laughter was sad and broken.

    Life liked to play jokes. The Demoness had only truly fallen in love twice in her life, though that wasn''t for lack of trying.

    Every time she forced her husband of the past to reincarnate in some way or form, she tried to be with him. But that ended tragically almost every time.

    Nilrem''s stories of being chased by Empresses, or how emasculated he had been in the Luxnix Clan, these weren''t foolish facades or made-up tales.

    They were his truth; they were the tapestry woven between him and the Demoness.

    Him and Ophelia.

    The second time she fell in loveбкthe second time she lost herself in a man, an iteration of Nilremбкwas Velasco''s father, Leonel''s grandfather: I.

    She really had loved him. She had given him her life and everything, birthing two children for him.

    Throughout all the iterations, this was the one thing that Ophelia had never done for any other man. It was the one thing that she had barred herself from until she found the husband she was looking for.

    It could be said that this time, she thought she had.

    But as life went on, and she observed Leonel''s grandfather more, the potential she thought she had no longer being twisted through rose-tinted glasses, she realized that he couldn''t be the man she fell for.

    That man had been able to sacrifice himself to save the entire world. He had been able to shoulder the burden of an entire race. He had been able to protect herбкshe who was the strongest Dream Force user in all of existenceбн

    The First Dream Force user.

    That man, despite her own strength, had been able to stand before her and carry mountains and rewrite constellations, overwriting laws and forging new ones with his own hands.

    How could that man and this one possibly be the same?

    Ophelia tried everything to change his talent, to help him grow stronger, to throw challenges at him that would force him to improve.

    But in the end, she pushed it too far. He lost his life in the hands of one of her schemes, and it completely broke her.

    Noбн maybe she had already been broken before.

    Far too broken beyond repair.

    The words his father told him about his grandfather rang in Leonel''s ears. He told them not to blame herбн that it was all his faultбн

    It seemed that he realized what Ophelia was doing even when she tried to hide it. He might not have been the talent that she wanted him to beбкneeded him to beбкbut he was intelligent enough in his own right.

    Over the years, he gained an understanding of his wife and what she was looking for. And he knew that he could never measure up.

    Leonel could feel the very remains of his soul tearing up, a pain ripping through what might have once been his chest.

    He had deduced it, he had. But hearing it out loud hurt so much worse than he expected, hearing it said in such bold words.

    His talent, the one thing he couldn''t control, wasn''t enough in the end.

    Leonel thought about how lucky he was to be born the way he was, how lucky he was to have his intelligence, to have this talent of his.

    He had always been the man who felt that all lives were equal regardless of the strength they were granted at birth.

    And then his emotions twisted, melding darkness, helpless fury, a broken guiltбн

    The only reason he had this talent was because of who his grandmother was. And yet, it was because of who his grandmother was that his life was so broken, that he had lost almost everything that meant anything to him.

    And then he laughed too, a laugh no less broken than Nilrem''s own.

    "Don''t chuckle at me like that, kid. I''ve been through far more than you. This is my turn to be the edgy mess; you just sit there and see a bright future like you''re meant to. I''m depending on you to bring my wife back to me."

    "Would that be in between your mistresses, or?"

    Leonel made the joke through his tears, knowing it was exactly this sort of thing that his masterбн that his grandfather wanted to hear.

    He still wanted to feel rage, feel anger that Nilrem hadn''t saved his father. But he knew that fury was worthlessбн

    Nilrem was just as helpless as he was.

    "Those women were there to numb the pain. This handsome face can''t go on without use, you know."

    "There''s nothing handsome about a ghost, bastard."

    Leonel could finally feel Nilrem''s smile.

    "бн You''re the apple of her eyeбн Little Lion. She wants to see you come back, she wants to see you do the impossible, she wants to see her grandson do what only her husband could do in the past.

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    "Don''t disappoint her. And be sure to kick her ass."

    Leonel didn''t respond for a long while, so Nilrem had no choice but to speak again.

    "Don''t disappear on me, little bastard. I swear to God, if you made me talk big to my wife just for them to be empty words, I will pull you out of the afterlife just to give you the spanking I never could."

    Nilrem grew more heated as he spoke, somewhat worried that Leonel had truly dissipated, but then a calm voice came.

    "There''s no need to worry, gramps," Leonel finally said.

    It was obvious what Ophelia wanted to do now. She felt that the only two in the world strong enough to survive the end of everything were her and her husband.

    If she destroyed the worldбн her husband could finally let his burden down; he could finally stop being the Northern Starбн he could finally come back to her.

    "In this world, the only way to live forever is to be remembered by those that you love. Luckily for meбн I have just one woman who loves me very much."

    Leonel''s consciousness trembled.

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 Chapter 3286 Who?

    To Aina, the world had never felt clearer.

    In one moment, her head was ringing, the world was spinning, her body felt like a wobbling mess, one action leading to three others she didn''t ask for.

    And in the next, she was as solid as a rock.

    Noбн

    More accurately, she had found her rock.

    The eyes of a man she could never forget, the smile, the heart, the soul.

    Her mind trembled.

    "[Instant Recovery]бн" she whispered.

    A blinding light pierced the skies.

    Aina''s mind seemed absent for a moment, as though she hadn''t noticed the hammer coming at her. But then her wings flapped.

    Talon felt like he was watching the most peculiar of things. Aina''s wings seemed to multiply, and in an instant, both of his hammers were struck at their weak points several times over.

    At the same time, Aina had flapped her wings so hard that a massive crater appeared beneath her, blasting out a sphere of space and giving her room to rebound.

    Talon''s momentum came to a grinding halt in the skies.

    What happened?

    He was stunned, but Aina had already moved again, her small fist flashing through the air with the power of stars.

    Talon''s pupils constricted. Before the blow even landed, he changed his entire approach. Arrogant and oppressive as he was, he took the battle seriously.

    Usually, he would at least suffer first, but as a veteran of battle, an elite warrior who felt he was beneath no one, his speed in recognizing his situation and reacting appropriately was second to none.

    He crossed his hammers before his chest, clouds thundering above.

    BANG!

    He was sent flying, but his expression was calm. The lightning he called for fell right that instant, sliding into his hammers. They enlarged, with Force Arts of lightning and Destruction manifesting in them.

    The Destruction pooled and pooled until the heads of the hammers increased yet another size. Then, in a shocking display, it overturned to creation, light blooming.

    BOOM! BOOM!

    Talon stamped out with his hammers twice.

    Complex magic circles began to appear in Aina''s path, each one carrying the Auspicious Air of a Natural Force Art.

    In the end, it had to be remembered that the most shocking thing about Talon wasn''t his power, it was his Force Crafting. Since Aina had decided to bring this out, she would suffer for it.

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    Aina''s second fist slammed into the first. To her own surprise, her momentum was greatly reduced.

    Talon''s eyes flashed when he noticed this and immediately took advantage. He slammed his two hammers together, a roar leaving his peals as the second Natural Force Art expanded violently. Lightning flashed and danced like splitting sparks, and thenбн

    A flood dragon took shape.

    A roar, layered over Talon''s, shook the skies.

    Aina had only just burst through the first Natural Force Art, only to be greeted by a true monstrosity. But what Talon hadn''t expected occurred at that moment.

    As fast as he was to adapt to taking Aina seriouslyбн Aina was a touch faster.

    Never did Talon consider that someone would have to actively make such a choice for him. The only one he could even remotely accept such a thing from was the Demoness. But right now, he had no choice but to accept it.

    The dullness in Aina''s eye vanished.

    She was waiting for her husband to appear, but if she died before he got hereбн wouldn''t that be unacceptable?

    She forgot about everything else and focused on the opponent in front of her.

    The instant she did, it was like the skies had overturned for her alone.

    Roses of blood appeared around her, Force Arts pooling from the surroundings, spontaneously spawning, no different from Aina''s thoughts in Clairvoyance. But this time, she felt like she was on another level entirelyбн

    Because she had tapped into the abilities of a Wise Star Order.

    A Force Pill formed in an instant, so quickly that the maw of the flood dragon had only just opened when it appeared before her palm.

    Aina lightly slapped out, and the Force Pill flew into the mouth of the dragon.

    BANG!

    It only faintly touched the lightning when shattered. It seemed like things were over, until the flood dragon convulsed, collapsing from the skies as though ill.

    Talon didn''t notice until it was too late. The instant his vision cleared, his dragon falling out of the skies, he was greeted with Aina''s fist.

    BANG!

    His nose collapsed into his skull.

    A sharpness radiated from his eyes as though he didn''t feel the pain, and he swung his arm at Aina''s head.

    His pupils couldn''t help but tremble when he realized Aina''s wing was already there.

    Just what happened? How was she reading him so easily? The gap in power between them was obvious, but she was his perfect counter?!

    No, she must be receiving help from somewhere else. He had been defeating her too thoroughly before. Just how was this happening? Was it that pillar of light? Sз╫arch* The N?vel(F)ire.ж╟et website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    PENG!

    His hammer rebounded off Aina''s wing heavily.

    "WHAT?!"

    This time Talon couldn''t even hold back his reactions. His hammer bounced back, almost flying out of his hand as though he had hit some sort of solid rubber structure.

    This wasn''t the density of Aina''s wing last time he touched it. What the hell happened?

    He barely had the time to smell the medicinal effects in the air and come to a realization.

    She hadn''t formed one pill in that split instant. She formed two, and the second was for herselfбн for no other reason than to change the structure of her body for this moment right here?

    Just what sort of demon was he facing?

    The spring back of his hammer left Talon''s chest wide open. He could already see Aina blasting right through him, such an opening in a battle of experts, when the other was entirely unprepared, only meant death.

    And yet, he died in a manner he could have never expected.

    "Who the hell touched my wife?"

    An arrow fell from the skies, piercing right through his chest in the very opening Aina created.

 Chapter 3287 Together

    Death didn''t seem to have changed the compatibility of Leonel and Aina''s combat styles. If Aina was the one to strike, she would have surely heavily injured Talon, but the battle would have been unlikely to be obvious. To make the rebounding effect so pronounced, she had to divert a lot of her Blood Force, so the physical strength Talon had been expected had likewise been limited.

    But much the same, like she had saidбн

    She trusted him.

    Leonel appeared high in the skies, pissed. There wasn''t even a bow in his hand; it was impossible to tell where the arrow had come from. It was too fast, too sharp, too quick.

    And too powerful.

    At first, there was nothing but a small hole at the start; so controlled, it was imperceptible.

    And then his torso was gone.

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    A pair of legs and a hip hung in the skies for a moment before falling.

    Leonel was truly enraged, but he suddenly had nowhere else to vent. It wasn''t until a person appeared before him that his expression softened.

    Aina threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

    Guilt flickered through Leonel''s expression. He had truly not wanted to fall; if at all possible, he didn''t want to use this card.

    He knew what would happen after he died because he had witnessed it beforeбн with Aina''s death.

    Why was it that the Demoness had gone through so much trouble, all the effort in the world just to bring her husband back, and yet Leonel could bring Aina back so easily?

    It was the same reason Leonel could bring Aina back so easily, and yet was helpless to do the same for his mother and father.

    Aina hadn''t truly died; she was in limbo because she was a God Childe. Because of that, Leonel had been able to bring his wife back from the brink of a true death.

    But there was another elephant in the room.

    It was the same thing for Ninth Dimensional Existences. The reason they could come back to life after they died was because they never truly dispersed and left the world.

    Of course, being killed by the likes of the Demoness or anyone who understands how to truly impose their will on the world would make that Ninth Dimensional title worthless.

    But it was enough for Leonel to know that he could use this to his advantage.

    So long as Aina was to break through, she should be able to sense his lingering aura. And if she could, with her Clairvoyance, she could reattach their souls herself. Once that happened, it was a simple matter of her triggering one of her abilities.

    Their Soul Bond now was on a level that was truly unfathomable. They had already been united thanks to Aina''s Clairvoyance, but Talon was the last piece she needed to understand something fundamental.

    The Barbarian Race''s method of fate reading and scrying was completely different from what she was used to. But she realized, precisely because of that, that she was trying to actively use something that should be passive.

    Truly passive.

    However, how could someone turn their brain off? Doing so was impossible. Even for someone who had had Clairvoyance almost all her life, Aina still had thoughts from time to time.

    Talon and the Barbarian Race were the same way. It was what separated them. Talon was actively thinking, actively deducing. While it seemed he had Clairvoyance, he was analytical at heart, and a Force Crafter by trade for a reason.

    But the contrast made Aina realize that that wasn''t her path.

    So how could she take a step forward?

    How could she truly turn her brain off?

    Trust.

    The answer was right in front of her. To hand her body, her mind, her soul over to the man she had already given her everything to.

    She hugged Leonel so tightly, basking in the feeling of his arm around her waist and the hand caressing the back of her head. His presence alone soothed her soul, but his touch took what remained of her ache away.

    "You look kind of sexy with red hair," Leonel suddenly said. "You''re going to let me try it out for a test drive some time, right?"

    Aina sniffled. "Are you trying to say that I''m not perfect the way I am?"

    "Isn''t this the way you are?"

    "Don''t try and change the subject. You''re still in the dog house for daring to die. You talked so big and what was the end result?"

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    Leonel''s lip twitched. He had all the minds and thinking speed in the world, and yet had no rebuttal.

    "Don''tбн don''t do that againбн" Aina began to sob again. "бн Or I will destroy this world and everything that''s left in it."

    Leonel held onto his wife in silence. The two stood there in the skies as though there wasn''t a battle raging all around them, as though this was the last time.

    "бн Then let''s do this together," Leonel finally said softly.

    Aina sniffled again. "It''s about timeбн"

    "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "You know exactly what it means. Don''t make me cut it off."

    "Such vulgar language for a married woman with two children. What would the world think if they could hear you."

    "The world can shove it."

    Leonel''s boisterous laughter filled the skies.

    Of course he knew exactly what his wife meant.

    All his life, he had taken on the burden alone, forcing him to wait by the sidelines. Even this time when she had put herself through so much just to have a sliver of a chance to stand by his side, he had ignored her efforts and fought alone.

    This time, they would fight together.

    "You know, this isn''t technically the first time we''ve fought together. Why are you getting so worked up?" Leonel asked innocently.

    Leonel got a pinch that he felt from his waist down to his soul in return.

    He winced.

    "I give! I give!"

    His laughter filled the skies once again.

    "Let''s go end this."

    There was a flash in his eyes.

    "This time, we crush her."

    He took his wife''s hand.

    The action had barely been completed when reality froze and Aina''s eyes grew dull.

    A woman with a fiery violet aura appeared, her hair dancing like streams of amethyst waters.

    The Demoness Ophelia.

 Chapter 3288 My Queen.

    Leonel lightly held onto the dull Aina''s hand, his expression unchanged. He held no weapons in his hands at all. Standing there, still completely in the nude, one would have thought that he was in an embarrassing situation he had just been walked in on.

    But the calmness in his eyes painted a completely different picture.

    The momentum of the Demoness now was far more like her real strength, her power pouring out in all directions.

    She towered over Leonel, her presence even larger. It felt like he was facing off against a Star, a luminescent being that made the Void Race look like nothing more than empty bags of air.

    This was a woman that truly embodied the vastness of the universe, the endlessness of the abyss, the depth of nothingness.

    The Demoness'' gaze never shifted to Aina a single time. It might as well have been that this granddaughter-in-law of his didn''t exist. There was a calmness to her, butбн

    Leonel''s mind expanded.

    In that moment, his Dream Force spread out, blanketing the same region as the Demoness'' own.

    He picked them out one after anotherбкstray, dispersed, and diluted to such an extent that she couldn''t even arrange them all properly.

    Maybeбн he too would be like this if he didn''t have the Control Ability Index.

    All of his thoughts, all of his memories, were arranged in the prism that was his Dreamscape. He accessed them all with ease, feeling them as much and as purely as he could.

    But he still remembered almost slipping down a road.

    Back when Aina left him, he weighed their memories on a scale, placing one memory after another as though to see if he could measure her worth in his life.

    Luckily, in the end, whatever ridiculous calculation scheme or method he came up with ended up just barely allowing her another chance. But sometimesбн he thought about the man he would have become had he not given her that chance.

    Would he be like this? Empty to everything? Endlessly calculating? Chasing after something so fervently, and yet not being in the state of mind to even remotely enjoy it should he ever successfully grasp it?

    This was the greatest tragedy of the Demoness, the one thing she didn''t seem smart enough to realize.

    Even if she found the man that was her husband in every aspect, in every wayбн

    Was she still the woman he would remember? Would she still be the woman he chased after, pined after, gave up everything for?

    The Demoness'' pupils trembled, the whispers of Leonel''s thoughts crashing into her in waves.

    Maybe Nilrem loved the Demoness far too much to put things to her in this way. But this current version of the Demoness... was truly just that.

    When she embraced this title, she had long left behind what it meant to be Ophelia. Sз╫ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    That version of herself had died with her husband.

    "My wife made me a better man. It''s unfortunate you didn''t notice or understand until it was too late."

    The violent trembling of the Demoness'' pupils only grew more feverish, until it vanished.

    Her Dream Force expanded just as violently, exploding out in all directions as she chased something.

    And then she found it.

    Peaceбн there it wasбн she could finally feel peace.

    A hint of sadness flashed through Leonel''s eyes, something he never thought he would feel for this woman he had hated almost all his life; she had given up long ago; she just didn''t know it.

    Leonel let go of his wife''s hand, grasping her waist lightly and kissing the side of her forehead.

    "Together," he said softly.

    She didn''t reply, her eyes still dull, her body unmoving.

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    Leonel released her. Raising his hand, a spear swirled into being, a tempest of King Force rising through the air as a violet-gold band appeared across his forehead.

    He wanted to do this with his spear. It just feltбн right.

    He raised his blade, feeling the hand of his father land on his, and then his grandfather before himбн and then, in a far-off distant land, he felt his grandmother''s.

    The grandmother his grandfather would remember.

    Ophelia Morales.

    A woman he may have once been happy to call grandma.

    The Demoness'' eyes were calm, but the beating of her heart returned. She tried to expand her Dream Force further, but she had suddenly run into a limit.

    A limit?

    That was impossible.

    She was a Goddess.

    A Demoness.

    How could she have a limit?

    "It won''t make a difference," she spoke. "How can you work together? Can''t you see that she''s too weak to follow you? You, Little Lion, you''re perfect. You can help your grandfather return; you''ve passed my final test. No, you passed it twice over alreadyбн Now I''m certainбн Now I''m sure there won''t be any mistakesбн"

    Her words were so calm. They looked like they came from a woman that couldn''t have been more measured and level-headed. But the more she spoke, the more insane she sounded.

    How could a woman who wanted to use her grandson to reforge her husband possibly be in her right mind?

    It was suddenly all too obvious to Leonel why she had needed his Dream Asura Heart.

    She was treating the lives of her descendants as pawns to move on a chess board, and the reason she could do so was just as obvious to him.

    A mother''s love for her children, and her children''s children, was unconditional. She didn''t care what sort of tweaks Velasco''s or Leonel''s personality might have undergone after forcing them to reincarnateбн or, at the very least, the Demoness had been twisted so much that she didn''t.

    But her husbandбн that was a man she chose with her own handsбн he had to be perfect, he had to be the man she envisioned, the man she had always pined after.

    He could only be one way; he could only be the very best.

    And Leonel was that.

    "You''re wrong," Leonel replied lightly, pity overwhelming his other emotions. "It''s because we lean on one another that we are strong. I can only stand here because of her.

    "She is my Queen."

    The dull Aina''s lips parted as though on instinct.

    "And he is my King."

    The Demoness'' pupils stopped trembling, constricting into pinholes.

    The pair of husband and wife moved at the same time, rushing into battle side by side in earnest for the very first time.

 Chapter 3289 Kill

    The two seamlessly weaved in and out of one another, their images blurring and somehow becoming difficult to track.

    Leonel was flooded with Natural Force Arts, his body that of a Spiritual, and it felt like he embodied the world itself.

    Aina was akin to a specter. Her soul was locked away in her body, undergoing a perfect fusion. But now, it had become so perfect, so seamless, that even her Dream Force couldn''t be detected within the Dream Plane.

    One fused into the world.

    One entirely disconnected from it.

    When they worked together, one burning star and one shadow, one specter and one blazing lightбн

    The world fell to obedience.

    Leonel''s blade appeared at the Demoness'' throat. To her credit, as shaken as her mind was right now, she reacted quickly. She slashed out; a spear appeared in the same fluid motion.

    Whether by coincidence or not, she pulled out her end game spear. She didn''t even have the instinct to underestimate what she was seeing right this moment. Every fiber of her being was screaming danger.

    However, Leonel''s spear vanished.

    ''Space?''

    No, Leonel had literally erased himself from existence. How was that possible? Only she had reached this level of Dream Force?

    The Demoness'' mind had been spread out too far for her synapses to connect fast enough. By the time she realized that Leonel was relying on Aina just as much as she was relying on him, Aina''s palm had already slammed against her chest.

    PUCHI!

    A spear ripped through her chest.

    At some unknown point, Leonel had written himself back into reality, appearing behind her seamlessly.

    However, it seemed like they had made a mistake. With the trajectory of Leonel''s spear, it would run right through Aina''s palm as well.

    But what actually happened made the Demoness realize just how much trouble she was in.

    Leonel''s spear became akin to an extension of his arm. This wasn''t an analogy or an image-painting sort of description. It was well and truly akin to an extension of his arm.

    He pulled the Self Realm of Force Crafting to another level, injecting his very soul into his blade.

    Aina, even with her eyes dull and her mind blank, reacted in the very same way.

    The Demoness felt herself lose control of her Force once again. This was already the third time Leonel had succeeded in doing this.

    But she could hardly feel shocked when Aina seemed to do the same thing. Taking advantage of her loss of control, Aina reversed the flow of her blood.

    The Demoness coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body shearing and shredding apart.

    BANG!

    She exploded and then, in the far-off distance, she forcefully reeled in her blood and flesh, gasping for breath.

    Aina was already upon her.

    Leonel allowed his Clairvoyance to direct the changes. While he could sense the changes to the Demoness, Aina could read and react to them before they even happened.

    When Aina moved, Leonel reacted to his wife instead.

    This time, he trailed behind her, his mind sharp.

    Aina attacked, he would plan.

    The two halves of the coin played off against one another.

    There was a lot of talk about just who was the strongest in Existence these days. But maybe no one expected that it would be a duo.

    The Demoness recovered, pale-faced, only to find a fist at her head.

    PENG!

    Akin to the sound of metal clashing against metal, her neck snapped back.

    Leonel''s spear weaved beneath Aina''s arm, piercing through her chest.

    Aina''s leg swept up, her shin slamming against the side of the Demoness'' head.

    Leonel had already retracted his spear, spinning it around his back in a seamless, fluid motion, and slashing out with all his might.

    His blade came from the opposite direction in which Aina''s kick had sent the Demoness'' body snapping toward, their momentum and strength multiplying over one another to slice her in two.

    Aina moved for her lower half, Leonel moving toward her upper.

    Leonel completed Spear Dance in an instant, pulling on Aina''s Clairvoyance to communicate and formulate the Natural Force Art in a breath.

    Aina pulled on Leonel''s calculative abilities, roses of blood appearing around her as she completed a Force Pill in the same breath.

    She slammed the Force Pill forward with a palm just as her husband thrust out his spear.

    Leonel roared, a complex magic circle appearing beneath his feet. His King Force flooded into it and then the Force Art rushed up his body, concentrating into his spear as he pierced forward.

    A concentrated blast of controlled Spear Force ripped through the Demoness'' forehead, through her Ethereal Glabella, and out of the back of her skull.

    There was an eruption of Force, a violent tempest that shook the skies.

    Time became so warped and distorted that it seemed to unstickбкunfreezing from the Demoness'' presence and continuing to move forward again.

    But then it suddenly reversed, flowing backward in a shuddering ripping.

    The Demoness burst to pieces once again, her Ethereal Glabella falling from the skies in a sprinkling rain much like Leonel''s had before.

    Leonel took a step back, appearing by his wife''s side. Sз╫ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Both of them wore placid expressions, Aina''s dull, Leonel''s cold as ice.

    They were both well aware that this wasn''t over, but they were ready for more. No matter how many times she showed up, she would be crushed just the same.

    The ripping of time, its fierce reversal, rewrote reality once again.

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    The Demoness reformed, her expression paling further. There was a malevolent aura to her, as though she was truly infuriated, long having forgotten just what it was she was fighting for.

    All she felt was that these two were in her way. And they couldn''t be here; they had to go awayбн if she wanted to see her husband again, they had to be erased.

    "GO AWAY!"

    The shriek of a banshee filled the skies, and one after another, seas of Invalids began to appear.

    Leonel''s eyes narrowed as he seemed to sense something.

    These Invalidsбн they felt like extensions of the Demonessбн?

    What wasбн

    Leonel''s pupils trembled as he understood. The final piece of the puzzle slid into place.

    "Youбн haven''t been Human or Dream Asura in a very long timeбн"

    The first Dream Asura?

    The first Human?

    No.

    The first Variant Invalid?

    No.

    She was the reason Invalids even existed in the first place. Leonel had been wrong. Invalids weren''t a creation of the Northern Star, how could they be when the Northern Star only existed to protect them from the vast nothingness?

    "бн You don''t even realize it, do you? They live because you do. They destroy because you want to destroy. You''ve dispersed your Dream Force so far you don''t even realize the sort of carnage you''ve brought. Or maybe, subconsciously you do and this is just exactly what you wantбн"

    The Invalidsбн they were products of the Demoness'' Dream Force, people who weren''t able to escape the influence of her will for the destruction of the world, her want to see everything crumble and collapse before her eyes.

    They were the truest essence of the Demoness'' helpless pain.

    Leonel looked off into the distance, his eyes landing on his uncle and aunt amongst the sea of monsters.

    He lowered his head, his expression darkening.

    A hand clutched at his, its warmth pouring into him.

    But at that moment, the chilliness in his eyes reached its peak.

    "Kill."

    He and Aina spoke at once.

 Chapter 3290 Hide

    Leonel didn''t want to think about why the Demoness had chosen to turn his uncle and aunt into Invalids. But his mind whirred to its own conclusions almost instantly.

    And it filled him with fury.

    He knew when he sent his uncle out it would probably be the last time he saw him. He told his uncle to call on his name should he ever need help, but Montezбн he would never do that.

    Especially not if he ran into the Demoness, only to find that his wife had already become an Invalid.

    Even Leonel couldn''t trust what he would do in such a situation.

    He hadn''t been there, he hadn''t sensed it, but looking into his uncle''s eyes from the distance, he knew how it had gone nonetheless.

    Much like he had almost been, his uncle was just yet another sacrifice, his wife nothing more than a small pawn to lure him in.

    His uncle''s Dream Asura Bloodline had always been suppressed. Since his youth, only Velasco had been able to access it, but Leonel''s father refused to use even an ounce of it, much like Leonel had for a while.

    Back then, Leonel thought that the Demoness had just done this because she liked to watch people squirm, enjoying the rift that formed between the two brothers because of this.

    Maybe she was, in part, so sadistic, but it was clear that nothing she did was truly without cause or reason.

    This time, she benefited from the suppression of Montez''s Bloodline in some way.

    When Leonel thought about the difference he felt when his Bloodline was activated and when it wasn''t, it clicked.

    In his Enlightened state, he had had many thoughts that he couldn''t bring back to his suppressed self. His mind was too large, filled with too many things, for his suppressed self to keep up with. If he tried to remember them without the support of the Dream Asura within him, his Dream Force and soul would shatter apart.

    It was only when he tapped into his Bloodline would he remember again.

    Wasn''t thisбн the perfect way to hide something you didn''t want other powerful Dream Force users sensing? A method both simple, and yet elegant and perfect in its use.

    When Montez finally tapped into his Dream Asura Bloodline on his own, breaking free of the Demoness'' restraints, the only way she could continue to hide what she wanted hidden was by trapping his mind another wayбн

    Forcing him to become an Invalid.

    Upon becoming an Invalid, everything that was once a person was devoured, leaving nothing but an endless desire for destruction. It was arguably an even better method of suppressing a mind that Dream Asura Blood had been.

    So the question wasбн what did the Demoness want to hide?

    After knowing her story, the answer was obvious.

    She was hiding his grandfather, Ishmael.

    Leonel wasn''t the only part of her plan. She was using bits and pieces of her sons and grandson to rebuild her husband.

    What better way to form the man she loved than the seed they formed together?

    Leonel would form the body.

    Velasco and Montez would form the mind. Sз╫ar?h the Novз╫l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    With the talent she had granted their descendants, and his mind stored away in the exact frame she remembered it, she would build the perfect man.

    "Don''t you dare move. You only have one job. Keep those annoying Ancient Humans off my back." Leonel said coldly, seemingly not speaking to anyone. "Her head is mine."

    бн

    In a far-off distance, a hesitating Gervaise stopped his slowly raising hand. In the end, he sighed, and lowered it.

    For nowбн he would trust Leonel.

    бн

    BANG!

    Leonel''s spear and Aina''s fists carved out a path. They moved seamlessly with one another, in such sync and with such united will that just the hairs of their skin brushed past one another as they shifted and glided across the battlefield.

    They wasted not a single ounce of movement.

    Fed by Leonel''s fury, Aina''s attacks reached a new level of potency.

    Blood ripped through body after body in winding scythes. The Invalids themselves didn''t produce blood after their deaths, but the motes of light seemed forcefully controlled by Aina, forming Force Pills of her own creation.

    These pills shot into the skies, falling down like meteors and erupting into nuke-like clouds of destruction. She concentrated the energy into powerful bombs, raining them down from above with impunity.

    Leonel''s spear was relentless and violent, chiseling and precise. If one removed the enemies, it would look as though he was cutting out the perfect sculpture, his hands, palms, and blades gliding with heart-shuddering accuracy.

    All the while, he never looked at an opponent a single time, his gaze firmly locked onto the Demoness who was shrieking in the distance. Her pale face, the cold sweat that marred her once beautiful but now twisted features, the wavering of her Force.

    He felt it all.

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    Until there was nothing at all left.

    There was a flash before Leonel''s eyes and his uncle appeared. His heart sank, but his blade didn''t pause a single time.

    Their spears crossed, a clash reverberating through the air with a battering force.

    At that moment, he finally looked at something other than the Demoness, staring into his uncle''s eyes and feeling the hurt deep within them.

    There was something in thereбн at least that was what Leonel wanted to think.

    But his deductions told him otherwise quickly. That pain, that fear Montez was feelingбн it was for no other reason than the shrieking banshee behind him.

    All he wanted to do was please her, and he feared what it meant if he couldn''t.

    "NO!" The voice of the Demoness came.

    Leonel''s blade flashed.

    Memories danced through his mind, of the man standing behind the counter in an armor of shimmering goldбн of the first time his uncle took his armor off to show him just the sort of work he put in every dayбн of the first interaction of his uncle and his little girl and boyбн

    Montez''s head flew into the skies, his motes of light fusing into his spear as his aunt was shattered to pieces by Aina''s palm.

    The husband and wife paired roared, their Forces reaching a perfect sync as they sliced a path right through the Invalid army.

 Chapter 3291 Unfair

    They cut through the army like a knife through butter. One life after another was reaped beneath their blade.

    Leonel felt an extra hand on his spear, and his fiery fury fueled his every action.

    The Demoness had surely not expected Leonel to cut down Montez so easily. Not because he was so strongбн he was not. In fact, he was among the easiest opponents here.

    Leonel would read her like she was an open book. He had long stepped off her chess board and he was gazing at it from above, his chaotic aura suppressing her own.

    She wanted him to hesitate, she wanted him to feel the same torn feeling she was, to change his mind and realize that giving up everything to save someone you loved only made perfect sense. Wasn''t it only natural to do so no matter what the cost?

    Yesбн it was only natural.

    As for sending his aunt after them as well, Leonel saw through that even more easily. She actually wanted Aina to kill her, she wanted to form a rift between Aina and Leonel, breaking the seamlessness of their communication and teamwork.

    If Aina so carelessly took the life of Leonel''s aunt, how would Leonel feel about that? How would he react?

    Even now, she was still trying to play mind games.

    Noбн at this point it was all she could play.

    She couldn''t gather her true strength, her mind was too dispersed. And yet, rather than trying to reel it in, she was desperately trying to expand it further, to run away from the pain Leonel was trying to force her to faceбн

    The guilt.

    It wasn''t going to work.

    Because as Leonel said, there were no Gods in this world. There was no one without a limit.

    And this time, having run so far, and for so longбн

    She had reached hers.

    Leonel and Aina appeared before the Demoness.

    "PROTECT ME! I COMMAND IT!" she shrieked.

    But in her fury and confusion, she didn''t seem to have noticed yetбн

    That there was nothing left of the Invalid army to protect her.

    Leonel and Aina had carved through an army of millions as though taking a strolling through the park.

    Craters appeared in reality, rifts through times of the past and even small peeks into potential futures. The power of Aina''s Force Pill bombs had been so shocking that she had forced these rifts to appear, but they also served a secondary purpose.

    With them, it was impossible for the Demoness to reverse time again. It was all too volatile, her mind was in too much of a mess, and, like Leonel was drilling into her right this momentбн

    She had her limits.

    Just like everyone else.

    And just like everyone else who had suffered loss and was forced to learn to deal with it, she would tooбн or she would die right here and now.

    Leonel had always believed that no life was superior to another. What gave the Demoness the right to make a mess of the world, rip families apart, cause so much death, destruction, and carnage, just because she was unable to accept something anyone else would be forced to?

    Why?

    Because she was strong?

    That reason was never good enough for him.

    She was lucky to be born with her talent. Nothing more, nothing less.

    It didn''t make her or her desires more important than that of someone else.

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    And today, he and his wife would finally make her pay for that arrogance.

    Leonel''s Idol and Constellation shimmered into existence, an enormous man wielding a spear and formed of Stars taking shape.

    Aina''s body trembled and her own Idol appearedбн a manifestation of herself rising high in the skies and standing side by side with her husband.

    She waved a hand and shingles of crimson armor formed out of the blood around her.

    Leonel''s aura flared along with hers, his Divine Armor appearing for the very first time in his battle with the Demoness.

    Heavy robes formed of leather fell down his body, shimmering in whites, golds, and violets. His eyes became orbs of violet, his crown shining brighter and brighter.

    An explosion of Creation filled the air, a painting of butterflies, fluttering birds, stars, and the most gorgeous of phoenixes and soaring dragons appeared around him.

    But what was more powerful than any of that was what wasn''t seen.

    Hidden in his World of Creation, his father''s spirit, his grandfather''s, his uncle''sбн they all layered onto one another.

    He thrust out with his spear with one hand, holding onto his wife''s with the other.

    Aina punched out with all her might with one fist, her free fingers interlacing with her husband''s own.

    They appeared before the Demoness in unison, their manifestations bending the world to their will. Sз╫arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    In that moment, time seemed to slow, their determination solidifying. The power of the Demoness felt like an unscalable mountain, a peak that stood beyond a peak, a Heaven beyond a Heaven.

    And yet, right then, crippled by her thoughts, this mountain fell to its knees, this peak crumbled, this Heaven darkened, falling to an abyss that fell into a vast nothingness.

    In the endбн maybe she tooбн was just as tired as the Northern Star above.

    A spear pierced through the right of her chest, a fist punching through the left.

    Her body convulsed.

    In a shocking display of will, she tried to twist reality once again, pulling on time to reverse, to allow her to live. She had always done it so easily in the pastбн no one could kill herбн she was a Goddessбн

    The Demoness.

    But she realized at that moment that even she would have to face death one day. It was something she had never considered, a possibility that never crossed the vastness of her mindбн

    But now she had no choice but to face itбн

    Because the gaze of her grandson was forcing her to.

    "Die."

    Leonel said coldly.

    Ophelia''s heart shook.

    Suchбн hatredбн

    Tears fell from her eyes and she justбн stopped.

    Her head lowered. In a fraction of a moment, her Dream Force sprung back to her body and her mind was forced to analyze everything at once.

    But maybe this was the unfairness of the world, the unfairness she had forced everyone else to live through all this time.

    Even with her speed of thoughtбн

    She didn''t have the time to analyze it all.

    BANG!

    She crumbled.

 Chapter 3292 A Weak Little Human

    Leonel huffed out breaths, but he managed to catch his breath after just a few. He didn''t feel stressed, nor too fatigued. Holding onto his wife''s hand, maybe a little too tightly, he felt he had all the support he needed.

    He slowly lowered his spear, his weapon vanishing into motes of sparkling light that peeled away into fluttering butterflies and soaring birds.

    Looking to his side, he found his wife looking over at him at the same time. They didn''t say a word, silently embracing one another.

    "I''m sorryбн" Aina said softly.

    Leonel stroked the back of her head, feeling comfort in her touch.

    "бн It was always going to be impossible for us to make it this far without giving up something."

    "I still feel likeбн we lost too muchбн"

    Leonel didn''t reply, his hold on her tightening just the slightest bit.

    Too many people had died. To his shame, there were probably more than Leonel had had the bandwidth to pay attention to. So many people that deserved more fell in silence, falling in some corner of the battlefield never to rise up again.

    It was a tragedy on a scale the likes of which had never happened before, and likely would never happen again.

    Taking his wife into his arms, Leonel soared high into the skies.

    He could already feel a veil over the world loosening. Without the Dream Force of the Demoness suffocating and blanketing Existence, the desire for Destruction was satiated a great deal.

    It was so ironic. The Demoness had killed so much in hopes of buying some time, but the more she killed, the closer to Destruction they all got.

    бн

    The Northern Star looked as though it was within arm''s reach. But Leonel had to cross countless miles to truly make it to it.

    It had a size that was truly unfathomable. Recalling memories of sitting before it and how small it had felt, Leonel wondered if he had even caught up to his future self in strength yet.

    Funny enough, it seemed that if his future self had been here, he would have been able to win this battle all on his own.

    Leonel looked down at the woman in his arms. She cuddled into him, her head resting on his chest, her smile small and peaceful. It seemed that in this soft silence, she had already accepted things for as they were.

    It was a shame, though. Leonel couldn''t manage to see himself as some sort of moral savior, some existence that had a heart of gold that could give up everything.

    If he didn''t have his wifeбн well, he had already seen how that played out. The destruction he brought was even worse than the Demoness'' had been. The difference was that Existence had been so close to death that he didn''t have the chance to do more.

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    But in the end, there had been no one left in the world but himself. With such a pathetic showing, as much fury as he had toward the Demonessбн

    Was he any better?

    ''I will beбн'' Leonel thought, holding onto his wife a little tighter. ''бн For their sake.'' sea??h thз╫ novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    He leaned down, kissing Aina''s forehead. She shifted slightly, greedily taking in his scent.

    The light of the Northern Star should have been fierce enough to burn them away, but their strength stood strong, intertwining with one another.

    Leonel reached out a hand, his palm touching the boiling gases of its surface.

    In that moment, he felt something. The heat vanished, a warmth enveloping him.

    The danger that seemed to always encompass the Northern Star vanished. Instead, he could almost feel likeбн it was smiling down at him.

    ''Mmбн''

    Starsбн they were indeed the thing that fueled Existence. Without them, there would be no life at all. Without their warmth, the energy they provided, the light they produced.

    His grandfatherбн or rather, the Demoness'' first and true husband, had likely been the first man to wield Star Force. From that, he created the Northern Star, using it to mitigate the greatest mistake they had made.

    They were too talented, too early. They lusted after power too much, chasing peak after peak without regard. And in the end, they took too much and the world threatened to collapse.

    The only way to reverse things was by giving it all back.

    It was hard to fathom just how much power his grandfather had accumulated to be able to support the world for so many trillions of years simply by returning what he had takenбн

    ''The Northern Star Lineage was for this, hm? It seems that you were trying your very best as well.''

    The warmth seemed to tremble the slightest bit.

    Leonel took a breath and his aura flared up. His eyes blazed with a white gold, Star Force blooming off of him in waves.

    Then came his King Force.

    His grandfather had created Northern Star Force. It was the guiding light of the world, the one thing that seemed capable of holding back the world from destruction.

    Leonel created King Force. It was a Force that broke the laws of the world, giving without seemingly having taken anything at all. Fusing his Dream Force, his Vital Star Force, his Lineages, and so many of his comprehensions, he created this shocking Force.

    Howeverбн it still wasn''t enough.

    Light Force.

    It was peculiar. In all of these strong Forces, Light Force seemed the most out of place, like it wasn''t meant to be here at all.

    But Leonel knew that it was the final piece to the puzzle. The blueprint was already there.

    His grandfather had countless years to consider where he had failed, and in the end, he spurred on the creation of a Lineage Factor that was built on Star and Light Force.

    Why was that?

    Wellбн

    Leonel smiled, recalling lessons from Earth.

    This was the beauty of the world. It was why there was no one life more valuable than another, and it was why he would stand by that philosophy for the rest of his life.

    According to Einstein''s theory of relativity, the faster one moved, the slower time was in relation to everything else. Meaningбн

    The only thing in all of Existence that had never aged since the beginning of time itselfбн

    Was Light Force.

    If one wanted to breathe life into the universe, what other Force would you even use?

    He had always wondered why Light, of all things, would have such strong healing properties. What sense did that even make?

    Who would think that a weak little human with no power at all would forge the theory that would save a society of Gods and Demons?

    Leonel''s eyes shimmered with a bright light and a sweeping warmth spread across the land.

 Chapter 3293 A Chance

    "You''re slowing me down! Hurry up!"

    A little boy rushed up a hill. Sweat beaded down his brow, locking his bronzed brown hair to his skull as though it were another layer of skill. There was a brightness to his brown eyes that seemed to ignore his fatigue entirely.

    "Diego, I swear to God, if you try and rush me again, I will stick my bow up your ass."

    The little boy cringed. "Can you not speak like that?"

    "What? You don''t like it? Go talk to Lina, then." The little girl huffed.

    "Lina? I told you she just asked for tips on how to thrust!"

    "You don''t see the innuendo in that?!"

    "You''re overthinking it! She was talking about her spear!" Sз╫arch* The ж╟ovз╫lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "No, I am not, you airhead!"

    The two rushed to the top of the mountain.

    They might have been 13 or 14 years old at most, but they scaled a mountain as tall as 10,000 meters, through the harsh weather, and managed to be among the first to get here.

    The air was sparse, the winds were harsh, and there was a thin layer of snow over everything.

    It should have been the case that a region like this was buried beneath the snow entirely. How could it not be when it was so high in the skies?

    But the thick layer of billowing steam had something to say about that.

    This wasn''t a mountain at all, it was a volcano. And up ahead, fighting against the harsh elements of the cold, there was an enormous pool of lava in which a man stood.

    Well, they thought he did, anyway. It was impossible to see much of anything, and the youths rushing up here were fighting against their Force being constantly drained by this scorching, howling steam.

    "Dammit!" Diego cursed. "Look at that. Because of you, Quinyon got here at the same time."

    Somehow, Diego saw through the mist as though it wasn''t there, his senses landing on another boy who had rushed up the mountain.

    "Because of me?!"

    "Yes, because of you! We were making good time, and then you wanted to start yelling about girls that don''t matter. Do you know how much oxygen we wasted just arguing?!"

    "Well, if you don''t care about what I have to say, just go vent to Lina, then!"

    Diego was speechless.

    "Alienor, please!"

    "Don''t touch me! I''m not talking to you anymore! I would hate for you to waste your breath on me!"

    Diego didn''t even know what to say, but he suddenly found himself feeling angry.

    "Hey! Not all of us have a King for a nephew! If I don''t grasp this opportunity, I''ll never have another oneбк!"

    Diego froze.

    Alienor''s head had snapped toward him, her golden pigtail bobbing. It had only been an instant, but her emerald irises had already begun to turn red, her eyes brimming with tears.

    Diego cursed again. This time, he had really stepped in it. But she was really starting to piss him off with this nonsense. He hadn''t even spoken with Lina for more than two or three sentencesбкwhat the hell was with this constant pressing?

    It had been an entire week of this.

    "HAHAHA! Trouble in paradise?! Eat my blade!"

    Diego was almost late to react, a saber striking out for his back. He hurriedly spun, pulling out his spear from his spatial ring and thrusting out.

    BANG!

    He took a heavy step back, almost slipping in the snow. The webbing on his thumb broke apart, blood flowing down his palm and making his grip slippery.

    He didn''t even get a chance to steady himself before a second blow was already on the way.

    бн

    On a distant planet, Leonel suppressed the last of his wife''s moans, kneeling on top of her and sliding his cock between her lips. He laughed when she almost choked, her sputtering and her slapping at his thighs finally making him roll over.

    Aina collapsed into his arms, pouting a bit. But the light of lust in her eyes said that she almost wanted to do it again.

    Just as she was about to say something, though, she paused.

    "Hm? Aren''t we forgetting something?"

    Leonel blinked and then nodded. "True."

    He pulled his wife into his arms, playing with the soft skin of her waist as he waved a free hand.

    The scene on the volcano top appeared and Leonel''s gaze softened a bit.

    "It seems things are getting a bit heated."

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    "Sending Alienor there is a bit much, don''t you think? She doesn''t have the maturity of the others."

    "She''s a little pampered," Leonel said with a grin. "But she''s my aunt, after all."

    Aina playfully slapped his chest and the two laughed.

    бн

    Diego coughed up a mouthful of blood, almost falling to a knee.

    "Diego!" Alienor cried out from the side, suddenly feeling terrible. It was her fault he had been distracted.

    Quinyon was strong, but he was firmly half a tick below her boyfriend in power. It shouldn''t be like this.

    "Why are you so distracted?"

    A voice Alienor recognized all too well came from her back. She couldn''t even react at all before her back was slashed open to the bone.

    "Oops," Lina said softly, slipping into the shadow. "Apologies, princess. I wouldn''t want to harm you too badly. If I accidentally kill you, then wouldn''t the King slaughter my entire bloodline? Would you like me to go easy on you? What percentage? 40% of my strength, maybe? 30%? Whatever the noble wants."

    Alienor stumbled forward.

    "Alienor!" Diego called out, his rage pumping through his veins.

    BANG!

    He was sent flying the moment his head turned, barely protecting his chest from being skewered through.

    "HA! They said you were the best?!" Quinyon roared. "According to who?!"

    Their voices attracted many over. One after another, the geniuses were quickly making it to the mountain peak, and when they saw Diego suffering so terribly, whether subtly or by instinct, they surrounded the region.

    They weren''t fools. They knew who their strongest competition here was.

    If Diego fellбн all of them would have a chance.

 Chapter 3292 - 3294: A Budding Legend

    Aina frowned. "This is a bit cruel for children."

    "бн Maybe," Leonel said after a while.

    All things considered, he didn''t enter this world until he was 17, right on the very edge of his 18th birthday. He was legally considered an adult by Earth''s standards when his journey began. sea??h thз╫ novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Here, these kids were certainly not that. More so for Alienor.

    His grandmother''s last child had taken the name of his mother, and was affectionately known as Little Two by most of them as her full name was Alienor Fawkes II. But because she was so pampered, her state of mind was nowhere near that of the other children in this competition.

    She was easily poked and prodded at, and she very easily lost her cool. The reason she had been hounding Diego for so long was precisely because Lina had planned it all out.

    Of course, Leonel knew this; he had been paying attention. It was just that he had no intention of interfering in a child''s game. As much as they used his status to degrade Little Two, it was because he didn''t interfere that they could do so in the first place.

    Otherwise, would they even dare to say such words so boldly?

    But, unfortunately, Alienor wasn''t mature enough to understand and take this in stride.

    And just as unfortunately, that was precisely why he couldn''t interfere even as she suffered like this.

    His grip on his wife''s waist tightened just the slightest bit, but then he exhaled.

    This was just a rite of passage. If they waited too late to help Little Two change her ways, she never would. Now was the best time.

    There was a fork in the road, and it would be up to her.

    Even though these were his thoughts, thoughбн Leonel''s gaze seemed far more focused on Diego.

    His grip loosened on Aina''s waist, and he smiled.

    ''Show me something special.''

    бн

    Blood leaked from Diego''s lips, the tip of his blade trembling. Alienor''s form lay in the snow at his back, blood leaking from her body and pooling into a cloud of crimson. Every droplet clung onto the flakes of snow, jumping from one to the next.

    He felt his heart ripping apart. He couldn''t even look back to see if she was alright, as a sea of people led by Quinyon settled in before him.

    "Why are you still fighting? Why don''t you do us all a favor and jump over the other side?" Quinyon grinned.

    There was some blood between his teeth, a reminder of several things that made him feel both humiliated and infuriated. Even in this situation, Diego had managed to get a few licks in.

    Somehow, he was still standing, and that only made Quinyon angrier.

    Diego''s grip on his spear tightened. His sweat was starting to mix in with his blood. With the heavy steam hanging around, it was only getting harder for his weapon to not slip through his fingers.

    He had been so fatigued coming up the mountain in the first place, and now he was thrust into a battle like this oneбн

    When the others realized that Quinyon hadn''t been able to take him down, they began throwing in attacks from time to time. At some unknown point, he ended up with his back to this sheer cliff.

    His goal was just ahead of him, shrouded in that mist, but he couldn''t even get there.

    It was supposed to be him. He was supposed to get the chance to spar against the King''s son. He was supposed to be able to prove himself against the greatest talent in Existence, to prove that he belonged, that his upbringing wouldn''t hold him back.

    A giggle came from the side and Lina appeared, snaking her arm around Quinyon.

    "What? Disappointed? You didn''t think that I actually liked you, right? What are you worth, exactly? Do you even have a Lineage Factor? Isn''t your Ability Index also just C-grade? Your growth potential is so limited."

    Diego didn''t seem to have heard her, his senses so focused on threats that bullshit was filtered out.

    But he did hear the next thing.

    He felt a small pressure on the back of his leg.

    "Diegoбн Diegoбн" the voice sounded as though it was hyperventilating, struggling to even breathe properly. "бн I''m sorryбн I''m so sorryбн I''ll neverбн I''ll never do it againбн I''ll never complain about something so stupidбн I''m sorryбн I''ll be the best wifeбн I promiseбн Don''t die, Diegoбн Don''t dieбн I''m sorryбн I''m sorryбн"

    Diego felt his heart tremble.

    His grip on his spear tightened, his back standing straighter.

    He took deep breaths.

    Right. No matter what. He couldn''t die.

    His jaw clenched.

    Lina sneered, and Quinyon raised his head to the skies, laughing uproariously.

    "We might not be able to kill the little princess. But youбн you will certainly die today. You''ll never get in my way again!"

    Quinyon stomped a foot and rushed forward. He didn''t like the look in Diego''s eyes at all.

    Diego took a step to meet him, the earth wrapped around his feet as his Earth Force pulsed out in a subtle ripple.

    Using the added leverage on the slippery volcano peak, he pierced out. His blade had become frighteningly steady, but what others didn''t notice was that its wooden polearm had grown two thick thorns, both of which pierced through his palms.

    He didn''t have the skill of the King or his father before him. Not yet. He couldn''t keep his blade steady on his own.

    But he was Diego.

    Not Leonel.

    Not Velasco.

    He was his own man.

    He would use his own methods.

    Diego roared as though the pain didn''t faze him.

    He clashed against Quinyon''s saber, the force of the latter almost sending him flying back. But the earth kept him intact this time.

    Quinyon didn''t expect the sudden force from the usually skillful Diego, and his saber almost flew out of his hand.

    Diego pressed, thrusting out his spear once, then twice, then thrice in quick succession.

    Recovering quickly, Quinyon took a heavy step back, only for a spike of pain to jolt through his heel.

    A small jet of rock appeared right where he stepped.

    His expression changed as he yelped, his body reacting on its own.

    A blade pierced into his rib cage, yanking and twisting right through the opening his own foolishness had created.

    Diego pulled out his blade, huffing for breath, his eyes glowing with a focused coldness. He didn''t have much strength left, but he also didn''t have much time left. Before Alienor died, he had to kill all of these people.

    And he would.

    He felt a mountain weighing on his shoulders.

    His spear flashed, sending Quinyon''s head flying into the air.

    Blood splattered across his face, but he didn''t even react, nor did he care what Quinyon''s background was. He didn''t even consider the competition anymore; it was entirely unimportant.

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    All of these people made Alienor cry. That was enough to sentence them all to death!

    Lina''s eyes opened wide and she shrieked, sheer terror marking her features.

    Like a wild beast on his last legs, Diego lunged forward, his every strike the pinnacle of efficiency, his brown eyes radiating cold, bloodthirsty intensity.

    Lina fell to his feet, severed at the neck, the chest, and the legs as though a butchered pig.

    бн

    Leonel held his wife, watching a legend slowly begin to build itself with a smile on his face.

    Aina smiled as well, her heart at peace. Whenever her husband was happy, she was happy.

    Leonel''s lips slowly parted.

    "It will be a joy watching you two growбн dadбн momбн"

    His voice was impossibly soft, but Aina heard him anyway, slowly squeezing his palm with a light pressure.

    "You knowбн" Aina said after a while. "бн Leah and Leo are basically little adults now, already 17 years oldбн and their 18th birthdays are coming up soonбн"

    Leonel chuckled when he heard this. They hadn''t wanted to become a second Fawkes Empire, so they put everything into raising their children. Now, the little ones were the mountain peak the other children were chasing, and it filled them with pride.

    But Ainaбн hadn''t given up on her big family just yet. Considering how long a life they had to live ahead of them, how could he disappoint his wife?

    His grip on his wife''s waist tightened, and he lifted her up, pulling her on top of him.

    "I did all the work last time. I think I deserve some service, don''t you think?"

    "Is that so?" Aina leaned over, whispering into his ear with a sultry tone in her voice. "Where should I start, my King?"

    She kissed his neck, and then moved to his lips.

    They fell into one another''s embrace, a silent romance hanging in the air.